Phoenix

Return: Emi vs Dragon Slayers!

Laxus and Emi were relaxed on the couch, Emi reading and Laxus laying his head in her lap. She was absentmindedly stroking his hair, and Laxus looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"Do you think I'll actually remember?"

"Probably. You just gotta be patient."

"But it's been three years already! I just wanna remember."

"This looks like the last memory," Emi observed.

"Why would you say that?" Yukino asked.

"This is right before you followed me through the woods. It would only make sense that it would stop now."

Levy turned around and agreed, "I'm pretty sure that the spell works to show everything in the past, but stops when it gets to the present."

"Thank god," Natsu stated. "This has been so stressful."

Everyone looked at Natsu with blank looks before Lucy started yelling at him.

"You didn't even do anything, you idiot!"

"All that waiting is sure to pay off eventually."

"Yeah, and what about you? Are you gonna keep waiting for Fairy Tail to just show up at your door for you to talk to them?"

"Well...I mean that kinda is what happened," Mira giggled.

"Shut up."

"I can't deal with that right now."

"Why?"

"Because I'm busy protecting--"

"Who? Me or Fairy Tail? Because for someone who's working in the shadows to protect your guild, you seem to be awfully aloof."

"That's just how I am."

"Believe me," Emi giggled, "I know."

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want."

They stayed silent, both going back to what they were originally doing. The room was quiet, and the only sounds were Laxus's breathing and the sound of pages turning from Emi's book.

Emi was the one who spoke up, joking, "Hey Laxus, what would you do if I went to Fairy Tail and told them where we live?"

He just huffed and ignored her, eventually falling asleep.

"Wait!" Natsu shouted. "So you purposely led us there?!"

"Actually no. It just kind of worked out like that. It must've been destiny! Now the real problem is..."

Everyone looked towards her and saw that her expression turned serious.

"Em, what's wrong?" Sting asked, concerned.

"Hey Cain? Will I ever see you again?"

Cain laughed and held her shoulders, responding, "You'll always see me, kid. You just gotta look inside your mind and wait."

"Cain, I--"

"Remember, my flames will never go out."

The group looked very confused, but Emi smiled and nodded, giving him one last hug and waving goodbye as the memories started to disappear.

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They all opened their eyes and saw that they were back in the inn, standing around in a circle with Emi sitting in the middle. Most of them noticed the change in demeanor Emi showed, and all of them saw her tears. She slowly stood up, brushing herself off, and approached Levy.