State of Independence

By CrimsonStarbird


Chapter Eight: Trust

Wendy was serving him tea.

It was hard to say whether she or August was least comfortable with this fact, given that his hands trembled almost as much in taking the proffered teacup as hers did in handing it over.

The young Dragon Slayer wasn't remotely afraid of him, of course. From the way her gaze never left the wobbling tea tray as she inched into the room, it was evident that her greatest fear was spilling tea all over Makarov's office. The intensity of her concentration put the stares of his interrogators to shame.

Spilt tea, however, was the least of August's concerns. He was powerless and surrounded by enemies, none of whom trusted him and most of whom wouldn't shed a tear if an unfortunate accident were to befall him in captivity. One of his closest friends was currently fighting the battle that had already killed him once, and the only thing that could stop history from repeating itself was the goodwill of three Masters who had no reason to help him. And at some point, His Majesty was going to find out about his defection, and then he would have to face up to the consequences he was still refusing to think about…

Most worrying of all, however, was the fact that Wendy was serving him tea.

And if she was here serving him tea, then she wasn't out there fighting Ajeel, as he had recommended. No doubt that was why Makarov had asked the young girl to bring him refreshments, rather than any of the guild's experienced waiting staff – and why Juvia had walked past the ajar door in conversation with Makarov more than once. The old Master was making a point: we don't trust you. We're not taking your advice.

Thus August sat in the office-turned-holding-cell, unable to do anything but worry… and wait for news of the battle.

He was supposed to be in control of this situation. That was what his defection had been about – taking the future into his own hands. Not sitting around and waiting to see if he had been able to change one little thing.

A roar of noise alerted him to the away team's return. It soon quietened again, though not to the same level as before, and he knew something had changed.

To his surprise, they didn't keep him in suspense. Running footsteps reached his ears, and then the door blasted open with a speed that implied the newly tangible Mavis had completely forgotten to slow down for it – a mistake which the great solid desk was eager to correct. Unfazed, she bounced off, slammed her hands down on the table, and announced, "We captured him!"

His heart lurched. "Ajeel?"

"Yup! We're sticking him in the cells beneath the guildhall right now. He's out cold, but you can see him when he comes round, if you want. This time, we're upholding our principles until the end." She spun around, skirt and hair flaring out into a halo of gold brilliance, and then she clapped her hands together. "And that's regardless of any deal we may or may not have with you. It's because we're Fairy Tail, and not even victory is worth giving that up for."

Pausing, she considered this for a moment, and added, "That being said, your advice was most helpful in ending the fight without bloodshed."

"You completely ignored my advice!" he pointed out. "Wendy and Juvia remained in the guild!"

Mavis beamed at him, and it was magnificent. "Oh, I don't need you to come up with strategies for us. That's my job. But everything you said about Ajeel being a straightforward opponent who jumps head-first into battles made me think he probably wouldn't be on the lookout for a deception in his very first fight of the war…"

"A deception?"

"Yup!" She snapped her fingers and duplicates of Wendy and Juvia appeared in the room, glowing faintly.

His eyes widened. "You fought him with illusions?"

"And a pitfall trap!"

And wider still. "A… pitfall trap?"

"Yup! It was pretty dark in the field where we brought his airship down, and I figured that a mage who always dominates the environment with sandstorms probably wouldn't be used to other people using the environment against him, so he wouldn't expect my fake Juvia to lead him into a pre-dug pitfall trap. Especially not one with walls covered in Jutsu Shiki. Anyone who falls into this hole will sleep for four hours, I think Freed said he'd written. The overwhelming sand magic your friend was throwing everywhere with no regard for the consequences concealed the trap's magical signature quite nicely."

"That's brilliant."

Mavis beamed at him again.

"However!" she resumed, bouncing on the soles of her feet; her excitement was far too great to be contained within a stationary physical body. "While observing the fake battle, I noticed Ajeel was unsurprised that his sand wasn't affecting illusion-Juvia! Which makes me think that he knew real-Juvia would have been equally unaffected, as you said, and thus that she was a genuinely good recommendation for the fight. Similarly, he looked really annoyed to see illusion-Wendy arrive, which suggests that air manipulation is a known weakness of his magic. Therefore I am inclined to believe that your advice was sound, and more importantly, given to us in good faith."

