6 Months Since Tartaros
"Sky Dragon Roar!"
"Blood Barrier!"
A transformed Carla leaned against a tree at the edge of town as she watched the two sparring. The spells collided, the additional force redirecting toward the sky. Even though she had to hold her concentration, Amber couldn't help but smile proudly at the young Dragon Slayer.
The dust settled revealing both girls slightly out of breath, but with large smiles across their faces.
Amber was the first to straighten herself up and start across the clearing, "That was great, Wendy."
But the words echoed in the bluenette's head in a different voice.
"That was great, Wendy."
The little five-year old Dragon Slayer beamed up at the older girl with her big brown eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah," Young Kia smiled as she rested a hand on Wendy's head, "you're really getting the hang of your Roar."
Pride and happy butterflies swarmed throughout the little bluenette's body. Even though the Phoenix Slayer lived with Natsu and Igneel, she still looked up to her like a big sister. Kia was always taking the time to make sure that they were all learning not just the training from her, but how they were doing with their magic and their schooling. Wendy knew she really cared about each of them.
"Do you want to see it again?"
The pink-haired girl gave a half-nod, "Yes, but let's save that for the end of training today."
Even though she had essentially been told no, Wendy wasn't discouraged. With a smile on her face, the bluenette shifted her feet as she got into her starting position. Kia stepped over beside her in the same position.
"And one...two...three..."
The two moved through the maneuvers as normal. Choreographed punches and kicks were executed side-by-side as they always did. Kia wanted Wendy to work on her form, but knew that the younger girl wasn't confident enough to spar with anyone yet. But Wendy didn't mind this at all, she enjoyed keeping step with the Phoenix Slayer. To her, it always felt like she was dancing, staying in beat to the numbers that Kia called out. They had done this for so long that the older girl hardly even had to pause in order to correct Wendy's stance or posture.
Even now, Wendy could still feel the peace and calm that always came from those lessons. It made perfect sense to her why she always felt a sense of security when she was around Kia after they all returned from Tenrou Island. Her instincts had remembered what her mind had forgotten.
"So what did you want to work on next?"
The bluenette smiled up at the Blood mage, "How about hand-to-hand combat?"
||~x~||
Things were just as lively as ever at the Sabertooth guild hall. Requests were still pouring in since Fairy Tail had been disbanded half a year ago. This was apparent to everyone in the guild, but especially their master.
Sting had made a sizable dent in the stack of papers that seemed to always live on his desk, but he had just paused to rest his hand when his office door opened. His cerulean gaze shifted to meet a familiar crimson one.
"Where's Frosch?"
Rogue tipped his head toward the main area as he closed the door. "He's with Lector and the girls."
Sting nodded, "I assume the mission went okay?"
"Yeah."
An awkward silence hung in the air between the Twin Dragons. It was unusual to say the least, but the both of them also knew what was causing it.
Rogue was the first to speak, "Are you still having them too?"
"The dreams?"
Rogue nodded causing Sting to sigh, "Yeah. If we can really call them dreams."
The dark-haired Slayer agreed, "They feel too real to just be dreams."
"Yeah."
This wasn't the first time that they had mentioned what was going on with each other, but it was the first time Rogue had sat down across from Sting and asked, "What do you remember?"
The White Dragon Slayer cocked a brow at the question, "Huh?"
Rogue sighed, "From what I've seen, we've always been with each other, even when we trained with Kia. So I thought we could fill-in more of the blanks together."
"That's a good idea," Sting leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk. "After you."
||~x~||
"I know how much you look up to Metalicana, but you don't always have to mimic his tough guy act."
His ruby eyes tried to focus as he blinked the sleep away. Gajeel wasn't sure when the dream had stopped, jerking him awake, but he was glad he hadn't disturbed Lily.
A silent sigh escaped him as he rolled off his stomach to stare at the popcorn pattern across the ceiling. He wasn't completely sure how he knew, but Gajeel was sure that all of these vivid dreams were actually memories. They had started not long after Tartaros, not long after he no longer had Metalicana hidden inside him.
Gajeel would be lying if he said that he didn't have more questions about what they had been told, but the only person he could think to ask was off training with her brother and no one knew where they had gone.
He sank further into his mattress as he rested his arm over his eyes. Immediately, he saw flashes of what he had remembered in his sleep: the young Phoenix Slayer giving him a kind but tired smile. He could almost feel the familiar sensation of her flicking him in the nose.
