Mercury laid in an infirmary bed that was simultaneously familiar and foreign. Familiar, because he'd technically been in here many, many times before, and foreign because he'd never been the one laying in the bed.
He was tired. Weak. But most importantly, he was happy. He never thought he'd get to see Magnolia or the guild again, and yet here he was, basking in their friendly glory.
Though breathing was a chore and speaking was even tougher – his throat had far too much scar tissue built up on the insides, which wasn't something he even considered possible until now – he still smiled whenever anyone walked into the darkened room. Porlyusica had apparently instructed them to leave the lights off whenever they could, which helped his ever-present headache and watery eyes greatly, at the cost of his guests being somewhat less comfortable, so they came to a compromise. The lights were left off, but the window was open, and Mercury wore a pair of sunglasses so thick that anyone else wearing them might have found themselves wishing they were blind instead.
He wondered where the hell someone had picked them up. The glasses looked a little bit out of place in a room that was already dark – in fact, more than one person had commented that it gave him the appearance of a blind man – but if that was the price to pay for comfort, then Mercury was more than fine with it.
He just appreciated that he could see them again. It didn't matter if it was on the verge of his own death or not (something that, when said out loud, received a multitude of denials). So long as they were in front of him once more…
… nothing else felt like it mattered.
Still, it was tough to stay awake. Mercury's body was exhausted in a way that he'd never been before, like all of his energy had been extended that moment that the heavy basement door was knocked off its hinges and a raging blonde dragon slayer stepped inside. Sometimes, all he could do was lay in a bed that molded to his body and focus on a slow inhale.
It was much better than breathing in cold, stale air, even if he sometimes felt a bit smothered by the number of people coming in and out.
It was nice. No one scolded him for falling asleep while they were talking to him, and nobody tried to touch him in ways that felt forced or uncomfortable. Whatever idle chatter they brought made him feel a lot better, too.
Things were much simpler when he could listen to them instead of whatever his mind wanted to bring up.
There were many familiar faces that came to visit him in the week or so after he first opened his eyes. Laxus, obviously, and the rest of the Thunder God Tribe. They hadn't changed a single bit, which filled Mercury with comfort; when he looked at him, it was as though the last seven years weren't even real.
Mira came in frequently too, somehow taking up the position of Mercury's caretaker (because Laxus was, in her words, "inept at everything except fighting"). She did a lot for him. Probably almost too much, because it made him feel awkward to be taken care of with such… well, care. Mira made sure that Mercury was eating his meals – mostly liquids, because his internal organs weren't functioning as well as they should – as well as keeping the glass of water by his bedside filled at all times.
Funnily enough, water was the one thing that made him feel better. Porlyusica pronounced him dehydrated, but Mercury figured it was far beyond simple dehydration. A creature from the ocean needed water, even if he'd abandoned that place long, long ago.
The Take-Over mage even went so far as to help him groom his disgusting, haggard appearance. His hair was a lost cause, as tangled and dirty as it was, but Mira helped him tie it back in a way that didn't make his skin itch where it touched. There was even a time where she ran a warm washcloth over his arms and torso, gently narrating her actions as she wiped off years of dirt and grime.
It was embarrassing, but it was also… nice. He'd never admit it to anyone but her, but he definitely may have cried once or twice.
Others came, too. Mercury had been told that the odds of keeping them out was zero, but it wasn't like he was adverse to them coming, anyway. He got the feeling that it irritated Laxus to give others some time alone with him, but then again, the lightning dragon slayer seemed to be in a terrible mood most of the time these days, anyway.
Likely on account of his friend having to stay in the infirmary in the first place, but that was neither here nor there.
Mercury's friends were somewhat astounded by his condition, having been left mostly in the dark about what had happened at his request. Not because he was upset about it, though. He just didn't want them running off trying to fight whatever remained of the Alchemist guild.
He much preferred them remaining by his side.
Their reaching could be categorized fairly simply. Rage, ruth, and relief.
Ezra looked so furious – was so furious – that she gripped her hands tight enough for her metal armor to groan, apparently trying to restrain herself from punching something. Elfman, on the other hand, did punch something, and the infirmary now had a fist-sized hole that no one had the heart to fix yet. He was tossed out of the room soon after, but Mercury had a genuine laugh at the sight of it.
It wasn't every day he had so many people to get angry for his sake.
Then there were the people that just genuinely felt bad over the state he was in. Years ago, Mercury might have called it pity and rejected it, but he'd come to realize that just because someone sympathized with him didn't mean that they thought he was weaker for it. Most of those he'd left behind on the night he disappeared were in this category – Macao and Wakaba, Laki, Max, even Romeo had basically thrust himself into Mercury's arms the moment he was well enough to stay awake, sobbing into his shoulder.
Seeing Romeo cry made Mercury cry too, and thus, one more person was added to the list of people who'd seen him shed tears. It was slowly growing longer the more people he talked to during his recovery, though for some reason, he was far less dismayed about it than he would have been seven years ago.
And finally, the last group of people were the ones who were filled with pure relief that he was back. It was by far the largest group. Mercury never expected there to be nearly as many people within their once-large, now-small guild that would be willing to shed tears over the fact that he was within their grasp once again.
It was all quite silly if you asked him, but he appreciated it nonetheless. How could he not? And it was that appreciation that forced Mercury to be truly honest about himself for once in his life. When they asked him how he felt and how he was doing, Mercury tried his best to remain as honest and frank as he could. He was feeling okay, but his body hurt, and he was tired. It wasn't looking like he was going to get much better in the near future.
Mercury never outright told anyone that he was running on borrowed time, though he was certain many of them understood
And perhaps that's why it took far longer than he expected for anyone to actually ask him what had happened. It was odd, considering how nosy Fairy Tail usually was. Not even Laxus pressed for details, though Mercury knew he was curious – and not for curiosity's sake, but because he wanted to tear apart anyone who'd harmed him with his bare hands.
One whole week passed of people visiting, dancing on Mercury's toes so as not to say something that might trigger a negative reaction, until finally, Master Makarov came in and shut the door behind him.
Something told Mercury he wanted the details of this conversation to remain between them.
Makarov took his seat on the stool that had been left out to Mercury's right. With the lights off and illuminated only by the window, the guildmaster looked far more sunken and old than he remembered; Makarov's soldiers were slumped yet tight, and his eyes had faint circles underneath them.
Makarov… had been working hard. Mercury knew it was for his sake, but he also knew he'd get chewed out if he dared apologize for the workload his rescue had caused.
Instead, he said, "It's fine if you turn on the lights for a little bit. I need to get used to them anyway, and I doubt an old man like you should be sitting in the dark for so long."
He didn't like seeing Makarov look so frail.
The old man, however, ignored this, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't think I should be receiving health advice from the one in an infirmary bed," he said with a huff. "That old woman is the only one who will be telling me that kind of thing."
After all this time, Master Makarov still had a soft spot in his heart for Porlyusica – the same type of soft spot that he inexplicably had for Mercury, who was the person who technically knew Makarov the longest.
Sure, he hadn't been around for a lot of that time, but he was still the only one who had seen their guildmaster as a teenager.
"Whatever you say," Mercury said. "Personally, I don't like taking advice from her."
"And I'm sure everyone is aware of that based on how often you're complaining about it," Makarov mused.
Mercury shrugged, though it wasn't really much of a shrug with only one working shoulder. Porlyusica didn't mind if he complained because to her, speaking at always the same as bitching about her treatment, so it was all the same to her. To this day, the only patient she liked to treat was an unconscious one.
And, well, complaining about her treatment plans being asininely precise about what he could and couldn't do was easier than being frustrated that he was being kept in bed for at least the next five days.
"One of these days, she's going to tape your mouth shut," Makarov said. "Not even my foolish grandson will get you out of that one."
"Would he even want to?"
Makarov stared at Mercury with a cocked brow, and both said, "Probably not," at the exact same time. Laxus just wanted him to shut up and heal already; he wouldn't mind the water mage being forcibly shut up if it meant a brief cessation of the complaining.
After all this time, Laxus was still an asshole.
"So," Mercury said, looking ahead rather than at Makarov, "what did you need?"
He could already tell what Makarov wanted. The guildmaster wouldn't have come in looking as tired as Mercury felt if it wasn't a serious conversation that he was seeking.
But Makarov had tact, so he said, "Are you feeling up to talking?"
He wasn't forcing Mercury to talk. He would never – as a guildmaster, Makarov valued his children's agency as much as he valued their freedom.
"I might fall asleep in the middle of a conversation if it's too long, but I didn't wake up too long ago, so I'm not tired yet," Mercury explained. In fact, Makarov was his first visitor for the… day? He checked the window to see the sun in the horizon, and correctly deduced that it was later in the afternoon.
It was hard to know what time it was these days. In fact, did he even know what day it was? Or what year it was?
"We're performing an independent inquiry on the activities of that guild," Makarov said. He spit out the last word as though it were venom, or the mere mention of Alchemist was dirty.
"Who's 'we'? The Council?"
Fairy Tail's guildmaster cocked an eyebrow as though to say, 'Who do you think I am?' With a snort, he said, "I don't trust those fools as far as I can throw them."
