Chapter Forty Six - Saving Mavis

Thankfully, the Council's battleship wasn't destroyed by Azuma in this timeline, so the remaining members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory were taken down by a mix of Fairy Tail and the Magic Council's heavy enforcers. Ultear, Meredy, and Azuma were "missed," and the work by Grimoire Heart to track down Zeref was dismissed as stupid nonsense. Zeref was obviously dead, given he had vanished centuries ago, and normally people who vanish centuries ago are dead (of old age, at the very least). The Magic Council actually found the child-Zeref, but he played an innocent little kid pretty well, so they just took him back to the mainland.

Thus, the entire Battle of Tenrou Island arc was resolved, much better than in canon. In canon, Zeref was free and on a terrible quest - in this timeline, he was recovered from his curse and probably not an evil suicidal guy (hopefully). Also, everybody on the island wound up trapped in a time warp, which, since it included the Guild's most powerful members, really screwed up the Guild's ability to fight.

"Everyone... you've fought well," Makarov said, looking over the various members of the Guild, his arms crossed. "But now it's time for the remainder of the S-Class trial!"

"What," Konata said in a total deadpan.

"Yeah," Gray said, "I feel like fighting off Grimoire Heart and winning should kind of count..."

"I already beat you," Gildarts said, "so you were out of the running anyway."

"Ach! Come on! You're insanely strong, it isn't fair!" Gray said.

"Life isn't fair. You think your enemies are going to go easy on you, just because you're not strong enough to face them?" Gildarts asked, his arms crossed imperiously.

"Ahem!" Makarov interrupted. "Alright. Some of those who have completed their first stage are wondering if they still must go through the remainder of the trial, given that we did fight off Grimoire Heart. Including my own old master..." he said, letting out a long sigh. "Let's put it to a vote! Erza, Gildarts, Ur, and myself. Who thinks that they should still have to locate the first Guild Master's grave, and who thinks they've proven themselves? I put a lot of work into the scavenger hunt for the grave, so I think they should still do it!"

"I personally believe they have more than shown their ability in battle," Erza said. "Certainly, Lee proved himself."

"Yeah, these kids took down some powerful bad guys," Gildarts said, patting Cana on the head. "I think they've earned their chops."

"I don't think a scavenger hunt really proves anything," Ur added.

"Gah! And I was going to cheat and tiebreak in favor of myself," Makarov said, making Konata throw a tomato at him. "Oh, what do you care?! You're only here as aid for Mest, who wasn't even a member of the Guild!"

"Yet I still had to come along for this stupid thing!!" Konata said. "I don't get to go home until we're done, and you wasting time for a grave finding tour."

"Ah! Actually..." I interrupted. "May I see the gravesite, to bring Mavis back from the dead?"

"Wha-!" Makarov sputtered in shock.

"She's not buried at the gravesite," Konata said, poking her pinky finger in her ear dismissively.

"Bwuh!" Makarov responded with obvious, even exaggerated, shock. "No! She is! She absolutely is!"

"Oh? Then let's go to the grave and revive the first Master," Konata said.

Makarov's mouth opened and closed, and then a woman appeared.

She was petite, with long, flowing blonde hair, looking girlish despite the fact I knew she was twenty four when she got encased in the crystal and chronologically over a century old. She had a pair of little wings in her hair. "Hm? What's this about reviving me?"

"A g-g-ghost!" Happy cried out in horror, shivering in place.

"I, the great and mighty wizard Lee, would like to bring you back from the dead, Mavis Vermillion," I told her.

She giggled at that, smiling. "Oh? Why would that be?" She floated up towards me, poking me on the nose. "Would it be to do naughty things to me?"

"I cannot promise I will not do naughty things with you," I told her, "but all my lovers are consenting."

"Hm, well, if I have to consent, then it would be okay," Mavis said. "But I am still cursed, you know?"

"Yeah, she's got the Curse of Ankhseram. She's in a coma, not dead," Konata explained lazily.

"Ah! So smart!" Mavis declared. "How did you know?"

"Well, yeah, I researched everything in great detail before coming here," Konata said, nodding to herself as she attempted to make it sound as if she had not just spent a bunch of time watching anime all day and thus 'learned' all this by pure luck.

"Wow. A wise sage," Mavis said, humming along. I was pretty sure she suspected Konata's spin, but she wasn't calling her out. "But you know, curing the Curse is impossible."

"Nah, I just did it," I told her.

"Eh?"

"Yeah, I fixed Zeref. He's now a chibi who isn't cursed," I explained. She just blinked, staring at me, her expression becoming increasingly dubious. "It's true. Tell her, Erza."

