Invel Yura returned to Magnolia five years later.
He came powerful, and he came ready, packed with remedies designed to disable the guild's aces. Fate had been kind and the guild had undergone an evolution of sorts:
Erza left to start a guild with old comrades, Gajeel died in a battle some time before, Laxus and Makarov had willingly left, and Gildarts' massive injuries were beginning to catch up with him. On the other hand, there were several who had stepped up from their previous level: a celestial spirit wizard who controlled all twelve gold keys after a tragedy in another guild and two-year search, Gray, who had risen to the respectable status of 'guild monster' like his rival, Natsu, and Wendy, who was generally believed to be around their level somewhere.
According to rumors, she'd basically been in dragonforce form for several years. There were whispers, but no one knew if that was on purpose or if she simply couldn't get out.
Wendy set out with the Thunder Legion and flew threw the East Forest in search of the intruder whose scattered forces were wreaking havoc all over the town.
Their devotion to Wendy was different than what they'd felt toward Laxus. The original Thunder Legion had grown up together, from a group of awkward kids into the guild's most organized, elite team. Wendy they had helped raise, seeing her from a difficult period in her life to where she was now.
While Wendy had dreams of being a curvy girl like the other beauties in the guild, fate had other plans. She was quite tall for a woman, with long legs, and small breasts, a small butt, and a weirdly wiry body that was possibly a little leaner and more muscular than people expected from a woman her age.
But being tall was an incredible advantage, and she was strong.
The Thunder Legion came to a place in the forest where everything had been turned to ice. Trees, the animals perched in them, and even the ground.
"Stay here," she told them, "Freed, can you set up runes to contain this area? Make sure Invel can't leave. We have to keep him out of town. It's bad enough he has all his henchman there already."
Wendy walked alone on the ice, deeper into the woods to a little frozen field where Invel was standing over a frozen Natsu with a club, about to shatter his body. Wendy broke the enchantment by placing several of hers on Natsu in rapid succession.
"Arms, Armor, Vernier!"
Natsu broke free and shook his head, feeling a little disoriented.
"Ah, another challenger?"
Natsu said, "Be careful, this guy is crazy powerful now."
She asked, "What do you want?"
Invel said, "The same thing everyone wants. More power. You have something I want very badly. I'm sure it's in your guild."
"We wouldn't give you anything we have. You're probably stupid for asking," Natsu quickly answered.
Invel said, "You have an ice dragonslayer lacrima, don't you?"
"Eh?" Natsu asked.
"Four years ago, this guild killed an ice dragon. Something happened to the lacrima. It's not in Gray…I thought that was the source of his growing power. No one else in your guild uses ice. Therefore, it must be stored somewhere. Give it to me, or I will freeze everyone in this town. The wizards might be able to survive, but no one else will," he commanded.
Natsu looked over at Wendy, seemingly asking a question since he knew that only she and Laxus had been around for that.
Wendy answered, "You've got it all wrong. We didn't give the lacrima to the guild, and they don't have it now."
"Then where is it?"
"That was a hard time in my life. A lot of things changed. I lost my best friend in the world to that ice dragon, so that battle meant more to me than that stupid little lacrima," she said.
Wendy glared at him, and he blasted her with an intense wave of cold magic that was intended to freeze her in place. Instead Natsu heard the characteristic gulp sound a dragonslayers' body made when ingesting magic, and he watched her suck up the cold magic.
Invel knew what he was watching, and he didn't understand how something like that had ended up in the body of someone who was already a dragonslayer. The guild could have put it in Gray, and turned him into something like a god, or into another person and created another dragonslayer.
Wendy said simply. "Laxus gave it to me and I ate it. There's not anything else to it besides that."
That meant that between Natsu, who could wield lightning in addition to fire, and Wendy, who could use the ice and sky magics, there were four elements against Invel's ice. The fact that one of those elements was also ice was even more problematic. Dragon magics were naturally more powerful than human ones were, so she could neutralize most of his spells.
"Didn't you go to prison or something?" Natsu asked.
