"And with that, I call this trial to a close!" The Magic Council Chairman bellowed impatiently as he slammed a gavel down.

Makarov shot awake at the slamming sound, trying his best to look like he hadn't just passed out. To be fair to himself, he had been standing in this room for hours now. As he watched the Council leave the room, half of them were glaring daggers at him, while the other half were giving amused smirks. As the Rune Knights at his side ushered him out of the room, he glanced back at his friend Yajima pleadingly. His friend gave him an exasperated look, but eventually nodded. Once he was in the waiting room, he hopped up on one of the benches and waited. He slowly felt himself beginning to nod off as the time passed.

"Please don't fall asleep again." Makarov shot up and turned to see Yajima giving him an incredulous look. "It was bad enough doing so in the middle of the trial. The Chairman looked like he was about to have a fit."

"It's not my fault that everything took so long. I've been in this stupid building answering questions for a week!" Makarov complained as his friend hopped onto the bench next to him. "So… What was the verdict?"

Yajima turned to the man in shock. "You slept through that part too?! Well, you'll be happy to know that Fairy Tail was ruled completely innocent, and you'll get to keep your position as a Wizard Saint. On the other hand, Jose has lost his title, and Phantom Lord has been officially disbanded."

"The man's lucky if he'll ever see the light of day again. I knew he had a chip on his shoulder, but to think that he would spiral so violently. Maybe I should have settled things with him earlier." Makarov thought back in contemplation. "But I'm surprised there wasn't any punishment for us at all. That's a true miracle!"

"Miracle my ass!" Yajima swore, giving his friend a glare. "I had to put my neck on the line in order for them not to saddle you with the costs of cleaning up the mess you left in Magnolia's harbor! If those Phantom Lord members hadn't come forward and testified about how you saved their lives, the Council would have cleaned you out!"

"Thanks! Be sure to swing by the guild once it's rebuilt and I'll get you a drink on the house!" Makarov said cheerfully. But his happy demeanor eventually faded, and he let out a sigh. "I know helping me with this must have been a lot of trouble for you. Thank you, old friend."

"It's not just this incident. Fairy Tail has pushed the Council to the limit with the chaos it's caused." Yajima revealed. "Michello and Org have been pushing paperwork to have your guild disbanded, and more members of the Council sign onto it every time you come in due to these incidents. Your lucky I'm not the only one batting for your side, or you would have sunk years ago."

"You're not?! Who else would be crazy enough to stick up for me?" Makarov said in complete surprise.

"I'll ignore that last comment." Yajima grumbled before answering. "Byro, Hughes, and Sugarboy all seem to hold your guild in high regard. It was thanks to Irene that Byro got his position on the Council, which eventually led to the other two joining as well. They must feel indebted to your guild."

"Is that so…" Makarov raised an eyebrow in contemplation. "Byro's recommendation came in around the time that we lost contact with her, is that correct? Are you sure it was really her?"

"I understand your concern, but according to the people who investigated, the recommendation came from the woman herself. They even claim to have spoken with her." Yajima looked over in understanding. "I want to know what happened to her just as much as you, but I've tried asking Byro everything. I believe he knows just as much as us when it comes to her current whereabouts." He shook his head. "But back on topic. We can't defend you forever, especially with the Chairman clearly favoring the side of dissolution."

"What am I supposed to do then? Those kids are absolute chaos. Do they really think getting rid of Fairy Tail will make them any better?" Makarov complained.

"If I'm being honest, your guild really isn't that much worse than others in the country. But see, when a new Guild Master is named, the Council tends to give them a clean slate, a chance to shape up. The problem is that you've been Guild Master for over forty years now Makarov!" Yajima explained. "You need to retire and give one of those younger ones a chance. Hell, you should have retired a decade ago simply for the sake of your health! I heard from Porlyusica what Jose did to you. You're lucky to have a healer in your guild."

"Tch, that witch needs to mind her own business. I'm perfectly fine now." Makarov whined. He hopped off the bench and began walking towards the exit slowly. "Well, it was nice seeing you, Yajima! I'll be sure to message you for that drink in the future!" As he walked out the door, he looked down at the passing ground in deep thought. What Yajima had said was right, even if he was afraid to admit it.

