~Gajeel~
I watched Levy fly away with Waylen, a weight seemed to lift from my chest. He's safe. I turned back to the fray, where our friends were cutting back the demon numbers. I grinned and joined them, my blade flying in a great arc to easily decapitate on of the larger demons. This hoard was no where near what it had been like twenty years ago, when the world had nearly ended. No, this was more like training with incentive. A fresh wave of demons surged forward, and I was pressed back to back with Laxus, who was grinning like a mad man, his armor stained red. "Just like old times ah?" He asked, shoving away a demon that had gone for his throat. I laughed as my blade bit through another demon, slicing through him like butter. "Brings back memories," I said with a grin.
We lept away from each other as a giant ax swung down, taking out some demons that had been caught in the line of fire. I turned to see a large minotaur, straight from the legends itself. What parts of his body that were human was covered in armor, and so only his beastly head and bull legs were visible.
Their numbers were dwindling, and it seemed they decided to bring out the big guns in hopes of turning the tables. I felt a grin spread across my face as I tightened the grip on my blade, my heart pounding in my chest. It's been awhile since I last had a challenge, I thought to myself. The minotaur snorted before letting out an animal like call, and it rushed at me, its ax raised over its shoulder. I adjusted my grip before sprinting to meet it, raising my sword to catch the large ax as it swung towards me. The weight and the power behind it pushed me back slightly, my heels digging into the dirt. My knees bent as he pressed the blade down harder and I smirked, "You'll have to do better than that." I said, groaning slightly in exertion. The minotaur had a puzzled look on his snout, and I felt the weight of the ax lighten ever so slightly. My opening.
I pulled my sword to the side before dashing the opposite way, the ax smashing deep into the ground. I spun on my heel, swinging around to the beasts back, and slashing my blade across the back of his knees. He roared, swinging back blindly with his ax as he fell heavily to his knees, the handle catching me across the face. I fell back, hissing slightly in pain, a gash now bleeding freely above my right eye. The minotaur was swinging at me again, having managed to turn on his knees to face me, and I lept out of the blades reach. I snapped out my wings and jumped skyward as he hurled the ax at me, leaving himself defenseless except for his horns.
I brought my sword down towards him, allowing gravity to grant me more speed. My blade bit through his head and even split his armor as I landed on my knees, leaving the minotaur bisected. I stood, wiping the blood from my eye as I glanced around at my friends. Gray took down the last demon, the clearing now riddled with bloody demon corpses. I nearly staggered forward as a large hand slapped my shoulder, Laxus' laugh flowing afterwards. "Well that was fun," he said with a grin as I turned to him. I returned the grin, clapping his back in return. "Yeah it was. I'm getting a little rusty though," I said with a chuckle, wiping what was left of the blood from my eye.
Gray chuckled as he stood in front of us, "Come on, lets cleanse this place and get out of here. The others are waiting." I nodded and the four of us, Laxus, Gray, Jellal and myself, created a square around the clearing. Natsu and Juvia backed to a safe distance, so as not to be cleansed. We each struck our blades into the ground, kneeling as we did and focusing our energy on the area. Golden lines raced from blade to blade, before the entire clearing light up brightly. Slowly, the demon bodies began to fade, leaving only dead grass and the air fresh before the light vanished all together. With the job finally finished, we all took to the air and flew from Lucy and Natsus house.
I flew as fast as I could without straining myself, wanting to see Waylen and Levy. It didn't take long before the house came into sight, and there on the porch, were Lucy, Cana, Karyn, Levy and Waylen. Waylen was patched up and clean, bandages wrapping his wings and several on his head and arms. I had barely touched the ground before Waylen was sprinting to me, and I reached out to catch him as he jumped. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, holding his head to my chest as I breathed in deeply, feeling an ease I hadn't felt in two weeks. I buried my face in his dark locks, blinking away the tears building up in my eyes as he shed his own tears. A gentle pressure on my arm had me looking down at Levy who was smiling brightly, and I finally had the chance to really see her since we had left the house.
Her bruised skin was healed, she stood tall and strong, her leg no longer fractured. Blue scales once more decorated her skin, her wings were folded neatly against her back, and her tail flicked lazily behind her. I unwrapped one arm from around Waylen before wrapping it around his mother, pulling her close to me so I could hold them both. Levys arms wrapped around me and Waylen, her tail wrapping securely around his waist like an anchor, keeping him from ever disappearing again. For the first time in what felt like a long time, I felt whole, complete. The two people I loved the most were alive and safe, and I would never let that change. "I love you." I blinked as I looked down at Levy and Waylen who shared similar looks, we had all spoken at the same time. There was a moment of silence before we broke into laughter, and I lifted Waylen into the air as he grinned widely. Our son was home. We were together again.