Invel said, "I served my time. Imagine my surprise when I got out and learned there was ice dragonslayer magic in the world."
Not being able to neutralize Natsu was a problem in and of itself for Invel. Wendy was equally more dangerous, proven when the wind started to blow so cold and hard that he was almost knocked off his feet.
He tried to attack, and she swept his cold magic up into her vortex of sky magic and created an opening for Natsu, who hit him hard with an intense blast of fire magic.
With her ice magic, he couldn't attack because she only manipulated his ice and threw it around with her winds, relenting only long enough to let Natsu hit him from behind or to throw him in the air and then smash him into the ground.
They'd just about finished pummeling him when soldiers from the Magic Council came to get him. And once the odds and ends had been taken care of, she and the fire dragonslayer headed back toward the guild.
Natsu said, "You're an ice wizard now too? Since a long time ago, apparently…You got any more secrets?"
"Believe it or not, I do. But I can't tell you what they are, or they wouldn't be secrets anymore," she answered. "Laxus told me to keep that a secret as long as I could."
"I almost forgot you were running around with that guy for a while on jobs right before he left. I wonder where he is now. Or Master for that matter."
Wendy said, "I wish they'd come back."
Natsu nodded. "I want to fight that lightning bastard. If he never comes back, how am I going to do it?"
"Is that it?"
"I mean, it's not like we miss his great personality."
She laughed. "He wasn't that bad. Well, maybe a little."
"That's good guy Laxus. You missed so much before that. He was a real pain. Still, he was there when it mattered. That was a dark time, back then. There were so many battles where we had to put everything on the line and believe in ourselves against enemies that were so huge," he said.
"Some long nights…I remember watching the sun rise after the battle with Alvarez and thinking it was a miracle that I was able to see it."
Natsu nodded. "Speaking of Laxus, in all this time, have you ever picked up his scent anywhere?"
"No."
"I don't think he's on this continent. He has a strong presence, and I think if he was anywhere, we might have run into him or at least smelled him at some point."
Wendy said, "I agree with that. Subtlety wasn't exactly his thing. We would have heard something about someone that powerful if they were anywhere around."
A third member joined their group as they came to a fork in the path.
"I heard you're trying to steal my thunder, Wendy. Ice is kind of my thing," Gray said.
Natsu said, "You can't own ice, did you freeze your brain or something!"
"No one asked you, Flame Brain!"
Wendy listened to the familiar chorus of their rivalry, accented by occasional headbutts and recycled insults, and decided she couldn't imagine being anywhere else. These were the sounds of Fairy Tail, after all.
Back at the guild, members were licking their wounds, sharing information, and celebrating another victory on home soil by an enemy associated with Alvarez. Gildarts, still the guildmaster, was left wondering if these occurrences were leading up to another conflict with the nation, which had attempted to destroy Fairy Tail once in the past. Now there was very little the guild had to offer without Fairy Heart, but each individual incident had been uniquely motivated: one wanted revenge, one wanted a dragon lacrima, and one wanted to break the guild apart from the inside.
The panic over the attack had frightened the guild children born over the past few years, and they were gathered around Gildarts, still afraid they'd been close enough to the action to feel the earth shake.
A pink-haired girl rocketed into Natsu's arms to soak in her father's reassurances while Lucy sat at a table holding a compress on a black eye.
"Mama got a shiner?"
"Yea!"
"Natsu? Shut up," Lucy growled.
Wendy smiled as she headed upstairs to a familiar table, where the Thunder Legion was waiting.
"Spectacular as always," Freed said.
She answered, "If it weren't for your runes, he wouldn't have been captured. I'm always grateful for you all."
Bixlow said, "We've been seeing too many people from damn Alvarez lately."
"It's a problem. I don't know if it's one we can deal with. The Spriggan Twelve still exist, and the ones who died or went to prison have just been replaced with other super-powerful wizards. It might be bad for us to openly confront them," Evergreen said.
"I think the real question is if King Ajeel harbors and hostility toward us. It's possible he doesn't know about these incidents until after they occur. This doesn't seem like state-sanctioned violence," Freed added.
