➵

Dealana had been talking with Wendy and Carla at the guild hall. The darker blunette had been looking through a book while Dealana and Carla were determined to find something other than Wendy that they had in common. It was pretty hard unless you counted Dealana's first argument about their lack of shoes. 

Lucy had greeted them and they had a lovely chat about rent before Max and Warren burst through the doors shouting, "Big news!"

Dealana would've questioned this, but the sound of bells ringing throughout Magnolia answered her curiosity; Gildarts had finally returned. The sky-blunette couldn't help but grin at the buzzing atmosphere.

 Everyone was cheering and talking amongst themselves excitedly. 

"Gildarts? Who's that?" Lucy asked. "Are they in the guild? I don't think I've ever even heard of them before." She realized. Dealana could understand her confusion, while Lucy had been a member of Fairy Tail for just about a year, she still had yet to see the man, myth and destructive legend. 

"He's the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail," Mira smiled. The calm revelation caused Lucy's eyes to bulge in surprise as she then began sputtering.

"Whoa! Are you serious? I thought Erza was top-dog around here?" The blonde remarked.

"All modesty aside, I don't even hold a candle to him," Erza replied.

"I'll bet this guy must be the king of breaking stuff then," Lucy muttered.

Dealana smiled behind the hand she was leaning on. "Oh, Lucy, you have no idea," 

"That worries me," Lucy sweat-dropped before she looked around at everyone celebrating. "Well, it's good he's back, but I don't understand why everyone's going totally nuts."

"Look how happy they all are," Wendy commented before Carla added in, "They're certainly more out of control than usual."

"It's only natural everyone's excited," Mira told them. "He's been gone quite a while. Three years, in fact." The white-haired beauty went on to explain SS-class quests, decade quests and century quests. Dealana was always fascinated by the quests that no one had been able to complete in ten or even a hundred years, and she couldn't deny her want for the experience. She also knew that she was only twelve. It would be a long while before she could even come close to those quests. She wasn't even S-Class yet.

The flying announcement horns outside began giving instructions for Magnolia's Gildarts shift, causing much confusion to Wendy, Carla and Lucy, who had no idea what was going on.

"I'm all for festive, but this is just ridiculous," Carla remarked.

"What in the heck is a Magnolia Gildarts Shift anyway?" Lucy questioned.

"Why don't you step outside and see for yourself," Erza offered with a knowing smile. Dealana only made herself comfy on her cloud while the newest members went to watch the town rise and shift around to form a straight path to the guild hall. She was wearing her maroon sleeveless hoodie again with black shorts and her chunky bracelet-gauntlets. 

Her exposed arms also revealed her new Storm Talon Tribe marking, but so far, it was only Makarov who seemed to point it out. Erza had seen it and hummed, but she didn't make any verbal comments. Dealana guessed she was waiting for the right moment to bring it up. 

As Gildarts walked into the guild hall, Dealana sat cross-legged on her cloud floating next to the Thunder Legion. The sky-blunette quirked an eyebrow when she noticed Gildarts look around in confusion.

"Come on, ya old geezer, let's throw down!" Natsu immediately greeted causing Elfman to sweat-drop.

"That's no way to treat a man," the take-over mage said as Gildarts approached Mira.

"Welcome home," She greeted the orange haired man. 

"Er, sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a guild that used to be around these parts called Fairy Tail," Dealana face-palmed and followed the momentum, flopping backwards on her cloud while Bickslow chuckled in amusement.

"This is it," Mira answered with her cheery smile, "Remember me? Mirajane." Gildarts looked at her confused and surprised. 

"Mira?" He repeated in question. It was understandable as last he saw Mira, she was still a total goth chick with a bad attitude. "Wow! You sure have grown up a lot, little girl," Gildarts exclaimed looking around at the new guild hall.

"Gildarts!" Natsu exclaimed, his voice finally heard as the SS-Class mage turned to look at the pyro.

"Natsu, hey pal! There's someone I recognize." In response, Natsu jumped into the air, his fist ready to swing at the older man.

"Good to see ya, now let's party!" Natsu shouted before Gildarts lifted a hand to the scarf-wearer's gut and spun him around before flinging him into the ceiling. An instant K.O., but Dealana expected nothing less when it came to Natsu fighting Gildarts.

"Not now, kid," 

"Same old tough guy we've always known," Gray commented.

"Genuine old fashion man's man," Elfman added.

"But can he handle a crying child?" Dealana questioned with a snicker. Her comment went unheard as Gildarts looked around the sea of faces.

"I see a couple of new faces around here too," He remarked. "A lot happened while I was gone."

"Gildarts," Makarov greeted. "How'd the job go?" The Crash Mage thought about it for a moment and began to laugh. When his laughter came to a halt Gildarts looked at Makarov with a hand scratching the back of his head.

"No good, way too much for me," He revealed. This got Dealana's and everyone else's attention real quick. Gildarts is the strongest member of Fairy Tail, and he wasn't able to complete the job. They were called century quests for a reason, Dealana supposed. A job request that no one has been able to complete in under a hundred years.

