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Italics stand for eternal thoughts.

Chapter 99

Naoko's New Beginning

WILLY'S POV

The bright warm rays of the sun were the first thing I felt when I regained consciousness.

When I came to, I found myself staring up at the ceiling of a room lying on a soft bed with the blankets up to my chest. I slowly sat up feeling a bit groggy like I just woke up from a long sleep. I rubbed my eyes getting the dust out of them as I took a look around. I saw that I was in a room that I wasn't familiar with. I took the covers off of my body and sat up glancing downwards to see that my clothes had been changed to a tank top and a pair of sweats. Not only that, but I was quick to realize that the room I was in was the same room me and the boys were sleeping in the other night.

How did I get here? The last thing I remember was fighting Don Ghira and... now that I think about it, what happened to him? Did I beat him or did I lose?

The door to the room then opened on its own causing me to look up wondering who was entering. It was Mira, Lucy, and Happy. When they saw that I was awake, a look crossed their faces. Mira immediately went over to me in an instant as she wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

"Willy! You're alright!" she said and she tightened her embrace. "I was so worried! Are you hurt anywhere?"

I gently returned the hug in earnest. "No, I'm fine. At least I think I am," I said. "What about you guys? Is everyone else OK?"

"Everyone's doing just fine," said Lucy. "Some of us were a little beat up, but it was nothing that we couldn't handle."

"What about the Black Tiger guild?" I asked. "And what happened to Don Ghira?"

"Those guys have been taken care of thanks to Natsu and the others," said Happy. "As for that Don Ghira guy..."

"We have no idea where he went," cut in Mira. "When we found him, he was about to kill you while you were unconscious battered and heavily beaten up."

"Thankfully, we managed to make it in time to save you," added Happy. "However, just as when all was said and done, some kind of flash grenade blinded us and the next thing we knew, Don Ghira was gone."

"I see," I said looking to the floor. "So he escaped, did he?"

"But on the plus side, we freed every person who was forced into slavery by Black Tiger and even summoned the Magic Council," said Mira. "They're going to take the other Black Tiger members into custody soon, so we don't have to worry about those hooligans causing trouble again."

"Well, that's good news," I said feeling a bit relieved.

I then stood up on my feet getting out of bed and on my feet. Lucy then went over to stop me.

"Hey. You sure you should be getting up?" she asked. "Wendy did look you over and said you were fine, but you could still need rest."

"Yeah. Especially, since you were fighting that Don Ghira guy," said Happy worriedly.

"Don't worry, guys. I'm fine," I replied. "It's not like I got a broken arm or a leg. Besides, I'm curious as to how everyone else is doing." Then I suddenly remembered. "Wait, what about Sasuke? How's he? Did you find him?! Were you able to locate his mother?!"

Everyone looked at each other and then Mira smiled at me. "I think that you should see for yourself," she said. "Follow us."

I raised a brow a bit puzzled, but I decided to follow Mira to see what she was talking about. As we walked down towards the exit of the hotel, I couldn't help but still feel a little bit worried about Sasuke. Was he alright? Did he manage to find his mother? I was really hoping that he did because I completely lost track of him back when I told him and Happy to run.

Then when we walked out of the hotel, I was welcomed to a startling and wonderful sight leaving me completely amazed. The town of Naoko, the city that once had an atmosphere of fear and terror was now filled with positive energy and happiness. The streets were filled with numerous people busily at work repairing some of the damage that was caused to the town. Some people were reopening their shops for the first time in a while and even some children were out and about playing enjoying the sunshine.

"It looks like a completely different town, doesn't it?" asked Mira noticing my surprise. "As soon as word got out that Black Tiger was defeated, it was like a heavy cloud was swept away from this town."

"I can safely say that this is a major improvement," smiled Lucy. "A lot better than what it used to be."

"Aye, sir," agreed Happy.

As we continued walking along, we soon noticed that some members of our party were pitching in to help too. Wendy was using her healing magic to treat every person who was injured or was feeling unwell with Carla as her assistant. Natsu and Gray were helping some of the other townsfolk lift some lumber where it was needed with Erza supervising them as she helped too.

"Come on, you two! We got a lot of rebuilding to do, so don't make me catch you lollygagging!" called out Erza.

"Aye!" Natsu and Gray said a bit fearfully.

"Alright. Who's next? I can help the next person," called out Wendy.

"Try not to push yourself too hard child," chided Carla. "I understand that you want to help, but there is such a thing as pacing yourself."

"Don't worry, Carla. I'm fine," smiled Wendy. "Besides, I'm happy to help out in any way I can even if it's just a little bit."

