AN:
Hey Everybody! I'm back! I am so sorry for the ridiculously long delay for this rewrite! To be honest I lost my passion and inspiration for the story. I still haven't gotten it completely back yet, but I want to start writing a few other crossovers of some shows I've been watching lately. However, I will not be one of those writers that starts stories and never finishes them but will then start other new stories. As I'm rewriting this once more, I'm starting to get more and more into it again.
I hope you all enjoy this rewrite. I don't plan on stopping again, especially since I'm all finished with classes this semester and have the whole summer to regain my momentum with this.
One big change is the timeline; I'm setting the start of the story to about a year or so before the canon begins.
And because of this change, I will have to delete all of the other chapters since they won't sync up with this new one anymore.
But fear not! For I WILL NOT fail to update again. Well at least not to the same extent, no more yearlong hiatuses or any major length of time like that. With luck I should have the next chapter up in about 2 weeks time.
Chapter 1:
"Do I scare you, woman?" Ulquiorra asked Orihime as he reached his hand towards her, his body slowly disintegrating as they stood atop the roof of Las Noches.
Tensing up at his intense stare, she relaxed after a moment, gave him a tearful and compassionate look, and said, "I'm not afraid." She smiled at him, "I'm not afraid," she repeated.
"I see..." was his only response. Orihime reached to grab his hand only to have it turn to ash as soon as she touched it. 'Now I see.' Ulquiorra thought as his body continued to dissipate at a rapid pace. 'Her heart was right...' his body was completely gone as he finished his thought, 'in my hands.' With that, final thought he took his last breath in Hueco Mundo as the last of his body turned to ash.
The sensation of falling consumed his senses. He looked up to see a garganta-like rip in the sky closing shut. He tried to reorient himself so he wasn't falling head first, but a searing pain stopped him. He looked at his body and saw that all of the wounds from his battle with Kurosaki covered him. He was surprised to see that his hollow hole was missing, and he realized that the he couldn't feel his mask fragment on his head anymore. He decided to file these revelations away for later though. His high-speed regeneration wasn't working, though he accurately attributed it to the fact that he was exhausted, having almost no reiryoku now. Looking towards the ground, he saw that he was going to fall into the water, unable to do anything, to drown as soon as he seems to have been given a second lease on life. 'Very well, if this is to be my fate, then so be it.' He thought as he was nearing the water, which he noticed, was by a cliff at the edge of a town from the few buildings he could see; especially the large two story one right by the cliff.
He didn't have time to ponder about the town for long as he crashed into the water with dizzying force. In his current condition, he was quickly losing consciousness, but before everything went black, he saw a red and white form coming towards him.
He was on in front of the void in Hueco Mundo once more. He stared at the white tree that had captured his sight. It was without color, sound, scent, or interaction; it simply existed. He began to sink his body into the tree, its limbs entangling him. He soon lost sight, but was not worried, for he was within the void that was so like him. The tree completely engulfed his pure white hollow form and his mouthless mask. He began to feel…nostalgic. And his mask suddenly cracked and shattered, exposing his face and leaving his bone helmet as his mask fragment.
His eyes shot open and he noticed that he was laying down in a bed covered in bandages. Lifting his head, he glanced around the room in which he was. It was circular and wooden, as though it was within a tree. There were two people in the room with him. One stood by a table mixing some herbs; she had pink hair tied up in a bun held in place by a gold pin adorned with crescent moons on the ends. She wore a red cape that had short but sharp teeth on the collar. The other person was young girl, maybe 20 years old or so if he had to guess. She had long white hair with her bangs done up in a short upright ponytail. She was wearing a sleeveless red dress, and she appeared to be sleeping in her seat at the moment. Looking at the young woman, 'She has no reiatsu, but something similar. While that other woman has none of that energy.' Using his pesquisa he mused, 'this place has no sign of reiatsu or reiryoku. However, the air is filled with something similar to it, just like the girl, it feels lighter and less dense. Perhaps I have broken through some sort of dimensional barrier or gap when Kurosaki defeated me. That is the only logical possibility since everything had reiryoku to some degree. And yet there is none in this world.'
