As for Cain, he was about to attempt an escape from his room when a sudden weariness took hold of him and he fell onto his bed and was out before he hit the pillow. Maybe he was more tired then he could admit.. or was this the work of a demon? He didn’t care as he closed his eyes.

—(Dream sequence!)—

Cain opened his eyes and looked around, floating in deep water. He slowly began to realize he was drowning and tried to find the surface when a emerald clawed appendage grabbed ahold of him and pulled him up to the surface.

“What? How did...?” He trailed off as he saw Beltharion, or rather a larger Beltharion’s head peer down at him. He then spoke.

”You’re Early for this stage Cain.”

“Why am I here? Where even is here?”

“We are in a sealed portion of what most would call Dreamland. A place Mystics would call ‘The Realm of Inner Self. I placed us here so that only those I deem fit to intrude upon this place can visit.” The dragon replied. ”As for why you are here, I think you’re ready now. Ready to understand the origins of Fenrir’s and Your Forefather’s, and why There’s been a feud with your clan and Zankora, the Dark Reincarnating Wizard.”

—(Flashback)—

A young man looking similar to Cain only with red shoulder length hair was hammering away on a forge, creating a weapon that suddenly cracks upon a more rough impact. “Imperfect again!! Exphion preserve me or Aneksheram Take me! I’ll never make the perfect blade to combat The Dark Wizard King.”

”Your forefather was 18 around this time. It’s.. hard to remember without some help as it was ages ago. He was forging what would be the first sword vessel for a certain dragon you hold now.” Beltharion explained knowingly. ”It was another age though. An age in which a prominent Noble who studied magic turned to Dark Magic to begin a campaign of War, Conquering and Despair.”

”That’s a line from the story Mother used to tell me about Zankora to put the fear of him in me at night.” Cain remarked, watching his ancestor skulk angrily. ”What is he mad about?”

”His frustration is based upon him trying to counter Zankora’s magic. Three times he tried. Three times he failed. After the third he was giving up.”

”But he didn’t. He eventually created the First Runeblade with your help then vanquish him.” Cain interjected.

”Yes, But Zankora placed a reincarnation curse on himself, this you know. And has been plotting revenge ever since with each new life he lives.” Beltharion replied. ”So you know one thing yet not the other. But there is more to this tale. I said this was your origins. Anyway as I was saying, Your Forefather, Mikael was angry and dejected.”

“Every time I try it gets maddeningly harder...” Mikael Azura was then interrupted by a Demon leaping out at him and severely attacking him. Desperately he grabbed a black rock and struck the demon before grabbing a chain to bind it and prepare to defeat it. “Tell me your name! And why you attacked!”

“I was once a strong demon, now a waste of space amongst my kind. End me!” The demon shouted. Mikael, shocked by the sudden acceptance of defeat sighed frustratingly.

“Well... blast it. I can’t even beat a demon right. I’ll give you food if you leave me alone, deal? What’s your name anyhow?” The young man asked the demon.

“My Master called me Caliban. I was once known as the Fire Devil of Hate. But I was knocked out of power by an upstart. Coward.” The demon spat. “And I cant have some human just spare me and be indebted to him. Especially one who speaks of Exphion without even thanking her for possible divine inspiration.”

“Huh?” Mikael looked at the rock he used and discovered it was a shining piece of ore. “Holy... uhh Thank you?” He said towards the sky.

Caliban sighed. “Hopeless human... I should just escape but I’d better assist him...pay back his generosity.”

—End Flashback—

”You mean to tell me his Forge was heated by a demon?! Why are you telling me this?!” Cain demanded.


”Seek him and find out. I think the old demon is still living where the forge is... or was.. I cannot remember. Also he was a good person, Mikael I mean. Learn more about his life.”

(End dream)

Cain woke with a jolt and tried to check the time. It was now in the late afternoon. He groaned. “There goes my attempt to train...” he muttered as he looked at the special diet plan Draco made for him. “She wants me to eat what?!”

——

Meanwhile Fenrir was reading a manual about a form of Swordsmanship to brush up on any skills he’d want to use for his requip. Nodding and marking off pages to read for later he closed the book when he heard his half brother’s distressed yell. Chuckling he decided to go back to the guild hall and spend time checking on old friends.

