TWENTY-ONE; THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

PUBLISHED; JUNE 06, 2018

WORD COUNT; 2, 311 WORDS (UNEDITED)

MAKAROV'S POV

"We shouldn't have left Meredy there!" the door bursted open and revealed a shouting Jellal, obviously angry. Me, Igneel and Silver ran towards them and I sighed in relief when I saw Gray carrying Juvia on his arms. Nobody seems hurt either. The only difference was the absence of Jellal's pink-haired friend.

"What happened, Jellal-kun?" I asked gently to calm his nerves. But he was still angry.

"We traded off Gray's mate for Meredy—who turned out to be that Lyon Vastia's mate! It was unfair!" he exclaimed as the others settled down and watched silently, some like Gray—who was still carrying Juvja going upstairs to their room.

"Please calm down, Jellal-nii. I'm sure Meredy-san will be okay." while some like Wendy tried to reason out to her brother. Unfortunately, Jellal was unstoppable.

"She's in the lair of werewolves, Wendy! How can I calm down?" he defended.

"But we can't do anything about it. She's the Alpha's mate." Natsu retorted as my eyes widened in surprise.

"Meredy is a mate of a werewolf?" I questioned, alarmed. Jellal pursed his lips and Erza, who was beside him nodded her head.

'So that's why she was able to find him. Because he's her mate.' I though, fully remembering how a guardian's power work. They have to have someone who has a strong connection with the one they were trying to track down. And for Meredy's case, it's her—because she was his mate. How can I never thought of that?

"Well at least Juvia is now safe." I heard Silver comment behind me. Jellal scoffed and stormed out of the conversation, running up the stairs most probably to his room. I can feel the others' eyes on me as I sighed and leaned back on the chair I was sitting on, contemplating. They sooner went back to their own business when they realized it would take a lot of time to decide what to do.

"What do you think about this, Silver? Since he's your son." I inquired.

"I think he should calm down. His friend is out of harm. No one would hurt their own mate. I think werewolves are wise enough to know that." he replied, sitting down beside me.

"You're right, that's a good idea." I agreed.

"Jellal-nii refuses to go down." Wendy frowned when she got back from trying to call her brother for dinner.

"Let's leave him be, for awhile. He will come around soon." Silver smiled as he patted his daughter's head after she sat down beside him.

"Speaking of, how's Juvia and Gray?" I asked, looking at Wendy.

"She's still unconscious but I brought Gray-nii his food so he can eat while taking care of her." she answered, smiling brightly.

"Maybe those werewolves drugged or did something to her. That's why she still hasn't woken up." Igneel said as I hummed in thought, considering his idea.

"But I already checked on her. She's totally clean and unscathed. Well, except for a few bruises... Could it have been because of her capture or...?" Wendy questioned hesitatingly and everyone looked at each other, knowing what it would've been caused of.

Silver almost spit out his food and Sting was close to laughing out loud. Maybe next time I should not assign Wendy to check on those who just mated.

As everyone ate quietly—without Gray, Natsu doesn't have anyone to fight with.

"Hey that's mine!" Oh, wait. Never mind.

"No, I saw it first!" Sting countered, eating the last piece of meat. Just then, a boy came with a plate of meat and placed it on the table, replacing the empty one. I haven't seen him before but I think he's the son of our chef, Macao. Their hair and the scent is the same. Although, why do I have this feeling that there is something different about him.

I chose to shake off the feeling only to see Wendy's cheeks warming up, staring at the young boy. I internally smiled despite the fact that she's too young and that she might have a different person as a mate in the future. It's sad but it's the truth. I guess it's true when they say that the truth hurts.

A rushing Gray caught me and the others' attention as his face shows how bright his emotion was. There's only one thing that could be the reason.

"Juvia's awake!" he exclaimed and all of us beamed. I'm happy for them but I have questions towards the girl and they are needed to be answered as soon as possible. Erza is still here and even though I trust her, there's still the fact that she and Jellal performed an act that was supposed to be performed by mates only.

When dinner finished, I paid a visit to Juvia who was laying silently on Gray's bed—literally their bed now. She turned to me and sat up but I could sense the pain in her reaction when she did so thus I raised my hand and told her that there's no need to be formal. I completely forgot that she's a princess.

You see, before Jellal and the others came back, there was a letter that was left on the mailbox—yes, we have that. It came from the Sea Kingdom; mermaids and mermen. The letter said that they were pleased to know that their princess is in a safe place and have now found her mate. However, there was a consequence for leaving so suddenly like that.

Her throne was taken.

Technically, she's not a princess now. But I think now is not a good time to talk about that. Now, back to the task at hand.

"I'm pleased to see that you're recovering, Ms. Lockser." I smiled at her and she did the same. "Juvia wouldn't be if Gray-sama and the others didn't saved her." her voice was soft and gentle. I've never spoken to a mermaid before and I heard that they have very beautiful voices—which is the opposite with regards to the merman.

"Actually, I came here to ask you several questions and I want you to answer me honestly." I spoke seriously and she nodded immediately, averting her eyes to look at Gray before bringing them back to mine.

"Do you know who Erza Scarlet was before?" "Can you tell it to us?

