It had been a month since that earth-shattering battle, and Fairy Tail had gradually returned to its usual lively atmosphere.
Yet, Lucy couldn't shake a strange feeling—like something important was missing.
Even though the guild was as bustling as ever, the sense of discord in her heart remained, persistent and unexplained.
"Lucy, it's time to head out on a mission."
Erza's voice snapped Lucy out of her thoughts.
She quickly responded, "Ah, yes, I'm coming!"
"We should call Natsu, Gray, Wendy…" Erza suddenly stopped mid-sentence, her brow furrowing.
She asked, uncertainly, "Um… Lucy, our team members are just you, me, Natsu, Gray, and Wendy, right?"
Lucy was about to answer "yes," but the word caught in her throat.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't say it.
In the end, she could only reply, "I guess… so."
Even Lucy herself could feel the lack of confidence in her voice.
Erza wore a thoughtful expression.
Lucy figured she must have sensed it too—that they had forgotten something.
They could only feel it subconsciously, like a gentle, beautiful presence.
If she had to describe it… yes, it was like the moon.
A moon that shone with a brilliance as radiant as the sun.
............
The faint crack snapped Mira out of her daze.
She looked down and realized the cup she'd been drying had slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor.
With a helpless sigh, she muttered to herself.
It wasn't the first time… She'd broken cups while tidying up the guild, mixed up wine and water, knocked over chairs—all because of her restless thoughts.
(What's wrong with me?) Mira frowned.
Ever since that battle, she'd felt like this.
But why? Was she just tired? And yet… this persistent unease in her heart—what was it really?
Lost in thought, Mira didn't even realize where her feet had taken her until she snapped out of it.
When she finally looked around, she found herself standing in front of a house.
(This place?) Mira looked up at the building.
It was an ordinary house, one she had never seen before—yet for some reason, it felt strangely familiar.
"Have I… been here before?" she murmured softly.
Then, almost unconsciously, her hand reached to her waist, and a key appeared in her palm.
"This key… could it be…?"
Mira hesitated for a moment, then reached out with the key and inserted it into the door's lock.
With a soft click, the tightly shut door opened.
As she looked at the now-open entrance, the confusion in her heart deepened even further.
"Why… do I have the key to this house?"
Stepping inside, Mira looked around at the furnishings.
There were no personal belongings, no signs that anyone had ever lived here, yet the entire place was unexpectedly clean.
As she walked deeper into the house, she kept glancing around, taking everything in.
When she reached one of the rooms on the second floor, she came to a stop.
"This feeling… it's so familiar. Who…?"
As if influenced by some strange force, Mira instinctively pushed open the door and entered the room.
In an instant, she felt as though her heart had been pierced by a sword, a sorrow and pain beyond description flooding her chest.
Weak and helpless, she collapsed to the floor.
Crystal-clear tears streamed down her cheeks.
She reached up to wipe them away, staring at the tears on her fingertips as she murmured to herself in a daze, "What… have I forgotten? Why… why is it something so important, yet I can't remember anything?"
................
In the far northern icy plains of Fiore, several figures were slowly making their way across the snow.
"Master... where are we going?" Lance asked softly, gazing ahead at Lia.
Despite the freezing environment, he showed no sign of feeling cold, even though he was only wearing two thin layers of clothing.
Lia paused and slowly turned around, looking at Lance and Tsukiyo who were following her.
A faint, calm smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Lance, Tsukiyo… do you love this world?"
"?" Both Tsukiyo and Lance's faces were filled with confusion.
"I… want to see this world properly, Lance, Tsukiyo." A faint longing appeared in Lia's ocean-blue eyes.
"I want to travel everywhere, to witness with my own eyes the world he loves. I want to see with my own eyes the different colored skies, the various forms of the sun and moon, the ever-changing clouds, the starry night sky, the desolate deserts, the pure white snow, the silent lakes, the roaring seas… and so many other things I've never seen before... Maybe then, I will understand him, maybe then… I'll be able to love this world."
