Who Needs A Princess, When You Can Have a Queen?
Celestia193's Author's Note: Okay, time-skip time. The Fairy Tail fans will know exactly what this means (and probably how bad Mashima's math tends to be because he likes his sevens too much, but whatever). Also, if you're wondering about a villain/antagonist/threat, the Fairy Tail fans will know what's coming, seeing as we're kicking off the best two arcs in the entire series. For your other clue, read the story description again.
Silver's Author's Note: For some reason, whenever I do a Fairy Tail Crossover, the fluff/sensual silliness takes over. There is some brotherly bonding later on in this chapter and it's partially Sorcerer Weekly's fault. It may or may not be IC depending on your interpretation, but it should be funny. Happy reading.
Chapter 7
A long day. It had been another one of those long days before Itachi returned home from the guild. He had been helping Hibiki, again, alternating between hosting, and doing mathematical calculations in conjunction with Hibiki's Archive. The Archive wizard was almost obsessively taking readings on the ethernano, the magical particles in the air, all across the sea south of Fiore. It was where 'the incident' had happened. The incident that he as always very careful not to mention in front of Sasuke.
He'd felt the tremors of the day before, not thinking much of it since they were negligible, to say the least. There were tremors often enough, mostly the product of overzealous wizards nearby, meaning…when in doubt, Fairy Tail.
Of course, that begged the question as to who, since Itachi had heard through the grapevine that Fairy Tail was holding it's S-Class exams out on a secret island, far off the coast of Hargeon. Was it them? Could the tremors have actually traveled that far? Well, he was certain that Shisui and Hibiki would bring back information on whatever it was that caused it when they got back from their flight on the newly upgraded Christina. They were testing out new magical thrusters for increased speed.
And while their cousin was gone, Itachi and Sasuke had been out on a job to clear some vulcans out of the nearby mountains, only half a day's journey away by foot, at least for them. The monsters themselves had been little trouble, the incident with the thieves teaching them both a few things, though Sasuke more than Itachi.
That, and demon monkeys made great target practice for new variations on Sasuke's fireballs and Chidori. Itachi was so proud of his foolish little brother. "Shisui should be returning soon. Would you prefer to wait for him to go on another job? Or perhaps start training again right now?" They were taking a break inside the guild, sitting at the bar across from Master Bob.
"We can just wait here." While training was always good, he didn't want to 'waste' his magic on it if they were going to go out on a mission immediately. "He said that he'd be back today." The type of mission (or job, as wizards called it) that Shisui had taken would be easy for his cousin. Sasuke couldn't imagine they'd have to wait very long. "And he's usually right about that sort of thing."
"Indeed he is." And it was something that Itachi was grateful for. Handling a rambunctious and independent preteen was not an easy job to do on his own. On the bright side, at least Sasuke had only ever snuck off with a job twice. And neither were very dangerous. But still, Itachi preferred to have Sasuke within sight of him or Shisui, if at all possible. "Did you find any jobs on the board that you liked?"
"There were a couple that look interesting." Sasuke tilts his head as if considering it. "There was one in particular that is worth quite a bit, but you'll probably say that it's too dangerous." Which is normally what Itachi said anytime Sasuke chose something closer to the million jewel mark than the half a million mark.
But the doors of the guild open, and Shisui sighs as he slowly trudges inside. He didn't want to deliver this news, but he had to. Someone had to. It was just...well too cruel really.
"Shisui, what's wrong?" Sasuke blinked at his cousin. "Are you alright?" He'd rarely seen Shisui look so crestfallen except for after he found out the truth about their Clan.
The eldest Uchiha bites his lower lip as he sits down. "It's about Fairy Tail." And suddenly Sasuke's heart sunk. "They were on the island, doing their S Class exam...they've gone missing." No…not again!
Itachi's eyes widen, but he clenches his fists to try and ease his worry. "Alright…but the last time that they went missing, it turned out that they'd been sucked into another dimension, into Edolas." It seemed as though inter-dimensional travel was something that happened frequently with this world. And it's not as though Fairy Tail had never disappeared on them before. They were gone less than a week last time.
The eldest Uchiha shakes his head, knowing the questions swirling around in Itachi's mind. "It's different this time, they…" How the hell was he supposed to explain what they'd gotten out of the Magic Council? It was unbelievable! "Tenrou Island was the site of their yearly S-Class exam, and the Magic Council was there to try and dig up dirt on Fairy Tail, to find a way to force them to disband." Their vendetta was getting annoying, to say the least.
