Size doesn't matter

Chapter 2: Marco Polo

Wendy waved to her new partner- he who was lugging a suitcase towards Fairy Hills with a worn out grin on his face. Once he had finally reached her, she asked him what was wrong.

"It's nothing much, just had a fight with my old man."

With his spare hand he rubbed his temples letting out several sighs. Wendy couldn't help the smile which found its way onto her lips. So he's in the same situation as me. Her smile quickly flittered off her face after putting more thought into their situation.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't help you, like you're helping me now" She squeaked.

"Err- well I guess it's not your fault, I mean I was the one who didn't ask." Romeo looked up thoughtfully and crinkled his nose. "He can be such a child sometimes."

Wendy chuckled slightly. "Well, it's nice having a father."

It went silent for a while and finally Romeo shuffled his feet in the sand awkwardly.

"Well… let's get going then."

Wendy nodded solemnly, and then walked though the dormitory's arc, the large sign of 'fairy hills' decorated the top. Romeo watched hesitantly and slowly stuck his foot through.

"O-oh, don't worry about it, the barrier will not react to someone whose been invited in."

Romeo sighed with relief, and then casually strolled it, half expecting himself to be shocked or burned by some unknown magic. Wendy took the lead and they walked down the lobby and passed e bathroom, until they ended up at a wooden door. The door had Wendy's name decorated on it, and Charle's name in block letters underneath. Wendy swallowed loudly and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ears.

Romeo watched her patiently and then she pushed the door open.

"H-hey Charle, I'm back."

Romeo peered in, to find a small cat underneath three layers of blankets in a fairly large room. His eyes darted around, and found Wendy's bed in the corner covered with a quilted blanket, and matching pillows. The room was rather normal, blue painted walls, and pictures hang across her room-mainly consisting of her and her female cat.

"Oh Wendy, I knew you'd be back sooner or later." The white exceed smiled triumphantly. "I hope you've realize now, that I'm your only partner for missions."

Romeo suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and Wendy grimaced slightly. The sky dragon slayer played with the hem of her dress, stealing subtle glances at Romeo who was still hiding at the door.

"W-w-well that's what I'm here for…"

"What?" Charle had a look on her face showing that she didn't understand what the yound mage was getting at.

"I'm going to do a mission…"

Charle looked outraged. "BY YOURSELF?"

"Well… um no, with…"

Well that's my cue. Romeo took the liberty to step out from behind the door to make his entrance.

"…Conbolt-kun."

He smiled sheepishly. "Err- hey."

Charle narrowed her eyes into slits.

"No."

"W-why not?" She squeaked. Romeo watched her skeptically. That didn't seem the least bit intimidating.

"There is no way I'm going to let you go on a mission with a boy who's only nearly your height."

Romeo twitched slightly. He was sure that he was taller than her. "Hey, cat you can't tell her what to do."

"Butt out Squirt."

A vein popped out from his forehead. "At least I'm not a nagging hag."

Charle growled at him and picked up a pair of her miniature slippers. Romeo watched her attempt to throw it at him, the fluffy shoes barely skimming his knee.

"…"

Romeo gave her a deadpanned look and the grabbed Wendy's hand. Wendy's eyes widened at his bold actions and Charle could barely let out a stutter of a response.

"Well, whether you say so or not, Wendy's going to be doing this mission." He dragged her towards her cupboard. "Now you, start packing."

Wendy nodded briefly and pulled out a rucksack. She ran across the room, gathering any necessities for the mission and placing them in her bag. Romeo watched impressed as she darted around the room at impressive speeds. The dragon slayer was soon by his side, bag over her shoulders.

Charle sat up, back against her bed's floorboard, and slammed her paws on her lap in outrage.

"I completely disagree with this!" She screamed she searched for anything else she could throw at the young man. The exceed found a hair brush and this time she threw it with impressive strength. Romeo barely had time to dodge, and it burned a hole into the wall.

Wendy flinched slightly and clutched onto Romeo's vest. "W-w-we really need this money Charle!"

Romeo smiled inwardly. That's my student.

The white exceed pointed an accusing finger at him. "JUST LOOK! HE'S CORRUPTING YOU!"

