A/N: Merry Christmas, friends! I bring you the usual holiday episode, but I also must inform you that I will not have a new chapter ready by the New Year. This is due to the fact that I am officially a proud homeowner, and will be moving my family into the new place over the next couple of weeks or so! I'll try to have a new chapter out by the time that the beginning of February rolls in, provided that the transition is a smooth one, so there's that.

Now that my personal news is out of the way, let's get on with the show! Read review, and as always, enjoy!

P.S. I should have addressed Gorun's near-insanity when it comes to using mortal super saiyan powers a lot earlier on in the story, but I could never find out a way to work it into the story itself, so I'm just going to put in what I messaged a friend of mine who was thoroughly perplexed as to why our hero loses his head every time he pushes himself too far with mortal ki. Here it is:

In response to Kaidon's insanity whenever he uses SSJ4, I haven't exactly had a reason to go over the details in the story just yet, but there is a reason he acts even crazier than other saiyans would when they use the form, and that is his divine heritage. 'Pardon, quoi?' you ask? I'll explain.
In a lot of stories, from cultures all over, there is a theme with heavenly beings and/or their descendants getting a taste of something that mortals desire, and then they begin to want it for themselves. However, being the celestial entities that they are, such things are often forbidden, and so the person goes crazy in an effort to have the best of both worlds.
The idea is that in this world the divine and the mortals are meant to only interact as necessary (such as Goku and Vegeta attaining godhood in order to defend their realm) but never truly merge, like with the birth of Lettis, Kaidon, and Reycel. As crazy as he was, Zamasu did have some solid reasoning for why he feared mortals rising up to the divine realm, and that is there would be consequences to such unions, even if he couldn't predict their exact nature. Kaidon's SSJ4 is the pinnacle of this forbidden fusion, a being of divine heritage choosing to embrace his 'corrupted' (for lack of a better term) mortal powers. His divinity reacts negatively to the evil buried in the roots of the primal saiyan power brought out to its maximum limits, and the result is hell in his mind. The higher up the scale he goes in terms of mortal saiyan transformations, the more it messes with his head, and he wouldn't even know it. His mother never had this problem because despite being Chronoa's daughter, she inherited a stronger gene set from her father, though she still carried them dormant within her, which she then passed on to her son. He in turn passed it on to Reycel in the future, but because her training progressed much more slowly than his did, she had longer to acclimate her mind to the changes that it would undergo, time that Kaidon has not yet had.

So there you go, folks, why Gorun turns into a nutjob if you push the monkey button!

Alvarez War Arc: Prologue 1

War Declared

Lucy and Levy of the future were given the warmest welcome by their friends and present-day counterparts as soon as Gorun and Kinana announced their return. In typical Fairy Tail fashion, the party consisted of drinks, food, and a drawn-out brawl that Gorun was fortunately able to move outside before returning to the guild hall with a bemused expression on his face.

"Gotta hand it to this guild, their fights are way more fun here than in Conton," he said as he sat next to Future Lucy by the bar, who was sitting by her current time's self.

"The things you never think about missing," the now-ex Time Patroller agreed.

"Really?" Lucy asked in disbelief. "You can't tell me that you miss Natsu breaking into our apartment all the time."

"Hmm…" Future Lucy said with a coy grin, causing her other self to groan and roll her eyes. A thought seemed to occur to her then, because she frowned a bit as she said, "Speaking of my old apartment, you already have a roommate, right?"

"Yeah, Éclair rooms with me," Lucy answered as she pointed at the former priestess, who was currently yanking on Droy's ear as punishment for stepping on her foot while trying to make his way over to Future Levy across the room. To her future self, she said, "Sorry, but you know I don't have room for any more in the place."

"Yeah, that figures," the other blond girl sighed. "I do miss that old apartment, though…"

"I can rent you a unit," Gorun said as he watched Lisanna talking animatedly with Future Levy.

Future Lucy snapped her head around to look directly at him as she asked, "You what?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention," Lucy said as she clicked her fingers. "Gorun bought the building from our landlady a few months ago. He gives Fairy Tail members a discount on rent, too." She gave him a grin, which he returned easily while they exchanged a fist bump.

"Wha-? Who else from the guild lives there?!"

"Just Gajeel and Pantherlily, they moved in last month."

"Why…?"

"Real estate is a good investment," Gorun shrugged. "My team makes a load of money doing a ton of S-class jobs, plus the handful of SS-class missions that Azura and I have done, so paying off my house was a snap, even after we divvied up the spoils. After all that, I didn't really have a lot to spend my money on, so I decided to invest it in property. I own your old apartment building, a magic items shop, and a couple of restaurants. I even used the money that I got from completing a decade quest with Azura to buy a small hotel a few weeks back. Your old landlady still manages the apartment complex for me, and I pay Levy to run numbers for my other establishments. I actually just give most of the excess money to the guild to help pay for damages that we cause on jobs."

"You mean the damage that my team causes on jobs?" Lucy asked dryly, to which he nodded with a little chuckle.

"Since when do Saiyans understand the business market?" Future Lucy asked, still surprised by what she was hearing.

"Hey, I might come from Saiyans, but a lot of people seem to forget that I also come from Dr. Briefs' genes, you know?" Gorun said, looking a little offended. "Running a business is my blood, too."

"Oh, yeah," Future Lucy nodded slowly. "I did forget about that…"

"So, how about it?" the Saiyan asked his friend. "Say the word, and I'll have a unit refurbished to look like your old place. I've got three spots open right now, one on the second story, and the others on the ground floor."

"You're serious?" Future Lucy gaped. "But I don't have any jewel yet! I can't afford to pay you!"

"Like I care," Gorun chortled. "Consider the first month my 'welcome back' gift. The only thing I'll say is that if Levy also wants an apartment, you two will have to share. Handing out a freebie for a bit on one unit is one thing, but I'll start losing money for the upkeep of the place if I do it for two apartments."

"No problems there," Future Lucy said excitedly. "We were roommates in Conton, so I'm sure she won't have a problem with this kind of arrangement! And we'll totally pay you back for the first month's rent as soon as we can, I promise."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged. Growing a little more serious, he said, "Here's to hoping that Magnolia survives long enough for you two to get used to being back."

"Whoa, what's got you feeling down all of a sudden?" Lucy asked him worriedly.

"I was pretty confident that Azura, Rachel, and I would be able to counter anything that a temporal shift might move in favor of Alvarez when they come," he answered as he leaned back in his seat to look up at the rafters of the guild hall. "Now with the appearance of those masked Saiyans, and Grandma's warning, I'm not so sure."

"Yeah, who is this 'Vajra' guy she was telling you about?" the celestial mage from the current era asked. "Some kind of demon?"

"That's all we know about him, apparently," Gorun said with a frustrated sigh. "Well, that and the fact that he's an expert at moving through time without being detected. Whoever he is, he's likely beyond even my ability to handle, maybe even out of Rachel's league." That particular thought was not a comforting one to either Lucy, and they exchanged a worried look before he said, "The only thing we have in our favor is that Vajra supposedly almost never makes a direct move, preferring to do things from the shadows without risking direct confrontations. Maybe we can get through this without fighting him."

"Here's hoping," Future Lucy grimaced.

"Can we talk about something less depressing, please?" Lucy asked a little nervously. "All this talk about invincible demons is giving me the chills."

"Sorry, force of habit," her future self said. "Let's talk about what's happening around here… I haven't see Juvia since we got back. Is she out on a job or something?"

"Or something," Gorun said with a little smile. "She actually left Fairy Tail seven months ago, and she's been at Lamia Scale ever since."

"What?!" Future Lucy gasped. "Wait, is this because of Gray and Yukino?"

"Not really," Lucy giggled, confusing her other self as to how they could be so carefree about one of their members deserting to another guild. "Those two actually broke up a while back- on good terms, thankfully."

"…I have a lot of questions right now."

"To make a long story short, neither of them were really feeling into it," Gorun shrugged. "He told me that they both felt like they were keeping a label on themselves pretty much for the sake of itself, and that they weren't really going anywhere with it. They're still good friends, they just realized that they wanted different things out of life."

