November Poll Winner - I am Not a Mage Chapter 8

I am Not a Mage

A/N Hello my loyal readers. Here is the winner of the November poll, I am Not a Mage. I don’t have much personal stuff to add this time. I am managing to get back towards my regular schedule though so updates will get back to being around their normal time, but there might be a few days here or there where I am caught out. I hope you are all well. Enjoy the chapter!

…

Chapter 8 – Tenrou island

In the end, I decided not to go straight to Tenrou Island. The main reason was because I wanted to get some information from my old books that I had stashed in my safe houses before I go. I realised while I was at Irene’s mansion that I hadn’t exactly been up to date on my Fairy Tail knowledge and I was going to need to get a bit more information on the current story arc and characters if I wanted to be able to use my plans better.

Another big reason was that I didn’t know how to get to Tenrou Island from Alvarez. I needed to go back to Fiore to get the right directions. I knew how to get there from Hargeon, but that was it.

On top of that, I hadn’t done the smart thing and used my compass on the way to Alvarez, so I wasn’t exactly sure what heading I would need to use to get to Hargeon.

My cure for this was to just head west, really high up, and once I got to Ishgar, I just turned and travelled along the coast until I recognised landmarks.

The final reason was because I figured it would be a good time to check for any messages. I had a couple of people that I had contacts within different locations around the country. They had a few pages each that were essentially teleportation passes, but for letters. It was about as close to email as I could get. A person would write down the information they wanted to send me, they folded it up and put it on my Rune sheet added their own magic and it would instantly copy it and send to three of my bases; the two main bases, and my aircraft base up near Clover.

I couldn’t quite figure out how come it wasn’t sending anything to every base yet. You would think that it was as simple as just changing the number of times to copy the message or to add more places to send the information to, but there was some sort of interference with the Runes that meant that it didn’t like doing it with my current Rune sheet. It also didn’t let me do it on the move. I had to have the locations preset and written down, which didn’t work if I was moving around a lot. I hadn’t bothered to figure out how to change that yet, but I might have to find a solution, just in case.

The teleportation mail was something I had only figured out shortly before leaving for the war. I hadn’t even given it to Makarov yet. I wasn’t sure if it was worth it. After all, they all have communication Lacrima that basically act like phones. This was just for mail. I might just keep it or me.

By the time I got back to my base in the mountains near Clover, the sun was already starting to set.

My aircraft base that I had set up wasn’t overflowing in mechanical marvels. The plane that I had was the most advanced thing in here. While my engineering experience was largely transferable via Lacrima powered items, I preferred to have a few different places. My main research lab, for example, was in the hills directly to the east of Magnolia. It was easier to be there because it was more central and closer to the capital city than the mountains past Clover. That, and seeing as a lot of the work I did was for Makarov, it made sense to be closer to Magnolia than being further away.

I only had to deal with the occasional Vulcan, so that was nice. Easy too, once you got used to it.

I unpacked my clothes and the Irene’s Lacrima from the plane and considered my next steps. Tenrou first. Then I needed to check in on another long-term plan. Something that had been years in the making that I wanted to get squared away before it got too late.

I quickly checked my mailbox, to find that I did have a message from one of my contacts. I read the contents and hummed. Someone needs a meetup. I can do that after my trip to Tenrou.

My mind made up, I pulled out my journals of all the Fairy Tail universe, focussing on character histories for the rest of the night. I was going to need it for this next part.

The next day, I packed some extra equipment into the cargo hold of the plane and also loaded up my extended bags. I didn’t know how long this was going to take me and I wasn’t going to be unprepared.

I flew out just as the sun started to peak over the horizon in the east, making my way towards Hargeon. Once above the port city, I headed further south, but not directly south, keeping at about two thousand feet. I made sure to check my bearings so that I would be able to mark it on my own map later.

It took less than half an hour before I saw the giant tree that marked the location of Tenrou Island, sitting in the distance off to the east slightly. Considering it took the better part of a day to sail there, I was really happy that I had my plane.

I flew in low over the island circling the great tree several times, trying to look over the side of the cockpit as I tilted in my turns, looking below to see what I could of the island. There was the massive tree, but there was a big mix of trees and open spaces. None of which was good enough to land in, so I took another option.

I moved out over the water, which was remarkably still at the moment. I pulled a lever and, instead of the wheels, two long blades dropped out of the deck, looking remarkably like the plane was on skis. I dropped in low and touched the water, shutting off the propellor, and skidded gracefully until I got up to the sand.

