Aelius leaned back slightly in his seat, surveying the guild with a sense of quiet amusement. They had wanted a story, practically demanded it, in fact, and far be it from him to deny them. If they had the stomach to listen, he had no qualms about sharing. But whether they were prepared for the reality of it was another matter entirely.
He had spared no detail, recounting the battle with the precision of a man who had lived through it and come out the other side, if barely. He had described the sensation of his ribs shattering, the sickening crunch of his own bones breaking under the force of an inhuman opponent. He painted a vivid picture of his body tearing itself apart, only to be forced back together by the relentless, agonizing nature of his magic. He spoke of the shards of his own skeleton piercing through flesh, of the way they had to be expelled before his body could knit itself whole again.
The reaction was… predictable.
A good number of them looked green, hands gripping their drinks a little tighter, a few pushing their plates away as if the mere thought of food had become unbearable. Even Natsu, in all his boundless energy and enthusiasm, had gone uncharacteristically quiet. He wasn't sick, Dragon Slayers didn't exactly have weak stomachs, but he wasn't bouncing in his seat anymore, either.
Gray had his arms crossed, but there was a tension in his expression that hadn't been there before. Lucy looked like she regretted ever asking. Even Erza, as composed as ever, was watching him with something unreadable in her gaze.
Aelius let the silence stretch. Maybe this would dissuade them from asking about the Labyrinth.
He took a slow sip from his mug, letting the bitter alcohol settle on his tongue before swallowing. "What?" he finally asked, voice level. "You asked for details."
Lucy visibly shuddered. "Yeah, but not like that."
"Too much for you, Heartfilia?" His voice was laced with dry amusement.
She scowled. "I don't need a play-by-play of your bones snapping back into place, thanks."
Natsu finally stirred, rubbing the back of his head. "Man… that's messed up."
Gray exhaled sharply. "No kidding. And here I thought you were just some guy who drank poison and brooded in corners."
Aelius smirked faintly. "I contain multitudes."
Erza leaned forward slightly. "And you lived through all of that?" There was something in her tone, something almost… respectful.
Aelius inclined his head slightly. "Obviously."
Natsu leaned forward with his usual reckless enthusiasm. "Okay, but, where does Virgo come into play? This all started because Lucy summoned her right?"
Aelius stared at him for a long moment, his mask concealing the twitch of his lips. "Was that not obvious?"
The guild collectively turned to Virgo, who had been standing silently at his side this whole time, her expression blank and unreadable as ever.
Natsu squinted. "Wait. You're saying the pink-haired maid-?"
Aelius gestured vaguely toward her. "Who else?"
Virgo gave a small curtsy. "I am unsure why this is surprising, Master Natsu." Her tone remained even, yet there was the faintest hint of amusement beneath it. "I was present for the entirety of the event."
Lucy gawked. "That maid was you?"
Virgo nodded. "Yes." She tilted her head slightly, hands folded neatly in front of her apron. "However, I did not interfere."
Erza raised an eyebrow. "You did nothing?"
Virgo shook her head. "The prince had requested that I follow his orders at the time." She inclined her head toward Aelius. "And since Aelius instructed me to stay out of the way, I obeyed."
Aelius let out a slow exhale, shaking his head. "You make it sound like some grand refusal on your part. You always follow orders."
Virgo nodded. "Of course."
Natsu gawked. "So you just stood there while he was getting his bones crushed?"
"I was following my instructions."
Lucy smacked her forehead. "Of course you were."
Levy, still furiously writing, murmured, "Fascinating…"
Aelius narrowed his eyes at her. "You've been disturbingly quiet, Levy."
"You do realize what you just told us, right?"
Aelius tilted his head. "Enlighten me."
Levy barely looked up from her notes. "A creature that claims to be older than gods, older than the things that shaped this world, knew your magic." Her voice was quiet at first, thoughtful, but as she spoke, the words began to pick up speed, her quill flying across the page as if she was processing everything in real-time. "Not just recognized it, but seemed to understand it. It wasn't just resisting your spells, it ignored them."
She flipped a page, tapping the quill against her lip in thought. "There have been records of magic being countered or neutralized, but outright ignored? No recorded case. Not even in the oldest texts. And then, " she gestured animatedly, ", there's its supposed vendetta. It didn't just fight you, it knew your magic. It said 'You are not the first to try and rot me' That kind of personal grudge implies history. Real, history. This thing likely fought gods before, and it survived."
She turned another page, eyes gleaming as she continued. "Which brings me to another point. Its form. It wasn't just shifting between shapes, it wasn't following any biological rules at all. No central mass, no defined structure. It was, "
Levy cut herself off suddenly, blinking. Then, slowly, she turned to Aelius, as if only just realizing something. "What… happened to it?"
The guild, who had been watching her rant with expressions ranging from mild amusement to growing unease, now turned to Aelius as well.
Aelius took a slow sip from his flask before answering.
"It's still around."
Silence.
A tense, heavy sort of silence, where everyone processed the implications of that single statement.
Lucy was the first to react, voice strained. "Still?"
