Well now… you've really made yourselves heard. Small spoilers for the upcoming chapters up ahead as I'm going to reveal some of my plans now, so skip to the non-bolded text if you want to get to a little bit of post chapter content.
Now more people are behind the Ragna keeping the powers I've had him earn in the story than I thought, but many also want to get back the abilities he's been known to have over time. To be honest, I was already planning to do that, but I can compromise and speed the process up a bit. Here's what I've got planned for the upcoming chapters.
So what we're having here is the first of one of my own filler Arcs. The timing might seem a little odd (in the Anime they had a different filler episode and I skipped that), but I promise that after this I'm going to be heading straight into the Demon Island arc. For the next Arc I'm going to be focusing on the process needed for addressing and healing Ragna's detriments. End result he won't have his powers back yet (still way too early to have those in my opinion), but he'll at least have control over his arm and eye while starting to develop a few moves akin to those of his old techniques; think his regular moveset, but with a Fairy Tail twist.
Enjoy the chapter. I'll be making a small post chapter address after this, so stick around.
Episode 008: Image of Age
"Urhm… Morning already…?" the Grim Reaper muttered to himself as he slowly opened his single good eye and rose his back off of the grass hillside. It had been two days since he and the other wizards had managed to take down the Lullaby demon, defeat the Dark Guild of Eisenwald, and save the guild masters so Ragna had managed to sleep in his… usual location.
Since he didn't have a house or somewhere to stay (he was pretty low on Jewels at the moment), he'd actually taken to sleeping in the forest just outside of town. With the years he'd spent with traveling with his teacher Jubei, Ragna felt right at home camping out in the woods. He didn't even have that much to worry about from the monsters in the area. He'd been bothered by them his first night out here, but the few creatures that had worked up the courage to attack him had only made that mistake once; now they all knew better.
Giving a yawn and stretching the best that he could, the Reaper managed to get a couple of sore cricks out as he slowly rose to his feet. It was still plenty early as the sun had only started to rise off in the distance, but Ragna felt the need to get the day started if he was going to earn a decent amount of money by day's end.
'I should probably think about building up from what little money I have so I can avoid going broke soon. If I head out on my own today on one of those high paying monster hunting jobs Erza told me about, I should get some pretty decent cash and maybe even get a better lay of the land.''
It wasn't much longer before Ragna found himself in town, walking down the cobblestone streets as he made his way towards the Fairy Tail guild. There weren't too many people out given as early as it was, most of them were just shopkeepers getting things ready for the day. Several of them were too busy setting up shop to bother with him, though a few gave him a friendly good morning as he passed by. Back home where he was often labeled as a 'criminal' or 'terrorist' he'd have never gotten this kind of greeting (in fact no greeting would have been largely preferable), but here he had no such baggage weighing him down and returned the gesture with a stoic nod of his own. Heading down one street, he paused in his walk as he watched a small Magic Mobile pass him by.
'Least I won't be riding on the roof anytime soon,' he thought with a smirk as he remembered the hell his last venture had put through. Ready to cross, he'd only managed to put a single foot on the road.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" a young voice shouted, right as Ragna had been about to cross the street. Turning his head, he saw three young boys running towards him from about a block away. They were all in some sort of strange uniform with tiny scarves tied around their necks.
"Something wrong, kid?" Ragna asked once they'd made it his way, figuring it would be kind of a dick move just to ignore children outright.
"We're the Junior Scout Trainees of the Fiore Army!" the lead one said as he held up a two-finger salute. "Serve and protect!"
"Serve and protect!" the others behind him shouted, giving the same salute that he had.
'So they're like boy scouts then, only they're trying to get into the army?' Ragna thought to himself, a little confused by the process of events. "Well that's… great and all, but any reason why you decided to stop me?"
"We decided that you'd needed assistance crossing the street!" the second boy announced. "And as part of our requirements to achieve our next rank, we need to escort those in need across Magnolia's busy streets!"
"...One car passed by ten seconds ago; this is as far from a busy street as you could get," Ragna said, keeping his patience as he turned them down. "Besides, I don't need any help. I could easily jump the damn- darn street if I really needed to."
"B-But we still need to help you… i-ff we don't help escort ten elderly people across the street then there's no way that we'll be able to clear our requirement," the third told him, crocodile tears streaming down his face.
"Elderly…" Ragna growled under breath, trying to keep himself from making that kid really cry. "...And what do they consider elderly?"
"Anyone over forty!" they shouted in unison.
'...Okay, NO.'
With his pride gravely wounded, the Reaper didn't give the children another passing glance as he started walking down the streets. Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his side as one of the kids then grabbed his arm to start guiding him while the other two stood on opposing sides, blowing their whistles at the non-existing traffic. As if to make his life a further hell, several of the shopkeepers from earlier were passing by as was the occasional young lady… Ragna knew they were watching him, he knew they were laughing, and he knew he was about to blow up at all of them.
"That was hell…" he muttered once the chaos had finally ended. As if to commemorate his suffering, he'd needed to sign a form saying that they'd guided him across the street, almost like he was agreeing that he was old… to protect himself somewhat, he'd instead signed Valkenhayn but the whole thing still rubbed him the wrong way. Now he wanted to get to the guild as quickly as he could… though he couldn't help but notice the pleasant smell that was coming from one of the cafes.
'...I think after what I've gone through, I can afford to treat myself a little,' Ragna figured. Even if he found his own cooking to be better and cheaper, that didn't mean he didn't occasionally feel the need to let someone cook for him. True he didn't have a lot of money to spend, but as long as his plan for completing a high paying job fell through, he could be a little generous on his breakfast plans.
