Chapter Ninety Five - Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part Two

"Jellal," I said quietly, and even looking exactly like my Jellal, it was weird calling him that when I knew him by Mystogan. "You already know that my name is Eleanor Rigby, but I also wish for you to know that I know of a possible future for this timeline. I would like to offer you a place in my guild as well. We function as a family, and we'd be fine with helping you with the Anima. And I know Wendy would be happy."

Mystogan stared at me for several seconds before he nodded. "Then I will join."

"Last time around, you ended up going by the name Mystogan," I continued.

"So I wouldn't get confused with my other self?" he asked.

I nodded. "The Jellal of this world is also a member of my guild."

He nodded. "I see. Then I will take the name 'Mystogan'."

I nodded and turned back to the slayers, who were surprisingly sitting around in a circle acting very civil.

What.

What?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Why the fuck do they break shit when I'm watching, when they don't behind my back?

I took a deep breath.

Something tells me it's Wendy's fault.

"You guys aren't fighting," I said as we returned to the rest of the group.

"The kid started crying," Gajeel grunted. "So we stopped."

Yep. Wendy.

I nodded. "So what did you guys find out?"

Natsu shouted immediately. "MY DRAGON'S THE BEST!"

"Nuh-uh!" Sting shouted, trying to stand up to Natsu (despite being half his age). "Weisslogia's better!"

"NOT what I was talking about," I snapped. "How long have you all been training?"

"I've been training since I was six, so seven years for me," Gajeel grunted. "And six years for Flamebrain here, who started at four."

He looked at the three five-year-olds. "These guys have only been with their dragons for two to three years. It's surprising they've even started to develop."

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Dragon Slayers aren't human," Gajeel said. "Our lungs and bodies change in order to eat our element and support the dragon side of it. I wouldn't be surprised if these kids weren't even done with the process."

"At least it's easy to get ahold of air, shadows, and the color white," I said, shrugging. "Do you guys know the difference between eating magical elements and regular elements?"

Gajeel was the only one who understood.

"If I give you the elements you eat, like yesterday, there will be an extra boost in magic because it comes directly from a mages' magic. If you eat your element in a natural state, it will give you a boost but won't be that strong."

They seemed to get the gist of it, at least.

"Alright, guys, we're gonna head to Magnolia," I said, and they started following me as I turned and walked. We were pretty close to the city, and I wanted them to get a nice view of the town before I teleported us directly into the middle of it.

"So, you guys know how you have basic attacks but also some special abilities, right?" I asked.

The kids look confused.

I elaborated. "Gajeel can coat his entire body in metal."

"Really?" Sting asked, his eyes shining as he looked at Gajeel. "Cool!"

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" Natsu said, throwing the five-year-old up in the air and catching him.

"Natsu, stop! You're barely twice his age, no throwing children," I scolded.

"But Ella-nee!" Sting protested. "It was fun!" He turned to Natsu. "And don't worry Natsu-nii, you're still my favorite."

"I heard that," Gajeel said.

Sting hid behind Rogue.

"Anyway," I said, sighing and rolling my eyes. "I know Rogue can turn into a shadow."

"You can?" Natsu asked, staring at the boy.

In response, Rogue turned into a shadow and reformed behind Sting, who was no longer hidden from Gajeel.

"And I know Wendy has healing powers," I continued. "She still needs to learn the offensive part of her magic, but right now she has some really cool support magic."

"You can heal?" Gajeel said, looking at her with interest on his face.

I smacked the back of his head. "You will not abuse Wendy's healing powers because you want to fight people."

"Oh yeah!" Natsu shouted. "She can help us recover faster. That's awesome!"

I smacked his head, too. "I just said no."

He pouted, and we continued on our way.

We ended up giving up before we reached the city.

After felling over a dozen trees just by walking, I concluded that these idiotic male dragons needed more training, and I dropped Mystogan off at my house, pointing him toward the guild and telling him that he can settle in in the guest room if he doesn't want to join alone. And to tell them that I sent him.

This also lead to Natsu, followed by Gajeel, followed by Sting, trying to enter my house.

They all failed.

I had had Freed write into the rune walls surrounding it that Natsu, Sting and Gajeel wouldn't be able to enter without my express permission, and that they needed my permission each time they wanted to enter again.

I wasn't worried by Wendy, and I knew that I didn't have to worry about Rogue breaking things if Sting wasn't there.

When the three slayers I targeted asked why, I glared at them, told them I wanted my house intact, and continued taking them deeper in the woods, before pulling out a lacrima and calling Laxus.

