So, this is an odd chapter. I was fully planning on this being cannon, but partway through, I realized that there were some serious implications to the story if this is what happens, and I thought... You know, it would be nice to give you guys some power here.

What I have for you is two different versions of the same path.

Neither is better than the other, but they are still different. What I want from you is for you to choose which version of events you like better. Option 1? or Option 2?

Cast your vote when you've decided because whatever you guys choose will become the cannon series of events. It will color the ending and it has the potential to change what happens in the sequel.

Choose wisely.

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Option 1:

It felt like I was asleep... It really did.

There was a pleasant numbness that coated me, preventing me from moving even slightly as I laid there. To be honest, I would have believed that I was just asleep if not for the fact that I couldn't wake up.

I had no idea how long I laid there for before my wits began to come back to me and the memories of everything that had been happening flooded back in as well. The kiss, the battle with my mentors, telling my guild a decent overview of my past... The dragon.

What made it all that much more irritating was the fact that I was aware of the darkness and of time, but there was nothing I could do to get out of my situation. A powerful magic coated my body like a lead lining, and it kept my body contained and asleep, despite how alert I was otherwise.

It was so... boring...

I just wanted to do something, either that or let my brain turn off so I wouldn't have to be conscious for however long this spell lasted.

Hopefully, the others were safe.

What if ingesting the dragon's blood had put me into some kind of protective coma? What if I never woke up? What if I woke up and everyone else was dead?!

Obviously, the questions just kept spinning through my mind, and since I was already lying there for at least a week- it could have been so much longer and I never would have known- they just kept getting worse.

This was my life for a long, long time. I couldn't tell whether or not there was sunlight hitting me, so I couldn't track time that way, and my heartbeat could have been extremely elevated or slowed down to a terrifying point, so it wasn't the most accurate method of tracking time.

If the others were asleep and not dead, it would make sense that they were fully out, and my stupid magical resistance was keeping me just enough out of this suspended state to wake my mind up.

Besides worrying, cursing my magic was the most common thought I had.

When things changed, they changed quickly, and with a bang. almost literally.

I was still stuck in my body, but at some point, Mavis came to me. She sensed that I was 'awake' despite everything and wanted to keep me company (It was also for her, she hadn't had someone to talk to in almost a century).

It took a while for me to trust her- a common theme in my life- but she was also my only connection to others. She assured me that they were alright, completely out of it, but alright.

Apparently, Acnalogia had attacked and while everyone tried their best, they weren't nearly enough to take him. She told me the heartbreaking story of them joining hands as they basically prepared to die (If I could have, I would have cried. Like shit. all this bad crap happened and I was too doped up on dragon's blood to be able to help?!).

In exchange, I told her about my encounter with the dragon and the odd words he had said to me.

'Blood Queen.' For a good while, those words haunted me as I tried to figure out what he had meant... It sounded less like a pet name and more like a title. One I had never heard before.

When I told the first master that, her eyes widened and her composure slipped for just a moment. She had heard those words before, but she regained her composure after a moment and just said how weird that was. If I had been anyone else, I probably would have brushed that off, seeing as how the slip was almost too small to notice, but I wasn't anyone else.

I was the Reluctant Fairy, investigative pro and skeptical badass... Well, sometimes. But that just meant that I wasn't about to let it go.

Unfortunately for me, I learned quickly to not mention it to Mavis. Whenever I tried to push her, she vanished and wouldn't reappear until I was about to go mad from the solitude. Still, I kept it in mind and would spend far too much time trying to figure it out.

It just felt so significant... As though it was a title of significance held once upon a time.

Mavis eventually told me more about herself. She was the first master and tied to Fairy Tail and the island, but there was a dark side to herself that she hinted at more than once. A broken and abusive past, one that was at once similar and different from my own.

In return, I shared bits and pieces of my life, to the point where after a very long time, I'd told Mavis more about myself than even the Thunder God Tribe knew. She was the only one to talk at all, so perhaps it wasn't that surprising. She told me so much, like the fact that she wasn't exactly dead, so what I was seeing wasn't her ghost, but a thought projection that she conjured when she sensed Acnologia's presence.

... I won't lie. I had heard all sorts of odd things in my life. There were so many times that I found things that made no sense, but that took the cake.

A ghost that wasn't exactly a ghost that was trapped in an eternally young body and was the first master who had been kind of killed by Zeref... Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention that her body was cursed and in Fairy Tail's basement?

