At Mercury's feet lay the four siblings that he'd spent so long agonizing over – the ones that he'd been fleeing from for what felt like his whole life, the ones who'd done something so terrible that he had tried to end his own life more than a couple of times.

And honestly? It felt oddly freeing to know he didn't care anymore.

No longer would he try to turn his back on them, nor would he bother being afraid of them. Now, he could see them for exactly what they were – four creatures with a collective half of a personality between them and mommy issues to surpass all mommy issues. Lull was just obsession, Abyss was desire, Surge was determination, and Deluge was apathy.

All four had been tied up expertly with chains that were far more ornate than anything Mercury had ever seen – likely the work of Erza, if he had to guess. Their arms were pinned to their sides, and Mercury could see spots of scales where they'd clearly tried to drag themselves free to no avail. Even Deluge had raw marks on his arms from wriggling around. The only one who didn't was Abyss. She likely thought too highly of herself to even try, or she'd resigned herself to her fate.

or Leviathan had told her not to. Mercury wasn't sure which option felt less like she was just biding her time to escape.

As it was, there was nothing any of them could do, so Lull and Surge were glaring at him while Deluge stared off into the distance as though dissociating. Fortunately, Erza was in the room to keep them in check if they did try anything. Between her and Laxus, who had taken it upon himself to stop any "funny business" from happening, any hope of escape or revenge was completely dashed. Even Lull could do little but glare at whoever entered the room with so much venom that Mercury might've shivered if he gave a single fuck anymore.

"So," said Erza, standing behind Mercury as he stared at the four, "What is it that you want to do with them?"

Indeed, what did he want to do with them? Like the situation with Alchemist, the handling of his siblings had been left up to him – after all, this whole situation had started with the water mage, and thus it only seemed fair to allow him to choose how to end it as well. Sure, there were still a handful of people who wanted more than anything to get their revenge on his account, but it didn't make much sense to leave it to them. At this point, they were far angrier than Mercury, who couldn't bring himself to even care anymore – he'd already gotten what he wanted. He was free of them, his family was safe, and he'd likely never have to see any of their faces anymore, which was more than he ever thought he'd be able to achieve.

It would be a relief to take a deep breath when all of this was over and feel the weight lifted off of his shoulders.

And since he wanted nothing more than to wash his hands of them for good…

"If I said I wanted you to throw them into the ocean, would you do it?" he asked Erza.

Her face turned into a mixture of a scowl and a frown. Clearly, she didn't like that answer.

"Are you sure?" she asked in exchange, taking a small, half-step towards where Deluge was tied up. "Master said we should leave it to you, but simply letting them off feels a bit… light."

"Well, if there's something you'd suggest, I'm willing to listen," Mercury said with a small smile. "If I'm being completely honest, I'd just prefer to never see their faces ever again. It's not like I can take revenge at this point, nor do I want to, and they're not even emotionally intelligent enough to understand right and wrong."

"That's no excuse. Simply not knowing right from wrong doesn't justify their actions."

"I guess that's true, but instead of human terms, you have to think of them like animals. It's not that they didn't learn – it's that they can't. It's almost impossible for them to change."

Because Lull would always hold onto his obsession with Mother more strongly than even his own life, and Abyss would stop at nothing to get what she desired. While humans were multifaceted, the children of the ocean really only had one dimension to their personalities because they were created rather than born.

"I see…" Erza trailed off, taking another glance over at the four captives before taking another one towards Mercury. "Are you the same?"

He'd been waiting for someone to ask him that question, so he answered with his own. "You've known me longer than a lot of people – do you think I can't change?"

Mercury had his own opinions on the matter, but he was curious to know what others thought of him. He was supposed to be a dragon's heart. Did that make him different from the rest of his siblings, or was he just like the rest of them?

He'd never been able to tell.

That's why he was genuinely surprised when Erza confidently said, "I think you've changed a lot since the first time I met you."

"Really? You were just a kid back then, so how can you be sure?"

"Thirteen years old hardly counts as a child," she retorted, "but yes, you've definitely changed a lot. If it were the old you, I think you would have run off by yourself the moment you thought this was going to involve the rest of us."

Mercury smiled. She was probably right; in the past, involving others in his personal problems felt like he was being a burden, but the fact that he'd been rescued more than once by the guild made him finally realize that they were more likely to insert themselves into whatever issue arose anyway.

It was far better to bring them in from the start.

But it was still rather embarrassing to hear her put it like that, so he turned away, looking back towards his former siblings. "We should finish this conversation later. I think they're getting antsy."

Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. All he could tell was that Surge was squirming the longer the conversation went on and Deluge looked like he was getting closer and closer to just falling asleep.

"Is that your final answer then?" Erza asked. "Letting them go?"

"Yeah. If I wanna grow anymore, I think I have to stop letting them hold me back. I can't keep living in the past."

She nodded, uncrossing her arms. "And is there any certainty that they won't return for revenge later on? Do I need to knock them out to send them back?"

Mercury shrugged himself. "That guy can get them to do whatever he wants, so it should be fine. He's like a pseudo-god to them now."

In truth, it was more like Lull would listen to anything Leviathan said and Surge would follow Lull, while Deluge would probably consider it more of a hassle to do anything else and Abyss… Well, Mercury wasn't sure exactly what would force her to stay back, but he got the feeling that she wouldn't go against Leviathan's words.

While he didn't fully trust Leviathan – really, no one did – the man seemed more than content to sit back and watch what was going on with somewhat bemused eyes.

As though Surge could hear what was being said, he cleared his throat once, waiting for Mercury to turn to look at him. When he didn't, he cleared his throat again, then a third time.

How obnoxious.

Would he stop if Mercury simply ignored him? Probably not.

"I think he wants something," Erza pointed out. She, too, didn't even bother turning her head to see what he was doing, instead looking at Mercury with her full attention.

"It's probably something asinine," Mercury sighed. "In a way, he reminds me of Natsu, but I like Natsu a lot more."

"Is that so?"

Finally, Surge had enough of being ignored and said, "Hey, Tides, I have one thing to say."

"Did you know they can't even get my name right?" Mercury asked Erza. "They're basically deadnaming me."

"Deadnaming?"

"It's a term for when –"

"Tides, stop ignoring me, you asshole!"

Mercury paused mid sentence, staring right at Erza, who honestly looked a bit amused by the situation. Her eyes were sparkling, and if Mercury wasn't mistaken, the corners of her lips were just barely twitching upwards.

He sighed, finally turning to Surge. "Yes?"

"I have a question."

"No shit," he huffed, stomping one of his feet lightly. "Why the hell would I bother answering it?"

"'Cuz you want me gone, obviously."

That was true enough. Mercury pursed his lips, nodding for Surge to continue his train of thought. Surprisingly, the man seemed to be at a loss for words – or rather, he couldn't think of a way to phrase whatever his question was.

After much thought, he finally said, "Who was the woman with the white hair?"

Mercury's mood soured. He turned to Erza. "I lied. Is it too late to say I do have a request for you?"

"Of course not," she said. Erza looked mildly interested in what was being said, but not enough to question it.

"Great – please throw the orange one as far into the ocean as possible."

Whether or not Surge even knew how to phrase it, it was likely he'd become… rather infatuated with Mira. He was the type that preferred to follow the strong, and from what Mercury had heard of the battles on land, it had been the Take-Over mage that had taken down the orange-scaled man. He'd always thought that Surge's devotion to being Lull's henchman was actually rather close than Lull's own obsession with Mother, but those sorts of feelings were easy to mix up.

After all, what was obsession if not the end result of infatuation?

"Do I want to know what he said?" Erza asked.

"No."

"Tides? Tides, come on, I'm just curious."

"If you're that curious, you can go —" what followed were the most heinous words Mercury could think of; even Deluge looked a bit thrown off by the intensity of the threat-slash-insults that came out of Mercury's mouth, pressing himself somewhat closer to Lull, who looked equally as taken aback.

Perhaps insinuating that Lull, Surge, and Deluge should take a deeper look at their own relationship and consider whether or not they were interested in each other was a little far. After all, the children of the ocean hardly had any care for gender; the concept of sexuality was one that simply didn't exist, so to tell them that they should essentially turn their anger into sexual frustration with each other was more like romantic advice than an actual insult.

Abyss looked even more perturbed, and she was the one who originally taught him such concepts. Of course, it had hardly been in the context he'd just used them in, but he couldn't expect the embodiment of desire to not know what he was talking about.

Well, maybe Erza was right. Mercury had changed – now, he acted far more like a human than even he could have predicted.

"I will take that as my cue," Erza cut in. Clearly, she could vaguely tell how much whatever was being said riled up both her guildmate and the ones she was in charge of transporting, so she took a half step towards the four.

Mercury gave a little half salute towards her. "Yes, thank you. Should I grab Laxus and ask him to help you?"

"No. I'd rather not have to stop him from destroying these four before we manage to get them to the ocean."

