Set around a year after the Tartaros arc.

Lucy hesitantly stepped into the guildhall, anticipating her fellow guildmates to be engaged in one of their usual brawls. However, as the doors opened there were no cries of insults, no furniture being thrown across the room, no chanting observers. Quiet chit-chat drifted amongst the tables. Lucy was taken aback; the guild was never this quiet. As she walked further into the guild, she felt a strange tension linger in the air. She looked to the bar and smiled at Mira as she slid a full beer across the bar to Cana.

'Good afternoon, Lucy,' Mira said. 'You're not usually this late to the guild.'

'Yeah, what took you so long?' Cana swung her drink in the air and downed it in one go.

'I just had a quick visit to the cemetery to visit my father's grave, with it being Father's Day. It's times like this that must make you grateful Gildarts isn't around, Cana. No stress of finding a gift for him.,' Lucy said.

'Lucy.' Cana nodded her head towards the end of the bar.

Sat opposite an untouched beer was Gray. He held his head low and stared down with glazed eyes at the liquid sloshing in his tankard. Was this why no one was fighting? Lucy took a quick look around the guild only to realise that Gray wasn't the only one seemingly in a solemn daze. Her own partner, Natsu, had his head pressed against the table while Happy sat, leaning his head into Natsu's hair. Even Gajeel was sat alone, more broody than usual.

'Father's Day isn't exactly the best time for most people,' Mira said, frowning. 'Even more so now considering the whole incident with Tartarus last year.'

'Oh.' Lucy looked down at her hands, pressure clenching in her chest. She watched the still form of her partner until an idea popped into her mind. She said a quick goodbye to the girls and planted herself down on the bench opposite Natsu. 'Hey, guys. How about we head out on a job? It feels like forever since we've been on one.'

Natsu slowly lifted his head and rested it on his arm. 'Sorry, Lucy. I'm not feeling up for a job today, maybe tomorrow.'

He forced a smile, but Lucy saw straight through it. Natsu rose from the table and picked up his bag from the floor. As he strode out of the guild, Happy gave Lucy a sincere look and let out his wings to fly after Natsu.

Lucy watched them go, fighting to hide her tears. Almost immediately after Natsu's departure, Laxus entered the guild. He walked towards the bar where his grandfather had since started a conversation with Mira. Under his arm, he carried a rectangular wrapped gift.

'Happy Father's Day, Old Man,' Laxus said. He looked away in embarrassment and handed the gift to him.

'To say I wasn't expecting this would be an understatement,' Makarov said. 'Thank you, Laxus.'

Makarov unwrapped the delicate paper and pulled the lid from the box. Inside was a picture frame with a photo of a very young Laxus stood with his grandfather, showing off his brand new Fairy Tail guild mark. Lucy saw a tear escape from Makarov's eyes.

'I love it,' Makarov said. 'Thank you.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' Laxus shrugged and took a seat at the bar.

Lucy smiled at them until she remembered the meagre atmosphere clouding the rest of the guild. She turned to where Gray was sat at the bar only to realise that he was gone. He must have snuck out during the exchange. She turned to Gajeel, now accompanied by Levy, chomping down on a collection of nails with a harsh scowl on his face. Levy seemed to be doing most of the talking and he refused to meet her gaze.

The day had gone by fairly quietly without the guild's signature fighting causing havoc. By nightfall, Happy was flying around the kitchen, putting plates and cutlery back in their respective cupboards. He stole a glance at the window every few seconds. Natsu was sat outside, his legs dangling over the small cliff on the hillside. Happy closed the cupboard and poked his head out of the front door. He wanted so desperately to run out and sit by Natsu's side, but he felt as if he'd be intruding on a private moment.

'Igneel,' Natsu said, gripping his scarf. 'I know you told me to keep looking toward the future but, it's too hard.' His voice shook and he choked on his words. 'There was so much I wanted to share with you. So much I wanted to do, like our usual training session, and riding on your back while we flew across the continent.' His shoulder trembled and Happy could visualise the tears rolling down Natsu's face. 'I miss you so much, Dad.'

Gajeel reclined on his couch in his apartment and waited for Lily to finish up in the bathroom. He hated to admit it, but he couldn't get the image of Metalicana fading away out of his mind. He'd despised the dragon after his disappearance years ago, and as far as everyone at the guild was concerned, he harboured no feeling towards him whatsoever. He turned to look down at his coffee table and the relic lying on its surface. A tooth. It was the last gift he'd received from the dragon. During one of their many training sessions, Gajeel had managed to pop the tooth right out of his jaw. Metalicana had decided to let the boy keep it to commemorate his victory.

'Dammit, Metalicana,' he said. 'I miss you, bastard.'

Gray had since fled Fiore entirely. After his silent escape from the guild, he'd taken the first train to Hargeon and jumped on a boat headed north. His home village was exactly how he'd left it eleven, no, eighteen years ago. Neighbouring towns had left the village untouched out of respect for the many lives lost in Deliora's attack. Gray knelt next to the makeshift grave that his father had once made for him and his mother, but after last years incident, Gray had altered the grave to display his father's name instead of his own.

'Dad,' Gray said. 'I can't stop thinking about what happened with Tartaros. I can't shake the feeling that I could have done something more to save you.' Tears streamed down his cheeks and turned to ice before they landed in the snow. 'Don't worry, I made a promise to avenge you and I'm not gonna back down, no matter what. I won't rest until E.N.D. is dead. What those bastards did to us, to you, is unforgivable. It's too hard to think about the hell they put you through. I can't imagine what it was like, knowing I was alive and not being able to do anything. I still can't believe you were alive for seventeen years and I had no idea. I hope you're with Mum, she must have been lonely without us all those years. I'll make you both proud of me, promise. I will crush E.N.D.'

I was originally planning for this to end on a happier note, but then this happened so... oh well!

First uploaded: 20/08/2015

Updated: 18/05/2019