The Jack of All Trades Chapter 2: Vacations for Scientific Curiosity

Harry yawned as he fiddled with his plastic straw; he ignored the celebration behind him as usual- really, those kids are always celebrating one occasion or another. As it so happens, this time they were drinking for Erza's return from the Council. In that ridiculous farce of a trail, she was cleared of all charges and set free- no thanks to Natsu's untimely intervention. The only thing his little interruption did was set an enraged and embarrassed Erza out for his blood. While Natsu had plenty of that to spare (it was a shame the boy wasn't an O negative) Harry didn't think he had enough to satiate Erza's bloodlust.

Clearly, the fire breathing boy has had better ideas- and better days.

Nonetheless, Harry was glad that Erza was found to be innocent. In reality, they never had much of a choice. If Erza was found guilty… well, put simply, there wouldn't be a council anymore. Since Harry was the highest ranking mage on the mission, he should have been the one to bear responsibility for the destroyed infrastructure, but the Council didn't dare arrest him.

After all, with him gone, who will clean up after Fairy Tail's messes?

Besides, more than one of the old geezers remembered him from however many years ago; they were smart enough not to arrest a mage of his caliber. Even if they did arrest him, they wouldn't be able to keep him confined. Harry supposed he would have humored them for a while, but since he did not age, the cost of his confinement would probably end up bankrupting the Council. The immortal sincerely doubted that the Council would outlast him anyways. If they got arrogant enough to think that they would, then perhaps they needed a warm reminder.

As such, it was far safer to arrest Erza and make her sit through an extraneous trial; at least she respects their authority.

Harry was once again the calmest one of the lot when news of Erza's arrest broke. He had no reason to worry; if anyone dared to arrest Erza, then he would break her out. To an ageless person like him, laws only applied when they were convenient. When they weren't, he would damn well break as many as he pleased- if the occasion called for it.

Plus, he was sure that Natsu, the hot-headed brat that he is, would come up with another one of his brilliantly stupid half-baked plans to "fix" the situation. He wasn't disappointed. The green-eyed immortal chuckled quietly to himself- really, the least Natsu could do was put a wig on the right way.

Nonetheless, the dilemma was over, and no one was to blame. Harry shrugged and sipped on his hot chocolate. Perhaps he should send the Council a friendly greeting card just to remind them who they were messing with. He had a strong suspicion about Sieglan, but since the man was not interfering with Fairy Tail, he would leave the shade in peace.

With Erza back by nightfall and Mirajane breaking out the good booze, the whole guild was in joyous uproar once more. Kana was drinking by the barrels again, Gray and Natsu were brawling as usual, Loki (or Leo, as Harry liked to call him) was laughing away with multiple girls hanging onto his arms, and Lucy just stood to the side trying to avoid getting hit by any stray bottles or pieces of furniture.

All in all, things have more or less returned to normal.

"Erza! Let's continue where we left off!" Natsu shouted. Yup, definitely normal, Harry thought.

"No, I'm tired." The girl said calmly.

Natsu must be hard of hearing, Harry mused as the dragon slayer rushed towards Erza with a fistful of flames.

He was not disappointed when Erza dropped the boy in one punch to the stomach.

"It comes in handy when Natsu gets motion sick, doesn't it?" Harry observed from a table away. He was sure Erza has gotten plenty of practice throughout the years. Perhaps he should try this strategy the next time Natsu asks him for a fight. Surely the boy would have learned from the last time Harry flung him through a couple of brick walls

The redhead nodded and sat down.

Such an anticlimactic end for Natsu's long awaited fight with Erza had everyone laughing. Even Harry cracked a smile; it was nice to see laughter fill the entire bar, he thought.

Slowly, the laughter came to a stop as everyone suddenly dozed off unexpectedly from a rather potent sleep spell. Harry felt the magic instantly and bent the spell around him by casting a low leveled finite- one that only affected him without dispelling the whole piece of magical art. He waved away the spell with ease.

Harry watched with amusement as each of the members collapsed on the somewhat dirty floor; some of them even started snoring. Of course, Makarov remained awake- the man would not be a master if he could not dispel a sleep spell. Harry sent a small magical sensing wave upstairs to the second floor. As expected, Laxus dispelled Mystogan's spell- as expected of Makarov's grandson.

"Mystogan," Harry greeted while sitting cross-legged on the table.

The masked man nodded, a hint of blue hair sticking out from his head covering. The magical sticks floating behind him made a tinkering noise as the mage haphazardly ripped off a posting from the mission board.

Harry observed the man from the corner of his eyes. He found it somewhat odd that the man chose not to pick a mission from the board on the second floor, but he did not pry. He trusted Mystogan, but he always thought that there was something off about the man. The fact that he looked just like Jellal and Sieglan did not help matters.

"Mystogan, are you going to dispel your sleep spell?" Makarov asked from his spot on the counter.

With a small countdown, Mystogan broke his sleep spell and disappeared into thin air.

Showoff, Harry grumbled to himself. Well, perhaps he should take advantage of the situation… Harry smirked mischievously and vanished Gray's clothing with a wave of his hand. Let's see how long it takes for the brat to notice. He ignored Makarov's exasperated sigh.

Slowly, Fairy Tail awoke from their slumber and began cursing at Mystogan, who managed to sneak in and out once more.

"Mystogan?" Lucy asked while hiding a yawn.

"One of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail," Elfman replied. To his side, Gray rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"He does this because he doesn't want other members to see his face," the black haired teen said, oblivious to the fact that his clothes have mysteriously vanished.

"With good reason, I may add." Harry piped, not tired at all. "He does it mostly out of paranoia since he covers almost all of his face with a bandana. Whenever he comes back for a new job, he always puts everyone to sleep, that bastard."

"Everyone except you, apparently," Gray pointed out, having noticed how awake Harry was. Harry shrugged. He would be offended if Gray thought that a low level sleep spell like that would do anything to him except for maybe making him sneeze.

"Everyone except Makarov, Laxus, and me," Harry directed the attention towards the master, who was trying to whistle his way into innocence.

"Fine." Gray conceded. "No one besides them knows what Mystogan looks like. It's possible even they don't know what he looks like without his facial covering."

Harry was about to reply that he did in fact know what Mystogan looked like when Laxus spoke up.

"No, I know what he looks like," the teenager said arrogantly from the second floor.

"Laxus? You're here?" Exclamations came from other members of the guild; their surprise is not unwarranted. Laxus and his teammates were very rarely seen in the guild, as they prefer to be out in the field.

"I just said that he's one of the three people that Mystogan didn't put to sleep. Why would I say that if he wasn't here?" Harry asked, agitated. A couple of the members laughed sheepishly.

"Another one of the strongest," Gray said offhandedly.

"We do have a lot of strong people in the guild," Harry admitted. "Most of them prefer to go on longer and more difficult missions."

"Except you," Gray said again with raised an eyebrow. Once more, Harry shrugged the teenager's questions away.

"Harry? You're among the strongest?" Lucy gaped. In hindsight, she shouldn't have been surprised, seeing how easily he handled the Eisenwald situation.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Blondie." Harry remarked flatly. "I manage well enough." He smirked at a disbelieving Gray. "Besides, I don't usually take missions since I prefer to stay at the guild."

"I don't see why you would stay here, Old Man. You're wasting your time." Laxus said casually, waving a hand at the brunette downstairs. Laxus respected the man's prowess as a mage but could not understand why he would waste that infinite power and potential of his.

Harry scowled. "Hey! Who are you calling old, Brat? Besides, you're a bit too young to understand."

Laxus scowled at the childish moniker.

"Well, Mystogan's not the most social person in the world. None of us bother him when he visits." Harry said sarcastically to Gray and Lucy.

"He's shy." Laxus added on with a smirk. "It's none of your business; you shouldn't have asked."

The guild founder rolled his eyes; that boy is talented in the art of offending people.

"Laxus, fight me!" Natsu shouted suddenly, leaping on top of a table.

"Natsu, haven't you learned your lesson?" Harry sighed.

"You were beaten by Erza just yesterday," Gray said dryly.

"They're right; if you can't beat Erza, there's no way you can beat me." Laxus declared.

"You know he's going to challenge you anyways." Harry pointed out. "We're talking about the boy who regularly challenges Guildarts to a fight- whenever he's here."

Laxus winced almost unperceivably. As much as he hated to admit it, the man had a point. Guildarts was a person that no sane man would want to challenge.

"What are you implying?" Erza asked darkly as the temperature suddenly plummeted despite Gray's frantic efforts to calm her.

"That I am the strongest." Laxus declared dramatically.

"Then get down here and prove it!" Natsu snarled with a raised fist.

"How about you come here?" The blonde taunted, flexing his index finger.

Just as Natsu was about to launch himself up to the second floor, he was interrupted by a sight that he has hardly ever seen.

Harry was laughing; he wasn't smirking, he wasn't giggling, he wasn't chucking. He was laughing a full-belly laugh.

"You? The strongest?" Harry laughed, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. "That's a good one. You're a long way away from being the strongest. You would do well to mind that," he remarked as he suddenly appeared behind Laxus, a curved dagger pressed casually against the teenager's throat.

Laxus' eyes widened in shock; he had not even seen the man move. He gave off no presence at all, yet the pressure of the knife against his throat was very real.

For once, there was silence in the entire guild.

Lucy gaped, looking between the empty spot where Harry was just moments ago.

Erza was shocked by Harry's speed, but as she has known him for longer, she was far less surprised.

Natsu cracked his knuckles and grinned. "Fight me!" He hollered, breaking the silence.

"Don't be daft, you fool." Gray scoffed. Even he could see that his rival would be no match for Harry.

Harry snorted, his dagger still pressed against Laxus' neck. The prideful blonde attempted to escape, only to have Harry pin his hands silently.

"You can train with me later, Shorty- if you don't change your mind that is." Harry smiled benevolently, an action that was somewhat ironic. Gray shivered; Natsu can have all the training he wants- if training with Harry can even be called that.

In his excitement, Natsu launched himself towards the second floor, only to have Makarov's enormous fist smash him to the floor. Lucy's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"You may not go to the second floor- not yet." The elderly man said sternly.

"Seems like you've made him mad. Come talk to me when you can go to the second floor" Laxus croaked, certain that Harry would not harm him. The pressure against his neck increased threateningly; the nonchalance that radiated from Harry suddenly grew to have a sharp edge.

"You mean like how you've made me mad? Besides, should you really be goading Natsu about the second floor when you can't get to the third floor? I can, so come talk to me when you can go there." Harry said, humor still present in his voice. He kept from drawing blood, but the disrespect that the blonde showed demanded action. Oh, he wouldn't do anything permanent to harm the brat- just maybe give him a papercut.

Laxus growled angrily and struggled against Harry; his skin began sparking violently. To his surprise, the electrical current did not make Harry let go. Instead, it merely slid off him like water on oil. The man's grip did not weaken; neither did he seem affected by the attack in the slightest.

"Laxus, you are not the strongest; you are not even close. I would know; I helped raise you and over half of the guild. If you can defeat me then maybe you're getting somewhere," Harry said amusedly, loud enough for everyone to hear. The elder Makarov looked serious at that; what Harry issued was a challenge that can't be completed- at least not in this lifetime. As he said that, he looked directly at the people that he considered his children.

Then, he whispered quietly to Laxus, "You aren't a bad person. Who you are related to makes no difference. You could be God's very own child, and it would not matter. Your actions are your own; your strength is your own. And quite frankly, power and strength is not the same thing. You will understand what I mean someday, but I hope that your answers do not come at too high a price."

With that, Harry released Laxus and apparated back to his vacant spot beside Gray and Lucy.

"So, what was that about Mystogan?" Harry smiled as if the confrontation did not happen. Lucy sweatdropped and wondered if the man was bipolar.

"What did you mean by second floor and third floor just now?" Lucy asked Mirajane, who has become more or less her guide to Fairy Tail.

"The ones above this floor? You've seen the outside of Fairy Tail before, right?" Harry motioned at the stairs. Lucy blushed in embarrassment.

"The second floor is for S-ranked mages only; the missions are thus S-ranked and much harder than the A- and below ranked missions on the first floor. Of course, the rewards are several times that of the first floor missions, but S-ranked missions take longer because of their difficulty. To get promoted to S-rank, you must pass an exam and fulfill various requirements. Out of this entire guild, there are six mages qualified to do S-ranked- Me, Mystogan, Erza, Laxus, and two others" Harry's voice suddenly appeared from Lucy's side, startling her. The man was nonplussed as he drew designs on the bar countertop with a finger.

"The third floor is not very well known; it's really more of an attic since the only thing up there is the mission board. That particular board has SS-ranked missions, so called hundred year missions because of their difficulty. Of course, their rewards are astronomical, but the risks are very great as well. Mages who take on SS-ranked missions are often away for long periods of time. Out of Fairy Tail, only two mages are qualified for SS-ranked missions; another mage and me. He is actually away right now, so you have not met him." Harry stopped Lucy before she even had a chance to ask.

"Fairy Tail is actually pretty lucky to have so many S-ranked and SS-ranked mages. Usually guilds are lucky if they can get two S-ranked mages or one SS-ranked mage. I don't think I can even describe in words just how dangerous S and SS-ranked missions are," Harry grimaced. "Anyhow, taking an unauthorized mission will get you expelled- provided that you survive the ordeal."

At this point, even Mirajane was listening quite intently, having never taken an SS-ranked mission before.

"Oh, and Lucy, if Natsu tries to talk you into doing an S-ranked mission, don't go. Are we clear?" Harry asked. Lucy shivered as green eyes bore into her.

"Crystal," she stuttered.

"Master, a posting disappeared from the second floor mission board!" Mirajane called, distressed.

Makarov unceremoniously spat his coffee out, drenching a suddenly very offended Macao.

Harry began cursing long and loud; it didn't take a genius to figure out who took the mission. What Laxus said yesterday probably motivated Natsu to do something completely and utterly harebrained… like go on a mission that he wasn't ready for.

'Igneel will skin me alive if I let Natsu die on my watch,' Harry mentally whimpered. While he had no doubt that the fire dragon would be unable to kill him, he didn't relish being skinned alive multiple times in succession.

"Makarov, I'm going off on vacation for a while. Don't try to find me." Harry waved easily at the dazed Master and leapt up to the second floor, landing right in front of Laxus.

"You saw Happy take the mission." Harry stated; it was not a question.

Laxus shrugged in response. "Maybe," he smirked.

"No, you did." Harry said flatly. "I'll settle that score with you another day. As of right now, I'm on vacation."

To his credit, Laxus did not react- at least not outwardly. He tried to ignore the apprehension that dripped down his spine. "Oh, are you?" He snarked with false bravado.

"Why yes, I am. I heard that someone was cultivating moon drip, and I just have to get a sample." Harry explained dreamily. In all his years with Fairy Tail, he has hardly ever taken a sick day, let alone a vacation. Laxus knew that well; things happened when Harry took a day off, let alone a vacation of all things.

