Hey, everybody. Welcome, to the grand debut of…

Alternate Tail 2: Brave New World!

…

Wow, tough crowd. Anyway, just want to thank artheart2428, Unzeueta, jesx0268, Professor of Gallifrey for favoriting and following the previous stories. And I want to thank Fin-Fish Jun-Tenshi, stephanieeichi10, AwkwardToffee, Ray Akaba 210, OneWhoCharms, Illusionoflove, Professor of Gallifrey, and ligersrcool for their reviews. And also apologize for emotional trauma the last chapter has caused.

Disclaimer time~

Rogue: Of course. DigiXBot does not own Fairy Tail.

… geez, you can use more enthusiasm.

Frosch: Fro thinks so too!

Fairy Tail, X791

The wizard guild Fairy Tail. Named after the eternal mystery posed by founder and First Master Mavis Vermillion: Do Fairies Have Tails?

The guild was once one of the most well-known, popular, and often controversial guilds in the Kingdom of Fiore, often entering conflicts with various dark guilds and even the continental mediator known as the Magic Council.

The guild had many powerful and well-known guildmates. From the Wizard Saint and Third Master Makarov Dreyar to the Ferocious She-Demon Mirajane Strauss. But on December 16, X784, 20 guildmates were on Tenrou Island when they were attacked by the Black Dragon Acnologia, leading to the destruction of the islands.

Months of searching showed no signs of any survivors. The surviving wizards were left to mourn and continue on.

Now years later, the Fairy Tail guild is no longer in the center of Magnolia. Instead, it rests in a makeshift building outside of the city limits, the building being a crude replica of the now abandoned guildhall.

"What do you mean Ryos isn't back yet?!" A beer-filled mug was slammed onto the bar top by Fourth Master Macao Conbolt. The man had short purple hair, a mustache, and stubbles on his chin. "Did Alzack and Bisca left him and Frosch on their own?!"

"You gotta calm down," Another man with short brown hair and a short beard replied as he lit a cigarette in his mouth. "You're not a youngster anymore, remember. Just take it easy, Macao."

"I told you to call me Master, Wakaba!" Macao yelled as the two butted heads.

"What sort of master has zero dignity?!" Wakaba shouted back.

"Yeah," Max, a blonde-haired man with stubbles sighed as he watched the two argue. "In any case," he turned to the rest of the Guildhall, which was only populated by a handful of wizards. "We got any calls?"

"As if," Nab, a man whose wide belly was revealed by his open red cloak, replied as he pointed to a board with only five job requests. "We barely got any jobs!"

"Like that matters when you don't even take one!" Max shouted.

"So, Warren's sit around working on his weird invention and you don't shout at him." He gestured at a man wearing a green coat, who was currently applying a small torch on a square-shaped lacrima crystal.

"Hey!" Warren protested as he pulled his face from his work. "Laugh all you want, but the Mobile-Speaker will revolutionize communication in Fiore, no, Ishgar forever!"

"Sure, man," Max deadpanned. "Sure."

"Here you go, Warren," A lovely plum-haired girl wearing a green dress said as she placed a glass next to him.

"Thanks, Kinana," Warren smiled as he took a sip from the glass. He then frowned. "Huh, orange juice?"

"Sorry Warren," Kinana replied. "We could only afford what's in season at the moment."

"No, it's alright."

"Hey, guys!" A man wearing an orange toga over a black shirt. "Check out my newest dance," he started to move in a strange yet depressing fashion. "I call it, 'The Puny Dance.'"

"Just take it outside, Vijeeter" Max groaned. "I can practically feel my magic weakening from it."

"No, I can hear it's the same as ever."

"Hey, Droy," A violet-haired woman in a blue dress that showed her cleavage spoke in a mischievous tone. "Do you feel the earth shaking again?"

A heavy-weighted man wearing a yellow jacket scowled as he stopped eating his leg of lamb. "Are you saying I've gone fat, Laki?!" he yelled with food bits still in his mouth.

"Too late for that," Muttered an orange-haired man wearing a purple shirt.