"Good call," he said with a smile. "I'll leave it to you then. Thank you. Again."

"Any time."

The last look he gave to his siblings was less of a look and more of a glare, accompanied with a vulgar gesture that only they knew the meaning of, and finally…

He was free.

.

.

.

"Are you really okay with just letting them go?"

Mercury turned to see Laxus approaching him from the guild's main doors, arms crossed as usual. He'd been so lost in thought that the man's appearance was almost a surprise – at least, it would have been if not for the fact he'd been expecting such a question to come at some point.

It had been a couple of hours since Erza's departure and subsequent return with a handful of other Fairy Tail mages. That meant that things were now over. Save for Leviathan and Anemone, Mercury was the only one remaining on the surface, and both of the former would be returning to the ocean in a couple of days.

Of course, Anemone would also be returning to the surface at some point, but Leviathan would hopefully be gone for good. He would be taking the place of "Mother" to the remainder of the ocean's children now that he had essentially taken over her power; according to him, he was unable to return it anymore – and surprisingly, Mercury believed him.

Leviathan was a bit twisted… but he wasn't a particularly bad guy. At least, he was far more human than the rest of them.

"Yeah," Mercury said. "It's like I told Erza – I can't move on if I have to keep looking at them. I'm tired of caring about them."

"I see."

He'd half expected the dragon slayer to rebuke him, or at least complain that he hadn't been able to punch them even once, but he finished his thought there and stepped forward to join Mercury.

There weren't many other people out and about despite it only being early evening. The events of the last couple of days had been smoothed over, so the number of civilians hounding Fairy Tail mages was mostly down to the normal level again – as normal as Fairy Tail got, anyway. There was still the occasional reporter hanging around, either trying to get the scoop or just being a general nuisance now that the guild was popular again, but that was something most of them were used to by now.

No one was around to hear the two men talk.

"Doesn't it feel anticlimactic?" Mercury asked when an easy silence fell between them. It wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, but it did seem like there was something Laxus wanted to say to him.

The dragon slayer snorted. "If you consider that anticlimactic, I'd hate to see what you see as exciting. Never had going to the bottom of the ocean on my bucket list."

"For me, it's the same as you saying the act of going back to your house has you on the edge of your seat. Besides, I'm referring more to the fact that I'm letting them go without doing anything to them."

"I didn't really expect anything else," Laxus sighed. "You've never been the type to try for revenge. If you were, maybe things during the Harvest Festival might have gone a bit differently."

It took a second for Mercury to even realize what Laxus was talking about; for the younger man, Fantasia really wasn't all that long ago – probably less than a year – but for Mercury, it had been a long time. "It's not like I really hated you or anything," he explained. "If anything, I blamed myself for not stopping you from becoming an asshole."

"'From becoming an asshole,' huh?" Laxus repeated.

"Of course, you're still an asshole, but it's different now. I still haven't forgotten how you tried to punch me as soon as I got back."

A mixture of emotions crossed Laxus's face in that moment – a mixture that not even Mercury could decipher.

"Yeah," he said after a long moment of hesitation, "that's because I thought you were dead."

Oh.

Thinking back on it, they really hadn't discussed anything that had happened that day. Since then, it had been just one thing or the other keeping them apart. Laxus had slept for almost a full day after returning from the ocean and Mercury had been more or less busy with trying to figure out how to help with sorting out the damage and how to deal with the children of the ocean who were stuck up on the surface.

"That kid thought you were dead, too," Laxus pointed out. "Romeo, or whatever his name is."

Mercury knew that much. Shortly after calming down Anemone and starting to figure out what he was actually supposed to do with a kid, he'd been ambushed by Romeo, who had almost the same reaction as Anemone – sobbing all over Mercury's shirt until he'd basically exhausted himself.

Obviously, Mercury had felt incredibly guilty, even when Macao assured him that the boy was just worried. Even the water mage could admit that he hadn't been in a particularly clear state of mind at that point, but that was no excuse for nearly traumatizing a kid.

"Yeah," Mercury admitted. "That was probably a pretty shit thing to do, huh?"

"A pretty shit thing to do'?" Laxus repeated, his voice rising in intensity and volume. "Is that all you see it as? Pretty shit?"

He looked like he wanted to reach out and throttle Mercury and was only holding back because he knew throttling him would do nothing.

Mercury remembered the conversation that they'd had shortly after piecing out his situation. He hadn't seen the look on Laxus's face at the time because the dragon slayer was turned away from him, but hearing the irritation and pain in his voice gave him a pretty clear idea of exactly what it would have looked like.

Worry. Anxiety. Fear. All things that would seem unlike Laxus if it wasn't Mercury who they were aimed towards.

"You're right. I should have found another way, or I should have found you."

Laxus gave him a hard stare. "It's not about finding another way. It's – ugh, don't you know how frustrating you are to be around? When are you going to get it through your thick, self-sacrificial skull that people are going to be upset when you treat your life like the only option is throwing it away?"

"Are you included in 'people' in this situation?"

"No," Laxus lied. "That's not even the point. Stop playing games with your life, or I really am going to lock you up in a basement somewhere. That shit's annoying – do you know how many times I've had to tell Evergreen to stop worrying about you?"

Knowing Evergreen, the answer was 'a lot.'

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying you're sorry, too. 'Sorry' means that you're not going to do it again."

Mercury pursed his lips and repeated, "I'm sorry."

For a moment, he was actually scared that Laxus was going to call him out or say that he wasn't going to believe him, but the dragon slayer only had an equally pained look on his face – like he really really wanted to believe, but wasn't sure if he could anymore.

And that hurt.

A lot more than Mercury was expecting.

"To be honest," he said, clearing his throat, which suddenly felt rather thick, "I really did think I was going to die, and that scared me a lot."

"If death wasn't terrifying, there'd be a lot more people as reckless as you," Laxus pointed out dryly. He didn't look amused.

"Yeah, but it was like – I suddenly realized that I didn't want to be done yet. There were still things I had to do, and even if I wasn't sure how I was going to do them, I was still terrified at the thought that I wouldn't at least get to say goodbye."

Laxus remained silent. His gaze was fiery, challenging Mercury to continue – to tell him just what exactly had been going through his mind the moment he'd plunged off that cliff.

"I wanted to make one last choice on my own," the water mage said. "I didn't want it to end like that, so I thought that I had to be the one to make the choice, even if that meant breaking our promise. And…"

He trailed off, leaving the air heavy.

"You broke our promise," Laxus repeated.

"Yes, I broke it. But please believe me when I say that it felt like the only choice. I really was dying – I could feel it," Mercury explained, then took a deep breath. "It was terrifying, but the far more scary possibility was becoming something that wasn't myself. I had to make that choice… but the only reason I did was because I was confident that if it did happen, you could bring me back."

Laxus clenched his fists, his body otherwise becoming deadly still. "You threw yourself into the ocean because you thought I could bring you back?"

"Yes."

"Are you an idiot?"

Caught off guard, a flush came to Mercury's cheeks. Though he had one vague patch of gray scales on his left cheek, his skin was otherwise still pale, so it felt like his face was on fire. "What?"

"You have got to be the stupidest person I have ever met," Laxus said again, crossing his arms. "What basis did you have to think that? When have I ever done that sort of thing?"

Mercury felt oddly crushed. "Well, I mean… you came to find me the first time, so…"

"I'm not saying that I wouldn't try," Laxus clarified. "I'm saying that there's no proof I could have done anything. Blind faith isn't a good look on anyone, especially not on you."

"It's not blind faith," he protested.

"It is. And besides, if you came back and attacked me like you couldn't remember me, I would have definitely killed you at least once first."

Mercury was completely taken aback, but he couldn't decide which reason felt so stunning – the fact that Laxus might have tried to kill him, or the fact he thought he could. Wasn't the whole reason that his life had seemed so terrible because Mercury couldn't die?

What gave Laxus the confidence to say that after he just got done lecturing the water mage on the importance of his own life?

"Get that dumbass look off your face," the dragon slayer huffed after a few seconds of Mercury's mouth rapidly opening and closing while he tried to form words. "It was a joke."

"Pretty shit joke –"

"Well, now you know how it feels. That's the level of 'pretty shit,' not the rest of the crap you pull on a daily basis. Make sure you don't forget it this time."

To say Mercury felt exasperated would be putting it likely. He was at a complete and utter loss for words, because how exactly did you respond to that type of thing? The atmosphere of the conversation had done a complete one-eighty in the span of less than a minute, and he wasn't sure just how it had done that.

It seemed that Laxus was just especially talented at doing such a thing, though it was usually in the opposite direction.

"Was this whole conversation your way of mocking me?" Mercury asked as he leaned back onto one of the planters.

"No. I really will tie you up and put you in the basement if you're going to act like you're suicidal again, and I'm sure everyone else is more than willing to help me."