By the time he got there, he discovered his Father and Natsu fighting...again. Shaking his head with a grin he settled down to scan the room for maybe a look for any of the old team he used to hang with. Finding only Glynda practicing her magic he only shrugged and decided to simply relax, for the time being.

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Draco had walked back into the guild hall and saw Natsu and Gray fighting again, she shook her head and sat down at the nearest table, right next to Gajeel and Levy. Draco laid her head on the table and heard Levy say, "Draco, are you alright? You seem tired lately." Draco replied, "I'm fine, just got a few things to figure out that have been taking up some of my sleep time. I'm going to head out to train in a little bit." Levy seemed a bit skeptical but she didn't pry. Draco got up a few moments later and as she was passing Gajeel her vision went completely black as she fainted.

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Draco opened her eyes to see she was once again in the presence of Ahnkseram, and she soon realized what had happened. Draco said, "Really? You've been making me black out lately in the middle of the day." Draco was startled when Ahnkseram replied, "That was not my doing. You finished the spell." Draco laughed nervously, "Yeah, but I haven't cast it yet. What does that have to do with me blacking out randomly during the day?" Ahnkseram was silent for a moment and Draco started to feel a sudden dread, before he said, "You decended into the mortal realm to create a way for the curse I placed on Zeref to be lifted. Now that it's complete there is nothing keeping you there anymore. The day the Grand Magic Games ends will be the day that your life ends." Draco's eyes widened in horror as she spoke in quiet disbelief, "No... No, I haven't cast the spell yet. I was supposed to die once the spell was cast if I didn't find a way to keep myself from dying." Ahnkseram replied, "If you cast the spell before that day, you would die immediately afterwards. However, anyone with a large amount of magic can cast the spell you created, it doesn't have to specifically be you who casts it." Draco stared at the god in horror. She was going to die in only a few months? It was such a cruel reality.

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Levy shouted, "Gajeel, don't let her fall!" As Kurai came running up to them to see what was wrong with Draco. He placed a hand on her forehead and pulled his hand back like he was burned before hesitantly keeping his hand on her forehead to get a read on her temperature. Kurai mumbled, "The Hell? This makes no sense..." As Lucy dragged Natsu over to see what was wrong with their daughter, Kurai looked up at Gajeel with a shocked expression as he said, "This makes no sense, one minute it's like she's on fire and the next she's as cold as ice." Lucy placed her hand on Draco's forehead to feel for herself and drew back her hand in shock as she said, "This is bizarre. I'll go get Wendy!" It was at that moment Draco woke up and said, "I'm awake! I'm awake!" Draco sat up quickly and ended up butting heads with Gajeel on accident and said, "Oh, sorry Uncle Gajeel! Are you alright?!" Kurai leveled a serious stare at Draco and said, "I think that's what we should be asking you. You fainted and your body temperature was constantly fluctuating between burning hot and freezing cold." Draco looked startled and said, "It was?" Kurai nodded and Draco placed a hand on her forehead and said, "Well, it's not doing it anymore." Draco noticed the small crowd forming around her and said, "I'm fine now. I'm going to go see if I can find some kind of explanation in some of the books at home. I'll have Draconius come with me so that he can make sure I don't faint again." Draco stood up and left the guild hall before anyone could say anything else to her, she needed to get out of there.

Draco wasn't sure what she would do but she needed to figure out what she could do to change things. Draco decided to go see her uncle again, she needed to talk to someone who wasn't always around her like her guildmates, that was her plan at least. However she wasn't expecting to run into Lyon, who had decided to randomly stop by since he was already passing through on his way back to his own guild from a job. Draco looked up and said, "Uncle Lyon! It's been so long! Do you remember me?" Draco smiled at the white-haired ice mage, trying to seem like she was alright, however if he looked closer he would be able to see that something had Draco clearly shaken. Draco hadn't seen the mage since she was young but she had heard that when Fairy Tail contacted several ally guilds to inform them that she ran away and requested to keep an eye out that Lyon actually had left his guild to go search for her. Draco had always been extremely friendly towards Lyon and his other guildmates and sometimes Gray would get jealous when she showed Lyon affection while he was visiting in the past.

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Lyon looked at Draco after she literally ran into him. “Draco, you’ve stopped wearing your mask I see.” He said, recalling how he was a better uncle figure then Gray with a small smile on his face. “I came to visit the Guild and scope out any competition. I heard my Nephew was on the team no less.”

