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With a sense of deja vu, Lucy picked up the photograph that had fallen from an old dusty book she'd been taking off the shelf. It was a cleaning day at the guildhall, with all of the members not currently out on jobs pitching in to help dust, reorganize, and overall tidy things up. The last she'd done something like this - in the short period between the Galuna Island mission and the war with Phantom Lord - she had learned the charming story of how Natsu found Happy, alongside the first mentions of Lisanna. Flipping the photograph to its visible side, she wondered what memory of Fairy Tail's past she'd uncover this time...
About a minute later, her fellow guildmates watched as Lucy left her assigned zone and walked up to the guildmaster overseeing their work. She held up the photo for him to see.
"Master, I found this and was wondering..." She trailed off for a brief moment, a bit nervous to ask. But seeing his expression remain gentle as he took in the picture, she continued, "Who are these people?"
He'd been studying the photo as she asked; once she was done, he held out his hand in a gesture for him to get a close-up look at it. It took only a few seconds after taking it that his wrinkled face crinkled with joy.
"Ah, and just when I thought old Master Precht had cleaned all these out!" was his initial outburst. "My dear, you've found a rare photo of Fairy Tail's founders! I'd say this must've been taken right when they first opened the guildhall."
People had been staring since Lucy first approached, but now they dared to linger closer. Sensing their curiosity, Makarov waved for everyone to come together.
"I think we're due for a quick break! Let me introduce you kids to your founders."
A few minutes of the crowd shuffling themselves later, Makarov stood up on a table so the photo could be better held up for everyone's viewing. Although, with the sheer numbers of the guild, he soon handed it off to be passed around like a basket in a church.
"To start, the First Master of Fairy Tail: Mavis Vermillion," Makarov began monologuing. "Don't let her short stature fool you - she was hailed as the Fairy Tactician, leading Fairy Tail and its allies to victory during the Second Trade War. I've heard my former Master Precht claim that, despite the founding being a group effort between friends, Fairy Tail exists entirely because of her. She was the one to bring them together - her personal fascination with fairies being the driving force behind our name."
It was obvious, even before he mentioned her height, which figure was Mavis. She was the only apparent girl in the group. And as soon as he listed off what he'd been told of her, her appearance in the photo made sense. She was the centerpiece, with the biggest and brightest smile, even seemingly dragging a few of the others into this group photo. Despite the lack of enthusiasm from these two, it was clear they had no intention of fighting against her wishes. Lucy could only think of how fitting it was for Fairy Tail's founding guildmaster to have such an aura and social power to her.
"Fairy Tail's Second Guild Master, Precht Gaebolg, is the striking man with the eyepatch. The lean man in green is Warrod Sequen - currently one of the Ten Wizard Saints, if you can believe it! And the stunning young blonde man..." There was a stumble in his excitement, which caught Lucy off guard until his next words hit them all: "Was my father, Yuri Dreyar."
A pin dropped in the guildhall. Lucy could almost feel from the middle rows behind her the stilling of the arms passing around the photograph. It had been a long time since the guild's founding, with the Third Master in front of them already being quite old. Ignoring the matter of Warrod's apparent continual survival - and even having the strength to maintain his Wizard Saint status - the usage of past tense felt like it had an extra layer to it. He hadn't used it for Precht; albeit, he never shared Precht's ultimate fate, either.
Both shockingly and yet completely unsurprisingly to Lucy, Natsu had either not gotten the telepathic memo between them all or didn't understand the social tact to take it seriously, as he grinned and declared, "Gramps' old man was one of our founders? Color me unsurprised!"
Yet it seemed like just what Makarov needed, as Natsu re-infected him with joy, albeit still a little laced with an underlying grief. "Yes. In fact, Master Precht," - he didn't catch himself on his lack of "former" or "old" there - "Told me the three of them were once a treasure hunting team, before they met Mavis and became enamored with magic."
His eyes wandered across all the edges of Fairy Tail's walls and scaffolding. "This building has been the one home I've known since birth. I'm sure the founders' hearts would be soaring just like mine right now at the thought that it continues to be a welcome home for the next generations."
"Soaring like a fairy..." came a soft, tiny murmur next to Lucy. It was one of the two newest additions to the guild - Wendy Marvell - who had joined but days ago. Her usual shyness would've kept her from saying such a thing out loud, so she must not have noticed she'd done so. With her own silent agreement displayed on her face, Lucy kept it to herself.
