In both her time before being a member of Fairy Tail and before she'd learned to control the demon inside of her, Mira had seen a lot of things. She'd grown to be an expert at watching people – even those who sometimes acted more like children than the kids she'd actually had to raise herself – and if there was one thing she could say about Fairy Tail, it was that each and every member of the guild was extraordinary.
Of course, they tended to be extraordinary in ways that… weren't always positive. From "extraordinarily destructive" to "extraordinarily obnoxious," the guild was filled to the brim with characters who couldn't quite be described in simple words. The only thing that could be said about all of them was that they were people that she'd created extraordinary memories with.
And yet feeling the burst of magic so far off shore that Mira couldn't even see it was something she was certain she'd never forget.
The dawn had risen long ago, and it was probably closer to noon than it was to midnight, so she was tired. They all were. Their fights had been going on for hours now. Though Mercury was their biggest sign that his "siblings" (if they could even be called that, considering what he'd gone through) were soon to arrive, he actually had been nowhere to be seen by the time someone ran back to tell the guild that the water "looked angry" – something that Laxus assured Mira would be fine.
Whether or not she believed him was up in the air, even now.
As it turned out, the initial statement about the state of the water had been incredibly apt, though it had made little sense at the time. The waters were far choppier than Mira had ever seen them, and by the time they had arrived to start preparing, several of the docks had collapsed. Overhead, the skies had been incredibly gray. Wind howled through Magnolia's alleyways and streets. It was as though the whole world was being affected by the mood of the ocean.
But besides how nervous the atmosphere made Mira… the fighting itself wasn't actually much of a chore. If anything, it was far easier than she'd thought given her friend's reaction. Mercury had once been probably as close as one could get to S-Class without actually claiming the title, but his siblings were in no such state – the only thing most of them had going for them was that they were practically invincible under the water.
Almost as invincible as they were invisible. Mira could hardly spot any of them when they were obscured by the waves; the only glimpse she got of them were brief flashes of color that had her second guessing whether she'd seen them at all.
Then, around dawn, Kinana had called for help, Romeo in tow, and everything felt like it had gone to shit – but since they couldn't actually find where Mercury had disappeared to, all Mira could do was have hope that he'd pulled through.
Somehow, he always managed to do just that. This would be no exception.
(Laxus, on the other hand, was so furious that Mira judged it best to stay away and let him work through it himself. She was learning more and more that when Mercury was involved, their resident lightning dragon slayer tended towards extreme, irrational decisions.)
(Then again… Mira herself was often the same. It was just this time that she was forcing herself to stay positive.)
It was around then that some of those scaled creatures had crept out of the water like cryptids, and these ones… they were far different than the others that Mira had spotted. Rather than being almost husk-like, these four brimmed with vitality. And they had the battlefield presence to show it. There were only four of them, but each one was somewhat equivalent to an S-Class mage – or, at least, they were when they were the ones manipulating the situation. Clearly, they had vastly underestimated the degree to which Fairy Tail was prepared, and they were quickly (if a bit painfully) shown how wrong they were.
Mira ended up fighting the one with orange scales. To be honest, it was incredibly disconcerting to see what could have been a carbon copy of her friend; the man's – man's (?) – hair fell into his eyes the same way that Mercury's did now, and his face was so similar that they could have been twins.
The biggest difference between the two was that he looked at Mira with a smile that was downright predatory. Like she was prey.
It was infuriating. His orange scales reflected the last light of dusk vividly, and yet it was all a waste in the face of such cruelty. That's when Mira was reminded once again of who these people were, and what they had done. Such beauty was practically thrown away on trash like them.
Warren passed along the message that there were several others that appeared at the same time, which only furthered Mira's irritation; the number matched up almost perfectly with the number Mercury had specifically mentioned – three brothers and one sister – so there was little doubt in her mind that these were the ones that used to be his biggest fears.
Fortunately, as of late, it really did seem like they only "used" to be one of them.
That didn't make Mira want to break them any less.
She was stuck fighting the orange-scaled one while Natsu, Lucy, and Gray took on one with black scales nearby. From Warren's fervent rambling in the back of her mind, Mira was able to piece together the status of the other two, too – the one with purple-scaled, lone female of the group had been engaged by the Bixlow, Fried, and Evergreen, leaving the man with shimmering blue scales to be taken on by Laxus.
Mira was sure that other people were near the dragon slayer that could have or even wanted to help, but it was probably better that he get his anger out on a target they were actually allowed to attack rather than others in the guild.
Then, shortly after dawn broke, Mercury reappeared, much to everyone's collective relief. Despite this, he disappeared shortly after with Laxus in tow; within minutes, they'd gone far enough that Warren couldn't reach them, and Master Makarov returned only to tell them that everything was going to be fine.
His assurance of "those boys look like they're going to have fun" did not, in fact, assure Mira.
Would asking those two to think of how she felt in all of this be too much to ask for?
When the ocean began to recede as though running away from Magnolia, the Take-Over mage couldn't help but stare. If that wasn't a sign that something big was happening – as though a whole tsunami could be considered "small" – Mira wasn't sure what was. Unfortunately, it was also one of those things that had been taken out of her hands long before she even realized what was happening; even if she did want to follow those two idiots to wherever they were going, it was something that was impossible for her.
If only there were some sort of aquatic demon for her to take the form of…
(It was at this point that she had eyed the orange-scaled creature at her feet, wondering just how different he could be from a human… or a demon.)
Any of the sea's children that didn't make it into the ocean before it pulled itself from the shore simply lay there, nearly catatonic. It was a bit disturbing – despite being in enemy territory, in sunlight that would burn their skin and air they were unfamiliar with breathing, all they could do was fall limply against the ground. The only exceptions to this were, as predicted, the four that were actual trouble.
In particular, the orange one woke up and started shouting what Mira could only assume were obscenities – though the only ones who could confirm what he were saying were, at that time, either missing or asleep. So, she did what felt like the right option – stringing him up as tightly as possible so that he had no hope of escape. When she was done, he couldn't breathe deeper than the shallowest of breaths, and Mira still thought it was still too loose.
Though, admittedly, it was a bit awkward that it seemed like he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
… And then, suddenly, it was noon, and the guild watched on as an unnatural (and, frankly, unimaginable) amount of magic slammed itself into the sky to leave a trail of broken clouds in its wake. It was literally visible despite having somehow come from beneath the ocean. Many guild members watched as it slowly faded away, their mouths hanging wide open.
"Does that mean it's over?" someone asked. Mira had no idea who, her own eyes still stuck on the spot on the horizon that was now clear.
Even from here, she could feel it – no, she was certain of it. That magic wasn't just any magic; it belonged to the two knuckleheads who had disappeared into the ocean as though doing so was a ridiculously easy task.
(For Mercury it might have been, but for Laxus? She wasn't sure how the heck he'd gotten down there, nor was she certain she wanted to know. It couldn't have been good for her heart.)
When Mercury and Laxus were together, they always managed to surprise her.
Afterwards, all of the water that had disappeared crashed down, slowly slinging back into place as though it had never left. At first, it looked like it might cause more carnage than it would have should an actual tsunami had crashed down, but as the flow approached the shore, it became surprisingly gentle. The wave slowly coasted in rather than obliterating everything in its path. Still, Master Master Makarov instructed everyone to fall back, and those who had the ability to create assisted in making a retaining wall to stop any excess water from causing even more destruction.
Mira almost laughed when Natsu tried to insert himself, too. "Since Merc keeps finding ways to avoid fighting me, I'll just fight the ocean instead!"