"Conbolt-kun wouldn't do that!"

Romeo suddenly felt guilty. But only a little.

"BUT HE IS! THE WENDY I KNOW WOULD NEV-" Charle let out a few throaty coughs before slumping into a faint. Wendy dropped her bags and rushed to her side, placing a hand to her forehead.

"What should I do? She over exerted herself- and it's all my fault." She gave Romeo a worried glance. "Maybe I shouldn't go…"

Romeo scratched the back of his head a frown making its way onto his face. Just what the devious cat wanted.

"Err- didn't you say there was a doctor here who'd be looking after her?"

Wendy's eyes brightened and then she scowled. "But where is he?"

Suddenly the said doctor came bursting into the scene. Well… Wendy looked down. Not actually the doctor she had in mind.

"I heard there was a sick patient that needs to be looked after."

A blue paw pushed up a pair of glasses.

"It is I H- HappIE the greatest doctor in Magnolia."

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN CHANGE YOUR NAME!" Romeo barked at the obvious lie.

The blue exceed clad in a miniature white coat and stethoscope hang around his neck crossed his arms. "No, no, no, I am not the cat you're thinking off, HAPPY was kidnapped by the gorilla girl and Natsu. Its not like he could've tricked them by saying he needed to go to the toliet and then escaping through the open window to get her. OF course not."

Romeo watched the cat babble on with a blank expression. If you're not happy, how come you know so much? And don't make your lies so blantantly obvious.

Wendy watched happy curiously and Romeo grinned, an idea popping into his head. He shuffled closer to the dragon slayer.

"Hey, I think we can leave Charle with Happy. He seems pretty keen on looking after her." Romeo whispered in her ear and added a wink.

Wendy blushed slightly and nodded enthusiastically.

"Well then Doc, we'll leave it up to you then." The two pre-teens picked up their luggage and made a hasty exit.

A muffed cry caught Wendy's attention and she turned her head left. She began laughing out loud and Romeo sent her a questioning look. He followed her gaze and then cracked his own smile, then began laughing as well.

As the two ran out of the Fairy Hills dormitory, they passed an gagged doctor slumped against wall, bounded in ropes.

This had Romeo thinking.

How could someone so small bound a fully grown man.

His head began to ache.

"Ticket for two please."

The man behind the ticket booth took a quick glance at the two mages and handed them their train tickets without a word.

"Hey, Conbolt-kun, why did you want to do this mission with me?"

Romeo took a seat and invited her to join him. "Hey, what's with this Conbolt-kun nonsense?"

Wendy took up his offer and also sat down. "O-oh, alright… R-r-romeo-kun" Romeo nodded. "Anyway… um why did you?"

"Well, I guess it- err was to help a friend."

Wendy glanced at him, surprise filling her brown orbs. "O-oh, I thought that you hated me."

Romeo watched her turn round, with a pleased smile on her face. He tugged his scarf uncomfortably; trying to loosen the guilty feeling he had twisting in his gut.

"Oh, no… why would I hate you?" He laughed nervously.

Wendy's grin widened and bounced off her seat joyfully when the train finally arrived. Romeo followed her silently.

Once the two mages were seated in one of the train carriages, Romeo could feel himself relaxing and brightening up considerably.

"This is the first time I've been on a mission without my old man." He smiled fondly.

Wendy nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, usually Charle is with me- always." She twirled her fingers around each other. "It's really exciting ne?"

Romeo grinned in response. "You know this is like we're a team."

Wendy cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean like; we ARE a team Conbolt-kun."

"Oh," Romeo chuckled. "I guess we are and it's Romeo." Even if its only for a while.

"Ah, yes, sorry I forgot."

The Sky dragon slayer nestled herself against her seat, with Romeo staring at the passing scenery vacantly. The gears inside his head began winding and a light bulb lit up mentally.

"A name!"

Wendy turned around alarmed. "What?"

"What we need is a name!"

Wendy relaxed again. "Oh, well a team name does sound like a nice idea!"

Romeo nodded enthusiastically, and then looked up in thought. A few mintues had passed.

"I'VE GOT IT!"

