Chapter 13 - Restart from Zero
Written by Demod20 and LastationLover5000
It had been a long time coming.
Ultear Milkovich had thought long and hard what it meant to continue existing beyond a revenge that meant nothing. Through a chance encounter with the enchanted waters of the southern sea by Tenrō Island she bore firsthand the truth behind it all. How her mother wailed in despair, wishing she had never agreed to give her daughter away and only found solace in training the two children she saved from Deliora's rampage. Her rage had dissipated, and all that was left was guilt. She tried to make amends by restoring the tree of the island, giving Fairy Tail a fighting spirit renewed and aiding their victory over Master Hades and the rest of Grimoire Heart.
However, in being found out by Meredy about the truth of what she had done to her home, she tried to make the ultimate penance by sacrificing her own life and telling her to live. Against her wishes she was saved from death and told that she couldn't keep living on without her, regardless of what the Leader of the Kin Purgatory had done. She agreed that they both had to find a means to keep on living, past their sins of what they did or tried to accomplish.
But she knew Meredy was blameless. Her misguided ambition of destroying Gray Fullbuster and attempted murder of his fellow Fairy Tail mages, was done because of how she spun the tale of events of the past. Facts obscured she didn't know until way after the event had neared its end.
It wasn't a day's journey via boat that she had bore witness to something that chilled her to the bone. A black winged abomination, surging towards the famed isle and in under an hour, let loose a voluminous roar that annihilated it before her very eyes. The distant vista she could see was now a torrential swathe of bucking seawater, and the magic one could practically sense from this range was now obliterated.
A week later, she had learned of the awful truth: only one had survived, namely Wendy Marvell. The rest were nowhere to be found, and though the Council would likely have cursory glances, only those close to the guild would continue the search in vain hope. Left alone, the guild would surely disband and she would have nothing but blame to haul on her own two shoulders for abandoning them to their unpredictable fate; something that never would've occurred if Grimoire Heart hadn't come to Tenrō Island in the first place.
Despite this, victory was rewarded by the crown royalty of Fiore, and a band of infamous international thieves "Robin's Hoodlums," were taken down. It stunned her when she read the paper, even Meredy was surprised the assumed most underpowered Slayer could accomplish such a feat. It had only been a month but the fortune for what she written off as a doomed guild was now recovering, by their own strength. And what was she doing? Living in the shadows, looking over her shadow and doing her best to make up for what she had done by crushing Dark Mages with Meredy wherever she found them.
It wasn't enough, though. Even if she brought down every criminal empire, every terrorist group and squashed every occult assemblage of dark mages, she'd never achieve true lasting change. A never ending war without end in sight, and none of it positive enough to undo what wrongs she's committed. All the while people she had ruined are either gone forever, or still paying the price for her actions. Much like Meredy and-
In a breaking of a daze, Ultear's eyes widened with clarity. There was someone left in this world that she can help! An almost relieved smile broached her visage as the man's face breached her mind's eye and returned to her thoughts.
There was only one way to make amends, truly...even if Meredy didn't agree to it, she had to.
She wouldn't find peace otherwise.
The Magic Council Chambers, Fiore National Branch
Inconceivable.
That was how absurd the situation was to the recently assigned Chairman, Gran Doma. The man had come from an auspicious background as most Councilors had. Since a young age he was an adept in the understanding and application of magical spells, even more-so at utilizing many different types of tools. What made him a preferred successor was his outspoken zeal towards the corruption within the current system, and how no accountability is being held against those in power or those who were considered 'useful' among the Legal Guilds of Mages across Ishgar; moreso in Fiore than others across the vast continent.
But now, holding a meeting after the conclusion of a matter they had failed to control themselves, was so soon after the complete annihilation of the Fairy Tail's original home along with the bulk of its core members that ranked from A up to S Class. The blow had an echo, and an ongoing problem he was attempting to rectify was instead solved by its sole survivor - Wendy Marvell - along with a negligible member and one agent Doranbolt; an agent that had become disillusioned since his abandonment of duty since the Tenrō Island's destruction; had just solved the issue all on their own.
Once seated, the faces weren't recognizable as the last time he made a bold proclamation it came with a rush of just nods and hearsay. Now, he had to remind himself of those who these people were since he had his wind sucked out of his proverbial sails of justice.
Jurius hailing from Bellum, a vassal state of the Pergrande Kingdom, was a middle aged man with an angular face with crestfallen expression across his eyes, matching his greying black hair that swung outward like that of a water fowl; his clothes were adorned of a blue collared suit-jacket and a white overcoat. He sat to the mid-right from Gran's perspective.
Aisus Kool was a chilling individual from the monarchy of Iceberg, her appearance bearing that of a frigid doll of a human rather than a normal weathered person you'd expect of the Council's seating. Long white lashes, snowflake adorned hair that was formed into a pair of icicle shaped braids and a fur-coat wrapped over a curvaceous body, she looked to be the youngest of the newly formed Council and sat opposite of Jurius.
Org sat to Gran's immediate right, the only one who survived the dismissal of the previous Council whose own origins hail from Bosco. The wizened man, whose right blinded eye was shut permanently made up for having his left eye shift keenly from person to person across from him; noticeably looking at the angry stare that came from Grand Doma himself.
Estus Mar'ah, sitting to the immediate left of Gran, was an elf priestess hailing from the Kingdom of Seven Alliances (also known shorthand as the Kingdom of Seven). Fair in every regard, from her black hair complementing her porcelain-like soft cherub face and amethyst eyes, the knife-shaped ears peeking out of her long locks that were about as long as her dress of vermilion and sapphire colors, with various jewels sewn into the silken fabric.
Olivier Vandenheim sat to the opposite of Gran Doma, wearing what looked like a small hat upon her head of luscious blonde locks. Despite encroaching into her early forties, the woman's suggestive beauty was only enhanced by her more mature age. She was a curvaceous person was barely held back by the stylish corset-styled top that revealed the top of her breasts while having a short-sleeved coat she had half-on-half-off her body. Knee high boots folded confidently one over the other, long-sleeved finger-less gloves thrummed melodically over the table, much to the annoyance of those around her - more than her pompous attitude and constant reminder she hails from a prodigious family from the Pergrande Kingdom.