No matter what kind of character growth he went through, Natsu was still an idiot. A lovable idiot, but definitely an idiot.
Was it too late to ask if it was curable?
Despite waiting with bated breaths for their two missing members, the guild made quick work of attempting to clean the mess they'd made. It was truly impressive – both the damage they'd wrought and the speed at which they were tidying it up. Mira wasn't sure if it was experience at this point or if the destruction truly wasn't as bad as it looked; by the time they were done, the debris had been cleared. Of course, that just made it obvious how much had been destroyed in the first place, too – the docks were entirely gone, and the shoreline had been eroded severely enough that when it came time to rebuild, they'd have to start significantly closer to the main road.
Well, Mira was just glad that the citizens of the city seemed to be on their side for once, having seen the unnatural way that the oceans moved and coming to the conclusion that things might have been worse if Fairy Tail hadn't stepped in. It wasn't often that the two parties came to an agreement on anything. Sure, Magnolia loved Fairy Tail and being involved in guild affairs, but it got tiring having to clean up your destroyed storefronts every two weeks when someone got too rowdy.
The docks wouldn't be fixed anytime soon, so it was good that they had instructed any ships moored within to move elsewhere until they got someone with actual expertise to help them repair them. Hargeon would thank them for the extra business later. It meant that the dock-workers here in Magnolia would be out of work for a while, but they could do with a little break if it meant that there had been zero casualties despite the potential tsunami that had been knocking on their doorstep.
Thinking about what could have happened made Mira shiver.
"You think we should call Porlyusica?" Lucy asked, standing by Mira's side. "I wonder if they're injured."
A small group now waited at the broken remains of the largest pier, scanning the waters. Unsurprisingly, the Thunder God Tribe was there, along with many of the Tenrou Island group members who had nothing to offer in the way of rebuilding after the debris had been cleared away.
"I think that they'd probably feel even worse if that old hag was here," Evergreen commented dryly. She, too, had been a victim to the old woman's foul mood as of late – a mood stemming from being forced to frequent the city she hated to visit a race of people she also hated.
Even if her most frequent patient was not technically human.
"Also, Mercury doesn't get injured, and he wouldn't let Laxus get hurt," Bixlow added. "I think that if Porlyusica was needed, it would be for whoever got hit with that."
They'd all seen it. It was impossible not to considering that there had been little else to do but watch the horizon at the time.
"Ugh, how long are they going to make us wait?" Natsu moaned. "If Mercury's got all that in him, then he's definitely well enough to fight me again!" Somehow, he was still amped up despite apparently having been nearly drowned at least twice during his fight – or perhaps that was why he was amped up.
Because he didn't get the last hit.
That had been done by Lucy and Aquarius, and he wouldn't stop complaining about it.
Behind him, Gray huffed, sighed, then crossed his arms in a way that would have made you think he'd been taking notes from the lightning dragon slayer they were all waiting for. "You think he's gonna have energy left to fight you after this? Are you an idiot? Actually, are we certain they'll even be conscious?"
The thought hovered in the air. Would they be awake? Was it even possible for Laxus to not be unconscious, considering they'd somehow apparently gone to the bottom of the ocean?"
"... Should we find a boat to go look for them with?" Lucy asked.
"Mercury's a fish, so he can breathe underwater!" Happy happily declared, remaining perched on Natsu's shoulder. Apparently, he thought better about his statement, quietly adding, "But Laxus isn't a fish…"
And there weren't any boats left in the harbor to go out and search with anyway, unless they wanted to send someone to Blue Pegasus to borrow to the Christina. They'd probably have more luck trying to swim that far.
At least the waters were a lot calmer now.
"I believe that if Merc were to hear you call him a fish, you might be the one that finds yourself underwater, Happy," Fried said.
"Oh no! Lucy, don't let him get me!"
"I'll let him do whatever he wants to you, cat. Get your dirty paws off of me!" The two began to squabble. At this point, Mira was pretty sure they fought and argued more than Natsu and Gray did, but she'd keep that thought to herself.
(Whether or not they argued as much as Laxus and Mercury, however, was a different story. Mira wasn't certain anyone could argue as much as they did.)
Evergreen sighed. "Should we stop them?"
She looked fed up with the entire thing, even going so far as to start slipping her glasses down her nose in order to petrify them, only for Bixlow to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Nah. It's good entertainment while we're waiting for those slowpokes," he said. "Beats staring at the water. I feel like my eyes are gonna go bad. All I see is water, water, and more water no matter which direction I look!"
That's exactly how it appeared – at least, until a few moments later, when a noticeable bump appeared close to the shore, slowly getting closer. Mira's heart raced at the sight. She didn't even have to point it out to the others, because everyone – save for Lucy and Happy – was still looking for it.
She saw blonde hair first. Definitely Laxus. No one else had such a bright yellow, not even Lucy, who was equally as blonde. It stood out vibrantly against the pale blue water – far more than the blue that quickly followed.
It didn't look like Laxus could do much standing on his own, though.
Mercury was the only one actually upright, taking a staggering step towards the shore with two arms visible around his neck. One belonged to everyone's favorite grumpy dragon slayer, the other to a man Mira only vaguely recognized; she was certain, however, that this man was one of Mercury's siblings. His hair was that exact same blue, and he had pure black scales that almost appeared to fade away when they touched the sunlight.
Though Mercury looked mostly fine – there were bruises on his face and some visible slash-marks on his scales – Laxus on his shoulder didn't, hacking away like his life depended on it. Small mouthfuls of water came with each cough.
The former looked up, squinting and apologetic. "Can someone help me out here? These guys are heavy."
Mira could have sworn that she heard Laxus say, "I'll show you heavy," but she couldn't be certain because the dragon slayer could hardly take in a breath, let alone snap anything back.
Their little group showed no more hesitation, the Thunder God Tribe being the first to jump into action. Literally. Fried and Bixlow jumped into the water, wading out until it was up to their thighs to meet their friend, where the former gently took Laxus from Mercury's shoulder as though predicting what the latter was going to do next – tackle Mercury, sending himself, the water mage, and the other man on Mercury's shoulder back into the shallows with a loud splash.
"Took you damn long enough!" Bixlow shouted, ignoring the fact that he was pressing Mercury's head under water so that he couldn't respond.
A moment later, the water mage forced him off with a heavy grunt. "Get off of me, fatass," he huffed, but there was a genuine smile on his face as he sat up once more that said more than his words ever could.
Mira could see why. Inexplicably, it looked like he had completely recovered from his condition – something that might have been attributed to a miracle if they hadn't just watched him and his siblings literally control the ocean. Besides, the aura around him was different in a way that she couldn't quite explain. Perhaps it had to do with his hair, which upon second glance, seemed to be even more blue than usual. It was somehow more vibrant, like he'd dyed it with magic.
Odd.
Then again, his scales were now blue instead of gray, and that felt more important.
Bixlow helped Mercury stand, but both ignored the mystery third man still laying down in the shallows.
"Laxus, you okay?" the water mage asked, staring oddly around where the dragon slayer was and still squinting.
"Yeah, no thanks to you."
Mira opened her mouth to ask what had happened – both of them seemed to be in a decent state, so it was only Laxus that was still coughing like he was going to hack up a lung – until something loud and pink pushed by her, nearly shoving her to the side.
"Natsu, you idiot, get back here!"
"Meeeeeeeeerc!" Natsu shouted so loudly that even Happy was taken aback, haplessly flapping his wings next to Lucy. The fire dragon slayer launched himself at Mercury.
"Holy sh–" Either there wasn't any time to dodge, or Mercury was too tired to even bother; he took the kick to the stomach, flew backwards about seven feet, and disappeared once more under the water.
