After the mess was cleared up, and everything returned to fairly normal state, Swift stood up on top of the bar and whistled to get everyone's attention. The guild was dead silent and everyone was intrigued as to what Swift would say after the massive fight he just had with Laxus.

"Hey everyone. So, first of all I would like to apologise, I want to apologise for the way I acted today, as well as over the last couple of months where I've been selfish and not feeling myself. At this very moment, I will be turning a new leaf, I'm hoping that I may be the first wizard in this guild to become a full fledged dragon and set an example for young and old wizards alike, to motivate and inspire you guys." Swift announced.

The whole guild clapped and cheered at the first part of Swift's speech, although I was clapping along with the others, I didn't entirely understand what Swift was talking about.

"Swift." I called out.

"Yes Akari." Swift responded.

"I'm a little confused, what are you going on about with this 'dragon' stuff, is there a new initiation in place?" I questioned.

"Not quite. I think it would be best if you joined me up here." Swift smiled.

What? I'm confused.

I walked to the bar and sat on the bar stool closest to where Swift was standing. Swift crouched down on the bar and sat on it with his legs dangling off the side, he put his arm around me in good spirit.

"Akari, some changes are being made within this guild for the better, you are the only person who doesn't know what's going on yet." Swift explained.

"Oh. Well, me, Pika and Laxus you mean." I giggled.

"No, Laxus and Pika already know, I told them earlier." Kasumi mentioned.

"You know Laxus?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." Laxus replied.

"What is it then?" I asked as I looked at the whole guild and then back at Swift.

"Akari, you left this guild wanting to become stronger and to show others that just because our guild is small, doesn't mean that it is weak. Everyone in the guild was ecstatic when we saw you on the cover of Sorcerer Weekly, the photoshoot aside, although, it did get noses bleeding, mine especially." Swift chuckled with the rest of the guild.

"Hey you!" I exclaimed with a grin as I elbowed Swift in the leg.

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just a joke." Swift continued to chuckle. "As I was saying, the photoshoot aside, your interview that you did was amazing and you did the whole Howling Dragons guild proud, as well as Fairy Tail." Swift continued to explain.

"Aw, thank you guys." I replied.

"We're not finished yet though." Swift stated.

"There's more?" I questioned.

"Of course. Due to your interview, you've inspired this guild to become stronger and follow your footsteps, as well as other wizards in Fiore which, leads me on to the big reveal. I'm sure that you've noticed that there are a few new faces here." Swift said.

"Yeah, there are quite a few actually." I replied as I looked at the guild members.

"All of these guys wanted to join because of you and some of them are really strong too; from seeing your attack today, one or two of them are close to your level." Swift commented.

"Wow, really?" I asked.

"Yes, since we have some stronger wizards, we've been able to complete a wider variety of jobs meaning that our guild is a lot more well known now. That is why starting from next week we will have a brand new request board called 'Dragon Quests' named after you. This is like your S- Class system at Fairy Tail." Swift explained.

Everyone cheered and I was sat still in surprise, everything had changed more than I thought in the three months that I had been away, I couldn't be prouder at what my old guild had accomplished but, I also couldn't believe that it was me who kick started it all.

"I don't know what to say, I'm just so happy for all of you." I smiled brightly.

"Everyone, let's give three massive cheers to Akari, who will always be our dual Dragonslayer no matter where she goes." Swift smiled at me softly.

I'm proud of him, I knew that he would be fine without me, he just tripped up a little along the way but, haven't we all?

"Hip, hip…" Swift chanted.

"Hooray!" The whole guild replied.

The guild was jubilant and the barrels of liqueur was cracked open for a night of partying and celebration. Wooden mugs were clanking, drunken men were singing, and everyone was having a brilliant time.

I sat at the bar next to Swift and decided to use this time to talk to him properly.

"I'm really sorry for what happened earlier, I was a fool." Swift apologised.

"Look, don't worry about it, that's in the past now, concentrate on the future, carry on my legacy for me." I replied.

