Chapter 5.5: Nevermore

When I was younger, there were only a few things I was certain of in life. I was happy, and I loved my family. As the warm, simple life of living with my family ended, at first I was confused. Overnight, I transformed into an entirely different looking person. Instead of worrying, my family was filled with excitement.

You can tell a lot about people based on their footsteps. The once sure, but fond steps of those I knew slowly turned into a slow and reverent walk of those in awe of a holy figure. In awe of me.

'Gray' they had all told me, 'you will be the body of King Arthur'. But I hadn't wanted any part of that at all. They presented me with a odd box in a cage that had the ability to talk, given by a frightening man named Bersac as part of it.

It wasn't much time after that my father passed away. It was after he died I withdrew more and more. Though I'm sure it wouldn't have mattered as much in the end if I hadn't.

During that time, I used to cry whenever I was by myself. People usually admonished me if I ever showed anything less than what they expected, so I preferred to stay by myself when I there was the opportunity. Around that time, I came to realize that the thing in the cage had the ability to talk. For first impressions, it went poorly.

"Why are you crying, idiot Gray?" Startled, I accidentally threw the cage. Later I felt bad about it, but it was cathartic at that time to have thrown them. Their scream was quite high pitched, which, looking back, perfectly matched my own in fear.

Add was the name of the thing I encountered. My only friend in the entire village. Once I had changed, they all left me behind. It genuinely brought a sense of relief to have someone speak negatively about me instead of adoring how I looked.

Most of my first year was spent isolated from any real connection with people. Add aided to some extent, but the weight of expectations was overwhelming me. My mother treated me completely differently after that day. She had, with the help of all the villagers, tried regulating everything and anything I did.

Living like that had always felt like I was drowning on land.

Hating how I looked became natural after that. I couldn't bring myself to gaze upon the thing that had destroyed my life. Every time I saw it, I couldn't hide my fear.

The only time I had some respite from a person was with my mentor, Bersac. For some reason I couldn't understand, he chose me to be his student. Ghosts scared me, even as he trained me in what it meant to be a Gravekeeper. There just wasn't any way I couldn't see myself as anything except for a failure.

After fainting from just one ghost, I was told to go home and rest. Instead of heading straight home, I found myself sitting at the edge of the swamp, staring out into the dark bog. Add remained silent, letting me be for once as I thought to myself.

Eventually, tears streamed down my face, but no sound escaped. It only made things more difficult if people heard me. It was during a moment of self-pity that the first of many strange things occurred.

"How troublesome. I thought I saw something interesting, and instead I come to see something completely unacceptable." Behind me comes the voice of the most beautiful woman I'd ever heard in my life.

Scrambling to my feet, I pull my hat further down my face as I try to brush off my skirt to hide where part of the ground had soaked into it. During the brief moment I took to compose myself, I froze as I stared across from me at a young woman.

With a black dress adorned with red highlights and a pink bow in her hair, she presented herself elegantly like some dark princess of a foreign land. Her face was just like mine but older, with golden hair and eyes and a complexion the most pale I'd ever seen. She was breathtaking. She was sickening. I desired to cry harder after seeing her, but almost like I wanted to apologize and berate this person.

Lost In a sea of emotions, I just stood there dumbly. From underneath my sleeve, Add rattled. "Oy, Gray let me see!"

Tilting her head to inspect me like an interesting bug and she a bird, her lips twitch upwards. "That's better. I much prefer anger than despair."

Something about this woman was wrong. She appeared youthful, yet carried a sense of maturity beyond anyone I knew. All the ghosts I encountered before her felt insignificant in comparison to her entire presence, causing my knees to buckle. I was able to feel bile rise to my throat as everything else except for this woman faded from view.

Both Add and this woman were talking, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, like I was underwater. The longer I stared, the more something became clear to me. It felt almost like one of those ghosts, but something wasn't quite right.

I recognized this girl, no, this woman. She was just like me. However, something went wrong.

"W-who are you...?" Gazing across at them while dragging myself to a sitting position, I feel sick to my stomach. I'm sure of it, this woman could only be...

"You can call me Morgan." With an amused look, she leaned down to pick me up with her frail frame as if I was some sort of kitten and dusts me off.

