Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

With a brawl smack dab in the middle of the guildhall that had the attention of everyone, be they participants or simple spectators, it came as no surprise that the break went by much faster than they would have thought. It also came as no surprise that when no one stopped while the screen made them know they only had a few seconds left before it started again, Erza stepped in to stop them. Or maybe it was more to avenge her cake than anything else given the fury in her eyes and the state she left her guildmates after she was done with them.

“You better behave yourself from now on, you hear me?”

“Yes ma’am...” the pile of bloodied mages on the floor groaned, some slowly raising to go back to their seat before the memories could start up again.

“Look, it starting!”

“I wonder what we’ll see this time.”

“Let’s see...”

‘Gray makes Mira cry. Twice.’

All at once, in stunned silence, everyone turned toward the suddenly flushed ice mage having stilled halfway into sitting down at the table he shared with his team.

“I...” Clearly uncomfortable under the stare of so many people, Gray fumbled to find an answer, trying to think about a time he made Mira cry. And twice at that. But came up blank and kind of panicked when Elfman looked two steps away from snapping his neck. “I... don’t know what... it’s about?” he finished lamely.

It was enough for Elfman to suddenly stood up. “Gray! How dare you make Nee-chan cry! Come and face me like a man!”

“Now, now, we still don’t know what it’s about. Maybe it was an accident,” said Lucy to diffuse the situation. Or at least tried to.

“Lucy is right,” said Erza in a tone that booked no argument. “We shouldn’t judge someone before having all the facts.”

On the side, Gray finally sat with a relieved sigh when he saw the Strauss grudgingly do the same.

“However.” She turned toward him and he immediately straightened under her gaze. “If it wasn’t an accident...” she trailed off but her threat was heard loud and clear and he rapidly nodded. He would eagerly accept any punishment anyway if he really made a friend cry voluntarily. Not that it would be better if it was an accident, but still.

The screen lit up with a view of a crowd from the sky. The black mass was too far away for anyone to be distinctive but they were obviously surrounding two persons in the middle of a street, just in front of the Fairy Tail’s guildhall.

“Remember what Natsu said before we left?” asked Gray off-screen.

The crowd was shown closer, revealing Erza and Natsu in the middle of a group of cheering mages and citizens alike.

“Get ‘im!”

“You can do it, Natsu!”

“What the...”

“Are they going to fight?” asked Sting, way too excited for this.

“Oh! I remember this!” exclaimed Lucy. “It was soon after I joined, and just after the Lullaby debacle. Didn’t the Council come to stop the fight though?”

“They did,” confirmed Mira. “It was when they arrested Erza.”

That caused another round of exclamation around the guild.

“Erza-san got arrested?” asked Wendy, alarmed at the news.

“It was just for a day, don’t worry about it. The Council just wanted to make an example.”

“They wanted to flex their power you mean,” grumbled Gray.

“Natsu and Erza are going to fight!” announced Gray.

Lucy suddenly appeared to push away Wakaba. And violently at that.

There were a few snickers at the sight, even from Wakaba, and Lucy had to crack a smile at the scene.

“W-Wait! Are they both serious?!”

“Of course we are! I’m always serious when it comes to fighting!” yelled Natsu, offended that she thought otherwise.

“Please cut me some slack, I had just joined the guild at the time. Like, a week or two ago.”

Mirajane hummed from behind the bar. “It’s true that Fairy Tail can be pretty jarring for a newcomer.”

“Exactly,” nodded Lucy.

“Oh, Lucy!” greeted Mirajane in front of Elfman and Macao.

“What I find jarring is the difference between this Macao and the one on the screen...” someone muttered.

“I heard you! Who was that?! Denounce yourself so I can show you something jarring!”

“Now, now, you’re too old for that. Calm down and just enjoy your beer.”

“Excuse you, Wakaba! I would never be too old for that!”

“Tell that to your back, you old moron!”

Lisanna sighed at their antics. “Never a moment of calm around here, huh?”

“But we wouldn’t have it otherwise, right?” smiled her sister.

And she was right, Fairy Tail wouldn’t be Fairy Tail without all the brawls and roughhousing and fights they got into every day, often multiple times a day. Without it, the guild would be too calm, the silence too oppressive. It was like that during the seven years when a good chunk of the guild had disappeared, presumed dead. They took their time to mourn and tried to move on, of course, but more often than not the lack of chaos going on somewhere in the building, the absent screams and shouts that once forced the mages to also raise their voice if they wanted to be heard choked them. It stuffed them full of bitter tears that wanted to escape their eyes without their permission, made them hate Zeref and Grimoire Heart and Acnologia a little more each day.

And made them hate the world too, sometimes. Because when it was too much, when hating all the direct causes of their friends' death disappearance wasn’t enough, all they had left was to be angry at the world for taking their precious comrades, and the light of their guild with them.

Yeah. Those seven years sucked, badly, for everyone involved but more so for everyone who stayed.

“They’re serious, all right!” said Elfman to answer Lucy. “They’re not men unless they’re serious!”

“Erza is a girl, you know,” rectified his sister.

“More like a female monster,” said Macao with a grin.

“Oh? Is that so?”

“It was a compliment! A compliment, I swear!” panicked the ageing mage, scrambling to be out of Erza’s range. Which was actually pretty far for a swordswoman, so it would be safer for him outside the guild. Or maybe outside Magnolia.

“Here, Erza, your cake.” Mirajane unknowingly – or knowingly? – saved Macao's life by putting a delicious-looking strawberry cake in front of the knight who sat down with a huff.

“Very well. But make sure it doesn’t repeat.”

The man grumbled under his breath while sitting back on his stool at the bar. “How the heck am I supposed to control what my past self said?”

“You sure have it rough, buddy,” said Wakaba, patting him on the back.

“Shut up! Just wait until it’s your turn!”

The two mages faced each other with determination, their spectator edging them on.

“But if two members of the strongest team clash...!” Lucy trailed on.

Lucy groaned at her past self before sinking into her seat. She could feel the absolute mayhem her foolish remark would bring.

“Excuse you?!” yelled Freed in outrage. “The Raijinshuu is clearly superior!”

“Ah? No way in hell!” retorted Natsu, all fired up. “I could wipe the floor with all of you! Even Laxus!”

The blond mage raised an eyebrow at that from his place at the bar near his grandfather but otherwise did nothing. He was one of the rare persons of the guild – the sane? ones – who rarely, if ever, took part in the brawls, although he wouldn’t say no to a true fight against him at a later date. The Fire Dragon Slayer might still be weaker than him, but he bounced back from any defeat stronger than before and was able to use the most absurd tactic in a fight and make it work. It always made sparing with him so interesting that even Gildarts entertains it when he’s back.

But it also made it exhausting to fight against him when he refused to stay down.

“Are you dumb? As if you could do that,” snickered Bickslow, his dolls chanting “Dumb! Dumb!” over and over again behind him.

“I’ll show you that I can! Laxus, fight me!”

Said mage sighed, having seen that happening from a mile away. “I’m not interested.”

“What was that? Are you scared to lose?!”

Another sigh from Laxus but this time Freed saved him from answering. “I can’t let that pass, the Raijinshuu will be your opponent!”

“Oh? Bring it on!”

“Here we go again,” muttered Lucy. And given how Erza was enjoying her treat, there was no way she would stop them this time. “Guess we’ll have to watch with the chaos going on in the background.”

Wendy let out a smile at that. “I’m surprised Gray-san isn’t going to participate, though.”

“Please, give me a break. I don’t have an infinite amount of energy like that dumbass.”

The girls giggled at him before returning their attention to the screen. Natsu did have an insane amount of energy. Sometimes it saved them, but for the most part, it could quickly become annoying. Like now.

“Strongest team? What are you talking about?” asked Gray, looking at the two fighters beside Lucy.

She turned toward him with a glare. “You, Natsu, and Erza! You’re the top three in Fairy Tail!”

“Huh? Who had been feeding the newcomer lies? Even now they’re still not in the top three,” said Wakaba from the bar.