"Thanks." Swift responded with a smile.

"By the way, I have this to give you, Kasumi has her gift already." I mentioned.

"That dress does look good on her." Swift grinned.

I took the Jewel out of my satchel and handed it to Swift.

"I didn't get time to buy you a gift but, I thought you could use this on anything you wanted to." I said.

"Akari, you don't have to do this for me." Swift mentioned as he slid the money back to me.

"No, I insist. Please take it, even if you don't need it now it may come in handy later." I insisted as I slid the money back to Swift.

"Thank you." Swift said humbly as he gave me a hug.

Bang!

Me and Swift suddenly turned around to see what the noise was, it was truly a sight to behold. Across the room, Kasumi was sat with Pika at a table with Jewel piling up. I glanced over and saw a drunken Laxus sat at the next table with wooden mugs and barrels scattered around, someone was opposite him and got up, holding their hand in pain as they stepped aside for another person to take their place. Cheering could be heard. Me and Swift got up from the bar and jogged over to the tables to see what all the commotion was about.

"So, you think you can beat me huh?" Laxus questioned with slurred words as he put his elbow on the table heavily, his massive hand ready to fight.

"Yeah… I can… beat you." One of the male guild members said slowly as he flopped his elbow on the table and gripped Laxus' hand.

The man was swaying around like a tree in the breeze, there was no way he was going to beat Laxus.

"So, what's the score then Kasumi?" I asked.

"Well, Laxus has currently accumulated 30,000 Jewel from our guild members, not one of them have won a match yet." Kasumi giggled nervously.

"They're still a bunch of idiots then, I mean have you seen the size of Laxus' hands, let alone his arms." I replied with a sigh.

"The next match seems promising though." Pika said.

"Why?" I asked.

"It's Flint." Pika replied.

"Oh yeah, he's someone you don't see around the guild often, he used to be on jobs all the time." I remembered.

I continued watching the rest of the match to see how it would play out. Flint isn't as big as Laxus but, he's definitely not lanky either, he has quite a bit of muscle to him.

"You ready?" Laxus questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"Of… course." Flint said as he hiccuped in between his response.

"Go!" Kasumi declared.

Both men gripped their hands tight and were fighting with all the strength they could muster to win their side. Flint was looking shaky though, he used his rock magic to change his arm to stone to gain more strength but, Laxus was still significantly stronger. The match was lasting longer than the other matches meaning that Laxus must've met a worthy opponent. Laxus continued to try and take Flint down but, he just couldn't gain enough extra strength to topple Flint's arm down entirely.

"There's no way Flint will win, he's too dru-" I said.

"Flint has won the match!" Kasumi declared.

"What!?" I exclaimed.

I dashed to the front of the crowd and saw Flint with a grin on his face as he snatched up his winnings and walked away, a crack was formed in the table from that arm wrestling match. I looked at Laxus and saw him passed out over the table.

"He only lost because he drank too much!" I said in shock.

"Seems that way, it appeared that he had the lead until his arm weakened and he hit the table." Kasumi replied.

"Serves him right for drinking too much, I've never seen him properly drunk before." I mentioned.

"Seriously?" Kasumi asked.

"Yeah, I mean he's had booze at the guild, lot's of it but, I haven't seen him drink so much that he gets tipsy let alone this state." I replied.

"You better pick him up." Kasumi suggested. "Show's over everyone." Kasumi declared.

"I reckon it's a camp out in the guild hall tonight." I said as I hooked Laxus' arm around me.

"Yeah, people have already passed out." Kasumi said.

"Just like the good ol' days. I'll take Laxus to the corner over there, it's not been occupied yet." I said as I stood up with Laxus slung over me.

"Did I win?" Laxus questioned drowsily.

"Nah, but, you did well considering." I replied with a smirk.

"I… I… l-l-love… y…" Laxus stuttered and slurred as he was chuckling to himself.

"Stay still, you're extremely heavy." I grunted as I carried Laxus over to the corner in the guild hall.