"Back to Juvia," Lucy said, drawing her future self's attention back to her. "She's actually getting married in a month- to Lyon, no less!"

"You're kidding!" Future Lucy gaped. "I thought that she turned him down?!"

"He was persistent," Gorun laughed as he remembered all the times that Lyon had come to Fairy Tail under the pretext of joint missions, just to have a few minutes to talk to the rain woman. "She was actually pretty amicable to him coming around the first few times, and then he started asking her to go out on jobs with him. One thing led to another, and now…" The saiyan made shrugging motion as he said, "Never thought I'd say it, but I'm happy for her. She finally has someone who'll worship the ground that she walks on instead of constantly giving her the cold shoulder." He snickered at his choice of words, causing the two girls to roll their eyes at him.

"Leave to him to ruin a moment with a stupid pun," Lucy grumbled.

"I'd hoped that he would've grown out of those by now," her future self agreed.

Before Gorun could make a reply, the doors swung open to reveal a cross-looking Azura and a brightly smiling Mirajane. The white-haired mage stepped inside the hall as silence descended upon the guild and asked, "Can someone explain why the front lawn is in pieces?"

Gorun swiftly leaped out of his chair to land in front of the women before saying, "That might technically be my fault."

"Technically?" Azura repeated sardonically.

"We were having a party, and I tossed the rowdier members outside so they didn't wreck the mess hall again," he replied as he folded his arms. "I take it that they're nowhere to be seen?"

"If Salamander was with them, he probably smelled us coming and ran away," Azura muttered. "He knows I'd show no mercy."

"Why were you having a party in the first place?" Mirajane asked as she maintained her smile, which Gorun knew meant bad news.

So he quickly held up his hands in a gesture of surrender before answering, "It was my idea. We're welcoming two old friends back into the fold, is all."

"Old friends?" Now both of the girls just looked confused.

"Also, we may have a bigger problem than the masked saiyans on our hands." Gorun shifted his gaze to stay on Azura as he asked, "Ever heard of a Time Breaker called 'Vajra'?"

His stomach sank like a rock as his cousin paled and answered, "Just rumors… But even those are enough to make me worried."

"Wait, slow down," Mirajane said as she frowned at the two of them. "What's this about a Time Breaker? And who are the two 'old friends' that we're welcoming back?"

"Uh, hey Mira," Future Levy said as she and the two Lucy's approached the trio. "This might take a little while to explain…"

Azura blinked at the duplicates a couple of times before turning to Gorun and demanding, "Kaidon, what did you do this time?!"

"Why do you assume I did something?!"

"Every time something to do with time travel happens in this world, you're in the middle of it!"

"Hey, the Eclipse project was not my fault!"

"I can see why this is going to take a while," Mirajane sighed as she moved to greet the future versions of her guildmates. "Welcome back, you two, but I'm afraid that you've come at what's looking to be a very busy time."

"We figured as much," Future Lucy replied as she looked over the seventh guild master's shoulder. "And we have a pretty good idea as to how it's about to get started."

Gorun paused in the middle of a retort to his cousin as he finally noticed that Mirajane and Azura had not come back on their own. As a man dressed in white robes stepped forward with a grim expression, he said, "It's good to see that things haven't changed much- we'll need that for what's about to go down, should our fears come true."

"Hello, Mest," Gorun said as he moved to shake hands with the man. "To what do we owe the honor of having a council member join us?"

Mest looked around to see the other guild members observing the proceedings curiously, so he said in a lowered tone, "This is a conversation best had behind closed doors. I admit I'm curious as to why there are two Lucy's and Levy's, but what I've determined cannot wait any longer."

Gorun's brow dipped as he asked in a lowered tone, "Has Alvarez made a move, yet?"

"Like I said, we should discuss this in private."

"Got it… I have a place."

"He has a better one, trust me," Azura told him, surprising her cousin. "Wait 'till you see what's in the basement."

Ten minutes later saw them four- and at Gorun's insistence- the other two former time patrollers- heading down a hidden stairwell. "If this is about major changes in the geopolitical structures of the world, Lucy and Levy have a right to know just as much as Azura and I do," he said as they descended into the dark. "By the way, how did I not know about this place?" He had instructed Rachel to keep any would-be eavesdroppers away from the passage that Mest had taken them into, as she was just about the only guild member that could stare down even the likes of Erza and Laxus.

"Only guild masters are supposed to know about it," Mest answered as he led the way down past dimly-lit lachrymas that just barely made vision possible in the dark. "Considering what's coming, however, secrecy is a little lower on my list of priorities."

"You told us that you had information on Makarov," Mira said pointedly, clearly eager to get the conversation going in earnest. "What's down here that will help us find him?"

"It's not so much as what will help us find him as explaining why it is imperative that we do," Mest replied, further irritating the two S-class females.

"Anytime you wanna start making sense…" Azura growled.

"I'd start talking, pal," Gorun advised Mest. "Her temper moves a lot faster than mine does."

"When Alvarez tried to invade ten years ago, they were repelled with the Etherion Cannon," Mest said as they continued down the stairs, his pace and grim facial expression unchanged. "The council also had the Face bombs set up as a deterrent for their military forces as last line of defense. Both weapons are now gone, and Alvarez has begun to gather its forces once again."

"We already know all that," Mirajane replied, her normally cheerful expression a hard one. "What does it have to do with a secret passageway below the guild hall?"

"When Alvarez came, they didn't want our land or our technological accomplishments," Mest said as they finally came into a flat place, where there was a massive door with many arcane symbols etched into the stone archway. "They wanted Fairy Tail's most closely-guarded secret… the Lumen Histoire." As he spoke the final two words, the doors swung open, seemingly of their own accord, to unveil a truly bizarre sight.

"Is that…?" Even Azura seemed surprised by what they were seeing.

"Master Mavis?" Gorun finished as they moved into a room lit by a giant lachryma- one that contained the image of their guild's founding master. She was naked, but her massive blonde tresses preserved her modesty well enough that Gorun found himself able to look on without too much embarrassment. That, and the fact that the amount of magic energy that he was sensing was almost enough to choke his senses altogether. "This feels like…"

"An unlimited reservoir of magic power," Mest confirmed for him. "From what I've learned, it would seem that this is the result of Master Mavis' body being preserved by her successor, Precht, and his repeated attempts to bring her back to life. Somehow, in trying to restore her spirit to her deceased flesh, he created a paradox in the nature of magic itself, creating an endless wellspring of ethernano. I doubt even he understood how he did what he did."

"How have we never detected this?" Azura demanded, clearly irritated by the fact that she had missed something so potent right under their noses. "This thing is giving off the unbridled power of an Immortal, and yet I never even had a hint of its existence."

"And why didn't Rachel know about it?" Gorun wondered aloud.

"Like I said, this is the guild's greatest secret," Mest repeated as he stood in front of the giant crystal. "The previous masters of the guild went through great pains to ensure its secrecy- not even Macao knew about it, as he did not inherit the title properly from Makarov. It's entirely possible that even your future self didn't know of its existence. Even if you did, what good would it have done to tell your daughter?"

Gorun's first instinct was to remind the other man that his future self hadn't actually raised his daughter, but someone else interrupted his flow of thought before he could give it voice. "I didn't inherit the title from Makarov either, but you're showing it to me, anyway," Mirajane said as she crossed her arms. "Why?"

"Because you need to understand why Alvarez is coming for us, our guild in particular," the councilman replied grimly. "They'll take out anyone who gets in their way, granted, but this is their true goal. If they reach us and harness its might, life as we know it is over."

"You're assuming that they can get past us," Azura snorted as she jerked a thumb at her cousin. "We can unleash the power of thousands of etherion cannon blasts. Their armada won't make it halfway across the ocean."

"Unless the masked saiyans run interference for them," Gorun pointed out, causing Azura to scowl. "Don't give me that look, you know it's true. Whichever Time Breaker is backing them won't send them at us with the level of strength that they possessed when we last fought them. If it's one of the smarter ones, they set Bardock and friends loose on us to test how strong we were, as a mark of how strong their pawns need to be."