“Well, Erza is definitely the strongest female mage in the guild with Mirajane, though back then she was the only one,” mused Levy.

“So the top three now would be, what, Gildarts, Laxus, and Erza? Or Mirajane?” someone asked.

“I guess so,” nodded the blue-haired woman.

“Gildarts?” asked Jura. “I have heard of him but I don’t believe he was at the Games.”

“Someone you heard about? He must be strong then,” mused Lyon.

“You have no idea,” Gray answered him. “He’s the one who recommended Fairy Tail to me.”

“Really?” asked Lyon and Lucy at the same time, to which he nodded. He was about to explain more about his adventures between Ur’s death and his arrival at Magnolia, but Cana beat him to the punch when she suddenly screamed.

“Urg! Who cares about this drunkard anyway when he’s never here!!”

“Does she have something against him?” whispered Yukino to Lucy, having sat at the table just behind hers.

“He’s her father,” she whispered back, to the surprise of her fellow Celestial Mage.

“Oh.”

“Huh? What rubbish. Who told you that crap?”

Mirajane smiled sweetly on the screen, her sudden apparition an answer in and of itself.

“Ah. So that’s how,” realised suddenly the Fairy Tail’s mages to the confusion of everyone else.

“Good to know Gray didn’t mean it.”

The woman then turned her back on the others to cry in her hands under the awkward stare of the ice mage who didn’t know what to do to make her stop.

“Oh, it was you, Mira-chan?”

“You made her cry,” accused Lucy.

“I more or less forgot about it,” admitted Gray. “So much has happened since then.”

Lucy smiled sadly. “True. After that it was Galuna, then Phantom Lord, Loke, the Tower, Fantasia, Oracion Seis, Edolas, Tenrou, and then whatever you want to call what happened at the Games.”

“You forgot about the Infinity Clock and the church after we returned from Tenrou,” reminded Wendy.

“I’m trying to forget when I turned into a giant fish, thanks.”

“A giant flying fish, Lucy,” added Happy, munching on a – you know it – fish.

The blonde rolled her eyes. “Thank you for pointing out this oh-so-important detail.”

“I understood none of it and I don’t want to,” said blankly Jenny, getting slowly used to the craziness of this guild but still wanting to retain some part of her sanity.

“I do recognise Natsu and Gray’s manly spirit,” started Elfman, “but I can’t sit by and let them be called the strongest. Fairy Tail’s filled with plenty more powerful people.” He smirked and pointed himself with his thumb. “Like me!”

“You want to go, Elfman!” yelled Natsu from the middle of the battleground he formed with Freed and Bickslow, and Nab? Guess he had been caught unwittingly in the middle of it, seeing as he was half-dead on the ground.

“I’ll show you what a man can do!”

“Oh, sounds fun! I’ll join too!” slurred Bacchus, his guildmates cheering for him when he rose from his place at the bar with their famous “Wild Four!!”.

“More alcohol for me!” giggled Cana, way past the point of drunkness at this point. No wonder Mirajane had started diluting hers and Bacchus’ drinks with water, especially if they were too drunk to realise what she was doing.

 Levy approached them with her team. “I’m pretty sure Erza’s the strongest female member, though.”

“As for the strongest man, you can’t overlook Mystogan or Laxus,” added Jet.

Gray snorted in his drink. “I love how Gildarts isn’t even mentioned despite being the strongest.”

“Serve him right for never being there!” yelled Cana, straightening up suddenly and half falling from her stool because of it.

A few of them chuckled. It’s true that with him not being at the guild often – not even being in the country often, actually – mentioning him as the strongest of the guild, even if it was true, was kind of useless seeing as he wasn’t there to help if something happened in most case – like for the war against Phantom Lord. So even now, excluding Makarov, Laxus was the strongest member of the guild that could be called upon during a crisis, his lightning greatly helping to come quickly.

They were all praying that no catastrophe would come to knock at their door any time soon though, even if hoping for that was a bit useless in Fairy Tail.

“Isn’t Mystogan that guy who lost against Jura?” asked Lyon and Gray just choked along with every Fairy Tail member in the vicinity who heard him. It didn’t matter if it was on their drinks or food or just spit, they all choked including Makarov who seemed ready to keel over.

“Huh, yeah, right, it was him,” he still answered nervously, letting out a small laugh and hoping the other ice mage would drop the subject.

“It sure been a long time since we saw him, right, Erza?” laughed awkwardly Lucy.

“Right,” answered the older woman just as uncomfortable, not looking at anyone.

“What’s up with them?!” asked – screamed – Toby.

“Don’t ask me. And stop yelling.”

At the bar, Macao and Wakaba were having a far more serious conversation with Makarov.

“Master, what are we going to do if it’s shown?” asked quietly Macao to not be heard by the others.

If Mest had still been here, he would have been able to make everyone else but Fairy Tail forget about it if the moment in question was shown, but since he wasn’t here and Makarov was the only one who remembered he was part of the guild anyway...

“We’ll discuss it with Freed when he has finished fighting, maybe he can modify his enchantment so it’s not shown.”

“Good idea,” nodded Wakaba. “Hopefully he’ll be able to do it discreetly or during the night when no one’s there.”

It was only the first day of the party, after all, and it was bound to last a lot longer than expected if everyone wanted to watch the Lacrima, so they’ll probably have their guests over for a few more days. Maybe a week, if there are plenty of memories to be shown.

Mirajane was still crying, one hand rubbing her eye. “I just thought Natsu, Gray, and Erza had the best team chemistry...”

“The best team chemistry to destroy everything, sure.”

“Ain’t that right?”

“Don’t remind me!” snapped Makarov. “I still have plenty of paperwork to fill because of them.”

Everyone laughed at the despairing look on the old Master’s face. It was mostly in times like this that no one envied his position.

“Huh? Weren’t you worried they would fight whenever Erza wasn’t around?” asked Lucy and, yeah, it was a valid concern that had been proved time and time again.

And the screen went black, showing another countdown much shorter than any of the previous ones.

“Only ten seconds?” asked Hibiki. “How are the countdowns even decided?”

“Good question. Another one would be why these memories are specially targeted,” said Eve.

“Well, it’s not like we can deduce a pattern or anything when we were only shown three,” added Ren sitting in front of them.

Ichiya struck a pose on the table they were sitting at. “This is why we must see everything to the end, just as everything in life.”

The Trimen stood up and bowed in front of him. “Thank you for those wise words, sensei!”

When it lit up again, they were greeted by Macao with an eyepatch and Wakaba with bandages around his head looking in astonishment at something in front of them, the two in the middle of ruins. Or something that was just starting to get built.

“Isn’t that when we rebuild our guild after Phantom Lord’s attack?” asked Bisca.

“Looks like it,” answered her husband.

Gajeel bit his lips at that, clenching a hand around his tankard. Maybe no one blamed him anymore for the destruction of the buildings, but it didn’t mean he forgave himself for what he did back then. And for more than a building destroyed, he thought as he risked a glance toward the petite woman at his side who smiled reassuringly at him.

Seriously, it still surprised him how they still accepted him into their guild after everything. Sure, everything hadn’t been sunshine and rainbows right at the beginning, but now... It’s not that they forgot and more that they looked past that, like they moved forward to see the Gajeel of Fairy Tail instead of the Gajeel of Phantom Lord. It was a nice feeling, though he wasn’t sure if he deserved it.

The hand on his wrist told him he did and for now, maybe that was enough.

“Wait...” started Macao.

“Isn’t it kind of big?” finished Wakaba.

Behind them, Mirajane smiled with a piece of paper in her hands. “While we’re at it, we’re expanding,” she explained and they turned toward her.

“And it’s how our smaaall guild became thiiiis big,” said drunkenly Cana with a conspiratory wink like it was some sort of obscure secret only their guild was privy to.

“I see...”

“Should she still drink?” someone asked Mirajane.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s mostly water now,” she reassured with a smile, making sure the two professional drunkards couldn’t hear her.

“See?” she showed them the paper she held. “Here’s what it’ll look like when it’s finished.”

“Seriously?”

