The arrival of Gajeel, Rogue, and Erik caused the party to explode in action. Nashi arrived back at the guild a few moments after Erik, the last of the trio, had landed. Gajeel was laughing and saying something about 'winning', Erik was avidly disagreeing and demanded a rematch without passengers and Rogue was giving them a disbelieving glare.
Nashi moved in a daze, the people who yelled happy birthday didn't phase her. She could hear her heart pounding in her head. She hardly noticed Storm telling her that he had to go find his siblings. She was just walking through the guild, trying to stay calm. This was it, all of the Dragon Kings and Queen were there... she was going to be initiated... it was going to happen. She honestly didn't know why she was so nervous but she was.
Lance and his younger sister were standing beside their father but when the older boy saw her he grinned and ran up to the girl.
" Hey Nashi!... you okay?" he asked seeing the expression on her face.
"I..." Nashi began. She was too nervous. She tried to calm herself down but it wasn't going to happen. She didn't know what initiation was like... she didn't know if she could mess it up but it seemed like an inevitability.
"Hey," Lance assured her, "It's not that bad. Stop stressing yourself out."
Nashi took a shaky breath, "I can't... Lance, I'm not ready to be a drake."
"By Acno's roar, Nashi, chill! It's not like you're suddenly going to have to rule the world! Calm down, you're psyching yourself up," Lance laughed grabbing both of her shoulders.
"What if Dad makes me his heir!" Nashi cried her voice rising, she quickly quieted down again.
Storm sighed in exasperation, "Nashi, you'd be a great heir."
"I'm having a panic attack over my birthday, Lance. How can someone like me be a Queen?" Nashi demanded.
"All girls are queens," Lance smirked, small sparkles appearing around him.
Nashi scowled at him, "Please be serious."
"I speak only the truth," Lance denied, "And I mean it Nashi. Sure, you're stressed out now but if you ever got enough confidence there'd be nothing holding you back. You're seriously strong, and everyone listens to you!"
"Like who?" Nashi snapped back.
"Uh... everyone," Lance snickered, "I mean, look, even Kina would listen to your orders. Nova respects you, and I'd listen to you. The younger ones are just dumb but they'd listen to you too."
"I - " Nashi began.
Lance hugged her and rolled his eyes, "You. Will. Be. Fine."
Nashi sighed, "Maybe."
***
From across the guild, Storm was scowling as he looked to Lance and Nashi.
"Uh-oh, I know that face," Ame chuckled sliding to his side and hopping onto the counter that Storm was leaning on. She began to swing her legs as she smiled at her older brother.
"I'm still mad at you for earlier today," Storm growled.
Ame followed his gaze to where she saw Lance hugging Nashi, "ahhhh... Is big bro a little jelly?"
"What does that mean?" Storm scowled.
"It means, that you wish it was you with your arms around Nashi's body," Ame snickered.
Storm turned all nine shades of red before glaring at Ame. "What?" he demanded in a low tone.
"All I'm sayin', is that if you really want to make out with the future queen of the dragons, you've gotta up your act," Ame sighed looking at her shoes with a smirk on her face.
***
"And that's why I never go into a fight without a fresh coat on my nails," Victoria Strauss explained to Nova who was admiring the brown-haired girl's green nail polish.
"Huh, I never thought nails could be that useful," Nova shrugged.
There was an explosion of ice that almost impaled Nova's face making Nova let out a little shriek and made Victoria jump.
"YOU'RE SO DEAD WHEN I GET A HOLD OF YOU!" Storm yelled as Ame blasted through the guild, surfing on her magic-made wave.
"You gotta catch me first big-bro!" Ame teased doing a flip before landing on a new wave and racing around the guild.
"What did you do!?" Silver laughed, using his ice and skating next to his twin.
"There are secrets, dear twin of mine, that are meant only to be shared between two siblings," Ame answered.
Storm was about to chase after them when he was kicked in the face and sent into the guild wall. Nova stood there, a dangerous aura around her, "You think it's funny? You think that making me shriek is entertaining? What!? Do I look like I'm here to amuse you!? WELL CONGRATULATIONS FULLBUSTER, IT'S YOUR LUCKY DAY! YOU GET TO SEE THE LAND OF THE DEAD!!"
"Nova!" Storm choked as he got to his feet, unaware of what he had done, "What's wrong?"
***
"Uh-oh" Kakumi Dreyar murmured seeing the scene, his older sister ready to murder Storm... again. He looked around, trying to think of what to do to prevent murder.
"She's at it again," Victoria sighed walking up and putting her hands on her hips. "Such a drama queen."
