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Those who hadn't gone with the rescue party froze in shock and disbelief as their guildmates told them the news, tears streaming down their faces as they did so.
"It was just…gone." Alzack told Bisca quietly with a faraway look in his eyes, looking slightly traumatized. "Nothing was there. If it weren't for the Rune Knights' ships, I wouldn't have known that it was the right place…"
The green haired gunslinger choked out a quiet sob.
Her tears were nothing compared to Jet and Droy's outright bawling as their minds tried to accept the fact that they would never see their beloved teammate again.
Doranbolt, or 'Mest Gryder' as the Fairy Tail mages had briefly known him as, appeared in their doorstep a week later, looking almost as shaken as they did.
Lucy and Wendy had only just been released from Porlyusica's care, having been treated for severe magical exhaustion, and the Sky Dragon Slayer noticed him first, as his scent was fresh in her mind.
"I don't think coming here was your best idea, Mest." Lucy said coldly as she noticed her young friend pale and found the cause.
The man flinched, but didn't bother trying to defend himself.
"I wanted to apologize." He said quietly. "I didn't…none of us knew that Grimoure Heart was going to show up, much less Acnologia. All I intended to do was see if there was any evidence of illegal activities. That was it. I wasn't going to attack or sabotage anyone, just report what I saw to the council."
They hadn't mentioned Zeref's presence on the island to the Council until after Doranbolt had resigned, so he had no idea that the most infamous mage in history had been there, too.
"We don't care why you infiltrated our guild!" Laki snarled. "We care that you manipulated us! You messed with our MINDS, you bastard!"
He flinched.
Again.
Didn't try to defend himself.
Again.
In his mind, he deserved far worse.
"I'm so, so sorry." He whispered, turning to leave.
But then he heard a voice.
"Why me?"
He turned back, only to see Wendy Marvell staring at him with her soulful brown eyes, doing her best to keep her tears at bay.
Staring into her eyes, he decided to be honest, for what felt like the first time in a long while.
"I figured that if I needed to slip away, you'd be the least likely to notice." He admitted. "Even if Fairy Tail was doing something illegal, I didn't think you were in on it, so it wasn't like that black cat said, about me thinking you would be the easiest to take out. I didn't…I didn't mean to get you mixed up in all of this."
Wendy hummed softly as she lowered her head, a sound that had Lucy, who knew her better than anyone else present, a bit wary.
"You know, if you hadn't asked me to be your partner for the exams, Carla would've have followed me there and…well." The blunette clenched one of her little fists tightly, trying to stop herself from releasing the tears that were threatening to fall. "On the other, when Grimoure Heart attacked, my healing skills were needed."
She finally looked up, eyes wet. "Your actions put me in a place where I was able to help them. So…I guess I should thank you, Mest. I just wish we had met under different circumstances."
Somehow, Doranbolt's guilt weighed upon him ten times for heavily, at that.
Hours later, after Doranbolt left, Lucy broke the silence that permeated the guild hall.
"You all know they're still alive, right?" the blonde said.
As one, every eye in the room turned towards her.
"W-what do you mean?" Romeo asked, a spark of hope shining in his eyes despite his unsmiling face.
"L-Lucy…" Kinana protested, not wanting the blonde to give anyone false hope just because she couldn't accept what had happened.
"We can't lose hope, you know." Lucy continued, ignoring the bar maid.
"What do you mean?" Droy asked bitterly as he took a large bite of a chicken breast, hoping to dull the pain. Maybe he could escape it by putting himself in a food coma. "They're dead."
"Not necessarily." Lucy disagreed, shaking her head softly, eyes alight. "See, there was this huge tree on the island. Master Makarov told us that its magic would ensure that no member of Fairy Tail died on the island."
At this point, hope had started to appear in a few more sets of eyes, as well.
"Our strongest members were all on that island." She said, gaining steam. "No way would they all be taken out so easily."
A couple of people let out a shaky chuckle at that, remembering how resilient some of them were, Erza and Natsu in particular.
As Lucy sensed her guildmates' morale rising, she glanced at Wendy with pleading eyes.
After all, the Sky Dragon Slayer was the only person there who knew that the tree had fallen, only to rise again later after Erza defeated her opponent.
Who knew if the tree's magic still worked, at this point?
