Ace didn't need to gather in the early morning anymore, so he and his friends, along with Juvia, went shopping. They looked for souvenirs, Ace buying little miniature versions of the grand magic games stadium. He wanted to remember his time there, even if some of it was stressful. He also bought some Fairy Tail flags.
While they were out, Juvia buying clothes to try and "impress Gray-sama", they ran into some from Mermaid Heel. They weren't those he met before, but they knew who he was. They had no hard feelings. It wasn't like he went up against any of them anyways.
"It seems you found your way back," the woman who could use gravity magic said. Ace smiled, and bowed in thanks to them for helping him. When Juvia was a bit confused, Ace explained that their guild helped him make it back home. "It looks like all your wounds healed, too. Can you see again?"
Ace nodded. "My eye was blind because I was cursed. I didn't know it at the time I was at your guild," he said honestly. "The curse is broken now, so I can see just fine," the boy added. The two members of mermaid heel, including Kagura, the scarily strong one he heard about, who looked at them all in an unimpressed way, were shocked. At least they weren't hostile or seeming too rude.
"Well, I'm glad to hear you're doing okay! And very strong, too." Ace blushed, but said he was only strong in the first day. He sucked in his last performance. "You weren't the only one who did terribly. You just got last place." Ace nodded. "Well, good luck tomorrow." Ace nodded again, not saying he wasn't participating anymore.
They shopped some more before heading to the stadium. Ace wanted to bypass the stairs by flying, but it would be rude to his friends. When they got to the viewing place that had the rest of the guild that weren't participating, Ace was excited to watch with them. They were all united in their drive to win and support the five strongest in the guild, all chosen for that reason. All the dragon slayers but for Wendy were fighting today, in a tag team battle.
The crowd was so excited when they came out, cheering them all. Ace heard no booing, and it made him smile brightly. Even if they lost, the public was fond of them. At least, the many thousands in the audience. Mavis turned to Ace and asked how he was doing about the curse. It seemed she didn't know, so Ace explained how it seemed broken after Tenrou, but was only fully broken once the caster was dead.
She smiled, happy for him. "Thank you for everything you did."
"I'll always do my best to protect you all!" she said brightly. She really seemed very young, but Ace didn't ask how old. Technically, she was very old, being the first Master. But her body was not. His attention was brought back to the contestants.
The team seemed to all have goals of those to beat. The two first generation dragon slayers glared at the Sabertooth dragon slayers. Erza hated Minerva, Laxus and Olga, and Gray against Rufus. They all held grudges with Sabertooth. Of course they did, all of Fairy Tail did. They hated them, and wanted them all to fail spectacularly.
The first tag team battle was Ichiya and the person in the bunny costume, vs the strongest member of Quatro Puppy and one of the weaker members. Ace had no idea who would win. Ichiya smelled bad, though. Like chemicals and farts. Ace had heard him mention good smelling "parfum" many times, but to the dragon, he did not smell good.
The bunny took off his mask, and the whole of Fairy Tail had their jaws drop. It was an Exceed, one who looked just like Ichiya. It… was slightly ridiculous? Was that the right word? It just seemed weird in a way. Though Lucy had used a double earlier in her match, it wasn't weird like this was.
"That's an exceed… right?" Happy nodded. Lilly said his name with Nichiya. So, Ichiya's double was an exceed. Ace wondered if it was possible Ace's double had been an exceed and he just never met him. It was a farfetched theory, but it popped into his head. Sabo snorted, unable to help it. But it set off Ace and Marco laughing at just how ridiculous it was.
Nichiya was knocked out immediately. He was incredibly weak. Ace did wonder a bit why Lamia Scale had chosen such weak members as he thought about Nichiya's shameful defeat. The dog member he heard fretted over his missing sock that was on a necklace seemed like a poor choice for the tournament.
