I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up over 53,000 views! Here's hoping for 55,000.

Donumah36: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, Rogue is one of my favorite characters in all of Fairy Tail, and Frosch is my favorite Exceed out of the main five.

Altajir95: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter.

Ragnas Bredvolts: Yeah well, Gajeel is Gajeel, and we love him for that. Yep, I'm going to be doing a Rogue x Lucy pairing, which I think will be very interesting. However, I think it's only fair to warn you. However, it's only fair to warn you that the Eclipse portion of the arc is going to be considerably different from canon. Whether or not you like it, well I guess there's only one way to find out. Rogue didn't show any Secret Arts of his own in canon, so I decided to come up with a few of my own. Lingering Malice was actually suggested to me by a friend of mine. As for that talk Luke is going to have with Gildarts, don't read too much into that. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

Davidpa.0204: Thanks, I'm glad to see you've taken such an interest in it.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Rogue is one of my favorite characters in Fairy Tail, and I think he's criminally underrated, so I think it's only fair I give him at least a little bit of time to shine. As for him and Lucy, that's a pairing I've grown really fond of, and since this is NOT a Natsu x Lucy story, I figured why not go for it.

Kpop1392as: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The fight between Luke and Erza was something I enjoyed doing, mainly for two reasons. First, it pretty clearly established the different in power between the two of them. Second, it established the sort of relationship the two of them share.

Hijack29: A bit of a rocky start I admit, but give it time.

Jaemos: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. No need to worry about how fast you review, any review is appreciated, no matter how long it may take.

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Things were quiet in the city of Magnolia, which never lasts longer than a few minutes, considering who we're talking about.

A well dressed woman found her husband staring out the window of their apartment through a pair of binoculars "Honey you're not even dressed, our reservation is in 15 minutes."

"Quiet!" the man hissed without even looking away from his binoculars, glaring down at the sight of Luke making his way down onto the sidewalk "There he is again, like always. Every single night at 7:00 pm, the young man with the glasses and the sword appears."

"My sister and her husband are going to be waiting."

"You don't understand! Every night he goes and does this, every single night! He steps out of his building, he walks exactly 7 paces, he stops and then he smiles."

"Honey I'm worried about you, this obsession of yours just isn't healthy."

"Is he trying to communicate with someone? Is he trying to communicate with me?! I just don't understand, why is he doing this?!"

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Now for the reason why he was doing this…

Things were quiet in front of the Fairy Tail tavern.

Bolt and Luke were in the middle of a typical sparring match with each other, Shatterstorm against the blade of Raiden "So aside from not being able to fart in the apartment, how are you holding up with our hole living arrangement with Cana?"

"Oh yeah it's great, living with the girl I'm secretly in love with is just one big fucking ball of sunshine!" with his frustration showing for a brief moment, Luke ducked underneath a quick slash from Bolt's axe and dealt him a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap.

Bolt quickly pulled himself back to his feet, dematerialized Shatterstorm and flashed back into his cat form "So it's bad then."

"What the hell do you think? I can barely focus on anything."

"I thought you were going to take all of the energy you were focusing on struggling over your feelings for her and then pour them into training."

"Oh I did, and it was working for about a week and a half, and then it sort of shut off on me, and now I'm back to square one. I can barely eat or sleep, my training will probably start suffering any day now, and the fact that she walks around in a skimpy bikini top and ridiculously tight pants doesn't help that issue, like at all."

"Take a breather from training and get something to eat, enjoy the quiet while it lasts before someone goes and fucks it up, and I'll give you one guess as to who that's going to be.
"Natsu?"

"Either him, Gray or Gajeel. I'm fucking calling it."

"Come on Bolt, they aren't that bad. On second thought, forget I ever said anything." he glanced over to see Natsu brooding while he was sweeping outside the tavern "Don't give him anything to get pissed off over and he'll be fine."

"Pretty much everything has pissed him off to a comical degree at some point."

"This is true."

"HEY!" this was when Natsu pretty much exploded at the sight of Happy sleeping on a nearby tree stump.

"And there's your proof."

"Hey Happy, NO SLACKING!"

"Fish?!" Happy bolted upright as his nose bubble popped "Oh wait no, it's just you."

"What the hell do you mean it's just me?!"

"Oh don't be so sensitive about it, I was just having this super amazing dream about this super humongous fish that went on for as far as the eye could see. I think I'm gonna go back to it for now." and he grew another nose bubble.

"NO WAY IN HELL!"

"Hey what's the big deal about it anyway?"

"The big deal is that you're supposed to be my partner!"

"Yeah I know, what's your point?"

"Well don't you see that I'm doing all of this yard work over here and not screwing around?"

"Well it is your turn, and why should I care?"

"You should care because your partner is working his ass off while you're dreaming about stuffing your face like a pig! That's so not cool!"

"Yeah well at least I know which way I'm supposed to hold the broom."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you're holding the thing upside down!"

"Whatever, I wouldn't make any mistakes like that if you were get off your lazy tail and help me out!"

"Well you're just as guilty!"

Luke and Bolt just shared an annoyed glance, and the former let out a sigh "Well the calm is official over now. Still though, at least when you and I go back and forth we make it funny by exchanging witty banter, like in Danny Phantom."

"We might be partners when we go out on jobs and stuff, but doing stupid stuff like yard work is a completely different thing."

"Wait what?!" Natsu continued rounding on Happy in a rage "What in the name of hell is the matter with you Happy, how can you be so cold to me?!"

"Oh come on don't be like that, we both know I'm not being cold because it's way too nice outside today. It's so warm and sunshiney out here!"

"That's not the point you little furball, I hatched you myself so you owe me!"

"You might have looked after my egg sure, but in case you forgot Lisanna was the one who actually worked to hatch me from my egg."

"Whatever, it still counts!"

"What's going on out here?" this was when Lisanna and a few others came out of the guild's tavern building "We could here you two arguing all the way from the inside, so what's the matter now? I heard something about us hatching him, so I know that it must be a bad one."

"He's being lazy and telling me that you did more to hatch you than I did, which totally isn't true by the way, and he's leaving me to do all of the cleaning and stuff by myself while he's snoozing and dreaming about stuffing his face." he pointed at Happy, or rather he pointed at the stump where Happy was supposed to be "What the fu- fudge?!"

"He's over there flirting with Carla." Lisanna pointed to where Happy was indeed in the process of flirting with Carla, or at least trying to.

"Hey what the hell Happy, you can't just walk away from me when I'm talking to you!"

"Well what do you know, the same old Natsu." this was when Max came out of the tavern with a smirk spreading across his face "7 years later, and he still acts like some brat on one hell of a sugar high. Not that I should be surprised though, you've basically been acting like that for all the time we've known you."

"Oh yeah and what Max, are you trying to say that you've changed? I mean obviously besides getting older and stuff, rocking the goatee and all that."

"Well sure I've gotten older on the outside, but I still feel pretty young on the inside. Keep in mind that I'm only 24."

"So what you're trying to tell us is that you're basically just an immature old fart? Yeah that sounds about right to me."

"What sounds about right is me showing you my new skills, so I say you're on."

"Fine by me you dusty old geezer, I say bring it!" Natsu threw away his broom and dropped into a stance "I say we throw down right here and right now!"

"I thought you'd never ask, make sure you don't hold back on me."

"I never did before, why would I start now?"

"Wait a second, you guys are going to fight right now?" asked Lisanna.

"I don't see why I shouldn't put him in his place, I say it's perfect whether for going up to a guy and ripping him a new one. Now I've got one hell of a fire in my belly, and it's just raging to get out of there!"

"Now let's rock." was all Max said as he dropped into a stance.

"Fine by me! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu launched himself forward towards Max with a fire enhanced fist.

"Nope." Max cranked his neck to dodge the flames and dealt Natsu a swift kick to the chest, the force sending him skidding backwards and leaving him dumbstruck as a result.

"What the hell, are you kidding me?!"

"Oh come on man, did you seriously think that we just sat around and did nothing for 7 years while you were gone? The rest of us have had a lot of time to improve on our fighting skills, and now you're seeing the results first hand."

"Well it's not over yet you assclown!" Natsu pounced towards Max and started launching a furious barrage of attacks.

"It might not be over yet, but it might as well be! Sand Rebellion!" Max gave a wave of his hand and unleashed a wave of sand that sent Natsu flying.

"Now you're just pissing me off!"

"Not like it's that hard!"

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Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

Luke let out a low whistle at the sight of the battle unfolding "Not gonna lie, seeing Natsu get schooled by Max of all people was one thing I never thought I'd see."

