Chapter 5: The Anniversary

Ten Months Later, One Year Post-Tenrou. Wendy Age 13

One long year has passed since the events on Tenrou Island had taken place. By now, many of the guild members had fully moved on, as they were now able to start working once again without the reminder of their loss constantly hanging over everyone's head. But despite that, the fire dragon slayer remained in their hearts.

But these past few days, the guild hall had been quiet. Only half of the usual members had shown up during this time. With many having decided to stay home, wanting to mourn the one-year anniversary of Natsu's death alone. Others had taken the time to go and visit his gravestone located at the cathedral. And if not one of those, the individual had found their own way to grieve.

Besides the lack of Fairy Tail members inside of their guildhall, the master of the guild had made an important announcement one week prior. He had requested that every member be there, and to everyone's surprise, not one Fairy Tail mage was missing. Nervous murmurs could be heard throughout the room, as many were left wondering what this announcement could be. Especially so close to Natsu's anniversary.

The master had slowly walked onto the stage, quickly followed by every S-Class mage. Currently, Fairy Tail had only four active S-Class mages. Erza Scarlet, Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar, and last, the ace of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive.

The old man had wasted no time and got right into the speech. The first topic was Natsu's anniversary, and that he understood if anyone wanted time off from completing any jobs. No one argued when they heard that. They knew that the master would be more than understanding if anyone decided to take a break, in fact, many had already taken the week off.

But the second announcement was one they hadn't been expecting. Sure, the S-Class Trials normally took place around this time of year, but with the anniversary coming up, and after what had happened last time, not many had taken the time to think about them.

The master had declared that until further notice, whether it be next year, or in five years, the S-Class Trials would be put on hold. While this had caused some uncertainty to flow throughout the crowd, no one dared to argue against his decision. Many of them still remembered the terrible events of Tenrou Island like it had just happened yesterday, and no one wanted to risk experiencing that again.

Even if they had decided to go ahead with the event, not many would have felt up to competing. And with the lack of mages showing up to the guild this past week, that was only reinforced. While they had moved on and continued with their lives over the course of this past year, the date only served as a reminder for them about what they had lost.

Although the S-Class Trials had not been the only thing the guild had chosen to not participate in. Eight months ago, the very first Grand Magic Games had taken place. The Fairy Tail guild had gotten a formal invitation to participate in the event, but they had hastily declined. During that time, they had still been recovering, and the death of Natsu had still been fresh within all their minds.

The Lamia Scale guild had claimed victory that year, becoming the top guild in Fiore. Even so, it was still undeniable that Fairy Tail was the most popular guild, and rumors had gone around that if Fairy Tail had competed, they would have won. But these rumors didn't affect Fairy Tail, they would participate when they were ready. And when they did, they would reclaim their spot as the top guild in Fiore.

Three Days After the Anniversary of Natsu's Death

Over the past few days, Wendy had not been seen in the guild once. The day before the anniversary of Natsu's death, she had been inside of the guildhall, talking quietly with Charla and Happy. But since said day had come and gone, it was as if she had vanished. Many were concerned, particularly the members of her former team. Lucy had once attempted to go and see the girl but had been quickly stopped by Erza.

"Don't." the scarlet mage had warned, one hand grabbing onto the blonde's shoulder tightly. "It's clear she wants to be alone. This past year has changed us all, and if this is what she wants, then we must respect it." and with that, no further attempts had been made to seek out the bluenette.

Around six months ago Wendy had officially stopped taking missions with Team Natsu. Many would have liked to say it was a surprise, but the lack of the sky mage on many of their missions had not gone unnoticed. Many had assumed that it would only be a matter of time before she officially ended up leaving the team.

Since then, the young mage's appearance at the guild had become sporadic. Sometimes she would appear at the guild three days in a row, while at other times she would be gone for weeks at a time.

Although it wasn't as if they didn't know of her whereabouts. After leaving her team, she had spent much of her time at Natsu's house. What the young girl was doing, no one knew, but if they could keep tabs on her, they were satisfied. In fact, the girl had ended up spending so much time there, that it hadn't even come as a surprise when she had announced she was going to live at Natsu's house at Happy's request.

There had only been one time when someone had stepped in to confront the girl, and that was when the girl had attempted to go on her first solo mission. The master had slowly walked up to the girl standing by the mission board. They had spoken quietly for a few minutes before the older man had taken the single paper from the girl's grasp before quickly reading over the paper. And with a single nod of his head, he handed the paper back and the mage was on her way.

After she had left, the guild had confronted the man about what he had spoken to her about. "I told her that she was only allowed to take up to B-Class missions for the time being." He had replied before taking a small sip of his drink. Many of them could guess that there was more to it, but they chose to leave it alone. If the master wanted to speak about it, then he would.

One thing that none of the guild members could deny, was that the girl had improved. While they had all trained, it seemed that none spent as much time training is she did. While she was still the quiet, shy girl they had all known, there was a new aura around her. Many of the S-Class mages had taken to keeping a close eye on her whenever she entered the guildhall, all to gauge how much she had truly grown.

But one thing that hadn't changed since the day of their return was the scarf wrapped tightly around the girl's neck. When people spotted that scarf, it always reminded them of what they had lost, and some didn't know how she was able to wear it for so long with the constant reminder of what had happened.

Although no matter how much the girl had changed, the one thing that would always stand is that she is a member of Fairy Tail. They would continue to watch over her, even if she didn't realize it.

