Chapter Six Blades of Fire and Wind
It had been four years since Natsu and Wendy had joined Fairy Tail. Natsu had become an incredibly powerful mage, one of the strongest in the guild in fact. Of all the other mages, only Erza was considered his equal, and the only ones stronger than him were Master Makarov, his grandson Laxus, Gildarts Clive, or maybe Mystogan. Though the latter two were never really seen at the guild. Natsu hadn't really seen Mystogan since he put everyone to sleep every time he entered the guild for some reason. Gildarts was in the same boat, as he was off on a 100 year quest and had only visited the guild a short time after the birth of Happy and Carla.
Gildarts, Laxus, and Mystogan. They were all S-class wizards, a title given to only the strongest members of the guild. Erza and Mirajane had both earned it as well in the past few years. Now the S-class trials would be coming up again soon, and this year, Natsu hoped for a chance to compete.
"Come on Natsu!" Gray shouted when he entered the guild. "I'm gonna beat you this time, and I made sure not to strip today!"
"Where's your jacket?" Natsu asked, noticing the ice wizard was wearing a short-sleeved shirt even though it was winter and raining outside.
Gray looked on his chest. "Okay, I must have stripped that at least! But I'm still in full clothes! Come on!"
Natsu grinned. "Alright if you insist!"
The fire and ice wizards leapt at each other and began throwing punches as Wendy watched. After being in Fairy Tail this long, she was no longer fazed by the brawls that went on around her. She took a sip of her orange juice while Carla and Happy sat on top of the table with her.
"Those two are so immature," Carla noted.
"Aye," Happy agreed.
Master Makarov stood up. "Attention everyone! This year's S-Class Trial candidates will now be announced!"
All the members of Fairy Tail gathered around. Natsu and Gray immediately stopped their brawl and ran over.
"First up, Cana Alberona!" Makarov stated.
"This time, I'll win it for sure!" Cana said, as it was her second time taking the trial.
"Macao!"
The veteran mage made a nervous expression. "Me? You shouldn't have Master!"
"Alzack Connel!"
A man in western style clothing who used guns magic smiled.
"Well, we have a knight in S-class! Only fair for an expert pistoleer to have a spot!" he said.
"Natsu Dragneel!" Makarov finished.
"Yes! I made it!" Natsu put his hands up.
"Way to go, Natsu!" Happy said as he cheered from the table he and Carla were standing on.
"That's my big brother!" Wendy said.
"Well he certainly possesses power. Though I'm not entirely sure it will be enough. He has a hard time beating Erza," Carla said.
Wendy looked at Natsu. Carla was right, even though her brother had grown enough to fight Erza evenly, he only seemed to be able to do that when he got encouragement from her.
"Now let me go over the rules! This years trial will be a tournament!" Makarov stated. "The four participants will each choose a partner and face each other in two on two fights until only one is left standing. The one left standing will…"
He stopped speaking for a second, giving everyone a chance to guess. They were sure he was going to say become an S-class Wizard.
"Face an S-class wizard!" Makarov stated.
This scared many of the members, and the competitors. Macao and Alzack turned white at the thought of having to go up against Laxus, Erza, or Mirajane.
"Becoming S-class is not an easy thing. We hold this trial every year, but we do not get a new class wizard every year now, do we? We've already got five S-class wizards so we're not in real desperate need!" Makarov stated. "So that means I have to make it a bigger challenge! This year and perhaps the next few you will have to possess the strength to stand up against an S-class even if you are beaten to a pulp!"
"That will certainly be no easy task," Carla noted.
"Aye," Happy said. "Natsu might stand a chance if he were to go up against Macao though. He could just eat Macao's purple fire spell!"
"I doubt Macao would be dumb enough to use that if Natsu is his opponent," Carla said before turning to Wendy. "It's a pity he's not like you, child. You eat air to grow stronger since you're the sky dragon slayer. There's not exactly a fire around for Natsu to eat all the time!"
Wendy looked down. Her partner was right, Natsu could grow much stronger after he consumed fire. But he couldn't eat his own fire to do that. Air was around her all the time so she could ingest it whenever she wanted. That would be a problem, especially if Natsu was hurt after fighting the other mages. Erza, Mirajane and Laxus would all be in this year's trial, and there was no telling which one would face the winner of the duels. Mirajane was just as strong as Erza, but the knight wizard had grown her arsenal of armor and weapons over the years. Wendy had even seen her Flame Empress armor, a set of armor that granted her resistance to fire attacks. It would be trouble if she used that.
Wait! Wendy thought. With each of her armors, Erza always had a weapon to go with it. Her Flame Empress Armor had a sword that could produce fire. If she could just get a weapon like that.
