Mercury writhed around in the water, trying to cough up whatever the hell was wrong with him to no avail. Obviously, there was nothing to cough up; he was fine, probably more so than he had any right being even though his entire really fucking hurt. Other than that, though…
Was it odd to say it felt like there was way too much going on inside his head?
Honestly, when he'd thrown himself off of a cliff with the express intent to either "metaphorically die" or "be healed," he'd expected the former. Rather than wishing for the entire scenario to miraculously resolve itself, wasn't it easier to predict that his friends would swoop in to save the day somehow? That's what they'd always done, after all – wait until the last possible moment when all things seemed bleak, then come up with a solution that seemed to be pulled from Natsu's ass to save the day.
Mercury had predicted this situation to be no different. They'd been claiming over and over again that they'd save him before he somehow managed to die for real, so it wasn't that unrealistic to imagine they'd find a way somehow.
But that was before he was staring down at his hands with wide, almost frightened eyes – because "hands" was plural.
He was looking at both of them. He was flexing both of them, rotating them around as though to confirm what he was seeing was correct – it was – while trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Putting his hands side by side, he saw no difference between them; his right, which had always been fine, looked exactly the same as his left. The only difference was how they felt.
The joints in his left arm cracked and popped like a machine without oil, but they moved exactly as he imagined them.
Mercury thought it was a dream. It definitely could have been – other than his body being fine, there was also the matter of the magic he'd been struggling to hold onto for so long. He… no longer felt like he had to hold onto it. It was just there, ambivalently floating around in his stomach as it always did.
His body was once more full of magic. Despite having promised Fairy Tail that they'd find a solution together, Mercury had never truly believed that they'd find one, so his current status of being "fine"... was sort of hard to believe.
Then again, there definitely still was something wrong with him; he was nursing a splitting headache that didn't seem like it was going to go away any time soon, and for good reason – it felt like there were two sets of memories floating around in his head, one belonging to himself and one to someone else.
Something else.
He had a terrible suspicion as to who the other memories belong to, but he pushed his worry down in favor of reveling in his body again. He gave his legs a little kick to confirm that it wasn't just his arms that were working once more, then rubbed through what once had been a shirt to feel his chest, which was once more layered in a thick plating of scales.
Man, he hadn't been this scaly in like… several decades at this point. It felt off putting, yet natural.
This was how he was supposed to be.
… And for some reason, he felt less inclined to try tearing them off again, though he wasn't sure as to why. It was something he'd consider later, when all of this was over… when he had time to himself to think.
As for now, he was just glad to see his gamble had worked.
"Not quite," a voice hummed.
Mercury jerked his hands to his chest as though to defend himself, but the "person" speaking wasn't quite a "person." They had no body to speak through, and yet Mercury could sense them clearly through the conduit of the waves as though they were the waves themselves.
This thing speaking to him…
It was Mother, right?
"Indeed," the voice said, "though I am not the 'Mother' that you know."
Intuitively, Mercury understood. This was Mother, and yet it wasn't; there was something completely different about the creature he had hated (feared) his whole life and the one he was speaking to now. Though they'd only exchanged a handful of words, the way she spoke was unlike what he was used to – her voice was far more monotonous than he remembered, and she spoke in a more respectful manner.
It was as though this creature he was speaking to was just Mother stripped of all emotion. Like she was entirely neutral.
"You could say that," she said, the waters humming with the power of her voice.
"Well, okay then," Mercury responded to the voice he couldn't see. "Good luck with whatever you were asking for help with, then. I'm off."
Though he could only vaguely remember what had been happening… minutes? Hours? Days? ago, he could definitely remember that someone had been asking for his help – begging for it, even. He'd already forgotten exactly what they were asking for, or perhaps he just didn't care to try and recall.
After all, he hated this creature. Even if she wasn't the "one" that had put him through all that misery, it was still Mother.
… Right? He swallowed his anger like water, pushing it down into his gut. All he needed was to get back to his guild. Right now, nothing else mattered.
"If you leave now, I cannot stop you – but know that you aren't as healed as you thought you were. As things are, this cycle will repeat, and I will not be there to save you a second time."
"I didn't expect much else," he explained, finally opening his mouth for the first time. He'd managed to regain his magic, and he could probably use it again the same way he had when he was galavanting around with Laxus and company, but that didn't mean that it would never come to this again.
The symptoms had been addressed, and yet the root of the problem remained – he'd have to do this again if he wanted to absorb enough magic to keep using it.
"But it would be preferable to be free of this issue, correct?"
Mercury snorted – a sensation that felt incredibly weird underwater. "Of course it would be preferable, but I have things to do now, as I'm sure you're aware."