Mercury seemed to pout, pursing his lips and tilting his head ever-so-slightly in a way that made it clear he was playing around. "Unfortunately, I've already been tied up in a basement for more than long enough, so I'll have to pass on that wonderful idea."

To Laxus's credit, he did at least look a little guilty. It seemed as though he'd forgotten that Mercury had spent four years of his life as a captive, but he played it off rather cooly, coughing into his hand to hide any embarrassment. "Then you'll be fine as long as you don't make any excessively dumb decisions. I don't think anything in this world can stop you from making somewhat dumb decisions so there's no point in asking you to go that far, but surely you can tell the difference between an excessively dumb decision and a regular dumb decision."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Mercury asked. He felt like he was just being bullied now – what was the point in making fun of him now?

"It means that you should ask if you think something is excessively dumb, or you're going to end up tied up –"

"I got it, I got it. Stop threatening me like I'm a child," he huffed. "I'm not planning on doing anything stupid in the future, anyway – the Thunder God Tribe already has you as their leader, and any more idiocy is going to bring down the average IQ of the guild."

"You're seriously calling me an idiot? After all the stunts you've pulled?" Laxus asked incredulously.

"I'm just saying that it takes one to know one."

"Are you trying to start a fight right now? Are you sure your old man bones can take it?"

Mercury grinned, feeling, for lack of better word, 'fired up.'. "Is that a challenge?"

"Of course not. Why the hell would I want to fight an old man? And you're, what – ten years out of practice? You'd get obliterated within three seconds," Laxus explained haughtily.

"Yeah, but all I have to do is put you on a moving vehicle and it's automatically your loss," the water mage pointed out. "Don't think I didn't notice how green your face got when I was –"

"That," Laxus said, genuinely frowning, "is an exception."

(It wasn't.)

Mercury didn't bother trying to hide his laugh, nor did he bother trying to dodge Laxus's half-hearted smack to the back of his head. "Next time you'll have to consider more carefully whether you come with, yeah?" he said.

Laxus made no indication that he'd heard, so he continued. "Then again, if it was anyone but you, it would have been impossible and I would have had to have used brute force against that guy. Not sure how that would have worked, so thanks for going with my shitty plan."

A beat passed before the younger man said anything. "You're welcome, I guess."

And if Mercury wasn't mistaken, Laxus's cheeks were covered in a heavy blush – he was embarrassed. For what? Being thanked?

Mercury supposed that sometimes, he also forgot about Laxus's age. In the grand scheme of things, he wasn't much older than a kid, either.

He laughed again, but since Laxus didn't know what he was laughing at, he was spared being hit again. Instead, he was given an odd look out of the corner of his eye as the man waited for an explanation that would never come.

That was enough teasing Laxus for today.

"Anyway," said Mercury, shifting from his spot and stretching his legs, "how are things going inside? Is it rowdy?"

He already knew the answer. "They're trying to figure out who would win in a fight between us. While drunk."

"Ah. Who is winning?"

"Me, obviously."

Mercury didn't doubt it; it hadn't been long since he was literally on death's door, and even if he was physically alright again, that didn't mean he was in the same shape he'd been in a decade ago. Mentally, he was still a bit out of it. He wasn't sure he'd be able to handle much violence for the time being. Fighting was one thing, but fighting hard was another.

It would be nice if he'd never have to fight with his life – or, rather, with other people's lives on the line ever again, but being a guild mage meant that was practically impossible. Fairy Tail always managed to get dragged in over their heads. Their lives would be on the line so long as they kept sticking their noses where they didn't belong, and as Mercury had pointed out many times before, being nosy was one of the criteria for being part of the guild in the first place. He gave it only a couple of months before they were once again the focal point of some national incident that had them fighting with their very beings to pull through.

Then again, it still wasn't a life he'd give up for anything in the world.

"Give me a couple of weeks and we can figure the answer out for real," the water mage said. "It'll take me a while to get back into the swing of things, but I'll be back to my old self soon."

"What if I said I didn't want you putting yourself in danger again?" Laxus asked.

Mercury pursed his lips, giving the man an easy smile. "That's not exactly fair. It's not like I want you – or anyone else for that matter – putting themselves in danger, either. Besides," he said, pausing while looking for the right words, "despite how often you forget it, I'm not human. Danger for me isn't the same as danger for you."

The dragon slayer frowned, not saying anything.

"I've actually always appreciated that you forget sometimes, you know? It felt nice."

"But it doesn't anymore?"

"It's not that – I just don't think it's necessary anymore," Mercury explained, taking a deep breath. "I've decided I'm going to stop pretending that I'm human."

Laxus's eyes widened, but that was the only outward reaction that he gave. Maybe he'd already come to the same conclusion as Mercury – there was no point in bothering to try to hide it anymore… even if the only one he'd ever been hiding it from was himself.

In the end, though, what had that ever done for him? It was running away in the purest sense of the word – running away from his past, running away from himself, and now that he no longer had to worry about the past, didn't that mean he shouldn't worry about himself, either?

He smiled. "It's not like I can hide it anymore, anyway." Mercury raised his arms to look at the gray patterning there. Even now, there was a faint blue hue to them that stood out, likely due to how close he was to the ocean. "I'll just feel naked if I tear them all off again, and I think Mira will actually try to kill me."

"She'd just nag you about it until you wished she did," Laxus huffed. He rolled his eyes and let his arms fall back down to the side. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I don't want to be the same person I used to be. Can't move on if I get stuck in the past every time I look in the mirror, after all."

It took a moment, but Laxus nodded. "Fine."

"You know, I wasn't really looking for your permission."

"And yet here you are, telling me anyway."

The water mage grinned. "Wasn't that what we promised? To tell the truth, and all that?"

"Whatever," Laxus huffed. When he wouldn't look at Mercury, the water mage was convinced that he was embarrassed. "Just don't go running off on your own again."

"I won't."

"If I make you promise again, will you actually keep it this time?"

"I will," Mercury said. "I swear."

And it was a promise he wasn't going to break, no matter what.

.

.

.

Magnolia's usual calm atmosphere slowly settled over the town once again after everything was over, and with it came the resolution of a great many things that Mercury had previously been worried about. The first and by far the most pressing thing that came to a calm close was the matter of his body; as he'd told Laxus, he was pretty much fine. Though there were still some changes that were rather difficult to ignore, they'd disappear as more time passed until they, too, faded much like the black markings that used to cover his body.

Because rather than serious issues, most of his "new" problems arose simply from the fact that he was healed and that he could contain magic in his body again. In other words, his ability to control magic had become almost childlike again; it was prone to leaking out when he was startled – an occurrence that was conspicuously becoming more and more apparent.

It seemed that the younger members of the guild had created a game of trying to get him to scream – a game that often ended with them soaking wet, to the pleasure of some and displeasure of others.

But, alas. That was the sort of thing that Mercury expected from the immature barely-not-children of the guild. It was their way of showing that they were happy he'd recovered, even if it left him feeling the urge to pull out his own hair more often than not.

Another issue that was solved nearly miraculously was that of Anemone, who'd decided he'd live up on the surface as much as possible. The new relationship he'd formed with the boy was awkward and tenuous. Mercury wasn't sure how to act around him. The only children he had experience with were Romeo and Asuka, who were a complete other beast, if you asked him; at least those two had a pretty defined relationship with Mercury – that being more of an uncle or older brother than anything else. With Anemone, however, it was a struggle to put a name to how they were related to each other now. On one hand, biologically speaking, they were siblings; on another, generationally speaking, they were uncle and nephew.

And on another third hand that Mercury didn't really want to consider, they acted almost like father and son.

Many of those who watched them interact – a group that was almost as large as the group of people who liked trying to scare Mercury, apparently – commented that the water mage should just let it happen as it happened, but he still felt hesitant to relax with it being so new. Who knew when Anemone would realize that he was just a bum who'd been leeching off others for the last half a century and ask to go home?

Still, he tried his best to treat Anemone as kindly as gently as he could. Really, it wasn't that different from how he saw Wendy or Romeo, so it wasn't hard… just awkward. At least Anemone didn't seem to mind it much; when Mercury found himself at a loss for words or even overcome with too many of them, the boy was more than content to chatter away and fill the silence with his own observations or comments about what had happened to him recently.

So, while it was a bit awkward, it wasn't unwanted, and Mercury found himself glad that he'd said yes to Anemone staying. That being said, there was still one huge issue that had to be dealt with – an issue that he'd been procrastinating thinking about since the conclusion of his own character arc.

What the hell did he do with Leviathan?

His "eldest brother" was still a bit of an enigma, even to Mercury. While the water mage now had a fractured portion of Fiernen's memories, that didn't mean he understood Leviathan at all. Maybe Mercury could say he knew who Leviathan used to be, if only because their backgrounds were similar; both loathed the everyday repetition of the ocean almost as much as they loathed those who accepted it as truth, and while Mercury had chosen to swallow his pride and accept the others, Leviathan had simply left – and he'd been all the better for it, at least until humans started getting involved in his issues.

