To my great relief, no funny shenanigans transpired after the end of the games. Fairy Tail won like I hoped, no dragons or the likes were spotted nor were there any world-ending catastrophes taking place. We got our trophy, received our newly-earned reputation and glory, took our prize money and bagged all of it before making our triumphant return back to Magnolia… or so I wished.
We had to first attend a stupid banquet hosted by the Royal Family to celebrate the end of the GMG. Urgh, I hate socialising.
The ballroom was too noisy and chaotic for my liking. I had slipped out unnoticed the moment I was able to and found myself a quiet corner outside, bottles of fine wine keeping me company as I drank their contents empty one after the other.
Perfect.
"Not joining in the fun?"
"I could ask you the same," I returned Hisui's question back to her. The Princess of Fiore simply stood beside me where I lazily leaned against the railings, enjoying my peace, my drinks and the cool night breeze.
"I know you had already heard this from me before, but thank you for everything you did to help and save Fiore."
"The ones you should thank are the three blind mice, not me. I was only there because they dragged me into their mess," I rebutted.
"That may be true, but it's equally undeniable that you were a crucial reason why everything could be resolved so smoothly," the Princess seemingly made herself comfortable as she too, leaned against the railings, using a hand to tuck a stray strand of her green hair behind her ear. "Is there anything I could do to persuade you to work for me?"
"Nope."
"I figured as much, but I thought I should still try. In any case, you deserve a reward. Is there anything that you might want?"
"I'm not too sure myself, will let you know once I think of something."
"Fair enough. There's no rush, my offer will stand for as long as I'm still a member of the Royal Family."
"Don't be so trusting of others the next time. You won't always be as lucky."
Maybe it was the influence of alcohol, it might also be because of the atmosphere at that particular moment, but I felt the need to remind the naive foolish princess once again that someone of her position needed to be more discerning of the characters and intentions of the people around her, especially when she's the next-in-line to inherit the throne.
"I know. I learnt a very hard lesson and swallowed a very bitter pill that day," Hisui graciously admitted. "But that's all the more reason why I should gather capable people around me, isn't it? People who like you, aren't afraid to voice it out when they recognise that I have made mistakes."
"Save your recruitment speech for the three blind mice. I ain't falling for this crap again."
"What do you mean by again?"
"I was from Alvarez. Emperor Spriggan once sent someone to recruit me to become one of his twelve personal guards. Let's just say that things didn't end well and that's why I had to flee and eventually ended up in Fiore."
"Oh? That's news to me. I'm actually glad that happened because if it wasn't for you, Fiore might have been destroyed by Future Rogue's schemes."
"Tch, is that what a princess should say to her citizens?"
"Maybe not, but you are clearly an illegal immigrant."
"Whoa, the princess has finally grown a brain and a silver tongue now. I'm so happy that I can now shed tears of joy."
"Oh please do. I do want to see what you look like when you cry."
"In case you were unaware, I was being sarcastic."
"I'm aware," the princess laughed as a small gust of wind blew past at that moment, making her long hair flutter along just as briefly. She did look like she finally had the chance to temporarily relieve all of the weight and worries that she had to shoulder as the Princess of Fiore just for this night.
"Will you be taking part in the GMG next year? In case you were unaware, I have grown to be a huge fan of yours. Your showing at the final match totally stole the show."
"Only because I had grudges to settle with those kitty cats. Honestly, I never understood the need for combat tournaments. Fights… are a means to decide the right to live or die. Winner takes all and the loser forfeits their life. That was how I had lived and the only thing I knew ever since I left my birthplace."
There was a brief moment of silence after I said that, and I was already secretly regretting making the mood turn all awkward like that. Way to go, Argus. Way to go.
"... You don't have to live like that any longer, not in Fiore," Hisui softly whispered just when I was thinking how I should dispel the awkward silence. "I still have a lot to learn before I am worthy enough to wear that crown, but I had always wanted to be a ruler that can guarantee and protect the peace in my nation. There's still a long way to go before I can make that a reality, but I don't want my people to live in fear and constant strife and I will do my best to make that happen. That's the vision and dream I have. I will create a nation where people will not need to live like you once did, and where you can live without spilling blood just to stay alive."
