Goodness. It's been a long-old while. But here it is, Chapter 9! This past year has been a bit wild... exams, new school... all that sort of thing. Sorry I haven't been active! Hopefully now I'll have more time to write! Thanks so much everyone!
Cookies to anyone who gets the reference to the chapter title. That's all I'll say!
And without further ado...
As Zancrow and his group made their way through the town of Magnolia (Zancrow had learnt the name this morning when two old guys in the guild argued over who was 'the best wizard in Magnolia'), he couldn't help but think that his time in Fairy Tail would be all too temporary. After all, there was no talk of having his guild mark removed, no mention of having him registered on the list of members (even though it wouldn't be official), no conversation over what team he should permanently join… Nothing. Perhaps he was simply being too naïve and trusting. Even though the memories still eluded him, Zancrow knew for a definite that he must have committed many horrific crimes under the leadership of Grimoire Heart, and that Fairy Tail – being an official guild – could easily be contacting the authorities right now to report him to the magical law enforcement groups!
Growing paranoid at this point, Zancrow looked up (as he had been staring at the pavement for the last five minutes) and strained his ears to try and listen in on what his team were saying. Unfortunately, due to the noise and hubbub that was all around him, picking up any of the conversation at all was practically impossible. He shook his head and lengthened his strides slightly; if he couldn't hear anything at all from the distance he was at, he surely must be distancing himself from the team a little too much. Contrary to what Zancrow thought was sensible, the team had been advised to travel to their destination by taking a short-cut through the centre of Magnolia. Apparently, this made sure that they ended up at the south side of the town, which was where they needed to catch their carriage from. Ridiculously, in Zancrow's opinion, this meant that he would have to venture right into the heart of Magnolia, which was packed with mages, shoppers and all manner of people, and the more people that Zancrow was around, the higher the chance was that he could be recognised and his cover blown. Though, perhaps that was exactly the reason this route was suggested to them in the whole place…
Zancrow looked up again, now slightly closer to the team he had been shadowing since their departure from the guildhall. From here, he could hear the peals of carefree laughter coming from the blonde-haired girl and he could see the bright grins that adorned the faces of each and every one of the team. Natsu looked back at this point, staring at Zancrow for a second, the smile sliding off of his face to be replaced with a slight scowl. However, his stormy look vanished in the blink of an eye and a smile even wider and cheekier than the one preceding it soon appeared on his face. He turned back around to face his teammates and started gesticulating wildly with his hands and laughing even more raucously, if that was even possible. Zancrow blinked. What was all that about? Was there something funny about him following them? Or was it something to do with the way he looked?
Becoming conscious of his own body for the first time since he'd stepped out of the guildhall, Zancrow noticed that his shoulders were very tense and bunched up, his hands were stuffed in his pockets and his jaw was set in such a way that his teeth were clenched together, causing him to sport a horrid grimace. In short, the whole of Zancrow's upper body felt like it was made of unyielding iron. With a great sigh, he attempted to drop his shoulder blades and relaxed his jaw, giving him a sense of having the weight of a small elephant lifted off his shoulders. He had no idea how tense he had been, and it was obviously his grim expression which had sparked a feeling of amusement within Natsu.
It wasn't exactly surprising, however – anyone would be stressed after the amount he'd had to deal with. What with trying to gain the members' trust and trying to contend with the cold shoulder he'd been given by them for the past couple of days, it was a wonder that he hadn't completely lost his mind! Zancrow felt the scowl sneaking back across his face at the thought of all the bitter guild members who were probably itching to lay into him in a fit of revenge and the long task he had ahead of him of trying to win them over.
Natsu glanced around again then – seemingly just to check on what he was up to – and a smug smirk curled his lips upwards once again at the sight of Zancrow's new gloomy look. Turning back around once more, Natsu proceeded to pull his other team members closer, laughing in a low and throaty way at their looks of surprise.