Wendy wasn't sure what to think about any of it. All she knew was that this was the third time recently that they'd had someone attack Magnolia. After a few years of peace, there were rumblings and rumors that the massive vacuum created by the destruction of the Balam Alliance had become occupied by someone unknown dark force. All she knew was that dark guilds who became powerful enough didn't stay in the dark. They eventually came for the light, and that usually meant Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail was down two dragonslayers, with Laxus absent and Gajeel deceased. Sabretooth was also permanently down one dragonslayer.
Whatever happened, they'd stick together, and they'd win. It just seemed like the massive advantages once shared by the allied guilds were starting to fade.
Wendy considered going to go look for Laxus, but there was no telling where he was. As far away as he travelled from her, their connection persisted, so occasionally there were clues. Most recently, she kept feeling warm even though it was late fall, so he was possibly in the southern hemisphere.
Even if she could find him, she wasn't sure that he'd come back. Then she also worried about exposing Fairy Tail to further danger if she left, since most of the heavy-lifting done in big battles boiled was completed by Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Mirajane, and herself. Cana was close. There were a lot of wizards sitting right at second-tier, but against a truly powerful opponent, sometimes it wasn't enough.
It seemed stupid to her that their link allowed her to know he was hot all the time, wherever he was, but not to not actually send him a signal. That's the only way the link would have been useful at the great distance it was currently stretched to.
As the day dragged on into night, she decided to head back to the dorm and try to get some rest. Being stressed out about what might happen wasn't useful at all and going on a search to find someone who willingly left the guild and was probably persistently wandering was just stupid anyway.
Along the way, she heard footsteps, and picked up a scent.
"Wendy, wait up!" Romeo called.
He had a huge bruise on his cheek from the day's fight, and after he caught up to her, she reached out and healed it. "I didn't realize you were hurt too."
"Who cares about that? I have something important to ask you. We've known each other for a long time, right?"
Wendy felt an inward cringe, as this conversation had been coming for quite some time. "Right."
Romeo said, "My dad says I should just be brave and tell you how I feel. Well, you're one of my best friends. We've grown up together in the guild. Gone on jobs, fought in battles. Stuff that matters. I just feel a certain way about you. Today, when we were fighting, I realized I just wanted an opportunity to tell you. That I like you. A lot."
The dragonslayer stopped walking and took a deep breath. "Romeo, your friendship means a lot to me. All the memories we've had together in the guild for these years are precious to me. But I don't have romantic feelings toward you."
The disappointment on his face was deep, and he asked, "Do you think your mind will change?"
Wendy said, "I don't really have feelings like that to anyone. I can't go into details, but I'm not able to feel like that, not really. My mind won't let me think about it. I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I just can't. That's all. Let's just be friends, okay?"
"I'm going to win you over, somehow. I promise!"
XXX
"Is this the place?"
"No."
Laxus shook his head as he and his grandfather stood on the beach of a tiny island on the other side of the world. They'd spent years looking for a location he saw in dreams, with nearly no clues to go on. Their path had been long, and quite an adventure.
Currently, they were members of an adventurer's guild who didn't know who they were and didn't know they could use magic. Their work took them to all sorts of remote places, and from the vegetation in Laxus' dreams, he believed they were getting much closer to the island he dreamed about.
Makarov didn't mind the journey. They'd seen the world's largest canyon, climbed the tallest mountain, and seen endless wonders.
Laxus was incredibly preoccupied with finding this place, maybe because it gave him something to focus on. There was never any clue about what they were looking for exactly, only a suspicion from Laxus that Fulguros the dragon's influence was driving him to find that place for some reason.
Laxus said, "The island I see has a huge tree. It reminded me of Tenrou Tree."
Makarov sat down on a rock and unfolded his map. "I've never seen another tree like that anywhere in my life. Considering the enchantment and power it had, maybe that's relevant."
The island chain they were investigating was characterized by lush coral reefs and shallow, still waters, so they'd been going from one to another in a small motorboat.