Lyon said the word nephew with a small hint of pride, as well as disappointment. Most likely due to the fact whilst he was disappointed Fenrir never had the talent to be an Ice-make wizard like Gray and himself, he was proud of the strides he made as a wizard, especially with losing his arm. Then he examined Draco’s face and his face grew concerned. “Are you well? You look like you were fixing to run a marathon through the town like your father did in the old days.” He said in concern for her. “You’re a great wizard but sometimes you have to take a breather and let your magic recharge.”

It was at this time, Cain was approaching her. He looked rested and didn’t look like he was going to topple over if someone like Fenrir poke him with a stick. “Draco, May I have a word with you about this diet you’re putting me on for my training?” He asked as he approached, Not even acknowledging the presence of the older wizard. But what really ruffled Lyon’s feathers was one of his niece figures was being addressed by a boy so casually!

So ruffled was He he summoned an Ice-Make Puffer Fish that slammed into Cain with the force of a speeding horse as the latter skidded on the ground. “Learn to respect your elders and also don’t address Draco so casually!” Lyon shouted, a tick of anger showing on his forehead.

“Cain? What are you doing up?” Fenrir, who heard the sudden commotion ask as he walked out. “Seriously I thought you were told to rest!”

“Sorry bro...” Cain replied.

“Fenrir. When you have a moment.” Lyon called as he turned his attention back to Draco. Fenrir heaved a sigh.

”Uncle Lyon... my third favorite Uncle. I wonder if that means i’ll See him and Old Man Winter fight.” Fenrir thought.

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Draco smiled at Lyon as he spoke about why he was there and when he mentioned scoping out the competition she smiled and said, "Well, I actually came up with a new exercise regimen for the entire team after assessing their current skills. So what you see now won't be even close to the end result. I was surprised that Master Erza actually informed me before everyone else that I was going to be the captain of the team but I'm glad since it gave me time to do the necessary research to develop the ideal routine for everyone to be ready for the games! Fenrir and everyone else will be able to give everyone a run for their money!" Draco's voice held no hint of bragging, simply enthusiasm to share the information with her Uncle.

However when he addressed her health she couldn't help but blurt out, "I'm fine! Just a little tired!" Draco sounded a little strained, like she was trying to convince herself as well as Lyon. Draco was relieved when Cain came forward to ask her about the training diet since that got Lyon's attention off of her. Draco was about to reply to Cain but was shocked that her Uncle Lyon used his Ice-Make magic on Cain and was startled by the white haired mage's words. Draco then muttered to herself, "Dammit, not another overprotective adult male." Draco wasn't sure what to do but she knew that she had to get out of there. She had to get to Zeref, she was sure he'd know what to do about what was happening to her. When Fenrir came out and saw what was happening, Draco took the chance to run as Lyon turned his head to speak to Fenrir. However it was an escape short lived by Moriko running over to Draco and saying, "Draco, are you alright? I heard from Levy that you just fainted in the guild hall!" Draco didn't know what to do but she immediately yelled without thinking, "I'M NOT DYING!!!"

The silence that followed her words was deafening, the only sound being Draco's heavy breathing as she tried to recover from the sudden outburst. When Draco finally registered what she had actually said, she collapsed to her knees and covered her mouth as a wave of horror flooded her body. Draco had been trying to keep it hidden for so long, she tried to shoulder the burden of her horrific discovery by herself as much as possible so that nobody else would be worried about her. Draco had kept it in for so long and had been so used to carrying her burdens alone that she didn't even realize that she had passed her breaking point long ago, as if the only thing that had been holding it all back and out of everyone's sight had withered until it was as fragile as a single spider's thread holding up a mountain.

