HELLO!
I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Kyodo POV

My eyes widened. "My…father?"

Makarov nodded. "Yes. It's time you learnt the truth about him."

I was shocked, but gathered my thoughts. I gulped. "Is he…alive?" I asked nervously.

Makarov closed his eyes and said. "Yes."

Instantly, a smile came over my face. My father was alive! Finally, I could have a paren-

"Unfortunately." Makarov said.

I blinked in confusion. "What?"

Makarov had a distant look in his eyes, like he wasn't really there. He sighed. "Yes, your father is alive…but I should have killed him a long time ago."

My eyes widened, shocked. "K...kill him?"

Makarov sighed. "I suppose…I better start at the beginning."

The short man sat down on a nearby chair. He closed his eyes, and it looked like he was preparing himself. "Forty-four years ago." Makarov began. "I met three children."

He opened his eyes, and I could see the sadness in them. "The three children seemed normal at first. They did everything ten-year olds should do-play in the sunshine, play pranks on older people, and go to school. But they were different than most children."

"You see, Kyodo, children are incredibly good at learning magic, especially teenagers. There growing bodies can easily adapt to the presence of magic power, and when they hit puberty, their magic power usually increases quite a lot."

"But these three were, to put it mildly, awful at magic. Most children their age could create balls of magic energy the size of their head-these three struggled to make them ones the size of a matchstick."

"As a result, they were often bullied and rejected by their peers. After realizing that they were all in the same boat, they decided to band together."

"I came across them when I was walking through the park near the Fairy Tail guild. They had been trying to increase their skills in magic, and hadn't had much success. I had heard of them around the town, and offered them my help. Naturally, they were reluctant to trust me, but they eventually accepted my offer."

"There were two boys and one girl. Gildarts Clive, your father and your mother, Ur Milkovich-"

"Wait." I said, cutting Makarov off, confused by what he had just said.

He raised his head. "What is it?"

"My mother was bad at magic? How is that possible? She had the strength of a Wizard Saint by the time I was born!" I exclaimed.

Makarov smiled. "Yes, that is absolutely true. She did mature into a powerful mage. But if you don't believe me…"

Makarov rummaged in his pocket, and pulled out a photo. I took it, and my eyes widened.

In the photo was my mother. However, she was much younger than I had ever seen in any photographs. She looked about thirteen or fourteen, and had a look of extreme concentration on her face. Her arm was outstretched, and in her hand was…

My eyes widened as I recognized the object. "That's…"

Makarov nodded. "Yes. She's attempting to form a magic sphere."

I was in shock. "But…most kids can do that when they're eight or nine years old…How could my mother, of all people…"

Makarov nodded. "Yes. When Ur was about your age, she struggled to perform even the most basic magic techniques. That's where I came in."

"As I told you, I took Ur, your father and Gildarts on as trainees. They all had very poor magical prowess, and they quite badly wanted to improve. I did everything in my power to help them, but even I had my doubts that they would ever be able to fully use magic."

Makarov smiled. "How wrong they proved me."

"The three of them were terrible at magic, true. Everyone around them thought that they would give up at some point and live a life without magic. But those three…were the most determined children I'd ever met. No matter how many setbacks, how many failures, how many days that went by with no change, they never stopped trying to master their magic."

"And slowly, but surely, their powers began to increase. Little by little, the magic containers inside of them grew to hold more magic power, and at the same time, their skills became even more and more refined."

"However, they still did not feel like they had truly succeeded: their levels of power were still far below average. But that was when it happened."

"What did?" I asked.

Makarov smiled. "Their magic power, in short, increased a hundred times over."

My eyes widened. "What?"

Makarov laughed. "Well, not quite. But it seemed that all the blood, sweat and tears had paid off. The extreme amount of hard work caused their magic power to blossom, so much so that their powers began to exceed people twice their own age."

"Immediately, I was worried. I thought they would lose themselves in their newfound power, and use it to take revenge on those that had called them weak."