After a good Eggs Benedict breakfast along with sides of hashbrowns and bacon and a steaming mug of coffee to wash it down, the Grim Reaper was feeling pretty satisfied. In fact, any thoughts of being called old were already starting to leave him as the food set in.
"Finished with your meal sir?" a passing waitress asked with a bright smile on her face.
"Yeah, that was pretty good," he told her as she took the plate away and brought out his bill. Ragna took one good look at the total at the bottom before his face fell… It wasn't that he didn't have enough money, quite the opposite actually; compared to the prices listed on the menu, it felt like they were undercharging him.
"Is something wrong sir?" she asked sweetly, a bright smile on her face.
'I could just take the win for once,' Ragna thought to himself darkly… though his history of (unintentional) dine and dashing made it hard to stomach this. Not wanting to cause a scene, he decided he'd be honest. "Pretty sure you undercharged me, bill's a lot lower than it was supposed to be."
"Oh sir, that's so kind of you to be honest like that," she said to him, smiling brightly… the waitress's smile certainly wasn't hard on his working eye, so Ragna could at least feel better that he was doing the right thing here. "But I think you forget to account for the early bird special."
"...Early bird special?" Ragna asked, a terrible feeling starting to hit his gut and he was pretty sure it wasn't the eggs he'd just eaten.
"Yes sir, since you've been eating with us so early and you're of a qualifying age, you get a nice discount on your food," she explained cheerfully. Dread showing itself on Ragna's face, he nervously glanced around the restaurant only to become aware of the several seniors that were dining here as well.
"And… what's the qualifying age?" he asked, knowing full well he was going to hate the answer.
"Just fifty or older," the waitress told him cheerfully as Ragna felt several knives being stabbed into his entire body from several angles and twisted for good measure. Without another word he paid what he owed, rose from his chair, and left without a passing glance. 'What's with that guy? First he thinks he's not paying enough, then he doesn't even thank me after I made sure he got his discount?'
"This… day… is… hell…" Ragna muttered as he continued making his way to the guild walking on the bridge that stood over the river that ran through town. "What is it with people thinking that I'm some old man? Even with my eye and arm like this I can't look that old!"
"Step right up! Step right up!" shouted a corner salesman as he tried to push the wares he had set out on a small wooden stand. A few people were standing around such confection, even if the tuxedo wearing top-hatted wearing salesman could be described as… dodgy at best. On his stand there were several skin cream containers, all with an odd top hat symbol on top of it. "I tell you ladies and gents, this is the stuff you'll be wanting right here and now. Got acne that won't go away no matter what you try? Got that one mole that keep popping up? Got that beauty mark you always wanted, but it's too close to your nose? Then try our top-of-the-line Top Hattin' Beauty Cream, up for sale for both men and women!"
'So now we've got a 'music man' in town? Yare yare…' the Reaper thought to himself with a sigh as he looked to the group of people, some of which actually seemed to be taking the stuff this guy was claiming quite seriously. '...Their loss.'
"With our own patented spells worked into the cream and rare ingredients gathered from every side of Fiore, this cream does SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU'D THINK IT WOULD!" the man continued, spouting more nonsense as he took one of the canisters and held it up high like it was a highly prized piece of art. "When you apply it to the skin, you start to give off a shine that your friends will find positively blinding, so it works as perfect makeup tool and its scent is just divine!"
Feeling done with the crap he found this salesman was giving, the Reaper gave an audible groan that was heard by everyone as he turned to walk away. It was people like this that would make life hard for any passing by salesperson; these were the skeptic minds that would always make those ready to purchase the product to give it a second look with a more collected mind, but if the seller managed to win that person over though...
"Hold on a second!" the salesperson called as he leaped over the crowd landing right in front of Ragna. The Reaper gave a low growl, making it clear that this man was making a mistake in stopping him, but this guy was a whole new level of dense (even compared to Bang Shishigami). "My good man! You don't know what you're missing out on! This little product could change your life!"
"And stopping me could end yours," Ragna threatened as he rudely shoved his way forward, pushing the guy off to the side.
"But you don't understand! This could make you look twenty- thirty- NO! FORTY YEARS YOUNGER! THIS COULD PUT YOU IN YOUR TWENTIES!"
...That made Ragna stop in his tracks. This was the third time that morning that he'd called old to some degree, and he'd barely been up for an hour. Turning around to face the salesperson, they didn't even seem to notice the deathly stigma around his person as his face was masked under the shade his hair cast, making him look all the more threatening.
"Here! I'll even give you a free sample of our product!" the man said as he began to screw the cap off of the top. "Not only will this help in every way I stated before, it'll even help to eliminate all signs of fatigue from a late night and even recolor any dark circles under your eyes. And don't get me started on how well this stuff works as an aging cream on wrink-"
BOOM!
With sheer rage powering his attack, Ragna struck the salesperson with the force of an artillery cannon. A large welt had already formed on the idiot's face as he flew through the air, screaming in his rapid rise and even quicker decent. Everyone in the crowd could easily see the massive splash as the salesman landed into the city's watery channel. The Grim and Annoyed Reaper continued to the Fairy Tail guild, a top hat slowly floating to the ground behind him.
Fairy Tail Guild
Once Ragna had finally made his way into the guild, he was surprised to see that Mira was the only one there beside him… or he would've been surprised if he wasn't still consumed by his overflowing rage. Even Mira's bright smile did nothing to help Ragna's attitude as he headed over to the bar and moodily took a seat.
"I wasn't expecting to see you this early," Mira said to him, trying to keep a pleasant smile on her face as she knew how contagious her own good mood could be. Ragna only gave a non-committed grunt in response. "Can I get you something?"
