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"Normal Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
[Year X786]
~ With Ultear ~
"I was once a member of the Magic Council, working from the shadows to manipulate events according to my own wishes. Simultaneously, I served as the second-in-command of a dark guild called Grimoire Heart. We sought ancient, forbidden magic—magic that we believed would reshape the world."
The fire popped and hissed, illuminating the momentary lull at her admittance. The man's expression remained neutral, neither judgmental nor surprised.
"Meredy was my protégé," Ultear continued, feeling the younger woman's hand slip into hers in silent support. "I found her as a child, and I... shaped her into a weapon for our cause. I taught her powerful magic and filled her head with our twisted ideals."
She paused, the familiar guilt rising like bile in her throat. Of all her sins, what she had done to Meredy—robbing her of a normal childhood, molding her into a killer, being responsible for her village's destruction—weighed heaviest.
"Together, we did terrible things. Assassinations. Sabotage. We manipulated people and events from the shadows, all in service to goals that we believed justified any means." Ultear's voice remained even, but her grip on Meredy's hand tightened. "We hurt many people. Ruined lives. Some of those we harmed will never recover from what we did to them."
The man watched them steadily, his eyes reflecting the flames as he listened silently.
"And then... we encountered Fairy Tail." A complex mix of emotions coloured Ultear's voice as she mentioned the guild. "In that encounter, we… I learned something. Something that changed everything."
Meredy shifted beside her, and Ultear knew she was thinking of her battle with Gray—the first time someone had reached through her conditioning to touch the wounded heart beneath.
Ultear hesitated, memories of that fateful day on Tenrou Island washing over her. The chaos of battle. Gray Fullbuster's revelations about her mother. The crushing realization that her entire life had been built on a foundation of lies and manipulation. And then later—the black dragon descending from the sky, its roar shaking the very air as blinding light enveloped the island.
"There was... an incident," she said carefully. "A confrontation that ended with several Fairy Tail members disappearing. The details aren't important, but that day marked the end of who we used to be."
She noticed the slight narrowing of the man's eyes—a subtle tell that he recognized she was deliberately omitting information. But he did not pressure her into revealing it, allowing her to continue at her own pace.
"After that, Meredy and I made a decision. We couldn't undo what we had done, couldn't bring back those we had hurt or killed. But we could try to prevent others from following our path. We could use our knowledge, our skills, to dismantle what remained of the darkness we once served."
The night air had grown cooler, but Ultear barely noticed, focused entirely on giving voice to the mission that had defined their lives for the past two years.
"We've been hunting down remnants of the dark guilds we once led. Stopping plots we helped set in motion. Warning potential victims. Occasionally..." she paused, meeting the man's gaze directly, "eliminating threats that can't be reasoned with or contained."
Meredy spoke up for the first time since Ultear began her confession. "We try not to kill," she said softly. "But sometimes there's no choice. Some dark mages are too dangerous, too committed to causing harm."
Ultear nodded in acknowledgment. "The Rune Knights don't care about our reasons. To them, we are still dark mages, criminals who need to be brought to justice. And perhaps they are right." Her voice grew quieter. "We've accepted that our path might eventually lead to imprisonment or death. It's a price we are willing to pay."
She straightened her shoulders slightly, a gesture of dignity in the face of whatever judgment might come. "So now you know. If you decide to turn us over to the authorities after all, we won't fight you. We couldn't even if we wanted to, in our current condition."
Meredy opened her mouth as if to object, but a quick glance from Ultear silenced her. The younger woman's expression shifted from protest to resignation, accepting Ultear's decision with the same loyalty she had always shown.
The confession hung in the air between them and the stranger. Ultear waited, her face composed despite the vulnerability of having laid bare their darkest secrets and placed their fate in the hands of a man whose name they did not even know.
The man's face remained impassive as he absorbed Ultear's confession. For a long moment, the only sounds were the crackling of the fire and the night chorus of insects and distant animals. Both women waited for his judgment to fall.
When he finally spoke, his tone was firm yet remained surprisingly casual, as if they had been discussing something as mundane as the weather rather than a history of dark magic and redemption.
"As I said before, whatever crimes you've committed or why the Rune Knights are after you—it is not my concern." He poked at the fire with a stick. "Your past is your own business. Your atonement is your own choice."
Ultear's eyebrows drew together in confusion. She had just confessed to years of manipulation, violence, and criminal activity—enough to earn them both a lifetime in prison, if not execution—and he was dismissing it as if it were of no consequence.
"However," he continued, meeting her eyes directly, "skilled as you both are, you should avoid getting caught so easily. The authorities certainly will not be gentle with either of you if they manage to capture you," he added, his voice lowering slightly.
"People fear what they don't understand, and they understand even less about those with power. They'll use every trick, every underhanded method to control you, to extract what they want." Something in his tone suggested personal experience, a shadow of old pain quickly concealed. Ultear found herself wondering what this stranger had endured in his past to speak with such certainty.
"As I said," he continued, bringing the conversation back to the present, "you're in this condition because of me. I'm responsible for leaving you both unable to defend yourselves properly. That makes your safety my problem until you've recovered enough to continue your journey."
Relief washed over Ultear, though she tried not to show it too plainly. Beside her, she felt Meredy relax, the tension draining from the younger woman's body at the realization that they weren't about to be turned over to the Rune Knights after all.
"We'll stay here for a few days," he said, making the decision sound ordinarily plain. "The forest provides good cover, and there's fresh water nearby. Once your magic has replenished and you're both strong enough to travel, you can go your own way."
Ultear found herself nodding, accepting his plan without question. There was something undeniably reassuring about his calm competence, the way he approached problems with straightforward solutions rather than complications.
"Thank you," she said simply, the words inadequate but sincere.
The man shrugged, apparently uncomfortable with gratitude. "Don't mention it—" He stopped mid-sentence, his nose wrinkling slightly. "Do you smell that?"
A sharp, acrid scent had begun to override the pleasant aroma of cooking fish. The man's eyes widened in sudden realization as he quickly turned back to the fire. The fish he had been cooking had gone from golden brown to charred black on one side, smoke rising from the scorched meat.
"Damn it," he muttered, quickly removing the skewers from the flames. He surveyed the damage with a rueful expression, turning the blackened fish in his hands. "So much for dinner. I got distracted. How did that even happen, I was playing with the fire the whole time..."
The sheer ordinariness of the moment—a powerful mage burning dinner while caught up in conversation—struck Ultear as absurdly funny. A small, involuntary smile tugged at her lips.
"Well," the man said with unexpected humor in his voice, "I hope you both like your fish well-done. Extremely well-done. Possibly entering the realm of fish charcoal."
The joke, so unexpected from someone who had seemed so serious until now, caught both women off guard. Meredy let out a surprised laugh, quickly covered by her hand as if she wasn't sure it was appropriate. Even Ultear found herself smiling more openly.
For just a moment, they weren't fugitives and a mysterious powerful mage—they were simply three people around a campfire with a ruined dinner.
The man began distributing the less-burned portions of fish, pragmatically making the best of the situation. As he handed Meredy her share, he noticed that Meredy had fixed her gaze on him.
"Please train me!" The words burst from Meredy with sudden intensity, surprising both Ultear and the man.
Ultear's head snapped toward her companion, her own surprise mirrored in the widening of her eyes. In all their time together, Meredy had never impulsively asked a stranger for anything, let alone training.
The man froze with his hand extended, fish skewer still held out toward Meredy, his expression shifting from casual humor to startled confusion.
"What?"
~ End of Chapter 15 ~
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