Inside the dark forest surrounding the temple of Galuna Island laid a barely conscious and severely wounded Gray on his stomach. He was having flashbacks of his time with his mentor, Ur Milkovich, back when he was just a child. He was pulled out of those memories by being poked repeatedly on the head by a finger. Looking up with great difficulty, he saw none other than his guildmate, Natsu Dragneel kneeling down and staring at him.
"Good. You're fine. That means I win the bet." the pinkette declared and, for some reason, smirked in amusement right after.
Gray, however, was much too tired and beat up to register it, let alone question, it.
Natsu's grin was then replaced by a frown. "Although, you don't look so good. That Lyon guy beat you pretty bad, uh? Luckily, I can now help you recover, thanks to Wendy."
The pink-haired mage extended both of his hands towards his guildmate and they started glowing of a light blue color. Instants later, Gray was fully healed but he was still magically and physically exhausted to the point where he could barely stay awake. Never mind stand up or walk on his own. Understanding this, Natsu swung him around his shoulders and began to carry him towards the village.
"Now, come on. We gotta get back to the others. Who knows what kind of crazy stunt they are gonna pull?" the S-class mage joked.
Unfortunately, his comment had the exact opposite effect as it caused Gray to remember the time he went to destroy Deliora on his own, regardless of Ur's warnings. As the memories flooded his mind, tears began to run down his cheeks. "He's right you know."
"About what?" Natsu asked curiously.
"About me. It's all my fault Ur's dead. Deliora was way too strong for me and she tried to warn me about it but I didn't listen. If I had she'd still be here. Instead, she was forced to come and save me the only way she could: by sacrificing herself. She should have just let me die." the ice mage explained in a depressed tone.
"Obviously you have no idea what it means to be a teacher." Natsu responded, shocking Gray. "Listen to me, Gray. Ur wasn't "forced" to do anything. If she had wanted to let you suffer the consequences of your idiocy, nothing would have stopped her from doing so. But, she couldn't. I know because I've been there before and I still am. If Wendy did something incredibly stupid and ignored my instructions, I'd be mad, sure, but I'd still go and save her even if it meant my own death. Because she's my sister but also because she's my student. When one accepts to teach someone, it isn't just about passing on knowledge. It's also about caring for who we mentor. Besides, you were a kid. Kids make stupid mistakes. The only difference is yours ended in tragedy. Don't get me wrong, it is terrible. But the only thing worse you could do would be to get nothing out of it. Because then, Ur would have died for nothing."
Natsu's words left Gray speechless and bewildered. An endless stream of tears was now flowing from his eyes. Yet, he surprised himself by feeling something which he had never expected: guilt. Not the previous guilt of being responsible for his master's death, though there was certainly some of that left. He felt guilty of the way he had behaved towards Natsu.
"Natsu?" he called weakly.
"Hmm?" the pinkette hummed in response.
"I'm sorry. Sorry I treated you like an arrogant jerk when you had done nothing to deserve it. I misjudged you simply because I was jealous." Gray apologized with sorrow and regret.
"Meh. Don't sweat it. You're not the only one to have done that. It's not a big deal." the pink-haired mage dismissed.
The other four Fairy Tail wizards were back at the village, informing them about the situation and preparing for the attack. They were interrupted by Moka's arrival.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked, appearing rather unhappy.
"We don't have time to explain, sir. The enemy could attack anytime." Lucy declared.
"What enemy? We don't have any enemy." the mayor countered, confused and upset.
"Well, you do now." Carla responded.
"We believe they are the ones responsible for the curse that is affecting you all. They have been hiding in the temple for some time now." Wendy clarified.
"I don't care who's in the temple! All I care about is that you destroy the bloody moon! Why haven't you done so yet anyway?!" the village chief screamed in anger and outrage.
Usually, Wendy would be very upset about being yelled at, maybe even cry because of it. But not today. Her eyes narrowed and her expression hardened as she took a step forward. "Listen. There is a reason why my brother has decided not to destroy the moon: it would have terrible consequences. So if he believes there's another way to help you, you're just going to have to trust us. In the meantime, he gave me a mission to stop the people who are going to attack you and I'm not going to let him down. So you better stay out of my way, unless you me want to fight you too."
Her comments shocked everyone present for different reasons. Most of them because she basically just threatened her own client. Carla, because those words were so out of touch with her usual demeanor. Lucy, because she had just said that Natsu had the power to destroy the moon.