“Let’s have a look.”

“It would be fine without changing it,” complained Natsu as went in front of the woman.

Gray also came closer to have a look. “What kind of guild is it going to be like?”

The drawing was finally revealed and, well... It was colourful, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t exactly the plans they needed for the reconstruction.

“What’s this? Asuka’s drawing?” genuinely asked Kinana.

“No, back then it would have been Romeo’s,” answered Laki. “I don’t remember him drawing it though.”

“Me neither.”

“Well, he didn’t but I still have plenty of his drawings as a kid,” snickered Macao.

“Dad!” yelled his son with a bright blush adorning his cheeks and the laughs of the mages around him.

“But who drew that thing then...?” trailed off Sting.

“Sting,” sighed Rogue. “Think of the title.”

“What do you- Oh. Wait, you’re sure?”

“Do you see another explanation?”

“Point.”

Because until now, all the titles had some sort of link with the memory it showed so it would be logical to think it would be the same here. This means, maybe, that Mirajane drew it, Gray said it looked bad or something and made her cry. The scene doesn’t imply anything more serious has happened so it was the only logical explanation for why Gray would have made the woman cry.

“Wow,” deadpanned Macao.

“This is another...” trailed off Wakaba, not finding the words to continue his thoughts.

“I don’t really get it.” There was literally an interrogation point beside Natsu’s head.

Gray took a closer look at the drawing, not looking convinced in the least. “But man, this is really crappy. What idiot drew this?”

When everyone had realised where it would go like the Twin Dragon Slayers, they all sighed at the ice mage.

“You’re really bad at it, huh?” commented Lyon. “And twice in a row too.”

“Just shut up,” grumbled Gray. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know Mira had made the drawing.

Lucy giggled behind her hands. “You really don’t have luck with women.”

“Ugh,” he let out a deep, deep sigh. “You have no idea.”

Once again, Mirajane answered him with an angelic smile before starting to cry.

“Oh, it was Mira-chan!” he fumbled again behind her.

“You made her cry again,” said at the same time Natsu, Macao, and Wakaba, throwing disappointed looks at him.

“And such is Gray,” deadpanned Happy, his face taking the whole screen and covering the scene behind him before the screen went black, signalling the end of the memory as a five minutes countdown appeared.

“And such is Gray,” repeated Natsu, imitating the voice of his partner before erupting in laughter with everyone. “Next time it should show him making someone else cry.”

“Excuse you! I’m not a dumbass like you who makes everyone cry at the amount of damage you cause!” he screamed, standing up from his seat.

“As if you're any better!” The Dragon Slayer let go of Elfman's collar to go toward his oldest rival. “I’m not the one who froze half a town, Ice Princess!”

“Well, I’m not the one who burnt the other half, Fire Stove!” he also went closer to him, readying his fists.

They were close now, enough to hit each other when ready, but before any of that could happen – and before Erza came over to stop them with force – Makarov extended his fist to knock them out, sinking the two mages into the floor.

“Enough!”

“Master?!” They all turned toward him. It wasn’t rare for Natsu and Gray to fight, especially for something stupid, but usually, it was Erza who stopped them, not Makarov who generally laughed at their antics.

But right now he had a horror-filled look on his face as he glared at the two mages on the ground.

“Don’t even remind me of this clusterfuck! The amount of paperwork I had to fill out, the letters of apologies I had to send...! And the cost!” his eyes had glazed over, still seeing the piles upon piles of paper that had been waiting in his office that day. He had to spend two weeks on them, nearly staying to sleep at the guild at times. He still had nightmares of that. Acnologia? No, that wasn’t scary at all. But this? Paperwork? Don’t even let him start on that. He was half-convinced a demon or Zeref himself was the one who invented this hellish stuff.

“Sorry, Gramps...” muttered the mages still under a giant fist.

“Well, now... That’s one effective way to stop them,” murmured someone in the back, everyone else staring in shock. It wasn’t often you saw two relatively strong mages being knocked out by a single blow by an even stronger mage.

“Alright now,” Evergreen snapped her fan close, the sound echoing in the silent guildhall. “Let’s turn our attention to the Lacrima again, it’s starting.”

It had at least the effect of snapping the Master of whatever paperwork nightmare he was in and finally freeing Natsu and Gray who made no move to stand up.

Slowly, their attention returned to the screen, the silence not lasting long as they wondered what would the next memory be about.

‘Gildarts shift or Fairy Tail and Magnolia’s ridiculousness know no bound’

“Gildarts... That’s the one you were talking about earlier, right?” asked Chelia to which Jura nodded.

“Indeed. But I have never heard of a ‘Gildarts shift’,” answered the Wizard Saint.

A few Fairy Tail’s mages laughed nervously. No one could truly understand the level of craziness their guild was able until they saw the famous Gildarts shift, and it wasn’t something someone could be prepared to see. It was that ridiculous, just as the title said.

“You’re going to be surprised that’s for sure,” muttered Gray. “But still, ‘ridiculousness’? It’s not that ridiculous.”

Though, some mages didn’t agree with that statement.

“Are you kidding?!” nearly screeched Lucy. “It scared the living daylight out of me when I saw it!” Wendy furiously nodded beside the ice mage. She saw the Gildarts shift with Lucy and Carla, and had been quite... surprised? Astonished? Whatever the word was, she never expected, even in her wildest fantasies, that Magnolia could do that. That a town could do that at all.

“Really?” he asked. Sure it had been a bit surprising for him too back then but he recovered quickly, especially since he had already met Gildarts before joining the guild.

“Who cares about that!” screamed Makarov from the bar. “It’s better to be ridiculous than having to pay for all the destruction that idiot causes every time he comes back! Even the mayor agrees!”

Mirajane smiled as she took away the empty plate that previously held Erza’s favourite treat. “It’s true that while Gildarts is the strongest in our guild, he is also its most destructive member, even more than Natsu and Gray. Or any of us combined.”

Some of their guests now had a slightly scared and apprehensive look. They all saw this guild’s mages at work during the Games and they regularly heard news about them destroying this national monument or that town harbour or some other thing, so it was therefore hard to imagine someone even more destructive than the combined might of the Fairy Tail’s mages on a bad day. Even if this person was also a Fairy Tail mage.

The scene began with Lucy smiling at Wendy and Carla, both seated at – or on, in the Exceed case – a table inside Fairy Tail’s guildhall.

“Looks like both Carla and you, Wendy, have gotten used to the guild.”

Wendy raised her head from the book she was reading to answer her. “Yes!”

“She’s especially glad about the women's dorm,” added Carla.

“By the way, why aren’t you in the dorm, Lucy-san?” asked the child.

Said dorm was briefly shown on the screen, a big building on a tall hill that had a magnificent view of Lake Scilliora. All in all, Fairy Hills seemed like a good and peaceful place to live.

“Wow, it must be so nice to live there. I really like my apartment but living in a dorm must be nice too,” sighed Yukino. Sabertooth didn’t have any dorm, only a few rooms inside the guild for those who wanted but apart from newcomers, nearly no one used them.

“It is a nice place,” agreed Evergreen. “And it’s far away from the destruction those men cause.”

“It reminds me of our dorm,” said Millianna.

Erza turned toward her. “Really? Do you also live there?”

“Yeah! Kagura and Beth too. And Risley was there until she recently moved to her own flat as Araña did.”

“Our dorm is mainly used by newcomers and people who prefer to live in a community rather than alone,” explained Risley. “But having your own apartment can be nice too and it doesn’t mean I can’t invite my friends if I’m feeling lonely.”

“I see.”

“I only found out about the women’s dorm recently,” told Lucy. “And it turned out the rent in the dorm is 100,000 jewel... If I’d gotten a place there, I wouldn’t be able to pay that much lately.” Wendy and Carla shared a small laugh at the woman's depressed state and her recurring problem with income.

Their conversation was quickly interrupted by Max and Warren barging into the guild with a scream. “Big news!” they shouted together.

Not a second later the bells of the cathedral started to chime.

“What’s going on?” asked Lyon.

