A/N: Hey, sorry for the wait. Honestly I have had this chapter ready for months but I have been trying to work on my other story as well. After some consideration, I decided to put Taking Flight on hold for a bit since I have hit a bit of a roadblock trying to figure out the plot of the story for the future. So, seeing as I have some of this story ready and raring to go I will go ahead and start working on it again. So, some Review Responses before moving on with the story.

Piemaster981: Glad you enjoyed the final battle with Jellal! I have honestly been hoping to work on this part since I came up with the concept for my OC Sora and am glad it was well received.

ZooFan: Glad you share my sentiment about Simon. I too was pissed when he wound up dying and simply had to correct that.

pokeheroaadyn: Glad you love the story! As for Kagura… Don't know yet but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

3 days later, Sora lay in a bed at the resort, leaning against the headboard and with bandages over numerous parts of his body, watching Natsu snore away in his own bed with his own bandages. "Wow. He can really snore, can't he?"

"Is he gonna be okay?" Gray asked from the table he, Lucy, and Erza sat at in the room, each of them showing similar injuries, and Happy sitting on the table itself.

"Seriously, he's been asleep for three days straight now…" Lucy looked at the sleeping fire mage in exasperation.

Sora smirked at Natsu's sleeping form. "I filtered the energy as best I could, but it was still nearly pure Etherion energy. The fire in it helped him consume it, but I guess I wasn't able to completely prevent side effects…"

"Man, eating Etherion like that… The guy really is a freak, isn't he?"

Gray's words surprisingly got a reaction out of Natsu as he bolted upright with an angry look on his face as he shouted. "What did you just call me, Gray?!"

Happy flew over by Natsu in happiness. "He's awake!" Natsu's face then dropped, before he fell back and started sleeping again like nothing happened, shocking Happy. "He's asleep!"

"Don't wake up if you don't want to pick a fight!" Gray cried out in anger.

Sora chuckled. "All in favor of making Gray the one who wakes Natsu up in an emergency, say aye!"

"Aye!" "Oh don't you two start!"

Lucy laughed happily at the boys' antics, while Erza looked at the table with a small smile. "I caused you all so much trouble during this latest incident…"

Lucy turned to her comfortingly. "You've said that so many times already…"

"Think of it this way, Erza." The red-head looked at Sora's smirk as he spoke. "At least you didn't attack any of us when you ran into us." Sora raised a brow in affirmation, reminding them all how they met him.

Erza blinked at him, then let her smile grow. "I suppose so…" A thought then occurred to her, and she turned to Gray. "Come to think of it, where did she go?"

"Oh, Juvia? She already went back. Said something about wanting to join Fairy Tail as soon as possible."

"I see…" Erza gained a look of thought at that, while Sora grinned.

"Gotta say, sounds like it'll be interesting with her in the guild. A former elite member of a once rival guild, now a member of Fairy Tail? The guild already has a reputation, but this means we'll now be known as willing to recruit former enemies. People will probably love the guild even more now, despite how it still destroys stuff every now and then."

As everyone made sounds of agreement, Erza gained a confident look on her face, and stood up. "Very true. Although, I have to ask something." Sora looked at her curiously, wary of the look on her face which seemed to hold a mix of amusement and accusation. "How exactly did you say you got that new element again?"

Sora stiffened in alarm at that, while the other conscious mages looked at him as well, expecting an answer. "A-ah, that… Right. Okay then…" Sora then took a deep breath to calm himself down before explaining. "Well, after wandering around the game floor that night, I stumbled upon a game with a… unique, grand prize. That prize happened to be a Star Prism. I asked how they got their hands on it, and apparently the owner had won it in an Auction. I'm guessing they thought it would be a good way to invite high-priced gamblers and collectors to the resort. I tried to win it for a bit before stopping myself for a break. I had every intention of winning it fair and square, I promise you."

"And then?"

"Well, Jellal and your brainwashed friends happened and I thought it would be idea to go in with as much power as I could muster for your rescue and the butt kicking of the enemy. I swear I only did it because of the situation and I will give them a new Prism for free once I can."

Erza looked at him for a few moments, before nodding her head with a slight smile. "Alright then, I believe you."

Sora sighed in relief at that, before Gray looked at him in curiosity. "But the one time we saw you using a Prism it took you about 10-15 minutes, didn't it? You were gone for no more than 5 when we all followed Natsu to the docks."

"You saw me using the Prism PROPERLY that time." Sora explained. "It's supposed to take that long at the minimum so that the body can properly acclimate to the new element properly with less chance of it backfiring. It could be done in less time and with less stress, but from what I've learned it is supposed to go the way I showed you guys, not the rush job I did just before we set out over the water." Sora looked away with a slight grimace at that. "Besides, it seems to have backfired against me because of that…"

"Backfired?" Lucy asked in confusion, but Sora waved it off.

"Don't worry about it now. I have no intention of needing my magic before we return to the guild, so it should be fine."

That seemed to pacify the others as they didn't press him further. Erza then got up from her seat. "I'm going to go check on the others. I'll be by soon." As everyone bid her well, she left the room.

After a few moments, Sora let out a sigh, catching the attention of the other three. "Sora? Is something wrong?"

