Zrocker119: Damn, did this chapter kick my ass for no apparent reason. Seriously, I was stuck on the first two pages for so long that I actually got annoyed and had to walk away for a couple of months. Then I picked it back up last Saturday and suddenly I'm busting out 10 more pages like it's nothing. God, I fuck'n hate writer's block! Anyway, hope I don't have another episode like that and can get future chapters out at a more reasonable rate.

-Chapter 6-

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A glass hit the bar counter with a resounding clink. One that echoed throughout the nearly empty bar. The man sitting raised a finger, signaling the barkeep for another round. The bartender walked over and refilled the man's glass. Or he would've, had the customer not placed his hand in the way and motioned to one of the bottles on the higher shelf.

"Sir, you've already had-"

"Just pour the drink." The man didn't raise his voice above an acceptable level, but there was an undeniable edge to it. One that the server picked up on. And so, with an uneasy smile, he grabbed the bottle that was requested and poured the man his drink.

Bringing the rim to his lips the man took an experimental taste before downing the entire glass in one, quick pull. His expression hadn't so much a twitching as the high-proof alcohol burned its way down his throat.

"Leave the bottle."

The bartender didn't put up any resistance. Instead, he chose to head down to the other end of the bar where another customer was flagging him down. All too glad to put distance between the two.

The man didn't register the barkeep's departure, completely uncaring of the uneasiness his presence struck in those around him. Pouring himself another drink, he was about to drain it, only to halt when he noticed that the hairs on his arm were beginning to stand on end.

Looking across from himself, he eyed the entrance of the bar through its reflection in the mirror that made up the entirety of the back of the bar. The door swung open as a strong breeze blew through. And to everyone inside, that was all that it was. A firm breeze.

But to the man's eyes, he saw everything for what it truly was.

And then a voice spoke from his right. "Hello, Marcus."

The man, now identified as Marcus held back an annoyed sigh as his hand closed around open air, the glass no longer held in his grasp. Looking back in the mirror he saw that the stool beside him was no longer unoccupied. And its new occupant couldn't have been any more different from himself.

While he had managed to retain the powerful build he had had since his early days as a mercenary, Marcus was a man who had just recently turned 50. Salt and pepper hair that was cut short. A trimmed beard, a mustache, and dull grey eyes. Currently, he was wearing casual attire consisting of a brown leather jacket with an inner fur lining, a black compression shirt that clung to his muscular frame, grey baggy pants, and boots.

The man who now sat beside him was his polar opposite. He was in his early twenties, long blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, leaving only his bangs loose, and sharp blue eyes. His face was clean-shaven, allowing everyone to see his pretty boy features. He was sharply dressed, wearing an immaculate white, three-piece suit, black vest and tie, with the coat hanging off of his shoulders. His pristine white dress shoes and black gloves brought the entire look together.

"You know, I'll never understand why you keep coming to dives like this. They're always real shitholes." The man said, not caring about the looks being sent his way from the regulars of the bar.

"I like to enjoy the atmosphere. Plus, it keeps uppity little shits like yourself away." Marcus responded, his voice every bit as rough as his appearance. "Now, give me back my drink and tell me what the job is."

He blinked and his missing drink was now floating in front of him.

"It's the same brat as last time. That damn Zeref worshipper."

Marcus growled before slamming back the whisky. What the hell was with the sudden resurgence of these cults? They had been around since before he was even born, but they were quiet back then. Always careful with how they operate so as to draw little attention to themselves. But for the last decade, they along with other dark guilds had been getting bolder with their movements.

Not that he was complaining, as he and his partner were people who operated on the other side of the law more often than not. But even by Marcus' standards, the way things were going was highly unusual.

"You still haven't said what the job is, Issac."

Turning around so that he could lean back with his elbows on the counter, his younger counterpart shrugged and simply said. "Second verse, same as the first."

