How Much Longer

The Dragon King

If Wendy were to guess how long the seven of them were stuck in Acnologia's weird dimension, her guess would be several days. But as that monster gloatingly said, time was fluid in his little space pocket. It sure felt like several days. When Gajeel demanded to know what he meant, he'd simply said time was neither here, nor there, and then laughed in their faces.

She was past the point of exhaustion, her body only fueled by pure willpower and adrenaline. From the way her eyes blurred, it was a wonder that she could see anything at all. Each one of them had been knocked unconscious, put in near-death situations, and probably broken nearly every bone imaginable. Thankfully she was better off than the rest of the Slayers. They needed a healer with them after all.

So far, Wendy'd repaired Cobra's spine a total of four times, un-liquified his innards twice, and healed his fractured skull once. He needed the most healing because he wasn't used to fighting with the Fairy Tail mages; oftentimes taking on Acnologia one-on-one while the others were regrouping. Rogue and Sting tag teamed as usual, while Laxus, Natsu, and Gajeel did the Fairy Tail way and went in without a plan.

Half of her attention was on Cobra, who had yet to wake up, and the other half was considering which person to enhance as sounds of battle emanated near Acnologia. Everyone was filthy from the nonstop fighting and Natsu was the only one who wasn't sweaty. His flames constantly boiled it away. His vest had been torn to shreds some time ago and his pants were singed. Only his scarf remained unscathed.

Gajeel was relatively fine, his iron skin made it so he didn't need to be healed as often. Part of his shaggy mane was unevenly sheared off from when he was almost caught in one of Acnologia's violent roars. His studded gloves were falling apart, one of his eyebrow piercings was missing, and dust caked his back from where he'd landed previously.

Sting and Rogue had the most scrapes since they presented a bigger target by attacking together. Sting's arm coverings were barely scraps clinging onto his arm. Rogue's coat became less than fibers a while back when all seven of them were caught in a shrapnel-filled blast. Thankfully, Wendy had been further out and her own outfit was spared.

Wendy wasn't sure about Laxus. He jumped and zipped around too much for her to get a good look at him. But the last time she healed his broken ribs, his hair had smothered like live coals and he had a large burn mark on his shoulder. He refused to let her heal it, even going as far as lightly shoving her away, and telling her to save it. She knew from the way he gasped for breath that the year-old Bane particles were acting up again.

Wendy's fingers and toes were still numb and tingling from her time in the crystal. But that had been who knew how long ago. Her head spun as she boosted Gajeel, Natsu, and Laxus' speed and defense. Acnologia cackled as he evaded all of the attacks and backhanded Sting, who'd attempted a flank maneuver. The missed attacks flew over Wendy's head and broke another crystal chunk into tiny shards.

Cobra stirred. "Get up!" Wendy hissed. By now, hardly anyone spared words, instead, they saved their breath for attacks and screams of frustration. Cobra grunted and leaped back into battle. Wendy loathed to admit it, but the only time anyone got to sleep was when it was concussion-induced.

Acnologia stomped on the ground and energy blasted everyone near him. He howled with maniacal laughter when the light died to reveal the smoking forms of the struggling Slayers. Natsu's scarf fluttered in the invisible wind as he choked on dust. Fear tingled in her chest.

Wendy exploded into Dragon Force for the fourth time, giving everyone else time to catch their breath. She was the only one with enough magic power to get to Dragon Force. Everyone else flagged on what seemed to be the second day. If Wendy was counting correctly it was almost or about the fourth day here. They told her not to waste magic power by increasing their stamina and instead to save it for healing.