Alex of Fairy Tail

Edolas aftermath

When the Anima released Team Natsu, they fell from the sky and landed on top of each other. Natsu jumped up. "Where's Alex?" He asked. "Did the Anima send her home?"

The others looked around. "I don't see her," Lucy said worriedly.

"It seems the Anima did take her back to her world," Erza said after looking around with her guildmates.

"What are you talking about," Gajeel asked. "She landed in that tree over there." He pointed to Alex, laying in the branches of a tree nearby. She rubbed the back of her neck and started climbing down. "And what do you mean, 'her world'?"

Natsu and the others ignored him and ran over to Alex. Erik sighed and walked up to him, Wendy following him. She was also confused at her friends' words. "Come on, you two. I'll see if I can explain everything to you."

Lucy ran up and tackled Alex in a hug. "I'm so happy you're here," She said, smiling.

Erza slammed her hand into Alex's back and smiled. "Indeed. It would have been different without you here."

Alex winced and rubbed her back but smiled. "It's good to see you all again too."

Gray looked at her. "I'm sorry you weren't able to go back home, though. It has to be hard being away from your family."

Alex shrugged. "It's not like I have the monopoly on that," she admitted. She looked at the ground. "I'll admit I'm disappointed I didn't get to go home. It would have been good to see my parents and sister again."

"The Anima brought you back here, didn't it?" Natsu asked. When she nodded, he grinned. "Then the answer is obvious. You're already home. Fairy Tail is your family. And until you find another way back to your homeworld, we'll be here for you."

Alex smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She looked up. It was raining again. "Let's go home."

The group began their walk back to Magnolia. "I can't believe you're from another world," Gajeel muttered. "And you almost left." He pulled Alex away from the others. "I'm glad you didn't leave," He admitted. "There's still not a lot of people around here that accept me as well as you do. It would have sucked if you left."

Alex smiled and patted his shoulder. "I would have missed you too." She looked at Team Natsu. "I guess it's a good thing the Anima didn't take me back like we thought it would. I would have missed so much here."

The walk was silent until they reached the outskirts of Magnolia. "Hey, look!" Natsu cheered. "We're home. Everything's back to normal!"

"Magnolia is too," Lucy said, relieved.

"Hang on," Erza said. "It's too early to rejoice. We need to make sure everyone is safe, too."

"Everyone's fine!" A voice shouted. The group looked up to see the Exceeds flying above them. "We got to Earthland a bit before you, see," one of them said.

"We've already flown around a bunch!" Another added. "And the people in the guild and city are all safe. It looks like none of them even realized they had turned into lacrima."

Alex grinned up at them while the others stared in shock. "Thank you for checking on our guild." She looked at her friends. "Why are you all surprised? The magic was taken from Edolas, and that includes people with magic in their bodies like the Exceeds."

The Exceeds landed in front of the Fairy Tail members. "The Exceeds are dangerous!" Carla said, pointing at them. "We have to send them back to Extalia."

Wendy kneeled in front of Carla with an encouraging smile. "Extalia is gone, remember? They have nowhere to go."

"We are sorry we threw stones at you when you were trying to help us," One Exceed said.