An odd story indeed.

Perhaps her confession was what spurred me, but after what she finally told me was years, I told her the beginning of my story, of how I murdered my sister when I lost control. I told her of the nightmares I would sometimes have (when I was actually able to dream and not stuck in suspended animation) of seeing fear in Fairy Tail's eyes as I lost control again.

It was all very long and drawn out. It may seem rushed right now, but that's because it was seven years of shooting the breeze... Yeah. Obviously there was a lot we talked about. Hell, one time Amber even joined our little session and scared the shit out of both of us.

We became a bit like old ladies who sit on porches and gossip, Mavis would tell me some of the things she would see when she went to check on the others or go to the guild, and we would exchange sarcastic barbs and pleasant stories that towards the end, each of us had told a hundred times.

I could go into detail, it's true, but why would I? Literally the only truly interesting things that happened were my debates with Mavis, trying to get her to explain what she knew about the term, 'Blood Queen', my sister appearing, which is a story for another time, and my magic.

Speaking of which... Yeah, my magic didn't exactly sit quietly during the years under the spell. I could feel it writing under my skin the entire time.

It wasn't as unpleasant as that might sound, but it also wasn't great. My magic didn't like being contained, and I knew that It discharged from time to time, seeking an escape when it grew to be too much.

I wasn't able to control these... fountains when they happened, they were powerful as the amount of magic I had was intense. I almost hoped that the amount of magic I had would atrophy with how little use it was getting... But that wasn't the case.

Apparently, every time I did something that should affect my magic detrimentally, my magic took that as a challenge. It was like some irritating guy at the gym who always had to bench more than the person next to him, just to prove how manly he was.

I try and kill my magic completely by drinking magic draining potions for literal years?

My magic laughs and makes my capacity for it increase by way too much, just because.

I jump into a magic-filled lacrima that should have killed me with how much power I was trying to absorb?

Yeah, that was treated as a keg challenge by my magic, it was done like a young adult with a small penis and a big ego.

Get trapped in a magic enchantment for years with a suppressant on both my body and my magical abilities?

Oh god, we might as well actually be at the gym with my magic working to free itself from the powerful spell. It spent the entire time bench-pressing the field. When the pressure got to be too much for the rising amounts of magic under my skin it would send out a shot of magic that punched through the spell, weakening it and decreasing its hold on all of us.

Mavis commented on this more than once in a very teasing manner, she knew how much I hated my volatile magic, which made for perfect teasing fodder.

"You might be the only person I know of who is stronger because of this spell!" She would tease and Amber (who definitely came more than once as the only legitimate ghost of the group), would join right in...

The traitor.

But yeah, those were the only exciting things that happened.

Oh! I also gained a better understanding of myself. It was kind of therapeutic and kind of vexing at the same time. It took many conversations with a ghost who had her own truckload of personal baggage to be able to get the first few levels, but at least I made some headway.

I felt like a completely different person and the best part? I realized that Laxus did not, in fact, place me under an enchantment. Seven years of precious little company besides your thoughts kinda forced you to face reality.

From what Mavis told me (though I wasn't sure how much I trusted a girl whose love killed her with a kiss) I actually liked Laxus, it was something that had been building for quite some time. years in fact.

The man was a bit of a brute and I think I've made my opinion on his ego perfectly clear, but he also cared for people dearly. When he decided that he could do something to help those he cared for, he was going to do it, no matter the cost. He wasn't too emotional, he was far more logical in basically every situation, but that wasn't a bad thing. It allowed him to make well thought out decisions that benefited those he cared about for the most part.

*cough* Thunder Palace *cough* *Cough* Literally every word that came out of his mouth after his dad left *COUGH*

Sorry about that, that was an unusual throat tickle.

Not to mention the fact that he had seen me at my absolute worst more than once and he stuck around. Those were some pretty strong reasons for me to like him...

I tried to leave out the fact that the man looked amazing without his shirt and his tattoos were fucking iconic, but Mavis was far too adept at getting it out of me. By the time it came out, I was well aware of that particular ability of hers and still wasn't sure whether I loved it or hated it.

Anyways, I was a bit oblivious, but by the time I felt the spell waning, I knew for a fact that I was very solidly in love with Laxus. The only question I had was what I was going to do with that information if we were ever able to get out of the confinement spell before we died.

***

For the first time in far too long, my eyes fluttered open and I was able to move. After being stuck for however long I was in the spell, I was genuinely surprised that my body reacted just as well as the day I stopped...

