The Ghost of Fiore

Shirotsume

The trains that ran towards Era were slow and crowded, two things that I hated more than anything else in life, even if I had accepted them as being something I would deal with every day. Thankfully though, despite that sobering fact I was able to get lost in the passing scenery. It certainly wasn't that I enjoyed the train ride, there were far too many screaming children for me to say that, it was more the fact that I didn't hate it as much as I could have.

There were simply too many things for me to focus on to care about the fact that a toddler next to me was drooling on my arm as it attempted to see what it repeatedly christened as the "Pretty butterflies." I also didn't have the heart to break it's heart by giving in and allowing it to see the corpses of several trapped moths that had drawn its attention.

By the time the train stopped I was the first one out of my seat, as I decided that waiting for the passenger car to empty was not something I cared to do... The window was my quickest option, so out I went, earning myself several shocked yells from both sides of the train as I landed gracefully.

Needless to say, the platform guards were not happy with my little stunt.

It wasn't until a highly exasperated Lahar made his way down to the platform to retrieve me that I was released with a stern warning that any further actions of a similar nature would 'not be tolerated' while I was in Era. Thankfully, I was able to contain my scoff at that until Lahar and I were a safe distance away.

"Are they new?" I asked cheerfully as I nudged my companion, referring to the guards who were behind us."

A long-suffering sigh forced itself from Lahar as he looked at me from the corner of his eye, "I heard there was a rather major disturbance in Magnolia a few days ago, would you by chance happen to have heard anything similar." And now I had irritated him enough that he was just completely ignoring my question."

Once again, the events of the Magnolia festival intruded as I ignored him just as well as he did to me (no doubt, that was his intention), and we walked the rest of the way to his office in silence. Sure, he was a good guy, but there wasn't a funny bone in his body...

I couldn't help but smirk as we walked by what had formerly been the council building; Manipubitch had done a good job on the whole thing, as even now there were still large piles of rubble that were waiting to be cleared away. Just looking around at the town showed that the economy had dipped since then. There were fewer stalls in the streets and the few civilians I did see had looks of fear in their eyes that I knew hadn't been here before.

Normally, I loved to put on a happy mask while I was here, as that was the one that got under the council's skin the most, but my happy smile dropped quickly as I saw just what state Era was in. "Things have been bad here, haven't they?" I asked quietly as we approached the Rune Knight's main office, my eyes glued to a couple walking down the street hand in hand.

Lahar barely glanced over his shoulder at the couple I was looking at, whose hands were entwined just a little to tightly for it to be out of love or as a show of protection. Their knuckles were white, and they walked quickly, afraid to be out in the open for too long.

"Terrorist attacks always have this effect." Lahar said simply as he opened the door and ushered me in. It was obvious that this was nothing new, Lahar had seen this before, "It will return to normal in a few more months."

I followed Lahar into the building pondering this, fear was an interesting thing, and yet humans overcame it so easily when given time. The center of their city had been pulled down by an insane lady who was out to help resurrect Zeref and while no one had been hurt, this entire town had shifted its way of life.

Were... Were my assassinations followed by the same response? Did couples walk through the streets filled with fear after my mark was seen? A bloom of guilt hit me hard and I could do nothing but avert my gaze from all the officers that I could see trying to help in their own ways. I was the cause of fear, even now to this day.