"Put a sock in it, Jet!"

Jet rolled his eyes as he gestured to a thin man with curly brown hair under a black hat. "Look at Reedus. He went from a ball to a stick!"

Reedus only chuckled as he painted on an easel. "Nothing special, monsieur. The spell I was under before faded away."

"So, I've been working out every day!" Droy lifted a rather skinny arm up. "Check out these muscles!"

"At this rate, Gajeel's gonna need a new nickname for you," Jet quipped.

"Well, that won't matter cause Gajeel's not coming back! None of them a-" Droy quickly stopped himself as he and the others stiffened, frozen by the memories of when they learned of the Tenrou Team's loss.

"Hey now," a voice called out. "What's with the gloomy faces?"

Five laughing men were entering the guild hall with prideful swagger. Leading them was a red-shirt man wearing a tiger-skin sash and a horned-headband over his curly black hair."

"No wonder you're such a puny guild," their leader said.

"Nah, it's cause they got no ambition!" Another quipped, causing them to laugh.

"Great," Jet scowled. "It's Twilight Ogre."

"I told you not to come here, Thibault!" Macao shouted at the leader.

"You really want to speak to me like that," Thibault said with a smirk. "After all, I'm representing Twilight Ogre, the top guild of Magnolia."

Macao's eyes twitched at the comment as the man continued. "Fairy Tail used to be top dog around here, but now you're all has-beens in a broken down tavern. This era belongs to Twilight Ogre, Magnolia's dependable and reliant cash cow."

"They act all tough cause they got a bigger guild," Max grumbled.

"You may have size, but we got more spirit than you ever get!' Warren yelled.

"Can't survive on spirit alone," Thibault smirked.

"What do you want?" Macao questioned.

"Just came for the month's rent. You're late again."

Macao's eyes widened as the others turned to him. "You forgot to pay again, Macao?!" Wakaba shouted.

"I thought I told you to call me master!" Macao shouted back, then turned back to the ogres. "We haven't been getting much work recently! We'll pay you back next month, just be patient!"

"I'm sorry," a shorter ogre said. "Who was it that came to rescue this shoddy tavern? We're the ones that loaned you the money, remember?!"

"Why did you accept help from these morons?" Jet questioned his master.

"What'd ya say bastard?!" A fat ogre yelled.

Macao threw an arm in front of Jet."That's enough, Jet!" he ordered.

"But-"

"Just wait until next month," Macao calmly said to the ogres. "We'll pay you back then."

Thibault only smirked as he came over to Macao, before kicking him in the chest and sending him flying into a table, breaking it instantly.

"Macao!" Wakaba shouted.

"Master!" Laki yelled as the ogres started laughing.

"You'll pay for that!" Droy growled as he and the others prepared to use their magic.

"Don't!" Macao yelled, causing them to freeze.

"But master-"

"Don't make things worse!"

But this inaction enabled the ogres to start rampaging, destroying many of the tables.

"What a pathetic guild!" Thibault cackled.

"Why stay here, sweetie?" Another said as he wrapped his arms around a shivering Laki.

"Such weaklings!" A third threw Warren's lacrima to the side as he poured the telepath's drink into his mouth.

The Fairies could only scowl at the sight, unable to muster the courage to fight back.

Eventually, the ogres got bored of their rampage and stopped. "Don't forget," Thibault taunted to Macao as the guild master got up. "It's next month." With that he and the others left, leaving the fairies sitting in their destroyed hall, broken expressions on their faces.

Reedus sighed as he looked around, only to stop at his sketchbook, whose contents were now spread out in the open.

The fairies followed his gaze and looked tearfully at the pictures. From a drawing of a smiling Makarov, to a picture of Mira's team in discussion, to an image of Elfman talking to Lisanna as she served drinks, to the Nebula Knights meeting, to Cana and Lucy chatting together, to Natsu and Happy participating in an eating competition, to two old drawings of Gildarts and Jellal.

Those images were nothing more than reminders of how much the guild has fallen.

