Life's Illusion

by BETAsatchel

(SI/OC) Where one life ends another begins. Dead in one world reborn in another. That is what happen to me. I'm now on Earthland, a place full of magic and I get stuck with Illusions. Magic that other mages consider party tricks. Add on that the place is all about family and friendship both things that I am mentally unable to fully understand. I'm screwed, aren't I?

61. Life's Illusion Outline

So there was a fair amount of interest in an outline for what I had planned for Life's Illusion. And being the kind and caring soul I am, I've decided to bless all you fine people with one. Now for the Battle of Fairy Tail arc and the Oración Seis arc, I had most of both of them outlined.

Starting with the Battle of Fairy Tail arc, the last chapter was actually the beginning of it with the major reveal of Aria deciding to join Fairy Tail due to his talk with Bishop. It was hinted at in that chapter but Bishop completely forgot that the Battle of Fairy Tail arc happened, the reason for this is when I started the story I sat down and remembered everything I could from the show and decided to have Bishop remember only that. And my dumb ass forgot the entire Battle of Fairy Tail arc somehow. It isn't until the various Fairy Tail girls are turned to stone that Bishop would have realized what was happening.

The arc would have started off like normal with various female guild members being turned to stone and Laxus would reveal everything to the rest of the guild and basically declare war on Makarov for the guild master position. However before everyone could rush off like in canon Bishop would get their attention and start organizing everyone, giving communication lacrimas to various key members to keep in communication with everyone.

However, the first problem would happen when Bishop finds he can't cross the age barrier Freed set up. This would lead to the realization that it was counting the age of his soul rather than his body and that he must have spent decades in the White Void of the afterlife before being reborn. Forced to stay back Bishop would become the coordinator of the various groups heading out into Magnolia to fight Laxus and his Tribe.

Despite trying his best things go mostly cannon with Freed's runes trapping people and forcing fights. However, a group of Gray, Elfman, and a few other minor members are able to find Evergreen and start fighting her with the hope of defeating her and releasing the stoned members back in the guild. At first, the fight goes Gray and Elfman's Way with both of them putting Evergreen on the back foot with some support.

However, this would not last as Biskslow would ambush the minor members and take them out, leaving it a 2v2. It's somewhat evenly matched at first until Evergreen is able to surprise Elfman and turn him into stone and leave Gray at the mercy of the two of them. However while Evergreen and Bickslow are playing with their food they are attacked by Aria who even on his own is far too much for them. Both of them attempt to flee and almost get away until Sol, who had been in town celebrating the festival, ambushes Evergreen and knocks her out. The earth mage had been gathering info and figured out what was going on and was waiting to strike when he could.

Biskslow however is able to get away and run to Laxus and explains the situation to him. Laxus didn't know about Aria or Sol being in town and gets very angry at the news before activating his Thunder Palace and talking to Freed to activate the secret backup plan if the Rune user goes down. Deciding that he didn't like the new pieces on the board, Laxus ends up leaving the cathedral and goes to find Aria and Sol.

With the stoned members of Fairy Tail free, Bishop organizes everyone into two groups. Group 1 which is Aria, Lucy, Gray, Cana, and a few others would meet up and go after Biskslow to take him out. Group 2 is Sol, Elfman, Mira, Juvia, Erza, and a few others who would go after Freed and take him out. Afterward, both groups would meet up and stage an assault on Laxus. During this time Levy would go to work on the age barrier around the guild to free Natsu, Gajeel, and Bishop. It was also around this time that Makarov would start suffering heart problems and pull Bishop to the side and ask him to take care of the guild before the old man passed out.

Meanwhile Aria, Sol, Gray, and the now unstoned Elfman will say their goodbyes and head to their respective groups only for Laxus to show up pissed and declaring that he's going to beatdown Aria and Sol, especially after seeing the Fairy Tail guild symbol on Aria. Knowing that the man is after them, Sol and Aria tell Gray and Elfman to go on without them and inform the others what's going on. Laxus thinks about taking down Gray and Elfman but Sol and Aria attack before he has a chance.

In the fight, Sol is taken out early by Laxus who wants to prioritize Aria. The Airspace mage is forced to use his eyes which earns Laxus interest but it's far too late for that. Aria is able to put up a good fight but Laxus is too much for him in the end and he is defeated. However, before Laxus can kill Aria, Sol sneaks by having not truly gone down to Laxus and is able to flee with Aria to safety while Laxus thinks they're dead. After a moment of thought Laxus believes that the problem has been taken care of and heads back to the cathedral.

Group 1 and Group 2 are informed of the Aria, Sol, and Laxus battle but Bishop decides it's better to take out the side objectives before the main one and has them stick with the plan. Group one is ambushed by Bickslow who uses his eyes to take a bunch of their souls to use as dolls which Gray is included in. Lucy and Cana are able to escape this and fight Bickslow and eventually take him down and return everyone's souls to their bodies.

Group two goes to meet up with Elfman but the gentleman is found by Freed and forced to fight him 1 on 1. Elfman is able to put up a decent fight but is unable to win. Before Freed can take Elfman down though Juvia, Mira, and Erza show up. Juvia protects Elfman and takes him to safety to help 'mend' him while Mira and Erza face down Freed. Freed knows he can't win but proceeds to try his best as he faces the two S-class mages. He is able to put up a valiant effort but is taken down.

