A few hours had passed and it was almost noon in the bustling town. After my parents had left I took a shower and got dressed in denim shorts and a white tank top. My hair was up in a long ponytail that swayed in the wind as I made my way through the streets. 

I looked down at the grocery list in my hands and up at the streets that were usually filled with vendors selling fresh foods. Today the street was still busy, but there were no vendors nor their stalls. I walked over to the bakery and peered in the window, it was empty.

Just then the little bell on the door jingled as Mazio stepped out with a large duffel bag slung on his back.

"Mazio," I greeted. The short old man turned to me and his forlorn expression turned into a smile at my familiar face. 

"Hey there kiddo," He smiled under his bushy mustache. He locked the door to his shop and I approached him.

"What's going on?" I asked. "It's Saturday. You never close before noon on Saturdays, and where are all the vendors? I was supposed to go grocery shopping today,"

"Didn't you hear? The town's forcing everyone to evacuate," He gestured to the parade of people making their way through the streets of Magnolia. 

"I guess I forgot," I said. As I gazed out at the crowd I noticed that everyone looked so sad.

"Well," Mazio took his old wrinkly hands and placed my young calloused hand in his. He patted my hand and looked me in the eye. "You be safe out there. I know you kids have been training, but you still need to be careful,"

"I will," I promised. Mazio gave me one last smile before pulling me down into a hug. As I embraced the jolly old man, he patted me on the back and whispered 'good luck' before releasing me. I thanked him one more time before he made his way down the street with the rest of the townspeople. 

As I watched them leave, I couldn't help but feel several emotions at once. I was happy knowing that the townspeople would be safe, but afraid of what was coming for the rest of us who stayed to fight. This war would cause so much pain and suffering, was I ready?

I wandered the streets of Magnolia aimlessly and a few minutes later I came across a family struggling to load a wagon. The mother was busy trying to calm a fussing infant while her husband attempted to lift a heafty chest into the wagon. He struggled and just before he could drop the chest, I rushed to his aid.

"Need some help?" I caught the falling end of the chest and lifted.

"Oh, thank you so much," the man said.

"No problem," I smiled and helped him lift the chest into the wagon and closed the back hatch.

"Phew," The man wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I think that's about everything,"

"Everything?" I asked.

"Well, everything important," He grinned and opened the chest, revealing stacks of family photographs and heirlooms that looked much older than the man himself. "Can't risk letting these get caught in the crossfire,"

"I know what you mean," I smiled. That's when his wife noticed the orange guild crest on my shoulder.

"You're with Fairy Tail?" She questioned. I turned to her and nodded. Her expression softened and she shared a smile. "I see passion in your eyes. You're very brave,"

"Thank you," I said proudly. The woman's husband climbed into the coach's seat with his wife and flicked the reins onto the horse's back.

"You be careful out there," The man called back to me. I grinned and waved goodbye to the small family. As their wagon pulled away I looked across the street and saw my father helping load food into the back of a similar wagon. 

"There ya go, that should be the last of it," He dropped the sack of grain into the wagon and tapped it twice to signal that it was ready to go. The drivers thanked him and waved goodbye as they rolled off.

"Hey Dad!" I called out. Natsu caught sight of me and grinned as I crossed the street to his side.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked cheerfully. 

"Same as you," I answered. "Just helping people load up their stuff," We both looked out at the wagons and crowds of people parading down the street. "I feel terrible for making all these people leave their homes,"

"It wouldn't be safe for them to stay," Natsu explained. "Besides, they'll come back when we win the war," He had a huge grin on his face that made my stomach weigh heavy with guilt. 

"Dad, there's something I gotta tell you," I started. "It's about this war, and what it has to do with you," Natsu gave me a curious look.

"With me?" He pointed at himself to confirm. "Does something happen to me?"

"Well," I answered. "there's just something you should know in advance so you're not caught off guard in the middle of battle,"

Natsu didn't say anything, just folded his arms anxiously. I tried to put the words into my mouth, but I couldn't figure out how to say it. I stuttered trying to find the words to tell him, but my brain was refusing to say it. Natsu could tell that I was having trouble forming the words, but he remained patient. He rested his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

"You don't have to tell me," He said.

"What?" I was shocked by his words. "You don't get it, knowing this will help you in the war,"

"Answer me this. Did Fairy Tail win this war in your timeline?" He asked. I nodded. "And I'm guessing the version of me from your time didn't know this stuff in advance?" I shook my head. "Well, if he managed to get a victory without knowing this beforehand then so can I,"

I was dumbfounded by his logic. It made sense, but at the same time, it didn't. 

"Are you sure?" I questioned. Natsu smiled and took his hand off my shoulder.

"I'm sure,"

- - - - - -

Later That Evening:

I sat alone on the tiled shower floor in my apartment. The hot water comforting my nerves that were running wild. I pulled my knees closer to my chin, deep in thought about what had happened in the guild yesterday.

Mavis' story was heartwrenching and the dangers she and Makarov warned of were enough to put everyone on edge. Even though no one showed it, I could tell that people were scared. Thankfully they had finished evacuating the town a few hours ago, so we didn't need to worry about civilian casualties.

I heard a knock on the door and I could tell from the knock that it was Gale.

"Come in," I called out. The door opened and I heard Gale step inside and sit down on the other side of the shower curtain.

