Oh hai thar. It's me. That guy who writes mediocre stuff. Some of you decided to spare my story some thoughts, so this is where I responded to them.

Arclight001: WHAT?! Me?! Foreshadow?! That would make me a somewhat competent writer then, and as we all know, I am far from such a status. So clearly dear reader, you must have me mistaken with someone else.

Yifto: I don't know what to tell ya man, maybe undo and redo how you follow this story? I would say take it up with the administrators, but considering this website is about 14 years out-of-date, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Okay. Now that that's done, I'mma go in my hidey hole where I do my writing and lurking like the gremlin I am. Enjoy the chapter.

"Damn! I thought I had him this time!" Macao groaned as he lost yet another game of poker.

"You just suck at this game old man." Gray snickered from the side.

"You try playing against him!" He pointed to Matt.

"Huh?" The teen looked confused as he put a lollipop in his mouth.

"See?! He doesn't even acknowledge that was win 684 against me!"

"No I do, I just wanted to see if you remembered. Good job on that by the way." Matt devilishly smirked.

Macao looked at him stunned for a moment before slumping in his chair and admitting defeat.

"I mean he's literally nicknamed King of Games Macao, did you think you'd beat him in one?" Cana sighed at the man.

"She's got a point Macao." Wakaba barely held back a laugh.

"Ah shut up!" He yelled picking his head up.

The table shared a chuckle at his expense.

The new year has started out pretty well for Fairy Tail. Fights only every other day so far. Natsu was getting excited as Master was almost ready to let him go on his own jobs after getting a better grasp of his magic. Erza was already at B-Class jobs after not even two years. Matt expected she'd hit S-Class faster than anyone else whose joined the guild. The redhead already expressed a desire for Matt to join her on her first A-Class job.

Overall, everything was going pretty well. Though a trio of new footsteps was certainly something he didn't expect. His eyes followed the sounds to three young kids.

'Siblings?' He looked at the trio and noticed the similar hair and eye colors.

They approached Makarov who was enjoying a drink atop the bar. Matt couldn't hear their story from here, but it didn't sound pleasant based on their expressions.

The relief on the younger siblings faces spoke of something good, but the older sibling just looked plain depressed. Matt stood up and approached them when Master waved him down.

"What's up Master?"

"How good are you at explaining Magic Power and it's correlation to transformation?"

"That's... oddly specific. But I'm pretty solid at it. Why?" He raised a brow.

"I have to go get a few things ready, would you mind showing this young lady how to dispel something?"

Matt turned his gaze to the girl wearing the black cloak.

"Sure. You wanna make this private or do you wanna do it here?" He knew people only wore clarks for 3 reasons. They were hiding from someone. They were hiding something from everyone. Or they were trying to look cool and failed at wearing it for casual wear.

"...Private." She muttered.

"Follow me then." He nodded and guided the girl out of the guild. Her siblings had tagged along too, not like it really mattered to Matt. Eventually they reached the usual spot for training.

"Take a seat." He gestured to the stump.

The girl sat as her siblings stood next to Matt.

"So, let me see what the problem is."

She hesitated for a moment before resigning herself and lifting her right arm. Immediate recognition befell the boy's face as he gazed at it.

"Oh, Take Over. Can't say I've seen a Demon variation before." He looked at the arm intrigued for a moment before shrugging.

"You... aren't scared?" She looked stupefied at how casual the boy before her was.

"Why would I be? Demons look cool. Besides it's just Magic. It a part of all of us, nothing ugly about it unless it's used for ugly reasons." He reasoned to the girl who took in his words. "Now then, I'm gonna be explaining some basic Magic to you okay? So pay close attention."

She nodded.

"Inside all of us is a container. This container takes in this stuff in the air called Ethernano. It then turns this Ethernano into Magic Power. Mages use this to cast spells and such. You with me so far?"

Her nod prompted him to continue.

"What you've performed is called Take Over. What you're essentially doing is overriding the image of yourself with that of something else. This is done via 2 methods: having a mental image of the thing in question, or absorbing its soul and having its form within you. From here you take that image and flood your body with magic energy to take its shape. Fortunately for you, it looks like you've only done a partial transformation, so this will be much easier on you to dispel."

The girl inwardly rejoiced at that information.

"Now, close your eyes and focus. Do you feel the Magic Power within you? Flowing around your body like blood?"

She hesitated for a moment before confidently nodding.

"Good, that'll make this faster. Now, imagine what your arm originally looked like. Every minute detail. How the nails looked, the folds of your skin on your hand, how each finger bent, how it all felt. Imagine it like nothing had changed from before. Do you have the mental image?"