"... A very good dream to have. A little naive, also a little foolish, but… it's a good dream," I admitted with a smile. Maybe at the end of the day, what the world really needs to become a better place to live in is to have more naive foolish idealists like the princess and fewer jaded scoundrels like me.
The girl may be a foolish naive princess, but she may just be that foolish naive princess that Fiore needs.
The guild finally made our triumphant return back to Magnolia. The GMG ended happily ever after, just like a fairy tale.
And oh, had I mentioned that Sabertooth were now being renamed as Hello Kitties for the whole of next month? It's too bad that I didn't have the opportunity to snap a picture of Jiemma's face when he was forced to honour the bet we had at the end of the games. What a pity.
The conclusion of the settlement of my petty grudge with those kittens aside, what really shook things up was what greeted us when we returned to Magnolia.
For starters, the entire town was there to greet us when we returned. We were really given the VIP treatment as we were now the pride of the town, showered with a grand welcome as if we were the returning victors of a recent conquest. I became a member of Fairy Tail when they were at their lowest, so I was closer to the members of the guild who stuck by it for seven hard years and endured the shame of being the guild that was always at the dead last until today.
Hence, I could empathise and feel what they felt when the mayor of the town presented their present to us: the old Fairy Tail guild building, but newly renovated and refurbished as a token of the town's appreciation. It was the same old guild building that Macao and the rest were forced to give up possession of after the disappearance of the Tenrou Group, now newly decorated. It was their greatest wish to have it back ever since they were forced to give it up and now their wishes had finally come true.
"Come on, Macao, now is not the time to cry, it's a happy occasion. It's not… uh, manly. Right, Elfman?" I tried to comfort Macao, who only seemed to cry even harder after hearing what I had to say.
"I'm… I'm just so happy!" He wailed out loud, an act that several other members who also stuck by those seven hard years partook as well. All of their waiting, all of their wishes, they finally waited until the storm passed and managed to arrive at a happy ending after so long.
"Come Argus, you have to see this!" Macao excitedly dragged me along into the new guild building after he was done crying tears of joy. This building was a far cry from the small little tavern that I'm familiar with, looking like a grand little castle in comparison.
"This is our great hall! Nothing much seemed to have changed here other than the new flooring… Oh, I should show you the second floor! This was where…" Macao and co enthusiastically introduced me to the original guild building that they were so attached to, comparing the differences from what they remembered from seven years ago and what the building was like now. They were surprised at the luxurious communal baths that were apparently a newly installed feature. The women of the guild were crazy over it the moment they learnt of the new addition.
It's very heartwarming to see Macao and co transform from the gloomy little crew who was always trying their best to put up a forced smile to finally being able to smile from the bottom of their hearts. It's a feeling that I'm unfamiliar with and I never thought I would ever feel this way. Yet, here I am, having shared the same warmth they felt because they wanted to share with me what I had missed out on prior to joining the guild.
Maybe joining Fairy Tail was the best decision I could have made after all.
Things really took a hundred eighty degree turn ever since we returned victorious from the GMG. Business was booming because our guild was flooded with job requests, and there were a lot more requests from clients that requested certain mages by name that they wished would take up those quests. I was not spared from it either due to the flashy showing I had put up during the GMG. It was a very busy period for us all.
Throughout it all, if there's one thing I was sure had deviated from the canonical events, it would be the recent inclusion of one more mage into Fairy Tail.
"I thought you didn't want to deal with me on a daily basis."
"It's just my luck that Fairy Tail is the only legal guild that I am on friendly terms with, okay?"
Yes, Meredy had joined Fairy Tail upon Ultear's advice. I supposed things really had deviated from their original future the moment I helped Crime Sorciere resolve the Eclipse incident. For one, they were no longer wanted criminals and Ultear and Jellal had taken up the Princess' offer to work with her in their joint attempt to remove Zeref's legacy and influence from Fiore. From what I last heard from them, they will be trying to rebuild and expand Crime Sorciere, whatever that was supposed to mean. They were being cryptic about it when I asked them before I returned to Magnolia with my guild.