To the left of Olivier was Quarius Quantus, a squat man with large green-goggles that accentuated his eyes to be much larger than they actually were. With a deeply tanned complexion with an ashen spirals for a mustache and a full mop of hair, his bobs and doodads hanging from his jacket made him look less like a Councilor and more like a professor at a tinkerer university.
To the right of Olivier was Magnus Mercury, a monstrously proportioned man among his contemporaries; and one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Deep red hair spiked out in a fray, the Councilor coat hung loosely over his muscular personage with his military-like uniform of blue beneath rolled up to show his massive arms. Chosen due to his excellent dedication to the plights of people affected by magical afflictions both domestic and international from his own homeland - a minor isle off the coast of the Kingdom of Seven named Kalypse. Due to his recognition and recent promotion, he was given the rare opportunity to help deign the important laws and carrying out the will of the law of magic across the land.
With such a colorful assortment of replacements to the old guard, there was an unsettling quiet that was created by the lateness of Gran Doma's arrival; and his subsequent stewing as he glared at anyone who gave him even the oddest gesture or made the smallest of noises.
"Ah, what a grim atmosphere we have," Org spoke, stroking his beard as he looked to Gran, this time unafraid of his ire as he conjured an understanding of what might have happened. "I thought we would have some good news to speak of, for a change. After all, in scarcely a week's time, so much has changed but quite a lot for the better," He narrowed his working eye at Gran, intoning with a bit more seriousness. "Or, is there something we haven't been made aware of as of yet, Chairman?"
The head of the Council over all Magic in the land grimaced harder than any of the gathered had thought possible. An armored hand formed into a clinking fist on the table top, while the other clenched the serpent-headed stave lying against his impressive seat.
"As of yesterday evening, the leader of the international gang of bandits who have stolen a gross sum of treasury from many nations in Ishgar - the eponymous Generous Robin - has been released from our custody. He is now a free man, and all charges against him are to be dropped."
His grave words brought a look of shock on the one-eyed mage, his tiny bird - who normally was silent atop his bald head - began to chirp with an equally wide-eyed expression that matched his human master's. Quarius blanched, his eyes seeming to press against the green tinted glass of his goggles. Jurius looked more worried than usual, hanging his head with depressed submission. Magnus looked positively livid as his hair began to gain a fiery quality as tongues of flame ebbed off his body with his teeth bared angrily towards the Chairman.
To which he summarily stood up with his hands slamming against the table, his voice a bellowing organ that resonated within the hallowed mostly unoccupied chamber.
"And why the Hell is he free?!" He gestured around, looking to the otherwise calmer members who had much more reserved expressions that intoned no real change in their dispositions; apart from Olivier's perpetual smugness, all of them had calculated, cool masks of indifference or patience that he didn't have. "Aren't we the makers of law and order?! What good are we if we just let any criminal escape without justice being met?!"
"Complications arose and, for all of my power, I had to abide if this recently reborn council is to survive another fortnight without scrutiny and righteous prejudice," Gran Doma replied evenly, not reprimanding the hot-blooded man in the slightest, as his anger peered beyond any one person that presided around him. The stave in his hand rattled and everyone could feel the rage frothing off him like tangible heat; along with a visible ray of grey-tinted aura that broached to the surface, rivulet-ting his hat and high-collared cloak. "I shall explain, so for the meantime, take a seat young Magnus."
Hissing, the flames died upon his head and the largest of the group sat down noisily with a grunt, crossing his arms over his barely restrained chest as he scowled at the table with a feeling of powerlessness.
"As I was saying," Gran Doma continued, he himself having yet to rein in his foul mood as he continued to speak with nothing less than barely constrained ire. "The Generous Robin was, surprisingly, related to a powerful mage family. At news of his arrest being made public, it was likely his likeness was passed around across the continent at word of his trial and sentencing being made imminent. After a matter of barely a day's passing, I was given an...ultimatum...by the relative of the criminal."
"An ultimatum?" Org inquired with a narrowed glance. "What do you mean of this? And why speak so vaguely?"
"He's doing so to ensure the discretion this mystery family has bought with the bandit leader's freedom," Aisus answered, the icicle braided woman turning coolly to look at Gran Doma, and waited several seconds. Seeing that he had neither refuted or denied this statement, she blinked and then looked to Org directly. "It seems we are contending with a rather powerful force if our Chairman insists on keeping tight-lipped."
"Are we truly so gutless as to bow to the whims of a single noble family?" Olivier inquired, the fancifully dressed woman opposite of the Chairman waved a hand dismissively, her eyes staring at him and the other two with a grin. "Just out with it, Chairman. I doubt any of us are stupid enough to overturn your decision just because you were in a tight spot. I think we, being new this position as you are apart from Org, have the right to know so we don't harbor any doubt that you were doing this for the greater good; unlike your predecessor's lack of judgement involving Etherion, hm?"
Gran Doma closed his eyes, grunting long-windedly as his grip intensified on his stave.
"We shouldn't pry," Estus began to say maternally, her eyes looking sympathetically to the older man adorned with a cowboy hat. "This was a difficult decision that was made; however, if you wish to confide with us, now is as good as time as any."
"Bah! We are wasting our time on this when we have many other issues to discuss," Quarius sneered, rolling his enlarged eyes within his optics as the shorter man patted the table with a high pile of papers in his other hand. "There are so many legality issues with mages using their magic in public spaces we have to condone or ban. With the rising number of magic users, and the drafting kingdoms have made to those not affixed to a guild rising, its only a matter time till we-"
"Don't derail the subject, little man," Magnus snarled, his face angrily glaring at the shorter councilor as he raised a fist that sparked threateningly around it. "I will not let the release of an international menace like the Generous Robin be let go unchallenged. If you don't like it, I'll gladly introduce you to the exit-!"
"You dare challenge me, punk?!" The shorter ashen-haired man rebuked, standing upright on his seat so that he was almost eye-level with the massive man. "I'll show you where the exit to life is, when I'm through with-"
CLANG!
The pommel of a stave slamming into the floor brought the two's argument to a close, bringing their attention to the Chairman's angry expression. It was enough that even the hot-blooded fury of Magnus felt unsettled, and he recoiled himself back into his arm-crossed posture while the squat Quarius sat back down with a harrumph.