I dropped the wheels, lifted the skis, and hopped out quickly, pulling the plane up so it wasn’t at risk of being dragged off by the tide. Just to be sure, I grabbed a rope and tied it from the plane to a conveniently placed boulder that was sitting where the sand turned to grass.

I took a moment to just look out over the island. There were monsters in those trees somewhere. Further in. hopefully nothing would come along the beach. I had some weapons and traps that I would need to set up overnight, but it should be fine.

I turned to face the ocean. It was remarkably peaceful. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, just enjoying the smell of the salt water. It felt so clean and refreshing. Salty, but pure at the same time. Not for drinking but bursting with life. A gentle breeze just made it all so much better.

I just enjoyed taking several breaths and stretched, loosening up from being in the cockpit. Still, as much as I enjoyed the beach and the breeze, there was work to do.

I went to the cargo compartment of my plane and grabbed out my most important tool for this part of the trip.

My guitar.

Somewhere on this island, the spirit of Mavis walked. Unfortunately, there was also quite probably a very real and alive Zeref. Hopefully I don’t wake him up. This was a personal mission, but it wasn’t without its risks. Still, Mavis being here was a good thing, my main objective, and I was going to try reach out to her through music.

I sat on my anchor boulder and started to strum, looking out over the ocean.

“I’m gonna pick up the pieces, and build a Lego house…” Ed Sheeran is always a winner for acoustic guitar.

I sung through a few of his songs, looking over the deep blue water and enjoying the sun and the sea breeze. Then I switched it up to Don’t Worry, Be Happy, then moved on to a couple of random songs from all over the place. Here Comes the Sun, Over the Rainbow, The Lazy Song. I didn’t really know how to play all the songs on guitar, so I just strummed a bit for a few of them and made it up as I went.

I played for over an hour straight, enjoying the breeze in my face and letting the sun dip lower as the afternoon progressed until I noticed something odd. I had thought that the wind was just being normal, blowing faster and slower as it naturally does. After all, the wind rarely blows the exact same speed all of the time, even in a storm. It gets faster and slower, squalls and stalls all in the same

But I realised I was wrong. The wind was acting, changing with the beats of my songs. Not immediately, but once the song and chorus had been played a few times that it was figured out. It was too regular to be natural. Something was up and it got me hoping.

The wind settled into a rhythm with my singing, blowing softer and faster as I repeated the chorus. It certainly wasn’t a natural phenomenon, so that told me that my target for this little side quest was here and enjoying my song. I suspected it was my target, at least. I would know for sure until I could confirm it somehow.

After all, Mavis was hardly the only spirit wandering the planet. It would be dangerous to just assume it was her.

While Mavis didn’t have a body, she still had the ability to use magic in some form or another. I didn’t really understand how, but from what I remember of the Magic Games arc, she was definitely capable of performing some magical feats, like magically producing bikinis for the girls in the guild. I assumed it was Requip Magic but I wasn’t completely sure.

The song came to an end and the wind died down, after it blew a little wind-devil up, spinning like a tiny tornado. I decided that it was enough for now. I clearly had the attention of whatever spirit was here. I put the guitar down on my lap and looked out over the ocean. It truly was a beautiful view.

“I am glad you enjoyed the music,” I said out loud. “I know that I can’t see you, but I know that you are there.” I paused for a moment and looked around. “You are still there, right?”

There was a long pause, long enough that I thought the spirit might have left, before the wind blew in a series of pulses. It was a form of morse code, but I didn’t really know it. I came across it a few times in the army, but I didn’t know it completely.

“Oh, good,” I said, feeling better about my chances. “I should warn you that, although I realise that you are blowing the wind in code, I don’t know enough about the code to know what you are actually saying. Sorry. I guess it will have to be a bit more basic than that. Maybe, three wind pulses for yes and one for no. does that work?”

I know most people would say one and two, but I always thought that one and three left much more room for certainty. Maybe if it was noises being used, then it might work. But wind pulses? No, better go for one and three.

Sure enough, the wind pulsed three times.

“Good,” I smiled. “Now, obviously I can’t see you, so if you don’t find it too presumptuous, I am going to talk to that spot as if you are standing there.” I pointed at a place to my side so I could still look out at the ocean without feeling like I was staring through the spirit. It felt more polite, somehow. “If you feel like taking pity on this poor soul and standing there, please do. Otherwise, I don’t mind looking foolish talking to an empty space while you laugh on. Just so long as you know I am talking to you, that’s all I need.”

The wind blew again, this time going from the direction I was looking at. Now, to confirm my suspicions. “Would I be correct when I assume that you are Mavis? First Master of Fairy Tail?”

