The Dragon Father

Chapter 6: The Curse of Ankhseram

Acnologia found it nearly impossible to catch a good moment with Mavis. She deserved some explanation for his actions and likely required support: something akin to an in-depth conversation about her, Zeref, Zera, and everything else. While Acnologia rued the thought of such heavy dialogue, he was willing to shove that personal vice aside to grant Mavis some sort of closure. Of course, the universe loved to spite him, because while he was open to the idea, any chance of having a one-on-one conversation with Mavis proved to be impossible.

She had decided to stay. This world was full of life and wonder - a vacant Tenrou would only be an open wound at this point. The mere mention of it darkened her eyes and tightened her fists. No, there was so much to do - so much to see (nothing to go back for) and Mavis thrust herself headfirst into it all as if every day was her last.

She had decided to create a guild to replace the gaping hole Blue Skull's presence left in Magnolia's economy. It was the prime opportunity to take advantage of that vacuum, or so Mavis claimed. It was a good idea, but it required mountains of paperwork and confounding legal matters. There was also the repair of the town and the construction of the guildhall to worry about, which she had also decided to shoulder with a grin and a giggle. She'd adopted the town and all of its problems which was a decent amount of responsibility for someone sub-sixteen, but she seemed happy, overjoyed even, to be relied upon. To be in a community again. To work and succeed and struggle and fail in a way that she'd never been able to before.

 Perhaps that was it. Perhaps each day was proof that she wasn't alone anymore. The townsfolk loved her, naturally. She learned their names, their stories, and always remembered birthdays or anniversaries. She was always greeted and showered with gifts or adoring hugs. It was as if the entire town had adopted their miracle child, and who could blame them? It wasn't like Acnologia had any right to be envious.

She was clever. Kind. Fierce but in a safe way. She made children laugh and soothed worried hearts. She cast illusions for toddlers to giggle at and organized neighborhood builds to share the workload. Everyone loved Mavis, Acnologia was just the worrisome shadow usually drifting at her side. And yet, they seemed to learn to like him too. Or at the least stop cowering in his presence.

The apocalypse dragon form was fairly handy when it came to construction and while it scared the townsfolk the first few times, they grew familiar with the all-powerful, terrifying entity that was Acnologia as he helped fly supplies across town.

The great King of the Dragons... reduced to a construction worker. 

Somewhere, Metalicana and Wiesslogia were cackling. Cackling.

Between Mavis' mind and the town's determination, it wasn't long before Magnolia was restored to its former glory and the guildhall construction was in full swing, pulling in more jobs and laborers from nearby cities. They'd also placed Magnolia back on all the maps, much to Acnologia's chagrin. It had been a nice fantasy, imagining they could continue to live in some secrecy. 

"We need notoriety, Acno," Mavis had giggled at the foot of the guild's skeleton. "We can't run a good guild in secret."

He had scoffed: "We could, actually."

"Well, we're not Blue Skull. We're not Red Lizard. We will do this right," she vowed.

And so they did.

With the city back on the map and now open to trade, there were demands to renovate the port and work on the roads. Such things brought more workers which brought more people which brought even more jobs and even more people and - you can picture it. Acnologia was slowly falling into a personal hell of urban life.