December X784

Despair was a feeling that Mercury was much too familiar with. He'd felt it many times in his long life – when he had originally left his home, when he'd seen his brothers on the beach, when he'd realized that he might be dying – but the feeling of aching in his chest never went away. It felt like a dull numbness, except if he actually was numb it wouldn't hurt so much.

"Tenrou island was obliterated."

His chest was so tight that he could hardly breathe.

Tenrou, obliterated? He couldn't even fathom it – one moment, the island had housed his aspiring S-Class guildmates, and the next, it was gone? There was just no way.

He bit the inside of his cheek until it was painful. Even when blood sprung up, he pressed harder, harder, until he was almost certain that his teeth would poke through his lip entirely. His mind swirled painfully. It felt like he was dizzy and nauseous and had the worst headache of his life – this couldn't be happening. The man in front of him was lying.

The captain speaking to the three Fairy Tail representatives stared up at the three men in a room little better than a storage closet like he expected to get hit by one of them. Mercury certainly felt like he should have started swinging.

His organization-issued hat remained tucked towards his chest, a sign of respect and empathy towards the guild despite the fact that the Magic Council likely held neither of those towards Fairy Tail. Mest, or perhaps Doranbolt now, stood behind him, looking at the wooden floor as though they were the most interesting thing in the world.

"You're joking," the water mage said. No laughter accompanied it; if this was a joke, it sure as hell wasn't funny in the slightest.

Mercury locked eyes with Mest. The man winced, then looked away.

Oh. They were serious.

Mercury, Macao, and Wakaba simply stood, staring without speaking. Shock thundered in Mercury's head as he desperately looked for some denial, some way to say it wasn't true…

But he came up with nothing.

What did one say to the statement that their guild had been destroyed? Never in any of their lives – not in their worst nightmares, even, would they have dreamt those words coming out of anyone's mouth. It was just too unexpected, simply wasn't feasible. Mere days ago, they'd sent off their guild with a smile, expecting one of them to come back with a fancy new title, and now they were being told that they simply would not be returning at all.

Disbelief. That was all Mercury could feel. His face felt frozen in whatever form it had been in before Doranbolt and his boss had walked in. The water mage couldn't even open his mouth to utter a rebuttal. His throat remained closed, all breaths suddenly halted because of the massive lump in his throat.

It… wasn't real. It had to be a lie. Just what would even have the power to demolish the sacred island? The Fairy Tail members on the island wouldn't have just let it happen. It was impossible.

"You're sure?" Macao was the only one who could bring himself to speak. There was no emotion in it, just a simple question – as simple as though he'd asked for the time or the date.

"Yes, unfortunately," the captain said. His eyes were downcast, unable to meet any of theirs. "There was nothing left behind, not even a speck of dirt."

Not even a speck of dirt.

This couldn't be happening.


January X785

Several trips over the waters where Tenrou island was supposed to be proved fruitless, the waves in every direction appearing exactly the same as though to confirm the island's absence.

Just as they'd said, there was no dirt in sight. No anything in sight.

Mercury was immensely grateful to everyone who had gone out to search – to the remaining Fairy Tail members, who assured him it was fine if he didn't want to go (oh, Mother, he wanted to go, to confirm with his own eyes, but he just couldn't explain why he couldn't), to the Blue Pegasus mages who'd assisted them in the Christina, to the members of Lamia Scale who searched from the ground.

Hell, even the Magic Council pitched in, providing a couple of ships. It was clearly for appearance's sake, as usual; they'd already claimed that there was nothing remaining in the sea, not even debris, and they weren't the type to change their opinions once they'd declared them, but they did comb the waters fairly thoroughly, or so Mercury had been told

Every time his guildmates left, the water mage paced the cliff on the edge of Magnolia that overlooked the sea until they came back, even when their trips took multiple days. He didn't eat, didn't sleep. He couldn't bring himself to do anything but stare at the ocean like it was a new obsession, even if being that close made it feel like something was screaming in his ears. What if he missed when they came back? What if he missed important news? What if he was needed?

(He wasn't going to be.)

It wouldn't have mattered, anyway, because it only took a week for the Magic Council to call off their search, three for Lamia Scale, and four for Blue Pegasus.

Tenrou island was well and truly gone. As much as he wanted to deny it, to scream and cry out into the waters until his calls brought it back, the island had vanished entirely, wiped off the face of the earth by a calamity nearly unheard of, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Instead of the triumphant return party that should have been going on, most of Fairy Tail just sat in the guild hall, mourning. Like Mercury, they had no idea what to do – what was one to do when they were told that over a third of the guild, including Master Makarov, was dead?

"At least it was painless," someone in the guild said to no one in particular.

Mercury didn't even recognize their face before he screamed at them to get the hell out of the guild. The air filled with the roaring sound of the sea and the scent of salt despite the fact that he should have been conserving his magic, only soothed when the speaker had fully left the hall. Mercury collapsed back to his spot at the bar.

He was tired.

So tired.

Pain didn't matter. Who cared if it was painless? What mattered was that they were gone, that he'd never see any of them ever again.

This was the end.

Why did the ocean have to take so much from him? Why, why, why? The thought felt like it was driving him insane, echoing in his head like his brain had been replaced with a bell of "why." He felt like screaming.

"Mercury," Macao said with a frown, "you can't just chase people out."

Mercury knew Macao was pissed. He would have been too, if someone had just shouted one of their now-dwindling members out of the guild... But he didn't know what else to do.

Macao had taken up the guildmaster position only because they were required to have one. If they didn't, the guild would be forced to disband, and nobody else had wanted it. Mercury wouldn't have trusted anyone else with it.

(When had his opinion become important?)

"The Tenrou Team wouldn't have wanted you to chase people away from their guild, Merc," Macao tried again when the water mage didn't answer.

"What the hell do any of us know about what they want?" Mercury snapped in return, throwing his hands on the bar in front of them and standing abruptly. He hated how they were called the Tenrou Team amongst the guild now – it made it too official. Too real. "I'm sure they didn't want to die, either!"

Macao didn't deserve his anger. No one did, really, but anger was the only thing he was currently capable of feeling. The tenseness in his blood roared as he stared down the older man. Maybe he and Laxus weren't as dissimilar as he'd thought.

"You don't know that they're dead!" Macao stood too, staring down the water mage with an equally angry look. The air felt heavy, as though it could come crashing down around the two quarreling mages. They were lucky Wakaba, the only voice of reason these days, wasn't there – or perhaps unlucky, because Mercury was reminded of that angry conversation he had with Laxus that had been the end of their friendship.

Oh, Laxus. Where were you, Laxus?

"What else are they supposed to be then? Sleeping? On a destroyed island that doesn't even exist anymore?"

Mercury's voice cracked in the middle of his angry sentence, but both of them ignored it.

"You know damn well that those fools wouldn't go down without a fight. You think Gildarts got taken out by a stupid dragon? You think the damn thing even got close with Master there?"

"Yes, because they're dead!" Mercury roared.

The word 'dead' echoed around the mostly empty guild hall. Many people had already left now that the nation's attention had faded from the grieving guild, chasing fame elsewhere, and those that remained were out trying to make the most of the few jobs that had posted. Anyone who'd been in there moments ago had fled, trying to prevent themselves from getting caught between yet another argument of the two most senior members of the guild.

Neither one opened their mouths for a moment, stuck in a terse staredown. Then, Macao – no, the Fourth Guildmaster of Fairy Tail said, "I think you should go cool off for a bit, Merc."

How dare he – how dare he send Mercury off like a child getting put in timeout? Mercury was older than the man, nearly triple his age! It wasn't some matter of simply sending him away as though the feelings roaring within him would just leave.

"It's not going to change –"

"Go."

The words "it's not going to change that they're dead" didn't manage to fall off his lips, blocked out by the harsh command of the guildmaster. Macao stared him down, eyes blazing in a way that didn't fit the aging man.

Mercury left without another word. He felt like he was choking on his way out, hardly able to breathe.

It wasn't that he was admitting defeat – the stares of the guild members just felt too confining. Too stifling, like they were going to choke the life out of him.

He couldn't understand it. Why were they not upset? Why was he the only one who felt like his heart had stopped?

Why was Mercury the only one who felt like their deaths had taken something from him?

He was sure that the guild loved the people who had just died as much as he did, so why was Mercury the only one who could hardly stand to be in the guild hall anymore? He kept expecting people to walk in – all too often he caught himself thinking, 'When Mira comes back,' only to come to the crushing realization that she wouldn't be coming back.

They were gone. All of them.

Even the absence of the people he didn't particularly care for felt damning. The guild hall was too quiet. Where were the fights? Where were Natsu and Gray to destroy the tables, or Erza to crack their skulls together? Mercury never thought he'd miss the sound of it all. Miss the daily shenanigans, the chaos, the love that the guild exuded just by breathing.

It made Mercury's ears ring painfully, like the air itself was too stiff. Everything was empty.

He was empty.

What was he supposed to do now?


February X785

Mercury had lived in the ocean for about a fifth of his life. He knew it like the back of his hand; his body actively craved it, threatening to drag him back down into its depths if his resolve faltered for even a moment.

So then why did the surface feel kind of like the ocean now?

Everything was… colorless. Bland. Mercury had never been able to taste anything, but now, any of the food he managed to drag himself to eat felt like wet cardboard in his mouth. It wasn't just unappealing – the sensation made him want to stop trying to eat entirely.

He'd live even if he didn't eat, right?

(For how long would he have to wait for that to become untrue?)

Though his house had always been empty, it now felt entirely devoid of life. Signs of his presence diminished – not because he wasn't there often, but because he could hardly drag himself out of bed.

There was simply no point.

