From then, there was a war.
It was the quiet kind, once maybe no one would have known about.
One no one should have known about.
One where Wendy struggled to reconcile the world as it moved forward with the painful reality of Charle's passing. It had so many angles; she hated that others discounted the lives of Exceeds and often thought of them as pets. She hated how every smile came with a surge of guilt because she wasn't there to share it with her friend.
Deep inside, her mind played tricks on her, reminding her that everyone that had ever loved her was gone. Grandine died. Jellal was so far away he might as well have. And Charle? She died because of Wendy.
Wendy pulled the details apart a thousand times and put them back together again and knew in her heart that Charle must have returned because she had a premonition.
Between jobs, she developed a strange kind of gravity that led to many nights like this one, which she spent in the cemetery, leaning against the headstone. Maybe she had resolve to be strong, and maybe she knew she had to keep going and be the best wizard she could be. It didn't make the simple act of moving on any easier.
When it started to rain, she closed her eyes. "I miss you, Charle. I wonder, can you hear me? Are you mad at me?"
She looked up when she heard a thud and saw Bixlow had jumped the fence to the cemetery.
"Hey there. I thought that was you. What are you doing out this late?"
Wendy said. "Just visiting. What are you doing out this late?"
"I just got back from a date." He stuck his tongue out playfully. "She beat me with her purse when I told her what my babies are."
"They're souls, right?"
Bixlow nodded. "Sort of, and sort of not. Let's say you shout as loud as you can. The sound keeps traveling until it dissipates and runs out of power. It'll bounce off walls, travel through the earth, even go up into space. When a person leaves this world, it's a powerful event. You can't see it, or feel it, but it creates an echo."
His dolls floated up around him. "So these are not so much directly the souls of the dead as the echoes of their lives. They're fragmented, incomplete. What my magic does is give them a physical form so they can interact with this realm."
"That's not so bad."
The older wizard said, "Death is part of life, Wendy. It's scary, and no one wants to die. When you die, all the potential and the future you had in this world ends, but a new one starts. We are immortal souls that are bound to mortal bodies for exactly one lifetime. I don't know what happens after that…if there's heaven, or hell, or if people reincarnate. I do know that there's no reason to assume it would be a bad place."
Wendy considered this. "Maybe you're right. Do you think it's the same for Exceeds?"
Bixlow said, "Exceeds have human souls. I don't really know why, guessing the answer to that question is in another world. They're the same as us, but they live in different vessels. Your souls will probably meet again someday when all of this is over and it's time for you to leave your body. It's something that is going to happen to everyone, and it is okay. The life inside of you, and the life inside of Charle, are greater than the bodies we live in here in this world.
"Charle didn't disappear, she just went to a place you cannot go now. But someday, you will, and if your soul desires it, you'll meet her there. You have a whole life to live until then, one that should not be spent moping around in a graveyard. You should live the best life you can, so that when you meet your friend, you can tell her that the life she gave up her body to save, was lived to the fullest."
Wendy nodded.
Bixlow offered her a hand and pulled her directly up into a hug.
Wendy really loved everyone in the Thunder Legion:
Freed was so organized and disciplined, and perpetually considerate and observant. There was a certain carefulness and precision about everything that he did. Even his rare jokes seemed to have a sort of pinpoint accuracy about them. He was studious, and always read books as they traveled. He could be a little proper but was also always thinking of the entire team every time he made any decision.
Bixlow was genuinely one of the nicest and one of the most extroverted people she'd ever met, which almost seemed odd considering how dark his magic seemed. He liked to talk, liked to laugh, liked to be with everyone and to have a good time. His magic scared her at first, because it was strange for such a happy and caring person to wield something so dark, but he'd do anything for his friends, no questions asked. He treated his close friends as if they were truly precious to him.
Evergreen was the one Wendy spent the most time with since they usually roomed together on jobs. There was no woman more confident or naturally fabulous than Evergreen, who viewed glamor and self-care in the same way most people felt about breathing. Her toenail color changed as often as her mood, but she had been a voice of sanity in a group of guys who maybe needed some encouragement to get enough sleep, eat right, and take care of themselves.
Then there was Laxus.
Wendy felt like all the other members of the Thunder Legion had qualities that Laxus lacked. He was reckless and inconsiderate, so Freed balanced that out. He was awkward and didn't know how to express how he cared for others, thus Bixlow. He didn't care that much about important things that Evergreen cared dearly about.
She wasn't sure what she offered to the group, but she was grateful they pulled her in and kept her so close. The bonds of the Thunder Legion were powerful, and in a difficult time, they nurtured and comforted her.
A hug from Bixlow went a long way, because she knew he was embracing her as a true friend who valued their relationship.
He cracked a smirk as she released him. "C'mon. You need to sleep before we leave tomorrow. Unless your travel strategy is to pass out from exhaustion to avoid motion sickness."
