Hello ladies and gentlemen! Before we get started, we have the usual!
Echonic: Yeah, don't expect that level of build up for a fight again for a while. It'll be an interesting one though, that's for sure.
xPricefieldx: Well my friend, you're about to find out in like... three paragraphs. Spoiler alert: no.
Middernacht: That was actually the sick pun to a degree. A guy basically named Lucifer sets out on a crusade to free oppressed people from an iron-fisted tyrant and dies to solidify himself as a symbol... holy shit I just basically wrote a chaos ending from SMT.
Alright! Enjoy the epilogue to this arc, and the look forward to the next trials!
To the fortune of our exhausted and stranded band of survivors, help arrived from the local military not too long after Lucius' death. They were told what occurred and immediately transported the wounded back to the best hospital in the country.
"Everything hurrrts." Matt groaned out as he laid in a very comfortable bed, though it did little to help.
"Well that's what you should expect. You basically shattered your limiter with that last push." Ultear spoke beside him while reading a book, a smug look on her face.
"Well not everyone can just sit back and let their magic do all the work… no offense Jura."
"None taken." The bald man assured the teen from across the room.
"Just be glad you get to keep your arm. I have no idea what the hell I was thinking back there." Yoru was still bewildered by her own decision to just cut off her trapped arm and cauterize the wound.
"When will be get to return back to Fiore. I have some business I need to get back to." Siegrain impatiently spoke.
"They said as soon as Matt and Yoru are safe to put on a boat. So another few days and we should be heading back. Hina will be stuck here until she's even able to stand up, lord only knows when that'll be…" The blind mage had been relocated by Jura shortly before the wanton destruction of the island had occured. Unfortunately there was some permanent damage done to her organs, until her strength can come back, she wouldn't be doing anything. "Besides would you rather make the trip back on foot?" Ultear must've responded to that question at least five times by now.
"Somehow I get the feeling I'm gonna hate the trip back too." The God Slayer grimaced at the prospect of broken bones and a migraine, the latter a likely effect of the magic.
"By the way Yoru-dono, have they unearthed the bodies yet?" Jura immediately set the mood of the room with that question.
"Well, they found everyone's except for the Captain's body outside his head and Ken because, well..." The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "They're still excavating the rubble though, so who knows."
It'd only been about three days since what is now being called one of the largest losses of life outside of a war in the history of the continent. The press hasn't caught wind of who was dead and who was alive yet, likely due to governmental interference. That'd soon be rendered moot as the noteworthy absence of four Rune Knight captains and an S-Class mage of Phantom Lord would definitely stir the pot even more than it already had. The longstanding absence of Matt would also likely cause some eyebrows to raise.
The teen also wished to get back to Fairy Tail as soon as possible. He didn't wanna worry them more than he needed to. Though, things may be a bit different now.
The teen gazed down at his bandaged and slung arm. He'd managed to not only shatter every single bone and tear all the muscles in it with that last attack, but permanent nerve damage had also been done. Thankfully the tendons and ligaments were still good enough to heal nicely, so theoretically if it should heal, it'll still be usable. Though he was also told the arm may tire far more quickly compared to his other, discounting a far unsteadier hand. This is on top of the fact he can't be administered any magical healing drugs as they could complicate the delicate healing process of his arm. So Matt would have to naturally heal his broken bones, flesh wounds and the like, a process that will undoubtedly sideline him for a while.
He sighed, guessing a slightly weaker arm was a fair price to pay for using a magic he was having difficulty mastering and took a toll on his body.
Matt knows he'd killed at least three people back there. But for some reason, he felt… nothing. Not even a sliver of guilt, remorse or even pity. It was like his mind refused to accept such notions as even a consideration. As if some deep part of him had already had this discussion and reached a suitable conclusion. It honestly started to worry the teen.
His gaze shifted over to the nightstand by his bed. Atop his deck box was the handkerchief Yato gave to him. He'd be forever grateful to her for helping him overcome that trauma. However beneath those feelings was something bubbling and dwelling beneath the surface. For now, he'd just ignore it. It didn't handicap him, so it was fine to deal with later.
Matt just hoped later didn't mean a repeat of what happened with Yato.
Eventually the quintet was finally on a boat heading back to Fiore. After stopping, they were going to attend the arranged funeral of their comrades. Well, at least Matt, Jura and Yoru were.
Siegrain left after they hit land citing personal matters he needed to immediately get back to. Everyone obviously understood and let him go.
Hina was still struck in Enca, confined to a bed for the foreseeable future.
"So, you're already going huh?" Matt looked at the girl who carried a bag of her spare clothes.
"Yup. Gotta get back to my city y'know? Money doesn't grow on trees after all." She joked with him.
"Fair enough." He chuckled. Though that was quickly changed as she walked over and kissed his cheek.
"Maybe we'll meet again big guy." The woman teased him with a wink before walking off.
Matt held a hand to the cheek and stared at her as she left. To some, this would've been the greatest thing ever. However…
'I… I should be happy about this right? I should be overjoyed that a girl likes me… right?' Something began to dawn upon the teen as he watched the woman leave. Instead of joy or awkwardness, the teen felt… something else.
