Chapter 117

7th Master

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip

The surviving cult members stared in shock as the summon crumbled to ash. "Im… impossible." Arlok mumbled. "How could it be…"

"Our army of 2000 men… wiped out like that…" Jerome declared in shock.

"What… what the hell are these people?" Mary asked with tears n her eyes.

Natsu stood up from his attack and glared at the mob, who instantly broke rank and ran for their lives. An iron pillar crashed into Abel as Gajeel picked up the doll. "This is Black Magic, isn't it? We're confiscating this."

The armored giant turned to him only to get slashed in the back by Lily. "Take them all in! Don't you dare let anyone escape!" Council troops rushed in from behind, spears at the ready.

"Gajeel and Lily?" Wendy asked in shock.

"'Take them in'?" Juvia questioned.

"He's a part of the Council now…" Gray explained.

"Levy!" Lucy rushed over to her friend and hugged her. "I heard rumors about you joining the council, but who knew it'd be true! It's been so long."

"I could say the same to you, Lu." Levy chuckled. "What are you doing here? What happened to you being a reporter?"

Natsu rejoined the main group and smiled at the new faces. "Levy! Lily!… And a guy who looks like Gajeel?"

"You picking a fight, ya bastard!l?" Gajeel shouted in anger.

"I mean, the Gajeel I knew could never be on the council…" Natsu mumbled.

"Yeah well, tree gramps found me back when I was looking for something to do and asked me, ya'know…" Gajeel explained before breaking out into a grin. "And now I'm WAY above the guild! So Salamander, you and the Green Woman are under arrest! Matter of fact, you all are! Especially you, Gray!"

An armored hand slapped the back of his head. "Erza!" Laki cheered, scaring Natsu and Happy.

"You sure act high and mighty for someone who looks like Gajeel…" She declared.

"I AM Gajeel!" He shouted back.

"Nope." Erza replied. "There's no way Gajeel would make it onto the council."

"…That's actually Gajeel." Lily declared, shocking Natsu and Erza.

"You guys really thought it was an imposter?" Levy asked.

"Then let's cut to the chase." Erza spoke up. "It was us who stopped Avatar's purification ritual. In fact, we-"

"I know." Gajeel cut her off. "We saw what Gray did at the base."

"The only reason we knew how to get here was because of Gray and we appreciate that…" Lily added.

"You even had me fooled." Levy chuckled.

"You've got to work on your undercover skills, though." He told the girl. "Finding you wasn't exactly hard."

"I'm really confused right now…" Wendy spoke up.

"I'll explain everything later." Lucy assured her.

"In any case, the city is safe for now." Lily declared.

"Yeah, and to top it off, everyone's here too!" Levy cheered.

"We're invincible if we work together!" Natsu cheered.

"It's like we're back at the guild again." Laki said with a smile.

"This is our victory! So it's time for us to celebrate it with our cheer!" Erza declared, holding up her sword as the others cheered in victory.

High on a cliff, Sting and Rogue looked down at the battle field. "Guess I didn't need to worry about it at all…" Sting said.

"An army of that size versus a team of less than ten people…" Rogue added, impressed by their victory.

"It's quite a view seeing them all together like this." Lector declared. "Don't you agree, Frosh?" He turned to the other Exceed, only to find air. To their surprise, he had somehow gotten over to the Fairy Tail group.

Gray looked down at the green cat, before suddenly hugging him to his face. Natsu sighed in relief as Rogue's shadow turned a lighter color.

One Week Later

Magnolia

"Wow, this place really brings back memories!" Natsu cheered as he looked out at the city.

"Oh wow, they fixed Cardia Cathedral too!" Happy added.

"Perfect for us." Laki said as she held Natsu's hand.

"This place was in ruins a year ago." Wendy mumbled.

"The town's tougher than we thought." Carla said from her arms with a smile.

"Well, they did live with us for years." Rose chuckled.

Lucy walked behind them, rounding out the group. Erza and the rest had other stuff to deal with, so they promised to meet in Magnolia.

Wendy noticed the look on the blondes face, catching her attention. "What's wrong, Lucy? You look kinda down…"

"I'm fine." She assured the younger girl. "I'm just feeling nostalgic since it's been so long…" She came to a stop, catching everyone's attention. "Are you guys afraid… of what we might find?"

"You mean the guild hall?" Laki asked. "A building is just a collection of wood and metal. All that matters is the people."

"That's just it…" Lucy replied. "Out of all the letters I sent, how many do you think will actually show up? It's been a year, everyone would've gotten on with their lives now. I don't know if everyone else feels the same way as we do. What if… they've already forgotten about the guild? I…"

A tanned hand with a bottle of booze suddenly wrapped around her. "Yeah, like I'd forget in only a year…" Cana chuckled, making the others smile. "Hey, guys! Wendy, you've grown, haven't you?"

"Cana…" Lucy mumbled.

"Lucky your letter got to me in time." She chuckled. "Was just about to look for my old man." The brunette took a swing from her bottle and swallowed the booze. "I've been in the guild since I was a kid. Like hell we were just gonna let it end. So we've kept in touch as best we could. Let's go see them."

She grabbed Lucy's hands and pulled her, leading the group to a massive reunion of the guild. Lucy started crying as Natsu ripped a torn Fairy Tail flag out of the ground.

5 Days Later

Lucy grunted as she lifted a beam of wood onto her shoulder. "I get that we have to do this… but couldn't you give me an easier job than this?"

"No complaining." Natsu declared, carrying three beams.

"We need to rebuild the guild, don't we?" Happy added, carrying a bag.

"We can only finish quickly if we all work together." Erza spoke up. "So let's build an amazing one that the master will be pleased when he sees it."

"I wonder when he's coming back." Laki mumbled, creating more timber.