"That actually doesn't sound bad."
As they walked to where they needed to part ways, Wendy grabbed onto his arm. "You're a really warm person, Bixlow."
"It's good to be alive with all of you," he said.
Then, she asked, "Is it okay for me to ask…how did you get your powers?"
He stopped. "No one else in the guild knows outside of Master and the Thunder Legion, but I guess you're one of us. It's a bad story."
"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine."
"Friends aren't really friends if they don't know one another, are they?" he asked.
"I guess not."
Bixlow said, "My mom grew up in this little farming village in the middle of nowhere in Brago, but that little village was also where a dark guild was operating in secret. The villagers were afraid, so they tried to stay out of the way. One of the wizards in the dark guild became obsessed with my mom, but she didn't want him. She decided to run away from the village, with her new husband that she married in secret. They came all the way to this country, and started a new life. They bought their own farm, and raised a family.
"One night, that dark wizard happened to come through their town on a job and he saw my mom at the local market. She was due to give birth to me at the time. He put a curse on her that passed on to me in the womb, which made her so weak she died after having me. I was born with my eyes like this, but I was just a baby. I couldn't control it. My family abandoned me. The dark wizard took me back to Brago, and took care of me. I ran away as soon as I was old enough. This guild is the only real family I've ever had."
Wendy hugged his arm tighter. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not. I can't change anything that happened. I use my powers to live my life, and it's a good life."
"You're strong."
"I've got my friends, and my dreams. So do you."
After they parted ways, Wendy headed back to her room at the dorm and took a shower, glaring at herself in the mirror for awhile as she pondered the infinite future, and the fact she'd have to face it without Charle.
The roots of her hair were pink for a couple of inches, which was somewhat of a mystery, but her body was suddenly starting to change all over the place. She'd developed intense cravings for sugar and had suddenly started to 'eat like a dragon.' It took her no time at all to develop intense hunger, and when she did eat, it was more than a normal human being would consume in an entire day. Her eyes would stay magenta after leaving dragon force for longer and longer periods of time, leaving Wendy to wonder if the change would soon become permanent.
Laxus told her that he'd developed motion sickness and sugar cravings not long before his major growth spurt started, so she was evidently going through something that was normal for dragonslayers, but it wasn't pleasant.
Other parts of her body were suddenly changing too, with a few hairs growing in places that had always been smooth and breasts that were so sore even moving her arms hurt them sometimes.
Wendy was experiencing intense feelings about her body, which hadn't changed much for years. As much as she'd been excited about growing up, now that the process had started, she hated it. Her body felt strange, it hurt in places, every gross place she was growing hair was itchy, and her forehead was so oily all of the sudden they made her bangs stick together, which just made her hate her bangs.
Then because she was trying to grow her bangs, they were shaggy and long, and half pink now.
There were weird scaly rashes all over her body everywhere she grew anything extra when she was in dragon force, which seemed to be a problem with dragon puberty and not human puberty. They were itchy, hard, and sore, and now and then, huge chunks of skin would shed like she was some sort of lizard.
While she stared at herself in the mirror, she brushed her bangs away to find a fat, pink pimple right in the middle.
Wendy put on her robe, went down the hall, and knocked on Evergreen's door.
Evergreen answered in a characteristically fancy lace and silk nightgown.
"I need help…"
"What's wrong, Wendy?"
She pushed her bangs back. "H-Huge…"
Evergreen covered her mouth and giggled. "Are you a dragonslayer or a unicorn? Come here, I'll teach you everything I know."
Wendy was practically in tears as she sat on the stool in front of Evergreen's vanity and complained about having an oily, itchy, scaly, sore body, hair changing colors, hair growing in gross places, and the like.
The older woman combed her hair and pinned her bangs back. "This probably isn't what you want to hear, but it's actually normal to feel uncomfortable in your own body at this point. I think everyone goes through that. Not just girls, either. Growing up is awkward. It helps to try new things."
Wendy said, "My body is changing in ways I didn't want it to."
"Gajeel's body was permanently transformed too—humans aren't born with his eye color or covered in metal studs. If you get pink hair and eyes, it's probably a blessing. At least it's not chunks of metal or blotches of color everywhere. It's not about being beautiful or ugly to other people but accepting yourself and loving yourself."
Evergreen popped her pimple with a metal instrument and put medicine on it. "It helps to make a change sometimes."
"Really?"
"It's fun to reinvent yourself sometimes. If you feel like a little girl trapped in a growing body, then change it. A good makeover can help you see yourself in a new light. Fabulous is a state of mind, you know."
Wendy decided to trust Evergreen and listened carefully while Evergreen worked diligently.
She plucked Wendy's brows, gave her a razor and ran her through every in and out of hair removal, and the dirty, dastardly details of being a teenage girl, from the dreaded t-zone on her face to how to deal with sore breasts and what to do on the dreaded day she joined the ranks of the menstruating.
