AN: Hello all, here I am back with another chapter. Have to say I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but I had to compromise as I'm trying to up the pace a little and didn't want to spend too long here, so I cut it down form the original two planned and put most of it in one chapter, though elements of stuff will still come up later on, as there are still bits to cover and secrets to come out.
That said, here is chapter 31, the last chapter of this Arc, I hope you all enjoy.
Please leave a review etc. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to PM me, or if not join me on discord.
Speaking of which, I am a part of a discord group, there's tonnes of others there, plenty of writers, admittedly mainly PJO, but other stuff too. Feel free to pop along and say hi, I'm always happy to chat about the stuff I am writing. So if you fancy it please do to join by sticking this: discord .gg / elibrary into discord, with no spaces, or using the link on my bio.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Fairy Tail.
( - )
(Last Time)
On the wrecked warships out at sea, both Doranbalt and Captain Lahar could only watch on in shock, guilt and horror as a large beam of pure magic struck Tenrou Island directly.
The Magic Council had acted.
The Etherion had been deployed.
Tenrou Island and all those on it had been obliterated and reduced to dust.
"By the gods, what have we done…" Doranbolt muttered into the shocked silence that followed.
( - )
Chapter 32
( - )
(Magnolia in the Year X791)
Laxus Dreyar, the Fourth Guild Master of Fairy Tail, glanced around the packed guild hall as the new members drank, sang and partied, while the older members sat around clutching at their drinks and talking in hushed tones,
Taking a sip of his mead, Laxus let out a sad sigh.
It had been nearly seven years to the day since Tenrou Island was destroyed.
Seven long, painful years of recovery and mourning since they lost their Guild Master, their Ace, the majority of their S-Class wizards, and a half dozen of their best and brightest. Seven years since they had lost a large part of their family.
Taking another sip of his mead, Laxus shook his head, his gaze lazily moving over the newer members, those that had joined since that fateful time.
Unlike the original members, the newer cohort of mages had no memories of those that had come before them. They had no bond or connection to them, all they had was old stories, and tales of better times.
It was sad in a way how little they seemed to care for the past.
Then again it wasn't surprising either, time never stood still, and with every generation that passed the memories of what once been fade even as stories that were once known to be true, become tall tales, and legends.
It had only been seven years, but even so, he could feel every one of those years weighing down on his shoulders.
The years hadn't been easy, not for anyone, especially those that had been left behind.
During that time, Fairy Tail had fallen from its glory.
No longer were they one of the strongest Wizarding Guilds in Fiore, not after they had lost so many of their core members.
Instead, they were a decidedly middling Guild, as average as they come.
Sure they had a few heavy hitters in the form of their two S-Class wizards, Freed Justine and Elfman Strauss.
They also had some reliably powerful mages like both Alzack and Bisca Connell, Evergreen, Lisanna Strauss and Bickslow too, who were all more than capable of taking on A-Class missions if needed.
It was a far cry from their glory days when they boasted six S-Class wizards, including Perseus the God of Fairies and one of the strongest mages in all of Ishgar, and Gildarts Clive, a powerhouse who was on a par with the Wizard Saints themselves.
But even so, they were still able to get by, and could fulfil enough high-end missions to keep their heads above water and keep the mission requests coming in and of course the commission which came with said requests.
Through the hard work of those left behind they had managed to keep a hold of their guild hall, they had squared their debts, and had managed to bolster their declining reputation enough to still draw in enough new recruits to replenish their ranks, and keep their membership stable.
It had been hard, both mentally, physically and emotionally, far harder than he had ever imagined it would be, but they had made a success of it.
Nowadays, they had around thirty-five members, a far cry from their heyday when they numbered nearly one hundred, but still enough to keep the Guild viable.
Taking another sip of mead, Laxus glanced over at the older generation as they continued to quietly talk and reminisce together. Most of the original members had stuck around after Tenrou Island was destroyed. To lead by example when the Guild was at its lowest point, many of them had stepped up and taken more jobs than ever before, even Nab, their most workshy and indecisive member.
It was heartening in a way to have watched them all grow and mature.
Sometimes he imagined that what he was feeling now, was probably exactly what his grandfather had felt as he watched them grow up.