"...A drink; I need a large beer or something strong," he muttered leaving the fellow wizard to show surprise as she knew that Ragna had always shown he wasn't a heavy drinker in the slightest.
"If you say so, but you're usually the second person to call anyone out on drinking too early in the day, just behind Erza," Mira said as she began pouring the Reaper's drink. "I think I've seen that look on people's faces before; did you just have to go through a hard break up?"
"You're giving me too much credit," Ragna grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his good hand, wincing harshly as he thought back on all of the rapid-fire hell he'd been through since just waking up. "Mira… can I… ask you something?"
"Is this a confession?" she asked, leaving Ragna to scowl at her before noticing that her bright smile still hadn't faded. "Or am I giving myself too much credit?" Her voice had a sweet giggle to it as she set a large glass mug in front of her brooding customer.
"...Funny," the Reaper said as he took a long sip of his beer, the corner of his mouth giving the slightest upward twitch. "Seriously though, I kinda need to hear it from you."
"I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help you, but I'm always ready to listen," Mira told him in a caring tone, almost as a mother would. Even if this (mixed with the drink) put Ragna slightly more at ease, he couldn't help but feel hesitant in voicing his concerns aloud.
"Do… Do I look... old to you?"
Mira… didn't answer, only continuing to smile brightly at Ragna like she hadn't hadn't heard him. But the Reaper knew; he could see how strained her smile was starting to become and the few beads of sweat that had started to form. His face falling, he slumped forward and planted his face on the top of the bar and let out a loud muffled groan.
"I'm sorry… that's probably not the response you wanted," Mira apologized, trying to continue to smile even though Ragna's face was still buried. "Can I ask where this question is coming from?"
"It's just… it's been coming up a lot more lately for some reason," Ragna admitted as he rose his head slightly, mostly just so he could take another long swig of his drink. Wincing slightly at the alcohol, he gave a long sigh. "First I thought that it was just going to be some teasing from Natsu and Happy, but as we've gone on it's been coming up more and more."
"But… haven't they stopped calling you old at least?" Mira asked happily. "That's a little progress for you at least, right?"
"Why do you think I started to let them call me dad?" he muttered, effectively killing Mira's point. "Honestly… Erza thought I was old, that bastard Erigor thought I was old-"
"I'm sorry, you're talking about Erigor the Reaper?" Mira interrupted with surprise, having heard the name once or twice.
"The same, though I think I showed I was the better Reaper after I beat his ass and took his scythe," Ragna said with a cocky smirk before his expression turned dour once more. "But then there was this morning… oh god this morning..." He groaned. "Normally I wouldn't care what anyone would say about me, but I'm getting tired of being dicked over time and again because of my looks. This might not be anything too new for me, but I'm getting close to losing it."
"That certainly sounds… challenging," Mira admitted before considering something. "Now that I think about it… how old are you?" Ragna gave her a strange expression. "I'm just thinking, you don't look much different than my brother Elfman, but everyone knows how old he is because he's been a part of this guild since we were kids. Maybe people won't think you're old if they knew your actual age."
"Huh, you actually have a good point," the Reaper had to admit, figuring this might give him the out he needed. "Alright then, I'm CARNAGE SCISSORS."
"...I'm sorry?" Mira asked, her smiling face gone and replaced with a ghostly stare at the Reaper's face.
"...I said I was BLOOD KAIN."
'...There's no way,' Mira thought to herself as she stared at Ragna in terror. 'Is he really still THAT young?'
"Your silence is speaking volume right now," the Reaper muttered, bringing Mira back to the present. She tried to offer an apology, but Ragna was already rising to his feet as he pulled out a few of his last remaining Jewels to pay off the drink he'd just gotten. Heading to the request board, he grabbed one of the two monster hunting quests available and started walking off in an even deeper slump, leaving a guilty Mira standing behind the front desk. "Honestly, these people…"
Later
"I told you NO!" Lucy shouted, her cries loud enough to be heard throughout the guild.
"Come on, it's a high paying job and we've taken these guys down before," Natsu explained as he held up their potential next job. "I don't know what your big deal is Loony."
"It's Lucy and I'm not going on another job with VULCANS!" she shouted loudly at the pink haired wizard in front of her. "I swear, if it's not pervy old men, it's dirty apes that want to kidnap me!"
"But you make such good bait!" Happy told her proudly.
"Don't say that like it's a compliment!" the blond shouted. "If Ragna was here, you know he'd be taking my side!"
"Only 'cause he spoils you," Natsu grumbled as put the job back on the board and took a looked for another.
"What are you doing?" Erza demanded as she walked up to the board, all three of them practically jumping at the unexpected sight of her scowl.
"Trying to find a new job…" Lucy said nervously. "But Natsu can't pick out a good one…"
"I see…" Erza contemplated before turning to the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Natsu?"
"I… just think we can try tackling some of the harder jobs," he told the armored wizard, trying not to get her to blow up at him. "After all, those jobs do pay well…"
"Still, I think you should consider your partner's concerns before making a decision like this on your own," Erza told him, her demeanor making it clear this wasn't a suggestion; it was an order. Lucy gave a quick sigh of relief as she realized she was in the clear. "And Lucy?"
"Eep!"
"You should expect to tackle the harder jobs, even if they fall outside your comfort zone. As a wizard it's the easiest way to improve your magic and tactics while taking only easy jobs runs the risk of you growing comfortable and not reaching for your full potential. You're a member of Fairy Tail; you can always strive for better."
"It's not that I have a problem with hard work…" Lucy told her, trying not to seem like she was whining to Erza. "Perverts on the other hand…"
"Ah… in that case I'd simply take them down while they try and leer at you," Erza suggested before slamming a fist into her open palm so hard that it sent out a small shockwave. "A simple punch to their groin and they'll crumple before you without much of a fight."
