Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
A/N: I do not promote nor do I degrade any forms of religion. My apologies if some are offended by some aspects that might be considered as pertaining to religion in the plot from here on out.
/ Era /
"We are gathered here today to discuss the current situation regarding the Dark Guilds throughout Ishgar," Gran Doma began, receiving grim nods from the other councilmembers. "As I'm sure you know, the first-ranked Wizard Saint has been… 'taking care of' some our major pains as of late. However, the remaining top Dark Guilds, with the exception of Tartaros, have only grown more defiant as a result. For example, there have been dozens of vicious murders in the northern mountains in the last couple weeks, courtesy of Amarok Fang."
"So… the fools from Iceberg are getting even more aggressive," a short man half whispered. "As if they weren't enough of a threat to society as is…"
"Indeed, but I, unfortunately, have even worse news related to Amarok Fang," Gran Doma continued. "It was only just this morning that I received word of a specific incident regarding Amarok Fang within the borders of Fiore."
"Don't tell me that they're looking for an alliance with Tartaros," a middle-aged woman huffed in the back, clearly disapproving of the thought.
"Could it be that they've actually adopted a system that somewhat resembles teamwork?" Another member asks, his works dripping in a strangely serious sarcasm.
"Need we be so negatively inclined?" Yet another member questions. "While it would indeed be troubling if the usual loners, who are dangerous enough on their own, started to work together, it is unreasonable that they would jump to the step of asking Tartaros for assistance. They are known to be lone killers-"
He was cut off by a loud cough coming from Org, who grumbled in annoyance, "How about you actually listen to the report before you starting letting your imaginations run wild? Does that seem reasonable to all of you?"
Taking the following seconds of silence as a 'yes' to Org's second question, Gran Doma once again spoke: "I fear that the news is worse than what any of you would've dared to imagine. The report details the movements of a squadron of Rune Knights tailing a dark mage from Amarok Fang in the area surrounding the Sacred Mountain, only to spot him being thrown off the mountain when they were near its summit. When the Rune Knights looked for the one responsible for said action, they found him…"
At the mention of him, the entire room seemed to freeze. With only one word and not even a specific name mentioned, they all knew who it was. As soon as they knew who it was, they all froze in shock, terror, fear, anger, and all negative emotions imaginatively possible. All of them had their reasons for their feelings, whether it be that they were terrified of the implications of him being active or the fact that he dared to touch the Sacred Mountain or pretty much anything else.
When the shock subsided, Org asked in a low voice, "Mysterious as she is, we have all witnessed for ourselves the potential of the first-ranked Wizard Saint."
Breaking out of their dazes, the rest of the members and the chairman nodded in agreement. Noting their agreement, Org continued, "Should we ask for her to do something about him?"
After another silence and a lot of silent exchanges of glances, one of the more reasonable councilmembers muttered, "It might be the only thing we can do against him…"
/ Crocus /
Back in Azu's house, Azu was on her sofa with Mavis, as they had done just about every day for the past month. The only difference now was that they were asleep, for it had been a long night.
Among other things, Azu had learned that she had lost her ability to shut off her emotions completely as she had so frequently done on Earth following Mei's untimely death. It was as if she was not only a child physically, but also somewhat mentally in the sense that she didn't have full reign over her emotions. Her emotions were freer than they had been in years, for she found herself in a position more comparable to a teenager.
For the past month, Azu and Mavis had been watching hour after hour, day after day of anime, taking healthy breaks in between to talk about what they'd seen and rest their eyes, even if Mavis was an entity of pure magic whose pupilless eyes didn't need to rest. Unlike the first anime that they had watched together, most of the shows didn't actually cause Azu to revisit her memories of Mei that would cause her to lose her reigns. Together, they laughed at the comedic situations and when dumb things happened, they smiled warmly at touching moments, and they cried where just about anyone would.