"I am aware. I simply think that a couple moments of your time is worth the solution to your issue. Your friends are not going to lose just because you aren't there."
That was… true. Unfortunately. Fairy Tail had gone into this not expecting any help from Mercury, and they planned to finish it without his help, too.
"Fine," he huffed. "What do you want?"
"Your body is still damaged from what my other self did to you all those years ago. I'm sure you recall what I'm talking about?"
He did, of course. How could he forget? Mercury remembered how it was the most painful experience of his life, somehow hurting even more than getting stabbed through the fucking stomach. It felt like all of his cells were being ripped apart, torn into pieces so small that he'd never recover.
… And then he had recovered, but apparently he hadn't really.
"And you'll… fix that damage?"
"Yes. I will become your heart."
Mercury was taken aback. "What?"
"Think of all of us like puzzle pieces – small parts that originally made up the same whole. Even after being removed from the whole, each piece has a specific place where it fits, but what happens when that puzzle is warped? Then, puzzle pieces are jammed where they shouldn't be, forcing parts that were never intended to connect to entwine. After this, will the original pieces still fit together?"
"No…?" He couldn't tell where she was going with this. If he thought of himself as a puzzle piece rather than a shard, that just made everything more confusing.
"Correct," she hummed again. "That's what I will help you with – I will mold you, a misshapen puzzle piece, back into how you originally were."
Ah. She was calling him defective again, but this time, it stung a little bit more than usual. Perhaps it was because he was hearing it from her, the one who'd created him in the first place – albeit a different version of her.
Was it true all along? Was he really…
"No. You are merely different, not defective," she interrupted his thoughts, which was when a horrible thought occurred to him. Was she reading his mind?
"Yes."
Wasn't that a gross invasion of privacy?
"Yes."
And she was going to keep doing it despite that?
"It was the only way to save you, so you'll have to forgive me for it," Mother explained. "Or I could sever our connection now and refuse to answer your questions?"
So she did have a somewhat emotional side to her – even if that "emotion" was sass. Who knew?
"I prefer the term 'logical.'"
Mercury's face became painted with irritation of his own. "Stop reading my mind and keep explaining. I'm only listening to you because you said you'd stop this from happening again, but I'm not afraid to just leave, either."
"As you wish," she said, then finally continued. "If you were defective, my other self wouldn't have been able to have an effect on you in the first place. The fact that you've had to suffer for so long is proof that the way you are now is the way she intended to be."
He pressed his lips into a tight line, irritated further by her bringing up the "real" version of Mother once more. "Makes sense. I can't imagine that narcissistic bitch would create something defective considering she loves her idea of a perfect little family."
The water around him buzzed, suddenly feeling almost… warm.
Was she laughing?
"Apologies. I just realized that you and I are more similar than I thought. Perhaps she did use some of me to make you."
"That's a joke, right?" If it was one, it was distasteful. If it wasn't… he didn't want to think about it.
"Perhaps," she said noncommittally. "Now, as I was saying, you are not defective; you were just born different. You and your siblings were created from my dying body, but does that mean you were all created the same way. Now, tell me. Do you think the body stores memories?"
His answer was immediate. "Yes."
Even if he died, Mercury was sure he'd never forget how he lived, and he'd come into this whole situation with the idea that even if he was somehow erased, seeing his friends would remind him of who he was. If he answered no, that would mean that throwing himself off that cliff was just suicide.
"I agree. In a way, memories are like magic; they make you who you are, and both make up what is considered the 'soul.' That being said, these memories make us who you are, and you were made with the body part that carries the most memories."
"I was?"
"You're not the only one, but you're one of few. It's not that you're defective, you're simply unique, and that's why it's so hard for you to understand the rest of your siblings, who, for lack of a better term, are incomplete."
On the other hand, he seemed to understand humans fairly well, so maybe she wasn't just pulling everything out of her ass. Then again, there were plenty of humans he didn't understand.
Like those idiots who kept giving him second chances.
"Then what am I made of?" he asked, confused. Honestly, he was unsure if he even wanted to know. What if it was something stupid, like the fucking gallblader or something? He'd never live it down.
"I'd tell you to guess, but I think I'd be correct in assuming that you would never be able to get the answer with your limited understanding of yourself."
"What the hell is that supposed to –"
"The heart," she interrupted. "You're the heart – a dragon's heart, which is why forging this connection has allowed you to remember things you've never known."
Oh. That… made more sense than he cared to admit, considering their conversation about the body and memories less than a minute ago. The memories in his head now were things he'd definitely never experienced before, from having the liberating sensation of soaring over the ocean – something he'd definitely never done – to the memory of brimming with so much power that he was certain he'd explode.