"Most of the Time Breakers have been dealt with in the current era by your parents," Future Levy informed Gorun. "The only one smart enough and with the resources to attempt something like that is Fu."

"Don't forget Vajra," Future Lucy reminded her friend. "I'd bet my last zeni that he's the real puppet master here, even if Fu is involved."

"I don't see Fu taking orders from someone else," Azura said with a frown, Mirajane and Mest now looking very confused on the sidelines. "Remember how he dealt with Dabura?"

"Something tells me that Vajra plays a very different game than the others that serve Demigra and Towa," Gorun mused. "If anyone could reign in that devil, it'd be him. After all, my mom and dad have never even come close to the guy- that's how good he is."

"Anytime you'd like to clue in those of us that haven't travelled through time…?" Mest said pointedly as he tapped his foot impatiently.

"I told you about the Saiyans that attacked us already," Azura huffed. "We're trying to figure out which Time Breaker they're being controlled by. If we can figure that out, it gives us a better chance at figuring out their next move."

"That doesn't solve the problem of Alvarez," the councilman retorted. "Look, when Makarov tried to disband Fairy Tail, he said it was because he didn't want Alvarez to tear us apart to get to the Lumen Histoire. He wanted to shield all of us from being the final casualties in a war that seems all but impossible to prevent now. I tried to stop him from going, but his mind was made up. He said that he was going west, to the empire in order to try and negotiate with them, see if peace between our continents was possible. But it's been a year now, and no word from him, not even once."

"You think he's dead?" Gorun asked grimly, causing the other man to shift uncomfortably in place.

"That or captured," he admitted. "I don't know why else he wouldn't send word. I've spent the last year doing my part to help rebuild the council so that Fiore would have some organized defenses, but I've done all I can to prepare us at this point. Now, as a member of Fairy Tail, my only concern is finding the guild master."

Gorun frowned at that before gesturing to Mirajane and saying, "Uh, hello? Guild master, right here."

"What are you-?"

"Look, I'm all for helping the old-timer," Gorun said to cut off his peer. "I recognize that he's done a lot for Fairy Tail, and that he was a good leader for a long time. But the fact of the matter is that he up and ditched us without so much as a word as to why. He lacked faith in us and what we could accomplish together, and so allowed his fear to rule his actions- a contradiction to everything that he claimed to stand for."

"What are you saying, Gorun?" Future Lucy asked him worriedly. Levy and Mest also looked concerned, but Mirajane and Azura seemed to know where he was headed with this.

"He's saying that if we go to rescue the old man, we're going to rescue a guild mate, not a guild master," the blue-haired saiyan told them, stunning Mest and the other time travelers. "This guild has grown far stronger than even I would have given them credit for under the guidance of Strauss, and I don't care to see the reigns handed back to the geezer just because he's coming back home. He doesn't deserve the title anymore, and she certainly doesn't deserve to be rewarded with a pat on the head and a 'job well-done' after all her hard work."

"Hold on a sec," Future Lucy protested. "Sure, he made a mistake, but he did it out of concern for all of you. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Shouldn't the rest of the guild have a say in this, too?" Future Levy asked. "This concerns all of Fairy Tail, not just Mira and Makarov."

"We also have the first guild master to think about," Mest reminded them. "Makarov may have worn the mantle of 'master', but in a case like this, we should listen to her counsel, if she'll lend it to us."

The group paused, as if expecting the shade of the girl to manifest before them, but when several moments of silence had passed, Gorun shrugged and said, "Let's deal with one problem at a time. Makarov probably needs rescuing, so that's what we'll focus on for now. The title of the guild's master can be discussed once we've got him back- or avenged him. As for the Time Breakers, let's just hope that they don't make trouble for us while we're on the road."

"And what if they do?" Azura asked with a snarky grin.

"Then we give them more trouble than they bargained for," Gorun answered with a similar expression. To Mirajane, he asked, "Do I have your permission to assemble a team for rescuing Makarov?"

"You do, but keep it small," she answered him. "Also, I want Rachel and Cana to stay behind. They're our best line of defense for if those masked saiyans show up again, and you two aren't here to stop them."

"Can't argue with that."

"I can," Azura snorted, causing her cousin to glare at her. "What? She's crafty, sure, but she hasn't even been able to use Super Saiyan 2 yet. You really think that she'll stand a chance against what we had to fight?"

"With Rachel's help, maybe," Gorun grumbled. "And I'm pretty sure she can do it; she just hasn't had the motivation needed to take the next step, yet. Don't forget, I made that lachryma that's in her body shortly after becoming strong enough to take on level three."

"You have a tail," Azura pointed out. "Your body could adapt to the power a lot faster than hers' can."

"She'll still have Rachel with her, not to mention the rest of the guild," Mirajane said to head off any more arguing between the two of them. "Gorun, you have your orders. I want you on your way to Alvarez by tomorrow morning."

"Yes, ma'am."

That night, he had summoned the selected team members for the job in his home, with the warning not to tell anyone else where they were going.

"Why all the secrecy, man?" Gray asked as he folded his hands while resting his elbows on his knees. "What'd you get into this time?" He and Erza were sitting on the couch next to where Azura was standing with a passive expression on her face. Across from them sat Yukino and Sorano, both of them looking apprehensive about the clandestine nature of the meeting while Kinana stood next to Gorun with a somber face. The final attendants in the gathering were Future Lucy and Levy, both of them as quiet as Azura while they waited for things to get started.

"What we're about to discuss does not leave this room," he warned them. "I've assembled you all here because I need your specific skills and strengths to help Azura and I in a mission that could provoke movements on a global scale."

Once they were all in compliance with his gag order, he gave them an abridged explanation of the Lumen Histoire and why Alvarez was going to come after their guild in particular when they invaded. He also told them about how Makarov had disappeared without contact shortly after attempting to disband the guild, and his stated reasons for trying to do so. While he spoke, everyone listened without interrupting, in spite of the surprise that Gorun could easily see on their faces.

Once he was done with his narrative, he concluded by saying, "Our mission is to find out what happened to Makarov, rescue him if at all possible, and gain any intelligence about the western empire that might prove useful in the upcoming conflict."

"Are we sure that it will be war?" Erza asked, confusing the time travelers.

"Everything we know points in that direction," Future Levy told the other woman. "Why do you ask?"

"I simply cannot help but wonder if the knowledge of our resident Saiyan friends would be enough of a deterrent to keep Alvarez away from Fiore altogether," Erza explained. "They've said it themselves, they can produce the energy of an etherion cannon hundreds of times over- a fact that has been witnessed by many people from all over the continent, and- I expect- beyond it."

"We first heard about the war from Rachel, so we know that even in a timeline affected by our influences, the conflict will occur," Azura answered before Gorun could make a reply. "Being in the Time Patrol, you also learn that the timeline has a tendency to try and revert its course back to normal on its own, though of course, there are Time Breakers who make the changes drastic enough that it requires the Supreme Kai of Time's attention. It would be very in keeping with their methods to worsen the upcoming war so that they might collect more stray energy to use in their designs, and cause a shift in the temporal flow that diverts it completely from its original course- a future where we lose is all too possible, now."

"Short version is, yes, war is coming, even if we don't know exactly what day it will begin," Gorun summarized. "Alvarez wants the Lumen Histoire, and the Time Breakers want a big battle to happen, whatever else they may be up to."

"My underworld contacts have all been talking about how Alvarez is buying up all the armaments that they can get, through legal trades and black market alike," Sorano said as she tapped her chin in thought. "Jellal has also been dealing with a lot of dark guilds that have been dealing in Ishgar weapons and intelligence with the west, so it lines up on that end, too."

"The council is preparing for an imminent battle, thanks to Mest and Warrod, so their information must also be concrete enough to get the other council members moving on this," Gorun pointed out. Looking at Erza, he said, "I wish it wasn't so, but war is coming, and I'd bet on sooner rather than later."

"For now, though, we focus on rescuing Master Makarov," Future Lucy said firmly. "With any luck, we'll be in and out of the empire before anyone even notices that we're there."

"With our luck, we'll have the whole army chasing us five minutes after landing," Gray said, causing his future friend to cringe.

