"Come clean?"

Roubaul nodded "I think I owe you an explanation now...I probably won't get another chance. You see, I was the one who told the other Guild masters about Oracion Seis. I intended to watch Nirvana until it can be destroyed so I realized something was off some time after that young lady passed by. She was one of the strangest guests I've ever seen."

Gray frowned "...Did that lady have white blond hair and blue eyes?"

The man blinked, not noticing Hope's expression darken at the question. "Why, yes. How'd you know?"

"She left a clue behind. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Right. Well, this may be hard to believe but it's the truth...and the reason I know all about Nirvana."

Sherry gave him a curious look "Wasn't it because you were descendants of the Nirvit? We already know about that."

"...We're not descendants of the Nirvit, we're the true Nirvit themselves."

"Whoa, what?"

"What're you talking about?" Happy demanded.

"That can't be!" Lyon added.

Roubaul heaved a sigh "The truth is, the one behind creating Nirvana...was none other than myself. It was the symbol of peace for our nation for years. I was so sure it would be fine to use it but I realized too late that it takes in and distributes the evil it gets from people. The result...was terrible. My people slaughtered each other and I'm the only survivor."

No one knew how to react to this. Endymion, who had found out something practically unheard of in his knowledge about Roubaul and the other Cait Shelter mages, knew that this was the truth. He realized that and worried for Wendy and Carla. This would hurt them terribly...

"But...then, if this is true...you're a..." Eve struggled to form the words, even when everyone knew what he meant.

"Yes, I am in fact, an old ghost." Roubaul informed.

Wendy and Carla stared, feeling as horrified as each other.

"W-what?!"

"That can't be!"

"I'm afraid it is so." Roubaul gave them a sad smile. "I intended to watch Nirvana until someone destroyed it, which thanks to you all brave mages has finally become reality. I never planned to do anything else. Only...seven years ago, a boy named Jellal came with our little Wendy. He told me he was traveling with her but had to leave and he didn't want to leave her alone. When Jellal told me about his promise to take her to a guild, I decided to create an illusionary family."

"You have the power to create an entire guild...?" Ichiya inquired.

"Incredible..." Jura trailed off.

"I'm afraid, that I'm at the end now." Roubaul's words were followed by some of the members of Cait Shelter disappearing.

"No!" Wendy ran over, tears flowing from her eyes as she watched more of them vanish. "No way..."

Carla fell to her knees "This isn't happening..."

Roubaul smiled at them "My dears, what do you need an illusionary family for? You have a real one right there." He looked at the others. "Please take care of them."

With those parting words, he was the last to fade away and move on. The rest of the alliance watched as the girls cried, uncertain of what to do.

Wendy felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Hope kneeling behind her. She bit her lip and buried her face in his chest, barely registering his arms wrapping around her as she sobbed.

Hope stroked the young dragon slayer's hair, wishing he knew how to console her. For now, he decided to let Wendy calm down so he stayed silent, allowing her to release her feelings. So he only spoke when silence settled in.

"...We're going back home. Come with us to Fairy tail, you two."

"I still don't like you, you know." Sherry informed.

Lucy gave her a look that said she wasn't impressed. "Same here. But...with all this, I guess you're all right."

The woman turned her back on her "...I suppose...you're not so bad yourself."

"...Carla, do you think this means they're friends now?" Happy wanted to know.

"I have absolutely no idea." She admitted. This was without a doubt one of the strangest exchanges she had ever seen.

Ren looked at Victor "Come to think of it, what're you going to do now that you're a free man?"

"Ah, loads of things. But...for starters, I gotta say Fairy tail's looking more and more interesting. Any chance you can get me in?"

Gray smirked "I think we can swing you by."

Lyon turned to him "Well, it seems you've barely gotten better, since our last meeting."

"Funny, I seem to recall you losing to me. So that should be my line."

"Please, that was a fluke. Clearly, I've gotten a lot better since then. Do I need to remind you who the senior pupil was, little junior?"