Everything was quiet.
"Huh? Where'd he go?"
"Natsu, what the hell did you just do?!" Gray shouted not a moment before he, too, entered the water to grab Natsu by the scarf. "Do you think he's in any state to fight you right now? You saw how he was yesterday."
"No, he's fine now," Natsu said with such confidence that even Mira felt like she was supposed to believe him. "He said we'd fight when he was better."
"I sincerely doubt he intended to fight you the moment he got back here. What if he drowns 'cuz he's so tired, or something?"
Mira laughed, both of them whipping around to eye her – they probably thought that she was going to be mad, but truthfully, she was amused. It had been a long time since any of them were able to make jokes at Mercury's expense, after all.
"I think he's just messing with you," she said, then pointed even further out on the water where Mercury was now back floating, staring up at the sky.
He gave them a little wave, indicating that he could hear them, but didn't otherwise move to come back.
"I told you he's fine!"
"How was I supposed to know that?"
"By looking with your eyes?" Natsu proclaimed, adding a loud, "duh," just to enrage Gray.
Gray squared up, somehow having enough magic left after facing off against his opponent earlier to start freezing the saltwater around him. Natsu took the challenge well, lighting his fists up.
By Mira's side, Lucy muttered, "I have no idea where he gets the energy for this."
She had to agree; at this point, she'd been awake for almost thirty six hours, and she was ready to take the nap that she'd been putting off to make sure Mercury and Laxus weren't somehow going to come back injured. Now that she'd seen both of them, she was pretty sure it was fine to relax.
"So, who's that other guy?" Bixlow suddenly asked, nudging the man in the water with his knee.
Now that he was flat on his back, Mira could see his features a lot better. While she'd been certain that his hair was the same shade of blue as her friend's, it now seemed like it was fading into something more akin to purple, remaining on a bright, unnatural indigo.
When she saw from the shore that he had a chunk missing out of his ear, Mira realized just who it was.
"It's the guy we met at the Alchemist guild," she observed, surprising even herself.
By then, Laxus had stopped coughing, though he remained somewhat pale, like he was going to fall ill sometime in the near future. Mira noticed that he was also apparently having a hard time trying to make out details. Laxus squinted at the man in the water's face, then shook Fried off, taking a couple of steps toward the water.
… And kicked the man in the ribs.
"Woah!" Bixlow shouted. Even Natsu and Gray paused their fighting, waiting to see what Laxus was going to do.
Even though all eyes were on him, he didn't let up, pulling back to kick again. Before he did, though, he said, "I know you're awake. Get up."
Before waiting for the inevitable response, he delivered another devastating blow, and this time, they jolted up with a start and scrambled to get out of the water.
Laxus's glare was fiercer than flames. Mira could tell that much, so she almost wanted to jump into the water herself and join him; the man she was staring at was undoubtedly the same as the one who had kidnapped Mercury in the first place, leading to so much pain and suffering. She had no idea why he was here or what sort of conclusion they'd come to at the bottom of the ocean, only that she was as angry as she'd ever been.
"Wait, wait, wait," Mercury suddenly said, popping out of the water once more. "Don't kill him."
Laxus's fierce gaze turned onto his best friend, lightning sparking even though he must have been exhausted at that point. "What the hell? You think I'm not going to beat the hell out of him just 'cuz you asked me not to?"
Between them, the man almost appeared to be cowering. Almost. He stared between Mercury and Laxus, eying both of them as though trying to figure out which one would win in a fight.
Mercury looked down and caught the man's gaze, then returned to look at Laxus. "I didn't say you couldn't do that. Just don't kill him – I kind of need him."
And that was that; Laxus moved for a third kick, which was dodged as the man scrambled up, hiding behind Mercury in a way that made it look like it wasn't because he was scared. It looked more like he was just trying to get a rise out of Laxus, a smile that Mira could already tell was going to be irritating on his face.
For some reason… She remembered the first day that Lucy joined the guild, when Mercury was asleep at the bar and only woke up to argue with Master Makarov. He was skilled at doing precisely the things that would get the master worked up without any serious consequences.
There was no doubt in her mind that these two were siblings.
"Okay, but who is he?" Evergreen pressed. She also hadn't gotten into the water, but she was so close that if she took one step forward, her toes would be touching the gently lapping waves. "He's the one that knocked Bixlow out, right?"
For the first time, the man spoke. His words were heavy and accented as though Fiorean wasn't his first language, but he didn't stop hiding behind Mercury. "Er, technically, that wasn't me…"
"It was you!" Bixlow announced. He dragged Mercury forward, grabbed the man by the collar, and lifted him into the air. "Do you know how hard it was to get the dent out of my helmet?!"
Behind him, his dolls were shouting, "hard," and "helmet."
Evergreen cleared her throat, "Bix, is that seriously the issue you have with it? Do you even remember why you were there in the first place?"
"Uh…. to find Mercury?"
"Yes."
He seemed to think seriously about it. Mira presumed that his eyes went wide because she could see the way that his tongue hung out of his mouth as though shocked. "Wait, is this the dude who kidnapped Mercury?"
"Bixlow…" Fried hummed in disappointment. He even let his head rest in his hand, massaging his temples at the frustration building.
Maybe every team just had to have one idiot in it, Mira surmised.
Mercury cleared his throat. He stepped away from Bixlow, towards the shore, and Mira saw just how heavy the bags under his eyes were. Though he may have been miraculously healed, the exhaustion that had been building for weeks beforehand hadn't simply been erased; he was still just as tired as he had been.
"He's not lying. If you want to talk technicalities, it wasn't him."
"And you believe that bullshit?" Laxus asked, tone absolutely scathing. If it were anyone else, they'd have wilted just facing such a heavy, angry voice, but Mercury stood as tall against it as he always had.
"I'm not saying he didn't do anything wrong. Just that it wasn't him that did that. I'm still going to take my time with him later, assuming you don't beat me to it."
Laxus didn't appear to be appeased with Mercury's words, but he did step down.
"Whaddya mean it wasn't him?" Bixlow asked. He dropped the man, causing him to fall once more into the waters at their feet and creating a large splash. "I was a little confused by the hair, but his face is the same as that guy's was. He's even got the little ear thing."
"Ear thing…" the man repeated. He actually looked a little irritated by that statement, but he quickly wiped it off, standing to approach Mercury once more. His every movement was tracked by the group around him, even Gray, Natsu, and Lucy, so he must have known that one wrong move was going to get him targeted by all of them.
But all he did was put his hand on Mercury's shoulder.
"Me and him… We're brothers, alri –" whatever he was trying to say was cut off by said "brother's" knee hitting him in the gut, and a plethora of what sounded like curses but were actually unintelligible to anyone listening came out of his mouth.
He fell to the ground once more, clutching between his legs while moaning.
"You don't get to call me your brother," Mercury huffed – though he looked far more annoyed than truly angry. He turned to the rest of them, putting his hands out in a show of peace. "Can I explain what happened?"
No one disagreed.
Mercury started from what happened at the guild. Most of them were already aware, nodding along, so he didn't go into much detail; his explanation only went so far as to say that he had been attacked and later thrown into the ocean in an attempt to essentially brainwash him, where he spoke to some version of his "Mother."
She had, as far as anyone could tell, severed any sort of connection between the main body and himself – and he'd regained his magic, completely recovering at the same time. That's when he returned to Magnolia briefly to figure out what the hell was going on, then headed out to confront the same man who was still sitting in the water, clutching his balls.
