Vera wasn't sure where he wandered after Jose shut the door in his face, and Mira called out to him. He walked through the stone halls without purpose. His footsteps carried him through the old castle without a direction in mind, and before he knew it, he was in the library. The shelves and books stared at him like they were looking at a failure.

Jose...

Vera was inclined to agree with them.

Abandoned me.

Vera took a minute to process it, and when that wasn't enough, he threw it all away. He walked calmly to the nearest shelf and tore book after book out of its embrace. His jaw was clenched so tightly he felt it would shatter, and an unholy growl of frustration left his lips as he slammed his shoulder into the wooden shelf. A vein bulged in his head as he bruised his shoulder and toppled the dusty oak shelf, catching his heavy breath as he watched it tumble into the shelf behind it, causing a row of shelves to tip over like dominoes. Vera got a front-row seat as a set of shelves fell to the ground, splattering their entrails of novels, and their loud collisions echoed through the empty library.

"FUCK!"

Along with Vera's pent-up rage.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Vera roared as he stomped his foot helplessly against the fallen bookshelf. His eyes burned with tears as he nearly broke his toe on the damn thing. His tantrum reverberated through the silent air, eventually leaving him drained of energy and alone.

"GODDAMMIT!"

All alone.

"WHAT'S IT GOING TO TAKE SHO!" Vera yelled in misguided anger as he stared at the ground ahead and watched his shadow sit still. The light of the old chandeliers above his back cast a looming visage in front of his own feet, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME! TELL ME!"

Vera was sick of it.

"I SAID SORRY! I KNOW I FUCKED UP!"

The first time, he tried to change the story. This was the first fucking time he had tried to change it since Brago, and this is how it ended up. His magic was back to fucking nothing, and he had a new scar on his chest that itched and burned. A cattle tag he couldn't get rid of or ignore.

"WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY!"

Every time he tried, it pulsed with pain.

"I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Vera yelled in desperation as he scratched harshly at the right side of his chest. He's already rubbed the skin raw beneath it from hours and hours of trying to scratch that fucking scar off his skin, but nothing worked. Scratches would heal, but scars wouldn't. He was stuck with this new addition under his clothes, and every time he remembered it, he hated it even more.

"What's it going to take..."

He hated what happened repeatedly, and his voice broke at the thought.

"What am I..."

His heart broke at the thought.

"What am I supposed to do?" Vera murmured defeatedly as his adrenaline plummeted. He sat on the edge of the fallen shelf. His head hung on his knees as tears stained his vision and trickled to the ground beneath him, staining the dusty floor with new stains. "You're not coming back..."

Vera was tired of looking at his shadow and not seeing it move an inch.

"Are you?"

Not even a little bit.

"Asshole," Vera murmured with a broken laugh as he took a heavy, trembling breath and felt his scar pulse in pain again. His defeated gaze turned lamely towards his shirt as he pulled the collar and idly looked at the blood that was trickling from the scratches he'd put on the wound. Thin, irritated lines from his nails were now drawn on the cattle tag, but they would heal. They would always heal, and the guild mark underneath wouldn't disappear.

"Huh..."

Not now. Not ever.

"Wonder if I'm part of Fairy Tail now," Vera mumbled sarcastically as he used his thumb to wipe away the thin lines of blood trickling from his irritated wound and let his shirt hang loose. His eyes were void as he looked at the red stain on his finger. He was so numb to everything that it didn't hit him until the scent of iron hit his nose.

"Lucky..."

He wasn't alone yet. There was still something he could try to get his magic back.

"Me," Vera mumbled sarcastically before his train of thought stalled. His breath caught, and he looked at the blood on his fingertips. His eyes were wide as he felt his adrenaline spike, and he turned to the oak shelves, his hope rising as he located a plain, thin red book of only a few pages. It was in the middle of the mountain of fallen novels among the trash heap.

"You..."

There was still a chance.

"I still have you."

Vera wasn't talking to Sho any longer, nor was he talking to himself. He was targeting all his words at the thing inside him. The thing that was asleep and waiting to be woken up so it could go on a rampage. That monster was still there, and it was his magic.

"What will it take..."

