Good morning, dearest readers!
Well, I am relieved that you aren't absolutely mad that I tricked you (and myself) into thinking that Zeref was going to survive and seek a future with Juvia. I really wish I didn't have to kill him, but it's better for everyone.
Unfortunately, now that he's gone and Juvia isn't in Alvarez anymore, the threat of war arises once again. You'll see in the next two chapters how everyone's dealing with the fact that this battle seems inevitable.
Also, Gray and Juvia are going to have a tough time (like, even tougher than before) despite the fact that she's no longer engaged. I'm afraid they're not getting their happily ever after anytime soon.
Then again, where's the fun in a boring happy ending when you can have a much more complex and entertaining one?
You'll see what I'm talking about once the book is over. (When will that be, I wonder?)
Now, it's time for the shoutouts:
Karina Lockser: Lamento haber terminado la historia de Zeref tan repentinamente, pero tuvo que irse. Estaba tan en conflicto como usted sobre qué hacer con respecto al triángulo amoroso Zeref x Juvia x Gray. Siento que ambas parejas tienen mérito, pero desafortunadamente nunca planeé hacer que Zervia fuera oficial. La amenaza de guerra es siempre permanente en esta historia, aunque el Spriggan 12 tomará medidas sorprendentes después de enterarse del suicidio de Zeref.
Verás en el capítulo de la red cuál es su verdadero plan y hay más Gruvia por venir.
Guest: I'm so glad you think Zeref's death makes sense. Though I'm afraid Juvia will continue to stress about everything that happened and keep in mind that she doesn't know he's gone.
All of your questions will be answered in this chapter. And you can definitely count on more angst, but I'm leaving that for Gruvia.
MasterGildarts: It's like I said, chapter 19 was misleading and made you think that he wanted to live and be with Juvia.
Unfortunately, that was the sacrifice he needed to make. Choosing her happiness above his own meant choosing to let her go and the only way she could be free was if he died.
Gruvia are in a kind of awkward place right now because even though the wedding is off, everything that happened between her and Zeref continues to keep her from fully enjoying being with Gray.
I'm not saying she fell for Zeref, but they did kiss more than once and now every time she kisses Gray, she can't help but to think about it.
Also, the callout to Layla was a mix up since no one knows about Anna.
You Don't Know Me150: It will be explained in this chapter that the only reason Zeref's curse was lifted was because the gods wanted him to die. However, they decided to give him a choice instead of killing him like Mavis and Acnologia.
The sacrifice Ankhseram mentioned was to choose Juvia's happiness and freedom over a second chance at a normal life.
To be honest, the plot with Natsu dying wasn't taken from what happened in the manga, just the notion that if Zeref died, Natsu would die too.
Guest 2: You can be sure that Zeref's death will hurt Juvia, but since she knows that this is what he wanted, she'll understand.
Wow I don't get what you're saying about Gruvia in the manga, but I have read the new chapters of 100 years quest and I don't think Mashima's planning on having Gray lose her and them ending up with someone else.
It seems more like Gray will prove himself to her so that he considers himself worthy and they will get together by the last chapter of the sequel.
Although I do agree about what you said regarding to his interactions with other girls such as Lucy. It's terrible that this running gag of her being Juvia's "love rival" continues in the sequel.
After all, Juvia and Lucy are close friends so there shouldn't be a problem there. If anything, Juvia should have realized that Lucy's in love with Natsu by now.
Juvia23: Thank you so much for all the praise. I'm glad you think this story's intriguing. Sometimes I wish I could think of less complex plot lines, but that's not how my brain works. The crazier and more unexpected an idea is, the better.
I still hope that most things will make sense by the end of this story, though.
Happy reading!
October 13th, X792
Anna Heartfilia stopped by the entrance of the cave. She could hear the sound of a man groaning, seemingly in pain.
It still stunned her to realize that the man inside was actually Acnologia. The king of the dragons now in human form and she wasn't sure what to do.
Zeref had instructed her to follow the black dragon and keep an eye on him, but she knew better than to try anything.