"Where am I?" His monotone voice broke the silence that encompassed the room. The pink haired woman turned towards him and he saw that she was old, probably in her eighties or so, and had red eyes.
"You are in my home, young man." She answered sternly. Seeing him start to sit up she scolded him, "You shouldn't sit up! You'll only reopen your wounds!" She scolded him, and was about to force him to lay back down like she usually had to do with some members of Fairy Tail. But she stopped when she didn't even see him wince or struggle as he sat upright.
"I am fine, woman. My injuries have healed already." He told her as he began looking around the room for his clothes. "Where are my clothes?" He already knew Murciélago was nearby; it was a part of him after all.
The old woman stared at him for a moment, shock evident in her eyes, "How can you already be healed? Those wounds would've taken a few weeks to heal completely." When he didn't answer and instead just stared at her emotionlessly waiting for an answer she decided to let it go, for now. She would get an answer afterwards. "Your clothes are in the other room, I had to wash and mend them. They were almost torn to shreds and covered in blood when you arrived." She left the room to get his clothes.
As she left, he turned his attention to the young girl who was starting to wake up. "Why did you bring me here, woman?" He asked his eyes boring in to her.
"You were injured, pretty badly, when you fell from that hole in the sky. I couldn't just let you die." She answered softly worry evident in her eyes and tone.
"I see." He simply said.
"Why were you so injured? It's obvious you were in a battle or were attacked, if you don't mind me asking?" She inquired gently, not wanting to upset him.
"I was in a battle that I lost. I should have died but somehow didn't." He answered. This caught the attention of the older woman as she had made her way back into the room.
"Here are your clothes, their very strange for around here. Where are you from? And what are you? You don't smell like a human." She demanded with a glare at the arrancar.
He returned her glare with his dead gaze. "I am from Hueco Mundo. I am an Arrancar." He decided to answer, figuring that perhaps they could be of use to him in gathering information on this new dimension.
"Hueco Mundo? Arrancar? I've never heard of any such place or thing in my entire life. But judging from your appearance out of a hole in the sky and the fact that you're not human, I wouldn't be surprised if you're from another dimension. It wouldn't be the first case of such a thing happening." The old woman stated calmly. "In which case I would suggest you join Fairy Tail, the local guild. You should be able to find a home and family with them."
This made the young girl beam at him, "Yeah! You should join Fairy Tail! We'll be able to help you adjust to this new world. I'm Mirajane Strauss, a member of Fairy Tail, by the way! And this is Porlyusica." She introduced them to him.
Ulquiorra thought about it for a moment, 'Joining this guild would be the most logical path; perhaps they could help me find my own heart. We will see.' Focusing his gaze on Mirajane, he answered, "Very well then. I shall accompany you to this guild. I'm Ulquiorra Cifer." With that, he got up and went behind a screen to change. As soon as he was finished, he turned to Porlyusica, "My zanpakuto. Where is it?" He asked,
"Zanpakuto? Do you mean the katana that you had on you? It's right over here. I've found that it is best to separate injured people from their weapons; they tend to cause a ruckus when they wake up. And I like keeping my home neat and tidy." She walked to a cabinet and pulled the zanpakuto out and handed it back you him.
Tying Murciélago to his waist, he began heading to the door. As he opened it, he turned his head towards the two women and nodded, "Thank you for your assistance. I must now find this Fairy Tail Guild." And with that, he began his journey. It was only a few moments before he sensed Mirajane running to catch up to him.
"Wait for me!" She called out to him. "You don't even know where the guild hall is yet, silly!" Ulquiorra just nodded his head in agreement.
Looking out her window, Porlyusica watched as the arrancar and Fairy Tail mage walked away. "There's something off about that young man. He had the aura of a demon, and yet I felt no form of malice or hatred. Just emptiness. Hopefully Makarov can help him find what he is looking for." She mused to herself. "Though I wouldn't mind if he comes back for a visit, he doesn't reek like a human and was quite polite."