"That's kind of hard to forget with the head of white hair. Nice look, Pops!"

"Why you..."

The listeners fought to hold their amusement in, just somewhat succeeding.

Natsu watched Ren and Eve flirt with Erza and Sherry "I bet those guys will get along great with Loke."

"Sadly, you're right. It'll be the meeting of Fiore's biggest playboys..." Lucy muttered, having just evaded some of that treatment.

"It was amazing watching you in action, Erza-san." Hibiki praised. "Of course, seeing you up close just showed me that you're much more beautiful than what I heard. A most lovely rose blooming on the field of battle...!"

Erza's eye twitched. It wasn't that she didn't think he hadn't done well, the flirting just really annoyed her. She was thankful Ichiya was getting Christina started now.

"...You just can't help yourself, can you?..."

"It was nice working with you again, Jura-san." Hope smiled. "Especially after last time..."

"The same time to you, Hope-dono." The wizard saint returned. "I quite agree that the clients last time caused a fiasco."

"Yeah, no kidding..." Hope blinked when Jura placed a hand on his head.

"...I had no idea how much rough times you went through to get this far. But as long as you keep demonstrating the strength you have shown us, you will be all right."

Hope didn't know what to say, because he realized exactly what Jura meant by this. Moments later, he smiled and answered "Thank you."

Wendy came to join them, looking happy. "I really want to see Hope-san and Endymion-san's guild. It sounds like a great place!"

'Oh, it is. I dare say you'll do very well there.' Endymion assured.

"Yeah, I bet they'll be glad to have you." Natsu added with a nod from Hope, making the girl beam at them.

"I have to say, I thought the stories about the White Paladin were overrated but now..." Eve trailed off, missing Hope looking at them curiously.

"I know, it's a shame Hope's with Fairy Tail." Hibiki nodded. "He would've done so well in Blue Pegasus."

"In Lamia Scale too, actually." Lyon said, putting a hand on his chin in thought. "After all, even with out that, he's proven to be quite capable and mature despite his young age."

Hibiki sighed "Exactly. Well, if you're interested..."

"No!" Three voices snapped at him and he found himself the target of Natsu, Gray and Erza's glares.

"Whoa, calm down! I was going to say the chance is open. That's all!" He assured, waving his hands quickly.

Hope gave him an apologetic look. He hadn't expect that at all, truth be told all he tried to do was give this mission his all, and thankfully it was enough. "I'm right where I want to be. But thanks, I'm flattered, Hibiki-san and Lyon-san."

"Just telling it how it is." The first responded.

"Way to overreact, you three. What did you think he was going to say?" Lucy asked.

"Oi!" Ren called from Christina "Come on, it's time to go!"

Hope stopped walking at the sound of footsteps and saw Natsu running along the boat happily. Knowing his friend's usual state he couldn't help but smile at the sight. He could understand Natsu's happiness though. Once he realized that Wendy's Troia spell took care of his motion sickness, he decided to make the most of it.

"Hope."

He blinked and turned his head, seeing Erza walk over followed by Carla and Gray. "I think it's safe to say that we'd all appreciate some explanation about that lacrima."

"...I thought you'd say that." Truth be told, he was dreading this. Hope was perfectly aware that they would have plenty of questions about that lacrima. While he would prefer just not to breach that subject again, Endymion had pointed out that they were all worried about him and that since he had wanted at some point to tell them, this would be a good chance to do so.

With mental reassurance from his friend, Hope let out a sigh. "All right..."

Gray was about to stop him leaving, but then he realized that their friend was just going to one of the rooms on the ship. So he was basically telling them to go there.

"While I can see why you'd be concerned, he clearly doesn't want to talk about it." Carla pointed out.

"We know. He's never really talked about his past with any of us before." Gray responded. "And normally, that's fine, seeing as we weren't exactly open about our own..."

Erza took over "But, we can see it's affecting him badly. Have you actually seen him get much rest ever since the battle was over?"

