A/N: hahaha okay this is loong overdue, like seriously this should've been over a few months back but i guess you can say i've kinda had a big writer's block and i wasn't exactly sure how to end this story, but, well, takes a deep breath. i'm going to today.

and so — yes, this is the end. thank you for the journey throughout the time where i first uploaded this story to the day which i will finish it, and that day is today. i'm still cringing at the first few chapters of this fanfic, in my opinion i wrote so bad —

no i mean seriously i can't read the first few chapters without wanting to crawl in a hole it's that bad. but somehow, you guys enjoyed it! and i continued it, and that leads us to this point, which means that yes, i'm officially going to be finished with this story, at long last. in all honesty, i'm very relieved, and also a bit sad. this was one of my faves to write, but well, all things have to end soon, don't they?

disclaimer: own nothing, just odette (aka my OC)

enjoy (:

Lucy woke up to birds chirping outside.

Groaning, the blonde rubbed her eyes and rolled over in her bed quite clumsily, brushing strands of blonde hair out of her face. She blinked as she stretched her arms up to the ceiling, and sighed as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. Yawning, she faced the calendar which was on the wall next to her bed, and focused on today's date, which was circled in red.

There were words written (also in red) underneath the date, which read — "Leaving Shibusen today."

At once, nostalgia hit Lucy like an oncoming bus. Memories flooded her mind, and some amusing ones stood out to her as she remembered the events that had occurred at their stay in the DWMA. Oh, she knew how much she would miss this place. Words wouldn't be able to describe her feelings and the friendships that she'd made here, along with her fellow members of Fairy Tail.

Her eyes trailed over to the bodies of her other guild members, who were all still fast asleep, excluding the Shibusen students, who all had somewhere to stay rather than the dorms here. Lucy sighed sadly at the thought of her leaving her newfound friends. It would be a while until they'd see each other again. Maybe it'd be years until they will, who even knows? The blonde stared at the Fairy Tail stamp at the back of her right hand and chuckled lightly.

She missed her friends back at Fairy Tail too. Levy, Juvia, Mira, Lisanna... they were her friends, and Lucy missed them dearly. Of course, it would be great to finally come back and see them all again. After all, didn't she want to leave before she even got here at Shibusen in the first place? The blonde bit back a bitter laugh, and shook her head. Funny how these things work. Usually, the things we don't like — we've never tried doing it.

Lucy returned her gaze to the calendar, and stared at the days before today.

It seemed like it was a long time ago — when Medusa attacked the guild, and when they were all in that huge battle that had occured — the witches, and the demon weapon. And finally defeating all of them too... Lucy smiled once she remembered how happy all of them were once they had finished the witches off.

And we can't forget the fact that now Natsu and Lucy (and also Soul and Maka) were now officially an item.

Of course, the blonde was extremely happy once he had confessed, even if he did almost set the tent on fire. Lucy couldn't forget the joyful expression on Natsu's face when she had likewise merrily accepted his confession. They had held hands almost the whole time after that.

Lucy knew she would miss Kid's symmetry obsession, Black Star's egotistical personality, and Maka's Maka Chops. She knew she would miss Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, and Soul's ability to be able to transform into weapons (was it still some kind of magic, Lucy still didn't know even at this point). She definitely knew she would miss the Shibusen student's eccentric personalities, and even Stein, who was kind of... weird. But in a good way.

The Shibusen kids weren't so different from the Fairy Tail members after all.

Later that morning, all the girls were already up and alert.

Their carriage would be coming at around 1:30 pm, for all of the Fairy Tail members (including the guys, of course) to come back to Magnolia, back to their hometown. Lucy and the others had already dressed; in her case she was wearing a collared sleeveless blue and white top with a blue pleated skirt. Her keys were safe and sound on the belt on her waist, and she had put her hair in her original side ponytail hairstyle, along with a blue ribbon.

She was just finishing up packing, having thrown in one of her jackets when there was a soft knock on the door.

