Of Aura and Ethernano (Fairy Tail/ Jaune Arc SI): Chapter 22

X783, Cait Shelter.

“We are back!”

“Oh~ Welcome back!”

“Children! How was your trip!?”

“Hahaha! You all look like you’ve rolled through several miles of mud.”

Mirajane, Lisanna, Elfman, Wendy, and Carla walked into the guild with smiles and smirks as the members welcomed them back with smiles.

The 18-year-old girl walked forward proudly towards the guild master and dropped the large sack she had been carrying with her.

“Old Man! We defeated the Weretiger pack. Here are documents, souvenirs that the villagers gave us, and other stuff.”

Roubaul chuckled at the way the girl excitedly waited for him to read through the documents, probably looking for praise.

Looking at her expressions, the old man couldn’t help but poke a bit of fun at her.

“I trust nothing was damaged this time around, and we don’t have to pay the clients for damages?”

“Hey! Do you take us for those goons from Fairy Tail!? We did no such thing!”

“I see. Then, I guess I have Jaune’s previous stern lecture to thank for-“

“I really will kill you, old man.”

“Hahaha! Nabura! I was just joking.”

Mirajane fumed at those words before harrumphing and sitting down with her siblings, Wendy and Carla having disappeared somewhere in the guild, probably to speak about how exciting her first S-Rank quest under Mirajane’s leadership was.

“Where is Jaune, though? I haven’t seen him or Juniper while returning, and he is not in his house either.”

Roubaul chuckled at the nonchalant way Mira asked about Jaune, knowing that she was secretly excited to see the young man in question, probably so that she could boast that she made no mistakes on her quest this time around.

The old Nirvit motioned towards the door leading to the basement library.

“He is in there. Has been for a few days now. He only comes out to eat, drink, and other necessities before diving back in there. As for Juniper, she has gone hunting out of boredom and should be back by evening.”

“Huh? That’s not like him.”

Roubaul just gave a sad gaze towards the door.

“It is not my place to say, but he saw something on his previous quest. Something that rattled him pretty badly, and he has been searching for an answer for what he saw there ever since.”

Instantly, the cheer left Mirajane as she got up while motioning her worried siblings to stay put.

She knew that having Lisanna and Elfman would help if she needed to pull Jaune out of another one of his funks, where he lost himself in whatever trauma he experienced before meeting them, especially if she threw Wendy at her precious ‘big brother Jaune’.

She knew that Jaune would instantly fold the moment he saw her large eyes filled with water.

But she also knew that sometimes, it was better not to overcrowd someone who was feeling down.

And her instincts were telling her that this was one of those times.

Walking into the well-lit and ancient library that had nearly everything that ever existed about magic, but wierdly did not have much in the way of modern things and magics, she easily spotted his long blond hair tied into a tail as he was hunched over several open books, writing things down in his diary.

He must have sensed her arrival as he slowly put away his things and turned to her with a smile. One that would easily fool anyone, even Wendy, whose senses were ridiculously powerful thanks to her status as a Dragon Slayer.

But for her, someone who was used to hiding what she truly felt, she was easily able to see the exhaustion, worry, and a few dark emotions that he was hiding behind that warm smile.

Still, she did not wish to break that mask just yet. So she walked over and sat behind him with her back to his.

Lazily leaning onto his back, she simply stayed silent, letting him initiate the talk.

“How was the mission?”

“Good. Didn’t break anything and received high praise from the client. Got full payment this time.”

“Oh? That’s a first.”

“Hey!”

Jaune chuckled at her mock outrage but soon fell silent as he observed her uncharacteristic behaviour.

“What’s the matter?”

“You.”

“Huh? What did I do?”

Mira simply glared at her closest friend.

“Being your idiotic self again.”

“Hey now, no need for such saltiness just because you lost to me in a spar for the hundredth time last week-“

Mira instantly flailed her arms wildly in indignation.

“I thought we were never going to talk about it again!”

“Haha! Sorry. But, seriously though, what’s got you all silent like that?”

Mirajane calmed down a little and sat back down, once again leaning onto his back.

“Just worried about you.”

Jaune could not help but sigh softly as he put aside the books.

Turning towards Mirajane, he patted her head like he had gotten used to doing in the past five years.

“Why?”

“Master said you have been buried in here for days. Rarely going out.”

“...True.”

“Why?”

Jaune stayed silent for a few minutes before he opened one of the books, showing ancient scripts and diagrams that would teach a particularly dark magic to anyone interested.

Of course, Roubaul would keep this kind of book out of reach for anyone, even Mirajane, who used Demonic magic herself as a Take Over. But the old man trusted Jaune to be responsible. It was the only reason he was able to even touch these books by getting past the wards that Roubaul set up in the library.

“What do you make of this? Mira.”

