a crack in the frost
Characters: Gildarts Clive, Ur Milkovich
Summary: Destroyer of Worlds and Ruler of the Eternal Winter. It's not easy being them.
AN: Yo, I wrote someone in this AU setting for the Laxana-Week a while back and posted it on my old account but well, I decided to write more for this AU.
They were unbidden guests, people who were not welcomed by anyone in the Garden of Gods where peace and serenity ruled and where the sun always shone – unless the God of Thunder had a bad day and decided to announce it to everywhere. And their mere presence already brought dissonance into the perfection that was the Garden. People were scared of him because he could destroy things so easily, like they had never had a meaning at all. And she? Wherever she walked, the earth froze and frost coloured everything in shades of white, gray and blue.
And so they stayed away, in their own realms, only entering the Garden if it was necessary.
And it was rarely necessary because an emergency important enough to make their arrival in the Garden essential would be an emergency bigger than the breach that had happened a century again when the goddess of time had accidentally allowed her anger about her mother's constant absence take control over her actions and the Fallen had attacked the Garden. Even such an occasion had not called for the involvement of the both older gods.
They were old, older than time itself, some rumoured – and they were right because the goddess of time was the daughter of the Ruler of the Eternal Winter. They were so much older than the younger gods, those who were not burdened with a power bigger than they could imagine.
They lived in their own districts, in their own gardens.
His was wasteland, full of destruction and emptiness because no matter what he tried, it was impossible to uphold prosperity in his homeland. He rarely got visitors because he was not exactly the most hospitable god and many forgot about him before he arrived to destroy something.
Hers was a beautiful yet sharp and cold – much like herself. As far as the horizon stretched out, the entire world she lived in glittered in ice and as plants and animals did not survive there for a long time, everything that existed in this world was made of ice. And in the middle of this perfect yet frozen world, its ruler sat on her throne of ice.
They lived through the centuries in permanent solitude which was only broken when someone – mostly their children – came to visit. Strangely, the both gods who were among the few who did not enter the garden unless their presence was requested, rarely spoke with each other. Once upon, they had spoken with each other but this had been in a time when the Garden had been theirs – and this had not been like this for more than a millennium by now.
Yet, they stood guard, protected the Garden from afar and once in a century when a foe appeared from their side of the so-called Outer Ring, they reunited with the others who had all grown too powerful to walk the grounds of the Garden frequently.
What rarely happened was that they were summoned into the Garden.
And then, it happened.
The call of the Master was strong. It was a fiery breeze that run over the realms of the Destroyer of Worlds and a cold wind that let the ice trees shudder as it danced through them, alerting the Ruler of the Eternal Winter that duty was calling.
And so they rose, two giants in terms of power who also happened to be broken people. His roar sent a shudder through outer space and so did her sigh as they went to unlock the doors that led them into the Realm of Gods. Her steps made the flowers wither and his tore apart the earth. They met on grounds frozen and barren grounds as usual. Under different circumstances, she would have remarked on his scruff and he would have teased her about her choice of dress because in her pale blue robe, she would be invisible in her homeland.
But they did not tease each other.
They were too aware of the eyes of the younger gods because everyone knew that they were rarely called back into the Garden because they could turn it into wasteland within a minute if not even faster.
"Urania," he greeted her as he bowed his head. "The eternal and frozen queen."
She pursed her lips. "Frozen and eternal are synonyms to each other if you talk with me," she said calmly before she turned her head. "However, we are here for a reason, aren't we? We should find out what it is before we return. We are causing already too much destruction."
He flinched. "Harsh," he said before he followed her to the centre where the Master would be waiting. "You let your hair grow, didn't you?"
She sighed. "I have a lot of time to do pointless things," she said coolly, the ice she embodied slipping into her voice once more. "As do you, right? I saw you turning your … house to ruins just so you can rebuild it again. Solitude has been getting to you, hasn't it?"
"Children," the Master said and they sighed because they were not much younger than him. "Do you have to act this way? No matter what, I have to thank you for guarding us from any harm. Also, I am grateful that you have come so fast."