Taken aback by the sudden admission of trust, he still had not found his voice when Mavis spoke again.

"And, I also wanted to say… thank you. Because I have my body and my magic back, I was able to fight on the front lines for my guild. I… I do not know if I would have had the courage to break out of the crystal myself, had you not reassured me."

"You would have done," he insisted, and he meant it. After all, last time, last future, it had been all her own decision.

A little smile suggested she had heard the subtext loud and clear. "Even so, before you arrived, there had been talk of moving my body to Tenrou Island to protect it, and… well, I'm so glad that didn't happen. I don't want to just be protected – not when this entire conflict is my fault. My continued existence has already brought so much harm to my guild, and I'm happy I was able to start repaying them for that today. Whatever else happens, I will always be grateful to you for giving me that opportunity."

"That's…" he tried, and then gave up. "You're welcome."

"Seventh and Eighth still have their reservations, naturally, but you have my trust," she informed him. With a guilty glance at the magic-suppressing handcuffs, she added, "Though, I can't take those off you just yet. I was outvoted."

"It's fine," he assured her. "I understand."

"Let me say this instead." Mavis gave another joyful spin, placed her hands on his shoulders, and fixed him with a gaze so sparkling-bright that it put the constellations they had once flown beneath to shame. "Welcome to Fairy Tail."

And he knew he had lived through ninety-four years and two unspeakable futures just to see that smile.

This, he resolved. This is the future I'm going to keep.


Ajeel had nothing to say to him.

The cells beneath Fairy Tail's guildhall were nothing like the torture chambers that had spawned from the darkness at Mercurius's heart. The spartan design was a blessing in disguise, because the lack of any furniture went hand-in-hand with an absence of torture devices. A single chain connected the magic-suppressing handcuffs Ajeel wore to the wall, allowing him freedom of movement within the cell, had he wanted to do anything more than turn his back to August as he approached. Even that juvenile insult was a luxury denied to the Erza who had been stripped naked and strung from the ceiling. At least Ajeel was fully-clothed and uninjured, apart from his wounded pride.

This wasn't so much a place of punishment as a holding cell, born of the desire to end the war as swiftly and humanely as possible. The torture chambers of that first and hateful future had come from all that remained once that desire had been annihilated.

Yet Ajeel did not understand that. He could communicate disdain by turning his back on his former mentor, unaware that any movement of his should have been blocked by six feet of soil. He could spit at August's approach without appreciating that such venom was possible only because his captors had kindly provided him with water. He loathed his imprisonment, because he saw only that his freedom had been taken away, not that his very life had been given back.

After waiting far too long for an acknowledgement he should have known wasn't coming, August said, "I have never known you have nothing to say, Ajeel."

"Figured it'd be you," he spat, without turning round. "The illusions, that was low. Don't know why I expected anything else from these cowards. But picking two people whose magic was the perfect counter to mine? That's you all over."

He lashed out suddenly, and his heel struck the wall a jarring blow. August flinched at the sound.

"Bet you got a good laugh out of that, didn't you?" Ajeel snarled. "How long have you been Fairy Tail's bitch?"

August closed his eyes briefly. "It's not like that."

"Oh? There's no point pretending you're being forced to act against your will. You left Alvarez with no intention of coming back – and I'm not the only one who knows that. His Majesty is going to be so pissed when he finds out."

"He isn't already?" August wondered, so perplexed by the implication that he didn't even reprimand the other for his language.

"He's more moody than anything else. Unpredictable. One minute he's in command and reassuring everyone who'll listen that you'll be here any moment to join the eastern approach… and the next he's locked himself in his cabin, won't come out, won't even give any orders, until you're back."

For a moment, August was speechless. That wasn't-

-you should go ahead and die-

-how things were supposed to go.

"He'll be devastated when he finds out what you've been doing," Ajeel continued. "All those times he delayed giving the order to invade, believing you'd come back… and all the while, you've been feeding information to that illusionist whore and her-"

"Do not speak of her like that!"