"Oh get real you jackass." Bolt let out a loud snort "Did you seriously think that while you guys were gone, everyone else was just sitting on their asses doing nothing but brooding and feeling sorry for themselves? Well I mean some of them were, truth be told that after the whole thing with Ivan and his Elementors, moral took a nosedive about equivalent to what happened to the ratings of Doctor Who. Most of them just lost confidence in themselves after that, and combine that with the fact that two of the more competent wizards in our guild had a kid now, the only one aside from me who actually kept up with training was Max. We actually spar together on a pretty regular basis."

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Meanwhile, back withe the fight…

"Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" now growing even more frustrated, Natsu launched himself forward and tried to attack Max with a powerful two-handed blast of flames.

"Sand Rebellion!" Max unleashed a second Sand Rebellion, the wave of sand easily cancelling out Natsu's attack and sent him flying backwards in a heap "I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a whole lot stronger now than I was before you guys left, if you think that I'm gonna go down without a fight then you're in for one hell of a reality check! I was useless back when Ivan came with those elemental freaks, I couldn't do anything against any of them and if it wasn't for Bolt showing up at the last second, I would've been dead for sure. I couldn't do anything then, but I won't let myself be so useless again!'

"LIGHTNING FLAME DRAGON MODE!" with his rage boiling over, Natsu subconsciously activated his dual element mode.

"Uh… Okay, I wasn't expecting that. Can I defend against something like that? I guess there's only one way to find out.'

"Lightning Flame Dragon… ROAR!" Natsu promptly let out a roar, and with it a massive stream of flames.

"Sand WALL!" thinking quick, Max rose a wall made of sand around his body a split second before the blast hit, resulting in a massive explosion that covered the area. When the blast subsided, Max was revealed to have been sent skidding backwards a great distance, but he wasn't damaged in the slightest.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, I thought that would've blown you at least clear through a mountain or something!"

"When the hell did you learn how to do that?"

"Just now."

"Of course you did, that's plot armor if I've ever heard it. And now that I hear it out loud, I realize that I've been spending a lot more time around Bolt than what I would consider to be healthy. Either way it's done wonders though, if I can defend against an attack like that."

"So how about it then, you wanna go for another round?"

"Take my advice and call it quits, I've proven my point and I'm not in this to beat the crap out of people for shits and giggles."

"Oh no way in hell dude, I'm not stopping until I hear you say mercy!" and then he promptly fell over in a heap.

"Well it makes sense that an attack like that one would use up a lot of his power, you might want to practice a little bit more before you try and pull that one out in a real battle."

"Unfortunately it's not that simple." Luke told him flatly "The Dual Element mode isn't something you can go around using so recklessly, and reckless is pretty much Natsu's defining characteristic. No matter how much power you may be able to tap into in that form, it doesn't mean anything if you can't regulate the power output properly, otherwise it ends up doing a lot more harm than good. I've gotta give it to you though Max, you've improved a lot more than I was expecting."

"Thanks, truth be told it was your cat that had a pretty big hand in motivating me."

"There's one thing I don't get though, if the two of you have gotten that much stronger in the past few years then why the hell did you guys let Twilight Ogre screw you over so much until we got back."

"Well unfortunately it's a little bit more complicated than that, the problem was more with cash than anything else involving power. Did you seriously think that we could solve every single problem or debt that came our way using brute force?"

"That's how Makarov and the others settled it before."

"...That kind of slipped my mind."

"That's what I thought."

"About what the rest of us had expected too." this was Gray made himself known on the scene, with Lucy and Wendy right behind him "Listen up you guys, I'm afraid the guild has a serious problem on our hands at the moment."

"I know what you mean, we've still got powerhouses like Gildarts and Laxus who can take on a number of challenges at their current levels."

"Put aside your modesty, you're right up there with them, but the fact is that none of us have kept up with the others in terms of strength, not even Erza for that matter. Keep in mind that a lot of us were asleep for about 7 years, and everyone here was training, getting stronger and learning new stuff."

"Yeah that's true, Natsu was one of our strongest, maybe in the top 10 or so, and now he got shown up by Max of all people. No offense."

"None taken." Max waved it off.

"And still though, Bolt and I have been doing a lot of sparring lately and I find myself struggling to keep up at times. Sure some of our members have gotten a lot stronger but the rest of us are out of practice by about 7 years, so if anything big happened like a dark guild attacking us, we'd be caught off guard and totally unprepared."

"Yeah that's true." Happy frowned in thought "I wonder if anyone knows a way for us to give our magic power a super fast boost to make up for all of the lost time."

"Well if you want someone who could help you with that then I've got one idea for you, but whether or not she would agree is another matter entirely."

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So due to desperate to find a way to make up for lost time, Natsu, Happy, Gray, Lucy, Wendy and Carla all followed up on Luke's suggestion, which turned out to be going to the Fairy Tail guild's healer Porlyusica for help with their situation. Unfortunately for them, despite them pleading for her help, Porlyusica just responded by chasing the lot of them away with a broom. However, there was something about her that appeared to make Wendy uneasy.

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Meanwhile, back at the guild…

At the same time, Makarov had gathered everyone together for the sake of making an important announcement "The time has come my children, I know that I've done all I can in service to the Fairy Tail guild, and as such, allow me to introduce the next master of Fairy Tail."

"So you're really stepping down?" Cana muttered "Part of me always figured that this would happen some day, but now that it has…"

"I understand my dear, but believe me when I tell you that this is for the best. Now then, without further ado I'd like to introduce the newest master of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive!" he pointed to where Gildarts was supposed to be standing, but instead he was left jaw dropped, and everyone else pretty confused.

As it turns out, Luke was standing where Gildarts was supposed to be, and he let out a sheepish chuckle "Hey guys, sorry to disappoint."

"What the- Where in the name of hell is Gildarts?!"

"I'll give you one guess, but in case you don't get it he left a note." he pulled out the note in question and started reading it out loud "To Makarov and all of my family in Fairy Tail: I'm really sorry about this, but being master of the guild just isn't my style."

"What?!"

"Like you didn't see it coming."

"But since I have the rare opportunity to be in charge for the time being, there are two things that I want to get done while I can. The first thing is that I hereby reinstate Laxus Dreyar as a member of Fairy Tail." that caused a number of jaws to drop.

"That punk has some kind of nerve."

"Well it's what he wants so it can't be helped." Luke glanced over at Laxus and gave him a quick thumbs up "Well all I can really say is, welcome back to the guild big guy, and call it a hunch but I have a feeling that the Thunder Legion is gonna be back in this for the long haul."

"Yeah that's true, I guess." Laxus muttered.

"At least pretend you're happy about that, I mean Freed is already crying about it."

"Honestly, where does he get off…" Makarov let out a sigh filled with frustration "Well if that is what the master wants, then I suppose that's all there is to it."

"Hold up a second, there's more. My second and final act is that I hereby appoint Makarov Dreyar as the Sixth Master of the Fairy Tail guild."

"Wait what?! But I just retired!"

"And I think he just showed about how much he wants that to happen, which really goes with the rest of us too. Plus when you think about it, you could say that things are finally coming full circle for all of us. Anyway there's more, so listen up. As for me, well the time has come for me to hit the road again. But you don't have to worry, I'll be sure to come back to the guild when you guys really need me, so take care everyone. Fairy Tail is always going to be my true home, that's one fact that's never going to change, and I firmly believe with all of my heart and soul that we will once again be the number one guild in all of the kingdom by the time I get back. But the task of getting us back on top isn't my responsibility, it's up to all of you. Makarov, that's going to be your final task as the master of Fairy Tail, and then and only then will you finally be allowed to retire. I'm counting on you to bring Fairy Tail back to its former glory. Gildarts Clive, Fifth Master. And he left a few parting notes for some of us." he then pulled out a few letters and handed them to the people in question, one to Makarov, one to Cana, and one for himself, which he read in silence 'Luke, I know all too well how much you've turmoil you've been in since Tenrou Island, and I know the reason why too. You don't have to worry, if anyone in the guild has my permission to be with my daughter, it's you, because I know you'll do everything in your power to keep her safe and treat her right. Well that's a load off my mind. But for the record, if you fail in either of those then I won't hesitate to hunt you down like a dog and gut you like a fish.' his expression of relief then dulled considerably "Yeah, that's to be expected."

Cana opened her letter, and read it to herself'To my dearest Cana, I'm sure you probably think I'm being selfish by doing this, and you might be right about it. But even so, if you ever find yourself in a bind and need my help, just use this card to keep in touch, and I'll be sure to come running back as fast as I can. Oh you've gotta be freaking kidding me." she looked down at the Call Gildarts card she found in the envelope, and she promptly ripped it in half.

"You sure you're okay with doing that?"

"Of course I am, I already told him that I was fine with the way that things were. Besides, we've already got one glutton for punishment hellbent on protecting us, and that's you."

"Nice to know that you have faith in me."

"What the hell does that worthless lumbering fool mean by my final task?!" Makarov pretty much exploded after taking a moment to process everything he heard "After that stupid stunt he pulled on all of us, there's no way in hell I'll let anyone else be master! I'll be the master of this damn guild until the day I die, now somebody pour me a drink and make it snappy! That's an order!"