His fellow disciple smiled smugly. “The Gildarts shift’s about to happen. Pretty sure you never saw something like this.”

The ice mage of Lamia Scale raised his brow but focused on the screen again. After dragons from the past appeared from a door, nothing could faze him anymore but this was Fairy Tail. If something could still surprise him, it could only come from them.

As Kardia Cathedral’s bells continued to ring out for all to hear, all of Magnolia's citizens stopped what they were doing to look up into the sky. It seemed the bells were some sort of signal everyone knew about and that would cause the entire city to pause in their activities.

Back in the guild, the two girls and the white Exceed were also looking up in wonder.

“What is it?” inquired Lucy.

“The bells are ringing?” wondered at the same time Carla and Wendy.

“It was my first time hearing the bells ring like that, but to think it would lead to that...” trailed off Lucy.

“I wonder when we’ll see it again,” mused Wendy.

“I rather pass, thanks,” cut Carla. “And anyway, does it even work after seven years without use?”

At that, Mirajane was quick to reassure her. “Don’t worry, it was made to hold on even if it is only used sporadically every few years. Gildarts isn’t here that often after all, so even after all this time it should be fine.”

“And anyway,” added Max, “it was created to be quite resistant since it supports the whole city.”

At that, the outsiders or the ones having never seen the famous Gildarts shift stopped.

“It... support... Magnolia? You mean the entire thing is under the whole town?” asked Hibiki.

“Yep.”

A powerful, destructive mage. A manoeuvre made for him, bearing his name. Something that spread underneath the entirety of Magnolia.

“Just... what is the Gildarts shift?” numbly asked Jenny. “Although I don’t know if I want to see it anymore.”

Up on the roof of the guild, Natsu and Happy were looking toward the cathedral.

“Them ringing like this means...” started the Dragon Slayer.

“Aye!”

From inside, both Elfman and Gray cheered while Juvia looked at them without understanding the cause behind this celebration.

“Could it be?” asked the ice mage with a smile, already knowing the answer.

And on the street, the citizens were in a similar state, proving this wasn’t something just the Fairy Tail’s mages were privy to.

“Those bells...”

“Here we go!”

“It’s him, right?”

 “Gildarts has come back!” cheered Natsu with a bright smile on his face.

“Aye, sir!”

And bellow those two, in the guildhall, every mage raised their mugs, jumping in joy. “Gildarts!”

Seeing this, Fairy Tail’s guest couldn’t help but be impressed by the reputation of this man if nothing else.

“Look like that guy is quite popular,” realised Sting. “I wonder what he looks like.”

“They also act as if he had been gone for a long time,” remarked Rogue.

“It’s because that’s the case.”

The mages of Sabertooth turned to look at Lisanna sitting not far from them.

“Gildarts barely stay a month here before leaving for a year or two. Maybe even more. I heard that he once left for five years, but that was way before I joined the guild.”

Many people who were not aware of this fact widened their eyes while Fairy Tail’s old generation nodded.

“Yeah, I remember that. It was when he took a mission that lead him all the way to the Pergrande Kingdom,” explained Macao. “It was so long, even for him, that we half-thought he died before he came back like nothing was wrong with people in the east calling him ‘Gildarts of the West’. We all punched him for scaring us, not like it did anything.”

“Pergrande Kingdom? He went far,” commented Jura to which Makarov nodded.

“As far as I know, he is the only mage of Fiore who went that far and explored so many countries. In fact, I think he went at least once to every country of the continent.”

“Impressive.”

“Gildarts?” asked Lucy. “I’ve never met him. Who is he?”

“He’s Fairy Tail’s strongest wizard,” told her Mirajane, she and Erza standing beside the celestial mage.

“Wait, even stronger than Erza?” Given the way she said it, the blond found it hard to believe, but it was a truth Erza readily confirmed.

“I’m not even in his league.”

“Someone stronger than Erza...” muttered Kagura, looking at the screen with intensity.

“No way! I can’t believe it, Erza’s the strongest!” yelled Millianna.

Said mage chuckled at her. “But it’s the truth, even now I wouldn’t dare to oppose myself to him. Only Master can best him.”

“No way...”

Remembering her feat during the Games, the mages having never met Gildarts could only laugh nervously. Seriously, who was this guy?

“How dangerous can this guy get?” wondered Lucy, neither expecting nor wanting an answer.

The cheer from the mage got louder and the blonde turned to look at them with a fist on her hip.

“Not like I care, but what’s the celebration about?”

“It’s like a festival, Carla!”

“Definitely one festive guild...”

“Ain’t that the truth!” cheered Cana, quickly followed by others from Fairy Tail who raised their mugs high in the air.

“It’s only natural for everyone to celebrate,” started Mirajane. “It’s been about three years since he came back.”

“Three years? What was he doing?”

The screen slowly focused on the quest board as the barmaid answered her.

“There are quests more difficult than S class, called SS class. But there are jobs even above those, called ten-year quests.”

Lucy's brown eyes widened. “Ten-year quests?”

“No one has completed them for more than ten years,” explained Erza as a shadowed silhouette made his way into the East Forest near Magnolia. “That’s why they’re called ten-year quests.”

“Is that him?” inquired Lyon.

“Yeah,” nodded Gray eagerly, “That’s him alright.”

It seemed like even though it was only a memory of the past, the arrival of Gildarts spread a wind of euphoria through the guild for those who knew and appreciated him. Even people who had only met him during his last visit couldn’t help but let a smile appear on their faces.

The broad back of the mage was shown as he continued on his way to the city housing his guild.

“Gildarts went on one even more difficult, a hundred-year quest.”

“Hundred-year quest?” inquired Lucy in disbelief. “No one has managed to complete it in a hundred years?”

“Right.”

“To undertake such a trial, this Gildarts is quite a powerful mage indeed,” appraised Jura. “I may have succeeded on a ten-year quest, but even now I am not sure if I could complete a  hundred-year one.”

“Nonsense, Jura, I’m sure you could do it,” cheered Chelia.

“Yeah! Do it!” screamed Toby.

“Don’t yell.”

“No,” interrupted Makarov. “It would be better if you don’t try it.”

The members of Lamia Scale turned toward the old master who regarded them gravely.

“What do you mean by that?” inquired Lyon with narrowed eyes.

“I can’t tell you what to do as I am not your master but Gildarts is the only one who came back alive and even he failed. Granted it was because of external circumstances but still... You are still young, you have a bright life ahead of you, don’t throw away that for this.”

In the silence that followed no one spoke, the chatter of the others barely a distraction as they processed his words. They couldn’t ignore the advanced age of Fairy Tail’s Master, the knowledge he possessed, and all that he saw during his whole life. If he told Jura to not do it even after having seen his power, then it would be for the best to listen to his wisdom, no matter what their pride may tell them.

Finally finding his voice again, the Wizard Saint looked up at the old man sitting on the bar not far from them. For once, Macao and Wakaba were completely silent, as was Mirajane behind the counter, whipping a glass with downcast eyes. “If I may ask, you said he failed because of external circumstances, but what exactly...” he trailed off.

Makarov stared at him for a moment before answering, a single word enough to freeze the blood in their veins. “Acnologia.” A word that carried all the explanation in the world.

“You mean...!”

“Yes, he met and survived an encounter with the Dragon of Apocalypse, the only one to do so.”

“Until you guys,” interjected Lyon.

“No,” denied not Makarov but Mirajane. “It is only thanks to the protection of Tenrou to those who carry our mark that we survived. As we been attacked by that monster anywhere else, we would have been well and truly dead.”

Her Master sombrely nodded. It is indeed the island as well as the ghost of their first master, Mavis, who saved them, though they couldn’t exactly tell the second reason. But, had they not been on the island, would Mavis have been able to protect them as well as she did? Even more worrying, would she have been able to tell they were in dire danger? Those weren’t questions Makarov liked to dwell on.

“Oh.” Could only quietly say the mage. So he came that close to losing Gray, his brother in all but blood. He already knew it, of course, between Acnologia and the seven years he thought he was dead but it was another thing to hear it so clearly from one of the survivors of the dragon’s wrath.

