Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Title: Cross My Heart

Pairings: N/A

Character(s): Zera

Summary: She watches and waits and, in the end, it seems Yury was able to keep his promise after all – to her and Mavis.

After the truth had been revealed, Zera had fully expected to disappear. However, while even Mavis could no longer see her, Zera was still there. She watched over the guild, because she too was a founder, in her own way, and the guild was hers as well and the members were precious to her. As she soon discovered, though, watching was the only thing she could really do.

So she did. She watched as Yury married a woman named Rita, as she bore him a child, as Mavis named the child, as Rita's life came to an abrupt end due to a curse no one had even realized was there, and as Mavis fled in horror.

She watched as the Black Mage who had taught them magic – Zeref – returned with Mavis's lifeless body in his arms, as Precht screamed in agony and confusion, as he spirited the body away and lied to the others, and as Yury and Warrod sobbed in front of the empty grave on Tenrou Island.

She watched as Precht fell even deeper into the darkness of his own heart, as Yury died, as Warrod left the guild, and as Yury's son Makarov became the new Master.

She watched as Natsu brought Lucy to the guild, as Phantom Lord attacked, as Laxus's rage at the world compelled him to turn on his own comrades, as the entire town was sucked up into the Anima, and as Mest returned to the guild as Doranbolt to tearfully explain that Acnologia had slaughtered half the guild.

She watched as the remainder of Fairy Tail fell into poverty, as members slowly drifted apart (and sometimes just left altogether), as the guild went from the most respected in Fiore to the laughing stock of the country, and as the building the people of Magnolia had built so long ago for their heroes was left empty and desolate.

She watched as the Tenrou Team returned, as Lucy met her long-lost sister, as the guild trained for the Grand Magic Games, as Crime Sorcière appeared with a request, as Fairy Tail was welcomed home as the victors of the Games and heroes of the nation, and as the mayor of the town revealed that the old building had been renovated and was the guildhall once again.

She watched as Flare appeared to apologize for her actions, as Natsu and Gray were summoned for a mission by Warrod, as Tartaros destroyed the guildhall yet again, and as Makarov – after all those years – ended the legacy of Fairy Tail.

She watched the members go their separate ways, and then she watched them come back.

She watched them prepare for war with the Alvarez Empire, and then she watched them set out to battle.

She watched them rise, and then she watched them fall.

Zera watched and watched and watched and then she watched some more as Mavis led Cana into the basement and explained her plan, as Erza battled her own flesh and blood, as Zeref prepared for his final strike, and as the two sides met head on for the very last time.

And then she realized something.

Mavis and Yury and Precht and Warrod were the official founders of the guild, but she was a founder too. And so was Zeref.

And finally, for the first time since her death one hundred and thirteen years earlier, Zera was seen. She appeared in the center of the battlefield, right in between Zeref and Mavis, and the whole world saw her. Tears fell from Mavis's face as she recognized her beloved friend, and everyone stared in astonishment as Zera – finally aware of her true purpose – sprouted two golden butterfly-like wings from her back.

"It's time to go," she said simply. And Mavis took one hand and Warrod the other and Zeref took Mavis's other hand and Precht and Yury were there, smiling and laughing with them, and they were all so much younger once again.

Together, the founders of Fairy Tail left the realm of the living.

But Zera came back. She came back to apologize, to explain, to tell the parts of the story Mavis could never bring herself to tell. She gathered the souls of the dead in her arms and flew them up into the heavens. And then she came back.

Not everyone could see her, but they all knew she was there. She was waiting and watching, to make sure that no one in Fairy Tail was ever alone, in life or death. Zera watched and waited and loved until, so many years later, the last Guild Master of Fairy Tail, the great-great-granddaughter of Laxus Dreyar, held out a wrinkled hand towards her. Zera had one last trip to make.

***Many years earlier (X686)***

"You mean it?" the thirteen-year-old asks delightedly. "You're really gonna show me a fairy?" the blond treasure hunter laughs.

"Definitely!" he tells her. "Cross my heart."

"Wow," the little girl says, dreamily. "A real fairy…" the older man watches uncomfortably as she beams and looks at the unoccupied space on her left. "Can you believe it, Zera?" Nothing happens, but Mavis laughs and says "me too" and Yury thinks it's okay to let her pretend for a bit.

"I hope we can trust them," Zera says. Something tells her that this adventure will be the last one she and Mavis will have. I wish… I wish I could show you a fairy…

Chapter Text

Sherria has always been talkative – always, always, always – but now her words don't seem to have anything behind them. Sherry is the first to notice (after Wendy and Carla, but they already knew), but Sherria just waves her off and cheerfully states that nothing's wrong, nothing at all.

It's not true at all, and when a Quatro Cerberus mage whose name she doesn't know asks her to heal his leg, it's all she can do not to break down and sob.