As they walked through the forest, Mirajane was telling Ulquiorra all about other members of Fairy Tail and about Magnolia, the town in which the guild is located.
"What is a guild?" Ulquiorra asked after hearing about some of the rowdier members.
"A guild is a place where you and friends can gather, find work to do, and for people with nowhere to go place you can call home." Mirajane answered remembering her guild master's words well.
Closing his eyes he answered, "I see, perhaps this was a good idea after all. Perhaps I can find my heart." Hearing this caused Mira's eyes to widen.
"What do you mean by find your heart?" She asked, truly confused by what he meant. Was he talking about love, family, or something of the sort?
"I have lived my whole life without the heart. I never felt any emotions, sadness, joy, anger; I felt none of it, never needed to. Nothingness is perfection, being alone was as close as I could get to it in life." His cold green eyes boring into her expressive blue ones he finished, "But I learned a little about the heart during the last moments in my world and I will find mine so that my second chance at life is not in vain."
"Ahhh, I think I see what you mean. I believe that Fairy Tail is just the guild for you to join then! It may seem wild and disorganized, but we truly are a guild devoted to one another. Everyone there has had a troubled past in one way or another. For many of us it's our home and family. It's our heart, that's why I think we'll be able to help you find and understand yours hopefully." She smiled warmly at him.
They quickly reached Magnolia, and Mirajane was pointing out all the major points of interest while Ulquiorra just listened. He found her voice to be comforting and pleasant, and her upbeat personality was a definite change of pace from what he was used to in Las Noches. They soon reached the Fairy Tail Guild hall.
At first glance, the guild hall was rather unimpressive, especially compared the grandeur and enormity of Las Noches. It was a three floored building designed like a pagoda, each floor smaller than the one below it. It was a homey building, another change of pace from his previous home. "For many of us, this is our home. Hopefully you'll be able to call it home too." Mira smiled at him before leading him inside.
The inside had a comfortable atmosphere with groups of people chatting and acting as if they were a family. However, it all stopped when they felt his dark presence. Many of them tensing and preparing to fight if need be. The only thing that stopped them was Mirajane's comfortable attitude near him. Though that didn't stop one woman clad in armor. She appeared directly behind Ulquiorra and placed a sword against his neck, not that he paid any attention to it with his hierro and all. But he did glance back at her when she began speaking. "Who are you? And why are here?" She demanded harshly before turning to Mira, "Did he hurt and force you to bring him here, Mira?"
Before Mira could answer, Ulquiorra leveled his dead eyes towards the armored woman who had red hair as he noticed. "I don't answer to you. It would be wise to remove that sword from my neck now, trash." His monotone and blank gaze unsettling almost everyone.
Mirajane noticing how things are escalating tried to stop it from going further, "No he didn't force me to bring him here, Erza. I brought him here to join the guild. Where is the master?" she finished, looking around to see the guild master.
"He's in his office, but this dark mage is not getting anywhere near him." Erza glared at the arrancar. She was not going to let any harm come to her family, especially from a dark mage if she could help it.
"Dark mage? I am no such thing. Now I will meet with this guild master as planned. And you will not stop me, trash." He replied coldly before turning to Mira, "Where is the office?"
"It's right over there. Erza, stop. He is not a dark mage and doesn't want to hurt anyone here. Even if he did, the master is more than capable of protecting himself." She explained before leading Ulquiorra to where she had indicated. Erza not being one to give up followed them with her sword still ready to strike.
When the trio entered the office, they arrived to the sight of an extremely tiny man, literally the size of a child, sitting cross-legged on his desk waiting for them. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, young man! How can I help you?" He greeted Ulquiorra jovially.
"I was told by the woman Porlyusica and Mira that I should join this guild due to my situation." The Espada answered. He analyzed the man before him. Despite being extremely small, he had an enormous amount of energy compared to the two girls next to him. His eyes were similar to Kurosaki's albeit holding much more experience and wisdom within them.
