A/N: Here we are lovelies, the end of our epic little tale. Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, and staying with me through all of this drama and the little cliffies I threw at y'all just to mess with you. (I couldn't help giving you guys one last stressful parting gift last chapter). I hope you guys enjoy, and feel as happy with this as I am.

"The hell kind of name is Gajeel." The red-eyed man growled, staring threateningly at the staff around his hospital bed.

"Focus." Igneel barked, his patience running low with the unruly dragon. He was only mildly more cooperative since the nurses dosed him with a light sedative to take the edge off. "You have to try and see what you can remember."

Gajeel shook his head, shutting his eyes for a moment. "I told you." He grumbled, "I don't remember a fuckin' thing. You can ask all ya want but ya ain't gonna get a different answer from me."

"Do the names Jose Porla or Jupiter Technology mean anything to you?" The chief pressed.

Gajeel wrinkled his nose, and huffed. "Not a thing. He important or somethin'?"

Frustrated, Igneel spun on his heel to address the doctor standing in the doorway. The chief's expression demanded answers, or any information to make this any less aggravating.

"It's not uncommon for patients who have been under this long to have some lasting effects of confusion. He sustained a significant level of injury after the event and a great deal of mental trauma. Due to his…condition, it's hard to measure exactly what happened." The doctor explained, his tone hushed as his eyes glanced to the much more subdued man in the hospital bed. "The medications are fairly intensive, it's a lot of strain on the body to go through everything he has, and then come back out of it."

"Is it permanent?" Igneel asked, tight-lipped. This was not the kind of development they needed. The man had been through enough; it was time to get them home.

"Not typically, no. I've seen cases that last from a few hours to a few days, it's hard to say. Time will tell. The positive is that he is speaking, and is clearly feeling vivacious." The man explained.

Igneel sighed heavily, massaging his temples. It had become a great deal more complicated, and he could see that they would be getting no statement from him regarding his experiences. But if what the doctor had said was true, hopefully it was only a matter of time. And here I was thinking I might be able to go home soon. I can't tell Natsu. He'll send that poor girl into a worse state than she already is.

"I'm right here." Gajeel croaked, words a little slurred, drawing the attention of both of the men. "Quit talkin' like I ain't in the room."

Fucking hell. These people barely tell me where I am and…god damnit I can't remember. Gajeel squinted, closing his eyes tight. He had nothing, only the name that cop kept calling him, the location of the hospital, and a raging headache. He remembered nothing beyond waking up with a tube rammed down his throat. Which was a less than enjoyable way to start the day as an evidently new person.

The pain had lessened, or he was just feeling less because of whatever they had stuck into his IV. Unruly patient my ass. They're the ones holding me here against my will. He huffed, trying to lift a hand to get a look at it.

His limb felt heavy as iron, and he could barely hold it up for a few seconds before he had exerted all his strength. Damn, the hell did they give me? The frustration wrinkled his studded features. It was a feeling of powerlessness that he didn't much like.

"When c'n'I leave." He prompted of the men, since they apparently didn't feel inclined to speak to him yet, and the redhead shook his head first.

"Not until you're better." Igneel replied.

"That's a bullshit answer." He spat back, earning a heavy glare from the exhausted, and thusly volatile police chief.

"Look, smartass. I don't want to be here any more than you do. But I have a job to do, and I have promises to keep. So we are going to get you well and we are going to get you home. If you cooperate."

Gajeel shut up at that point, abashed by the scolding. But something else dried up the words in his throat. He squinted, unsure, and when it looked like the chief might leave, he called out to him. "Say again?" The words came out, a little more pressing than he had intended. "What do you have?"

Igneel lifted a brow, unsure if the boy was being smart again and provoking him. "A job."

"No," Gajeel answered, quickly. He shook his head, trying to gather his spinning and rather uncomfortable head. "The other one."