At Lucy's question, Sora looked at the foot of the bed. "I wouldn't put it like that. More like, I'm not sure how to address something with her…" He then looked at them. "What I'm about to tell you, I'm going to ask you not speak to her about until I know how to tell her."

Gray leaned forward in his chair as they all paid attention to him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how I nearly didn't make it." As their eyes widened, he elaborated. "The power in that tower nearly tore me apart. Before it could though, I felt something pull me away from it, taking the worst of the damage themselves. It gave me the chance I needed to create my escape pod and survive the experience."

"What was it?" Happy asked in a quiet voice, all of them wanting to know his answer to it.

Sora frowned as he looked at the foot of the bed. "I didn't recognize it as it protected me, but I did catch one thing, a promise it asked me to keep. The voice it used shocked me, especially with the words they used. I heard just 5 words, but that was all I needed to be certain about the intentions of the one who said them…" He then stared at them, certain of what he heard and what he was about to tell them.

"I heard, "Please, take care of her", in Jellal's voice."

They were shocked into silence, none of them able to comment for several minutes. After a while, Lucy found her voice first. "How… why would he…?"

Sora shook his head. "I've got a hunch… Erza said that when they were little, he was actually a good and righteous person. Then something… possessed him, into being the person we encountered. Maybe, after being beaten… the person he used to be came back to the surface, free of the ghost of Zeref… And he merged himself with the tower as well, saving my life and helping me to discharge the tower's energies." He then closed his eyes with a shrug. "Then again, I could just be going crazy. Wouldn't be the first time I thought so of myself."

"No…" He looked up at Lucy, a look of thought on her face. "It does make a sort of sense… But do you really want to keep this from Erza?"

"Not particularly. I just don't know how to tell her. We're talking about someone she used to be incredibly close to, and then tried to sacrifice her after 8 years of being crazy. I have no idea how she would take this news. And I especially don't want to bring this up in front of Simon and the rest. Erza is typically a forgiving person, but I don't think they would ever forgive Jellal for what he put them through…"

"You got a point there…" Gray said, as they all thought about the information through Natsu's snoring. After some time, they decided to let it rest for now and enjoy the rest of their vacation, interrupted as it was by the whole fiasco.

Later that evening, after Natsu had recovered enough to actually walk around, both groups gathered together to enjoy dinner, Natsu and Gray digging in like they hadn't eaten in weeks, while everyone else ate more calmly, Milliana utterly infatuated by Happy's presence and played with him. Sho was looking at some of the food options questioningly, eliciting Gray and Lucy to work together to try and get him to try everything, Gray going so far as to shove a piece of meat in his mouth as Lucy held a plate of food right next to them, Wally watching uneasily. Natsu and Sora meanwhile used what magic they had recovered to put on a bit of a show, Natsu spewing fires above the table as Sora had some of his tops making small pillars of water dance across the table, making Erza, Happy, Milliana, and Simon watch in awe. The dinner continued with similar events occurring here and there, everyone enjoying the peace after the chaos of the Tower.

Later that evening, Sora was sitting in a chair before the door that led to the balcony of his room with a look of concentration on his face, and a top rotating slowly in the middle of the balcony. With a nervous gulp, Sora willed the top to spin slightly faster, and it did so as wisps of air moved around it. He tried to make it go just a bit more, but it kept increasing its speed without his urging and rapidly getting faster.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Sora tried to will it to stop completely but his control was quickly deteriorating and the top kept getting faster, wind surging around it more and more. He eventually just made the thing fling itself off the patio and a mere second later it burst with a powerful gust of wind. Even as far away as it was, it still knocked him away from the door and over the chair, landing on his back in the middle of his room. "GAGH!?"

After a few moments, he slowly sat himself up. "Urgh, owowow…" Looking back at the patio, Sora grimaced. "Man, how the hell do I reign this one in? I'm already having a hard time trying to keep Amethyst from blowing up all the time, but Zircon is messing with my Element manipulation!" Sora then turned his gaze over to where he was practicing with some of his more regular tops and looked at the damage with disdain.

Curtains had been soaked, carpets had been burned, the mirror had helped to nearly blind him, and don't even get him started on the dresser and bed! This was one of those times he was glad he was funded enough to be able to pay for the damages. "Man, it was way too early to access a new Prism. What the hell was I thinking?!… Okay, probably wasn't thinking at all since Erza was kidnapped, but still!"

Slowly getting up, he righted the chair he was using and moved it back in front of the patio. "Until I can gain control over this damn wind element, I'm going to be stuck with constructs for a while. Unless of course I'm fine with reckless destruction, but we have Natsu and Gray for that." He then sat back down in the chair and held his arm out. "Okay, take 13."

At that moment, the door to his room burst open, and Sora turned to see Lucy looking at him. "Erza says it's time!"

Sora blinked, then quickly stood up and ran to the desk and grabbed a few items he made earlier. "Lead the way!"

"Can we really make a life for ourselves in the outside world?" Wally asked the other three as they readied a boat by the beach. Across the water, they could see the resort where Erza and the rest were staying, but their focus was mostly on the entrance to the bay, where they intended to sail away to start new lives.

Milliana made a cat-like sound of nervousness, as Sho reassured them. "We have to! We can't burden Nee-san anymore."

