Sovereign: I would like to thank Assault Godzilla, Lightmoon54, splitheart1120, GoldenRoseTanya and zeprincelini for reviewing. Thanks guys!
Chapter 25: Forgiveness and Resolutions
Present time…
Everyone is currently resting in the ruins of Kalafina. Erza, Estelle, Juvia and Lucy are currently in the palace's soldier's bathroom, all four of them taking a shower. After taking their showers, they all sat at the dressing area putting back on their clothing.
Lucy sighed happily as she puts on her blue jacket. "Wow. Who would have thought that the showers in a ruined palace can still function after ten years?"
"It's about time we had a bath too. This is probably the first time we had one in a week." Erza smiled as she dries her hair with a towel.
Lucy turns to Juvia and sees her sitting on the bench putting on her hat. "Juvia? Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah fine." Juvia replied. Erza turns to Estelle who is also sitting at the bench with a frown.
"Right, both of you were Temzans." Erza uttered.
"I never thought I would finally return home after a decade." Estelle said sadly. Juvia stood up and turns to Lucy.
"Lucy-san?" Juvia said to her.
"Yes?" Lucy said, turning her head to her.
"Juvia would like to see Darren-sama." Juvia said, clutching her fists.
Erza narrows her eyes. "Juvia, remember what we agreed back at Alahorn? No killing the Demon Prince until we get answers."
"Don't worry." Juvia said to Erza. "Juvia won't. Juvia just want to ask Darren if he really kill Juvia's family."
"Go ahead and ask him, Juvia." Estelle said as she stood up. She then turns to Erza, Lucy and Juvia with a cold glare. "But for me, once you're done talking to him, I will kill the Demon Prince no matter what. Because I will never forgive him."
"Estelle!" Lucy cried. But Estelle ignores her, turns around and makers her leave. Erza turns to Lucy.
"Let her be." Erza said to Lucy.
"What? But Erza…" Lucy said in worry.
"Lucy, it's no use convincing her. Only she herself has the power to decide whether she will walk the path of killing."
Lucy frowned deeply, but nevertheless obeyed what Erza said to her. She turns her head away in worry.
"Estelle…" She uttered.
As soon as Estelle steps out of the bathroom, she closes the door and walks down the hallway.
"This really is a nice palace you have."
Estelle stops and turns her head to see Yuri standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at a huge portrait hanging on the wall. Yuri turns his head to her and smiled, "You must be Princess Estellise."
Estelle narrows her eyes at him. "How do you know who I am, prince of Alahorn?"
"There were stories that when Temza was destroyed, the entire royal family perished except their daughter." Yuri turns his head back to the portrait. The portrait was a picture of Prince Eric and Princess Genevieve sitting together with a young Estelle sitting on her mother's lap and all three of them were smiling.
Estellise walks over to him and turns to the portrait. She frowned deeply as she stares at it. "Mom…Dad…"
Yuri turns to Estelle and noticed the sad expression on her face. "I know how you feel. And I'm sorry." He said in sorrow.
Estelle turns to Yuri and gave him a cold glare. "I don't need your pity and sorrow. Especially from the son of the king of Alahorn." She said icily.
"Hey relax." Yuri said as he backs away. "I don't wish to cause any trouble."
Estelle then walks closer to Yuri. Yuri widens his eyes at her. "Let me warn you. I will never associate myself with anybody from Alahorn. Because every Alahornian is an enemy to me. If you ever come near or talk to me again, I will show no mercy." She said coldly to him. Estelle then turns her head away from Yuri and walks away.
Yuri watched as Estelle continues walking down the hallways. He sighed as he places his hands on his hips. "For someone younger than me, she sure is scary." He said.
Meanwhile, back at the town below the palace, Wendy, Lihua and Carl were chatting with each other while sitting at a bench together.
"Hello! It's nice to meet you!" Wendy smiled sweetly at Lihua. Wendy is at least an inch taller than Lihua but two inches shorter than Carl. "I'm Wendy Marvell, the sky dragon slayer of Fairy Tail!" Lihua giggled as she smiles at Wendy.
"And I'm Carl Clover." Carl greeted as he adjusts his hat. Lihua turns to him. Carl is the tallest of the three as he is two inches taller than Wendy and three inches taller than Lihua. "Young wizard and bodyguard of Princess Estelle!"
Lihua giggled again. "And I'm Jiang Lihua. I'm…" She smiles sheepishly as she scratches the back of her head. "Just a normal Temzan village girl."
Carl blushed upon seeing Lihua. 'She sure has a cute smile.' He thought.
