Wishfull-star: Thank you!

Ace was sleeping in Marco's arms in their bed when there was a loud knocking on the door. "Go away, Sabo," Ace groaned. The door was opened, and he saw Sabo there with another figure. Ace sat up straight, and Marco did, too. Both were shirtless, but had bottoms on. Sabo had tears in his eyes, and Ace was worried.

"Hello Ace, Marco," Mira said brightly. Ace stood up, confused, and demanded to know if Fairy Tail sent them. And asked how she got inside. "You don't lock the front door. Fairy Tail didn't send us, we didn't officially return, yet."

Eflman was there, and Lisanna. All three of them looked relatively the same, and were smiling proudly. How could they be happy when seeing what the three had done with their lives? But Mira held out a wrapped gift. Ace took it suspiciously, and ripped the paper off, finding the book he'd been desperate for the last year.

"Is this a joke?" he asked, voice hoarse. Mira smiled pleasantly, and said they'd had to kill a couple demons to get it, so it was real. He didn't open it, didn't dare open it, not knowing what would happen if he did.

Sabo was crying, and Marco had some tears in his eyes. "This isn't a bribe to rejoin us. Nobody else knew about it but us. We've been looking wherever we went but didn't find it easily until Wendy told us Lamia Scale had found a dark guld in the forest that they weren't qualified to go near."

Ace drooped. "I don't know what to do now. I didn't honestly think I'd ever find it," he said, glaring at the book. He put it in a bag in his room, making sure there were no rips in the baG and pulling it to his chest. He would bring it everywhere with him.

"You're still welcome there. Despite what you may have said, you're still welcome. They know what happened to you, and will accept you back," Lisanna explained. "Things may not ever be the same, but it's still your home."

"Also! I've been practicing with transformation magic. I can do it on others, but only if they're in a certain distance. But it's a start. Maybe we could form a new team, all six of us." Ace wondered if that was too much. "You did it with the others plus Wedny." Marco pointed out that they didn't know if they were going back. "I know, just some suggestions. You probably don't want to work with your old team after what happened and all."

Ace sighed. "They were fine without me. And I don't forgive them. Probably never will. It might be stupid, but that's how I feel."

"Can you move on, now that we've found your book? There's a place in Fairy Tail that only the Masters can reach. We could put your book there, and it'll be safe forever. You won't carry it around or worry about it beng stolen." It was a good suggestion. "Even if you don't rejoin, I have no doubt they'd still accept hiding your book," she insisted. Ace believed her.

He did ask what the others said of their heated interaction. How different Ace acted. "Well, when they left, apparently they felt really discouraged and upset, until Natsu said he heard you start to cry. Then they knew what horrible a situation you are in, and wanted to help, even indirectly. However, it was our work that brought you the book. Though they still wanted to try."

Ace leaned against the wall, and touched his horns. It just would never be the same. And he knew he was unable to trust his old group. Maybe they did go out to find them, but he didn't have any joy or relief when he first saw them, before the fight. Ace had just wanted them to go away at once.

"Take your time deciding, okay?" Lisanna said. Ace nodded, and the three left. It was midnight, and the guild opened at 8:00 in the morning. They sat in the guild hall, and Ace broke down at the table, looking at the book he'd had nightmares about. That he'd been razor focused on finding.

Marco kissed his shoulder, and Sabo took his hand. They were relieved, too, of course. But that meant their purpose for this guild was over. Ace could tell this was the real book, it wasn't a good, copied fake. "I don't want to run this guild anymore," Ace said firmly. Sabo and Marco nodded, agreeing. None of them enjoyed their time here, with the scumbags. Having to praise garbage humans.

They decided to leave. That night. There was no use in telling the guild members. They packed their things, those they planned on keeping, and put the bags on their backs. They had hoods on, and Ace burnt the guild to nothing but ash at its base. Then they walked away from that chapter of their lives, feeling like a huge weight was taken off their shoulders.

When they got to a more secluded area that was away from the guild remains, the bags were strapped to Ace's chest, hanging under it in dragon form. His dragon form now had the horns he had as his usual form, too. It wasn't a problem. On their journey to build a dark guild, there were times that Marco or Sabo would make flower crowns and wrap them around Ace's horns. It was a small gesture, but meant the world to him at the time.