But before Freed goes down completely he activates the secret backup plan that he made. Freed noticed how creative Bishop had been with his illusions and was inspired to do the same with Runes. This led to Freed also using his Runes to craft a small army of Runic Golems infused with lighting magic called the Lighting Troops. Laxus wanted to keep this in reserve along with the Thunder Palace but the guild has forced their hand.

During this time Levy is able to break down the age barrier but upon the existing Bishop, Natsu, and Gajeel is met with an assault of Lighting Troops. Bishop leaves the Troops to the Dragon Slayers as he uses illusion to get away while organizing people to take on the Troops and prepare to take down the Palace as well. However, Makarov's words and Laxus' actions start to get Bishop more emotional than he ever has been in this new life and he decides to head to the cathedral and try to put a stop to Laxus himself.

After giving command to Erza, Bishop arrives at the cathedral to witness Mystgian fleeing from Laxus due to his face being exposed. Bishop and Laxus have a moment of debating what Fairy Tail truly means as a guild before they fight. Due to not having fully recovered from his fight with Aria and not taking Bishop seriously the first half of the fight is in Bishop's favor who does a good bit of damage to Laxus. However, Laxus is forced to admit that Bishop is strong and takes the fight seriously and the Illusion mage finds himself faced with an unstoppable force. While still close in the end Bishop is taken out by Laxus who also broke the former's saber and destroyed it. After the battle Laxus debates ending the Illusion mage permanently as he grapples with his ideas of strength being messed with.

But before Laxus can come to a decision Natus shows up and is excited to fight until he sees his big brother's injured body which results in him going into a bit of a rage and going all out against Laxus. The Lightning Dragon Slayer is evenly matched with the Fire Dragon Slayer due to all the fights he went through before starting to drag him down. The fight leaves the cathedral and enters the streets where they come across Erza preparing everyone for the attack on the Thunder Palace. Rather than taking out 200 of the orbs on her own, Sol and Aria show back up and tell her to stay in command; they instead prepare to take out a hundred each while everyone else gets the other 100.

Cana and Gray are also with Erza, helping her with the communications when the fight with Laxus and Natsu shows up before them. There's a moment of discussion at first before Natsu reveals that Laxus beat Bishop in an inch of his life and suddenly the Illusion mage's little sibling is not in the mode for talking. The second half of the fight is basically a beatdown as Laxus is too tired to keep up with the four mages who proceed to show him what happens to those who mess with their family. By the time Gajeel shows up to get his piece of Laxus the fight is over much to the Iron Dragon Slayer's annoyance.

Laxus is defeated and the Thunder Palace and Lighting Troops are taken care of by the rest of the guild. Things proceed with canon as Laxus is taken out of the guild but the parade is extra special due to Bishop giving it his all with his illusion, sneaking in a middle finger at Laxus as he leaves the city. After that, there are a few small things before the next arc. Like Sol joining the guild and both he and Aria are seen in a good light due to taking the lion's share of the Thunder Palace. And Juvia with Mira's help is able to ask out Elfman which earns the Water mage the support of the female half of the guild. Gajeel would find himself skulking as everyone still gives him the side eye before Levy and Team Shadow Gear decide to hang out with him and they all start a friendship. Levy x Gajeel was one of the few canon relationships I decided to keep.

The Oración Seis arc would then come next.

There's a big change here due to Jellal having been captured and taken by the Magic Council rather than disappearing after the Tower of Heaven arc. The Magic Council itself is also still intact though still damaged and in a weakened state. This leads the Oración Seis to launch a series of attacks all over the Magic Council's holdings to force them to start spreading thin their resources. It also causes the Magic Council to decide to request several guilds lend their stronger mages to fight the Dark Guild. However due to the Oración Seis also attacking many of them as well only five guilds responded. The canon four along with Quatro Cerberus send help.

However, when this happens Erza is not with the guild and is out doing a mission for the Magic Council in order to be able to visit Jellal while he is imprisoned. This leads Cana to replace Erza's place as the group who goes to meet up with the other guilds before they launch an attack on the Oración Seis, Bishop is also a part of this group. The meetup goes as usual but without Erza Ichiya flirts with Cana who to the horror of her guildmates flirts back, though it is later revealed that Cana only does this because Ichiya is a trouble gambler and Cana basically uses his flirting to get him to play a gambling game with her and take his money.

Another difference as mentioned before is that Quatro Cerberus also joins, though they only sent one person. That being Bacchus who at this time is still relatively new at being an S-class mage having been promoted around the same time as Cana. Just before anyone can rush off though, Bishop remembering Canon is able to out and ambush Gemini who is pretending to be Ichiya. This leads Angel to being alone with the enemy but is able to distract everyone long enough for other members of the Oración Seis to show up and start a quick fight. Pretty much every member of the Oración Seis is there but Midnight and after a quick skirmish the Oración Seis are forced to retreat with everyone following after.

