Chapter 97

Irene's breath came in shallow bursts, each inhale heavy with the weight of her own remorse. Her eyes, once sharp and calculating, were now clouded with a storm of conflicting emotions. The weight of her past, of everything she had done, pressed down on her like an unbearable force.

For years, she had sought a way to reclaim her humanity, even at the cost of her own soul. She had been obsessed with the idea—so much so that she had even considered something unthinkable. The thought of transferring her consciousness into her newborn daughter, Erza, had once consumed her. She had thought, If I can't be human again, perhaps my child can be. I can make her into what I couldn't be, and in doing so, maybe... maybe I can be whole again.

But something stopped her. The moment she had been about to carry out that plan, as her hands trembled above her daughter, it wasn't fear or guilt that held her back. It was something far more profound. It was love.

She loved Erza. She loved her fiercely, more deeply than she could put into words. The idea of using her own daughter, of forcing that kind of existence upon her, shattered her like glass. In that moment, Irene realized how far gone she had become—how twisted her mind had become in the pursuit of something she thought was the only path left. Her obsession with regaining her humanity had become a kind of madness, and it had almost cost her the very thing she loved most.

Now, standing before Aiden, she saw the same offer he had made her before, the one she had hesitated to accept. The chance to be human again. The opportunity to leave the monster she had become behind and reclaim who she once was.

But could she? Did she even deserve it anymore?

Her fingers trembled as she looked at Aiden, her mind a battlefield of self-loathing and regret. The words she had never allowed herself to speak were now on the tip of her tongue. "I can't forgive myself," 

She whispered, her voice broken, barely audible. "I don't deserve to be human again. Not after that. I don't deserve redemption."

Aiden's gaze softened, and he stepped closer to her. He wasn't pressing her, just offering an answer, an escape from the torment she had trapped herself in. " Yes, you do.," he said quietly, his voice unwavering. "It's not something you have to earn, Irene. You've suffered enough. All you have to do is let go of the past."

Irene's chest tightened, and her hands shook as the tears finally came. She had spent so long trying to bury the woman she used to be, the one who was capable of love, capable of being human. But in the depths of her heart, she knew what Aiden said was true.

She wasn't beyond saving. She wasn't beyond redemption. But the thought of accepting it seemed like too much to bear.

"I almost took everything from Erza," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I almost turned her into a tool, into a vessel for my own brokenness. How could I ever forgive myself for that?"

Aiden didn't say anything for a long moment. Instead, he simply reached out and took her hand, his grip firm and reassuring. "You're not your mistakes, Irene. You're not your past. And you're certainly not the things you did while lost in that darkness. You're more than that. You have a choice. And you can choose to walk a different path."

Irene closed her eyes, the flood of memories overwhelming her. She remembered the love she had felt for Erza, the warmth in her daughter's eyes when she was still a child, still innocent. She remembered how much she had wanted to protect her, to guide her, to give her a better future than the one Irene had lived. It hurt too much to face it, but the love she felt for Erza was still there, like a light in the darkness.

She hadn't been a mother to Erza in the way she had wanted. She hadn't protected her. But maybe—just maybe—she could be something better now.

"I... I accept," she whispered, the words coming from deep within her heart. "I don't know if I deserve it, but I accept."

Aiden's smile softened, his eyes filled with quiet understanding. "You don't have to deserve it. You just have to want it. And I can help you make it real."

He extended his hand toward her, an offer to help her stand, to help her rise from the shadows of the past. Irene hesitated for a moment, her heart racing, before finally taking his hand.

As she rose, she felt the weight of her decision settle on her like the beginning of a new chapter.

"I won't fail you," she said, her voice steadier now, full of new resolve. 

Aiden nodded, a small, knowing smile on his lips. "You won't regret this. I promise."

—

Irene moved quietly beside Aiden as they navigated the aftermath of the battlefield. The corpses of the Spriggan 12, well half of them, lay scattered, the destruction Laevateinn had unleashed still lingering in the scorched air. The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable.

The decision had already been made. Irene had defected.

And now came the weight of what followed.

"I never imagined I'd walk away from all of it," she said, her voice low. "Alvarez. The Spriggans. Zeref."

Aiden didn't speak. He just listened.

"I used to think loyalty was the only way to repay what was given to me," she continued, eyes distant. "Zeref helped me once—when no one else did. When I was nothing but a shattered echo of who I used to be. That... meant something. Enough that I convinced myself it justified everything else."

She paused, exhaling sharply, like the memory itself pained her.

"But looking back... it wasn't loyalty. It was fear. Fear of losing even that small piece of salvation. Of being nothing again."

Aiden glanced at her, his expression unreadable, but warm.

"I don't want to be that woman anymore," Irene said, more firmly now. "The one who was grateful just to be allowed to exist, even if it meant sacrificing everything else. I want more than that. I want to live for something real."

"You already made that choice," Aiden replied. "You walked away."

Irene gave a quiet, humorless laugh. "And now I'm walking straight into your guild. Fairy Tail. A place I once watched from the shadows."

A hint of anxiety slipped into her voice, the confident general giving way to the uncertain woman beneath. "What if they hate me? What if they look at me and see only the monster I used to be?"

Aiden stopped walking, turning to face her.

"They'll look at you the way they looked at me," he said. "And if you let them... they'll help you find yourself again. The real you. Not Irene the Queen of Dragons. Not a general. Just you."

