I'm a bit late in getting this out, especially since most of it was already written by Leo Septem. Sorry.

I did a few changes here and there, and added some things to the two chapters to create this chapter. I'll leave the poll up for a bit longer, but it's looking like we have a winner.

Anyway, enjoy the show!

Forgotten Hero

Revelations

"Nngh," Mira moaned as she began to open her eyes.

Looking around, she saw that the rest of her guild members were also starting to wake up, though they were scattered around the area. Upon hearing loud, teary shouts of joy, she turned her bleary eyes to look at the source of the noise.

It looked like... Jet and Droy, as well as a few other members of Fairy Tail. And yet, they also looked different. They all looked older than before, as if they had aged years. In Droy's case, he had gotten rather fat, causing the Take-Over mage to wonder how in the world he could have gained so much weight in such a short time. More importantly, why were they here on Tenrou Island?

"You guys!" Jet cried out in a joyful tone. "You guys are all alive!"

Alive? Mira looked down at her hands and clenched them. Yes, she was indeed alive.

But how?

"Is everyone okay?" Mira heard Erza call out. Affirmative responses came back from the rest of Fairy Tail.

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Doin' all right over here."

"Still alive."

"What's going on?" Wendy said, "How are we still alive?"

"Fairy Sphere."

All eyes turned towards the new voice. Floating a few feet above the ground, a short girl in a white dress and with wings coming out of her head, smiled benevolently down on them. She landed on the ground with a soft swish and began speaking.

"My name is Mavis Vermillion," the girl said as the members of Fairy Tail began gathering before her. "The first master of Fairy Tail."

Mira blinked as the words started to sink in. Then, she cried out with a loud "Ehhh!?" Similar outbursts came from the rest of Fairy Tail. Unbelievable, Mira thought with eyes wide open. If this person was telling the truth, if she really was Mavis, who was already dead, then that meant that she was a ghost!

"Back then, when the dragon unleashed his attack," Mavis continued, "I took the power and strength of everyone's bonds and faith and converted all of it into magical power. It was thanks to this power that one of the three great fairy magics, Fairy Sphere, was activated; an absolute defensive spell that protects against any and all evils. However, the spell also sealed away all those within it in a frozen state. Though it may seem to you all as if not even a day has gone by, it has in reality already been seven years."

Mira's eyes went wide. Seven years? They've been asleep on Tenrou Island for seven years? At least that explained why Jet and Droy and the others had changed so much, appearance-wise.

"What? So the First protected us, huh?" Master Makarov said in a tearful voice.

"Not at all," Mavis said, "I am only an ethereal body; a spirit. It was the power of everyone's feelings that allowed this to happen. Faith and bonds; that is what allows miracles to take place." Mavis smiled even wider, happier. "It's become a wonderful guild, Third."

"Thank you, First," Makarov said, tears of joy streaming down his face.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken, there is a stranger here that I think you guys should help," Mavis said, pointing past them. "I would hate for someone who has helped those of my guild to simply die." With that, she vanished from sight, as if blinking out of existence.

"Oh!" Mira cried out.

Turning around, she noticed that the stranger had not yet stirred from his own slumber. As she started to make her way to the strange man, she saw Wendy quietly berating herself as the Sky Dragon Slayer joined her at the man's side. Because she and everyone else had awakened without injury from Acnologia's breath attack, she had assumed that the stranger was fine as well. She had forgotten, however, that just before that last breath attack, he had given his all to protect Wendy and herself, and might have been severely injured because of it. Despite his armor and shield.

"How careless of me," Wendy said as she began casting healing magic on the unconscious man for a second time.

"Is he going to be all right?" Mira asked from beside her.

"Mmm..." Wendy mumbled. Mira watched as the small healer furrowed a brow as she concentrated on sending her healing magic through the man's body, searching out and mending any injury that she could find. "Yes. He has a lot of injuries, but I can heal them. He's mostly just suffering from exhaustion."

"That's good," Erza sighed with relief, coming up to the two woman and the strange man. "Whoever he is, we owe him our lives."

"But really; who is he?" Levy said. "It sounded as if he and that dragon knew each other. He called it Alduin, and the dragon called him Dovahkiin. Have any of you ever heard of them before?"

As the other members of Fairy Tail continued talking, Mira watched Wendy with a worried eye as the young bluenette continued working on the strange man.

"Ergh..." the armored man groaned as he blinked his eyes open. With a bit of effort, he sat up and took off his helmet, revealing his dark brown hair and a foreigner's face. He began rubbing his temple as if he was suffering from a headache. With bleary eyes, he glanced around at the Fairy Tail mages with a look of vague confusion on his face.

