When the doors opened, Zeref could hardly believe what he saw. He simply stared in awe for quite some time, Makarov still behind him. There she was, looking exactly as she had the day she had died. Mavis. His love. The reason he had been so willing to do anything these last centuries. She was right here, and he could feel her even through the protection she was kept in. He looked at her reverently, his head bowed before her. There was a great deal that he wanted to say, so much that he had not had the chance to while she had been alive, before that fateful kiss. He could hardly believe he was really seeing her again now, that he was so damn close to being able to see her again, to have her again. The light. Mavis Vermillion had always been the light to him, and he was ready to have her back in his arms.

"You won't be able to do anything to change her condition," Makarov told him once more. "Even if you can free her, she will not be able to break out of the coma. She --"

"I will be more than able to," Zeref replied, lowering his head again. "I owe this to her. It was my own negligence that put her in this state, it was my own hubris in telling her how I suspected she, like myself, to be cursed. Do you not understand that?"

"I do," Makarov shortly replied. "But that does not warrant what you are to do."

"I can feel her," Zeref did not turn around but did finally look up and reach out to touch the lacrima crystal in which she was. "It's as if she is right beside me, yet I can neither see nor hear her."

"He has still got such kind eyes," Mavis whispered to Makarov, her own welling with tears from where she was in between them in her thought projection. "I know of what he has done, of course...I did demand of Laxus that he tell me the truth of the Empire but…."

Makarov let out a light sigh when she trailed off and watched her approach Zeref, who turned slightly upon feeling her presence nearing him. Then, much to his shock, he could feel a hand wrap around his own though nothing was there. Tears began to lightly form in his eyes, and he made no attempt to hide them. He could not see her, but he knew he was once more holding the hand of his love. An overwhelming wave of emotion rose in him, and he bent down, using his magic to sense her form. He eventually wrapped his arms around what he was so sure to be her, closing his eyes and allowing the silent tears to fall down his cheeks upon feeling her hands on his back and her body against his. He could not believe it. It had truly been so long. This sensation, as surreal as it happened to be, was one that he had craved so desperately.

"I am so sorry about what harm I caused you," Zeref whispered. "Allow me to reunite with you now. Let me free you."

"No," Makarov firmly cut in. "It will do no good, Zeref. Consider, too, what could happen if Irene ever were to get her hands on --"

"Do you doubt your grandson and those of your own guild so much?" Zeref shook his head. "Irene's mission is suicidal, and she has yet to understand that. She does not fear death, of that I know quite well, but I do also know that she believes she will prevail despite that being woefully ignorant. No, she will die tonight."

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "Then why," He said shortly. "Have you spent so much time working alongside her and bringing down such a grievous assault against this Kingdom of Fiore and the continent of Ishgar as a whole?'

"Because sometimes you have to rely upon the worst of means to achieve the perfect end," Zeref said, holding Mavis' form tighter and squeezing his eyes harder shut. "I do not deny my lack of faith in humanity, but I myself was human...once. I understand. The decision I made was one that was quintessentially human. Do you not --"

"Let me go, Zeref," Mavis whispered, pushing her magic to the breaking point to project her thoughts into his mind. "And stop this futility. Too many people have been hurt because of you and what you have decided to align with as it is."

Absolutely stunned, Zeref let go of her form. Then, much to the shock of Makarov, he stood up and disappeared. It would be many years later until, at the very end of his life, Makarov learnt where the infamous wizard had gone.

The ocean side was where he left himself, never to be heard from again.


Seconds after her words, Irene found herself casting summons in every which way, nearly everyone in the room who was still capable of fighting attacking her. Much to her surprise, however, Caity pulled Laxus away, whispering something furiously to him, something that, whatever it was, sparked recognition in his eyes. After a moment of hesitation, he delicately set Hisui down in her hands, and the bespectacled mage immediately dove for cover, holding her best friend securely and moving back to protect her goddaughter, who was starting to regain consciousness. Bickslow and Arcadios had both fallen back once more to protect the former king, who was no fighter, and the incapacitated Elfman and Evergreen. Everyone else was well within the fray. It was nothing short of intense, and it certainly left a feeling of dread for them with everything that felt so damn futile against the onslaught of summons.

Mirajane, her demonic form very much dominating every aspect of her being, was in such a frenzied state that it was nearly impossible for her to control. She looked almost as unhinged as Irene herself, and Freed, unused to seeing his wife in such a state, was almost frightened by it. Nonetheless, he focused himself on striking down the summons. He knew better than any of them that they would never be able to lay a hand on Irene herself until they were able to get past her magic. The air in the room had certainly changed, absolutely abuzz with a sense of uncertainty. Still, with every slash he took at a summon, Freed felt even more compelled, even more certain of what they had to do. Silently, he was relieved he and Mira had let their son spend the week in Magnolia. The very last thing he wanted was for their son to have to see this. His cousins, certainly, were not so lucky.

Near him, and for the first time in years, Jellal and Siegrain were fighting side by side, the two brothers relying on each other's strength. Even though she was in a great deal of pain and struggling herself to keep fighting, Erza briefly shared a smile with her husband and brother in law. Of course, this moment could not last. The almost wispy, trashing summons around them were becoming more and more difficult to dispel, and there was something about the way they moved that seemed to be so unpredictable that it was hard to know where exactly to focus. Nonetheless, Erza did finally manage to break past her mother's summons just long enough to break Irene's concentration and grab her, throwing her halfway across the ballroom and into the wall. Then, they all reoriented, just as the woman herself dragged herself back to her feet.

