NOTE: This story takes place a few years after the GMG and under the assumption that the dragons were defeated. Members of Team Natsu are in their early twenties.

"Nee-san!"

I hear little running feet behind me, and turn to see a boy of about sixteen smiling and waving. Since I'm the only one out by the river at this time, I assume he's calling me. I stop to let him catch up, and look at him curiously while he catches his breath.

He has a messy head of dark blonde hair, and looks to be about as tall as Gray-san. When he looks at me, I see a grin similar to Natsu-san's, although his eyes are more like Juvia-san's: big and blue. He continues to pant as he looks at me, and I begin to get a little uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?" I ask when I can't take his staring anymore.

If possible, his grin widens before he speaks. "You're Dealina of Fairy Tail, right? Dealina the Water Dragon Slayer." I nod, and he continues. "I'm Yuki Kawasaki. I've heard of Fairy Tail many times, and I've always wanted to join! But my mother says I'm too young, and that I should just join another Guild since Fairy Tail is so destructive and wild."

I laugh a little at that, thinking of the boisterous guild and how much damage Natsu-san had caused on our last mission. To the boy, I say, "Well, what your mother says is true, but Fairy Tail also has lots of redeeming qualities. Although I can't blame you for thinking the worst of us, since we can get pretty rowdy."

I remember the first time I entered the guild hall, after Levy-san rescued me from an ambush in my free-lance mission…

FLASHBACK

Levy-san pushes open the big wooden doors in front of us. Jet-san and Droy-san are holding me up, since I am too injured to walk on my own. They don't immediately assist me inside, and I wonder a bit at this since Levy-san had been adamant about getting me to the infirmary. When she motions the two men flanking me to bring me in, they do so, but we stick to the wall. We have no other choice.

The majority of the hall is filled with bodies engaged in a brawl. I see magic circles glowing here and there, and a few men are already topless, and one particular guy using Ice Magic is down to only his boxers. A man with pink hair and fire in both hands is shouting insults at him while simultaneously fighting off a big muscle-bound man with white hair. A few wooden… things are flying around, bumping to anyone they could reach while repeating snippets of insults, and a woman with long flowing brown hair and a skimpy outfit is shouting at them and alternately drinking from a big barrel of what I assume is wine. Even as I watch, a long green-haired man gets pulled into the fight by sticky purple flames, and gets hit by what appears to be a fist made of smoke.

I take this all in as we approach the bar, where a few women and a tall blond man with a scar on his face are sitting. The women—and I realize, a teenager—turn to look at us while the man continues to watch the fight with a bored expression. The blonde woman greets Levy-san with a big smile as she jumps from her seat.

"Levy-chan! How did your mission go?"

"We finished it, Lu-chan. I'll tell you about it later. Right now we need Wedy-chan's help."

The teenage girl with long blue hair tied up in twin tails stands up and walks forward. "Are you injured anywhere, Levy-san?"

"No, but Dealina is," Levy-san replies. She gestures to me, and the three women gasp at the wounds and bruises covering me. The youngest one steps closer, her hands already glowing with what I can feel is Sky Dragon Magic. The white-haired lady behind the bar has a worried look on her face as she stares at my battered state.

"What happened to her, Levy-chan?"

"We found her being attacked by a group of bandits just outside Magnolia." Her voice acquires a dangerous tone, and the two men beside me tense up, anger easily detectable from them. "There were five of them not including the six that were already down, and they were all using swords and magic against one civilian."

"Not…" My voice cracks as I struggle to speak. "Not a civilian. Mage. Free-lance."

Jet-san frowns at this. "If you have magic, then why didn't you use it? Did you run out?"

I shake my head. "I don't like using magic."

The red-haired woman raises an incredulous brow. "You mean you defeated six mages using no magic?"

I hesitate, not wanting to explain my situation. Luckily, the blue-haired girl chooses that moment to announce, "You should be fine. You should rest, though. Now, Jet-san and Droy-san, let me look at your wounds." They hesitate, not wanting to let me go when I was still weak. The blonde sees this and calls to one of the men in the brawl.

"Natsu! Get over here and help Jet and Droy!"

The pink-haired man jumps out of the fight and heads our way. "You're really mean Lucy, making me go out of the fight when I was just about to defeat Ice Princess!"

"What was that Flame Head?!" The Ice Mage lifts his head from the melee looking furious at Natsu-san, but a flying table hits him before he could say anything else. Meanwhile, the Fire Dragon Slayer—I could smell him—takes me from my escorts. His body is warm, as should be expected of a Fire User.

"Um…" I look over his shoulder to where the guild is still going full-out, with a newly arrived man wearing a bandana on his long hair and piercings everywhere is immediately pulled into the fray. "Shouldn't someone stop them?" I ask my new assistant.

"Eh? But why?"

"Don't worry about them," Lucy-san says. "That's just the way they show their affection." She smiles widely, and I am left feeling bewildered. How can throwing punches and kicks and spells at each other be any form of showing affection?

END FLASHBACK

"…Later on I realized, well, Fairy Tail is Fairy Tail, and normality isn't exactly the top priority." Yuki and I have moved to sit on the riverside, our reflections slightly distorted by the flowing water. I look at mine, seeing a pink-and-blonde girl with wide brown eyes that are now free of shadows.

"How about the missions? Some say that Fairy Tail only gets the most dangerous and difficult ones," Yuki adds.

"Most of them are dangerous and difficult, although some are easy enough. I remember my first mission though, with Juvia-san."

"Eh? The Water Mage?"

"Yeah. We were asked to get rid of the 'monsters' that terrorized a village at the foot of Mt. Hakobe. None of the townspeople ever saw them, and anyone who tried to look into it never came back."

"EH?! What happened? Did they get eaten?!"

I smile a little at the imagination of a sixteen-year-old. "No. It turned out there was a dark guild there, and they turned anyone who saw them into Vulcans and Wyverns. The 'monsters' the townspeople saw were their fellow men, trying to get help, but they ended up scaring the others instead."

"How did you defeat the whole dark guild with just the two of you?"

"Well, most of them were fire users except for the one that kept turning people into monsters. Since Juvia-san and I are water mages, the fire users were easy enough to beat. Also, Form Shifting Magic doesn't work on Dragon Slayers, and Juvia-san's body is made of water, so she wasn't affected either."

Yuki is looking at me with awe, and I feel a little disconcerted once again. I'm not used to such attention. Usually Wendy-chan, Mira-san, Erza-san, Gray-san, Natsu-san and Lucy-san are the ones who get the starry-eyed fans. "I wish I could have been there," Yuki says. "Although I probably wouldn't have been much help, since I'm a Take-Over Mage."

I smile at him. "One thing Fairy Tail has taught me, Yuki, is that no matter what type of magic you use, no matter how strong your opponent is, or how disadvantaged you feel, if you're fighting for something that's right, for what you love, or for your nakama, you will always win. No Fairy Tail mage is ever alone. Even when our Guild mates aren't physically there, they still support us in their thoughts." I stand up, brushing my skirt before offering my hand. "Do you really want to join our Guild?"

His eyes widen. "But Mom says—"

"Master will talk to your mother. The choice is yours. In or out, Yuki?"

He gives me that grin again, and this time his eyes are filled with even more excitement and happiness. "Definitely in!"

He takes my hand, and we head over to the Guild where I know my friends, the people I now consider family, are waiting. Fairy Tail is Fairy Tail, no matter when or where. Some members may leave, and new people will join, but no matter what happens, will always support our nakama.