The magic council’s rune knights interrogated him - and the Guild Alliance - for some time. Apparently they hadn’t been behind the Guild Alliance; Cait Shelter had been. And given that the government didn’t know Cait Shelter it was going to be under investigation soon.
It took Natsu’s statements for them to accept that Arthur wasn’t with Oración Seis, but it seemed that Arthur was the only one here who hadn’t been breaking the law. Well except by hiding Jellal.
It was Jellal the council’s agents - the council technically being currently disbanded until a replacement could be formed - were after. So, yeah, that was a big no no. He was hiding a serious fugitive. Ok, hiding Angel was probably illegal as well.
Their questioning took a while, though, and when he was done he felt mentally exhausted. At least Wendy had healed his wounds while healing everyone; and for the first time in months his left shoulder felt fine, even the dragon wound having been fully healed by her magic.
The Blue Pegasus mages were discussing what to do about Christina. Their leader, Ichiya, was for some reason discussing something with Gray. Wendy was making sure that the injured were in no immediate risk of dying, and waking the captured Oración Seis for interrogation sessions of their own. The Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail mages were waiting on their carriages.
Arthur walked just far enough into the woods to get a little bit of privacy, and took out the golden key he’d obtained, and opened the gate of the Ram, to call forth Aries. The sheep girl, or erm Arthur tried to think of what sheep was in Japanese to add -mimi to the end to indicate a mostly human woman with a few aesthetic sheep traits, appeared before him. He’d never found her worth a second glance when reading the manga, but in person she was… not beautiful, but simply absolutely adorable. She had pink hair, and little horns, a dress of white wool tightly hugging her form.
“You’re new,” She said softly.
“I got your key from Angel,” He said.
Aries looked down and away. “I’m sorry. I failed as a spirit.”
“What?” Arthur asked in response.
“I mean, I let my contractor down if you beat her. So I’m yours now?” She looked at him with doe eyes, soft, sweet, and innocent.
“Is that what you want?”
“I’m a celestial spirit, I want a summoner. It’d be lonely to always be trapped in our world.”
“I’m sensing a but,” Arthur said softly.
“I’m sorry,” She whined out, flinching away a little.
Arthur looked at his bounties. There were some new ones, but they weren’t relevant. He looked at those concerning Celestial spirits. Gain allegiance - defined as including strong friendship or loyalty as a subordinate - and collect all of them every single key. It gave a lot of CP. Even now it was a big one. But getting Lucy’s keys would be hard if he wasn’t willing to kill her.
And he just wasn’t the sort to cut down a girl that was that much his type. If he was going to kill someone in the main cast it would have to be Gray, or Natsu. Maybe Erza but she scared him.
He didn’t get anything for keeping Aries, just for winning her allegiance. And that meant he could do the right thing here. His celestial spirits had saved his life too many times already; how many times did he owe his life to Horologium, he’d have been killed by Georg alone twice if not for Kochab, Altair had probably saved him two or three times today alone, and even Enif had got him here to make this chance possible.
Treating Aries like a tool wouldn’t be fair to any of them. And he remembered now that he needed to give Orion a good fight.
“There’s no need to be sorry. I asked you the question. In making a contract honesty is important.”
“I… I… I want a tan!” She said at last, face turning a deep beat red, “I’ve always wanted to try and have a tan, but I’ve never been able to.
That was not the answer Arthur expected. “Not to be with Leo?” He said in a moment of shock.
“I mean I do want that, but I don’t know how you could help with that,” She said.
“Wouldn’t having the same summoner help?” He asked.
“A little?” She didn’t sound certain of that. “Most summoners can’t summon two spirits at once, and we can be together in the Celestial Spirit World without that.” She looked at him as if she had said something that had hurt him, looking down and away, and shaking a little. “I’m sorry.”
Arthur was having a minor bout of blue screen. He’d been struggling with himself over the idea of giving Aries to Lucy. Lucy might need the power. To be honest he couldn’t remember her using Aries to any actual success. Gemini was the one he was worried about her not having. Why’d he let Angel keep her keys? But he could list a host of reasons that it would have been a double, even triple win to give Aries to Lucy. Giving a respected and notable gold spirit what she wanted, at the sacrifice of the potential power that it could bring him would have looked good to all the spirits, helping him gain their allegiance. Since it was ‘strong friendship’ it might even have won him Aries’s allegiance. It wasn’t like he needed the power of a gold spirit, or to get her while in this world; and as far as gold spirits went she was the booby prize from what he could remember. It would have hurt to give up his ‘prize’ but the PR gain with the Celestial Spirits alone would have been massive. And it’d have gone a long way to getting him an in with Fairy Tail.
It’d have looked super good. And would have made him look like a selfless individual who put the happiness of others first. It’d been perfect.
Except she hadn’t asked for that. And he couldn’t suggest it. Or just give her to Lucy. Either one would be extremely insulting.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know it was a selfish request. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Aries’s words shook him from his thoughts.
“No. No. It’s a perfectly reasonable request, no need to apologize,” He stated hastily.
“But, you looked so unhappy.” Her concern and worry were obvious in her voice.
“It’s just that I don’t know if I can do it. I might have a way with alchemy, but it’d take a few tries, and it’d have to wait till we get back to Guiltina,” He gave the white lie easily enough.
“It’s fine,” She said, “You don’t need to worry about it. It’s really nothing.”
He head patted the unfairly cute ewe-girl. “I asked. I’ll do my best to help you with it. It’s just, I can’t promise results yet, and I won’t really be able to even start for a while.” His plate was getting way too full as it was.
“That’s alright,” She said, looking up towards him with softly sparkling eyes.
“So I guess it’s time to ask when I can summon you,” He wanted to tell her about Angel. But… his nose twitched a little. He had thought he’d heard someone. And there was a scent that kept making his brain itch with ‘dragon’. There was a bit of red hair in one of the bushes, and part of someone’s ass. He was being observed.
“Mondays?” He said.
“That’s ok,” She answered.
“Tuesdays?” He was going to go through the entire week. In the end she gave him 4 days out of 7 which was a decent enough start.
He had a golden spirit now. That was something. It should prove useful.
