Gray sympathized with Ultear’s suffering, but he still couldn’t make sense of it. "Why do you hate Ur? She’s your mother, isn’t she?"
At the ntion of her mother, Ultear’s voice trembled with pain and anger. "Because she abandoned ."
Gray’s instinctive response was imdiate. "That’s impossible!"
"But it’s the truth!" Ultear shouted. "She sent , her own daughter, into the Bureau of Magical Developnt to beco nothing more than an experint for enhancing Magic Power!"
Her words spilled out, raw and bitter. "Do you understand what that ans? Every single day, injections, drugs, electric shocks... endless pain. The only way I endured it was by believing she was suffering just as much as I was."
Her eyes darkened. "But when I finally escaped, when I returned to her... what I saw was her smiling happily, together with two other children."
"She abandoned her own daughter... yet lived with other children."
Those words cut deep. Ultear could never forgive that sight. The researchers’ cruel taunts only fueled her despair: ’If your mother wanted you, why did she never co back for you?’
Gray understood at once. Those two children must have been himself and Lyon.
redy’s eyes burned with anger as she glared at Gray. In her heart, it was this boy, and another nad Lyon, who had stolen Ultear’s mother away.
But Ultear gently placed a hand on redy’s head, calming her. "Don’t act rashly."
She went on. "My love and longing for my mother twisted into hatred. Hatred was what kept alive through the experints. Hatred gave the strength to endure the cruelty and awaken the Magic Power I have today."
"I wanted revenge against my mother. But then I encountered the Dark Guilds. I gained knowledge, I t Master Hades. He told there was a kind of Magic that could even restore lost happiness."
Her voice cracked into a miserable laugh. "So I threw myself into that path. I studied Magic, I pursued Zeref, I deceived Jellal, the Council, Lyon... everyone. All for the chance to reach that so-called Great World of Magic, to return to the person I was before hatred consud ."
Her smile twisted bitterly. "But in the end, even that Great World of Magic turned out to be a lie fabricated by the ancients. Perhaps this is my punishnt."
Gray struggled to digest it all. He couldn’t ignore Ultear, not Ur’s daughter. He had to say sothing.
But Ultear pressed on, her voice lowering. "I didn’t co here for your forgiveness. What I had to confess, I confessed for redy’s sake."
redy blinked in confusion. "Ultear...?"
"I thought I could start over. But I’ve committed countless wrongs. I’ve hurt so many people. At the very least, before the end, I want to tell you this."
"Wait! What do you an, ’before the end’?" redy panicked, clutching Ultear’s arm. "We’re still alive, aren’t we? Even if... even if the Council locks us away, we’ll still have a future, right? We can stop doing bad things, can’t we?"
Thirteen years old, barely older than Wendy, redy’s voice cracked with desperation. She had been raised by Ultear since childhood and couldn’t imagine losing her.
Ultear gently stroked her hair. "redy... listen carefully, just for a mont, alright?"
redy only shook her head harder. She knew, if Ultear said what she wanted to say, sothing terrible would happen.
Before Ultear could continue, Gray suddenly stepped in. "Can I say sothing?"
Ultear’s eyes narrowed. redy’s expression soured. Neither of them liked him much. But even so, the deadlock between them loosened. They let him speak.
"Ur once told us about you," Gray said softly. "She told us that the day you were born was the happiest mont of her life."
Ultear blinked, startled.
Gray continued, "She said when she looked at your tiny body, she saw endless possibilities for the future. She felt the power of life flowing from you. That strength gave her the will to go on."
"She was so overwheld with happiness that she cried. That’s why she nad you Ultear. Ur’s tears."
"You weren’t proof of her rejection. You were proof of her happiness. Proof of her existence."
Gray’s voice grew firr. "So this idea that she abandoned you, that she sent you to the Bureau because she didn’t want you, I can’t accept that. There must have been so kind of misunderstanding. I can’t tell you how to feel about her, but I can’t stand by and let your hatred co from a lie."
Ultear’s breath caught.
Her na... didn’t an rejection. It ant happiness?
Ultear could no longer deny it. The mories she had clung to for so long, the hatred that had fueled her very existence, were unraveling right in front of her.
She collapsed to her knees, her hands covering her face as sobs tore from her chest. For the first ti in years, she wasn’t the calculating spy, the ruthless sorceress, or the ambitious manipulator. She was just a broken daughter, realizing how much of her life had been stolen by lies.
Makarov closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. ’What a cruel twist of fate.’
Even after leaving the camp, Mira couldn’t stop sighing. "What a sha," she murmured, shaking her head. "The truth between Ultear and her mother... it’s just too heartbreaking."
Rhodes nodded quietly. "All those years, all that hatred, born from nothing but deception."
"The Magic Developnt Bureau... Zero..." Mira’s voice hardened. "It feels like he got off too easily."
Yes. Zero, also known as "Brain," the true leader of the Oración Seis, had once been the director of the Magic Developnt Bureau. He was the very one responsible for the twisted experints that had destroyed so many children’s lives, Ultear’s most of all.
According to Makarov, after the Bureau was exposed, the Council stepped in. They uncovered records of inhumane experints, but no evidence of where the children had co from. By then, the Bureau had been dismantled, its victims scattered. The man himself had simply vanished, only to resurface as the leader of the Oración Seis.
And a few months ago, during the Oración Seis incident, that man had finally t his end, burned to ash by the Dragon Rhodes had unleashed.