"But I was wrong. The three of them had taken my teachings to heart, and used their powers to help those around them. They joined the guild, and formed a team. They began to make a name for themselves, taking out dark guilds, monsters, and even armies by themselves."

Makarov smiled, but I frowned. "So my father…he was a member of your guild? Where is he now?"

I noticed Makarov's face changed, becoming darker, sadder. "Your father…he…"

Makarov looked up at me. I frowned. "What?"

Makarov smiled sadly. "I didn't notice it when I first saw you, but now I see just how much you look like him."

I blinked in surprise. "What?"

Makarov nodded. "Black hair, blue eyes…you truly are the striking image of him. Not to mention your magic is very similar to his…"

Makarov wandering off topic confused me even more. "What?"

Makarov took a deep breath. "Kyodo, your father is an Ice God Slayer."

My jaw dropped. God Slayer?! My father…is a God Slayer?!

"No…way…" I said, stunned by the knowledge.

Makarov nodded. "Yes. Just like your friend Orga, your father wields the powerful God Slayer Lost Magic."

"So…he wields black ice?" I asked, putting the pieces together.

"Yes…" and suddenly Makarov's face went very dark. "And it reflects the darkness of his soul."

My heart skipped a beat. "Darkness…in his heart?" I asked, nervous by how dark Makarov's face was.

Makarov sighed. "Yes….because twenty-two years ago…your father abandoned your mother…and became the deadliest ice mage in the world."

\

I don't think there is a word that describes how I felt after hearing those words.

Saying I was surprised would be lying. Saying I was shocked would be a bit more true, but still not enough. Saying I was gobsmacked would still be untruthful.

Saying that I had been shaken to my very core might have described it.

But as I sat there, my eyes wide and my whole body frozen, I couldn't remember ever being shocked this much.

"…what?" I said quietly.

Makarov looked at me, then in another direction. "I wish I didn't have to say it like that. But…there is no other way to describe it. If I told you any other way it would be lying."

I stared at Makarov, uncomprehending. My father? One of the most evil mages in history?

Then why would-

"Because…he changed." Makarov said.

I blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You are clearly wondering why such a kind, pure soul such as your mothers would fall in love with someone whose heart was full of nothing but darkness. The reason is because your father changed."

"What…" I gulped, unsure of what I was about to hear. "Happened?"

Makarov looked at the floor. "Your mother and father…even while they were training under me, they were very close. Eventually, their friendship evolved into love, and twenty-seven years ago, they got married. Two years later, Ur fell pregnant with your sister, Ultear."

Makarov glanced up, suddenly nervous. "…you do know about your sister, right?"

I nodded, and Makarov smiled. "That's good. Yes, Ultear…I still remember quite clearly the day that I first met her. The feeling of two of my students starting a family together was…wonderful."

"However, your parents decided that they wanted to raise their daughter in a peaceful, non-violent environment. So they decided to move away from the guild to Isvan, where Ultear was born."

Makarov's face turned dark. "And looking back…I wished I'd stopped them."

I was about to ask why, then I realized. "Did you think…you could have stopped my father turning evil?"

Makarov nodded. "Yes. I believe that while he was living in Isvan with your mother, your father lost sight of the light. Perhaps if I'd been there, I could have saved him..."

Makarov sighed. "But now is not the time for regrets. It is the time for facts. As I was saying, your parents moved to Isvan where Ur gave birth to Ultear. And for a couple of years, everything was going well. They were a young, happy family with their whole lives ahead of them."

"But then…disaster struck. Your sister had had abnormally high levels of magic ever since she was born, and this made her very ill. Your mother took her to a facility where she would allegedly be treated. However…the doctors there lied."

Ok, that was new. "What?"

"They told your mother that Ultear had died so that they would be able to perform further tests on her. Naturally, this devastated your parents, your mother in particular. Gildarts and I tried to comfort them, but it appeared the damage was done."

"And then Ur discovered she was pregnant again. This time, it was a boy."

