He stood, and felt magic inside of him again, and knew it could work. He formed his hands into clawed dragon hands. They didn't destroy or rip apart his skin, leaving a raw and bloody mess. He smelled deeply, and listened. He heard that thrumming machine noise. He transformed fully, deciding he would help in the way he could best.

Shooting up and out of the forest, he flew as fast as he could, passing over Makarov and Natsu, the old man very injured. No wonder he released the spell. "Ace?!" the Master asked weakly in shock. Ace wasn't possessed, he could tell. And he was a dragon, now, too. He hadn't been able to shift since Edolas, though that wasn't too long ago.

He saw the source of the noise, and where the enemies came from. He zoomed there, and crashed into the side, ripping apart one half of it that kept it afloat in the air. He ripped it apart, decimating part of what allowed it to function how it did. He went back in, getting attacked by magic from a frantic person on the wing.

But the magic hit him and did nothing. He felt invincible, but wasn't stupid. He knew it was inconsistent, his aversion to being hurt by magic. But this time, he was lucky and wasn't harmed. He went back in for another attack, ripping off the ceiling as it fell to the side. The ship was being repaired over and over at Ace's assault.

This was going nowhere, but it was losing ground and then coming back. It was a mess, and whoever was still on it had to be getting sick. He had an idea, and went to the magic circles below, which was keeping it functioning properly. He skinned it with his back, rubbing his own magic power into it.

Since it was raw and not proper, it messed with the complete spell, and the magic circles disappeared after seeming to rot away. Ace sure did have ugly magic when it came to most things. This island was the only thing that wasn't negatively affected by his magic. The craft finally fell into the ocean. It stayed floating on the surface, but was slowly sinking.

By the end, Ace was exhausted, and made one more attack, finding the weapon now that the roof was ripped apart. He grabbed it and ripped it out of the ship, and dumped it in the ocean before flying back to the island, where he grabbed the Master and fled. "Take care of him, Ace!" Natsu shouted as he fought his opponent.

Ace brought Makarov back to the grave, and set him down before crashing, panting hard, still in dragon form. He shifted back, wincing at it, but not damaged once he was back in human form. He stumbled back to the Master, looking at his various wounds. He couldn't heal him, so he'd just protect him.

Looking up, with his enhanced eyesight in one eye, he saw nobody was attacking the tree trunk with his friends in it. He'd let them stay safely up there. "Ace… how?"

"The first Master helped me. I'm safe for now. I won't hurt any of us," Ace said. Tears formed in Makarov's eyes, and he apologized for releasing the spell. The boy didn't speak of what had happened to him when the spell was undone. That he was overtaken by someone else, trying to hurt his own best friends. He was ashamed, but would leave that feeling for later.

Ace picked up the small old man and brought him behind the grave to hide. "Thank you, Master Mavis," he said, still tears in his voice. He sniffled, controlling himself, and then lamented about being unable to protect his children. "Thank you for destroying the ship."

"You saw?"

"You weren't exactly quiet about it." Ace said he hoped it stayed destroyed, and smiled tearily. He finally helped the guild. He didn't cause stress or problems. He did scare his friends, but he knew they'd forgive him, they wouldn't blame him. And he hadn't harmed anybody, which was such a relief.

Worried over his state, Ace asked if the man would be okay. They couldn't get medical attention right now. "I'm not sure. I guess I have to believe in the first Master's magic as well, now." Ace said he saw her. She was really nice. "You saw her?!" He nodded. He looked at the grave with a smile. Looking down, his magic was still seeping out, and flowers were growing. Magic had once been shared with him, when Loke lent him some to shift back into a human.

Maybe he could do the same. He touched the grave, and then focused his magic on the injured man. He put his hand on him, and imagined his own magic power - not all of it - into his hand. He released some of the magic he was given by the first Master, to protect him. Surely he didn't need all of that. He was leaking it, after all.

The magic seeped into the other's body, and his wound healed. He was still banged up, but not enough to immobilize him. It took up a lot of energy, and to protect himself from the spell most likely, he fell asleep, slumping to the ground. He didn't hear the man stand up. He felt warm as a protection spell was put over him. "Keep my boy safe, first Master. I can never repay you, but I give you my sincere and upmost thanks." He left Ace there, invisible and undetectable, as he went to go fight for his beloved children, trusting Mavis to protect the boy who had been through too much.

-x-

Ace was briefly conscious when he felt the scary presence come. But he wasn't harmed by Mavis's magic grave. He just looked down at Ace. "Some day, you'll become very strong. I hope you make it that long." Then he left, and Ace was back asleep, thinking he must have dreamt it.

