Natsu wouldn't wake up. He spent the entire night knocked out, which made sense to everyone, especially when Irene explained the depths of Larcade's magic. It was one of the most dangerous in the entire Empire, arguably greater than even his Captain, Mard Geer's. Still, Irene had explained that there wasn't a reason why he shouldn't have woken up.
Gray hovered near his recovery area. Wendy sat helplessly at his side, with Carla beside her. Ms. Porlyusica was across from Wendy, observing Natsu.
"He should've woken up sometime in the morning," Ms. Porlyusica said. It was almost dusk of the following day. Nobody had wanted to go anywhere. Nobody had the strength.
"I can't heal him anymore," Wendy said. "Every time I try, it feels pointless."
"He's fine, physically speaking," Porlyusica said. "Something else must have afflicted him."
Gray had overheard them speaking partway through the night—he'd been restless, too, as he reflected on Deliora, Lyon...and Silver. His father.
That was yet another thing Irene confirmed for him. He and Irene didn't speak very often, but he had lamented the loss of his son in Fairy Tail as she did the loss of Erza, back when Tenrou Island was at the bottom of the ocean.
She hadn't had the easiest of nights. She attempted to console Erza, but she was impossible to reach. She only allowed Lucy, Wendy, Lisanna, and Master Makarov to see her. None came out of the tent with dry eyes.
Gray realized he hadn't blinked and finally did so, snapping back to reality a bit more. He looked around the camp—to Juvia and Cana sitting together beneath a tree eating apples, Gajeel and Lily collecting firewood, Hisui, Lisanna, and Romeo working to dig...
Elfman's grave.
"You need to rest, dearie," Porlyusica said to Wendy. "What happens to Natsu is now up to fate, I believe. I'm unsure what that demon did, but it's beyond our control, now."
Wendy hesitantly nodded and got to her feet. Gray met her halfway as she approached the small tree Erza was tucked under. He rested a hand on her shoulder.
"You did your best, Wendy. He's better. That knucklehead just has to sort out whatever's going on, alright?"
"Yeah," Wendy said.
"Have you been looked at?"
She had bruising everywhere. Her eyes were ragged. She swallowed a lump in her throat and finally nodded.
"I'm fine. I have to be."
Gray squeezed her shoulder. Of all the people to argue with, Dragon Slayers were by far the most stubborn and impossible to deal with. He let her go. Carla padded behind her.
Lucy met his eyes from across the campsite. She faintly grinned at him, and he had nothing to give her in return. She was probably hoping for answers about Natsu.
Gray couldn't imagine what it must've been like for Lucy. Yeah, he'd had his own surprises, but to get the double-whammy of seeing one of her close friends back from the dead and then getting pummeled by an opponent they had no hopes of beating?
He approached Natsu. The idiot was lying flat on his back, arms splayed at his side. He didn't have any visible damage, thanks to Wendy, but Gray knew it was all in that guy's head, anyway. His scarf was still wrapped, loosely, around him. Gray nudged him with his bare foot—where the hell did his clothes go?
"Better wake up soon, flame-brain," Gray muttered. "We don't have time for lounging. Got our asses handed to us, so you better be ready when round two comes around."
Round two.
Against...the demon that killed his family. Against his father, against a necromancer...
Against everyone who'd obliterated Fairy Tail. And Tartaros, as he understood, didn't even reveal two of their strongest demons. No, three, because one of them was off the continent. It was Fairy Tail's best shot to take out Tartaros, and they got stomped with those demons hardly breaking a sweat.
The worst part of it all? Lyon was still out there. Irene's spell only displaced the members of Fairy Tail and Yukino. Lyon had been left to face Keyes, Deliora, and Silver all by himself. Gray shut his eyes and ran his hands through his hair.
It was the nightmare that kept him from sleeping. Whenever he thought he had a moment's peace, whenever he thought he could take a second for himself, he thought of Lyon all along against Deliora, just as Ur had been long ago.
And once again, Gray was utterly useless.
He found a little nook in one of the trees and nestled into it, easing back to where nobody would see him. His eyes wandered until they landed on Hisui and the others. They were all drenched in sweat and dirt, exhausted from the digging. Gray pursed his lips.
In a fluid motion, he got up. His mind was racing, so he walked faster. His thoughts and nightmares tried to jump him, so he instead spoke up.
