~*****~

"What? You just figured out Gildarts was Cana's father?" I ask with a brow raised. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were all shocked silent, their mouths open wide. I hadn't meant to butt in on the sweet moment, but it was just too weird for them not to know.

Cana choked on her spit. "How the hell did you know?!" She barked at me, Gildarts looking dumbfounded as I stared at them.

I tapped at the side of my nose. "Being raised on a mountain where it's storming ninety percent of the time, my nose, eyes, and ears had to be stronger than anything in the world to survive." I explain. "You two haven't exactly been livin' together at any point of your life, but I can still smell the similarities. Every person has a unique scent, and Cana's is kinda like Gildarts. I noticed it between Laxus and Makarov, too. I put two and two together." I shrug again. "Your dad's hot, by the way." Gildarts flushed darkly.

"Yeah, I got that from the countless times you've drooled over him." Cana grumbled.

I hum delicately. "I wouldn't mind goin' a round if he's the dirty old man you said he was." I continue to tease.

"Don't even try it!" Cana barked.

I laugh loudly and wave my hand. "No worries! I was only yankin' your chain." The hairs on my neck stand on end and I glance up quickly. "No, that can't be." I mutter delicately. My nose twitched against the breeze flowing in. A thunderous roar cracks through the air and nearly destroys my hearing. "We need to get back now, save the mushy reunion crap for later!"

Everyone nodded and we began running back to camp. "Hey! Are you guys okay?" Lucy cried.

"Did you guys hear that crazy noise?!" Happy asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Gray asked.

Gildarts gave a sharp bark of pain. "Are you okay?" Cana asked worriedly.

"My wounds are startin' to burn like hell!" Gildarts exclaimed. "There's no doubt. That dragon... he's gettin' real close."

"Look up in the sky!" Lily shouted. "Something's coming this way!"

My gaze flew upwards and I felt as if my insides turned to ice in an instant. "Natsu, Aria! What's the matter?!"

"HOLY CRAP!" Gray shouted.

"That things humongous!" Elfman barked.

"It is a dragon!" Bickslow cried.

"You gotta be kiddin'," Gajeel grimaced.

"I don't think it's a friendly one--" Wendy stammered.

"I knew it." Natus growled. "I was right all along! They still exist!"

"I'm afraid that's Acnologia," Makarov stated. "The Black Dragon of the Apocalypse."

"Yeah..." Gildarts nodded. "It's definitely him."

"That sounds bad. What the heck are we gonna do?" Lucy whimpered.

"Hey, Dragon! You know where I can find Igneel?!" Natsu shouted. "Tell me! Grandina, Metallicana, and Everest, too!"

"Stop it, Natsu!" I hiss loudly.

"You don't want to provoke him!" Gildarts warned. "Did you forget what happened to me? How I lost my arm and my leg? Hell! I'm lucky I didn't lose my life that day!"

Acnologia roars loudly again. "It's coming down!" Freed shouts.

"I don't think this is the same kinda dragon that raised Natsu, Wendy, and Aria!" Happy cried. "This one seems evil!"

"You're certainly right about that! It's the most evil thing there is!" Gildarts shouted.

"So are we gonna fight it, or what, cause it's kinda pissin' me off!" I shout.

"We can't, Aria," Gildarts snapped. "You don't understand the situation. It's not about winning or losing a fight. This is about getting away with our lives. And I'm not sure that all of us are even gonna be lucky enough do that."

"Whaddya mean?!" Natsu barked. "Are you tryin' to say this things gonna kill some of us?!"

The beast roared again, causing Gildarts to shout. "Come on! Everyone run, now!"

Just as he says it, the dragon rears its head back, and decimates the island with a loud roar, sending us all hurtling backwards. "I don't believe it--" Natsu gasped as we finally stood up. "The entire forest disappeared!"

"That's crazy!" Elfman exclaimed.

"How can it be so destructive!?" Levy cried.

"It wiped out those trees with a single roar," Cana muttered. "How strong is that thing?"

"Not just strong. He's evil. Pure and simple. That just now was nothin' more than his way of gettin' warmed up." Gildarts explained. "Listen up! If you wanna stay alive, you can't waste time freakin' out! Pull yourselves together and lets get outta here!" The dragon lets out another roar. "HURRY! EVERYONE GET TO THE SHIP!"