Except it wasn't the same man; there were two people shoved inside the same body, with only one main personality showing at a time. It wasn't a simple Take-Over like they had assumed, but something else entirely, and no one could quite put a name to the magic that had been used, not even the one who had used it. The one in control at the time had been the human side – Cyrus, the one who had kidnapped Mercury and knocked Bixlow unconscious. The one they were talking to, however, was the non-human version, and therefore he had not technically done anything except attempt to destroy Magnolia. It wasn't quite something that anyone could say wasn't deserving of a beating – just looking around them revealed a non-negligible amount of destruction, but they couldn't quite say that their attacks were for Mercury's sake, either.
Well, they still could. And would. No one really wanted to see that man around him, especially knowing what he'd come so close to doing.
"Anyway, this guy can't die, both in the sense that I'm pretty sure he literally can't and that I need him to do something for me," Mercury finished.
Laxus didn't seem happy with the explanation, but really, was there even going to be a situation in which he was happy if he couldn't decimate the man on the ground?
Probably not.
"What do you need him for? You gonna, like, drain his dragon power and then become a dragon? Or steal all his dragon balls and get a wish granted or something?" Bixlow asked. Evergreen looked appalled at the insinuation, while Fried got the same look of disappointment on his face again.
On the ground, Leviathan made a noise like he was choking.
"Uh, no," Mercury said, looking similarly disturbed, "I just need him to tell the rest of my former siblings to piss off and never bother me again."
He stared down at the man expectantly, waiting for him to respond.
"Well…" Leviathan looked around, first from Mercury, then to Laxus, and finally let his gaze travel to the rest of the gathered guild – people he'd never seen before, who were all staring back at him as though challenging him to say no. "... I guess I can send them all back. As a gift to my dearest bro–" clearly, he was going to say brother, but was dissuaded by Mercury's glare, "– acquaintance. My dearest acquaintance."
"You think that's enough to pay for everything you've done?" Laxus growled. This time, it was him picking up for Leviathan by the collar, gripping tightly onto the expensive clothes that had basically been ruined by the ocean. "You think we're going to let you just run away? You and that human bastard inside of you?"
"Not really. But I do think that everyone's going to be a lot happier once they don't have to see all these scaled people walking around." Leviathan's eyes flashed towards the remains of the pier, where non-mages were gathering to watch the sight. It hadn't even been long since Mercury had surfaced, and yet there were more than ten onlookers gazing at them with curious, almost accusatory eyes.
In their minds, they already knew that Fairy Tail had been facing off against some sort of fish-like creature, and there were two of such people standing in front of them.
Leviathan… and Mercury.
"I'm gonna have to get stamped again," Mercury huffed, suddenly feeling bare without the guild mark on his chest. It was probably technically still there, just hidden by the plating of scales that now grew on top of it; to anyone staring at him, chances were that they didn't know who he was, let alone that he was in the guild.
The thought was oddly humbling.
Laxus, sensing that they actually would be better off moving the conversation elsewhere, dropped Leviathan back into the water for what must have been the fourth time. "Anyone got any rope?"
"It's fine," Leviathan huffed. "I'll send them all back. One moment." He closed his eyes, concentrating.
Evergreen looked at Mercury, concerned. "Should we be letting him do that?"
Behind her, Bixlow was already starting to terrorize anyone who was attempting to watch with his dolls, and Mira, who was too tired to be actually terrifying, gave them a small wave and glare in hopes that they got the message.
(They did, scurrying away once the glare of a certain dragon slayer was added into the mix.)
"It's fine. It can't affect me anymore," Mercury explained. "I'm basically a human now. Uh, if you exclude all of the… You know." He gestured vaguely to his chest, stomach, and arms, which were still scaled – and, interestingly enough, like Leviathan's hair, they were fading from blue to gray the longer they dried in the sun.
Gray, finally feeling confident enough to interject, said, "Is that really possible?"
"Just let him think what he wants," Laxus grumbled, though there was a rather distinct and not-subtle look of pleasure on his face. "As long as we don't have to deal with any more fish freaks again, who cares?"
He couldn't hide his feelings from Mercury, though, who sneered back at him. "Yeah, whatever. You're still gonna be stuck with this fish freak until everyone here is old and decrepit."
"Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way," said Fried, "and I'm sure I speak for everyone around us when I say that."
Mercury was met by grins and smiles, leading to one of his own.
The moment was harshly broken by a gagging noise, the culprit being the single person who couldn't care less. In a language no one but Mercury could understand, he muttered, "You humans are so disgusting, showing your feelings like that," then made a face.
"What did he say?" Bixlow asked.
"That you're all gross and that he hates humans. Hey, should we tie him up and leave him to Porlyusica? They might be friends."
Collectively, everyone shivered. No one could stand the thought of the human-hating healer making friends with the human-hating… whatever he was, if only because no one wanted to let Porlyusica get her hands on someone with enough power to cause all this destruction.
"No, let's just… tie him up and stick him into the basement or something," Evergreen said, visibly perturbed. "That would be… enough, right?"
She eyed Mercury as though asking for permission.
"I don't care. I just want to get these idiots out of Magnolia as fast as possible. Then, I can go to bed. I'm exhausted."
Laxus snorted. "You're tired after only that?"
"Shut it. That last attack? It was all me. You were just an accessory."
"I was an accessory?" Laxus repeated, face going almost slack. "Who was the one who had me attacking the both of you the whole time while you two just chatted? I'm getting real sick of your attitude, always talking in that stupid language like no one else should understand."
"Are you jealous? I'd offer to teach you, but I don't think your little human throat is complex enough to learn. Also, you're not patient enough to learn a language.
"Why, you –" Laxus growled.
"And you think I don't know that you couldn't read until you were –"
"Holy shit," Leviathan interrupted. He appeared to be the only one to want to do so. "Do they always argue like this?"
The nods around him were unanimous.
"I dunno if they can go more than a couple of hours without fighting," Bixlow commented.
"Yeah," said Gray, "I only ever hear them at each other's throats when they're talking without anyone else."
Happy chose that moment to interrupt, flying in to land on Natsu's shoulder with an, "Aye, sir!" of agreement. "Master always says that if these guys can agree on something, the world's gonna end!"
"... Is that why they never come up with plans?" asked Evergreen, staring between the two. "Because they can't agree on one?"
Heavy silence laid in the air for more than a moment, everyone's eyes locked on the two.
Then, Mercury cleared his throat. "Anyway, did you actually tell them to go away? I can't hear anything you say like that anymore."
"Don't just change the subject!"
Leviathan wasn't bothered by the group's shouts. In fact, he looked quite bemused by the whole thing, not even trying to hide the smile fighting to show on his lips. "Well, I guess that's what brothers are for. I never really agreed with any of our siblings, either."
"Stop talking in that damn –"
"He said that he doesn't agree with people very much either," Mercury translated before Laxus could get mad – or any madder than he already was, at least.
"Dearest Mercury, you know that's not exactly what I –"
The water mage cleared his throat again, looking away to hide the heat rising to his cheeks. Laxus wouldn't let him live it down if he knew that he'd so brazenly called them brothers in front of not just one person, but multiple, all in a language that he couldn't understand.
Well, it wasn't just Laxus, either. Now that Mercury was no longer connected to the lives of those who lived in the sea, wasn't it more apt to just call all of Fairy Tail family?
"Seems like he was going to say something that Mercury didn't like, methinks," Bixlow pressed. "So, Leviathan, what was it?"
"Just that –"
"Okay," Mercury hissed, interrupting again, "did you actually tell them to go away?"
