The carriage rickets and shakes while it travels on rough pavement. Currently riding in the carriage were Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Erza. The four hardly spoke for the entire ride, with the exception of Natsu's groaning and hurling. Their destination was a forest northwest from Magnolia. Jellal had an idea of the location so he informed the four of the exact location.

The morning sun rose not that long ago, the four wizards up and earlier than usual. Each had slight bags under their eyes since they didn't get much sleep.

Before departing, they made a quick stop by Fairy Tail to pick up a large sealed cart that is currently connected to the carriage. They also checked in on the infirmary and after being swiftly kicked out by Polyushka, she informed them Chelia and Carla will recover and awake anytime today while being unsure when Wendy will awaken from her comatose state.

Lucy was quietly writing something in a journal she had brought with. Natsu was currently laying by the blonde's lap as she would occasionally rub his back soothingly.

Gray, who was staring out the window, glances over at Lucy and perks up. "Hey, Lucy. What do you got there?" He asks, pointing at her journal.

Lucy quickly snaps out of her zone and clumsily hides the journal behind her back. "O-oh! It's nothing really special, just jotting some notes down!" She nervously chuckles.

"Are we there yet…?" Natsu groans, feeling like he's gonna pass out any moment.

Erza leans out the window and spots a field of trees a bit ahead. "Not much longer, it seems."

After a couple more minutes (which felt like an eternity for Natsu), the carriage stopped. The coachman cracked his whip slightly to signal the horse to stop.

The coachman turns his head at the four. "Alright, this is as far as I can take you."

Erza was the first to stand up, opening the door and stepping out. "You have our thanks." She thanks, walking over to the cart and starts to unhook it.

In a heartbeat, Natsu springs to his feet and raises his arms high. "Alright! It finally stopped!" He cheers.

Gray was the next to exit, briefly sneering at Natsu. "Tone it down, will ya?"

Not before long, all four had exited the carriage and made their payment. The coachman cracks his whip as the horse makes a full u-turn and gallops away. The four stare at the forest up ahead.

Erza begins pulling the large cart with a single hand, taking a few steps forward. "It seems Jellal's intuition was correct." She acknowledges. "Deep in this forest was a village that was attacked by the Cult of Zeref several years ago. It was reported that there was only a single victim, as all the villagers left hours before the attack."

Gray rubs the back of his head. "Why would the angels choose this place for their new home?"

Lucy puts her journal away in her bag and walks by Gray. "There aren't any towns near this forest, perhaps they wanted to stay as far from human civilization as possible."

"I guess it'll be awhile until they start trusting humans, huh?" Natsu guesses.

Lucy closes her eyes and places a palm on her chest. She breathes in through her nose and exhales with her mouth. "That's one of the reasons we're here. We should get going."

"Right. Try and stay close, everyone." Erza suggests.

Much like the carriage ride, the walk through the thick forest was silent. Minus the noise the cart was making as Erza pulled it over many bumps and stones. Lucy in particular was feeling a heavy stress that caused her stomach to hurt. But none thought of turning back now.

"...Say, how do you think they're new home is coming along?" Natsu wonders, his arms behind his head.

"I'm sure if they could build an entire country in the sky, those angels can make a pretty comfortable home here. Despite the circumstances." Gray comments, shrugging.

Lucy lifts her head and stares ahead. "Do you think they'll still have laws against magic?"

In the midst of the conversation, Erza's eyes perk up as she hears a slight rustle in the bushes. She abruptly stops and checks her surroundings. Natsu, Gray and Lucy all stop, noticing the swordswoman on edge.

"Careful. I believe we got company." Erza warns.

The Fairy Tail wizards all stand in a circle with their backs facing each other. Several silhouettes fly out of the bushes and even the trees above. In only mere seconds, the wizards were surrounded with angels wearing iron armor, both on ground and above. They all wield spears pointing at the four.

Lucy looks back at her friends and nods at them, the three nodding back. They all drop their guard and raise their arms.

"Those faces…you're some of those mages who attacked Exahelm!" One soldier comments.