Laxus cracked open a beer from the cooler in their boat and sat in the sand. "This better be worth it. I'm gonna be pissed if this guy has been bothering the crap out of me for something stupid. I have a hard time thinking about what would be worth all this trouble. I'm guessing it's something powerful. Maybe a spell or lacrima or some dragon treasure trove."
Makarov said, "Maybe it's vengeance. The others gained their powers from willing dragons. Have you considered maybe Fulguros is displeased with you for how you obtained his powers? It could be death he's leading you too."
"If he has enough influence in my body to control my dreams, he probably had enough to kill me back when Ivan first put the lacrima in me. Leading me around for no reason seems like a waste of everyone's time."
"Even if it turns out to be a waste of time, the tropics are a sight to behold, even if there's nothing to find here," the old man said.
"Maybe. Kind of miss the smell of the East Forest."
"What are you talking about? Forests smell like rotting leaves, but this island air!" Makarov argued.
They got back into the boat after exploring the little island, which only had wildlife and the ruins of a long-abandoned fishing village.
Makarov looked through binoculars as they headed to the next island, ignoring how his grandson hung over the edge of the boat. Traveling the world meant lots of transportation, and that meant their in-betweens were a bit rough for Laxus.
Then, he saw on the horizon, a huge tree.
"Laxus!"
Laxus didn't need binoculars because he was a young dragonslayer and not a very old human. He looked up, the world still spinning, and exclaimed, "I think that's it…finally, we've found this damn place?"
They changed direction and headed to the island with the big tree as storm clouds started to gather, arriving at the shore just as the wind started to whip the waves.
Laxus dragged the boat far up the beach to make sure it didn't get battered on the rocks and then set up a tent safely inland.
From there, he and Makarov started to climb up a rocky path. The tree at the center of the island was identical to Tenrou, both in appearance and the fact that it emanated magic power. While Tenrou Tree only helped Fairy Tail members, this one seemed to just secrete ethernano indiscriminately in all directions to all creatures.
When they made it up to a plateau, the reason Laxus had been dreaming of the island seemed clear:
There was a huge dragon skeleton on the island. Laxus knew by some previously unknown instinct that it was the body his magic had come from. His magic had come from here, after a fight on this island, where the Lightning Dragon King was slain by an unknown dragonslayer.
Makarov said, "Is this what you've been drawn to? A pile of dead bones? Your memories…they're merely the last memories of Fulguros?"
"Tell me that's not it…" Laxus growled, kicking the skull.
Standing in the rain in front of a gigantic dead dragon, Laxus was worried that he'd spent all his time for nothing. The weird part about all of it was that the visions of this place had started after the incident with Wendy and the ice dragon. It didn't make sense for it to have started then if he was just dreaming about whatever the dragon saw last.
"Actually, I sense some kind of power on this island, and it's not the tree, close to it, but a different type of magic," Makarov said.
They continued in the pouring rain, to where the massive roots created a shelter under the trunk of the huge tree. There under the tree in a cave-like structure made from the roots, there was a huge, opaque lacrima in the shape of a cube. It was yellowish, sealed away with lightning dragon magic and hidden under the tree where it could continue absorb magic to sustain its seal forever.
Laxus said, "This is the reason he wanted me to come here."
"There's some kind of extremely powerful magic sealed inside of that."
"I can feel it, old geezer. I have more senses than you, not the other way around."
"Enough of that attitude, after I've spent all this time looking for it with you!"
Laxus was sure it was some sort of magic power source that the dragon had hidden on the island before dying. So he reached out, put his hands on it, and dispelled it using his lightning magic.
What fell in his hands wasn't a lacrima, or a weapon, a spell or some tool of destruction.
It was a large, fuzzy white orb with little feathery ruffles around it that reminded him of the scaly feathers Wendy got on her hands and feet during dragonforce.
Laxus stared down at it.
A ghostly apparition of a golden dragon with electrified scales appeared in the cave.
Laxus said, "Fulguros, dragon who annoys me while I am asleep?"
"Laxus, impudent, vulgar boy who uses my powers without permission, and Makarov, the grandfather."
"You know us?" Laxus asked.
Fulguros answered, "The remnant of my power has been inside of you for most of your life."