There was another long pause, before three strong pulses of wind blew across me. Good to know that I was right! Meta-knowledge for the win.

“Well,” I said bowing theatrically to empty space, “I am truly most honoured to meet the beautiful, amazing, talented, beautiful, intelligent, wise, beautiful, cunning, courageous… did I mention beautiful? Spirit of Master Makarov’s godmother.”

The wind swirled around me, causing leaves and sand to dance lightly in the air. I got the feeling that she was amused. Not sure how but that was what seemed to come across. There seemed to be an emotional part being put across in the wind. No idea how that worked but ‘magic’ was probably as good an answer as any.

“That said though,” I continued, “I have seen pictures of you, or rather, paintings. If they were accurate, then you were indeed extremely beautiful.” I gave a cheeky grin. “Though Makarov did say you were a little on the shorter side. Not that he can say much about height though. He’s barely over four feet tall!”

The wind stopped still for a moment before it swirled again, slightly faster than before. Either she was laughing and amused, or she was slightly indignant and this was her version of pouting at being called short. Possibly both.

I let the amusement die down and looked back out over the ocean for a moment. It was extremely peaceful. The salt on the air was revitalising.

“I owe a lot to Master Makarov,” I said, changing the topic again. “You’ve probably been able to tell already, or maybe not because you might not be able to use sensing skills in your current state. Anyway, I don’t have magic container of my own. That meant that I couldn’t be a member of a guild. Not great, seeing as I was orphaned when I was a young child. Dark wizards attacked my village and both my parents were killed.”

This time, the wind was softer and felt like it was brushing right against my face.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile. “It was a long time ago, but I do appreciate your thoughts.”

The wind blew softly again for a few seconds before it died down.

“But even though I didn’t have magic,” I continued, “Makarov looked out for me. He fed me, let me take jobs and was able to help me with anything I asked him for. He helped me become the person I am today.” Maybe a slight exaggeration, but he had helped me explore new ideas and had always encouraged me in my efforts with Runes. “And it clearly worked. After all, I managed to attract a beautiful mage with nothing but my voice!”

The wind swirled swiftly but gently again. It was becoming the way that I could recognise that Mavis was amused, at least I thought that is what she was doing.

“I owe a great deal to Makarov,” I admitted, becoming serious again. “But one thing for sure is that he has a great love for Fairy Tail. Even though I am not a member, in fact, I have had some pretty rocky relationships with some of the Fairy Tail guild members, I have tried to help them out because of the help that Makarov gave me.”

This time, the wind picked up. Gentle, but constant.

“Because of him, I decided that I was going to learn about Fairy Tail’s history,” I continued. “I went through as much as I could; whatever records I could find. Both from Fairy Tail and outside of it. And I found out quite a lot.” I gave a sheepish smile. “You would be surprised how many times my information searches took me down a metaphorical rabbit hole.”

This was where my gamble was going to come in. I had no idea how this would turn out, but I thought that it was a decent chance to at least change something a little bit.

“It would be fair to say that we don’t know each other,” I said. “After all, we’ve never met. You haven’t met me before, at least. I haven’t ever seen you in the flesh. This… unusual and one-sided conversation is about as close to being in each other’s company as I am likely ever going to get.

“However,” I said, taking a deep breath, ready to take the plunge. “I would say that I think I know a little about you. Mavis Vermillion.” I looked around the island behind me. “This was your home, wasn’t it? When you were working for the Red Lizard guild. After your parents sent you here.”

The wind stilled completely. Nothing. Not even a leaf blowing in the background. Shock seemed to be carried in the still air.

“You grew up here as a servant of the leader of the Red Lizards. You were here when it was attacked by Blue… somethings,” I went on. “Sorry, I can’t remember their actual name. You were eventually the only survivor. Though, you did have a friend. I think she lived on as your imaginary friend or a drifting spirit for a while.”

The wind stayed completely still, but there was a slight pressure in the background. Tension.

“You went on and started the Fairy Tail Wizard Guild in Magnolia,” I said. “You created some of the most powerful magics possible. Fairy Law, Fairy Glitter, Fairy Sphere… some extremely powerful magic in just those three spells.”

The wind picked up slightly. Cautiously, if I had to use a word to describe it.

“There is a lot you’ve done in life,” I said, trying to not push harder than I wanted to on a first meeting. After all, who accepts someone when they come the first time and just starts blurting things about their life? I needed to be kinder and build a rapport first. “Being stuck here all alone for so long. The Merchant War. Everything that happened to you after the war. Being frozen in time below the Fairy Tail guild hall.”