“It’s Gildarts!” yelled someone on the street.

“Gildarts has returned!” shouted another as above their head, some sort of winged megaphone flew across the sky.

‘Magnolia will now change to Gildarts shift!’ they warned. ‘Residents, please move to the designated areas!’

Inside the guild, hearing the warnings and watching her guildmates' party, Carla frowned. “Even so, isn’t this going a bit overboard?”

“I wonder...” said Wendy at her side.

“What is Magnolia’s ‘Gildarts shift’?” finally asked Lucy.

“You’ll know if you look outside,” simply answered Erza.

“Oh! Look like we’re finally going to see what this is all about!” exclaimed Sting.

And he wasn’t the only one to be excited by this, with all that had been said and implied on the Gildarts shift and the mage it was named after. Even the mages of Lamia Scale, subdued as they were after their discussion with Makarov and Mirajane, couldn’t help but focus intensely on the screen to not miss anything related to this mysterious mage.

With the bells giving a final sound, the Kardia Cathedral started to shake, as if an earthquake was happening in the city. A good theory as other buildings started to behave in the same way but, instead of that, they simply started to move. Some sections of Magnolia going up, others sliding to the sides, all moving a few dozen meters, if not more, from their original position.

Ichiya looked at the screen white as a sheet, shock marked on his face. “What the...!”

“The city is fucking moving?! How!” shouted Ren.

“I knew I didn’t want to see it anymore!” cried Jenny, regretting staying to see the last shard of her sanity leave because of a. Moving. City. And all of that for a single mage? It was way too much!

“The title was right!” accused Hibiki. “It’s too ridiculous, even for you lot!”

“Meh,” shrugged Gray. “You’re just jealous. I find it pretty awesome.”

“No, Gray, no,” instantly denied Lyon. “It’s not awesome or even ridiculous but more like batshit insane at this point!” Behind him, Yuka and Toby were furiously nodding.

In front of Fairy Tail, and looking at this spectacle in dismay, Wendy, Carla, and Lucy had all but lost their words, the latter pointing shakily at the city.

“Whoa!”

“What is this?”

As shown from the sky, Magnolia had been cut by district, each moving to a specific location on sturdy blocks that managed to support all that weight during the process. In the end, once everything had stopped moving, a single path that led straight to the guild had been created.

“The city is... splitting!” yelled Lucy in stupefaction in front of this miracle of engineering.

Sting had literal stars in his eyes. “This guild is insane!” In his mouth, it was more a compliment than an insult.

Seeing his state, his fellow Dragon Slayer of Sabertooth put his foot down. “No, we are not going to do the same.”

“Aw, come on, Rogue! Don’t be such a spoilsport.”

“No means no. It would cost too much and be useless. Why would we even need something like that?”

“I don’t even know why would Fairy Tail needs something like that,” grumbled Orga. “All it shows is that they are crazier than we thought.”

Sitting at his side in front of the twin Dragon Slayers, Yukino put a finger to her chin in thought. “Didn’t they mention this Gildarts is an extremely destructive person? If so...” she trailed off and Rufus fell his eyes widened as he caught where she was going.

“They did this so he wouldn’t destroy the town each time he came back.”

“Seriously?!” exclaimed his guildmates.

“Well, it do makes sense.”

A short silence descended on their table until Orga broke it. “Just how insanely powerful is this guy?”

“Gildarts uses Crash Magic,” explained Erza.

“He’ll turn everything he touches into bits...” continued Mirajane with a smile. “If his mind wanders, he’ll just walk straight through people’s houses.”

“Seriously? Is that guy an idiot?” deadpanned Lyon, unknowingly reacting the same way as Lucy did – or would on the screen.

“The biggest one!” cheerfully yelled Cana from the bar followed by laughs from every fairy.

“How much of an idiot is he?” asked Lucy, incredulous. “So, the entire city was reconstructed with this in mind?!” she screeched as the mage in question was walking up the path to their guild.

“That’s amazing! Isn’t it, Carla?”

“Yes. Amazingly stupid.”

The I-am-done-with-the-stupidity-of-this-guild tone adopted by Carla made everyone, especially members of Fairy Tail, roar in laughter.

“Ain’t that right!”

“That’s the spirit of our guild!”

“And proud of it!”

“Proud of being stupid...” muttered Kagura. “Only them could do that.”

“He’s coming!”

“Aye!”

The party has calmed down by now, everyone impatiently waiting for Gildarts to take a step inside their guild. And he didn’t disappoint, having already left the city proper to stand at the foot of the majestic building that the mages had painstakingly built after their old one was destroyed by Phantom Lord. Finally, as Gildarts entered the guild, the shadows hiding his appearance until now disappeared to let everyone see how he looked.

“So this is Gildarts,” mused Jura.

“He doesn’t look that powerful!” shouted Toby.

Yuka barely spared him a glance as he admonished his companion for his voice, again. “Stop yelling. And don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“Those words couldn’t be truer!” jovially agreed Makarov. “That dumbass may seem like the biggest idiot on earth, and he is, but there is no denying that his power greatly surpasses most mages I have met.”

“Still doesn’t erase the fact that he is a dumb old perv,” grumbled Cana in her drink, pouting when she realised her mug was empty. “Mirajane! Another!”

“Yes, coming right away!”

The powerful mage, the one that could destroy Magnolia if not for the Gildarts shift, looked around, grimaced at not finding what he searched for, and ended up sighing.

Before he could do anything, however, Natsu eagerly went by him for a fight. “Gildarts, fight me!”

“Right off the bat with that?!” complained Elfman.

But the man ignored the Dragon Slayer as he approached Mirajane instead who happily greeted him with a smile. “Welcome back.”

“So, this person is Gildarts...” said Lucy, observing him with an air of admiration as he spoke to the barmaid.

“Miss, I was pretty sure there was a guild named Fairy Tail around here...”

There were a few sighs and laughs from the ones familiar with the guy while the others nearly fell over at his idiocy.

“Is that guy serious?” muttered Ren.

“Didn’t he see the city spitting in half just to lead him here?” concurred Eve.

“This is it. Oh, and I’m Mirajane.”

He raised a brow. “Mira?” The she-devil he remembered got replaced by the angel in front of him. “Oh! You’ve really changed! And wow, the guild is brand-new!” he exclaimed as he excitedly looked around.

“He didn’t notice from the outside?” deadpanned Lucy.

“Gildarts!” shouted Natsu from atop the stairs.

“Natsu, is it?” recognised the man. “Been a while!”

The Dragon Slayer grinned before launching toward him. “I told you to fight me!”

Gildarts narrowed his eyes before easily spinning Natsu with a single hand and sending him flying into the ceiling. “Maybe another time.”

Lucy looked with wide eyes at the Natsu-shaped hole said mage was encased in because of the strongest mage of the guild, and she wasn’t the only one.

“With a single hand,” gaped Sting, Rogue silent at his side.

“That guy is way too strong!” screeched Lector.

“Fro thinks so too!”

Jura, one of the only two Wizard Saints present – a group supposed composed of the strongest mages of the continent – watched the man on the screen intensely, his blood already boiling. “So this is Fairy Tail’s strongest mage... I wonder how I would fare against him?”

“I’m sure you would win!” cheered Chelia.

“Of course, he will!”

“Excuse me?! Gildarts obviously will win hands down!” screeched someone from the crowd.

With Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail starting to glare at each other, readying to fight, Makarov snapping may have been the only thing able to stop them.

“Certainly not!” yelled the old man to the surprise of everyone. “Unless you two fight in a desert or something, I don’t want to hear about it! Gildarts cause enough destruction on his own – even more than Natsu and Gray combined, can you believe it?! – so a fight against a Wizard Saint? I don’t even want to think about the workload it’s going to cause for me! I refuse to die from overwork because of those two, is that clear?”

As everyone sighed in disappointment, some having the decency to look somewhat guilty, Jura looked at them in surprise, not expecting so many people to be pumped up for watching a fight between him and Gildarts.

