Firefall || Fairy Tail

76 : t h e . e n d . s h e . w r o t e

Everyone was filled with glee. The Dragon Slayers had fallen from the sky and Acnologia had been defeated. Not only that but they had won the war. Everything was over and Fiore had prevailed.

They were all so caught up in their reunions and glee, no one noticed the two girls that skulked off down a back alley. Their expressions weren't nearly as carefree as the others. A sense of foreboding loomed over them as the blonde began to crackle, grabbing her dark-haired friend before they disappeared in a flash across the land.

There were only two people who knew they were leaving: Warren and Minerva. Amber had connected a blood rune to Warren in hope that it would boost his telepathy with her to reach far enough. If not, she had her portable communication Lacrima. Verani had snuck over to Minerva and asked where the last place she had seen Kia was. The Sabertooth wizard looked concerned as she told the Dreyar that the pinkette had fought Acnologia until she went down just outside Magnolia.

Verani was tired from all the fighting, but she pushed her speed. She wasn't sure how long they might have to find her. Amber felt the same as she held tightly to her friend.

Immediately heading to the edge of the town she had always called home, V slowed as she got closer to where Tartaros had crashed. She pulled at the communication rune she still had with Kia, turning toward the last place she would have wanted to find the Phoenix Slayer but fate had a cruel sense of humor.

They were both happy to find her still there, having already feared that she might have vanished before they arrived, but she wasn't moving either. Kia was flat on her back except for her hips being turned enough for her legs to be sideways, her gaze fixed on the clouds overhead. Even without seeing the way her eyelids continually tried to sag, the pair knew there wasn't a lot of time left.

"Are you two just going to stand there all day?" Kia's voice was soft, but they could still make out the humorous undertone.

It rubbed the blonde the wrong way. Her feet carried her down the crater before she realized. "How can you try to joke at a time like this?"

"If you are both here, I guess that means it's over, huh?" The pinkette rested her eyelids for a moment, "Did they all make it back okay?"

"Damn it, Kia!" V's eyes burned, "Don't ignore me!"

Tired onyx eyes stared up at her and the Blood mage who had moved up behind her. The emotional pain was evident on their faces, but she knew that there wasn't anything else she could do.

"I'm sorry."

Verani dropped to her knees at her side, "Shut up..." There was really no point in holding her tears in. "Would it kill you to be wrong just once?"

A gentle smile came to Kia's lips. "No. That would actually keep me alive."

||~x~||

The smiles were huge, laughs filling the air as everyone was reunited with the missing Dragon Slayers. Even as the wizards began to mingle more, the sense of accomplishment and celebration didn't waiver. It almost felt as if that joy would never dwindle. They had somehow managed to do it. Everyone was sure that they would be celebrating for at least three days without rest.

Natsu had hugged both Lucy and Happy as the other Dragon Slayers were reunited with their loved ones as well. But his eyes lingered over the crowd, looking for a familiar head of pink hair.

"Hey Luce," he turned to the blonde still at his side, "Where's Kia?"

There was hesitation in those brown eyes and his heart skipped. He hadn't seen her since before he had defeated Zeref. He knew she had been at least moving around, because Acnologia's spirit had whined about how persistent she had been. Even though they were inside that temporal space, he could feel the damage the Phoenix Slayer was causing to his physical body.