"The only secret I'd like to see is your face."
Harry's hangover didn't stop him from Apparating behind Alexei. With a wand leveled at the back of the man's helmet, Harry didn't wait for an answer of any kind. He whipped his wand up, directing the man's helmet to fly.
It did, but Harry didn't get the answer to his question. There was nothing underneath. Just the neck of an empty suit of armor and the floating helmet that had sat on top.
"Fairies always resort of violence so quickly. It's a disappointment to find that you're the same as the rest, but no matter. I'm sure we can still have a conversation."
The voice appeared to come from the helmet itself. As Harry watched, something crawled out. It was a paper doll similar in size and shape to a ginger bread man, marked with blue squares and circles along its head and stomach. The paper doll floated in the air, leaving the helmet to clatter down on the ground.
"You're shorter than I expected," Harry said.
"You're very carefree," the doll told him. "Trusting, too. Whatever you're told, you accept and go along with it. Members of a sad, hollow, nearly-dead guild spun tales of grandeur and you fell into them headfirst. Haven't you wondered, even once? Where did Fairy Tail's glory come from? What was it built on?"
"I have a pretty good idea," Harry said. He was thinking of Benson, the man who sold their old home back nearly for free just to get the guild in action. Jura went out of his way to give Fairy Tail an outside shot at getting back on their feet. The guild had done enough good that everywhere he turned, there was someone willing to return a favor. That meant something.
"Your idea is no doubt built on what you've been told by the fools who convinced you to lead them," Alexei said. His doll body touched the nubs of its arms behind its back, pacing in the air. "You have to learn to think critically. A guild famous across all of Ishgar for three generations only gets there because of their power. Power never comes free." The doll stopped in the air, turning its blank face onto Harry. "Coincidentally, Fairy Tail's rise coincides with their greatest secret. For decades it has been hidden by master after master. But that's you now, isn't it? You could pass the defenses. You could gaze upon Fairy Tail's darkside."
"If it exists."
"Oh, it exists." Alexei chuckled. "I know that for a fact. Somehow, they've created a source of infinite magic. The council's Etherion weapon could be fired endlessly with that sort of source. Imagine what it could do to individual mages, if they found a way to harness it." The doll turned to face Harry, holding its paper arms out toward him. "It could make us gods amongst men!"
Harry didn't move.
"I've never been fond of anyone I met who wanted ultimate power," Harry mused. "Maybe you're the first good one of the bunch. Forgive me if I don't take that chance on a man who won't even show his face."
A Cutting Curse cut doll's head off its body like scissors squeezing its neck. Its inert pieces wafted to the floor. Alexei clicked his tongue.
The sound came from inside the bulk of the armor. A white fountain poured out of the golden metal as hundreds of dolls flooded out. They arrayed themselves in a wall, each speaking in the stranger's voice, harmonizing in a deep tone.
"I'd hoped to find a reasonable man. Fools attract their ilk, it seems."
"If you wanted to convince me of anything — and when it comes to world domination, I'm a hard-sell — you shouldn't have opened up by badmouthing my friends," Harry said. "I don't care if they're hiding infinite magic, a dragon, or the secret to keeping both sides of your pillow cool at night. That's not the guild's heart. Fairy Tail's heart are the mages you ran your mouth about."
"You—!"
Alexei wasn't given space to answer as billowing flames poured out of Harry's wand. Dolls were burned and destroyed in droves, even as an impossible amount continued to pour out of the suit of armor. They didn't try to attack Harry. Their only goal was fleeing, taking the armor they arrived in with them. For all the ones that met an ashy end, more of them managed to escape. Between spurts of flame, Harry whispered an incantation, striking one at the back of the pack with an almost-imperceptible purple spell.
The dolls fled straight through the nearest window, breaking through it with their numbers and carrying the armor away with them. Harry thought he might've heard a final curse that included his name, but it was hard to tell if the sound was Alexei's voice or just raining glass.
Left alone, he looked long and hard at the broken window, then at the array of scattered ashes across the floor.
"Cleaning time already," he mused with a sigh.
As he straightened the room up, fixing the window with a spell and levitating the ashes into an easy-to-Vanish pile, his thoughts were on the mysterious visitor. He looked at the floor between his feet, then up and the window he had just fixed.
He had a feeling he hadn't heard the last of this.
