Here's the next chapter my Fairy Tail fans!

Enjoy! And Happy Reading!

Chapter 83

Reunions and Returns

I once again saw nothing but white as I felt a familiar whipping of wind and the air stretching my cheeks as I went through the Anima forcing me to clench my eyes shut. This lasted for a few seconds until finally, it stopped. The next thing I knew, I felt myself falling downwards feeling the sensation of water dripping around me. I then opened my eyes to see that I was falling to the ground very fast. I tried to summon my water wings, but it was too late as I hit the ground with a wet thud. I groaned as I pushed myself up shaking my head trying to shake off the impact.

Then just when I was about to get up, something slam right on my back making me kiss the ground again. After that, I felt several other thuds on my back making me press deeply into the ground from the growing weight. I looked behind me to see that Natsu and the others had fallen right on top of me as they were forced out by the Anima and frankly it was rather uncomfortable.

"Oh man... that was a wild ride," I heard Lucy groan.

"You're telling me," I heard Wendy speak. "Something like that would probably be enough to me motion sick."

"Is everyone all right?" asked Erza.

"I think so," I spoke. "Unless you define all right being in a pile like this."

We all got up on our feet and took a look around. We seemed to be at a place with trees with the sky filled with clouds and pouring with rain. Immediately I recognized the place we were in as did everyone else. This place was none other than the outskirts of Magnolia. I've only been there once before as a child, but I knew this place anywhere. There was also the familiar sound of a church bell ringing of which I also knew. I looked towards the source of the sound and my eyes went wide with awe and amazement. The desert wasteland that was once Magnolia after it was taken by the Anima was now completely restored to its former glory from Kardia Cathedral to the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"I don't believe it," I spoke in a murmur. "It's..."

"It's Magnolia!" cut in Lucy. "It's normal again!"

"We did it, everybody!" cheered Natsu happily. "We're back and Magnolia's back to normal!"

"Hold on. Let's not get ahead of ourselves," spoke Erza stopping the celebration. "We shouldn't be sure of anything until we know for sure that everyone is OK."

"As much as I hate to say it, but Erza's right," I said with a hint of reluctance. "We should make sure just to be safe. I fly up and scout Magnolia if you'd like."

"There's no need to do that," said a voice from somewhere up above. "We got back a while ago and we decided to check on them for you."

I looked up to the source of the voice and my eyes widened in shock and my jaw dropped. There flying from up above us was a flock of Exceeds. There were practically hundreds of them, men, women, and even children and the elderly.

"We flew all over Magnolia and we're happy to report, that your friends and everyone in town are doing great!" said a male green Exceed.

"Yeah! They didn't even know that they were turned into a lacrima when we talked to them," said a female pink Exceed. "Everything's completely normal as if nothing had happened."

"Not only that but Earth Land's awesome!" said a male light blue Exceed. "It's got lots of magic power!"

None of us replied nor could we respond due to us still being dumbfounded by the numerous Exceeds flying above us. As the Exceeds landed on the ground in front of us, Carla finally spoke up breaking the silence.

"What are they doing here?!" she demanded crossly. "The Exceeds shouldn't be here in Earth Land! It's not right! Not to mention it's far too dangerous for them to roam around Earth Land! They should return to Edolas at once!"

"Now, now Carla," soothed Happy trying to calm her down. "Be nice."

"Yeah. Besides, it's not like they can go back through an Anima now that Mystogan's eliminated all the magic power there," said Wendy. "Even if they could it's not like they have a homeland to go to. We should forgive them."

"Never!" humped Carla.

The Exceeds now looked very guilty and ashamed. I'm guessing they must have done something to Carla and Wendy while they were over at Extalia which was the reason Carla was less than forgiving to see them. I honestly didn't know why or what happened between them, but I said nothing watched on listening as the crowd of Exceeds apologized.

"We're really sorry that throwing rocks at you."

"Yeah. We really feel bad about it now."

"But we really don't have a place to go now that Extalia's been destroyed."

"We'll promise to mend our ways by being nice to you."

