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The Eighth Tower

Summary:

Fairy Tail is a guild that looks to the future, but its people have their share of ghosts. Acnologia knows this well, and he is not one to pry. However, when the discovery of a new dragon slayer leads to the resurfacing of a past that Erza tried to keep buried, Acnologia sets his mind to killing this ghost once and for all, because the Tower of Heaven still has teeth. At this point, it might just be his life's mission to clean up Zeref's messes, especially when Fairy Tail is always in the crossfire.

Notes:

I'mmmmm back, with the next installment of How to Raise Your Dragon Slayers! This time featuring more non-dragon slayers, because this is also a fic about Fairy Tail.

We'll be diving into the altered history version of the Tower of Heaven arc, because unlike the original cast, Acnologia has a few more pieces regarding the situation, and we get there a little faster.

I will try to update every Sunday. Or at least post something. If not this, then a drabble/extra scene. We shall seeeee

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And if you're new, hello! Welcome to this fun ride, whether you just clicked on this story to check it out, or if you're speeding through the series right now.

Before this installment, I suggest reading (well, Of Dragons and Fairies) and chapters, hm, 5, 8 and 10 of the Drabbles, Extras, and Side Stories collection. Or chapters 1-10 if you want to take the time. None of the extra scenes are necessary though, if you're the type to read all side stuff afterwards; they just provide some context for little scenes.

Chapter 1: Forest Queen's Sun

Chapter Text

“I can feel the sunlight shining through me
There’s a beautiful world under my feet.”

—Natasha Bedingfield, “More of Me”

 


 

March 22, X780

 

 

Wendy ran through the forest, excitement in her step and a job flyer in her hand. By all means, their house was not close to the Fairy Tail guild hall, but the distance meant little to a mage, and less to a dragon slayer. The eight-year-old ran with the grace of the wind and the enthusiasm of a girl with a mission, each step of the forest path beaten and familiar.

“Are you sure he’s even awake?” Charle asked tiredly, flying alongside her.

“Before Gajeel left, he said he was up but pretending he wasn’t, which means he’s waking up for the spring!”

Charle only sighed. “It’s rude to rush people, you know,” she chastised.

Wendy pondered this, but ultimately was not swayed from her goal. “It doesn’t hurt to ask, though.”

The girl and the cat made it to the cabin in the woods, their home. All of her siblings lived here, even if they weren’t really related to her. Wendy didn’t care about the specifics. The only thing that mattered was that they lived together and loved each other, and that’s what family did. The home was usually always occupied, with many people coming to and from, whether it was her siblings or Laxus or Lisanna or Levy or Mystogan. Right now, though, there was only one scent she smelled, and it was only one person she expected, because Wendy knew where everyone else was.

Natsu and Happy went to the next town over on a job to blow up rocks; Gajeel and Levy went with Rogue and Sting went on a treasure hunt for a client (they invited her, but Wendy had another plan); Laxus’ team went on a dangerous job; and, Mystogan was on a job of his own.

It was perfect. Wendy had the perfect job for herself, and the perfect opportunity to entice Acno to go with her, because he was the only option. It was the end of March, too, so he wouldn’t want to sleep as much.

“Acno!” she called, turning the corner to the kitchen. “You’re awake!”

Wendy was worried that he would still be “in denial,” as Gajeel said, but Acno was already up and making coffee. (Coffee, at least the way Acno drank it, was super bitter so it had to wake him up even more, right?)

“Hi Wendy,” Acno greeted, his sentence ending in a yawn. “It’s been quiet, so I assume the boys are gone?”

“Yep!” Wendy thrust the job flyer into his hand. “So can you go on a job with me?”

Acno blinked slowly, taking a long sip of his coffee (how he liked it, she didn’t know) as he looked at the flyer. “What’s this?” he finally asked, despite looking at the flyer long enough to read it.

Ohhh, he was still sleepy. The bitter coffee hadn’t worked yet. “It’s a job picking a special type of flower in a forest! A nice lady wants to collect them to breed more of them for medicine, like what you do. I even did reading on it—Levy found a book for me before she left—and it said that the flower is really small, but it smells like butter, so I’m sure we can find it.”