But last night was just a little different. They had just finished a very heart-wrenching series that left both of them in a pile of tears, but unfortunately, Azu had the added sorrow of being reminded of Mei throughout the sad bits of the show. Mavis had fixed herself up and stopped crying after a few minutes, but Azu was merely a lump on the floor with a physical puddle forming around her for hours. It didn't help at all that Azu's mental companion kept feeding her thoughts that brought her even more pain.
If she had her reigns, she wouldn't have started crying at all, but with those gone, she was free to let loose everything that she had held in for years. She still had enough control to stop herself from wailing, but nothing in her power was able to stop the tears from flowing down her face. Mavis had grown worried after Azu hadn't stopped crying after twenty minutes and had then proceeded to try and figure out what was wrong.
Eventually, out of the bond and trust that had grown between the two in the two months that Azu had been on Earthland, Azu had managed to choke out her story through her mess of tears, although leaving out or replacing the parts that she though Mavis would've found too disturbing. She eventually ended up on a broken rant about how she couldn't do anything to protect Mei, although Mavis refuted her overly negative claims about herself. In turn, Azu kept denying what Mavis said, but Mavis continued trying to support her nonetheless.
In the end, Azu finally calmed down thanks to Mavis's comfort and support, but they were both utterly mentally exhausted from the ordeal - Azu from crying and ranting and Mavis from trying to get Azu to stop and calm down. Even if Mavis was the equivalent of a ghost, there was only so much she would be able to take before needing a break.
As the light began to show through the windows of Azu's bedroom, the pair began to stir. Both sitting up from their positions, Azu turned with her face still a mess towards Mavis and said the first two words that came to mind: "Thank you." To her credit, Mavis smiled weakly in her exhaustion.
Jolted alert by a loud knocking at her front door, Azu excused herself from Mavis's side before quickly fixing up her disheveled appearance and running to the door. Opening the door, she was faced with a Rune Knight, to whom she tiredly quipped, "Finally come to arrest me, have you?"
Apparently not in the mood for a joke, the Rune Knight sighed and simply handed a box to Azu before leaving. Frowning at the lack of a verbal response to her remark, she opened the box to find only a single piece of paper.
Investigate and Eliminate
Investigate a very powerful menace near the Sacred Mountain, otherwise known as Mt. Zonia.
If deemed necessary, which would be in most cases, eliminate the menace.
If possible, also eliminate Amarok Fang (the Dark Guild from Iceberg).
Reward: 500,000,000 Jewels
Now that's just a little bit ridiculous for a reward, Azu thought. I guess this thing has to be quite strong and disturbing for the Council to be willing to give up so much to get rid of it… But the second request on the sheet does remind me of the fact that I haven't been doing any killing since I started catching up on anime with Mavis.
Returning to her bedroom with her thoughts, Azu called to Mavis and told her, "The Magic Council apparently wants me to do its dirty and dangerous work somewhere around Mount Zonia, although the reward is a nice half-billion Jewels. Just to top it off, they didn't tell me anything about the target. Although, I guess I should expect strange and ridiculous things from the ones who have the gall to call one of your members 'cute' in their official files…"
"Well, you have been cooped up in your home with me for the last month, so some 'exercise', as you'd probably call it, wouldn't hurt, would it?" Mavis replied, albeit with her ahoge drooping in disappointment at the fact that Azu wouldn't be around to keep her company.
Noticing this, Azu quickly noted, "You can come along if you want to, Mavis. You're made of magic, so it should be safe for you to come along."
At this, Mavis gave a wide small and jumped up from her position on the sofa, leaping towards where Azu was standing. And together, they disappeared from the room without a trace.
/ A Beach East of Hargeon /
To Fairy Tail,
Come to the suspension bridge deep in the West Woods.
That was the note that had been tied to a pigeon that landed on Erza's head. Team Natsu, Juvia, and Levy had just spent the last one and a half (Earthland) months in the Celestial Spirit World, which turned out to be only half a day there. In their shocked dazes as they returned to Earthland realizing that they had just lost half of their training time in one go, they had been delivered a letter with no known origins, but they chose to follow its instructions regardless.
