Chapter Forty Five - The Battle of Tenrou Island

Tenrou Island was in total chaos, and this Mest guy was still insanely suspicious, as far as Konata was concerned. She wasn't really going to be too helpful anyway, so she just adopted the form of a sword and laid on the ground so as to keep anybody from beating her up and/or killing her.

It really felt like they should have just auto-won, since they sniped the bad guys' airship and attacked their rapid transport guy (Caprico) and their airship fixer (Ultear). Heck, the airship had gone down - those huge waves proved that much - but somehow, it hadn't completely removed the enemy forces. She'd just lie here and wait for the fight to end. Whatever.

* * *

Erza stood before Azuma, breathing heavily with exertion, having traded blows with the fierce warrior several times - Lee then touched her back, and she felt fully alive and alight with power, a grin on her lips. "I'm afraid that you can't match the power of me and my fiancé," Erza told him. He was muscular, powerful, but obviously, nothing compared to Lee in terms of appearance. Or personality, for that matter! "You'd be better off surrendering now, Azuma."

"I'm only getting warmed up. Let's try separating you two," he said, concentrating for a moment. She felt gnarled tree roots knot around Lee's body from behind her, turned around to see him being wrapped up and strangled by the things. "There. Let's see how you-" the roots suddenly vanished, returning to where they had been. "What?!" He demanded.

"Heh." Lee pushed his sunglasses up. "I'm afraid that my magic is simply too powerful for one so weak as you to overcome, Azuma. You would be better off simply surrendering! Just like Erza said a second ago!" He added. His voice sounded a bit more timid at that addition, as if he had forgotten she'd already made the suggestion.

It just showed how in sync they were, of course. "As my fiancé said!" Erza agreed. "Simply surrender now, or you will perish in this battle! You are a capable and honorable warrior, and-" he tried to grab Lee in the tree roots again - this time, she cut them. "-I would hate to see your life end so fruitlessly!" She hurled herself forward despite her words, clashing her blade against Azuma once more, her heart pounding in her chest at the raw delight of the fierce battle. He was on the defensive! He tried to turn his attention to the Great Tenrou Tree, no doubt planning to invert the power that it had granted her, but he would have no such luck - Lee simply undid whatever he was doing.

* * *

Capricorn pulled himself up onto Tenrou Island alongside Loke, breathing in deep the salty seaside air. For the first time in a long time, his body was entirely his own, and he certainly was appreciative. "Thank you, Loke," he said, giving his old friend a small bow.

"No need to thank me," Loke said with a grin. "You'd do the same for me."

"I can only hope I would," he agreed. "You said that Lucy-sama is on this island? Where?"

"Uh..." He took a moment - but fortunately, his key was in Lucy's possession already. "That way," he said, with a point, and the pair took off. Of course, there were some members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory who had made it off the airship, just as he and Loki had, but they were not his concern. His first concern was finding Lucy-sama, to make clear he intended to continue the service that had begun with her mother, with her.

* * *

Konata heard the voice of Mest before he came into her sight - "What's this giant sword doing lying on the middle of the ground? I want to know! What is it?! How heavy is it?!" Oh no. He was going to pick her up. She transformed back into herself.

Yeah, he was definitely super suspicious. Anybody in the Guild should have known about her transforming act, shouldn't they have? "Yo," she said, lazily. "Are the bad guys handled?"

"There were only some weak footsoldiers here," Mest told her. "Don't worry, though." He grinned. "I had the main force of the Council's Heavily Armored Capture and Containment Division at the ready for just this sort of situation - I'm definitely getting a promotion, after this. Oh, by the way, I'm a double agent from the Council here to ruin Fairy Tail," he explained.

"Oh goddammit," Konata said. "I knew it! I knew it!!! I did! I absolutely knew it, but your stupid memory magic worked on me! Argh!"

"Anyway. No need to worry. Now that Grimoire Heart is here, I can just make a mass arrest and crush them in a single motion - that more than assures my own promotion, and I won't have to do anything about Fairy Tail."

"Oh yeah, I was super worried you were going to betray us to the Council." Now that her memory wasn't clouded by his stupid magic, she remembered that he was a damn double agent for Fairy Tail anyway! Maybe he wasn't even aware of it. God, memory magic was so stupid and confusing. "I was so scared. Thank you for reassuring me."

He just glared down at her, pursing his lips. She looked out at the battleship, half expecting it to sink, but it didn't. Apparently Azuma was too busy getting his ass kicked by Erza in this timeline.

* * *

"It seems I have overused my Lost Magic," said Azuma, as the tree roots around him slowly absorbed him. "I have to... admire, Fairy Tail's fighting spirit." A flower blossomed from one eyeball, which was incredibly gross, but I didn't say anything.

"Yes, we truly are incredible."