Was it manipulation? Maybe. But she deserved more than that dick Zeref. And I while I was not thinking I would be the one to give it to her, I would at least let her see other options.

“You’ve been through so much,” I said. “I truly admire you for it all. Makarov used to say that you were always so happy and cheerful, going by what Precht and the others used to tell him. To be able to go through what you did and still be able to put up a happy face; that tells me that you are just a genuinely good and nice person. Someone who deserved better than they got from life. So, for someone who left such a big mark in Makarov’s life, even if it was a short time it still left a big impact, but I want to thank you for it. So, thank you, Master Mavis.” I bowed again, facing that empty spot.

The wind picked up slowly, but was still gentle as it passed by. I think she was accepting it.

“If you don’t mind the company,” I said, putting my guitar down and standing up, but looking over the ocean again, “I am going to camp here tonight and let my plane recharge its Lacrima. I will just camp here on the beach. I do love the beach, after all.”

The wind was soft and swirled around me. I took that as acceptance and moved over to my ship to pull out some camping supplies.

The next day was very relaxing. I woke up and had a swim in the ocean. It was very refreshing. It made me wonder why I didn’t do it more often. I really did enjoy it. I guess I just didn’t make the time for it. I really should do something for myself like this more often.

Afterwards, I had a meal and enjoyed sunbathing in the morning light. I fiddled around with some Runic ideas, writing up some more portkeys and a few other of my Runic tools that I needed to stock up on. I had to admit, doing it in the peace and quiet of the beach, was very satisfying.

A small pulse of wind blew the completed sheets, not enough to blow them away, but enough to rustle them. I held the sheets down. “Is that you, Mavis?”

Three pulses of wind. I took a moment to put a couple of rocks down on the completed Rune sheets so that they wouldn’t blow away while we ‘talked.

“You want to know what I’m working on?” I asked

Another affirmative wind pulse.

I pulled out a few of the sheets. “This one is a short-range teleportation sheet,” I pointed it out. “It’s within eyesight. I use them for combat or quick escapes from enemy attacks. This one is a longer teleporter to a preset location that is determined by writing down the coordinates of it here.” I pointed to the spot on the page. “Obviously, I don’t have my own magic to activate them, but I can use a Lacrima to provide the necessary magic to activate the Runes. I put that here.” I pointed again to a different spot on the page. “The size of the Lacrima determines how far I can travel or, if it is a short teleportation, how many times I can use it before I have to get a new one.”

I went through the sheets that I had in front of me and what they would do. It was years of work studying and experimenting Runes but somehow it all came down to a single sheet of paper in each case. I was actually pretty proud with the work I had done in Runes. I had no idea of how Mavis was reacting to it. It was actually hard to judge what she thought about the work I was doing. I couldn’t help but feeling a little put out by it. If you are showing off your work to someone, you want to see what that person is thinking!

I finished explaining my work and the wind picked up again, but thankfully not blowing my sheets around. It was some form of feedback, but I have no idea what it was. It wasn’t overly excited but it felt overall positive.

“Hey,” I mock-pouted as I put rocks back on the papers to hold them down. “It might not seem impressive to an amazing mage like yourself, but it isn’t bad for someone who can’t use his own magic. I had to sort out this stuff from scratch. Everyone else just uses Runes to make barriers and wards. I use them to create magic for the magicless. That’s gotta mean something, right?”

There was a pause, before the wind blew much stronger than before. It made me think of someone who was apologising for accidentally not reacting to someone else’s good news in the way that the person expected them to.

I grinned. “I’m just playing with you,” I said as I turned back to a sheet.

A small puff of wind blew the sheet in my hands away. I looked at the spot flatly. “That was unnecessary.”

The wind blew directly in my face for a second before subsiding. It made me think that she was blowing a raspberry at me and I couldn’t help grinning again.

“But anyway,” I continued, “I got used to making these when I was fighting in a war over in the Iceberg against Bosco.”

The wind died down completely for a moment, before picking up gently.

“I was a volunteer,” I went on. “There were about two hundred volunteers from Fiore. All up from around the other countries, there were probably a thousand volunteers fighting for Iceberg. It was… violent. Because the Iceberg generals didn’t want to have their own people die first, they thought it would be best to put the foreigners into the spearhead position of nearly every battle they could get away with. If we had more than a couple days of rest after a battle, we were ordered to the front again.”

The wind wrapped around me softly, like Mavis was hugging me.