"...I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said, cringing at the bluntness of Erza's advice. While the two wizards (and Happy) went back to picking their job, Erza made her way to the front desk where Mira was busy pouring drinks and making food for everyone.
"No help from Ragna today?" she asked as she brought enough Jewels out to buy a slice of her usual strawberry cake.
"He… left earlier on a job," Mira told her, an unusual sadness to her voice. Erza took note of this and (after serving herself a slice of cake of course) leaned in and expected an explanation. "You... thought he was old, didn't you?"
"I remember calling him that when we first met, also Natsu and Lucy have already given him the dad nickname," Erza told her. "Why? Is there a problem with that?"
"I just think that maybe we can be a little nicer to him about his age; he's actually not quite as old as we all think."
"He's not? How can you tell?"
"Because he brought it up earlier to me… as a sort of problem," Mira said before leaning in and whispering something that was too low for anyone else to hear.
"HOW YOUNG!?" came a rather rare outburst from Erza, attracting concerned gazes from everyone in the guild. Moving in closer to Mira, they continued their conversation in whispers. "And… do you believe him?"
"Seems like an oddly specific number, doesn't it?" she said, before sighing. "Honestly, it's no wonder that he's starting to get angry, not with everyone thinking he's so much older than he actually is…"
"...Now that I think about it, he had said something about going on a job to let all of his aggression off," Erza considered to herself as she thought back to her train trip. "And I'm fairly certain that was before his age was brought up."
Meanwhile
"Tch, I thought the job posting said that I was only supposed to handle two of these things," Ragna muttered to himself as he swung his scythe in a massive arc before him, dispelling a massive column of flame that had been shot his way. Twirling the weapon before him in a protective circle, he managed to deflect a barrage of sharp icicles. Quickly switching from a scythe to his massive blade, Ragna made a strong slash forward, cleaving through a wave of earth that had threatened to flatten him before digging his feet into the ground and managing to avoid being blasted into the air by a powerful torrent of wind before he switched back to his scythe and made a final rapid series of swing in the air to block the three lightning bolts that descended from a seemingly clear blue sky. "...And I'm pretty damn certain it never brought up magic."
There were five wolves circling Ragna with feral snarls as they looked for an opening to attack with their predatory instincts. Each of these wolves were around 10 feet long and had different builds depending on their elemental attribute. The wolf with the Fire element was the most well rounded between size and sleekness, flames escaping its maw with every breath and its fur glowing red with heat. The Ice wolf had obviously the sharpest fur of the bunch, though it was slightly smaller than the fire wolf its pale white coat was as sharp as razors and colder than any northern ice. The Lightning wolf was a touch on the larger side and it's puffed out fur gave off powerful spark of electricity, like lightning in a storm cloud. The Earth wolf was the heaviest of the bunch, with claws and fangs that looked like they were carved from rock and a hardened coat that looked like it had bit rock sprouting out of it. As a complete opposite was the Wind wolf; lean, light, and its fur constantly flowing like it was in a breeze even when it wasn't moving.
(Cue No More Heroes Steel Python)
"No use bitching about it," Ragna said as he flicked and wrist and turned his scythe into a deadly propeller blade in front of him, kicking up powerful winds around him in a show of force before he caught the weapon and readied himself. "Time to go to work."
Not intimidated, the earth wolf gave a strong growl as it stomped a heavy paw on the ground and created a strong tremor around the Reaper. Ragna had to fight hard to avoid a heavy stun from the attack as the Ice wolf went in for its attack. Taking a deep breath in, the canine expelled a single giant icicle as a projectile at its prey, leaving Ragna again on the defensive as he cleaved the attack in half with his sickle. Both attacks proved to be a distraction as the Wind wolf charged at him using its naturally high agility. Swinging his scythe in front of him, he managed to cause the wolf to change directions, but it was so agile that it could easily evade the attack and lunge from his side. Giving a sudden kick to the bottom of the wolf's jaw sent the beast into the air. Quickly bringing his scythe down, the Reaper tried to score some actual damage on his opponent, but wolf actually managed to dodge the attack as it took control of the winds in to avoid the attack in midair and retreat. Making matters worse, Ragna wasn't able to turn around in time to counter the lightning wolf's attack and got grazed in the back by a few powerful bolts of lightning.
Giving a grunt as he tanked the hit, Ragna knew that relying solely on his weapons wasn't going to get him anywhere here. These things were too well coordinated to just go charging in headfirst; he had to figure some way to maneuver them. Starting with a more basic approach, he waited for the wolves to make their move so that he could build on their own attacks. This time the Wind wolf led the attack and used its speed once more to try and disorient him. This time Ragna wasn't falling for it and only stood ready leaping back to avoid both the Wind wolf's lunge along with the Lightning wolf's as they both tried to catch him in a deadly pincer attack. From the back lines the Earth wolf attempted to impale Ragna with same sharp stalagmite attack, but a leap high into the air put him just out of range.
With its prey in the air, the Lightning wolf unleashed another series of lightning from its maw. Ragna's only response to counter was to throw his scythe as hard as he could, letting the weapon spiral in the air right towards the wolf and eating up the voltage. This forced the wolf to dodge as the pointed blade impaled itself in the ground it had been standing. Channeling his power into his now free hand, Ragna unleashed a swarm of firebolts and sent them towards the Ice wolf, hoping to play the difference of elements to his favor. The plan could have worked and brought the enemy out of the fight, had the Fire wolf not charged in and taken the attack in its place. Not only did this reveal a new strength in the pack's teamwork, but absorbing the attack also seemed to strengthen the Fire Wolf, as evident by the new glowing surge in its flame covered fur.
