~Where we last left off~
Glacien simply stood back, silent as the grave. A corner of their mouth twitched.
Chapter 11
Behind The Veil
A tidal wave of gasps, murmurs, and whispers broke out. The Lacrima Vision were all focused on Wendy and Glacien.
"Oh—Wendy-tan has made a serious accusation! But is she right about Glacien? Could he or she be the ever so cute Glacia-tan from the grave?" Chapati cried.
"As wonderful as that would be for Mermaid Heel," Yajima said, "it would mean that Imperial Snow has used illegal Black Magic to bring her back. But someone else could have restored Glacia. Unless this Glacien's cloak is removed, we have no proof."
"Unfortunately, I must agree with you, Yajima-san."
"No way that kid's alive." Yaeger cracked his knuckles.
"Think of it this way: if it is her, we can all get our revenge later," Rocker suggested.
A sudden chill washed over Team Quatro Cerberus. Blinking, the men stared at each other. Then War Cry carefully looked to their right. Rogue was glancing at them, and it looked as though he heard every word.
"Strike that, not as long as he's around."
"Yes, it would piece together perfectly," Rufus noted. "The same magical signature, her scent that this Glacien seems to share, even the magic is the same."
Add the fact that Rogue and Frosch saw her yesterday, Sting added in his mind, glancing at Lector, then Rogue and Frosch.
Beth wiped her eyes. "It's really her, isn't it? It's Glacia, right? It has to be."
"You must be glad, aren't you, Vóreia?" Arania asked.
"...no...that's not it," Vóreia mumbled.
"Even their height is the same," Chelia said.
"So there's no denying it. That's Glacia," Lyon added.
"You must be relieved, right?" Yuka asked.
"...no."
"Okay, so there's the fact that she'll hate you for killing her—"
"No...that's not it at all," Dobengal said.
"Let me see your face," Wendy requested.
"..." Glacien remained hovering over the ground.
"Hey, didn't you hear her?" Natsu shouted. "You deaf or something?"
"..." Glacien opened their mouth, but no words came out.
"Can't you...you can't?" she realized.
"...!" Glacien moved their own arm in a clawing motion, cold air and shards of ice rushing towards Wendy.
"Forget it," Jigumo chuckled, leaning against a pillar. "As long as the code of silence stays, Glacien can't speak."
"You put that other spell on too, right?" Sasori asked.
"Indeed." Avian fiddled with the tarot card, the Mirror. "Glacien can't take it off. The only way to remove the cloak is for the Sky Dragon to attack. But I wonder...will she help remove it?" The jester smiled. "Can she comprehend what she'll encounter behind the veil?"
"Oi, he just attacked her without warning!" Natsu pointed at Glacien.
"Technically, we have no idea if the guy's a he or a she," Gray interjected. "Even though Wendy says they're a girl. And no one really warns you if they're gonna attack. That's the point of an attack."
"Glacien reminds me of a person I read from a book," Lucy said.
"Oh?"
"There was a man sent to prison centuries ago. No one was allowed to see his face, so he was forced to wear an iron mask," she recalled.
"But that cloak is just cloth, not iron," Erza cut in. "Her opponent could easily remove it at their whim."
"Then why doesn't he?" Natsu asked, confused.
"Because they want Wendy to do it. Glacien...by their movements...it's like they're saying, 'I dare you'."
"Sky Dragon's Talons!"
"..." A thin sheet of ice appeared before Glacien, reflecting Wendy's own attack back to her.
"Ice Dragon's Mirror," Gajeel recalled. "Then next should be a hal—"
The glacial sheet folded in on itself, until it resembled a pole weapon with a curved blade on the end. A weapon that was three times the size of Wendy and Glacien.
"—berd?"
"..." Glacien took in a breath and released a line of blue flames, trapping Wendy in a blue inferno.
"Oi, blue flames!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Yeah, like we don't know," Gray muttered.
Through the freezing blaze, Wendy sucked in a breath. "Sky Dragon's—"
Glacien also drew—according to Wendy—her head back, taking a deep breath.
"Dragon Breaths," Sting said.
"That's it," Mizuno coaxed. "You're there."
"Roar!" Though Wendy was the only one who spoke, the Dragon Slayers released their breath. A cyclone tackled a blizzard, and the minute they collided, a shockwave shook everything in the arena. Icicles and snow flew, and a cloak floated in the air.
"That's Glacien's cloak!" Chapati cried.
"Here we go," Jigumo grinned.
"Glacien's face...we're finally going to see it," Lyon said.
The cloak fluttered to earth. Through the mini snowstorm, Wendy could make out a set of blue eyes staring back at her. As the storm cleared, more and more of Glacien's appearance was visible.
Snow white hair topped their head, with the bangs parted to the left. Pale skin accompanied blue eyes, making them look brighter. Even the facial structure was the same!
"It's Glacia-tan!" Chapati exclaimed.
"Glacia!" Millianna cried out.