Lucy was relieved when Wendy offered her a tiny, understanding nod.
The blunette wouldn't mention that particular detail.
Besides, they both knew in their souls that their friends—their family—was still alive.
But the others hadn't been there. They didn't quite understand how stubborn they had all been, how fiercely determined they were to survive, to beat the odds and come out on top.
"They're alive." Wendy spoke aloud, thoughts aligned with Lucy's. "They have to be."
The two girls didn't notice Romeo looking at them in awe, admiration shining in his dark eyes as the six-year-old also sensed everyone's mood lift at their words.
He hadn't wanted to believe that everyone on the island had been killed (and yes, he knew what that meant; his father had explained it to him after his mother had passed away a couple of years ago), and it was heartening to know that he wasn't the only person who had such faith in their family.
In that moment, the two girls joined Natsu on Romeo's list of role models.
"So…what do we do now?" Reedus asked quietly.
"Well…" Laki began hesitantly. "Master Makarov left Macao in charge while they went to take the exams. So we have a leader."
Macao groaned, recalling the last time he'd gone into Makarov's office to talk with him. There had been so much paperwork…
'Of course, I don't need to worry about Natsu and the others giving me more paperwork.' He thought bitterly.
"We're still down nearly twenty members." Kinana said, wringing a dish towel nervously. "Like Lucy said, all of our strongest members were on that island. If they're not here…"
"Magnolia is the most coveted city in Fiore for a guild to be based in." Laki continued, following her friend's train of thought. "Aside from Crocus, of course, but obviously that's not an option for any guild. Are we going to get booted out?"
"Ugh." Wakaba groaned around his cigar. "I don't want to think about it. The mayor lets us stay because having we bring a lot of attention to the city, but who's to say that will continue now?"
"So, what, we need to be…not boring?" Jet asked, sounding only slightly less sullen than he had earlier. Levy was still missing, after all, even if the girls were right and she wasn't actually gone forever.
"Couldn't hurt." Max agreed.
"We should probably try to recruit a bit, too." Lucy mused aloud. "With so many people suddenly…well, gone…there might not be enough of us here to help pay off our debt."
She meant, of course, the small pay cut that Makarov had previously taken from everyone's job rewards (some higher than others) to pay off the debt most of them contributed to by destroying things left and right.
"Ah, good point." Macao grimaced, not wanting them all to have to pay a higher penalty to make up for the loss.
"We can try and make an appeal to the Council, negotiate a payment plan so we have longer to pay it off." Lucy continued, tapping her leg absentmindedly as her mind wandered back to the lessons her old tutors had drilled into her brain throughout her childhood. "They kind of owe us, at this point, after everything. It shouldn't be too hard, and if we have to we can threaten to tell Sorcerer Weekly about them sending someone to infiltrate us. That would put them at odds with all of the other legal and independent guilds, so they'll want to avoid that."
"Damn." Nab muttered with a shudder. "Remind me not to get on her bad side."
"Good call." Vjeeter agreed weakly.
Lucy was so bright and cheerful that they all tended to forget that she had been raised (well, kind of) by arguably the most successful businessman in Fiore.
"Scary." Wakaba admitted with a smirk.
"Where should we start?" Macao asked Lucy directly, ignoring the byplay.
The blonde smiled at him. "Here, of course."
It took a moment, but eventually everyone turned towards Macao, looking at him pointedly.
The older man sighed.
He had wanted to hold off for at least a few more years…
"Romeo, son…" he ventured. "I know you've been learning magic, from that guy who was in Phantom Lord with Juvia and Gajeel."
"Totomaru-sensei." Romeo said, wide-eyed.
He was blushing at having been caught doing something that he knew his dad wouldn't approve of, but wide-eyed because he might be young and innocent, but he was NOT stupid, nor was he oblivious.
Before Macao could continue, Romeo quickly said; "Yes. Please."
"You sure, kiddo?" Wakaba asked around his cigar. "It's a big commitment."
'Tell that to the people who left the guild the moment they heard the others weren't coming back.' Romeo thought uncharitably, but smiled despite the bitter turn his thoughts had taken. "I'm sure."
More than a few people were startled at the raw determination in the young boy's eyes, and they were forced to wonder when he had grown up, since apparently they hadn't noticed it.
