The whole walk back to the guild was silent. Not a peep came from any of the teens as they made their way down the streets of Magnolia. It was mainly due to the thick tension and over all awkwardness that emanated from Storm and Quinn. 

"You're being such a killjoy right now, ya know?" Quinn remarked as she punched Storm on the arm. She narrowed her eyes at the raven haired boy, a frown prominent on her lips. 

Storm glared at down at the girl, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "I'm not in the mood, Quinn." He growled, the hostility in his voice was as clear as day. At this, Quinn's frown only deepened and she looked away from him.

"I can't wait till we get to the guild..." Nashi whispered into Gale's ear. "I hate the vibe these two are creating..." Discretely, Nashi gestured her hands to Quinn and Storm who were walking in front of her. 

"Tell me about it." Gale grumbled in response. "They need to get a room or something."

Before Gale and Nashi could exchange any other words, Quinn had twisted her body and was now was glaring at the both of them. She mouthed the words, 'I can hear you.' before whipping back around. 

"I forgot she's a dragon slayer." Nashi said with a nervous chuckle.

"I didn't." Gale stated shrugging his shoulders. "I hoped, she heard what I said cause I meant it."

Behind Gale and Nashi, was Hunter and Ultear. Ultear seemed to be glaring at the back of Quinn's head for the past ten minutes. 

"You really need to stop that." Hunter said glancing down at Ultear for a second.

"Nope." Ultear responded shaking her head profusely. "She hurt Storm. She's lucky I don't hurt her." She added clenching her fists her side. 

Hunter subtly rolled his eyes choosing to revert his eyes in a different direction. They were close to the guild now which he was thankful for. He really needed something to eat. Feeling a weird sensation spread across his body, the hairs on Hunter's arms stood causing the red haired boy to raise his brows.

"What the-"

"OH MY GOSHHH! YOU'RE FINALLY BACK!" A girl squealed. Hunter paled instantly recognising that voice. From the distance, he saw a certain blonde headed girl sprinting towards him. Before he (or even Ultear) could react, the girl tackled him into a bear hug. 

Hunter felt the air within him being squeezed out. "A-Alexis!" He growled shoving the girl off him. 

"I'm sorry, I just got a little excited." Alexis giggled. Hunter glared at her and her smile widened. Moving her eyes from Hunter, Alexis looked at the others. Nashi, Gale and Storm seemed to be staring right at Alexis with tear-filled eyes. Alexis raised her brow in confusion. "Umm... are you all okay?"

"NICE ALEXIS!" Storm, Nashi and Gale yelled enveloping her in a hug. Going through what they had just recently, they came with a new and profound appreciation for the 'nice' version and will-not-kill-them Alexis. They were not going to take her for granted from here on out. 

"Okay...?" Quinn said clearly confused by the whole ordeal. 

Alexis revelled in the show of affection by her friends. "I missed you all too. You were gone for a while." She said hugging them back.

"What? We were only going for like a day or two." Nashi corrected finding Alexis' statement stupid. 

Alexis frowned. "No... you were gone for three months."

"WAIT WHAT!" Everyone (excluding Quinn of course) screeched at the top of their lungs.

"What do you mean three months!" Ultear shouted. It couldn't have possibly been that long.

"That's actually why I'm here." Quinn said rubbing the back of her neck. She looked at Storm, her features softened. "You hadn't talked to me at all in a while so I guess... I got a little worried something had happened." She admitted rather reluctantly. "So I ended up coming here."

"Oh! I don't believe I've met you before." Alexis chirped turning her attention to Quinn and holding her hand out to her. Looking at the two blonde haired girls, they could've been mistaken as sisters. The only difference was that Quinn's hair was cut short to her shoulders. "I'm Alexis."

Quinn smiled politely and shook Alexis' hand. "I'm Quinn."

The moment Quinn said her name, Alexis' smile disappeared instantly. Instead, her aura darkened. She squeezed tighter onto Quinn's hand. The expression on Alexis' face was oddly reminiscent to the Evil-Alexis the teens had just escaped. 