"We're not taking Salamander with us, remember?" Azura pointed out. "He'd never cut it on a stealth op like this one."

"That's true," Future Levy smiled. "Heaven help Mira when he finds out that we're leaving without him, though."

Future Lucy seemed to think for a moment before she said, "Without Natsu around, I'd still only give us ten minutes before something crazy happens."

"That's assuming the fireball doesn't follow us," Gray pointed out, causing Gorun to grin evilly. "What's that look for, man?"

"I promise he won't be following us," the Saiyan answered while maintaining his grin. "Now, you're all welcome to stay for a bit, but we shouldn't stay up too late. I've arranged for us to be on a train to Port Hargeon first thing in the morning."

As he left to go attend to something in the kitchen, Gray exchanged a look with Future Lucy and asked, "How did he make sure that Natsu isn't gonna follow us?"

"Not sure, but I don't know how much of a Fairy Tail adventure this is gonna feel like without Natsu around," the blond woman sighed as the others- minus Azura- went to follow Gorun to the other room.

"I know what you mean," Future Levy agreed. "I was hoping to go on a job with Gajeel before all the craziness started, but I guess duty calls."

"You two haven't given much thought to how complicated your relationships with the dragon slayers are going to be, have you?" Azura said blandly, startling the others, as they had honestly almost forgotten that she was there.

"What are you talking about?" Future Levy asked, rather unconvincingly.

"Nothing's complicated with Natsu and Gajeel," Gray snorted. "Give 'em something to punch and a big meal, and they're good to go. I'm pretty sure that Natsu can't even spell 'complicated'."

Azura looked at him passively for a few seconds before she asked, "So when you and Yukino broke up, was it mutual, or did she dump you?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"We had given it some thought, but honestly, we were more preoccupied with saving the planet than thinking about how our presence might complicate certain matters," Future Lucy answered the saiyan. "Figuring that stuff out can come after we've rescued Master Makarov, if not after we've sent Alvarez packing."

"Suit yourself," Azura shrugged before giving Gray a glower that reminded him of Erza, so he shut up and sat down where he was, minus his shirt. Satisfied, she bade them a good night and turned to head out the front door.

As she did, Levy whispered to Lucy, "Who'd have thought that she'd have a clue about any of that?"

"I know, right?" the blond wizard answered in a similar tone.

Both of their blood froze when Azura looked over her shoulder with a glare to hiss, "I can hear everything you're saying, remember?"

"Eep!"

"Genora, no ki blasts in my house!" Gorun called from the other room.

"Fine, I'm late for a prior engagement, anyway," she grumbled as she stepped out into the night air. "See you in the morning, Kaidon." Then she was gone, having taken to the dark sky fast enough that her tailwind blew the door shut.

"A prior engagement?" Gray asked as soon as they were certain she was out of hearing range. "What was that about?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to go on a date with a legal guild wizard when you're supposed to be infiltrating a bloodthirsty cult," Kinana giggled as she and Gorun came out of the kitchen with snack trays. "Anyone want some cheese and crackers?"

"I've got the meats if you want those," Gorun added as he set his platter down on the coffee table.

"A date?!" Erza gaped, her words reflecting the shock on everyone else's faces in the room. "W-When did this happen? How did it happen?!"

"Seems like just about everyone is getting paired up these days," Sorano said with a cold little smile that she directed at Gray, who shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

Yukino shoved her sister gently while saying, "Knock it off, Sor. I think it's great that Azura's finally finding some happiness in a life outside of the Time Patrol. She's really come a long way from when we first met her."

"I'm proud of her," Gorun said with a smile while Erza continued to ramble nonsensically about how Azura could possibly be in a relationship before a good number of their peers. When he caught Kinana and Gray giving him a knowing smile, however, he quickly added, "I never said that, and I'll deny it tooth and nail."

The next morning, the assembled team was gathered at Gorun's house, all of them packed for the long trip that they had ahead of them. "Everyone set?" he asked as he looked around himself. Once everyone had assured him that they were ready, he told them, "We're going incognito for this one. If Alvarez gets wind that Fairy Tail is snooping around, they'll pounce on us with a vengeance, so we'll have to change our guild marks."

"Who are we going in as, then?" Erza questioned him.

"I thought about it for a while, and Cait Shelter seemed like the best option," he answered.

"Wendy's old guild?" Gray recalled. "Why them? They're not even active anymore."

"True, but they were small to begin with, and this way we don't have to worry about running into any active guild members who'll out us as imposters."

"Yeah, Natsu did that to a creep named Bora when we first met," Future Lucy recalled. "Good call, there."

Once everyone had altered their guild marks to resemble that of a cat with two tails, Gorun said, "Okay, grab on. I'm going to use instant transmission to take us to a boat that's already on its way to Alvarez. The captain owes me a favor, and I explained my plan to him."

"Wait, I thought that we were taking the train?" Yukino inquired.

"I said that because I know Natsu was shadowing me yesterday after Mest took us into the basement," Gorun said with a devious smirk. "He saw me getting tickets to go to Hargeon, and Rachel confirmed that he made a similar purchase after I did. He's on his way to the harbor, probably sick out of his mind, and in no shape to try and tag along on our mission."

"Wow," Sorano commented. "That's cold, even for me."

"Like I said, we can't afford anything going wrong on this one," Gorun shrugged. "Now grab on to me. Mest is already on the ship so I can lock onto his magic power signature. Let's not keep him waiting." The others all moved to place a hand on the Wizard Saint, and within five seconds, the group was standing on the deck of a large ship where Mest was leaning on the railing.

"I was wondering when you'd get here," he said as he moved to shake hands with Gorun. "I appreciate you doing this for me." He was dressed in casual clothing instead of the white robes befitting a council member, likely to avoid any unwanted attention from the other passengers.

"Not a problem," the saiyan replied while his group began to disperse, curious about the ship that they had found themselves on. "I take it that you won't be coming the rest of the way, though?"

"It wouldn't exactly do much good if a Fiore council member was caught sneaking into another country," the man said with a negative shake of his head. "I would go if I could, but I still have a lot to do back in Crocus, regardless."

"Wait, so a council member sneaking into a hostile country is too risky, but a wizard saint from the same nation doesn't count?" Gorun pretended to be confused. "No offense, but I probably have a lot more renown than you do."

"Yeah, but you also have the power to back up your reputation if anything goes wrong," Mest answered with a little smirk. "I'm not exactly combat material."

"And apparently, I am nothing but," his guild mate shrugged. "Ah, well. Good luck with your preparations. I'll be in touch as soon as we find Makarov."

"Good luck," Mest replied before he teleported away, likely back to the coast.

"So remind me again, why isn't Gorun just teleporting in to wherever Makarov is and then coming back with him?" Sorano complained as she looked out at the waves. "The saltwater in the air is doing my hair no favors."

"Alvarez has a lot of arcane defenses, including a barrier that prevents anyone from teleporting in from outside of it," Kinana answered readily. "Once we find Makarov, we'll need to make it past the same barrier to get home."

"What's the matter, don't like boats?" Azura inquired as she raised an eyebrow at the former criminal.

"I'm not overly fond of people who can't keep their lunches where they belong once they get on one," Sorano muttered as she indicated a man who was currently emptying his stomach over the railing.

"I suppose it's just as well that Natsu isn't coming, then," Erza mused aloud.

"Or any of the other dragon slayers, for that matter," Yukino giggled softly.

"Cobra never brought it up, so I didn't know that was a problem for them until I joined Fairy Tail," Sorano said as she looked over at Gray. "Is it a problem that any kind of slayer magic has to deal with, or just the dragons?"

"Just the dragon slayers, as far as we can tell," Kinana replied. "Erik never had an issue with motion sickness at all?"

"If he did, he was really good at hiding it," the ex-Oracion Seis member answered. "But we did plenty of… jobs, on vehicles, and it genuinely never seemed to bother him."

"That's because it only affects dragon slayers after a certain point in their magical growth," Gorun informed them as he and Gray approached the group. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear."

"What was that about a certain point in their growth?" Sorano asked curiously.