"She won't be happy about leaving like this…" Simon stated as he hefted a bundle of supplies into the boat. "But you're right. It's time for us to stop relying on her."

"There you are!" Everyone jumped a little at the reprimanding voice, and turned in varying amounts of surprise as they saw Erza walking down the beach at them.

"Nee-san!" Erza then walked up a little closer to their boat, Sho, Wally and Milliana turning to look away from her while Simon looked at her without hesitation, despite some sadness as he let Sho talk for them. "We grew up inside that tower. There's so much we don't understand and feel unsure about… So we want to see this outside world for ourselves!" Sho stood straight with resolve as he clenched his fists, speaking with more strength than Erza ever remembers him having. "We don't want to live our lives dependent on others anymore… or our lives for someone else anymore!"

Sho then turned to look at her, a look of firm, yet satisfied resolve on his face, soon mirrored by the other three. "We want to live for ourselves now and discover our dreams on our own! That's the freedom we seek!"

Simon placed a hand on Sho's shoulder proudly, before looking back at Erza. "And so, we're afraid we'll need to decline your invitation to Fairy Tail for now, Erza. We hope you understand."

Erza closed her eyes in silence, face betraying nothing. After a few moments, she opened her eyes with a small smile. "With that much determination, I'm sure you four can do anything." She the tilted her head upwards, looking at them all. "I feel relieved now." Then, the light of her magic covered her, before revealing her in ceremonial looking armor, a lance in hand that bore a red flag and the symbol of Fairy Tail on it. "But there are three rules people who leave Fairy Tail must abide by! Listen well!"

Everyone looked at her baffled. "Hold on! Leave? We haven't even joined!" Wally exclaimed.

"First! You must never reveal personal information detrimental to Fairy Tail for as long as you live! Second! You must never make unauthorized contact with any past clients for personal gain! Third! Even if our paths stray, you must live your lives to the fullest!" All four of them froze in shock at the last one, starting to realize what she was doing. "You must never consider your lives insignificant!" All five of them had tears in their eyes at this point, Erza's old friends watching her transfixed as she cried before them, sad to part with them again, yet happy for their decision. "You must never forget the friends you loved for as long as you live!"

As Sho, Wally, Milliana, and Simon wept before her, Erza raised the flag in her hand, and cried out. "Let the Fairy Tail Farewell Ceremony begin!"

"Yeah!" Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Sora each popped out from the foliage and prepared their magic.

Natsu took a deep breath, and spat out globs of fire that shot upwards into the night sky, bursting into dazzling fireworks, captivating the hearts of Erza's friends.

"May the flowers of light blossom in your hearts!"

Gray gathered his magic in his palm, then threw it upwards, bursting in a shining display of frost and snow that glittered light the stars.

Lucy waved one of her keys above her, focusing her magic to fire upwards like Gray did, creating star patterns up in the sky that were beautiful in their own right.

Sora had a series of crystal spheres stacked atop each other, the four on the bottom being a mix of amethyst, ruby, and zircon, while the one on the top was amethyst and citrine. Throwing it upwards with a gauntlet-ed hand, it soared up like the rest, before the bottom piece blew in a burst of fire, sending the rest even further up, before the next piece blew. After 4 consecutive bursts of fire, the final piece burst apart and created a shower of light that cascaded over the water.

None of those whom the fireworks were for could utter a word, truly held speechless at the display before them, as the feelings of their old friend were echoing throughout their hearts, minds, and souls, as Erza continued the address. "I truly wish we could all stay together." Before they could change their minds, the four of them got in the boat and pushed off. "But, if that would only enfetter you… then I wish you luck on your journeys."

"It's just the opposite, Er-chan!" Milliana cried out, as they all wept for her.

"If we stay here, you'll always be reminded of painful memories…!" Wally declared, snot dripping out his nose as he cried. Simon helped Sho row the boat, both of them having difficulty looking at Erza as they left.

"I'll never forget you, wherever you are." She smiled at them, as the boat slowly pulled away from the beach. "Besides, painful memories strengthen us by acting as the seeds for tomorrow." The others kept up their magical fireworks and waving goodbye to them, as Erza and her friends said farewell to each other. "People have that power within them! Walk tall! I will continue to do so as well! As long as we remember this day, I know we'll meet again. Take care."

"You too, Nee-san!" "Bye-bye, Er-chan!" "We will meet again someday! It's a promise!" "And we will never forget you, as long as we live!" Sho, Milliana, Wally, and Simon all called out their farewells, certain that that day would indeed come to be.

Erza looked out to them as tears flowed from her eyes, a truly joyous smile etched on her face as the fireworks continued. "It's a promise!"

As everyone continued their fireworks as long as they could, Erza's friends eventually faded from view, before Erza cast a look over the water in a different direction in thought. Sora noticed this and approached her. "Everything good?"

"Yes… Just a passing thought."

"You know you can tell us if something's bothering you."

Erza looked at Sora in thought for a moment, before deciding to trust him. "Earlier, when I spoke with the others, I could have sworn…" She then looked back out over the water. "That I heard Jellal's voice…"

Sora stiffened at that. "… What did he say?"

