Chapter 10 – The Keep

==About an Hour Later==

Teams Erza, Ultear, Sorano and Eric convened in the courtyard. "So, only four left," Eric grinned. Before anyone could say anything else their keys glowed and the stone wall of the central keep opened. The contestants traded glances and went in. The wall sealed back closed behind them and they found Master Makarov waiting for them.

Makarov grinned, "Very good work all of you. You have passed the first round. Now you will move on to the second round, you must ascend to the top of the keep. There are three floors and you will face two S-Class opponents on each floor, as well as whatever candidates failed that particular wizard's tower. There are three routes which will determine the order in which you face your opponents, and you will not know which is which. You will be fighting as a team, I recommend taking the time before the stairs descend to consider your strategy as you will need every ace up your sleeves you can get to face the entire S-Class in combat back to back to back. If you are knocked out or rendered otherwise incapable of continuing, you will be out of the running."

The contestants were very pale as Makarov's projection vanished.

A few minutes later the stairs descended and the four teams advanced up the center one. When they topped the stairs they found themselves in front of a huge door as the stairway behind them sealed itself. The doors opened slowly and all eight challengers got a sinking feeling as they saw Oby's garden on the other side of the doors.

They swapped nervous looks and advanced in. There was really nowhere else to go. Oby waved at them from the lake pavilion, "Oh good you all passed the first round!" They stared at him, trying to decide if this was some ploy or whether he was seriously just sitting there munching a sandwich. After a moment Oby looked up at them, "You know you can come and talk to me. The more you butter me up the better your odds of getting past me are."

The challengers all swapped glances and then headed down to the floating pavilion. They were quickly seated and enjoying the food Oby had prepared. Ultear found herself eyeing Virgo suspiciously until Oby caught her gaze, "Ultear, don't worry about Virgo. At least not over that. She's here to be the second of your S-Class opponents."

"Wait," Sorano asked in surprise from down the table, "Celestial Spirits are S-Class?" Oby smiled, "When they're summoned by an S-Class wizard they are. Anyway Ultear, you need not fret about Virgo endangering our relationship. She's immortal, I'm not. The most we can ever be is friends with benefits, and as great as you are Virgo, I'm sorry but you're not better than Ultear." Virgo smiled brightly, "I know." Then she eyed the young couple slyly, "Both of us together might be though."

Oby and Ultear blushed as everyone else stared. "Moving on," Virgo declared cheerfully, "How did the first round go? I hear Gildarts had a really scary test cooked up." Eric, Sorano and Ultear paled slightly at the memory of it, but Erza just waved her hand, "Nah, it wasn't so bad! I just did what I would've done then if I could have. It was scary then, but I'll never let it happen again, so there's nothing to be afraid of."

The other three let out little choking breaths and looked at her like she was slightly unhinged. Oby chuckled, "Don't look so surprised, Erza's the only one that passed my test on sheer strength of will. I went at it harder with her than I did with any of the rest of you and she still refused to back down. Erza's got courage in spades."

Everyone but Erza gaped at him and then turned to gape at Erza as they thought they felt the distinct sensation of their chances at winning go down the drain if they had to fight Erza. "Not that she was anywhere close to winning," Oby added as he munched a donut, "She was just too damn stubborn to quit. She figured out the point of the exam, stared me down and said she'd never let her friends down and I'd never keep her down. I could tell she wasn't bluffing and I'd have to kill her to make her back down, so I passed her. I'm not surprised she passed Gildarts' test with flying colors."

He swallowed, "I won't ask what the rest of you saw, I already have a pretty good idea since I'm the one who enchanted that room. Eric, Kinana would be flattered and probably hugging and kissing you. Sorano, it'll never happen again, we won't let it, and that's a promise." Sorano blushed slightly and nodded. Oby turned to Ultear, reached over and pulled her into a hug, "And I'm so proud of you." Ultear was stunned and then she smiled and hugged him back.

They split apart after a little while and there was a contented quiet for a few minutes, then Natsu spoke up, "So all of us passed, that means Macao, Wakaba, Macbeth and Jellal failed?" Oby nodded, "Yep, they'll be waiting for you on the upper floors. Macao and Wakaba failed Ur's tower when they let their competitive streak get the better of them. Having Gray and Lyon egging them on didn't help. Macbeth failed Gildarts' tower-" "Gildarts scared him and Sawyer into jumping off the stairs backwards!" Kagura interjected with a smile.

