Chapter 3 - 3.Shadow&Scralet

📖 Chapter 4 – The Scarlet Flame

Year: X780 (Ryo age 13, Erza age 11)

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Part I – A Girl in Armor

The guild doors creaked open on a gray afternoon. Rain pattered on the cobblestones outside, and thunder rolled faintly over Magnolia's hills. The children inside Fairy Tail barely noticed at first—Cana was showing Ryo how to palm a card properly, while Laxus sat across the hall, sulking because his grandfather had told him no to another job request.

But when the door thudded shut, silence spread like ripples.

A small girl stood in the entryway, her crimson hair plastered to her cheeks by the rain. She was younger than Ryo, maybe eleven, but the eyepatch over her right eye made her look older somehow. Her clothes were simple and worn, clinging to her thin frame. She didn't shiver. She didn't speak.

Her single visible eye—dark, sharp, heavy with something that didn't belong to children—swept the room.

Ryo felt it like a blade on his skin.

Makarov rose from his seat. His tone was softer than it ever was with Ryo. "What's your name, child?"

"…Erza." Her voice was steady, almost flat.

"And what brings you to Fairy Tail, Erza?"

Her eye flickered down, just for a second, before locking on him again. "I want strength."

Ryo felt the shadows stir at his feet. Something about this girl—this little red flame in the doorway—made his curse whisper with interest.

She bleeds like you, it purred. She'll break like you. And when she does… oh, won't it be fun?

Ryo clenched his fists.

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Part II – Oil and Fire

It didn't take long for Erza to clash with him.

Training sessions with Makarov became different when she joined. Where Ryo was wild force straining against his curse, Erza was precision, drilling endlessly with wooden swords. She moved like someone who had already lived through battlefields, her focus unshakable.

"Your stance is sloppy," she told Ryo after one spar.

He bared his teeth. "Say that again."

"You leave your right side open. An enemy would kill you easily."

"I don't need a lecture from you." His shadows bristled, coiling like snakes.

Cana quickly shuffled between them, waving her arms. "Whoa, whoa, guys, come on, it's training! Let's not—"

But it was too late.

Ryo lashed forward, shadows shaping into a wolf. Erza didn't flinch. She stepped in, wooden sword flashing, and shattered the construct with a single, precise strike.

The whole guild hall froze.

Even Laxus, who normally enjoyed seeing Ryo humiliated, stared with wide eyes.

Erza lowered her sword. "Sloppy and wasteful," she said.

The voice inside Ryo hissed. Kill her. Cleave her in two. Show her who you are.

For a terrifying moment, he wanted to.

But Makarov's presence pressed down on him like a mountain. "Enough!" the old master barked. His eyes softened on Erza. "You both have much to learn."

Ryo's jaw clenched. For the first time, someone his age had broken his magic. And worse—she looked at him not with fear, but with judgment.

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Part III – Bonds of Iron

The days that followed were strange.

Erza integrated into the guild quickly—faster than Ryo ever had. She helped Cana with chores, trained with the older mages without complaint, even started arguing with Laxus about rules and discipline.

But when it came to Ryo, sparks always flew.

"You're reckless," she said after one mission training exercise. "You don't think."

"And you're a machine," he shot back. "You don't feel."

They argued so much that Cana started betting with Wakaba on how long it would take each day before they started bickering.

Yet, despite the constant friction, Ryo began to notice things.

When Erza thought no one was watching, her hands shook faintly as she polished her armor. She woke from nightmares with muffled gasps. Sometimes she ate too quickly, as if afraid the food would be taken from her.

Ryo knew those signs. He lived them.

One night, he found her sitting outside the guild hall, moonlight glinting on her hair.

"You're not the only one with scars," he said quietly.

She turned her head. For a moment, her tough mask cracked. Her eye softened, just a little. "I know."

They didn't speak more that night. But it was enough.

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Part IV – Storms Within

Ryo's shadows grew restless with Erza nearby.

During one session, while sparring under Makarov's supervision, the curse surged harder than ever. His shadows formed not wolves this time, but hands—twisting, clawed hands that reached for Erza like they meant to drag her down.

She struck them away, fierce and unyielding, but Ryo felt himself slipping.

Cleave her. Dismantle her. She's strong now, but she'll break. Break her before she leaves you.

"No!" Ryo roared, clutching his head. His magic spiraled, black and violent, until Makarov's magic suppressed it with crushing force.

When the shadows dissipated, Erza stood over him, sword raised. For a second, Ryo thought she'd strike him down.

Instead, she lowered it. Her eye burned with fire. "Control it. Or you'll never be more than a beast."

Her words cut deeper than any blade.

That night, Ryo dreamed of a battlefield of bones, Erza's voice echoing in the distance, and his curse laughing louder than ever.

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Part V – The Scarlet Flame and the Shadow

By the end of the year, the guild had shifted again.

Cana remained his anchor, teasing him, dragging him into laughter he didn't know he could have. Laxus still glared, but now he turned that glare on Erza as much as Ryo, furious at losing his place as the guild's strongest child.

And Erza—Erza was everywhere. Training, arguing, standing tall even when she trembled inside. She didn't let Ryo wallow in his curse, didn't let him escape her sharp words.

He hated her. He respected her.

And slowly, painfully, he began to trust her.

One evening, as the sun set over Magnolia, the three of them—Ryo, Cana, and Erza—sat on the guild's roof. Cana was asleep, snoring softly against Erza's shoulder.

"You'll always fight it, won't you?" Erza asked quietly, staring at the horizon.

"The curse?" Ryo's hands tightened on his knees. "I don't have a choice."

Erza's eye glinted. "You do. You fight, or you fall."

Ryo looked at her—really looked at her—and for the first time, he saw someone who wasn't afraid of him. Someone who carried the same weight.

"…Then I'll fight," he said.

The curse hissed in his veins, but Erza's gaze steadied him.

The Scarlet Flame and the Shadow. Two broken children, side by side, daring to believe in something more.

And for the first time since Makarov found him, Ryo thought maybe he wasn't doomed to be alone.