Carla blinked, suddenly realizing their point. If anything the boy seemed more tired than anything lately. She could tell he had gotten some rest when they went to Cait Shelter, but she was fairly sure she'd seen him talking to Endymion really early. "So you think talking about it could help him."

"Maybe...I'm afraid that's all we can do at this point." Listen to what was troubling their friend so they could think of some way to help.

With that, a while later, the group had gotten settled in one of the ship's cabins and briefed Natsu and Happy about the situation...

"Come to think of it, Lucy-san, I know your master took in orphaned kids and let them in Fairy tail but why did he adopt Hope-san?" Wendy asked curiously.

The celestial mage seemed surprised by the question, but it was a good one. Why did Makarov adopt Hope out of all the kids that joined them? "I don't know, actually..."

"Meh, it's no biggie. I asked him once and he said he just felt like it." Gray said with a shrug.

"Besides, with the way some of us were before I doubt that idea would have gone well." Erza added.

"Yeah but..." Hope trailed off. "...It's because he wanted me to know what a family's like."

Now that really confused them, they knew Hope had been abandoned but that...

Before anybody could ask, Natsu spoke "He means as far as we know, Hope and Endymion only had each other before joining Fairy Tail."

"...I've never really talked about this to anyone besides Endymion." He admitted. "So I'm not sure how to go about it."

Happy looked confused "Wait, then how does Natsu..."

"That was an accident." The teen interjected. "...Mostly because of Gildarts but I'll tell you later."

"Okay..."

"We know it's hard, Hope but we're really worried about you two." Lucy sat next to him.

Endymion's voice was bitter when he responded 'Me? I'm hardly the one you need to worry about when I'm a big part of what caused this. Hope's the one who suffered terribly during those awful times.'

"Don't say that." Hope frowned. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this subject came up. He would never blame Endymion, who had been his best friend, guardian and the closest thing he had to family for so long. "It wasn't your fault. In fact, if it wasn't for you I never would've made it this far."

He blinked upon feeling a hand on his shoulder and looked to see it was Lucy's.

"Whatever it is, we're not going to think any less of you. Just keep that in mind."

He bit his lip but nodded.

"We'll ask and you answer. Agreed?" Carla received a nod.

"Okay...when did that attack happen?" Happy tried.

"I think it's been almost 9 years now. That was my old home you saw..."

"So, how..." Victor's eyes traveled to Hope's left arm.

The boy gripped it, not looking at him. He hadn't realized Victor had seen that...

Gray, who happened to see what the older templar was talking about before and so knew what was wrong "Oh hey, we can see if Wendy's magic works on that."

The girl looked confused "My...? Hope-san, were you injured?"

"Not...exactly."

"Then what're they talking about?"

Hope knew that they weren't about to drop that subject and he realized that Endymion agreed with Gray so he supposed it might be worth a shot. With a sigh, he pulled his left sleeve up, revealing that the upper part of his arm had a bunch of scars.

"H-how..."

To think this wasn't even the full extent of the damage and they were so shocked. Hope shook that thought away and looked at Wendy "Would your magic work? Nothing I've tried made a difference."

Wendy recovered from the surprise and cast a healing spell, her eyes widened when it made no difference. "Why?"

Hope pushed the sleeve back "Who knows. I've been told they're caused by evil magic so I've been using my light magic to keep them hidden."

"I'm sorry, I really wanted to help..." Wendy frowned.

He shook his head, giving her a grateful look. "Don't worry. That's good enough."

"Evil..." Erza's eyes widened as a thought hit her. "Were the attackers in the lacrima...?"

"Demon Fang, yeah." Hope replied. "The whole thing was so sudden that no one knew what to do at first. It was pretty chaotic back at the capital then."

Victor raised an eye at the name "Isn't that the dark guild that almost started a war in the capital during trying to make their boss king?"

"Yeah, they're also the reason Hope and Endymion ended up like this." Happy nodded.