It was dizzying, knowing that he could remember things that he'd never experienced before.
"I see," he said, unsure of what else to say.
Mother made a sound like clearing her throat. "You don't sound impressed."
"Well, maybe it's because I remember the moment of your death now," he explained, "but I feel like I've always known this. Or, just, been vaguely aware of it, I guess."
He flinched at the thought of her death.
"It's possible," she acquiesced with a thoughtful sigh.
"Then… the others that are "special" like this," he said, forcing himself to look at his own gray scales rather than think about Mother as a living, breathing dragon, "are they ones that feel strongly of your, er, of your other self's power?"
In other words, Lull, Abyss… Probably even the man who'd stolen Mother's power in the first place, too. Were all of them like him, created from parts of a dead being that held so many powerful memories that they'd transcended death?
"Yes."
"And this us talking like this – and you saving me – is all because I was born like that?"
"Yes."
"So, in other words," Mercury swallowed, "I just got lucky?"
"It seems so."
He could have laughed if not for the thudding in his chest that felt like someone was stabbing him. It really was close to suicide, then. Whether or not he survived that fall came down to mere luck.
"That's not true," Mother said in a tone so gentle that it startled Mercury. "You could think of being born as you are as 'luck,' but is that not the same for all beings? And it certainly was not luck that I was able to forge this connection; if you were not rejecting my other self so strongly, it wouldn't have been possible for me to force myself in."
Hearing her say that his determination had helped him live made him feel like less of a fool, but he felt even more foolish for feeling relieved.
"Then, when you say you'll become my heart, you mean that in the literal sense?" he asked.
"Indeed. I will repeat the same thing that my other self did, destroying what little remains of "this" self in the process," she explained.
… Destroying it? Was that really necessary? It seemed a little extreme.
Then again, maybe he'd feel better if there was less "Mother" in the world. Even if this one wasn't the same as the one he'd grown up with, she was still the same being…
… Right?
Mercury wasn't sure why he waited on her for confirmation, nor was he sure why she ignored him despite the fact she could read his thoughts.
"I owe it to you to try," she said.
"Why? You'd destroy yourself for me?"
It felt like Mother took a deep breath – as though she were preparing herself to say something she didn't want to say. "Yes, because it was my fault that you were found when you didn't want to be."
"What?"
Mercury's heart thundered in his chest, a reminder that he had a heart that worked again and that he'd be fine. Eventually. What greatly overshadowed that reminder, however, was the horror as he realized exactly what she was talking about – but she wasn't going to let him just cut her off.
"Truthfully, when I tore my soul apart, this small fragment that you're talking to now fell into a deep slumber, content to die; that was the logical course of action, and I no longer wished to live, anyway."
And he understood that, because he'd been the same, but…
"But that was foolish of me. Sleeping is not the same as death, because you can always be woken from slumber, and death is permanent. I was not dead."
But…
"My slumber lasted three hundred years. It was both eons long and as fast as the blink of an eye, because though I was asleep, I still dreamed. I dreamed of a boy who wanted to love and be loved, and then I dreamed of a boy who gave up on both."
Mercury felt like he was choking. This wasn't a revelation – in fact, he'd already surmised most of it – but hearing it out loud was something else. "Wait –"
"When that boy finally gave into despair, it was painful. It was familiar. I hated it, and so when I woke, I was enraged," she said, voice almost trembling, though with what emotion, Mercury couldn't tell. Anger? Sorrow? "Dragons are greedy creatures, you see. We've long controlled so much of this continent, so it's hard when we don't get what we want. I yearned for a better ending to the story."
"No –"
"But when I was finally able to find the boy from that dream again, he had once again learned to love and be loved. I was so overjoyed that I awoke fully once more."
Mercury swallowed around the lump in his throat, but did not speak.
"Unfortunately, I could not hide my joy, and so when one of your siblings who is particularly sensitive to my thoughts caught wind –"
"... They tracked down the source of your feelings, and found me."
"Yes."
"So it was your fault that… it's your fault that they died."
"Yes."
The word 'yes' was such an infuriating response to such a statement. He'd always wondered how those bastards had found him in the first place, and now hearing it from the mouth of the creature whose fault it was like getting punched in the face.
It was her fault that the two of them died, and Mercury became like this.
It was her fault that he'd suffered.
But… "fault." Whose "fault" was it? Her, who was happy for him – perhaps the first of his kind to ever feel that for him, or was it the fault of those who'd actually done the deed? Lull and Surge and Deluge, and probably even Abyss. It was them who had tracked him down; it was them who had killed a woman and child in cold blood just to prove a point; it was them who'd dragged him back and tried to make him a pet once again.
