As usual Ryker had arrived early at the guild and helped Mirajane fix it, even the day after they both had a meeting with friends. But today the magician was more interested in other matters. And during the morning, as the guild was filling up he would take care of his business

He was sitting at the bar as usual, but he noticed prying eyes on him. To his right was Lisanna looking at him with sweet, sympathetic eyes, he could have sworn there were hearts all around her. To her left was Cana and her drink barrel, she was looking at him maliciously. He could feel that a lot of the guild was looking in his direction and he didn't like it at all, even more that Mira was embarrassed, which was hard to do. They were having a good conversation all morning, whenever she took a break from her work.

"What the hell are you looking at?", The magician shouted at the girls beside him.

"As if you didn't know," Cana replied. "Did you have fun yesterday?" She said in a dirty and sly voice.

Mira blushed and Ryker looked at the drunken mage in disbelief. "Shut up, Cana! This is none of your business!" As Cana was often close to the bar, the wizard ended up developing a closer relationship with her than with others in the guild. He knew very well what the magician's way was like.

"HAHAHAHA! Course is! Mira is my friend and I want to know everything ", she said facing the white-haired woman.

"It was very funny. We go out, eat, talk ... ", Mira replied calmly, in her usual style.

"But I want the spicy details," the drunk said blinking.

"You don't have anything else to do?", shouted the indignant magician.

"I'm already doing what I want to do," she said with a smile

Ryker pushed lightly with his hand and looked at her with indignation and defeat. Cana reciprocated by putting her arm around his shoulder, leaning on him, who looked at her in disbelief and resignation. She had that smile and those alcoholic features.

"How do you stand Mira?" he asked her. The mage just laughed at the whole situation.

Ryker gave up on paying attention to that and looked around the guild, looking for certain people he wanted to see and talk to.

"Looking for someone?" Asked Lisanna, drawing her attention.

"What!? Ah yes".

"Does it have anything to do with these folders?", the youngest Strauss said. The magician confirmed it with a grunt and shaking his head.

"What would it be? If I can ask"

"It's nothing much. Just something I want to give to two people, " he said, turning to her with a singing smile. "Ah! I've even found them. See you ..., " said, breaking free of Cana, who hissed, and got up and walked through the guild.

This confused the staff at the bar a little, but it didn't seem like anything wrong so they left it alone. Lisanna and Cana, however, turned to Mira and continued to pester her to find out about the previous day's meeting, something she kept saying was no big deal, just two friends hanging out and having fun together. It did not convince either.

Ryker walked through the guild, with two folders in his hand. He had seen the people he wanted to meet and went straight to them.

"Hello!" said the magician, with a slight sarcastic smile, sitting down at the table. In front of him, Gajeel and Juvia were sitting side by side. On the table was Lily, drinking her kiwi juice. They looked surprised.

"Ryker-san!", Greeted Juvia with a smile.

"What do you want?" Said Gajeel looking at him with his eyes.

"Mr. Ryker, how are you?", Lily politely greeted him.

The magician looked at the Iron Dragon Slayer, not being intimidated by his gaze, and then looked at the other members of the table. "Good morning to you, too. I don't want anything special ".

"So, why are you here?", Gajeel said without patience.

"Gajeel-kun!", scolded Juvia. "Treat our guildmate better. Ryker-san must have some reason for wanting to speak with Juvia and Gajeel ".

"Tsh!" Complained the Dragon Slayer, turning his face in irritation.

"Smart girl", the magician looked at her. "Actually, I came here to give this to you," he said, passing the folders he had for each of the two magicians.

"What is that !?", Gajeel asked, puzzled.

"Open it!".

They took the folders and opened them. When they saw what it was about, they opened their eyes wide and were astonished. They could not believe what was in front of their eyes, it was as if a part of their past came back to their lives, a part that they did not like to remember, a part that they were ashamed of. They were feeling sad and angry at the same time. And their emotions were showing up on their bodies, no matter how hard they tried to suppress them.

"I have to say that I was amazed when I found out. I didn't imagine you were from another guild," Ryker said upon seeing the features of both mages.