'Apparently, my soul was sealed in an ancient tablet. They planned to revive me by using the body of a mage and turning me into a weapon.' The phoenix explained. 'All their attempts failed though.'

Gray raised an eye "Then, who were those kids we saw?"

'Hope and his best friends.' Endymion replied, confirming some of their suspicions. 'As I'm sure you could tell...the attack hit the room where they were stayed. Somehow, Hope was the only who survived.'

Everyone who didn't know this stared at Hope in shock, not that he really noticed. For he was suddenly remembering how awful it felt when he woke up. He hadn't been able to move much because of his injuries but seeing his friends, Amy and Julian, and all those people dead was terrifying.

If he had looked at his friends, he would've seen the shocked and then upset looks they gave him. Most of them had seen that place so they could imagine how awful of an experience that really was.

Natsu was about to ask something when he heard Hope mutter "Right, that's when she found me..."

"About that, who's that woman? You looked like you saw a ghost when her image showed up." Carla remarked.

'...Seeing as we both thought her dead until that point. I'd say it's legitimate reason.' Endymion said darkly.

She blinked "As in you thought Demon Fang killed her?"

Hope nodded "After what they did, my memories were so messed up that I never realized it. Even with how well I remembered those awful times...there was one part I completely forgot until I saw the lacrima. That woman's name is Oriana Dale. She's the one who taught me memoria magic."

Everyone stared at him, not expecting that in the least. Natsu was the one who broke the silence "That's actually the one part I don't get. How'd they catch you? Didn't she help you?"

'It's more like she was helping herself.' Endymion spat, the venomous tone startling them.

Hope began. "When I first woke up...I found her carrying me out. I really thought it would be okay then. I don't know the full story but she never planned to help anyone, she made some deal with Demon Fang and it involves handing me over to them."

"What?!"

Happy's shoulders sagged as he mumbled "That's awful..."

Even if he avoided elaborating, it was clear how much Hope trusted Oriana. The fact that took advantage of that strong feeling just sickened them. It was cruel.

'Even with all their efforts and the people they tried it on, those fools couldn't handle my power. As you can see, it only worked with Hope.' Endymion continued. 'Their ship was almost destroyed and...while I hardly remember this part, I do recall flying into a forest. According to Igneel, he found us a while after that.'

Gray looked from Hope to Natsu "Damn...out of all the ways for you to meet."

His rival snorted "Tell me something I don't know."

"So Natsu's father helped you?" Carla asked.

"Yeah, you can imagine my surprise when I figured out what happened. But they were really nice," Hope said with a bit of a smile at his childhood friend.

Natsu waved it off, though they did notice how he seemed a little embarrassed "Ah, you're taking it too far..."

"So that's how all the lessons you mentioned started..." Lucy trailed off.

Wendy looked confused "Lessons?"

"Apparently, this guy used to have trouble with some of his lessons...though if you ask me it's just because he was hard headed. Hope turned out to be a better teacher than Igneel when it came to manners and reading and that sort of thing. He knew it more than plenty of kids his age at that point so he decided to help out. Natsu picked it up pretty well, that's how they started getting along."

"I do not envy you one bit, Hope. What incredible patience that must take." Carla said dryly.

Natsu scowled while a number of the listeners laughed "Oi, what's that supposed to mean!?"

The blue haired girl smiled "Hope-san and Natsu-san must be really close."

"We were surprised at first but they are." Erza said with an amused glance at the two.

Victor tilted his head a little "So you got to know each other at that time, Endymion?"

'Yes, that's when I truly awakened. It didn't take long for me to realize the situation and I wanted nothing more than to reverse but there was nothing I could do.' He said bitterly, idly thinking back on how Hope handled the situation far better than him.'Even when he was scared, Hope accepted me and offered to become my friend. That means so much more than I could ever express and I'm eternally grateful for it.'

"I can imagine." Victor said as they smiled at the younger templar, feeling and understanding the strong bond between him and Endymion.

"You're making too big of a deal out of it." Hope said sheepishly.

