Firefall || Fairy Tail

78 : e p i l o g u e

"I really can't believe it's already been a year."

Natsu stood before the two tombstones he had placed outside town, similar to the one he had made for Lisanna all those years ago. One slightly larger than the other, on the townside of the crater. The bigger one read: Igneel, Fire Dragon King.

But Natsu was standing before the smaller of them: Kia Dragneel, The Phoenix of Fairy Tail.

"Magnolia is pretty much done being rebuilt from the fighting. Everywhere else we've been while out on jobs has been looking pretty good too. Speaking of elsewhere, I saw Rogue and Frosch while Happy and I were out a few weeks ago. Sabertooth has been doing good. Apparently Sting has been able to go on a few jobs with him, but he has to spend most of his time at their guild since he's still their Guild Master."

"I've actually been doing quite a few missions with Wendy and Carla. She's been wanting to train with me more. She's still been training some with Amber too. Those two got pretty close while they were in Lamia Scale."

He continued explaining what had been happening. How Wendy had also been going on small missions with Amber, but the Blood Mage had taken several trips to visit Lamia Scale over the last year on her own. At first, he had thought that she might have been going on some joint jobs with someone at their guild, but now he was beginning to wonder if anything else had been going on.

Verani had gone on a few jobs with Laxus and the Thunder Legion, but the girls hadn't really gone out on a job together since the war. They had done a few small jobs around town, but nothing that involved leaving Magnolia. They just couldn't bring themselves to do it without constantly feeling the hole left in their team by the pinkette's absence.

He told her how the Master had been doing. Even though he was confined to his wheelchair, it didn't stop him from using his magic to put any of them in line. Everyone else had more or less been the same.

"But everyone is going to this award thing for Lucy tonight." Natsu peeked over toward the sun to gauge how much longer he had before he needed to get headed there himself. "She finished writing her book and won an award for it."

A soft smile crossed his lips, "She did really good." his gaze turning back to the tombstone.

"Natsu."

"Yeah..." He didn't seem excited to see what his sister wanted to add to the already mortifying conversation as he slowly turned.

"When all of this is said and done," her tone was much softer as she wanted him to know that she wasn't trying to pick on him this time. She was being genuine, "tell her how you feel. The both of you deserve it."

He scratched at the back of his head, "I'll figure it out."

"And I think I'm finally going to tell her how I feel like you took me to. I'm going to wait until after the award stuff tonight. But I want to tell her tonight because I have another surprise for her in the morning."

His smile spread, "Gramps gave our team permission to take the 100 year quest. Everyone else already knows that we're heading out tomorrow, but I didn't want to distract her with all the stuff happening tonight."

A breeze slipped between the tombstones, running over his shoulders and rustling his hair. It warmed the ache in his heart.

"Yeah, I know. Took me long enough, didn't it?"

He shrugged as he slid his hands into his pockets.

"I'll let you know how things go on our way out of town if I can. If not, I'll see you when we get back, Kia." He started walking back toward town, peering back over his shoulder, "Keep an eye on things while we're gone."

The wind continued to blow at his back until he reached the edge of Magnolia, then it picked up speed and pushed up into the sky. And he couldn't help but smile.

||~x~||

Please head to the after notes for some extra information and plans for the future.