"We may not reside in the Garden but we know where our loyalty belongs," the man with the reddish brown hair said. "But what did happen? We saw no attackers…"
"My grandson made a … mistake," the Master said with a sigh. "Urania and Gildarts, how long have you been watching over the Garden and the smaller gardens?"
"A few millennia," the woman said as she raised her eyebrow. "However, our attention may have failed us … I didn't see Laxus doing anything, well, bad."
"He sent Cana into the Godly Slumber."
"That bastard dared to—"
An icy hand touched the man's shoulder and he took a step back. "We know that she is your daughter, Gildarts," Urania remarked drily. "But you may not want to tear the Garden apart, right? Anyway, her Godly Slumber was long overdue, wasn't it?"
"It still leaves us without a trained god of Fortune," Erza, Goddess of Protection, snapped as her hazel eyes burned with thinly concealed fury. "I understand the reasoning he had – she has been tired for a long time but to knock her out and take her place? That is not okay."
"I will go talk to him," the Ruler of Eternal Winter said as she paid no heed to the younger woman's anger. Urania had seen more planets and people die than any of the younger ones could imagine. Anger and hatred were pointless emotions to her because all ended somewhere. "He is surely already aware of the consequences of his doings. Gildarts, you better stay here. One of us moving freely in the Garden is already bad enough."
"Yeah," he said. "Oi, Master, will there be any worlds to destroy soon?"
"We plan no wars at the moment," the white-haired man said. "Anyway, have you prepared yourself for the next task at hand, Gildarts? There may be no war but … I heard interesting predictions from … Juvia," he said as he mentioned towards the water goddess who stood at the sidelines, her fists clenched by her sides and her face was clouded.
"Juvia does not want to share her thoughts with anyone but Cana," she stated calmly but there was an sharp undertone that was rare for her. "Because it only concerns Cana."
"I understand," Gildarts said as he wondered how many decades had passed since Juvia had been a fierce warrior and when she would be a warrior like this again – because she was needed.
"How has the solitude been treating you?" Layla, goddess of stars and constellations, inquired. She was as old as Urania or Gildarts himself but as her power did not cause mass destruction wherever she walked, she had been allowed to stay in the Garden even though she had – like most gods – a smaller garden of her own.
"It's lonely," he replied. "And boring because everything that might distract me gets destroyed."
"Why don't you go visit Urania-chan?"
Gildarts frowned deeply as Ivan, God of Trickery and Deceiving (which was really just an euphemism for betrayal), appeared behind Layla. Ivan was a friend or had been, once. However, this did not change that Gildarts was bitter about the fact that Ivan had been allowed to stay in the Garden while he and Urania – Ur, he remembered, she preferred being called by that name – had been asked to leave, to make their own gardens their permanent home.
"Because she might not approve of me destroying her garden," he replied shortly.
"You'd be nearly powerless there," Layla reminded him calmly. "That's the thing – we cannot destroy each other's gardens because we hardly have any power in their realms. That's why our personal gardens always are save when something attacks us."
"You got that backwards, Layla-chan," Ivan said with a shrug. "It's more like we get stronger in our own realms and that we are less likely to get injured. Also, the power difference basically explodes. Urania-chan could beat Gildarts-chan with one hand tied on her back."
"I always forget that mom was a soldier before she became the Great Mother of Ice," Gray sighed.
"Something you shouldn't forget," Gildarts said with a sigh. "Before Urania froze this place, it was hot magma. Her power made this place possible. Also, underestimating any of the eldest is highly stupid. We are all not to be taken lightly."
Urania returned without making any noise, like fog materialising which was probably indeed the way she managed to stay so silent. "We should leave now," she said, looking at the cracks in the Master's temple which had been made out of a material even Gildarts should not be able to break though this was probably a relative fact. "If the situation continues to stay tensed, call us back. There are places from where we can guard without destroying."
"You stay on guard?" the Master asked calmly.
