𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 // 𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚...

// 1st P.O.V //

"Zeref." Natsu growled, confirming my beliefs.

"That guy is..." Sting never finished his sentence. Rogue and I, we didn't say anything. Just stared in silence. Stunned, exhausted silence.

"Mard Geer, you did well." Zeref said. "you were just about to revive E.N.D... You may sleep now."

"I can... realise... what you wish..." Mard Geer croaked, reaching a single hand up.
"You can't." with a snap of his fingers, Zeref had made Mard Geer disappear into a book, which ignited itself upon impact with the ground.

I let out a soft gasp of shock.

"You! You created that demon!" Gray yelled.

"Yes. But I don't need it anymore." something about Zeref's tone sounded melancholy, sad. He turned to Natsu. "I wanted to finish my fight against you today. However, Acnologia got in our way."

Zeref looked up at the sky as if it was nothing more than drizzle on a cloudy day.
"Will he end history once again?" the black-haired man questioned. "or will a miracle happen? I'm not sure."

"What are you saying?" Natsu growled.
"If you can survive this desperate situation... I will... give you more despair." Zeref spoke. With that, he turned and he left, completely disappearing.

"That bastard... he took the book with him." Gray scoffed.
"Zeref." Natsu glared at the spot where said man had been.

Meanwhile, Acnologia and Igneel raged on. It caught everyone's attention when the prior slammed the latter down into the ground.

"Igneel?!" Natsu exclaimed, pausing as if the Fire Dragon was talking back. He suddenly broke away from us at a sprint. Gray called out after him, but to no avail.

// Small Time Skip //

Five Dragons sat in front of us. Five. I had my arm looped around Rogue's shoulder, both of us supporting the other.

"Grandeeney!" Wendy rejoiced.

"Igneel, together with the bravery of all you, has driven away Acnologia." Grandeeney spoke. She was a pure white Dragon, with a body covered in tissue similar to my own foster mother's. Her snout was short, flat and broad, and her eyes were the colour of a bright, daytime sky.

"So the Dragons are our allies... damn, I feel like I can beat anything now!" Jet said.

"Did you break all of the faces?" Max questioned.

"You did well trying to destroy Face, Wendy..." Grandeeney smiled.
"It's because Carla was with me." the Sky Dragon Slayer wiped her eyes.

Gajeel and Metalicana, his Dragon parent, stared at each other wordlessly. Metalicana was covered in silver armour plates rather than scales, and his jaw appeared to be hinged.

"You've still got that nasty look in your eye." the Dragon finally spoke.
"Shut it!" his son yelled.

"I'm pretty sure I killed you..." Sting said to Weisslogia.
"I also am quite certain I saw you die, Skiadrum." Rogue nodded.
"Yeah, what's going on?" I tilted my head, accidentally knocking foreheads with Rogue. We both huffed and groaned an apology.

"We can alter human memories essentially at will." Weisslogia was a light-coloured, gigantic bearded Dragon with feathery wings and two comparably small antlers atop his head. He bore great resemblance to my own mother.

"Igneel was against us doing so, though." Skiadrum added. He was covered head to toe in pitch-black scales, and sported two sharp horns atop his head. His eyes were red and had no pupils.

"Ultimately, what we intended to do was grant you Dragon Slayers with the memory of killing us and the results you would achieve had you actually done so." Isychia explained. She, as mentioned, bore great resemblance to Weisslogia. She was a white Dragon with angel-like wings and covered in a tissue similar to bird feathers, rather than scales. She had small tufts of fur on her chin and her underbelly, as well as a thick trail of hair that went from her head to her tail. In addition, atop her head, she had two horns, one of which was broken.

"Even so..." Weisslogia said. "to call us dead would only be half incorrect. We are already dead."

"Really?" Wendy asked.
"A very long time ago, our souls were extracted from us by Acnologia's Dragon Slayer Magic." Grandeeney illustrated. "that is why, in addition to the two objectives of stopping your Dragonification and defeating Acnologia, the reason we remained inside your bodies was to prolong our own lives."

"No way..." I said.

"Once we leave your bodies, we are unable to return to them." Skiadrum said. "the strength we displayed today we did so for both the first and last time. This is yet another reason we did not show ourselves till now."

"Even Igneel was unable to defeat Acnologia. Then again, Igneel only had what little strength he managed to retain in his half-dead state." Isychia continued. "o humans, please, permit not Igneel's name to suffer blemish. There was never a Dragon as gallant... nor any as human-loving as Igneel."

"We have not had the chance to tell you everything but, alas, the time had come..." Skiadrum sighed. "the time for us to part."

"No..." Wendy sniffled.

"There will be many hardships in the future to come, but... I am confident you all will overcome them." Grandeeney said.
"No, don't go... don't go, Grandeeney..." Wendy pleaded.

"Let's send them off with our heads held high." Gajeel said.

"O humans... the days we fought one another... the days we hated one another, those are all in the past." they all spread their mighty wings as Isychia spoke. "today, we were able to join hands together in peace. The age of us Dragons has, in one sense, come to an end. The future from here on out shall be forged by the power of humanity. In accordance with the covenant made four-hundred years ago between Dragon and Man, the Magna Carta. We Dragons shall continue to watch over and protect mankind... for all eternity."

"Grandeeney!" Wendy cried.
"I love you... Wendy." her foster mother said as they began to disappear.

"You've still got that vulgar look in your eyes." Metalicana said to Gajeel.
"What the hell kinda last words are those?!" the Iron Dragon Slayer yelled. "geez..."

I could see the hint of a smile on Gajeel's face, yet that didn't stop me from succumbing to my own upset.

"Thank you, Weisslogia." Sting spoke.
"Skiadrum." Rogue dipped his head.

"Isychia, you can't go!" I cried out. "I-I need my memories back! I don't know anything! Please, there's so much more you need to show me! I don't know what to do!"

"[Y/N], you do not need me to show you anything anymore. Although you do not remember a part of your life, that does not stop you from creating more cherished memories. So long as you cherish what and whom you have." she spoke. "and that is what I see."

"Mom..." I croaked. "I-I got a job. It's with a guild, Fairy Tail, it pays well. And I made new friends, and... no. No, please, don't go! I still have things to learn! I don't know how to make the ringing stop! You never- you never taught me manners! You never taught me how to love someone! I-I can't even..."

I trailed off after the realisation that she wasn't there anymore. I collapsed to my knees and wailed, clutching my face and sobbing. I barely felt Rogue's hand on my shoulder, my whole body numb from grief.