"Laxus, don't do anything stupid." Harry warned. He knew that his warning would go unheeded, but he felt that it was his duty as the boy's elder to at least give him a fair notice.

"Makarov, don't waste your time with Laxus. When the time comes, do what you have to do; everything will be fine in the end," Harry advised when the guild master failed to make Laxus retrieve Natsu, having been in the short man's shoes. James Sirius, his firstborn, had a similar personality to Laxus- similar enough that he gave Harry hell over being the infamous "Man-Who-Lived's" son.

"Oh, and Laxus, Natsu and Lucy won't be expelled. If anything, the consequences will be on you. It doesn't matter if the burglar is a cat; the fact is, you saw the mission being taken by someone without the authority to do so and did nothing to retrieve it. You might as well be an accomplice, so you had better hope that Natsu and Lucy will complete the mission successfully. " Harry said offhandedly. Quite frankly, he will not allow Natsu and Lucy to be expelled.

"Jiji, I can force Natsu to come back," Gray stood up and offered to go retrieve Natsu and Lucy. Makarov took a long look at the teen before nodding carefully.

"Good luck, Gray." Harry patted him on the shoulder. To his surprise, Gray shoved his hand off.

"I never thought you of all people would take a vacation at a time like this," Gray said disdainfully. Out of the entire guild, the one most qualified to make Natsu and Lucy return was Harry- who made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with this matter.

"Well, you know how I am with collecting samples- all in the name of science, right? Someone is collecting moon drip, and I want some." Harry said, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his chest; Gray's comment had hurt more than he intended to. A part of him was offended; after all, Gray never thought to ask just exactly where the moon drip was.

"Whatever you're collecting, I hope it's worth it." Gray snarled.

Harry paused with an odd look on his face. "You'll understand what I mean, Gray." He walked out the front door without further ado.

"If you guys are quite done fooling around," a familiar voice came from above, but Gray, Natsu, and Lucy were far too busy running from the biggest rat they have ever seen to look up.

Gray tsked in annoyance and turned around briefly. A haphazard plan pieced together in his mind.

"Ice make…" He stared, slamming his fist against his open palm. A light blue magic circle appeared beneath the boy as cold wind tore at his necklace and hair.

"Do hurry up, Gray." The voice quipped, much to the teenager's annoyance. "If you're going to be this slow about it then I'll do the honor instead. Glacio Trio."

A jet of whitish blue light hit the giant rat dead on; Gray and the others watched on as the entire rat, the ground, and surrounding trees all froze to icicles.

"Oops. I think I overdid it a bit," the voice admitted.

"Harry!" Lucy gasped, recognizing the spell from the last time she saw the man cast it.

"Bingo! Ten points to the blond. I thought I told you not to go with Natsu if he took an S-ranked mission." Harry swung from an icy branch above. He was wearing a brightly printed shirt with flowers…?

"Harry?" Gray asked skeptically. "What are you doing here- and what are you wearing?"

"I'm here on vacation, of course- to collect samples." Gray rolled his eyes.

"Right, and of all the places you could have gone to, you came to Garuna Island."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah; this is the only place to collect what I want. I'm here on my off time, meaning that I'm not representing Fairy Tail. For the time being, I'm an independent mage. Anything I do is my own responsibility and will not reflect upon the guild."

Understanding dawned in Gray's eyes. The man never intended to leave them when he needed them the most. In fact, he was the first person to take off after Natsu and Lucy, and he did so in a manner that would not implicate the rest of the guild. In other words, he used a loophole to protect the ones he cared about. Suddenly, Gray felt ashamed of his words.

'You'll understand,' Gray recalled Harry's parting words. In hindsight, it was immature of him to lose his temper without fully understanding the situation.

"Gray," Harry said, catching the ice mage's attention. "In the many, many years I have been with the guild, I have never taken a vacation before."

Gray looked away. He should have known better; Harry was not the type of person to leave like that.

"As for what I'm wearing… they're called clothes. You should try them sometime." Harry said cheerfully.

Natsu snorted fire from his nostrils, and Lucy giggled at Harry's reply. Gray rolled his eyes and grumbled, secretly relieved that all was forgiven.

"Anyhow, let us proceed; off to the temple!" Harry crowed and led the way.

"Natsu, can't you go one mission without destroying anything?" Harry half-shouted at Natsu as he found himself freefalling through the roof.

The dragon slayer's terrified scream was his answer.

"God damnit," Harry cursed. "Arresto momentum!" He casted the spell three times- one on each of the mages- to slow their descent. "Protego!" He casted the shield charm over all of them, preventing the rocks from doing any damage.

"Is everyone alright?" Harry asked as all four of them slowly floated to a halt on top of a large pile of rubble that used to be the floor.

"Yes," Lucy said, glaring daggers at Natsu.

"Natsu, quit destroying things," Gray said, completely exasperated.

"Ah well, it's hard for him to watch his strength," Harry shrugged. He explained when Natsu looked questioningly at him. "Dragon Slayers aren't normal humans; their senses and physical attributes are enhanced, meaning that it's harder for them to control their power. This is not an excuse for you to go demolish more structures on your missions though."

"Bah, since we're stuck in this underground cave" Natsu began.

'No thanks to you,' everyone else thought.

"Let's go exploring!" He announced as he took off in a random directly.

Gray groaned. "Enough with your rampage!"

"Who forgot Natsu's medicine?" Harry sighed as he followed at a slower pace. However, his trek came to a startling stop when he gently walked into Lucy's back.

"What's the hold up-" Harry began to ask. He tilted his head up to see a rather large block of ice encasing what looked to be a Zeref demon.

'Ul!' Harry thought, his mind racing. The ice sculpture had Ul's magical signature all over it- and some of her fragmented life force as well. 'So this is what's left of her body,' Harry thought sadly.

The immortal man sneaked a glance at Gray only to find him pale, shaking, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. To his side, Natsu and Lucy were not doing much better.

"What… what is that?" Lucy gaped.

"Deliora, the demon of disaster." Gray gritted his teeth. Harry looked sharply at Gray; his voice changed. Having experienced numerous flashbacks himself, Harry could tell that Gray was on the verge of one.

"Gray, calm down." Harry said, touching Gray cautiously on the shoulder. Gray flinched and shrugged away from the touch, seemingly hugging himself.

"Gray, calm down." Harry repeated, this time taking the risk to physically hug Gray. He had to calm Gray down. If the boy went any further, he would begin to believe that anyone in his vicinity with a pulse was his enemy. As it is, the boy's eyes had their whites showing in panic.

Gray frantically tried to escape from his grasp, going as far as to almost biting Harry.

"Gray!" Harry said sharply. "Get a hold of yourself. You're with us- Lucy, Natsu, Happy, and I. You're with Fairy Tail. It's your home now."

"Fairy Tail…" Gray gasped, and his tremors slowed as he collapsed into Harry's arms.

"What's wrong with him?" Natsu asked, concerned for his rival.

"He's suffering from a flashback." Harry said grimly. "Deliora… is an S-class Zeref demon; he's in a completely different league from Lullaby. He's not an easy guy to take down, that's for sure. How on Earth did he get here? I know for sure that his last known location was not on this island, so someone must have transported him here… To put it simply, Deliora was a large part of Gray's past- a part that he desperately wanted to bury. Seeing it here must have triggered those memories. I had to calm him down- otherwise he would have killed you- or at least tried to. If he went any further with his flashback, he would not have held back. He would have thought that you guys were actual enemies out for his blood."

Lucy paled at that.

"It's not a pretty sight." Harry had been on the receiving end of flashback-induced attacks before and had even instigated several of them himself. The war had taken its toll on not only him but also his friends- what was left of them anyways.

"Someone's coming," Natsu's ears twitched.

"Quick, over here." Harry cradled Gray and signaled for everyone to hide behind a large rock. "Be quiet."

"Did you hear something?" A short blue haired man said. "Ah, it's midday; I'm hungry."

Beside him, a shirtless man with the face of a squirrel chirped in agreement.

"Toby, you basked in the moon drip, didn't you? You have ears and all" the man asked blandly.

"I did not!" The part beast barked.

'Toby- we have two faces and a name now.' Harry's eyes narrowed. 'So they are trying to melt Deliora; I was wondering why they were collecting moon drip in such large amounts. That's not going to be easy; Ul's not going to go down without a fight.'

"I was teasing you, Idiot," the blue haired man said emotionlessly.

"Yuka, you ass!" the man whined.

'Yuka- the other man's name,' Harry stored the information.

"Yuka-san, Toby-san, I have sad news." Another person approached Deliora, this time a pink-haired woman dressed in frills and laces.

"Sherry?"

Harry frowned. The situation they are in right now is dangerous. He subconsciously suppressed his magical presence even lower. A mere rock is not much protection, if any. They have no way of knowing the enemies' strength, and Gray is emotionally compromised.

"Angelica was beaten up by someone," the girl said sadly.

"Angelica?" Harry traded looks with Lucy. The only thing they beat up on their way here was a giant rat.

"It's just a rat," the part Squirrel yelled.

'So it is the rat.' Harry mentally deadpanned. And here he thought that no one besides Hagrid could have such a horrendous naming sense.

"She's not just a rat! She's a hunter who prowls in the darkness… and love," she finished dramatically.

Harry fought the urge to groan out loud. Not another loved obsessed female; he has had more than enough of them. Why are females here so obsessed with love? Lucy looked equally weirded out for different reasons, but Natsu just looked as if this was a normal occurrence.

"They aren't from the island; they have a different scent. They're not cursed." Natsu analyzed.

Harry nodded approvingly and shoved both Natsu and Lucy down. "Stay down, kids. Natsu, you're on the right track. I have a feeling they're the ones who brought Deliora here. We can handle the curse later; it's not really urgent right now. "

"Intruders… Just when we were almost finished with collecting the needed moonlight. How sad." Sherry said sorrowfully.

'They have been here for some time; I was right- Ul would not let herself be melted that easily.' Harry thought.

"Let's exterminate the intruders before Reitei-sama hears of them. Now that they've seen Deliora, we can't let them live." Sherry said.

'Reitei?' Harry frowned. He has never heard of that name before; he debated on using passive legilimency to scan the magenta-haired woman's thoughts but decided against it. At this point, they cannot afford to be caught.

"What's that?" the twitchy trio raced off after the sound of a fallen pebble, giving the hidden Fairy Tail mages a chance to escape.

"Good job, Happy." Lucy said.

"What? We can interrogate them if we catch them." Natsu disagreed.

"No, let's observe the situation some more." Lucy replied.

"Lucy's right. We don't know how strong the enemy is. An all-out battle will surely attract attention to us, and that's the last thing we need now," Harry pointed out.

"This is beginning to become really complicated. Who the hell is this Reitei bastard?" Natsu crossed his arms in contemplation.

"Why did they bring Deliora here? How did they know where Deliora was sealed?" Gray asked harshly, wiping away some of his cold sweat.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"It was sealed in a glacier in the Northern Continent. This immortal demon caused havoc at Isvan ten years ago. My teacher, Ul, gave her life to seal this demon; I don't know why it was brought here, but it never should have been." Gray snarled, his fist forming ice crystals as his magical control slipped. "Reitei… who the hell are you? You won't get away with besmirching Ul's name!"

"Gray, calm down." Harry said for what seemed like the tenth time today. He laid his palm over Gray's fist, ignoring the spikes of ice that pierced through his hand. "We don't know who Reitei is at the moment, but I'm sure we'll find out if we stay here long enough. Moon drip is a pretty potent substance known to melt any and all forms of magic no matter how strong. Though judging by what that girl said earlier, they have probably been here for a while now."

"They want to melt Deliora." Gray gritted his teeth, the ice spikes turning into small lances. Harry clenched his hand tightly, allowing his warm blood to run down the ice. Gray broke out of his stupor, stunned that Harry would willingly injure himself without even a wince.

"All we can do is guess; how they knew where Deliora was isn't as important as what they are going to do with him now. We should plan our course of action before we do anything else." Harry extracted his hand from the ice without flinching. He muttered a spell under his breath, and his injury quickly healed itself.

"Good as new," Harry admired his handiwork proudly. Natsu raised an eyebrow at the higher ranked mage's quirkiness. Meanwhile, Lucy was busy trying to pick her jaw up from the ground. "Oh, and Gray, don't worry. Even if Deliora was awakened once more, I'll take him down- this time for good. It's the least I could do for Ul. You can count on me." Harry smiled, but his eyes were uncharacteristically emotionless.

"My teacher, Ul, sealed away Deliora by using a spell called Iced Shell which cost Ul her life. The ice is unmeltable no matter what type of magic is used," Gray said, sitting down on the cold rocky surface.

"No ice is unmeltable, Gray. Moon drip will melt any ice," Harry shook his head, "But I know Ul; she won't let herself be melted that easily."

"You say that like Ul is the ice," Lucy muttered.

"That's because she is." Harry said calmly while Gray looked away. Lucy looked horrified at the response.

"There is a price to be paid for every magic, Lucy. The more powerful the magic, the higher the price." Harry said.

"Why- why would they want to set Deliora free?" Gray clenched his fists.

"Who would want Deliora to be free?" Harry asked.

"Well that's easy; just go after the guys from before." Natsu gestured behind him.

"Yes, but who is pulling the strings behind the scenes?" The SS-ranked mage scratched his head. "These are the types of questions you have to ask in S- and SS-ranked missions. You can't just plow through them with brute force alone."

Gray nodded, acknowledging Harry's point. "We should wait here until the moon rises," he said.

"The moon? It's only noon though- I'll be bored to death!" Natsu whined.

"Well, I could knock you out for a couple of hours if you would like that instead." Harry offered helpfully. Lucy deadpanned. Why is knocking Natsu out always a valid solution?

"Gray, what do you mean by that?" Lucy turned her attention away from Natsu's whining.

"I believe the curse and Deliora are both linked to the moon. Could moon drip be the moonlight?" Gray frowned.

Harry nodded in answer. "Gray's right; moon drip is moonlight collected in a certain way; it requires a temple, much like this one, and lots of magic users to concentrate the moonlight and saturate it with enough magic to melt ice. As for the curse, I have a bit of a theory, but the validity of my theory depends on whether the people from before were truly affected by the moonlight. They have been on the island for longer than we have." In private, he thought that Gray had the right mindset to be an S-ranked mage; the boy just has to learn how to calm down in the heat of battle.

"I can't take this anymore! Let's go get those people!" Natsu took two steps before his stomach got introduced to Harry's fist.

"There we go; take a nap, Natsu." Harry nodded sagaciously and dumped Natsu on the floor.

A certain blond haired stellar spirit mage sighed. 'It always comes to this,' she thought grumpily as she moved closer to Natsu. She stared at the knocked out boy before propping him up and laying his head on her shoulder.