"It's this way!" Erza shouted. "Just through those trees! Now get moving!" Erza orders. We race through the tree lines, my gaze constantly slinging over my shoulder at the great beast.

"Wendy! You know how to communicate with Dragons, don't you?! Can you talk to it for us?" Carla asks wildly.

"Anyone can communicate with dragons," I shout out. "This one ain't in the mood for talkin'!"

"He's attacking!" Lily shouts.

"No, Bickslow, Freed!" Evergreen shrieks.

"He cut off our escape route!" Gray shouted.

"But why us?" Wendy stammered. "Why are you doing this?!"

"He's been known to sense bad energy--" I exclaim loudly. "Every book I've seen mentioning him says he feeds off of evil, malignant energy. He must've sensed Grimoire Heart's evil thoughts and magic and came flying straight for it! Not to mention Zeref being on the island!"

The dragon gave a might roar before destroying more and more of the island, trying to kill us. "Gramps!" I hear Natsu shout. My gaze slings over to Makarov as he grows into his giant form.

"Get to the ship!" Makarov ordered. Once he raises to his largest stature, he tugs Acnologia's head into a grapple to try and stop him.

"He's crazy! He can't fight that thing!" Gray shouted.

"Master! Please don't play the hero!" Erza called desperately. "The guild needs you to stay alive!"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Makarov orders.

"I will fight by Master's side!" Freed declares.

"No lizards gonna tear this guild apart!" Bickslow shouted.

"We'll stay with you until the bitter end!" Evergreen cried.

"Me too!" Elfman shouted.

"Yeah, we're not gonna leave you to his scaly bastard!" I bellow. We all began to shout up at him.

"Will all of you brats shut up and follow your masters final wish!" Makarov boomed. "Get out of here now!"

"Final wish?" Mira stammered.

"I am a Dragon Slayer wizard Gramps! This is what I was born to do!" Natsu bellowed. "So let me--" He gave a choked grunt as he's tugged back.

"Not today kid--" Laxus snapped. I feel the same tug on my coat, and I start struggling. "Neither of you are staying."

~*****~

We don't stay away long. None of us were willing to let Makarov die to this scaly bastard. "We're gettin' Gramps back! You hear me?!" Natsu bellows as we latch onto the Dragons arm.

"Natsu! Aria!" Makarov cries.

"You're gonna regret messin' with us, you hateful creep!" I shout as the Dragon starts swinging his arm around, trying to fling us off.

"Now attack!" Erza bellows.

"Ice Dragon Talon Score!" I shout, slashing my claws down his arm.

"YOU BETTER GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU TWO!" Laxus shouts.

I grasped onto Natsu's scarf and lifted off into the air, avoiding the blast almost a moment too late as the blast hit.

"LET'S SEE WHAT YOU DRAGON SLAYERS CAN DO!" Laxus shouts as he continues to unload his magic into the attack. "YOU HEAR ME, NATSU!"

I toss Natsu to the side as Happy swoops near and grin at the small pink cat landing on my shoulder, her paws lighting up with magic. "I still owe Laxus a serious butt kickin'," Natsu grumbled.

"You can do that later..." Happy muttered.

The four of us sucked in a deep breath, and unleashed our roars at the beast, knocking him back into the mountain side and into the ocean. "Did that work?" Erza asked quickly.

"Of course not," Gildarts snorted.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked.

"He's not even using half as much power as the time he fought me." Gildarts explained. "He's playing with us."

We all gasped before we're blown off our feet by the Dragon lifting up into the sky. "He's back in the air!" Erza shouted.

"All of our attacks didn't even put a single scratch on him!" Elfman exclaimed.

"His power's unbelievable!" Gajeel muttered.

"We gave it everything we had..." Wendy whimpered. "Four Dragon Slayers all at the same time. Our whole guild went against him and it still wasn't enough."

Natsu growled as he slammed his fists onto the ground. "This shouldn't happen! I'm supposed to be a freakin' Dragon Slayer, so why the hell couldn't I beat him?!"

"What do you think he'll do now?" Lily asks.

"Maybe he'll just decide to go back home," Happy says shakily.

"We can't let down our guard." Carla mentions.

The dragon began sucking in air. "Breath attack!" Gajeel shouted.

"Is it gonna try and wipe out the whole island?!" Cana cried.