"… He told me… that I really had grown…"

Sora stared out over the water in shock, neither saying anything for several minutes. "… Hey, Erza?" She turned to look at him again, a slightly regretful look in his eyes. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you…"

After they got back to the resort, Sora told Erza how he believed Jellal saved him, leaving her shocked that he may have briefly returned to the person she once knew. Understanding why he might have been so hesitant to tell her, she accepted the apology he offered and they all went back to enjoying the vacation they were deserved, taking the time to grow even closer with everyone.

When their time ran out, they all made their way back to Magnolia to see how the guild was doing. Once they were off the train (and Natsu had recovered from the trip), they all spied an unfamiliar structure and made their way to it, five of them because it was in a spot they knew very well, and the sixth because they knew what it was from helping with the designs.

Once they were all in front of the now completed guild hall, Sora looked at it while holding his fingers like a frame, a look of pride on his face, while the rest looked at it in disbelief.

"Wow!" "This is a surprise…" "They finished it?!" "The new Fairy Tail!" Their words perfectly described their shock at how quickly they had finished the work while they were gone. It was now a three-story structure that now closely resembled a castle in design, with a large bell on the top and an elegant fence surrounding the area. Beneath the bell, a large orange banner with the symbol of the guild stood proud.

Sora smirked as he lowered his fingers, satisfied with the reactions of the others. "If you think this is impressive, just wait until you all walk inside!" He then led the way in through the main gate in the fence, taking them through the café area.

"Is this the open-air café you mentioned?" Gray asked as they looked around, seeing a lot of customers already.

"Yup. It was mostly Mira's idea, thinking that while a bar is a nice setting, she thought that a more relaxed atmosphere to chill out away from the usual brawls might be a good change of pace for some people. Also gives a means of having non-guild members come by to chat and help fund the guild itself more easily."

Natsu looked at the whole thing dumbfounded while Erza could see the logic behind it. Lucy meanwhile had her attention pulled to something that freaked her out a little. "I-Is that a gift shop?"

"Come right up! Oh, it's you guys! Welcome back!" The attendant of the shop recognized four of the ones who arrived, though he wasn't familiar to Lucy or Sora.

Happy flew over to the guy with a bowl-cut excitedly. "Wow! You're a salesclerk, Max! It's been a long time, huh?"

Max sheepishly scratched his chin as he replied. "Yeah, Master ordered me to go study about business."

"Max Alors?!" Lucy was suddenly right at the counter with stars in her eyes. "You've been in Sorcerer Weekly!"

"Ah, so that's who you were." Sora looked at him with a smile. "I know Master Makarov said he had someone in mind for the position of salesclerk, but he didn't tell me much about you."

Max flashed them both a large smile of his own. "Hello again! I've heard all about you two, Lucy, Sora!"

"I don't even want to think about what you've been told…" Lucy then turned away in worry while Sora simply looked at him curiously.

"Really? Well, I hope they're all good things."

"So far, yeah."

"Hey, what are you selling?!" Happy asked as he swiveled his head to look at everything.

Max chuckled before answering. "Well, we got some simple charms and necklaces that Sora has been kind enough to create a stock of for us. We also got T-shirts, wristbands, mugs, towels, and, our most popular item…"

"Lucy figurines!" Happy was holding one such item, shocking Lucy.

"What?! Don't make that stuff without my permission!"

"The clothes come off too, of course!" To prove Max's point, the plastic clothes split off, leaving the toy Lucy in a swimsuit, and getting Lucy to cry out in fear and embarrassment, before trudging over to and grabbing a scared and surprised Sora by the collar.

"Oi, Sora! What's the big idea?!"

"H-Hey now, I didn't approve of this either! They probably came up with it while we were gone!"

"Then convince them to stop!"

Sora looked away sheepishly. "Well, from what Max said about the sales, it might already be too late for that. Hehehe…" Lucy slumped down to the ground crestfallen at that.

After Lucy had recovered from her shock and embarrassment, they made their way inside the main hall, looking at the new dining hall with its rows of tables and stage in the back, along with an elevated floor along the walls. Several of them gawked at it as they saw it.

"So pretty!" Lucy and Happy said, loving the new design of the guild.

"Yes. Splendid indeed!" Erza said in agreement, turning to look at Sora. "How much of this was your doing?"

Sora held up his hands humbly. "Hey, all I did was figure out the layout and supplies. It was all Master and Mira that told me what they wanted."

"Nonetheless, well done." Erza praised as Sora rubbed the back of his head from embarrassment.

Gray meanwhile glanced at a grumpy looking Fire mage at his side. "What's with you, Natsu?"

"It's too different." He said dejectedly.

"Lu-chan! Welcome back!" Levy waked up and waved to the blonde, getting a smile out of the celestial mage.

"Ah, Levy-chan!"

"Amazing, isn't it?" Levy then dragged them around the guild, showing Lucy all the new features of the guild hall and everyone welcoming them back as they went from room to room, with Natsu adding grumbles of how he didn't like the changes, before Levy brought them back to the main hall. "And the biggest change is upstairs! Everyone is allowed on the second floor now!" As if to prove her point, Elfman showed up at the second floor railing and waved down to them. "Of course, you still need an S-class Wizard with you to go on an S-class quest."

Sora then placed a hand on Erza's shoulder as he smirked. "So, as long as we have the mighty Titania by our side, there won't be any problems?"