Harry walked over to Gray, who was staring pensively at the frozen form of Deliora.

"Gray," he said softly. The boy's shoulder's tensed up. Harry ignored his action and sat down on the ledge.

"I knew Ul- before she had apprentices." Harry said, thinking back to the day he met Ul. Gray looked at him sharply. "I took a mission to Northern Continent- to exterminate a band of Yetis that were causing a nearby village trouble- and I got lost in the snow." The green eyed man chuckled fondly at the memory.

"I thought for sure that I would be very late for the mission, but then to my surprise, I saw a woman in the middle of the snowstorm jogging in nothing but her underwear. She caught me staring, of course. Shocked, the first thing I said to her was "'The stripper bar's that way' and pointed in a random direction." Harry flushed, the tips of his ears going red with embarrassment.

Gray chuckled weakly, already anticipating Ul's indignant response.

"That violent lady punted me skywards and fractured my hip," Harry grumbled, rubbing the spot where Ul's fist had connected with his body. "I completely forgot to ask her for directions, actually. I landed headfirst into a pile of snow, and Ul came later to pull me out, kind as she is- well, after she found where I landed" Harry rolled his eyes. Gray turned to face Harry fully, now paying rapt attention to the tale.

"She pulled me out by my feet like a freaking carrot and told me that there was nothing in the direction I had pointed in. Then she asked me what exactly I was doing in the middle of nowhere besides peaking on her. Naturally, I explained that I was actually on a mission and needed directions. Since I couldn't walk with my fractured hip, I healed it while I was talking. Ul was watching, and she was quite surprised that I could heal; she started asking me about healing magic, so I asked her about her "stripping magic" as I called it. She didn't like that in the slightest and told me in less than polite terms that what she used was ice magic, not "stripping magic". She did end up giving me directions to the village, but it was rather late in the evening by then. She invited me to stay the night since it was kind of her fault that my hip was broken in the first place. By the time I set off for my mission- which I was already late for- I ended up teaching her some minor healing spells, and in exchange, she taught me the basics of ice make and the underlying theory. I suppose you could say that I was her first pupil, as brief as our meeting was. Before I left, I made a bet with her that I would be able to use ice creation magic without stripping. I always told her that she just wanted to see me strip, that pervert." Harry grinned.

"Ul never told me that she knew you," Gray said quietly. By now, Lucy was listening intently as well though with a bit of an awkward expression on her face. Given what she knew about Harry, his story was totally believable.

"I met Ul a very long time ago- before she had Ultear and certainly before she took on apprentices. We kept in touch through letters for many years; for a while, I took a lot of missions to the Northern Continent. We would always exchange spells and research when we met. Since both of us were experienced mages by then, we usually had the previous spell already mastered I only knew that something happened to her when she stopped replying to my correspondence. In my last letter, I told her that I figured out how to feel the ice magic in me without stripping to my underwear, but she never replied." Harry chuckled sadly. "I owe Ul a lot; she was a great mage. Even now, I still feel indebted to her."

"I see…" Gray muttered and turned his eyes back to Deliora.

"I never thought that one of her cute little apprentices would end up at my guild though," Harry teased and pinched Gray's cheek. Gray growled and swatted away the invading hand. Harry dropped his hand away from Gray's face and laid it on the teen's shoulder. "Gray, you're not the only one hurting from Ul's death. You're not alone- don't ever think that you are."

An icy silence descended on the mages overlooking the looming form of Deliora.

"Ah, just waiting around is boring," Lucy said in an effort to break the suffocating tension. She gently laid Natsu down on the ground.

She whipped out a silver key, exclaiming "Open! Gate of the harp- Lyra!"

Harry turned his head back to see what spirit Lucy summoned this time or why she was wasting magic when they could be attacked at any moment. Drawing attention to them was not a smart move either.

A ditzy woman in a bonnet appeared from the open gate.

'So that is Lyra,' Harry thought. He had not seen the spirit before because it was not offensive in nature; the ones that he has seen and fought against the most often are the twelve zodiacs. Certainly, the spirits are probably confused as to how this particular human kept reappearing century after century despite their best efforts to fulfill their summoners' orders.

Harry relaxed as Lyra began to sing a very calming melody. Indeed, he could feel Lyra's magic sliding over him, but he was more influenced by Lyra's voice than her magic. He glanced at Gray only to see that the soothing music had an opposite effect on the boy; a single tear slid down his face.

'Gray…' Harry thought sadly. He had refrained from using the Resurrection Stone to confirm Ul's death because he wanted to respect Ul's privacy and right to peace; how Ul died was a mystery to him. However, it was clear that Gray blamed himself for Ul's death- one way or another.

Lucy panicked and hurriedly told Lyra to sing a happier song, but Gray was having none of it; soon, even Lyra fell silent and disappeared. In boredom, Lucy and Happy both drifted to sleep, leaving Harry and Gray unblinkingly staring at the frozen form of Deliora.

"Gray," Harry said softly. When he received no response, Harry wrapped his arms around the boy again.

"Let go." Gray said lifelessly.

"No." Harry refuted, never raising his voice. "It's not healthy for you to keep this bottled up inside. Ul wouldn't have wanted you to be like this, Gray. If you must live for someone, live for her. Maybe you never knew this, but she loved you very much. Even though I only communicated to her through letters and the occasional visit, I knew that her love for you and Lyon was endless." Gray shrunk even more at that.

"Whatever you did, you didn't kill Ul, Gray." Harry said flatly. The dark haired mage looked up sharply. "It's not that hard to guess why you're so upset, and my guesses are almost always correct- call it intuition if you will. Ul is her own person; you didn't force her to cast the spell. I know what Iced Shell does; it is a spell that cannot be casted against the user's will. She chose to sacrifice herself- that's how much she loved you. She loved you more than she loved herself, Gray. Please, don't waste her sacrifice; you're worth a lot more than you think you are. They aren't going to wake up anytime soon, so just cry to your heart's content. You never did mourn properly for Ul, did you? " Harry said, nodding to Lucy, Natsu, and Happy.

Gray went still in Harry's arm, the walls that he has built throughout the years slowly breaking down.

"You're not the only one who knew and loved Ul, Gray. You're not the only who misses her and feels hurt. She's not dead as long as her legacy continues- as long as someone remembers that a woman named Ul existed once upon a time. Even though she has passed on physically, she has been immortalized through what she left behind. Crying is not a sign of weakness, Gray- it just means that you have been strong for too long." Harry pulled Gray close and hummed a low lullaby that he used to sing to his children. "Don't worry, Ul will never die- not as long as I live."

Gray thought about what Harry meant by that statement for a brief moment before the barricades in his mind broke down completely and tears swept away his thoughts.

"What's that noise?" Lucy muttered sleepily.

"It's night already?" Natsu leapt to his feet.

Harry immediately started casting spells, careful to conceal his magic as much as possible. The amount of moon drip necessary to melt Deliora is most likely toxic to humans.

"Protego," he whispered, and a large shimmering dome appeared over the Fairy Tail mages. Overhead, rubble from the ceiling tumbled off of the shield.

"Violet light…? Is this the moonlight?" Gray frowned.

"What is going on?" Happy asked frantically.

"This is the moon drip," Harry said calmly as a large pitcher appeared in his hand. He held it over the ledge, catching the moonlight.

"This really isn't the time," Lucy deadpanned. Where did he get that pitcher anyways- and why isn't it filling up?

"It's shining on Deliora," Gray observed.

"We have to find the source- let's go!" Natsu chimed in, always ready for action.

'Ah, such hot blooded youngsters,' Harry thought amusedly as the kids sprinted away. He held out his bottomless pitcher and continued collecting the moon drip. 'Well, I did say I wanted to find some moon drip, and this is some good quality stuff.'

"The moon," Gray whispered furiously.

"Are they really collecting light from the moon?" Natsu asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, judging by the magic circles floating in the sky," Harry said next to Natsu.

All three teenagers and a winged cat jumped. "Harry!"

"Keep your voice down; do you want to be discovered?" Harry shushed them impatiently.

'How did he get up here all of a sudden?' Lucy thought, clutching at her heart in fright.

"I walked," Harry said slowly. At her inquiring gaze, he replied, "you spoke out loud.'

"Moon drip in this amount would probably be able to melt Deliora." Harry stated bluntly, ignoring Lucy's blush. "It's impossible that the islander's curse is due solely to the moon drip. The moon's magic is potent and is known to have mind-altering properties. There have been cases where people have gone mad after staring constantly at the full moon, but actual cases regarding moon drip are very rare."

"Damn them!" Natsu said, almost rolling up his nonexistent sleeves.

Thankfully, Lucy elbowed some logic into his hard skull before he did anything rash. "Someone's coming," she said.

"Get down- all of you." Harry shoved them all down- flying cat included.

Gray peeked from behind the rock; a figure wearing a modified knight's armor emerged. A lock of white hair slipped out from underneath the helmet. 'White hair and that posture… No!' He thought frantically.

"So that's Reitei," Harry remarked quietly as his mind immediately began categorizing Reitei's distinguishing features- his height, weight, gender, and whatever else he could glean. Harry probed Reitei's magic subtly. It felt… familiar somehow.

"What an arrogant looking guy," Natsu said.

"That mask is pretty cool though," Happy chirped.

"Has Deliora been revived yet?" Reitei asked. Harry narrowed his eyes; judging by the voice, the man can't be older than twenty two at most.

"Not yet- at this rate, probably today or tomorrow." Sherry said, eager to please as always.

'Today or tomorrow, huh? Time is running very short then.' Harry thought with a frown. He really wanted more of that moon drip.

"Finally," the masked man said reverently. "As for the intruders, I do not want interference in our progress. Go and destroy the village. I don't want any bloodshed though. "

Gray's skin reached a new shade of white; Harry poked the boy carefully with a stick. He was as unresponsive as ever.

'He looks like he can't believe what he's seeing,' Harry thought as he observed Gray's visage. 'How peculiar… Does he know who Reitei is?'

"What? But the villagers have nothing to do with this!" Lucy said indignantly.

"I don't think it matters to them," Natsu replied.

"Natsu's right; it doesn't matter to them at all." Harry's viridian eyes darkened.

"That voice… it can't be true!" Gray stuttered.

'So he does know who Reitei is,' Harry mentally confirmed.

In the split second that the immortal's attention shifted away from Natsu, said fire mage did something utterly reckless. He spoke.

"That's enough sneaking around for me!" He shouted righteously and stood up.

"God damnit, Natsu!" Harry snarled under his breath. "I swear you can kiss your S-rank promotion goodbye for the next decade!"

"We're the intruders!" Natsu announced before belching fire skywards.

"You're so proud of yourself," Harry said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Of course you are- you even brought out the fireworks."

"Huh?" The Moon Drippers, as Harry has come to call them, collectively stared at Natsu, dumbfounded.

"Geez, now we really don't have a choice, do we?" Lucy and Happy also got up while Harry remained cross-legged on the ground.

"That mark- they're from Fairy Tail." Sherry said, eyeing the scarlet tattoo over Natsu's upper arm.

"I see, so the villagers enlisted help from a guild," the blue haired man with inch-thick eyebrows said.

"What are you guys doing? Go eliminate the village!" The masked boss declared.

"What?" Natsu gasped.

"All those who interfere with my plans are my enemies!" The man declared, ignoring how his ego was inflating by the minute.

"Damn you; I'll put an end to this worthless ritual of yours!" Gray too, rushed out from behind the rock, adrenaline running fast through his body. He slammed his fist against his palm in preparation for his trademark ice creation magic. Ice spikes erupted from the ground; since he did not specify a form for his ice, it took the shape that felt most natural.

The Moon Drippers jumped, dodging the attack. Then, all of a sudden, Reitei too, summoned ice spikes that perfectly negated the ones Gray created.

'So Reitei is Lyon… He's lucky Ul's dead- otherwise she'd probably kill him herself.' Harry thought, still crouched on the ground. He would let the youngsters take care of this if they are itching so badly for a fight.

"Another ice mage," Happy gasped.

"Lyon… You bastard! What do you think you're doing?" Gray yelled.

"Hmph, how long has it been, Gray?" The man asked neutrally.

"What's the meaning of this?" Gray asked, his voice cracking with emotion.

"I never thought that you would be the one sent here. Did you know, or was it a coincidence? Well, it doesn't matter now. Go- I will handle things here," Lyon said nonchalantly as if he did not hear Gray's question.

The underlings disappeared rapidly; Natsu stomped over to Gray.

"And you think we'll just let you?" The hotheaded boy asked.

Reitei did not say anything; he merely sent large ice spikes at Natsu- the majority of which hit dead on and froze Natsu into a tottering ice ball.

Harry saw the attacking coming- in fact, the sharp ice went past him to reach Natsu- but he did not do anything to curb the invasion of frozen water. He could have had he chose to, for he was still hidden at that point.

"Quite frankly, you had that coming. Hell, you practically asked for it," he said to Natsu, who looked perfectly healthy despite being encased in ice. "An ice mage of Lyon's caliber won't kill a fire dragonslayer like you. Let this be a lesson to you not to rush into situations needlessly."

Lyon paused, surprised that there was another hidden intruder- one clever enough to not reveal himself immediately.

"Gray, try to handle things here. I'll take them," Harry pointed a finger toward Happy and Lucy "to the village."

"And you think I'll just let you?" Lyon echoed Natsu's earlier words. The frozen ice block now called Natsu growled, knowing that Lyon was mocking him.

"Well, you can't really stop me," Harry said rubbing the back of his head, prompting Lyon to send even more ice at the immortal with an impressive speed.

'Shit,' Gray thought, knowing that his ice would not make it in time to deflect Lyon's.

"Ice make: Ice shield," Harry said, performing the necessary gestures. Harry's shield deflected Lyon's attack perfectly. Both Gray and Lyon gaped at the man, completely taken back.

"What? Don't look so shocked- especially you, Gray. I told you, Ul taught me some spells. It just took me a bit longer to master Ul's huge bag of tricks since I refused to strip. I totally won that bet with Ul." Harry said anticlimactically while grabbing both Lucy and Happy and apparating away with a pop.

'That sounds like Ul alright…' Both Lyon and Gray unknowingly shared the same thought.

'The great Lucy, huh?' Harry thought sarcastically as he fought the urge not to laugh at ginormous and extremely obvious pitfall at the entrance of the village. He wasn't sure whether to call the girl idiotic or naïve- blond would probably be the best description of her.

"I'm with Happy on this one; Lucy, this is stupid." Harry said bluntly. "You're getting way too arrogant. Chances are the enemy won't even come through the front gate." The blond looked despondent at that.

"Lucy, you can summon Taurus, right?" He asked. Puzzled, Lucy nodded. "Alright- summon him."