For some reason, the way she talked made Moka believe her and he decided to back off and walk away, albeit reluctantly. When he was far enough, the other members of Fairy Tail joined their Sky Dragon Slayer who still looked a bit displeased.
"Wendy, what was that all about? I've never seen you like this before." her white-furred partner asked, still shocked.
"It's nothing Carla. I just…I don't want to disappoint Natsu by failing at the task he gave me. I want to show him I'm worthy of his training and…love." the blue-haired girl responded, her tone getting softer.
"Don't worry. We'll stop these guys for sure." Lucy tried to reassure her. "And I just know how. Open Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"
After Lucy had summoned her pink-haired spirit, she instructed her to dig a hole at the village's entrance and covered it with leaves to hide it. While Lucy was pretty proud and confident of the trap she had designed, her teammates and even her Celestial Spirit weren't nearly as convinced.
"My plan is going to work for sure." the blonde declared with a grin.
"I doubt it." Virgo answered.
"So do I." Carla agreed.
"Hey Lucy. I hate to break it to you but I think you might be…an idiot." Happy said.
"Gee. Thanks for the support, guys." Lucy sarcastically responded, then turning to the last member of their team who hadn't criticized her trap. "What do you think, Wendy?"
The younger girl looked away and scratched her chin in her typical shyness while responding. "W-Well, I don't think you're stupid but I can't really see who would fall for that either."
"Of course not. It is oldest trick in the book." her white-furred partner supported.
"Fine. Doubt me all you want, you'll see." the blonde replied, clearly upset.
"We won't see anything. You can tell what your trap is by looking at it." the blue feline refuted.
"It doesn't matter because there is only one gate. When the enemy enters, they'll fall into the pit."
As if on cue, one of the villagers spotted a giant figure in the sky. "Look! There!"
As it turns out, the figure in question was the rat Gray had beat up the previous morning. It was flying by propelling its tail and was carrying a bucket about as big as its own body was. Additionally, Yuka, Toby and Sherry were all standing on its back, looking down at their target.
"What?! But that makes my trap useless!" Lucy screamed in outrage.
"It has been from the beginning." Happy deadpanned.
At the same time, a drop of some weird green liquid fell out of the bucket and onto the ground next to the Fairy Tail mages. When it did, it melted the dirt and left a deep hole where it had landed.
Surprisingly, the first person to react was Wendy who, even more surprisingly, brought both of her hands to her nose and pinched it in disgust. "I don't know what that is, but it smells terrible."
"What do you mean 'it smells bad"?! It corroded the freaking ground!" the Celestial mage exclaimed in shock.
"And they have a bucket full of it!" one of the villagers yelled in obvious panic.
"They are going to dump it right on us." another theorized dreadfully.
"Disgusting." Yuka commented, Wendy being the only person on the ground to hear him. "I never imagined Moon Drip could turn people into…this."
"They are almost as ugly as Deliora." Toby agreed.
"Angelica, would you be so kind as to relieve them of their misery?" Sherry asked her rat which squeaked in response before emptying the contents of the bucket in an arc over the village.
When they saw the jelly-like substance coming down towards them, almost everyone started panicking and screaming. But not Wendy who started gathering magic in her hands.
"I know what to do! Everyone, gather around me!" she instructed and was obeyed by all her guildmates and villagers. Save for a certain old man.
"I…refuse to leave Bobo's grave." the chief said as he was kneeling in front of said stone, clutching it tightly.
Once she deemed the jelly to be close enough, Wendy swung her arms horizontally in opposite directions as she called out her attack. "Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!"
Upon finishing her incantation, a large and powerful tornado formed all around the group and rose so high in the sky that it forced the flying rat to move back to avoid being blown away.
When the Sky Dragon Slayer's attack came into contact with the green substance, the former absorbed the latter, thus preventing it from falling on what was inside the eye of the storm. However, the swirling motion of the tornado caused the jelly to be dispersed in the form of thousands of droplets that flew outwards and spread all throughout the surrounding area. Which just happened to be the whole village. By the time the rain of green liquid was over, there was no village anymore.
Nevertheless, Lyon's henchmen were stunned to see what had just transpired.
"S-She dispersed it." the blue-haired man stuttered in disbelief.
"That kid has that kind of power?!" his pink-haired teammate screamed, incapable of hiding her shock.