Erza gently elbowed me. She didn't even have to say her thoughts - I handed back her bra to her. We were so incredibly in sync. "No, Lee," she said, though she took the bra anyway. "You could save him, could you not?"

"Oh." I coughed. "I could. But he's evil."

"Ikaruga was evil too. I believe he can be reformed."

There was one critical difference between Azuma and Ikaruga, though - Ikaruga was extremely hot. Especially now that she dressed in a skimpy maid uniform and called herself a masturbation maid with absolutely no hesitation. Azuma, though - well, objectively he was pretty hot, being a muscular man, but I didn't want to have sex with him. Still, part of marriage was compromise. "Well, Azuma? Do you wish for me to heal you?"

"Heal me?" He asked. One of his teeth fell out, making me wince. "Why would you do that?"

"Erza believes you can be redeemed." I watched as his face continued to melt and holy fuck it was gross. I knelt down next to him, pushing back time until he was at the 'dying' part but not the 'I look extremely gross' part. "I can save you, but I want your solemn word of honor, that you will cease your life of evil in exchange."

"You'd trust the honor of a man like me?"

Yes, because I watched the anime, and remembered he was honorable in it. "The fact that you haven't simply offered empty words is proof enough of your honor," I said instead.

He let out a chuckle. "Even if I do, I've committed so many crimes... the Council will throw me in prison forever."

That was technically true of Ikaruga, and possibly also Jellal, but they were walking free, so- "There is no need to turn yourself in," Erza said. "You can live a new life of virtue, if you really wish to."

Azuma seemed to seriously consider it, and his eye started to turn into a flower again, which was, again, insanely gross, so I rewound him a bit. "Very well. I promise to live a life of virtue, if you heal me," he said at last. I healed him the rest of the way, and he stood up. Erza offered him her hand, and he shook it. "The strength of character you have shown to me is humbling. You and your husband are truly incredible. I will try to be worthy of your mercy."

"A-ah, we aren't married just yet, he's my fiancé," Erza hurriedly countered, blushing and halfway squirming, glancing my way for approval.

I just stepped up to her and wrapped my arm smoothly around her waist. "Worry not, Erza. We will be wed very soon," I said, kissing her on the lips, and she smiled goofily at that, looking extremely cute. "Now... is that all there is to be done here?"

"The battle has turned against Grimoire Heart," Azuma said, looking out over the island. "Only a few of our members are still fighting, and I doubt they'll win."

"Excellent," I told him. He gave me a mildly annoyed look. "That is to say, it is unfortunate your comrades will be defeated, but also for the best," I said.

"Yes. I suppose it is," he said, with a long, languid sigh. He sat down. "Let me think about what I will do now that I have made my promise," he said.

"Very well," Erza said. "Me and my husband-to-be need to do something in private, regardless, so we'll give you a moment."

"What do we need to do?" I asked her, somewhat confused. I guess we had to go find Zeref?

"Have sex, of course!" Erza said. "You were so incredibly masculine and merciful and affectionate, I can hardly resist the urge to make love to my groom-to-be! We're only days from hearing wedding bells! Oh, don't worry, I'll make all the wedding arrangements," she said, a manic look on her face as she spoke. "You won't even have to pay! I have the money to make the most perfect wedding imaginable!"

"I would love to make sweet love to you, Erza," I told her, "but we are in a forest, and also, we have things that still must be done before we can take a break for such joys."

"Ah! You're right, Lee. I am sorry. I was so caught up in the moment. Please, strike me as punishment." I gave her ass a smack rather than arguing about punishment. She let out a cute little squeak of surprise. "Thank you, Lee."

"For you, it is never a problem." She blushed cutely at that. "Now, let us go find Zeref," I told her. She nodded, her expression quickly becoming serious.

* * *

"Stay back!" Zeref shouted at the two of us, and I paused in my movements - I didn't want to spook him. "I knew I should have left this island..." he muttered to himself, pressing his body against the inside wall of the cave.

Right. He had a death aura thing that activated when people came close to him. However, it wasn't always on, thus not rotting the entire forest around him. It only came on when people got close to him, which made him want to not kill them, which made him kill them, because Ankhseram was a jackass. I had a brilliant idea, however. "Oh my goodness, is that a two-headed monkey?" I pointed behind Zeref, making him look behind himself, and away from me. With a little application of time magic, I got close to him, and began to use my magic, using it to run time forwards for his mind until he became exhausted and fell asleep. "Whew," I breathed out. I'd been very worried for a second there.

"I thought you were going to heal him?" Erza asked, staring at his unconscious body. "If he cannot be healed, then-" she brought up her sword, "-from what Konata said, he would greet a swift death."