"Let me help," he said, and created two massive shovels out of ice that easily cut through the ground and yanked up loads of dirt.
Hisui nodded at him. "Thanks. It's a big help."
"Thank you, Gray," Lisanna said, her voice so far and faint it was hardly audible.
"No problem," he said, going in for another push.
Mest approached Hisui, now that she had a moment for herself. He whispered something about an outpost, or village or something, having fallen. That there were more dead rebels, that the Empire was burning across the countryside and coast faster than their raids could, faster than Gildarts could move to stop them.
The rebellion hadn't simply lost against Tartaros—it was just taking losses all over.
Hisui's gaze went long, then returned to the dirt in front of her. She said nothing and motioned that she was satisfied with the news. Mest lingered, as if waiting for more orders, but none came. Of course they didn't.
The fight was burned out of Hisui's eyes. All she had left was grief, and Gray didn't blame her a single bit for that.
The dark thoughts caught up. He saw Lyon, standing against a towering Deliora, and set his jaw. He finished the digging, as the hole was finally deep enough.
"Alright," he muttered. "Guess it's time."
Laki was able to fashion a beautiful coffin for Elfman using the surrounding forestry, sealing it with her own Wood-Make magic. She didn't bother adorning it with any flowers or anything—Elfman wouldn't have seen it as manly. Instead, Erza used her sword and carved the Fairy Tail guild symbol into the top of the coffin, and with Gray, Laxus, and Bickslow's help, hefted it up and carried it to the hole that Hisui and the others had been digging.
It was the first time Erza had moved since they got back to the camp, rescued by her mother. Dusk had fallen, even though the grave was ready long ago. Nobody had the heart to do anything of it for several hours more.
They all gathered around the gravesite. Gajeel finished placing the iron grave, where written was, quite poorly, "Here lies Elfman: Brother, BEAST, and Friend."
Using a Telekinesis magic, Master Makarov relieved the pallbearers of the coffin and slowly lowered it into the ground. Erza let her arms dangle lazily at her side as she watched Elfman's coffin slowly sink beyond her line of sight. Everyone stood at the edge of the high mounds of dirt Hisui and the others dug up for the grave, staring either into the hole or out into the distant beyond where twilight consumed their vision.
Lucy bucked next to Erza, letting her head fall into her hands while tears streamed down her face. Lisanna, at the head of the grave, allowed tears to slide down her face as well, but remained standing. Makarov took his place next to her. He reached up and squeezed her hand. She clasped it in return.
Erza felt someone grabbing her hand as well. Wendy, next to her, was doing her best to let the tears out of her face.
She wanted to reassure Wendy, to tell her it was okay to cry, but the words were trapped.
Every time she tried to speak, that memory played. Where she moved fast, faster than she ever had before, and was still too slow. Where Mirajane smote her brother for the sake of creating a greater monster and a mockery of all Elfman stood for.
Makarov looked around at everyone.
"When Elfman first came into the guild, he was unrecognizable to the man we came to know and love," Makarov said.
Evergreen visibly tensed and balled a pair of fists. She had no tears in her eyes. There was only pain stricken with rage.
"But he was always dedicated to protecting his family, either the one bound by blood or magic. He grew stronger for us all, and never shied from a moment to step forward and prove that he was not a man by word but by action. Elfman was an example for us all, one who battled demons to his final day,s and I dare say never let them truly win because we are still standing and we remember who he truly was."
"The man he was," Evergreen muttered.
"We will honor his passing and his legacy and ensure that never again must a person fear who they truly are," Makarov said.
Master Makarov stepped back. Evergreen took a single step forward. Everyone's eyes fell on her—well, everyone but Irene, who lazily stood back away from the festivities, as if to keep an eye on the two Broken wizards and Levy.
It was not until Evergreen moved out of the crowd, as she stood by herself for the first time, that Erza truly noticed how regal Evergreen still was. She was never one to dress down, to even make battle allow her beauty to be marred.
That morning, she was a mess. Her hair was in a tangle, she could barely stand up. As little as Erza spoke to the others, Evergreen wouldn't even chat with the Thunder Tribe. Laxus made sure to leave her alone, too.
This was not that Evergreen. The one who stood out from the crowd was the real woman. This was the one who fought alongside Elfman on Tenrou Island, who confronted Zeref with him. How much time had they shared since they got back from the island?