"It is the truth," Erza agreed. "I saw it with my own eyes. He rendered Zeref unconscious, then rewound him to the age of a child - before he received his curse! He can do the same with you, I'm sure," she added. "He truly is a powerful, and fantastic wizard, my future husband."

"E-eh?" Juvia interrupted, starting to have her eyes well up with tears. "B-but m-my beloved Lee, y-you, you promised," she added, her voice warbling.

"No, no," I told Juvia, moving over for her as she started to just wail and cry. "I am not going to leave you, even now, Juvia. I will just marry both you and Erza!"

"Wow. What'm I? Chopped liver?" Konata chimed in.

"I'll marry anybody who wants to marry me!" I declared, with fierce energy, looking around at everybody present, daring them to complain. Also daring Lucy, Cana, Mirajane, Evergreen, or Levy to suggest a wedding. The girls did look at each other for a moment, as if considering it, or wondering if anybody would - but apparently putting them on the spot didn't work.

Though, perhaps I could simply claim it was intentional. After all, it made it so that I didn't have to deal with an absurdly large series of marriage ceremonies back-to-back. The Fairy Tail crew canonically were trapped in a time warp for the next seven years, so there would be plenty of time for Levy, Lucy, Cana, Mirajane, Evergreen, Ikaruga, Sorano, or Millianna to propose to me. And also, perhaps, Lisanna and/or Mavis too. Truly, I had my work set out for me, being a harem protagonist who actually has a harem, but luckily I was independently wealthy, learned magic extremely fast, and was supernaturally gifted with sexual talents!

"Ahem!" Makarov cleared his throat again. "In that case, we should determine from those members of the Guild present, who should be raised to an S-Class Wizard. Five passed the first round of tests... Elfman, Fried, Cana, Natsu, Mest, and Lee."

"I... don't think Mest should get a position on the Council," Ur said. "While his assistance was valuable, he isn't actually a real member of the Guild."

Makarov looked sheepish at that, but nodded along. "Yes. Probably not. Unfortunately, then, we must choose who will pass from the remaining five." He crossed his arms. "Elfman and Evergreen managed to work together with Natsu to defeat Zancrow. I feel as if this suffices to earn both Elfman and Natsu positions as an S-Class Wizard. Does anyone disagree?"

Nobody had any arguments.

"Now, Fried managed to defeat both Rustyrose and Kain Hikaru with only Bickslow at his side, again, putting him obviously and naturally in the S-Class. Unfortunately, Cana spent her time during the invasion with Gildarts, which I imagine didn't give her much chance to shine."

"What?!" Gildarts demanded. "What the hell?! You can't deny my daughter an S-Class pass just because she spent time with her dear old dad while evil bad guys were invading the island! It's only natural we'd stick together, we're family!" The fact that he hadn't known that fact just a single week ago did not even cross his mind as relevant. "If anything, it shows her intelligence, since she got me, an S-Class Wizard on her side."

"Dad..." Cana said, her hand pressing against her father's shoulder, a gentle smile on her lips. He turned back to her. "It's okay. I only wanted to be an S-Class to impress you anyway."

He smiled at that. "How could I not be impressed with you, Cana?" He asked. "You've turned out to be a wonderful young woman, despite everything you've been through, and not having a mom or a dad in your life for so much of it."

Konata mimed a gagging motion at their saccharine show of familial affection.

"Yes, well... moving on. Lee! While he provided valuable support to Erza, he didn't fight anybody! Much like Cana-"

"What are you talking about?!" Erza demanded, her voice sharp, and Makarov shut up. "Not only did Lee assist me in my battle against Azuma-"

"Well, that wasn't really fighting-"

"NOT ONLY THAT!" Erza interrupted with a roar, her hand coming up to her chest. "But I just told you, not five minutes ago, that Lee defeated the most powerful of all dark wizards on this island, or indeed, in all of history!" When Makarov didn't seem to understand. "Zeref! He rendered him unconscious, then cured and removed the curse that bound him to evil! I could surely have never defeated Zeref on my own. Indeed, no one here could, including Mavis Vermillion herself!"

"Oh. Good point," Makarov said. He looked at the other high-ranking wizards. "Alright, fine. You're an S-Class Wizard now, Lee."

"Thank you. This recognition is entirely appropriate to my skills as a great and mighty wizard," I said, placing one hand on my chest. "But I appreciate that there is an order to things, and despite the fact that I am little stronger than I was when I joined this Guild, it took time for you to all properly recognize my strength."

