Well hello once again dear readers! We got the usual real quick before we start.

anzafay21: Uh, short answer: badly. Long answer: REALLY badly. We'll see how things change as this arc goes on.

Alright, that's done so let's get going!

Matt's eyes slowly opened, a groan escaping his lips as his pupils roughly dilated.

"What... happened?" He was surprised by how coarse his voice was. Just how long had he been out?

"You collapsed, that's what happened. You've been unconscious for a week." Erza closed the book she was reading. The redhead had pulled up and sat in a chair right by his bed.

"I see." He internally chided himself for making such a display of weakness.

"I swear," the girl sighed. "You're going to make me sprout grey hairs at this rate. You shouldn't be so careless you know, I-we care about you…" Erza stood up. "I'll go let Master know you've awoken. Don't move." She walked out of the room.

"Not like I'm going anywhere." Matt sighed at the congested nose currently plaguing him, causing an alteration to his voice.

After a few minutes, the familiar old man walked in with a sigh.

"You're really stretching the limits of how much a person can worry these days Matthew." Makarov sat down on the chair formerly used by the redhead.

"Not like people here aren't used to it."

"Not necessarily." Matt looked at him oddly. "Every other time we had to worry while you were away. Now we have to worry about you while you're right here with us."

Matt raised a brow, "There's a difference?"

"Of course. Such as instead of worrying herself to sleep, Erza stuck by your side the entire time you were out and even slept here most of the time."

"She shouldn't be doing that. We aren't that close anyways."

The old man raised a brow, "And yet you train her to fight and use magic, talk with her about any problems she may have, and make sure her living conditions are sorted."

"She asked for it, she comes to me and I do that for everyone else that's younger than me. Besides, Erza hasn't even opened up to me about the true core of her problems and it's been years now." He bluntly shot down the older man's argument.

Makarov sighed, "Matthew in all the years I've known you there seems to be two sides to you. The side that cares for others so deeply it doesn't know when to stop. Then the side that desperately keeps everyone at arm's length, terrified of being hurt."

The teen remained silent as the old man continued.

"I understand your fears and insecurities well. Someone in your position would undoubtedly feel the way you do, but you're allowing them to consume you. Believe me when I say I stand by whatever you choose in the end, but-"

"Choose? What am I choosing?" The teen looked at Makarov oddly.

Makarov seemed genuinely confused by that remark. "Matthew, I'm referring to your choice to leave here or go home."

"Oh! R-Right, home. Gotcha." He nodded, rubbing his forehead.

As Makarov looked at the boy, he immediately knew something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The old man wanted to press on the issue, but something held him back. In the near decade the man had known and grown closer to Matt, a boy he considered to be something akin to a grandson, his heart ached as he saw the young boy effortlessly return time after time for years with nothing. No leads, no clues, no ideas, absolutely nothing but wasted effort and restless nights.

He saw the boy's psyche slowly chip away, piece after piece being left behind as he aimlessly pressed forward. For what little of Makarov remembered, he could recall his own father behaving similarly after his mother's death. Searching and searching for the first master, throwing his own life and health away in a search that ultimately killed him.

Two sides raged in a war with each other. Master Makarov: the old man who encouraged his guild mates to find their dreams and happiness; and Makarov Dreyar: the old man who loved every last member of his guild like family. Does he have the right to deny this boy his dream of finding his original family, no matter the cost? Or should he intervene so this boy doesn't become like his own father: someone lost in their own distorted reality.

"Well, I'm gonna get some rest Master." Matthew broke the man's thoughts.

"O-Oh. Very good, rest well." He nodded and hopped off the chair.

"Hey Master."

"Hm?"

"Did I... ever mention where I was from or what my family's names were? It's kinda bugging me." The teen stared at the bedsheets.

"...No, you never brought up specifics with me."

"I see, sorry for stalling." The boy turned to the side, his back facing Makarov.

'I'm sorry, Matthew.' The old man closed the door.

Matt swung at the tree once more, the blade falling out of his trembling right arm.

"So that's it's limit now." He scowled at the shaking appendage and sighed. "Not even half of what it used to be capable of."

The teen truthfully hadn't expected the damage to be so severe, but it was a small price to pay for living.