Fear.
He eventually walked off, back to the hotel currently housing the remaining trio of mages, trying to decipher why the hell a relationship scares him to death.
Eventually the time came for the funeral. Cosmo's body had already been claimed by his father and taken back home for burial. This was for the other Rune Knights.
People stood and talked about how great the lives of these men and women were. Their courage to sacrifice it all for the greater good. The strength they had to take on the impossible odds. All of that was white noise to Matt.
'Bullshit. It's all bullshit they're spouting.' Matt kept his gaze to the ground. 'They didn't die for some lavish cause or grandiose reason. There was no rhyme or reason for them to die at all. Those four were murdered by other people that believe their way is right. Lucius was practically unbeatable from how strongly he believed in his cause. Perhaps… he wasn't entirely wrong…'
"Matt-dono?" Jura tapped his shoulder.
"Sorry, got lost in my own head." Matt shook his head.
The bald man nodded. "They're about to bury the bodies now."
Matt nodded and cast his gaze up.
Behind each coffin was an image of the person being buried and their gravestone. This would be the last time he'd see any of their faces, for better, or for worse.
Ken was a nice guy. He was definitely respected amongst his peers of the rows of crying men and women told him anything. Though he wasn't particularly close with the Insect mage, he still felt bad.
Then there was the Captain. The man saved his life and died because Matt couldn't accept the reality of fighting someone he just couldn't beat. Staring at his face made him absolutely enraged at himself.
Lastly was Yato. Matt didn't think he'd ever forgive himself for her death. He could've prevented it. He could've saved her. He could've done anything to help. But he didn't because he was a damn coward. A coward that still couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with himself.
As everyone said their goodbyes and eventually left, only four people were left. Matt, Jura, Yoru and a girl around Matt's age crying her eyes out next to Yato's grave; her long blonde hair and lithe figure gave away her identity.
He approached the girl and pulled out the handkerchief.
"She'd have wanted you to have this." He spoke in an uncharacteristically dry tone, devoid of any real sympathy.
The girl stopped sniffling and looked over at him, her purple eyes puffy and red.
"That's! Wh-where did you get this?" The woman stared at the familiar cloth in shock.
"She let me borrow it before she died because of me."
The girl went stiff as a statue. "What did you say?"
"She died because I was a coward. Plain and simple." He berated himself.
Jura went to speak up in defense of his friend, but was held back by Yoru who shook her head while gazing at the ground.
As she gazed at Matt, her knuckles became white from how hard her hand was clenching. She threw a punch at the teen who took it with a stumble. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as his lip bled. The cloth flying from his hand to landing atop of coffin.
"I HATE YOU! YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE IN A COFFIN! NOT MY SISTER!!!" She roared at Matt who silently took it. The girl stormed off in rage, disgusted by the mere sight of him.
Rain descended from the sky, finally catching up with the mood of the event after many hours.
Yoru approached the teen and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You gonna be alright?"
"… I'll manage."
That was all he said before walking off. Leaving the handkerchief on the coffin.
The next day Jura bid farewell to Matt as he had an especially long trip to get back to Lamia Scale.
Matt and Yoru packed their bags together.
"So, what's next for you?" She asked the boy.
"Gonna get back to the guild for now." His absentminded tone had become the predominant one he exuded lately.
"I see. Well, I officially quit the Rune Knights."
Matt looked over to her in genuine surprise. "Why?"
"Well, after what happened I kinda realized how short life is y'know? I've never actually gone out and seen the world. Experienced the culture. Enjoyed the sights. I don't wanna loose that chance while I have it." The woman smirked, "Besides, I gotta make sure I have enough experiences for four lifetimes!"
Matt nodded in understanding and finished closing his suitcase. He lifted it with his good hand and approached the woman.
"Well, good luck out there. From one lefty to another." He joked.
The woman smirked and playfully smacked his shoulder.
"You stay safe alright?" She pointed at him.
"No promises, I am a Mage by trade after all."
The duo fist bumped before Matt left ahead of her.
Jellal sat back in a chair. "Siegrain" had come back a bit ago and the merged with him.
"Well that was certainly something." The bluenette sighed and stretched, already feeling mentally exhausted from all the new information.
"Still. Matthew Atlas huh?" He smirked, "What an interesting individual."
Standing up, he walked over to a chess board.
"Now then, I've made my name known to the Council. Next step is to establish deep trust. How to go about this?" Jellal smirked as he planned out his next move.
"Well if it ain't our fearless leader." Zankrow smirked at Ultear who had just returned. "How'd it go? Did you kill anyone?"
"You'll find out after Master Hades does." She replied bluntly as she entered the main hall of their ship.
"Ah, Ultear. I've heard of what happened, excellent work." He nodded in approval of the girl.
"Thank you Master Hades." She bowed to the man before descending the details of the event.
"To think he'd go as far as he did. It just proves the need for our goal is growing stronger and stronger every day. We must find the remaining keys to unseal Zeref's power!"
"""Yes, Master Hades!!!""" The five Kin all responded at once before leaving the room.