Leviathan huffed, then turned away from Bixlow. For some reason, Mercury got the feeling that in an entirely different situation, the two might have been friends – in the worst possible way. Bixlow with the power of someone intelligent on his side?
May God have mercy on their souls.
"Yes," he said, "I sent them all home. Except for a certain handful of them, everyone should be back within the hour."
"A certain handful?" Mercury repeated. He looked towards those who had been fighting on the surface for any sort of clue as to who it could be; there were very few that wouldn't listen to anyone they thought was "Mother," as Leviathan could produce.
So maybe it wasn't that they wouldn't go back, but that they couldn't…?
"Oh, yeah, we've got a couple of 'em tied up," Natsu announced. "I think Erza's probably with them – somethin' about waiting until you were back to decide what to do with them."
"Ah," Mercury had no other words.
Well, it was pretty obvious who they would be; there were very few of his former siblings that would have been comfortable even coming out of the water in the first place, let alone coming out enough to actually fight the Fairy Tail mages.
"That asshole tried to drown me!" Natsu shouted when it was clear Mercury wasn't going to say anything else. "He must have done it to stop me from using my magic, otherwise we'd have finished him off in just a couple of minutes."
"Natsu, I think the issue was that you were wet. And you can't use fire when you're wet." Gray said, looking fed up with the kid. "And besides, you didn't even do basically anything until Lucy stopped him from hitting us with the freakin' ocean."
"Right, it was all me!" Lucy announced.
"It was all Aquarius."
"Right, it was all me," she repeated, significantly more dejectedly and yet still holding onto a shred of hope. In a smaller voice, she added, "... and Aquarius."
It sounded like no one had gotten injured, so it was probably fine. Natsu, Lucy, and Gray seemed to have faced Deluge, meaning that Surge, Lull, and possibly Abyss had also probably been involved.
Mercury turned back to Leviathan. "If we free them, will they go with you?"
"Wait, you're just gonna let 'em go? What about my rematch?" Natsu whined. "I gotta show him a thing or two about real magic."
Gray elbowed him in the ribs while Bixlow stepped on his foot, effectively shutting him up.
"I can't guarantee anything, but I can try. If I'm remembering correctly, little Lull is a fanatic. As long as it sounds like Fiernen, he'll do anything I ask."
Mercury shivered at the thought of Lull ever being 'little.'
"Surge and Deluge will probably follow him, which just leaves Abyss," he correctly surmised, remembering how they always followed Lull around like little lost ducklings.
Fried stared at him as though trying to puzzle out who was who. Mercury hadn't bothered to translate any of their names into the Fiorean equivalent, leaving his friends confused as to which ones he was referring to, but it wasn't like that mattered anyway – with any luck, none of them would ever have to see those four ever again.
"Should be fine," Leviathan said, puffing out his chest like he was proud of something. His smile turned just a little bit wicked. "Little sisters are supposed to listen to their big brothers, right?"
Another chill hit his spine. "You sound just like her when you say that," he said dryly, suddenly feeling like the air was several degrees colder.
"What about the kid?" Evergreen suddenly asked. "Anemone. He's still asleep, isn't he? Are you going to send him back, too?"
… Had she grown close to Anemone when Mercury wasn't looking? It definitely didn't seem like she wanted him to go back, and a quick glance at everyone else showed that they particularly wanted him to, either.
"He's just a kid, right? Is he gonna be okay living alone down there?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, he was pretty fun to be around, too," said Bixlow, putting his hands on his hips. "I was gonna see if I could teach him how to do some funny stuff with the dolls."
"He was quite interested in learning about Rune Magic, so it would be a shame if we sent him back without teaching him," Fried said. He looked oddly proud, as though anyone showing any interest in his magic was impressive.
(Well, technically, Mercury could use it too, but he wasn't about to interrupt and say that.)
He turned to look at Leviathan, who was already staring, waiting for his answer. When had it become Mercury's responsibility to decide what Anemone got to do? Wasn't that the whole reason why Mother had come up with the stupid 'father' thing in the first place?
"We'll leave it up to him," he finally decided, "and maybe Flood, if that guy's still around."
"He's not," Leviathan confirmed. "Unless you want me to call him back? You two weren't on bad terms, right?"
"It's fine." Actually, Mercury was more than willing to just never see any of the siblings that were older than him ever again, even Flood, who was more of an acquaintance than anything.
"Then you should probably head back somewhat soon. I think I accidentally woke him up, and he's not in a great mood."
"What?"
"Well," Fried explained, "the last thing he remembers is likely you putting him to sleep." He shifted on his feet, still in the water.
"Kinda cold-hearted of you," Bixlow agreed. "Kid probably hates you now. Gonna enter his teenage years, like, 'all adults are shit! All they do is –'"
Mercury threw his hands into the air, beginning to make for the shore. "Okay, I get it. I'm a bad person, or whatever. What else was I supposed to do, let him go to where this freak was waiting?"
He gestured crudely at Leviathan.
"I wouldn't have forced a kid to –"
"Shut up," Mercury hissed. "Let's just go back before my pants give way, too." He'd already lost his shirt to Lull's harpoon, and his pants were still heavy enough with water that he wouldn't be surprised if they gave way soon. They definitely weren't designed to have twenty additional pounds of water weight in them.
Evergreen held her hand out to Mercury, letting him haul himself up onto the shore without much difficulty. Behind them, Bixlow snickered as he whispered something to Fried that even the water mage couldn't pick up on – though it earned a light smile from the Rune Mage, so it was probably something at his expense.
Whatever. They'd probably earned the right to make fun of him a little bit at this point.
The rest of the gathered mages removed themselves from the ocean as well, the last being a Natsu and Gray, who turned it into an argument over who should leave first after they bumped into each other.
Needless to say, they were left behind; everyone was too tired to play along with their antics anymore, and even more than that, they just wanted to go home. It had been a long day.
Fried put Leviathan in chains made of Rune Magic ("Is this really necessary?") as the interesting combination of Laxus, Mercury, the Thunder God Tribe, Mira, Lucy and one flying, blue cat made their way to the guild together. A lot of people gave them curious glances on the way, but no one in the group paid it any mind; most of their attention had already been taken by Bixlow, who made it a point to try to poke all of the newly-yellow scales on Mercury's body to the water mage's annoyance… and the rest's amusement.
"Why'd you change colors, anyway?" Bixlow asked. "Are you supposed to be gray or blue now?"
When he'd first come out of the ocean, his scales had been blue, but as they'd dried, almost all of them had faded back into the normal gray. Only the yellow ones remained.
Mercury shrugged, glancing at Leviathan as though he might know the answer better than him. "Dunno, maybe something to do with the ocean?"
"Oh, oh, I think I can answer this one," Happy cheered. "That's what happens to Natsu when he gets really fired up! Are you a dragon slayer, too?"
Laxus caught Mercury's eye, smirking.
It wasn't like he could reasonably deny it anymore – he never had a reason to say it was untrue in the first place – so Mercury shrugged again, "Yeah, something like that."
"Woah, really?!"
"Don't tell Natsu, or he's going to try to fight you even more," Lucy sighed. "I think that guy has only been thinking about getting the chance to fight you since you got back."
"You better give 'em a good fight, Merc!" Bixlow slapped him on the back, nearly sending him toppling over. "Can't let the Thunder God Tribe get shown up by Team Natsu!"
"Who the hell said I'm even fighting him?" And since when had it been decided that he was going to be part of the Thunder God Tribe again?
"You, apparently," Lucy explained. "He's been complaining about you forgetting for ages now. I think he said it was sometime at Fantasia?"
