Matter of Succession

VIII

Rumination on Ruination

Erza Scarlet

August 24th, X784

All things considered, the previous day had been shockingly uneventful by recent standards. Not that she was hoping for something to happen; but Laxus' inaction only served to fuel Erza's paranoia. The blonde had been unnaturally silent the day before and instead settled for glaring at her when their eyes met, only making the odd snide remark. Erza suspected that with Ultear watching their every move the Lightning wizard was keeping a low profile so as not to damage his chances of becoming the next guild master.

Whilst Laxus' sudden silence troubled her, the thing that really bothered Erza was Mirajane had become unnaturally cold towards her the past few days. Whatever Laxus had said to upset her involved Erza as every time Mirajane now looked at her eyes showed hurt and betrayal, but at there was something else there, buried deep. The few attempts Erza had made to talk with Mirajane had been pointedly ignored, the guild's unofficial mother hen claiming that neither of them had the time for idle chatter, not masking her desire to get away from the redhead as fast as possible.

If there had been one bright spot following Makarov's funeral, it had been Natsu's infectious enthusiasm. That was shorted lived when he, Happy, and Levy, and Gray had all departed on a job together early the day following the funeral. Whilst the rust monster job would hardly present a challenge for Natsu, Erza was glad Levy had at least picked a mission the Dragon Slayer would enjoy without overexerting himself.

Unlike her one-time teammate though, the redheaded knight would not be enjoying her next few days. Despite the ungodly hour, she stood in Magnolia train station, Laxus slouched on a nearby bench whilst Ultear sat atop her own suitcase, reading a book as they waited for the train to begin boarding. These were the last two people she wanted to spend any amount of time with but now she'd be stuck with them both until Sunday evening provided everything ran on time.

Still, Erza couldn't help but feel like Ultear was just as reluctant to be attending the guild master's regular meeting as she and Laxus were. A rather sudden turnaround given she'd been rather amused by the scene when she'd initially told them of the trip. Erza could not help but be suspicious of what had caused the sudden change in attitude.

Something was decidedly wrong.

"You seem rather on edge, Master Erza," blinking slowly, shaking her mind free of fog, Erza realised she must've been staring at Ultear. The councilwoman met her gaze with an all to friendly smile, her book closed on her lap and her hands clasped atop it. The dark-haired woman had taken to calling her and Laxus both by the title of master in the past day – claiming that the other guild masters present would no doubt do the same out of formality and it was something they needed to get used to. It didn't mean Erza liked it any better.

"Apologises, Councilwoman," Erza shook her head, wishing she could figure out what was going on behind those dark eyes, "I'm afraid I have not been sleeping well these last few nights."

"Any particular reason?" To an outsider, it might have seemed like a perfectly normal question to ask, but Erza knew better. Ultear was more than aware of what had happened last time she and Laxus had been to Amaryllis – the council hearing that had followed was the first time Erza had ever met the woman.

"Bad… dreams," Erza said with a forced politeness she wasn't used to having to muster, "nothing serious, I assure you." Out of the corner of her eyes, the redhead saw Laxus scowl. Their eyes meet for a moment and in that second she knew that Laxus' sickly complexion had nothing to do with the idea of travelling on a train but his own nightmares. It was oddly reassuring to think that even Laxus wasn't above the scars that Amaryllis had left them with. He was only human.

Still, to think anyone would want to rebuild that damned town was mind-boggling.

Years on when the nightmares had hit her the previous evening Erza found herself recalling the smell of burning wood, the taste of blood in her mouth and the agony of broken bones as screams echoed in far of reaches of the town. Then when she closed her eyes, she could see him: the body that Gale Belserion had possessed leaning over her, one foot on her dented armour as he rested an elbow on his elevated knee, his demonic right arm clinging tightly to her sword which rested on his shoulder whilst he laughed manically.

"Is this really all the heir of Belserion has to offer?" He sneered down at her, licking his lips in anticipation of the kill as he continued with his mad ramblings, "How pathetically meagre the witch's daughter proved herself to be, to think Mother and His Highness were worried about you becoming a problem."