Even if this seemed like the perfect moment to attack him, seeing as Acnologia was clearly weakened, Anna knew it wasn't.
However, curiosity got the best of her and she slowly entered the cave, hiding behind a rock as soon as she got a vision of him.
"Who's there?" Acnologia called, uninterested.
Much to both their surprises, an unfamiliar voice answered. "I don't believe you've forgotten me, have you?"
Anna couldn't see the person it belonged to, but she could feel the sheer power coming from them. It was much similar to Zeref's power, albeit stronger, so she guessed it must be Ankhseram himself.
"How could I forget?" Acnologia whispered and there was fear in his tone.
"You're in human form." Ankhseram noted and his tone was of surprise. "Impressive."
"I didn't intend to spend eternity as a dragon, despite what you may have wanted." The dragon king strongly remarked.
"I had forgotten how daring you were." The god of death was unamused. "Never one to respect the rules, even those imposed by the gods."
"What do you want, Ankhseram?" Acnologia got to the point, much to Anna's relief.
"Even after you were cursed, you never learned to respect us. You created disaster after disaster and nearly destroyed the balance between life and death."
"Then perhaps you shouldn't have cursed me." Acnologia suggested.
"Perhaps I should not have let you live after what you did." Ankhseram's tone was still calm, but his anger was clear now.
"Are you referring to the keys?" Anna's interest was peaked by this new information. "Because you know I wasn't the one who killed them."
"It doesn't matter whether you killed them or not." The god of death sighed. "You did far worse and I regret following Gaia's plan of merely cursing you."
"So the goddess of life was the one who chose my fate?" Acnologia sounded interested and Anna couldn't believe her ears. Gaia? So she was real too?
"She's always too kind to humans, even when they don't deserve it." Ankhseram replied. "But now even she agrees that it's time for you to reach your end."
"So you are here to kill me." The dragon king noted, clearly afraid.
"You are going to spend eternity in hell, where all the suffering you caused will be inflicted upon you." Anna couldn't help it anymore, she had to see what was happening.
A second later, she wished she hadn't looked. The image of Acnologia being swallowed by the darkness until there was nothing left would haunt her forever and she could only thank her lucky stars that Ankhseram decided to spare her the same fate.
Fairy Tail, Present Day
"Layla Heartfilia?" The woman shook her head.
"No, my name is Anna." She looked between the stunned mages in search for the blonde celestial wizard. "Where is Lucy?"
"She's in the infirmary with Natsu." Makarov answered, staring at her in suspicion.
"What happened to Natsu?" Sting asked, worried.
"It was so weird." Gajeel frowned, crossing his arms. "One minute he was fine, then he started getting sick and suddenly he was gone."
"Gone?" Juvia's eyes widened.
"He was poisoned, but we still aren't sure how." Erza answered, frowning.
"Oh no." Yukino gasped.
"All we knew was that he was dead." Makarov stated and Levy continued.
"But then the craziest thing happened. There was this bright green light and it healed him somehow." Sting frowned deeply.
"That's weird. The same thing happened with Juvia and Yukino when we were on our way here." This caused many eyes to widen again.
"What do you mean?" Gajeel asked, his arms dropping with the shock.
The water mage proceeded to quickly explain what had happened with Dimaria and how Crime Sorciere had rescued her.
"So one of Zeref's own minions tried to kill you?" Lyon raised a brow.
"I guess they weren't happy about the wedding either." Gray concluded.
"Dimaria always made it clear that she didn't approve." Juvia sighed.
"I'm more concerned about this strange light." Levy said, frowning deeply.
"That power...it felt out of this world." Wendy added.
"What power? Everyone turned towards the infirmary door, which was now opened once Lucy and Natsu stepped out. The latter was apparently still weakened since the blonde had her arms around him, supporting his weight.
His eyes quickly flashed between the room before stopping on Sting and Yukino. "What are you guys doing here?"
"That's…not possible." Meanwhile, Lucy's gaze diverted towards the unexpected guest. "Mom?"