Gajeel had been slowly piecing together the blanks he hadn't fully realized were in his memory. Fighting with Natsu, Rogue and Sting jumping in until Kia would step in and stop them, usually wearing that kind but tired smile. He never understood that look when he was little, but now he could only imagine how exhausting it must have been for her to train five kids that she was barely older than, especially being the Dragon Slayers.
He thought back to the words that had woke him: you don't always have to mimic his tough guy act. If he had remembered those words maybe he wouldn't have gotten in as deep with Phantom Lord. But if he had remembered that, he would have remembered the other Dragon Slayers too. He would have been out looking for them and not just Metalicana. But would he have ended up where he was now? Would he have still become the person he was?
Gajeel moved his arm, looking around the room. His enforcer jacket was resting on the back of the desk chair he only sat in to put on his boots. A faint purr that told him that Lily was still asleep floated on the air. Sniffing the air, he could tell that Levy was still in her quarters next door.
'Where would I be if I had never forgotten?' he couldn't help it as the words popped into his head. He sighed, rolling back onto his stomach, 'Doesn't matter now anyway.'
||~x~||
Blue Pegasus was never quiet, but it wasn't anything like the noise that would bounce around the walls of Fairy Tail. Laxus sipped his drink as he hunched over the bar. Master Bob had finally given up on trying to get him to work the floor that evening since the Thunder Legion won't be back from their mission until the morning, he needed someone to fill in for Freed. The Lightning Dragon Slayer wasn't in the mood to have girls hanging off him while someone served them pricey drinks and he was supposed to make small talk with each of them in order to make them feel special.
"Here you go."
Laxus peeked up as another glass was placed beside his freshly empty one. Master Bob flashed him a smile before turning to retrieve the latest orders that were arriving from the tables. He gave a nod in thanks before swirling the liquid around in the glass. Clicking on his headphones, Laxus let his mind wander.
Verani was still acting odd at the guild hall, it was easy for Amber and Kia to see even if she wouldn't admit it. To the others in Fairy Tail, they just assumed she was down because of the sudden absence of her father, but the girls knew better than that.
V had never been the biggest fan of Ivan, having little to no respect for the man. Her opinions didn't change when he just up and left Magnolia without a word after his excommunication. She always knew he was a deadbeat.
And though Ivan's disappearance from her life was not the direct cause for her mood, it definitely had something to do with it.
As a few weeks passed, Kia began putting the little clues together. Verani was always wanting to go out on the town or on jobs, which wouldn't be odd except that the blonde hated shopping. The only exception to that being when she needed to replace her sneakers when she wore them thin from running with her magic, but then it was just out of necessity. The second hint was when her moods changed: when she went home and when she got to the guild. Seeing as Verani thought the world of her grandfather, that left Kia with only one other suspect.
The Phoenix Slayer mounted the stairs inside the guildhall, knowing that was where she would find him. And she was right.
Laxus was lounging on the couch, eyes closed with his head tilted back, his headphones resting on his ears.
Kia moved, stopping to stand in front of him. She debated kicking his shoe, but could tell he wasn't completely relaxed.
"Stop acting like you don't know I'm here."
He didn't move. "No shadows today?"
Kia was not a fan of the tone he was using, but she held her tongue. She wasn't going to let him bait her into an argument or a fight.
"How long are you going to be an ass?"
The Dreyar finally opened his eyes to meet the pair of onyx ones that were staring down at him.
"What's it matter to you?"
She crossed her arms over her chest, "Because you're affecting your sister."
He quirked a brow at this.
This frustrated Kia even more. "Have you really been so wrapped up in being a punk that you haven't even noticed how she's been acting?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." and though Laxus tilted his head back like he didn't care and was done with the conversation, he was really sifting through his memory. He didn't know what Kia was talking about and that bothered him, the pinkette wouldn't confront him over nothing. They had never butted heads before, but they weren't really beyond casual greetings in passing either.
He also knew how serious she was when Kia decided to follow her impulses this time as she leaned over and swiped his headphones.
"You don't want to do that."
"And you aren't going to ignore me or this conversation like a spoiled brat." As much as Kia wanted to yell, she didn't want to draw attention. If they gained an audience, she knew she would only be bouncing words off his facade.
"I came up here to talk, Laxus, not treat you like a child, but I don't care." Kia held the headphones up, "So act your age for two minutes and humor me."
