The Blue Pheasant Flies On

Chapter 2: Flying On

A/N: Thanks to Sir Godot who has volunteered to beta for this fic as well.

Ur's Hut

Kuzan opened his eyes to find himself staring at a familiar wooden ceiling. He was momentarily confused until his memory came rushing back to him. Gray leaving, helping Ur and Lyon go after him, Deliora destroying the town, revealing his powers… shit. Kuzan hadn't wanted to use his powers while he was still with Ur and her disciples. He knew that they wouldn't recognize him as a devil fruit eater or a Marine admiral, but years of training to conceal his powers before he became such a well-known figure couldn't be cast aside so easily. He let out a small groan and brought his hand to his head. This was going to complicate things.

"So, you're awake."

Kuzan opened his eyes and found Ur sitting next to his bed. She had a tray with food on it that he could still see steam wafting off of. She set the tray down next to him and gave him a stern look. "You're suffering from magic exhaustion, but I'm sure you're used to that. Gray helped me drag you and Lyon back here after you killed Deliora." Her look turned into a glare and he felt her power spike. Just what he needed, a pissed-off woman. "Would you mind explaining that."

It definitely wasn't a question. Kuzan figured that he wouldn't be able to get out of this with more vague, half-truths. Ur wanted the whole truth and wouldn't settle for less. He recognized her look as the same one that Tsuru would level at Garp when the old Vice Admiral was trying to dodge her questions. There was no getting out of this, but he couldn't tell Ur the truth. She would think he was crazy. Hell, he thought he was crazy if the evidence wasn't so overwhelming. He needed to come up with a story, and a damn good one at that.

Kuzan let out an exaggerated sigh to play up his reluctance. He needed to be convincing. "Alright, but you can't tell anyone about me," he warned her. After she nodded, he began to spin his tale, "I'm not just a former career soldier, I'm an ex-admiral, the second highest rank in my nation's military. I'm from a large alliance of islands that is collectively run by the monarchs of each island. The Marines were formed to deal with the large piracy problem for obvious reasons," Kuzan paused for a moment to see if Ur was buying it and when she nodded he continued. "We worked off the policy of 'Justice,' which in some cases translated to 'might makes right.' To some Marines the idea of justice and protecting the innocent drove them on," he motioned to himself. "While others followed an 'Absolute Justice' and would take their orders to the extreme.

Ur noticed Kuzan's angry tone and the way he scowled at the mention of absolute justice and he unconsciously reached a hand up to his chest. "Did a marine like that give you those burns?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

There was a moment of silence before Kuzan continued, "A few weeks before you found me one of the higher ranked members of a pirate fleet, a man named Ace, had been captured. He was to be publicly executed in an attempt to draw out his commander, the strongest man in the world. It worked. He brought his whole fleet and all of his allies to get him back." Kuzan gained a far-off look as he remembered the battle against Whitebeard.

"All of that just for one man?" Ur said in surprise. "I thought pirates were all a bunch of criminals who only cared for themselves."

"Not all of them. The kings' rule is absolute, and they don't care for most people. Some people are unable to live like that and take up piracy so that they can live their lives the way they want; freely. Others have done something that upset the kings and were forced into the life." The former admiral thought back to Nico Robin and the Strawhat Pirates that she was a part of. People willing to declare war on the world just to save one friend. If only more pirates—no, more people—were like them then his world would have been a better place. Kuzan had always been willing to turn a semi-blind eye at pirates like that. If he came across one by chance he would take them out, they were pirates after all, but he wouldn't actively hunt them down like some Marines he could think of. "Whitebeard was special even among pirates. A pirate that didn't want treasure or status from life but gathered a crew so that he would have a family. And he came storming into Marine Headquarters to save one of his 'sons.'"

"He sounds nothing like anybody I've ever met, criminal or not," Ur said. "But you said 'was?'"

Kuzan nodded. "There was a war between Whitebeard's forces and the Marines—more of a large-scale battle, actually. In the end many lives were lost, among them were Whitebeard and Ace. It drastically changed our world. Now there was a power vacuum and not just for the pirates. Our fleet admiral was retiring and one of the admirals was to be promoted as his successor. Sengoku recommended me for the position, but the kings wanted Sakazuki, my fellow admiral and the man that severely wounded Whitebeard during the war. Personally, I didn't want the position, but I wanted to prevent Sakazuki from getting it more."

"Why?" Ur interrupted, "What's so bad about this Sakazuki?" Besides the obvious fact that he was the reason Kuzan was so severely injured in the first place.

Kuzan let out a sigh while he organized his thoughts about the man that had killed him. "Sakazuki was the most fanatic believer of 'Absolute Justice.' One of the only times that I ever worked with him was when we were sent to eliminate a small island of rebels. Instead of hunting down the rebels, Sakazuki destroyed the entire island on the off chance that we would miss a rebel, or one of the townspeople would hide them, or their ideas had spread to others on the island."

