"Gramps we have to do something, they could have died!" Cana yelled from the mob of angry Fairy Tail members.

Master Makarov sat on the bar, his eyes closed but his ears opened. His face was red with anger. His children mobbed around him, shouting out for information. Those were the angry ones. The sad ones sat at tables and cried. Lisanna and Mirajane hugged one another in a corner, Elfman's huge arms wrapped around the both of them in an attempt to comfort. Tears poured down Levy's face as she sat at a table, her Shadow Gear teammates Jet and Droy on either side of her trying to calm her down. Carla was curled up on Wendy's lap, tears falling from the young girl's face and onto her white fur. Juvia was in a rain cloud of her own sorrow.

Erza, Ember, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Gajeel were all in sick bay. All of them unconscious, but every single one of them alive. Porlyusica was at their side, her healing magic doing it's work. Happy, Pantherlily, and Nunu were all in sick bay with their partners. They were the only ones allowed in currently. Part of the anger of the Fairy Tail members was that many of them wanted to see their friends. Hold their hands, make sure they were really okay.

"I don't know what we can do. Bone Crusher's new location is not known. And I will not put any more of you at risk." Makarov sighed. Even he had tears burning in his eyes, he wouldn't open them in fear that they would show. He had to remain strong for his children.

"I don't care about the danger!" Cana shouted.

"Neither do we!" Evergreen agreed, Freed and Bickslow nodding their heads as they stood on either side of her.

"Master, are they going….are they going to be okay?" Levy choked, her hands shaking.

"Porlyusica is with them right now. We have to trust her." The Master said.

"Ju-Juvia can fight Bone Crusher. Juvia is water." Juvia sniffled.

"It's too dangerous right now. All of you, please calm down. If not just to ease the stress on yourselves, but also for your comrades that lay in those beds."

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Porlyusica looked at the broken down young wizards, her already old face looking even more aged with her despair. It had been a long time since she had seen injuries so bad. She knew that if Natsu hadn't been a dragon slayer, that the snapping of his spine would have killed him. There was a large chance that the stress on the bodies of Gajeel and Ember would have killed them too. In her mind she wondered if the Bone Crusher knew that. She knew he did this for shock value. He wanted the guild to know exactly what they were dealing with. The best idea would be to not ever go after this wizard again, but she knew Fairy Tail better than that. They would surely go after him.

Gray was already awake. His broken wrists were the most minor of the injuries. But his pride was severely damaged. He laid in the bed staring up at the ceiling in silence. He wouldn't even look at Porlyusica when she talked to him. Wouldn't even look at his friends. All he did was stare and blink. His chest rising and falling in steady breaths.

"Gray. I know you are worried that you will have a hard time doing ice-make again. But I assure you, your wrists are already close to healing. You got lucky." Porlyusica said in a low voice. He didn't respond to her.

"And don't feel guilty that you got a more minor injury than your friends. Three of them are dragon slayers, and they will be just fine. Lucy and Erza's leg injuries are doing well. Erza heals fast even without my help, she should be waking up soon." She continued.

She looked around the room as she prepared the days medicines. Erza was stirring, getting close to waking up. Porlyusica knew she was having nightmares of the battle because of the strained expressions that would appear on her face. Erza may have had both legs broken, but the Titania was a fast healer. Lucy's leg and hip would take longer to heal since there were breaks from the foot all the way up, but Porlyusica expected her to wake up soon. She was more worried about the state of Lucy's mind when she awoke than her physical injuries. In her sleep she had cried out Natsu's name a few times. This led Porlyusica to believe that Lucy had witnessed the snapping of his spine.

Happy was curled up at Natsu's head. The fire dragon slayer was in a deep sleep, and would probably be the last to heal, and to wake up. A snapped spine was no small injury, no matter the creature who attained it. He never stirred in his sleep, but his chest moved as he breathed. He didn't mumble in his slumber, or groan at all. The little blue cat would cry himself back to sleep every time he would wake up, in fear of losing his best friend.

Pantherlily did not leave Gajeel's side. He sat next to his friend with his arms crossed, and even slept with his eyes opened, as if he was on constant guard. Gajeel made a lot of noises in his sleep. Groans, whimpers, sometimes a shout. He was only suffering broken legs, so Porlyusica expected him to wake up soon as well. But like the rest, she worried about his pride and mental state when his eyes opened.