Had August's magic not been bound, that would have been the end of the guildhall and everyone inside it. In its absence, the only result of his fury was a single lazy eye turned towards him – an eye that wasn't interested in insulting Mavis so much as seeing how August would react to it.

"Funny," Ajeel remarked. "I remember a time when you were that protective of His Majesty… or was that all a lie?"

"It was no lie," he ground out, reining in his temper with an effort. "It's more complicated than that."

"Yeah, right."

"It's the truth. I've come back to this time from the future. Everything I do is in aid of preventing the catastrophe I saw there."

"So, the first thing you did was tell your friends and colleagues, so that we could work out together what we were going to do about it?" Ajeel challenged.

"I…"

August's objection faltered beneath that blow. In truth, that hadn't occurred to him at all. He had been so hurt by his father's betrayal that he had run straight to his mother's side, thinking nothing of those he was leaving behind except as a checklist of lives to save.

As if Ajeel had heard his thoughts, he continued, "No, of course not. Because that's only an obvious solution if we and His Majesty were people you had ever genuinely cared about-"

"You would have died today!" August roared. "If I hadn't acted when I did, I would be having this conversation with your gravestone!"

Silence.

A clink of chains, and a voice hard enough to cut straight through them.

"And would I have got a proper battle out of it? Would I have been able to fight the enemies of His Majesty and have it mean something? Would my death have brought him closer to his goals? Because that would have been far better than this!"

August slammed his hand against the cell bars. "His Majesty does not want you to die for him. He wants to erase everything you've done; everything you are; every sign that you even existed! He will take away this present world, and our whole nation will cease to exist! Your sacrifice will mean nothing!"

Slowly, Ajeel got to his feet. From either side of those bars, the two prisoners stared at each other; desperation and quiet hate.

"He gave me everything. He was the one who saw the potential in me, when Grandpa wouldn't look beyond my poor grades. He was the one who gave me the chance to serve him as a mage, rather than an advisor, like the rest of my family. I know you only took me on as a student because he asked you to! He made a place for me! For once in my life, I had something to fight for, rather than against!"

A memory rose, unbidden, of the lonely immortal who had reached out to the abandoned boy.

"I know all that," August murmured. "I know… he's…"

The words stuck in his throat.

"You may know it," Ajeel said coldly. "But you don't understand it, do you? Everything I am, I am because of His Majesty. My life is his. If he wants it back, he can have it."


"He'll come round."

August started; he had been certain he was alone in the corridor. There was no way he would have permitted himself a moment to regain his composure before returning to the main hall otherwise.

But that voice had been Erza's, and when he spun round, chain pulling tight against his wrists as he automatically tried to enter a defensive stance, the warrior-mage was indeed leaning up against the wall. One hand rested on her sword's hilt, but she gave no sign she had seen his reaction.

"He is embarrassed because of how he lost," Erza continued. "That's all. You saved his life; he'll come round eventually. Maybe it'll take a week, or maybe a year, but one day he'll understand that you have to live for those you love, not die for them."

"You were listening?" he demanded.

Erza met the accusation squarely, not the least bit intimidated by him. "The First Master may trust you, but I don't. Not enough to let you meet our prisoners unsupervised, at least."

"That conversation was private!"

"The right to privacy is one you have not yet earnt in this guild," she informed him coolly, before moving on, as if the matter was closed. "The First Master is waiting for you in the main hall. Mest has returned with Cana and Gildarts."

"…Alright," he conceded.

As he made to leave, he was surprised to find a gauntleted hand resting briefly upon his shoulder. "Give him time," Erza murmured, and then she brushed past him and strode down the corridor.

He hesitated for longer than he should have done before following her. He felt betrayed by her actions, and also strangely touched. Yet, at the same time, she hadn't understood at all. Ajeel could hate him for the rest of his life, and as long as that life was a long and satisfying one, August wouldn't care.

Everything I am, I am because of His Majesty, Ajeel had said. He gave me everything.

And there had been a time – before time itself had changed – when August would have made the same declaration and thought nothing of it.