Meanwhile, in the background the reason Midnight isn't there is because he's leading a team of Dark mages to break Jellal out of prison. Jellal at this time is actually being visited by Erza and the two are having a talk as Jellal shows remorse for his actions now that he is no longer being influenced by dark magic. While Erza understands she can't find it in herself to forgive him but before she can properly relay all of this Midnight finds them. Midnight and Erza have a pretty even battle that starts to go south for the former when he releases Jellal only for the blue-haired man to attack him and work with Erza.

Just as the two are about to take out Midnight he reveals that he has a trump card in the form of hostages. These hostages being Wally, Simon, Sho, and Millianna who were ambushed and taken prisoner by the Oración Seis just in case Jellal didn't want to cooperate. Realizing that their friend's lives are in danger Jellal agrees to come along and Erza agrees to stay back but has her right leg broken by Midnight to ensure she cannot follow.

Afterward, Midnight takes Jellal back with him to the other members of Oración Seis who have only recently escaped the pursuit of the guild alliance. After making sure that his friends are ok, who are all shocked at not only seeing Jellal but seeing him act like how he used to, the blue-haired man agrees to break the seal on Nirvana for the freedom of his friends. Once Jellal starts his work Brian sends out the other members besides Midnight to start picking off the mages that are after them.

Back with the heroes, they sadly were ambushed by Dark guild members working for the Oración Seis while chasing said guild. Due to this, they were unable to catch up with Oración Seis and they got away. After some chaos and confusion about what to do, Bishop takes control of the situation and starts directing everyone. Knowing that the Oración Seis are somewhere in the forest, everyone splits up into four groups to spread out and find them.

Group 1 is led by Bishop and has Cana, Ren, and Sherry. Group 2 is led by Jura and has Eve and Lyon. Group 3 is led by Ichiya and has Lucy, Gray, and Hibiki. And finally, Group 4 is led by Bacchus and has Natsu, Happy, Wendy, and Carla. The four groups spread out while making sure to keep in communication with each other in case one group is attacked by multiple Oración Seis members.

Group 3 is the first one to see serious action as they are attacked by Angel who wants to get to Lucy. Ichiya is taken out early by Angel using his love of women against him and Hibiki is also injured and forced to a support role as Lucy and Gray take on Angel together and eventually defeat her. Lucy is able to take Angel's keys but finds herself and the others under assault by hundreds of Dark mages hoping to take them while they're tired. Groups 1 and 2 go to help but before they can get there they are attacked by Racer and Hoteyes respectively.

Group 2 finds itself under assault by Hoteyes as he focuses on slowing them down and hampering them more than defeating them. Jura is the one mainly fighting Hoteyes and allows for Eve and Lyon to go and support Group 3. Just as the battle between Hoteye and Jura is starting to get to its ending the magic of Nirvana activates and shakes the surrounding area.

The battle ends when Nirvana ends up turning Hoteyes to the side of good and he reveals that he was just buying time for Nirvana to be unsealed to make sure his brother Wally was safe. Hoteyes even admits to planning to leave the Oración Seis after this and stay with Wally having finally found his brother after all these years and was even willing to betray the group for his brother's safety if it came down to it. The two agree to work together and Hoteyes starts leading Jura back to where the core of Nirvana is.

Meanwhile, Group 1 is faced with Racer who takes his time toying with the four mages. Bishop and Cana find their magic lacking when it came to combating the fast mage who could outrun any card or illusion thrown at him. During this time Sherry is injured by Racer and Ren takes her to safety while also heading towards Group 3 to help them while they are under assault. Just as Cana and Bishop start adapting to Racer's magic and even start to gain the upper hand Nirvana activates.

At first, nothing seems wrong until Bishop feels the Whispers in his head start to grow louder as he sees the activation of Nirvana. They start to overwhelm him and even start to manifest in the real world where Cana and Racer hear them and are disturbed by them. It eventually becomes too much for Bishop and the Whispers take hold and he starts fighting Racer alone but far more ruthless than he had ever been. It gets to the point that Racer is actively trying to flee only to keep getting tricked and lured back to the battlefield by Bishop who is all but torturing him at this point. The battle ends with a spell called Greater Illusion: Hour of the Nightmare which is a very powerful form of the Nightmare Cometh spell Bishop used at the beginning of the story and forces Racer to perceive himself as a child again running from slavers who are trying to cut off his feet. The fight ends when Racer runs off a cliff he didn't know was there and lands head first into the ground after a long fall and only barely alive from it.

There's a brief fight between Bishop and Cana afterward but Cana is able to snap Bishop out of his state and he is once more himself as the Whispers have died down a little. Afterwards, Cana forces Bishop to tell her what that was and he finally explains the full extent of his condition and state of mind. Cana is angry at him for hiding it and says that once the Oración Seis are defeated she would tell the rest of the family and they would all begin having a long talk. Bishop can only nod in response.

Meanwhile, Jellal has finished unsealing Nirvana and tries to get Brain to let his friends go. Brain declines and tells Jellal he is aware of the self-destruction spell that Jellal is currently charging before launching a powerful magic spell at Wally, Simon, Sho, and Millianna. Jellal sees this using his magic to get between his friends and the spell and takes the full might of the magic and is very injured as a result.

Brain starts to monologue to Jellal and co but before he is able to kill them all Simon finally breaks free of the anti-magic restraints and uses his Darkness magic to cover them while they all escape, taking Jellal with them. After the darkness clears, Brain sees them gone and tells Midnight to find and kill them before turning back to Nirvana and beginning the second stage of his plans.