She calmly nodded, easily being able to recall such a thing after over a month of yearning for the limb to return to normal.

"Now will that arm to return to its original form. Release the binded magic power your arm is using and override it with that image."

Her face focused as she tried her hardest to do so.

"You can do it Mira!" The little girl shouted.

"We believe in you Big Sis!" Her little brother encouraged her.

After a moment, the arm glowed and a dark purple aura was released from it. She opened her eyes to see her arm back to normal, her face a variety of emotions at the sight.

"You did it!" The girl's little sister ran over and hugged her tightly, some tears falling freely.

"B-Big Sis is finally free." The younger brother cried tears of joy.

"I knew you could do it, you got a lot of talent if you could do that from just a crummy explanation alone." Matt smiled at the girl who was still dumbfounded.

"Thank you so much Mister!" The little girl bowed deeply at him.

"Thank you for freeing our Big Sister from that burden!" Her little brother followed suit.

"C'mon guys it's nothing spectacular, all I did was show her the ropes. She deserves the credit for actually doing it." He toned down his role. Their stomachs then grumbled, causing Matt to laugh. "Come on, I'll give you three a good dinner." He motioned for the trio to follow him.

"Let's go Mira!" The little sister of the trio motioned for the eldest sibling to follow.

After a moment, she followed the teen with her siblings, her lips twisted up into a small smile.


"It's so good!" The little brother cooed as he took a bite of the meal.

"Thank you." Matt smiled as the trio dug into his food. "By the way I don't think I ever got any names from you three. So what are they?"

"Oh! I'm Lisanna!" She quickly said after gulping down her latest bite.

"I'm Elfman!" The polite boy spoke.

"Mirajane." The eldest sibling spoke timidly. Though her rapid eating of the food in front of her contrasted that attitude.

"I see, so I take it you three are siblings?" He placed an elbow on the bar counter as he glanced at a recent newspaper.

"Yup! Our last names are all Strauss!" Lisanna happily spoke.

"That's nice, you three have a very close bond. It's wonderful to see family stick together like that." While he spoke kindly, Matt would be remiss to say he wasn't ever-so-slightly jealous.

"Are you okay Mister?" Elfman spoke slightly concerned.

"Oh I'm fine. Long day is all. I'm Matthew by the way, though everyone just calls me Matt." He smiled at the trio.

"You're that King guy!" Lisanna shouted in recognition of Matt.

"You're right!" Elfman seemed to realize it too.

"Heh. I see my reputation proceeds me." Matt rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"We watched you on that big screen last year! I remember Mira talking about how cool you-" Mirajane loudly coughed to shut her sister up.

Matt handed her a glass of water, which she took with a quiet "thank you".

"So, are you three gonna join the guild?" He questioned a bit absentmindedly.

"Mm-hm!" Lisanna nodded with her mouth full.

"Speaking of which here you go." Master Makarov handed them pieces of paper and pens. The old man already having felt the latent, but weak magic of Lisanna and Elfman made the process far easier and less messy.

"That's new. Council update?" Matt looked surprised at the sudden change.

"To a degree. They've started to like the Mage in question also have their signature on the paper just in case. None of you need to update or anything, it's just a suggestion going forward."

Matt nodded as the three signed their names on the neccessary line.

"Now then, Matt, the Stamp." Matt reached under the counter and grabbed said Stamp to hand to Makarov. In the meantime, a headline about recently captured Magic Pirates caught Matt's eye.

"Now where would you like your Guild Stamps and what color do you want?" The kind old man asked with a smile.

"Ooo. I want it right here in red!" Lisanna rolled up her left sleeve to expose her upper arm.

"Coming right up!" Master pressed the Stamp to it and the mark was there without issue.

"Wow! I didn't feel a thing!" She looked at her Guild Stamp in awe.

'Huh, some blue-haired independent mage is making waves out east. Wonder what his deal is? Targeting dark guilds solo ain't exactly a kids game… unless you get roped into it.' Matt continued to gloss over the written news.

"Um… I want it black and right here." Elfman lowered the collar of his shirt to show the left side of his neck.

"Easy peasy!" Makarov fulfilled the request.

'Well that's interesting, cross-continent communication Lacrima got set up in Caelum, Iceberg and Enca. Supposed to act as a fast-response system to threats and various other things.' The teen guessed since cell towers weren't a thing, this would be a close second.

"And for you young lady?" Makarov approached Mirajane.

She just wordlessly showed the outside of her left thigh and said "White."

Master complied and the process was done.

"I'd like to welcome you three to Fairy Tail!" Master warmly greeted them.

Matt sighed, "Guess we might as well do this now." He placed the finished paper down and cupped his hands around his mouth. "NEW MEMBERS!!!" He roared over the guild.

