Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 79 - In Search of Dawn

The toxic waters had at last subsided. For a few days, the former Blue Pegasus guild hall lay like a gentle memory at the bottom of a fresh sea. But as the magic wore off and its former vestiges were granted proper sunlight once more, it dawned on Ichiya that its splendor was, for the last few years, not in its appearance but its people. What it housed, not the housing itself.

Once, the guild hall was one of the great prides of the guild. Much like their airships, whose designs had been stolen and repurposed for the Twilight Empire during the initial invasions, the guild members each had a part to play in how the guild hall looked and functioned. No voices went unheard.

It was as splendid as the members themselves, a beauty matched in body and soul.

But nothing could top its scent. Even without the perfect perfumes provided by Ichiya, its smell was a perfectly distilled version of home.

"Rotten," Master Bob said to break up their silence.

The door to the guild hall fell from its hinges.

"It smells rotten."

Ichiya stepped over a fallen piece of boarding, the wood beneath his feet creaking and threatening to break beneath him. Master Bob folded his arms.

"What are we doing here, Ichiya?" Bob muttered as Ichiya continued into the old guild hall.

Master Bob had been...unwell of late. Not physically, but Ichiya saw the long shadows cast upon his brow. Not since the fall of the old Kingdom of Fiore had Master Bob held such a downcast demeanor. It was only through the unity of the scraps from the old guilds that Master Bob was able to hold himself together and then pick himself up to help foster the system of correcting a broken wizard.

But those allies were gone—dead or scattered to the wind. Ichiya was all Master Bob had left.

They'd left behind their rebel counterparts after word spread around about there being a hunt for the wizards of the rebellion. Most of the rebels they were with wouldn't register on the Empire's radar, so abandoning them was the safest choice for them at the moment.

Their first stop was to see the old guild hall and get a sense for what the Empire had done to it. Naturally, they expected little less than total annihilation. The fact that it was still standing was likely because they wanted to make a mockery of its former beauty.

After all, it'd been something of the old world left standing. It could not last in the new Empire. It should not.

The guild hall didn't belong in the Twilight Empire. A celebration of personality, heart, and art was not at all what comprised the Empire. Perhaps some of those other guilds, the dark ones like Phantom Lord or Raven Tail, could have lasted.

Ichiya made his way into the old bar.

Echoes of laughter still reverberated off the walls and through Ichiya's memory. He remembered smiles so distant he could barely see them, even at the forefront of his mind.

Bob loitered in the doorway.

"Master," Ichiya said. He didn't raise his head. "I want you to give me your honest answer."

"To what?"

"How much faith," Ichiya started as he picked up a forgotten bottle of booze, "do you have in our victory?"

He set it on the counter. Bob wiped away a tear.

"Little."

Ichiya stared at the bottle. Was it Hibiki who brought it into the guild once upon a time? It shouldn't matter. He was long dead, the guild hall was destroyed. Blue Pegasus was no more. The guilds were no more, the old world was no more, and it would never come back as it once had it.