Chapter 13: The Second Task, Part 3!
Wendy wasn't entirely sure what had made her activate the second element. She had only done it once before, and after nearly dying because of it she had sworn to never use it again until she learned how to control it properly.
But standing here, watching Laxus walk away from her after just handing her the amulet. It had made her angry… so, so angry. She didn't even know why exactly. Because it seemed to her as if he was trying to discredit all the growing she had done over the years? Or because she felt that he was calling her weak? She didn't know.
Before she had even realized what she was doing, she had reached up under her scarf and gripped onto the stone just as she had done only once before. And feeling the flames burst out around her with the wind quickly picking up in intensity, it had brought her senses back to her.
With the flames burning bright around her eyes she just watched Laxus' face quickly turn into one of surprise before he activated his own magic. The aura radiating from his magic was strong, almost matching her own. Glancing down, she could see the small feathers sprouting around her wrists and ankles.
Raising a trembling hand, she grasped onto the end of her hair and pulled it in front of her. And like she expected, the tips of her hair had turned a light pink just as it had before. Letting it fall against her shoulder again, she raised her eyes to meet Laxus once again.
As she spread her feet apart and braced herself despite her body screaming at her to stop, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering back to the only other time she had experienced this power. The source of many of her nightmares. The mission just after the Grand Magic Games almost two years ago…
1½ Years Prior, Wendy Age 14
Wendy grumbled as she ran a hand down the side of her face, trying to ignore the members of Team Natsu behind her, who had been arguing with each other for the past ten minutes. Finding a mission should have been easy, and she would've been in and out in less than ten minutes… If it hadn't been for the rest of her team noticing her arrival.
They had been upon her in moments, asking how she was, what she had been up too, and where she had been. Having ignored their pestering, she had made her way to the notice board only for the rest of the group to quickly follow, with Happy even landing on top of her head.
"Oh!" Lucy had practically squealed. "You want to go on a mission, Wendy? We should all go together!" On top of her head, Wendy heard Happy shout out an excited Aye while Charla rubbed her head in annoyance by her feet. Behind her, the other members of the team let out varying words of agreement.
Reaching her hands up, Wendy carefully plucked Happy off the top of her head and placed him on the ground. He let out a small noise of disappointment but moved over to Charla nonetheless. Turning to the group behind her, Wendy tucked the piece of paper she had plucked off the board into her pants pocket.
"Sorry, but I want to go alone." The blue-haired girl spoke, doing her best to ignore the fallen expression that appeared on Lucy's face. "Oh," Lucy replied, grasping her hands together behind her back. "Well, we could always go on the next one together then."
Only nodding her head in response, Wendy walked around Lucy and the Exceeds to make her way towards the bar. "Wait a second, Wendy." Turning her head back around, she saw both Gray and Erza standing there. The former had his hands buried in his white coat pockets, as the latter stood in her usual Heart Kreuz armor.
"Are you sure you want to go alone? It's been a while since we've gone on a mission as a team." As she spoke, Erza took a small step closer to the girl. Raising a gauntleted hand, she delicately placed it on the blue-haired girls shoulder. "It would be nice to go out as a team again, don't you think?"
Wendy shrugged, knocking off the hand as a response. "I just want to go alone. Maybe when I get back." At this, Lucy reappeared behind Erza, "You promise?" She muttered, and Wendy noticed the shine in her eyes from the obvious tears. Perhaps she had been a bit to forward with turning her down so fast.
"Sure." Wendy replied, turning to continue her path towards the bar. It was an empty promise and they all knew it. There would never be a next time and things would continue just as it had been for the past year.
Reaching the bar, Wendy quickly pulled out the mission paper and handed it to Mira, who took it without question. The older mage read over it for a few moments before looking back at Wendy with an eyebrow raised. "Are you sure about this mission? It doesn't seem like your style."
Only giving a short nod in reply, Mira sighed softly before marking her down on the paper taped to the counter. "Alright, well, the mission is yours." Holding out her hand, Mira offered the paper back to Wendy who swiftly took it back and folded it before stuffing it back in her pocket.
Muttering a quick thanks, Wendy turned to make her way out before she was stopped by Mira's voice. "Just be careful Wendy," the bartender called out, pausing as Wendy turned to look at her. Glancing down at the location she had written down on the paper, she continued, "I've been hearing about some suspicious activity in the area you are headed."
Mira paused for a moment, watching Wendy's look of indifference. "Perhaps it would be wise to take someone else with you… At least consider taking one other mage."
Wendy stared into her blue eyes for a moment before shaking her head slightly. "I want to do it alone." Her hand fidgeted by her waist as she pondered over her words. "I don't normally take missions like this, but if I want to continue improving then I have too."