"I said I have promises to keep." Igneel shook his head dismissively, unaware of the sudden tension and chill that shot through the iron dragon. "Look, I have some phone calls to make and paperwork to fill out now that you're awake. Get some rest. Mavis knows I have miles to go before I get any sleep." And with that, the chief turned to leave with the doctor in tow, leaving behind a very quiet Gajeel.

I've heard that before. Someone has said that to me before.

The sun was barely rising when the blunette woke reluctantly, stirred only by the gentle but persistent padding of paws along her back. She groaned, burying her face into the pillow, but the tomcat wouldn't have it. He shifted his focus up to her head, somehow balancing all four feet on her skull and letting out a gravelly meow.

"Lily please, few more minutes." Levy grumbled into her pillow. The cat stepped down from her head, onto her pillow, and turned abruptly to headbutt the girl, meowing and purring relentlessly. "Spoiled cat." The blunette mumbled, reluctantly pulling herself from the warm bed and heading into the kitchen to feed her companion.

The black cat weaved around her feet, nearly tripping her, and yowled at her all the way to the food bowl. "You would think, Mr. Wildcat, that you would have a little more poise." Levy scolded. Her eyes caught sight of the newspaper on her counter, and she frowned. It had been sitting there for a week, read and reread before being placed back onto that same spot. It was opened and folded to one article, the headline tormenting her.

'Jupiter Technologies Closed Permanently in Wake of Fatal Explosion.'

She could probably recite the article from memory at this point. The surviving staff had been detained and their trials set for their involvement with the company. However, from the way the article was written, it seemed like the trial was only for the sake of following due justice, as the ethical and human rights violations of the company were so severe and monumental that a guilty ruling was the only possible outcome.

Dr. Porla never emerged from the facility, but his charred ID badge was uncovered in the rubble, and he was officially listed among the deceased. Levy could only wonder if he had perished in the chaos…or if the subjects had found him first. She bit her lip, conflicted on whether she was comfortable with either outcome. In a way, she felt he should have had to suffer justly through the trial and prison time, but the subjects were still owed their own brand of justice for what they had been through.

Her thoughts drifted to the others who, by Natsu's updates, had been adjusting slowly to their new accommodations, with little complication. However, there was still one notable absence. Her heart ached at the lack of information on a certain iron dragon.

An impatient yowl from her furred companion brought her back to the present, and Levy shook off her swirling thoughts and shook some kibble into the cat's bowl.

But instead of rushing straight for the food, the cat paused over the food, then lifted his head and looked to the door. His tail flicked quickly, ears poised forward. Lily bounded back into the living room, heading straight for the front door. Howling relentlessly, he paced back in forth in front of the door, and jumped up to try and paw at the handle.

"Lily!" She called to him, padding across the living room and running her hand through her wild blue bedhead. "What's going on, I put out your breakfast." It was too early for this nonsense. She had barely rubbed the sleep from her eyes and the dawn was only just casting its grey light on the snow outside.

She peeked through the peephole and could see nothing, but the cat would not relent. "What, take the Wildcat comment to heart, did you?" Levy unlocked the door, chalking this up to cats just being…cats, and opened the door. Immediately Lily bounded out into the snow, heading out across the yard and down into the rest of the neighborhood. Hugging herself, shivering, Levy could only quirk a brow, assuming the cat would be back sooner or later for the breakfast that he snubbed.

Feeling a cold draft move in and threaten to chill her whole house, Levy moved to close the door and retreat back inside, when movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. "Lily—" She started to call, when the words went dry in her throat, and suddenly she forgot about the cold entirely. Her honey-brown eyes widened, and the air all but left her lungs.

The tall, broad figure trudged down the way through the snow, eyes lowered to the path in front and the dark tomcat following behind. Bundled in a large black coat, hair billowing about his shoulders and into his face; Levy could barely make out the features from where she was. But she knew. Of course she knew.

Slowly, crimson eyes lifted to meet hers, and his gaze brought everything crashing down around her. A playful smirk tugged at his lips, but the look in his eyes told of far more than that. Relief, desire, adoration…the way that he looked at her in that exact moment was enough to stop her heart. He stood stark against the snow, and gentle flakes drifted about him.