Ur covered her mouth in horror and stared at Kuzan, "And the Marines didn't do anything?"

"They gave him a commendation," Kuzan bitterly told her. "He killed the rebels and sent a message to anyone that would attempt something similar. That's why he was the kings' favorites," he shook his head to rid them of thoughts on Sakazuki. "To determine who was best fit for rule we fought each other on a deserted island. As you can tell," Kuzan gestured to his burns and missing leg, "I lost. Ice doesn't tend to hold up very well against magma," he poorly joked. "So that's why I didn't tell you the truth. I was never dismissed, nor did I retire. I must have been transported to these mountains to die and never be found, swept under the rug like so many others. Now I can't return to my homeland and if I am found by anyone from the alliance or the Marines then I will be hunted down and killed," Kuzan finished. He silently waited for Ur's response.

Ur silently sat next to him for a while. She had no idea what Kuzan had been through and now felt horrible for making him bring up his past that he had a very good reason to hide. To be nearly killed fighting over leadership and now forced to hide from his old allies or else be hunted down and killed… She couldn't fault him for not telling her the truth when he had first awoken. Ur bowed her head to the older man in regret. "I'm sorry for suspecting you and for making you tell me your past like that. You've been nothing but a perfect gentleman and even killed Deliora for us and I've trampled over that kindness."

Kuzan gave her a small smile, apparently his story checked out. "Arara, it's fine," he waved off her apology. "I understand your suspicions. I would have done the same in your position." Actually, he would have just dropped whoever he found off at the nearest hospital and been done with the whole issue, after ensuring that they weren't a wanted criminal first. "I should be thanking you for the care you've given me while I recover," he absently flexed his hand and felt the little power he had remaining. "Although, it looks like I'll have to impose on you for a little longer."

"It will be no bother," Ur said in relief. She hadn't wanted to anger the man after what he had done. If it wasn't for him then she'd have been forced to sacrifice herself to kill Deliora with Iced Shell. "My students will be especially happy that you'll be here a little longer," she absently said and then frowned when she thought of one of those students.

This didn't go unnoticed. "Is there something wrong?" Kuzan asked.

Ur let out a tired sigh, "It's Lyon. During the fight against Deliora he wouldn't listen to me when I told him that we had to retreat. When he requested to train under me it was because he knew I was strong, so he wanted to become the strongest. He had the misconception that I was the strongest because of that and when I told them that we were retreating from Deliora he couldn't accept that. He was going to cast Iced Shell himself without knowing the consequences in order to defeat Deliora and I stopped him. When I unfroze him and he learned that Deliora was dead he was ecstatic, until he discovered that it was you that killed him and not me." Ur rubbed her head while she remembered the events that followed, "He hasn't talked to me since and I'm afraid of what he'll do. I was his hero, everything that he wanted to be, and I failed him. That's a lot to take in for someone, especially at his age and on top of losing his parents." Ur grit her teeth in frustration, "I just don't know what to do with him!"

Kuzan placed a calming hand onto her shoulder. "It will be okay," he assured her. "Lyon is a bright boy, but too set in his ideals. He's just having trouble accepting how big the world is around him. Give him some time and I'm sure that he'll recover, wiser if not stronger." He had no idea if that was true, but it was what she wanted to hear.

"You're sure?" Ur hopefully asked.

"I'm sure. I've seen it happen before," he told her. What he didn't mention was that not everyone bounced back. When faced with a crisis like this it was a make-or-break scenario and most of the time it broke people. Not everyone was capable of accepting what the Marines did in the name of 'justice.' Burnouts were the best-case scenarios, suicides and desertions were more common. The worst was when someone couldn't handle it and rebelled against the Marines for it. The most recent example being the ex-rear admiral that had gone rogue and become one of the 'Worst Generation'. But Ur didn't need to know that. "And what about Gray?" Kuzan inquired to change the subject.

Ur shot him a grateful look before answering, "Gray is doing much better thanks to you. With Deliora dead he isn't as haunted as before—like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders. With the knowledge that his parents' killer is dead he can move forward now," she told him with a small smile. Gray's progress was refreshing in the face of her failure with Lyon.

"That's good to hear," Kuzan said before leaning back onto his pillow. He was still tired from unknowingly overusing his magic.

Ur saw this and got to her feet. "I'll let you get some rest," she stopped in the doorway. "Thank you again, for everything."

Her only response was a gentle snoring.