'Not good,' Ragna thought to himself as he landed on the ground, quickly bringing out his Gilgamesh Blade to serve as his new weapon.
Standing ready, he watched as the Fire Wolf began to growl as the flames around it grew even brighter, indicating that it was charging a powerful attack. Ragna knew enough that he needed to put a stop to that right the hell now, but down a scythe and with four other wolves surrounding him he wasn't exactly looking at a lot of options.
'Screw it.'
Throwing caution to the wind like he was usually forced to do, Ragna charged headfirst towards the creatures. When Ice wolf again sent out a rapid volley of icicles, Ragna was forced to respond by slashing his sword as fast as he could to cut through the fully of attacks. The Lightning wolf then charged at him with its body coated in electricity, but Ragna guarded against the ram before shoving the monster off to the side and continuing to rush forward. Trying to blow the Reaper away or at least halt his progress, the Wind wolf used its breath attack and blasted Ragna with a column of deadly winds. Too dedicated to his attack and too short on time to try anything fancy, Ragna charged headlong through the attack trying his best to brush of the strain the deadly wind was causing to his body. With a roar, he broke through the winds and leaped right above the Fire wolf ready to bring his blade down.
The earth wolf's sudden charge seemed to be the last line of defense as it leaped up at Ragna. The Reaper tried to knock the wolf out of the way, but as the monster's teeth caught onto his sword, Ragna was forced to the ground mere feet from his target.
"Get off dammit!" he shouted as he tried to tear blade out of his maw (maybe even take the monster with it). Being made of stone, the Wolf wasn't moving and Ragna could only suspect that it was using magic to increase his weight and keep him held in place. It was clear the Earth wolf had no intention of moving, satisfied with its own endurance to be able to take the heavy fire attack. Meanwhile the Fire wolf had finally finished charging and inhaled to breath its final attack.
Working desperately fast, Ragna gave up his sword and allowed the Earth wolf to continue holding it in its maw. Bringing out the Frying Pan he'd earned from the Vanish Brothers, he braced the absurd weapon in front of him to give him whatever protection it could as the wolf finally expelled its massive flames in a single focused blast. The Reaper braced himself for a painful impact… only to not feel any change.
"What the-?" Peeking out from behind the Frying Pan, he saw that it had somehow caught the fire magic inside of it, an orb of titanic fire energy glowing at its center. He noted that even the wolves seemed to be shocked by this development as they made no sound while staring wide eyed at the orb in front of him. Smirking harshly to himself before letting out a load roar, he swung the mass of fire energy over his head before bringing it to the ground and created an explosion that sent almost all of the wolves flying.
The final wolf (the Fire one, of course) hadn't taken much damage from the fire attack, but the sheer force of the explosion blasted it back a good distance. A mix of the sheer force of fire magic that it had absorbed combined with the rage of its beaten pack, the wolf charged headfirst at the Reaper who swung his final weapon to meet the attack. The impact of the collision was enough to send the Frying Pan out of Ragna's hands, though it seemed that he'd at least dealt some damage to the Fire Wolf. Baring its fangs, the wolf leaped into the air while coated in fire to finish off its unarmed prey. Ragna went to meet the attack with a haymaker, so focused on the battle that he didn't even notice the lightning magic he was coating his left arm in. Smashing his fist and sending the wolf flying, the canine gave a high-pitched shriek as it sailed off into the distance.
(End theme)
Ragna gave a lengthy sigh of relief as he watched the remaining wolves run off, their tails quite literally between their legs as they gave high pitched yelps of defeat. He considered following after them… but realized that it wouldn't make much sense. The job had specifically told him to drive the monsters off and he'd clearly done that, plus there was even less of a reason to give chase since there were three more wolves than he'd thought he needed to fight off. His prized jacket looked like it had just gone through a bit of abuse and his wounds were going to take some time to heal completely. Everything pointed to him calling it quits here, reclaiming his weapons, and grabbing his reward… the one he deserved anyways.
Client's Estate
Had Ragna not been in such a huff that morning he might've paid more attention to who was offering the reward on the wolves he'd just beaten. If he had he might've gotten into the job with a bit more speculation, but now it was starting to bite him hard in the ass. When he'd first come in off the train, he'd found his employer lived at a large estate that was just as gaudy as Duke Everlue's manor. The lady that ran this place hadn't even come out to meet him, merely her servants had confirmed he was here for the job, knew where the wolves could be found, and sent him on his way, not even testing that he was a wizard. At first Ragna didn't have a problem with this impersonal arrangement, in fact he was happy that he wouldn't have to meet some noble and waste his time, but that was before he'd considered that she would rip him off.
Her entourage of butlers were none too happy at his insistence that he deserved to be properly compensated and were even further dismissive when he demanded to meet their boss in person. After much debate and arguing, they eventually agreed to ask their master, though Ragna was already put in a horrid mood with all of the bull he'd been forced through that day. As if he hadn't suffered enough, he was told that the Lady in charge had other "more important" matters to attend to, so he'd have to wait, though a stern look from his scowling eyes made it clear that he wanted to be out of here. A half hour of pointless reading and waiting later, Ragna was summoned by the lady for an audience… and his ire only continued to grow.
Even though he'd been specifically called in, she wasn't sitting like she was expecting him; much more like she was enjoying her teatime and he just happened to be there as well. Hers was the only seat at the tea table, making it quite clear that he wasn't going to be invited to joining her, not that he would have but the fact that they didn't even extend the most basic of courtesies was grating on his nerves.
