Erza

"Quickly, to the alley!" I ordered letting Juvia, Gray, and Gajeel follow behind me to take cover. Today is the last day of the Games, and the final game is 'Survival'. The point is to defeat a guild before your guild. If everyone from the same guild is eliminated, then they're out. There are only three remaining guilds after nearly five hours of this long battle. I looked up to the sky, watching the sun slowly set as it seemed to feel like seven in the evening. "How many do we have left?" I huffed, sliding to sit down. After my fight with Kagura, I was nearly falling over from exhaustion. "We still have five members standing for Fairy Tail. The four of us, and Laxus."

"And who's still in the game?" Gajeel muttered fixing his bandana that kept slipping off. "Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Sabertooth." Gray answered, rubbing away the sweat from his brow. "We have to keep moving. Fairy Tail is counting on us. Let's go find Laxus, defeat the last two guilds, and celebrate with our victory." We all stood up together, determined now that we will win. We moved cautiously along the walls of the buildings. It was fairly quiet compared to when we started, but the way there wasn't a sound of a bird, or even a hush of wind made my hair stand up on the back of my neck. I signaled everyone behind me to halt, taking one step out to see nothing. When I finally stepped out from the shadow, I powerful hit of magic struck to my side when I was pushed to the ground. I yelled looking up to see Jura standing over me. "Fairy Tail..." He said with his scowling eyes never looking away from mine. "So all there's left of Lamia Scale is you? That doesn't seem fair does it?" I watched my comrades appear around us with the fists ready to battle. Jura grinned. "So we begin." The Lamia Scale drew the first attack.

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Natsu

My eyes peeled open, as my arms were stiff from holding someone close to me. I let out a groan of exhaustion when I sat up. My eyes trailed down seeing Lucy still in deep sleep, my hands clasped her tenderly. "Lucy?" I croaked out from being parched. The Celestial Mage never replied back. I sighed before gently putting Lucy down to continue resting. "Is everyone okay?" I asked loudly searching around me with my comrades sprawled around me. Levy was the first to sit up. "Oww." She muttered, rubbing her arm with care. Mira and Wendy scratched their scalp and rubbed their eyes to wake up. "We're fine. I think the two of us were the least to be injured." I rolled my attention to the exceeds that we're far apart from each other. Happy snored loudly, as usual, Carla was in a ball and PantherLily just seemed lifeless as he breathed silently. Yukino only nodded as she rubbed her ankle tenderly.  "Gwen?" I called out searching for her.

I stood up, igniting my fist to see her farther back from the group. When my feet walked me to her, I gasped horrified of what I saw. Gwen was bleeding down her face as she held a broken wrist with the bone poked out of her skin. The concentration in her eyes was dead set on the wrist as the bruises and deep scratches meant nothing to her at the moment. "I landed wrong, and I can't move my hand." Gwen stated, looking up to me. The side of her face that was bleeding was stained with the color red. I ran over to check her scalp noticing an awful wound that was still bleeding even after we were out for a few hours. "Oh, Gwen..." I whispered, kneeling beside her. The Dragon Slayer gently chuckled as she held her wrist. "I've been sitting here waiting for one of you to wake up. It's going to be too painful for me to put the bone back in place." Gwen's foggy blue eyes looked up to mine. "Is Lucy okay? She wasn't hurt from the drop was she?"

"She's fine Gwen. Worry about yourself we need to help you." Wendy out of thin air appeared next to me. Without question, the Sky Maiden reached for Gwen's broken wrist gently to make sure Gwen wasn't put into any more pain. "Oh, Mavis. I can fix this wound, but it will take time and most of my magical energy to fix the muscle, tissue, and restructure your shattered bone back into place. I'm sorry that's all I can do." Wendy said putting the broken wrist back in Gwen's hand. The First Dragon Slayer only nodded. "It's okay Wendy. Thank you for helping, but the only person I'll need is Natsu." The blue-haired Dragon Slayer slanted her head in confusion. "Natsu?"

