Wendy was at a complete loss.
The sky dragon slayer was walking through the long empty hallways with no destination in mind. She began to realize just how alone she truly is right now. After finding out about what kind of person Izanagi is and the reason why the people here need him healed was having her mind go back and forth.
Their god here didn't seem to be a very kind ruler, in fact he sounded more like a tyrant to her. She couldn't understand why Izanagi had such a low opinion on magic where if people here use it, they get punished. Granted this wasn't exactly her home and the people here seem to want their ruler brought back despite all this.
There was also the part regarding what would happen if Izanagi would die from his illness. There was a high possibility that her home Fairy Tail was below this country right now. Plus a lot of innocent people would be in danger too. But all Wendy would need to do is help heal this country's God. Yet she feels even more nervous about this than ever.
She really wished her friends were here with her right now.
Wendy suddenly felt someone grab her left arm which caused her to jump a little before quickly looking over at who grabbed it. She saw the same yellow haired girl whom she met when she first arrived here. Sync was looking cheerful as ever.
"There you are!" Sync bubbled. "Why're you so glum?"
"O-oh!" Wendy shook her head. "It's nothing..."
"Hmmm...okay!" Sync gently tugged Wendy's arm and playfully pointed at a completely different direction the bluenette was going. "Come on! I wanna show you something!"
Wendy stumbled a bit while being dragged around by the chirpy girl. She was able to balance herself and follow Sync. Wendy was surprised how much strength this angel girl had to pull her around so easily.
The two turned some corners until Sync abruptly came to a complete stop which caused Wendy to gently bump into her back. When Wendy looked up she saw a door open to the side as a thin man with glasses walked out while carrying a book.
"Hm?" He turned to his left and saw the two girls as he closed the door to the library.
"Oh! Hi again Starky!" Sync waved. Stark groaned in annoyance and rolled his eyes. He then noticed Wendy standing by Sync. The two stared at each other for a moment.
Stark proceeded to glare at Wendy before walking off. The Sky Sorceress tilted her head in confusion but Sync just giggled. "Don't worry! Starky is just shy! He doesn't really talk to people much. Now let's go!" Sync continued to drag Wendy through the hallways.
It wasn't much longer until the two girls reached their destination which was up some spiral stairs. The door was just as plain as all the other ones in this castle, but this one had a wreath hanging on it. Sync opened the door and the two went inside. The room was large and open, the walls were surrounded by glass as the view showed the entire town from all sides. There were many patches of flowers, bushes, hedges and even trees. Wendy's eyes sparkled in awe at the bright flowers blooming. There was a large statue on a fountain in the middle of the room. The statue depicted an angel with a cape standing heroically.
"You like it? This is my favorite spot!" Sync beamed while spreading her arms out. "The garden dome tower! You even get a view of the entire town!"
Wendy continued looking around, the fountain looked stunning to her as well. "Wow...it's really pretty up here!" She marveled. The bluenette then noticed Torian currently tending to some plants. He was sitting down on his knees and dipping his hand in the bucket he brought. Although the male angel was in the zone as he didn't notice the two girls walk in.
Torian proceeded to swipe his hand out of the bucket, splashing water everywhere. However to Wendy's surprise, Torian began to move the water with his fingers as it began sprinkling in the surrounding plants. He was controlling them like a puppet on a string.
"Yoo hoo!" Sync interrupted as Wendy snapped her head and saw Sync sitting right on top of the statue's head and waving at her. "You should come up here! The view is great!"
"Uh..." Wendy hesitated. "I don't think I can...I can't really fly..." She twiddled her thumbs.
Sync paused before laying on her stomach and resting her cheeks on her arms. "Oh ya! I forgot, you humans don't have wings." She playfully kicked her legs.
Wendy chuckled. "Y-yeah...I'll sit by the bottom of the fountain." She said before taking a seat on the fountain border. Despite the garden's peaceful and pretty atmosphere, the negative thoughts still wouldn't leave Wendy's head. There was still a lot on her mind.
The Sky Sorceress glanced up and saw Sync walking and balancing on the statue, continuing to be as cheerful as ever. "H-hey, Sync was it?" Wendy called out.
The pigtailed girl stopped what she was doing and looked down at Wendy. "Yup! What's up Wendy?"
"May I ask you...what do you think of this place? The kingdom and your ruler?" Wendy asked. She was curious about what the people here think of their home.
"I love it here!" Sync beamed, skipping off the statue's head as she front flipped. She stuck the landing and posed. She turned to Wendy and placed her arms behind her back. "Everything is so nice! There's no crime or bad guys!"
"Even though the laws here are strict?" Puzzled Wendy.