'Dammit, now I'm actually starting to miss that upstart Rabbit, even including all of the times she kidnapped me,' Ragna thought to himself, giving a low sigh as he remembered his old ally. Looking at his employer as she took another long sip of her tea, he decided he'd had enough. "Oi, I'm not getting any younger over here."
"I'll say," she returned with a snap, leaving Ragna to realize he should have worded that better. The woman in him was slim and tall, roughly around his height if just a touch shorter. She had long and curly blonde hair that covered right eye. She was wearing a purple victorian style dress that had plenty of frills on it, yet her top corset looked uncomfortably tight on her thin body. "I suppose I might've needed your help to take care a… minor annoyance, but I certainly wished that whoever decided to take my posting would be easier on the eyes. A better attitude wouldn't hurt either."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I can't help the way I act, just like you can't help being a stuck-up bitch." Ragna saw the small twitch of annoyance in her eyes at his unsubtle sarcasm, along with the dirty looks he was getting from the butlers. Small as it was, he still took that as a win in his favor. "Your posting didn't have all of the details; last I checked I was supposed to fight off two dire wolves not five… and do Dire Wolves even have all of that different element crap?"
"Of course they don't; that would make them Elemental Wolves you dolt," she told him, waving him off. Ragna wasn't amused and only continued to glower at her. He didn't like that she was starting to smile again. "So I suppose what you're trying to tell me… is that you weren't able to complete the job."
"Oh, you've got to be shittin' on me," the Reaper groaned.
"The job I posted was for you to chase off the Dire Wolves; and now that you've forced yourself before me, you have the gall to demand an outrageous payment on a job that I never even requested. You're quite full of yourself, and I don't even have a proof that you've done any of those fantastic claims of yours. Someone like you would be able to take down five Elemental Wolves at once, such a deluded fool…"
"Lady, I was in a bad mood before I even got here. When I had to fight through those damn things I was pissed off. Now you're telling me that you won't pay after I did the damn job you should've posted!?" Ragna was shouting in rage now, not bothering to hold back his anger after the shitty day he was having.
"Cute that you think your opinion matters," she said with a haughty laugh. "You low ranking backwater guilds always get so uppity with costs since you can't even provide for yourselves, when you should be grateful that people bother trusting you with these jobs in the first place."
"...What was that about a low-ranking guild?" the Reaper demanded, his tone and voice on the subject making him sound eerily similar to Natsu.
"Of course you'd have to belong to a guild like that," the lady told him as her servants all gave poorly hidden laughs at Ragna's expense. "After all, what self-respecting guild would accept a crippled… old… man…?"
She had trouble finishing her sentence as Ragna began told radiate pure magical energy. Her servants began to move quickly to step in, but even they seemed to falter as they caught a glimpse of Ragna's power… and the Fairy Tale symbol shining over his dead eye.
"A guild that has a reputation of going overboard."
Meanwhile -Foire Trainline-
"Jeeze these cabins are so stuffy," Grey Fullbuster moaned to himself as he sat stretched out in the car room. With the windows down, the hallway door cracked open ever so slightly, and even a refrigeration spell to act as a makeshift fan, his natural aptitude with ice still left him uncomfortable. Reaching up to his collar, he made to undo just a few of his shirt buttons to air himself out.
"If that shirt comes off, you're walking back to the guild," the ever-present, no-nonsense attitude of Erza cut in, leading Gray to stiffen and halt his unusual habit (this time anyways). Putting his hands into his pockets, he tried to focus on the cool air he was currently getting. "It's nice to see you're taking the effort to cull that habit of yours, but I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't here you'd have already been in your boxers when you boarded the train."
"I…" Grey began trying to come up with a retort, though he knew Erza always had a knack for seeing through him. "Never mind. I might be a little late in asking this, but you mind telling me why you asked to team up out of the blue?"
"I just wanted to see how far you've come; it's been a while since I last got to see you in action and that fight against the Lullaby demon wasn't a good judge of our strength."
"Yeah, once all of us started to go all out on the thing, it was clear it wasn't going to last long," Gray said, thinking back to that fight and a similar one before it. 'I wish things could've been that easy the other time...' Shaking bitter memories out of his head, he put his focus back on the present. "So? How did I do?"
"Very well; your form has improved by leaps and bounds since I last saw you and your ingenuity is reaching new heights; stay on this path and you could be considered for the next S rank trials."
"You're serious?"Gray asked in surprise. Praise like this from Erza was rare at the best of times, but the scarlet haired wizard's tone made it clear that she was being genuine. Though as her complexion became serious once more, it was clear she had more to say.
"That being said, if you let yourself become lax now, you'll never be able to amount to your true potential. Now that I've given you the encouragement, I expect you to work twice, no thrice as hard as you were before."
"O...kay," Grey responded nervously, glancing out the window so that he didn't have to look directly at the older woman's menacing scowl. Passing fields were covered in the golden glow of the setting sun as it began to fall behind the mountain range. Night would fall soon enough, but Grey and Erza would be back in the guild long before then. Grey observations on the scenery were halted as he saw a small smirk on Erza's face, its presence and oddity since she'd been acting so serious before. "What's with the smile?"
"Hmmm... I honestly don't know," she admitted, pondering over her sudden shift. "If I had to guess, I feel like I should be a little annoyed at something." Instantly Grey gave a light sweat; being in the same room with even a slightly annoyed Erza Scarlet was a death sentence. "But instead… I somehow feel a little proud."
That Night -Magnolia-
'God dammit,' Ragna swore in his mind for the umpteenth time that day. 'With all the trouble I had to go through 'cause of them I should've taken out more than half that stupid mansion… if I hadn't held back on that blast I could've totaled the whole thing in an instant.' The Reaper grimaced harshly, at least as harshly as he was able to with a single functioning eye. 'And then there's the fact that the train was late by two hours and riding it both ways just cleaned me out of any Jewels I had left…' Shaking his head, he continued to walk through the quiet city with the bright half-moon shining down from the star lit sky. 'This mess would be hilarious if I wasn't the wasn't the victim.'
