Kia ready herself as, for one of the few times in her life, she felt exposed, and she hadn't even explained anything yet. She took in another breath, before starting, "Before I begin, I'm going to tell you the story as Dad and I knew it, so if you want to see why we did what we did, you can. I will fill in the new details after."
"What does that matter?" Though Gray grumbled under his breath, his words were heard by those around him and those with heightened hearing.
Kia didn't even flinch as she locked eyes with him. His hatred toward her was clear as they stared at one another, as was the betrayal and confusion that he felt.
"You can hate me all you want, but you'll have to wait till after the war if you want to act upon it." She didn't even blink, "After that, I will not stop you, even if you want to slay me."
"Sis?!"
"What?!"
"Why?!"
"Kia?!"
"Stop it!" Verani was across the stage in a second, "You don't get to say that, not after everything you've done for everyone else! When are you going to think about yourself for once?!"
"Verani..."
"No!" She didn't want to hear another word from the pinkette's mouth. Her magic began sparking along her arms. "Are you honestly just going to keep devoting yourself to those damn promises you made Igneel?!"
Kia didn't falter as she calmly looked her best friend in the eyes, "Go for a run, V. You need to calm yourself before you fry the guild hall."
A ragged breath passed over Verani's lips as her shoulders rose and fell.
"I don't think you need to hear any of this again anyway."
The blonde turned from Kia, meeting Amber's gaze. The two shared a silent conversation: she would go for that run if Amber would keep an eye on things. The Blood mage gave a single nod as she lightly patted the satchel that she had slug over her shoulder. This was enough for Verani. A bright light and crackling filled the hall before the main doors slammed open and closed.
Many gazed between the stage and the doors, trying to comprehend how quickly the blonde had just moved since they hadn't been able to track her with their own eyes. Kia took that lull as the opportunity to take a deep breath, trying to settle the nerves that were reigniting inside her.
"For you to understand I have to start four hundred years ago when the war between dragons ravaged the land."
Wendy blinked at the familiar information, "Zirconis mentioned that when we talked to him in the graveyard."
Kia nodded, "One side fought for co-existence with the humans while the other wanted to rule over their favored food source. There were many casualties that were just caught in the crossfire. One of these villages was where Zeref called home."
There were looks of confusion at the mention of the Black Wizard, but they all remained quiet to let her continue.
"After losing his whole family in the fires, he began studying what was known about magic at the time. He focused on developing either a way to bring the dead back to life or to travel back in time to prevent at least one of his family members from dying. Zeref's efforts angered the god Ankhselam, who placed his curse on Zeref. Also known as the Curse of Contradictions, it is the reason he has lived all these years."
"But this only drove him into solitude so that his presence wouldn't kill those around him, he still continued his research. It wasn't long after that he decided to test run his revival theories on the corpse of a random young girl." There was the slightest of pause in between her words, but she forced herself to finish the thought, "She would become the first Etherious."
Kia's mind immediately slipped back to times that she knew would forever haunt her. The poking and prodding hadn't stopped since she was immersed in the stale fluid. It burned her lungs as she tried to breath, her little body flailing against the cords that strapped her down. A frustrated growl sounded from the Black Wizard as he paced around the room, looking between her and his various research materials. Then he suddenly stopped, his eyes locked onto her. Kia's thrashing paused as she stared back into those eyes that said one thing: why won't you die so I can start again?
She swallowed, "That girl became his guinea pig as he tried to perfect this new magic. Along the way, he discovered that he could skip the corpse and just use the books to manifest life into his creations."
Zeref never explained a thing, pulling the young girl of barely four forward. Even though her speech was choppy at best, she wanted to ask where they were going. He had never taken her out of the lab before, but she wouldn't let herself look around. She didn't say anything either. The man was in a good mood for once and she wasn't going to chance ruining it.
They finally stopped at an outer door, a man with a long ponytail and smirk that made Kia uncomfortable stood in the doorway. With hardly a word, she was unceremoniously passed off to Mard Geer. The Black Wizard gave the to-be Underworld King the briefest of instructions before turning away.
And the little girl suddenly wished to be back in that tank of fluid again.
"With no further use for the young girl, Zeref passed her along to his other creations, telling them to test their curses and learn their limits on her. And that's how things went until something else caught Zeref's attention."
Erza broke the tension in the air with the obvious question, "What was that?"
"Acnologia."
The guild hall was immediately filled with exclamations and murmurs at the mentioned Dragon of the Apocalypse, especially since they had all seen his might when he had arrived during their fight with Tartaros. They had watched his fight with Igneel.
"So Zeref decided to donate me to the Dragon Slayer plan that some of the dragons had started with a Celestial Wizard named Anna."
