Pair by pair, the thirteen mages gathered at the center of the maze, each with the time of their arrival written in light pen above their heads. All but four of the mages—Laxus, Bisca, Levy, and Gajeel—glared at Freed accusingly. They saw him as the previously treacherous rune mage of the guild, whose expelled "friend" had been mysteriously requested.
Freed couldn't take it anymore: his guildmates hated him for something he didn't do. Looking at Levy, Gajeel, and Bisca's sympathetic smiles, he was slightly comforted, but he was really just glad Laxus was there with him.
Laxus knew exactly how Freed felt and took his hand to reassure him that everything would be alright and that he was there for him. While in the maze, Laxus tried to share his feelings with Freed and tell him that he truly cared for him—loved him, even—but his communication issue wouldn't let him voice it properly.
A wave of relief washed over both of them when the clock in the ground lit up, distracting the glaring mages. "Congratulations, Fairy Tail!" the voice of the challenger, whose face they still had yet to see, resonated through their bones. "Each pair fell to its weakness, but each was able to pick itself back up and find the maze's center. You've proven Fairy Tail's worth, today."
"Hey!" Natsu tried to shout, still offended that the guild's worth had ever been questioned. However, no sound escaped his mouth. The center was silenced by runes, which explained to him now why no one had yelled at Freed yet.
"All will be explained when we meet," the voice continued.
Juvia smiled widely. Everyone was excited—some angry, some eager-but none so much as her. This challenger was an enemy of Fairy Tail, but even so, he did her a great favor that day. It was because of him that she'd gotten to spend a whole day alone with her Gray, share her past with him, save his life, and earn his love. Of course, It was also because of the challenger that Gray's life had been in danger in the first place, which Juvia could never forgive, but all people had both light and dark sides. Most of the other mages felt similarly. All of them were put in danger, all of them had a loved one put in danger, and all of them had their guild insulted and town threatened, but all of them were brought closer to those they loved.
"Step into the teleportation vortex," the challenger told them, "and you will be brought to my mansion, Magnolia will be safe, and we can discuss this whole mess."
The fairies exchanged glances, weary of falling into another of this challenger's tricks. Erza was the first to cut the crap, walking bravely straight into the light and being consumed by it. The others rushed to follow her, all pairs but for Natsu and Lucy-since Lucy was still mad at Natsu for how he treated Loke—holding hands and leaping into the light together. Bisca grabbed her hat as she and Alzack fell into the whoosh of the teleportation vortex. The light surrounded them just as it had in the stone building.
When the blinding light dimmed, the thirteen mages found themselves in the front room of a very lavish home, adorned with fine art and littered with roses. Natsu was passed out on the ground, and Lucy realized that he'd been trying to tell her it was transportation that had made him sick at the beginning of the maze. Gray gave him a kick, and he sprang up, fuming.
"Follow me, please," a butler, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, instructed them. "The Madame is waiting for you in the lounge."
"Madame? The challenger's a chick?" Cana speculated.
"Indeed," the butler responded.
He lead them down a long hallway that had gorgeous paintings hung so closely their frames touched and a red carpet on the marble floor that perfectly matched the many roses that were strewn about. Laxus, feeling more comfortable with his emotions now, stopped for a moment to bend down and pick one up to present to Freed, who blushed furiously. The others stared at them, very confused and out of the loop. Since when was Laxus with Freed?
When they came to the door of the lounge, a great door of dark wood carved with an ornate pattern, the butler turned one of the elegant golden handles and opened it for them. The mages proceeded into the lounge, which was much like the front room: marble floor, statues, fountain, beautiful and exotic plants growing from pots on expensive table or straight up from soil areas in the floor.
In the middle of the room was a dark red couch with a person sitting in it, facing away from them. From the back, the person on the couch could've been Freed. Their hair was exactly the same color, and when she stood, they saw it was just as long but pulled back in a half-up instead of tied at the bottom. Her hair didn't have the lightening-bolt-shaped strands either, but those Freed had styled in order to get Laxus's attention. The woman wore a long, red-violet dress with ivory detailing, and a long brilliantly colored feather, a quill, hung from a loose black belt around her waist. When she turned, she stared right into Freed's wide blue eye with two blue eyes of her own that matched his perfectly. "Welcome, Fairy Tail."