The man nodded his head, "I don't doubt that. I'm Makarov Dreyar, the third guild master of Fairy Tail. Who might you be?" His eyes held bore into Ulquiorra's own, trying to figure him out.
Returning his gaze, Ulquiorra answered, "I am Ulquiorra Cifer."
Despite the dark presence Ulquiorra exuded, Makarov could not find any deceit or malice within his eyes, only blankness, as if he had no emotions. "I have to ask, why do you have the feeling like that of a dark mage's? I'm sure no dark mage would be suicidal enough to walk right into a legal guild and face their master head on." Makarov inquired.
"I am no dark mage. I am an arrancar. From what I have gathered I am not from this dimension." This statement caught both Erza and Makarov by surprise.
Shaking off his momentary surprise Makarov closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking at the Espada. "I see. Porlyusica was right to send you here. I have dealt with people from another dimension before. However, I doubt that it's the same one as yours. Since they had no magic at all, and you seem to have something similar to magic. While I don't like to pry into the lives of others too much, this situation of yours requires me to do so."
"I understand, Master Makarov." Ulquiorra nodded. "What would you like to know?"
"Before we start, I'm going to have to ask that you two leave the room. This is his life, and it's his share with others when he wants to." Makarov told the two young women.
Neither of which wanted to leave: Erza because she didn't trust Ulquiorra and Mira because she wanted to get to know him better. Erza was the one who voiced their reluctance, "I'm sorry, Master. But I refuse to allow him to be in the same room as you alone. He can't be trusted."
"Do you really think that I can't protect myself? I am the master of this guild -" Makarov scolded them, before he was interrupted.
"It does not matter if they hear it or not. Their opinions are not important. Your concern is unnecessary, master Makarov." Ulquiorra interjected surprising the other three occupants of the room completely.
"Very well then," Makarov sighed with a shake of his head. "Let's begin with your dimension."
"Of course." The arrancar accepted before reaching up to his right eye and pulling it out shocking everyone present. Before they could question him on his sanity or welfare, he crushed it in his hand. Instead of wet squelching sound, they all heard a shattering sound as the eye turned into a cloud of particles. "This will make things easier to understand."
"But what about your eye?" Mirajane exclaimed worriedly.
Glancing towards her, he said, "It'll regenerate shortly." Turning his attention to Makarov, he began his explanation. "The world I come from is split into three dimensions, the human world, the Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo. There is no magic there; instead, there is reiryoku, or spirit energy. Everything living in these dimensions has reiryoku. The human world is self-explanatory; most humans have little to no reiryoku and are thus unaware of the other two dimensions. But there are some humans with excessive reiryoku that can use abilities like magic." As he spoke, the cloud showed images of the human world as well as the powers of Ichigo's friends.
"The Soul Society is the afterlife for most. It is also the home for the Shinigami who ferry the souls of the humans to the Soul Society. They have a considerable amount of reiryoku." During his description, the cloud showed them images of the Soul Society and the various Shinigami he's encountered. Then it changed to the white sands of Hueco Mundo. "The last dimension is Hueco Mundo, home to the hollows. Hollows are souls who have lost their heart and try to devour souls to fill the void. A hollow is identified by its white mask and a hole in its chest. They consume anything that has reiryoku, whether it be human, shinigami, or even other hollows to quell their eternal hunger and gain power. Hollows run almost completely on the instinct to feed and kill, most are mindless creatures. The stronger hollows have regained their reason and ability to think." The image changed to show the different types of hollows. "As a hollow gets more powerful it'll become a Menos Grande. There are three kinds of them. The Gillian, which are mindless and massive. Then the Adjuchas, which are much smaller, more powerful, and are able to think. Finally there are the Vasto Lordes, they are almost human in appearance and are the most powerful and intelligent of the hollows."
"Which are you, Ulquiorra? You didn't say anything about an arrancar?" Makarov asked.