That was the last straw. His eyebrow twitching in fury, his fists clenched, Zancrow finally began to understand what was going on. Natsu may have found his expression humorous, but that wasn't entirely the reason he kept looking back with that irritating, self-satisfied grin of his. No; Natsu was trying to make him jealous. Jealous of the fact that Natsu had friends and he didn't, the fact that Natsu had a steady income and he didn't, the fact that Natsu didn't have any stress on his mind at all and he did… Not to mention that Natsu probably had an all-round easy life to boot. And to be completely honest, Zancrow had to say that the pink monster's tactic was working pretty damn well. Resisting the childish urge to stick his tongue out, Zancrow huffily turned his nose up and looked away, trying not to let the anger show on his face. At least this was only a once-a-week affair. He didn't think he could stand any more than that.
Feeling distinctly sulky now and wishing nothing but pain on Natsu, Zancrow decided that he wasn't going to be left out, even if the little dragon hunter wanted him to be excluded. Still determinedly not looking at Natsu, he managed to catch up to the group and positioned himself on the edge next to Gray, whom he thought was the least likely to turn him away. As it was, from all that had occurred in the guildhall Gray mustn't be feeling too amiable towards him.
He was right. Gray's expression was a sort of terrible mix between appalled and confused, as if he was clueless as to how to react to Zancrow's actions without upsetting anyone. Zancrow just decided to let him get on with it – he'd get used to him being there after a while, right? He therefore settled into an uncomfortable silence, hoping that the team would start talking amongst themselves again.
Fifteen minutes later, now out of the busy town centre and walking down the quiet little back roads, the situation had improved little. Natsu was still eyeing him with slight amusement and a hint of distaste and Zancrow didn't think he could stand the tension much longer. He'd have to say something.
'So, uh…'
Immediately, five pairs of eyes focused themselves onto Zancrow, each set clearly surprised that he'd even dare to speak up. Trying to prevent himself from becoming intimidated, Zancrow chose to aim his question at Gray alone, who looked more curious than mistrustful, despite his unease.
'So, what's this Steel Wits guild all about then?'
To be perfectly honest, it was more of a topic of conversation to break the ice more than anything else; if he had to listen to anymore silence, Zancrow thought his eardrums might implode.
Unfortunately, Gray didn't seem to want to reply and at his frosty reluctance to communicate, Zancrow felt his face fall slightly. He had been so sure that he would respond – out of all the guild members he had met so far, Gray had been by far the most hospitable. He had been the one that had invited him to join the Fairy Tail guild after all! If Gray wasn't going to give him a chance, he might as well give up on trying to win over any of the other members. Zancrow looked morosely back at the ground, aiming a sharp kick at a pebble that lay on the path.
'Steel Wits are a dark guild that border on cult status – they have a fanatical obsession with the Black Wizard Zeref.'
Zancrow looked up so quickly he cricked his neck, hardly believing his ears. Was Gray really talking to him, even after the episode in the guildhall and even with all of his other team members around him? Considering the situation, that kind of… well… took guts. Zancrow was hardly what you would call popular with the rest of Fairy Tail at the present time… Perhaps Gray would be a useful ally in this battle.
'If they're just obsessed with him then…. Why are they so dangerous?'
Gray looked down, thinking how best to word his reply, whilst Zancrow nervously watched him out of the corner of his eye, trying not to let the worry show on his face. The conversation may be awkward and anxiety-inducing, but at least it was moving forwards and Zancrow felt a small rush of gratitude towards Gray for making an effort to make his transition into this guild somewhat less of a struggle. This gratefulness, however, was swiftly intermitted by sharp pangs of concern as Gray seemed to want to stay quiet rather than say anything else. Zancrow looked up and took a quick, snorting breath, swinging his head over to the left to pretend to look at a large and ancient looking conifer near the side of the road.
'Surely by now you would have realised that just one person who has such a deep obsession is dangerous? When you get a group of them together… you get a force to be reckoned with.'
