Hi everyone! Sorry I've not updated in a while- university has been a thing, and I really didn't like this chapter. The 'story' properly starts soon, I just wanted all this exposition out of the way.

Chapter 3

"Excuse me!" someone was shaking Ronan awake.

"Flrglrrbl…." he muttered, trying to shuffle into a more comfortable position. What was he lying on?

"Who's he?" a male voiced asked.

"No idea," the female voiced answered. "But if he's here he might know what happened." Ronan realised they were talking about him. How did they not know who he was?! He opened his eyes and was greeted by a strange sight- a woman with green hair smiling at him. Behind her was a man wearing a poncho.

"Good, he's woken up," the man said. "I'll help find the others; you take him back to the ship."

"Good idea," said the woman with green hair to the man in the poncho. Turning to Ronan, she held out her hand to help him up. "Come on, I'll show you where everyone else is."

Ronan's head still hurt. Shaking it to clear his mind of fog, he looked around. He was in a forest.

"Where… where am I?" he asked.

"Tenrou Island, near Fiore," the girl answered. "When did you wash up here?"

"I don't… know." What was going on? He felt that he should be here, but he didn't know where here was. "Is this some Fire Nation conspiracy?"

"Fire Nation? I've never heard of that," the girl answered. "Come on; let's get back to the ship. My name's Bisca, by the way," she added.

"Bisca…" Ronan pondered. "I used to know someone called Bisca, I think".

"I doubt it; I'm from the East. I'm the only Bisca round here."

"Maybe…" Ronan was sure he knew a Bisca, but didn't really want to correct her. Following her lead, he set off into the forest. The pair spent the next few minutes in silence, occasionally trying to start conversation, but then realising that there was nothing to say. Looking around, Ronan saw signs that there had been a big fight here. He could see scorched trees and charred ground. Everything was dripping wet, as if a great deluge had recently beset the forest.

Eventually, the trees parted and Ronan saw that they were approaching a beach.

"We're nearly here," Bisca said. "The ship's just over there." Ronan looked where she was pointing and saw a large wooden carrack anchored offshore. In front of the ship, on the beach, was a group of people he recognised. Suddenly, everything clicked into place.

"I do know a person called Bisca," he shouted at her, "you!" and ran down to the group at the beach, leaving Bisca thoroughly confused.

"Hey everyone! Remember-" he was cut short as he realised what was going on- everyone present seemed to be fighting with each other.

"You've didn't beat me, I left 'cos I was hungry!"

"Yeah right, you'd just eaten like 15 bowls of chilli!"

"Exactly, I was hungry!"

"You're a greedy bastard flame-brain."

"Talking while fighting is so not manly!"

"Well shut up and try to hit me then!"

To the side were stood Erza, Lucy, and a man with black hair and a green shirt.

"Aren't you going to tell them to stop?" Lucy was saying to Erza.

"According to Warren here we've been asleep for seven years, so I'm just gonna let them get it out of their system," Erza responded, indicating that the man with the green shirt was Warren. Ronan was getting a little tired of the whole 'revelations that aren't revelations' feeling by now.

"Well, when we find Levy and Cana, they'll have to stop," said Warren. "You'll want to get back to Magnolia soon, trust me." He put two fingers from each hand on his temples and appeared to be concentrate. "Alzack found them; they're on their way back," he said.

"We'd better get everyone together then," said Erza. Ronan chose this moment to announce his arrival by coughing. The three looked around.

"Bisca found me," he said. "Remember me? I was at the…"

"Yes, you're the one who turned Gray's Ice Cage into a puddle," Erza replied.

"What happened? One minute I was on my way back to camp with you all, the next, I wake up here."

"We were attacked," Erza informed him. "The Great Dragon Acnologia attacked the island."

"Acnologia?"

"You've never heard of Acnologia?" Lucy interjected. "He's the dark dragon, whose breath is like the heat of a thous-"

"Wow, your mind is f– " Warren interrupted, looking at Ronan. Lucy gasped in indignation.

"Warren! I've been away for seven years and one of the first things you do is interrupt me when I'm trying to explain something important? I can't believe you would do that to me!" her voice got higher as her indignance rose. Erza just laughed.

"Seven – wait, seven years?" Ronan enquired.

"Yep, that's how long you've been asleep." Bisca approached the group, casually holding a long metal tube over her shoulder.

"Alzack's got everyone else." Warren informed her.

"I know, that's why I'm here. It'll take a while to calm this lot down."

"Well, nearly everyone's on the ship- Elfman, Gajeel, Gray and Natsu were just desperate to let of some steam."

Erza's words appeared to be literally true, as the heat of the battle below began to vaporise the surface of the nearby sea.

"Cut it out you guys!" Bisca shouted, but the fighting was too loud.

"Leave it to me," Erza suggested. Bisca, Lucy, and Warren stepped back. "Cut it OUT!" Erza shouted the last word, and within half a moment, all movement on the beach stopped as the four combatants ceased what they were doing mid action. Natsu and Gajeel even managed to stop in mid-air. "Get on the ship, now" Erza commanded. To Ronan's surprise, all four of them hung their heads and calmly made their way to the ship.