Being at the guild was just a painful reminder, and his presence wasn't particularly wanted there, either. As it was, Mercury's poor mood reflected in the humid air; he knew he wasn't supposed to waste any magic, lest he speed up his own decay, but it leaked, stirred by the lack of thought. His head was as stormy as those seas he so feared. Never ceasing, circling, thinking about what he could have done as though it had been his fault that a third of his guild had now been declared dead.

Maybe if he'd never been born at all, none of this would have happened.

Somehow, maybe his presence had changed something; maybe Erza wouldn't have become S-Class so early, or perhaps the Thunder God Tribe wouldn't have made it onto the island; maybe Natsu or Gray wouldn't have been nominated this year, or Lucy and Cana wouldn't have been close enough to have chosen each other as partners.

Maybe, maybe, maybe…!

It never ended. The walls of his bedroom were thick with dampness when his stomach rumbled loudly to bring him out of his reverie, but he still didn't move.

What did he care anymore?

Mercury could fade away right then and there, and it would still be better than having to think at all. Maybe if he just –

No.

He'd tried it before. Many times. All it did was bring him pain, not release him from his suffering. Mercury was going to be forced to live with this for the rest of his life, however long that might be.

And… they wouldn't want that. Those he'd lost on Tenrou would never want to be the reason for his death.

He stared up at the ceiling, splayed out on the bed in the same spot where he'd fallen two or three days ago.

Unthinking.

However many days had already passed… felt small and insignificant when compared to his long lifespan. He could afford to lay there for a couple more.


June X785

Starting in March of the year X785, Mercury tended to disappear for many days at a time.

A new year had long arrived, and with it, a myriad of half-changes that ultimately meant nothing.

In the time since he and Macao had argued, neither had broached the topic when they were alone together. Mercury helped Macao learn the ropes of guild management and the paperwork – everyone knew he had done it more often than Master did while the S-Class trials were coming up – while simultaneously doing other odd jobs around the guild to fill the absences that the "Tenrou Team" had left.

There was only one time in his whole life that he felt as bad as he did now, filling in for the people who had disappeared faster than he could blink. This was a very, very close second.

He worked at the bar most often. Most of the waitresses had left as Fairy Tail's financial situation took a turn for the worse, jobs slowing now that the guild was falling into obsolescence. Either that, or they'd just valued Mira's presence and leadership so much that without her, there was no point in staying. Still, Mercury promised to write them letters of recommendation if they needed one, though he doubted anyone would take him up on the offer. Who cared what a dying guild had to say about a former employee? They were down to just one waitress now – Kinana – and bless her heart, because she didn't complain.

The cleaning also did a lot of the cleaning. Fairy Tail couldn't afford to waste any more money, so tasks like cleaning had been delegated to the members rather than janitors. Kinana offered, but he knew that her staying was kind enough. She didn't need to be burdened with even more than she already was, especially not by something as menial as cleaning. Mercury, being unable to do jobs, quickly took this role onto his own shoulders, making sure that everything was in its proper place.

Most importantly, though, he helped with the paperwork when Macao got behind on it. More and more jobs were being canceled before they could be completed, and mysterious accidents kept happening when they didn't. It was clear someone was messing with them, but they couldn't prove anything, so they were just responsible for the property damage fees. Piles and piles of paper lined the guildmaster's desk – both men had agreed that it wasn't quite Macao's desk – until the surface was barely visible. No matter the dent they made in it before the weekend, come Monday, new stacks would appear in the mail.

(Someone wanted Fairy Tail gone. That much was clear. It was just up for debate who would want to do such a thing; the Magic Council? An enemy guild with a grudge?)

You couldn't go a day without seeing the water mage. He was everywhere…

… Until you couldn't find him, and then you wouldn't see him for weeks at a time. He hardly even bothered to leave them a note saying that he'd be gone.

After one of his unusual disappearances of nearly two weeks, not quite the longest time he'd been gone but certainly long enough for people to wonder where he'd gone off to, Wakaba finally cornered him in the hallway outside Macao's office. The water mage's eyes were uncharacteristically dead – well, they always seemed to hold a little bit of incessant tiredness, but now, they were just dull pits of color.

"Merc, where 'ya been?"

When Mercury didn't answer, staring awkwardly at the blonde in front of him, Wakaba waved a hand in front of his face. It seemed like those eyes were a little too dead.

And then he passed out completely, body falling limp on top of the man in front of him.

"Woah, what the hell! Macao, gimme a hand!"

By the time the two older men had managed to drag the water mage to the guild's unused infirmary – why was he both so heavy and so light? – he had already started to rouse himself, blinking groggily at the ceiling above him. He had no idea where he was, nor why his head was pounding like he'd taken a sword to the brain.

"What–" was what he tried to say when he realized where he was, only to be cut off by a simultaneous cough and wave of dizziness so that it came out more like, "Whaaaaa?"

"That's what I'm askin,'" Wakaba drawled before dumping him on the bed. "That hell happened?"

Mercury was in a heap of limbs and skin, body feeling so mixed up that he didn't even bother trying to move. He simply lay on the bed, blinking oddly. It felt like his right arm was connected to his left leg, as well as his left arm to his right leg, so he wasn't even sure he could move even if he wanted to.

A throbbing sensation echoed from his elbows. It was entirely too slow to be his heartbeat, but he couldn't be too sure.

"You gonna pass out again? We just sent Laki to grab Porlyusica – we don't need another member dyin' on us, after all!"

Wakaba's joke was much too close to the truth for the water mage's liking. A bitter feeling reared its head in his stomach at the mention of other guild members dying.

"Tell Laki to spare herself the trip. I'm fine."

Macao's look of bewilderment hit Mercury like a punch to the gut – clearly, he was not going to get out of this one without an explanation.

"You disappear for two weeks, show up in front of my office looking like you're high on drugs, pass out, and then say you're fine?" Mercury could hardly believe that the guildmaster was lecturing him. "Wakaba's right – we don't need more people dying on us, and I'm not convinced you're not. Where the hell were you?"

Oh, how close he was to the truth.

The two men stared at him like parents trying to decide what to do with their own child. He'd seen Macao give this sort of look to Romeo before when the kid had done something particularly dumb, like run around practicing his fire magic until the bushes outside the guild caught fire. Mercury would have been affronted by the audacity of two men younger than him lecturing him if he didn't see the apparent worry in their eyes.

"I was looking for Laxus," he bit out.

"Oh," both said in unison, suddenly looking very guilty.

Laxus had been ""missing"" since Tenrou island had been destroyed – or rather, they hadn't been able to find any sign of the lightning dragon slayer in the wake of the incident. Of course, they also hadn't known where he was before the incident, either, but the heavy letter that always sat in Mercury's pocket reminded him of the fact that there were still things he needed to tell Laxus.

He knew there was no way he wouldn't come running the moment he heard about Tenrou island. Mercury alone remembered the promise Laxus made to him on the night of Fantasia; ("If I don't hear rumors about Fairy Tail being in chaos, I'm going to come back whether Gramps likes it or not," but Makarov wasn't here to argue against it anymore, and there certainly was no more chaos to rouse the walls of the guild hall).

Most of the remaining members of the guild wouldn't believe Mercury when he said otherwise, and he didn't have a reason to say otherwise – after all, Laxus had taken the guild hostage, threatened them, and then forced them all to fight each other. The water mage knew they wouldn't want to help, so he hadn't bothered to include them in his self-imposed mission.

"Wait," Wakaba said suspiciously, "that doesn't explain you passing out. Nice try, but we ain't that dumb."

Damn, they'd noticed.

Mercury's lips practically zipped themselves shut with how tightly they pressed together. The trip itself had left him incredibly weak, and he hadn't been intending to return to the guild at all for several more days until he remembered a budget form that he wasn't sure he'd told Macao to finish filling out.

And then everything had been just so hazy, like his mind had been wrapped in layers of fog – it wasn't until Wakaba's voice came crashing through his mind that he really woke up enough to think that something was wrong. Then he'd passed out, and he knew something was wrong.

Being out and away from the guild hall had really drained him.

"Mercury..." Macao said lowly. "Porlyusica is going to be here soon, so if you don't tell us, it's going to be her telling us."

The water mage swallowed around the huge lump in his throat. He had been so ready to talk about it all – his body failing and its impending demise – but the months of waiting had dulled the words in his head. Everything had swarmed the guild, so there was never really a good time to bring it up, and by the time everything had calmed, the idea of losing another guild member was sour in everyone's brain.

He didn't suppose he could get out of this one. Porlyusica would definitely tell them just to spite the "foolish" Mercury.

It was time. Laxus should have been the first to know, but not even a god would have been able to find him now.

"This is kind of hard to say," he started, looking between Macao and Wakaba equally with nervous eyes. "But, ah, that thing you said about not being able to lose anyone else..."

The pink haired healer had smacked Mercury over the head once she'd arrived in no rush at all to the guild. Her arms were rather thin, but the years of being part of Makarov's team had strengthened her considerably.

Of course, she was still aging, so it didn't actually hurt, but it got the message across.

"You fool," she spat at him. It wasn't the vaguely endearing type of insult that she often used – she was mad.

Rightfully so, he supposed.

Macao and Wakaba had exited the room when the incensed Porlyusica had arrived, giving way to the woman easily upon seeing just how angry she was. The conversation that the three of them participated in hadn't gone smoothly, but at least it was over.

For now.

"I can't believe –" she smacked him again with the only thing nearby – a thick medical textbook; where the hell had that come from? – before continuing – "that not only did you take risks with your already failing health, but you passed out like some drunken bastard here, which led to those fools who care too much dragging me here."

His head throbbed both from the headache and her slamming things into it.