"The arrancar are hollows, most if not all of were Menos Grande, who have ascended above the others by breaking off their masks one way or another. By doing so, they attain a human appearance and shinigami-like powers. They retain a fragment of their mask and their hollow hole." The images changed to those of his fellow arrancar.
When they saw the images, they were confused. Ulquiorra had no mask fragment or hollow hole, and only Mira saw his number. "What do the numbers mean?" Mira asked.
"The numbers represent when we became arrancars with eleven being the oldest. One through ten were reserved for the Espada, the most powerful arrancar is Lord Aizen's army. He was a shinigami that betrayed the Soul Society and created most of the arrancar, the rest were ones who broke their masks naturally." He explained.
"What number are were you?" Erza inquired.
"I was number four, the Cuatro Espada."
Makarov decided to voice something that had been bothering him, "Why don't you have a mask fragment or hole?"
"That I do not know. But I can still feel as though they are there." As he spoke, both his bone helmet and hollow hole formed, surprising everyone even himself. "This is…unusual."
"How come you act so differently from the others from what you showed us?" Mirajane asked with a tilt of her head.
"I have always been different from the others. They retained their emotions, and the very concept of the heart was foreign to me. What was it? Would I see it if I tore open your chest? Would I see it if I cracked open your head? I pondered this without every knowing an answer for hundreds of years as a hollow and arrancar. It wasn't until my last few moments in my world that I realized a small portion of what it is." He opened his right eye to show that it had regenerated complete before he continued. "I have lived hundreds of years without knowing what the heart is. I have never felt emotions, sadness, anger, and joy, none of them. I never needed to. Nothingness was perfection. Being alone and without emotion was as close as I could get to it. But now the heart intrigues me and I desire to find mine so that this second chance will not be in vain."
Mirajane was practically tearing up at his story. "How could you have survived a life like that?" She choked out.
Even Erza was shaken by his story. "What could have made you like that? How can nothing be perfection?" She asked quietly.
"Yes, what could have made you like that, Ulquiorra? And what could have changed you?" Makarov inquired gently.
Looking in their eyes, Ulquiorra was rather surprised to see no judgment within them. Very unlike those of his fellow arrancar. "The first thing I remember was waking up in a place encompassed in darkness. There were other hollows there. However, they were different from me, they were entirely black and had large mouths while I was entirely white and had no mouth. I didn't understand it at all, but when they tried to devour me for power, I had to kill them all. It was either kill or be killed. I climbed out of the pit we resided within and travelled across Hueco Mundo until I saw it." The cloud showed them his memories. "It was tree that was a void. It was white like me, had no scent, color, or interaction with the world. It simply existed. I walked right into and embraced the nothingness it provided. It was then that I became an arrancar."
The cloud's image shifted to his last moments. "My view was changed by a woman we had captured. She was afraid of me at first, but before I faded from the world she showed me what the heart is." He finished his story as the cloud dissipated.
Mirajane was crying now, even Erza was reeling from the events of Ulquiorra's life. Makarov himself let a few tears fall before he regained his composure. Turning his attention to the arrancar, he spoke, "Ulquiorra. I think that Fairy Tail would be the perfect guild for you to join. Everyone here has a tragic past of some sort, but they all overcome it one way or another. But they never have to face it alone; each and every member of this guild has friends and family within Fairy Tail to support them. We are a family here at Fairy Tail."
"Thank you, master Makarov." Ulquiorra acknowledged.
"Where would you like your guild mark and in what color?" Makarov asked as he handed the Guild stamp to Mira.
Opening his coat, he pointed to the four on his chest. "Right here and green."
"Same shade as your eyes?" Mira queried with a blush to which she received a simple nod. She stamped the guild mark on his chest. The Fairy Tail symbol somehow fit perfectly behind the 4, which had faded just a bit to make the guild mark more prominent. He credited that to magic.
"Thank you." Ulquiorra nodded. 'Why is her face red? And refusing to look me in the eye now? It's not important now. I'll figure it out later.' He pondered when he saw her blush before he turned his attention to the short man on the desk. "What now, master Makarov?"