That wasn't the problem though, the Magic Council was harmless, compared to everything else. "According to Marshal Lahar, the Dark Guild, Grimoire Heart, attacked the Island, searching for the Black Wizard Zeref, who also happened to be on the island. No one knows what became of either Grimoire Heart or Zeref, but it's presumed that they were wiped out while fighting Fairy Tail when…" Shisui swallows thickly. "When the dragon known as Acnologia attacked the island. There was…nothing left when we tried to get close, and the magic particles in the air didn't let us get within fifty miles of where the island used to be. The concentration was…lethal."
"They got out though, right?" Sasuke's eyes widened. "They got out before the dragon attacked?" If they hadn't, that meant they were dead! That couldn't be true!
Itachi could see where this was going, and he didn't like it at all. If Fairy Tail hadn't gotten out, then it likely meant…well, he didn't particularly want to think about it
Shisui shakes his head. "We don't know. There's a chance, the Magic Council got out, and they wouldn't have stuck around after the dragon showed up, so maybe Fairy Tail escaped before it was destroyed." But there was also a much larger chance that they didn't, because knowing Fairy Tail, they would have tried to fight it instead of fleeing. "Hibiki is working on contacting the rest of Fairy Tail, and their friends and allies across the kingdom. We're going to be putting together search parties. If they're alive, we'll find them. But…"
"But there's still every chance that they might not have made it out in time." Itachi closes his eyes, his heart sinking past his stomach.
Sasuke slams his fist into the table, breaking it in half. "Not again!" This couldn't be happening again! "First our Clan and now them?!" He still clung to the hope that their Clan might still find them. Maybe time just functioned differently.
They might have only been gone for a few minutes in their world, but that wound had largely healed. "I'll go on the search party." Though he knew the truth. They had died. Fairy Tail hadn't made it out. The Council would have found them.
"When do the search parties leave?" It was only a matter of time before the same fate would befall Blue Pegasus, Shisui, and even Itachi. "The least we can do is find them." Whatever was left of them, anyway, because Sasuke had figured out the pattern. Everyone he cared about eventually either went missing or died.
Shisui looks at his younger cousin with remorse in his eyes, his heart aching for the boy. "In a few hours. We're picking up a small team from Lamia Scale on the way out." Lyon Vastia, in particular, was adamant about going and trying to find his lost friend, Gray. He was among the S-Class candidates who were being tested by their current S-Class.
He would have said that was too long, but it didn't really matter. A corpse was still a corpse whether it was found immediately or the next day. "Good. Then that's when we'll go." He ignored the fact that his hand was now bruised from the table. If he showed any sign of losing it, Sasuke knew his family would try to keep him from going with the search party and there was no way he was going to allow that to happen. At the very least, the members of Fairy Tail deserved a proper burial.
But they wouldn't find Fairy Tail on this trip. Or the next. Or the next. Or the next…
Ever since they had first met the Fairy Queen, Itachi had caught Sasuke delving into old issues of Sorcerer Weekly, searching for any picture he could find or Erza Scarlet, every interview, every article. And as the days had passed, and the searches continued to turn up nothing, it became clear, at least to Itachi's eyes, that his brother had fallen hard for the missing Fairy Queen.
Winter was only just beginning, and today of all days, there had been too somber a mood in the guild hall for Itachi to stay. How Shisui could bear to work today, he wasn't sure, but Sasuke had holed himself up at home today, to be seen by no one. Not that Itachi could blame him. Today was the anniversary of the disappearance, the presumed deaths, of Fairy Tail's mot powerful wizards. Including the S-Class wizard known as Erza 'Titania' Scarlet, Queen of the Fairies. Six years, and now, into the seventh year of their absence.
Not that all hope had been lost. In fact, Hibiki was convinced that they were still out there somewhere, spending his time between shifts and jobs monitoring the ethernano for any changes, especially around the place where the rambunctious guild's sacred island once stood. Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale continued the search, despite everyone else giving up on the old guild. Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale was one such wizard, who often had the habit of walking right into the guild to talk to Hibiki about when the next search party would go out. Apparently, a childhood friend of his had been among the group, and he was determined to make sure that his friend survived.
The three of them had gone, at Sasuke's insistence, though it wasn't really necessary, as everyone in the guild had their turn. But none of the searches they ever participated in turned up anything, anything at all. And eventually, even Sasuke's steadfast determination had faded. And that was not something that Itachi had enjoyed watching.