"Guess I'll have to change things up then if I wanna keep fighting." He took mental adjustments to his regular training and nodded in satisfaction. Matt's body still disagreed with the prospect of physical training to his regular degree, so he swapped to magical training in the meantime.

It'd only been a day since he woke up, but he'd been sneaking out at night now to train in secret. Sure it was stupid and reckless for a man who had collapsed from exhaustion to exhaust himself more immediately after, but Matt couldn't sit still and do nothing. That meant he would sit there and think. That meant he'd eventually think about some things he really didn't want to think about.

He brushed his mouth and used a tree as support.

"Guess I should head back now." He pushed off the lumber and walked back to the guild.

As he walked back he noticed a person standing in front of the Guild.

"Hello?" He said as he approached the person. "Are you looking for something in the guild?" Matt had his guard up as he didn't recognize the stature of this person from the guild.

The figure noticed him and quickly ran off after placing something down.

Matt didn't feel like giving chase, so he eyed the wooden box they left by the door.

"Could be a package for someone." He eyed the box curiously. "Oooor it's a bomb… yeah I'll take those odds."

Matt called a crowbar with his magic, an item used to traditionally open stubborn boxes, doors and locks, however it'd probably be super effective in the event of a zombie or alien invasion.

He slid the back of the object into the top of the crate and pushed down, driving the lid of the box up. After he repeated this process again, the lid was off.

"A Lacrima?" He lifted the object connected to an ornate golden stand.

"Well it ain't a bomb Lacrima." Matt nodded and threw the empty box in his hammer space. Afterwards he reentered the guild through his window.

After closing his window, Matt placed the object down on his nightstand. "Might as well see if it works." He shrugged and channeled some magic power into it.

Matt stared at the sphere intently for a moment before sighing and ceasing the flow of power.

"Well that surmounted to a whole lot of nothing." He sighed and placed the item in his hammer space.

The teen reached into the bottom drawer of his nightstand and pulled out a notebook with a pen on the side.

He opened it to see various techniques and such he'd come up with in his spare time. Originally these were used solely for training, however, they'd begun to actively be a source of something else.

The teen scanned the pages covered in crossed-off words and scribbles, beginning to write in its pages once again.

Ultear sighed in relief as she reentered her room.

'That was risky. Using a thought projection like that could've been bad if I was caught.' The girl sat on her bed. 'More importantly though, why was he up at that time?! I specifically went there that late to avoid seeing him! And how the hell did his arm heal so fast?!'

She huffed and gazed over to her own Communication Lacrima, however when she saw the flashing red light on it, she immediately panicked.

'DID HE CALL ME?!' Ultear ran over and checked the orb. Seeing the previous signal did indeed come from Magnolia. 'Shit! I'm gonna look so bad next time we talk now! Should I call him back…?' She stared at the orb before shaking her head. 'No he might be asleep now, that'd be rude of me.'

The girl sighed and resigned herself to simply sleeping for now. Perhaps she'd try tomorrow and use an excuse.

'Wait. Matt is smart, he might see through my excuse…' With that in mind, Ultear instead spent the rest of the night trying to make up a plausible excuse that the sharp teen would buy. Unfortunately for her, this meant she got no sleep.

Let it be known that a sleep deprived Ultear is not pleasant to be around. Such as her changing the morning coffee back into beans and water by mistake, or making any dairy product accidentally curdle. Zancrow must've gotten food poisoning due to this more than a dozen times.

Hades thought of intervening at points. However since this was also inadvertent practice for her magic, and it amused him in the downtime between obtaining Zeref's Keys, he let it be. Never say the man doesn't enjoy the comedic misery of another.

Matt laid in his bed while gazing at the ceiling. Despite the intent of forcing the teen to rest and recover his strength, sleep still eluded him. Meaning all of this was utterly pointless at the end of the day, and it was starting to get on his nerves.

Though at least this gave him the neccessary time to focus on his new training to adjust his fighting style. This started with Matt writing far more often with his left hand and using a hand gripper to raise the strength in said hand. Unfortunately, due to a constant subtle shake in his right arm, drawing a bow accurately was now completely impossible. Matt would have to figure out a new way to work around that.

Another factor was swordplay with a bad arm. Sure he could just abandon a dual-wield style and use a single sword. However this would limit his overall options and ways to throw off his opponent, which was unacceptable to Matt. Especially since almost every major fight he's been in so far has been against people he needed that variety with to even stand toe-to-toe with.