"You wouldn't happen to be the Quinn that hurt Storm would you?" Alexis whispered, tilting her head slightly to the side. She took a step closer to Quinn and the demonic look on her face intensifying. "Because if you are, I'm going to skin-"

"That's enough, Lexi." Storm interrupted pulling Quinn's hand from Alexis' grasp and clasping it into his own. "She's still my... friend." He clarified shifting uncomfortably. 

"Oh!" Just like that, Alexis turned back into her chirpy and bubbly self; the demonic side practically non-existent. "Why didn't you say so? It's nice to meet you Quinn." She smiled while doing a little wave into Quinn's direction.

Quinn nodded weakly. "Uh... yes you too." She said sweatdropping. Her eyes look down at her hand. Absentmindedly, Storm had laced his fingers with hers. 

"The fact that you can change from bubbly and nice to immediately hostile is literally the most terrifying thing in all of Earthland, Alexis." Gale stated, something which everyone silently agreed to. 

Alexis giggled. "You know I've been practicing my magic with my mom and Jace a lot while you were gone." She said hands on her hips and gleaming with pride. "I can show you right now! I'll turn into demo-"

"NO!" Nashi, Gale, Storm and Ultear yelled before Alexis could finish.

Alexis pouted, crossing her arms. "Geez, tough crowd." 

Nashi chuckled nervously. "We've seen enough of demon-you for a while... believe me." She explained letting out a heavy sigh. 

Alexis shrugged it off. "You guys should probably get to the guild. Everyone will be excited to see you." She told them.

"Great idea, let's go." Storm said turning around; Quinn trailing closely behind him.

"Yeah I'm really hungry." Nashi complained patting onto her stomach. "Cmon, Gale." She gestured for him to follow her which he did. 

"Hey, Alexis... could I talk to you for a second?" Ultear asked before the blonde haired girl could walk away. A determined look adorned the raven haired girl's face. 

Alexis was hesitant, biting onto her lip. "Sure..."

"Don't kill each other okay?" Hunter said before walking of to leave the two alone. He just wanted to get something to eat. 

Once he was out of sight, awkward silence fell between the two girls. Alexis stood there twirling her hair with her finger. 

"I just wanted to apologise about the way I acted before we left." Ultear said looking at the ground ashamed. Alexis' eyes widened in surprise. "I was really shitty towards you and you were nothing but nice to me." Ultear continued trying to sound as sincere as possible. Although, all she felt was incredibly awkward. "I just want to say that... if you're still willing to... maybe we could be... friends..." 

"YES! YES! YES!" Alexis squealed jumping at Ultear and engulfing the girl into a hug. "We're going to be the bestest friends... wait is bestest a word?" 

"Baby steps, Alexis..." Ultear muttered squirming herself out of Alexis' grip. "Let's just take this slow for now."

"Sorry, I got too excited again." Alexis said with a nervous chuckle. 

"Ok, I'm going in now." Ultear quickly said before practically sprinting towards the guild. She didn't want to be with Alexis alone for too long which the blonde haired girl understood. Ultear was trying her best to forgive Alexis for her past actions and that was no easy nor short road. The thing Alexis was thankful for was that Ultear was at least coming around; even though it was at her own pace, it was still progress.

Alexis let a breath with a wide smile. Something inside of her felt accomplished. 

"How quick. You've earned their trust already." A voice said. It was Lucifer who was now standing beside her. He eyed Alexis cautiously. "You aren't going to tell them the truth? And here I thought they were your friends." 

Alexis tilted her head slightly to the side, her smile now fading; her face now blank and rather emotionless. "Just like my parents, they don't need to know a single thing."

__________

"What's the big idea!?" Natsu yelled rubbing his head in the spot his daughter had just hit him. "Don't just waltz back in here and hit me!"

"Why didn't you tell me you could use lightning and fire at the same time?!" Nashi yelled back at her father, her nostril flaring in anger. "How could you keep something so awesome from me!?" Nashi pouted. "You gotta teach it to me, old man."

