CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The children continue to sing, until one of them points back at the river, there eyes wide. He turns his head to see Levy's body being lifted up, her clothes dissolving. One of the marks on her body bursted with crystal energy. Blinded for a moment, they froze seeing that crystal partially took form of a women with long hair. She smiles looking down at Levy then up at the sky. A crystal beam covered them, surrounding them with warmth. The women starts to whisper, but the words were intelligible, except one word; Daughter. The women moved around Levy touching her. They all witness Levy's body reform; her body healing and materializing new limbs. More whispers joined hers, sounding like a conversation or chant.

"Look, her marks." Lucy said.

Gajeel watches the marks on her body, stripping off of her, flying up to the sky. Right as he looked up, the whispering stopped and the women looks at Gajeel. He felt his heart pound as they made eye contact. It was like she was trying to tell him something.

"I will protect her with my life. I won't hurt her, I will treasure her. I love her." The words just escaped him, like he had no control over it. Her expression changed from serious to a bright smile. Kissing Levy's forehead, her form changes once again. Her crystal body turns into smoke, seeping into Levy's mouth, and her chest starts to move. A second later, her body is lowered back into the water and the light disappears. Gajeel quickly walks into the river, picking her up.

Hmm, she thought, nuzzling something warm and hard. It smells like... Huh? Levy opens her eyes to see Gajeel looking at her.

"Gajeel?" Levy asks baffled. She looks at her body, her brown eyes widen. Her body starts to shake, looking between her and him.

"Take deep breathes, you are okay. I will explain later okay?Right now, you need clothes."

Lucy approached them, holding new clothes for Levy.

Everyone surrounds them after she got dressed.

"LEVY!"

"I am so glad you are okay."

"How do you feel," Larcade asks, looking sad.

"Larcade-"

"Thank you," Gajeel said intervening, "I am glad you are apart of this family. I know what you had to do was hard. We will have a proper burial for your brother."

Larcade cries for a moment, before Elfman pats his back, "Men don't cry." Larcade nods, sniffling everything back in. He smiles with tears in his eyes.

After everyone hugged her in relief, she looks at Gajeel who was staring at her. She felt her cheeks turn red.

Laxus say, "Okay, everyone. I know everyone is hyped about what happened, but I think we should get the children to bed. Larcade, you are with me."

The children complain, but comply when told to follow Lisanna. Levy smiles watching the scene until she feels a hand slide across her stomach and wrap around her. Gajeel pulls her to his body, the heat of her skin made him sigh.

"g-Gajeel?"

"Hang on. I just need to feel you right now."

Levy looks worriedly at him, her brown eyes searching his face. She faces him, putting her hands to his cheeks. He blinks his eyes at her.

"I don't know what happened after I reversed time, but I told you I wouldn't leave you."

He looks at her seriously, asking, "You don't remember after that?"

Levy's eyes move back and forth, trying to remember. "No. I just remember, you getting hurt. A lot of pain...And then warmth."

His eyes look at the mark on her back thinking back to what happened.

"What," Levy asks turning her head to look behind her then at him. He smiles now, cupping her cheek in his hand, causing her to blush again.

"I love you."

Levy's heart pounded, hearing that. Her eyes widen looking at his serious expression. Gajeel sees tears start to fall down her cheeks and he freaks out.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I am sorry. I just, I was afraid you wouldn't love me back."

Gajeel pulls her into his arms, remarking, "I love you, I love you. I will always love you, and I will keep telling you until my last breath."

FEW YEARS LATER

"Levy, what did I say about carrying things!" Gajeel remarks, grabbing the wood she had in her arms. "You should let us Men take care of it."

"Yeah, mom. We have it!" A little boy with blue hair and red eyes shows off his left arm muscle.

"Oh wow, Neo. You are growing so strong."

"Pffft. You always say that mom." Neo puffs up his cheeks, making Levy laugh. Gajeel messes with Neo's hair.

"Listen to your mom. She is telling the truth, and just think, you will be able to hold your baby sister." Gajeel said, looking at Levy's baby hump.

"I want a brother! I WANT A BROTHER!" He zooms off with the one sliced wood in his arms. Levy looks at him, knowingly. He just smiles innocently.