"Sir? Your orders?" Another soldier inquires, glancing behind him.

Another figure emerges from the forest depths, and it's a familiar face. Wearing his bulky blue armor and stroking his tusk-like mustache, was none other than Balrus. However, his wings were not present. He approaches the four wizards and raises a hand. All the soldiers collectively step back and lift their spears upward. The obese angel looks down at the four, giving a noticeable stink eye at Natsu.

"...We hath been expecting thee." Balrus announces. He slowly turns around and starts walking. "I shalt escort you the rest of the way."

Without saying a word, the Fairy Tail wizards began following Balrus. Many soldiers stood around the group like a barricade.

Surrounded by flowers and a small pond lays a small gravestone. The stone hadn't been marked yet but an individual was sitting on their knees and praying at it. That individual being Hahlos, no longer donned in armor but casual garbs. Once he finishes praying, he gently removes his necklace and wraps it around the stone.

"...I guess in a way, our dream is beginning to come true, Carine." Hahlos states.

~~~Flashback~~~

Up in the library at Exahelm Castle, Hahlos stood by the open window. He lifts the star shaped crystal on his necklace and stares at it. The evening was bright as stars were shining in the sky, another peaceful day had passed in the country.

The library door opens which catches Hahlos' attention. Izanagi walks on inside and his eyes perk up once he sees the guardian.

"Ah, Hahlos. So you were here after all." Izanagi comments, approaching him.

Hahlos gently bows his upper body as a greeting. "Was there something you need of me, master?"

"Not really." Izanagi replies. The god notices Hahlos holding the crystal on the palm of his hand. "That necklace…that was your friend's, right?" He wonders.

Hahlos nods, slipping the crystal off his palm as it hangs on the thread. "Indeed. She was a very dear friend of mine, it's something to remember her by." He acknowledges.

"I see…" Izanagi holds his chin, examining the crystal before eyeing Hahlos. "What was she like?"

Hahlos was caught off guard. "I'm…afraid I don't follow…"

"Your friend, Carine, was it? I've only heard about what happened to her, but you never really talked about what she was like and your relationship. Why not tell me about her?" Izanagi inquires.

Hahlos was hesitant, his eyes narrowing away for a moment. He decides to go into detail of his relationship with Carine. How she was Stark's older sister, her personality, and her fascination with the world below much like himself. He shared all the positive experiences he had with her, Izanagi listening quietly. Although, the god could sense a hint of sadness in Hahlos' voice.

Once Hahlos was finished, Izanagi smirks at the guardian and pats his back.

"How about you take a load off tomorrow. You and I should have a nice walk around town, how about it?" Izanagi suggests.

Hahlos raises an eyebrow. "That's…not very usual of you, master. You've always said you aren't fond of making public appearances."

Izanagi turns around and takes a few steps back. "The peace has been at an all time high, ever since the Lacrima smuggling was taken care of. So why not take in the sights and greet the people?" He turns his head back at Hahlos.

Hahlos pauses for a second before smiling back at the god. He gently nods at him before following him out of the library.

~~~Flashback End~~~

Hahlos softly smiles, seeing the crystal's reflection shine from the bright sky.

"It may take awhile…but I can see it. A bright new future will come to be in this new home of ours. I guarantee it. My dear friend."

Hahlos stands back up and as he is leaving, he senses some familiar presence. His smile quickly forms into a frown.

"They've arrived…"

"Woooaaah! How'd you build this big gate so quickly?!" Natsu gawks.

At a wide clearing in the forest, is a tall stone border that covers the entire clearing. The border had only one entrance, a large gate guarded by a couple soldiers. The Fairy Tail wizards collectively stare in awe of the impressive architecture.

Gray turns at Balrus. "That stone melding magic of yours is pretty damn impressive." He compliments.

"Hmph, I had thy duty as both captain and builder. Thou praise isn't necessary." Balrus comments, stroking his mustache. His tone of voice having a hint of glee.

The soldiers above spot Balrus and the four humans. They quickly got to work. They turn two cranks, causing the chains holding the gate to rise up, alongside the large door. Lucy could feel her heart pounding even more as they were about to enter straight inside the angel's new home.