At this point, the guild alliance is barely able to contact each other due to Nirvana's magic interfering with communications, and makes plans for Bishop, Cana, Jura, Hoteyes, Bacchus, Natsu, Happy, Wendy, and Carla to converge on the core of Nirvana while the remainder of the groups, who all got together and finished off the Dark mages that were assaulting Group 3, stay close by to rest and play support where it is needed. Things go wrong when Bacchus, Natsu, Happy, Wendy, and Carla are ambushed by Cobra who badly poisons Bacchus with a surprise attack. While Wendy heals the Palm mage Natsu fights Corba and the two clash with their Dragon Slayer magic.

However, not too long into the fight Cobra is struck with a surprise attack from Bacchus who heals far faster than even Wendy thought he would. The S-class mage tells the two Dragon Slayers and their flying cats to head toward Nirvana and that he would take care of the Poison users. At first, Natsu refuses but is convinced by Wendy to go and help his siblings at Nirvana.

When the fight starts Bacchus reveals that he healed so fast from the poison not just because of Wendy but because he has spent years exposing his body to poisonous and toxic stuff to make it stronger. Cobra's poison got him by surprise but with each hit of it, Bacchus seems to grow more and more resistance to it. Eventually, after a close fight, Bacchus is able to bring down the Poison Dragon Slayer with a powerful Palm magic attack. Injured from the fight the Palm mage decides to join up with Group 3 to rest and heal and let the other mages take care of things.

Cana, Bishop, Jura, and Hoteyes eventually meet up and are able to confront Brain at Nirvana's core. After another monologue from the man the fight begins but even in a 1v4 Brain is able to hold his own until Jura starts unleashing his full power. With help from the other three Jura is able to defeat Brain and the group starts to try and figure out how to stop the now-moving Nirvana. Knowing that it was Jellal who unsealed the thing due to Brain's monologue Bishop leaves the other three and goes to find the blue-haired man hoping he can put a stop to the large magical machine.

As this is happening Wally, Simon, Sho, and Millianna finally come to a stop in their escape and as they rest they question Jellal. Jellal reveals his brainwashing and talks about how he regrets what he did and that he planned to kill himself along with Nirvana for some form of atonement. While Wally, Simon, Sho, and Millianna are taking this in and trying to figure out how to think about this Midnight finds them and starts attacking them.

Wally, Simon, Sho, and Millianna try to fight him but are completely outclassed. Before Midnight can kill them though Natsu and Wendy show up and stop him. Wendy starts healing everyone and seems to recognize Jellal but after talking she realizes that despite looking like the man who helped her this wasn't him. Meanwhile, Natsu fights Midnight but the Reflection magic user is countering everything the Fire Dragon Slayer tries. Just as it seems like Natsu is going to lose the fight, Bishop shows up and starts fighting Midnight.

It quickly becomes apparent that Midnight's Reflection Magic doesn't work on Bishop's Illusion who seems to be an almost perfect counter to the Oración Seis mage. The fight ends when Bishop tricks Midnight into a head-on attack from Natsu. With the sixth member of the Oración Seis down, Bishop tells Natsu, Happy, Wendy, and Carla to take him and Jellal to the core of Nirvana to stop it. It is during this time that Zero is unleashed which is something that every mage on the battlefield can feel. Knowing what just happened Bishop rushed his group forward.

Back at the core Jura, Hoteyes, and Cana are still trying to figure out how to stop Nirvana when Brain's body is engulfed in powerful dark magic and Zero comes out to play. Zero starts fighting and pretty quickly has the three back against the corner and even knocks out Hoteyes. However, just as he is about to finish off Cana Bishop, Natsu, Happy, Wendy, Carla, and Jellal show up and join the fight. Even with so many people fighting him Zero is still matching them and the fight is even.

The scales are tipped though when out of nowhere Erza shows up and lands a harsh blow on Zero. Erza reveals that she was healed up with the help of the Magic Council and arrived with hundreds of Rune Knights who were currently arresting the various Dark mages and fallen members of the Oración Seis mages. The fight continues and eventually, Zero is defeated and Jellal puts a stop to Nirvana before it can destroy the Cait Shelter guild.

Both Jellal and Hoteyes willingly get arrested but not before the former gives one last heartfelt apology to his friend and the latter once more says goodbye to his brother. Jura promises to Hoteyes that he'll try to use his influence as a Wizard Saint to get his freedom as he and Jellal are taken away. Wendy realizes the truth about Cath Shelter and after a moment with the Vern Siblings agrees to go with them to Fairy Tail. When the Wind Dragon Slayer voices concern about finding a home in Magnolia the Vern siblings look at each other and know exactly what their mother is going to do the second she sees Wendy. Erza also has a bit of a moment with her friends before they say goodbye once more, still processing Jellal's words and actions.

From there there would have been a few chapters of rest with Wendy being introduced to the guild and suffering a Vern Adoption™. Bishop would have also ended up meeting up and talking with the rest of his family about his condition after Cana told them about it. The Vern family refuses to call Bishop a monster and in a sweet moment all say that whatever he's fighting, he's fighting it with them. Besides that, the Endurance Race would happen with Bishop being the one to design and referee the race due to him using Illusion magic to get out of doing it for the last few years much to Makarov's annoyance.