Natsu's eyes widened, "Igneel knew Zeref?"
Kia gave a nod, "Zeref contributed to the plan to eliminate Acnologia by leaving me with the dragons and allowing us to use the Eclipse Gate."
This wasn't the first time that many of them had heard about the Dragon Slayers having come to the current era through the Eclipse Gate, but it still sounded foreign to their ears. Kia could tell that many of them weren't completely on board with the idea, which was why she had left out some of the details surrounding the Gate's actual creation.
"That was when I was taken from the demons. Zeref was finishing his test runs to revive some of his lost family and decided he could afford to let me out of his sights, leaving me with Igneel. Anna was to teach you five about culture and language, your dragon parents would teach you their magic and I trained you in hand-to-hand combat."
"I've started to remember some of that." Wendy muttered.
Gajeel rested a hand on her head, "Me too."
Natsu called out, "But what did Dad have to do with Zeref?"
"Honestly, nothing beyond that. Dad knew that Zeref was just as dangerous to the world in the long run as Acnologia was. He also wasn't a fan of what I had been through either. So he, Anna, and I expanded the plan to include taking him out as well." Kia took in a breath, "Things were set in motion for the twelve of us to travel through the Eclipse Gate, but Acnologia ruined part of that. Fearing that he would come for the five of you, Anna and I finalized the last thing needed before we all entered the Gate: I stole my book."
"Wait..." Gajeel's head tilted ever so slightly, "if we all went into the Gate together, how did we all get separated? Did that have anything to do with our memories?"
"As far as we could guess, both of those must have had something to do with the dragon spirits just being put inside you. When we stepped through, something went wrong and Anna was the only one who walked out when it was opened in this time. The five of you were flung out the doors and blasted through the roof of the castle, scattering you across Fiore."
"But how come we stayed together?" Natsu asked.
A fond smile crossed Kia's faintly, "Because I made you hold my hand before entering the Gate." She even chuckled a little, "You threw a fit about being too old, but I wouldn't let you win."
Lucy rested a finger against her chin as she thought, "Wait... what day did you exit the Gate?"
Kia didn't hesitate, "July 7th, x777."
While that statement struck quite a few of those listening with shock, one of them was still hanging off of something else that she had said.
"You said you stole your book," Gray asked, "why?"
"To see if I could rewrite it." Kia wasn't surprised that the Ice-make wizard was still remaining attentive to every detail of what she was saying. She was almost thankful that he was helping to keep the story on track, but she knew it wouldn't be her best option at the moment. "In order to stand up against Zeref, I needed to write him out of my book. Dad and I couldn't chance that interfering with what I could do, but we also needed to see if someone besides Zeref could change those books."
Happy floated up to rest on Lucy's shoulder, "Why?"
"So I could rewrite the Book of E.N.D."
Gasps and bulging eyes filled the guild. For those that had an understanding of what Zeref's most powerful demon was, they were completely in awe of what the Phoenix Slayers were saying.
"E.N.D.'s powers have never been awakened and I can make sure that never happens."
"But I thought E.N.D. was created to destroy Zeref?"
Kia nodded at her brother's question, "That is Zeref's hope, but there are other factors that we knew we had to consider."
"Yeah," Lucy chimed in as Happy continued to hang to her shoulder, "like who will control him after Zeref's defeated?"
"Oh..." Natsu's word trailed off as he went into a thinking pose.
"Actually that won't be a problem," Mavis spoke for the first time since Kia had started, "because all of Zeref's creations will disappear when he dies."
Kia nodded, "It's like what he told you after he killed Mard Geer: what he creates, he destroys."
There was a murmur that settled over everyone as they took in the gravity of those words. But there was one deep voice that rang out calmly over the others.
"Then what does that mean for you?"
Kia's gaze shifted to the large blonde that was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Her heart skipped, hoping that no one would have picked up on what Master Mavis had added, because Laxus' question caused a small frenzy.
"Wait.. does that mean..."
"No way..."
"What are we going to..."
Kia held up a hand to calm the crowd so she could be heard. "That was the main reason Dad wanted me to disconnect myself from Zeref, so that wouldn't happen. And after his attempt with my book at Tartaros, I know I was successful."
Gray spoke next, "Then how was he able to break your seal?"
A sigh escaped her as she lowered her hand back to her side, but Kia was not the one who answered him.
"He didn't." Amber stepped further onto the stage. She was getting tired of the way Gray was continuing to try and find ways to pick Kia's credibility apart. "Verani did."
Those that had been present grew visibly stiffer except for the pink-haired Dragon Slayer. Natsu took a step forward, "But you said..."
