Chapter 15: Past's Embrace.

Lucy

I was shocked. Ceres is Jellal's sister! I saw her face while she was being crushed by Jellal. She was crying.

"B-B-brother?" She asked. Jellal moved back, and smiled. He had stopped crying.

"Yep." He seemed positively ecstatic. "I had my suspicions when me and Natsu found you guys. That tattoo," He pointed to Ceres. "Is only given to mages in the Fernandez family. At first, I thought you might've been a cousin of some sort, but as I got a better look at you, I realized you looked to much like mother to be anyone but a close relative. When I was in prison, I heard that I had a sister somewhere, but that she had disappeared, along with my parents. I had hoped that they had gone into hiding, but apparently not." Jellal turned somber. "I am sorry to hear of their death, but at least I have some family again."

"Family." Ceres said, quietly. "I haven't had one of those in a while."

"Don't worry!" Natsu said. "You have plenty of family now! You have me, and Will, and Lucy and Jellal!"

"Yeah, we're here for you." Will said with a smirk.

"Yeah!" I yelled. "We won't let you be without a family again!" Ceres was crying again.

"You should join Lucy and Natsu's guild." Jellal said, gravely. "You'll be safe there." Ceres shook her head.

"No! I just found you big brother! I'm not leaving your side!" Jellal shook his head.

"No. You can't follow me. I am sworn to try and atone for my sins, and I cannot have you bearing that burden. Do not let yourself be weighed down by my past. I ask you, join Fairy Tail. You will have a family there. Everyone of them would follow their newest member into the depths of hell if they asked. They will never leave you." Jellal started crying silently. "Please. Let me carry my burdens." Ceres sniffed, stopping her tears.

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." Ceres said, inspecting her feet. "I have done horrible things for Dark Moon. I shouldn't even be allowed to live for what I've done!" The room was silent for several moments.

"Shut up." Natsu said. His head was tilted down. "We've all done terrible things. No one is perfect, and everyone has their burden to bear. We form friendships to try and make those burdens easier. We draw strength from our friends when weak, and our strength goes to them when they are troubled. We help each other. It doesn't matter if you're pure, or strong. What matters is that you care." Natsu looked up. His eyes were steely. "Don't you dare imply that you shouldn't live! What would your death accomplish! If you were actually sorry, you wouldn't even consider dying! You need to fix what you've done, not run away!" Ceres nodded curtly. Her eyes had started to dry up

"Alright. I won't run away."

"So, how was it?" Lisanna asked, as we stepped through the doors of the guild. Even though they were only gone a day, a lot of the damage to the guild hall had been repaired.

"Good," I replied. "We found someone who can help us with finding dark moon." Me and Ceres walked over to the bar, where Lisanna had called from. Natsu had already started fighting Gray, and Will was being approached by Wendy. He was blushing deeply. Jellal had walked over to Erza, who was sitting down at a table across from Gray and Juvia, and sat down next to her. He laid his arm over her shoulder, making her blush. Gray then whispered something to Juvia, who laughed.

"So who is your friend?" Mira asked. While I was looking around the guild hall, Mira had walked up next to Lisanna behind the bar. I turned to her, but she seemed to be trying to look behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Ceres there. I sighed.

"This is Ceres." I said. I grabbed Ceres' shoulder, and moved her in front of me. "She used to be a member of Dark moon." Mira gave a stern look to her.

"Are you sure we can trust her?"

"Take it easy, Sis." Lisanna said, shaking Mira lightly. "Lucy said she was going to help us, so I trust her." She then smiled at Ceres, holding out her hand. "My name's Lisanna, but you can call me Lis if you want." Ceres shook her hand.

"H-Hello.." Ceres muttered.

"Oh, and grumpy-guts over there is my sister, Mirajane, or Mira." Mira had calmed down, and was holding out her hand.

"Sorry about that!" Mira apologized. "I was just worried, is all." Ceres nodded, and shook her hand, but said nothing.

"Cmon," I said, taking Ceres' hand. "We need to talk to the master." With that, I lead her upstairs to the master's office. I knocked on the door.

"Come in." The master said.

Ceres

Lucy opened the door, and pulled me inside.

"Master, I found someone who can help us; Jellal's sister, Ceres." The small, old man sitting behind the counter nodded.

"Is this true, child?" He asked me. I nodded.

"It is. I was a slave in Dark Moon before I managed to escape." I told him how Will had found me, and the battle with Yorick.

"So child, do you wish to join the guild?" The master asked. I nodded again.