Later that Night

The door to Kuzan's room was slowly opened and Lyon silently slipped into his room. Ur had mentioned earlier that the man had awoken while they were eating, the only time that he saw her. He was angry at Ur, so angry. She was supposed to be the strongest, yet she wanted to run away from Deliora! Then she had stopped him when he was going to show how strong he was! The worst part was that Deliora had been defeated, but not by him or Ur, not even by Gray, his fellow student under Ur. No, Deliora had been killed by Kuzan. The injured man that hadn't shown any sign of magical prowess the entire time he had been living with them. Even if he was injured that didn't mean that he couldn't do something simple or even tell them that he was a mage. Lyon shook his head. That wasn't why he was here.

Lyon carefully walked around the man's legs so that he was next to his head. He was here to become this man's disciple. Gray may have been satisfied with crawling back to Ur, apologizing for what he had said and begging for her to take him back through his tears, but Lyon wasn't. He had wanted to train under Ur because she was the strongest. That's what all the surrounding townspeople had said when he had asked them in his original search, and she had never shown him anything to contradict that until Deliora. Lyon's scowl deepened at the reminder of Ur's failure. When she had told them that there were more mages out there that were stronger than her, he had merely thought that she was being modest. Now he knew that she was telling him the truth, yet she had still taken him on! He had told her he wanted to be the strongest and she had trained him as her pupil despite knowing that she wasn't the strongest! She could have just told him where the stronger mages were instead of lying to him!

But now that would change. He would learn as much as he could from Kuzan and become strong enough to surpass him one day. And if it turned out that Kuzan wasn't the strongest then he would leave his tutelage and train under the stronger mage. He would continue to do this until everyone in the world would agree that he was unquestionably the strongest. Then he would never be too weak to do anything again. He would be strong and then all of his problems would be solved, and he would never lose again. Not to anything nor anybody.

"Are you going to say something or just stand there with that ugly look on your face?" Kuzan's voice snapped Lyon out of his planning and he stared at the older man in shock. Kuzan sat up and scratched the back of his head. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it was rude to stare at others? And if you keep making that face it'll get stuck like that permanently?" He missed his old sleeping mask, it helped him ignore the people around him and let them know that he wasn't to be disturbed. That was one of the first things he would buy in this world, along with a new bike.

Lyon flinched at the insult and stopped scowling. He had been sure that Kuzan was asleep and that he hadn't made any noise when he snuck in. This just further proved that Kuzan was strong in his mind. "I want you to teach me!" he blurted out a little louder than he wanted. Ur and Gray were still asleep in the other room and he didn't want them to know what he was doing.

"No," Kuzan told him before rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.

Lyon stared at him in shock. He had known that there was a chance that he would be rejected, but not in such a dismissive manner. Kuzan didn't even look him over or consider it before denying him. Lyon's face twisted in anger. "Why not?!" he demanded.

"Several reasons: One, you already have a teacher. Two, I can't teach you anything that she can't. Three, and most importantly, I don't want to teach you," Kuzan listed without even looking at Lyon.

Lyon bristled in indignation, "Ur's not my teacher anymore. She was supposed to be the strongest, but she ran away from Deliora. But you didn't. You fought Deliora and you won."

"That doesn't mean that I'm the strongest, kid," Kuzan told him. He had to nip this hero-worship in the bud before it became a problem. "And that's a poor reason to abandon Ur just because she wanted to keep you and Gray safe." He turned over and leveled a hard look at Lyon, "You're weaker than Gray, and much weaker than Ur. She's strong, stronger than most people you'll meet, and she still lost a leg to Deliora, what do you think you could do. I'll answer that for you; get killed." Lyon flinched again and Kuzan internally smirked. Lyon wasn't too far gone; he could still be taught. "Look at me, why am I in here? Because I fought somebody stronger than me and lost. There will always be somebody stronger than you, faster than you, better than you. What you need to do right now, kid, is learn to accept that and move on. Listen to your teacher, she knows what she's doing. Take your time to live your life and grow stronger naturally. I'm nearly fifty years old and I was never as strong as Ur is at her age. Follow her and you'll eventually get your wish."

Kuzan was lying slightly to the boy. He was much stronger than Ur when he was her age because he had eaten his devil fruit by then. His ice powers never increased from that point, he just got better at using them and handling the power. That was the biggest difference between devil fruit and magic. A devil fruit's power was immense, but never increased. How well it was used and how it was used was left up to the eater. If he had never trained, then he'd still have trouble shifting to his ice form and could never use anything other than freezing an entire area solid at random intervals. Magic, on the other hand, worked more like a muscle. The more you used it the stronger you got. Lyon just needed time to become stronger. He also needed to get his head out of his ass and screwed on straight, but Ur could take care of that too.

Lyon stood next to Kuzan quietly while he thought about what the man had said. Kuzan then turned back over and waved him away. "Now it's past your bedtime, kid. Go to sleep and apologize to your teacher in the morning," he flippantly dismissed him.