Looking at Lia, whose face held a childlike expression of longing and a smile, Tsukiyo and Lance exchanged a glance and both saw a faint smile in each other's eyes.
"Garlos, Stella, Tina are dead. Dylan, Reign, Luther have been captured... Ophelia has embarked on the path she wanted... Only the two of you remain. Will you stay with me until the end? Tsukiyo, Lance?" Lia asked softly.
"As you wish, Master," both Tsukiyo and Lance replied simultaneously.
Lia let out a light laugh, gazing at the snowy sky.
Her eyes slightly narrowed.
(Maybe I've already found it, Niisama. The reason for my existence in this world. What I want to do.)
.................
In the Fairy Tail guild.
As always, the air was filled with various sounds of clamor and noise, but even amidst all this liveliness, something felt missing, something that could be called a soul.
It was as if... all of this noise existed just for the sake of making noise.
"It's been like this since a month ago," Makarov sat at the bar, resting his chin on his hand, gazing melancholically at the scene within the guild, letting out a soft sigh.
Mira forced a smile.
The cup in her hand was polished to a shine, but she continued wiping it with a cloth unconsciously.
"Yeah... I wonder if it's because everyone is just too tired from that war?"
"No... You must have felt it, right?" Makarov glanced at Mira.
"That feeling... of something missing."
Mira lowered her head slightly, silent.
"I'm back!"
The door to Fairy Tail was pushed open, and Natsu, Erza, and the others walked into the guild.
"Oh, welcome back, strongest team! I heard you caused quite a stir in Hediral City!"
Nab laughed, teasing Natsu. "You blew a huge hole in the city center!"
Lucy sighed bitterly, "At that time, Erza was also caught up in the chaos. It was just me and Gray, and we couldn't stop Natsu. Honestly, if he were here, Natsu and Erza probably wouldn't have caused such a huge mess..."
As Lucy spoke, she suddenly froze in thought.
Gray was momentarily confused. "Lucy, who are you talking about?"
"...It's him," Lucy said slowly.
"He, it's him," Erza frowned, tapping her head in frustration.
"That one... always smiling... who was it again?"
"Yeah, it's the one... always around us!" Wendy added.
"I remember, that... very reliable... guy," Natsu hesitated.
"I remember too!"
"Me too!"
It was as if a dam had been broken.
The members of Fairy Tail started discussing in a rush, but soon, the noise died down.
Each person wore a troubled expression, thinking... thinking about that person's name—the name that should have been firmly etched in their minds.
"Loer... no, it's Roland," Mira whispered, then suddenly froze as if she had just realized something.
"I finally remembered... why... did I forget? It was so important."
"What's wrong, Mira? Did you remember something?" Erza was the first to notice Mira's strange behavior and asked.
Mira looked up, her face pale, her voice trembling. "It was Noel... did everyone forget? It was Noel!!"
"!" Everyone froze.
Then...
"Yes, it was Noel!! Why did we forget?!!"
"Noel disappeared? We haven't seen him since that battle!!"
"What's going on? Why did everyone forget?!"
The disturbance spread throughout the guild.
People gradually started remembering Noel, and then the two questions, "Why did we forget something like this?" and "Where is Noel? What happened?" sparked a heated reaction from everyone.
Just then, the doors of the Fairy Tail guild suddenly opened again.
Everyone's gaze was immediately drawn to the door.
Standing at the entrance was a figure with a faint smile, silver hair, sky-blue eyes, and an aura as gentle as the moon.
"It's been a long time, everyone," the person said, his lips curling into a nearly perfect arc.
"And... I'm back."
The entire guild fell silent for a few seconds.
Mira was the first to react.
She took a deep breath, showing a perfect smile, and spoke the words that were in everyone's stunned hearts:
"Welcome back, Noel!"
Author Note : It's over! Finally over! ... My feelings are so complicated, I don't even know what to say. Anyway, I want to thank all the readers who have accompanied me to this point. Without your support, I probably would have abandoned the book halfway through. Thank you, you are my biggest motivation for writing. Half of the credit for finishing this book goes to you. I really appreciate you. So, until we meet again in the next book, everyone.