The Fairy Tail wizards slowly walked on inside. If the large stone walls weren't surprising enough, inside they saw the absurd amount of progress the angels had made. While several no longer had their wings out, many of them were working together building new homes made out of wood. Several patches of dirt were carved in favor of growing crops. Many children and Exceeds were playing by a long pond stream that stretched far in the clearing. Some even lay on the soft grass. Despite everything that had happened, their community was thriving.

It wasn't long until the group started spotting familiar faces. They could see the long-nose angel who was currently chopping some wood, clearly struggling. He was being chewed out by another familiar face.

"What kind of form is that?! Ya gotta put yer back into it for crying out loud!" Alivia chides, flying by Torian.

Torian lifts the axe over his head and winces at Alivia's stern talking. "L-look! This stuff isn't as easy as you think!"

Alivia shakes her head in disapproval. "Peh! And you were one of the Tenhei, ya should be ashamed!" She ridicules. "There ain't no hierarchy anymore so ah better not hear ya complaining!"

Right by them, sat Sync on the smooth fencing. She happily kicks her legs as she watches the two.

"Come on Tori! You can do it! Show them the power of your Chore Boy title!" Sync encourages.

"Man…these chores are way harder than the ones I'm used to…" Torian sighs.

Up the path, a large wooden stand was set up with seats to boot. Henry was the one managing the stand as he was offering drinks of water. Both Arya and Argus were sitting by the bar enjoying their beverages.

"Man! The water here tastes far more refreshing than that cloud water we've been using!" Argus booms, he slams his barrel on the counter. "Another refill, please!"

Henry nervously chuckles as he grabs the barrel. "Alright, alright. But I still need plenty for the rest of the workers, so this'll be the last one." He states before filling up the barrel.

"Our break is going to end soon anyways, try to make it quick." Arya suggests. "This new home of ours isn't going to finish itself after all."

"HA HA HA! Guess you're right about that!" Argus concurs.

Arya chuckles, tapping on her head. "I've learned quite a bit already of this world. It's admittedly not what I expected."

Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Erza take several steps in, basking in the progress made so far. They all feel more at ease and curve into wide smiles. Lucy could feel a sense of familiarity, as when the Fairy Tail members reunited after a year of separation and quickly rebuilt their guild in no time at all. She lets out a sigh of relief, a worry leaving her chest.

However, that feeling of ease did not last long.

The four wizards were quickly spotted by several civilians. The amount of time it took them to stop their work was scarily fast.

"H-hey…aren't those humans? And the ones that attacked Exahelm too?!"

"Who let them in here?!"

"A-and what's with that large…box?!"

"Get them outta here!"

Several angels gather together and slowly approach the four humans, their expressions read of worry or anger. Some even ran to hide in their homes. Lucy widens her eyes and shakily takes a few steps back. Natsu went over and protectively placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, but showing no sign of aggression.

"Hold it! Everyone!" A familiar voice hollers. He emerges from an upward hill and begins walking down it. It was Stark, wearing an outfit fit for a farmer with jean shorts and all. He had a rake hung over his shoulder. "These four were expected to arrive, as they got something to say."

Gray couldn't help but smirk at Stark's outfit. "Y'know, the outfit kind of suits you."

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Stark scoffs, adjusting his glasses.

"W-wait…so you invited them here?! B-but why would you…?!" A young male angel exclaims.

"It is as he says!" Another familiar voice, this time being Hahlos. He emerges from the crowd, his arms folded behind his back. "These four know why they're here. And they're not here for a fight. We will not intervene or sway your feelings on this matter, however." Hahlos explains to the crowd.

As confused murmurs intensify, Sync, Aliva and Henry fly over them and land in front of the crowd. Henry and Sync prepare to walk over and greet them but Alivia stops them both in their tracks, shaking her head slowly at the two.

"Ah don't think they're here for a greetin…" Alivia whispers.

"Well? We're waiting on what you want to say!" A disgruntled older male angel barks.