"Yeah that's about what we expected." Luke promptly handed him a glass and gave him a small smile "And you know something master, I think I speak for everyone when I tell you that we wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine anyone else taking over the guild while you're still around."

"There isn't a single person I can trust to take over the guild who actually wants it, and I mean really wants it rather than just says they do."

"Which pretty much takes me out of the running."

"And many others." as he took a sip of his booze, Makarov looked down at the other letter in his hand 'To master Makarov, I still bear one responsibility from my time as guild master. I won't tell anyone about what's down in the basement. I give you my word. You had better not you worthless moron."

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Back in the forest, Natsu and the others quickly got tired of running from Porlyusica, which led them to start complaining about her behavior towards humans. But this was when they suddenly noticed that Wendy was crying, and when they asked about it she explained that she had a familiar feeling about Porlyusica, like the one that she always felt back during the days when she was with Grandeeney, something that left all of them in shock.

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Meanwhile, back at the guild…

"You've gotta be kidding me." Warren let out a loud scoff at what he heard "Gildarts has to be out of his gourd, this is nuts even for him. He seriously thinks that we can be the number one guild in Fiore again? As far as most of us are concerned, it's gonna take some kind of miracle to make that happen."

"You say that like it's some kind of impossible challenge." Luke noted "Come on man, it's not like it's as strenuous as the whole 6 Saltines in a minute challenge. As far as I'm concerned, us rising to the challenge is an order from the master."

"It's a pretty tall order though." Max pointed out "I want to be as optimistic as the next guy, but things are pretty different from how they used to be. Sabertooth is going to be one really tough customer to beat, not to mention that even the likes of Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus have gotten a lot more powerful in the time you've been gone."

"Yeah, all of them are super awesome!" Asuka cheered from her place in Bisca's arms.

"Yeah you heard the kid, they're pretty good, and me and Bolt have been struggling to keep up with them. We train until our bones crack sure, but they've got numbers on their sides too. We are a lot better off now that we've got you and the rest of our major players back in action sure, but the fact of the matter is that all of you guys are still out of practice by about 7 years, and no matter what type of magic or power ups you've got going for you, it's gonna take nothing short of a miracle to make up for that gap. Whether you're taking about your individual strength or the overall power of the guild, we've got a ways to go before we can make any substantial progress in that goal."

"Yeah, you do have a point there." Luke let out a sigh "Looks like it's gonna take a decent amount of time and training for us to make up for the time we lost and reclaim the standing we held before, but lucky for all of us, long periods of endless training and endurance are what I've got a fair amount of experience with."

"Yeah we know that genius, in case you forgot I was there with you for that year and a half you were gone." Bolt pointed out dryly "But in all seriousness we've been waiting for 7 years, there isn't a chance in hell we're waiting for some miracle to fix every problem we've got."

"Bolt take it easy." Macao tried to call him off, only to be ignored.

"But if we want a miracle then I've got just the thing in mind that can push us straight back up to the top in a flash, Max you and the others know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No way, not a chance in hell. I thought I made it clear to you and everyone else that we were never going to take part in that wretched thing again!"

"And what might this thing be exactly fourth master?" asked Makarov.

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't call me that sixth master."

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In the forest, following Wendy's shocking revelation, the mages of Fairy Tail began discussing about Porlyusica and Grandeeney, with Lucy giving good reasons for the two of them not being one in the same. This was interrupted when Porlyusica arrived and explained that she was simply not Grandeeney and that she didn't know the location of any of the dragons. However, she also went on to reveal that she was from the alternate world of Edolas, and that she was actually the counterpart of Grandeeney, much to the surprise of everyone present. Natsu went on to ask if the other dragons had human counterparts somewhere in Edolas, and Porlyusica answered that she did not know, but she did talk to Grandeeney through telepathy, and she handed Wendy a book of spells written as she was instructed by Grandeeny, which led to Wendy thanking her, but she was left in tears as a result.

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By this point, an argument had broken out back at the guild tavern.

Bolt was facing off against Macao, and he showed no signs of backing down "Look we're gonna do it this time old man, that's all there is to it!"

"Not a chance, I absolutely forbid it!" unfortunately, Macao wasn't backing down either "I might not be master anymore but I still gave the order, so respect my authority!"

"That's where you're wrong Macao, I never respected your authority even back when you were the master of the guild!"

"I don't care what you say, there isn't a chance in hell of any of us getting involved in that thing again, you hear me?!"

"What the hell did I just say, your authority means nothing to me!"

"Which goes about the same as any level of authority." Luke noted dryly.

"Hey guys we're back." this was when Lucy and the others made their way in.

"Hey how did it go, you guys have any luck in your little excursion or find anything that could help you?"

"Well Wendy sure did, but the rest of us didn't have any luck. So what's going on with the rest of you?"

"Take a look and see for yourself."

Bolt still wasn't having any of it from Macao "You don't make the rules anymore so get the fuck off your high horse, it's up to Makarov, and even if he says no it's still happening so do the world a favor and get the fuck over it."

"It doesn't matter if I make the rules or not, I'm expressing myself as a fellow member of the guild." Macao told him flatly "I'm not alone in this either, I'm sure almost everyone else here agrees with me. All of those in favor?" he was met with various hands.

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

"Sorry about this Bolt, but he's right." Bisca told him "None of us want to go through any of that crap again, it has to be the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to any of us, you too for that matter."

"I went up against a bad opponent that I wasn't ready for, the same with Max, but we're both a lot stronger now than we used to be and we can handle it."

"Come on you guys, he's right about this." Romeo was quick to back him up "Besides we've got the Tenrou Team back with us now, Natsu and Gray, Luke and Erza."

"You heard the kid, just give them some time to power up and we're more than ready to raise some hell."

"I'd like to agree with you on that Bolt, but you guys are right when you say that the rest of us are out of practice by about 7 years." Luke pointed out "That and I still have absolutely no idea what the hell you're talking about. Seriously, exactly what is it you guys are going back and forth on doing or not doing in the first place?"

"About fucking time someone asked the big question. While you and the others were all stuck back on Tenrou Island for the past few years, they started holding a big tournament in order to determine the number one guild in Fiore."

"Big tournament between guilds us, sounds pretty interesting actually."

"Hell yeah, guilds from all over the country face off against each other in various magic based events, and they came to call it the Grand Magic Games. It's got a lot more variety than your typical anime tournament, it's kind of like a giant magic festival."

"So that's how it goes, and the reason Sabertooth is known as the top guild in Fiore these days is because they won the tournament last time."

"Yeah that's about right, but if we can find a way to beat them and win the games this time around, then we'll be able to claim the number one spot instead."

"Interesting… Alright I'm sold, count me in. Sounds like a lot of fun, but even so I'm not sure we'd be able to win since we're still out of practice by about 7 years."

"I think I've got a fix for that, but even so the guild that wins gets about 30 million Jewel in prize money."

"Well when you put it like that…"

"We're in!" was Makarov's immediate decision.

"But master, are you really sure about this?" asked Macao "It's going to be really hard, keep in mind that there are tons of powerful guilds competing in it, and don't forget that we've come in dead last every year we've entered."

"So I've heard."

"That was bad luck and bad timing." Bolt told him flatly "Most of these guys are out of practice or just lazy and lacking confidence, but Max and I have done pretty well for ourselves whenever we've entered the guild. The only reason we lost last year was because we got stuck with bad opponents. Long story short, Max ended up having to take on Jura so that's pretty much self explanatory, and I ended up losing out to the ace of the Mermaid Heel guild. Bitch is as tough as she is arrogant, and frankly she looks like she belongs in Akame Ga Kill, but I have no intention of losing to her again."

"So this year we'll just have to go up to those other guilds and beat them to a pulp."

"I like the way you think master."

"And I share his view." Luke promptly started stretching "Sabertooth sounds like they're going to be pretty tough, at least if Rogue is anything to go by. This won't be easy, but like a wise man once said, there's nothing worth having that's gained without effort. So tell m esomething, this tournament we're going to be taking part in, when is it going to go down?"

"It starts off at the beginning of July, so we've got about three months to prepare for it."

"Not a lot of time to catch up when we've been out of it for about 7 years, so if we're going to be training then we'll have to do it as hard as we can for as long as we can, and we'll have to start as soon as we can. We're going to be putting the Fairy Tail guild back on top, no matter who might try to get in our way. As long as we put our heads together as a guild and stand and fight as one, there's no way anyone is going to stop us."

"Sounds to me like someone has finally got his mojo back, this morning you were too busy moping about-" he was cut off by Luke slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Don't bring that up just yet, if all goes well then I say we do it after we win the games and we're back at the top, so that way everything comes full circle."

