Late in the night, flying over the desolate sands of Desierto, a magic airship bounded towards the ocean. Its red and black hull blended with the night sky, and the only ones who knew of its existence were the disposable and the necessary, nothing in between.
What does he want now...
Ultear, who had been cooped up in the airship since she located Hades and asked to join Grimoire Heart, wandered through the near-empty halls. The only ones in her sight were a few hooded grunts who manned the logistics of the ship and flight path, pawns Hades could get rid of when he needed to, and nothing more.
Is it already time to start looking for keys...
Ultear had thought there would be more time; she had stalled out her progress in time magic for that specific reason. She wasn't eager to start collecting keys, so even though she had mastered time magic almost instantly, she downplayed her progress.
Well... it's not like it could last forever.
Ultear knew she was delaying the inevitable. She would eventually have to do it; she would do anything to start over. She would claim the keys of Zeref and steal the essence of magic from under Hades' nose; then, she would go back in time. She would go back, and this time, she wouldn't do anything wrong; she wouldn't give her mother a reason to abandon her...
'Your mother loved you...'
She wouldn't...
'She never would have left if she knew.'
Ultear slowly, naturally, and ideally lulled herself into numbness. A trick she kept from her time at the lab, the ability to shut off her emotions when they became too much or too loud for her tastes...
Forget about that liar...
She had been relying on that trick more than she would like to admit lately.
Only focus on what needs to be done.
She would get through this little meeting with Hades and whatever it entailed. If it was the keys, then so be it. Otherwise, she would continue her little ruse for as long as possible. It was a ruse she could get away with because Hades didn't seem to expect her to learn the Arc of Time quickly...
"Oh?"
The fact that he seemed to favor her also helped.
"Is the master's favorite pet going for a walk?"
That didn't stop jealous idiots like Zancrow, the insane pyromaniac who was supposedly going to be following her orders in the future, from voicing their displeasure. His ringed red eyes peered with crazed amusement as he stepped in the middle of Ultear's path, his razor teeth on full display in a twisted smile as she leveled an icy glare and icier tone, "Move. Master Hades summoned me."
Zancrow only laughed, his eyes tinged with insanity as he ignored her request and spoke with a sick satisfaction, "Ooh? You think he's going to send you on your first mission. He's already sent me to a village," Zancrow's smile reached his ears as he looked up at the ceiling with gleeful reminiscence, "The way they scream is the best part."
"You're sick."
Ultear scowled as Zancrow cackled in response, Ultear shoving past the crazed demon as he stayed in the hallway laughing. His voice echoed as he taunted her on her way past, "Better not keep the master waiting! Wouldn't want to lose your status as his favorite mutt, now would you!?"
Ultear tuned out the blonde's fading taunts as she marched through the halls of the airship. The dim, torch-lit hallways stretched until she got to a double-door gate. Its wooden surface was painted pale purple and black, with purple vines. Ultear calmed her mind and heartbeat as she knocked on the door, the dull voice reaching her through the other side.
"Enter..."
Ultear numbly complied, quickly pushing open the heavy doors before entering a dimly lit throne room. The torches on the wall gave an eerie feel, with the window in the background showing the moonlight peaking through the clouds just slightly above their heads. A throne was placed in the center, tinged with gold and bone, with a man with black robes and a silver helmet sitting on it. His long gray hair and a single green eye peered at the new arrival with a slight huff, "Took you long enough, Ultear. Next time, I expect you to get here immediately."
Hades smirked as he saw Ultear bow, her tone dead as she spoke obediently, "I apologize, Master Hades. Zancrow stopped me on the way here."
Hades hummed in response, giving a vague nod because that did sound like something the budding pyro would do. However, hades could use that insanity-induced audacity to his advantage in the future so he would overlook Zancrow's transgression. He would ignore Ultear's as well since she had an acceptable reason.
"Very well, just don't let it happen again."
Ultear nodded, receding from her bow as she looked up and caught a folder of papers thrown haphazardly. Her eyebrow raised as she flipped open the folder and was met with a file on an old man named Rob, who had access to explosion magic. The picture painted him as a senior, skinny man with nearly no meat in his bones.