"Where did you get this!?" shouted Gajeel, fists clenched and glared.

"Juvia also wants to know," she said transpiring a little more excitement than her friend sitting next to her.

"In Lepoglava, on my last mission," Ryker said without being moved.

Both Juvia and Gajeel remained, not understanding anything. "What the hell was this doing there? And why did you get them? ", The wizard Dragon Slayer was angry and was losing control, wanting to punch something.

"Stay calm Gajeel," Lily tried to calm the situation, Juvia helping by placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Why did Ryker-san get this from prison? Did it have anything to do with your mission?", The water magician asked him.

"You are really smart," the magician told her. "In a way, yes. My mission was to capture a fugitive. I was looking for information about him and I came across these files ".

Gajeel looked at him ugly and suspicious, but at the same time he was amazed. Anyone who presides would be smeared with fear at the expression on his face in that situation, they would have run in fear or asked for mercy for their lives. But he, he didn't. He was unperturbed, as if nothing had happened, he just stood there, with those cold, dead eyes.

"Who was the fugitive?", Dragon Slayer asked dryly.

Juvia looked at him in amazement, but she also wanted to know, and in a quick consideration of the situation something came to mind. "Juvia believes that the fugitive must be linked to her and Gajeel-kun. Why would Ryker-san be going through our files."

The magician smiles. "You're right, Juvia," he said, and in a sly expression, he looked at everyone at the table. "The fugitive was his former master."

The two magicians were more than astonished by the revelation. They just looked at the guy in front of them with wide eyes and mouths open in total amazement, they no longer knew how to react to such a statement.

Lily seeing the situation that her friends were in, I decided to intervene. "Do you mean Jose Porla? Phantom Lord's former master?"

"Exactly," Ryker said to exceed.

"If he ran away I must say that he wanted to take revenge on Fairy Tail. From what Gajeel said he had a lot of rivalry with this guild, to the point of creating a war just to destroy us ", said the Exceed.

"Yes, it was what he wanted, he told me himself. He was strange and superb, he thought he was more than he really was, " the magician said.

With their conversation, it was possible for Juvia and Gajeel to get out of their trance and process the information.

"W ... what? What happened?" Gajeel finally asked.

"Don't worry, you two. I took it and it went back to where it came from ", his statement seemed to calm the ex-phantom magicians.

"But, Juvia doesn't understand. Why did the old master go to jail in the first place? ", She said looking confused and frustrated.

"Why, rain woman! After the guild was disbanded he must have been judged by the council, just as we all were, don't you remember? He was probably condemned for what he did, putting the whole city at risk. ", Gajeel said angrily.

"He's right Juvia. From what I read in the files, as he was the master, the responsibility was all on him. You just followed orders and got lighter penalties. "

"He got what he deserved anyway," said Dragon Slayer. "He just used us, he never cared about us. We were just pawns and his hand, doing what he wanted for the glory of his useless guild ".

"Yes, Juvia realizes this now," she said with her head down.

Gajeel's left arm went around her shoulders in a comforting hug. "Don't be like that, woman. He is in the place he deserves and can no longer affect us. And if he comes, I will be here to finish him, just like all Fairy Tail ".

"Thank you Gajeel-kun," she said, smiling at him, who got a blush and let out his characteristic laugh, continuing with his arm around his best friend.

"But I'm still curious," said Gajeel looking at Ryker. "Both Juvia and I are stronger today than Jose was when we faced Fairy Tail."

Juvia looked at him confused. "And what does that have to do with, Gajeel-kun?"

"It is obvious sprinkler! In prison he has no way of training or developing his magic. So he didn't get any stronger. ", Juvia listened to him and seemed to understand what he was saying, just like Lily.

"I know what you're getting at, Gajeel," Lily said and his friend smiled at him and they both looked at Ryker. "How did you get hurt so bad in a fight with a guy much weaker than Gajeel?"

"He must not be strong, of course! Gihihi! It was a miracle that he beat the idiot Porla," and a sneer appeared on Slayer's face.

"Juvia doesn't think Ryker-san is weak. Something must have happened, " Gajeel simply laughed at her statement, and she frowned in disapproval.