Kia cut him off before he could fall into rambling, "I couldn't chance any of you trying to come after me."
Another voice sounded from behind them all as they turned to see Verani walking back toward the stage, "We also had to make Zeref believe he still had power over Kia or he never would have fallen for it."
Lucy followed V's path toward the stage until she was facing the small group before the guild again, "If he had no control over you, why did you go with him?"
A small wave of murmurs came over the crowd again as this was the first time they were hearing that the Phoenix Slayer had been with the Black Wizard, not to mention that she had gone with him willingly after hearing that he had something to do with her "creation."
"Because," Amber crossed her arms over her chest, "it was always a plan we had on the table."
Verani mounted the stairs, stopping and turning next to Kia, "For part of our mission, there was always the chance that Kia would have to go undercover to get to Zeref."
"And it wasn't like either one of us would have believed I would do it willingly." Kia added, "He's always hated me and wanted me dead, that's never been a secret. I also never hid my own hatred for him, especially before being given to Dad."
"And as much as Amber and I didn't like the plan," V glared out of the corner of her eye at her friend, "we knew we might have to use it one day."
"But what was this plan for?" Erza asked.
Cana piped up as well, "Why did you need to get close to Zeref?"
Mirajane agreed, " Especially with how dangerous it was for you?"
"To get the book."
Where before the hall had been filled with muttering, this time it went quiet. So Kia didn't pause.
"I'd been looking for it since we arrived in this time, even if I refused to focus solely on that until I knew the five of you had all crossed safely."
"Wait..." Wendy gaped, "you knew where we were?"
Kia nodded, "Both Anna and I kept tabs on you. Since we knew that your memories were affected and you had already started new lives, we decided it was best to just watch you from afar."
"That's why you left when you did..." Natsu's eyes were fixed to the floor near the edge of the stage, "you knew Zeref had the book."
Even though her brother wasn't looking at her when he spoke, Kia's expression softened. "Yes. I know I should have stayed because of Dad, but Zeref was trying to mess with my seal and I couldn't chance losing the book again."
A somber silence fell over everyone as they knew all too well what she was referring to, for those that had witnessed how broken the Dragneel siblings had been after watching their foster father fall from the sky. The ones who had known the Phoenix Slayer for nearly the last decade knew that she would do anything for her little brother, though some were wondering if they should question that with the information that they had just been told. One of them knew he was.
"So did you get it?"
Kia turned to Gray, "I wouldn't have come back if I hadn't."
"Though you could have made a stealthier getaway." Verani crossed her arms over her chest.
"I did." She turned to the blonde, "No one saw me take the book or leave the palace."
Amber wasn't about to let this go either, "Then how did you get so beat up?"
"It doesn't matter," she shook her head. Kia wanted to finish what she needed to say so she could get down off the stage. Her body was still aching all over, though it wasn't enough to keep her in the infirmary.
Mest stepped forward, "It's from helping us, isn't it?"
Her onyx eyes snapped to his, her tone flat, "I said it doesn't matter."
"Then it is."
Erza turned to Mest, "What do you mean?"
Kia continued to stare at him, wanting him not to stop, but he still didn't listen. "Kia was the reason I found the Master in time without running into any trouble." He turned back to face the pinkette, "You also took that attack for us, didn't you? He didn't miss."
She casually crossed her arms, "He didn't hit you, therefore he missed."
This caught Makarov's attention. His arms unhooked from behind his back, resting at his sides, "He redirected that spell and you took it?"
Kia put her hands up in defense, "Master, I'm fine. It was nothing new."
"You are not fine." Verani butted in, "The only reason you're conscious is because you didn't take the damage in this form."
Amber joined in, "That attack did more damage than your Etherious form could even handle."
Kia replied, "No. It didn't."
Verani put her hands on her hips, "Then what caused it?"
Turned to the side, Kia could only see the challenging looks from her two best friends, but she could feel the stares from both Master and Master Mavis trained on her back. She didn't want to answer, but she did.
She sighed, "The punishment after for interfering."
"I'm sorry," Makarov tried to hide the guilt for being the partial cause for something like that to happen to one of his children, but Kia just shook her head.
"You don't need to apologize. That actually set everything in motion for me to make my getaway."
Pantherlily stepped up the front edge of the first table, "How?"
Kia turned back to face the room as she went to answer the black Exceed, "When he was done, he didn't think I could move, so he left me unattended to call his war meeting with the Spriggan 13. That gave me the window to grab the book and listen in on a bit of the meeting before I had to run."
Verani crossed her arms, "And you flew straight here looking and feeling like hell without stopping."
"No." Kia said plainly, "I did stop once."
Amber sighed beside the blonde, "At least I could restart her healing process now."