"Please say that you'll forgive us."

"This has nothing to do with you, kids!" snapped Carla her angry scowl still visible as she pointed at a particular Exceed that was taller than the others and white just like her while wearing a red top and pink bottoms. "It's her! I'm angry because your queen sent her soldiers and me to Earth Land on a mission to exterminate the Dragon Slayers!"

"I KNOW!" yelled another white elderly Exceed who wore old green pants with a light green shirt with a sleeveless blue jacket. "NOT ONLY THAT BUT THE QUEEN ALSO ORDERED US TO GET GIVE UP OUR EGGS! HOW CAN SHE BE SO HEARTLESS! KAH!"

Then a middle-aged blue Exceed came up to calm down the old white Exceed. She was also blue-furred and she wore a white dress with a yellow apron and a green hood.

"Now, now dear," she soothed. "You need to calm down a bit."

"Yeah! No joke!" said an orange Exceed with a black hat. "She never even told us why did she?"

"I can assure you that she had the most honorable reason to do so," said an old green Exceed that stood beside the Queen.

"I can remember vividly of that incident," said a blue Exceed next to him. "It was around six years ago. For those who are may or not be aware, the queen, Shagotte, has the ability to see into the future which is both a gift and a curse. On a particular day prior to these events, she had a vision of Extalia falling to its doom. And if Shagotte foresaw this, then it was bound to happen."

"We would soon learn that Extalia would fall by natural means due to the exhaustion of magic power," went on the old green Exceed. "However, at the time we thought that the destruction of our homeland would be caused by humans. of which we knew it was a war we couldn't win. So Shacotte had no choice but to save the children."

"Save them?!" gasped the old white Exceed in shock.

"You don't mean..." the elderly blue cat spoke trailing off.

"That's right," continued the old green Exceed. "To prevent panic among the Exatlians, we arranged our plan in secret to save the children that had yet to be born. The queen then issued a false proclamation as a means for a cover-up. We felt terrible for making the queen lie to you all like that, but we had no choice."

"But it's a completely different story than what we were told," said Happy doubtfully. "Are you sure you're not lying to us?"

"I can assure you, young man, it's the truth," spoke the blue Exceed. "We couldn't possibly go public about Extalia crashing into the earth. And of course, we bore no enmity towards the Dragon Slayers whatsoever."

"It's OK. We know that," said Wendy. "You just needed something to go along with the story you told them."

Everyone else in Fairy Tail seemed to understand as well including me.

"You knew everyone would panic if the truth got out," said Lucy. "So you had to make up something to convince the public."

"No kidding," I said. "As much I hate to say this, but you guys wouldn't have stood a chance against Faust much less his army."

I then looked at Carla who was no longer angry but rather confused and surprised by this story.

"We also made use of Faust's Anima to successfully carry out our operation," spoke up Shagotte. "However... something unexpected happened to one particular egg. Something that we had no idea about until now," She then looked at Carla. "As it turned out, Carla... you have the same prophetic power as I do." Carla's eyes widened in surprise as Shagotte continued. "Unfortunately at the time you were born, you didn't have any conscious control over it. And as a result, it clouded your mind and your memory. Out of all the one hundred Exceeds that we sent away, only you had this power. "I suspect that you began to see scattered bits of Edolas' future which caused you to mistake that information as your personal mission."

Carla's eyes widened even further as she stared ar Shagotte in disbelief. "You... can't be serious..." she murmured. "I... I was wrong."

"Then if that's true... then does that mean..." began Happy before he trailed off.

"The two of you were never given a mission," cut in Shagotte. "It was just your way of creating a "mission" for yourself that never existed. You were both sent to Earth Land because we wanted to protect the next generation. Nothing more."

"Then... back when I was drawing a map to enter Faust's castle..." spoke Carla her voice quivering. "Those images I saw... were nothing, but prophesies?"

"That's correct," said Nadi who had now appeared beside Shagotte pumping his fist. "We thought that you'd be better off not knowing about your powers, so we hid it from you using your unawareness to make it seem like we were controlling you." He then bowed respectively. "Please, forgive us! We're so very sorry!"