"Me?" I questioned along with Wendy at the exact time. Gwen nodded at our question. "Wendy, go to Lucy. Make sure she's okay. Natsu you're going to need to help me with my wrist." Wendy sat up and walked back to Lucy when I took her spot. "What do you want me to do?" Gwen glanced down at her wrist. "Dammit, this is going to hurt like hell." I watched her sigh when she put her only good hand to point of what I needed to do. "You need to pull my hand out as far as you're able to," I shockingly looked at Gwen. "You want me to what!?" Gwen only continued. "and to try your hardest to position the bone back in place. I'll know if it isn't because I won't be able to move my hand, and it'll hurt like hell. Try to do it right the first time okay?" Gwen allowed me to hold her shattered wrist, but I didn't move yet. "I can't do this Gwen. How bad is this going to hurt you?"

"I'm not gonna lie but I may cry when this is over, but if we just let Wendy use her magic then she won't be ready to fight if anyone is down here. Plus, I don't like letting the poor girl see a wound like this. I can only count on you Natsu." I took her wrist in my hands carefully. "Are you sure you want me to do this Gwen? Wendy is an actual healer." Gwen grinned at my response. "I'll be fine. Just, get it right the first time." I huffed at the sight of the sharp bone stabbing out of her skin, it actually made my stomach churn and twist into knots. "On the count of three." I began, bracing myself to basically yank her hand. Gwen held her breath. "One...two-" I pulled her hand on two. Gwen screamed in torment when the bone that stuck out was back in the skin. "HURRY UP! HURRY UP!" Gwen beseeched trying to not thrash around as I struggled to put her bone back in place. I did it once but Gwen was still crying out in pain. "YOU IDIOT!" She shouted in rage. I had to redo it once again, this time it being a success when Gwen finally sighed in relief of the bone being in place again. "Oh thank the Gods..." Gwen cried hurriedly wiped away any tears from falling.

"You're welcome." I whispered still witnessing her bleed from her wrist and scalp. "You really need Wendy to help heal you, or else you're going to bleed out!" Gwen shook her head. "It's okay. I'll be okay in a little bit. Solantir can fix me now that he's not trying to let the pain completely be his first priority." The skin was already threading itself back in place when the blood that kept seeping out of her wrist ceased. "Amazing, how are you able to do that?"

Gwen laughed as she moved her wrist back and forth to make sure it was okay. "I don't do anything at all. Solantir learned most of the healing spells that has been created and even developed techniques that no one else knows. I'm not lying but my Pops is one badass Dragon." Gwen staggered up to stand when Yukino stood next to her to help. "Please, lean on my shoulder until you're better." Yukino politely said as Gwen leaned on the Celestial Mage that was a foot taller than her. "Thanks." The Dragon Mage replied as she wiped away the blood from her eye.

I returned to Lucy while Wendy used her magic on the blonde. "How is she?" Wendy's eyes were closed, but she shook her head to answer my question.
"It's still hard to even sense her magic. Usually, Lucy's powers are so overwhelming it could spill out of her very skin, but now I can't even feel any magic flow. It concerns me that her powers are so slow to return back to their normal levels. As I said before I believe Lucy is just not used to becoming exhausted which is why I thought at first it would take some time to regain her magic back. But now, I'm beginning to realize there's something more to this. Whatever the First Council member did...it frightens me." I bowed my head in defeat to hear what Wendy said about Lucy's progress. Her magic isn't coming back fast enough, is it possible she's Magic Exhausted like I was? Will Lucy be sleeping for a month like I did...or even longer? "Lucy..." The way my mouth spoke her name made butterflies rush to my chest. Her name itself was sweet on my tongue, as it made my heart beat faster just to imagine her beautiful brown eyes gazing into mine.

