Betrayal

When my train pulled into the station at Era a small group of Rune Knights surrounded the entrance. I mean, I knew they weren't messing around, but I didn't think they would go this far, how did they even know I was on my way anyways? Did the old man let them know?

As I exited, I was surrounded on all sides as the general populace looked at me with a great deal of confusion as I was treated like a criminal; I even saw some little kids pointing at me, asking their parents what was going on.

This all would have been fine, I could have accepted this level of suspicion if it had stopped there, but sadly, it didn't. A knight approached me with a pair of magic canceling handcuffs, which was stupid since the Magic Council had to know that I had a magic immunity.

I glared at the person harshly before they could even try to order me to putt he cuffs on, "I came here willingly, put those on me and we'll have a problem." 

The poor man backed away slowly, looking over his shoulder as a familiar face appeared, "It seems you haven't changed at all, Ember, why am I not surprised?"

"Lahar," I said, nodding my head in acknowledgment, we had worked together once or twice before, so I actually was able to remember his name, "What's with the precautions? Are you trying to egg me into fighting back?"

I tilted my head slightly as I watched him, a rather embarrassed look crossed his face as he shook his head, "Of course not, we are acting on orders from the Magic Council, that includes the handcuffs."

He pushed up his glasses as we stared at each other, he was always in business mode; even when I had finally coaxed him to go get a drink with me we spent the whole time discussing our case rather than actually relaxing... Come to think of it, he spent the whole night drinking water while I drank more than I usually did.

Of course, while I knew him well enough to know how serious he was, he knew me well enough to understand just how stubborn I could be, "You know my opinion on those idiots," My voice was still lighthearted, but I knew he caught the dangerous undertone, "I came as they requested so I have no intention of pandering to their inferiority complex by putting on those demeaning things. It's not like they would do anything to me anyways."

Lahar sighed heavily, shaking his head at my attitude, "Very well, just follow us please." He grumbled and turned around, walking out of the train station with his posse and me following him. I genuinely respected the guy, he was a hard worker and got results, but anything I could do to show a middle finger to the council and their plans gave me a warm tingly feeling inside.

As we made our way through town, I couldn't help but grimace at the attention my security detail was drawing. It felt like every eye in town was on us, well, more specifically, on me, the only one wearing black and being surrounded by the rune knights as I scowled at the guards when they sent me nervous looks.

If I was honest, they had plenty of reason to be afraid of me, but no, they just had to be nervous because I was slightly ill-tempered... There were so many better reasons for their fear yet they chose the most idiotic of them all! My inner grumbling may have become audible without my meaning them to because I caught one or two of the Rune Knights grinning slightly as we walked. 

Well now they weren't even afraid of me, so what was the point of all this?! 

Once we made it to the Magic Council's building, my escorts made to walk me down the hall towards the holding cells but we were intercepted before we could go too far by my least favorite person ever, "You finally came in, it's been far too long Ember."

I bowed my head and bit my lip to stop myself from cussing the idiot out, "Siegrain," I acknowledged hating myself for every word, "Come to gloat? I thought you would be too busy sucking your own dick to see little old me."

Siegrain laughed cheerily, a sound that sent chills down my spine, "You are hilarious as always Ember, though I am a tad bit disappointed to not see you in the handcuffs I asked the knights to put you in."

So he was the one responsible for that ridiculous request, why was I not surprised? My eyes flashed in irritation as I sneered at the blue-haired prick in front of me, "Oh sorry," I simpered, "I had no desire to play into your kinks, I'm sure the manipulbitch (manipulative bitch) would be more than willing to put them on if you asked nicely."

I knew it was a stretch, but I was rather disappointed when Siegrain simply smiled politely... I knew he was too straight-faced to fall for that. "Speaking of Ultear," He said casually, jumping topics easily, "She wanted me to say hello to you, apparently she had missed you, though I have no idea as to why."

My eyes rolled involuntarily, if Ultear missed me, then I was a purple dragon. There was a reason I called her Manipulbitch after all. Not long after we first met, I managed to get a sample of both her and Siegrain's blood to analyze... Don't ask me how, that was a memory that was better forgotten... So humiliating.

Anyways, as far as I knew Ultear had some sort of strange control over Siegrain that I could only assume was being used for ill intent. Why did I not tell anyone about that, you may ask? Well, it's simple. None of that was my problem. If I was ever placed in a position to use it, then I would wholeheartedly, but for now, they could keep their weird ass relationship that I really didn't want to question.

