Lullaby of the Rain

Small shards gently fall and cover the sky with its beautiful glow.

Zeref watched intently as the pair of dragons disintegrated right before his eyes.

He didn't seem too bothered by the events happening before him.

Turning to leave, he pauses.

Mavis watches as the young man stops mere inches away from her.

"You win this time Mavis, but don't mistake this victory as a form of celebration. That blast alone will keep Acnologia at bay at least for 18 years. Will you and your fairies be ready by then?"

More driven than ever, she proudly replies back,

"Yes, and in that time we'll make sure to finish the job you started."

Zeref fades into the darkness leaving Fairy Tail's previous Master alone to contemplate his parting words.

Darkness had consumed his surroundings.

Floating endlessly his body drifted in the emptiness.

It was so cold.

Thinking to himself he asks,

"Am I dead?"

There in the darkness a beam of light shined bright.

Slowly opening his eyes, he wonders where the source of this light was coming from.

Before he could make sense of the situation he was suddenly standing in an open field under a tree.

The suns' warmth shaved him of the cold that was coating his body.

The breeze gently brushed against his blonde locks of hair and wisped past him.

This place seemed so familiar to him.

"Why am I not surprised that you turned out to be just as stubborn as your grandfather?"

The soft spoken voice forces a shot of electricity to shoot up his spine.

He could feel a smaller woman pressing her back against his.

He doesn't dare to turn around.

"I remember bringing you here and reading to you all the time."

Reminiscing, she giggles as she dotingly adds,

"You would always ask me to read you stories about Fairy Tail and how you dreamed of the day you would become a wizard there."

Tears begin to well up in his eyes.

He soon smiles and looks up towards the beautiful blue sky as he begins to remember those days.

Taking his hands into hers, she says,

"You grew up to be an amazing and handsome man Laxus."

He couldn't take it anymore, turning around he faces the woman he hadn't seen in 18 years.

She was everything he had imagined her to be. Her long luscious blonde hair shined in the sun's light and her smile…by god how he missed that smile. She was even wearing the very same outfit she wore that day.

Looking down she warmly smiles at the little boy standing before her.

He had reverted back to the innocent little boy she had oh so loved and remembered.

Tears fill his eyes as he sadly cries,

"MOMMY!"

He runs towards her as she kneels down and holds the crying child in her arms.

She holds him tight.

"Oh Laxus…my handsome little boy."

He cries hard into her shoulder, not wanting to let go.

Softly caressing his hair, she gently pulls away from the boy.

Their orange eyes meet, and she warmly smiles back at him.

Lovingly wiping his tears away, in a gentle tone she says to him,

"I'm always here Laxus. When it rains, I'm there. You're never alone."

She places her hand over his heart.

"Even at our darkest times, there will always be light."

A glow surrounds her hand and begins to envelop the little boy in its warm loving light.

Opening his eyes he was now taller than the woman.

He had reverted back to being an adult.

"My sun's light will always protect you Laxus."

Lost for words, he is about to say something but instead is met with her hand covering his mouth.

She gently moves it away and caresses his cheek.

"We'll meet again, but not like this. Your time on earth isn't over just yet. I know you miss me, but remember Laxus, I will always love you with all my heart. My handsome little b-"

She stops herself short and smiles as she proudly states,

"I mean…my strong handsome man."

She wraps her arms around his waist resting her head on his chest and hugs him.

Knowing that the time they had together was short, he embraces her.

"Thanks mom…"

They stand like that for a bit before a familiar voice calls out to him.

"Laxus…"

A blinding light pulls him away.

"Laxus!"

He could feel himself being shaken.

Every part of his body hurt.

"LAXUS!"

Weakly opening his eyes he is met with teary blue ones.

Alarmed, Mira stops when she notices Laxus was finally waking up.

Coming to he barley makes out the identity of the woman kneeling before him.

"Mira?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, she lets out a short laugh happy to see the man alive and well.

Wiping her tears she nods,

"Yeah…"

Attempting to sit up she stops him.

"Don't move! You're badly hurt! Wendy is on her way to cast her cure spell on you!"

Looking around he could feel his heart nearly skip a beat when he notices a major missing detail.