The person he was talking to now – was she really at fault?
Of course, he still hated Mother for everything she stood for, but this wasn't "Mother" as he knew her. Moreover, Mercury could even understand her now.
In many ways, they were exactly the same.
He could only say that now with her memories, but their experiences were hauntingly similar. She was a dragon – a being that didn't care about the "flies" called humans, even after they started learning their dragon slayer magic; all the now-nameless dragon ever wanted was to have a family of her own, to ease the crippling loneliness that pounded away in her chest. Why bother herself with the affairs of something beneath her? She had far more important things to do.
And then the newly-birthed dragon slayers took things too far, slaying enemy, ally, and neutral dragons alike. At that point, the Black Dragon Acnologia – the one Mercury was only familiar with from the tales of what happened on Tenrou Island – started going after other dragons, too.
In the end, however, it was not Mother that Acnologia managed to defeat, but the family that she'd been yearning for so long. Her nest was destroyed, and with it, any hope that she could muster; that dragon fell into despair, and in the end, all she could think to do was throw herself into the ocean.
Yes, she and Mercury were far more alike than he'd even thought possible.
It felt like she took a deep breath, experiencing the memories a second time through Mercury's head. "And that is why it's my responsibility to –"
"Ahh, shut up," the water mage demanded, cutting her off. "I won't accept it if you're just doing it out of a sense of responsibility."
Something in his chest felt twisted like a piece of rebar. Mercury ruffled his own hair, debating once more justhowthis was going to go.
Would he feel satisfied if he accepted this power and killed her right now?
No. He might have hated her– hedidhate her, and he probably always would, butthiswasn't "her." This was something else entirely.Someoneelse entirely. He couldn't associate the "Mother" that he'd always despised with whoever was now conversing with him; now that he had her memories and couldfeelhow similar they were, it felt like pushing that hatred on her would be the same as hating himself.
Besides, she'd said that he'd be fine for a while without it. He'd been "healed," or at the very least, he had enough magic in his body to live for long enough as long as he didn't use magic frivolously. It would mean an end to his career as a mage, but honestly, did he deserve to be one anyway? He was used to this non-magical lifestyle now, and it wasn't like he used magic to really do anything.
"And I can't accept it if you're just going to quit that easily. Don't you have people waiting for you to get better?" Mother prodded. She sounded almost irate.
"They said they'd find a way to help me out. We don't only have to rely on you – there's other ways out there."
"Do you truly believe that?"
"No, not really, but I'm trying to make a point here," he admitted.
The water permeated silence for more than a couple of seconds. Mercury wasn't sure where to look, so he imagined he was glaring at her, trying to get her to relent – he really didn't want to take the remainder of her life force for some stupid reason like she was assuming fault for something that she didn't really have a hand in.
Finally, after almost a minute and a half had passed, the tension between the two nearly palpable, Mother said, "Yes, I truly do believe the other part of me accidentally modeled you in my image. Perhaps she is going senile."
"It's not her," he explained, shrugging. "It's because of my guild. They'd never let me live it down." Mercury wouldn't admit that he'd feel guilty if he accepted, too.
"I see that," she hummed. "Then, how about this? I will not offer out of a sense of responsibility, but as a belated wedding gift. You may not be my child, but you're still the first of our kind to get married."
"We weren't married," Mercury pointed out.
"Marriage is a human concept. I was just using the words you're most familiar with. Would you have preferred I said mate?"
"... Point taken." Thinking about it like that made him uncomfortable.
"Then, will you accept? I would prefer if you did, since I'm above trying to force it on you. I believe you've had enough of that for one lifetime."
How nice this version of her was… "Fine," he said, "but I'm not going to start hearing your voice in my head or anything weird like that, right?"
Once more, the waters vibrated. If he had to guess, this was like her snorting rather than laughing. "You will not. My power will become yours, and my will will vanish – but it would have vanished soon, anyway. I fear that the one that took the other part of my soul will not stop at just half."
Mercury had almost forgotten about that. "Who is he?"
"He's like you – one who left the ocean because he felt it did not fit him, but instead of leaving because he did not wish to be there, he left because he felt the ocean was too small to contain him."
"Is he an egomaniac or something?"
Again, she laughed. "You can think of him as you wish. There's little else I can tell you. He, too, was once nothing more than a dream to me."
"What, he wasn't interesting enough of a dream to follow?"
"No," Mother said, sounding somber. "He just went… too far. Too fast. I don't know what drove him to this point, nor do I know what he's experienced on the way here. All I can tell… is that some part of him is still hurting."