"No! No, that is not necessary," I told her. Also, I was pretty sure it wouldn't work. "I put him to sleep, that way he won't accidentally use his magic. Now..." I placed one hand gingerly on the back of his neck, and began pouring mana into his body - copious amounts, as I rewound time, further, and further, and further back. It had been centuries since he had received his curse, after all, and I had no real way of knowing when I'd reached the necessary point.

* * *

"Oh no not the inviolable boundaries of life and death," Susie said, in an extremely sarcastic tone of voice.

"I cursed him, fair and square!"

"And now his curse is getting undone, fair and square! If might makes right then I'm the most right person in this room, so shut up, loser local god. You know how much good-ass smut I'm getting out of this guy? You should see the orgies!"

"There has to be death when they die, otherwise there's no stakes."

"That's why smut's great - the characters don't have to die for me to care, since I get to watch them screw. Them coming back from the dead just offers up new sex possibilities, like him banging Mavis or Layla or whatever. Anyway, once again, sucks to suck, bitch," she said, flipping off Ankhseram. "Don't just re-add the curse later on. That's fucking playing takebacksies, which is lame in any genre. Like ending a mind control plot with, 'oh, she got free at the end' or a rape-slash-mindbreak plot with 'oh, it was all just roleplay.' Yawn! What happens should stick!"

"Oh, it's takebacksies, as opposed to bringing back the dead?!" Ankhseram demanded.

"Yep. Bringing back the dead is getting rid of something boring and lame - death. Re-adding the curse after the protagonist is adding something boring and lame - lack of consequences."

"The curse is a consequence!"

Susie just clucked her tongue. "You really have no idea how to write a proper story. Now shut up, Lee's gonna marry both big-titty maso Erza and yandere fellatrix extraordinaire Juvia after this whole arc wraps up, and I don't want to miss a second!"

Ankhseram grumbled, but knew well enough to shut up, letting Susie focus on watching the events down below.

* * *

"Stop, Lee," Erza said, grabbing my arm and pulling me up off of Zeref. I finally brought my focus back to reality, and...

Zeref was now a chibi. Or, more accurately, I'd pushed him so far back in time that he was a child again. A small child, at that. His clothes looked too big on him, and, to be frank, he looked goofy more than anything else.

"Unless he performed the magic that cursed him at the age of eight, then I believe you have successfully cured him," Erza said, smiling warmly.

"Oh. Yes. You are right," I said, looking down at the unconscious body of Zeref. It was hard to believe this was the most dangerous wizard in the entire Fairy Tail universe. Hopefully now that he was freed of the Curse of Contradiction, though, he wouldn't be so annoying. I moved back out of the cave, to the entrance. "Wake up, Zeref!" I called out.

He groaned, wiping at his little eyes, looking just about cute as a button as he leaned up into a seated position. He yawned, stretching, blinking in confusion. "Huh?" He asked, looking at his hands - then over at the entrance, where we were. "Huh? What? Why are you gigantic? Why are my hands stubby?" He got to his feet, wobbling in place. "What's going on? No, wait - you need to leave," he said, returning to his dour, serious mode. "It's dangerous for anybody to be near me."

"Actually, it isn't dangerous at all," I declared, with a grin. "I pushed you back so far in time, that it predates your curse."

"That..." he paused, looking down at himself. "That's impossible. I tried that, and it didn't work," he said, his expression turning grim, which just looked adorable on his tiny, childish face.

"Well, as I tell everyone, I am the great and mighty wizard Lee, and I can do things like that." Also, you know, goddess giving me cheat codes and all that. No need to say that, though.

"No- even if it worked, Ankhseram would just curse you instead," Zeref said, his expression one of concern.

"He definitely would not," I told him. "I have already brought back a dead woman's body - he can't curse me, as I am under the protection of an even more powerful goddess."

"Oh? What goddess is this?" Erza asked, looking just - genuinely interested. "I have heard Konata mention something about a 'canon' in the past. Are you religious?"

"In a manner of speaking," I said, giving Erza's ass a quick pat. "Zeref! Are you still suffering under the Curse of Contradiction?"

He worked his mouth for a few seconds, then shook his head, smiling. "No," he said, at last. "No, I don't think I am." Tears started streaming down his face, as he stared up at me. "Thank you, Lee! Your wizardry is incredible! Please, let me study under you!"

I let out a little laugh, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the suggestion. "Given what happened to your last teachers, I will have to decline," I said, and he let out a laugh of his own, wiping at his face.

"I guess that's true. I'll have to focus more on making sure that I don't fall under another curse from Ankhseram," he said.

"Yes. Please, leave bringing back the dead up to me," I told him. "A wizard of your level simply is unable to manage such a feat safely!"

Zeref gave me a look that suggested he probably knew I was making fun of him, but on his tiny child face it just looked goofy. "Very well, Lee. If I ever need the dead brought back to life, I know who to ask." He sat down at that point, crossing his legs and thinking. "Well... what the hell do I do now?" He muttered to himself.