Wendy x Doranbolt is for sure my guilty pleasure pairing in Fairy Tail. XD So wrong but so oddly right.

Also this contains spoilers of up to chapter... 416 I think. So fair warning. ;3

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D

Beck and Call

Wendy Marvell was no stranger to abandonment. In fact, as much as she hated to admit it, she was quite familiar with the concept.

Grandine had left her when she was just barely old enough to understand what was going on around her, albeit old enough to understand her parent was gone and she was all alone. She'd cried endlessly, but her hopes had once again arisen when she'd gone off on her own to search for her mother, only to find Mystogan. She put her faith in him, grew close to him, desperately wanting some kind of familiar face to wake up to in the morning and someone that felt like family.

In the end, she'd been abandoned by him as well. She'd cried again, long and hard until her eyes were puffy enough she could barely see.

Looking back on it, older now and more in the know, she understood. Grandine hadn't left her for no reason. She'd actually not even left at all, rather just disappeared from sight, nestling herself inside of Wendy to protect her.

Of course, she hadn't known that back then. And Mystogan in all his mystery had left her too, but through her encounter with Edolas, she found out he had a good and real reason as well.

She'd kept hope, even if just barely, after he'd left her. She'd found comfort in Cait Shelter and Carla. And they didn't leave her. She grew up with them, laughed with them, cried with them. She finally had a family, something sturdy and familiar that she could hold onto with both hands.

It was the abandonment of them that hit her hardest. They weren't even real. They weren't alive. The other times she'd been left to fend for herself she'd at least known that the people she'd grown close to were still out there, under the same sky, just not with her. But this… it'd all been an illusion. The guild members she'd grown so close to were gone, forever, never to be seen or heard from again and it felt to Wendy like perhaps everything she'd ever hoped or grown to believe was all a lie.

She truly believed she would've broken down back then if it hadn't been for Carla. She was weak back then, fragile and scared, something she'd strived so hard since then to break. Was she strong now? Yes, stronger, anyway. She still worked to build strength every day. Trying somehow to keep up with the ever-changing Fairy Tail members she now called family.

That's right. Carla held her together because she stayed. She wasn't an illusion, and she wasn't someone who left on a journey. She was there. Solid and steady and demanding as ever, reassuring Wendy with every move she made and word she said that she'd always be there.

Carla was the glue that held her together, and Fairy Tail became the building blocks for who she was now. They weren't abandoning her, they weren't disappearing. They were a fastened tight family who'd gladly let her into their ranks. They were her forever family, as she called them. Always there. There were so many of them after all, that even if some left, she'd be still surrounded by countless people who loved her.

Or at least that's what she'd thought.

Fairy Tail was disbanding. Gray and Juvia had left already, the Raijinshu had gone out training on Laxus' request, some members had already left without word of where or that they were leaving in the first place, and the last straw being the words from Lucy's mouth that Natsu and Happy had left, and wouldn't be back for at least a year.

Natsu.

He'd seemed like someone who wouldn't ever leave. The way he talked of family and friends, Fairy Tail and nakama. He wouldn't leave… but he had.

And just as she'd thought, yes, some had left but some were still there. She'd thought that that would be enough. That if there was even one Fairy Tail member still around, it'd still be a family, no abandonment… but she'd been wrong. The clenching in her chest she felt the day Grandine, Mystogan, and Cait Shelter had left, she felt again. Lucy was even still around but it just didn't feel the same.

They were breaking apart. Her family was dissolving. They had places to go and things to do and she had nothing.

Didn't they all know it was now that she needed them most? After getting a glimpse of her mother, just in time for her to tell her she loved her and then to vanish again? It'd brought back memories and feelings from times she could barely remember. That knot in her heart and the lump in her throat that felt all too familiar.

She sat by the river in Magnolia, surrounded by the debris and wreckage that was the city. She pulled her knees to her chest and set her chin atop of them with a sigh. She felt like she was breaking apart again, but she'd grown stronger and could fight back the panic welling in her heart. "What should I do, Carla?" she asked.