Vera's body moved on autopilot as he scaled the fallen mountain of paper and wood before reaching for the book on the few rumors of crimson magic lost to time. Vera reached for the red parchment as he spoke to the creature that couldn't hear him and wouldn't listen. It was a monster of malice.

"To wake you up."

Endless malice and bloodmagic.

"I will do anything."

Vera's hand inched closer to the cover, his eyes wide and yearning as he mumbled under his breath. His finger touched the old novel with a twisted desire before a large tan hand grabbed his wrist, stopping its advance. Vera's eyes widened in surprise as he heard a soft yet deep voice echo through the room: "That's enough, Vera."

Vera growled as he watched the book he was chasing float in the air before slipping into the green cloak of a gentle giant. Vera's irritated red pupils met the blindfolded gaze of a giant tan man with a green fedora and words of wisdom that Vera hadn't asked for.

"Don't do something you'll regret."

All Vera was thinking at that moment was that Aria had shown up at the worst fucking time.

"Fucking let go!" Vera hissed as he yanked his arm out of Aria's light grip. Vera gnashed his teeth as he glared at Aria and yelled, "Give me it! I need it!"

"I highly doubt that," Aria responded flatly as he vanished into thin air. A boy fueled with fury and desperation lunged through the space Aria had been in a second earlier. Aria reappeared on the railing of a second-floor overhang and watched as Vera picked himself up from the rubble of books and glared. Seconds of silence trickled past as Vera ground his teeth and muttered under his breath, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't?" Aria asked with a raised eyebrow before he hummed, took out the thin book, and tossed it to Vera. The tension disappeared instantly from Vera's shoulders and was immediately replaced with surprise. Vera's eyes trembled as he opened the book and saw a few meager sentences written on the existence of blood magic in Fiore.

"The guild master has informed me of the basics of your condition."

Vera read them at the speed of light and found three pages on some roughly dated instances where Blood magic was used, marked by old battles when Ishgar was a melting pot for conflicts. There was nothing practical about how to learn it or even how it functioned.

"Blood magic is rare magic for a reason, Vera."

It was a brief history lesson on its existence.

"Information on it isn't readily available."

There was nothing of note inside the damn thing. All the damn book had was some garbage about an unnamed man who used it to dominate the ancient conflicts that used to litter Ishgar before retreating into solitude.

"You won't find any information on that slumbering monster inside you."

The sources claim he was the first mage and only to master Blood Magic. He lived 200 years ago. So all Vera got from this shitty book was a fun fact about a dead guy. Fucking wonderful.

"Nor should you want to." Aria frowned as he watched Vera growl and chuck the thin book into the pile of its fallen comrades. Vera's anger turned to the nearest target: "What am I supposed to do then, Aria? What should I do?"

Aria didn't flinch. He didn't even move. He watched with a covered gaze as Vera raged at nothing and everything.

"Sho's gone! He won't help me anymore!"

There was desperation in Vera's voice. As well as a deep-seated fear and despair. Fury was mingled between as the glue that kept him standing.

"I need something else!"

Rage kept him from shattering completely.

"That monster is my only chance!" Vera yelled as he clung to his chest. The scar burned beneath his shirt as he looked at Aria with desperation. This was the last thing he could think of. He needed to get his magic back—any magic—it was all he could do.

"It's strong! It's magic! It can fix everything!"

Sho and Jose had already kicked him to the curb.

"I can still be useful if it wakes up!"

How long did Vera have until the others did the same? How long until he was an outcast? How long until he returned to the lab with no one to talk to besides his reflection in the mirror? How long until everything else came crashing down? How long?

"So why shouldn't I try and wake it up!? What else am I supposed to do, Aria? Tell me!"

How long until he was utterly alone once again?

"TELL ME!" Vera roared as his shoulders heaved from his heavy breaths. His eyes were red from tears as he clenched his teeth and gripped his fingers into his shirt. His eyes trembled as he saw Aria tilt his covered gaze briefly. It was nothing longer than a moment, but it felt like an eternity, and when Aria's answer hit the air, Vera froze.

"No."

This motherfucker.