"She's going to be okay. I trust that Lucy will wake up soon." Levy spoke out loud standing up as she fixed her bandana. Mira was next to the bookworm with her hand on Levy's shoulder. "Do you think it's because of your...bond?" Levy glared at MiraJane for exaggerating the word 'bond'. "Yes, I know because of our bond." Levy pushed Mira's hand away from her shoulder before walking away. PantherLily sighed as he looked around. "Look at all of us. I know we're restless, and we're also drained. But, we can't let this get in the way of the mission. We may have Lucy now, but she's still unconscious for who knows how long. Gwen here is severely injured, Yukino has to help her walk. Levy, you can't be angry towards MiraJane at a time like this. Now is the time where we must work together without any disturbances between any of us. Is that understood?" Lily demanded with his usual glaring eyes locking on all of us. "Aye Sir!" Happy screamed jumping in the air.

"I agree with PantherLily. This is no time to be enemies right now. One of our strongest fighters is not waking up, the other is too panicked because of her not being able to stir." Carla peered in my direction. "And finally Gwen is in no condition to battle. It is up to us to get the rest of our team out of here!" The white-furred exceed came closer to Wendy. "Let's start moving. Natsu, I'm assuming you will carry Lucy?" Mira questioned now taking the lead for us. Levy stood next to her with sorrow in her figure. I picked Lucy up in my arms listening to the shallow breaths she took in. "You know me too well, Mira." I responded moving next to Gwen that was still using Yukino as a crutch. Soon enough, we were all ready to escape the cavern. Mira and Levy nodded their heads. "Alright, let's move!" They said in unison, now leading the party.

~~~

It felt like days have gone by as we trudged the caverns. Though I would know if we were in here for days because of my stomach, it must have been a couple of hours. Mira was still leading, but she was now coming to a slow just as everyone else was. Wendy held both Carla and Happy in her arms while Lily kept his pride and walked alongside us. Gwen was eventually walking on her own, and the bleeding stopped on her scalp and wrist. The only way you could tell that she was bleeding was the stain on her outfit and some strands of her silver hair looked like an awful dyed pink. I kept murmuring to Lucy hoping she would rouse any moment. The words I kept pleading were for her to wake up, for her to be alright, and that it'll be okay. I could never be mad that she left the guild that night. It wasn't her fault that she thought we would be angry or even scared of her, Lucy only thought she did the right thing. And if she thought that, then I failed as her boyfriend.

"You can wake up anytime Lucy, I don't mind carrying you even if you do wake up. You're not fat, I promise I'll stop joking around about your weight." I told her silently so no one would hear. My mind traced through the memories of being with Lucy. A smile found its way on my face before it was gone once again of still seeing the woman I love in this condition. "Please, just wake up..." I whispered one more time. Our group trudged the cavern until Levy came to a halt. "Wait, do you see that?" She asked taking a step forward. Mira stood next to her as she squinted her eyes. "Those look like...bones?!" I ran up to them as my eyes dilated to see the bones. These weren't human bones...

They were Dragon bones.

"Oh, my..." Mira whimpered as we all went closer to the pile of bones. "How did it get down here? Why would the remains of a Dragon be here of all places?" Yukino asked crossing her arms. Gwen turned to me with a conspicuous look. "Wendy, do you think you can use that spell to find the spirit of the Dragon?" Wendy stared at me for a second when she nodded. "I'll try, but I'm not sure if the spirit has moved on from his remains." Wendy moved down to sit on her knees then put her hands out with the warm green hue of her magic. "She's using the Milky Way spell!"

"Step back everyone. I need to find the Dragon's spirit." We all took a couple of steps back as we watched the spell glisten like stars above our heads. Wendy gasped. "I found him!" There was a powerful wind that erupted out of nowhere. I reacted instantly and turned to let the wind hit my back so Lucy didn't take a direct hit. Everyone clasped for something until the winds ended, and we all saw the sight before us. In front of us was the Dragon himself as he grinned at us with his large mouth. All of us screamed from the sight of him just as he laughed from our abrupt screaming. "Even after death I still have it in me to scare the tiny humans!" He cackled at us then returning to his grin. "I am the Jade Dragon, and a powerful mage must be strong enough to bring my spirit out from the Abyss. Tell me who was the great wizard!" His large eyes lowered to Wendy. "Such a small creature, a small appetizer."