'Seems the best method would be a heavier sword in one hand and maybe a dagger in the other. Though perhaps a firearm would also work…' He thought for a moment before sighing. 'No, the recoil would hasten the degeneration of my right arms stamina too quickly. A crossbow could maybe work, but reloading would be a pain and it'd be incapable of using my weapon arrows.'

Matt scratched his head and sighed, "Talk about a pain in the ass." He spoke with a tired tone, clearly annoyed by the process.

'I guess I could just stand still and fire off weapons willy nilly, but only using that style ain't gonna do much good. Especially if the people I'm fighting are fast or have good reflexes.'

His gaze turned to his desk where the box containing his loyal companions lay.

'I know you still hold more secrets.' He grabbed the box and stared at it. 'Maybe they hold the answer. Though…'

Matt pulled out the card for Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. A card that should have had twelve stars, but for some reason, only ten were present.

'Things are certainly different.' Between this lower level, Flame Swordsman being a normal monster and the fact other summoning methods are barred off from him told Matt he was still in the dark about more than just how he got here and how he could get home.

"In due time I guess." He placed the card and deck back onto the nightstand. The teen got up and sat at his desk, getting back to his notebook.

A knock came from his door not long after.

"Come in." He spoke to the visitor, eyes still on the book.

A familiar head of green hair poked through the cracked door.

"… Hey Big Brother." Brandish timidly spoke as she closed the door.

"Oh, hey Brandish. You feeling any better?" He smiled at the girl who nodded and stood by the door, closing the notebook. Her gaze was to the ground and her hands behind her back. "Something wrong?" He asked her with some concern.

"…" She remained silent as her gaze was locked to the ground.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Matt reassured her.

She nodded absentmindedly as she didn't budge. Matt felt a twinge of worry worm its way into his heart.

"…'m….rr…." A almost inaudible whisper came from her.

"Excuse me?" Matt raised a confused brow at her.

"I'm sorry…" Her voice raised just enough to be audible to Matt.

"What for?"

Parts of her face twitched, "For making you sick and for making you save me."

"Is that it?" The girl looked up to him, clearly confused. "Brandish you didn't need to apologize for that. I don't blame you for any of that." He smiled at her.

"B-but this is all my fault!" She protested. "I was the one who rushed in blindly! I was the one that had to be saved by you! I'm the reason you're like this now. I-I'm the one that hurt you…" Tears welled into her eyes.

She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. The next thing she knew, a familiar warmth wrapped itself around her body. A familiar heartbeat resounded in her ears. This heartbeat comforted the girl just as much as her mothers once did. Brandish could practically fall asleep on command when hearing it.

"Listen to my words Brandish: Big Brother doesn't blame you at all, so don't get worked up over it okay?" Matt spoke to her as he embraced her.

"I-I just don't want Big Brother to worry anymore."

"I'll always worry Brandish, even if you got stronger than me. I bet you already know the reason why too."

"Because it's your job." She leaned her head in closer to his chest.

"You're a smart girl Brandish." A bitter smile made it's way on Matt's face. "Don't ever change Brandish, you have such a bright future ahead of you."

"You'll be there with me right Big Brother?" She questioned him as she relished in his warmth.

"… Of course I will."

A content smile made its way onto Brandish's face as she fell asleep. This was a stark contrast to Matt's sorrowful face.

A familiar ache overtook his heart as he set the girl down on the bed, returning to his notebook while she peacefully slept.

For the first time in a week since he'd awoken, Matt was back in the main hall of the guild. He absentmindedly sipped on a glass of water as he sat at the bar.

"Alright! Which one of you took it?!" Natsu stormed into the building with a sad Lisanna trailing behind him.

Everyone collectively raised a brow at the boy, unsure of what he was referring to.

"One of you took the Egg!" He shouted and glared around. "Was it you Gray?!" Natsu accused the nearly-nude boy.

"Huh? What would I even want with your stupid Egg?" Gray raised a brow at Natsu who then turned to Cana.

"Sorry Natsu, I don't know." Cana apologized to him. "Gray, your clothes." She dryly spoke to the ice mage.

"AW MAN!"

Natsu approached the form of Laxus who was leaning against a support pillar.