"Are you nervous too?" She asked. I didn't say anything, answering her question with my silence. "Me too. Do you think we're strong enough to do this?"

"We have to be," I said. "But I think if we dig deep enough, we can pull a victory out of Storm's ass," We both laughed and even though I couldn't see her face, I could tell Gale was smiling genuinely. "Plus we've got our own secret weapon to deal with Acnologia," I grinned.

"Are you sure it'll even work? We haven't exactly tested it out,"

"It'll work. I know it will," I tried to sound confident for both myself and my friend. "Hey Gale,"

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you want to be a dragon slayer?" I asked. "I mean, you could have learned from your dad, but you decided not to. Why is that?"

"Well," Gale started. "I guess I just wasn't drawn to the idea of it. It just didn't feel like... me. I felt like something was calling me to do earth magic and when I tried it out, I knew that it was meant to be. Besides, the defensive art of my magic is what makes me strong, I've never been one for flashy offense like you,"

"I understand," I smiled. "I think earth magic suits you better anyway,"

"Thanks," Gale giggled. "How's your magic been by the way?"

"Well I haven't exploded and I haven't turned into a dragon," I laughed.

"Glad that's working out for us,"

When my friends told me what Lilith had revealed in Tartaros, I was shocked to say the least. No one had ever told me that I could turn into a dragon just by being a dragon slayer. For the past year, we kept a close eye on my physical state and so far nothing had changed. I was starting to think that it would skip over me and I could continue to be a dragon slayer without becoming a dragon like my dad.

"Anyway," I stood up as I turned off the water and wrapped myself in my robe. "Where is everyone?" I slid open the shower curtain and followed Gale out of the bathroom.

"I think Reiki is in the living room reading and Storm said he was going for a walk. Kali is already passed out on the kitchen floor," Gale walked to the kitchen and I went to change in my room. I put on a black t-shirt with joggers and dried my hair a little. I slid on my shoes and announced that I was going on a walk and stepped into the warm night air.

As I walked down the empty cobblestone roads I reveled in the silence. It was peaceful.

I walked for ten minutes until I came outside my mother's apartment. I could hear her yelling at my dad for breaking in again, making me smile. I turned to the river and sat on its edge watching the water flow freely through the canal. 

"Try not to fall in," Storm joked. He stood behind me with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

"I know what I'm doing," I grinned.

"I've yet to believe that you ever know what you're doing," He sat down next to me and we shared a friendly smile.

"Well, I'm just so good at improvising that it's usually Plan A,"

"And Plan B?"

"Now that's when things must be really crazy because then I actually start to plan,"

We both laughed at my comment and everything in the world seemed normal for once. I gazed up at the starry sky and for a split second, I saw a meteor flash across the sky.

"Shooting star! Make a wish," I pointed out.

"You know that's not real," Storm stated.

"Don't interrupt me I'm trying to think of a wish," I playfully slapped him in the shoulder.

"Wish for food, I'm starving,"

"There's food at home,"

"That 'food' you're referring to consists of two cans of beans and a half-empty box of cereal,"

I laughed again. I can't help but laugh when I'm with Storm, he's one of the few people that can make all the bad stuff go away with just one conversation.

"Hey, Nashi," I looked at my friend who's face had turned serious as he stared at the sky. "Tell me again why I can't kiss you right now,"

I paused for a moment, not shocked by his words, but surprised by how forward he was.

"It's complicated," I stared at the water, avoiding his gaze as he looked back at me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them. "We just can't start a relationship right now, there's too much going on,"

"What happened to the one we had?" He was staring at me, but I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye. "Before and after Tartaros, we really had something special, at least I thought we did,"

"I know. It's just that we were moving so fast. I was scared that if we kept moving at that speed, eventually we'd derail and crash and burn. I wanted to get off before that happened,"

"You thought we were moving too fast?" Storm seemed confused and almost hurt.

"I mean yeah," I stood up and finally looked at his face. "We went from being friends with feelings for each other, all the way to saying 'I love you' and kissing and holding hands. It was all just so fast."

"Hey," Storm stood up and stared at me. "You wanna know the reason I said that I loved you and kissed you that day on Mount Hakobe? It's because I was tired of waiting. I've had feelings for you for a long time, but the day that you died in front of me was the day I realized that I never got to tell you. You died and I was left with feelings I was too scared to tell you about until it was too late. I don't ever want to be too late again. I told myself that the next time I saw you, I wasn't going to hesitate,"

I was quiet. I stared down at my feet and Storm took my hand in his.

"I still have feelings for you," He said. "If you wanna keep waiting, that's fine. I'll be here. Just don't wait too long, or it'll be too late."

I didn't dare look him in the eye. I was too conflicted. I ended things for the sole reason that we were going too fast, but here he was... willing to wait for me, even after I broke his heart.

As I stared at my feet, I noticed a bit of fog rolling in. I looked around at the area, it was covered in fog. Storm noticed my mood shift and he surveyed our surroundings skeptically. "What is this?"

The streets were silent as the fog covered the ground in a thick blanket that rolled throughout the ghost town.

"I've got a bad feeling about this,"

All of a sudden the bells of Cardia Cathedral began ringing the tolls of war. It was at that moment I knew... They were here.