Makarov was quick to assure that he was more thankful that Gildarts made it back alive than the supposed shame the failure would bring to the guild. Dealana had to agree with that fact, something about Gildarts seemed a bit off when he came in the guild hall. Granted, he'd been gone for three years and a lot could happen, but he had the scent of metal lingering on his left side. 

She pushed those thoughts aside as she watched him burst through the wall, making a grand exit. Natsu followed after and punched through the wall to meet up with the older man. Dealana would've stayed around the guild hall longer but Happy began to tell Lucy a story about Natsu and Gildarts with Lisanna too. 

Though she normally kept a brave face, Dealana's ears twitched at the first mention of Lisanna's name before she was off her cloud, letting it dissipate behind her. A few members of the guild watched as she marched out of the guild hall with an unreadable expression. Evergreen seemed confused and was about to go after her, but Freed put a hand on her shoulder.

As Evergreen looked at the green-haired mage, he shook his head. "Leave her be for now, Evergreen. It is that time of year for her." Evergreen's eyes widened a fraction, as did Bickslow's under his mask before they both looked at the doors Dealana left through.

Freed was right, the anniversary of Lisanna's death was coming up soon. Like Cana and her mysterious funk about the S-Class trials, Dealana became gloomier around Lisanna's death anniversary. All of Magnolia would know when this time came around because the frequent overcast skies and looming rain clouds. The citizens didn't have any problems with it, they just let her grieve.

➵

It was later in the evening, the sun was getting low and the sky turned a brilliant orange hue. Dealana was walking along, her hands subconsciously messing with Lisanna's bracelet that she'd taken off to hold. Her heterochromatic eyes reaching everywhere but the braided pink thread in her hands.

She wondered if Lisanna still had the sky blue one she traded those years ago. Mirajane and Elfman had come back without Lisanna's body and they buried an empty casket, but wherever Lisanna had ended up, Dealana hoped she still wore the symbol of their promise. She hoped that Lisanna would search and come back to her.

"Little Dea?" 

Dealana stopped in her tracks hearing that name. No one called her that except for Lisanna and one other person. Turning her head, Dealana met the dark green eyes of Gildarts. He seemed a little awkward about his confrontation with her but after clearing his throat, he continued.

"I, uh, I heard about what happened with...Lisanna," He sighed. "I'm sorry." Dealana remained quiet, looking at her feet.

"Thank you," Lifting her gaze once more, she offered a small, yet mischievous smile. "Did being on that job for three years make you any less awkward and creepy around crying children?" Gildarts sputtered in embarrassment.

"I was trying!" He defended himself while Dealana laughed.

"I'm just teasing," Dealana then frowned and realized something, "What are doing out here anyway? I figured you'd want to rest after coming back alive."

Gildarts sighed. "Yeah, but being on the move for so long, I couldn't help but wander just a bit to see what I missed. Hey, Dea, listen..." he began. Dealana fought the urge to wince at the name. She really didn't want to be called that anymore, but she also didn't want Gildarts to feel any worse about the situation than he did, so she let him continue. "I already told Natsu about this, but I feel it's only fair you hear about it too."

His words made Dealana curious as she tilted her head in question. "Something up?"

"I came across a dragon on my quest," He admitted causing Dealana to inhale sharply. "it was the reason I couldn't finish it. It wasn't red like Igneel, but you never got around to telling me what color your dragon was,"

"Arashi is a multitude of grey colors, like a storm cloud," She supplied. Gildarts nodded as he thought about it.

"This one was pitch black and no friend to anyone. I figured you deserve to know about it, but I'll ask you now to not go after it." Gildarts admitted. He watched Dealana's expression for any tell of what she might say next, but found nothing.

"If you say he was the reason you didn't complete the quest, I won't go after the dragon," Dealana finally said causing Gildarts to sigh in relief. "However," She spoke again causing confusion to spread across the S-Class mage's face. "I'd like to know if you ran into any intense storms on your quest." 

Gildarts seemed a bit surprised by her condition but nonetheless complied. "Nothing out of the ordinary, sorry," He revealed before he thought about it some more. "Well, actually, on my way back there was news of a major cyclone not to far from a small town outside of Magnolia..." The Crash Mage completely missed Dealana wincing at the mention of the storm.

"Yeah, I heard about that..." She trailed off knowingly, "I already checked that out, but thanks anyway..." Dealana was fully aware of her cyclone episode and it wasn't something she really wanted to discuss with anyone at the moment. 

After saying her goodbyes, Dealana finally reached her crystal cave and re-secured Lisanna's bracelet around her ankle before looking for something to eat and heading to sleep in her nest of blankets. 

Her dreams were filled with memories of her time with Lisanna as well as her most recent adventures. She tossed and turned, unable to find comfort. Something felt off. Dealana could feel a distant storm brewing, but she couldn't quite figure out what it meant. 

➵ 

 It's a bit short...ah well, I couldn't think of what else to add after aside from extra dialogue that I left out because I didn't feel like writing it out. Edolas is coming, I swear! I just need a bit more time to get my other forensic project out of the way before I can safely focus on my writing. (safely meaning without stressing myself too much)

Questions? Theories for what's to come? I'm really excited to write Edolas! Dealana, because I think she'll be pretty sweet.