"Was it you Laxus?!" He accused.

The lightning mage scoffed, "Yeah right kid, get real."

Natsu's frustration grew even higher as he turned to Erza at the Request Board.

"Erza! It must've been you!" He pointed the finger at the redhead next.

"Now now, there's no point in drawing conclusions Natsu." She reprimanded the boy.

His gaze fell upon Matt, staring at the glass of water in his hand, and lingered momentarily before turning to find someone else.

Lisanna approached her older sister. "How about you Mira? Do you know anything?"

The older girl shook her head genuinely, "Nope! Don't know a thing." A devious thought passed through her mind as she looked at Natsu. "How about you just admit you ate it already Pinkie." She spoke to Natsu with a smirk.

Natsu looked momentarily stunned by her remark before getting furious at her.

"Mira!" Erza spoke out against the girl.

"Alright that does it!" He charged the girl who caught his punch. "I'm gonna kick your butt!"

"Yeah?! Well I'd like to see you try twerp!" The duo bumped into Gray who yelled at them as they continued their brawl, Erza immediately rushed over to break it up.

The trio of Macao, Wakaba and Makarov to Matt's immediate left began speaking about something, but it was all white noise to Matt who was caught up in his own head.

'A permanent weapon that isn't my knife perhaps? Hmmm. That could work, but I'd want it to be subtle and unexpected.' Even now he was still pondering methods to adjust his style in a fight. '…This is dumb.' He sighed. 'Why the hell am I so paranoid about this anyways? I'm plenty strong with my magic to compensate for a gimped arm. Not like I'd be throwing myself into a fight I couldn't win without it.'

A chorus of the guild snapped Matt back to reality, he turned around to see everyone looking at the small blue kitten atop Natsu's head. Wide smiles and a harmony of "Awwww"'s, were all he paid attention to.

Matt looked closely at the guild… his guild.

Their smiles. Their overwhelming joy over something as simple as a cat being born. The camaraderie they shared regardless of their pasts as every ounce of tension and hostility died out to be replaced with glee.

For a flash, so quick that you couldn't catch it even if you paid attention, Matt saw something entirely different. The fading vestiges of a life that was nothing more than a hollow echo in his mind.

"Big Brother, can we go explore the forest?!" His little brother begged him as they just moved in to a new house.

"Thanks for believing in me." His younger sister smiled at him as she graduated high school.

"My baby boy has grown up so much!" His mother tearfully embraced him on his 18th birthday.

"I'm proud of you son." His father patted him on the shoulder with a large smile.

'Ah. I get it now.' A small smile crept up onto the lips of Matt. 'There really ain't much of a difference is there?'

"Big Brother! Please teach me to use a sword!" Kagura pleaded with him, using the fatal puppy eyes technique.

"Hey Matt, can... you show me how to ice skate?" Gray embarrassingly asked the older teen.

"C'mon and fight me Matt!" Natsu grinned widely at him.

"Please Matt! Let me do a fortune reading on you!" Cana pleaded with the teen.

"Thank you for everything Big Brother." Brandish hugged the teen, a satisfied smile on her lips.

"Mira. Just call me Mira okay?" The rebellious girl told him, somewhat embarrassed.

"You shouldn't be so careless you know, I-we care about you…" Erza chided the boy.

"C'mon Little Buddy! Let's rock this town!" Gildarts cackled as he dragged the boy out for another excursion.

"Matt my boy, you make me and this guild proud. No matter what happens, never loose that heart." Makarov smiled at him.

'I wanna protect them… don't I?' It clicked in his head. Makarov was wrong: there was a third side to the teen. A side that wanted everyone to be happy, no matter the cost to himself. The greedy king who would shape the world into whatever most satiated his desires.

But he didn't deserve it.

How could he possibly even hope to have happiness like this when he's deprived so many others of it?! Why do these people hold a no-good bastard like him in such high regard?! It just... didn't make sense to the teen.

"Hey Matt, you okay?"

The voice of Macao snapped Matt out of his trance.

"Yeah, just nursing a headache is all." He played off his absentminded attitude.

"Well you got a few more years before you can drink it away." The bluenette smirked and sat next to him. "By the way." He lead on.

"Hm?"

"I'm gonna ask Enno to marry me." He boldly declared to Matt.