Needless to say, Ragna hadn't had a day this bad in quite a while. Back in his own world it sometimes felt that there were entire days just dedicated to dicking him around and this felt almost as bad as some of those. Sure, he didn't have to run from a fight with Hakumen or endure some of Rachel's pointless games, but he almost would have preferred those to the treatment he'd been getting.
'No excuse to start acting so gloomy I guess,' he figured as he passed by the kids from earlier that morning, still hard at work even this late as the guided an actual elderly man across the street. 'I guess this isn't too different than that job hunt I had to go on with Bullet; there are just going to be days like this no matter where you end up goin'... All that matters is you don't quit and keep looking.'
The Reaper might've been able to manage a small smirk then and there if it hadn't been for the painful growl that emitted from his stomach. On top of everything else, now he was starving since he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning. While this would be far from the first night he'd have to go to sleep late and hungry, after the day he had the Reaper felt like he was earned some food for all of his trouble. Aside from a club or bar in town there wouldn't be too many places open to serve food and neither of those options were all that appealing since he didn't have any cash to work with and didn't want a repeat of Dine-and-Dashing with Tao. That left the guild… but it felt wrong to be stealing food from the place that had given him a really good chance at turning his life around.
'It wouldn't really be stealing though, I've worked with the food enough that I'm practically working there as a cook… 'sides, soon as get some actual cash to work with I'll pay them back.' Knowing that self0promise would have to do for now if he was going to get some decent sleep, Ragna made his way towards the Fairy Tail guild. The door wasn't locked when he got there, meaning the place was still open… but there was only one person inside at the moment.
"You made it," Mirajane said with a smile as she sat behind the bar. There seemed to be a warm meat filled pie sitting right in front of her along with a small dining set to enjoy it with. "Welcome back! I had a feeling you'd be stopping by late so I got this ready for you."
"I…" Ragna had stumble with his words; he sure as hell hadn't expected a reception this warm. Especially with everything going in the wrong direction today. In the end, he really didn't have that much to say. "...Thanks."
"No need to thank me, I just hope you enjoy the pie. It's a bit of an experiment so you're the first person to try it," she told him excitedly.
"And you've been up keeping it warm for me this whole night? You didn't have to go and-"
Growl.
Ragna couldn't continue as his stomach continued to betray him. Mira only continued to smile at him, though Ragna suspected that part of her reason for smiling was that he was continuing to show how transparent he really was. Giving an almost irritated smirk to the bartender, he took a seat and started to cut into the dinner pie.
"So… how did your job go today? I'm pretty sure this was your ninth after all of those small jobs you did to help Lucy," Mira noted as she continued to scrub down plates and mugs that had been used during the day.
"...Wasn't this only my seventh? I didn't think that job with Erza counted."
"In my mind it does, and besides you also had to go on that job to get into the guild in the first place."
"You've been keeping count then," Ragna decided with a hint of snark before tasting his dinner. The gravy inside of the pie was thick, but also tasted like there had been a drop of cream added to it. The meat (some type of fowl) was cut into nice and hearty pieces, but it was perfectly tenderized and came apart with the lightest of bites. There was a good assortment of fully cooked vegetables inside, and the whole thing was held together by a doughy pie crust. This was a good meal; even better than that he'd had this morning. "Holy crap, you're saying that this is your first try?"
"Nope, I've experimented with something like this before, but I changed a few of the spices I used on the gravy and cooked the meat a little longer. I take it this is a hit?" Ragna had eagerly gone for a second bite of the pie, so with a full mouth the only response he could give was an eager nod. "I'm happy to hear you say that; once I make plans to adjust our kitchen's stock I'll have to add it to the menu so that we can boost our sales." The word sales didn't quite sit well with Ragna as he paused his chewing before hollowly swallowing the food. "What's wrong?"
"Listen, this is great and all but…" Ragna tried to say before setting his fork down and gripping his forehead with his good hand. "Let's just put it that my day went from bad to worse and I don't have the cash to pay you back right now."
"Why do think I had this ready for when you came?" Mira asked him rhetorically as she filled a tankard of beer and set it in front of Ragna, much to the Reaper's surprise. "I sort of had a feeling."
"...I'm starting to wonder why everyone's scared of Erza when you can read people like a book," Ragna told her, leaving Mira to giggle as he went for a swig of his beer.
"I guess I just have a way of understanding most people," she told him casually as she leaned in towards Ragna so he had no choice but to look at her. "So… how exactly did this job of yours go?"
"In a nutshell everything that could go wrong ended up going wrong; first the job I got hired for turns out to be a lot tougher than it was supposed to be, then when I tried to get reasonable compensation they threatened to not pay me at all, they insult call me an old man from this backwater guild..." Mira sadly nodded at that last one, realizing that Ragna being called old was starting to become a norm. "And then… I acted like a Fairy Tail wizard."
"You blew up their estate."
"Half the estate."
"Oh, so you can show self-control."
"You're mocking me."
"No, I'm honestly not."
"Yeah right," Ragna muttered back, shaking his head as he went for another bite of his pie. "Do me a favor and don't tell Erza about this one, yeah? I get the feeling I'd be in for a lecture and I'm not sure I want to be on the receiving end of one of those right now."
"If your client refused to pay, I think that's on them and not you," Mira told him, looking at Ragna sadly. "But thanks to that you're broke? How are you going to pay for rent?"