"It's something that Sting told Natsu," Gray answered this time. "Apparently after their physical senses develop to a certain superhuman level, it instills a sense of vertigo in them whenever they ride a vehicle, though flying on a living creature like a dragon or an exceed doesn't seem to make 'em sick."

"I wonder if Acnologia has that weakness, too?" Erza questioned, causing everyone else to pause in thought. "If he began life a human, perhaps he still retains that flaw."

"He's a dragon now, though," Future Levy pointed out. "Dragons have never had issues with vehicles in the past, at least not according to what I've been able to research."

"Then again, it's not like dragons are lining up to take the train or rent a magic-mobile," Future Lucy countered. "Still, I don't really see how we could apply a weakness like that to Acnologia- it's not like he'd just get on a boat or train if he really did have that problem, not to mention the fact that he could easily crush one or the other just by stepping on them."

"Our best option for defeating that beast without casualties is to let the dragon slayers handle him," Azura muttered, surprising the others. "How has their training been coming along, Kaidon?"

"We've had a fair amount of success with combining four of them- even Laxus has been able to use the Metamoran technique on occasion- but we have yet to try it with the five dragon slayers who were raised by dragons, whom we think have the best shot at taking down Acnologia," he replied with a slight shrug. "Rachel's growth acceleration spell only wore off on Wendy last week, so she hasn't been able to do much more than practice the motions with Lucy and Yukino, and that was only in the last few months, since she hadn't gotten quite tall enough to match their stature until then. We were hoping for a chance to practice a little more, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. We'll just have to hope for the best when Acnologia does show up."

"Isn't hoping for the best how we win half of our fights?" Gray smirked.

"True," Gorun grinned back.

The voyage to Alvarez only had one stop, a tropical island called Caracole Island, which was known as a tourist resort to both Ishgar and Alvarez. It was technically a neutral territory, owing no allegiance to either of the continents, though when they arrived, they were briefly detained by guards from the western empire, who demanded to know their affiliation as wizards. As per their plan, Gorun told them that they were with the Cait Shelter guild from Fiore, there on contract to hunt for a rare type of swordfish. The soldiers seemed initially suspicious of his claim, but they let them pass without much fuss after he showed them the request that he had forged before setting out on the job. The saiyan just hoped that they wouldn't encounter any major problems while they were waiting on the next ship that would take them to their eventual destination.

"We've got a few hours before we have to get on the next tub, so why not kick back for a bit?" Sorano suggested as they began to wander aimlessly through the town. "It's been a while since I've been to the beach for fun."

"Same," Azura said as she stretched her arms up and over her head, looking surprisingly relaxed. When she saw Gorun giving her a funny look, she shrugged and said, "What? The place reminds me of the beach back at Conton. Sue me for feeling a little nostalgic."

"Huh," he said with a little smile as he reexamined his surroundings. "Now that I look at it, you have a point."

"There's a beach where you guys come from?" Yukino asked the pair curiously.

However, it was Future Levy who answered the question for her. "The Supreme Kai of Time had a whole little resort set up for the Time Patrollers for whenever they needed a warm afternoon off. It was a really nice setup."

"That sounds pretty cool," Gray commented as he tossed his shirt onto a nearby palm tree. Fortunately, he was already in swimwear, so he didn't look too out of place amid the other tourists.

Seeing how at ease everyone seemed to be feeling, Gorun nodded to himself and said, "Might as well take the time to kick back a little. Our ship comes in four hours, so make sure to be at the docks by then." They were on a tourist island, after all. It would look odd if they didn't participate in the normal activities that the place had to offer, and the last thing that they needed was suspicious Alvarez soldiers breathing down their necks.

The others nodded their understanding and began to head toward the beach where they could see plenty of other people laughing and having an overall good time. Gorun rented out a locker for his teammates to store their personal items, and once they had, they moved to join in the fun. The saiyan himself was content to sit in the shade of a palm tree, his tail tucked away under his swimsuit in order to avoid drawing attention to himself, though he retained his godly red hair and eyes, as did Azura. The bright colors actually made it look like they and Erza were related to the casual observer, and since the people of Earthland couldn't sense divine ki, they looked like normal vacationers to the soldiers that passed by every now and again.

Kinana soon came to sit by him with a large towel in her hand and a cute grin on her face. "Is this seat taken?" she asked, causing him to smile back and roll his eyes before standing up to help her lay out the fabric beneath the waving branches.

"Not gonna go for a swim?" he asked her as he eyed her two-piece green swimwear approvingly.

"I figured you'd like it better if you could keep an eye on me where all the other guys on the island aren't so bold about staring," she replied, her smile growing as she looked at him with adoring eyes. "Besides, it's been a while since we've been to a beach together."

"Not since we got married, I guess," he replied thoughtfully. "Jobs don't count, do they?"

"No."

"Then yeah, not since we got married," he chuckled as he watched Sorano angrily chase off a trio of boys who were trying to approach Yukino, much to the latter's embarrassment. "You'd think that her sister would remember that she's more than strong enough to take care of herself."

"Well, at least Sorano lets them walk away," Kinana said as she pointed at Azura, who was giving a tall, muscular man a supremely unimpressed look as he flexed his bulging muscles in an attempt to draw an amorous approach out of the girl dressed in the light blue one-piece. Even though her outfit was much more conservative than those of her guildmates, her presence and looks were still enough to turn heads.

The man said something that Gorun couldn't quite make out, but he assumed that it was something that his cousin didn't like, based on the crater that his face made in the sand after she grabbed his head and rammed it into the ground. As she stood up and brushed her hands free of sand, she glanced around and asked, "Anyone else?" When none of the men on the beach would meet her gaze, she simply sighed and walked off, muttering, "I miss Rogue…"

"Never thought she'd think about settling down in Earthland," Gorun mused as he watched her go join Sorano and Yukino, which had the effect of warding off any more unwanted attention from the male population of the island.

"It's not like she can go anywhere else," Kinana countered. "She's making the best of what she has, but I think it's also worth noting that she does seem genuinely happy- every now and again."

"She can leave whenever she wants," Gorun said, drawing his wife's eyes back to him. He met them and tilted his head slightly before he reminded her, "I told her that she could leave if she wanted to after we defeated the phoenix- that I would intercede with the kais on her behalf if they came asking questions. Whatever her reasons were, she chose to stay of her own free will."

Kinana laughed softly at that, causing him to look another question at her, which led to the young woman saying, "Azura is a saiyan in search of greater power, and only another saiyan can really draw out that power from within them. I'm sure that's what she would say if she were asked about why she chose to say. You're the rival who brings out the best of her strength."

Gorun raised an eyebrow before he said, "The way you say that makes me think that there's something that she wouldn't be saying in that scenario."

"True," Kinana nodded. "Whether or not she'll ever admit it out loud, you two are family, and she loves you like a brother. It's only natural to want to be with your family, isn't it?"

"…I don't think I'm really the best person to ask that question," Gorun admitted ruefully. "I crossed several dimensions in an attempt to get away from mine. Also, she pretty much tried to kill me when she first found me here, not to mention that she almost killed Erza."

"Family isn't defined by blood ties, dear," Kinana said as she gripped his hand and rubbed the golden band on his ring finger. "You are my family because I chose for you to be. And Fairy Tail is your family because we accepted you, saiyan heritage and all. Same with Azura."

Her husband made a humming noise in response, apparently content to think over her words a little. When he was done, he said, "You're an awfully forgiving person. It certainly makes you my better half." She giggled at that, which led to him kissing her on the head before standing up and dusting his green-and-blue swimsuit off. "I'm going to go get some of that gelato that I saw being advertised on the docks. Want one?"

"Yes, please."

"Great- I'll be back soon," he said with smile as he turned to go. "Make sure Azura leaves an actual beach for everyone else to enjoy while I'm gone?"

"You got it."

He came back a few minutes later and nearly incinerated the ice cream that he was carrying when he saw some sleazebag in a purple suit trying to make a move on his wife, who was trying to back away uncomfortably. Apparently no one else had noticed what was happening, otherwise he was sure that they would have stepped in, but it seemed that they were all having too much fun on the beach.