Then another Exceed appeared next to Nadi. He was golden furred and wore royal clothes of a knight and had a face that seemed very familiar.

"At the time, we honestly thought that this was the only way to embellish the queen's illustriousness," he said. "However, now we deeply regret it."

"That show of false bravado that I put on for the citizens of Extalia and the humans in the face of suffering has caused you a great deal of hardship," said Shagotte. "No... I brought you all anguish to all the families I took eggs from six years ago which was I handed you the sword to kill me, Carla. All of the Exceed kind have nothing to do this. Only me."

"Please Your Majesty, it wasn't your fault," insisted Nadi. "No one is to blame here.

Then the golden-furred Exceed burst into tears letting out a sorrowful meow. "You shouldn't be held responsible for when you were only doing what you thought was best for the citizens of Extalia!" he sobbed.

"Yeah. We're just as much to blame as you are, Queen Shagotte," said the orange Exceed with the black hat. "I guess you could say we had it coming due to being so full of ourselves."

"But hey! Now that we're in Earth Land, we can start making things right again!" said a young blue Exceed.

"Yeah! Let's start by finding all the Exceed children that were sent away six years ago!" said another young Exceed.

At that moment, all of the Exceeds became happy as they sprouted their wings taking flight into the air as they cheered.

"This is awesome!"

"Now we have a new purpose!"

"Let's do our best to find those other Exceeds and become friends with the humans!"

"Here's to making a fresh start, you guys!"

This sight alone was enough to make me and everyone smile seeing the Exceeds so happy and pumped.

Natsu giggled. "Those guys sure are optimistic, aren't they?"

"Indeed," I agreed chuckling. "What a way for a fresh start."

"Thank you, everyone," spoke Shagotte her eyes filling with tears of joy.

Nadia and the golden-furred cat also began crying tears of joy feeling so incredibly happy.

"We should all count our blessings today," spoke the golden-furred cat. "We are so very lucky to be granted this new beginning."

Carla then looked at the Exceeds flying above us and then she looked at Shagotte. Her expression softened.

"Very well then," she said. "In that case, I'll accept you and forgive you. However... there's one thing that's bugging me though. How in the world did I end up having the same prophetic power as you, Shagotte?"

Shagotte then stiffened a little and she along with the four elders that stood beside her all avoided making eye contact with Carla pretending that they didn't hear the question.

"I... uh... honestly don't know," said Shagotte.

I felt a little curious now that Carla mentioned it. I mean after all like she said, the two had the exact same power to see into the future. However, it wasn't exactly my business to meddle into, so I didn't say anything more.

After that, the Exceeds all waved goodbye and thank you as they disappeared into the raining sky.

"Bye! We'll see you later!" called Natsu.

"Take care of yourselves!" I called. "I hope you find those Exceeds!"

"Yeah! See you later!" called Lucy.

"Bye-bye for now!" Wendy also called.

And we waved until the Exceeds were out of sight. Now we were by ourselves.

"All right then," I said. "Now that the Exceed's are gone, what should we do now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" grinned Natsu who was still pumping his arm. "We celebrate! I say we head back to the guild hall and party!"

"Sounds good, but what are we gonna tell everyone?" wondered Lucy who was now pumping her arm too.

"We tell them nothing," replied Gray also pumping his fist. "I mean, after all, they have no clue about anything that happened. Why bother telling them?"

"That's a good point," said Erza who also joined in the fist-pumping. "But I think that we should at least tell them what's become of Mystogan."

"Um... guys? What's with your arms?" wondered Wendy.

"I guess they picked up the habit from Nadi," I shrugged. "I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later." I then looked at Gajeel who was looking around frantically. "What's up, Gajeel? Something wrong?"

"Yeah! We got a real problem!" replied Gajeel.

"If it's about the fist-pumping it ain't a problem!" Natsu popped up fist pumping away still. "It's actually a lot of fun! You should try it!"