Mercury sighed. Natsu only ever remembered the things that he wanted to, and on the contrary, if he was asked what he ate for dinner the night before, he wouldn't have been able to answer. Fantasia felt like ages ago.
Objectively speaking, it was ages ago. (Seven and a half years…)
By the time the guild was in sight, more than a couple of Fairy Tail mages had already set eyes on the incoming group – too many mages, in fact. Soon, they were almost surrounded, and Mercury's companions easily folded to let them have access to the extremely exhausted mage. He was swarmed, getting asked more questions than he could process.
"Was that really you? Did you really go to the bottom of the ocean? What was it like?"
"Did you show 'em what Fairy Tail mages are made of?"
"Why do you smell like fish? God, you reek. Take a shower before you come inside, please."
"Can you give me a description of what the ocean looks like? I'll add it to the archives!"
Their enthusiasm was too bright – Mercury felt like he was being swallowed whole, and yet it was a distinctly nicer feeling than what he thought it should have been. He wasn't even particularly annoyed when Max gave him a huge slap on the back.
Well, he wasn't more annoyed than usual, at least.
They didn't let up until he had successfully been dragged inside (despite Cana's protests that he smelled bad, which no one denied), handed a random shirt off of someone else's back, and sat down at the bar – at which point, there was a determined shriek of his name, and one more set of hands was wrapped around his waist.
Small hands.
Nobody stopped them. Not even Mercury.
"Meeeeeeercury!" Anemone wailed, squeezing him with as much force as an eight year old could muster. "Where'd you go?! Why'd you do that? Where were you?"
Several other sentences probably came after that, but even Mercury couldn't understand what he was saying. Something wet pressed into the new shirt he'd been given, right where Anemone's face would have been, and it wasn't a small amount of wetness, either. Even when his voice started to become somewhat hoarse, he still kept his head pressed against Mercury's ribs and arms tightly secured.
Mercury looked around for help, but suddenly, the guild didn't seem particularly interested in him. Most were making a pointed attempt to look away. Some had even left entirely, returning to whatever they'd been doing before the group arrived.
He was on his own.
Gently – awkwardly – Mercury put his hand on Anemone's back, rubbing softly. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be doing. Those tears coming from the kid's eyes were definitely his fault, and yet there wasn't anything he could think to say. What did Anemone want? Comfort? An apology? Mercury didn't think he was angry – at least, anger wasn't the first thing on the kid's mind.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. He leaned down so that his head was next to Anemone's ear, rubbing his back as he did so. "That was really mean of me, wasn't it?"
"Mean? That wasn't just mean, that was – ugh, what the heck? You're the worst!"
Ouch. Maybe Bixlow was right.
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
"If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it in the first place! I can understand putting me to sleep, but then when I woke up, you were gone, and I couldn't feel you anymore! I thought you were… thought you were…"
The tears started to flow again, and only then did Mercury realize what he'd done. By severing the connection between himself and Fiernen, that meant that he and Anemone weren't connected anymore, either.
It truly would have seemed like he was dead.
"Now, Anemone, it's not like he was doing it to hurt you," Leviathan jumped in from Mercury's shoulder. He tried to put his hand on Anemone's arm, gently pulling him from the water mage's side, only for the kid to jump back, suspicion and aggression on his face.
"You – you're that guy! Or, no, you're Mother….? But your face is…?"
"Can you piss out of this conversation, Levi? I thought you were going to be tied up and thrown in the basement until we got everything settled," Mercury huffed, genuinely sort of annoyed. At least the intervention had gotten Anemone to stop crying.
"Levi?" Leviathan repeated. "Unlike you, I actually like my name, so don't go shortening it as you please."
Ironically, that was the most annoyed that Mercury had seen the older man be. He was definitely going to keep referring to him as 'Levi.'
"What's going on?" Anemone asked. He was frantically looking between his oldest brother and his no-longer-brother, unsure of who he was supposed to listen to.
"This is Leviathan," Mercury introduced, unable to hide the irritation in his voice. "He's the one who was calling to you, not Mother."
"So he's not Mother?"
"He's a fake," Mercury affirmed.
"I'm definitely not a fake. I really do have her power under my control now; as long as I'm not trying to hurt any of our siblings, she's more than willing to let me do what I want."
Mercury glared.
"But… that doesn't include swallowing this world whole anymore," Leviathan finished. "I'd rather not get hit by that again. It was surprisingly painful!"
Mercury was somewhat satisfied with that answer, even though he was pretty certain that replicating the Unison Raid would be impossible for the time being. Even if the water mage couldn't subdue him on his own anymore, Leviathan was now trapped on land; there was little he could do, even if he wanted to.
(If he gave control to Cyrus, however…)
"Then… does that mean Mercury's going home?" Anemone asked. "Am I going home, too?"
Mercury opened his mouth, but couldn't find an answer, so Leviathan answered for him. "This is Mercury's home, so he's going to stay right here, but you're allowed to go wherever you want. I may have Mother's power, but I'm not her. I don't need everyone to stay in the ocean."
It was technically a correct answer, but for some reason, Mercury felt annoyed by the fact it was Leviathan saying it.
"I want to stay here!" was Anemone's immediate response. His eyes grew as wide as saucers, then narrowed a moment later as he added, "but then Flood will be lonely."
To be honest, the idea of that guy being particularly annoyed by no longer having to deal with a high energy kid like Anemone didn't sound very realistic. Flood was always the "lowest effort for highest reward" kind of guy; he likely wouldn't care either way. Even the fact that he'd gone so far in sending Anemone to the surface seemed a little out of character.
Then again, Mercury wasn't sure how much he even remembered about his siblings and their temperaments save for a select few. It had been almost eighty years, after all.
"How about you do both?" Leviathan suggested. "You came here on your own, didn't you? I'm sure you can make the trip whenever you want."
The suggestion was technically sound, and yet also entirely unfathomable; the distance between Magnolia and the place they were born was far too great for a single child to make, ocean-dweller or not, and Anemone's first trip to the surface wasn't exactly something he'd want to repeat.
"That's a terrible idea," said Mercury. "A kid can't go that far by themself. You'd be a terrible parent."
Leviathan sneered, though it was unclear whether it was malicious or out of irritation. "Then I'll have to leave the good parenting to you, right, Mer-cur-ry?"
"I – what?" Maybe it was the exhaustion. Maybe it was the way that Leviathan pronounced his name like it was a song.
Maybe it was just that his words sounded like some joke made in terrible taste.
"You heard me. You can be Anemone's dad — when he's up here, at least."
Nope, it wasn't a joke. Mercury quickly switched between glaring at Leviathan and looking sheepishly towards Anemone in hopes that maybe he hadn't heard. Ah, but the chance he'd missed it was practically zero; Anemone was staring up between Mercury and Leviathan with a shocked expression, mouth hanging open. "Really?"
Suddenly, Mercury felt like he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Say no, and he'd break the kid's heart, or say yes, and…
He switched to Fiorean somewhat frantically. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I know you're not slow, Mercury. I meant exactly what I said – how about acting like his father a bit when he's up on the surface? I'm sure Flood won't be too annoyed. Or annoyed at all, really."
"No? I can't, I'm a terrible parenting figure?" Both sentences came out as questions because he was so flustered by the insinuation.
Mercury's track record wasn't exactly…
"That's not what those guys were saying." Leviathan jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to where Bixlow and Fried were hurriedly whispering something to Laxus, glancing over at where the three non-humans were standing. Laxus had a mighty poker face on, but Mercury could tell…
He was enjoying this.
They must have liked the look of horror on his face, too, because Bixlow broke into a fit of giggles and Fried just looked away.