"So how old are you?" Wendy asked Lihua and she turns her head to the sky dragon slayer. "I'm twelve years old!"
"And I'm thirteen." Carl said, pointing his thumb at himself.
'She must be eleven…' Both Wendy and Carl thought to themselves.
"I'm fourteen!" Lihua replied smiling. Both Wendy and Carl then widen their eyes and drop their jaws in shock.
'F-f-f-f-fourteen?!' Both of them thought. Lihua's smile disappears and looks at the both of them curiously.
"Something wrong?" She asked the two.
"Oh nothing!" Wendy said, chuckling as she waves her hands at Lihua. "If you excuse me, I would like to see how my fellow nakama are doing!" She then gets up and quickly walks away.
"She sure is weird." Carl said as he and Lihua watched her leave.
Lihua giggled. "She's funny to me."
Wendy then walks over to a dark corner of the town. She starts wailing unhappily as she fell to her knees. "I thought there's finally somebody here who is younger than me!" She sobbed as she wipes her tears from her eyes.
"Awww, don't cry Wendy!" Happy said as he walks over to her from behind. "At least you're still taller and older than me. I'm only six years old!"
"But you are not a human being so I'm technically still the youngest human here!" Wendy yelled unhappily at him before turning her head away and continues sobbing.
Charle then angrily walks over to Happy and drags him away by pulling his wing.
"You are not helping!" She said angrily.
"But Charle! At least I tried!" Happy cried.
Meanwhile, Darren is back in the house sitting at a dining table with Mirajane, CC, Jellal and Gray.
"So let me get this straight, you live in Darren's DNA and is the one who provides him his demonic powers." Jellal, who is sitting next to Mirajane, said to CC. CC, who is sitting between Darren and Gray, nods her head.
"Interesting. But may I ask why can't you just stay outside of Darren's body instead of just living inside him all the time?" Gray asked her.
"No, I can't. This current form I'm in right now isn't a real human body. It's made of blood. If I don't go back inside Darren's body within 72 hours, I'll dehydrate and die. And right, I'm 16 and a half hours outside Darren's body." CC explained.
"Mirajane…" Darren spoke up.
"What is it?" Mirajane asked.
"I'm sorry that I injured you back at Alahorn." Darren said apologetically.
Mirajane perked up and smiled sweetly at Darren. "It's okay Darren. No need to apologize." Darren widens his eyes, surprised to see Mirajane forgiving so easily.
"It's alright Darren." Gray smiled. Darren turns to him. "We Fairy Tail members are learnt to forgive each other. Even the worst enemies have the potential to change."
"Thank you." Darren nods his head. "but may I ask, why is Fairy Tail wanting to hunt me down?"
"Because the Magic Council has a bounty on your head." Mirajane said. She frowned deeply. "We thought that if we hand you over to the council, we can finally be the number one guild in Earthland again…"
"Is that so?" Darren said.
"Yeah." Gray said, lowering his head. "It's been seven years since we disappeared after an unexpected chain of events. During our disappearance, we lost many of our fellow guild members but a few had stayed and waited for our return and eventually we did. Since then, we wanted to make up the time we have lost by trying very hard to get the number one spot again."
"I see." Darren said, nodding his head.
"Okay! Dinner is served!" Takuto yelled as he enters the dining area. He places a tray on the table, containing an egg omelette, fried chicken wings, fried vegetables and four bowls of rice. "And don't worry, there's more food coming to serve everybody here!"
"Wow!" Mirajane said, clapping her hands. "I didn't know you can cook Takuto!"
"I'm not just a doctor." Takuto said, winking an eye. "Wako taught me how to cook too."
"So you do the cooking while your wife just sits back and relax lazily?" CC asked, smirking as she folds her arms.
"My wife isn't lazy!" Takuto yelled at her. "I think…"
Darren chuckled. Takuto turns to him and asked in a serious tone, "As for you Demon Prince, I have a question."
"Huh?" Darren widens his eyes. "Um sure…" He now feels nervous, thinking Takuto may have a grudge on him.
"Demon Prince…" Takuto said, narrowing his eyes. But suddenly, he perks up and yelled happily, "May I study your human biology later?"
"Huh?" Darren widens his eyes in surprise.
"I mean, you have demonic powers and blood inside you and yet you still have a human body and keep a nice complexion! How do you do it?!" Takuto grasps Darren's hands and clasp them together. "Think of what discoveries I can make when I study more of your body and biology!"
"He is one strange companion you guys make." Jellal whispered to Mirajane.