Lucy looked up, ready to open it, but Odette was closer. Quickly, she jumped over her suitcase (nearly tripping over it) and opened it, revealing Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, and Maka, who were all smiling at the Fairy Tail girls. Lucy smiled and waved merrily back, before resuming to put her calendar in her luggage. She straightened up and walked over, as Erza and Wendy did the same, Carla flying in the air besides Wendy.

"Today's the day, isn't it?" said Maka, smiling sadly at all of them, her green eyes flitting across the Fairy Tail members' faces.

Erza smiled besides Lucy, already donning her armor. "Yes, it is."

"We'll miss you guys," Wendy piped up, her brown eyes sad. "We should all see each other again one day."

"Yes, we should." replied Tsubaki, her voice gentle. She bowed politely. "It's been great to have all of you here."

Odette moved from behind the door, and was smiling crookedly. Her expression softened. "Yeah, likewise. I also agree with what Wendy said — we should all hang out one day, just to see how we're all doing. Thank you for everything. It was all amazing, this trip here." She gestured to the dorm.

"We're glad you enjoyed it." Liz smiled, as Patty nodded vigorously.

A comfortable silence passed over them, as they all continued to look at one another, not wanting to forget any of the memories that had been made here. Lucy smiled sadly at Maka, who had given her a small smile in return. Maka then cleared her throat, and everyone's attention was soon directed on her. "So, are all of you finished packing already? It's eleven, and Lord Death still wants to talk to us."

All of the girls nodded.

"Yes, we're finished." Lucy clarified. "Do we need to bring our stuff with us?"

"There's no need," said Tsubaki. "We don't want to let you guys go so quickly."

The blonde giggled.

Maka led all of them to Lord Death's room afterwards.

Once they had entered, Lucy noticed that all of the boys were there already, all looking like they were apparently in the midst of an argument. Natsu (of course) was arguing with Gray and what seemed to be an overly excited Black Star, while on the other hand Kid looked extremely mortified, determinedly looking away from his group. Dr. Stein was also present as well, seeming to be in deep conversation with Lord Death himself.

"Oh, hello, hello~!" Lord Death said cheerfully, as the girls slowly walked up to join them. He clapped his two (hands?) together and began to speak. "So, today's the day, isn't it?" His happy mood was met with smiles from the teenagers — at the corner of Lucy's eye, she saw Kid give his father a rare, faint smile. The blonde couldn't help but giggle to herself as she noticed this.

"Yes." Erza said, speaking up from Lucy's other side. "Our carriage is leaving at — "

" — Carriage?" interrupted Natsu, looking dully horrified (as Gray facepalmed). "W-We're taking a carriage — ?" he was then interrupted by Erza shooting him one of her infamous death glares, and Natsu seemed to fade away into dust, looking even more terrified. The scarlet haired teen coughed into her fist before continuing.

"As I was saying," she hissed, glaring at Natsu. "our carriage leading back to Magnolia is leaving at 1:30."

"And all of you have packed?" Death asked, politely ignoring the fact that Erza seemed to want to annihilate Natsu a few moments earlier. Besides him, Stein was quietly rotating the screw in his head, a cigarette in his mouth. Lucy shivered. She still wasn't used to Stein's screw rotating.

"Yes." replied Erza.

"Well, that's all very good now, isn't it?" Death said cheerfully. "It was truly wonderful having all of you here."

"The same goes to you, Lord Death." Erza said in a business-like manner. Then, she smiled. "It would be great to come over again in the future."

" — And this time, I'll challenge all of you!" shouted Black Star, who had pumped a fist in the air, and was still smiling as bright as ever. Smirking, he pointed his finger to everyone in the room. "You guys can come at me all at once when you come back! And I'll beat you to pieces, cause I'm the biggest star of all!"

With that, he looked around the room, and his eyes landed on the blue haired girl standing next to Tsubaki. "Starting with Wendy!"

The petite girl's eyes widened fearfully.

Silence.

"MAKA CHOP!"

"SHINIGAMI CHOP!"

Everyone burst into laughter after that.

Pretty soon, it was time to go.