"They were betting on how long it would take," Leviathan explained, "and who am I to not help things along?"
"Fuck you," Mercury huffed. His voice cracked – was he embarrassed, or just stressed? He turned to the rest of the Thunder God Tribe and gave them the finger, then shouted, "And fuck you guys, too."
That got the rest of the guild looking at them, but Mercury was too overwhelmed to care much about anything other than the kid staring up at him with wide eyes.
"Mercury? Do you not want to?" Anemone asked gently.
Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck.
Goddamn it.
He ran a quick hand through his own hair, then grabbed Anemone by the hand and Leviathan by the shoulder, dragging the both of them out the front doors without sparing a second glance at the people staring at him. The doors swung open heavily. Once more, Mercury was reminded of just how tired he was, but there was a new vigor in his movements born of a surprising combination of anticipation and pure, unadulterated terror.
His face was as hot as Natsu's burning fists. It was hard to think straight
Behind him, Leviathan wasn't trying very hard to keep the wry grin off of his face, and Mercury had to wonder what part of this would personally benefit him. Maybe he just thought it was funny – it hadn't been long since they'd fought and Mercury had spoken such determined words, but now he was an embarrassed mess.
"Is it really that unappealing to you?" Leviathan asked. "I'd think that it checks all your boxes, if you know what I mean. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"What the hell would you know?"
"A lot more than you'd think. You got that fragment's memories, right? Well, I got the whole thing, so I know everything there is to know about you."
Mercury's mind stalled. At his side, Anemone was still holding onto his hand, staring up at him.
This situation? It was a complete mess.
"You can't just say that in front of a kid. If I say no, he's going to be heartbroken – there's no correct answer here."
"And why do you want to say no?" Leviathan asked. "I'm familiar with what happened to your last family, but anything that could stand in your way a second time has effectively been removed."
Mercury rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache building. Whether or not it was just Leviathan messing with him, the damage had already been done, and there wasn't an easy way out of this.
But Leviathan, frustratingly, was also right – why did he want to say no?
Was it because of what happened in the past? Or was it because he genuinely didn't want to be a father figure again?
Or was it the third option – that he couldn't stop from seeing Anemone as one of "his kind"?
"Somehow, I think I hate you more than I did before," Mercury finally said as he bit down on his lip with enough force to draw blood.
"Funnily enough," said the older man, "I don't think I care."
Technically, Leviathan was right. He was frustratingly right. Mercury doubted that his former brothers could do anything to him anymore; not only was he now strong enough to stand against them, but he also had Fairy Tail backing him up, and yet something lingered in the back of his mind, whispering that it was a bad idea.
It wasn't that he didn't want a family anymore. Of that, he was certain. Fairy Tail had long filled in the gaps in his heart, but there were still cracks – holes that he never expected to be filled entirely. There was simply no one in this word that could replace what he'd lost, no matter how hard he hoped otherwise.
But right in front of him was one more person offering to try.
Anemone couldn't guarantee anything. He didn't know anything. He was just a boy that was almost a hundred years Mercury's junior, one of those siblings that he very much hated – but he was still just a boy. All he could do was try, and Mercury was certain he would attempt just that… It was just that the very thought of it made him nervous.
This was an opportunity. A hand outstretched to him just like the one that had led him to Fairy Tail in the first place.
Would he be a fool if he didn't take it?
If he was being honest, the water mage would say that he definitely didn't like Anemone at first. The kid was straight up annoying. He tried to act way older than he was and he liked to run off at the first sight of something he found interesting, which in most cases caused trouble for someone else. He had no sense of personal space. He didn't particularly care for human social decorum. He was just so untainted in a way that Mercury hadn't ever gotten to experience before – and it was unnerving.
He was seeing a version of himself that he had never been able to be.
Mercury released the tension that had his teeth pried into his lip, then turned back to Anemone, who was still staring up at him as though Leviathan wasn't there in the first place. His eyes were large and swollen from crying earlier, and there was a thin line of snot running down his nose, just as there was probably one on Mercury's borrowed shirt.
Together, they might have looked like quite the mess. All three of them, actually; Leviathan and Mercury both looked like they'd been battered to hell and back despite there not being any visible injuries remaining on their scales, and Anemone appeared to have just woken up from a very, very long nap. Despite being in the "human" world, none of them even looked vaguely the part anymore.
"I can just go stay with Flood until I'm older," the Anemone said when it became clear Mercury was having a hard time coming up with an answer. "I'll come back and visit when he says I can."
He was agreeing, and yet he looked so sad.
Leviathan smiled as he put his hand on Anemone's side. "See what you've done? You made him think you don't want him."
"Shut up," Mercury huffed. He turned to the boy, thinking of what to say.
Anemone's hand was still wrapped up in his own. They were so different in size – Mercury's hand was massive compared to the young boy, easily large enough to swallow the smaller appendage with his fingers alone. It reminded him of another hand. One far tinier, far younger. One that he lost the chance to hold a long, long time ago.
Marissa's hand was so much smaller, wasn't it?
This one he was gripping now… He knew it wasn't the same. It never had been, even if their matching hair color kept forcing him to make the comparison. Anemone was Anemone, and Marissa was Marissa; one was right there in front of him, and the other was long gone.
Those cracks wouldn't disappear, but it didn't make sense to leave them as they were. Neither of those he lost would want him to remain broken.
"Honestly," Mercury said, for a long moment unable to say anything afterwards. "I don't think I can fill that role very well."
Anemone's face fell. "But," the water mage continued, "I didn't really… mind having you around all that much. It was kind of nice to have someone to look after. So, while I don't think I can be a father… I also don't want you to leave, either."
"Then –!"
"I'm not saying it'll be what you're expecting. You honestly might be happier if you returned with Leviathan because at least there you'll be around people that understand you a bit better. I haven't really been one of our kind for a long time now."
"Oh, come now," Leviathan interrupted. "You think he'll be happier with me? In that stale excuse for an ocean? He's far too excitable for that. I'm surprised he didn't leave on his own earlier."
"Not everyone is like you, Levi."
"I'm aware. But change is spontaneous – who knows when the idea that there is something beyond the ocean may have struck this young one? Now that he's already aware, do you think he'll be satisfied there?"
No, Mercury didn't think he would. Compared to the vibrant world that was the surface, the ocean was nothing more than a grayscale picture that had already been colored in; there was no room for change, nor room to grow. You were born as you were born, and as you were born was how you would stay until however long you lived.
That was Mother's – was Fiernen's original intent. Those who lived by the ocean died by the ocean, and yet here were three of her children that hadn't been bound by those walls.
But even so, simply leaving who he was behind wasn't going to be good for Anemone. Mercury had tried that. It had turned out poorly, almost leading to his death.
"I see that look on your face. You know, Mercury, you're very good at coming up with excuses, but not very good at rationalizing them. Didn't you say you were going to allow Anemone to decide?"
"But –"
"No buts," Leviathan smiled. "As someone who has, ah, felt the power of your conviction firsthand, I'm not going to let you go back on your word now. If you do, I'll have no choice but to go back on my word, too."
It was an indirect threat – one Mercury didn't appreciate. "What's your goal in all of this, anyway? That last attack may have hurt, but I doubt it was enough for you to be scared to get hit by it again."
Leviathan leveled a dry look at the water mage. He leaned back on his heels and swung around Anemone, putting a hand on the boy's back. "Perhaps I just looked back on things and realized that I was wrong."
"You? I know you know that I have Fiernen's memories of you too. You're not the type to realize your ideals are wrong."