"Yeah! Come on, Gajeel!" chimed in Wendy now fist pumping too. "You do it too! It's a lot of fun!"

"I'm not talking about that, you morons!" Gajeel snapped comically. "I'm talking about my cat! Where's Lily?! Don't tell me those flying felines took him with them!"

"Who's Lily?" wondered Gray.

"He was that big brawny Exceed who helped us," explained Lucy. "I think that's who he means."

"Are you really that blind?" said a deep voice. "I'm right here."

Everyone looked to the source of the voice which was coming from the bushes a few feet away. There stood Panther Lily, but he was now drastically different. He was now Happy and Carla's height and looked very less intimidating than before.

"SO TINY!" all of us cried comic shock.

"What the heck happened to you?!" I wondered. "Weren't you all big and buff before? You practically as small and Happy and Carla now!"

"It would seem that my previous physique wasn't well-suited for Earth Land," explained Lily.

"Aren't you... concerned about your body's current state?" asked Carla tentatively.

"Normally I would be, but as of now, want to join the guild that the prince was taken in by," spoke Lily. He then looked at the Iron Dragon Slayer with fiery determination. "After all that's what you said, right Gajeel? Will you do me the honor of making me a member?"

Gajeel looked at Erza who smiled and nodded at him. He then smiled giddily and then pounced on Lily giving him a bear hug while his eyes burst into tears of joy.

"Consider it done, buddy!" he sobbed happily. "Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

"Whoa! He's actually crying!" gasped a surprised Lucy.

"I know that he wanted a cat, but still, it's a bit unexpected," I said.

Then I took notice of something that Lily was holding in his paw. It was a long rope which trailed behind him leading away from us into the bushes.

"Um... excuse me, Lily," I said. "But what's with the rope?"

"Ah yes! I happened to come across a very suspicious person," explained Lily. "Naturally, I used this rope to tie the villain up making sure that there would be no trouble."

"What an overachiever!" grinned Gajeel in amazement. "You're definitely my cat, all right!"

Panther Lily then gave the rope he was holding a sharp tug. "Come on!" he barked.

The bushes then rustled as a young girl stumbled out of the bushes letting out a yelp of pain as she fell to the ground. Then she looked up and I could see that girl was young about Lucy's age, wore strange garb, and had blue eyes and short silver hair. Then my eyes widened in shock as my heart seemed to freeze in my chest.

"No...no it can't be..." I murmured.

I've seen that face a bunch of times as a child, but that seemed like a long time ago and it seemed like forever. She may have grown since over the past years, but she was the best friend who I assumed and was told to be dead.

"L-lisanna...?"

NO POV

"It's not what you think!" Lisanna spoke indignantly. "I'm not suspicious at all! I'm a member of Fairy Tail too!" She then turned towards Lily puffing her cheeks in anger.
"And as for you, that hurt! Don't be so rough with me, cat! Or rather... Exceed because that's what you are, right?"

"The name is Panther Lily," spoke the black cat firmly. "It'd be wise to watch your mouth!"

"Yeah! If you got a problem with my cat, you'll have to take it up with me, lady!" barked Gajeel.

"Whoa... she looks just like..." Gray began.

"Lisanna!" finished Erza.

"No way..." murmured Happy quietly.

"It can't be," spoke Carla. "Is she the one from Edolas perhaps?"

"If she is, then how in the world did she end up here?!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What'll we do?!" wondered Wendy with a slight panic in her voice.

Lisanna then looked at Natsu. The two stared at each other for quite a long time. Then Lisanna's eyes filled up with tears of joy as she tackled Natsu to the ground in a big hug.

"Natsu! It's really you!" she cried her tears streaming down her face. "I thought I'd never see you again!" She then saw Happy and gave her a tight hug as well. "Oh, Happy! You're here too! I missed you so much!" she sobbed wiping her tears as she looked around at the shocked expressions of her fellow guildmates. "It's been so long since I've seen everyone! Gray! Erza! And... those two must be the new recent members Lucy and Wendy right?! Wow, it's been a long time!"