The air around them was beginning to fill with finality. But just as Makarov nodded away the last of his nostalgia and prepared to clap the guild back into cleaning duty, Happy spoke up first.
"Hey, who're the other two in the picture?" he asked, reminding everyone that Makarov had only shared four names out of six faces. "What cool accomplishments do they have?"
This was in reference to the two men who Mavis was practically wrapped around within the group's positioning. As mentioned before, one of them - a black-haired young man in ancient-looking black and white robes - was clearly being dragged into the formation, as he kept an obvious distance from the former treasure hunters with his exaggerated leaning. Mavis' arm locked with his was probably the only thing that kept him from bolting before the photo could be taken. Meanwhile, the bulkiest of the group - rivaling even Warrod's height - had the juxtaposition of a displeased, judgemental glare towards the viewer while fully allowing Mavis to snuggle into the most of his chest she could reach. Amusingly, if one scrutinized the photo enough, they'd catch one of his tattooed arms emerging from his cloak and a hand of matching color gripping the shy man's shoulder. Maybe it had been a "team effort" to keep them all into frame - mainly the shy man.
"Oh, I quite nearly forgot," Makarov cheekily admitted. "No offense to them, but I honestly don't know. When I look at the face of the larger man, I get this vague familiarity... Fuzzy scenes coming to the surface of my mind. But that must've been in my early childhood - and he was definitely long gone by the time I'd grown. As for the other... This is the first time even I am seeing him."
He let his shoulders sag. "As I alluded to earlier, former Master Precht cleared many of the archives detailing that era right before he left the guild. I imagine it was done out of grief... It is a shame it resulted in their history becoming lost. It's a miracle this photograph escaped his usual thoroughness."
"Maybe as we clean the archives, we'll find more things the Second Master overlooked?" Mirajane suggested, coming up right next to the table Makarov was perched on. Even though her words delivered a hopeful comfort, it was outweighed by the strainness of her smile. Lucy's finger ghosted on the key of Horologium the Clock; an unconscious gesture she developed whenever she became aware of the passage of time, as if weighing the decision on asking the Celestial Spirit himself. Despite her continual usage of him as a shield, he technically was a clock.
How much time had passed since Makarov first called this storytime break didn't really matter much. Either way, Mirajane was ushering everyone back to their zones, with chatter about the mysterious founders continuing as the wizards worked.
With the close-knit family vibes of the modern Fairy Tail, she doubted that anything seriously bad could've happened to cause the remaining two founders' existences to be essentially wiped from the history books. The guild of back then had raised Yuri's son... But at least two of the original founders had left the guild for their own purposes, so maybe there was something up with that group Makarov either wasn't telling or genuinely didn't know himself.
Their hearts would soar at the Fairy Tail of today, he'd said. If they really were watching over... Lucy hoped she and her dear Fairy Tail family would make them proud, when years passed and they'd eventually come to the same test on their bonds.
In another few months, the S-Class Exams would begin again. Acnologia was already set to fly off - something was stirring his dragon hunting senses beyond the continent, the first major activity in decades. The instinct that this would be bigger than anything he'd come across since the Dragon King Festival was nearly pulling him to depart from Tenrou right now, as fast as possible. But as long as he felt soft skin or warming magic against himself, he'd keep himself firmly grounded.
Yeah, Mavis and Zeref were immortals who wouldn't be dying on him anytime soon, but it'd still be extremely rude to not have a proper "see you soon" cuddle. And while Zeref wasn’t in his “Emperor Spriggan” mode right now, Acnologia always had this weird pit in his stomach when it came to leaving Mavis on Tenrou Island - even if he knew he wouldn’t be leaving her alone. It probably had something to do with the knowledge of why she was stuck on the island (again) and not showering her - their - guild children with love. Knowledge that he and Zeref were to blame. No amount of time passing in island paradise bliss would make that guild fully go away. Typical of the Dragon King to have a hard time in letting go of the past.
With the sun rising on another day, Acnologia nudged the two huddled on top of him to begin stirring awake. Technically, Mavis didn’t need to sleep, being a “ghost” and all. She kept up the habit in order to pass the time and keep her sanity. Plus, it was another excuse for prolonged cuddling, which was probably the only reason she needed.
