Growing Pains:
AN: So I've pretty much decided to go ahead and do the Battle of the Guilds arc. But, I'm having some trouble filling in the middle section. I have the beginning pretty well mapped out, and I know basically how it ends, but I need to fill in the middle. So I'm asking for your help. On my tumblr blog I asked for angsty requests since this will be a bit of an angst-fest. So, what kind of angst would you guys like to see in a full-length, battle story?
Oh, and enjoy the one-shot!
"Oof!" Von winced as he fell back against the grass.
"C'mon," Natsu sighed, walking over to the boy. "You totally could have burned that!"
"Uncle Natsu, can we take a break, please?" Von begged. "We've been out here all day!"
"It's only been an hour, kid," Natsu said. "And besides, I already told you, we ain't stopping until you've burned ten of these things to ash in a row."
Natsu bounced a beanbag in his hand in demonstration. Von just huffed in frustration. His dad was out of town. His mom was on a job. Roman had gone on some big job that both the Birthday Gang and Team New Blood had teamed up for. So he and his sisters had been left at the guildhall and, of course, Uncle Natsu had pulled him out here for a lesson.
"But I've already tried to!" Von protested. "And ten is too much! The most I've done at a time is six."
"Well, how are you going to beat your record if you don't practice?" Natsu asked.
"But I've been practicing for years and I still don't have it," Von drew his knees to his chest. "What if I never get it?"
"Well, not with that attitude you won't," Natsu stated matter-of-factly.
"Hey, you're not supposed to say that!" Von pouted as Natsu tossed a bean bag at him. Von held his fist up, sending a small jet of fire towards it, turning it to ash.
"So what am I supposed to say?" Natsu asked, tossing another bean bag Von's way.
"You're supposed to make me feel better!" Von said, burning the second bean bag.
"I've been trying that," Natsu said, tossing another bean bag that Von disintegrated. "But you seem to already be defeated."
"I never said that!" Von said, burning a fourth bean bag.
"But you act like it," Natsu said, tossing two bean bags Von's way. "All you talk about is how hard it is and how you'll NEVER get better, and you'll NEVER get your dragon abilities."
"But it is hard!" Von said as he burned a double shot of bean bags, followed closely by a seventh one.
"There it is," Natsu rolled his eyes, tossing another bean bag at Von. "That defeated attitude."
"I'm not defeated, I'm just tired!" Von insisted as he incinerated the bean bag.
"Tire, how? It's not even noon," Natsu said, tossing two more bean bags at Von. "I still say you're defeated."
"I'm not defea-"
"And that's ten," Natsu said as Von burned the last pair of bean bags.
Von's arms dropped to his sides. "What?"
"You burned ten in a row," Natsu said plainly, crossing his arms. "So all I gotta do to get you to work is piss you off, huh?"
Von didn't answer right away, he just stared down at his hands. "I...I did it? But I thought-"
"Y'know what, I think that's your problem," Natsu said. "You think too much."
"I do?" Von asked.
"Yeah, everytime we train all you seem to do is think about how you think you're weaker than everyone else."
Von hung his head. "But I am weaker than everyone else."
"How do you know?" Natsu asked. "I have yet to see you give me your all."
"That's not true!" Von protested. "I try hard to get this stuff! It's just hard!"
"It's not as hard as you're making it out to be," Natsu sighed. "Von, at some point you're going to have to stop worrying about whether or not you can do something and just do it."
"But what if I try and I fail?" Von asked.
"Then you know what you need to work on," Natsu answered.
Von just continued to stare at his hands, deep in thought.
"Von," Natsu sighed as he knelt down to the boy's level. "I know learning magic has been harder for you then maybe some of the other kids. But these past few months you've grown a lot. It may have taken you a while to get the hang of it, but now that you're getting it you've started picking it up quick. But if you keep thinking about the past or worrying that you'll never be as strong as everyone else then you'll never grow."
A thoughtful look crossed Von's face as he began to wring his hands together.
"Von," Natsu continued as he set a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're only going to be as strong as you think you can be. If you're going to spend the rest of your life thinking you'll always be the runt of the group then that's what you'll be."
"But what if I try to think about being stronger and I can't be as strong as I want to be?" Von asked.
"Well, how will you know if you never try?"
"But I have been trying!"
"Have you?"