“Well, there’s plenty of desert across the continent so...” trailed off Lyon.

“We just have to find the right one,” completed Yuka.

Gray snorted. “Yeah, before that you’ll have to find the geezer. When he’s gone we never know where he is nor do we have a means of contacting him.”

“Seriously?”

“Isn’t dangerous?” asked Kagura. “I mean with everything that happens around you...”

“We’ve survived so far, so it’s not like he’s needed,” shrugged the ice mage.

“Hear, hear!” cheered Cana. “We’re strong enough to deal with our messes on our own!”

Natsu trembled a moment from the shock before smiling again. “I knew it! He’s crazy strong!”

“You ain’t changed a bit, Pops,” remarked Gray.

“A Man among Men!”

Gildarts briefly looked at them before turning his gaze to the crowd surrounding him. “There are a few faces I’ve never seen before... Things sure have changed...”

“Gildarts!” called Makarov.

“Oh, Master!” he greeted, coming to meet the old man sitting on the bar. “Long time no see.”

“How did the job go?”

At that, Gildarts looked away for a second before barking a deep laugh which made the Master sigh. “No good. It’s impossible for me,” he sheepishly said to the shock of everyone.

“So even the strongest mage of your guild couldn’t do it...” Kagura tightly gripped her katana. “Just what is this mission about?”

“I don’t know,” answered Erza. “I heard from Master that Gildarts signed a contract with the client that forbade him from speaking about it, so I only know that it is on another continent.”

“It’s not on Ishgar?” asked, surprised, Millianna.

“No, it’s on Guiltina.”

“Guiltina...” mused Beth. “I know where it is but I don’t know anything about it.”

Risley reassured her about that. “Not many do. I think some countries of Ishgar closer to Guiltina than we are do have some kind of trade going on with them, but apart from that nobody really know anything. It’s even worse than with Alakitasia.”

“Didn’t those guys who tried to invade us some years ago come from there?” asked Araña. “The Alvarez Empire, right? The political relationship we have with them is a mess because of that.” That was putting it mildly. More than a mess, the political relationship with the Alvarez Empire that was already strained before their stunt became nonexistent.

“Well, they did try to invade us for no reason,” pointed Risley. “And it’s better to know your enemy so even if we don’t know much about them, our government probably knows a lot more than they let on.”

“Makes sense.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“The one and only Gildarts...”

“...failed a quest?”

“I can’t believe it.”

Whispers broke out among the crowd as nobody could believe what he admitted.

“Even Pops couldn’t handle it?” muttered Gray, standing with Elfman behind Happy and Natsu, who had come back to the ground.

“Knowing when to withdraw is also being a Man!”

A bit further than the men, between Erza and Mirajane, Lucy looked incredulous at Gildarts. ‘Impossible, even for Fairy Tail’s strongest wizard?’ she thought.

“Wait a sec!” interrupted the blonde mage as she violently stood up, slapping her hands on the table. “Was that my thoughts?”

“It... looks like that, yes,” uncomfortably said Wendy. “I mean you clearly didn’t move your lips so...”

The two girls weren’t the only ones not comfortable with the idea of having their thought showcased to everyone, all the mage present muttering among themselves and casting a glance at the one responsible for this: Cana. But the mage was way too drunk to answer any of their questions and she didn’t seem to know anything about that either. After all, she told them at the start that she never used it nor did she know what it would show.

“I think it’s because we are watching memories,” finally said Levy, having all eyes turn toward her. “We are not watching the past from a third perspective but our own, or at least Lu-chan’s.”

“So that’s why,” realised Freed. “Everything is from Lucy’s perspective in this memory so we can hear her thoughts. But since she’s not always there in what is being shown, we can hypothesise the perspective from each memory is different.”

“Or maybe there are different perspectives in each memory,” countered Levy. “I mean, we saw Gildarts in the forest before he reached Magnolia while Lucy was at the guild.”

“Good point.”

“So all in all,” cut in Gajeel, “it means our thoughts could be heard?”

“It looks like it, at least,” answered the petite mage sitting at his side while Lily frowned on the table.

“I can’t say I’m comfortable with this.”

His partner snorted. “Pretty sure none of us are.”

“Lucy,” cut in Makarov. “Do you want us to continue watching?”

While everyone turned toward the blonde mage this time, she only closed her eyes in thought. She wasn’t necessarily happy with this but... “Yes,” she finally said as she opened her eyes. “There must be a reason it is being shown and I am curious about that.”

The old man simply nodded as the mages settled down. “Very well. However... Levy! Freed!”

“What is it, Master?”

“It’s late, so after this one or the next we should all go to sleep, but tomorrow I want you to analyze this lacrima.”

“Leave it to us!”

“Would you mind if I were present? I’m curious about this strange artefact as well,” asked Jura.

“Of course not, having someone like you would really help with our research.”

“What she said,” nodded Freed.

“Then it’s settled.”

Having dealt with their immediate concern, for now, they all returned to watching the screen although sombrer than before.

A shadow was cast over Lucy as she continued with her thought, forgetting the presence of Erza and Mirajane at her sides. ‘What in the world is the hundred-year quest.’

“You aren’t ready for a hundred-year quest,” cut in Erza, unaware of her true feelings on the subject. “Don’t even consider it,” she sternly ordered.

Lucy pointed to herself in outrage. “Do I look rarin’ to go to you?”

A few chuckled, none more than Erza, who found the situation amusing after hearing Lucy’s thoughts which proved the celestial mage was more apprehensive than eager to undertake such a thing.

Back at the bar, Makarov had his eyes closed as he spoke. “I see. Even you couldn’t handle it?”

“Sorry, that'll be bad for our reputation,” apologised Gildarts.

The old Master of Fairy Tail looked up at him. “No, I’m just happy you came back safe and sound. You’re the first one I know that’s ever come back from this quest alive,” he ended with a smile.

“If Gramps say this and even Gildarts couldn’t do it...” Natsu trailed off for a moment before suddenly grinning like a madman. “This quest looks interesting.”

His team looked at him in horror.

“Absolutely not!” screeched Lucy. “We are not going!”

“What she said,” concurred Gray. “If Pops couldn’t do it then there’s no way we could.”

“Aye!”

“It looks more scary than interesting,” murmured Wendy. She, like the others, had no desire to do such a difficult quest where she would be very likely to die.

“Aw, come on! Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“There’s a difference between adventure and suicide mission,” cut Erza, looking at him sternly. “We are not going and that’s final.”

And quests like those needed the approval of the guild’s Master, which they clearly didn’t have, so the point was moot anyway.

“Spoilsport,” pouted the mage.

“Alive spoilsport, at least,” countered tiredly Gray. It really was beginning to be late. Not for Natsu, though, who was gearing up for a fight.

Fortunately for everyone involved, a glare from Erza was enough to kill any fight between the two of them before it could begin.

Gildarts grinned at him before walking away. “I wanna get some rest, so I’m heading home. Man, I’m beat...” Natsu watched him go away from his place on the floor with Happy and Wendy, the fire mage raising his head when he was suddenly called by the departing man. “Natsu! Come to my place later! I’ve brought souvenirs!”

A laugh escaped his lips and Natsu couldn’t help but smile as well, happy with the prospect of being offered something from someone he looked up to so much.

“Now, pardon me.” Having said that, walked ahead not caring one bit about the wall in his way. Said wall quickly became collateral as it was encased in light before part of it got destroyed into little cubes to create a hole wide enough for him to pass through.

“So that’s Crash Magic...” mused Jura. “I can see why you created the Gildarts shift.”

“Looks like it basically destroys everything he comes near to. Neat,” grinned Sting.

“And highly destructive,” frowned Rogue.

Orga grinned ruefully. “Then it’s only fitting for Fairy Tail, no?”

“True,” giggled Yukino.

“My, my...” smiled Mirajane while Lucy looked at the destruction in horror.

“Use the door, man!” snapped Warren.

Grinning, Natsu encased his right fist with magic. “I wonder what he brought me? I can’t wait!” he exclaimed as he punch the wall to imitate Gildarts, also leaving by the hole he created.