"The baby! Where's-"

She takes his hands into hers and reassures the man that there was no need for him to worry.

"He's fine. He's with Lucy."

Relieved he sets his head back on the ground.

"Mira…I'm going to be honest with you."

She hangs onto his every word before asking,

"Yes?"

Pain in his voice, he weakly states,

"I never imagined parenting to be THIS hard."

Taken aback by his statement, she laughs before resting her head on his.

"Welcome back Laxus…welcome back."

Back at the Guild, all the members were celebrating on their victorious win along with welcoming the newest addition to Fairy Tail, Laxus and Mira's son.

Heavily bandaged, Laxus sat in the bed as Mira sat close by with their son cradled in her arms.

Elfman, Evergreen, Freed, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Gildarts, Makarov, and Natsu laughed as they all shared stories of their latest venture.

Natsu especially happy to see them all together, steps forward and energetically shouts,

"Now that we have a Demonic Dragon Slayer on our team let's check out his strength!"

Lucy angrily approaches the young Dragon Slayer and screams,

"Are you insane!? He's only a day old!"

Gray couldn't believe the stupidity spewing from his comrade's mouth,

"Are you really that stupid Natsu!?"

Not moved by their words, Natsu surrounds his body with fire before charging at the baby.

"The sooner the better!"

Mere inches from the child, the baby coos before taking hold of the Dragon Slayer's finger and blasting him with a black bolt of electricity.

Sizzling on the floor, Happy grabs a bucket of water and pours it over him.

"Don't worry Natsu! I got you!"

He pours the water on the still electrified Dragon Slayer.

Contact with the water intensifies the electricity causing even more damage to the already beaten man.

"AHHHHH! SNAP!CRACKLE!POP!….sizzle* (X_x)

Happy shocked by his poor results in an attempt to save his comrade yelps,

"OH NO! Natsu!"

Unimpressed Laxus carelessly states,

"Serves you right."

Erza smiles at the sight of everything appearing to slowly be going back to normal. Walking over she playfully punches Laxus' shoulder.

"No more playing hero ok?"

He grins at the woman. They went way back, but would rarely share moments like this with each other so Laxus immediately knew how important those words meant to her, especially for her to be saying it in front of everybody.

Evergreen kneeling down, softly takes the baby's hand into hers.

"He has your eyes Laxus, and Mira's hair!"

Mira looks over to Laxus before bringing her attention back to Evergreen.

"We actually wanted to talk to both you and Elfman."

The pair were taking off guard by the sudden interest in them.

Not wanting to keep them waiting any further than they already had Mira adds,

"We've decided that we would love for both you and Elfman to be his official Guardians."

Evergreen stares in disbelief as a blush runs across her usually pale skin face as Elfman proudly claps his hands and shouts in the background.

"BEING A GUARDIAN IS SUPER MANLY!"

Mira cheerfully tilts her head and kindly smiles at the pair and asks Evergreen,

"So is that a yes?"

Evergreen wipes a tear before hugging Mira,

"Yes! Of course! Thank you both!"

"You know what they say! First comes love, than comes marriage, than comes Elfman and Ever with the baby carriage!"

Gasping, Elfman and Ever blush in embarrassment before growling in unison,

"SHUT UP BICKSLOW!"

Heavily bandaged, the Seith wizard uses a crutch and with the help of a slightly injured Lisanna he leans on her as he hobbles over towards the bed.

Laxus smirks upon seeing his badly injured friend and makes light of the situation by poking fun at him,

"About time you come see my son."

He welcomes the Seith wizard with a firm handshake.

Bickslow knowing all too well what Laxus was aiming for shoots back,

"You look worse for wear."

Reaching back into his childish nature Laxus purposely pokes the man's ribs.

"I could say the same for you."

Hissing in pain he swats the man's hand away.

"Careful! Internal injuries you know!"

Laxus was just about to retort back before noticing Bickslow's dolls floating by.

"Hey! There are six. Didn't you only have five?"

Proudly smiling Bickslow explains,

"Let me introduce you to my latest addition!"

The doll flies around the room happily before stopping by Bickslow's head.

"Pyppy!"

Lisanna stares at the baby in awe and let's out an adorable squee sound,

"Oh Mira! He's so adorable! What's his name?"