Now, wasn't that just a sob story? Isn't that how these things usually went? Poor, misunderstood villain gets hurt, then tries to take it out on the world, only for the hero to show up and stop him.
Well, Mercury didn't feel like a hero – that role was reserved for people like Natsu or Laxus – but he was more than confident in wanting to stop him.
He had to get the hell out of here first to do that, though. "I should get back then," he said.
"Yes, you should. The sun is almost rising, but it does not seem like that man is willing to pull back his forces – your brethren. In fact, I feel that he's planning something big; you should be prepared."
"It's… already morning?" Mercury asked, shocked. It didn't feel like more than a couple of hours.
(Holy fucking shit, Laxus really was going to kill him with all of this was over.)
"Did you think I was able to heal a fatal wound instantly? I may be a dragon, but I'm a dead one – and I was never omnipotent nor all-powerful."
"Well, no, but…" he suddenly felt embarrassed. "Nevermind. Thank you for healing me."
"It was my pleasure."
And Mercury had no doubt in his mind that she really, truly meant that.
"I suppose… it was nice knowing you, then." Though he knew she could hear his every thought, he still had one pricking at the forefront of his mind – one he couldn't get rid of, and one he couldn't say out loud.
'It would have been nicer if you were Mother instead of her.'
She seemed to relax as he thought it, but gave no indication that she'd heard him. Instead, she said, "It was nice knowing you, too. I wish I could have known you for longer, but this is where we part ways."
Though Mother stopped speaking, it still sounded like she had something to say. The waters around them hummed discontentedly; Mercury could imagine her, a dragon so large that she could destroy mountains by herself, swishing her tail in disappointment behind her.
"Yes?" he prodded. For some reason, he didn't feel pressed for time – he thought he could take his time.
After all, she was going to save him.
She hesitated as though worried for his answer, but after a long pause that held infinite possibility, he felt her seem to take a deep breath. "Dragons are greedy creatures by nature. Though you've collected my memories, I do not wish for you to be the same, and I have no doubt that you won't fall into the same traps I did. But… being greedy has me wanting one last thing, should you be willing to do it."
"Well, you're about to give up what's left of your life to me, aren't you?" Mercury said dryly. "I hate you, but not you, so I don't mind listening. Whether or not I do it depends on what it is."
(There was no doubt in either of their minds that he'd bend over backwards to fulfill her last request.)
"Yes… I was just thinking that it would be nice to hear my name again. Anyone other than you or I has forgotten it, even the being you once knew as Mother."
He understood her immediately.
How long had she been living a solitary life? How long had she been living like an ocean current, flowing whatever way the waters took her with no presence to call her own, no one to hear her? How long had she been dreaming of her children?
How long had she been yearning to hear her name again?
"Goodbye, Fiernen," Mercury said, feeling as though he was being embraced by the ocean for the first time in his life.
He could imagine Fiernen smiling as though he'd been able to see her when she was alive. "Goodbye, Mercury."
.
.
.
For the first time in nearly fifty years, Mercury felt great – no, great was an understatement. He felt amazing. If there was such a thing as "too good," this would be it, because he wasn't sure he could ever go back to "normal" again after feeling this.
On second thought… it was a very real possibility that he was just incredibly high on magic power.
He'd missed this. To have it all at his fingertips, the ocean obeying his every command, twisting around him when he wanted it to and slowing him almost like it was an unconscious limb. Yeah, that was exactly it – the waters were just an extra arm that he'd been missing for far too long.
Honestly, he'd thought that whatever Fiernen was going to do to him would hurt. After all, it had hurt the first time; at the time, it was the most painful experience of his life, and even though several decades had passed since then, the ebb of time hadn't made him see it as anything less than world-shattering.
Of course, there were more painful things now too, but that wasn't the point – the point was that Fiernen's magic was as gentle as a hug and as soft as a blanket, and even now, he could feel it throbbing away in his chest.
She was his heart, just as he had once been her's.
As Mercury approached the shores, traveling as fast as his magic would allow him to – and honestly, probably even faster than that – he felt a wave of relief spike through his stomach. Within seconds, he'd be home. How long had it been since he'd left? According to Fiernen, only a handful of hours, but it felt like he'd been gone for weeks… or perhaps it was just that now, he could finally accept that he was home to stay.
After everything… he'd be home.
Mercury launched himself out of the water with a flourish of magic that wouldn't have been possible yesterday, landing as gracefully as he could – which, granted, still had him off balance. Though his body was healed now, it wasn't like it was completely fine. He wasn't used to walking around with full balance anymore, nor was he used to being able to fully feel his body, giving the impression that he was leaning to the side even when standing straight up.