Dumbfounded, I stare. "What?"

Displaying an air of absolute self-assurance, she confidently made her way into my house where my mother was. Getting me to follow with an expectant look, my mother was so shocked that she dropped what she had been carrying.

Morgan simply spoke quietly under her breath so fast I couldn't make out a word, and my mother continued around the house as if nothing happened. Terrified, I sat down next to the woman and kept quiet. Thankfully, I had become fairly good at that lately.

"Gray, be wary of this woman. She's dangerous." Whispering so only I could hear, Add sounded for the first time I'd ever heard him serious. Unfortunately, I didn't know anyway to signal I heard him, so instead I waited.

"It's a lovely house." As if talking to the wind, the teenage girl makes her way towards me and takes a seat. After that first meeting, she felt like any other villager and I felt no longer so heavy around her. I experienced a sensation of relief, as though someone had lifted a burden. I still couldn't look her in the face.

"...thank you."

The uncomfortable silence stretches as I stare at the floor. With an amused sound, Morgan puts a finger under my chin and raises my head to gaze at her. Petrified, I do nothing to resist.

"There's no need to be afraid, young one. If I had wanted you dead, it would have been so." My body twitches at her statement, even as she gives me a rueful gaze. "I can understand those who believe in something so long and hard that the 'what' becomes much more important than the 'how'."

Her expression across from me creases as a display of sorrow crosses her face. Unconsciously I almost go to brush her face as if to wipe such an expression off her face.

"But we should revive someone like King Arthur in a way that you can be proud of at the end of the day."

"...they wouldn't be proud of it?" Wary, but trusting for now that I wasn't in danger, I spoke up. Morgan's focus was better directed towards me than my mother.

"If you heard that King Arthur was the sort of person who wanted others to sacrifice people in their name, would you think they were a hero?"

My heart skipped a beat as I thought it over. I understood little of it at all at that age, but I could at least get an idea. "So, she's a good person, then?"

For the first time, Morgans' face drops and avoids looking at me. "One of the best." Quickly recovering, she returns, looking at me as her expression softens with a look of fondness. Unconsciously, I go to tug my hat further down. The hand that holds my face gently tries to stop me from hiding my face.

"You shouldn't be afraid of that face, you know." Stilling, I only feel anger at her words. "It might not be yours right now, and you might not deserve it. But it's the honor of those who come after to inherit what came before."

I exert pressure to push away the hand touching me, and tears involuntarily stream down my face. "I don't want it! All I want is my mum and dad back!" Hiccups break my voice up as my vision becomes blurry.

"Now look at what you've done, you stupid woman. The name Morgan suits you after all!" From his hidden location, Add angrily berates the woman.

With a growl of annoyance, I can almost sense the malice emanating from her. My tears stop as I freeze in fear before the malice goes away. "I suppose so." Sounding agreeable, she puts a hand on my shoulder as I rub the tears from my eyes.

"I have a deal for you." With words heavy, she stares at me as we keep eye contact. "Come learn Magecraft with me as my apprentice. As long as you take your studies seriously, I shall return your mother back to you in the way she was previously."

Hope blossoms in my heart, even despite my fears of Morgan, of myself, of what this might imply. I knew one thing and one thing only. I wanted my mother back.

"Yes. Yes! Please!" I started crying for a completely different reason. Morgan was pleased at my answer even as I heard Add moan from the side in something close to despair.

"What are you doing idiot Gray." I shook Add to get him to be quiet. I was getting my mother back!

Following that, Morgan remained true to her word. After having a private talk with my mother, she was back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. For the first time in a long time, I was smiling. Most other villagers, weirdly, gave little of a reaction to Morgan, not even bothering to say hello to her.

Bersac had already taken the steps to open my magic circuits with me and had started instructing me in some of his magic. But the difference in knowledge between Bersac and Morgan was like night and day. That first day after reuniting with my mother, I experienced an intense mix of emotions on multiple levels.

Add was the most unhappy with the interaction, but eventually returned to normal. He seemed to take great pleasure in annoying Morgan whenever he had the opportunity. At first I was afraid it would make her want to leave and not talk with us, but she took it all in stride.

I put my all in learning, since having something of my happy family back felt like a dream. Disappointing Morgan now gave me more dread than anything else. What if she took it all back?