From here the next few arcs are nowhere near as detailed as I mainly had an outline planned for them at the time.

The Edolas arc was going to start with Gildarts coming back like usual and Cana being really stressed because she is trying to find the best way to tell him that she's his daughter. Bishop would be supportive and offer to help once he got back from a trip to a nearby town to pick up a new saber to replace the one he lost to Laxus. During this time Mira would also be talking to Bishop and trying to subtly ask him if he would be interested in dating only for it to go over Bishop's head and for him to state he didn't really have any interest in dating much to Mira's sadness.

Bishop would then grab a new enchanted saber that had wind magic in it that would extend the blade's edge with a slash of wind. On his way back to Magnolia he would have run into Aria and Sol who were on their way back from a job and the three would talk as they traveled to the city. But when they got there the city would have been taken to Edolas much to the horror of the mages. They would have gone through the remains of the city and found Mystogan who Bishop would force to explain the whole explanation to Sol and Aira.

From their Bishop, Sol, and Aria would have gotten the crystal-thing to let them use magic in Edolas and then get sent there to get back the guild. The three would have gone through some misadventures together before moving on with the plot. A major difference to the story is that Gray would have been with Lucy out of the city and thus would have traveled with her from the start. As a result, it would have been Cana released alongside Erza from the magic crystal in the middle of the arc. For the most part, things would have gone along the same lines as the original with changes to make it different enough like with the previous arcs.

I had planned for an Edolas version of Bishop to serve as a villain in the arc alongside Edolas Erza. I was torn between a hippy version of him that used a magic smoking pipe as a weapon or a barbarian version of Bishop that would have been all about pure power. Either way, Bishop would have fought him and defeated them and found that he didn't have the past life or Whispers that he had. I was also planning to include Edolas version of Sol and Aria but was unsure what to do with them at the time. Also, the Manly version of Elfman would have been the Edolas counterpart.

It would have ended similarly to Canon with Magnolia and Fairy Tail returning to their world along with Lisanna and the Exceed. I was thinking of having one of the flying cats getting attached to Bishop and maybe tagging along with him but I was unsure of the idea. In truth, out of the planned arcs, this was the one I didn't have many ideas for other than the misadventures of Bishop, Sol, and Aria.

The only real thing to note for the ending was Cana revealing the truth to Gildarts in front of the whole guild. This would have resulted in Alice Vern dragging him off to 'talk' to him about being a proper parent. Also, Natsu would have soon after loudly asked Lisanna if she wanted to date much to the shock of the guild. Natsu would have relieved that he had planned to ask her the day that she disappeared and decided to not wait again to ask. Lisanna would be overwhelmed but end up saying yes and the two would be dating from then on.

For the between arc chapters following I wanted stuff like a double date between Lucy, Gray, Natsu, and Lisanna and for Bishop to start being tasked with paperwork from Makarov for the guild much to the Illusionist's annoyance. Lisanna would have also talked to Bishop and learned that he was willing to date just not interested in being the first one to reach out. More importantly, he offhandedly lists Mira as one of the girls he would have been fine with going out with if he had to pick.

The Tenrou Island Arc though I had a decent bit planned for.

First off the people nominated for the S-Class Trials would have been Elfman who would have partnered with Lisanna to be with his sister. Second would have been Gray who would have partnered with Lucy and thus Loke by proxy. Third would have been Natsu who planned to partner with Lisanna but Elfman beat him to it so he goes with Happy like normal. Fourth would have been Aria who would take Sol due to the two having worked together countless times. Fifth would have been Juvia who would have ended up with Evergreen who would have offered dating advice in exchange for being picked. Sixth is Levy who like in canon would partner with Gajeel, the two being friends and maybe more already in the story. Seventh would have been Freed who would have gone with Bicklow just like in canon. And eighth would have been Bishop who would end up going with Wendy so she wouldn't have been left out of the event.

Bishop would have been surprised at finally being nominated for the S-class trials much to his siblings' delight. Before leaving he would have had a private moment with Makarov and asked why the guild master finally felt like Bishop was ready to be nominated. The old man would have told the Illusionist that he had seen how far he had come and felt like he was ready for the next step on his journey. Despite not being sure about it Bishop decides to do his best while preparing for Grimoire Heart on the island. Myst would not have been apart of this arc due to the Magic Council actually being on good terms with Fairy Tail.

How the first two trials would have gone wasn't completely planned out. Bishop and Wendy would have picked the tunnel that led to a fight with Cana who would 1v1 Bishop. Cana would have Bishop on the ropes for most of the fight due to knowing his illusion and tactics almost as well as him but eventually, Bishop would have come out with the win. Elfman and Lisanna would have encountered Mira and would have almost lost the fight until Lisanna surprised Mira with the info about Bishop being willing to date her if she was the one to ask him out. In her surprise state, the eldest Stratos sibling would have been taken out by her younger sibling who would afterward promise to help her ask Bishop out.