And then he was met with a shockingly (literally) powerful punch to the gut, sending him to his knees and coughing out the water he had left in his mouth.
"What the fuck, Laxus?"
The moment he'd landed, Laxus had been there, appearing as though from nowhere; Mercury didn't get more than half a second to read the look on his face before the man surged forwards to slam his fist into the water mage's stomach.
"Sorry," Laxus drawled – clearly unsorry. "I was just checking if you were still sane."
"Of course I'm sane, asshole!" At least, he was sane – now, he was reeling from the full might of an enraged dragon slayer slamming into him. "Why the hell wouldn't I be?"
"Oh, my bad. I just thought that with the huge deal you made about getting a little wet, you'd be a little worse off in the head," the blonde said, looking clearly very irritated with this turn of events.
Well, if Laxus could be an asshole, then he was clearly fine, if a bit peeved. That being said, his movements looked a little tight as he reached out a hand for Mercury to take, hoisting him up. It looked like he was trying to hold himself back.
From what, Mercury didn't know. Maybe punching him again. Admittedly, he probably did deserve it despite this turn of events… not exactly being his fault.
(Not directly, at least.)
"I'm fine, I promise," Mercury said. While he attempted to look as trustworthy as possible (and failing, because nobody trusted Mercury when he said he was fine out of sheer instinct. When Laxus didn't immediately agree, he added, "I'll explain everything later. I think we've got bigger fish to fry right now."
Gruffly, Laxus said, "Fine. If not, I'm going to –"
"Yeah, yeah, tie me up and throw me in the attic, I got it."
The Lightning Dragon Slayer looked somewhat appeased that his constant warnings had stuck, a sort of half-grin falling over his face as he unsubtly guided Mercury a couple of feet from the shoes.
"Hey, wait, is that Merc?"
Right away, the water mage could pick out the speaker as Warren, but Laxus beat him to a response. "Unfortunately."
"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mercury bit out. "You looked pretty relieved to see me a couple of minutes ago."
"Well, can he –"
Laxus cut Warren off. "I absolutely was not. Do you think I punch people I'm happy to see?"
"No, but you also don't generally punch people you're not happy to see, either. You've at least got that much sense."
"Then maybe I just hated to see you."
"Yeah, and that's why you've been following me to the goddamn bathroom for the last three weeks."
"I follow you to the bathroom because you're liable to fucking drown if I leave you alone for two seconds!"
"How the hell could I drown?!"
Mercury and Laxus stared at each other, literal sparks flying between them. For a moment, neither said anything, each debating just how serious they were going to let this argument go; apparently, the answer was, "not very," because the younger man shut up gave Mercury a tough glance, looking at him from head to toe.
"You look weird," is all he said.
Mercury ignored him. "Are Max and the others alright? Romeo and Kinana?"
"They're fine. The kid wouldn't stop trying to go back and Max wouldn't shut up about getting his hair wet until someone told him it wasn't his fault," Laxus explained, looking peeved. He was probably thinking very distasteful thoughts about Max – something along the lines of 'he couldn't even hold out long enough for help to arrive.' "Are you going to answer my question or not? Why do you look so weird?"
"I'd answer you if I knew what you were talking about," the water mage huffed. "I don't exactly have a mirror on me – and do we really have the time for this, anyway?"
"... I guess not."
Laxus turned to teh seas behind Mercury, which looked more violent than ever; the waves churned, and above, instead of the blue sky it should have been in early spring, the clouds remained heavy and gray – a sure sign that whatever was coming, it wasn't good.
Mercury had to wonder just how much power that man had in him for it to be affecting the weather, too.
As Laxus was staring, the waves surged, reaching out towards the shore. For an incredibly brief moment Mercury wondered if that's why Laxus had been standing here at his return – to beat the waves back – but the man's eyes were just as surprised as he felt. Clearly, this wasn't within his expectations.
Then, had he been waiting here for Mercury to return?
… No, that couldn't be it.
Though Laxus's surprise was palpable, if a bit mild, the water's sudden movement didn't catch either of them off guard – except instead of giving him time for lightning to rear to life, the water immediately fell back, urged by the water mage.
Laxus turned, enraged. "Don't fucking do that," he growled.
Mercury only shrugged, knowing that the man's anger was just thinly veiled concern – he had to at least know that much after knowing him for so long. "Do I look like I'm suffering from Magic Deficiency anymore?"
And truthfully, he didn't.