With a smile, Kinana reached behind the bar, taking out the magic stamping tool that Mirajane used—used to use to give people their guild marks, including Kinana herself.
"Where and what color, kiddo?" she asked brightly.
Romeo grinned back at her, and Macao found himself relaxing slightly. That was the happiest he'd seen his son since the Tenrou group disappeared, even including his attitude after Lucy's words convinced them that they were still alive.
It just pained him, sometimes.
After all, he had been among those wondering when his son had grown up without them noticing.
He resolved to make sure to pay more attention to the important things, instead of drinking and smoking with his best friend.
After all, Romeo was the most important thing in his life, and he knew that he didn't always act like it.
Meanwhile, miles away, an entirely different scene was taking place.
"Lyon..." a pink-haired beauty whispered sadly as she saw one of her closest friends seemingly try to drink himself to death.
Her crush on him might have lessened slightly (only slightly) since meeting the dark-skinned Air Magic user from Blue Pegasus back when they allied their guilds together against the Oracion Seis, but the white-haired boy was still one of the most important people in her life.
And he had just lost the person that Sherry knew he considered family, despite the fact that he never would have admitted it.
She couldn't even imagine how much pain he was in.
Yes, Deliora had killed her family, but honestly, she didn't remember them very much. Lyon was the reason she had joined his quest to slay the demon for good, and later the reason she joined Lamia Scale.
But Lyon…he had just lost the one thing he had left of his life before, back when things were better.
Now, Sherry wasn't a particularly religious person, though she often referenced Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, but she found herself praying to anyone that was listening that Lyon would survive this.
Wendy personally went to the newly established Exceed village to inform them of what had happened to Carla, Happy, and Pantherlily.
After all, she had deduced pretty easily that Queen Shagotte was Carla's mother, despite the white Exceed's own state of denial on the matter, and knew that she deserved to know what had happened.
It went about as well as could be expected.
Which, of course, meant not at all.
Wendy, Shagotte, and Happy's parents Lucky and Marl, ended up crying in each other's arms, even the normally stubborn Lucky openly weeping about the events that had fallen the son (and possible future daughter-in-law) that they had never really gotten the chance to know.
Somewhere, a trio of mages were traveling the world, excited to finally get to move around freely after so long held back by the Tower of Heaven, before and after Jellal took over.
They tended to stay away from civilization, not used to being around so many people all the time, and as such it took a while for them to hear the news.
"Erzy-werzy!" Millianna wailed.
"Nee-san!" Shō whimpered.
Wally didn't move a muscle.
They had always assumed that once they'd satisfied their wanderlust they would be able to travel back to Magnolia and officially join Fairy Tail, reuniting with Erza and becoming a family once more.
But apparently it wasn't meant to be.
Eventually, news of the attack and subsequent deaths of the more prominent Fairy Tail mages reached the inmates at the prison run by the Magic Council.
Among them, of course, were Jellal Fernandes and Richard 'Hot Eye' Buchanan, both of whom had some sort of connection to one of those who had been…obliterated, was the term their guards had used, knowing that it would cause them even more pain.
Richard closed his eyes sadly, knowing that his brother Wally had been close to Erza from their own time in the Tower of Heaven.
She had promised to tell Wally that he was alive and well when she next saw him, and Richard had no real way of knowing whether or not she'd had the opportunity to keep that promise, since he acknowledged that even if he did know Richard was alive, his actions as a member of the Seis might have caused him to avoid visiting.
Not that he blamed the redhead, of course.
Most of all, he felt sorry for the blunette hovering in the cell a few meters above his own.
Richard didn't know for sure, but he suspected that Jellal's memories had started coming back, considering the whimpers and pleas Richard sometimes heard coming from the man when he was sleeping.
He might not know Jellal, and he didn't know Erza either, not really, but he did know love, and whether he knew it or not Jellal was definitely in love with the redheaded Requip mage.
And now he would never get a chance to tell her even if he did eventually get released.
A lone tear fell down Richard's oddly shaped cheek as his heart went out to the pair.
Please review! :D
Better? Worse? If it's the latter, don't worry, I have time to improve. So far I've only rewritten the first chapter of the Aurora re-write, I just decided to split that up and make the reactions longer and more varied.