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, stop being an idiot!"

Porlyusica thrusted something into his hands, uncaring of whether he managed to catch it. And then she yanked up Mercury's shirt to see what was underneath.

"Woah!" He shouted as soon as he realized what had happened. The bare skin prickled with discomfort when the warmth of his shirt was replaced with the cold winter air, Porlyusica's fingers even more freezing as they prodded his chest.

"Shut it," the healer snapped, "clearly, you can't be trusted to take care of your own health."

The way she frowned upon looking was not comforting in the slightest. Not that he was looking to be comforted, anyway.

"It's grown, hasn't it?" Mercury was actually surprised by how calm his voice was. If this was a month or two ago, it probably would have cracked and tears threatened to spill over his face, but now, he'd accepted it. Didn't make the conversation any easier, of course… but there was a distinct part of him that felt like it didn't care any longer.

(How much of his life did he care about now that everyone else was gone? Again.)

Porlyusica nodded, but said nothing else.

There was no way that Mercury hadn't seen it – after Edolas, it had been a little more than four inches along each side, covering a portion of the left side of his chest, and now it was starting to slowly encroach towards the right side, stretching a couple more ribs downwards until it landed just above the guild mark there.

"You're a fool," she repeated.

It wasn't that he didn't care. In fact, he might have cared a bit too much; Mercury wanted more than anything to be there for the guild now that it had been reduced to little more than a gathering of close friends. He wanted to be there if anything ever managed to turn up. The two sides of himself were fighting. One side for hope, that there was still a chance – there hadn't been any bodies – and the other part for despair, that said that everything was over.

That everyone was dead.

He didn't want his last words to Laxus to be what they'd said at Fantasia.

But it had already been nearly six months, and there had been no news from either Tenrou Island or the lightning dragon slayer himself.

Mercury had no response for a moment, then remembered the thing she had thrust into his arms before stripping him of his shirt – which he soon wrestled down. It was cylindrical, neither warm nor cold, and had a knob at the top.

"What's in here? Medicine?"

"No, you idiot boy," she snapped once more. "It's seawater. That's what you've been using to treat it, right?"

Maybe if Mercury had had a sense of smell, he could have noted the salty fragrance wafting up from the bottle. And maybe if he had a sense of taste, he would have gagged as the salt went down his throat.

He didn't, though, so it slid past his tongue quite easily.

Immediately, the pounding in his head subsided, and any weakness in his limbs flew away as magic – however trace – trickled back into his body.

Porlyusica was smart. Much smarter than him, anyway. He had been using brine to help mitigate the symptoms, paying whatever stray kid looked interested enough in his money to fetch him some from the docks whenever he returned from his search. It took the bite off the Magic Deficiency, even if only for a short time, but it was usually enough for him to have enough time to get his shit together before he made his return to the guild.

"Thanks, Porlyusica. I already feel better," he said honestly.

Or at least it would have been 'honest' until the throbbing came back, this time centralized right in the middle of his chest, right at his heart. He must have made some sort of low groaning noise, because Porlyusica sighed – "It's only going to keep getting worse, you know?"

For her sentence to be lacking an insult, it meant that she was at least a little bit sympathetic.

But the searing inside his body didn't stop with sympathy.

It felt like it was burning him from the inside out, not quite throbbing but not quite steady, either. He gripped at it, already a familiar feeling. This wasn't the first time he'd reacted like this, and it certainly wasn't the last, either. Though the sensation was similar to what had happened in wake of the Phantom Lord incident, it wasn't nearly as bad, which was the only solace he could take in it as his hands unconsciously tried to pry his own ribs open.

Porlyusica gripped his arms tightly, tugging them above his head so he couldn't move. "If you hurt yourself now, it's only going to keep going longer."

He knew it was true, but that didn't stop him from writhing in her grasp until it calmed down.

By the time she released his wrists, Mercury was a panting mess on the bed, staring blankly into the ceiling and face flushed with heat. It wasn't the first time this had happened, though it was the first time someone had been with him to watch it happen.

"'M good now," Mercury forced out, mind hazy. It always left him like this — so tired that he could barely think, let alone talk, a bit feverish, and his body aching (but feeling slightly better).

"I can't stop you from being an idiot — and frankly, even if I could, I wouldn't care too — but even someone as thick-headed as you must realize the worry you're putting the other brats through."

It was true. The twisted looks on the Macao and Wakaba's faces had forced his stomach into knots in a way that he hadn't experienced since far before the Tenrou incident, and it had only been then that he could see the worry in their eyes. A brief, traitorous thought had told him that they just wanted to keep the guild running as it was, that they wouldn't be able to do it without Mercury's help, but he quickly bit it back. They were too genuine.

"Yeah," he mumbled, consciousness fast fading. "Got it."


July X785

From then on, he always had someone watching over him. Usually, it was either Macao or Wakaba, which was fine with Mercury because it meant he could do all the paperwork that they were slow to do – seriously, how were they still getting more of those damn red letters? In exchange, the two promised to do a better job at searching for Laxus, so all was well.

Sometimes, though, they pawned the duty on to someone else.

Like Romeo, for some reason.

The boy was very... muted. Mercury understood; his mind often felt the same, reveling in memories that weren't something he could repeat ever again, the people in them apparently gone to a calamity. Still, it was unnerving to see the formerly animated boy become so quiet.

"Why is my dad having me watch you," he asked without hesitation or emotion. "Are you in trouble or something?

"Something like that."

The conversation lapsed. Mercury had no idea how to talk to kids. Evergreen had always scolded him for being too harsh, but that was just how he spoke. It wasn't like Mercury was trying to be an asshole (most of the time); that's just how it came out. And a kid like Romeo? Mercury wouldn't have known how to talk to him even if the kid was an adult.

He was just so quiet. So pale. It was like the disappearance of the guild had erased his colors completely, and now there was so little left.

The boy was despairing. His idols, the ones he looked up to – they were all gone. All of his big brothers and sisters who had left for Tenrou island were now nothing more than ghosts, and the remainder of the guild was just trying to move on. Romeo didn't understand how people could just "move on," which made him frustrated.

That, Mercury understood. He probably understood the boy's feelings a lot better than anyone else, though it had finally dulled to a barely present throb in his chest when he thought he heard someone's voice a little too clearly. He hadn't forgotten – he never would – but there were things now that needed his attention.

(It certainly was not that he was keeping himself so busy that he could hardly think.)

And he knew that the Tenrou Team wouldn't want to be the source of someone's despair.

Instead of trying to force it forward, Mercury continued cleaning the glasses behind the bar; there weren't very many, and the ones next to the sink had been washed already, but he just kept rubbing the dry towel against the side of each cup. The bar was clean – in fact, it had been clean half an hour ago when the water mage had tried to ease the tension by busying himself – so there really wasn't anything for him to do. The guild itself had become so quiet and slow that anyone hardly stopped in anymore. Even the ones that did were just the frequent patrons who were a part of the guild itself; no more random townspeople walked in whenever they felt like it, instead taking their business to the crowded bars elsewhere within the city.

Romeo put his hand up, palm resting aimlessly on the table in front of him. A flame burst from it, nearly startling the shit out of Mercury, then hissed away at the water mage's panicked yelp.

"Give me some warning before you burn the guild down, Romeo," he sputtered. If the flame hadn't died out when it did, he might have tossed water on it on instinct – Natsu had done the same and subsequently lit something on fire many, many times, especially when he was young and didn't have a grasp on his magic quite yet. Romeo was no different. Even if he was now taking lessons from the somewhat-shady former Phantom Lord member (Mercury had done his investigating on the man once he'd learned where Romeo was sneaking off to), he wasn't old enough to physically have good control over it yet.

"I wasn't going to burn anything," Romeo protested. That was the only emotion that Mercury seemed to see on the boy these days: denial. It wasn't maturity, as the boy likely hoped, but a naive rejection of reality.

"But you could have. And we don't have enough money left to replace Mira's bar, so keep that for outside, will you?"

"It's not Mira's bar."

Referring to it as Mira's bar had just… slipped out. Once more, Mercury had forgotten that she would never be back to tend to it again.

The mood, thoroughly and unintentionally killed by the young boy, turned sour as neither one spoke for a good couple of minutes. Neither one made eye contact with the other; Romeo's eyes were drawn solely to his curled up fingers, while Mercury stared at the wall.

The cups he'd been cleaning were forgotten.

Was he seriously going to let someone who wasn't even a teenager shut him up?

Yes, he was. Nine months without people to banter with had been quite hard on him; Macao and Wakaba were witty, but certainly nowhere close to Mira or Laxus or even Master was.

Then, the door to the guild quietly opened, and everything went further to shit.

The hinges were tight. Loud, squeaky. They should have been oiled ages ago, but Mercury had never really gotten around to it – or perhaps he was still holding onto the foolish hope that he wanted to hear it just to look up and see familiar faces.

This face looking in at him was unfamiliar. His hopes, however miniscule, were dashed.

Mercury's eyes met a set of purple ones. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought he was looking at a grape. Everything the new entry was wearing was some shade of purple. His hat, a finely shaped fedora, even had a purple feather striking around the brim. The thing was loud and gaudy, and clearly artificial; Mercury had never seen any sort of animal with such an unnatural shade of purple on its wings.

The man's unfamiliarity was suspicious in itself. Who the hell needed to visit a dying guild hall these days? Anyone who came in these days tended to be punks looking to prove their superiority over a guild that hardly had enough members to sustain itself, let alone someone coming in for non-nefarious purposes.

And something about him felt decidedly fake. Mercury couldn't put his finger on it, but the sensation made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

This man – he was dangerous.