Still feigning interest at the sight of the tree as they ambled slowly past it, Zancrow mulled over what Gray had just said. It was odd how he put the emphasis on the first 'you', as if he was trying to offend Zancrow in some way. Was it a stab about him being in Grimoire Heart? If it was, it was somewhat half-hearted Zancrow thought. Shrugging slightly, he chose to ignore it for the present time and looked down, noticing that the path now felt rougher than the smooth pavement of central Magnolia. Sure enough, they were approaching the edge of town, smart town houses in neat little rows replaced by thatched cottages, evenly cut grass replaced with wild and tall greenery, interspersed with bursts of colour – wildflowers. It was strange how there was such a clear divide here between nature and civilisation – there was an easily perceivable border just behind them a few feet back. Zancrow narrowed his eyes, watching it for a second. He wasn't especially fascinated by the divide, though it was mildly interesting, but it made a good distraction and a decent excuse to look away from the rest of his temporary team for a moment. The wind blew gently, making the floral border waver slightly in the breeze. Zancrow blinked, the wind making his eyes water, and turned back around reluctantly, noticing that they were now at the edge of an unmarked and un-cobbled road. In fact, the only way Zancrow could actually tell it was a road was by the fact that it was so worn down by years of hooves and feet trampling over it that it was completely smooth and a few inches lower than the rest of the land surrounding it.
Zancrow squinted, following the road around the sloping landscape with his eyes, seeing it stretched right into the distance over a tall, steep hill. Trying to see beyond the hill, Zancrow strained his eyes and as he did so he caught sight of a tiny, moving figure laboriously making its way over the steep incline and coming along the long path, seemingly towards them.
Quickly glancing at the rest of the team to see if they'd noticed what he had, Zancrow was promptly surprised by the fact that they were all looking in exactly the same direction he was, as if they were expecting whatever was in the distance. Zancrow narrowed his eyes at the figure again, trying to see what exactly was coming towards them and speculating on why it was here in the first place. Perhaps it was a vehicle? That would be the most sensible assumption to make. The dark guild would have to be very far away from any official guilds or else it most likely would have been eliminated many years ago.
He could see now that it definitely was a vehicle – a carriage led by two large and powerful looking horses. Judging by the size of the horses and the distance the carriage was coming from, Zancrow assumed that this journey was bound to be a lengthy one. He looked over his shoulder at the bag of food he had packed – pitifully small, considering how long the travelling would take. Zancrow's stomach almost moaned and his face sank into a most decidedly petulant scowl as the carriage rumbled steadily and steadily closer.
A couple of minutes later, the clattering of hooves became gradually audible and Zancrow looked up at the noise as he wondered how close the carriage was. He nearly jumped out of his skin at how near it was to them now. At this small distance of around a minute's ride away the vehicle looked gargantuan, the horses decidedly enormous and the man sitting astride the front of the carriage was built like a mountain bear. It was almost comical how large the whole arrangement was. Zancrow wondered if they might need to lift each other up to get inside successfully.
As the carriage drew up next to them, Zancrow's worst fears were confirmed. The bear of a carriage driver whipped the reigns powerfully to halt the horses (both of which were so large that Zancrow would have to stand on his toes to even touch the tops of their shoulders) and then jumped down, causing a palpable quake beneath Zancrow's feet. Grinning monstrously in what he probably thought was a friendly manner, the carriage driver swung open the door to the carriage, the bottom lip of which was above all of the team members' heads.
As if they were entirely used to this (which, Zancrow reflected, they probably were), Zancrow watched as the Fairy Tail guild wizards all worked as one to lift each other into the vehicle, leaving Zancrow looking rather stupid, standing outside. The carriage driver lifted a massive eyebrow at Zancrow, who immediately jerked into action at his look, trying and failing to quickly lift himself inside in one swift movement.
His legs dangling beneath him, Zancrow struggled to find a foothold to haul himself up with whilst attempting to ignore the other wizards whom he thought were no doubt finding his situation hilarious. Trying and failing to look beneath him to see where the nearest foothold may be, Zancrow suddenly felt a massive push under his feet and with a gasp of surprise, found himself fully inside the carriage, albeit a little shocked. Spinning around and glaring over the lip of the vehicle to scowl at whatever had given him that unwelcome helping hand, Zancrow saw the massive carriage driver looking rather sheepishly up at him, a little embarrassed and clearly unaware aware of his brute strength judging by the force at which he'd shoved Zancrow inside.
