Late into the night, the forests of Oak Town echoed with the sound of destruction and falling trees. The training ground where Phantom Lord's guild master usually trained his student was being taken up by the other, more powerful and usually less volatile young mage under the ranks of the guild roster.
Now, what is the quiet one doing here...
Jose tilted his head, somewhat intrigued by the sight of the blue-haired boy dismantling the nearby trees and shrubbery surrounding the dead field. With a look of barely concealed fury and some resentment etched on the usually dull canvas the runt called a face, as he seemingly tried to extend the radius of the training grounds by a few yards.
I don't see the rodent... did the quiet one kill him? That would be a waste...
Jose would have been pissed if he had trained the brat for years to have his friend do him in, but thankfully Jose couldn't see any blood anywhere on the blue-haired boy's white clothes. It was a good sign because Jose was confident his student would at least put up a fight. Still, it was also confusing because Jose couldn't figure out why the quiet, docile teen would destroy things willy nilly if it wasn't during a spar with his protege, "Maybe he's going through puberty..."
That was a possibility and one that would ruin Jose's week. There was a long list of things he would instead do than have 'the talk' with the blue-haired teenager; burning down the forest and hiding the evidence was just one of the options.
"Aria's away too, damn."
Jose almost regretted sending Aria on a mission, but the rune knights had found out what guild those idiots who attacked Totamaru and Sol were trying to impress. Jose didn't want to take any chances of having another loss on Phantom Lord's record, so he sent his ace; he would have gone himself if it wasn't so close to the guild masters meeting.
"Hm... well, as long as he doesn't cause too much of a ruckus then-"
"Thread Magic: Cleave"
Jose felt his eyes twitch slightly as the quiet, composed, usually reasonable teen cut through a couple of trees with his threads. The brat's tantrum inching further away from the training ground and closer to the town, where the people would likely start to notice the sound of falling trees, leading them to think that Oak Town was being attacked... again.
What a way to end my day...
Jose sighed as he reluctantly floated down towards the crime scene, his head tilted at the boy, who had taken a break in his rampage to catch his breath, cringing at the sound of his annoyed voice, "Well runt 2, what happened? You finally inherit Runt 1's penchant for violence?"
Jose watched with slight interest as the blue-haired boy flinched at the mention of Runt 1, the minuscule clenching of Siegrain's fist indicating that some falling out had occurred. Jose would have laughed if the result wasn't getting in the way of his well-needed nap, "Well, I'll be damned, runt 2, are you and runt one not in agreement on something?"
"What's that supposed to mean," Siegrain muttered under his labored breath, wiping some sweat from his brow and his eyes numbly glancing at Jose, who merely scoffed, "What? Was I not clear? I was just surprised that you and the rodent aren't on the same page; you two have practically been inseparable since you arrived."
Jose raised an eyebrow in interest as the blue-haired runt once again clenched his fist, this time tighter, at the mention of runt 1. Jose grinned as he glanced around before flying towards one of the fallen logs the boy had added to the forest and leisurely lying down on it. His eyes lazily looked at the sky as he halfheartedly waved his hand at the boy with emotional problems, "Well, runt 2, you look like you need to say something. Go ahead, I'll listen as long as it's interesting."
Jose might as well listen to a good story before getting well-deserved rest.
Siegrain, for his life, couldn't explain why he accepted Jose's offer. Maybe it was the raging emotions in his head or that he was too shocked that the guild master of all people had offered to listen, but he'd vented a lot.
"I have a twin brother."
Siegrain recounted that he had a brother somewhere out there, that Vera somehow knew about it, and that he deliberately hid it from him, "Vera's known about it for a long time. He never told me; he probably wouldn't have told me until I made S class if Wendy didn't show up!"
Siegrain didn't recount every little detail, he was too pissed to remember them all at this point, but he got the main points across, "The only reason I know about it is that she mistook me for him! I could've known years ago, and he didn't tell me! He still won't tell me where he is! He says he'll kill me!"
Siegrain's voice got louder, and his temper rose with every trembling syllable that escaped his lips, "He won't even tell me how he knew about it! How am I supposed to react to that! What am I supposed to say! Am I just supposed to believe what he says because he said it! HE'S MY BROTHER! How am I just supposed to believe he'll kill me when we've never even met!"
At this point, Siegrain was visibly seething, a vein twitching in his head because he was annoyed, pissed, frustrated, exhausted, and everything had bubbled over, "What if I don't think he'll kill me, huh!? Did Vera ever think of that!? No, probably not because he never thought to fucking tell me!"
