'It's time, Natsu... I have to release myself from within you and stop Acnologia!'

'Igneel no! Your soul fragment! It's still-! I will join you!'

'Luce! Dad! Wait! Let me have a go at him too!'

'You are no Empress to me! I will exterminate all dragons from this planet!'

'The bodies that her majesty had manifested for us shall serve as new vessels for our souls. Igneel will be fine, however...'

'Hey... where did Flame Brain and Happy go? I thought they'd want to check on Lucy's condition the most?'

'What do you mean Lu won't be waking up!?'

'It will only be a few days here, but she's very much exhausted. We will take her and Igneel to the Dragon Realm in order to recover.'

'Like I said... I am disbanding Fairy Tail...'

'Master are you insane!? If this is about you retiring, just make Lucy guild master again!'

'MY DECISION IS FINAL! YOU ARE ALL TO FIND YOUR OWN PATHS NOW!'

'So... Master really disbanded the guild, huh?'

'Natsu and that cat of his really went off and disappeared, eh? Tch... careless son...'

'Zeref... what are you planning...'

It had been a little over a year since the battle of Tartaros and the disbanding of Fairy Tail. It turns out Natsu and Happy decided to go on a crazy training journey for that past year, hiding out in the mountains where no one could tail them. Both had returned to make a crazy appearance during the Grand Magic Games, expecting to see their nakama winning like before, but instead he just ended up melting the stadium with his crazy flames. No Fairy Tail in sight.

Lucky for Natsu and Happy, Sting, Lector and Yukino were there to watch the games discreetly and met the duo outside of Mercurius' castle once they had been released. They began telling Natsu and Happy about Fairy Tail's sudden disbandment and how everyone from the guild seemed to have dispersed throughout Fiore, even mentioning that the magic council was now being run by the Wizard Saints. Not including Makarov or Lucy as both seemed to have completely vanished after the disbandment.

The news had naturally shocked Natsu and Happy, they just couldn't believe that anyone from the guild would allow for Makarov to just break it all up. Laxus could have taken over as guild master or even Lucy! But then again, both also couldn't believe that Makarov and Lucy could just vanish like they did. From the sounds of it, no one has seen them since the battle with Tartaros finished. The pink headed slayer could still remember how tired and lifeless she seemed from using up too much energy in her dragon form.

Naturally, Natsu didn't believe that everyone could just forget about Fairy Tail and declared that he and Happy would start the revive of Fairy Tail and bring everyone back to Magnolia to rebuild their broken guild. The three sabers smiled at the idea of Fairy Tail's return, anyone could admit that Fiore had been quite dull without the troublemaking guild to make their world interesting. With that being said, Yukino told Natsu and Happy to start at Lamia Scale where Wendy and Carla resided.

It took a lot of effort and time (after finding Wendy and Carla, Natsu would've had no idea where to go next if the sky dragon slayer hadn't mentioned Gray or Erza) but they were able to gather enough members thanks to Levy. Once the fairies destroyed Operation Purify, Levy had told everyone that she had heard about Natsu's declaration of Fairy Tail's revival beforehand and sent out letters to all the guild members she knew the locations of before going to the rendevous point to meet up with Gajeel and Pantherlily.

Upon mentioning guild members she knew the locations of, Natsu immediately asked if Levy knew where Lucy was and if she was okay. But they were only met with silence. Not only from Levy, but from everyone else too. The bluenette then explained what had happened to Lucy after Tartaros: how the dragons took her and Igneel to the Dragon Realm to recover; how Makarov disbanded the guild before she could return; how no one knew if she had ever woken up from her injuries or had even returned to Earthland at all.

Natsu and Happy pouted at the news, but Erza was able to cheer them up by saying that if Lucy was somewhere in Fiore, she was bound to hear about Fairy Tail's arrival and come home. That was enough for the two of them. So once everything was settled, Natsu, Happy, Wendy and Carla decided to go ahead to Magnolia. Erza, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, Levy and Pantherlily needing to take care of a few things before going back. Fairy Tail's resurrection practically at an arm's reach.

It had been a joyous reunion. Once Team Natsu, Team Fairy Tail B the Thunder Legion and Mest returned with Makarov in tow, the guild rejoiced and the celebrated their master's return. Though there was the incoming war with Alvarez that Makarov had to inform them about, he allowed his children this moment to celebrate their revived home. Everyone caught up with each other, surprising each other with stories of what they had been doing in the past year. A guild brawl started and it was like they hadn't disbanded in the first place.

