Nashi figured their goodbye from Edolas must've seemed really heartfelt or something.
Yeah, not for them. Why, you may ask? Well, it might have had something to do with the fact that when they returned to Earthland, they landed in a pile on top of each other.
"Get your foot out of my mouth!" Simon shouted.
"Stop eating my foot!" Ultear shot back.
"Who's ass is in my face?" Drake demanded.
"Touch my ass and I'll kill you" Elise warned. Nashi managed to wiggle out of the pile and sighed as she took a few relieved breaths. Then it started to rain. Perfect. Nashi grabbed her cloak and pulled it around her as the wind and rain pelted them. Damien sighed as he sat up.
"Well" he said. "We may as well go home now."
"I'm cold." Elise said flatly, rubbing her arms in a vain attempt to warm herself. Nashi wished she knew what that felt like, she was never cold. "Nashi, make a fire or something"
"In the rain?" the Pinkette asked. "Okay Elise, I'll get right on that."
"Don't start with me."
"Don't make stupid requests."
"Coldness aside" Simon interrupted, standing up. "Damien's right, we should go home. Besides, how long has it been since we took that job offer?" Oh yeah, the job. Nashi remember why they had been here in the first place, it was to find a little girl that'd run off. Nashi almost laughed. Twice now during a job she'd disappeared somewhere. She was honestly surprised that her parents let her go on jobs at all at this point. Nashi was about to stand up when Drake hummed in irritation.
"We aren't alone" he said flatly, turning to look at the bush to their left. "You can come out" he called. "I know you're there." The six of them watched the bush warily as it shuffled a little bit, and Nashi gasped when a little girl poked her head out at them.
"Um, hello" She said shyly. Nashi couldn't find her voice. Had the little girl been sucked into Edolas too? It made sense where she'd gone now. Ultear was the first to speak.
"Hey" She said sweetly. "What are you doing out here?"
"I was out playing" The little girl replied. "When this hole opened in the sky and sent me to this weird place where there was two of me. I just got sent back." Simon whistled.
"She was in Edolas?" he asked. "It all makes sense now, truthfully. That's why we couldn't find her." Nashi nodded in agreement.
"Well, we can take you home," Ultear said, pulling of another dazzling smile. "Would you like that?" The girl nodded again, and Ultear walked up to her and grabbed her hand. "Come on guys, let's go." Ultear began to walk back to Watercliff town, and Drake sighed as he stretched and stood.
"Come on, Ul's in charge now"
"And if history has taught us anything" Simon mused as they walked after Ultear. "Ul's scary when she's in charge." Damien snickered.
"Coming from Erza's son"
The rain hand't let up yet, and they had already returned to Magnolia. Nashi would've liked to say being on the train dyed them up, but it didn't matter now, they were all drenched again. Nashi yawned.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"I don't know" Drake replied. "Late, maybe after 10"
"What do we say when we get back?" Ultear asked, gesturing to them. "We all look like shit, Dragon Slayers especially." Nashi knew Ultear was right, they all looked like shit. They all had bruises, scrapes, torn clothing, and Ultear was even limping.
"How about we just say what happened?" Simon asked. "Not to be some goody two shoes or anything, but I can't think of a single excuse we could give for this."
"He's right, unfortunately." Drake said, sighing. "We'll just tell the truth."
"You all cannot be serious" Elise growled. "Do you really think that's a good idea? We're wet, bruised, limping, we all look like shit, and on top of that we fought an army and a dragon mech in a parallel universe? Seriously?"
"Got any better ideas?" Damien asked as he placed a hand on the door of the guild. "No? Then shut up and let's get this over with." He pushed in open, and Nashi let the sweet smell of liquor, cigars, and a variety of other smells assault her nose. Home sweet home, Edolas Fairy Tail couldn't compete. As they stepped in, eyes turned to them.
"About time you guys got back" Gray said with a smile. "What took you so long?"
"Well..." Simon trailed off, obviously not sure where to start.
"Why do you all look like absolute shit?" Nashi's father asked from the right, and Nashi laughed awkwardly.
"It's a long story, Dad" She replied. Nashi saw her mother giving her a look.
"Nashi?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, Mom?"
"What happened to your arm?" Nashi was confused until she looked down at the ragged cloth on her upper arm. Oh right, her bullet wound. Nashi paled at the thought of how bad that was going to look. Nashi slowly tore the cloth off, and revealed her clearly infected, disgusting looking bullet wound. Nashi hadn't noticed when it happened Simon had really done a number on her arm trying to dig the bullet out. "Mavis Nashi, what happened?"
"Uhhh..." Nashi replied, not sure what to say.
"She was shot" Damien supplied for her, and she face palmed. Leave it to Damien to say something like that so bluntly.
"Are you okay?" Nashi's mother asked worriedly.
"It fine..." Nashi trailed off as she attempted to lift her arm and it seared in pain. She grabbed the wound and winced. "Ow." Master Laxus sighed.
"I think an explanation is in order" he said. "And judging from the looks I see in this room, you'd all do well not to leave anything out."
2 hours later...
That was how Nashi and the others had launched into an explanation on what had happened, telling all three accounts of what exactly had happened. From the Anima, to Mystogan, to Prince Simon, to Nashi getting shot, to the Dorma Anim, all of it. Nashi noted how the looks transpired from laughter to seriousness to even more serious. Clearly, it sounded more dangerous to their parents then them.
"Is that it?" Gajeel asked gruffly. Drake shrugged.