Sighing, Itachi pushes open the door to their house and steps into a beautiful, two story building that had taken them until Sasuke's fifteenth birthday to save up for, even with several rather large missions under their belts. "I'm home!" But as usual, on this day, there was no answer.
That could mean one of two things, and as he couldn't hear the sounds of his brother blowing anything up in the backyard, where they'd created something of a small training arena, that meant that he was upstairs. Which likely meant that he was writing, again. He did that a lot these days, but especially on the anniversary.
So, Itachi slowly, silently climbs the stairs, finding himself in front of Sasuke's room, like he had so many times before. And faintly, he could hear the sounds of a pen against paper. Indeed, Sasuke was at it again as Itachi opened the door. "I had a feeling that I would find you here. You're writing, aren't you? You're dwelling again…"
Sasuke sighs as he continues writing. He seemed to be doing a lot of that these days. The entire guild had grown somber at the anniversary and well, Sasuke didn't feel like joining in on the 'mourning'. He could do that privately.
"At least this way they'll have a record, if they ever do come back." The young wizard didn't know if he was referring more to his clan or the Fairy Tail wizards who had gone missing years ago. "That's something at least."
Ever since Shisui had arrived back at the guild to bring them the news, Sasuke had kept well a record, he supposed. He didn't know what to call it. He'd never call it a Diary and a Journal sounded so...cold. Well whatever one wanted to call it, Sasuke often wrote in it. Sometimes he added actual pictures or drawings he had done himself.
He might have only mediocre artistic skills, but he still found himself drawing Erza more often than he should have. "It wasn't fair." What had happened to his clan and to Fairy Tail wasn't fair. He supposed that the easiest explanation for his fixation was the not knowing.
"It'd be easier, if we knew." Sasuke sighs. Not knowing was the worst part. "It's bad enough that it happened to our family. Now, we don't know if our clan or our friends are alive or dead." It would be painful, if they were dead. Though Sasuke would rather know. Anything was better than this state of uncertainty.
Most days, he was able to ignore it for the most part. He poured himself into his jobs or his studies. This world was so different than he had been born into and in some ways, it was similar. Sasuke liked learning about new magics, but he would have liked knowing that his clan and the missing members of Fairy Tail were still alive. That she was still alive. Though he had long ago decided that wasn't the case and that weighed on him every day.
Oh boy, his little brother sighing, that wasn't good. Sasuke only did that when he was upset, instead of angry. It was a feeling Itachi understood painfully well. "Sasuke, you're doing it again…" He sighs, approaching his little brother, and sitting on the corner of the desk. "I know that it's hard…but you should try not to dwell on the sad things. You know that they wouldn't want that."
Well, not if the few visits they had paid to Fairy Tail in the months between meeting Erza, and the disappearance of the core members had been any indication. Fairy Tail was more than happy to engage in drinking obscene amounts of alcohol, making enough noise to rouse the dead, and trash the entire ground floor with their overly enthusiastic bar fights. Which may or may not have resulted in one extremely angry Queen of the Fairies taking out the trash after having her strawberry cake ruined by a careless tackle.
"I doubt that they would want you to spy on me either." Sasuke glances at his brother. "So it seems they'd be displeased with both of us." Though he was probably right. "I don't dwell on it. Not on most days." Alright. That was a lie. He did dwell on it, just not as obsessively on most days. "It's just the anniversary of their disappearance." Still, anniversaries were the hardest days to cope with.
"I just wanted to make sure that you were alright." Itachi knew how hard Sasuke was taking everything. And if his foolish little brother really thought that Itachi didn't know what he was writing in that book, he was sorely mistaken. Not that he had snooped, not in a couple of years, but he knew his brother's mind well enough that he could guess at the contents. "You're right, it's not fair. This day isn't easy for any of us." Not after spending time with Fairy Tail's wizards.
They were…unique, even among wizards. Itachi could say that with some certainty. Their devil may care attitude was infectious, a little alarmingly so, and they were definitely the most destructive of the Light Guilds. But Itachi had never met a family so loving, so close. And it was hard to see the fallout from all of that being ripped apart. Especially with how Fairy Tail's reputation had sunk. That part was infuriating, to put it mildly. "And the atmosphere inside the guild is a little depressing, even for me." Though he couldn't begrudge it of their master. Bob had lost one of his oldest friends with their disappearance. It hurt him…to see their new family suffer.
"I guess we could both use something to take our minds off everything." Sasuke tosses an issue of Sorcerer Weekly at him. "And you might want to talk to them...they're getting a bit personal with the type of info that they've printed about you. I think they're just speculating. How else could they possibly know THAT?!"