"I will not tell you what to do," Aria responded before he held a hand up and preemptively stopped Vera's enraged response. The furious teen closed his mouth reluctantly, and Aria continued without missing a beat, "However, ask yourself this..."

Aria wouldn't force Vera to do anything; that wasn't his responsibility or intention. He wasn't the guild master; even if he was, he didn't enjoy forcing others into anything. However, he could see more than most, and what he'd seen was enough. Vera wasn't thinking things through.

"Even if you somehow woke up that creature..."

Aria wanted to offer Vera a little perspective.

"What then?" Aria asked as he watched Vera's eyes quirk in irritation mixed with hints of confusion. The silence stretched until Aria spoke, and suddenly, all the confusion vanished, "What will you do when your monster of red refuses to help you?"

Even if Vera did wake up the monster. Even if he did somehow get it not to go on another rampage. Even if he did somehow strike a deal with it.

"What will you do if that 'thing' leaves you too?"

Even if all that came to pass, where would he be?

"I believe you'll be right back here," Aria said as he tapped his finger on the wooden railing. Light shone beneath his blindfold, and his covered gaze focused on Vera. Aria's words ring with the truth that echoed through the silent room with sincerity, "Scouring through books and hoping there's another 'being' inside of you to take the last one's place."

Vera felt like he was underneath a microscope.

"Except there won't be Vera. There won't be another mystical creature you can rely on, so you'll waste your life away. Wondering why your luck turned out to be so rotten."

Aria picked his thoughts and reasons apart. There wasn't a single thing he could say in defense.

"You're chasing a dead end."

Since it was all true.

"Sooner or later, you'll reach it." Aria cemented his stance by pointing towards the books scattered across the floor. His tone was sympathetic yet unyielding as he gently guided the shelves and books back into place: "Then you'll have nowhere else to go."

The shelves were back in place, and the books were back in order, but the old books had scratches from the tumble and cracks in the wood that lingered.

"Is that really what you want, Vera? I don't believe so."

Stains from the past that couldn't be undone.

"You asked me what I think you should do." Aria reiterated as he turned his gaze towards Vera, whose shoulders crumbled under the world's weight. Aria noticed the red eyes that had gone from burning fire to dying coals, but he didn't comment about them. He wasn't here to order anyone.

"I think you should go pick up Siegrain."

Aria felt like all Vera needed was a gentle nudge to make a decision he could be content with. It didn't have to be the correct one or even a good one.

"It'll give you time to clear your head."

A decision Vera didn't regret would be enough.

"He's at the training field." Aria smiled slightly as he saw Vera's futile expression halt briefly at Aria's words. The implications zipped through Vera's head in a lightning-quick fashion before Aria vanished into thin air.

"He should wake up in a few hours."

Aria had been on the tail end of enough misguided teenage aggression for one day.

Vera replayed his conversation with Aria multiple times as he walked through the sleeping city of Oak Town. His eyes were low, and his attention was anywhere but in front of him as he slowly made his way to the training field. There was a lot on his mind, and even though he spent a long time mulling it over, by the time he made it to the forest, he still didn't know.

Where will I be...

Vera still didn't know what to do.

What will change if I wake that thing up?

Vera didn't know, so he kept walking into the forest. His mind numbly circled the same thought as he wandered towards the dead field. All the equations pointed to the same problem but with a different method. A whisper in his mind that he'd be right back here if he woke that thing up and tried to make it his new 'Sho.' Nothing would change.

I could still be left behind at the end of it all...

Not in the long run.

Then what would I do?

Vera was stuck. The answer he thought he had was complicated, and he couldn't think of an alternative. His head was so chaotic that he didn't notice he'd made it to the dead field until he felt the lush grass beneath his feet become crunchy dirt.

I don't know what to do.

Vera couldn't decide on his little trip, but the task at hand distracted him enough to put it on the back burner. Vera quieted his thoughts from a racket to a buzz as his gaze tilted toward the edge of the field, where Siegrain was sleeping with his back against a tree.

"Aria didn't take it easy on you, huh..."

A snore was his only answer, and Vera couldn't help but chuckle tiredly as he noticed the bruises lined across Siegrain's face. Aria was nice, but he was more than capable of putting anybody through the wringer. Siegrain was the most consistent of his opponents—a glutton for punishment.