Another reason for Meredy's decision to join Fairy Tail was because of Ultear. Ultear wished for Meredy to live a normal life because in her opinion, Meredy had never sinned and the only reason why she lived in the darkness with her was because of their association with each other when they were still members of Grimoire Heart. Ultear still felt some lingering guilt for Meredy after all the sins that she had committed and wished for Meredy to walk in the light where she could not. I have no idea just what kind of conversation those two had with each other before they went their separate ways but in the end, Meredy decided to join Fairy Tail because the only two people that she knew and befriended outside of Crime Sorciere were me and Juvia.
"I've heard that the ladies live at a place called Fairy Hills, so why did you decide to live at my place?" I questioned out loud from where I was lying on the sofa and munching on some chips because Meredy had occupied my favourite seat in my own home while both of us were watching TV after a quick dinner.
"What other reason can there be? The rent here is cheaper."
"You mean that you don't pay any rent at all," I pointed out and Meredy looked unapologetic and unashamed for having her lies exposed.
"You still owe me the money for all the drinks I helped you pay that night. So much for drinks were on you."
Okay, fair enough. That amount of money she helped to foot for me was indeed enough to cover her so-called rental expenses for at least a few months while living at my place. I owed her that much.
I supposed even I had started to change as well, even if the change was a small one. Where I was so used to hiding my face with a hood even within the guild thanks to the scar on my face, I now found myself removing that hood more and more frequently whenever I'm within the guild building. Fairy Tail never judged me and it was why I felt comfortable enough to show my face around them. I still think that they were too rowdy for my liking but that's something that I can easily overlook.
Just like how the ladies have a communal bath for their own use in the new guild building, there was a men's communal bath for us as well. I don't usually use it but when I do, it was usually because Macao or one of the other male members that I'm closer with dragged me there with them. If I didn't feel like joining, they would guilt trip me for however long it took until I finally joined them. I would admit that it was during such times that I forged a closer relationship with the other male members in the Tenrou Group that I'm not too familiar with, even if it meant putting up with their nonsense.
"For the last time, ash-brain, you cannot just waltz into the ladies bath like that," I grabbed Natsu by the back of his neck and promptly dunked him back into the artificial hot spring. He was really planning to march into the ladies bath stark naked with his little willy hanging in the air and it would not be the first time he had done that. The thing is, he doesn't have any ill will nor was he harbouring any perverted thoughts when he did that, he just suddenly had the urge halfway into his bath to challenge Erza into a fight, who was currently on the other side of the bath with the rest of the ladies. Natsu just really had no concept of what was socially acceptable and what's not.
"Yeah get it in your head you damn pyro. It's not right to walk stark naked into the ladies' bath."
"Gray, you are the last person anybody wants to hear that from."
As you can see, this is the kind of nonsense I have to deal with on a daily basis whenever I'm in the guild.
"So I heard that you stopped Natsu from entering our baths again. Thanks a lot, Argus!" Mirajane greeted me with a happy chirp after I exited the baths, now freshly clothed and cleaned and heading down to the hall where most members hung out in their free time if they are in Magnolia. Mirajane had obviously just exited from the baths as well since her hair was still damp.
"Natsu, I swear…" Levy released a long tired sigh the moment his name and the baths were strung together in a single sentence. It's a reaction among the ladies that's been getting increasingly common as of late.
"You can just get Freed to help set up a runic barrier around the bath to specifically forbid Natsu from entering, or just the guys in general," I suggested and I swore the eyes of every single female shone the moment I said that. Had they never thought about this before?
I guess not.
I left the female members to sort it out among themselves as to how they intend to put forth their new plan to prevent Natsu from walking into their baths ever again. My feet brought me to the job request board, a place in the guild that I've never really been very well acquainted with because the jobs that I had been on ever since the end of the GMG were jobs that specifically requested for me to be the one to complete it, leaving me with few opportunities or reasons to use the board nowadays.
Currently, I have no more other jobs to do because I have recently completed every single one that I had to finish. Now, I can finally pick a job of my own liking and preferably, one that would take me away from the guild for an extended period of time.
