The bonds of the soul

Chapter 22: Epilogue

1 year later:

After the battle between Lucy, Gray, Natsu, Sting, Rogue against Acnologia it took them each a week to wake up though Lucy took the longest of them with Gray waking up first. They all had their injuries of course but Natsu's right arm had been burnt by the flames that he had been wielding seeing how close he got to them but they were well on their way to healing by the time they woke up. It seems that wasn't the only healing that was happening either, after seeing Lisanna's future self Elfman and Mirajane made her see a councillor. The councillor concluded that Lisanna's trip to Edolas had left her mentally scarred and she needed help so they decided to put her into a facility that was dedicated to helping people like her with her siblings visiting every second day. While Fairy Tail's members had apologised, the members of Dragon's Heart were still one edge around all of them but the members that had stayed by Lucy's side through everything. 

After the King had seen Jellal, Meredy and Ultear helping to defeat Acnologia by taking care of the future Lisanna he gave them each a pardon for their actions after Lucy, Gray and Natsu explained to him exactly what happened to the three of them. The three of them were now proud members of Dragon's Heart as well as Rufus, Dobangol and Orga who had joined after making sure that Minerva was locked up for her crimes and Sabertooth was disbanded. 

After winning the Grand Magical Games there were mages coming from everywhere trying to join the guild but they had a special trial that people had to pass before they got their guild mark. While the test might have seemed easy it was anything but, when a certain amount of mages signed up to join the guild they were assigned a group and given a few different missions to do together. If they showed enough care towards their teammates they went to the next level but if they didn't Natsu kindly rejected their application and pointed them in the direction of a guild that would suit them better. After that they went through numerous other tests all to do with taking care of others and using teammates and finally if they managed to pass them all they were welcomed into Dragon's heart. 

In that year since they were getting more missions and earning more money Lucy took a break from being at the guild and headed to the Heartfielia Cozen and she brought the property back from the bank and hired some builders and renovators. She renovated the main house while building more houses in the village near it as well as creating a few more villages and even some farms. One of the villages were actually to help the council out seeing as it was away from the other ones and it was a farming village, it was for when they thought a criminal was ready to rejoin the normal population. The criminals would live in the village and be monitored while they farmed and took care of animals and once they had adapted enough they were released and they could anywhere they wanted. The main house on the other hand, Lucy had taken all of the family heirlooms and portraits down and made it into an orphanage that doubled as a school to help children that had a lot of magical power and could lose control of it so nothing like what happened to Ultear happened again. Once she was finished there she headed back to the guild where she had found out that Gray had left to visit his parents and Ul's graves while Natsu, Sting and Rogue finally decided that enough time had passed that they created graves for the dragons that had raised them. 

There was also some romance in the air since Natsu finally realised that Gray had feelings for him, they had decided to start out with a few dates to see how things would go when they were being romantic to each other and they were now fully dating. Sting and Rogue revealed that they had been dating for a year already making the others laugh before telling them that they already knew making the twin dragon slayers blush brightly. The next couple took a few people by surprise since they didn't expect Lyon to ask Ultear out on a date, even more surprising was that she accepted and they were still going strong. Then of course there was Zeref who was now mostly staying on Tenrou island so that he could stay with Mavis in her spirit form until they were able to find a cure for their curses. It wasn't just romance though seeing as there was heartbreak as well, Erza finally got the courage to confess to Jellal only for the blue haired mage to tell her that he saw her as a little sister and he was actually dating someone already which turned out to be Angel from the Oracion Seis. All though it Lucy watched not quite sure if she would ever find someone that would accept that they would have to take it very slowly because of what happened to her or at least that was what she had thought. 

Around eight months after they had won the Grand Magical Games Hibiki turned up with Loke next to him with both of them having large bouquets  of roses, the ones that Hibiki had were a midnight black like the night sky and Loke's roses were golden much like Lucy's eye. Both of them had told her that they had feelings for Lucy but they would wait for her to be ready for a relationship even going as far as telling her that if she didn't return their feelings they would still stay her friends. Lucy was of course flatter but at the same time she was stuck in a hard place seeing as she wasn't sure which of the boys she would choose if she chose any and she didn't want to hurt her friends either. At least that was her thoughts until she had a chat with Rufus who asked her why she had to choose one or the other, she could always have a relationship will both of them after all Rufus had a relationship with but Orga and Donbangol explaining why the ninja had been so worried about them. That brought us to the present time, the day before the Grand Magical Games were going to begin once more and of course Dragon's Heart was once more aiming to show the guilds how they should act with their members but before that Dragon's Heart, Lucy's spirits, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid's Heel and some Fairy Tail members including the master were all having a midday party to celebrate their friendship.

"So tomorrow we are once more going to be rivals huh?" Hibiki asked, leaning against the rail around the park looking at the sunset.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to hold back after all you're nothing without that pretty boy face" Loke teased.
"At least you think I am pretty" Hibiki smirked, making Loke splutter in shock, the relationship between the two of them was a lot like Natsu and Gray in a way.
"So did you two hear the gossip?" Lucy asked as she stood in between them to stop their jabs at each other.
"Oh you mean about Sherry?" Hibiki asked and Lucy nodded with a hum.
"Yeah I'll have to pass on my congratulations to her and Ren, they are going to be wonderful parents but they aren't the only ones Angel is around three months pregnant though they have been keeping it quiet not wanting to jinx it and Ultear and Lyon have decided that they are going to start trying to have a baby after this lot of Grand Magic Games" Lucy said with a smile while both boys jaws dropped. They hadn't realised that Angel was pregnant already but they had heard that Ultear and Lyon wanted a baby.
"I heard the other day that Natsu and Gray wanted to start looking at adopting as well" Loke said, making Lucy giggle.
"Natsu did mention it but Gray told him that they are getting either a cat or another Exceed like Happy before they even think about a child, Rogue and Sting would be good parents but for now they are fine with looking after Frosch and Lector" She explained.
"At least one of them is thinking" Hibiki said. While Natsu had settled down a lot from the old days he was still energetic and ready to destroy something instead of fixing it.
"So I was thinking, how about after the games tomorrow we go on that date" Lucy said biting her lip.
"That sounds lov......Wait what?" Loke asked while Hibiki had to grab onto the railing when he nearly fell down after swinging around to face Lucy too fast.
"You heard me. I can't guarantee that I will end up loving either of you and I have no idea how long you will have to wait until I am comfortable being intimate but I'm not going to know anything unless I try" Lucy said.
"We already told you that we would wait forever if that is what you needed" Hibiki smiled.
"So if you want us to take you on a date we will and if nothing comes of it so be it, we will still be friends until the end of our lives" Loke said with a fond look on his face.
"Well in that case we should check out that little Italian place that I tried last time we were in Croncus" Lucy beamed at them with a gleam in her eyes. Unknown to the three of them they were being watched by Natsu and Gray who had slight smiles. They knew the two boys would treat Lucy like a princess and wouldn't dare to try and hurt her. In a way they were both relieved after all Lucy had been through a lot and it was a tough journey but she had finally started to move forward and they couldn't be more happy to be by their sisters side while she started moving again.

A/N: Hey guys I know that this chapter is smaller than the others but as you read it's the epilogue that ties up the end of the story so I'm sad to say thus is the last chapter. I hope you have all enjoyed this story and thank everyone for their support.