Confused but unwilling to question the higher ranked mage, she did as she was told. "Open, the Gate of Bull- Taurus!" The bull zodiac appeared obediently with a loud doorbell ring.

"Lucy, can you get Taurus to draw a large circle around the entire village- just big enough to include the outer walls. Please do it quickly." Both the mage and the spirit nodded and got to work. Taurus huffed and frowned at Harry before trudging towards the village outskirts.

"Alright… I'll need to be fast with this." Harry rolled up the sleeves of his pink and orange Hawaiian shirt and got to work. He picked up a stick and began drawing complex latin scripts as Taurus dragged the blunt end of his axe around the village.

"Natsu, let me see Gray," Harry said as he shoved an embarrassed Lucy away. He managed to finish the Latin scriptures just in time to see Natsu trip his way into Lucy's obvious pitfall.

The boy dutifully laid down the injured ice mage. Harry's hands glowed green as he healed Gray's wounds. He took slightly longer with the internal injuries, but soon, Gray was healthy once more.

"Gray, I'm going to fill up your magic, but not all the way. At the state your body is in right now, you can't handle much of my magic." Harry pressed a glowing hand to Gray's forehead, noting that the boy's eyes looked dead.

"Natsu, Lucy, you two are fine." Harry said once he was finished with refilling Gray's reserves.

"What's the- is that a flying rat?" a villager pointed to the fat turquoise blob floating in the sky.

"It's carrying something." Avada Kedavra green eyes narrowed. Harry held open his palm to summon his favorite pocket dimension. With his other hand, he reached in and withdrew a large extendable telescope. "It's a bucket with what I assume to be their guild emblem." Harry said. "They plan to annihilate the whole village, so the contents are most likely poisonous or explosive."

The astute mage's guess was once again confirmed to be correct when a drop spilled from the bucket and almost landed on Lucy. Luckily, Natsu dove for her, shoving her out of the way. The ground beneath her feet melted.

Natsu quickly leapt into action. "Everybody gather in the middle of the village! Happy, let's go!"

Harry quickly caught onto what Natsu was doing; "Natsu, go ahead. I have a barrier set up that will catch anything you miss. It will also protect the village against the poisonous gas that comes afterwards."

"Ward of Protection- activate!" Harry slammed his palms on the ground, directly at the center of the village. Immediately, a silvery dome reached from the outskirts of the village inwards, meeting at the center. It barely missed Natsu, who fired a giant fireball towards the wave of poisonous jelly to dispel it. Unfortunately, his actions turned the poisonous jelly into rain, which was caught and negated by the barrier.

"I'll take some of that jelly rain, thank you." Harry said to the air. The ward caved inwards, forming a pocket with a blob of toxic green liquid. Harry's pocket black hole swallowed the jelly whole and burped. Lucy sweatdropped at this; 'of course that man would take a sample of everything', she thought.

Thanks to the combined effort of Natsu and Harry, both the villagers and the village were unharmed. The only structure damaged by the attack was Bobo's grave, which was situated outside of the village, as all graves were.

The time for mourning will have to come later, for the underlings have arrived.

"We must destroy all of Reitei-sama's enemies. Even though we tried to give them the mercy of an instantaneous death, it seems now we must spill blood," Sherry said as Yuka kicked over the stone of Bobo's grave.

"Fifty villagers and three mages? This should take about fifteen minutes," Yuka estimated.

"So you say. Would you care to back up your claim?" Harry asked innocently, his hands enveloped in a malicious red glow.

"Yeah, let's go! We're Fairy Tail mages who don't know the meaning of stop!" Natsu thumped his chest, and Lucy nodded.

"I'll fight too," Gray said, struggling to get up.

"No you won't," Harry admonished. "Gray, you need rest. Otherwise you'll reopen your wounds."

"Gray, go with them. You'll just get in my way," Natsu said, agreeing with Harry.

"Don't… underestimate me," the injured mage choked out, shakily rising on his feet

"Injured patients should sleep," Natsu said, knocking out Gray with a well-placed punch to the gut.

"Natsu! You'll burst the stitches," Harry said, exasperated. "I think you're getting too used getting knocked out by people." He bent down to care for the downed Gray.

"Oi, are you going to need help with this guy?" Harry asked Natsu while pointing (somewhat rudely) at Yuka.

"Nah, I'm good!" Natsu said while charging up his fist with flames. He slammed it into Yuka's surge attack only to be rebuffed.

"The vibrations emitted from my hands neutralize any magic." Yuka announced, quite happy to give out his weakness.

"Only your hands?" Harry asked skeptically. He once met a mage who could do that through every pore of his body. That was particularly troublesome, though in the end Harry had taken him down with a Conjunctivitis Curse to the eyes. Come to think of it, mega-brows does look somewhat like that mage.

"Basically, magic that cannot be defeated by magic!" Yuka announced in an attempt to recover his wounded pride from Harry's maws.

"I specialize in fighting against mages!" He declared.

"Well yeah, the majority of our opponents are mages anyways- particularly the high classed ones." Harry pointed out.

"All mages are powerless before me!" He said dramatically.

"Not if the mage chooses not to use magic." Harry rebutted and brandished his sword, which he pulled from seemingly nowhere. "You know, just because we have magic doesn't mean we have to use it to do all of our fighting."

Yuka twitched.

Tired of all the talking, Natsu took Harry's tips to heart and punched directly into Yuka's surge.

"I told you, my magic nullifies all magic! Your attack is useless!"

"Yeah, about that- we heard you the first time," Harry said from the sidelines. He ignored the furry human beast cross since the creature was not suicidal enough to attack him.

"Well I can use magic from the outside!" Natsu said, his voice slightly hoarse from screaming. Being the reckless fighter that he is, Natsu went and jammed his fist into a magical vortex, which had about the same effect as shoving his hand in a paper shredder. With a shout, the dragon slayer used his flames to propel his opponent backwards, knocking him out.

"Well done, Natsu. You could have done without the potential self-maiming though," Harry analyzed and held up a score card that had a big eight written on it.

In reply, Natsu shrugged and gestured for the next opponent to come forth- apparently the furry has poisonous claws, which wasn't hard to guess from the noxious looking green nails.

"Again with the over-reliance of hands," Harry sighed. Now that he was without an opponent, he pulled out a bowl of popcorn. "Recklessly attacking without a form is just plain sloppy, by the way."

Toby has had enough; first the fire mage takes down Yuka, and now this nobody dares to mock him when he hasn't even lifted a finger to fight! Frustrated, he veered away from Natsu towards Harry with the intent to kill.

"Incarcerous," Harry said casually, waving a hand filled with popcorn towards part beast. Instantly, ropes appeared and bound the man, with an extra pair around his hands.

"See? That wasn't too hard. Now, let's see this poison of yours. Immobilis," Harry got up towards the frozen and bound man who was his opponent for about two seconds. With the precision of a scientist, he took out a nail clipper and began clipping all of the man's nails. He bagged them as samples before tossing everything back into his own storage area.

"I'm glad we understand each other," Harry grinned and chewed on some more popcorn. Since he was frozen, Toby could not even muster a glare at the man.

With his enemies defeated, Natsu knelt down and picked up Bobo's gravestone once more. He tidied the grave amidst destruction and made a solemn promise to avenge the man.

'Natsu may be idiotic and foolhardy, but his heart is in the right place,' Harry thought with a smile.

"Well then, I'm going to see how Lucy's doing." Harry said with a wave.

"Yo, Lucy!" Harry greeted the blond warmly. "I'm glad that the dodge training I gave you is coming in handy."

"Harry, now really isn't the time!" Lucy screamed as she ducked under another blow from the mind-controlled Taurus.

"Ah, you really need to learn how to force open and close the celestial gates. Well, there's no time like now to begin a lesson." he said, waving a finger. "Lucy! Think about your bond with Taurus; who is to you- what he means to you. Most importantly, you have to want this. You have to want this for yourself and for your spirit. Concentrate, Lucy."

Time slowed for Lucy as she saw Taurus' fist descend upon her. She screwed her eyes shut and did like Harry told her to. She thought of the first time she met the perverted but loyal bull, how he always stuck by her side and never gave up on her. She thought of how painful it must be for him to break his vow to her and harm his summoner.

"Lucy," Harry said quietly, "the spirits have but one rule; they aren't allowed to kill their summoners. If Taurus kills you- even in this mind-controlled state- he can never return to the Spirit World. He will be exiled from his realm and die here slowly as his magic drains away from him."

That was enough to give Lucy the power to force the gate closure- she will not let her loyal comrade suffer and die like this!

"Taurus: Gate of Bull- close!" Lucy screamed. A golden light appeared as Taurus' visage disintegrated into thin air.

"Well, that's that." Harry chirped. "See? I knew you could do it, Lucy. You'll learn what you need to learn bit by bit. Now then, who are you, Ms. Puppetry Mage?" he turned his attention to the Lolita get-up and love obsessed woman.

"Tch," she sneered- an ugly expression on her doll-like face.

"Not very talkative about things that aren't lovely, huh?" Harry said cheekily.

Sherry saw red; she sent a wood doll leaping towards the man from behind. To her surprise, her doll ended up in pieces. As for the mysterious man? He had not even taken a step.

"Oh, firewood for my fireplace- how kind; I haven't begun gathering my stash for the winter yet, but this here is more than enough. I'll make sure to donate some to the guild since this here is plenty for everyone. This should keep us nice and warm this winter." Harry said charitably as he pulled out his trusty black hole which sucked up all the evenly cut wood pieces. Sherry's jaw dropped.

"Lucy, do you think you can handle things here for now?" Harry said. "I don't think I'm needed, really. She's barely within your level- just think a bit. What do you have in your arsenal that will work against her? Puppet mages turn their opponents' attacks against them, but you have something that is a wide area attack. It doesn't matter what she controls if that single attack is powerful enough. I'm pretty sure that she can only control one puppet at a time. I don't think I need to make things any clearer than that. Remember- don't panic and remember your training! Use your environmental advantages wisely." Harry crouched on a tree branch from above. He distinctly remembered a certain redhead who could control over two hundred puppets with just one pair of hands- quite literally, he had a puppet army. Now that was impressive. Hell, the man had been crazy enough to turn his own body into a puppet. Harry tilted his head in thought- he probably still have that man's heart stashed somewhere.

Lucy nodded, feeling confident from Harry's advice.

"Well then, I'll see you later. There's someone coming this way whom I really don't want to meet." He waved cheerfully and disappeared. Lucy had no time to ponder about Harry's infuriatingly vague comment as Sherry created yet another doll.

"You sure took your time, Gray," Erza's face was dark with anger.

"Erza!" Gray took a step back, suddenly wishing that he was still unconscious. "Lucy! Happy!"

"I heard the details from Lucy. You were supposed to bring them back, Gray. What happened? I'm speechless." She said, cold anger seeping through every syllable.

"Where are Natsu and Harry?" Gray asked, not seeing either one in the tent.

"That's what I would like to know as well," Erza said. "The villagers said that Harry healed your wounds again after Natsu opened them and then disappeared."

"He dropped by during my fight with Sherry and gave me some advice. He said that 'someone whom he doesn't want to meet was heading towards me' and left in a hurry," Lucy reported back nervously. 'Come to think of it, he probably meant Erza,' Lucy thought.

"Natsu should be fighting Reitei's underlings in the village, but when we got there, Natsu was nowhere to be found. We thought Natsu would be fine, so Erza asked me (more like forced me) to take her to you."

"I searched from the air and found the storage area," Happy added, wondering just how Erza managed to find a rope that long.

"Gray, we're going to search for Natsu," Erza said.

"Not Harry?" He asked.

"Harry can more than take care of himself, and that's putting it lightly. He could take on this mission by himself- demon and all- if he really wanted to. He's probably still on the island collecting samples; besides, he's not the one who broke Master's rules." Erza chuckled. "No, we're going to find Natsu and return to the guild the moment we find him."

Shocked, Gray talked back to Erza. "What are you saying, Erza? You know what is happening on the island right now. We can't leave the villagers like this!"

"And what of it?" She said coldly. Gray was stunned wordless. In all of the years he had known her, Erza has never been this cold. She was strict, but she also protected the defenseless with all her might. This was not the Erza he knew. What happened to his Erza?

"I came to bring back some guild law breakers. I have no interest in anything but that." She continued.

"Didn't you see the state of the villagers?" Gray asked. Have you no heart? The question hung in the air, unspoken and unanswered.

"I did."

"Are you just going to ignore that?" Gray was outraged.

"The request was posted in every guild. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to leave it to someone else who is more qualified to take on the mission? What makes you think Harry won't stay behind and resolve this curse?" She reasoned.

"I misjudged you," Gray said bitterly and clenched his fist. He never thought that the woman that he had come to see as a surrogate sister- as family- would be like this. This mission is his responsibility, and he will see it through. He thought that Erza of all people would understand. Knowing the truth left a bad taste in his mouth.

"What did you say?" Her tone took on a dangerous edge as she summoned a sword. "Do you intend to break the guild's law as well? You won't get away with it," she said as she pointed the weapon to Gray's throat.

Gray clenched the sharp edge of the sword without fear, his face just as dark with anger and determination as Erza's. "Do whatever you want," he declared to the surprise of Lucy and Happy. "This is the path I have chosen; this is something I must do." Calmly, Gray walked away from an unmoving Erza.

"Tch," she snarled but did not move her sword.

"I will end this my way. If you must cut me down, then do it." He said proudly with his head lifted high and walked out of the tent, leaving the tension behind with him. It hurt to know that he had lost Erza, but somewhere deep in his heart, he thought that just maybe Harry would be proud of him.

Harry observed Natsu's handiwork and battle with Lyon from above. He had no issues with Natsu destroying the runes- he had collected enough moon drip to last him for a couple of centuries, easily. Leaving collecting pitchers near Deliora before he left was certainly a wonderful idea; when he came back the next morning, all of the pitchers were almost filled to the brim with moon drip. Since the vessels were vastly expanded on the inside, filling them up was no easy task.

'Zalty,' Harry thought with narrowed eyes, 'She is the real one to watch.' He knew from the beginning that Zalty was in fact female. Her magical signature had told him of such, and her hormone readings had confirmed his finding- Zalty is female.

Lyon was not a factor at all. Quite frankly, the boy was arrogant without proper skills to back himself up, let alone fulfill his ambition of defeating Deliora.

'Deliora is already dead, boy. What are you even doing?' Harry mentally snorted. As a person who has come in contact with almost all aspects of life and death, it was child's play to recognize that Deliora's life force was not enough to support him. He was momentarily shocked when he first saw Deliora, but once he truly looked into the demon's soul, he was surprised to find that it was already dead- or very close to it. Ul must have been draining his life force all these years. Besides, he can name at least two dozen mages capable of defeating Deliora off the top of his head, himself included. It was a shame that he wasn't near Ul when she confronted Deliora; her loss was truly profound. She would not have needed to sacrifice her life if he was there to strike down the Zeref demon.