“It wasn’t all bad,” I said. “I learned a lot from the others in our company and battalion. I was able to use a lot of good tricks to keep myself and my friends alive. But we saw…” I shook my head, deliberately ignoring the memories that talking about the war brought on, “horrible things.”

The wind somehow tightened up around me. I kept talking about the war for ten minutes, talking about some of the battles I had fought and how we came across so many newly made slaves that we then freed. I mentioned some of the greatest tragedies I had witnessed.

The worst was the Trail of Tears. Not the American one. This was probably worse in action, but on a smaller scale

Five thousand Iceberg villagers captured by Bosco soldiers. The men were crucified first, in a long line following a road for about ten kilometres. The women and children were… violated in front of their fathers or husbands as they hung on their crosses, before being branded by the soldiers that had done it, with their names and ID numbers, right before they were crucified alongside their husbands.

Many a hardened veteran vomited from the horrors they saw that day. My battalion had been among those who were involved in bringing them down and burying them. We had done the best we could to give them dignified burials, but it was hard to do that for five thousand people at once. The only reason we knew what exactly had been done, is that there were a handful of survivors.

After that, we went hunting.

We had systematically gone down into Bosco, searching for every soldier that had their names branded onto a victim. We found nearly all of them. I hadn’t been speaking trash to Natsu when I told him that I killed people in their beds. I had done the same things I had said I had done.

We killed every single one we came across.

We didn’t get all of them though. A few had managed to flee or been summoned back to Bosco’s capital. Those were mostly the sons of Boscon nobles. But Bosco surrendered not long after we had got most of them.

“After the war,” I said, my voice growing hoarse as I looked out over the ocean, unwillingly seeing the faces of the victims from those days, “the surviving members of our company decided that we would do something truly foolish. We took on a century quest in Seven on the way home.”

I shook my head. “It was a demon eradication in the mountains in what used to be a mining community. The miners had been killed or driven out more than a hundred years earlier. It was inside a massive cavern inside the heart of the mountain. A gold vein and a silver vein both ran through it, which is why the mining community was built. There were twenty-three of us at the start. Jin was killed first. The minor demons laid an ambush during the night…”

I went on talking about the quest. The wind seemed to get cold when I described the appearance of the balrog-like demon.

“In the end,” I said, looking over the ocean and feeling the sadness and regret, much diminished but still there, running through me for how the mission went, “Jensin and Kimoto dropped the cavern on themselves and the Demon King so the last of us could escape.” I shook my head at that memory. “The noise of so many thousands of tons of rock crashing to the ground was so loud I thought I had gone deaf for a minute. The ground shook like there was a massive earthquake. I honestly feared that the whole mountain was going to cave in.”

I sighed sadly. “But it turns out it didn’t matter,” I muttered. “When everything was silent and I could hear again, the four of us started celebrating, but then we heard the Demon King roaring in anger. We could hear the rocks starting to move somewhere under the pile. We didn’t wait for it to get out though, so we took our chances and fled the mountain as fast as we could.”

I leaned back, looking up at the sun, which was starting to set. I blinked as I realised it had been hours since I had started talking. I hadn’t even noticed that as much time passed as it obviously had. I just kept talking.

Honestly, I felt a little lighter. Unburdened, I suppose. Being able to explain what had happened, even if it was to a spirit that I couldn’t see, had felt like a weight was lifted off my chest.

The wind stirred around me closely, giving me the feeling like it was trying to hug me.

I gave a lopsided smile. “Just for clarity,” I said, “you were here for the entire story, right? I wasn’t just talking to open air?”

The wind gave three strong pulses. I nodded. “Thank you for listening,” I said sincerely. “I took time to heal after that, but you are the first person that I have told the whole story to that didn’t already know. It felt good.”

The wind wrapped around me tighter. I sat there for a long moment, before I reached for my guitar. “Anyway, how about I sing us a couple of songs before dinner to lighten up the mood.”

There was a long pause, before I got another positive pulse.

…

The third day arrived without a fuss. I took another morning dip in the ocean, mostly just enjoying it. The view could almost rival the beach at Akane Resort in my opinion. Breakfast and a morning of playing around with Runes helped me pass the time easily. But all good things must come to an end and I needed to move on to get some more information.

At the same time, I didn’t feel like I had completely what I wanted to accomplish here yet. I only had another couple of hours before I needed to move on and I needed one last conversation with Mavis before I left.

After lunch, I packed up my gear into the cargo section of my plane, before returning to the rock I had been using as an anchor.

“Mavis,” I called. “Are you there?”

