23 Change of Destiny.

Mavis continued to run through bodies and debris. The sky was cloudy from the smoke of the destroyed houses and the Guild that was burning. The screams of pain and the smell of death permeated the place.

However, none of that stopped Mavis from seeking out Zera. She would probably be safe with her father, but even so, she can't help but be worried.

They hadn't been friends for long, but that was how Mavis was. Her parents always taught her the value of friends and family, she would never forgive herself if she ran away without knowing if Zera was alright.

For a second, Tiamat's image overlapped with her parents, but Mavis shook her head. Now was not the time to think about that. She needed to find Zera.

As she ran, she heard wizards up ahead talking and quickly hid in silence. The wizards had black robes with a blue skull design. They were mages from the Blue Skull Guild.

"Did you find the Red Lizard brat?"

"Yes, we found her, but she managed to hide inside her house."

"And?"

"We couldn't get in, so we destroyed the house. She must already be dead, crushed by the debris."

"Tsk. She would make a great slave. Maybe sell her when she grows up, but what's done is done. Let's get out of here and inform the Guild Master that the Red Lizard Guild no longer exists."

With that, the wizards left with laughter and jeers while Mavis remained hidden, crouched between some boxes with her little hands over her mouth.

Mavis widened her eyes. 'Are they talking about Zera? Zera is...Dead? No! Zera can't be dead! I'm sure she's alive! I need to go to her house!'

Mavis gets up and runs towards Zeeself and Zera's house. She knows well the way to their house, as Zeeself often took her there so she could clean the house from top to bottom. Zeeself's house was near the center of the village, where only the richest people stayed. But it was also where most of the enemy mages were, as there was a lot of loot there, and Mavis knew that.

She had to be quick and silent. Fortunately, she learned some very useful magic from Tiamat.

Mavis closes her eyes and whispers, "[Chameleon]"

Mavis's figure begins to fade until she is finally gone as if she was never there.

As the first master of Fairy Tail, Tiamat knew that Mavis had a great talent for magic, so she taught her several easy and useful magic that a kid like her could use, but mainly she taught her illusion magic, which is Mavis's specialty and where Mavis was most talented.

[Chameleon] is a magic that Mavis created with Tiamat's help. It was magic that made the user invisible and masked their magic by making it feel exactly like the surrounding natural magic. It was an almost perfect invisibility spell, but not effective against beings with good hearing and smell and really powerful people, but it was enough for normal human wizards.

Moving silently, she quickly heads towards the center of the village, passing many Blue Skull mages who were walking around looking for survivors.

Woosh!

"Huh? What was that?"

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't know...I'm sure I felt someone passing behind me."

"Dude, there's no one here but us. I think all this killing has made you a little paranoid."

"Maybe, I guess. All I know is I need a drink."

"Now we're talking."

After a few minutes of walking as quickly as possible, being careful not to make any noise, Mavis finally arrives at Zera's house. Mavis looks around and sees no one. Fortunately, it appears they have already looted this area.

However, Mavis began to hyperventilate upon seeing the state of the house. It was completely destroyed and burned.

"Zera!" Mavis exclaimed, her voice shaking as she thought the worst. She immediately jumped into the rubble and started digging through it.

"Please answer me!"

Lifting pieces of burnt wood and broken bricks with her little hands, Mavis dug desperately. However, she couldn't find any trace of Zera.

"Zera...No!"

Figuring the worst had happened, Mavis fell to her knees and, for the first time in a long time, she cried.

All the sadness and suffering she had held for years exploded at that moment with the thought of her friend's death. Tears fell like a waterfall as she sobbed loudly.

Memories of Zera filled her mind, both the good and the bad memories. A feeling of regret filled her heart - regret that she hadn't spent more time with her sooner, of not having laughed with her more before.

While Mavis was letting all out, someone appeared behind her.

"....What the hell are you doing here?"

Mavis froze.

"This voice..." Turning around, Mavis sees Zera standing there, completely unharmed.

"Zera?!"

Zera opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, in the blink of an eye Mavis jumped on her and hugged her tightly, leaving her extremely perplexed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you germ?! Get off me, you're all dirty!"

"Z-Zera I, I thought you w-were, I thought you...Waaaah!"

"Why are you crying so much?!"

"T-Thank God y-you're fine, sob!"

Hearing that, Zera stopped trying to take Mavis away from her, and fell silent, feeling strangely warm.

'Did she come here because she was worried about me?' without realizing it, Zera smiled. 'This idiot, worry about yourself first.'

After a few minutes of letting Mavis hug her, Mavis finally let her go.

"Mavis?! What happened to your hands!"

Mavis's hands were badly burned and bleeding, making Zera frown in shock.

'Did she get hurt while looking for me? But why? Why would she do that after everything bad I did to her? I just don't get it...'

Mavis's hands hurt, but her attention was elsewhere.

"Zera...You finally called me by name!" Mavis exclaimed in delight.

Truly, Zera had never called Mavis by her name. Always referring to her as 'germ', 'idiot', 'dirty', and so on.

Realizing that she actually called Mavis by her name, Zera blushed and turned her face away. "S-Shut up! Worry about your hands first! Come here!"

The two sat on a large rock near where they were. Tearing off a piece of her clothes, Zera made a makeshift bandage and placed it over Mavis's wounds. Mavis groaned in pain but still had a smile on her face.

The two were silent for a while as Zera treated her, and then Mavis asked, "U-Uhm, Zera, where is Zesself-sama?"

Zera stopped and her face darkened.

"Daddy...No, that man is dead."

Mavis immediately regretted what she asked.