Gods, that was so long ago.

I had lived an entire life basically in the time when I was stuck. I had made a friend that I had known now for almost as long as I had known the Thunder God Tribe. Yet... No matter how much had happened since I fell asleep, nothing had changed

Mavis had told me under no uncertain terms that I was the only case like this she had seen, and that the others were very firmly asleep. They wouldn't even notice time passing.

I had wanted nothing more than to be able to blink for years... But now? Now I felt like an outsider in my own body. I had insight into what had been happening in the outside world and my family didn't

God, even if I was arrested now (The memory of Lahar telling me to have a chat with him was cemented in my mind, a constant raincloud over my desire to wake up), nothing could be as bad as that was. Being deprived of all my senses, left with one person to keep me sane and a power that just kept building... It had been hell.

Slowly, I sat up, my muscles aching slightly in protest, but it was still the sweetest feeling in the world.

My arm, which had been completely purple when I saw the dragon, was healed. Time had worked it's magic, and the break was gone, though the memory had haunted quite a bit of the time I spent in the spell.

But that was hardly the most important thing right now.

With a shakiness that my body didn't like, I clambered to my feet and ran back up the path, towards my family.

I missed them... I missed them so damn much.

I vaguely recognized a ship just on the horizon, it was clearly coming my way, but I ignored it. I ignored everything until I came to where the camp had been.

My magic was going haywire, apparently, it was just as elated as I was to be up and moving, which made it hard to sense Fairy Tail's heartbeats, but when I saw a mound of dirt, my heart crawled into my throat.

Was this them? Were they okay? Were they still caught in the spell?

I stumbled as I ran towards them, my eyes open wide, not wanting to go back to the darkness, even if it was just a moment as I blinked.

Gods... I could see a streak of green hair beneath the dirt... It was them.

Tears dripped shamelessly down my cheeks as I dropped to my knees beside the dirt pile and began to dig. It was him... Grass Head.

A full-on sob tore its way from my throat as I pulled my dearest brother from the mess and pulled him to me, rocking him gently in my arms before I started to dig again. The rest of my family was still in the dirt and I couldn't handle that.

Logically I knew that they didn't know time had elapsed, they weren't aware of the endless darkness we had been trapped in, but emotionally, it was a different story.

The sobs kept coming as I found a pink hair next. Natsu... I had called him the Idiot for years, but his name was Natsu. I hugged him as well, getting a smear of mud on his cheek before setting him gently aside, my muscles working seamlessly, this sudden exertion barely making an impact on them.

One by one, my family was uncovered and set aside gently, each with a little bit of an awkward tear stain somewhere on them. The tears just wouldn't stop, not after I uncovered Juvia and practically started wailing, and not after I found the old man and literally had to stop for a full ten minutes just to mutter my apologies to him.

Guys, I know this seems super out of character, but can you imagine being stuck inside yourself for seven years, your mind tormenting you the entire time with the absolute worst-case scenario? Ember is the farthest thing from being an emotional person, but I think a little breakdown right after this is totally justified.

The final person was uncovered just as the ship docked and people came flooding onto the island. Heartbeats that were probably once familiar came closer, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I was far too busy pulling out the familiar blond who had been front and center in my thoughts the entire time.

He looked no worse for wear as I gently laid his head on my lap and stared at him. Creepy as it sounds, he was a sight for sore eyes, especially since I had started to forget what his face looked like in the latter part of my time asleep.

One hand rested gently on his cheek and the other traced his scar as the sound of many people rushing towards us came to my attention. He was here.

"Ember!" Voices yelled as they came closer, but still, I paid them no mind. Bits of blood were floating lazily around me from when I had cut my hands open digging people out, but that didn't bother me as I leaned forward and gave Laxus the most gentle of kisses on the lips.

He really was here... It wasn't just another one of my fantasies...

I was no longer alone.

_______________

So, that was option one for how it all goes. This was my first thought to how it would pan out, seeing as how her magic was able to kind of push off the Spirit King and All...

Now, here's option two. Don't forget to vote, because whichever gets more votes will become cannon!

_________________

Option 2:

The darkness was suffocating... It truly was, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to move.

Of course, this was my reward for being stupid enough to absorb the dragon blood, something that was obviously a dangerous thing to do! Good job Ember, you went ahead and sent yourself into a coma, didn't you?