Surprisingly, she seemed perfectly unfazed by this, though blood was beginning to mar the corners of her mouth and stain her lips. Even as the others ran back at her, well prepared to continue to fight whatever she was to throw at them, Erza stopped and stared. She was stunned. Ever so briefly, she could not believe this was her mother. Irene was completely detached from sanity, and completely focused on everyone as they charged towards her. What she did not see, while amusing herself in draining each and every one of them, was the lightning sparking around Laxus, and the intense focus he had taken on. She did not hear the words Fallon heard from her godmother, either, when she finally was conscious enough to be able to move again. Fairy Law. Of course, most of the others were unaware of this as well, with only Siegrain, Freed, and Mirajane having picked up upon it.

"Are you so afraid of me, Erza?" Irene taunted, grabbing Siegrain by the wrist and using her magic to slam the Wizard Saint painfully into the ground and eliciting an angered cry from his wife and brother. "I thought you weren't afraid of anything!"

Erza felt frozen, hearing everything as if she were underwater. She wanted to say something, she wanted to scream and run back into the fray but, for the first time in decades, she felt she could not move. The only other time she could recall feeling quite like this was when she had first met Siegrain, when she had mistook him for his brother and, finally, tried to attack him in front of the whole of the Magic Council. How long had that been? Nearly thirty years, now, was it not? Jellal looked back to her the second his brother was back on his feet, moving back to attempt to restrain Irene in tandem with Freed, Mira, and Lisanna. There was something in the way he looked at her that unfroze her and, slowly, Erza requipped into her most minimal armor, drew her sword and stepped towards her mother, her now bare feet lightly pressing against the floor with every step she took.

"To be afraid of nothing would make me a fool," Erza said quietly, her eyes narrow. "And I am not going to lie and say I'm not afraid of you. You're no mother….and you never have been. Play whatever cards you want to try and manipulate me, but I have no qualms about killing you to put an end to this. If I really am the only thing you know that you have ever truly seen yourself in, then I should have been enough from the start. I don't know who you are, and I never have, no matter what fucking fantasy you have in your mind about yourself and everything you've ever done!"

Stunned, Irene lost her focus, her magic dropping in an instant. In these few seconds, Siegrain and Mirajane managed to get several deep slashes on her. Mirajane's claws dug deep down the woman's arm, much like she had done to Annetta, and Siegrain slashed her just past the surface on the side. Before Freed, Lisanna, and Jellal could get to her, however, she released quite a bit of magic energy in a single blast, the force of which knocked Lisanna unconscious, considerably weakened Freed, Jellal, and Siegrain, yet did not seem to touch Erza. Looking sadly at her mother, Erza approached her and dropped her sword. It fell to the floor with a reverberating clash, the metallic sound feeling just as distant to her as all noise had just minutes before. Erza already knew this was not something she would be proud of, but she was not going to stop either.

Her stomach was tying into knots knowing what she was thinking of doing, what Jellal had silently suggested she do when he entered her thoughts. It'll be easier for everyone if you can turn the tables on her….make her trust you, and then stab her quickly and cleanly. Then it'll all be over. Erza hated the thought. She hated the sense of betrayal, though she did not feel much sympathy towards her mother and was willing to kill her. To manipulate her felt much more wrong. Still, with everyone else behind her, she pushed them back as she got close to her mother. Irene stared at her, and then found herself shocked once more when Erza tightly embraced her. She began to embrace her back but, feeling something moving behind her, she suddenly whipped a hand around and grasped the knife her daughter had been just about to stab her clean through with.

"To think that you'd try such a dirty trick on me," Irene wrenched out of her daughter's grasp and kicked her to the ground, holding her down with her foot before bending down and holding the knife to Erza's throat. All the while, she blasted everyone back as they tried to stop her, pure, violent adrenaline coursing through her veins. "You are no better than me, Erza, and you never have been! You will --"

She began to attempt to slit her daughter's throat but, suddenly, she whipped around upon hearing muffled words from Laxus, who then unleashed a powerful light that shot clean through the ballroom. Irene felt herself lose grip on the knife and be flung back, skidding against the floor and collapsing to her knees, suddenly feeling painfully drained, as if much of her magic energy were being wrenched from her body. When, after a minute, the light finally dissipated, she saw that no one else in the ballroom seemed to be affected and, to her horor, Laxus was in front of her, scowling, his arms crossed and his magic still sparking around him. Angrily, Irene quickly stood up and summoned one of her staffs towards her, but she felt weak, and she was unable to cast her summons when she tried. Laxus did nothing, though she could see the contempt he held towards her in his orange eyes.

"How…." Irene breathed, then whipping her head towards him, utterly incensed. "How? Where the hell did my magic -- how are absolutely none of them --"

"Fairy Law," Laxus bitterly replied. "Only does harm to those the caster truly sees as their foe. I have absolutely no desire to kill you, Irene. Neither Hisui nor I have ever wanted to kill you, but this is the last opportunity I will give you to willingly revoke what you have done in cursing my wife, in cursing our children, and in cursing Evergreen."

Irene managed a cocky laugh, even though she, again, coughed up a bit of blood.

"I would much rather see you try and kill me," She said, tossing her head back and manipulating the ballroom long enough with what remained of her magic to grab Annetta, who had run to try and grab her mother's crossbow, and held her last knife flush against the youngest princess' throat. "Though, if you come much closer to me, she dies."

Terrible fear flashed across Laxus' face but then, much to his surprise, Erza grabbed her mother's arm and dragged it away from Annetta's throat, releasing the princess and pushing her back before slamming her mother against the wall and holding her there.

"You've killed enough innocent people," Erza hissed. "Don't force me to kill you. Enough blood has been shed by you over the years anyways."

Irene smirked. "Erza," She hissed. "I still have quite a bit of fight left in me."

And with that she finally mustered the strength to blast her daughter back, flames rising from the palms of her hands.