Upon hearing his brother's tone, Itachi raises an eyebrow, not daring yet to look. "If this is about Jenny, I assure you, that was a misunderstanding." Just what had they written about him that would prompt such a strong reaction from Sasuke?
He raises an eyebrow. "What about Jenny?" Sasuke shakes his head. "They listed your measurements, Itachi. ALL of them." Which apparently included the standard measurements like his height and weight, but most alarmingly his kunai size.
Itachi groans. "Of course they did." Why wouldn't they? The reporters simply had no concept of the word privacy. "And as for Jenny, it's nothing to be concerned about. She was simply asking me my opinion on whether or not Shisui would be up for a threesome involving Hibiki. I had NO intention of…taking part, no matter what Ren might think." Just to make sure, though, he flips through the magazine until he finds the page that so concerned Sasuke. "…And they're wrong, they're short by an inch."
"Oh." Sasuke blinks. "I half expected her to try to get a matching set." All three of them. Jenny had been looking at him differently lately. Though he thought she was just trying to fluff his ego more than anything, it was hard to tell. "And I didn't need to know that...but I guess you could always have them issue a correction instead of a retraction." Though the latter was useless in this case. That kind of information would spread like wildfire.
"No need, it might be amusing to watch the ladies debate about it." Though speaking of ladies, Sasuke was eighteen already, and still hadn't taken much interest in the many beautiful women around them. Of course, Itachi wasn't one to accept every invitation offered, but once you got past the vapid exterior, and the flirting, many of the women within the guild were much less shallow than they would first appear. The fact that Sasuke didn't seem to want to take much interest worried him. "However, if you were to accept such an invitation, I would caution you to be careful, but not protest."
"You're out of your mind, if you think I'm telling Sorcerer Weekly my kunai size." Everyone always compared the Uchiha to each other. Sasuke supposed to a certain extent it was only natural and normally, he didn't mind that much. "They'd never let something like that go." Still, it was one thing to be compared based on your magical skills, your intelligence, or even your looks in general...but he drew the line at measurements.
That's when it occurred him that Itachi might have meant something else. "And I don't even want to know how they find out about that." Though he wouldn't take the bait. Not unless Itachi pressed. That was dangerous territory and Itachi might tease him without mercy until he was Bob's age, if he fell into that trap.
Itachi smirks. "Very well, though if you do feel the need to tell the reporters the size of your kunai, I'm sure no one will protest that. But you are even more innocent than I thought if you believe THAT is what I was referring to."
He sighs mockingly and shakes his head. "Though I suppose that I might be to blame for this. I have traumatized you into being terrified of even speaking of sex. It seems that I will never be an uncle. Or is it because she has taken to wearing pink, and convincing Hibiki to do the same? You must admit that the color flatters him surprisingly well."
"You're...probing for information." Sasuke shakes his head. "I'm not going to fall for it." Not this time! He knew better! No more Itachi mindfucks for him!
"Not at all, I'm simply informing you that if Jenny extends the invitation to you, and you accept, that I will not protest you finally obtaining some experience with women." Itachi's smirk only grows. Sasuke was delusional if he thought that he was going to 'win' this time. "So, is it the pink? I know that you're not fond of the color."
He rolls his eyes. "I was eight. I've gotten over my aversion to it." It was orange that irritated him more these days, but that was besides the point. "And I don't think she's serious about it anyway. I think she just doesn't want me to feel left out in some strange way." That or the woman had an Uchiha Fetish. (Which was actually becoming something of an official thing according to a certain magazine).
"Well, I doubt that she would think you were being left out if you had a girlfriend." Itachi chuckles, knowing that he's winning the 'war'. "I'm not saying that you have to be like Ren and Sherry, dancing around a date for the wedding, but a little interest in women might convince her that you're not lonely."
Sasuke didn't know whether to laugh or be terrified at the fact that his overprotective brother was encouraging him to find 'companionship'. "On the off chance that I found someone, how do I know you wouldn't traumatize her?" Itachi could dress it up anyway that he wanted, but that's essentially what it boiled down to. "With a genjutsu or your games."
"Oh, I would try." Itachi smirks. "But if she cannot handle being exposed to me, how in the world would you expect her to handle you?" Sasuke might not like to admit it,but he was a hard case, to put it mildly. "Besides, I find that the women in this world are built a little tougher than what I grew up with." An understatement, since nearly every female who disappeared six years ago would easily be able to send him through a wall, if he weren't fighting back. It seemed to be a common theme here. The women were not to be taken lightly.