"And Jellal failed Laxus' tower pretty epically," Oby finished. There was a round of thoughtful faces and then Eric and Sorano swapped a glance, "Wasn't that the one with the poison?" Oby nodded, "That's the one." The others all stiffened as they realized what that meant. "Who was with him?" Erza asked icily. "It was just him and Simon," Oby declared, "I don't think I've ever seen Laxus that mad. Jellal seems to have learned his lesson, but I have a feeling you're going to kick his ass anyway. Am I right?" Erza had a lethal look in her eye, "Ohhh yeah."

Oby smiled, "Yeah, we kinda goofed on making the tests this year. If we had thought about it, you would've each had to take these tests in a certain order and that one would've come after Ur's. I understand Eric and Sorano had a very easy time with that one as a result of doing Laxus's test first, and Erza and Ultear probably didn't get to see the point of that trial at all because of how many people had been eliminated by the time they got there. It kind of overlapped with my test and Laxus' though, so I guess it's alright."

He sighed and stood, "Anyway, speaking of tests, we should probably get on with it. I'm in a good humor right now, so I won't use any of my Lost Magic. In fact, I'm going to fight you with your own magics, barring Eric and Natsu's of course since Dragon Slayer magic falls under Lost Magic, and I won't use my Arc of Time even though Ultear has it too. I pounded on all of you enough earlier. Virgo and I'll be waiting on the rock, come and get us when you're ready." He teleported to the rock with Virgo and it was game on.

Eric and Natsu immediately sprang to the edge of the pavilion and cut loose with a double Dragon Roar. Oby blocked it with an Ice Make Shield that was canceled out by the combined blast. Before Oby could do anything else, Ultear stopped time, froze and ran across the lake, ducked around the collision of the Dragon Roars and Oby's ice, and clocked him with Crash Magic.

Oby went flying and spinning through the air with enough force that he would've broken at least one tree even if he hadn't coated himself in Crash Magic to soften his landing. Before he could get back up, Ultear was on top of him again, and they were far enough away from the others that they couldn't be seen. Ultear leaned down and kissed Oby gently, before giving him a mild glare, "You scared the hell out of me earlier."

Oby snapped his fingers and a blast of Crash magic flew away from them, projections of them racing after it and fighting furiously, "Just to keep up appearances," he clarified. He reached up and pulled Ultear down to him, hugging her gently, "I know, and I'm so sorry. You have to know that I was dying inside that whole time right?" Ultear nodded slightly, "But still, if you know what I saw in Gildarts' test…" Oby nodded, "I know, and I'm so sorry I had to show you that awful mask."

Ultear sat up slightly and looked him in the eye, "But it wasn't a mask was it? That's what you used to be like. When you were with Grimoire Heart?" Oby looked away, "No. I was different then. Before I left Grimoire Heart, I enjoyed being like that."

Ultear's heart skipped half a beat, "That's… terrifying…" Oby nodded and looked troubled. Ultear took a deep breath, "Oby, the day we met, you looked into my future didn't you?" Oby's breath caught slightly and he nodded cautiously. Ultear brushed her hair back, "I've done it enough now to know how many paths the future can take. You must have seen something that made you help me that day. What would my future have been if you hadn't?"

Oby drew in a deep slightly shaky breath and couldn't meet her gaze, "I was hoping you would never ask me that." Ultear leaned down, "Tell me." "In the future I saw where I didn't help you Ultear, you went back to that institute where they lied and said your mother had left you there indefinitely. You wallowed in your despair and anger and hate, submitting to the twisted experiments they did on you until one day they pushed you too far and your magic tore the building apart. You wandered to a Library of Sorcery, and there you met Master Hades of Grimoire Heart, the man who taught and almost killed me."

Ultear's breath caught and Oby continued, "You would've met me when I came to kill him, and I would've pulled you back onto a lighter path with the rest of Grimoire Heart, but you would never have seen your mother again because I wouldn't have been there to intervene in the fight with Deliora at Brago. Ur would've used the Iced Shell to stop Deliora. Lyon would've gone missing and come mildly unhinged for a long time until Gray caught up to him and knocked some sense back into him, and Gray would've probably taken at least a decade to get the chip off his shoulder, assuming he ever did."

Ultear flinched and cringed at the thought of her family being in such a wretched state. Oby sighed, "You still would've learned the Arc of Time, but it would've been the imperfect version I started out with, and you might very well have one day blasted your body irreversibly forward trying to turn back time, losing decades off your life. In short," Oby finished, "Almost exactly what I expect you saw in Gildarts' test."