And like Leviathan had said, Mercury didn't know exactly what had transpired between his departure and his return. All he knew was what had been told to him and what he'd figured out. The question, then, was whether he could truly trust Leviathan to be true to his word and remove himself from the human world entirely. And even beyond that, could he trust Leviathan's body-sharing, human-hating partner?

If there was little Mercury knew about Leviathan, then whatever the hell he knew about Cyrus could be written on a single post-it note: Cyrus was a bastard, and it was Cyrus's fault that he'd nearly died – that he'd suffered as much as he had. But, as with his siblings, was there even a point in trying to seek revenge for it?

Would he get anything out of it if he shoved Cyrus in a basement for four years and treated him like livestock?

No, of course not. All that would do is further the hatred, continuing the cycle – though Mercury wasn't sure whether that hatred would still be focused on humans or whether it would be towards just himself. That being said, what did he actually do with that asshole?

In the end, however, it seemed that the best decision was the most simple, too. First, they drained whatever was left of Cyrus's bank account – which was no small amount, because Cyrus had thought to do the same of the late Navio Furune's money before killing him – and transferred it into Fairy Tail's name because why not. Most of it was going to go towards paying for the complete reconstruction of the docks, anyway, so the guild wasn't really "earning" much from it.

(Of course… they did earn some funds. There'd be no point if they didn't.)

After gaining the funds to rebuild the entire port and whatever ships had been damaged, they put the human-non-human combo to work; Leviathan was more or less willing to help them out by making sure the seas stayed calm enough to be an issue, and Cyrus was easily enough cajoled into doing the same if he was in control of the shared body. The process took the greater part of a month to finish, so by the time that everything was in order again, Cyrus was thoroughly done with working for Fairy Tail… but there was still one more thing that had to be handled.

Even if he got on his knees and begged, he wouldn't be getting away from the long, long line of people who thought they were owed a chance to beat his face in – both those who'd gotten injured during the fighting and those who only wanted it for the sake of Mercury, who couldn't be bothered to partake.

And… that was that.

It all felt too simple, really, but as they say – sometimes the best solution really is the simplest. The final conversation that Mercury had with Leviathan before he disappeared into the ocean (hopefully forever) went a little like this:

Leviathan said, "It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Goodbye."

And Mercury said, "No, it wasn't. Get the fuck out of Fiore."

Not the most dramatic ending, but an ending nonetheless. That left just Anemone and Mercury himself behind on the surface, and he couldn't be happier – even if it meant having to deal with the knuckleheads who thought it was so much fun to scare him into nearly blasting them all away the moment he returned to the guild after that.

For the week or so after that, things remained more or less the same. Mercury struggled to get into a daily pattern that felt "normal," but he knew he'd get there eventually, even if it took an entire month. It just felt a bit odd to suddenly have so much free time – time where he didn't have to worry about whether he was going to stop breathing if he stopped thinking about it or if he'd wake the next morning. His time now was spent mostly getting dragged into fights mostly organized by Natsu, who somehow hadn't forgotten about their "promise" despite generally being so forgetful that he'd forget to tie his shoelaces if he'd had any, and with the sheer destructiveness that kid could bring, Makarov was quickly at his limit when it came to replacing the tables and chairs. Any more, and it was pretty certain that they'd put a hole through the roof, and no one wanted to bother trying to fix that, so it was decided that the two would have one singular fight and call it good.

(Or, rather, the guild had decided that, and Mercury had agreed despite knowing such a thing would not stop Natsu from trying again, regardless of the outcome.)

The occasion was reminiscent of Natsu's fight with Erza after they'd teamed up to stop the Eisenwald guild from wreaking havoc on the guildmaster's annual meeting… an event that felt like it was lifetimes away at this point. He just hoped that the Magic Council had no reason to stick their heads into Fairy Tail's business this time.

And there was, of course, a betting pool set up. Mercury had no idea what the odds were, nor did he particularly care; in his mind, this was just payment for an event he'd almost forgotten already as well as a way to try becoming himself once again.

How nice would it feel to let his magic rampage rather than trying to keep it pinned inside? Only time would tell – time and a massive confrontation with a battle he'd been actively avoiding for almost a decade, that was.

Their fight was to take place in a grassy clearing outside of Magnolia's main gates. Though they weren't particularly close to any of the more populous areas of the city, far more people than Mercury expected showed up, probably drawn into the excitement that, for some reason, seemed to have taken over the guild. The air was positively buzzing with chatter, most of which he was able to hear clearly.

Honestly, it felt a little embarrassing, but he swallowed it down and faced down one very hyped Natsu Dragneel.

"Finally!" the boy announced, slamming his blazing fists together. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?"

"Probably longer than I have," Mercury said. He tilted to his head, still listening to what the others were saying while trying to let it embolden him.

Off to the side, the Thunder God tribe sans Laxus were watching with excited eyes. Mercury had no idea where their "leader" was, but it was probably for the best; the younger three were all noticeably ecstatic to be watching a fight between their friend and the guild's resident (and literal) hothead. Evergreen appeared the most normal about it, which wasn't much of a surprise. She sat on a wooden bench that had been dragged all the way from the guild hall (by Elfman, to Mercury's slowly decreasing surprise; the man was infatuated) with her legs crossed, shoulders squared up to where the fight was set to begin. Beside her, also sitting on the bench, was Fried, who was doing a great impression of a university student. If he had a notebook and pen in front of him, it would have been perfect. He sat at attention, his back almost perfectly straight as he analyzed the two upcoming fighters before declaring that Mercury would definitely be the winner. Whether or not he had anything to back up that claim was unclear.

As usual, however, the third member of the group was the most chaotic of the bunch, except this time he was making himself almost useful. Bixlow was running the betting pool. He and his dolls gleefully took the money of both guildmates and random people who'd been dragged along with the crowd, carefully tucking it beneath the makeshift countertop he'd made out of a fallen tree.

Though… if Mercury wasn't mistaken, he was also pocketing some of the cash that made its way between the betters and himself. He decided not to mention it to anyone. If they were going to get such glee out of an out-of-practice old man fighting one of the guild's most active fighters, then they deserved to get scammed.

(Then again, when had Mercury really considered himself an old man? Perhaps Laxus's rhetoric was rubbing off on him.)

The official "referee" of their match was Erza, for some reason. She looked incredibly pleased that the fight was happening, and not even because she'd made a bet (Mercury was sure she had, just not on who); she just looked genuinely happy that the fight was going to happen at all – that Mercury could participate.

"Are you two ready?" she asked, looking between Mercury and Natsu. Natsu appeared to be vibrating in excitement, so she didn't really need an answer from him – but she got one anyway in the form of a shouted, "Hell yeah!" that made Mercury's ears ring.

"Doesn't sound like I have any other choice than to be ready," the water mage sighed. "If I walked away right now, Natsu would probably try to tackle me from behind."

"Of course I would! How long has it been since you promised to fight me? I'm not takin' no for an answer this time!"

Mercury smiled. "That depends on which of us you're asking."

One year for Natsu, and eight for him – and yet both men practically looked the same as they had on that day. There was something philosophical about it, but Mercury wasn't smart enough to be able to put it into specific words.

Another shout permeated from the crowd, this one coming from close to Bixlow; Anemone was there, his green scales glimmering brightly amongst all the like-colored trees as he waved exuberantly towards his brother. He'd started to forgo wearing Mercury's old sunglasses when they were in heavily shaded areas like this in an attempt to increase his tolerance to the light, which allowed everyone watching to see how the two's eyes were stormy gray replicas of each other. If it wasn't obvious they were siblings to everyone who wasn't already in the know, it was then.

Then again, Mercury had been telling the truth when he told Laxus he was going to stop pretending to be human. For once in his life, he was wearing short sleeves, which made his scaled arms more obvious than they'd ever been before.

(And he felt less expensed than he thought he would.)

"Brother!" Anemone cheered, using the Fiorean word before slinking back into their language. "Win this! Show the fire one not to mess with you!"

"Yeah, Merc," Bixlow added with a sneer, "You better with this or I'm gonna teach the kid all sorts of swear words!"

Mercury scoffed. With an exaggerated eye roll, he said, "He's already bound to learn most of them considering who he lives with." Laxus wasn't exactly one to police his own language, and Mercury often found himself sinking down to the younger man's level of vulgarity when started to go at it; if Anemone didn't learn all of those words (assuming he hadn't already) it was going to be a miracle.

"Okay, then I'll teach him all sorts of things that virgins like you two wouldn't know. Don't be surprised if he comes in talking about –"

"Shut," the air became staticky, sending the tips of Mercury's hair into the air, "the fuck up, Bixlow."

