CHAPTER SIX
ACEVEA
I've arrived at the guildhall of the Firecrest Guild. I am more than determined to take them out and finally be rid of them. Of course their guildhall isn't right in town like it used to be, it's on the outskirts but they had the audacity to build it exactly like they did when they were an official guild.
I walk up the front steps and throw open the doors. The yelling and talking and rough housing stops and all eyes turn to me. Many of them widen in shock, some don't. The current guild master, Temisa Druvars, is one of the people who isn't shocked to see me. She was expecting me.
"Long time no see Temisa." I greet her, holding her gaze. She gets up from where she was sitting and takes a few steps in my direction. I follow suit and we don't stop until there's only six feet between us.
"Come to get more lashings, Acevea?" She taunts and a malicious grin twists her face.
"I've come to bring an end to your guild!" I reply and the entire guild erupts into laughter.
"You and what army?!" Temisa asks while still laughing.
"This army!" The laughter stops and my eyes widen hearing Laxus' voice. Slowly, I turn around to see what appears to be my entire guild standing in the entrance. By all that is green on this sweet Earth!
"Did you really think that we'd let you do this alone after everything you told us?" Erza asks, smiling at me.
"Or that a letter would stop us?" Jellal adds, also smiling.
I can't fight the tears that spring into my eyes. Never in my life have I felt so loved. How they got here so fast is beyond me, I left Magnolia four hours ago. I turn back to face Temisa. She looks scared, she should be.
"We can do this the easy way, and you all turn yourselves in to the Magic Council, or we can do this the hard way and we beat you all to a pulp and drop you on the Magic Council's door step." I offer, with a cocky smirk on my face, my arms crossed across my chest.
My cockiness pisses off Temisa so much her face turns red. "I'll kill you before you get the chance!" She screams at me. I drop my cocky expression and I close the space between us and grab her collar.
"You tried that before, it didn't work, and I'm not a thirteen year old kid anymore, Temisa. And you've picked the hard way." I let her go and then step back and take my ice-make stance. "I've learned how to use my magic, Temisa!" Her eyes widen and she starts scrambling backwards. "Ice-make, floor!"
Temisa screams and turns to me in anger. "Fire, whip!" I dodge the whip and start walking towards her.
"Really Temisa? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…" I cock my head to side. "I don't think so."
"Don't you dare you stupid, bitch!" She screams while crying out. "Fire ring!" She casts it over herself and it lands on the ice at her feet, melting it. I stop and let her scramble to the back of the room. Around me my guild mates are fighting their own battles.
"Don't I dare what? What I'm going to do is make you pay for all the innocent lives you've taken and for coming after my guild. I don't care what you do to me, you can break me, hurt me, scar me, or kill me, but the second you come after my guild, I will end you and anyone who tries to defend you!"
"Fire, shield!" A shield of flames appears in front of her.
"Primordial wave." With a flick of my wrist I put out her shield. Her eyes widen. "I told you, I know how to use my magic now."
"Acevea, wait, please, how about we talk about this?!" She pleads but her words fall on deaf ears.
"Save it, you lost your chance to talk out after you came after Fairy Tail!" Her expression twists into anger.
"I know something about you that I know you don't." She states, dead serious. The exact same words that traitor screamed at me a week ago. I don't care though, I'll find it out for myself with the help of my guildmates and guild master.
"Primordial reflection." I snap and place a hand on her head. Her eyes cloud over and then she starts screaming. She's reliving everything she did to me, from my perspective. I turn to go join my guildmates.
"Acevea, behind you!" Gray shouts at me. I hit the floor. "Ice-make shield!" Gray is standing over me, an ice shield over top of us. "Are you alright?!" Gray asks me and I nod. I knocked the wind out of myself when I hit the floor.
"Temisa's out!" Someone shouts and the fighting stops almost immediately after.
"We surrender!" Echoes throughout the hall.
"You cowards!" I know that voice, it belongs to Zi Turli, Temisa's best friend. "We have one job! Kill Acevea!" He shouts.
"I don't think so." Laxus snaps. "Lightning dragon roar!"
Zi collapses to the floor, twitching with the lightning coursing through his body. I turn the rest of my guild members, even Master is here.
"Tell me Acevea, why did you think you had to do this alone?" Master asks, calmly. I look up from his face and to each of my guild members. When my eyes land on Loke I hold his gaze for a moment. I turn back to Master.
"Because it was my way of protecting my new family, I didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt except me, but I wasn't planning on dying, Master." I answer and he sighs.
"It's clear to me that you fit right in with the rest of these reckless children."
A toothy, wide, grin finds my face. "That's what makes a Fairy Tail wizard!"