Lyon numbly followed his advice but spent the rest of the night tossing and turning while he thought over Kuzan's words.

Kuzan waited until he sensed that Lyon had left before letting out another sigh. He hoped that his words were enough to set the boy on the right track, and to reassure the woman that had been listening outside of the door.

Kuzan relaxed outside while he watched the clouds. The last few days had been nice and peaceful. Lyon had followed his advice and apologized to Ur and after chastising him for the way he acted she had accepted his apology and things were back to normal for the three Ice Mages. Things were almost back to normal for Kuzan as well. His magic had apparently returned enough for him to not be bothered by its absence anymore and he was planning to head out soon.

Ur came out of the house and sat down next to Kuzan. Neither said anything for a moment before she spoke, "I'm thinking of moving." Kuzan made no reply, so she continued, "The boys need more training, but they also need to have others to talk with and kids their age to play with. A life of nothing but training with their teacher will leave them socially stunted, no matter how well I teach them. Gray's already picked up a bad habit of randomly stripping." More silence. Kuzan could tell that she needed to get this off of her chest. "There was a man I met a few years ago, shortly after my daughter-" she stopped short for a moment before taking a calming breath and continuing, "-after she died. He was from a guild out west, never mentioned which one it was, but he was strong—much stronger than me. It might be time to travel west and search for a guild that Gray and Lyon can grow in with others. My dream has always been to raise the new generation out here, but I can't do it all alone. Deliora really drove that point home. I think it's time to let go of the past, so that I can help build the future." She waited for Kuzan to say something, but he remained silent. After a few seconds she spoke up again, "What do you think?"

Kuzan raised an eyebrow at her before speaking, "I think that you've already made your mind up and are just nervous over the decision. You've lived here your whole life and don't want to leave because you feel that it will be a betrayal to your daughter. You just want to hear someone else tell you that it's okay to move on and that Lyon's and Gray's actions have shaken you more than you're willing to admit." She looked up at him in surprise. She never would have expected Kuzan to be that insightful. He smiled down at her, "It's fine and you're right. People can't get hung up on the past if they want to move forward. The world is ever changing, and we have to learn to change with it." His thoughts turned to the Marines and the Celestial Dragons. Both of them caught up in the old ways and unwilling to change what they knew was wrong. He himself needed to change as well. Maybe he could use this new world as a chance to view the world in a different perspective, where the people made decisions themselves with their own sense of justice.

"What about you?"

Kuzan turned to Ur in surprise, "Me?"

"Yes. You don't know what it's like in this part of the world, right?" He could concede to that. When she had first mentioned 'jewels' he had thought she was referring to gemstones, not paper money. Seeing him nod, Ur continued. "I'd like for you to travel with us and I'll teach you about how things like money and the geography work. As a form of thanks for saving my life and, more importantly, my students lives," she told him.

Kuzan stared at her in surprise. He had honestly never expected to be asked to travel with them. He just assumed that he'd leave after he had fully healed and then head out on his own while learning from trial and error. He had spent most of his time traveling alone since he had been promoted to admiral, anyone else would have been more of a hindrance to him than an asset at that point. It was a nice gesture and he could see that she wanted him to accept. He smiled at her, a real one instead of his usual placating one he showed, "I think that I'd like that."

The four ice users stood outside of Ur's hut. Their things, mostly clothes, were gathered in packs across their backs and Ur had a chest containing everything else in her hands. She had informed the nearby town that they were leaving and wouldn't be back. They had been given some provisions for their journey, but other than that they didn't say much. It was a small town and Ur and her disciples had never been more than a curiosity that showed up about every two or three weeks.

"This is it, Gray, Lyon. You're training journey starts here," Ur told her students.

"Will we ever come back?" Gray curiously asked.

"Maybe one day, but not anytime soon," she sadly told him. While her students only had memories of their training, Ur had memories of most of her life here. But it was time to move on and live in the present away from the past. It would never leave her, but it wouldn't hold her back either. She turned and started to walk away with a sad smile on her face.

Her students followed after her and Kuzan followed after them with a last glance over his shoulder to the simple hut where he had begun to take this new chapter of his life. He turned back to follow Ur and smiled peacefully. 'Perhaps I should be thanking you, Sakazuki. Maybe killing me was the kindest thing you could have done.'

A/N: And they're off. Originally this was going to be a longer chapter, but it just felt right to end it here. Next chapter will start the journey into Ice Trail, a spinoff of Fairy Tail that shows how Gray got to Fairy Tail. That should take about two to three chapters and then I'll start doing some interactions between Kuzan and a younger Fairy Tail cast for a while. Hopefully the chapters shouldn't take as long to update, but I can't promise anything. Later.