“Don’t go copying him!” yelled Max.

“My, my...”

“Happy, let’s hurry up and go!” he called with a smile and the screen went black with a new countdown, a measly two minutes this time.

“Another countdown...” frowned Erza. “It’s a short one too... What shall we do, Master?”

Makarov looked seriously at the screen, his mug long since forgotten at his sides, the seconds slowly ticking by as he pondered about it. “It’s getting late,” he finally said. “Let’s watch this one and call it a night. Freed, go take down your enchantment so we can turn it off at the end.”

“Right away.”

The green-haired mage stood up and went to the stage where the Lacrima had been put all the while others tried to guess on what or on who would be the next memory. The discussion got heated in some parts of the guild but an exclamation of surprise from Freed quickly gained their attention.

“What the...” murmured the mage, looking at his hand.

In a flash of lightning, Laxus got to his side and took the offending appendage in his hands carefully with a frown followed by a curse. “I knew I smelled it, you’re burned.”

“What?!” asked with a shout the people present.

“Let me see it!” exclaimed Wendy, already running toward them followed by Chelia.

“Me too!”

As the two girls started to heal his, fortunately, not dire injury, Makarov and a few others joined them to study the Lacrima carefully.

“Freed,” started the old man. “What happened?”

The wizard on the ground thanked his healers once his burns were gone and then stood up again. “I’m not sure. I was burned when I tried to take down my enchantment but...” He hesitate as he came closer, though not enough to touch the barrier, and sighed. “It was as if my magic didn’t recognise me, or at least that’s the feeling I got.”

Laxus frowned along with a few others. “That’s weird. I never heard of a magic doing that.”

“Me neither,” said his grandfather.

“Wait,” interrupted Evergreen. “It’s starting again.”

“We’ll talk more about this after, then. Everyone go back to your seat,” ordered Makarov, himself going back to the bar with his grandson.

‘Snow Fairy’

The mages had barely time to sit down that the screen lit up on a night sky with music starting in the background. A fairy made of white light calmly took a step in the air, followed one after another by her whole group.

Immediately, the room is filled with cheer.

“Look, it’s fairies! Fairies exist!”

“And they have tails!”

“Come to think of it, that’s your guild’s namesake,” mused Lyon.

“Yup,” grinned Gray, watching the screen with intensity like all his fellow guildmates.

“Do fairies have tails? More than that, do fairies even exist? Nobody knows for sure. So this guild is like them, an eternal mystery, an eternal adventure.” They all remembered the first time they heard those words that were now engraved in their heart and soul; those words that promised an adventure each day in Fairy Tail. So, as they watched fairies they weren’t supposed to find, not a face was without a smile and not a heart was without warmth.

And then, the song began.

“Fairy, where are you going? I’m going to gather up all of the light,”

They flew by the Kardia Cathedral, standing proud in the middle of Magnolia, then by a ship sailing without fear in the middle of the night. Finally, they lit up the silhouette of Natsu, alone in a clearing, looking at the forest in front of him before the camera shifted to the moon high in the sky, surrounded by fairies that looked more akin to stars than anything else.

“And make it shine on your tomorrow.”

‘Fairy Tail’ written in bright red appeared, hiding the sky as night turned into day.

“And now a song!”

“Plus with our guild name and Natsu, it means it’s a song on us! Like our theme song!”

“So cool!”

“It doesn’t look like a memory though...”

“Who cares about that, it’s a song made for us!”

Hibiki chuckled as he looked at the excited mages. “They seem to really like it.”

“Why does it have to be on them though?” pouted Eve, a bit jealous.

“Maybe because that’s where the bigger messes generally are,” grumbled Ren.

“That’s true.”

Standing on a hill with Plue at her side, a tree casting some shade on them, Lucy stood looking at the city below.

“Oh yeah, can you hear the voice that is calling you?”

As the screen focused on the girl and a fairy passed by her, the blonde turned around with curious eyes.

“Lucky you, Lucy, you’re the first one to be shown.”

“Hey! I was first!” yelled Natsu.

“We only saw your back,” countered Gray. “Unlike Lucy, so she’s the first.”

“What was that?!”

Erza hit her fist on the table to stop them, cracking the wood. “Enough! It’s too late for you to start a fight! Watch calmly!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

The scene shift to some ruins atop which Gray, once again shirtless, had his back against a piece of wall that still miraculously stood right. Mostly.

“Oh yeah, even if I go hoarse I’ll keep shouting.”

As the mage was shown more closely, a fairy passed behind him and he looked in the direction she went as if knowing the small creature was there.

“Gray-sama is so handsome,” sighed lovingly Juvia.

“And missing some clothes, again.”

“Oh shut up,” snapped Gray at Lucy who only giggled.

“He’s there for the fan service,” sagely explained Levy, gaining a few wise nods.

“Makes sense.”

The ice mage didn’t even bother to respond, too tired to care at this point. How late was it anyway? Given their propensity for starting fights that destroyed everything, there wasn’t a single clock in the guild so it was hard to know unless you had a watch – which Gray didn’t have for obvious reasons. Well, given that Arzak and Bisca left with their daughter some time ago, it was probably past midnight. Maybe even around one in the morning.

Huh. So that’s why he was starting to get tired.

Next was the scaled body of a massive beast with a single horn on his snout on a rocky ground, a certain red-haired mage in armour standing next to it, sword in hand.

“Oh yeah, it will last until I can hear your heart.”

A fairy passed by her and, as the screen focused on Erza, she opened her eyes to glance in the direction the winged being left.

“It’s Erza’s turn now.”

“Wait, this monster... Did the horn you brought back come from it?” asked Macao.

The knight narrowed her eyes at the screen despite the scene having shifted from the beast she had slain. “I think so.”

“Scared the shit outta me when I saw it,” muttered Max.

“I hear you, man,” concurred Waren.

A wind blew by, red hair flying along with some leaves that obscured the screen. When they went away, Natsu and Happy stood on the grass, both looking in the direction of a forest at the foot of the mountains.

“Oh yeah. Oh yeah.”

As the camera got closer, Natsu turned around with a thumb up and a grin, Happy jumping behind him with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m finally here!”

“Me too!”

“I think it’s because your team is the focus of this,” explained Levy, receiving many glares for that remark.

“No way! Why them and not the Raijinshuu? We’re clearly the best!” argued Freed.

“You want to go again?!” screamed Natsu.

Bickslow stood up. “Your strength is nothing compared to us,” he laughed, his babies chanting in the background. “Nothing! Nothing!”

That was enough for the fire mage to start another fight, leaping across the guild under the tired stares of the others mages.

“He’s still not tired yet?”

“It’s Natsu. He’ll always have enough energy to be a dumbass,” retorted Gray, gaining a few laughs.

A train used an iron bridge to cross a vast expense of water. Inside sat the four mages plus Happy, the latter waving a sheet of paper at Natsu to create some air that would, hopefully, help with his motion sickness. In the meantime, besides the fire mage, Lucy was studying a map for their next mission. And in front of them, Erza was eating her favourite cake while Gray looked at Plue gesticulating at their feet.

“The high touch of the moon and the sun.”

The team is then seen in a carriage pulled by a purple boar with Erza at the rein. Natsu was half falling from the window, his soul slowly leaving him, as Lucy looked at him to make sure he wouldn’t fall off. And on top of the vehicle, Gray and Happy sat, contently watching the rocky scenery passing by.

“First, Natsu makes funny faces when sick,” said Lisanna. “Second, why is Gray with Happy on top of the carriage?”

The mage simply shrugged. “It’s comfortable and I don’t risk being puked on. Also, I can serve as a lookout like this.”

“That’s... surprisingly good reasons,” agreed the youngest Strauss. “Apart from the first one.”

As night came, the mages stopped in a forest to rest around a campfire. Lucy was tiredly side-eyeing a half-dressed Gray, laying on his side to read a paper, already used to his general state of undress to do much more than this. Happy to be free, Natsu was voraciously eating his meal like his partner, the blue cat munching on a fish. And further away from them, the only one not close to the fire, Erza was sleeping against her luggage.