Blushing, the older Strauss nervously replies,

"He doesn't have a name yet."

Placing her hand over Laxus she looks over to him lovingly and adds,

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

Erza takes note and carrels everybody out of the room.

"Ok that's it everybody! Time to leave these two alone for awhile!"

Gildarts walks over and gives Laxus a firm handshake before leaving.

"Congratulations you two. Enjoy the time you have with each other especially with this little one."

Laxus happily returns the handshake but not before getting a shot in at the usually trolling Guild member,

"Understood. Don't be getting soft on me old man!"

Smirking, Gildarts manages to mess the Lightning Dragon Slayer's hair up before stepping away and in his teasing nature shoots back,

"We'll see who the old man is once those grey hairs of yours start sprouting up like turnips!"

Erza tows away the unconscious Natsu as Happy follows close behind.

Makarov lays low and waits until he is the only one left before glancing over at the new family.

"I'm proud of you two. What you did back there was impeccable, but despite our win we will need to further discuss his training. We can't forget that he possesses a power none of us are familiar with and he's going to need all the help he can get."

Both Mira and Laxus nod upon acknowledging his words.

Makarov smiling at the pair turns to leave.

"Oh…and Gramps."

Stopping short he turns around to see his grandson raising his right hand and posing his fingers in a backward 'L'.

"Thank you."

Snot falls from his nose as tears fill his eyes. Embarrassed Makarov rushes out while screaming,

"DAMN IT! I HAVE SOMETHING IN MY EYE!"

Closing the door the two were finally alone.

Despite everything they've been through Laxus was still very nervous being around Mira.

Sensing his nerves, she innocently giggles before passing the baby over to him.

"Here. You hold him for a while."

Fear was etched all over his face.

"M-me!?"

Laughing she replies,

"Yes, you! You're his father after all!"

Taking a deep breath he reaches over and attempts to carry the baby.

He freezes as his hands hover over the child who was staring at the man in awe.

Seeing how much trouble he was having, Mira steps in and helps.

She gets up and places the baby tenderly in his arms.

"You're just going to hold his head up, just like this."

She positions his hands, before letting go.

Looking down in his arms, Laxus couldn't believe that the baby in his arms was his son.

"He's…he's perfect."

Mira already taking on the motherly role lovingly caresses the baby's rosy cheek and says,

"He looks a lot like you."

Laxus laughs, through his eyes the baby looked more like Mira as tiny silver hairs sprouted from his tiny head.

"Only the eyes. Everything else is all you."

Cradling the child he finally builds up the nerve and asks,

"So…what's his name?"

Her eyes brighten up as a blush paints her cheeks a soft pink.

Smiling, she nervously adjusts the baby's shirt before answering.

"His name Sol. Sol Makarov…"

With a name attached Laxus chuckles.

Testing the name he repeats it out load several times just to get the feel for it.

"Sol? SOL. Sooool. Sol. I like it. Works well with Strauss."

Fidgeting her fingers Mira stammers,

"Well…that's the thing. It's actually Dreyar."

His head shoots up. His eyes wide he had to ask to confirm with himself if what he had just heard was correct.

"Dreyar?"

She proudly stares into the man's eyes and genially says,

"It's Dreyar. Sol Makarov Dreyar."

He knew she didn't have to, but she did.

Overwhelmed he happily laughs and pulls the woman into a loving kiss.

Surprised, she also laughs before wrapping her arms around his neck returning the loving gesture.

Sol's coo causes the pair to temporarily pull away and laugh.

Laxus keeps Mira close as he places a kiss on her forehead.

The pitter patter of rain can be heard on the window glass.

His laughing changes to a somber look.

Looking out the window he could clearly hear his mother's words in his head.

("I'm always here Laxus. When it rains, I'm there. You're never alone.")

Mira watches as he gets up from the bed with Sol cradled in his arms.

Walking over to the window, Laxus and Sol watch the rain fall.

"My mother and I used to watch the rain together and she would sing this lullaby."

It warmed Mira's heart upon him saying those words. It was the first time he had ever mentioned anything about his mother to her.