"Fought it a few more times," Aelius said nonchalantly, tilting his mug up to his mask and using it to push it up enough to take a drink. The warmth seeped through his throat, settling into his core like a dull ember.
He could feel some of the guild members trying to sneak glances beneath his mask. It wasn't exactly subtle, the way Natsu leaned in slightly, or how even Gray, usually disinterested, flicked his eyes toward him. Why, though? They had already seen his face before. Did they think there was something new to find? That some hidden scar, some telltale mark, had been left behind by the thing he'd fought?
"Lost every time," he continued, voice steady, as if admitting it meant nothing. Because, in the grand scheme of things, it really didn't. "First meeting was actually the one I came out of the most whole."
That earned a few reactions.
Erza's gaze sharpened as if reevaluating the weight of what he had just said. Natsu frowned, looking almost offended at the idea of losing repeatedly. Lucy paled further, and Levy, Levy had stopped writing. That, more than anything, told Aelius she was really listening now.
"You're saying," Levy spoke carefully, "that every time you fought it after that first encounter… you walked away worse?"
Aelius shrugged. "Or didn't walk away at all. Took me a week to pull myself together once." He tilted his mug again, taking another slow drink. "Kept finding me. Kept playing with me. That first fight? It was just watching." He exhaled, the sound distorted slightly by his mask. "The others? Those were the real tests."
A ripple of discomfort passed through the guild. The words hung there, heavy and unshaken. Because it was the truth. There was no false bravado, no sugarcoating it.
He had fought.
And he had lost.
Every single time.
Gray leaned forward slightly, being the first to break the silence. "And you still don't know what it actually is?"
Aelius gave a quiet chuckle, tapping his fingers against the side of his mug. "Oh, I never said that."
That made Gray pause. The room, already tense, felt like it had tightened further, the weight of that answer settling into the bones of everyone present.
Lucy swallowed, eyes flicking toward Levy, who had started writing again, her magic quill scratching rapidly across the pages of her notebook. Natsu, for all his usual brashness, was quiet, the gears in his head visibly turning as he tried to put the pieces together. Erza remained still, unreadable, but her grip on the table had tightened, her gauntleted fingers pressing into the wood.
Gray exhaled sharply. "So? What is it, then?"
Aelius took another drink before answering.
"Something for me to know and you to not."
The way Aelius said it made them pause.
It wasn't spoken low, like the weight of a bad memory pressing down on his shoulders. There was no anger, no bitterness, none of the raw frustration one might expect from someone who had been torn apart by the same entity time and time again.
Instead, it was casual, too casual. Said with light amusement, like a passing remark in idle conversation. And yet, beneath that thin veil of ease, there was something final about it. An unshakable certainty that made it clear there would be no further discussion.
The air in the guildhall felt heavier.
Levy, who had been furiously scribbling away, paused again, her quill hovering over the page. Natsu looked like he wanted to argue, but something about the way Aelius had spoken stopped him. Lucy shifted in her seat, glancing between her guildmates as if expecting someone to push back.
But no one did.
Because that tone, that tone, wasn't something they heard often. It wasn't deflection. It wasn't secrecy for the sake of mystery. It was the kind of answer that meant knowing more wouldn't help. It wouldn't change anything.
Gray clicked his tongue, leaning back in his chair. "That bad, huh?"
Aelius let out a quiet chuckle, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off a phantom weight. "Worse."
Erza's gaze sharpened. "And it still exists?"
Aelius lifted his mug to his lips, tilting it just enough to take a slow drink before answering.
"Oh, without a doubt."
He set the mug down with a quiet clink, eyes shadowed beneath his mask.
"And it's waiting."
The air in the guildhall felt heavier
Not a warning.
A fact.
Levy, who had been furiously scribbling away, paused, her quill hovering over the page. Natsu looked like he wanted to argue, but something about the way Aelius had spoken stopped him. Lucy shifted in her seat, glancing between her guildmates as if expecting someone to push back.
But no one did.
The weight of Aelius's words settled over the guild like a thick fog, creeping into the corners of their thoughts. The usual raucous energy of Fairy Tail had dimmed, curiosity and unease replacing the lighthearted interest they'd had when the story began.
Levy's quill scratched hurriedly against the parchment again before she stopped and looked up at Aelius, her brows furrowed. "Waiting for what, exactly?"
Aelius tapped a single finger against the side of his mug, the soft tick, tick, tick the only sound in the silence that followed. "Hard to say. Could be waiting for me. Could be waiting for something bigger." He tilted his head slightly. "Could just be waiting for the fun to start."
Levy's frown deepened at that answer, but before she could press further, Natsu leaned in, arms crossed. "Okay, but why keep fighting it? If you keep losing, why go back?"
Aelius exhaled through his nose, amused. "Would you just let it be if it were you?"
Natsu opened his mouth, then shut it, his scowl deepening.
Lucy sighed, rubbing her temple. "Okay, fine, but if this thing is as bad as you're making it sound, why haven't we heard of it before? Something like that should be-"
"-A legend, a cautionary tale, a whispered horror passed down through time?" Aelius interrupted, finishing her thought for her. "It was. A long time ago. Before it got bored of people remembering."