"Her name is still Erza Scarlet. She's Juvia's best friend when she was seven. Juvia helped Erza-san escape from the Tower of Heaven."

I scrunched my brows, "Tower of Heaven?" The name sounds familiar.

Juvia nodded. "It's the tower of the witches. They kidnap children from their homes and use them to form an army in the future. When Juvia helped Erza-san escape, Erza-san helped every children too. That's why the witches were angry at the mermaids and vampires."

"Wait, why are they angry at the vampires?" I questioned.

"Because most of the children that escaped were vampires." Juvia pursed her lips and looked down, her eyebrows knitted. "And that all of them killed the witches that were involved in the Tower of Heaven."

My eyes widened. Now, I can remember. It was in the news before that witches suddenly became extinct. It was twelve years ago.

"Juvia doesn't think you know about this but..." Juvia trailed off, her eyes clearly saying that she was hesitating to tell whatever it is on her mind. I won't force her to but I have this feeling that it's an important information that I should know.

"Prince Jellal-san was the one who killed the witches when Erza-san escaped."

ULTEAR'S POV

It had been days since Meredy left and I was beginning to worry. I was about to doze off on the couch when I heard a knock on the door. I grumbled lightly before standing up and opening the door.

"Meredy! You came back." I beamed when I saw the pink head in front of me. I suddenly became confused when I saw who was behind her. "Lyon? Wait, why are you two together?" I questioned, pointing at the two of them.

"Can we come in first?" Meredy inquired in a tired and almost impatient tone. I then nodded hesitatingly as a respond and opened the door wide for them. The two entered and both of them sat on the couch. I locked the door before sitting with them on the opposite couch, turning off the television. They seem serious.

"Is there something we should talk about?" I inquired and Meredy sighed, nodding.

"When are you going to tell me that you and Jellal wiped out half of the witches?" her voice was different and my heart broke into pieces not just by it but also by the question she asked.

How did she knew?

I averted my eyes to Lyon and now I know the answer. He's a werewolf. Of course he knows something. Vampires are dense and uninformed most of the time. Bt werewolves? They're the opposite. They're always informed and aware of the things happening around them. Of course an Alpha knows something about what happened in spite it being twelve years ago.

I went back to Meredy's eyes and I can see the betrayal and lack of trust in it. I kept it as a secret to protect her and forget the past. I'm different now. However, it seems like the odds were not in my favor.

I sighed as I leaned back on the couch, crossing my arms to my chest. "It was twelve years ago, Meredy. I wanted to bury it to the past." I explained.

"This is not the time to do that." Meredy interjected, her brows furrowed. "The witches have formed a tie with the werewolves. They're going to create a war plan against the vampires."

My eyes widened and my arms fell onto my sides, gripping the edge of the couch. "What? They're extinct! How could that happen?"

"Apparently, the ones who lived mated and they wanted to have revenge to all of you." Lyon said, nodding at me. I'm a half vampire since my mother was a vampire and my father was a werewolf. I was never proud of having vampire blood for some reason and decided to use my powers for bad things. And look what it caused, a war. After twelve years.

If only I contained myself and didn't let my werewolf side devour my sanity before, there wouldn't be lives at cost and destruction now.

A/N: Halo everyone! Sorry it took so long for me to update lol. I was sick for two weeks, I was kinda addicted to a lot of series, fanfics and imagines and I've been updating my Wattpad stories hahah. I have this feeling that I want to post this one in Wattpad but I'm still thinking about it since no one wpuld probably read it lol. And also, I admit, when I read the previous chapters, I forgot to add Wendy (since she's part of the mission) but meh hahaha. No one seemed to notice it. Anyways, I've got two months left for my vacation! Yikes. Although I'm excited to go to school again because it's my new school and I've been stuck with my previous school for 8 years sigh.

Oh by the way, hi there Apitatoor! It's been a long time, indeed lol. I'm so tlad that you came back and still love this story because when I reread it myself, I thought it was crappy and needs a lot of editing despite being edited already hahaha. And no, it's okay that you didn't replied for a long time, I haven't updated for a long time lol. About Lyredy, I've been shipping these two years before that specific manga chapter was released (mainly because of gruvia) and when I saw it, I was like OH MY GOSH MY SHIP! MY SHIP! However, it was the only scene they had and I think Mashima just wanted to make Lyredy fans happy. Anyways, back to the story, honestly I didn't want Lyon to be sadist or something like that but I did wrote him like that because I wanted to show this side of a werewolf for future references of course lol. About Jerza scenes, I'm sorry I tried making them but since Jellal was kind of pissed off here, I saved it for the next chapter (the chapter next to this, I think). I'm still thinking about it but let's see hahah. AND, about Wendy and Romeo, I won't lie but you kind of guessed my plan right AHAHAH. BUT since you already guessed it, I changed my plan and gave the story a twist. I'm still thinking if I'll make him a werewolf jus tlike planned but we'll see haha. About my novel, I'll publish it once I finish my studies (which is ten or more years from now) or maybe sooner but I plan on living in London for the future. I'll tell you about it in PM lol.

Okay, that's all! I hank you all for reading this fanfic, I hope I haven't disappointed y'all yet lol.

-rossyla