"Lucky you," Vera mumbled halfheartedly as he scratched his chest, walked over, and kneeled. He then flicked Siegrain on the forehead. His efforts to wake his friend were rewarded with a louder snore and a reminder that he was dealing with Siegrain.

Oh yeah...

The one who slept through an actual avalanche.

He's not waking up anytime soon.

Vera hummed at the thought, a brief sigh escaping his lips as he stood up and stretched his shoulders. He was planning to pick up Siegrain and carry him on his back. It was a long way back to the apartment, and Vera wasn't going to drag his friend all the way there, but before he could get started, he noticed a glint near the other edge of the training field.

What's that...

It was right under the shade of a tree and evident to anyone who wasn't distracted by sleeping friends. Vera hadn't noticed it before, but now that he had, he couldn't help but check it out, so he walked towards the glint at the opposite edge of the dead field. When he got there, he was rewarded with a strange sight.

Did someone leave their weapon?

A new sword with a note beside it lay on the ground. The sword was a katana with a yellow handle and a white sheathe. Vera looked at the new sword, his head swimming with emotions he couldn't help but drown in as he picked it up and looked at the sheathing. The white wooden cover hid a yellow-accented blade; it looked like the blacksmith had caught a lightning bolt and seared it into the steel katana. It looked beautiful and deadly.

What the...

It also looked familiar, and after Vera set it aside, gleamed the parchment on the ground, and read the note, he realized where he had seen the blade.

Hello, rodent.

He had seen it back in Black Voxx.

Usually, I would be pissed that you defied my orders, but since I would have gutted you head to toe if you flopped over like a coward, consider this sword as a birthday gift.

Vera couldn't even breathe as he pulled the note right in front of his nose so he could read every syllable. The crushing silence surrounded him like a constant reminder of his newfound emptiness, the thrum of his magic with nowhere to go.

Consider what I write next a little extra.

It was heavy, and he hated it—he had hated it back in the lab.

You have nothing to offer now, rodent. Not to me. Not to your friends. Not to your shadow. Not to anyone.

He hated it even more now.

Wallowing in self-pity and denial won't change it.

Vera hated that he'd been tossed back to the beginning after years of work, back to when he woke up in the lab with nothing to go off of but a name and a story. A fate so sealed it might as well have been welded shut. He had been in that hell hole for a year, hoping to escape and waiting to die.

You truly have nothing, rodent.

He had been helpless.

So what?

Now, he was helpless again.

Build yourself back up from nothing.

Once upon a time, Vera would've hated that word more than anything else.

That way, once you get back what you lost...

Unfortunately, there was a new contender.

You will be in a position to grasp everything.

There was one thing he hated more than that word, one person that grated his heart. The asshole that seared a permanent mark on his chest. The arrogant fucker that gave him a scar that spelled helpless in braille. Story be dammed, Vera couldn't help it. For the first time in a long time, Vera hated someone enough that the idea of revenge was appealing.

You have always been the weakest part of the equation, rodent. That's why you're at a loss now that the strongest part of you has left.

The idea of breaking every bone in his body was a wistful daydream. The concept of searing him back was such a wish he could have asked a star for it. The option of going even further until that fucking electric bastard stopped breathing had crossed his mind more than once. Vera didn't know what to do. There was a part of him that didn't even care.

You're embarrassingly weak on your lonesome.

All he knew for sure was that his heart was consumed by scorching flame, where every crackle and ember reminded him of the aching scar on his chest.

Use this time to change that.

Vera felt like his body was on fire.

Be persistent, rodent.

A roaring fire that he refused to put out...

That's what people like us are best at.

Not until he burned the fucker that started it.

Hours later, in the dead field at the brink of sundown, Siegrain woke up to see his friend in a pool of sweat. A new blade in a white sheathe was gripped tightly in his shaky hand as he raised his arms above his head. His shirt stuck to his skin as he swung with a basic overhead strike, cracking the air and straining his muscles, not ready to handle physical pain after a month's hiatus.

He's supposed to be resting...