Even though Wendy proved to be a true Fairy Tail wizard by causing tremendous collateral damage, her main objective of protecting everyone was a success…almost. Because, in the confusion, no one noticed a large droplet of jelly falling right where Moka was. But when the dust cleared, and Wendy's wind dispersed, they were horrified to see a gaping hole instead of Bobo's grave.
They were soon relieved however, when they saw a certain pink-haired Celestial Spirit jumping out of a hole while holding said old blue mayor under her arm. "Do you wish to punish him for disobeying?"
A short time later, once everyone had calmed down, they finally realized the extent of the damage that had been done.
"The village has been reduced to nothingness!"
"This is terrible!"
"Is everyone alright?"
But of all people, the one who was by far the most outraged and angry was their chief who was staring at the spot where his son's grave used to be with wide eyes. The stone was now replaced by a small puddle of red, hot and viscous liquid. "B-Bobo's grave…it's…gone."
His shock only deepened when a foot crushed all that remained of the burial site. It was then revealed that foot belonged to one of the three people responsible for their town's current status as they were advancing towards them to finish their dark plan.
"We were ordered to eradicate the village and its people. Only one of these two objectives has been met. We were trying to be merciful by providing you with a quick and painless death. That's why we went trough all the trouble of making that jelly. But since that didn't work, we'll have to resort to bloodshed." Sherry announced.
"About 50 villagers, two wizards including a kid. We should be done in 10 to 12 minutes." Yuka evaluated with his hands behind his back.
Toby barked in agreement and excitement at the fight to come. Yes, he barked.
Meanwhile, Wendy was getting increasingly annoyed at being referred to as "a kid". Yes, she was technically still one, but that was no reason to underestimate her. She was the pupil of the most powerful being on the planet after all!
Someone else was even angrier than her. Yes, it was Moka again. "How dare they…How dare they destroy Bobo's grave like that?! Forget the wizards, I'll kill them myself! They'll pay for what they did!'"
He was actually about to jump on Lyon's group if not for other villagers holding him back.
"Chief! Calm down! Please!"
"If any of us gets caught up in this fight, they won't survive it!"
"That's why you should leave, all of you." Lucy advised. Her warning was heeded and all the island's inhabitants started leaving the scene.
That didn't sit very right with their attackers.
"We are going to kill every single person in this village, no matter what." Sherry declared. "Angelica." she called her rat who had landed behind the trio.
The giant blue creature squeaked in understanding and jumped backwards and flipped in the air. It then used its tail again to fly in the air and shot forward, in the villagers' direction.
Just as Sherry was about to jump on her companion's back, she heard one of her opponents speak up.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy called out and breathed a hurricane-like blast at the flying rodent.
It was so strong that Angelica, in spite of her size, could neither go any further, nor even resist it. As a result, it was sent flying across the entire island for the second time that day.
Sherry looked on in utter shock and horror at what happened to her precious friend, again. Her emotions were soon replaced by fury and she turned her gaze to the Fairy Tail mages, glaring darkly at them.
"Two to three. How are you going to do this?" Carla asked, concerned at their numerical disadvantage.
"I'll take two of them, Lucy will take the third." her blue-haired partner responded without breaking eye contact with her enemies, just like she had been taught.
"Y-Yeah. I think that's for the best." the blonde agreed, though hesitantly.
"I think Lucy should take the dog-guy. She is a fan of animals anyway. She already has a bunch of them. Maybe he's a Celestial Spirit and you could throw a key at him to capture him." Happy proposed and then rambled.
"That's not how it works, stupid cat!" the Celestial wizard exclaimed.
Ignoring the others' useless argument, Wendy spoke up again. "I'll deal with the other two then." She then jumped forward and up, but mostly up. As high as she could with the help of her magic. Once she started to go down, she gathered magic around her arms which made the air to swirl around them. "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" she summoned and expelled a whirlwind of air from her arms.
The attack successfully accomplished its main goal which was to separate her opponents. Sherry and Yuka on one side and Toby on the other. Conveniently, it also put Wendy and Carla on the former and Lucy and Happy on the latter. Some people might have said it even worked too well, for Toby was unable to resist the spell and was blown away like a leaf in the wind.
Lucy looked at the distancing and yelling figure while sweat dropping. "How am I supposed to fight him now?"
"Don't worry, I'll help you with that." the blue feline assured while summoning his wings and grabbing her by the back. He then carried her in the general direction their enemy had disappeared.