"What's this for..." Ultear murmured as she looked through the pile, her attention split as she read the various files and listened to Hades' narration simultaneously, "The magic council recently caused a stir and destroyed some of the towers those brainless cults were working on. They were supposed to be targets for Etherion in the future, but now that they've been rendered useless, I need a new assurance."
Hades leaned on the armrest of his throne, his voice filled with dull authority as he watched Ultear flip seamlessly through the list of prospects, "Thankfully, an associate of mine stopped the last tower from being found, so it's possible to continue construction on it. That stack is a list of all the current slaves in the tower; pick the one that shows the most promise and ensure they become the figurehead for the tower's construction," Hades then let out a playful smirk, his voice tinged with amusement, "Without their knowledge of our involvement of course."
Ultear only hummed in response, her fingers flicking through the list of prospects quicker with each passing minute. Her list of potential recruits narrowed drastically as she scoured through the list, working through the logistics of a potential tool in her mind, "Too old... too stupid... too weak... too whiny..."
Ultear kept murmuring to herself as she narrowed the list, her lips pursed as she got to the bottom half of the pile and only had two or maybe three options. Each had their pitfalls that she would prefer to avoid dealing with, especially if they became a long-term investment, like Hades suggested.
Macbeth, Erik, and Erza are the best options so far...
Macbeth was looking to be the most likely; he had a lot of untapped potential; if she could break him using his fear of the dark, it would be possible to manipulate him into a helpful tool. Erik was also in the running, with an easy weakness she could exploit through his pet snake and a decent chance of gaining strong magic once the cuffs were off him. Erza was the least likely; she had the potential, but her heart wasn't nearly fickle enough to utilize fully; if Ultear were to make her a figurehead, she would have to convince the redhead that the magic council was the enemy and that was a lot more work than Ultear was willing to put in when it was a low possibility of success.
It looks like Macbeth will have to do.
Ultear was getting to the end of the pile, and besides another runner-up named Simon, who had a strange report where one of the guards had marked him as a potential vessel, the rest were pitiful. None of them suited her tastes, and she didn't have the time to mold an utterly new tool out of one of the trashier options, not when this would be her first assignment, and Hades would be watching her every move.
I should start researching nightmare spells, that or a blackout spell, so he won't...
Ultear's thoughts trailed as she saw the last page in the folder, her eyes widening and the paper crinkling under her fingers as a pale expression crossed her features. Ultear attempted to hide it under a mask of indifference, but it was too late; Hades had noticed her slip-up.
"Oh? Did you find someone you recognize..." Hades spoke with a knowing smirk, his eyes alight with amusement as he flicked his finger, and the folder flew out of Ultear's hands. Her posture was rigid as he requipped all the files except the last page, looking at it with a mirthful chuckle, "Oh? I'm surprised you have such a good eye; I marked him as a quality prospect in the first run-through..."
Hades tilted his head, a grin crossing his lips as he spoke with a hint of sarcasm, "He looks like one of the boys you informed me about. The ones that abandoned you in Brago, correct?"
Ultear flinched, her eyes forcefully deadened as she nodded, listening to Hades speak with a barely concealed chuckle, "Well, this must be fate then..."
Hades grinned amusedly as he flicked the paper back to Ultear, watching her catch it with a heavy hand as he spoke with a twisted delight, "He'll do; turn him into a figurehead. Tensions are high, so I'm sure those imbeciles in the tower will screw up soon enough. Once that happens, you'll have a chance to turn him into a tool for us to use..."
Hades grinned as he watched Ultear, his favorite tool, dully look at the paper. His words were poised and geared to drag her further into despair and away from the joy of this world so she would push herself even further to reach the new one.
"Make sure you squeeze all the use you can out of him..."
Hades would use the wonderful surprise that had fallen in his lap, a living reminder of the weaklings that had escaped the lab by latching onto Ultear's strength.
"Brainwash him until he has no idea what he once stood for..."
He would use this wonderful surprise to strengthen Ultear's devotion to his perfect world by removing any lingering attachment she might have still had to those boys.