I sat Laxus against the wall and took out the sleeping mats from my bag and rolled them out on the ground. I put out a couple of pillows and laid them at the top of the mats. I walked over to Laxus and took his jacket off, chucking it aside so it could be used for a blanket. Laxus instantly grabbed my wrist as I was about to walk away.

"Akari…" Laxus said drowsily, still holding on to my wrist.

"What is it?" I asked as I crouched down in front of him.

"Your jumper is so soft." Laxus chuckled drunkily.

I wish I could record this, the great and mighty Laxus is bipolar when he's drunk, he goes from aggressive and competitive to soft and cheerful in a split second, who would've thought it. I quickly got my camera out of my satchel and held it out in front of me and Laxus. I posed with a cute smile and a peace sign and grabbed Laxus' attention before taking the photo.

"Hey Laxus… smile…" I said in a sing song tone.

Laxus looked up with a silly grin on his face and I took the photo, I looked at it on my camera, it was perfect, I didn't quite get his silly grin in time but, he was laughing in the photo and I got a good angle of his face.

"Good Laxus." I grinned as I put my camera away.

"Does Laxus get reward?" Laxus asked.

"What does Laxus want?" I giggled as he sounded like a three year old.

Laxus didn't say anything for a moment but, his eyes began to wander. He looked at my face at first and then his eyes drifted towards my chest. Laxus leaned forward, trying to grab my jumper but, instead he wobbled and fell forward, ending up grabbing my breasts with a happy expression on his face as he chuckled to himself.

"Get off!" I yelled as I punched him in the face with a fist full of fire and lightning.

I wrapped my arms around my breasts, my face blushing a vivid red. I looked at Laxus, knocked out on the ground.

"Laxus go to sleep." I said grumpily.

I unbuttoned Laxus' shirt and took it off of him, folding it and putting it in his bag. I unbuckled his belt so he would be more comfortable whilst sleeping. For a moment, I stared at his muscular, toned chest, those defined abs, his broad shoulders…

"Akari, I'm tired, can I sleep next to you?" Kasumi asked as she rubbed her dreary eyes.

My attention was suddenly taken off of Laxus and I turned to see Kasumi stood behind me.

"Oh, yeah sure… just let me… sort him out a minute." I stuttered.

I moved Laxus on to the furthest mat and threw his jacket over him. I took off my boots and jumper and laid down on to the mat next to Laxus, with Pika laid near my head. Kasumi laid down next to me and yawned.

"Today was great wasn't it?" Kasumi asked.

"Yeah, crazy, but great." I replied.

"Can I ask you something?" Kasumi asked softly.

"Yeah." I responded.

"Why were you undressing Laxus?" Kasumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What? He needed to sleep I was making him comfier." I replied.

"Sure, then why were you staring at him with a dreamy gaze?" Kasumi asked.

"I was not! That's just weird. I'm going to sleep." I pouted as I turned over.

"Tell your face about it then, you look like a raspberry." Kasumi giggled.

"Good night." I replied with frustration.

Most of the guild was sound asleep when me and Kasumi decided to hit the sack, it was peaceful and it brought back some amazing memories that I had of the guild, it was nice to relive them once more.

The next couple of days in Shirotsume was relaxing, it was nice to have a break from job requests for a little while and I enjoyed every moment that I spent with Kasumi and Swift as well as Laxus and Pika. On the final day, me, Kasumi and Pika decided to visit our favourite coffee shop, whilst, the boys decided to go fishing in one of the local lakes. I thought it was nice that Laxus wanted to spend a bit more time with Swift, although I still had a niggling doubt in the back of my mind.

Laxus' POV

"Woah Laxus, that's a big fish you caught, nice one." Swift congratulated.

"Thanks." I grinned.

"So, I know that I've said sorry about the other day but, I just want to say again that I'm really sorry for being shitty around you when you arrived." Swift mentioned.

"Look, don't worry about it man. You apologised to me and you've made up for your actions, that's good enough for me." I replied.