As the young Dragon Slayer landed, she was surprised to see her attack being dispelled by some sort of blue energy, courtesy of Yuka. "Dragon spells? I see. You must have been trained by that Salamander of Fairy Tail I've heard so much about. That would explain your abnormal strength for your age."
"I don't care if she was trained by a demon or a god. She's gonna pay for what she did to Angelica." Sherry promised while gritting her teeth.
Wendy, for her part, decided to remain silent and focus on the fight to come.
"You may not know this, but we used to be a part of a famous guild too. So don't underestimate us." the blue-haired man warned as he started smirking.
'How hypocritical is that?' the youngest of the three mages wondered in rare bitterness.
"As a matter of fact, it was the same guild Iron Rock Jura belonged to. That's right. I'm talking about Lamia Scale." Yuka continued with his smirk growing bigger while Sherry kept glaring at the new Fairy Tail wizard.
Both of those vanished and were replaced by expressions of shock when they finally heard Wendy's answer and their jaws hit the ground. "Never heard of him."
"W-What? Surely you must be joking. He is one of the Ten Wizard Saints and he has-" the man with the thick eyebrows started arguing but was cut off by Wendy, much to Carla's surprise.
"Look. I really don't care what guild you're from or who's in it. Not only have you tried to kill innocent villagers, but you made me fail in the task that someone very important to me entrusted me with. So, the time for talking is long gone." she announced, her eyes progressively narrowing as she talked.
"Very well. If that is what you wish then-" Yuka started, only to be cut off again. Although, this time, it was by his own teammate.
"She's mine." Sherry insisted in obvious anger, stepping forward. "Doll Attack: Wood Doll!" The pink-haired woman extended her hand towards a nearby tree which had, somehow, survived their jelly. It then started moving and turned into some sort of monster.
"Fast wind that run the heaven... Vernier!" Wendy called out and her body was surrounded by a dim light.
She barely managed to finish her spell in time before the tree puppet trampled her. But once she had, it didn't really matter because she was far too fast for the wooden creature to keep up.
After she had dodged its initial attack by skidding to the side, she gathered air around her fingers and pulled her arm back. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" With that, she swiped the trunk with her hand and the wake of wind that followed ore it to shreds.
With its trunk destroyed, the marionette collapsed into a pile of wood chips, branches and leaves.
Both of Lyon's servants could only stare at their opponent in bewilderment while her partner looked on with a proud smile. She would have come to the bluenette's aid some time ago, but she knew the Dragon Slayer would rather fight on her own right now.
Sherry quickly became furious at her puppet's uselessness. "Fine! Let's see you do that again with something stronger than wood. Doll Attack: Rock Doll!" Her spell gathered together a group of nearby rocks and formed it into a tall golem of sorts which she jumped on. "I'd like to see you destroy my rock doll the way you did the previous one."
The bluenette didn't look fazed by the turn of event and only stayed in her fighting stance with narrowed eyes.
Her adversary then tried to use her new puppet to punch her into the ground repeatedly but Wendy was just too fast and dodged all of the attacks easily, much to the Doll mage's frustration. "Would you stop moving around so much?!"
Interestingly, Wendy had had multiple opportunities to counterattack but hadn't seized any of them yet.
After some time of trying and failing to crush the blue-haired girl with either the rock creature's fists of feet, the continuous use of the doll was beginning to take a heavy toll on Sherry's magic. It was shown by its movements getting slower and slower.
When Wendy deemed it to have become slow enough, she made her move. "Power of the stout arms that tears heaven... Arms!" She started by enchanting her right fist which she pulled back but it wasn't long before she followed up with an actual attack. "Sky Dragon's Twirling Fist!"
She then punched the tall creature in the ankle, the point she had assessed as the weakest. It turns that she had assessed correctly because her attack caused the entire doll to collapse into its original pile of rocks. One of which fell right on Sherry's head, knocking her out in the process.
As the Doll mage's unconscious body fell to the ground, Wendy instinctively crouched down, barely dodging a beam of blue energy that flew right above her head. When she got back up, she turned around and saw Yuka with his hand pointed towards her.
"Congratulations on beating Sherry." he complimented. "However, don't forget that you still have one enemy left. Wave!"
He launched another beam at her which Wendy easily and skillfully dodged again. She then swept the air with her arm, sending a gust of concentrated wind towards her opponent.
Her attack dissipated when it came into contact with a sphere that surrounded Yuka. It was made of the same blue energy he had been using.