"If you'll let me." I said. I could feel the tears at the corners of my eyes. The master smiled.

"Of course you can, now go and get your mark from Mira downstairs." We both turned, but the master spoke before we could leave.

"Lucy, I need to speak with you." I looked to her, and she shrugged, so I left the office and closed the door behind me.

Lucy

I wonder what gramps wants? I thought, as Ceres closed the door behind her.

"She will grow to love this place, I'm sure, but for now, she will be scared." The master said. His head was bowed, and his eyes closed. "She'll need you, so I must ask you to stay by her side. Give her encouragement, show her that all of the people here are her family, and that she is theirs" I nodded.

"I was planning on doing that anyways. I don't know why, but I think of her almost as my little sister. Don't worry, I won't let her be isolated. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Not quite." The master shook his head. "I called you in here to tell you, that after this crisis is over, I plan on retiring as guild master." I gasped.

"Really?" I asked. Why is he telling me this!

"And so, I am looking for my replacement." He told me, looking grave. He can't!

"You can't be serious!" I yelled. "You don't honestly think that I would make a good guildmaster!" He looked back at me.

"You're right, I don't think you would make a good guildmaster. I know you would make a great one, even greater than me."

"I abandoned the guild for seven years! I hurt them!"

"And what exactly would happen if you didn't!" He yelled back. I cringed, as I wasn't used to him yelling. "You never abandoned them! You in order to protect them! You did hurt them, but what about yourself! Your pain was even worse than theirs." His voice calmed. "That is why I am considering you to take over after me. You care for the others in this guild above all else, even to the point of harming yourself in exchange. You would never let yourself hide behind them." I bent my head.

"Of course I wouldn't." I said quietly. "I would never willingly have someone be In pain because of me. I hated it when, before I left, Natsu and the others constantly had to save me. I felt useless, like I was just someone to be protected." I had started tearing up, but I didn't care. "I was so weak then!"

"No." Master shook his head. "You were never weak. It appeared that way, because instead of using your power yourself, you gave it to those around you. You actually are the strongest of us all." I was full out crying.

"Calm child." The master said. "I know that this would be hard, so I had a thought."

Natsu

What's taking her so long? I thought, looking up at the master's office again. I saw Ceres leave earlier, so why hasn't Lucy left? I looked around, and saw Ceres standing nervously off in the corner, watching the guild. Maybe she knows? I stood up from the chair I was sitting in, and walked over to her.

"Hey Ceres," I started. She jumped.

"Ahh!" She screeched.

"Sorry!" I said. Half the guild was staring at us now. "But I wanted to ask you if you knew where Lucy was?" Ceres' eyes sort of glazed over.

"No, I'm sorry." She said. "I-I last saw her in the master's office." She seemed on edge, like something was lurking over her shoulder.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. She seemed to be a completely different person from the one Will rescued. Speaking of the devil, he approached us, with Wendy following him.

"I'm guessing you're shy, huh?" He asked, grinning. Ceres nodded slowly.

"Well don't be!" Wendy said, beaming at the girl. "In fact, let's go introduce you to everyone!" Before Ceres could protest, Wendy grabbed her wrist, and dragged her off, much to Will's amusement.

"She'll get used to it." He laughed. "I know I will, so it shouldn't be that hard." I looked him over, and noticed a green guild mark behind his ear, half covered by his hair.

"Hey, you joined the guild." I said, smiling. "Now I can fight you anytime I want." Will frowned at me, and shook his head.

"You do realize we are at war, right?" He asked me.

"That's why we should fight each other!" I answered, grinning. "It will help us get stronger!" He shook his head again.

"You're hopeless." He said quietly. He and I turned at the sound of footsteps, and we saw Lucy walking down the stairs.

"Now then, speaking of hopeless, you should ask her out." Will nudged me.

"I should?" I asked him. The idea had never crossed my mind before. Will sighed.

"Yes, flame brain, you should." He said. Lucy had walked over to the bar, and was chatting with Lisanna, Mira, and Juvia about something. She laughed, the sound like tinkling bells to me. I sighed. Maybe I should. I thought. But how do I do a.. date? Will laughed, and I turned to him, scowling. He continued laughing.

"She doesn't care about anything fancy." He said, grinning. It was as if he read my mind. "All she cares about is having fun, so bring her someplace nice." He said. HIs face suddenly turned stony. "But if you hurt her, you'll find that it's very hard to swim with your feet encased in diamond." He turned, and walked off, waving his hand dismissively. Somewhere fun, huh? I thought, thinking.