"Thank you for defending me, Juvia. And yes, she is right, " the other magician said to Slayer. "But the biggest mistake was mine, anyway," he said and the others looked at him confused. "I underestimated him, and I fell into a trap. It was an ambush ".

"Beginner's mistake," Gajeel screamed and laughed.

Ryker just laughed sarcastically at him. "There was him and five more, for your information," and that shut everyone up at the table.

"Ryker-san fought against six?", The water mage said slowly, slowly in amazement.

"Yea. And they weren't just any. I will not tell you the details but it was a struggle ... complicated. One of them stole a good part of my powers, so I wasn't at full strength. But it all worked out in the end, " he said triumphantly.

"I would have done it easily," Slayer replied even more in pomp. Ryker and Juvia and Lily sighed.

"Of course," the soldier wizard said sarcastically. "Anyway, they were all worse off, I don't think we are going to see them for a long time," he said. "Ah! Your friend, Aria, was in the middle, " he said by surprise.

"What !?", the two others said at the same time.

Juvia looked sadder and more downcast. "Juvia had thought that Aria-san had straightened up", her heart squeezed, she was not a great friend of the other Element-Four, but she wished them well, wherever they were. Just like Totomaru who became a teacher and was teaching Romeo.

"Damn Aria, your idiot," snorted Gajeel, clenching his fists and banging against the table. He looked back at Ryker seriously. "Where are they?"

"In the same place, Lepoglava."

"What do you intend to do, Gajeel-kun?", Juvia asked worriedly.

"Pay a visit and put some judgment on that damned idiot's head!" Shouted the Dragon Slayer.

Ryker looked at them and felt a slight guilt. He knew in what condition that mage had left. The prospects weren't good. He would probably recover, but he would have sequels, that was for sure.

"Were you really friends with him?" He said without looking guilty.

"Well, not exactly," Gajeel said. "But he was one of our old companions. I even thought he was going to straighten up, from what I've been listening to. But then he comes to me with this ... Bastard idiot! ", He said, furious and disappointed.

"Yes, Juvia was Aria-san's teammate. Even though she was not close, she would like him to be well and find a family. Just as Juvia and Gajeel-kun found it, " the water mage said in a sad voice.

"I understand. It's a nice attitude for both of you. But I would not advise you to go there".

"What? Why? ", Gajeel replied.

"That prison is surrounded by decadent cities and filled with people of the worst kind. I spent days wandering through them, horrible places. And I don't think they'll let you see him, or Porla... Especially in the condition they're in," he said at last, almost whispering.

"What do you mean?", Juvia said with wide eyes and frightened. "What happened to them?"

"Well ... I'm sorry.", Ryker sighed. "But I was not kind to him."

"What do you mean by that?", Gajeel said even more annoyed.

"Calm down, Gajeel," Lily said in a firm voice trying to keep control of the situation.

"He was the enemy, and he didn't attack me lovingly either. He tried to kill me. I did what I had to do and I don't regret it. It could be kinder, yes. But in that situation, I did what I did, " Ryker said without intonation in his voice, firm and cold. "He's alive, but when I got out of there he was in a coma and badly hurt, I don't think he'll regain consciousness anytime soon. The same goes for Porla ".

The two looked in shock, Juvia even more, she was more sensitive and her emotions were more spontaneous and she was not afraid to show it. You could see his eyes were teary and he had a distinct sense of worry. After all, Aria lived with her for some time, and Fairy Tail made her a better person who cares even for her enemies. She never sought to hurt her opponents, only poles out of combat, the only exception being Keyes, a demon she killed to free her beloved's father. But a human was something else. And hearing that one of her ex-partners, even being someone bad, was in such a delicate situation affected her.

"Damn that idiot," growled Gajeel, he was also sad.

"I…I'm sorry," Ryker said, his tone soft. "Anyway, these files are yours. Do what you want with it. I thought it should stay with you anyway, and I didn't want you to be in a filthy prison, " he said, getting up and leaving, leaving the ex-Phantons sitting there thinking about everything they heard.