Ultear was shaking and trying to hold back tears. Oby looked up at her and pulled her down to him again, "Don't cry Ultear, you're not on that path anymore, that awful future will never happen." Ultear shook her head, "That's not all I saw," she said quietly.

Oby closed his eyes and used his Arc of Time to watch the events Ultear had seen unfold. A life where he had never left Grimoire Heart. His heart clenched and he shook with horror and rage as he saw what he had been so close to becoming. He clutched Ultear to him as though afraid she might dissolve into dust if he let go. "I will never do anything like that to you," he growled as the horrible images of his, it couldn't really be called a relationship with the Ultear of that timeline played out.

"We did make a cute baby though," Ultear whispered. Oby's heart skipped a beat and then he smiled and laughed slightly, "Yeah, we do add up to a really cute baby."

Then Ultear blushed and started drawing little hearts on Oby's shoulder with her finger, "Um speaking of that, I know you asked me not to look into the future about our relationship but…" Oby sighed, "What did you see?" Ultear grimaced, "There's about a one in eleven chance of us lasting." The grimace turned into an honest smile, "the sex is amazing though."

Oby smiled, "Of course it is. You're involved." Ultear blushed and whispered in his ear, "If I catch the promotion I'll show you how amazing tonight." Oby blushed so crimson his hair almost turned pink, "That is so bribery of the test proctor." Ultear sat up and put her hands on his shoulders, "Did it work?"

==A Few Moments Later==

A brightly smiling Ultear dragged a very pummeled looking Oby out of the woods. The others looked at her in slight awe as she grinned, "We pass!" Oby waved at his rock weakly and a door appeared in it, "Yeah, good job guys, go on up. You're almost half way done." The contestants cheered and after they disappeared through the door, Oby's bruises and wounds faded away as he released the illusion.

He reached over and plucked a long grass stalk before sticking it in the corner of his mouth. He pulled out his gate key, "Open Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" Virgo popped through her gate and sat down next to him, eyeing him thoughtfully as he looked up at the sky, "Did something happen?"

Oby sighed, "You know how I asked Ultear to never look into the future regarding our relationship?" Virgo nodded, "Because finding out how bad the odds are of any relationship making it can discourage people and make them expect it to fail which results in self-fulfilling prophecy?" Oby sighed, "Yeah. It's easy to tell she's new to the whole reading the future thing or she'd know how amazingly good ten to one is."

"Did you tell her that?" Oby sighed, "No. The idea's in her head now, and once something like that gets in the only way to get it out is memory magic. What's worse is that she told me so now I know that she knows and that means I'm expecting her to expect it to fail and she probably expects me to expect it to fail, and that leads me to expect all that expecting to lead up to a reality where we drift apart in less than six months."

Virgo blinked, "Ok, I talk to you a lot and even I had trouble following that." Oby chuckled slightly, "Long story short my relationship with Ultear is most likely screwed." Virgo suddenly straddled him and leaned down with a grin, "Perhaps I should be too in order to take your mind off it? It has been a while after all." Oby's eyes widened and then he grinned, "Yeah, might as well."

==Meanwhile==

"…but what if he wasn't expecting it to fail and now that I told him I looked he's expecting me to expect it to fail and expect him to expect it to fail and that actually does make him expect it to fail and then it fails because he started expecting it to fail when he expected me to be expecting it to fail which I only did because I expected him to expect it to fail when really he hadn't been expecting it at all and it's just my expectations that led to his expectations and all those expectations make it fail?" Ultear moaned as she walked up the steps, "Oh I'm such an idiot!"

"That's probably why he told you not to look," Eric said dryly. "I KNOOOOW!" Ultear wailed. Eric suddenly snapped around and pointed at Sorano, "No! Don't even think about it! I heard that evil thought cross your mind! Don't do it! That poor word has been used more than enough in the last five minutes!" Sorano shrugged with a grin, "Well if you insist."

Natsu looked at Eric, "What was it? I didn't catch it." Sorano opened her mouth and Eric cut her off, "Not important! It was nothing! Don't give her an excuse! Oh god she's already singing it in her head! How did you even turn that into a song?! Let alone one that catchy?! It's gonna be in my head all day!" Sorano grinned wickedly and waggled her eyebrows at him as he covered his ears and cringed, "That's what you get for spoiling my fun." Eric shuddered, "Ohhh you're evil…"

Sorano blushed, "Aww! You're such a flatterer! Better be careful before Kinana gets jealous!" Eric groaned to the ceiling and sky beyond, "What did I do to deserve this?" "Enough you guys we're here!" Erza called over her shoulder.