"I will divulge information, but it must never leave this room. Do you understand?" He inquired gravely. When he saw not a one batted an eye at this, he leaned back, sighing as a wave of minor relief was escaping his person; but only slightly, as he began to unravel the mystery to his guarded manner of explanation.
"Do any of you know of the name Lazuli?" He asked simply.
A range of expressions filled the Council. Some looked completely baffled as to what that had to do with anything, while others ranged to ignorance of this knowledge. Others, however, had much more cognitive awareness that this had everything to do with the Chairman's discretion. Estus, Jurius and Oliver - whose passively confident expression switching to one of shock - at the mere mention of that name.
"I know only of their offhanded relations they had with the previous Chairman," Org answered honestly, noticing the facial changes in his more knowing colleagues, but chose to speak from his own perspective. "They are a family of Holder Magic craftsmen, capable of amazing feats of divine engineering and innovative artisans of varying kinds. The Council has requisitioned their services from time to time, from what I know."
"It goes much deeper than that, sadly," Gran Doma continued, his eyes closing hard as he grimly finished. "Since its founding, the Council has had a hand in the affairs of politics across every known area of the world; in exchange, each nation has offered boons up to us. Joya gave us the foundation of what would later be formed as the order of Rune Knights, The Kingdom of Seven endowed with us a mass amount of servants for our employees to stem from, and many candidates for magical assistance in our endeavors. And from the Pergrande Kingdom came the most enigmatic of the nobility, the Lazuli; the very same ones that had crafted our original headquarters of ERA, and the superweapon of Etherion."
Now Quarius's eyes shattered his goggles at that fact being mentioned, along with a startled croak, "T-That was made b-by them?!"
"This isn't good. This is worse than I feared," Jurius lamented aloud, his face placed into his spindly hands.
"Not only of that, but there are apparently many other weapons of mass destruction, secrets beyond our scope that was made known to me from the current head of the Lazuli family," Gran Doma informed, gravely speaking as he addressed the shocked congregation. "Ones that he'd threaten to inform the world of our hand creating it, would I refuse to release his son, Robyn Lazuli."
It all made sense to Org.
The suddenness of his release so soon after announcing his capture, felt too perfect. Who else but family would rush to the rescue, especially ones of such clandestine presence within a powerful nation such as the Pergrande Kingdom. Blackmail made it the easiest way of keeping the identity of their child - a blemish to their own credibility - from reaching the ears of the public, while simultaneously holding the keys of power over their heads.
Magnus Mercury looked absolutely furious. Org feared he may immolate here and now, and rush off half-cocked across the continent at this being made known.
"I...uh...I see," Quarius stammered, withdrawing his goggles as he eyed sadly his ruined spectacles from his own comical antics. "This...is awful."
"The arrogance of that man!" Olivier steamed, slamming a fist on the table with a look unbecoming of the beautiful woman. "How could he abuse his power such as this?! I'll expose his treachery at the next ball, and then he'll-"
"Did you not hear the Chairman?" Aisus inquired rhetorically, the icy woman locking a dagger-filled gaze at the Pergrande councilor with a cold anger. "If you do that, then our renewed Magic Council is finished. The existence of Etherion was barely tolerated, and with its use abused by our own makes it clear the world will not allow us to have that much power. If they knew of any other weapons, decommissioned or not, that still exist to this day...all of our heads will roll!"
"Tch!" Olivier seethed, turning her face to look back at the Chairman. "I expected more from you, Chairman! What point was in our being a more hardened, just order if we are overturned by the first sign of extortion sent our way?!"
"What would you have me do? Render all the power of authority we have inert once more for good? To what end other than personal satisfaction?! I do this not for the sake of vendettas, but for the bigger picture," He replied, closing his eyes and sighing, trying to rein in his own temper as he spoke a bit quieter, but still just as determined. "We have to choose our battles. There will come a time when we may act, but now is not the day. Not for a bandit child."
Olivier growled but eventually relented, her smug smile rearmed as she began to laugh aloud incredulously.
"It angers me that one of my own countrymen, let alone a fellow noble, has the audacity to use such a card on us fledgling Councilors...but oh well. Its not like today's going to get any worse-"
A firm knock rattled the entry to the Council Chambers, succinctly cutting her off in mid-dismissal.
The Council became silent for a few moments. Who was at the door? The guards stationed outside were given no orders that were of pressing report at this time.
"We are the middle of a meeting, please wait until our business has concluded-"
Gran Doma's words weren't even finished conveying his disapproval to the unannounced guest when a sudden violent crack penetrated the barrier. Two enormous doors swung wide, slamming into the immaculate walls till they were all but knocked off their hinges. Its source, came from a familiar face; one that Org recognized instantly, and whose likeness all seated knew immediately whom it belonged to.
"Y-You-!" The one-eyed Councilor spoke aghast, standing upright immediately in alarm.
"So nice to see one of you made it to the rebirth of the Magic Council," A feminine voice proclaimed, as sultry as it was threatening in its most casual form. Strutting in with one thigh sliding across the other, a voluptuous frame that was bound in a skin-tight suit of armor-woven fabric, a pair of armored vambraces wrapped around each forearm matching the metal shin guards she had adorned. The black haired woman was bereft of her lipstick, but shown every bit of confidence upon her proud lips as dark red eyes stared ahead while holding a glass sphere under one such arm.
And upon further entry in, they'd see the hallway behind them, full of bloodied and mangled bodies that moaned behind her in Rune Knight attire.
"Ultear Milkovich, of all people, showed herself in the flesh on the one meeting I decided to be here in person?" Olivier inquired incredulously, her smile rueful as she shook her head as she looked away. "I really need to keep my mouth shut, less Fate will smite me for tempting it..."
"You're a bold one," Magnus stated, his hair alight with flame as was most of his skin. Standing upright, glowing pupiless eyes glared at her as his Aura released a sweltering heat that filled the whole of the chamber; nervously making his contemporaries brace themselves at the sight of his fury made manifest in his trademark magic: Mantle. "To think I'd have all of this frustration, practically boiling over, and someone so contemptible shows oneself before me? Providence is at hand, and now you'll be unfortunate enough to cross me when I'm feeling this angry!"
"Wait, Councilor Mercury!" Org raised his voice, hand outstretched to the fiery man revving himself for a fight against the woman. "That woman is a Saint, and one behind the destruction of ERA! None of us here are a match for her-"
"That has yet to be decided!"