Well, as I said, the darkness was terrible. I could practically feel the dragon's blood pressing me down as his magic infiltrated my mind and ripped bits and pieces of my memory from me... It felt like he was looking for something specific, and no matter how hard I fought, I couldn't stop him from snooping through my most private memories.

As I was stuck, my mind wandered to the others. There had been a dragon, a recent attack and even better? A shocking reveal from me. What if they were dead now? The big ass dragon had mentioned that I had given him a path to follow.

Oh god... If they were dead that would mean it was my fault... And even worse? It means that I landed them in this situation then abandoned them. Shit.

Pain wracked my body as the blood continued its work, but there was nothing I could do. The more I tried to push the power off me, the worse the pain became. Even worse? I knew the dragon could feel my suffering and he didn't care. The bastard continued on his work, small thoughts reaching me through our link and I saw clearly how little he cared. 

I was a bug to him, so inconsequential that I wasn't worth the concern... Despite the fact that I knew he had been human at one point, he thought of our entire species as being less than dust.

How long I struggled under him, I didn't know. It could have been seconds or years, but eventually, I escaped.

A light shone around me and I panted as I lay in the silence, something soft cushioning my back. It was a moment of surreal comfort to know that for now, the pain was over.

"Ember." A gentle voice called my name and I finally allowed my eyes to flutter open.

The first thing I noticed was the green trees, swaying in the breeze. The sound of a brook nearby added to the idyllic setting, but all of it together put me on guard.

Immediately I sprang to my feet and looked around, confirming what I had feared... I was in the clearing Amber and I had claimed as a child.

As quickly as I had gotten on my feet, I was back on my knees, my head buried in my hands, "Fuck..." I groaned out. Perhaps the dragon had killed me... Perhaps I was dead and my punishment was being stuck in this memory for the rest of eternity. 

"Well, that wasn't very nice."

The same voice as before said this, but this time I was more aware. I had been sensing around me subconsciously for any heartbeats, but I found nothing, so to hear a voice talk to me from less than a foot away nearly scared me out of my wits.

My eyes shot up and low and behold, in front of me was a familiar face... Amber. 

Her blue eyes gleamed with happiness and the unruly blond hair was still in its customary braid. She looked perfect, completely put together with the exception of the small slice in her blood-red vest.

Just as I remembered her.

To make it worse, Amber wasn't looking at a young version of me as we played out her last few minutes of life, she was looking at me smiling gently and shaking her head with mock disappointment. 

I thought that I was a badass, that I was stoic beyond any tears, but within half a second I was proven wrong.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared at my sister and she stared right back at me. She wasn't a shadow of a memory... She was really here.

Without a thought, I lunged forward and wrapped Amber in my arms, a sob breaking from me as I made contact. I was afraid for a moment that I would go right through her, but that wasn't the case. She was just as solid as I was, which made gripping her small body all the more... real.

Her arms wrapped around me in return and I vaguely heard her making quiet shushing noises as I sobbed into her hair.

"Wow," She said quietly, "I knew you would miss me but I had no idea it would be this much!" She was trying to sound strong, but I could hear the tears in her voice as she squeezed me as much as she was able.

"Y-You-You died." I stuttered, trying my best to not break down entirely, "I ki-killed... I killed you!"

Quick update... The whole 'not breaking down' thing wasn't going too well. Seeing my sister right now had basically sent me right over the edge and I was a blubbering mess. Precious few people knew I had a family at one point, and fewer still knew just how sensitive I was about it.

The arms around me didn't fade as I tried to talk, a soothing voice cut in over me as Amber rubbed my back, "Well, yeah... You killed me. You've killed a lot of people in your life, but it's not like you meant to lose control, did you?"

I shook my head and Amber sighed heavily, "Em, I think you know I really can't forgive you for killing me and our family... I just don't have that power."

It was a single sentence, but the intent behind it shot me through the heart. My entire body froze and within a moment my heartbeat- which had been racing out of control- stopped completely. She couldn't forgive me? I suppose I could have seen that coming... Her last moments had to have been agonizing. And it was the same for the rest of our family.

My thoughts continued to spiral as I clutched my sister. God, this was it, this was to be my purgatory. Who else was going to be here to tell me that I was unforgivable? Was the Old Man going to show up and reprimand me for not protecting his children too?

Before I could get too deep into my own self-hatred, Amber shimmied out of my grasp and bopped me on the head, pulling me back into the moment.

