Mavis

Alex and Mira stayed held up in their house for a couple days, wallowing in their depressing thoughts. Alex told Mira he was going to head to the spot Tenrou Island used to be. He wanted to do a magical scan of the surroundings himself before he could accept any sort of outcome. Mira reluctantly let him go. She was still not back to feeling well enough that she was willing to speak with others and had decided she wouldn't go with him this time. Alex didn't like seeing her like that and it only drove home that he needed to confirm what actually happened to the group.

He grabbed a map from Macao that would get him really close to the location Tenrou island used to be. Having not been there before, even though he had a good idea of where it was, Alex didn't want to waste time.

It wasn't long before he was hovering above calm ocean waters. Sending pulses of magic into the water like sonar, he started circling the area. Stopping only at the edge of his short range sonar pulse to cast it again, he spent hours searching before finally finding something. He could feel a spell in the water at the bottom of the ocean. Casting a water breathe spell, he dove down.

Alex could feel the residue of a massive spell. He didn't know why it wasn't visible but he could clearly feel it. He didn't seem to be able to interact with it either as if it was in a completely separate dimension. Alex tried everything he could that would allow him to interact with the giant spell. He assumed the spell was the 'Fairy Sphere', one of the three grand fairy spells. It was said to be an unbreakable shield and if it truly put the ones being protected into a private dimension space that only the caster could interfere with, it truly would be invincible.

Alex kept trying things on the magical bubble but eventually had to leave when evening fell. He told Mira of his limited success and what he found from it. He told her how he believed the amount of power held within the spell was way more than enough to trap all their friends, and how he was dejected when he couldn't find a way to get into the magic structure of the spell.

Mira went with him the next day and upon feeling the strength of the spell she finally started feeling some semblance of hope. Though they could not differentiate between the auras within the spell, having a direction to search and actual 'hope' was enough to pull Mira out of the depressed state she had been in. It wasn't enough to make her genuinely smile again like she had before, but it was still a victory.

Alex and Mira kept going back to the magical anomaly periodically over the next couple weeks. Everything he had done to try accessing the spell had ended in failure and he was starting to get annoyed. 'Didn't it only take the guild showing up at the proper place to get Mavis to undo the spell? Where is she and why won't the island rise?!' he thought in frustration. He didn't know if the defensive spell had a timer or minimum time limit once it was cast. He had thought Mavis had just been keeping a constant look-out for the rest of the fairy tail members. 'What am I missing?' Alex was very unsure about the situation.

After pouring over his memories for what felt like the millionth time, Alex noticed something that he hadn't given much thought before and with it came realization and a direction. 'Mavis is just a projection. Her real body is trapped in a crystal... A crystal that just so happens to be hidden under the guild building', he thought with a smile. If he could get Mavis's attention from the crystal, he could ask her to just undo the fairy-sphere spell and save himself the headache of trying to figure it out himself.

Alex rushed back to the guild-hall and entered the basement, not really caring to answer the questions thrown at him by Macao and the others. He did notice Mira talking with Bisca. She was happier than Alex had seen in a long time and seemed to be smothering Bisca with praises and questions. He wanted to go join them but decided he should deal with Mavis first.

Alex didn't need to send out magic to find the hidden stairwell. He had scanned so much of this city and the guild building itself that he had known of its location for years. Never having a need or reason to break-in to the highest kept guild secret, he had left it be. It was different this time and he hoped he would have more luck with the crystal than the stupid spell that kept taunting him.

Alex made short work of the locking spell that sealed Mavis's body and it soon opened revealing a giant purple lacrima. Alex could see Mavis's body inside the lacrima and he couldn't stop himself from marveling at the sheer power contained within the lacrima. "So this is what you get when you seal an immortal body in a lacrima and start performing resurrection rituals on it eh?" He said with a whistle. He knew Mavis was technically still alive because of her curse and had created a projection that she uses to move her consciousness around in. She had been spending her time as a ghost on Tenrou island during the S-class trials but he hoped to be able to jolt her consciousness back here.

He eventually placed his hand on the crystal and started studying it with {Mana Manipulation}. It took him a little while to sort out the assault of color that flooded his vision with this so-called 'Infinite' magic source. Knowing Mavis's body was immortal, Alex just wanted to make the Lacrima fuse right with her body. Every time he tried though he kept getting interrupted by a flash of something dark from Mavis's body. After his fourth time being interrupted he sent his magic sense into Mavis's body to see what was going on. Getting his first look at a divine curse caused sweat to start forming on Alex's brow. It was an incredibly complex thing that seemed to have a mind of it's own.

'Ankhseram sure is a twisted bitch', he thought darkly. With a long sigh, Alex resolved himself to figure out this curse before he continued. Knowing it wouldn't be something he could do in a day, he went back upstairs. He needed to look at this with a fresh pair of eyes.