Curled up on the bed with Ember was her hellhound Nunu. Any time she moved or made a sound the large animal would whimper and lick her face. Porlyusica was worried her ribs wouldn't heal right, since they had not been entirely healed from the last time. And this time the ribs had been broken in multiple places. They might as well have been floating around in her abdomen like lost ships at sea.

Porlyusica let out a heavy sigh. All anyone could do was wait, and hope for the best. The wizards in the beds were strong, they would live on. But she just hoped that their minds were as strong as their physical power.

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The door to the guild hall slammed opened so hard it almost broke. The angry mob was startled and looked to the door. In the back of their minds, they were all secretly worried the Bone Crusher had come for the rest of them. Even Makarov opened his eyes to look. But no, it wasn't Bone Crusher. But depending on the next few seconds, it could turn out to be worse.

Laxus stood in the doorway, lightning lighting up his entire body. It wasn't clear the exact emotion he had on his face. It was a storm of many. Anger, pain, sadness, revenge. He started walking up to Makarov, his fists balled up tight.

"Where is she old man?" Laxus asked through gritted teeth.

"Sick bay. But there are no visitors. You have to wait just like everyone else." Makarov said calmly.

"Wait my ass." He growled and turned away.

"Laxus please. She isn't even awake yet. There's no point." Makarov sighed.

"I don't care…..I just need to see that she is alive myself." Laxus said.

The blonde thunder dragon slayer walked in the direction of the guild's sick bay. No one stopped him, and no one argued. Partly because the only other time they saw Laxus have genuine concern for someone in sick bay was when it was Makarov, and partly because they were scared of what he would do if anyone tried to stop him.

"Master…." Levy whimpered.

"Fine. I will let people in to see them. But it will have to be one at a time, and you will have to be quiet. Wait until Laxus is done." Makarov nodded.

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Laxus opened the door to the room his friends were in quietly. When he entered Porlyusica opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it upon seeing the look on his face. If Makarov let him by, she would just have to sit by and keep an eye on him. There was no point in fighting. This wasn't the place.

He looked around the room at his fallen comrades. He closed his eyes tight, his teeth grinding, holding his anger at bay. When he opened his eyes he saw that Gray was awake, but not taking any notice of his presence. While him and Gray were not exactly close friends, they were both part of the same family, and he hoped in his heart that Gray was alright. He hoped they were all going to be okay. He walked quietly over to Ember's bed and sat down easily next to her. He pet Nunu gently on the head, the hellhound letting out a soft whimper and looking up at him. He sighed heavily.

Her face was in pain, and this made his stomach knot up. With his hand he gently moved her hair out of her face, and lightly caressed her cheek. He leaned down and kissed her forehead with a gentleness not typical of him.

"Laxus…." Porlyusica gasped. She had had no idea.

"Is she going to be okay?" Laxus asked quietly.

"Yes. In time. Her ribs were broken again, but in many places. I assume she passed out from the pain and hasn't woken up since. Which is better than her being awake."

"I don't know if her not being conscious is better. But at least she isn't feeling it."

"Well…...sure."

Laxus let out a heavy sigh and stood up. He looked down at Ember once more and then made his way to the door, Nunu whimpering as he left. Porlyusica's eyes filled with sympathy. She didn't much like humans, usually not at all. But she couldn't help but to feel something when she saw them in pain.

"I'm sure you will have visitors coming in shortly. Don't turn them away. Sometimes you just have to make sure someone you love is okay with your own eyes." Laxus said quietly, and then he left.

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Levy and Juvia came by the sick bay shortly after Laxus had left. Makarov had let them both come at one time since they were both so fragile and quiet. He wasn't worried they would cause a disturbance. Porlyusica looked at the blue haired girls and let out sigh. She knew this would be a long day of keeping a close eye on a bunch of young wizards to make sure they didn't make any stupid movements and cause more problems.

Juvia went directly to Gray's side. She sat down and looked down at him, tears overflowing and pouring down her face. She smiled when she saw that he was awake, but she still felt pain in her heart. He did not look at her. He didn't acknowledge her at all. She quieted her sobs and grabbed his hand. All she wanted was for him to show that he knew she was there. He did. He squeezed her hand so hard it made her wince, but she smiled.

"Gray…." She whispered.