It made him very self-aware of how much of a little shit he must have been back in the day.
Laxus smiled slightly at that thought, even as he looked up and watched as Jet, Droy, Laki and Max walked in after completing their most recent mission.
The four of them had become a good, solid team over the years. Jet and Droy, he knew, definitely missed Levy. The both of them had taken it very hard when she left.
But even so, they had managed to continue on. They hadn't quit or given up, instead they had strived to be better, stronger and faster.
It was admirable.
Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow, had likewise grouped up as a team, continuing on as the Thunder Legion, even as he took on the mantle of Fourth Master, and they were doing well too. Freed had become a strong leader, Evergreen had mellowed significantly -though in part that he suspected that her new attitude had something to do with her settling down with Elfman, and popping out a kid-, and Bickslow, well, Bickslow hadn't really changed at all.
Taking another gulp of mead, Laxus's gaze shifted over to Nab, Macao, Wakaba, Warren and Reedus; they'd all gotten older and more tired in the last seven years, but were still solid, reliable members of the Guild. The five of them had taken on the role of mentor to the younger recruits, often taking turns to take fresh recruits and some of their younger wizards out on C-Class missions. Which was useful, as they were able to show the Guild's more inexperienced members the ropes, and help them build up experience, all while still completing a good number of missions.
None of them had ever tried their hands at being S-Class mages, but that was because they were self-aware enough to know they weren't at that level. Jet, Droy, Laki, Max and Bickslow were the same. After what happened on Tenrou Island, the four of them knew they weren't capable of making it to the level of an S-Class, so instead focussed on getting stronger and more powerful at their own paces.
Freed and Elfman though had been determined, they'd worked hard for it, and had wanted to progress, which is why he'd set up new trials in Magnolia for them to take.
Lisanna and Evergreen, he suspected, would likely be following in their footsteps in the next few years.
Both of them had grown massively in the last seven years.
Evergreen was now married and had a four year old child. Despite that, however, she was still an active, high competent and contributing member of the Guild.
Lisanna meanwhile had followed in her sister's footsteps, and although she still regularly took missions often in the company of her older brother, she also modelled in her free time for the wizarding magazine, Sorcerer Weekly, and was doing pretty well for herself too from what he had heard.
Unfortunately, unlike Mira, she hadn't wanted to work behind the bar too, which had been fair enough, after all they had a new waitress now, Kinana, who worked behind the bar part-time, even as she worked to become a mage.
Glancing behind him at that thought, Laxus sent the green-eyed, purple haired girl a smile, even as he drained the last of his mead.
"Another one, if you don't mind, Kinana?" Laxus asked as he gently placed his tankard on the bar, a small smile tugging at his lips as he saw her give him a friendly smile in return.
"Coming right up." Kinana said happily, taking his tankard and refilling it for him. "You seem very down though today, Master Laxus. Is it because it's nearly the anniversary of what happened?"
"Yes," Laxus said gently, thanking her as he gently retrieved his now refilled tankard. "It's been nearly seven years to the day."
"And still nothing." Kinana shook her head mournfully. "Did they ever figure out what happened?"
"No, all we've ever had to go on is rumour." Laxus frowned, shifting in his seat to fully face the younger girl. "Some say it was a freak storm that sank the island, one perhaps conjured up by the Dark Mages that were attacking Tenrou at the time. Others said it was Zeref reborn, destroying the island in preparation for his return to power. Still others think it was the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, Aconoliga. No one knows for sure. Whatever happened that day, there were no survivors. The Council sent a fleet to check for them at the time, and we did the same, as did Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale and so many others."
"So it's still a mystery." Kinana said sadly. "I thought something might have changed; what with Blue Pegasus monitoring the site still for any new readings or evidence?"
Laxus smiled sadly in response. "They're still trying to help, but even with all their technology and influence, there is nothing they can do. Occasionally, Master Bob will send me some notes on the latest readings in the area, or on new theories and hypotheses, but really they're just that, hypotheses."
Kinana nodded sadly.