Which was funny, because if he tried, Makarov could probably throw anyone pretty damn far.
"Then…?"
"Do you recall the alliance that was formed to take out the Oracion Seis of the Balam Alliance?" Makarov asked.
Mercury nodded. "That's… Pegasus, Lamia, and Cait Shelter, right?" Though, Cait Shelter wasn't around anymore, and he hadn't heard much in the way of news for Blue Pegasus or Lamia Scale. The guildmaster of Blue Pegasus was a former member of Fairy Tail, too, so Mercury had met him once upon a time.
Though he hadn't met guildmaster Bob in his current appearance. The mere thought of it…
"Many of the largest guilds have been growing incredibly dissatisfied with the state of the Magic Council as of late, so we're taking things like this out of their hands," Makarov said, arms still crossed. He looked pissed, his brow jagged against his forehead.
Mercury hadn't seen him make a face like that since Laxus tried his stupid shit at Fantasia. "And the Magic Council is okay with that?"
"Of course they aren't," Makarov huffed, "but do you think we care? They've overstepped their bounds far too many times, and those bastards are probably involved with this incident, too. It's pretty damn clear that they can't be trusted to be neutral, and there's a limit to how much information we can collect with our current methods."
That wasn't something Mercury knew about. Had his suspicions about, maybe, but there'd been little in the way of outside interference during his time as a captive; other than the Alchemist guild members and a handful of unrelated researchers, there were few people he could remember coming through to see him.
Granted, there was also just little he could remember in the first place.
"Wouldn't it just be simpler to have Mest break in and then wipe their memories? He hasn't been caught yet, has he?" Mercury asked. He hadn't heard from or seen Mest in ages, though he was fairly certain that things were still going alright on that front.
Meat had gone so far as to erase his own memories of Fairy Tail, after all. The chances of him getting caught were astronomically small.
"Doranbolt," Makarov corrected.
"Doranbolt," Mercury agreed easily. He couldn't get used to the name – didn't particularly care to, anyway, because 'Mest' barely existed anymore – but it would be bad if his role as a spy was outed because of a slip-up like that. "Do you need me to provide a statement or something? If I'm being honest, it's all a bit fuzzy, but I can probably remember most of the people I saw if I try."
"No," Makarov said, voice suddenly heavy, "I just want to know if we need to hunt those bastards down to the ends of this earth."
Oh, Mercury thought, mouth slightly agape. This wasn't for justice, or some noble concept like that; it wasn't so that others wouldn't be hurt, or so that the members of the Alchemist guild could get what was coming to them.
It was for revenge, if he wanted it. The choice was in his hands.
His throat suddenly felt tighter than it was before, like it had closed up completely. Did he want revenge? Did he want them to pay for what they'd done?
But if he told Makarov that he wanted each of them to suffer like he had, wouldn't that mean that he had to accept that it was him trapped in that basement and not some character that he could watch in the third person? That the blood that had run down his throat had come from his own mouth, and the things that had been lost were actually taken from him?
"It's okay to be upset, Mercury," Makarov said softly. "You don't have to pretend that it didn't happen."
"I'm not… pretending," he admitted, just as quietly – and not, for once, as a result of a damaged throat. He just wasn't sure he could get much louder without his voice cracking. "It just didn't feel like it was me. It was easier if I told myself it wasn't me."
Makarov's eyes seemed to get twice as dark, his shoulders twice as heavy. "That's not uncommon for people who have gone through what you have. You don't have to remember, if you think that will help. It's more important for you to recover well."
Mercury's lips trembled as he stared at Makarov, mouth hanging open as he fought for words to say. He did want to tell him what had happened. He did want someone else to know, at least to explain why he didn't want people to approach him from where he couldn't see them or why he flinched when people touched his elbows or wrists.
And why he felt so terribly alone when he couldn't see anything.
Besides… he wasn't going to get better anytime soon. Not fully better, anyway; as it was, his left arm was going to be a hanging, useless limb probably until he died, and more was sure to follow. What was next? His leg? His throat? His brain?
"This sucks." Mercury grimaced as he started to think about it all. Once again, he was on the verge of tears, and he wasn't sure exactly how to stop it.
Makarov took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said, and Mercury had no doubt that he was genuinely apologetic despite none of this being his fault.
The water mage took a deep breath of his own, closing his eyes briefly. The apology was unnecessary; his mind was going to eventually end up returning to that cellar whether he told Makarov here or not. It was just a matter of when.
It was hard to put into words exactly what he was feeling.
"I'm not very strong willed," he said while staring down at his singular functioning hand, curled up on his lap with gray scales hiding his white knuckles. "I'm not like those idiots downstairs that can just move past this sort of thing like it never happened, so it's all… going to come spilling out at some point."
"You're far stronger than you give yourself credit for, you know. Living for a long time means that there are far too many things you need to carry with you."
That's right. There were a lot of things that Mercury brought with him wherever he went – things he couldn't forget, no matter how hard he tried. That family he had been running from forever lingered in his mind, and the family he wished he still had felt like they were constantly whispering, just barely out of earshot and yet, if not for them, he would never have met Fairy Tail. The current version of him wouldn't exist. Every little thing Mercury had experienced, every trauma and happy memory and sadness – they were all pieces of what made him "him."
And this, too, would likely become one of them – one more chapter in the story that made up his life.
This, too, would come to pass.
Mercury took another deep breath, letting a sense of calm take over his body. He could talk about it. He would talk about it, and he would get over it.
Because yes, that was him in the cellar, and yes, he had suffered.
"I'm sure the others would remember the date a lot better than I would," Mercury said. He paused to take an additional deep breath after every sentence, steadying himself for the next. "There was a letter addressed to me. Milgana was the one who delivered it. It said it had information I was looking for… information on where Laxus was, and I was kind of desperate, so I went alone, just like it told me."
"And it was a trap?" Makarov guessed.
"Yeah. It was a trap, and I was stupid for falling into it, but I didn't think I was going to see anyone from Tenrou again and he was the only one whose status I couldn't confirm."
Because life without Laxus had felt pointless.
"At first, it was just one man there. I'm sure you heard what happened at that guild – it was that guy who Laxus and Mira stumbled on at the end, the one who wears purple clothes. He's… definitely something like the ringleader. I think he hit me with some sort of gas canister to knock me out."
Makarov fished around in his pocket for something, finding it after several moments of effort. It was a crumpled picture, creased and folded as though it had been clenched tightly in someone's fist. "Is this him?"
Mercury shook his head. The picture in front of him and the man who wore only purple looked nothing alike, though this guy was familiar; he was probably one of the people who had visited him at one point to marvel. "No. I could probably help Reedus draw a picture, but you might be better off asking Mira or Laxus. I'm not sure I'd be remembering correctly."
The guildmaster nodded, waiting for Mercury to move on. Whenever he was ready, of course.
"From there, it's… a little choppy. They tried sleeping spells, but that kind of thing doesn't work on me, so I think they resorted to some pretty heavy drugs. Not too sure. There was a lot of moving around for a bit. Took them a while to get settled into that cellar."
He recalled being so tired that he couldn't move. All of his limbs could have been cast in cement for all he could move them, and his mind had been wrapped in a thick haze that wouldn't go away no matter how hard he tried to rouse himself – not dissimilar to how he felt now, but considerably more disgusting feeling.
It felt like mold in his veins. Itching, growing. Taking hold.
Mercury had never liked drugs before – he fell victim to them far too easily – and his opinion now wasn't any different.
"As for their actual experiments… they didn't tell me much. Some of the people who worked there liked to gloat or try to explain it to me for whatever reason, but it pretty much went over my head. I wasn't really well enough to try and understand. All I know is that it took them a long time to figure out what they wanted, which was… a terrible process."
His body tensed again, but he fought to relax, swallowing the thick lump in his throat. The reaction was instinctual to the point of being ingrained into his being; Mercury knew that when the door to the basement cellar was opened, a new hellish day would soon begin.
Not all days were bad though, and as Mercury tried to explain more or less what happened to him, he watched the look on Master Makarov's face get darker and darker. The experiments that Alchemist ran were cruel and painful. They didn't see him as something alive, nor did they care if he passed out or screamed his throat raw, so long as they were still getting good data – because that's all he was. Data. An experiment.
That being said, there were some days that they were just as tired as he was, days where his pain wasn't something they actively searched for. Instead of restraining him, they resorted once more to those same drugs he'd been given to get him there in the first place, either through the poor excuse for food they sometimes forced him to eat, or through little injections that had made his veins swell. He wouldn't wake up until hours later, laying on the dirty floor like discarded meat. Whether he was truly asleep or just catatonic wasn't something he'd ever know – and honestly, that was just fine. There was no need for Mercury to torture himself any further by trying to recall the acute details of his experience.
"The biggest issue," Mercury explained, voice becoming dark, "was that my blood is apparently cancerous. It'll cause unrestricted regeneration at full concentration, so they were constantly trying to find other ways to make their stupid medicine. My blood was not the only thing they tried, but as far as I'm aware, it was the only thing that worked."
