Makarov glanced at the tightly bound Ultear, then cheerfully popped the cork on the fruit wine Shane had brought. He took a long pull, smacked his lips in satisfaction, and said, "You're in a good mood. I take it things went smoothly?"
Shane gave him a slightly odd look. Before they'd left, the old man's face had been full of worry and repeated warnings. Now he was relaxed as if nothing could go wrong.
Scratching his head, Shane said vaguely, "Well… there were a few hiccups, but yeah, we basically achieved our main objective."
"You've got rotten luck, you know that? Right after you left, not only did Gildarts come back, the Council also sent word."
Makarov chuckled and went on, probably seeing the confusion in Shane's face. "Brain wasn't just building one tower—he secretly had eight R-System towers going.
"After the Council cleaned up the mess at the Bureau of Magical Development, they mobilized a big force and crushed seven of those towers in one sweep. The one you went to was probably the only Tower of Heaven they hadn't found yet."
He set the bottle down and tapped the counter. "With that fox's personality, there's no way Brain would show his face while the whole world is on alert.
"And with your level of strength, unless Brain showed up himself, no one in that tower was going to stop you. So I wasn't worried."
His eyes drifted back to Ultear, a curious glint in them. "I am surprised about this little bonus, though."
Shane nodded and gave silent Ultear a nudge forward, putting her fully in Makarov and Gildarts' line of sight.
Here we go again—completely at someone else's mercy—
Ultear pressed her lips tightly together. Her hands, now free at her sides, slowly curled into fists. Humiliation welled up wordlessly inside her.
"Mhm." Makarov looked her up and down. "This should be the girl you mentioned before—the one hiding in the shadows, likely from that second faction. She really is pretty—"
He turned to Shane with a mischievous grin. "You sure know how to 'bring back' beautiful women, don't you?"
Dirty old man, Shane thought, speechless. Seeing the topic veering wildly off track, he cut in quickly.
"Anyway, she's sitting on a lot of intel, but she's not talking. I came back to report we're done—and to ask if you had any way to make her open up."
Makarov's teasing faded.
He looked at Ultear in silence for a few moments, then shook his head. "Shane, Fairy Tail is a home. It's not the Council's prison, and it's not some dark guild's torture room. We might fight and capture enemies, but forcing answers out of them—that's not our way."
Shane had expected that answer, but hearing it still left a sour taste.
He understood the master's principles. It was just that Ultear's secrets felt like a tangled ball of string, and he'd had enough of pulling on it.
"Don't overthink it," Makarov said, waving a hand as his grin returned. He stood, took a deep breath, and roared toward the noisy hall, "Brats! Pipe down for a second!"
Once the room quieted, he raised his mug high. "Shane, Erza, and Gray have completed their mission and come back safe!
"And we've got a new recruit—Laki—who wants to join us!
"Most importantly, Christmas might be over, but it's never too late to celebrate! For our comrades' return, for our new member, and for Fairy Tail—let's party!"
"OOOHHH—!"
The guild exploded. The roar of cheers felt like it could blow the roof off.
Music struck up right on cue. Mages pounded tables in rhythm.
Food and drink flowed like water. People laughed, shouted, hung off each other's shoulders, and sang terribly off-key songs.
Gray had somehow already lost his shirt again and was arm wrestling with a group of guys.
Erza had been seized by Cana and Levy, one on each side. A small mountain of food was quickly piling up in front of her.
Laki sat surrounded by excited female mages, cheeks flushed as she stared, overwhelmed and delighted, at the scene she'd dreamed of.
And Ultear, temporarily forgotten in a corner, watched it all in silence.
The noise was deafening. The warm air was thick with beer and greasy food.
Every face glowed with uncomplicated, blindingly bright smiles.
They were raising their glasses and genuinely rejoicing for their friends' return.
This unguarded, overflowing vitality was a violent contrast to the cold, calculating world she knew.
So this is… Fairy Tail?
Something complicated began to grow in her chest.
Disgust? Rejection? Or… some feeble, half-acknowledged sense of confusion?
She turned her head away without thinking, unwilling to look any longer.
Makarov insisted Shane had joined just after the Harvest Festival, and now he'd missed Christmas too. No matter what, he wasn't going to let the boy duck out of this one.
…
Which was how, under the watchful eyes of the old man, Shane and the others didn't stagger out of the warm guild hall until the moon was high.
The winter night wind cleared some of the weariness from their heads.
They pushed open the door of the house they hadn't seen in so long. A faint dusty smell greeted them.
Moonlight spilled through the window, highlighting a thin layer of dust on the floor.
"Haven't been back in a while," Shane said. He ran a finger along the living room table and left a clear trail. He pinched the dust and made a face.
"Yeah. The furniture's dusty." Erza followed behind, noticing the same thing. She nodded seriously. "We'll have to do a big cleaning tomorrow."
"No need to wait," Shane said, waving a hand.
Then he turned, very naturally, toward Ultear—the captive they'd had no idea where else to put, so they'd just brought her home.
Before Ultear could even parse his look, he snapped his fingers.
The three long whips that had bound her the entire way—making every step a struggle and every moment humiliating—vanished.
Suddenly free, she flexed her stiff wrists automatically.
Then Shane dropped the order, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Go clean the house."
He paused, then added, "Start with the bathroom. I'm taking a bath first."
Ultear froze.
She stared at him in disbelief, wondering if she'd misheard. "Me? I'm supposed to?"
You want me, Ultear, to do the cleaning?
~~~
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