"So, Matthew Atlas huh?" Azuma smirked, "I really wanna fight him."
"I get the first serving of that bastard!" Zoldeo threatened the Tree Mage.
"Don't." Ultear bluntly told them.
"Oh? Afraid Azuma or Goat Boy would murder your boyfriend?" Zankrow teased the girl with a slasher smile.
"No. I'd rather not have us drop back to being the Three Kin so quickly." That was all she said before walking off.
"S-Seems like Ultear is s-still in charge." Kain cowered around a corner.
The girl laid on her bed with a huff.
'Why the hell did I kiss him?!' She rolled around her bed with her face covered by her hands.
'And what was with that look on his face?! Am I not good enough for him?! Oh god, did I do that too soon?!?!'
This bipolar breakdown would've stunned even Hades by how unexpected and… teenage it was for Ultear.
"Argh!" She rubbed her hair in annoyance.
'Why am I getting so hung up over him?! Just because he got so much better looking. And so much more confident. And way stronger than before. Oh and that smile is to die for. Can't forget those abs either. Him also thanking me for the help was really sweet too… DAMNIT ALL!'
The girl eventually decided a pillow was the best placed to ram her face into and scream. After this was done, she remained silent.
'… I should send him a Communication Lacrima.'
On a far off island off the coast of Fiore a dew days ago, a young man laid in the fields of yellow grass, completely complacent with his current resting ground.
A pair of black eyes opened to the beautiful night sky littered with clouds. He felt a truly massive amount of Magical Power coming from far away.
"Hmmm. That's odd. It feels rather… familiar. And yet so different too. Curious."
After he finished speaking, the spike of power died down along with his interest. The man's thoughts shifted after a moment.
"I wonder, where are you Natsu?"
The thought of his brother made the man smile as he once more peacefully slumbered.
"What'd you say to me you stripper?!"
"You heard me ash brain!"
Natsu and Gray were yet again in another fight. And once again, Erza quickly broke it up.
"Erza's being a bit more stern than normal ain't she?" Macao observed the redhead.
"Can you blame her? She's probably worried sick about you-know-who." Wakaba took a hit of his cigarette.
"Yeah, you got a point." Macao's expression turned downcast.
Matt had been gone for about a month by now. The paper detailing the event came out a few days ago.
Thousands dead with the only survivors being from the task force. Names and such were omitted to save privacy and allow time for families to grieve. However to Fairy Tail, it made them worry even further. They knew about half of the people in the group had died. So their anxiety was at an all-time high.
Kagura tried her hardest to keep up Brandish's mood over his absence with things like visiting the fair or training. But everyone could tell they hardly slept recently.
Erza trained about three times as hard. Likely to vent her stress and worry. The guild decided to just take her criticisms of their screw ups in stride to try and alleviate the stress on her.
Natsu had held off on going to his first job since he wanted Matt to be there when he got back to congratulate him. Erza still trained him on mastering reading and writing though. That brought a good chuckle to the guild in these times.
Gray and Cana didn't show their worry like anyone else did. But the older members could just tell by looking at them that they were some of the more anxious ones.
Even the Strauss siblings were concerned for the teen they barely knew. Mira didn't even try and pick a fight with Erza since Matt had left.
Hell, even Gildarts had recently come back and opted to stick around for the time. Granted, Natsu tried fighting him and it ended about as well as his attempt at Matt after the Tournament. This was another source of some happiness for everyone in these times.
Makarov wore a mask of indifference since it was his job as guild master to handle these kinds of things the best. But beneath that? The man was a mess. He'd known Matt for 9 years now. Since he was just a little brat. There was a sense of paternal protection with him as the boy didn't have anyone himself. Well, anyone in this world that is.
"Damnit all! I'm tired of waiting!" Natsu yelled in frustration. He then stormed to the entrance.
"Where do you think you're going?" Erza placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm gonna go find Matt! Duh!"
Everyone in the guild immediately stopped doing whatever it was they were occupying themselves with.
"Natsu..." Erza's expression fell.
"Don't give me that! You all think he's dead don't you?!" He accused the guild. Some of them looked away with a guilty expression. "Well I don't! No way he'd go down like that!"
"Just give it a rest already." Gray clenched his fists.
"And why should I?! Not like you'd even bother trying to find him anyways!"
"What was that?!" The Ice-Make Mage was held back by Cana.
"That's enough you two!" Erza yelled at the duo. "If he would want anything it's for us to not worry and move forward."
"If you're so sure of that, then why are you crying?" Natsu looked away from the girl. Not wishing to see the tears of someone he admired.
Her eyes widened and she quickly brushed her tears off. She couldn't let that bottle burst. Not here. Not now.
The pink haired boy pushed her hand off of his shoulder.
"He'd do the same for us anyways." Natsu glanced back one last time before walking off. Though the meaning was immediately trampled on as he bumped into something and fell on his ass.
"What's your deal wise guy?!" Natsu chided the individual in front of him and rubbed his rear end.
"I dunno, what's the deal with your spatial unawareness? You getting that from Gildarts?" The man dryly spoke at Natsu.