It actually seemed that each team but for the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth teams had a weak member. Mermaid Heel had the teenage girl who had done poorly in Hidden. Nichiya was the weak one of Blue Pegasus. All of Quatro Puppy but Bachus were weak. Raven Tail had one member do very poorly, but Ace had a strong feeling he purposely did terrible.
Ichiya surprised everyone by smelling one of his vials of perfume, and growing buff. That was impressive, and he grew much stronger, knocking out the two Quatro Puppy members with one punch. Ace was impressed, which he didn't think he'd feel for the man. Maybe he was too quick to judge.
In the next match, it was Lyon and Yuka vs Kagura and Milliana. Kagura and Lyon were the stronger ones. But Ace thought from the last match that he shouldn't be so fast to judge who would win or lose.
But in the end, Milliana was out fo the battle, with Yuka joining her until it was only Kagura and Lyon, the strongest ones of this match. Their battle was a long one. Longer than the previous. Kagura and Lyon were closely matched, both nearly dealing blows to one another. Ace was entertained by this match, since Kagura fought with her sword still sheathed.
But in the end, their time ran out, and both teams finished in a draw. It wasn't a bad outcome, as neither failed, but the two heavy hitters of that tag team battle were disappointed in the time running out. Ace didn't know who would have won. They were both very strong and adept at using their magic.
Ace felt he would have been beaten badly by them. Especially Kagura, since she didn't use her magic as much as she fought with her sword. Even if it was in its scabbard, Ace didn't know if he could have been fine from that.
The next battle was between all four dragon slayers. Sting and Rogue vs Natsu and Gajeel. Ace's eyes were wide in anticipation of seeing Sting and Rogue's full powers. And how Natsu and Gajeel would beat them. He had no doubt their dragon slayers would win, even if it was a close match.
The stadium and commentators were pumped for this battle that everyone had been waiting for. The Fairy Tail crowd cheered for their members to beat their asses hard. Ace cheered along with them. It was fun being with them! He enjoyed it.
This match was probably the most violent. With all four going all out, injuries were had, and they all pushed themselves to their limits. Even if Natsu was kind of a dumb person, he was a good fighter, and was able to counter their attacks. Gajeel did just as well. Ace was on his toes, excited and enthralled to watch these strong guys deck it out.
Neither side seemed to be losing for a long time. Ace worried the time would run out and Natus and Gajeel wouldn't win. The attacks were fierce and unrelenting. Then the stadium floor collapsed, and Marco wondered why it was so hollow underneath. Ace wondered that too once he thought about it. Why was it hollow? It was strange and intriguing. Maybe something interesting was down there. The stadium had been built over it, they couldn't have missed the huge hollow area the dragon slayers fell through, hitting the groun hard, but not injured by it.
The fight continued down there, with Natsu and Gajeel having their butts whooped badly. Ace bit his nails, really worried about the outcome. He wanted them to trump Sting no matter what. To get him back, and give Ace satisfaction that the bully was defeated, cocky and put in his place below Fairy Tail.
Everyone in the guild were shocked that their two dragon slayers were doing so badly. It was nerve wracking, and they all worried about losing badly. They had to get as many points as they could to get to the top. They needed to win this match.
The lacrima projectors were showing everything that went on down there, so the audience saw it all. Though the sound was a bit iffy. They couldn't hear too well, but Ace focused his hearing and did hear them.
When Natsu and Gajeel got up from a hard hit, they bragged about knowing all about how the other two attacked. Their patterns and all. But the metal and fire dragon slayers got in a petty argument about it. "Don't fight now!" Makarov shouted in annoyance. But then Natsu shoved Gajeel into a cart, and he was sent reeling deep down. So there was a track down there? Meaning the hollow area had been used before.
Natsu laughed, and Fairy Tail members were furious that he'd halved their power, and now was facing both of the other dragon slayers, who were very strong, alone. Even Ace was unsure if Natsu could win. Though he had no teamwork with Gajeel, so they might have hindered one another. Who knows? Gajeel was stuck in that cart from his motion sickness. Ace felt sorry for him, and hoped he was okay.