But as he entered the guild's main hall, and saw Mavis engaged in enthusiastic conversation with the others, he knew it wasn't everything, not any more. No matter what happened, some part of him would always belong right here.


"Pull the other one," Cana said flatly.

"I'm serious!" Mavis protested. Admittedly, her fits of giggles weren't helping her case any more than Gildarts's dumbfounded expression, or Erza's bemusement.

"No," Cana stated. "I refuse to believe that there are any circumstances under which Macao and Wakaba could have taken out one of the Spriggan Twelve!"

It was at that moment that Mavis caught August's eye, and beckoned him over to join the discussion. As reluctant as he was to approach Cana and Gildarts, he couldn't turn down the chance to spend even just a minute more with her. And when she turned that contagious grin towards him alone, he didn't regret it for a moment.

"We were just talking about Macao and Wakaba's resounding victory," she explained to him.

"Ah, the plan worked, did it?"

"Perfectly."

"You're lying," Cana insisted. "You're both in it together."

"Care to explain?" Mavis invited August, with a sweet smile.

"Neinhart," he complied. "His magic grants a temporary physical form to the spirits of his opponent's deceased enemies. The stronger the personal grudge they bear against the target, or that the target bears against them, the more powerful his manifestations are."

Mavis resumed, "So, by sending two people to fight him who, uh…"

"Haven't spent long enough off their arses to make any serious enemies?" Cana filled in.

"Yeah, that… the theory was that it would render Neinhart almost powerless. He would still be able to use any spirit with a general grudge against Fairy Tail to fight them, but his manifestations would be far weaker against those two than against someone they'd known and fought in life."

"Weak enough for even those two to win?" Cana demanded.

Cheerfully, Mavis answered, "Well, Mira was there as backup, but Macao's report stresses that her actual role was more of a cheerleading one."

Cana rolled her eyes. "I bet it does…"

"Well, with our illustrious Fourth Master on the case, I'm not entirely sure why you called me back here," Gildarts said amiably.

"Ha ha," Cana deadpanned. "What's the plan, First?"

By way of an answer, Mavis led them over to the table they had appropriated for their strategy meetings. The guildhall was almost empty. Apart from their group – Mavis, Erza, Makarov, Gildarts, Cana and August – there was only one other group present: Warren's team, which was providing communication between their fighting units all across Fiore.

Warren's network of telepathy magic fused with radio technology covered almost all of the country, near-undetectable to their opponents while simultaneously letting them listen in to Alvarez's transmissions. August had deduced enough of this during the first war to cobble together a makeshift counter, but it wasn't until the fighting was over and they had begun appropriating the enemy's technology that he had come to appreciate just how advanced Fairy Tail's communications had been compared to their own.

Yesterday evening, after the successful capture of Ajeel but before he had awoken, August had sat down with the three Masters – all of whom now knew about the time travel – and talked them through the events of the first war in as much detail as he could remember. Together, they had worked out how best to arrange their own forces in light of this. Rather than the mostly random distribution of mages Fairy Tail had gone with last time, the intelligence August provided allowed them to counter their opponents' magic and produce favourable matchups for their team.

Most of the Fairy Tail teams were currently out fighting. Macao's report had been the only one to come through so far, but the outlook was promising. Careful planning, backed up by the superior information network which August was no longer present to interfere with, had put the invading army on the back foot from the start.

There were some opponents, however, for whom all the careful planning in the world wouldn't be enough. That was the reason for their current briefing.

As they gathered around the map, the sombre mood returned. August knew he was avoiding eye contact with Cana and Gildarts, and he suspected they had both noticed, but if appearing rude was what it took to push his emotions aside and focus on the task at hand, that was what he would do. Mavis needed him.

"Excluding His Majesty," he began, "there were three mages last time who remained undefeated at the end of the war, having won every battle in which they participated. I was one. Irene was the second, but we have a plan for her."

He glanced at Mavis, who gave him the tiniest of nods.