Without giving it a second thought, Gorun chucked his gelato at the back of the man's head with enough force to send him rolling in the sand with a startled yelp. "The lady's spoken for," he growled as he moved to stand beside the girl, who looked relieved to see him. "I'm the jealous type, so get out of here before I actually hurt you."

The man instantly sprang to his feet with an angry look on his face that he directed at Gorun, who was handing off the second gelato to Kinana. "You think you're tough stuff so you get to keep that A-plus to yourself?" he demanded.

"No, we get to keep each other because we've each got one of these," Gorun shot back as he held up his hand that displayed his ring finger. "And that means that we get to handle scumbags like you however we choose when they put the moves on one of us."

"Something happening here?" Gorun was glad to see Gray and Erza approaching from up the beach, both of them ready for a hint of trouble.

"Just telling this waste of space that he's not welcome near my wife," the saiyan answered, even as the stranger looked the other wizards up and down. "He was just leaving."

"Funny, I'm actually not the one who's leaving," the other man said with a devious grin. "Sorry, Fairy Tail, but your buddies failed the test of Marin Hollow, attendant to one of the Spriggan Twelve." He snapped his fingers, and within an instant, both Gray and Gorun simply blinked out of existence. Turning toward the girls, he said, "As for you two A-plusses, I-"

Blam!

Marin went crashing through a tree from a fist enveloped in red energy and slammed against a rock, whereupon he dropped to the sand, letting out an unintelligible wheeze while Kinana and Erza advanced on him, the former looking absolutely furious. "Bring my husband back!" she shouted. Around them, people had taken notice of the commotion, leading most of the beach-goers to evacuate the area, with the exception of five more wizards, who began to run toward their friends.

"Ow…" Marin groaned as he started to get to his feet beneath Erza and Kinana's piercing glares. As he looked their way, his eyes widened before he muttered, "A-plus, A-plus, A-plus… B-minus, C-plus." While he spoke the last words, his gaze flicked between Azura and Levy, who both frowned as they felt that they had been dissed somehow. As he stood up straight and dusted himself off, Marin grinned and said, "You're wound up too tight, lady. Some time in my relaxation dimension will help you chill, ya dig?"

"He knows we're Fairy Tail," Erza said as she reached out with her hand, intending to summon a blade before the Alvarez man could attack again, only to be unable to grasp her weapon. "What?!"

"Sorry, but there'll be no requips around me," Marin snickered arrogantly. "Thanks to my magic, I get to manipulate dimensional space however I want. That's how I got rid of your two friends, see?"

"Dimensional space?" Azura snorted, her demeanor suddenly relaxing. "That's your gimmick?"

"What about it, B-minus?"

The redheaded goddess' left eye twitched before she answered in a barely controlled voice, "You're about to regret many of your life decisions, is all. My cousin will have no trouble countering your little parlor trick."

"Yeah, nice tr-"

Zzzt! Blam! CRASH!

Marin went flying with the most force delivered that day, his body breaking apart a boulder near the tree line as he let out an anguished cry while Gorun and Gray wore irritated looks. "Seriously?" the saiyan growled as his red-orange aura began to die down. "A pocket dimension with conditions similar to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is the best that this guy could throw at us?"

"Hey, not all of us can automatically adapt to a new environment like you," Gray panted, looking a little winded. "That place was hard to breathe in, and I felt way more heavy than usual."

"Kaidon?"

"Yeah, Genora?"

"Double-tap him before I kill the guy."

"Ah, right." With that, he zipped over to where Marin was slowly recovering and raised a fist before bringing it down on the man's head, jarring his mind hard enough to properly knock him unconscious this time. "He's down!"

Before the others could move toward him, a new voice said, "You have my thanks for putting him in his place. Marin has a habit of getting on my nerves with his obsessions." Everyone turned to see a young woman with bright green hair approaching them, dressed in nothing but an armored bikini and an open cloak with a fur collar. Her face bore an expression akin to boredom, but her eyes were unwavering as she held a gaze with Gorun.

"This guy works for you?" the saiyan asked as he stepped away from the downed man.

"He is my pet, yes," the woman nodded before she took a bite of a gelato similar to the ones that Gorun had purchased a few minutes ago. "It seems as though Makarov has a similar problem to me in the sense that he can't seem to keep a tight enough leash on his servants."

Everyone from Fairy Tail tensed up, eyes wide as the woman continued to regard them with bland eyes. "Yes, I know who you are, Fairy Tail," she told them. "Truth be told, I'm supposed to keep you from getting any closer to Alvarez, but I'm in a good mood today, thanks to this gelato and Marin's current condition. Go home and I'll forget I ever saw you. Bear in mind that Makarov is alive, but who knows when that could change?" At the last words, an unmistakable tone of menace laced her words, along with a familiar sensation in the air that the former Time Patrollers easily recognized.

"Is that-?"

"Time Breaker ki," Azura interrupted Lucy in a low tone. "Yeah."

"Just who are you?" Gorun asked as he motioned for the others to back up a few paces.

The woman regarded him quietly as her power continued to build before she answered, "I am Brandish of the Spriggan Twelve. Other countries have called me a Destroyer of Nations."

"Is that supposed to scare us?" Azura snorted, both her and Gorun's auras beginning to charge up in response to her growing power. "I could reduce your entire continent to slag if it suited me. The only reason I haven't is because this one has a conscience that gets in my way."

"…What a pain," Brandish sighed before clicking her fingers. Azura and Gorun suddenly vanished, startling their friends enough that they retreated a few paces away from the now-irritated woman. "I don't like repeating myself, Fairy Tail. Get lost before I decide to give you the same treatment as your friends."

"What did you do to them?" Lucy demanded, causing Brandish to focus her gaze on the blond, whereupon her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

However, all she gave in the way of an answer was, "I made them less of a problem for me. Now if you'll excuse me- oof!" Out of nowhere, Brandish was knocked face-first into the ground by a spark of red energy that came from behind her head.

Not bothering to question what had happened, Gray and Levy moved to restrain the woman using a combination of ice and steel chains. "What was that?" Yukino asked of no one in particular. "I didn't sense any magic power, so it had to be-"

"Over here!" a small voice called from near where Brandish had been standing. As the wizards looked carefully, they realized that they could see two diminutive figures hover amid an aura of orange and red, each of them barely two inches tall, and neither of them looking happy. Before anyone could say a word, Azura warned them, "One word about this, and no dragon alive will be able to fix what I do to you."

"I thought that she must have put you in a pocket dimension like her lackey," Kinana said, looking somewhere between relieved and trying not to laugh. "At least you don't have to cross dimensions again, right?"

"I wish it were that easy," Gorun grunted, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. "This is a lot trickier… Okay, Genora, give me some power."

"Done, just undo this."

There was a flash of divine energy, and from within it appeared Gorun and Azura, restored to their normal stature, both of them looking mad at the captured woman, who regarded them curiously. "No one has ever been able to undo my enchantments before," she commented. "How'd you pull that off?"

"A bit of temporal magic," Gorun answered as he conjured a ruby Spirit Sword and aimed it at the woman's face, who neglected to even flinch. "Where is Makarov being held? And if I sense so much as a spark of magic, this goes through your eye."

"Save yourself some trouble and just split my skull," Brandish shrugged, startling some of the girls with her nonchalance. "I'll die before I talk."

Gorun looked over at Azura, who nodded once. "She's not kidding," the female saiyan told him. "From the looks of her, it'd take me a week to even get her family name out of her."

"Then we have a slight change in plans," Gorun muttered as he retracted the energy blade. "Beach party is officially over, people. I'm taking her back to the guild hall with instant transmission so that Rachel can keep an eye on her. We take her, we rob Alvarez of one of their top wizards." After a slight pause, he glanced at Kinana and asked, "We have bane particle cuffs in the basement, right?"

"Last I checked."

"Good, then this shouldn't take me long," he grunted as he walked forward and placed his right hand on her head without so much as a word of protest from her. "I'll restrain her and make sure Mira knows what's happened. After that, I'll come back here and then we're storming the capital to find Makarov. If their forces are already on the lookout for us, there's no real point in us being too stealthy anymore. Start flying, and if the border patrol gives you trouble, give 'em more of the same. If you make it past the barrier without me, I'll lock on to Genora's energy signature as soon as I get inside it and teleport to you then."

