You'll be my Raven and I'll be your Scarlet

A/N: Hello you amazing lifeforms! How has life been treating you? :D Are you doing well in your life? If you are, continue to do so! ;) And if you aren't, I'll give you a hug so that you can feel better, and know that I'll support you until the end, so try to do your best to recover and be happy! Happiness should never be taken for granted, and you shouldn't live life just for the sake of living, but try to find what makes you the happiest in life so that you can live the way you want to, not the way society wants you to ;) (You can clearly see I've been too obsessed with BTS, but what can I say? xD They are the most adorable oppas in the world :p)

Chapter LIII: Not as it Seems

Gray and Ultear sat in silence while they heard the publisher blathering on as they sat at the editorial company. Gray and Ultear were holding hands, Ultear gripping on a bit more tightly than Gray, excited about what the publisher then went on to say. He started saying,
"And this is what your article will look like," while hoping that the usually displeased Ultear would be satisfied.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUPLE IN HISTORY

The rumoured couple have been confirmed to be legit as we took a photo of them having the same wedding rings, as well as going to a bridal shop together. Many people had seen them together, but they had never said out loud what they were thinking. After all, it wasn't often that your childhood friend who later became famous would overlook such a handsome looking man. They both have that regal air about them, and when fans of Crime Sorcière had heard about it, both genders had been happy for them, but also jealous. The males had even begged her to not marry him, while the girls had said that she was marrying such a beautiful husband, and that she was definitely going to be a happy bride. Ultear, our beautiful pianist, had stayed humble all the time, saying that she felt blessed to have found the one for her. Not much is known about the man who is going to marry her, other than his first name- Gray. He had also been previously seen in music videos by a famous deceased artist, who everyone had thought he was dating at the time. Yet, they were proved wrong, as Ultear had said in a statement that they had been betrothed by their parents since a young age, and they had met up throughout their lives to reconfirm their relationship, which stayed strong for over nine years. Now, the couple is having their wedding day soon, and they have announced together that anyone is allowed to come to their wedding, as the church and wedding reception will be in especially large venues that can fit up to almost one million people. The wedding will be the most anticipated event that has happened in Magnolia since ten years ago, and it is even more anticipated than the royal wedding. Make sure to get your random tickets from all retailers! It's an event that cannot be missed..

And it went on and on, singing praises at the engaged couple.
(I hope previous chapters with Ultear and Gray now make much more sense to you :D I wanted to write in bold, THEY ARE ENGAGED several times, but I had reserved it for chapter 53, so I knew I had to shroud it with mystery x3... Remember when Ultear was asked in chapter 20, "What is your relationship with Gray?" And she was like, "He's my f-" It was fiancé xD...)

Gray moaned, "I need to fix stuff for the wedding, so I don't really have time to read all of it. If you want to change anything, go ahead, you have full control. Call me if you need anything, okay?" he said before standing up, getting ready to leave.
"Gray?" Ultear stopped him while looking up at him. He turned around to face her, confused that she was stopping him. She usually allowed him to leave straight after they had finished something, and he really didn't want to stay any longer.
"You forgot to kiss me," she said sweetly with a pouty face, making the publisher coo at how cute she was acting in front of her future husband. Gray smiled sweetly before going over to her and kissing her on the cheek, hoping that she wouldn't ask for anything more. Luckily, she didn't say anything, so he assumed that she had let him off with just that.

Gray really didn't think that the day would ever come when he had to marry Ultear. Yes, he had known since he was young what he would go through, but it still came as a shock to him when they had mutually finalised a date for their marriage. At nineteen years of age, he was going to get married. It had all been planned in the past, and he didn't think there was a way to escape from it. He felt bound, but there was nothing he could do. After all, without Erza, he didn't want to fight with fate anymore. He had always meant to marry Ultear, and he had tried to forget about the deal by dating Erza, the love of his life. He remembered clearly how he had broken the fragile girl's heart just because Ultear had told him that he had to, because they had to get married sooner or later, and she would just get in the way. He knew about their relationship, and yet he hadn't tried to fight Ultear's demands, because he was truly powerless. She owned everything that Ul did because she was the only legitimate child, but he had made it seem to his friends that he had only broken up with Erza to get money from Ultear. But it wasn't just that!