"She's scary," Ronan thought out loud - then he saw Erza smile to herself.

'Or maybe not,' he re-assessed, and made his way to the ship.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After quickly despatching of some thugs who were attacking the guildhouse, the members set about repairing the damage that had been done over the past seven years. Ronan was surprised how quickly everyone adapted to having been gone. The Guildmaster, Mirajane, and Erza went off somewhere, something about 'exacting payment.' Not knowing what else to do with himself, Ronan stayed around Lisanna.

"So… what happens now? With the guildhouse restored, will people start giving Fairy Tail jobs again?" he asked.

"I don't know, Ronan-san," she replied. "Hopefully people will remember what things used to be like, before the attack on the island –"

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask. What happened there? I heard something about a dragon?"

"Of course, you fainted, didn't you? Well, we were all celebrating the defeat of Grimoire Heart, when we were suddenly attacked by the great dragon Acnologia."

"Yeah, I heard about that. What happened next?"

"I don't know." Lisanna responded simply. "I remember that all of us together couldn't defeat him, but the last thing I remember is all of us stood together, and the dragon inhaling, ready to wipe us all out… then I woke up."

"Oh. Does anyone know what happened?"

"I heard a rumour that it might have been the spirit of Mavis, the founder of Fairy Tail. They she lives on the island and protects all of her children who go there."

"And what do you think?"

"I don't know. But it doesn't matter, does it? We're alive and it's seven years later, and we've got a lot to do to start fixing everything." Lisanna finished, getting back to picking up the tables. At this, Ronan picked up a brush and started sweeping the floor, with limited success. It was a mundane enough task and it distracted him from the anxiety in his mind about what was going on in his life.

"Oh." Lisanna stopped, mid action. "You're going to need somewhere to sleep tonight!"

"Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of that." Ronan paused for a moment, thinking. "Are there any inns around? Shit, I haven't got any money!" Ronan started to panic. "Shit!" he shouted, louder than last time, and punched some fire from his fists towards a wall.

"Ronan-san, calm down!" Lisanna pleaded. "I'm sure you'll find somewhere to stay. And when the guild starts getting jobs, you can start to make money too."

"Well, where do you live?"

"What? Oh, umm you can't stay with me," Lisanna said, "I live in Fairy Hi-"

"No! I wasn't saying I wanted to- that is, not that I don't want- no! I mean, I wasn't asking to stay with you, I was just hoping for ideas."

"Well, Fairy Valley might have some rooms spare, but they're quite expensive and they don't take to exceptions."

"Exceptions?"

"Well, you'll need money, and Fairy Valley and Fairy Hills are quite expensive. Speaking of which…"

"Fairy Hills is out." Macao chose this moment to interrupt the conversation. "Those of us without houses have been sleeping in rooms the second floor. It's not much, but it's better than sleeping on the streets. It's not like we've needed the floor for S-Class missions." He sounded quite bitter.

"Oh." Lisanna looked saddened by the news.

"Don't worry, your things are fine- Blue Pegasus has been very kind to us these past seven years, and they've stored all but the most personal things at their guildhouse."

"Oh. So, is everyone sleeping here tonight?" Ronan asked.

"Ummm… no. I've got Wakaba looking into hotels until everything's up and running again, but the guild doesn't have much money, so I don't know how tightly everyone'll have to squeeze in."

"I think I can help with that." Lucy walked in to the guildhouse, looking quite sad. Natsu was holding her hand tightly. "My father…" she began sobbing, her words unintelligible.

"Her Father left her some money." Natsu explained. "Lucy was going to suggest using some of it to pay for our housing until we can sort everything out." Lucy nodded through her tears and turned her head to nuzzle into Natsu's shoulder for support. "It'll take a while for everyone to get their houses back," he continued, "but we'll be able to get through this if we all work together!"

Now something very strange happened. At this random and rather cheesy mention of working together, the entire guild… burst into whooping and cheering, forgetting Lucy's tears. Seconds later, a party had started. Alcohol was brought out form various undisclosed locations ('where was Cana hiding that bottle?' Ronan thought). This was such a strange change of mood the Ronan was slightly taken aback. These certainly were an emotional people. Lucy seemed to cheer up slightly as all the guild members thanked her in turn. Soon she was positively smiling. On the other hand, Ronan noticed, Macao was slowly approaching tears himself. Lisanna went up to him, and rubbed her arm on his back.

"Why are you crying, Macao- sensei?" she asked.

"I've not seen the guild-house like this since you all left…" Macao nearly sobbed the last word. "I just… really feel like Fairy Tail will be back on track. Everyone's so happy, it's almost like old times."

Ronan blinked at this. Macao wanted everything back like it was before. But Ronan thought differently- everything was new here, and he was kind of looking forward to it. Looking around the room, he saw Natsu holding Lucy, swaying to the unidentifiable music. He saw Jet and Droy arguing over Levy , until Gajeel came over and offered her a dance. He saw Cana and Mirajane drinking together. So much emotion, all in one place. And suddenly, as if something had clicked, Ronan felt like part of it.