Natsu grumbled to himself. "It ain't that simple. You gotta get a lightning dragon to transfer their magic energy into you." He explained shaking his head.

A lightbulb lit up in Nashi's head. "Where's that little brat, Raiden!?" She shouted jumping up and down as she looked for the white-haired boy. 

"He went off with Luke and Lily not that long ago so he's not here." Layla chimed as she climbed onto the seat next to her dad. She latched onto Natsu wrapping her arms around him then turned to glare at Nashi. "Now no more hitting dad." She scolded. 

Natsu let out a hearty laugh. "As of right now, you're my favourite." He said grinning at her. Layla giggled cheerfully. 

Nashi rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah... won't happen again." She dismissed. "Besides where's mom?"

"She's at home with Luna. Luna's real sick with a cold. Go visit her soon alright?" Natsu instructed Nashi to which the pink haired girl nodded. 

"Okay, I will." 

___________

Gale took a swig of his drink. Hunter was beside him chowing down on ramen, Mira had just made him. 

"You already said hi to your dad and mom?" Hunter said raising a brow at Gale. 

Gale nodded downing some more booze. "Yeah... they were excited to see me. Kinda sucks that Lily isn't here though." He said with a frown. "Talking about little sisters, where's Rose?"

"She's out training with mom according to Mira. I'm gonna go and see them when I'm done eating." Hunter said as he continued eating. 

"You know, I'm glad we're back in our own time." Gale stated gazing over the guild hall. It was filled with laughter and happy smiles (also the usual rowdiness of course). This is the place he liked to call home. " Back then, times were rough and Fairy Tail wasn't the happiest of places." He muttered bringing the drink to his lips once again with a sigh.

"You and me, both." Hunter agreed. "That reminds me... where did Storm end up running off to?''

Gale snorted, a grin appearing on his lips. "He's probably disappeared to spend time with his girlfriend."

___________

The back of the guild hall is where Storm was with Quinn. His plan was to talk things out with her. The two of them hadn't quite left their relationship in a healthy spot. 

"I'm really sorry about the way I sort of ended things, Storm." Quinn said fiddling with her fingers nervously. "I should've been more delicate but you know me... I don't really think things through that much." She bit her lip. 

"It's fine." Storm replied dismissively. "I'm fine, there's no need for you to worry about me. I was just in a really shitty mission was all." He said as nonchalant as humanly possible. His face was blank as he stared at Quinn; his hands stuffed comfortably in his pockets. "Now you can leave if you want. I'll walk you to the station."

Quinn frowned. "Why are you acting like this, Storm? You're acting as if you don't even care." 

Storm sighed. "We weren't dating at all so why should I care?" He droned monotonously. "We weren't anything special."

Quinn's face paled at his words and she swallowed. "So it all meant nothing to you?" Her voice was as quiet as a mouse now. She bit her lip harder and Storm could've sworn tears were forming in her eyes as they glistened in the light. 

His eyes flicked to the ground. "Don't put words in my mouth, Quinn..." He muttered running a hand through his raven coloured hair.  

Quinn took a step closer to him cautiously. "During these few months, I've been a pain to handle because you never texted me or called me back. I was going crazy." She said. Tilting her head up, Quinn locked eyes with Storm. "And I think I've come to a conclusion..."

"And what is that?" Storm whispered with a husky voice.

"I think I might be in love with you, Storm Fullbuster."

___________

question - what's your favourite ship in this fanfic?

___________

very abrupt ending... I wonder how our resident stripper will react ((:

I just wanted to first and foremost apologise that this update took a long time, I've been completely swamped with exams and assignments that I've literally have had no sleep over the last couple of weeks so I haven't had any time to write

also something about y'all ignoring ma best boi Gale and just blatantly still shipping Storm and Nashi makes my heart literally hurt xD Gale is trying so hard to win over Miss Dense Nashi XD XD

anyways I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!

as always, comment what y'all thought about the chapter

#unedited