"Would you stop?" She grumbled, exasperation filling her voice, "Why do you always jump to the worst conclusions possible before you fully understand the situation?" She sat back with a grunt and crossed her arms as she glared at me.

"You always were like that, leaping before you looked. It drove me nuts!"

I simply stared at her blankly. My mind wasn't spiraling as badly now, but I was confused as all hell, unsure of what she was talking about.

She looked at me for just another moment before sighing and rubbing her temples, "Geez, fine. I said I can't forgive you because I actually can't. Like, my forgiveness would mean nothing since I'm nothing more than an echo. I have some of your sister's memories, but she is long gone. I'm what's left."

Okay... She was talking but I didn't understand in the slightest.

When I didn't respond, the echo, or whatever she was, of my sister grumbled to herself for another moment, obviously irritated, "Okay, so you know how when people die their consciousness remains for a little bit?"

She was asking this as though it was common knowledge... Was I supposed to know this? 

How did she know this?!

I shrugged, too confused to do much more than that.

She shook her head dismissively, "Well they do, especially when a person's death was traumatic. Have you never heard any ghost stories?!" I just nodded my head. It looked like... My sister? Was on a roll now and I was loath to stop her.

"Well, echoes like me are a result of that consciousness, not the whole person, but enough for it to matter. We're pretty slow to fade, to be honest. It sucks, because there aren't many people who can see us, and those who do are just looking to prove we exist."

She stuck her tongue out at that point, very obviously pouting.

I was completely in shock. So, this was my sister, but wasn't at the same time? What the hell was happening here?

The echo or whatever the hell it was, continued rambling for a moment about getting really bored before I cut her off, "Okay, I think I get it? You're the memory of my sister that was left behind after I killed everyone... Is that right?"

She nodded impatiently and I grimaced, "Well, why are you here then? And what's going on, because I really don't think I was transported hundreds of miles from Tenrou to Barjor village while I was... out." Despite how frazzled I felt, my mind was still trying to sort out the possibilities to some extent. I felt like I was thinking in slow motion, but the instinct to analyze my surroundings was still a part of me.

The echo (I couldn't handle calling her Amber... It was too much for me) smiled gently and my heart flipped, "Correct, we aren't in Barjor. As far as I can tell we're just stuck inside your brain... Though I don't know why. I suppose I'm here because I'm attached to you. I've met other echoes through the years who were attached to people, it's not common, but it's also not uncommon when you've killed as much as the Ghost of Fiore has, my dear sister."

I hated how much that made sense. If echoes were the byproduct of traumatic death, then no one would have more reason to become one than Amber... Maybe the rest of my family would as well.

So she was attached to me, was she? that meant that she had seen everything, which was a concerning idea in its own right.

"But yeah, that's why I can't say I forgive you... I mean, I'm hardly here, to begin with, and it just wouldn't sound right coming from me, since I both am and am not your sister. It's complicated and all that, but just know that I have enough memories of you to understand who you were as a kid." She was rambling on again, similar to what Amber would actually do when we were kids, but the ramblings at least made sense.

It was all so familiar, her smile when she started talking about our magic, the way she squinted when she was talking about something I did that she didn't approve of... This time, I didn't cut her off. Instead, I rested my chin on my knees and let her go.

When I was a kid, I got irritated at her for going on a rant, or I would join in for a while, but I never appreciated it much. 

Even if this wasn't really Amber, I wanted to listen to every word said, relish in every expression as she talked about some of the things she had seen as an echo. These were memories that had been fading for years now and I wanted... No, I needed to commit them to memory.

I didn't keep track of how long we sat there. It could have been weeks for all I cared, but I had no idea. It was hard to keep track with the fact that there was no day/night cycle, you know, the whole, I'm stuck in my own body because I absorbed dragon blood thing? 

Speaking of which...

"Hey, Amber?" I asked cautiously. I hated to interrupt her tangent on how rude other echoes could be sometimes, but I needed to know something.

She stopped mid-sentence and nodded for me to speak with that small grin I loved.

Before I even began to speak, my nails were digging into my legs (for once it didn't hurt) and I found myself biting my lip, "You mentioned talking to other echoes, which I bet means you have some really obscure knowledge... Don't you?"

Amber nodded cheerfully, I could spark of concern in her eyes, but she said nothing, waiting for me to finish my thought.

"Would you happen to know anything about the title 'Blood Queen'?"