Lucy blinked. "...That's not how history works."
Aelius huffed a dry laugh. "Isn't it?"
The way he said it sent a shiver down her spine.
Erza straightened in her seat, her expression unreadable. "You said it ignored your magic. Is that even possible?"
Aelius tilted his head. "Possible?" He seemed to consider that. "No. Doesn't mean it's not happening."
Gray exhaled sharply through his nose. "That's just great."
Levy had begun scribbling notes again, her muttering just barely audible. "Older than gods… possibly stronger than them… seemingly fixated on Aelius… possibly bound by some set of unknown rules, " She cut herself off, snapping her notebook shut and staring at Aelius with sharp, analytical eyes. "Is it after you specifically, or just anyone who gets in its way?"
Aelius tilted his mug slightly, considering the question. "Yes."
Levy looked like she wanted to throw her quill at him.
Before anyone else could chime in, Virgo, who had been standing silently at the edge of the group, finally spoke. "Would you like me to dispose of it, Master?"
Aelius actually laughed. Not his usual quiet amusement, but a genuine chuckle. "You'd be the first to try, Virgo, I'll give you that."
The Celestial Spirit bowed slightly. "It is my duty, after all."
Aelius shook his head, still chuckling. "You'd get bored of it before it even started fighting back."
Virgo tilted her head. "That is concerning."
Lucy groaned, rubbing her temples again. "Everything about this is concerning."
Gajeel, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke, his voice low. "So what's stopping it from showing up here?"
Aelius leaned back slightly in his seat, his tone unreadable.
"Nothing."
The silence that followed was loud.
"Honestly, it's probably likely," Aelius admitted, voice even, as if the idea of the entity appearing in the heart of Fairy Tail was no more pressing than discussing the weather.
That did not ease the tension.
Natsu tensed, his usual reckless excitement tempered with something else, wariness. "You're saying some god-killing, history-erasing nightmare thing could just walk into Magnolia?"
Aelius hummed. "Walk, crawl, drift through the cracks in reality, doesn't really matter how it gets here, only that it could."
Lucy groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Aelius, do you hear yourself? Do you realize how insane that sounds?"
Aelius took another drink. "Insane, but not impossible."
Gray exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. "Great. Fantastic. Just what we needed. Another thing that can end the world."
Levy, still writing feverishly, suddenly paused. "Wait. If it's likely to come here… then why hasn't it already?"
That made everyone pause.
Aelius set his mug down, fingers drumming against the wooden table in a slow, rhythmic pattern. "That's a good question, my answer, I don't know."
Levy frowned, her quill hovering just above the page. "You don't know?" she echoed, disbelief flickering across her face. "You've fought it multiple times, it clearly has an interest in you, and yet you don't know why it hasn't just… finished whatever it started?"
Aelius shrugged, his fingers still tapping against the table. "Oh, I have theories. But facts? Concrete reasoning? No, not really."
Erza crossed her arms, eyes narrowing slightly. "What are these theories?"
Aelius sighed, shifting in his seat. "Well, for one? It enjoys the game. The chase. The process of becoming something more."
Lucy's brows furrowed. "Becoming what, exactly?"
Aelius hesitated, then let out a dry chuckle. "Stronger, maybe. Or just more entertained." His tone dipped slightly, amusement curdling into something sharper. "You have to understand, this isn't some mindless beast. It's old. It's aware. It knows what it's doing, and it enjoys it."
Gajeel scoffed, leaning back in his chair. "So what, it's just playing with you?"
Aelius tilted his head slightly. "Perhaps. Or maybe it's testing something. Me. Itself."
Levy's grip on her quill tightened. "If that's the case, then what happens when it's done testing?"
Aelius fell silent for a long moment.
Then, finally, he said, "Then, it stops playing."
The weight of his words settled over the group like a stone, pressing down on them, cold and inevitable.
Gray exhaled sharply. "And let me guess, when it stops playing, people start dying."
Aelius gave a slow, deliberate nod. "That's the part I do know."
For once, even Natsu had no quip to throw.
Levy stared at him, the fire of curiosity in her eyes now mixed with something more somber. "Then what?" she asked quietly. "If you know this is coming, what's your plan?"
Aelius chuckled, though it held no real humor. "The same as always." He raised his mug to his mask again, taking a slow sip before answering.
"I fight."
The guild fell silent again.
The stillness in the air thickened, the weight of unspoken things settling over the table. Aelius did not answer right away.
His fingers, which had been idly tapping the side of his mug, stilled for just a moment. It was the smallest shift, barely noticeable, but it was there.
Lucy glanced at the others. Levy had stopped writing mid-word, quill hovering over the parchment. Erza's expression was unreadable, eyes sharp and attentive. Natsu, for once, didn't blurt anything out. Even Gray looked like he was waiting for something heavier than the usual cryptic remarks.
"Okay" Lucy started breaking the stillness "Insane things aside, what happened to the prince? I mean from what I put together he was Virgo's summoner, did he lose her key or something?
Aelius exhaled through his nose, tilting his mug slightly before answering.