-x-

"C'mon, Ace, wake up," a kind voice said. Ths spell was broken with a bright flash, and Ace was no longer asleep or protected from anyone, even his own guild members. Sabo and Marco were waiting outside of the cave. Makarov was there and released the spell, with Erza picked Ace up, as he was so tired from using all that magic. He was carried against a soft body, not covered in armor.

When he woke up fully, he found he was surrounded by injured guild members, but they were alive. He couldn't see all of them, and found one person had been switched out. Mest was gone, and Laxus was there instead. Wendy was beside him, healing his exhaustion, even though she looked beyond exhausted as well.

Ace sat up slowly, and rubbed his eyes. "You're awake!" Sabo cheered, by his side immediately. "How do you feel?"

"Okay." Ace touched his eye, and asked if anything else had happened. They shook their heads. "I'm so sorry," he apologized to his two friends. They forgave him easily. "Who won? The S-class test?" he asked, handed some food, which he was more than grateful for. Natsu was pouting when Gildarts said that the test was canceled.

Everyone was disappointed a bit, but most agreed that it should be canceled based on the events that happened. Ace remembered something, and asked if anyone encountered the scary man with black hair. "You met Zeref?!" Juvia asked in shock.

"Zeref?! He was Zeref?!" Ace asked in shock, nearly coughing out his food. They all nodded, and asked what happened when he met him. "I was injured, and he seemed to - to pity me. Well, I wasn't injured, the curse acted up and hurt me." They all looked uneasy, and Ace wondered if he shouldn't have said anything. "Was he really evil? He seemed kind of sad."

"That was before he was awoken and turned bad again," Erza explained. "He was a different person then. But I still don't understand how he was staying on this island." They weren't sure. "Did he say anything else?" Ace suspected that him hearing him again wasn't a dream, but said nothing of it, shaking his head.

Ace ate the food, and slumped. "What's wrong?" Lisanna asked. Ace complained that he was able to use his dragon power here, and the curse was nullified by the magic on the island. He didn't look forward to going back to not being able to change, and dealing with the fact he was still cursed. It hadn't been destroyed fully, only suppressed for now. "Well, hopefully you'll be able to turn into a dragon soon." It wasn't a very helpful reply. They'd been saying that for five years, almost six.

"Well, I'm just glad my magic came when it did. I destroyed the ship and helped the Master." They looked awkward about that, and said that the ship had been repaired enough to sail away, even if it was unable to fly. Or use its main weapon. Ace was even more sad that he hadn't done any good at that in the end.

"But saving the Master was a huge deal! He helped so much, and Wendy could save her energy to heal the others," Lucy insisted. Ace just nodded. He was less useful than he wanted, and was sure he had caused more trouble than good. He was feeling very pessimistic. He wanted to go home and sleep in his bed. But he probably would still be guild bound.

"So… why is Laxus here?" Ace wondered. "And where did Mest go?" He was explained that Laxus came because he had a bad feeling, and that Mest was never part of the guild. He was a liar and fake, actually part of the magic council. Ace felt bad he couldn't tell. But he was told the guy's magic was strong enough to easily trick most of them.

After they were all fed and healed enough to function just fine, many still tired or with bumps and bruises, they did some relaxing. Ace and his two friends explored the forests, looking at all the interesting animals. Ace was still leaking some magic, but not nearly as much as before. He didn't risk changing forms.

"This sure was an adventure." Ace nodded. "We were pretty useless, hiding the whole time," Sabo mumbled.

"Well, we were only brought along for safety. Looks like that completely backfired. We would have been safer at the guild," Marco replied. Ace nodded in agreement. But at least they didn't die or get too hurt. Or go through too many scary things. Well, Sabo and Marco didn't. Ace had been terrified, his body taken over so easily, it felt. The only reason he was safe, and hadn't hurt anyone, was because of the ghost of Mavis.

Ace stopped walking, and the other two stopped, too. "Zeref visited me again. When I was under the protection by the grave."

"What?!" Sabo gasped. Marco had a hard face.

"Yeah. I was kind of out of it, but I think he said I'll be strong, and hoped I survive. Do you think that I'm evil, too? If someone bad like him was kind of nice to me… that means I'm bad, too, right?" They both protested, and Marco said Zeref had been "polite" to many of the guild at first. "But it was near the end."

Sabo said, "Maybe he was just interested in a living dragon. After all, there are no more dragons in the world." Ace knew that wasn't true. Gildarts had encountered and been harmed by a dragon. There were at least two existing dragons right now. "Besides, it's not like he saved you or anything. He just thought you were interesting, even if he was an evil guy deep down."