So, for the first year, I studied and learned. Morgan couldn't stay long the first time she was here. Only able to give me lessons in theory on magic before promising to come back with other things for me to study.

Morgan was actually an amazing teacher, and I felt like I made leaps and bounds in learning things that would have been difficult for me normally if not impossible. Even my teacher Bersac had noticed my upbeat mood, even if I still hide my face when Morgan wasn't around with hats, I could find in with my dad's old clothes.

After making sure I was fine, we had returned to normal, even as the interactions between the townsfolk and I got more and more uncomfortable. Even our priest, Father Fernando, had looked at me strangely from time to time.

It was during one day in winter that Morgan had returned. Training with Bersac, we had to end it early because of somebody violating the one rule of the village, to pray at the Black Madonna statue when entering or exiting the village. While accompanying me back home, we stumbled upon Morgan enjoying a cup of a pleasantly smelling drink as if anticipating our arrival.

"I'm glad for your expediency on my account, but there is nothing to be worried about." Morgan said.

Nervously, I shuffle as Bersac steps in front of me, sheltering me from view. "Who are you? What are you?" There is a note of warning to his voice as he reaches for his axe by his side. Weakly tapping him on the leg to the side, I speak up.

"She's... not anything to worry about, sir."

"Indeed, you could say we are fellow teachers to this young girl." With an elegance that made me feel envious, she took a sip from her drink before continuing. "I was bringing back some materials to help with her studies. I was hoping as colleagues we could have an amicable relationship?"

Troubled, Bersac didn't take his eyes off of Morgan. "Is this true, Gray?"

Nodding to agree, I realize he can't see me and blush in embarrassment. "Y-yes."

Morgan directs an evaluating gaze at me, followed by a dismissive gesture. "Go find your mother or otherwise occupy yourself. I suspect we shall be a while before we can join you, Gray." I nod my head before making a hasty retreat. Silence follows in my wake long after I've left ear shot.

There was no way I was going to risk being caught listening in.

Some things they taught me after Bersac and Morgan started working together made little sense to me, but they always sounded so interesting. Learning to read had been hard, and even after that, the amount of studying I had to do would hurt my head. Add would usually tease me to do other things, but the both of us knew that this and time with my mother was all that I had.

Instead of crying, I just channeled a lot of my problems by training harder. Bersac was worried about me, but he did nothing to stop it. Morgan instead was proud of me. One of the first times she had hugged me had been from me overworking myself.

Regardless of how long the two of my teachers spent time with each other, Bersac never seemed to let down his guard as if she was some sort of dark creature waiting to eat him. It was after months of this that I finally brought up the courage to ask about it. We were sitting at his own cottage following a challenging day of training and exercise. The food that Morgan was bringing in had been incredibly diverse and unusual, whereas Bersac always stuck to his own simple foods.

Honestly, I was grateful for it. They all tasted amazing. And I always felt like I could do anything after eating some of them.

Silence filled the room as we both silently read our own books. Reading a detective novel with some difficulty finally broke the dam of my curiosity about the own mystery in my life.

"Sir... do you not like Morgan?"

Taking the time to collect his thoughts, he puts down his book. "Morgan." The word has a weight to it, as if there is some sort of deeper meaning to it. "In the world of magic, names have great meaning, especially if chosen for oneself. It is unlikely that is her true name. And to pick a name like that..."

"What is wrong with that name?" Eager, I lean forward.

"...Morgan is someone who has a complicated history with King Arthur." My eyes widen as my jaw is left agape. "Morgan is the one who led to the death of Arthur." He frowns as he corrects himself. "Well, more like only a part of it. After all, the person who led to the true death of Arthur was Merlin herself."

Somehow it gave the impression that I knew that name, even if this was my first introduction to it. This entire story was confusing, though. Maybe I should read up on the story of King Arthur?

"You don't like her over a name?" I trail off, confused.

Grumbling, he shakes his head. "No. Morgan isn't just one person. She has multiple souls." Confused, I try not to let my lack of knowledge show. "It was but a moment, but I am sure of it. Morgan possesses someone's body, or maybe it's the other way...?" Worried, he scowls at some far-off figure as if he could see her now.