“…butter?” he repeated.

“Yeah, and it’s in the forest near the cave!”

That got Acno’s attention, just like she hoped. He loved that cave, their second home, and he also didn’t like other people near it. Of course, he didn’t like strangers near this home either; Acno just didn’t like new people that much, but he liked people that were family or their friends. Wendy understood. New people were scary because she didn’t know what they were feeling or if they were being nice or disappointed in her; she knew her siblings and her friends well enough to know if they were upset or happy, and that they would never leave her no matter what she did.

He wrinkled his nose slightly. “In the old Nirvit forest? I’m pretty sure that place is haunted.” He looked down at the flyer again, mumbling, “So they call it the Woodworth Sea now? Huh.”

“Acno!” Wendy chastised. “Master Roubaul is a nice ghost!”

“Is an entire forest haunted if there’s only one ghost?” Charle asked, with that little annoyed scent that just smelled like Charle.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but it’s not just him. There’s something else about that forest. That’s why we hunted on the other side of the mountain, remember?”

“Ohhh, right.” She remembered now that Acno never let them go to that side of the forest; she had just assumed it was because of monsters. “But is it okay if Charle and I go if you go with us? Please?”

For a moment, Wendy worried that Charle was right, and that she overwhelmed Acno too soon after he woke up, and now she upset him, because the oldest dragon slayer had that tired look still like he didn’t want to do anything yet. “I’m sorry,” she started. “I know it’s—”

“It’s fine,” Acno interrupted, ruffling her hair and making it fluffy like his. “I can go with you.”

All her worries over the matter promptly vanished, replaced with elation. “Really? Thank you, Ac-nii!” Wendy cried, launching herself up to the taller dragon slayer to hug him. He caught her with one arm, his coffee still in the other hand, and returned the hug. Acno gave great hugs because his arms were big and strong, even if his skin was often cold because he was a dragon.

“Of course, kiddo. Let me get ready—” That meant finish his coffee and put on his cloak. “—and then we can use the teleport ring. We’ll grab something to eat over there.”

“Okay. I’ll go grab my bag!”

A part of Wendy hoped to fly there, because she loved flying with Acno, and she loved the taste of the air the higher up they went—closer to the sky—but she wouldn’t complain at any chance to go on a job with her oldest brother. Technically, they had gone on many before, but she cherished each one, and since he became an S-Class mage, he had gone on several jobs by himself, sleeping for the winter in-between each one. Wendy worried that he would be busier with those, and she knew the stuff she could do was boring to him, but she enjoyed spending time with him regardless.

She enjoyed spending time with everyone and going on jobs with them too. Gajeel and Natsu would each take her along on their exciting missions (that usually ended in something getting broken), and she and Sting and Rogue could do a lot of cool things together, though they couldn’t do much without one of the older ones tagging along. She and Mystogan went on finding quests together often, and Levy would let her watch as she did research stuff. Laxus even took her on some his jobs, too, though not as often. She loved them all, but she also loved going on jobs with Acno, because he would teach her about air spells and plants while also letting her try new things.

She grabbed a backpack from her room—the one Mystogan made her, which still fit, though it was too small for a lot of stuff—and went to the circle-room, which was really just another room built on top of the second floor just for Acno’s big magic circle.

Since the cave was too far to go to without flying, they made a way to teleport between that home and this home, though the cabin in Magnolia was the best home since they were there more often, and all of their rooms were there. It was still nice to have the option, though, especially in the summer when it got super-hot in Magnolia.

Acno was really good with magic; even though he used air and ether magic, he could learn other stuff, too. He had an old book of spells that he used to make a circle here and a circle in the cave, allowing them to teleport back and forth. Wendy didn’t know much about how it worked, except that it needed a lot of raw magic to activate (which wasn’t a problem for Acno) and that she had helped by enchanting both circles with the same air. (She also knew not to tell anybody about the circle, because Acno said that most of the spells in the book were outlawed because they were too hard for the Magic Council to perform.)

“Are you sure that bag will be big enough for the flowers the client wants?” Charle asked.

“Um, I think so. The flowers are really tiny, and I don’t need to bring anything else…”

“Well, it never hurts to be careful.”

