The "party" dragged on for hours. Not that I minded. I loved the boisterous atmosphere. All the shouting, the laughing, the fighting.... It made me feel more at home than ever before. 

I was sitting at the bar, awkwardly ducking out of Cana's (the tarot-card drunkard) attempts to drag me into a drinking contest with her. I could tell the contest would have me passed out on the floor in no time, leaving her victorious. So yeah, I passed. Multiple times. However, she was already drunk, and kept pestering me despite my protests.

Eventually, Lucy sat down next to me, and Mira joined us, stepping up from behind the bar. She gently shooed Cana away, much to my relief, and brought with her a larger stamper that I eyed curiously. "Are you ready to recieve your Fairy Tail marks?" she asked cheerfully, causing me to grin with such a fierceness I noticed Lucy inching away from me. 

Even though I was clearly the more excited of the two of us, I let Lucy go first. Mostly because I was curious as to where she was going to have the mark put. I was unsurprised when she chose the back of her left hand. Mira brought the stamper down, and left a shiny pink tattoo in the shape of Fairy Tail's insignia. While Lucy turned away to gush over her achievement to Natsu, who I heard call her Luigi of all things, I tapped my chin in thought.

"Do you have an idea of where you want it?" Mira asked, tilting her head to the side in a gesture that just screamed cute. While I wasn't addicted to the magazine like Lucy was, I had seen her a few times in Weekly Sorcerer, and I'll admit she posed for the camera well. But she was just so sweet when you first met her, it was hard to imagine her taking such... sexy (not my words) photos. 

I smiled in answer to her question, and picked at the neckline of my tank, tugging it down so that my collarbone was exposed in full. "Right here," I said, pointing to just under my collarbone, over my right breast. She nodded, and stamped me the same way she had Lucy. It only took a second, and when she pulled back, there was the mark of Fairy Tail in an earthy olive-green. Hmm, I liked it!

"There!" she chirped. "Now you're a part of Fairy Tail!"

"Thank you, Mira!" I pulled her in for a quick hug that she surprisingly returned before releasing her sheepishly. "Sorry, I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck as the awkwardness set in. "I'm just really excited."

"That's alright!" she said with a charming smile, before she turned back to the other people who had gathered at the bar. 

Lucy once again sat next to me, glowering over at Natsu, who was just pulling a job down from the notice board set against the wall. She was still steeming from him not remembering her name. On top of that, he gave her a guy's name. That had to have damaged my sister's pride just a bit. 

"Is me daddy back yet?"

I looked up in surprise, leaning back on my stool to see who had asked such a squeaky, teary question. Farther down the bar, Master sat up on the counter, cross-legged. He was looking down at a boy who couldn't have been more than six-years-old. The little boy had short, dark hair that looked almost navy-purple in the light of the guild and big eyes, glistening with unshed, worried tears. 

"You're annoying, Romeo," Master said dismissively to the obviously distraught child. What was with him? How could he be so short with a kid like that? "If you are the son of a mage, trust your father, be a good boy and wait for him at home."

"He said he'd come back in three days," Romeo insisted, sniffling. "But it's been a week since then!" 

"Macao's job is at Mt. Hokabe, isn't it?"

"It's not that far, either! Please look for him!" the boy pleaded, making my heart constrict. "I'm worried about him!"

"No way!" Master snapped. "Your dad is a mage! We have no mage here who can't take care of himself! Go home and drink your milk or something!"

"'Go home and drink your milk or something'....?" I grumbled, crossing my arms under my chest. "What kind of advice is that?"

Next thing I knew, Romeo had jumped up and slugged a punch at Master's face, only suceeding in tipping him back from his perch just the tiniest bit. He dashed out of the guild, screaming that he hated all of us. 

Lucy, turned around in her seat to face the door, looked just as unsettled as I felt. I suppose it was hard to have not listened in on that particular conversation. From the way Natsu stood stock-still at the request board told me he'd been interested too. "It's very strict in here, isn't it?" Luce asked, echoing my thoughts. Except with less colorful language.

"Master is like that, but he's worried abotu Macao too," Mira said. She was behind us again, carrying a stack of freshly wased dishes to... somewhere. I wasn't paying her too much attention, admittedly. My focus had already drifted to Natsu. He slammed the job he'd selected back onto the board, caving it in somewhat and leaving the paper stuck deep into the unsightly crack. That done, he picked up the pack he'd been wearing when I first saw him and started out the door. 