"Well, I'm sure they'll be plenty of time for you to rest on the train," Ultear said offhandedly, snapping Erza out of her thoughts as the train announced that boarding had begun. Erza nodded but made no real effort to reply as she quickly gathered her belongings. Truthfully Erza would rather not sleep if she could help it – not when all she saw when she closed her eyes was Gale's face as he bled out at her feet, his face twisted into one last grin of triumph, his dying words a promise that they would meet again. "We have a long journey ahead of us after all."

Yes, Erza thought as she forced herself to board the train behind Ultear, we do.

Perhaps she really was becoming paranoid, Erza thought as the train ride rolled into its second hour with nothing even remotely eventful having taken place. She sat with Ultear and Laxus in a private first-class cabin, a rather strange experience for her, but the blonde sat slumped against the window opposite her, earphones raging but eyes closed and breath shallow, totally asleep. Ultear had returned to her book, occasionally set it aside to attend to some paperwork she had brought with her. There was little doubt it had to do with her evaluation and she was making little effort to hide it.

It took her a moment to realise, but Erza blinked when Ultear turned to her with a smile – she'd been caught staring it seemed – but the councilwoman did seem perturbed by it. Instead, she closed her book once more, certainly a great deal more relaxed than she had been earlier at the train station.

"Is something on your mind, Master Erza?" Ultear asked plainly, bring up her hands so she could rest her chin on them. This woman made no sense to Erza, every time the redhead thought she was close to peeling back a layer and figuring out something Ultear seemed ready to flip things around because gone was the faux, tauntingly polite tone and instead there was a sense of genuine curiosity and friendliness. "I imagine returning to Amaryllis isn't exactly appealing to you."

"It is not," Erza agreed with a nod, but her tone was guarded even to her own ears. The redhead sighed, casting her eyes down for a moment as she scolded herself for her lack of restraint. It was true that Ultear had not always been the kindest of individuals, as she seemed to enjoy watching others squirm for her own amusement, but she had never been outright antagonistic towards anyone in Fairy Tail that the knight knew of – maybe it was time to take the olive branch offered to her. "A wizard's first s-class mission is always meant to stay with them, however, my first was not something I wish to remember."

Ultear gave a low hum as she tented her fingers, "I never did fully understand why Amaryllis."

"Excuse me?" Erza almost did a double take at how callous Ultear sounded.

"Forgive me," the councilwoman held up a hand, "what I mean to ask is why was Gale Belserion in Amaryllis in the first place; what made it so special."

"You heard the report first hand," Erza said pointedly, hoping that Ultear would take the hint and not push this matter further. Given the woman's actions until then though she doubted she would let go so easily; the dark-haired woman seemed intent on pushing for answers but for once Erza didn't feel like the intent was malicious or a deliberate attempt to rile her.

Ultear knew something she didn't but need information Erza had to put the final pieces together.

"Humour me, will you?"

Sighing in frustration, Erza eventually nodded as she had assumed that if not Ultear then the other guild masters would question on her history with Amaryllis. "Our job was to capture the criminal known as Gale Belserion although at the time neither Laxus or myself knew that the man we were hunting was actually a demon possessing a human host."

"Parzival Valravn correct?"

"Yes, another victim of the attack on Rosemary some years ago." Erza managed to add, her interaction with Parzival, or Percy as he preferred to be called, had been sort as his ability to repress the demon was limited and if was because of him she was still alive. Though she had not recognised him after the changes brought on by the demon, he knew her instantly – Percy's parents had taken her in at her father's request after he left one day never to return. Until the attack on Rosemary, Percy had been like a big brother to her. "He wrestled back control of his body long enough for us to slay the demon."

"And Parzival himself as a result?"

"We had no time to properly find out how to exorcise the demon," Erza said in shame; not being able to save Percy was perhaps one of her greatest failures. Only surpassed by Jellal. Why could she not save any of the men in her life? First, her father had disappeared when she was little, then Percy, then Jellal and then Percy again followed by Laxus who had been lost to the darkness within himself.