"It's been almost seven years," Wakaba said as he took a puff of his cigarette.

"Those were the days," Max said sadly.

"We searched for them with everything we got that day," Jet added. "But there was nothing left of Tenrou Island."

"If the Magic Council was right, it was Acnologia that attacked them," Nab said.

"There was a weird emptiness of Eternano around there, too. They said no living thing could live there-"

"Of course not," Warren yelled, pulling out a book with a dragon on the cover. "That's the power of Acnologia's roar. Dragnof. Spartoi. Ellesmere. Those are just a handful of all nations wiped out by him centuries ago!"

"I'm starting to see why people from Alakitasia are so prey-still of dragons," Laki muttered.

"But why Tenrou?" Droy said. "What did they do to him to deserve such a fate?"

"And since they vanished, we got reduced to this state!" Vijeeter said bitterly. "And now Magnolia has those Ogre upstarts as their main guild!"

"That's it then," Wakaba sighed. "Our time might be-"

"Don't say it!" Macao yelled.

Wakaba stopped and turned to his friend. "What is it?"

"My heart already about to break."

The smoke wizard smiled reassuringly. "You did all you could, master."

"Some master I am," the flame mage scoffed. "Ever since that day," He held a hand to his face to hold back his tears. "Ryos hasn't smiled even once!"

The fairies remained silent, unable to speak. However, the silence was then shattered by the sound of a large engine.

"What is that?" Droy asked.

"Don't tell me it's Ogre again!" Jet muttered.

The fairies rushed out of their guildhall to find the source of the interruption. Their eyes widened as they looked up at the sky.

"It's," Max gaped. "It's the Blue Pegasus's Chritina!"

The aircraft hovered over their guildhall as a familiar face stood atop the mast, before sniffing the hair.

"This guild radiates a sentimental parfum," Ichiya mused, before diving off the building.

"Is he-" Reedus began, before Ichiya crashed into the stone-road, creating a crater.

"What was that about?!" Many of the fairies shouted.

"Men!" Ichiya said as he rose up.

"We know how you feel, master," the fairies looked up and saw Hibiki and the other Trimen floating down to them. "But at least wait for us."

"I could have used my air magic," Ren scoffed.

"It's great to see you again, everyone," Eve said with a wave as the three landed gracefully on the ground. "You as well, Macao-san."

"Blue Pegasus?" Droy gaped. "But why-"

"And you look as lovely as ever, Laki-san," Hibiki said as the trio surrounded the two girls. "You as well, Kinana-chan."

"Those glasses suit you," Ren complimented.

"Can I call you 'Kinana-nee-san?'" Eve innocently asked.

"Did you only came to flirt with our girls?!" Max yelled at them.

"Men!" Ichiya snapped his fingers. "This is no time to goof around!"

"Of course, aniki!" The three moved away from Laki and Kinana for bowing. "Please excuse us!"

"Sure…" Laki awkwardly replied.

"Do you mind telling us why you're here?" Macao questioned the pegasus.

"We've come in the name of old camaraderies of course!" Ichiya replied. "Hibiki!"

"Yes, boss!" Hibiki said, before turning to the fairies. "The Christina was off the shore of Hargeon when it detected movement right where Tenrou Island once was."

The jaws of the fairies dropped, with Wakaba's cigarette falling to the ground.

"Do you mean…" Macao asked.

"Yes," Ichiya nodded. "Tenrou Island still exists."

Much later, a team consisting of the Connels, Max, Warren, Jet, and Droy were on a boat heading towards the former location of Tenrou Island."

"Is it really around here?" Bisca asked as she pulled the binoculars off her face.

"There's nothing to the horizon," Alzack said.

"Blue Pegasus said there was a lot of Ethernano detected here," Warren said.

"What is 'Ethernano?'" Max asked.

"It's the particles that are the source of our magic," Warren said. "Tree's draw fresh ones from the ground before releasing it into the air, which wizards them use. The used up magic is then reabsorbed in the ground and restored for later."

"Thank for the exposition," the sand mage deadpanned.