WIthout much thought on my part, I leaped from my seat and went after him. Lucy called after me, but I just said over my shoulder, "I wanna help!" That shut her up, and she turned back to Mira with a puzzled frown.

It didn't take long to catch up to Natsu and Happy, who'd joined him on his way out. He seemed a little surprised when I showed up walking beside him, my pack from earlier still slung over my shoulder. "You're going after this Macao guy, right?" I asked with a knowing smile. "I'll help. I don't want to see that kid cry anymore than you do."

After studying my face for a second, he broke into a grin and nodded. "Great!" he said, while Happy added in a very helpful, "Aye, sir!"

I was beginning to think he was stuck on REPEAT.

"So, Mt. Hokabe," I said as we walked through Magnolia. "That mountain's pretty freezing, isn't it?"

"Hope you don't mind the cold!" he said with another grin.

"I'll have you know, I reflect my name pretty well."

"Wasabi?"

I anime fell at that, nearly cracking my head on the pavement. He thought my name was Wasabi? The hell? How does that sound like Winter at all?

"No, Pinky," I said, getting to my feet. "My name's Winter. I told this to you yesterday! Then again, you thought Lucy's name was Luigi...." I shook my head, throwing off the thought. "Anyway, all I meant is that I like the cold. It's Lucy who freaks out when the temperature drops." I smiled at the memory of crying as snow fell down around her. We were only five or six, and the air had dropped well below freezing. I'd dared her to run outside with me in a bathing suit, and when she caved, she ended up with the flu for two weeks. So maybe it's my fault that she hates the cold.... Oh well!

"And so! I'll visit Mira's house next time!"

"Huh? You say something Lucy?" I asked, blinking the drowsiness from my eyes. I'd been half asleep for the past twenty minutes, and Natsu was incapacitated, lying across the bench opposite ours while we rode in the carriage up Mt. Hokabe. So I'm not entirely sure why she'd continued to gush.

Lucy had joined us at the edge of town, and insisted she was coming as well. I expected no complaints from Natsu or Happy, and got none. 

"Don't steal her underwear and stuff, okay?" Happy said. Clearly, he'd been the only even half listening to my sister's rants. 

"WHY WOULD I DO THAT?!"

"Hey, Luce," I said, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you here anyway?" I asked, at the same time Natsu and Happy did the same. Whoa, it's like were on the same wavelength or something.

"What? Does it bother you?" she asked, directing her words at the two boys.

"Of course, a lot...." Happy said, going unnoticed by Lucy. I snickered to myself, hearing him loud and clear.

"Because it's a chance!!" Lucy explained, sparkles flying around her head in a dizzying manner. "I wanted to do something that'd help Fairy Tail."

Yeah, that makes sense... Probably some sort of trick to boost her image in the guild, I thought to myself, a sly grin threatening to give away my mocking thoughts.

"Transportation really doesn't go well with you, does it?" she said, looking down at the sweating, nauseated Natsu. "I pity you..."

"On another note," I said, pulling both feet up onto the bench and leaning back against the wall, sitting sideways with my feet resting on Lucy's legs. She shot me a look, which I skillfully ignored. "We really need to find a place to live after this. I really hadn't thought of it in all the time we'd been at the guild. Now I feel kinda stupid," I added in a sigh.

"You can live with me and Natsu," Happy offered.

"Okay!" I agreed enthusiastically. Lucy snapped out a hand and whacked the top of my head, making me cringe. "Ow!" I hissed pointedly.

"If you're serious about that," she said to Happy, "I'll pull out your whiskers, kitty cat."

Thankfully, that didn't occur. We all felt the carriage jerk to a stop, and instantly Natsu was up and revived from his trauma, shouting, "IT STOPPED!"

"Yup," I agreed, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. This felt a little too soon, but whatever. I wanted to stretch my legs anyway. We all piled out of the cabin, and were bitch slapped in the face by cutting winds full of ice and snow that set me grinning, and Lucy stuttering in shock.

"I... I'm sorry," the driver said. "We can't go any further than this in the carriage."

"What's going on?!" Lucy asked, her nerves already shot by being out in the middle of a treacherous mountain covered with swirling and whipping ice. "Even though it's up in the mountains, it's summertime! It's weird to have a snowstorm like this!"

Natsu said nothing, staring out into the gray skies and brilliant expanse of white that was Mt. Hokabe, eyes hard with his determination. 