Draco wasn't sure what to do anymore, it was all out there, there was no way to take back the words that had forced their way out of her throat, they knew that she was dying now. Moriko then said, "Of course you're not. We're not going to let you, but first you have to tell us what's going on." Draco looked up at the older teen and smiled weakly at her reply. The way the green haired maiden responded with a no-nonsense tone to Draco's outburst reminded her that she wasn't alone, that she had people she could rely on if she just reached out. Draco nodded and said, "Yeah. Okay." Moriko helped Draco to her feet and said, "First of all, what has you thinking you're going to die?" Draco took a few breaths to calm herself and said, "I finished it... The spell... The one that I had been trying to make to free Uncle Zeref from his curse... It's done and now I don't have any reason to still live in this world. If I cast it now I'll die where I stand but if I don't I'll die once the Grand Magic Games are over. The reason Exphion became mortal was to break Zeref's curse, anyone with a lot of magic power can cast the spell I made, it doesn't have to be me. There's nothing that's able to keep my soul here any longer now that my purpose has been fulfilled." Moriko didn't know how to react to what Draco was saying, she replied, "You're going to have to explain more. The only thing I got out of that was that you finished the spell to help Zeref and something about Exphion. What does that have to do with you dying?" Draco couldn't focus, she was trying to stay calm but it was hard. How do you calmly let the people around you know that you're living with a closely approaching expiration date? The answer? You can't.

Lucy had opened the door to the guildhall to go after her daughter but instead everyone in the guild heard Draco's confession. Draco has finished the spell for her Uncle Zeref and is now dying, and there seems to be no way to stop it. Lucy stared in horror, she didn't know how to react to this information. Lucy turned to Natsu to make sure he didn't explode at this information, his relationship with his brother was always strained, she worried about how he would react to the fact that Draco's desire to help the Black Wizard has spelled out her own demise.

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Natsu looked angry, and determined. Anyone who knew Natsu in his younger days would recognize that he was doing the best he could to not cry out in immediate anger. Draco’s magic research has led to tragedy in his family again, just as it did to Zeref all those years ago. He understood perfectly what Draco was saying, and it was all the more reason to make him ready to fly off the handle and storm straight to Zeref. However, he knew Lucy had her worried eyes straight on him. So all he could do was stare and have a look of worry, anger, all at once.

Fenrir, the Wolf of Fairy Tail, however, had a different reaction. He was horrified as he walked backwards with a haunted look, as a pain jolted through the arm that was no longer there. “It’s happening again.” He muttered quietly, to himself where he was sure none could hear him. He then began walking almost like a mechanical puppet, trying hard not to look at anyone. He had to get out of there. He had to go home, find a corner of the guild to hide in, anywhere to try and hide from the memories of his old team, fractured and torn apart before forming Team Draco with Draco and his half brother.

Now it was happening again, only this time, he was certain everyone will think he’s a jinxed wizard, and only allow him to take jobs solo. He looked around frantically for a way out from the stress, only for everything to begin to feel like the world was pounding on his head, and the world going black as Fenrir toppled over. The last thing he heard was a startled cry from his adoptive mother and Cain as he fainted.

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Draco felt herself breaking as she saw Fenrir backing away, guilt eating at her as she realized that he was reliving memories of the first time he lost his team, all because of her. Moriko ran over to Fenrir when he collapsed and something about the sight of the green haired maiden cradling Fenrir in her arms made Draco's chest feel tight. Draco couldn't help but grip at her chest, the feeling of breaking starting to overrun her head. Draco didn't know when she started running, but she knew she couldn't stop, she had to do something to fix this.

Draco ran for hours, her speed taking her far outside of Fiorre, running, running, running, she had to keep running. Draco didn't stop until she tripped over something in her path, skidding across cobblestone pavement that tore up the arm she landed on. Draco didn't know where she was until she heard a rough voice asked, "The Hell is Salamander's kid doing here?" Draco looked up and saw several former dark guild wizards around her, each one sporting a guild mark that she knew well. Draco sat up and tried to stop herself from making a bigger scene in the middle of Crime Sorcière's guild hall but she just felt herself breaking, breaking, breaking, breaking, breaking, she was bReAkInG. Draco wasn't sure what she should do to stop herself from breaking. What brought her here of all places? How could going to Crime Sorcière help her? She felt as if her mind was filled with static, or she had been submerged in water because everything around her felt muffled and distant; like she wasn't even in her own body. Draco hadn't noticed she was hyperventilating until a man with black and white hair told her to breathe; the look on his face telling her that he had probably been trying to get her attention for a while. She felt his hand rubbing circles on her back as he took deep breaths of his own to help her by setting the pace. Draco eventually found breathing becoming an easier task for her, the tight feeling in her chest uncoiling, allowing her to calm down. Draco looked up at the black eyed mage and said, "Thank you." The former Oración Seis member helping her up and leading her to the infirmary as he said, "Come on. We should patch up your arm so you're not bleeding all over the floor, that was a pretty nasty fall." Draco nodded and allowed the man to lead her to a bed to sit down so that he could get a better look at her arm. The man said, "The name's Macbeth. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of me but everyone here knows about you. Jellal told us all about you over the years as well as the other youngsters in your guild." Draco shook her head and replied, "I know who you are. You were known by Midnight when you first fought the Fairy Tail guild. I've done research on as many historical events in the magic world as I could so that I could find more dark magic to create counter spells for..." Macbeth simply said, "I see." Before he went back to treating her arm using rubbing alcohol and bandages.