As if it were a switch, Amber's face paled as she stared at me. Her eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar, "Where..." She coughed slightly to clear her throat (Which is curious... How would an echo of a person have the physical body to clear their throat?), "Where did you hear that term?"

Well, that was obvious enough. She knew it and she seemed to be scared of it.

As curious as I was, I forced myself to seem calm, my arms wrapped around my knees and as much of a far off look as I could manage in my eyes, "Acnologia, actually," I said calmly, tapping my leg for a moment as I remembered it, "Apparently absorbing some of his blood connected us for a moment and he called me that, though I can only make some guesses at what it means."

I had been curious about the situation, but before Amber spoke I froze of my own volition. I said his name so casually, as though I had known it my whole life... But I knew for a fact that I had never heard that name in my life.

The mysteries just kept growing... As did my concern.

There was true fear in Amber as her eyes flicked from me to the clearing repeatedly, as though she was afraid the dragon would appear at the mere mention of his name, "He called you that?" Her voice was quivering almost as much as she was, "The Black Dragon called you that?"

It took everything in me to not sweep Amber right back into my arms as I watched her fear grow, but at this point, I needed the information more than I needed the sisterly affection.

"Yes, he did. Amber, listen; I need you to tell me what you know about this, it could mean the difference between survival and death for me. Please." I was all but begging her at this point and I could feel it working. She was close to caving, all I needed was just another push.

Before I could give her that final push. Just the last bit of encouragement she needed to spill everything, another voice chimed in, cutting off any hope, "Don't even think about it echo. You know better."

The moment I heard the voice I was on my feet, hands flying to where my swords would be. We were supposed to be alone here, this was my head, it was a solitary place and had been since I was born. I really would prefer to keep it that way.

Despite my lack of blades, I got myself in a ready position, completely prepared to throw myself at a spectral foe.

"It's wonderful to make your acquaintance Ember," A sweet, child-like voice said happily and I was faced with a girl, not as small as Amber with young features and wing-like attachments hooked above her ears.

She was wearing a loose pink dress and looked for the world as though she was nothing more than a little girl... But something about her put me on edge. 

Perhaps it was the calculative gleam that was in her eye that reminded me far too much of the times the Old Man got manipulative. Maybe it was the way such a young frame literally radiated power that put my evergrowing source to shame. It also could have been the way the girl appeared in my mental forest without a trace. One moment she wasn't there, the next she was.

Or perhaps it was all three. 

Either way, I didn't like it. 

The girl was attempting to be as disarming as possible but I wasn't about to let her gain any ground. I clenched my jaw I looked between her and Amber, if it came down to it, my immediate priority was to protect my sister... Or the echo that had my sister's memories.

My plan was torn to shreds as a hand laid gently on my arm stopped me from lunging and getting the first swing in.

"Wait," Amber said quietly, her eyes overshadowed as she looked at the ground, "She isn't going to hurt you... I think you need to listen to her."

A growl erupted from my throat, I didn't like this... 

I didn't want to stand down...

But for some inexplicable reason, I trusted the echo of my sister that I hadn't known existed before this.

My position didn't lax, I remained ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice, but the girl seemed to take that as a sign to take a seat comfortably on the forest floor, "I see why you chose this place as your safe haven, it's gorgeous."

She smiled gently at me for a moment before turning to Amber, "So,  how did you gain her trust, she looked comfortable enough while you were chatting."

Amber shrugged with a small, sad smile on her face, "I'm the echo of her sister, that kind of thing breeds trust."

The girl nodded in understanding before turning fully to me, "Very well then, I guess we'll do this the long way, heaven knows we have plenty of time. My name is Mavis Vermillion, First Master of Fairy Tail."

... What?

My stance lowered for a half a second before I was back, there would be no diversions here, "Why can't Amber tell me what Blood Queen means?"

The happy smile on her face dropped for just a moment as she looked around seriously, "I had some idea that you were direct... I should be blaming myself for being so surprised, I suppose." A quick wave of her hand forced the clearing around us to shift slightly. The sun was gone and red covered every surface as bones forced their way from the ground.

"You're the type who craves understanding, but in this one case, I beg you... Give that desire up. The origins of that name are not happy and looking for information will only end in pain."

I looked around the clearing for a moment with solemn eyes before it returned to the serene clearing that I was familiar enough with. A dark meaning, eh? It's not like that was anything different for me. 

Was she trying to shock me into giving up? 

If so, scare tactics like this would never work. She must not know my background.

