Work Text:
| ~ ❄️🪽✨~ |
Three months after Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray and Erza—otherwise known as Team Natsu defeated the Eisenwald guild, there was a sighting near Magnolia. The Magic Council happened to get many reports of a large chunk of ice near the outskirts of Magnolia, specifically floating above a lake nearby.
When reports first came in, it was noted that this chunk of ice hadn’t made any advances, let alone any movements. So, for the time being, the council left this report alone. Considering it wasn’t threatening the people of Magnolia, they wouldn’t proceed with an investigation. That was until cracks started forming in this chunk of ice overnight while there weren’t any eyes on it.
It didn’t take long before the council sent guards to monitor any changes to the chunk of ice. It caught so much attention, all of the magical guilds started talking about it. And soon, there came a job request that asked if any wizards were willing to monitor this chunk of ice along with the guards currently watching over it.
Now normally, a topic like this would just be the buzz of the hour. It wouldn’t warrant a job request, let alone the attention of some guards. So, it got many wondering if this was really just a harmless chunk of ice or was there something else in this ice that could prove to be catastrophic.
Given its size as noted in the reports of many being an abnormally large chunk of ice that glowed in the dark when it came nighttime, that already sparked suspicion. Not only did a glowing chunk of ice worry many but it had large amounts of magical energy inside of it.
Now, it all makes sense! The Magic Council is actually paying attention to a threat instead of putting it off like they always do. Or just blame it on Fairy Tail… Overall, the surveillance of this chunk of ice was very warranted to ensure the safety of the town.
Going back to this job request, it landed into the hands of the renowned Fairy Tail guild. And specifically in the hands of the Fairy Tail guild’s master, Makarov. After one of its members, a young woman named Mirajane, came in with this job request, she gave it to her master and had him review it one last time.
For a while, he was surprised that the council wasn’t berating the guild this time. Especially after what Team Natsu did to the nearby stations when fighting against the Eisenwald guild along with that fight against the flute, Lullaby.
Makarov eventually collected himself and handed the job request back to Mirajane as approval. “It’s quite strange that a chunk of ice needs a job request, isn’t it, Master?”
Makarov went back to drinking out of his cup of beer without saying a word for a moment. After the sip he took, he looked up at Mirajane and sighed. “It is, considering that the council also needs heavy surveillance of it.”
“My guess is that there’s much more we don’t know regarding that chunk of ice. I’ve even heard that it’s starting to leak out magical energy.”
Makarov again went silent for a moment before eventually responding to Mirajane, sharing his own sentiments. “That’s my guess as well.” After their conversation regarding this new job request, Mirajane headed over to the guild’s request board and pinned the job request into the board with some thumbtacks.
From there, people were free to take on this job request. And that they did. Many wizards in the guild eyed this job request wondering if they should take it or not. Someone eventually did take it and that someone happened to be a young man named Gray Fullbuster.
After helping Team Natsu and Erza with stopping Eisenwald from using Lullaby, Gray needed a more relaxed job request to take. So, he decided he’d take on this job request to guard and watch over some chunk of ice. It won’t be that hard, will it? Considering it’s a chunk of ice, it probably won’t. Ice magic is his specialty after all.
With the flyer in hand, Gray went over to Mirajane while she was approving other job requests that were coming in. He placed an elbow against the counter and leaned over to say hi to Mirajane. “Hey Mira, I know you’re busy but I was wondering if I could take this job?”
Gray held up the flyer in his hand just as Mirajane looked up from stamping one of the flyers under her fingertips. She smiled and nodded her head, taking the flyer out of Gray’s hand. “Of course, Gray! I’m never too busy to approve a request. Just be careful out there, okay? I heard they almost made this request an S-rank request.”
“I’ll be fine, Mira. You’re forgetting who’s taking this job. I’ve taken similar jobs in the past so I’ll be fine.” Without wasting any of Gray’s time, Mirajane stamped the flyer and wrote Gray’s name down for this job. After that, Gray waved Mirajane goodbye before heading out to go and talk to the job poster.
This job potentially becoming an S-rank job? There’s no way this job is that hard, right? Gray was worrying too much. Again, ice magic was his specialty and after hearing that he’ll just be watching over some ice, that really cooled down his nerves. For the time being, he felt rather relaxed about all this. Though, he’ll soon realize why they were debating on making this an S-rank job request.
As time went on, more cracks emerged from the chunk of ice floating over the lake where it was first spotted and more magical energy leaked out which alerted more of the guards keeping watch. What they would eventually find was something that would surprise them and even disturb them.
…
As more outside occurrences were made known and disturbing the peace within, something was happening inside of the chunk of ice. A young girl was found curled up in a fetal position and appeared to be asleep. While being asleep, her alter ego spoke to her just as the ice was on the verge of starting to crack and melt away.
…
…
“March?”
…
…
“March 7th?”
…
…
…
“My dear March 7th…”
“…Are you awake?”
…
The girl’s eyes shot open, still in the fetal position. And while being rather skittish, she began looking around her to naturally find herself encased in the chunk of ice that protected her in her past life, the life she is unfortunately able to remember.
She says softly to the voice, still confused by what she had woken up to. “…Evernight?” And then, a little louder she says. “Evernight?!”
Silence enveloped her after what seemed like a while. And then, after all of the quiet, the same voice that spoke to the girl earlier spoke again. “Yes, it’s me, March. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving.”
After hearing the voice, or rather, Evernight speak to her, the girl known by Evernight as March 7th let out a relieved sigh and smiled to herself while still curled up in the ice.