But he needed to talk to Fairy Tail. And given he could see Erza and Lucy watching him, now seemed a good chance. “Hey, you in the bushes, want to join me and chat instead of watching?”
Lucy and Erza stood up blushing a bit, and then he discovered why they were actually bent over. They’d been holding Natsu’s head down, and Natsu did not look exactly happy.
“You’re from a guild that kills dragons aren’t you?” Natsu said, his fury evident in every line of his body.
Natsu must have overheard it during the interrogation. “We’re dragon slayers, just like you,” He said, trying to be what he thought was diplomatic.
“Have you killed a dragon?” Natsu asked.
Arthur could remember how eager Natsu was to kill Mercphobia at the start of the 100 Year Quest before he’d proven to be friendly, so he thought nothing of saying: “Yes.” Though he decided quickly it was best to add a justification. “It’d destroyed a small town, and had attacked another village.”
“Was it red?” Natsu asked, his voice burning with embers of rage and fury. Though he flinched away a bit at the discussion of the ‘why’. Even if Arthur knew the real reason why it was slain was that it’d been spotted and Serena had paid big for its heart.
“No, it was black,” Arthur stated, raising his hand and letting darkness form around it.
“Did your guild kill a red dragon seven years ago?” Natsu glared towards him.
“I only got here like 3 months ago!” Arthur shouted back defensively. Then he realized why Natsu was asking.
“So they might have?” Natsu said.
“I…” Arthur was scrambling, his brain scratching away for a good way to answer this.
“Could they have?” Natsu asked.
“Tell me the element and I might know!” Arthur said. It was true. The guild did keep records of every dragon it had slain by the element of its slayer magic.
“Fire,” Natsu said.
“Igneel?” Arthur asked.
Natsu stopped, eyes filled with pain and rage. “So they did?” He said, in a voice aching with despair.
“They didn’t kill the fire dragon king. I found him mentioned in the research on dragon slayer magic I’ve been undertaking. He helped in its creation 300 years ago,” Arthur liberally mixed his (mis)remembering of the manga with what he had actually researched. “Disappeared during Acnologia’s initial rampage. My research said that he was attempting to make Dragon Slayers who didn’t bear the curse of dragonification, when he vanished. I came to Ishgar to see if he succeeded, and if there was anything in their blood which could be used to help ensure no other dragon slayer ever turned into a dragon again.”
“300 years ago? He didn’t disappear 300 years ago, he disappeared 7 years ago. What are you trying to pull?” Natsu was glaring at him. His foster father’s disappearance was something that’d hurt the youth’s heart to this day.
“The books I’ve been researching were written centuries ago. I can’t tell you where he’s been, or where he went to 7 years ago,” Actually he could. The book that reminded him of the fact that Natsu had dragon antibodies had talked about the technique to store a dragon soul into a human to allow them to develop those. “But he disappeared from history as far as Guiltina is concerned 300 years ago. Guiltina is another continent, though. It’s entirely possible they simply missed a dragon in hiding, but Diabolos hasn’t taken any jobs to slay dragons in Ishgar in the history of the guild.”
“Really?” Natsu said, eyes watery.
“It’s the truth. The only jobs the guild has had which brought them to this continent has been delivering dragon flesh for the creation of lacrima, primarily to an individual named God Serena.”
“Who?” Natsu asked.
“Five-Dragon God Serena,” Erza said. “The 3rd ranked Wizard Saint.”
“Six-Dragon now, but yeah, he hired the guild for 4 lacrima gathering jobs thus far,” Arthur said. “One was a fire-variation, the Purgatory Dragon; it’d burned down 2 towns and killed over 6000 individuals in Guiltina 5 years ago with no ascertainable provocation. I highly doubt that it was the Fire Dragon King. The dragon wasn’t described particularly well physically in the guild’s receipts though.”
“Igneel wouldn’t do that.”
“Now, if you’re done asking questions, can I ask you something?”
“What?” Natsu responded, still obviously unhappy with Arthur.
“I came to Ishgar for your blood.” Arthur realized quickly that was probably the wrong approach, as Natsu was already shifting his weight back towards a more ready and defensible state. “A sample of it. Yours, Wendy Marvell’s, and Gavial… Gavial the Iron Dragon Slayer. You’re each First Generation Dragon Slayers who show no signs of Dragonification. I hope that there’s something inside of you that can be used to halt or even reverse dragonification of those undergoing it.”
“Dragonification?” Natsu said.
“It’s how the Dragon God of Destruction, Agnologia, was born. Dragon slayer magic inevitably turns its wielders into dragons as it grows inside of them. Usually particularly violent and destructive dragons. Igneel was last recorded as working on a means to prevent it. I think you’re his successfu- Sorry. I think you’re the culmination of his dreams and his hope for the future. And I’d like to spread that hope further,” Arthur extended a hand towards Natsu. “So could I have a sample of your blood?”
Natsu looked at him. There was a battle playing on Natsu’s face. He couldn’t know if Arthur was on the level.
“You’re really a dragon slayer?” Natsu asked again.
“Yes,” Arthur said.
“Prove it,” Natsu stated.
Arthur was tempted to challenge Team Natsu to a fight then and there. Except Wendy wasn’t there, and she was exhausted from healing people so it’d probably not count. Besides, she was a little kid who was terribly scared of the idea of fighting. Also he wasn’t sure where Gray was, he thought he could see him over with Blue Pegasus, but he wasn’t certain.
He turned around and breathed deep. “Darkness Dragon’s Roar!” He bellowed, blackness erupting from his mouth and tearing through several trees. Then he turned back to face Natsu.
“Can I have a sample?” He asked.
Natsu looked away. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Please do,” Arthur said. He felt a pang of conscience as he said the next part. He knew he was intentionally performing a low blow emotionally, but it was worth it if it helped him save his guildmates. “I don’t want my guildmates, my family,” Was Diabolos really a family? Well presenting it as such would help convince Natsu most likely. “To become monsters that have to be put down. I don’t want them to become dragons that I have to slay to stop them from killing people. So, please, for their sake, think about it.”
“I said I’d think about it,” Natsu stated, turning away and then thrusting his arm out towards Arthur. “Fine, grab your sword.”