Von pressed his mouth into a firm line. Of course he had! Hadn't he? Maybe there was some truth to what Uncle Natsu was saying. He always knew he was the weakest of the group, but what if he could change that? He always wanted to change it, obviously, but had he ever really believed that he could?
"At some point you have to let yourself grow, Von," Natsu said.
Von nodded slowly. "Can we do that drill again?"
"Alright, now you're talking," Natsu grinned as he ruffled Von's hair.
Von began to take up his position when a loud voice called:
"They're all back!"
Von gasped, eyes brightening. "Roman?"
Natsu chuckled. "Guess we'll run this drill later."
He and the boy made their way back into the guild hall, Von excited to see his brother and Natsu eager to hear how his daughter's job had gone. They were surprised to find that not only had the Birthday Gang returned, but so had Team New Blood.
"Hey, kiddos!" Natsu called. "How'd it go?"
"AWESOME!" Nashi cheered, throwing her arms around Koree and Storm's shoulders. "We kicked butt!"
"Yeah!" Koree agreed, fist pumping from where she was tucked under Nashi's left arm.
Cato suddenly appeared behind them, plopping his chin on top of Nashi's head and draping his arms of Storm and Koree's faces.
"Yeah, we handled it alright," Cato agreed.
"Get your giant mitt outta my face," Koree sputtered as she batted at Cat's hand.
"You're so heavy, why!?" Nashi groaned as Cato leaned his weight on his three friends.
"You guys are such idiots," Persephone rolled her eyes, though she was smiling.
Roman only laughed at them.
Storm, however, did not seem to be joining in his friend's merry spirit. Instead he was staring, wide-eyed at Nashi's arm around his shoulders, his face growing red.
"Ah...ah...yeah, it was great! Fine! Gotta go...uh...gotta go pee!" he sputtered as he squirmed free of Nashi's grip and raced to the bathroom.
"What's up with him?" Farrah asked from where she and the rest of her team were standing behind the Birthday Gang.
"I dunno, he's been acting weird all day," Koree said.
"Eh, guess he's just having an off day," Nashi shrugged as she let go of Koree and then shoved Cato off her head.
"So, tell me how it went," Natsu said as he approached his daughter.
As Nashi began to recount her story, Jennabeth began glancing around the guild hall. She soon found who she was looking for and ran over to the bar where the Thunder Legion was sitting with Laxus and Mirajane.
"Mr. Justine?" Jennabeth asked softly, shifting about shyly as Freed turned to her.
"Yes?" he asked.
Jennabeth opened a long package she'd been carrying with her.
"What's that?" Freed asked.
"Something I bought on our way back," Jennabeth answered softly as she pulled out a rapier and sheath, and held it out to Freed, her head hung shyly.
Freed arched an eyebrow in surprise. "A sword?"
"Can you teach me?" Jennabeth asked.
"Teach you?" Freed asked.
"Teach me how to use this?" Jennabeth explained with a small nod.
"Oh," Freed's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"I...I know I can't hide behind my ghosts forever, nor should I. It became very clear this past job that I'm really behind the others when it comes to combat. So...would you mind teaching me how to fence, please?"
Freed set his mug down and stood to his feet, taking the rapier from Jennabeth's hands. He pulled it from his sheath and looked it over.
"It's old, needs a good sharpening and polishing," he said thoughtfully as he placed a finger just a little below the hilt and balanced the rapier on his finger.
"Still," he continued with a nod of his head. "It's well balanced."
He took the rapier off his finger and gave it a few test swings and flicks. "It's light, too. Perfect for a small girl like yourself. Yes, I think this will suit you nicely."
Jennabeth smiled as Freed handed the rapier back to her.
"Pull up a chair," Freed said as he took his seat once more. "I'll show you how to care for it, first, then we'll go over the basics of fencing."
"Oh, thank you!" Jennabeth cheered as she pulled a chair up to Freed's side and he began showing her how to polish and sharpen the blade.
As Freed and Jennabeth went through their lesson, Storm emerged from the restroom. He glanced to either side, trying to make sure no one was watching him so he could quietly slip off. That was not to be the case, though.
"HEY, BRO!"
"GAH!" Storm jumped at the shout and whirled around. "BIANCA!"
"So, how'd the job go?" Bianca asked, eager to hear about her big brother's adventures.
"Uh...okay," Storm muttered, heading towards the back door and the outside.
"Just okay?"