Erza smirked back at him. "So long as you behave and obey the rules perhaps." She said, reminding him that he stole a Prism recently and he swiftly took back his hand and stuffed both of them in his pockets as he whistled innocently to the side.

"Oh, you dunderheads are back!" A cheery voice drew their attention over to where Master Makarov stood, Erza greeting him, before they looked at a familiar face in unfamiliar clothes standing behind him. "This is Juvia, a new member of ours. Isn't she a cutie?"

Juvia smiled at them in a new white and blue outfit, complete with white gloves, as she curtsied to them all. "It's a pleasure to work with you all!"

Gray chuckled a little at the sight of her. "You actually joined…"

"Thank you for your help in Akane." Erza said gratefully to the water mage, Sora nodding eagerly.

"No kidding. You made things way easier for us. No telling what might have happened without you."

"This is all thanks to you!" Juvia said, a sunny smile adorning her face. "Juvia will do her very best!"

"Good to have you on board!" Lucy greeted, happy to see her again.

Juvia's personality then seemed to do a 180 as she glared at Lucy. "Romantic Rival!" As she muttered that, chills ran up Lucy's spine.

"It's not like that…!"

"And there's one other new member." Makarov said, either completely oblivious of the situation between Juvia and Lucy or disregarding it completely. "Come on. Say hello." He then directed their attention to a table that was behind them.

"There's another one?" Happy asked as they all turned around, the figure leaving them in shock of who they saw there.

"Huh?!" "Wh-Whoa! You can't be serious!"

Lucy and Gray's words were in concern to the figure with long black hair, piercings all over his face, and glaring red eyes.

"Gajeel?!" "What's he doing here?!" Natsu and Gray each moved into a battle stance as Sora looked in surprise at the black mark of Fairy Tail on the shoulder of Phantom's former Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Wait!" Juvia moved between the two battle-ready mages, worry on her face. "Juvia brought him here!"

Erza glared hard at Gajeel. "Juvia aside, he's the one responsible for destroying our guild hall!" Gajeel looked away from them with a huff at that.

"Now, now." Makarov said calmly. "As they say, yesterday's enemy is today's friend."

"Yeah…" Levy said quietly as she knelt down by a table, her small size being hidden easily by it as a nervous look crossed her face. "It doesn't bother me at all…" While she tried to put up a brave front, Sora could tell with a glance as she poked her head from behind the table that it was a bald-faced lie. He even spotted dark looks coming from Levy's teammates, all three of them having been used to send a message to Fairy Tail by Gajeel, who now sat in the same room.

"Screw this!" Natsu threw a hand down on the table Gajeel sat at. "I can't work with this guy!"

Gajeel then turned a taunting look at the Salamander. "Don't worry. I don't plan to be your buddy." Natsu let out a noise that easily voiced his offense to that, as Gajeel stood up. "All I want is work. It disgusts me that I ended up working at the guild I can stand the least."

"Say what?!"

In the back, Juvia was desperately trying to explain herself to Gray. "Gajeel is always alone, so Juvia couldn't turn her back on him! Oh…! I don't like him or anything, though!"

"It is the duty of the experienced to lead a stray youngster back onto the right path." Makarov said sincerely and with confidence. "He's a nice guy at heart… I'd like to believe."

Erza looked down at the Master, before looking back at Gajeel. "If that's your decision, Master, then I will comply. However, I think it would be wise to keep a close eye on him."

"Yes…" Makarov said with a sweat drop.

Natsu and Gajeel were now growling at each other from mere inches away, as Sora watched Gajeel critically. 'Master Makarov is no fool… despite his occasional behavior... If he didn't think Gajeel could be trusted, he'd never let him near the guild. Not after what he did to Levy and the others. What does he see in him…?'

Makao held a mug of beer while Happy ate a fish at his table. "They're more like dogs than dragons if you ask me…"

Happy raised his paw as he responded to that. "Aye! They're even lower than cats, right?"

Natsu had now broken away from his stare-down and walked about grumpily. "This new place just doesn't feel right to me…" All of a sudden, the lights went out, causing him to blink his eyes owlishly in surprise.

Up on the stage, a curtain parted open, and a spotlight revealed Mira sitting on a stool with a guitar in hand. When Natsu's vision recovered and he recognized her, her called out to her. "Hey, Mira! We're back!"

"Welcome back!" Mira said in response, the microphone-bird on stage letting her voice echo out across the hall. "Alright, this song is in celebration of Natsu and friends' safe return and our newly constructed building!" She then strummed the guitar once, letting the sound carry out and getting cheers from the people listening, before they quieted down for her song.

As her soft song rang out, everyone felt a sense of serenity (aside from Natsu who was STILL sulking about the guild hall). As the song played out, Makarov looked over at the group that returned from a vacation, happy they came back, and looked up at Mira, thinking of how the children of Fairy Tail… his children, were growing up, thinking it was probably close to when he should start thinking about retirement.

When the song ended, she stood and bowed while everyone cheered wildly for her. "That was great! Who's next!" Sora could just make out Macao's voice amidst the crowd, and wanted to know just as much as he did. The answer was… not what he expected.

Hence, when the lights turned off, and later back on, Sora felt perfectly justified as he spat out the drink he was sipping when he saw Gajeel sitting up on stage in shades and a white suit, guitar in hand.