It was unlucky for Bixlow that Laxus chose that exact moment to make his grand appearance, and far more unlucky that he'd managed to catch the tail end of their conversation. Apparently, he didn't like being called a virgin very much. Either that or he, like the water mage, cringed at the thought of Anemone's language becoming vulgar in that direction. Perhaps both.

(Honestly, it was pretty funny that Mercury was being included in "virgins" considering… yeah. But he was going to keep that to himself if only to save himself from the dragon slayer's ire.)

Mercury looked away before he could catch Laxus's eye, which probably wasn't going to happen anyway considering that the man was too busy berating Bixlow with jabs of electricity while Anemone cheered, entirely unbothered. Why he looked away wasn't exactly clear; some part of Mercury was probably just worried he'd see something in that man's eye that he didn't really want to see. It was hard to put into words, so he hadn't bothered to try yet, but he half expected Laxus to have that same level of worry that he'd had while the water mage was ill – or, at the very least, to lack the faith he used to have in him despite what they'd done together.

Well, putting it like that sounded dirty. Anemone might have ended up catching up on all sorts of vulgar language with or without Bixlow's help, so the threat held little weight, and yet…

Mercury still wanted to win. He really, really wanted to win. Not just against Natsu, but against everyone – he wanted to show himself that was back to one-hundred-percent and could go back to living his life freely without worry again.

"Alright." The water mage turned back to where Natsu was still raring to go, though the boy's attention had been drawn by someone in the crowd – one Lucy Heartfilia, whose attention was taken up entirely with Levy. "If you want her to look at you, you've gotta go all out, alright?"

Natsu's head snapped back to him. "What the hell're you talking about?"

Mercury sighed. It seemed Natsu still hadn't realized it yet. "Don't worry about it right now. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

"Huh?"

Besides them both, Erza stepped forward with a smile. She, too, had begun picking up on Natsu's (probably requited) feelings and had also come to the conclusion that Natsu was a bit too thick in the head to understand what the throbbing in his chest meant. Even if he wanted to know, there was no point in trying to explain it to him now.

He just wouldn't get it.

It would probably be a while before he did. Of all the boys in the guild, it could definitely be said that he was the most thickheaded.

"If you two are ready, then I'll lay down the rules," she said. "This match ends when one of you forfeits or I say so, understood? Don't go questioning my decision if I tell you to stop." Natsu grumbled something under his breath that wasn't clear enough for even the two who were standing right next to him to hear, though they could probably both guess exactly what he was saying – something along the lines of preemptively protesting Erza's decision. "And don't go overboard, please. I know you two don't know the meaning of the word 'moderation,' but Master doesn't want this forest to end up a smoldering mess or under six feet of water. Take it easy."

Mercury caught Natsu's eye just as Natsu looked up directly at him. They both knew that the complete and utter destruction of the forest around them was the most likely conclusion to this fight, but neither said anything, afraid of contradicting Erza.

"Then, if you two are ready, take your positions," she instructed, taking her own couple of steps back and gesturing for those watching to do the same. Mercury gave Natsu a slight tilt of his head, telling him all he needed to know.

Without waiting for a "go" signal from Erza, the dragon slayer and the dragon leapt into action.

The fight went about as one would expect. Well, everyone except Mercury, who hadn't seen Natsu fight in years; for him, it was all reactionary, all about learning how to adapt on the fly again, and Natsu, who fought purely on instinct, was a terrible first fight in that regard. The boy did his best when he was the one controlling the pace of the fight rather than adapting to someone else's tempo, which made it hard for Mercury to figure out the proper reactions.

That being said, Mercury had two advantages that couldn't be understated. One, his magic was a natural counter to Natsu's; as much as the Fire Dragon Slayer liked to harp on anyone who suggested his and Gray's incompatibility was due to opposing magic types, there was something to be said about being able to use them together in a fight. Just as Gray's magic melted under the intense pressure of Natsu's, Natsu's magic faltered against the waves and waves of water Mercury was able to conjure. Sure, some of it evaporated (that was to be expected considering how hot Natsu's flames ran these days) but the younger boy had to do a lot of maneuvering in order to gain any ground, which was Mercury's second advantage: he was used to fighting with a guy who relied on speed and brute force. While his speed wasn't anywhere near Laxus's, he could still keep up more than enough for Natsu's attacks to look like they were coming in pretty damn slow.

There was a lot of shouting from both men during the course of their fights. Lots of, "Stop dodging!" from Natsu and, "Maybe if you can hit me once," from Mercury, alongside various proclamations of, "I'll get you!" and, "Do you want me to slow down yet?"

To be honest, it was fun.

He couldn't think back to a time where he'd actually had fun with a fight. Maybe some spars with Fried or Bixlow in the past hadn't been terrible, but it wasn't like he'd ever actively looked forward to them, and most of his fights during the last ten years were when something was seriously on the line. That kind of fight? It wasn't anything he could consider entertaining, which is why it paled in comparison to this one – a no-holds-barred free-for-all with nothing at risk other than pride.

And despite everything that had happened, Mercury remained a very prideful man. He'd never intended to lose to Natsu – if he did, he'd never hear the end of it, and even beside that, he'd spend the rest of his life metaphorically kicking himself for losing to a kid.

(Even if he was becoming increasingly certain that Natsu's age wasn't nearly as straightforward as it appeared.)

In the end, both of them got plenty of hits in on each other, both magical and otherwise. Mercury would remember how hard Natsu's fists had become for a long time after this. The boy had gotten a couple of good hits in that probably would've broken bones if not for the water mage's hardened scales, but in exchange, he also got hit plenty on his own – thin scratches from torrents of water attempting to tear him apart littered Natsu's arms and upper body, while dark, splotchy bruises had been painted on his shins from having his kicks blocked. Mercury likely would have been in a similar state if he didn't have his miraculous recovery abilities.

He felt grateful for them for the first time in a long time. Hopefully, the feeling would stick around. Then again, he was hardly planning on letting himself get hurt enough to have to use it again.

That's what his promise to Laxus was about, anyway. Whether he'd be able to keep this one was up in the air. The guild always seemed to pull itself into things that were way above its paygrade, so he wasn't actually that hopeful – at the very least, though, he'd try to take care of his body a little bit better. Enough to satisfy a surprisingly protective Dragon Slayer, hopefully.

The fight between Natsu and Mercury came to an end far sooner than he'd thought it would. Mercury's stamina was thoroughly shot, but it was still enough to keep up with Natsu until the very end. Despite that, their fight didn't really have as much of a "conclusion" as most people had clearly hoped for; it was cut short when, again, some goon from the Magic Council showed up.

What were the odds? Twice now, Natsu had been in the middle of a fight he'd been looking forward to, only for it to be interrupted by those assholes.

Bixlow shouted, "Flee!" as soon as he realized what was going on. It was rather telling that he was the first to realize exactly what was going on; his sixth sense for danger was greater than anyone else's, if only because he was the one most often dragging himself into trouble. With his command, the group immediately split up – and Mercury, who still loathed the Magic Council, especially with all the Navio Furune business, managed to make himself sparse within seconds, grabbing Anemone along the way.

Yeah, he'd had enough of those assholes for a lifetime, and he was still technically an undocumented immigrant to Fiore. They'd probably have a field day trying to figure out where he was from. Mercury would much rather be accused of being a coward by Natsu than have to open that can of worms, and besides that…

Running away with the three members of the Thunder God Tribe plus Anemone was also kind of fun. Laxus didn't join in (he was too prideful to run away, so he simply left on his own), but the experience made him miss the kind of antics they'd get into.

That being said, they left probably the worst member behind to deal with the aftermath – Natsu himself. Mercury knew he'd probably get himself thrown in prison for treasonous acts against the "esteemed Council" (he was fairly certain the boy would challenge them for interrupting his fight), though that also wasn't his problem.

It was Erza's problem though, and she stayed behind. Things wouldn't get that bad. Probably

(But little did Mercury know that this was just the sign of something far larger than he could imagine creeping around the corner.)

.

.

.

The water mage only found out why the Magic Council showed up several days later, and it was entirely coincidental that he did. He'd bumped into Lucy as she was on her way back to her apartment. The girl, excited as she was, seemed more than happy to explain why she was hurrying across the canal to pack her things and head out.

Apparently, the Magic Council guys had been on their way to deliver a job opportunity from a "very important" person and had accidentally stumbled onto the location of the fight, and, thinking that it was something illegal rather than something that was just to Fairy Tail standard, had attempted to intervene. How they hadn't recognized Natsu or Erza could only be called a miracle. With how inept the group was, Mercury also considered it a miracle that the former hadn't managed to knock them out with his irritation afterwards; the water mage himself had already been on the verge of trying to knock himself out after listening to the boy complain for hours and hours about the interruption.

When everything had been cleared up, Erza escorted the group to the guild and to Master Makarov. They delivered their emergency job notice and were on their way quite quickly; by the time Mercury had managed to get himself up the following day (his regeneration was stellar, but that didn't mean he wasn't sore, holy fuck) they'd already been gone for long enough that the guild had practically forgotten about the incident already.

