Fairy Tail Angst Week
Bonus Day (Cross My Heart)
AN: I should've written this yesterday, but I didn't. Because… I suck, basically. I wrote it anyway, though. Behold: the first non-Jellal centric FT story I've written since… ever, actually. Huh.
Title: Cross My Heart
Pairings: N/A
Character(s): Zera
Summary: She watches and waits and, in the end, it seems Yury was able to keep his promise after all – to her and Mavis.
After the truth had been revealed, Zera had fully expected to disappear. However, while even Mavis could no longer see her, Zera was still there. She watched over the guild, because she too was a founder, in her own way, and the guild was hers as well and the members were precious to her. As she soon discovered, though, watching was the only thing she could really do.
So she did. She watched as Yury married a woman named Rita, as she bore him a child, as Mavis named the child, as Rita's life came to an abrupt end due to a curse no one had even realized was there, and as Mavis fled in horror.
She watched as the Black Mage who had taught them magic – Zeref – returned with Mavis's lifeless body in his arms, as Precht screamed in agony and confusion, as he spirited the body away and lied to the others, and as Yury and Warrod sobbed in front of the empty grave on Tenrou Island.
She watched as Precht fell even deeper into the darkness of his own heart, as Yury died, as Warrod left the guild, and as Yury's son Makarov became the new Master.
She watched as Natsu brought Lucy to the guild, as Phantom Lord attacked, as Laxus's rage at the world compelled him to turn on his own comrades, as the entire town was sucked up into the Anima, and as Mest returned to the guild as Doranbolt to tearfully explain that Acnologia had slaughtered half the guild.
She watched as the remainder of Fairy Tail fell into poverty, as members slowly drifted apart (and sometimes just left altogether), as the guild went from the most respected in Fiore to the laughing stock of the country, and as the building the people of Magnolia had built so long ago for their heroes was left empty and desolate.
She watched as the Tenrou Team returned, as Lucy met her long-lost sister, as the guild trained for the Grand Magic Games, as Crime Sorcière appeared with a request, as Fairy Tail was welcomed home as the victors of the Games and heroes of the nation, and as the mayor of the town revealed that the old building had been renovated and was the guildhall once again.
She watched as Flare appeared to apologize for her actions, as Natsu and Gray were summoned for a mission by Warrod, as Tartaros destroyed the guildhall yet again, and as Makarov – after all those years – ended the legacy of Fairy Tail.
She watched the members go their separate ways, and then she watched them come back.
She watched them prepare for war with the Alvarez Empire, and then she watched them set out to battle.
She watched them rise, and then she watched them fall.
Zera watched and watched and watched and then she watched some more as Mavis led Cana into the basement and explained her plan, as Erza battled her own flesh and blood, as Zeref prepared for his final strike, and as the two sides met head on for the very last time.
And then she realized something.
Mavis and Yury and Precht and Warrod were the official founders of the guild, but she was a founder too. And so was Zeref.
And finally, for the first time since her death one hundred and thirteen years earlier, Zera was seen. She appeared in the center of the battlefield, right in between Zeref and Mavis, and the whole world saw her. Tears fell from Mavis's face as she recognized her beloved friend, and everyone stared in astonishment as Zera – finally aware of her true purpose – sprouted two golden butterfly-like wings from her back.
"It's time to go," she said simply. And Mavis took one hand and Warrod the other and Zeref took Mavis's other hand and Precht and Yury were there, smiling and laughing with them, and they were all so much younger once again.
Together, the founders of Fairy Tail left the realm of the living.
But Zera came back. She came back to apologize, to explain, to tell the parts of the story Mavis could never bring herself to tell. She gathered the souls of the dead in her arms and flew them up into the heavens. And then she came back.
Not everyone could see her, but they all knew she was there. She was waiting and watching, to make sure that no one in Fairy Tail was ever alone, in life or death. Zera watched and waited and loved until, so many years later, the last Guild Master of Fairy Tail, the great-great-granddaughter of Laxus Dreyar, held out a wrinkled hand towards her. Zera had one last trip to make.
***Many years earlier (X686)***
"You mean it?" the thirteen-year-old asks delightedly. "You're really gonna show me a fairy?" the blond treasure hunter laughs.
"Definitely!" he tells her. "Cross my heart."
"Wow," the little girl says, dreamily. "A real fairy…" the older man watches uncomfortably as she beams and looks at the unoccupied space on her left. "Can you believe it, Zera?" Nothing happens, but Mavis laughs and says "me too" and Yury thinks it's okay to let her pretend for a bit.
"I hope we can trust them," Zera says. Something tells her that this adventure will be the last one she and Mavis will have. I wish… I wish I could show you a fairy…