…
"Well I'm finally gonna become an S-class wizard!" Natsu said as he sat down with Wendy and their cats.
"Now don't get ahead of yourself!" Carla said.
Suddenly, Lisanna walked over to their table. "Hey Natsu! Congrats on getting into the S-class trials! I was wondering, do you have any idea who you are going to choose for your partner?"
"Well its either gonna be you, Happy, or Wendy!" Natsu said looking at them.
"I think you would be best off with Lisanna," Carla said. "She is older than Wendy after all and probably stronger."
"Hmm… I don't know about that," Lisanna said looking at Wendy. "Erza has been training Wendy since they hatched you together. She'd probably be just as good if not better than me. Especially if you end up going against Erza."
"Say, why don't you and she have a little sparring match to see who's stronger?" Mirajane asked as she walked over to stand with her little sister, before looking at Natsu. "Then we can see who has the stronger little sister Pinkie!"
Natsu growled at the insult regarding his hair color. The tragic girl who had arrived in Fairy Tail was now known as the She-Devil. Mira wore a goth outfit and had a sadistic looking smile on her face. He was tempted for a moment to accept her challenge but looked away.
"Wendy is not getting in a fight with anyone," Natsu said. "Besides I don't want either of them to get hurt."
Both Lisanna and Wendy let out breaths of relief. Natsu got up to leave.
"Well, I'll have to think over who to partner with," he said. "I'm gonna head home for the day."
He started walking to the guild doors as Happy and Carla followed. He then noticed Wendy wasn't following.
"You coming, Wendy?" he asked.
"I want to stay here for a while," she said. "I need to talk to Erza."
Natsu shrugged. "Okay."
Wendy walked up to Erza after Natsu went home.
"Hey, Erza?" she asked timidly.
"Yes, Wendy?"
"Um… could you take me to the place where you get your armor and weapons?"
"You finally decided to get yourself a set of daggers, huh?" Erza asked. "Alright."
They walked across Magnolia to a shop called Magnolia Magic Metals. Inside was a large collection of swords and other weapons. A smith stood in the back.
"Ah Erza!" the smith said. "Here for a new set of armor or more weapons to add to your collection? You must have a hundred swords by now?"
"Its not for me today, Sir. My trainee wants a weapon," Erza said, motioning to Wendy.
The shopkeeper looked at Wendy, noticing she was very young. "How old are you, if I may ask?"
"Nine," Wendy answered.
The smith looked at Erza. "I'm reluctant to sell weapons to such a young girl."
"I've been using weapons since I was as young as her," Erza protested.
"Oh, were you?" the smith asked. "Well-
Erza's one real eye suddenly turned red demon-like and she appeared to be surrounded by a dark aura.
"You will make her a weapon!"
"Yes ma'am!" he nervously turned back to Wendy "Alright, but I want you to promise me you will be careful! My weapons are not toys! You could easily hurt yourself just as much as your enemies!"
"I promise," Wendy said. "In fact, I'm a healer."
"Alright, now what kind of weapon do you want?"
"A pair of daggers," Wendy said.
"Same or different enchantments for each dagger?" the smith asked.
Wendy thought for a moment, "Well, I'm doing this for Natsu. Maybe I should get two fire daggers?"
"Wind can make fire stronger," Erza pointed out. "It might be handy to have one with fire and the other wind."
Wendy nodded at this. "Alright, I'll have one dagger be my sky dragonslayer magic, and the other fire."
They took a little time with the design for the daggers. The smith gave Wendy a few pieces of paper to sketch ideas on so he could make them later. Wendy drew the sketches and handed them to him.
"Alright I'll get to work. This shouldn't be a problem," the smith said. "Normally I have to hire mages to provide magic for Erza's weapons but since you'll be providing your own sky dragon magic I can forgo that."
"What about the fire?" Erza asked.
"I'm capable of doing that one myself," the smith said. "Please come by in the morning and I will have them for you."
He began hammering the metal away. Hours passed as he folded it hundreds of times to make sure the steel became strong. It didn't take as much steel as one of Erza's regular orders. The next morning when Wendy came back with Erza, she was presented with two daggers. One having an orange fire glyph in the middle of its guard, the other blank for the moment. Both weapons had curved guards with dragon heads on either end. Upon the smith's request, Wendy took hold of the blank dagger and ran her sky dragon magic through it. The blank spot in the middle of its guard lit up with a blue tornado and wind ran through the blade.
"Now those are dragonslayer weapons," Erza said.
Wendy ran her magic through the daggers. They both lit up with their element immediately. Looking at the burning fire weapon, she smiled.
"Now big brother can eat fire whenever he needs to!"