"Oh really?" I asked, my voice going up an octave as I allowed the sarcasm to come flowing out strongly, "Perhaps we'll have tea at some point, then we can go shopping for lacey delicates!" 

As I spoke, I couldn't help but notice Lahar sending a glare my way, he could be irritated all he wanted, that wouldn't change the fact that Siegrain brought out the absolute worst in me.I'm sure we would have continued until the council needed me, but apparently Lahar was done with our rude banter. I was pushed from behind, causing me to stumble slightly as I was led past Siegrain towards the holding cell.

Despite the fact that Siegrain seemed as normal as he ever did, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Maybe it was the way that his eyes lingered on me for just a second longer than normal, or maybe it was the fact that as I passed him a rather large amount of energy came from him, attempting to attach to me... Or maybe it was the fact that I watched as Ultear smirked at me from the sidelines, watching me eerily. Yeah, they weren't very good at this whole, 'subterfuge' thing, were they?

At this point, they might as well just tell me that they were up to something, rather than trying to make it appear all cloak and dagger, because they were about as subtle as a clown at a funeral.

Finally, the Rune Knights stopped in front of a cell, all watching each other rather warily, apparently, it wasn't very often that people gave the oh so powerful Wizard Saint lip.

"You never fail to make a spectacle of yourself, do you?" Lahar asked wearily, as though he was a parent watching over his troublesome child. That might not be too far from the truth.

I grinned at him, allowing a small amount of my sadistic intent to come out, "Because mocking people is so much fun, didn't you know that, Lahar?" He didn't answer, instead gesturing to the cell we were standing in front of. a serious look on his face, "Why the long face, Lahar?" I cooed, which immediately made him scowl, "Are you worried that I'll be found guilty?"

As much as I mocked him, I couldn't help but worry the same thing myself. Despite all my brave words to the old man and Lahar, the power of fear was often stronger than their sense of reason. It wasn't uncommon for people to convict with only circumstantial evidence because they were afraid of the threat. Even though the Ghost of Fiore had been inactive for eight years now, people were still scared of me, they were still terrified by whatever it was that I represented to them, which meant that the likelihood of them acting irrationally was high.

The door shut behind me, and finally, Lahar spoke, "If you have anything to confess, you should speak now." His voice was resigned, he must be thinking the same thing I was, I would likely go to jail today.

"Do you really have so little faith in me?" I asked quietly, no humor left in me as I allowed the toll that was being taken on my body to show.

A small scoff came from Lahar, which would have made me ecstatic if the situation wasn't so serious, "I think you know as well as I do that the Council doesn't like you or your guild, if you have anything to confess, it would only be in your benefit for it to come out now."

We were still facing away from each other and I could hear the other Knights walking away as we spoke, their job was done, so I was glad that they gave up a few moments alone, "Well," I faded off slightly, "If I go to jail today, know that I am innocent. You've worked with me Lahar, do you really think that I could be the Ghost? After everything I've done."

Silence filled the hall before Lahar sighed slightly, I was assuming he slumped slightly where he was standing, "Unfortunately, the decision isn't up to me... Though, if it's any consolation, if there's anyone who can get through a situation like this on top then it would be you." 

I couldn't help it, a wry grin crossed my lips as I nodded, "And I have every plan to do so, don't worry." A quick turn showed that Lahar was looking at me from the corner of his eyes, he nodded as well and walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

***

Enough time passed after that to where I was about ready to pull out my hair, I was able to count all the bricks in the wall in the downtime, and all the tiles on both the ceiling and floor, lining them up and trying to find a parallel that wasn't there. By this point, I was undoubtedly an expert on this room, so if the council needed to ask an authority a question about the room, I would be more than qualified to answer.

Not only was I coming off a week of inaction, I also was stuck in here with nothing to do! I'm pretty sure I would have struggled with this even as a far more patient assassin because there was nothing to distract me from my thoughts and the sounds coming from down the hall of life happening as it usually did.

Maybe I underestimated the council and they decided to sentence me while I was safely in a cell and I would be delivered their sentence via letter or some other shit like that. I had paced the length of my cell (ten feet) over a hundred times and sat in the terrifying death trap known as the wooden chair only three times before feeling like it was plotting to kill me and getting up.

My next step was lying on the bed, but since I was still a bit tired from the whole, 'attempted murder via a celestial being' thing, so... that was probably a bad idea right now. 