He remembered Ice Shell- that spell was invented centuries ago as the last spell written by the pioneer of ice magic. The true name of the mage has disappeared forever, but her legacy lives on. People call her the Ice Maiden- a fair skinned lady with dark eyes and dark hair known for using ice mirrors in high speed combat. It is a very powerful spell; the stance calls for the user to cross his or her arms- a gesture of closure. In this case, the closure indicates closure of the Gate of Life- the keeper and regulator of one's internal life force. The second part of the stance- opening of the arms, indicates opening of the gate and also the total surrender of one's body, mind, and soul to one purpose. The union of all three towards a single goal is truly powerful, but that power comes at a very steep price; the user remains forever in the limbo between life and death- never able to truly fall to either one. Knowing that his dear friend is in this state and that not even he- for all his power- can bring her out of it made him want to scream. What use is power when he can't save the ones he treasures? Like flies, they all fall prey to time and death- leaving him in the blink of an eye.

Harry blinked and brought himself back to present. Zalty- right. Zalty made no claims and had no arrogance. He was humble, like Harry, and that was dangerous. 'A little Lost Magic?' Harry almost laughed. 'Once you know a little, you know a lot. I wonder what lost magic you have, Zalty. Is it space? Time? Memory? Perception? I shall simply have to find out.'

He was brought out of his musing by the dull sound of thick ice cracking. 'Well, it's either Erza or Gray,' Harry thought. Seconds later, Gray emerged. 'Gray it is. That brat- I told him not to reopen his wounds!' Harry wanted to throttle the boy unconscious. He had just finished repairing Gray's perforated liver; the boy was hemorrhaging, and now barely a day later, he came back asking for more.

'Those brats,' Harry thought with a groan. 'That stance!' Harry gaped at Gray's crossed arms. Harry's hands shook as icy cold fear settled over him. 'No- not Gray. He's too young!'

"You bastard- have you gone mad? Return the villagers to normal and get off this island," Gray said, his stance ready but his gate still closed. "This is your final chance." A deep blue magic circle appeared beneath the ice mage as his magic bubbled to the surface.

"I see… So you think you can frighten me with this? How pointless." Lyon scoffed.

Gray's magic exploded to the surface, creating shockwaves. "I'm serious. No matter how much time has passed, the fact that I killed Ul remains unchanged. I'll take responsibility for my actions today; I am ready to face death."

Harry could not afford to remain hidden anymore; damn the consequences, he will not allow Gray to die- or rather, to be lost in limbo for all eternity.

"Gray!" He shouted from above and leapt, hoping that gravity's pull would be fast enough.

"Gray!" His shout was shared by a stupefied Natsu.

"Do it- you don't have the courage to die." Lyon taunted as more cracks appeared on Gray's face.

'No, no!' Harry thought frantically. He has to reach Gray before his gate opens.

'Everyone at Fairy Tail… I'm sorry. Please take care of things from now on. It looks like it's time for my vacation,' Gray thought peacefully as he accepted the darkness that is death. 'I understand, and I am sorry,' his thought flashed briefly to Harry's words. 'I have to stop Lyon. This is the way things have to be.'

"You dumbass!" Natsu smashed his fist into Gray's jaw at the same time Harry's feet hit Gray's head.

"You fucking idiot!" Harry screamed at Gray.

Gray aborted his spell in pain and in shock. He has never seen the normally composed and mischevious Harry so riled up before, let alone cursing so vehemently.

Harry rolled on top of Gray, straddling him, and wrapped his hands tightly around Gray's neck.

"You idiot!" Harry hissed, smashing Gray's head against the icy floor with a thunk. "I already lost Ul to this damn spell. I am not losing you either or I swear, I will seal that spell for all eternity! I will not allow you to damn yourself to his fate- all for your overblown sense of responsibility and that failure's overrated ego!" Harry pointed in Lyon's general direction, and the white haired teen twitched.

"Goddammit Gray! Why would you waste your life like that? Do we not mean anything to you? Is Ul's life really that worthless- for you to throw it away over something like this? Death is not the answer to anything. You can't die honorably; you live- live honorably and then die. If anything happened to you, do you think I can ever look Erza and Mira in the eyes again? Or Makarov? You know he loves you like his own child. Do you think I can ever face Fairy Tail again?" Harry's eyes flashed.

"Harry, you're choking him." Natsu said seriously and pried the man off of Gray with some trouble. The man was much stronger than he seemed. "And you!" his personality took a completely different turn as he faced Gay. "You suddenly interrupt my fight and start babbling about this responsibility crap? You're annoying! Don't steal my kill!"

"You bastard! I have a score to settle with this guy. I'm willing to die for it!" Gray lifted Natsu up by his muffler.

"Die, huh? Aren't you just running away, jerk?" Gray's eyes widened as Natsu's words hit him dead on.

"Gray, if you truly want to die, then I will kill you now." Harry said; the look in those eyes would haunt Gray until the day he died. His hand took on a sickening shade of green that neither teen has seen before. "At least I can grant you a merciful death if you truly wish it wish it." Harry clenched his fist, and the green light disappeared.

"And you!" Harry snarled, echoing Natsu's earlier words. He stalked up to Lyon and poked an accusing finger right into the boy's vest. He flinched, completely blindsided by Harry's sudden appearance. "Ul would be ashamed of you. You say that Gray doesn't have the courage to die, but you lack the courage to live. You cling to Ul's death like a baby would a blanket; you think yourself the best the mage in the world. If you truly think that, then you are delusional; you accuse Gray of making a mistake when he overestimated his powers and confronted Deliora. You too. will make the same mistake if you continue your current path- and this time, no one will be a sacrificial lamb for you. I thought Ul would have taught you better. Ul was not obligated to take you in. Ul was not obligated to teach you. You are the one who should be grateful to her, but instead you spit on her legacy and almost kill your fellow student. Yes, she would be very ashamed of you."

Lyon's face twisted with fury. "You have no right to say that!"

"I have every right!" Harry rebutted. "I was learning from Ul before you were even born, boy. I knew Ul better than you could have ever known her. She entrusted what was left of her knowledge and her magic for me to safeguard. In case anything happened to her, I was the one who was supposed to immortalize her legacy."

Suddenly, before Lyon had a chance to reply, the temple started shaking, and ruins righted themselves.

Natsu, of course, began stomping on the ice-solid floor in frustration.

When the shaking began, Harry leapt back and automatically shielded Lyon from any potential attacks with his own body, much to the white haired boy's shock. Seconds ago, he was just being scolded by a furious stranger, and yet now the same stranger willingly protects him from harm.

"This is the work of a time mage," Harry said with absolute certainty. Well, at least he knew what Lost Magic Zalty could use now.

"A time mage?" Natsu asked, taking a momentary break from stomping around like a child.

"Yes. Time magic is one of the so called 'Lost Magics'. It is powerful magic- even by my standards. This is likely Zalty's work. Though I find it odd that our time wasn't reversed; perhaps Zalty is incapable of manipulate the time of living beings." Harry explained and moved away from Lyon towards Gray. He absentmindedly healed the bruise marks around Gray's throat and reinforced the healing he laid down earlier.

"Zalty?" Lyon asked.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I've been busy! The moon is coming out soon, so I decided to restore the temple," the tribal man rushed in, seemingly blundering his way through life.

"What the hell is this guy?" Gray took a step back.

"Stop moving," Harry said sternly. "And Zalty is not a man; Zalty is a woman."

"What?" three voices chorused. Zalty went very still, a completely different characteristic than expected from his persona.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "What are people teaching kids these days? Yes, Zalty is a woman. She is most likely transformed into her current appearance through transformation magic. Or if not that, perhaps she used a rather permanent modification technique and used time to turn into and reverse back into that form. Magic doesn't lie," Harry explained.

"Your magic is very familiar," Harry muttered, "except I can't seem to place it."

"God damnit!" Natsu clutched his hair at seeing all his hard work undone. He chased Zalty around the floor, getting more frustrated with each laugh.

"I'm going to beat this guy into pulp a million times over! I'll leave things here in your hands. It will be a disgrace if you lose again." Natsu said.

"Yeah," Gray stuttered.

"Not for you," Natsu said.

"For Fairy Tail," both boys touched their guild mark, reaffirming their bond to the guild they call home.

"Geez, that idiot." Harry rubbed his hair. "Natsu's going to get his ass handed to him; Zalty is way out of his league. Fighting a time mage is no trifling matter; Natsu should count his blessings that his flames are a part of his own body and not something Zalty can alter."

"You guys certainly are noisy," Lyon said. "Did you forsee that Natsu would stop you from using Iced Shell?"

"That's Fairy Tail in a nutshell," Harry conceded grumpily. "Did you forsee that I would collect lakefuls of moon drip all throughout yesterday and spy on you all throughout today? Did you sense me?" Harry taunted back, not at all appreciating Lyon's efforts to belittle Gray.

"You stole my moon drip?" Lyon asked indignantly. Harry nodded as if stealing magic was an acceptable pastime. Gray deadpanned- of all things to steal.

"No, I didn't forsee that this would happen,." Gray replied frankly, "but Natsu's unpredictable like that. Harry, don't even get me started on you," he muttered and rolled his eyes. "I am almost sure that you have multiple personalities. You still haven't given my clothes back."

"Well, almost is better than complete certainty," Harry shrugged off the accusation. Gray was probably right anyways. "Oh, so you did notice!" the man beamed. "Well, you don't need them anyways." He whistled and ignored Gray's glare.

"Even if I am entrapped in ice, I have followers who will finish my work," Lyon said proudly. He snickered behind his hand as Harry held out Gray's black boxers.

"Even if I die, Harry will finish my purpose here," Gray said with absolute certainty. He mustered whatever dignity he could gather and steadfastly ignored the immortal.

"If Gray dies," Harry began cheerfully, "I will kill every single one of your followers. I will hunt them down for all eternity and rest at nothing. At the very end, I'll come for your soul," he said, nodding as if he was explaining the fundamentals of math. His magic flared from the momentary lapse in control, and the temperature dropped to below freezing. "Don't even think about melting yourself out. I'll sink this entire island. Oh, before I do that, I should probably turn Deliora to dust… That lump of meat takes up an awful lot of space. " Harry mused.

Lyon felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck. 'Such incredible magic,' he thought. 'This is madness.'

Gray gaped at Harry- had he misread the man as well? "How could you?"

"Gray, you know that Fairy Tail mages don't kill," Harry said calmly. "There's a reason why no one has ever seen my Fairy Tail mark- I kill, and I kill often. It's harder for me to keep someone alive than it is for me to kill them. I don't want my actions to reflect badly on the guild; what I do has nothing to do with the guild. If it makes you feel better, I'll relocate the islanders before I sink this place."

"So someone in your guild has fangs," Lyon said, trying to disguise his nervousness.

"Yes, fangs that are very eager to be used," Harry smiled. Lyon swallowed reflexively.

"Lyon, give up on Deliora," Gray tried to convince the man.

"It doesn't matter if you melt Deliora," Harry said. "Like I said, if you get killed in the process, then I'll finish that demon off- and not through Iced Shell. Ul isn't the only one who can defeat him. Iced shell… actually doesn't work for me- it depends on the user opening his or her Gate of Life and thus dying, but I can't open my gate. I tried. " Harry shrugged, rubbing his hair. Both Gray and Lyon gaped at him for different reasons.

"Lyon, listen- Ul is still alive. Iced shell turns the user's body into ice; the ice that you are trying to melt now is Ur herself. Ur lives on even now- as the ice." Gray said.

"Kind of," Harry muttered under his breath, unwilling to break the moment's tension.

"I apologize for not letting you know before, but it was Ul's dying wish. She knew that you would try to undo the spell for all your life if you knew," Gray explained.

"Gray…" Lyon started. "I knew all this time. That ice is no longer Ul. It's just a frozen stone," he finished as he placed his hand on Gray's abdomen, forming an iced tiger that leapt through the other boy's body.

"Gray!" Harry gasped and leapt to his side. He began healing immediately, limiting the damage. Lyon, playing the stereotypical villain, immediately kicked Gray away.

"Don't get in my way, boy," Harry hissed as his eyes turned to slits and scaled started appearing on his face. Lyon backed off immediately, having briefly seen his death flash by his eyes. Harry hastily erected a ward- one that included the floor- to ensure that Lyon would not interfere.

"You knew everything, but yet you are still like this?" Gray struggled to get back up despite Harry's efforts to push him back down. Huffing, Harry quickly finished what he could to limit the damage and make future healing easier.

"I've had enough of trying to save you," he said as he punched Lyon into the wall, cracking the foot-thick ice.

"That's my line," Harry swore vehemently as he crossed his arms in exasperation and chased after Lyon. Crazy kids and their crazy need for revenge.

Gray and Lyon sweatdropped in the midst of battle, taken back that the man's personality shifted so quickly. What he said was undoubtedly true though. Gray muttered something about ruined atmospheres.

"You'll try to defeat me? I'm saving my magical power for the battle with Deliora," Lyon shrugged.

"Well do it without magic then," Gray raised a fist.

"Gray, you really don't have to cater to his needs," Harry said, exasperated. "He is the one at fault here."

"Don't interfere!" Gray shouted.

"Like hell I will!" Harry grumbled. "Fine- I'll go chase after that damnable time mage since I'm obviously so unwelcomed here. And stop pulling your punches, Gray. If you really insist, I'll heal Squinty-Eyes over there as long as he doesn't kill you." Harry said sarcastically as Lyon repeated aimed for Gray's injured abdomen.

"Oh, by the way, Ul's other brat," Harry said to Lyon, "I already patched up Gray's abdomen- and this time I darn near encased everything important in my magic, so you can give up on making him rupture anything. You can't get through my spells anyways."

"It's one of the Lost Arts, magic that is so powerful that it has been removed from history itself." Zalty said. "Your dragon slayer magic is one of those."

"It is?" Natsu asked cluelessly.

"Technically it wasn't removed from history. The magic council just kept it under very tight regulations, so the number of mages who practiced it dwindled until there were none left. I assure you, it's very much still in the history of this world. I assume you learned from books since the last time mage I knew died quite a while ago. Judging by you inability to manipulate Natsu's fire, you haven't fully mastered the art yet, have you?" Harry appeared from behind Natsu.

"Harry? I thought you were with Gray?" Natsu spun around to face the suddenly there immortal.

"That ungrateful brat dismissed me," Harry said, a vein popping. "The moment we get back to Fairy Tail, I'm tying him to a bed until all his wounds are healed. After that, I'll put him through some remedial training."

Natsu began sweating profusely. He almost felt bad for Gray- almost.

"Oh? You're very knowledgeable in the Lost Arts," Zalty grinned widely while wondering who on Earth this man was.

"I'm just a bit of a scholar, Miss," Harry said humbly.

