Wendy had experienced bad days before. Ever since joining Fairy Tail, she had all kinds of days. Calm days – though rare – and noisy days, dangerous and safe days, excellent and horrible days. She'd had it all. She'd felt just about everything except for, maybe, romantic love.
Nothing compared to the feeling of agony and danger that washed over her just a second before she passed away. She felt like darkness had taken over her body, like she was trapped in her own skin as it painfully melted down. She couldn't think of a way to describe what she felt to anyone, but just to remember the feeling… she shivered and hugged herself.
She didn't stay unconscious for long: Charle and Bedlam quickly got her back, but the feeling took some more time to subside. She couldn't hear the voice anymore, though.
They sailed for hours before anchoring on an island. The village there was small and had few outsiders – in fact, the people seemed extremely interested in the newcomers. The houses were colorless and Wendy had a feeling of poverty and sadness from simply looking at that place. It felt like people's spirits were dead there.
"Are you ok, kid?"
She nodded, looking up at one of Shanks' crew mates and smiling at him as they walked. They stopped by higher grounds, from where they could see the town on one side and the sea on the other while being unseen. The pirates stated that Fire Fist should remain hidden from people. Wendy looked at the still unconscious pirate, wondering why he wouldn't wake up, when Bedlam put him on the ground.
"I'm ok, just overwhelmed. Sorry for worrying you," she finally answered the man's question.
"He lost a lot in that war," Shanks spoke, arriving with Yasopp – they had been getting some basic supplies from the town market -, "His mind's probably recovering slower than his body. Ain't no power to heal that fast, right?"
She nodded, understanding, but still unsatisfied: she was a healer, she couldn't just accept the fact that she couldn't help heal someone.
"Well, we'll be off then," Shanks told her, and she snapped her head up to look at him. "Two of his brother's crew mates are arriving here as we speak, along with another of those Supernovas. It'll be troublesome if we stay here. I can't meet his crew before he's ready to meet me."
Wendy frowned, confused.
"Look for these two," Shanks handed her two pieces of papers. They were Wanted posters of two people, a girl and a man. "They are coming to this island. They will take both of you along. Luffy is their captain."
Now she understood part of what he was telling her to do: join up Ace with Luffy's crew members t, eventually, joining Ace and Luffy together.
"Wait!" Charle called before they left. "What if they don't show up? Or if we don't manage to cross paths?"
"Don't worry," Shanks answered with an unreadable expression. Soon, he and his crew left, and Wendy didn't do anything to stop them. She had a feeling that he and his crew weren't the kind of pirates to take along strays – even if one was just a girl.
Besides, she could handle herself, and she could heal Ace again if needed.
"Charle," she looked at her friend. "Can you look around for them?" She handed her the wanted posters, "I don't want to leave him alone and you can go around the village faster."
Charle nodded and flew away. Wendy sat down next to Ace and tried to use every variation of her healing magic on him again. She knew that Shanks was right and his spirit might need time healing, but she also was sure, from the few minutes she'd seen him awake, that his spirit was tougher than that. She doubted he'd stay down for that long.
'Something's missing. What is it, Ace-san?'
Sighing, she looked down at the ocean just as the wind changed.
When it blew on her face, from the ocean towards the village, her vision suddenly blurred.
"You need to find me", again, the same voice, this time louder and more desperate. Wendy crouched in pain just as an island covered in ashes and ruins appeared before her eyes. A few crows feasted on what looked like corpses, the place smelled like blood and rotten flesh, and the feeling of it… She felt the sorrow of the people who watched their loved ones die, the anger of those fighting for their lives. The children were crying – she couldn't see any living thing but somehow she could hear the cries – and there were pots banging. Why would people bang pots?
Wendy covered her ears to try to block the sounds out. The pot-banging sound increased, vibrating in her ears, just as the island seemed to zoom in.
She widened her eyes as a different scent caught her attention and the sight of its cause…
"Find me, Enchantress. Find me…"
"WENDY!"
Her body began to shake just as she began to scream. She felt something soft gripping her shoulders and shaking her. That didn't make any sense: soft had nothing to do with the vision…
She realized her eyes were closed and opened them, just as Charle shouted her name again.
"C-Charle?" She blinked, feeling something cold run down her cheeks. Tears. "I'm crying."
She spoke to herself, realizing that, indeed, she couldn't stop the silent tears.
"Crying?! You were screaming! What happened? Did he attack you?"
"He?"
"Ace!" She pointed at the fallen guy. "Did he fake this unconsciousness thing just to attack you?"
She shook her head negatively.
"I… I just felt sick and fainted, then I had a nightmare. I guess the medicine of Bedlam-san had some after-use side effects."
She nearly considered telling Charle the truth, but in their current situation that wouldn't help either of them and would only serve to distract Charle.
So she stopped talking and looked at the sea again. She saw a black spot in the distance and focused on it, trying to fight the fear of that voice returning. Charle looked at the distance too.
"I'll go see what it is," Charle said, but Wendy could already hear the people. She smiled widely.
"It's Happy!" She told her friend, who froze midair and turned to look at her, "and Lucy-san. I can hear them, Charle!"
Just as she said that, another ship – now she could guess that the dark moving spots were probably ships – appeared and she heard the sound of cannons. She heard Lucy screaming and widened her eyes.
