His head lifted one more time when he heard a faraway voice. It was muffled and soft, but I was enough to keep him from the slumbers.

Rogue's voice.

His eyes blinked. He couldn't exactly be sure it was the young lad's voice calling out. He didn't even know if it was Rogue's at all, since he only heard that Dragon Slayer speak only a handful of times. For all he could known, it was Bickslow's dolls.

But, it was Rogue.

A shadow slid across the ground, and ended once it touched Freed's own. The shadow withdrawn itself quickly and the boy appeared. He stood there in the fog, with an exceed on his shoulder and his hand holding Mirajane's.

"Oh great…a dark angel has came to end me," Freed uttered, with fuzziness. Every moment he stayed in the fog, it felt like he was losing himself slowly.

"Freed?" Mirajane slowly closed in one the green haired and crotched down to his side. While Rogue only stood over him.

"Where's the rest of your party?" Rogue asked, not even concern over Freed's wellbeing.

"All scattered away. Laxus went ahead and we tried to follow…" He swirled his finger around, "And the mist…"

Rogue gave a slight sigh, as he knew as much. The scents separated meters away and he sent his shadow out to scout for the nearest one. Unlike the others, Laxus' scent stayed in a straight line, heading south.

"Did…he find Natsha?" The sliver haired beauty blinked as she lifted Freed up.

"No…a dragon." The script user even roared to add emphasis. The two glanced at each other as if to say Freed was not exactly Freed at the moment.

"A…real dragon?" Rogue slowly turned away from Freed, and looked around. Were there dragons still in this area? "Even after vanishing for so many years…"

The girl slowly stood Freed up, but the man was still in a daze. He leaned one way and imminently felt ill. He raised one arm to Mirajane and slugged over to a tree where he threw up. Her nose twitched, turned away, and looked at Rogue. "Are the others nearby?"

"The girl is behind by a yard, while the…that source of…smells," he closed his nose from all of the unpleasant scents filling his nostrils, "Is over there."

Finally, Freed joined them once more. And this time, Fro was also holding her nose. He lifted his head and had a little embarrassed smile, "Sorry about that…"

"It's alright. Let's go get the others," the brunet brushed it off. Once again, his shadow casted off him and sent ahead. Freed stood between the two of them, with his arms wrapped around their shoulders. Fro moved from his seat on Rogue's shoulder to his head, purring as he patted down the hair.

…

In the shady shores was a crater. Dust filled the air from after it impacted, and line of smoke filled the air from whenever it came from.

Within, there were two of them; a guy and a girl. The guy was huge, and had his arms wrapped around the girl, and she was curled in his chest. His back was scorched from what kept them alive, a duo of lighting and fire, while she only held a few burns and scratches from the fall.

His eyelids flickered open and blinked away the dust that covered them. He could only move his head a little when he saw pink haired. Instead of her long beautiful pink hair, it was burnt off. She looked like a shaggy Freed when he had a haircut. But, at that moment, that didn't bother him.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips. She was here in his arms. She wasn't gone. Not again. She was only there in his arms. Not even the pain could make him feel any different. With that little movement he could, he clutched her closer to him, taking in her flared scents. "Natsha…" Her name was the last thing he said before closing his eyes once more, welcoming the dreamland.

…

Igneel looked over the edge where the gray smoke came from. He couldn't help but wear a proud grin at his kin.

She saved the boy with her newest move, Fallen Ashes. And now the ashes filled the air, while the two of them were on the ground, safe. Even though she didn't hold the spell for long, it was long enough for the two to make it down there without getting killed.

"So this is your choice, Cherry Blossom… A good one." He turned around, with his tail snapped as he did so. "Just like back then, it's always true. A human girl cannot live her whole life with a dragon. A human needs to be around others…"

He paused in his path back to his nest and slowly shook his head. He wished it was not so, but he knew one day, he would be out of her life. He left her first so she did not have to make this decision, choosing between him and humans, but she only followed to gain closure.