"I know that if we fought, I would die. So it is best to watch and wait for now."

Troubled, our silence continues for a different reason.

King Arthur was a figure I had been familiar with throughout my entire life, but someone I had never fully understood. Trying to get information from the other villagers had given less information than I wanted. So instead, most of the knowledge I got, came from Father Fernando. Once I entered the Church, there were other visitors present who appeared to be affiliated with the church, despite being unfamiliar to me.

An old man and a young child are positioned next to each other. The man is dark-skinned with grey hair, a long beard while towering over us all in height with a scar over one of his eyes. The young boy sported shoulder length black hair, dark blue eyes, and multiple rings on his fingers. Despite myself, I have to drag my eyes to pay attention to the entire group instead of just staring at that young boy.

Something about him just unsettled me and made my hands twitch. If I had Add in my hands, it would have greatly improved my feelings about this. Those rings too...

It's been a while since I last laid eyes on such captivating rings, like the one Morgan had. Even if Morgan's gold ring looked plain, it always felt like there was something more to it. They had always taught me while growing up to pay attention to hunches like this.

"G-Gray, how lovely to see you! How might the church help you today?" Despite himself, Fernando dabs at his head with a handkerchief as he sweats profusely. Suddenly, the focus of everyone in the room is towards me and I shrink into myself.

"I was just curious about something, but I can come back later!" Shaking my hands as if to dismiss myself, I pivot on my heel and go to make my way outside.

"Wait." A deep, gravely voice echoes out and I freeze. "So you must be Gray? Please come closer. "Our talk is finished for now anyway," the voice declares.

Returning to the place where I stood and positioning myself in front of the three others, I feel myself sweat. God, I hope I don't look like how Fernando does as he is worried. My eyes stay firmly on the ground as I'm unable to make eye contact with anyone.

"So this is that girl, huh?A young boy's voice echoes out as they shuffle their feet, seemingly scanning their surroundings. "You are training to be a Gravekeeper, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you have my thanks. The original Blackmore was a friend of mine, you could say. Somebody honoring his memory is nice to see." Surprised, I look up towards the boy. That would mean...!

"Oh I'm sure you have noticed already, but I'm what one would call a Dead Apostle." Masking my feeling of being uncomfortable, I nod. From the side, Fernando cuts in. "Ah yes, Gray, let me introduce you to my colleagues. This here is Karabo Frampton." He motions towards the man. "And this is Merem Solomon." As he points towards the vampire.

"It's nice to meet you." My smile is a little forced, but at least it's getting there. The two of them smile back, though theirs seem just as forced if for different reasons. Taking that as their cue to leave, both of them start towards the door. Just before they exit, I hear the voice of the young boy speak.

"See you later, vessel." He sounds deeply amused before I lose sight of him. Fernando sighs, as if a great weight was lifted from him.

"I never thought in my wildest dreams..."

"Is there something wrong, Father?" Paling, he avoids looking me in the eye as he looks uncomfortable.

"No, no, of course not. What was it you wished to talk about?"

I take a few seconds to muster up my courage, with it being my turn struggling to look him in the face. "King Arthur. Can you tell me about King Arthur?" With an appearance of having aged significantly from that question alone, he lets out a sigh.

"I can tell you, of course. But are you sure you wish to know my child? It is quite a heavy tale, and I shall hide none of the ugliness from it." The answer to that sort of question is easy for me. I nod.

"For now, I shall keep the story brief. But when we both have enough time, I will answer questions you might have." Preparing himself as if for some great marathon, he lets out an explosive breath.

Trickery and deceit marked the beginning of the birth of King Arthur, an ancient king of Britain. As we settled in and sat down so I could listen to Fernando talk, I ringed my hands.

"The parents of Arthur died shortly after his birth, and two of his future mentors separated in different tasks. While Saint Emrys would go on to fight a decade long war against invaders and monsters, helping solidify the power of the Christian church in Britain, Merlin the anti-christ herself would raise King Arthur in obscurity."

Bombarded with so much information at once, I can only blink owlishly as I process. He takes the time to take a small drink from a flask.

"Who is Merlin?"