"I guess you weren't expecting that, were you? The pulsing energy I generate diffuses all types of magic, even Lost Magic such as yours. Which means your spells will be useless against me. That was my specialty when I was in the Lamia Scale guild: anti-wizard magic. That is why whether or not I have underestimated you doesn't matter in the end. Because no matter how strong they might be, all wizards are powerless against me!" the blue-haired man declared as his magic output steadily increased.
He was about to attack when Wendy's voice interrupted him. "But it's not just me. You have also underestimated my brother." The confusion in her enemy's eyes prompted her to continue. "He didn't just teach me how to use my magic. He taught me how to survive in the wild, how to know when someone is lying to me. He even finished teaching me how to read and write. And…he taught me how to fight. Even against someone who can nullify my magic. Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!"
The Wave wizard barely had enough time to register what the Sky Dragon Slayer had just said when a tornado formed under his feet and lifted him high into the air. Nevertheless, his confidence didn't diminish in the slightest. He even grew a cocky smirk on his face.
"He must not have taught you very well. Wave!" His spell successfully dissipated the tornado…which left him suspended in the air for a few seconds before falling down uncontrollably.
The fall wasn't severe enough to cause serious damage, but it did leave him unconscious.
"He did." Wendy countered, deactivating her enchantments. When this was done, she started panting a bit as sweat was forming in her forehead. She had just used up quite a lot of magic power and energy by casting so many spells and moving around so much.
"Well done, Wendy." Carla congratulated as she approached her partner.
"Thanks Carla. I hope Natsu will think so too." the bluenette managed to say while being out of breath.
"What the hell happened here?!" Speak of the devil, Natsu's cry of shock made both females turn towards its source to see him standing at the edge of what used to he the village with Gray on his shoulders and wide eyes.
It didn't take very long for Happy and Lucy to find their target. The dog-man had crashed on the shores of the beach and had been lying on his back with his eyes spinning the whole time. But, for some reason, as soon as the duo of Fairy Tail mages landed next to him, he jumped up on his feet and got a stupid smile on his face.
"I'm good!" he yelled to no one in particular which only made to make the other two sweat drop.
"Oh great. I was assigned to fight the weirdo again. Why does this keep happening to me?" the blonde commented in distaste.
"Because you're one too?" Happy suggested.
"And you're a flying, talking blue cat. I'd shut up if I were you."
Their attention returned to their enemy when he spoke up again. "Man, that girl was awesome."
"You're about to find out she's not the only one." the Celestial mage replied, feeling a bit insulted.
"I'm not scared either way. I'm the strongest of our team by far. Paralysis Claw: Mega Jellyfish." When he called out his spell, Toby's fingernails became elongated, sharp and green. "These claws have a special ability, but you'll never guess what it is."
"They…paralyze people?" the blue feline theorized.
His theory proved to be correct when their opponent's eyes widened and he looked visibly stunned by the guess. "Wow. How did you know that? Wait, do you use some mind-reading magic or something?"
Both Fairy Tail members remained silent for a few seconds before Lucy sighed and grabbed her keys. "Anyway, let's get on with this. Open Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
In a flash of gold, Lucy's spirit appeared, standing between her and her cross-species foe. "Have you called me to give me a smoooootch, Miss Lucy?"
"No, I called you so you can help me take care of him." Lucy responded in exasperation while pointing at Toby whose eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Whoa, it's a freaky man cow." he said.
When Taurus' gaze turned to their enemy, he had a similar reaction. "Whoa, it's a freaky man dog."
Lucy couldn't help but facepalm at their sheer stupidity. "Would you please just kick his ass already?"
"As you wish, Miss Lucy!" the bull exclaimed while pulling his giant axe back. He then brought it down on Toby who managed to dodge with surprising speed and agility.
"It's on, you stupid cattle! Just one hit from my claws and you will be paralyzed for hours!" the dog man declared, swiping his claws at the bull as a counterattack but was blocked by the long handle of Taurus' axe.
The Celestial Spirit then used his amazing physical strength to lift both his axe and his adversary and threw the latter into the air.
"WAAAAHHHH!" Toby screamed as he was flying in the sky. He stopped when he felt something wrap around his ankle. "Huh?"
As it turned out, what he felt was Lucy's whip and it didn't take her long to pull on it, effectively bringing him down face first on the sand.
After standing still for a few seconds, Lyon's minion groaned in pain and slowly rose to his feet while rubbing his head to sooth his pain. "Damn, that hurts." His gaze then landed on the spirit and his summoner holding their respective weapons and staring at him in readiness to continue the fight. "Two against one?! Do you guys have no honor?!"