"Wait a sec-" said Gray now more shocked than ever. "Are you... Are you really our Lisanna?"

Lisanna was silent for a few seconds before giving Gray a small nod in response. At that moment, Natsu and Happy burst into tears the two of them overjoyed.

"SHE'S COME BACK TO LIFE!" shrieked Natsu.

"HURRAY!" cried Happy.

The two of them went towards Lisanna to give her a hug in return, but they were immediately yanked back by the collar by Erza.

"Hold on just a minute!" she said glaring suspiciously at the girl. "You can't be our Lisanna! She died two years ago and there's no way that she could have been resuscitated!"

Lisanna paused for a moment before she gave the Queen of Fairies her response.

"The truth is... I didn't actually die that day," she said quietly. "Two years ago, I went out on a job with Mira and Elfman. After Elfman knocked me to the ground, I lost consciousness after that. At that moment, I guess I was sucked into an Anima. They were lots of small Animas throughout Earth Land back then. And I would have to assume that they were prototypes compared to the big ones considering that I didn't turn into a lacirma when I crossed into Edolas. When I arrived there, I was very surprised to be in such a place and that there was also a Fairy Tail in that world. Everyone seemed so different and yet they were familiar too. As soon as they saw me, they all welcomed me with open arms and were surprised to see me. My guess is that they thought I was Edolas Fairy Tail's Lisanna and also... that she was dead from what I heard in their conversation. They all seemed so happy assuming that I had come back from the dead, so... not wanting to tell them the truth, I pretended to be their Lisanna."

Everyone stared at Lisanna with shock not saying a word as she continued her story.

"At first there was some confusion," she went on. "I would apologize and tell them that my memory would be hazy, but after a while, things grew easier for me the more I learned about Edolas. And to add to that, it was easy to hide my magic thanks to Edolas' magic power being finite. Eventually, two years passed by quickly and I was finally getting accustomed to life in Edolas. Then suddenly, Natsu and Happy showed up out of the blue along with Happy and Carla."

"Then why didn't you say anything back then?!" demanded Natsu incredulously. "Why didn't you bother telling them the truth?!"

"It simply wasn't the right time," said Lisanna simply. "But... even if I wanted to, it didn't matter because the Reverse Anima revealed my secret just as it was pushing all the magic power out of Edolas. As it turned out, Edolas Mira and Elfman knew the whole time that I wasn't real Lisanna before I had the chance to tell them. Then I was sucked through the Anima and now... here I am standing before you all."

WILLY'S POV

At this point, I had completely zoned out tuning out Lisanna's explanation as to how she had been alive all these years. I was still trying to comprehend if what I was seeing before me a dream or a fake. I just continued to stare at her my heart wrenching in emotion, my eyes beginning to grow hot, and memories of Lisanna, Me, Mira, and Elfman going through my mind. Then Lisanna looked at me and the moment she did, her eyes widened as wide as saucers and she clasped her hands over her mouth. I then walked a couple of steps forward our eyes never leaving each other as our friends parted giving us some room.

"No.. no way..." spoke Lisanna her voice quivering. "Is it... Is it..."

"Lisanna... listen very closely," I spoke my voice also cracking a little. "It may be because I'm having trouble processing this right now or maybe I want to be sure, but... I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer honestly."

I paused taking a deep breath trying my best not to cry. Then I asked Lisanna these words:

"Do you know who I am? Exactly who I am?"

Lisanna stared at me not saying a word. Then she unclasped her mouth as a smile spread across her cheeks her blue eyes twinkling as fresh tears streaming down her face once again.

"How could not know who you are?" she spoke. "You're my best friend. The one who helped saved Elfman from drowning, Mira from being lost in the forest, and being the reason we became Fairy Tail wizards... Willy Falconer..."

At that moment, tears began to stream down my face as I immediately rushed toward Lisanna letting out a wail.

"LISANNA!"

Lisanna then rushed to me and the two of us embraced each other in a tight hug the two of both sobbing like babies.