“My sword? Why would I use my sword for this?” Arthur asked.
“To cut me,” Natsu said in a voice that spoke of ‘duh you idiot’.
“I lost my glassware on the way here. And I intended to pick up a syringe and vials in Magnolia. And a lacrima cooler to keep it fresh. I wasn’t intending to run into you in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Is it alright if I get your blood in Magnolia Town?”
“Ah man, you mean I have to be dreading it for months?” Natsu groaned.
“We can take you back to Magnolia with us,” Lucy volunteered.
“I have some things to attend to first, but I’ll meet you all soon in Magnolia town, if that would be alright? It shouldn’t be months.” He didn’t have 2 months. If it took more than 2 months it’d take 7 years.
“Of course,” Natsu said with a smile.
“Could you ask Wendy and Gavial if it’d be alright to get some of theirs at the same time too?” Arthur asked.
“Who’s Gavial?” Natsu said.
“The iron-dragon slayer.”
“Gajeel? Heh, he’ll hate that I’m famous in Guiltina but they can’t even get his name right,” Natsu crowed.
“How would you get Wendy’s blood in Magnolia? Is she going there for some reason?” Erza asked.
“Wendy isn’t with you? I thought she was part of Fairy Tail,” Arthur said.
All three mages, and Happy, shook their heads almost in unison. “No, she’s from Cait Shelter. You’ll need to ask her yourself,” Erza informed.
Arthur blue screened for a few moments. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be joining Fairy Tail. Had he messed things up?
Arthur climbed off Enif, before helping Wendy down from the Pegasus. He’d offered to give her a ride back to Cait Shelter; Enif could carry two - and a cat - as easily as one, and was fast.
Wendy wobbled, unable to walk in a straight line, after getting off of the Enif’s ‘shooting star express’. She stumbled about for a bit in a circle, before falling face first to the ground.
Arthur was more than a little dizzy as well. Enif was fast. He also drained magical energy like no other spirit in Arthur’s possession. Though the short ride had been nothing compared to the ocean crossing, even maintaining him for the couple of minutes it had taken had left him feeling tired. Still he needed to get Angel and Jellal out of the cave soon.
Of course he didn’t need to go there to do it. He was still linked to his space there through his territory magic. He just needed to be somewhere rather isolated before he did it. He didn’t want the Magic Council finding out he had hidden two fugitives from them. That was probably a little, itsy, tiny bit illegal in the they would disappear him into a jail cell for life if caught sort of way. He didn’t want that.
He did however want to talk to the guild master of Cait Shelter about why they were still here after the Nirvana incident was settled, and he figured if Brain had been planning to have Wendy revive Jellal, Wendy could revive Jellal which would save him hauling a coffin around the continent.
“You wanted to speak to me in private?” Roubaul, Cait Shelter’s guild master, and the ghostly protector of Nirvana who had created the rest of the guild except Wendy and Carla via illusions, said, closing the door.
“This guild, you’re the ghosts of the Nirvit people, aren’t you?” Arthur asked, and watched the aged, Native American looking, chieftain stiffen. “Brain was stopped from using Nirvana as a weapon, why are you still here?”
“Brain was stopped, but as long as Nirvana exists there will be more who will seek it out and use it. Even as we speak the Magic Council who rules these lands in this age is seeking it out. Until it is destroyed I must watch over it. At this moment, I should be finding a way to stop the council from making use of it. They may not have the same darkness inside as Brain of the Oración Seis did, but they would still use it. Maybe even to try and destroy the Balam Alliance, but it would bring the darkness it stripped from the dark guilds to them and wreak untold havoc on these lands once more. That cannot be allowed to happen. I must not allow it to happen.”
Arthur felt ashamed looking at the expression of steadfast determination on the man’s face. That iron-hearted willingness to dedicate 400 years of existence to safeguarding a relic to make amends for his former sins.
“So you just need it destroyed. Show me how and I’ll do it,” Arthur said. He had power on a level to dwarf most of the continent. He could do this.
“It is not so easy to destroy. One man would have the utmost difficulty.”
“It can be done, though. Brain was certain you could do it.”
“Seal it anew maybe,” the aged ghost said. “And if I show you its workings, how do I know you won’t make use of it yourself?”
Arthur flinched away from that question. “Why would I use it? What use is it to me?” He asked. It wasn’t like he could bring it with him to another world. But if it could turn dark guilds to light ones then he could use it. Destroy the Balam Alliance and get so many CP for himself. He could buy the highest skill. Enchantment to match Irene’s. Edomagic to make holder magic. Combining those he could almost certainly find an answer to dragonification. His head sagged. “I could destroy the Balam Alliance myself, I guess. Destroy the Dark Guilds, and go mad with power.”
“And this is why I have never offered it up as a Job to the guilds of Fiore. Who could be trusted with the knowledge to destroy it and not to use it?” The man asked.
“But if it’s not destroyed the Council will get it.”
“Yes. And that is the problem which weighs on my heart.”
“Tell me how to destroy it,” Arthur repeated. “I won’t use it.”
“And if it casts your heart into darkness?” The old man asked, staring him in the eyes.
Arthur flinched away. “I’m too much of a freaking coward to use it even then. I could use it to destroy Grimoire Heart or Tartarus, but the Magic Council would come down on me like a ton of bricks and either they’d take it from me, or I’d have to fight a one-man war against all of Ishgar, and I couldn’t win that.” Even if he could, it’d mean destroying Fairy Tail and that’d leave him doomed against Zeref or Acnologia.
“Hoo. You ask me to trust you because you’re too cowardly, while volunteering for a mission filled with potential danger? Hahahaha.” The old man laughed a bit. “Kids. Your heart may be in the right place, but that just means you’re in more danger if you activate it.”
“What if I just blew it up?” Arthur asked.
“It’d repair itself. You’d have to do absolutely devastating damage to it in a single attack. You must realize, the sort of power that would be required would be truly immense.”
Arthur titled his head back. He breathed deep. Drawing inwards and focusing his energy. And then he roared. It was a blast of pure darkness, striking into the thought projection of a roof which the ghost had made. It shot through, piercing the night sky, and continuing to rise upwards, a beam of shadow to tear apart the clouds above. It wasn’t Arthur’s full power. But it was more than he’d been able to summon against Brain since he couldn’t concentrate it well enough to avoid massive destruction, including of course Wendy. Still it was an attack that left him winded.