"I-I'm sorry, Zera! I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's all right," Zera replied with a sad smile as she shook her head slightly. Then she said with a trembling voice, holding herself back from crying, "He...That man...When we were surrounded by the Blue Skull's Wizards, without thinking twice he decided to sacrifice me, offering me in exchange for his life."

She continued, "I was scared, sad, disappointed, furious. That man who treated me with so much affection was a coward who would throw his daughter's life away to get away!"

Zera then let out a long sigh.

"Who am I kidding? From the beginning, I knew he was like that."

Mavis listened in silence. Zera was putting on a strong front, but she could feel Zera's hands shaking over hers. Being betrayed like that by her father must be unimaginably painful.

"Zera..." Mavis didn't know what to say to her friend who seemed to be suffering so much, which left her distressed.

"Anyway, I managed to escape while they were too busy killing that man. They followed me home, and I went out the back when they started bombing the house. Then I hid in the bushes until you appeared. They can't even capture a little kid. Heh, idiots." Zera finished with a dry laugh and quickly wiped away some of the tears that had fallen from her eyes.

Mavis opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a sudden voice.

"Well well well. I see that two little cockroaches are still alive."

Mavis and Zera immediately stood up on guard and, looking in the direction where the voice came from, they saw a man watching them up ahead. The man was old, dressed in a multi-colored cape decorated with skulls on a plain-colored shirt and animal prints on the pants. On his face, he wears large goggles and a dark blue mask that resembles a skull.

"Letting two brats escape, it looks like I'll have to replace some Guild members." The man said with venom in his voice.

The man gave off a sinister and dark aura. However, Zera, gathering courage, took a step forward.

"Who are you!"

The man was silent for a few moments, and then looked at Zera with a somewhat macabre smile and responded, "Who am I? Fufu. A brat with such ignorance."

The man raised his hand open towards Zera and slowly closed it. 

"Guh?!"

Zera felt an immense tightness around her neck as if someone was strangling her. Unable to breathe, Zera began to struggle.

"Zera!" Mavis exclaimed with concern.

"Remember my name when you go to hell, brat. My name is Geoffrey, Master of the Blue Skull Guild."

Mavis saw Zera slowly losing consciousness, and clenching her teeth, she quickly took action. 

"[Guardian Goat]!"

With a burst of golden light, a huge, angry blue ram appears behind Mavis.

"Go!"

The goat roared and charged towards Geoffrey, who sighed.

"Child's play," he commented nonchalantly, and simply let the goat pass by him.

Geoffrey knew it was a simple illusion. He didn't become a Guild Master for nothing. However, at the exact moment the goat passed him, he felt an impact on his face, which made him stagger back, releasing Zera of telekinesis.

What hit him was a [Stone Bullet], a really simple earth magic. Using the Goat's illusion as a cover, Mavis conjured a [Stone Bullet] and used her illusion to turn it invisible without Geoffrey noticing.

Zera fell to the ground while coughing violently, and Mavis crouched down beside her. "Zera! Are you okay?!"

"Cough! I-I'm fine..."

"Now that was unexpected. It was a rather clever trick, but it won't work twice." Geoffrey, who had already recovered from the attack, said with a hoarse voice. His glasses were broken, and his gaze promised a painful death.

Mavis stood in front of Zera to protect her and faced Geoffrey with determination.

"I won't let you hurt her!"

Zera looked at Mavis's back and couldn't help but feel strange. The person she trusted most betrayed her, but the person she despised most was ready to give her life to protect her.

"M-Mavis...Cough! Just run away!"

"Never!"

Geoffrey started clapping his hands. "How moving, what a beautiful friendship. It's a shame it's going to end here."

With no more patience, Geoffrey casts his magic, "[Blue Skull]"

Over Geoffrey's hand, a blue flaming skull takes form and is launched towards Mavis and Zera. The two close their eyes and hug each other.

"Die with a painful death."

However, the attack never reached the two. Instead, the two of them felt warm, soft arms hugging them protectively.

"Sorry...I'm late."

The two heard a soft and melodious voice, a voice they knew. Opening their eyes, the two see Tiamat with her usual appearance hugging them with a sad look.

"Tiamat-san!/ Goat woman!" Mavis and Zera responded at the same time with relief and joy.

Tiamat stood up and stood in front of the two, facing Geoffrey, who was curiously observing Tiamat's sudden appearance.

"If I may ask, what are you? I've never seen a being with such a...distinct appearance. And how did you make my magic disappear?"

Tiamat glared at him with ferocious eyes. "Dead men...Don't need to know."

Not wanting Mavis and Zera to see what she would do next, using magic, Tiamat puts Zera and Mavis to sleep without them realizing it, and then she appears in front of Geoffrey.

"Wha-?!"

Geoffrey is startled by Tiamat's speed, but not for more than a second because, in the next moment, Tiamat flexes her index finger and flicks Geoffrey's on his forehead, making his head explode like a watermelon.

His body fell headless to the ground, but that was not the end. Geoffrey's soul left his body, and Tiamat grabbed it by the neck, making the soul desperately struggle.

"Ankhseram...Do me a favor," Tiamat said, and from the ground, two huge skeleton black hands appeared and grabbed Geoffrey's soul.

"Live in eternal suffering in Hell...For touching my children."

The hands returned to the underworld, taking Geoffrey's soul with it.

After finishing punishing the man who dared to hurt her children, Tiamat turns to Zera and Mavis, who are sleeping in each other's arms, smiles affectionately, and picks them both up.

"Everything...Will be fine now," she whispers sweetly to both of them, and then they disappear.