As he bellowed, the man leaped forth, swinging a fiery fist towards her face. And, but in a flash, an orb met his knuckles grinding against it with just as much ferocity. So shocked at his blow being parried that he failed to see her leg whipping beneath his eyes-
-crashing into his midsection and sending him flying into the far wall with a powerful impact that shattered the windows and rattled the confines of the interior. The flames died off his person as he slid down its surface, lurching forward as he held his chest and grimacing at her from the distance separating them.
"I didn't come here to fight," Ultear announced, lowering her toned leg down, flipping her hair as the orb returned to her grasp. "If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have bothered coming inside and brought this whole structure to ruin over your heads."
"Oh? A funny way of showing it," Olivier remarked, folding her hands as she leaned confidently back into her seat as her eyes met the younger woman's. "Do share, cause we're all quite keen on either escaping from or capturing you."
"Escaping is preferable," Councilor Quantus muttered under his breath, with Jurius nodding fearfully in agreement.
"I've come because, unlike my former colleague can attest, you all claim to stand for something better than the previous generation of councilors. You all stand for justice, peace, and order without dragging in petty grievances and agendas into the fold," She began to say, her eyes now affixed to the glaring Gran Doma. "For instance, Chairman Gran Doma, you wouldn't let an innocent man stay within a prison for eternity for a crime he did not commit?"
At this, the Chairman immediately knew of whom she meant. Ever since he had taken up the burden of command in such a recent span of time he had heard of the claim of 'memory loss' for their most wanted criminal, Jellal Fernandes. A Wizard Saint and former Councilor, the man was incredibly dangerous yet he gave himself up with no resistance. Whether this was part of some convoluted plot to exclude himself of blame, or if there was more to the story, he couldn't say and didn't care at the time upon his incarceration.
"You'll pardon my disbelief, since we know who you speak of," Org spoke on the Doma's behalf, stroking his beard as he eyed the woman keenly for any sign of deceipt. "Given how the both of you were behind EA's destruction, with the man masquerading as this Siegrain as our colleague for years, your word alone isn't evidence to his lack of guilt in play. He was an intelligent man, and spoke with both clarity and cunning behind his words to have myself and others convinced of him being in his right mind."
"Eleven years."
"What?"
"I robbed him of eleven years of his life since his time in the original Tower of Heaven, constructed by the Cult of Zeref," She admitted, her face a stoic plate for all to observe as she continued to summarize her part. "I used my abilities to brainwash the adept child to use him for my own ends, so that the Balam Alliance can further its plans in both resurrecting Zeref and accelerating our dismantlement of the Law of Magic over Ishgar. There was never a time when he found solace, only a mad ambition that I planted in his mind and kept reinforced right up until his scathing escape from death. I, the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory for Grimoire Heart, am responsible for every death and every soul tortured by him; it was all my doing."
"Ha!" Quantus guffawed, looking around as he affixed a replacement pair of green tinted goggles over his squinted eyes, enlarging them once more. "A likely story! You just want him free so you two can terrorize us once more!"
"Then why bother with this charade? Seems too complicated for a simple rescue," Aisus countered, making the shorter dwarf grimace angrily but not rebuke her. The Iceberg borne woman looked to the dark mage, nodding to her. "It sounds possible, if you can prove to us that you can break the will of us councilors."
"It doesn't even need to be all of us," Olivier proffered, waving a hand around with smug confidence, eyeing her over the back of her seat at Grimoire Heart's 2nd in command. "Just use it on me. I'm more than capable of resisting the brainwashing. If Jellal was half as strong in will as I, then I should prove no match to this so-called mind control of yours."
"Fool! It should be me!" Magnus Mercury shouted, stomping his way towards her with his hand no longer cradling his bruised abdomen. Thumbing towards his chest, he glared straight at Ultear as he sneered with contempt. "Cast your magic on me, you witch! I'll prove to you that your story is nothing more than a fabrication."
"Are you all missing the point of this?" Estus inquired incredulously, breaking the stare-offs of Olivier and Magnus from the dark mage. "This is meant to corroborate the story of hers, not to prove your own worth. There is more at stake than simply stoking your egos."
"I-I'd rather it not be me," Jurius muttered under his breath, shaking visibly while Quantus whistled too-innocently as to not be given any mind.
Suddenly, the Chairman stood up from his seat, stave in hand with all those in session to look at his sudden movement.
"Cast your spell, Ultear Milkovich," Gran Doma growled out, his eyes glaring challengingly at hers. "And make sure this isn't a waste of all our...time..."
As suddenly as he bellowed, he found the strength in his voice suddenly sapped.
The light of the room was extinguished, and in its place came a horrible spectral force of eldritch creation. A protuberance emerged in the midst of the table, veins of blood red throbbing consistently around a amethyst-black form with tendrils spiraling out of its ever-expanding mass. From its 'head' came a vertical severance; with an eye all those who studied the markings of the Black Wizard would know in an instant.
An angled, red eye within a pale backdrop that contracted and stared straight through him.
"GRAN DOMA! YOUR INABILITY TO ACT ON YOUR CONSCIENCE HAS LEFT YOU WEAK AND MALLEABLE TO THOSE OF HIGHER STATION THAN YOU! THIS WEAKNESS TO ACT HAS RENDERED YOUR JUSTICE INERT AND FOILED!" The entity bellowed, Gran Doma's face paling and his eyes shrinking as digital veins of red swam up his long-coat, armored body and straight into his ocular orifices. He could scarcely get out a strangled cry as he felt his mind be subsumed, the images of thousands of faceless beings all chanting the same thing, over and over, while the force continued to speak to him. "BUT I WILL GRANT YOU POWER! POWER THAT WILL NO LONGER BE DENIED! YOUR JUSTICE WILL BE THE WORLD'S JUSTICE! AND NO ONE SHALL TURN AGAINST YOU, NO MATTER WHOM THEY BE! COMMONER, NOBLE, MAGE, MONSTER...THEY ARE NOTHING...IN THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO SERVE THE BLACK WIZARD!"
He couldn't speak. His throat strangled, and his eyes blank as sweat poured off his weathered face. Spasming in place, the Council all looked around, trying to see what was causing duress to the man, but none could see it.
And then, he became stilled.