"I'm hurt, Mercury. I'll have you know that Fiernen only ever knew how I was before I left; she has no idea the trials I've gone through here on the surface. You may think that our kind doesn't change easily, but it's far more accurate to say that the ocean simply doesn't provide a space for us to do so."
"What's your point?"
Leviathan made a big show of rolling his eyes. "Cyrus and I both thought we were helping each other. That's why we did what we did; he wanted revenge on humans, and I was more than willing to help him with that. I wanted to destroy Fiernen's status quo, which was something only humans could help me do. They're pretty unique, you know?"
Yes, he did know, but that didn't answer his question. Mercury moved to open his mouth and say something unnecessarily scathing, then thought better of it when he saw that Anemone was still watching them with somewhat wide eyes. Whether or not he understood what the older men were saying was unknown.
"But my point in all of this is saying that by trying to help each other, we also changed each other. I came to realize that change isn't as impossible as I thought – all it takes is one person, and then it's a cascade. To this boy, you were that change. He will fundamentally be unable to return as he once was, so you need to take responsibility for him."
Beside the two older men, Anemone wrung his hands. It was clear he could tell this conversation was about him (after all, they were still speaking in a language he could understand), but perhaps he didn't know why they were having it – why Mercury couldn't say yes as confidently as he wanted and why Leviathan was pushing so hard to get him to do it anyway.
To Anemone, this was about living where he wanted to live with who he wanted to live with. To Mercury and Leviathan, it was about leaving the status quo far behind and breaking the cycle they'd been trapped in at birth.
And to all three of them, the answer that would make them all the happiest was clear.
"I want to stay here," said the youngest with surprising determination. "I want to go back, too, but I don't want to stay there forever. I like it here." He looked up at Mercury with wide eyes that now showed no hint of the tears he'd shed earlier, taking a deep breath. "I like it here with Brother."
That was it – the only compromise they could come to. If Mercury wanted Anemone to stay up on the surface, the boy needed someone to guide him, someone to take care of him and provide what he needed no matter the situation. It didn't necessarily have to be the relationship of father and son, either; that was just the title that Fried and Bixlow had tried to give it based on their personal whims.
It could be father and son, or it could be brothers. In fact, whatever Mercury became to Anemone didn't even need a title, because just like humans, these non-humans could be unique, too.
Very quietly, Mercury said, "Okay." That's it – just okay.
It was enough.
Anemone rushed in once more, practically tackling his brother with as much strength as his small body could muster as he threw his hands around his waist. This time, there was no sobbing, just a tight squeeze that seemed to show his sincerity.
Though Mercury would never admit it (and even if he wanted to, were there even any words to describe how light his chest was at that moment?), it felt nice.
"See? Was that so hard?" Leviathan sneered. "You made it such a big deal, and for what?"
The water mage switched to Fiorean. "Fuck off. And fuck out of here while you're at it, too." It wasn't particularly mean, but Mercury felt like he had to say it.
"Oh? You want me gone? Well, I'd be more than happy to comply, but would your guild be happy with that?"
Not really. They'd be pissed, actually – all this work just for Mercury to turn around and let this bastard go?
Well, he wasn't really planning on letting Leviathan go, but he didn't really know what else to do if the man was going to keep being such a pest. This was a moment he'd never get to repeat, and Leviathan was ruining it.
As though expecting Mercury's conundrum – to get rid of an annoyance and risk him leaving forever, or to keep him here and destroy the peace of the moment – the door to the guild creeped open. All three of the non-humans turned to see who had come out to greet them, but Mercury was only half surprised to see a short little man saunter out, stumbling all the way.
Master Makarov. His cheeks already had a heavy flush, and his waking was a bit awkward; clearly, he was already drunk, and if the clamor as the doors opened was any indication, so was the majority of the guild inside.
… Leave it to Fairy Tail to get drunk the moment that the fighting was over.
"How are things going out here, boys?" he asked – ironically, ignoring the only one out of the three that was younger than him. Mercury had him beat by almost two decades now, and Leviathan was well over four hundred years old; among the non-humans, only Anemone was young enough to call Makarov an actual grandfather, and yet he just pressed himself closer into Mercury's side.
(It seemed that despite their interactions, the boy hadn't quite warmed up to Makarov yet – or perhaps he was sensing Makarov as a new person now that he was stumbling drunk. There certainly hadn't been many opportunities for him to drink as of late, so perhaps this truly was the first time Anemone had seen him get this sauced.)
Leviathan frowned, crossing his arms. "Do all guild mages fail to treat their elders with respect? I seem to recall those in that petty merchant guild doing the same." He gave Mercury a pointed glance as though to insinuate that he, too, should be giving him respect.
As if.
Fortunately, the water mage had done this song and dance many times before. With a tired face, he turned to Makarov and said, "Doesn't interfering with bets revoke your shot at the payout?"
Because there was no way that someone hadn't already started a betting pool inside, though Mercury wasn't sure exactly what the exact options were going to be. Fairy Tail was too goddamn nosy to not make one the moment it seemed something interesting was going on – and this was certainly interesting enough for them to be drooling over the possibilities.
"Whatever are you talking about, Mercury? I would never try to push you to make a decision one way or whatever in order to get a payout," Makarov insisted, playing the fool. "Though, if you tell me what decision you're making, I can help you think rationally about it."
All Mercury could do was sigh.
"I feel like he's so obvious with his reactions that there's no way anyone could bet incorrectly though," Leviathan said. "You're probably not going to earn very much from this."
"As I said, there's no way I'd bet on something silly like that," Makarov said. Mercury might have believed him if he didn't start giggling after barely stumbling out his sentence.
The eldest non-human turned to look at the water mage, an inquisitive look on his face. "... Are you sure you don't want to just skip town with me? These guys are going to keep watching your every move in order to keep making bets."
"And you just want to get out of here before they decide how to put you to work. I'll stick around here, thanks." Mercury sighed a second time. He couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes at such an obvious ploy.
"Guilty."
"Ah, we can save that for tomorrow, can't we?" Makarov hiccupped. "We're partying right now! Come join, come join."
It was a very 'Makarov' statement. They'd just been fighting less than five hours ago, and yet now the man wanted them to be all buddy-buddy?
"Hmm, I think Cyrus will get mad at me if I drink," Leviathan said. "He's not a fan of alcohol."
Mercury couldn't tell if it was real or an excuse – and how did the body sharing thing work, anyway? He'd expected it to be Leviathan when they were in the water and Cyrus when they weren't, and yet this was clearly still his obnoxious eldest blood relative.
"Don't be a spoilsport," Makarov moaned. He tilted so far back that Mercury was almost sure he was going to fall over, but miraculously, he stayed upright, then grabbed Mercury by the hand. "I know Merc wants to drink, doesn't he? It's been too long!"
"Ugh." Begrudgingly, the water mage allowed Makarov to start to drag him inside. He wasn't going to win this one.
"Where's that old guy taking you?" Anemone asked, eyes flicking between Leviathan, Makarov, and Mercury.
"To hell."
Makarov's grip tightened. "I don't know what you just said, but it sounds like you need a drink."
"Noooooo, bring him back!"
Leviathan laughed, but not before he was grabbed by Makarov's other hand and tightly tugged inside. "Wait, I think I said –"
"Who cares about what your body-sharing friend thinks?" the guildmaster slurred. "We'll think about it in the morning."
With one hand grabbed by Anemone and the other grabbed by the only person within twenty years of his actual age, Mercury felt like he was being dragged in three different directions, and with Leviathan's protests thrown on top of it, he could feel the beginnings of a stress headache forming…
… but strangely, he found that he didn't really mind.