"You...you won't be rid of us that easy!" Zi screams out. "You'll be dead soon enough, Acevea! You and your guild!" Before any of us can react, Zi grabs Temisa and disappears into thin air. Teleportation magic.
That also explains how my guild members got here so fast. "Acevea, they won't hurt any of us, and the council will be made aware of them, as well as the other guilds." Jellal tells me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Lets just get you home." He leads me out of the guild hall. As we step outside the entire building collapses. I smirk then look up at Jellal, he too has a smirk on his face. Classic Fairy Tail.
"Actually, I'd like to take some time here, for a little bit...visit an old friend." I tell him, but I'm sure Master and the others heard.
"Of course my dear, I have to go talk to the town's Mayor anyway, but I would prefer if you were accompanied, just to be safe, Jellal will go with you." Master replies then starts walking away, not giving me a chance to protest. I wasn't going to anyway.
"Where does this friend of yours live?" Jellal asks. I shake my head then take his hand and lead him down the road, to the cemetery. "You mean to visit your first boyfriend's grave."
I nod as I let go of his hand. Heading through the gates I go to the far right corner of the cemetery to Dryn's grave. I sit down in front of his headstone and I create a flower of Forget Me Nots and I place it on top of the headstone.
"You deserved better, Dryn." The tears sting my eyes and I don't fight them. "I found a home, a family. They know everything about me, including my magic and they all love me and don't care about my magic." The tears slide down my face and drip off my chin. "They're all crazy and chaotic and you'd love them and agree they're the perfect people for me to be around." A sob comes up from my chest. "I miss you so much, Dryn. I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to come visit, but I'll come visit more frequently and maybe one day I'll bring the person I've fallen in love with." I wipe the tears off my face. "This was a short visit but it'll be longer next time. I'll forever love you, Dryn." I kiss the headstone as I get up.
Getting back to the gates, I appreciate that Jellal kept an eye on me from here. "Anywhere else you'd like to visit before we go join the others?" He asks while rubbing my back.
"No, we can go meet up with the others now." He starts leading me back into town. Silence falls between us, I'm wrapped up in my thoughts. So many things are on my mind but there is one question nagging at me. "Jellal, do you think everyone deserves a second chance?" I ask him, feeling like a little kid. He seems to be a good person to ask, given his past and his general life experience.
"Yes and no, I believe most people deserve a second chance but there are some people who have committed acts that can not be redeemed." He looks down at me, meeting my eyes. "Why do you ask, Acevea?"
"I was thinking about...um… Zeref." I confess. "I personally think that, if he were still alive, he would be deserving of a second chance. I think Natsu wanted to give him that second chance, everything he did was to be with his little brother again, he just got lost along the way. All because of that stupid curse he and First Master Mavis were forced to endure." I explain.
"You have a big heart, Acevea, and you're very bright." Jellal compliments. "What do you know about the curse of contradiction?"
"Everything, I can also erase it from existence." I confess in a deadpan tone. Jellal looks at me with wide eyes. "That curse was never meant to have free reign in the world, according to my grandfather an ancestor of mine gave this curse semi-sentience." I explain in the same tone.
"Acevea, do you know the name of this ancestor?" Jellal asks, I can tell his brain is making some kind of connections.
"No, what are you thinking Jellal?" I ask him and he shakes his head.
"Nothing, Acevea, it's not important. Let's just get back to the others and get home."
We do exactly that, we meet the rest of the guild at the train station and head back to Magnolia. Once we get there Jellal, Erza, Natsu, and Happy all volunteer to stay at my place for the next little while to make sure I'm safe.
I understand why, my whereabouts have revealed to two people who very much want to murder me. They aren't above killing me in my sleep either. Speaking of sleep, I'm trying to fall asleep but my mind continues to race.
Thoughts of Zeref, Natsu, and First Master run rampant and won't be ignored. Also, I want to know what Jellal was thinking earlier, because something tells me it's concerning the three subjects of my thoughts. A knock on my door startles me out of my thoughts.
"Come in." I sit up as my door opens and Natsu comes in. He closes the door behind him and sits on the edge of my bed. "Natsu, is something wrong?"
"Jellal told me that you think if Zeref were still alive he'd be deserving of a second chance." Natsu answers, staring at the poster of Erza I have on my wall.
"I do, I'm sorry if that upsets you, that's not my intention." I reply sincerely. Natsu reaches into his vest and pulls out a folded piece of paper. He unfolds it and hands it to me. It appears to be a drawing of him and Zeref. "I had Reedus draw this for me after Zeref and First Master Mavis died, because I wish I had been able to give them a second chance." I don't say anything because I sense that he has more to say. "A couple months ago, we were at a party for an award Lucy got for her book and we saw two people who looked exactly like them, is it possible they were reincarnated that soon?" Natsu turns to me, his eyes tell me he thinks I can answer that question.
