Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fairy Tail or Artemis Fowl
Artemis was struggling to lock away his own reaction to what had just occurred. When he realized he needed defense against the curse, his thoughts had immediately moved to gaining the curse himself. Based on the People's own archives, there was no way to dispel that death magic or guard against it. So, immortality was his only answer. Since it simply took an attempt at resurrection to gain it, Artemis had borrowed one of the old spells in Foaly's database. Altering one small rune in the magic circle had been enough to render it useless, though it was close enough to resurrection for his body to be cursed. The instant he gained the curse, he watched the forest around him die. It had taken a few moments of focusing on his plan for the death to stop. However, it had shown him that mental control was all it took to reign in the curse. Perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult, he had thought. Then, Natsu and his team returned. Along with it, the curse seemed to lash out with a vengeance just to prove him wrong.
He had been so lost in his own exhaustion and pain from the uncontrollable magic that he hadn't even been able to watch the end results. That did not stop him from imagining it. It had been shocking to realize he was capable of such a thing now. True, he had known mentally that he'd been able to utilize that death magic, but witnessing it in action was entirely different. Shock and pain had mixed together, realizing that even the slight precaution of distance had not saved Butler. The bodyguard was gone, and they hadn't even managed to say any last words to each other. Artemis should have fought harder to force him to stay behind, but he had done nothing. In the end, Artemis was his murderer, just like he had murdered Natsu and his team.
It felt like it took hours to finish the five-minute walk from that disaster scene to Fairy Tail. Artemis struggled with keeping himself focused on the plan. Really, he was just trying to stay focused on anything other than what he had just done. In his mind, he played classical music, tried reciting epic poems, ran through the entire list of known elements then worked towards creating and balancing chemical equations in his mind. Some of it managed to keep him distracted, but the emptiness he felt did not fade away. This must be why Zeref ended up like this. Suddenly, Artemis could clearly see why the man would so badly desire to change his past. If it meant even alleviating a fragment of what he felt now, Artemis was certain he'd start a war for it as well.
Artemis barely managed to hold it together until they walked through the guild hall doors. Inside, he saw the few members still lingering around. Mira smiled and waved at him at first, before her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed Zeref. "Artemis…why did you bring him here?"
Sitting on the bar in front of her, Mavis narrowed her eyes and rose to her feet. "I was wondering the same thing. Then again, it does not surprise me. Your absence from our plans was noted, and I have been expecting you to be arriving with him any moment now."
His blue eyes focused on her, and he gave her a weak smile. However, it looked far more disturbing than any of his vampire-like grins before. This time, his eyes held no light, giving the expression a dead look that matched the hollowness Artemis was beginning to feel. "I suspected you'd plan for me. This is why I've come with a surprise of my own." His voice was bland as well, almost monotone.
"Hey, is something wrong with the kid?" Cana spoke, glancing up from her beer with a frown. Next to her, her father seemed to narrow his eyes as well.
"He looks like he's seen a ghost. Knowing Artemis, it wouldn't surprise me if he managed to find one, though."
At another table, Holly was stationed with a few other LEP members. Ever since the threat of Zeref came to light, there was always a recon squad watching for his appearance. Now, she seemed to be busy speaking over her headset, while the others quickly vanished from sight as they activated their shields. "Not quite a ghost, but he was just standing before multiple corpses." Zeref placed a hand on Artemis' shoulder, an oddly proud look in his dark gaze. Somehow, Artemis wasn't certain if he should feel better or worse from that look. "Keep the end goal in mind, Fowl. Do you wish to see them again or not?"
Swallowing, Artemis closed his hands into fists. Butler, his mother, and his father, he would get them all back. Only one lived, but he had alienated his father beyond salvaging their relationship now. "The plan will succeed. It is normal for mistakes to occur in that stage of planning…due to the same overconfidence and arrogance I expressed. From this point onward, I will not make the same mistakes. Everything will go according to the plan."
"Fairy Tail will stop you. I understand why you'd wish to help him, Artemis. At one time, I did too…" Mavis bit her lip, glancing towards Zeref. "I still want to help him. Part of me always will, but this is not something we can let happen. If Zeref gains Fairy Heart, there's no telling what he'll do. Everything we love, our entire family…he will destroy it all. I don't want to watch someone I love destroy the rest of my family…I wouldn't be able to take it."
"Then I suggest you leave." Artemis spoke calmly, making Zeref narrow his eyes for a moment. Then, he glanced at the spot Artemis was staring at, smiling faintly.
"Mavis. It has been a long time."
His comment was ignored, while Mavis nodded towards the wizards. "I'm sorry, Artemis. We could have been good friends…no, we were good friends. I wanted to let you into this family, but I can't let you hurt them like this."