“D-d-did you have to destroy my guildhall?” The aged chief screamed, flailing his staff towards Arthur.
“Give me time to recover, and I will destroy Nirvana. Just tell me where it is.” He wanted the secrets of its creation. That might count as a Lost Magic even. But he didn’t think this man would ever part with those secrets, and Arthur didn’t have the means - or the resolve - to make him. But if Wendy was going to join Fairy Tail, then Cait Shelter needed to be destroyed.
Besides he just didn’t trust the Magic Council with a weapon like this. That scared him, and he was determined to survive.
“And when you succeed, what will become of the girl? She’ll be alone without us,” The ancient ghost said, his voice ringing with sorrow and concern.
“She can join Fairy Tail, I’m sure they’d be glad to welcome her to their family,” Arthur suggested. He needed to get things back on the canon track. Wendy needed to join Fairy Tail so that she could save Edolas, and he could avoid reality spinning off into a bad future.
“Fairy Tail instead of your guild? Isn’t that an odd choice?” He gave Arthur a look that made the jumper squirm with discomfort.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“I…” What could he say? That he wanted to set canon back on track? It’d be odd to say the least to tell them that. “Fairy Tail is a family. My guild is full of people slowly turning into monsters, the very same that they specialize in killing. I want to save them from that fate, but I don’t think it’s a good environment for a child. I mean they’re…” They’d taken him in when he needed somebody… but only after Georg nearly killed him testing him, and only because he’d demonstrated a power that had surprised them. They specialized in battle missions. “A pretty dangerous bunch.”
“Your description of your comrades doesn’t encourage much faith in you. If those are the comrades you choose, what does it say about you?”
Arthur looked down at the ground, foot scraping against it, as his stomach turned. He considered his own guild… what? Monsters? Georg was filled with fury and rage until it twisted him. Byaku was on the very edge of becoming a dragon. Misaki was something of a sadist. Suzaku was a good kid. Kiria was a blood knight but not a monster. Skullion? Madmole? Ike? Hinami? Roy? No. The guild weren’t monsters. “A kid needs a family,” Arthur said. Like how Skullion took care of Kiria and Madmole like they were his little siblings. Or how Misaki was… honestly probably the root of Kiria’s battle lust in that she as the big sister Kiria tried to emulate. “Diabolos, it’s a guild born for a mission of battle. It was born in a time when dragons were still a big danger in Guiltina. And it shows. She was raised by a dragon. I don’t think she’d want to be around those who have dedicated their lives to killing them.” That was the argument he should have started with.
The old man nodded. “I will consider it. You said you would need rest after that display. You can rest here.” It was a sage and wise sounding speech, but Arthur did hear the grumbling afterwards about “Once I repair the roof you destroyed.”
Arthur bowed slightly. “Thank you,” He said, turning and beginning to walk away only to stop. “Actually I unfortunately have something else that I should tell you.”
“Yes?” The aged chief asked.
Arthur raised a hand and suddenly Jellal’s life support coffin, and Angel appeared. The old man’s eyes bulged, as his mouth opened wide, tongue pressing out before being bit as he closed his mouth afterwards.
“That’s one of the Oración Seis!” The old man shouted.
“You couldn’t have given me some warning? And I thought you’d be bringing me somewhere isolated!” Angel screamed.
“I,” Arthur remembered his Archive magic and how easy it would have been to give her warning through it, “Look today has been exhausting, I didn’t think about it, and this is a ghost town, there’s just 1, well 3, 4 now, 5 if you count Jellal, people here. And one of them is an ancient ghost.”
“Explain the meaning of this?!” The ghost of an old man screamed, stomping his foot.
“Angel has promised to go on the straight and narrow,” Arthur said, shooting Angel a meaningful look. “And I think,” She’s hot, “There’s some good in her. I couldn’t deny her the chance to prove it for her sister.”
“My sister better be alive. I’ve been thinking. Why would you know she’s alive and becoming a celestial spirit mage, and not know where she is?” Angel was staring daggers at him now.
“She tried to revive Nirvana! She is the very threat you’re offering to protect it from! A shepherd doesn’t bring a wolf to sleep with the sheep!” The old man said.
“And I need to ask Wendy to heal the man in the coffin. He’s a good man who was possessed by a dark spirit for years. It’s gone now, but the process nearly killed him, and he deserves the chance to make amends for what he did when possessed,” Arthur continued, steadfastly ignoring them both.
The old man was just staring at him with utter disbelief. Angel for her part was walking towards him. “Are you even paying attention to me? Why can’t you tell me where my sister is?”
“Because I don’t know,” Arthur said, feeling increasingly stressed and overwhelmed.
“Why do you trust these dark mages to make amends!?” The ghost-guild master asked.
“Because they did!” He stated.
“Did?” Angel and the ghost said in unison.
Arthur crumpled to the ground. “In the manga, you turned over a new leaf at the end after meeting your sister during Zeref’s invasion of Fiore,” Arthur said looking at Angel. “Jellal helped you do it. You and all the Oración Seis except Brain and maybe Midnight.”
“In the what?” Angel demanded.
“Is a manga a future telling device?” The old man asked.
Arthur sighed. How did he explain this? “I’ll answer. Just give me a few moments to think of the simplest way to explain.”
“No, no thinking of a lie, tell me now,” Angel stated, still glowering at him. “Or I’ll have Gemini copy it out of you.”
“That might be the easiest way. Can we do that?” Arthur asked.
“No! Gemini can only copy people close to being my equal in power, and you,” Angel turned away, shoulders slouching a bit, “You’re not even human.”
“Explain,” The old man said.
Arthur began to breathe deeply. “Ok. So. I’m not from Earthland. I’m from another world. Some sort of nigh-omnipotent god-like being plucked me from my reality and put me here. But in my reality there was a manga, a comic, or sequential art, an ongoing series of picture books but for teenagers not small children, named Fairy Tail, that is like an animal tail not a story,” Arthur was mumbling a bit, tripping a little here and there over his words.
