VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

54. Older Brothers.

"Stabili..!!"

"...osing him— medic!"

"Can't— come in! —orry..."

Eir honestly didn't know quite well, what happened immediately afterward. He didn't open his eyes for a long time, even when he was awake, and by the time he had the energy to, apparently, the tournament was long over.

He's in the Magic Council Hospital Ward. He knows that, because Mest had dozed off at his side, sword in his lap. When Eir twitched, struggling through the numbness for a better view— Mest roused, and freaked out.

When the doctors rush in with Master to tell him what happened— well, Eir listened, but he's not sure if he cared.

-

Laxus and Cana were alright. They'll have scars, but hardly as severe as Eir's wounds— he'll never be able to move his hands to the same mobility again.

"It was a mess. Natsu tried to jump into the fray, but he had to stop before he got burned," Mest reveals. "It was so strange. Something about those flames made him recoil..."

Eir understood. It's reckless to try and eat their magic power. It's too concentrated, it'd be like drinking syrup concentrate without watering it down. It'll just make you sick.

(It's for the same reason that Wendy only ate the overflow that emanated from him, never direct attacks.)

"They've also postponed the finals until after you've recovered. Everyone really pitched in, we called in Porlyusica-san, too. Mrs Heartfilia also brought one of her spirits to aid in your healing. It's considered a miracle that we managed to put most of your nerves back together after it was all burned so badly... we didn't think you'd survive the operation."

They had the other matches in the meantime, though, to ease public unrest. An incident of this scale was unthinkable for the Magic Council's reputation, and honestly, the citizens of Crocus were getting really upset about the destruction to their national monument.

"As for the culprit, Pyr Obrecht..."

Eir siped the tea Mest had made for him. It's a medicinal blend that reminds him of Porlyusica's herbs, and as expected from the Bureau of Magic, just as effective in stabilizing his magical flow.

"...he's gone. All his registration information was falsified, so we don't know who he truly is, or where he even comes from. And he's disappeared without a trace, erasing all previous lacrima records that could be used as biometric identification, too."

Mest sounded distraught as he revealed this.

Like Eir was being faulted for the council's incompetence. They were the ones that handled all paperwork, and security, so it's entirely their fault that Eir's in such a state. Who even knew if he could ever use his magic properly again?

"You won't find him."

Eir knew this very well.

(In Eir's state, in a world where Healing Magic was long lost— there was only one way to save someone like him.)

"Oh, I see he's awake! That's great."

When the man entered, with a warm meal, he's smiling. He had deep brown hair pulled back properly, and he appeared rather unassuming if it weren't for the line of tattoos trailing the entirety of his right arm, runes and letters and magic symbols conjuring a spell no one could quite read.

"Ah— Eir, this is Sir Ran Krusade," Mest introduced, "he's my senior and roommate in the Council's staff dorms. I owe him a lot."

(The only way to truly give someone like Eir the natural, life-enriched magic power to survive what he just went through— it would be with the administration of Imperial Transference.)