I couldn't help but smile a bit seeing everyone work so hard into helping rebuild the town. It was a pretty refreshing sight to say the least. Then as I continued to look around, I took notice of two people just up ahead of us hard at work at repairing a building. I saw that one of those people was Sasuke, but the other was someone that I didn't recognize at first, but after a few seconds, I remembered. It was the old man I met back when I followed Sasuke to his house, his father, Rex.

Then Lucy called out waving to them. "Hey! Sasuke! Mr. Ryuji!"

The two then turned towards us and Sasuke's Father of which Lucy addressed as Mr. Ryuji waved as we came up to them. Sasuke, however, took one look at me and I saw a look on his face that I've never seen before up till now. A face of relief and some slight joy.

"Hey! Willy!" he said. "You're alright!"

"Yup. More or less," I said. "I see you managed to make it out alive too, Sasuke." Then turned to Rex and Haruka. "Hey there, Old Man."

"It's good to see you, Willy," said Rex. "I'm relieved to see that you're safe."

"What about you two?" I asked. "You guys seem to be doing OK despite all that craziness."

"Yeah. Somehow," said Sasuke. "Granted it got a bit hairy in the mountain, but I suppose everything worked out."

"That's because you had Happy the Catmander at your side," said the blue cat proudly. "Once you're with me, you can always count on me to protect you."

"Yeah. You keep telling yourself that, Furball," scoffed Lucy.

"So, Sasuke, were you able to find your mother?" I asked. "I was feeling a bit worried when I told you and Happy to leave, so..."

Sasuke nodded happily. "Yes. I did find my mother."

I then looked around. "Then where is she?" I wondered. "I've been wondering what she looks like."

At that moment, someone else came walking up to us causing me to turn my attention to my right. It was Haruka. She was now wearing a brown dress with a white apron and her hair was loose with no braid. As soon as I saw her, I was immediately on guard not forgetting for what happened with Don Ghira.

"Haruka!" I spoke. "What are you doing here?!"

Immediately, Mira placed a hand on my shoulder causing me to turn my attention towards her. "It's alright, Willy," she said. "There's no need to worry."

"But Mira, she-"

I was about to protest, but then Sasuke immediately rushed towards Haruka.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" asked Harusuke worriedly. "Shouldn't you be in bed resting?"

"There's no need to worry, Sasuke," smiled Haruka. "I'm just fine."

"You sure? I understand that you want to be up and about, but you really should be taking it easy," said Rex. "Especially with what you've been through."

"There's no need to worry, Rex," Haruka reassured. "I'll be OK."

I know felt very confused as I looked back and forth between the three. "Wait... what's going on here?" I asked. "What happened to meeting Harusuke's Mom?"

Mira then giggled. "You haven't figured it out yet, Willy? You already met Sasuke's Mom. It's Haruka, silly."

My eyes then widened as I looked back at Mira in disbelief. My head then whipped back to Haruka as she looked at me smiling kindly and sweetly. Rex then stepped forward.

"Allow me to introduce, my wife as well as Sasuke's mother," he said. "Haruka Ryuji."

"Say what?!" I exclaimed. "You gotta be kidding me! Haruka is Sasuke's Mom and Rex's wife?!"

Everyone then jumped back in surprise. At first, I thought that it was because of my outburst but then Lucy spoke up.

"What the heck?! Why did his wings pop out?!" she exclaimed.

"I guess he was so surprised that they just came out," said Happy.

I then looked at my back and sure enough, there were my wings, out as plain as day. Feeling a little bit embarrassed, I immediately dispersed them and pretended that didn't happen.

"So, will somebody mind telling me what's going on here?" I asked. "Because I'm so confused, I feel like I've completely missed something. I thought she was working for Don Ghira!"

''Believe me were as surprised as you were, but it's not like that at all," said Lucy. "It turns out that Haruka was under a spell. A charm spell to be exact."

"A charm spell?" I puzzled.

"Yes. We figured it out a while back," said Mira. "You know how me, Gray, Wendy, and Carla were supposed to take out the Harpy Orb base and we ended up ensnarled in an enchantment? Well before that, we got into a fight with Mami. Naturally, I had the advantage, but right when I was about to knock her out, Haruka showed up and started fighting us. She definitely put up one heck of a fight, but then we figured out that Mami was controlling her through a charm spell via a ring on her finger. Eventually, I managed to defeat Mami and destroy the ring and just like that, Haruka snapped out of it and returned to normal."

I stared at Mira my jaw dropped to the ground. Then I looked towards Haruka.

"Is... this true?" I asked.

"Yes. It is. Please understand that I had no idea what I was doing nor could I control myself," said Haruka with remorse. "I feel most terrible for letting that monster control me like that and for that I'm truly sorry, young man." She then bowed respectively. "Please forgive me for any harm that I inflicted to you and your friends. "

"Mother, please don't blame yourself," said Sasuke. "It wasn't your fault. You only went with him because you wanted to protect me and Father."