But their job notice didn't disappear when the memory of them did, which was why Lucy was in a hurry to pack.

"The Four Gods of Ishgar, huh?" Mercury mused. He knew the term, though the identities of most of them remained a mystery to him – and coincidentally, the only one he did know was the one who'd sent them a request. "It's Warrod, right?"

"How'd you know?" Lucy said by way of confirming. "I'd never heard of him before. But I guess I don't know a lot of the magical celebrities these days considering I still sometimes feel like those seven years didn't happen."

"I'm not sure that really counts as an excuse if Warrod's been around since before your parents were born," the water mage retorted.

"What? He's that old?"

"Yep." Mercury couldn't help but try to fight off a smile. "He's one of the founding members of Fairy Tail, you know? I've met him a couple of times before."

Well, saying he'd "met" Warrod Sequen might have been exaggerating. They'd been members of the same guild, so of course Mercury knew of him and had interacted with him, but there was a difference between passing someone in the hallway and actually having spoken with them. And back then, Mercury definitely wasn't the type to start chatting with a stranger, comrade or not. Plus, it hadn't been too long after that that Warrod had left the guild to pursue a career as a Wizard Saint. Mercury was pretty sure he remained in contact with Makarov, but they hadn't heard much from him since he'd had to become an "impartial" member of the new Magic Council.

(Though, whether he was truly impartial or not…)

"Is there anyone you haven't met?" Lucy asked dryly. "You've mentioned that you knew that old guy from Grimoire Heart, too."

Mercury laughed a little bit. Had he mentioned that before? He couldn't recall saying it to anyone other than Laxus. "I knew most of the founding members of Fairy Tail, but only briefly. Sans Mavis Vermillion, I guess." To his knowledge, she'd died a couple of years before his introduction to the guild, which was a shame since he'd have loved to see what wisdom she had for him.

Then again, at that point in his life, he probably wouldn't have even bothered asking about anything like that.

"I see. Well, what type of guy is he? If that Hades dude was intense, I'm sure a Wizard Saint is even worse – I'm kind of nervous."

"Eh..." How did one describe Warrod? He had a face that really made you think he was going to scold you, but when he opened his mouth… "Just don't take anything he says too seriously. He likes his jokes, if I recall."

Mercury had vague memories of him saying something similar while bugging the hell out of Precht, though Warrod also had been pretty serious when they'd first run into each other; he'd been suspicious of Mercury, but his persuasion likely played a large part in why Precht let the water mage in in the first place.

If you thought about it, Warrod was indirectly the reason that Mercury was even here at all.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Lucy. "Though… Whether Natsu can tell if someone is joking or not…"

"I doubt you guys can do anything that'll seriously annoy him unless you destroy the forest on the way or something. Then again, I'm sure Natsu is destruction-prone enough to do that in his sleep, so you should be careful."

With that, he bid her farewell and let her go on her way. While he didn't know where the Wizard Saint lived, it definitely wasn't going to be anywhere close. If anything, they'd be likely to find him in the middle of a forest – perhaps even a forest in a place that an out of date map would denote as a desert. The trip was certain to be a hassle.

Mercury was glad that he hadn't been implicated in it somehow. At the moment, he'd definitely prefer allowing himself to relax for just one more week. After that, it was going to be back to jobs for him, assuming he could find one that the worrywarts at the guild would let him go on.

Then again, saying "back to jobs" implied that he'd actually gone on any in the first place.

He arrived at the guild hall as originally intended to a massive fight going on, which he dutifully ignored. For once, the usual troublemakers didn't seem to be included; perhaps they, too, had begun to prepare for the mission that Warrod had assigned to them just as Lucy had, but the more likely answer was that they found better fights to involve themselves in elsewhere. At the very least, Gray and Natsu had probably bumped into each other along the way and started arguing, thus keeping the brawl in the guild hall to a mostly reasonable level.

Well, reasonable for their standards. As usual, if anyone other than Fairy Tail members or longtime residents of Magnolia were to see it, they would probably think the guild insane – and of course, they'd be right. Max had his hand over Nab's mouth while Vijeeter prepared to hit them both with a chair; Macao and Wakaba engaged each other in a contest to see who could strangle the other first; Cana fought valiantly with her alcohol addiction. All of them were fights that would probably end up as losses for both sides, sans the barrel of alcohol the aforementioned young woman was grappling, and none of them would have it any other way.

Er, other than Master Makarov, that was. He sat at the bar with Mira and Anemone, who had woken up far earlier than Mercury and was now trusted to walk to the guild by himself. The older man sipped a mug of unidentified alcohol slowly with a tired look on his face, while the younger boy busied himself with what the water mage presumed was water.

At least, he hoped it was water.

"What the hell?" Mercury said at his own approach. "It's not even noon yet – is the idea of sending Natsu off to meet Warrod that stressful?"

Makarov turned to the water mage. There was no amusement in his eyes. "So you've heard too, have you?"

"I ran into Lucy on the way over. Any idea why they chose that group specifically?"

"You know how he is." The younger man took a large sip that practically had him choking on it, though he forced it down rather than waste any of it coughing.

"I bet he was just interested in the group that did well in the Grand Magic Games. Since he's been pretty removed from guild affairs, he's probably out of the loop."

"Do you think that makes me any less worried? With those fools?"

"Probably not, but I don't think day drinking is going to help much."

"Pah. I'll drink in the middle of the day if I want to, regardless of what those brats are up to!"

Mercury could tell that the alcohol was already starting to hit the small man (though with his abilities, Makarov definitely could have flushed it from his system if he wanted to), so he rolled his eyes, turning to Mira. "Cut him off after this, will you?"

"You don't get to decide when I can and can't –"

"Sure," Mira interrupted. "Personally, I thought it was funny to see Master getting so worked up about whether or not Natsu will manage to destroy an entire forest by himself and earn the rage of one of the Four Gods of Ishgar, but apparently I am in the minority. Have a seat, Merc."

Well, when she put it like that, maybe Mercury should have sat down and ordered one too; god knew that he'd be dragged into everything if Warrod snapped and strung the group up by their ankles in the middle of a smoldering forest, too. That was not paperwork he wanted to fill again.

But then again, what would that paperwork even be?

"You're not helping," Makarov moaned. "He asked for them specifically, but anyone else would have been better! Mercury, you're better now, right? Go with them. Please."

On instinct, the water mage said, "Hell no."

"Boo. Why not? I thought you were going to finally start doing things around here again," the old man complained. "Don't tell me we went through all of that work just so you can be lazy again?"

"Do you think I want my first job back to be full of crazy crap like that? No thanks. I'll do something easy. Like bandits – there's always bandits."

"Wouldn't that be a bit overkill?" Mira mused. "I mean, considering who would probably come with you, you'd be better off doing something mildly difficult."

Mercury rolled his eyes again. "I'd like to do one solo before I start working in a group again. Besides, I still don't know whether or not they'd want to work with me again."

Obviously, both he and Mira were referring to the Thunder God Tribe. With Mercury now on great terms with them again and him being almost back to full strength (albeit still working out the kinks), he assumed they'd let him back in, but he hadn't asked yet.

Trying to do that was… just awkward. What if they said no?

"Don't be like that, Merc," Mira said. It felt like he was being scolded – like the answer she was going to give him was so obvious that he shouldn't have bothered doubting it. "Do you think Laxus would go as far as he did just to not want to work with you again?"

"That's the issue. I don't think he's realized that getting hurt won't kill me anymore."

"I'd hope that you weren't going to get hurt fighting bandits," Master protested. "If you do, I'll have to reconsider letting you out of this hall."

The water mage scoffed. "Yeah, sure, whatever. You just want me in here so you can make me forge your signature again."

"They won't accept my own damn signature because they're used to your version of it!"

"Your signature looks like someone sneezed while holding a chopstick. You cannot blame this one on me."

"I can and I will! Now go up there and start signing papers for me! I need them done before Natsu and those fools get back so I can send them right away." The slightly younger man started banging on Mercury's shoulder with small, drunken fists. Obviously, they didn't hurt; Makarov wasn't trying very hard, and Mercury's scales were too thick to let that level of damage get through anyway, but he played along with it anyway.

"I swear, you're acting like a little kid – hey, stop hitting me, asshat. Go do your own paperwork."

"I don't wanna! Either you go with Erza, or you walk upstairs and start signing papers!"

"I already said I'm not doing either one, you –" Above all of their heads, the pipes groaned. While such a sound wasn't particularly expected from the guild hall (nearly every piece of it had been broken at least once despite the fact it was less than a decade old), it was a sign that Mercury should probably sit back and recenter himself, and Makarov, being well aware of this, sat back so fast that he might very well have moved at the speed of light.