The pair only stared at each other in silence before Mira replied with a short nod. "Alright then." The bartender reached over to grab an empty mug and began wiping it down with the cloth that she had grabbed with the opposite hand. "I can't stop you, but please be safe."
Taking that as the sign to leave, Wendy once again turned and made her way through the guild. She could feel the watchful eyes of the rest of her team on her back the entire time, although she did her best to ignore it and keep moving. As she reached the doors, she noticed Charla making her way towards her out of the corner of her eye and quickly pushed open the doors. Stepping outside, she spared one last quick glance inside before shutting the doors quietly behind her.
It didn't take long for Wendy to complete the journey to Fairy Hills and gather her things together for the mission. And before she knew it, she had made it to the train station that was located on the edge of town.
While she had been at her room, she had switched out of her previous outfit in favor of something more comfortable for the long train ride. Now, she wore a light blue turtleneck sweater along with white leggings and sandals strapped around her feet. Her hair had been untied after leaving the guild and was now flowing loosely across her back. And to top it all off, Natsu's white scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck.
So here she stood, clutching the straps of her black backpack tightly as she stared at the train in front of her. Blinking slowly, she couldn't calm the trembling in her arms or shake off the feeling of numbness in her legs. One of the train assistants had been attempting to get her attention for the past few minutes, but his words just flew over the young girl's head.
Having grown stronger over the past few years had changed the girl in many positive ways, but there always had to be negatives. And this was a clear negative. The sky dragon slayer had developed the dragon slayers trademark case of motion sickness.
Swallowing down a bit of bile that had risen in the back of her throat, Wendy was only able to let out a terrified yelp before the train assistant practically dragged her inside of the train and threw her into one of the rooms. Scrambling to cast Troia on herself, she had barely brought her hands up before the train started to move, sending her crashing down to the floor.
Gasping for breath, she moaned in discomfort as her nausea continued to rise. She didn't dare attempting to move about and so she remained lying haphazardly across the floor. Shutting her eyes closed, she could only hope to get some sleep to get the train ride seem shorter.
In the end, she had managed to sleep for about seven of the nine hours it took to make it to her destination. She arrived at a medium sized town located on the southern edge of Fiore near the sea. It was mostly known as a trading port but was rather decent sized when compared to many of the other towns in the country.
Staggering off the train, Wendy scrambled to a bench outside of the train station and threw herself on top of it. Receiving a few confused looks from passersby she shut her eyes and ignored them in favor of relaxing her upset stomach.
It took just a few minutes, but eventually she had managed to settle the queasiness in her stomach and push herself up into a sitting position. Opening her eyes once again, she finally noticed the people in the station staring at her and felt a blush form on her face.
While she had grown more accustomed to people starting to recognize her over the years, she had never been and would probably never be one for the spotlight. As with her training with Laxus, she normally chose to remain silent and keep to herself when out in public. Despite the difficulty that was proving to be as her reputation continued to grow.
Turning her eyes towards the ground, Wendy kept her head down as she pushed her way through the crowd. Only glancing up to read the street signs, she made her way deeper into town in search of the mayor's office. Entering the marketplace, she passed stall after stall. Children ran around with their parents as others went out to buy the items they wanted.
It didn't take her much longer to arrive at her destination. The building was located right in the middle of town, surrounded by the marketplace with a small church sitting directly across the street from the office.
Pushing open the door to the building, she could immediately make out the lack of lavish furniture and items that seemed to frequent these buildings in other towns. Instead, the main hall was a small room, with a few pictures of the sea hanging from the walls. There were a few old wooden benches placed by the walls near the doors along with the receptionist's u-shaped desk straight ahead from the doors.
Shutting the door lightly behind her, she ignored the quick glance from a young man sitting on one of the benches and strode over to the desk. Peeking over the edge, she was finally able to make out the form of the older lady sitting on the other side. She had faded gray hair, with wrinkles sprouting across her face, but had a large, beaming smile across her face.
"Hello dear." The woman started, adjusting the glasses resting upon her nose with her right hand. "I don't think I recognize you from around here. Are you new in town?"
Nodding her head, Wendy reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the folded paper. Unravelling it quickly, she slid it over the top of the desk for the woman to see. As the woman's gaze fell upon the paper, a frown immediately replaced her smile. She quickly glanced between the paper and the fourteen-year-old a few times before leaning to the side and glancing behind Wendy.
"Ah…" The woman started, shifting back to sit properly in her chair. "You're here for the mission we sent out."