Levy looked around the room. She didn't know where to go first. Lucy was her best girlfriend, and Gajeel was the man she loved. Her heart felt torn in two pieces. She took in a few deep breaths and realized she could see both of them, and that panicing was unnecessary. She went to Lucy first. Looking down on her friend she felt a pinch in her gut. She moved a strand of Lucy's blonde hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. "Get better Lucy. Please." She whispered in her friends ear. Then she went over to Gajeel's bed. Pantherlily looked up at her, and she could see that they shared each others sadness, even if the sadness had different roots.

She curled up on the bed next to Gajeel and buried her face in the space between his neck and shoulder. Her body vibrated with her silent sobs. Porlyusica normally wouldn't allow someone to actually get into the bed with someone who was injured, but at that moment she felt in her gut that she should just let things happen.

Gajeel moved. Levy stopped breathing. She lifted her head and looked at his face, his eyes slowly opened. He couldn't open them all the way, but she could tell he was looking at her. Her sobs stopped and her breath caught in her throat. The smile that appeared on her face lit up the entire room.

"Gajeel?" She whispered.

"Levy….." Gajeel breathed.

The tiny girl let out a happy laugh and buried her face in the iron dragon slayers chest. Her refusal to leave was so severe that Makarov ended up having to send Laxus in to carry her out.

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Makarov studied his children from his seat on the bar. They all looked to be feeling better now that they had at least gotten to see their friends. No one was crying anymore. He had found out that Gray was awake, but not speaking, and that Gajeel had woken up and spoken when Levy had been visiting him. That was why she refused to leave, and he had to send Laxus in to carry her out. Laxus sat in a bar stool right next to his grandfather, looking out at everyone as well. He looked on as his Thunder Legion and Cana all laughed together, now in better spirits. Even Juvia wasn't in a rain cloud anymore, and Wendy was able to smile again with the help of Macao's son Romeo.

"Laxus. I'm sorry you have to go through this." Makarov sighed.

"Don't go soft on me now old man." Laxus smiled up at the Master.

"I'm not going soft. I think you are." Makarov chuckled.

"Oh jeez, don't start." Laxus sneered.

"There's nothing wrong with feelings Laxus. Especially the good ones."

"Yeah. It took me a long time to figure that out."

"Mmmm. Well now that…"

"Don't finish that sentence. Don't freaking ruin it Gramps. We had our moment."

Makarov looked at Laxus and smiled. He put his hand on the young man's shoulder and patted it. Laxus closed his eyes and smiled with a small laugh.

"So Gajeel woke up? That's great!" Wendy chirped.

"Yes! I am so glad Hopefully Lucy wakes up next!" Levy smiled.

"We are so Happy to see you smiling again Levy." Jet cheered, and Droy nodded in agreement.

"Gray is awake to. But he didn't talk to Juvia." Juvia sighed, but she had a slight smile.

"At least he is awake. That's a great sign." Levy said happily, smiling wide at Juvia. Juvia nodded back at her and returned the smile.

"I hope they all wake up soon." Wendy said. And everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

"Are you going to be okay Lisanna?" Mira asked, rubbing her sisters back.

"Yeah. I just hope Natsu is going to be okay. He looks like he is in so much pain." Lisanna sighed, rubbing a tear from one of her eyes.

"Don't cry again! You know Natsu as well as anyone. He is going to be just fine. He's too stubborn to not be okay." Mira giggled.

Lisanna looked at her older sister and smiled. Leave it to MiraJane to always bring light into the room, even when it felt like the darkness wasn't ever going to go away. Lisanna leaned her head onto Mira's shoulder and let herself relax.

"Man, when Ember is awake we are totally getting her drunk. Broken ribs TWICE? Wow." Cana said shaking her head and guzzling down booze.

"Totally. We have to have a girls night!" Evergreen laughed.

"Hey now!" Freed gasped.

"Oh Freed, you might as well be a girl. You're pretty enough." Cana winked.

Bickslow cracked up and slapped Freed on the back. Freed gave Cana a dirty look, but then couldn't help but smile. At this rate, he thought, Cana may as well be Thunder Legion as well.

"We have company." Laxus said.

"Hmm?" Makarov turned to him.