"She made it after all," Lyon said.
"Mermaid-san's alive!" Frosch teared up. "Fro's—"
But then Wendy got a better look at Glacien as the storm cleared away. Indeed, Glacien appeared to be no older than Wendy. And there were noticeable differences.
Though they were scowling, Glacien's eyes were a bit rounder, and they were royal blue, not glacier. White bangs were parted to the left, but stopped just above the eyes. It didn't cover the entire left side of the face.
And the clothing...
"Oh?
Glacien wore a plain simple shirt that was loose around the bottom, and over that was a deep blue long sleeve open jacket, with gold edges and golden zippers on either side, reaching to the mid-thigh. Two dark bracelets adorned his wrists, while a wing-like object with three feathers springing forward was tied around his right arm. A light scarf was tied at the front in a large knot. Covering their legs were loose, oval-shaped patterned pants, with lines intersecting at the middle, reaching below the knees. surprisingly, Glacien wore rather husky boots.
That revealing factor gave everything away.
"She"...was a he.
"A-a boy?" Chapati exclaimed.
Shouts of surprise went up, and the Lacrima Vision focused on Glacien. Imperial Snow, on the other hand, had wide smirks on their faces. Jigumo burst into laughter at the sight of Rogue's flabbergasted expression.
"What's going on? Glacien's a boy?" Lector yelled.
"He's a guy?" Lyon sweated. "But—how—do you—?"
"Glacien—is a—I thought..." Sting stammered.
"Fro doesn't understand. Mermaid-san's a boy?"
"This is confusing," Rufus admitted. "But I recall that Glacia was a girl trapped in the form of a child who had yet to go through puberty. This Glacien's the same. The only indicators to his gender would have to be his clothing."
"Vóreia?" Arania asked. "Do you know him?"
"...yes..."
Wendy, though surprised, remained neutral at this revelation. "What's your name?"
The boy whose face looked almost exactly like Glacia's met her gaze for a moment. "Niebel," he replied. "Niebel Glacien."
So Glacien is his name, Rogue thought.
"Who are you?" Wendy asked again. "That form of Dragon Slaying Magic...it's only unique to Glacia. It was supposed to be. How did you learn it?"
"Unique?" Niebel flexed his left hand. "Nothing is unique. You could call your form of Dragon Slaying Magic 'unique' and 'Lost Magic', but collectively, Dragon Slayers are common."
Frustrated that the boy kept dodging her intended question, Wendy tried again. "Who was the dragon that raised you?"
Niebel frowned. "Sissy isn't a dragon."
"Who's 'Sissy'?" Wendy asked, confused.
Niebel looked at Wendy with disbelief. "Sissy is my sissy. And Sissy is my guardian angel."
"Huh?"
Lyon turned to Dobengal with a skeptical look on his face. "Is he messed up in the head?"
"...no."
"You look like her...you smelled like her...you even used Glacia's magic," Wendy said. "If you weren't taught by a dragon, then how do you have Glacia's magic? What were you to her?"
Niebel sighed. "You learned from an actual dragon, right? That makes you a First Generation. And because he had a lacrima implanted, your friend Laxus is a Second Generation, isn't he? And Sabertooth's Dragon Slayers are Third Generations who couldn't even hold a candle to three old-style Dragon Slayers."
"Hey!" Sting gritted his teeth. "Just try saying that to our faces, will you!"
"Will you please answer my question?" Wendy asked.
"If those are the first three generations, what do you think that makes me; a Dragon Slayer who learned from another?"
Wendy gasped. "You mean...Glacia's your teacher?"
Niebel looked at the ground. "She...wasn't just my teacher. She was...the most precious person in the world to me." His right hand gripped the pole weapon that he molded from his ice mirror. "...To her...I'm her family. Glacia...is my older sister," Niebel stated. "And through Sissy, I learned to fly. I'm the dragon that rules over winter, the successor who inherited the will of the original Ice Dragon Slayer. I'm Niebel, the Imperial Guardian of the North."
"EEHHH?!"
Chapati and Yajima's eyes bugged out. Mato was suddenly spinning in confusion.
Wendy's blood stopped flowing at Niebel's declaration. Glacia's little brother...she thought, shocked by the great resemblance between the two.
Kagura gripped her sword. "Vóreia...is that true?"
"Glacia's...little brother?" Millianna stumbled.
Vóreia, shaking where she stood, could only nod her head in confirmation as her guild gaped at the boy.
Team Lamia Scale glanced back and forth between Niebel, Team Imperial Snow, and Dobengal, who stared at his sandals in shame.
Just for a moment, everyone could see it: A silhouette of a very female Glacia smiling happily beside Niebel, her right hand up as if waving to Wendy.
A lone drop of sweat ran down Rogue's face.
Ah, an author's greatest weapon: plot twist! Did I fool you? Were you expecting this?
Remember Niebel from Rave Master? Yes, I got the idea for the name and appearance from there.