The END of an Era

The darkness that was surrounding Gray vanished as Meliodas reverted back into his regular form. Gray ran towards Meliodas and Natsu, having watched the entire fight but unable to do anything.

"Meliodas! Natsu! What the hell just happened?!" Gray shouted.

"He got away." Meliodas said. Beside him, Natsu was sniffing around the air, trying to find any scent of Zeref.

"Dammit! He's not here!" Natsu shouted out. Natsu suddenly turned his attention towards Gray and immediately headbutted him. To Gray's surprise, he was sent flying into a pile of rubble nearby.

"And what the hell is your problem?! Why did you attack Meliodas?" Natsu screamed. Gray put a hand to his forehead as blood began to drip down his face.

"Don't worry about it. The result would have been the same anyway." Meliodas said reassuringly, putting a hand on Natsu's shoulder. Natsu looked at Meliodas and calmed down a bit.

"I'm sure he had his own reasons for it." Meliodas walked over to Gray and smiled at him before extending his right hand to him to help him up.

Gray remained silent but took Meliodas' gesture.

"Thanks…" Gray said.

Meliodas, Gray, and Natsu suddenly turned their heads to the distance as they heard the roaring of dragons followed by a massive explosion. The three of them stared wide eyed as five heavily disfigured shapes fell from the sky and Acnologia began to fly away in the distance.

"N-no way…" Gray said silently in shock.

"IGNEEL!" Natsu screamed as he began to run in their direction. He suddenly felt his legs lift off the ground as Meliodas picked him up. He looked up at Meliodas and saw dark wings sprouted from his back.

"I'll take you there!" Meliodas said in a serious tone as he flew full speed.

—

As the two of them flew over the mangled bodies of the dragon, Natsu jumped down and ran to Igneel. Meliodas slowly descended downward.

"Igneel!" Natsu cried out, falling to his knees in front of the red dragon. "Please…wake up!"

"Natsu…" Meliodas looked at the other dragons. He could clearly tell they were all dead.

Meliodas approached Natsu. He remained silent and put a hand on his shoulder as he kneeled down next to the dragon slayer.

Time passed as the two of them mourned the deaths of the dragons. They heard the footsteps of several people behind them and saw Wendy, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue approaching them.

"The hell is this…Acnologia really killed em all…" Gajeel said. He began to walk over to Metalicana as Wendy approached Grandeeney, Sting approached Weisslogia, and Rogue approached Skiadrum.

"I'm sorry…This shouldn't have happened. I couldn't take down Acnologia…" Meliodas said, breaking the silence. He looked down at the ground and clenched his fist in anger. 'Because of Cath, even over the course of the past few years, I'm still not as strong as I was when I fought my father…'

"Meliodas." Natsu said, standing back up. He wiped away his tears and looked at Meliodas with a determined expression. "Let's become super strong and take Acnologia down."

"Yeah!" Meliodas responded.

—

The Fairy Tail guild members stood in front of their guild. A massive boulder had crushed a good portion of the building and the shockwaves generated from the fighting had destroyed the rest, along with a small section of the town that was close to the fighting.

"The guild was still destroyed in the end…" Jet commented.

"With battles that massive near Magnolia, it was only a matter of time…" Mirajane added.

"This may be the end of an era…" Makarov said silently.

—

Meliodas stood on the hill overlooking the town. With Fairy Tail disbanded, he no longer had any ties to stay in Magnolia Town. Standing behind him were Jellal, Ultear, Meredy, and the members of the Oracion Seis.

"What's your plan now?" Jellal asked.

"Are you going to rejoin Crime Sorciere?" Meredy asked.

"Nope." Meliodas responded. "I'm leaving the continent. There's nothing left for me in Ishgar. So I'll head west."

"You mean the continent of Alakitasia? I'm sure you're aware that country is off limits to Ishgar. Unless you plan on flying across the whole ocean." Ultear said.

"That sounds a bit tiring. But I know a few guys in Hargeon who would be willing to take me." Meliodas said.

"Do you really have to go?" Meredy asked. "I'm sure there's some things here in Fiore that could help."

Meliodas approached Meredy and patted her gently on the head.

"This is something I have to do. Not just to find a way back home though. I need to get my true power back in order to defeat Acnologia, and in order to do so, I need to go on this journey."

Meliodas turned around and began to walk away towards Hargeon Port. He waved at Crime Sorciere one last time.

'Hopefully, this is the last journey I have to take. One last journey. The journey to the west.'