O-O-O
Fairy Tail arrived to their new (old?) home the way that they did most things— loudly.
Jet zipped around the room with the help of his High Speed magic, reminding himself where everything was and marveling at the renovations that had been done since the guild left. Droy lumbered around doing the same thing at a slower pace. Reedus had his hands up with his thumbs touching, visualizing how each detail would look in a painting. Laki might've been the most expressive. She twirled in circles, giggling uproariously. The new members came in more slowly behind them, not having the same warm memories but still plenty excited to see their shiny new homebase.
"It's weird to be back here," Totomaru said. "Last time I saw this place, it was rubble."
"And whose fault was that?" Macao arrived with a bottle of booze in his hands. He leveled the stem at Totomaru. "I might not have been able to hang with you Element Four types on the battlefield, but I'm sure I can take you in a drinking battle. What do you say?"
Totomaru's eyes gleamed. Before he could take Macao's challenge, the former guild master lost his grip on the bottle.
It floated into the air, finding its way into Harry's grasp where he sat at one of the room's tables. Harry pushed the bottle into the pocket of his pants, sliding it down until it disappeared entirely, despite the pocket being a fraction of the bottle's size.
"Save the drinking for later," Harry said.
"You're a despot," Macao said. Wakaba backed his best friend from behind him, crossing his arms.
"We've got business to settle before the revelry can start," Harry reminded them. "The Grand Magic Games are next on the menu, and we have to decide who gets to eat."
It took a bit of cat-herding to get all the members assembled. They had to push three tables together and drag chairs from all over the room. With eight newbies, the days of fitting everyone around one table were in the rearview mirror.
The choices started off simple. Crime Sorciere was a shoe-in.
Jellal nodded when Harry named them. Ultear smirked. Meredy looked the most eager, smiling at the prospect. They had been recruited with the expectation that they would take part, so this was no surprise.
After that, things became a bit trickier.
"There are six spots. Five main members and a reserve in case of injury," Harry said. "That leaves us with two places and the reserve to fill."
None of the old members nominated themselves. They'd seen how it went when they tried to compete with Fiore's elite. Taking one of the limited places to soothe their pride would only get in the guild's way. They hated the idea of that more than they hated feeling powerless.
"Do you have suggestions?" Laki asked, shifting her glasses. "You would know our strengths the best."
Harry tapped his fingers on his foot, which was resting on his knee. He reclined in his chair. "I was thinking about Dyst."
"Me?"
Dyst pointed at himself, looking truly baffled. He had been arguably the least engaged in the conversation. His shaggy fringe of hair shaded his disbelieving eyes.
"We need to make a good showing," Harry said. "I've seen the other guilds in action and they're no pushovers. It makes sense to send our strongest members."
"But they're way stronger than me," Dyst said.
He pointed at Flare, Kageyama, and Totomaru one at a time. The blunt way that he put it took some at the table aback. Harry leaned forward in his chair, planting both his feet on the floor. He squinted at the young man he'd recruited.
"Catch," Harry said.
He conjured a beanbag and lobbed it in Dyst's direction. The trajectory was set to take it well over Dyst's head, even when he lifted his arm. Reflexes brought out his magic and stopped the beanbag in the air.
"What was the point of that?" Dyst asked. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the sound of rattling as tables and chairs around them began to vibrate.
"You're sure they're stronger than you?" Harry asked.
"I'd have a chance against them in a fight, but they're all better mages than me." The beanbag sank into Dyst's palm. The rattling stopped. "I fought plenty of mages when I was working in the capital. I got pretty good at understanding how I measure up."
Harry squinted.
"Alright. You'll be our reserve," he said.
Dyst seemed confused about his insistence. There were no arguments from him though, not now that Harry made the choice.
"I'd like to compete."
Fittingly for his character, Kageyama phrased it simply and said it quietly. Harry glanced around the table. "Any complaints "
He received none. The new recruits had passed the entrance exam thanks to Kageyama's guidance, and the older members all remembered the ease with which he stole Mary Hughes' ring when the need arose. Harry had planned to nominate Kageyama already, primarily for the insight he'd shown by getting to the heart of his little test. There was more to the Grand Magic Games than fighting— that kind of intuition would come in handy.
"One spot left," Harry said, causing Kageyama to smile at his confirmation. "I think that Totomaru should compete."