Scowling, Fernando shakes his head. "I'm not surprised at no one telling you here. There are even some mixed feelings about those who study history and mythology about the life of Merlin." He takes a deep breath. "Regardless, from what we know, is in between Arthur hiding, and him fulfilling the prophecy in returning to claim the throne. Managing to do the impossible."

Excited, I lean forward. "He redeemed the anti-christ herself." After waiting dramatically, he whispers as if letting out a secret before chuckling to himself. Despite trying to bring some levity, he doesn't seem pleased with his statement.

"Though, of course, not all such things are as simple as they seem. For a time, King Arthur brought back prosperity to Britain. With a band of noble knights from the round table, her two advisors of Merlin and Emrys, and the might of a unified Britain, King Arthur slowly repelled the invaders. Her uncle, who had done nothing but tear down Britain itself, was dead. Her sister Morgan had fallen silent and troubled her no more. It was going well until three things helped bring about the fall of Camelot."

"Her sister Morgan?"

Surprised at my interest in Morgan, he collects himself. "Despite being the older sibling, they chose Arthur to be king. People recognized Morgan as a Witch with no equal in Britain because of her great power. After being discarded for what she thought was her destiny, she grew to hate and resent her younger sister."

My chest hurt in sympathy. That sort of story left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

"Ah yes, the three fold collapse." Folding his hands in front of himself, he sighs, holding up one finger. "Arthur was married, and in a twist of fate, one of his knights had been sleeping with his queen. Once discovered, this helped fracture the round table itself and led to the death of many knights."

He counts a second finger up. "One knight was the illegitimate son of Arthur and Morgan." My face scrunched up in disgust even as I was confused.

"Aren't they related?"

Troubled, he nods. "It is debated on how it came about, but most agree they had a child that Arthur was unaware of until recently. As Arthur was away on protecting the border, Mordred, his son, had led a rebellion against him and taking over the country. Eventually, in battle, both father and son killed each other."

Gasping, I held a hand to my mouth even as my stomach rolled. Killing your own family... I couldn't even imagine it.

In a display of sorrow, he nods his head. "Indeed, a terrible shame, by all accounts." With a shake of his head, he lifts his last finger.

"And finally, the betrayal of Merlin. The reason that Emrys had gone missing was the machinations of the witch Morgan, who had trapped him before she herself had perished. Merlin, instead, had followed knights on a quest for the Holy Grail."

It sounded somewhat familiar, but I was unsure. My confused look must have shown as he elaborated. "A holy relic, one who once held the blood of Christ." Even I knew who Christ was, being unable to hide my surprise.

"Capable of granting any wish. It was likely too tempting for her to give up, ever. Once they had reached the end, before the noble knight Galahad could collect it, she stole it and ran away."

"Why?"

"That's what people don't know. Until that point, she had been completely faithful, even if with her flaws. After this, Galahad had chased her down until the ends of the earth, where they fought one last battle. Merlin emerged the victor, if only in name only. Dying, she returned to Camelot only to find its destroyed husk. It is said that she lived for only as long as it took to find the corpse of Arthur."

With a heavy sigh, he gathers himself and gives me a stern look. "Let this be a lesson for you. Even those most heinous can be redeemed with love. And those most righteous, ruined by sin."

"That's... really sad." Dumbly, I can only summarize my feelings simply. There's a yawning pit in my chest even as I feel guilty. Someone like that should be given a second chance. That's what I'd like to think, at least. We shouldn't just hurt good people and leave them to rot.

"Why didn't she use the Holy Grail to fix things?" Confused, I pick up on a weird missing detail. This is that sort of thing most would call the tool for fixing a story, right?

"Who knows? All that is known, is no grail was found with the bodies of Merlin and Arthur. But on that note, they did not find the body of Galahad either." Troubled but unable to add anymore, he shakes his head.

"How did anyone know Galahad and Merlin fought?" I press further in my curiosity.

"The only one who could tell the story was a lone knight who witnessed the last moments of both Merlin and Arthur."

"I see." We fall into a comfortable silence before Father gets up from his seat.

"Ah, time has escaped from me. I'm terribly sorry, but I must be off. I have a meeting I'll need to be at soon." Confused, I can only nod and get up myself.

"Thank you for your help."

