"What an appropriate name," Gajeel murmured to himself as he sat on top of a rocky precipice, staring out across the grassy landscape. It was dotted with several large, cone-shaped hills with flat tops and he was currently perched on the top of the highest one, chewing through a piece of metal he'd taken from the wreckage of the car back in Portree.
But on the way up here, he'd seen a signpost for this particular area that called it, 'The Fairy Glen.'
"To bad it really doesn't help me find out where the bloody hell I'm supposed to go," he muttered to himself. "Jeez, this really is messed up. Beyond words. The heck am I supposed to do now anyway? Wander aimlessly around until I come across some place that actually understands half the questions I ask?"
He tossed a piece of metal that had more than a little rust over his shoulder and picked up another piece to chow down on. How much more ridiculous could this situation get anyway? Surely there was soon going to have to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention he should probably get something decent to wear - he was still bare-chested after he'd taken the bandages off, and now he looked like that damn ice stripper Gray just sitting here like this.
But even as he sat there, brooding on his next move, he became aware of something. There was a very faint smell tickling at the edges of his nostrils.
His back immediately snapped straight as he shot to his feet, twisting his head around to sniff the air in earnest, using his incredible Dragon Slayer senses to pinpoint exactly which direction the smell was coming from. It quickly became clear it was not the smell of something particularly close by but it was being blown in on the wind. A wind which was coming up from the south.
And it was a rather familiar smell too.
"Now… we're talking," Gajeel grinned, seizing the remainder of his iron scraps in one hand as he leapt off the edge of the precipice, landing hard enough to splinter the rock beneath his feet and sprinting off across the glen, nose twitching as he followed the scent. At last… something was going right.
...
"Some kind of giant cat with a sword?" Charlie Weasley frowned as he inspected the long gash in the neck of the unconscious Hebridean Black dragon lying prone next to him. "Are you absolutely serious?"
"It was like nothing I'd ever seen before," insisted one of the wizards of the MacFusty clan behind him. "Honest to goodness it was like a big, muscly panther that was standing upright like a human being and it had a sword that was practically as big as it was."
"And it spoke?" Charlie pressed.
"Definitely."
"What exactly did it say?"
"…I can't really remember - I was a bit freaked out by the fact it was standing right behind me…"
Charlie sighed. "Well, I've never heard of anything like that before but this wound does definitely look like it was made by some kind of sword. But no regular sword can pierce dragon hide unless its got one hell of a powerful swing behind it."
"But what about the blunt traumas?" another man asked. "What caused those?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," Charlie shook his head as he stepped around to the dragon's side to run his hand over the bent, cracked scales that indicated something had smashed into the dragon's side with incredible brute force, creating a circular crater of damage across its flank. "But somehow I doubt that something the size of a human had anything to do with this one, even if it was a muscly cat. I'd like to say that the dragons did this to each other but I've never seen a wound like this on them either. I've seen tail smashes that have done damage but they've always been in a long line rather than in a circular pattern like this. It's like it was hit by a giant cannonball or something."
"Do you think they'll be alright though?"
"Oh yeah, they'll be fine," Charlie waved a hand. "We all know here that Hebridean Blacks are tough creatures even if they aren't the toughest dragons. You should keep an eye on them though, to make sure that they don't start fighting again and potentially making these injuries worse. And you should probably periodically check infection and make sure that scale rot doesn't set in, but they'll be more than fine within a week or two, I'm sure."
"Good to know," the man in charge sighed in relief. "Sorry about this, Mister Weasley. I do feel like we might have called you out here for nothing."
"Oh, not nothing - I got to see my family again. And I can never pass up the chance to help a dragon in trouble. I'll keep an eye out for any more dragons bearing injuries like these back home and if I find out what caused it, I'll get back to you."
"Good to know but… um… unfortunately, there is one more thing…" coughed the man in charge slightly. "There's, uh… some reporters for the Daily Prophet who got wind of the attack and are waiting for someone to talk to them. Don't suppose you'd consider… um…"
Charlie groaned. "Ugh, I hate the press, I really do. Fine, fine, let's just get this over with."
"Still," he heard one of the assembled wizards murmur, "I wonder where that cat thing is now."
...
Pantherlily grunted as he did the equivalent of a stumble in mid-air. The burns on his back were still searing at him and he was pretty sure a couple of blisters had developed beneath his fur. He knew if Wendy was there, he would most likely be completely pain free right about now but sadly they were still looking for the young Dragon Slayer and didn't appear to be any closer to actually finding her than when they started.
Still, that dragon's fire had been seriously hot! Lily had been caught in the middle of a fiery blast from Grimoire Heart's mage Azuma and come out much weakened and damaged but not with anything long-lasting. But Lily was tough, tougher than any other Exceed in existence, and he was not about to let these injuries get to him even if they did hurt. Heck, he'd been shot straight through the torso by Erza Knightwalker and still been able to get back onto his feet shortly afterwards, even if he hadn't been able to do much else for a while longer.
However, Happy and Charla had both heard his grunt and turned back to look at him, before glancing at each other. They'd found land again a short while ago and now they were flying along the coastline searching for any sign of where a human might have managed to get up out of the water, or maybe find a town of some kind where they could enlist help but at the moment there seemed to be very little but cliffs and large bays.
"Maybe we should take a little break," Happy suggested tentatively.
"No!" Lily shook his head stubbornly, flapping his wings until he caught up with the other two and was flying level with them. "We're not stopping just because of a little stinging! We need to find Wendy."
"A little stinging? I'd say its a bit more painful than that."
"I will deal with it. I've dealt with everything any universe has thrown at me so far and I'll deal with this now. Besides, if we find Wendy then I'm as good as fixed right away, aren't I?"
"He does have a point," Charla agreed. "And I would… rather not stop unless we absolutely had to."
"Okay, if you're both sure," Happy nodded slowly, before his stomach rumbled loudly and he grinned sheepishly. "But I could really stop for a fish snack right about now."
"I could really go for a kiwi," Lily agreed.
"You and your stomachs," Charla muttered, before suddenly her own tummy rumbled and she bit her lip. "You didn't hear that. Come on, let's find Wendy."
...
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