There was a long pause that went for nearly a minute before I got three pulses of wind. I asked again and got another three pulses.

“There is something I feel like I should say,” I prevaricated, “but I don’t know how you are going to like it. My guess is that you won’t. Still, I feel like it is important and that I need to say it or I think we will both regret it.”

The wind died down. I got the feeling that she was listening intently.

I took a deep breath. “I know about your relationship with Zeref,” I said. “More than that, I know about the Curse that you both had, and that he tried to come up with a way that you would both be able to die even though you had it. I know that it failed and I think I know why.”

The wind went dead. Completely still. Even the ocean stopped moving. The whole place went eerily silent.

“I also know that Zeref is still alive,” I went on. “I know that he has the Curse still. And I believe that if you were to return to your body, you would be free of the Curse completely.”

The complete silence was nearly oppressive, but I knew that I had to keep going until I finished. Otherwise, there was no chance of anything changing.

“I know about how you both got the Curse,” I said. “I also have discovered the origin of said Curse. It was a Curse from one of the gods. Ankhseram. He is a Death God. When you both, individually, forced someone to remain alive who should have died, he Cursed you.”

It almost felt like the air was starting to vibrate slightly. A faint sense of danger was startling to send a tingle up my spine. I swallowed before I continued.

“The difference between you and Zeref is in the mindset,” I continued. “You did it out of love, while he did it out of selfishness. He couldn’t accept that someone would take away something of his and refused to let it go.”

A short burst of strong wind buffeted me for a moment, but I put my hand up in the universal ‘wait’ sign and the wind died down again.

“I know that you know him personally,” I said. “I don’t. But I have all of the records that I could find on him and his deeds. And while it means that I don’t know him as personally as you do, I know about him from an outsider’s perspective, which can give clarity because my thoughts about him aren’t coloured by personal experience.”

The wind stayed silence, but the whole area felt tense again.

“From everything I have read,” I said, “all of Zeref’s actions were motivated by his own desires and goals. Every single one of his accomplishments, both before and after he met you, were actions of manipulation or done to test himself or to gain an advantage somehow. When his brother, Natsu, was about to die, Zeref performed Black Magic that offended Ankhseram, because Zeref refused to have his brother taken from him. And note the exact wording of how I said that. He didn’t want his brother taken from him. Not, ‘he didn’t want his brother to die’, or ‘he didn’t want his brother to lose so much chance to live’. None of it was motivated by what was good for his brother, but by how it affected himself.

“And that is why I believe the ritual that you both used to try and have you both die failed,” I said quickly, before Mavis could interrupt me with another wind blast. “Because the ritual required both of you to love each other and want to die for each other more than anything else in the world. Zeref never loved you more than he loved himself.”

The wind started slow before it built up strong enough to push me off the rock. I landed in a lump of sand and closed my eyes against the grains of sand being blown in my face. I pulled my shirt up over my face and nose so that I could still breathe without any problems.

“Let me explain!” I shouted over the wind. “I’ll tell you why I believe that!”

It took another long moment before the wind died down, but it died die down. I slowly got up and looked over at my plane to make sure that it wasn’t damaged by the strength of the wind. Luckily, it looked fine from where I was sitting.

“Everything Zeref did before you met him was designed to get the Curse off him,” I explained as I shook sand out of my hair. “And everything that he did after you went into stasis was the same. He created demons in the hopes that because they didn’t use magic that their powers would be able to kill him, but it didn’t work.

“He looked for Queen Irene Belserion, who had been turned into a dragon, hoping that she could do it. But even as a dragon, Irene wasn’t strong enough and she was too preoccupied with finding a way to turn human again that she wasn’t interested in killing him. None of his friends or enemies were powerful enough. Even though he stopped his brother from dying, he implanted a powerful demon inside his own brother, hoping that it would get strong enough to kill him too. He turned his own brother into a monster in the hopes that it would mean that he, Zeref could die. What does that tell you about who he loves most? Because it wasn’t his brother!

“Then, he finds an innocent girl with the same Curse as him, but after the Merchant War, it wasn’t affecting her the same as his did. He tells her that she is going to kill her loved ones. She leaves and when someone close to her dies suddenly, she takes his words to heart, blames herself and flees, desperate to not let anyone else suffer, even though she didn’t have a black wave of magic come out of her like it would have if the Curse had been what took her. It wasn’t the Curse that did it, but she was scared all the same.