"Chairman?" Estus inquired, her eyes looking over to him worryingly along with Quarius and Jurius. Org himself found himself shocked in place, seeing something the others didn't; only Olivier, Aisus and Magnus saw it moments too late.
A blood-colored mist spewed like poison from Gran Doma's mouth, a disturbed smile breaching his face.
"Your services are no longer required, Council," The Chairman spoke, his body releasing a titanic wave of blackness from his body. The Aura was so palpable that it turned the room a deep, dim violet as he shined like a dying star. From the energy that poured from him came spectral hands that clenched around each of them, holding them in place while painfully squeezing. His armored left hand stretched out while a decadent smile spread across his face with teeth exhaling the noxious burgundy vapor, his right eye now revealing the Black Wizard's eye to signify his possession. "I will use you all as sacrifices! Once I rebuild the Tower of Heaven with the Council's resources, Zeref will live again. and I will ascend with him into the world of One True Magic!"
"C-Chairman!" Estus cried out with horror.
"Ultear, stop this madness!" Org bellowed, trying to wrench himself free but found himself powerless against this intangible force of Darkness Magic.
Magnus howled, prying at the hand with a visible breadth of fire from his body, but he was still bound in place. Aisus closed her eyes, calmly resigning herself to this situation while Olivier grimaced angrily, Quantus and Jurius bemoaning their fates with their own pitiful cries for help.
It was a scene that would've brought joy to Ultear a month ago, when she was still a devout follower of Master Hades in the Grimoire Heart Guild. Being one of the chief instigators to events that enabled the Balam Alliance's objectives to be reached this would have been just another step closer for all of their plans to reach the One True Magic along with their hailed dark messiah's return. It would be so easy to let them all die and use the Chairman as a puppet...
But that wasn't what she wanted.
She wanted to change, and in doing so, she had to save someone; someone who didn't deserve the Hell he was being subjected to.
Gran Doma continued to cackle madly, acting truly the part of a deranged servant of an evil force. With his hand clenching, he'd see to it that they all-
Wait.
What was he doing?
For a moment, all was a haze in the Chairman's mind. It was hard for him to think, and what his surroundings were to him just now. Stumbling back, the rush of exorbitant energy and the submission to the alien voice; no, her voice.
"I...see," Gran Doma intoned gravely, sitting down on the seat of his wearily while the rest of the Council began to compose themselves, witnessing the dark energies disperse as if they were never there to begin with. "I am not one to be easily swayed, Ultear Milkovich...but...in a matter of days I am starting to question the strength of my own resolve."
"This is the power of Lost Magic, Chairman Doma," Ultear expressed with a matter-of-fact tone, not mocking him as much as she wished to. "It goes beyond the ordinary convention of understanding and nullifying its effects. Spells such as these are are as different to the modern age of magic as humans are a fundamentally different species to dragons. It was through this power I've held Jellal Fernandes under my thrall for over a decade, and he was never the wiser to it."
"I understand," He nodded sagely, the brim of his hat hiding the shame in his eyes nonetheless. "Tell me your terms, and I'll do everything in my power to recuse him of further guilt. You have my word."
Cold.
That's the only sensation that Jellal felt from inside of his magic repelling cell. He was just one of many that presided within this damned chamber of glimmering crystal that suspended them in the middle of the air, with only spanning walkways carrying personnel to keep close watch on people like him. Though, unlike the vast majority of prisoners here, he was a special kind of prisoner that they kept locked up.
A traitor. A child turned monster. Someone who profited off the suffering of those that pledged absolute loyalty to him through conditioning or misguided ideology.
He smiled with the properties of a demon, laughing at those who fell before his heel that he crushed with absolution. Hundreds if not thousands died in construction of the Tower of Heaven in a vain hope of bringing back a wretched man from the dead. The dearest friend of his he turned into a sacrifice, and their comrade died in protection of the girl he was willing to cast aside.
When he had lost his memories, he was initially unaware of what he had wrought, and what horrors he inflicted. But one after the other, the thoughts filled with substance and the palace of his mind became imbued with such terrible things. And every product of what he had sustained his own ambitions brought about something completely and utterly ruinous:
Guilt.
In coming to this place, he was kept in conditions that were 'adequate' by the standards of the Council that sought to punish him. His rations were just enough to keep him from starving. Even when he had to relieve himself he was cuffed and bolted down till he was finished, bringing him back to his cell for the remainder of his day. And of course, between it all, was the torture.
Though it wasn't regulated as part of protocol he had guards on occasion lance him with staves of various kinds. Some were electric, leaving scorching marks on his flesh and jolting him fiercely. Others were of flame, and burned him and brought about cries of agony. Each time, a new kind of magical tool was used and a new kind of pain was inflicted upon his body.
Beyond the tears he felt himself shed the memory of Erza Scarlet kept returning to his mind. At one point he swore he had felt her warmth beside him, the smell of her hair and the sound of her fierce voice trying to uplift him. He had choked out a noise, her name, gasping on his chapped lips.
He had no fathoming of how long time was passing. The bouts between jolts, burns and other kinds of imbued punishment began to blur. He knew it had to have been months at this point, but he didn't know how many. Two? Four? It was probably longer, though there was no way of telling in his condition...
"Wakey-Wakey, Lord Siegrain," Came the nasally speaking, purplish speckled amphibian guard. Of those in the employ, the frog-like species chosen to guard the prisoner of special import was delegated to a pair. Nadal, being the one speaking, with an ornate golden halo hovering behind his head attached to the top of his white-hooded, bluish robes. The other was Serena, a more portly, green speckled amphibian that was far too squeamish for his own good, and allowed Nadal to do as he pleases if only for being afraid of him despite verbal protests. Raising a stave, he placed it into the prison, seeing that Jellal's body wasn't responding to his words. "I said, WAKEY-WAKEY!"
With a jolting zap, the blue haired man spasmed in place, teeth bared and his body glowing with the outline of a violet-outlined-white flash of superheated plasma. If not for his rigorous build meant to endure far more during his time as a Wizard Saint, this kind of punishment would have stopped his heart or crippled him by now. But, even months in, the wounds were superficial and hardly fatal; but they were by no means pleasant to deal with.
"T-That's enough, Nadal! You know you'll get in trouble for this if you keep this up!"
