7 Years Later

X791, Hargeon Port.

A young boy stood on the pier, gazing into the distance, as though waiting for something to appear. 

"When are you going to give it a rest?" Bisca asked the boy. Seven years had passed, and Bisca now looked more mature. She was 18 at the time of the Tenrou Island incident, and at 26 she had blossomed into the prime of her life. 

Alzack added, "The job's done; let's head back to the guild." 

Seven years ago, Alzack had been rather naïve, but he too had matured considerably by now. 

Still, the boy continued staring out at the distant sea, as if he hadn't heard them at all. 

"Come on!" 

"Really..." 

Both Alzack and Bisca exchanged helpless looks. 

"If we don't go soon, your father will worry." 

"Macao entrusted you to us, Romeo." 

That boy was Romeo, Macao's son. Seven years ago he was only five, a little brat often left at the Fairy Tail guild when his father was busy. He'd quickly grown familiar with its members—many of them were young themselves at the time. 

Now, at twelve years old, Romeo had joined Fairy Tail. His power was still limited, so Bisca and Alzack often took him on jobs. 

"Yeah," Romeo mumbled, disappointed not to see whoever he'd been looking for.

Bisca said softly, "Romeo, I understand how you feel." 

Alzack stopped her before she could say more. It's one thing to empathize with someone, and another to force them to accept words they may not be ready to hear.

— 

Magnolia. 

Fairy Tail Guild.

Seven years after the incident on Tenrou Island, the guild had abandoned its old building and moved into a small tavern in a remote area.

"Romeo isn't back yet?!" 

"Did Alzack and Bisca ditch him somewhere just so they could be alone?" Macao slammed his glass down on the table, sounding very much like a worried father. 

During these seven years, Macao had turned 43—but he looked more like he was in his fifties, his hairline receding noticeably. 

"You're too loud," Wakaba told him. "Act your age for once, Macao." 

Macao glared at Wakaba. "You want me to run this guild, don't you?! I'm the master here!" 

Wakaba shot back, "I've never seen a guild master with so little leadership!" 

In the Tenrou Island battle, most of Fairy Tail's top wizards vanished. Someone still had to keep the guild going, so the eldest remaining member, Macao, became its fourth master after Makarov. 

Max looked around the mostly empty room. "It feels like there are fewer people every time." 

Right after Tenrou Island, many Fairy Tail members stayed on out of loyalty, but with their strongest mages gone, the guild's ability to handle high-level requests plummeted. Jobs dried up, and rival guilds—bitter about Fairy Tail's past successes—took the opportunity to pile on. One by one, people left. Only the most devoted members remained.

Varun shrugged. "It can't be helped. This guild is so weak now, nobody bothers giving us decent jobs."

A wizard's livelihood depends on job requests. With Fairy Tail's prestige gone, all that's left on the request board are low-paying tasks. 

Even those meager requests barely pay enough to scrape by, so many members jumped ship to bigger, wealthier guilds.

"Look at the job board!" Nab grumbled. Usually he loved browsing through job postings, but now there were only two or three worthless scraps pinned up. 

"Like it matters, you never go to work anyway," someone muttered at him. 

Nearby, Vijeeter was swaying his hips. "Check it out—I've created a new choreography I call 'Dance of the Weak!'" 

Max groaned. "Someone drag him outside already…"

Laki walked over to Droy. "Hey, Droy, you're putting too much strain on the ground." 

Years back, Laki had been just another face in the crowd of Fairy Tail's legendary beauties—Mira, Erza, and so on. But with time, she'd grown more distinct. Now, she was one of the only two female wizards left in the guild, the other being Bisca, who was married to Alzack.

Droy, holding a sausage in one hand and a ham in the other, snarled, "You calling me fat, you jerk?!"

He'd changed drastically over the years—ballooning into a near-sphere. 

Jet teased him, "Don't you have any self-awareness? Try following Reedus's example and slim down." 

Jet himself had gotten quite skinny. They were all part of the same team once, along with Levy, who was among those missing after Tenrou Island. Now they were a fat-and-thin duo.

Reedus, who was busy drawing, had once been as round as Droy. "I was only keeping that body shape for my magic. This is my natural figure."

Droy protested, "I have been exercising! Look at these muscles!" 

"You know what Gajeel would say if he saw you now." 

Droy retorted instantly, "Gajeel isn't coming back!" 

And with that bitter truth hanging in the air, the guild fell silent.