Lucy shivered, hugging herself. "It's cold!" she complained rather loudly. 

"That's cause you're wearing so little," Natsu and I pointed out.

"The same goes for you!" she snapped back. I shrugged. At least I had more clothes on than her, and a jacket to boot. She didn't have the time to glare at me resentfully, though, because the carriage took off, and she went shouting after it.

"She's... really noisy," Natsu said.

"Aye," Happy agreed.

"Try living with her for seventeen years," I said, pulling at Natsu's arm to drag him forward. I didn't know how long a walk we had in store for us, but I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy walking, but Lucy's complaining was going to get on my nerves fast.

I don't think we'd been going for twenty minutes when Lucy suddenly yanked the blanket from Natsu's back and tugged it around herself, muttering some whimpering excuse. I watched in confusion as she held a Silver Key out in front of her. "O-O-Open, the Door of the Clock!" In a familair, key-hole-shaped flash of light, the clock-themed Celestial Spirit Horologium appeared, and Lucy climbed inside him.

"Seriously, Luce? It's that bad?" I asked, hands on my hips as I stared her down through the glass door seperating us. 

"'How are you not cold, Winter?!' she inquires shrilly," Horologium said, relaying what Lucy asked. I smirked. "Remember when I got locked in the walk-in freezer when we were really little?" She nodded. "Yeah, well, I lied. I was in there ten hours, not ten minutes. After that, cold really isn't a bother to you, know what I mean?"

"M-Monster!" Happy squeaked in his high voice, pointing at me. I raised a brow at him, jerking a thumb at Natsu. "You live with a guy who eats flames and was raised by a dragon (Lucy told me about her conversation with Mira while we were waiting for a carriage back in Magnolia) and you think I'm the strange one? Let's not forget you're a talking cat, Happy," I said pointedly. He shrugged and brushed it off like nothing had happened.

Er, alright then.

"'Anyway, what job did Macao come here for?' she asks," the Celestial Spirit said. Natsu gave Lucy an incredulous look. "You came here without knowing that?" he asked. "To subdue the brutal monster, Vulcan."

Lucy tensed in fright. "'I want to go home!' she squeaks."

"Yes, go ahead, says I," Natsu says, walking away.

"Aye," Happy feels the need to add. I throw Lucy a look, which she shies away from. Really, did she only come here for the publicity it could bring? If she hadn't, facing off against a Vulcan (which I'd at least heard of once or twice in my life) wouldn't deter her quite so easily. I wanted to help stop Romeo's tears, so I turned and stalked off after Natsu. 

If Lucy really wants to go back, let her.

I jogged to catch up to Natsu. He was busy calling out for Macao. "MACAO! ARE YOU HERE?! WERE YOU DONE IN BY THE VULCAN?!"

It was strange to hear how easily he could ask that, but I ignored it and joined him in shouting, hoping for a response from Macao himself.

What we got, was a giant ape creature with thick white fur, wrinkly dark gray skin, and creepy, almost lustful eyes. It slammed down on the ground mere feet from where Natsu, Happy and I stood. Spotting us, it quickly smashed its arms into the snow, aiming for our heads. Natsu flipped backwards, and I did the same, while Happy was blown back by the force of the monkey's impact.

"It's the Vulcan!" the little cat cried in panic.

I shook my head, dislodging the chilling snow that had begun to coat me like an uncomfortable hat, and looked up at the monkey's deranged face. Its eyes flicked over both Natsu and myself, muscles tensing, warning me he was going to move. I cursed under my breath for being so caught off guard.

The monkey leaped, launching himself.... over our heads? "What?" I half-shouted, whipping around to see him throw Horologium over his shoulder and continue galloping (do monkey's gallop...?) away from us.

"LUCY!" I shouted, running forward, only to slip and fall on my face. "You just had to make yourself vulnerable, didn't you?" I pushed my face away from the cold ground, more annoyed then worried. I was going to get her back, so I could punch her in the head myself.

"So he can speak, huh?" Natsu asked, pounding his fist into his palm, giving a look that said he was thoroughly going to enjoy himself.

"It spoke?" I asked blankly, dusting off my cargo pants. "Interesting. But if it was after a woman, why didn't he just grab me?"

"Cause Lucy has bigger breasts than you," Happy supplied, smiling casually.

"Say what now?" I asked, face contorted in surprise and confusion.