Chapter Text

This whole thing is about closure – closure for the two of them, but also for Simon and the others imprisoned in that abysmal Tower – and they all know it, but Kagura can't help but appreciate her comrades behind her. Araña, Beth, and Risley didn't need to be here, they weren't involved, but they had stubbornly refused to let the other girls handle this situation on their own.

"We're a team," Risley had declared, "Games or no Games."

It wasn't like there would be a fight. Both Kagura and Millianna had accepted that the world was more complicated than it needed to be and that sometimes there's just no one to blame anyway. Araña is tense and ready to restrain someone just in case, mindful of her comrades' injuries. Beth carries a bouquet of peonies to show a lack of offensive intentions. Risley leads the way to the door of the man in question's room, opens it, and immediately wishes she hadn't.

"Hi the–!" she begins, but cuts herself off as she realizes what she's just done. She hears a gasp behind her, and Beth's flowers fall to the floor as the young girl covers her mouth in shock. Jellal has turned to stare at them, surprised, hands holding up torn and bloody bandages. In the back of her mind, Millianna dimly notes that he'd probably been about to change them.

But right now he's shirtless and staring at the five of them in a mix of surprise and horror. Ten eyes are fixed upon his torso and the scars etched into it (in reality, though, there appeared to be more scar tissue than unscarred flesh). They've all seen the nearly faded whip marks Millianna bears as a reminder of her enslavement, but these scars are different – far more numerous, more violent, some old, some new, some quite likely self-inflicted, some from the Tower, from the war, from that lonely year in prison – and it's Araña who first realizes that they've done far more than invade his privacy.

She grabs Beth's right hand with her left and Risley's left with her right, mumbles an apology, and turns to flee, hoping the other two have the sense to follow. But Millianna walks forward, captivated by the ruined, brutalized flesh of a man she no longer sees as a friend but doesn't quite have it in her to hate anymore.

As if in a trance, she brushes her fingers across an almost faded white mark, going from just below his right shoulder to just above his left hip.

"I remember this one," she whispers, and it's honestly impossible to tell exactly whom she's talking to. "You took a whip for me."

"Did I?" he responds, not meeting her gaze. "I don't recall. I stopped trying to remember a while ago."

"I was sick," Millianna continues, not seeming to notice the tears welling up in her eyes. "I was sick and I couldn't walk anymore. I fell, and one of the guards said he was going to kill me. You got in the way."

"You cried," Jellal murmurs, watching her hand on the scar as the memory slowly seeps its way back into his mind. "Not as much as Shô, but you cried."

"We thought you were going to die," Millianna rasps. The tears are falling freely now, from both their eyes, and Kagura silently beckons to the other three that it's time to go because this is something that none of them could ever understand. If Millianna notices them go, she doesn't show it. "I'm sorry," she sobs, burying her face in his chest.

"Me too," he says simply. It's not enough, not for either of them, and it never will be. But it's a start. They both know that much.

For now, Jellal can only wrap his arms around her to try and stop the tears and wonder what exactly went wrong, because he isn't so sure he knows anymore.

Chapter Text

Lucy had always assumed that, when her parents had married, her mother had taken on her father's name. It had never occurred to her that it could've been the other way around, but, when she thought about it, it did make sense.

Her father had always been the businessman – the one focused on work, who almost never had time for his daughter after Layla had passed. Jude had not come from a wealthy background, Lucy had learned, and he had done everything in his power to ensure that his daughter never had to experience poverty. But Lucy would've greatly preferred wondering when her next meal would come over wondering whether or not her father really loved her.

Her mother had always been the compassionate one – the one who cherished (and sometimes even spoiled) her family. Layla had come from a long line of rich folk, and it had never occurred to her that the Heartfilia name would lose its money and prestige, so she hadn't felt the need to put work first, didn't bother to continue as a practicing mage. In the end, Layla had made a mistake and had sacrificed her life because of it.

Lucy didn't remember very much about Zoldeo. Aquarius had taken her to Star Memory, which had jogged a bit of recollection, but most of what she knew about him came from Capricorn and Mrs. Spetto, both of whom were a tad biased (although Mrs. Spetto much less so). And then there was Grammi, who she'd never really met and only knew at all through Brandish.

But they were gone now, all of them. Layla had given her life to open the Eclipse Gate, Grammi had been murdered by a half-mad Zoldeo, Zoldeo had eventually gone completely off the deep end and accidentally ended his own life (Lucy still wasn't quite sure what had happened there, but she didn't like thinking about it), Jude had died of an illness while patiently awaiting his estranged daughter, and Mrs. Spetto had finally passed away in her sleep, with Lucy and Brandish by her side.

The two girls – women now, really – stood by the graves in the yard of a mansion that was far too big to be practical.

"What are you going to do with this place?" Brandish asked. She already knew Lucy wouldn't be moving in. There was no way the blonde would leave Fairy Tail, especially not for some silly house, and Brandish wasn't particularly interested anyway (of course, she could make any building obnoxiously large by clicking her fingers, but that wasn't the point). "Open an orphanage? Hospital?" Lucy shrugged.