"And she got away from the son of a bitch." V muttered under her breath, only heard by the other Mythics and the Dragon Slayers. Even if she were twenty-one, she still didn't like talking like that in front of her grandfather all the time.
Facing forward again, Kia said, "That's my story and the bulk of the plans." She bowed her head a little in Makarov's direction, "I'm sorry you only knew part of it, Master."
He casually waved his hand, "I had a hunch that you had entrusted all of the details to Verani and Amber. I'm assuming even more in-depth than what we have heard and I knew that the First Master was aware of your situation."
"There's still one more thing:" Carla pointed from where she had settled in Wendy's arms, "you said you learned something new while you were gone."
"Oh yeah." Verani immediately pivoted.
Kia couldn't help but pinch the bridge of her nose at the blonde's sudden enthusiasm. "It doesn't change anything. I just learned why Zeref hates me so much." She turned her entire attention to the Mythics, really wanting to only have his conversation with them, but she was the one who had mentioned it earlier. For what felt like the hundredth time since she started, Kia let a sigh cross her lips, "I wasn't some random corpse. Zeref had known me before I died and found a way to blame everything wrong with his life on me: the death of his family, the reason he got cursed, and the fact he can't die."
"How did he justify that train of thought?" Amber asked.
Kia half-shrugged, "The jealousy of a child and trauma of major loss mixed with the insanity of immortality. He needed someone to blame that had a physical presence and what better option than the baby sister he never wanted."
Commentary and gasps filled the guild hall, reminding Kia that the trio were not alone, but she only focused on their reactions. Amber's eyes widened as Verani clenched her fists.
"Wait he's..."
V turned and punched her fist forward before Amber could finish, sending a flash of lightning to the wall behind the stage, leaving a head sized scorch mark. "That bastard!" A growl rumbled loudly in her throat, "How could he let all that shit happen to you?!"
Her gaze flicked back to Kia, "Especially when he wanted-!"
But Verani cut her own words off, knowing that Kia had left that part of the story out intentionally because she hoped that no one would ever learn that truth about him. Her growl became audible as she plopped down on the stage with her legs crossed. If she opened her mouth again, she would probably mention E.N.D.
"It doesn't matter." Kia continued to stay turned on the stage, "It doesn't change a thing, only gave me some answers."
Her mind flashed back to a lonely afternoon on the top of a mountain. Getting lost in her thoughts as she worked through what she was going to do with everything, trying to figure out how she was going to move past everything that she had been through and if she even could.
Igneel's instincts told him right where he would find the young girl. The same place she would always go to let her mind wonder, as close to the sky as she could get without summoning her wings.
She didn't even turn around, "Dad, how do I do this? How do I just forget?"
The red dragon exhaled as he crouched down beside her, his eyes staring out over the landscape as she was. "You don't have to forget and maybe you shouldn't."
Kia stared up at him in confusion.
"Forgetting would be a waste of something you grew from. No matter what has happened in the past, you are stronger now because of it." Igneel sat up a little straighter, "It doesn't matter what anyone wanted of you or for you in the past. You are here now and you can make your own decisions and become the strong and powerful person you are already turning into."
He turned, looking down at the awed face of the little pinkette, "Because you are Kia Dragneel, the Phoenix Slayer, daughter of the Fire Dragon King, sister to Natsu. And no matter what, you will always be those things."
Kia squared her shoulders as she finished her statement, "I'm still the Phoenix, daughter of the Fire Dragon King, sister to Natsu. Dad didn't drill that into my head for no reason. It's the truth and an immortal who can't accept anything that's ever happened to him doesn't fit in that."
There was an air of finality to her words. Every person in that room could feel the pride radiating from her when she had listed off the things that Igneel had taught her to hold dear, the things that made her who she was. They had known her years, and all who did could say without a doubt that she was a sister and the proud daughter of a dragon before anything else.
"And I stand by what I said before you left." Makarov crossed the stage with his arms hooked behind his back. Stopping so that he could face Kia when he said, "Fairy Tail will always be your home."
"Yeah!"
"This is your home!"
"None of that was your fault!"
"You're our Kia and no one else!"
"A man doesn't turn his back on his family or his guild!"
"What Big Brother Elf said!"
"Zeref can back off because you're my sister!"
"Aye!"
"You're like a big sister to me too!"
"And I don't think Wendy is the only one who feels that way!"
Shock was the first emotion to appear on Kia's face as she stared out over the guild hall, seeing nearly everyone cheering and giving her the love and support that she had always received within the walls of this guild. She bowed her head a little, hiding behind her bangs as her eyes began to water.
Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper as she attempted to keep her voice from cracking, "Thank you, everyone. Thank you."