Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 0.8 - Peace

X790

Wedding bells rang throughout Crocus from the freshly renovated church at the feet of Mercurius. Plumes of flowers littered the floor as all the gathered Generals, Captains, and their closest associates gathered outside the cathedral doors. Out from the bursting doors emerged the new Mr and Mrs Eucliffe, both with faces alight like the sun above. Winter's cold had been forgotten, pushed away as a favor from the Emperor so the two could finally celebrate their big day.

Even Rogue was smiling. Minerva had that little grin where it was hard to tell if she was happy or trying to find a way to manipulate the situation somehow.

But Yukino and Sting were something else. They were not bogged down by the pressures of their station; they were not afraid of looking over their shoulder for their old master, Jiemma. They were truly themselves, truly allowed to be happy.

The party, at a grand hall three blocks down, originally designated for use during the winter solstice, had since turned to Sting's perfect wedding venue, raged through the night. Most were blackout drunk by the end—Sting and Yukino were only barely sober enough to put words together for their transport back to their room, where they spent the night, no doubt in the throes of nonstop lovemaking. The hall was a nightmarish mess, cleaned up in an instant by Zeref the following morning, who claimed he was too busy to attend.

Instead, he fretted. His power was weaker than it'd been when Fairy Tail fell. Nobody knew, of course, because he ensured he didn't need to exert himself.

But time was against him.

He still had the resources he needed to defeat Acnologia. Sonya had mentioned the dragon a few times. They were once close, in a sense. Zeref could use this. This could finally draw him out of his isolation. If God Serena could not get Acnologia's attention, perhaps Sonya could.

Rogue had to carry Orga home while Rufus spoke for a curiously long period of time with Minerva and others in the military. August was the only one out of anyone at the party who didn't take a sip of anything—even Larcade, not invited but still present anyway, had a few sips of wine. Irene was everyone's chaperone but rode that tipsy line for a bit.

The partying stretched so far into the morning that several of the local and upstanding businesses were called in for favors to provide food and drink, so much so that they were shut down for the entire day. Yukino and Sting only realized this was the case as, on their way out of the city for their Stella honeymoon, as provided as a gift from Sonya, they were being handed free food and drinks once again.

Children, Zeref observed, needed this playtime. Sting and Yukino were hardly adults and yet were put in positions of power greater than they'd ever have dreamed. The others could use the looseness, too.

It was the big break, the big breath of fresh air, the big smile that everyone had been waiting for. They toiled under strategy meetings and discussions about innovation and progress, listened over and over as Zeref or their commanding officer informed them about where they'd be stationed to help with the installation of the new slate of lacrima Zeref had helped create, given the abundance of magic he had.

The high-speed train project that they finally had all of their supplies for had begun, with the connective tissue between Crocus and Hargeon coming along well but slowly, thanks to the weather. Dozens of soldiers were parked along the route, and Ajeel—now a General, thanks to Sonya's promotion to Captain—was constantly traveling back and forth alongside Lyon and Bluenote Singer to ensure production was up to standard.

Meanwhile, the Twilight Division and Dragon Division split time carrying lacrima mined from the Crocus mountains all around Fiore. Soon, the place would become a self-sustaining ball of energy, and production of some new projects would fly. Ethernano was not a problem. Zeref spent much of autumn and winter planting "lacrima seeds" that flourished off the natural, radiating power of all of his allies in Crocus. It was similar to how the Eclipse Gate required charging.