Natsu would face Gildarts like in canon and would have also been one of the four to proceed to the final trial. The fourth member of this group I had not figured out yet. When Markarov tells them the third trial Bishop already knows where to go because of his past life but doesn't want to go to Mavis' grave and instead wants to search for Grimoire Heart mages. However, he accidentally reveals that he knows where to go to Wendy who chastises him about how all his siblings are giving 100% and so should he. After a moment of thought, he would agree and go to Mavis' grave.

There Bishop would have met Mavis' ghost projection thing and ended up talking to her about Fairy Tail and then about Illusion magic. There would have been a funny moment where Bishop would have been weirded out by Mavis basically fangirling over how Bishop has used his Illusion before he talks to Mavis about his struggles with taking his illusions to the next level. Mavis would have told him that while he crafts his illusions better than she did he doesn't put his heart and emotions into them like she did. At first, Bishop dismisses this as a power of friendship bullshit before Mavis shows him just what she meant with an illusion that had metaphorical weight to it much to the younger Illusionist's shock.

As the conversation finishes up Mavis would have also given Bishop Fairy Glitter much to his shock. When Wendy and Bishop start making their way back is when Grimoire Heart starts its assault. Bishop would have used a Greater Illusion to trick his body out of the bullshit that Azuma is pulling before going to confront the Great Tree magic user. After a fierce fight, Bishop is pushed into a corner and uses Fairy Glitter to take out Azuma and free the rest of the guild.

How the rest of the fight would have gone wasn't thought out by this point but I do know that Bishop was going to be forced to fight another member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. I wasn't sure at the time but was leaning towards Rustyrose due to his magic basically creating real illusions and felt that would have been an interesting fight. Bishop would have not been able to use Fairy Glitter again due to needing to recharge it and would have been on the losing end of the fight for the most part.

This changes when Wendy, who would have still been with him, would have been threatened and assaulted by whatever member of the Seven he was fighting. This would have pushed him to a breakthrough with Mavis' help and he would have cast the spell he had tried to cast against Jellal at the climax of the Tower of Heaven arc. It would have been a type of Magic more powerful than Greater Illusion called Life's Illusion which is basically a grand illusion that traps the target in an artificial world where the illusion becomes real for as long as the target is trapped in it. Think of the Tsukuyomi from Naruto.

The spell would have been called Life's Illusion: World of Pain which would have trapped whoever Bishop was fighting in a never-ending cycle of the target being attacked, assaulted, beatin', and killed with as many horrific experiences as Bishop could think of. Like being a soldier in a trench during World War 1 and then being attacked with mustard gas or being assaulted by French peasants and then executed by a guillotine during the French Revolution. This would have gone on until the person trapped in the illusion would have their mind break and almost be brain dead as a result.

This would have ended with Bishop winning the battle but due to the stress of the spell would have passed out. This would lead Makarov to command Wendy and a few other members of Fairy Tail to head to the ship and take it out to sea to be ready to leave just in case. During the final battle against Hades, all but Wendy and a still passed-out Bishop would leave the ship and get back on the island to help. This would result in the two of them being away from the island when Acnologia attacks the island and Fairy Sphere is used to protect everyone.

When Bishop wakes up he would start having a panic attack about what happened and is almost overtaken by the Whispers until Wendy starts crying and hugs him. Relaxing that he needs to be strong for his youngest sibling even as the feeling of sadness finally is felt by him. The two head back to the guild and inform them of what happened which in turn leads to a two-month-long search by Fairy Tail and other friendly guilds to find any trace of the missing island and members. But like in canon they find nothing.

This leads to a guild meeting as the members of Fairy Tail discuss the future and who will be the new Guild Master. Macao surprises everyone by nominating Bishop for the position and said man is even more surprised when everyone agrees that he's the best person for the job. Bishop tries to deny it at first but when he sees the other members of Fairy Tail and the grief in their eyes he knows that just like with Wendy he must be strong for all of them and accepts the position. As Bishop settles into his new role he makes a promise that in seven years' time, his family would return to a Fairy Tail still strong and mighty just like it had been when they left.

That would have been the end of the Tenrou Island Arc and the beginning of what I was planning to call The Seven Years Arc.

This arc would have shown Bishop through the seven years before his family returned doing his best to keep the guild running. While Fairy Tail would have lost the number 1 guild spot they would stay one of the top guilds in the country and even become the de facto go to guild for the Magic Council due to Bishop keeping good relations with them. This would have even resulted in Bishop being nominated as a possible Wizard Saint near the end of the arc.

Other than that I planned for a mini-arc where Bo would have come back to ask Bishop for help with a quest and resulted in Bishop, Wendy, and one or two of the other minor guild members going with Bo to help him. Wendy would have also grown up during this time and even been a grown woman by the time the arc came to an end. Wendy would have also run into Flare after she left the Sun Village and as a result it taken to Fairy Tail where she would have not only become a member but also suffered from Vern Adoption™. Flare and Wendy would have been very close with Flare looking up to Wendy as a big sister.

Wally, Simon, Sho, and Millianna would have shown up during the seven years and believed Bishop when he told them that he said that Erza and the others would one day return. The four would end up joining the guild with Simon going on to become one of its top members and even being an S-class mage by the time the arc ended alongside Wendy. Wally and Milianna would have ended up dating as well.