Draco didn't move even after Macbeth was finished treating her arm, she was staring off into space, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what she was going to do. Draco wasn't sure what to do or even how she found her way to Crime Sorcière, none of the other guilds ever found out where their guild hall is, not even the members of Fairy Tail knew. Draco was brought out of her thoughts by Macbeth saying, "I'll let Jellal know you're here. He'll be able to assure your guildmates that you're safe for the night." Draco looked up at the black eyed mage in confusion at his words as she asked, "What do you mean 'for the night'?" To which the laid back man replied, "It's almost 10 in the evening. You're not going back tonight, it's not safe." Draco nodded in understanding, her mind going blank as she stared at the floor. Draco didn't know how long she sat there trying to keep the static from overwhelming her again but she was startled when she heard another voice say, "So we finally get to meet the Fairy Tail wizard that has been providing our guild with spells to protect against dark magic. I honestly thought you were a little older kiddo." Draco looked up and saw a tan skinned man with dark brown hair and a scar over his right eye. Draco eventually found herself saying automatically, "It's nice to know that at least one of my main subjects of research didn't end up causing just misery." Draco's eyes widened at her own words and she looked away at the man's stunned expression. He then said, "I heard you talking to Macbeth, since you already know him I assume you know who I am too." Draco nodded and replied, "You're Erik, formerly known as Cobra of Oración Seis." Erik nodded and said, "Jellal should be here soon. I'm sure he'll want to talk to you about what happened and how you found your way here." Draco didn't know what to say but she was surprised when he sat down in a chair on the other side of the room to keep watch of her, Macbeth coming back to do the same while carrying her bag that had apparently been dropped in the guild hall at some point during her panic.

Moriko held Fenrir's hand while he lay unconscious, but she could hear Lucy and Natsu talking along with the other guild members about what they were going to do to help Draco as well as finding out where she ran off to. Moriko whispered, "Please, Fenrir and Draco, when you're in pain it throws the entire guild into disarray. We want to help you both so much, you've already suffered enough. We need both of you to make the guild whole again." Moriko felt tears dripping down her face and landing onto the back of Fenrir's hand as she held it.

Lucy was trying to get Natsu to understand that beating up Zeref wasn't going to solve the problem. Violence wouldn't help their daughter, that was something that had become painfully clear over the years. Lucy shouted at the retreating form of her husband as he started to leave the guild hall, "Natsu, we should focus on finding where Draco ran off to! Not berating your brother about this; you know Draco wouldn't want you to do that! Please Natsu!" When it became obvious that he wasn't listening to her pleas, Lucy turned to look at Lyon and Gray before saying, "Help me stop him!"