"I can't remember the last time I've seen you so cocky about this."

"I wouldn't say I'm cocky, but I have to admit I am pretty excited. I can't remember the last time I let myself get this pumped up."

"I can, it was back when you found out Avatar the Last Airbender was on Netflix."

"Yeah well that was a night to celebrate, just like it will be when we win."

"Sounds to me like Gildarts might get his wish sooner than he thinks." Cana noted, a smirk plastered across her face "We might be the top dogs in the kingdom again a lot sooner than any of us would've dreamed of."

"If all goes according to plan then yeah. This is going to be great, we train until our bones crack for the next three months, we fight our way through the games and win, and during all of the inevitable festivities afterwards, I'll take Cana into my arms and tell her I love her. That's the long term goal, for the time being, Fairy Tail itself has to come first.'

"I know what you're thinking of over there, and as optimistic as you can be it doesn't change the fact that this isn't your typical sort of fighting tournament." Max told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Like Bolt said, it's got a lot more variety going for it than any sort of anime tournament you're familiar with, or your basic fighting tournament."

"Well either way, we've all agreed to take part there's no need for any whining or brooding over what happened in the past, so let's not waste any more time. We've got a lot of work ahead of all of us, but we'll be sure to push past our limits and bring home the gold, the prize money and the title of the number one guild in the kingdom. Fairy Tail is going to be entering the Grand Magic Games, and we're aiming for the top, and we won't settle for anything less!" he was met with various cheers 'Yep, I've got a good feeling about this.'

He had no idea the absolute hell he and the others were in for, but we'll get into that at a later point in the arc.

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Another day came, and the sun was shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke stood in the living room of his apartment packing a bag, his mind drifting to the change in events as he did so 'So just to recap, in about three months we're going to be participating in a major event in the capital city of Crocus to determine which guild in the kingdom is the absolute strongest, and it's called the Grand Magic Games. From what I've heard so far, it's this major tournament that has a lot more variety than the typical one you'd see like a basic martial arts tournament, and it's got a lot of different magic competitions . Unfortunately, we've run into one major problem since we came back. As a result of us being stuck on Tenrou Island for 7 years, not only are we out of years' worth of practice, but the Fairy Tail guild went from being the absolute strongest in Fiore to the weakest guild. We decided that there was no way in hell that was going to fly, so we're going to enter the Grand Magic Games, but that's where the major problem lies with us being out of practice. Everyone else has gotten a lot stronger in the time we were gone, and as I am right now I don't have a chance in hell of competing with the bigger bads as I am right now. As a result of that, Erza decided to lead Natsu and the others to a training camp she's setting up on the beach. Other members have split up into groups to train themselves, like the three Strauss siblings and the Thunder Legion. Unfortunately, I can't waste any time on taking a vacation or anything of that sort. I have three months to get a hell of a lot stronger than I am right now, not just for the sake of the games, but for being able to protect everyone in case anything bad happens.'

"So we're going on another training expedition?"

Luke glanced over to see Cana making her way into the living room "I don't know if I would call it an expedition, but I do have a lot of work to do and I know I can't do it here. I have only three months to catch up on 7 years worth of training, and there's only one person who can help me with that. Well I'm finished packing, all we have to do is wait for Bolt to get up and then we can be on our way."

"Actually he went out early while you were in the shower, he said something about wanting to recruit a few other groupies or something to come with us."

"Oh really, who?"

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Now for who that is…

As the sun was rising over Magnolia, Gajeel stood in front of a massive crater and various shattered boulders surrounding him, his magic power surging around his body, his teeth grinding furiously "Dual Element mode or Dragon Force or whatever, I don't need any of that bullshit going for me. Anyone who looks down on me is going to regret it! There's no fucking way I'm gonna fall behind Thunderclap or Salamander or any of them!"

"Nice to see you're taking it seriously."

Gajeel glanced over to see Bolt looking down on him from atop a nearby tree branch "So you're the cat that hangs around with Thunderclap right? What the fuck do you want?"

"Well aside from trying to get away from Luke griping over being a lovestruck idiot, I guess you could say I'm here to extend an invitation to you and Lily."

"What sort of invitation?"

"I'm going to be blunt, as much spirit as you have it doesn't change the fact that you guys have all missed out on 7 years worth of practice, and no matter how hard you train it's not going to be enough to prepare you for the games. But there is a way for you guys to make up for at least some of that time you lost, but you're gonna need some help. To that end, I'm calling in a favor from a few old friends of mine, ones that we've got quite the history with."

"And?"

"I've already put out the invitation, now I'm just waiting for a reply." this was followed by a spear made of rock blitzing past them and through several trees, before embedding itself in the side of a massive tree nearby. Once it stopped, Bolt untied the piece of paper tied onto the end of it and started reading it "Listen up Thunderclap and friends, word is that you guys are back in town after 7 years on absence, and that you're entering the Grand Magic Games. As a way of returning a favor we owe you, meet us at the entrance to the Worth Woodsea today at noon, and we'll explain more there. Alright then, we might as well get moving."

"Sounds more like a trap to me."

"Maybe but it's too obvious, you can tell from the first few words. They said Thunderclap instead of just calling him Luke, and there's only one guy I can think of who does that, not to mention that there's clear signs of using earth based magic. If it really is him, then things will be just fine."

"You'd better be right about this, if I die then I'm sure as hell blaming you." Gajeel glanced over and saw the earth spear embedded in the sight of an unusual looking tree "Is that supposed to be a tree or a house? Who the fuck would live in something like that?"

"...Oh fuck."

"HEY!" this when Porlyusica stormed out of the tree in question brandishing a broom "Who's the little smart ass that tried to skewer my house?! This is why I hate humans dammit!"

"Yeah… we should probably run like hell."

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Meanwhile, on Akane Beach…

Now that they had arrived and gotten all of the hijinks out of the way, training was in full swing for the canon heroes.

Clad in a bikini and with her hair tied back, Lucy sat on the ground in a meditative position, trying to compose herself 'I don't know if it's because of a coincidence or some kind of messed up twist of fate, but I always seem to run out of magic power at the worst time, so I want to learn how to do a better job of sustaining and regulating it, and in order to learn how to do that, I called upon the assistance of an expert.'

As it turns out, the expert in question was none other than Capricorn "In order to sustain your magic power, you will first have to strengthen your mind, thereby enhancing the vessel that holds within it your magic power. You must feel the land, feel the wind, feel the air, focus on that familiar sensation. You have to control your breathing and try to become one with the nature surrounding you."

"Right." so Lucy took a deep breath and calmed herself, a small vortex of energy gathering around her body.

"There you go, that's the idea Lady Lucy. You're doing well so far. You must keep going, you need to release more magic power in order to complete your objective."

Lucy tried to do so, but she ended up collapsing flat on her back out of exhaustion, leaving her panting heavily "That's… That's a lot tougher than it looks."

"Nothing worth having is gained without putting forth a great deal of effort. This takes me back to the times I spent with your mother Lady Layla, I assisted with her training as well."

"Wow… Say tell me something Capricorn, have you ever heard of Primordial magic?"

"Indeed I have, it's the magic from which all others were created, the origin as you may decide to put it."

"I remember hearing Hades say something about wanting to get his hands on it, so I guess my mom must have left a few things out when she told me about it, back when I was a kid. She never even mentioned anything about Zeref or the Grand Magic World. As a matter of fact, she never brought up anything scary at all."

"What are you trying to say my lady?"

"It's kind of hard for me to explain, but if the Primordial Magic that my mom told me about when I was little is actually real, then it's not even something that Hades would ever be able to get his hands on, because it's not something anyone could get their hands on, as in it's not even tangible. From what I understand, it seems easy to get, but it's actually something that's very hard to obtain, and it's contradictory to itself because even though it's more powerful than really anything in this world, at the same time it can also be incredibly weak. My mother once told me that all forms of magic began with the power of love, so that's why I believe that Primordial Magic is actually just referring to love. If only Hades had been able to see it that way too, then maybe he could've saved himself from being sucked into the depths of darkness." she was met with a small smile from Capricorn.

"You know I like the way you think Lady Lucy, I believe you have the right idea. That is the exact answer that I wanted to hear, and that shows me that you're ready for it."

"Ready for what exactly?"

"For a power that few before you have been ready and worthy to utilize, the last of which before you was your mother, Lady Layla. If you succeeded in this training, then you will be able to tap into the power of your Celestial Spirits without even having to summon us."

"Will I really be able to do that?"

"I have the utmost faith in you my lady."

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Meanwhile, with Luke and his training group…

Noon was only a few moments away.

Luke stood at the entrance to the Worth Woodsea, with Bolt right by his side, and Cana, Gajeel and Lily following right behind him "So this is it, this is the place where these guys wanted us to meet them."

"Give them a few minutes, it's not exactly noon yet." Bolt told him flatly.