"It is, of course, no trouble." It's not long before he leaves in quite the hurry, leaving me baffled. I've never seen Father Fernando rushed for anything before. From my side, I hear Adds laughter.

"I think running more often would be good for him!" Embarrassed by Adds behavior, I admonish him on my way home.

By the second year, Bersac had relaxed enough at Morgan that he didn't have his hand twitch for his axe anymore. Thankfully, she seemed only amused by his actions and never took offence. Most of my practice in Magecraft I had to continue even when she wasn't here. I didn't have any skill in it, but my affinity for earth magic let me at least be able to manipulate it and help with how I fought.

Most of my fighting with weapons I learned from Bersac by sparring. Add could turn into a lot of different forms with unique abilities, and it took a lot to become proficient with them. While Bersac was a man of few words, he could instill a lot of the lessons into my body through the harsh consequences of failure.

Morgan stuck to magecraft with spells on manipulating the surrounding environment with the earth, though occasionally I'd get lessons on fighting. It was clear to see she was an excellent teacher on it, but was just more interested in magic.

In my free time, I even do homework and read books on other subjects that are apparently taught in the city. It got difficult sometimes because all I could consult was more books since no one else understand most of the time what I was talking about except for Bersac, occasionally.

Sometimes, I felt the temptation to ask some people from the church, who were appearing more and more often, about their opinions, but they scared me. The only ones who seemed less scary were Merem and Karabo.

But in part I suspected Bersac had relaxed against Morgan, is because Merem was a much bigger worry on his mind. Merem only would come and go a few times a year, but he always went out of his way to talk to Bersac or I. Karabo, while mostly kind to me, had acted more and more suspicious of the two of us as time went by. In part, I suspected it was because of Morgan. Despite coming and leaving from the village multiple times, she only seemed to be seen by me or my teacher.

There were around twenty of them now from the church who lived outside of the village, with Father being the only one to stay here. They mostly seemed troubled, angry, or agitated every time they saw me. Tension between the village and church only seemed to increase every day. Where the people from town looked at me in awe, the church was much more mixed in their expressions.

It was if when they looked at me, that each of them all saw the beginning of something grand. And whether that was something bad or good depended on the person.

People from the church were infighting and arguing among themselves about it, it seemed like. Bersac had to break them up from fighting several times to the point even his patience was wearing thin.

During one of my days of training away from all of this worrying situation, that Morgan returned. Wearing a frown, with a slightly quicker but relaxed pace, she approached both Bersac and me.

"It seems the Church has finally taken their inner disagreements out to here." Exasperated, she rolls her eyes. "How troublesome. I have no doubt one of them shall try to take Gray's life at some point." With a look of concern on her face, she bites her lip hard. It's the first time I've ever seen her break the image of her being a noble lady at all.

"I would have trouble facing so many." Equally worried, Bersac looked between the two of us, considering his options.

"...that leaves no choice, then." Resolute, Morgan looks in my direction. "The only reason that so many members of the church would be here is to prevent the revival of King Arthur. That there are so many, including high tier Burial members, means they are taking this seriously."

My stomach drops as I feel tears rise to my eyes. Once again, this body is ruining everything.

"You can either choose to stay here and possibly fight the church. Or you can leave with me, train and become strong enough. You won't need to worry about them ever again."

Scowling, Bersac stares down at Morgan. "You have no guarantee of such a thing. The church is almost everywhere and can reach any place that you go to."

"Nonetheless, the safest place away from the Church is away from here. They would have much less of a reason to be worried about this place if the body of Arthur was nowhere near the ritual site. Even if she is considered a work of heresy, the Church has much bigger things to focus on." Dismissive, she barely takes into consideration his words before cruelly disarming them.

Bersac looks forlorn, but understanding. "It's up to you, Gray."

Silently they both watch me, but I feel like I'm drowning on land again. Struggling, I frantically panic in my mind about what I'm even going to do. Is it okay to be selfish again and want to stay with my mother? But I also didn't want her getting hurt.

Clenching my fists and staring at the floor, I hold in my tears. "...I'll go."

With a heavy breath, Bersac puts a hand on my head, messing up my hair, causing me to frown. "Alright. I'll take care of things here. I trust you'll keep us in touch?" With a warning glance at Morgan, his hand drops from my head. Immediately, I fix my hair as Add laughs at me.

