When walking off the train, well more like barreling off the train, I looked around quickly for my younger brother while clutching the urgent letter I received two days ago. According to Blizzard, Twilight Org had ransacked the guild again asking for payment. He had said that if I don't return back from my mission soon we may lose the guild hall for good. Scanning the crowd again I sigh, didn't he say in his letter that he'd meet me here when the train arrived. That lying brat, who the hell taught him to lie to me like that. Might as well start heading to the guild. It looks like there's rain coming.
Walking through town on my way to the guild hall I noticed everyone I passed was looking at me oddly, almost expectantly. I shook off the looks the best I could but I still couldn't shake the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. It felt as though some unknown force was pulling me along. It almost made me feel hopeful. Almost.
I must have been too lost in my thoughts to notice someone was in front of me because the next thing I knew I was on the ground staring up at a very frightened Thibault, a member of Twilight Org the guild who constantly antagonizes Fairy Tail. Glaring as I get up I start to notice how pale he'd been getting the longer I stared.I swear if I looked at him long enough he'd just drop dead at my feet. With a swift turn of my heels, I left him still confused by his behavior. As I made it towards the edge of town I spotted a blue form flying in the sky but before I could get a better look the clouds rolled in and the rain started.
Sighing, I rushed through the forest as best I could. With the sun setting and the pouring rain, I could barely see. Although I wouldn't usually have a problem with these conditions due to the fact that I knew these woods like the back of my hand. I had been gone for almost two months and was exhausted, which made my brother's antics even more unappreciated. When I finally found my way to the guild doors I noticed that something was off. It was noisy like the was a fight or maybe it was a party. Quickly shaking the thought of a party out of my head, because for us there wasn't very much worth celebrating, I walked up to the doors and shoved them open. The instant the doors flew open everything went black as a table collided with my face.
Waking up with a groan I see a few figures hovering over and around me. Even though I couldn't see them well through my blurred vision I recognized the voices almost in an instant. As I was trying to sit up I felt a hand gently push me back into the bed. "Take it easy Ash. Grannie Porlyusica should be here soon. You're pretty beat up, just rest for now." Gray told me as he tucked me in more. I tried to respond but before I realized it I was sobbing into his shoulder while holding him almost in a death grip. "Hey, you don't need to cry. Everything's okay now, just relax." He told me quietly as he tried to calm me down.
As my tears slowed and my grip on Gray's shirt loosened I felt something crawl onto my lap and nuzzle into my stomach. I shift slightly to see who had crawled into my lap only to see a black mass with the slightest hint of red. "Jinx... Jinx i-is that you kitten?" I managed to ask through the tear that had started all over again. The mass moved slightly in what I believe was a nod. Hesitantly I stroke her head still a little unsure if all this is real or if it's just another cruel dream.
Those dreams had always been the worst. They were a constant reminder that almost everything I loved and knew was gone and would never return. They were the reason for why my smile never returned the way Violet's did. How? How did she do it? Every day without fail she'd have the brightest smile of everyone in the guild. No the brightest smile of anyone in town. Even though she had lost her grandfather as well as her brother, who we later found out was on Tenrou Island with everyone else, she still smiled. We had become like polar opposites, like black and white, like night and day, the sun and the moon. Maybe that's why we worked so well because we balanced each other out. Without her, I don't think I'd be able to move past those dreams. Those constant reminders. She's why I'm not cowering in some corner. Instead, I've worked to become stronger, much stronger, than I once was so that I could protect everything I hold dear to me. So I won't lose anyone or anything else if I don't have to.
"How?" That was the only thing that left my lips once I calmed down enough to think clearly. Sniffling I let go of Gray and look towards Erza. "How? I thought the island was destroyed by Acnologia. We thought you, all of you, were..." I pause taking a breath to keep my composure, "We thought you were all dead." I finished softly, unable to look at any of them. "You have no idea how happy I am That we were all wrong." I look at everyone smiling brighter than I have in years. It felt amazing to have my friends... no, my family home. "I've missed you all so much!"