With that, Mira moved forward from behind the counter, her entire form changing. He saw her demon form, with her white hair spiking upward unnaturally as her clothes transformed into a revealing leotard around her body. "We will protect our guild, no matter who we face."
"You were kind to me…I did not wish to watch you die." Artemis felt the pounding return with those words, and he touched his head. "Zeref…locate Fairy Heart. I do believe my own mindset is far more capable of dealing with them than yours."
The black wizard smiled, nodding towards him. "Control is one thing, but uncontrolled allows for much greater space covered." He glanced towards Mavis one last time, inclining his head slightly. "I'm certain you recall the difference, Mavis. The boy surprised me as well, performing black magic for no other purpose than to gain this…" He trailed off, watching as Artemis' felt the pressure build within his body. It hurt, just like it had both times previously. Could he not just release it and stop resisting? However, he supposed that would defeat the purpose. It was unnatural for his magic to act out like this. In fact, he had rarely used magic at all in the past. The very sensation was foreign to his body, and it was instinctual for him to reject the unrecognized sensation. Each time he told himself to just let it release, his body clamped down harder to try and prevent it from exploding outwards.
Gasping slightly, Mavis tried to shout out a warning. However, her words were cut off as Artemis was drowned in black magic. It swarmed the entire guild hall, shouts echoing around him as it covered the moving forms of wizards all around him. Mavis and Zeref were the only two that remained unaffected by the magic. All of the other wizards slowly began to collapse as the black magic effectively drained away every ounce of energy in their bodies. Feeling the exhaustion weighing on himself, Artemis crouched on the ground, gasping for air. He wanted this magic to stop, to get rid of it as quickly as possible, but he knew that might not be an option. He desperately hoped this plan would work, because otherwise, he was in for an uncomfortable eternity as his future.
Artemis vaguely heard a door being opened and shut, and he became aware that Mavis and Zeref were no longer with him. With the magic surrounding him dying down, Artemis slowly sat up and gazed at the aftermath. Wizards were scattered around on the floor, in various poses as they collapsed in death. Cana seemed to be one of the few remaining in a chair, her arm dangling by the table. Her father was on the ground next to her, looking like he had attempted to reach her to protect her from the magic.
Near the request board, Nab had fallen and a few requests seemed to have come down with him. While Alzack had fallen out of his chair when he died, Bisca remained with Asuka now loosely clenched in her arms. Others still littered the room, and the sight made Artemis feel ill. He had caused this. There was no excuse for such actions. Perhaps he really was his father's child after all, capable of being in a dark guild without care for the end result of such a choice. Still, he tried to ignore it and rose to his feet. Glancing around, he saw the front door of the guild had been given odd runic markings around the edges. They looked like magic circles, interwoven and speaking towards time travel. Running his hand across the surface, Artemis realized Zeref had established this before rushing off to obtain Fairy Heart. He had little time left to stop it.
Scanning the spell, Artemis quickly found the rune he was looking for. Moving quickly, he pressed his palm to the surface of it, focusing on the intent of the rune. With a surge of energy, Artemis changed the single piece of the spell, hopefully giving it the effect he needed. However, he was already exhausted. He didn't know if he could finish this or not, not when he would need to stop Zeref from stepping through the gate once it was active.
Rising weakly to his feet, Artemis stood back and gazed at the door. Really, the runic markings did make it look rather decorative and grand. Fairy Tail should consider adding in some form of decoration of that nature around the rest of the guild hall as well. Lost in thought, he did not notice the approach of Zeref, though when he glanced at the black wizard, he was a bit startled by the sudden change in appearance. "Fairy Heart." He explained the change from all dark to light with two words. Instead of black hair, his hair was now pure blond. Light seemed to emanate from him in an odd golden aura, with his robes burned away in favor of white and gold colors only. Not a single trace of black remained as Zeref smiled and lifted his hand towards the door. "And now…Neo Eclipse is ready. Just one step through those doors, and everything will be changed. I will finally be able to find my peace."
The light from his body seemed to have pulsed outward, spreading into the door. As it did, the wooden doors seemed to illuminate with magic. Each rune on the surface glowed, taking in the same color as the door itself transformed. No longer did it look like the plain entrance to Fairy Tail. Instead, it grew in size, breaking the walls keeping it in place and transforming into a true gate. The color changed, looking dark and black with ornate golden runes on the surface. Everything about it seemed to scream dark magic, yet there was a lightness in the feeling of its aura that Artemis suspected was the result of Fairy Heart.