"Make as much use as you can of Jellal Fernandez."
He would use the boy with blue hair and a red tattoo.
An image of a boy with blue hair and a red tattoo flashed through Vera's mind as he dived into his shadow. The picture of when he first spotted Number 8 sitting in the lab burned into his skull as he felt Sho respond to his unsung desires to run, get away, and take Vera somewhere he could be alone with his rampaging thoughts. It was cruel to Number 8, who had watched him run away, but Vera needed to sort his head out, and he couldn't do that in the apartment.
He said his name was Siegrain...
The second time Vera dived into the depths of his shadow, it wasn't nearly as comforting as the first experience. Instead of the calm water-like surroundings cleansing his mind, they only added to his raging shock. Instead of the tinted lens to the outside world letting him reflect, it made him terrified to come out of the little world he was in. Even Sho's reassuring tugs were ignored because no matter how much Vera tried, he couldn't calm down...
Why did he say that name...
He struggled to think straight, and the lack of air wasn't helping.
Siegrain.
Vera heard the word, the name that shouldn't have been said, ring through his head. His heartbeat pounded in his ears as he barely clocked Sho, leaving the apartment complex Jose had rented them a room in and diving into the fading moonlit streets of Oak Town, where the residents slumbered, unaware of Vera's current dilemma.
Why did Number 8 say his name was Siegrain...
Vera couldn't get his head around it because Siegrain didn't exist. He was just a thought projection Jellal cooked up to infiltrate the magic council. It's a fake persona that Jellal used to get the council to fire Etherion and nothing else...
Siegrain didn't exist in the story...
In the story, Siegrain was the 'twin brother' of Jellal, who never existed in the first place...
He didn't exist, but...
Unless...
Neither did I.
Siegrain had existed at one point.
So, how did Number 8 escape the lab the first time?
Vera had thought that Number 8, who he had assumed was Jellal, had been sold off to the Tower of Heaven, where he met Ezra. Vera assumed that the lab, a horror even worse than the tower, was just a snippet of Jellal's undisclosed upbringing...
The tests stop working at 13...
That all hinged on the idea that the doctor would willingly give Number 8 to the tower...
Number 8 isn't thirteen.
Before the tests stopped working.
'Tug' 'Tug'
Vera's eyes widened as he felt his air run out, his lungs screaming in protest as he let out a surprised gasp and inadvertently choked on the murky water. His coughs echo as Sho spit him into a dark alleyway between an old baker's shop and a butcher's hut. His throat cleared as he got the shadow, water, whatever out of his lungs and leaned against the stone wall beside him. His breath ragged as he filled his lungs with the cool night air and stared holes into his feet, his mind churning as the pieces clicked ever so slowly into place.
I never made it to the story...
That was the most likely scenario, the one Vera had come up the day he woke up. Vera figured he had died in the lab, a nameless background character in Ultear's tragic past, killed by the doctor or the tests, terminated after his usefulness gave out, or died when Ultear...
What if Number 8...
When Ultear destroyed the lab.
Didn't make it to the story either.
The more Vera played with the idea, the more it made sense because there were still inconsistencies, even if the doctor, by some miracle, decided to let Number 8 leave the lab early. Inconsistencies specifically came up when he envisioned Number 8 as the boy who tried to build the Tower of Heaven.
Jellal never used thread magic...
Vera had thought it was because Jellal had gained access to Heavenly Body Magic, but in hindsight, it was still strange. Number 8 had mastered thread magic; he used it whenever he had the chance, and Vera could tell he loved it. Number 8 had no reason not to use it without the little vendetta Ultear had with her mother and the connection to her ice magic.
Jellal never realized Ultear was manipulating him...
Number 8 had sparred with Ultear multiple times, and he always lost. He even told Vera that he knew Ultear was stronger than them, so why would he suddenly think she was an idiot unquestioningly devoted to his cause?
That doesn't make any sense...
Vera hadn't questioned it because why would he? Jellal's face was unmistakable. It would be weird to assume that Number 8, someone with blue hair and a red tattoo over his right eye, with incredible potential in magic, was anyone else...
Wait...