Marcus grunted. So, it was to be another hired muscle job. And if it was the same as the last time, one where they shouldn't be needed to intervene unless things turned south. In other words, another easy score with minimal effort required.

And he fucking hated it.

"Time and place."

"Oh, you'll love it. A little place on the fringes of the country. I believe it's called Rosemary. And we are free to accept at our earliest convenience."

That last part caused Marcus to pause. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he spoke. "They're waiting on us?" That was highly unusual behavior for zealots. From prior experience, these religious types always wanted things to move operated when it best suited them.

Issac nodded. "They've been scouting out this place for a couple of weeks. Apparently," he raised his hands and made air quotes, "some big shot from the last war calls the place home."

"You mean from the last time the Alvarez Empire tried invading?"

"You know of any other war that happened that I haven't heard about?"

"Smart ass." Tossing a small stack of jewels onto the counter, Marcus grabbed the bottle and left the bar. Issac followed shortly after, coming to walk beside the larger man. As they walked down the street, Marcus thought about the details given to him and he couldn't help but feel annoyed. They have someone who had stood out enough during the war to receive some level of distinguishment residing in their target area, yet they want him to sit out. The sheer fucking nerve of those people.

Issac let out a chuckle. He knew exactly how his partner felt about being paid to sit out on the fighting. And while too enjoyed a good fight now and again, he enjoyed easy pay even more. With that in mind, he reached into one of his pockets and retrieved a paper charm. One that had been given to him by the client.

Tearing it in half, the two's forms were briefly enveloped in magic energy before being teleported away. The contract had been accepted.

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There were many things Irene had learned to dread throughout her four hundred-plus years of life. As a Queen, it had been when she was forced to attend the royal court, where dozens of court members would complain about matters that, when in comparison to the welfare of the Kingdom, were of little importance. Or worse, attempting to bind her to their families through marriage.

At least those had stopped once she had wedded Rung. For her anyway. Once she was off the table, any potential children that she could have had become the target for any member of nobility that had a spare, unwedded child lying about.

When the Dragon War had begun, she quickly grew to fear when she would have to go over the battle reports. Or, more specifically, the lists of casualties that extend more and more with each passing battle.

And now that she was a mother, there was one thing that Irene feared above all.

"Are you sure that Erza couldn't have come along with us?"

Although she and Yuji had been going out on these little training escapades for the better part of ten years now, she was becoming increasingly worried the longer they continued to go on without Erza. If there had to be one, singular thing that she had been looking forward to when she had first learned about her pregnancy, it would be the day that she got to train her future child in the ways of magic. But now that Erza's ninth birthday had recently come and gone, she was beginning to fear that her daughter hadn't inherited her or Rungs' magical capabilities.

But that was something that should be completely impossible. Even before undergoing the dragonfication process, Irene had been the most powerful sorceress of her age, and according to Belserion, of the last 1000 years. And while Rung hadn't been nearly as powerful as herself, he had still been a force of nature in his own right. The pair's raw magic power had been one of the deciding factors that had led to them becoming married in the first place, as any children conceived from their union could've had the potential to surpass either of them.

Just as Irene had done for her parents, who had been respectable Mages of their generation. So, what was it that had caused her daughter to showcase no potential for magic? It was almost as if her body was incapable of absorbing, processing, and storing the world's ambient Ethernano.

Yuji paused mid-stretch, working out any soreness accumulated from their latest spar. He stared for only a moment before a gentle smile fell into place. "Still worried about her lack of magical talent?"

Her silence was all the response that he needed. He understood where she was coming from. Even if Irene had been Erza's only magical parent, she should've showcased some form of magical capability by now. But unlike her, Yuji wasn't too worried about it. Hell, he hadn't even known about sorcery until he was fifteen.

"Like I keep saying, give her time. I'm sure she's just a late bloomer. That's all. Besides," he gestured to the snowy landscape, "I pretty sure she wouldn't have enjoyed the weather all that much."