"Dead."
It was immediate. Too immediate.
Flat. Cold. Final.
Lucy blinked. "Oh."
The weight of that single word sat between them like a stone.
But she wasn't done. Frowning slightly, she pressed, "Then what happened to Virgo's key?"
Silence.
Aelius didn't move.
It stretched long enough that Lucy shifted uncomfortably. "Aelius?"
Then, finally, the fingers against his mug tapped once.
"Gone."
Lucy exhaled, rubbing her temples. "Gone?" She folded her arms. "Keys don't just disappear, Aelius. What do you mean 'gone'?"
Aelius's fingers drummed once against his mug. His posture hadn't changed, still leaning back, still composed, but something in the way he held himself felt different.
"I never could find it after he died," he said simply.
That made Lucy pause. She had expected another dismissive remark, something final like before, but there was a thread of something else in his words, something even she couldn't quite place.
"Wait," she started, processing. "You mean it just... vanished?"
"Yes."
"But that's not how Celestial Keys work!" Lucy's frustration bled into her voice as she gestured toward Virgo. "If a summoner dies, the key doesn't just disappear, it stays in the human world until someone else picks it up!"
Virgo, standing with her hands neatly folded in front of her, nodded. "That is correct."
Lucy turned back to Aelius, her expression somewhere between confused and mildly horrified. "Then where did it go?"
"You tell me you have her key now, how did you get it?
Lucy frowned, gripping the key at her hip. "I didn't buy it," she corrected, shaking her head. "I took it from some corrupt noble after a job."She hesitated. "Actually Virgo herself gave her key to Happy who gave it to me."
Aelius's fingers stopped their rhythmic tapping against the wood. "A noble had it." He said the words slowly, like testing their weight.
Levy, who had been writing feverishly, nearly snapped her quill with how suddenly she looked up. "That means the key was found. Just not by you." She tapped the feathered end of her quill against her chin. "Which raises the question: How did some random noble get their hands on it in the first place?"
Gray exhaled sharply. "Someone put it there."
The implication hung heavy in the air.
Lucy frowned. "But who?"
Aelius's response was immediate. "Dead men tell no tales."
The words were spoken with such finality that no one pressed further.
Except Lucy.
"You're hiding something," she accused, narrowing her eyes.
Aelius exhaled slowly, the sound barely audible behind his mask. His fingers resumed their steady drumming against the table, but there was a slight hesitation now, a break in the rhythm that hadn't been there before.
"Yep," he said simply, offering nothing more.
Lucy wasn't having it.
"That's it? 'Yep'?" She threw up her hands, frustration bleeding into her voice. "Aelius, Celestial Spirits aren't just tools to be tossed around! They're sacred! Their keys don't just get lost, and contracts don't just break for no reason! Someone took Virgo's key, and you're sitting here acting like it doesn't matter!"
Aelius tilted his head slightly, his posture still relaxed, but there was something in the way he regarded her, something unreadable.
"If you won't tell us for yourself," Lucy continued, "then at least tell us for Virgo's sake! She deserves that much, doesn't she? You were there. You know more than you're saying. So stop playing games and just tell us the truth!"
Aelius's fingers finally stilled.
Then, he leaned forward just slightly, his voice lowering to something sharp, something edged.
"Apparently I've been to kind," Aelius murmured.
"how exactly," he asked, his tone devoid of its usual amusement, "do you plan on getting me to tell you this truth?"
The words were slow, deliberate. Not a challenge. Not a threat. But something heavier, something colder. A reminder.
Lucy stiffened.
The weight of the moment pressed down on the table like a storm cloud about to break. No one spoke, the air thick with something just shy of dangerous.
Virgo, ever calm, finally interrupted the silence. "Master Aelius."
His head turned slightly in her direction.
"You should answer, even if it is painful," she said evenly. "They are not wrong. My key was taken. In such a way I could sense it."
Leaned back again, his posture shifting back to something resembling ease.
"Fine." The word was casual, but there was no mistaking the undercurrent of something reluctant beneath it. He lifted his mug, tilting it slightly toward his masked face before setting it back down.
"I gave it to nameless"
The room seemed to freeze.
Lucy felt her breath hitch. "You, " She blinked, shaking her head as if to clear it. "You gave it to Nameless?"
Aelius didn't repeat himself. He simply leaned back slightly, fingers resuming their slow, methodical drumming against the wooden table. His mask tilted ever so slightly like he was waiting for the inevitable response.
"You just handed Virgo's key over to that thing?" Gray asked, disbelief laced with something colder. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"Why?" Lucy demanded, voice sharper now. "Why would you do that?"
Aelius took a measured breath before answering. "Because it needed to get out."
"And you thought the best way to do that was to give it to Nameless?" Gray asked, incredulous. "You just trusted it to handle that?"
Aelius didn't hesitate. "Yes, actually." His fingers drummed against the wooden surface, the rhythm slow and deliberate. "I asked it to get Virgo's key out of that accursed labyrinth, and it agreed."
Gray scoffed, shaking his head. "That's insane."