Immediately a party broke out as everyone started singing and dancing. Macao was certainly loving the recent member Enno, who was also a dancer. Everyone could see his gaga eyes when he looked at her. After a moment, a massive fight broke out as per usual.

"Is-is it always likes that?" Lisanna looked on in nervous awe.

"Nah. We've set a record for the least number of fights this year at 14 so far. Actually 15 now. Still better than the 24 by this time last year." Matt casually said before a thrown bottle smashed into his head. He draped his head back as blood and glass fell to the floor.

"Excuse me a moment." He calmly left from behind the bar. "WAN YOU SON OF A BITCH I KNOW THAT WAS YOU!! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!!" He grabbed a nearby table and smashed it over the head of a guild member.

The Strauss siblings were certainly taken aback by the way Fairy Tail acted.

"Oh don't worry about it. It was weird at first, but you realize they aren't fighting because they hate each other." Kagura approached the three. "I'm Kagura by the way, nice to meet you."

"Hi! I'm Lisanna!" The girl left her seat and shook hands with Kagura. "Your headband and ribbon combo is so cute!" She gushed at the girl who was one year younger.

"Thanks! My Big Brother showed me how to style it." The purple-haired girl smiled back at the new member.

"You have a brother here too? Who is it?" Lisanna tried to look around for anyone else with a matching hair color.

"You just spent all that time with him." She chuckled a bit at the girl's attempts at a search.

"Eh?! You two are related?"

"Well, not by blood. But he's Big Brother to me." She warmly smiled as Matt smashed a chair over someone's head.

"Well I think that's sweet." Lisanna smiled at the girl. "Oh! This is Elfman, my older brother. And that's Mirajane, our big sister!"

"Hi." Elfman waved.

"..." Mirajane remained quiet.

"Don't worry about her, she's just shy." Lisanna whispered to Kagura.

"Don't worry about it, my Big Brother and Sister are like that too sometimes."

"You have a sister too?" Lisanna tilted her head.

"Mm-hm. She's the green haired girl over there." Kagura pointed at Brandish who was reading a fashion magazine off to the side, that is until one saw that the magazine covered another magazine about sweets she would try and make Matt cook for her. She wore a knee-length skirt that was gold with dark brown trimming and a matching blouse, a gold jacket with purple accents and dark brown sandals.

"She's a bit on the shy side side." Kagura smiled at the girl. The second she had started calling Matt "Big Brother", she was her sister by default, no if's, and's, or's, or but's.

"How many people has he taken as siblings?"

"Well... Brandish and I are the only people that actually call him Big Brother. But basically everyone around our age here view him as an older sibling." She guessed based on interactions. Though she knew of one person in particular that felt a bit... different towards the matter.

"Wow. It's like you're all one big family." Lissana looked I'm awe.

"That's what Fairy Tail is after all, one big family. Often dysfunctional, but family regardless." She smiled at the girl.

"CUT IT OUT YOU DAMN BRATS!!!" Makarov roared in his giant form and flattened everyone with a palm strike.

"Extremely dysfunctional." Kagura sighed.


A month had passed since then. Mirajane seemed like she would quit the Guild, but after Master taught Lisanna and Elfman the basics of Take Over and stated their desire to protect her too, she stayed. However no one could've been prepared for what came next…

"What's the matter piggie? You gonna roll over me?!" Mira was currently in an argument with-

"What'd you say you pompous brat?!" Erza. Of all people. Erza.

"Erza is already bad enough as-is, but who is gonna stop her and Mira?!" Gray cowered behind a table.

"You do it!" Natsu yelled at the Ice-Make Mage.

"Like hell!"

Matt sighed as he walked over to the two. Both girls glaring up at him.

""WHAT THE HELL DO YOU-"" He smashed their heads into each other. Causing the duo to lean into each other as they slowly fell to the floor.

"No fighting in the Guild." He coldly stated to the two before returning to his seat.

The entire guild sat dumbfounded at what they just witnessed.

"Well. If anyone could do it…" Macao gulped.

"Yu~p." Wakaba nervously lit a smoke, his hand still shaking in fear.

With that done Matt could get back to the drawing board. See the runic enhancements to his magic was going great, even better than he expected. However, it was that other new magic he got that was causing some bad issues.

See magic power is a very weird thing, by itself, it's shapeless and merely exists within a wizard. When a wizard learns their first magic, their magic power then changes shape and properties to be channeled into spells easier. For example a fire wizard would have their magic power became more erratic and unstable. This created two problems however: the first being that magic power does have a sort of bad muscle memory.