Fortunately or unfortunately, the pain wouldn't be much of a deterrent to those who survived the lab.

"Idiot," Siegrain murmured as he watched Vera ignore his words and continue swinging. Siegrain gave him a passing glance as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stretched his bruised muscles. Aria had thoroughly beat the breaks off him that time.

How long have I been out...

Then again, Siegrain wasn't thinking too much when they fought. He attacked with his vast array of other magic and missed almost everything.

Feels like a few hours.

Aria probably knocked him out due to sympathy.

"It's already dusk out," Siegrain murmured as he stood up and leaned his bruised back against a nearby tree trunk. He turned his gaze towards his friend, who was bum-rushing towards another coma, before sighing and pulling out a small book he'd borrowed from the library: The Basics of Floating Magic. "Can I assume you'll be here a while?" Siegrain asked, knowing full well the answer.

There was another swing of a sword, another labored breath, and another instance of Vera ignoring his existence.

"Figured," Siegrain mumbled as he flicked the book open in one hand and snapped a candle-sized flame into the other for a reading light. The minutes swiftly turned to hours, and his reading ended right around midnight when he heard the sword clatter to the ground. Siegrain put his book away and looked up in time to see Vera flop to his back and a pool of sweat.

He lasted longer than I thought he would...

Siegrain was betting on an hour, maybe two. Vera's body was nowhere near its top condition, but he guessed endurance was a factor. Besides, Vera's body had always been strangely resilient, so this could be par for the course. Still, Siegrain was a little worried that Vera had overdone it. Siegrain was almost tempted to help before he heard Vera's exhausted voice: "Done... staring... Siegrain..."

Never mind, Vera was still being a sarcastic dickhead. He was fine.

"Little... help... here?" Vera mumbled through blurry vision and panting gasps of exertion. Stars were dancing through his eyelids; they had been for half an hour, and his limbs felt like jelly. He almost missed Siegrain's little jab at him as he was moved from his place on the ground to sitting with his back against a nearby tree.

"You must have a death wish."

"You're the last person who gets to say that," Vera murmured through a drunken bobbing before he felt a water flask against his lips. He tilted his head back gratefully as sweet water trickled down his throat and refreshed him enough that the world had stopped spinning. He could see the world a little more clearly, and he was finally able to hear Siegrain's words without the ringing in his ears: "You nearly put yourself in another coma."

"You practically asked Aria to put you into one. It's the same thing." Vera snipped as he watched Siegrain's lips thin in reluctance. A few seconds of internal debate must have gone through Siegrain's head before he sighed and muttered, "You're impossible."

"I prefer the word clever."

"I'll give you stubborn," Siegrain compromised as he took his now empty flask and put it into his requip space. A few seconds of blissful silence echoed between the two as Siegrain took Vera's new sword and stashed it beside his empty flask; he could give it back to Vera at the apartment before he walked back over to his friend, who was still catching his breath by the tree.

"Come on," Siegrain said as he bent down and slipped Vera to his back, despite the weak protest as Vera delivered a feather-light headbutt to his shoulder. Siegrain only responded with bland disapproval, "If you can walk, I'd be happy to drop you."

"I'll walk in the morning."

"Idiot."

"Dumbass." Vera half chuckled, half murmured as he took a well-deserved rest, and Siegrain carried him through the forest. A full minute of the natural buzz of the forest echoed through the air until Vera broke the silence with a piercing question, "Why were you so angry?"

"What do you mean?"

"Quit bullshitting. You know what I mean." Vera mumbled as he felt Siegrain stiffen at his blatant attempt to deflect a conversation. A conversation that neither of them wanted to have, but Vera now felt was necessary, "What did Jose tell you that got you so pissed?"

The answer he got proved his hunch correct.

"He wanted me to have a new partner," Siegrain grumbled as he felt Vera stiffen, the words flowing out of Siegrain's mouth before Vera could get the wrong idea, "I wasn't going to take it. It's dumb. The brute's fine, but she isn't my partner. You're my partner. Whatever the guild master says is-"

"He's right," Vera interjected plainly as he felt Siegran freeze. Their trip through the woods stopped in its tracks as Vera was dropped to the ground harshly and fell flat on his ass. Vera grunted as he shakily stood up, rubbed his tailbone, and heard a cold yet irritated voice, "What are you talking about? Quit being dumb."