“It’s time for you to go…?” Mavis asked through her final yawn. A yawn that was purely psychological, an instinct born from memories of when her body actually triggered them.
“After we eat, yeah.” He nuzzled his forehead with the top of her hair, powerful illusion magic brushing his magic-sensitive skin in a replication of “normal” contact.
As he did so, a hand went into his hair - an actually physical hand.
“I’m sure if there’s still dragons, you’ll detect them again eventually.” This was Zeref, who recovered from sleep faster than Mavis despite actually being capable of feeling exhaustion and grogginess. “There’s still plenty of time until the exams begin…”
Something actually existed that could tempt him away from his hunt. That was unthinkable, 400 years ago. Even more wild was that part of that something was the Black Wizard.
Unfortunately, just as they could never throw away Ankhersam’s “gift”, he could never fully shake away his “Dragon King” instincts. If he lost track of his prey, it’d make him go crazy.
“Whatever presence I started feeling, the fading away is already starting,” he said. “And if it was smart enough to hide from me this long , it’d know not to stay in the same place too long, especially when it's been revealed.”
“Just remember to be mindful of humanity while you’re out there,” Mavis said.
“Tell that to the dragons.”
While Acnologia kept holding Mavis, Zeref detached from them in order to grab fruits and one of the animals Acnologia had hunted in advance. They lived on a secluded island, but even they could appreciate recent advancements in food preservation - especially when it meant more of Acnologia’s morning before departing could be spent with ingraining the memory of how Mavis and Zeref felt on his skin. It could be a long time until the next time they’d make contact.
As he ate meat and fruits - arms still looped around the other two, them tucked in each crook - he thought to the other reason he was a bit nervous to be leaving. Zeref’s curse was still a threat to people, unlike Mavis’. Acnologia couldn’t fly him around the ocean for the few days the S-Class Exam was active if he was on the other side of the world. Instead, he’d have to hide himself on the island, while Fairy Tail wizards were running amok. Their guild kids. People he’d definitely want to stay alive - and therefore the curse would target the most.
Maybe if he could kill that dragon - or dragons - fast enough, he’d be back right before the boat arrived. Oh, who was he kidding? Even if his read on the presence being strong wasn’t right, he’d formed a habit of playing with his food. Any plan to be swift would be dead on arrival.
Well, this wasn’t the first time Zeref was around during an S-Class Exam. Maybe the first time Acnologia wouldn’t be around to help negate the death magic, but Mavis would figure out how to hide him. She was smarter than she looked. Sometimes, even smarter than Zeref, in Acnologia’s opinion.
Once his meal was done, he wiped his palms off on his pants (Zeref instilled enough manners to make him keep his hands clean, but Mavis had been a bad influence on how to do that). He waited until it was clear the other two were finished before standing up, his grip around them lifting them up until their feet were dangling.
“Anyway. If I’m still gone when the exams happen…” He broke out into a smirk. “Give me the recap after.”
Technically, he always needed a recap; he never took the risk of being discovered on the island, even if the consequences would be less than if it were Zeref. But it was still nice to say that each and every time.
“We’ll be sure to keep watch!” Mavis said, beaming.
“Hopefully you won’t miss anything too exciting,” Zeref added with a smile.
It was there that he finally let them go, breaking off to go enough distance for his dragon transformation. Once he was the towering, terrifying Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, he peered his head over to look back at the duo.
Surely, everything would be fine. The most excitement these things caused were bouts of friendly competition. No one ever died, no one ever discovered the secret inhabitants. And even if anything went wrong, both the immortal couple and the Fairy Tail guildmaster knew how to call for him. It’d still take him some time to fly back, but Fairy Tail wizards knew how to hold their ground.
He’d just ignore the nagging feeling that shit would have to really be hitting the fan if they had to resort to summoning him - enough major shit to call into question if they could hold their ground. If he kept thinking like that, though, he might not be able to lift his wings for take-off. Instead, he filled his mind with thoughts of the past S-Class Exams, and how uneventful they seemed to anyone lacking the vested interest in Fairy Tail affairs - no parental-like pride to see yet another brat prove themselves. Not only would those thoughts keep his nerves steady as he began his journey, they’d keep him entertained along the way - until he’d finally catch the whiff of dragon stench.
The S-Class Exam of x784 would surely go down like any other.