Only receiving a short nod once again, she sighed lightly and took the paper from Wendy. "Before I continue any further, would you please tell me your name?"
Staring blankly at the older woman for a few moments, Wendy peeked at the form of the man sitting on the bench out of the corner of her eye. He was currently looking away, with the only thing noticeable about him being his long raven hair. And after seeing no motion from him for a few moments Wendy turned back to the receptionist.
"Wendy Marvell." she muttered, watching as the woman's face lit up in recognition.
"Ahhh! I see now. You're the Sky Sorceress!"
Offering another short nod, Wendy only watched as the woman swiveled around in her chair to grab a piece of paper from the edge of the desk. Grasping it tightly, she tucked the mission paper underneath and handed the pair back to Wendy.
The woman let out a small chuckle as she watched Wendy read over the paper. "I'm sorry for not recognizing you sooner. I rarely seem to get out from this desk these days." She shot a small glare towards one of the closed doors to Wendy's left. "He rarely seems to do anything except party and gamble anymore."
Wendy assumed that this he was most likely the mayor. Normally when arriving to accept a mission, they would be sent to the mayor or issuer directly. And since it seemed that the receptionist was the one handling everything around here, he must not have been the greatest mayor.
Continuing to read, her eyes narrowed when she reached the bottom of the new paper that she had been handed. "I don't need any help." she muttered, shifting her eyes back to the woman who only let out another feeble chuckle in response.
"I'm sorry," she stated, gesturing over at the same door with her finger, "It is the mayor's order. Anyone under the age of sixteen should be accompanied by at least one other person due to the nature of the mission."
Clenching the paper tighter in slight annoyance, she was about to refuse the woman once again before she felt a tug on the bottom of her pant leg. Glancing down, her words got caught in the back of her throat as she stared down in confusion. Grasping onto the fabric of her leggings was… A pink frog?
She had no clue where the creature had come from, but his or her green face stared up at the girl with a bright smile. And without letting go of Wendy, it raised the other hand and pointed towards the man sitting on the bench. "Rogue couldn't go too!"
At the mention of his name, the man turned away from the window. His long hair covered the right side of his face, leaving only the left side visible. From what Wendy could make out, he had dark-red eyes like Gajeel. He had a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders that covered the top portion of his gray shirt. Over his dark pants, there were four pieces of cloth attached to a waistband that reached down to his knees. And to finish it off, he wore a pair of armored boots that covered his shins.
Rogue stared blankly at Wendy for a few moments before turning back to the frog. "Frosch, get back over here."
Never dropping the smile, Frosch walked back over to Rogue and hopped onto the man's lap to snuggle against him. This was when Wendy noticed the frog's long tail and came to the realization that is wasn't a frog after all.
"You have an Exceed?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the small cat. There was a small pang in her heart as she thought about her Charla back home. Perhaps she should have brought her on the mission after all…
Shaking her head to push those thoughts away, a bit of nervousness arose within her as Rogue's eyes shifted back to her. As he only continued to stare at her without replying, she was about to turn back to the woman at the desk when he spoke.
"If you're talking about Frosch, then I suppose so." There didn't seem to be much emotion in his voice, as he spoke so quietly she was just barely able to make out what he was saying. "Although this is the first time I have heard anyone call them an… eckeed?"
"Exceed." Wendy quickly corrected, watching Rogue repeat the word once to himself. Watching Frosch cuddle against the man she continued, "My partner is an Exceed as well. Although she is back home."
Rogue didn't do much more than glance at her before looking back down at his cat and start petting him. As his gaze drifted towards the window again, Wendy took that as a sign of the conversation being over and turned back towards the older woman once more.
The receptionist was glancing between the two other human occupants of the room before smacking herself on the head lightly with one hand. "Silly me!"
Dropping her hand back onto the desk, she looked back at Wendy with the bright smile returning to her face. "I can't believe I missed this! That young man over there arrived here a few hours earlier looking to accept the mission as well, but of course I had to turn him away due to his lack of a human partner. But now that you have arrived this is perfect!"
Holding up a hand, she called out to Rogue. "Young man, please come over here for a second!"
Looking back over with what seemingly was his usual blank stare, he carefully lifted Frosch up from his lap and placed the cat on his shoulder. A few moments later he was standing beside Wendy, who was now having to look up at him as he was a few inches taller than her.
Clasping her hands together in front of her, she watched the pair as they stood next to each other. "I can allow you two to go on the mission, but you'd have to agree to go together. Of course, that would also mean the reward would be split fifty-fifty when it's completed."