The Fairy Tail mages stood silently, their mouths hanging open. Who was this woman who looked like a female Freed, even down to their clothing. A sly smile spread across her face. "W-w-w-why?" Freed stammered.
"Yes, Freed, I'm the one who challenged Fairy Tail," the woman, who looked like Freed and now somehow knew him, stated coolly.
"Freed?" Alzack asked, feeling only slightly awkward to be proven wrong for suspecting Freed. "Freed, who is this woman?"
"My name is Ensis Stranol," she answered for him. "Freed's mother."
They all gasped almost simultaneously. She couldn't have been over forty-two, and Freed was twenty, but they supposed some people did have kids pretty young. Freed remained silent, staring at her. "Mother…." He tried to talk to her, but had no words for how he felt. "Mother, why did you leave us?"
"Oh, Freed," Ensis said, strolling over to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. Freed was tall, but so was she. When she touched him, Laxus stiffened but was ignored. "Freed, Freed, Freed. I had to leave. You're father was a dead-beat after my wealth and weighing me down from pursuing my dreams. I felt comfortable leaving you with him even though you were so young because I knew you had power, and I knew you'd find a good guild."
Freed was silent, but Natsu spoke up. "How could you leave your kid just because you hated his dad and knew he'd turn out fine anyway? Kids need parents!" Missing parents were a sensitive topic for Natsu, who'd lost his birth parents when he was a baby and his adoptive father, Igneel, when he was eleven. A lump formed in Macao's throat, but he swallowed it. He'd made things complicated for Romeo when he got a divorce from Romeo's mother, but looking at Cana next to him, he felt like things may change one day.
Cana was thinking something along the same lines and asked Ensis before she could respond to Natsu, "And speaking of parents, what did you mean when you said Romeo was at home, waiting for his 'parents?"'
"Oh, so you two aren't married yet?" Ensis wondered, though the tone of her voice and the look on her face said that she knew the truth all along. "You sure act like it, and it's about time you made a move, S-man." By "S-man" she was referring to Macao's necklace, the meaning of which not even Cana knew. "As I said back in the maze, each pair gave into their weaknesses, but each was able to pull through. Some of you even gave in so little, it barely showed. Erza Scarlet: your weakness is your past. You must learn to fight through anything, even when faced with painful memories, which I think you realized when you got over the pain of Jellal being hurt enough to want revenge on my son for supposedly being responsible."
Erza furrowed her brow. So this was the woman who lured Jellal to the maze under false pretences and told him to put his life in danger for her.
"Laxus Dreyer and Freed Justine, my son: your problems are simple. Freed, you must form a mind of your own instead of constantly using Laxus as a model form which to base you life. Laxus, you must learn to communicate you emotions. This is important, but I feel like you're headed down the right path."
"So, you were trying to set us up?" Freed complained. He felt pre-adolescent, needing his mom to get him a guy.
Ensis ignored her son's whining and moved on. "Cana Alberona and Macao Conbolt: your weaknesses are quite basic as well. Cana, you are an alcoholic, and as you saw today, that will get in the way of your missions. Macao, you don't really have much to weaken you besides your son, but I admire how you try to help Cana, so I didn't do anything to bad too you."
Cana hung her head, but Macao's rage was growing. Nothing too bad? She'd lead him to believe his son's life was in danger! She'd tortured him.
"Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Loxar: your weaknesses mirror each other's, for Gray shows too little love for Juvia, and she shows to much for him. Everyone can see that you have feelings for Juvia, Gray, you needed to just swallow your pride and tell her. Juvia, you are far too protective of Gray and need to let him go just a little bit. That excess of passion will one day be your downfall, which it would have been had I not written those runes to be weak against ice."
"Hey!" Gray growled. "It's nice that you brought me to my senses, but you're wrong about Juvia! I love her passion!" Juvia's heart thumped, and she blushed until her face matched the couch. She held Gray's arm, so grateful for how things turned out for her.
Again, Ensis paid him no mind and continued listing weaknesses. "Alzack and Bisca: you both have the same weakness as Gray. If you would just let the other in on your feelings, you'd be a much stronger team. That, and you are both far too stubborn. I did frame Freed by putting so many runes in that obstacle course, and for that I am sorry, but it was all for the purpose of making you argue and thus weakening you as a team. Natsu and Lucy: you both are just weak in and of itself. Natsu, you are too impulsive and very prone to acting like a five-year-old. Lucy, you have strong spirits, but when it comes down to only you, you can do next to nothing. Fortunately, it'll probably never come down to you, so that's good."