"Fair enough. So tell me something, how exactly are you connected to these people?"

"I wasn't going to tell you about this until the time is right, but that time came a hell of a lot sooner than I thought it would."

"You going to elaborate?"

"I might as well. I told you about how Ivan attacked the guild awhile back searching for something called the Lumen Histoire, and how I fought him with everything I had, but there was one thing that put me at a serious disadvantage. It turns out that when your opponent uses a type of magic that allows him to eat lightning, and most of the abilities you have actually require you to use lightning, you find yourself at a metric fuckton of a disadvantage."

"But you said that you were able to barely fend him off despite that."

"Yeah I did, but just having one form that uses wind and one that uses water still pretty much put me on the defensive. What I didn't tell you at the time was that I had help from a certain other wizard that had come out of hiding."

"And who would that be exactly?"

"It's gonna have to wait, we've got incoming." Bolt gestured ahead to where four cloaked figures were approaching them.

"Wait a second, I know that scent… Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

"See I told you guys they would show up, and like always he never disappoints, even after almost a decade." the first figure removed his hood, with the others all following.

"Even after 7 years you still have the same vibe to you, don't you Aftershock? Though I didn't expect the rest of you."

Sure enough, the cloaked figure in the front was revealed to be Noah himself, now sporting a goatee and shaggy brown hair, with a brown furred Exceed clinging onto his shoulder, as well as having three figures standing behind him in the form of Jellal, Ultear and Meldy "Looks like I'm not the only one who hasn't changed Thunderclap, though you have a good excuse for that since you've been taking a dirt nap for about 7 years."

"You might not have changed, but the same can't be said for your companion." he shot a glance over at Jellal.

"I shouldn't be surprised by that." Jellal let out a sigh "I take it that you heard about my prison break some time ago?"

"Erza heard about it and she told me."

"It's only right for me to tell you that I never intended to escape."

"He's not wrong." Ultear let out a chuckle "To be fair, Meldy, Noah and myself didn't really give him that a much of a choice in the matter."

"Hey come on Ultear that was all you, so don't bother lumping the two of us into your twisted criminal behavior." Meldy protested, but then she glanced over in Luke's direction and shot him a bright smile "So you must be this Thunderclap that Noah was going on about before, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Luke gave her a nod, then turned over in Noah's direction "So this is the mystery woman you mentioned?"

"Pretty much yeah." Noah gave a shrug and gently took Meldy's hand in his "Truth be told, she was the only thing that made it bearable being part of Grimoire Heart."

"Speaking of which, part of me is a little bit concerned. I know you're not the enemy anymore, but Jellal and the others to have me a little bit concerned."

"Consideirng everything that's happened I can't and don't blame you, but I'm keeping all of them in line, so you don't have to worry."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, he's right about that." Ultear gave a simple nod "I can't and don't deny that I had once committed many sins as a member of Grimoire Heart, so many that I doubt I would ever be able to atone for all of them, so over the past 7 years I've decided to dedicate myself to trying to bring some measure of peace to at least a few of the people I've hurt, until the day comes when I finally die."

"You risked so much breaking Jellal out of prison."

"Part of the reason for that is because Jellal is one of those people I've hurt."

"I see."

"Please Ultear, you don't owe me anything." Jellal assured her "The fact is that both of us had both been consumed by darkness, but the past is in the past now."

"What about you then, would I be right to assume your memories have returned?"

"Indeed it has, every last bit of it, which includes all of the sins I've committed. For six long years I've been living with the guild of all of the things I've done, to you and Fairy Tail, and to everyone I've hurt. I know that words would ever be enough to erase all of that pain, for Erza or anyone else."

"I'm responsible for it myself." Ultear admitted "I was the one that was controlling Jellal during the incident at the Tower of Heaven all those years ago, the blame is mine so there's no need for you to punish him. Besides, I think he's already been through enough as it is."

"I could either spend the rest of my life rotting in a cell, or I could just lose my life and be done with it in an instant. Whatever would happen, at least then my penance would've finally been paid."

"But what would that solve?" asked Lily "Now that you've been freed from your imprisonment, you have a chance to find a productive and positive purpose in your life."

"Panther Lily, I can imagine how you must feel seeing me like this. Noah had informed me about the events that transpired in the world of Edolas, but the Jellal that you knew… He and I are not the same person."

"I'm well aware of that, you don't need to explain it to me."

"As for what else you said, I have found a purpose in my life, but I'm not sure that I would call it completely positive."

"To put it simply, the four of us-" Noah was cut off by the Exceed on his shoulder loudly clearing his throat "The five of us, aka the four of us and the whiny little bastard on my shoulder that wants attention- This is Rick by the way."

"Sup?" Rick gave a wave at Luke and the others, his voice comically deep. Think Kevin Michael Richardson's voice in the body of a cat.

"Anyway the lot of us formed our own guild a few years back, it's an independent guild that's not officially recognized or aligned with anyone. We're calling it Crime Sorciere, or Witch's Crime, named after the OG witch over there." Noah jerked a thumb back at Ultear.

"I see." Luke frowned in thought "So by independent guild, you mean you're not affiliated with any sort of alliance? What about you though, I mean the others I get but you've made it clear a number of times you don't have any blood on your hands."

"I personally don't, but I'm sticking with Meldy for as long as I can, and then there's that whole thing with Makarov's son."

"What do you mean? You were the one who helped Bolt fend him off before right? I figured that would've gotten you a few points."

"Well apparently that bastard still got the last laugh. After we ripped him a new one he went straight to the Magic Council and claimed that I was the one that did it, so I'm the one taking the blame while he gets off scott free, all on account of me formerly being a part of Grimoire Heart, so basically he's the Myne to my Naofumi."

"Huh. Nice reference."

"I do what I can. Anyway we've taken down at least a few dozen dark guilds over the span of the past few years, but there's one main goal we have we've been struggling with."

"Which would be what exactly?"

"What else, Zeref. In a way as sappy as Jellal would put it, any sort of dark guild or any sort of evil force in the world who would threaten the lives of innocents, we're gonna find them and rip them a new one, so that way the influence Zeref has won't fuck up the world any more than it already has."

"Sounds like it's pretty righteous to me." Cana noted "With all of the good you've done, it's kind of surprising that the Magic Counci won't accept you guys."

"It really shouldn't be, keep in mind that Jellal fucked up the council once before, and the rest of us were part of Grimoire Heart up until the whole thing on Tenrou Island. Besides being official would restrict our movements too much, we wouldn't be able to go up against dark guilds and take them out because of that treaty that bans any unnecessary conflict between guilds. The way we see it, we can be of a lot more use to everyone as we are right now. But anyway I think that's enough exposition on what we've been up to lately, we brought you here mainly because we need you for something."

"Which is what exactly?" asked Luke.

"Word going around is that your guild is going to be entering the Grand Magic Games in a few months, that true?"

"Yeah that's right, why do you ask?"

"The main problem is that we can't get near the colosseum without making everyone around us lose their shit, and since I know you'd be willing we've got something that we need you to do for us."

"Is it bad that you can read me a lot easier than most others can?"

"We're Dragon Slayers, it's pretty much what we do, but back to business. Every year we've been sensing some kind of unusual magic power during the Games, what we need you guys to do is find out what's behind it."

"You guys really sure about this?" asked Cana "Keep in mind that guilds from all over the kingdom are participating in the games, so of course it's going to be full of magic. You sure you're not just acting sort of paranoid?"

"I'm not an idiot, I wouldn't be bringing this up if I wasn't absolutely certain, and what makes it more concerning is that not only is this power we've been sensing evil in nature, but it's pretty reminiscent of Zeref himself."

"Are you sure it's him though?"

"I've seen what he can do with that power first hand, plus Jellal has this theory that the prior involvements we've had with him let us perceive any sort of trace of his power. Now do you see why it's so important we find out what the fuck is going on? If you can track down the source of this mysterious power then it might help us to track him down, and we'll make sure you guys are all compensated, so don't worry about that. Discretion is pretty important since we don't want the one responsible to know we're onto them, so we're gonna be watching you guys wreck some shit from behind the scenes."

"Sounds a little bit like we're gonna be sent on a wild goose chase, but I know that's not really your style, so we'll do what we can." Luke told him "It's not like we have a ton of choice about this either, guilds from all over the kingdom are going to be gathering around this power you guys are talking about, and it could turn out to be a lot of trouble for us too. You guys can count on us."

"I know I can, and if it makes you guys feel like whining less, we're gonna be paying all of you upfront."

"You guys have cash on hand?"

"I've made a few good investments, but that's not how we'll be paying you."

"So what then?"