He flew away, high in the sky. High enough that they wouldn't be a big deal to see. Just a bird. They hadn't gone flying like this in months, as nobody was to know he was also part dragon. They flew far over the kingdom, across it. Their guild, Neo-Mon, was on the northeast side, so they went southwest right now.

They used a map and compass to find their way back. "Do you think they really will accept me? Seeing how I am now is different than hearing about it." Marco shouted above the wind that they wouldn't know unless they tried.

Ace said, "I'm sorry, Sabo. For ripping you away from your family." Sabo reminded him that it wasn't Ace's doing that they disbanded. It wasn't like they made to say goodbye to him, either. It was true, but Ace still felt bad about it. He didn't apologize for what happened to him anymore. It was what happened and there was no changing that.

When they got to Magnolia, Ace changed back, and put his hood on. He was shaking, and worried. Marco took his hand and his brother put his arm around his shoulders, making carrying the big bags harder. Thatch had no idea where they had been up until now because they didn't want him to blab to anyone else. And to worry or hate them.

When they got to the rebuilding ground of Fairy Tail (again), the last time seeing it as a crater in the ground, Ace froze. Then he saw Natsu and Gray getting in a fight, like always, making a mess. Annoying. Marco pulled Ace forward as they went to find Mira. They found her at a table. It was weird that the city was in such good shape since the last year. They rebuilt or fixed everything. Tartaros had destroyed the city while it was above Magnolia after all.

When Mira saw them, her face lit up. Ace didn't want to take off his hood. He was at least able to show his face to the garbage minions in their dark guild. That was the reason they gave him respect, partly. Because he looked like a demon. But he was with a bunch of normal looking humans, here.

The last time someone who was normal and didn't know him saw his face, it made people run and a little boy started sobbing. It had felt like knives were shoved into him in every body part they could reach. Mira was the only one who could relate to that, as she said she'd been abused by others because of her takeover issue. When her arm was possessed or something. She hadn't really gone into specifics about the story. Or maybe Ace had been distracted during it.

"We're here to hide the book," Ace said awkwardly. Mira said he'd have to take it to Erza. "Why?"

"Until Master comes back, Erza is the guild Master. She knows how to get to the secret place." Ace didn't want his new boss to be an old friend he lashed out at. Marco asked if it meant Erza could no longer go on jobs. "Until the Master comes back. But they're planning on going on a mission to Alvarez to get him back. Just the five of them, plus Mest."

Ace paused. "Mest?" Mira just nodded. No explanation, so Ace didn't ask. They arrived at Erza, who was talking with Gajeel.

"Gee hee, we got some criminals here, now, too?" he teased. "I'll arrest you."

"It wasn't an official dark guild. We did nothing illegal. We just acted bad," Ace said in a firm voice.

"I guess we've both been guild Masters, huh?" Erza asked from behind. Ace turned, and said he'd hated it. "I guess I'd hate that job, too. At least my friends are all here. Mira told me you're looking to hide the book?" Ace nodded. He pulled it out of his backpack, but couldn't give it to her. He was afraid to let it go. Sabo took it from him and gave it to Erza. "Good thing you came this early, I would have been gone before being able to put the book away."

Ace watched her take it and then disappear in the middle of the open place. Ace clenched every muscle until she came back out, hands free. "Your book is now safe from any harm. You don't need to worry about it getting stolen or damaged." Ace nodded. Erza took his hands, which he lucky had no claws on.

"I'm so sorry. That I left, and that I never came back. I didn't say goodbye to anybody. To be honest, when I found Gray and Natsu had both left, I felt that the right thing to do was not say goodbye, so it could be a clean break. It wasn't. It broke Lucy's heart, and your heart… it wasn't the right thing to do at all," Erza said, only a single tear dripping down her cheek.

Ace looked down and pulled his hands away and back to his sides. "I'm sorry about being such an asshole. I wanted you guys to hurt like we did. Not the Fairy Tail way at all," he sighed, voice thick with shame. "We built that supposed dark guild, made all sorts of lies for them to do what we wanted."

"You don't need to talk about it, Ace," Mira said politely. Ace trailed off. Then Marco spoke.

He confessed, "It was all my idea. They just played the parts and went along with it. Ace was the Master of the guild because he fit the part. I don't want people to think it was his idea. It was mine. I should be the one ashamed."

