How Much Longer

Bright Moon, Starless Night

Contrary to popular belief, Natsu Dragneel wasn't a total bonehead. He'd seen the battle-hardened Dragon Slayer that emerged from Wendy after the seven-year time skip. But try as he might, he couldn't figure out why. Wendy was good at staying under the radar and he forgot to pay attention to her many times. It was hard to keep his attention on someone so still and quiet.

Her scent was different than what he'd gotten used to. At first, he hadn't noticed since she barely had a scent in the first place. It used to be the scent of summer rains, soft and barely there. Now, it was sharper and more bitter, like stormy winds before a typhoon tinged with barely restrained fury and deep melancholy.

Wendy remained unassuming for so long that it was equal parts surprising and unsurprising that she turned out to be a weapon. Natsu wasn't good with words, but no one could deny that's what Wendy had become. She was still a child, barely a teenager when she defeated Zirconis and figured out how to enter dragon force, because what else could pink hair and white scales mean? It'd taken his breath away. When did his little sister figure become so strong?

So he probed, asking a couple of questions that could be boiled down to simply getting stronger and wanting to know. But Wendy still shied away from even the most general of questions, remaining tight-lipped and still. He let it be, content with simply watching with a keen eye.

He'd watched as she came back with Lucy in the frozen village, stinking of blood and residual fury. His sharp eyes could still pick out little droplets of scarlet and metal filaments along her collar. Fear and curiosity wafted off of Lucy in waves, but he took one look at Wendy's downcast expression and the strange metallic sheen on her arms and decided to keep his mouth shut.

Natsu wasn't stupid. That God Slayer girl, Chelia didn't decide to join Fairy Tail on a whim, especially since she suddenly began spending time sitting across from Wendy at the guild, not saying anything except for minute changes in her expression. But he still didn't know why, so he continued to watch, steadily becoming more concerned as Wendy became more fidgety as time wore on.

And then the Tartarus Demons happened and he could only freeze in horror as Wendy scored sharp claws down Jackel's body and clawed out an eye. There wasn't time to ponder the way Wendy inhaled the fire and smoke from the destructive demon and even less time to jump from a nearby roof and take over the fight. He didn't want to think about Wendy's unmoving form in the wreckage of what was left of the house.

Carla fell out of the sky, wings shredded and fur singed black. It was all he could do to redirect his team's attention to focus on warning Master. It wouldn't do to have the strong pair of odd mages be questioned when they already had a plan. (He was sure they had one even if, for the life of him, couldn't figure it out). He breathed a sigh of relief when Master immediately sent out teams, leaving Wendy and Chelia alone at the guild.

The Cube descended on Magnolia and everything went to shit. The guildhall went up in a shower of wood and stone, courtesy of a lacrima, and Erza got captured. Everything went hazy red as the dragon in him demanded the release of his family. Stone turned to ash in his fury.

His awareness of Wendy faded to the background as he focused on beating Mard Geer. But then Gray showed up smelling more like a demon than a human and took the book. The last straw was when Zeref himself, came and plucked the book from Gray's frozen hands, and when time righted itself, Igneel, his dad, his father, crashed to the ground, dead.

Dimly, he noted the rainbow explosion that erupted from Acnologia's back and the roar of pain that followed. But Igneel was laying at the bottom of a huge crater, smoking and charred. His father was urging him to live, get stronger, and continue on without him. And his dad was dead.