'Maybe it's about time I handed the reins over to someone else. Naming someone properly as my successor would be the right thing to do. I'd put it off because I knew the strife it would cause, but it's becoming more troublesome not to at this point. But who should it be? All of the current S-Class candidates are either young, unsocial, or missing! Gildarts wouldn't be in the running even if he wasn't constantly away. Ur already turned down being a Wizard Saint, she'd probably threaten to freeze me for eternity if I mentioned putting her in charge. Irene… She'd have been perfect for the role, though likely as unreceptive. So that only leaves the young ones remaining.'

Makarov stopped for a moment to consider them. Laxus, Mira, Mystogan, Jellal, Ultear, and Erza. Most of them were barely over twenty, and still had so much growing to do. But it's not he was planning to vanish after retiring, and he could still help guide them in the proper direction. All that left him with was to figure out which one to pick as guild master.

'…There's really no competition. He's the best pick for leading Fairy Tail, if recent events are anything to go by. Alright then, if everything goes to plan, I'll announce my resignation when the new guild hall is finished. The Harvest Festival a week later should be a good first test for him to show the others that he can replace me.'


Back in Magnolia, the entire guild of Fairy Tail was working tirelessly to rebuild their broken guild hall. Everyone worked tirelessly to move all the rubble as they began to design a building better than before. After a week of construction only a base of wooden beams had been set up, but the outline had been finalized.

In a corner, Ur stood behind a desk that had been set up overnight by her and her family. It was in front of all the benches that had been lain out for breaks, and as it was currently lunch, there were plenty of mages glancing over and wondering what she was doing. Eventually she cleared her throat, and everyone quieted down.

"I see that you all have been working hard to rebuild the guild, but I'm sure you all would like a break. So, me and the kids spent the night getting a little something up and running again. Ultear, dear?" She tilted a head towards her daughter, standing next to something covered in one of the blue construction tarps. With a flourish, she pulled the cover off to reveal a new request board full of jobs to do. "The Council has given us permission to go on jobs again! Just remember not to go too nuts for a while, okay?"

There was a stampede as almost every member clamored towards the board in a frenzy. They began grabbing at fliers in a mad dash to do their jobs for once. Almost all though, as Gray and Lyon lay face first on the counter.

"What's wrong with you two? Push yourself too much trying to keep up with Natsu?" Lisanna asked the two Ice-Make Mages.

"Hardly!" Gray moaned, turning to her as Lyon snored away. "We had to spend all night going through the books trying to put the request board back together. It was a nightmare of paperwork to figure out which jobs were still open. I pity whoever is charged with putting our archive back together after this…"

"Nice excuse!" Natsu just laughed at his friend as he passed by with another set of planks on his shoulders. "Sounds like I'll end up putting more of this place back together than you!"

Gray suddenly spun around on the bar stool he was sat on, shirt flying over his head. "What was that flame-for-brains? I can keep going no problem!" He launched off his seat and began running towards the pile of planks.

"Those two…" Lisanna let out a sigh as she sat at the bar.

"Boys will be boys." Ur laughed, grabbing Gray's discarded shirt off the counter and storing it away underneath. "On the topic of boys, where's your brother? I figured he'd be all over helping here?"

"He's keeping an eye on Mira. Apparently, she woke up a while ago rather confused, so we moved her back to our apartment and are sticking close by to her in case she gets up again soon." Lisanna explained, laughing a bit to herself. "Elfman wanted me to stay with Mira the whole time, but I knew he'd just keep helping around here and wear himself out, so I talked him into taking turns. Now he has to take it easy!"

Ur stared at Lisanna in surprise, before a smile spread across her face. "I'm proud of you for being here, Lisanna."

"Huh? Why would you be?" Lisanna looked at Ur in confusion.

"You don't have your glamour set up anymore." Ultear said. "You haven't for the entire week."

Lisanna felt herself subconsciously shift at the mention of her scars. She brought a hand to her face to confirm that, yes, they weren't hidden by the transformation spell like they had been for years. Looking down, she noticed that her clothes left plenty of them visible on her arms and legs. "It's not like Mira could have set it up for me right now anyways. Honestly, I almost forgot they were even there. But how? I mean, everyone must have… talked about it?" She thought back to her interactions with her fellow guildmates over the past week. Not one had made a comment about her body. In fact, they seemed almost overjoyed at the sight of her now. Why?