The entire guild let out a sound of shock and surprise, no one imagining that Gajeel might EVER wind up on that stage. Natsu's face went pale as he stood straight up and said the words everyone was thinking. "Wh-What the…?!"

"This is a little ditty I wrote called, "Best Friend". Give it a listen." Gajeel's words didn't match anything Sora had in his head for the image of Gajeel as he stared at him in disbelief.

'Did he seriously call a song, written by him no less… "Best Friend"?'

As everyone began to tell him to get off the stage, he started singing the song. Sora, personally didn't think very much of it, finding it perfectly fine. Some people began to say that it actually sounded good and cheered him on, most of those words coming from Elfman, Juvia, Macao, Wakaba, and Max. Just about the rest of the guild however starting booing and throwing stuff. Gajeel ignored every projectile thrown his way, even as they hit him in the head, as Sora thought what was happening.

"I've never heard a song this bad in my life!" Natsu declared, holding both hands over his ears as he stood. Unfortunately, he didn't consider that it made him an easy target as a guitar came flying into his face and knocking him over!

Gajeel stood and glared at Natsu, a small bird with a harmonica for a beak having said instrument in his mouth, playing a threat to Natsu that he more than gladly reciprocated.

"You want a piece of me!"

"Shoo-bee-doo-ba!"

The two of them then collided in the air as they leapt at each other, the both of the throwing a kick that the other's caught. It quickly devolved into a slugfest in a cloud of dust as they quarreled.

Sora, quickly seeing how things would go from here, ran behind the bar and watched from there. He then noticed how Gray and Elfman accidentally triggered Erza's "rage mode", making him glad he got out of there when he could. One dragon slayer can cause a good deal of damage. Two dragon slayers and an enraged Erza? Sora wanted to keep as much distance from that as possible.

After a minute, the room had devolved into an all-out brawl, like Sora expected. Lucy and Happy had joined him behind the bar with deadpan looks on their faces. Lucy turned to look at Sora, face not changing, and with her voice matching her expression. "Hey, Sora? How sturdy is the bar?"

"Honestly? I didn't let Makarov or Mira find out that I got the sturdiest materials we could get for the bar, anticipating a possible need for a "safe area" in case of brawls." He then hiked a thumb over the counter. "Case in point."

The three of them sighed and decided to wait out the storm, barely hearing Makarov's wails of how much damage they were about to do to the place while Sora calculated in his head how much of the excess supplies he had arranged in a nearby warehouse they would need to fix things up again.

Later that day, Gajeel was standing by a large tree before the three members of team Shadow Gear, Jet and Droy looking at him angrily while Levy stayed behind them at the trunk of the tree sheepishly. "What did you call me out for?" Gajeel said, sounding like he didn't care in the least about the situation. "I was about to start work, too…"

"Work?!" Jet said angrily, Droy picking up where he left off.

"Don't be stupid! You're the one who demolished our guild!"

Gajeel placed an arm on his hip as he looked at them. "You guys are petty, all right."

Jet and Droy glowered at him while Levy tried to calm them down. "Stop this, guys… I don't think we should do this… I, I don't care at all about what happened to us anymore…"

"We have to show him…" "… who's boss!"

Jet and Droy refused to accept what Levy was saying, and instead looked harshly at Black Steel, the one in question smirking at them as he saw this.

Jet cracked his knuckles. "That's right, act tough while you still can!" He then used his magic to speed himself up until he was a blur, ramming right into Gajeel with a hit that sent him flying. Droy then threw some seeds at the ground before them, each going through the ground as a magic circle formed, before vines with fists emerged and sent a flurry of blows at Gajeel, each one hitting home. Jet then flashed in from the side and hit Gajeel with a high-speed kick that caused him to dig a trench in the ground with his feet as he was pushed back.

Levy watched the brawl nervously, not wanting to be anywhere near there, as Gajeel looked up at them, despite the wounds, but otherwise not doing anything. Jet and Droy looked at him in annoyance, thinking this was too easy. "Come on!" "What's your deal?!"

"What kind of harassment is this?" The new voice surprised all four of them turned to look at the new arrival, seeing Laxus standing just as full of himself as usual.

As Jet and Droy looked at him in surprise that he was there, Gajeel looked up at him with slight worry, knowing how strong he was supposed to be. Laxus meanwhile looked down on the Dragon Slayer. "So this is the kid who picked a fight with my guild, huh?" He then walked between the duo and marched right up to Gajeel as he remained kneeling on the ground. "I'm guessing the old geezer only let you in to keep you from wrecking the place again, right?" When he was right in front of him, his face finally shifted from one of neutrality, to fury. "That's exactly why everyone mocks us, you piece of crap!"

As Gajeel stayed still before him, and Shadow Gear unmoving behind him, Laxus continued his rant. "On my way back to this town, I heard things in pubs everywhere that pissed me off. "Fairy Tail ain't so great"?! "Those losers are done for"?!" Lightning sparked off of him, before it hit Gajeel with terrifying force! His cries of pain were clearly heard from within the surge of electricity, but Laxus wouldn't let up.

"It's because of you…!" He then hit the ground with an electrified fist, and the energy surged along the ground towards Gajeel, his eyes wide as it went after him. As it hit him, it pushed him across the park and into a tree, destroying it in the process and leaving him in a small crater.

