Wishfull-star: Finally he's not alone.

"So you and Alzack got together?" Ace asked happily at the table. He'd come back to the guild after a thorough cleaning of the apartment, since Ace hated how messy it was. There was dust everywhere, and the garbage wasn't taken out when he thought it should. Ace's bedsheets were covered in dust and needed to be washed. The windows were stained with rain and fingerprints. The carpet had spills on it.

Thatch just cried, saying he missed the clean house. Sabo pointed out he should be the one cleaning while they were gone, but was entertained and fond of Ace's neat freak behavior returning.

"We've been married six years. And we have a daughter, Asuka. It looks like you have your own special someone, though, too," Bisca said. Marco was sitting with Thatch, both drinking. Ace was at the table with some of the others. Everybody was interested in his development in being a dragon slayer.

He knew they all wanted him to show them, but didn't want to ask directly. So Ace used this attention on him to speak to everyone. Ace nodded. "It was a long seven years. We only got together a week or so before the trial, so we had barely any time together. I worried all that time that he'd wake up and not like me anymore," he said quietly, but honestly.

Bisca smiled. "The way he looks at you shows he still likes you, Ace. Though now we have our answers to why you never cared when women complemented you and all." Ace laughed, saying that could be true. Sabo came over and sat down next to him. "I can't believe how we lost all of our S-Class wizards at once. Mystogan was gone only a few weeks before the Tenrou team was gone."

Ace scowled. "I should be S-Class after everything."

Sabo agreed. "But we'll only be able to really agree if you show everyone. You haven't even shown me or Marco." Ace's shoulders slumped. "What's stopping you?" he asked. Bisca, Alzack, Max and Laki were at the table with Ace and Sabo, listening in. Though they weren't eavesdropping, Ace was speaking with them right there.

The much older brother now was honest, and said, "Acnologia hurt us so much. And I got my power from him. It makes me feel dirty now that I'm around people again. Like I carry around some sort of reminder of what happened to us."

"You didn't train seven years only to wimp out in the end," Sabo replied, but in a kind voice. "Please show us." Max said nobody would blame him. It was actually a good thing that came out of it. Ace didn't see how. "You're more powerful to protect the friends who need it, now. Hell, you might be the strongest now. You're seven years ahead of us."

Ace pointed out that everyone else had more time developing their magic before. Ace might have just caught up. "Well, we'll see soon." Ace finally agreed, and the much smaller guild gathered outside. Ace had been the center of attention many times since he woke up here and joined he guild, but he'd never felt so nervous. After all, the other times had nothing to do with his talent. If he performed badly, it might disappoint everyone. But he didn't want to seem overpowered to his friends.

Ace asked what they wanted to see first. "Dragon! Turn into a dragon!" Natsu shouted. Ace took a deep breath and let himself turn into ethernano for just a second before he changed into dragon form. Everyone's jaws dropped. Maybe they didn't fully believe him. But he was only in particles for a nanosecond, so nobody saw that part of the shift. Ace changed back. Then he changed parts of his body, including growing wings that could carry him just fine.

"Now what?" he asked, but everyone was silent. Even Natsu and Gajeel's jaws were dropped, and they looked shocked. Elfman asked him to do dragon force. He'd spoken about that part. Ace nodded, and everyone was more excited. Ace let all his power out, and the stone ground beneath him cracked. Orange and black gathered on his body and around his face. Blue energy, ethernano particles, floated around him.

He said, "It makes me more powerful, but I haven't actually used any of these moves to fight anyone." He released it and his hair fell back down. What else was there? He could show how good he was at collecting ethernano now. He put his hand to the ground, and sucked it all up, rotting the stone.

He put his other hand up in the air, and they came rushing at him so fast it was visible. "That does increase my stamina, but not my strength so much. If I take in too much, it starts to hurt." Then he draw the Fairy Tail mark in the air. "I like this one the most. I can also change the direction and temperature of my fire."

Suddenly, he sent his fire at Sabo, engulfing him. He screamed until he realized it wasn't burning him. "It's still warm, I can't turn it cold." The fire dissipated. Then he set the guild behind them on fire, but no damage was done. "I also can decide things I don't want to burn."

The spectating wizards looked shocked, and Gajeel and Elfman both looked furious. "I'd have rather been sleeping with everyone else, honestly. Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the mood." Happy zoomed to him and hugged him tightly. He quietly told the exceed he wasn't going to leave their group. Gajeel suddenly told him to fight him. Elfman next. He'd rather not. Lily was looking at him with a truly impressed expression. But before he could respond, people came up behind them. Unlike he other three dragon slayers, Ace's senses were not heightened. So they had something over them.