"Whatever. Did you want me to come here?"
"Yes."
Laxus held up the orb. "For this?"
"Yes."
"What the fuck is it?"
Fulguros' ghost asked, "It's an egg."
"A dragon egg?!" Makarov asked.
Laxus' lip curled into a snarl. "You sent me all this way for this? What a joke."
"Is the love of a father for his child merely a joke to you?" he said, lowering his huge head.
This comment was precisely pointed at Laxus' heart, and the dragonslayer growled, "Why is this here?"
Fulguros said, "In our time, ethernano became dangerously low. It became impossible for new dragons to hatch. Acnologia and other dragonslayers destroyed nests; killing dragons was one side of why we disappeared. The other was that no new ones were able to hatch or grow. This egg is the only survivor of a next of six. The rest of our little ones were killed before even taking a breath by a dragonslayer.
"I found this place and sealed it away. The tree had enough magic to keep the egg alive. The intent was to hatch it in better days. But I died here that day, and Grandine didn't know any of the eggs had survived, or that I'd successfully hidden this one. It was sealed with my magic, so there was never any hope the egg could hatch. It would be trapped her forever had you not come along, unless some malevolent force found the lacrima and knew of a way to extract the power from it."
Makarov could generally understand what the ask here was, and he didn't think Laxus was slow about it either.
Laxus said, "Your plan was for me to find and unseal it so it can hatch."
"Yes."
The dragonslayer said, "This really is the most fucking stupid thing I've ever heard in my life. I'm not going to hatch a dragon. I hate dragons. Everyone in this era hates dragons. The human world would have a major problem with something like this."
Makarov added, "I understand the situation, but the era of dragons is over."
"Is it? Are the real kings of this world not the ones who carry dragon magic inside of them?" Fulguros asked. "Dragon magic rules this earth, just from inside of humans now."
There was merit to saying dragons weren't over when dragonslayers still sat at the top of the magic world. The fact they'd cannibalized their original magical source into nothing didn't mean dragon magic wasn't still around.
Fulguros said, "The egg is unsealed now. It will hatch in this era. Probably soon. What will you do?"
"Leave it right where I found it," Laxus answered.
"The hatchling will starve to death. Are you cruel? If something like that happens, I'll use the last energy I have left to tear your body apart," Fulguros threatened, "If you truly believe a dragon can't exist in your era, destroy the egg."
Laxus asked, "Will you kill me if I do?"
"No. You have my word. Know that dragons are intelligent creatures, and the little one in that egg knows my magic. Her only memory will be being killed by her own father. Are you so cruel that you would let a child's only memory be that painful?"
Laxus said, "Don't try to screw with my feelings. I'm not a piece of shit, I'm just not going to bring a dragon into this world. Call me cruel, call me evil, call me whatever you want. I'm not going to do this. It's insane, dangerous, and stupid."
"Then break the egg. Your magic can do it. I don't want her to suffer in this world, if that's all that the world of humans has to offer. However," the ghost said, a ghastly claw pointed at him. "Grandine and I lost our lives trying to save humanity. We turned on our own kind, killed the ones that had been our friends, our family, our allies, because we chose to have mercy on humankind. They were weak, pathetic, and small, and we were great. We lent them our great strength to help them build their own future and they used it to destroy ours."
Laxus looked down at the egg, and then over at his grandfather, and then finally back up at Fulguros.
What Fulguros said was definitely true; dragons disappeared in part because they massacred each other to protect humans and also because the humans they tried to help chose to murder them. It was a terrible and dark chapter of human history, and it was also unapologetically evil. The consequences had been high: dragons were left functionally extinct and humans very nearly lost their own battle for survival to Acnologia.
Fulguros said, "What are you waiting for?"
Laxus barked, "Shut the fuck up and let me think!"
Makarov asked, "Are you considering not destroying the egg? What in the world would we do with a dragon? The authorities would come for it."
Fulguros answered, "Dragons can assume humanlike forms. It wouldn't be long before you could cast a spell like that. A year."