"What matters now is that you're back," said Rex gently. "And you can go back to being a mother again as well as my wife."

"But I-" began Haruka.

I then cut in. "There's really no need for you to apologize, Ma'am," I said kindly. "It wasn't your fault in the slightest and I don't blame you at all. As my master would say; water past the bridge."

Haruka then smiled. "Thank you kindly, Willy," she said. "You really are a kind soul."

"Not to mention a hero for taking out that Don Ghira fellow," said Rex. "In fact, all of you kids are heroes for saving our town. We can't thank you enough. In fact, we were having a feast as our way of saying thanks to you and your friends. You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

"Oh yeah! Sounds good to me!" said Happy. "When they're parties, they're's food and when they're food, there's gonna be fish there!"

As soon as I heard the word fish, I couldn't help but feel hungry and drool a little.

"F-Fish? I want some fish..." I said absently. I then realized what I just said and I quickly corrected myself. "I mean uh... sure. We would love to join you. Right guys?"

"Sounds good to me," smiled Mira.

"Might as well. I mean we do like to party," said Lucy. "But just so you know, Natsu and the others can be major party animals, so they might eat you out of house and home."

Rex then laughed. "Is that so? Then we'd better brace ourselves for a wild night then," he said.

Later that evening, the party was in full swing. Everyone was having a good time celebrating their town being liberated from the villains that plagued their town. Everyone sang and danced and ate lots of food. Among them, Natsu and the others were having a good time like the party animals they were.

The fire dragon was stuffing his face with not only with the food, but also the fire that they provided. Gray was getting a bit of attention from some of the girls much to his disdain. Lucy and Wendy were sitting with some other girls having to have just made friends with them. Erza and Mira were with Rex and Haruka also chatting with each other and laughing away. Happy was munching away on a fish offering one to Carla, but the white cat refused while sipping away as her tea. As for me, I was stuffing my face with some fresh fish. I don't know who made the fish, but it was absolutely divine. I soon devoured about six fish and I was hankering for more.

But as I was about to eat some more, I noticed something. Someone wasn't around for the party and I knew who it was. I looked around trying to find out where he was. Then, as I looked behind me, I saw him. A few feet away rounding the corner of the building was Sasuke.

"I wonder where he's going?"

Feeling a bit curious, I looked back making sure that no one else was looking. Then I quietly got up tip-toeing away from the party until I made sure that I was far enough. I rounded the corner and could see Sasuke a few feet away walking. I then caught up to him.

"Hey. You going somewhere?" I asked.

Sasuke jumped and looked behind a bit startled, but when he saw that it was me, he relaxed.

"You startled me," he said. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry about that," I smiled. "But what are you doing over here? You're missing out on the party."

Sasuke then looked up at the sky where the moon as shining brightly. "I... just needed some time to myself," said Sasuke. "Plus, I guess I'm not the partying type."

"So, how do you feel having your mother back?" I asked. "I would have thought that you'd be a little happier."

"Don't me wrong, I am happy," said Sasuke. "I just... can't believe how much effort you and your friends put into saving our town as well as our people."

"Is it really that surprising? We were just doing what we felt was right," I said. "I mean we couldn't just leave you guys in your current state and not help."

"Well, I have to admit, even though I had dispised your kind at first. Throughout the years I've served those bastards, I hated all wizards because I thought all they ever cared about was making jewel and using people for their own selfish needs," said Sasuke. "But after seeing you and your friends save me, my mother, and the other people that were taken to the mountain made me realize that I was wrong. In fact, meeting you has changed my opinion on wizards for the better. I now see that while there may be wizards that are evil abusing their power for their own selfish needs, there are also those who use their magic for good too."

"Took you long enough to realize that," I smiled. "That's what I've been trying to tell you the whole time."

"Yes, it would seem so, and... I deeply apologize for that," said Sasuke shyly. "I know that I wasn't the friendliest of people and I have said some pretty rude things. Not only that... I've been responsible for sending many people to the mountain just so I could save my mother. I may have good intentions, but that's still a crime in of itself. A crime that most people in this town will most likely never forgive me for."

Sasuke now had a frown on his face feeling remorseful. He was most likely feeling bad for what he did to find his mother and was worried about the possibility of a backlash from the other townsfolk. I couldn't help but feel some deja vu.

"It's so weird. He's so much like me it's almost creepy."

"I wouldn't be worried about that. If you really think about it, everyone else in town was pretty much the same boat as you," I said. "As my Master would say; You can't change the past that much is certain, but the only thing you can do is learn from it and change the future. Basically, you shouldn't be worried. There may be some people who might be a bit mad for what happened, but eventually, things will get better and everyone will forgive you and move on. Trust me."