Mercury hesitated to go into more detail. The words were there on the tip of his tongue, ready to fall off no matter what he was prepared for. He bit down on them instead, an uneasy smile appearing on his chapped, dry lips.
How funny – the knowledge of it all felt like it was burning his throat, and yet his first response was to smile?
"Master, did you know my teeth don't grow back?" He said after a moment of silence, then opened his mouth and tilted his head. It was probably hard for Makarov to see in the dim light, but the water mage demonstrated anyway, pulling back his cheek to reveal several empty gaps on the inside. There were three missing – two molars and a canine, the former invisible until he pulled his cheek back.
"I didn't," Mercury said. "Not until they started pulling them out."
There was a lot more that had been done; his fingernails and toenails had been ripped off – and, unlike his teeth, did grow back eventually – and his spit had been forcibly collected. They wanted bone marrow, so they cut off a finger or two at first, then decided it was better to collect as much as possible at once and lopped off his arm at the elbow.
If Mercury said it hurt, he would have been lying, if only because his brain had shut off sometime after they pulled out the blade. It was the regrowing that was truly torturous – his arm slowly reforming, muscle and nerve cells frantically attempting to prevent him from going into shock.
One could not understand unless they had felt it firsthand, so Mercury didn't bother to tell Makarov how it felt – and he didn't have to, because the guildmaster was trembling with rage from the mere description. His aura had become heavy, almost swallowing the room. It was a miracle that no one came in to check on them, but perhaps that was only natural.
Makarov usually played the part of a silly old man, but his anger was truly terrifying. Even Mercury had to swallow back fear at the sight of it; it reminded him far too much of what happened when Alchemist's projects didn't work out the way they wanted them to. He felt almost dizzy.
"Apologies," said Makarov. His body was deathly still, like moving at all was going to disrupt the atmosphere of the room. Though he was apologizing, the guildmaster's voice still trembled with rage, his eyes literally flaring with magic power he was trying to force into submission. "This is… unforgivable."
Both of them knew that there had been no forgiveness to be given in the first place, and yet Mercury still felt some shred of relief knowing that he wasn't going to have to carry these feelings by himself. He hadn't expected anything else, really. Fairy Tail wouldn't have let him shoulder the burden alone. How many times had he come to that realization during his time there?
"That woman, Renee Shaleback… she wasn't a scientist, but she sure had some imagination," Mercury continued, biting the inside of his cheek. "And she thought I was very pretty."
Those details… he didn't go into, either. Master Makarov understood what Mercury was saying even without him saying it out loud, which was more than a relief; he wasn't sure he could relive his particular experiences with her without breaking down entirely. His body had been surprisingly compatible with her magic – a magic that was almost vampiric in nature, allowing her to take the properties of those whose blood she'd drank – meaning that she was the only one who could drink his blood undiluted.
Of course, that was only the start of her unusual obsession with him.
There had been times where they'd forced him unconscious and he had awoken to find her on top of him. Before his appearance had been ruined as it was now, she had often told him that she was her type. The thought of those words made him want to vomit. He had vomited, in fact, multiple times in her presence due to the sheer nervousness of what she might have done if the urge struck her.
Renee thought it was rather endearing. There was something deeply wrong with her, and Mercury couldn't help but laugh nervously at the irony that she had taken an unhealthy interest in her prisoner, yet still refused to treat him as anything close to human.
The humiliation he endured was not something that would fade anytime soon, and even now, he often worried that someone might somehow find traces of it on him. Traces of her. If he could burn it all away, along with the memories that lingered, he might have been happier.
"No one in that guild was kind," Mercury said towards the end of his explanation, right fist tight and eyes pressed together. "No one thought of me as something alive."
He expected there to be so many emotions flowing uncontrollably within him – anger, sadness, fear, denial – but instead, he was just tired.
So tired.
"What do you want, Mercury?" Makarov asked gently. He didn't so much as move, staring at the water mage with eyes so full of love and care that Mercury felt sick remembering it all again.
Part of him felt that the experience had turned him into something disgusting, and the other part of him knew they'd still love him for it anyway.
"I…" he trailed off, thinking. What did he want? Was there anything that they could give to him to make him feel better?
No, all he wanted – all he needed was for them to be by his side.
"I don't care what happens to them. I just never want to see any of them ever again."
"Okay," said Makarov. The rage and anger was gone completely, leaving in their place quiet, calm concern. "I will make certain that happens. None of them will ever show their faces in the light ever again."
Would he be satisfied with that?
"I want my pride back," Mercury admitted, eyes still screwed shut. "And I want things to go back to normal, whatever that is."
But most of all, he just wanted to be able to sit at the bar. Eat Mira's food. Do whatever paperwork Makarov didn't feel like doing and be himself again.
Yeah, Mercury would be satisfied with that. So long as he could be himself again and not have to worry about what the next day would have in store for him, he could be… happy. Content.
He could be fine.
"You look like shit," Laxus commented dryly as he walked into the dim infirmary.
"Well, aren't you the observant one?"
It was just them now. Makarov had left not too long ago, and no one had come in since. That was okay. Mercury wasn't sure he trusted himself to be around other people in the mental state he was in – tired and irritated. Wanting to be alone and yet fearing solitude at the same time.
Laxus was the only exception.
"What did Gramps say?"
Mercury stared at Laxus for a moment, gauging his level of interest. Was he asking for information or because he was concerned? The latter, he decided when he saw that Laxus's face had scrunched up on entry; the air in the room was stale, and Mercury longed to open the window, but didn't have the strength to.
"We talked about what happened," he said quietly, staring out the window instead of at Laxus. "It went… well."
"And that's why you look like you're trying to strangle your blanket?"
Mercury looked down to see that the thin fabric was still tightly gripped in lone working hand, fingers twisted up in it. He hadn't realized that his body was still so tight. It felt more like he could hardly feel any of it.
"Yeah, something like that," he sighed. Mercury turned to meet Laxus's gaze – the man looked tired, with light purple bags under his eyes that said he wasn't getting nearly as much sleep as he should have been, likely worried about the man in the bed. If it were the old him, he'd have told Laxus to take a load off and that he needed to take some time for himself, but he knew now that to say such a thing was almost an insult.
"You okay?" And still, the concern coming from Laxus felt so wrong.
"I will be," Mercury said, leaning back into the pillows under his back. Several of them had been shuffled to the floor not long after Makarov left, allowing him to sink into the bed once more. They lapsed into a quiet silence; Laxus took his normal seat just as his grandfather had been doing moments ago, and Mercury closed his eyes as though he was going to fall asleep.
He felt Laxus's eyes on him, watching. Trying to pick out what to say.
The conversations between them had been rather awkward, and yet Mercury found he didn't mind much. Laxus had seen him in such a fragile state, which left a sort of dissonance in its wake. Just as Mercury found Laxus's kindness somewhat off putting, the idea that he had ever been so weak that he'd begged Laxus to pull a knife out of his shoulder felt wrong to the dragon slayer as well.
Still, it was rather nice to just be able to listen to Laxus's light, controlled breathing. Something about it was calming.
"Do you want to know?" Mercury asked only after several minutes had passed. He kept his eyes clothes, fearing the look in Laxus's eyes.
There was no response for a couple of seconds. Then, "I already know what I need to know. If I see any one of those bastards ever again, they're dead fucking meat."
Right – Laxus was that type of person. He was no good with words and could only talk with his fists.
He was the exact type of person who wouldn't stress Mercury about it.
"That makes two of us," the water mage admitted. The smile on his face was genuine for the first time in a long time. Though his mood remained sour, just being able to talk like this replaced it with a gentle nostalgia.
He'd missed that rough, crude language more than he cared to admit. How stupid was that?
"You should just focus on getting better first," Laxus huffed, crossing his arms tightly. "We'll take care of everything else."
"You're not going to let me even get a punch in?"
He thought about this for a moment, admitting, "Fine. I'll tie them up and bring them here. You can do whatever the hell you want after that. Drown 'em or whatever."
"Right," said Mercury, "since you know exactly who was involved and where they are right now."
"I'll figure it out somehow," Laxus scowled. "Not like I care if I drag in a couple of random people by accident."
Laxus wouldn't care – and frankly, neither would Mercury – but the guild sure would; they'd throw a fit…
… and then decide it was a good idea, then do the same. It would become a nation-wide manhunt for anyone who'd ever been associated with the Alchemist guild, and knowing that the guilds were slowly starting to come together to form a coalition, Mercury was certain Fairy Tail wouldn't be the end of it.
Their silence lapsed for a couple more minutes. Laxus looked far more relaxed after Mercury had opened up slightly, no longer worried that he would try to hold everything inside. It felt comfortable between them.
A sudden thought occurred to Mercury. Something he'd been putting off asking because he knew it would be rejected, but with Laxus here…
Well, the odds of getting shot down were slightly lower.
"I'm bored," he said, breaking the silence, and struggled to sit up even slightly.
Laxus snorted, but did not stand or make any other movements. "What am I, your court jester? Would you like me to clean your room as well, Your Majesty?" His eyes flicked to the pillows on the floor.
"Help me up."
The dragon slayer paused, staring with what could have only been disbelief. "That's not a good idea."