"It's because your being honest with them!" Ur replied, as Lisanna realized she had been thinking out loud. "You hid more than just your scars behind that little spell of yours. You may not have noticed, but you've been chatting with everyone a lot more now. It's like your heart has finally opened up to them."

"Y-You say that like I've been pushing everyone away!" Lisanna said, feeling accused.

"You kinda have." Cana suddenly said, hopping onto the seat next to her out of the blue, bottle in hand. "I don't mean to say you ignored us or something, but you always had this need to do everything yourself. You always insisted on going on missions by yourself, like you were trying to prove yourself."

"That's…! That's because I thought you all were pitying me, instead of just being the same friends as always. I'm an idiot." Lisanna finally realized, looking down guiltily. "Wait a minute! But I had no problem going on that job to Everlue with Lucy! What's that about then?"

"What indeed!" Cana responded with a laugh, smirking smugly. "What possible reason could you have for letting her come along?"

'Why did I let Lucy go on that mission with me? If I just wanted some distance from Natsu then I could have taken some easy job for myself. Why did I go out of my way to let her come along? Was it… because I wanted to be better than that to her? Because even back the I was already-!' Lisanna put her head in her hands. She let out a groan of embarrassment at realizing how easily her friend had worked out her own feelings faster than her. She heard Cana start laughing uproariously and she put her head against the counter. "Just because I'm chattier now doesn't mean you get to torture me like this." There was a clamor behind them, and Lisanna peaked back just in time to see a wooden table go flying in their direction. "What?!"

"I dare you to say that again!" Erza's voice cried out as the table landed in front of the bar. Everyone present turned towards the woman, and saw her staring down at a sitting Laxus. Lisanna hadn't heard what he had said, but the man only had so many opinions that he shared whenever he visited, so she could guess.

"I don't know how many times I must help you understand! I said this guild has no need of weaklings!" Laxus shouted out. "This whole mess happened because a certain team couldn't keep our own safe, and let another guild run amok. Not naming names, of course!" His words were clearly different than his actions, as he leered at Team Shadow Gear knowingly. "On top of that, you let them tear down the entire guild hall! And none of you were able to stop it? I feel ashamed to even be standing in the same space as you all!"

"You have no place to denounce their efforts." Erza responded with barely restrained rage. "You and your team never lifted so much as a finger to help us. If you want to feel ashamed about something, you should start with yourself."

"Why should I feel ashamed? It's not like I'm the reason that Phantom Lord attacked or anything." Laxus glanced around quizzically. "That reminds me, where is that blondie. Don't tell me she went and ran off already!"

"Lucy isn't like that, you heartless creep!" Lisanna shouted at the S-Class Mage. Laxus suddenly froze, turning to look in the direction of the voice. In a yellow flash, the large man was suddenly leaning over her.

"I'm surprised a weakling like you can even show your face around here looking like that. Especially after that spectacular failure your sister had. The fact that she's the same rank as me is an embarrassment. It seems that your entire family is nothing but a disappointment for the guild." Laxus's mocking grin filled Lisanna's vision as she tried to lean away from him.

"Laxus, you bastard!" Natsu shouted, having dropped his work to run over and swing at Laxus. But he just disappeared in a flash again and Natsu whiffed completely. "Hold still you jerk! I won't let you trash talk Lucy and Lisanna!"

Laxus just laughed off Natsu's fury as he reappeared elsewhere. "Oh, quit grandstanding! We both know you can't land a single hit on me!"

"That's enough, Laxus!" A voice commanded, and everyone turned to see Jellal staring him down. No one dared make a sound as Laxus stomped over to him. Despite both being around the same age and being extremely fit, Laxus was built nearly twice as big as Jellal, and stared down at him easily.

"I'm sorry, did you just try and order me around?" Laxus questioned. "Funny, I don't remember Gramps putting you in charge!"

"This place is currently for those rebuilding the guild. If you have nothing to add, then I'll have to ask you to leave." Jellal responded flatly, not rising to Laxus's bait.

"Is that so? Fine by me, this place barely passes as a pigsty currently." Laxus relented, turning to walk away. "Enjoy putting this place back together for me while you can, cause when I inherit this guild all you weaklings will be getting kicked to the curb!"

Laxus continued to laugh as he walked off into the distance, and everyone stared after him. Eventually Jellal shook his head sadly, before addressing the rest of the guild. "Everyone get back to work!"