Mercury stepped around the bar, placing himself in front of Romeo. The towel in his hands had been placed over his shoulder, though his right hand still gripped it as though he could use it as a weapon if it came down to it.

"What are you here for?" The water mage didn't bother trying to make his voice sound more welcoming.

He wanted this man gone.

"Pardon me. I've come here in search of a member of the Fairy Tail guild," the man said, voice like a snake. He took several more steps towards Mercury and Romeo, with the water mage feeling more tense with every foot forward he moved.

"We don't do information requests, sorry."

"Is that so?"

The man stared Mercury down. His eyes were a brilliant shade of bright purple, and gave the water mage the feeling of poison. He noted that the bottom part of this man's right ear had been torn off, seemingly with either sharp teeth or a jagged weapon.

"Yes. Please leave."

"Hmm… Are you certain you can't help me out just once?"

"Come on, Merc," Romeo cut in. "Just help him out."

The boy was probably just excited by the prospect of something new and exciting happening, or maybe he was just pissed he'd been yelled at by Mercury – either way, the water mage wanted to slap him for being so unaware.

Who the hell came into a dying guild just to ask after one of their members?

Mercury would have slapped a hand to his face in frustration if his body wasn't tensely watching this man in purple.

"Oh, Mercury, is it?"

"Yeah? What of it?" Mercury growled. He'd imagine that he looked pretty frazzled right then, staring down someone who, by all accounts, looked like just your average dude. He was relatively well built – not muscular, but also not particularly skinny – and his face was entirely average.

But an "average dude" shouldn't have been triggering Mercury's fight or flight like this.

He was debating just going for "fight" right then and there, but the man in purple put his hands up as though to show he wasn't a threat. Mercury didn't believe it for a second. He squared his shoulders up so that Romeo was practically invisible behind him, standing up to his full height for what seemed like the first time in ages.

"I've found what I'm looking for," the man said suddenly, taking a step back. "I'll get out of your hair then."

A chill went down Mercury's spine. It didn't take a genius to know that "what he'd been looking for" was the same piece of information he'd just been provided – who "Mercury" was.

"Wait!" The water mage took a step forward. He planned to put his hand on the man's shoulder, pulling him back towards the bar, but the moment that he managed to touch the man's jacket, his hair brushed over Mercury's skin.

It burned.

Oh, shit, why did it burn – it was like he'd been stung by something venomous, or stuck his hand directly into a white-hot fire.

The water mage pulled his hand back, clutching it close to his chest.

To the man's credit, he looked startled as well – until his smile stretched from a calm, happy one to one of absolute glee. Like he'd just gotten definitive proof of what he was looking for.

A gust of wind broke through the guild hall despite the doors being closed. Mercury had to put his hands up to shield his face, blocking Romeo in the process. His hair flew everywhere like a blue wave. Behind him, glasses fell off the counter and broke, shattering into a million pieces that he'd have to clean up later.

By the time the wind blades had died down, the man who'd taken up their guild hall was gone. In his place, that sinister laugh echoed around the bar.

"Fuck," Mercury whispered as soon as he could open his eyes again. He rapidly blinked dirt out of his eyes, then turned to Romeo. "You okay?"

"What was that?" The kid asked, shocked. Or maybe that look in his eyes was the very feeling that Mercury was trying to quash within himself – Worry. Anxiety. Fear.

"Not sure," he replied, thinking of the burning feeling.

"Was he looking for you?"

"I dunno, kid, but he sure as hell left quick after he figured out who I was, so I'd assume so."

The words came out unintentionally harsh and scathing, a result of Mercury being so tight that his fists were nearly shaking. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he inhaled. On the exhale, he tried to relax a bit.

There was no point in getting mad at a kid for making a mistake.

Even if the result was oddly terrifying.

When Mercury opened his eyes, Romeo was looking down at his hands again, this one looking more like he'd just watched a dog get kicked than he'd just been told off.

Yeah, Mercury wasn't great with kids.

"I'll handle it, don't worry," the water mage said suddenly. "I'll make sure he doesn't mess with us later down the line."

Where he got the confidence to say that, he had no idea. Maybe it was a lie – or maybe it was just something he'd said to make take back the near-scathing remark he'd made just moments ago.

Either way, Mercury was just going to hope for now that it would be true.


November X785

Nearly a year – or perhaps "only" a year – after the Tenrou Team's disappearance, so much had changed within Fairy Tail, and yet so much had also remained the same.

For one, they still hadn't found Laxus. Not even a rumor had passed by Fairy Tail in the year since Tenrou Island was destroyed, and not for lack of trying; Mercury trusted his guildmates to do their best to find him.

Especially now that he couldn't do that. All he could do was trust in them.

Macao had forbidden Mercury from leaving Magnolia in the wake of what had happened, and though he had no authority to impose it onto the man – Macao was guildmaster, not a dictator – the water mage respected his wishes. There was no point in creating unnecessary stress among the guild.

Even if that meant that Mercury's personal plans had been halted, too. It wouldn't change the result either way; not a single whisper of Laxus's name had come up in over six months despite how hard Fairy Tail was trying for his sake.

That meant one of two things — either Laxus didn't want to be found, or there was something preventing them from doing so.

(Was he hiding? Was someone else tracking him? Was he dead?)

(Was he somehow on Tenrou Island when it had been obliterated?)

Mercury shook off the last thought. Laxus wasn't a part of the guild; he definitely wouldn't have been allowed on the guild's sacred island, especially not when the S-Class trials were going on. Wasn't it supposed to be protected by some sort of important, sacred magic, or something? And even if that had failed, Makarov wouldn't have simply let it happen. And, Mercury reasoned, if Laxus could be on the island, that meant enemies could have made their way there, too.

(Wait. Wasn't that exactly what had happened?)

Mercury was desperate for answers, but could no longer find them for himself. He found himself getting tired much faster, often finding himself going to sleep only to wake up a couple of days later to the frantic knocking of someone at his door, checking to make sure he was okay.

He'd wake up with an aching forehead, a body that was much too hot, and persistent dizziness. Even if he'd tried his best to ignore them, he couldn't deny that those were bad things to be experiencing.

Still, he had to tell himself that at least he was waking up.

The fevers went away quickly, though the dizziness and aching usually lasted for a couple of hours after he was dragged to the guild hall and told to go drink saltwater. Mercury hated that Polryusica had told them to do that. He wasn't sure if she'd done it to fuck with him or because she genuinely cared.

Even Porlyusica herself sometimes made the trek to check him out, even though he assured her multiple times that he'd rather not have to deal with her on top of being sick.

("If you didn't want to see me, you'd be getting better. It's not like I want to see you, either, but that foolish guildmaster will be upset if he comes back to find his most suicidal child has gotten sick on my watch.")

As for other things that had changed, Alzack and Bisca had gotten married. Maybe the grim reminder that guild mages were merely human had been a factor in the decision to finally admit their feelings to one another – who knew when things were going to go wrong? Any job could have become hazardous if luck wasn't in their favor.

Their marriage was a cute little ceremony. Though it hadn't been particularly official, it had been the only thing that anyone in the guild had been looking forward to in quite some time, so they went all out.

Mercury hadn't even known the two were interested in each other. Both were great at ignoring their feelings, but apparently the water mage was in the minority – there was a large betting pool going as to when they'd admit their feelings for each other, with Wakaba's wife taking home the entirety of it.

Nab had officiated the whole thing. Apparently, on a job – he actually went on those? Mercury thought he was too indecisive – he'd been obligated to become an actual ordained minister, and he'd been renewing it every year out of worry that he would have to do it again.

"The process was arduous," he'd said, "worse than having to decide which job to go on."

With Alzack in the casual suit he'd borrowed from Macao and Bisca in an informal dress that matched her style much more than a regular wedding dress, Nab asked them to say their vows.

It was awkward, but cute.

A part of Mercury wished he could have had this, too.

But, for the sake of his guildmates's happiness, he pushed away the thoughts of times past and joined in on the merrymaking. He didn't want to ruin the mood, and actually found that it probably would have been impossible to do so. Several barrels of alcohol had been brought up from the basement to celebrate the union of the two gun-users, and though the guild no longer had enough people to drink them all, they tried their damn hardest.

Even Mercury, who rarely ever drank, joined in.

(Mira's voice echoed in his head. "You've never been a drinker.")

It was good to take the edge off once in a while.

What remained of Fairy Tail collectively put down the burden that came with carrying on for just one night. They could have this. They needed this. Surely they'd all wake up with the worst hangovers of their lives when the morning came, but that was just what a good party was.

Fairy Tail hadn't gotten up to one as messy as this one for almost a year now.

It didn't take long for Mercury to get incredibly drunk. He'd always been susceptible to things in his bloodstream, after all, which hadn't made sense until Porlyusica told him that his magic was regulating his blood flow. He giggled like a little girl, face flush with the warm embrace of alcohol, and ended up telling way more stories than he'd intended to. The guild told him it was cute.

It wasn't, unless you thought a grown man giggling about the time he and Laxus had gotten in a fist fight so bad that Evergreen had partially frozen both of them was funny.

… meaning that everyone in the guild thought it was hilarious.

Even Romeo had to join in – with his own special drink, of course. He was by far the youngest member, and the only one who was legally a child, so everyone showered him with more love and affection than normal. This led to everyone asking Alzack and Bisca when they'd get one of their own, to the embarrassment of the now-married couple.

A couple more stories were dragged out of Mercury about his own daughter. He was too inebriated to think much of the usual sadness, instead recalling the good times in the short year of her life. He even brought up the Edolas version of her.

And, apparently, no one had told them about Edolas. Mercury had expected someone would, and it definitely couldn't have been him because he'd been holed up with that old nag of a healer in the forest until late that night – how else did they explain the sudden return of Lisanna?