Draco eventually rummaged around in her bag because it got unbearable to sit in the silent infirmary with the two Oración Seis members watching her. Draco dug around and pulled out a special Lacrima that was made for people who didn't have Archive magic to access the Magic Databases(much like laptops and home computers) for private use. Draco pulled out her field journals on magical creatures and began entering the data into Lacrima. Draco was in the middle of entering information on a species that called itself the Drakulri when Erik decided to ask, "So what brought you here? I'm pretty sure none of the official guilds know our location, and you seemed pretty upset when you practically dived through our front door." Draco ended up typing in a wrong word while distracted by Erik's questions and shook her head to clear her mind, trying to focus on transferring the written data as she simply stated, "They don't, I didn't either, I was running too fast and tripped on something. That's what brought me here, I'm fine." Erik hummed and waited for about five minutes before nudging his half-asleep guildmate to say something to her, Macbeth letting out a quiet grunt before immediately saying, "People that are fine don't have panic attacks or hyperventilate." Draco paused typing after pressing down a little hard on one of the keys at the man's comment. Draco shot back, "Well this one does." Erik shot back almost as quickly, "You should get that checked out then because that's not healthy." Draco growled in frustration at the two former dark wizards and the shiteating grin on Erik's face. Draco continued typing while trying to ignore them however it was hard when Erik roped Macbeth into helping him "interrogate" her in one of the most annoying ways possible. Macbeth got up and walked over to the pile of field journals beside her as he asked, "Were you running from one of those..." He paused to read the species name of the first creature he came across in the book, "Gee...ran...trals?" Draco tried to snatch her book back from him but was intercepted by Erik, who flipped to another page in the book. Draco said, "It's pronounced Grantrals and the answer is no. They're one of the more playful forest nymphs that people see commonly. They aren't anything to be afraid of despite their grotesque appearance, the most harm they could do is snatch your underwear from your luggage." Erik cut in, "Well, how do we know that you didn't have your underwear stolen and you were trying to chase one?" Draco sighed and gave them an unamused stare as she said, "I did not get my underwear stolen from my bag, I wasn't even planning on taking a trip so there's no spare clothes." A wizard that was passing by peeked her head in the room and quipped before she left, "So that means it was stolen off your ass and you're going commando." Erik's jaw dropped in playful disbelief as Macbeth clicked his tongue saying, "Tsk, not good. That's not very ladylike." Draco squawked indignantly as she said, "I'm not going commando! This has nothing to do with stolen underwear; mine or anyone else's." Erik laughed and practically purred, "So you admit that there was stolen underwear?" She ground out through gritted teeth, "There's no stolen underwear!" Draco managed to get her journal back and continued typing while the two tried to rile her up enough with playful banter to get her to tell them what happened.

Draco managed to get through 3 magical creatures when she finally had enough of the jokes and playful questions and shouted, "Stop bugging me! Unlike you, I'm trying to get as much of this done before I die because I only have a few months left to live! And you wanna know why?! Because apparently the only reason I'm alive is because some Goddess decided to use the body of the Salamander's miscarried child to break Zeref's curse since the one who cursed him made it impossible for it to be broken by any God but himself. Now that I've completed the spell for saving him that I wanted to create my entire life I've only got a few months to live because this body died before it's own soul could be developed! I've been trying so hard to help other people my whole life! Creating spells, documenting and understanding magical creatures no one else has ever seen or survived meeting, creating art, helping people change their ways, and even trying to befriend the Demon of Hatred despite the fact that he's harmed my guildmates because I truly believe everyone can understand each other and live in peace. I've done all these things, and it seems like it's all going to amount to nothing because I'm dying! I've tried so hard to keep the people around me happy, to fix this situation, I wanted to see that future with my own eyes, but I won't ever get to!" Draco turned off the Lacrima during her rant and tried not to start hyperventilating again. Everything was silent for a moment before Draco croaked out in tone that indicated she was close to crying, "I tried... I mean I really, really tried... I tried to fix things on my own because I thought I could, because I had been able to for so long, like when I was creating the spells you guys now use against dark magic... I thought I could do it alone because I didn't need any help when making the spells or doing a lot of the things that I'm proud of... I tried to hide it and shoulder the knowledge for so long and today I reached my breaking point... Now that I think about it I guess I had already reached it a long time ago and didn't even realize it... But I can't keep pretending that everything's alright... Because it's not." Draco didn't know when the tears started falling but she soon found she couldn't get them to stop. Draco felt hopeless, she had hurt the people she loves in her pursuit of knowledge and the power to save others, it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that all she ever seemed to do is either hurt the people she cares about or make them worry about her. It wasn't fair that every time she tried to make progress something came and tried to turn the momentary hope brought by her success into despair. It wasn't fair that it seemed like everything she had achieved in the name of science and helping others only brought pain, taking one step towards hope and turning it into two steps towards suffering. It wasn't fair and she hated it.



She hAtEd it?

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Cain joined with Gray the moment Lucy looked to the latter to plead to help her stop Natsu from leaving to give his Brother a piece of his mind. Gray put up an Ice Wall over the guild Entrance, causing Natsu to stop.

“This again? I’m not in the mood for fighting you Gray.”

“Natsu. Don’t abandon your own daughter just to beat up her Uncle.” Gray retorted. As he said this, Lyon summoned an ice panther to pace the entrance as well.

“I know nothing else to do! What good are my fists and the Fire in my Belly?!” He muttered quietly and angrily to the guild.

