That night, Mira carefully examined Rhodes's body.
The conclusion was that her husband was physically fine. His spirits, however, were noticeably low.
So the couple just lay there in bed, talking.
"Did you see something terrible in that book?"
"Sort of." Rhodes sighed. "The amount of information is overwhelming. I don't know what to do with it yet."
He had only read two pages of the Book of E.N.D. and already uncovered a secret that could shake the foundations of everything they knew. He had no idea what the remaining pages contained.
He would keep reading. That much was certain. But carefully. With every precaution he could manage.
As for the revelation that Natsu might be the strongest demon ever created, Rhodes wasn't especially worried.
Whether Natsu turned out to be human, a demon, or eventually transformed into a dragon through his Dragon Slayer magic, there was no scenario in which Rhodes would kill him. Hit him, sure. Frequently, even. But never kill.
Based on Rhodes's... particular knowledge, Natsu was supposed to be a protagonist. Having a bizarre background came with the territory. The grandson of a Marine becoming a pirate. The Hokage's son carrying a demon fox. These kinds of "background settings" were just that: backgrounds. What mattered was what the person did with the life in front of them.
Although, damn it, Tatsuya had better not have lied to him.
Fairy Tail ends with a happy ending. Not a bad one. Right?
Mira pressed her fingers gently against his lips. "No more sighing. If the baby hears too many sighs while they're growing, they'll turn out gloomy."
"Alright, alright." Rhodes hugged her, then reluctantly let go. "Sleep. We both have work tomorrow."
And it wasn't just daytime work. He had special training sessions scheduled with Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy in the evening.
He didn't need to participate directly. The Purgatory Dragon and the Cloud Dragon handled the sparring. Rhodes just supervised. Nearly two months had passed since the Grand Magic Games, and the progress of the three young Dragon Slayers was remarkable.
Lisanna and Elfman joined the sessions as well, and both were growing steadily stronger.
Watching them develop, Rhodes often felt a quiet sense of paternal pride.
Even though he was technically the one who had been studying magic for the shortest time among all of them.
In the weeks that followed, Rhodes's life settled into a steady rhythm.
During the day, he worked at the Council. He took Mira for regular check-ups at fixed intervals. In the evenings, he either supervised training sessions (while quietly observing Natsu for any signs of demonic awakening) or continued his research into the Book of E.N.D.
Even on the day of the Harvest Festival, Rhodes only made a brief appearance at the guild. He didn't participate in any performances.
The reason was simple. Mira wasn't participating, and Rhodes spent the entire day at her side.
She had gotten pregnant at the end of May. By October 7th, the day of the Fantasia Parade, she was in her nineteenth week. Her belly was visibly growing, and it was becoming increasingly impractical for her to join in the more active events.
So from the beauty contest to the parade itself, Mira chose to be a spectator.
If there was one moment she felt truly invested in, it was casting her vote for Lisanna during the Miss Fairy Tail beauty contest.
And then watching Elfman prepare to cast his.
Mira turned to her younger brother with a radiant, expectant smile.
Elfman broke into a sweat.
Under his older sister's gaze, should he vote for his younger sister or his girlfriend? This was not a question with a safe answer. This was potentially life-threatening.
Fortunately, Mira didn't actually intend to torture him. After staring long enough to make him suffer, she allowed herself to be "reluctantly" pulled away by her understanding husband.
Elfman could finally vote in peace.
"Who do you hope wins?" Mira asked as they walked away from the booth.
Rhodes thought about it. "Wendy?"
Mira looked at him in genuine surprise. "Really?"
"It's complicated." Rhodes rubbed the back of his neck. "Emotionally, I want Wendy to win because she deserves it. Rationally, I hope Magnolia doesn't have that many perverts voting for a girl her age."
Mira laughed. "Lisanna is our sister, and you're not even supporting her?"
"Wendy is also our sister." Rhodes said this with noticeably less conviction.
Because he had recently discovered something in the Book of E.N.D. that made the word "sister" far more complicated than it should be.