"Really?" Totomaru cleared his throat, reigning in his beaming grin. "Well, it does make sense, doesn't it? I've got the pedigree."
"That's right. You have the most experience," Harry said. "Yukino and Flare, you two are just starting your journey as mages. You're young. Watch and learn this time, then knock it out of the park next year."
Yukino nodded determinedly.
"I'm happy to be in the audience," Flare announced. "I've heard that there are snacks there. I can't wait to see what kinds." Her smile grew.
"It's done then, isn't it?" Meredy asked. "We have our team."
"We have our team," Harry said.
There were smiles around the table. Some of the members started to converse. Before the group could break apart, Harry found a ceiling-facing palm waving in his face.
Macao cleared his throat. "If you please, Master."
Rolling his eyes, Harry produced the booze that he had confiscated.
It was time to break in their new home.
After that, the national stage awaited.
O-O-O
Crocus had been a bustling city the first time Harry saw it, comparable to any of Europe's capitals back home. Before stepping foot in the city, he realized that this visit would be on a completely different level.
The line for entry at the front gate ran all the way over the hill where he and Laki had first looked down on the city. It was slow-moving, full of impatient mages there to compete and eager civilians arriving for a show.
"Last time, you said you could have teleported us into the city…"
Laki's eyes were pleading. She was helping Harry drive the magic vehicle that they had rented for the guild. It looked a lot like a camping trailer hitched to a truck cab, except the cab was open to the elements and the vehicle ran off of magic instead of gasoline. Cables fixed to Laki's arm siphoned her magic to charge the engine. The power cost had slowed to a trickle as they crawled along in line.
"It would be bad manners to do it now. All these people are going the same place we are," Harry said. "It shouldn't be too long. We'll be in soon enough!"
He grinned to hammer the point home. As he did, a shadow fell across him. It was followed by a blast of dust and cries of anger from those behind them in line.
The vehicle looked like a ship. Its metal hull cut through the air with roughly a foot of space between its bottom and the ground. A flag flapped in place of a sail. The golden symbol was one of a cat with an oversized top fang, set against a background of white.
"Sabertooth." There was no love in Laki's voice. Maybe a bit of resignation, though.
Harry watched as the ship sailed past, starting to breeze down the hill they had spent almost twenty minutes crawling along. He stood up, taking his wand from his pocket.
"Why are you— Harry? Harry, don't!"
Laki's frustrations were ignored by Harry, who set his foot on the hood of their vehicle. He smiled brightly at her. His broom had appeared in his hand.
"Drive for me. I'll be right back."
Laki said something that probably wasn't, "Sure, Master!" but he was already zooming away.
The low-flying airship ground to a halt as they found a handsome, smiling black haired man with a lightning bolt scar floating in their path.
There were lots of mages on the deck of the ship. Powerful ones, if books could be judged by their covers. And at least one that Harry knew was powerful. Minerva Orland was as beautiful as ever, though her jaw tightened and she squeezed her crossed arms when she saw him.
There was a blond teenager with a fur-lined crop top and his six pack out. Close to him was a boy with dark hair wrapped up in a black cape, looking like the blond's shadow, or the yin to his yang. There was a shirtless man with a tribal necklace and an explosion of mint hair on his head; he was huge, built like a body builder. A man in red and white with a mask over his eyes had his face shaded by a hat, a plume of pink feathers sprouting from it and trailing out behind him, blowing in the winds that scoured the deck. There were more people on board, but they were set far back from this group, as if an invisible barrier neatly partitioned the two groups.
There was another 'barrier' between these five and the man standing on the prow. Arms crossed, a loose shirt fixed diagonally across his chest like a sash, the largest man on the deck had tanned skin and thick white hair in the form of a beard. He was close to seven feet tall if Harry had to estimate. The moment Harry appeared in front of their ship, the man's eyes had locked onto him. Harry was reminded of the way Snape used to look at him when Harry had the 'gall' to take up a seat in the man's class.
With all this attention on him, Harry was liable to get stage fright! Fortunately, his message was so simple that there was no way he'd be tongue-tied.
"There's a line."
Harry accompanied the reminder with a pointing finger, directing their attention to the mass of bodies the airship had been sailing past.
The man at the front of the boat exhaled through his nostrils. "Who are you?"