She pushed open the door at the top of the stairs and they found themselves in a stormy mountain valley. Erza raised an arm to cover herself against the biting wind, "Oby really outdid himself with these enchantments!" "Who do you think is on this floor?!" Sorano called. Eric and Natsu suddenly yelled in unison, "IT'S-" BOOM!

Before they could finish a massive blast of lightning slammed into the ground next to them and Laxus was right on top of them. Everyone who didn't scatter was scorched by the proximity of the lightning. Before anyone could react, the entire valley was shrouded in darkness. Ultear immediately stopped time and grabbed the two people closest to her before dragging them out of the dark with her. Those two people happened to be Cana and Kagura.

Ultear paused to examine the past and walked back into the darkness Simon had conjured, carefully making her way to Erza and Sorano and pulling them out. Then she went back in and fished out Yukino as well. She positioned one of her crystal ice balls next to Laxus' head and charged it with Crash magic. Then she found Simon and encased him in a block of ice from the shoulders down. She hunted down Jellal and stuffed him into an ice cage with Erza.

She restarted time and snapped her fingers. There was a very loud bellow as her crystal ice ball slammed into Laxus' head at the speed of a cannon ball. She turned to the others, "We'll let the boys fight it out in there, Natsu and Eric are the only ones who stand a ghost of a chance against Laxus in there. Erza's in the bubble over there with Jellal, I figured she would appreciate the chance to lecture him. I froze Simon in a block of ice, don't worry Kagura he'll be fine, he's just stuck right now. Now that that's settled, we've got bigger problems."

"Like what?" Cana asked and Ultear pointed. Master Makarov grinned down at them from atop a nearby rock, "I hope you didn't forget that there are two S-Class on each floor." Ultear grinned, "Oh don't worry, I planned for it. Cana! Dad Distraction Combo!" Cana smirked wickedly, "Right!" Everyone looked at her as she pulled a couple of her magical cards and threw them at Makarov.

Makarov raised an eyebrow and threw up a magic shield to deflect the attack. Then he found himself smothered in bikini babes. Makarov tried to protest, he really did. His protests were smothered in a manner that made him wonder if death by suffocation would really be all that bad. The girls carefully edged around their pervertedly giggling guild master and were just in time to see a very beaten and bloodied Jellal fly through the side of the ice cage Ultear had conjured.

Erza was right behind him and on top of him an instant later slapping him, "How could you do something like that?! I was all ready to say yes the minute you asked me out and then you had to go and do something stupid like that! Don't even think about trying to ask me out now! The answer is NO!"

Jellal looked like Erza's words were hurting him a lot more than the beating she had given him. Erza was on the verge of pulling her hair out, "And now I can't go out with Simon either because I can't stand the thought of being the wedge that drives my friends apart! GAAAH! WHY DID YOU DO SOMETHING SO STUPID?!" Erza slapped him again for good measure and stormed over to the other girls, shooting a glare at the now completely incapacitated Makarov. She crossed her arms and huffed, "Men." The other girls gave her sympathetic looks and shrugs. Sorano patted her on the shoulder.

Sorano was suddenly knocked flat from behind as Eric was launched out of the darkness Simon had conjured. She hit her head and was out for the count. "Sorano!" Yukino shouted before uttering a very surprised "EEP!" as Natsu landed at her feet looking very pummeled and scorched indeed.

Just as Eric was getting up, Laxus rocketed out of the dark and knocked him out. He was immediately clocked by another one of Ultear's crystal ice balls. This time though it shattered and reformed around his head. Laxus blew it apart with lightning and Ultear reformed it. Laxus blew it apart again and got clocked by Cana's Crash magic. Laxus tried to get up and found himself rooted to the ground by Kagura's Gravity magic. Laxus started trying to get up and Erza delivered a half ton drop kick to his gut courtesy of Kagura. Laxus made a very interesting wheezy sound and then passed out.

Erza hopped off him and walked over, "So it looks like it's just me and you now Ultear." "If you can get past me!" Makarov declared, now back on his feet despite the bikini girls all over him. Ultear whispered something in Cana's ear and pulled out a camera. Makarov got a very bad feeling before Cana threw another card at him. Immediately he was back in a pile of illusory girls, but this time it was the girls taking the trial in their underwear. Makarov was startled and then horrified as Ultear snapped a picture and Erza and Kagura shrieked in embarrassment.