He was furious because he had a chance now, a chance to have what he had with Seven, a chance to have a family again. He finally had that chance, and Vera would hide that from him for another two or maybe three years, which was infuriating!
"Who is he to tell me I'm not strong enough to see my brother!"
Siegrain was half tempted to start cutting down trees again until his anger or magic died out, whatever came first. He almost did it too, if it wasn't for the small chuckle that escaped his audience's lips.
"Pfft..."
Siegrain turned around with wide, rage tinted eyes as Jose chuckled, the quiet laughter calming down a moment later before a low murmur escaped Jose's lips, "Damn... the runt did something smart for once. I'm almost proud of him."
Siegrain snarled at Jose, who glanced at him with a shit-eating grin, "Oops, did you hear that? Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said anything to you in such a pathetic state."
Jose smirked as he snapped his finger and blew apart the threaded dagger thrown at him in the runt's meltdown, "Oh? I must say you are much less boring when you're angry."
Jose floated off the log as another dagger slammed into it, his eyes lazily glancing at Siegrain, who was glaring murder at him. The look in his eyes reminded him of another stupid youngster who fought him weekly, "The rodent's rubbing off on you, runt 2; guess his stupidity's contagious."
Jose floated a little higher as a dagger thrown in a blind rage flew past his feet. Jose yawned as he let a ball of shades take his place below, its beady red eyes glaring at Siegrain, who met it with an expression of cold rage, "Since I'm generous, I'll let you take your anger out on my shade."
Jose watched quietly as the boy attacked the shade viciously, his threads slicing into it repeatedly as his shadow struck back with giant fists.
"Maybe you'll listen when you cannot use anything but your ears."
Jose wondered if he should go on these nighttime strolls more often.
Around an hour and a couple of dozen trees later, Siegrain slumped to the ground. His body was littered with bruises from where the shade balloon had gotten a couple of good hits. Sweat poured down his face, and dirt was strewn about his body as he tried and failed to pick himself back up, only able to lay his cheek on the dirty ground as his fleeting breath slowly came back to soothe his aching muscles.
Wizard Saints are something else...
It wasn't like with Aria, where Siegrain could see his progress firsthand; Jose felt unbeatable. Whenever Siegrain cut through a shade balloon, Jose would summon another one. If he tried to target Jose, the balloon would get in the way, or Jose would lazily fire a laser of dead energy. The entire time, Siegrain felt like he was dancing in the palm of Jose's hand, unable to do anything with the mage flying far out of reach.
I need to research floating magic...
Siegrain would keep that in mind for later; floating was useful, and even if he didn't end up using it in battle it was still worth looking into...
"Well, now you've gotten me curious, runt 2..."
It would just be like all the other magic he'd learned.
"Why did you only use thread magic?"
Jose watched curiously as he descended to the ground. His eyes narrowed, and a slight frown graced his lips as the boy stubbornly remained silent, staring holes into the dirt instead of answering the question, "Well, whatever, I suppose it doesn't matter anyways."
If Jose was the quiet brat's teacher, he might take this time to probe the blue-haired idiot on why he seemed stubborn against using more than one weapon in his arsenal, but he wasn't. He didn't care about the brat's magic dilemma; he only promised to teach the black-haired boy.
The blue-haired boy with potential higher than most wizard saints was a fantastic bonus. He'd make it to S class whether he dawdled for the next ten years or trained religiously, so Jose wouldn't waste time picking the boy's brain; Phantom Lord would benefit regardless.
"You're a stubborn brat, I'll give you that," Jose muttered as he sat down on the boy's prone back, his chin in his palm as he mumbled idly, "You don't know much of how the world works, do you?"
Jose felt the boy stiffen under him, a sign of admittance if Jose had ever heard it, and an indicator for Jose to continue, "Figured. Ever since you came here, you've lived in your little happy bubble. Doing your missions easily and learning magic you hope you'll never have to use. All while reading books to try and glimpse through the world too big for you to understand."
Jose hummed as he felt the boy shift under him, futile trying to escape being Jose's makeshift chair or listening to Jose's painfully blunt words; it didn't matter. The result was the same, "The world is more complicated than that, and at the very least, you know it's more complicated than that. You know it, but it doesn't mean you've grasped it yet, not the way the rodent has. The world is wide and cruel, and people will do anything to survive in it; even your long-lost twin isn't exempt from that rule."
Jose felt the air quiet as his words settled into the boy's brain. Jose lazily rested his chin in his palm as he tapped his finger, using the steady rhythm to keep time as the boy stared at the ground in a daze, "Wether you choose to believe the rodent or not is of little concern to me, as is your family drama, but I can tell you one thing confidently."