The reason why a lot of mages don't bother learning more than one magic, is due to the difficulty of making the magic power already stubbornly preset one way to assume an entirely different identity. This was a moot point to people who first learn very versatile magic, people that only use holder magic or simple freaks of nature.

Matt fell into all 3, which is why learning magic isn't that difficult for him... on a theoretical level. See Replication magic makes his magic power remain shapeless and loose, not too dissimilar to water per se. However water mages ironically don't have this property due to water being still and loose or strong and fast enough to rip flesh from bone, resulting in a mess of a magic power that's hard to describe. Getting back to the point, the second problem was more of what was causing issues for Matt: how that first magic influences physical growth.

As previously discovered, the body of a Wizard grows in two ways: naturally and magically. Matt still has a growing body, but his magical growth allows him to have huge durability and physical capabilities… except not when he's having magical recoil effects. That first magic and muscle memory also effects how the body adapts to stray elements and recoils of their own magic.

Xanxo for instance was incredibly resistant to magical flames, but his body could not handle cold steel. In contrast, Serena had an extremely durable body that could handle physical attacks and subsequent resistances while having inherent weakness from his magic for balance.

For someone like Matt, who at best had mean grip strength and joint resilience, his magic has no real recoil. This means his body is not gonna like the new brand of magic he's trying to learn. Hell, he could only even practice it once a day, needing Kuriboh nearby to heal the numerous broken hands, wrists, legs and feet. Normally the common sense thing to do would be to stop and call it pointless, unfortunately this magic hit hard. Shattering apart boulders, stalagmites and stalactites with mere lazy punches and kicks was absurd on top of the added perk that magic gave. However it was high-risk high-reward, and Matt just hoped he wouldn't have to start gambling with it.

"MATT! LAXUS! BIG TROUBLE!!" Makarov shouted from the entrance doors, breaking Matt from his internal thoughts.

"What's up Master?" Matt asked curiously as he approached the Master, Laxus next to him.

"SHE'S COMING!!" His tone seeped with imminent dread as the duo understood what was happening.

Immediately their faces dropped into looks of sheer horror.

"OH GOD IT HAS BEEN NINE YEARS!" The Lightning Mage uncharacteristically panicked.

"EVERYONE! STATE OF EMERGENCY!! FULL CLEAN UP NOW!" Matt with incredible speed that made even Jet double-take, began to clean up the guild hall.

"LAXUS, MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS READY AT THE HOUSE!" Makarov ordered the blonde.

Without even arguing, the teen sprinted to the home of Makarov.

"What's going on?!" Gray looked around dumbfounded.

"I don't know?!" For all the years Cana had been with the guild, this was new.

"Is it a fight?!" Natsu excitedly asked.

"Worse!" Makarov shook in fear.

"Worse than a fight? A war?" Levy panicked.

"WORSE!!"

"How can anything be worse than a war?!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"My wife is coming to visit." Every word was uttered with indescribable fear.

The faces of all present guild members dropped into looks of "Huh?"

"Uh, Master. If I may ask, what's so bad about your wife?" Erza asked, having regained her senses.

"You kids don't get it. The only people here that do are Gildarts, Laxus, Matt and myself. She only visits very nine years. But no member is the same afterwards..." Complete and utter despair consumed his expression.

Suddenly, they heard approaching steps.

"SHE'S HERE!!" He cowered behind the door.

A silhouette of a short woman came into view. The guild nervously swallowed as Matt finally finished a perfect clean of the Guild Hall and was currently trying not to pass out from exhaustion behind the bar. Kagura began fanning him with a towel.

Once she came into light, the person was a small old lady in white pants, an aquamarine shirt a jacket that looked knitted and some cozy-looking white shoes. The entire guild immediately face faulted.

"H-hello honey." Makarov nervously smiled at the woman.

"Big Brother?" Kagura asked as she fanned Matt.

"Yes Kagura." His voice was muffled by his arms as he lay on the ground.

"What's so scary about Mrs. Dreyar?"

"Okay, you know how Grandma's are?"

She nodded.

"Okay, now take that base idea of a Grandma."

She nodded.

"GAH!" Natsu fell as his cheek was pinched in a grip that would shame a vice.

"And multiply it by a million."

Kagura's eyes resembled saucers as she finally realized why those who knew were so scared. Their cheeks, tastebuds and views towards knitting would never be the same again.

Their first mistake was allowing her to cook. Makarov having to physically restrain Matt from correcting her odd methods with what were essentially his kitchen tools by now.

Natsu's face was as red as a tomato as he ate the spaghetti served to him.

'How the hell is something too hot for a guy that eats fire?!' Was the general thought at that sight.