"Nothing as material as money, I can tell you that much." this was when Ultear stepped up to the rest of them and materialized one of her crystal balls "I've had years to improve upon my Arc of Time magic, and I can use it in order to enhance your abilities. A power up of sorts, at least that's the most simple way to put it, though that's not an entirely accurate way to put it. You see, all wizards are in possession of something like an eternal container that determines how much magic power they're able to have, and while it's depleted with every spell you cast, your body naturally draws in ethernano from the surrounding atmosphere all on its own, and it continues to do so until the container within the user is full once again. However, recent research as of about a year ago has revealed that there is a part of the container in question and the magic that it holds within it that goes unused, a reservoir of dormant power. These hidden trobes of power have come to be known by many people, including myself, as the Second Origin."

"And you're going to release it for all of us?"

"Not only will my Arc of Time magic force your containers to grow, but I can also grant all of you access to your Second Origin. To put it quite simply, the five of you will not only be able to use more powerful magic at your disposal, you'll be able to continuously use it for even longer periods of time. Not only that, but it will also greatly accelerate the rate of any training you do for extended periods of time."

"Which is exactly what I need. The increased reserves of magic power will help me to solve the problem I have with regulating my Dragon Force and Dual Element mode, but the accelerated training will help to make up for all of the time we lost while we were on Tenrou Island. I mean granted it won't make for 7 years worth, but it's as great of a place as any to start."

"I should warn you though, the process of unlocking your Second Origin is going to involve unimaginable levels of pain and suffering."

"That's never stopped me before, why would it now?"

"I have a feeling you'll feel different when the process has actually started."

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Hours passed, and the process had long since started, at least for one of them.

Bolt, Lily and Cana watched as Gajeel was lying on the ground writing in agony "Okay then, so that's going on right about now… Any objections to me running off and getting some snacks while we wait?"

"Might as well, if we're gonna be spending a full day writing around in agony then we might as well not go hungry while it's happening." Cana told him dryly

Ultear just looked down at the pained form of Gajeel "You have to stay strong Gajeel, I know that this is tough now, but you still have a long way to go before it's over."

"Are you sure he's going to get through this without any permanent damage?" asked Lily "And for that matter, just what sort of pain is he in right now?"

"Well if you want, then I could sensory link you with him and find out." Meldy offered, earning a few odd looks.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"You asked what kind of pain he was feeling, I thought you would want to get a better feel for his pain."

"We're not that close. No one in this world should be that close."

"Oh come on big guy, don't be like that."

"Don't expect him to be the only one with that kind of reaction." Cana noted dryly "Well on one hand you've got a playful sense of humor, but on the other hand you're starting to come off as a complete and total sadist. Yeah that settles it, you're perfect for Noah."

"Well we've basically been together for years, we only decided to make it official about a year after we defected from Grimoire Heart. Besides, Noah might be snarky but he's really loyal and kind, and he always stands up for what he believes in and what he knows is right." she gave a small smile at the thought "It took me awhile to realize it, but before I knew it I had fallen in love with him." this earned a small smile from Cana in return.

"I kind of know the feeling."

"You're in love with Luke aren't you? I was kind of hoping that some kind of love would've blossomed from your guild by now. I kind of used my Sensory Link." she gestured to the pink mark down on Cana's arm "Guilty, sorry about that."

"Forget it, but you're right. I do love him."

"So why don't you tell him?"

"I will, but only after we win the Grand Magic Games. For the time being, the guild has to come first. Speaking of Luke, where is he anyway?"

"I think we went off with Jellal somewhere, and Noah went with him."

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Meanwhile, with the guys in question…

Luke stood at the edge of the forest gazing out at the sun shining above them, and he glanced up at Noah sitting on a tree branch above them, then down at where Jellal was crouching on the ground next to him "So you remember everything that happened with the Tower of Heaven?"

"I remember all of it." Jellal barely glanced up at him.

"Does that include what happened to your friend Simon?"

"Yes… he died by my hand, and then you avenged him. I actually still have the scar from where you stabbed me with your sword."

"What about the incident with Nirvana and the Oracion Seis?"

"I remember everything. I remember it as being trapped in a sort of fog of amnesia, it's a rather strange feeling and not easy to explain."

"So then would it be accurate to say that I'm speaking with the Jellal that Erza knew from their time in the Tower of Heaven… the one that she fell in love with?"

"I would rather appreciate if you saw me in that light, but given the various crimes I've previously committed over the years, I wouldn't blame you if you kept your distance. If you decide to finish the task of avenging Simon you took on back in the Tower of Heaven, then I wouldn't blame you or try to stop you. My life was forfeit a long time ago."

"Simon may have died by your hand, but Ultear was the one who spurred on your actions back then, and she was being manipulated by Hades, and I soundly defeated him. I mean granted, I wouldn't have survived that battle without Cana and the others, but still. Besides, do you honestly believe that Simon would want you to die, or Erza for that matter? What about the new guild you and all of the others formed, what about all of the good that you've done over the past few years? Why is it that dedicating your life to fighting the darkness be the way that you want to atone?"

"It's quite simple, I just don't think it will be enough. Don't get me wrong, when Noah and myself first decided to form Crime Sorciere, I had hoped that it would be able to bring me some measure of peace. However, the things that I did at the Tower of Heaven aren't something that can be made right that easily. I can't help but wonder, is there really a point to what I'm doing right now? Will these horrible thoughts ever go away? I feel so lost and confused, and I can't help but feel that it would be for the best if I did die." he was silenced by a fist being buried in his gut, courtesy of Luke.

"Would you really be satisfied with that? Suicide is the coward's way out."

"Perhaps it is, but I just don't see myself having the strength to overcome this, not like the sort of strength you or the others possess."

"Do you really think that you need to be strong in order to live? That couldn't be further from the truth. If there's one thing I've learned from my time in Fairy Tail, it's that life itself is what gives us strength. I don't see the Jellal before me, the one that Erza fell in love with, because from what she's told me, that man was full of life and he would never give up without a fight."

"Maybe that man is dead then."

"Dammit man, get ahold of yourself already."

"It's too late for me Luke."

"It's never too late Jellal." he dealt him another fist to the gut that brought him to his knees "It's never too late."

"You… You always know what to say don't you?"

"That's not true and you know it, I'm just the sort of guy who likes to go through life one day at a time, and whose devoted himself to protecting his guild, his friends, his family. But what I know for a fact is that if you have people that you care about, and I know you do so don't even bother lying to me about it, then you should live for their sake, with all of the strength that you have. Besides, you know how Erza feels about you and I know for a fact that you feel the same way about her."

"I… I can't deny that she's someone that I'll always care about, but there's another reason why I can't be with her. I have a fiancee."

"...What?"

"I just said, I have a fiancee."

"Yeah, and her name is Titania." this was when Noah finally dropped down to the ground and joined their conversation, earning a fist bump from Luke.

"Stop it Noah."

"Fuck no, this needs to be said, and if I don't say it them you can be sure as hell Thunderclap is going to. You live Titania-"

"Noah."

"Fine, you live your imaginary fiancee in the form of that Erza blowup doll that you keep stashed away in that Requip dimension, so live for it's- her sake. That's your purpose."

"...You swore you wouldn't tell anyone about that. But you're right, I can live for her sake if nothing else."

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The sun was now setting over the skies above the Worth Woodsea, though the calming sight of the setting sun was offset by the screams of agony filling the forest.

Bolt glanced down at the sight of Luke, Cana, Gajeel and Lily writing around in agony, then glanced over at Ultear and the rest of them "Looks to me like your magic is taking its toll on the rest of them."

"How are you not being affected by it?" asked Meldy.

"Didn't I tell you? I met up with Noah and Ultear about a month before Luke and the others came back and I had it unlocked then, I've been training with it ever since."

"So where do you and the others go from here?" asked Noah.

"Like you guys said, now that they'll have their Second Origins awakened it's going to accelerate their training big time, but they've still got a lot of work to do if they want to make up for the past 7 years in the next 3 months, and Luke knows as well as I do that there's only one person who can help him do that."

"We all wish you the best then." Jellal told him "I wish we could help you further, but I'm afraid we have to keep moving, so this is goodbye for the time being. If you find anything important then you know how to contact us, but in the meantime you do your best in the games."

"Believe me, they will, so you guys take care of yourself."

"You heard the cat, take care of yourself." Noah removed his cloak and stepped over to stand side by side with Bolt "I'm gonna stick with them for as long as they're training."

"You just want to fight Luke again don't you?" Meldy guessed dryly.

"I think you know the answer to that." he was promptly pulled into a heated kiss by Meldy.

"I'll be waiting for you, so you'd better come back to me stronger than ever."

"Believe me, I intend to."

"We'll be seeing you very soon Noah, and until we meet again Bolt." so on that note, Jellal and the other members of Crime Sorciere, with the exception of Noah.

"See ya soon handsome!" Meldy blew a kiss in Noah's direction and took her leave with the others.

Once they were gone, Bolt glanced over in Noah's direction "You know she's so sweet to you it's kind of sickening."