"Boo!" Konata said. "Boo this man!" She hurled a tomato at me, and I managed to dodge it. Where was she even getting the tomatoes?

* * *

In any case, we wound up returning back to the Guild Hall, everybody being shocked to discover Mest was secretly a member of the Magic Council all along, and also that Zeref was now a chibi and wasn't really evil in the first place, and also that Mavis was a ghost (but not really), and also that I was marrying Erza and Juvia.

That last one seemed to be the focus of quite a few of the men, who were simply jealous of how attractive and desirable I was to women. I would have advised them that they should simply try being more attractive to members of the opposite sex, but they probably would have gotten some tomatoes from Konata and started throwing them at me.

"It's here," Makarov said, his voice cool as he guided me into the basement of the Guild Hall. He let out a long breath, as we walked down the tunnels. "It's strange to think that Mavis will finally be freed. She's been in there for as long as I've been Master, and then some. I suppose I underestimated you, Lee," he said at last. "You've done a lot for this guild, even if you're not as strong of a frontline fighter as Erza. Healed Gildarts' grievous wounds. Brought Ur back from the dead and gotten her to join Fairy Tail. Handled Zeref... I can't help but think, looking at you," he said, bringing his eyes up to mine, "that perhaps you embody the Fairy Tail spirit more than anyone else. Victory without force, but through kindness... isn't that the greatest kind?" He paused in his speech, looking down at my hands. "What's that?"

"It's a bra."

"Yes." He said, affecting calm. "But whose bra is it?"

"Ultear's."

He looked back up the staircase, as if expecting the woman in question to come storming down to murder me right then and there.

* * *

"No, I don't know where it is!" Ultear hissed at Meredy.

"I am sorry. You may wear mine."

"I really can't," Ultear said, fidgeting awkwardly in place. Meredy was... not as well-endowed as her. It would definitely be uncomfortable to wear her bra. "I definitely would have put it on this morning! What even happened?" She'd been sitting down at the Fairy Tail Guild, talking to her mother a bit, considering if she should join the Guild or what, and when she'd gotten up to go to the bathroom, she'd discovered her bra was missing, and hurriedly waved Meredy along to talk to her in private.

"What's the matter?" Came the voice of her mother, interrupting her. The woman let out a sigh as her gaze met Ultear's. "You're done with us already, huh? Just trying to think of how to slip away? You don't have to stay, Ultear. I just want you to be happy."

"No, that's - that's not it," Ultear denied hurriedly, blushing with color. She definitely couldn't admit her wardrobe malfunction to her own mother! "Sorry. It's, a, uh, private issue."

"Got the hots for a guy?" Ur asked, smiling. "I can probably set you up. I used to be quite the man-eater, back in my day," she added, her expression going more wistful.

"No! That's not it either. Ah, I should just go home really quick to handle it and come back," she said, not wanting this horrifically awkward conversation to go on any longer.

"What? Is it cramps?" Unfortunately, it appeared destined to continue.

* * *

"Here it is," Makarov said, gesturing to the tall crystal containing the comatose body of Mavis Vermillion, the First Master of the Fairy Tail Guild.

"Yep. Here I am," Mavis said, sitting perched atop it. "I have to admit I don't really know if I believe you about the whole 'fixing me' thing, though."

"You'll see soon enough. Indeed, you may be so impressed that your heart swoons for me!" I declared, with an embellished wave of my hand. "Lucy only truly fell for me after I brought her mother back from the dead, for example."

"Mm. Is the act just to make it so you don't suffer the Curse of Contradictions?" Mavis asked, tilting her head curiously. "Zeref once focused utterly on administration, treating the people of his kingdom like pieces on a board... is it that kind of a thing?"

"Only in the absolute vaguest sense," I said, at last placing one hand on the crystal, and warping it backwards and backwards in time. "There is also a divinity watching my every actions, forcing me to behave according to her wishes - but her desires are for me to have lots of sex, so she protects me from the Curse of Contradictions."

Mavis giggled at that. "I guess it does kinda ruin your sex life," Mavis agreed with a playful grin - then the crystal began to melt and unform, the ghost of Mavis vanishing and the unconscious Mavis simply flopping onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. I quickly approached her, and kept rewinding her body. She was, luckily, unconscious, but I actually had no idea when to stop anyway, since as far as I knew, there was no physical sign of the difference between a cursed person and a non-cursed person, and I think she may have gotten stuck as a child for the everloli/lolibaba thing? She could also just be one of those people who looked young... man, later Fairy Tail got really complicated and I didn't read that much of it.