Gray's face was the exact opposite, he had a brain freeze happening on top of his body feeling like it was in an ice bath. All thanks to the pudding in front of him.

'How is the guy that strips during winter freezing cold?!' Was everyone's other general thought.

"Oh I'm so happy. Last time the youngest people were Matty-Cakes and Laxy-Poo, but now there are so many of you!" She exclaimed with joy.

"You took the brunt of it?!" Mira exclaimed in genuine shock.

"I've seen things no man should ever see." He stared off in a general direction, his eyes not focused on anything.

For once, Mira didn't feel like teasing him over that nickname. Hell, no one used those morale-destroying nicknames against them out of pity, and genuine fear for their wellbeing… primarily the latter.

Their next mistake was allowing her to pinch their cheeks.

Laxus and Matt had already survived the ordeal once before, so doing it again, while difficult, was far more manageable this time.

For the rest of the poor souls however…

"I canf feel my cheef." Elfman rubbed his right cheek that was as red as Natsu's face earlier and comically swollen.

"You'll get used to it." Matt sighed as his right cheek, while red, was noticeably less swollen. After this, anyone that tried to punch his face would probably break their hand.

"Itsh certainly dreahdful." Erza flinched as she rubbed her left cheek.

"You should've seen Gildarts when he…" It finally dawned upon Matt that a certain tail chaser wasn't here. "Oi, Laxus." He got the older teen's attention.

"Yeah?" The blonde was rubbing his own cheek.

"When he gets back, let's make sure Gildarts gets the full experience he so unfortunately missed out on."

"I think you and I are on the same page for once."

The sheer menacing aura from their two smiles of utter mailce chilled the guild to its core. Cana made a mental note that her father might die the next time he shows up.

"Ahhh! Why won't it stop itching?!" Mira tried her damndest to scratch her back that itched beyond all belief thanks to the knitted sweater she had on.

"Oh silly, that's just the fabric doing it's job." She smiled warmly at the young girl.

"..." Brandish nonchalantly seemed unaffected by the knitted coat she had on.

"..." Matt intensely stared at her, trying to find why she was unaffected.

"..." Brandish attempted to ignore his prying eyes.

"…….." His gaze deepened.

"….." She started to nervously sweat.

"…………….." Just when it looked like eyes were becoming a thin line from his scowl, she lightly lifted the sleeve to reveal she'd made it larger so it wouldn't touch her as much.

"Clever girl." Matt muttered before a knitted beanie was placed atop his head. Causing his scalp to itch for days.

Matt sighed as he put the last chair up on the table. After the event that was today, he was exhausted. He walked over to the bar and sat down to take a breath.

"Ah! Matty-Cakes! There you are."

He stiffened as the old lady approached him.

"Mrs. Dreyar, good to-"

"Hopopop." She stopped him, "Young man what did you agree to call me all those years ago?"

Matt sighed. "Grandma Drayer, good to see you again! What are you doing in the Guild so late?" Jokes and fear aside, he was genuinely curious as to her presence right now.

The old lady impressively hopped from the ground and into the chair next to him.

"Well since this is the last we'll probably see each other for the next nine years, I just wanted to have a talk with you."

'Odd.' Matt thought. "What about?"

"The good job you've been doing."

"Huh?" Matt raised a brow. The old lady looked up fondly.

"I remember when I first met you. You'd just joined the guild a week ago. You looked so lost and fragile, like a simple breeze would knock you over and break you. My heart ached for you, I didn't know what to do." Her expression turned downcast. "But then I saw that look in your eye. I realized you were a much smarter boy than you looked. From then on, I knew I wouldn't have to worry about you very much, since you'd figure things out on your own. It seems as though I was spot-on with that too." She warmly smiled at him.

"Grandma…" Matt muttered.

"I looked at all the kids in the guild today. All of them such sweet children with big hearts and even bigger hopes. I looked into their eyes and saw the pain they've had to overcome. But then I saw how pure their smiles were and I wondered, "Who could've helped these children?" Makarov? The old man knows how to give wonderful talks of the heart, but I think even he struggles to connect with the younger generation, even if he refuses to acknowledge his age. I immediately skipped Gildarts."

That got the two to share a chuckle.

"But then I saw it. How they all flocked to you and looked at you with those eyes. I felt so happy that not only had you moved past your own demons, but you'd helped these children move past theirs as well."

"I don't think I really did that much. All I did was give them some of the same talks Master would've said." He simplified her compliments.