"What can I say, she's mellowed out." Noah gave a shrug "Truth be told she was always like this when we're alone, but now she's more open with it. So this power I mentioned earlier is kind of concerning, if it really is related to Zeref, then it could end up proving deadly to pretty much everyone, including you guys. I once saw what Zeref could do first hand, and I came a lot closer to being on the receiving then than I was comfortable with."

"You've seen what we can do first hand, we're gonna find some way to pull through this shit, and this time we won't need a metric fuckton of plot armor."

"...Are you breaking the fourth wall again?"

"Yep."

"Nice." the two of them fist bumped.

"So does Jellal really have a blowup doll of Erza?"

"No but that's the beauty of ridiculous levels of emphasis, it might be totally nonsensical, but it does a fine job of getting the point across."

"Fair enough. Speaking of lover boy, what's up with that line about his fiancee?"

"It's not that complicated, the bastard is a glutton for punishment and he's just punishing himself because he thinks he doesn't deserve Titania."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure punishment is the entire shtick of your guild."

"Yeah I know, he pretty much made the call for all of us that we can't fall for those who walk the path of light."

"And yet he uses light-based magic."

"Irony, thy name is Jellal. Anyway, as long as Titania is alive and happy then he claims that's enough for him."

"But it's not enough for him and anyone with half a brain cell knows it, and she won't be truly happy without him. But if it makes you feel any better, he's not the only powerful yet awkward as fuck lovestruck idiot you know."

"Well I know that you're not one of them, so then-" Noah paused, and then he broke out a massive shit eating grin "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"He realized it after he nearly got blown to hell by Hades, apparently his life flashed before his eyes."

"Just like me. He's fucked in every sense of the word."

"Wouldn't be surprised. So anyway, after the Second Origin thing is done with, my best guess is that Luke is gonna go to the one guy who can give him 7 years worth of training in the next three months."

"You gonna mention who that is?"

"You'll see soon enough."

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Word of Fairy Tail's decision to participate in the Grand Magic Games was now travelling all over the kingdom, even reaching guilds such as Lamia Scale, in which their master, Ooba Babasama, had ordered her strongest to participate, among them being Jura obviously.

Likewis in the Blue Pegasus guild, after Ichiya and Bob discuss Jura's intended participation in the games, Ichiya suggested that.

Unfortunately, the news also ended up reaching the "former" dark guild Raven Tail, which quickly got the attention of its master Ivan Dreyar, and he declared that the time had finally come for them to punish Fairy Tail.

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Meanwhile, with the one guy that can give Luke what he needs…

God Serena sat on a plateau overlooking the ocean, though his meditation was interrupted when he opened his eyes and found Luke, Bolt, Noah and Cana looking down at him "So it would seem that I was right after all, you came back alive even after a blast from Acnologia."

"We had some help with that, but it's in the past." Luke told him simply "The reason I came here is because of what's going on in the here and now."

"And yet you found me so easily."

"Your scent is practically oozing with the Dragon Slayer magic you have in you from those 8 lacrima implanted in your body."

"And you're here because you need something from me."

"Is that a no?"

"I never said that, this is something I've been anticipating. From the fire in your eyes and from the difference in your scent, I can tell you've awakened your Second Origin, but that won't be enough. Your guild is competing in the Grand Magic Games, and you only have three months to train and catch up with the rest of this new era we live in. I'm going to whip you into shape, so you had best be prepared."

"That's exactly what I've been counting on." God Serena quickly pulled himself back to his feet and looked up and down at Luke for a moment "Your Second Origin being released has increased your reserves of magic power, which helps with the biggest problem that you have going for you at the moment."

"Which is regulating my magic power in terms of whenever I use my Dragon Force and Dual Element mode."

"Yes and no, you're only half right about that. It makes it less of a problem sure, but it doesn't eliminate the problem altogether. Even if you can do a better job of regulating the power of your Dragon Force, the fact is that the transformation itself uses a considerable amount of magic power, the same problem appearing with your Dual Element mode as well, but Dragon Force should come first."

"I take it you have a plan then?"

"Indeed I do. From here on out, at least for the time being, I want you to try and maintain your Dragon Force continuously, keep it active at all times, with the only allowed exception being when you're sleeping. You need to make maintaining Dragon Force as natural as breathing for you, with as little effort as possible, so that you'll be able to use your magic power in a way that's much more efficient, and once you have that under control you'll do the same for your Dual Element mode. We'll keep your training at a moderate level until then, and after that we'll increase the difficulty beyond anything you've done before. The same with your Dragon Slayer companion back there."

"Right, I'm more than ready." Luke drew his sword and got into a stance, with Noah following his lead, and Bolt and Cana backing off "Let's do this."

"Believe me, I intend to. Now then…" and then he started posing dramatically "The time has come for us at last… Now let's. Get. STARTED!"

"...Was that really necessary?"

"Not in the slightest."

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Meanwhile, with the current top dog…

Outside of the hall of the Sabertooth guild, Sting and Rogue received the news in question from their Exceeds that left one of them particularly excited "So you're serious about this, Natsu and the others are entering the Grand Magic Games?"

"Hell to the yes, that's the rumor going around Magnolia anyway." Lector told him.

"Both of you heard this?" asked Rogue.

"Fro heard it with Fro's own ears."

"I see."

"Things just got a hell of a lot more interesting for us, this is going to be awesome."

"From a logical standpoint, you shouldn't be excited about having to deal with more competition when the time comes for the Games."

"If it was anyone else then maybe, but this is Natsu, Gajeel and Luke we're talking about. I can feel my blood pumping already."

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The days passed, and training was getting more and more serious.

"Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" with his Dragon Force activated and surging with electricity, Luke pointed his sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade.

"You think that's going to be enough?!" God Serena whipped out of the way of the blast with ease, then glanced over out of the corner of his eye and gave a smirk "So you're going with that one then?"

"Mountain Dragon MOLTEN SPEARS!" Noah slammed his hand into the ground and unleashed a barrage of spears made of molten rock.

"Vapor Dragon SOLID FOG!" God Serena exhaled a deep breath, and with that breath came a sizeable cloud of steam that engulfed the molten spears, causing them to melt "The power of the Vapor Dragon can melt even the strongest spells, whether they're offense or defense."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean anything if you don't have time to use it! Lightning Dragon CURRENT!" Luke slammed one hand into the ground and sent a current of electricity running across the battlefield.

'Shit!' God Serena found himself being forced on the evasive as the current of electricity followed him 'I could just absorb it, but that would make it too easy, and I don't want to be too revealing about what I can do. Let's see… There, that should do it! Cavern Dragon Collapsing EARTH!" he thrusted a fist into the ground and destroyed a large portion of the surrounding earth, disrupting the current in an explosion as a result.

'Earth, water, fire, air and vapor, I've seen five of his elements so far, but I've never seen the other three before.'

"Thunder Dragon SURGE CANNON!" God Serena thrusted forward a fist and unleashed a massive blast of blue-colored electricity.

'So he can use lightning too? No matter, this should be easy enough.' Luke held out both hands, and in a flash he absorbed the blast of electricity "Now then-"

"Purgatory Dragon BLAZING INFERNO!" God Serena didn't waste even a fraction of a second before unleashing a powerful blast of flames from one hand.

'Shit, that first one was a set up!' thinking quick, Luke tried to leap out of the way of the blast of fire, and he managed to do so for the most part, though his leg ended up being considerably scorched as a result, but that didn't deter him as he whipped out.

"Blizzard Dragon CRYO SWORD!" within a split second, God Serene held up a hand and formed a sword made of ice out of thin air, using it to stop Luke's sword in an instant "You're getting more agile."

"I do what I can, and I don't like to just sit around and do nothing when I've got a lot of time on my hands. Lightning Dragon TALON!" Luke aimed a lightning-enhanced kick at God Serena's head.

"Nope. Sea King Dragon ROAR!" God Serena unleashed a roar, and with it a large stream of water aimed at Luke, sending him tumbling backwards a fair distance and blowing his sword clear out of his grip "You're getting better, but even that's not enough to get me."

"Maybe not on his own, but he's not alone! Mountain Dragon MOLTEN FIST!" in was in this instance that Noah burst forth from within the rubble and encased one of his fists in molten rock, aiming it directly ahead of him.

"Tempest Dragon SPIRAL CYCLONE!" God Serena countered Noah's attack at the last second with a spiralling ball of wind in his hand, the force of the collision creating a deep crater surrounding them and blowing Noah backwards a great distance "I have to admit, I never imagined you'd progress so far in the past two weeks alone. I should warn you though, the next time may turn out to be very different." his body started surging with an even greater amount of magic power, the force of which shaking the entire battlefield "Now then, I've shown you seven of my eight forms of Dragon Slayer magic, which should leave only one left… Alright then, let's wrap things up for this one. Desert Dragon TSUNAMI!" he promptly slammed both of his hands together and summoned a large wave of sand hurtling forward.