"You mean for the house I don't even have right now?" Ragna said with a chuckle before taking a long drink, appreciating that this was one of the few worries he wouldn't have today. The disapproving glance he was getting from Mira made it clear that she didn't share his attitude. "It ain't that big of a deal…"
"I think you should be more worried about Lucy than me or Erza; she's not going to be happy that you don't even have a place to spend the night," she told him with a soft sigh. "We have a few spare beds in the back that you can use until you find a place to call your own, but I'd stay out of the woods for now if you want to keep your team from worrying."
"Who's the one that keeps getting called dad here? Pretty sure I'm supposed to be worrying about them and not the other way around," Ragna shot back before taking another bite out of the pie.
"I'm just saying that maybe you need someone to keep an eye on- EEP!" Mira quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands, realizing that what she was saying was insensitive to someone that had already been thoroughly mocked that day. The Reaper himself didn't seem to care to care about her words and only took another long sip of his beer as he watched the barmaid try not to make her situation worse for herself. Finishing his drink, he shot her a snarky smirk.
"Don't worry about it, it's actually not that big of a deal to me," he explained, for now just glad that he wasn't going to be scolded any further with the subject change. "I mean it's not like the damn thing's gone for good… probably."
"It's not?" Mira asked as she leaned in to get a closer look at Ragna's closed eye. True it didn't look like it had any scarring over it, but the eyelid hadn't moved at all in all of the time she'd seen it… not that she was the type to stare. "What's really wrong with it then?"
"Long story short, it's just paralyzed. This is far from the first time it's happened to me so I've already learned to cope with the handicap," Ragna explained nonchalantly. "The only difference is those other times the damage was temporary, but I can't let it heal the usual way and expect it to start working again out of nowhere."
"Paralyzed… Does that mean your arm's the same way?" Mira asked. Ragna only gave her a modest shrug. "If it's not too much trouble, do you think I could see it? Your eye I mean."
"Seems kinda sudden. Why?"
"I'm just curious I guess; I kind of want to see what you'd look like with both of your eyes actually working," Mira said before waving a hand in front of him. "Unless it makes you uncomfortable, then I can drop it here and we can pretend it never came up in the first place."
"It's the way I used to look; nothing too uncomfortable about that," Ragna told her before reaching up for his eyelid with his good hand. "Gotta warn you it might look a little disturbing. If it hasn't seen the light of day in a while it's probably going to have a weird shape and color to it and there's no guarantee it'll be facing the right way."
Mira didn't seem to have her mind changed by his words, so Ragna decided he'd indulge her. Reaching up to his right eye, he carefully lifted up his eyelids and was only left to wonder what Mira was seeing right now. She wasn't shying away, so obviously it wasn't all bad. Truth was the only thing that was shocking to Mira in how good of a condition his eye had been left in throughout his paralysis. It didn't look at all dried up and his iris was still the right size and shape compared to its partner. She wondered about the red color compared to his other's green, but all in all it looked like a perfect reflection to his other eye and was even looking straight ahead. Taking her focus away from just Ragna's eye, she looked to his face as a whole and… paused.
"...What's wrong? See something you like?" Ragna asked with a snarky quip as Mira stared at him. In his mind he admitted there was something of a flirty undertone with his quip, but Mira wasn't blushing. In fact, her face and eyes were so still the Reaper wasn't sure she'd even heard him in the first place. "Uh… Mira?"
"I… think I might've figured it out... your problem." Ragna gave her a weird look as he tried to ponder over her veiled words, finally coming to their meaning after a long moment of focused thought. His scowl made it clear that he didn't like what she was implying.
"So you're telling me… the whole reason that everyone treats me like crap… why everyone thinks I'm so much older than I actually am… and why I got mistaken for a 60 year old today… is just because my stupid right eye won't open?"
Mira didn't say anything to him, only continuing to give him that same awkward and apologetic smile that she'd tried to give him that morning when the subject of his age had been brought up earlier. With a loud groan, Ragna slumped and face planted into the bartop (only narrowly missing his pie).
"What the hell is it with this damn world?"
At his word's Mira could only give him a just as nervous laugh as a final blow was struck to the Reaper's ego for the day. Grabbing Ragna's tankard to top off his drink (something she knew he deserved), she made a strong mental note to talk to Makarov about fixing this the next morning.
Post Chapter Notes
Happy: You're back from the deeeeeeeeead.
Storm: Come on, I wasn't gone that- (Checks date of last post) ...Damn. I have been busy.
Happy: Aye! My resurrection spell brought you back from the writer's graveyard!
Storm: You make me sound like I'm some sort of zombie.
Happy: With all of those dark circles under your eyes you could have fooled me.
Storm: ...Normally I'd take offense to that, but you've got me there.
Happy: So we're doing the review responses here?
Storm: I'd like to… but I don't really think I can handle the sheer volume of the reviews I'd have to answer. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE hearing from people about my stories, but with the survey it's just not feasible… that being said, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Happy: Eh?
Storm: Listen, I'm not a stranger to a little criticism on my stories here or there, but I'd heard plenty of negative things on the last chapter I'd posted. What I'd hoped would be a fun little conclusion. turned out to be a polarizing mess. I felt kind of at a loss, not even sure that I wanted to continue this story, just leave it to fade away in update hell.
Happy: ...So you put that survey out?
Storm: To a pleasant surprise of A HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN responses, I'm now able to have confidence moving forward with a plan that I think will both satisfy a majority of the readers and follow the narrative that I was building in the first place. Again, I gotta say thank you.
Happy: So you're in a pretty good mood then?
Storm: Pretty content yeah, as long as this chapter and the idea moving forward does well I don't think there's anything I can complain about. Until next time everyone.
Storm and Happy: Ciao!