Don't get me wrong, I like the guild and the people here, but sometimes I just really needed a damn break from all of their silly nonsense.
"Something caught your eye?"
"None so far," I replied, unsurprised at Meredy's sudden appearance as she also stood in front of the board to browse through the jobs currently available. Judging from how her hair was also slightly damp and how I could smell the mild fruity scent of soap from her, she must have also just exited the bath. My eyes also easily spotted the pink Fairy Tail guild mark that's now stamped on her left forearm.
"What about you?"
"Just returned from a job with Juvia. Was thinking of partnering up with her again but she just left for another job with Gray a few minutes ago," she mused while stroking her chin in thought with a hand. "Come to think about it, you haven't partnered up with anyone else before, have you?"
"I will go insane if I do," I stated, knowing just how ridiculous things might turn out to be if I ever partner up with any of them. All of my jobs so far only requested for me as the sole mage to complete them, so I never had the need to work with any of them as well.
"How about the both of us go for a job together? For old times' sake?"
I looked at her in silence, wanting to confirm if she simply meant it as a joke although judging from the look she returned me, it probably wasn't.
"Just please pick one that does not require anything to do with stealth whatsoever."
"Fine," she rolled her eyes at my answer and we both looked through the jobs available together. However, none really caught our interest.
We were brought out of our musings when we heard a commotion coming from the bar where the Master usually could be found. Something interesting must have happened, so Meredy and I decided to see just what had gotten everyone so excited.
"It's a ten year quest! We received a ten year quest!" Droy exclaimed and now everyone who gathered there finally knew just what the hubbub was about. To receive a ten year quest is a big deal for any guild because the nature of such quests naturally implies a high mortality rate as nobody had managed to complete it for a decade. Conversely, if there's anyone who actually managed to successfully complete such a quest, it would bring a huge amount of fame for their guild.
"What's it really about?" I asked, and I knew my queries were one that was shared with everyone else who was still clueless about the actual job description.
"This… I'm not too sure about this one," Master Makarov muttered, his words heard loud and clear by us as he scratched his head while reading the job description from the piece of paper in his hand.
"You are thinking of rejecting it?! That's not manly!" Elfman voiced his disagreement and it was shared by several other competitive members of the guild. In response, Makarov simply explained his rationale.
"For one, the location of this job is not in Fiore, it's in Alvarez, and we all know that the relations of the countries in Ishgar and Alvarez are not the best right now," Makarov elaborated while holding the job request up for us to see. "Secondly, the job description is: Put a stop to eternal daylight and return the night to the land. That's all there is to the description and it's too vague for my liking. Now, even for me, I cannot claim to be able to change how the sun and moon rise and fall. Nobody here can, even if it's Gildarts. The job description here is closer to that of a century quest than a ten year quest. It's much more dangerous than it is being officially classified as."
I perked up instantly the moment I heard Makarov's words, immediately pushing my way forward through the crowd until I was able to read the job description printed on the job request for myself. If Makarov had anything to say about my lack of manners, he didn't verbalise it.
"Something wrong, child?"
"This…" I read through the job description over and over again. The location was at Alvarez, which checks out, and it was a location which I had never managed to explore before during my time there because I had to prioritise making my escape after getting on Invel's bad side.
Eternal daylight, the lack of a night… What was stated on the job request did fit the description of what I had been searching for ever since I left my village. I thought I would never be able to get my hands on it because there were so little clues regarding its current whereabouts. To think that I would be able to receive a clue in a place I least expected.
"Master Makarov, this quest… I want to– No, I need to take up this job request."
"Hey, no fair! I want to take the job too!" Natsu voiced his opinion loudly and was quickly joined by several other members. Makarov simply extended his hand and knife chopped the Dragon Slayer on the head, prompting him to shut up so that I can have the chance to explain myself.
"If my suspicions are right, the eternal daylight spoken about might be the effects of one of my village's long lost relics that I had been searching for ever since I left my village. I… I need to get it back. It's too dangerous to be left on its own and the effects can be disastrous under the wrong hands. I'm the only one left that can do this," I quickly explained my decision without giving too much about my past away. Makarov made a slight frown and stroked his beard, thinking over what I said earlier very seriously.