The boy looked up at the figure as his eyes widened.
Before him was the familiar face of Matt. Granted said face still had a few bandages on it and his right arm was in a sling. His tattered and ruined purple jacket was draped over his shoulders as he clutched his bag in his free hand.
Natsu's face lit up, "Matt!!!" He hug tackled the teen.
"GUHYGHA!" The teen spat out in immense pain from his still broken ribs and heavily bruised torso.
"N-Natsu!" Erza staggered a bit in shock before quickly pulling the boy off of Matt.
The teen coughed a bit and sat up with a groan.
"Man. I'm gone a month and you guys act like it's been a friggin decade." He sighed over the fact standing would be a pain in the ass now.
That is until a hand was offered to him.
"Good to see ya back." Gildarts smirked.
Matt looked at him a moment before giving a chortle.
"Good to be back."
He accepted the help and was up on his feet in no time. The S-Class mage placed Matt's bag in his room as he sat at the bar.
"So, how'd it go?" Makarov asked with a sideways glance.
"What? You didn't read the paper?" The teen eyed the publication.
"Of course I did, but a first-person account is infinity more valuable." The old man bluntly responded.
A bitter laugh exited Matt's lips.
"Sorry, not gonna talk about that with kids all around us jaded folk."
A few "Awwws" came from the group of people younger than Matt.
Makarov looked at him and nodded in acceptance.
"Did you fight anyone strong?!" Natsu chimed in.
"Heh, do I look like I fought weak guys?" Matt grinned at the boy.
"What did happen to your arm Big Brother?" Kagura asked beside Matt.
Matt remained silent for a moment before bursting out into laughter. "I just shattered it, no real biggie y'know?"
Some people immediately brushed off the concern they'd had, others didn't quite understand the full implication of that injury and a few eagle-eyed people saw through the lie.
"Is it gonna get better?" Brandish asked with genuine concern.
"Hmph. Of course it will, don't underestimate me ya know!" He put on an air of confidence to ease their minds. It seemed to work on them as they sighed in relief.
"Well now that we're passed that," Makarov started, "It's time for celebration!"
"""YEAH!"""
And thus, like many other nights, Fairy Tail parties in honor of their family being complete once again.
To say the council was running at a thousand miles a second would be the understatement of the millennium. One of their big 3 captains was dead along with 2 regional captains. Another regional captain quit and the last one may never fight again. The only positive they exited this conflict with was the complete eradication of Lucius and all of Naraka's prisoners.
"Man, what a mess." Chairman Crawford sighed as he stamped the last document of this pile.
Lucius had gotten his wish. There'd been a massive spike of slave rebellions and oppressed people fighting back, mage and human. At the current rate, Bosco wouldn't last much longer, especially if the rumors of a massive organization of anti-slavers were true.
Right now he was really wishing the king of Pergrande was available. With his army, crushing such rebellions would be child's play. Unfortunately he'd gone completely dark for well over a year now, pushing into two. Draculos hadn't reported in on his investigation into the matter for a bit now too.
And to top it all off, the head captain of Eastern Ishgar, Julius Czar, had also gone dark this past week. Having one half of your people in charge of oversight die was one thing, but the other half going missing was another entirely.
"It looks like you may have to step up." He spoke to a man who'd just entered the room.
This man looked to be in his early sixties with long white hair slicked back, pale skin and piercing red eyes, the full albinism look. Even if he seemed frail, anyone worth their salt would cower before this man, a silent pressure of unadulterated magic power was barely contained by him.
"Head Captain Wilhelm."
"I can do work y'know." Matt commented as he sat at the bar, idly drinking some water.
"You need to focus on healing." Gildarts spoke as he mopped the floors, actually doing manual labor for once.
An annoyed sigh escaped Matt's lips.
"More importantly, now that it's just us." Makarov sat next to Matt, not working either.
"Yeah… I guess you deserve to know the full story." Matt's gaze went downcast as he started to recall the events of that week.
Makarov kept up a better poker face than Gildarts who had broke when he heard about the ultimate fate of the civilians.
"After the funeral I made my way back here. And that's the end of it." Matt sighed after recounting what happened.
"I see, no wonder some details are being omitted." Makarov serious expression didn't falter once.
"Yeah. It'd be chaos if people found out a Bosco slave did all this. Maybe even spark a civil war." Gildarts nodded as he took a swig from the glass of bourbon he needed to press onwards, not knowing that such information had already leaked.
"Your arm. Be honest with me, will it heal?" Makarov looked Matt dead in the eyes.
"… Never to 100% again." Matt gazed at the appendage. "I shattered all the bones in it and ripped the muscles to shreds, the real rough damage was to the nerves. Only reason they didn't amputate it is because the ligaments and tendons could still heal to normal health. So even when it's usable again, I won't be at full strength with it like I was before. Hell, I doubt it'll even be steady anymore."
"I see…" Makarov nodded as he closed his eyes.
"There's nothing that could've been done Master, so don't blame yourself. I took the risk for the chance of victory. If the price is a weaker arm in return for living, then so be it." The teen sternly spoke to Makarov.
