Crash Course

01 The Seven Years

"Akiko!", I heard distantly. My body moved, but it wasn't on my own accord. Someone was shaking me. Rather harshly, too, might I add. "Akiko, wake up!"

"Don't shake her so much!", a scolding female voice interrupted, and metal met flesh. Erza. So that first voice must've been...

"Natsu?"

There was a breath of relief, and Natsu replied, "Hiya, Kiko." I peeled open my eyes, squinting at the bright light from the sky. I threw an arm over my eyes and let them adjust to the shade, before the sun. "Here." I accepted the hand Natsu put in front of me, and allowed myself to be pulled up. 
"What's going on?", I inquired, looking around. I was surrounded by trees and bushes. Sniffing at the air, I smelt- "-the ocean?"

Natsu nodded, and said, "I smelt it too."

Erza came into sight, and said, "I confirmed that we are on Tenrou island." Her face was blank. She'd always been the collected one- hard to read. But, in that moment, I could see something in her eyes. Worry, or even fear. I wasn't sure. All I knew is it was unlike Erza. "We've been here, for seven years." And my world came crashing down.

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"-You can train hard your whole life, and there's no way you'll ever beat me!" Natsu had enough of the scum talking down on our friends, and kicked him across the guild hall. If I wasn't so angry, I might've laughed at his girlish scream. All of our remaining guildmates looked shocked.

The scum's friends turned, and yelled, "Who in the hell?"

Gray blasted them with ice. I swept a few away with a good punch using a rock covered hand. Erza slashed with her swords, and Master Makarov pounded them with over sized fists. When all of the men were on the ground, eyes closed and groaning, I folded my arms over my chest and gave an angry stare.

Natsu laughed with a smile, "Look who's back!"

"Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long!", Happy said, jumping up into the air. My angry gaze turned into a soft one as I faced my guild mates. They all looked surprised, and worn out. They survived seven years without us, and were only just getting by with this dump. 

I smiled gently, and teased, "Miss us?" Romeo sharted crying, but held back choked up sobs. The rest of our friends didn't try so hard. They were crying openly. "No!", I yelled, hands out and eyes wide. "Don't cry! If you guys cry, I'm going to!" I felt the salty tears pricking my eyes and pulled the nearest member we left behind into a hug. It happened to be Bisca. 

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"I can't believe we wasted our three months in the celestial world," I whined. Meeko flew alongside me, and flicked her tail.

"At least you didn't have to go through the pain like the others." I glanced over at Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Juvia, and Lucy. They all had to go through a lot of pain to open their second origin. Erza and I? Not so much. I think we already had it unlocked. With a sigh, I turned my attention away from them and to the city we were in now. 

"So," I said, clapping my hands together and bringing a smile to my face. "We all meet before midnight at the inn, yes?" Erza nodded. "Perfect! Natsu, let's go eat!" I snatched up his hand, dragging him away from the train and towards the inner city. Our exceeds were close behind. Natsu and I went from place to place, eating as much as we wanted. Sometime after dark, we were walking through the streets. I hand my hands laced behind my head and a content smile on my face. After all this eating, and I wasn't quite full. But I was still energized and fed enough to last until breakfast.

"Anybody else want some?" Natsu and I paused at the voice, looking over to the group. Natsu was the first to walk towards it. I looked at our flying exceeds before I shrugged, and followed after him.

We tried to push through the crowd while some voice called, "Man, these guys are a bunch of losers." 

"What's going on?" I glanced over at Natsu, only to go wide eyed. He was gone. I finally shoved through the crowd, seeing Natsu getting up off the ground. I almost wanted to face-palm.

"Look, two fairies," the blonde boy taunted, placing his hands on his hips and smirking at us. I snorted, catching the two dragon slayers and their exceeds off guard. They looked at me with surprised eyes. "What? What's so funny?"

I laughed, and said, "Oh, come on, shortstack. From what I hear, I haven't aged a day. You've got to recognize me." I felt odd calling him short stack, since he now was taller than me. Seven years sure let that little blonde boy grow up. He eyed me over, before realisation hit him.
"Akiko Adachi?" I hummed, and gave a sharp nod. "And this is Natsu Dragneel?" Another nodd.

Natsu growled, "How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone does," Sting answered matter-of-factly. "We know all about the dragon-slayers that couldn't slay dragons."

I folded my arms, and rose an unimpressed eyebrows, "So? They were our parents."

"We're third generation dragon slayers."

"What?"

I sighed, flicking Natsu and saying, "They're like me. Dragon parents, and lacrima." Natsu made an 'ohh' noise, and looked back at the two Sabertooth members. "So what I'm hearing is- you've killed a dragon?"

"Yeah, our dragons."

In sync, Natsu and I screeched, "What?!"

"You scum!", I yelled, but grabbed Natsu's scarf to hold him back as he yelled too.

"Those were your parents!" Sting opened his mouth, but froze. I saw his nostrils flare, resulting in him snapping his mouth shut and swallowing thickly. I wonder what that was about. A bell chimed, making my rage bubble down. 

Eyes locked with Sting's, I told Natsu, "We've got to get back. Erza will kill us if we're late. Meeko! Happy!" They scooped down, pulling us into the air with them and flying us back to our inn. Even long after we left, all I remember was the intense, burning gaze of the now older- or at least physically- boy that challenged me seven and a half years ago.