"Bah! You're too gutless, Serena," The halo ordained amphibian warbled, turning to glare at him with a broad smirk. "He's under our control. A Saint and Councilor! For all these miserable hours without overtime and dreary tasks we're practically enslaved to enact, wouldn't you feel good about sticking it back to the man, hm?!"
"B-But its like I told you. He's not Siegrain. It was all just a lie-"
"Like it makes a difference," Nadal dismissed with a crooked grin on his lip-less face. "Isn't that right, Jellal? It doesn't matter, does it?"
"...er...za...where...?"
"Oh, talking about her again, are you?" He grinned, raising the staff up over his head before plunging it back in. "I already told you the last month. All of them fairies are dead!"
Zapped again, the man convulsed back and forth, writhing in further agony as he couldn't help but let out a guttural howl escape his clenched teeth. The amphibian let out a croaking laugh, bringing a few wary gazes from his peers on various levels, making Serena sweat nervously at the sight.
"N-Nadal! We're being watched! You got to stop-!"
"And why should I?! I'm just getting warmed up!"
"What is the meaning of this?!"
Stopping mid-current, Nadal found his throat forming a large lump just as Serena let out an impotent squeal. Turning shakily, he saw the last person he wanted to see here. The man, adorned in white with teal strips of cloth with the crest of the Rune Knights emblazoned on his collar and his black hair ornately placed into a pin-braided bun behind his head. The bespectacled man had a rare look of anger men rarely see, executed through the glare of his glasses refracting the light of his magic stave.
"S-Sir Lahar!" He gaped, stammering aloud. "W-What honor it is to-"
Snatching the staff out of his hand, Lahar tossed it to one of the knights behind him, speaking gravely with a crisp edge to his formally stoic voice, "You know our policy of invoking unregulated punishments on prisoners, Nadal. Torture is prohibited, regardless of the crime the prisoner has done. Worse, in this case, you have been torturing someone who has been found guiltless of previous crimes."
"S-S-Say WHAT?!" Nadal blithered out with bulging eyes, incredulous at this statement. "B-B-But I-I-I th-th-thought-!"
"It doesn't matter what you think. The crime you've committed is clear," Lahar's eyes came back into focus as he spoke, his hands placed behind his back as he glared forth at him. "You are stricken of your station, Nadal, and placed under observation for the next six months for psychological evaluation. After such a time has been finished, you will be discharged effective immediately. The decision is final."
"You can't do this to me!" Nadal croaked out, stepping forward only to find himself lunging back from spears pointed at him from either flank of Lahar's, poised by dutiful Rune Knights. "I-I've been loyal to the Council for many years of my life! Why should his existence matter at all?"
"You could be torturing a pickpocket and the result would still end the same, Nadal. You should learn that we of the Rune Knights do not tolerate insubordination nor malicious actions towards those in our custody. We are keepers of magical law, not bullies," Lahar intoned seriously, looking over to Serena with a cynical stare. "And you should have reported his misconduct sooner. You are also stricken from your station and placed under observation for six months for psychological observation. After such time, you will also be discharged effective immediately. This decision is also final."
"I...understand," Serena bowed his head, hanging it with shame.
"Take them away," Lahar ordered, not even looking as four knights walked past him and ferreted the two former amphibious guards away from the cell, out of sight and soon to be out of mind. Once they were escorted away, he turned towards the cell that Jellal was currently smoking within. Raising his gloved fingers he began to swiftly carve runes into a complex circle around its surface, as if painting a picture with the erratically swift gestures. What would've taken his company of knights together to do, he accomplished in seconds, and the cube became a flat surface that erected itself to the walk-space they were standing upon.
"...is it...true?" He heard him rasp out, making him stop with his mouth opened and eyes look down widely. "Are they...is Fairy Tail...?"
Stopping for a few seconds, the Head Captain of the Enforcement Unit grimly thinned his lips and averted his gaze from the man.
"As far as we know, Fairy Tail's most prominent members attended its S-Class tests on its founding island of Tenrō. Unfortunately, after barely surviving an encounter with another arm of the Balam Alliance - Grimoire Heart - Acnologia descended upon them. There has only been two reported survivors; the Exceed, Charle, and her companion, Wendy Marvell," He answered succinctly in as clear of a tone as he could.
Shivering in place, Lahar saw Jellal curl into a fetal position and begin to weep into his knees. The sobs made any hint of words come out as indiscernible gibberish, though it was evident of whom he spoke of the most. While he lied there, a healing light was bestowed upon his body, surprising the man while he was prone.
Casting a glance over, his tear-stained face saw a pair of knights using staves tinged with Holder Magic of the Light element, restoring his vitality and undoing the marks left by his jailers. Staring at them with bewilderment, he'd notice a hand extended out to him, gloved and belonging to the Rune Knight Captain himself. Though he had no comforting smile to share with him, his eyes were softened and a sense of empathy was reaching out towards him.
"I am here to escort you to anywhere of your choosing. It is the least I can do for someone of your significance," He proffered.
"I...want to stay here," Jellal spoke, halfheartedly, his sight looking far-off and not at the man's spectacles but past them. "If she's not out there...then...I have no desire to leave this place."
"You are an innocent man. I can't allow you to stay here," Lahar protested stoically.
"Innocent? I have enslaved my friends, tortured the ones closest to me, and caused the deaths of countless innocents of my pursuit for a Black Wizard who is not even of this world! If I had not been so weak to temptation, in that cell of mine over a decade ago, I wouldn't have caused so much harm. All those children," He gritted his teeth, eyes clenched shut and his body pulled further into a tight ball as he muffled out. "Simon...I killed you...and I almost killed you, Erza. And now you're gone...and I couldn't do anything...!"
"I am not here to be your counselor or therapist, Jellal," The Captain spoke, his eyes furrowing and his extended hand out grasping at the scruff of his neck. Despite the squirming protest, he was hauled to look him in the eyes, regardless of his disheveled, ruined expression. "But I am taking you out of here. By force if I have to. I will not let your self pity bar me from my duty!"
"Do what you want," He spoke bitterly, his eyes hidden by spiky blue bangs as the rest of his visage portrayed a sullen expression. Casting his gaze onto the glassy floor below him, he muttered aloud. "I'll just find a deeper hole than this one, and lock myself there..."