"And the third was a man no doubt familiar to you all – God Serena, formerly a Wizard Saint of Ishgar. He may be a pompous fool, but do not let that deceive you. His reputation as a mage is well-deserved. He wields eight types of Dragon Slayer magic at once, each of which covers for the weaknesses of the others – leaving him with no flaws we can exploit, as we are doing for our other opponents. Surpassing him in raw power is the only way to beat him."

"Sounds like a job for Macao, then," Gildarts remarked, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Cana. "Alright, alright. That's why you brought me back, isn't it?"

"Only reason why we'd ever have considered it," Cana grumbled.

"Zeref's original plan had God Serena splitting from his companions here," Mavis interjected, tapping the map. "We should aim to intercept him somewhere between there and the guildhall."

"Sure thing," Gildarts agreed, getting to his feet at once.

"Wait!" August requested. As everyone turned to look at him, he set his bound hands on the table with an audible clink of metal and looked directly at Mavis. "Let me go too."

Concern etched creases around those beautiful emerald eyes, but it was Gildarts who spoke first. "Nah. I can handle this on my own."

"With all possible respect," August retorted, "you can't. He is more powerful than you. If you go after him alone, he'll kill you."

"He won't be alone," Cana pointed out. "I'll be there too. Obviously."

"No!" It was Gildarts's turn to raise an objection. "Cana, you're staying here."

Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "What, in the guildhall, where it's safe?"

"There's a whole army out there! There are plenty of enemies you can fight without having to challenge the strongest mage in Ishgar to a duel!"

"Oh, but it's fine when you do it?"

As the argument escalated, Erza shot August an exasperated glare: look at what you've started. He just shook his head. "It's a moot point. Even together, they won't win. The only way to guarantee victory is for Gildarts and myself to fight him together."

"No," Erza told him.

"Please. I want to help you!"

"Maybe you do," Makarov spoke up quietly. "Or maybe you want to run back to Zeref with all the inside information you've picked up from our guildhall."

"I'm never going back to him!" August snapped, startled by the accusation coming so soon after Mavis's declaration of trust; after Erza's reluctant empathy.

At least Erza had the decency to look guilty as she explained. "I'm sorry, but we have to take all possibilities into account, including the likelihood that your presence here is part of Zeref's scheme. We are dealing with a man who engineered the birth of an entire empire; a long-term double-agent plot is well within the realms of possibility. The safest option for our guild hasn't changed – your magic remains bound until the war is over."

"The war will not end until God Serena is beaten, and that won't happen without me!"

"I can beat him," Gildarts interrupted, more than a little disgruntled by the suggestion that he wouldn't be enough on his own. "At least give me a chance!"

Makarov nodded. "I agree. Let's see what Gildarts can do before we resort to extreme measures."

August's grip tightened around the edge of the table. Maybe Gildarts could win. Maybe he should have more trust in his mother's guild. Maybe he should be grateful that they were listening to him at all, rather than angry that they would not trust him fully.

None of that reasoning, however, could break through the singular certainty-

-NO PLEASE I'LL DO ANYTHING-

-that he had destroyed their family once, and he would not risk letting it come to pass again.

He turned instead to Mavis, holding that intense emerald gaze with one only a shade darker, and he prayed that the bond formed when she'd opened her heart to him on the flight to Alvarez had somehow endured the deconstruction of the future…

"I trust him," Mavis decided. "I think we should let him go with Gildarts."

He gave a tremulous nod, rapidly blinking away the tears he did not want to explain.

Makarov gave a sigh. "Then the deciding vote is yours, Erza."

The Seventh Master of Fairy Tail, once the Seventh and Ninth, who had bequeathed the guild's legacy to him when he had thought that all was lost, considered him for an eternity.

"No," she said, at last. "I do not feel comfortable returning our prisoner's magic to him right now." To Gildarts, she asked, "Will you go on your own?"

"I would've been there five minutes ago if you lot could make your mind up!"

And as Cana's voice piped up in objection once more, August closed his eyes and sank back into the chair. His shoulders sagged beneath the weight of the burden he had taken upon himself. Saving everyone had always been a long shot, he had known that, but some part of him – the part that he now realized had always belonged in his mother's guild – had dared to hope anyway, for the simple reason that she had always dared to hope. She had trusted him despite the reasonable doubts of the other Masters; she had loved Zeref until the very end.