Bishop would have been very busy during this time running the guild but would have tried to get training in whenever he could. One of the things he would have done is use his connections with the Magic Council to convince them to create a legal 'Dark Guild' that the Council controlled. It would have been made up of prisoners who showed signs of being reformed and were willing to work for the Council. The Guild 'Master' would have been Jose and would have included Jellal, Hoteyes, Ultear, and Meredy. I had plans for them to play a larger role in the next three arcs but nothing I had finalized.

Bishop would have also been dealing with the Whispers growing more louder over the seven years due to his growing doubt that Natsu and others were coming back. He had not witnessed what had happened due to being passed out and Wendy's description of the event made it seem like Fairy Sphere might not have activated. He's able to deal with them somewhat due to his mom, Wendy, and Flare being there for him whenever it became too much. Over the years he would have looked far more mature and even gained a full beard or at least a goatee. He would have also found that the new generation of mages had a decent number of Illusionists who were inspired by him and looked up to Bishop as a role model.

Other than that there were plans for a scene where after Sabertooth became the number one guild they would have disrespected Fairy Tail somehow. This would have led to Bishop showing up at their guildhall and humbling Jiemma and causing the guild master to change his tone a bit. This would have had a major change in the Grand Magic Games arc. Jiemma would have never done the things that led to Future Rogue coming back.

Finally, after seven years the members that disappeared would have shown backup similar to canon and found a world seven years in the future. There would have been various different scenes of the old members reacting to the new things like a grown-up Wendy and a new Vern sibling in the form of Flare. Bishop would have publicly tried to return the title of Guild Master back to Makarov who would have refused and revealed that Bishop had been a candidate to replace him as Guild Master when he had planned to retire. Bishop would end up accepting this decision and ignore Makarov talking about finally being free of paperwork under his breath.

Mira would have also publicly and aggressively asked Bishop out at this point. The She-Devil was tired of waiting at this point and didn't want to waste any more time tiptoeing around the whole thing. Bishop would have been very surprised and asked why Mira would be interested in him. Mira would talk about how she had taken to using Bishop as an example of how to be a good older sibling and grown close to the Illusionist over the years. Bishop would have still tried to give a few flimsy reasons for why Mira should be interested in his life like the new age gap and other things.

Mira's response would have been along the lines of "I don't give a fuck about that stuff. I both give and want a fuck from you, you thick-headed idiot."

Bishop promptly says yes.

There would have been a small arc that would have served as a build-up to the Grand Magical Games where the unlost member of Fairy Tail would have been training and adjusting to the difference in the guild. Simon would have talked to and asked out Erza during this time taking a cue from Mira. Erza would after thinking about it say yes and Cana seeing all her siblings getting together with people would promptly say 'Fuck it' and ask Sho out for fun. Wasn't sure if I would have made them a couple or not but it was a possibility.

Makarov would have also during this time told Bishop about Fairy Tail's secrets which the Illusionist didn't know about due to having never seen the last two arcs of Fairy Tail. Bishop would have also learned Fairy Law during this time and maybe more.

Then we would have had a very different Grand Magic Games arc.

I had plans to completely redo the events and matchups for the entire thing and even change what Fairy Tail members are in it. The Games themselves would have been half of the arc itself with the other half being about a massive plot that Raven Tail was crafting to destroy Fairy Tail and take its power for itself. Bishop due to being the Guild master would have not been allowed to be in the Games so he would have been the one leading things in the other part of the arc.

The arc would have ended with Fairy Tail winning the games and once more becoming the number one Guild in the nation. Raven Tail would have also been defeated and exposed to the Magic Council for the Dark Guild it truly is and imprisoned. The only planned battles I had at this time for it were Laxus vs his Father like in canon and a battle where Bishop would have taken a large number of the Raven Tail members by himself.

Afterwards, the little Sun Village arc would have also started with Flare showing her new family his old home. This would lead to the new family saving her old home. Not too much was planned for this that didn't follow canon somewhat with my own little twist on it.

Now as I mentioned before the last two arcs, the Tartaros Arc and the Alvarez Arc I had no real plans for. Hell, I hadn't even watched them when I started this fanfiction which is why Bishop's knowledge of Canon basically ends at the Grand Magic Games. I did end up watching the arcs later and had a few ideas but decided to wait until I finished up the Tenrou Island Arc. I did have one scene planned for the Tartaros Arc and the general ending planned for the Alvarez Arc though.

For the Tartaros Arc, I had planned for Kyôka to take an interest in Bishop early on due to noticing his Whispers. This would have led her expressing a desire to 'have him for herself' and to kidnap him early in the arc. When Fairy Tail later assaults the Cube Cana, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Wendy, and Flare would have come across Bishop while he was in the process of being turned into a demon and interrupt said process. However when Bishop awakens the Whispers would have had full control and this would have led to a fight between a ruthless and emotionless Bishop fighting his siblings.

While that fight is going on Bishop would have been having his own mental battle in his head with the Whispers that had taken the form of a pale and emotionless Bishop. During the fight, Bishop would have realized what the Whispers were. Basically due to the extreme neglect from Bishop's workaholic parents from his past life, he ended up developing sociopathic tendencies that presented as the suppression of his emotions. This would be compounded by Bishop himself hating this and starting to see himself as an emotionless monster. Bishop would have gotten a bit better as he grew up but never got professional help due to dying and being reborn.