"You're not nearly a good enough actor to pull off that innocent routine." As if he was somehow more intimidating than Itachi! Ha! "Anyway, I guess it wouldn't hurt to look." He didn't want to sound vain, but for some reason their trio had captured the interest of the wizarding and non-wizarding communities alike. "And that doesn't mean you have permission to tell Shisui to go crazy and for him to host a beauty pageant or something!" Sasuke pawned most of it off to them being foreign though. People tended to be attracted to what they considered 'exotic'.
"Fine, fine." Itachi holds up his hands in mock surrender. "Though I doubt that hosting a beauty pageant would necessarily attract the sort of woman who could handle you." Not unless there was a battle portion involved. "Maybe you'll find someone who catches your eye at the next Grand Magic Games? We could go and watch next time." He smiles at the thought. "I'm sure that Sorcerer Weekly would be more than happy to see Blue Pegasus' Inferno at the games, participating or not."
"Maybe, Bob would let us join this year." Sasuke cocks his head to the side considering it. "I mean the prize money is considerable and it would be nice to see how we measure up against wizards from other guilds."
"Perhaps." Blue Pegasus participated every year, but the two of them had never participated in the games. Shisui had, twice, but Itachi had opted not to, and he'd been hesitant to encourage the master to let Sasuke join the team. "I suppose you could ask to be put on the team, if you really want to compete."
Sasuke shakes his head in amusement. "You're so eager to encourage me to compete in the Arena of Love, but not an actual arena?" Itachi really would forever be a mother hen it seemed. Well a father hen. A rooster? Ah fuck it!
"Well, in the former, there is little chance of you getting yourself killed." Itachi knew that the Games could be brutal, and there were instances where people had even died. It wasn't common, not at all, but there had been a few…incidents. "Besides, in love, I can give you advice, even be your shield or interfere if I see that something is wrong, in the arena, there is only so much help I can give you."
"Itachi, I'm eighteen. I'm not a child anymore." He shakes his head and smiles at him. "I love that you care so much, but I can fight my own battles now."
"I know…I just can't help but worry." Itachi sighs, placing his hand on Sasuke's head, pressing their foreheads together. "I am your older brother…I will ALWAYS worry about you. Even as I support you growing stronger."
Sasuke smiles at him and nods. "I know, but there is a fine line between overprotective and stalker. Try not to cross it." The younger Uchiha smirks. "Speaking of stalkers, you're seriously not going to do anything about the Sorcerer Weekly?"
Itachi chuckles at the thought. "Yes…Sorcerer Weekly. I suppose I could give them a little…lecture regarding respecting a wizard's privacy." He did know many ways of getting people to do what he wanted.
"That would probably be best before they want you to bare it all or something like that." Which knowing them, wasn't outside the realm of possibility. "And that's one thing that I could definitely live without seeing." Success! Diversion tactics had been successfully deployed!
"Yes, I'm sure…" Itachi shakes his head. "But as Shisui says…you still need to get laid. So try and find a nice girl. Preferably, one who can handle your poor attempts to change the subject and avoid answering questions."
"They're not poor attempts!" They worked on everybody else!
Two fingers poke Sasuke square in the middle of his forehead. "If they were not, I would be more easily deterred. But for now, I will drop the matter." Itachi loved seeing the annoyed look on his little brother's face. It was terribly endearing. "Though I do hope, at least, that you get more than just your first kiss before you're twenty."
"You're one to talk..." Sasuke fumes at his brother. "You weren't exactly in any hurry to find companionship either!" He was seriously starting to wonder if maybe Itachi really did have a thing for Shisui. That was apparently a thing in this world. There were some rumors going around about a wizard named Freed and some blond from Fairy Tail. "It's just...nevermind."
Well, seeing as the two were among those who disappeared on Tenrou Island six years ago, Itachi didn't see much of a connection to begin with. "I am discreet, Sasuke, not a monk." And okay, maybe Hibiki rubbed off on him just a little bit. Though he would never be the playboy that Hibiki was.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow rather incredulously. "Uh huh. Who is this mythical lover then?" Because Sasuke would have noticed if Itachi was involved with someone.
"No one serious, at the moment. My last attempt at a relationship was several months ago. But I'm not short on offers, you know." He pokes Sasuke's forehead a little harder. "And that is all I will tell you."