Makarov knew his grandson was not known for being even slightly merciful, but he also wasn't cruel. What existed inside of the egg was a baby, even if it was a baby dragon. He could see Laxus' resolve waver.
Laxus said, "What do I have to do outside of just letting it hatch?"
"Normal things to take care of a newborn."
"I don't know anything about babies. I find them upsetting and gross," he said.
Fulguros said, "Take her to Wendy then. She has the mother's magic in her. She'll know what to do."
Laxus answered, "That sounds like a really crappy thing to do. The last time I was around her I wrecked her life. Showing up with a kid I don't want to raise seems somehow much worse."
Makarov asked, "Are you serious, Laxus?"
His grandson said, "Obviously, this is a terrible idea and I hate it. Also, feeling some weird vibes that I think come from the fact that I'm connected to this guy and this guy made this egg."
Fulguros leaned in. "Are you experiencing paternal feelings?"
"That would be a great exaggeration. Don't mistake my reluctance to kill a baby anything with any kind of kindness. I'm just not that kind of asshole," Laxus defensively answered.
Makarov immediately suspected maybe Laxus did feel a strong connection to the egg, both because he hadn't smashed it and because he was holding it carefully. Laxus did very few things with any degree of care or gentleness, so it was worth noting.
Fulguros said, "I'll leave the spell you'll need to cast to force her into human-like form in you. You'll know it when its time. As far as your reward goes…"
"There's a reward? I was under the impression gaining a child was usually just a straight loss," Laxus complained.
"Go back to your country. Take the teeth out of my skull. You're going to need them for something that's about to happen."
Makarov asked, "Is Fairy Tail in some kind of trouble?"
"They will be soon. By spring. If you don't return, the guild may not survive, and as goes Fairy Tail, so goes Ishgar, isn't that right? But, I've run out of time…" the dragon said as he started to fade.
The last thing he uttered before vanishing completely was, "Her name is Caela."
The cave suddenly became dark and quiet again, and Laxus let out a long sigh.
Makarov said, "Are you aware that you've just agreed to raise a child?"
"Did you want to smash the egg?"
"Fair enough…I'll admit that I didn't want you to do it."
Laxus rolled his eyes. "Let's go back home. For one thing, that threat bothers me. And second, what the fuck are going to do with a baby dragon if we're on the move? I figure I only have to do so much, and once it can look human and hang around the guild, I'll be done. She'll be community property, like Romeo."
"Romeo has a father, Laxus!"
"Really? Actually, he's probably a kid anymore. We've been gone for a while."
Makarov answered, "Wendy has grown up too. She's what, nineteen now?"
"Something like that."
They went down to their little tent and settled in for the night, with the fuzzy, round egg between them as rain steadily poured.
Laxus was sound asleep when he heard a tearing sound.
He sat up and watched a white claw push out of the egg.
"Gramps?"
Makarov opened his eyes. "What is it?"
A tail poked through the shell slightly before retreating in.
"She really was just waiting for an opportunity to enter this world. I wonder if we should help her get out," the old wizard said.
"I think we're supposed to let her break out on her own."
It was a long and slow process, taking hours, yet neither wizard took their eyes off the little egg as its occupant fought to be free.
Makarov said, "This is probably the last dragon that will ever be born into our world. It seems like an honor to witness such an event."
Little bursts of magic started to come from the egg, and when one claw emerged again, it was charged in power.
The little dragon finally made a big enough tear in the soft, fuzzy shell to squeeze out of, and as soon as she was free, let out a tiny little squeak of a roar.
The dragon's appearance wasn't even vaguely reptilian like they had expected and was instead white and incredibly fluffy. It wasn't very large at all, and most of the space it occupied was silky white fuzz.
"This dragon looks like a very fancy cat," Laxus commented.
Makarov nodded. "How peculiar…yet incredible. Welcome to our world, Caela."
The dragon couldn't stand very well and kept trying to roar, causing little puffs of sky magic.
"I wonder if she wants something."
"She just went through a demanding ordeal. She's probably hungry," Makarov answered.