The expression on Rogue's face didn't shift in the slightest, but he turned towards Wendy when he felt her gaze upon his face. He knew what she was thinking without either of them having to say a word. "If she doesn't care, then I don't either."
Grumbling quietly to herself, Wendy offered a slight nod and watched as the woman clapped once. "Great!" she cheered, opening one of the desk drawers and pulling out a folded piece of paper. "This here is a map of the surrounding forests and plains. As the mission request stated, we have been noticing some suspicious activity in the areas outside of town and we would just like you guys to investigate them."
Rogue reached out a hand and grabbed the map before stuffing it into one of his pockets. Without offering even as much as a nod, he turned around and began to walk towards the front door. And despite being a girl of few words herself, Wendy thanked the woman before moving to follow the dreary boy.
Catching up to Rogue outside, she grabbed onto his sleeve to get him to stop. As he turned to look back at her, she held up her right hand while placing her left on her hip. "Give me the map."
The two stood there for half a minute, as Rogue did nothing except stare at her while she glared up at him with her expectant gaze. Eventually, Rogue reached down into his pocket and slowly withdrew the map. Raising it up, he made no motion to hand it to her, but instead held it close to his body.
"Shouldn't you at least introduce yourself first before trying to demand things?"
Blinking slowly, her hand fell to her side for a moment before she regained her bearings. Her annoyance quickly rising, she raised a finger and jabbed him in the chest as she spoke through gritted teeth, "I'm Wendy. I am the Sky Dragon Slayer. I have an Exceed friend named Charla. Now, give me the map."
That got a reaction out of the boy. For the first time, Wendy saw something other than the blank stare on his face. As she had continued to speak, his face had slowly shifted into one of surprise and had even garnered a reaction out of his Exceed companion as well.
"You're a dragon slayer too?" The boy questioned, turning to his Exceed companion that was still sitting on his shoulder as he spoke up. "Fro thinks so too."
Wendy's eyes widened as she took a small step back. Looking between the cat and the fourteen-year-old boy, she held up a shaky finger and pointed at him. "Y-You're a dragon slayer?"
Receiving a short nod at her question, Wendy stared at him for a few moments before moving closer to him again. "What… What type of dragon slayer are you?" she questioned.
The raven-haired boy glanced at Frosch momentarily before turning back to the girl. "Shadow," he muttered and watched as Wendy raised a hand to her chin and started rubbing it. "Makes sense," she nodded soon after as she muttered to herself, causing Rogue's visible eye to twitch. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Raising her hands, she waved them around to placate him. "Nothing, nothing!" Lowering her left hand back to her hip, she held her right palm out towards him, "I just meant that being a shadow dragon slayer seemed to fit your personality."
"Fro thinks so too!" The small exceed called out, causing both slayers to look over at him. Wendy breathed out a small laugh at his antics, while Rogue placed a hand against his forehead at his partner's antics.
"Whatever," Rogue sighed out as he unfolded the map in his hand, "Let's just move on."
Turning away to begin walking again, he was stopped when his blue-haired companion called out to him once more. "What?" he groaned, only turning his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Well," she started with her voice lowering, "You never told me your name."
Staring at her again with a blank look on his face, he only sighed once more as he started to walk once again. "Rogue."
Nodding her head in acceptance, she fell in step behind him as he turned and began walking again. Frosch was happily pointing out different objects from his shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the weird looks he was receiving from the townsfolk as they walked.
Having time to think to herself, Wendy pondered over her conversation with the gloomy boy in front of her. Although, she thought to herself, I have been acting just as dark within the guild too.
Shaking her head slightly, she grasped onto the edge of the white, scaly scarf wrapped around her neck. All she wanted was to show them that she was able to take care of herself, but no matter what she did, they never gave her the chance. She had tried to convince them before the Games, but they had refused to let her participate. The hardest blow had been being denied by even Laxus himself, as she thought he would be the one to let her participate.
That's why she took this quest. If she wanted to show them that she was just as capable, then she was going to have to keep taking harder quests alone until they would finally accept her. And it wasn't as if she hated being around her friends, it was quite the contrary. But she just felt that she had to do it alone, and that they wouldn't understand if she tried to explain it to them.
It's the only reasoned with herself, having gone over these thoughts many times before. I must keep my promise and I must be able to protect the guild from anything that may try to hurt it to do so.
Edited 8/27/18
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Huge thanks to all the followers and favorites along with the reviewers (TheRangerBoy, Chaos HellLaser, valpix755, zubhanwc3, Nariem, Dragon Lord Draco, OverLordRevan, Trewill91, Guest 1, Guest 2, Unlucky Alias, Aiden2k18, Guest 3)! Massive thanks again!