It would be weird to assume that such a prodigy in magic could be someone else.
How did Jellal learn magic?
Vera winced as his head pulsed, dragging out another memory to fill in the missing pieces. Vera held his head as it crawled to the surface, burning past the fog like a growing fire. The pain in his head came in waves until it eventually rescinded, leaving behind a small, minute detail of the story lying bold in the center of his mind for him to gape at.
Jellal learned magic at the tower... didn't he?
Jellal had learned magic during the giant escape from the Tower of Heaven. He hadn't used it before, at least going off of Erza's reaction, and that should've been impossible. Number 8 had been raised to use magic; the idea of him unlocking it in the tower after his years of training in the lab wasn't feasible. It was impossible...
Number 8 is Siegrain.
Number 8 couldn't be Jellal...
Siegrain was still in the lab when Ultear left, and she wouldn't have taken him with her...
Jellal was still in the tower.
Siegrain died before the story started; he died in the lab when Ultear blew it up.
Vera felt his knees buckle at the realization, the clarity of it all crashing down on him as he sat against the damp stone wall. His breath was heavy as he looked up at the dark sky, the pale moonlight rescinding across the sky, and let out a shaky breath, "Holy shit..."
Vera didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"I saved Siegrain's life."
Vera's intervention, a split-second decision that had ended up panning out, had saved Siegrain's life. Vera's existence had created a new variable, however short it had been. One that was never supposed to be a factor in the first place.
"I can't believe it..."
Vera let out a shaky laugh as he looked at the sky, its pitch-black canvas slowly fading. Vera watched the clouds gain color as his mind sifted through the new information he had discovered. Everything was airtight, except one thing that Vera couldn't figure out no matter how hard he thought about it...
"How the hell did Jellal know his name?"
Vera didn't buy the idea that it was just a twisted coincidence for Jellal to choose the name 'Siegrain' when he infiltrated the council. Jellal had to have had at least a bit of knowledge of Siegrain's existence beforehand; Vera just couldn't figure out how he got it. Especially when Siegrain didn't seem to know Jellal even existed...
"Shit..."
Which brought up a whole new dilemma.
"What am I gonna tell Siegrain?"
Vera felt his stomach churn at the notion, his eyes shakily turning to the sky as he envisioned the snow falling on them back in Brago. His mind recalled the soft snow beneath his feet where he could replace the wall behind him with any of the many destroyed structures in the desolate city, and nothing would change...
I told Ultear about Hades...
Nothing would ever change.
I let her go.
Vera would never be able to change what he had already done.
I'm the reason Siegrain's brother is stuck in hell.
Vera felt his breathing pick up, his airways feeling tight as he turned his blurry vision to the ground, his stomach heaving as he vomited the little food in his system onto the damp alleyway. The sounds of his retching filling the alley way yet the only sound he heard was the girl who they left behind in the snow.
'You'll regret it...'
His nose scrunched up as the acidic smell hit his nostrils, and he gagged at the putrid taste, gritting his teeth as his eyes watered in an agonizing frustration. Vera's racing thoughts were only halted by a calm voice that echoed overhead, "Do you want to come with me?"
The gentle voice above him shattered the quiet atmosphere as Vera shot his head upwards. His body flinched in surprise as he saw a giant figure floating gracefully in the air, his blindfolded gaze tilted at Vera with an innocent curiosity. Vera wiped the stray vomit off his lips as Aria sailed down and held a single finger up, pointing to Vera and directing a slight breeze his way, tapping the smell off of Vera and moving the vomit on the ground away from him, "It's almost dawn; there's a place I go to see the sunrise. It'll help you clear your head..." Aria flicked his head towards Vera's still shadow, his lips quirking, "It'll help you both clear your heads."
Vera felt his lips open slightly in surprise, his eyes flicking back to Sho, hovering on the wall cautiously, staring holes into Aria, who instantly noticed him. Vera glanced back at Aria, who didn't care about Sho's hesitance and waited with his hand up. The winds spun above his finger like a spinning top, the small whistle of its movement numbing Vera's thoughts. The initial entailed running away before his mind settled ever so slightly, and he took a deep breath, the weight of the world on his shoulders, as he hung his head and gave a tired nod, "Okay..."