Sighing, Lahar hauled him out of his former cell and placed him in the grasp of two able-bodied knights who were just behind the ones healing him. While not falling limp he did shrug off their grasp and dejectedly kept in line.
Satisfied, if not barely, Lahar turned and began to march with his men towards the exit of the massive chamber. Their walks punctuated the mostly quiet that hung in the air. Every step Jellal couldn't help but recall the last time he saw Erza. Despite not being in his right state of mind it had been a confusing, dramatic occurrence to behold her for what he thought was going to be the last time. He even helped her and her friends best Master Zero's plans to use Nirvana, allowing Natsu to imbibe the flame that contained all of the magical power he had left. They had even considered allowing him to join, as wistful a dream that could have been.
And now, even as he had obtained miraculous freedom, the guilt wouldn't wash away. Memories drenched in blood, tainted by evil and forever marking his mind of what he had committed.
"Captain Lahar! Where do you want us to take the new prisoner?"
"Place her in the same space Jellal was."
"Understood!"
"Wait-!" Jellal suddenly spoke, his head jerking upright and his dark eyes widening as he saw a new figure walking towards him, held in cuffed-chains by a pair of other Run Knights. "Ultear! What are you doing?!"
"I'm surrendering," The deep lavender haired woman confessed, a hint of a smile playing on her face. "I got bored of getting away with things. I thought to shake things up a bit and see how the captive life is-"
"What do you mean, surrendering?!" He yelled aloud, his body almost lurching past the knights that held him in check. A cross between venom and shock slid across his face, bared teeth and widened eyes as he looked her unflappable visage. "I could barely remember what happened, after the R-System collapsed. What happened to you, and why are you here?!"
"My own conscience, I suppose," The dark eyed woman sighed, closing her shaded orbs as her smile was replaced with a forlorn turn of her uncolored lips. "How much do you know...about what happened?"
"I'm told the worst has come to pass," Jellal bitterly spoke, turning his head as he clenched his eyes while grinding his teeth together. "Erza, and the others...are gone!"
"I was there," She said, immediately bringing his face to a shocked look and turning to stare at her with bewilderment. A sad smile adorned her face as she began to explain outright. Of how she was the leader of the Seven Kin Purgatory of Grimoire Heart, and how she had been using him for the time he had changed inside the cell as a child into something unrecognizable. And every plan of his was hers, planted into his mind and that Zeref was not one inhabiting the land of the dead, like they thought, but somehow alive and active in the world. She even went into detail of how she had tried to make amends by restoring the tree after being soundly defeated by Gray, and almost taking her own life when she felt there was no other path for penance open to her; and then she saw Acnologia's flight and the resulting destruction.
"So, you're telling me, that all of my guilt is your fault, and solely to blame?" Jellal questioned, incredulously as a hint of a sardonic smile playing at his face. "Is that supposed to make me feel better about myself? About what I've wrought with my own two hands?!"
"What you do with your own feelings is up to you, Jellal. As for me, I've committed far more atrocities by my own hands than you had your entire life. Though I didn't choose to be who I am, I cannot deny I had an opportunity to turn away from it. My foolishness robbed me of the life I could have had, but I can still make amends now but allowing you to choose life while you still have it," She said, her eyes looking into his as her voice grew solemn. "And, there are still people she had left behind that could use your help."
It brought a ridiculous notion to the forefront of his thoughts. He had remembered when they had un-ironically extended a hand of friendship and a place of belonging to him when they had brought down Nirvana together. Now, he was being told by the woman whom claimed responsibility for the hellish life he led, to go there now. It was so absurd to hear it that he couldn't help but chuckle with disbelief.
"To Fairy Tail? The people I tried to destroy on more than one occasion? What makes you think they'd welcome me?" He began to ask, then biting his lip, trembling as he looked down enough that his bangs covered his eyes. "What if I don't feel welcome, no matter how much they try?"
"Its your life, Jellal. From now on, you are starting over. No more Council. No more schemes. You are your own person now, and the world is open to you," Ultear began to say, walking ahead and brushing past him as the guards kept pace with her and maneuvered around their comrades along with the captain. Stopping for a few moments, she looked over her shoulder, seeing that he didn't do the same while hanging his head in place. "You are restarting from zero. Try to make the most of your life and do something with it."
"Why do you care so much?" He asked, his head still hanging and his body still not moving from his place. "What do you get out of this?"
"Nothing. Maybe a small sense of relief I'm undoing a wrong I've committed. Unfortunately, Age Seal doesn't allow me to turn back time and undo the crimes I've committed. However, it doesn't mean I can't help but try," She confessed, her gaze tilting slightly away. Then, she remembered and looked over at him. "There is one person I want you to look after for me. She's very dear to my heart and I...would hate to see her have no one now that I'm here."
"What if I don't want to look after her?" He postulated.
"Then it will make me sad," She turned her head, her face now a mixture of pain and remorse. "But I can't force you. Either way, the choice is up to you. Consider what I've said, and my treasured someone, something to consider."
Walking away, Jellal didn't hear her say another word. Sealed away in the cube, he took one last look and saw her looking more at peace than he had ever remembered her being. Taken away through the complex weaving of halls and corridors of the prison, he soon found himself in the open embrace of the outside. Sunlight touched his skin and he remembered what it felt like.
Lahar unlatched a satchel from one of the knights and handed it to him, along with a cloak.
"I understand if you don't want us to take you further, but my offer still stands. I'll take you anywhere you want to go in Fiore, and ensure your safety-"
"I'll be fine," The italic-tattooed man replied crisply, putting the cloak around his exposed upper body and fastening the sack over his shoulder. "Which way is Magnolia?"
"East. Why you ask?"
"Just considering my options," The blue haired man spoke softly, turning to see a pink haired shadow looming around a tree not far away in the distance. Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes and began to take his first steps forward.
The gravity of his own body was almost foreign to him. It'd take time to have his strength restored to what it once was, but that will happen during his sojourn, he believed.
Approaching the girl hiding behind the tree in the distance, he saw her finally step out and cast him a steely scowl. It was intense enough that it made him stop moving, and his dark eyes blinked with curiosity.
"You...saw Ultear, right?" She parsed out, slowly between barely controlled lips. Her eyes were already threaten to moisten and her cheeks began to turn red. "Did...did she tell you she did this for you? That she's sacrificing any chance of freedom so that you can move on?!"