“Looks like a dark ritual. Based on the formations, a blood seal of some kind. My guess would be a necromantic spell.”

Jaune nodded at her words, a glint of pride flickering in his eyes as he glanced at Mira, which in turn made the demoness smirk proudly.

“Close. This is a prototype revival spell. Particularly, one of the Amateratsu formulas. Now, see this.”

Jaune took out a parchment with a similar but far more complicated magic seal drawn on it.

An observation that Jaune agreed with as Mira voiced the similarities.

“During my last mission. It was supposed to be a simple extermination quest. Kill a few monster herds that were strangely attacking a frontier town. However, after the extermination, I found that the true source of this disturbance was a Dark Guild.”

Instantly, Mira’s hold on his hand tightened as her heart dropped in sadness and anxiety.

She was not a stranger to death. Having witnessed, and in extreme cases, having taken a life or two herself.

But Jaune always took things to another level when it came to Dark Guilds, something that always put him at odds with a lot of the legal guilds and even made him look suspicious to the Magic Council.

However, to Mira, she only felt sadness every time she heard of his latest ‘feats’ on the road or through rumors.

Because she knew that with every kill, a part of Jaune would die with it.

Because she knew that Jaune was not some mindless killer who took pleasure in doing what he did, or someone so apathetic that he did not care about the kills.

No. He was someone who valued all life, yet forced himself to be extremely ruthless. A fact that was proven whenever she witnessed his body squirm in the night, his face contorting into a frown in his sleep, and the way he would always wake up with a start, escaping one nightmare after another, especially after one of his Dark Guild hunts, where he would be plagued by nightmares for weeks on end.

That is why she did not feel fear because of the blood on his hands, and neither did she feel pride because he had become the bane of all Dark Guilds. All she felt was sadness that the kind and caring man she looked up to and considered her closest companion outside her siblings was hurting, and she was completely helpless to do anything about it.

Jaune smiled slightly, knowing that the girl was worried about him, and simply patted her head once again in comfort.

“The Dark Guild was messing around with a few dark artifacts and magics. At first, I thought them a typical Dark Guild and set about extracting information and to see if I should hand them over to the Council or use a more permanent solution.”

“But then, as I was investigating their base, I stumbled upon a storehouse filled with Lacrima. Specifically, Spell Lacrima.”

“...I don’t get it? What’s so strange about that? As long as they have the money to throw around, nearly anyone can buy a Spell Lacrima and learn from it.”

Jaune said nothing and instead used a Recording Lacrima to project an image on the table, making Mira’s breath hitch in her throat.

Dead bodies were scattered across the floor. Their decayed bodies showed that they ranged between a week and a day old.

The most eye-catching thing was the body of a teenager strapped on top of the same magic seal that Jaune had shown to her before, a blood-red Lacrima crystal floating atop the lifeless boy’s body. Then, the next image showed an entire storehouse filled with similar Lacrima.

“They were using a magic extraction circle embedded into a modified revival circle to extract magic from young mages and store their magics within the Lacrima. They would have made a fortune derived from the deaths of a few dozen promising mages with rare innate magics.”

Jaune chuckled bitterly as Mira hugged him tightly.

“The worst thing is, by the time I got there, the boy at the center of the spell still had a sliver of life in him. If I could have broken that spell and healed him, he could have lived. But, because I lacked the knowledge to break such a spell, he died in front of my eyes.”

“It is not your fault, Jaune. You don’t have to bear such a weight.”

“It feels like my fault, Mira. It has always been like this. I always fail when it matters the most. Even back with-“

Jaune fell silent before he could speak more, but Mira did not care.

She just hugged her friend tightly, giving him her silent comfort before speaking again.

“Jaune. You once told me that you would always have our back, no matter what. Do you remember?”

“Of course.”

“Then, do you remember what I said back then?”

“I said that we too would be with you all the way. Me, Lisanna, Elfman, Wendy, and even Carla, despite her attitude. The entire guild will always watch your back, Jaune.”

She let go before staring into his eyes with a fire in her own eyes.

“So, don’t you ever say that you are a failure. Because I will not tolerate you badmouthing my best friend. You hear me?”

For a few seconds, Jaune just sat there, stunned, as Mira’s image was replaced in his mind with that of another girl with black-red hair and silver eyes.

Then, a soft smile appeared on his lips as he nodded.

Of course, that smile was soon replaced with a smirk as he teased the younger girl.

“Who knew that our dear Demon Mirajane had picked up the art of consoling lost souls as well? How is Elfman supposed to protect his elder sister from unworthy guys now that she has become this charming? Poor Elfman!”

“Hey! What the heck!? Jaune!”

Jaune simply laughed and shot out of the library with his boost while Mirajane used a Partial-Take Over to manifest her wings and chased him.

And yet, neither of them would ever forget this moment.