Sasuke seemed a bit surprised, but a smile slowly worked its way to his lips. "That's... very kind and wise of you to say, Willy," he said. "Thanks. You're definitely not like the other wizards, then again you're the only wizard that was stubborn enough to put up with my attitude. And you know, since my faith in wizards has been restored, I'm thinking about joining a guild and making friends with wizards."

"Well then, if that's the case, then maybe... we could become friends?" I asked.

I then held out my hand offering it to Sasuke. He looked at my hand and he looked up at me as I smiled. He then took my hand in earnest shaking it firmly.

"Sure. I'd like that very much," he said. "Although... there is one problem I have with this."

"Really? What's that?" I asked raising a brow.

"Is your name really, Willy?" Sasuke asked. "It kinda sounds like some kind of nickname that's easily forgettable."

"Of course it is!" I spoke with slight indignance. "It's the name my Mama and Papa gave me!"

"Oh, s-sorry! I didn't mean to offend you," apologized Sasuke.

I stared at him with a slight angry glare, but then I couldn't help but laugh. Sasuke was a bit taken aback but he joined in on the laughter. It was a bit hard to believe that this guy was once at my throat for being a wizard but now was a friend despite the circumstances.

"Hey! Willy! Sasuke! What the heck are you guys doing over here?!" a voice called out.

The two of us looked and we saw Natsu and the others standing there. Natsu rushed towards us wrapping each of his arms around our shoulders.

"What are you guys doing over here? You're missing out on the party!" said Natsu with a toothy smile.

"Yeah! Come on and join us!" called out Wendy.

"Guess we should get back," I said looking at Sasuke. "We earned this party, especially you. You've got a lot of catching up to do with your Mother after all."

"Yeah. You're right," agreed Sasuke.

And so, we all headed back and we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest till long after the stars came out.

The next morning, it was time for us to leave. Natsu and Gray were glaring at each other for some unknown reason with Happy cheering them on as a spectator, Wendy, Carla, and Lucy were speaking to some of the former slaves expressing their gratitude, and Mira and Erza were talking with Haruka and Rex.

I, on the other hand, had just come back with a new set of clothes provided by Sasuke and his family. I was now wearing a new t-shirt, a pair of pants, a pair of boots, and a choker around my neck. As we walked up, everyone couldn't help but look towards me slightly amazed.

"Hey! Looking good, Willy!" said Gray.

"Yeah. Pretty nice duds you're sporting," said Lucy.

"Thanks guys. It feels nice wearing some new clothes," I said. "Especially since my other ones got destroyed."

"Are you sure that you all have to go?" asked Sasuke. "We wouldn't mind if you stayed a bit longer."

"That's appreciated, but we've got a home of our own to get back to," said Mira. "Besides, we need to tell our master the good news."

"If that's the case, then we have no right to stop you," said Haruka. "We only wish that you could stay a bit longer."

"Don't worry. This isn't goodbye," Mira smiled. "In the meantime, make sure that you guys take care of yourselves."

"And if you ever need us again, feel free to contact us," added Erza. "We'll be glad to help you with whatever else you need."

"That reminds me, I apologize if we don't have a reward for you, Willy," said Rex. "Especially since you've done so much for us."

"It's alright, Rex. There's no need for a reward," I said. "In fact, these clothes you and your family gave me are more than enough of a reward for me."

"We're really going to miss you, kids," said Haruka. "We hope you come back soon and thanks again for your help."

We then began boarding the carriage with Erza dragging Natsu inside while he was throwing a fit, then Lucy, Gray, Wendy, and Mira. I was just about to get inside myself when I heard Sasuke.

"Hey! Willy! Hold on a second!"

I turned my attention towards Sasuke. "What's up?" I asked.

"If you ever come back or if we see each other, I wanna fight with you again!" said Sasuke. "You may have beaten me this time, but next time, I'm gonna be stronger and beat you!"

After a few seconds of staring, I gave Sasuke a toothy smile. "Sure. Consider it a challenge! I'll be waiting for that day!"

I then entered the carriage and with a firm whip of the reigns by Erza, the carriage set off as we took one last look at Naoko watching as everyone waved and yelled goodbye.

"Goodbye!"

"Take care!"

"Thank you for everything!"

"Fairy Tail's the coolest!"

"Get back home safely!"

As we waved and said goodbye to them back, Mira gave me a small nudge causing me to look over to her.

"Looks to me that you've got yourself a new friend as well as a rival," she said smiling. "Isn't that great?"

I then looked back towards the town of Naoko as it grew smaller. A smile then tugged at my lips.

"Yeah. I guess I is," I said.

And I continued to watch Naoko and its people slowly disappear into the distance as we set off for home.