Lilly and Levy were bothered and worried over this as well. How embarrassing for him. Mavis was concerned over the strong power that Sting and Rogue unlocked. A dragon force attack, which did look strong, and changed their appearances a bit. They looked very tough. But Ace kept hoping Natsu would beat them.
"Bring it. I'm more than strong enough to deal with you two," Natsu said with a confident grin. The battle started again, Sting and Rogue now quite annoyed with Natsu being cocky and saying he could beat both of them two on one. But Natsu was a natural at fighting, and didn't go down, no matter how strong their attacks were.
Even when they did a unison raid, combining the shadow and light powers, which seemed like it should be impossible, a huge ball of magic energy was then condensed into one small ball, and then bigger again.
Natsu just stood there, ready to take the blast, not backing down at all. He looked serious, but unafraid of this mass of powerful dragon slayer magic. Then it was shot at him, and it exploded in a bright light. "Natsu!" they shouted, thinking he could have been obliterated by that. But after the light died out, Natsu stood there, his palm out. It was smoking a bit, but he'd blocked that huge amount of offensive magic power with one hand!
He stood victorious as Sting and Rogue fell, out of magic power completely. That was supposed to be the final blow, but it wasn't, and they were all spent, falling to the ground wordlessly. The stadium was silent for a moment before Natsu thrust his hands in the air, and the cheering erupted.
Now, they were one point ahead of Sabertooth. A slim advantage, but one anyways! That one point Sting sacrificed came to bite him in the butt. That's what he got for being cocky! The guild cheered proudly, while the Sabertooth members watching looked utterly shocked at the developments. Their twin dragons had been defeated completely. Natsu didn't look injured at all. Just dirty from falling and fighting down there.
Ace thought back to when Natsu had once shot fire at him, and Ace was fine. He'd cried afterwards because he was scared of dragon slayer magic, but he wondered now if he could have survived that unison raid with no damage. Well, he wouldn't attempt to find out.
"The winner is Fairy Tail! They defeated the twin dragons soundly, and they've advanced to the first spot! What unexpected developments based on their guilds previous performances!" It made some of the older members look embarrassed. They failed hard in the past. Now, all they had to do was win, and erase their sadness and humiliation. Or at least give them closure over it. Knowing that their guild was back. Ace smiled, and looked to Sabo, who had tears in his eyes, and Marco, who was beaming.
The guild was united, even if they lost. That much was for sure.
"This brings the fourth day of the grand magic games to an end! There will be a one day break before the fifth and final day!" the commentator called. "The final match will be a survival game with all five members of each team participating! Which guild will come out as the victor in the end?! Everyone, you can expect fireworks!"
The crowd cheered, Fairy Tail joining in as Ace glanced at Sabertooth with satisfaction. One more day and then they'd know if they were back to being the number one guild in Fiore. Until next year, that is.
-x-
"I don't want to go to a pool," Ace complained. "I didn't bring swim trunks."
"You can put your feet in, then," Sabo said, happy to go to the resort pool everyone was going to. Marco was fine with it, too. Ace didn't want to be alone, so he had to go with them. Why did they bring swim trunks, anyways? How did they predict they'd go swimming, and why did they not tell him to bring his own?
When they got there, they were let in for free because of their being in the grand magic games, which brought a lot of tourists that paid good money to come there. Many of the guild was already there, including those from other guilds' teams. Nobody had any hard feelings over it all. Ace went to the shallow end of the pool, and put his feet in.
Sabo and Marco were doing handstand contests in the water. It looked fun. But Ace was wearing all his clothes but for his shoes so he could put his feet in. Before he was able to get away, Natsu grabbed his foot and yanked him into the pool, laughing at his misfortune. Ace was angry, but didn't retaliate.