"We had no idea about it until Lucy told us. I'd never even heard of your guild's name. Levy did, but she told me you had broken no laws, so they couldn't do any arrests or shut it down." Ace asked how Lucy knew. "Well, you guys were using fake names and faces. Over the last year, Lucy tracked down as many guild members as she could. The only way she found you guys was that some people in a village out near your dinky guild had hallucinated. Mass hallucinations. She thought it could be Marco's power.

"We had no idea if it was him or if he had you guys with him until we ran into Levy on our way there, and were told about Sabo and Marco being there." Ace chuckled dryly, and said they had been his pet humans. Nobody had been allowed to touch them. "I see. What happened to your guild, then?"

Sabo simply said they burnt it down and ditched. "Very responsible," Gray said from behind, carrying a wooden beam.

"We're not gong to be the seventh Master, so I guess count yourself lucky," Ace replied.

Gray looked at him for a moment, and asked him how his ice hadn't hurt him. "What do you mean?" The ice user said he was aiming to kill Ace with that ice arrow.

"It was using devil slayer magic. But it didn't work on you. It worked on the other book of Zeref demons. But not you?"

"I'm just a knock off or something. Plus I'm also part dragon and part human. A mutt," Ace said. "Maybe if you and Natsu teamed up you could kill me if you tried really hard."

"Man, you were being such an asshole, I gotta hand it to you," Gray said, tone light again, wanting to move on from his attempt to murder his former friend. Maybe current, Ace wasn't sure. Then Lucy came running over, and hugged Ace tighty. He didn't hug her back, and just pat her back.

She smiled up at him, her hair longer, but not much change in anything else. "Welcome home," she said sincerely. "We still have many who hadn't returned and might not, and then we have Master to find."

"Is he okay? Where's he been all this time?" Lucy frowned, and Erza said it was a hard story to explain easily. They only knew about what it was due to Mest's ability to give them memories. But the short story was that he went to the Alvarez Empire, a country across the ocean from Fiore. Compared to their dinky little kingdom, the place was a giant. But he went there to stop their army to advance to Fiore to steal away the Fairy Tail guild's most precious thing. "Us?" Ace wondered.

Erza smiled, but said it wasn't any of them. Master left so they wouldn't get caught in the middle of an incident they couldn't handle. "And you're sure that place it the best to hide the book?" Ace asked in worry.

"Yes. And I put it in the wall slot across the hall from what is wanted. It won't be disturbed if the space was invaded and the worst happened." Ace let out a small sigh of relief.

Sabo asked when they were going to rescue him. "Myself, Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Wendy will go."

Ace looked down and made a soft frown. "I wouldn't be in sync with you guys to go anyways. I'm sure Wendy will do great. I can't really go on jobs regardless. Not with how I look, now." Marco touched Ace gently, and to everyone else, he looked back to his normal self. He couldn't see it. And reaching up, he could touch his horns while everyone else saw him touching nothing.

Natsu came running over, and cheered that Ace looked back to normal. Gray tripped him so his face slammed into the ground. "Be tactful, dumbass! It's an illusion." Marco removed it, and the cape was back, along with Ace's real appearance. He knew Natsu didn't mean anything by it, but he was sure others would have been disappointed.

It seemed nobody was around them, so he wasn't feeling stared at. "Ace, are you guys joining again?!" Nastu asked in excitement, moved on from Gray making him face plant. The three had already made a decision. If Ace wasn't met with hatred from the leaders, then they'd stay. They could always leave again if they all felt Ace was being mistreated.

"Yeah," Ace sighed. Natsu asked why he didn't seem happy about it. "I don't know. I just feel things won't ever go back to how they were. Lucy forgave all of you easily, wanted to see you again. You all ditched her without a word, too. But I wasn't able to forgive you. I was bitter, and still feel a little bitter. I hated you all so much. To me, you all leaving doomed me easily finding the book.

"I know it's not rational. But having more looking would have helped. I know I shouldn't blame you all, I should blame everything on the guild disbanding when it did. So, I'm sorry for hating you guys, and for the things that I said," Ace explained.

Sabo and Marco both apologized, as well. They felt the same, too. Though Sabo hurt more than Marco had since Fairy Tail was his home since being a child.

There was a moment of silence before Lucy, Gray, Erza and Natsu all declared that he was forgiven. "Its no big deal, me and Gray hate each other all the time!" he laughed. This was different, but he didn't say so. "Hey, why didn't you say anything when you were invisible, and came to me where Igneel was?" Natsu asked, tone suddenly serious. And confused.