He knew why she asked what she had. Unlike many of the other newcomers to the Guild, she had joined just days before the Tenrou Island incident, and thus, although she had met Master Makarov, Perseus, Erza, Mirajane and the others, she had never properly got to know them. She was in the grey area that existed between those that had been members prior to the destruction of Tenrou Island and had stuck around and those that had joined after the tragedy, when the Guild had once again found its feet and started recovering.
He understood her curiosity, and appreciated the fact that she treated the anniversary with the appropriate levels of respect, unlike the newcomers who only gave it a token acknowledgement, and nothing more, which was maybe to be expected from young, brash mages with no real connection to the fallen.
"Has there been any news from Bisca, Alzack and Romeo?" Laxus asked, moving the conversation on to more casual ground now.
The trio had left on a mission to Hargeon two days back, and were due to return very soon. Which a part of him was looking forward to, after all he had been the one keeping an eye on Asuka, Alzack and Bisca's daughter, while they were away.
In retrospect, he now had a great deal of empathy for his grandfather over the way he had watched over Natsu, Erza, Gray, the Strauss siblings, Cana, Levy, Droy, Jet and himself back in the day. The man had practically raised them, admittedly with the help of others in the Guild, and had managed to keep the Guild afloat at the same time.
Being in a similar position now, though with a lighter workload, what with the Guild being smaller and him only having one kid to keep an eye on, he really didn't know how his grandfather had done it.
Back when he had been younger and idiotic, back when he had thought only of power and prestige, he had thought his grandfather a fool, and had believed he would be a significantly better Guild Master.
In hindsight, he knew he had been a fool.
The job was more than a title, it was a responsibility, and a weighty one at that, and even now seven years after taking on the mantle he still didn't feel like he was doing the job even half as well as the Third Master had.
Despite fighting all his life to get out of his grandfather's shadow while the old man was alive, here he was once again struggling to live up to the old man, even seven years after his death.
Taking another sip of mead, he shook his head in amusement, even as he tuned back into what Kinana was saying. "I spoke to Bisca this morning by lacrima, and she said they'd nearly completed their mission. Most of the ember boars in the area have been cleared out, and they just needed to do one more sweep of the forests before heading back."
Laxus nodded, "So either tonight or in the morning depending on if they get the last train, or have to wait until the morning?"
Kinana shrugged.
"Well, that's not a problem, I take it Asuka hasn't been causing you any trouble?" He continued, glancing over at the bright-eyed, little girl as she bobbed around the hall with a tray, collecting finished glasses.
For some reason she had decided that this morning she wanted to have a go at being a waitress, and considering he both had a soft spot for her, and that Kinana was often overworked as is, even with others pitching in occasionally, he'd allowed it.
"No, she's been a little angel!" Kinana gushed, a grin playing around her mouth as she looked over at Asuka.
Laxus smiled at her comment, even as he settled back into his seat.
Things had calmed down a lot over the last seven years, and although the losses they'd suffered still hurt; gradually, day by day, they were recovering. The scars might not ever fade, but the wounds would heal, and life would continue to go on.
Taking a sip of mead, Laxus forced a smile onto his face as he looked around the crowded Guild Hall.
A lot had changed, but they were making the best of it, and with this year's Grand Magic Games on the horizon the next few months would be very busy, especially after only ranking in fifth last time.
Fairy Tail's glory days might have long since passed them by, but he was still confident that they would rank higher this year.
Sure, they wouldn't beat Lamia Scale or Sabertooth, the two strongest Guilds in Fiore, but they would definitely be able to put up a good fight against Mermaid Heel and Blue Pegasus, the two other Guilds that beat them last time.
Smiling into his mug at the thought of the upcoming competition, Laxus was soon broken out of his musing by the doors to the Guild suddenly crashing open, even as Ichiya, the Ace of Blue Pegasus burst forth, his two minions following close behind him.
"Huh, what do they want?" Laxus muttered to himself, a slight smile playing around his mouth as he watched their ongoing theatrics.
( - )
(On Tenrou Island)
"What happened…" Percy rasped to himself, as he blearily open his eyes and staggered up onto his hands and knees.
His head was throbbing, and his back and muscles ached.
Everything hurt.