"It's true," Natsu added, causing my brows to scrunch together. Why the hell were these two idiots even looking?

"You know what, we'll deal with you perverts later. Right now, I want to get my sister back before some unpleasant things arise between her and the hormonal monkey," I muttered, taking off in the direction the Vulcan vanished into. 

"If I help you," Happy said, wrapping himself around my leg so he didn't have to run; he was light, so I didn't really care, "you have to give me some expensive fish."

"No," I said bluntly, and tears sprang to his eyes. He gave me his best puppy-dog look (ironic, don't you think?) but I was unmoved. He looked like he died a little inside.

Man, that's not animal cruelty, is it? I didn't wanna go to jail!

Natsu, having picked up on Lucy's scent from his Dragon Slayer-powered senses, found the cave she was being held in fairly quickly. And without any forethought, he charged in, slipped on the icy floor, and tumbled end over end until he slammed face first into a rock pillar. 

I face palmed, along with Happy, before carefully making my way down into cave, not wanting a repeat of Natsu's actions.

The pinkette was quick to stand and start spouting something about the Vulcan hiding Macao, and that he should hand him over right now, blah, blah, blah. I was busy creeping up to Lucy's side and steathily whapping the back of her head. I covered her mouth before she could snap out at me in pain, shushing her. 

"Ooh! He understood me!" I narrowed my eyes, looking around until I spotted Natsu peering out of a hole in the cave, apparenlty searching for Macao.

"Natsu!" I shouted in alarm, just as the monkey forcefully shoved him out of the mountain and into open air. I kicked away from Lucy and sprinted to the hole, slipping around the slow-minded ape with ease. "Natsu!" I shouted again, leaning out into the frigid air. I couldn't see him, no matter how sharp my eyes were. 

"Me... no likes man. Me... likes woman." 

"You asshole!" I growled, turning to land an uppercut kick to the Vulcan's jaw. However, my plan backfired when he grabbed my ankle and flipped me upside down, stopping my attack cold. He lifted me up so that we were face to face, and I spit at him. With an inhuman growl (obviously, he was a monkey after all), he decided my being a woman didn't really matter, and threw me aside like a goddamn doll. My back slammed into the cave floor, but I kept sliding due to the ice. 

What made things worse, was that I could feel icy cold air blowing at my back, sharp and fresh, nowhere near as stale as the air further in the cave. "Shit!" I hissed, realizing that I was skidding right up to a ledge that dropped out over the mountain top. I scrabbled to get a hold, but I couldn't find purchase on the slippery floor. With a hissed-out curse, I tugged my key ring from my belt. "Lucy!" I shouted, feeling my head and shoulders slip over the edge. "Take the goddamn Keys and get out of here!" With a yelp, I threw the Keys as hard as I could, while my sister yelled at me hold on. 

I didn't get to see if she caught my precious set of Keys, because the rest of body followed after my head and fell, and I couldn't do a thing about it. I screamed, an ear-splitting howl, feeling the wind rip at my clothes, my hair spilling out behind me as I neared the ground. 

And then, abruptly, something wrapped tight around my waist and my descent ground to a halt. 

"You're louder than Lucy!" Happy complained, shouting above the roaring wind.

"W-Wha...?" I couldn't see straight, the wind-induced tears clouding my vision. But I managed to smile when I looked up at Happy, who had somehow caught me about fifty feet from splattering like a dropped, unfinished pancake. "You're like a Cat Angel!" I shouted. "I'm calling you Cangle from now on!"

He didn't look particularly happy about that, but he said nothing as he whisked me back up into the cave. I'll admit even I was starting to dislike the weather at that point.

Happy and I were in time to witness Taurus, a bulky bull Celestial Spirit with a cow pattern, get hammered with a kick from Natsu, who I assumed Happy saved also. Poor Taurus got sent flying, hanging onto consciousness by a thread.

"You weak.... I was worrying about you so much and then you come and do this to me?!" Lucy shouted, rounding on Natsu. Then she lost her feral features, thinking of something else. "Besides, how did you survive?"

"Same way I did!" I called, prying Happy's tail gently from around my waist. He flicked my face, and I nearly bit his tail off in annoyance. But lucky for him, he got out of biting range fast and flew circles around Natsu's head.

"Winter!" Lucy cried, relieved tears pricking her eyes. I smiled sheepishly, very much weighed down from the amount of worry I was have caused her. But I was saved from dealing with her messy emoions by another thought smacking her in the face. 