THAT led into another wave of drinks and stories, and, come morning, the entire guild was passed out on the floor just as they often had when Fairy Tail was still whole.


February X786

"Take it."

Macao did not take it.

"Take it."

It had been one year and two months, give or take, since Tenrou Island had disappeared.

Mercury pushed an identification card across the table further until Macao pushed it right back, nearly tipping it over the edge. The papers that had been balancing precariously along with it rushed to the floor, sending a cascade of white documents to pile at Mercury's feet. A small breeze rose from the floor. It pushed another dangerously tall stack over, and suddenly, the whole office was a mess – the room had been a mess to begin with, but now it was just..

Chaos.

Both of the men within the guildmaster's office merely stared.

"Do you know how long it's going to take me to organize that shit again?" Macao asked as though it had been Mercury's fault.

"That wouldn't have happened if you'd just take the damn card, Macao," he hissed in return. "Besides, I'll probably be the one doing it. You can't organize for shit." There was no bite to it, but even the water mage was getting frustrated with Macao's obstinance.

"We don't need it. Do you think the guild is poor?"

(Yes, he very much did.)

This argument had already been going on for days. Mercury wanted to give Macao access to the remainder of his bank account, but the latter had refused every time the subject had been breached. There was a sizable sum held within it. It should have been useful to the water mage, except for the fact that he owned his house outright, didn't eat out or cook for himself, and had been receiving (despite his protests) a salary for doing odd jobs around the guild.

In other words, he didn't need money.

And the guild did.

"I swear to whatever god you believe in," he grumbled to the man, "If you don't take it, I'm going to give it to Romeo, and he'll use it to keep going to that Phantom Lord guy's dojo."

"You wouldn't dare."

Mercury would dare.

He'd already been forced to change the bank account outright because the technical "owner" of it – Makarov – had been considered deceased for over a year, so Mercury had figured, why not just transfer it into Macao's name?

The amount of money it held wasn't an absurd amount, but it was nearly everything that Mercury had ever earned from his time with the Thunder God Tribe. He hardly ever spent much of it, despite acting like a bum to Mira so often – and while he hadn't been part of the group when Laxus had been authorized to go on S-Class quests, they'd still taken a lot of jobs.

Surely it was enough money to keep the guild up and running for a couple of years. If it came down to that. He'd rather it remain as just a contingency plan. A, "just in case," fund. As things had been going, though, they'd go into debt within the next four years, especially with the rate at which jobs were declining.

(And the water mage wasn't especially certain that he'd be there to see it.)

"It'll go to waste if you don't use it, Macao," Mercury tried to explain, but the fourth guildmaster wouldn't have any of it.

"It's not going to waste. You're going to be around to use it for a while yet – what if you find some cool sword or whatever kids these days enjoy and you don't have enough money to buy it?"

Mercury gave him a flat look. He acted like a child sometimes, but that was more for the bit; Macao insinuating that he was a child was taking it a bit far.

"You're not dying any time soon, you hear me?"

"Aye aye, sir," Mercury said, taking a small salute. A tribute to Happy, maybe. "But take the money, or it'll be even worse for my heart."

The two gave each other long stares inside of Macao's office. It was dim, but not dim enough that Macao couldn't see clearly just how sunken Mercury's face had gotten recently. It was too thin, too pale – and that was saying something, because the water mage had always been incredibly pale.

He looked sick.

If only sickness was the limit of it.

"... Fine. But only if you promise to start sleeping somewhere closer. I can't make the run out to the ghettos every time we don't see you for two or three days."

At this, Mercury hesitated. He didn't want to be a burden – he'd actually die of shame – but if that was the only way he could get some peace of mind from Macao's taking the money, it would probably be alright.

"I can stay in one of the guild's spare rooms, if that would make you feel any better."

"It would. Not that I'm worried or anything – it's more about me not wanting to run all the way out there," Macao sighed heavily, eyes igniting as he started to complain once more. "It's so shady! Why would you ever choose to live there?"

"It's cheap.'Sides, it's not even that bad. Romeo's been all the way out there before and he didn't get bugged by anyone."

"He what?"

Ah. Maybe Mercury shouldn't have told him that. This conversation might have just gotten a fair bit longer, though he didn't mind all that much if it meant that Macao would use the money… If there ever came a time when he wasn't there to make sure everything was running smoothly.


September X786

Twilight fucking Ogre.

Before the summer of this year, Mercury had never heard the name of the guild. He wasn't certain if they'd existed before then, or if they'd just sprung up recently and declared themselves a part of Magnolia's guild ecosystem.

Either way, they were going to be a major thorn in Fairy Tail's side for the time being.

Soon after the Tenrou Team's disappearance, accidents had started to spring up during jobs done by the guild's members with alarming frequency. Privately, Mercury had told Macao he was sure it was the result of another guild sabotaging them; it happened often enough that it was definitely no coincidence, at least. They had to be thankful that most incidents didn't result in major injuries, though sometimes they ended up requiring some medical attention.

It wasn't as simple as saying that someone was "just messing with them."

By the time that fall was starting to creep into Magnolia, Mercury was sure that Twilight Ogre was at least part of the cause… if not the definitive cause.

The guild seemed to have it out for Fairy Tail. Actually, the water mage was pretty sure that he recognized some of the members from the old Phantom Lord guild. They were probably holding onto a grudge towards Magnolia's resident mage guild, or something – though no one could fathom why. It wasn't like Fairy Tail had made the first move in that conflict…

Who had a hand in the "accidents" didn't matter much, though. Not when there was hardly anything they could do about it without any proof.

Mercury wrapped some gauze around Droy's hand. He was a lot bigger than he used to be, so the water mage was using more gauze than he should have, but he told himself it was fine. The… rather large man had come in that morning claiming that "the street tiles had attacked him." Honestly, Mercury wasn't going to doubt him, but he'd literally had the ceramic shards of one stuck into the side of his wrist.

"Any idea who did it?"

Droy shook his head.

So, the same as usual. Mercury's fists tightened as soon as he cut off the gauze from the roll, allowing Droy to test out the mobility in his hand.

Someone was messing with them in Magnolia now, too? It had to be Twilight Ogre.

"Let me know if it comes undone. I'll wrap it again."

"Since when have you become a nurse, Merc? Not that I'm complaining, but…"

Yeah. When indeed? This was just another of the roles he'd taken on in order to feel like he wasn't useless.

"Should I act more like Porlyusica?" The water mage asked with a faux grin. Droy paled.

"No, thank you. I'll keep an eye out next time."

As soon as the door to the infirmary closed, Mercury leaned back onto the bed he'd taken up brief residence on the edge of, falling onto it entirely.

If only there was something he could do to get Twilight Ogre off their back. The guild was clearly trying to oust Fairy Tail from Magnolia, or, at the very least, trying to take over their spot now that their guild's fame was greatly diminished.

The worst part was that it was working, too. Fairy Tail didn't have enough manpower to launch their own counterattack on the rival guild. If things kept up as they were… Mercury wasn't sure whether or not they'd be able to remain in the city.

That thought broke his heart.

If Fairy Tail had to leave Magnolia, how would Laxus know where to find him? How would the Tenrou Team know where to return to?

(Foolishly, Mercury held onto both of these hopes; it was the only thing getting him up in the morning.)

Something needed to be done about Twilight Ogre. Fairy Tail was not leaving.

As though sensing his impatience to solve the issue, the infirmary door opened once more. Macao stepped into the room. His face was pale and overworked, likely for the same reason as Mercury felt like shit.

Well. Not for the exact same reason. Macao wasn't the one dying, after all.

"You alright there?" The Purple Flare mage asked when he saw Mercury laying on his back.

"Do I look anything other than the most healthy man in the world?"

"You look like you're trying to take Porlyusica's job. She won't be happy about that, you know?"

That was a lie. The old woman would love nothing more than to never step foot within the city ever again.

Mercury sat up, staring at the guildmaster. His face looked aged; the water mage could remember how vibrant it used to be, and to compare it to what Macao looked like now was like comparing a freshly printed novel to a used history book.

"Sure, sure," the water mage said lazily. "Did you need something?"

Macao nodded, crossing his arms. The mustache on his lip looked bad. Maybe Mercury would suggest he get rid of it one of these days. "We've got some trouble. Twilight's made their move. They've petitioned for the city to take over the guild hall."

"What?" Mercury spat.

"They're trying to claim we don't pay our taxes correctly."

"Bullshit." Mercury did the taxes; he was absolutely certain he did them correctly. Even if they hadn't, the odds that Twilight Ogre did their own correctly were smaller than a snowball's chance against Natsu.

In defeat, Macao shrugged. "I'm not too worried about it going through, but I'm sure this won't be the last thing they try. They're persistent bastards."

That was putting it lightly. Harassing the mages of Fairy Tail was one thing; attempting to have them ousted and potentially handing over a jail time for incorrectly filing taxes was another fight entirely.

Mercury bit his lip.

It was clearly time to act – but the question was how? What could they do?

The only way out of this was going to be a frontal assault. Mercury knew how their type worked. How they thought. That shitty guild wouldn't give up without a fight.

"I'm gonna go beat the shit out of their guildmaster," he said suddenly.

Macao stared for a good four seconds before sighing. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

Good, the guildmaster was learning.

With a wicked smile that hadn't been this genuine in a long time, Mercury said, "Nope. So, here's what I was thinking…"

Despite his current inability to use magic, Mercury refused to let himself become stagnant. He knew that there were too many times where, instead of Fairy Tail actively searching out trouble, it simply came to them; there'd already been three incidents that had taken place directly in Magnolia, after all, and he'd been involved in all three of them.