"You made good friends, Natsha… I knew there were humans out there for you… They just weren't here." His shoulders slumped. "Grandneey…are you pleased now?" He didn't even have to glance, he already knew the old hag was hiding somewhere in his nest, waiting to taunt him.

The blue dragon transformed out of her orb state and stood on the upper level, looking down at the almighty fire dragon. Her tail touched her cheek, "Did you notice I was here or do you always talk to yourself?"

And already, he wished he didn't call her out.

…

Natsha lifted her head from his shoulder, and glanced around. All she could see was scattered pieces of ground, and the bright blue sight. She tried to move her hand and wipe away what was covering her face, but it was stuck whenever it was. Finally, she turned her head to see what was behind her. A scratched chest.

"Laxus…?" She mumbled under her breath.

She remembered.

They fell down from Igneel's nest. Laxus held her tight and she...she turned into fire with him holding on. He shot lighting out of his hands to counter her fire, but she stayed in that state.

She almost stayed the fire element.

If Laxus wasn't there, she would have gone out like a candle's flame. But instead, he fought it with his lighting and now the two were lying on the ground.

His arms were wrapped around her, clutching her against his chest.

Natsha stayed.

It felt like hours until Laxus opened his eyes once more. His eyes darted down, and made contact her hers. Instead of a declaration of love, he could only muster something as simple as: "Is it morning yet?" But then again, this was the almighty Laxus.

Her eyes batted as if she was a lost for words. She moved her eyes to the sky, "Yeah."

"Should…we get moving?" Even if he wanted to stay there with Natsha in his arms, Fairy Tail plagued his mind. As well as what happened to the others in his group. He could only guess where that rotten Fur Ball went off too.

She gave a small nod, but neither one of them tried to move. "Do you know how long it's been…since I-"

"Disappeared?"

She nodded once more.

"I have no fuckin' clue."

A smile appeared on her face, "Neither do I… But it doesn't feel long."

"The guild going to be crazy once you step in," he thought out loud. And, as if remembering something, he pounded in fist on her head. She jerked out of his hands, yelped, and held her head. "And that's for disappearing in the first place. Do not do it again."

"Lighting Assrod," Natsha cursed him.

"What was that?"

And she repeated it, taunting him. "I said, you're a lighting ass rod."

"Is that the best you can come up with, Flame Princess?"

She elbowed him in the side, and instead of his usual composition, he yelped in pain.

Natsha finally seen that he was injured. It wasn't just some burns and scratches, as she first though, but his whole back side was torn up. "Shit dude," she said in concern.

"It's not that bad." He tried to brush it off, but Natsha had already decided. She stood up and bent down, with her hand gently touching his shoulder, trying to help him to stand up as well, but Laxus wasn't really trying to stand up in the first place.

"Come on," she uttered.

"I don't need your help," Laxus tried to protest.

The pinky did not hear a word he said as she stood behind him and pressed both of his shoulders. He gave in, and allowed her to sit him up. She gave a laugh in succeed, and already, the blonde felt a smile creep onto his face. It hasn't even been a day, yet Natsha being there was able to redeem his spirits.

…

Levy stood there across the room for that flower. Her eyes were wide as she took in the sight. It was not the same small, fragile flower that Gajeel puck behind her ear –which was how she remembered it.

As soon as they gotten back in the city, she placed the flower in water.

And now all of the nature life in her room was eaten and that flower grew.

So much stuff as happened in the last month. My school is being a pain in the ass (I've been gone for a week because I've been sick, then I went to my bus stop today, in freezing and my bus just passed me). By the way, I hate the school a lot, so this just another thing on the list of dislikes (the bud driver as an attitude with me, school is mostly all games and no work so I'm bored out of my mind, there's no challenge, one teacher Is pressing her religionist views onto me, all of the teachers are prejudiced, etc).

Also, on other news, I'm writing a new Fem!NatsuxSting smut story, so watch out for that. It's for one of my followers.

rinpup14: Yup, and it was the right one.

darkhuntressxir: No, the mermaid thing was a callback to a earlier chapter, with Bickslow and Evergreen teasing Happy.