Quickly fashioning his scowl into a forced grin, Zancrow turned away from the driver and swiftly shut the door, eager to move on and put that mortifying memory out of his mind as quickly as possible. Sitting down heavily on the nearest seat (which happened to be another small climb to reach), Zancrow leant back and looked out of the window, hearing a snigger emanate from around Natsu's direction. Zancrow did what he thought was the mature thing to do and ignored it, but clearly the expression on his face revealed his true feelings as the snigger turned into a full blown laughing fit.
Feeling rage beginning to bubble in the pit of his stomach, Zancrow turned and fixed Natsu with a steely glare, in no mood to be laughed at any more. However, taking one look at Zancrow's new grouchy expression caused Natsu to point and continue to laugh even harder, his ridiculous manner making even Zancrow's lips curl upwards in a smile.
Wiping his eyes slightly and trying not to look too much at Zancrow, Natsu settled down between his amused teammates and attempted to not draw any more attention to himself. A grin still lingering on his face, Zancrow understood somewhat. Natsu wasn't trying to laugh at him, he was trying to laugh with him. But why would he make the effort to make a scene like that anyway? Why would he want to laugh with his enemy rather than at him? Perhaps… Natsu wanted to be friends after all. Zancrow shook his head vigorously at the thought. Ridiculous! Why on earth would he want to be friends? They were sworn enemies and it would do no good to let his guard down like this. It was probably a ploy by Natsu to weaken his willpower enough that he could eliminate him anyway. Zancrow resumed looking out the window just as he heard the crack of a whip. The sound of hooves and the movement of their carriage soon followed.
Immediately, as if struck by some great invisible force, Natsu slumped in his seat, a small groan escaping his lips, clearly weaker than a new-born child. Whipping his head around to find the source of the groan, Zancrow spotted Natsu in his moment of weakness and completely confused by this display gave Gray a quizzical look, who merely responded with a small smile and a shrug, not offering any sort of information on Natsu's sudden weakness.
Still puzzled but not really wanting to inquire any further, Zancrow simply made himself comfortable in his seat and watched Natsu amusedly, with almost vindictive (yet childish) pleasure. His flying blue cat (Zancrow couldn't really think of any other way to describe it) was now patting Natsu on the head saying 'Poor Natsu, can't travel anywhere…' amidst continuous groans from the pink monster himself.
Tearing his eyes away from the scene, Zancrow once again glanced out of the window, noting that they were now moving along the road at a decent pace. Knowing now that he must have spent many years of his life aboard an airship that was constantly travelling around the country (presumably to avoid detection and capture by the law), Zancrow realised that he was so used to being inside a moving vehicle that he barely even registered that the carriage was moving at all. It was almost inconceivable to him that anyone could have a weakness to travelling – it was such a rooted and ingrained part of himself that he couldn't imagine it being a burden to anyone else. Zancrow, slightly despondent, wondered if the fact that travelling was such an integral part of himself meant that Grimoire Heart really did have a large influence on his life after all. Zancrow eyed Natsu again, perhaps with less scrutiny than he had done previously, and perhaps with more sympathy.
Natsu however, completely distracted by his severe feelings of nausea, took no notice of the way Zancrow was looking at him. In fact, he wasn't taking notice of anything at all except how wretched he felt and how much he wished he had not eaten all that meat this morning. Zancrow felt a small spark of relief within himself. It was somewhat comforting for him to see Natsu in a state of weakness; it gave Natsu a human quality. Searching deep within his own thoughts and feelings as for why that would afford him any sense of relief, Zancrow slowly became aware of the fact that he was slightly frightened of Natsu, and as much as he would love to deny it, he knew it was true. Natsu had all but left Zancrow for dead in their previous fight as far as he was concerned and Zancrow, even though it was unconscious, had not forgotten this. To Zancrow, Natsu was a Dragon Slayer and nothing else – a killer. Seeing him have a chink in his armour like this made Zancrow realise that Natsu really was just like everyone else. Just human.