"Are you alright?" Mira asked.

The man stared at the beautiful white haired woman for a moment, and then his eyes widened as he seemed to remember something. He shot up to his feet, sword already in hand and whirled around, his eyes scanning the sky almost in desperation.

"Alduin!" he cried out. "Hvor er Alduin!?"

"Sorry, what?" Mira said.

With an impatient look, the man pointed at the sky with his sword, and then at the ground where the dragon had landed, repeating once more, "Alduin! Alduin! Hvor er Alduin!?"

"Can anyone understand what this guy is saying?" Natsu said, scratching his head in confusion.

"I think he's asking about that dragon," Wendy said.

Running a hand through his hair in frustration, the man looked to be becoming increasingly agitated as everyone talked around him, conversing amongst themselves in a language foreign to him as they speculated who this man was and why he was here on Tenrou Island.

"Well, here, let me try something," Levy said as she approached the man and began inscribing magic letters in the air in front of the man. "I think I can probably cast some kind of translation spell so we can at least understand each other."

Upon seeing the glowing letters appear before him, traced out by Levy's fingers, the man's eyes went wide with surprise and he reacted in and instant. His sword was like a blur as it stopped the barest of distance from Levy's neck, a thin scarlet line appearing where it had stopped. Levy's eyes widened as she jumped away from the man, her hand coming up to stem the steady trickle of blood flowing down from her neck.

"Levy!" Gajeel shouted as Wendy hurried to heal Levy's fresh wound. Gajeel turned on the stranger, anger on his face. "Hey, what the hell are you doing!?"

The man snarled out a few, accusatory words, glaring around at the rest of Fairy Tail, who were now tensing at the sudden assault. Just as the tension seemed to reach its peak, however, a burst of light and smoke appeared in front of them all, and a man dressed in a black formal suit, dark sunglasses, and with wild, untamed hair appeared out of nowhere.

"Daedra?" the strange man said in surprise.

"Loki?" Lucy said. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, Lucy," the Lion Stellar Spirit said. "Let me just get things cleared up a bit first." He turned to the stranger and then, to everyone's surprise, began speaking in the same language as the man. As he spoke, the tension on the man's face began to disappear, and he lowered and sheathed his sword. Turning back to Levy, Loki said, "All right. You can continue with your spell now."

"Right," Levy nodded as she hesitated for a moment before walking back up to the stranger and began her spell once again.

"Loki? What's going on? How do you know his language?" Lucy said with a surprised and confused expression.

"It's better if I explain after the spell finishes," Loki said with a frown.

Though confused, Lucy nodded in understanding and waited as Levy continued her spell. After a few minutes, the spell was complete. The runic letters that had been accumulating in the air around the man began swirling faster and faster, and then suddenly absorbed themselves into the man's body.

"Can you understand what I'm saying now?" Levy asked with a cautious tone.

The man blinked at Levy. "What a strange magic. I have never seen such a type before," he said with a surprised expression. "In any case, I apologize for drawing my weapon on you earlier. I did not recognize your spell and thought it to be some form of attack."

"Apology accepted," Levy said with a slight smile. Gajeel, on the other hand, maintained a snarl directed at the man who had cut Levy, but refrained from saying anything.

"And you," the man turned to Loki. "You do not look like any Daedra I've seen before."

"Daedra?" Lucy said. "Oh no, Loki isn't a 'Daedra', he's a Celestial Spirit. Right, Loki?"

"...Daedra, eh?" Loki said in a quiet tone. "It's been a long, long time since I've heard that word."

"Loki?" Lucy looked toward her Celestial Spirit with even more confusion written on her face.

The strange man shook his head. "It matters not. I don't have time for these pleasantries. I must find Alduin at once!" he said as he picked up his helmet and began walking away from the group.

Loki was about to stop him when Wendy called out, "Alduin... That big dragon from before?"

"Yes, little one," the man said, glancing back at the young bluenette. "He's escaped me twice now. He will not do so a third time."

"Twice! You've fought him twice!?" Gildarts said in shock, causing most of the Fairy Tail mages to look at him in surprise. "I was almost pretty much dead after the first time I fought him!"

"Hold on a sec!" Natsu cried out. "You mean to say that you've met that dragon two times before? Then, do you know where Igneel and Metalicana and Grandeeney are?"

"Everyone! Please, be quiet for a moment!" Loki said, gaining everyone's attention. "To answer your earlier question, yes, I am a Daedra," Loki continued. "I serve the Daedric Prince you would know as Azura, Lady of Twilight, Queen of the Night Sky, Mistress of Dusk and Dawn. Though now she also goes by the name Stellar Spirit King. You being her champion, she has bidden me to come and explain to you what has happened. My name is Loki, one of her appointed twelve."