"You can't deal with transportation, but you're okay with Happy?" she asked Natsu.

"What are you talking about?" he shot back. "Happy isn't for transportation. He's a nakama. You're weird."

"R-Right, I'm sorry!" Lucy stammered awkwardly, clearly put off by being called weird by Natsu of all people.

"Listen," he said, spreading his arms wide, back turned to the enraged monkey. I was going to point that out, but Happy shook his head at me, so I stayed put, watching the scene with interest. "All of Fairy Tail's members are nakama. From the geezer, Mira, then the annoying Gray and Elfman, to Happy, Lucy and Winter. We are all nakama. That's why.... I'm taking Macao home!" He launched a flaming kick to the spot I'd been aiming for before, uppercutting the beast's jaw with ease and rocketing him into the ground, where he proceeded to get up with a nasty look at Natsu.

"Tell me where Macao is, or I'll burn you black like coal," Natsu challenged, grinning from the thrill of a proper fight. The monkey refused to spill, and grabbed at the icy stalactites above, breaking them off with ease. He launched icy spear after ice spear at Natsu, who grinned a little ferociously and laughed, "That won't work on fire!"

When the Vulcan picked up Taurus' discarded axe, however, his expression changed to one that resembled constapation. The Vulcan swung at Natsu from all kinds of crazy angle, while the boy nimbly dodged and ducked.... until he slipped again and crashed to the floor. 

"Lucy! Whip!" I shouted, rushing forward. She blinked, turning away from Natsu to look at the brown leather whip strapped to her hip. She blinked again, before unhooking it and tossing it at me. I caught it one-handed, unfurling it with a crack, just as the monkey swung the axe for Natsu's head. I threw out the whip, still some feet away, and it stretched and wrapped around the axe handle, just about the monster's massive hands. I tugged back with all my might, and to my honest surprise, he struggled to continue the arc, the axe stopped just above Natsu's widened eyes. 

I started to skid on the ground, digging in my heels for added traction, but to no avail. "Sis! Get Taurus up and get him to return to the Spirit World! NOW!" She jumped, heeding my words, and started shaking the massive bull-man, desperate to wake him up from his stupor. It's ironic that he was knocked out cause of Natsu, but that's life I guess.

I was slipping, and shot a warning look at Natsu, who was still trapped beneath the axe. He smiled at me, causing me to start and slip further forwards, my aching feet shouting at me to give it up. Natsu reached up and gripped the steel blade of the axe in both hands, and as I watched, a red heat spread away from his fingers, turning the axe slightly molten. Drips of scalding hot metal detached and fell... straight onto Natsu's flicked-out tongue.

"He... ate it," I breathed in wonder.

Natsu puffed out his cheeks, then spat the cooled metal ball right at the monkey's forehead, jolting it back as blood sprayed from the wound to its temple. Natsu pushed the axe aside as it lost concentration, and with the strength of the tug-of-war, my legs gave out and I toppled onto my ass, the whip dropping into my lap. But I was glad. 

Flames engulfed Natsu's hand and he rocketed a punch to the monkey with a cry of, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

It flew into the cave wall, right at the hole he'd shoved Natsu out of. But his bulky body didn't fit. He was lodged in the wall from the force of Natsu's punch...

Salamander was fierce.

"He's stuck," Happy noted cheerfully.

"Weren't you supposed to ask this monkey where Macao is?" Lucy sighed, tightening the blanket still wrapped around her slender shoulders. 

"Ack! I forgot!" 

"He's really out of it," I said, drawing up beside Lucy. Just then, something shifted in the atmosphere of the cave, drawing my attention to the incapacitated Vulcan. "Eh, guys?" I said awkwardly, pointing. "Something's up with ape-face over there."

With a startled yelp, Lucy leaped behind me as the monkey glowed and disappeared, shrinking much like the old Master of Fairy Tail. In his place was slim, middle-aged man, who was more than small enough to pass through the opening.

"What's going on?" Natsu yelled. "The monkey became Macao!"

"Eh?!" Lucy and I cried.

"Oh, so he was taken over by the Vulcan!" Happy said.

"Taken over?"

"It's a magic to take over the body!"