Jose had things to do, so he stood up and advised the boy before taking his leave, "The greatest lie ever told was that family will never hurt you."
He'd leave the rodent a note or something telling him that his friend had chosen to sleep elsewhere for the night, "The truth is that family can turn against you at any time; the fact that they share blood with you doesn't mean anything."
The last thing he needed was the rodent tearing up the town, looking for his friend who was already passing out from the exhaustion of battle.
"Family is just a word."
Jose had done enough heavy lifting for today.
Vera usually didn't dream.
Oh...
It wasn't a big deal or anything; it was just a simple fact. Dreams were usually a mix of memory and hidden desires, and almost all of Vera's memories were hidden. Locked behind a curtain of foggy clouds in his mind, only to be accessed sporadically and painfully.
It's this one again...
Vera usually didn't dream of anything.
It's been a while since I've had this one.
After the draining talk with Siegrain that was a bit... fuzzy on his end, Siegrain stormed out, and Vera tried staying awake. His efforts were for naught since Jose dropped off a note telling him that Siegrain had found somewhere else to crash. If Vera had to put money on it, he'd go with it being Pause or Doronbo's place, but the specifics didn't matter; the message was clear: Siegrain wanted space so that Vera would give it to him.
It's denser than the real thing...
Then, once he made sure Wendy was still thoroughly passed out, he took the free couch and passed out immediately, and opened his eyes here in a deep embrace of still, cold, and dark water. Vera's eyes were barely able to see past the cool liquid that surrounded him but wasn't soaking him, that clung to his skin but didn't sting his eyes. The shadows surrounded him like a thick blanket that he couldn't even begin to crawl out of, a world of darkness and depths he couldn't understand completely.
Sho's world.
He'd only had this dream twice before, the first time was a long time ago, before he even knew this was Sho's world. He was pretty sure it was some time around Brago but he wasn't keen on specifics. The most recent time was clearer in his memory, it was right after the meteor shower a year ago.
Wonder if anything will be different this time.
If this were reality, this would've been the part where he drowned inside Sho's world, but in the dream, he could breathe just fine; he could drift in the depths of the murky water for as long as the dream would allow. Last time, he did just that, swimming around endlessly in the depths of the dark and murky sea. Hopefully, this time, it will be more enjoyable.
Maybe he's hiding somewhere?
Vera hummed at the thought, cupping his mouth as he yelled out into the vast expanse of liquid, his words getting warbled in the murky water, "Sho!? You here!?"
Vera clicked his tongue as his voice through the water and kept going, giving a regrettable sigh as he swam in what he assumed was a downward direction. The entire experience was oddly calming, just swimming in order, the ripples of liquid warbling around him, until eventually, he saw the liquid start to waft through his fingers, "Well, that was lame."
Vera didn't even get to meet Sho.
Siegrain woke up to the sound of birds and the smell of burnt grass. His eyes numbly opened as he groaned and flipped himself over, looking up at the morning sky with an injured arm over his eyes, "That was unpleasant..."
Siegrain couldn't say that sleeping in the middle of the forest after Jose toyed with him was fun, but he'd woken up to worse views before. A white tiled ceiling was a thousand times worse than the blue sky above him; he'd choose this view any day over the old one.
"This view is nice..."
His situation could have been better, but it was miles better than his old one.
"Wonder what view Jellal has right now..."
Perhaps Siegrain had gotten drunk on that view.
"I wonder if he likes it."
Maybe he had grown softer since he'd escaped the lab, his daily tortures replaced with friendly outings and trips to the library. His empty room was now a painful memory in the corner of his mind while living a life he couldn't have imagined only a few years earlier, a paradise of his design.
"Hey, Seven..."
Would it be wrong...
"I have a family now."
For Siegrain to be a little greedier.
"Vera thinks he'll kill me."
Would it be so wrong for Siegrain to try to have more than this day-to-day peace.
"He's probably right."
Now that Siegrain had time to cool off and wasn't being persuaded by seething anger and frustration, he could replay the conversation and admit that Vera had probably told the truth. Siegrain didn't think Vera would hide something for so long, lie so stubbornly, if he didn't think Siegrain had a real chance of dying at Jellal's hands.
"I don't think he was lying."
Siegrain knew Vera could lie to the people he cared about, but he didn't think this was the case. Vera wasn't lying for himself this time, as he had done in Brago. Vera hadn't lied for his survival, he had lied for Siegrain's survival; Vera had hidden his brother's existence for who knows how long and would keep hiding it until Siegrain was in S class. Until he was strong enough to survive an encounter with his brother at least, and most likely Ultear since she was apparently in on it. A factor he had forgot about in his initial rage last night.
