"Hey Wendy! Earthland to Wendy!" A young blue haired girl was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as a friend of hers was waving his hand in front of her face. They were currently in the Fairy Tail guild, located in the town of Magnolia. The sky wizard was sitting by an average sized table with 4 of her friends, them being Natsu Dragneel, a fire dragon slayer. Happy, Natsu's companion who is a small blue cat called an Exceed. Lucy Heartfilia, a blonde Celestial wizard. Finally there was Carla, another Exceed with white fur, who was Wendy's companion.
"O-oh! I'm sorry, Natsu!" Wendy apologized as she waved her hands. "I guess I spaced out a bit there…"
"Everything alright Wendy?" Lucy tilted her head as she spoke in a soft tone. "You've been out of it lately."
"Maybe she's hungry and wants some fish." Happy guessed, while chomping on a fish of his own.
Lucy pinched her nose and sighed. "Happy, that's totally not it at all…" A small sweat drop left her temple.
"Oh!" Natsu shot up. "Maybe there's someone bothering you! Well give me a name and I'll take them down!" He punched his fist into his palm as a small spark of flame shot out. Lucy proceeded to cover her face and let out a groan.
"No, that's not it." Wendy shook her head. "I was just thinking about the 'Sky Sisters' performance at Lamia Scale tonight."
"And what's wrong with that child?" Carla asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you would be excited for it."
"I am, but…" Wendy's face suddenly turned red as she covered her face. "It's been months since our last performance! What if I screw it up? I don't wanna disappoint Chelia!" She whimpered.
"Nonsense Wendy!" Lucy suddenly stood up and gripped Wendy's hands as they looked each other in the eyes. "I saw one of your performances and you two were great! I'm sure you'll make Chelia proud!" She encouraged, which eased Wendy's fears a little as she smiled softly.
"Indeed!" Abruptly, a red haired woman wearing armor approached the group, her name was Erza Scarlet, a Requip wizard. "I envy you, Wendy. The thrill of performing in front of hundreds of people always fills me with excitement!" She clenched her fist.
Wendy's face turned red once again as she let out a small whimper, which Lucy took quick notice. "Don't worry, you'll do great. I promise."
The Sky Sorceress nods her head before looking up at Lucy with a distressed look. "Are you sure you can't come?"
Lucy lowered her brow. "I'm sorry Wendy, I really am. But we have to go out on a job soon." She felt bad, but she was low on money and since her rent was due in a week, she had no choice.
Erza placed a hand on Wendy's shoulder and smiled softly. "You can tell us all about it once you come back, we'll be looking forward to it."
Being reminded of today's plans, Carla glanced over at the clock and widened her eyes. "Wendy! We have to get going, our train leaves in an hour!" She opened her wings and flew up.
"Oh, you're right!" Wendy noticed the time too and stood up and grabbed her luggage. "I'm sorry guys! We'll be back soon!" The two quickly left the building as her friends waved the two goodbye.
Natsu immediately slumped over on the table and sighed. "Going on jobs won't be the same without them…"
"Oh come on Natsu," Lucy rolled her eyes. "We've done plenty of jobs without them."
"Speaking of jobs…" Erza glanced at the paper on the table. "What job did you choose?"
"Another monster, apparently it's been living in the forest near a small town and eating the wild animals there." Lucy explained before picking up the paper and frantically pointing at the reward amount. "But look! The reward is massive! I should be able to pay rent for the next couple of months!"
"A monster huh?!" Natsu shot up and smirked. "I'm fired up!"
"You sure got over your depression quickly…" Perplexed Lucy.
"Well if you're after a monster, then don't forget me." A shirtless man approached as he pointed at himself, his name was Gray Fullbuster, a Ice Melding wizard. "Besides, I'm sure hothead will screw it up if I'm not around." He mocked.
"At least I can keep my clothes on, you creep…" Natsu shot back. Gray looked down and noticed his shirt missing "Ah! Jeez…"
"I better not see you two bickering during this job, you hear me!" Erza demanded with a threatening look in her eyes.
The two proceeded to stand up straight, sweating profusely, and saluted the red-haired wizard. "Aye sir!"
Erza looked down and sighed before turning back at Lucy with a friendly smile. "Well, shall we get going then?"
The train whistle blew as it began to cross a large bridge. The trip from Magnolia to Margaret Town was planned to be a short and pleasant ride, all except for one person.
"Uuuuurrrgh…" Wendy slouched by the window near her seat. She looked like she could throw up any moment with her cheeks occasionally puffing up.