… And he was about to make it four.

Because he could only rely on his own body now – and even that was prone to being unreliable – that was all he focused on. Mercury didn't particularly care about becoming stronger. He didn't want to be someone like Laxus had been, who relied only on brute force and cared solely for being number one; all he wanted was to be able to protect the remainder of Fairy Tail as best he could. There would be no large-scale, city-shaking attacks coming from Mercury. His guildmates had already long surpassed him at magic, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

But Mercury wasn't going to let the month of sword-training that he'd received from Erza go to waste. That would be an insult to everything the woman stood for.

He'd kept at it. As often as he could, he did the drills she'd taught him to do – it wasn't every day, but it was pretty darn close.

Mercury knew he'd never be Erza. It was enough for him to just be able to swing the sword with enough ferocity to scare off a threat if he needed to, and he was going to be making use of that very, very soon.

"Oi, Ogre fuckers!"

Yep, it was Mercury versus Twilight Ogre. He stood outside their guild hall, a small building squished between two different bars like a little booze sandwich. Both bars were shitty, and probably not even particularly legal. They couldn't even compare to Fairy Tail's current bar, and that thing was practically barren now that they had no Cana to stock it.

Really, now. How was Twilight Ogre going to claim that Fairy Tail was incorrectly filing taxes when Mercury was fairly certain he could get the cops to raid either of Ogre's two end pieces without even trying?

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" Mercury's first challenger stood at the top of the stairs leading into the hall.

He was the epitome of what a "twilight ogre" would look like – massively tall, probably weighing at least twice what the water mage did, and with an horrendous overbite. Had he never thought of going to an orthodontist before?

And he looked dumb as a brick to boot.

"I'm from Fairy Tail," Mercury said with a smile that was much too happy for what he was planning to do. "I wanna talk to your boss."

His opponent was at least a couple of inches taller than him, and the two little horned objects that he wore on top of his head were gaudy at best.

Mercury decided his name would be, "Horns."

"Oh-ho..? Finally here to talk deals?"

"Yep!" Nope. Not in the slightest.

With way too much glee, the Twilight Ogre member brought Mercury to the inside of the guild. It looked just as bad on the inside as it did on the outside, and if the water mage had any sort of smell, he was certain it would reek of cheap alcohol and black mold. Several of the guild's members leered at him as he passed.

Like Fairy Tail, Twilight Ogre's guild had a bar in it. Un-like Fairy Tail, it appeared that the bar itself was the guild, despite having two nearly identical ones just outside. Mercury spotted a couple of women hanging around, too. He was sure that they weren't members of the guild; it was more likely that they were prostitutes hired by Twilight Ogre's guildmaster, Banaboster.

Banaboster was a big dude with an even bigger ego. Mercury had never met him before, but Macao had, and his description was spot on.

"What's this? Fairy Tail?"

"Yes, sir," said the guild member who brought Merc in. "Says he wanna talk deals."

Banaboster cocked an eyebrow. "This guy? I thought you was older, Macao."

"Don't worry, your memory's not gone bad yet. My name's Mercury, not Macao," Mercury said with a smile. If Banaboster picked up on the insult, he didn't say anything.

"Then who the fuck are you? I ain't gonna talk deals with anyone other than Fairy Tail's shitty old guildmaster."

"I think you're going to like this one, though," Mercury prodded. "It's more of a bet."

"A bet? You look a little too young to be gambling, you Fairy Tail scum. Sorry, I forgot your name already – hope you don't mind the little nickname I gave 'ya."

Behind Mercury, the gathered Twilight Ogre members chuckled. There were six at the bar, seven by the couches, and three more by the door – including the guildmaster and the one who'd brought the water mage in, that meant eighteen mages in the building.

"I'm plenty old. Just so you know, I actually turned a hundred years old this year."

"Good one, punk," Banaboster spat. Clearly, he was not amused, even if it was the literal truth. "Get out of here before I bust you up."

"Nah," Merc said. He actually leaned back against the armchair to his left, sitting on the arm like it was his to own. "I'm not leaving' until you hear me out."

"You got some balls, I'll admit that."

"Thank you."

He could feel the stares of the Twilight Ogre members grow just the slightest bit sharper, more predatory. Even they could tell where this was going.

For Mercury, antagonizing people came easily.

"Anyway," he said, "I'm actually here to kick you out of Magnolia for good."

Their gazes turned sharper. Banaboster laughed somewhat heartily, even if it was a cruel, cold thing. Mercury could feel the prickle of Twilight Ogre eying him up on the back of his neck, waiting for a word from their guildmaster.

"Kid, I can't tell if you're mentally ill or insane. Either way, don't expect to be gettin' outta here with all your bones intact. I gave 'ya a chance already, I ain't givin' you a second one," the guildmaster said once his laughter died down. The members at the bar stood up. The one right behind Mercury tensed, his arm on the spiked baton hanging on his waist.

"What, scared? I'm just one guy – it's not like I can take out your whole guild, right?"

Banaboster's cruel smile turned into an angry frown. "Alright, boys, I'll leave him to you."

"What, too pussy to fight me yourself or something?"

Mercury whirled around to stop barbed wire from being slammed into his face, meeting it with the sheath of his sword.

The water mage only owned two swords; the first was the one he'd gotten from Marissa, a keepsake of her father. He hardly ever used it – in fact, he'd left it at his house, and kept forgetting to go back and move it to his new room at the guild hall. His second sword was a piece of shit hunk of metal that he'd grabbed from some antiques shop. There was nothing special about it; the sheath was a dull brown, made of normal cow's leather but hardened with a small enchantment – a standard practice for swords. The weapon itself wasn't much better. Unlike the sheath, it had no enchantments on it.

It was just a piece of metal. And it was heavy.

The sheath was easily enough to stop the baton from crashing into the back of Mercury's head without even having to turn to face the man who'd just tried to club his head in. Horns glared down at the blue-haired man, eye twitching slightly.

"What, can't overpower me from behind? That's not my dominant hand, just so you know." That wasn't a lie.

Mostly.

Mercury was ambidextrous.

Horns growled at him, pulled back, and aimed for a kick to the back of Mercury's knees – from there, it was pure chaos.

Thankfully, chaos was any Fairy Tail mage's specialty.

The water mage made sure that he didn't get too close to Banaboster, if only to prevent those two ladies he'd hired from being harmed. He whirled around, sword still sheathed, and slammed Horns with the hilt as hard as he could – right between those stupid head ornaments.

Horns. Went. Down.

His body crashed into another Ogre's path, forcing them to go around. It didn't matter to Mercury, though; he took the moment of distraction as a blessing, and tackled that man, too, lowering his shoulder and pushing. His head clacked against the ground hard enough for Mercury to hear it over the chaos, and he remained still afterwards.

Two down, sixteen to go.

Really, Twilight Ogre only specialized in brute force. Mercury had no doubt that the only somewhat skilled member of their guild was their guildmaster. In the end, they were hardly more than thugs, and the water mage had more than enough experience handling the common dark guild rabble to put these guys in their place.

He was now the most experienced person in all of Fairy Tail. How ironic.

Three more men fell underneath the weight of his covered blade, one taking it to the side of the head while the other two were pushed back by blocks to the gut. Mercury finished them off with another kick through the stomach while they were off balance. One vomited, while the other just foamed at the mouth.

Thirteen remaining.

When Mercury hit ten guild members left to take down, the guildmaster finally joined. He'd realized that his shit guild wasn't nearly enough to take down a man as lithe and physically strong as Mercury, even if they held the overwhelming numbers advantage. The two women who'd been accompanying him fled.

"You bastard!" Banaboster shouted, sprinting forward with a closed fist. He was a close range fighter, the same as Laxus…

… Which meant Mercury really wasn't going to have any issue with him.

Compared to the lightning dragon slayer, Banaboster was sloooooooow. He almost moved in slow motion, like the air had been replaced with syrup and he had to fight to get through it to even get close to Mercury. His fists would hurt, sure, but that relied on him actually being able to hit Mercury.

The water mage was determined to not let that happen.

He quickly took down another one – nine remaining, including the guildmaster, and the remaining members were starting to get nervous – while Banaboster had overextended himself. When the guildmaster got back up, his fists surged with a mysterious kind of strength. Magic, obviously, but Mercury didn't know what type, nor did he care.

Banaboster moved to punch Mercury again; the water mage simply pulled one of the remaining guild members into the way with a feint, allowing him to take the hit instead. That man crashed into Mercury, catching him by surprise and knocking him back, too. He stumbled – but was still able to duck underneath Banaboster's follow up and swipe at him with the sword in his hands.

Eight to go.

"You sure you don't wanna make a deal?" Mercury goaded. Now, it was the guildmaster's turn to stagger back. Banaboster made an attempt to kick him away, but the water mage was already out of the man's range.

"The fuck kinda deal do you even want, Fairy Tail fucker?"

"How kind you are with your nicknames, guildmaster Bana-shit-ster."

Mercury was an antagonizer, yes, but he was hardly the creative type; he'd leave insults like that to Natsu –

(Oh. Right. Two years, and it still hadn't clicked.)

The majority of Twilight Ogre had begun to get nervous about engaging with the water mage, especially with their guildmaster remaining in the way. He'd already torn through half of those present in the bar, and he had faith that the rest of Fairy Tail was taking care of those who'd been outside at the time.

"It's actually a really simple bet," Mercury explained while still fighting off whoever was closest. Banaboster couldn't even touch him, though he had gotten close quite a few times, and the hairs in Mercury's ponytail had gotten caught a couple of times. "I bet that I can kick your asses, and if I do, you guys have to leave."

"You fucker," Banaboster hissed. "This place is ours!"