"Is that so?" She said before vanishing.

"Where did he go? Dammit!" Natsu wailed.

"Quit your whining, Kid. Let's go- Zalty is way out of your league, but since Gray is so intent on getting his ass handed to him, let's stay out of his way." Harry said, dragging Natsu by his muffler. "Use your nose and help me find Zalty; I got a quick read on his magical signature, so I can help where your nose fails."

"Found you!" Natsu yelled, his fists aflame.

"What he said," Harry trailed behind Natsu lazily and raised a hand in greeting.

"Such pleasant words- but how did you find me?" Zalty asked curiously, jumping to avoid Natsu's attack.

"Fire-brat here has the best sense of smell I've ever seen," Harry gestured to Natsu.

"You tracked him too," Natsu said, a bit miffed that Harry was downplaying his abilities again.

"I suppose," he shrugged apathetically. "I'm getting old, so I'll leave the mass destruction to you."

With that, Harry apparated away to the other side of Deliora and began carving wards into the surface of the ice and on the ground around the frozen demon; even if Ul melts into water, he won't let her disappear. Of course, there's no way he can pull all of the water to him, but keeping some is still better than none.

"You smell of woman's perfume," Natsu said. "I suppose that means Harry's right again."

Ultear, in the disguise of Zalty, was seething with embarrassment. "I will resurrect Deliora no matter what."

"I'm back- I just took a look around Deliora's other side. That guy froze with the oddest expression on his face; he looks constipated." Harry flashed back to Natsu. Both mages face faulted at the unexpected observation.

"Give up already; it's impossible." Natsu said, picking himself back up.

"Oh, and why is that?" Zalty decided to humor the boy.

"Because Gray will crush that bastard, and I will crush you a thousand times over!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Such faith you two have in each other," Harry mused. "It's a shame you guys try to beat each other to death every other day. By the way, lay off on that until Gray's healed, alright?"

"I wonder about that…" Zalty said, turning to look at the moon drip.

"Free moon drip," Harry crowed. He withdraw a large curved funnel from his pocket dimension. "I'll take that," he levitated the funnel over the purple light, collecting it into directly into a gourd.

Ultear was stunned speechless behind her Zalty disguise. What was with this weirdo? "Are you stealing my moon drip?" She asked skeptically.

"Stealing isn't the word I would use since you were cultivating the moon drip illegally in the first place. I'm just… confiscating it. The quality of this crap is too low to be worth much anyways," Harry said, disappointed.

"Is that all you are concerned about?" Natsu deadpanned.

"I did say that I came to collect moon drip," Harry pointed out.

"I thought you came to help us out," Natsu rebutted.

Harry shrugged. "Well, I can only collect moon drip at night, so it's not like I have much to do during the day."

"Nevermind that! I've got to stop them," Natsu said, sprinting for the stairs.

"I won't let you," Zalty sang as he collapsed the entrance with a well-placed spell.

"Did you say something?," Harry ask as he repaired the damage with a wave of a hand. Ultear seethed. This man was like a thorn in her side.

"I can take care of this girl here." Harry yawned. "Sorry, but a time mage of her caliber is out of your league right now. It's more important for you to stop that walking teddy bear mutant up at the top."

Natsu punched Zalty one last time with his fire.

"Are you sure about using fire so close to Deliora? You'll just accelerate his melting," Zalty taunted and clutched her cheek.

"If Fire magic could melt the ice, you guys would have had it easy, wouldn't you?" Natsu analyzed.

"I am surprised by the speed and acuteness of your thoughts during battle," Zalty said, guarding against Natsu's kick.

"Natsu, do you really have time to waste on this?" Harry asked. "Go on- scram," he gestured towards the open stairway. The boy nodded and took off.

Now that he was alone with Zalty, Harry said, "I'm sure you've finished building a personality profile on Natsu, Miss. He's hotheaded, but he has his moments at times."

"You're quite astute as well," Zalty baited, surprised that the weird man before her knew what she was aiming for.

"I have to be to take care of a bunch of kids just like him," Harry said. "Well, some are worse, actually- and I have to do this every single day."

Even Ultear couldn't argue with logic like that.

"You are very protective of him," she said slyly, trying to ignore the sudden sense of doom she felt from imagining someone worse than Natsu.

"Don't get me wrong; I'm the one always picking up after him, so the less chaos he creates, the better. He can't possibly collapse the stairs when he's running on them," Harry said wisely. "And you can stop trying to get a read on me. Judging by the familiarity of your magic, you are probably the child of someone I knew."

Ultear paused. This was getting way too close for her comfort.

"I never knew that there was another time mage," she said with a grin, slipping back into her Zalty persona.

"Well, I wouldn't call myself a time mage," Harry shrugged, deliberately misleading Ultear. Sure, he could use time magic, but he knew that he was not proficient enough to defeat Ultear with time magic alone. Perhaps it's time for him to train in that field once more; he has exchanged spells with time mages in the past, and he was sure he had some books on Time magic in his pocket dimension somewhere.

Ultear felt like tearing at her hair. Getting an accurate read on this man is impossible!

"You can't stop Deliora from melting," she said childishly, assured of her victory.

"I'm not going to," Harry said. "I know that moon drip can melt anything; why else do you think I'm collecting so much of it? Thanks for that, by the way. You guys saved me a lot of effort. Activating this ritual on my own would be quite time consuming"

"Deliora will soon be free," Zalty said, excited at the rate of the ice melt. Inwardly, Ultear seethed. How dare this man mooch off of her moon drip?

"So he will," Harry said amicably. "That doesn't mean he'll be functional though. I suppose I could take a sample of that little imp as well."

Ultear gritted her teeth. How can this man be so calm? What sane being would call Deliora an imp?

Harry fought the urge to grin. Riling this girl up was just too easy. He mentally narrowed down his list of potential parents for the magical reading he obtained as he built a character profile for the unidentified mage in front of him.

"How long did it take you guys to melt Deliora, huh? A year or two?" Harry proposed.

Zalty stayed silent.

"More than that then," Harry observed. "Damn, I knew Ul was strong, but more than two years of near constant moon drip? I didn't give her enough credit."

Zalty reflexively clenched her fist at Ul's name.

"You knew her," Harry said. It wasn't a question. "And you don't like her… Is that you, Ultear?"

Ultear froze, her blood turning into ice.

"So it is you," Harry said. "I never thought that you would stoop to this. I don't know that Ul did to you, but I knew that she loved you. She was so happy when she knew that you were pregnant; she fractured three of my ribs," Harry said, babying the right side of his rib cage.

Ultear sweatdropped. Well, at least now she knew where her violent streak came from.

"I have nothing to say to someone who does not understand my pain," she bit out. She readied her magic; now that he knew her secret, she could not afford to let him live.

"You don't have to be so afraid; I won't interfere or say anything," Harry said, surprising her. "Simply put, it's not my place to. I am an observer- the one who is truly removed from history is me. I owed Ul this much; I owe you this much. I don't know what happened to you, but I am sorry that I was not there to stop it; by the time Ul's letter reached me, it was too late. If you want to hate her, go ahead. It pains me to see that you do, but I know that nothing I say will reach you at this point, so I'll save my words. However, I won't kill you in anything less than self-defense. You can try to kill me, but I doubt you would succeed." Harry said.

"However," his eyes hardened. "Tell your master and your puppets alike- I will kill anyone who tries to harm Fairy Tail. This is your one and only warning; you do not want me as your enemy. I don't care what you do- I am not a champion for justice or anything remotely close to it- but I will protect Fairy Tail, promises and debts be damned." Harry's magic exploded around him, the pressure of it pushing Ultear down to her knees.

'Such magic,' Ultear gasped for her breath and coughed, feeling her windpipe being slowly constricted by tendrils of raw energy. 'I've never seen anything like it- not even Hades has such a presence.'

"Do we understand each other?" Harry smiled malevolently.

Ultear nodded weakly, feeling lightheaded. For all her magic, she knew that fighting against someone like him was futile.

"Good. Don't worry- the council geezers won't hear of this. Come to think of it, aren't you on there too?" Harry mused, completely unaffected by the suffocating presence of his unleashed magic. "Well, I don't envy you in the least. At any rate, Deliora should be waking up soon. Let's just keep this between the two of us, hm?" Harry said, discretely weaving a spell around the petrified Ultear. With this, she will have to honor her promise- she will have no choice.

In the back of her mind, she wondered why he was so unconcerned about Deliora breaking free.

"Huh, so this is the power of Deliora," Harry said, perfectly at ease in front of the large demon. "It certainly lives up to its reputation of being an S-ranked Zeref demon. However, no demon is immortal."

In actuality, he was surprised that Deliora still had enough life force in him to exude such a presence.

Gray ran down the stairs and jumped into the puddle of water that is Ul. "Ul," he muttered sadly as he let the liquid drip through his fingers.

"Yo, Gray!" Harry greeted, turning his back on the awakened demon. "I see you're alive," he said.

Then, his eyes caught sight of something white crawling his way. "Ah, if it isn't Squinty-eyes!" Harry greeted. "I see you went all out, Gray."

"That thing… I will defeat it and finally surpass Ul!" He said, barely mustering the energy to move his arms.

"And what's left for you after that?" Harry asked, crouching by Lyon's side, a green hand pressed against the teenager's head. "You're in no state to do anything, let alone take on an S-ranked demon."

Lyon silently pushed away Harry's healing hand, much to the other man's displeasure.

"I will surpass you right now!" he said, struggling to get up. Gray easily knocked him out with a well-placed chop to the back of his head.

"If this knocking other people out for convenience thing catches on, I will have your hide." Harry growled, a tad bit amused. Gray shuddered and hoped that Lyon would suffer temporary memory loss or something of the like.

"That's enough, Lyon. Just leave things to me." Gray said seriously, a bit taken back that Harry ruined the mood once more.

He assumed the Iced Shell stance once more.

"Stop it, Gray! Do you know how long it took me to melt that ice?" Lyon yelled. Gray must not have hit him hard enough.

"Is that all you're worried about?" Harry said incredulously as he ran towards the teen.

"I'll just melt the ice again!" Lyon yelled rebelliously.

"And I'll just sink this place before you do," Harry yelled back

"I have no choice- this is the only way to stop Deliora," Gray said, his magic flaring out once more.

"For the love of-" Harry said, exasperated as he sent a flying kick to towards Gray's back. "How many times do I have to tell you not to kill yourself, you suicidal brat?" Gray gargled out something under the water.

Natsu appeared in front of Gray, who mumbled something under the water. "I'll fight this thing."

"If you do, I will put you both in the psych ward under suicide watch," Harry threatened as he repeatedly dunking Gray in the melt water. He crouched on Gray despite the ice mage's repeated attempts to shake away the nuisance.

Natsu twitched under the threat but stayed put. "Gray, I know you can hear me," Natsu said. Harry gave the teen the benefit of a doubt and pulled Gray's head up.

"He can now," Harry said dryly.

"That time I stopped you because I didn't want you to die. I wonder if that got through to you." Natsu said.

Gray's struggling stilled at Natsu's words.

Deliora, now fully defrosted, lifted a fist to punch Natsu, seeing him as an obstacle towards freedom. Harry hurriedly got off Gray's back and kicked Natsu away.

"You idiotic boy," Harry said; really, looking after those two was a full time job. Quite frankly, he wasn't paid enough to do this.

The immortal mage stood tall against Deliora's fist. He held out an open palm which glowed ominously. "Diffindo," he said firmly, pouring his magic and intent into the spell. Since he overloaded the spell's capacity, the normally mild spell for opening envelopes turned into deadly blades of magic capable of slicing anything.

In an instant, Deliora's form crumbled as magic sliced him apart, dispelling what's left of his feeble life force.

"No way… it can't be." Lyon gasped.

"Yes. Deliora was already dead." Harry said, absentmindedly levitating some pieces of the demon into his pocket dimension. "For ten years, Ul's ice slowly sapped his life force. He used up what's left of it trying to punch Natsu. That's why I asked you- what else do you have left besides the dream that you cling so desperately onto?"

"You knew all along," Gray said.

"Yes," Harry did not even bother to deny it. "But would you have left the island even if I had told you that?"

Gray went silent, already knowing the answer to that question.

As Deliora's pieces rained down on the mages, several pieces damaged the temple walls enough to cause a leakage.

"The water!" Gray gasped, scrambling to find a way to prevent Ul from falling into the ocean.

Harry's wards activated as the water passing through them disappeared; however, his wards were not fool-proof; some water- a small part of it of it- still passed through the gaping holes in the wall and into the ocean.

"I'm no match for her," Lyon admitted tearfully, motionless. "I'll never surpass Ul."

"Ul, you sealed away both of your students' darkness with your life. Thank you." Harry knelt in the draining water and channeled his magic through it, letting it be one with what remains of Ul. He touched his forehead to the water in reverence.

'Take care of them, Harry. Please- as one last favor to me.' A voice flitted through his mind before fading away.

'Ul…?' He gaped. Harry's concentration slipped in shock, ending his connection with Ul.

"Your master is amazing!" Natsu said excitedly.

"Igneel's no slacker either." Harry remarked. Natsu looked at him oddly.

"You know Igneel?" Natsu gasped.

"I knew Igneel," Harry corrected. "You can grill me for answers when we get back, Natsu. Now is not the time."

Gray tilted his head downwards to hide his tears, but he was unable to stop his shaking shoulders.

"Thank you very much, Master," Gray said, giving one last farewell to the person who gave him so much.

He followed Harry to Lyon, who was still lying on the ice cold floor. The two helped Lyon up, each lending him a shoulder. Harry's other hand glowed green as he healed the various wounds Lyon sustained. This time, the mage did not push away Harry's hand.

"Yeah! It's finally over!" Natsu shouted.

"Ah, what a relief; Ul-san is a truly incredible person," Lucy said.

Gray smiled, now looking much more at peace with himself.

"You! Stay put!" Harry pointed to Gray. "How many times do I have to heal you? I know I promised Ul, but still, this is getting ridiculous," Harry pouted but dutifully healed Gray nonetheless.

"With this, we complete our first S-class mission," Natsu pumped his fist.

"Does that mean we'll be allowed to go on the second floor?" Lucy asked, excited.

"Absolutely not." Harry said sternly.

They looked to Erza, who had an expression worthy of a true demon, frightening the junior mages.

"The punishment," Lucy stuttered. She quieted when Erza's expression darkened even more.

"What?" Harry met Erza's gaze unflinchingly. "I am on vacation to collect moon drip. The only place to get moon drip is Garuna Island. Technically, I wasn't even representing Fairy Tail."

'That sly old fox,' Gray thought gloomily. Out of the four of them, Harry was the only one who didn't have to face punishment.

"Before that," Erza had nothing to say about Harry's foolproof explanation "Isn't there something you must do?"

"Wasn't this mission about dissolving the island's curse?" Harry said, recalling the posting on the board.