Eying the sleeping blonde out of the corner of her eye, a part of her hoped that maybe this time she could succeed were before she had failed.

"Again, though I find myself asking why Amaryllis? It was never clearly explained in the report." Ultear was not being subtle at this point as it was obvious what she wanted to know. Why she wanted to know so badly Erza had no idea, but it wasn't like she could do much with the information. The only reason they'd never told the Magic Council in the first place was that it seemed rather redundant when only Gale Belserion could have pulled off what he was planning.

"The demon was looking to harness the latent power of an approaching storm and create itself a true body."

"A true body?" Ultear repeated as her features seemed to narrow and her expression darkened.

"Gale Belserion was for all intents and purposes a demonic parasite," Erza explained as she looked to Laxus for a moment, wondering how he would feel that she was giving up this information so easily. "Without Parzival he was nothing, but with the power of the storm he could alter Parzival's body fully and become something closer to a true demon."

"An Etherious," Ultear said, but the way her brow crinkled after she spoke suggested that perhaps she hadn't meant to say that out loud, "an artificial demon, so to speak. The Magic Council has a list of such creatures although all, but a handful were created by the dark wizard Zeref centuries ago. I've personally never heard of something like this."

"So, Lullaby was an Etherious demon?"

"Yes, it was," Ultear nodded, "although the demon is once more a flute and in one of the Magic Council's secure vaults. It'll never see the light of day again I can assure you."

Erza felt no comfort at the assurance but bit her tongue. Mouthing off to a member of the Magic Council was not something any smart wizard should, let alone one in her position. Instead, Erza just took the silence to mean the conversation was at its end.

"There's one last thing I don't quite understand," Ultear said after a long pause and Erza just closed her eyes. "Why was the demon calling itself Gale Belserion? A rather strange name for a demon."

"The demon was one of several created by something it referred to as Mother," Erza said as she recalled the brief explanation Percy had given her during one of his moments of control over the monster inside of him. Even now the words troubled her, but she'd never dared to really dig into what they might mean. "The demons were named for their element and the name of the person they were created to kill."

"Who is Belserion? I've never heard of anyone in Ishgar who goes by such a name."

"Neither have I," Erza admitted, "but whoever she is Belserion believed we were related, and Percy explained that was why Belserion grew to be obsessed with me during our time in Amaryllis. The demon called me the witch's daughter."

"I see. Well," Ultear nodded and Erza took that to mean that this time the conversation really was over. Finally, "perhaps it would do your best to follow Laxus' example in this matter and rest. There won't be much time for that in the coming days."

"What do you plan on doing, Councilwoman?" Erza asked pointedly as Ultear stood. The dark-haired wizard looked back at her over her shoulder and whilst she smiled there was no warmth to it. Even the usually predatory hint was missing; something Erza had said had rattled Ultear.

"I'll be making a visit to the dining cart," Ultear said in a polite enough way that made Erza believe she was about to anything other than that, "would you like me to bring you something?"

"I believe I'll pass." Ultear nodded tightly and let herself out of the cabin before closing the door. Erza waited ten long seconds before she was sure the dark-haired woman was gone from earshot. "Something I said rattled her and I don't think it has anything to do with her position on the Magic Council."

"So, what do you want to do about it?" Laxus grunted in a surprisingly agreeable fashion. "We can't exactly do anything about her right now."

"Not whilst we don't have any proof." Erza pointed out because there was proof, whatever that woman was up to Erza was going to find out before she could bring any harm to Fairy Tail. Ultear had even been so kind as to give her a starting point – what happened in Amaryllis all those years ago was connected and when the redheaded knight figured out how she'd have the proof she needed.

Ultear Malkovich

What Erza had told her off Gale Belserion disturbed her more than she cared to admit. To think Erza Scarlet was connected to that witch – her daughter no less - and she didn't even know it. No wonder her potential was so frighteningly high. But it helped her figure out some of what was going on – that bastard Jellal must've regained more control that she thought. Tartarus knew Zeref wasn't dead and yet they'd made a play for control of the R-System.