"It'll probably be soon, if you feel like this. You don't want to get caught off guard on a job and we run around with a bunch of idiot men. You want to have everything you need on you at all times, because whatever you imagine as being the worst possible time will definitely be the time it happens. And probably don't wear white bottoms for a while."
Wendy fidgeted. "Is something that gross really going to happen to me?"
"Of course. It's inescapable."
"Is it going to seem gross to me when it happens?"
"Yes, it's actually worse than you're thinking. You'll think you're dying the first time it's clotty or brown, but you'll survive," she replied.
Wendy shuddered. "How disgusting."
Evergreen smiled. "It's uncomfortable, but just one step on the way to becoming your true self."
They exfoliated, they moisturized, and Evergreen painted Wendy's fingernails and toenails while she told Wendy about all her own struggles as a teenager.
A coat of mascara and a little pink gloss on her lips did make her feel pretty.
Wendy eventually fell asleep on Evergreen's bed with spacers still stuck between her toes, and when Evergreen woke her up early in the morning, they went out before their job to shop.
A bra with some padding did help her breasts hurt less when she moved, but it made the clothes she tried on fit differently. It was empowering and embarrassing all at once. Since she needed a new outfit anyway, she eventually settled on halter dress that was the same shade of blue that her hair had been with a little gold pattern, tall brown boots, and a white cloak.
Since she grew wings on her back, wrists, and ankles during dragon force, she had to carefully make tiny slits in the boots.
After they returned to the dorm and packed to go, she met the team at the train station and Wendy pulled the hood on her cloak over her head, happy for a way to not be seen.
Laxus flipped it off with his index finger. "Smells like Wendy. Is Wendy?" he teased.
"Is Wendy," she answered, "My head feels lighter without all that hair."
"You're wearing makeup like you're grown?"
Evergreen punched him on the arm. "Don't be awkward, Laxus. She's fabulous, don't you think?"
"I think you look lovely, and possibly a little dangerous," Freed commented.
Bixlow's babies chanted, "We like!"
Laxus nodded. "It's nice. Evergreen got after me once and burned half my clothes."
Evergreen replied, "Wendy would understand if she'd been here for the cigars, heavy metal, and patterned shirts days you had. You would all be lost and terribly unfashionable if it weren't for me."
Wendy smiled. "It's hard for me to imagine Laxus being any more ridiculous than he is normally."
His answer to this was to pat her on the head. "I thought you were a nice little girl, now what?" he tousled the wild hair until it looked ever crazier than it did at first. "I'm having a strong craving for sour plums."
Due to their connection, Wendy felt most comfortable giving Laxus a hard time because she knew he liked being antagonized. Deep down, he was playful and even though he said he wasn't much of a people person, he liked to be surrounded by his team.
While they prepared to get on the train, Laxus asked, "Are you gonna hit me with the troia magic or what?"
"If I do, I feel like you're just going to eat sour plums in front of me. If I don't, you won't."
"I'll be a good boy. May the sky goddess bless me with her favor," he sarcastically replied.
Wendy cast the spell on him and boarded the train, heading to the back corner where she knew a few hours of nauseated misery awaited her. She pulled the hood over her head and pulled her legs up on the seat, trying to make herself as small as possible.
Laxus had no intention of tormenting the girl, as she seemed to be genuinely unhappy. Losing a close friend and being plunged into a period of change were both by themselves enough to harm someone's general outlook on the world. Puberty for him had been fast and difficult, causing him to grow from a cute little shrimp of a boy to the tallest person in the guild. Only then he was left tall and skinny, like a giant, angry string bean. It had taken years to grow into his body, and he had no fond memories of people poking fun of him, first for being tiny, then for being a bean pole.
Wendy's features were quickly changing to permanently resemble her dragon form. He could see it in how her wide, innocent eyes were starting to gain a reptilian slant. Her fangs had gotten a bit longer, and most obviously—her hair changed colors. It was obvious she hated it literally as soon as she'd realized the roots of her hair were pink a week later.
He took a seat next to her and leaned over. "Growing up is like crossing the longest, shittiest bridge in the world. You're never comfortable, everything always feels wrong, you worry about something going wrong all the time. You think you're doing crossing it the wrong way or you look stupid while you're on your way. Then you get to the other side and you realize that damn bridge helped you become your true self."
His voice was so quiet only she could hear it.
"…that's something Gramps told me once. I thought he was full of shit. You probably think the same thing. By the time you believe it, it won't be useful information anymore."
Wendy could sense he was sincerely concerned and wanted to help her, which meant more than the actual words. Besides, her discomfort probably already transferred to him, so neither of them felt great. There was little evidence that their unusual magic bond could provide anything other than magic power and misery, but they'd accepted the fact they were stuck in their situation.
Laxus took off his spiked headphones when she looked up at him and slipped his hands inside the hood of her cloak. "Take these."