"Is it?" Aelius tilted his head slightly, his masked face unreadable. "The way I saw it, I was stuck. I had no idea if I'd ever make it out. I could've hidden the key, buried it, left it behind, but that wouldn't have done Virgo any good."
"And you just assumed Nameless would actually keep its word?" Lucy pressed, crossing her arms. "Aelius, celestial spirits aren't just tools, they're sacred! That key, "
"Was already lost," Aelius interrupted smoothly. "The labyrinth wasn't a place you just walked out of, Heartfilia. And I'm not in the habit of gambling on maybes."
Levy swallowed, gripping her pen tightly. "But Nameless…" she started, hesitating. "You've fought it. You've lost to it. And still, you made a deal?"
Aelius gave a slow nod. "More than once."
The weight of his words settled into the air like a lead weight.
Lucy ran a hand through her hair, exhaling sharply. "So what did it ask for in return?"
Aelius was silent.
Natsu leaned forward, his expression more serious than usual. "Aelius?"
Nothing.
Gray's eyes narrowed. "It did ask for something, didn't it?"
Aelius tapped a single finger against his mug. "That's for me to know."
"Oh, for the love of, " Lucy threw up her hands. "Can you stop saying that for five seconds and actually answer something?"
Aelius locked his gaze onto hers, his putrid green eyes narrowing with discontent. "I think I've answered plenty."
Lucy scowled, but Virgo unexpectedly spoke up. "Master Aelius made the best decision available at the time."
Lucy turned toward her, aghast. "Virgo! You're okay with this?"
The maid spirit bowed her head slightly. "My key returned to the real world, and I found a summoner who cherishes me. The path it took to reach her does not matter."
Lucy's frustration simmered, but she couldn't argue with that.
Levy, however, wasn't done. "That still doesn't explain how a corrupt noble ended up with it."
"It explains enough," Aelius murmured. "Nameless isn't a being of chaos. It doesn't do things randomly. If it ended up in that noble's hands, it was either part of a plan… or a consequence of one."
Lucy folded her arms, clearly still unsettled. "And you don't think that's a problem?"
Aelius lifted his mug again, taking a slow drink. "I think it means Nameless played its part."
His voice was casual, but the weight of what he wasn't saying loomed over them all.
The tension still hung thick in the air, but Lucy exhaled, rubbing her temples. "You know what? Fine. I don't think we're getting anything else out of you on this." She shook her head. "Let's talk about something that doesn't involve eldritch horrors, labyrinths, or shady deals with monsters."
Natsu perked up. "Oh! We could talk about when we're finally gonna fight!"
Aelius, who had just lifted his mug, paused. "…Excuse me?"
Natsu grinned, leaning forward excitedly. "Yeah! You and me! We've never fought before, and I gotta see how I measure up against some weird plague magic or whatever it is you do!"
Aelius exhaled, setting his drink down. "Why?"
"Because it'd be fun!"
Gray scoffed. "Pretty sure his definition of fun is getting punched in the face."
"You're just mad because I always beat you," Natsu shot back.
"You do not, " Gray started, but Lucy cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"Guys, focus." She turned back to Aelius. "So, what, you've never actually fought Natsu?"
"No," Aelius confirmed. "And I don't particularly see the need to."
"Aw, come on!" Natsu groaned. "You've gotta fight someone eventually, right? You can't just do nothing but tell creepy stories all day!"
"I do plenty," Aelius countered smoothly. "I drink. I breathe. I exist in this loud, chaotic nightmare of a guild." He tilted his head slightly. "That is enough."
Natsu pouted, slumping back in his seat. "Lame."
"If it means I don't have to deal with your energy, then yes, I am the epitome of lame," Aelius deadpanned.
Levy chuckled, finally relaxing a bit. "You'll get used to it."
"I'd rather not."
Lucy rolled her eyes before glancing at Virgo, who had remained as poised as ever. "So, uh… speaking of things that aren't soul-crushingly ominous, how's being with a new summoner?"
Virgo turned to Lucy with a polite bow. "Princess Lucy is a capable master. I am content in her service."
"That's… actually kinda sweet," Lucy admitted, looking a little touched.
"Would you like me to request punishment?" Virgo asked, expression entirely serious.
Lucy groaned. "And there it is."
Levy stifled a laugh while Natsu blinked in confusion. "Wait, why does she keep saying that?"
"Don't ask," Lucy muttered. "Just don't."
Aelius had just lifted his nearly empty mug once more when he felt a slight tug on his cloak. His fingers stilled around the handle, gaze shifting downward to find Levy standing beside him, her expression somewhere between amused and oddly perceptive.
Around them, the guild had descended into its usual chaos. The others quickly got lost in their own arguments and conversations, Virgo kept pestering Lucy to punish her, much to Lucy's growing frustration; Gray and Natsu were, as always, at each other's throats, hurling insults and nearly coming to blows; Erza was engaged in what appeared to be a rather serious conversation with… Strauss.
But Aelius had little interest in all of that, at least, until Levy spoke.
"You know," she started, keeping her voice just low enough that the others wouldn't immediately tune in, "I think that's the most you've ever socialized with us. Even before you left."