Pushing himself up, Percy almost instantly felt light headed, his stomach roiling, and his legs protesting as he tried to stand.
He felt awful.
After taking a deep breath of fresh sea air, he almost immediately retched and collapsed forwards onto his hands and knees again, his entire body shuddering as he vomited out a mouth full of dark congealed crimson blood and some thick, foul smelling bile.
"Well, that's not good…" Percy muttered, his eyes scrunching shut as he took several more ragged breaths, his lungs burning for a moment as he drew in more moist sea air, soothing the pain in his lungs and the scratching raw feeling in his throat.
What was happening?
He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this bad, he felt brittle and worn out, as if every single one of his four hundred plus years of life had suddenly crashed down on him all at once.
Rolling onto his back continuing to take deep, steady breaths, Percy stared up at the blue sky overhead, even as he tried to work out just what had happened.
The last thing he remembered was fighting.
He and Hades had been slugging it out in the wreckage of Grimoire Heart's airship.
Natsu had been there too, as had that girl, Ultear, the one who incorrectly thought him her father.
They had been fighting, and they had been winning
Closing his eyes, Percy tried to remember what had happened.
Zeref!
Snapping his eyes open, Percy forced himself into a sitting position, his heart racing and back groaning in protest as he sat up and quickly took in his surroundings.
He was still in the airship, only now it was in ruins, with parts of it still smoking.
Scanning the area, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone in Hades' former throne room, instead there were several bodies lying nearby.
The first of one he took notice of was Hades' corpse.
The old man was lying on his back, his one remaining eye wide and glazed over; his face forever etched into an expression of both shock and terror.
He was dead.
Forcing down his mixed feelings over the death of his former friend, Percy's gaze shifted onto one of the other bodies.
This one was the body of a young, androgynous looking man with shaggy black hair, and blood stained, archaic white and black robes.
It was Zeref.
Eyeing the body warily, Percy's eyes shifted from the pool of blood that surrounded the Black Mage, to the vicious wound in his chest and the shattered remnants of a sword lying nearby, before then settling on the oddly peaceful expression on his face.
He was also dead, by Percy's hand.
Pushing himself unsteadily onto his feet, Percy grabbed at a nearby wall, even as he looked over at the only other body in the vicinity.
Natsu.
Letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of the young Fire Dragon Slayer and the noticeable steady rise and fall of his chest.
He was unconscious, but thankfully still alive.
Wiping the blood and bile from around his mouth with the back of his hand, Percy staggered into his feet, ignoring both Hades and Zeref's bodies, as he instead stumbled over and sank to his knees next to Natsu's unconscious form.
Reaching out he rested his hand on the Dragon Slayer's warm chest –he could feel Natsu's heart steadily beating-, Percy closed his eyes and took a breath as he summoned some silver flames of mortality.
The pink haired Dragon Slayer didn't look injured, but even so considering Zeref was involved he wanted to make sure.
Only, nothing happened.
Frowning, Percy steadied himself, and once again tried to summon the flames.
They had been a last gift from Bob, the Titan formerly known as Iapetus the Titan of Mortality, and a by-product of his blessing.
Only now, for the first time in centuries, he couldn't summon them.
"What?" Percy muttered, his brow furrowing.
He could feel the nearby sea, and the surrounding air.
As always, he felt a strong connection to his father's domains.
It was the same as ever, rock solid.
But his connection to the Iapetus's domain was all but gone.
"But, that's… impossible…" Percy muttered, as he absent-mindedly gathered some water from the nearby area and engulfed himself within it; his aches and pains immediately subsiding.
"I'm sorry, Perseus." A soft, familiar voice suddenly sounded out behind him, immediately startling him out of his reverie.
"Mavis?" Percy said at once, his brow furrowed in confusion as he looked around at the painfully familiar voice, his gaze immediately locking on the source of the voice, only for them to widen in surprise as he saw he was talking to.
"Hello Perseus, it's good to see you again." Mavis Vermillion said softly, as she touched down behind him, her long, curly blonde mane of hair swirling around behind her in a phantom breeze, even as her light green eyes shone with happiness as she met his gaze.
"Mavis, how?" Percy rasped.