"Even if he doesn't, we can go look for him." Reedus pointed out, holding up a poster he drew.

"Why did you make him look a criminal!?" Rose asked.

Over on the other side, Gray was hammering the support structure in place. "Hand me a nail, Juvia."

"Yes, darling." She beamed, using her water to bring it towards him.

"Now it's gonna rust…" He mumbled.

"Hey, you hear the rumors about those two…" Macao asked his old friend. "They say Gray finally manned up and got with Juvia… even have a kid or two…"

"I heard he's had an affair with Lucy and Erza…" Wakaba added.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys!?" Gray shouted. "We didn't live together… she just refused to leave…"

Lisanna rushed around and handed out bottles of water to everyone. "Wow, you sure seem good at this…" Natsu said.

"Yeah, I've been doing some waitressing with Mira this last year." She declared, spinning a bottle on her finger. "Elfman said something about 'man's training' and then just… disappeared."

"Heh, I gotta pick a fight with him some time…" He chuckled as a shadow rose up from behind.

"We could do that right now, if you want." Elfman declared, scaring Lisanna.

"What are you doing, Levy?" Wendy asked, leaning over the bookworm.

"Sorting out the paperwork for this kind of thing." She replied. "We can't just say Fairy Tail is back. We need to do it the right way, or else they'll shut us down. The big problem is this last box… We need someone to be our seventh master."

"Couldn't we just get a stand in like Macao was?" Carla asked.

"I agree." Lily nodded.

"Yeah, but we need to think." Cana spoke up, drinking from a bottle. "Who'd be able to control this wild bunch other than the sixth?"

A massive brawl suddenly broke out, Elfman and Natsu at the center. It took less than a second for the rest of the guild to join in, bottles and debris flying everywhere. As Lucy and Wendy hid for their lives, a single armored boot stepped down.

"Get. To. Work." Erza ordered.

The fight died instantly from the menace she radiated before they rushed back to work. Lucy and Wendy stared in shock as Levy just chuckled. "I guess that settles it. Our seventh master is Erza Scarlet."

Everyone cheered at the decision while Erza mumbled in fear. "There's no one better than you." A voice spoke up. Everyone turned to see a member walk forward, but what was weird is that no one could remember his name. "I've been waiting for you all of you to come together again. The only ones who can save Master Makarov are you guys."

Erza followed the scarred member of the guild down an old staircase, hugging her arm nervously. "I had no idea all of this was under the guildhall…" She confessed.

"That was the point, after all." Mest chuckled back as he lead the way.

"Tell me, Doran... No, Mest, was it?" The new master questioned.

"Mest is my real name." He declared. "You memory is likely still hazy. That would be my fault."

"Why didn't you let anyone else come with us?" Erza asked.

"Because you're the Seventh Master." Mest replied as they reached a sealed door. "We're about to enter restricted grounds. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't he allowed down here, either." He placed his hand on the door and it slowly creaked open. A light blinded Erza before it suddenly died. "Behold Fairy Tail's ultimate secret, the Lumen Histoire."

A large purple crystal was sat in the center of the room, inside the body of Mavis Vermillion. "Master Mavis?" Erza asked in shock. Screams caught their attention and they turned to see the rest of her team, Wendy, and Carla fall to the ground. "What are you doing…"

"Did you not understand the part about this place being only for guild masters?" Mest asked, shaking his head.

Instantly, the group snapped up and stared at the crystal in shock. "Isn't that the first…" Grau mumbled.

"She's naked!" Natsu shouted, turning away in respect.

"Is she still alive?" Laki asked.

"Why is she in a giant crystal?" Rose added.

"And why is under the guildhall?" Carla finished the trio of questions.

"I can't say I understand it myself." Mest confessed. "All I can say is that it is extraordinarily important." A flash of light hit his guild mates in the head, making the others grab their head. "You're seeing my memories, from starting from ten years ago."

"So Gramps went to that… whatchamacallit country and he hasn't come back yet?" Natsu asked in shock.

"He disbanded the guild to protect us…" Erza mumbled.

"You haven't heard from him in over a year?" Laki asked, earning a head shake from Mest. "And knowing him, he wouldn't have listen to anyone trying to talk him out of it."

"I wonder if he's okay…" Lucy whispered.

"We can't tell we're still dealing with them or if the country has isolated itself…" Mest said, killing the mood.

"Then we go help him." Natsu declared, making the others nod.

"Hold on." The new master declared. "We're up against an enemy that the master himself couldn't beat. We can't just go in without a plan."

"We've all gotten way stronger over the last year!" Natsu snapped back. "I ain't gonna lose no matter how strong they are!"

"I know how you feel." Erza said back. "But we can't just insult his intentions… that's my stance as the seventh master. As a guild member, I say we storm wherever he is and take him back." Mest flinched at the idea as the others smiled. "We're better off in small numbers. Infiltrate the Alveraz Empire and rescue the master, and then we'll talk."

She suddenly stepped over and glared at Natsu. "This is a rescue mission, not an assault. Understand?"

"Y-yeah…" He mumbled in fear.

Guildhall

"Heh, a rescue mission…" Gajeel mumbled, confusing Lily. "Guess we gotta move on our own." He walked over and set his arm down on a panicking Juvia's head.

"What? You wanna drink with me?" Cana chuckled as Mirajane walked by with two mugs of booze.

"We're reforming the B-Team." He declared to Cana and Mira. "We need to go find that lightning bastard…"

"Wait, you know where Laxus is?" Cana asked in surprise, making Gajeel smirk.

Not really an action packed chapter, but that's beyond my control since… that's what happened in the story. Didn't show the flashbacks/memories because I trust you guys to remember that. Plus, it would be an even more boring chapter than it is now. See ya next time.

Beta read by General Fen Xiang.