She was about to complain when the headphones started to play some somewhat angry-sounding music. After a brief pause, she decided she was okay with it, and tuned her head to the sound of the notes as the train started to roll.
The playlist was mixed, varying from rock to calming flute music to weird tribal music she'd never heard before and old songs she'd heard a few times in her life. It was some weird look into Laxus, and confirmation that the storm inside her that made her feel all kinds of ways at once wasn't unique to her. People were inconsistent and had wild emotions.
When they arrived at their job, Wendy took a deep breath of clean mountain air, knowing the air was partly to blame for what was happening to her body. The sky surrounded her constantly, flowing into her body with each breath, and as her magic strength grew, she became more aware of it, pumping into her.
From there, they continued by foot across a rocky pass to a tiny village, who said ghosts were terrorizing them.
Wendy noticed that Bixlow took his helmet off and looked around.
Laxus was sure there were no ghosts, not because he didn't believe in them but because he couldn't think of a reason they'd pick on a little mining village. It was an objectively absurd idea; spirits from the dead came back to pester a few dozen uneducated laborers living in the middle of literally nowhere.
It was clear from Bixlow's body language that he didn't see anything unusual, and if there had been any sort of spectral disturbance, he would have known.
Freed whispered in Laxus' ear, and the dragonslayer nodded in agreement.
"We know you're a dark guild," Freed announced, "There's a path to this town but the villagers told us to take a rocky backroad and refused to give us a ride. What's more, miners would be expected to have callused hands, and when you shook our hands, we didn't detect that. This village seems to have more money that a handful of miners would, and one of the houses has magic paraphernalia clearly visible in the window."
Laxus said, "Looking for convincing reasons not to turn this place into a crater."
The village headman said, "Okay, you got us. Just hear me out. I'm Zealous, the guildmaster."
He was struck by a bolt of lightning and Laxus growled. "Real name."
"Micah Warner, sheesh!" he said, tripping backward. "No fear about being lured to the village of a dark guild?"
Laxus replied, "The Thunder Legion fears nothing."
The guildmaster said, "We need help. Because of our status, we can't just ask the locals. And another dark guild might take advantage of the situation."
"You thought you could ask legit guilds and we'd just go along? Gutsy, but stupid," Laxus answered.
"There's a monster living in the mountains. It appears and disappears, but only when the moon is full. It's one of Zeref's demons. We can't defeat it. Please. It killed one of our kids. We'll do anything."
Laxus said, "We decline. Don't pull this shit again or I'll end you."
He tore up the job requests and started to leave when Wendy asked, "Don't they need help?"
Questioning Laxus was generally okay but doing so in front of someone outside of the team was something the others wouldn't have done. Considering those around were dark wizards, Laxus was clearly perturbed when he turned.
"Wendy, if they want help, they can apply for a license and ask the Magic Council for help. It's against the Fiore Guild Charter Law for us to assist a dark guild in any way. It's supposed to be difficult for them. It's likely that they can't apply for a license because this village is harboring fugitive wizards. If we help them and they kill people, we bloody our hands and the reputation of our guild. We will leave."
She opened her mouth to argue but felt like it would probably be pointless.
A woman emerged from behind the group and fell to her knees behind Laxus.
"Please! I'm begging you! Bring my son's body back. None of these good for nothing men can do it!"
Laxus turned and said, "If I help you, I'm going to report your guild to the Magic Council."
"Do whatever you need to do! I don't care anymore!" she cried, begging on her knees.
The others wanted to argue this point with her, and Wendy interjected with, "How can you care more about being able to do wrong than someone in your guild?"
Freed put his hand on her shoulder. "This is a dark guild. They parted ways with the light a long time ago. They create tragedy, for others, and for themselves."
Laxus sighed. "I'll retrieve the body, but don't expect any favors. This isn't a task for our whole team. Bixlow…you come with me. The rest will keep an eye on camp. This is a den of snakes, Freed. Expect some sort of trap."
The lightning wizard poked the guildmaster directly over his heart. "Try anything and you'll never have to worry about the authorities. Not that I'll have to do anything to you. My rival dragonslayer is here."
Wendy wanted to roll her eyes at this, but he'd referred to her as this a few times before. As far as she could tell, it was purely what Evergreen called 'the eternal bullshittery of one Laxus Dreyar.'
From under the hood, she could feel everyone staring down her small form like it was some kind of joke, so she did what felt right, turned the magic headphones back on, and zoned out. This job had turned out to suck so far, even though it had seemed interesting at first. It was a trap, designed to attract more powerful wizards to the village and a body recovery job, something so morbid Laxus didn't even want to involve everyone else.
Wendy sat on a tree branch while they kept watch over the village, and after a while, felt someone approaching her. She went with a strategy of ignoring them, because she just didn't feel like having a moment.