He's right, I can. "No, but I know what happened." I tell him and he looks shocked. "The curse of contradiction works very weirdly, you see because they were the cause of each other's 'death' the curse reset, in a sense, and instead of killing them it put them in limbo and then spat them back out, a side effect would be amnesia." I explain. "If I were to meet them and have skin to skin contact with them I can fix the curse, I say 'fix' because it's not supposed to just randomly assign itself to people, an ancestor of mine gave it semi-sentience and so I'm going to fix it."
"I'm sure we can find them, we just have to talk to Gramps and-"
"Natsu, hold your horses. I can fix their amnesia, or at least Zeref's because you're his brother, connected to him by blood so if I focus hard enough on you I can 'find' Zeref and unblock his memories and judging by what you told me, Zeref can probably unblock First Master's." I explain and Natsu places his hand in mine. "Alright then, you might have tingles go through your body the entire time I do this and you might fall asleep because of them."
"Oh, should we move down to my room?" I shake my head and get up and pull out the second mattress under my bed.
"You can just lay down there." He does just that then hands me his hand again, after I sit at the edge of my mattress. I wrap both my hands around his and close my eyes and make an immediate connection to Natsu's thoughts and memories of Zeref. Some of his memories of Zeref seem familiar to me. Something is pushing at the back of my mind, as if it's stuck behind a wall.
I can't worry about that right now, I'm going to reunite Natsu with his older brother and the guild with First Master Mavis. I make a full connection and almost immediately find Zeref's mind. I'm about to pass out so I quickly remove the block on Zeref's memories. The connection breaks and the world goes dark and quiet as I pass out. I've used too much of my magic energy too soon, after having just started using it at full power again.
When I wake up I find myself in a hospital room. "Acevea!" I turn my head to see Natsu at my side. "You've been asleep for two days." He tells me and my eyes widen.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to worry anybody, I just used too much magic energy too soon after allowing myself to use it at one hundred percent again." I explain and he sighs a breath of relief. "Could you help me to my feet, Natsu?" I ask and he nods.
Slowly, I'm on my feet and Natsu is guiding me to the private bathroom. "The doctor said that you were going to be waking up today and that when you did you were free to go, as long as someone carried you home or to the guildhall." Natsu explains. "He said the guildhall would be preferable so that we could get two days worth of food in you and help you get around."
"I appreciate it, Natsu." I smile at him and he hands me some folded clothes. "Please tell me Lucy picked out my clothes." I state and Natsu shakes his head.
"Well, she grabbed the undergarments but I bought you a new outfit." Natsu tells me proudly. I don't know if I should be scared or worried or both.
"Alright, I'll be out in a minute." I head into the bathroom and change into my new clothes, slowly so I don't cause myself to pass out for another two days. Looking at the clothes Natsu bought for me I am pleasantly surprised, they're super cute and look really good on me.
I step out of the bathroom and Natsu grins at me and gives me a thumbs up. "You're all set to go to the guild!" Natsu picks me up and I now notice the lack of our flying, blue cat companion.
"Is Happy waiting at the guild?" I ask while moving onto Natsu's back.
"Yeah, there's a surprise waiting for you at the guild as well!" Natsu answers excitedly.
"I was only out for two days, I understand I probably scared everyone half to death but jeez." I rub the back of my head sheepishly.
"No, this is a surprise for being an amazing person!" Natsu replies enthusiastically. So it's a 'just because' kind of thing… I can roll with that. "Did you have any interesting dreams while you were asleep?" Natsu asks as we leave the hospital.
"Hmm, not really, though I had one where Happy trying to see how many strawberries he can fit in his mouth at once, he ended up getting twelve strawberries in his mouth, but I think he cheated." I answer and Natsu is laughing.
"I bet he would cheat, probably swallow one, or use a bunch of mini strawberries that wouldn't actually count." Natsu theorizes and I'm grinning. He feels like a big brother who entertains his little sister's crazy, sometimes unrealistic, ideas.
We come to the guildhall and I slide off of Natsu's back. He takes my hand then pushes one of the doors open with the other hand. "Everyone! She's awake!" He calls out, as loud as ever.
Everyone cheers and I look around grinning. My new family, everyone is incredible and I love them all so much! My eyes land on two new people, well they're not exactly new. First Master Mavis Vermillion and Zeref Dragneel. They both look at me with wide-eyes and shock in every part of their faces and body language.
"Acevea?" Zeref asks, his shock coming out in his tone. It's my turn to become shocked.
"You know me, how?" At first I kick myself for asking such a dumb question, the others probably told him about me but that doesn't explain his shock so my question isn't a stupid one.
"Yes, you're our daughter." Zeref answers and the entire guild goes abruptly silent - in shock.