Charle was right, but she wasn’t sure if she had a bigger backpack. Maybe she could ask Mystogan how he made this one, so she could make a bigger one? She could buy one, but it was fun to make it by hand, too.

Before Wendy could decide on what to do about the bag, Acno entered the room. “It’s fine, I have a spare bag,” he said. Sure enough, his old satchel was slung over his shoulder, underneath his gray cloak. “Ready to go?”

“Yep!”

It was actually happening! She was excited, happy to explore the areas outside of Magnolia, and do so with her family. Wendy bounced on her toes and hopped onto the circle.

It was a pretty circle, full of intricate symbols and runes of a language she didn’t know. It was much bigger and more complicated than any she could make for her magic. When Acno bent down and touched the middle of the magic circle, it lit up a brilliant white, and then they were gone.

The smell of the cave came next, and Wendy hopped off, puffing a small cloud of air just to see it turn white in the cold.

“It’s freezing in here,” Charle muttered, flying close to her. “Did you bring a better jacket?”

“I’ll be warmer outside, Charle,” Acno said, but he did that cool spell that made the air around them not lose heat. (Wendy was practicing that one, but she still couldn’t make it start warm like he could.)

“I suppose,” Charle conceded. With that, they headed for the entrance.

Wendy loved the cabin in Magnolia, but she also loved the mouth of the cave, and the way it opened up to the sky and the forest below. It was the prettiest view that she knew of, and the air tasted like ice cream. She took a big gulp of it when she made it there, glad to taste it again. It made her feel really refreshed, too.

“Ready?” Acno asked.

Wendy nodded vigorously, and he helped her onto his shoulders. She loved this part, too. Even if it wasn’t flying, it was close. Wendy grabbed on, and Acno jumped.

When he did big jumps, it was fast, not floaty like when Wendy tried, but it was a lot of fun. She was pretty sure he could move faster than gravity, but it didn’t hurt when they hit the ground. It didn’t even leave a dent! (She was getting better at doing that too, but she had to go slower.) They did scare away the birds and the squirrels, though.

“The book said the flowers grew on trees and rocks,” Wendy explained, jumping off of Acno’s shoulders and practicing her floaty-jump. She stumbled a little on landing, though.

“Don’t forget to release the air by your feet when you reach the ground,” Acno reminded her. Right! She always forgot that part when she did it. “What was the flower called again? It sounds like a purslane or a phlox.”

“Umm…” Wendy pulled out the job flyer to look at it again, because it had a long name, but Charle was super smart so she remembered first without looking.

“It’s called the portulaca solemite, or the Forest Queen’s Sun. It’s used for pain relief and muscle relaxants.”

Acno nodded. “A purslane then—though this is a weird climate for them. Maybe misnamed, but it’s close enough.”

Wendy was pretty sure she heard Acno mentioned a phlox before—those were flowers—but not the other one. “What’s a purslane?”

“Think…a moss, but with flowers. It’s a runner, found in warm and tropical climates. This forest is on the colder side for that, but then again, there’s enough weird magic here to bypass this.”

“You’ve mentioned this ‘weird magic’ several times,” Charle pointed out. “What are you talking about? This place seems normal to me, and you did use to live here. Shouldn’t you know?”

“I lived in the mountains, and the magic doesn’t carry that far up. It’s ground level. And just because I’m old and an ether mage doesn’t mean I know every type of magic there is. I just know that it’s artificial, but there’s nothing here to make it. It’s weird, so I avoided it.”

“How can magic be artificial?” Wendy asked. Wasn’t magic always a change of something, and made by things?

“Maybe that was a poor choice of words,” Acno amended. “It’s not naturally occurring, because it doesn’t match the flow of the surrounding flora and fauna. It was made to be contrary to the ether flow by something else—probably many years ago, and it’s just residual now.”

Charle flew closer, raising a brow. “Is residual magic that scary to you?”

“Not necessarily, but it’s annoying, depending on what it is. Have either of you heard of people randomly getting teleported?”

Charle shook her head, but Wendy actually knew this one! “Oh! Didn’t that just happen to a mayor somewhere? Mystogan told me about that job.” Apparently the mayor was super grumpy about it too, and he gave Mystogan a hard time finding the source because he complained instead of explaining what happened.