Laxus, the king of bad ideas, had now proclaimed this a bad idea. Mercury rolled his eyes at the thought of it, then slowly shifted the blankets away from his body. "But I'm bored," he repeated.
"I'll bring you something from the library later, or whatever people like you do to keep yourselves entertained," Laxus said with an eye roll. There was no bite to it, as usual; this was just how he spoke. "You're supposed to be resting."
Mercury sat up to the best of his ability, pressing down into the bed with his good hand and leaning on it with most of his weight. He stared right at the blonde. "But Laxus," he repeated a third time, growing emboldened, "I'm bored."
Laxus sighed, rolling his eyes. He didn't move.
"You can't stop me from getting up right now," Mercury said. To prove his point, he used what little core strength he had to pull his legs to his chest – both of them. Despite the lack of movement in his left arm, his left leg was mostly fine, if a bit weak.
"I'm not sure that's…" Laxus said, standing anyway while hesitating as though debating whether or not it was a good idea to push Mercury back down to the bed. He probably didn't particularly care whether or not Mercury wanted to stand, but he was likely just as curious as to whether he could stand that he'd be willing to let him try.
Mercury hadn't tried at all yet. This was the first time. "Just so you know, sedatives won't work. My tolerance to them is too high now."
"Why the hell would I sedate you?"
"It's Porlyusica's usual threat," he said, then raised an eyebrow, staring straight at Laxus as he swung his legs around in a jerky, marionette-like motion.
Without waiting for Laxus's approval, he put his other leg on the ground, and stood before he could even think about it. His right leg straightened, and Mercury got taller than he'd been in almost two weeks. His head rose slightly higher than Laxus's shoulder.
… it went about as well as one might expect.
The room swirled dangerously, becoming even more hazy than it was without the lights on. Nausea swelled in his stomach. His good leg immediately gave out when exposed to the entirety of his weight, and his face would have met the ground if Laxus had not been fast enough.
The dragon slayer slipped his arms under Mercury's shoulders and hoisted him up with a grunt. Mercury's eyes widened; his face was pressed flush against Laxus's chest, sending a jolt of something through him that wasn't at all pleasant.
"Don't, " he choked, unable to finish a sentence. His heart raced. Unnaturally so.
Ah, he recalled it now – the sickly sweet grip on someone's hands on his shoulders as he tried to writhe away, flushed with both pleasure and disgust. There had been no escaping it at the time. His body had been weak and terribly damaged, but now, it was enough to just shove Laxus away, landing harshly back on the infirmary bed.
"Merc…?" Laxus said cautiously, eyeing him.
"Sorry," he said hastily. Mercury looked anywhere but Laxus, eyes flicking around the room as he sat back against the wall behind his bed. "That was dumb."
Laxus didn't agree, or at least, he didn't do so out loud. He must have been able to tell that he was feeling freaked out, even if he didn't know what the cause was – they'd known each other far longer than necessary to be able to put together the pieces, and it wasn't like Mercury had ever really liked being touched in the first place. The water mage's reaction just now wasn't out of the ordinary… but it was far more desperate than it ever had been before.
Laxus leaned back onto the stool but didn't sit down completely, keeping a watchful eye on Mercury in case he tried to stand up again.
He didn't. His heart was thundering, barely slowing at all. Funny how it acted up like this when it wasn't even real anymore.
He let out a slow, uneven exhale, closing his eyes. The phrase, 'it's just Laxus' repeated in his head as quickly the blood was pumping until that too recovered to the slow, methodical pacing it had been before.
It was just Laxus. He wasn't going to hurt him. That was the definitely last thing on the dragon slayer's mind.
"Sorry," Mercury repeated, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"For?"
No, he realized. An apology was unnecessary, and Laxus wouldn't want one in the first place. They were long past the point of needing to apologize for something as minor as this. Still, unable to fully leave the feeling of internal struggle behind, Mercury said, "For trying to take things too quickly. I never thought I'd see the day that you were right about something being a bad idea.
Laxus made a dramatic show of rolling his eyes. "You're not exactly well known for having great judgements either, asshole."
Mercury stretched out both of his legs. The right one was fine despite nearly collapsing a few minutes ago, but the left one felt somewhat tingly, like it was on the verge of falling asleep. It was fading into a light gray at the thigh rather than the pale white skin color that the other leg was.
It would certainly be the next limb to go, should his condition get any worse.
The thought actually made Mercury even more impatient to get out and walk on his own. He wasn't just bored, he was anxious. Who knew how much longer he'd be able to walk around?
Truthfully, he hadn't really walked around in almost a year. The last time he could remember doing so clearly was during his final escape attempt, in which Kipsa had restrained him before he even exited the second floor and he'd been starved for a couple of days as a result. That had been his last shot of getting out on his own.
Before that, they'd kept him unrestrained, if only because they thought he had no strength left to escape. After that…
Well, he'd ended up in the state that Laxus found him in. Chained. Unable to move.
"Maybe I should ask Reedus to paint the infirmary walls," Mercury mused, trying to get his mind off things.
"Why? That sounds like a mess."
"I've been stuck in this room for two weeks, and I'm tired of counting the pores in the walls. Elfman's hole was a nice addition, but it's not exactly pretty to look at. Some trees or something would make it feel more serene."
Indeed, Mercury had probably memorized each nook and cranny of the small room. In the past, he was hardly ever in here, and he doubted he'd ever come in here by choice after this. It was too stuffy and quiet. Even if the dull din of the guild downstairs was faintly audible to his sensitive ears, that just made him long for the presence of people even more.
"For the record," Laxus said, fully sitting down once more, "I'm not going to be the one to ask him for that."
"Would you let me ask him, then?"
"If he comes in here of his own volition, sure. Otherwise you're going to have to ask Mira or someone else to pass on the message." The way he emphasized 'else' seemed to be his way of saying, 'I'm not your damn message boy.'
"Asshat," Mercury muttered. "What are you, Porlyusica's assistant? You listen to everything she says now, too?"
"Hell no. I think I'd rather die."
"Then why are you listening to her now?" He whined. "You never listen to me."
"Because you didn't even take a single step before you nearly face planted, idiot. What do you want me to do, be your crutch?"
Mercury stared. It wasn't the worst thing he could offer.
"Seriously?" Laxus asked incredulously. "You just freaked out when I touched you."
"That's… different."
"How so?"
"... I wasn't ready?" Mercury offered weakly. Truthfully, he had no idea if being so close would scare him like that again. It wasn't like it was a conscious or even rational feeling; it was just Laxus. There was no need to get worked up like that.
Laxus stared at him blankly, not even blinking.
They both must have known that there was a hidden layer behind Mercury's mentality – it was trauma, and the water mage was too stubborn to admit it. He'd always been like that. That's why he'd never told Laxus about his fear of the ocean or about any of the painful parts of his past until it was too late and their friendship was over.
But this was different, too. Trauma was irrational. Laxus wouldn't hurt him, and Mercury knew that.
"They really messed you up, huh?" Laxus commented finally.
Mercury stayed silent.
"If it was the old you," he continued, "you'd threaten to get Mira or gramps on my ass if I didn't do what you wanted. I can't say I dislike the change."
"Not all of us had the privilege of time travel," Mercury commented dryly. Even compared to himself, who looked nearly the same physically as he had seven years ago, it was strange seeing that Laxus hadn't changed at all. "I still can't even fathom it."
"Me neither," Laxus admitted. "If I'd have known it was going to turn out like that, I wouldn't have shown up."
Mercury was glad for the change in conversation topic. "How'd you know to get there, anyway? It crossed my mind that a troublemaker like you could have ended up on Tenrou, but I figured Makarov wouldn't let you anywhere close."
"Just felt like something was wrong," the dragon slayer explained. "I knew I had to get there as fast as possible. By the time I arrived, things were… Well, I had no idea what was going on. Things were too hectic."
"The old Fairy Tail special, huh?" Mercury should have laughed. No word described their precious guild more aptly than 'chaos.'
"Yeah. That Hades guy was something else. I want to fight him again," Laxus admitted. "If I hadn't rushed all the way there, it would have been a good fight. He was strong." He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, deep in thought.
Was he imagining the fight again?
"But in the end, you just passed the baton to Natsu."
Laxus's eyes opened, and his face grew mildly annoyed. "Who told you that?"
"Don't remember. Someone told me what happened, but all the conversations kind of flowed together at some point." In fact, Mercury could have dreamed the conversation and he would have been none the wiser. It was sometimes hard to tell whether he was awake or asleep.
"I wouldn't have given him shit if I didn't have to travel across the continent beforehand," Laxus grumbled. "I was running on empty before I even got there."
"Hey," Mercury said, "Hades was Precht, right?"
"Precht?" Laxus repeated.
"The second guildmaster of Fairy Tail," the water mage explained. "Really tall, has an eyepatch? Looks like an asshole and is super grumpy?"
"Sounds about right. I think Gramps might have mentioned his name once or twice. Why? Did you know him?"
Mercury's fingers found the fabric of the blanket once more, now at his side rather than laying on top of him. Did he know Precht?
Of course he did. How could he not? "He's the guy who let me join the guild in the first place," explained. "Long time ago, though."