Rocking Sol, Laxus begins to gently sing,

I love the pitter-patter
I hear upon my window pane
My troubles cease to matter
When I hear the lullaby of the rain
I've talked with every flower
That blooms along the country lane
They're happy in a shower
Cause they love the lullaby of the rain

Although the rain may be teeming
I'm cozy and warm
And I catch up on my dreaming
All during the storm

Some like their weather sunny
Come cloudy days, and they complain
I know they think I'm funny
But I love the lullaby of the rain

On the roof or on the window pane,
How I love the lullaby of the rain!

Reaching behind, Mira lovingly hugs the man as the trio stares up and intake the sight of the rain together as a family.

Closing the door Makarov approaches Gildarts, and Erza who were joined by Doranbolt.

With a look of concerned Erza says,

"Master…we weren't able to locate Rogue, but we did find Frosch."

Even though her expression alone was enough to tell him what he needed to know he asks,

"Tell me child, did she-"

Erza sadly shakes her head.

"There will be a ceremony in her honor, tomorrow evening."

The news pained him.

"Despite Rogue's best efforts we're doomed to repeat our past."

Doranbolt had wished there was more that he could have done, but unfortunately it is what it is.

"The Magic Council is reestablishing their hierarchy and as of today has lifted the ban placed on Fairy Tail. Ryotsu has officially stepped down and I will be taking his place as the New Head Councilman. I'm hoping what happened these last couple of days is never repeated. Going forward I'll make sure that the Magic Council is run in a more diplomatic matter. We will keep close tabs on the child and will be available if you ever need our help."

Gildarts crossing his arms and leaning against the wall adds in a stern tone,

"Thanks, but let's not forget what Mavis said. We only have 18 years before Acnologia returns."

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Makarov replies,

"The prophecy did mention that the powers bestowed on the Demonic Dragon Slayer would be enough to take down Acnologia himself."

The news was sort of disheartening for the S-Class knight.

Frowning she adds,

"To think he just entered this world a day ago and he'll not only be involved in one but two wars. It's heart wrenching to think what his future entails."

Once again it was up to Gildarts to bring up the morale in the ever growing somber group.

"That kid's got a lot riding on him, but I'm sure with Mira, Laxus, and all of us by his side. He'll do just fine."

Back in the forest a wounded Rogue angrily clenched onto his injured arm as tears uncontrollably streamed down his bloody and bruised cheeks.

"Fro…I don't care how long it takes me, but I'll find a way to bring you back! I PROMISE!"

Unbeknownst to the Dragon Slayer, Zeref watches the distraught man from the distance and smiles.

Mira, Laxus and Sol stare up in awe as the sun pushes pass the rain clouds and shines its light down on the city of Magnolia.

Sensing that something was adrift, Makarov remains uneasy as he looks up towards the sky and replies,

"For all our sake-"

There in the sun, he makes out an image of the legendary dragon.

Roaring loudly, the sound of the dragon's cry clearly echoes in his mind.

"I hope you're right."

THE END!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story! Please leave a review!

*SONG: GLENN MILLER 'LULLABY OF THE RAIN'

*Going forward if I write Fairy Tail stories it will make references to this Fic! (Unless they are flashbacks)

*Sol is pronounced Soul

* I will be taking a break from writing fics. This really drained me and took a lot out of my already busy schedule.

*I do want to write some comedic stories.

1) (Comedic)How Laxus, Freed, and Bickslow met Evergreen and how she joined.

2) (Comedic)Bickslow and Lisanna are responsible to babysit baby Sol while Mira and Laxus go out for the first time since Sol was born. Sol turns out to have more power than they all assumed giving Bickslow and Lisanna a run for their money.

3) (Drama) Laxus has it all and be little's Bickslow's powers when the Seith mage attempts to take on a higher rank mission to prove himself that he's a lot stronger than they believe. These two have lately been bumping heads and Bickslow has had enough and challenges Laxus to a battle to prove that he isn't the same guy he brought into Fairy Tail years ago.

Well those are some of my ideas…we shall see.

Thanks guys again! UNTIL NEXT TIME! :D

SPOILER BELOW! STOP READING IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA!

*For all those who read the Manga I hope you understand why Fro had to die. I really wanted the story to tie back in and it was just necessary. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!