Even Jet and Droy were beginning to feel uneasy, and the former tried to stop him. "Stop, Laxus! You're going too far!"

"I know Laxus is strong and all, but this is way too one-sided…!"

Jet then came to a realization. "D-Don't tell me Gajeel never intended to…"

Levy came to the same conclusion, and spoke as both hands covered her mouth in shock. "He wants to earn our acceptance by enduring our anger without fighting back…!" They all watched as Gajeel slowly pushed himself up, obviously pretty hurt by the attacks.

But that as when Laxus started repeatedly stomping his head into the soil with an electrified foot. "I'm gonna teach you what happens to people who defy Fairy Tail!"

"Stop it, Laxus!" Jet tried again. "That's enough!"

Laxus snapped back at the others. "Stay out of this, small fry!" He then fired off an arc of lightning that went right for them, more specifically, Levy. She could only look at the attack in shock and close her eyes, waiting for the incredible pain that would follow. She heard when the lightning hit something, but felt confused when she didn't feel a thing. Slowly, she opened her eyes… and then widened them in disbelief at what she saw.

Or rather, WHO she saw, standing in front of her as his iron arm glowed slightly from where it took the lightning attack.

"Gajeel?!"

Laxus looked at him with half-lidded eyes, while Jet and Droy looked at him in shock at both his speed and his actions despite his injuries. Gajeel then lowered his arm as it reverted to normal, not really looking at anyone in particular as he stood shakily. "Is that enough for you? I have work to do…" He the shuffled off and began to walk out of the park.

"U-Umm…!" Levy tried to call out to him, but he quickly shut her down.

"Just leave me be already…" As he walked out of the park, a dejected Shadow Gear watched him go as Laxus went the other way, seething at all of them.

As Gajeel walked down the street, his injuries caused him to trip and stumble to a knee. As he gathered himself, someone grabbed him by the upper arm and pulled him up. Looking in surprise, he saw Sora still holding him by the arm. "We need to talk."

Gajeel just blinked, then scowled. "You too, huh? Can we hurry this up? I have work to do."

"As hard as it may be for you to do so, you can trust I don't plan on beating the crap out of you like those other three did." When Gajeel narrowed his eyes in suspicion at that, Sora continued. "I saw the whole thing, start to finish. Wanted to know what kind of person I was dealing with. Now, I think I do."

He scoffed at that. "Oh, really? Go ahead then. Tell me what kind of scum you think I am."

"The loyal kind." Gajeel's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting those to be the words he heard, before Sora led him over to a bench.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Gajeel scowling and sending a glance over at Sora every now and then, who was not even looking at him, just the sky with his arms crossed. After a couple minutes of this, Gajeel caved with a shout. "Alright then, out with it! What the hell do you want to say?!"

Sora merely blinked at the sky, and stayed quiet a little longer, before looking Gajeel right in the eye. "Why did you attack the guild before?"

Gajeel blinked, then turned his head with a scoff. "That's what you want to know? I did it because they're Fairy Scum."

"Look at me."

"Huh?" Gajeel looked back at him, only to sweat a little when he saw a face that promised bad things if one didn't listen. And honestly? Gajeel… was a little disturbed by it.

"Look me in the eye, and tell me why you demolished the guild. Tell me why you did such a thing to Levy and her friends. Tell me why you were so adamant about making Fairy Tail your enemy." As Sora said all this, he had let the illusion around his artificial eye drop as it shimmered.

Gajeel tried to avert his gaze, but found he couldn't. Sora didn't raise his voice once as he spoke, but his face, tone, and even his body language had Gajeel gulping nervously, every instinct in his being telling him to be completely honest with the guy… or be prepared for true suffering.

After what felt like an hour to the dragon slayer, but was really only about 10 seconds, he finally complied. "… I was told to…"

Sora relaxed his being at that, his eye being hidden away once more as Gajeel finally looked away, only to stare dejectedly at the ground. When Sora didn't say anything immediately, Gajeel continued. "Honestly, I didn't really care one way or another about Fairy Tail. I just knew that if they were Jose's enemies, then that made them my enemies. It wouldn't have made a difference one way or another which guild it was. Whoever Jose, the leader of Phantom Lord, the guild I was a part of said was an enemy, was someone I had no tolerance for."

"… As I thought…" Gajeel's face turned to him so fast, one might of thought he got whiplash, but Sora was once again looking at the sky. "If Makarov truly thought of you as a threat to the guild and beyond redemption, he never would have let you anywhere within a mile of the guild itself, or any of its members. If you truly hated the guild, you wouldn't have gone up on that stage and performed in front of us. You would have found some other place that was doing a "music night" or something. As for the part where you were getting a beating…"

"How did you see that?" Gajeel interrupted. "I didn't sense you once, but you claim to have seen the whole thing."

"I stayed downwind of you. You aren't the only dragon slayer I know, so I figured the nose was universal." Gajeel clicked his tongue at being compared to the Salamander. "After that I just needed to stay out of sight, and I happen to have years of practice at that. Anyway, I stayed out of it because I wanted to see how you'd react. The way you took each and every attack, despite obviously holding yourself back, told me not only were you regretful of your past actions, but that you were willing to do whatever it took to gain the guild's acceptance. I'll also admit that I was just about to stop Laxus's attack myself had you not suddenly shot yourself in between the two of them." Sora then looked back at a dumbstruck Gajeel. "How am I doing so far?"