Clearing his throat, he huffed, "You're worse than a little kid when it comes to controlling yourself now. Act your age, won't you?"

"I wasn't the one who just tried to throttle someone when they didn't do what I wanted," Mercury scoffed. "Cut me some slack – I'm ten years out of practice. Give me another week and I'll be making messes for you like Natsu does."

"Please don't."

Mira laughed gently as she reached out and rubbed Anemone's hair (and the boy didn't even look up, already used to this behavior.) "Speaking of going on jobs," she said, "should we find somewhere else to put the guild's mark on you?"

"Huh?"

"It's gone, right? Or rather, since you've stopped ripping out those scales of yours, it's stuck underneath – you can't see it."

Mercury touched where the marking had once been – right underneath his left pectoral.

It wasn't as though it had ever been particularly visible in the first place. With it being in a hidden spot, the only way anyone would see it is if his shirt was off, and since Mercury only ever took it off when he was certain he was alone (or inebriated enough to not be able to tell the difference), there were only a handful of people who could claim to have seen where it used to be. Even he had hardly ever looked at it. At one point, that spot had been the only non-marred skin on his chest; above it had been the ugly black marking that used to be killing him, and below it was where his singular scar from being stabbed on the beach had been, so the location had been intentional – the guild was above his past but below his future.

Then again, it has always sort of ended up being the opposite; Mercury constantly feared his past and ignored his future… but that was hardly important now.

Yes, with everything over, there was no longer a specific reason to keep it there.

"I mean…" he hesitated, "it's still there. Just hidden underneath, I think. Can I even get a new one?"

"It's just a stamp," Makarov huffed. "Whether you've got one or a million – or, hell, none, you're still part of this guild whether you like it or not. Even if your name isn't on the Council's version of the registry, it'll always be in the master copy."

"Oh. Thanks." Mercury hadn't even known that his name was in either of the registries, official or not. It wasn't as though he'd ever checked despite having access to the guild's version and sending in audits to the Council's version as people left the guild during the seven-year-gap.

He wondered whether his name on the roster had a last name next to it. Perhaps he should think of one soon now that he's planning on… starting a family again.

(Even the thought of it had goosebumps underneath the scales on his arms.)

"If you're thankful, you can go –"

"So, where should I put it if I'm getting re-stamped?" Mercury interrupted, already fully aware that Makarov was going to start up their argument from earlier again. "All of the dragon slayers have it on their left shoulder, right? Other than Laxus, anyway."

Laxus probably would have had a stroke if he had his guild mark in the same location as a bunch of "brats," so it was a good thing that his was elsewhere.

"But you're not exactly a dragon slayer," Mira pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm closer to a dragon, so doesn't it make sense to put it on my right shoulder?"

"You shouldn't base your decisions on what someone who is like you does," said Makarov rather sagely. The impact disappeared completely when one paired it with how heavy the slur to his words had become and the flushness of his face; rather than wise words, it seemed more like the ramblings of a drunk man.

Because it was. And despite the fact everyone watching knew Makarov could wipe out his own drunkenness and the hangover that was sure to follow, he didn't bother, content to stay ignorant of what was to come upon Team Natsu's return for one more afternoon.

"So, right shoulder?" Mira pressed. "Final answer?"

Mercury shook his head. "Unfortunately, that man's got a point. I'll think about it a little longer. I have time."

Because now, he had nothing but time.

The sound of the guild's doors groaning almost became loud enough to break above the clamor for those not blessed with extra-sensitive hearing to hear it, though Mercury'd known who was coming long before they actually opened. Since they managed to combine their magic into a Unison Raid, he'd become even more sensitive to the Dragon Slayer's magic, though that might not have actually been the only reason anymore. Several possibilities still remained; he could have "awoken" into his more dragon-like body and was now sensing the similarly attuned Lightning Dragon Slayer's magic, or he could simply be sensing more magic in general and was fixated on Laxus's magic the most strongly, but he preferred to think that it was the Unison Raid.

Was that a little gay? Perhaps.

The Dragon Slayer's entrance was noted by several of the people currently using the hall for things other than its intended purpose, though no one actually paid it any mind. At this point, Laxus's presence had once more faded to something in the background. The old Laxus would have been pissed, but now it seemed a good thing more than anything else – it meant people were less on edge around him. People were once again warming to the idea of him being part of the guild despite his past actions.

Honestly, Mercury never thought he'd see the day, but he couldn't help but grin as no one bothered to lower their voices at the man's entrance. He sat up, straightened his back, and waved Laxus over.

"Get that goofy-ass look off your face," he huffed.

But Laxus's grumpiness couldn't wipe the "goofy-ass look" off of Mercury's face even if it was as sharp as a harpoon. Besides, the water mage's reaction was swallowed by that of his "younger brother," who stood and squealed the moment that he noticed Laxus was there.

"Brother!" he said, jumping over the counter despite Mira's quiet protests.

And he wasn't referring to Mercury, but to Laxus. Within the span of one week, Anemone had turned traitor and decided that Laxus was also his "brother," in a manner of speaking.

Anemone ran to grab Laxus's waist, failing only because the man's instincts kicked in; he dodged around the boy, nearly hitting him with something long and thin that had been tucked under his arm as he did so, but Anemone wasn't one to be dissuaded to easily. Knowing that Laxus couldn't exactly fight back (at least, he probably wouldn't considering that Mercury was right there), Anemone went in a second time, pressing forward with another loud squeal.

Despite usually being confident, Laxus's face quickly morphed into an expression that almost appeared to be terror when the boy got in close. He looked up, trying to catch anyone's eye; unfortunately, the only one whose gaze he managed to attract was Mercury, who would rather see the man suffer for the crime of seeing his nephew's attention away.

And so, Laxus gave in.

He let Anemone throw his eyes around his hips and press his face into his belly button, yet threw his head back in denial anyway. Honestly, it was rather cute; Mercury wasn't sure he'd seen anyone get Laxus to sit down and be quiet anywhere near as quickly, which meant that Anemone managed an incredible feat that he didn't even know about. Then again, since the boy was doing it to mess with Laxus, perhaps it wasn't so unknowing. Perhaps he'd just spent too much time around Bixlow. Either way, Mercury was certain that anemone's next move would have been to shout, "Help me, Grandpa!" to draw a drunken Makarov back into the conversation (because everyone knew that there was little that old man wouldn't do for someone who called him "grandpa.")

"Brother," Anemone said contentedly in Fiorean without drawing away. This time, it really was directed towards Mercury. "Huges are nice."

He said it as though accusing Mercury of not hugging him enough, which isn't untrue, but the hug he was in the process of getting was less of a "hug" and more of a "one-sided assault."

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Careful. If you touch him for too long, you're going to end up as burnt as a piece of jerky. He won't put up with you for that long."

"He will!" Anemone declared. In their natural tongue, he added, "I'm sure Brother knows that you'll be super upset if he doesn't play along."

Mercury wasn't certain if he'd switched languages because he didn't know how to say it in Fiorean yet or because he didn't want Laxus to hear. Either way, he definitely knew they needed to ban Bixlow from hanging around the boy alone, otherwise it wouldn't be long before they had a smaller version of him running around.

Assuming it wasn't too late to avoid it, that was.

Laxus, sensing that Anemone's fun was now over, pushed the boy away with a gentleness that didn't quite fit him. The moment he could breathe without worrying about knocking the youngest boy over, he huffed, "I don't know what he just said, but I'm holding you accountable."

The water mage laughed and rolled his eyes a second time. "It wasn't anything you didn't already know. Lighten up."

(Yes, because at this point, even Laxus had to be aware of just how much of a doormat he was being for an eight-year-old.)

Still, it was nice to see the younger man be so gentle. It was a change only obvious because he'd known Laxus for so long, but he knew better than to say anything if he wanted to keep getting a decent night's sleep in the upcoming future, so he kept the rest of his thoughts himself and pointed out the obvious. "What's in your hand, Lax?"

Mercury hadn't noticed it until Laxus had flailed in an attempt to outsmart Anemone, but there was something tucked under his arm. The item was long and thin. All the water mage could make out was the part that was sticking out from underneath the tall man's frame, so he tilted his head, hoping to get a better view.

And to be honest… he was surprised by what he saw.

Laxus swung the item between himself and Anemone, effectively forcing the boy to take a step back, and the boy, just as curious as his elder brother, does so willingly so he could get a glimpse of whatever Laxus has grabbed, too. His eyes went wide, mouth gaping before Mercury could comment.

"Is that a sword?" he squealed, intensity renewed. Anemone reached out with excited hands as he tried to grab it from the significantly taller Laxus's grip, but it was easy enough for the man to shake him off a second time. Instead of the weapon ending up in Anemone's small hands, it landed in Mercury's rather large ones.

The elder man accepted it gratefully, holding it in his arms as though it were something precious – which was the very last word that could be used to describe this particular sword; rather than something expensive or rare, it was a piece of junk that could probably be bought at any second-hand weapon shop, or even a blacksmith's junk pile.