He got out of the pool, is clothes soaking wet now, heavy on his body. He pouted and walked to the bar, glad his money was all coins and not completely ruined. Natsu didn't think about he fact he could ruin Ace's stash of money. Stupid Natsu.
Everyone was being obnoxious, and Ace didn't really want to be seen with them, to be honest. Maybe he was boring compared to everyone else, but he expected the place to be destroyed by the end of their visit. After all, Gray and Natsu were there. Erza as well. But Natsu and Gray were the biggest problems.
He ordered a juice, and sat at the bar facing the people in the pool. There were so many sounds and smells, but he was good at filtering them out. So it didn't give him a headache or anything. Luckily. He was so glad he'd adjusted and wasn't bothered by them constantly anymore.
"Hey. You're the dragon kid, right?" the bartender asked. Ace slumped, and nodded. "You did great out there! I was so surprised. Even if you did do badly at the magic output, I don't think you got hated." Ace blushed, and thanked him for his kind words. "Anytime. It's always interesting, the grand magic games. Seeing all sorts of different magic and types of people. Never seen a kid your age do so well." He asked how old Ace was.
"Almost twelve," Ace answered.
"Dang. Fairy Tail ain't so weak after all." Ace agreed with that. He said there were stronger members than him. "Like that Natsu guy. He was impressive. Thought he'd lose for a bit!" Ace said he'd been worried too, but not surprised he won. He finished his juice, and just watched everyone quietly.
It was relaxing, until the inevitable happened and the place was destroyed. Makarov was shocked, which didn't make sense. Mavis was there, and just giggled at it. Ace would not pitch in for this. He sighed, and left, not thinking about he was going off on his own. He walked back to the hotel, stoping at a few stores to buy things with his money.
He passed a few Lamia Scale wizards, but didn't interact. He smelled Sabertooth members ahead, and didn't want to see or talk to them, and took a detour to the hotel. Instead of going into his room, he flew up to the roof and sat there. It was later that evening that Gajeel found him, and told him to come with him. He sounded serious. Ace went with him without question.
They gathered team Natsu, and the group headed to the stadium. Ace wondered why, since it was empty and the lights were all off. It was eerily quiet, such a change from the screaming and shouting noises of the games. It felt uncomfortable in a way. When they got inside, climbing the long staircase up the entrance, Gajeel told them they were going down.
The exceeds flew their partners down, and Ace flew Gray and Lucy down, too. They landed in the dark, but Natsu lit a flame to provide light to see their surroundings. The place stunk badly, and Ace plugged his nose. The dragon slayers didn't seem to notice the smell. As they walked, Gajeel didn't tell them why the heck they were down there.
But when they came across a large skeleton, it was more than enough explanation for bringing the dragon and dragon slayers down below the stadium, below much of the city besides the stadium. It was a long walk. This had to be where Gajeel had rolled down into, since the tracks and cart he was shoved into were a bit behind them.
This place was full of dragon skeletons. It disturbed Ace greatly, and he wrapped his arms around himself, wishing Marco or Sabo had come, too. Lucy put a hand on Ace's shoulder and gave him a encouraging expression. It didn't make Ace feel any better. Finding dead - long dead - dragon bones was really scary for him. Who could have killed this many dragons? And why were they below there?
Was the city and stadium built on top of this knowingly?
"A dragon graveyard," Natsu said.
"So many!" Carla said. Lilly commented that this gave them undeniable proof that dragons had existed, for anyone who didn't believe it.
Ace growled, "They all knew about this and built a city and stadium over them." The others nodded, looking troubled as well. Lucy wondered who could have done this. The dragon bones were quite large. It would be difficult to kill them. Though Sting and Rogue supposedly killed their own dragon parents. Ace wondered if his father dragon was in here, and it brought tears to his eyes. He blinked them away and nobody noticed, thankfully.