The reflecting light of the snow cast her in the glow of an angel, despite how disheveled from sleep she was. Though he tried to remain steady in his approach, the look of those warm, beautiful eyes was enough to make him weak in the knees. Hell, it was enough to make him forget he had knees at all. She was there, safe, back in her little-big house, looking at him like he was the only thing that existed in that moment. And with the still, frigid quiet of the morning, it was easy enough to feel that way.

Levy's hands rose to cover her mouth, trying to stifle the inevitable cries that had built up in her chest when he stopped in front of her. He was alive, and he was home. Every day of these past several weeks seemed to melt away along with all the fear, worry, and sadness. Because he was here. Levy choked out a sound that might've been words, before shakily reaching up with one hand and touching his chest, to assure herself he was real. He tilted his head, and she drew her hand back quickly.

"What, nothin' to say after all this time, shorty? This all I get?" Finally he broke the silence. There was so much more he wanted to say than that. But Gajeel didn't trust himself to find the words to convey how unspeakably relieved he was to see her safe, how stunningly beautiful she was, and how whole he felt right here in front of her. How human she made him feel.

The sound of his voice was all she needed to be absolutely certain that this was real. She couldn't help the tears that started to well up and finally she tried to speak. "G-Gajeel, you—you're…" The words failed her again, and she shook her head uselessly.

"Home?" He answered for her, smiling gently. Levy nodded quickly, the tears trailing down her cheeks. With the smell of salt, he couldn't bare to not touch her any longer. Gajeel reached out and took her wrists gently, pulling her hands away from her face. Levy stared up at him; big, brown, watery eyes following his movements. He leaned forward slightly, releasing her wrists as one hand went to her cheek and the other found its way to the small of her back to pull her, slowly, against him. He could feel her shudder under his hands and ignite the burning in his cheeks. Still, she leaned into his touch, and as he pressed his forehead to hers, both of their eyes fluttering shut, he could feel his previously spastic heart start to find peace.

"I love you too." He said softly, the words washing over her. Words she had previously uttered to him in fire and smoke and chaos, he now returned to her in the still, icy silence of morning. "You pulled me from the dark, Levy. I've always loved you."

Levy let out a laugh, sparkling with joy, and reached up to place her own hands on his face. She felt like she had been here so many times before. "You have to stay for good…okay?" She whispered.

Gajeel chuckled, "You're stuck with me and the cat." He breathed deep, and the scent of lavender centered him. His thumb brushed her cheek lovingly, and he could not shake the notion that these hands of his had wrought so much destruction in his past. They had brandished iron claws and struck fear into so many. Then, here was this perfect woman, the near ethereal creature that sought his touch despite having seen every side of him. Her willingness to trust him regardless drove him to resolve, as he had so many times before, to protect her.

This resolve pulled him forward. He paused, close enough to her lips that he could feel the warmth radiating from her. She did not hesitate, she did not refuse him, and it was the last bit of acceptance he needed. Slowly, tenderly, he brushed his lips across hers, and finally closed the gap. She drew in a sharp breath, but leaned willingly into him.

In that moment, Levy felt so full, and so warm that she forgot about the cold biting at her cheeks. Suddenly Levy felt present, she felt like she belonged here, and he with her. Everything they had suffered through felt so distant, almost enough to wonder if it had ever happened at all. Because surely this was how they had meant to be, and had always been.

Pulled up to him, wrapped in his warmth, she realized then that Gajeel had become her home, and that she was his second chance. The house behind her filled back up with life and warmth, punctuated by a little black cat that slipped past the pair in the doorway and stopped in the center of the living room with a quiet swish of his tail, waiting for them. The blunette broke from him, only for her hand to move to take his and draw the hazy-eyed man in with her. "It's cold, come inside." She said gently, a smile lighting up her face that left him feeling, again, that he could bask in that warmth for the rest of his life. And now, for the first time, he had a chance to.