“So like the guild,” Angel said in an annoyed voice.
“Yeah, like the guild. It told of their adventures in Earthland. Including the Oración Seis and their attempt at taking control of Nirvana. It’s how I knew everyone here was an illusion made by the guild master. And why I wanted to take Wendy to join Fairy Tail. And why I volunteered to destroy Nirvana. Freaking Hell it’s why I want Wendy to heal Jellal. Because in the manga all those things happened, and I don’t know if the happy ending will be reached if they don’t.”
“You expect us to believe this?” Angel asked. The Nirvit ghost didn’t say anything, but rubbed his chin with his fingers.
“No,” Arthur said, beginning to laugh, a laugh with no trace of happiness, but more despair. “I haven’t told anyone about this because who’d believe such a nut job thing? But it’s the truth. In it Yukino joined the guild Sabertooth sometime in the next 7 years. She doesn’t show in the manga before that, so I can’t say where she is now. Just that in 7 years she’ll join. And that you’ll not be ready to enter her life, because of your crimes. I hoped that with 7 extra years you could be together with her earlier.” He sighed. “No, that’s not it. I thought that there wasn’t a point in locking you away for 7 years when you could start becoming a better person today.” He sighed again, planting a hand on his face. “And I shouldn’t lie to you if I want you to trust me. Part of me coming here, was that the entity that brought me here, or well its bosses, would give me tasks. And if I succeeded at them I’d get rewarded with powers. It’s why I’m a magical monster in human skin. That was a reward I got given for joining a top class guild. My magical skill is faked too. I got it as a reward for learning Dragon Slayer Magic. My spirits like me because I got another reward which said they would. I’m pathetic.” His voice was growing strained now, emotion burning through it, as he felt his eyes blur.
Angel and the ghost were staring at him. “But don’t let me being a pitiful imitation of a man stop you from becoming a better person. Be a better person. Be there for your sister in 4 years, instead of 10. Don’t waste this time, even if I let you go because if I could ‘redeem you’ then I’d get another reward.” And then he turned towards the Nirvit ghost. “And don’t let me stop Wendy from finding a family that loves her. Don’t make that be on me. Let me help destroy your sin and mine.”
Angel was speechless. She wasn’t certain she believed him, but she was trying to figure out his motive for such a lie. The guildmaster of Cait Shelter was faster to respond. “Won’t ‘redeeming’ that one,” He pointed at Angel. “Earlier than normal change things?”
“Yeah. But hopefully for the better,” Arthur said.
“Do you really think you have the wisdom to predict what changes will be for the better? If you know my story, you know what my hubris and belief that I knew best caused,” The old man said.
“Then what should I do? Absolutely nothing?” Arthur sobbed out, arm lashing out at the air.
The man shook his head. “No. You should do your best. You should try to make things better. But you should remember, that even if it ever was the world you read about, it’s not any longer. You say they reward you for these tasks. Is taking Wendy to her new family a task they’re rewarding you for?”
“No. The only ones that directly involve Wendy want me to beat her up,” Arthur said.
“You’re more powerful than Wendy, why didn’t you beat her up?” The old man asked.
“I liked her when reading the manga, and she’s a good kid. You don’t have to spend 5 minutes with her to realize she’s a good kid. I’m not going to kill a child for some not particularly shiny power. Especially if they’re involved in saving the world.”
“Kill!?” The old man and Angel both said at once.
“Eh, heh, heh… Well, one is to beat her and the other main cast in a fight. The other is to kill a member of the main cast. I mean not all of them tell me to do that. Another asks me to befriend Natsu. Just that not all of the bounties are exactly, well, erm, morally… what’s the word… not utterly repulsive.”
The old ghost nodded. “I see that now. And you are choosing them based on?”
“Well there’s one that tells me to go find an abusive piece of shit and beat him up and stop him from abusing his daughter. I think I’ll do that, especially since he’s a member of Sabertooth and Yukino might be around there, though Sabertooth was Fiore’s number 1 guild when she joined so that’s no guarantee.”
“You think I’m still going to follow you around or even talk to you after what you’ve revealed?” Angel asked, arms crossed in front of her.
“I hoped,” Arthur said. “I really would like to help you find your sister, although I have other responsibilities.”
“And what are these responsibilities?” The Cait Shelter guildmaster asked.
“My guild has a problem with dragonification. I want to fix it.”
“And this is one of your tasks?”
“Yes!” Arthur exclaimed, a sudden ecstasy in his voice. “I mean it wasn’t last time I checked, but it was added like 5 minutes ago?”
“Then why was it your responsibility?”
“Because… Byaku had brought himself to the verge of turning in the process of saving children. Kiria is a little psycho, but she’s barely older than Wendy, and shouldn’t be being eaten away at by a power she’s not strong enough to control. Georg scares me shitless, but if he hadn’t helped me become a Dragon Slayer I’d probably be dead already. And the rest are… I’ve only known them for a few months, but they’re friends. Well friends might not be the right word, I mean if I had three friends I’d have completed a task I haven’t. Oh god, that task haunts me. A constant reminder that not even three people are really my friend,” His head hung low, Angel stepping a little closer to put a hand on his shoulder. Arthur didn’t seem to notice as he continued. “I guess maybe the word would be comrades? They’re people who are in it together with me at this point. Nakama,” He gave a laugh. It was not exactly the happiest laugh, but there was some mirth in it. “I sound like such a weeb saying that, but I think it’s a better word for it than any other I know.”
The aged ghost nodded. “I will ask Wendy to heal the man you have brought. And I will tell you what I can to help you destroy Nirvana, but you absolutely must not activate it.”
“Because my heart is weak, and negative emotions cloud my soul, casting me to waver between light and darkness?”
“Something like that,” The old man said, before whispering under his breath, “Casting? Did he mean ‘causing’?” His voice rose again. “And I will hope for your best now and in the future.” He turned his head towards Angel. “And that you may once again find the path of light which you have lost. Now, I should tell you what I can about destroying Nirvana. It may take some time, things can be fairly technical.”
“I think I have a better idea,” Arthur said, as he began to explain the basics of Archive magic.
Once Arthur and Angel had left the room, Angel looked at him. “Was that really the truth?”