The blonde wanted to argue, but he couldn't see how that was going to get him out of this situation any faster. And he had watched the pink-haired teen deal with her own brother's antics, she could have the patience of a god. So Laxus only narrowed his eyes as he remained quiet.
"I get that you're upset and I won't tell you that I get it or you need to get over it." Kia started, "But as an older sibling, you need to figure out when to mope or growl or be an obnoxious punk on your own time. I know you understand what it means to be strong for your sister when she's around instead of being a selfish little kid."
"If you want to work through this on your own or try to prove a point, then don't drag Verani down because of it. If you involve her, then work through it with her. And even if she won't admit it, I know she's shouldering part of the blame because she feels like she's failing you as a sister."
She tossed his headphones back, "So I don't care if you don't want to act your age or your rank, at least act like a brother who cares. I've known you long enough to know you actually do."
Laxus watched as she turned, going back down to rest of the guild. He was mad, but not necessarily at Kia. He was more upset by the fact that everything that had just come out of her mouth was true.
"You sound like the old geezer," he said, "you know that?"
Kia paused on the top stair, but she didn't turn to face him, not sure if he would take her faint smile poorly, but she did respond.
"You realize that's a compliment, right?"
She didn't wait for him to answer, knowing that he probably wouldn't. She had done what she had come up there to do. Now all she could do was wait and see if he let any of her words sink in, (but little did she know, they already had.)
Kia had seen the road he was going to go down and had probably had a good idea of the stupid mistakes he would make. She had always had a knack for reading people and the situations around her.
A faint clank caught his attention as another drink was set down in front of him. Laxus blinked before turning his music off.
"Thanks, Master Bob. This'll be the last one."
||~x~||
Happy was mumbling about "fishies" in his sleep, but that wasn't what was keeping the Fire Dragon Slayer awake. Natsu's eyes were trained up on the sky as he leaned back against the mouth of the cave. There wasn't a cloud in sight, making it easy to see all the stars. He wondered how Lucy and the others were doing back in Magnolia, but there was someone else that the stars made him think of: his sister.
Ever since they were little, they would stare up at the stars to unwind after a long day training with Igneel and the others. Natsu had always remembered doing this with his sister, but now he was beginning to remember the other Dragon Slayers when they were all younger.
His chest ached as he hoped that she was still alive and okay since being taken by Zeref. Even though he was off training to get stronger, it was taking so much self restraint to keep from going off to find her. He just had to keep reminding himself that his sister was strong, even Igneel had had faith that she would be alright.
Natsu exhaled as he tried to relax into the chilled stone, the stars beginning to blur in front of his eyes.
Little Natsu lay sprawled out on the ground, using his big sister's arm as a pillow. His eyes traced shapes in the stars while listening to the crickets in the tall grass and the crackling of the fire at their feet.
Kia gently shrugged her shoulder to shift his head, "Why are you still awake?"
He didn't respond, didn't even move.
"Natsu?"
"Why did Dad leave us?"
He felt her tense before she forced her body to relax. It had been two weeks since he had woken up and been scared to death, even if he wouldn't admit it. No matter how hard he had tried, he couldn't wake Kia and Igneel was nowhere either. Even when Natsu had cried out for him, he hadn't come. So he had sat beside his sister as he waited the three days it had taken for her to wake up.
Kia pulled him closer, "You know Dad would never leave if he didn't have to."
Little Natsu nodded as he buried his face in her side. "But I miss him."
"I know," she kissed the top of his head as she gently combed through his hair with her fingers. "I miss him too."
His voice came out muffled as he refused to let go of her, "How long will he be gone?"
"I don't know, Natsu. But we just have to know that he loves us and is always looking out for us no matter where he is."
A star streaked across the sky, grabbing his attention away from the memory. Looking back now, he could tell how heartbroken she had been when they had talked that night. Kia had known that Igneel was inside of him, stopping his dragonification.
"You're just like Dad," Natsu whispered on the night air. "You wouldn't leave like that unless you had to."
His mind flashed to the letter he had left Lucy. Kia was doing what she needed to do and so was he. All he could do was have faith in her and wait for when she would come home.
"I know you love me and are always looking out for me." He closed his eyes as he hoped his feelings and words could reach across Fiore to wherever his sister may be. "I love you too, Kia."
||~x~||
One of my favorites :)