Lucy could feel her heart burn even greater than before. She held her hands tightly and took several quick breaths. Natsu tightened his grip on her shoulder, the two looking at each other.

"You don't have to worry, Lucy. You're not alone in this." Natsu whispers. Gray and Erza turn their heads at Lucy and give reassuring smiles as well.

Lucy pauses and shuts her eyes for a moment. Like before on the carriage, she inhales through her nose and exhales through her mouth. She looks up at Natsu and smiles softly at him. She takes a few steps forward.

"Hello, civilians of Exahelm. My name is Lucy Heartfilia, a human. But I am not representing all human-kind…but the magic guild known as Fairy Tail. The ones responsible for Exahelm's destruction." Lucy begins.

Lucy nods at her allies and they all flash their respective guild marks. Many of the civilians recognized those marks, causing more murmurs in the crowd. Despite this, Lucy continues.

"As you may already know, our purpose that day was to save a dear friend of ours! Despite this, you were all caught in the crossfire and today we plan on making an effort to fix that wrong!" Lucy said loudly, both her arms raised upward and spread out.

A small boy angel and a green Exceed approach Lucy but stop from afar. The boy looks up at Lucy. "Your friend…was that land-walking girl? Is…she okay?" He worried.

Lucy smiles and chuckles at the boy. "Yeah…she'll be fine. I know she truly wanted to help you guys, too. And we'll do the same, look!" The blonde then gestures her arm to the cart, signalling Erza.

Erza nods as she summons a crowbar and seamlessly pries open the cart they had brought. Many civilians step back, unsure of what was inside. Alivia and Henry raise an eyebrow and fly on over, investigating inside.

The two farmers notice the cart filled with nothing but boxes. Henry opens one of them and his eyes shine at the sight.

"These are all boxes…of food and ingredients!" Henry announces.

Several people in the crowd exclaim as many of them quickly swarmed the cart and pulled out each crate. One black Exceed picks up a potato and examines it nervously.

"These…aren't bad right?" The black Exceed asks nervously.

Alivia rolls her eyes. "Oh come off it, here let me test it." She proceeds to take the potato and take a bite out of it. Her eyes immediately sparkled, her taste buds flourishing. "So good!"

Erza watches the angels collect the food inside with a smile. "They're all yours. The food down here I believe would be to your liking. You can grow several of these much like the methods you farmers did up above. There's also some recipes you all can learn in these loads."

"A lot of this food was donated by the human town we live in, once they heard what happened." Gray remarks.

Despite this gift, it didn't fully convince several angels in the crowd. Many still had stink eyes or uncertainty in their eyes. Lucy wasn't surprised by this, so she continues.

"I know this is far from enough. A lot has changed abruptly in your lives…because of us. We hurt a lot of people, for that I cannot apologize enough…" Lucy laments. "I know that you're all afraid of Earthland, it's people and it's magic. I'm sure it will be a very long time until you all start to feel comfortable here. So we'll work hard to build that trust! To show that humankind isn't something to be feared!"

The sun shines down brightly where everyone stood. Lucy places both palms on her chest. "On behalf of all of Fairy Tail, we cannot apologize enough. We'll do what we can to help you, we can donate money, we can-"

"AH SHUT UP!" A male angel barks, throwing his arm.

Lucy froze in place, her eyes widened and pupils shrunken.

"You think you can easily turn this around?! One day you attack our home, our soldiers! But *now* you come over here saying you want to help?! To build trust?! Gimme a break!" The same male angel lashes out.

More angels began to let out their frustrations in front of the four Fairy Tail wizards.

"We get you did it to save that poor girl…but you did it through violence! At our expense! With that dreaded *magic* of yours! How can we forgive mages…you 'Fairy Tail' people?!"

"For years we were taught about the horrors that had happened down here…the kind of environment you make…what am I supposed to believe now?!"

"And you haven't even mentioned Izanagi! He was the only one who went missing…what became of him?!"

Lucy gasps shakily, stumbling back a couple inches. She instinctively narrows her eyes away, lowering her arms and clenching her fists tightly. She could hear the anger, sorrow and pain in their voices.