"Yeah."
"What went wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing, but it was just okay?" Bianca arched an eyebrow as Storm stepped outside and sat down in the grass. Bianca followed him and leaned the guild hall wall, arms crossed.
"You're acting funny," she stated.
Storm's eyes widened a bit and he began to look a bit nervous.
"What happened?" Bianca asked.
Storm gazed up at his sister. She was onto him! She was onto him like a cat on a mouse. This was bad! What was he supposed to do now?
"Nothing...happened…" Storm slowly explained, shifting about easily. "It was just...weird."
"Weird? Why?" Bianca inquired.
Storm didn't answer right away, but instead began playing with a blade of grass.
"Storm, why was it weird?"
"I dunno. I just...everyone was acting weird so I..."
"Everyone, or just you? Because everyone else looked like their normal selves in there," Bianca said.
Storm grumbled to himself. She was not letting up!
"Did you have a fight with one of your teammates or something?" Bianca asked.
"Not...exactly…" Storm answered.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well...I...I didn't fight with any of them."
"But one of them was bugging you?"
"Not really…"
"What's THAT supposed to mean?"
"Well, I guess one of them has kinda been bugging me, but she doesn't mean to."
"She doesn't mean to? Storm you're not making any-WAIT!" Bianca's eyes widened. "She? As in a girl? She doesn't mean to bug you?"
Storm's eyes widened and Bianca's mouth fell open.
She quickly closed it back, though, and giggled.
"OH MY GOODNESS, YOU HAVE A CRUSH!"
"What!? No, I don't!" Storm protested.
"Who is it? Who is it?" Bianca begged to know. "It's not Jennabeth, is it?"
"What? No!" Storm exclaimed.
"Okay, good, because you're way too young for her, buster. And she doesn't strike me as a cougar."
"As a what?"
"Is it Koree?"
"As if!" Storm sniffed.
"Yeah, she's totally not type," Bianca agreed. "And Persephone would probably make you cry."
"No she wouldn't!"
"Please, you're such a softie!"
"I am not!"
"So that just leaves-OH!" Bianca clapped her hands to either side of her face and gasped. "It's Nashi, isn't it?"
"N-n-n-" Storm began to stutter as his face grew red. "N-n-no!"
"It's totally Nashi! You have a crush Nashi!"
"No I don't! You've got it all wrong!" Storm insisted, but to no avail.
"Oh my gosh! You're crushing Nashi Dragneel! Dad's gonna flip when he finds out!"
"Please don't tell him!" Storm begged.
"So you admit it," Bianca said, eyes narrowing.
Storm just stuttered, moving his mouth as if to make words though only garbled nonsense came out.
Bianca just giggled. "Oh my goodness! This is insane!"
"Ugh!" Storm hung his head.
"So, have you asked her out yet?" Bianca asked.
"No," Storm muttered.
"When are you gonna tell her?"
"I dunno."
"You don't know?" Bianca plopped onto the grass next to her brother.
"Mm-hmm," Storm groaned.
"But you've gotta tell her at some point, right?" Bianca said.
"Do I have to?" Storm asked.
"Well, yeah!" Bianca exclaimed. "I mean, you weren't planning on keeping this a secret until you died, were you?"
Storm just groaned and collapsed onto his back in the grass.
"Aw, shucks, you really were planning on taking this to the grave, weren't you?" Bianca muttered.
"Maybe," Storm answered glumly.
"Dummy!" Bianca scoffed.
"What am I supposed to do, though?" Storm asked. "It's not like I can just waltz up to her and say 'Hey, Nashi, I know we've been best friends our whole lives but now I'm in love with you all of a sudden, let's date!'"
"Why not, though?" Bianca asked.
"Bianca, you can't just drop something like that on someone!"
"But why not?"
"Because it's weird!" Storm groaned. "You wouldn't just say something like that to one of your best friends, would you?"
"I dunno, I don't plan on crushing on any of them."
"Well, I wasn't planning on falling in love with Nashi either-"
"Wait, fall in LOVE!?"
Storm's eyes widened. "Did I say that?"
"Yup!"
"Aw, dang it!"
"Boy, you got it bad!" Bianca exclaimed.
"I know," Storm groaned, slapping his hands over his face.
"So...when did this happen?" Bianca asked.
"I don't know," Storm grumbled.
"You don't know? How do you not know when you fell in love with someone."