"I trust you, and if it really turns out to be the relic that you speak of… It wouldn't be right for me to stop you from trying to retrieve what rightfully belonged to your village and heritage. Still, I'm worried, and I don't feel assured just sending one mage for the job considering the remote location and the nature of this request. If this job has to be taken up by Fairy Tail, I would prefer if two or more S Class mages were to do so because this way, at least you can look out for each other."
"I can go!" Natsu immediately volunteered himself and once again, many more followed after his example. I simply pinched the bridge of my nose and released an exasperated sigh.
"This is not a game, you idiot. This relic is a very dangerous one and only I can safely retrieve it. Besides, you are not an S Class mage."
"Hey!" Natsu looked offended after hearing what I had to say, protesting against my words with clear indignation. "Alright then, in that case, I challenge you to a fight! If I beat you you will–"
My response was to simply knock him out with a powerful beam of light. There, problem solved.
"I can go with him," Meredy spoke up, breaking up the argument. "We were planning to team up for our next job in the first place and although I don't have that official title now, I was an S Class mage. Will that be fine with you, Master?"
I never thought I would be so thankful for Meredy's assistance. It was to the point that I could really give her a hug back there to convey my gratitude if I wasn't so sure she would try to skewer me with her swords if I ever tried to do so.
"That…" Makarov hesitantly pondered over Meredy's proposition but he gave his agreement eventually. "Alright, it should be fine if it's the both of you. It's just that given that this is a ten year quest, we might not be able to see each other for quite a long while, so do take care of yourselves and try to check back with us as frequently as you can, okay? If anything goes wrong, return back to the guild immediately and forget about the job. Your own well-being should always be your top priority."
"We promise," Meredy agreed to Makarov's demands with a small smile on behalf of the two of us and I simply pocketed the job request after reading it for one last time. If this was really what I suspected it to be then I really need to get it back because if my hunch is right, that Fairy Tail would end up finding itself in some crazy shit that is more ridiculous than the one back in Crocus during the GMG, then having this by my side would be invaluable.
Furthermore, I had made a promise to the entity within me a long time ago that I would do my best to search for this object. This is not an object we like to see being left in the middle of nowhere or worse still, being misused for other nefarious means.
This is an artefact belonging to a God, it is not an object to be messed with.
"Remember to officially register this job with Mira before you go," Makarov reminded us before Meredy and I took our leave. Since I'm the one who was holding onto the physical copy of the job request, I took the initiative to register the job with Mirajane while Meredy went to kill some time by mingling with the other members of the guild.
"Master actually allowed you to take up this quest?" Mirajane's surprise was evident when I registered the job with her. "We only received it two days ago because no other guilds wanted to accept it. From what I heard it was one of those unwanted leftover requests that was being frequently passed around from guild to guild."
"It wouldn't be passed around any longer once Meredy and I completed it."
"Confident, I see," Mirajane teased with a laugh before getting a little more serious. "Alright, jokes aside, do be careful, this is a ten year quest. Ah, that will mean that I wouldn't be seeing both you and Meredy for quite a long while, wouldn't it? Gildarts took three years trying to complete the century quest and he failed it too. A ten year quest would at the bare minimum, probably take about half a year to complete by my estimate."
"Have any of you S Class mages taken on a ten year quest before?" I asked and Mirajane replied with a shake of her head.
"Master obviously gave you the special treatment if he allowed you and Meredy to go on this quest because officially, none of you hold the S Class title in Fairy Tail. Arguably, it's a trust well-earned due to your victory over Jura and Meredy was an S Class mage. Both of you are already on the level of S Class. Still, do return alive or Master will beat himself up over it. It wouldn't do any good to his blood pressure if any of you… you know..."
"We will be back," I assured her as Mirajane quickly filled in the little book that documented every single quest accepted by the guild members to ensure that our records were updated.
"Now that I think about it, I never did ask about your Take Over, did I?" Mirajane continued with the conversation and a quick subtle glance at our surroundings told me that nobody would be hearing anything that we were talking about. In that case, it will be fine to hold this conversation here.