"Well I'd like to see where you are at in terms of abilities and strength. So we'll have you fight against another member. And judging from your power, your opponent would have to be one of our S-class mages." Makarov said, then looking towards Erza he continued. "Erza is one of our S-class mages and a sword user like yourself, so she'll be your opponent. Is that good with you Erza?"
"Of course it is, master. I would also like to see you how good he is with his sword." Erza agreed. "I am ready whenever he is."
"Very well then. Let's get this over with." Ulquiorra replied flatly.
With that, Makarov lead them out of the room and back into the main room of the guild hall. "Everyone! Ulquiorra is now a member of Fairy Tail! He's going to have a duel with Erza so that we will have an idea as to what rank he would be." He announce before leading his small group outside to the area in front of the guild hall with the entire guild following to see the battle. Erza and Ulquiorra immediately walked to opposite sides of the area with Makarov between them. Before beginning the duel, Makarov listened to some of the idle chatter.
"He's going against Erza? Looks like we'll be losing our new member already!" Macao's voice called out.
"Yeah, poor guy's gonna get crushed." Wakaba answered.
"Yeah! Well only, a true man has the balls to face Erza! Though a real man also knows when he's in over his head!" Elfman shouted, before going off on a tangent about manliness and being a man.
"Man, I'm all fired up! I wonder if he's strong! He must be if he's fighting Erza. Right Happy!" Natsu literally ignited into a human fireball. To which, the flying blue cat, answered with, "Aye, Sir!"
And of course, Cana was collecting bets on the fight. Glancing back, Makarov blanched a bit, if he was to go by the bets alone, Ulquiorra would be a dead man over 50 times now. At least until he heard Mira, "I think you guys are underestimating him. I'll place my bet on Ulquiorra." Shaking his head at her words, he couldn't agree more. 'Looks like Mirajane is going to be winning quite a bit of money today.' Turning his attention to the two combatants, he asked if they were ready.
"Of course, Master!" came Erza's dignified response as she requipped a sword.
While Ulquiorra monotoned, "Yes."
"Begin!" Makarov shouted as he jumped out of the way.
Erza immediately launched herself towards the Arrancar and began slashing at him. He easily dodged each and every one with minimal movement. A sidestep here, a back step there, and twist or bend tossed in too. With each additional missed attack, Erza was becoming more and more frustrated with both her missed attacks and his complete lack of interest in the fight.
Getting nowhere with her current attack plan she decided to jump back and away from him so she could requip into her Heaven's Wheel armor. She instantly summoned a large mass of swords above her and launched herself at Ulquiorra with a pair of slices both of which had missed. But she smirked as she was behind him muttering, "Blumenblatt" as the mass of swords crashed into him with such force that a small crater and dust cloud were created. All of a sudden, Ulquiorra was right next to her and instinct alone allowed her summon several swords to act as a shield between her and the arrancar before he launched a kick at her. The kick instantly destroyed the swords and crashed into her sending her flying into the sky with her armor cracked and broken and possibly even a broken or at least bruised rib. 'Damn, I wasn't expecting a kick to be that powerful. Let's see how my Black Wing armor works.' She thought as she righted herself in the air before requipping into the Black Wing armor. Swooping down at him, she unleashes a barrage of slashes, slices, and stabs upon the Espada.
Deftly dodging the onslaught with ease Ulquiorra analyzes his opponent. 'She summoned two different sets of armor. The first one allowed her to summon and control a large number of blades. And this one seems to have increased her attack power and even speed slightly.' Jumping back and away from her he said, "I see, you can summon different armors for different situations. A versatile ability." With his observation stated, he pulled his right hand from his pocket, his reiatsu spiking for a moment and making the air feel dens and heavy.