"I just...I don't know-"
"You already said that."
"I know what I said!"
"Do you, though? Because seconds ago you asked me if you really said you were in love-"
"You are not helping in the slightest!"
"Who said I'm trying to help?"
"Then what are you trying to do?"
"Be nosy."
"Gee, thanks!"
"I'm your little sister. Prying into your love life is a part of my job!"
"What love life?"
"Yeah, that's fair, your romantic affairs are a pretty sad and pathetic mess right now."
Storm frowned at his sister. "I hate you."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"You love me."
"Despise you!"
"I'm just stating the facts, bro. You've got it bad. You don't know what to do. And it's kinda sad. But in a sweet way."
Storm just groaned loudly. "Bianca, I don't know what to do!"
"Yeah, we established that," Bianca scoffed. "Literally seconds ago. I just said it!"
"I mean she's my best friend! If I tell her how I really feel that'll just make things weird! And then that'll mess our team up because-"
"But what if she feels the same way?" Bianca asked.
Storm just laughed. "Nashi doesn't love me. Not like that, anyways."
"How do you know?" Bianca asked.
"Trust me, she doesn't."
"But how do you know?"
"Because," Storm sighed. "She treats me just like she treats everyone else. She just sees me as one of the guys."
"Or maybe she just doesn't realize she loves you yet," Bianca suggested.
"How do you figure that?" Storm sniffed.
"Because she's about as subtle as an explosion aboard a sinking ship in the middle of a typhoon," Bianca stated matter-of-factly. "Don't get me wrong, she's a great girl and you could definitely do worse, but unless you spell it out for her she ain't gonna get it."
"Yeah...she does have a bit of a short attention span…" Storm admitted.
"There, see, she probably hasn't even realized-"
"She's pretty good with emotions, though, so if she was falling for me she'd-"
"'She's pretty good with emotions?' What does that mean!? She's good at emoting? Congratulations, she has the basic criteria of being human!"
"What I meant was she can usually pick up on things like when someone's sad or scared," Storm grumbled. "So-"
"And yet she hasn't figured out you're head over heels for her?" Bianca arched an eyebrow.
Storm just stared at her.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Bianca nodded.
Storm sighed. "Okay, okay, fine! Maybe she does feel the same. And maybe she just hasn't realized it. But...what if she doesn't? And I tell her how I feel, and then that just puts her in a weird spot. What then?"
Bianca's smirk left her face as she thought.
"I just don't want to make her uncomfortable," Storm muttered.
"But you're uncomfortable," Bianca said. "Even today, after going on a normal job you had to come run out here because you were so flustered."
Storm sighed. "I know."
"So are you just going to stay like this forever because you're scared you may or may not make things weird between you two for a little while?"
"How long is a little while, though?" Storm asked.
"I dunno," Bianca shrugged. "I've never done this before. But you can't be the first guy in the world to be stuck in this situation!"
Storm rolled his eyes.
"Besides," Bianca continued. "Don't you think Nashi deserves the truth?"
Storm glanced at his sister.
"I mean, you're trying to act like you just see her as a buddy and like everything's normal but it's not. Sooner or later she's gonna catch on. Yeah, she's not the best at picking up subtleties, but your exit just then was anything but subtle."
"Ugh!" Storm groaned.
"Sooner or later she's gonna start to notice."
"I know."
"So tell her!"
"I…" Storm sighed and leaned his forehead on his knees. "I don't know how."
"What do you mean-"
"Bianca, this is kind of a big deal, okay!?" Storm snapped.
"Well, obviously-"
"So get off my back about it, okay!"
"Geez, I'm just trying to help."
"Oh, now you're being helpful."
"Yes."
Storm rolled his eyes. "I just need some time to think."
"Okay, I guess that's fair," Bianca sighed as she shrugged. "Just don't overthink it."
"I make no promises."
"Ugh, I'm already dreading this," Bianca groaned as she stood up.
"Hey, Bianca," Storm called as he turned to face her.
"Yeah?" Bianca looked over her shoulder.
"Promise you won't tell anyone about this?" Storm asked. "Please?"
"Duh!" Bianca rolled her eyes again.
Storm gave a small smile. "Thanks."
"Don't worry about it," Bianca waved him off. "Besides, you pull another stunt like that I won't tell anyone. Seriously, though, we need to work on your acting skills."
"I know!"