Laxus rolled his eyes. "Everything's 'a long time ago' with you."
"It was before your dad was even born. Even Makarov was just a little kid back then. Kind of like you, actually, but less of an attitude. People actually liked him at your age."
Laxus looked incredibly torn between letting the comment slide and throttling Mercury. On one hand, the water mage was entirely correct. Laxus was disliked by everyone other than the Tenrou Team, though the opinion of the guild as a whole was slowly turning into a positive one. On the other, he was clearly bringing it up because he was annoyed that Laxus wouldn't help him stand up.
In the end, he decided against slamming his fists into Mercury's head. That would have just occurred Porlyusica's wrath – actually, it would have occurred the whole guild's wrath, probably. Nobody would get away with beating a hospital patient.
Unfortunately.
"Were you friends with Hades?"
"Nah," Mercury said, crossing his own arms – his own arm, because his left one didn't work. He felt incomplete without it. "I wouldn't consider myself friends with any of them."
"That's what that doctor said, too. That you were lonely."
Mercury snorted. "I wouldn't call it lonely. I just didn't see the point in building camaraderie with humans when I didn't even particularly want to live in the first place. I'd say that Fairy Tail was more of a curiosity back then. Someone just happened to offer me an invitation and I took it because there was nowhere else for me to go."
Back then was tough, but not unmanageable. He truly wasn't lonely, though that didn't mean he was particularly in the headspace to even realize what loneliness felt like.
"Of course," Mercury continued, "that's all in the past. I'm a much different person now than I was back then. I don't think that I'd be here without you all."
Laxus didn't say anything. Briefly, Mercury wondered if he'd said too much, taking the conversation on a dark turn that neither of them was prepared for.
That being said… They were words that needed to be voiced. Had he ever said them out loud before? It was true – the bonds that Mercury had now were something he'd never even think of carelessly throwing away. Even now, they remained warm in his chest, small threads sewing up the gaping hole that the loss of his magic power had torn through him.
Fairy Tail was the reason that he survived the last four years. That much was undeniable.
"Alright," Laxus suddenly stood, taking a step towards Mercury, "I'll help you."
"Huh?"
"Stand up," Laxus ordered. He gestured towards Mercury's legs, then tilted his shoulders in a way that made it clear he wanted Mercury to put his arms around them.
"... You're going to help me now? What's with the sudden change in opinion?" Mercury asked suspiciously.
"Do you want to walk around or not? I'm only offering once," Laxus grumbled, then added, "and if Porlyusica finds out, you're taking the blame."
Mercury didn't hesitate any further. He grinned, knowing that this was his only chance to get some weight on his legs, and did his best to stand. Once again, his legs were wobbly. The room felt like it was in a different dimension as the blood in his head rushed to his feet, but Laxus was there this time, a study pillar that was more than strong enough to lean on.
And this time, Mercury could focus on the subtle brushing of coarse blonde hair against his cheek. In a different situation, he'd have commented on how it needed to be cut with how long it was getting, but this time he just relaxed into the feeling, letting it rub against his skin without a care. Laxus grabbed his right arm, slinging it over his own shoulder.
He was fine. It truly was just Laxus.
The dragon slayer's grip on his right arm relaxed as soon as it was comfortably around his neck, while his left hand went on Mercury's left side, preventing him from slipping away.
It took more than a couple of seconds for everything to stop spinning.
"You okay this time?" Laxus asked.
Mercury paused, letting the dizziness fade away with a few deep breaths. The spots that lined his vision were easy enough to blink away, soon becoming one with the dark lenses of his sunglasses.
"Your legs aren't like your arm, right? They're just weak because you've been sleeping so much?"
"You say that like it's by choice," Mercury muttered.
"Maybe if you slept more, you'd be walking around by now. Stop trying to stay awake when people are talking to you."
"I'll go back to sleep after you help me walk through the door, okay?"
Laxus clearly wasn't satisfied with that sort of answer, but took a half step forward anyway. "Is that too far?"
Mercury rolled his eyes as a form of protest, though it ultimately meant nothing.
"I'm not a cripple," he said, but the moment he did try to take that step, his right leg almost buckled again even with Laxus holding most of his weight. A brief wave of frustration coursed through his face in the form of a flush.
Really? Even a single step was difficult?
It took a moment for him to regain his balance, struggling around the awkwardness of the angle he was being held at. The second attempt at taking a step was a success, as was the third, and soon, he and Laxus were already at the door. Maneuvering the infirmary's door open with one hand was a bit of a struggle, though nothing capable of stopping the two; Laxus fumbled with the door handle for a couple of seconds, cursing, before it finally slipped open, revealing scenery Mercury hadn't seen in almost five years.
A hallway.
He nearly laughed at the mundanity of it. The sight of faded wood was comfortingly familiar, even though the light of the hallway gave him a splitting migraine as soon as he stepped into it. The infirmary lights were off, but the ones in the hallway blared.
Laxus must've seen him flinch. "Are the lights too bright?"
"Glasses are working as intended," Mercury said, "but it's a little more than I'm used to, so odds are that I'll get a little wobbly if I wait too long"
"... Just let me know if it's too much. The light switch is down at the other end of the hallway."
Mercury nodded.
Now that he was here… where did he want to go? His legs had been itching to walk even though he had no destination in mind, and there wasn't really that much on the second floor in the first place.
But his legs knew. Laxus knew, too, as though he was reading Mercury's mind, taking a step towards the hallway's entrance that led towards the stairs. He could already make out the bannister waiting for him.
Past that doorway would be the guild, daily festivities in full swing now that evening was approaching. To his right would be the second floor lounge where he'd spent (wasted) so much of his time, and to his left would be the guildmaster's office, which had been used so much more frequently than any of the relaxing spots. Mercury could imagine the wooden floors. He could recall the stain where he'd once spilled a cup of coffee right at the top of the stairs and the even larger stain from where Macao had tried to get into the office with an opened wine bottle in his hand, completely wasted and trying to finish up the daily paperwork. There was a dent in the bannister from when Mercury had thrown his dull sword at Max in retaliation for something. He couldn't even remember what it was, just the absolute terror in Max's eyes as it soared past him. Then there were the small embellishments that Laki had added, claiming that they needed to lighten up the place. Little flowers and stylish dragon heads popped up every couple of inches on the handrails of the stairs, and thick, ornate vines made of hardened wood caressed the bannister. Reedus had painted them vibrantly, though the colors were now fading.
It was home. That was the only word that came to mind when Mercury saw the fading greens and blues and reds of each flower.
"You wanted to see them, right?" Laxus asked. Without waiting for Mercury to respond, he nudged the water mage in the direction of the loud noises, the wailing bar fight and cheers below. Mercury could hear Cana laughing, clearly drunk, and Max complaining about the fairness of something – a bet, probably, though he was far too behind on current guild matters to know what it was about. Natsu was shouting. Gajeel was also shouting, so they were probably together, and the loud groan of metal told Mercury that Erza was about ready to step in and end it.
There was a faint smile on Mercury's lips as he saw the first person below – Loke talking to Lucy right next to the door. Just the corners of his lips tugging upwards. It couldn't be a full grin because he was desperately fighting off the urge to burst into tears at the sight.
Home.
Finally, he was home.
Loke was the first to notice the two men on the second floor. He was a Celestial Spirit now, right? Perhaps that gave him the senses to spot a dying man quickly, or maybe it was just how close he was to the door. Either way, when his gaze trailed upwards, so did Lucy's, and of course quickly following that was Natsu.
It wasn't long before the majority of the guild had noticed Mercury and Laxus. The former gave them a little wave from around Laxus's shoulder, just a little twist of his hand, and the roar that followed was louder than anything he'd heard in a long time. Momentarily, he felt stunned. If not for Laxus's support, Mercury probably would have stumbled back and fallen.
"Alright, who had thirteen days for him to get bored?" Max shouted above the clamor, shuffling around a box. His argument with Cana seemed long forgotten.
"Hell yeah!" Alzack gave Bisca a high five under the table they were sitting at, Asuka between them. "What's the pool at now?"
"Shit, I had fourteen. Merc, you couldn't have held out one more day?" Wakaba demanded. "Ugh, Laxus…"
Mercury was stunned. "... Did they seriously bet on this?" His voice was nearly erased by the sound of the crowd below, people both cursing him and cursing out those who were cursing at him. It was all playful.
Laxus shrugged, but his grin was predatory.
"Did… Did you bet on this?" Mercury narrowed his eyes, glaring at the dragon slayer; his gaze was inescapable with how close they were.
When Laxus didn't answer, staring down below at Fried with the same wicked smile, Mercury knew he'd hit the nail on the head. Fried looked away, but he was smiling, too. Exasperated, Mercury sighed. "I thought you were helping me out of the goodness of your heart, Lax. Now I see that your heart belongs to a shriveled old man."
Below, Erza smacked Wakaba on the head for scolding Mercury. He couldn't read her lips because it was still too bright, but he assumed she was berating him about betting on Mercury's health.
Maybe he should call her up here to smack Laxus, too.
"I was only going to help you if you didn't look ready to pass out. I wasn't sure when I walked in, but you got this look on your face after talking about Hades."