Placing his chin on this edge of the window-frame, Zancrow then began to question his own humanity. If Natsu was a Dragon Slayer but still just like everyone else, did it matter that he, Zancrow, had demon blood within him? Did it make him any less human or different? Trying to be realistic, Zancrow knew that if he was being honest with himself, yes, the demon blood did make him different. It affected his mood, his personality… It was all down there in that little black book. Almost instinctively, Zancrow's hand flew to his trouser pocket to make sure that the notebook was still there, to make sure that it hadn't been lost, stolen even. Feeling the leather cover beneath his trembling fingertips soothed his momentary panic and with a small sigh, Zancrow allowed his tense shoulders to relax. He had been so sure that it was missing.
Due to his brief period of panic, Zancrow had been paying little attention to the rest of his team. Growing curious and wondering if this was a good time to try and appear sociable, Zancrow lifted his chin up from the edge of the window and turned his head to peer at his teammates, vaguely interested in what they might be up to.
Taking in the scene before him, Zancrow saw that Erza and the blonde girl seemed to be trying to have a conversation around a very unwell-looking Natsu, with Gray simply watching the world go by through the window opposite to the one Zancrow had taken to gazing through. The only piece of real movement that made up the sight before him was the blue cat, who had miraculously sprouted a set of wings and was now whirling around their heads, giving a shrill little laugh on occasion. Clearly, Zancrow hadn't missed much.
About to turn back around to focus on the outside world once again, Zancrow, seemingly by chance, happened to catch the blonde girl's eye, and after a split second it became apparent that it was not a pleasant look with which she fixed him with. It was a fearful look and nothing more complex than that. There was no anger in her gaze– she seemed to be more preoccupied with her fright. Zancrow felt himself freeze at her stare, like a deer in front of headlights. The way she looked at him stirred up something within him – she looked at him as if she thought he was truly dangerous, an animal, as if he had no control over his instincts and might attack at any second. Feeling himself shrink back slightly, Zancrow internally questioned what her stare seemed to be accusing him of. Was he really so lacking in control? Was he really so monstrous, something that didn't belong? The more he thought about it, the less Zancrow felt a master of his own body, almost feeling the little control he owned slip away, fear rising in the form of a lump in his throat.
There Zancrow and the girl stayed, both exchanging uneasy looks – the girl fearful of Zancrow, Zancrow fearful of himself. Neither one of them seemed to want to look away, wrapped up in their anxieties, until the sharp sound of laughter jarred them out of their introspection.
In the midst of the suspenseful atmosphere that Zancrow and the girl had conjured up, Natsu had decided that he found the apprehension more amusing than concerning and had expressed his mirth with a loud and growling guffaw. Clearly, Natsu was unperturbed by what Zancrow thought was a rather disturbing exchange of stares.
Thankfully, Natsu's laugh had given Zancrow an excuse to break his eye contact with the blonde-haired girl and secretly, he felt somewhat relieved. Shaking his head slightly to clear it, Zancrow attempted to put wipe the stern look from his face and replaced it with a slight grin, trying to appear friendly and carefree, as if the incident between them had never occurred.
However, a hush had descended upon the wizards, helped none by the fact that the once-cheerful blue cat had now retracted his wings and had settled, almost solemnly, between his magic-using friends. Once again all was quiet and Zancrow did not like silence one bit. In light of the somewhat gloomy situation before him, Zancrow thought now would probably be the most opportune time to speak up and break the stony silence. Perhaps they would all start talking again if he raised a sufficiently interesting topic of conversation.
'I think I remember… something about Steel Wits.'
With an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, Zancrow watched as all of the gathered wizards (and one cat) simultaneously turned their heads as if one entity to give him a curious, but ultimately mistrustful set of looks. Strangely undisturbed by this reoccurring phenomenon, Zancrow was beginning to recognise and understand the different kinds of responses he was getting to what he said and did. From Natsu, for example, he was getting a rather relaxed vibe but despite his apparent ease his eyes gave him away as defensive and wary – as if he was just waiting for Zancrow to make a move or gesture he found threatening. Despite Natsu's calm-yet-on-edge front, Gray was looking rather apprehensive, fidgeting occasionally, looking out of the window and then back inside the carriage again. Although when Zancrow caught his eye and gave him a small smile, the smile was returned rather warmly. Zancrow was reassured. If Gray had been seriously uncomfortable, he probably wouldn't have taken any notice of Zancrow's presence in his agitation.