As the rest of Fairy Tail slowly began to get back to their jobs, Lisanna turned back towards the counter. She felt Cana pat her on the back reassuringly. "Don't let that asshole's words get to you."

"They don't. I just can't stand that guy. He acts like he owns the place just because his grandfather is the Master." Lisanna complained, putting a hand on her chin. "He did bring up a good point though."

"He did?" Natsu turned to her appalled.

"Well, it's just that Lucy hasn't been here today or yesterday." Lisanna pointed out. "Maybe we should go check on her. There's no way she ran, but maybe she's feeling under the weather or something."

"That's an excellent point Lisanna." Erza walked over. "I'll go get Wendy and the four of us can go to her place. If she's feeling fine, then maybe we could go on a mission together? That would likely lift her spirits. Gray, you should come too."

The Ice-Make Mage turned in surprise. "What?! Why should I go on a mission with Natsu of all people?!"

"Quit complaining you stripper! Alright, I'll go pick something out!" Natsu shouted, running into the crowd still surrounding the request board.

After a while they finally fought off enough guild members to reach the board and pick out a job for the five of them. But when they reached Lucy's apartment, all they found were letters to her mother, with the most recent one pointing to her home.


Lucy walked out the door to her estate feeling like a free woman. She had finally had an honest talk with her father for the first time she could remember since her mother passed. Well, to call it a talk would be a stretch. It was more like the first time she had said something to her father, and he'd listened to what she had to say.

She only wished they could have had this talk before it reached this point. And she couldn't forgive him currently for everything that had happened due to his request. But now he knew how she felt, and something told her that what she said made an impact on him. Finally walking away from her first home, she adjusted the flowers in her arms. The helpers who had raised her had pushed the bouquet into her arms so she could give to her mother, since she wasn't sure when she would get a chance to visit again.

She walked the long path of her family's estate, but when she turned the corner of the garden to her mother's grave, she was surprised to find someone was already there. They were wearing a cloak, but had their hood pulled down revealing the same blue eyes and blonde hair that Lucy had.

"Aunt Anna!" The woman turned in surprise, but quickly smiled at her as Lucy approached. She has always surprised by how much her aunt looked like herself and her mother, even despite the supposed close relation. It was looking into a mirror to the future sometimes.

"Lucy! I didn't think I'd run into you here. When the others told me you had run away, I was quite shocked!" Anna said.

"Sorry, I should have left a note for you. I just really needed to get out in the world." She reached her right hand down to her waist and pulled out her ring of Gate Keys. "Look at all the new friends I've made! I somehow managed to get five Zodiac Celestial Spirits!"

"Incredible, your almost halfway to the full set!" Her eyes focused on the hand holding the keys, and she made a hum of realization. "Ah! I see you decided to follow my advice."

Lucy realized that her aunt could see her guild mark on the back of her hand. She brought it behind her hand in embarrassment. "Oh yeah! It's a bit of a funny story actually. Would you believe me if I said the first member I met literally fell from the sky in front of me?"

"If his name is Natsu, then not really!"

She raised an eyebrow as Anna let out a laugh. Despite not being a part of the guild, she seemed to be somehow familiar with Natsu's antics. Though it might not be that weird, she supposed. Her aunt had been the one to recommend she join Fairy Tail, so it wasn't a surprise that she was aware of some of their more infamous members. Speaking of…

"Hey Anna, why did you think I should join Fairy Tail in the first place?" Lucy asked as she set the flowers down in front of her mother's grave.

"Is it not to your liking?"

"No, it's perfect." Lucy shook her head. "The people are a bit strange, but they're all so kind and accepting. I'm just wondering if you used to be a member of the guild or something, since you seem to know some of the members."

"Oh no, I haven't been a member of any magic guild, it's just that…" Anna trailed off, before sighing deeply. "Remember that quest of mine?"

"Of course. You were tracking down your students. They got lost when you all moved to Fiore, right?"

"That's right. The truth is, I've found all of them. I managed to track down the last of them a couple years ago." Anna revealed.

"That's wonderful!" Lucy replied cheerfully. She knew that her aunt had been looking for her students for almost seven years now. Her happiness faded though when she noticed the melancholic look Anna now sported. "What is it? Are they okay?"

"Oh, they're all fine. Alive and well! It's just that we used a very complicated spell to travel to arrive here and… something went wrong. When I finally found them, they had completely forgotten who I was."