Ultear's father, the infamous Haru, had forced Ul (refer to chapter 25) to sign the contract in which Ultear had to be married off to one of Ul's adoptive sons, and Haru had chosen Gray, as he had always hated him more than Lyon. Gray had not known about it until Ul had told him, and she had begged him for forgiveness that day.

"I'm so sorry Gray," she had insisted, the young Raven haired boy confused why his mother was in tears in front of him.
"What's wrong mum?" he had started calling her that, a few months after she had adopted him.
"I'm so sorry Gray, could you find it in your heart to forgive mummy?" she had begged the child in tears. He had held her hands tightly as he said,
"Mummy, please don't cry. I will love you no matter what.." But Ul wasn't listening, guilt overriding everything else.
"Love makes people stupid and weak, " she had started, gulping down her tears. She had paused for a few seconds, making Gray wait for her reason why she had kept on blaming herself. "Because of me, you have to get married to Ultear when you are older... Just because I caved in and wanted to find out where he was.." she cried, hugging her child tightly. When he had heard her mention 'he', Gray had instantly assumed it was an ex of Ul. After all, he had known right from the beginning that Ul had never loved Haru Milkovich, and it seemed like he didn't love her either, even though he was the one who had proposed to her. Their relationship seemed very odd as soon as he had entered the house, and he had always told Ul to divorce him. When she had finally divorced him, they had been living happily together, but now it seemed like she was suffering once again because of that man.
"It's fine Ul! We can just annul the contract, can't we?" Gray asked. But Ul shook her head in dismay, saying,
"That man will kill me before I can even get my hands on that contract."

Those were the last words that he remembered from Ul, before she had gone outside, and had never come back. He should have stopped her. He should have known that as soon as he had the chance, he would attack her. In a vague recollection of his mind, he could remember being there when Ul had been killed, but he had gotten severe amnesia from that day. He had hoped that his memories would come back, but they never had, so he had to suffer nineteen years of being a witness to Ul's murder, but not remembering one single thing that had happened that night. All he could remember was that she was dead, and he had done nothing to save her life.

But it hadn't been just him who had discovered it, but also Jellal, who had turned out to be his best friend throughout the whole ordeal. After months of searching, investigating and prying from several sources, they had finally been able to get knowledge on the events that had happened during their childhood, as Gray could not remember a single thing. But one thing they still had failed to do was find the original copy of the contract that stated that Ultear and Gray should get married. They had thought that it would have been with Haru's belongings, but all the pieces of papers had been completely useless to them. The original print was nowhere to be found, and they knew that if they couldn't find it, Gray would have to marry Ultear no matter how much he wanted to protest. After his beautiful angel had left earth, he had wanted to stay celibate forever, but he couldn't do that if he was going to be forced to marry Ultear.

The thing that Jellal had discovered was that there were two versions of the copy. The altered version was the one that Ultear had easy access to, but there had been a hidden copy that Ultear had hidden the knowledge of from Gray, and that copy was the original one. That original one had a way to void the wedding; a way to make Ultear and Gray not have to be forced to get married. He knew that Haru had made a second copy so that whatever Ul had written to save him could be gone, while still having her signature. Wherever it was, the two boys had promised each other to find it, so that Gray could find his happiness that wasn't with Ultear.