But of course, they couldn't celebrate the entire time. When things began to calm down, Makarov began to explain everything to his guild members: the Alvarez Empire; Zeref being the Spriggan Emperor; Lumen Histoire with the help of Mavis and so on. Everyone was surprised of course, but that didn't stop them from being determined to bring the enemy down. They had just brought the guild back and they didn't plan on losing it to some Empire. Natsu especially. He was determined to defeat Zeref.

By that point, everyone began strategizing. Mavis began creating a plan of defense with the help of Makarov, Levy and Freed, certain that their master plan would be enough to defeat Zeref's insane army. During their planning, other's went to their homes or hotels to prepare themselves while Natsu asked Makarov if he had any idea as to where Lucy could be. There was no way that they could go into battle without her. It just didn't feel right.

The old guild master sighed, remembering how he didn't wait until Lucy recovered to disband the guild. Knowing Lucy, she was probably broken to see the guild still destroyed and disbanded, her nakama nowhere in sight and no one to tell her what was going on. Though it was Team Natsu that rescued him from Alvarez, Makarov had to admit, it was a shock that Lucy was not with the team when they greeted him. He had hoped, during Erza's explanation, that they had at least known Lucy's whereabouts but no such luck.

"I'll be honest with you, Natsu... it is plausible that Lucy remained in the Dragon Realm after the fight with Tartaros. But I'd also like to hope that she remains there." The guild master said.

"Wha-!?"

"As you know, many do not remember Lucy being a dragon or the Dragon Empress for that matter." Makarov reminded, raising his hand to stop Natsu from speaking further. "After leaving the Dragon Realm, only a selected few know the truth of how the Eclipse incident came to a close while everyone else's memories have been distorted due to one of the dragon apprentices' abilities."

"Yeah but what does that have to do with hoping Lucy stays in the Dragon Realm?" Happy asked.

"I would hate for her to be in a position where she has to hide her identity and the dragons' existence again. And... to be frank, it is also plausible she has forgotten about us if she had remained in the Dragon Realm during this past year."

"Gramps do you even hear yourself!? How could Luce ever forget about us!? We're her nakama! Her family! She's with mine, Wendy's and Gajeel's dragons too for Mavis' sake!"

"Natsu!" Makarov shouted, making the dragon slayer quiet down. "Think about it boy... one day here equals to three months in the Dragon Realm. If Lucy really did stay there without leaving... for a whole year..."

Happy gasped as he did the math in his head (only desperate times call for desperate measures) and when he realized what Makarov meant, his body began to shake at the possibility of his words. "...A century... Lucy would've been in the Dragon Realm... for almost a century by now..."

When those words left Happy's mouth, Natsu also understood what Makarov meant in that moment. Almost a hundred years would Lucy have stayed in the Dragon Realm if she hadn't left for the whole year on Earthland. Yes, the passing years for her wouldn't physically affect her but it would definitely do something to her mind. Even if Fairy Tail was close to her heart, it would've been easy for the memories to slowly fade away as the time and years progressed.

Unfortunately, the fire dragon slayer had no time to dwell on it any further. Warren's radar began to ring throughout the guild hall, alerting anyone inside that the enemy had somehow closed in on them without any sort of detection. Mavis began throwing orders left and right in order to counter the enemy, the rest of the fairies getting into their positions. Natsu knew he couldn't dwell on Lucy's whereabouts any longer. His main priority was protecting Magnolia. That way... Lucy will finally have a home to return to.

Meanwhile, deep within the town, a green haired girl was walking around aimlessly. Away from all the explosions and fighting. She didn't seem particularly interested in anything, but it was obvious that she was heading towards Fairy Tail. The area was completely empty and barren, so there was no one to stand in her way. However, what she didn't expect was to hear footsteps approaching from behind her. And when she turned around, her eyes couldn't help but widen for a split second.

"Oh hello there!" The stranger greeted her with an innocent smile. "What are you doing here? Didn't you know? It's going to get quite dangerous around here so why don't you come with me for awhile? I have a feeling both you and I are headed towards the same place."

Hi guys! The next few chapters, including this one, is something I've thought of adding while writing the finale of this fic. It will be how Lucy being a Dragon Empress would affect the Alvarez arc if you couldn't tell. There won't be many parts and mostly everything is going to stay the same, save for the few parts with Lucy's participation that I will write about. It's also going to be more NaLu based too. You don't have to read it but if you do, thanks for sticking around! Hehe!