"Shit, now what the fuck do we do?"

"I'll tell you what you do, get one of your molten spells ready to fire, and pray that you don't land face first!" Luke suddenly grabbed Noah by the arm and suddenly hurled him upwards towards the wave of sand "You're snarky but you're smart, use your head!"

"You'd better be right about this! Mountain Dragon MOLTEN SPEARS!" Noah slammed his hands together and summoned forth at least half a dozen molten spears, sending each of them hurtling towards the wave of sand, engulfing it in a series of fiery explosions, and when they all subsided, the entire wave of sand had been turned into glass, which promptly shattered almost instantly, while Noah himself had been sent tumbling to the ground in a heap as a result "Nice, looks like you've done your research."

"This isn't the first time I've used science against the enemy, so I know at least enough to know that if you heat sand to a certain degree, it turns to glass."

"Nice to know you actually bother to use your head."

"I could go into some epic speech about how it's just important to have brains in a fight as raw power, but I've still got a lot to focus on in the here and now." Luke's Dragon Force surged with magic power, but the greatest amount of power formed in his left hand "Come on, I think it's time we end this for today. One final strike, all or nothing."

"Fine by me, and I think I know just how to do it." God Serena gripped his right arm with his left hand, blue energy building in his palm "Come at me."

"That's my plan, trust me. Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"

"Indra's Wrath…"

"Spirit of Poseidon…"

"ROARING THUNDER!" Luke burst forward towards God Serena and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from one hand.

"STORM TORRENT!" God Serena met Luke's blast of lightning with a spiralling torrent of water from one hand, resulting in a powerful collision 'He's really grown…' and then the explosion went off, engulfing the entire area.

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Nightfall came, and training had long since come to an end, so things had finally settled down for everyone present.

By this point, God Serena had built a campfire and looked around at the visibly wounded and exhausted forms of Luke, Noah, Bolt and Cana, and he gave a smirk "Looks to me like the last few weeks have been pretty tough on all of you, whether you're training with me or doing your own thing."

"Well we've got a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it." Luke told him flatly, visibly cringing from the pain of the burns across his body "But this is going to do a lot of good for all of us in the long run, especially with Zeref and Acnologia still on the loose."

"That's a lot more true than you realize, and I would know."

"How do you figure?" asked Cana, which caused the mood to darken around the campsite.

"The simplest way I can put it is, because it's my entire purpose."

"I'm not sure we're following you."

"My childhood wasn't anything truly remarkable. I grew up as the youngest of six, my family was fairly poor, but we were still happy. All of them were descend and kind people, so I guess you could call it an ideal family. But that changed when I was 8, my village was destroyed by a pack of rogue bandits, along with everyone in it. I only survived by sheer luck, but even then I was all alone, with nothing but the memories, and this scar on my nose. I had lost everything in the span of a single day… but then fate threw me a metaphorical curveball. After wandering for days with no idea what I was going to do, I stumbled across something that would change my life forever. I discovered something hidden in a tree trunk… it was a Dragon Slayer Lacrima, one that had originally belonged to the Cavern Dragon. When I touched it, it merged with my body almost instantaneously, and not only did I find myself able to use Dragon Slayer magic, but I also saw a message that was embedded in the lacrima."

"What kind of message?" asked Luke.

"I don't know who it was from, even to this day, but the message said that the lacrima was part of a contingency plan with one purpose: creating a warrior capable of defeating Acnologia."

"Huh. That's convenient, or is it more like pure chance?"

"To this day I don't really know, but once I felt that lacrima merge with me, I could feel my self changing. I never understood how to explain it properly, but I felt as if there was a reason why I of all people had found them. The message did more than just explain the purpose of the lacrima, it actually implanted in my mind a sort of map, which would lead to the locations of the seven other lacrima. Over the next few years I searched all over the continent, and after half a decade of searching, I finally found the other 7 lacrima and began honing my new skills, during which time I came to be known as God Serena of the Eight Dragons, and in that time the Magic Council came to acknowledge my power and grant me the title of a Wizard Saint, eventually working my way to become number one. A few years after that happened, you ended up approaching me and asked me to train you."

"Even back then you were the most powerful mage on the continent, and you had eight different forms of Dragon Slayer magic at your disposal. I figured that if anyone could help me get strong enough to protect my guild, it was you."

"I sympathized with you, and you reminded me a great deal of the younger me, trying to push himself as high as he could go for as long as he could, for the sake of the purpose he entrusted upon himself. Plus I guess you could say that you're my contingency plan."

"As in the sort of contingency plan where, if you get killed before you can defeat Acnologia, then that means I take up that fight in your place?"

"You always were sharp. You're right about it though, if I do fail then someone else is going to have to take up the fight against Acnologia, and that someone is you. Remember this Luke, if only this: With the world and everything in it at stake, every single person you love and everything you hold dear, finding a way to defeat Acnologia is not only the most important goal, it's the only important goal, and your responsibility as a Dragon Slayer. Make sure you never forget that."

"Believe me, I won't. My purpose is to protect Fairy Tail and everyone in it, and as far as I'm concerned, defeating the likes of Zeref and Acnologia go hand in hand with that. But don't forget that as far as I'm concerned, protecting them comes first." he glanced over at Cana, and the two of them exchanged a small smile 'Of course, if certain other things come up and catch my attention in the meantime, then I think I can multitask.'

A/N:

And with this chapter, we see the return of my story after a few weeks, along with the start of what is my second favorite arc in all of Fairy Tail: the Grand Magic Games. This arc is beloved by many fans, and rightfully so. After all, if an anime is starting to get boring or stale, then what better way to spice it up than with a tournament arc, and this one is no exception. This isn't your typical tournament though, seeing how it has a lot more variety than most others in terms of events, and the twist about halfway through the arc was really awesome.

So yes, unlike the main team in the canon version, Luke and his team, which consists of Cana, Bolt, Gajeel and Lily, meet Crime Sorciere at the start of the three months of training, and they all get their Second Origins unlocked, which allows them to use more powerful magic, and to use it for longer periods of time. I think it's safe to say that Luke needs this especially, considering what happened at the end of his fight with Hades when he overused his Dual Element Dragon Force.

I'm going to be honest, seeing him after the time skip was what made Jellal into one of my favorite characters. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a few decent things in entertainment, one of them being a good redemption arc, and I think Jellal has that in spades.

So yes, Noah was apparently framed by Ivan for what happened to the members of Fairy Tail he killed, taking advantage of his status as a former member of Grimoire Heart. This might seem a bit odd, but it does have a pretty important purpose in its inclusion. Ivan and his men killed a number of Fairy Tail mages, which sure as hell would classify them as a dark guild, but it would prohibit them from taking part in the Grand Magic Games. Don't worry about Noah though, he'll be getting his revenge on Ivan at the end of the arc. You'll see what I mean by that soon enough, so don't worry.

The inclusion of God Serena in this chapter actually served a pretty important purpose, one that went beyond just training Luke and the others for when they would participate in the Grand Magic Games, and it accomplished two tasks that the original manga failed in. First, I delved into his backstory a little bit, something that I'll continue to expand on in a later chapter. Second, I elaborated on all eight types of Dragon Slayer Magic he uses: Cavern (earth), Sea King (water), Purgatory (fire), Tempest (wind), Thunder (Lightning), Blizzard (Ice), Desert (Sand) and Vapor (Steam). Five of these were already confirmed by the original manga and/ or anime, but the last three, those being Blizzard, Desert and Vapor. I struggled with creating these additional elements for him for a long time, but after bingewatching Avatar the Last Airbender again, something that I've been doing a lot since I've been in quarantine over the mast 3 to 4 months, and I felt the realization hit me: Use Avatar logic to create more elements for God Serena. You see going by Avatar rules, lightning is just a sub-element of fire, so I decided to create more sub-elements that are derived from the other main three. In this case, sand is a sub-element for earth and ice is a sub-element for water. The sub-element for air however, that was the hardest one to come up with, so I ended up turning to Naruto for wisdom in that regard, which led to me using Vapor as the final element. Vapor itself might not seem like much, but take a look at Mei Terumi, the fifth Mizukage, and her Vapor Style Kekkei Genkai, an ability that allowers her to release a cloud of vapor that also happened to have acidic properties to it.

Now let me just say this before I close out this chapter: I know that I said that this story was going on hiatus for a few weeks, and it more or less is. The main reason for that is because my next semester is about to start, and considering the courses I'm going to be taking, it will take up more of my time than I would've liked. To put it simply, updates will continue, but they'll be slowing down and not as regular as I would've liked. Thank you all for being so patient with me about this. I promise all of you that when I do update, the chapters will be up to the standards that you all deserve.