My jaw locked but I conceded just a bit, sitting gingerly, "Fine, I'll stop for now. How about you tell me what happened on Tenrou?"

It was a long shot, but perhaps she would know... If she really was the first master and her magic power was as intense as it seemed, she should have some inkling. I needed some kind of reassurance that everyone wasn't dead.

The gentle smile returned and she looked for all the world as though she was just patting me on the head and telling me how clever I was.

"Well, I had to cast a complex spell when Acnologia came called Fairy Sphere. It's hidden the entire island in a time bubble, where nothing can change until the spell is finished."

Time bubble? Were things really so desperate that such a drastic measure was needed? I supposed it probably was with a dragon on the prowl, but that sounded... Excessive. 

Wait...

"How long has it been since the dragon attack?" I questioned frantically, there were a ton of questions I wanted to ask, but I would be content with this one for the moment.

The child stared thoughtfully at me for a moment as she tapped her chin, "Hm... I would have to say about six years at this point." I froze for a beat before nodding and breathing deeply into my hands.

Six years was a long time... I mean, not as bad as it could have been, but still. 

From what I would guess, the majority of the people I cared for in the world were on this island, so if we had to be separated from time, at least I was with the people I cared for most. Though...

There were so many possibilities here, I couldn't help but question things. Why was I able to think if we were stuck in time? Were the others stuck in dream states like this? Did any of this come because I absorbed the dragon's blood? How the fuck did I know his name?

All I had were questions and next to no answers, which was infuriating.

I couldn't stay seated. The energy inside me rose as I jumped up and began pacing around the clearing, "How about me?" I asked, frustration seeping from every pore, "How come I know the name of this dragon that attacked us? Does it have something to do with the whole 'Blood Queen' thing? Is it the same reason my mind is functioning well when we're supposed to be frozen in time?"

The child, the first master- whatever the fuck her name was- immediately lost the jovial tone when I brought back up the name, "I told you to put that out of your mi-"

"That's a bullshit answer and you know it," I growled viciously, "We should be frozen, but here I am, having this circular fucking conversation with you. I get that I don't need to know everything. I don't want to know everything, but maybe... Just maybe, I deserve to know what it means when a black fucking dragon calls me by a cryptic nickname!"

The irritation stared down at her hands and Amber was fussing with her hands, looking between the two of us like we were a bomb about to go off.

It felt like an eternity, but before too long, the Irritation spoke, "I won't answer all your questions, but I can tell you some things. Would that be alright with you?" She looked back at me with pleading eyes. She was trying, but that didn't mean I was about to oblige her.

I nodded sharply, "Don't think that means I'll forget about everything else, you couldn't stop me from finding that out if you wanted to." 

"And I would have expected no less," Irritation said with a sad grimace, "Very well, the first thing you should know is that you are the only one having an experience like this. The others will wake up when the spell falls having noticed no time passing."

"It seems that magical immunity of yours is no joke." Amber joked from the sidelines, her face still pale from all the yelling.

Irritation nodded, "True, though you weren't able to push it off completely. Time is moving incredibly slowly inside you. As far as I'm aware, you've been conscious for a little over 5 years now, even though you've perceived it to be much less than that. I assume that it's the reason you can communicate with the echo here, as they perceive time differently than we do."

I glanced briefly at Amber, who nodded but made no further comment.

Well, that answered some things... "How long is this spell going to last?"

The world around me shifted slightly and the Irritation grinned, a true grin this time, not one of those fake ones she had been wearing to throw me off my guard, "Oh, about till now."

Wide eyes were the theme of the moment as I looked at Amber. Was this seriously it? After well over a decade, this was the goodbye we got?

I could feel something attempting to pull me from the world I existed in, but I fought it. It wasn't going to take me quite so soon this time. I still needed to say goodbye, to give her the last hug I never had been able to before.

Amber rushed to me from the blurring landscape and I panicked. Who knew when I would see her next. She may just be an echo of my sister, but god... She had allowed me to find some amount of closure.

A tear escaped as I pulled her close, her small body fitting nicely in my arms as I leaned down to touch my forehead to hers.

"For what it's worth," Amber said quietly, already fading, "I think Amber would have forgiven you a long time ago."

And with that...

I woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there you go, guys! A stupidly long chapter that is broken into a crossroads. I think it's pretty obvious to guess which one I like more, but hey, you can choose for yourself! 

-klypso01