The blonde-haired girl looked as uncomfortable as ever but strangely, when Zancrow caught her eye once again she gave him a slightly embarrassed and apologetic smile. It was only a slight curling of her lips, but Zancrow understood. She was sorry. He was sorry about the incident too and indicated this by giving her a minute upturning of his lips himself just before he quickly looked away, mildly abashed.
Remembering with a sudden jolt that everyone was waiting for him to say something, Zancrow realised with a terrible sense of drowning horror that he didn't actually remember anything about Steel Wits at all. In fact, to make matters worse, he'd even lied about knowing who they were – he'd never heard of them before! He'd merely spoken up to say the first thing on his mind in order to keep a conversation going and unfortunately, the first thing on his mind happened to be the mission that was at hand. Resigned to the fact that he was in quite a tight spot, Zancrow decided grimly that he'd gotten himself into this mess and therefore resolved that he was damn well going to get himself out of it.
'I'm very sure…'
He wasn't sure at all, to be perfectly honest, but with an iron fortitude he stoically carried on.
'That Steel Wits was under the command of Grimoire Heart.'
Zancrow had no idea if this was true or not, but it seemed like a reasonable conclusion to make. Grimoire Heart had seemed like a very influential dark guild at its peak of power and Steel Wits seemed less significant. It made sense to Zancrow at least. Silence hung in the air for a second, but then Natsu spoke up.
'Well, how do you know that? Grimoire been telling you all their little secrets?'
Natsu's mildly mocking response angered Zancrow somewhat, but he knew that it would best to keep his rage under wraps. If he lost his temper now, they would be sure to be even more suspicious.
'No, I just kind of…. Knew. It's in Grimoire's area, y'know.'
'I thought Grimoire Heart didn't have a base. They had an airship so that no one could find them.'
Damn it! Why hadn't he thought about that? He even knew that they had an airship! What was wrong with him today? He was usually so good at lying his way out of things…
'Yeah, but different top guilds controlled different lesser guilds in different areas. If you have an area where all the guilds are owned by different top guilds, you end up with an overlap and lot of fighting and arguments between the lessers. And you don't want that if you're trying to stay inconspicuous. So Grimoire would own one main bit of land and would own all the guilds within it and other top dark guilds would do the same. And then the aim would be to expand that land and engulf other guilds or maybe even take over whole top guilds to control their land.'
Zancrow gesticulated rather largely as he spoke, trying to get this complicated concept across to the other wizards. In reality, he had no idea if this was the case – he'd made the whole thing up in about thirty seconds and had even ad-libbed as he was going. It sounded plausible. If he was the head of a dark guild, that would certainly be the way he would go about things. But then, Zancrow realised with a heavy heart, he really was a member of a dominant dark guild at one point in his life. Maybe he was so good at lying around this topic because his memories of his past life were leaking through, only hidden just beneath the surface of his conscious thoughts, ready to re-emerge. This thought saddened him slightly, but intrigued him somewhat. Perhaps if he kept talking without thinking, more memories would come to light. Even though Zancrow was fearful of his past life and what horrors it may have involved, his human curiosity could not resist the potential promise of knowledge. Just as he was beginning to open his mouth and attempt to give more details, a new voice raised an important question Zancrow had overlooked.
'If they all fight, then why is there an alliance?'
It was Erza, and she looked sceptical and harshly reserved.
'An… alliance…?'
Zancrow didn't really know what to say to that point. It was such a simple factor, but the finality in Erza's tone made it even harder to respond to. Zancrow wasn't actually aware that there even was an alliance, but even so, it actually made his explanation make even more sense in his opinion. Maybe he really could remember? This gave him a boost of confidence as he took Erza's next question as a challenge.
'Yes, an alliance. Surely an alliance equals tolerance?'
Before Erza had even finished her sentence, Zancrow knew what to say. A little spark of memory. A little flash of what Rustyrose had once told him.