"I know you get offers you keep making that stupid list of eligible bachelors or whatever they call it!" And damn it, now that he was eighteen Sasuke was old enough to be included in those polls. Was it vain that he expected to be somewhere in them on the next go around? "It's just you never take anyone up on them or at least it didn't seem like it."
"Foolish little brother, I am not Shisui." Just because Itachi didn't make his affections so…public, didn't mean that he'd completely ignored his libido. "Though I suppose that the list certainly helps. I'm sure that you'll be on it, come the new year."
He eyes him warily. "We aren't going to...compete over that silly thing are we?" Shisui would probably joke about it. Maybe, Itachi would be more mature though.
"Of course not. And look at it this way." Itachi smiles widely. "You may soon be taking Ren's place on the list." After all, the man was going to be married soon, months, maybe a year, tops. Still it was good to see Sasuke's spirits higher. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, I am feeling better." Sasuke smirks. "The prospect of pissing Ren off is always an exciting one."
Honestly, that boy could get himself into so much trouble. "Yes, you and Ren have been in some sort of competition with each other since the day you met. One day, I hope that I will come to understand it."
"Because he was a prick and put out my fire!" What kind of jerk did that when Sasuke was clearly demonstrating his capabilities?!
"You were eight, Sasuke, it's been ten years since then. Surely you can get over the fact that you were so cute when you pouted that it was hard for anyone to resist giving you a hard time, just so they could see you get annoyed with them." He was just lucky that Itachi ran enough interference that it didn't happen nearly as often as it could.
He rolls his eyes. Obviously not satisfied. "And he's been a thorn in my side ever since." Itachi just didn't understand what it meant to have a rival. No one could compete with him. Well other than Shisui and those two had never been competitive with each other for some reason.
Itachi shakes his head. "Only you, Sasuke…only you would choose, at eight years old, to make someone twice your age your rival." Sasuke often did some odd, crazy, or downright stupid things, but challenging Ren…that typically didn't go so well. Unlike in their old world, fighting wind with fire was not the best plan.
"There isn't much of a point in choosing someone to be your rival, if you can defeat them easily." Honestly, Itachi had no idea how this worked, it seemed. "You wouldn't know anything about that though." He shrugs. "Besides, just because he's older doesn't mean he's stronger than me!"
"Well, perhaps not now, but he certainly was then." And Itachi had watched Sasuke only grow since then. "In any case, I have a job, if you wanted to come along. It appears that there is a giant mole terrorizing one of the villages to the north, and they require someone to exterminate it."
A giant mole. Sasuke supposed he shouldn't be too shocked. They had giant summons back home, but for some reason...the wildlife here still surprised him. "Sure. I"ll come along." If evolution were a deity in this realm, he or she was certainly on crack because the animals were just so...bizarre. From adorable looking, but psychotic goblins to giant moles.
Itachi smirks as Sasuke reaches for his traveling bag. "Oh, and it's apparently a hundred feet tall."
"…I don't get how they didn't notice it before it came to town." Sasuke shakes his head. "Only in Earthland."
Six years, three months, and two days, but the numbers weren't really that important. What was important was that that's how long it took Hibiki to get the best news they'd had since the downfall of the Oracion Seis. It also meant that Christina broke a few speed records that day. Not to mention Hibiki as he races back int the guild after a long day of flying around, recording ethernano levels off the coast of Hargeon. And he had Ren and Eve hot on his heels as he nearly comes crashing back into the club. "Master Bob!"
The old guild master looks up from the bar and away from the three boys in front of him, getting in a drink after coming back from a job, pausing during the motion of wiping a glass. "Hibiki?" He blinks as said wizard bends over, his hands on his knees as he pants, trying to catch his breath. "What's going on?"
Itachi blinks at the sight of the top host in the guild, who'd raced in like there was a demon at his heels. Though the smile on his face would say otherwise. "What's got him so excited?"
"I don't know..." Sasuke tilts his head. "Maybe he found a sale on hair gel or something." This was the Blue Pegasus Guild, after all.
His breath half caught, Hibiki strides quickly to the bar, a wide smile plastered all over his face. "We did it. All of my calculations and observations panned out, and…" He shakes his head, laughing softly. "It's incredible, it's like they never left. We found them in the exact condition they were in when Acnologia supposedly annihilated the island!"
There's the sound of shattering glass as Bob drops everything he's holding. "You mean…Maki?"
"Yeah!" Hibiki's smile grows even brighter, if possible. "We found them. All of them. They're all alive. Every single member of Fairy Tail that disappeared seven years ago. Our mission was a success…" Fairy Tail's heart had returned from the dead.