"Says the guy who tried to vaporized a bunch of innocent and unarmed villagers." Lucy countered.
"Moooo! I'm going to make you pay for insulting Miss Lucy like that!" Taurus exclaimed and tried to slash Toby with his gigantic axe by swinging it horizontally.
Unfortunately, his attack was reckless and induced by anger, which made it easy to dodge. Not only that, but he also got carried away by the weight of his own weapon, making him vulnerable.
And even more unfortunately, Toby was smart enough to see it and capitalize on it (or maybe he just got lucky) and managed to plant his claws in the bull's torso. A second later, Taurus' entire body lit up with some sort of green electricity as he screamed in pain.
"Taurus!" Lucy yelled in concern.
This lasted for a few seconds. After that, the spirit was left lying on the ground, barely conscious, with his body smoking.
"I'm sorry…Miss Lucy…" he apologized and disappeared back into his own realm.
Lucy's look of concern turned into one of rage as she glared at a smug Toby. "Now that I have gotten rid of that guy, it's your tu-" He was interrupted by a metal glove hitting him into the back of his head, instantly knocking him out.
As his body fell on the sand, Lucy and Happy's eyes were as wide as they could get, staring blankly at the person to whom that hand belonged.
"Hey, Erza!…" Lucy happily greeted, but trailed off when she noticed the evil glare said knight was giving her. 'Oh yeah…Natsu said she'd punish us for breaking the rules.'
"Good luck, Lucy! You're on your own!" Happy declared and summoned his wings before trying to fly away as quickly as he could. The key word being "trying" for Erza garbed his tail, stopping him instantly.
"Now, where are the others?" Erza demanded to know.
"Listen. I'm sorry for what we did, but we can't leave now. Awful things have been happening on this island and we are the only ones who can stop it. The villagers have already lost their home and the people who did it are trying to revive a demon just like Lullaby but a lot more powerful. Not to mention they are still cursed to look like demons. We can't just walk out on them now, especially since we have a real chance to help them." the blonde argued.
"None of this concerns me." the redhead announced in an emotionless manner.
"Please, Erza! Natsu didn't know half the things I've just told you when he found us but he didn't hesitate to let us finish this job!-"
Lucy would have said more but was interrupted when a sword appeared at her throat. "In case you didn't notice, I am not Natsu. And, unlike him, I'm not going to let the three of you get away with betraying Master Makarov. In fact, you'll be lucky if you get away with your lives." the knight declared as her look progressively got darker.
A short time later, as the sun was beginning to rise, inside one of the many tents that had been set up as a temporary village to replace the destroyed one, Gray Fullbuster was lying on a bed of straw, still unconscious. In the corner on the other side of the tent, near its entrance, the dragon siblings and the white-furred feline were sitting and discussing the latest events.
"Okay, can you run that by me again? Specifically, what do you mean by "the rat dropped the goo"?" Natsu questioned, half-seriously, half-bewildered.
His confusion made Carla sigh and rub her temples before finally clarifying. "Natsu, look. It's already hard enough for us to make sense of what happened and we actually were there. So just try to go with it, okay?"
The pinkette was about to answer but, before he could, was interrupted by his little sister speaking up. "I'm sorry….You trusted me…and I failed you." she said, close to tears and not daring to look him in the eyes for fear of what she would see.
Her eyes widened as much as they could though, when she felt a warm hand gently touch her cheek and the thumb that was attached to it, rub her skin with similar care. Finally looking up, she saw Natsu looking down at her with a kind smile. "Hey, don't say that. I asked you to protect the villagers and you did. True, you didn't save the village itself, but I'm not sure even I could have. You made the best of a bad situation, Wendy. And, not only that, but then you kicked two of these guys' asses…and the rat's…anyway. The point I'm trying to make is: I'm not at all disappointed, I'm proud of you, Wendy. I've always been proud of you."
His words made the young girl release the tears in her eyes, and many more. Although, they weren't tears of sadness anymore, but of happiness. She jumped on him and wrapped her small arms around him, burying her face in his chest.
Natsu barely had enough time to return her hug when the tent's curtain, working as a door, was violently flung open. Violently enough to make Wendy remove her head from where it was to look at what was happening. As it turned out, it was Fairy Tail's resident red-haired knight walking in while carrying Lucy and Happy, both of them tied up.