Gajeel could only stare at him for several moments, before he turned his gaze away and crossed his arms, not saying a word.

"So, how'd you wind up joining Fairy Tail?"

"… Apparently, Juvia asked the Master to invite me to the guild. He tracked me down to where I was wallowing in solitude, and called me on the same bullshit you are now. He even told me that he would never forgive what I did to those three… but he wouldn't ignore someone trying to hide in the darkness like I was trying to do to myself…" He then looked up at the sky, watching the clouds move about. "He said he would give me a choice; stay put, and suffer in solitude… or move forward, and take back who I am. He didn't want to save me. He wanted to give me a chance to save myself."

Sora leaned back and looked back up at the sky at that. "Gotta say, you aren't exactly the type of person I thought you were. You actually seem to have some redeeming qualities."

"Shut up, you damn Crystal Ball."

Sora actually quirked an eyebrow at that, glancing at Gajeel. "Crystal ball?"

"Reading into me as if you were looking into a crystal ball you made yourself, seeing into my head like that? Seems to fit!"

Sora blinked at that, and actually chuckled at the nickname. "Haha, I do hope you come up with something more interesting than "Crystal Ball" in the future, but fair enough. Anyway, I wanted to be certain of the type of person I thought you were, before I decided what to do from here."

"If you expect me to go around apologizing to people, you can forget it."

"Never even entertained the idea." Sora said honestly, Gajeel taking another glance at him at that. "Not only do you seem to have too much pride to apologize, but the people of the guild only know Gajeel the monster, who destroyed their home and brutalized their family. They wouldn't accept an apology from you the way things are now, even if you begged. Which again, you got too much pride for that."

Gajeel was quiet for a few moments after that, before he spoke up again. "Let's say for a moment, that you are right about all this. That everything I said was actually the truth… Then what exactly do you have in mind?"

"Just be yourself."

"Huh?!" Gajeel was now staring at him in disbelief at the normal sounding words, not believing for a moment he was being serious.

But then he saw the look on Sora's face, completely serious, and he found himself paying careful attention. "You, as you truly are, whether or not you realize it yourself, is someone who is loyal to the people he stands beside, possessing a sense of duty and honor that drives you to acknowledge your actions and work to make amends for them. The true personality you hold, hidden behind the monster you actually pretend to be, is the type of person that thrives in a guild like Fairy Tail. So show them the man that lies behind the monster they know, the one that commands it to tear apart those who you perceive as a threat to you and your allies. Give them a reason to trust you, no matter how long it takes…" He relaxed himself again as he got to the end of what he wanted to say. "… and before you know it, this guild will truly welcome you as one of their own."

Gajeel looked at him with wide eyes, before looking down with a glare. "Tch, I didn't come to make friends!"

"Hah! If you think you can avoid making friends after joining Fairy Tail, then you've got another thing coming." Sora then stood up and turned to him. "After all, this guild has a habit of forming connections to people at strange times. Heck, my first encounter with Fairy Tail included trying to escape from them after I stole something they were guarding. Now look at me. Oh, and before I forget, I won't mention this little exchange to others unless you say I can. Now then, I got work to do, and clients to get off my back. You'd think they would go elsewhere for their shiny trinkets and such when one doesn't get their things as soon as they want." He then turned around and walked away from Gajeel, leaving him to his thoughts.

"… Rich Boy!"

Sora stopped at Gajeel's voice and turned to him, the Dragon Slayer now standing and facing him. "Huh?"

"… Crystal Ball doesn't quite roll of the tongue very well. Considering you apparently work with crystals 24/7, "Rich Boy" seems to fit just as well."

Sora blinked at him twice, before he threw his head back in laughter, Gajeel smirking as he chuckled in his strange laugh. Once they had calmed down, Sora smirked back at Gajeel. "So, now I'm "Rich Boy", huh? I guess I can live with that one." He then pulled out a citrine sphere the size of a baseball in his hand, tossing it to Gajeel. "Catch."

As soon as he caught it, the crystal glowed, surprising Gajeel as the light traveled across his form. As his wounds from earlier began to slowly heal and the pain began to dull, he looked up in surprise at Sora, whom was grinning at him. "Consider it a gift, from your first friend from Fairy Tail." He then turned around and waved a hand back at Gajeel. "See you around, Metalhead! And welcome to Fairy Tail!"

Gajeel blinked at him as Sora walked down the street and around a corner, before he looked down at the sphere that was healing him, and what it meant. After a few minutes of him staring at it in disbelief of what just happened, he let out a small, but genuine smile. "Gihihi!"

A/N: And so the arc officially ends, with the next one doing something a little different. Hopefully I won't take 4 months to post it, might even manage to get it out around Christmas or New Years. As for the bit with Gajeel, he's honestly one of my favorite characters and instantly gaining my favor once he protected the very ones he tortured. As such, looking forward to including him in this story when I can. In any case, I suppose the next chapter will be either a new year's or holiday present, so will work on getting it ready. Hope to see you guys there when I manage to get it out! Later.