With the growing gate, the guild hall itself seemed to fall into ruins. Massive holes formed in the front wall and parts of the roof were torn through, the debris falling somewhere outside or on other parts of the guild hall. Some fell through the roof completely, crashing into the guild hall and creating more of a ruined effect. With the gate finished, Artemis had an oddly calm certainty that right now, he was standing in the same place Charle envisioned him being so long ago. This was her vision, seeing the ruined state of Fairy Tail with him and Zeref standing together before the Eclipse Gate. Oddly, that thought was what made him smile, the first smile he had managed since killing anyone with his curse.
"It was a pleasure working with you, Black Wizard." Artemis turned towards him, holding out his hand. Zeref frowned, narrowing his eyes at Artemis' palm for a moment. Then, he seemed to slowly take it, shaking Artemis' hand with a faint smile.
"I had suspected a betrayal from you at some point…but I suppose one never came. For that, I suppose I owe you an apology. You truly are a man of honesty and honor…a rare sight these days when people value little beyond their own needs."
Nodding, Artemis almost felt guilty about what he was about to do. He kept the smile on his face, and after a moment, he drew on his newly strengthened magic. This was the other reason he needed the curse. Without it, his magic was too weak to accomplish much of anything. Now, he saw magic circles forming behind Zeref, shaping the spell he had created that would hopefully overpower any defenses Zeref had given himself. The curse healed any physical injury, and anything life-threatening, but Artemis could only hope that it would not work and heal this as well.
"And I suppose I owe you one as well." Artemis pulled his hand back, focusing on his spell as he spoke. It was still out of Zeref's sight, but his final circle would have to get Zeref's notice. "For not seeing the truth behind your suffering. I suppose this curse truly is difficult to manage. I never should have attempted to mimic it, not even if it meant obtaining enough wealth to ensure my family never had to concern ourselves with such matters again."
"Oddly, I find myself thinking that if anyone could cope with such a curse, it would be you." Artemis bit his tongue to avoid countering the black wizard who was studying him with a frown. "Your way of thinking…the way you act and move, it shows that you hold little value for other lives already. Yet…you do not attempt to destroy them, despite your lack of concern for them. If you had maintained this curse for any duration of time, I suspect you yourself would have realized this as well."
Was that really the kind of person he was? Staring at his hands, Artemis suddenly found himself feeling disgusted. The ease at which he had controlled this curse thus far, it wasn't right. He should have been out of control, killing nearly everyone in Magnolia after his reckless decision. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to truly value the lives of anyone in town either. Fairy Tail had been the only place he knew anyone at, and their lives were important for his plans, yet not much beyond that. Grimacing, Artemis closed his eyes. Lives had to matter beyond that. If that was all they were, then why would his own existence be important either? Vowing to at least attempt to listen to some of Mother's advice this time around, Artemis simply nodded in response to the black wizard.
Taking a deep breath, Artemis met Zeref's eyes afterwords. "If you had lived my life, then perhaps you would understand why I cannot thank you for those words." Zeref did not reply, instead frowning slightly.
"Magic…it feels like—" He broke off, his eyes growing wide. However, Artemis was nearly finished with his spell already. He added in the final magic circle, one that was dark blue in color to match the others directly in front of him. With a wave of his hand, he sent it pulsing towards Zeref. The others converged on him as well, trapping him in a box-like structure of circles. "Fowl, what have you done? All of this time…and you were planning to—"
Turning away, Artemis began walking towards the gate. "The past will be altered, Zeref. That much I assure you. However…not in the way you desire. Sometimes, the dead are meant to stay dead. The resurrected are meant to be left alone…and the cursed are meant to be cured." With his palm pressed to the gateway, Artemis watched as his spell seemed to glow brighter, finishing its casting. "I will find you again…and this time, I will end your curse completely, without this war you seem to think is your only option." Zeref was already collapsed however, a result of the immensely powerful sleeping spell Artemis had devised. Not wanting to waste any more time, Artemis pressed open the gate, seeing white light flashing on the other side. Hoping the change he had made was enough, Artemis stepped through, blacking out as warmth seemed to consume his body until he no longer felt it at all.
And that moves us past this arc of the story and onto the next! Sorry for the dark chapters here, it was necessary to begin making Artemis doubt himself. Still, I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to what comes next. After this is a response to a guest review, which you are welcome to read if you'd like, but otherwise, feel free to leave me a review and tell me what you think!
Ares - Chaos God: Sorry for the confusion last chapter! I hope this one cleared up a few things for you when it comes to how Artemis got the curse in the first place. I didn't quite want it to be revealed before Artemis had it (though I was okay with hinting at it previously. I just didn't want to outright say he had the curse until it happened.)...plus, it would have been exceedingly difficult to present all of those deaths appropriately if I had written last chapter in Artemis' POV, since he would have been a bit too emotional to really let me keep the deaths as the focus of the scene. Either way, feel free to let me know if you have any other questions or concerns as the story goes on!