Jellal, who loved his sister dearly, wanted to see her happy, but he knew that she wouldn't be happy with Gray. It was like a repeat of the situation with Lisanna and Natsu, were it was more just an obsession than actual love. If she loved Gray, it would have actually been a different story, and he wouldn't have been trying to help Gray, but he knew his sister too well to know that it wasn't love. It was obvious to him that Gray wasn't the one for her, and that Ultear should stop blaming Erza for being gone. When he had gone to visit his sister to comfort her after the funeral, he had heard her scream from her bedroom,
"She is not gone! Why are you dead!? Huh? If you're dead, don't you know how easy it is for me to make Gray mine?! Didn't you say that you would fight for him? Don't you love him?! So why the hell are you now gone from this world?! You fucking deserve to die if you made me think that you would try to get him back! Arghhh! You are such a weak bitch, and you don't deserve his love for you if you can just disappear so quickly! Because you're so weak, I'll steal him from you, and you won't ever be able to see him smile again for you, got it?!"

He had wanted to help her, but he knew that she would go on talking to herself for at least another hour in anger. He had never known that Ultear had actually wanted Erza to fight for Gray if she ever found out that they had been engaged for such a long time. But she had gone away too quickly, and now Ultear felt like she was to blame, but tried to always outwardly mask it by blaming the girl in question- Erza.


Magnolia Bank 17:23

Aries, as soon as Leo had removed the rope from her ankles and wrists, had sprinted away, not wanting to stay there. Not really having a plan, she tried to focus on the things she needed the most. After all, she was right in the town where her Underground family were, and if she stayed there, she would feel trapped, and she would know that they would drag her back with them right away. But she didn't want that, as she knew that she hadn't been faithful, so they would distrust her, and no one would treat her like when she had spent her childhood with them. They didn't see her as their precious princess, but as a vicious snake who would just betray them. If they had listened to what she had said, they should have been able to run away to safety before inevitably having to return back to their home.

She thought only for a few seconds before she soon realised that the only way was to get a large sum of money. As she looked to the left, she conveniently saw that there was a bank right next to her. Not wanting to waste any more time, she headed in that direction, not caring about her appearance or how her injury was still hurting her. She just wanted to get away from this town that held so many painful memories to her that she wanted to quickly forget.

The CCTV cameras stared at the suspicious woman with alert eyes. It wasn't just that she was acting strange, but she looked like she had no money on her. Her clothes were ripped and grimy, and her jeans had a very evident pool of blood on them. They stared at her intently, thinking that maybe she would try to rob the bank. Just as she had started to move closer to the reception desk, an Orange haired man held her hand and kissed her neck. Or so the cameras thought, as he was actually just whispering to her,
"It's very obvious what you are about to do..." in a disappointed tone.
"Just leave me alone," she had growled silently at him, hoping he would just let her go. But Leo wouldn't let the girl he had loved for so long suddenly leave him for the third time. So as he held her hand, he went to the reception desk together and he withdrew some money, telling the receptionist that they had been hiking and she had gotten lost overnight, so after hours of searching, he had finally found her, but because they had no money, he had to take some to pay for some medication, as well as clothes for her. She readily accepted that explanation from the handsome man, and the security had lost almost all suspicion on the couple.

They walked normally out of the door, Aries pulling a grumpy face as Leo contrasted hers with a loving smile. When they were near his car, he opened the back seat door and before she could run away, he pushed her in forcefully, not caring too much if he hurt her. She had hurt him too many times, and he needed to put some sense into her. He also entered the car, making sure that all the doors were locked before looking angrily at her and shouted,
"What's wrong with you? I've never seen you act so childish! After all this time that I've known you, when did you ever become a petty criminal? Did you think that you would be able to actually steal any money?! With an injured leg?! Are you crazy Aries?!" He stopped when he saw her hand trembling violently, and he instantly felt really bad. He had only wanted to reprimand her, but he didn't want the person he cared for dearly to feel hurt.

"I'm sorry..." he said as he reached for her hand. Surprisingly, she didn't flinch away from his touch, but actually chose to hold his hand instead. He gripped her hand tightly and kissed it with his eyes closed.