Vera was tired...
"I'll go with you, big guy."
He honestly didn't have the energy to care about why Aria was here or whether or not Jose had sent him. He just wanted to take a break, and since Aria was offering, who was Vera to say no?
Vera should've said no...
This is unpleasant...
Vera blinked as he hung upside down in the air, trying to keep the blood from rushing to his head as the wind that was holding him in the air rose and curled around him like a snake made of a gentle breeze. Vera watched the ground get further away as he flew into the sky, with Aria flying next to him the entire time without a hint of fear or concern, "I come to this place every morning; I'm sure you will like it. Although, if you can, don't mention it to the guild master, he isn't a fan."
Vera frowned as he watched the ground blur past, hanging upside down as he saw the houses below pass by, not bothering to answer since the wind would steal his words and instead give a dull nod that the flying giant seemed to catch.
"Wonderful," Aria softly said as he guided the currents until they were at his favorite spot in Oak Town. Aria pointed at Vera's upside-down body, and the air instantly flipped the tired boy right-side up. Vera suffered vertigo as the air flipped him so his feet were pointed to the ground again before setting Vera down on a rooftop that overlooked the city...
Wow...
The rooftop of the Phantom Lord guild hall nestled at the top of the hill that made Oak Town.
"So what do you think?" Aria asked, his head tilted gently as he watched Vera gape at the view. The sight was a marvel; they could see where the surrounding forests and rivers bleed into the mountains. Where every house and street passed underneath their feet and where the sky could blend into the landscape. The horizon was in full view, the first hints of dawn inching their way into the skyline, scaring away the night sky with chirping birds and a cool morning breeze.
"It's beautiful..." Vera mumbled honestly, his shoulders relaxing as he looked at the new dawn. His shoulders loosened as he turned back to Sho, who had stuck his head out of the ground to see, then glanced at Vera before nodding, seemingly approving of the gesture, before sinking back into the ground again. Vera heard Aria give an affirming nod before they both turned back to the sunrise, the comfortable silence stretching until Aria spoke with an honest and gentle curiosity, "So, can I assume that the master's offer is what has been eating at you?"
Aria kept his gaze on the rising sun to not pressure the boy. A tactic that seemed to work because, while Vera tensed at the words, he eventually responded with a simple shrug and a low mutter, "Yeah, you could say the offer's still on my mind..."
As well as other things...
Vera pinched the ends of his sleeves between his fingers as he fidgeted under the loud thoughts, his mind muddled until Aria cleared it with a warm inquiry, "I know I'm not the most unbiased listener, but would you care to tell me what you're hung up about? I can understand having reservations, but from what the Guild Master told me, his offer wasn't cheap."
Aria stood quietly and patiently while waiting for Vera to answer. Aria gave the boy time to think over his offer, knowing full well that it would be a single drop in the lake of issues swirling around in that boy's head. Aria was almost sure the boy would turn him down once the seconds stretched to minutes, but to his surprise, Vera eventually gave a quiet nod, "Alright..."
Vera wanted someone to vent to besides Sho. He wanted someone to throw all his raging emotions at. Aria wasn't the best choice, but he was the most willing one, so Vera would take it.
"Eight and I," Vera began before he thinned his lips, getting used to the new words as he spoke them out loud, "Siegrain and I came from a shitty place in Isvan. Siegrain didn't know much about the world, so I suggested we go to Fairy Tail. I heard they were a guild that treated everyone like family, and I wanted a piece of that..."
Vera sighed as he sat on the ridge of the rooftop overlooking Oak Town, his feet kicking over the ledge, "Then Jose pointed out that I don't fit their list of desirable candidates, and suddenly that became a useless endeavor."
Vera's voice dipped an inch into bitterness, "I traveled all this way..."
Then, a mile, "Did all this work..."
Until he spoke with frustration that ate at him to the bone, "Fought past everything, and it feels like it was all for nothing," Vera clenched his fists, his teeth gnashing as he hissed with venom, "All this shit I went through and it was worthless! All the scummy shit I did to get out of that hell hole was for nothing! They won't even let me in because why the fuck would they!"