Some, Erza knew. They all knew. Neither had been shy about it—both, Erza speculated, understood the weight of their situation. Death and subjugation waited around every corner. They had to make the most of what time they had and as they were constantly drawn in different directions. So in those precious moments together, the scant days or weeks where all of Fairy Tail could be as one again, they made sure to take advantage.
For the first time, Evergreen was alone without him. She was at rest but not at ease.
"You were loved, Elfman," Evergreen said. "And you'll be missed even more, you big oaf."
She slipped back between Freed and Bickslow, but her light had shone. She was Evergreen, truer than ever before.
Silence once more fell over the crowd. After a few minutes of that dreaded quiet, Erza almost muttered an apology before Lisanna stooped down, picked up some dirt, and tossed it back into the grave.
"We'll get Mira back," Lisanna said. "I'll watch after her, big bro, just like you did. I promise. I'll miss you, Elf. I love you."
Lucy raised her head, tears drying on her cheeks.
Erza released Wendy's hand. Elfman would never accept an apology so long as their mission remained.
She wanted to lament what she had to do next time, she wanted to assure him of victory. Erza collected the dirt in her hands, grasped it tight, and it fell in the space between the two. She simply said,
"Thank you for being our brother."
Everyone said their words, and after they each helped with burying the coffin, sidled over to their common area, as Lucy came to think of it.
It was a small opening between some of the areas that people had set up, one away from the Ice prison holding the Broken Wizards and the other one that held Levy, as well as Ms. Porlyusica's medical hollow that housed an unconscious Natsu.
Happy climbed atop Lucy's shoulder and joined her, along with most of the others around a fire Gajeel helped start without his Purgatory Dragon Slayer magic. What an odd thought—that Gajeel, of all people, was also a Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu hadn't had much time to be mad about it—they all convened from their previous missions and had to quickly head out to save their allies and fight Tartaros.
They'd probably butt heads about it when Natsu woke up. Lucy's tiny grin faded. It was the sort of conflict Elfman would've loved to get involved with.
There weren't many stumps to sit on, so only Master Makarov, Ms. Porlyusica, and Evergreen took seats. Laxus didn't bother joining them, and Gajeel sat between the group and Levy. Carla was with Wendy in the young Dragon Slayer's lap as Wendy was next to Juvia, though Juvia sat much closer to Gray than Wendy to Juvia.
Cana reached out and laced her arm through Lucy's as the two took their spots. Happy hopped off and down next to Lucy, staring at the flames. He no doubt shared Lucy's thought: it was weird that Natsu hadn't been the one to make the fire.
The Thunder Tribe was united near Erza. Hisui, dressed down from her usual cloak and still in her dirty, soil-stained outfit, sat near Erza. All alone, in her own part of the circle, was Irene, curiously near Romeo, Max, and Laki.
Sherria Blendy came up near Wendy while Yukino was the final person to join them. Only the fire spoke for some time. Lucy blinked, realizing how long it'd been since she did so. Her eyes were almost drying out. She sighed, then took a deep breath in. The smoke wasn't refreshing but it had a nice scent to it, a kind one that didn't assault her.
It'd been a long time since she was outside like this. She was used to...ugh, to that tower. To that apartment, to that room, where her only company was a monster in his own right. She couldn't have been happier to leave him behind, but it never ceased to bother her that he was still out there. He was a specter hiding in every shadow, waiting to steal her away and this time deal with her as he really saw fit.
Cana leaned against her.
"I wish," Lucy said almost unconsciously, "we were back at the guild hall."
"I wish I had some booze," Cana said.
"I wish Natsu would wake up," Happy said.
"Me too," Wendy muttered.
"He'll wake up," Ms. Porlyusica said. "Give it time, Happy. Give it time."
"I'm sure there's somewhere you can swindle some drinks from nearby, Cana," Juvia said with a wry grin.
"I'm a little shocked you haven't tried to go looking yet," Lucy said, nudging her friend.
Cana shrugged. "Harder to come by nowadays. At the guild, that stuff was pouring like crazy all the time, right, Master?"
"That's right," Master Makarov said.
For the first time in days, everyone shared a laugh. The warmth that burst from it around everyone was far greater than anything the fire dared give them.
"Man, how'd you afford that to keep up with everyone?" Gray asked.
"You're assuming we were doing so without any favors," Makarov said, which drew gasps from the crowd, especially Erza. Irene cocked a curious eyebrow.