The tree branch shook when someone grabbed onto it and pulled themselves up, and she turned to find the person who interrupted her was actually the most beautiful boy in the whole world. At least…he was to her.
She could tell he was a couple of years older, and tall. He had muscles and green eyes, and a mess of spiky red hair. For some reason, she noted that his hands seemed big, and that this realization made her cheeks burn.
Wendy took the headphones off and lowered her hood.
The boy almost fell off the branch in surprise. "Holy crap, you're pretty. Are you really a dragonslayer?"
"That's right."
"That's amazing. I'm Remy."
"Are you a mage?"
He shook his head. "My dad is a wizard here. It sucks, having to keep secrets all the time. I was born without the ability to use magic, so I'm stuck here with all these wizards and I can't do much of anything."
"You're old enough to go somewhere else and start your life over, right?"
"I don't really want to leave my mom. She means everything to me. She's been really sick. I have a little sister too. Some of us can't just leave without letting the people we love down. Laxus doesn't seem very empathetic," Remy said.
Wendy nodded. "It's not his thing. He's actually not a very good person when he's angry, so I hope no one in your guild is planning anything."
Remy seemed like a genuinely nice kid who was trapped in a village he didn't belong in out of obligation and was unable to move forward with his life. He was interested in going on adventures, studying traditional alchemic medicines, and a world that was bigger than the one he felt forced to live in.
Freed gave periodically gave them a very uneasy look that bordered on threatening, but he didn't openly challenge her judgement for speaking to Remy.
The boy's attention made her feel incredibly normal and kind of amazing. Butterflies in her stomach left her feeling almost high as her heart raced in her chest.
"You want to see something really cool?" he asked.
"All right."
He jumped down from the tree, and when she followed suit, he caught her and put her down. "You okay?"
Wendy pushed his hands away. "I didn't need help, actually. Dragonslayers are really durable."
"Sorry. I'm just trying to be a gentleman. It's this way."
Wendy followed him but was abruptly stopped when a rapier passed through the air between them.
Remy gave him a sincere smile. "I can't even use magic. I'm not an enemy."
Freed looked him over and decided if he had any ability to use magic, it was insignificant enough that it was undetectable. Wendy could have crushed him into nothing, and while one could argue her distraction was foolish, she was acting like a normal teenager. The fact it was a bad idea to fraternize with a person living in a dark guild's village probably made what she was doing more appealing to her.
"Be careful. If you harm Wendy, you will perish. Are we clear?" Freed threatened.
Evergreen watched from a hut she was using as her perch to keep an eye on everyone but didn't comment on the situation or question Wendy's judgement.
Remy didn't take her far, leading her down a narrow path to a tiny clearing where a waterfall enclosed on almost all sides, nearly hidden in the mountain.
"I like to come here to think," he said, lightning a lantern on a rock opposite the waterfall.
"It's beautiful."
They talked.
About everything. His life in the little village, her life in Fiore. While she didn't disclose anything about her life that she needed to keep a secret, she felt comfortable confiding in him for some reason.
Remy put an arm around her when she cried about losing her friend, and carefully put a hand over hers.
His presence felt so warm to her, and his heart so pure.
"We may never see each other again in our lives, and that actually kind of sucks."
"You could leave this place. Fairy Tail is a good guild."
"I have to protect my family. What'll happen to my little sister if I go? You're such a wonderful person, and I like talking to you. I'll consider you a friend. How about that?"
Wendy nodded. "Okay."
Remy stood. "We should head back. It's getting late. Before we do, would it be okay if I kissed you?"
The girl stood in the most awkward way possible and felt him lightly rest his hands on her shoulders. His lips hovered above hers, and then brushed down so slightly.
It was the most magical thing in the world to her in that moment, and her hands reached out awkwardly as his wrapped around her and they kissed again, and then again. The kiss made her feel like she was on fire in the best sort of way, and when his mouth opened, hers did too.
When he broke the kiss, it was to spit a spent ampoule on the ground.
Wendy raised a hand to her mouth as her vision blurred and an overwhelming taste flooded her mouth. "You…poisoned me..."
Her body folded under her, suddenly paralyzed.
More alarming, not even her lungs would barely move, leaving her nearly unable to breathe.
Remy said, "It's all right, Wendy. Once you close your eyes, it won't hurt anymore. You'll never experience pain again."
"Why?" she weakly mouthed.
"Everything in this world is about gaining power, my little Wendy."
Remy threw down a blanket with a giant magic circle written on it in marker and then picked her up and put her down.
Wendy's fear of death quickly subsided when she realized there was exactly one person who probably knew the instant the poison touched her tongue. Laxus probably tasted it and knew she couldn't move her body. Her feelings were hurt, and she felt stupid, but there was no reason for her to think she'd pay for her mistake with anything other than a little embarrassment.
Besides, anything prescribed for a human would be nothing to a dragonslayer. She could eat, sweat, and fight like no one else, and while she wasn't as obvious about that as others, she was confident the poison wouldn't last long.