Arthur turned to look at her, before placing his hands on her cheeks, and focusing. Angel screamed out and flinched away, and then she blinked a few times. “That’s why Aries was so important to you? Wait, were you only there to beat me up and take Aries from me?”
“No. I was here because I got lost when my Celestial Spirit wanted to fly far and fast and carried me from my comfortable boat, to a forest full of dark mages who were trying to kill me,” He said. “I only vaguely knew Lucy hadn’t beaten you yet.”
“The little blonde?” Angel had seen her in the initial attack. How could that little bimbo beat her?
“Yeah. I forget the details. It had something to do with Celestial Spirits liking her more because she treats them like friends instead of tools,” Arthur said with a shrug. “It’s been over a decade since I read the manga, you realize. Memories are hazy.”
“Why didn’t you take my other keys?” They continued to walk towards the rooms that the guild master had said would be prepared for them. The rooms might be illusions, but they’d keep the rain out.
“Because how would you get a chance to redeem yourself if I took them?” It was only at this point that Arthur remembered that the fact that he got CP for winning their allegiance meant he could have gotten CP for it. During the hustle and bustle of the day, he’d been so focused on the Aries bounty he’d forgotten all about that. His internal swearing was cut off, when he realized he’d much prefer his stated reason to be true, than to get the CP. It’d help him sleep at night.
“Thank you,” Angel said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. “Wait… you’re not trying to ‘redeem’ me just so I’ll be your girlfriend, and you can get some ‘action’ and get ‘kissy’ are you?”
“What? Where did that come from?”
“The mass of information you poured into my brain without asking!” Angel answered.
Arthur sighed. “You’re a very attractive woman. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that, and that I wasn’t tempted when you obviously tried to seduce me by offering me ‘anything’. But no, that bounty is new, and I didn’t even know it existed. And I’d hate myself for being scum if I tried to use something like this to make you date me.”
“Good,” Angel said. “And only tempted?”
“You were begging me not to kill you. I don’t want a hot girl to beg me not to kill her. It’s a mood killer.”
Angel laughed a little, and entered her room. “Good night.”
Arthur had difficulty sleeping. He was ultimately a lazy, feckless person. He could be much further along in his research. He could be a much more powerful mage. He could have fought the Oración Seis and won with ease if he’d used his powers properly. He felt all his guilt and shame at the worthless way he had always lived his life bubbling up and spilling over in an attempt to distract himself from the fact that he had killed. He’d killed around two dozen people. His hands were red with their blood in a way that would never wash off.
A part of his mind said he had to make the world 2 dozen people better. Make amends with his actions by doing all the good they would have done. But then he remembered that they were murderous thugs who lived by robbing and threatening the lives of others. And one particularly brilliant and dangerous psycho mage.
And he didn’t know what to feel. Except that the faces he saw when he shut his eyes made him want to puke. He took his black sword from its sheath and stared at it. He almost tossed it from the building, just chucked it out the window. But it was a demonic weapon, and he couldn’t leave it where someone else could find it. Besides he might need it against something truly vile again, or to stop Zeref if he somehow meddled away the happy resolution to his story through his presence.
Still he looked at it and swore to himself, he’d become strong enough he’d not need it against ordinary people again. It was one thing to use it against Zero, or a rampaging dragon, but he should never have needed to use it against Naked Mummy.
Angel had difficulty sleeping. Brain was dead. The Oración Seis were gone. Destroyed. And she had to decide if she was going to follow around someone who was attempting to ‘redeem’ her because someone had offered him power to do so, or go back to her life of crime.
But he had saved her life from Brain, then Racer, and again from Zero. The first time could be dismissed as his arrival being serendipitous, maybe, or just wanting to eat the darkness magic, and the last as being involved in a battle and taking the chance to win it, but Racer he had directly acted to protect her life. He had helped her escape the rune knights. He was powerful. He could be useful. And if Yukino was alive… That was where her brain kept stopping.
If Yukino was alive, she couldn’t fade away into the sky like an angel. Her little sister was so little. She’d be about Wendy’s age. She was going to have to grill Arthur on Yukino’s status. What kind of life she seemed to be living. But from what he had said, she had been walking in the light. No criminal or checkered past for her.
And if so Angel couldn’t be part of her life until Angel had put her own criminal past behind her and could walk in the light as Sorano once more. And if he was willing to help her do that then she’d use him. It hurt though to know it wasn’t because someone had seen something special in her, and wanted to help her escape the pit she was in, but it was just that he’d get rewarded for it.
And then there was the horror that some of his tasks implied.
Kill Zeref. Join the Spriggan 12 and aid Zeref. It had been Zeref’s followers who put her on this path. Who had killed her parents. All as part of a twisted attempt to revive him. And either Arthur was stark raving mad, which was a possibility, or Zeref really was coming back.
In the morning Angel stewed. Her clothes were ruined. Her spats showed under her burnt dress. There were holes in it. It just was… horrible. Still, she wanted to talk to that man before anything else started with the day.
And she’d get the chance, going to his room and shaking him awake. A nikora spirit, the celestial spirit of Canis Minor, was asleep on him. Was this his attempt to gain its ‘allegiance’ for the 25 CP offered? Was he keeping it as a guard animal to wake him if she tried to kill him in his sleep? He seemed to be completely asleep, she could kill him as easily as requipping her knife, and stabbing him.
He’d told her everything he knew about Yukino, apparently. He had put his cards on the table while the hand was still in play. But he’d saved her, and seemed to be actively protecting her. She wasn’t certain she was ready to actually trust him, the last person who saved her had tried to kill her the moment he’d decided she’d outlived her usefulness, but she would use Arthur for now.
Her hand moved to his shoulder. “Wake up,” She said, shaking him lightly. “We need to talk.”
He groaned something incomprehensible in his sleep, and she began to shake him harder. “I said wake up!”
10 minutes later they were walking through the - illusion clad - ghost town. The nikora walked about, being allowed to lead the way. “So what did you need me to be awake for?” Arthur said wishing he had his potions, or just some caffeinated tea.
“Why’d you tell me about the reward for redeeming me?” Angel asked.
“Because I felt guilty about it.”