"It's… complicated," Mavis replied with a shrug and a smile, before her lips twitched downwards as she looked around and took in the two dead bodies. "Poor Precht, he was a good man with good intentions, but he succumbed to temptation in the end, and ended up walking the road to hell…"
"That's one way of putting it," Percy grumbled bitterly, his eyes shifting over to Hades' cooling corpse, before he looked back at Mavis.
"And Zeref too," Mavis continued, her expression softening as she looked down at the Black Wizard. "He, too, was a once good man, who was cursed with a terrible fate. I can only hope he finally found the peace he always sought."
"He was a murderous psychopath." Percy said bluntly.
"At times," Mavis admitted, "He was once a good man, like Precht, but also like Precht he became corrupted by power and desperation…. Time, grief, and hopelessness can corrupt even the kindest of souls, Perseus. After all, I'm sure you yourself have changed greatly over the centuries you've been alive…."
Percy grumbled in response to that.
He had changed a lot over the centuries, so much so that he barely remembered the person he had been before he fell into Tartarus.
"So what are you then, a ghost?" He asked instead of answering her, deliberately trying to change the subject.
"A spirit," Mavis shrugged, a smirk playing around her lips as she floated around, so she was now in front of him. Only for her smirk to soften into a genuine smile as she gazed down at Natsu's unconscious form, "and I wouldn't' worry about your friend, he's alive and well. Both my magic, and the magic of the Tenrou tree, made sure of that…."
Percy felt a wave of relief flow through him at that statement. Mavis, for all her childishness and peculiarities, was both a genius when it came to all things magic, and a genuinely good and honest person.
"Good," Percy smiled. "And the others?"
"All alive and well," Mavis nodded happily, only for her smile to dim a moment later. "Except Makarov, there was nothing I could do."
"I know," Percy said softly. "There is only one person to blame for what happened to Makarov, and he paid the ultimate price."
His gaze flickered back to Hades as he spoke.
Mavis too glanced at their old friend, her expression sad.
Precht had been a good man.
Hades, though, the creature Precht had become, had been nothing but a monster.
Coughing into his hand at the awkward silence that followed, Percy decided to change the subject.
"By the way, what did you mean before about being sorry? Do you know what happened?" He asked, his brow furrowing as he looked back at Mavis.
"Many things happened." Mavis said gently, "But if you are talking about what happened to you specifically, I think I can at least explain a little bit, though even I'm not fully aware of exactly what transpired when Zeref tried to kill you…"
Glancing over at Hades' body, he refused to think of him as Precht any more, Percy frowned.
Zeref had tried to kill them both, but had ended up only killing Hades and himself, Percy meanwhile had managed to survive.
"How am I alive?" Percy asked.
"Luck, fate, coincidence, maybe a mix of the three. An immortal wizard who could kill anything tried to kill an immortal demigod who could never die," Mavis said, a slight tone of bitterness entering her voice now. "Something had to give…"
"What does that mean?" Percy frowned, his heart sinking as he saw the suddenly grim expression on his old, and long since deceased –and wasn't that something he was still confused over-, friend's face.
Mavis's expression turned solemn, even as she started to explain.
( - )
(A short while later)
Walking through the forests of Tenrou with Natsu slung over one shoulder, Percy frowned as he listened to Mavis continue to explain the circumstances about what had happened to Tenrou and the Fairy Tail Guild as a whole.
"A beam of magic nearly wiped both the Fairy Tail Guild, the island out of existence?" Percy asked slowly, as he continued to trudge through the forest.
Mavis nodded, a slight frown momentarily passing across her. "It was about to, but I acted first."
"One of the three 'Grand Fairy Spells'?" Percy asked dryly, a wry smile on his face as he looked off into the distance where he could hear movement, and shouting. By the sounds of it the others were now awake too.
"Yep." Mavis replied cheerfully, as she too looked off in the same direction of the commotion, her look of joy becoming more noticeable as she came to float directly next to Percy. "And now you're all back, and your comrades have come for you, their patience has finally paid off, and you're all about to be reunited."
"Patience?" Percy asked, before he looked curiously over at Mavis. "What did you do?"