It was Lamia Scale. Lyon, Jura, Sherry and two he didn't recognize. Everyone from Tenrou were surprised to see them. But Max told them that Lamis Scale and Blue Pegasus helped them search for the island for months after it was said to have disappeared. Been obliterated. They were all happy to see each other.

Jura looked different now, but again, they were all older than last time. It was hard to get used to that. They greeted the returners with genuine happiness to see they were okay. Ace moved aside and sat on a table, thinking of their time together seven years ago. "It's good to see you all in good health."

"You as well," Makarov said.

"Jura! Ace could totally beat you now!" Natsu claimed. Ace glared at him in a way to tell him to shut up. Jura looked surprised.

"Ignore him," Ace said. "It's good to see you all again. It's so weird it was all seven years ago." Lyon asked if it was only like a few months to Ace. "No, I was awake the whole time. Luckily I didn't age either," Ace replied. There was no shame in admitting it, because then it showed he grew in strength by training, not some super power-up all of the sudden with no work.

Sherry looked surprised, but didn't say anything. The other two Ace didn't recognize also looked shocked. Though the dog one looked just kind of stupid. But they all made friendly conversations. Ace eventually moved to the back of the small guild hall, just to watch everyone. He sat alone, just basking in the realization that he was not isolated anymore. He was free.

-x-

Ace and Marco were traveling. Not for a mission, just traveling. It would only be a few days, and they had enough money to go out. They were going hiking, and to a beautiful waterfall that both Sabo and Gildarts had been to and thought was great. They didn't take the train, walking the whole way. Ace could fly Marco there, but they were just happy to hold hands and talk, or be quiet. Neither was uncomfortable. Marco kept picking flowers and making them into flower crowns and putting them on Ace.

"The dragon king."

"That's so cheesy," Ace said with a smile. "Would you be my queen, then?" he teased. Marco chuckled, and said he would. "Really? Marco, the dragon queen. Sounds silly. But fun. Though you know, I don't like being the dominant and all."

"Oh, yes, I know that by now," Marco said firmly. "You have to stop dirty talking in the guild. Sure, Macao and Wakaba make inappropriate comments, but they don't ask to hallucinate to be in chains on a bed in the middle of the guild hall. There are two children there, now," the blonde said, sounding amused but a bit embarrassed, too.

Ace shrugged. "I don't wanna waste anything."

"Being considerate of others isn't wasting anything, babe," Marco said bluntly. Ace giggled, and leaned his head against Marco's shoulder. Ace sighed deeply. He was so glad he was together with him. They were quiet for a few minutes, just basking in one another's presence.

Ace broke the silence. "I laid with you every night. I would make you curl around me, I was always the little spoon. For a bit, it was like you were just sleeping and would wake up with me in the morning. Though I couldn't sleep, so it wasn't like that at all," he confessed quietly. Marco looked down. There was nothing to say, because Ace was tired of apologies for something other's couldn't help.

They were alive and together, that's what mattered to Ace the most. The blonde looked up and cleared his throat. "Have you gone flying a lot?" he asked, both of them moving on from the depressing but ever present topic. Ace nodded. The island bubble had been quite big. Big enough for him to fly easily. "You should take me sometime."

"Maybe. But I'm the king, not your steed," Ace replied in a confident voice.

"Why do you get to ride me but I can't do the s-"

"No! You're not allowed to dirty talk that much!" Ace hissed. Marco broke into laughter, and Ace chuckled, too. "At least I don't say things like that in the guild. I'm pure with mine compared to yours." Marco said he had a lot of thoughts, but was considerate of others around them. "Boring. I'm polite and all, but I don't want to hide things."

"Even things that should stay in the bedroom?"

"Well, we're at the guild all day. Where else are we supposed to brainstorm?" Ace asked bluntly. Marco called him an idiot, though he loved him. "Love you, too." Ace pulled out the map and looked on it. "We should be coming across a little village soon. Lucky - the sun is almost down. We should stay in a hotel," Ace said.

They did indeed come across a village, and a little inn in a big house. They booked one room, and ate the food they brought with them. Ace could heat it up himself, Thatch having helped him figure out just what temperature to cook certain foods. They were eating in the dining room, which was completely empty.

He set their warm rice and chicken on the napkin plates that were easy to carry around on travels than regular plates. "Hehe, I'll make it more romantic." Marco looked interested, and Ace put several little flames around them to burn in the air, flickering right and left just like real candles. "There."

"Not the same. They don't smell good."