"I still don't understand why you suddenly started getting motion sickness…" Carla wondered, she was currently in her human form sitting across from Wendy's seat, crossing her arms.
"I…d-don't know…" Wendy whined. "M-maybe me getting…better with my magic had to do…w-with it…" She groaned as she slumped over her seat.
"Well, try and hang in there child. We're almost here." Carla sighed as she looked out the window and noticed Margaret Town in the distance.
Minutes passed (but it felt like an hour for Wendy) as the train came to a complete stop at its destination. One person was awaiting the two outside of the station, a young red haired girl around the same age as Wendy, named Chelia Blendy. She noticed the two leave the station, albeit one of them still recovering from the sickness, the red haired girl ran up to her friends and gave Wendy a big hug.
"Wendy! Carla! I'm glad you two made it!" Chelia beamed. She then took notice in Wendy's exhausted expression. "Are you doing ok?"
"H-hi Chelia…" Wendy struggled. "Don't worry, I-I'm doing okay…but thank you." She tried standing up straight but was wobbling, Chelia quickly wrapped an arm around her friend and helped her walk.
"Come on, let's get you to the guild as soon as possible. You look out of it." Chelia suggested as the three began walking together. She looked down and sighed "I wish I could heal you, I'm sorry you've been dealing with this…"
"Y-you don't need to apologize! I appreciate the thought though." Wendy smiles. Chelia smiles back. Carla walked by the two and let out a small sigh before smiling. "Don't push yourselves." The Exceed advised.
Chelia nodded before noticing something off. "Your friends couldn't make it?" She tilted her head as she looked at Wendy.
"Unfortunately not…they said they had to go on an urgent job." Wendy sighed, looking a little upset.
"Oh…well hey! They'll be lacrima visions recording our comeback performance! You can get a copy and show it off to your friends when you get back!" The former Sky God slayer tried to encourage, however…
"Wait, we're going to be recorded!?" Wendy's face immediately turned beat red as Chelia had a sweat drop from her head.
"This is going to be a long night…" Carla mumbled.
1 day later…
"We're home…" Lucy blubbered. She and the others returned from their mission looking satisfied, all except for a certain blonde mage.
"Welcome back Lucy, how did the mission go?" Mirajane, Fairy Tail's bartender asked. Lucy sat across from her and slumped over the table.
"It's awful Mira!" The Celestial mage cried. "We were only able to get half of the reward!"
The bartender giggled, not surprised to hear this. "What happened this time?"
Lucy explained. "Well, Natsu was able to track down the monster. Gray and Erza were doing a good job taking care of it until…"
~~~Flashback~~~
"You probably should stay out of this Natsu." Happy suggested. "You'll only burn up the place, Erza and Gray can take care of it."
"W-wait! Happy!" Lucy realized.
"What did you just say?!" Natsu was enraged. "I bet you I can take down this beast without destroying the forest!" He then leaped in the air and slammed his palms together.
Gray and Erza were standing their ground against the large beast until they noticed a bright light above them. Once they looked up their eyes widened.
"Brilliant Flame of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu shouted as he hurled a large fireball towards the beast and struck it head on. The flames exploded after Erza and Gray leaped out of harm's way. The beast roared in pain before it fell over slowly, completely defeated.
"Nyahahaha, you see! Easy peasy!" Natsu cackled before being smacked to the ground by Erza's fist.
"You fool! *COUGH* Look at what *COUGH* you did!" Erza chastised through coughs. A good chunk of the forest caught fire as smoke covered the area, making it difficult for everyone else to breath.
"I'm sorry…" Natsu apologized, feeling dizzy. A huge bump was present on the top of his head.
~~~Flashback End~~~
"We were able to clear out the smoke and fire quickly, but because of the damage we only got half the reward…" Lucy finished explaining with tears in her eyes.
Mirajane giggled once again. "Well you have enough for rent right?"
Lucy sighed before sitting up and resting a hand on her cheek. "Yeah, I guess…" The blonde then looked around the guild. She saw Natsu and Happy chatting with Elfman, Macao and Wakaba about the monster they faced. She then saw Gray sitting with Juvia as the ice wizard was glaring at the fire dragon slayer. Erza was currently sitting by herself having a snack. Everything seemed normal, although something was missing…
"Is Wendy not back yet?" Lucy realized as she turned back to Mirajane.