"Master," Erza said. "Were you dealing on the black market?"
"No, but recall that while most of you whelps were destructive little ingrates, some of you were actually competent at your jobs," Makarov said. He showed a hand to the Thunder Tribe. "Often, our more put-together wizards were able to get their money's worth from a job and then some."
"You're calling them put together?" Cana asked.
"More than you!" Lucy said.
Cana nudged Lucy this time, then clung tighter. Lucy returned the favor.
"While the Magic Council never quite enjoyed giving us favors, I suppose our saving their butts from time to time at least alleviated the chance they'd shutter the guild," Makarov said. "We have Mister Yajima to thank for a great deal of that."
"He lives, you know," Irene said, startling everyone. "Yajima was moved to Stella as a formal diplomat. Zeref recognized him as the only genuine member of the Magic Council with any true aptitude for politics and wanted to keep him around."
"Yajima would never willingly work for the Empire."
"No," Irene said. "But he is a friendly face. Others hearing that Yajima had been roped in helped keep diplomatic tensions at ease with Stella, at least."
Talk of the Empire stymied a lot of the excitement garnered from talk of Fairy Tail's old days. Irene furrowed her brow and pursed her lips, but did not let her shoulders slouch.
"He was often a guest at the Grand Magic Games, in their pre-Empire incarnation," Yukino said.
"Did you compete a lot?" Lucy asked.
"Every year. We won every year we entered, too. We didn't for a couple of years after Fairy Tail vanished. Our master, Jiemma, didn't like the idea of not facing the former strongest guild."
"You were able to get by even Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus?" Lucy asked.
"And Mermaid Heel, yes," Yukino said. "Given that Kagura was their greatest threat, it was often a matter of yielding a loss to her, if that was allowed, and then defeating the rest of their wizards. The same could be said for Lamia Scale, though often Iron Rock Jura didn't compete. He was busy with Wizard Saint business."
"I wonder what would've happened if we all fought in the Grand Magic Games," Gajeel said from behind the pack. "I'm sure the crowd would've eaten up having six Dragon Slayers involved."
"My father would've loved it, that's for sure," Hisui said. "The Games were his greatest holiday." She couldn't hide her grin. "He used to referee the events as its mascot, Mato."
Yukino's eyes widened. "King Fiore was Mato?"
"Yes. Toma. Mato." Hisui shrugged. "Not the most original, but it was a cute gimmick, everyone loved it."
Yukino let her jaw hang.
"My father's greatest regret is that he couldn't have you all in the Games. It was created, in some part, in your memory, and to honor the old Dragon King Festival."
Irene raised her head at that, staring at Hisui, then Erza, with an odd expression.
"Mostly that second part," Hisui said. "Fitting that Sabertooth with its Dragon Slayers would have the most dominant reign, for however long it lasted under my father."
"Not long at all, unfortunately," Yukino muttered so only Lucy and Cana could hear.
"What sort of games were there?" Juvia asked. "I can't imagine it was all combat like we just experienced a few months ago."
"No, no, it was lots of things. Obstacle courses, intricate magic puzzles, and then some combat sprinkled in here and there. I always envisioned a few fun races. We have enough space in the city for a race atop a moving train, and then, Juvia I think you'd like this, there was talk of finding a way to either fill the stadium with water or get a great sphere of water suspended in the air and it was a survivability challenge to see who could win." Hisui folded her hands together. "My father always kept to the 100-Monster challenge."
"Sounds intense," Erza said.
"Each member would go in and take out as many monsters as possible, each ranked at a different difficulty tier to allow them various amounts of points to earn," Hisui explained. "All culminating in a S-Rank monster we corralled from the mountains."
"Sounds very intense," Erza said.
"I remember that competition. We often put Minerva in it," Yukino said. "She was cruel enough toward humans, so we figured her cruelty could be best aimed at monsters and demons."
"Did she win?" Erza asked.
"Every year."
"I bet you'd beat her, Erza," Lily said.
"Our Titania can't be beat by any monsters," Cana said.
Lucy nodded at Erza. They were right, of course. Erza could probably carry Fairy Tail to victory in the Grand Magic Games all on her own, let alone with a team around her. A team comprising all their S-Class wizards would be unstoppable. Even a team with their Dragon Slayers and a couple of others like Gray and Juvia would be hard to top.