Aelius stilled for half a second, just enough for someone as observant as Levy to notice. The pause, the way his grip on his mug shifted slightly as if adjusting for something unsteady. It was barely anything, but she caught it.
Then, with practiced ease, he tilted his head slightly, his usual aloofness slipping back into place like a well-worn cloak. "How tragic for me," he murmured, taking a slow sip of what little remained in his drink. "Clearly, I've lost my way."
Levy smirked. "Oh, sure. Absolutely. You're doomed now."
"Utterly," Aelius agreed smoothly, setting his mug down. "Soon, I may even learn to engage in small talk without the crushing weight of existential horror looming over the conversation."
"I think you're making progress," Levy said, resting her elbows on the table. "Might even catch up to the rest of us socially adjusted people."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Aelius deadpanned, though the mild edge of embarrassment hadn't fully left him.
Levy caught it again, that small flicker beneath the surface. Most wouldn't have noticed, but she knew better. He hid things well, too well, most of the time. But for just a moment, he was present. Actually here, not lost in whatever shadows he usually drowned himself in.
And maybe that was enough for now.
She smiled, nudging his arm lightly before straightening up. "Welcome back, Aelius."
He didn't respond immediately. Just exhaled, slow and measured, before finally murmuring, "Thanks."
Then, as if on cue, Natsu's voice rang across the guild. "OI, AELIUS! WHEN ARE WE FIGHTING?!"
Aelius groaned, tilting his head back against the chair. "For the love of…"
Levy laughed, crossing her arms. "Yep. You're definitely back."
He exhaled, ready to close his eyes for just a moment, but the energy in the room was shifting. Subtly at first, just a ripple beneath the surface.
Gray shoved Gajeel back with a scowl. "Will you quit it already?"
"Tch, like hell." Gajeel cracked his knuckles, a smirk playing at his lips as he prepared to push the Ice Mage's patience further.
Meanwhile, Natsu had turned his attention back to Aelius. "So, when are we, ?"
His voice cut off. His nose twitched, a furrow forming between his brows. The tension in his shoulders locked tight, and for a moment, his usual carefree air seemed to dim.
Across the room, Gajeel, who had been mid-taunt, froze. The shift was small but noticeable. His muscles coiled, his jaw setting in a way that spoke of instinct honed through battle.
The background noise of the guild carried on, oblivious for a second longer. The sounds of laughter, bickering, and the occasional crashing chair filled the space until both Dragon Slayers spoke in unison.
"Blood."
A stillness settled over the room.
Natsu took a slow step forward, his expression darkening. "A lot of it."
Gajeel's jaw tightened, his sharp teeth bared slightly. "And fresh. Someone's hurt."
That was all it took for the atmosphere in the guild to shift. The easy-going chaos evaporated in an instant as everyone turned their attention toward the entrance. The heavy wooden doors stood shut, but the tension in the air was thick, almost suffocating.
Aelius exhaled, his fingers curling slightly against the table. He didn't have a Dragon Slayer's senses, but even he could feel it now, an almost oppressive weight pressing against the edges of his awareness.
Something was very wrong.
Erza was already moving, pushing away from the table as she exchanged glances with Mira. Lucy had gone stiff beside Virgo, her fingers tightening instinctively around her keys. Even Gray, who had been gearing up to fight Natsu minutes ago, was suddenly all business, eyes scanning the guild as if expecting an attack.
The tension in the room shifted the moment the doors creaked open.
A child.
No older than twelve.
He stepped inside, his crimson eyes scanning the guild with quiet curiosity. He wasn't trembling, wasn't fearful, just… observing. And that, in itself, was what made everyone pause. A kid wandering into Fairy Tail wasn't unusual. But Natsu and Gajeel's warning made it painfully aware this wasn't a normal child.
"The hell?" Gajeel muttered.
Natsu didn't answer right away. He just kept staring his nose twitching constantly.
Erza, ever the first to take charge, stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The child blinked up at her, his expression unreadable for a moment before he spoke. "This is Fairy Tail, right?"
His voice was clear, even, but young.
Erza nodded cautiously. "It is."
The boy's shoulders relaxed slightly as if reassured by the answer. "Then… can you help me?"
Lucy tilted her head. "Help you? With what?"
The child took another step forward, glancing around at the gathered mages before his gaze "I'm looking for my friend."
The moment those words left the boy's mouth, Aelius put it together immediately. His fingers tapped once against his mug before he exhaled slowly.
"Really, Caius? Friends?" His tone carried an odd warmth, mocking but also tinged with something heavier. Annoyance. "That's quite the promotion."
Caius tilted his head slightly, that sharp grin widening like he was enjoying some private joke. "Found you." His crimson eyes gleamed, alight with something unreadable.
Aelius didn't respond immediately. His fingers resumed their slow, rhythmic tapping against the table, a habit only a few in the guild had noticed, one that meant he was thinking. Calculating. The weight of familiarity settled over him like a sickly fog, memories stirring where they weren't welcome.
And then Caius moved.
"If we're not friends," he mused, voice carrying that same sing-song lilt, "then why would you let me do this?"