"No, I'm not Layla." Anna shook her head, but before she could explain who she was, Natsu beat her to it.
"You're teacher Anna!" He stepped away from Lucy's grasp and stumbled towards her.
"Careful, Natsu." The celestial wizard moved fast to catch him.
"Wait…So you know this woman?" Gajeel asked his fellow dragon slayer.
"You do too." Natsu answered, confusing everyone.
"No, I do not." The former protested.
"I see." Anna nodded before stepping forward. "So your memories have returned, Natsu?"
"Wait, what?" Gray frowned.
"What memories?" Erza asked, crossing her arms.
"It's a long story." Natsu answered before thanking Lucy once she got a chair for him to sit on.
"I don't think my head can handle anymore stories." Cana massaged her aching forehead.
"I certainly didn't expect to learn so much today." Juvia commented and Natsu looked at her.
"I almost forgot." His eyes widened once he noticed her attire. "You got married to Zeref."
"I guess that makes her your sister-in-law, huh?" Lucy chuckled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gajeel asked before the water mage could explain that the wedding had never happened.
"You see…" Natsu nervously started once all eyes were on him. "While I was... unconscious, I sorta remembered a lot of things."
"What kind of things?" Gray asked, raising a brow.
"It turns out that Zeref… He's sort of…my brother." The room went silent once everyone was in shock.
"Your brother?" Erza whispered after a few moments.
Meanwhile, Juvia gasped. Zeref's brother. E.N.D. The person she suspected Zeref had loved the most after hearing his stories about their childhood, was right there, only a few feet away. "You…You're…"
"Yeah." Natsu nodded, a sad look upon his face. "I don't know why I didn't remember it before, but I do now."
"His brother…" Her throat constricted with tears. "He talked so much about you."
"He did?" He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"Whenever I asked him about his past, he would talk about his younger brother." She stared at him wide-eyed. "He never gave me a name, but I could tell how much he cared for you."
"He was the best big brother." Natsu smiled slightly.
"Okay, can someone explain how the hell is that even possible?" Gajeel was losing his patience.
"I guess I can stay a little more." Juvia sat down again and Gray soon joined her.
"Spare us no details, Natsu." Erza said once she did the same and everyone else who had stood up sat down in a circle once Natsu and Anna took turns explaining everything that had happened 400 years before.
First Anna detailed the plan to send the dragon slayers into the future in order to defeat Acnologia and her alliance with Zeref. Sting, Rogue, Gajeel and Wendy were reluctant to believe it at first. However, after Natsu validated her words and they recovered a few memories of Anna, they decided to trust her.
Afterwards, it was Natsu's turn to inform them about his connection to Zeref, his death and revival as E.N.D. It took a while for them to recover from that big reveal, specially Gray.
The ice mage had a hard time learning that the enemy his father had been trying to defeat and whom he had been seeking for months was actually one of his closest friends. They ended up having a heated argument that was interrupted by Erza and later Makarov intervened.
Ever the wise, Fairy Tail's master reminded Gray that Natsu hadn't known who he was so there was no reason to hold it against him.
Besides, there were no reports of E.N.D ever having done anything so he assumed that the part of Natsu that was a demon hadn't been awakened and must be trapped in the book of E.N.D.
Juvia, Sting and Yukino also informed them of their failed quest to find the book of E.N.D in Alvarez and their assumption that Zeref had hidden it somewhere in the castle.
Once the shock wore off, Lucy and Levy pointed out how suspicious Natsu's death had been and if it might've been related to said book.
It didn't take them long to conclude that Zeref had decided to end Natsu's life. However, as for how he was revived, they still had no idea. Even Anna wasn't sure how it could be possible for someone to be brought back without major consequences.
They didn't spend much time wondering about it, though. Their attention quickly focused back on Mavis and they realized that Zeref might not be the one behind her death as they had originally suspected.
After all, it still made no sense for him to go after the Fairy Heart before the wedding was completed. Also, Anna's tale brought up a much better suspect: Ankhseram.
