The Love of Dragons- Nalu

Chapter fifteen - To Mend

POV: Grey

“Luuuuucy?” I called, peeping my head through her door at just before the sunrise.

“Mmmm, wha?” she mumbled, wiping her eyes and flicking the blonde hair from her face. Erza still lay completely crashed on the floor, but I could see tiny twitches of her fingers and nose, like she smelled something foul.

“Time to get up.” I stepped cautiously into the room, knowing that in half a second she could stand and kick me for coming in uninvited.

“Why?” she didn’t even lift her head from the pillow. One full step into the room and the smell of fruit and warmth wafted to my nose. Personally, I couldn’t believe that Lucy could stand it, especially with all the pink and fluffy pillows.

“Because we need to scout out Magnolia. There’s no point making some big journey out of this thing if Natsu hasn’t even really left.” I stated, pulling the sheets off of both girls, Lucy slept in her massive, pink hoodie and a small pair of shorts. Erza was folded awkwardly over her arms with her legs curled tightly into her body and hair in a mess around her hands and face. She had slept in her armor, not surprising from her.

I saw Lucy’s breath quicken, slipping out of her resting pattern.

“That wasn’t a dream, then?” she kept her head tilted away from me and tightened her fists around the salmon colored pillowcase.

“No, that bastard really is dumb enough to go with that Rothe woman.” I nudged Erza with my foot, “Rise and shine.” She made a quiet groan and shifted a tiny bit away from me.

“C’mon, Lucy.” I let a smirk cross my face as I turned back to the tired girl, “If Erza’s too weak and tired to come then I guess it will have to just be the two of us.” For a moment she looked at me, bewildered, then it settled in and she went along.

“Oh, yes, what a shame. Just the two of us… Grey, what if we get killed?” She asked, dramatically throwing away her pillow and standing.

“Who knows what will become of us weaklings. We may never come back, but at least Erza will get her rest…”I trailed off, grinning broadly at Lucy; although her prowess was still slightly lacking, the girl had tenacity and was smart enough to catch on to anyone’s plans in an instant.

“I’ll get on my clothes and then we’ll head off. Meet you at the guild?” She questioned, I nodded and opened the door, walking out of the room.

Walking down the cobbled road was odd, it was like every day before and it was routine. But normally it was Lucy, Natsu, Erza and I; we would walk out of Magnolia for a job and then we’d come back the same way. That wasn’t the case this time. It was odd to see the crushed stone where Natsu had punched the street, but then… how did he destroy this street? The whole city had been rearranged for Gildarts and along with that arrangement this single street was made to be nearly indestructible. I bent over, touching the fragments of blackened stone, one piece was sharp and I cut my finger on it. I scooted over to a clear space of regular path. I raised an arm and struck the ground with all the force in my body, ice shards flying in every direction. The power caused a ripple along the ground, ice melting against the magic holding the rock together. But nothing happened to the stone itself. I frowned deeply and as the exhilaration fled my body I realized a burning pain in my hand. Two of my fingers seemed odd, not in the right position. According to Lucy’s description, Natsu had devastated the pathway with ease; our power had never been so off balance before. The last time we had gotten into a fight we had both collapsed being entirely equal. The Natsu who left us was not the same as the one who joked with Lucy and I; he was completely different but we still needed him back. I stood shakily; I used more power to try to dent the road than I should have. The sun had finally risen and was lighting the entirety of Magnolia for the start of the day. Erza and Lucy would be at the guild within half an hour, which left me with time to talk to Gajeel and Wendy.

When I stepped through the doors I saw Levy already with her face in a book and Gajeel reading over her shoulder. The Iron Dragon Slayer had a vexed look on his face and would frown every time she flipped the page.

“Wendy?” I stepped over to the little girl, trying my best to smile at her.

“Grey? Are you hurt?” She rushed to me and her hands flitted about, trying to decide where the injury was.

“No, I’m not hurt.” I scratched my head and grinned, a bit sad to realize that the only time I really spoke to her was when I required help. “I just wanted to ask you some stuff.” I sat down on the bench and patted the spot next to me,

“Oh, like what?” She patted her skirt and sat, Carla flew over and rested on the blue-haired girl’s lap.

“Well, do your powers fluctuate? Are you sometimes stronger than others?”

“Not really, I mean it just has to do with my desire and motivation.” She giggled nervously, “But I don’t really fight anyway, it’s better to resolve these things with just words, you know?”

“Uh…yeah, but you don’t feel like Acnologia being here made a difference in your power?”

“No but, uh, if you’re just looking for information about Natsu I do have something odd.”

“What’s that?” I asked, even Carla seemed confounded; Wendy never kept anything from the little cat.

“Well, Rothe tore his scarf, that was my first guess that she wasn’t who she said.”

“Why did the scarf let you know that?”

“Well, Natsu says that Igneel gave it to him, it represents the scales of a dragon.” I nodded; Natsu had told me that before, it gave him some protection from magical attacks. “And that means that only another dragon can tear it.” She gave me a hard look and I saw a vague semblance between her, Lucy and Levy, the three girls all took great interest in intellectual puzzles.

“So Rothe is definitely a dragon?” I confirmed, I had been expecting some big revelation, but we all already knew that Rothe was just a dragon in her human form.

“Yes. But the thing is that the scarf was sewn up.”

“Yeah, it is still fabric.” I stated, thinking it was obvious.

“No. If anyone had tried to sew it up the needle would have broken unless it was made of the fang of the dragon by whom the scarf was created. In this case it sewed itself up and I don’t know if Natsu even had anything to do with it.” The girl paused for a long moment, “I have no idea what that means.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“I know.” Wendy thought briefly, then remembered her nervousness around me and stood quickly, “If you need me for anything else just ask.” She decided, and just then Lucy stepped in through the doors with Erza at her heels.

“Wendy, I need something from you.”

“What?” She looked up at me,

“Tell Lucy what you just told me. Every detail.”