"There's something else," Makarov said after we'd finished shaking hands. His expression had grown serious again.
""Something every guild master needs to know."
I had a pretty good idea what he was talking about, but I kept my expression neutral. "Alright."
"Follow me."
Makarov led me out of his office and down a corridor I'd walked dozens of times before, but instead of heading toward the main hall, he stopped at what looked like an ordinary section of wall. He pressed his hand against a specific stone, and I watched as magical runes flared to life before the wall simply... dissolved.
"A hidden passage," I said, though I wasn't really surprised.
"Every guild master knows about this place," Makarov said quietly, stepping through the opening. "And now you do too."
The passage was narrow and dimly lit by magical lacrima embedded in the walls. We walked in silence for several minutes, going deeper underground than I'd realized the guild hall extended. Finally, we emerged into a circular chamber that took my breath away.
Not because it was beautiful—though it was, in its own way—but because floating in the center of the room, pulsing with an ethereal golden light, was something I'd already known in the manga.
Fairy Heart.
Or rather–Mavis Vermillion herself. The first guild master of Fairy Tail.
Her small form was perfectly preserved within the crystal, golden hair flowing around her as if suspended in water, eyes closed in eternal sleep. The crystal itself pulsed with an ethereal golden light that seemed to emanate from her very being.
"This," Makarov said softly, "is Fairy Tail's greatest secret. And its greatest burden."
"Burden..." I muttered under my breath, staring at Mavis's sleeping form.
Makarov sighed. "A cruel fate, isn't it? To think the one who gave birth to this family… was turned into a vessel of endless power. Everyone speaks of Fairy Heart as the guild's trump card, but to me… it's her grave. A prison of crystal, holding her for all eternity."
"Not anymore," I said aloud.
Makarov's head snapped toward me. "What do you mean—"
But I was already moving. My hand reached into my inventory space, then a jagged black blade materialized in my grip, its dark metal seeming to drink in the golden light around us.
"Aiden, what are you doing?" Makarov's voice had gone sharp with alarm.
I didn't answer. Instead, I stepped forward and brought the sword down in a clean arc across the crystal's surface.
For a split second, nothing happened. Then hairline cracks spread out from where the blade had touched, racing across the crystal like lightning. The golden light flickered once, twice—
And then the whole thing shattered.
Crystal fragments scattered across the stone floor with tiny ringing sounds. The golden light died instantly, plunging us into the dimmer glow of the wall lacrima.
And there, lying unconscious on the chamber floor where the crystal had been, was Mavis Vermillion. Actual flesh and blood, breathing softly, looking exactly like she had over a century ago.
"You..." Makarov's voice came out as barely a whisper. "What was that sword?"
I knelt down beside Mavis, checking her pulse. Steady and strong. "Something I picked up along the way. Cursebane—it's designed to cut through any kind of curse or binding magic."
"The curse—"
"Is gone." I looked up at him. "That's what the crystal was doing, wasn't it? Keeping her alive but trapped because of the death magic. Well, Cursebane doesn't care if a god made the curse or not. It just cuts through everything."
Makarov stared at me like I'd just told him I could juggle planets. "Just like that? A centuries-old divine curse, and you just... cut it?"
I shrugged, gently brushing a strand of golden hair away from Mavis's face. "Yeah, pretty much. Though I guess we should probably get her somewhere more comfortable before she wakes up.
We carried Mavis up to the guild's clinic, Makarov muttering under his breath the entire way. I caught fragments like "impossible boy" and "defying divine curses like it's nothing" and my personal favorite, "gonna give me a heart attack before I'm two hundred."
Once we got Mavis settled on one of the clinic beds, I pulled up a chair beside her while Makarov paced around like a caged animal. She looked so small under the white sheets, almost fragile. Hard to believe this tiny girl had founded the most chaotic guild in Fiore.
"NIMO," I called. "Run a full scan on her. Check for any lingering curse effects, physical abnormalities, anything that might be concerning."
Makarov stopped pacing. As he turned his gaze to me then back to Mavis.
"Scanning complete," NIMO's voice echoed in my head. "Subject shows no trace of curse energy. Physical condition is optimal—equivalent to a healthy eighteen-year-old female. No abnormalities detected."
The curse basically put her in perfect stasis for over a century. No aging, no deterioration, nothing. Like the world's most morbid time capsule.
"She's perfectly healthy. Clean bill of health, actually."
"Good," Makarov said, though he still looked like he was processing everything. "That's... that's good."
A soft groan came from the bed, and both Makarov and I turned to watch as Mavis's eyes slowly fluttered open. Those familiar green eyes blinked a few times, unfocused at first, before gradually taking in her surroundings.
"Where... where am I?" Her voice came out hoarse, probably from not speaking for over a century.
"The guild's clinic," Makarov said gently, moving closer to the bed. "You're safe, Mavis."
She tried to sit up, and I quickly reached over to help steady her. Her eyes went wide when she saw me, then shifted to Makarov, then back to me again.
"How?" she whispered, and I could hear the disbelief in her voice. "How am I... I should be..." Her hand went to her chest, pressing against where her heart was beating. "I can feel it. My heartbeat. I'm really..."
"You're free," I said simply. "The curse is gone."
"Gone? That's... that's impossible. Divine curses don't just disappear. They can't be broken, they can't be lifted, they—"
"Can be cut," I finished for her
For a moment, she just stared at me like I'd spoken in a foreign language. Then her face crumpled, and the tears started flowing.
"I'm free?" she choked out between sobs. "Really?"
"Yeah…."
She buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking as over a century of trapped emotions finally had somewhere to go. Makarov looked like he was fighting back tears of his own.
For the next few minutes, Mavis just cried. Deep, heavy sobs that seemed to pour out everything she'd been holding in.
I didn't try to stop her. She needed this.
Her body was in stasis, but her mind wasn't.
She was awake the whole time, stuck as an astral projection that no one could see or hear. What kind of sick punishment is that?
I almost want to break Ankheram's nose when I see that bastard again.
A century of watching her guild live and grow while she could only observe like a ghost. Unable to help during tragedies, unable to celebrate during victories. Just... there, but not really there.
She buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking. "I thought it would never end. That I'd be trapped forever, watching everyone live and die while I could do nothing."
"The guild's different now," Makarov said gently. "Bigger, louder, more chaotic than you probably remember."
Mavis looked up, wiping her eyes. "I reckon.."
"Well," I said with a smirk, "let's just say your descendants inherited your talent for causing trouble. You should see what they did to the guild hall last week."
Mavis laughed for the first time since waking up.
"I can't wait to meet them," she whispered.
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