"Heh, you're more mature than meets the eye." Gildarts smirked as he ruffled the hair on Matt's head.
"Well someone has to be when our Master is a perverted drunk and you're an old playboy who can't score." Matt grinned as the two older man face faulted at his bluntness. "But, you guys are the best Master and S-Class mage a guild could hope for." He gave a small smile.
The older men returned the smile as they continued bantering for the night.
Unbeknownst to them, a duo of girls had been listening into the conversation from the doors to the guild. A silent agreement was made between them on that night.
In the tunnels nearby Weiss, the capital city of Bosco, a lone man walked through the dimly lit pathways until he hit a massive hub room. People running all around with papers and lacrima, sharing information and stocking the armory.
"Ah! Mr. Brahm!" A young woman approached the man in a tattered cloak and covered in dirt. "We just got the O.K from a group out by the Seven border, they'll be sending supplies our way in a month."
"Tell them there's no need for haste, just make sure it's done swiftly and quietly. We must protect the secret of our existence at all costs." He nodded at the woman.
"Sir!" Another man rushed over with a wide smile on his face.
"Yes?" The brunette cocked an eyebrow.
"We found it!" He unfurled a folded and tattered piece of cloth in his hands. The familiar flag of Dragon's Bane lay in his hands, the ship it once rested on had been utterly annihilated by Enca's island military. Fortunately for them, the wreckage had followed the tide, which lead it back up the western coast.
Brahm smiled as he displayed the flag to himself and room which had now gone still, everyone smiling in joy.
"Brothers! Sisters! Here is the symbol of which our revenge shall breathe! Here is the symbol upon which we place all of our hope! Here is the symbol where we shall give our lives to see fly free! No longer shall we bend the knee and be complacent! The time for peace talks has long passed. Our only option is to take our freedom! We will take our lives back! We will show them our justice! We shall be free!"
The room erupted into cheers as that symbol would once again, soon be bathed in even more blood.
Matt yawned as he awoke the next day, still extremely sore from his wounds. Makarov told the boy he'd get some pain medication from Porlyusica later today, so the teen looked forward to that.
He gazed at his coat that was in extremely rough shape. With his arm in it's current state, sewing wasn't gonna happen for a significant while. After sighing and chucking the cloth atop his desk, he stood and went into the main hall. Only to smell... burning food.
"Damnit!" A voice cursed from the kitchen.
Matt raised a brow as he walked over, only to find Mirajane attempting to cook with their oven… it was not going well.
"Damn stove!" She growled at the device. "Burn cooler!"
The teen had a stifle a laugh from how much the poor girl was struggling with the appliances. Granted, it took him a bit to get the function down too. Though he never actually burned any food before, mostly undercooked it at first.
"You need to use the left dial to set how much power you wanna use from the Lacrima and the right for the intensity of the produced flame." Matt chimed in.
"Oh, thank you Matt." She nodded and fixed her mistake.
"... WAIT! MATT?!" She cried out in surprise. Causing her to slip and allow the poor pancake batter to spill onto her.
"Hahaha." Matt laughed at her odd surprise of him. Being covered in batter was just the cherry on top.
"… Shut up." She pouted and crossed her arms.
"Sorry. I'm sorry." He got out between chuckles. "I've just never been able to surprise someone like that before." He wiped his eyes and offered a hand to the girl who took it.
Mirajane sat on a chair as Matt cleaned her off with a rag.
"What are you doing up this early anyways?" She muttered to the boy.
"I'm normally up this early." He somewhat lied. Matt truthfully rarely got long sleep anymore, though ever since the island, it'd been getting better, just very slowly.
He threw the dirty rag in the sink and washed it off.
"What are you even doing here this early? How'd you even get in?" Matt questioned her.
"I… borrowedakeyfromkagurasoicouldmakeyoubreakfast."
Matt blinked at her a few times.
"Would you mind repeating that please, I don't speak Speedy Chipmunk."
The girl blushed, "I borrowed a stupid key from Kagura alright! Thought you'd want breakfast since cooking with a busted arm is hard. Trust me, I know." She looked away from her fellow guild member.
'She wanted to make me breakfast?' He looked at her in surprise. 'I think that's the first time anyone has ever offered to do something for me… that's really sweet.'
Mirajane looked away even furthur as her ears turned red from a growing blush.
"I said that out loud didn't I?" Her vigorous nodding made him awkwardly chuckle.
"Is it true though?" She asked as he finished off cleaning the rag.
"Well, yeah. Most people here really rely on me actually. They had a fully functioning kitchen, but the chef left the guild a year before I joined. So everyone just got food from local restaurants to bring here." He started to wipe her face off. "I'm also the go-to guy for Master if he needs something done."
"What about Gildarts or Laxus?" She questioned the Master's decision.
"Mirajane, it's Gildarts and Laxus we're talking about." He blankly stared at her.
"…Good point." She sighed.
"How did the guild function when I was gone? I'm kinda curious." Matt got the cooking material around her neck.
"Honestly, it was kinda bleak. Like a dark cloud was over the head of everyone." Her tone told Matt she wasn't lying.