He lunged.
Fast.
Unnaturally fast.
His arms stretched outward, posture mimicking that of an overjoyed child flinging himself into the embrace of a long-lost companion. It would've been a heartwarming sight if Aelius hadn't already been moving.
With the fluidity of someone who had anticipated this, Aelius grabbed the nearest chair and hurled it directly at Caius.
The wood met him mid-air with a resounding crack, knocking him off course. But instead of tumbling to the ground like any normal child would, Caius twisted. His body moved with unnatural grace, landing light on his feet, a small laugh bubbling from his lips.
The guild erupted.
"AELIUS!" Erza's voice cut through the stunned silence like a blade. She stormed forward, boots slamming against the floor, fury flashing in her eyes. "What the hell are you doing?! That is a child!"
Aelius barely spared her a glance. His focus remained entirely on Caius, who was brushing nonexistent dust from his sleeves, that ever-present grin still in place.
"No," Aelius said, voice eerily calm. "It's not."
Erza hesitated for half a second, thrown off by the certainty in his tone. "He looks like a child!"
"Yeah," Aelius replied, deadpan. "And I look like a person. Appearances don't mean much."
Caius giggled at that, tilting his head further than what should've been natural. "Still sharp, Aelius." His tone was light, but there was an unmistakable weight behind it, something predatory lurking beneath the amusement.
Aelius finally rose from his seat, slow and deliberate. The guild's usual rowdiness had died, all eyes locked on the unfolding scene, waiting for some kind of explanation.
He didn't give one.
Instead, he locked eyes with Caius. "What do you want?" The casual amusement from earlier had bled away, leaving only cold calculation behind.
Caius beamed, eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "Just catching up, old friend."
Aelius exhaled sharply through his nose. "Can you at least cut whatever you're using to make yourself look like that?" His tone was flat, edged with impatience. "I know full well you didn't learn transformation magic. You're not even capable of learning to begin with."
The moment Aelius spoke, Caius let out another soft giggle, tilting his head in that unnatural way. "So mean! Always so mean!" he teased, rocking back on his heels with his hands behind his back. "And here I thought you'd be happy to see me."
Aelius remained unmoved, voice flat and firm. "Drop it."
Caius pouted. "Oh, fine. If you insist." He raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
The illusion shattered like glass.
In an instant, the small, frail-looking child was gone. In his place stood a monster of a man.
He was massive, easily over eight feet tall, his broad, muscled frame looming over nearly everyone in the guild. Thick, battle-scarred arms flexed slightly at his sides, each muscle carved like it had been forged for war itself. His skin was darkened from years under the sun, marked with faded wounds that told countless stories of bloodshed. A massive battleaxe rested on his back, the weapon almost comically large, but there was nothing amusing about it. Its edge gleamed under the guild's warm light, polished to a razor-sharp finish, ready to cleave through anything in its path.
And then there was the skull.
Human. Old. Cracked along the temple. Strapped to his waist like a trophy.
It was impossible to ignore, but somehow, the most unnerving thing about him was his eyes.
The playful glint from his illusion was gone. In its place burned an unshaken certainty, unwavering, primal confidence, the kind found in those who had long embraced the raw, unrelenting force of survival. It wasn't madness, nor was it cruelty; it was the gaze of a man who had carved his path through the world with strength alone, unbothered by normal morality, yet bound by his own code.
The guild fell silent.
Several members instinctively reached for their weapons, while others slowly shifted into defensive stances. Even Natsu and Gajeel, reckless as they were, found themselves hesitating.
Caius rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck with an exaggerated groan. "Aaaahhh. That's better." He flashed a grin, baring unnaturally white teeth. "All that pretending was really cramping my style."
Natsu was the first to recover. "What the hell, " His voice cut off as he finally registered the skull at Caius's waist. His fists clenched. "What the hell is that?"
Caius looked down, then gave his waist a casual pat. "Oh, this?" His grin widened. "Memento. A friend of mine. I like keeping people close."
"That's a person." Lucy's voice was tight, horrified.
"Was," Caius corrected with a mockingly thoughtful expression. "Tense changes are important."
Erza finally stepped forward, voice like steel. "Aelius, explain. Now."
Aelius, who had been silent up until now, finally let out a slow breath. "What's there to explain?" His fingers tapped once against the table. "This is Caius."
"No kidding," Gray snapped, still eyeing Caius warily. "You know him?"
"Unfortunately."
Caius grinned again. "Aw, don't be like that, Aelius. You wound me."
Aelius's voice was flat. "Not deep enough, apparently."
Aelius exhaled, fingers pressing against the table before he finally met Caius's gaze. "How did you find me?"
Caius huffed, folding his arms as if he were mildly offended. "Come on, Aelius, give me some credit. You think I wouldn't notice when your mark disappeared?" His voice was far less teasing now, the grin fading into something softer. "I really thought you died, man."
The guild remained silent, watching the exchange. This massive warrior, with his axe resting on his back and a human skull strapped to his waist, should have been an obvious threat. But his posture was easy, lacking hostility. If anything, his presence carried something unexpected, genuine relief.