"You'll find out, but first come with me, we need to greet them." Mavis responded easily, before she attempted to grab Percy's hand and pull him in the direction of the now much louder voices, voices filled with joy and happiness, only for her to seemingly forget she was ethereal and instead nearly fall over comically in mid-air when her hand went straight through Percy's hand.
Giving Mavis an amused look in spite of his inner turmoil as he saw this, Percy rolled his shoulders, ignoring the few cracks he could hear as he stretched this way and that, "Alright then let's go."
( - )
(With Erza)
Letting out a soft groan, Erza wearily opened her eyes, only to blink in confusion as she released she was lying face down on the soft, loamy, earth, her body covered with leaves and fallen twigs, and her head resting on an unusually soft patch of moss.
Frowning in confusion, she pushed herself up and looked around, her eyes smarting slightly they adjusted to the light from the early morning sunlight beating down overhead.
Stumbling to her feet, Erza rubbed her eyes as she scanned her surroundings, her brown eyes shifting over the rest of her Guild mates, or at least the ones she could see, all of whom seemed to be in a familiar state to her, as some of them slowly started to wake up, whilst others were already on their feet, and looking around in confusion as they too tried to work out what had happened.
Furrowing her brow as she stood and stretch, Erza frowned as she tried to remember what she had been doing prior to waking up.
She had been in the basecamp, looking after the others, and then Gildarts had come back with a severely injured Gray…, and then Happy had arrived, and after that… and after that they had been fighting off dark mages, and then there was an explosion of light and noise, and nothing….
Rolling her shoulders as she continued to observe her surroundings and piece together her muddled memory, she quickly caught onto something unusual, or at least more unusual then suddenly waking up in the middle of a forest with no idea how she had gotten there. They were all here, together, scattered around a random forest clearing, and noticeably nowhere near their camp.
Which was odd considering the last thing she remembered they had been at their camp defending it from dark wizards.
Or at least she, as the last person standing, had been defending the camp; as, unfortunately, Gray, Mira and Gajeel had all been severely injured from prior fights, Gildarts' prosthetics had been destroyed in a previous battle, and Lucy, Cana, Happy, and Levy had been too exhausted to even stand at that point, let alone fight.
Perseus, Natsu, Mest and Ezra Knightwalker, meanwhile, had all been missing.
And Master Makarov…
Erza took a deep breath as she remembered what had happened to Master Makarov.
Scanning the area, Erza forced her grief down for the moment, as she instead took stock of her current situation.
There were no dark wizards in sight, none whatsoever, not even a body.
Instead, the glade they were in was quiet, with the only noise she could hear coming from her waking Guild mates, and the occasional singing bird.
They were safe, or at least for the moment.
As for her Guild mates, looking around she could see that nearly everyone was here, all except Perseus, Natsu and Mest.
Almost at once Erza could feel her heart sink at that realisation, but only for a moment as she once again forced away her fear and anxiety, and instead remained focussed on the here and now.
With there still being so many unknowns, she needed to get the rest of the Guild organised, see to the injured, and get them back to a more secure camp where they could begin searching for the missing, and formulate a defence just in case there were still more dark wizards lurking on the island.
Scowling at that thought, Erza turned to the others, suppressing her relief at seeing them all alive for the moment, as she instead prepared to start issuing orders.
Unfortunately, before she could even get a word out, she was completely taken by surprise when she heard a chorus of loud, teary shouts of joy sounding out behind her.
Turning to face the source of the commotion, a sword already appearing in her right hand, Erza prepared to face the threat head on, her eyes already narrowing, and her feet already shifting into a fighting stance. Only for her to freeze in surprise as she saw what looked like Elfman, Lisanna and a few other members of Fairy Tail, members that she knew for a fact hadn't been with them when they had been taking the S-Class trials, running towards them.
None of them should have been on the island.
On top of that, as they got closer she also quickly noticed that they all also looked very different than she remembered, with some of them looking a lot older and more mature than before, as if they had suddenly aged half a dozen years in the few days it had been since she had last seen them.
Which in Lisanna's case was especially noticeable, as she now looked to be a beautiful, mature woman in her early to mid-twenties, a far cry from the teenager she had been before they left.
