Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

-
End of the Tunnel

She wakes up early every morning out of habit. She walks across the bedroom, leaving the curtains shut tight because her husband is still sleeping. She pulls on a clean dress and makes her way to the bathroom. Bisca roughly combs through the knots and tangles in her long hair until it is loose and running freely down her back. For a moment she briefly contemplates taking the scissors out of the cupboard and violently slashing it all off. Just like Alzack did. Instead, she sets to work applying her make-up so that she looks somewhat presentable for when she arrives at the guild.

She starts by painting on a smile.

...

Alzack is out through the doors and on another job before she can even blink. He has to, no other choice. She knows he's too kind hearted to not donate half the pay check to the guild's dwindling funds. So their family suffers in its place. Not that she tells anyone, they all have enough to worry about. She doesn't even tell him how much it hurts her. But he knows anyway.

Unlike Romeo, she bottles it all in. He stops smiling and everyone knows he's in pain. She's worse because she hides it.

He's been crying again. Still, years later, the tears never dry. She contemplates bringing it up to Macao but decides against it. The last thing the Master needs is more weight on the load he carries on his shoulders. Besides, he probably listens to it every night, knowing that there is nothing he can do.

Bisca tries to make small talk with the fragile boy. Asks how his mother is, how his magic is coming along. Natsu would be proud, she wants to say.

She has watched face after face, name after name walk out on Fairy Tail. Some have moved on to other guilds. Others, out of town completely.

"Good riddance," she catches Jet whisper to Droy once.

"He has a point," Alzack agrees when she tells him. "Shows how much the guild, how much everyone, means to them."

She has watched her beloved guild shrink. They're all on the brink but nobody who remains has the heart to leave, to abandon what Fairy Tail once stood — does stand — for. The building can change, but their spirit is unwavering.

These days the only connection to the magical world they have are the small jobs and the occasional visits of encouragement from Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale. Therefore she makes herself busy by helping Romeo and Totomaru, keeping the drink out of Warren and Max's reach, encouraging Vijeeter and Nab, taking Jet and Droy's minds away from Levy, complimenting Reedus' latest drawings, making sure Macao and Wakaba are up-to-date on all the paperwork and official business, keeping Mira's bar clean along with Laki…

Sometimes she feels like their mother.

...

It isn't long before Alzack returns with blood dripping down his cheek and a couple of pity pennies after being beaten out of work by Twilight Ogre.

Again.

She patches him up and kisses his forehead while he buries his head in her shoulder, hiding the shame he need not be embarrassed about.

When they get home that evening she lets him push off her hat and kiss her senseless. In those moments of passion and warmth they both forget.

It is a mix of solace and pleasure and everything in between, just like that moment when she first told him she loved him. Time jumbles, becomes irrelevant and all that exists is them.

It's comforting to forget every once in a while. It makes her feel guilty later on, but sometimes she's glad that she doesn't have the constant reminder of those they've lost, of the failing guild. She is grateful for the time to themselves, no matter how selfish it may seem. Surely they deserve a break every now and then, or even better, a chance to move on. It's not like there is much hope left – but there is still some. They have to be positive, it's the only way to keep everyone going.

...

At the end of the day when her heart is heavy and her mind is ready to shut down, Bisca slips into her daughter's room, brushes back her small tuft of hair and holds her tiny fingers. This is what her life is centred about now. Nothing else matters. Her beautiful little girl is her reason to move forward.

Asuka is half asleep when her mother whispers stories about heroes and heroines much greater than those in fairy tales most parents read to their children. These heroes are real – living on in the hearts of her parents and their friends.

She doesn't look up when she feels Alzack's presence lean against the doorframe, smiling gently at the two most important people in his life. Her focus remains on the small yawn and the flutter of delicate eyelids as they close for the night. Bisca says a silent prayer, asking for hope, because their lives can only get brighter.

extra: these latest chapters have been so bittersweet. But I really want to see Bisca and Alzack's daughter. And wherefore art thou Jellal?