"You want us to attack the strongest magically inclined nation on Earthland… without you?" Lucy asked him nervously.

"Stuff it, Heartfelia," Azura said, clearly disgruntled. "We don't need Kaidon- we've already got enough Saiyan badass on this team."

"If they're anything like this one, they'll be augmented with Time Breaker ki," Levy said with a frown. "Also, am I the only one who thinks it's weird that she isn't trying to escape?"

"I was wondering about that myself," Sorano said shrewdly as she glared at the passive woman. "What are you up to?"

"It'd be too much of a pain to escape right now," Brandish shrugged. "My pets in the army will attack you when the war comes, with or without me to lead them there, so I don't really care."

"I'll make sure she can't get up to any trouble while I'm out, I promise," Gorun assured them. "For now, get to flying. We don't know if Alvarez will keep Makarov alive now that we've captured one of their generals, and something tells me that they won't be open to a hostage exchange."

"Good call," Brandish deadpanned.

"Just take her and go," Azura said with a roll of her eyes. "You'd better hurry back, though. I don't want to have to hold everyone's hand while we're on the move."

"Thanks, Genora." With that, Gorun placed two fingers on his forehead and vanished from view.

As soon as he was gone, Azura turned to the others and said, "You heard the man- let's move out."

"What about the other guy?" Gray asked as he indicated Marin, who was still unconscious. "He might tell Alvarez what happened if we leave him here."

"Hmm…" Azura mused for a few seconds. "I think I have an idea for that… McGarden, can you create a gravity well with your solid script magic?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why are we keeping her here?" Rachel asked her father as he locked the door to one of the guild's detention cells, of which Brandish was now the sole occupant. "Shouldn't she be kept in Crocus?" The green-haired woman was in cuffs that completely negated her magic power, including the Time Breaker ki that she had been augmented with. Gorun had just finished explaining the situation to his daughter while he secured the unresisting Alvarez woman, who had yet to utter a single word since arriving.

"Alvarez is primarily after the Lumen Histoire, but I wouldn't put it past them to attack the capital, especially if the Time Breakers are involved," the young man answered. "It would be a good way to divide our forces, draw defenders away from Magnolia. Plus I want to try and get what she know about the Time Breakers out of her."

"Good point," Rachel muttered as she regarded the bound woman curiously. She had met her father in the dungeon without telling anyone but Mirajane that he had arrived. They didn't want any of the wizards who had been left behind to start anything in the way of another rescue mission without his or Mirajane's supervision, and with the mix of magicians that their guild boasted, such a feat would be next to impossible if the truth got out.

"Just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't talk her way out if one of the guys finds her," Gorun said as he started to walk away. "And if it isn't too much trouble, get her some real clothes."

"Touch my outfit and you die." Gorun turned around in surprise to see Brandish glaring at him and Rachel, the saiyan duo simply raising an eyebrow in response, each.

"Okay, I'm gonna leave," he said as he placed his fingers to his brow. "Rachel, maybe show her why even if she isn't afraid of me, she should definitely pay attention to what you say." He vanished from view without another sound, having found an energy signature to lock on to.

"You're supposed to scare me?" Brandish scoffed from where she lay on the floor. "Your friend might be impressive enough with that strange magic that I can't sense, I give him that. But what, his little sister? You're supposed to scare me more? This is such a pain…"

"I'm not his sister, but you're on the right track," Rachel said with a strange little smile that Brandish knew was supposed to be intimidating, so she simply rolled her eyes and laid back on the floor with her arms bound behind her. However, she stiffened slightly when she heard her jailer say, "I'm his daughter. And my power just so happens to overshadow his by leagues you couldn't even begin to imagine."

Rachel suddenly appeared in front of Brandish, not having touched the door to the cell, though the woman continued to remain largely unfazed by the other girl. She didn't even blink when Rachel put her palm on her prisoner's head in a similar manner to her father and said, "I'd wager that Dad would like for you to be ready to talk by the time he gets back- after all, who knows how long we have until your country decides to invade Ishgar? So let's get started by giving you a few reasons to cooperate with me before I use force."

"I serve Emperor Spriggan," Brandish shrugged again. "When you've been in the presence of one touched by the death god, you quickly lose fear of all else."

"That's funny," Rachel replied, her grin widening as her body suddenly aged a few years and her hair became purple in the corner of Brandish's vision. "Even the death gods answer to my kind." In spite of herself and her earlier confidence, genuine though it had been, Rachel's presence made Brandish's scalp prickle and her stomach sink deep into itself. She wasn't sensing any magic power coming from the younger girl, but that somehow made the intangible presence in the air ever more terrifying. Cold sweat broke out on her body as she involuntarily tried to move away, but now Rachel's grip had become like steel, preventing her from even turning her neck. Her heart began to beat so loud and hard that the chained woman could hear it in her eardrums themselves, and her shivering turned into a full-on case of the shakes.

What is this girl?! She couldn't help but wonder as she felt the long-repressed fear of death clawing its way to the surface of her mind. She wanted to run away, to shrink herself into the size of a germ so that whatever this entity was, she wouldn't find her again.

The second that Brandish blinked, the terrifying visage of Rachel's transformation was gone, replaced by the calmly smiling girl who was once again on the other side of the jail cell. Was that… an illusion? No, that couldn't be it. Illusion magic played with your head, sure, but the effects on a person's mind dissipated fairly quickly after they realized that they had been tricked with magic. Whatever Brandish had just witnessed, it was all too real.

"You look cold," Rachel said cheerily as she started to walk away. "I'll go get you some warmer clothes and a blanket. In the meantime, think about something interesting to talk about so we can pass the hours while we wait for my dad to get back."

As soon as she was gone, Brandish let out a loud gasp and began to breathe heavily, not even having been aware that she had been holding her breath to begin with. For the first time in her adult life, she found herself wondering if maybe she should have tried harder to avoid the path of least resistance.

Gorun streaked across the ocean, still unable to sense his cousin's whereabouts as he saw Alvarez appear as a sandy blur on the horizon. I guess the barrier must come into effect pretty close to the seaside, he mused as he flew closer to the water, hoping to avoid the stray eyes of a sentry on the country's border. Because of the barrier, he couldn't tell how many wizards or soldiers could be lying in wait for an ambush- not that he really thought that there would be one. They'd never get the drop on Genora, and even if they did launch an ambush, she'd be making them pay for it, he thought.

He flew on for several more minutes before he could clearly see what looked like a city rising above a forest that stood between the civilized land and the sea. That's gotta be Vistarion, he thought before a sensation akin to popping his ears allowed him to sense magic signatures in every direction. The barrier! …Oh boy.

What he sensed was not encouraging. The city itself was filled to the brim with powerful wizards, some of whom were clearly being polluted by Time Breaker energy, though he didn't sense any of the corrupted saiyans among them. Even so, it was clear that in terms of military might, Alvarez had Ishgar vastly outgunned, both in terms of magical prowess and their body count. He estimated that for every soldier in Fiore, there were more than a hundred Alvarez soldiers to counter them.

Most disturbing were the two particular magic signatures that he sensed as he dove into the forest, one of which might just rival even Rachel in terms of brute strength, and another that Gorun had encountered once before, even if briefly. Zeref, he thought as his spine crawled from the presence of an immortal who sustained himself with the obliteration of those around him.

He paused under the cover of some trees as he began to pick up on other energy signatures nearby- friendly ones, this time. He engaged his instant transmission and found himself standing in a clearing with a squad of beaten soldiers, one of whom Azura was tossing aside like a broken toy. "Having fun?" he asked her. He gave Kinana a one-armed hug as she shut off her Kaioken and embraced him from the side.

"Not really," Azura shrugged as she turned around to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "There's no challenge among them. We did let one of them get away so that more of the guards will run this way while you go get Makarov. The bigger a commotion we make, the less people up there will notice that he's gone. With any luck, we'll be out before anyone who's been in contact with Fu comes out to get us."