Now deep in the forest and joined by Jet and Droy, they quickly found… nothing.
"Nobody's here… What the hell?" Natsu shouted as he slammed his fist into his palm, frustrated.
"Was it a prank…?" Gray questioned quietly in annoyance.
Worried, Lucy complained to them, "I told you we shouldn't have come…"
But just as soon as they came up to the broken drawbridge, it began to fix itself into a condition that showed no signs of age. This came as a shock to all present, all of whom shouted out various exclamations relating to the little 'miracle' they just witnessed.
Soon after, Erza commented, "This must be our invitation." Although, that note seemed to be ignored by Levy, who worried, "This might be a trap after all…"
Holding Carla, Wendy whispered, "I'd rather not have to go through that again…", to which her Exceed asked, "Go through what again, child?" Caught off guard, Wendy quickly spluttered, "Nothing…"
Turning attention his way, Natsu declared, "I don't know who it could be, but let's go for it!"
As they continued forward, they eventually saw three hooded figures straight ahead of them, a considerable distance away. All stopping at once, Lucy shouted, "Someone's here!" while Juvia added, "Be on your guard!"
On their guard, the Fairy Tail mages waited as the three hooded figures walked slowly towards them. Once their faces were in viewing distance, the expressions of the Fairies turned from those of alertness to those of surprise and disbelief. Beads of sweat formed in anticipation as the hooded figures walked closer still until the middle spoke.
"Thank you for coming," he began as the three figures removed their hoods, revealing a distinctly recognizable tattoo under the speaker's right eye. "Fairy Tail…"
"Jellal…" Erza uttered in her state of disbelief.
"You haven't changed one bit, Erza…" Jellal replied. "So, I'm sure you've all heard about my jailbreak by now, though to be honest… it's not what I had planned."
"Meredy and I broke him out," the woman to Jellal's left added.
"I didn't do anything," the one named Meredy refuted. "You did it mostly by yourself, Ultear."
"Jellal escaped?!" Lucy asked, perturbed, to which Natsu added, "These guys are from Grimoire Heart…"
"Wait… That makes them our enemies… Isn't that right?" Gray asked to Ultear, who could only put on a sad smile.
"Yes. The sins I've committed throughout my life are many… Even if I spent my entire life atoning, it wouldn't be enough…" she began. "So… I want to at least save as many people that I encounter throughout my life as I can. For example, Jellal."
With that, some mild conversations broke out between the Fairy Tail and Crime Sorcière mages to catch up just a little bit between each other, although only until Ultear caught everyone's attention once again.
"... So… The reason we summoned you here was not just to introduce ourselves… We've heard that you're entering the Grand Magic Games." she started. "We can't come too close to the event grounds for obvious reasons, so it would appear that we have a favor to ask of you. Every year, during the Games… I've felt a strange magical force… I want to identify the source of that magic."
"A lot of Fiore's guilds are going to be there, correct? There's surely going to be one or two suspicious magical forces…" Lucy doubted.
"I thought that at first as well… But this magic had an evil presence to it, like Zeref's," Jellal answered. "Perhaps the presence is coming from us since we've been so close to Zeref, so we'd like you to help identify the source to make sure that it's not just us."
"We want to know the true source of this magical force," Ultear added. "From that, we might be able to track down where Zeref is."
And what are you going to do once you track him down? Wendy wondered to herself.
"Of course, winning or losing is a different story. We're going to be cheering on Fairy Tail from the shadows," Meredy noted. "But in the meantime, please search for the source of the mysterious magic."
"It sounds like you're on a wild goose chase, but we'll help you out," Erza responded, ignoring Gray as he questioned her judgment and gladly taking Ultear's appreciative comment. "I feel uneasy about a mysterious magical force that could be a threat to us as well."
Smiling, Ultear said, "We'll give you your compensation up-front." Although she didn't quite expect the shouts of delight that immediately came from Lucy and Natsu/Happy of "RENT MONEY!" and "FOOD MONEY!", respectively. Sweatdropping, she corrected them, "Err… I didn't mean money… With my new and improved Time Arc, I can raise the level of your ability."