She briefly considered the possibility the poison crossed the eroded barrier between her and Laxus and he was also feeling ill but didn't want to think about that because she knew he'd be pissed.
Sure enough, a few seconds and feeling returned to her fingers.
When Remy leaned over her smooth out a wrinkle in the magic circle, she whispered something, and when he leaned down to hear the words, she hit him right in the side of the face with her Sky Dragon Roar, sending him floating high above the waterfall so he could crash somewhere away from her.
She was trying to get up when a rather off-kilter lightning bolt struck in that tiny space and a very confused Laxus stumbled around a few times, and then laid on the ground.
The teenager said, "You got poisoned from me?"
"Is that what happened?"
She took a deep breath and calmly said, "Laxus, I don't want to talk to your right now. Everything is fine."
"So I left you to look after enemies and you let them poison you and now we're both unable to fight if we need to."
"Everything is fine."
"Well, no…I'm actually really pissed off right now. I don't want to be a piece of shit and cuss you out until you cry yourself to sleep, but you definitely deserve it," he said.
Wendy stood on wobbly legs and replied, "And I said I don't want to talk to you right now. I am going through something right now and you're not helping."
"I can't help, I can't move my fucking legs and I'm only here because I came to make sure you're okay."
"What were you going to do with paralyzed legs?"
Laxus was quiet for a moment and said, "I basically understand why you are being obnoxious, but it's still really annoying."
"You don't understand anything. I have something to do."
He tried to raise his legs and then sighed. "Am I somehow absorbing it as it leaves you? I'm feeling worse and you seem to be getting better. Maybe if I concentrate, I can somehow…"
Wendy was about to go hobbling after Remy and…well, she wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she was angry and wanted to express that fully. Except, Laxus somehow mastered the flow of poison magic and her body became totally limp again as he jumped up.
"There we go," he said.
Laxus lifted her off the ground and wielded her at her side with one arm like a sack of flour as he headed out of the little inlet.
"Put me down!"
"You're a dragonslayer. Ain't nobody making you do anything you don't want to do. Unless there's a reason you can't move your arms or legs."
"Please!" she begged, her voice breaking slightly. "Please don't do this to me."
"Do what?"
Laxus flipped her and held her up in front of him like someone might hold a small child, hands under her armpits, allowing her whole body to dangle.
She was frozen, and he looked around at where they were.
Wendy was somehow taken to a location where her scent wouldn't carry once the spell began damaging her body. Laxus had been effectively moved out of the way, and so had Bixlow, whose magic was invaluable because everyone knew it was extremely potent but no one really knew what it was he could see. Of course he wouldn't take a half-grown girl going through a hard time on a mission to go clean up a monster slaying.
Not that there had been any slaying, or any monster for that fact.
Wendy said, "He seemed nice."
"Who? It smells like you were here by yourself."
The teenager answered in a shaking voice, "It was a boy. He seemed nice. He was…he was cute. A couple of years older. He listened to me, and he was kind. He wanted to show me this cool place. We sat and we talked for a long time. I told him things I maybe don't talk about all the time. He held me and it felt good and then we kissed and..and…"
Laxus leaned in smelled her and sniffed her mouth.
It was the first time Wendy had really seen him use his sense of smell in such a weirdly animalistic way. The first gens did it all the time, but Laxus was generally smoother and more discreet about his less human traits.
"Teenage boys are smell bad, and genuinely smell worse when they get excited about anything. There's no scent in this cave. There's no scent on you. The sticky stuff around your mouth is smeared everywhere like you let someone be disgusting with you, so that doesn't make sense."
Wendy struggled against him. "Put me down."
When he did, she was able to stay standing by leaning on the wall. "Something is missing. Remy had this blanket that had a magic array on it. Like he prepared the magic circle in advance. It was really complex. He said he was going to take my powers. He said 'everything is about gaining power, my little Wendy.' The blanket disappeared…I blew him out of here, up over the waterfall. I don't understand. I didn't sense any magic from him."
Realization flashed in his eyes and Laxus said, "Wendy."
"What?"
"I'm going to take you up and have the others take you home. I have something to do and I'll explain it when I get back."
Wendy could sense rage radiating off him, even though he showed no sign of it. It was so hot it almost burned her and left her trembling. Whatever he'd figured out, it made him so angry that Wendy was almost afraid of him and she knew he wouldn't ever hurt her on purpose. Then, something deeper that she immediately recognized as bloodlust even thought he'd never experienced it before.
Something she said to him made him so angry that he wanted to kill someone.
Wendy covered her mouth for a moment. "Are you going to kill someone?"
"Yes."
"Please calm down. It's not a big deal. We face things like this, and I'm sorry I made a mistake. We can just go home. Nobody has to die. Are you going to kill that guy? Being a jerk isn't a crime punishable by death. You need to think this over," she said.