"She decided to stay the night at Lamia Scale, apparently the performance was longer than she thought and was too exhausted to ride back home." Mira explained as she was wiping down a plate. "She should be back sometime today, I imagine it won't be much longer."
"Ah, I see…" Lucy looked down while scribbling on the table with her finger. Despite all the chaos in the mission the celestial mage couldn't stop thinking about how they missed out on Wendy's performance. Even if the blue haired girl understood, Lucy still felt really bad about it. She turned around and called over the others.
"What's up Lucy?" Natsu asked while folding his arms behind his head.
"Well, ever since we left for the mission, I've been feeling bothered that we had to miss out on Wendy's performance." Lucy brought up, the rest of the group began to feel guilty about the same.
"Yea, now that you mention it…" Gray scratched his head.
"It's been on my mind too." Erza added, crossing her arms and looking down dejected.
"I was thinking of making it up to her! Y'know, she's just as important to us than we are to each other." Lucy suggested as she stood up and clapped her hands together. "Anyone got any ideas?"
Natsu, Gray and Happy tilted their heads in unison. "Guess none of you got anything…" Lucy sighed. She then heard Erza chuckling to herself while giving a confident smirk.
"A wonderful idea Lucy!" Erza beamed with sparkles in her eyes. "And I know exactly what to do!"
"Ooooh~!" Everyone else anticipated Erza's suggestion.
"We can bake a cake for her!" Erza swung her arm to the side as her hair flew dramatically. However, Lucy and the rest were doubtful.
"I dunno Erza…I don't do baking…" Natsu replied, raising a hand. "Yeah, same here." Gray also raised a hand.
"Are you sure you want to make a cake just to have some for yourself…?" Lucy doubted.
Erza immediately sulked by a wall. "You're right…" She gripped the wall so hard she accidentally tore some of the wood off. "How could I be so selfish! Someone, punch me!"
"Now now…" Lucy tried to ease.
"Why don't you get her a gift?" A gruff sounding voice suggested. The others looked over and saw Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer sitting by a table with two other people.
"A gift huh? You got any suggestions?" Gray asked.
"How should I know? You lot are with her more than I am." Gajeel remarked.
"Maybe she'll like a new spell book?" A petite woman who was sitting next to Gajeel suggested, Levy McGarden, a Solid Script wizard.
"I'm pretty sure that's more your alley…" Gajeel doubted.
"How about a fish?" Happy flew up and brought up with confidence.
"Oh, and maybe a big hunk of meat!" Natsu also brought up with confidence.
"Do you two even know what a girl would like?!" Lucy facepalmed.
"Hmph, well whatever the case…" Another gruff sounding voice was heard. It was another Exceed with black fur, Panther Lily, who was standing on the table with his arms crossed. "You may be closer to Wendy than I am, but I'm pretty sure she'll be happy with whatever you give her." He gave a smile of encouragement.
"That is true." Erza got out of her corner. "As long as it comes from the heart, then I'm confident she'll be happy with it."
"May Juvia suggest something?" The girl who was sitting by Gray approached the group; Juvia Lockser. "The floral shop recently got some flowers straight from Crocus. Juvia is sure she'll love those."
"Oh! That's a great idea Juvia!" Lucy praised. Juvia glared daggers at Lucy for a split second before immediately smiling brightly. Lucy sweated a bit.
"Juvia *was* planning on getting some for my Gray…but for a friend, Juvia will allow it." The water mage mumbled to herself, twiddling her thumbs.
"Some flowers eh?" Mirajane overheard the conversation. "Me and Lisanna can sew some of those into a nice dress for her. I'm sure Wendy would be excited about that."
"That's perfect, we shall go with that then." Erza approved, it seemed their gift for the youngest member was decided.
"Look at that Gajeel, your idea sparked some motivation for the others." Levy praised. Gajeel simply huffed and turned away.
Lucy smiled brightly as the other members discussed getting Wendy's gift prepared and chiming in some Jewel to buy the flowers and sewing materials, this really was the most loving guild.
Back in Margaret Town; Wendy, Carla and Chelia were on their way to the train station. Wendy was currently looking at a small Lacrima stone she was holding and her face was as red as Erza's hair.
"Come on Wendy! Don't look like that, you were amazing out there!" Chelia praised while walking next to her best friend.
"B-but…do I *really* have to show them this?! I'm embarrassed enough holding this!" Wendy blubbered.
"If you want to keep performing then you're going to need to get over your stage fright." Carla sighed, she was back in her Exceed form and flying by the two girls.