The door to the guild hall opened. The light from the bright afternoon sun pouring in. Two figures walked in. Gasps and murmurs spread like wildfire through the guild hall. Standing there was the blue haired Jellal and the pointy eared Cobra of Crime Sorciere. Makarov let out a stressful sigh. Laxus chuckled.

"I know why you are here Jellal. Cobra. They are in sickbay." Makarov said.

"Thank you Master Makarov. I do need to speak with you later though." Jellal said, and with that him and Cobra made themselves scarce.

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"Jellal. Cobra." Porlyusica gasped as the two men walked into the room.

Jellal nodded at her and went right to Erza's bedside, sitting down and grabbing her hand with both of his. She rustled around and let out a soft groan, but her eyes still did not open. Cobra didn't even acknowledge Porlyusica and just went to Ember's bed, sitting down and resting his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands.

"They have yet to wake. I don't know when they will." Porlyusica sighed.

"That's fine." Jellal said, not looking away from Erza.

"We won't be leaving until they do." Cobra said, lifting his face from his hands and meeting eyes with Porlyusica. She didn't argue.

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It took two weeks for all the injured wizards to be back on their feet and functioning at a somewhat normal level. Gray and Gajeel had left their beds shortly after Jellal and Cobra arrived, supposedly because they didn't want to be in the same room as them. Erza had woken up later that night, and Jellal's face being the first one she saw made ignoring her pain that much easier. She was out of bed the next morning. Lucy woke up later that day but spent most of her time sitting by Natsu. Ember woke up shortly after Lucy, but by that time Cobra had already left. She was told he had been there, but she didn't get to actually see her brother. Natsu was the last to wake up, but when his eyes opened joy spread throughout the entire guild hall.

Erza stood in front of Master Makarov listening to the information that Jellal had shared with him on his visit. Her fists shook at her sides. She looked at the Master in shock.

"Are you sure Master? Is Jellal sure?" Erza asked.

"Yes. Don't mention anything to anyone Erza. I am trusting you." Makarov said seriously.

"I-I won't….but…." Erza stammered.

"Don't worry Erza. No one will be fighting until they are ready. You can go now."

Erza nodded. She decided that she would just go home for the day. She needed to think, and to calm down. There was no way she could socialize with her friends and guild mates without them knowing something was wrong. And she couldn't tell anyone anything. Some secrets weighed heavily on the mind, but had to be kept.

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"You know, you and Cobra look a lot alike. You can tell he is your brother." Cana said.

"Except for the pointy ears." Freed nodded.

"They even have the same scar over the same eye. Ridiculous." Evergreen laughed.

"Yeah but that is just a coincidence. Neither of us was born with the scar. And his is different, he can't open his eye. I can." Ember smiled.

"Still." Evergreen responded.

"I just wish I got to see him." Ember sighed.

"Who cares. He's an asshole." Laxus sneered.

"Mister sensitive over here." Cana laughed, tilting her head towards Laxus.

The group laughed. Ember sat at a table in the guild hall with the Thunder Legion and Cana. Laxus sat closely next to her. Elfman joined them as well, seated close to Evergreen. Her ribs were still tightly bandaged, but the pain had improved significantly. Every day she was thankful for the strength of Porlyusica's magic. And after everything she was even more thankful for her friends and her guild, and the fact that she was alive.

"So, I'm just curious. How have your ribs even been able to heal? Has Laxus been spending the nights at his place?" Cana said with a wink and a smirk.

"Cana!" Ember blushed.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Laxus shouted at Cana.

"Hey man, I was just curious." Cana laughed. Evergreen gave her a secret high five under the table.

"Give our Laxus more credit than that. I don't think he would risk breaking Ember's ribs over again." Freed said, shooting Cana a dirty look.

"I don't just go around breaking things." Laxus growled.

"Of course you don't. I was just saying." Cana shrugged.

"Laxus is a man. Men don't break their women!" Elfman hooted.

"Only in the good ways." Evergreen smirked. Elfman turned red in the face.

"I can't handle you guys right now." Ember smiled, shaking her head.

"I can't handle them EVER!" Laxus sighed.

"Oh calm down. You put me through the same wringer when me and Elfman first showed hints of being together." Evergreen laughed.

"Well that's because you both snuck around like immature children!" Laxus snapped.

"We snuck around because of this kind of treatment." Elfman said.