But it was his sword, and that made it irreplaceable.

"What the hell?" Mercury asked. He felt unable to take his eyes off the weapon, but a new type of grin made its way onto his face – one that was born from remembering what he was holding. "Where'd you find this? I thought it got stolen with the rest of my stuff."

While the weapon itself was by no means a nice one, it was still worth a decent sum; the charm that Romeo got him for his birthday – God, how long ago was that now? – still hung off the hilt like a talisman and the scabbard was still enchanted, though Mercury could tell that said enchantment was close to wearing off by now. If it had been left in his house, it definitely would have been grabbed along with the rest of his stuff that had been taken after it had been ransacked.

… After Laxus blew the door of the hinges and never got around to replacing it. Thanks, Laxus.

"I grabbed it," the Lightning Dragon Slayer confirmed. "I forgot I had it until now." But Mercury very clearly saw the heavy eye contact that came after, so the water mage knew he was lying; he didn't simply forget he had it – he was holding onto it for some reason.

Seeing this, Mercury comments, "What, did you think I was going to stab myself with it or something?"

"Yes."

"That's pretty rude." He ran his fingers down the side of the scabbard, feeling every familiar notch and scratch. "Erza would probably be pretty mad if she heard you. She made sure I wouldn't accidentally cut myself."

"You say that like you were in any sort of state to try," Makarov pointed out, now tuned back in again. "Could you have even lifted a weapon with a bum arm and half a leg to stand on? I don't think so."

Mercury ignored him. "I didn't think I'd see this again."

And wasn't that the truth – if you'd asked him a month ago, he'd have said it didn't matter whether the weapon was lost or not because he'd be dead soon anyway. Perhaps this, too, was a sign that he could move on – that he would move on.

Or maybe he was just getting sentimental again.

"Is this," Anemone said, pausing before switching back to a language they could all understand, "yours? Is yours?"

"In the past," Mercury said without elaborating.

Mira cleared her throat from behind the bar. "Didn't someone say something about you fighting Twilight Ogre with that? I think Macao brought it up a couple of times when you were still, er, missing."

Did he? Mercury wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing. On one hand, it wasn't like he particularly did it for the sake of the guild, so the idea of it being a story rather than an event felt kind of weird. In fact, for most of the people there with him at that moment, he never expected they would even hear tales of it because at that point, they'd all been "dead."

But on the other hand, maybe it felt good to be known as someone who protected the guild.

"That was a long time ago," he admitted after a long moment of fondly – and, perhaps, some not-so-fondly – remembering what had been going on back then. If he recalled correctly, he'd fallen pretty ill afterwards as a result of overworking his body. And then after that, they'd decided that he really needed a birthday, thus leading to the acquisition of the little charm that now dangled off the end.

It felt rather embarrassing if he thought about it like that. "Anyway," the water mage continued, hoping to hide the mild heat rising in his cheeks, "why'd you bring this to me now? You could have just handed it off to me when I got home."

Laxus's gaze darted away, looking towards his grandfather for less than half a second before his eyes returned to Mercury. That's when Mercury understood exactly what he was thinking.

Laxus did not forget he had the weapon in his possession.

Perhaps it'd been bugging him all this time; after all, it belonged to his best friend, and until recently there was no guarantee that said friend would ever be able to wield it again. Plus, it was so outside of his normal style that it didn't feel like it truly did belong to him, so why bother handing it back again?

But there was also the fact that this weapon represented a time where Laxus wasn't there at all. When no one was there. It was a time that he didn't know about, and whether it was a time he wanted to learn and understand was up in the air – and it was in this sword.

The sword was the seven year gap that he wanted to close

That they all wanted to close.

This one weapon was the last gap between Mercury and those on Tenrou Island, but to actually stitch it shut like a wound before it festered, they had to find something to close it – ergo, Laxus needed to see and experience what he missed.

And for a couple of boneheads like them, that could only mean one thing.

Mercury lifted the blade, still in its sheath. It was just as heavy as he remembered. "Is that it then? You want a fight? A real one?" Not like the one he had with Natsu where half the fun of it was being watched – a real fight where the winner was decided on skill and strength alone.

Honestly, thinking about it was enough to make his pulse shiver with excitement. He'd been wanting to go all out against Laxus for so long. The last time he got the opportunity to, Mercury stopped himself; back at Fantasia, he'd willingly allowed Laxus to cast Fairy Law despite having the chance to stop him, and he hadn't exactly been healthy at that point, either. Having a fight now meant that he wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing.

And besides, fighting Laxus now served one other purpose: to show them both that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.

"It'll have to wait a couple of days," Laxus said, admitting in not-so-many words that yes, he would like to fight. Even if he'd said nothing, the hunger in his eyes said more than enough. They cautiously flick over to his grandfather, who'd begun to earnestly watch the conversation. "The old man's asked us to help out at Yajima's restaurant for a couple of days. Something about repaying a favor."

"He's the reason that the Council kept their nose out of our business regarding the destruction of one of Fiore's largest ports. Again," Makarov said dryly, clearly unamused. "All he asked for in return was for some help with managing his restaurant. Says the town's been restless the last couple of weeks and wants a couple of strong mages to make sure things go smoothly – pah, waste of talent. As if we have any people here who aren't going to destroy the place instead."

"I have no idea why you told us to do it then, old man," Laxus grumbled.

"I didn't ask you. I asked Fried and Evergreen; I have faith that they'll be able to restrain themselves for three days, but you?"

The Lightning Dragon Slayer, looking away, crossed his arms. "As if I wouldn't go with them," he said quietly – but not quietly enough for the four others to not hear him.

"I'd prefer if you didn't go with them, you walking thunderstorm!" Makarov huffed. "Bringing Bixlow with is enough! Yajima won't let me hear the end of it if you guys destroy the only thing he's worked to build since retirement."

If he was being truthful – and he would be, if he actually cared to voice it – Mercury wasn't sure why the hell Makarov would ask Fried or Evergreen and expect Bixlow and Laxus not to tag along. Hell, even Mercury had more than enough reason to go with, and God knew that he would just end up creating issues with his presence alone. At least, that's how things had turned out lately, and he didn't think it would stop just because he was healthy again. In that vein, Makarov would have been much better off guilting someone like Wnedy into doing the job instead.

Then again, Wendy was also a Dragon Slayer, child or not. By that fact alone, she'd probably get dragged into some sort of trouble just by proximity to an important task.

From behind the counter, Mira jumped in, saying, "It'll be fine, Master. Laxus isn't dumb enough to blow up a restaurant. Besides, it sounds like he's not even going to be helping – he's just going along because he's lonely."

"Hey. Shut your mouth."

The barkeep laughed lightly, satisfied in getting a reaction out of Laxus. "Besides," she added with a slightly more serious tone, "if the Thunder God Tribe somehow manages to get into trouble, Merc'll be so busy that he can't fight, anyway. With the paperwork and everything."

Mercury groaned as he realized that Mira was correct. He didn't want Makarov bugging him about helping anymore even if he now had significantly more free time. "Please don't get into any trouble."

"Do you think so little of me?" Laxus asked. "I'm not you. I'm not going to get myself dragged into a fight with a race of creatures no one in Fiore's ever heard of, then decide that I've got to take it on myself to stop their continent-destroying plans before they can happen."

"Careful," the water mage grumbled, unamused. "Don't jinx it. You never know what's going to happen these days."

Mira cleared her throat to hide away a laugh. "Oh, come on. What are the odds of that happening twice? In a row, no less."

"More likely than you'd think," said Makarov. "Personally, I agree. No point in jinxing it – just get there, help Yajima out for a few days, then come back without any trouble, will you?"

Laxus uncrossed his arms. He looked frustrated, but not particularly angry; it was probably more irritation that he was being treated like a child, which Mercury noted was actually how he's been treated by the younger man as of late, and resolved to explain his own frustration later on if it continued. After a long moment's pause, Laxus said, "Nothing bad is going to happen, but if something does, I'll fix it – and don't worry about me destroying things. I'll make sure it doesn't get pinned on me."

Not 'I won't destroy things,' but, 'I won't get blamed for destroying things.' Mercury sighed. That was probably all they were going to get out of him.

Being destructive comes with the Dragon Slayer's territory, he thinks.

"Fine," Mercury said. "I'm holding you to that. I better not hear about your antics from anyone else – and when you come back, then we can have ourselves a fight."

This time, Laxus did grin despite the insinuation that Mercury didn't fully trust him to not get himself dragged into trouble. It was a small grin — one that spoke magnitudes of the man's excitement, all things considered, and it was enough to make Mercury's heart race.

Yeah, he thinks. Fighting Natsu is one thing; fighting Laxus? That's a whole other story — a story that he'd been waiting to hear for almost a decade now.

It was just one more thing to look forward to now.