"Natsu! He's falling!" I shouted, startling the others as I rushed at the hole, sailing half out into the air, and latched onto Macao's ankle as strong hands pulled me back by my waist. But Macao's and my combined weight proved too much for Natsu, and we were this close to falling to our deaths, despite Happy tugging at Natsu's sandal-clad foot. But then I felt the four of us jerk upwards, and titled my head back to see who'd stopped us.

"Lucy!!" the three conscious members of our shouted in relief. Somehow Lucy had managed to keep us all from plummeting. That's when I saw the buff bovine arms circle around and take hold of Happy's tail, giving us some more security.

I sighed. Taurus was awake at last. He couldn't have picked a better time, really. And to think, if Lucy had managed to wake him when I'd asked, we'd all be dead now. Natsu was so happy, he had rivers of tears dripping down his cheeks, familiar fire burning in the back of his throat. "Bull! You're a good guy!" he cried, making me laugh. Seriously, even though I was hundreds of feet above the ground, clinging desperately to a guy (who I didn't even know) to keep him from falling, with my friends just able to stop me from following him, I found it easy to laugh. Because of Natsu. You won't believe just how happy I was to have him as my friend.

Macao was laid out on the floor in front of me and Lucy, and we were helping to clean and bandage the wounds he'd sustained from his fight with the Vulcan. Happy was staring at the box of medical supplies I carried in my pack, apparently interested in its contents.

"He must have taken a beating before he was taken over," I muttered, dabbing a clean cloth at his blood-stained torso. The worst of the injuries was a gash in his side that must have eventually been his undoing. "The one wound... it's really serious."

"Macao, hold on tight!!" Natsu said, leaning over him. I frowned sympathetically at him. Even if we bandaged this wound... I wasn't sure we'd be able to completely staunch the blood loss.

"So apparently Vulcans are monsters who survive by taking over human bodies," Happy said uneasily, hugging a bottle of disinfectant to his tiny chest.

"The wound on his side is too deep," Lucy concluded sadly, looking up at Natsu, while I looked away, more guilt weighing on my already burdened shoulders. "We can't do anything with only the first aid kit we have."

My head snapped back up when she gasped. "What are you doing?!"

Natsu had his flaming hand pressed tight to Macao's wound, while the poor man screamed in what had to be blistering agony. He was still unconscious, too...

"This is all we can do for now!! Live with it Macao!!" Natsu shouted, refusing to let up with his fire. I think I caught on a moment before Lucy did. He was trying to close the wound by burning, which would stop the bleeding. It just put Macao in even more pain. I pressed against Macao's shoulders, holding him down as Natsu continued with his efforts. 

"Don't die!!" he commanded. "Romeo's waiting for you!!"

Soon I felt the man settle down, Natsu's flames dying out as he succeeded in closing the wound. I jumped when I heard him speak for the first time. 

"Shit.... What a shame..." he huffed. "I got.... nineteen.... of them...."

Even I was startled by that revelation.

"Ugh... I was... taken over... by the twentieth one.... Gah!" He was still in so much pain, but the most Lucy and I could do was wrap crisp white bandages around his chest and side and disinfect the worst of the wounds. "I understand, so don't speak anymore or your wound will open!" Natsu was still a little frantic, which seemed very out of character of him. I guess when it was his friends' lives on the line, even he got scared. 

"I'm angry at myself...." Macao breathed, despite our warnings. "Damn it.... How can I... face.... Romeo....?"

"I said shut up!! Want me to punch you?!"

I caught to look in Lucy's eyes, and it made me tilt my head in confusion. The mix of emotions I could see.... so different, and yet so similiar, to the ones boiling inside of me. Though there was one I caught that I didn't particularly like: Inadequacy. 

But that was for another time. Right then, we had to focus on getting Macao, and ourselves, back to Fairy Tail.

We arrived in town the next day, our slow pace due to Macao's severe injuries and our unwillingness to rush him in any way. But the look of pure joy on Romeo's face when he spotted us... it completely made up for all the extra time it took getting back. 

They had a brilliant little family moment that actually brought a few tears to my eyes. Natsu, Happy, Lucy and I left them to rekindle their special bond of father and son, and headed back to the guild. 

I was rather caught of guard when I heard Romeo shout, "Thanks to you too, Lucy Sis, and Winter Sis!"

It brought a pleasant smile to my face as I turned to wave back at him in acknowledgment, along with my blushing sister. 

I saw Natsu grinning his sharp-toothed grin when I turned back around. He could tell how happy the both of us were, and how proud we were to be Fairy Tail Mages.