"I may be busy rebuilding my castle but yeah, I will be there if you need me," she replied before she held out the hand to her fellow god. "Let's go Gildarts. I can drop you off at your gate."
He looked at her and understood that she was not half as fine with the exile as she pretended to be. On a rational level, they could understand why they were not welcome in the realm of gods, a realm they had helped to create once upon a time. At the same time, it stung. They were the only gods who had never sinned who had met this fate. Everyone else could enjoy their time in the Garden where the sun always shone – unless Juvia and Eve had a bad day or Laxus was mad at someone. Ur had build the first palace in the Garden, a palace which had been like a dream because it had been created by her imagination. He had defeated the monsters who had first dared to attack the Garden, the Island of Gods. Others had done things as well. Layla had rearranged the stars, Ivan had hidden the entire realm of gods within thick fog and Jude had granted them the wealth they had desired.
And yet, Gildarts believed that it had been still Ur and him who turned the area into a paradise. Then, they had been asked to leave because their powers had been too strong for the Garden. He remembered Ur's anger within the first few years, the way she had destroyed and reconstructed her own garden a million times, upset about being so far away from her children.
Yet, they had never rebelled against the decision.
They had learned to live with it, sometimes, they could even tolerate the loneliness. He had watched over her as she had started to calm down, as she had sat for days by her lake, making pebbles jump, causing little waves. It had reminded him of Juvia's mother Aquarius who had retired a few decades ago. Time had long lost its original meaning for them because it could be rewound as many times as necessary by Ultear who – with Cana's help – knew what was and what would be and what used to be.
If Gildarts had had ever believed into prophets, it would have been Ur who had always claimed that something new would come after something ended. For him, it was true. He had travelled through the worlds to destroy those too corrupted to be saved. She had never changed, eternal as the ice – frozen in her original state as bringer of winter. He had considered to ask her whether she would like to destroy the next corrupted world but she would never agree anyway.
They were eternal, both of them, and so were their flaws.
"What did you tell Sir Thunderpants?" he asked as he followed her out of the temple.
"That you sought be out this morning in my realm to tell me what has happened," she said with a shrug. "It was a lie but once a liar, always a liar, they say, right?"
"You have been listening to Ivan again."
"Once a brother, always a brother," she replied. "He was the reason we have ever met, remember? He was your friends, then he was mine. And you were angry at 'the stupid little girl' who dared to steal your best friend. And then, I stole his best friend as well. I am a liar and a thief. You should better look out for yourself."
"As long as no harm befalls my daughter, you can steal everything from me."
"Remember that we have an unsure eternity ahead of us," she smirked.
And this was the painful aspect of their lives. It would never end, it would always continue.
"What will happen after every enemy is defeated?" he asked as they walked back to the gate that would bring them back into their own places.
"Another threat will show up, as usual," she replied calmly as she summoned her key. "Makarov may have denied it, Gildarts, but there will be worlds for you to destroy. Always. Empty worlds. Dead worlds. Corrupted worlds. You destroy them so that they can be rebuild. It's noble."
"You are the embodiment of nobility, Mother of the Winter," he replied evenly.
"Because I have never rebelled against the decision that I will rarely see my children and rather destroyed my garden a thousand times each day for nearly a century?"
"For three centuries," he corrected. "But yes, you would rather destroy yourself than someone else."
"If my world ever gets corrupted…"
"I trust you to destroy and rebuild it yourself it if ever happens."
"What if I get corrupted?" she asked, her raven eyes free of accusations or sadness even though the implication was obvious. He had destroyed fallen gods before and she expected him to destroy her as well if she would waver.
"You won't."
"I considered destroying the Garden I helped to create with a winter colder than anything else," she confessed but still, her voice and face were even and carried no sadness or guilt.
"You may consider it … but before you'd actually do it, I would be there to stop you. I have promised it a long time ago, didn't I?" he replied. "I would never destroy you. And if I had to, I'd have them rebuild you stronger and better than ever before – though it would be hard to improve you."
"Flattery," she sighed as she vanished once more.