Ultear grinned and waved the camera at Makarov as the illusions disappeared, "Now then, are you going to let us pass or is this picture getting plastered all over Magnolia?" Makarov was ghostly pale and then he nodded, "Give me that picture so I can destroy it and you're all free to go. The door's right over there."

Ultear grinned and sent Cana, Erza and Kagura over to the door. The minute they were through, Ultear tossed Makarov the camera and disappeared through the door. Makarov quickly opened the film container, extracted the film and burned it. Only when it was completely destroyed did he breathe a sigh of relief, "That may well have been the scariest thing anyone has ever threatened me with."

"Tell me about it," Laxus agreed, "Can you imagine if Gildarts or Oby saw that?" "Saw what?" Oby asked as he poked his head through the door. Makarov was immediately paler than a ghost and Oby frowned before covering his eyes and checking to see what had happened. After a moment Oby started laughing, "That's brilliant! I'm so proud of her! It's utterly terrifying but it's also the best damn blackmail idea I've ever heard of! If I didn't have my Arc of Time to deal with stuff like that I'd be scared shitless too! She really got you good Master!"

"STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!" Makarov yelled.

==Meanwhile==

"Please don't ever do that again," Kagura asked as she raced up the stairs behind the others. Ultear laughed, "Don't worry Kagura, I didn't actually take a picture of him. I was aiming the camera over his head. I only did it because we'd never have beat him in a head on fight." "No not that!" Kagura exclaimed, "The thing where Cana made illusions of us in our underwear! Not cool!" Cana laughed, "Oh don't tell me you're shy Kagura!"

"Don't tease her Cana, she's too young to be flaunting her good looks," Ultear said over her shoulder, "Honestly you and Erza are too." "I am not too young for a boyfriend!" Erza protested. "You're too young to be running about in capris and a bikini top all the time though," Ultear pointed out, "And you're definitely too young to be seducing boys." Erza blushed as red as her hair, "S-seducing?!"

"Yep!" Ultear replied cheerfully, "You are definitely too young for that. At least another three years for you, four for Cana and seven for Kagura. Yes I am invoking the "Big Sister" clause here, and Erza don't even try to tell me I can't because Zera would agree with me."

Erza blushed and didn't reply. Then steam roiled out of her ears with embarrassment as Kagura asked, "Sis? What's seducing?" Ultear howled with laughter, Cana snickered and Erza stammered, "I'll, I'll tell you when you're older. It's nothing you need to be concerned about right now. Just don't worry about it for now."

Ultear's laughter continued until she and the others burst through the door to the third floor and they remembered who was waiting for them. "Sorry girls," Ur said in a way that said she really wasn't sorry at all. "Dead end," Gildarts added with a grin. Ultear's breath caught as she saw her parents and half a dozen of her friends arrayed against her.

Then she took a deep breath and as she let it out she moved her hands in a wide circle, "Time of Reckoning." There was a flash of light and suddenly a fully grown Ultear stood where she had been a moment before. Ultear moved into a low crouch and smirked as an ice blade materialized in her hands. There wasn't even a flash of movement as she seemed to teleport behind her opponents. Everyone turned to look and those who had been standing against her realized immediately that she had thoroughly lacerated them on her way past. Everyone but Ur and Gildarts went down immediately.

Ultear collapsed to her knees panting as her age returned to where it normally was. She staggered back to her feet and turned to face her parents who had turned to watch her carefully. She turned just in time to see Cana throwing her cards. A moment later Ur and Gildarts were caught in a pillar of lightning. They had just an instant after the lightning faded before Erza and Kagura clubbed them in the head from behind with the butts of their swords.

There was silence for several moments and then Master Makarov cleared his throat, "Well, as you have completed this part of the trial there is only the final part left. We must decide which of the remaining two of you is to be promoted. So Oby, if you'll wake up Ur and Gildarts, the S-Class will convene and decide which of the two finalists are to be promoted." Oby strode over to Ur and Gildarts and laid his hands on their shoulders. A moment later they were awake with all their wounds quickly zipping themselves shut.