Laxus reached for their bag and untied it, offering various items. Dragons would in theory be carnivores, but the baby dragon thumbed her nose at canned meat, some cheese, and finally accepted a banana, but only as long as he held it for her while she ate.
As soon as the little dragon finished eating, she laid down and went to sleep, so they did as well, although Laxus awoke to find her sleeping on his chest and his shirt shredded from her climbing up in the middle of the night.
"What a pain…"
When he tried to stand up, she climbed onto his shoulder and perched there. Now that Caela had recovered some of her energy, she seemed happy to sit there and capable of balancing herself so she didn't fall as they packed up the tent.
Laxus said, "I'm going to go get the teeth before we forget."
He went up the trail back to the dragon skeleton and started cracking the teeth out of it when the little dragon sniffed at the air and let out a cry. She jumped onto the skull, landing roughly, and laid down.
"Don't tell me you have an idea about who this is."
The little dragon bit and scratched him as well as she could when he finished collecting the teeth and tried to pick her back up again.
Laxus knelt. "Let's go. You can't stay here."
He picked the dragon up by force, and after some additional biting and scratching, managed to get her to return to her perch on his shoulder, although it was obvious that she was still upset.
"How did your face get scratched?" Makarov asked.
"Don't talk to me. I'm pissed."
The dragon bit down on his ear, for no apparent reason, and he narrowed his eyes as she pulled on it.
Makarov said, "I'm amused by this."
"Why wouldn't you be? It involves me suffering discomfort which is the basis of everything you find funny," he bit back as he shoved the boat into the water. "Now I get to be motion sick. How cool is that?"
They set off for the nearest major port, where their adventurer's guild was. There was some question about whether the baby dragon would also experience motion sickness, but the answer to that question came in the form of foamy banana vomit on Laxus shoulder. She lost the ability to stay perched and sat in the bottom of the boat while Laxus hung over the side.
As soon as they got off, they prepared to part ways so Makarov could swing by the adventurer's guild and Laxus could book passage on a boat.
Laxus had no worries about someone mistaking the ball of fluff for a dragon because the idea was just so absurd. While they waited, he bought her a fruit cup from a vendor and sat on a bench and let her try the different kinds of fruit.
By the time Makarov caught up to them, Laxus was still on the bench and the dragon had gone back to chewing on his ear.
"I'm amazed by your patience."
"What do you want me to do? Yell? Beat her up? She'll scratch me up if I piss her off so whatever."
Makarov said, "I really do need you to have some real, live human babies before I die."
"I really do need you to mind your own business and leave me alone."
His grandfather stroked the dragon's silky fuzz and said, "It's a beautiful story, if you think about it. A father tries to help his child be born into a time where she can survive but loses his life. It's an inconvenience for you, but this life was loved by her parents, and she waited at least four hundred years just to be born. That her father used the last of his energy to ask you to set her free so she can have a life is quite a powerful realization."
"Whatever. You want to be a chew toy for a while?"
"This may be the closest thing I ever have to a great-grandchild, so I'll take her."
With some effort and some additional biting and scratching, he managed to pull her off his shoulder and held her out to Makarov who took the baby dragon into his arms like an actual human baby.
"Aren't you precious? Look at this furry little belly," he said.
"Why isn't she attacking you?"
"Because I'm not you. All babies need love."
When the baby dragon started making a noise not entirely unlike purring, Laxus asked, "Wendy said Grandine had a certain softness about her, but she didn't mention Grandine was basically an enormous cat."
A bell rang, and they stood up to board the ship.
The passed the baby dragon through customs as an exotic cat at every stop on the way back until they made it all the way back to Fiore.
They were on the last train back to Magnolia when Laxus felt Wendy's presence. Fulguros told them to return, and so he was sure they needed to do so, but he wondered if it was the right thing for her. In his mind, he still thought of her as being a kid, even though he knew she wasn't anymore.
He'd missed his home, he'd missed his guild, and he was anxious to see everyone again and go back to the life he'd had.
A part of him basically wanted to be upset that the years he'd spent looking for Fulguros' treasure ended the way they did, but he really wasn't. The search was fun, and as incredibly weird as it Caela was, the baby dragon was nothing if not amusing, being a sweet darling for his grandfather and a playful terror to him.