"Sure, god makes things a bit too strict here..." Sync began to pace back and forth. "But it's because of those laws that Exahelm is so beautiful!" She waved her arms around to show Wendy the beauty of the country she lives in.
"Do the people here love it here too?" Wendy continued to question.
"I guess, from what I hear." Sync tapped her chin. "Although I don't really talk to the civilians here much."
Wendy tilted her head. "Why not?"
Sync looked down and sighed. "Well, it's because I can't exactly leave the castle...for uh reasons. I don't really have any friends my age." The yellow haired girl looked back up at Wendy and smiled. "But that's okay! I still got big bro and the rest here!"
Wendy frowned and lowered her brow, feeling sorry for her. But at the same time she didn't understand why this girl wasn't allowed to leave the castle. To the sound of things, the others can so why not her? Was there something else with this girl or was the ruler here just cruel?
"Well, we get along do we?" Wendy claimed. "How about we be friends, Sync?"
Sync came to an abrupt stop to her pacing as she looked at Wendy with wide eyes. Shortly after those eyes began to sparkle as she ran up to the bluenette and grabbed her hands. "R-really?! You want to be my friend?!" She blurted in excitement.
"Y-yeah! Of course!" Wendy giggled, not expecting Sync's reaction.
Sync began to tear up slightly. "Wow! I'm so happy! That means I get to give you a nickname!" She bubbled.
Wendy couldn't help but smile at Sync's enthusiasm, in a way the two had something in common. Always wanting to make new friends. Although, Sync abruptly paused her excitement as she began to weirdly stare at Wendy's right arm. The sky dragon slayer looked at her arm and back at Sync as a question mark popped out of her head briefly.
"Ah!" Sync realized and widened her eyes. She released Wendy's hands and pointed at the blue mark on Wendy's arm. "That mark! I recognize it now!"
"H-huh?!" Wendy exclaimed.
"Yeah! That weird...firefly thing! There were some weird people I saw earlier today who had that same mark!" Sync proceeded to point at her right shoulder. "One of them had it in the same place as yours..." She then pointed at the right of her chest. "And another one had one on their chest, although it was weird that he was wearing no shirt..."
Wendy's eyes widened and pupils shrunk. She began to put the pieces together as Sync continued rambling about the weird people she encountered. "I didn't really talk to them since I was hiding in one of my little buzz orbs. But one of them had mean looking eyes! He seemed like he had a short temper as he almost attacked Balrus! They were being naughty too!"
Wendy was too wrapped in her thoughts to pay attention to Sync as she looked down, although she did hear the descriptions that matched a familiar pink haired friend she knew all too well. "...My friends...they're here?" She thought. The bluenette began to overcome with happiness as tears began forming in her eyes. "T-they made it! My friend's are here for me!"
As Sync continued rambling and even impersonating what she witnessed, Torian walked over and caught the two in the corner of his eye. Although he came to a stop as he noticed Wendy suddenly crying tears of joy. Sync noticed Torian raise an eyebrow before she slowly gazed over at Wendy and paused.
"Wendy...Are you okay?" Sync wondered.
Wendy realized that she was crying before quickly wiping her eyes with her arm. "Y-yeah! I'm sorry!"
"Wendy...do you know those people?" Sync asked.
"Sync! What the hell are you doing?!" Suddenly, an angry voice was heard from across the room as the three shot their gazes towards it. Stark was grinding his teeth as he held the door open with one hand,
"Starky? What's wrong?" Sync wondered, looking worried.
Stark rubbed his face in annoyance. "Children are so incompetent I swear!" He began to march aggressively towards the group as Torian began to back away. "Why didn't you report their marks! That is *extremely* important information!"
Sync looked down. "I-I...I didn't know that was so important, I told big bro and he didn't seem too bothered by it. I thought you just wanted to know about the big explosion from earlier..."
Wendy quickly stood up as she realized that the slender angel was marching towards her. He gripped one of her twintails and tugged on it aggressively, continuing to look at Sync. "And you thought it was okay to tell *her* about it?! Don't you realize what you've done?!"
"Agh! What're you-" Wendy yelped in pain, getting a hold of Stark's grip with both her hands.
Stark looked down at Wendy. "They *must* be her companions from down below! They're here to take her back and ruin everything!"
"Uh...but I thought you didn't like the idea of a land walker helping out." Torian brought up, but immediately looked away and whistled as Stark briefly glared at the timid male angel.
"I still don't, you fool. But if this is the last resort then so be it!" Stark argued.
"L-let go!" Wendy struggled.