“We band together and find her.” Gajeel interjected. “That’s What we’d all do. Fairy Tail doesn’t leave their own to suffer!” Natsu was about to say something else when Erza walked out of her office and to the stairs.

“It seems Mystogan has caught onto her trail.” She said. “He’ll see about getting her back home.”

“Well, he’d better! Better yet, I want him to have a solution to the problem!” Natsu said as he sat pouting. He felt very dissatisfied with not walking up to Zeref and getting into a fight with him. Would’ve been fun.

———

Jellal had walked in the middle of Draco’s talking to those present. “Macbeth, Erik. Leave us.” He ordered. When they left Jellal sighed. “Erza called me in distress about everything going on. Draco, I wished you told me about your progress on your research a lot sooner. I wouldn’t have been mad, but would have helped you find a solution to the possible side effects. Now it seems we need to find it even now more then ever. Which possibly means Freeing Exphion, whilst keeping you alive. Because I think, everyone else at Fairy Tail wants you to see that future as much as You do.”

———

Fenrir heard discussions and other things from the medical wing. His mind tried to stir from his distressed slumber. But the thoughts came to his head like an echo. ”Weak, Foolish, Failure.” Fenrir didn’t know what to do. His team was about to break apart, and it wouldn’t be the first time. The negativity of his own failings weighed heavily as he sat in his mental landscape. No one would care if he just retired from being a Sword Wizard.

”If that be so, then why does she cry for you?” Came a new voice, gesturing to Moriko, whose tears are falling onto his hand.. ”Look inside yourself Fenrir. You are more then what you currently think yourself to be. You must awaken and be the Wolf of Fairy Tail Fiore claims that you are. Fairy Tail needs you.”


That realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Right now Draco and the rest of the guild, even his beloved Moriko needed him. ”I can’t just sit around in a bed. I’m Fairy Tail’s Wolf after all!”

He slowly opened his eyes and looked to Moriko. “Any Mail for me while I was gone?” He Half joked with the intention to make Moriko smile and dry her eyes. “That aside, we’ve got work to do Moriko. Starting with figuring out what exactly is going on with Draco, and who’s involved. You in?”

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Firewind's Characters

Draco sighed as she listened to Jellal's words, guilt filling her when he mentioned Erza's reaction and the fact that she should have told him. However, she replied bitterly, "Just because someone gets amnesia doesn't mean they suddenly have more than one soul. That's basically all that's happened with me and Exphion. We're the same soul, I just don't have any of her memories. There's no freeing Exphion, there's just death." Draco curled in on herself as she tried to stop the tears from flowing. She stood up as soon as her tears had stopped and slapped both her cheeks before saying, "Okay, let's figure this out, I refuse to just die."

Draco immediately picked up the Lacrima again before she opened a new document and started to type out the information she had so far. Once she had finished she read aloud to herself, "Okay, this is what we know so far about the situation. Exphion moved her soul into this body after it died in the womb, no soul had a chance to be formed for it since it was still not developed enough to hold one. That brought it back to life and I was born, her soul and mine are the same. There's only one so freeing her is not an option since we're the same exact person but we don't have the same memories. Exphion did this to meet Zeref due to her anger at her brother for cursing him but was unable to break it while she was still a goddess. Also, she didn't want Natsu and Lucy to go through the pain of discovering their child had died before being born." She added more to the document before erasing certain parts.

Draco breathed out slowly before mumbling, "Okay, keep the emotion out of it. This needs to keep the facts straight and I can't do that if I let myself get caught up in the emotions." She then continued to read aloud, "Exphion made it her primary objective to create a spell that will break the curse on Zeref but failed to see that once she did she would have to return within a few months if she didn't immediately cast the spell. That means the mortal body will die since there is no other soul. Now that the spell is completed the body has been experiencing vertigo, blackouts, violent fluctuation in body temperature, and visions of Ankhseram during sleep and fainting spells that have provided information on the current condition. More symptoms may develop the longer the body goes on before dying." She then stood up and started looking around for extra paper so that she could make a visual map of the information to make it easier to navigate.