"Whatever. Enough of this. I'm heading out. You coming?" Laxus said, looking at Ember. She nodded. They both got up from the table and left together, their friends teasing them and yelling taunts after them until they were gone.

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Natsu shoved food in his mouth, making a mess of the table. Lisanna and Lucy sat on either side of him. Juvia and Gray sat on the opposite end of the table, watching Natsu make a mess with wide eyes.

"Well glad to see you are one hundred percent back to normal. Slob." Gray laughed.

"Ut er mouf AY!" Natsu shouted, food flying out of his mouth.

Gray and Juvia shielded their face from the airborne food. Lucy and Lisanna laughed. Happy was too busy shoving his face full of fish to take notice. Natsu still had bandages around his abdomen, and Lucy still had to walk with the aid of a crutch, but they were both well on their way to being fully healed. Gray's wrists were 100%, and he had no problems with his ice-make magic like he had been worried about.

Lucy and Lisanna had no idea what the other was thinking, but they were both pretty much thinking the same thing. They both wondered if Natsu even remembered the talks they had. If he had even thought more about it. And if he ever even would. Little did they know, Natsu had thought about it a lot as he slept, and he was one step closer to understanding his feelings.

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Levy pulled the covers up and over her naked body. She curled up against Gajeel's warm skin, a smile on her face and her cheeks flushed. Gajeel rubbed her back with one hand, and rubbed one of his legs with the other. He wasn't fully healed, and he could feel his bones throbbing. He wished he could just turn his bones into iron and not have to worry about it.

This was the first time Gajeel and Levy had been together like this. Their relationship up until then had been like a game of cat and mouse. One always chasing the other, but the other never doing anything about it. But after Gajeel's brush with death their attitudes changed, and over the course of the two weeks since he had opened his eyes they had each made small steps in getting closer to each other and what they wanted. And now here they were.

"I didn't hurt you, right?" Gajeel asked embarrassed.

"No you silly lunk head!" Levy laughed, nuzzling closer to him.

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Laxus and Ember layed in bed cuddling. And that's all they did. In fact, Laxus took serious offense that Cana would even think he would risk hurting Ember in her fragile state. He didn't let on to it, but he was actually scared of hurting her, so he had been nothing but gentle when he was close to her. As if he was near a glass statue and one wrong move would cause it to fall and shatter. He laid against her, his stomach against her back, his arms around her. His face was buried in her hair, taking in her scent. He could sense her slowly falling to sleep.

"Hey, before you fall asleep, I have a question." Laxus asked.

"Hm?" Ember grunted.

"When gramps mentioned grandkids. Did that….bother you?"

"Mmm no. Why so serious all of a sudden?"

"Just a question."

"Oh. Well, to be honest. I don't even know if I can have children. I mean, I wasn't born like everyone else. Zeref created me. So I don't know if he created me to be able to you know, breed."

"I didn't even think of that. Hm."

"Does that bother you? Because even if I could have children, I'm not sure I would choose to."

Laxus put his hand to her face and turned it so that she was looking at him. She rolled the rest of her body over onto her back, slowly and carefully. He caressed her cheek with his thumb and rested his forehead against hers and shut his eyes.

"I don't care either way. I'm not going anywhere." He said softly. Ember smiled.

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"Hey Lisanna, wait up!" Natsu called out.

Lisanna stopped walking and turned around. Natsu was slowly approaching her from down the street. She sat and waited for him with a smile. She didn't want him to rush and hurt himself. He didn't like to put on that he was in any pain, but she wasn't stupid, and she knew his back had to hurt at least a little bit. She noticed that Happy wasn't with him, and that struck her as kind of weird.

He got to her eventually, slightly out of breath. He leaned on his knees and breathed heavily until he caught his breath. Then he stood up straight. He walked closer to her, and got as close as he could. She could feel the heat coming off of him like the fire he ate.

"What is it Natsu?" Lisanna asked shyly.

"Oh, I just have to do something really quick." Natsu smiled.

Before Lisanna could say anything Natsu grabbed her by both of her shoulders and planted a kiss right on her lips.

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Lucy stood in the middle of the road where Natsu had just left her. She stared into the distance, touching her lips with her fingertips. She kept replaying what had just happened before Natsu ran off, over and over again in her head. Constant replay, and she still didn't know what to do. So she just stood there. But she couldn't believe it was real, and didn't know what it meant.

Did Natsu just kiss her?