A weak "Eh?" was all she was met with. Undeterred, she explained, "A power-up… I guess it's fine to think of it that way, but it's a bit different. Every mage has something like a contained inside of them that determines the limits of their magical power. In the case that the container becomes empty, Ethernano from the atmosphere is absorbed by the body and after a while, the container is filled once again. However… recent studies have identified a part of that contained that normally isn't used: A dormant potential inside of everyone… Second Origin. My Time Arc can evolve your containers so that they're capable of using Second Origin. In other words, it will give you a giant boost to your magical powers, even more than any of the training you've done until now."
At this, the Fairy Tail mages roared, "YEAAAAAAAH!" Just until Ultear had to ruin it for a few of them by mentioning, "But… you're going to have to endure pain greater than your wildest imaginations."
That didn't stop Natsu from rushing into Ultear and giving her a thankful hug (with his face in her breasts without a care in the world), shouting about how she seemed more and more like a woman. Of course, both of these actions irked her slightly for different reasons, but she could stand it for just a bit. After all, she would remember to tortur- gift Natsu first later on.
/ Mount Zonia /
About halfway up the mountain stood Azu and Mavis, looking up at the slopes covered in a never-melting layer of snow. Mavis's dress was billowing in the furious wind while Azu had on a long black coat that was rippling similarly behind her. The coat was pretty much just a habit from before she could control her immediate environment - from before she didn't need a coat to be perfectly comfortable in the frigid cold.
Turning her head towards Mavis, Azu sighed, "I haven't sensed anything as malicious as the Council vaguely described… What about you?"
"I haven't felt anything unusual just yet either," she agreed. "But I do feel like someone has been drunk here not so long ago…"
"Here?" Azu doubted, seeing as not just anyone would be crazy enough to get drunk on a mountain that never stops snowing - and on the Sacred Mountain of all mountains. Why is this particular mountain sacred anyways? She wondered.
"I'm quite certain that my senses are correct, although I agree with what you're probably thinking in regards to how it's strange," Mavis confirmed.
Interesting, Azu asked, "What was the probability of my thought process being as you predicted?"
"About a 73% chance, so I just took the risk and assumed that I was correct," Mavis replied, beaming in her mild recklessness, which in turn caused Azu to smile. Mavis's smiles were just contagious for Azu that way.
Continuing their ascent, Mavis eventually spotted a trail of faint footprints, half covered by the falling snow. Even if they were somewhat hidden, they seemed to show signs of struggling against the whipping winds, which was all the more reason to find the circumstances to be unreasonable. Drunk, on a snowy mountain, struggling against the winds…
In any case, the footsteps eventually led to a cave that absolutely reeked. Firstly and most overwhelmingly, it stunk of alcohol. Perhaps it could've been the case that Mavis could sense the alcohol from halfway down the mountain because it was so strong up here and not necessarily because they were on the trail of someone who had been drunk. Secondly, but not any more subtly, the cave was very clearly radiating the oh-so-sweet aroma of death from within. Adding to the effects of the aroma, Azu found a severed arm a few feet from the mouth of the cave with the guild mark of Amarok Fang on its upper section.
Picking it up, she walked back over to Mavis, who was desperately trying not to inhale either of the two powerful aromas, and nonchalantly said, "I found this not too far away. It looks like it bitten down on and then ripped off of its previous owner."
Clearly not liking what she was looking at, Mavis covered her eyes and made a bunch of incoherent mumbling noises, her ahoge spinning around rapidly in discomfort. Giving a bit of a laugh to both Mavis's dislike of gore and to her own twisted self's lack of discomfort, Azu casually buried the arm in the snow so that Mavis wouldn't have to be bothered by it.