"Thanks for being so understanding, I just- I just struggled to accept that Akari didn't want to be with me because, she found you and I thought that, maybe it was because I wasn't strong enough for her, I felt like I needed to surpass her in order for her to be mine because, it meant that I could look after her more, like you do. I know it sounds stupid…" Swift explained.

"It's not stupid at all. Look, me and Akari didn't click at first, when I first saw her I didn't really want anything to do with her, just another fish that had joined our pond but, when I saw her power, that lightning and fire she gave off, it was stunning to see, I knew she had something special there and once she told me her story, I wanted to try and nurture that gift of hers using my own experience to guide her. I am stronger than her it's true but, she could look after herself without me there, she only goes on jobs with me because, we get on well with each other, given time she will probably surpass me, it's not impossible. You mustn't let the power rule your head though, I've been there and done that, I learnt from past experience that friends and family are more important than having power, we grow together and look out for one another. I know that you loved Akari but, she appreciated you being a friend to her, that should be all that matters." I explained.

"I can see why she likes you, you two are so alike in so many ways. What you've told me though, I will remember that, I will take that into consideration when I turn over a new page with Kasumi. Thank you." Swift said graciously as he held out his hand.

"No problem." I replied as I accepted Swift's handshake. "So, you and Kasumi are together then?" I asked.

"Not quite, I think taking it steady is the best way to go, even though I've known her for years, there's still things that I don't know about her so, I hope to get to know her better and we'll just see what happens." Swift smiled.

"That sounds good to me." I replied.

"What about you then, when will you tell Akari?" Swift asked.

"I'm not sure, it's funny, we seem to be almost at that point where we are classed as a couple but, it's almost like we're too scared to actually commit. I'm just waiting for the right moment, although I reckon she might say something before I do." I explained.

"Nah man. Akari is stubborn as well as oblivious, I know she's into you but, she's struggling to say it I know she is." Swift replied.

"That's what I thought. Well, we'll have to get back to you on that one." I grinned.

"Nice." Swift grinned.

Akari's POV

It was midday and we all met up back at the guild to collect our things and say goodbye as the magic vehicle was waiting there for us.

"Bye you guys, we'll miss you lots." Kasumi said as she hugged all of us.

"Well, you've done really well without me so far, I'm sure you'll be fine." I smiled.

"Yeah, we'll be okay." Swift said as he put his arm around Kasumi. "You take good care of yourselves, maybe pop by at Christmas for a visit." Swift suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Laxus grinned.

Swift gave me a hug and walked over to Laxus for a fist bump.

"Catch ya later old man. Take good care of her for us, you'll have me to answer to otherwise." Swift smirked.

"Of course I will, I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of you." Laxus smirked.

With that, me, Pika and Laxus got inside the magic vehicle and left Shirotsume to head back to Magnolia.

"That was amazing." I smiled as I looked out of the window.

"Yeah, it was nice." Laxus replied.

"I brought back a souvenir as well. I had it printed before I left." I said with a mischievous grin as I looked through my satchel.

"What is it?" Laxus asked with a grin on his face. "You… didn't." Laxus growled.

I pulled a t-shirt out of my satchel which, had the photo I took of me and Laxus printed on the front. Laxus looked at it with widened eyes and he buried his face in his hands with embarrassment, causing me to laugh.

"Well, I thought I deserved vengeance for that photo prank you pulled on me, I must say this high quality print is very good." I giggled.

"If you show that to the guild…" Laxus said with frustration.

"Then what?" I grinned.

"Then I will print a t-shirt with your embarrassing photo on it." Laxus sniggered.

"Be my guest." I said smugly.

Laxus didn't anticipate that reaction from me but, he still didn't care, I know that because, he actually did get the t-shirt printed when we got back to Magnolia. It didn't bother me, after all the whole of Fiore has seen that photo so why should it matter? We both had an embarrassing t-shirt now and it gave us something to laugh about even on a rainy day.