"When it vanished, I didn't know what to think." Caius ran a hand through his hair, glancing away for a brief moment. "Didn't sit right with me to just ignore it. So I started looking. Following rumors, old trails, took me a while, but eventually, I ended up here." He let out a small, tired chuckle. "I remembered you said you used to be a fairy tail mage….. After I spent far too long figuring out where you might've gone."
Aelius remained unreadable, but his fingers had stopped tapping against the table. "So you came all this way to… what?"
"Pay my respects," Caius said simply, shrugging one broad shoulder. "I figured if you really were gone, the least I could do was say goodbye properly."
There was no malice in his voice. No accusations. Just honesty.
"But hey," he went on, flashing a lopsided grin, "turns out you're still kicking. So, maybe I'll skip the whole depressing part and just say hello instead?"
Aelius stood slowly, his cloak shifting around him as he stepped away from the table. The tension in the room hadn't dissipated, but it had changed, uncertainty replacing hostility. His boots echoed faintly against the wooden floor as he closed the distance between them, every movement deliberate.
Caius didn't react beyond watching him, arms still loosely crossed, his grin fading into something more neutral. As Aelius drew closer, the size difference between them became even more apparent, Caius was a behemoth of a man, towering over most in the room, but Aelius's presence was just as heavy in its own way.
The guild remained silent, the air thick with expectation.
Aelius stopped just a few feet away, head tilting slightly as he took in the sight of Caius, the broad frame, the weight of an axe meant for something far greater than a human opponent, the skull tied casually at his waist. His fingers twitched at his sides, just once, before he finally spoke.
"You really thought I was dead." It wasn't a question.
Caius nodded once, his expression oddly solemn. "Yeah."
Aelius exhaled a slow, measured breath. Then, without warning, he reached up and flicked Caius's forehead with two fingers.
It wasn't a hard motion, not really, but it was enough to make the larger man blink in surprise.
"Idiot," Aelius muttered, shaking his head before moving past Caius and towards the door. "What kind of fool wastes time chasing ghosts?"
Caius let out a startled laugh, rubbing his forehead. "What can I say? I'm sentimental."
Aelius didn't respond immediately. Instead, he waited until he reached the door, then turned slightly, his gaze flicking to Erza. He spoke just loud enough for her to hear.
"Still think it's a child?"
Erza didn't answer, her arms now crossed as she studied Caius with wary calculation. She wasn't the only one, several guild members were still watching the newcomer, tension lingering even as the hostility faded into something more uncertain.
The behemoth of a man was still grinning, his sharp eyes studying Aelius's back before he finally let out a deep chuckle. "So… does this mean you're happy to see me or what?"
Aelius huffed, glancing at him over his shoulder. "C'mon. I know how you work, and if I let you hang around here too long, you'll never leave."
Caius dramatically placed a hand over his chest, feigning offense. "Wow. After all these years, and that's how you treat an old friend?"
"I just said we weren't friends a few minutes ago."
"Yeah, but that was before you flicked me in the forehead. That kinda thing bonds people, you know?"
Aelius exhaled through his nose, the closest he'd get to amusement. "Don't push it."
Caius just grinned wider. "So, where are we going?"
"Somewhere else," Aelius replied flatly, already stepping toward the door.
Before he could take another step, Erza's voice cut in. "Aelius-"
"I'll be back later," he interrupted without turning around, his tone dismissive. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "And don't get too worked up. He's about as dangerous as a puppy."
There was a beat of silence before Gray scoffed. "Yeah, right. A massive axe-carrying, skull-wearing puppy."
"Some puppies bite," Erza muttered, her gaze still locked on Caius.
Aelius glanced over his shoulder. "Then let him bite me. You'll find that his teeth don't work too well on me anyway."
Caius chuckled, adjusting the weight of his massive axe with ease. "Man, you always know how to make a guy feel welcome."
"Shut up," Aelius muttered as he walked out of the guildhall
Caius grinned and followed, tossing a wave over his shoulder. "See ya, Fairy Tail. Don't worry, I'll bring him back in one piece."
The door shut behind them, leaving a lingering silence before Natsu muttered, "Yeah, I don't trust that guy."
Lucy sighed, rubbing her temples. "I don't even know what just happened."
Erza remained rigid, her arms still crossed, eyes locked onto the door where Aelius had left. "Neither do I. But we'll find out soon enough."
Levy lingered for a moment, her gaze shifting from the now-empty seat to the table where Aelius had been sitting. Something was off. Her brows furrowed as she leaned in closer.
The spot where his fingers had been drumming was ruined. The wood wasn't just worn or dented, it was rotted through, a dark, sickly decay eating away at it entirely. It hadn't spread, contained only to where his touch had lingered, but it was enough.
Levy exhaled softly, her expression thoughtful. He had seemed calm, if a bit distant, but this was something else. A quiet strain, subtle but undeniable.
She pulled her hand back, eyes flickering toward the door once more. Just how much had it taken for him to sit there, to answer their questions, to dig into things he clearly hadn't wanted to revisit, without walking away sooner?