Her lips parted, but no words came out. She'd faced gods, dragons, kings—and yet, the thought of entering that rickety guild hall in Magnolia filled her with something far more terrifying than war.

Vulnerability.

Aiden reached into his coat and handed her a tattered, crimson scarf. Erza's. She stared at it for a long moment before gently pressing it to her chest.

"No one at Fairy Tail is perfect," Aiden said. "But they never turn away someone who's ready to try."

She nodded, swallowing thickly.

Then, for the first time, Irene Belserion—former queen, feared general of the Alvarez Empire, and mother to the strongest woman in Fairy Tail—took a breath not for survival or pride, but for hope.

"Alright," she said quietly, her voice trembling with something new. "Let's go home."

A quiet stillness had settled over them.

Aiden stood at Irene's side, his gaze distant for a moment, then resolute as he raised a hand.

"Irene," he said quietly, his tone steady. "Before we go, there's something I need to do. I'm going to return you to who you were—before the dragons, before the magic consumed everything."

She looked at him, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face, but there was no hesitation in her voice. "I trust you."

From the golden void of his Celestial Inventory, Aiden summoned a curious item—a small crystalline sphere, humming faintly with temporal energy. Inside, it shimmered with a strange light, not unlike the glow of stars trapped in glass.

"This artifact," he explained, "is called Everdawn Crystal. It reverts a person or object to its ideal past state. It's instantaneous and painless. I could've chosen other methods, but they would've caused you unnecessary suffering and insufficient. I didn't want that."

Irene's eyes stayed fixed on the sphere, her expression unreadable.

"But there's a catch," Aiden added. "This will strip away most of your power. Your Dragon Slayer magic… your enchantments… the immense reserves you've built over centuries. You'll be human, through and through. You can still use magic but your capacity will be what it was before you ever became a Dragon Slayer."

He glanced at her, his voice softer now. "It'll be up to you to build yourself back up. If you want to."

I could fix that too, he thought quietly to himself, watching her. I could flood her with raw power, amplify her reserves to levels even she's never touched. It would take less than a second. One artifact, one word and she'd be stronger than ever.

A pause.

"I understand," she said, her voice soft. She transferred back to her dragon form. 

Aiden nodded, then gently pressed the Everdawn Crystal to her chest. The moment it made contact, a wave of golden light enveloped her. The magic washed over her like a tide, radiant and silent. Her eyes widened not from pain, but from warmth. Her skin shimmered for a heartbeat, the draconic markings vanishing like sand in the wind.

And then it was done.

Irene collapsed to her knees, gasping softly as the golden light faded. Her hands trembled as she raised them, slow and unsure, like someone waking from a dream and trying to remember what it felt like to be real. For the first time in centuries, she saw no scales. No mutations. No remnants of the dragon within her. Just skin. Just flesh and bone. Just… her.

The breath caught in her throat as the enormity of it settled in.

She began to cry.

"I feel light…" she whispered, voice breaking under the weight of the moment. "For the first time… in centuries…"

It wasn't just physical. The burden she had carried—of guilt, of power, of choices made in desperation and bitterness—was gone. And with it, the haunting pressure of what she had become.

Aiden, without a word, stepped beside her and draped his cloak over her shoulders. His movements were careful, almost reverent, like he knew how fragile this moment was. She looked up at him, eyes glistening with tears, and for a moment, her breath hitched again—not from emotion, but from the clarity of his presence.

He didn't see her as a monster. Not once. Even when he could've. Even when the world did.

"Thank you," she murmured, her voice barely above the breeze.

He gave her a small, tired smile. "Come on. Let's clean this up."

They moved through the battlefield in silence, surrounded by the remains of the Spriggan Twelve's once-terrifying might. 

Irene gathered shards of ruined enchantments and magical residue, doing what she could. She stumbled once, her balance not what it used to be—her body was still adjusting, learning again what it meant to be simply human. Slower. Weaker. Mortal.

And yet… she didn't feel diminished.

For the first time in her long, cursed existence, she felt alive.

As she worked, her eyes kept drifting toward Aiden.

What kind of man was he, truly? Not just powerful—no, there were many with strength in this world. But strength without compassion, without purpose, was hollow. He was different. The way he spoke. The way he looked at her without judgment. The way he offered her a second chance without asking for anything in return.

She had fought beside legends. Commanded armies. But no one—no one—had ever reached into her broken soul and pulled her back into the light like this.

He didn't just save her. He saw her.

And now, she couldn't stop seeing him either.

Irene looked away, cheeks coloring faintly. It was absurd. She was centuries old. He was… young, by comparison. And yet, something in her stirred—something she hadn't felt since long before the dragon seed had taken root in her. A warmth. A tether. A quiet yearning that had nothing to do with magic or redemption.

Was this admiration?

Gratitude?

Or… something deeper, barely formed, waiting patiently in the corners of her heart?

She wasn't sure. Not yet. But the thought lingered, quiet and persistent.

I won't waste this chance, she promised herself silently. Not just for Erza… but for me.

And for him.

Somewhere between the dust and ash, amid the ruins of a war she had once been a part of, Irene Belserion took the first real step into her future. And though she didn't yet know what role she would play beside Aiden, something within her whispered:

You're not done. Not yet. This is only the beginning.

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