Wendy grunted as she slammed her fist down on the boulder once more. Narrowing her eyes, she repeatedly raised her fists before slamming them down, using the wind swirling around her hands to increase the impact. Raising her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, she continued to hit the rock a few more times before giving up with an annoyed growl.

Taking a small step back she looked down at the boulder with a frustrated glare. Crossing her arms, she gave the boulder a swift kick, only to wince when her toes hit the boulder. And after hoping around while holding onto her throbbing foot, she stood there, glaring down at the boulder. She didn't understand why it was so hard to break. She had seen members of the guild do it before, so why couldn't she?

"You are going about it all wrong." A voice sounded from behind her, causing the small girl to jump up. Her head whipped around to look for the source of the voice, and it only took her a second, as the figure wasn't trying to hide.

Laxus was leaning against one of the trees at the edge of the clearing with his headphones on and arms folded across his chest. He was staring directly at her, a frown etched across his face. "You are going about training all wrong," he repeated. Unsure of what he meant, the bluenette continued to face the older dragon slayer, a questioning look on her face.

Taking a small step towards the girl, he shifted his gaze down to the boulder next to the girl. "Training in this manner will increase your physical strength, which is always good, but it will do nothing to help your magic." Taking a couple of steps closer, the man's frown deepened.

"I know about your promise." He stated, causing the girl's eyes to widen. She took a few tentative steps back until her back hit a tree. Looking back at the rock, she felt the disappointment and annoyance resurge at the lack of damage on the rock. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get it to break.

When her gaze rose to meet his eyes once again, she was shocked by the intensity she saw within them. He had moved even closer, and now stood in front of her by the rock. His arms were still folded across his chest, with his fur coat hanging from his shoulders.

"It's what is driving you isn't it?" He started, staring down at the girl in front of him. "You think you need to get stronger to fulfill that promise. Am I correct?" He had ended the statement as a question, but Wendy knew that he wasn't really asking. She found it very difficult to look up at the intimidating form above her. She had never met Laxus before Tenrou, and even during this past year they had only spoken once. But she had heard about how strong the man was, and how intimidating he could be.

Taking a breath, she nodded her head slightly. Even if she was intimidated she would not back down. No longer would she run away from a potential fight. No longer would she-

A grunt interrupted her thoughts. Focusing her attention back on Laxus, she watched as he sat down and closed his eyes. Unsure of what to do, she slowly sat down and tucked her hands in her lap. The two sat in silence, with neither making a sound. Every so often Wendy would glance over in the man's direction and would quickly look away again when she noticed he hadn't moved.

It had only been a few minutes, but to Wendy, it seemed like it had been ages before either said a word. When he finally spoke, she jumped once more before turning to look at him. "You are serious, aren't you?" he asked, staring directly at the girl. "You truly think you need to get stronger?"

Feeling intimidated once again by the man, she tentatively nodded her head. She was unsure as to why he was asking these questions, but she wasn't going to tell him to go away. Raising her eyes to meet the man's gaze, she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous as he continued to stare at her.

The silence continued for a few minutes once again, but this time Wendy never took her eyes from the lightning mage in front of her. The two continued to stare at each other, with neither making a sound nor moving. And finally, Laxus closed his eyes and sighed, turning away from the girl.

"I'll make you an offer." He started, still staring out into the trees. "I will help you train, so that you can feel as if you fulfilled this promise of yours."

Wendy's eyes widened. Out of all the things he could have said, she certainly wasn't expecting this. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Laxus. "If you accept, you must do as I say. It will be nothing like anything you have done before, but it will certainly be more effective than this."

With that, Wendy shut her mouth. Is this something that she wanted? Was he willing to help her train? She turned around to look at the boulder behind her again. While she had improved over this past year, she had not improved as much as she had wanted to. She was still struggling to break these boulders!

The sound of footsteps rang in her ear, and when she turned her head she noticed Laxus standing directly beside her. "The problem is not that you can't break the boulder, it's about how you were trying to break it." Narrowing her eyes in confusion she stared down at the boulder once again, a slight pout forming on her face.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, taking a step closer to the rock. Laxus glanced down at the girl and smirked. "Oh, so you can speak." A light blush appeared across the girl's face, as her pout grew. The smirk remained on his face as he turned his gaze down to the rock as well. "You were trying to use your magic to break the rock, while also hitting it with your fist. Basically, you were trying to smack rock while the wind blew against it."

Glancing at the girl out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the pout slowly being replaced by a frown. "Instead, focus your magic around your hand. Use it to give your strike the power it needs to break the rock." The bluenette slowly raised her hand and held it above the rock. He felt the winds pick up speed around him as a small twister formed around the girl's hand. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the winds swirl around her hand and without waiting another moment she struck the rock.

A long crack appeared along the rock, quickly spreading and creating more cracks across its surface. Moments later the rock shattered, with the jagged remains forming a pile on the ground. A victorious smile appeared across the girl's face as she turned to look up at the man beside her. The man had a tiny smile on his face as he nodded down at her. "Good work."

The small smile was soon gone, and he was once again serious. "So. What is your decision?" he questioned, watching as the girl looked down in thought. She was silent for a few minutes, clearly thinking about his offer, but when she looked back up and met his eyes, he knew what she had decided.

Reaching her hand up to push the scarf wrapped around her neck down, she replied to the man's question.

"I accept."

Edited 8/27/18

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