He picked her up and jumped up through the waterfall, where he gave her to Freed.
"Take her back. She'll feel better later."
Freed started to apologize with, "I'm sorry. I saw her talking with someone but—"
"Just go," he said.
They were the Thunder Legion, and one part of being in Thunder Legion meant respecting and listening to its leader. Had Wendy listened when Laxus wanted to walk away from the village earlier, none of this would have happened. Once again, she was left feeling responsible for the consequences of doing what she felt was right.
This time, she didn't argue.
Wendy complied, and went home with the others.
When they arrived at the guild the following afternoon, Freed briefed Makarov on the overall details as he didn't know too many of the specifics. Freed also didn't know much about what happened to Wendy except that she'd gone off with a boy and he'd poisoned her. He had a lot of questions about the situation, but he trusted Laxus to explain them when he returned.
The more Wendy thought about it, the more she was worried. The feeling of bloodlust when she was near Laxus frightened her, and she wondered who it was that he was angry at.
On the evening of the third day after they arrived, she sensed he'd come close enough she could feel his feelings, but it was strange to sense exhaustion and fear. He skulked around at the edge of the town for a while, so when she left the guild to go home, she took a detour into the forest and found him sitting under a tree, staring despondently at the ground.
His fists were bloody from fighting.
And under the fear, he seemed very sad.
"Laxus, what happened? Are you okay?"
He shook his head.
Gildarts suddenly entered the clearing. "I thought I sensed a big sulking baby."
Laxus looked up at him and said, "Ivan is dead."
The old wizard's expression fell in an instant. "Shit. What happened?"
"I beat him to death," the lightning wizard answered.
Wendy covered her mouth. "You own dad?"
Gildarts said, "Wendy, why don't you go home. I'll come talk to you later."
Laxus answered, "It's fine. Wendy is going to figure it out and I promised what happened on the last job."
"The one where the villagers set a trap?"
Laxus replied, "Ivan. Ivan did all of that. He posted a job that my team was most likely to take, recruited those villagers, created a situation where Bixlow and I left the team. Bixlow has seen Ivan's soul, so he would have known, and obviously, it would be a big fucking problem for him if I figured out he was there.
"He found a place where Wendy's scent wouldn't carry, and then he lured Wendy there by disguising himself as a boy and seducing Wendy. Talked her into kissing him and gave her a mouthful of Garagul buds. He was about to cast the Lacrimaris Lux spell on her."
Wendy covered her mouth. "That was…that can't be true."
Gildarts darkly answered, "You should have told me. I would have taken care of it."
"Laxus killed his own father?" Wendy asked in horror, "And you think it's fine?"
The old wizard said, "Lacrimaris Lux is a spell that steals a dragonslayer's powers but kills the dragonslayer. Ivan created that spell to use on Laxus. It is named after him."
Laxus leaned his head against the tree. "Fuck, if anyone in this world ever had it coming…I wouldn't have done it if I felt like he'd learned his lesson."
"But he can't. He would have come for you again," Gildarts said in agreement.
Wendy said, "For me? I wouldn't never have wanted…"
Laxus stood up and shrugged. "I did it to protect the guild. Nothing more, nothing less. The part that's actually hard is what happens now."
When he started down the path, he stopped and looked over at Wendy.
"Little dragon."
Wendy said, "What is it?"
"It's going to be all right. The sun always comes out eventually."
Gildarts watched this exchange and found a strange sense of closeness seemed to exist between Laxus and Wendy. Although Laxus worked hard to keep a certain distance between him and others, an exception had been made here. He genuinely seemed to care for her and as grizzly as it was, made a difficult decision that was going to have consequences for more than just himself and his now deceased father.
The real question was whether Makarov could handle learning that his son's unimaginable evil had ended with his grandson executing him to protect an innocent person that Ivan had chosen to involve.
Gildarts walked with Wendy for a while, but she seemed to have a lot of things she wanted to keep private. There were multiple layers of devastation heaped on the girl's shoulders from the loss of Charle to what Ivan had done to her to the fact Laxus executed his father for attempting to take her life.
Even though he seemed to remember her as one who exposed emotions freely, Wendy didn't seem to know how to express how she felt, so she seemed almost frozen. She wanted his company, and needed his encouragement, but didn't know how to talk about what was happening inside of her spirit.
Laxus meanwhile continued on home, where Mirajane was helping Makarov with the house in his absence.
"Laxus, welcome home. I'm glad you're here. Master is being a little difficult tonight."
He seemed confused by her friendly banter, like the words made no sense to him in his current state. Reverting to his least socially capable self, he didn't say anything at all and went upstairs to wash up without even greeting his grandfather.
Laxus found it peculiar that Makarov didn't somehow sense Ivan had died, but the fact the old man could telepathically reach his grandson and not his son spoke volumes about everything.