Now that was a thought. Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Erza, and Laxus? Hard not to get a smile out of that idea.
"The nice part about the games was how friendly it was," Hisui said. "For most people."
"Agreed," Yukino said. "Though we often had to have a cold disposition, from the Sabertooth perspective, looking back, it was a simpler time for most. I, to be honest, never truly loved it. Master Jiemma was harshest on us in the time leading up to and following the Games. If he saw we weren't giving our best and being totally dominant, he often threatened expulsion from the guild. We'd be left to wander the streets of Crocus with no help in sight."
"It sounds as if it was never easy for you at Sabertooth, Yukino," Carla said.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. To be honest, I have plenty of fond memories from my time there. Most of them are from our simpler jobs out in the far country away from Gazania, where our guild was set up. I typically travelled by myself, so it was nice to meet people and let them get to know the real me, and just me. Other times, if a job required it, Jiemma would match me with Rufus or even Sting or Rogue. The jobs with Sting were always the most fun."
"Let me guess," Lucy said, "he always caused a lot of unwarranted trouble wherever he went?"
"Always."
Lucy chuckled. "I think if he and Natsu had ever teamed up, it would've been terrible for any town. Nobody could hold him back from completely leveling a place after a job well done. He never knew how to tone it down."
"Sting always liked to do things in bursts. He pretended he had a level head, and then he'd go off and wipe out a whole town's block. Rogue sometimes kept him in check, as if he were any better." The fire reflected brightly in Yukino's eyes. "I think, if we didn't have the Empire, I'd have enjoyed spending the rest of my days just traveling around Fiore with Sting. He always took the most fanciful and fun jobs, ones that befit his station as a Dragon Slayer.
"In fact, if the Empire didn't exist, I...well, I would hope that I could cross paths with all of you. Fairy Tail was always something we chased, and I'm sure I couldn't have known it then, but to see you all now, I can say that I'd aspire to be your friend in good times or bad."
She folded her hands together. Lucy reached out and slid her arm to latch onto Yukino, yanking her close. Cana helped with it, and Lucy helped embrace the two women. Yukino blinked, shocked, while Cana sneered.
"Yeah, we'd like you too, gal pal," Cana said. "Your boyfriend? Eh. We have a lot of Dragon Slayers already."
"He...um, he was, is, my husband," Yukino said. She blushed. "But thank you."
"Fairy Tail and Sabertooth would've been a curious friendship, I'm not sure I would have gotten along well with Jiemma," Makarov pondered. "Then again, most Guild Masters weren't fond of us to begin with."
"He certainly would've appreciated Elfman's style, by the sounds of it," Lisanna said. "Elf was a tough guy."
"A man's man," Gray said.
"Lisanna," Irene said, leaning forward, "Erza has told me of your rather...intricate history. You still hold fond memories of your brother, despite your years apart?"
"So many. To be honest, on Edolas, it was strange to see him the way that he was, but it was always nice to see him and Mira regardless of form," Lisanna said.
A voice in Lucy told her to be wary about whatever was going on with Irene and Lisanna. Or, for that matter, Irene and everyone else. Natsu said she could be trusted as far as Erza could throw her—which, admittedly, was pretty far—but Lucy still had her own reservations.
Irene just seemed to view Fairy Tail as a weird case of survivors, people who hadn't been harmed by the Empire and were thus fighting back for the sake of it. She didn't seem to grasp their histories, that each member of Fairy Tail came to the guild with a broken heart and only through their bonds were they able to get better. Not fully healed, of course, but they showed one another that there was more to life than the darkness of their past.
Perhaps this was Irene's way of getting to know her daughter's friends. Jeez. That still struck Lucy. After so long, and in such an odd place, they found Erza's mom. The only thing that made sense about their entire relationship was how strong Irene supposedly was. No. Definitely was. Tartaros's floating base launched an aerial assault that she brushed off without a second thought.
Yet for as much contempt as Lucy wished to draw on toward Irene, she couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be her. To think that she lost her daughter and that she'd never get to see her again. Irene fled the universe because of it—or, at least, partly because of it.
Lucy imagined her mom wouldn't necessarily react the same, but she remembered the sheer ache of losing her mom. The fresh wound of her dad's death. She sighed as she stared into the flames of the campfire.
"He loved you a lot, Lisanna," Makarov said, breaking the silence. "It pains me to say it, but Elfman made his choice, and would do it every time again."