"I don't believe this!" I sobbed hysterically. "You're alive! You're really alive, Lisanna!"

"I don't believe it either," Lisanna cried. "All this time... I thought that you were dead when you disappeared, but... we never stopped believing! Me, Mira, and Elfman always believed even when we were about to give up!"

The two of us hugged and cried for a few more seconds, but then I suddenly remembered something. Something important. So important that I felt my face pale and I let out a scream.

"Willy! What is it?!" wondered Lucy feeling a bit startled.

"I completely forgot!" I screamed. "I'm supposed to be over at Kardia Cathedral with Mira and Elfman right now!"

I immediately let go of Lisanna and spread my water wings from my back. Water shot forth from the bottoms of my feet as I launched into the air.

"Willy!" I heard Natsu yell.

"Come back here!" shouted Erza. "Wait just a minute!"

But I refused to listen. With a mighty flap of my wings, I shot forward and flew towards Kardia Cathedral as fast as my wings could carry me.

Soon enough, I could see Kardia Cathedral in sight. I swooped down and then landed just in front of it. I then ran towards the cemetery at the side. I then saw Elfman and Mira who were standing by Lisanna's grave. I immediately ran over to them.

"Mira! Elfman!"

The two then looked up.

"Willy. There you are," said Mira. "We were wondering where you went."

"Yeah. Where'd you go?" wondered Elfman.

Knowing that neither Elfman nor Mira didn't know anything about being turned into a lacrima, I decided to keep that quiet. But I did have to tell them about Lisanna. Then I realized something. Something that I completely forgot about in my haste.

"Oh crap! I left Lisanna behind!" I screamed in my mind. "I was in such a rush that I completely forgot! Damn it, Willy! You idiot!" I then calmed myself down. "OK. OK. Calm down. I can still tell them about her. It's just a matter of time before she catches up with me. I'll just tell them that Lisanna's alive. Shouldn't be that hard."

"Willy? Willy, are you OK? You look a bit out of it."

Mira's voice suddenly snapped me out of my thought as I shook my head trying to get back to reality.

"It's... it's nothing. I'm fine," I reassured. "But listen, you guys. There's something I want to-"

"Hold on, Willy," interrupted Elfman. "Before you say anything, there's something... that I've been meaning to tell you for quite some time now. Something... that I should have told you as soon as you got back. Would you mind... listening for a minute?"

I looked at Elfman and could see that he was serious, so I looked up at him and gave him a nod.

"I'm listening," I said.

Elfman looked at Mira and she nodded too. Then Elfman began.

"You know how you were told about Lisanna being dead right? Well... I know exactly how she died," Elfman spoke quietly. "You see... it happened two years ago back when you were still missing. The three of us took on a job, an S class one, in which we were ordered to suppress a creature known as the King of Monsters, The Beast. The Beast was too strong and we were easily overwhelmed at the time, so... running out of options, I decided to use a Full-Body Takeover, Beast Soul. But what happened after that... was something... I hoped would never happen."

Elfman head hung as he clenched his fists at his sides. I looked at him expectantly waiting for him to go on. Mira then held his hand rubbing it soothingly.

"It's OK, Elfman," she said. "Go ahead and tell him."

I saw Elfman's throat move as he seemed to choke back a sob as he resumed his story.

"I... I only wanted to protect Mira and Lisanna," he said his voice cracking. "I... I wanted to save them, but... it was too strong. The Beast's power was so great, that I started losing myself and began to go out of control. Mira tried to reach me, but I had already lost control. Then Lisanna tried to stop me... and then..." He choked back a sob as tears began welling up in his eyes, but he continued. "I... I killed her. I killed Lisanna..."

He then broke down and started to sob going on his knees and burying his face in his hands. I then looked at Mira who then placed an arm on his shoulders trying to calm him down. She then finished the story.

"Elfman... or should I say The Beast sending her flying across the forest," she said. "When I got there, I tried to help her, but... it was too late. She was gone."

There was a long silence as they finished their story. I for one felt a bit shocked after hearing this version of the story.