Victoria was Evergreen's and Elfman's daughter. She was tall, always in heels, with thick brown hair and bright blue eyes that were watching Nova's rage with exasperation.
"Hypocrite!" Rosemary yelled from across the guild.
"SAY THAT TO MY FACE BERRY-B**CH!" Victoria yelled taking off her high-heels and holding them like a weapon.
"HAPPILY PROM S**T!" Rosemary challenged summoning a sword.
"LANGUAGE!" Erza and Evergreen roared from across the guild making them both shrink.
Kakumi looked to Victoria's high heels and then down to his own boots when he got a wild idea. He ran up to Shido Cheney and shoved his boots into Shido's arms. Shido looked very confused.
"Go hide these please," Kakumi asked him.
"Umm, why?" Shido asked raising an eyebrow.
"I have to prevent a murder," Kakumi murmured.
***
"DEATH APPROACHES!" Nova yelled lunging for Storm.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Kakumi cried sliding in between his murderous sister and her soon-to-be victim.
"OUTTA MY WAY KAKUMI! I'M GONNA COMMIT MURDER!" Nova yelled her eyes gleaming.
"Okay! But first - " Kakumi pleaded. "I lost my shoes and I can't find them... I need help," he said this his eyes growing large.
Nova's rage immediately ended. She looked to her brother's bare feet and then looked back to him with sisterly concern plastered all over her face. "How did you lose your shoes?"
"Well with all the ice and water flying around I didn't want to get them wet and now I can't find them!"
"Where'd you put them!?"
"I don't know."
"Did someone steal them?"
"I hope not..."
"Okay, come on," Nova sighed, holding the bridge of her nose. "We'll find them." She sent Storm a glare that said 'we'll finish this later'.
She and Kakumi left and Storm released a deep breath and silently thanked Kakumi's quick thinking.
Shido, upon seeing that go down, quickly understood what was going on, went into shadow form, and hid the boots in the upstairs portion of the guild. Hopefully, it would take Nova a while to find them which would give her plenty of time to forget about Storm and his soon-to-be-murder.
***
After a few minutes, the guild had descended into a cacophony of partying, drinking, cheering, dancing, fighting, and everything that was normal for Fairy Tail.
"Okay!" a voice rang out over the crowd. Everyone's voices were hushed as they looked up to the balcony of the second floor. Wendy Marvell stood there, looking as dignified and kind as ever. Her long blue hair was held up in a ponytail and she wore a short light blue dress with black leggings, rocking a pair of yellow flats.
"As you all know," Wendy smiled, "Today, is a very special day."
"MY BABY'S TURNING FIFTEEN!" Natsu yelled proudly jumping up to the balcony in one leap, fire burning in his mouth. There was a cheer as people raised their glasses.
"DAD!" Nashi snapped from below, her face going the shade of a tomato.
"Get down," Wendy ordered glancing at Natsu who was still grinning like an idiot.
"No way," Natsu denied.
Across the room, Lucy facepalmed.
"Y'all know why we're here!" Natsu laughed looking down at the guild, "My little girl becomes a drake! She's joining the nest for real! She's growing into her own dragon, getting stronger, smarter, and prettier every day... She's going to become an awesome dragonelle, and deserves the world...so if any of you little bastards try and date her I'll smack the living crap outta you," Natsu growled.
"Shut up," Wendy ordered slapping Natsu off the balcony. Natsu fell from the second floor and landed with a thud.
"Nashi," Wendy smiled looking down at the girl who stood below her, "Are you ready?"
'No' Nashi's interior voice murmured.
"You're going to be fine," a voice whispered.
Nashi looked to her side and found Kina there. The elder girl had crept up beside her, her purple eyes stared into Nashi's eyes, assuring her.
"Don't worry, you can do this," Kina assured her. The elder girl's voice was like a breath of wind but it carried some weight for the young girl.
"Yes!" Nashi yelled up in faked confidence looking up at her Aunt Wendy who was smiling. A hearty cheer met her response.
"Good," Wendy smiled. She snapped her fingers and the guild was suddenly filled with a gust of wind magic. Nashi threw up her arms to protect herself, but the gust was too strong and she was whisked off her feet.
A mere moment later she landed and found herself outside of town, on a hill, with her Aunt and Uncles beside her, except Sting who had landed on his face.
"What the -" Nashi began feeling lightheaded.
"This is a private ceremony, don't worry, you'll be back at your birthday soon," Wendy assured her.
"Owww... Wendy did you have to make me face plant!?" Sting cried.
"No... that was me," Rogue smirked.
"YOU BASTARD!" Sting cried.