The water mage's clothes were horribly torn to the point that there would be no saving them, and they were thick with a mixture of water and blood that turned them from black to ashy brown. While the damage had originally been limited to the stomach area – which had a huge, jagged hole that left little to the imagination – the rest of his clothes had been snagged on rocks and sticks while his siblings humiliated him by dragging him to the cliff, so there were even more holes that suck out vibrantly. HIs pants, his shirt – nothing had been spared.
But more than that… Mercury was fully scaled again. Even more scaly than before, in fact, because it was the whole body that was covered in what looked like shimmering gems, blue like sapphires. The palms of his hands and most of his face were the only parts that were made of human skin. Dark blue scales – not gray, like they should have been, but a dark blue that was reminiscent of the ocean – lined the edges of his cheeks all the way up to the back of his ears.
Behind his ears, however, the scales were different – they were yellow, and it wasn't just them; there were several others mixed onto the rest of his body, noticeably brighter than the rest in a way that gave the appearance of them actually glowing. The yellow scales formed rough linear patterns from Mercury's ears all down his neck, twisting towards the back of it and fading in behind the man's shoulder blades.
And there were no more black stains on his body. Not on his face or arm, nor stomach. Mercury was back to seeing through two eyes again, and he looked even stronger than before to boot. His hair even glowed with an unnatural hue. It was still blue, but rather than a blue just a few shades darker than a clear sky, it looked brighter, almost glowing in the light of the slowly-rising sun.
This was what Mercury was supposed to look like, and it was apparent to everyone. He was once more fully scaled, with thin, rippling muscle bristling beneath the surface – not just like a human, as the water mage had always tried to play at, but an entirely different creature in the shape of a human.
"I guess this is a little different," Mercury commented, looking down at the scales that didn't quite look like his. They hadn't looked like this when he fell into the water, he was certain, and they probably weren't like this when he'd been talking to Fiernen, either.
Actually… This was awfully a lot like what she looked like.
"No shit," Laxus huffed.
Despite it being far too late, the water mage scrambled to hide how much skin – or, rather, scales – he was showing. It didn't work, especially with how much the fabric of his shirt sagged under the weight of water. Most of his clothes seemed close to giving out entirely.
(Was it… odd that he found he didn't care so much about being this wet anymore? It was uncomfortable, but not intolerable.)
Laxus didn't look like he accepted Mercury's assertions that he was fine, but he didn't put up any more arguments, which the water mage took to mean he would not be getting out of a conversation about it later.
"If anything," he said, "I feel like I'm going to burst if I don't get any of it out of my system." Mercury raised his hands, showing Laxus the slight tremble in them – a condition that wasn't because he was worried.
No, his body just felt electric.
"... Just don't push yourself," the younger man acquiesced. "I'm not going to carry you if you pass out again."
… But Mercury felt like he'd had more caffeine than humanly possible, so he wasn't stressed about it. Besides, he knew what he had to do to end all this, and he wasn't planning on passing out before then.
"So," Warren said as the two paused, "Is everyone going to keep ignoring me?"
It startled Mercury – had that man been listening in on their conversation, or had he just come back then? – but he smoothly replied, "Yes," at the exact same time that Laxus did the same.
"Fine. See how much I care," their telepath cut off the connection with a huff.
"Well then," Mercury said. He turned to face the waters that he had once so greatly feared. "Shouldn't we end this soon?"
With the water being pushed back by his own magic – which was somehow more than enough to overpower anything that the unified force of his siblings were able to bring up – he wasn't worried about much more damage to the surrounding areas, but that didn't mean it was time to breathe easy yet. This was only going to end when he took out the one leading it – that man in the body of his sibling… or, perhaps knowing what he knew now, he could say it was the opposite.
No, maybe it was something he hadn't even considered; there was no way to be certain until he saw that man face to face… for what he'd hope would be the last time.
But, really, did it even matter anymore?
All they needed to do was stop that man. Mercury didn't care how they had to do it, nor did he care what that person's actual situation was; so long as he could use him to knock his siblings out of their induced reverie, it would be fine. Ideally, they'd go home too – Mercury didn't have a plan for if they didn't, but they'd figure it out as they went.
"You look like you're planning something idiotic," Laxus commented.
Mercury bit out a half laugh, half cough, walking up towards the direction he knew the rest of the guild was gathered. "It's not idiotic if it's going to stop all of this. And it doesn't include me getting hurt – you're welcome."
"For what?" Laxus's feet crunched the gravel as he followed behind closely without complaint.
Mercury ignored him. "Anyway, I'm one-hundred-percent certain that we've got to defeat that one bastard if we want all of these guys to go away, so that should be our first priority."
"That would be a great priority if we knew where he was."