Magnolia Park 20:10

Even though they looked very odd to the people who were still at the park on that late night, Juvia and Lyon had already planned from long ago to go on a swimming date. It was unusual that anyone ever used the park's lake to actually swim, but Juvia and Lyon were both competent and confident swimmers. It had been a while since they had been on a date, instead of just walking and talking. So when both their schedules had been free, they had chosen to go on a romantic swimming date.

"Lyon, where do you want to go when we are both free?" Juvia asked her lover while groggily sleeping on his shoulder on a bus.
"Well, what can we both do quite well? I want to do something active!" he said enthusiastically.
"Mm.. well, we can both swim?" she countered, not really listening to herself.
"Then we can go on a swimming date!" he had suddenly shouted out, startling Juvia before she went back to trying to sleep on his shoulder. She laughed at him for a while, and he had flicked her on the forehead, not understanding why she was mocking him.
"Lyon, are you actually serious? What swimming pool would be open at eight o' clock in the night?" she had asked on the verge of sleep.
"Well, we can just go to the lake in Magnolia Park then," he had smiled at her. She had fallen asleep, not really listening to him anymore.

So now they were actually at the border between the lake and the park. Lyon had worn blue boxers, while she had chosen to wear a stripy one piece, not wanting to wear a bikini, as she was still embarrassed to show her body to Lyon. They swam in the night for several minutes, making sure to have races and splash each other with water as much as possible. When they finally saw land after fifty minutes of swimming, they decided to rest there, not knowing what they would bump into. They saw an unfamiliar cabin that was segregated from everything else. Curious, Lyon asked Juvia,
"Have you seen it before?" She shook her head in response, not knowing why there was suddenly a house there. It must have been there for around three years, as they had gone on a date like this exactly three years ago, and there had been nothing but trees there.

They knocked a few times, not hearing anything. Being too inquisitive, they decided to enter, saying that it was their duty to investigate anything that felt fishy. Moreover, it would be unlikely that the owner of the cabin actually lived there, as it was too small, even for one person to live there. However, they had just been deluding themselves, as it was a very high class cabin with expensive looking technology, as well as several stacks of documentation. They scanned the documentation a bit closer to see that it was several stacks of diaries, as well as wills and testimonies. They read the first letter, only to realise that it was addressed to Haru Milkovich.

They both gasped in horror. After three years of him being missing, they finally found the man who had been the cause of everything. Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from the distance and as they were terrified, they hid under his table, which covered them only from the side that didn't have the desk chair. So if he decided to sit on his desk chair, they would be discovered, and they wouldn't know what would happen to them. So they strained their ears and tried to hold in their breaths as they heard that he had entered the same room that they were in. He sat down loudly on the chair that was the farthest away from his desk and closest to the fireplace, making them smile with relief.

But the relief was not long lived, as they still had no way to escape. Haru was sitting on the chair closest to the exit, so he would spot them right away even if they tip toed. They strained their ears to hear him pouring a liquid (probably wine) into a wine glass. They then heard him say,
"I had to do what I did! I had to be the villain, but they don't know who the real villain is! I was only the fucking scape-goat for that person, and yet the world blames me and hates me for things that I had little to no influence on!" he muttered angrily. They had heard only a bit of that sentence, not knowing what he was on about.

They heard what seemed to be a gun click, and they realised with horrified faces that maybe Haru Milkovich would suicide. Instead, they just heard loud sobs from a man they had never expected to cry. Feeling like they were intruding into a private moment, they tried to cover their ears to stop feeling pity for him, as they still saw him as the main villain.

"I've killed no one for goodness sake! I can't even go to my beautiful daughter's wedding because of all the people who would arrest me! I fucking allowed Ul to sign it just so I could see her happy; so she could forgive me for being a terrible father..." and he continued with his babbling. But Lyvia found it hard to swallow, not wanting to believe the man who everyone was assured that was the culprit for almost every crime that they had been the victims of. Finally, they heard him walk away, and they sighed in relief, glad that he was gone, so that they could finally do what they had intended to do as soon as they had discovered it was Haru Milkovich's house.