"You better get him excited for his baby sister. You are the one that got excited, hoping for another boy. Now, he denies his own sister."

"I am sorry. I know when Porlyusica was telling us, I got carried away."

"Carried way? You didn't even let her finish. You yelled it is a boy. She ended up hitting you for it." Levy laughed remembering the look Porlyusica gave him.

"I am sorry. I am happy that we have a daughter. I will talk to him about I swear. Meet you at the Bond fire?"

Levy nods, watching Gajeel walk away, sighing. What was she going to do about him, she thought, walking toward the Bond fire. In a few minutes, Dinner will be ready, and she was starved.

"Levy!" Wendy ran up to her, smiling. "I saved you a spot by Lucy and us. Since more people have been coming here, I knew finding a spot would be hard." Wendy was a bit taller than her now, and had cut her hair short. She grew a bit, but she is 16 years old now.

"I'll follow you."

Sitting down at the bond fire now, she watches everyone chatter around her.

"Levy, you okay?" Mira asks, holding her little girl.

"I am fine. Just a bit tired and hungry."

"Did someone say hungry?" Gajeel appears with a plate of food, while Neo stood there with a glass of water. Levy smiles, kissing them both as a thank you. She begins to chow down, watching Neo play with Layla. Layla is Lucy's daughter. She looked just like Natsu with her pink hair.

"Neo, Layla can you come here for a moment?" Gajeel said, and they nod.

"Neo, you like playing with Layla right?"

He nods happily, remarking, "She likes to play games that I like."

"And he plays games that I like!" Layla chips in, smiling.

"Well, don't you think that when your sister is born, she will play your games?"

Neo blinks his red eyes at him, thinking. "I guess, but you said it was a boy."

Gajeel peeks over at Levy who was giving him a stern look, and smiles awkwardly. He scratches the back of his head.

"I got carried away."

"That's why the scary old lady hit you."

Layla laughs now, remarking, "I still wish I could have seen that. Mommy hit dad when he wanted a boy too, but got me instead." When she smiles, Neo blushes.

"So, since you have so much fun playing with Layla, I bet you could have fun playing with your new baby sister when she comes right?"

Neo's red eyes look Gajeel then Levy's tummy as if contemplating. He stomps over to Levy, putting his hand on her tummy.

"You better listen to me when you come out. I am-" His eyes widen then, remarking, "She Kicked! She kicked!"

"Really?!" Layla comes over, putting her hands on Levy's belly. "Aww, I don't feel anything."

Levy smiles, saying, "She wanted to say hi, big brother. I can hear you."

Neo looks at her tummy in amazement for a moment before crossing his arms, changing attitude.

"I guess, she knows who I am. I can't wait-I guess I can be excited about her."

Levy bite her tongue from giggling at his cuteness, and hugs him. He complains, wiggling out of her grip then running off with Layla.

"Stay close to the bond fire!" Gajeel boomed at them only to see Neo give him a look. "Sheesh, what a brat."

"I wonder where he get is," remarks Levy, smiling at him.

He grabs her hand, kissing it, answering, "Definitely not me."

Levy hits him playfully then hears, Juvia remarks, "That attitude is all you. I remember one time, you even flipp-Never mind."

They all laugh, and begin to tease Gajeel about what Juvia has told them. Levy looks around only to see Larcade talking to one of the new comers; Angel. Thinking about it now, it has been 4 years since the incident with Caden. Everything changed for her and for everyone around her. After that though, we decided on a lot of things: the first thing was moving back to Fiore (which was No man's land). Makarov came up with the name before passing away; bless his soul. Also, we decided to build homes, making it permanent. Though, the wars were still happening, we knew that we can and will protect our home and our family. It may be just a start, but she hopes this City will be a savior to anyone and everyone.

THE END

HELLO! I finished it! Yay! I just want to thank you so much for the likes/comments/followers. Or even the ones who read through it! Without any of you, this wouldn't be possible. I really hope you enjoyed this! I am also thinking of 2 other fan-fictions to do next:

JuviaxGray (The Confession)

ZerefxMavis (A Fairy's Tale)