Happy asked, "Do you think Igneel is down here?" Carla scolded him for being tactless for Natsu, but the pink haired wizard said Igneel wasn't down there. No doubt he could tell by the smell. Or the shapes of the skeletons in view. "Ace, do you think you'll get this big?" Happy asked, changing the subject away from Igneel.
Ace had no idea. But he didn't want to get this big. It was impractical and would be a bother, inconvenient. He shrugged, but said nothing else.
"It's been fourteen years since our dragons vanished. But these have been have a lot longer," Gajeel said. Suddenly Wendy named a technique that was given to her by Porlyusica to train. Ace hadn't heard of this. But Wendy thought this spell "Milky Way" would give them the ability to speak to dead dragons.
"I thought till now that it was an attack, but I think it would be used for this!" she said firmly, believing in her own words. Ace looked at the nearest skeleton, and couldn't tell what killed them. Their bones were not broken, but they all died for some reason. But what was it? They could ask, if Wendy was right about this spell. "We can find out what happened here if we can find a soul and speak to it!"
What would it be like to talk to another dragon? Acnologia said nothing when he attacked them. Ace did wonder if he could speak or was just a monster.
"Maybe we can find out why our dragons vanished!" Wendy said. Ace's father might have disappeared at that time, too. He wasn't the right age, and he didn't know what year he was born. Only that he was aged when he became a human. So he had no real timeline or even estimate of when his dad vanished, leaving him there, all alone. Why? What was the reason? Was there a reason?
Wendy drew a magic circle around her in the dirt with a stick that somehow ended up down there. She then used the spell, reciting words. Ace was glad he didn't need to talk before transforming. Lucy also had to talk for her magic. He knew others did, too, but this spell was pretty long winded. A bright light appeared above them, beautiful swirls of it throughout the cavern. It was really pretty, but really bright as well, and it made him squint his eyes. The others were also in awe of the magic display.
"Found you!" Wendy shouted. Then a green dragon appeared in front of them. It wasn't real, it couldn't harm them. Ace's heart was pounding in his chest, and hoped this dragon was different than the monster that uprooted their lives for seven years. Ace would never forgive him for that, even if it ended up in Ace's favor in the end. Purging him of most of the curse.
This dragon could speak, and laughed at their startled faces. "I am called Zirconis! The jade dragon! You called me with Grandeeney's sky magic, didn't you? Where is she?" he asked, sounding amused at all of this. Not bothered his soul was ripped out of the afterlife to talk with humans. Seemed civil enough, able to speak just fine.
Then he saw Wendy, still holding the spell. "This little girl summoned me? Such a cute little dragon slayer." He got close to Wendy, and Natsu told him to get away. "No way, I'm gonna eat this girl!" the dragon wasn't solid, so could it really consume Wendy? Ace grew a bit worried. "It was a joke! What did you expect, I'm a ghost! How am I supposed to touch you, idiot!"
Carla wasted no time and asked what happened to all of these dragons. He explained after a rude refusal. He said he came from 400 years ago, when dragons ruled the world, and humans were just snacks. Everything belonged to the dragons, and humans were just lucky if they managed to survive to adulthood.
"But there was a foolish dragon who wished to be friendly with mankind and rejected the rule of the dragons! He blathered some idiocy about a world where humans and dragons coexisted. But a war erupted between the dragons who agreed and those who opposed. I fought against him. Humans were delicious! I can't recall just how many I had the pleasure to eat!"
He continued despite his morbid words. The world was torn apart by the dragon war, and many perished. "But the faction that wanted to coexist with humans gave them magic to fight us. That could slay dragons. He had them join the battle." So that was where dragon slayer magic came from! Ace had never really dwelled on the question or curiosity long because he didn't believe he'd ever find out.
But Natsu and the other two were taught by dragons, so they gave them the powers no doubt. But the humans who were given power killed the dragons. It backfired. There was a man that killed so many dragons, and bathed in their blood. Disgusting. He slayed so many dragons that he ended up becoming one himself. It was like the opposite of Ace. He was a dragon that became a human.