"Hey, Elle, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing much," I said. "The kids are going to need more training, so you and Erik might as well come out here and join us. What'd I miss?"

"Uh….."

Laxus looked around at the guild hall, which was in a mix between fighting everyone and a party. The announcements that had been revealed after the cancellation of the Grand Magic Games had led to a world of chaos, surprisingly not caused by Elle this time around.

At least joining her meant he could leave.

"I'll tell you later," Laxus finished. "Erik and I will meet you soon. Where do you want us to go?"

"Same place I trained you, first time around," I said. "After we saved Levy."

He nodded and hung up.

I turned back to the slayers, who were all watching me with interest.

"Two more slayers will be joining us," I said. "Erik is fifteen, and Laxus is sixteen. They weren't raised by dragons, but rather had their magic given to them through a magical lacrima. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Is it just the seven of us?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah," I said, trying to fight off the shiver of unease I got when I said that.

What the hell?

"Yeah," I repeated. "Just the seven of you."

For now… a voice whispered across my mind, and I stiffened, spinning.

"What's wrong, Ella-nee?" Sting asked.

"….Nothing, I just thought I heard something," I said quietly, turning back to them, and reminding myself that I'd used Pluto previously and that it was probably nothing.

As we waited for Laxus and Erik, we worked on teaching Wendy a roar.

Her first roar was a bit more powerful than Sting's, and it billowed over two trees.

"Wow, I did it!" she cried happily.

I scooped her up, tossing her and twirling with her. "See! I told you, it's natural. It won't be hard at all."

She smiled, a lot more determined, and started copying Gajeel and Natsu (who were actually working together for once) in trying to mimic a wing attack.

I turned as I saw Laxus and Erik arrive (without Cubellios, who Erik had probably left behind for her safety).

"Finally!" I said, spreading out my arms. "Welcome…to Dragon Slayer Boot Camp."

"It's just a forest," Gajeel complained.

"Yeah, well, you're not going to be allowed in the city until you guys get your powers under control and stop breaking everything," Laxus said, crossing his arms.

They probably passed some of the felled trees that bore scorch marks and bolts of metal in them.

"It's Flamebrain's fault!" Gajeel yelled, pointing at Natsu.

"Don't be mean to your brother," I told him.

"I already told you, Lynx, I ain't this bastard's brother."

Lynx?

Well, if it had to be an animal, a cat was better than a bunny. Or a shrimp. Or a salamander…

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Natsu was busy staring up at Laxus before… "Fight me, Laxus!"

"No," Laxus grabbed Natsu by the ankle as he sprung to attack him, and suspended him in the air.

"No fair!" Natsu complained, looking remarkably like Orga had previously (whenever Laxus hung him upside down).

I turned to Erik who was…not there.

"Erik?" I called.

"He's hiding in that tree," Laxus said, jerking his head over to a nearby tree.

"Erik, get down from there," I scolded.

"No!" He shouted. "You can't make me!"

"Erik, you are fifteen years old, get out of the damn tree!"

"No fucking way, Elle! I'm not spending any time with the little monsters!"

"They're kids, Erik."

"Exactly! They're evil!"

"You have no problem with Yukino, and she's the same age- no, even younger than Wendy, Sting and Rogue."

"Yukino isn't evil!" he shouted.

I closed my eyes and activated my Earth Magic, wrapping vines around Erik and pulling him down from the tree.

Natsu laughed at him from where he was still hanging from Laxus, until Laxus let go of his ankle and he fell to the ground.

"Ow!" he squeaked, rubbing his head.

"Dammit Elle, put me down!" Erik cried.

"No!" I replied, using the vines to shake him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I already told you, they're evil."

I sighed. "Which ones are evil?"

"All of them?"

I glared at him. "You answered in a question. Which ones are definitely evil?"

I can't believe I'm indulging him.

"The girl and the shadow kid."

Wendy burst into tears, any confidence from her new offensive abilities now gone. "I-I'm not evil!"

"I can hear your soul," Erik said. "You're evil. Your dragon is terrifying."

She continued to cry.

I dropped Erik on the ground. "Go hug your sister, right now. Apologize."

"No!"

Laxus sighed and scooped up Wendy. "Hey, it's alright, kiddo. You're not evil."

She wiped away her tears. "I'm not?"

"No, you're not. Erik is just…being a meanie."

If I wasn't so tired of all of this, I would've laughed at the look on Laxus's face. Instead, I sighed. "Alright, should we get started?"