A slight hissing came from the vent above me, causing me to look up in suspicion. I already wasn't a big fan of that vent as it was the perfect size for someone to crawl through, but for the most part, I had just ignored it, after making sure my daggers were in place, just in case.

A quick look at the vent showed a rather opaque gas seeping through slowly; it was a pretty dense gas, so I could see it pooling up on the floor as it billowed, a distinct citric smell filling the room. Either this was a way for the Council to subdue me without needing to come in here, or something was desperately wrong.

I knocked on the door and called out, but there was no response, distantly I could hear shouting, which made me assume that something was desperately wrong. As much as I wanted to just ignore the gas since my blood immunity would protect me from most foreign substances, there was something off about the gas. The way it was billowing seemed less like a gas that was leveling out and more like a living creature searching for its prey.

Carefully, I climbed onto the rickety death trap as I stood above the steadily rising fog, I still wasn't too worried, but if my experience as an assassin taught me anything, it was to not underestimate anyone... Well, anything in this case. I would be a complete idiot to not recognize the strong magical presence that was coming off this gas. Either this was created with a strong potion, or it was being controlled by some one's magic, either way, it was bad news.

Soon enough, the gas reached the point where I was breathing it in with every breath, I could feel my blood rejecting the substance as it entered my bloodstream, but my lungs weren't quite so hearty, a cough escaped me, and soon I was hacking up a storm, struggling to take in anything. 

What was happening? This shouldn't be possible! What?

I got off the chair and made my way to the vent, trying to stay standing as a wave of dizziness overcame me. Blood spattered out as I coughed, my lungs were reaching their limit even as I reached up to the grate and tried to get my head out of the still descending stream. This was odd, even with this, my immunity should protect me from this, but somehow the gas was targeting my lungs instead of my blood which is why I was now hacking up said lungs.

I almost got my head above the stream when my fingers slipped and I crashed down hard, cracking my knee on the bed frame as fell to all fours. A small moan escaped me, but that couldn't last long as I continued coughing.

The light around me was dimming as it was muted by the gas, or at least, that's what I thought until I looked at the door and saw it rippling... Maybe I was just about to pass out.

A small pool of blood covered the floor where I was, propping myself up against the wall. This wasn't any ordinary condensed irritant, this was created to be lethal. If I didn't have an immunity I had no doubt I would be dead right now.

I could barely see the bed in front of me as my lungs continued their convulsions, which made it impossible to breathe. I tried to find that sensation that filled me when the celestial spirit king tried to take control of my blood, but nothing was there. 

I... couldn't... breath.

A glass vial from the vent fell on my head as I lay there, trying to take in any form of oxygen, which felt like adding insult to injury. It wasn't much, but perhaps it would allow me to find out who did this before I either passed out or died, not that it would do much good, but I was stubborn if nothing else.

My hand inched along the ground as I tried my best to reach for it, it felt as though I was reaching through concrete with how much effort one simple gesture took. By this point, it felt like glass was being raked along the insides of my lungs as they continued to heave and blood was spilling out of my mouth almost constantly... Or at least, it felt like it was.

Once I finally got my hands on the vial, I could no longer see, my world was muted and all I could hear was the door opening while soft footsteps came towards me. My hand felt around the bottle desperately, feeling for anything that would help me identify who could be doing this to me.

As I was picked up off the ground, I finally felt something that made my heart stop. I couldn't feel much, but I was able to pick up one detail... An eye, a fucking eye.

You want to know why the eye bugged me so much, it was because the only person who grew an eye with a swirling design behind it that I had ever come across was none other than my dear old pal and business partner, Gavin.

Fuck you too Gavin.

~~~~~~~~~

Okay, before you all go on a witch hunt for me for doing another cliffhanger, don't worry, cause I will try to get the next chapter out by Sunday, or maybe even earlier if I can motivate myself to write before then! I know, that doesn't help much, but that's about all I can offer. If I kept going, the chapter would have ended in a really weird place, so yeah... Sorry about that.

Now I'm curious as to who can guess which arc this might be starting off... I think I made it pretty clear, but if you're lost, there are a few hints here and there... And this may be following the timeline of the anime, so it might not be that hard... It's been far too long since I've watched Fairy Tail, geez.

Anyways, have a wonderful day and I hope you all remember to compliment yourself on something awesome that you do!

~klypso01

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