Lilith Dragneel

I swung my knife at the closest bandit to me as he fell down with a thud.

"Where are the girls?" I asked, my voice void of all emotion.

"I-in the back. P-please don't hurt me. I-I have a family waiting for me," the man stammered.

"Should've thought about that before becoming a bandit," I muttered, tying him up to a nearby steel pole.

Heels clicking against the concrete floor, I arrived at a giant metal door. As I started melting down the door, I could faintly hear sobs on the other side.

"Don't move."

I turned around to see a woman holding a gun to my head. Her hand wasn't trembling which meant that she had killed before. This woman had to go.

"Alright, I won't move," I shrugged, teleporting all the people in the warehouse outside.

"What the--?" She faltered in surprise and I leapt towards her, kicking the gun out of her hand.

"Why, you-- Wind Tycoon!" she shouted, sending a blast of air my way.

I looked behind me then in front of me. Hostages in back, attack in front. How... convenient.

"Stellar Shower."

The sky above us grew dark, resembling nighttime, as the sky shone brightly with stars. One by one, they fell towards the woman who stood there in shock before attempting to make a wind barrier.

With a shriek, the woman fell down to the ground unconscious. I turned to the little girls, who strangely seemed more scared of me than their captors.

"Everything's fine now. Let's get you home, okay?" I said, bending down to their eye-level.

"Um, Onee-sama?" a girl asked.

"Hm?"

"Why do you wear a mask?"

It was a simple harmless question yet it made me stand there in fear. Why did I wear a mask? Because...

"It's to protect myself from danger" ...so I can protect everyone else around me as well.

"Oh! I get it! Onee-sama has a lot of enemies and wants to be secret!" a girl said.

After that, the girls warmed up to me and I was able to take them to their homes safely without any ear-piercing cries.

"Thank you so much for returning our girls. Please take your reward," an elderly woman said, handing me a bag of Jewels.

"No problem," I said softly, looking at the way she wrapped her arm around her daughter.

As she closed her door, a familiar pain appeared as I ran around the corner of the block. I took off my mask and clamped a hand over my mouth as I coughed, black blood seeping through my hands and burning the grass underneath.

Wiping my mouth with an enhanced handkerchief, I leaned against the building and sighed. It was spreading a lot faster than I thought...

~~~A couple of weeks ago...~~~

R: Are you sure you want to do this?

My bedroom door was locked and I leaned against the door, sighing with the book in my hand as Ruby's newest message popped up.

R: You know how dire the consequences are, right?"

L: Yeah. But I need to get stronger.

R: Just train. It doesn't have to be this way.

L: Ruby, please.

R: I... fine. I'll give it to you, but remember to take the antidote after the 3 months are over.

~~~***~~~

I sighed as I pulled out a bottle of blue sparkling liquid. Unscrewing the cap, I pinched my nose and drank the entire container. I felt my magic lock itself up and I frowned. What the heck?

I noticed a little piece of paper taped to the side of the bottle and a message written on it.

R: Tee-hee! I forgot to tell you that it'll seal up your magic for 24 hours. You might wanna drink it somewhere safe.

I stored away the bottle and put back on my mask.

"'Tee-hee' my a**," I cursed, running towards the train station.

Using my newly gained Jewels, I bought a ticket to Magnolia and quickly boarded it, seeing that it was the last train doing in that direction. As the train swayed, I felt my eyes close and drifted off into sleep.

"...ss. Miss. Miss!"

I woke up with a jolt seeing a woman's face in front of mine.

"Um, yes?" I asked awkwardly.

"We're here at Magnolia," she said, pointing to the station name.

"Oh, thank you."

I got up and walked out of the train. I stretched for a bit, feeling eyes looking at me from all sides. My hand flew to my face and I sighed upon feeling my mask. Breathing in and out, I took off running into Magnolia.

Hearing silent cries of surprise, I knew that I had unwanted guests following me. I changed my plans and started running north, straight into the heart of Magnolia. I slowed down my pace and walked into Fairy Saber, heading for the second floor. Hearing the door behind swing open, I silently walked into my office and took the portal to Fairy Tail.

I dropped down in front of Mira, slightly wincing at the pain. Jumping from the third floor to the first was a pain without magic. It did kinda hurt, but at least I didn't break anything.

"Whoa, jumpy much?" Mira joked, placing down a drink on the customer's table.

"Haha, very funny," I scowled, dusting off my clothes.

Mira looked at me, frowning. I forgot. They can sense how much magic a person has... and I have none at the moment so...

I took off running out of the guild, making a sharp turn around the corner towards the "empty" mansion in the mountains.

It's really not empty. It's only filled with Celestial spirits... partying.... dancing.... drinking. Let's just leave it at "technical bar."

I kicked open the door as I headed upstairs short of breath.

"Oi, not going to close the door, brat?" Aquarius said, sitting in Scorpio's lap.

"No time," I hissed. Ignoring their complaints, I slammed the door to my room shut and cast a spell on it, the same spell from when I first ran to Tenroujima.