Once she found some she pulled a pen out of her pocket and began to draw a bubble chart as she continued speaking, "The Azura family has a connection to Exphion, Ankhseram, and possibly other gods. There have been mentions of Exphion having champions in the past however there currently is none. Therefore, she is less well known and has fewer followers than others. There might be a correlation between her failing power from lack of believers and the amount of time left in her mortal body. Further research is needed for this hypothesis to be deemed valid. Consulting the Azura family will need to be done to find out if they have any information on stopping the process as well as other information that I do not currently have." She underlined the Azura name several times when she finished speaking. Draco then sat back and crossed her arms as she thought about other possibilities and would occasionally add in more details as she attempted to remember any information she might have forgotten to add.

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Moriko smiled a bit at Fenrir's words and wiped away her tears as she nodded. "I'm in," She said with a wobbly smile, "We have to save Draco." It was then that Draconius emerged from the shadows in the room being cast by a bright almost full moon. He then said, "Good, because I'm not looking forward to what we'd have to go up against if we fail." Moriko asked, "What do you mean?" Draconius stretched his draconic wings and replied, "Well, it'll be easier to bargain with the original seven sins if their niece is present. Fallen Gods are more powerful than the demon nobles that currently represent the seven deadly sins, they don't age either, unlike demons." Moriko was stunned at the revelation. The demon wolf grinned as he elaborated, "The original sins retired and handed off their duties to demon nobles, nobody knows where they are now though as they left hell immediately after and decided to live peacefully in the mortal realm. That was so long ago that I wasn't even born yet, and all but one are Exphion's uncles." He then shifted into his human form and looked out at the moon as he muttered to himself, "She's already met one of them without realizing it; time to go find the rest."

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It was that very same night that the leviathan surfaced on a remote beach not too far from where the Crime Sorcière guild had been established in the forest several miles away. There was nobody around to watch the giant sea serpent turn into a young man with amber eyes and purple hair, black coral-like horns and a long serpentine tail of the same color the only indication that he wasn't human. It was then that a white crow with blue eyes flew overhead, shifting into a white haired man with black corkscrew horns and bat wings and landed on the sand before the man's clothes changed as he smirked and said, "Damn Leviathan, ya can't claim to be human walking around like that. Shouldn't the Sin of Envy know that? Though, to be fair, it's not like a cowardly hermit like you could know that. What, with how instead of messing with humans after retirement you chose to go hide in the ocean."

Leviathan scowled as he shifted his appearance once more while he hissed, "Shut up Mammon! I was just taking my time. Also, you're supposed to call me Levi out here. It's shorter and less suspicious. At least I was good at my job before retirement. You were so terrible at being the Sin of Greed that there's no records of you except as some lowly scumbag who owed a lot of people money." "Respect yer older brother ya little-" Before the two could come to blows they were interrupted by a bubbly man with strawberry blonde hair and pink tinted amber eyes cheerfully declaring, "Levi, Mammon, long time no see! It won't do any good to be late when Lucifer called us here, though I wouldn't be surprised. After all, your cute little brother is here in all his glory. I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss seeing the Sin of Lust in the flesh for the first time in many years so I'm sure he'll forgive you." Mammon scoffed while Leviathan rolled his eyes, the purple haired man saying, "You know how strict Lucifer is Asmodeus. He's going to kill us if we're late." Mammon grumbled, "Yeah Asmo, ya damn narcissist. We need to get going already, pervert." Asmodeus gasped in offense, "How rude! After all these years the first thing you do is insult me! Stupid scumbag! It sucks having an idiot like you for an older brother." Leviathan started walking towards the mountains as he ignored the arguing between his older and younger brother.

Mammon and Asmodeus followed behind continuing to argue before Leviathan decided to be the responsible one and break it up by asking, "Does anyone know why he called us after so long?" Mammon shrugged while Asmo replied cheerfully, "Oh yes! It's about his daughter Exphion. Rumor has it lately that she has been reborn in a human body and getting into trouble these days. I wonder how adorable she is now. Last time we saw her she was still a newborn goddess." Mammon groaned, "Yeah and he was really mad about not being able to watch her grow up since we all got cast out around a month after she was born. He was so strict with all of us after we got settled in, too. Not that he'd ever admit that he was upset about it, prideful bastard." Leviathan nodded along and added, "Well, it would be good to see her again. Hopefully she got her eye back by now." It was when silence followed that he knew he messed up, he sped up to try to reach the meeting place, ignoring his brothers pestering to know more since he had been the only one of the seven brothers who encountered her so far.

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