Chapter 9

As Wendy walked into the house, she was extremely nervous. She heard a sweet voice say, "He's upstairs putting Nashi down."

Wendy walked over to sit by Lucy on the couch, "Wait, he's putting her down? He never does that!"

"He does when he leaves on a mission without telling me."

Wendy laughed.

"Are you going to tell him tonight?" Lucy asked as she looked at Wendy.

Wendy nodded as another voice said, "Hey, Wendy!"

"Hi, Natsu!" she said with a fake smile.

"How was your mission with Romeo?" he asked.

"Good."

"Well, Luce ate without me, so you wanna eat with me?"

Wendy shook her head. "I already ate, but I have to do the dishes. It's my week."

"Alright," said Natsu as he headed to the kitchen.

Lucy had cooked chicken, and Natsu ate a plate she had left out for him. Unsure of what to say to Natsu, Wendy silently washed the dishes. She was so nervous… and scared.

After what felt like forever, Natsu asked, "Wendy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be, Natsu?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the dishes.

"You are hardly ever this quiet. I'm your brother; I know when something is wrong. Now come on, tell me."

She sighed. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" He asked. She stayed silent. "Are you and Romeo having problems or something?"

She sighed. "Kinda."

Natsu raised an eyebrow, "How can you kinda be having problems? What's wrong, Wen? You know you can tell me anything."

Wendy bowed her head as low as she could until her face was blocked by the sides of the sink. It was now or never. "I'm pregnant," she whispered.

Even the flies didn't dare buzz as the room fell into a state of absolute silence. Wendy hoped for a second that he didn't hear her, but Natsu was a dragon slayer, which was why she was startled when he started laughing.

"Good joke, Wendy. You almost got me. So what's your real problem?" He said, planting his fork into his food to take another bite.

She sighed as she continued to look down at the dishes in the sink; she was on the verge of tears, "I'm not joking, Natsu. I'm serious," she answered, her voice trembling.

For one second, the room got absolutely dead quiet. Not one sound was made.

Then Natsu dropped his fork and lost it, yelling, "You're what?! This is a joke, right? You're just pulling my leg! You can't be serious!" he said as he stared into Wendy's teary eyes. Before Wendy could speak, he continued, screaming at the top of his lungs now.

"Fuck, you're serious, you're fuckin' serious!" he screamed, grabbing onto the sides of the table. Suddenly, the table began smoking. When he let go, there were black burn marks in the shape of Natsu's hands. Wendy stared at the marks and her face went pale instantly. She didn't think Natsu would get this mad. As he got up from the table, he moved so fast that it flipped over and fell on the floor.

Wendy flinched. She had never seen her brother this angry, and it scared her.

"How could you be so irresponsible, Wendy; you're sixteen. Why were you and Romeo so immature— no, stupid!— to think you were ready for sex?"At this point, Natsu was pacing back and forth angrily around the now-cracked massive wood table.

"Do you know what the guild will say? Plus, I can't afford to support your child. That's just an unnecessary expense. That will just cause me problems. Oh and Romeo—," Natsu snarled, "Shit, I'm gonna kill that kid, I'm gonna murder him for knocking up my baby sister!" he said, turning to face a terrified and cowering Wendy.

Lucy ran into the kitchen and said, "Natsu, calm down. You are going to wake Nas—" Lucy stopped abruptly, staring at her kitchen table that was broken in half.

Natsu followed Lucy's eyes to the broken table. Wendy was now reduced to a trembling and sobbing mess, sitting in a chair that matched the table.

"Natsu, that was my mom's table!" Lucy shouted, furious. Both Natsu and Wendy flinched from their sometimes cursed enhanced senses. Nashi's cries came through the baby monitor, only making it worse.

"Ugh, I'll go get Nashi," said Lucy, turning to face Natsu as she started to emanate a black aura. "If you break anything else, I will personally end you, Natsu Dragneel." Natsu's eyes widened at Lucy's statement, and he froze. Lucy slapped him, and continued speaking once she'd calmed down, "Listen to her. She has beat herself up enough over this. Cut her a break. Let her explain."

After Lucy left, Natsu took a minute to regain his composure and turned to Wendy. "I don't need an explanation. You had sex and got pregnant. Well, guess what? Now you're also grounded. Go get your lacrima and don't make any plans for the next year. I can't believe you would do something like this!"

Wendy ran to her room, grabbed her lacrima, and chucked it down the stairs. When she returned to her room, she laid on her bed and cried.

Natsu was still in the kitchen when the lacrima came tumbling down the stairs. Three of the stairs were dented, and one was scratched. Natsu stared at the broken pink lacrima on the floor in front of the stairs.

Lucy came running down the hallway with a screaming Nashi in her arms. "Natsu, what is going on? I almost had her back to sleep," Lucy complained. Then she saw the broken lacrima in pieces at Natsu's feet and all over the stairs.

"Natsu, what did you do?" she accused.

Natsu was appalled. He had no idea why she was blaming him - he didn't throw the lacrima. "I didn't do that. Wendy must have; I told her to give me her lacrima."

Natsu stormed up the stairs toward Wendy's room, yelling, "Wendy!" There was no answer, but Lucy intervened just as he was about to bang on the door.

She turned to Natsu and said, "Give Wendy some time to think. You probably scared her. You two can talk it out rationally in the morning," she said. "Now… I'm going to put Nashi down."

Natsu, who knew this was not a good time to argue with Lucy, went to their bedroom and shut the door. He walked over to the bed and sat on his side. He sighed as his anger started to dissipate; he put his face in his hands and took a deep breath. As he thought about the situation, his previous emotion was replaced with disappointment. Natsu didn't know where he went wrong… Did he do that badly in raising Wendy?

Wendy knew Natsu would be mad, but she didn't think he would be this mad. She didn't want to be a burden. Natsu was mad enough to kick her out, even! What better way to get rid of another problem? She was so scared of this possibility; she needed to leave.

As Lucy put Nashi to sleep, Wendy started to pack a bag. She wasn't just gonna wait for him to kick her out, so she would head to the only person she could trust right now.

When she heard Lucy finally go to bed, Wendy opened her window and used the tree outside to climb down to the ground. She ran as fast as she could, crying as she went. Natsu couldn't kick her out if he couldn't find her.