This wasn't about getting Erza away from Fairy Tail so they could capture her to power the R-System and supposedly revived the dark wizard as she'd originally led Jella to believe. This was about creating more Etherious. If modified correctly then the R-System would have enough power to create countless new artificial demons. Tartarus' numbers would skyrocket and if the Magic Council fell like it was supposed to in the original plan then no one would stand against them.

Taking a moment to focus, she used her magic to create a pure ball of ice that would function in much the same way her usual crystal ball did. It took longer to enchant than she would have liked but it was nothing she hadn't done before. When the spell was finished, she reached out with her mind and made contact as an image swam into existence on the surface of the ice.

"Lord Gaebolg," Ultear spoke into the ice ball with a forced niceness in case anyone overheard her as they came in and out of the dining cart as she spoke with the master of Grimoire Heart.

"Councilwoman Milkovich?" Hades' tone was one of displeasure, but he did not terminate the conversation immediately as he would often do if she was to contact him without notice. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I recently came by some interesting news that I wished to keep you appraised of," she said before she informed the old man of her conversation with Jellal some days ago and his new allies. Then she told him off what he no doubt had planned for the R-System now, having figured it out based on what Erza had told her earlier. Of course, she didn't tell him how she'd pieced it together, or that Erza Scarlet was, in fact, Erza Belserion, daughter of the Scarlet Despair herself.

"So, what you mean to tell me is," Hades cut her off as she was getting to her conclusion, "is that Tartarus is nowhere nearly as inactive as you suggested, and they have robbed you of your puppet Jellal; who looks to use a modified version of the R-System to make himself an Etherious with that latent magic power the Magic Council will fire on him. Magic powerful enough that after your puppet makes himself a demon he'll have enough power left to create an army."

"If my deduction is correct," Ultear hissed as she looked around just in case there was some else around to overhear, "yes. But I can still stop the firing of the Etherion if I reveal Jellal to the rest of the Magic Council before he fully sets his plan into motion."

"You'll stop nothing," Hades said simply. "Jellal has completely outdone you - he's been playing you for the fool for some time now and you've just noticed. He's positioned so that you're heading towards your own execution where he will likely wipe out many esteemed guild masters with the help of one of Tartarus' sub-guilds and capture the Scarlet girl and erase the Magic Council all like he'd originally planned. In one motion Tartarus could make themselves all but unopposed. All because of your hubris."

"With all due respect, Master but–"

"But nothing." Hades cut her off before she could make a request to have some of the Seven Kin join her. "As inadvertent as it might have been, you created this mess. Now get yourself out of it. If you act alone with only the resources you have now I can play this whole incident off when everything is over and the dust settles. I will not be dragged into a war with Tartarus because of misinformation and the arrogance of a little girl who played too hard and loose."

"But if I act alone then Tartarus will–" Ultear panicked slightly – even if they went to war with Tartarus, they could win but they'd be crippled as a result. Hades would never take such a risk when his own plans were so close to coming to fruition.

"Destroy you." Hades finished for her and she could tell the man didn't care what happened to her at that point. Clearly, he thought she was replaceable. He'd regret the day he came to think that when all of this was said and done. "If you succeed then return and we will discuss your punishment for creating this mess in the first place. Fail and know you will die alone. It's that simple."

How dare he. Ultear wanted to reach through the crystal ball and strangle him. Hades' image faded away before she could say anything though and she was once more alone in the abandoned dining cart.

For five minutes she sat there, fuming silently. Old bastard, she hissed as hundreds of possible solutions to her current situation came rushing to her, but none really seemed workable with what she had at her disposal. Jellal was operating on his own, Tartarus had joined the game much earlier than expected and if she didn't do something quickly, she was going to be made into a scapegoat.

At the rate things were going she'd be lucky to see September.

"Oh, sweet child," a low voice whispered in her ear as a clawed finger brushed against her cheek before there was a sudden pain in her side, "you're already dead."