Vera didn't care about killing; he really didn't...
"Not after everything I did!"
He just hated that he got his hands dirty, specifically so he could join Fairy Tail, and that's why they wouldn't let him in...
"Not after what I did to..."
He hated that he couldn't even blame them.
Ultear...
Vera felt his eyes waver as he ran his hand through his hair, his nails digging into his scalp as he gave a frustrated growl. His eyes were nearly watering as they burned holes into the ground a hundred meters below him, his frustration and pent-up anger exploding from the deepest depths of his soul, "What was I supposed to do!"
If he was in a better state of mind, he would've been able to control himself and the memory of Ultear's shattered expression, tinged with frustration and fury deep in the ruins of Brago.
'YOU THINK YOU'RE SO SMART!?'
He wasn't; he was tired, so his mental locks had been thoroughly broken.
'USING MY MOTHER SO I WOULD HELP YOU ESCAPE! I HATE YOU! I DON'T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES! I'LL KILL YOU!'
He couldn't stop his mind as it replayed the final moments at Brago, Ultear's futile rage echoing in his ears like a tolling bell.
'I'LL KILL YOU FOR HIDING HER DEATH FROM ME! I'LL KILL YOU FOR USING ME!'
The guilt and self-loathing that had been eating at him, the ones he had tried to bury with the ruins in Brago, quickly bubbled to the surface.
'FOR ACTING LIKE YOU WOULD HELP ME WHEN YOU ALREADY KNEW IT WAS POINTLESS!'
There hadn't been time to deal with it back in Isvan; he had to make sure he and Siegrain got to Fairy Tail, and he couldn't even do that right. He had pushed the issue aside, hidden it in the deepest part of himself, and now that it had spouted, it started roaring through his mouth like water out of a broken dam, "I needed a way out! She was there! She was strong! I wasn't!"
Vera had used Ultear to get out of the lab...
"I thought I could fix it, but I couldn't!"
Vera had been found out in Brago...
"I let her go! I knew what she would do, and I let her go! I let her go because..."
Vera had told her about Hades...
"I let her go..."
Vera was responsible for what she would do to Jellal and many others...
"I just..."
He could've stopped it, but he wasn't able to change her, and he hadn't killed her when she asked him to because she looked so...
"I didn't know what to do..."
So defeated...
"I don't know what to do."
He didn't want her to give up and die.
"I'm so tired of searching for what to do."
Ever since he woke up, Vera had always looked to the future. A future where he wasn't in the lab, a future where he was a mage, a future where he could join Fairy Tail, a future where he was safe, a future where he was happy...
'Was it fun... dragging me around when you knew all I ever cared about... all I ever cared about...'
A future even slightly better than the one he woke up with.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Vera had all this knowledge, all this future knowledge, however accurate it may be, and he hadn't been able to do shit with it. He failed to help Ultear; his meddling probably worsened it. He failed to help Jellal, who was probably working his friends to the bone under the false prophet of Zeref. He was unable to get to Fairy Tail, and even if he made it there, he would have failed to join it because who would want scum that use their friend's dead mother as a tool to survive.
"I'm so tired..."
He failed and failed and failed, and he hated it.
"I'm so tired of everything."
Vera let out a shaky breath as his word vomit came to an end, his eyes clamped shut as his downward spiral brewed. His raging thoughts only tapered off as he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Vera instantly began latching onto warmth, and the only voice not screaming at him in his head, "I'm sorry you had to go through that..."
It was quiet, and if Vera listened closely, it almost sounded like Aria's voice was...
"That's so..."
Trembling?
"Sad..."
Vera paused in his brooding to glance over to Aria, who had tears running down his face and snot dripping down his nose, "HOW SAD! I AM SO SORRY YOU'VE GONE THROUGH SO MUCH YOUNG VERA!"
Vera flinched as Aria wrapped his giant arms around him and lifted him off the edge of the rooftop, crushing him in a loud, sobbing hug that threatened to destroy Vera's bones. Vera's dark thoughts vanished instantly as he focused on ensuring his lungs didn't stop working, "Aria... it's okay... Aria... please let go..."