"If she's a girl, then why did you call her a prince? And why is she a King now?" Natsu said. Everyone else in Fairy Tail sighed at his sense of priority. Loki's right in front of him talking about a side to the Celestial Spirits that not even Lucy knew about, and he was more interested on gender terminology?

"You don't know of the Daedra? Even though you appear to be close to this one?" the strange man said as he motioned toward Loki, an incredulous look on his face.

Everyone in Fairy Tail shook their heads; not even Master Makarov or their resident bookworm, Levy, seemed to know anything about the term.

"How unbelievable... To think there was a corner of Nirn where the people don't know of the Daedra..."

"Nirn? What the hell is Nirn?" Gray said in an almost annoyed tone.

"Gray! That was rude!" Erza said as she glared at the Ice-Make mage, causing him to squirm and avert his gaze.

"You... You don't know of Nirn?" the man said as his face began to pale. "I couldn't have been-"

"Ysmir!" Loki interrupted the strange man. "You are still on Nirn. But, like I said, it's been a very long time since my kind have been called Daedra, or this world called Nirn." Loki said before anyone else could speak up. The now known Ysmir just stared at Loki with a confused expression.

"How did you know his name?" Mirajane said.

"As I've said, this man was the Spirit King's champion. Though, she hasn't chosen a champion since Ysmir," The Celestial Spirit said, turning thoughtful towards the end.

"Now I want to know too. I've met the Spirit King before, so why do you keep referring to him as if he were a woman?" Lucy said, not really understanding what was going on at all.

"Lady Azura is a Daedric Prince. An entity with power beyond the comprehension of most mortals. While they reside in their planes of Oblivion, by default, they have no gender. When they manifest themselves on our plane of existence, they can take whatever form they desire. Azura has always fancied manifesting as a woman, why has she changed to that of a man?" Ysmir said, directing his ending question to Loki.

"It is quite the long story, so maybe she can tell you herself some other time," Loki said with a smile.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Lucy said, waving her hands around. "What the hell are you two talking about! Daedra? Nirn? Oblivion? What the hell is going on!?"

Quite a few of the others seemed to be sharing the same feeling as the Celestial Spirit Mage.

"Lucy. I'll explain as much as I can later, but I don't think now is the time to go into too much detail," Loki said, earning a tired sigh from his 'master' and a few of the other Fairy Tail mages. Nodding, the Celestial Spirit turned his attention back to the man. "Ysmir. I don't really know how else to say it, so I'll just be blunt. In your fight with Alduin in Sovngarde, he used a shout on you just as you were about to land the killing blow on him. That shout did not just send you back to Tamriel. It also flung you into a plane where time isn't relevant. It brought you to the future, Ysmir."

The man blinked a few times before sighing and rubbing his temples. "How far?"

"Wait, you believe it so easily?" Erza said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Ysmir just stared at her for a few moments, making the Scarlet Knight feel a bit uncomfortable, before sighing. "With all the things I've seen... Yes. Something like this isn't too hard to believe."

"Ysmir," Loki said, once again taking control of the conversation before his companions could steer it in another direction. "It's been two millennia since your last battle with Alduin."

"What!?" Ysmir shouted.

"Loki," Mirajane said, her eyes wide. "Are you saying that Ysmir is..."

"Yes, Mira. He's a man from a long forgotten era."

"Wait," Ysmir said in a tone of urgency. "Then what about the Greybears? The Blades? The Companions? The College? What about Skyrim and the Empire? Hell, what about the damn Thalmor?"

"They're all gone," Loki said in a calm tone. "After Alduin sent you hurtling through time, there was no one left to stop him. He destroyed almost everything Nirn had to offer, thereby ushering in a new era."

"No..." Ysmir whispered as he collapsed to his knees. "Then I... I failed?"

"Yes," Loki said in a quiet tone, lowering his head. Seeing Ysmir in a near catatonic state, Loki turned to Lucy. "I'm sure you all have many questions to ask, but I'm afraid I can't stay any longer. The Spirit King has only allowed me to speak this much because of Ysmir's arrival. If you want to know more, you'll either have to wait until I have the time, or you'll have to get the answers from Ysmir himself. My lady," he said, bowing to Lucy before disappearing in a flash of light.

With a hesitant hand, Mira reached out towards Ysmir, who had a vacant expression on his face, his eyes cast downward, empty and listless.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Ysmir didn't respond. He didn't even stir.