It was hard to imagine that she'd eventually be bigger than a house and have enough magic power to obliterate entire cities.
When they got off the train, the dragonslayer and the baby dragon readjusted to life without movement, and they got off to find Wendy standing on the platform, having long sensed Laxus' arrival.
"Welcome home, Master and Laxus. It's been a while."
Laxus was surprised to find Wendy had grown as much as she did, since she was probably now the tallest woman in the guild. Her hair was still pink, but she'd grown it out a bit and it was in a ponytail. Her eyes were a deep shade of magenta, which made her look actually quite a bit like Porlyusica.
"Suddenly, a gigantic Wendy appears?!"
She laughed shyly. "You're well? You have a nice tan."
"I just came from the Greater Tropics. Lots of little deserted islands everywhere. It's sunny and warm all the time," he answered.
Makarov caught up to them. "Wendy, you've grown into quite a lovely young woman. Are things well?"
She nodded. "Mostly. The guild has had some dust-ups lately. I was thinking of going to try and find you two."
She suddenly paled as she looked down in Laxus arms. "Laxus, is that…? That's a baby dragon. Like Grandine. It looks just like Grandine, just so small. Where in the world did you get a baby dragon? Why do you have it?"
"Fulguros kept showing me a place, and I literally spent years looking for it, thinking it was some huge dragon treasure. Maybe a weapon or some power source or something. It was actually an egg he sealed away on some random island to keep it safe from Acnologia. I unsealed it before I knew what it was. I feel a little tricked."
Wendy took a step forward. "Can I touch her?"
"Sure. Her name is Caela, she only eats fruit, and her favorite activities are chewing on me for no reason and generally being a pain in the ass."
"Can she talk? I wonder if they're born being able to talk or if they have to learn."
"On her third day, she said a word and that's been the only one so far. I think her unhealthy obsession with bananas is the only thing she's interested at this point anyway. She just literally doesn't give a shit about anything else except eating bananas and annoying me," he said.
The little dragon squeaked, "Nanner!"
He reached into his coat for a banana and used his mouth to break off the stem.
Wendy said, "Laxus, why are you talking like that and then also taking good care of her and giving her what she wants?"
Makarov interrupted. "Because he hasn't changed at all. He's still like that."
"Oh, I'd almost forgotten," she answered.
She followed them back to the Dreyar house, which was covered in layers of dust.
Makarov asked, "So Wendy, what's happened?"
"The guild is different. Erza left. To go be with Jellal and some the others that had known them when they were kids. They're an allied guild now. Gajeel…he died. We still don't know really what happened. He was out on a job and he didn't come back, and Natsu went after him and found remains. Their son doesn't really remember him at all."
"How terrible…I had no idea," Makarov said.
Wendy quickly pivoted. "There are lots of little kids that were born since you left. Like…lots. Evergreen and Elfman have twin boys. Freed and Mirajane have a daughter. Natsu and Lucy have a daughter. Gray and Juvia are expecting now."
"Geeze, is it something in the water?" Laxus asked.
"I don't think that's how babies work," Wendy said, watching the little dragon as she sat on Laxus' shoulder and played with his hair, biting lightly into his skull occasionally. "Is that what she does?"
"All day long."
Wendy said, "Can I try holding her?"
"If you want. Be careful of her claws and teeth."
Wendy plopped down on the sofa next to him and picked up the baby dragon, who made no protestation and simply laid down in her lap.
"She's not a jerk to the geezer either, but he treats her like a real human baby."
Makarov said, "Babies terrorize those who fear them. It's a fact of life. Anyway, I'm heading off to bed. You two probably have a lot to talk about."
The old man disappeared quickly, and Laxus crossed his arms.
Wendy didn't stop caressing the baby dragon as they had a long, awkward stare.
"So…" she said.
"Right."
Wendy nodded. "I'm glad we had this talk."
"Same."
She gently moved the baby dragon back to him, where she immediately resumed torturing his hair. "See you around."
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