"In the long run, I have no idea," she replied, honestly. "For now, though, I think I'll use it to house people who lost their homes because of the war." Yes, Lucy decided, that would be the plan for now. She would figure out how to use the house and the property, probably rebuild some of it, definitely renovate a lot of it, and other things like that. She would also need to find people who could help her. Gildarts' Disassembly Magic could come in handy, certainly…

Brandish watched her friend muse over plans for the future. Grammi had always told her that Layla's daughter was "just like her mother", but Brandish wasn't looking a soft-hearted, naïve woman who didn't always think things through. She was looking at someone who was planning years in advance, who was dedicated to her work.

Lucy Heartfilia was more like her father than anyone realized, but maybe that wasn't really a bad thing. Maybe that was just… that.

Chapter Text

There was something strangely poetic about living near the sea, Ultear had thought. She was free now, freer than she'd ever been, but Jellal and Merudy (and their new friends, the Oración Seis) weren't. It didn't make her sad, though, because she knew that it was only a matter of time until the remaining members of Crime Sorcière were freed from the chains that bound them. Actually, now that the war had ended, maybe they had already been freed.

Ultear had a relatively normal life in the little village she'd found. It was amazing that she was still alive, more than a year after sacrificing her time, but she knew what little time she had left was rapidly running out.

One day, the people of the small seaside town saw the old woman that no one really knew walk out onto the beach, sit down on a rock, and stare out at the horizon. In time, a young child ran over to her and poked her, but she was long gone by then, smiling happily at the endless sea.

Sometimes, when the people in the village looked out at the horizon, they would see a young girl, laughing and dancing on the waves, pigtails flying out behind her. The ocean seemed to cradle her sometimes, but that wasn't the part people paid attention to.

People came to see the little girl dance on the waves in the differences, but they never cared to look at the ocean. That was the way it always was with people – they saw the beauty of the iceberg, but not the complexity beneath. But the ocean didn't care. It simply rocked its waves back and forth beneath the dancing girl, because a mother's love for her daughter doesn't need to be seen. It just needs to be real.

Chapter Text

A solo mission honestly seems like the best way to handle the problem. It's awkward for both of them, but Erik knows Jellal well enough to be fully aware that this conversation is one that should stay private. Jellal is the one to break the silence, surprisingly enough.

"You want to talk," he says softly. It's not a question, but Erik treats it like one anyway. He shrugs.

"Yeah," he says. "You need help." Jellal looks away, but Erik can tell that the other man isn't planning on denying anything. There's another awkward silence, and Erik quickly realizes that Jellal has no idea what else to say. "I mean… you got some issues."

"I know," Jellal agrees. "But I cannot really do anything about that. Unless you are suggesting I walk into a therapist's office and get myself arrested?" Erik snorts.

"Nothing like that," he lies back on the grass. "I was just wondering if you wanted to, uh, talk or something." He doesn't have to look to know that Jellal has raised an eyebrow. "Look, I know I ain't exactly comfort guy, but you gotta talk to someone before you do something stupid and get yourself killed." Jellal looks away.

"I appreciate the thought," he says quietly. "But Ultear already tried to–"

"Ultear?" Erik cuts him off in disbelief, sitting up. "You mean the one who caused those problems in the first place? Yeah, I wonder why talking to her didn't help!"

"She's not a bad person," Jellal says defensively. Erik rolls his eyes.

"Whatever," he grumbles. "Look, Ultear didn't have to listen to you mentally beating the shit out of yourself." Jellal shifts, looking guilty.

"Sorry," he mumbles, eyes downcast. "I hadn't realized… sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Erik snaps. "You're not the one who taught me this magic, and it ain't something I wanna get rid of. Yeah, it can be a pain, but it's helpful more often than it's a nuisance." He hesitates. "Listen, I'm just sayin'… you keepin' all this stuff bottled up ain't exactly doin' wonders for our teamwork." Jellal flinches.

"Sorry," he says again. Sorry, his mind agrees. Sorry.

"Is that the only word you know?" Erik asks irritably. "All I want is for you to go a bit easier on yourself – if not for my ears then for the increased likelihood of all of us dying on our next mission."

"Right," Jellal agrees. "Sor… Got it." Erik sighs. It's a start.

Jellal seems a bit less miserable after that, and Merudy later thanks Erik, stating that she's not sure what he did but it worked. Erik knows better. He still hears the whispers in his leader's head, still sees the dark pit of despair Jellal constantly teeters over. It's worse when Titania's around, he soon realizes. She comes by every now and then about the whole Avatar thing, with updates and the like, and Jellal's smiles become even more forced than usual. Erza Scarlet, more than any underlying mental issue, is chaining Jellal down.

"What's your deal with Titania?" he asks one day.

"She's the one who pulled me away from the darkness," he says simply.

No, Erik thinks to himself. She's the one that won't let you leave.