Being a Chang

Chapter Twenty

*Phoenix Star Dress Form*

In the end, I chose to take on Nick's star dress form with the last of my magic to heal the wounds of those who showed up as best as I could. Bickslow and Freed were just as bad off as Gajeel.

Erza hadn't returned even after we regained our magic after her fight against that one member.

He had been the only one I had some interest in due to his own belief system.

"Stop," ordered Laxus as he staggered over to where I was sitting catching my breath after healing Mirajane and Lisanna as best as I could. "You'll drain your core too much."

A sigh of relief left me as Laxus arrived with a ragged Team Natsu.

Meaning that at least Hades had been defeated.

"Alright," I offered in agreement while finally dropping the star dress form, and now that I thought about it that was the longest I've held that form. "Oh..."

And I wasn't even surprised when my legs weakened and would have collapsed out from under me if I had been standing. It seemed that I had pushed a bit too far.

But I would do it all over again as it meant I could help those I saw as family.

"I'm sorry," breathed out Cana as she looked towards Lucy who only smiled in understanding from where she stood near Wendy and Erza. "I don't deserve to make S-class..."

Honestly, what she had done wasn't something I agreed with.

But I wouldn't judge her either even as I watched her walk away with Gildarts to inform him of their familial connection. Something I knew he'd accept with open arms.

It felt like only minutes had passed before Gajeel, Laxus, and Natsu were tensing in place.

Acnologia had arrived.

"Levy," called out Laxus hand reaching out for mine even as my eyes remained locked on Acnologia from where I had fallen to the ground after his roar. "Come on!"

None of us hesitated to lock hands, with me between Gajeel and Laxus and Lucy right across from me with Gray and Natsu on either side of her. Each of us held hands and closed our eyes.

If we were to die, we'd do so together as a guild.

Mavis arrived right on time, without any of us noticing, to use her magic to create a sphere that would keep us frozen in time for seven years. That I felt being the price to keep us alive.

To me it felt like no time at all had passed when I opened my eyes again.

Though instead of standing there, I was laying on the ground near a large tree with Laxus sprawled out on my right against the tree trunk and Gajeel and Panther Lily not far on my left.

Really, once we left here so much would have changed.

"You guys are alive," cheered Jet loudly as I swayed to my feet with my hand coming up to cup the side of my head as my ears were ringing. "I can't believe it..."

There were tears and laughter as Jet, Droy, Bisca, and Azlack each helped us towards where they had left the ship. Even then none of them really spoke on what they meant or how much time had passed since we had left for the S-class trials.

But even then, it was obvious time had passed.

"You got fat," mused Natsu making Lucy reach out to smack the back of his head as we settled on the ship and Wendy used her spell so the Dragon Slayers wouldn't get motion sickness.

"What happened?" I asked breaking the tense silence that had fallen over us as the others only kept glancing at the members who came to get us. "We can tell it's been some time..."

"Seven years," answered Jet once more speaking for the group while Droy looked to the ground and Alzack held Bisca close to him. "We got news from the Rune Knights of a dragon being sighted before Tenrou Island disappeared."

"None of us believed that you were all dead," added Bisca with a wavering smile, "and so we worked to create groups to go out every few months to look around where the island was."

"How long?" questioned Makarov next face grave as he looked over the others.

"Seven years," answered Azlack quietly eyes looking away from us and out at sea. "It's been seven years since you all disappeared into thin air. So much has changed since."

"But we can get into that back at the guild," cut in Jet with a fake laugh before gesturing at us with a raised eyebrow, "it looks like things were a bit crazy on the island?"

"We were attacked by Grimoire Heart which was lead by their master," grumbled Lucy with a shake of her head, "someone who had been the second master of Fairy Tail."

From the way that Makarov grimaced, it seemed he had still not wanted to accept that fact.

"After we dealt with them," I continued with a sigh while leaning into Laxus' side, "we were attacked by that dragon. Though instead of being taken out, we woke up with you shouting."

I wanted to say more but then that'd be just stupid since I shouldn't know what I did.

Even then it would be in the future that we'd have to go against Zeref, his demons, Acnologia, and more. Not in that order but it'd still be what we had yet to face.

Meaning we had to get stronger.

Though that reminded me of how Makarov would disband the guild after we dealt with Zeref's demons. The fact everyone scattered so easily slightly bothered me.

Not that I didn't understand needing to escape and wanting to grow stronger on one's own.

"Crazy," breathed out Jet breaking me from my inner thoughts as I realized the others had caught the ones from the guild up on what we'd had to face. "At least you're all okay."

Which, true that was the best thing out of all of this.

By the time we made it back to Magnolia, it was late into the evening.

I had to fight back the urge to curse as the others scared away the Twilight Orge members who were threatening Macao and Romeo. Then we were celebrating our return.

"We'd be worse off if it wasn't for you," mused Macao as he joined me near the back at one of the booth tables. "At least we were able to keep our guild building, even if we did have to borrow from Twilight Orge for what we were missing."

Meaning things still weren't great for them in the end.

"I had written them out to pass onto Laxus and Makarov," I offered with a light shrug before giving the other a nod, "though I'm glad it helped the guild when we couldn't."