Lucy's hair was much longer and in a side ponytail. She wore a blue halter top similar to mine and a white skirt. Natsu hadn't changed much, but it looked like he had built up some more muscle. He was also wearing a long bandage wrap on his right arm. Even Wendy had grown.

We were curiously watching when Cana ran up to Lucy and wrapped her in a side hug. They stopped walking and started talking amongst themselves.

"Cana's here too?" Gale questioned.

I sniffed at the air a little bit. "They're not the only ones." I turned on my heel and started running to where the guildhall used to be. Gathered in the crater, were all of the members of Fairy Tail.

"They're all here," Kali pointed out.

We were silent, knowing what this meant.

"It's time," I said quietly. I smiled brightly and I was about to run to the center of the family reunion when Reiki grabbed me by the collar and pulled me back into an alley with the others. "What the heck? Fairy Tail's reinstating! We can tell them all we're here!"

"Not yet," Reiki scolded. "We all know what this means... The war with Alvarez will begin soon."

No one said a word. 

"This is what we've trained for," I started. "If we're not ready now, we won't ever be ready. That's our family out there and they'll need our help. So let's go tell them we're ready."

My team smiled and shared a look that signified we were ready to be with our family again. After a long year, we were ready to see our family again. We were ready to come home.

"Not gonna lie, I'm kind of nervous," Gale scratched the back of her head.

"Before we go out there," Reiki said. "I think it best if we don't tell them we've been in town for the whole year,"

"Why not?" Storm asked.

"You know how our parents are," Gale explained. "they'll get super worried and be like 'why didn't you tell us you were here? We could have helped' and blah blah blah. It'll just save us time if we say we got here last week."

"Okay okay," I agreed. I wasn't actually thinking about whether or not lying was a good idea. I just wanted to see my family as soon as possible. I missed them. "Can we go now?"

"And don't tell them it's your birthday," Reiki added.

"Yeah sure whatever, let's go!" I cheered.

"Fine," Reiki stated.

"Yay!" Kali and I cheered.

"What do we do?" Gale whispered. We all peered out of the alley and stared at the group of Fairy Tail members gathered at the old guildhall. 

"I don't know, I've never been good at introductions," I shrugged.

"Well whatever we do, we should probably get out of the alley and stop staring like creeps," Storm explained.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea," We all said in unison. We stepped onto the main street and started walking toward the Fairy Tail members waiting for us.

"But how do we introduce ourselves? Normally we just fall in front of them and boom, that's that," I explained.

"And why can't we just do that?" Kali pointed out.

"..."

"Yeah we could do that-" I started.

"No." Reiki objected. 

"You're no fun," I pouted. "Come on we never do my ideas,"

"because your ideas are stupid," Storm countered jokingly.

"It's a brilliant idea and it works every time for me!" I shouted in retort.

"I'm just saying, there are easier ways to do this!" 

"And I'm just saying you can go sit on an icicle, or is there one already in your ass?"

"Why don't you go sit in the sun and photosynthesize for a day! Or is all that sunshine finally frying your brain?"

"I swear next time you go to sleep I'm going to give you the worst sunburn in your life!"

"Well, then I'm sure you'll love to wake up to frostbite tomorrow morning,"

"I can't believe I ever dated someone as stupid and mean as you!"

"Yeah? Well, I'm glad you decided to just be friends," Storm yelled.

"Me too,"

"I hope you have a wonderful life and there are no hard feelings about our break-up!"

"No hard feelings! I also hope you have a meaningful life!" I shouted and shook Storm's hand as we settled the argument like adults. I turned back to the others with a mischievous grin. "We're doing my plan."

Reiki and Gale stared at us with tired and annoyed expressions. 

"Why can't you two just get along?" 

"Hey kiddos! You're just on time!" Cana slurred.

We all turned around to see Cana and the others were approaching fast. Natsu and Lucy both had huge smiles while my team and I were just annoyed that our arguing had been for nothing. 

"I can't believe you guys are here!" Lucy exclaimed. She ran straight up to me and hugged me as I blushed and grumpily muttered something about not being able to use my plan. 

I looked at my mother who was smiling brightly. Her big brown eyes were filled with joy as they locked on mine. I glanced over her shoulder at my father who was brandishing the famous Dragneel smile. I could practically feel how happy they were to see us and it was infectious; the way they smiled. 

"It's so good to see you," She explained. "How long have you been here?"

"Only an hour or so," I answered.

"Uh, what she means is we've been in this time for a week, but we've been in town for an hour." Gale corrected.

"Well that explains the new outfits and bags," Carla pointed out. We all laughed cautiously and scratched our heads. 

"It's good to see you kiddo!" Natsu cheered. He slung his arm over my shoulder and used his opposite hand to rub a noogie into my head. I could feel through the noogie that he had gotten a lot stronger in the past year.

"I was wondering when you guys were gonna drop-in," He explained. "Your timing couldn't be more perfect."

"Yeah it's been a while!" I grinned. 

"Ah, actually it hasn't been that long!" Storm corrected. For us it's been a week, how long has it been for you guys?"

"It's been a year," Wendy answered. 

"Wow, a year?" Storm lied nervously. "That's a long time for you guys. Meanwhile, it was just last week that we saw you -"

"Stop talking," Reiki interrupted. 

"Good idea."

"Well, I know the others will be happy to see you all," Cana drunkenly grinned. She slung a shoulder over Gale and walked her toward the old guildhall. 

The rest of us just shrugged and smiled as we followed Cana to the guildhall. There was already a huge group of guild members gathered at the building's remains. They all looked older and greeted us with smiles and kind words.

"Hey guys! It's good to see you all!"

"Lucy we got your letters,"

"Heard Natsu caused a scene at the capital,"

"Hey, Wendy we missed you and Carla around here,"

"Glad to see you brought the future team with you,"

"Certainly took you long enough," Erza said. "I'm glad you found the future team,"

Reiki smiled at his mother and she returned the expression with respect and love.

"Oh Storm my baby!" Juvia practically launched herself, to which Storm fearfully froze as she tackled him with a hug. 

"Gale hey!" Levy waved. "It's good to see you." 

Gale waved back with a huge smile and ran up to her family as they welcomed her with open arms.

"Kali," Lily greeted. "Glad to see you're doing well,"

"Aye!" Happy added.

Lucy greeted everyone by name and got so emotional that she even started crying.

"I missed you all so much," She cried.

Everyone smiled contently as she embraced Mirajane in a tearful hug. I was starting to get a little emotional myself, it just felt so good to be home with our family again. I smiled softly at the reunion, things couldn't have been more perfect. 

"Happy birthday to me," I whispered with a smile. 

"Guess what I found," Natsu announced. He was standing on top of the debris pile with a staff in his hand. "A little ragged, but who cares," He pulled on the staff and the guild flag flew into the air. "Fairy Tail still rules!" He declared. 

Everyone marveled at the tattered flag. Much like our team, it was just waiting for its members to return. The times ahead will be tough, but it will all be worth it when the guild is safe and the future is secure.

I looked around at my teammates and their families. There wasn't one person who wasn't smiling.