The teen did a spit take after hearing this.

"When the hell did you two hook up?!" He demanded an answer from him.

"Heh. Well we sorta got together when you were gone, and we may have uh… y'know." Macao sheepishly looked away from Matt in embarrassment.

"Oh… OH… oh…" The dots connected in Matt's head as he took an awkward drink of his water. "Well uh, I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks." He responded as the two sat in somewhat awkward silence afterwards.

"Hey Matt! You gotta meet Happy!" Natsu ran over to the him, hoisting the cat above his head. "Happy! This is Matt! He's a really strong member of Fairy Tail!" The boy held the blue cat in his hands and raised him up to the bluenette.

Matt blinked a couple times, "Nice to meetcha'." He nodded to the cat.

"Aye!" It responded with an arm raised.

"Did the cat just talk?" He questioned the odd noise it made.

"Huh?" Natsu looked at him confused. "What are you talking about Matt, all cats go "Aye" don't they?"

The teen chuckled a bit at Natsu's youthful innocence. "No they go "Meow", but it could just be a temporary thing." He shrugged off the odd behavior of the cat.

"Well I think it's really cute." Lisanna smiled as she too approached, the two kids smiling at each other after gazing at the cat.

"My my you two, such boldness." Matt ominously spoke.

"What do you mean?" The girl curiously asked him.

"Well I suppose someone would have to spell it out at this stage." He leaned down with a cheshire smile and hand over his mouth. "You're in lo~ve."

The duo immediately blushed furiously at his words.

"You're in lo~ve." The cat mimicked Matt perfectly.

"""THE CAT TALKS?!""" Came the collective shout of onlookers.

Matt looked at the cat in surprise before nodding firmly.

"I shall teach you the ways of the troll young one." He spoke to Happy who responded with an "Aye".

"PLEASE DON'T!" Lisanna begged him with her blush still present behind the hands covering her face.

Matt looked at some cloth in a shop with a sharp gaze. He felt the textures of each of his choices with the upmost scrutiny. In a select few countries, cloth specifically made to accommodate the weaving of magic power into it was made. It's essentially a similar principal as to how armor and weapons can have magic in them, except on a far more practical scale. The teen primarily looked into this so he could make sure he didn't have to buy a new jacket or repair one over and over again.

Matt was visiting this store after he paid a visit to Zeke, which he now decided to make a monthly thing.

"Using blood as a catalyst for magic?" Zeke raised a brow at Matt.

"Yeah. With a weaker arm I need something to compensate for the lack of raw strength. So I wonder if having something like a rune tattooed with a blood and ink mix would work as a quick spell I could fire."

"I see… Well that could work in theory." Zeke admitted before smiling, "But I think I have something much better in mind."

"I'm all ears." Matt admitted, fully open to any suggestions.

"Your other primary magic is Replication Magic right?"

"Yeah, though I've basically mastered everything in that book. Kinda weird how no one has come up with anything new for it after all these years." The teen scratched his head.

"What if I told you there was an entire world of possibility with that magic that just simply never got perfected before it could be written down."

"...I'm listening."

"The basic principal behind the magic is molding raw Magic Power into the something else correct?"

"Yeah." Matt nodded.

"Well I'm sure by extension of studying this, you've realized that magic power is inherently formless until the mage in question gives it the necessary flow to change it into something else, like fire or transforming. Magic Power flows and weaves like blood, it lives like anything else. This also means it can change just like a person can."

"Yeah, magic books only really teach you how to take that magic power and change its properties. After that your container is changed to best accommodate that first magic. It's why I can't use more physically tolling magic since my body hasn't been naturally adapted to it via the container." He rolled his weaker arm, a byproduct of misuse of the Slayer Magic.

"Good, then this will make my explanation much easier." Zeke sighed in relief. "What if I told you that magic power itself can become a tool? A weapon with potential only as limited as your imagination? The best part is it'll be extremely friendly even to your limited ability in that arm."

"Before you had me listening, now you have my undivided attention." The teen grinned.

Matt chose his cloth and left the shop satisfied. The huge perk to living in Magnolia was all the trade going on. If you wanted to find cloth from Pergrande here? No problem. Exotic food from Sin? Piece of cake. While not a cultural hodgepodge, it was still a nice change up from the norm of other cities.