"No, he's isn't. That was sweet of you. No wonder you two are such good friends." Lucy remarked.

Erza nodded "Same here though we've always known that you have a big heart."

"I have to admit, I'm confused." Victor continued. "I get that you came to Fiore because your family abandoned you in Aetheria but I don't see why you didn't go back to your old home."

Natsu scowled, the words reminding him of the truth. "...There was no choice. Igneel did take him back. That's when things went bad again."

"Eh? Why?" Happy asked.

Hope steeled himself before he spoke "Well...after what happened, they thought I was dead. It looked like everything was getting better when I made it. When I found...them, I saw some remnants of Demon Fang try to attack and I stopped them. I ended up using Endymion's power to help. Then...I tried to explain to them...I really did, but they all just freaked out and started calling me a monster."

"You're kidding me..."

"No way..."

But it only got worse 'They seemed so sure that Hope was just another weapon sent by Demon Fang that they wouldn't listen to a thing he said.' Endymion took over when he sensed how hard this was for his old friend. 'They seemed certain that we had already attacked. Maybe it was because the terror they caused was just that high or it was something they've done after Hope was taken. We'll never know. As I recall, they were demanding why Hope survived when others didn't and wishing it was the other way around. But they wouldn't listen...and believe me, you're better off not hearing the awful things they said to Hope. At that point, the only thing I could do was make sure Hope would leave before they killed him.'

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!" Gray exclaimed, outraged. Aside from the fact that he had saved those people, Hope was one of the most harmless people he knew. He would never hurt innocents. "You're telling me even his caretakers didn't do anything to stop them?"

'That's exactly what I'm saying.'

It was then that everyone truly understood the meaning of Hope's words earlier. Indeed, with all this behind him, it was no surprise that Makarov decided to show him what a family was. The listeners felt nothing but shock and outrage on the boy's behalf. It was an awful story.

Happy and Wendy were in tears at this point and Lucy wasn't far behind. Was it really any wonder, the cat thought, that Hope wouldn't tell them anything about himself? He must have wanted to forget all about this but he couldn't at the same time. Hope was so nice and kind, one of the most gentle hearted people he ever met, this was so unfair.

Wendy was more or less thinking the same thing. It hurt that her friend (who was becoming more of a brother figure) went through all this. He was selfless, caring for others' even after what he went through. Even now, she thought as they hugged the boy, he was staying strong even though this must be so awful for him. It amazed her that he had turned out the way he did and she wished she could help him feel better somehow.

"Oh, come on you two, stop that!" Carla said. She had to admit, she didn't like Hope at first but she learned to...especially when she saw how much getting to know him helped Wendy and she knew he was a loyal friend. "Who do you think wants to cry the most now?"

They stiffened as they realized it too, stepping back and apologizing. Hope smiled a bit and shook his head "It's all right...I thought you'd be mad at me, actually. So thank you."

"Mad at you? We're mad for you!" Erza wouldn't let him think otherwise for a second. "You should've been able to rely on those people and they should know better. But this...you even had to fake your own death to get away from your past. It's sick!"

Wendy and Carla looked alarmed at this but it was Victor who inquired about it, seeming just as shocked. The three listened to Endymion's explaining to them privately, feeling nothing but anger and sadness on the kind boy's behalf.

"Yeah, it is." Lucy hugged Hope. "It's cruel but you've been so strong. There's no way just anyone would take all this and turn out like you did. Nothing excuses what they did. I get why it was hard for you to talk about, you did the right thing, trust me."

"Yup. I always thought you're one of the bravest people I know." Natsu grinned.

Happy nodded. "Endymion's a real tough cookie for sure. You guys got through so much on your way, and that's great!"

If anything, all this story did was make them respect their friends that much more. It was a wonder that Hope turned out this way and the templar was the only reason Endymion had been able to keep his faith in humans. They supported each other through everything and were now the closest of friends.