Eventually, Azu was able to persuade Mavis to set foot in the cave, which only showed a sort of bloodstained platform before it sloped sharply into the darkness. Collecting a sphere of Pure Dragon Slayer Magic, Azu formed a ball of bright light in her hand so that the pair would be able to see as they descended into the cave. Mavis could easily fly (by means of levitating and moving at the same time) since she had a body of magic and Azu had made an enhancement for herself in a previous year that allowed her to do the same without magic, so the pair could travel at high speeds through the cave tunnels.
As they sped through the dark, Azu began to detect a magical force that was easily far stronger than anything that God Serena could've ever managed. Mavis had apparently sensed the same, but she was a lot more stressed for reasons beyond Azu's current understanding. Sure, she could've figured it out easily if she wanted to, but that was too much effort for the time being. Maybe Mavis would spill her thoughts later without Azu having to pry.
After what seemed like forever, even at their great speed of travel, the two finally saw a dim source of light in the distance. Rushing to its source, they were slowly feeling the pressure of more and more magical power, which began to bother Mavis but not so much Azu.
This magic signature is beginning to feel a little too much like- Mavis began to speculate, although she abruptly cut herself off when she entered the room from which the light was coming from. After she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, her gaze turned dark as she faced the room's inhabitant.
Noticing the odd change in her usually very cheery and upbeat friend, Azu tried to calm her down and restore her rationale by pointing out, "Despite whatever bad experiences you might associate with your would-be opponent, it should be kept in mind that they're very clearly drunk and that doesn't bode well for you."
Wait, since when have I tried to avoid conflict? Azu suddenly found herself questioning her actions. Maybe I'm growing soft from having a friend again…
Taking into account what Azu had said, Mavis lost the dark glare but kept her stare cold, telling Azu, "There are too many unknowns to calculate my chances of even landing a hit, never mind giving the pummeling I'd quite like to give."
I guess that response is good enough… Azu thought as she picked up an unopened bottle of what seemed a lot like vodka. As she opened it to take a drink, which would be the first in a long time, she was rudely interrupted by a ferret growl. Turning towards the room's inhabitant, Azu gave it an unenthusiastic wave of her hand in order to get rid of all the alcohol in its body, all the while chugging the vodka like there was no tomorrow.
Now that… that was pretty damn good, Azu mentally judged. Maybe I'll do some exotic liquor shopping later on - and it's a good thing that I modified myself so that I can't get drunk.
When Azu had rid the alcohol from the body of the drunk, it had begun to bleed out purple and black light, slowly changing into another, smaller, form. When the impromptu light show finally stopped, a girl could be seen sitting in the middle of a pile of bottles, dazed and confused. A simple and quick name and alias check told Azu more than enough:
{Alice Acnologia - The Dragon Queen}
That would explain the change in Mavis's behavior, being that the massive, drunk, purple and black dragon that had stood before them had been the one to attack Fairy Tail on Tenrou Island, the devastation from which was seen by Azu almost as soon as she arrived on Earthland. Speaking of said dragon, it had turned into a girl that looked no more than eleven years old who was only beginning to stir, giving Azu ample time to see if the Magic Council had any files on her.
Acnologia:
{The Black Dragon of the Apocalypse - The Dragon King … a black dragon with round scales and purple markings … terrorized Earthland over 400 years ago in the age where dragons still existed … last sighted on Tenrou Island seven years ago.}
Well, the Council most certainly doesn't always have the most accurate information… Azu joked, noting how they only knew her last name and not even so much as the fact that she was a girl, and therefore the Queen.
By the time Azu was done laughing to herself, the girl had fully woken up and was staring right at Azu's amused face. Realizing this, Azu stared back and asked, "Yes? What is it?"
"Who are you and what am I doing here?" She asked, confused but not feeling particularly endangered.
So, I guess she doesn't remember anything from when she was drunk - not to mention that her blood alcohol level was at one which shouldn't be survivable, Azu concluded. "I'll get to that in a little bit, but can you answer a couple of questions first?"
"Okay?" The girl only grew more confused.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Alice Acnologia and I'm 11 years old."
"What year is it?"