"I'm not being dumb." Vera frowned as he met Siegrain's freezing glare. Vera could see when Siegrain opened his mouth to argue and preemptively countered it with a truth he had tried to deny for the last couple of days.

"My magic isn't working, Siegrain."

Vera had fucked up. That was the truth.

"Sho's gone," Vera admitted, out loud, for the first time since it happened. His red eyes now tinged with utter exhaustion as he avoided Siegrain's stunned expression and pinched his nose, "I'm trying to get him back. I'll always try to get him back, but who knows how long that'll take, and right now..."

Vera knew it deep in his bones.

"Right now, I have nothing to offer you."

He was weak by himself—he had always been. The only difference before was that Sho covered for him, and now that Sho was gone, it was so obvious.

"You still want to make S class, right?"

He was an anchor holding Siegrain back.

"How am I supposed to help you do that?" Vera asked as he watched the gears running through Siegrain's head. Siegrain wasn't dumb, only a little naive. Even if he had been introduced to the world late, he had adapted quickly. That's why Vera wasn't surprised that it only took Siegrain a few moments to accept that Vera's 'problems with Sho' weren't as temporary as initially conveyed.

"You're smarter than me."

"Not by much."

It also didn't surprise Vera when Siegrian threw out an argument to deny partnering with Mira.

"You plan the missions."

"Mira, or you can learn to do it just fine."

Or when it was followed by another one.

"You're better with people than me."

"You don't have to be good with them to get a reward. Besides, Mira will fill in the gaps."

One after the other, Siegrain rapidly fired argument after argument, and Vera shot them down one by one. Until Siegrain was grasping at straws and finally grabbed one that couldn't be denied, "You know about Jellal." Siegrain said, freezing the air and watching Vera's eyes instantly widen. Siegrain was right. He knew he was right.

"How can I become S class without you?"

Siegrain watched the gears turning in Vera's head, and for a moment, it looked like he would win. He was right. He needed Vera. Vera knew about Jellal, and Siegrain was trying to make it to S class to find Jellal. Vera was the only one-

"He's on an island."

The only one...

"I don't know which one."

Vera was no longer...

"There's a girl who does, but I doubt she'll tell you."

The only one who knew where Jellal was.

"That's all I know that could be useful to you," Vera ruthlessly said. His eyes were dull as he watched the last flickering hope fade from Siegrain's eyes. The buzzing of nighttime bugs filled the air as the two stood before each other, their gazes locked before Vera put the nail in the coffin.

"Tell me Siegrain..."

Vera was deadweight right now.

"When you find Jellal, what will I be able to do..."

He refused to drag his friend down because of it.

"Besides, become a hostage?" Vera asked honestly as he watched a heavy understanding eclipse Siegrian's face. The void expression Siegrain used to bury his emotions was now in full effect, and his dead tone was enough to show Vera that he knew it, too.

"Nothing."

Vera was no longer helpful to anyone.

"Nothing at all."

No good would come from pretending otherwise.

"You'll just get in my way," Siegrain mumbled dryly, his facade of indifference falling as he clenched his fists. It looked like those words physically pained him, but they were necessary. To Vera, they were something that couldn't go unsaid. A dark realization that Vera cemented with a dull observation: "I can't help you find your brother. Not now."

Vera had nothing to offer anymore.

"So don't hold yourself back because of me."

It was as simple as that.

"I'll be fine," Vera said with a sideways glance. He could feel Siegrain's disbelieving stare, but when he heard Siegrain's next words, they weren't what he expected: "Okay... I'll believe you."

Vera's eyes widened, and he saw Siegrain looking at him with an eerily calm gaze. Followed by an eerily quiet voice.

"On one condition."

Siegrain adapted to the world quicker than most.

"It'll take me a few years to make S class, and afterward, I'll have thousands of islands to explore. It'll take me a long time to find my brother."

Siegrain would adapt to this, however, unwillingly.

"You have to be able to help me by then."

In return, he would expect Vera to do the same.