"Like I told you before, I don't like to talk about it."
"Hmm, you've been holding back an awful lot back on our training trip, since you said that Light magic is merely an aspect of your real magic and you still managed to defeat Jura with it without relying on your Take Over. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not curious about the nature of your Take Over, because I am, but I know when to stop probing any further."
"Thanks," I replied sincerely, "and also for keeping the fact that I'm actually a Take Over mage a secret from everyone else. It's really not something that I like people to know due to the kind of being that was sealed in me."
"That bad?" Mirajane looked up in worry, taking a brief pause in her recording work. "I have demons in me and I thought my situation was bad enough."
"It's… a lot worse than demons," I decided to tell her truthfully because if there's anyone in this guild who could understand the pain and struggle that comes from being a Take Over mage on the S Class level, it would be her.
"Do you need help? Between the two of us, I'm sure we can figure out a solution somehow."
"I don't want to sound arrogant and I don't want to dismiss your goodwill, but it's really not something that you will be able to help out with. Only I will be able to solve it because this is more of a "me" problem more than anything else. Thanks anyway," I declined Mirajane's kind offer and she handed the job request back to me about a minute later once she was done with her admin work.
"Be careful! I understand it's going to be hard to use lacrima communication since you two will be heading to Alvarez, but try to keep in constant contact!"
"We'll try. Bye, see you when I see you again."
"All done?" Meredy asked when she saw me walking back to her and I nodded. "Great. I just spoke to Ultear and Jellal through lacrima earlier, they said that they will be here tomorrow morning to see us off since it will be a long time before we eventually return."
"That will be nice," I agreed. "It's been a while since I last saw them too after all the shit that went down at Crocus."
I never thought that this would be how I would make my journey back to my homeland but somehow, a part of me was a little excited at the thought of being able to go back.
Wonder how much had changed since I left the place so many years ago?
AN: Hadn't written any Fairy Tail fics for a very very long time. If I had to list a reason, I guess I simply grew out of the fandom and I now have a far stronger preference for fandoms and stories with far more realistic consequences of the characters' actions rather than bullshitting through all plots with the power of friendship.
Yet just this morning, I had a sudden craving to read some Fairy Tail fics, tried searching, found nothing that really ticked the right boxes, and it was then I remembered the series ended a long long time ago (I think it had been around a decade already?) and that the fandom on FFnet was almost as good as dead. How time flies.
I went back home after work to dig through my google drive and see if I had any FT fics in my stash of forgotten WIPs. Remembered that this fic existed when I found it. Found two chapters for this fic that I had written years ago but never got around to posting them. I kind of understood why I held off posting them after reading chapter 16, everything did feel kind of forced and the fight scene was... meh. But eh, this is a secondary account so it would do my mental health some good if I lower my expectations for the stories I posted here.
In any case, for the sake of the good old times, I decided that it's high time I dust these chapters off and finally post them. Took some time to edit these, added some scenes, removed some that didn't feel like it fit and wow, the change was obvious, even if it's not entirely what I hoped they might turn out to be. It did feel like my writing had matured a little when I was editing the chapters and rereading everything again as though I'm reading them for the first time, but I think any real differences can only be felt once subsequent chapters are written and posted. Hopefully I can get to doing so in the future, sooner rather than later.
Took additional time to try figuring out what the password for this FFnet account is and finally, these two chapters finally got to see the light of day. Quality wise, I feel that this fic is the fic with the most potential on this account so far, but the fandom here feels kind of dead to me. Not complaining, but it sure is making me feel a little wistful when I still remembered how popular FT fics used to be. Like, they used to be the rage. Man, it's only been just a few years and everything felt like it changed.
Not too sure if I would continue to write this fic due to realistic constraints and commitmnts irl. I don't know if I could ever get around to churn out subsequent chapters that I feel can take this story further in the way I hope it will go. I guess I will try, even if just for a short while, but for those who still read this story and loved it, just want to let you know how grateful and thankful I am for your love and support.
See you when I see you again.