"Erza!" the bluenette exclaimed.
"Why are they tied up?" Carla asked.
'Stupid question.' Natsu criticized.
'Yep.' Mavis agreed.
Erza, however, ignored both of them and threw both of her captives into the tent rather roughly. She then took notice of her last missing guildmate sleeping in a corner. "Gray's here too I see. Good." she then turned to the only other S-class mage present and sent him a glare that he really couldn't care less about but that his sister really didn't like, in more ways than one. "Natsu! Lucy has filled me in on what's going on and, among other things, has said that you allowed them to finish the job that they took without permission. I thought you were sent to stop them, not indulge them. So, why didn't you punish them severely and brought them back, as you should have? Explain yourself."
Now, Wendy definitely didn't like the knight's tone. Her eyes narrowed and she was about to comment on it when Natsu let go of her and stood up, speaking up himself. "Well, probably because I knew Makarov and you would administer you own punishments no matter what I did. And, because by the time we caught up to these idiots, they had already accepted the job with the villagers."
"I don't care if they had accepted it with a god. They took that job without that permission, they broke the rules, period." Erza argued, getting more and more irritated and authoritarian.
"Erza, I get that you value the rules of Fairy Tail, but what about its spirit?" her pink-haired guildmate asked, surprising her a bit.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you mean to tell me that you don't care about these people?"
"No. You know that's not what I meant but-" Erza tried to argue but was cut off. Something exceptional for her.
"But nothing. Either you do or you don't. There's no third option here. I'm not saying what they did is right, but what you plan on doing is far worse. Fairy Tail was never about punishing people for breaking rules. It's always been about helping others, giving a home and a family to those who don't have one. Trust me, I know." Natsu declared, his speech shocking everyone awake. Well, almost everyone.
'And, where did you learn that?' the First Master asked in a teasing tone.
'Oh. Shut up, Mavis.' Natsu replied, not hiding his amusement, which made her giggle. "Now, if you really want to take them back for their judgment, I won't try to stop you. I think you'd be making a mistake, but that's your choice. But I'm going to see this through to the end."
Erza was about to rebut when another voice stopped her.
"And so am I." Wendy supported her brother.
"And I." Carla agreed.
"Aye!" Happy declared, even though he was still tied up and thus, didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
Erza then spent a few seconds shaking with her bands hiding her eyes. She then rapidly requipped one of her swords and swung it at both Lucy and Happy, cutting the ropes holding them. "These events are intolerable. We'll deal with the immediate threat first." Both of them were about to cheer when her next comment stopped them. "That doesn't change the fact that you will be punished."
At the same time, Gray started stirring as he woke up, bringing everyone's attention back to him. He then tried to get up, but was still very weak and almost fell over if not for Lucy helping him by passing his arm around her shoulders.
"Hey, be careful. You're not injured but you used a lot of magic." she warned him.
"There is no time to be careful. We have to stop Lyon before he…Erza?!"
"Calm down, Gray. She accepted to hold off on killing you until we complete the mission." Natsu mocked.
"I-I see. But, I still can't calm down. We have to go stop Lyon! Now!" the ice mage insisted and tried to get out of the tent. Only to fall on his knees while holding his ribs.
"It's only the morning. They can only cast Moon Drip during the night, so we have plenty of time." Carla remarked.
"You don't understand. I can't take that risk." the dark-haired mage argued.
After a short pause, Natsu spoke up again. "So, what haven't you told us?"
Silence once again filled the room before Gray sighed and relented. "The spell Ur used to save us, Iced Shell. It doesn't exactly create the ice by taking the caster's life. It turns the person into the ice."
This information shocked them all except Natsu who wasn't all that surprised and Erza who didn't fully understand yet.
"B-But, that means…" Lucy realized but didn't dare to finish.
So Gray did it for her. "That Lyon is killing her! If he frees Deliora, Ur will die!"
"Perhaps not." Natsu revealed, making everyone's head snap towards him. "I might have a way to save her."
"W-What? How?" the weakened wizard asked in astonishment.
"I'm an ice mage too, remember?" the pinkette mocked.
Gray still didn't really understand, but he didn't care right now. "Then do it!"
"It's not that simple. We have to think carefully about this." the pink-haired mage insisted while holding his chin in reflection.
"WHAT?! Why the hell do you say that?!"
"Because, it involves releasing Deliora." Natsu clarified, shocking and terrifying everybody.