"He's somewhere in that direction." The water mage vaguely threw his hand over his shoulder, aiming at what seemed to be a random portion of the ocean.
"And how do you know that?"
Mercury gave him a flat stare. "How long have you known me? I can hear it. It's really loud, by the way."
Indeed, it was; save for Mother's entire presence – the part of her that this man had stolen – it was the loudest song that Mercury had ever heard, nearly making it impossible for him to blot out. Fortunately, there was one sound in front of him that he much preferred listening to. While it wasn't easy, he could tune one out for the other.
How would Laxus react if he voiced that out loud?
Not well, Mercury'd imagine. It would probably end up with him getting punched; despite all the time that had passed, Laxus was still prone to anger when he didn't know what else to feel.
"The longer I know you, the more I think I don't," Laxus huffed, "but what I do know is that you're going to do something stupid, so I'm not letting you go alone."
"Lax, come on. I was always going to bring you."
He paused, initially suspicious. "Really?"
"You can't beat fire with fire and you can't beat water with water. The ocean's full of salt, and I'm gonna make full use of that if I can." … Though, admittedly, Mercury's reasoning in bringing Laxus along was to reassure himself; he wasn't one-hundred-percent certain he'd be able to control himself and his magic now, being as… full as it was.
Besides, it would be nice to fight by Laxus's side again, wouldn't it?
Though he wouldn't be caught dead admitting it, even though they were both already thinking it.
At the admission, Laxus's eyes blazed with new life. He knew what Mercury was talking about – now that the water mage was a mage again, they could go back to all their old combos, just like the old days. Which, if you thought about it, were almost fifteen years ago.
Time really flies, huh?
.
.
.
Makarov Dreyar had been trying his best to keep the leader of all this… crap away from Magnolia proper, dragging that man in horrendous clothes as far south from the city as he could. While those siblings of Mercury's were strong – though they'd hardly even managed to see any of them, save for those who'd despicably gone behind their backs to attack their hall – this man was a clear cut above the rest. His magic power leaked into the air like poisonous gas, so strong that even Makarov felt somewhat sick ingesting it.
This was not just the power of a dragon – it was the power of a dead dragon, a creature whose soul was rotted and devoid of life. It was like a curse. Such a thing shouldn't be in the world; it denied the natural laws of life and death, desperately holding onto something it shouldn't have had in the first place.
If he so wished, he could have cast Fairy Law on it, but something was holding him back. Despite how much he hated this man in front of him, he could not separate the idea of him from the idea of Mercury; they were two entirely different people, and yet there was something so similar about them that it was hard to put into words.
They weren't necessarily his enemy, so much as they were something he felt a moderate disdain for, and besides, it wasn't his job to do Mercury's business for him…
… so when he felt something in his chest screaming at him that his problem child had finally awoken, now brimming with a life he hadn't felt in so long, Makarov smiled.
The air began to clear as an opposing force pushed the miasma out. Mercury's magic swam through the air, clearing the heavy, dark mist that had started to accumulate and replacing it with what felt like a breath of fresh air.
This was the power of a dragon, too. It felt so similar to Natsu and Wendy, so similar even to Makrov's problematic grandchild when he went all out.
Mercury's magic was the feeling of nature at work.
Ocean waves began to climb away from Makarov, clearing a path for him to stand. The man he was fighting had been keeping himself just out of range of the guildmaster's large form while trying to blast him away with range, so even taking a step forward was an accomplishment – but it was this step forward that he did not take.
Because this was no longer his fight; it was Mercury's.
Just as he was taking a step back, the man in question arrived. Questionably late, Makarov might have added if not for the heroic splash that came with him.
Mercury was not one for subtle entrances. At least, he hadn't been in what could be considered his "prime", and now that it appeared he was back in it, it was no surprise that he arrived riding on the back of a serpent made of water so large that it made Makarov look small. Mercury's hair was flush against his face because of how fast it was going, and he'd ditched his shirt entirely, revealing not only a lack of black markings, but also a plating of thick blue scales.
"I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!"
Makarov saw a flash of yellow amongst the blue, and despite the situation he was in – the situation he had been in – he laughed. Laxus was right behind Mercury, looking like he very much might throw up yet holding on tightly to the older man's body as though for dear life.
Considering Mercury's recklessness… it might very well have been, but Makarov wasn't worried in the slightest; the two boys looked almost exactly as they had in the past, as though nothing had changed between them. Laxus was a little older and Mercury's scales glimmered a slightly different color, but as far as Makarov was concerned, he was looking at the two boys whose happiness could not be stopped even if the whole world was standing in front of them.