"Eh?" Lucy momentarily stopped her overactive imagination.

"The mission's not over yet, kids. You guys just got completely and utterly sidetracked." Harry said cheerfully.

"But Deliora's dead. Shouldn't the villager's curse end?" Lucy asked.

"How do you know Deliora's the one causing the curse?" Harry asked in return. "Deliora is the demon of disaster; it wrecks just about everything it comes across. It would never stoop to something as slow and ineffective as a curse when it can just stomp the island out of existence."

"It's more likely that moon drip was the cause of these people's curse." Erza nodded in agreement with Harry.

"No way," Lucy said.

"Way," Harry mocked, which earning him a glare from the blond. "Actually, Erza, I'm not so sure if moon drip is the cause."

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"I have heard of the moon itself causing madness, but not really moon drip," Harry mused. Erza hmmed thoughtfully.

"Well let's finish this then!" Natsu high fived Happy.

"How will we do that?" Gray asked, now fully healed but still weak. "Lyon," he said in a moment of inspiration.

"I have no idea," the elder pupil said apathetically. "Three years ago when we came to this island, we learned of the villager's existence, but we never interacted with them. Likewise, they stayed away from us."

"It is strange that they never came to investigate even though the moon drip shone on the runes each night," Erza muttered.

"What? Are you trying to say that it's not your fault?" Natsu huffed.

"That's because it's not his fault," Harry said. "The moon drip's effect on humans is questionable at best. Lyon, were any of your followers affected?"

Lyon frowned. "Not that I know of."

"They didn't go mad or start growing demon parts? Nothing like that?" Harry pushed.

"No," the boy replied, looking at the immortal oddly.

"I see." Harry said thoughtfully.

Lucy gasped.

"Think about it- for three years, we were exposed to the moon drip in even higher concentration than they were, but yet nothing happened to us. Be careful- they're hiding something." Lyon warned. "However, it's the guild's job from here on out, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry shrugged. Natsu clearly disagreed, but Erza stopped him from saying anything.

"Enough; there's no need to say anything more, Natsu. Everyone has his own motivations and personal motivation.

"Well then, let's go finish this mission," Harry said with a yawn. Just as he left, he saw Gray walk towards Lyon. 'They could use some time alone, I think.'

Harry surveyed the completely healthy forest before him. Where he had expected destruction, there was growth.

"What's going on? This place was completely demolished just yesterday," Natsu said, kicking a tree. In return, he got brained by a falling branch.

"I don't think that tree appreciates being kicked," Harry smirked. "This is probably the work of the time mage- Zalty." Or more like Ultear. He could guess why she would bother to restore the forest- either to clean up evidence or to appease Harry. 'Don't worry, I won't interfere' Harry thought.

"I see… Bobo's grave has been restored as well; I'm glad," Lucy said with a smile.

"Were you the ones who restored the village?" The chief knelt in front of his son's grave.

"Well, it's not really like that," Lucy said, trying to avoid the question.

"In that case, you have my gratitude. But just when will you destroy the moon, Ms. Great Mage?" The chief asked.

"Lucy, didn't your parents teach you manners? It's rude to reject someone's gratitude," Harry said with a grin as he swung an arm around the thin girl's shoulder. "As for the moon, Mr. Chief, it's not the problem causing your curse. The moon is normally yellow, yes? Have you wondered why the moon is purple only this island and nowhere else? There were intruders at the ruins, as you knew. What they were doing caused a covering to form over the sky, making the moon purple. Are you following me so far?"

The chief nodded hesitantly.

"Well, this covering is like tinted glass, changing what you see. While the moon itself never changed, people looking up at the moon through this "glass" will see the moon as purple, not yellow. This covering is what is causing your curse- not the moon itself. If the moon was causing it, then I'm sure this malady would affect more than just this island. Now, what we can do is destroy the covering and thus the curse. It is actually quite an easy task." Harry smiled winsomely.

"Who are you?" The chief asked. "Are you with Fairy Tail also?"

"I am just another mage," Harry replied. The chief took that as a confirmation.

Lucy sweatdropped. She really needs to learn the art of dodging questions from this man. He did not mention which guild he was from- just that he was a mage.

"Now, please gather everyone at the entrance of the village, so I won't have to explain this more than twice," Harry requested politely. "Oh, and Lucy, can you ask Virgo to fill up that trap you made? If Zalty turned back time as I suspected, then the trap would be included too. I would rather not have to heal anyone else today."

"You were all changed into this form when the moon appeared, right?" Erza confirmed.

"Well, to be precise, we assume this form then that moon appears." The chief said.

"And this started three years ago?" Erza asked.

The chief nodded.

"The intruders came three years ago," Harry pointed out. He already finished explaining his part of the theory, but Erza was rounding the whole thing out with one last crucial detail. If Natsu and Lucy had done their research before heading out, then they would have solved the curse immediately.

"Why didn't you ever investigate the ruins? Surely you saw the moon drip collection process every day," Erza pointed out.

"Well, it's tradition not to set foot in the ruins," the chief stuttered.

"But this is no time to honor tradition! You must have sacrificed a lot to put out such a large reward for the guilds," Lucy insisted.

"Will you tell us the truth?" Erza asked.

"Well, actually, we tried many times to go near the ruins. But despite whatever we tried, we couldn't get close to them," The chief said sadly.

"You physically couldn't get to them," Harry confirmed. He was grinning widely in his mind. Bingo.

"Yes, even though we walked towards the ruins, every time we would just end up at the village gates."

"We entered them just fine," Natsu shared a look with Lucy.

"We didn't tell you because we thought you wouldn't believe us," one of the villagers confessed.

"Oh, I'm sure they would have believed you," Harry said casually. "They've seen stranger things." Like Cana chugging down a couple barrels of beer without throwing up, for instance.

Erza shared a look with Harry.

"Just as I thought," she said.

"Another theory confirmed, I suppose," Harry shrugged.

"Natsu, come with me. We're destroying that moon," Erza announced while requipping.

"Eh?" the teenagers collectively gasped.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Erza," Harry yawned. "Do you need any help?"

"No, Natsu's flame should be enough," she said, flipping her hair.

"I see. Well, off you go then, youngsters! Go get that moon!" Harry laughed. To the gaping villagers, he said, "What Erza meant was that she is going to destroy that covering now."

"I… I see," the chief stuttered.

"So in that sense, Natsu and Erza are fulfilling the request you gave them by destroying the moon that was causing your problems, not the normal moon," Harry said.

"Natsu!" Erza yelled.

Igneel's child took that as his cue power up the lance.

The weapon broke the roof of the lookout tower as it soared towards the purple dome.

"Oi, oi, don't go destroying things again," Gray said with a tired expression.

"Reparo," Harry tossed a spell at the thatch roof- it reassembled easily.

"So this is how you fix all the destroyed structures," Gray remarked.

"Yup," Harry confirmed. "Do you want some?" He held out a bowl of popcorn for Gray.

"Thanks," the teenager said, taking some. Harry's popcorn came in many flavors and was always piping hot.

"Is this the time to be eating popcorn?" Lucy sighed.

"Don't be silly; there's always time for popcorn, Blondie," Harry said, his previous seriousness all gone.

Just then, the rocket-powered lance hit the sky and shattered it into dust.

"I want some of that dust," Harry proclaimed before taking out a collecting device.

"Is there anything you don't take?" Lucy deadpanned.

"I'm on vacation, Lucy. I have to take some souvenirs back," Harry nodded as if his statement made perfect sense.

"There, with the purple covering broken, the island will revert back to normal," Erza said, watching as a golden glow enveloped the villagers… without doing anything.

"This can't be," Happy said sadly.

"No, this is the way things are meant to be," Harry said, still munching on his seemingly bottomless bowl of popcorn. "You see, Garuna Island is inhabited by demons- which apparently have the ability to turn into humans."

"So they were demons all this time…" Gray muttered.

"Yup. The moon merely affected their mind; moon drip doesn't influence humans very much, but demons are highly sensitive to the lunar power. The covering formed by crystalized moon drip residue must have blocked the moon and altered their minds," Harry said, his scientist mode kicking in.

"It affected their memories," Erza proposed.

"Apparently so," Harry replied as the villagers started regaining their proper memories.

"Since the ruins are of light, creatures of darkness such as demons cannot go near them," Erza added, nodding.

"That would explain why the tourism industry here never took off," Harry said with laughter in his voice.

"So you did handle things here. Thank you, Mages!" Bobo, the supposedly dead sailor reappeared.

"Bobo!" The chief yelled as tears streamed down his face. He took off to the skies after the son he mourned for daily.

The other villagers took off as well in unison, happy that one of their own came back from the dead.

"A demon island, huh?" Erza looked to the bright yellow moon.

"But looking at their faces, they look less like demons and more like angels," Natsu said happily.

"You'll be surprised at how human-like demons can be and how demonic humans can be," Harry said cryptically. "Anyways, let's go home."

The Fairy Tail mages nodded and settled for one last feast on the island.

Omake One: Trust

"As expected of Titania," Zalty chewed on a fruit as he observed the rather large hole on the sky.

"I know, right? Erza's pretty incredible for someone her age," Harry said from beside her, tasting a fruit that he had snatched from a nearby tree.

"You!" Zalty snarled, instantly summoning a time orb.

"Me," Harry shrugged, not at all concerned to have the dangerous weapon pointed at him. "You can drop that disguise, by the way. No one's here."

Zalty's image shimmered. When the movement stopped, Ultear stood in his place, her face twisted with rage.

"Thanks for returning back the forest to its original state, by the way," Harry said offhandedly, stopping her anger.

"I didn't do it for you," She bit out.

"Does it matter who you did it for or why you did it?" Harry asked. "What's done is what's done."

Ultear sat down, picking up her half-eaten fruit.

"You really like those, don't you?" Harry pointed towards the guava fruit.

Ultear shrugged, not at all inclined to answer such an odd question.

Harry sighed. "Here, let me heal that," he said, a green glow enveloping his hand. "Natsu's punches really hurt. Surely you would want to chew with the other half of your jaw as well."

Ultear flinched away from the hand and stared intently at it. "You know healing magic," she stated.

"Obviously," Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to kill you; I could have done so easily before if I really wanted you dead."

Reluctantly, Ultear stayed still as neutral healing magic flowed through her; it was oddly comforting.

"Why did you heal me? You didn't have to." Ultear said once the glow faded.

"Why did you restore the village? You didn't have to," Harry mocked.

'This man is infuriating,' Ultear thought as her temper reared its ugly head.

"You're going back to the council, right? Your swollen cheek's going to raise questions." Harry took a bite out of his fruit.

"Why do you care? Are you afraid that I'll tell them all about you- or that I'll side with them and order the disbandment of Fairy Tail?" Ultear asked skeptically, knowing that what she said was well within her rights. "They already hate your guild."

Harry snorted. "Why must you be so nitpicky? Just chalk it off to my daily random act of kindness, okay? The old geezers already know about me. Hell, the only reason why they haven't razed Fairy Tail to the ground is because of me. For all their hate, they wouldn't dare order Fairy Tail's disbandment; I'd have their heads rolling on the ground in seconds."

"But no, I'm not afraid that you will renegade on your promise," Harry said, looking into Ultear's dark eyes. "I trust you."

There was no sound except for that of the wind swishing past leaves.

Ultear was stunned speechless. He trusted her- someone he knew to be an enemy.

"Why? Is it because I'm Ul's daughter?" Ultear said her mother's name as if it was a curse.

"Well, you haven't given me a reason not to trust you," Harry said. "I know you're rotten to the core" Ultear flinched again, "but that doesn't matter. You won't tell anyone."

"And how do you know that?" She fell on the defensive.

"I don't," Harry lied. "But that's what trust is about."

Ultear said nothing.

"Anyways, don't worry too much about it. I'll see you again someday," Harry said and patted her head.

The time mage allowed one pat before shoving the hand away. "Don't patronize me."

The older mage laughed off her glare but withdrew his hand nonetheless. "Feisty- I like that. Good night, Ultear," he said before disappearing altogether.

The black haired woman stared at her hands- the same hands that have taken the lives of so many people. "Trust, huh?" she uttered.

Omake Two: Letters

"Who is that guy?" Lyon asked, taking a break from rearranging Gray's face.

Gray put his fists down, glad for the break. "He knew Ul before we came along."

"Oh, did he?" Lyon raised an eyebrow, skeptical at the claim. The man barely looked five years older than them.

"Yeah, he did. He wrote letter to Ul," Gray replied.

That made Lyon pause. "You mean he's the one who wrote The Letters?"

Gray nodded.

The two students of Ul took a moment to reflect upon the infamous Letters. It was well known that while Ul was a great teacher and had a great disposition for teaching, but there were Certain Times when her violent side came out. Granted, she had gone easy on her students since they were still children, but seeing a woman send a grown man twice her size flying isn't a very forgettable sight.

Thus, the two pupils have come to fear their teacher when those Times came, and one of the sure triggers was the Letters.

The Letters came once in a fortnight, always unfailingly on a Monday. They had a very… odd effect on Ul. Sometimes, she would smile and blush at the content, and sometimes she would rant and rave, shredding the offending bits of paper into bits. Nonetheless, she would always read them in private- always. When Gray asked her what the letters read, she promptly told him to mind his own business. Likewise, his attempts to seize the letters for himself only resulted in a tennis ball sized lump on his head.

Unfailingly, Ul would place each surviving letter in a hand carved wooden box and lock it after each reading. Unfortunately, when Ul turned herself into never-melting ice, she had taken her key with her, leaving the box locked forevermore. Gray and Lyon had attempted to pick the lock or destroy it themselves, but it seems like Ul had placed some very strong enchantments on the vessel.

There were times when Ul would clutch her dead daughter's clothing close to her and sob all throughout the night. Both Lyon and Gray were well aware of this, and sometimes she would cling onto them and sob too. After those nights, she would always sequester herself and reread those letters. Naturally, Lyon and Gray were very curious as to the contents that had bewitched U; so.

And now, ten years later, they finally found the author of those letters. The world is small indeed.

"Did he say anything about what he wrote?" Lyon asked, his old curiosity rekindled.

"No," Gray shook his head.

"It's hard to believe that the author of those letters was so powerful all along," Lyon admitted in a moment of humility.

"You're not going to surpass him- don't bother," Gray said, already predicting Lyon's train of thought.

"Please, the only one I want to surpass is Ul," Lyon scoffed, his ego snapping back in place.

Gray rolled his eyes, having heard this line many times. "As you've told me so many times before."

The two raised their fists and fell into their stances, ready to restart their battle.

"Hey Lyon," Gray said in an uncharacteristic moment of hesitation.

Lyon raised an eyebrow, humoring the younger pupil.

"Do you think… Is it possible that Harry is Ultear's father?" Gray asked slowly, thinking back on the times when Ul would disappear for days on the end and return glowing with happiness.