My eyes widened. "That was…"

"You, yes." Makarov answered. "She was pregnant with you. At first, I was very concerned. Would Ur be able to handle another child? Would the damage from Ultear's 'death' affect her parenting?"

Makarov smiled. "Ur…she proved me wrong again. True, she was concerned at first, but as time went on…her happiness returned. She started smiling again. There was a spring in her step once more. The old Ur was back, and ready to take on the challenge of a child. But then…"

It didn't take a genius to work out where this was going. "That's where I 'died', wasn't it?" I said.

To my surprise, Makarov shook his head.

"No. While it's true your 'death' had a large impact on Ur's life, that did not happen for a while. No, what changed your mother's life was when your father disappeared."

"My father…disappeared?" I asked, now quite confused.

"Correct. Your mother was seven months pregnant, and all was going well. Everything had been prepared for your birth, and now it was just a matter of time. It was going to be a fresh start. And then your father vanished."

"What happened?" I asked, curious.

"One night, he was there. The next, he was gone. We thought it might have been a kidnapping, but your father was far too powerful to be kidnapped. Murder came to mind, but why just kill your father and leave your mother? Any enemies they had made, it had been as a team. Besides, there was no blood or anything. So we came to the conclusion that he had left."

"Ur came up with an explanation straight away. She had been in a terrible emotional state when she lost Ultear, and had barely recovered from it. No doubt your father was simply just scared of seeing her like that again. I thought she was just defending him, but once I thought about it, it made sense."

"I knew she was sad, but she was determined to hold herself together for someone."

I frowned. "Who?"

Makarov smiled. "Who do you think?"

I sat there for a minute, thinking, before it clicked. "She was doing that…for me?" I said.

Makarov nodded. "Yes. She refused to have you suffer from her grief, and so she bottled up all the sadness in her heart and focused on giving you the life you deserved. And shortly afterwards, you were born."

Makarov smiled. "It seemed like Ur had gotten her happily ever after at last. I only ever saw you with her a few times, but when I did, she never stopped smiling. It was clear to me then that she really did love you."

My heart skipped a beat. She…loved me…

The majority of people never seriously think about parental love. It is one of the few constants in the world-no matter how much you screw up, no matter how bad things may seem, you know your parents will always love you.

But if you've never known your parents…no matter how cheesy or cliché it sounds, being told that your parent loved you is just…just…

"Kyodo."

I jolted upwards slightly, surprised. "Yes?"

"Are you alight?" Makarov asked.

"Yeah…" I said, and decided to change the topic. "So what happened next? After I…uh…" I didn't quite know how to talk about what had happened after my 'death'.

Makarov's face turned dark. "Ah…yes…well, after…" Makarov winced. "After 'that' happened…she remembered your father. However, because she didn't remember you, she had no idea why he left. So she decided to look for him."

"Did she find him?" I asked.

"Yes…and no."

His answer confused me. "What?"

"She found him alright…but the man she had fallen in love with was no more. Like a snake, your father had shed his skin of lies to reveal his true self beneath."

I gulped. "What…did he do?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know.

Makarov tried speaking, and then stopped. He thought for a moment, and then reached into his pocket. "I…cannot say it in words…but I can show you."

Makarov pulled out an envelope, obviously stuffed full of something. "What is that?" I asked.

Makarov looked uncomfortable. "I didn't want to have to show this to you…but…if you are to truly understand, you need to know this."

A feeling of uneasiness spread throughout me as Makarov handed me the envelope. Whatever was inside of it was clearly not going to be pleasant. I gulped, and opened it up.

Inside, there was a pile of photos, but I had opened the envelope from the wrong side, so I couldn't see what they were. I took the first one of the pile and turned it over.

What I saw almost made me vomit.

To be continued…

Ok, yes, I just pulled a George R. . I was originally going to have a lot more for this chapter, but I realized it would be way too long and I would have died of boredom by the time I was done. So I split chapter 35 up into two smaller chapters, and I'll publish the second one A.S.A.P. However, I do have exams coming up soon, so I need to be aware of that.