"True, but coming from you? Someone not much older than any of them? It means so much more to have a peer to connect to and learn from. A guiding hand is always appreciated, but a hand that guides and nurtures? Those are what truly lead the way to joy." She softly smiled. "Makarov and I don't have all that much time left you know. One day we'll both be gone. And when that time comes, these children will need someone they can fall back to and lean on. Someone who can carry the burden of their tears and march forward. And I think that should be you." She admitted to the teen.

"Whoah whoah, I'm not aiming to be Master or anything. Besides I thought Laxus was next." Matt tried to dismiss the idea.

"Oh hush. I love my Laxy-Poo very much, but even I have to admit there are some things he needs to work though first. Neither Makarov or I know how long that will take." She met his gaze. "I'm not telling you to be ready right now. You still have your youth. You still have so much to learn despite how much you already know. But I know that you're destined to lead these children in their darkest hour to the light of a new day." She warmly smiled at the teen.

"So that's where you were." Makarov entered the room.

"Oh goodness me, is it already that late?" She chuckled. Before hopping down. "Goodbye my Matty-Cakes!" The two hugged after Matt took a knee. "I will see you next time!" She smiled as her and Makarov left to go home.

Matt stood up and sat alone at the bar yet again.

"But what if I betray that trust by running away? What then?" Matt's expression turned melancholic as the weight of staying or leaving grew by the day. When and if the time came, what would he ultimately choose? The spark of hope in his chest faded day-by-day. When it eventually disappears, would the light leave his eyes? Or would something else awaken? The thought of the answer being an inevitability instead of a possibility, terrified him to his very core.


About two weeks had passed since then. And it was a simple day in the Guild as always. Natsu and Gray were being scolded by Erza outside for eating her cake. Mira is the real perpetrator of course. Macao is stuck in wonderland about Enno. There was a bunny girl in the guild... wait what?

"Hello Miss how can I... help... you…?" Matt looked at the blonde who was currently looking at him like she'd both seen a ghost and seen her absolute favorite thing in the world.

"Ma'am my sincerest apologies, but no matter how much our Master wishes it so, we aren't that kind of establishment." He gently tried to tell her to go before others noticed.

"Please don't say that!" She screamed in shock at him.

"Oh? Bunny Girl eh?" Makarov approached from behind her at the entrance.

"Bunny Girl?" "We have a Bunny Girl?" "Who invited the Bunny?" The guild muttered before the girl was thrown into the party since one of the guild's unofficial mottos was "Why the hell not?" The one that caused endless headaches to Matt.

Despite her cries of protest at the start, the girl seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit once the nerves faded. She joined in the dancing and singing with a carefree attitude befitting a Fairy Tail Mage.

She sat next to him at the bar with a laugh and caught her breath.

"Wow, it's just as crazy as ever." She smiled widely.

"Yup. Things have barely changed since I first joined." Matt smiled as he looked upon the continuing party.

"You have been here a while haven't you?" She absentmindedly asked.

"Closing in on nine years now. I think I was one of the youngest in the history of the guild." Matt couldn't think of anyone under five that had joined.

"Wow." She seemed genuinely awed.

"Y'know, you look familiar." Matt looked at her closely.

"I-I don't know what you mean!" She clearly panicked at his prying eyes.

"Blonde hair. Those brown eyes. That particularly fair skin. Hmmm." Matt tried hard to recall where he'd seen this girl before. His gaze intensified on the girl, her nervously moving furthur and furthur away.

"Nope, getting nothing." He slumped and sighed as she fell out of the chair.

The girl looked like she was about to collapse as sweat beaded down her face.

"Do you need some water?" He raised a brow at her.

"N-No thank you. I'm fine." She sat back down and let out a breath. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." He shrugged.

"What was it like before all of this? When you first joined?"

Matt sighed as he recalled the memories. "Well, first off we were under half this size and the only kids were Laxus and myself. Gildarts was around more often, though my early interactions with him revolved around him using me to score and the exact opposite happening."

The girl chuckled at that.

"Cana was the first kid to join up after me. Girl was as shy as they come." He recalled her incredibly reserved demeanor.

"Really? Cana was shy?" The blonde seemed genuinely shocked.

"Of course, one little kid out in the big world by herself? Anyone would be shy and nervous." His words almost seemed like they were directed at himself, but the blonde didn't catch that.

"Now then, where was I? Right! Cana."

The two continued to talk well into the night until the girl practically ran out screaming about something he didn't get.

"She really does look familiar though." Matt's eyes widened at an old familiar feeling. 'Holy shit I was talking to a curvy hot-as-fuck girl in a bunny outfit. How the hell would I not pop one after all these years?!' He gazed to his crotch warmly like meeting an old friend again after so long. However he quickly stopped this as he realized this was happening in public. Thankfully the universe took mercy on him and no one noticed.

