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From The Ground Up Once More (Elfman and Evergreen)

(A/N) Song from The Hobbit. Cover by Taylor Davis

"Momma! Momma! Look what I found!" I heard my son call to his mother. The golden brown haired beauty I called my wife raised her head and saw the white haired toddler run over to show her a flower.

"Miss Levy says it's a moon lily! She said it grows in caves and glows in the dark!"

Evergreen's eyes brightened up as she accepted the white flower from the young boy. "It's lovely dear," she then scooped him up and kissed his forehead "I love it very much!"

Eddie giggled as Ever planted a kiss on his temples. It was a friendly scene that made me proud to call them my family. So I decided to walk over to my family to join in the moment. As soon as I got close, Ed peeked up and lifted his arms to me.

"Hey Dad!" he said with glee. 

"How's my little man doing today?" I asked, taking him from his mom and swinging him around a bit. He squealed a bit as I did so. 

"Miss Levy taught me how to say the alphabet!"

Even though I was bone tired from water gathering duty, I couldn't help but smile at his big milestone that he had done. "Nice work, Eddie! LEARNING IS MANLY!"

"YEAH!"

I could hear Ever sigh at how I doted over our little Edward. I couldn't help it, learning how to read brings you one step closer to being a true man! It just isn't right to be uneducated and strong. You can't have one over the other in my opinion.

Finally, my wife clapped her hands together and we both snapped to attention. A real man listens to what his wife has to say, and every boy waiting to become a man must respect girls and women, especially their mothers!

"Alright, Edward. It's time for you to go to bed. The adults have to attend a meeting. And you have school tomorrow."

My white haired little man grinned and nodded. But before he took off to our assigned sleeping area, we gave him a good night kiss. As we watched him scamper down the passageway, I let my shoulders droop and my head fall a little.

Evergreen noticed and took my giant hands in her tiny ones. "You okay Elf?"

I shook my head. "We lost someone else today." My partner looked at me with a concerned look. "Does Levy know?"

I nodded "Yeah, and she didn't take it very well." Ever stroked the back of my hands in a comforting way. "Who was it this time?" she asked softly, trying to muffle the pain.

"PantherLily." 

Evergreen gasped. Her head then inclined in respect for the exceed. The cat had been one of the first to elect Levy as their leader. He was also a close friend. Of course it would weigh heavy on her as much as it hurt for Evergreen to lose Freed to the dragons months back.

"She'll pull through though." I finally said. The woman at my side raised her gaze as I lifted my head as well.

"Levy is thick skinned and intelligent. She's lost enough in her life to know the harsh truth." It hurt to say it out loud, but it was true. McGarden had a heart of gold and the soul of a thousand degrees of burning fire. Losing people was apart of being a leader.

But she'll pull through, if not for herself, then for everyone around her.

Suddenly, I felt two arms wrap around me. "You know, you sometimes know just what to say at the exactly right times. Right?"

I nodded and also put my arms around her. We all lost a little, but we still had each other to build on, we had our family as our foundation to start with. Sometimes we crumple and fall apart, but that's okay. Because our bonds are our tools to rebuild our home.

After we both broke our embrace we joined hands and joined the group of people ready to receive the news, and ready to put things back together again. Healing will take time and a lot of support. But if they were going to survive this dragon war, they had to band together. They had to keep moving forward and looking towards the distant, foreseeable future. Like a family.

Like Fairy Tail always does.