"I'm Harry." The Sabertooth leader apparently had a track record of missing obvious things, so he turned his pointing finger toward his own chest, making it clear who Harry was, in case the man needed help. "I'm one of the people you cut in line."
The man didn't pay heed to the accusation. "Do you know who we are?"
"Sabertooth?"
The man either missed or ignored the edge of doubt in Harry's voice, taking it as a given that they would be recognized.
"I am Jiemma, guild master of Sabertooth. We've proven our supremacy year after year. No matter who stands against us, we triumph. Because we are better. Better than Lamia Scale. Better than Mermaid Heel. Better than Blue Pegasus. And far, far better than whatever rabble are crawling into the city like ants. Do you see a person stepping over insects and tell him he is cutting them?" Jiemma looked backwards. "Get the flying ant out of our way."
"I'll show him the glory of Sabertooth!"
Minerva reacted the fastest, rushing past Jiemma and planting her foot on the ship's rim. Balls of colorful magic appeared in either of her hands. Harry watched her eyes dart toward Jimena before she brought her hands together.
"Begone!" Minerva said. "And don't come back, unless you're in search of pain!"
There was a lag between her words and her magic taking effect. Harry's sharp eyes picked out an almost imperceptible tremor in her arms. She was giving him a warning wrapped in a threat's clothes.
Harry didn't move. The light enveloped him. An instant later, he was seated back in the chair he had left next to Laki. Looking up, he saw that Jiemma had deigned to lean over the ship's edge and look down on the uppity ant returned to its place.
Sabertooth's airship swept forward, passing more disgruntled mages and civilians, all of whom except for Harry were wise enough not to block their path.
Laki peeked out between her fingers, which she'd covered her face with. She sighed from relief.
"There are rumors about that guild," she said. "Those who get on their bad side don't last very long. Only the strongest members of top guilds can hold their own against them, like Jura. If they take a few liberties like getting into the capital first…" Laki shrugged. "They've proven themselves five years in a row."
"Hmm." Harry had flown up there angry about being skipped in line. Now something was bothering him more. He tapped his wand against the top of the steering wheel, thinking. "So Jiemma thinks he can get away with anything because he's not used to losing."
"He's never lost. Not in the games, not when trying to land a big mission, and they say he's never been beaten in a fight."
Harry came to a decision.
"Hold onto something?"
"What? Why? What are you—" Laki's eyes widened. She whipped around, shouting to the other members in the back. "Get ready!"
"Ready for what?" someone yelled back, but it was too late. The magic vehicle was warping out of existence.
They were treated to the feeling of being forced down a very small, narrow, and tight tube with little regard for their actual shape and size. When they snapped back into a normal state of being, members had been scattered around the cabin, Laki had fallen off her seat with her legs sticking up in the air, and even Harry's glasses had been left slightly askew.
"The trip gets rougher the more I try to bring along with me," Harry explained. "I can't do anything about the feeling, unfortunately. The results are still worth it."
"Worth that?" Clawing herself back into her seat, Laki conveniently forgot that she'd been pleading for him to do that not much earlier.
"Well worth it," Harry said.
Members pulled themselves out of the back of the vehicle in varying states of disorientation. Yukino and Totomaru threw up. Flare appeared to have passed out. Crime Sorciere took it better than most, maybe because they'd experienced Apparition a few times during Operation Fairy Tail. Meredy still had a bit of green in her cheeks.
Harry gave them all plenty of time to get their bearings, keeping the vehicle parked in perfect view of the front gates. There was a bit of a wait, perhaps around five minutes, before the guards shouted something urgently.
There was a sense of deja vu as a shadow fell across the street, including the magical vehicle where Harry sat. A massive airship had flown up and over the outer wall of Crocus. Perched above the street, it ejected smaller boats, one of which was about the size of the magical vehicle Fairy Tail rented. This one landed first, right in the middle of the street, drawing awed looks from the many civilians and mages in the area— atop the boat's deck was the same group of six mages Harry had taken note of, Jiemma standing at the prow of this smaller craft now, drawing everyone's eyes onto him.
For all that he talked about ants, Harry caught him taking in every face in the crowd, drinking up every drop of awe. This lasted until his eyes landed on a certain magical vehicle parked and waiting.
Harry lifted his hand over his head and waved. No words. He didn't need them.
Just a wave and a beaming smile.