Lyon paled impressively to a new shade of white. Gray, seeing his senior's expression, grimaced.

It was not a pleasant thought.

Omake Three: What to do with a couple metric tons of water.

Night found Harry sitting cross-legged on the floor of his house. He pulled out his trusty black hole, intending to reevaluate the samples he collected from Garuna Island. It was his habit to do so since the samples he collect in the midst of battle may be contaminated, low quality, or altogether unusable.

'Let's see… moon drip- the good quality kind,' he thought as he poured the contents of one pitcher into another.

'Moon drip of the bad quality kind, the furry's not very poisonous nails, various magical signatures, Deliora's dust, various local flora and fauna, firewood, poisonous jelly, moon drip dust, and Ul's melt water.' Harry mused as the floor became filled with objects one by one.

"Now, what should I do with all this?" Harry said to himself. "The low quality moon drop I can maybe trade with someone else," he muttered. Even low quality moon drip would fetch a high price.

He turned to look at Ul's water, which was contained in an orb.

"What am I supposed to do with a couple metric tons of water?" Harry asked the motionless blue orb before him. He reached a hand towards the water. When his fingers touched it, the surface rippled. The magic infused within the magic was still brimming with life- Ul's life.

'Ul, are you still here?' Harry said telepathically, letting his magic trickle into the water.

The liquid enveloped his magic in a hug but said nothing. Instead, it gave a vague impression of yes.

'You can't speak,' Harry confirmed. He closed his eyes and focused his mind; he would need all of his knowledge and experience to decode Ul's nonverbal messages. He concentrated and sank deep into his magical core. His awareness dropped to that of a meditative state as he focused on using his magic to communicate with Ul.

The sentient ball of water expressed a confusing feeling.

'You want to save your energy?' Harry asked.

If a ball of water could nod, it surely would have done so.

'Well, what do you want me to do with you?' Harry asked. 'Ul, I didn't want you to disappear.'

The blue ball rippled, sadness imbued in every drop.

'I won't let you disappear, Ul.' He thought vehemently while mixing in his own life force with magic.

The water pushed it firmly away. 'Ul, I can't die.'

'I… know,' she said feebly.

'Then accept my life force!' He thought. 'Don't disappear,' he said. He has outlived so many people throughout his years- he has seen mountains rise and crumble with time.

'Live, at least for Gray and Lyon.' He tried to convince her. The water did not move. 'Ultear's alive,' he finally said.

Suddenly, the water jumped. 'She's alive,' she radiated with happiness.

'Yes, but she is on the wrong path- her darkness has overtaken her. She thinks you abandoned her,' Harry thought.

A faint wail emitted from the liquid.

'I'll set her straight; I promise. But in return, you have to accept the life force I give you. I won't let you fade, Ul. You may have lost your body, but you don't have to be alone.' Harry reasoned.

Reluctantly, Ul took up Harry's life force.

'Now, what do you want me to do with you? I doubt you would want to float around in my storage dimension for all eternity.' Harry said as his magic drained away from him.

Ul grimaced and thought for a moment before a metaphorical light bulb lit on top of her orb.

The compressed water shrunk even more before splitting in four.

'What are you doing?' Harry asked, not at all worried as his life force began draining away from him at a rapid rate. As of the moment, the life force drained would have easily sustained three people.

The water shushed him and sent a tendril out to whack him in the head.

'Ouch! What was that for, you violent woman?' Harry growled.

'Be quiet,' she huffed as she drained even more of Harry's magic.

'What am I? A battery?' he grumbled. He got shushed once more.

In under a minute, the four distinct blobs of water began taking shape and grew harder, slowly turning to ice.

Harry waited patiently, feeling quite thirsty at seeing the water move in front of him.

After an hour, Ul's work was complete. In Harry's hand lay four pendants made of never-melt ice- a rose, a hammer, an eagle, and Fairy Tail's emblem.

'You want me to wear this?' Harry asked. The pendant pulsed warmly. 'Fine. I'll have to put a sticking charm on Gray's and Lyon's to make sure they don't accidentally strip the necklace off with their clothes.' It wasn't hard to guess the intended recipients of the necklaces.

Ul laughed tiredly. 'Here, I might as well charge you up,' Harry said and channeled even more magic into the necklaces which started pulsing with power.

'I thought you objected to being called a battery,' U teased.

'Well, just this once,' Harry allowed. 'I can't always charge their necklaces, Ul.'

'I can transfer magic between all four pendants,' Ul said with a touch of pride.

'Impressive,' he nodded. 'I'll give them to Gray and Lyon when I see them. I have no clue where Lyon disappeared to, but Gray's probably still at the bar. As for Ultear… I don't trust her not to crush you to bits right now, so I'll give her the necklace after she defeats her inner darkness.'

Ul nodded sleepily. 'I trust you,' she murmured.

'I'm not sure if I deserve your trust,' Harry said softly. 'Rest for now- you've done a lot.'

While Ul took a well-deserved break, Harry slipped his pendant on, a bit unused to the feeling of ice on skin. He categorized and organized his samples before slipping on his shoes and making his way towards the guild.

He chose to take a more scenic path as he enjoyed the tranquility of Magnolia at night. Gray had a habit of staying at Fairy Tail until very late in the evening- practically early morning. The boy doesn't get much sleep.

"Gray," Harry called out softly as he opened the great wooden doors of Fairy Tail. The doors creaked slightly, and the guild was dimly lit. No one was there except for Gray, who stared pensively at his cup of ice water.

"Harry," he said, surprised. He immediately got up. "What are you doing here?"

"Gray, how are you feeling?" Harry asked, satisfied that Gray's skin was unblemished. In his solitude, Gray had stripped to his underwear again.

"Fine," he said, looking down at his cup of ice.

"So you say," Harry said dryly.

"Harry, did you mean what you said back then?" Gray asked, hesitant.

"Hm? Of course- I don't say anything I don't mean," Harry smiled. "Though I may have lost control at some point," he muttered, abashed.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked, willing to know more about this enigma of a man. He was hoping that the man was kidding.

"Ah, I'm not usually like that," Harry thought back to how hysterical he was. "But I've lived through and seen a lot; I wasn't joking when I said that it's hard to keep someone alive."

"But you're barely older than Laxus," Gray said.

Harry laughed in reply. "I'm a lot older than Laxus, Gray, but thank you, for telling me that I look young."

Gray frowned- Harry can't be much older than Laxus, judging by appearance. Despite having known the man for ten years, he still doesn't know much about Harry. There were a lot of unanswered questions- why does the Master listen to him? How did he get such a rank when he looks to be in his mid-twenties at best? How has he seen so much in so little time? Did he meet Ul when he was five? How did he become so skilled at the age of five? Genius or not, no one should be that powerful at five years old. The Master would never let a child of that age go on missions alone. What did he mean by immortalizing Ul? There are so many factors that do not add up; magical prodigy or not, there was no way Harry could possibly become so powerful in twenty-some years. There were things that he said that hinted at something more, but as with the questions, Gray always dismissed them. Now, he was willing to bring them all back- he thought he had misjudged Erza once- he would not midjudge Harry as well- not in this lifetime.

"You don't age," Gray finally said, awed and a bit skeptical. His mind flashed briefly to the first time he saw Harry- who looked exactly the same as he did now.

"I was wondering when you would figure it out," Harry said, his normally lively emerald eyes darkened. However, the man made no motion to move, seemingly completely at ease.

"You really don't age," Gray said, his voice shaking.

"No, I don't, Gray," Harry confirmed.

"How is that possible? This explains why Ul would leave her legacy to you, but it shouldn't be possible!" Gray shouted, knocking over a bar stool.

"Calm down," Harry said. "It is possible- I am living proof of that. How old do you think I am?" He asked, curious.

Gray sat back and rewinded to past conversations- since he met Ul before she had Ultear, that means he had to be older than twenty- a fact that supported his claim of not aging. Harry was quite proficient in the Lost Arts and often knows arcane facts or possesses ancient objects. Assuming he learned the lost arts directly, then he had to be older than three hundred. The ban on the more dangerous arts started around then.

"Three hundred?" he guessed.

Harry shook his head, amused that the boy's estimate was so far off. "Try over three thousand," he said.

Gray gasped and began shaking. "No way," he denied. "No. Way."

"You can choose not to believe me if you want." Harry shrugged. "I was there when Mavis- the first master- founded Fairy Tail. I've been with this guild for over a century now. You should ask Makarov to show you Mavis' photo one day. It's the one she took with me and the other founders of the guild back when we first finished this building. I even helped levitate the emblem up to the roof," Harry thought fondly.

Gray could not believe his ears. How is Harry still sane after living three thousand years? "You can't die."

"No, I can't," Harry shook his head. "If you don't believe me, you could try killing me," Harry offered. "I regenerate all the damage I take fairly quickly, and if I can't regenerate it, then my body's time automatically rewinds to the last time I was whole."

"So what you said back then… Do I really mean that much to you?" Gray asked, turning down the offer instantly. Immortal or not, he simply cannot bring himself to kill Harry.

"Mavis asked me to be Fairy Tail's guardian, Gray. I think of all of you as my children- especially this generation," Harry smiled. "Call me cheesy, but I would gladly lay the world at Fairy Tail's feet if necessary."

Gray looked awed, not doubting the man in the slightest. Then, he turned his face away. He was ashamed once again for doubting the man that helped raise him for the better part of ten years.

"I've seen many things in my life, Gray. I know that one day, you too will leave me, but don't bring that day any closer than necessary. I've had to bury everyone I ever cared about." Harry said.

"I promise," Gray said, for once meaning it. He held Harry's ice cold hands in his.

"Thank you, Gray." Harry smiled widely. "Well, I didn't come to talk about my past, depressing as it is. I actually have something to give to you." The immortal withdrew his hands and dug around in his pocket dimension. After the screams of three chickens, a cow, a goat, and a barely weaned puppy, he held out an ice pendant in the shape of a hammer.

"What is this?" Gray asked skeptically, rolling the object around in his hands. To his surprise, the ice did not melt.

"I collected a lot of Ul's melt water when Deliora broke free," Harry began.

"You mean…?" Gray asked, unsure. He touched the pendant with his magic, surprised that it felt like exactly like Ul. Even more shocking, the pendant was pumped full of magic and life force- almost enough to fuel a full grown mage.

"Yes, this is Ul- or what's left of her. I would not let her disappeared, so I tried to capture as much of the water as possible. While some of the melt water drained into the ocean, I was able to save a lot of it. When I got back, I asked Ul what she wanted, and this happened." Harry said, lifting up his own pendant for Gray to see. The teen was not surprised to see that it was in the shape of Fairy Tail, having witnessed Harry's endless dedication to the guild.

"Ul can still talk?" Gray gaped, looking at the pendant twinkling innocently in his hand.

"Not really- it takes a lot of magical energy for her to do so, and she speaks in fragments at best. Even so, it takes a lot of life force and magic for her to actually communicate. I can refill the energy stored in all of the pendants through my own, but it's tiring for her too. Still, you might get the occasional dream or two from her since it's easier to communicate mind to mind in dreams. Just don't be too surprised if Ul can get into your head, okay?" Harry finished.

"Harry, thank you," Gray's voice shook. He slipped the pendant on reverently, relishing in the feel of Ul's magic against his. It was almost as if Ul was alive once more. Harry could have done anything in the world- anything, and yet he chose to be with Fairy Tail, to protect and guide them. And now, the man gave him Ul back.

"You're welcome," he said kindly and ruffled Gray's hair. "I'll give Lyon's his when I see him next. He has a lot of apologizing to do to his chunk of ice- ouch!" Harry flinched and lifted up his pendant.

"What's the deal, Ul?" Harry grumbled and rubbed the red imprint of the pendant. "Quit giving me frostbite!"

Gray chuckled, yet he was amazed to see that the damage healed immediately just like Harry said it would. "Master, I'm sorry," Gray whispered to his hammer pendant. It glowed warmly and exuded a comforting feeling.

"She forgives you- she also said 'quit stripping in the middle of the street' " Harry translated, his eyes unfocused. "By the way, I added a sticking charm to your pendant so you don't accidentally strip the necklace off. No one can remove it but you," he said, snapping out of his revere.

Gray muttered something that could have either been "thank you" or "I wouldn't have".

"Quit thanking me, Brat," Harry grinned and ruffled Gray's hair. "Gray, don't forget- you're not alone. If you need anything, just holler, alright?"

Gray nodded before remembering a certain conversation he had with Lyon.

"Harry, what did you write in those letters you sent to Ul?" Gray asked curiously.

"Oh, those?" Harry rubbed his head, "Mostly just rants, some comforting messages, and update on the little bet I had with Ul."

"The no stripping one?" Gray racked his memory.

"Yup. I definitely won that bet; Ul's just a sore loser," Harry said proudly and then yelped as his pendant gave him frostbite yet again.

'Well, that explains the bipolar swings,' Gray thought.

"Harry, are you Ultear's father?" Gray swallowed and asked nervously, his mind close to shutting down.

"What?" Harry asked, flummoxed and flushing bright red (much to Gray's curiosity). To Gray's surprise, his ice radiated with shock "Of course not! I would never. I have- well, had- a wife. And why on Earthland would I ever want to- ouch!" Harry growled at his pendant and lifted it away from any skin. "Stop it, Ul!"

'Well, there goes that theory', Gray thought, relieved.

"Anyways, it's way past your bedtime, Gray," Harry declared as if Gray was eight and not eighteen. "Don't stay up too late," the ancient man said as he got up.

Gray too, got up and saw Harry out- it was the least he could do for someone who gave him his teacher back. He watched as Harry walked out the great doors, arguing with a pendant in what must be the most absurd conversation of all time.

'Thank you,' Gray thought one last time and clutched the pendant close to his heart.

Mandy: Well, that's another chapter done. The last omake didn't really turn out like I expected, but by that point I was pretty tired of writing. I think I hit a new record for my word limit. I think this chapter was longer than 22k in words? That's pretty long. Anyways, I wanted to show a slightly different side of Harry here. To be honest, Harry is not mentally stable. I wouldn't call him unhinged, but he has a lot of regrets, and his priorities are a bit skewed. He's desperate not to lose any more of his loved ones even though he knows that he will outlive them all. Like I said, he's a bit unstable, but that is to be expected after living thee thousand years. I'll go back and edit this fifty-three page mess later- I'm sure I'll have many things to edit, but I'm pretty tired right now.

Second edit: I skimmed through this and fixed some stuff. The word count's now up to around 23.5k words. I think I'll keep this chapter for later.

Edited 1/5/13

Note 2: Well, I thought to upload this now since I'm neck deep in notes that I don't want to go through. There might be some minor issues like choppy transitions or Ur/Ul being interchanged, but I thought to upload this anyways. Have fun reading! Currently, the word count is at 24.3k.