"Maybe I should have killed her back in Brago."
Vera may have been the one who told her how to get to Grimer Hope or whatever the dark guild was called. It had been so long since Siegrain had honestly forgotten the name, but that didn't mean he was the only one who spared her.
"It'll be harder to do it now."
Siegrain was there too; he had her tied up and dead to rights; he just had to stab her; he could have killed her before then if he just let that arrow hit her, but he didn't. He chose to spare her, just as Vera did, and now he was paying the price for it; his brother was paying a worse one.
"He must be pretty strong."
If Siegrain had to guess going off of Vera's words, Jellal was stronger than him and weaker than Ultear. If they were back at the lab Siegrain probably would have put Jellal at Seven's level, maybe Nine's; but that didn't really matter. All that mattered was that his brother was stronger than him, and therefore strong enough to kill him if they met.
"He probably wants to kill me or plans to kill me because Ultear would want me dead."
Siegrain wasn't strong enough to meet Jellal and survive the confrontation that might follow; that was why Vera had hidden his existence from him in the first place. Siegrain could acknowledge that if he found Jellal there was a good chance he would die, Jose had nailed in the possibility of it last night.
"But I still have to see him."
Siegrain could understand Vera's reasons, and he could even forgive him for hiding the truth because it was like Jose said, Vera was doing the smart thing. Siegrian was not. Siegrain wouldn't stop himself from searching for the only family he had left; Siegrain wanted it more than anything.
"If Vera doesn't want to tell me, that's fine; I'll look for him myself."
Siegrain didn't care about whether or not Jellal wanted to kill him or if he had a decent chance at actually doing it.
"It's what you would have done..."
Siegrain would find his brother, who was alone and lost somewhere in the world under Ultear's thumb.
"Right, Seven?"
And he knew exactly where to begin.
Wendy awoke to the smell of pancakes and the quiet sound of hummingbirds. The first dawn lights peeked through the apartment window she had found herself in and blinded her as she opened her eyes. "I must have fallen asleep..."
Wendy remembered listening to Jellal's voice before she fell asleep. It was the same as she remembered, but as she blinked the sun out of her eyes and glanced around the room, she didn't see Jellal anywhere. She only saw the boy with black hair, Vera, baking pancakes at the stove and downing migraine medicine, his head flicking back to her with a slight hum of acknowledgment, "Oh, you awake? Come on, breakfast's ready."
Vera watched as Wendy stiffened in surprise before she sniffed the air slightly and nodded slowly. Her eyes glanced at him nervously as she jumped off the bed, the 7-year-old walking over silently; a jumble of anxiousness and curiosity reflected in her face as she got to the kitchen, "Uh... Mr-"
"Just call me Vera," Vera said plainly, a little distracted from the pounding headache he woke up with as he handed her a plate and took his own over to the empty couch. His eyes barely gave Wendy a second glance as he started eating; he had already made her cry the day before by running into her, so he figured giving the nervous girl a little extra space would be the right thing to do, "You can eat on the bed if you want, we don't have a table ready or anything. Oh, and sorry for running into you yesterday."
Vera watched with a slight twitch of his lips as Wendy waved her free hand around, flustered, "No, it's okay! I wasn't paying attention either! I was following the shadow, got distracted, and didn't see you coming. I didn't mean to cry, but I got in the way, and I didn't want to make a mess when I'm representing my guild and-"
"You need to breathe, Wendy."
Vera heard an audible gasp, a mix of Wendy getting air into her lungs and realizing she had been rambling. Vera, unable to stifle his laughs as the awkwardness fell and Wendy had a chance to compose herself. Vera vaguely heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet walking to the bed. Vera's head tilting as he heard a small voice near the window, "Thanks for the meal."
"No problem."
Vera commended himself for not making Wendy cry two days in a row as the two ate quickly and silently. Vera handed his plate to Sho, who took it into his world before tossing it haphazardly in the sink. The action earned a chuckle from Vera and a surprised gasp from Wendy before her voice took on a tone of fondness, "It's the shadow!"
Wendy watched as the shadow, stretched in the wall still but now turned to her, waved silently at her before moving towards a slightly confused Vera. Wendy smiled as she waved back at the shadow, "Thanks for helping me in the castle, Mr. Shadow."
Wendy grinned as the shadow nodded, her eyes widening as she heard Vera sigh and speak with a dull mumble, "So Sho's the one that told you to go to the library?"
Somehow, that isn't surprising...