Hope smiled at them. He was relieved more than he could ever express that they felt this way. It meant so much to him that they understood and were completely supportive of him. Endymion hadn't quite liked the idea, because he could tell how hard it was on Hope to relive all this but it did seem to help. He was also very grateful that their friends took things this way.

"Thank you."

"Man..." Gray glanced at the sleeping Hope, who currently lay against the wall with his head on Erza's shoulder. With all his concern and exhaustion over this, telling the story seemed to help like they intended. It was about time to catch up on that rest he missed. The knight mage smiled gently and settled him on the bed they were both sitting on. "...who would've thought Hope had such a messed up past?"

"Not me..." Happy piped up. "...but it kind of clears things up. Remember, Hope kept to himself a lot when they first joined."

Natsu confirmed this "Can you really blame him though? Just look at this mess."

"Nope, I'm just wondering how the hell he turned out this way." Gray admitted, feeling his respect for the young templar rise.

'I asked myself that a lot.' Endymion admitted. 'Now I think it's just the way Hope is. He keeps saying he wouldn't have come this far without me but I think he would have done well anyway. He doesn't like leaving people in trouble, from his own experiences. But even then, he turned all those sad memories into a drive to get strong and he moved forward. He may not see how great that is but now he lives every day to the best of his ability. I find that great, and I'm incredibly proud of the person Hope is now.'

Victor smiled "And you've got every right to be. He's really something else."

"Yeah, I doubt just anybody could take all this and turn out so...good." Lucy leaned back.

"One thing I don't get...it's almost like you were suspecting the part about Oriana, Endymion-san." Wendy noted shrewdly. "Did Hope-san tell you before he lost his memory?"

'Not...exactly.' He admitted. He had feared that but for Hope's sake, Endymion wished he was wrong. That was the only reason he kept quiet about it. 'I needed some time to convince him to talk about all that.. It's just...some of the things he said before told me that something was off.'

In truth, there was also Hope's behavior after the fighting festival. He had noticed that his friend was close to remembering something but at the same time, it was like he didn't want to. The phoenix couldn't make sense of it then but he understood that a part of Hope was afraid of his memories coming back. But it was understandable with what they've seen. He now knew it was also because Oriana's betrayal just left him terribly hurt. But it was something Hope mentioned and the talk with Laxus that really cemented his suspicion about that part.

Laxus paused and looked back, making sure to focus his thoughts on Endymion so the phoenix would get the message and keep the telepathy between them. Something just seemed so off here. 'Oi, old bird, besides the obvious reason, exactly what made him think of that day now?'

'I can think of a couple of reasons...one being you.' Endymion admitted. 'Despite what you might think, Hope really does consider you family. I think...all this just brought back a memory. It's not clear but we can tell it's bad and it's scaring Hope. Like it was something he wanted to avoid mentioning.'

'What do you mean?'

'This happened a little while after we started traveling. I thought I'd try to help him...deal with his feelings at least. It was working for a start but it went bad when he remembered how Demon Fang came to catch him. He wasn't...very clear on that part but he did mention something about how he still couldn't believe it...believe that he was betrayed again. But he never told me what that meant. That's when we found out he lost a bunch of his memories.'

Now this was really starting to make sense. It was clear how much damage the battle of Fairy tail had caused, Laxus would be the first to agree but he really understood why Hope acted that way in the end. That memory was returning and Hope clearly didn't want it to, even if he didn't fully realize it.

'Wait, so then...Demon Fang didn't catch him...'

'Exactly, someone gave Hope to them that same day.'

"I can't wait till we get home. A lot happened now..." Happy trailed off.

"Well, we won't have to wait long now. I'd say you need to get ready for the celebration that I'm sure is going to take place after we get back." Erza remarked. The guild was almost certainly going to have a party when they see their three new members.

"Aye! It's going to be great!"

Well, that's that.

Sooo, was it any good? I've been worrying about this chapter for a while but I'm not so sure. It's just that I can't think of anything better...If there's anything you want to ask or anything I missed, let me know.

Please Read and Review!