Every single one of the dragons in the cave were killed by that man, the human who became a dragon. Acnologia. It sent chills down his spine, and Lucy looked scared.
"A dragon, yet not a dragon. The wings of darkness! The dragon king, and his battle gave way to the Dragon King Festival! Acnologia killed us all!" Zirconis said dramatically. He looked bothered by everything he was saying. It had been hundreds of years ago, so it was unlikely he'd hold a grudge against humans, if he was killed by them. "By the way, what's a young dragon doing here? In a human body?"
Ace honestly said his father dragon had turned him into a human child so he was safer in the human world. "Is that so? I knew a fool who did that, but it probably wasn't you, little one," Zirconis said.
"You knew my father?!" Ace asked.
"I don't remember what he did with his hatchling. But it wasn't you that this happened to. Though…" he grew a wicked grin, and Ace grew worried. "You're probably not a little kid's age."
Ace asked what he meant, looking very bothered. "You-" but then he disappeared, Wendy losing grasp of his spirit. Ace was reeling. Natsu turned to him and asked what he meant about having a dragon father. Nobody knew but for Marco and Sabo. Not even the Master.
"I had a memory dream, of when I was turned into a human. But it was blurry. I was a baby," Ace said truthfully. "I don't know anything else about him."
"But, dragons lived 400 years ago," Gray said. Natsu pointed out that the dragon slayer's dragon parents disappeared fourteen years ago. Gray said nothing else. Ace was distracted, wondering what this meant. Was Zirconis honest about not knowing if Ace was the one he spoke about? Or was someone else out there like him? He was unsure. As the others conversed in shock about it all, and the three dragon slayers worried about using their magic too much and turning into a dragon themselves.
Ace felt like an outsider, and wished his friends had come along, too. They must be worried about him not returning to their hotel room. Well, now they had a lot to learn about it all. Ace heard someone approaching from behind, and turned around. Two people came. Ace recognized one of them as the girl from Sabertooth. And the other was an unfamiliar man dressed as a knight. He had a long, pointy nose and a lot of facial hair.
"Forgive me for overhearing your conversation. But it seems to confirm historical records of what we know of the time. I assume you are all familiar with the demons of the book of Zeref." Ace didn't like talking about him, because it reminded Ace of him talking to him, showing him sympathy and then interest in his future.
It made him confused, and feel evil. It just made him feel dirty in a way, even now. The knight continued. Ace didn't like him, but couldn't figure out why. "Acnologia is close to that. The theory is that Zeref transformed a dragon slayer into Acnologia."
"Zeref did?!" Happy asked. Ace did feel a flood of relief in a way. With Zeref supposedly having connections to Acnologia, it was more likely it was him that brought the dragon, not Ace.
"In other words, the first step in defeating Zeref, who caused all this, is to capture Acnologia." The group was shocked by his outlandish words, and wondering why Yukino was there, dressed like someone who worked for the kingdom. The knight introduced himself and his rank, a captain of the royal army, his name being Captain Arcadious. He gave Ace a bad feeling. "Let me explain."
Ace was getting a very bad feeling from him, and the way he was looking at Ace was almost in a greedy, hungry way. Before he explained anything, Ace said he was leaving. "What? Why?" Wendy asked, since he was sudden.
"I don't want any part in what he wants to do," Ace said bluntly. "I'm going back to the hotel." And he grew wings and flew away. Wendy called for him to wait, but Gajeel stopped her, telling her to leave Ace be.
"He has a reason," the man said gruffly, shutting Wendy up. Ace flew out, uncomfortable about the man hearing about Ace being a dragon. It made him uneasy, and he wanted to stay away from Arcadious. He didn't want to know his plans if they involved him. Saying no to a royal knight for a plan so important as capturing Acnologia, well, it would have looked bad for Ace.
So he removed himself from the situation.