“Yeah, like that. It’s likely residual warp magic from a spatial mage who didn’t close their shit properly. Doesn’t happen often, but residual magic can linger and take effect at random. It also tends to be spatial, which is always annoying.”

Wendy nodded. It was common knowledge to those close to him that Acno wasn’t a fan of spatial magic; he couldn’t eat it because it changed the ether into something else just different enough that it wasn’t normal ether anymore. It still confused Wendy slightly, but she understood the gist of it.

However, all this talk of the forest’s strange residual magic left Wendy worried. She didn’t want something to happen because she brought them here. Of course, she still believed that Acno would be able to stop anything that did happen, but she didn’t want to be the cause of any trouble. “Nothing bad is going to happen because we’re here… right?”

Acno ruffled her hair, which was always his way of saying ‘don’t worry’ or ‘I love you,’ so it made her happy. “Don’t worry, it’s faint here. If it starts to act up, I’ll know in advance, and we can leave. Now, about those flowers.”

—o0o—

The job was as fun and as peaceful as Wendy had hoped. It had been difficult to find the first group, but once they found a few, it was easier to sniff more out. They even found a bunch on them in one spot! So much, it was filling up her bag quickly, even without picking all of them.

However, Wendy stopped when Acno did. He had that look that he was sensing something concerning, or something that could be concerning. She realized she hadn’t been paying as much attention as she should have, so she focused everything on looking around when Acno was doing the same. It was hard to separate normal things from dangerous things, but Wendy liked to think she was doing better. She only just started to hear the too-slow crunching of leaves when Acno got impatient.

“Come out. I know you’re there,” he called.

So it was a person. Which was worrisome, because after what Acno had said, Wendy didn’t think there would be anyone here. It was a little scary, now, to know that there was. Wendy moved closer to Acno just in case, but though he was on alert, he didn’t seem super tense like he would be if he thought it was really dangerous, so that calmed her down a little.

There was no response, but she heard the crunching again.

“We’re not a threat to you, if you show you mean no harm,” Acno tried again.

The crunching got closer. Whoever it was must have been shy, because they came slowly and they were trying to be quiet. It wasn’t until he got closer to their clearing that she saw him.

It was a teenage boy, with skin that was tanner than Gajeel’s but not as much as Acno’s, with dark red hair. His clothes were dirty and torn, like he had been out here for a while, and there was a really pretty purple snake wrapped around his shoulders. Wendy did not notice it until he came closer, but the smell of blood was coming from him. Old, stinky blood that always meant bad things. Was he hurt? Was that why Acno was trying to coax him out of hiding instead of ignoring him like he did to most people?

The boy, however, was glaring at them, his lips twisting into a smile that wasn’t real. His gums were bleeding, too. He must have been in a lot of pain. “You? A threat to me?” he laughed. “No, no, I think it’s the other way around.”

Acno snorted quietly, all without breaking eye contact with the boy. He was doing that thing where he stared really intensely while he was thinking—or observing carefully. “Kid, you’re barely a threat to anyone in the state you’re in, much less to me. Lucky for you, I’m not looking for a fight.”

Oh, Wendy recognized what Acno was doing now—he was worried. Not about what the mysterious boy could do, but rather, something about him. Wendy tried to pay closer attention, but she was still bad at sniffing out the details. She could tell the boy had magic, however, though unlike Acno, that was all she could tell. Something about it was familiar, though, but unlike most mages she knew from the guild.

The strange boy bristled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, guild mage, but I’m not someone to be taken lightly. In fact, you’re going to wish you never saw me at all, because now I have to get rid of you.”

He was saying mean things and talking like a bad guy, but he was still really hurt. Wendy wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to help him, but she also instinctively knew not to get close.

“Save it, kid. I meant what I said when I said we wouldn’t attack without reason.” Acno put a hand on her shoulder, probably guessing that she wanted to help, so he told her to wait.

Acno kept going, revealing something that surprised even her, but explained why he was asking questions before offering aid to the hurting, strange boy in the strange forest.

“However, I do need to know something: who put a dragon slayer lacrima in you?”