"No way, I'm not working with them, I already told you Elle, they're evil!"

At this, Wendy burst into tears again, Natsu started beating up Sting for absolutely no reason, Rogue sunk into the shadows, Gajeel tried to attack me before he ended up like Erik did, and Laxus looked like he wanted to kill something.

Erik had also gotten back in the tree again.

I sighed. This was going to take awhile.

Later that night, most of us were on the ground, sleeping.

Erik was next to me, on my right, as far as possible from any other slayers, and Laxus lay on my other side.

Sting, Wendy, Rogue and Natsu had all found ways to curl up around us, and I wasn't looking forward to Erik's reaction when he woke up.

"Laxus, can we talk?" I asked quietly.

He nodded and gently moved any kids off of us, before we walked through the forest out of the kids' hearing range.

"So what happened at the guild?" I asked. "And what about the Games?"

"They were cancelled," Laxus said quietly. "There wasn't any real reasoning, but I think it was because….because of Layla's death."

My eyes filled with tears, and I hugged him, clutching at him. "I feel like it's my fault."

"Where'd Ella-nee go?" Wendy asked, waking up and searching around. She saw where Elle and Laxus were talking in the distance, and made to go for them.

A hand on her arm stopped her. "Don't," Erik said quietly. "Elle needs this. Just let them have some privacy."

Wendy met his eyes, and a moment of understanding passed between them.

She nodded and laid back down, curling up next to the other small slayers.

Erik sighed and scooted away from them before laying down himself.

Maybe they weren't so bad, after all.

He closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of Elle's crying.

"Elle, it's not your fault," Laxus said, holding me. "Corvus told us all that it was inevitable. She was going to die anyway. Even if you had been the one to open the gate instead, she still would have died, Elle."

"I still feel like it's my fault," I said, wiping at my tears. "I should have at least known."

After my crying settled down, I continued the questioning. "What happened to Lucy? And Jude?"

"They went back to the Konzern," Laxus said. "And started preparing the funeral. I don't think we're invited."

A pang hit me in my heart as he said that.

"I think that's why, when we got back, Enno and Macao were calling off the wedding."

I almost shouted at that, but remembered the tiny sleeping slayers nearby. "What? Why?"

"Enno never announced her bridesmaids," Laxus said quietly. "And I'm pretty sure that Layla was gonna be her maid of honor. Even though Layla is a few years older, they've been good friends for the past few years."

That was right, I though, trying to ignore the squeezing sensation around my chest.

They were so close when they first met, at the first Grand Magic Games.

"Anything else happen?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

He nodded again. "To try and cheer Enno up, Ur and Mom revealed a secret; they're both pregnant."

My eyes widened.

I was not expecting that.

"Really?" I squeaked.

He nodded. "Ur's twins are due sometime in September, and…Mom's kid will probably be born in November. I think Mom and Gildarts are also planning on getting married after the baby is born."

"Why didn't they tell anyone?" I asked.

"You know, they never really explained why they were keeping it a secret…" he muttered, before shaking his head. "I'll just ask later. Anyway, uh…Erik and I realized we could smell their pregnancy which led to the revelation earlier today that Enno was pregnant too, so the wedding is actually back on."

I blinked, staring at him. "So the wedding was cancelled for one day, brought back, and Ur, Mari, and Enno are all pregnant, in that order?"

He nodded. "Enno is due in February, I think. She's nearing the two-month mark now."

"Geez, that's nuts," I muttered. At least Romeo was on the way, though.

"I think Enno wants to get married in August, if she can, but she's fine with postponing it for a few more months if she has too," Laxus continued, and we strode back to the other kids.

I nodded as we laid down again, curling into him as best I could, surrounded by tiny slayers. "Alright. Goodnight, Laxus."

"Goodnight, Elle," he replied, closing his eyes and sleeping.

I closed my eyes too, and fell into a dream where I was wearing white and Laxus was waiting for me at the end of an isle.

Based on the headcanon that Wendy's dragon is one of the loudest.

In the previous timeline, Erik became Cobra, a member of a dark guild, and has seen some pretty tough things. And he encountered Wendy at the age of twelve.

In this fic, he was spared most of the trauma and dark shit that came with being a member of the Oracion Seis, and he met Wendy when she was five, when her dragon should not be that terrifying.

That is why he is scared.

And since Rogue had issues with his shadow I made his dragon scary too.

For those of you who read DoD, this won't be a problem there because Wendy's dragon won't compare to Acno's. So Erik is fine.