The sudden pressure they felt visibly shook most of the spectators. Only a few of the members seemed unaffected: Makarov, Mira, Erza, and even Natsu and Gray. 'Hm, seems like not all of them are complete trash.' Ulquiorra mused as he charged green reiryoku around his fist. He uttered, "Bala" as the green reiryoku was launched from his fist straight towards Erza. She quickly jumped out of the way and glanced back as it hit the ground creating a small crater. Not wanting to deal with any more of them, she charged at Ulquiorra again, but instead of simply dodging like before. He fired several more Balas at her as she approached. However, Erza wasn't S-class for nothing as she nimbly avoided all but one, which she skillfully cut in half, surprising the arrancar. Bringing her sword down upon him at full strength, he blocks it with the back of his hand. The strength of her attack created a crater from the impact, and even created a small cut on the back of Ulquiorra's hand.
With a quick burst of reiryoku from his hand, Ulquiorra forced Erza to jump back hurriedly. His wound healed up almost instantly as though he had never been cut in the first place. Only Makarov, Erza, and Mira noticed the fact that the redhead had managed to cause damage to the arrancar. "Hm, I suppose you aren't trash after all, woman." Ulquiorra spoke plainly before jumping into the air. Pointing his index finger down at Erza, he began gathering a large amount of reiryoku. Within moments a green orb began forming, everyone present could feel the power condensed within it. Even the sound it made was intimidating to hear, especially with his impassive face and dead eyes.
Erza immediately requipped into her Adamantine Armor and smashed the two shields together just in time to hear Ulquiorra say, "Cero." The green orb fired forth into a beam that collided with the shield's magic circle. The impact created a large crater and the armor was quickly cracking under the pressure of the attack. As the end of the Cero reached Erza, it exploded. The crater was now rather large and deep, encompassing most of the area in front of the guild hall with a large cloud of cloud covering it. Ulquiorra descended to the edge of the dust and swung his arm out, clearing the dust immediately. Erza was revealed with shattered armor that reverted to her blue skirt and white blouse. She was exhausted and covered in cuts and a few bruises, but was otherwise fine.
She has trouble sitting up but pushes through it. She looks at Ulquiorra as she tries to stand. He sees that there's still fire in her eyes, even though she is beaten, she's still trying to fight. He is reminded of Kurosaki when he looks at her now. As she stands and tries to prepare to an attack she is startled by his hand landing on her shoulder right before she stumbled. She glances back to see him standing there. Seeing the question in her fierce gaze, "You are easy to read, woman. But your determination is…intriguing," he answers not only how he defeated her so easily, but also how he knew she was going to stumble and stop her before she did. His dead eyes bore into hers making her uncomfortable, but she could sense a feeling of respect and acknowledgement coming from him now. "It reminds me of someone I once knew, a man who I thought to be a fool, but proved me wrong and never did what was expected up until the very end."
Everyone is stunned into silence by Ulquiorra's sound victory. Makarov and Mirajane are the only ones not surprised by the victory. 'Defeating Erza is no easy task, even Laxus would have trouble. Yet you won without using both hands, let alone draw your sword. How powerful are you, Ulquiorra Cifer?' Makarov pondered as he watched the guild's reactions with amusement.
The majority of the guild was feeling quite a bit of fear when they saw Erza defeated so soundly by the arrancar, some had even taken a few steps back. Nevertheless, the bulk of the fear left when they saw him help Erza stay standing.
Gray was pale in fear at the sight of the all mighty Erza losing…so easily to the arrancar. "How strong is that guy?" He gulped nervously.
"Gray, your clothes." Cana deadpanned as she looked from Gray to Ulquiorra, fear evident in her eyes, at a display of strength that could rival Gildarts.
"What? Damn it! Not again, when did it happen!" Gray shouted as he realized he was only in his boxers…again.
Macao and Wakaba were speechless with their jaws dropped and eyes wide after Ulquiorra's display of strength. "He's a monster!" They cried in unison.
"He is more than a man to beat Erza! He's a monster of a man!" Elfman shouted pumping his fist in the air.