Perhaps more important than their physical changes though, was also the question of why were they here, and perhaps just as importantly, why they were crying?
"Mira!" Lisanna cried out, her voice older, but still recognisable.
Blinking in surprise, especially at the tone of longing, desperation and fear she could hear in Lisanna's voice, Erza didn't even have a chance to say anything, before the girl breezed past her, followed closely by her much older looking brother, both of whom immediately and ran to Mira.
"You guys are all alive! How is it possible?!" Jet, who also now looked to be in his twenties shouted, even as Droy, leaner and older, but still recognisable, followed closely behind him. The two of them lunging forwards and all but flattening Levy in their excitement.
In response, Erza and the other assembled participants of the S-Class trials could only look on in confusion as they were suddenly swamped by familiar, but visibly older members of their Guild, with a crying Bisca crashing into Erza and knocking her to the ground, even as she cried into her chest.
A lot of weirdness continued from there, as more and more of the S-Class trial group began to wake up or emerge into the clearing, even as Lisanna, Elfman, Jet, Droy, Bisca, Alzack and Warren, all members of Fairy Tail who they had left back in Magnolia, all started reacting very oddly, as if they hadn't seen them in years. With tears streaming down their faces as they clung to the different members.
Their joy was infectious, so much so that Erza and the others soon began to get consumed by the happiness, as they too greeted their Guild mates.
Though notably, Ezra Knightwalker stood off to one side, her eyes not on the newly returned, but instead on the surrounding forest as she seemingly looking for something, or more likely someone.
Just like her, Erza suspected that Knightwalker had also noticed that several of their number were still missing.
During the chaos, Erza absently noticed that Gray, Gajeel and Mira had all also woken up, the three of them looking remarkably better than they had before –unusually so-, even as they were swamped by the others, with Mira looking on in confused surprise as both her younger siblings, who now looked older than her, clung onto her crying.
"But wait, what happened?" Erza suddenly asked during a lull in the commotion, catching the other assembled wizard's attention as she did so. "The last thing I remember is a massive, almost blinding explosion of light and sound, and then nothing…?"
"I think can answer that question." An unfamiliar voice spoke up, attracting the attention of everyone else in the clearing, even as Percy, a tired looking Natsu and an unfamiliar blonde girl entered the clearing.
Natsu looked just as confused as Erza felt.
As for Percy, she immediately noticed that something was troubling him.
His expression was grim, and there was none of the usual amusement or warmth in his eyes.
More than that, he also looked tired, pale, and almost gaunt.
It was a far cry from how he hale and healthy he usually looked.
"Percy…" Both Erza Scarlet and Erza Knightwalker sighed in relief at the sight of him.
Hearing her doppelgänger mirror her words, Erza fought the urge to roll her eyes in irritation, as she instead focussed on Percy, even as he continued walking forwards, ignoring everyone else for the moment as he instead walked straight up to her, and threw his arms around her and pulled her in close, holding her tight to him as he buried his face in her hair.
Initially surprise by his unexpected move, Erza couldn't help but close her eyes and nestle her head into his chest as she sank, relieved, into his embrace.
If she could freeze and save this moment forever, she would.
For the first time in her life, she felt truly safe, truly happy, and truly complete.
From nearby, she could almost feel Knightwalker's dissatisfaction, even as the other redhead coughed audibly several times.
Not that she paid the other redhead much mind, as she instead closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of his embrace.
"You're alive." Percy muttered, his voice thick with emotion. "We're alive."
( - )
AN: So there we go, things are progessing once more and soon enough Percy and co. will return to Fairy Tail, but it won't be the one they remember, due to certain members staying behind events during the seven years panned out very differently, both for the better and for the worse.
On top of that the aftermath of what happened on Tenrou has not bene fully explored, especially the events that caused it, and the effects it had on those on the island.
Hopefully you enjoyed reading the chapter/ story, and continue to do so. If not, then please do tell me what you didn't like, or what you thought could have been done better. Please leave a review if you can, they are very useful. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to hit me up.
Also I am on discord with a load of other writers, the invites at the top, please feel free to pop in and say high.
Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you later.
Seagate.