It seemed that the news Loki had brought him had hurt him beyond understanding. Mira couldn't blame Ysmir, of course. She wasn't certain about what exactly was going on, but if what Loki said was true, then Ysmir had tried to kill that dragon before, but did not succeed, resulting in everything and everyone he knew and loved being destroyed.

"Uh... So what should we do with him now?" Natsu asked the group in general. He crouched down beside Ysmir and poked him in the side of his face. Ysmir did not even give an indication that he had noticed. Natsu poked him again and grinned. "Heh, this is kinda fun."

"Natsu, cut that out!" Erza ordered, knocking him on the head with an iron fist.

"Ow!"

"Master," Erza said in a tired tone. "We can't just leave him here. What would you like us to do?"

"Hm..." Makarov scratched the back of his head. "Well, for now why don't we just take him back with us? Let's take him back to Fairy Tail!"

…

….

...

Mira looked around at the guild, smiling as she watched the constant, boisterous celebration that Fairy Tail had once been renowned for. Though seven years had passed, and though the building in which their guild now resided in had changed into more of a shack, the return of the core members of Fairy Tail from Tenrou Island had served as the spark that relighted the fiery spirit of the guild. But, besides the change of years and residency, there was one other difference; one that was sitting by himself in the corner of this rundown tavern, staring with blank eyes into a mug of tepid beer with an expression more suited for that of a dead fish than a living human being.

"He's rather depressing, don't you think?" Carla commented from the bar where she, Wendy, and Mira were situated.

"It can't be helped," Mira said, a faint tone of annoyance in her voice. "You can't expect him to be fine after he learned that everything he knew and loved, all of his friends and family, his entire world, was destroyed."

Still, the barmaid frowned; Carla had a point. Ysmir's current behavior could not be allowed to go on for much longer. It had been a little over a week since they had returned to Magnolia, and in that time Ysmir had slept very little, ate even less, and drank enough beer to make Cana proud. For all intents and purposes, he may as well have been a statue, seeing as how he almost never moved from his seat. A living, breathing, and slowly dying statue.

Many Fairy Tail members had already tried speaking with him. Erza had attempted to strike up a polite conversation in order to try to learn more about Ysmir and see what she could do to help the time lost man. Ysmir did not just ignore her. He reacted as if he did not even notice her; that is to say, he did not react at all.

Master Makarov had also attempted to converse with Ysmir. The master, Mira knew, was a good man who would not be able to bear watching such a young man give in to the despair he was feeling. Like with Erza, Ysmir ignored Master Makarov as well.

And then there was Natsu. Of all those who tried to talk with Ysmir, he was by far the most prominent. In the Fire Dragon Slayer's case, he had been insistent on finding out what Ysmir knew about Igneel. Ysmir did not so much as spare Natsu a glance, angering Natsu and forcing Erza to step in to stop the Slayer before he tried to fight with Ysmir. Natsu was just too stubborn, though, even amongst the notably stubborn guild, and he continued to try to speak to Ysmir almost every day. By the fourth day, he was the only one who continued to try to speak with the man. The rest of Fairy Tail had already realized that Ysmir just did not want to speak with any of them, and so they decided to leave him in peace. And though Ysmir had been left to himself by Natsu for one day, it had only been because Natsu left with Lucy to visit Lucy's father. Once they returned, the Fire Dragon Slayer once again approached the man.

Yes, this could not be allowed to go on. Somehow, someway, Mira thought, she needed to snap Ysmir out of his funk. Of that she knew for certain. If not, she had a feeling he would continue to allow himself to wither away like dust until he died, something he was already making steady progress on. Heavy bags had formed underneath his dark green eyes, which were bloodshot and sunken from lack of sleep. His dark brown hair had become matted and dirty and his face had lost its color and was starting to become gaunt from hunger and weakness. In addition, the strange dark armor that he wore seemed to weigh down on his body, further proof that he was becoming too weak to bear the weight of that armor. All together, he gave the impression of a young man who had just aged several tens of years in the matter of a few days. The change was visible, and very worrying.

Mira clenched her soft hands into little fists. Though Ysmir was a stranger, he had saved her life. How could she just stand by and watch as her savior allowed himself to waste away in such a miserable manner? She stood up with quite a bit of resolve. She could not. She absolutely could not allow that to happen.

"Mira?" Wendy said, looking up at the Take-Over mage.

With determined steps, Mira walked over to Ysmir, and she heard the noise around the guild dim down to a more hushed tone as they watched the latest attempt at conversing with the ever silent stranger. Like with the others, Ysmir made no move to show an acknowledgement of Mira's presence. The barmaid sat herself down across from Ysmir at his table.

Mira wondered for a brief moment about what to say now that she was here. She had gotten this far, but she had not made a solid plan of what to do from from this point on. She hesitated for only a moment, though, before electing to just say whatever was on her mind.