Though they failed to understand why the god of death would wish to destroy the Fairy Heart, logically speaking he might be the only one capable of doing so.
Once Anna recounted the brief moment that she witnessed him in action, everyone started wondering what it might be like to meet a god. There were so many tales in books, but few people could say that they had actually experienced it.
The guildhall was silent, all lost in thought, until suddenly there was the loud noise of a ship above them.
"What's that?" They looked around in confusion while Juvia stood up, eyes widened.
"I almost forgot." Everyone glanced at her.
"What's going on?" Gray stood up as well, concerned.
"I have to go." She answered, looking at him regretfully.
"Go where?" Gajeel asked, also standing up.
"Crocus." Juvia replied, frowning. "Now that the wedding never happened, people will start wondering about me, so I need to prepare a statement."
"You mean Juliet." He quickly realized.
"She can't just disappear. It would be very suspicious and Alvarez could use it as an excuse to declare war."
"I think they're going to declare war no matter what you say." Makarov remarked.
"I won't let that happen." The water mage promised, smiling slightly. Now that she had all the information, she was sure that she could prevent this war.
After all, once Zeref learned that neither the Fairy Heart nor Acnologia existed anymore, he would have no reason to send his army to Ishgar.
Well, except for the fact that she had left him at the altar. That could pose a problem, but Juvia hoped that he would believe her when she explained what Dimaria had done.
"Please, stop putting your life in danger for our sake." Erza pleaded, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"I won't." Juvia answered reassuringly. "I only plan on talking to Zeref and persuading him to call off any attack they might have planned."
"What makes you so sure that you can persuade him?" Levy raised a brow, confused.
Because he loves me. But Juvia couldn't tell them that. Not yet. "I'm a very persuasive person."
"Damn right she is." Gajeel chuckled.
"Princess, it's time to go." Their conversation was interrupted by Colonel Arcadius, who stood by the door.
Juvia nodded before her eyes surveyed the room. "I'll keep in touch, okay?"
"You better." Gajeel said, giving her a firm look.
"Let us know as soon as you get an answer from Alvarez." Erza told the water mage.
"I will." Juvia's gaze was quickly diverted towards the ice mage. "And when this is all over, we'll talk."
"When will it be over?" Gray asked, bitter. He didn't like one bit that she was leaving again.
"I have no idea." She sighed and Yukino approached her before hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry I won't be going with you, but Sting and I need to be here now."
"It sure was fun to go on this crazy adventure, but now it's time for us to go back home." Sting added and Rogue, Minerva and the other Sabertooth members nodded approvingly.
"Of course. I understand." Juvia smiled at the couple. "Congratulations; you two."
After winking at them, she walked away and no one tried to stop her because they knew that, this time, she would be coming back.
Crocus, many hours later
When Juvia and Arcadius were flying above the Mercurious, the first thing she noticed was the group of reporters gathered in front of the palace. They had probably come from Alvarez and were hoping to interview her.
"They've been there all day." He sighed.
"Did my father say anything to them?" She would've guessed that the king would provide some excuse.
"He said that you are recovering." Arcadius answered.
"So he told them that I was injured before the wedding?" Juvia raised a brow.
"It was the best way to explain why you had come back." He shrugged.
They remained silent once she thought over how she would manage to get in when the reporters were blocking the front door.
Once the ship was landing, Arcadius quickly explained how to get to a secret entrance near the gardens and offered to distract them.
Using a new spell she had learned, Juvia turned into a puddle to get away from the crowd without anyone noticing her.
Once inside the castle, she tried guiding herself towards her chambers, but ended up getting lost.
Luckily, she came across Darton and a few soldiers who had come from the king's office. They led her towards where her father and Hisui were gathering with Princess Rebecca and Prince Shiki, whom Juvia had yet to meet.
After thanking Darton, she knocked on the door and soon heard her father's voice. "Come in."
"Are you feeling better, Juliet?" Hisui asked once she had entered the office.