“Then, Zeref hunts for the young woman and finds her cut off from civilisation out of fear that she might hurt her friends and loved ones. He gets her at her most desperate, weakest moment, and then gives her the one thing that she craved the most: companionship that she couldn’t kill. Someone that meant she wasn’t alone anymore. Someone who could explain what was happening to her! Of course she latched onto him. And because she did, he could then use her too. Eventually, she loved him enough to try a ritual that would let him die. All he had to do was convince her that he loved her.

“Unfortunately, the ritual failed and the girl went into a near dead state. While she was in that state, she gave birth to a son, delivered by Precht. Unfortunately, the baby’s mother was unable to watch him as she was in stasis. She wasn’t even awake to organise his care. Daddy Zeref never bothered to care for your son and abandoned your child after giving him a name. He didn’t want anything to do with the child and let it to die. Does that sound like someone who loved anyone more than himself?”

I shook my head. “I know that your tactical ability was a strong point for you,” I said, looking at the spot where I hoped she was still standing. “Every time you made a plan, it succeeded. I hope that you can look at this whole situation with that same level of calm analysis and separate your emotions from this. When you get back into your body, tell me that you can look at his actions as love, instead of plain manipulation to get what he wants, which is to die.”

The wind started to pick up again, but it was much softer, the whole atmosphere felt hesitant, almost in denial.

I brushed off the last of the sand and stood with a sigh. “Everything I told you today was the truth,” I said, looking out over the ocean again. “Everything I told you about my past was also the truth. All the things I went through really happened. There are other people that can verify that. Makarov can confirm a lot of it himself. All you need to do is go to Fairy Tail and have someone use Fairy Glitter against the giant Lacrima that is covering your body in the guild’s basement. That should be enough to wake you up again.” I huffed. “And I didn’t tell you that because it benefits me in any way. I gain nothing from this. Other than being able to enjoy a couple days relaxing on your old island.”

I looked down with a sigh. “I told you things here today and yesterday that I haven’t told anyone else, or at least those who didn’t go through it themselves. I appreciate that you were able and willing to listen. I probably won’t come here again, at least for a long time. Mainly because I don’t know if I will be welcomed and I would rather not risk being evicted harshly. Maybe in a few years, if you are willing, I could come back and talk to you again, if you haven’t got your body back. But for now, I think it would be best if I left.”

I turned back to that spot and bowed. “Thank you for letting me stay on your island, Master Mavis,” I said, feeling a little sad that I wouldn’t know if any of this sunk in or was accepted; not for my sake, but for hers. “I wish you well and a speedy recovery.”

With that, I brushed off the last of sand, unhooked the rope tying the plane to the anchor, and took a step towards my plane, before stopping once more.

“One last thing,” I said, not turning around this time. “First, are you still there?”

There was a hesitant feeling to the confirmation wind pulses this time around.

“I know that Zeref is alive and that when you get your body back you are probably going to talk to him,” I said. “Remember, he is still manipulative. He does it almost subconsciously at this point. So, it is most likely that he will get you to blame yourself as the reason the ritual failed. And while you may or may not have been hesitant, it wouldn’t be enough to stop it. His love of himself would have done more damage to the ritual than your hesitation. Remember that.”

With that, I climbed into the cockpit of my plane, turned on the engine and turned to face out over the ocean. The water was still completely flat, not ideal for a water take-off, but it would have to do. With a crank of a lever, the skis came out again and less than a minute later, I was back in the air, flying north, leaving the spirit of Mavis behind on the island.

…

I touched down in the town next to Akane, a quaint little place called Lilyflower. It was only a couple of hours walk from the famous resort that drew a lot of visitors, but far enough away that we weren’t likely to draw the attention of Jelal, or Siegrain or whatever he wanted to call himself.

I made my way to a small pub on the southern outskirts and went inside, ordering a drink which I took back to a small table in a back corner. As it was still daylight there were only a few other drinkers who were staying up near the bar.

I sipped at my drink for a few minutes, enjoying the downtime, before someone else came in. The stranger was wearing a travel cloak, but with the hood down, not hiding his face. Most people thought that hiding under a cloak was a good disguise. While it could hide you, there were plenty of magics that would allow people know who was under the hood. It was almost like waving a banner about that said ‘pay attention to me, I’m suspicious!’

Not wearing the hood meant that I also recognised the man. I watched calmly as he ordered his own drink and am and sat down next to me.

“Simon,” I greeted him with a nod.

“Zack,” he nodded back. “Clearly you got my message. Thanks for coming.”

I took a sip. “How can I help you?”

The wizard, the same one that would sacrifice his life for Ezra if left to his fate, took a quaff of his own drink. “I needed to tell you, the Tower is nearly finished.”