In other words, he was convinced because Mercury felt happy while thinking about Fairy Tail. Mercury pursed his lips, unsure if he should call Laxus an ass for this. Undoubtedly, he was, but…
Instead, he laughed. Any sadness he'd felt while approaching was gone now, replaced by something warm.
"Do I get a cut of it?" He asked.
"Of course not. You didn't put anything into the pool."
"Does Mira know that you were betting on my recovery?"
"... You can have a quarter. It'll still be a lot," Laxus muttered. "This is what I was talking about when I said you'd just threaten me."
"Don't do things I can blackmail you for then," Mercury offered.
"Yeah, yeah."
The water mage stared at everyone downstairs, trying to take it all in. All the faces he hadn't seen in so long. All the crazy antics he'd missed. It had been seven years for some of them and four for the rest – certainly not a short time for time to pass either way, but the ones he hadn't seen in seven years looked exactly the same, and the ones he hadn't seen in four years were older.
"Are you satisfied now?" Laxus asked.
"Mhm."
"Then I'm taking you back to the infirmary now before that lady yells at me," he said, already tugging Mercury away.
"'s fine. I'm getting sleepy again, anyway."
"I can tell."
Mercury's feet were beginning to feel even heavier, though his body felt light and airy. He'd seen nearly everyone in the guild already, and yet seeing them so naturally doing the same things that they've always done was like reminding him once again that….
He was home.
It took thirteen days for Mercury to get out of bed for the first time. Two days after that, he got out of bed the second time with the support of Laxus, and came to the conclusion that he'd slept the entire time between the two instances of trying to walk.
This recovery was going to be tougher than he thought.
He was now hitting day sixteen, and though he couldn't walk without someone to lean on, he could stand, which was more than enough for him to risk it.
It.
Something he had not done in at least two decades. An act that sent shivers down his spine at the mere thought of it.
A shower.
Mercury was not generally one to take time with his bathing habits. If he could avoid water, he would – something that Laxus and Bixlow had always teased him for because he was a water mage. He preferred baths. In a bath, Mercury could be quick and efficient. A light scrub, removing whatever surface-level dirt or blood that had accumulated, and he was done. When grime got particularly bad, he'd take a little bit more time with it. Back when Phantom Lord had attacked and he was covered with soot and dried blood, the process had been more vicious; scrubbing was fast and harsh, just trying to remove the contaminants before his body realized it was wet.
Now, he had neither the time nor energy, and unlike taking a quick walk, he couldn't ask someone for help. He didn't want to ask someone for help. That would just be the nail in the coffin of whatever shred of pride he was still desperately grasping onto.
It was Fried who helped Mercury to the guild's private bathrooms. Laxus was off doing whatever people like him did in their free time – finally he left; Mercury was getting tired of having to look up and see that guy – and the rest of the guild was practically empty. Fried still assured him that he'd wait outside and stop anyone else from coming in, and that he'd come running if Mercury fell or something.
…. Seriously, they were treating him like he was a hundred year old human.
Mercury was honestly a little afraid to remove his clothes. He wasn't sure what he would see. The last time he had seen himself in the mirror was probably before that silly birthday party that the guild had thrown him, and he was a very different person then than he was now.
Now, he wasn't even sure what he was.
The first to go was the shirt. He struggled to get his left arm through the hole, wriggling in a way that was entirely unlike him. The limb felt like it was numb rather than nonexistent. He could tell it was there, but it was more like it was asleep, unlike the skin on the same half of his chest, which felt entirely empty, as though it weren't even there in the first place. Even when it was touched, Mercury felt nothing.
It was actually quite interesting to look at, if he ignored the fact that it was his body. The smoothed skin still had ridges of raised former skin from where his scar had been, but when you considered what had formerly been a red, angry mess, it looked exactly the same as the rest of his black skin. All that remained was a faint outline.
On the other hand, his right half was fully scaled again, and he didn't know how to feel about that, either.
Porlyusica had made him swear to not pick at them. It had taken years to pull them off the first time around, which were years he didn't have anymore; he'd have to deal with having to see them because his other option was speeding up the rest of his body's decay. Wouldn't it be funny if he somehow managed to get rid of the gray plating just to lose what was remaining of his legs?
But at least it looked like someone had started on the process that Mercury was now dreading. He remembered the thick sensation of dirt and specks of blood and whatever else he didn't care to think about any longer that had gotten stuck in between the scales, and while there was still some left, nothing was sticking to the scales themselves. Someone had likely washed them with a washcloth while he was unconscious. Mercury didn't know who had done it, nor did he think he wanted to; there was something raw and embarrassing about someone seeing him in such a state, though there wasn't any other option.
When it came down to it, he'd rather save himself the slightest bit of effort now even if it meant that someone had been forced to go through that very same effort earlier.
Mercury ditched the rest of his clothes. The effort required was slightly less than taking off his shirt, though he still stumbled while trying to actually get into the shower.
Someone else had already left soaps out for him. Judging by the scent listed on the bottle, it was probably one of the people around his physical age – the Laxus, Bixlow, or Fried. The bodywash, however, was almost certainly provided by Evergreen. It boasted its cleaning power like it was Natsu talking about fighting ability, and based on the separate face wash, it was something that the woman intended to take his time with.
Would he be taking his time? Likely not, but he could give it the extra couple of seconds if it meant that Evergreen felt like he appreciated everything she was doing for him.
He did everything in steps. Get his hair damp, turn off water, shampoo. Rub it in. Try to get the lingering grime that had stained his blue hair a dull brown, and fail. Wash. Try again. No matter how many times he tried, the parts of his hair that had remained long were both painfully tangled and disgusting.
Mercury came to the conclusion that it would have to be cut. There was no saving his hair.
Even so, he tried the conditioner that was left out. It didn't work. The long strands that remained on the left side of his head were a literal rat's nest, so even trying to rub soaps into it was a difficult task.
He sighed. He liked his long hair, but he'd have to find someone willing to cut it for him. Evergreen, maybe. She had experience with it – it was her who cut the Thunder God Tribe's hair back when they were all younger, though it had been the result of a threat. There was no way those boys would let her touch them otherwise.
At least the scales were much easier to clean. Most of them were still new, still growing in, meaning that they were a pale gray; they hadn't been permanently stained. Mercury started the same process on his body as he had with his hair. Rinse, scrub, pause to fight off the nausea and confusion at the sensation of being wet, rinse. Rubbing body wash on his scales felt like allowing an old burn to come into contact with scalding water, but that level of pain was normal. They were too new to have 'realized' the difference between water and air, so they remained fragile.
Oh, well. Surprising even himself, Mercury took the time to scratch the dust that had settled in between each scale out with his right hand, at least for the scales on his stomach and neck. He had to leave what was on his right arm just because he couldn't reach it. His legs would need to wait, too, because other than the basic washing, he was liable to fall over if he wasn't careful.
When he was sufficiently satisfied, Mercury stepped out of the shower stall and did his best to wriggle his clothes on. Again, the shirt was hard; he actually did have to ask Fried for help getting it on. His left arm just didn't cooperate when it came to trying to lift it through the sleeve, and the pants required him to sit down to get them on.
They were his clothes, taken from his mostly undisturbed room, and yet they hung on his frame like a drape. Mercury had lost more than a little weight. His arms and legs were skinnier than even Wendy's were, giving him an appearance more akin to a skeleton than a human.
"How do you feel?" Fried asked, carefully rubbing out any remaining water from Mercury's hair with a spare towel. Mercury would do it himself, but like most things, it was difficult with only one arm.
"Better," he admitted. On instinct, Mercury cleared his throat, though it wasn't going to get any louder than it was now.
With his body clean, he felt more like a human. His muscles ached like he had just run a marathon – it would take time to build back everything he had lost, even though he had the inhuman advantage of assisted regeneration – and no matter what frustration he felt with it, Mercury knew that there was little he could actively do to get better other than try his best to take care of himself.
As soon as his hair was dry and tied back, Fried handed him a pair of black glasses – sunglasses. Their collective temporary solution to the blinding light issue.
They worked quite well, actually, for how cheap the pair appeared to be. The glasses were flimsy and made Mercury's face somehow look even more pale, but they actually seemed to fit him quite well. Though the bright light still bugged him, it wasn't nearly as bad.
If only all of his problems could have such easy solutions.
They walked back into the main guild hall, Mercury's arm slung over Fried's shoulder. He was taller than the green-haired man, so it was slightly more awkward than when Laxus would help him – though it was still better than Bixlow's attempts, because the man's armor was slippery… and he found it incredibly difficult to walk at a speed Mercury could handle.
The exhaustion settling into Mercury's bones was becoming far too familiar. He wasn't certain he'd be able to get up the stairs even with the assist.
"Let's get something to eat," Fried said, sensing Mercury's discomfort. "I think Mirajane should be back soon."
"You know you don't have to say her full name every time, right? She probably just prefers Mira."
Fried flushed, face becoming serious. "I cannot say a lady's name so casually. It would be unbecoming of me."
Okay…. Fried was normal, at least.