He approached the guild from the store, but suddenly stopped as he heard the ringing of ominous bells behind him. The street was empty and quiet, though Matt could feel the presence of other behind him.

"Matthew Atlas." A deep, old voice sent a chill down his spine.

The teen slowly turned his head to see a man with black, ornate robes and a tengu mask on. They were cornered by a duo of fully armored warriors.

"Speaking. Who might you be?" He stayed on guard in the face of these three.

"I am Masamune, a simple sword smith from Enca. I've come here today to give you a gift courtesy of the Emperor of Enca, as thanks for you service in the destruction of Dragon's Bane." The older man explained.

Matt blinked a couple of times and nodded, incredibly relieved this wouldn't turn into a fight.

"So where are we doing this?" He raised a brow at the trio.

"In here." Masamune raised a hand, and with a wave, opened something similar to Requip, except this was…

"A sliding door?" The teen was genuinely stunned by the odd magic just making a door appear from thin air.

"Spacequip: a magic that allows me to create a pocket dimension. Now come." He simply explained before ushering the teen forward. Matt nodded and followed the man in the door.

Past this was a large room befitting a blacksmith. It was still impressively hot and smelled like metal and burned coal. Stone structures and metal items littered the area.

"This way." He guided Matt towards a room in the back.

Masamune opened the door to reveal a rather plain room. Green tatami mats on the floor, some shelving and hand drawn art was on the walls with a few flower vases.

The blacksmith then sat on the floor. Matt followed suit and was across from him. Masamune pulled out a long black, wooden box with a golden emblem on it.

"This," he opened the lid and with both hands, gently pulled out a black katana with a golden guard. "Is Kusanagi."

Just from where Matt was sitting, he could feel the odd force of the blade. As if the blade possessed a will, a soul.

"This sword is without question my finest work. The very gods themselves compelled the creation of this blade. Thunder from Takemikazuchi set the pace of my hammer. Wind from Fūjin and lightning from Raijin ushered me to keep working even as I became overcome with exhaustion. The radiant light of the sun and moon assured me my time was not being wasted."

"U-Uh-huh." Matt nodded, taken aback by the rather extreme passion from the sword smith.

"This blade, I know for fact, will cut anything as long as you possess the will to command it to do so. A blade is no mere tool, it is an extension of one's very soul! If your soul is strong, this blade need only ask what you need of it." Matt slowly nodded. "However, be warned young man: this blade, if drawn with an unstable soul, could cause cataclysm."

Matt swallowed his spit at those ominous words.

"One must have full control of their very being to bring out its true power. And if you can, this blade is without peer, now and forever."

Masamune handed the blade to Matt who accepted it with both hands. The Smith then handed him a letter.

"This is from the Emperor himself, he requested these two things be given at the same time."

Matt nodded and accepted the letter, placing the items in his hammer space.

"Thank you Mr. Masamune for the blade, I'll use it to the best of my ability." He bowed to the man in respect. "Give the Emperor my regards too."

Masamune merely nodded as they left the pocket dimension and parted ways.

After giving a sigh of relief, Matt returned to the guild immediately afterwards. As he headed to his room, he was suddenly stopped by a presence behind him.

"Who were those odd men you were talking to?" Erza's sudden speaking caused Matt to jump a bit.

"Geez, ever hear of letting someone know you're around?" He chided her.

The redhead pouted a bit, "Just answer the question."

Matt saw his opportunity to have some fun, "Oh my? Could it be you're stalking me?"

Erza coughed a bit at his question. "Wh-what?! Of course not!"

"Oh? Then how would you know I was talking with those men?" He feigned innocence as he asked her.

"Th-that's because I… I… uh… I was just walking by and happened to see it is all." She fumbled a bit before making up an excuse.

Matt just dryly stared at her.

"It-it's true! I was merely coming back from training with Kagura!" The blush on her face intensified.

"Oh, I see. And if I asked Kagura she'd confirm this story?"

"She would." The mentioned girl approached them.

Matt gave a glare at her to see if she would crack. The girl simply returned the gesture with a smile.

"Alright then." Matt nodded, buying the story.

"See, I wasn't lying." Erza confidently puffed out her chest.

"I believe you now, sheesh." Matt waved his hand side-to-side. "If you must know I was just talking to some people from Enca. They were thanking me for that mission is all."