There was a possibility that Wendy was from their great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's generation.
The things written in that book seemed like nonsense half the time. But there were threads that could be cross-referenced. Verified. Partially confirmed.
It was a headache.
The Harvest Festival in Magnolia was as lively as ever. Even livelier, in fact, because Fairy Tail was reviving the Fantasia Parade for the first time in years. Tourists had poured in from across Fiore just to see it.
The couple left the guild after the beauty contest and strolled through the festival together, just as they had seven or eight years ago.
Same streets. Same stalls. Same warm autumn air carrying the smell of roasted chestnuts and spiced cider.
But their mood was nothing like those earlier times.
They had gone from vague, unspoken feelings to an official couple. From a couple to a married pair. And now, they were about to become parents.
Walking through familiar places, they kept catching echoes of old memories. A corner where they'd shared a meal. A fountain where they'd sat in comfortable silence. Small, sweet things that had accumulated into a lifetime.
"Ah!" Mira stopped suddenly and let out a small gasp.
"What's wrong?" Rhodes looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"It moved."
"What?"
Mira covered her belly and looked at Rhodes with surprise and joy. "The baby!"
"Ah?"
Rhodes instinctively wanted to press his ear against it, but thought better of it and simply placed his hand over the back of Mira's hand instead.
Mira thoughtfully adjusted his hand to the right spot. "Just now, right here."
People came and went on the street around them, the noise of the crowd carrying on as usual, yet the two of them stood there by the roadside, still and quiet, waiting for the next movement from their unborn child.
The baby was not cooperative. It seemed to have fallen asleep after that one kick, leaving them waiting in vain.
"I want to go find Granny Porlyusica," Rhodes said, unable to fully hide the disappointment in his voice.
Mira smiled. "And get chased out with a broom again?"
Rhodes sighed and stopped himself.
He had been going too often, turning up at her door at the slightest sign of anything.
Just yesterday he had been beaten out the door while Mira was still sitting inside for her check-up. Porlyusica had already covered everything worth knowing more than once, fetal movement included.
Rhodes was well aware that at this stage, movement was neither regular nor obvious and that long gaps between them were completely normal. Showing up at her door in a state of excitement over this would almost certainly earn him another broom to the face.
But news this good needed to be shared with someone.
He sent Warm off with a note instead. It would not get beaten. If anything, it would probably come back with a few apples it had talked its way into.
That evening, the Magic Parade began on schedule.
Float after float rolled out from Fairy Tail, the guild's mages dressed in costumes prepared specially for the occasion, taking turns to show off their magic to the crowd lining the streets. Mira and Rhodes were not among them tonight. In their place were Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe.
It had been a very long time since all four of them had joined the parade alongside their guildmates.
Golden lightning pulsed rhythmically across the night sky, bright but not sharp, more spectacle than storm. Laxus raised one hand and the lightning drew itself into the shape of Fairy Tail's emblem, hanging in the air above the procession.
Freed and Bickslow had somehow gotten hold of two matching guard uniforms and stood at his flanks, rapiers drawn with practiced formality.
They smiled and raised the blades together toward the sky. The light from both tips merged into a single golden sphere, held for just a moment, and then shattered.
Evergreen emerged from the burst of light like something out of a storybook, trailing a faint glow, circling the guild's emblem in the air with an elegance that drew a wave of cheers from the crowd below.
Fireworks went up. They burst across the sky one after another, each one lighting up the upturned faces in the street below.
Mira stood on the balcony with Rhodes's arm in hers, watching the fireworks and following the procession as it made its slow way up the street toward them. "This is the first time I've ever watched the Magic Parade from up here," she said quietly.
"Me too." Rhodes laughed. "Here they come!"
They both leaned over the railing and waved. Down in the procession, Elfman, Lisanna, Wendy, Levy, Lucy and the others spotted them and waved back between performances, grinning up at the balcony.
Rhodes went still for a moment. "I felt it. It was faint but it moved."
Mira's face lit up completely.
"The baby is saying hello to everyone too."