'The Balam Alliance.'
Erza looked as if she was about to challenge his point, so Zancrow swiftly continued.
'What more is there to say than that? The Balam Alliance was… a non-aggression pact.'
Yes! That was it! A non-aggression pact. Which basically meant nothing. It was merely an agreement to not fight as it would bring the top dark guilds to the rest of world's attention. It was more beneficial to lay down an agreement to keep fighting to minimum. It just made all the guilds aware of the troubles a war may cause for their business. Zancrow tried to explain this to the official guild wizards.
'If dark guilds went to war with each other, then the government would take advantage of the opportunity and kill off all the head dark guilds. So the Balam Alliance just makes them aware of the fact that they need to co-exist with each other rather than openly fight. Doesn't stop them from trying to subtly one-up each other though.'
Erza looked unconvinced.
'How do you know all this? I thought your memories of that part of your life were missing.'
'I-it, well, they are…'
Zancrow stammered slightly as he spoke, completely taken by surprise. He'd actually forgotten that they knew about his memory loss. He supposed that allowed him an opportunity to tell the truth, however. At least he wouldn't have to keep lying to keep the conversation going – it was wearing him out trying to search through his memories so deeply.
'I can't necessarily… remember things entirely… But I keep getting little flcikers of memory. The more I speak, the more seems to come through.'
Erza crossed her arms and gave a wry smile.
'I don't believe you.'
Zancrow couldn't believe his ears.
'WHAT?! WHY?!'
Shouldn't it be obvious to them now that he was telling the truth?! After all this time and trying to make friends and…! Zancrow was incredulous and more than a little angry. He thought that the official guild wizards were just beginning to accept him and now Erza so openly tells him that she doesn't trust him?!
Erza's smile widened slightly at Zancrow's outburst.
'About the way a dark guild functions. I don't think you've got it quite right. If relationships between the guilds were really that tentative, surely dark guilds wouldn't last as long as they have done.'
Oh. She wasn't telling him that she didn't trust him. She was arguing against his theory. Zancrow immediately looked down, utterly embarrassed and ashamed at his overreaction. He was getting so carried away with trying to remember his previous life that he completely ignored the possibility that any of his arguments could be wrong in any way. Perhaps as well as his old memories coming through, his old, egotistical personality was seeping into his current mindset also. Zancrow, aware of this, attempted to beat down that old personality and tried to be himself. Whatever 'himself' was.
'Oh, well… I think the head dark guilds would reign by fear. That's how they kept everybody in check. No one would dare to go against them.'
Zancrow wasn't entirely sure about this either but the memory just seemed to be there, embedded deeply in his mind, already fully formed. But after his flare-up, Zancrow was hyper-aware of his attitude and added a more modest and honest 'I think' to the beginning of his point.
'I still don't think it's true. I think it's more likely that the Balam Alliance is a lot friendlier with each other than we initially thought.'
Still slightly heated from his outburst, Zancrow hurriedly stomped down his temper and considered her point. It still didn't make sense to him, no matter in what manner she worded it.
'I don't know… The Balam Alliance ruled by fear and aggression. I really don't believe that they could ever truly be friendly and yet be separate organisations.'
'Well, should we agree to disagree? And perhaps by arguing our separate perspectives we may become closer to the truth. And in the end, that's what we all want in order to fight back against these groups.'
Zancrow nodded slowly, wondering why she was holding this conversation with him at all. Maybe this was Erza's way of making friends? It was true what she claimed – Zancrow, too, wanted to fight against the dark guilds. They had caused so much pain and trouble it seemed the only reasonable thing to do. Perhaps by taking part in this argument he was doing some form of good for the world? That felt strange and different. He was supposed to be a dark wizard – a killing machine, hell-bent on megalomania and control. It seemed almost inconceivable that he could even consider doing anything positive for the world unless it directly benefitted him. He truly was a different man now.
Settling back into his seat, much more at ease now, Zancrow casually continued his argument with Erza as they rumbled along the unmarked path, leading them closer and closer to their next battle.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you all soon in the next one!