"They're under attack!"
She stood up, ready to have Charle fly her there when thunder suddenly crashed on the attacker's ship.
• •
• •
After some quarreling and arguing, Nami and Zoro agreed to follow Law towards the island he mentioned. As the navigator stated, since she were the one handling the directions, she got to decide where they'd go, and she wanted to go after Trafalgar Law.
Lucy and Happy didn't dare to barge into their argument. Instead, the blonde focused on the water, scared that some crazy monster would show up again, but up to when they reached inland waters – according to Nami – nothing came around. Happy flew up and returned stating, merrily, that they were, indeed, approaching an island.
Before it came to view, though, another ship emerged from under the sea, nearly next to theirs, making both Lucy, Happy and Nami jump startled – while Zoro's hands flew to his swords. It didn't have a jolly roger, or flags for that matter. It did, however, had sailors on it, and they looked pretty scary in Lucy's opinion.
"Found two of 'em, boss!" One of the sailors – who Lucy guessed was a pirate – shouted, staring at Nami and Zoro. Lucy and Happy stood next to them, looking scared and curiously at the ship. Nami looked scared and Zoro...
"Why do you look excited?!" Lucy asked, incredulous, just as he prepared himself with his swords: one in each hand, one in his mouth.
"Shoot them down, now! The Commander said we don't need them alive!"
"Heh?" Zoro seemed even more excited and moved, but a cannonball made him dodge. Nami, Lucy and Happy got out of the way in time to dodge it, but others followed.
"They'll sink us!" Nami protested, and Lucy grabbed her keys.
"Open, gate of the Archer, Sagittarius," Lucy called, and her trusted archer appeared. Nami's eyes widened at the sudden weirdo appearing in their ship, and he, under Lucy's request, started shooting the cannonballs.
The arrows hit them all, making them explode midair.
"Impressive!" Nami acknowledged before grabbing hold of her clima tact and expanding it. Lucy looked at it curiously. "Zoro, don't go there!" She added to the swordsman, just as clouds appeared above the other ship. "Thunderbolt Tempo!"
Thunder crashed on the enemy's ship. It didn't sink it, but it worked to distract the pirates for long enough for Zoro and Nami to sail away from them.
"They're following us!" Happy stated.
"Stardress: Sagittarius!" Lucy changed, now surprising even Zoro, who seemed about to argue with Nami for not letting him fight. "Starshot!"
Sagittarius fired his arrows as well, and they all hit their marks: the cannons, now empty, filling them with arrows.
"That'll slow their firepower," Lucy spoke, looking at the island, which wasn't getting closer fast enough. She had a hard time keeping the gate open, which was odd, because she usually had much more magic power than that. She remembered the previous time she opened a gate, how it felt like it required a lot of energy from her, more than it usually did. Sure, she kept it open all night long, but Aries was one of her less-energy-consuming spirits, especially if she wasn't fighting. Something about that place made her magic heavier, like some of it was locked away.
"Can't you do that water thing?" Zoro asked her, earning a puzzled look from Nami.
"No, I'm barely holding on to this stardress," she shook her head negatively, frowning, "It feels like my magic's restrained here, it's tiring me out faster."
"Magic?" Nami repeated, incredulous, "do you mean Devil Fruit? What is yours anyway?"
"Can we chit chat later? Those bastards are approaching us," Zoro spoke, "Nami, I'm sinking their ship."
"Sagittarius, gate closed," Lucy spoke, feeling suddenly exhausted. The magic limitation there sure wasn't convenient.
Why did the pirates wanted Zoro and Nami anyway? The two didn't seem to know who the attackers were, and it was also odd that the ship literally appeared out of nowhere. Also, she thought, the pirate guiding their group suddenly seemed to have disappeared. If he wanted them to follow him so badly, why not help them out?
Just then, one of the attackers suddenly threw a cannonball in the air, but it didn't get anywhere near the ship. Lucy and Nami exchanged a confused look, which soon became a look of horror when another pirate moved both hands and a powerful wind blew the cannonball towards them.
"Cut it! Cut it!" Nami shouted at Zoro, who didn't need that command: he was gonna cut it either way.
The cannonballs returned, in an even faster rate. Zoro kept cutting one after another, but the amount didn't allow for him to land a direct attack on the ship itself.
It was also approaching them, moving a lot faster than their ship.
"They're Devil Fruit users!" Nami shouted while dodging the fragments of the cannonballs Zoro cut.
"They'll sink us at this rate!" Lucy complained.
The man who kept forcing the wind towards the cannonballs suddenly smirked.
"We're close enough now," he said, and Lucy had a bad feeling about it, "Kaze Kaze no Tatsumaki!" (Wind Wind Tornado).
A large tornado surrounded their ship, and it nearly threw Zoro into the water. Nami and Lucy grabbed onto the mast, while Happy grabbed onto Lucy. It was so powerful that even the Exceed couldn't fly through it.
"We'll sink at this rate!"
That's when Lucy heard a familiar voice,
"Tenryuu no Hokko!"
• •
• •
Author's Note: Updated as promised. (For the record, it's Sunday 8p.m where I live, so I am on time :P )
Hope you all enjoy. At least two groups should finally meet :)