"Was... was this what you were trying to tell me before?" I asked.

Elfman nodded. "I'm so sorry," he sobbed wiping his tears. "I tried to tell you before, but I was scared that you would end up hating me and you would think that I was a monster. I'm pretty sure that even Lisanna would resent me if she... were still alive. Even so... I ask you to please forgive me. Forgive me for this horrible crime I committed. Although... I would understand if you don't want to forgive me."

I then bent down and placed a hand on Elfman's shoulder causing him to look at me.

"There is nothing to forgive, Elfman," I said. "It wasn't your fault. It was something that you had no control over like me with the Seis. There's no need to blame yourself. You were just trying to protect your sisters."

Elfman looked up at me as I smiled kindly at him.

"And besides, I'm sure that Lisanna would probably tell you the same thing," I went on. "In fact, I would guarantee that she would forgive you in a heartbeat."

"H-how do you know that?" wondered Elfman.

I then heard the sounds of footsteps in the distance. I glanced in the corner of my eye and I saw a certain someone running towards us. I then smiled widely looking back at Elfman.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Mira and Elfman were surprised and puzzled. Then they both heard a familiar voice calling out to them.

"Mira! Big brother Elfman! It's me!"

The moment Elfman and Mira heard that voice, the two seem to freeze not believing what they heard. The two slowly turned around and their eyes widened in shock. Elfman was so shocked that he dropped his umbrella not caring if he or Mira got wet. There standing before them was the very person of whom they thought was dead, Lisanna.

"Is... is this real?!" choked Mira as her eyes began to fill with tears. "It can't be..."

Elfman couldn't respond or speak as his eyes began overflowing with tears more so than before.

Not wanting to get in their way, I stepped back to the side wanting to see this reunion unfold. The Strauss siblings stared at each other for what seemed to be forever. Then Lisanna ran straight towards them until she joyfully jumped into Mira's arms.

"I'm back, sis!" sobbed Lisanna. "I'm back home!"

The three of them then cried their eyes out having to be finally back together again. As I watched from afar, I couldn't help but feel tears of my own trickle down my face even from the rain. I then turned away from the three not wanting to get in the way of this touching reunion. As I did, I could see Natsu and the others having to have just arrived not too long ago. I then started to walk away.

"You leaving?" wondered Gajeel.

"Well... it's been a while since they've seen each other," I said smiling. "I mean... compared to Lisanna, I'm a stranger to them. I don't want to get in the way."

I then resumed walking barely taking a couple steps when I heard a voice call out.

"Willy!"

This made me stop and look behind me and what I saw made my eyes wide with surprise. All three of the Strauss siblings were looking at me with their arms around each other and Mira and Elfman having their free arms open beckoning me to join in on the reunion hug. Seeing this made my heart throb inside my chest.

"It looks to me that they don't see it that way," Gajeel chuckled.

I stared at the three not sure what to do. Then I looked at Mira and I gotta tell you, she was wearing one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. And not just her, Elfman and Lisanna had smiles that would put others to shame. Seeing those smiles made memories float into my mind. When I first met the Strauss siblings, when I would read with Elfman and Lisanna, when I protected Mira from the gorian and the demon, and even when I protected them from the angry citizens in Nomekop. All those memories made my eyes well up with tears once again and I felt a foolish grin spread across my cheeks. I then broke into a run heading straight towards them until I practically threw myself into the hug, holding them tightly not wanting to let them go.

In that moment, nothing else mattered. It didn't matter if everyone else was staring at us. It didn't matter if we were all wet from the rain. It even didn't matter if I wasn't technically their brother biologically. All that mattered was being together again.

After crying and hugging for what seemed to be a while, Mira was able to regain herself and managed to say two little words. Two words that truly signified the return of her little sister.

"Welcome home."

I tried to make this a big moment, but I might have overdone it.

Anyhoo, the Edolas Arc is officially over! (Finally!)

You know what to do! PM or Review me if you liked this chapter or if you have any questions!

Dragoman out!