Just as Mira said, for soone who had caused so much suffering, the end had co far too swiftly.
Rhodes let out a small sigh. "I wonder what will happen to her now."
Mira clasped her hands against her chest, her eyes softening. "I think... deep down, Ultear is probably a kind person. But..." She trailed off, frowning. "The truth is, she’s hurt so many people. There are things that can’t just be erased."
Although on the surface Ultear seed unforgivable, when you looked closer she was also a victim, lied to and used by others. Both aggressor and victim.
Now that Rhodes thought about it, Jellal’s case was almost the sa. He too had been deceived and twisted down the wrong path.
Mira clenched her fists and huffed, her eyes flashing with anger.
"It’s all Zero’s fault, and those Black Magic cults and Dark Guilds! They’re the ones who ruin people’s lives!"
Rhodes sighed softly. "In the end, it’s up to them to choose their own path forward. Fairy Tail isn’t a judge or an executioner. Master already decided to let them go, and none of us have the right to say otherwise."
Still, everyone had their own feelings. With Mavis’s presence involved, they trusted the Second Guild Master would find his way again. And with Gray’s connection, most of the guild was willing to believe Ultear still had kindness left inside.
Mira suddenly brightened, skipping in front of Rhodes with her hands behind her back, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Congratulations on your promotion to S-Class!"
"Thanks," Rhodes replied with an easy smile. "But give it a few more days, you’ll probably have to congratulate two more tis."
"Two?" Mira tilted her head, curious. "One must be making it into the Ten Wizard Saints, and the other is..."
She suddenly jabbed him in the chest with her fist, her cheeks turning rosy.
"Don’t tell you want to congratulate you for that kind of thing?"
Rhodes chuckled awkwardly, scratching his cheek. "Looks like it..."
(How could the bride congratulate the groom?)
Their banter lightened the mood, sweeping away the heavy atmosphere. Laughing and talking, the two slowly made their way to Mavis Vermillion’s grave.
Visiting a grave while chatting and laughing might seem strange.
But in a world of magic, where a wizard like Hades could live over a century, or soone like Zeref could survive for four hundred years, or even where souls linger long after death, it wasn’t so strange after all.
Sitting before the gravestone, Rhodes and Mira unpacked the food, setting out the plates carefully.
"Mavis, sorry to bother you again," Rhodes said warmly. "I delivered everything you wanted to tell Guild Master Hades. Oh, ’Hades’ is the Second Master Precht, by the way. Our Third Master, Makarov, said he trusts your judgnt, and he promised to develop Fairy Tail well from here on."
Just as Rhodes was speaking, he suddenly felt Mira’s small hand slip around his arm. That familiar, soft warmth caught him off guard.
She pointed behind him.
Rhodes turned his head;
And froze.
A little girl stood there, staring wide-eyed at the food plates set in front of the tombstone. A tiny bit of drool glistened at the corner of her mouth.
She wore a soft pink dress, her feet bare against the grass. Long golden hair flowed like a cape, nearly brushing the ground. At her ears rested white, wing-shaped ornants. For a mont, Rhodes had thought they might actually be her ears.
"Mavis? ... Mavis?"
Rhodes had seen her picture before. Unlike Hades, whose real appearance was completely different from his portrait, Mavis looked exactly the sa.
And if a ghost’s form matched how they looked in life, there were only two possibilities: either Mavis never aged at all, or she had been very young when she died.
Guild records seed to suggest the latter.
Mira gasped, covering her mouth.
"You’re Mavis? The First Master... Mavis?"
Mavis didn’t answer right away, her erald eyes still fixed on the food. But after a mont she gave a small, casual nod.
Her expression was a mix of adorable and absentminded.
Mira’s heart clenched. She felt such pity for her.
"So young... so pitiful, to die like that..."
At that, Mavis finally turned her gaze away from the food, puffing out her cheeks in irritation. She spoke in a slightly too-adult tone for her small fra:
"Don’t be mistaken! I may look like this, but I was already an adult when I died! There’s a reason my appearance is like this."
She was clearly sensitive about her childlike looks.
"I-I’m sorry!" Mira quickly bowed her head, guilt written all over her face. She only felt even sadder for Mavis, thinking she was as pitiful as Wendy.
Sensing the awkwardness, Rhodes smoothly changed the subject. He slid over and pointed toward the plates.
"Want to have a bite?"
Mavis’s erald eyes lit up. "It looks so delicious."
"We made it especially for you," Mira added softly, a proud smile tugging her lips. "I’m confident in my cooking, though I don’t know if it’s to your taste."
Mavis pressed a finger against her lips. A tiny bead of drool slipped down again.
"I want to eat."
Rhodes and Mira leaned forward, urging brightly, "Please, don’t be shy!"
But Mavis’s expression twisted into one of sorrow.
"But ghosts can’t eat."
Both Rhodes and Mira froze, their faces dropping.
Mavis sniffled, her voice turning small and pitiful.
"This afternoon, Makarov and that cat, Carla, were grilling barbecue here... it looked so good too."
Her lips trembled, flattening as her big eyes welled with tears.
"Wuwuwu... I really want to eat sothing delicious..."
Her voice broke, and the First Master of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermillion, burst into tears like a little girl who had been denied candy.
Rhodes and Mira panicked instantly, scrambling like guilty children.
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