"Promise me that, and I'll believe you," Siegrain said as Vera's eyes widened slightly. A chuckle escaped Vera's lips as he nodded, "I will." Vera then smirked as he got some of his previous playfulness back in strides: "I wasn't planning on giving up anyway. I have something I want to do."

Vera felt his scar ache, and he scratched it unknowingly.

"Something I need to be strong to do."

It pulsed with pain, and he was grateful for it.

"It'll just take a while."

It would keep him from forgetting.

"So don't wait up for me." Vera grinned lazily as he saw Siegrain's eyes flick towards his chest before understanding passed through them, and he nodded, "Okay."

There was a change in the duo that day.

"I won't wait for you."

There was a change—one that was silent but noticeable.

"Good..."

Siegrain began taking missions with Mira since Vera couldn't keep up anymore. It was a cold decision but a logical one. It would mean that Siegrain and Vera wouldn't spend as much time together as they used to since missions could range from a day trip to weeks at a time, but Vera never held any grudges about it. Siegrain had to reach S class. Having dead weight wouldn't be helpful in that endeavor. Simple.

"From now on..."

In the meantime, Vera would follow the raging fire in his heart because even if he was too weak to appease its hunger now, one day, he wouldn't be. One day, he would get Sho back, so in the meantime, he would prepare. He would build his body up from nothing so he wouldn't be helpless if he lost his connection with Sho or the monster. That way, when that fateful day came when he once again had magic to utilize, he would be in a position to satisfy his burning rage.

"Let's both just do..."

As for the topic of Fairy Tail, the guild Vera had once yearned for more than anything from the story that kept him sane. The reason they came to Fiore in the first place all those years ago.

"Whatever the fuck we want to do."

It was scarcely brought up between the two again.

Hours later*

At the top of Oak Town, in an office that was still recovering from the rage of an unstable teenage boy, the guildmaster of Phantom Lord stood and watched the sun rising in the distance. He kept his eyes on the horizon, and when he heard his ace appear in a burst of silent air, Jose simply hummed unamusedly, "You weren't supposed to help the rodent."

Aria answered accordingly, "I merely gave him a nudge."

Jose scoffed as he turned from the window and sat at his desk. His request for new windows had already been submitted, and the bill had already been added to Runt 2's tab. Now, all that was left was for the stubborn runt to take Miss Door Breaker as his new partner, and this headache would be over. Thankfully, Aria's following report gave him that well-needed aspirin, "I stopped by their apartment earlier. Siegrain said he plans to take Mira on a mission in a week."

"Hallelujah," Jose muttered sarcastically as he watched Aria chuckle and take out a red book before placing it on the desk.

"Here. I did as you asked and gave Vera a clean copy."

How funny was it that Jose had scribbled some crass comments about Hyberion in that thing over a decade ago, and it almost came to bite him in the ass.

"He didn't notice," Aria said as he watched Jose hum before taking the book and skimming the pages. Jose's lips tilted ever so slightly upwards, nostalgic almost, before he tossed the book into his requip space and ordered, "Good. Keep it that way. I don't want the runt looking for that false vampire."

Jose had learned a few valuable lessons recently.

"Not before I get what I need from that old recluse."

One was that Hyberion couldn't be ignored anymore. That old bastard had done something, and Jose needed to know what it was. The price for such information was steep, but he didn't mind playing the long game. He had a decade to reach that annoying bastard's level. That was more than enough time to work with. Besides, it worked out perfectly with the second thing he learned because, after Clover, it was obvious.

"In the meantime, I'll increase our yearly spars to once every three months."

Jose needed to change. He needed to grow. His loss to Makarov was as humiliating as it was enlightening, and the lesson he learned didn't just apply to him. It applied to everyone in Phantom Lord. Jose had gotten complacent during his long reign as Phantom Lord's guild master, and in doing so, he had forgotten the essence of this guild. Mikhail II taught it to him years ago.

"I expect you to improve during every single one, Aria. You're the ace of the guild..."

Phantom Lord was a guild for those who wished to change themselves. For better or for worse.

"Don't disappoint me."

It couldn't survive by remaining stagnant.