"HOW SAD! YOU DON'T KNOW THE JOY OF HUMAN AFFECTION! HOW TRAGIC!" Vera grunted as he was somehow hugged tighter, his hand straining as he futilely patted Aria's back. Vera gave up on escaping (Deliora couldn't escape this hug) and focused on quieting Aria's cries echoing through the waking town.
Seriously... I don't remember him being this sentimental.
Then again, the most he recalled about Aria was that he bodied Natsu, got bodied by Erza, and cried a lot. The first and second things hadn't happened yet, and the third thing was checking out just fine, so this could be normal Aria's behavior.
I can't believe this guy was supposed to come off as scary...
Vera shook his head at the thought, his lungs screaming for joy as Aria dropped him from the hug and wiped his tears with his sleeves. Aria sniffled and turned his blindfolded gaze back to Vera, this time with a more insightful tone, "Vera... do you know why I joined Phantom Lord?"
Vera blinked, his breath slowly coming back to him as he shook his head; his morbid curiosity peaked as Aria gave him an answer he hadn't expected.
"I wanted to become heartless."
For all his efforts, Vera couldn't hold back the shiver that crawled up his spine at that moment. His eyes were wide and attentive as the hairs on his skin prickled. As if it was feeling the air respond to Aria's sudden shift in direction, "I grew up with a peaceful people and learned the value of life through them..."
The air thrummed, chilling and fluctuating while Aria stood stone-still in the center, "They believed that if magic was only used for the barest of purposes, for survival and worship, then eventually all of humanity could live in harmony..."
It was like Aria was in the eye of a silent, raging hurricane, "They dreamed of a day where we could return to a more peaceful time, a time where even dragons lived alongside us."
It was like the air was weeping in this moment that Aria had chosen not to, "Eventually, I decided that my people were wrong."
Aria wasn't crying; he was stony and silent, his voice robotic and dull, "Peace was a mistake; power was the answer."
Aria turned his dead, blindfolded gaze to Vera, who flinched back on instinct. His nerves flared as Aria spoke with that same faraway feeling in his voice that wouldn't go away, "I joined Phantom Lord because I wanted to change. I wanted to kill my weak self and my heart that bled for everything. This was the place to do it."
Vera felt his heart skip a beat as Aria put a finger to his chest, his growing caution fading as Aria's face lost its stony edge. His expression softened to one of sympathetic understanding, and his kind words echoed through the open air, "I don't know of your past; even my eyes can only see so much, but I do know your tone. You hate yourself for what you've done or failed to do. You want to change..." Aria opened his palm, creating a small bubble that floated into the air and popped, shimmering with the rising sun's rays reflecting off its implosion, "I believe Phantom Lord can help you change if that's what you so desire."
Aria saw the boy take in his words with wide, conflicted eyes, a fight between the boy's cold logic and raging emotions warring underneath. Aria let his hand waver towards the boy's shoulder in support before he stiffened, his head shot towards the guild hall below him. A chuckle left his lips as he tapped Vera on the forehead with a featherlight finger, "You should discuss this with him..."
Vera blinked in surprise as Aria gave a warm smile before he vanished into thin air with a few soft words goodbye, "I hope you find an answer you can be happy with."
Vera watched in silence, with a thousand-yard stare, as the air that had once been Aria blew off into the sky, carrying the rays of sunshine over Oak Town until Vera was left alone once again...
"How bothersome..."
Well, almost alone.
"Honestly, he comes up here to brood every morning, then he brings you with him. What a high-maintenance ace I have..."
Jose spoke with a sarcastic drawl as he watched the exhausted boy with bags under his eyes turn to him. Jose expected rude comments or angry barbs and instead got something he hadn't expected: a desperate voice, "You..."
Jose watched, his eyes rising with eagerness not far behind as the boy seemed to gaze through him. His red, hollow eyes peered through the dawn-lit sky's rays, searching for something just out of his reach, "You're strong..."
Just beyond the tips of his fingers...
"Right?"
Jose couldn't have woken up to a better morning.