As I struggled onto shore, I heard her wake up. "Where am I?" Erza's voice quavered.
"ERZA!" A cry could be heard from our friends who were cheering and running down the beach towards us.
"But this doesn't make any sense. Does this mean, I'm still alive?" Erza asked aloud and I turned to her and gave her a solemn look as she seemed to realize Natsu was carrying her.
As Natsu sank to his knees, I knelt beside them and squeezed Erza's hand. "I feel the same way you do, about our guild, about our friends. I know everyone else does too. So let me tell you, if you ever try to pull something that STUPID again, I'm going to kill you! So you have to promise here and now, that you won't ever pull a stunt like that again." I growled at Erza.
"I won't." She said and I shook my head.
"Promise." I demanded and she nodded.
"I promise." Erza pulled Natsu and I into a hug as tears streamed down our faces. "Thank you, both of you. This experience has taught me a very important lesson. You don't die for your friends. You live for them. Because their future wouldn't be as happy without you in it!" Erza declared and I laughed and nodded as we were swarmed by the others all intent on squeezing the life out of Erza.
We had returned to the resort and had gotten our injuries treated. We were all in Natsu's room watching him sleep off his injuries.
"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Gray asked with a frown as he watched Natsu snore.
"He'll be fine. If he didn't die right then and there, then he's not going to. After all, idiot's never die." I snorted.
"Who said that, I'll beat you up!" Natsu declared as though he was roused from his sleep solely to fight.
"You're awake!" Happy exclaimed, only for Natsu to fall right back to sleep.
"Typical he wakes up to pick a fight, then goes right back to sleep." I rolled my eyes as Lucy laughed.
"I know I've already said this, but I'm sorry causing such trouble." Erza said with reddened cheeks.
"Aw, you don't have to keep apologizing to us." Lucy dismissed her apologies with a wave.
"Gray, where's your friend, I wanted to thank her." Erza asked Gray.
"Yeah, where did Juvia, go, I figured she'd stay here and be all over you. She seems ridiculously attached." I added in.
"She left a while ago. She wanted to talk Gramps about signing up and joining the guild." Gray said and Erza's face turned downcast.
"I see." She responded and we all lapsed into silence. I knew why. She was sad that her friends didn't want to join. They had decided to travel the world instead. Back when we had arrived, I had watched through a window as they had spoken to Erza and made amends amongst themselves. It made me happy to see them reunited but sad, knowing there were two who had deserved better than what they had received in life. They had continued towards the hotel but Erza had paused and stared out at the sea, as though waiting for the two missing men to reappear.
Erza and I had spoken once we had arrived back at the hotel. She said that she thought Jellal might've been the one responsible for preventing the tower form exploding. I agreed her theory might be possible. It would explain why Natsu and I never found his body and why Erza had survived.
I was relaxing on Lucy's balcony, keeping her company while she wrote when Erza burst in. "Have either of you seen Sho and the others?!" She asked frantically.
"Haven't seen them since dinner." I reported honestly.
"I can't seem to find them." Erza stated.
"You don't think they left without saying goodbye do you?" Lucy asked Erza who nodded.
"Well, then what are we waiting for. The nose knows!" I declared as I stood up from my chair and marched out the door, determined to find them for Erza, them possibly beat them for upsetting her. Again.
"Yes, Lucy, tell Natsu and Gray to get the fireworks ready and meet us on the beach." Erza stormed past me as Lucy stammered in confusion.
"So a proper send-off it is?" I asked my quiet partner.
"Nothing less." Was her only response. I grinned at her and then set off tracking the scents of her wayward friends.
As we arrived on the beach. I took to leaning against a palm tree as Erza approached her friends. I would back her up if she needed me, but for now, this was her arena. I smiled as she gave them her blessing and transformed into her farewell armor. I stepped forwards as she began listing the rules of leaving Fairy Tail.
"Number one, never share sensitive information about the guild with anyone so long as you live. Number two, never contact any clients you worked for while in the guild for your own personal gain. Number three, although our paths must stray, promise to live the rest of your lives to the fullest! That means, you must treat every day as though it were your last in this world. Never forget your Fairy Tail friends. Treasure them for as long as you live. Let the Fairy Tail farewell begin now!" Erza concluded, lifting her flag in the air.
"Yes ma'am." we all said in unison, as Natsu, Lucy, and Gray had arrived for the end of her speech.
Natsu launched off three fireworks with his flames, each exploding in a beautiful display of light.
"May all your journeys bring you joy," Erza said as Gray and myself launched several ice balls into the air that exploded in a shower of icy crystals.
"Watch this!" Lucy declared as she fired off a shot of her celestial magic which exploded into stars and white light.
"I wish we could stay together forever, but deep down, I know I'd only hold you back. I don't want that. After all those years you spent stuck in that tower, you deserve to finally be free!" Erza declared as the three shoved off. They sobbed that she'd never hold them back, and they didn't want to remind her of painful memories. "But I have more than painful memories with you! Besides what we went through made us stronger, it brought us closer. I will always hold onto those memories both good and bad. I wish you the best of luck and happiness in your new lives. This isn't goodbye, I know we'll meet again. I'll be waiting." Erza whispered the last part, as her friends were out of range.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked my friend as the finale of fireworks exploded around us.
"I will be." She responded and I slung my arm around her shoulders.
"Good, because while we will never replace them, you've got us too." I declared and I saw Erza smile.
"I know." She whispered as the final firework exploded above us, in the shape of our guildmarks.
A/N: Alright, and that's a wrap for Tower of Heaven. Hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to read and review!