My Light and My Darkness

The Truth

The next day, we’re all loading our bags onto the train, ready to get back to the guild hall to start this new era for Sabertooth. Sting is officially the new Master of Sabertooth, and he’s nervous about it, but Rogue and I are going to help him with it, hoping that’s at least a little reassuring. I know he’ll be great. He’s a better leader than he lets himself believe. I should know, I never imagined myself being a leader, and now look at me. About 5 minutes before the train takes off, I cast the troya spell on me, Rogue, and Sting, Rufus and Olga laughing at our attempt to avoid motion sickness. “Why didn’t you cast that spell on Sting before the Chariots Game?” Olga asks me, and I roll my eyes at him. “Because I didn’t know that’s what he needed for the game, plus it’s technically cheating. He’s not supposed to have outside help during the games.” Olga chuckles and shrugs his shoulders, “Whatever. It’s not a big deal.” I sit next to Rogue, across from Sting, in the window seat. I’m hugging Frosch who’s sitting in my lap, and Lector is sitting next to Sting, Rufus next to Lector. Olga is on the other side of Rogue, and as we all get settled, I look out the window and notice an old woman watching us leave, and for some reason she seems oddly familiar. I wave at her and give her a questioning look. She smiles happily at me, waving back, and looks up to the sky. I glance up at the sky, wondering what she’s looking at, and then I see a cloud that looks, funnily enough, shaped like a sideways ‘v’ with one side being shorter than the other. Then I realize it’s kind of like a minute hand and an hour hand on a clock, and that’s when it hits me. Ultear and I both admired a cloud like that one time together, one of my few memories of her actually smiling. I look back at the woman, my eyes widening in shock. She tilts her head, smiling brightly at me. I look closer at her, and realize she looks a lot like Ultear. I confuse the others in the cart with me by rolling the window down, and I take a whiff of the air. I realize she also smells exactly like Ultear, and I give her a confused look. She shakes her head ‘no’ at me, telling me to not get off the train to question her like I was wanting to. I sigh, and nod at her, rolling the window back up. “What was that about?” Sting asks me. I watch as the elder Ultear slowly and weakly walks away, and I turn to Sting, a look of confusion on my face, “That woman was Ultear.” He widens his eyes, as well as Rogue, Frosch, and Lector. “What? But didn’t you say Ultear was a young woman? Gray’s age?” I nod my head, “She was.” A sudden look of realization comes over my face as I realize what she must’ve done. “And she uses Arc of Time magic. She must’ve used a spell that takes all of the years of her life and rewinds time for everyone else enough for them to see what’s about to happen in the future and fix it. That’s what happened when we all saw the immediate future! She gave up all of those years of her life for everyone.” They all widen their eyes in shock, and Olga speaks, “Wow. That’s one badass woman.” I chuckle in shock at his words, “Really? That’s what you say to that?” He shrugs, “What? I’m not wrong.” I shake my head, “No you’re not. She is….was a really badass woman. But she’s living out the last few years of her life happily now, and that’s all she ever deserved for her trouble. I’m happy for her.” Right as the train is about to take off, we all hear a familiar voice speak, “Wait! Don’t take off yet! I’m falling a bit behind this morning.” We all widen our eyes in shock as we all recognize who’s speaking. Yukino suddenly appears, peeking into the cart. “Room for one more?” I smile excitedly, “Absolutely!” She smiles at me, “Sorry it took me a while to decide, I was just overwhelmed by all of you fighting over me.” I chuckle and grab her hands, “I’m glad you’re willing to come back to Sabertooth, Yukino. And don’t worry, if any of those boys slip up, you tell me and I’ll knock their teeth in.” I hear the guys behind me gasp, offended. I ignore them and smile innocently at her like I didn’t just say I’d beat up a bunch of dudes. Yukino smiles and giggles at my comment, “Okay. I’ll be sure to keep you updated. I’d actually like to see that.” The guys all shout, scared, “YOU WOULD?!” I giggle at her words, “Don’t worry. You’re looking at a girl who was raised by Evergreen of Fairy Tail. I know all about chasing guys off.” Yukino smiles brightly at my words, the brightest I’ve ever seen her smile. “Thank you.” She sits down next to me, me forcing Rogue away so she could sit next to me, and I talk her ear off the whole ride back. I talk everyone’s ears off actually, finally feeling comfortable enough to show this side of me around them all.