Wendy's eyes lit up excitedly. "What is it?"

"Team Natsu."

The dragon slayer sweat dropped. Well she expected this much from the Natsu fanatic.

"You know Conbolt-kun we can't steal another team's name."

"It's Romeo." He corrected her at once. Wendy blushed and nodded. "Well how bout Natsu-nii is awesome team."

"N-no, our team has nothing to do with Natsu!"

"Fine, Romeo and friend."

Wendy looked at him in protest. "But then you won't know that I'm in the team!"

The young mage crossed his arms. "Well they don't need to know."

Wendy made a face. "That's not very fair."

"Well I'm the leader, and whatever I say- goes."

"Who made you the leader?"

Romeo chuckled. "I'm older that's why."

Wendy's frowned deepened. "But I Natsu's the youngest, but he's still the leader of his team and TECHNICALLY i'm older!"

The Natsu fanatic rolled his eyes. "It's because he is Natsu and physcially i'm older."

Wendy sighed. She began to note that leaving Romeo with naming the team was a bad idea. She began conjuring up possible names for their team. "Dragon slayers are awesome?" Wendy chuckled to herself. Too bad Romeo wasn't a dragon slayer.

Wenmeo, Romendy… Convell, Marco…

"Marco…" Wendy whispered to herself.

"Polo" Romeo lazily answered.

Wendy brightened up. "How about Marco Polo?"

Romeo casted her a skeptical look. "How can we play when we're inside a train?"

"Nooo! We should name ourselves team Marco Polo."

"What? That sounds LAME, Why wou-"

Romeo immediately stopped when he spied Wendy's face fall. "How did you come up with the name?"

"Well I mashed up our last name together and came up with Marco and besides, If we're ever get lost its like a mantra to help us find our way again, plus we are adventuring- just like Marco Polo himself."

Romeo sighed grumpily. "Fine, but this is only temporary- until we find a better name."

Wendy smiled satisfied. "By 'until we find a better name' does that mean we're permanent partners Conbolt-kun?"

Romeo did not reply and remained quiet. Wendy interpreted the silence as a sign for her to stop talking.

The silence soon became overwhelming and Wendy took the initiative to speak up. "What was the mission again?"

Romeo dug into his pockets and bought up the mission poster.

"The Island is called mammoth island. The mission is to try and get a rare plant that is able to cure a certain poison. Unfortunately the plant only grows in the den of an extremely large beast."

Wendy shrunk in her seat. "It seems you've gotting more information on the mission."

"Of course, we have to be ready; after all it is my first mission."

Wendy suddenly felt useless.

The train screeched to a stop. The two Fairy Tail mages hopped off the train and arrived at a large dock filled with small row boats and large sail boats. The two exchanged glances and managed to snag themselves a large sail boat, and sailed towards mammoth island.

"Do you know how to row Conbolt-kun?"

"Its Romeo, and it shouldn't be too hard."

Needless to say, the pair of mages managed to row their boat in rickety circles before getting half way to the island.

"I hope that there aren't many scary monster." Wendy sighed when the island was in clear sight.

Romeo stopped rowing and looked at the Island inching closer. "Well let's hope not, I mean the island doesn't look gigantic.

Wendy watched the piece of land unsure.

Romeo spied a glint in the sky, but ignored it.

Suddenly a large bird swooped from the azure blue sky and snatched Wendy up from the boat and towards the island. Wendy let out a high pitched scream.

"ROMEOOOO-KUNNN!"

Romeo rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

Did his partner just get picked up by a giant duck! Romeo, alarmed began rowing at the island at impressive speeds cursing his luck.

It wasn't because he was worried about her wellbeing or anything.

Definitely not.

And another thing.

Was the only way to get her to call him Romeo, without any reminders from him, was for a giant bird thing to kidnap her?Q

Romeo sighed tiredly and continued to row the boat towards the Island.

This was going to be one hell of a long mission.

Hey everyone. Gosh I'm tired. Work is killing me xD

I'm sorry for the roughly done up chapter. Currently nearly falling asleep.

Hoped you enjoyed it anyways. I shall edit this latter.

Well Until another update.

Marina. :D