The last few hours at the DWMA were a mixture of sadness and happiness. The thought of leaving was bittersweet to Lucy — and she was completely sure her friends were feeling the same way. Most of the time was spent with all of them laughing together, outside of the school, waiting for the carriage to arrive at the bottom of what seemed to be millions and millions of steps.

It seemed like only yesterday Lucy herself was climbing these steps, complaining on how there were too many and how she got extremely exhausted. Now, the blonde wished for it to happen again — to relive this trip over again, to experience this trip over again. But, er, maybe not the part with Excalibur. She pulled a face at the thought, and shook her head in disgust. She did not want to set her eyes on that thing again.

Moments later, everyone's attention was drawn once a carriage popped up in sight, halting in front of the steep staircase. The driver hopped out and looked on ahead, and once they caught sight of the waiting Fairy Tail members, he waved to them, letting them know that he was there.

The Shibusen students had helped the Fairy Tail members carry their things down to the carriage (it took Kid, Black Star, Soul, Natsu, and Gray to haul Erza's large freaking haul of things that she'd brought) and were now gathering themselves in front of the carriage to say their final goodbyes. Everyone looked kind of down at this point, and Lucy herself thought she was going to break down and start tearing up.

"So." Soul began, grinning. "This is it."

Gray flashed a smile back. "It is, isn't it?"

"I never thought that I would actually miss this place," Carla sniffed, as Happy said "AYE!" in return.

Another silence fell between the DWMA and the Fairy Tail kids. After all, they would be separating. Who knows how long it'd be until they'll see one another again? Lucy silently hoped that it wouldn't be too long. She knew she would miss the Shibusen students dearly. Her gaze fell on Maka, who's expression was unreadable. Then, the two girls stepped forward and embraced one another.

"I'll miss you, Lucy. And your spirits, too." Maka said, her voice muffled (partially because of Lucy's chest). Lucy hugged her slightly more tighter before the two of them let go of their hug. The blonde put her hands on Maka's shoulders, and grinned, the two of them looking into each other's eyes.

"I'll miss you too, Maka. I'll write to you." said Lucy, while the brown haired girl nodded, sniffing slightly. "And, what are you guys going to do about Crona?"

Maka blinked, and then smiled. "Crona's not that bad, honestly. He's just really shy. In the meantime, we're accepting his company here in Shibusen. He doesn't seem like a harmful person, and I'd actually like to befriend him."

Lucy couldn't help but smile back at her friend's decision.

Pretty soon, everyone else was hugging and saying their last goodbye's to one another, in one hilarious moment Erza had approached Black Star, and when she hugged him Lucy swore that she heard some of Black Star's bones crack. He was grinning afterwards, but was clutching his back and stomach, looking as if he were in pain. Well, what could you expect?

She hugged Soul too, who chuckled back. "Have fun with Natsu," he joked as the blonde rolled her eyes.

"And you be a good boyfriend to Maka, too." she smirked, as Soul pointedly averted his gaze.

Lucy hugged both of the Thompson sister afterwards, and saw Natsu and Soul bump their fists together, giving each other a bro-like hug. Black Star came over to yell profusely loudly that he was to fight Natsu again the next time they met, which earned exasperated looks from the rest of their friends, but not before Soul pointed out that Gray had stripped once again (leading the ice-mage to shriek as he tried to find his missing shirt).

The blonde then approached Tsubaki, who likewise embraced her in return. She had just finished talking to her (and promising to keep in touch) when she caught sight of Kid and Odette talking quietly to one another, and no one seemed to notice, all talking amongst themselves. The two of them then hugged, and gave each other full genuine smiles before Odette turned away to say her goodbyes to Maka.

Smiling slightly, Lucy tapped Kid on the shoulder.

He jumped, and whirled around, his golden eyes widened in surprise. Then, he recognized Lucy, and he breathed out in slight relief. "Hi." He said, smiling slightly at the blonde. She returned his smile, and blinked twice. She couldn't help but remember the previous argument they had about Plue.