The white Exceed sat next to her, looking out at the water. For once it seemed Carla didn't have the answer. She let out a short huff. "I don't know." She looked up to Wendy before setting a paw on her leg in reassurance. "We'll figure it out, though. Don't worry. Everything is winding down now but that just leaves room to grow into something better."

Wendy swallowed. "I hope you're right Carla," she nearly whispered. "Everything just feels so wrong. So empty. I feel so… alone again."

"You're not alone." Another voice joined their conversation and Wendy jumped in surprise, unlacing her arms from her knees and leaning backwards to look for the voice.

Her eyebrows rose. "Doranbolt-san?"

He gave her a small smile before nodding over at Carla. "You're not alone, Wendy. You have her and from all I've seen I'd say it's safe to say you two are the closest." Wendy nodded. She did have Carla, and she knew that, but it didn't help the sting lessen. "I know it feels like everything is changing too fast and not going in a direction you exactly… want it to," he said. "Believe me, I know, but things always happen for the best, and you'll never be alone, Wendy. Even if Fairy Tail is gone, the relationships you've forged with them will live on strong. Have faith in that. They wouldn't leave you for no reason and they won't forget about you."

She looked up at him, searching his eyes for his emotions and coming up empty. She had mixed feelings when it came to Doranbolt. She was so indebted to him she felt grateful, almost as if she owed him something, but at the same time she sometimes felt like a stranger.

He was an interesting man and she knew out of all the members of Fairy Tail she was the closest to him. They'd forged some kind of… friendship, she guessed. He kept saving her, anyway. Even so, she felt miles away. She could look into his eyes and still know she didn't know a single thing about this protective stranger who'd put his life on the line for her own.

Even now she couldn't tell what he was feeling. He looked different though, broken down, confused. He looked like she felt. He'd said 'believe me, I know' and she really did. She had no idea what he was going through but she believed something had happened. He felt different.

She gave another nod. "I know they won't." And she did, but it didn't make it hurt any less. The mere thought of being alone again was pulling her to the brink of how much she could handle. She apparently hadn't been as convincing as she'd hoped because he frowned, walking forward and crouching down next to her.

He leaned down close to her face and for the first time looked her straight in the eyes. "You're not alone, Wendy. You have Carla, you have the members of Fairy Tail whether they're at arm's reach or not, and you have… me." His eyebrows pinched together and another wave of an emotion she couldn't place washed over his face. She stared up hopefully at him. She wasn't sure where he was going but she felt… a little closer.

He sighed, closing his eyes and placing a hand on hers on the grass. "Wendy you have me. I'm not sticking around here because I have a lot of… searching to do, a lot of things to think about, just a lot of things I need to work through, but don't think for a minute that I wouldn't be here in an instant if you needed me… or someone." He opened his eyes again, giving her a light smile and a nod. "I'll come when you call. Trust me, I will."

And with that he stood, the warmth covering her hand disappeared, and with a gust of the wind, he'd disappeared as well, teleporting out to goodness knew where to start whatever kind of emotional journey he'd spoken of.

She stared off to where he'd been, Carla mumbling to herself haughtily behind her.

She'd thought for sure nothing could completely put her at ease if the fact that Carla was with her and always would be, couldn't. And while no, she wasn't completely calm and reassured, she was close. Closer than she had been in a long, long while.

He could've been halfway across the continent in a few minutes, nowhere near her and yet she believed him. She had no way of contacting him that she knew of, and yet she believed him.

He went against everything normal and set in stone, this stranger she felt so close to. And she felt reassured by him, his words, his presence, and ultimately his proposal. She wasn't alone. She wasn't abandoned. She had Carla and she had him. Even if she had no one else, even if Fairy Tail was gone forever, she had a gut feeling he'd always be there, only a call of distress away.

Non-Flash Bingo - #11 - abandoned - 1,709 words

This wasn't really very romance-y for this pairing but maybe a little sweet? I felt so so bad for Wendy after Fairy Tail dissolved. Probably even worse than when Cait Shelter disappeared. Gah. I'm not the only one who likes this pairing am I? I feel like it'd be unpopular. XD

~Foxtail-chan