By the time he got out of the shower, Mirajane had gone, and Makarov was sitting in the living room with a blanket and some hot tea.
"Could you get me a real drink? That Mirajane is always telling me about the healing benefits of tea. Tea can go to hell—I want beer!"
Makarov saw the severe look on his grandson's face. "What's wrong?"
"Ivan tried to murder Wendy. He was going to use his spell on her. You know how he is…he would have come for her again. Wendy isn't jaded or terrible enough to avoid his dolls, hallucinations, illusions, and tricks. I made a decision. And then I acted on it. Ivan is gone."
Laxus tried to keep his voice steady, but he couldn't bear the weight of his own words as he watched the shock and pain in his grandfather's eyes as he spoke.
He fell to his knees and rested his head on Makarov's knee. "I'm so sorry, Gramps. There wasn't another way. Forgive me."
Laxus trembled when he felt Makarov's hand on his head.
"Laxus, my grandson, look at me."
He looked up and the old man said, "It's me that should apologize. I always knew it would probably end this way. I became old, I kept up hope. Long after it was foolish and dangerous. I shouldn't have allowed the burden of protecting the guild from Ivan fall to you. I have failed you. I have failed the guild."
When the old man broke down into sobs, Laxus could barely take it because he knew when he decided to eliminate Ivan from the world that it was going to hurt the only person who had always cared for him.
To be the cause of that devastation was unbearable.
Makarov didn't argue about whether it was necessary, because he knew in his heart that Laxus wouldn't have done it unless he felt like it was truly the right thing to do.
And he didn't disagree, when Laxus sat there on his knees in front of him and told him what Ivan had done to cause Laxus to decide he would remove the threat of Ivan from the world permanently.
Then they talked, long into the night, and Laxus cried too, because under everything, he was still Ivan's son. And, like his grandfather, he maybe fanned the flame of hope long after it had been extinguished.
"Mmphh…"
Laxus looked up with puffy eyes. "What?"
Another unintelligible sound came from his grandfather, oddly from one side of his mouth as half of Makarov's face just slid into a state of paralysis.
"Gramps? Gramps! Say my name."
Syllables slurred together that didn't even resemble his name.
Porlyusica had told him to look very specifically for these signs because of Makarov's delicate physical state, and that if he ever did see them, to bring him to her immediately, no matter the hour or circumstance.
"I'm taking you to Porly. It'll be okay."
He ran all the way to her hut with his grandfather in his arms and kicked the door in.
Porlyusica was asleep on her bed in a worn flannel nightgown that stretched to the floor, and would have ripped in a new one or maybe a new six until she saw he was holding Makarov.
"What happened?"
The younger wizard said, "His face became half-frozen and he couldn't talk. Then he just lost consciousness."
The old woman gestured to the empty patient bed and grabbed all her tools along with tools, medicines, and potions.
Laxus didn't get in her way, and he didn't ask questions. When she asked him to grab something from a shelf or to help move Makarov so she could continue examining him with her tools, he did so without complaint. The grave look on her face said enough, and his senses told him the rest.
As dawn broken, she put most of her tools away.
"Laxus."
"How bad?" he asked.
Porlyusica solemnly answered, "Your grandfather is dying, Laxus."
"What about healing magic?"
"Healing magic is for the uncomplicated tissues of the body. Muscle, organs, maybe bones. The nervous system and brain are complex. I don't know of anyone that has ever successfully healed anyone with this type of injury. I can't help him."
Laxus replied, "We have another healer."
"Wendy won't be able to help him either, and if you bring him here and she attempts and fails, she'll just feel like it's her fault. I'm familiar with her magic and I know that Makarov is beyond her help. He's beyond medicine."
The old doctor broke it down for him, since it was obvious that Makarov hadn't explained to his grandson how poor his health had been since Alvarez. Fairy Law created balance by defeating enemies at the expense of the spellcaster's life force, a price it charged to the user's nervous system. Although he'd managed to escape with his life, the nerves in his legs were essentially nearly totally dead, as were most in his hands.
This caused a disorder that had spread, slowly. Since the brain was part of the nervous system, he was always going to die. Mavis' actions on that day just bought him a little more time, and that time had simply expired. The extra mileage had been spent, and his body couldn't sustain Makarov's life any longer.
Laxus asked, "Will he wake up?"
"No. He'll remain asleep until he slips away. It won't be long."
"This is my fault. I gave him bad news earlier. This was probably the worst night of his life. I caused him upset and distress, and now he's dying," he confessed.
Porlyusica replied, "If it wasn't tonight, it might have been tomorrow or the next day. He's been dying for a long time Laxus. You know that. You've seen pill bottles in cabinets. You saw how he was after he cast that spell."
After pulling up a chair, he sat down next to his grandfather and reached out to lightly hold his hand.
She asked, "You'll stay with him?"
"Until the end."
-Reviews Welcome!-