"It was nice meeting you, Kid." The blonde said cheerfully, as she hugged him in turn as well. Once she had let go of Kid, she giggled at his reaction — he looked slightly taken aback. Then, he let out a long sigh and straightened the skull-like tie on his suit before smiling softly back at her.

"You too, Lucy." He simply said. Kid began to take a step forward to say more goodbyes, but then Lucy took his wrist. Slightly surprised, Kid's golden eyes widened as he turned back to the blonde, who looked back at him.

"So, I've been observing... you know. You and Odette." Lucy said casually, and — wait. Was it her imagination, or was he turning a light shade of pink? "Is there, you know, something going on between the two of you?"

Kid looked lost for words. "Er, no... there isn't... why?"

At the corner of her eye, Natsu was staring. So, Lucy smiled slightly before letting go of Kid's wrist, leaving him even more confused. She smiled. "Never mind... but, I'll see you again soon, yeah?" Kid nodded slowly, but he still looked baffled. He hesitated, and bit his lip.

Then he opened his mouth and said, "Lucy, when you rebuild your guild — make it symmetrical for me, okay?"

The blonde laughed and promised she would, much to Kid's relief. He looked more satisfied as he said his goodbyes to Erza, surprisingly not wincing as the two of them hugged as well. Meanwhile, she turned to Natsu, who's onyx eyes were narrowed. "What were you two talking about?" he demanded, and Lucy chuckled at his behavior. "What?" he pressed on, looking anxious.

"It's nothing," Lucy smiled. "just about Odette. Don't tell her though."

The fire dragon slayer cocked his head to the side, but he didn't say anything in reply. Then he smiled. "Well, it's time for us to go, Luce. Are you ready?" He held out his hand, and she gratefully took it. She looked into his eyes before kissing him on the cheek, leaving the both of them to smile as bigger as ever.

"Yeah."

The Fairy Tail members then climbed into the carriage after hauling their stuff inside (and attaching Erza's to the back of the vehicle). Wendy cast Troia on Natsu and then all of them started waving to the DWMA students, who were waving merrily back as well. "Goodbye!" Lucy shouted, peering over Gray's head, as she waved to her friends.

"Come back soon!" shouted a grinning Maka.

"Giraffes!" Patty yelled (for what reason, Lucy did not know).

"I'll be waiting to fight you guys!" Black Star said. "YAHOO!"

The carriage then started up, and they all continued waving until the DWMA was finally out of sight — and so were their new friends as well.

After what seemed like forever, all of the Fairy Tail members sat back down, facing one another, sighing. Then they all smiled at one another, and excitedly started retelling the stories of what had happened at the DWMA — and deciding which ones they'd tell to Master and the others back home in Magnolia. Lucy grinned at Natsu, who was smiling heartily back, their hands entwined.

Her gaze jumped from Gray, to Wendy and Carla, to Happy eating fish, to Erza, to Odette, and finally to her new boyfriend Natsu, who were all smiling at one another. She glanced outside the carriage window, and glimpsed the DWMA in the distance, which was now going further and further away from them.

"This was the most fun I've ever had." she smiled as she squeezed Natsu's hand.

Natsu grinned, and bent down to kiss her. Once he let go, the two of them looked around, facing their smirking and giggling guildmates. But that was okay. Everything was okay now. He smiled back adoringly at Lucy, who was beaming brightly as ever.

"Same here, Luce." He said.

The carriage set off towards the horizon, headed towards their home.

To Fairy Tail.

A/N: wow, okay. that was a lot to write xD

but he y, i'm officially done with this fanfic! thank you to everyone who read, faved, followed, and reviewed. thank you so much. you have no idea how thankful i am for staying with me along this journey. and one more thing — 100 reviews?! holy crap! thank you thank you thank you. i'm so happy you guys enjoyed this story as much as i enjoyed writing it for you. and, for a sequel to this story? i don't think there will be one, but there might be in the future!

well... if i'm not too lazy to write it.

anyway, thank you once again! i never thought this story would end up having 100 reviews... wow. thank you so so so so much.

till next time,

choco xx