"Oh? That's bold of you to assume I could do such a thing in such a remote village." More amused then moved by his comment, she nods. "In this instance, you are correct. I will send something this way later so you can keep in contact. I'd hate for Gray's education to be lackluster."

Somewhat mollified by her reassurance, he puts a hand on my shoulder, giving me an affectionate gaze. "Take care Gray."

Blinking tears out of my eyes, I nod. "Thank you, sir."

Returning home and bidding farewell to my mother felt like a blur. Morgan stopped us after that. "To make it out of this easier, I think it would be best for us if we were to have a disguise."

Experiencing a flicker of my missing enthusiasm, I speak up. "Like a spy?"

"Like a spy." She dryly agrees, sounding amused. "But luckily in our case, I'm an expert in such things."

Casting a spell faster than I can comprehend, she makes motions with her arms as a massive amount of magic fills the area before covering the both of us. The sense of power fades before it's only just the two of us. Morgan had been replaced with a pale red eyed woman with long white hair and wearing a mostly red dress with black highlights.

While Morgan felt like a princess, this woman in front of me felt like a fairy from a cold land who had abruptly graced me with her presence. There was something about her that just didn't feel real. Overwhelmed by the unexpected turn of events, I notice that my clothes appear entirely transformed. All my dark colored clothes had been changed to be in colors similar to what Morgan liked to wear. My skin even had a different look, like I had gotten a tan.

In a daze, I pinched at my skin, but it felt just as real as it did before. I hear tinkling laughter that sounds carefree before I'm wrapped up in an unfamiliar hug. "Hello there, little one. Impressive isn't it? My magic, that is." No matter how I look at it, she acts, smells, and feels like a completely different person. Shrinking into myself in this hug, I only feel uncomfortable. Sensing my discomfort, she lets go of me quickly, thankfully.

Pouting, she cries loudly and collapses herself onto the floor. Completely taken aback, I can only stare at her. "Gray doesn't love me! How can I go onnnnnn!"

Taking Add out to get a better look, he only laughs at this woman as she cries louder. "I didn't think there would be a bigger crybaby than you around, Gray, but it looks like we found one."

Annoyed, I shake Add, so he stops being so mean. Eventually the woman recovers enough to stand up as if nothing had happened. Suspiciously, I stare at her as she dusts herself off.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You can call me Justeaze when I look like this." Completely unbothered by my worry, she giggles a little. "Sorry if that upsets you. I'm just an excellent actor is all, so when I disguise myself I give everything to the role. For now, until you are safe, you won't see much of Morgan, okay?"

Still worried, but at least understanding, I nod my head. We finish my packing up before I catch sight of myself in the glass's reflection. The person I see once again looks nothing like who I used to be. Tanned, with a different shade of green for eyes and black hair. The girl in the mirror looked completely normal.

By the time we had packed up all of my things, finished talking, and left the house, it had rained outside. It was a little confusing considering today was looking fairly sunny. Having pulled out an umbrella from somewhere, 'Justeaze' had taken me under her arm and started leading us towards the road to leave.

We don't say a word even as we make it past where the Church had set up their base. Taking one last look towards home, I hear the distant sounds of people shouting before Justeaze tugs on my shoulder to get me moving.

I don't look back a second time.

End of Chapter 5.5:

My first side chapter from a different character. Hopefully it felt different enough that it was enjoyable. Gray is kind of a hard character to have the inner voice of honestly. Though I'm sure all of the characters seen here won't be the last of them. Let me know if you liked or disliked anything, or even if you have some ideas on what is even going on.

Reviews:

General Beryl Comments -

On one hand, I'm excited to write with him in it because he's fairly simple and I have a good idea of something I think is interesting to take him into. But also... Beryl is pretty obviously unrepentant scum. So we shall see what terrible things he's been up to I suppose.

Dimihd -

I appreciate you liking it! Though I was a little confused on the her you were referencing.

Yuuki -

Oh yes, Jeanne in this was mentioned to have revived. This AU isn't in any danger of being pruned currently, and it's definitly not a lostbelt as it is currently. Unless something drastic happens it is in no danger of becoming a dead end world during this story. Unless I change my mind I suppose.