"I'm going to be entirely honest. I think you would be better off in prison."

"I'm gonna – " the guildmaster took another swipe, missing once again, " – fucking kill you!"

His threat would have meant a lot more if Mercury was ever in danger of getting hit. Or if there weren't fifteen members of Twilight Ogre sprawled on the floor.

"Yeah? You can try. Mother knows I have," he said. Mercury whirled around once more, nearly pirouetting to get as much momentum as he could. He angled his hand so that it was obvious he was going for a slap to Banaboster's stomach, then, at the last moment, dragged his arm upwards so that it took him across the chin.

"You – fuck…er…"

He crashed to the ground. The man was out like a light.

Two remaining. Mercury turned to them, quaking like the cowards like they were; the only reason that they hadn't been taken out yet was that they were too scared to join in on the fighting, especially when the guild was getting their asses handed to them.

"Just so you know, this is going to happen again if your guild doesn't get the hell out of Magnolia after this," Mercury threatened, a sinister smile plastered on his face.

"I cannot believe," Macao said, a hand pressed to his forehead, "That you recklessly challenged three quarters of their guild to a fight. And won."

Honestly, Mercury couldn't either

When the fighting was over, Max had burst into the building, shouting, "Cops!" and both men had sprinted for the back entrance; Twilight Ogre was a nuisance, but they hadn't technically done anything illegal yet, so the law would definitely be on their side. On the way out, he'd given their guildmaster one last little kick to the face, then disappeared into an alleyway.

Fortunately, no one would believe them if they said they got beaten up by a weak old guild like Fairy Tail! Not that they'd go around telling anyone, anyway. That would have been the ultimate embarrassment.

Imagine losing to the "weakest guild in the country." Fuckin' losers.

Twilight Ogre had proceeded to make themselves very, very scarce inside the city. The rumor going around was that the Rune Knights had caught wind of some very nefarious dealings within the guild, and they'd fled east to try to escape the Magic Council's grasp.

… It wasn't all a rumor, though. Mercury still talked to Mest – Doranbolt, that was – somewhat frequently. The guy still felt guilty about Tenrou, and rightfully so, but he'd been more than willing to pass on some information to another division for the water mage.

"You feeling okay down there?" Fairy Tail's fourth guildmaster asked Mercury.

No, he wasn't.

He was laying in his bed, body aching from a fever and limbs so shaky that he could hardly stand up. The room around him was somewhat hazy. For once, he wasn't worried that this was a symptom of him dying. Maybe it was, but only indirectly. Taking out eighteen guild members was an insane feat, even if they were weaker than Evergreen and stupider than Bixlow.

No offense to those two – Mercury loved them both, but there was a reason that they worked together in a team.

As a result of going over his limit, Mercury was now in bed with a sickness. The flu, probably, or maybe just a really bad cold. He hadn't used his body so intensely, well, ever.

Either way…

"I feel like shit."

"You look it. Want me to call old Porlyusica down for you?"

"No."

Macao laughed. "Guess I'll consider this your punishment and let 'ya off the hook for being so reckless," he said, then added in a small voice that Mercury couldn't have missed if he tried, "Kids these days…"

"I'll remind you that I am at least twice your age."

"Then act like it, please. I don't need the rest of the guild taking a page out of your book. We need more people who think with their head, not whatever the hell you think with. How old are you now, anyway?"

"Uh, a hundred?"

Mercury wasn't sure the exact number anymore; instead of keeping track based on a birthday or some other landmark, he just increased his count by one every time a new year started. He could have technically been ninety nine or a hundred and one. It had just never bothered him enough for him to think about it too hard.

"What?!" Macao sputtered.

He was not expecting Macao to be so shocked, though.

Mercury sat up, staring at the man blankly. "There's no way you forgot that I'm not – that I'm not human."

Even putting that thought into words sometimes was difficult.

"No, of course I didn't forget. We just didn't celebrate your birthday! What the hell? Do you mean a hundred exactly, or is that just in a ballpark?"

"One hundred exactly," he said. "Technically, that could be wrong, though."

"That's it," Macao declared, "I'm gonna tell everyone."

"What? No, please don't."

"Why the hell not?" Macao asked. "We've celebrated everyone's birthday this year. I thought it was strange that I could never remember Millgana never planning one for you."

"It's not like a birthday's that important," Mercury muttered. Then, he added, "I don't have a real birthday, anyway."

"We'll just make you one. God, I can't believe we let you get away without having a birthday party all this time. One hundred is a huge milestone, too. I changed my mind. Your punishment is that you have to plan a party with us," Macao sighed. "I almost can't believe that you're that old."

No one ever could, Macao. That was just part of Mercury's inhuman charm.

.

It took a surprisingly long time to actually come up with a date to be his "birthday." Not only did he not particularly care — birthdays were entirely a human affair — he also didn't have many days that were "special" to him. At least, not special enough for the guild's tastes.

As a joke, Mercury suggested May sixteenth – the day he and Laxus got into the fight that shook the foundations of the guild hall and soaked it so thoroughly that it smelled of mold for the next couple of weeks – but he'd been vetoed by nearly everyone in the guild.

"A birthday needs to be a special day, Merc," Laki had explained as though he needed the explanation.

"Yeah, it can't be the day you got your ass kicked by that kid," Macao said.

"Hey," Mercury replied bitterly, "I did not get my ass kicked. It ended in a draw."

"Sure, whatever you say."

The gesture the water mage made next was obscene, and Macao slammed his hands over Romeo's eyes to prevent the kid from seeing it. He failed. Romeo asked what it was, much to his father's dismay, and suddenly it was decided that Mercury was going to have to wear a party hat.

Oh, the agony.

After some prodding, the date that they decided was July sixth for two reasons. One, it was reasonably far from September, so Mercury thought he'd get out of celebrating it for a while, and two…

It was Chloe's birthday.

May as well try to make a sad day a happy one, right? It's what she would have wanted.

Unfortunately, his first reason ended up invalid; it was a unanimous decision that they had to party hard enough to make up for the hundred years that they had already missed, and no amount of bitching was going to get Mercury out of that.

So, he put on the damn party hat that Wakaba slyly handed him, and braced himself for an antagonizing event. Though he knew what a birthday party entailed, he'd never been the focus of one. Almost every other remaining member of Fairy Tail had already been celebrated in a similar manner, but the thought of all those eyes on him made Mercury's skin crawl.

The thought of people caring for him made his skin crawl, too.

But that was fine, Macao said when Mercury quietly confided in him, because Mercury needed to know that they cared about him, too.

Everyone gathered around as he was dragged from his room to the main hall. He'd been told to stay there until someone came to fetch him, and for as stubborn as Mercury usually was, he did listen this time. Even if he hadn't, they'd blocked his door with a hallway cabinet as soon as Bisca pushed him through the doorway.

He wasn't expecting for them to be as serious about it as they were.

The whole guild hall had been transformed. It was the first time he'd seen so many decorations hung on the walls. Though it was clear that they hadn't been bought specifically for him, each wall had been covered almost completely by posters, banners, and streamers to the point that the original color was hardly visible.

The worst part? Someone had put massive posters of Mercury's face up, too. He wanted to smother Max, but the sand mage had inconspicuously placed himself behind a layer of bodyguard mages.

Mercury would get him back. Somehow.

Someone launched streamers at him when he sat down at the table that had been prepared for him. On it was the cake that Millgana had prepared for him; she'd made one for every guild member whose birthday had passed so far, and this one looked just as special.

They'd put one hundred candles on it.

There were so many that there may as well have been a giant torch resting on top after Romeo lit them all with a snap of his fingers. Thick globs of wax dripped down, teased out by the heat.

"What are you waiting for? Blow them out!" Romeo encouraged him.

He couldn't.

Mercury was too busy wiping away thick tears from his face.

He'd known this was happening, been actively dreading it, but now that this celebration was in front of him and there were people watching him, he couldn't stop the tears from coming. It was stupid. Why was this dragging such a reaction from him?

"What – the birthday boy can't cry on his birthday," Macao declared.

"It's not his birthday," Nab interjected. "I thought we decided that was in July."

"Right. Well, my point stands. Don't let the cake get soggy, or else Millgana's work is going to have been for nothing!"

The water mage wiped his face on his shirt. Hopefully, there wouldn't be snot coming out, too. "You're an ass, you know that? This is the first time I've cried in two years and you're making me sound like some sort of wuss."

The last time he'd cried was what, when Laxus was still around?

(Mercury cut the thought off before a fresh wave of tears could come out.)

He took a deep breath and blew as hard as he could, trying his best not to get any spit or anything on the cake. No one had expected Mercury to be able blow out all one hundred of them in one go, and yet he did.

Quickly, everyone dug in, and Mercury didn't have the heart to explain that he couldn't taste it. He was pretty sure that Millgana knew, anyway. She shot him a wink just as he took his first bite, then turned to her husband to nag him about smoking at the dinner table.

What followed after was equal parts chaotic and wholesome. Alzack and Bisca worked together to pull out more wine from the cellar – and they took way too long to do that, coming back incredibly flushed – so that no one had an empty glass, and Romeo got his juice again, too. From there, the two lovebirds raided the bar. Mercury was certain it was going to be nearly empty by the end of the night, but that wasn't his problem. The guild could survive for a week or two without alcohol after this night was over.

He was not certain he'd ever be able to look at a glass of wine the same again.

For some reason, people had thought it necessary to get him gifts. Macao told them to wait until Mercury was two glasses deep, because, lightweight as he was, there was no way he'd be able to reject a heartfelt gift at that point.