Vera silently lamented that his shadow's favorite pastime was making his life harder. His attention taken as Wendy spoke with a childish excitement that he expected and was honestly glad to see from someone so little, "His name is Sho? That's a nice name," Vera spared a glance at Wendy, who was picking at her food, before glancing up at him with curiosity that held even through her apparent shyness, "Is he your magic?"
Vera nodded, a slight grin on his lips as he tilted his head towards Sho, who nodded and walked out of the wall. Standing beside his shadow, Sho stood at the same height and figure as Vera did, the only difference was Sho's blank canvas of a face and razor sharp fingers. Otherwise it was like having a shadowed copy of himself out in the real world, "This is Sho; he's pretty cool, right."
Vera practically saw Sho proudly bristle as Wendy nodded vigorously, "He's awesome! How does he work? I've never seen magic like him before; it's like he's alive..."
Wendy watched with wide, wonder-struck eyes as the shadow, Sho, gave a small gesture that looked like a chuckle before waving at her and melting to the ground, while Vera shrugged nonchalantly, "He is, as far as I can tell."
"Really?"
"Yes, I don't know, probably?" Vera said with a scratch of his head as he ran through all his options for Sho's Shoness. It wasn't like he had a guide on his magic; as far as he could tell, he was the only one who had anything even remotely similar to Sho, the closest thing he could find in the magic books he skimmed when Siegrain was busy burying his nose in the library was takeover magic.
Vera thought Takeover Magic was similar because it was one of the only magics he could find that involved two separate entities in one body: the takeover mage and the thing they take over. Vera and Sho weren't technically separate entities because Sho came from his magic container and was, by all definitions, his magic, but they behaved like separate entities. Sho protected him, but it was different from Vera having complete control over Sho; there had been many times when Sho had flat-out refused what Vera wanted him to do.
Hell, during one of his training sessions, he asked Sho to turn into a bird, and Sho threw him at Jose's shade instead. Sho either didn't like it or couldn't change his shape outside the surfaces he rested on. Vera learned that the hard way. Sho had habits, personality, preferences, and lines he wouldn't cross, which made the whole what is Sho question simple, at least in Vera's eyes, "He's alive as far as I'm concerned."
Sho felt alive to Vera, so he considered him alive, or at least living enough not to be dead. Sho was his friend, and he honestly was glad he didn't have complete control over his friend, "If you want to ask me how, though, don't bother; I have no idea."
Vera's magic, which seemed to have a life of its own, was a mystery, even to him. That's why it wasn't surprising that the living shadow seemed to intrigue Wendy to no end, her eyes glued on Sho's swift and leisurely drifting across the room's surfaces as she muttered, "Wow, so it's living magic? That's incredible..."
Wendy watched wide-eyed as Sho's shadow made little animals on the wall. The shadow puppets silently danced and sang, lulling Wendy into a daze where she could see something extraordinary. She wished Grandneeny was here to see it; she would have loved every second of it. She wished...
"Um, Vera..."
Vera glanced away from Sho's performance with a tilt of his head, his mood dropping as he heard Wendy ask quietly, "Where's Jellal?"
Wendy watched as Vera looked away almost guiltily, his hand gripping his neck as he rubbed it sheepishly, "Uh... he left last night. We got into an argument about..."
What was it about again...
Vera frowned as he felt the fog in his mind get denser, his eyes lost as he tried to remember what had happened before falling asleep. He was pretty sure he had told Siegrain about Jellal; no, he definitely did, but he didn't tell him where he was because Siegrain wasn't strong enough, and he didn't tell him about the story because...
"He was mad at me because..."
Why didn't Vera tell him about the story...
"Because..."
Vera furrowed his brows as the fog thickened, his dilemma getting noticed as Wendy looked at him with concern and asked with an innocent worry that snapped him out of whatever daze he was in, "Um... are you okay? Do you need me to heal you?"
Vera blinked in realization as he saw the worry imprinted on Wendy's tiny face, his eyes softening as he shook his head with a sigh, "No, it's fine, Wendy, nothing's wrong."
Vera was wasting time and more importantly making Wendy nervous; he had to get his act together: "We argued, and he stayed at a friend's house overnight. He should be back soon, but I need tell you something that will probably hurt before that. Is that okay? Will you listen to me the entire way through Wendy?"
Vera gently lowered himself so he was at eye level with the little girl, his eyes sparing a glance at Sho, who was watching without a hint of an expression. Vera glanced back at Wendy, who gulped with shaky, scared eyes before nodding, as strong as ever and determined.
"The person you met yesterday wasn't Jellal."
Wendy was really strong for a little girl.
"His name's Siegrain."
But even the strongest little girls can't always be strong.
"He isn't Jellal?"
It turns out Vera did make Wendy cry twice in two days.