She gasped in surprise. "That's horrible! Was there nothing you could do to make them remember your time together?"

"I…" Anna looked down guiltily. "I decided it was best that they don't remember me for now."

"What?!"

"I know how that must sound, but the situation is more complicated than you could imagine. They had been raised in order to complete a task so daunting it would be a miracle for them to make it out alive. But they're all so young right now, and they deserve to have a normal life, if only for a time. I don't want to risk reminding them too early due to my own selfish feelings. There's a proper order to these things, and I'll return to them in time."

"That's…" Lucy wasn't sure what to think. She hadn't expected her aunt to drop all of this on her at once. While she might not know much about Anna's situation, she'd hardly call her selfish for wanting people to remember her. The enigma that was her relative seemed to only grow with each meeting. But what did that have to do with her knowing about Fairy Tail?

"Hey Lucy!" A familiar voice shouted out. She turned around to see Natsu running towards her from down the winding road of her estate. He was being followed by Lisanna, Wendy, Erza, Gray, Happy and Charla. Why were they here? The only place that said where she was going was… the letter to her mother. She let out a huff.

"I swear they have no concept of privacy." Turning towards her aunt, she put on a smile. "No matter. This is perfect timing! Maybe I can introduce you to some of my friends. Aunt Anna?" She noticed that Anna had already pulled up her hood and was walking away. "Wait, surely you can stay for a few more minutes?"

Anna just turned and put a finger to her lips. "Take care of them for me, okay?" And with that cryptic statement she walked away from Lucy in the opposite direction of the Fairy Tail Mages. Lucy tried to figure out what she had meant. Take care of who? Was she talking about her students? But why would she know any of them? And she still didn't know where Fairy Tail fit into all of this? Wait a minute, was it possible they members of-

"Lucy!" She was cut off from her train of thought as Natsu launched into her, nearly knocking her off her feet. He wrapped her up in a crushing hug, and she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. "What are doing all the way out here?! You nearly gave us a heart attack!"

"Natsu, I think she needs to breathe in order to answer you." Lisanna said as she run up besides him. He quickly let go, only for the Take-Over Mage to give her a much less bone-breaking embrace. "Seriously though, isn't your dad trying to kidnap you? I'd appreciate it if you didn't get yourself kidnapped again after all the work we went through to stop the last attempt."

"Guys, its fine, really!" She assured as the rest of the team began to crowd around her. "I was just… clearing things up with my father. Making it clear that I didn't want to be involved in his business anymore, and that he should leave me alone."

"And that worked?" Gray raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I'd like to think it did." She flashed everyone a smile. "And if not, he knows what he'll be getting himself into next time!"

"Yeah! We took on Phantom Lord! I'd like to see him try to do worse!" Natsu cried with his trademark grin.

Wendy shot him a worried look. "Please don't tempt fate, Natsu!"

"So, if that's all out of the way, does that mean you're ready to go home?" Erza asked, and Lucy felt her heart tighten.

Home? She closed her eyes and saw the guild hall. She saw all the mages going about their days, greeting her with a smile. She saw her little apartment, cramped full of all her friends inviting themselves over. She felt someone's hands grab her own, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Natsu and Lisanna on either side of her with bright smiles. She couldn't help but smile as well as she gripped their hands and took a step away from her old home and towards her new one.

"Yeah, let's all go home. Together!"


Hello again Mama,

I'm sorry for not writing in a while, but so much has happened lately. But now that it's all calmed down, I think there's something I need to finally admit. I'm sorry for never admitting it, but I didn't have the strength to, like I didn't have the strength to tell father why I left.

There had been this ache in my heart ever since you left that I felt like I could never fix. Like there was a phantom scar had cut itself into me, a hole that no one but you could fill. But I think I finally found the ones who can fill that hole. They're thoughtful and tough and show me so much of the world that I wanted to see. I'm sure you would have loved them.

I hope one day that Papa's own scars will heal, and we'll be able to be a happy family like when it was the three of us. Until then, Fairy Tail helps me to keep going, since they're like another family to me. I'll be sure to make you proud as a Celestial Spirit user and make as many friends as there are stars in the sky, just like you said I could!

To you in Heaven,

From your daughter, Lucy.


End of Arc 3 – Phantom Scars

Coming Next: Arc 4 – Fairy Family Feud

Next Chapter: Building Up Again