(A/N):  This chapter is really slow, but I promise it will pick up. This needed to be a filler chapter in order to keep the plot flowing without any weird skips. Just a side note, all of the UA students are in their gym uniforms, if that helps set the scene a bit. 

Bakugo roughly yanked the tents into place. He hadn't even thought about where they would sleep until Natsu had pulled a few popup tents out of his pack. Todoroki worked at getting a small fire started, so they would have some sort of warmth for the night. Natsu had only packed a sleeping back for himself, which the others didn't mind since they had some sort of cover. It just meant they would have to stay close to the fire for warmth for the night. Gajeel had taken to roaming the perimeter, making sure there were no threats in the immediate area. He also was keeping an eye out for any sort of sign that the other group had come this way, hoping to pick up the trail in the morning.

Once everything was set up, the group sat around the fire, eating some fish that Natsu had caught in a nearby creek and had cooked, though Todoroki had had to step in when Natsu had threatened to burn the delicate meat to a crisp with a blast of flames from his hand. They ate in silence for a few minutes, until Todoroki broke the silence.

"So. Dragon's are very real. Are they all that powerful?" He didn't have any emotion in his voice, but Bakugo noted that he sounded more exhausted than anything.

Natsu looked up, his face looked serious, which was a dark look for him. It made Bakugo uneasy, and he found himself realizing he much prefered the pink-haired shit to have a grin on his face.

"Not necessarily," he began. "Acnalogia was a dragon slayer, once upon a time. He tapped into the dragon force so many times that he began turning into a dragon. We had thought he was dead, at the hands of the dark wizard, Zeref, though apparently not. We've never been able to beat him. We've had run ins on several occasions, even sacrificing seven years of our lives on the guild's sacred island. We didn't age, but when we returned to the guild, everybody had aged, assuming we had been dead for seven years. That was a fun conversation to have when we got back, heh." He gave a small grin at the end, though Bakugo could tell the memory was not a good one for the dragon slayer. His eyes shifted around the group, and a realization hit him.

"You were all there. You all missed seven years of your lives without aging." He glanced around, watching as Natsu nodded, Gajeel had his eyes set at an undetermined spot in the distance, and Wendy had her eyes pointedly looking at the ground in front of her. Bakugo noted that she had tears in her eyes, and there were wicked bruises forming on her from the fight earlier. He felt a pang in his chest. Why do I feel like I'm responsible for her? I don't even know her, yet, I feel as though she's a younger sibling to me, he thought, frowning in her direction. Todoroki noticed his frown, and raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but said nothing.

"Hey. Kid." He said it in a snappy way, as usual, but there was no venom in his voice. Wendy looked up, meeting his eyes, letting her tears spill over onto her dirt-streaked cheeks.

"I-I'm so sorry. I feel like if I was just stronger and bigger, we wouldn't have so many hurt friends. I'm really worried about them. Your friend, the one with the green hair, he looked really bad, and I just.. I didn't even have the strength to heal myself, so I couldn't even help heal him! I felt so useless!" She choked out a sob, trying to conceal it.

"Come here." He left no room for arguing, but he had a softness to his voice. Wendy looked startled, but got up to move over to the blond. He pulled her down, allowing her to rest on his shoulder. As soon as she was in his embrace, he felt the floodgate of emotions open in her. Silent sobs shook through her, as Bakugo held her tight, rubbing her back soothingly. He stared at the fire, pissed that she felt so inadequate. She had gone through so much for a twelve year old, and he had watched her kick so much ass out there today.

"It's okay, Wendy! You did good!" Natsu chirped from across the fire, a grin on his face. This pissed Bakugo off even more, as he realized her friends and mentors only praise her, not allowing her to let out her emotions. He knew that at the age of twelve, he had needed to vent. Everybody had told him how cool and strong he was, due to the nature of his quirk. He hadn't been allowed to show weakness, for fear of being looked down on. Because of this, he knew what it was like to have bottled up emotions. She was just a child. She was at such a vulnerable age. They needed to see this. Bakugo made eye contact with Todoroki, who seemed to understand where he was coming from. Bakugo knew it had to do with how he was treated by his father as a child, and that Todoroki knew what Wendy must have been going through as well.

Natsu seemed to note the shift in mood, and he looked down.

"You know, I get how she feels, too. When I was very young, my father, the fire dragon Igneel, disappeared on me overnight. I didn't see him again until recently. He left me out in nature, by myself. That's how I stumbled on the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. I practically raised myself, and lived there. Gajeel here has the same backstory, though he ended up at a different guild for a while before joining us. Wendy's dragon disappeared as well, so we won't just leave her alone to go through this alone, though I will admit, girls tend to be more emotional than guys. We won't be able to help her one-hundred percent, but she has Lucy and Erza. I get why you're so mad, dude, but don't act like we don't love Wendy just as much as you seem to. Don't think I haven't noticed your soft side towards her." Natsu looked at him, pointedly, and Bakugo felt his face flush.

"Yeah, well, I just wish somebody had been there for me when I felt like this." He huffed, speaking low.

"Either way. She's exhausted. We're all exhausted. We should get some sleep. We need to be up early to try to catch up with the others tomorrow." Gajeel finally spoke up.

"Should we take shifts, keeping watch?" Todoroki asked. He looked exhausted, but Bakugo knew he would stay up all night to keep watch, if need be.

"Nah, we should be fine." Natsu replied, standing up. He walked over to Bakugo, gently lifting up Wendy into his arms. Bakugo hadn't realized she had cried herself to sleep against his chest. The blond allowed Natsu to lift her up, following Gajeel into one of the tents.

"You guys can have the other tent." Natsu motioned to the other tent with a nod, then they zipped their tent up. Bakugo sat for a minute, then stood to retire to his and Todoroki's tent for the night. Todoroki followed quietly, zipping their tent behind him. As soon as they entered, all the tension of the day seemed to diminish all in one loud sigh from the both of them. Bakugo ran his hand through his spiked hair in an exasperated fashion.

"Dude, we fought a fucking dragon." The emphasis he put on the last word was enough for Todoroki to let out a small chuckle.

"Nobody in class will fucking believe us." He replied, showing more emotion on his face than Bakugo had ever seen on the two-toned boy. Usually, Bakugo would do whatever he could to make the other boy feel uncomfortable in his presence, but today was the exception, seeing as what they had gone through. Bakugo laid down, getting as comfortable as he could on the hard ground of the tent. He was so exhausted that he didn't have time to even try to settle in before he was passed out. Todoroki followed, though he fell asleep hoping his classmates were okay. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, not knowing what he expected when he saw he had no signal. There didn't seem to be any cell towers in whatever dimension they were in. He sighed, and drifted to sleep.