Well... ah! I knew! I'd just push her back until she de-aged, then I'd age her back up to adulthood. That made sense. You probably didn't age when you were cursed, otherwise Zeref would be an old man rather than a fairly young-looking dude.

That was precisely what I did - I carefully monitored her body, watching her soft breaths, paying close attention to her breasts. She had a modest pair of C-cups, but it was one of the things that most identified the process of maturity for a young woman, so-

"Could you please stop staring at the First Master's breasts?" Makarov asked, sounding uncomfortable.

"No," I told him. "It is part of the process." When her breasts went down a single cup size, I stopped. Actually, my attention was so precise that I stopped before she had gone down even a single cup size, but only a fraction of one. Such was my attention to my patient! "Mavis?" I asked her, gently patting her cheek awake.

Her eyes flickered open slowly, then she rose to her feet with a long groan. "Oh. Ah. Wow. It worked." She raised one hand to the air - then suddenly twisted in place, moving onto hands and knees, her nostrils flaring. "That's-" I sniffed the air. There was just the musty smell of the basement. "I can smell!" She cried out, leaping to her feet, drinking in the... well, pretty boring scent of the basement, but I guess it was exciting if you hadn't smelled anything in a century. "Oh, oh," she hopped on her feet up and down. "I can eat again! Come on!" She said, starting to run barefoot towards the staircase.

"Um." I said. I rushed up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder, taking advantage of her being out of shape and also child-sized to stop her. "You're naked, Mavis."

She blinked. She looked down at herself. She looked back up at me. "Ah. I am. Yes."

"I have a bra you can wear," I offered, and she looked at it closely, then took it to hurriedly hide her shame. "Oh, I have a pair of panties, too," I added, though they were the pair that Ur had gifted me, instead of the pair I'd stolen from her daughter a few minutes ago. Those also got pulled on. There was an awkward moment of silence between the three of us - then Mavis started running up the stairs again.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched her rush up the stairs. I had done yet another good thing. Makarov stepped up next to me, patting me on the back. "Good work. I thought you'd only stolen that bra out of perversion, but I was underestimating you again, Lee. You really do think of your guildmates so well... it brings a tear to this old man's eye."

I simply nodded, not wanting to give away the fact that I had not been aware that Mavis was naked in the crystal.

* * *

Mavis felt famished. Partly that was probably because she'd spent months not eating to try to kill herself when she'd suffered under the Curse of Contradiction, but mostly that was because she'd spent a literal century unable to actually eat or smell anything, and the richness of all the tastes just filled her up with delight. The Guild truly had prospered in her absence, and everybody was being nice to her, getting her cakes and sharing whatever they were eating with her as she just gulped and swallowed and chewed and licked and tasted everything! It was wonderful!

"So this is the First Master of the Fairy Tail Guild... she's pretty petite."

"Ahm uffed gwam maffic wiffou enuff twaimim," she slurred out as she chowed down. "The coff wash I didm ghow olm," she explained.

"What?" Somebody asked.

"She said she used grand magic without enough training, and the cost was that she didn't grow old!" Natsu said, sounding annoyed. She pointed at him and gave a thumbs up. "See? It was easy to understand!"

"Moah!" She said, biting down into some steak that somebody had offered her. It was slathered in some kind of red sauce she didn't recognize, and it tasted insanely spicy but also great. Tears were coming from her eyes, partly because of her joy at being able to eat food again, but mostly because it was spicy. Her mouth was uncontrollably salivating to try to compensate for the spiciness.

"Um, I think you should mix the spiciness with some milk," one of her guild members said, handing over a glass of it. She slurped that down, and it did help a lot.

"Thanks," she hissed out, after finishing her swallowing, before going right back to the extremely spicy steak. So good!

A serious-looking dark-haired young woman entered the Guild Hall at that point, adjusting her top. "Ahem. Sorry about my absence," she said. "Um." She followed everybody else's attention to Mavis, who just waved. "What the- why are you wearing my bra?"

"Oh, ish tha' who da bra'sh is?" Mavis asked. "I goff if from Yee! Damf foo!"

"What?" The woman asked.

"She said, is that who the bra's is? I got it from Lee! Thank you!" Natsu explained. She gave him a thumbs up again.

For some reason, that made both the young woman, and the somewhat-older woman with short dark hair who looked like she could maybe be her older sister or something, look extremely angry. Their eyes went to the basement where Lee was. Then their expressions became sadistic and they dashed down there.

Ah well. Lee could handle it. She wanted to try that thing that looked kinda like a white donut with a black thingy in the middle!