"Back off Jade Dragon!" Both Gwen and I shouted at the same time. The Jade Dragon laughed in response. "There's no need to! I'm dead so I can't eat any of you anyways." I watched a tick mark appear on Gwen. "Alright then, to make sure you don't use all of Wendy's magic tell us how your remains ended up in the caverns." The Dragon put his nose up in the air. "I would rather die again than talk to low human scums." Happy scratched his head. "Okay then, I'm a cat. Can you talk to cats?"

"Oh. Well, in that case, it has been over four-hundred years since I died. Dragons were the Rulers of EarthLand. We controlled the Lands, the Sky, and Oceans...including humans. However, there was one Dragon that opposed our way of life. It was the Father of all Dragons. The First Dragon." Gwen's eyes dilated. "Solantir?" She whispered, putting her hand to her chest. "Because of the Father of all Dragons defying what should have been our way of life, a war against Dragons began. Those who followed the First Dragon and followed his beliefs, and the rest that recognized we were to rule the EarthLand Realm. I myself fought in the long unforgiving war, and this is now my resting place." Levy stepped forward. "So you're against humans?" The blue-haired girl asked the Dragon. He nodded in return. "I have always recognized humans were nothing but our essential way to survive. Survive meaning we devoured humans. Such small helpless beings, yet our Father thought they were the true caretakers of EarthLand." Gwen's fist clenched. "Tell me of how he defeated you! What did Solantir do to the Dragons!"

"The Father of all Dragons, once when he knew the war was never going to end, decided that it was best if we were locked away. Those who survived the war were taken to another Realm, and I believe to this day sleep eternally." Gwen's head hung low. "Father," She confided to herself. "Why didn't you tell me..."

It finally came together. Gwen was alive around the time this war was fought. If Lucy didn't tell me Gwen's past, her being six hundred years old...could Gwen be the reason why Solantir didn't want the humans to be used in such ways? "Not only did the First Dragon seal away the remainders of his children, but he also brought mankind into the war. That is how the Dragon Slayers were born. The first one was a woman with white hair..." The Jade Dragon glared at Gwen. "It was you! Daughter of all Dragons!" Everyone veered to Gwen with wide eyes. "Gwen..." MiraJane said shocked of this information. Gwen closed her eyes. "Yes. I am the first Dragon Slayer. Before the war even began, two hundred years before it was even thought of, Solantir became a part of me. Our souls, his powers, our memories...we share them. Solantir is a part of me." Gwen admitted her expression calm. "Yes. That little brat is the reason why the Father of all Dragons cared so much about mankind. He took in a little dead girl that couldn't learn how to swim."

"Shut up!" I exclaimed still carrying Lucy tightly in my arms. The Dragon laughed once again. "You will eventually die Daughter of all Dragons. And when that day comes, we will be waiting. All of the Dragons you slaughtered will be waiting in the Abyss..." I looked back at Wendy when her hold finally broke. The Jade Dragon vanished like dust, and Wendy was finished with Milky Way. I felt my teeth grit from what the Jade Dragon told us. Could it be possible Igneel is sleeping eternally? Was he one of the Dragons that fought for mankind? Gwen turned to face us all. "I'm sorry. I should have told you, but hearing how it sounds seems crazy enough." Levy only smiled, with all of us following. "Gwen, that's your personal life. We won't force you to tell us everything about you. Trust me, it's okay to keep secrets." Mira went to Gwen and pulled her into a hug. "You're a brave woman Gwen. I'm so happy we met you." Gwen nodded with a small smile on her lips. "Thank you, everyone." Gwen returned Mira's hug.

"Now then," Carla spoke with Wendy sitting next to her. "shall we move on? We must escape this cavern at once!" Lily agreed with Happy of course saying 'Aye!'. I adjusted Lucy to where she was now riding my back: Piggyback style. "Alright, minna! Let's get the hell out of here!" The team started to walk past the large bones of the Jade Dragon, soon it disappeared into the shadows of the cavern.

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(Now you know a lot more about Solantir and our Gwen. I hope this chapter was good Lovelies! As always... love you all!❤️)