“Why?” Angel knew she wouldn’t have for a second. That she’d be perfectly fine taking the reward and letting someone else think whatever they wanted.
“Because it felt like I was using you, and if I want you to be a better person, I have to be a better person to you. I mean better than that,” He mumbled out. “And I was stressed, and just sort of crumpled and didn’t think.”
“Why’d you leave me with my keys? I mean I can guess why you took Aries, but you get more of whatever this CP is from the allegiance of 2 spirits, than redeeming me if I really got redeemed in this manga.”
“I didn’t think of it at the time. You were begging me not to kill you, and I didn’t want to kill you, and I mean I could have taken your keys and handed you over to the Guild Alliance, maybe I should have, but that would have sort of sucked for you…” He didn’t want to say ‘and you’re hot so I wasn’t thinking clearly’ to her face. It just wasn’t socially appropriate. “... And I just sort of acted.”
Angel was scared to say these next words. But, she had to. She had to test the ice and see it wasn’t about to break under her. “Even now, though, I’m worth more to you dead than alive.”
“Fuck that!” Arthur exclaimed immediately.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’d rather not kill you. I mean… If I was going to kill you, I’d have let my sword eat yours and Racer’s souls for power already. I guess if you try to kill me or start threatening to go on a killing spree I might kill you if I had to, but for a small increase in pay? I don’t think I can kill someone I know for a fraction of a power. And I don’t want to think about people as valued that way. People should have value other than just their value to me.” Arthur stopped himself from adding just how scared he was that he’d forget that, because it was so easy to do.
Still Angel’s wide smile, and look of relief before she embraced him in a tight hug was worth some value in and of itself. It was a rather enjoyable hug. She pulled back. “And what about Zeref? A lot of those tasks you zapped into my brain without asking seem to focus on him. Planning on redeeming him as well?”
“I plan on avoiding him if I can,” Arthur said. “Dude would freaking kill me like it was nothing.”
“Are you planning on stopping him?” She asked.
“Directly? I’d rather leave that to Mavis, but I mean, he plans to reset time and destroy the old world. I’m pretty sure that would kill me. So I mean if I need to work to stop him I’ll work to stop him.”
“That’s his plan?” Angel said, horror in her voice.
“Fairy Tail will stop him,” Arthur countered. “It’s a strong reason I want to keep things close to on track.”
“So you’re definitely not going to help him?” Angel asked.
“I do not intend to commit suicide. I would like to live,” Arthur responded in an annoyed tone, like it should have been self-evident.
“Lock your door when you sleep, especially when you’re sleeping near a known killer. I could have killed you instead of woke you up. It’d have been easier,” Angel told him.
“You wouldn’t,” Arthur said. Angel turned her head back towards him and smiled. “You wouldn’t, right?”
“I didn’t,” She said, “But you still shouldn’t drop your guard like that. You never know when there could be an enemy.”
It had been agreed that reviving Jellal would come before attempting to destroy Nirvana. It’d be easier on Wendy with Cait Shelter still there, and if anything went wrong having more people to restrain the potentially insanely evil dark mage was useful.
Jellal wasn’t dangerous, though. At least not to others. He was a man riddled with guilt and despair, eager to die for sins he couldn’t even remember.
Arthur ended up socking him in the jaw. “So your past is full of crimes. So you sinned. Dying won’t make any of it better. You can’t atone once you’re dead. You want their souls to rest in peace? You want to make it up to them? Then make the world a better place. Do what you can to see their hopes and dreams come true, and if you can’t. If they were rotten to the core. Then just go out and help someone.” Arthur was just repeating what he’d told himself the night before. Mostly. He knew those he killed didn’t have angry ghosts that would be aware of his attempts to make amends.
Still it was enough to prevent the blue-haired wizard from killing himself at least for the time being. Though as Arthur prepared to leave for Nirvana, Jellal asked him a question which was going to prove awkward. “Who’s Erza?” How did Arthur explain that tangled mass of things to someone? The woman you love would be simple. But telling an amnesiac that just felt like it’d create issues.
The destruction of Nirvana itself was exceedingly simple. He had a map of the forest from his Archive. He couldn’t quite teleport to the precise location of its control tower, but he could get close, and then follow the rest of the way to its location. Roubaul had added its blueprints to his archive. He just needed to simultaneously destroy all six of its power sources, while they were underground.
He shifted his ‘space’ around, spreading his territory, creating six separate clumps, and then he connected them to the space directly in front of him, before breathing deep and roaring. Darkness shot from his mouth, firing through the overlapping portals, and exploding outwards into the six lacrima cores. Arthur wasn’t tired this time. He wasn’t holding back. He was just unleashing his destructive force.
The destruction shook the forest like an earthquake. Nirvana would activate, its self-repair lacrima scrambling to undo the damage, but with the power sources destroyed they’d lack the energy. But just to help it with things, as dark energy began to wrap around the tower that served to control the city-sized weapon. He leaned in, and breathed deep, sucking in the darkness before him and swallowing it whole.
Then he looked down and roared again, firing directly beneath him to destroy the central complex of Nirvana and make sure no one else made use of it. He was back to Cait Shelter about 15 minutes after he’d left it, and most of that had been walking to the tower. The mages sent by the interim magical council’s bureaucracy hadn’t even figured out what the first earthquake was yet - much less the second one which had caused the ground to erupt as magical energy exploded outwards in geysers of light and darkness - by the time he was back at the guild.
Wendy was crying. Roubaul was beginning to fade and with him the rest of the guild, the buildings assuming their true, ruined form. He looked at Arthur. “Thank you. Please, take care of Wendy.”
Arthur moved towards the child, Wendy was falling to her knees, already in tears. He hugged her from behind, and simply held her. She’d just lost her foster parent for a second time. It had to be very hard on her. And she hadn’t found new ones yet. Not really. Fairy Tail barely knew her.
Arthur kicked himself over that one.
“I promised I’ll take you to Fairy Tail. They’ll be happy to have you, and they’re good people. You’ll like it there,” He said.
“I liked it here,” Wendy sobbed.
“I know, but… life happens. We have to flow with it. The future is always moving…” He hated this. Talking was hard, and consoling a crying child was harder. “But the memories and your time with them will always be inside of you. Treasure it. And know they’ll be smiling, looking down on you from where they’ve gone.”