"I didn't want to put my problem on you, too. You just lost Igneel. Me whining about this would have just been detrimental," Ace explained. Natsu turned very serious and angry at him, and it startled Ace.

"Do you think telling me you were turned into a demon would have been whining?" Ace sighed, and said he wasn't at a good place at the time. Lucy took his hand with a smile, but Natsu kept speaking. "You're one of my best friends, I woulda' done what I could to help you."

"It might have been a mistake, but there's nothing we can do now," Ace said. Sabo asked when they were going out to find him. He was worried about his safety. Ace felt more worry and concern over anger or resentment, so that was a relief.

"Soon. we're waiting for the right ship to arrive at port to take us," Erza answered. Natsu latched onto Ace with his arm around his shoulder, and bluntly stated that Ace should come, too. They were all silent, and it was horrifically awkward. Ace didn't know how to decline, Natsu couldn't read the room, and the others didn't want to decline and say something that might hurt Ace's feelings.

Natsu laughed, "Come on! What would make us friends again better than saving Gramps? And we can prove Ace can go on jobs! Lots of people wear hoods and are all mysterious!" he stated. "And he has to have super demon powers now, too, which makes him even more helpful! His book is hidden so he only has to worry about himself."

Nobody could decline but Ace. Though it sounded like a good idea it didn't sound like a good plan. Marco and Sabo stepped away, and put all the weight of it on Ace. Sabo told them to close their eyes and raise their hands in a vote. They would give which one won the majority, but not how the others raised their hands.

They closed their eyes, and Ace hadn't raised his hand. When they opened them, Sabo said it had been unanimous that they all wanted him to come, too. Happy zoomed to him and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry, Happy," Ace said, hugging unchanged cat to his chest.

He turned to the others, and asked why they wanted him to go. "We were a team, weren't we? Do you not want to be a team anymore?" Lucy asked, though didn't sound accusing or insulted. Mostly curios.

"I want thing to go back to how they were before, yeah. But I can't-"

"Why not? Because of your appearance?" Mira asked. Ace forgot she was still there. Ace said he still harbored angry thoughts, and didn't want them to disrupt anything. "Going with them could help fix things, right? Besides, you can be another voice of reason." Ace was still unsure. Then a new girl appeared, white hair and cat ears.

"Having someone like Ace with us sure would be reassuring."

Happy said, "Isn't Carla amazing! She can turn into a human!"

"The cat looks more human than I do now," Ace said, though it wasn't meant to be a joke or an insult to himself. "Impressive." Then he turned to Wendy, who had tears in her eyes. She ran to hug him, and Ace hugged her back. She firmly told him he wasn't a monster. "I suppose that's debatable. But I never had that feeling that the other demons from the books had. All I heard them talking about was to return to Zeref. I just wanted to get my book out and flee. Getting the book came first, though."

They were all quiet when listening. Then Gray asked him what he wanted, now. "I want things to be how they were. Or at least somewhat close to it. I hope we can still get along alright." Gray looked surprised. "You're a devil slayer now, aren't you? You don't want to kill me?"

"Of course not. Besides, it's not your fault this happened to you. You're just a victim of who I do want to kill," Gray said in a matter of fact voice. Ace felt relieved. Though he hadn't expected him to want to kill Ace, since they were friends before and Ace was working on his own terms, not trying to please the monster named Zeref.

Erza turned to Sabo and asked if Ace was okay to do this. Getting a second opinion. "He's not broken," Sabo said a bit soulry. "Or a child. He still rational like he was before. You guys might be seeing this nervousness or shyness as him being more childish. He's still Ace." The new, temporary guild Master floundered, trying to save the awkward moment and insist she didn't mean it like that.

"If Ace says he wants to go, then he knows he can help," Marco said. But Ace was silent. He remembered everything the Master had done for him. The times he'd gotten treatment and care. How he was accepting of Ace and Sabo's situation. He never thought badly of them for their upbringing and differences. Ace wanted to save him somehow. He firmly said he wanted to see the Master. To save him and bring him home. Natsu beamed.

"But I want you to all think rationally, too. Am I fit to go with you to save the Master. Personal feelings aside, will I actually be a help?" They all nodded. Ace was a bit surprised and flattered, but mostly determined not to fuck this up. He'd already done so much to mess things up, but he waited for them and wouldn't allow the Master to stay in that enemies' country.