"Hi, my name is Mirajane Strauss," she introduced herself.

No response.

"I never thanked you for saving me back on Tenrou Island," she continued, "So I wanted to do that now. Thank you, Ysmir, for saving my life."

Ysmir stirred a bit for the first time, causing the already hushed sound of the guild to lower to an absolute silence as they watched with bated breath. However, the motion was only enough for Ysmir to briefly flick the gaze of his tired eyes at the white haired beauty in front of him, before returning to stare at his drink.

"You know, you really do need to eat and sleep," Mira said with concern. "It's not healthy for you to keep going as you are."

Silence.

"Please, say something," she said in an almost pleading tone. "Are you trying to die? Don't you want to live?"

"No," Ysmir whispered with a hoarse voice.

Mira's eyes widened. At last. At last he said something. From all around the room, her friends and comrades were now watching with keen interest. But, his answer was not one that Mira had wanted to hear.

"Why?" she said, "Why don't you want to live?"

"There's no point anymore," Ysmir said in a whisper. "Now please, leave me alone."

"But-" Mira began to say, when she heard heavy stomping sounds approaching them. Turning towards the source of the noise, she saw Natsu coming over; and he was furious. That was evident from the wisps of smoke that were being emitted by his body, a common trait for the Fire Dragon Slayer whenever he was angry enough, and the expression on his face, which was twisted with rage and anger. "Natsu?" Mira said in surprise.

"Hey, you bastard," Natsu said as he slammed his hand down on the table and glared down at Ysmir. "So what? Because you lost against that dragon, you're just giving up? Are you that much of a coward that you want to die because of just one failure?"

A light of hellish anger flashed in Ysmir's eyes as he stood up and, being taller than Natsu, glared down at the young Dragon Slayer with hateful eyes.

"Watch what you say, you brat," Ysmir snarled. "What the hell do you know about me?"

"I know that you're moping pathetically," Natsu said, not budging an inch. "I know that you're trying to die in the lamest way possible. There's no point in you living? Don't fuck with me. You're just trying to run away because you're scared of that dragon. You're just a coward."

Something in Ysmir snapped, and he swung his fist, catching Natsu square across the face and sending him stumbling backward a few steps. But after his week long period of near starvation, Ysmir just did not have the strength to do more than that. Natsu, having suffered far stronger attacks before, looked almost unfazed by the sudden assault.

"You don't know anything!" Ysmir said with fury. "Everyone was counting on me! My friends! My comrades! Even my enemies and those who have never heard of me! Millions of unborn lives! Entire civilizations, countries and continents! They were all counting on me to kill Alduin to save them, whether they knew it or not! And because of my mistake, that damned dragon got the better of me! Because of my failure, they all died! All of them! An entire world! What the hell do you understand!?"

Natsu stepped up to Ysmir and, for a moment, Mira feared he was about to hit Ysmir back. Given Ysmir's current physical condition, Mira wasn't certain he would be able to handle such an assault, especially from Natsu who had a hard time holding back his strength. In fact, it was more accurate to say that he did not know how to hold back. Mira moved to stop the conflict when she felt a metallic hand placed on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw it was Erza that had grabbed her. The Requip mage shook her head, telling Mira not to interrupt.

Instead of attacking, Natsu spoke in a calm manner very unusual for the hot-headed man.

"If I were in your shoes," Natsu said, "I wouldn't give up. Your world is dead? I'm sorry. I really am. But, don't just sit here trying to kill yourself! I'm sure all those friends you were talking about wouldn't want to see that from you. Instead of sulking, take revenge on that dragon! And if you need another reason besides that, then look around. We're here. We're alive. Even if the world you knew is gone, there's a new one now. I am sorry that you lost your friends and your world. But, if I were you, this time I wouldn't let that dragon destroy it again. Letting that happened would be the true failure."

Ysmir froze, his jaw clenched tight and his hands balled into fists. For a moment, he trembled with anger. Mira fidgeted in nervousness, hoping that a fight wasn't about to break out. Then, Ysmir sighed and relaxed his body, allowing the trembling to stop.

"You're right," Ysmir breathed as he collapsed back into his chair and leaned his head against his hand. "Yeah, you're right." Just then, the strange man's head fell from his hand as his head smacked into the table. At first everyone was concerned. Mira shot up from her seat and leaned over the table to look at his face.

She let out a sigh of relief. "He's just sleeping," she said with a warm smile. Finally, she thought.

That's chapter two for you. A bit shorter than I was hoping for, but I ended up leaving a few things out that I'll be adding in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

-Mystiirious