"O-Oh." Erza was somewhat surprised by the rather plain truth. She felt Matt's hand fall atop her head.

"I appreciate the gesture though, but everyone could use some personal space outside the guild y'know?" He smiled at the girl and walked off to his room.

"Thanks for covering for me…" Erza placed a hand atop her head.

"It's no problem! Big Brother was just teasing you anyways, he didn't mean to upset you." She smiled at the redhead.

"N-no I know that, it's just…"

The truth was she had been keeping an eye of Matt lately in her spare time. Given that danger followed him around like a moth to flame, she worried he might get into a bad mess again. She worried that a permanently wounded arm would be the least of his injuries.

"I know." Kagura put a hand on Erza's shoulder.

She'd been upping her training as quickly as possible so she could catch up to her Brother. Unfortunately the evident gap between them was quite obvious, but she refused to give up. She made a promise, and she intended to keep it.

Kagura had long since figured out Erza's feelings towards her brother and personally rooted for her. However she also knew that Matt wasn't in the best place for any kind of relationship like that, but maybe one day. At the very least it gave her and Lisanna some fun conversations to see which of the two elder sisters chasing after him would win. Well, that is if Erza herself realizes what her feelings mean in the first place.

Darkness. That was all he remembered as he floated aimlessly. It was odd however, compared to the normal darkness, this was much warmer. One might even call it pleasant.

The boy remembered how this warmth was suddenly taken away, his body drifting down to a formless floor. His small frame sat there, leaning against something as light finally pierced through the darkness.

Green eyes opened for the first time, not enjoying their first exposure to light.

"Vitals are normal." A voice out of sight spoke. The figure approached the boy, his form a mere silhouette to the small boy. "Eyes appear to be operating normally." His hand stretched out, skin comparable to chalk lightly gripping his arm and letting go. "Blood flow is optimal." The figure smiled, "It was a complete success."

He stood up, his shadow covering the boy.

"Well, I suppose I should welcome you. I doubt this place would even be remotely familiar. Though I can't guarantee anything was preserved in that regard... Ah! I got it." Yellow eyes contrasted by black sclera gazed at the boy.

"Happy birthday..." The last word of the man was left to the wayside as consciousness left the boy.

Hoo boy this chapter.

Hi.

Welcome back to another chapter of this mess.

So we had a fair bit happen this time around I should probably get into.

If I haven't made it clear enough yet, Matt is completely fucking devastated with survivor's guilt, a pretty expected response after everything that happened on that island. He's also basically lost every memory about his old life.

This arc in general is gonna be a real dark hour for our protagonist as he comes with grips with his new reality. He barely remembers why he struggled for so many years. He does not recall the faces of those he calls family. He recollects practically nothing of the life he once lived. I don't think I even need to explain how badly that would devastate anyone.

However, like Makarov decided, its genuinely for the best Matt finds a new purpose, which he basically has. The problem is the aforementioned guilt he's keeping to himself. That'll play a major role in the upcoming chapters of this arc as a whole.

This arc is a very transitory one. This is the final pre-written chapter I had from months ago. From here on, it's all current me writing every word. I also intend to use this arc as a sort of lead-in to the next arc which will flat-out be the darkest this story gets from most standpoints. I'm gonna push the M rating on this website hard when we arrive to that section.

This arc will also probably have the most overall canon-changes before we get to the manga. The fourth and fifth arcs are moreso grounded in the general lore of the world I've already set up rather than as consequences of actions (though the fifth one is debatably just a consequence).

One change in particular will be quite a major one I played mental chess with myself to see how it'd work. It probably means I'll have to cover an arc from canon I had originally intended to skip since Matt wouldn't have ooriginaly changed shit about it, but I'll deal with that when we get there.

Most of this arc going forward will primarily involve Matt and one or two characters getting into something. Naturally we still have the S-Class trials which will come pretty soon.

The other major part of this chapter was Zeref beginning to teach Matt the next stage of his magic growth. I've already pretty strongly hinted as to what it'll revolve around, but we'll see the final result pretty soon. I'm pretty excited to start using it in fights as it really lets me go crazy on the fun and creative factors.

Our next chapter will feature a pretty noteworthy change from canon as a familiar face returns.

Until next time, I bid you all adieu.