His gaze softened, a smile playing at his lips as her words rang true with those who spoke to him before.
"Yes," He quietly said. "I'll try not to dishonor her sacrifice-"
"That's not good enough!" She snapped, bringing his body to lurch back as he saw her step into his space quicker than he anticipated. Glaring up at him, her eyes showed a warm, overflowing love that mingled with the anger, spilling tears over her cheeks as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "You'll do it, damn if you do or don't! And if you fail in any way, I'll make sure you regret ever taking a lungful of air for that loathsome body of yours!"
"U-Understood," He found himself stammering, unsure of what to make of this child. "If I might ask...what's your name?"
"A-Ah!" She withdrew, her arm folding just below her chin with an upraised knee as she almost fell over from shock. "S-She didn't even tell you my name?! H-How dare she?!"
The italic tattooed man blinked, finding her sudden heel turn into embarrassment and indignation equally as bewildering.
Standing upright, she cleared her throat into her gloved mouth, the wing-ornament around her ears clinking slightly as she stood at attention and pointed towards him, "My name is Meredy, formerly one of the Kin Purgatory of Grimoire Heart! I'll be watching you closely, Jellal Fernandes, from this point forward! I'll kick your ass if you slip up now, and I won't let you go quietly if you die on me and make my Ultear sad. Understood?!"
With a strained smile, Jellal nodded weakly as he sighed aloud, "Understood, Meredy. I'll...do my best."
"Peh! Good enough," She icily spat, turning on her heels and looked over her shoulder at him. "What are you waiting for? Keep up, or I'll leave you behind."
"What a sassy child you left for me, Ultear," Jellal thought, finding himself shaking his head with mirth. "It'll be harder than hard, moving forward after everything. But, you still moved on, even after what I put you through, right? Even though you may truly be gone forever, I won't give up on living, and I won't throw away this second chance. I'll...try to make you proud, Erza."
"Is it really alright? Letting Jellal go, that is," Jurius spoke gravely, almost hushed in a whisper as the meekest of the Council beheld a distant glassy image of the aforementioned man projected by the Lacrima suspended in the middle of the table. "Even if he's truly innocent, as evidence suggests, he was once one of us. He knows too much. And there's also the matter he's one of the Ten Wizard Saints, with few that compare; apart from the Four Gods-"
"Let the man be," Estus intoned, her hands folded over the table top while staring at him with a chiding stare. "Based on our observation, he truly has suffered enough. And should he actually do some good with his new lot in life, I say more power to him."
"Ordinarily, I'd rebuke you on that idealistic thinking, Estus," Org began to say, his voice heavy and his open eye closing with a sigh; the bird on his head fluttering nervously. "But, honestly, I don't have the energy to counter that."
"What of the Chairman?" Quantus croaked, looking at the now vacant seat of where the previously dominating presence was, now retired from the session entirely. "He looks deeply affected by this event...do you think he's still up for the task?"
"It will take time, but our meeting should be concluded before we return to our respective duties," Aisus proclaimed, her body seated straight against her seat's back as she addressed the rest who were still present. "There are changes coming to the world, not withstanding in large part to the attacks on the kingdoms by the dark mage band of thieves who wreaked havoc on the economy and stability of the nations surrounding us. Recovery will take time, and in that gap of recuperation we shall make haste to prepare for whatever nefarious forces make their moves."
"I'll endeavor to look into these connections the Lazuli family has with us," Olivier announced, her hand raised to cup her chin as the other brushed through her luscious hair thoughtfully. "If I can find some dirt, or anything that'd keep him from further extortion over us, the sooner will be the better. And if push comes to shove, I'll expose his slander at the next ball; by that time, I should have enough support to bring him down a peg or two."
"I'll double the Rune Knights around the kingdoms," Magnus declared with a sage nod. "We want to keep what happened from repeating itself, its our job to provide more thorough security."
"Well, at least that takes care of what we're going to do, for the most part," Estus sighed with relief, smiling as she looked over to Aisus. "What were the other matters we need to go over?"
"It was actually Quantus who wanted to broach the topic," The Iceberg Councilor gestured with a wave of her hand. "Its something we should keep an eye out for; something about a galvanizing of mages into the ranks of the military...namely, our homelands."
"Quantus, is this true?"
"See for yourselves," The dwarf threw the papers across the table, showing the signet of his own kingdom on the list along with similar but different paperwork belonging to that of the neighboring kingdom's. "The worse has yet to come...but its a certainty...war looms in the horizon; the era of peace is about to change to conflict once more!"
A/N:
Demod20: What's this? An entire chapter devoted to a Flashback with no return to the present with dear, sweet Wendy?! What HERESY is this?!
All jokes aside, this is something my co-author and I have been discussing ever since we began working on the 4th Chapter. The harsh reality is that Jellal Fernandes is innocent and has never once committed a crime of his own volition. The fact that, as an amnesiac, he was compelled to do the right thing really sells just how mad he was thanks to Ultear's possession. While he acts like a martyr in Canon, Ultear gets off relatively Scott free and does jack all to help reconcile the things she's did to the man, let alone everyone else's lives she engineered in ruining.
And upon further investigation, I found that there was not very much known or cared about for the "New Council". So because Hiro didn't care to even name anyone outside of Gran Doma, I decided to make a completely new cast of characters apart from Orga. They all have their respective kingdoms they hail from, their own quirks, and their own flaws that make them who they are. I hope they all balanced well, especially with a hardass like Doma there. And with Ultear humbling them with the hard truth of another misdeed done by them, the plot only further thickens around the kingdoms, not to mention the corrupt use of extortion by the Lazuli Family.
Hopefully y'all enjoyed this bit, and we can resume to the present day where everyone can appreciate Jellal and Meredy's inclusion into the guild's ranks ^^ See you all in the next update!
LastationLover5000: Hey guys! So I didn't write anything on this chapter, but I wanted to come in to voice something anyway. This entire idea was my co-authors, though we did discuss is as a team and came to an agreement. Jellal being a martyr for something he is not 100% responsible for was not the best choice in our decision, and Ultear, who claimed to want t make amends, did nothing to clear Jellal's name. This here is our attempt to rectify what we consider to be a mistake. We'll see you all in the next chapter!