Hearing Haru had confirmed one thing- that he had the original copy of the contract that Ul had signed, stating that Ultear and Gray would get married. As they knew it was in that cabinet, they got out of their hiding space, seeing the wine bottle was almost empty. They carefully leafed through the documents, only to find that there were actually several important things, not just the contract. After searching through the whole pile, they had finally found it. But they knew that it would be a waste to just take that, as there was so much more incriminating evidence, as well as self written diaries that they could use against him. So they took the whole pile and got out of the cabin, their hearts beating incredibly fast at the crime that they had committed.

"Can we really do this?" Juvia had whispered, scared that Haru was in the vicinity.
"We have to! If we don't, then we won't have any evidence against Haru Milkovich, as they won't listen to just circumstantial evidence in court!" They had not been able to look at everything but they hoped that it all contained useful information. Juvia gulped before finally agreeing, only thinking about serving justice.

But Juvia was getting tired of holding the heavy stack of papers she held, and Lyon knew he couldn't physically hold them. They went quickly back inside, and they shoved all the papers in four suitcases that Haru had left lying around. When they could finally feel a bit more comfortable, as the weight had lessened, they knew that they really couldn't swim back, as they didn't think the suitcases were water resistant. Seeing a boat in front of the cabin, they apologised out loud before getting on the boat and rapidly escaping from Haru's grip.


Levi's Apartment 00:00

Levi had gotten four suitcases from Juvia and Lyon, as well as a contract which was at least thirty pages long. They had told her that they had 'borrowed' it from Haru Milkovich's house, and that they would only report his location to the police when they found incriminating evidence. But first, they had wanted to know if there was any way to stop the wedding between Gray and Ultear. They all knew that Gray had been perfect with Erza, and that he would never be happy if he got married with Ultear.

The only way to save him was in to find something in that original copy of the contract, and if they did, Gray could be free, and Ultear could also try looking for someone who was best for her.
"Can you do it?" they had asked sceptically, knowing that the wedding was three days away.
"You really have little faith, don't you?" Levi had said while glaring at them.
"Sorry Levi... It's just that there are at least a thousand pieces of paper to read, and I don't think that I've ever read that much, so I don't even know if you can read that much in such a short time..."
"... I'll do my best," was all she said before taking the suitcases and closing the door in their faces.

Once she had finished her University coursework, she picked up her reading glasses that she hadn't used in a while, before opening the first suitcase. Apparently, the first one was the most important, so she chose to focus on that. In reality, she didn't think that she had ever read that much in such little time, but she wanted to help her friend. After all, thanks to Erza, she had been able to meet the kind hearted guy that was Gray, who she had gotten to know more during the past three years.

Levi had been one of the few people that had known that Erza had been suffering with cancer, and she hadn't even been able to tell Lucy until she was dead. Lucy had felt betrayed, but Levi knew that Erza hadn't told Lucy as she had already been going through a lot. She prayed a bit to Erza, telling her that she would try her hardest to save the man she loved, as she had always wanted the best for them. She turned the first page, cursing the tiny writing that she had to face. The annoying thing was that she couldn't even skip any of it. She sighed before getting ready to not get any sleep for at least three days.

This chapter is also done :D We are really getting close to the end now! :D And if you didn't realise yet, I've been uploading the last few chapters at the same time, as well as trying to correct any previous mistakes from chapter 1 onwards :D I tried my hardest, and my eyes almost bled at the amount of hours I spent re-reading my words xD But I did it all for you guys, so I hope you're happy! And my adorable royal chibis, I didn't change anything except for spelling and maybe some sentences if they didn't make sense :) Stay beautiful XXXXX
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~Roxanne