"Well that must've been one impressive cloud then." He chuckled.
"Why's that?"
"Because the guild partied during a typhoon once."
"S-seriously?!" She gaped at that fact.
"Mmhm. Happened during my second year here. Real nasty typhoon basically draped the southeastern section of the country. Master decided to keep all of us in the guild until it blew over... uh, pun not intended."
"I think I remember something like that." The girl tried to search her memories.
"Well that would've happened when you were, what? 6?" He guesstimated her age.
"That's right. That was when Elfman and Lisanna got sick. Back when our parents were still…" The girl suddenly paused and looked down, tears beginning to well after thinking of her deceased family members after so long.
'Those wounds are still pretty raw. Poor girl.' He eyed her and set the cloth down.
Mirajane's eyes gaped as she felt Matt hug her. Well, as much of a hug as a one-armed man can give.
"It's alright now y'know? You're with a family that won't leave you now. You also got your wonderful siblings too that love you so much. Letting your guard down around family is perfectly natural. So it's okay to show a little weakness every now and then."
The girl returned the gesture as they stayed like that for a while. Matt was thankful the guild was empty at this time. Ugly crying isn't a thing you wanna show around anyone too often. Her tears weren't ones of a person who lost their parents though, they were the tears of a girl forced to carry a heavy burden for far too long.
After this, Matt helped Mirajane make breakfast for the both of them.
"You did a really good job on the eggs Mirajane." Matt praised her culinary skills.
"Mira." She responded.
He turned to her, "I'm sorry?"
The girl faintly blushed. "Just, call me Mira from now on alright?"
Matt smiled at the girl. "Sure thing Mira."
As he turned back to eat, Matt unfortunately missed the small, genuine smile on the girls face.
From then on, whenever Matt woke up, he'd find his breakfast already made for him each morning.
"Gotta speed up those reactions Erza." Matt spoke as he girl barely blocked another of his swings.
Despite being injured, Matt was still capable of training. So he continued teaching Erza while keeping his own skills sharp, besides he'd need to help his left arm catch up with his right in terms of dexterity.
The redhead scowled and grunted from the force behind each swing. Even when injured, Matt was still nothing to mess around with. Though the girl was annoyed he pushed himself despite his injury, Erza truly admired that willpower of his. It was something that commanded respect amongst those who have witnessed it.
Erza admired many of Matt's qualities aside from this too. His kindness and ability to connect with others showed a truly good heart. The natural ability he possesses to lead others very cohesively and smoothly. There's also the empathy and desire to help others on a whim if Kagura, Brandish and herself are any indication.
'They're a lot alike…' She thought back to a certain blue haired boy from that hell. Well, to who he was before that day.
"Ow!" Erza cried out as the dull metal blade collided with her shoulder.
"Are you okay Erza? You kinda zoned out there." He looked at her with concern.
"Y-yes! I was just worried Natsu and Gray were fighting is all!" She turned away with a blush due to how close Matt's face was to her own.
He shrugged and stepped back to her relief.
"If you're that worried we can end it today." Matt suggested to her.
"N-no. That won't be necessary. I promise it won't happen again." Her determined expression made Matt nod as they continued.
Erza hissed as Matt rubbed her cheek with alcohol.
"Y'know you should really learn to gauge yourself better." Matt sighed as they cut their session short once more due to Erza zoning out and getting a face smack this time.
"I'm sorry." She looked away dejectedly.
"What for?" He raised a brow in genuine confusion.
"It's just. You spend so much of your own time making sure everyone in the guild is in good spirits. And I just wasted that time you could've used on yourself." She sounded genuinely sad at her own conclusion.
"Erza. Look at me."
She turned to make eye contact with him.
"Yeah, I don't get a lot of "me" time anymore. But do you know why I opt to not do it?"
Erza shook her head.
Matt smiled, "Because taking care of you guys makes me happy. It's as simple as that. Your smiles mean a lot more than you think they do."
Matt grabbed Erza's face gently and used his thumb and index finger to push up her cheeks into a smile.
"You got a really pretty one too you know that? With that beautiful hair of yours and those nice eyes, you're the full package." He joked with her there at the end.
"I-I see." The redhead tried very hard to contain herself.
"Welp, I'm gonna head back now. You do whatever it is you do around here." He stood and headed back to the guild.
Erza placed a hand upon her cheek as a deep blush set in. This had initially been her plan to convince Matt to not push himself so hard with his crippled arm. However he instead turned it around so that she received more compliments at once than she'd received in so many years. At first the poor girl had no idea how to handle his kind of positive reinforcement, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't desperately miss their talks when he was gone.
When she saw what he looked like when he came back, and heard about the truth with his arm, Erza decided to return the favor she feels she owes to him for guiding her out of the darkness by wishing to protect him. Despite that though, she's still the one getting protection from him. She couldn't help him through his trauma, and she can't help him with his physical wounds now either.
It infuriated her, but also made her feel something else. Something she really couldn't describe.
The more she talked to Matt and the more she let her guard down around him, the more that image of a maliciously smiling blue haired boy faded away.