"My god--" Evergreen stammered.

"He's that strong?" Juvia asked softly.

I pressed my palms on the ground, shaking silently in the face of certain death. "Aria, what are we gonna do?" Ballad asked tearfully.

I snatch her against my chest and hold her tight, curling my body over her as I felt hot tears cascading down my face. "Defense magic users, bring out your most powerful spells!" Erza tried.

"But I don't have time to write an enchantment!" Freed exclaimed.

"Script magic has plenty other defensive spells that we can use right now!" Levy suggests.

"Yes, you're right, Levy!" Freed gasps.

"THINK OF ONE REAL QUICK!" Bickslow shouts.

"Everybody concentrate all your magic power on Freed and Levy!" Lisanna ordered.

"Let's hold hands!" Mira ordered.

My body flinches as someone puts their palm on my back. I gaze up and stare through my bleary eyes at the hand being held out to me. I reach towards it and stand, peering up at Natsu. "C'mon, Aria. We're not gonna go out cryin'."

He snatches my hand and hauls me upwards. I release Ballad and grip his hand in return, nodding. "You're right... We're not gonna give up..."

Lucy grasps my other hand, smiling through her own tears. "Fairy Tail never gives up the fight!"

"We gotta all face our fears together! We'll show 'em we have a bond that can never be broken!" Gray exclaims as he snatches Lucy and Juvia's hands.

We all form a circle around one another, staring tearfully at each other. "Okay kids, let us all go home together." Master orders with tears in his eyes.

We give a shout and start focusing out magic power into Levy and Freed when the Dragon fires it's loud roar, filling the sky with so much light. I shut my eyes and leaned my head back.

~*****~

My brain felt so fuzzy. Like it was going to explode with how horrible I'd felt. I groaned as I peered through my bleary eyes. "Whoa... it's Droy... but like... fat." I mutter as I see who's trying to wake me up.

"That's just cruel!" I definitely hear his familiar voice.

My body snaps upright and I gape at everyone around me. "Holy crap--" I gasp. "You're all so old!" I bellow loudly. "Alzack, your hair! What the hell is going on?!"

Lucy giggled as I panicked at the sight of the others. Max was looking like an actual guy I'd go for, Warren-- well, Warren looked the same. Bisca looked the same, too, but there was a different air about her.

Once we were all on the ship, we'd been filled in on what actually happened. "Seven years..." I murmur to myself despite the motion sickness burning in my belly.

Even the guild had changed in the amount of time we'd been gone. We were no longer in town. We were on the outskirts in a shoddy little shack. Thankfully, we'd arrived on time to beat down the new guild trying to muscle a paycheck out of the guild.

"Look who's back!" Natsu cheered.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long!" Happy chirped.

"We're gonna need a bigger guild hall than this old shack--" Makarov exclaimed as I leaned over and peered at the boy in front of us.

"You look so young!" Risa chirped.

"Yeah, it's like you guys haven't aged a day in seven years!" Nab sobbed.

"Tell us, what happened?!" Vijeeter cried.

I start scratching at my cheek. "That's... kind of a confusing story." I mention before going into detail about what happened when we woke up.

Lucy giggled when I finished. "Aria was so pale when Mavis disappeared."

Ballad laughed. "Aria's real scared of ghosts, even if they did kinda save our butts!" She chirped.

"Well, that's it," I retort irritably. I palm at my neck for a moment before turning and gazing down at the boy staring at Natsu. "Look at you, Romeo!" I chirp as I lean down to him. "You're all grown up, aren't you?"

"I'll say, you must've grown at least a foot since I last seen yah!" Natsu agreed. Tears filled Romeo's eyes and he began to smile.

"E-Everyone--" He stammers. "You're back. Welcome home!"

I hum delicately and scoop him up in a tight hug. "You're still so cute! I can't believe how much older you are now! How the time--" I stop short, set Romeo down and stare at the door. "I gotta check on my house--" I stammer. "I sure hope no one broke in for my horde! Someone might die if they try to open that chest!" I exclaim.

"Don't worry about that," Macao called. I gazed at him and grimaced. "I ain't that old looking! Stop looking at me like that!" Macao barked at me. "Anyway, when we realized you guys weren't coming back, we went and collected your valuables, just in case."

Wakaba rubbed at his neck. "That chest certainly is protected. I almost lost a finger when we picked it up."