I pursed my lips at that. “How long until it is completed?”

“Maybe two months at most,” Simon revealed. “I tried to slow things down, but Jellal managed to figure it out within a day or two that there was a reduction in productivity. It got too dangerous to be done again.”

I took another sip of my drink to process my thoughts on the matter. “Have you heard of anything regarding Fairy Tail?” I asked instead.

He nodded. “Jellal was laughing about it to Wally,” he confirmed. “Apparently there was a fight against a demon of Zeref at a guild master meeting. Everyone was uninjured and the meeting hall was fine, but Erza is wanted for questioning. Apparently, she had complaints of assault from some people regarding the train line being destroyed. They are going to be waiting for her to return to Magnolia before she is brought to the Magic Council for questioning. With the train out, she is having to walk so it is taking longer than desired, but not too badly.”

“They want a scapegoat to shift the focus from themselves,” I said, processing that piece of information and estimating how much time I had to make some other plans work. I should have time. “They don’t want people to realise that the demon was under Magic Council confinement and yet somehow made it out to a guild master meeting in Clover.”

Simon grunted. “Figures. Erza will accept the blame,” he said, his voice turning soft. That’s right, he had a crush or a big sister thing for Erza.

I nodded. “She still feels guilty for leaving you all at the Tower,” I commented. “She thinks that accepting the blame for that is right too. She wants to come back but is afraid she isn’t strong enough. That and she is afraid to fight Jellal.”

Simon’s expression soured. “I know,” he muttered bitterly. “Millianna keeps talking about bringing her back and having her as part of the team again, after Jellal punishes her.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over us.

“Do you have what I need?” Simon asked.

I nodded and reached into my expanded bag. I grabbed what I was looking for and passed it over.

He looked at it flatly. “Why is it in a massive box shaped like a birthday present?”

I grinned. “Can you think of a better way to pass over a large amount of high-powered explosives in a place full of civilians without making people suspicious?”

He sighed and accepted the large box. “Not really,” he admitted. “I am glad that we can do this, though. Anything is better than letting that maniac have access to the Tower’s ability to destroy the country.”

I nodded. “Do you know where to plant them?” I asked.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I will make sure that it is like we agreed. Are you sure that it won’t just cause the Lacrima to completely explode?”

I nodded. “It shouldn’t,” I replied. “Obviously, I can’t test it on something that large, but I was able to get a decent test of it a while ago.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “Very well, I will go back to the Tower and place the charges in out of the way areas.”

“Make sure that Jellal doesn’t find out,” I warned him as he stood up. “If he finds out, then this whole plan is over before we can do anything about it.”

He nodded and walked off, leaving his empty mug on the table.

I sighed. Jellal. Dealing with him was a pain and I didn’t even have to deal with him directly. I had never really given props to Simon for how brave he was to work behind Jellal’s back like this, but he was one tough guy. Nerves of steel.

Did I need to get involved in the Tower of Heaven battles? No. In fact, I didn’t need to get involved with any of the battles that Fairy Tail faced. But I would. Because, with all the changes that I had made to the training of key Fairy Tail members over the years, I wanted to make sure that someone like Erza, someone I counted as a friend, wouldn’t try to sacrifice her life for Jellal’s manipulations again. She was strong enough to be able to push the others away now. Possibly as strong as Laxus, after all the training tips I had given her. I wasn’t going to let my friend throw her life away for that jackass.

I know people would disagree with me. They might claim that he was being taken over by an evil spirit or whatever, but I don’t care. The guy was still responsible for the deaths of thousands and the slavery of hundreds. Plus, even once he went back to normal, he wasn’t that great of a person. It was only Erza’s guilt that made her memories of him morph into almost an obsession of him in the manga and anime, or at least, that’s what my psychologist friends reasoned in my past life.

Trauma changes things. Coupled with isolation and loneliness, we can often remember the worst of people in the best of ways if that is all we had to cling to. We can give undeserved emotions to our abusers if we have associations to a time of hope or other positive emotion.

I had been working to change that with Erza during our training sessions. We talked about her time in the Tower. She opened up a lot to me in private. I had done my best to try and explain things gently, to show her that her young mind wasn’t looking at Jellal was who he really was, but what her mind wanted her to think as a way of protecting herself.

I guess I will only know if I succeeded when they face each other.

For now, I just sat back in my booth, enjoying my drink alone, and listening to the laughter of some drunk guys at the bar.

… I really should make more friends. Even I could see this was getting too lonely.