'Maybe, living in the past isn't something I need to do anymore.' She thought with a somber look.
Matt yawned as he sat at the bar of the guild.
"Jeez. Sorry for being boring." Laxus chided the teen.
"Ah, no, sorry about that. Don't get much sleep these days y'know?" He awkwardly laughed.
"No shit, you look like someone with a bad make up job having those bags." The blonde joked.
"That's one way to put it." Matt chuckled.
"Don't you find it weird." Laxus spontaneously said.
"Find... what weird?"
"That Gildarts is basically the only S-Class we got."
Matt looked away for a moment in thought. "Well almost all of them left for one reason or another just before I joined or not long after."
"Yeah, but the promotion exam used to be annual. At least that's what my pops said."
Matt kept a neutral gaze, but internally flinched. Apparently Makarov told Laxus what really happened about his father for his 17th birthday when Matt was gone. He didn't take it well to say the least.
"Well there should be some kind of reason they stopped. Maybe the guild was too small? We were around thirty members strong when I joined. Now we double that."
Laxus nodded as he sipped his drink. "That's one possibility. But alone that's not good enough."
"True, but even then we're still about eight months off from when they were normally held anyways." Matt reasoned.
"Doesn't mean the Geezer can't plan it out in advance."
"Fair." Matt nodded and sipped on his glass of juice. "What spurred this on anyways?"
"Ain't it obvious? Some of us are ready for S-Class but can't prove our strength without the test."
Matt sat in silence after that. 'He raises a good point. Between him, me, Erza, Mira at the rate she's going, and both Natsu and Gray down the line, we have a lot of people that could hit that level soon.'
He stood up from his seat.
"Where you off to?" Laxus raised a brow.
"To go read." Matt headed towards the Archives.
He stayed down there for five hours. Eventually he came back up with a massive stack of papers he balanced in one hand.
Said paper pile was placed by Makarov at a table he was on.
"Uh, is something wrong Matt?" He looked at the papers with dread.
"Yeah, we need to restart the S-Class trials." His words caused to old man to look on in shock. "It's been over ten years since the last one. Got an excuse for that?" Matt interrogated the man.
"Well," he started, "The S-Class trials are a very important annual part of Fairy Tail."
"Correct."
"The Master of the guild uses it to determine who's ready to take the next step and who isn't."
"Good so far."
"However..."
"Oh boy."
Makarov sighed as he took a swig of alcohol. "The truth of the matter is I hadn't been handling them for a while even when they were still being held."
Matt raised a confused brow, "What do you mean?"
"The person that was in charge of planning the trial and choosing candidates, was Ivan."
The teen's eyes widened in shock, the man who'd nearly killed him all those years ago and had subsequently gotten the boot.
"I'd been itching to retire, so I thought having him handle them would be good practice for the responsibilities a Master has to deal with. However, I'm sure you know why they so suddenly stopped."
A bitter nod came from the teen.
Makarov sighed, "Truthfully it's my fault, I'd been reluctant to start them back up again because each time I'd come up with some excuse. No good members for the position, a lack of immediate funds, vague scheduling conflicts… I just didn't want to take over after Ivan so suddenly."
Matt was at a loss for words, he hadn't expected the older man to not plan them because the scars of realizing his son was practically a murderer still ached.
"I uh… I'm sorry Master." He picked up the papers. "Just forget about it okay." The teen began to walk off.
"Now hold on young man."
Matt froze.
"I've seen very clearly how you've grown, how everyone in this guild has grown so much in these recent years. To say I'm proud would be an understatement of the highest level. I now realize that I have to swallow the past and move forward. It's one thing to cling to memories, but an entirely different one to allow them to halt the magnificent growth of you children." The old man smiled.
"Master…"
"So, consider the trials reinstated." He nodded with vigor. "I suppose we'll need a place to host it though…" Makarov pondered at the first step.
"How about Tenrou?" Matt suggested.
"You want me to host a destructive competition on our guild's sacred ground?" The old man gave a sideways glance to Matt.
"...It's free." He pointed out.
"…Very well." Makarov sighed. "However! I want you to investigate the island and make sure nothing drastic has changed, I haven't visited in many years so I can't be certain."
"Sounds good." Matt nodded.
"Very good. Now Matt."
"Yes Master?"
"Put those papers back."
Dark chambers lined the catacombs of the grand palace within Pergrande's capital. A figure draped in a black cloak and with their features hidden by a hood, rushed into certain room within the labyrinth of doors.
The figure caught his breath at as he walked into the room dimly lit a light blue. Countless tubes containing unconscious human bodies lined the room. This figure turned to the familiar presence by a desk.
"Your Highness!" He addressed a man draped in a crimson cloak, every feature aside from his odd statue was completely hidden.
"I assume the results have come back." A voice, not quite human came from the shadows.
"Y-Yes sir. As you requested we studied the notes of that demon's notebook."
"And?" A threatening tone sent a chill up the figure's spine.
"T-The findings were accurate. A host body can only sustain its existence should the soul in question match the bodies age both in death age and overall age. Should they not meet, a complete shut down will occu-"
The figure was cleaved into bites from a swipe by the king, a black, bat-like hand with razor-sharp claws briefly became exposed to the light.