"...That's right. I spent so much time worrying about the relationship between angels and humans. To fix the wrong…to convince them…that I should've thought of how they all felt and experienced…" Lucy thought, clenching her teeth. "I can't believe how selfish I am…"

In the midst of the yelling, Natsu goes over to Lucy with worry written all over his face. Gray and Erza approach her too as they all huddled together in an attempt to comfort the blonde. However, Lucy quickly shoves the three away with both arms.

"No…we need to tell them straight…I can't dance around this." Lucy realizes. She looks at all her friends, her face showing a serious demeanor.

Natsu sighs heavily and shuts his eyes. "...Okay." He whispers.

Lucy slowly raises an arm. The angels noticed this and their shouting began to simmer. It didn't take long for the crowd to be dead silent. They all watched the blonde, waiting for their answers.

"...Y-you ask what happened to Izanagi?" Lucy insinuates. She feels her throat on fire, like she could hurl at any moment. But she kept to her senses. She signals her friends one more time.

"Let's do it…everyone…"

Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Erza all collectively lower to their knees. They then lower their upper bodies, staring down, their foreheads touching the grass.

Sync, Alivia and Henry all widen their eyes. They realized what they were doing, but they had to stay silent. Hahlos, Stark, Argus, Arya and Torian all watch from afar. All of them not saying a word and observing how the crowd reacts. Balrus remained by the gate, his arms crossed.

"...Izanagi has passed away. And us four are responsible for it. Which is why Exahelm fell." Lucy reveals. "We…had no choice. We're so…so sorry…"

Many angels in the crowd felt their stomachs drop.

"We won't make any excuses. We give our deepest apologies." Erza said, her tone straight forward.

A young woman hovers her palms over her mouth, horrified. "No…so it's true then…?"

"There wasn't a way to prevent it…we're so sorry…" Gray states.

"Hahlos warned us about this…but I didn't want to believe it…" Another female angel comments.

Natsu drags his fingers through the ground. He admittedly didn't know what to say except for a simple "Sorry."

The emotions in the crowd were all over the place. They knew the whole truth. Why Wendy was taken, why the humans attacked in the first place, why there was a likely chance Izanagi didn't have much time left, and why Exahelm was destroyed. Even what Earthland was like. It made sense to them.

Yet, some couldn't help but still be upset at the circumstances of this whole thing.

A boy, not thinking too straight, picks up a pebble and chucks it. It hits directly at Lucy's head, the blonde flinching a little.

"P-please go away!" The boy demands.

Alivia gasps. She prepares to fly in between the crowd. "N-now hold on-"

"It's okay." Lucy tells Alivia. She lifts her head and smiles at the Exceed. "We're not here to convince them, we're here to help them heal. To own up to them."

Alivia pauses, staring at Lucy. She could tell the blonde was trying her best to fake that smile. She sighs deeply and turns around, flying back to Henry.

"Is…this okay?" Henry wonders.

"...It is as she says. The people need something to let their emotions out on if they'll truly heal." Alivia explains.

After the boy made his plea, many members of the crowd glanced at each other. They decide to fully let their emotions out.

"...Leave! And don't come back!"

"If you're truly sorry, then get out!"

"Don't expect forgiveness from us!"

"Never show your faces here again!"

"Get lost! Fairy Tail mages!"

The chastises continue on, some following the boy's example and chucking pebbles at them. The four Fairy Tail wizards kept their heads low.

The sight was difficult for Sync to watch. But she knew it was necessary. Her eyes were watering up.

Balrus sighs deeply, lowering his head.

Hahlos and the other Tenhei continued to stay silent and watch. Some like Torian visibly upset at the sight. Argus conflicted on the situation. Arya watching quietly, knowing the responsibility the four must face.

"I suppose this is how it is." Stark comments.

"Indeed." Hahlos agrees.

Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Erza remained lowered. The angels never went near them. Only shouting at them and the occasional throwing of a pebble.

Not before long, the four left quietly. The loud noise of the gate shutting echoing behind them.