Wendy sobbed again, and Carla and Arthur simply held her. Angel watched, and sighed. Wendy was about the age her little sister had to be. Not that she’d seen Yukino in most of a decade. Last time she saw her little sister she was only a few years old. Angel felt tears welling up in her own eyes as she approached, and joined into the group hugging Wendy. And through it all the amnesiac Jellal, sat in a corner of the ruined building, brooding in his own silence and watching.
Once Wendy had said her farewells to the place that had been her home, it was time to take her to Magnolia and Fairy Tail. Arthur was ready. It shouldn’t be a long trip with Enif.
“I’m ready,” Wendy said, clingy tightly to Carla’s hand.
“Open gate of the pegasus!” Arthur announced. It wasn’t actually necessary, but it did make the spell a bit easier. The bronze pegasus appeared, Enif rearing up and kicking the air, his wings spreading.
“Wheredoweneedtogo? Isitfar? I’llgetyoutherefastfastfast!” The pegasus said excitedly.
Wendy looked at it, eyes going wide, as she started trembling. Carla’s face seemed to become whiter than her already snow white fur.
“W-w-we’re not teleporting?” Wendy asked.
“I’ve never been there. I’ve never seen it. My idea of the location isn’t clear enough to teleport there with Territory,” Arthur confessed. If he’d picked up the more specialized teleportation magic it might work, but Territory didn’t quite cover it.
“W-w-we have to ride there on that thing?” Wendy stammered, forcing herself to move a bit towards the pegasus.
“Enif isn’t a thing, he’s a celestial spirit,” Arthur said, patting the pegasus’s neck.
“You can’t really be serious about making Wendy ride that thing again!” Karla said.
“I’llgethertherefastfastfast,” Enif said, “Justletmeknowwhereandzoomwe’llbeofflikeacomet.”
“It was fine last time,” Arthur said.
“Carla. It’s ok. W-we can handle another ride,” Wendy said.
Arthur might have been about to say something, but Angel smacked him on the back of the head. “She obviously didn’t enjoy it last time.” She looked down towards Wendy. “Don’t worry, we’ll take you to Fairy Tail on foot if we have to. You won’t have to ride that horse again.”
“Butonfootisslow. I’dgethertherefast. Pleaserideme. Wecouldbetherealreadywherever it is,” Enif pleaded.
Artur patted the horse. “I’m sorry, I think we’re vetoed Enif. Still thanks for coming, I’ll call you again if I need to get somewhere fast.”
“Rogerroger. I’mthefastestspirityou’llfind,” Enif said before disappearing.
Arthur sighed out. That had been more tiresome than the entire process of destroying Nirvana. And the horse hadn’t even done anything. “Alright, we can go on foot,” He said. Hopefully they’d get Wendy to Fairy Tail in time for Edolas. “Maybe we can rent a carriage in the next town.”
“Arthur needed to take me to Gazania for some shopping anyway, so we can pick you up a pretty dress while we’re there,” Angel said, turning to smile at Wendy.
“What? Since when?” Arthur complained.
“Have you looked at my clothes?” Angel asked.
“Been trying not to honestly,” Arthur muttered. The dress showed a bit too much skin for him to be comfortable looking at. Felt too much like ogling her.
“My clothes that you ruined with your stupid lightning bird,” Angel continued.
“You were abducting a small child and trying to take over the country!”
“You still ruined my dress, and that means you’re responsible for replacing it,” Angel stated. “Besides you should feel privileged, you get to take two cute girls shopping,” She looked at Wendy and Carla, “Three even,” She said patting Carla on the head like a cat, much to Carla’s chagrin.
“You and Gellal are the countries most wanted criminals, how can I just take you shopping!?”
“Gemini,” Angel said, holding up the key. “I need some transformation magic.” She smiled at Arthur with a face that said she knew she’d won.
Then Arthur walked over towards her, a silver key appearing in his hand which he pressed to the center of her chest. “Celestial Spirit Dress - Aquila!” There was a flash of light, and suddenly Angel was clad in a new outfit. Like her old one it was mostly composed of feathers, but it was different. The eagle feathers which made up the dress were the same yellow as Altair’s own, the dress appearing with a relatively short skirt, and yellow thigh highs, the top ending above her navel, and with a deep V which reached her breasts. It came complete with a feathered headdress, and little red facepaint on her cheeks.
Angel stared at him for a few moments. “I did not give you permission to put me into cosplay,” She said, raising a hand and firing a bit of electricity out of it. The sheer quantity of it surprised her, and she immediately stopped, but already Arthur lay on the ground twitching from the blast.
Angel was on her knees in a moment checking on him. “Please be okay! I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know that it would be that much. I’m sorry. Don’t be dead!”
Angel wasn’t the only one rushing over, Wendy was as well. And given the girl’s specialty was healing magic, and for a 12 year old especially, she was an extremely powerful mage, it was only moments before Arthur was back on his feet.
“That was a Celestial Spirit magic spell, wasn’t it?” Angel said. “An advanced one. You really like making me feel like I’m only half a mage, don’t you?”
“Not even a sorry?” Arthur said, rubbing his head. “That lightning hurt.”
“I seem to remember experiencing it first hand,” Angel said, childishly making a face at him. “Still I can’t imagine this will last forever, so you still owe me some new clothes.”
“I just figured you’d want something to wear on the way,” Arthur said. “I should have asked first,” Even as he spoke the air around him grew dark and somewhat hazy, light warping a little as it passed through it. It reminded Angel of his magic.
“What’s that?” She asked.
“If I had to name it, Territory: King’s Armor. I should never have dropped my guard against Brain, and he should never have had the chance to blast me. It should give me a nice little barrier to stop any attacks coming my way,” He explained.
“Why do you need it now?” Angel asked.
“I have been reminded I shouldn’t drop my guard around you,” Arthur said with a wink.
“Hey!” Angel’s nose wrinkled as she pouted. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it’d be that much power. And you’re too much of a mage not to be tough.”
“It just reminded me that I need to be more careful. I never know when there might be an enemy,” He said, not getting to see the little smile on Angel’s face.