"X365, I think…"
Well, I was right about her age, but apparently, she has a blank of 426 years in her memory, Azu thought. "Well, first of all, it's actually X791. Second of all, if you look around, you'll see all the alcohol around you. That would be the reason that you were here, or so I'm assuming. Additionally, you recently killed someone, as it seems, which brings me to your question of who we are. I'm Azu Yami and I was requested to deal with a 'menace' on this mountain that was particularly dangerous, which turned out to be you. I'm not sure if she's visible to you, but if she is, the one next to me giving you the cold stare is Mavis Vermillion. She has a great distaste for your existence because you attacked her guild seven years ago."
"?" Was Alice's only initial response as she cocked her head to the side in even greater confusion. "But I don't remember any of that and there's no way I've been alive for 437 years…"
Mavis eased up a bit, calculating that the attack on Tenrou Island had a 57% chance of not being with malicious intent given what she'd heard so far. However, she was still far from forgiving Acnologia entirely, if this was indeed the Black Dragon.
Noticing Mavis's slight relaxation, Azu walked up to Alice and cupped her hands around Alice's head. "It'll take a while, but I can restore your memories if you'd like."
Responding to a nod from Alice, Azu focused herself on the structure of Alice's brain, meticulously noting the positions and movements of each and every molecule. Azu's computational power is crazy fast, yes, but the sheer number of molecules in the brain and the care with which they had to be handled meant that this would be no easy or quick process. It took more or less an hour to complete that first step. Luckily, the second step wasn't so hard, for it was a 'revitalization' spell that could cure even amnesia. Azu had found out about and mastered it when she was playing around with her Dragon Slayer Magics quite some time ago, so it wouldn't be a problem to cast at all. The only thing that bothered her was that the spell was in Latin, which was becoming an all too common occurrence.
Focusing some of her magical energy, she whispered, "Sea King Dragon's Salutem: Memoria Restituet."
Two blue orbs appeared in Azu's hands and merged into one the size of Alice's head, only then to disappear into her head. For only a surprisingly short amount of time, a mere ten seconds, Alice's eyes glazed over as over 400 years worth of memories came back to her. When she was done reliving her memories, she sat up sharply and shouted "OH!" in realization.
"Uhh… There's a lot to go through, but I guess I should apologize first," she decided as she scratched her head and gave an awkward laugh. Apparently able to see Mavis despite not being a member of Fairy Tail, just like Azu had been able to do, Alice turned fully towards Mavis before continuing. "I have no idea how to start, really… But I should probably mention that it wasn't actually me who's been doing everything with my body for the last… 426 years, I think."
Sensing that she was most certainly telling the truth, Mavis lost her coldness towards Alice and muttered in surprise, "Possession Magic? But who could possibly be so powerful as to possess a dragon, especially with your power?..."
"Well, based on the memories I just regained, I met someone who claimed to be 'the one all-powerful God' in a dream, but then he put a sort of curse on me when I said that other gods existed and that I didn't believe in his existence. Basically, he said he would take control over my mind and body until I became faithful," Alice explained.
"... In the spell I used to get your memories back, the part that wasn't in Fioran, do you know what I said?" Azu asked Alice with a hint of an emotion that neither Mavis nor Alice could identify.
"It meant 'Health: Restore Memory' in a dead language we refer to as 'Glóssa tou Theoú', although I have no idea what that means," Alice answered.
Abundant Latin in this world… Someone claiming to be the one all-powerful God… Latin being referred to as "the language of God" in Greek… Ancient Greek mythology being present in the form of its gods… Fioran being so similar to Japanese… Azu listed off. There are too many connections to Earth to disregard the possibility that this "God" exists…
"Do you still believe that this 'God' doesn't exist?" Azu asked Alice tentatively.
"Of course I don't believe in his existence, even after hundreds of years."
"Well… I think he does actually exist," Azu replied, albeit with a bit of hesitation.
"Wait, what? Are you religious?" Alice 'accused', surprised that such a being could exist.
