This is based on a headcanon of mine for Minerva post-Tartaros.

I hope you enjoy it.

Frustration clogged Minerva's throat, her clawed hands clutching at the black parts of her demonic form. This was what she had wanted. Unadulterated power flowing through her veins, divorced from the frailty that came with being human. Not that it had helped in the end. No matter how much strength she gained, someone out there would always be stronger, hold power over her. When it was her friends, though… it wasn't such a horrible truth. And she was coming to realize that so long as they existed, they could blunt anything that came at her.

But now this form of hers was ugly to her eyes. It was proof of how low she'd sunken in her relentless pursuit of greater strength and power. Minerva was sure it was equally as heinous to her saviors as it was to her.

She couldn't return to Sabertooth like this. Not in this state. In this form, she would only terrify them. How could she ask them to forgive her, to accept her as a human, when she looked so monstrous? Her crimes were so clearly etched into her skin.

Sting and Rogue had led her gently away from the battlefield after the dragons perished. They were holed up in one of Magnolia's motels for now, content to wait for Minerva to be fully ready to return with them. She suspected they weren't quite prepared to return yet, either. Losing their fathers a second time had broken something inside of them. Whereas for Minerva, she could understand if only in a tangential way. Seeing her own father again had broken her as well, although for different reasons.

Minerva tried not to venture much beyond the motel room, and when she did it was under the cover of darkness. She didn't wish to frighten Magnolia's citizenry. Certainly not so soon after surviving Tartaros's destruction and the subsequent loss of Fairy Tail. Now that had been another powerful blow to them all.

There came a knock at her hotel door, and Minerva let out a growl. "Sting, for the last time," she hissed, twisting on her heels and stomping to the doors, "I will not play this foosball thing with you—" Her harsh words abruptly cut off upon opening the door, only to find someone other than Sting standing there.

Instead, a white-haired woman with a cheerful smile stood in her doorway. "Hello!" she greeted. "We've never met face-to-face before, but my name is Mirajane Strauss. I'm a member of…" She paused briefly, and then continued. "I used to be a member of Fairy Tail. Can I come in?"

"No," Minerva told her bluntly, her dark eyes narrowing at the strange woman before her. "Why are you here?"

"I ran into Sting in town, and he told me about your change of heart, and your current predicament." Minerva was going to kill the little sunshiny bastard. "And I thought I might be able to help you out with my magic."

The second half of her statement took Minerva by surprise. Once what Mirajane was saying fully processed, her first instinct was to reject her out of hand. But then Sting's voice echoed in the back of her skull, telling her that it was okay to accept help from other people sometimes. She grit her teeth and sighed through her nose. "Fine," Minerva bit out, stepping aside to allow the other woman to enter the motel room.

Mirajane uttered a thank you, and then stepped inside. She peered around the room as Minerva relocked the door. "This isn't a bad place," she commented.

Minerva noted that she didn't say it was great, either. "It serves its purpose."

The interloper nodded sagely. "I suppose it does." She turned to face Minerva properly. "So tell me, how much do you know about takeover magic?" Mirajane asked, getting straight to the point.

The territory mage appreciated that somewhat, as she had no desire to awkwardly make small talk with this stranger. "Next to nothing," she admitted. "You assume the form of various entities. That's pretty much the entirety of what I know."

Nodding, Mirajane stepped closer to Minerva, who retreated a step in order to maintain the distance between them. "Don't run away," Mirajane teased her. "I'm not going to bite." She paused, and then added, with a touch of mischief, "Probably."

Though it wasn't a reassuring statement, Minerva planted her heels in the ground, and stubbornly glared at Mirajane as she stepped within Minerva's personal space. Mirajane reached up and gently placed her hands on Minerva's face. Her smile turned sad, and her gaze sympathetic, at Minerva's resulting flinch at the contact. "This might hurt a little bit," Mirajane warned. "But I think I should be able to absorb the demonic parts of you and bring them into myself. From what I could tell, Tartaros only added demon cells to your own, and didn't take any of your original ones. I don't believe they've become integrated enough to cause too many problems upon being removed."

Mirajane paused, and looked deep into Minerva's eyes. "Would you like me to try, now? I won't do anything before your signal."

Swallowing thickly, every muscle in her body trembling with fright, Minerva nodded. "Go ahead. Please rid me of this monstrosity."

"You're not a monster for merely having demon parts," Mirajane admonished gently. "I should know."

Before Minerva could respond, Mirajane's magic took effect, and she bit back a scream as she felt parts of herself rip off. It felt like an eternity, but at the same time, it was over relatively quickly.

Minerva blinked, her right eye watering at the brightness of the room. She gasped out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, and rushed to the bathroom to assess her new appearance.

She looked much the same as she had before she had become a demon. All that remained of the black substance that had once coated her body was a faint outline against her skin, that would likely fade with time.

Tears of relief welled up in Minerva's eyes, and she sank down to her knees, painful sobs wracking her body.

"I'll take my leave now," she heard Mirajane state. "Take care, Minerva. I hope that when we meet again, you'll understand what I meant before. Goodbye."

Unable to rise, Minerva listened helplessly as the white-haired woman left, the only sound of her departure the quiet creaking of the hinges and the snick of the door closing behind her.

The whole thing had taken maybe ten minutes, total.

Next time she saw him, Minerva was going to kiss that sunshiny bastard full on the mouth.

And then, maybe Mirajane as well, if she ever ran into her again.