The two of them had decided to travel much further out for their training trip, having traveled to the farthest reaches of the northern part of the continent. The harsh climate did little to stifle their movements, and the sheer expansiveness of the wilderness ensured that their sparing would go uninterrupted.

Irene let out a slow breath. She didn't like worrying as much as she did, but it wasn't something that she could help. But what if her fears proved to be true? She just didn't want to see her daughter's expression when the news was eventually broken to her.

"Eep!" She was shocked out of her thoughts by something cold and soft colliding with her face. She wiped away whatever it was, finding it to just be snow, and glanced up just in time to see a snowball flying towards her. But not fast enough to keep it from hitting her again.

Sputtering as she whipped her face for a second time, she saw Yuji standing across from her, casually tossing another snowball from one hand to the other.

"Yuji…" Irene began slowly, warningly, but was interrupted by yet another snowball that she managed to dodge. "I know what you're trying to do-"

He threw another one, this time even faster, forcing her to drop to the snow-covered ground. She knew that he was just trying to distract her from worrying thoughts. But even as she grumbled to herself, Irene couldn't fight off the smile that was steadily spreading across her lips.

She had scooped up a handful of snow and compacted it into a ball, tossing it at her opponent without a moment's hesitation. Yuji dodged it, of course, and retaliated with one of his own. Soon enough, the air between them was filled with nothing but a constant back-and-forth barrage of snowy missiles.

She didn't know how long the exchange lasted for. It could have been a few minutes. It could have been a couple of hours. All that Irene knew was that throughout it all, she found herself laughing. And in a move that caught Yuji off guard, she charged forward. He had only a second to brace himself before she dove at him.

Knocking him off of his feet, the two tumbled over one another and down the gently sloping hill, cackling the entire way down. When they reached the bottom and the rolling came to a stop, Yuji was on his back with Irene lying across his stomach.

Giggling, Irene shifted so that she now lay atop him. Folding her arms over his chest, she rested her chin on the back of her hands and locked gazes with him. "Do we consider this my win?"

Yuji stared back with an amused look in his eyes, "Sure. We can call it that."

As they continued to hold one another's gaze, Irene saw something flicker within his. Something she knew was in her gaze as well. A spark of desire. Deciding that now was as good a time as any to act on her long-since-realized desire for the man who stumbled his way into her life, she scooted forward, sealing his lips with a kiss.

And to her infinitely mounting happiness, he kissed her back with an equal fervor. His hands didn't remain idle either. They roamed up and down her body, taking in her every curve with one settling on her waist while the other palmed her shapely rear. Through her multiple layers of winter clothes, Irene felt a certain body part beneath her growing steadily harder as his arousal grew, pressing against her navel.

Irene pulled back slightly, biting her lip in a failed attempt to stifle the moan that escaped past her lips. She felt her nipples growing taut and her lower lips moisten as a familiar warmth spread throughout her entire body. It had been so long since she had had any kind of sexual gratification from anything other than herself. And she would be the first to admit that yes, her dragonfication had only intensified such urges. That she had lasted as long as she had was a miracle in and of itself.

She threw herself forward, pressing her lips against his with renewed vigor. A gesture that was returned with even more heat and passion than her. Feeling herself growing even hotter, Irene began to undo the buttons of her coat with a desperate fervor. But as the first one slipped loose, Yuji suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and sat up.

But that was it. He didn't resume their liplock, nor did he help with shedding her coat from her body. He just continued to hold her at arm's length. His head hung low so she couldn't see his face, his shoulder heaving in tandem with his heavy breathing.

"W-what is it?" asked Irene, her voice laced with concern. But he didn't seem to hear her. He just continued to stare down. Any prior arousal she had was slowly being replaced with a mounting concern. "Yuji?"

"I'm okay! I-I'm okay."