Ace knew that could be true, but he was still uneasy about it. They headed back to camp, and Ace paused before looking out to sea. "There's something coming!" he shouted to everyone. "Up there, that way!" he added, pointing in the direction. They all heard the next roar, and Ace covered his hands over his ears. Others did this, too. Ace hadn't encountered such a loud noise in a long time. They were all shocked to see it. A living dragon other than Ace! Gildarts looked horrified, and Ace knew that this was the dragon that hurt him.

But why was it here? Was it attracted to Ace?! Or Zeref? "Is it because of me?!" Ace shouted in worry. Gildarts assured him it wasn't after him, but they didn't know what it was after.

"It doesn't care about single humans, we're all insects to it! Everyone, get back to the ship!" he commanded. But they were too scared to flee until it got very close, and then they started to run, but the impact of its crash landing sent them all flying, the ground and foliage around crumbling to pieces with the sheer size and weight of it, and how hard it landed.

Ace ran, but it looked at him, and swiped at him. He ducked to the side, barely missing it. Though it wasn't only against him, and went after the others as well. Ace was just the first target. He seamlessly turned into a dragon, and Gildarts screamed at him not to, but he caught its attention easily.

The much, much smaller dragon roared back at him. "No, Ace! Run with the others!" Makarov shouted.

"But-!"

"Go! All of you!"

"What about you?!"

"We can't leave you!"

"We'll fight it together!"

"FOLLOW MY LAST ORDERS, YOU SNOT NOSED BRATS!" the Master demanded, growing in size. When the dragon attacked again, he grabbed it to stop it as best as he could. Ace didn't listen to his orders, and flew to the face, thrusting a claw into its left eye. But they all attacked, not willing to back down when it was clear the old man couldn't handle it alone. It roared, and Ace felt his eardrums burst. But the huge dragon's eye wasn't harmed at all! Once Ace pulled his claw out, it was as if nothing happened! It was too strong! Even as everyone battled it, unleashing what magic they had left, it was fine.

It grabbed Ace with one huge clawed hand and squeezed, crushing Ace so he turned back into a human to slip out of its grasp. He fell down and landed hard, the wind being knocked out of him. He got up on shaking legs, his ears ringing. He could still hear, but it was very muted. But the sounds around him weren't quiet at all.

When it flew up, and opened its mouth wide, the fighting fairies knew it would use a breath attack. Ace ran to the group, very scared, just like the others were. Some masked it, but all of them were shaking. "What do we do?!"

"Any defensive magic - use it!" But they couldn't write runes that fast. Nobody had any magic for a forcefield at all.

"Let's all join hands and combine out magic power! All at once!" Erza shouted. They fumbled to get in a circle, Ace holding Erza and Makarov's hands. Those that he first started out with might be those he met his end with. After everything, to be killed by another dragon sounded just ridiculous. It sounded so impossible. Why did it come in the first place?

Ace let out all the magic he could, seeping into the ground, hoping for something to happen from it, protect them. "Let's go home!" Makarov said, though he looked truly resigned. They were going to die, but Ace was glad he wasn't all alone, even if he didn't want them all to die, too.

He shut his eyes tightly as the blast hit the island, decimating it, though Ace wasn't around long enough to see it disappear into nothing, leaving no trace that they, or the island, had ever been there in the first place. It was all over.

7 YEARS LATER

Ace laid on the ground, partially covered by layers of dirt and dust. His body hadn't moved in years, yet his muscles had not atrophied, and he was not dead and rotted. He hadn't eaten or drunk in seven years, yet was alive. But that wasn't the most noticeable thing about him right now. Not that he was alive, which was a miracle on its own. He didn't realize he was alive or had been unconscious.

What caught everyone's attention, as he was the last to be found, was that his face was crusted with black, which had once been a liquid. But there was also gold liquid that had crusted all over his face as well. His teeth and mouth was covered in black while his eyes had golden crusty liquid coming from them.

His mouth was wide open, but he looked at peace. He was just a mess of two different substances. Nobody else had that either. The black had come out of every orifice, with gold coming close afterwards.

Ace didn't wake when he was shaken, as everyone gathered around him. He was taken out of the dirt, and given emergency medical treatment by Wendy, and the Master did his best to find out what was wrong with him. But he seemed to be in a coma, unable to wake up. He missed the explanation of what happened by the first Master, the reunion of everyone. He missed it all.

