Here is the second chapter at last! I'm so excited for this one! If you want to find out more in regards to Mirajane's friendship with Jason and about the special issue of Sorcerer's Weekly he gifted her, read Commemoration and Long Wait Ended.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Many Years Ago...
"Welcome back, Underworld King."
The smooth tones of Sayla's voice drew Mard Geer's attention to the demon, standing in the dim light of the corridor leading out of his throne room. "Yes," he replied, turning to face her.
She bowed her horned head in deference. "How was your journey?"
"Irritating," he stated without inflection of any kind. "Humans are even more of a nuisance than they were four centuries ago, if that's even possible. Though I suppose you wouldn't know."
"Yes - I was created merely a single century ago. I must agree with your assessment, however. Humans truly are pests. I look forward to the day we eradicate them for Lord Zeref."
Mard paused, and then dug within his cloak. "Speaking of which, several of our comrades met a particularly troublesome human. A Celestial Mage." Withdrawing several books from the cloak's confines, he placed them within Sayla's arms. "The woman rewrote the rules, and sacrificed a large portion of her life force to seal them into their book forms." It was quite a clever tactic, he had to admit. Sealed thus they would not be able to respawn within Hell's Core. Although... was it really such a good idea when one did not know of the regeneration machine's existence? Half-formed suspicions filled his thoughts, brought on by caution developed through a long life and an ingrained sense of paranoia. Could that woman have known? If so... how? The whole thing had bothered him from the start, and with the passage time little had changed. Events such as this, where the proceedings were unclear, Mard did not care for.
Surprised, Sayla murmured, "I was not aware that Celestial Mage's were capable of such a feat."
"It has happened twice before. Three hundred years ago, and before that, just prior my own creation. Although..." Annoyance finally began to penetrate his voice. "In both of those cases it involved the same Celestial Spirit - one which has since been exiled and would have perished by now." He continued to pull out more tomes he had collected and place them into Sayla's care.
Sayla nodded in understanding. Just how many of these was he hiding in his cloak? Were there even pockets in the thing? "The same one that attempted to kill you, I presume?" She flinched when he leveled a hard stare at her. "Please forgive my impertinence!"
He decided to allow it to slide this time, though his eyes remained steely. "Yes, the same Spirit." At last, he proffered to her a final tome.
Sayla noted that Mard had retained one for himself, and she peered over her stack at its blood red cover curiously. "E.N.D.?"
"Lord Zeref succeeded in the creation of his greatest demon," Mard explained. "His name is E.N.D. and he is to become our Guild Master."
Bowing once more, and carefully balancing her burden of books, Sayla entreated, "Please - it would be my great honour to deliver him to Lamy, so that he may assume his true form."
Mard shook his head. "That is not possible at the moment. It is also the reason behind why I have been absent for so long. That Celestial Mage, along with a dragon, partially sealed our Master into his book form. However, a large portion of him remains unsealed. It might be possible to awaken him, but the chances of success are slim without both parts present. I arrived after this incident, and took possession of the tome from Lord Zeref."
"Lord Zeref was there?"
"Indeed. Though he did not share the particulars beyond what I've already given you." Another oddity, Mard decided. His creator should have been able to stop the whole incident from occurring, and yet had not. Mard could only assume there had been a reason for it - or extenuating circumstances beyond what he was aware of. It wasn't the Underworld King's position to question his creator, or Zeref's motives thereof. "The reason I could not return immediately, was due to the unsealed form of our new master taking the books of our comrades and scattering them across the country in a fit of pique."
The Priestess of the Moon was not entirely certain how to respond to that.
"A traitor to our kind fled the conflict, taking a number of these with her as well. She has been... dealt with." Though not by him.
"I see," Sayla acknowledged. "Please excuse me - I shall bring our comrades to Lamy for their revival."
Dismissing her, Mard watched as Sayla departed for Hell's Core. With E.N.D. in his grasp, he reclined upon his throne and contemplated the end of his journey.
Tracking the traitor's signature had been simplistic. Though of decent strength, the entity had not possessed nearly the level of power that the Underworld King did. He had eventually found himself in a remote human village, whereupon he had discovered that the demon had met its demise in the backwater town, Not at his hands, or even a great and powerful mage, but at those of a small human child. She had absorbed the soul of the demon, and was not consumed in return. Her natural abilities boasted an affinity or likeness to Sayla and Franmalth's, Mard had determined.
It had then occurred to him that if he taught the human girl - Mirajane Strauss - to control it, in time she might become something akin to his own kind. A powerful one, at that.
Which made him wonder... just how many of these souls could she successfully absorb and control? One? Five? Twenty? Hundreds, like Franmalth? In the end, could the person most capable of ending Zeref be an amalgamate of all of Zeref's demons?
Perhaps it was worth finding out...
He very much looked forward to the day they would meet again.
The Present
"I'm back, everyone!" Mirajane announced, entering the windmill-turned-guild-hall.
"Mira!" Lisanna cheered, running towards her older sister. "Welcome back!"
Giving her sibling a one-armed hug, Mirajane clutched Jason's gift for Fairy Tail in her other hand. "Good to be home, Lisanna."
"So how did your visit with Jason go?" the younger white-haired girl asked, stepping out of her sister's embrace.
"Jason lent us a ton of the back issues we needed!" Mirajane exclaimed happily. "He also gave us a special issue of Sorcerer's to keep. Think you can help me gather the others to read it? He said it was important that everyone see it."
Lisanna furrowed her brow slightly in contemplation, placing a fingertip on her lips. "I don't think anyone's seen Laxus lately. But maybe Master Makarov knows? You should ask him. I can go get the others now, if you want? Oh but," she added, "some people might be out on jobs."
Mirajane laughed lightly. "It's fine, Lisanna! Once everyone is together, we can read the special issue. In the meantime, why don't we get caught up on the seven years we've missed with the others?"
Smiling, Lisanna nodded. "Yeah, sure!"
"Reading is manly!" Elfman declared, going up to his sisters and squeezing them tightly with his giant arms.
"Why yes, it is!" Mirajane agreed.
Once Elfman had set them down again, Lisanna suggested, "Hey, didn't you do an interview that came out just before we all left for Tenrou Island? I never got the chance to read the article! Let's start with that one! I bet it's awesome!"
"My sister is the manliest!"
With a giggle, Mirajane said, "Why not? Hold on for a minute; I'll dig it out..."
And therein ends the second chapter. Let me know what you guys think!