Natsu growled, but remembering his weakness of impulsiveness and immaturity, he held his tongue for once. Laxus laughed.
"And finally, Gajeel and Levy: you have a dark history, but that is more of a strength, bringing you together over Gajeel's change for the better. Your team weakness, Gajeel, is that you have no confidence in Levy. When you were fighting, the only reason you didn't win was because you were paying more attention to the real Levy, who you could not have assisted in her battle anyway, than my version, who was attacking away at you."
"That one, I agree with," Gajeel said, giving Levy's hand a soft squeeze.
"Good. Now, everyone leave and wait in the receiving room. But not you, Freed. I want to talk to you," Ensis demanded.
Laxus reluctantly let Freed's hand slip form his. He wanted to stay with him, but Freed insisted that it would be better if he just went with the others. The group trudged down the hall, lead by the butler, back to the mansion's front room, where they could do nothing but sit and wait as instructed.
"Juvia feels terrible for suspecting Freed."
Gray nodded in agreement and gave her knee an assuring squeeze. "I think we all do. Sorry, Laxus."
Laxus scoffed, offended and defensive, but Gajeel spoke up, "Well, Levy and I knew from the start that it wasn't Freed who'd set up the runes. His mom's are stronger than his, and Levy couldn't rewrite them like she did in the battle."
"Freed is a very powerful wizard," Levy corrected him. "I get the feeling he wrote the runes back then to be easier to rewrite because he knew what they were doing was wrong and wanted us to stop Laxus," she muttered in Freed's defense but was met by Laxus's hard eyes. "N-no offense, Laxus."
"We also knew Freed was innocent," Bisca said, gesturing to herself and Alzack, though her partner didn't quite seem to agree with her.
With nothing else to say, the group fell silent again. Meanwhile, in the living room of the Stranol mansion, Freed was speaking with his mother. "Freed," she said. "You've found an amazing guild, but I hope your experience today opened your eyes to how weak they are. That guy you like, Laxus, has a point, you know."
Freed put his hands to his temples in frustration. "God, Mom, you can't do this! You can't just come waltzing back into my life just to try to make Fary Tail seem weak. You said yourself that everyone overcame their weaknesses and got to the center of the maze in the end, so why are you still pressing this?"
Ensis sighed and laid a hand on Freed's shoulder. "Freed, my beautiful son, you have found an amazing guild, but it's only amazing by the standards of a guild, which is still pretty low by my personal standards. All guilds are weak, which is why I sought you out. The time has come for you to come back and live with me. See how successful I am as an independent mage? You must come and join me here. It's where you've always belonged."
Amused, Freed looked defiantly into his mother's eyes. "You know, they say back at the guild that no one in Fairy Tail was raised by a normal family. Everyone either had only one parent, none, or just an unstable upbringing overall. So, no. I don't belong here with you anymore. I stopped belonging here the minute you decided to leave me with dad. I built myself up from there to where I am now, which is a very long way, considering he's too drunk most of the time to say the alphabet forwards, let alone backwards. And here I am, a rune mage who lives for letters and words."
"Like me," Ensis reminded him. "If you stay here, where you were always meant to be, I could make you an even stronger writer. Invincible."
"See, I don't care about being invincible. And I don't much care for you," Freed stated bluntly. "I care about my friends, Laxus, and the guild that I belong to. Fairy Tail is where all of us are meant to be, so please send us back. Now."
Ensis took a deep breath and held it for a long time, pondering her son's words. He was her only child, and she'd deserted him, left him to build himself up to the great place he is now for so long that he didn't need or want her anymore. She resented his decision not to come back to her, but she also couldn't be more proud. Exhaling, she walked with him down the hall to where his guildmates waited and sent them all back to Magnolia without a word.
They reappeared in the forest at the site of the stone building, which was no longer there. They questioned Freed, but he kept a hard face and didn't answer. Laxus walked next to him, protecting him from the others' curiosity, and the thirteen victorious mages walked back into town.