"Yes, I am." Juvia smiled at her sister before her eyes fell upon the unfamiliar couple.
"So you're Hisui's sister?" Shiki nodded.
"It's nice to finally meet you." Rebecca smiled brightly.
"It's nice to meet you too." The water mage curtsied.
"Please, there's no need for that." Shiki told her, chuckling.
"We've never cared much for formalities." Rebecca added, shrugging.
"Well, you're certainly different from what I imagined." Juvia smiled at them.
"Now I wonder what Hisui's told you about us." Shiki turned to his former fiancée, who shrugged.
"I barely told her anything." King Toma interrupted their conversation, clearing his throat.
"I'm sorry for cutting this meeting short, but Juliet and I need to discuss what to do about Alvarez."
"I gather the Emperor isn't too happy that she left him at the altar." Shiki noted.
"Do you think they're going to declare war?" Rebecca asked, eyes wide with fear.
"I wouldn't put it past him." Hisui whispered.
"If they do, you can count on us." Shiki reassured her. "We're ready to lend Fiore our forces if necessary."
"That's very kind of you." Juvia told him, surprised.
"Thank you for offering your aid." Toma nodded in his direction. "However, I truly hope it won't be necessary."
"After everything I've done to avoid going to war, I'm not giving up so easily." Juvia stated.
Unfortunately, the letter she sent inviting Zeref to come to Crocus so that they could talk about what happened never received an answer.
They never got a chance to discuss Dimaria's actions or his past, and part of her wondered if his lack of response was because he was mad at her or if something had happened.
A few hours before
There was a woman standing in the middle of a field. Her skin was pale, eyes light green while her hair, which was placed in a braid, was a darker color.
She wore a turquoise dress that fell at her feet and a crown made of white roses rested atop her head. Her mere presence in the field made new flowers bloom and trees quickly grow.
Everything was silent, until a shadow suddenly appeared beside her. "Ankhseram." She greeted him casually, without moving to face him.
"Gaia." He greeted her respectfully. "Are you pleased now?"
Her eyes focused on the oak tree that she was creating. "Very much so."
"I'll admit, I didn't think that giving Zeref a choice was a good idea." Ankhseram admitted. "But in the end he did exactly what you said he would."
"I never doubted that he would choose the girl's happiness over his own." Gaia smiled. "He's an exceptional human and a good hearted one too."
Ankhseram chose to take human form again. "Still, do you really believe that he deserves a second chance?"
"Anyone who's capable of sacrifice deserves a second chance." She finally looked at him.
"Is that why you spared Natsu Dragneel and the other girl?" He raised a brow.
"I spared them because they didn't need to die." Gaia answered as if it was obvious. "After all, three lives have been taken so the balance has been kept even after I saved them."
"That is true." Ankhseram conceded before frowning. "But what happens now?"
"Now we can leave." She answered, clearly pleased. "There are no more threats to the girl's life, so we don't need to interfere anymore."
"Are you sure about that?" The god of death wasn't so certain. "Because we thought the same about Iris."
"What happened to Iris was a mistake." She admitted, sighing. "But this time I will keep an eye on her daughter until we find a new key."
"I have a feeling that won't take long." Ankhseram said.
"Come now." She stepped forward, approaching the oak tree where a portal was created and he reluctantly followed her.
The two of them didn't hesitate to cross it, disappearing along alongside the tree.
So, thoughts?
What did you think of the reveal that Anna witnessed Acnologia's death? In case it wasn't clear, that's the reason she decided to seek Lucy. At first she wanted to talk to Zeref, but after she didn't find him in Alvarez, she went to Fairy Tail.
Also, what will the Spriggan 12 do now that Zeref is dead? How will they explain it and who will take his place?
Lastly, what did you think of the plot with Natsu?
Next chapter: Implications. Both Juvia and her father wonder about secrets that could have huge implications for the future. Meanwhile, Fairy Tail gains new allies in the fight against Alvarez and Gray has a deep conversation with the most unexpected person.