Alex saw Mira and Bisca still chatting when he got back to the main room. "How are you ladies doing this afternoon?" Alex asked pleasantly as he sat down beside Mira. "Oh Alex! Guess what!?" Mira asked excitedly. "Bisca and Alzack got married! And Bisca is pregnant! How exciting is that!?" she said, not letting Alex even try to guess.

"Hey! Congratulations! That's big news!" Alex said happily. "Why are we just hearing about it now?" He followed up. "Well, things have been a little chaotic since you guys got back and it just never felt like the right time to bring it up. And thank you! We are very excited" Alzack said from beside Bisca. "Yeah, that's fair. Been a pretty frustrating few weeks", Alex said with a sigh. He felt Mira give his hand a light squeeze and he couldn't help but smile at her.

Bisca and Alzack smiled at the duo's actions before Bisca cleared her throat, "How has your search gone? I hear you guys found something where Tenrou used to be?" she asked. "Yeah we did. It's a bloody anomaly though. Seems to be hidden in a separate dimension or time-zone and it avoids all attempts at contact. I can tell it's there but can't touch it so I can analyze it. Now I'm trying to approach it from a different direction", Alex said with a shrug and a slight frown. The look on his face or the lack of confidence in his voice kept them from asking any further and Alex was secretly happy for that. It wouldn't do any good to give people false hope and the Lumen Histoire was a secret for a reason.

The two couples chatted happily for the next couple hours, just catching up on anything else they may have missed over the last eighteen months. Bisca asked Mira when she and Alex were going to get married, causing both their brains to short-circuit momentarily. Alex was the first to snap out of it and just smiled at them both. Alex and Mira had already been talking about if for a while and Alex had been waiting for a more romantic setting to formally ask. After-all, constantly fighting demons everyday didn't make for a very romantic setting. Seeing the flustered Mira made Bisca chuckle and even start ribbing on her friend. Alex and Alzack just shared a knowing look and a nod, then dropped the subject.

With his head still stuck on engagement, Alex remembered the ring he had created for her for just such an occasion. It was made from pure White-Gold. The metal had patterns of musical notes of different types, shapes, and sizes engraved around the entire ring with the center-piece being shaped like musical notes as well with a dark blue sapphire, the same color as her eyes, cradled in between them. These two musical notes that made up the center-piece were completely covered in glistening diamonds that drew one's eye to the sapphire. The only enchantment he had placed on it was a collection of all the music he knew she loved as well as any he could think of from the same genres. The ring had the option to play the music directly into her head or out loud for different situations. He felt it was fitting as their relationship had started around music and it was something they were both passionate about.

Alex was drawn out of his musings by the sound of Bisca still teasing Mira and he couldn't help but smile at the sight. He would be lying if he said he hadn't thought of just getting it over with, but the atmosphere around the two of them had been depressing up until recently. Coming to a decision he resolved himself, 'Once I wake Mavis up and figure out what's going on with Fairy Sphere, I am going to ask that girl to marry me', he thought as he stared at Mira with a genuinely happy smile on his face.

Alex spent the next week studying the stupidly complex divine curse before he was confident enough to try doing anything with it. He started by isolating and removing the part that seemed 'Alive', as this was the part that made your magic act out when you started having positive feelings towards people. He figured it was also the part that was interfering with him. This part of the curse fought with him for a while but he eventually got rid of it. He waited a couple minutes after it was removed, to see if Ankhseram would retaliate. When nothing happened he wiped the sweat from his brow and figured it was all automated on the gods' part. He was about to remove the rest of the curse before he stopped himself. "What am I doing? Without the part that kills those she loves, isn't she just a regular immortal now?" he said in realization. He even had a thought about studying this curse some more and even putting that part on himself.

Shaking the thoughts of immortality out of his head he started forcing the energy from the crystal into Mavis's body. Like he thought, it no longer fought him and eagerly started 'drinking' in the lacrima like it had been starving and the lacrima was the best meal in the world. When the full lacrima was gone, Alex wrapped Mavis's naked form in a cloth and then placed his hand on her head to scan her. He could still feel all the power that was contained within the fairy-heart but now it had a new vessel. He could feel her heart beating strong but there were no other signs of life, she didn't even seem to be breathing. Not knowing how long it would take for her to wake up, if she even would, Alex sent a jolt of electricity through her body. It wasn't enough to do any lasting harm even to a non-wizard but it sure had a glorious effect on the prone girl.

"OUCH! What the heck was that for!?" Mavis yelped out in alarm before looking around. "I'm alive again? Where am I? Who are you?" she rattled off questions before pinning her gaze on the only other occupant in the room. "Well, this might take a while", Alex said with a forced smile before creating two chairs out of thin air. He then proceeded to get Mavis up to speed on his version of the last couple decades.