"You haven't seen half of his weirdness." Mirajane smiled.
"Um yeah, you can take a look at me later, Takuto." Darren said as he gently removes his hands from Takuto's grip before turning to Mirajane and Jellal. "Right now, may I ask, where's Judith and Natsu?"
"They're probably at the palace." Jellal said to him. "You should really see her Darren. She's been thinking a lot about you."
Darren softens his eyes. "Right."
Judith and Natsu are are the palace garden. The pond is no longer filled with water and all the plants and flowers in the garden have since withered or disappeared.
Judith is sitting at the pond while Natsu stands in front of her.
"And that was how I became Darren's master." Judith said as she finished explaining to Natsu how she first met Darren and made a pact with him.
"I'm surprised that the Demon Prince can have someone controlling him." Natsu said to her. "How long have you two been together?"
"About a week now." Judith smiled as she lowers her head. "But during that short period of time, both of us had already become close to each other."
Natsu let out a sigh and smile. "Wow. That sure is nice." He said.
"Judith?" Judith and Natsu both see Darren entering the garden, looking ashamed.
"Darren…" Judith said sadly.
"I guess I'll leave you two together." Natsu said but Darren gestures him to stop.
"No. It's okay." Darren said as he walks over to them. "You have the right to listen too, because I owe you an apology as well."
Natsu nods his head. Darren now turns to Judith and sighed, "Judith…I'm so sorry."
"Why did you do it?" Judith asked.
"I just lost control. I thought the moment my identity is revealed, I've lost all of my hopes and dignity. I've lost myself." Darren said sorrowfully.
"Darren, haven't you forgotten? I'm your master…" Judith said. Darren watched as the krityan gently takes his hand. "If you have anything, any problems you have, you could've express them to me. No matter what happens, I'll always be at your side."
Darren let out a gasp, then smiles as his eyes turn watery. He wipes his eyes and chuckled. "I…I'm really glad that such a person like you would exist, Judith."
Judith smiled. She stood up and gave Darren an embrace. "I hope this hug will make you feel better." She whispered.
"Yeah…" Darren sighed happily and hugs him back.
"Ahem. I'm still here you know?" Natsu chuckled. Darren and Judith both pull away from each other and turn to Natsu.
"Yeah. Sorry." Darren said. "Sorry that we had to fight…"
"Natsu Dragneel." Natsu smirked as he places his right hand on his hip. "That's my name."
"Nice to meet you." Darren said, extending a hand.
"Yeah, you too." Natsu said as he takes his hand and shakes it. "Darren, don't mind but may I talk to you privately?"
"Um…sure." Darren said. He turns to Judith who smiles and nods her head to him. Judith then walks away and leaves the garden. When the krtiyan is out of sight, Darren turns back to Natsu and notices a frown on his face.
"What's wrong, Natsu?" Darren asked.
"Well…" Natsu said as he folds his arms. "I see you two really love each other."
"Yeah, we do." Darren replied.
Natsu sighed. "I'm in love with two girls. One is my girlfriend who I'm currently dating, Lisanna. She was my childhood friend who proposed me to marry her when we become adults. But there's another girl I'm in love with, Lucy. She came into the guild a few years after my guild and I thought Lisanna was dead. She was a beautiful girl whom I quickly became friends with when she arrived. We went through many missions and adventures together. But then one day, Lisanna DID came back…and now, I have to keep my promise to her all over again." He turns his head away and clutches his head in frustration. "I don't know what to do! I love Lisanna but I'm in love with Lucy too!"
Darren sighed and replied, "Yes Natsu, it's never easy to decide which girl you want to go with."
"Huh?" Natsu said as he calms down and turns back to Darren.
"But in the end, it's your own decision. You can either go with Lisanna or Lucy. And it's best that you resolve this right now before it's too late. I shall leave you alone." Darren said. With that, he turns around and leaves the garden.
Natsu lowers his head. Darren is right. It's his own decision to decide whom he should go with. Should he go with Lisanna, his lifelong childhood friend? Or Lucy, the girl whom he constantly protects and thinks of?
But after thirty seconds, Natsu closes his eyes.
He has made his decision.
Darren walks down the palace hallways and examines the damages of the palace. He knows that many soldiers and mages, including his friends have died here and it still haunts him til today, especially when he's now walking through their resting place.
"Darren Leong?"
Darren stops at his tracks and turns around. It was Juvia.
"Juvia?" Darren said. "I'm sorry for what I did to you back at Alahorn."