He should have known better. He hadn't grown up in her guild; he shouldn't have let his short time here hamper his judgement. He should have accepted that ending the war with no casualties at all was an impossible goal.

But if there was one more person he could have protected, just one… he thought that there was very little he wouldn't give to save the one who was so loved by his daughter.


"Hey."

August glanced up. It was the first time he had registered an attempt to draw his attention, but judging by the annoyed snap circling beneath the tone of the word, it was by no means the first attempt made. When he recognized Cana lurking in the doorway, he flinched again. Her eyes narrowed at this, but she shook it off in a flurry of raven locks and stepped into the room.

He was back in Makarov's office, Erza having vetoed the suggestion that he be sent to the underground cells with Ajeel and the recently incarcerated Neinhart. The three Masters were too busy to pay him much heed. Erza had gone to join the fight; Makarov and Mavis remained to observe the situation as generals and strategists. Bereft of news from the ongoing battles, August could do nothing but sit and think about all the things he could have done differently. He had been considering only this timeline at first, but as Cana approached, his mistakes in all the others burst through the surface at once.

"Has this happened before?" she asked bluntly.

"What?"

She folded her arms in annoyance at his lack of concentration. "Did they fight last time? God Serena and my dad?"

"No. They didn't meet the first time round."

"But you're still sure he's going to die?"

"I… I know he stands more of a chance than anyone else from your guild, but I do not think it will be enough."

With the office door half-closed, the sounds of command from the guildhall proper were strangely muted. He wished she would go away and leave him to reflect upon his mistakes. She did not.

"Look," Cana began harshly, perching on the table beside him. The added elevation allowed her to look down at him with an eerily imposing expression. "I know you've got a problem with me. I know you're our enemy, and that if Erza knew I was here talking to you, she'd ban me from the bar for life. She said she believes you mean well, but that talking to your captured friend has shaken your resolve."

"It's not-"

"To be honest," she interrupted, "I don't care about any of that. It's not that I trust you, but that there's nothing you can do to me that would be worse than letting that traitorous Wizard Saint kill my dad."

She handed him a tarot card. Rather than a familiar image from the Major Arcana, it contained a cartoonish drawing of Gildarts waving its arms frantically. As if that wasn't clear enough, four balloon letters above the image flashed the word HELP in a cascade of colours.

"Can you help him?"

"Yes." The answer came out before he could stop it. "My airship is hidden at the edge of town. Erza and the others don't know about it. If we take that, we should be able to catch up with him in time. But the Masters won't allow-"

"I don't care."

And with that, she pulled from her bag a key that he was certain should have been in Makarov's pocket. Her hand was shaking. It took two attempts for her to insert it into the lock upon his handcuffs and even that wasn't long enough for him to process what she was doing. He whispered, "Why?"

She ignored the question. "If you're going to betray us to Zeref, please wait until after my dad is back home."

The cuffs snapped open. His connection to his magic blazed back to life. Even he had to close his eyes against the sudden rush of power. He sensed more than saw Cana flinching away from him, a grimace twisting across her face as she realized for the first time how great a mistake defying Makarov and Erza might have been…

But even when they'd fought, she hadn't been afraid of him, and now she seized his wrist and wrenched him upright. "Come on, help me, you've got to," she insisted, as if she could override any treacherous intentions he may have been hiding with the force of her will alone.

Of course, he wasn't hiding anything of the sort. In that moment, there was nothing he wanted more than to protect Cana and her father… and to right the wrong whose shadow he had lived in since he had first stepped back in time.


A/N: I think this chapter has probably answered the question of whether or not I'm going to write the whole Alvarez arc. If it had been a shorter arc I might have considered it, but there's just too much of it, and very little of it is directly relevant to August even in this timeline. Most of it will happen off-screen during the next chapter, while August is off with Cana, which is a much more important encounter for this story. I cannot believe how much work it has taken just to get those two into a chapter together... Anyway, thanks as always for reading/following/reviewing this fic so far! ~CS