"Shouldn't we have brought Rogue with us?" Bisca asked.

"We could have taken him with us by force," her husband added.

"It's not even certain that everyone survived," Max said.

"No point in getting our hopes up," Warren added.

"It's been seven years too," Jet said. "We could be seeing the worse case scenario."

Droy sighed as he bit on another leg of lamb, before looking to the sea and spotting a figure standing above the surface. "Guys," he shouted as he pointed to the figure. "over there!"

The others followed his finger and were startled at the sight.

"Is that, a little girl?!" Max shouted.

"How is she standing over the ocean?!" Warren yelled

Sure enough, it was a girl that looked no older than 12, wearing a long white dress reaching to her ankles and above her bare feet. Her long blonde hair reached to her ankles and was by two white wings. She looked at them with her gentle, green orbs.

"Who even is she?!" Bisca asked.

The girl giggled as she spread out her hands. Suddenly, the water beneath her began to churn as a massive golden orb emerged from the water's surface. The fairies grasped onto the edge of the ship as the waves shook it. When the boat calmed, they saw the orb was actually transparent with white wings on the front. And inside the orb-

"It's Tenrou Island!" Max and Warren yelled.

The orb faded way, leaving the reemerged island resting on the ocean surface. The girl smiled as she floated towards Tenrou.

"She's getting away!" Jet yelled.

"After her!" Alzack shouted, and the boat was steered towards the beach.

The girl landed on the ground and ran into the forest as the fairies chased after her.

'Hold on!" Max yelled.

"Who is that kid?!" Bisca shouted.

"Whoever she is, she showed us where Tenrou is!" Alzack responded.

"She could point us to where the others are!" Max yelled, and the ground increased their speed to keep up with the girl.

Jet used his speed magic to catch up to the girl but was surprised when he ran through her instead. "Huh?!" He came to a stop over a small ditch. When he looked into it, his eyes widened. "Guys?!"

And when the other's joined him, they too were shocked at the sight of the half-buried Gajeel Redfox.

Back at the Guildhall, Rogue was reading a small book as Frosch sat on the table next to him. The Exceed could only stare at his partner with worry. "Ro?"

"Hey, Ryos?" Macao spoke up. "Are you sure you didn't want to go?"

"Even if they find Tenrou Island, there's no chance they'll find anyone," Rogue replied.

His father smiled awkwardly. "Come on, we just have to believe!"

"There hasn't been anything for seven years."

Macao sighed in exasperation. But the thick atmosphere was interrupted when the front door was kicked open.

"Oi!' Thibault shouted as he and his gang swaggered inside. "There's a lot less people here now!"

"Look more like a friendship club than a guild!" One of his comrades quipped.

"Well, I guess friendship is a type of magic!" He and the others cackled.

"We said we get the rent next month!" Wakaba yelled.

"Our master didn't think so," the lead ogre said. "He doesn't like when the payments are late. Can't ignore master's orders."

Rogue scowled before slamming his book shut and getting out of his chair. "We don't have to pay you anything!"

"Ryos!" Macao yelled at him, but it did nothing as Rogue walked over to the ogres.

"My father, everyone," Rogue growled. "They're acting like cowards in front of you. But they're still my family."

"When you got people you watch for, you just get an, inner strength or something like that. When that happens, you use that to protect who you want to protect."

He raised his hand to form a blade made of shadows.

"I'm not letting you punks dirty our guild's name!" with that Rogue threw the blade towards Thibault.

But it didn't matter as Thibault simply backhanded the blade away. "Your name got dirty a long time ago." He reached behind him and pulled out a spiked club.

"Ro!" Frosch jumped off the table to run to his partner, but Macao caught him.

"Get out of there Ryos!" Macao shouted.

But Rogue did not listen as he stood his ground, clenching his fist while Thibault rose the club above him. "You losers will be under us as long as you live!" he swung the club down towards Rogue.

But before he could reach him, he was suddenly kicked from behind that him flying across the room and crashing above the job board.

The fairies looked back, and their eyes widened when they saw who kicked Thibault.