“You haven’t forgotten anything, have you?”

Under the rain, Plue looked at Lucy who sat on a bridge, idly swinging her legs with downcast eyes.

“Lucy, you shouldn’t sit in the rain. You’ll catch a cold,” scolded Erza.

“But I don’t even remember doing it!”

“I don’t care. If I see you under the rain like this...”

The blonde waved her hands in panic. “I won’t do it, I promise!”

“Good.”

“It’s strange when you are not here with me.”

She turned around, tears brimming at the corner of her eyes, as a hand with a flower bracelet on the wrist raised in the air. And as the sky became clearer, so too did her expression.

“I can’t even find something to want.”

The hand was Mirajane’s, the barmaid waving at her in front of her team waiting for the Celestial Mage. Her sadness gone, a smile quickly replaced her tears.

Natsu paused for a minute in his fight to look at the screen. “Wait, why were you crying?”

“I don’t know,” sighed Lucy. “In the first place, it’s not even memories since I don’t remember it.”

Levy nodded. “Yeah, I don’t get that feeling either. It’s more like whoever made this decided to pick a few memories that fitted the theme song and filled the blanks with scenes they created.”

Gajeel frowned at her sides. “How bored were they?”

“Why doing this at all,” added Juvia. “It doesn’t seem to serve a purpose thus far apart from making us laugh.”

“True but not every scene may be like that,” said Lily, gaining a few nods from those that heard him. “We’ve been lucky thus far.”

“Well, that’s why we’re going to study it. Hopefully, we’ll get a few answers.”

They all went back to watching the screen and Natsu, seeing there wasn’t anything to be worried quickly returned to his fight.

Natsu fell with a chest in his hands from a cliff with a dark green, winged creature filled with dark blue spots following him. Clinging on the chest for dear life was Happy, screaming in terror.

“Snowing, I was able to open up and give a smile.”

Natsu, Gray, and Lucy were caught by the thick vines of a flower-like creature while Erza calmly looked at the wanted poster of the plant.

“Erza, you could at least save them,” deadpanned Lisanna. “I pity them.”

“I did.”

“Eventually,” murmured Lucy.

“After we thought the thing was going to eat us,” grumbled Gray.

At their sides, used to the shenanigans of this team, Wendy giggled in her hands and even Carla had a small smirk behind her cup of tea.

 Next, Natsu and Lucy were seen fleeing from giant wasps, their big nest just behind them. The scene shifted and Lucy was clutching her stomach as she laughed at Natsu and Gray fighting, again. Used to it, Mirajane was simply watching with a smile while Happy ate his fish, ignoring the two mages behind him.

“I feel like Happy is always eating,” deadpanned Carla.

“True.”

“Aye!”

Gray smirked at the blue Exceed munching on a fish. “Well, he is eating eighty percent of the time.”

Erza was then shown, looking with determination toward something only she could see. And as the camera drew back, Jellal in his Siegrain persona appeared, facing the screen and therefore not looking in the same direction as the woman.

“Because we have time to snuggle up and be together.”

As Erza bite her lips, her expression downcast, many inquisitive stares were sent her way for those unaware of her history with Jellal. But she ignored it, even if Millianna and Kagura also glanced in her direction, their expressions awkward for a multitude of reasons.

The three may have breached the subject a bit after the Games and Jellal's apparition against the dragons, but there were still many things left unsaid by all parties. Erza was the only one who had completely pardoned Jellal for his crimes since he was possessed at the time. Millianna found the excuse too easy and couldn’t do the same as her friend, unable to forget the way he used them to build the Tower and the murder of Simon. Simon who was Kagura's brother, the one she spend so long searching for, only to learn that he had died at the hand of a madman. A madman not in control of his action.

They were all conscient that they should talk about it someday, but Erza didn’t see Kagura and Millianna often and didn’t know how to breach the subject without hurting them. On the other hand, both members of Mermaid Heel were awkward about it and the cat-lover was reluctant to speak about it.

All in all, it was far from the best situation, and whether they wanted it or not they would have to talk about everything, but now was not the time. Maybe it never would be. But hopefully, they’ll find the courage to breach the subject at some point before the next century, lest it festers like a wound, creating unwanted tension between them.

The guild's main members from Lucy’s early days are then shown. First Master, then little Romeo with his father and Wakaba, followed by Cana, the two older Strauss, Loke, and, finally, team Shadow Gear.

“Look like it’s from when Lu-chan joined the guild,” remarked Levy. “Lisanna isn’t with her siblings and I don’t see the ones who joined us after Phantom Lord.”

“True. Maybe there will be another song where we’ll appear,” mused Juvia.

“Hopefully,” grumbled Gajeel, unhappy with being absent.

“Fairy, where are you going?”

Lucy, in front of a blue, starry background, swiped her hand holding a key to the side and her spirits appeared one after the other. From Taurus, Horologium, and Aquarius, to Cancer, Virgo, and Plue.

“I’m going to gather all of the light,”

Flames filled the screen, quickly eaten by Natsu who stood in a rocky scenery with only mountains around him. As the camera showed the mage from further away, a sharp light is seen before being replaced by an explosion.

Makarov only sighed at the destruction. At least it seemed to be uninhabited and he didn’t remember anyone filing a complaint against it. Though, then again, Natsu caused so much damage that he couldn’t keep track of everything he did.

“And make it shine on your tomorrow.”

From a safe distance, his guildmates watched the mage with a smile or, in Master’s case, pride.

They are all replaced by a monster with glowing red eyes, the four members of Natsu’s team standing in front of it. For a moment, the Fire Dragon Slayer looked at the beast with a serious expression, not a hint of a smile in sight.

“Don’t say goodbye.”

A small Natsu is briefly shown, happily hugging the snout of his father, the red fire dragon named Igneel.

“Oh my god, baby picture!” screamed cheerfully Lisanna. “Is there anyone who can take a picture?”

“My, how adorable,” commented Mirajane.

At their table, Lucy couldn’t help but agree, looking in awe at the dragon. “So that’s Natsu’s father.”

The fight that had encompassed half of the guild by now stopped abruptly to mock the fire mage.

“Well, aren’t you cute,” smirked Bickslow, his totem echoing him. “Cute! Cute!”

Furiously blushing, Natsu tried to block their sight of the screen without having to touch the runes. It didn’t work. “Shut up! Stop looking!”

“Nah, I think we’re fine,” grinned Gajeel.

Deciding the easiest way to make them stop paying attention to the scene was to continue the fight, the mage did just that by throwing a chair at the laughing Dragon Slayer, narrowly avoiding Levy.

“You...” started Gajeel, a vein furiously throbbing on his temple. “You’re going down, fire breath!” he screamed as he jumped toward him, the brawl beginning anew.

Erza jumped into the sky, reequipping into her Heaven’s Wheel Armour with a sword in hand. Natsu came toward her, fire engulfing his right fist, intent to fight with all he had. They smile as they meet each other in the sky before Happy replaced them with a grin, wings out as he hovered in front of the Fairy Tail’s building. Beside him, were the other members of his team, including Plue who jumped to be as high as the Exceed.

The song ended and another countdown appeared.

Gray frowned at the screen. “Nine hours. That’s way longer than before.”

“Maybe,” cut in Makarov. “But it let us rest before we continue.”

The mages still present in the buildings turned toward him to listen to his directives.

“Go to sleep, make sure you are well-rested for tomorrow. Those that want to continue watching the Lacrima can come back in nine hours, but I would like the research team to be here at least one hour before it begins,” he directed the last bit to Levy, Freed, and Jura who all nodded. “Well, then, goodnight everyone.”

A few echoed him back but before long the guildhall was empty. Glancing toward the Lacrima still in the middle of the stage, the old man couldn’t help but sigh.

“Mavis, what awaits us this time?”

Shaking his head, he went silently in direction of the infirmary, taking care to let the door open. Someone had to stay to make sure nothing happened, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t sleep in a comfortable bed.