"I wonder who he was talking about, and why is he so expressionless?" Levy muttered quietly to herself, her curiosity greatly overriding any fear of the Espada she had. Jet and Droy didn't hear her due to their own conversation about Ulquiorra and his scariness.
Natsu stared in shock and awe at the two combatants. "He…he beat Erza, Happy."
"Aye" was the cat's answer.
"This means…that he's super strong! I wanna fight him!" He charged towards Ulquiorra only to be stopped by Makarov's hand. "What're you doing, Gramps! I can take him!" He shouted, fire spewing from his mouth.
"You're not ready to fight him yet Natsu. Look at Erza, she's only standing because he is keeping her from falling, and she used her Adamantine Armor." The short guild master explained, looking the young dragon slayer in the eyes. "I know he was still holding back greatly, considering he only used one hand and never even drew his sword," he reasoned.
"But old-man..." Natsu pleaded.
However, Makarov only shook his head, "Not now, Natsu. You'll be ready someday though."
Meanwhile Mirajane had a sinister smirk on her face as she collected her winnings from Cana's booth, her demon side wasn't completely gone after all. "I told you guys that we were in for a surprise!" She beamed. "But I didn't expect him to be that strong," She admitted. She then began to walk back into the guild hall along with the rest of the guild. "Thank you, Ulquiorra." She hummed happily to herself, trying to think of what she should do with all of her winnings.
The only ones remaining outside were Ulquiorra, Erza, and Makarov. Ulquiorra drew Murciélago slightly and cut his finger. He brought his hand over to Erza and let a few drops of blood fall into some of her larger cuts. After a about a minute he channeled reiryoku from the hand on her shoulder into her to activate his bloods regenerative abilities. She wouldn't heal instantly, but she was already feeling a little better. "Is this your regenerative abilities? I mean, I saw you regenerate your eye, but to have it used on someone else. I can't believe it's possible." Erza marveled at his ability.
"Indeed. I never would have imagined that your healing factor could be used to aid others." Makarov said shocked at what he saw.
Removing his hand from Erza so she could stand on her own Ulquiorra admitted, "I wasn't sure it would work, but magic is very versatile compared to reiryoku." He turned to head back inside to relax and drink some tea.
Before he could get very far though Erza stopped him by shouting, "Wait!" He looked back to see Erza and Makarov walking up to him. "You weren't using your full strength were you? She inquired, her eyes and tone giving no chance for him to ignore without angering her.
"You are correct there, woman. That was a small portion of it." He confessed blankly, before continuing inside. She was stunned, 'How much power does he have? He could be as strong as Gildarts or master Makarov.' She hypothesized. She and the guild master quickly followed his suit and went inside.
Everyone cheered and started to celebrate the addition of a new member, and it started well until, Natsu and Gray started fighting over the usual nothing. This resulted in tables, chairs, plates and mugs flying all over the place hitting various members and causing a full out Fairy Tail brawl to commence. In other words a usual day at Fairy Tail. Though most of the members kept their distance from Ulquiorra, they were still wary of him, especially after the battle.
Ulquiorra sat at the bar with Mira, Erza, and Makarov. He took a sip of tea that Mirajane had made for him. "This is good tea." He complimented monotonously.
"Thanks! We don't have many people that drink tea, so I haven't had many chances to practice making it. I'm glad you like." Mira beamed as she topped his cup off when he set it down on the bar.
He glanced back at the brawl that was currently raging on behind them, "Does this happen, often?" he asked.
"Every day just about!" Mirajane quipped happily, as she cleaned a glass. Ulquiorra's eyes widened at this. 'They fight like this every day and are still so friendly to each other? This is unusual.' He mused until a mug hit him on the head shattering upon impact. He looked towards who threw it and saw Natsu grinning sheepishly and scratching behind his neck. Ulquiorra simply sent an extremely low powered bala towards Natsu, hitting him in the face with a small explosion, effectively knocking him out for a few moments. Ulquiorra turned back to Mira and Erza and sighed, "I'd rather not spill my tea" before taking another sip causing them to chuckle.