"Shut up!" Laxus ordered, smacking Sting upside the head.
"We just have to do this stupid ceremony, and then you can go back to cake" her father chuckled from behind her.
Nashi turned and faced her father. This was it. It was time.
Her father faced her while the other six dragon slayers stood off to the side.
"Nashi Dragneel," Natsu stated, his usual demeanor fading and his aura becoming regal and powerful, "You are a drake now, and that means that there are changes in your life."
Nashi took another deep breath and calmed herself.
"You've grown, you're not a hatchling anymore, you can fight, you can work... you can challenge dragons for their territories. Most importantly, you join the hierarchy of our nest," Wendy explained coming to Natsu's side.
"What that means, is that you get a place in the stupid hierarchy, and dragons are gonna want to know that place," Gajeel nodded from Nashi's left.
"And, we've talked it over, discussed it... and we need to ask you something about your future," Rogue smiled softly looking at the girl.
"Nashi," Erik asked, "Where do you think you belong in this nest?"
Nashi swallowed her fear, this was stupid. She knew these people, this was her family, she didn't have to be afraid or nervous but she was. She didn't feel ready for any responsibility or... or respect... she had set her own bed on fire two weeks ago when a lightning storm had scared her awake. She wasn't ready.
"I-" Nashi began with her voice cracking, which made her blush and made Sting chuckle. "I think I'm a good sister... I think I'm responsible and keep the younger ones in line, I'm good as listening and I'm... I'm decent and fighting. I think I'm a good family member, I'm a good teammate."
"So you're a follower?" Laxus asked.
"No... maybe," Nashi murmured clenching her fists.
There was a moment of silence when suddenly Erik began laughing. The others all looked to him.
"Look, I'm sorry," Erik chuckled, "But she honestly believes that..." he laughed a bit more.
"Believes what?" Nashi demanded.
"Nashi," Wendy smiled kneeling down and putting a hand on Nashi's shoulder. She looked up at the girl and smiled, "You're a natural leader with a knack for fighting and planning. You're a smart girl with a brilliant future."
The squeeze in Nashi's chest got tighter as Wendy stood up and stood beside Natsu.
"Nashi," Natsu smiled stepping forward, "You're gonna be my heir."
Just like that, Nashi's world melted away. She was an heir... she was going to be queen. Was she happy? Overwhelmed... she wasn't qualified for this...
"Kid," Erik sighed looking at Nashi, "there's only one thing you're lacking - "
"Confidence," Rogue finished.
"But, lucky for you that means you don't have that stupid arrogance of your old man," Gajeel chuckled.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Natsu demanded.
"YOU HEARD ME!" Gajeel countered.
"Shut it," Laxus growled slapping them both on the head.
"Yeah, it's my daughter's birthday metal-head, show a bit of courtesy," Natsu grumbled.
"The hell did you say," Gajeel growled, his eye twitching.
"I-I don't know if I can do this," Nashi murmured, interrupted the two's fight.
Natsu looked to his daughter and smiled, "I didn't feel ready either. I still don't... I mean... I'm in charge of the world... that's kinda terrifying."
"Tell me about it," Gajeel sighed. Laxus slapped him again.
"But... I didn't choose you just because you were my daughter, I chose you because I see the same thing Acno saw in me. You've got a fire in your belly, Nashi. A real fire that'll make you one of the best dragons this world has ever seen, you care a whole lot about this nest and as you said... you're responsible. That'll make you a better dragon then me."
"We agree," Sting nodded.
"Whole-heartedly," Rogue concurred.
Nashi let out a deep breath, "But what if I can't - "
"It's not a 'can't' thing," Erik told her, "It's a 'won't' thing. So... will you be an heir? Or won't you."
It took Nashi a moment.
"Have faith in yourself Nashi," Wendy assured her.
Nashi looked up and faced her family... the people she'd looked up to for so long. She thought that she'd never be able to live up to their standards, but they all looked at her... and they all believed in her. She couldn't let them down.
"Yes," Nashi murmured, tears of joy and excitement and fear coming to her eyes, "Yes!"
This was a dream and a nightmare.
But they thought she could do this.
She looked at the dragon kings and queen and suddenly she felt something she'd never felt before; certainty.
Maybe she couldn't do this, maybe she'd fail... but they believed in her right now. She was certain about that.
Natsu gave her a proud smile and Nashi smiled back.
(YAYY! What do you guys think? I promise as the story goes on these new characters will be a little less intimidating. It's just scary right now because there are so many. Don't be afraid to check out the character cheat-sheet in Tags and Books if it gets overwhelming. Thank you guys so much and have a great day/night!!)