"No, quite the opposite. I'm an atheist, but I come from another world. In that world, we have many things similar to this world - too many to have come up here coincidentally without interference from a 'higher order of being'," Azu defended. "The language you call 'Glóssa tou Theoú' is known as Latin in that world and is also a dead language. 'Glóssa tou Theoú' itself means 'the language of God' in a language from that world known as 'Greek'. In that world, Latin is currently the official language of the people who represent God's will on the planet (in a certain religion), so it could also be called 'the language of God' in its own right. Two of the gods in Greek myths are present on this continent as leaders of their respective Dark Guilds, bringing up the Greek connections once again. Furthermore, the language spoken in Fiore is too similar to a language known as 'Japanese' to be purely coincidental. I'm practically ranting at this point, but that planet is called 'Earth' and this one is called 'Earthland', which is too similar once again."
After a silence of a few seconds, Alice asked, "So… what you're saying is that an omnipotent God probably exists, but you're not saying that the one I met is him?"
"That's just about right, I suppose. Although I think Mavis might've calculated the chances of the two 'God's being the same one by now," Azu pointed out.
Her wing ornaments flapping proudly, she calculated, "Considering the power you have, an even greater amount of power must've been used to control you even at the heights of your strength, so there's a 92% chance that the two are the same."
Remembering something, Azu mentioned, "By the way, what were the conditions of the curse that was placed on you?"
"Alcohol?..." she asked herself, straining her face. "Not sure. Maybe the curse could only be broken if I didn't have any alcohol in me, so another part of the curse could've been that I would be drawn to alcohol?"
"Well, whatever the case, you seem to be freed of the curse and…" Azu trailed off. "You're completely naked…"
Slowly looking down, Alice realized that she was indeed completely lacking clothes and gave a small squeak before instinctively covering herself however she could. Oh, right… That won't help because I've been like this for a while, she reminded herself. At least they're both girls…
Materializing a purple dress with black outlines, along with a handful of other articles of clothing, Azu handed Alice an outfit to wear temporarily. Thankful, Alice put everything on rather quickly before looking back at Azu as if waiting for a sign of what would happen next.
However, it was Mavis that spoke up next, sighing, "I can't speak for everyone in Fairy Tail, but I suppose that I can't blame you for something for you had no control over in the end. I would like to ask one question, though. Why'd your body attack Tenrou Island in the first place, or was there no reason behind it other than a lack of control?"
Pondering for a few seconds, Alice responded, "I think I sensed a lot of alcohol on someone on the island and my curse drove me to get to the alcohol any way I could, but attacking it to get to it doesn't make sense…"
"Well, one of the guild members, Cana, is quite the drinker," Mavis mentioned, slightly amused.
"Drunk versus drunk, but the former-drunk in front of us right now easily won, I guess," Azu mocked, before turning her tone to a serious one. "However, jokes aside, I still have to take care of the request I mentioned earlier, which includes taking care of you, Alice. I won't be 'eliminating' you as the request recommended, but it didn't say that I necessarily had to either. Instead, you can live with me - only if you want to, though. There's also a part of this request that I'm sure you won't like, Mavis, but I think it'd be good for Alice, so here is where we'll part."
"I'll take my leave since I have to think about how to break this surprising news to the rest of the guild anyway," Mavis replied. "Have fun, you two!"
After Mavis had disappeared into thin air, Azu muttered, "'Have fun', she says…"
"Hm?" Alice hummed in confusion, tilting her head.
"Alright then… How do you feel about murdering people?" Azu asked Alice in a very casual tone.
Jumping a little in surprise and fearing what the question was a precursor to, she answered, "Just because my body under a curse has killed a lot of things doesn't mean that I'm willing to kill people."
Azu hung her head and heavily sighed, "You're still normal then… Oh well, but you're still coming with me to beat up some serial killers. You won't have to kill them."
And just as Alice was relieved that she wouldn't have to consciously kill, Azu ruined it with a quick, "I'll wait for you to finish and then kill them."
And with that, Azu teleported herself and Alice to her home in Crocus, but not before the latter could let out a small sigh of relief.