"Shut up," Ace grumbled. They were onto their desserts by the time some others came in. Two teens, both maybe around Ace's age. One was blonde and the other had black hair. They had two exceeds with them, too! Ace wondered if they were dragon slayers, or just friends with exceeds, since they were all over the world.

Ace said, "I wish I had an exceed. A little version of Izu." He missed her sometimes. Marco said that Gajeel found an exceed when he was looking, Ace could try. "I don't know. Our group doesn't need to be any bigger," he replied, going back to their food. They gained attention from the four guests though. The blonde asked if Ace was a wizard. Ace nodded.

"That's some pretty handy fire stuff you got there. Mind sharing?" Ace smiled and stood up to put some little dots of fire around their table. Ace told him it wouldn't burn them. He had covered his guild mark, and Marco's couldn't be seen under his shirt. They weren't on duty right now, it was just a vacation.

Ace moved to sit back down with Marco. "How are you so social, now? I mean, you're talking to strangers like it's easy." The younger pointed out there were only four. And two were small. "Still. You bounced back fast."

"Doesn't feel that way," Ace replied. "Let's stop talking about that. Where are we going tomorrow?" He pulled out the little map. "There's a candy place that sells candied insects. Sabo said they taste good. Sounds nasty. Though he said we used to fry frogs and all." Marco said that was a lovely conversation while eating. "Oh, come on," Ace huffed.

"We could go to the park. Get up early so we don't need to pay for a whole-nother day here," Marco replied. Ace said he could do a once over the city and see if there were any parks. "That's no fun. Flying without me isn't nice."

They finished the little cups of perfect pudding. Then Ace leaned back in his chair. He looked to the side and saw the two teens also seemed to be on a date, and the exceeds were sitting at another table. Ace wondered if they were wizards, too. He couldn't tell. Ace turned to Marco again, and wondered if he'd ever think Freed would be with Laxus.

"Laxus is damn clueless. He'll never notice. I'd pair him with Mira. They've known each other very long, right?" Marco mused. They and Thatch always entertained matchmaking the guild members and musing about what their relationships were about. But the names got the other two's attention.

The cat wearing a vest, not the one in a frog costume, asked if they knew who Laxus was. "We went on a job with him once." They had agreed not to name what guild they were from. Just to avoid drama or harassment. "Do you know him?" Ace asked curiously. The blonde teen grinned, and said they would beat him some day. "That's a high goal. He's crazy strong. One of the only S-Class wizards of Fairy Tail, right? I know they went away awhile and then came back. Took long enough," Ace said. This was heavily suggesting they were not part of Fairy Tail.

"They were probably hiding all that time."

"I don't know, they didn't used to be a weak guild. Where are you from? Are you wizards, too?" The blonde said they were both dragon slayers from Saber Tooth. Ace and Marco had heard their name mentioned before, and they were supposedly very strong. Ace had no real opinion on guilds who he hadn't met yet.

Everyone thought Fairy Tail was some disaster before, but they weren't only that way. Of course they were terribly weak right now, and had been for the last seven years. But Ace was interested to hear they were both dragon slayers. Ace leaned forward, and asked what their elements were.

"Isn't Salamander fire, and then Gajeel is a metal one. The little girl controls air and all. We only know about them because we like to gossip about them." Marco snorted, and told him he sounded like a woman. "Who cares? So, what are you two?" Ace repeated. "For Saber Tooth, you gotta be pretty strong, right?"

The blonde said he was a light dragon slayer and his friend or partner was a shadow one. Marco wondered if they canceled each other out. "How so?" the black haired one asked, speaking for the first time.

"Wouldn't light destroy shadow?" The black haired one said it didn't work that way. "Magic is mysterious after all, I guess," Marco mused. "I'm Marco. Who're you?" They were Sting and Rouge. Even if they were opponent guilds, there was no reason for either side to be hostile. Besides, Marco and Ace weren't well known throughout the magic world. Ace gave his first name.

They were being completely civil, there was no reason for either side to be disrespectful to one another. "What are your magic?"

Marco said, "I can cause hallucinations. Good and bad."

"What are good hallucinations?" Rouge asked. Ace smirked and looked at Marco, who flushed. He just said, "Sometimes imagining you're in the clouds is nice." Sting asked about Ace.

"I can work with fire. Kinda obvious with the floating fire, though, huh? But there are a lot of people who work with fire, so it's not too original," Ace said. He yawned, as it was pretty late. He looked to Marco, who said they should go to bed so they could get up early the next day. They went to the available sink and washed their dishes and dried them. "Have a nice night," Ace said to Sting and Rouge. He also said goodnight to the cats.