"What the hell-" one ogre shouted as they turned around. But they were quickly put down by a lion gauntlet made of ice, a demon claw, a fist coated in flames, and a massive hand.

"Ghi hi!" A familiar laugh was heard. "What's with the sad faces?" Gajeel smirked.

Cheerful tears were seen on the fairies as they saw that standing next to the search team were Gajeel, Levy, Lily, Lyon, Mira, Kagura, Carla Elfman, Lisanna, Merudy, Cana, Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Happy Freed, Evergreen, Bickslow, Jellal, Gildarts, and Makarov

"Nice place," Makarov smiled. "Quite homey."

"Sorry we're late," Mira quipped.

"It's great to see you again," Levy said cheerfully.

The four ogres got up, only to face the scowling faces of Lily, Lyon, Cana Merudy Natsu, Erza, Gildarts, Elfman, Freed, Bickslow, and Jellal.

"So," Lyon questioned the shivering quartet coldly. "You've been bothering our guildmates, have you?"

"Let's get out of here!" Thibault yelled as he got up and ran out of the door, with his crew quickly running after him.

"It's actually you," Macao gaped at such a miraculous sight. "Master… everyone…"

"They look so young!' Laki added, she and the others crying rivers of joy.

"They haven't aged a day!" Kinana said.

"What happened?" Vijeeter asked.

Lily smiled sheepishly. "It's quite a tale actually..."

Hours Ago.

"Wake up, Gajeel!" Jet shouted as he shook the dragon slayer awake.

"Shut up!" Gajeel roared as he sprung awake. He then looked around before gazing at his hands. "I'm alive? I'm alive-"

"Gajeel!" Max and Jet cried as they tackled into him in a hug before Droy tearfully dogpiled them.

"Get off of me!" Gajeel shouted as he pushed them off. "Why are you guys here? And why do you look different?! And why is bulb-head fat?!"

"Gajeel," Warren spoke up. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Gajeel scowled. "We were all holding hands. We were sharing our magic for a defense spell when Acnologia's roar hit us. After that, it was a blank." he then looked around. "Where is everyone?"

"They're right here," a young voice piped up. Everyone turned and saw the young girl that led the search team to Tenrou.

"It's you," Alzack gasped.

"Who's the kid?" Gajeel grunted in confusion.

The girl smiled. "My name is Mavis Vermillion. I am Fairy Tail's first master."

"..."

"..."

"What?!" Everyone shouted in shock of the declaration.

Mavis only giggled and pointed to a ravine, where the rest of their guildmates were laid. They quickly woke them up, receiving expressions of relief and surprise. Tears were shed and hugs were shared, from Bisca to Erza, from Gildarts to Cana, and even from Max and Warren to Makarov.

"Back then, I took the strength of everyone's bonds," Mavis said once everyone was accounted for. "And converted it to magic. Your thoughts of unity came together to become one of the three great Fairy spells, Fairy Sphere. It is an absolute defense magic that protects the guild from any evil.

"However, because of the amount of magic it cost, everyone was left in a frozen sleep for almost seven years. Or more accurately, six years and three months."

The Tenrou wizards looked at each other. To think that so much time was now lost.

Makarov only smiled "I'm just glad that the First Master choose to protect us."

Mavis only giggled. "Oh no, Third. I'm only an ethereal body that helped in channeling that magic. It was your faith in this miracle that saved you. It's proof of what a wonderful guild you have become."

Gajeel turned from the others to face a black-haired boy with tearful red-eyes. "Yo, Ryos. Ya really grown, had ya?"

For the first time in what felt like forever, Rogue smiled as tears raced down his face. "Welcome back, Gajeel-nii. Welcome back, everybody!"

Aww. Best reunion ever.

Levy: I'm glad you did this chapter. It was pretty great returning back from Tenrou.

Warren: There's a lot of new details added from the original.

That's right. Anyway, leave your thoughts of this first chapter, and don't forget to follow and favorite this story. I'll see you in two weeks for the next chapter right before my college hiatus.