When he did wake, it was on a ship. He was cleaned up, the crust gone completely. He sat up, his stomach rumbling and head hurting a bit. He was alive? He'd survived the dragon's blast? He was sure he had died, but suddenly he was here. On a ship, as he could smell and feel the ocean around them, swaying the room.

"You're finally awake," the Master said brightly, Erza in there, too, hurrying to his bedside. Ace could feel magic coming off of him, staining the bed in it. He still had magic, so he'd probably only been out a few minutes. It hadn't stopped yet.

"What happened? I thought we were killed by that dragon!" But Erza hugged him tightly. She gave him the name of the dragon. Acnologia. He didn't recognize the name. "But… how are we alive?"

"The first Master protected us again," Makarov said with a smile. "She protected the island from the blast. But we were hidden for quite some time. While it felt like seconds for us, for the rest of the world, it was seven years. Everyone is alive, nobody had died. And we're all in good shape.

"You were the only one who seemed to be damaged in some way. But it seems the island sucked the curse out of you. Or at least most of it. You still have magic, but I'm not sure how long it will last." Ace touched his eye, and said he still couldn't see out of it. "That doesn't necessarily mean it's still cursed. I've tried to activate it to see, but it never came out."

Ace sniffled, and started to cry. "We're all safe."

"I thought we were all going to die." He was embarrassed to cry, but he couldn't stop it. "It's not my fault, right?"

"Why on earth would it be your fault?" Erza asked in pure shock. Ace sputtered that the curse had activated, and it was evil. Surely the dragon was attracted to him. "No, it wasn't your fault, and even if it was, we're all safe and sound. We were just asleep for awhile." The old man was nodding in agreement.

"But… I'm not cursed anymore?"

"If you are, it isn't strong enough to interfere with your life or our secrets." Ace said the voice in his head had told him he was able to see everything from the start. "It doesn't mean much anymore. And there's nothing we can do to change it." Ace cried in happiness, now. "Master Mavis saved you once again."

Ace wanted to meet her again, but knew he wouldn't. He was so grateful for all she'd done for him, all of them. She saved him many times. He actually was lucky to go to the island, no matter what trouble it caused. The curse was gone, or at least mostly gone, because of being on that island. "Do you feel good enough to walk?"

Standing up, he nodded. He didn't feel like he'd been asleep for seven years. And he hadn't aged at all, and neither did Erza. So they were kept in the same state the whole time? Ace would have been upset to wake up in an older body. "Sabo and Marco are okay?"

"They are." Ace hurried out and to find his friends, who were sitting at the side of the ship, looking sad. They were talking to each other quietly. Ace shouted their names, and everyone around were glad to see him up and awake. He hugged his best friends, who cried his name, clutching his shirt in worry.

He'd been found with clothes on despite having turned into a dragon multiple times on the island. Maybe it was like Elfman's pants shifting along with him when he grew in size. He was glad he wasn't naked the whole time he was on the island. "Seven years…" Ace sighed.

"But we're all together," Marco said firmly. Ace nodded, and sat in between them, holding both hands. "You're magic again. And it isn't uncomfortable." The freckled one smiled lightly, and hoped the magic would stay. At least for awhile. Ace apologized again for attacking them. He said is in a whisper so nobody else heard.

They forgave him again, not irritated with another apology. "I hope the curse is gone for good," he said with a sigh. "I feel hope, but I also don't want to get my hopes up."

"The first Master saved us all from a dragon blast. I have faith that her power could remove the curse on you. She was super powerful! It's amazing out first guild Master ever was so strong. And our Master was really cool, too! He fought a dragon head on!"

"We all did," Marco replied to the younger blonde. "But I wonder how the world has changed…"

"No matter how it did, we're all together, and we're all alive. That's what matters most," Ace said firmly, with confidence. The ship sailed back home, those who came to see them looking a lot older. It was so odd. And Droy had gained a lot of weight. The sail back was kind of stressful. Not knowing what to expect. The world could have changed so much, and they had no idea.

It would be weird with the others having aged. But all of the people in the guild important to Ace were there. They were the Tenrou group. Though they all left behind the others. How bad they must have felt, thinking they were all dead. Ace went missing a second time. A very different second time, though. There was no way to compare the two. He really hoped that time was behind him, with the only reminder of his unknown time being being blind in one eye, which he was perfectly used to now.

That asshole in his head better be long gone. He heard no response to it. Thank goodness, Ace really wanted to be the only one speaking in his head. It was his mind and his body. With spells cast over him to bring it out, well, nothing happened! So surely it was gone! When he was on Tenrou island, he hadn't been taking his magic medicine, and was fine. He wondered if it had been a problem all that time.

He would go a bit without taking them, just to see.