The night was eerily quiet when Irene Belserion felt a familiar magic signature - one that made her ancient heart skip a beat. Near the shore of a remote beach, she found a small figure with scarlet hair, so similar to her own, lying unconscious on the sand. The girl couldn't have been more than eleven years old.
"Erza..." Irene whispered, her voice trembling as she recognized her own daughter, the one she had abandoned years ago. Fate, it seemed, had given her a second chance.
The girl was badly injured, bearing the marks of what appeared to be torture and magical exhaustion. Irene could sense the lingering traces of dark magic - the Tower of Heaven's influence was unmistakable. As she cradled her daughter in her arms, memories of her own past flooded back, along with all the regret and pain she had buried deep within.
"This time, I won't run away," Irene declared to the night sky. "I will make you the strongest enchantress this world has ever known, my daughter."
Over the following years, Erza grew under Irene's tutelage. The Queen of Dragons taught her daughter everything - from basic magic to the most advanced forms of enchantment. Unlike the sword magic she might have learned at Fairy Tail, Erza became proficient in Dragon Slayer magic and high-level enchantments.
Their relationship was complex; Irene was not a naturally nurturing mother, but she was fiercely protective and determined. Erza, carrying the trauma of the tower but blessed with her mother's strength, grew into a formidable mage who could rival even Zeref's strongest demons.
The magical world whispered about the Scarlet Witches - the mother-daughter duo whose power could reshape landscapes. Some feared them, others revered them, but none could deny their bond, forged through pain and redemption.
And somewhere in Magnolia, a guild called Fairy Tail continued its adventures, never knowing that one of their potentially greatest members was instead walking a different path - one that would eventually intersect with theirs, but as an ally rather than a member, bringing with her the power of the Queen of Dragons and a story of maternal love that transcended centuries.