"Yeah yeah…" Wendy pouts. She then looks over at Chelia. "Are you sure you wanna stay with us for a couple days? Fairy Tail can get really rowdy…"
"Of course! Ever since you re-joined Fairy Tail, I've always wanted to see what it was like." Chelia bubbled before giving her friend a quick hug. "Plus I get to spend more time with my best friend!" She giggled, Wendy returned the hug while giggling too.
Once the group arrived at the train station, they noticed caution tape and signs around the area. The tracks also looked severely damaged and a repair group was already present. However there were long lines and a lot of angry looking groups. The three girls approached an officer and Chelia was the one to speak up. "Excuse me sir, what's going on?"
"I'm terribly sorry young lady, but there was an accident at the station just last night. The station is closed off for a week." The officer responded.
"Whaaat?! A whole week?!" Wendy bleated. "How did we not hear it?"
"I'm sure that despite your enhanced hearing, your performances and crowd made the noise here inaudible." Carla explained.
"Oh! I'm so sorry sir! I hope everyone is ok!" Wendy bowed apologetically at the man.
"Ha ha, no need to worry young lady. No one was seriously hurt and were quickly escorted out of harm's way." The officer reassured. Wendy let out a sigh of relief.
"What are we going to do now?" Chelia wondered. Carla then looked at the two with a serious expression.
"Looks like we have no other option, we're going to have to take a carriage back." The Exceed declared with a straight face. Wendy immediately turned away and covered her mouth, trying not to throw up. "Don't get sick just by thinking about it!" Carla blurted.
Wendy really didn't want to go, carriages were far more bumpy than trains. But she didn't want to be gone long enough for her friends to worry and potentially send someone to get her. She had no other option.
"...Okay then…" Wendy agreed in a defeated state.
"It'll take several hours to reach Magnolia, so prepare yourself child." Carla warned. Wendy groaned in response.
Two hooded mages were traveling through a large open grassy field with a steep green hill. The two had no destination, only to what the path took them. One of the mages was a young woman with long pink hair who was chewing on some apples they bought earlier. She swallowed her fill before looking at the other mage who was a taller man with blue hair and a red tattoo on his right eye.
"Y'know Jellal, we don't have to hide our faces anymore." The woman reminded.
"Even if we were granted freedom by the princess, not everyone is going to accept us so easily, Meredy." Jellal replied. "And until the day where all evil is eradicated, we will still be reminded of our sins."
Meredy sighed before shrugging. "How can you still be such a downer all the time…?" She then looked ahead which led to more open fields, she softly smiled. "Say, you think Eric and the others are doing okay?"
Jellal smiled as well. "They may have gone their separate ways, but I'm confident in knowing that they're living much better lives now." They both observed the view as they took off their hoods. "This is the kind of freedom and beauty we will keep fighting for, don't forget that."
"Hehe, of cou-"
"Excuse me…" A mysterious voice appeared from behind the two. Jellal and Meredy froze for a moment before quickly turning around on guard. What they say was a taller man wearing a white cloak, however they noticed his long green hair and purple eyes.
"What the hell?! How did he get behind us so suddenly?!" Jellal thought.
"...Oh, my apologies." The man sighed before bowing slightly. "I thought you were someone else, I'll be on my way now. Have a blessed day you two." He then slowly walked past the two as they turned to face him again.
"Aera." The green haired man summoned two large wings before he quickly took off ahead, leaving a strong gust of wind behind which made the two cover their faces for a brief moment.
"Jellal…who *was* that?" Meredy was stunned.
"I'm not sure…but…" Jellal began before looking ahead. "Given where he took off, I think I may know where he's going…"
Up ahead, the man was flying through the fields as his harsh winds were cutting the grass slightly, he stopped at the end of a cliff which revealed a large town. His wings vanished as he stood over the cliff and noticed a large building with a red symbol somewhat resembling a fairy.
"That must be it…the Sky Sorceress' home…" Hahlos chuckled. "Soon our bright future will come to be."
~~~Author's Notes~~~
If you've read the previous version of this story, the events will be familiar and will continue to be for the next couple of chapters. However things will be different in the future.
Including Cobra and the others in the previous story wasn't a good idea since they didn't do much and created a plot hole since Angel was present. So I made sure to have Crime Sorciere just be Jellal and Meredy. I do hope you like these changes I'm making.
And if this is your first time reading, I hope you'll enjoy this fanfic! I feel like I have improved a lot already.