Most items were jokes. Probably. Max got him a pillowcase with his face on it (and Mercury spilled his glass of beer on the man's shirt, though it hadn't been intentional, so he considered that his revenge) while Wakaba handed over one of his old smoking pipes. He didn't give Mercury anything to actually smoke, though. From Macao came a book on different aquatic species; when the water mage thumbed through it, he laughed, because he recognized most of them. Laki's gift was one of those novels with the ridiculously long titles that she'd always been obsessed with — 'That Time I got Reincarnated as…' and Mercury didn't bother remembering the rest, though he told himself he'd read it at some point. Millgana gave him a hand knitted scarf, and Vijeeter simply dedicated a dance in Mercury's name, which had him laughing at the sheer absurdity of it until his face was red and he was dizzy.

Even Romeo had given him a gift, though the kid was already asleep by the time that Mercury had gotten around to receiving it. It was a sword charm – the type that you wrapped around the hilt of a weapon to bestow an enchantment of some kind. The small charm looked almost like a decorative lanyard made in orange, the color of Fairy Tail's logo, and blue, the color of Mercury's hair.

How much had it cost him?

"Just so you know, if you try to give that back, Romeo will be heartbroken," Macao said when he saw the way that Mercury was looking at it. "He saved up for it for a long time."

"Are you shitting me?"

"Nope. He gets an allowance every week, which he usually spends on more of that damn Phantom bastard's lessons. Said he went once every two weeks rather than once every week."

"I can't –"

"You can and you will. Do you know how overjoyed he'd be to see you use something he bought for you?"

Mercury fell silent.

"Just go swing your sword around for a little bit. I'm sure he'd be happy to even see that much, since I think he's realized what's going on."

"... Okay."

"Good. Now, shall I pour you another drink? I'm only doing this because it's your birthday, you know."

Mercury allowed Macao to pour him another. The quality of the drinks just kept going down as their stocks started dwindling, but that was alright; it wasn't like Mercury could taste it, anyway, and the rest of the guild was practically alcoholics at this point. They couldn't taste alcohol in general. Even little Laki was giving it her best shot, though she hadn't put much of a dent in her first glass of wine yet.

And then someone pulled out playing cards and announced that they were going to play a drinking game.

That night, Fairy Tail was the loudest that they'd been in almost two years. Noise complaints were filed and one newbie police officer was dispatched to ask them to quiet down, but by the end of the night, he had been pulled into the festivities as well.

It was almost like their guild was whole again. Almost.


January X787

Some days were a lot better than others.

Mercury thought that everything was fine. He felt okay. His body moved smoothly, and waking up wasn't so much of a chore. The few dreams he managed to have weren't nearly as chaotic.

He'd wake up and go about an uneasy routine. There was a lot of convenience in having a room right in the guild hall; it meant there was no more commute, and he could sleep until it was time to open the doors to the guild. He'd roll out of bed, throw on some appropriate clothes, and prepare the guild for the day.

It didn't mean anything even if he opened them late. No one came in, anyway.

But some days were noticeably worse.

It wasn't a physical thing. Mercury knew it was something in his head telling him there was no point in getting up. He was just so tired. Tired of waking up everyday to idle chatter. Tired of the same tasks over and over. Tired of getting up in the morning.

Just tired of anything.

Nothing felt like it had a point anymore; he just did the same things every day, filled in whatever role the guild needed of him to keep it running smoothly, and then, at the end of the day, sat behind the bar and listened to the other members. Something in his body felt tense just thinking about it. His limbs itched to do something else – to go find his friends and chat with them. Mercury had so much catching up to do with them; it felt like he hadn't seen them in ages, which was saying something, because the water mage had been alive for ages.

And then he'd remember.

It was all gone. They were all gone. His life was all gone.

On days like that, Mercury hated himself.

It had been two years, and only he remained in the past. Such a short time, and yet such an infinitely long one. Why? Why was it only him that felt like thick chains of steel were chaining him down? He couldn't tell if he hated the others for seeming to move on, or if he hated himself for his inability to do the same; the crippling fear that maybe the remaining Fairy Tail members had been forgotten ran through his veins – would he soon be the same? Was that the eventuality of death? Being forgotten?

Sleeping was all he could do. He knew that if he were up and about, he'd be a danger to himself. There was no point in continuing on, not when it was clear that the ocean of all things was just going to keep taking and taking and taking until there was nothing left that could be called "Mercury."

He'd left it behind so long ago, and the waters were still trying to ruin his life, ruin everything that he'd worked for. Once again, his family was gone, and it was the fault of the ocean.

Or maybe it was his fault…?

If Mercury had never joined the guild in the first place, would this have happened? Did his brothers find out? Did Mother find out? Was Tenrou Island another act of revenge?

Maybe it would have been better off if he'd never left in the first place. If he'd never met them in the first place. The guild would still be here. His world would be a lot smaller, limited to that ocean peninsula that was so small that one could see it from end to end if they stood on top of any of the nearly-identical houses… but that would have been fine.

He'd trade for that outcome in an instant. Even if it meant Mercury had never even met Fairy Tail, he'd prefer that to having them gone entirely.

In a world where they'd never met, if he and Laxus had never become friends, maybe Fairy Tail would be happy.

Mercury heard someone quietly open the door to his room. He didn't bother lifting his head from the thin pillow that had become his ever since moving into one of the guild hall's spare rooms. What did it matter? They were only checking in on him to make sure he was still moving around.

The water mage gave his legs a small kick just to show that he was alive. That was all he could do; everything else just felt so heavy and worthless.

(Like himself.)

Instead of closing, the door remained open. Dense light flooded in from the hallway, soaking Mercury's dim room.

"Mercury, sweetie," a voice came from the doorway. It had been a while since he'd heard it, but it belonged to Wakaba's wife.

Mercury had no idea why she'd be here. His room was generally off limits to the majority of the members, if only from a sense of privacy; he was the only one living in the guild hall, and they at least gave him the respect to pretend they didn't know he was.

"You have a letter," she said sweetly.

Without thinking, Mercury sat up. The thick blankets rustled loudly as he pushed them aside, squinting to see her face through the light flooding in.

Millgana Mine was a large woman. Despite working with her husband quite frequently these days, Mercury had hardly ever interacted with her – which was a feat in itself, given how many jobs around the guild he'd been doing recently. Her figure blotted out the light from the doorway streaming in.

"A letter?" He mumbled.

Sleepiness was hard to rub out of his eyes. He stood, letting the blankets fall to the floor to reveal his disheveled form; the water mage couldn't remember when he'd last changed his clothes, or even gotten out of bed.

"Yes," Millgana said sweetly. "It was in the mailbox. No return address, though."

Mercury hated how he got his hopes up. What could be in the letter? Was it from Laxus? Even though he'd concluded that the man had either died or had somehow ended up on Tenrou?

The thought thundered in his chest. That's what got him up. The "maybe" that always thrummed in the back of Mercury's delusional mind was what kept him going on days like this, after all.

Millgana deposited the letter into his hands, then said, "Sweetie, it's a bit dark in here. You'd feel a lot better if you got some sunlight."

Maybe he would – but for now, he was content to remain in the room that had been designated as his (it certainly wasn't "his room"). There wasn't enough energy in his body to converse with other people right now, let alone keep up the part of him that told him that everything was going to be okay.

Regardless, he smiled and agreed with her. She was a nice woman; there was no reason to be rude just because he felt like he was the worst creature on the planet.

When Millgana had left, leaving the lights in his room off, Mercury returned to his bed. He didn't bother picking up the blankets that had fallen to the floor, instead, turning the blank envelope over in his hands. The sensitive eyes he'd been born with were working in full force. Even in the near pitch-blackness, the fine details of the item in his hands were perfectly clear.

She was right; there was no sender. The only thing that indicated it as something intended to be sent in the first place was Mercury's name in big, blocky letters.

The handwriting didn't belong to Laxus.

Mercury hated that he'd gotten his hopes up again. He let the white envelope lay on his thighs for a couple of moments before thinking that he should probably open it. He could count the number of people who'd be willing to send him a letter on one hand, and all of them had disappeared with Tenrou Island.

Who could have sent it?

The flap was heavy against his fingertips. Nothing seemed off about it, though it didn't hurt to be careful these days; it often felt like someone had been watching him, and Mercury had never been able to figure out if it was paranoia or not.

Inside the envelope was a small slip of paper no larger than his palm. One side was blank, and the other held smaller letters in the same writing style as what had been on the front of the letter – blocky, but neat to the point of looking professional. Mercury wouldn't have been surprised if they'd used stamps to lay it out.

That made it so much more suspicious. Why use stamps unless the sender wanted to keep their handwriting a secret?

What was written confirmed his fears.

"I have information on Laxus Dreyar. Come alone and tell no one."

Wow, if that wasn't an explicit trap, Mercury didn't know what was. Underneath was a date, time, and place, and with the order to come alone, the water mage was well aware that he shouldn't go.

But…

He was a fool to even consider it, he knew. There was no way that it would turn up anything, and for all he knew, it was a trap laid by Twilight Ogre to get him out of the guild and gang up on him. In fact, the nagging suspicion in his gut told him that was it. There'd be no need for him to go alone and tell no one if their intentions were pure.

But…

What if they had information on Laxus?

What if they could lead Mercury to his best friend?

In that case, the decision would be easy. Easier than breathing. Then, Mercury could find that scowling bastard and do his best to beat the man's head in for leaving him so worried.

Should he, or should he not? The question ran rampantly in his head as he turned the piece of paper over once more, searching for some clue that would give him the answer he needed. It remained blank. Frustratingly empty, in fact, for the moment that he turned it back to its original side, the words had disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

It was as if the letter was saying, "You will not get a second chance."

Mercury knew which path he needed to take, even if it left him a fool.