"You sensed the Time Breaker power already?" Gorun asked her, to which she nodded with a slight eye roll. "Sorry, dumb question, it's you. Of course you knew. You have enough in the tank to go Blue?"

"McGarden brought some of Droy's knockoff senzu beans, so I should be good for a while," she told him, though she appeared as though she were straining to hear something from far away. "From what I can tell, Zeref is on his way up to meet with the old man. You should probably get in there before things get heated."

"What's our job in this?" Gray asked as he stepped over a frozen solider, his shirt nowhere to be seen.

"Make a lot of noise, but don't spread out so much that Genora can't see you," he ordered them. "When I get back with Makarov, you need to be close by so that I can cover our retreat. We need to be on the other side of the barrier before I can teleport all of us back to Ishgar."

"Stay close by the scary saiyan, got it," Sorano said flippantly. "Just go and get the old man, already. This isn't the first time we've faced long odds." Already they could hear the sounds of the alarm being raised, and soldiers being deployed toward their area.

"We've never faced 'em this long," Gorun muttered under his breath. In a louder tone, he said, "I'll make this quick." Then he teleported once again, keeping the magic power of his former guild master in his mind as he did.

He popped into existence atop one of the castle's larger balconies, in between Zeref and Makarov, who backpedaled with an exclamation of surprise. "Is that-?! What are you doing here?!"

"Saving your wrinkled butt," Gorun said with a smirk as he turned an eye on the older wizard, noticing with some intrigue that the man had grown a full beard since the last time that they had seen him. "Got some Intel that said negotiations were about to go south, so I decided to stop by."

"I remember you," Zeref said, his soft voice drawing both wizards' attention to him as he locked gazes with Gorun. "The last time we stood face-to-face, you were both yourself and another person, were you not?"

"Yeah, right after Gray and I fused to destroy Mard Geer," the saiyan nodded sharply. "I'm surprised you knew about that, though."

"I know many things," Zeref replied with a little smile.

"Be careful," Makarov warned the other wizard. "He's the ruler of this country- they call him 'Emperor Spriggan'."

"Already knew that, but thanks for the heads-up," Gorun said without turning around. Addressing his next words to Zeref, he then asked, "I guess it's official from today onward- Ishgar and Alvarez are to be at war?"

"I'm afraid so," Zeref nodded slowly. "Many will die in the process to acquire the Fairy Heart, but it is a necessary sacrifice."

"I thought your goal was to die, yourself," Gorun said, causing Zeref to look at him a little more sharply than before. "Isn't that why you made the Etherious? To kill you?"

"I see that Mard remained a braggart, even unto his dying breath," Zeref murmured. "Yes, it's true. I once yearned to die, but it has become clear that no force on this earth can destroy me while the god Ankhseram continues to despise my existence. The only act of recourse left to me is that which leads to the Fairy Heart."

"What if that wasn't the case?" Gorun inquired, giving both Zeref and Makarov pause.

"What are you talking about, boy?" the old guild master demanded. "The Curse of Ankhseram is absolute! Nothing on this world could dispel it but the god himself, and he has never been known to do so!"

"You're right, nothing on this world could do it," Gorun nodded, once again without taking his eyes off of Zeref. "But then, I'm not from this world, am I? And as you have witnessed for yourself, what one deity can create, another can unmake."

"…You have my attention," Zeref murmured, his coal-black eyes narrowing at Gorun, obviously wary of any kind of trick that the saiyan might try to pull.

"As I'm sure you've been made aware, I am not from this realm, nor Edolas, nor any world with which you are familiar," Gorun began. "Furthermore, I am the descendant of a supreme deity, and am able to wield god magics myself. My cousin also wield divine magic, as does another family member of mine. Together, the three of us can not only undo your curse, we can end your life entirely. I don't know how the Fairy Heart plays in to all of this for you, but if you can die before you reached it, you wouldn't need it anymore, would you?" He knew it was a long shot, but if there was a chance to get Zeref to back down without a clashing of their military forces, he needed to take it.

"Hmm…" Zeref said with a smile that gave Gorun a sinking feeling in his gut. "You would be right, if not for one thing."

"What's that?"

"I no longer wish to die," Zeref said, an amused expression flitting across his face. "There are things that I must do before I set foot in the grave. There is also the fact that if something were to happen to me, it would not automatically dissolve the tensions between our nations- to the contrary, if I died, many of my subjects would react out of revenge. My death will change nothing at this point in time."

"Are you sure about that?" Gorun asked with a confidence that he didn't quite feel. Zeref was clearly being influenced by Time Breaker energy, which meant that the immortal Dark Wizard could well pose a threat to him as he was. "Last chance to back off before things get really ugly."

"An interesting choice of words, Son Gorun of Fairy Tail," Zeref smirked as he stretched out his hand, black mist quickly converging on the saiyan, who immediately willed his godly ki to expand and push back the oppressive, deadly power. Behind the young man, Makarov let out a loud grunt of pain as he was caught in a gravity field that was threatening to overwhelm the old man. "I call myself 'Spriggan' here, as an homage to my dearly fallen Mavis… I am the hideous fairy, come to rob the rest of you of your precious beauty and light! The Lumen Histoire will be mine before long, and then twilight shall be upon you all!"

"Alright, just remember that I warned you!" Gorun shouted before he dove out of the mist, right at Makarov, who was being outright crushed by Zeref's magic. The second that he made contact, he glared back at Zeref and shouted, "One last thing before I go!"

Then he was gone, having teleported himself and Makarov away from harm, leaving Zeref feeling rather puzzled. As he released the magic that would have killed Fairy Tail's former guild master, he glanced out at the forest below his capital, noticing a small string of explosions that seemed to have attracted the local soldiers and a few wizards.

He was about to entertain himself by watching the frivolity of the Fiore wizards and his own troops when Gorun suddenly reappeared in front of him in a cocoon of magenta flames alongside a woman with startlingly blue hair and eyes, wreathed in azure fire as they glared down at his surprised face. Without any further warning, Azura raised her foot up and brought down her heel directly on Zeref's head, sending him plummeting through several dozen stone floors, all the way into the ground beneath his castle, and then several hundred feet further down, effectively burying him underneath his palace.

The two of them were not done, either.

Lining themselves back to back, Gorun extended his right hand while Azura did same with her left, allowing their powers to swell and merge until the atmosphere threatened to rip itself apart from their sheer presence. This was when they cried out with one voice, "Prominence FLASH!" Their powers combined into a purple-white beam that widened the hole that Zeref had made with his body before it struck the ground and exploded, turning the once-proud castle of Alvarez into mere particles. Not even dust remained of the fortress as the light began to fade away to reveal the two saiyans, one still looking angry, and the other one laughing loudly.

"Consider that our official declaration of war, jackass!" Azura hollered before Gorun teleported them both away.

It was time to go home, and bring their long-lost friend with them.

Gorun: Alright, mission accomplished! I assume the next chapter will dive straight into the war with Alvarez and the Time Breakers?

Mataras: Not quite... There's a bit of catching up you guys need to do with some old friends, both within Fairy Tail and without.

Azura: Hmph. I'm not quite satisfied with the amount of combat I got this chapter.

Gorun: We turned a castle into dust! We decked a guy who can kill anything faster than Light Yagami on a power trip! What more do you want?!

Azura: More things to punch.

Mataras: Would it make you feel better if I said that you got to blast some things at the beginning of next chapter?

Azura: ...It might.

Mataras: Good, then.

Gorun: It's been quite a year, hasn't it?

Mataras: Indeed it has, but at least we get to start the new year heading into the second-to last arc of this story.

Azura: Wait, I thought that the Alvarez war was the final arc in Fairy Tail?

Mataras: Yes, but this it Saiyan Tail. I have an original arc planned that will conclude events after the war is over. You're not getting rid of me so quickly.

Gorun: Quickly?! You've been doing this for nearly three years, now!

Mataras: Huh... Well, either way, it ain't over until I say it is, and we are nowhere near done yet.

Azura: As long as I have my rematch with the king, I won't complain- much.

Mataras: One can only hope.

Gorun: Next time on Saiyan Tail- Fiore's Heart

Azura: Coming February, 2021.