"Welp, time to clean up shop I guess." Matt stretched before going about his usual work.

"So Lucy, did anything interesting happen?" Mirajane asked the blonde.

"Nothing at all!" She tried to write off time travel as but a faint memory.

"What's going on?" A new voice spoke up from behind the duo.

Lucy looked over to see a man with a purple jacket that had golden accents, red over shirt with a black undershirt, white gloves, blue pants with a white belt and black shoes. His hair was blonde at the ends and black on top, it messily draped over his head to cover his ears. Striking green eyes looked at the pair of girls.

"Oh, hello Matt!" Mira smiled at the man. "I didn't know you'd already be back. Did something happen?"

The man nodded, "The competition ended early after half the people caught food poisoning. Apparently the Lacrima that kept food refrigerated was faulty and messed up the night before. So when the people already there woke up for breakfast… well, I'm sure you get the idea."

The girls grimaced at the mental image.

"Yeah, the smell wasn't for the faint of heart."

Lucy stared at the man before her. Having just seen himself as a teenager, there were distinct differences in the personality too from what she could read.

"Something wrong Lucy?" The man asked slightly concerned.

"Oh it's nothing!" She frantically waved her hands. "I'm just remembering something." Laughing it off, Lucy walked back to her usual table with Natsu and Happy already there.

"Hey Lucy! Happy came to me with this new game! The premise is we try to guess something about the other that's true."

Lucy shrugged, "Sounds fun, who goes first."

"How about you?" The cat responded.

"Okay. Hmmmm." Lucy recalled something Matt had told her and devilishly smirked. "You once wore panties on your head because you thought they were a Ninja Mask."

Natsu's jaw audibly hit the floor.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" He shouted in despair.

"Natsu you actually did that?!" Even Happy looked shocked by that revelation.

Natsu then sat in the corner of the hall for the rest of the day, thinking his life was over.


Two weeks after the Bunny Girl day, a certain incident occurred.

The day itself started out relatively normal, but an odd atmosphere was making itself rather present. It weighed down upon the guild rather heavily as while conversation and such did occur, it was all rather tame. Nothing loud, rambunctious or even slightly annoying was going on. The more experienced members of the guild remained on guard in the case of something happening.

The sounds of footsteps caused them to gaze up at the entrance to the guild where a familiar, but unwelcome sight greeted them: a frog person wearing familiar clothing had entered the guild.

"Matthew Atlas?" They asked as everyone that hadn't already done so, turned their attention to them.

"Yo!" He raised his hand to get their attention.

They handed him a letter wordlessly and left as quickly as they had just arrived.

"Alright then." Matt thought the behavior was odd but wrote it off, perhaps today was just a busy day.

He summoned a small blade to open the letter and proceeded to read it's contents. His eyes narrowing more and more as he read the short, but very important message.

Once he finished, he placed the letter back into the envelope and stood.

"What was it about?" Makarov asked, a pit forming in his stomach as he had a hunch already and prayed it wasn't what he believed it to be.

"It's a job from the council." Matt spoke oddly ominously. However what he said next would shock the entire guild.

"I'm to help exterminate a Dark Guild."

This is where I'd have that DUH DUH DUUUUH sound effect, but this is a written medium so uh... just imagine it I guess.

Also welcome back. So a myriad of things happened this chapter, most of it fluffy and parts of it kinda grim.

So we finally have a completed cast of the original story outside of side characters, but for all intents and purposes, it's done. Mira, Elfman and Lisanna are an interesting gaggle of characters. Before anyone asks, yeah I already kinda know what I want to do with Lisanna when she "dies", so don't concern yourselves with that. Mira is definitely gonna play a bit of a bigger/different role in this story. I'll expand upon that after this upcoming arc.

Grandma Dreyar! I'd already mentioned her back in chapter 3, but I wanted to at least have her physically pop up once in this story. I felt like if Makarov is an old man with a young heart, then his wife should have a kind of opposite personality where she's just a super grandma and overall just fun to write.

I did a bit an exposition dump on magic power since I wanted to A: hint towards some future development for Matt. B: just expand the idea of it a bit more, make the magic system a bit more unique at its base. Fairy Tail had an odd system that's explained, but not explained if you get what I mean.

We also saw a small hint of Memory Days. I figured since I could fit in that Lucy scene, why not do it? Naturally now, some of you are probably gonna be upset I

wrote that Matt survives to canon. My question for you is: why the fuck would you think otherwise? I made it pretty clear he would in these author notes.

Also, new arc already. I mean I did say that we'd be going at a pretty quick pace back when the Tournament arc started until the end of this upcoming arc. For those of you concerned I may speed up too much, the next arc is much slower and focuses more on characters instead of action. There's still fight scenes, but a majority of it is gonna be focused of character bonding.