A few moments later found the five S-Class of Fairy Tail seated around a table again, this time in the sound proofed basement of the keep. Oby kicked back, "You all know I vote Ultear. Erza's definitely got the spirit and power for S-Class, nobody can deny that, but I'd say she's still a little bit young, and aside from her Requip magic all she's got is what comes with her armor. She's a force to be reckoned with, and I fully expect her to be a warrior almost without equal one day, but for now she's a little too straight-forward. I'd say Ultear's got her beat with brains and variety. None of the other semifinalists would've made it past me on the first floor if Ultear hadn't been there, and she took down all eight opponents on this floor before they could even blink. She only needed the others to deliver the finishing blow to Ur and Gildarts because she wasn't aiming to kill or cripple when she struck."

Makarov hmmmed, "Well biased as you are, you do make very valid points. However I would like it noted that Erza did last longer than anybody fighting you Oby, and she was the only one not shaken by Gildarts' trial."

Gildarts cleared his throat, "Yes, but her worst fear was in fact something that could be defeated by fighting. The others had much more crippling fears that couldn't be addressed so easily. Eric saw his girlfriend dead at his feet, he only passed my test because he made the very valid point that no good boyfriend wouldn't be terrified of losing his girlfriend, and that fearing something is not the same as being crippled by it. He trusts Kinana to take care of herself and I couldn't fail him with that argument."

"Sorano," he continued, "was thrown back into that horrible tower where Oby found her and the others. She actually managed to work up the nerve to escape for Yukino's sake knowing she'd probably be tortured and killed if she were caught, which was very likely. And Ultear," his expression darkened as he looked at Oby, "I don't want to talk about it." "And you think I do?" Oby shot back icily, "That was not me Gildarts! That was a horrible twisted nightmarish could-have-been and I would never EVER treat her or anyone else like that!"

Everyone was looking between the two nervously and Ur asked, "What exactly did Ultear see?" Oby exhaled through his nose, still locked in his glaring contest with Gildarts, "The enchantment on that room was designed to show the contestants their worst fears. I had an idea of what each of them would see and Ultear is the only one who went in that I was wrong about. It was much worse than simply being thrown back to the day she almost gave up on coming home."

Ur visibly flinched and Oby continued with no small amount of heat in his voice, "What she saw was an alternate timeline. A horrible nightmare where I never left Grimoire Heart and became the monster Hades was trying to grow me into. Ultear would've joined Grimoire Heart if she hadn't come home, and in that nightmare I was the worst of a guild full of monsters. I was the complete opposite of who I am now and a nightmare to her in particular.

"Fairy Tail in ruins after a war with Phantom Lord, Sorano Eric Macbeth Sawyer and Richard being five of the most powerful dark wizards on the continent piloting an ancient weapon that could turn anybody evil, Jellal being another of the continent's strongest dark wizards with Simon, Milliana, Sho and Wally as his henchmen!

"Sweet little Kagura cold hard and ruthless, Master Makarov dead along with all the other Guild Masters, Ur dead, Lyon out of his mind, Gray moody, cold, troubled and guilt-ridden over Ur's death and then dead trying to stop Lyon from reviving Deliora, you Gildarts still a hopeless womanizer that never found out Cana was your daughter with Cana becoming one of world's worst alcoholics due to her chronic depression about not being able to tell you who she is!

"Sorano and Yukino and Richard and Wally never reunited, Zera and Erza both just as bad as me if not worse, Zeref himself on the loose and Acnologia returned and on the warpath! What part of that Gildarts makes you think it was any less of a nightmare for me to watch than her?!"

Oby was on his feet yelling by the time he finished and when his tirade was over he collapsed into his seat, the tears that had been building throughout the rant finally breaking loose as the others stared at him. "Fairy Tail's the best thing that's ever happened to me," Oby said in a quiet dead sounding voice, "I would never hurt Ultear, or anybody…not like that…you have to believe me…I'm, I'm not like that anymore…"

There was a long silence and then Makarov cleared his throat, "Um…all in favor of promoting Ultear to S-Class?" Oby threw his hand up and a moment later Makarov nodded, "Very well it's unanimous." Oby sighed and pulled himself together, "Let's, let's go congratulate her."

AN: For those interested in it, if I receive 50 reviews asking for it, I can and will write the alternate timeline Oby and Ultear saw where Oby never left Grimoire Heart. It will definitely be rated M and possibly fall into the "horror" category because it will be insanely dark.

Also, if you have read chapter 488 of the manga, then please join me in a loud "NOOOOOOOO!" and then a good hard "DAMMIT MEST!"