"Oh, thank goodness." I sigh. "There's items in there worth more than life itself. Matter of fact, I gotta pull 'em out of we're gonna make this guild the best."

"That mean we get to go diggin' around in there?" Natsu asked excitedly.

"Sure does, buddy!" I laugh and follow after Macao and Wakaba.

~*****~

Makarov was tearful when I handed over a few priceless items from my horde and even started wailing like Ballad does. We went and sold them, and used some of the jewel we'd earned to throw a huge party in the guild. Everyone was laughing loudly, cheering, and toasting to a brighter tomorrow.

"Once we start getting more requests, we'll build our way back up," Erza explains fondly as she stares out at everyone. "And since we've got a new S-Class member, word is sure to get around."

I nod eagerly. "You bet. Although, I'm not sure it's fair that I'm the only one who got promoted." I mentioned bashfully. "You guys totally did way more than I did."

Erza pinched my cheek playfully. "Don't be ridiculous. You pull your weight more times than I can count. You're a valued member of the guild, and a precious friend." I tear up and scrub at my eye angrily.

"C'mon, Erza! I don't need to start bawling!" I complain.

Erza laughs and tugs me in for a tight hug, crushing my head against her armor. "All right, you and me, let's go!" Natsu bellowed as I pulled away from Erza. "S-Class, my butt! I'm gonna knock you down and take that--"

Makarov's giant fist flew down and smashed into Natsu's back, causing him to lay on the ground, twitching violently. "Just accept the decision, Natsu. She's rightfully earned it."

I grimace and rub at the back of my head. "Sorry, Natsu, looks like that bet is gone." I apologize.

Lisanna grasped onto my arm. "Don't be such a sour puss cause you got beat by the girl you totally like!" Lisanna teased.

"I'm not being a sour puss!" Natsu shouted back, raising his fist. "How come you're on her side!?"

Lisanna hummed and leaned her cheek against mine. "Cause we totally found even ground! And that's teasing the heck outta you!"

"Can you just say a curse word?" I ask impishly. "Honestly, it would make my day."

Lisanna just giggled and lead me towards the table where the others were playing cards and drinking. Later that night, I sat outside the guild hall with Ballad, adjusting the little dangling earring she just had to have put in. "It totally didn't hurt like you said it would, Aria!" Ballad chirped. "It looks just like yours, too!"

I chuckle as I pat her head. "Well, I did attach a dragon scale to it. Why don't you go inside and show Carla?"

Ballad beamed. "Then she'll start complaining it was reckless to do it on our own! I love it when she complains!" Ballad flew back into the guild hall, and just as I guessed, I hear Carla start to scold Ballad for doing something reckless.

"Why are you sitting out here all alone?" I hear Natsu ask. I hum and gaze up at him.

"Cause it's cool out here. If you hadn't noticed, you spitting out fire every five seconds kinda warms the place up." I laugh. Natsu grunted as he plopped onto the ground, staring at me suspiciously. "You okay, there?" I ask, brow raised in amusement.

"Just waitin' for the pull back." He hums. "Getting ready to jump when you do."

"So, it's like a sneak attack?" I ask as I lean closer.

"Course it is! Cause when you pull away again, I'm totally gonna kick--" I cut Natsu off with a soft kiss, my hand grasping his chin tenderly before pulling my face away and grinning.

I stand up and stretch upwards. "Sorry, Little Salamander, but I think pulling back way probably a bad tactic on controlling my emotions." I mention as Natsu stares up at me, face flushed and eyes a little hazy. "Truth is, I don't think I can keep my eyes off of you. It doesn't matter how far away I am, or for how long. So, you should probably relax a bit. Cause I don't think I can stay away any longer."

"H-Hey, wait--" Natsu exclaimed as I stepped towards the door. I hum delicately as I peer over at him. "Do-- Do that again. Except don't pull away so fast."

I smile affectionately and lean against the door for a moment. "Only if you promise that you won't combust into flames. My clothes aren't nearly as fireproof as yours."

Natsu stood up and grasped at my overcoat, tugging me forward and wrapping his arms around my waist. "Stop teasing me all the time, will you?" Natsu grunted irritably. I smile bashfully before pulling his face down to mine, savoring the sharp little gasps Natsu makes when I kiss him.