I ran into the bathroom and threw up in the toilet, holding back my hair with one hand. Wiping my mouth, I opened the window to let the smell out of the room.

"24 hours," I said, pulling out the glass bottle. Laughing bitterly, I sunk down and buried my face in my arms. "To be strong, you have to be weak."

Hearing loud bangs on the door, I looked up curiously.

"Brat, you okay?" Aquarius asked.

I got back onto my feet with a sigh. Brushing my bangs back with one hand, I opened the door, the seal in between as a force field.

"Just tired. I'm going to meditate if there's nothing else," I said, closing my door.

"Does it have to do with the fact that your magic presence is gone?" a voice behind her chirped.

Peeking out the door, I could see a bush of white hair. Groaning, I threw open my door to see a gentle, but scary smile.

"Mirajane. Why are you here? Why do you even know about this place?"

"Secret," she giggled, putting a finger to my mouth with a wink.

"Does Laxus know?" I asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Not yet~" she sang, a gentle smile on her face.

"Well, good."

I shut the door and fell onto my bed with a sigh. No magic for 24 hours... This shouldn't be hard, right?

~~~****~~~

"Natsu, below you!"

"Open, Gate of the Bull, Taurus!"

"Heaven's Wheel!"

"Roar of the Sky Dragon!"

I sighed, sitting on a stool in the empty guild as everyone else was outside fighting bandits. Usually, bandits aren't hard to kill. That's only if they didn't have magic.

Now, what if the bandit group you're fighting was filled with enemies that you pummeled in the past that are now back for revenge? And they are all wizards.

There's only one word for that: F.U.N. 🙃

I sighed and swirled my drink, or rather, what was left of it. I slumped over on the counter and buried my head in my arms.

"This is no fun," I muttered. "What's the point of going through all that pain if I can't use it?"

"Yo, Lilith! We're back!" Natsu shouted as the Guild doors were thrown open.

I gave a thumbs-up from my spot before putting my hand back down. My eyelids started getting heavier as a drowsy feeling started taking over my body.

"...th! You okay?" a voice shouted.

I looked up at them to see a flying blue blob in front of my face. Great. I've been drugged and now I can't see. Just great.

Feeling my arms lose their energy, I fell backward into a pair of arms, not hearing the whole Guild launch into their defensive positions.

"Y... o..?" the person said, their words fading in and out.

"O..nii-sama?" I whispered before my vision grew dark.

~~~In the Guild~~~

"ZEREF?!"

Everyone launched into their positions, grabbing their weapons to save their comrade from his arms.

"You okay?" the Black Wizard asked, a strange look on his face.

Erza was skeptical; the Black Wizard was worried about a member of their Guild?

"O..nii-sama?" a faint whisper was heard from the girl.

"ONII-SAMA?"

"HE'S MY BROTHER?!" Natsu yelled, drawing attention to him.

"HUH?!"

The guild was sent into a frenzy as they started taking in the information before them. Just when they thought there would be no more surprises...

"Yo. What's going on, Zeref?" Jellal asked, taking a step forward.

Their jaws dropped seeing him casually walk up to the Black Wizard like they were long-lost buddies.

"She fainted. What do I do?" Zeref asked, hugging the unconscious girl.

"Okay. Maybe first, give her some space to breathe..." Jellal said, sweatdropping seeing the girl's face turn purple.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Zeref gently put her down on a nearby table, putting her head in his lap.

"..... That's some improvement," Jellal sighed.

"D-do I give her medicine now?" Jellal fell face-first on the floor upon seeing the Black Wizard pull out medicine from his coat.

"That won't work," he coughed, getting back onto his feet. "You just need to let her rest."

"Will it really work?" Zeref said, his aura leaking out.

Everyone shivered, their palms sweaty from the dangerous aura covering the guild.

"Yes. The bottle said it was a 24-hour effect. It's only been 6 hours. Relax, Zer-bear."

"Don't call me that. Only Lilith gets to."

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say, O Great Black Wizard."

"Really? Great."

"...."

"That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"

"Yup."

"J-Jellal, you know Zeref?" Erza said, steading her sword at the black-haired wizard.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. She introduced us to him when you guys were gone during the 7-year break. We're pretty good buddies ever since he stopped trying to kill me," Jellal shrugged.

"You deserve to be killed for touching my Lilith," Zeref harrumphed.

"..." Just what was this scenario in front of them.

"I agree!" a voice piped up.

The crowd parted to reveal a salmon-headed boy as he walked up to the unconscious girl.

"Well," he said, scratching his head. "You can't kill, but you can punch them to Mt. Hakube!"

The guild members that had stayed during the 7-year break shuddered. They had all experienced a visit to Mt. Hakube via Lilith express at least once. To hear it come out of Natsu's mouth made it sound like you'd end up in Crocus instead!

Laughter broke the silence in the guild.

"Good one, Natsu," Zeref said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Lilith does it all the time!"

"I can't imagine a little girl like her doing that," Zeref chuckled, not noticing the menacing aura from below.

"A.... little.... girl? SCREW YOU!"