When he raised his head, Irene couldn't stop her eyes from widening in a mixture of surprise and shock. Black tattoos had appeared across his face, and while the appearance of those was mildly surprising, they weren't the primary cause of her instinctual response.

No. It was his eyes. His normal warm and inviting brown eyes now had a crimson red mixed into them, creating an optical illusion of the two colors swirling together, moving toward his pupils. Not only that but the markings beneath them that she had just assumed to be scars, were in actuality a second set of eyes. Smaller ones that seemed to be in a perpetual state of half-liddedness, but functioning eyes nonetheless.

Taking her reaction in stride, Yuji gave a mirthful chuckle. A moment later the making faded away and his secondary eyes closed. "Yeah, that's about the reaction I expected."

Now that her initial shock had passed, Irene recomposed herself. Cupping his face with both hands, she curiously ran her thumb across his cheeks and under his eyes. But no matter how many times she brushed over them, she could not feel anything out of the ordinary about his facial structure.

Though he enjoyed the feeling of her soft hands against his cheeks, Yuji ultimately decided to answer her unasked question. "They don't physically exist unless I allow them to. Or if I allow myself to give into cardinal desires more strongly than I initially intended."

To prove his point, the tattoos reappeared and his second eyes opened. Finding herself on the receiving end of four staring eyes, Irene gently turned his head left and then right. Taking in his new features, she mentally compared his current appearance to the one she had known and grown to love for the better part of a decade.

It had caught her off guard and would undoubtedly throw Erza for a loop, but she didn't doubt for a moment that her little girl would still absolutely adore her father figure. And so she came to a decision.

"I like it." It would certainly take some getting used to. But the changes of this transformation added a level of uniqueness to him. "I take it this is a bit more than standard Take Over magic?"

Taking hold of her hands Yuji stood, gently pulling her to her feet as well. He even took time to rebutton her coat as his lapse in control had all but flushed the two of any sexual desire. For the moment that is. As it was now abundantly clear to them that they were very much attracted to one another. And there was no way in hell that Irene was letting things end where they had.

"That's an understatement." Yuji rubbed his neck whilst looking at the cloudy sky. Despite how long she and Erza had been living under his roof, other than when he had introduced her to Jogo and the other disaster curses, not once had he broached the subject of his past.

Looking back, he felt a heavy sense of guilt settle in his stomach. On their second day knowing each other, Irene spilled her life story to him out of a combination of stress and loneliness. While Yuji had never experienced the same levels of isolation for such a long duration of time due to his brother and friends, he understood the desperation that Irene must have felt to connect with another person.

Well, he supposed that it was better late than never.

"I'm not entirely human."

"...Yeah, I kind of pieced that together a while ago."

All four of his eyes blinked. "Come again?"

Folding her arms under her ample chest, Irene hit him with her best dry stare. "You introduced me to a bunch of manifestations of humanity's greatest fears. Of this group, you happen to be the leader of. And your magic energy feels too out of place to be remotely human."

She continued for a couple more minutes after that. Listing off all of the little oddities that set him apart from any human or Mage. How he went weeks or months with barely any sleep. Demonstrating monstrous levels of strength and speed without a hint of magic.

"But do you want to know the most telling thing?" She suddenly asked, putting a finger to his chin. "You offered to teach me what it meant to be human again. I didn't realize it till years later, but how do you know what it's like to not be human? That is unless you went through something similar enough to what I experienced."

For several moments, silence reigned between them. Throughout her entire breakdown of the last nine years, Irene never once broke eye contact with him. Taking in every microexpression that flashed across his features. And he never looked away or gave any indication that her assumption had been wrong.

After a few more seconds, Yuji moved.

Taking her hand into his, he reached behind her with the other and pulled her against his chest. Burying his head into her hair, he took a deep breath before kissing the top of her head.

"You really are amazing. You know that right?"

Irene smiled. Turning so that she could rest comfortably against him, she spoke with just a smidgen of cockiness. "I know."