These problems followed him into his new life as Bishop and grew even worse due to his Bond with Illusion magic giving his subconscious a way to manifest this darker monstrous self that he had created in his previous life. Bishop would have realized that this darker half is just as much part of him as everything else and that ignoring it only has led to more problems. So in a moment of realization, Bishop would accept the Whispers and his darker half as part of himself, as every tragedy and sin that he had committed. This would lead to Bishop regaining control of his body but with the Whispers now more active but under control. This would have also led to a power boost as the last mental lock in Bishop's mind had been unlocked and the full power that his illusion could reach was now in his grasp. Besides that, I had planned for Mira to fight Kyôka instead of Erza due to the demon trying to 'take her man'.

I was unsure how I wanted to handle the one-year time skip, if I wanted Fairy Tail to disband or not. I do know that I wanted Mira to propose to Bishop much to the latter's shock and joy. As well I wanted Mira to reveal shortly before the Alvarez Arc that she was pregnant, though I had no plans to bench her during the arc. I also planned for the Magic Council to make Bishop a Wizard Saint at this point. As for the ending of the arc and the story as a whole?

During the final battle Bishop in an effort to save his family and friends forcefully break the one Inbuilt Rule that his magic has and as a result casts a spell that turned an illusion of his real. Doing so would have caused his magic to explode out of him. But he would have used that to his advantage as a bomb against the enemy which would have turned the tide of the battle in Fairy Tail's favor. This would have sadly cost Bishop his life.

But after the battle, Mavis would have sacrificed herself to revive Bishop. This would have led to a scene where she meets Bishop in the White Void and the two would have talked about what Fairy Tail truly means. They would have also discussed Bishop's past life and how it shaped him as a person before he came across the Fairy Tail guild. Bishop would leave Mavis behind with the promise to take care of their family.

The scene would have stayed as Mavis would have then confronted an eldritch being that had been watching Bishop. This being would have taken the form of a floating black and white mask, basically the mask of my profile image, and reveal itself as the one that sent Bishop to his new life. The being did this out of pure boredom and just wanted to have a new toy to play with. The laughter that Bishop heard near the beginning of the story was this thing. However, it forgot about Bishop for a while until it came back during the final arc to watch. It planned to once more take Bishop and throw him into a new world for fun but Mavis took its toy away. Mavis would offer herself as a toy but the being would refuse and tell her that it would rather have her fade away into nothing before disappearing. Mavis says to herself that she would gladly fade into nothing than allow despair to take her family once more.

Bishop would wake up to his family and friends grieving him and then see their joy at him being alive. Though the act of breaking an Inbuilt Rule has left Bishop's magic crippled to the point that he could only do minor illusions for a few seconds before running out of magic. Later Bishop would try to give up the title of Guild Master since he no longer considered himself a mage but everyone would refuse to let him do so, stating that a mage or not they trusted no one else to lead them to a better future.

The story would end with a 15-year time skip to the Fairy Tail Guild now celebrating the anniversary of Alvarez's defeat. Bishop and Mira would have been fully married by this point with a fifteen-year-old girl. Lucy and Gray would have been married with a fourteen-year-old son. Natsu and Lisanna would have been married with a fourteen-year-old son of their own who would have been very close to Lucy and Gray's kid. Juvia and Elfmna would have been married with two thirteen-year-old male and female twins who took after their father as a gentleman and lady. Erza and Simon would have been married with an eleven-year-old girl. I was unsure if I wanted Cana to marry Sho or not but she would have probably ended up with someone as well. There are a few other relationships as well but those are the main ones I wanted to focus on.

The chapter would have begun with Fairy Tail preparing for the party but midway through Bishop would leave and visit a grave. The grave would be revealed to be Alive Vern who died a few years ago due to natural causes but died happily surrounded by her kids and grandkids. Afterwards, the chapter would end with a small fight breaking out between the kids on who was the most powerful mage much to the glee of the parents and Bishop would have given a speech to the guild about what Fairy Tail meant which would have then ended the story.

And that's it.

I'd be lying if I said that over the past 4ish years that there weren't times I wanted to go back to this story. Hell, writing this outline made me want to start writing it again. But at the same time, I felt confined back when I was writing Life's Illusion. I started to dislike Fairy Tail because I felt that no matter where I took the characters that would not have truly been what happened. I loved developing Bishop because he was my own character. It's what led me to wanting to write my own original story.

That said, I did like writing Life's Illusion. It was a great way to grow as a writer. I would suggest to anyone who wants to be a writer to try their hand at fanfiction first since it is perfect for finding out what works and doesn't work for you. I had no idea that Life's Illusion would take off as it did and become one of the most-followed Fairy Tail stories on this website. It was great to see that so many people were enjoying my work.

But now I'm scared that it was a one-off thing. That I caught lightning in a bottle and that anything else I make just won't be as good. I guess only time will tell with Speaker of Lies and any other stories I write.

Either way, I can't thank you guys enough for your support. Speaker of Lies has gotten a good number of followers and views from you guys and I'm glad to see the comments left on the first chapter. Chapter 2 of the story should have been posted just before I post this so be sure to check that out if you want.

Now for probably the last time at least on this website.

Have a great day.