Ace still had lingering issues with his guild members, but he did feel that they could rekindle. Then Mest was there, and looked at Ace. He hadn't seen him since the S-Class trial. He looked different, his hair longer and was no longer a council member. "If he's coming, he should know everything, too." Mest didn't disapprove of Ace's coming with them.

Ace was given clear memories of Makarov's plan with Mest to invade the council over years long. The reason he did that was to get information about the country opposite the sea of Fiore. And that he disbanded the guild to protect them from the issue that would come to fruition with Lumen Histoire. Mavis's body enclosed in crystal in the underground. Where Ace's book was being kept in hidden.

Opening his eyes, he asked why on earth that was down there. "We don't know the specifics, but it's just very important to Fairy Tail," Lucy said.

"The ship is here. If we're ready to go, we should go," Mest stated. Ace swallowed. Marco and Sabo hugged him, but didn't treat him like they were his kid they were seeing off to their first day of school. Marco kissed him on the cheek.

"Careful, okay?" he asked, though he didn't look worried or doubtful. Ace smiled, and nodded. Sabo hugged him, and they both said they loved him. "Love you guys, too. Rebuild the guild for when we get back. With lots of hiding places." He gave a wink to Marco, whose face turned red. Wendy did, too, no doubt remembering when she heard Ace talk with Marco about his bondage plans. Ah, those were the days. That was before the Tenrou island adventure. Thank god he'd gone with them.

Ace had his bags already packed, of course, and went right onto the train and then to the ship at port. This time, Wendy got sick the moment they stepped on board, but Ace did not. When they put their things away, everyone but Ace knew about how they'd all been. So as the ship started its journey north and across the sea, Erza asked him about his time other than the whole dark guild. Ace didn't fall asleep for once, which he was glad about.

"Well, fine, I guess. Nobody came after us. Mira, Elfman and Lisanna helped us pick apart the rubble, but the book was long gone by then. We traveled around a bit, but it was almost immediately after Fairy Tail disbanded and everyone left that Marco had the dark guild idea. I hated those trash assholes. Glad to have left them behind."

"A-Ace… give me - urp - fire." Wendy couldn't help him either, as she was sick, too.

"I don't know if it would be safe." Erza said that was a good point.

"Ace's fire magic could be curse magic, as the Tartaros bunch liked to brag. Perhaps unsuitable for eating." Natsu whined about it. "Are you any different now in other ways?"

Ace shrugged one shoulder. "I'm physically stronger. I haven't been training much since we left. I only wanted the damn book. But I don't think I've gotten any weaker. I am able to fly faster and longer distances now. And the main body is pretty big, too, when I want it to be." The were quiet, and then Happy gasped in shock. They all turned to him in question.

"Acnologia - the dragon king… Zeref - the strongest wizard! Ace has parts of both! He's a super wizard!" Ace smiled awkwardly. Ace was never a wizard to begin with, most likely being the devil fruit user instead.

"Well, don't get your hopes up that I'm some god or some shit," Ace said. Wendy asked if he could take off his robe. She hadn't gotten to see him because she wasn't there at the raid of Neo-Mon. Ace looked up. They were going to see it anyways. So he stood up and took the robe off, showing his blackened skin and horns. Not to mention the tail and single red eye.

The group looked in silence for a moment. "You look bad ass," Gray said. "Though the skin part, I can do that, too." They watched as his arm and half of his chest, as well as some of his face, turned black. Ace smiled, glad he wasn't alone, even if Ace's was permanent and Gray could put his away. Happy obnoxiously swatted his tail. Ace slapped it to his face and tossed him a few feet away. Carla looked at her fellow cat in exasperation.

"I hope I can be useful. I could always just scare people away to get the Master back. Chase them off as a dragon." Erza said he could be a good way of escape. Just grab them all at once and fly. That was true. They talked like very old friends at a get together, and Ace was feeling better than he had in a long time.

He forgot what it felt like to have a big family that cared about him. Maybe he did that to himself to protect his heart from the crushing void it would have otherwise met. Maybe he could let that part of him open up again. He felt it deserved some love after everything.

And the last season's content has begun! The war arc was super fun to write, and it's very different than canon since it's told from Ace's pov, and of course he was not there in canon. See you next week!