"Pretty much" he replied. "Well, excluding Dragon Force and the whole demon thing, I think we covered it all." Drake's words cast an eerie silence over the guild, and Nashi wasn't sure why.
"What and the demon thing?" Nashi's father demanded.
"Dragon Force" Elise replied with a grin. "You should've seen it Natsu, we had scales and we were super powerful and it was awesome!" Nashi laughed in agreement.
"Yeah, we were pretty cool" Nashi agreed. "Especially when we ripped the Dorma Anim apart." The silence unnerved Nashi, and she felt like mentioing Dragon Force was the wrong thing to say.
"Nashi" Wendy spoke up. "Why don't you come with me to the infirmary? I'll patch that wound up." Nashi nodded and followed the Sky Maiden up the stairs towards the infirmary, wondering what exactly was wrong with that they'd said.
Nashi sat on the edge of the bed as Wendy silently healed the wound on her arm, wondering what she could say. Wendy was a Dragon Slayer, perhaps she could explain what was wrong with Dragon Force.
"Hey, Wendy" Nashi spoke up, garnering a sideways look from the healer.
"Yes?" She asked.
"What's..." Nashi trailed off, unsure of how to say it. "What exactly is wrong with Dragon Force? I mean it saved our lives." Wendy sighed.
"I think it'd be best if Natsu-san answered that for you." She replied. "It'd be better hearing it from him."
"Why?"
"...I'll go get him, you stay here." Nashi nodded weakly as Wendy left the room. Nashi wondered why Wendy had been so against speaking to her about it. It was clearly a dangerous technique, but Nashi didn't know why. She sat it silence massaging her closed wound when the door opened again, this time revealing her father, who cast her a worried glance. He walked to the opposite side of the infirmary, staring out the window. he stood there for a while, before sighing and turned around to face her.
"I was worried this would happen" he said flatly. "Seems my worries were in the right place."
"Why?" Her father sighed in response.
"Because you're lucky to be sitting there after what happened to you." He walked over to her and sat down next to her, and Nashi noted the tense aura he had. Nashi's father had never looked so tense, at least not in front of her. "As I'm sure you've figured out, Dragon Force allows a Dragon Slayer to take on the properties of a dragon, basically becoming a humanoid dragon themselves."
"Right."
"Well, I suppose I should've told you this, but the lost magic of Dragon Slaying itself...turns the user into a dragon."
"What?!"
"Yeah."
"I'm...I'm going to.." Nashi stared down at her hand in shock. Surely this was some kind of joke, right?
"Calm down, you'll be fine" her father replied.
"But you just said..."
"I know what I said, but the only known way to prevent this dragonification is to have antibodies created by a dragon themselves. Your grandfather Igneel did that for me."
"What does that have to do with..."
"Nashi, you're my daughter. Half of your DNA is mine, remember?" Nashi could see what her father was getting at now, it made sense. "If science has anything right, you should have a form of antibodies in your own blood, not allowing you to turn into a dragon completely."
"Completely?"
"That's where Dragon Force comes in." He sighed as he wrapped his hands together tightly. "As Dragon Force gives the body dragon-like attributes, it also helps dragonification. Seeing as it is such a powerful skill, the antibodies in your blood may not be enough to prevent dragonification."
"So if I use it too much, I'm in danger?"
"Precisely. That's why everyone got so worried when you guys mentioned it. If you use it too much, there's a chance you won't come back out of it. You'll be a dragon."
"Well...that sucks."
"I know." He laughed weakly and ruffled Nashi's hair. "I wouldn't worry about it though. Dragon Force requires a huge amount of magic to activate, something you and your friends don't inherently possess."
"Why?"
"It requires a lot of magic to activate." he replied. "Only Third Generation Dragon Slayers can enter it whenever they want, and that's because they have a dragon lacrima in their bodies to give them the necessary magic boost to enter it. How did you guys even enter it?" Nashi thought for a moment before it dawned on her.
"When we were fighting the Dorma Anim, the Anima was leaking ether-nano into the air." She told her father. "At first the high concentration of it was making us sick, but when he inhaled a lot to roar at him, we must've taken in a lot of magic." Her father nodded understandingly.
"Make sense" he said. "Like when I ate Etherion."
"Yeah"
"Don't ever eat Etherion, Nashi. tastes like shit. That and it can kill you, but mostly the taste." Nashi laughed weakly.
"I'll keep that in mind." The two of them were quiet for a moment, before her father sighed.
"Anything else you wanted to ask?" He asked her. Nashi thought for a moment, before something began to bug her.
"What about Drake?" She asked. Her father looked confused.
"What about him?"
"He the son of a Second Generation Dragon Slayer" Nashi reminded. him. "His dad doesn't have any antibodies to pass down to him." Her father thought for a moment, before he shrugged.
"I honestly don't know" he replied. "Cob-er, Erik can't enter Dragon Force as far as I know, so I don't know how Drake did or if he's in danger. I'd keep an eye on him though, he not know."
"Alright." Silence befell them again, and Nashi wasn't sure what to say. She and her father often entered awkward silences like this, probably because neither knew what to say to the other. Nashi had never know him and he hadn't even known she existed, maybe that was the problem. He sighed.
"So," He said smiling at her. "How was Edolas?"
"Weird." Nashi replied, chuckling. "I'm dating Rocky over there"
"..."
"Dad?"
"I'm going to kick his ass"
"What?"
"Be right back" Nashi watched as her father left, and chased after him.
"Dad, wait for me! I want to see!"
Short, but I got them back today, next time will be one shots. I apologize if anything in this chapter is incorrect, I did my best to look into the whole dragonification thing. Hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's get five!