"Considering the amount of blood lost, Lockser's fortunate Wendy got to her when she did. As it stands, though, I see no reason why she wouldn't make a full recovery."
"And Gray?"
"Hmph... He could do with a lecture on how foolish it is to ice over his wounds instead of receiving proper treatment, but he ought to be fine as well."
Gray's focus on Porlyusica and Evergreen's whispered discussion didn't hold much further past the words "full recovery".
The nightmare world he'd been living in less than an hour ago, the crushing weight of his grief, dispelled by a girl who's head barely reached his chest...
Gray doubted Wendy fully understood the gravity- the depth- of what she had done.
It was understandable, he supposed. She hadn't been with them when the matter had first come to light, back on Galuna Island, and he'd never seen fit to bring it up with her once she'd joined. No sense filling her young head with tales of his losses. Not when she had enough of her own to deal with.
Still, the warm, living body lying beside him, light blue tresses fanned out delicately on the ground as Porlyusica tutted and hemmed over the state of their injuries was like a fantasy. She was still here. He'd thought that she had died, like Ur, offered up her blood like Ultear had her youth, for him. That he was alive only at the cost of yet another person's sacrifice.
Wendy had spared him from that fate.
It occurred to him, as his consciousness faded, that while he hadn't been once more saddled with a life-debt he could never pay back, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to thank her properly.
Gray leaned more than a bit against Juvia, watching as their errant Dragon Slayers embraced close friends and teammates, the sun shimmering off the crystalline orb that was Acnologia's final resting place. When but an hour ago their world looked as if it was ending, it now seemed to release a breath of relief. They had won.
The collective mages' ecstatic murmuring and cheers of victory were shattered by a cry of pain.
Gray's head whipped around just in time to see a shock of deep blue hair flutter to the ground.
"Wendy!"
He was hardly the only person to cry out at the sight. The pink haired girl, Chelia, he recalled, dropped to her knees beside Wendy, big blue eyes wide with worry as she surveyed the blood soaked state of the bandages wrapped around her thigh. Gray had noticed the injury back when they'd first reclaimed the Port, but Wendy had paid it little mind, dutifully healing Erza while they all waited anxiously. It was with a sickening jolt that he realized, now hours later, that her upper thigh had been pierced clean through.
Forget fighting- She had walked on that leg?!
Dimly, he remembered her doing just that, while supporting Juvia no less. The pair of them drawing closer to him, smiling. It had been the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.
No words needed to be exchanged for him and Juvia to rush over together.
"-this close to the femoral artery, no wonder it's hemorrhaging." Chelia was muttering under her breath, small, pale hands pressing sodden bandages against the entry and exit wounds. There was hardly any white left to be seen on the wrappings.
"It's ok- I'm... I'm ok," inconceivably, Wendy was weakly muttering reassurances, even while she seemed unable to sit up from where she laid on the pavement. Stifling what might've been a whimper- either one of pain or sympathy- Juvia shuffled forward on her knees, and carefully guided Wendy's upper body to lay on her lap. She breathed whispers Gray couldn't catch into the crown of her head, gently brushing errant strands of midnight blue off of Wendy's face.
"Can I- is there any way I can help?" Gray felt a prick of shame at relying on a 15 year old for guidance, but this girl was a healer, and he'd long ago learned their word was law when it came to treating injuries. Though, she wasn't using any healing magic now... Had she exhausted herself in all the fighting?
Before this train of thought could go any further, Chelia's eyes snapped up to him. He saw them flicker with recognition, and she asked briskly, "You have Ice Magic, right?"
He nodded mutely.
"Put your hands where mine are and apply pressure." hesitating for only an instant, Gray cupped both sides of the wound just as Chelia slipped her hands free. The warm, tacky feeling of blood coated his palms, and Wendy's leg jumped under his much larger hands, but he held fast.
"Blood vessels constrict under colder temperatures." Chelia's gaze bored into him. Gray was aware of the growing commotion around them as more people noticed the state Wendy was in, but he didn't dare look away from the pair of cobalt eyes that demanded his attention. They were almost the same color as Wendy's hair. "In order to stop the bleeding, you need to emit enough cold to slow the blood flow and encourage clotting, without lowering the temperature too much and causing tissue damage. Can you do that?"
"Yes." Gray was calling frost to his hands before the words even left his mouth. His own body barely felt the cold anymore, but he still remembered Ur's dire warnings about what temperatures were dangerous for the average human, and how long one could withstand them before frostbite and necrosis set in. As long as things stayed above thirty degrees, he could maintain this for close to an hour before it became hazardous for Wendy.
Wendy gave a hoarse noise of discomfort at the sudden cold, but she seemed to be fighting to stay conscious, eyelids fluttering as her head tilted to and fro. At this close proximity, Gray took note of another wound- a nasty gash- on her right side. It wasn't bleeding terribly like the wound on her leg, but it looked particularly savage, like it'd been made by talons rather than a blade.
Just what had this war put Wendy through?
"Move! Get out of my way, you fools!"
Never before had Gray been so elated to hear the sharp, steely voice of Fairy Tail's head Medical Advisor.
Like always, crowds hastened to disperse at Porlyusica's command, and Gray soon found himself looking up at the gimlet-eyed medicine woman. With an efficiency that spoke of years of experience, Porlyusica knelt and began rummaging through the bag at her side. Without looking up, she gruffly intoned, "Fullbuster, keep that up. Lockser, prevent her from moving around too much. Blendy-" Gray thought he saw Chelia tense, like Porlyusica was about to say something dreadful. The crone herself actually paused, stilling for the briefest moment, before thrusting out a large roll of bandages to the pink-haired girl. "I'm occupied here, and with Wendy in this state, you're the only other person with any idea how to treat the wounded. I need you to triage those gathered here, and guide whoever's able in taking care of any injuries. I'll address those you deem critical shortly. Got that?"
Chelia's eyes glistened, and her gaze flicked to Wendy's barely conscious face. Quick as a flash, she kissed her first two fingers, and then pressed them to the other girl's cheek. Just as swiftly, she leapt to her feet, snatching the roll of bandages with a firm, "Yes, ma'am!" before bounding away to begin her task.
Porlyusica set to work just as quickly, packing some kind of salve onto a square of fabric, and instructing Gray to hold it against the exit wound while she prepared another pad for the entry wound, after which they would bind them in place. At one point, Wendy roused slightly, and gazed around blearily. Her eyes fell on Porlyusica- specifically, her hair- and Gray's heart clenched when they quickly filled with tears.
"Chelia... I'm sor-sorry... I'm so sorry..." Juvia attempted to shush her gently, but Wendy was inconsolable, weeping softly until exhaustion dragged her back under. When Porlyusica's work was finally done, Gray retrieved his hands, before an instinct he couldn't place urged him to fit one of Wendy's small, limp hands in his own. His thumb traced comforting circles on the back of her hand as his gaze scanned the crowd of assembled mages, eventually falling on the small pink haired girl currently throwing caution to the wind and scolding Erza as she examined a wound on her shoulder.
While most everyone was alive and well- or at least on the way to well- and their enemies were bested, Gray got the distinct impression that their victory was not without sacrifice. It was simply a matter of what it was, and who had paid the price.