They both went up to their room, and crashed on the bed. They were tired from the full day of hiking. Luckily, Marco's muscles hadn't atrophied while in Tenrou. Marco said, "You were very polite, despite who they are."

"It's fine. They weren't hostile, and seemed pretty nice. The little frog exceed is adorable," Ace said, laying on his taller boyfriend. "Night."

"Goodnight."

The next morning, they did get up early, and packed their things in their backpacks after showering. They had breakfast from the inn itself. The waffles were delicious, and Ace asked for seconds. He planned on giving the waitress a large tip because she seemed very nice. Marco had already finished his coffee, and Ace had wished you could bring spiced apple cider around wherever.

Sting and Rouge came out looking grumpy. Ace wondered if they had a fight. Or maybe it was because the walls were thin, and the rooms were pretty cold. Ace had warmed up both of them in bed, something Marco loved. It felt nice and toasty, even without a fireplace in their apartment. Though Ace's floating fire could be like a fireplace.

"Why did you lie?" Sting asked. Ace asked what he meant. "You're Fairy Tail wizards."

"So? Is that a problem? We didn't say anything because we're on vacation and not affiliated with the guild right now," Ace said honestly, calmly. "Was I supposed to be a jackass because we're separate guilds?" Sting's left eye twitched. Ace wasn't trying to anger him. Ace told Marco they should leave so nothing becomes stressful.

Marco nodded. They stood, and Ace rummaged around his pocket, and called the waitress over. She gave her the large tip. "Thanks for being polite and not getting mad at us about bringing our own food last night." She was extremely happy with the tip, and told him it was no problem. As they walked out, Sting said, "You better not tell anybody about us holding hands."

"Okay. I wasn't planning to. Have a nice day," Ace said, and took Marco's hand swinging it as they walked around the cute little village. The houses were all cobblestone with a lot of flowers. "It's too bad our interaction ended that way. They seemed nice enough," Ace said in disappointment. "It's sad they have to hide it, too, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Maybe Saber Tooth doesn't like gays."

Ace grinned. "And the guild puts up with my suggestions. But it's so cool to meet other dragon slayers, isn't it? Light and shadow. I wonder what kind they are? Like, generation or whatever," Ace mused. Marco shrugged. "I like my fire, now. Now that I have more control, I can do so much." Marco put his arm around Ace's waist while they walked.

When they were done feeding ducks in a large pond with koi fish, Ace saw Sting and Rogue walking over with their exceeds. Ace hoped this didn't devolve into drama. They weren't there for their guild or a job. They were just on vacation. When both of them stood up, Rogue spoke.

"We're sorry for being immature this morning. About you both being Fairy Tail wizards."

"Fro thinks so too!" the frog cat said brightly. He was adorable. Sting said nothing, and the other cat looked bothered. Ace waved it off.

"It's fine. We know what it's like to hate another guild, and then also hate everyone in it when not all of them could be terrible. Honestly, we didn't know if we were supposed to dislike you. Never heard of Saber Tooth. We were part of the Tenrou island group," Ace explained. Why not be honest, it wasn't like this information was anything surprising. The country knew of their return by now. All guilds had to know, too.

All four of the Saber Tooth members looked genuinely surprised. Sting asked if Natsu and Gajeel were back. "Yup. Everyone was asleep, so it's not as jarring for us. It was only a week for us, and seven years for everybody else." He wasn't going to say he was alone that whole time, because there was no reason for him to tell a stranger that. And ones that weren't allies, like Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus.

"That sucks," Sting said. Ace was glad they were having a civil conversation. This vacation was going very well, and they were meeting interesting new people. "Why have we never heard of you both?" Ace shrugged. They didn't really cause a scene much. Ace was overshadowed by Natsu and Erza in his own team, and Ace, Sabo and Marco never went on jobs that would gain them a following or anything of the sort.

Ace did ask what kind of dragon slayers they were. "The strongest. Third generation. Taught by dragons and also with lacrima." Mavis was telling him the truth when she explained it all. It did make Ace a bit sad, that he was alone with his. The only fourth generation dragon slayer that nobody knew existed but his guild.

"If we see each other at the Grand Magic Games sometime, it won't be so civil." Ace looked at Marco, never having heard of that. He didn't say that, rathering hear about it by their nakama.

Ace said, "Then it's nice we could have a civil talk right now. Nice meeting you two." He took Marco's hand again and they turned to walk away. They planned on heading to the next little village before the final destination, since there wasn't much else to do now. "I'm glad I can be civil to people. You know most of the guild would have gone off on them."

"Love you for that," Marco said, kissing his cheek. "Onward, to the beautiful waterfall." Ace nodded and they continued on their journey.