"I know, Master," Lisanna said. "I know. I'd do the same. I'd do anything to get him back. But I just know...I know that I can't. He's gone, in body. But not in spirit."
No more big laughs, no more talks of manliness. No rock that had a singular focus on defending family.
"To lose family is the greatest pain in the world," Makarov said. "I wish I could have met my mother, just once."
"Sometimes parents just ain't what they're cracked up to be, Gramps," Gray said, stretching back a bit. "I wonder what my mom would think of what happened to my dad, though."
Lucy winced at Gray's words but didn't want to say anything. His dad came back from the dead alongside the demon that slew everyone close to him at a young age. Just as his dad came back, Lucy lost hers, but in the end, he died a good man.
"Same," Cana said with a laugh. "My old man worships her, but she didn't talk about him that much. Probably because he just ran out on us, even though he loved her so much. Being a parent can be scary, I guess."
"Terrifying," Irene said.
Erza looked across the way, where Irene was watching her.
"Even when the baby is simply in your belly, you are constantly fearful for it," Irene said. "To run from it...I'm not sure I can shame anyone for it. Family is overwhelming at times. It's beautiful what you've all formed here."
Erza's expression hardened, then softened as Irene broke their eye contact and slid back a bit, finally letting up, finally seeming to...let go?
"I, for as long as I've been around, wrap my head around that. Not after what I've seen, experienced." Irene shook her head. "There is no world where I find peace with family. Could I, the Scarlet Despair and Queen of the Dragons, be one to live out a meager life in the countryside with my children and husband? A joke. A farce."
"So you turned to the Empire?" Lisanna asked.
"I turned to the one who saved...us," Irene said. She sat up once more. "I, and you, Erza, owe what we are to Zeref."
Silence once more claimed the crowd. But Lisanna shook her head.
"Maybe. But, it's probably more than that, right? I mean, I've been saved how many times by Elfman? But he would've only ever wanted me to continue living my life."
"It is more than that, indeed," Irene said. "Zeref was a visionary. A martyr of a world only I could remember, yet a figure poised to plunge us ahead."
"An Imperial to the end," Hisui muttered.
"No. Not any more. An Empire without Zeref is a fabrication of his ambition. August could never amount to what Zeref wanted, he'll only ever do what he thinks would earn him the Emperor's praise. Without Zeref, the Empire isn't just weaker, it has less of a backbone. So, what's there to stay for? Besides, Zeref founded the Empire on a similar ideal to my own, and it's an ideal all of you could get behind, or at least, on some level, understand: Family."
"Family?" Lucy asked.
Irene nodded. "He's another who could never settle for a simple life. He's too driven."
The way Irene spoke was not about the great Emperor, the great Black Wizard, whom everyone feared. She spoke like Zeref was a friend, someone she could just spend some time with to study or practice magic with. Someone to go on an adventure with.
"Even though we've existed for hundreds of years, there is still always more to do," Irene said.
That seemed to light something in Erza. She closed her hands into fists but let the tension go.
"Hundreds of years?"
"It's a long story, my child," Irene said. "A long, long story, with you at the heart of it." Irene gestured at Wendy and then to Gajeel beyond them. "And the two of them."
"Us?" Wendy asked.
"Your kind," Irene said. "Dragon Slayers. My story begins long, long ago in a far distant land before the day of Dragon Slayers." Irene shrugged. "After all, there are no Dragon Slayers without me."
"Queen of the Dragons," Hisui echoed from before.
Who, Lucy thought, had her friends picked up in Edolas?
Erza stood and made her way around the circle, coming to finally fill the space next to Irene. Irene gave her an up-and-down look as Erza took her seat. Erza folded her arms, not bothering to meet her mother's eyes. She fumbled for words.
"Um, uh...well, do you mind sharing that story?" Erza asked. "This is not a time where family should be keeping secrets, but a time to be together. Right?"
Irene eased, then removed her great big witch hat and set it aside. Their hair fell almost exactly the same, despite some age differences; it was so, so obvious they were related. They almost looked like sisters.
"Of course," Irene said. She looked to the rest of the group. "Stay if you want. This is a story for Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, and I'm sure you all will tell Natsu one day. It is the story of Dragnof, the dragon Belserion, the creation of Dragon Slayers..." She reached out and squeezed Erza's hand. Erza accepted. "And my four hundred years of being pregnant."