They found seats at a table rather than the bar so that Mercury could rest his legs with a backrest, though it wasn't like there was much competition to find a place to sit down. Most of the guild was gone. Even the usual slackers like Nab were absent, drawn outside by the natural sunlight that had been gone in the winter. Mercury supposed that was just a sign of the changing seasons. Spring was just around the corner, bringing sunnier and warmer days with it. It was only natural for people to want to spend more of their time outside.
That being said, it was still far too bright for the water mage. He didn't dare to even think of leaving the building; even the lights inside were enough to give him a dull, ever present headache.
True to Fried's words, Mira came back only a few minutes later. She had been tending to some deliveries that required a signature, which just made Mercury think about the past when it was him providing the authorization.
Could he go back to that?
If he wasn't going to be a mage, maybe working on the guild's administration would be a good way to stay involved with Fairy Tail.
… who was Mercury kidding? He'd never offer to do the paperwork unless the guild absolutely needed it. It had in the past, but now there were far too many people capable of working through it without him.
"Hello, Merc," Mira greeted as soon as she got settled. She joined them at their little table rather than sit behind the bar. There wouldn't be any point – it was basically just the three of them inside, plus the Master upstairs, and he was actually busy for once.
"Good morning," Mercury greeted back.
"How are you feeling?"
What a dull, dry conversation, but that's exactly what Mercury needed. Something to reign him in and remind himself that this was going to be normal again.
"I'm feeling better. It's been a while since I felt this clean, though there were a lot of spots I couldn't quite reach."
"Maybe you should ask Laxus to help you," she suggested, raising an eyebrow suggestively. What the hell was she trying to imply?
On instinct, Mercury grimaced. "Hell no. I finally got away from that guy. He looks like he's going to pass out if he helps me out any more than he already has. He needs some rest."
"But it's not like he wouldn't," Fried pointed out.
That was the point. If Laxus was too busy caring for Mercury, who would care about him? Mercury certainly didn't have the energy to spare for it, and the rest of the guild's attention was focused on him, too.
Laxus could take care of himself. It was just a matter of whether or not he was willing to.
"Well, I'm glad that you're feeling better," Mira said. "Would you like something to eat?"
On cue, his stomach rumbled. Mercury didn't even think it could do that anymore, considering how messed up it and the rest of his insides were.
"I'll take that as a yes. Do you have any preferences?"
"Thank you," he said. "Whatever's easiest. Unless you have anything you want, Fried?"
"I'm fine. Evergreen dragged us to her house to try a new recipe, and…." Fried trailed off. He didn't need to continue, either, because the insinuation was already in the air.
Evergreen was an awful cook. Fried would be lucky if he didn't end up hunched on a toilet for the foreseeable future.
"Sorry to hear that," said Mira at the same time that Mercury said, "I'm sorry for your loss."
Mercury was fortunate he had no sense of taste because it meant that Evergreen would never force him to do a taste test for her, something that the other men of the Thunder God Tribe had resented him for. They hated Evergreen's cooking, but could never say no. In a way, she was the Thunder God Tribe's princess; saying 'no' carried greater risk than just getting it over with.
Mira got up to get to work. Mercury had a greater appreciation for the things that she did now that he'd also attempted to do the same tasks. It was harder than it looked to handle cooking, cleaning, paperwork, and also managing to keep the guild away from being destroyed on a daily basis.
In no time at all, she'd prepared a soup with vegetables in it, setting the plate on the table along with an ornate spoon. He scrunched up his nose. He'd eaten nothing but soup in the past three weeks, and he was tired of it. Sure, there was a reason for it – his stomach was so incredibly messed up by not only the "food" he'd been eating in captivity but also by the fact that a good portion of his organs weren't functioning anymore – but he was so tired of the texture of something he could drink.
"It's good for you," Mira said as though Mercury were a child she was trying to get to eat their vegetables.
He sighed dejectedly. Grabbing the spoon, he started eating (drinking?) while Mira went upstairs to talk to Makarov.
"I'm so tired of soup…" Mercury mumbled when he was about halfway through.
Fried tilted his head, lips pursing. "I thought you couldn't taste it."
"I can't. It's the texture that gets boring," the water mage explained. "I want something solid like bread or beans or something." Even though none of those would do his stomach any good, anyway.
"Ah," Fried opened his mouth. He tried and failed to come up with something that would soothe Mercury's hatred of soup, closing his lips and instead looking towards the door.
Mercury ate what he could, leaving about a fourth in the bowl behind. He had little appetite these days, and even if he did manage to fill his stomach, he sometimes ended up throwing it up later anyway; such was the reality of a stomach that didn't work. His digestive systems had been damaged to the point that parts of his esophagus refused to function when he attempted to swallow anything solid, and the rest of his digestive tract was the same or worse.
Fried remained far away, lost in thought.
"What's on your mind?" Mercury asked.
He didn't respond for a moment. Fried's hands were folded in front of him and his eyes were closed as he often did when he was thinking through a complex problem. Usually, it happened when he was trying to come up with a strategy, but there was no enemy to face, nothing that they had to outsmart or move around. When Fried's head tilted to the side, Mercury could tell that whatever he was thinking through was stumping him.
"I'm thinking about that man that Bixlow said you saw in the Alchemist guild hall," Fried explained. "His words don't make any sense."
"He's not a guy who makes sense, I think. He has a few screws loose."
"Did you interact with him often?"
Mercury paused. It wasn't a hard question, but the memories were still distant and blurry. "I saw him often enough. He usually just came to annoy me and gloat about how much they were selling."
"Did you get his name, by chance?"
The water mage shook his head. His name had never been offered, and Mercury had not once been tempted to ask for it. "I always just called him some variation of the word 'Purple' in my head," he explained. "It's all he ever wore."
"I see…" Fried trailed off.
"What is it about his words that you find confusing? I don't really remember what he said, but I might be able to give you a bit more insight on how he thinks." After all, Mercury had been on the verge of dying when they had seen Purple in the ruined guild hall. Any words that he'd said were lost to the haze of unconsciousness, leaving the memories of what had been said with Laxus and Mira alone.
"Laxus mentioned that he indicated that you would be interested in the next phase of his plan, but that doesn't make sense if we are to assume he was the one who offered you to the Alchemist guild. What even is his plan? The products the guild was releasing seem to have some further purpose, though I can't wrap my hand around what it may be."
"Does it really matter?" Mercury couldn't help but ask.
"It should," Fried said. "As much as I wish for it, this might not be over. Who knows if he may come for you again; he may have let you go quite willingly the first time, but there's no guarantee there will not be a second time."
'It might not be over.'
Well, Mercury hadn't assumed it would be. There was so much that he still didn't know – how did Purple know about his body? How had it reached his ears that he wasn't human? What gave Purple the idea to try to transfer Mercury's regenerative abilities?
And most intriguing – or worrying – of all, what was his goal with all of this?
Mercury just hadn't had too much time to really think about it all yet. There'd been too much going on, and he was far too tired most of the time for big, complex thoughts like this; even his normal, asinine thoughts drained him. That being said, he was actually glad that Fried was bringing it up.
"I'm sorry," Fried apologized. "Was that too much?"
"No, I think you've got the right idea. I don't know what he wants, but it's definitely not going to be something good."
"I've been thinking about it since we got back and I haven't managed to wrap my head around his goal," Fried admitted.
Both men sat in silence for a moment, waiting for a conclusion to simply appear out of thin air. When one didn't, Mercury sat back in his chair a little further and closed his eyes.
'I think he's going to have fun watching what comes next.' What did that mean? What was Purple trying to insinuate?
It had to be something that Mercury specifically be interested in, so odds were that it was related to the ocean in some way. Mother, maybe? Mercury swallowed the thought with a shiver. There was no way that Purple could do anything to that crazy beast.
Who the hell even was he?
"We can assume that he wanted a cut of the profits," Fried surmised. "He delivered you to the guild, but he was not directly associated with them. He called himself a middleman of sorts."
"So he's likely not on either Alchemist or Furune's side. He's trying to use both of them," Mercury continued. It was abundantly clear that Purple was the one pulling the strings, despite calling himself a middleman. He was the one that knew about Mercury and he was the one who had pitched the idea of making a serum with Mercury's body to increase regeneration.
But why?
And then there was the apparent issue with distribution. Why even bother trying to actively sell it when the product is already flying off the shelves? Alchemist had sold it for cheap in the slums and had even tried to get well known doctors to invest in it when they were clearly running low on stock because it disappeared so quickly.
It was as though they were trying to get famous for it, but the guild already was famous for their other products.
"Was he really just after the money?" Mercury asked.
"I doubt it. If he truly is planning something else that involves you, it would have to be something that doesn't provide him monetary value. Frankly speaking, there's little left of you that can be used that way."
Mercury winched; Fried wasn't wrong, but the insinuation that he had been used for money still hurt.
"Maybe the money was important to some degree, but not the main point," Mercury said. When Fried looked confused, he said, "I remember him talking about how their 'sponsor' lost a lot of money during the Grand Magic Games and was upset." Mercury knew that Furune was the sponsor that he so often talked about; the man had come to visit him only once, and had spoken to the researchers as though he wasn't able to understand. It was clear he was funding them, and money was certainly a factor.