His chest rumbled at her assurance. Wrapping both arms around her, he simply held onto her for some time. Irene didn't mind. She quite enjoyed the warmth that he always seemed to radiate. It brought her a level of comfort that she only found when looking after her daughter.

"I'm not entirely human, like you said. But I'm not a complete curse either."

Confusion washed over her. Placing her hands on his chest, she gently pushed him back just enough for her to get a clear view of his face. She made sure that her curiosity was evident and waited for him to elaborate.

"Me and Choso exist at some sort of halfway point between humans and curses." he paused, his face pinching in discomfort. For her to understand the full picture of what he was trying to explain, he would have to go into depth about him and Choso's shared relative.

That was a whole lot of confusion in and of itself and would require at least a couple of hours to explain. And that wasn't even getting into the fact that he had at one point been the flesh prison of one of the most powerful sorcerers of all time before ultimately assimilating said sorcerer, gaining every one of that monster's memories and powers, adding them to his own.

Fuck why did his past have to be so complicated?

"Hey." Taking hold of either side of his face, Irene brought his attention back to the present and made him focus back on her. "You don't have to lay everything out for me right this moment."

While still thoroughly confused by what he had said so far, she was more than happy with the fact that he was comfortable enough to consider revealing even more. Because while her own history was long and tragic, she instinctively knew that the story Yuji wanted to share was an entirely different can of worms.

Meanwhile, Yuji simply continued to stare into her eyes. Those deep, beautiful, dark orbs seemed to see past his physical body and gaze directly into the depths of his soul. Buy whatever gods that he hadn't slaughtered, what did he do to have such an amazing woman drop into his life?

If he ever found out where they were and that they didn't deserve to be slaughtered, he would make sure to thank them.

"So, are you going to keep them out?" she asked, tracing the markings on his face with her nail. She hadn't just been trying to be nice with what she said before.

"Wouldn't count on it," The makings and eyes faded away, leaving him with the appearance of a human once more. He rubbed his neck. While he had long since come to terms with his state of being, seeing the face of that monster never failed to reignite the flames of rage. "They make me resemble somebody that caused a lot of pain and suffering."

Once again, he unintentionally adds yet another layer of mystery for Irene to theorize about. At least now it seemed that he would open up to her sooner rather than later. "I won't pry. I know that you'll tell me when you are ready."

He smiled. Damn. He knew that it wasn't intentional on her part, but he was starting to feel even more guilty about hiding so much of his history from her. Wanting to rectify this, he sat down and motioned for her to follow suit.

"Long ago, there was a Sorcerer so frighteningly powerful, that the people of the era had taken to worshipping him as a god. One with two faces and four arms. He lived only for the sake of himself and his own sick pleasures, killing all that sought to challenge him. Eventually, the entire nation's strongest warriors came together and barely managed to defeat him."

"Unfortunately, this Sorcerer had learned to turn himself into a Cursed Object, focusing all of his Cursed energy into his fingers, making them indestructible. So his body was mutilated and his fingers sealed away."

"Next thing you know a thousand years go by, throughout which sorcery is all but unknown to the common people of the modern world, with only a select few of the ancient families still around. One day, a teenager is approached by a younger member of one of these three families. This Sorcerer informs the boy that he and his friends had unknowingly come into possession of one of the twenty fingers of Ryomen Sukuna and were in great danger because of it."

"But by the time they reached the teens' friends, the seal had already been removed, and its very presence had attracted the attention of a relatively strong Cursed Spirits. The Sorcerer managed to exercise one but was badly injured by the other. The teen, though he was gifted with an unnatural strong body, could do little to help. And so, in an act of desperation, he consumed the finger."

At those words, Yuji underwent his transformation yet again, fixing Irene with his four-eyed stare. "And with that act, the King of Curses was reincarnated into the modern world."