"I don't know how your friends even got here, but don't expect to see them anytime soon. They'll be put under arrest immediately!" Stark threatened with a grimace.
Wendy growled and glared at the gray haired angel. "No! I-I won't let you!" She proceeded to summon a magic circle below her feet as the area began to glow in a blue light. A burst of wind exploded around her as Stark was thrown across the room.
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"This is the place." Carla looked up at an average sized building with a hanging sign that read 'Inn.'
"Wow, subtle." Gray joked.
Sting sighed before pulling out the remaining Dalla he acquired. "Well, hopefully this'll be enough. It may be a little crowded inside though."
"It's not like we're actually staying the night here y'know." Gajeel noted. "Why do we need to stay here anyways?"
Jellal opened the door and gestured to the others to walk inside. "So we can have somewhere private to discuss." He reminded.
They all began to walk inside with Erza slightly lagging behind, as she was still thinking about what she overheard earlier. She briefly looked back at the castle and noticed a flash at a glass dome tower near the top floor. A crack on the window formed abruptly after the flash which caused the red haired wizard to squint her eyes in suspicion.
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Wendy was panting and coughing while the dust settled. Her chest was aching as she clenched it. She realized that she used magic by accident. The bluenette slowly looked up and saw Sync and Torian stunned as they had their gazes over to the right. Wendy scanned to her right and saw Stark laying on a patch of destroyed flowers. She also noticed he was still clenching a part of her hair as Wendy looked up and noticed the right part of her twintail was torn off in the process.
"Ugh..." Stark rubbed his forehead and slowly pulled himself up. He glanced at the ripped portion of Wendy's hair and threw in on the ground. He shot a fierce glare at the young girl. "Why you...!"
Wendy clenched her teeth as she noticed an open path to the door. She quickly looked at Sync and shut her eyes tightly. "I'm sorry..." She murmured.
"V-Vernier!" Wendy casted a enchantment spell on herself as a blue magic circle appeared below her feet. Her chest continued to ache but that didn't matter right now as she immediately booked it out of the garden.
"H-hey! I think she's escaping!" Torian panicked, pointing to where Wendy went.
Wendy slides and makes an abrupt turn using her hand to balance herself. She leaped forward and saw the spiral stairs. She had to see her friends and warn them that they'd been discovered. However, right before she was able to reach the staircase, several magic beams shot through her body from behind. The bluenette immediately fell to the ground and slid a couple inches as she grunted in pain.
The sky dragon slayer could barely move, but there weren't any visible wounds. However her body felt extremely numb. She struggled to move her head, but she saw in the corner of her eye Stark across the hallway as he held two crossbow-like magic guns. They vanished into thin air as the male angel took deep breaths, still feeling the shock he received from Wendy's attack.
"And...where do you think...you're going...?!" Stark seethed. His body was slightly slumped over but he pulled himself up and took another deep breath. "Don't think you can escape here, you brat!"
The slender angel once again marched towards Wendy and proceeded to stomp one foot on her back. Wendy yelped in pain as she grinded her teeth in frustration.
"How dare you attack me like that. Don't think I'll give you leeway just because you're healing our god!" Stark scowled. "You're just a lowly human!"
"S-Starky!" Sync shouted as she stood next to the door. "You're going too far!"
"Y-y-yeah...! Hahlos might get upset!" Torian warned.
"That's enough, you two!" Stark shot. "You know as well as I do that this girl is simply a tool for us. It doesn't matter if she gets a little hurt, she won't be here for much longer anyways." He looks back down at Wendy. "You're going to stay here and fulfill your duty, whether you like it or not."
Wendy laid her head on the ground as tears began slightly dripping from her eyes. Not because of the pain or over what Stark said. But because she felt so ashamed that she couldn't do anything, she thought she was stronger than this. Wendy kept trying to pull herself up but her body refused to move. She promised herself she was going to get stronger for her friends, but everything was going against her at this moment.
"That's far enough! All of you!" A loud voice boomed as a gust of wind appeared in front of Stark. Hahlos emerged from the wind as he glared at the slender angel.
"Big bro!" Sync exclaimed.
Hahlos moved his gaze towards Wendy before going back to Stark. "You shouldn't treat the Sky Sorceress like this, Stark."
"Tch." Stark backed off and placed his hands in his pockets. "You're being too soft. Don't you even know what's going on?"
The green haired angel narrowed his eyes away for a moment and sighed. He looked over at Sync who immediately looked away from him once their eyes met. Torian was scratching the back of his head. Hahlos then looked back down at Wendy and noticed that she was unconscious. He gently picked her up and faced the three angels.
"We're calling everyone and having a meeting about this, *now*" Hahlos demanded.