"Oh," Fried murmured, "he was upset we won the Games?"
Mercury nodded. "Serves him right. I'd let him break my nose again if it meant I could tell him to fuck off again."
Fried swallowed thickly. "He broke your nose?"
"You haven't noticed that it's crooked?" It hadn't healed correctly. That was the risk with quick regeneration – just because it healed didn't mean that it healed the same way it had been previously. In the past, Mercury had been forced to break his own bones to ensure that they could heal again in the right way.
(A long, long time ago.)
Fried went quiet, silently admitting that yes, he had noticed, but he just hadn't brought it up. He looked pretty guilty about it despite the fact that the guild had no hand in it.
"He was just looking for something to be mad about. If he didn't get mad about that, it would have been something else," Mercury explained, sensing Fried's feelings. He was feeling bad that their actions, intentional or not, had indirectly caused him some form of suffering, even though a broken nose was rather tame compared to the rest of what had happened. "I knew he was going to do it when I swore at him, and I don't regret it."
And really, who cared if his nose remained a bit crooked? Mercury could barely even see it.
"Still…" Fried trailed off, looking away.
"Plus," Mercury continued, "he's already basically admitted he's coming back. There'll be a shot to get some well deserved revenge somewhere down the line – you'll have to get in line to get a punch or two, though. I hear it's a pretty long one."
"I don't understand how you can remain so nonchalant about this," Fried admitted after a couple of moments of silence. He didn't say it in a way that sounded like he was upset about how Mercury was thinking, but in more of a curious way – like he was asking about why the sky was blue. "I admire your tenacity, but aren't you upset?"
Honestly, Mercury was getting a little annoyed at how often he was getting asked this question. "Well, what happened was humiliating, but this isn't the first time that I've had to go through something like it," he said, then added, "I may not have gotten back everything that I lost, but I got my family back, and that's enough for me. I can't really ask for more."
His family – Fairy Tail. He'd gotten them back, and that's what really mattered to him, not the things he'd had to go through alone the way.
Recognition appeared in Fried's eyes. He nodded, shoulders visibly relaxing – this was apparently something that he'd been stressing about for quite a while. "Understood. I won't bring it up again, but…"
"What?"
"I have to admit, it's somewhat reassuring to know that you think of us as family." His smile was almost sheepish.
Mercury paused, slightly taken aback. Is that what Fried had been thinking? After all that trouble they went through to find him, crashing and destroying another guild even though intra-guild warfare had been banned for years, and Fried wasn't sure that Mercury thought of them as family?If Fairy Tail wasn't family, there wasn't a single word in this world that could be used to describe them. He playfully ruffled Fried's hair, ignoring his startled cry.
"You goon – how could I not see you guys as family by now?" He asked rhetorically. "I've been stuck with you assholes for almost fifteen years at this point; there's no way I'd stick around if I didn't like you at least that much."
Even if for seven of those years, Fried wasn't even in this world.
(How did that even work, anyway?)
Fried grabbed the hand messing with his hair and held it away from his face, a mixture of a smile and a frown gracing his features. His face was flushed. Embarrassed. It wasn't every day that someone treated a formidable mage like Fried as though he were a mere child, and Mercury knew firsthand how annoying it was to groom long hair that had been messed with.
Which reminded him… "I think before anything else happens, I need someone to fix my hair." Fried had tied it back for him earlier just to get it out of his eyes – something only someone with two free hands could do – but it was still a disgusting mess.
Was there anyone in the guild with the skill to fix it? Considering that most of the men 'chose' to style it like they'd just rolled out of bed regardless of the situation, the answer was probably 'no.' Mercury might have to go to an actual hairdresser if he wanted to fix his mess of a scalp, though the mere prospect of it wasn't at all something he looked forward to.
The door to the guildmaster's office opened, revealing only Mira. Mercury could hear an irritated groan coming from inside, one that clearly revealed that Master Makarov was not in a great mood. Whatever their conversation had been about, it wasn't positive.
"You think Natsu got into more trouble?" Mercury asked, even though he knew the answer already.
"It's likely. If not him, then someone in his group."
Yeah, those five couldn't go more than a week without blowing up a major landmark or historical site, and Mercury had absolutely no idea where they currently were. Fiore? Another country? Would this become an international incident? The possibilities were almost endless when it came to Team Natsu; they always surprised him, and normally it wasn't in a good way.
Mira took one glance at the now-forgotten soup and sat down. Her hair looked slightly more frazzled than it had been when she had left them a couple of minutes ago, revealing that she, too, was irritated by the guild's antics.
"I'm not sure how you did this for four years, Merc," she admitted. "I feel like I turn around and there's more paperwork to do." While Mercury had admitted that Mira's job was harder than it looked, Mira in turn had to admit that his own job was somewhat difficult, too.
Mercury laughed for the first time in ages, "Well, I also didn't have to deal with Natsu. All I had to do were incident reports – they're way simpler than property damage ones, in my opinion." Property damage reports required them to pay off the damages and submit a formal apology; incident reports were just explaining how something had gotten messed up.
"Was it truly Natsu again?" Fried asked.
The grim, tired look on Mira's face was enough of an answer. Her left eye twitched like she was trying to hold herself back from throttling someone, the most likely target being either Natsu or Gray. As long as it wasn't Mercury, he didn't particularly care who had to face her fists… Though he did pity the future victim. Mira was terrifying.
"What did they do this time?"
"It would be faster to list what they didn't do, though I suppose we aren't much better in that regard," Mira admitted, eyeing Fried. "What happened in Alchemist's guild hall…"
"They're bad people. Whatever you guys did to them doesn't count," Mercury huffed. "I'm more worried about them getting thrown into prison again and Natsu going ballistic." He recalled the last time that Natsu had caused an issue in the face of authorities.
"Well… there's not exactly a prison to put them in over there now, so it'll probably be fine."
They burned down and-slash-or destroyed an entire prison, then? That was an accomplishment, even for them; Mercury felt even worse for Master, who would likely be dealing with the backlash for the foreseeable future.
"At least this will take any remaining attention from our actions," Fried said.
Mercury snorted. "You know the country can be mad about more than one thing at a time, right?"
"Why would the country be mad at the current most popular guild?"
Ah, right. He'd forgotten entirely about their newfound popularity, a result of both the Grand Magic Games and the dragon attack that had immediately followed it, though many couldn't remember the exact details of the event. Mest – Doranbolt, that rascal, had apparently wiped the memories of many of those involved.
Maybe it really was time to drag him back to Fairy Tail.
"Mira," Fried said, interrupting Mercury's reminiscence, "do you have any experience cutting hair?"
"Hmm? You want a haircut, Fried?" Mira's smile dropped, then suddenly became twice as predatory, hidden beneath a mask of innocence. If a haircut was left in her hands, it definitely would not come out well.
"No," Fried backed off, "but I believe Mercury does."
"Oh. Well, I do have some experience, but probably not enough to fix, um…" she stared at Mercury's messy ponytail. He might have been better just giving himself a buzz cut and starting over fresh, though that was the absolute last thing he wanted to do.
"It's fine," Mercury sighed. "I'll get Evergreen to do it."
"That's not a great idea, either," Fried protested.
"Why? She used to cut your guys' hair back when you were younger, didn't she?"
"I believe she will be too busy sobbing to actually do any hair cutting," Fried explained. "She was noticeably distraught when she saw the state it was in."
Ah. Evergreen had a thing for hair; that's probably why she was so interested in Elfman these days. That man had a wave of surprisingly luxurious hair for someone that acted like he would rather wash it with dish soap than actual shampoo, though Mercury definitely didn't have much room to talk in that regard. Not when his hair was like this.
"Well, if you wanted a haircut, you should ask Lucy," Mira said with a smile. "One of her spirits cuts hair really well. He's helped me out before a shoot before."
"A spirit that cuts hair? Are there really spirits that are that specific?"
"He's one of the Zodiac. Cancer the Crab, I believe."
Mercury was once again hit with the realization that he had absolutely no idea how Celestial Spirit Magic worked, other than the basic concept of using keys connected to the stars, or something like that. A Celestial Spirit that was both a gold key and specialized in haircuts? How odd.
Then again, the other Celestial Spirits that Mercury had interacted with weren't much different. Loke was a habitual skirt-chaser, and he'd only seen Aquarius once; it was more than enough for him to know that she was almost as terrifying as Mira.
… Hadn't she said something concerning about him when she had been summoned near her? Mercury filed away that memory, planning to ask Lucy about it later.
"His haircuts were good enough for Sorcerer?"
Mira nodded. "They even bugged me to tell them where I'd gotten it done, but I kept it a secret. Got to keep the best stylists to myself, you know?"
"Alright, I'll ask Lucy when she gets back, then," he said, then paused. "Any idea when that will be?"
No one had an answer for him. It could be less than twenty for hours, or it could be an entire week – hell, it wouldn't even be surprising to hear that it was going to take Team Natsu a full month to return to the guild based on their latest antics. It also wasn't unheard of for them to get into some crazy trouble on the way home, or get distracted. Or lost. Or sidetracked.
"Maybe a day or so? They didn't go that far…"