"Useless! All of you are useless!" He raged and smashed the table. "How much longer must this suffering continue?! You told me these notes would work Keyes!"
The demon of Tartaros walked out of the shadows.
"Now, now your Majesty, even I am fully unaware to the extent in which that demon's notes went. I can not ask for his assistance either as he is no longer a member of ours." The golden mask didn't emote as a voice, clearly faking emotion, spoke.
"It matters not. No matter how long it takes, I will become whole again!" The crimson king cursed his fate. "I trust you shall deal with that pesky top-ranked Wizard Saint snooping about Captain Czar?"
A man, unnoticed by even the demon, stepped forward. He was young, around his early twenties with olive skin and dark blue hair, his yellow eyes bored holes into the Tartaros member.
"As you wish, your Majesty."
And that's a wrap!
Welcome back everyone to the epilogue of our second arc. Hoo boy has this been someth.
This chapter had A LOT of setup for future events, including the reveal of our next arc. Yes, it's the thing a lot of people have asked about: the S-Class trials.
Makarov's reasoning is mostly based on me guessing around the time Ivan would've gotten the boot normally, combined with the very obvious implication he was next in-line to be Master. However Matt screwed that all up and made Makarov reluctant to pick up where Ivan left off, the pain of knowing his son was a no-good murderer being too much.
The seeds of revolution have been planted in Bosco as now the will the fight burns brighter each day. I suppose now the question is: when will they strike?
The King of Pergrande, a figure and an arc I'm very excited to get to after the S-Class trials. That arc will be very different from what I think a lot of Fairy Tail fics go for, so I'm interested to see if it'll crash and burn, or be genuinely interesting in its "experimentation".
Matt is going through... some interesting emotions. He's essentially over the whole trauma with Vladimir, however now he's seen people die because of him, now he's truly and whole failed. One more thing is gonna happen to him that'll honestly be a massive blow to his entire perception of this world. We'll get to that very shortly.
Also, we've hit the six month mark for this stories publication. That's absolutely insane and i can't thank everyone enough for all the support.
Next chapter, a meeting I'm sure all of you are very excited for.
Okay. So. You can stop reading now if you want, below this I'm basically gonna go into a discussion into my overall feelings as an author regarding this arc and some other details. So if you don't care, thanks for reading, bye bye.
Are they gone?
Okay.
So I like to think I'm pretty blunt and honest with you guys, I tell it as it is y'know? I wasn't really satisfied with this arc. What do I mean by that? Well whenever I write something new that I have no experience with, I'm kinda indifferent if it turns out not the best. It's my first go with it, so it's fine, I can improve.I just felt like what am I good with and what I do know, just wasn't up to par. I felt like the dialogue could've been better, the fights more interesting, the characters more developed, that whole shindig.
Now, this may be in part due to the fact that every single chapter so far with the exception of the cross isles and 90% of the proceeding chapter after them, have been mostly finished for roughly six months. I wrote almost everything up to this point in like... two weeks. Naturally edits and additions aside.
I've found that I REALLY don't like this method. Because I can very clearly see differences in how I wrote then versus now. So if anyone noticed that inconsistency, there's your explanation. I've felt like I was just acting as my own editor for six-month ago me, if you understand that. Naturally I'm not adverse to gaining the experience editing my own work, but not genuinely creating something entirely new was... odd. This was all written back before I knew where I wanted to take this story and wrote the story progression by my gut feeling alone, only vague ideas to future arcs in mind.
As I mentioned, the Cross Isles were a 100% brand new addition I added in that wasn't originally there. I knew with what I planned on, I needed to develop the dying characters more. So I made that part to help with it along with 90% of the ship interactions. Orginally, we were just gonna head straight to Enca, but I knew that was NOT gonna work and would make some things come off more cheap and forced than they already might've been.
After this arc, I only have three more chapters written out. However they're much more in the vein of the first 9 chapters or the pre-second arc chapters which I'm far more comfortable with. Most of the next arc will be like that, small miscellaneous adventutes or things Matt gets into, which I'm honestly excited to write. It'll be a chance for me to get my bearings and ease into the next phase of this story.
One other thing I wanted to address are the references. Those are getting toned down pretty heavily. This is mostly because the tone the last three arcs are going for really aren't gonna appreciate them too much. Don't worry, this will not affect Duel Monsters in any way. Also don't worry if you're wondering how Matt's magic will be now, I already thought ahead a while back about that and his fucked arm is a perfect setup for that next branch of growth which I'm also excited to incorporate into fights.
This arc as a whole represents a lot. It's basically the end of my original writings with this series back in fucking October. It's a big change for Matt's character and ends one phase of his time in this world. Lastly, it's also a sort of send off to when I was writing just for the hell of it. Back when I thought this dumb thing would never be published. Back when I thought I'd get at most like... 10 followers and a favorite by this point. Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you who enjoy my crummy writing and ideas, (third story dropping soon stay tuned) and I hope you all stick around for many more to come.
Now that all has finally been said, I bid you all adieu.