Irene wasn't stupid. Even without the visual cue, she had known right from the beginning that Yuji was the one from the story. But if this evil Sorcerer had been reincarnated, how was Yuji here talking to her now? More importantly, how had she never heard of this Ryomen Sukuna if it had only been a thousand years since his reign of terror?

Hold on a moment. She thought back to his phrasing and her eyes narrowed in confusion. He said that magic as a whole is hidden from the common people, but that was factually untrue. Sure much of the world history had been forgotten, but magic had been the crux of human civilization for nearly a thousand years. Even today, roughly 10% of the world is capable of magic in some shape or form.

"December 24. 4:00 PM. Shibuya City. 2018."

Her confusion continued to grow. She understood that was a time and place, but what year is he talking about? If she recalled correctly it was currently the year 774.

"That," he rested his chin against his knuckles, "is the date when a madman, in whom Choso and I share the same accursed blood, fused the souls of 100,000,000 people just to see what would happen."

Irene had to fight to keep herself from retching. She understood better than most what the cost of changing the aspects of one soul could be, unintentionally or not. For there to have been a man who wanted to do the same, but on a scale that was impossible for her to imagine left her sick to her stomach.

"But for all of his morbid genius, when he cast the technique to initiate the merger, he made a miscalculation. The merger affected not only his intended targets but the Earth itself, giving it sentience. Liken to that of a newborn."

"Tell me, Irene. What is the first thing a baby does when it's born?"

"...it cries."

"That's right. They cry." He closed his eyes and gave a shuddering breath. "That was the day that the world itself cried out. That was the day a cataclysmic storm of Cursed Energy of unimaginable proportions swept across the globe. That was the day when 7.4 billion people died. And in their death, all of their souls' worth of Cursed Energy perpetuated the storm for several months."

His voice trembled as tears began to stream down his cheeks. "By the time the storm passed, roughly 400,000,000 people survived the storm. Amongst that number was me, Choso, and a few friends. But none of us were the same after that."

"You see, those that had a similar enough soul to another had been forcefully fused together. Due to how long I had played the role of Sukunas' prison, my soul had been irreversibly tainted by his cursed energy. Thus, we had been fused into one being. Thankfully due to my unique biology, I managed to remain the dominant soul."

He ran a hand through his hair, "At least, I mostly did. Though he had long since been devoured by my psyche, bits of his personality come forth when I feel intense emotions."

Irene nodded. At least that explained why his energy felt far more violent than it should for someone with his personality. But that brought another question to her mind. For this event to have taken place and for nobody to know of it, it must have taken place a long, long time ago. But clearly, Yuji had been there to not only witness but survive this world-ending cataclysm.

"Yuji." She took his hand in hers. "How long?"

"...2,783 years." he gave her a sad, closed-eyed smile. "Like I said. Me and Choso exist in the realm between that of a Cursed Spirit and Humanity. So, we stopped aging once we hit our prime."

Her mouth fell open in muted shock. She had barely managed to retain her sanity after 400 years, and here Yuji had been alive for over six times that. She didn't even feel the tears streaming down her cheeks as she pulled him into her embrace.

"How did you manage," it was barely a whisper.

"I made a promise," he spoke, burying his face in her scarlet locks as he hugged her back. It hadn't been an easy promise to make, let alone keep, but he had somehow managed to do so.

Irene went to speak, but before she could utter any words, the two felt an oppressive energy wash over their huddled form. However, it barely affected them as whatever the source was appeared to be far too weak.

The two stood. Upon sharing a look, they made a silent agreement to put a pin in their conversation for now. As they made to head in the direction of the energy source, Irene gripped his hand. Looking from their clasped hands to her, Yuji smiled and dipped his head forward. She met him halfway, their lips colliding in a passionate kiss.

Though no words were exchanged verbally, the message the kiss sent was clear as day. Though both had suffered greatly in their own ways, they had both persevered and would continue to do so. Not just for themselves, but for the bond between them and those that they cared for.

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-End-