"It's okay. But that doesn't matter to Juvia right now. Darren, Juvia wants you to be honest with her." Juvia said, looking serious.
"Okay." Darren nods his head. "I will."
"Did you really kill Juvia's family?" Juvia asked him.
"Don't know. When did your family died, Juvia?" Darren asked.
"At around 7 in the evening. The same time around the destruction of Kalafina began." Juvia replied to him.
Darren rubs his chin. "7 in the evening, I was still in the palace. I only leave the palace in my demonic form when it was 8.01 PM."
"What?" Juvia widens her eyes.
Darren looks up at her. "Juvia, your family isn't killed by me. They were killed by the king, who also became a demon…and I was forced to kill him."
There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment, until tears flow down Juvia's cheeks. Juvia lowers her head sadly. "Then all along, Juvia's been holding a grudge on you for nothing. And the real person who killed Juvia's family has already been dealt with." She fell to her knees and sobbed.
Darren walks over to her and kneels down to her. "I'm sorry for your loss. They must have been very nice people to you."
"Yes…" Juvia nodded. "Especially nii-sama…" She then looks up at Darren with tearstained eyes. "Now that the truth has been revealed, Juvia can finally move on and allow her family to rest in peace."
Darren smiled at her. "Can I give your family a proper service for you?" Juvia nods her head.
Unbeknownst to Darren and Juvia, Lucy was standing behind them, watching the whole thing. She smiled happily at the sight of it.
"The Demon Prince…isn't that bad after all." She said softly to herself.
"Lucy?"
Lucy gasped and turns around to see Natsu. "Natsu?" She said. Immediately, something amazing happened.
Natsu leans over and kisses Lucy in her lips. After a while, Natsu breaks away from the kiss and Lucy was blushing crimson all over her face.
"Natsu-san? Why?" Lucy asked.
Natsu smiled warmly at her. "I'm choosing you over Lisanna because…you are the one whom I always think of."
Lucy's eyes turn watery. She managed to crack a smile before she and Natsu warmly embrace and gave each other another kiss.
'Thank you, Darren.' Natsu thought.
Later that evening, Darren, Judith, Juvia, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Mirajane, Erza, Carl, Yuri, CC, Wendy, Jellal, Lihua, Happy, Charle and Takuto gathered around the city square to perform a funeral service for Juvia's family. Darren is reading a Bible while the others except Juvia were holding joss sticks.
"May Juvia's family forever rest in peace. They will always be a loving family, in life and death." Darren finished saying and closes his Bible.
Juvia looks skyward as she holds onto her locket tightly while the others close their eyes and remain silent while holding their joss sticks. Happy was sobbing and crying his eyes out.
"Nii-sama, mom, dad…rest in peace." Juvia said as a tear rolls down her cheek. After a minute has passed, everybody open their eyes and goes over to a pot of ashes and place their sticks into it. Everybody then watched as Darren and Natsu both walk over to a cage with piles of joss paper stacked inside it. Darren turns to Natsu and nods his head. Natsu then snaps his fingers and set the piles of paper on fire. Everybody watched as the paper burn into ashes. Lucy turns to Juvia and wraps an arm around her to comfort her. Juvia turns to Lucy and smile.
"Juvia…" Gray said. "I hope you have finally found inner peace."
Juvia turns to Gray and smiled, "Yes Gray-sama. Juvia has."
Erza smiled before turning to Carl. She noticed a worried expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" Erza asked. Carl turns to her. "Aren't you happy that Juvia has finally found peace?"
"Yes I am, Miss Scarlet." Carl said. "It's just that…Estelle isn't here."
"Yeah true." Jellal said and carl and Erza both turn their heads to him. "I wonder where she is now."
Carl sighed sadly. "Estelle…"
Unbeknownst to everyone, Estelle was watching the whole thing from the palace. She narrows her eyes angrily and walks away.
"I…I don't believe this…" Estelle said angrily. "Why is everybody so forgiving?! Why do they easily forgive the Demon Prince?!" She stops at her tracks, and then slams her hands on the wall and let out a yell. "WHY?!"
She then falls to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. A few minutes later, she wipes off her tears. "Mom, dad, grandpa…I promise…I will kill the Demon Prince and avenge your deaths."
"Perhaps I can help you."
Estelle gasped and looks up. In front of her…was Relius. Relius smirks evilly as he extends a hand.
"Do you wish to avenge your family, Princess Estellise?"
END OF CHAPTER
Sovereign: And that's the end of the chapter. Will Estelle give in to Relius? Stay tune and read and review!