Some good news: I've basically got the skeleton of pre-canon all planned out now. Some things could be subject to change and such, but for the most part all I just gotta do is write it. In terms of plans for canon, I have some ideas. One of which you'll see the start of unfold with this upcoming arc.

With all of that done, I got another omake for you all! So until next week, I bid you all adieu.

Omake: Lingering Scars (canon):

As the regular day in the guild progressed, one pink-haired boy was walking with intent. An intent he'd been itching to fulfill for a while now.

He walked past the large, open doors of the guild and looked around. Once his target was in-sight, a wide grin made its way onto his face and he rushed over.

"Matt! I want you to fight me!" He shouted with pure excitement.

The teen in question, currently on game 624 with Macao eyed the younger boy.

"Oi! Wait your turn Natsu! I know I can do it this ti-" Macao was cut off by the teen dropping the royal flush in his hand, winning the game resolutely. The bluenette's face fell onto the table, realizing Matt was just messing with him the entire time.

Matt stood and stretched, "Yeah sure."

"Yes!" Natsu jumped in joy and pumped his arm back.

"Ah man, I gotta see this slaughter." Grey smirked as he stood to follow the exiting duo.

As the pair made their way to the same spot in the forest Matt and Gildarts duked it out in, most of the other kids had decided to join in.

Natsu stood across from Matt, barely containing his excitement as he sported a massive smile.

"Alright Natsu, let's see what you got." Matt urged the boy forward while in a casual stance, a hand still in a pocket.

"You asked for it!" The boy ran forward in a straightforward charge and leapt forward.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" A fire encased fist flew towards the older boy who easily caught the wrist and threw Natsu to the side.

The boy rolled and adjusted his stance before once again breaking into a run. He placed both fists in front of his mouth to fire his breath attack, breathing deeply.

"Fire Dragon's-" He was cut off as Matt had kicked some dirt towards Natsu and the boy had unfortunately inhaled it.

"Gotta be faster than that Natsu." Matt critiqued him, not even having moved a step from his spot.

After a coughing fit, Natsu charged again. The pinkette leapt into the air and twisted his body.

"Fire Dragon's Talon!" The flaming foot was caught at the ankle by Matt.

"Not done yet!" Natsu shouted as his other foot became alight with flame and headed at Matt.

Unfortunately this too was fruitless as Matt also grabbed that ankle.

Natsu grit his teeth as he was held mid-air by the teen. The boy then dug his hands into the ground, getting a solid grip as he tried to twist his hips to break free.

In this effort, the intensity of the flames still on his feet increased, lightly burning the skin on Matt's wrists and giving Natsu the opportunity to break free.

"Whew~." Matt whistled an impressed tone as the fire Natsu had morphed into a swirl that took up the entirety of Matt's vision.

The teen's pupils dilated immensely as an all too familiar figure appeared before his eyes. Matt, too distracted by his body physically seizing, wasn't able to dodge the punch Natsu connected with his jaw, sending him skidding back a dew feet.

"HUH?!" Gray stood dumbfounded that Natsu actually landed a clean hit on Matt.

A similar reaction was on the faces of the other present members.

Matt's face was obscured by shadows momentarily before his head shot up.

"Ah! I forgot I had to go do something! Sorry Natsu we'll reschedule!" He took off in a direction away from the group.

"Oh thank goodness, he was just distracted." Gray breathed in relief as Natsu hit someone not even focused on the fight.

Cana smacked his arm for his attitude.

Natsu was currently too dizzy after that to even say anything as he lay on the ground, everything spinning around him.

Erza looked at where Matt was for a moment before heading off in the same direction.

The girl managed to follow his path based on the broken branches and such he left as he headed deeper into the forest.

"...op...ing." She recognized the faint voice and kept herself hidden behind a tree as she saw Matt leaning against a tree.

"Stop shaking damn you!" He shouted at his right arm that violently trembled. The teen growled in anger as he smashed the limb against the tree trunk.

"Stop it!"

THUNK

"STOP!"

THUNK

"STOP IT!!!"

THUNK

He senselessly beat the disobedient appendage until it bled harshly and shook from pain instead of fear. Erza couldn't even do anything as she looked on in a mix of shock and horror of knowing that the person she admired, the person who had helped her in her darkest hour, was just as fragile and fractured as she was.

Matt breathlessly leaned his back against the trunk, slowly sliding into a sitting position as he gazed at his arm. He sighed and rested his head back against the wood. Not noticing the redhead scurrying off as he bit his lip in frustration.

"Goddamnit all..."