“Thank goodness, you’re still here…”
“Do you remember anything?”
The air was silent again. March was going to give Evernight an answer when the conversation ended abruptly. The reason for this is because the cracks in the ice were growing larger and larger. This ice was like no other, being dubbed by March 7th in her past as Six-Phased ice.
True to its nature, it could withstand long amounts of ice and large amounts of force. The ice did eventually crack but it took some time to crack, like it did on the Astral Express. Though, in this instance, it cracked rather quickly. And when it was believed that the ice would no longer crack, it shattered into pieces and revealed March 7th, bare and with only her bow to her name.
She saw that she wasn’t heading to Planarcadia anymore with the Trailblazer. She wasn’t even on the Astral Express with the Trailblazer, Dan Heng, Mister Yang, Miss Himeko, Pom Pom and Sunday anymore, let alone in the cosmos that she knew like the back of her head.
No, she was in a completely different world entirely. And to add onto that fact, she was being stared at by several different men with what looked to be spears in their hands.
This… definitely wasn’t a warm welcome. In fact, this reminded her of what she had to deal with when her, the Trailblazer and Dan Heng went to Jarilo-VI for the first time. And with that as a reminder, she started to become annoyed by the fact that she was already considered a threat even though she just woke up from sleeping.
Still in complete shock regarding what was happening, March 7th couldn’t process when the men held the tips of their spears towards her neck. They weren’t docile at all, which was enough for Evernight to use what little power she could muster in that moment, just to overpower them so they wouldn’t assault her dear March 7th.
…
It took Gray a while to arrive after talking to the job poster but he eventually arrived on the scene. What he saw in that moment shook him to the core. It was nothing like what he expected. And the magical energy he was feeling was nothing like he’s ever felt before. It was… sinister and filled with malice. And by the time he arrived, the ice had melted open completely. Just what happened while he was gone?!
One of the guards there approached Gray with his spear in hand and asked if he was the wizard that accepted the job request worriedly. Gray naturally answered the guard without any haste. “Yeah, I am the wizard that took this job. What’s the situation right now?”
The guard relaxed a bit and then turned to look at the young girl and the rest of his colleagues. He was still a bit nervous, though. “Th-the ice we were watching suddenly broke open and a girl came out! And… I don’t think she’s friendly…”
“What is she doing right now?”
“Well, n-nothing yet but there are jellyfish around that girl and—”
“Why don’t I just show you my power right now?”
The guard slowly turned around to look at where the girl was sitting to see that she was no longer sitting. She was standing upright and the girl they saw a couple of minutes ago changed. Slowly, her appearance changed to be more black instead of white. The girl’s wings had turned black, her once baby pink nails turned black and when she revealed her eyes—they were deep red and a grin appeared on the girl’s lips.
Gray stepped in front of the guard that was once in front of him and prepared himself, stripping off the shirt he was wearing off and throwing it onto the ground. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”
The girl then said after a moment. “Those of you who dare to harm my dear March 7th will not live to see tomorrow.” After that comment, Gray readied himself by emitting magical energy through his body. While Gray muttered his chant under his breath, the girl observed him specifically as the jellyfish fluttered around her.
“Oh? Is there really another that uses ice? It isn’t as strong as THEIR ice but… It seems strong enough.”
Right now, the jellyfish surrounding the girl were blue. But gradually, they became deep red and emitted its own energy. And without warning, both Gray and the girl launched at each other and both of their energy clashed with one another.
Gray’s ice made lance clashed with the girl’s hand and as she held the lance, her own ice started to form around the lance and soon up Gray’s body. “What the—?! You… You aren’t normal…!”
The girl chuckled deeply before pinning him to the ground as more of her ice formed around him. “Of course I’m not normal. I am the Veil of Evernight, a memetic entity incapable of being normal as you call it.”
Almost all of the guards that were present watched the battle like deers in headlights. They didn’t know this girl was going to even have this amount of power that she does now, seeing she looked confused a moment ago. All they could do was just stare as the girl continued to fight against Gray. “Veil of Evernight? What does that even mean? I don’t understand!”
“A boy like you doesn’t have the capacity to understand such things so I won’t elaborate any further.”
“Oh come on! Do you really expect us to know what you are?!”
“I don’t believe you deserve to know any more than what I tell you.” And with that, the girl jumped off of Gray and distanced herself from him and the guards. She placed a finger against her bottom lip and chuckled yet again before turning away from them.
“You people are amusing to me. But, I’m not here to play around. I’m taking myself and March 7th away from here.” The girl wouldn’t elaborate any further. Her intentions, who she was, who March 7th was—she didn’t give them any answers. Nor did she want to. After all, they were all enemies to mainly March 7th as the girl claimed earlier. So, she just left the scene with drops of water following behind her. And as she left, her jellyfish followed and changed back into the sky blue they were earlier. The girl’s wings also changed back to white as her silhouette slowly disappeared into the morning horizon.
The guards didn’t waste any time after that and quickly reported to the council about what they saw. Gray reported to Makarov about the job request and how it went and from there, Gray would collaborate with the guards in secret regarding what they saw the night before with this mysterious girl and their encounter.
As time went by, the case was eventually deemed as “still undergoing” and Gray was eventually free to return to taking other job requests in the guild. Gray wouldn’t see that girl for a while until two weeks later while also dealing with two idiots who took on a job they couldn’t handle by themselves.
As for the girl, no one would find out that she had a split personality until way later. More importantly, Gray wouldn’t find out about the girl’s split personality and true identity until their very next encounter two weeks later. What will happen during that next encounter? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. (wip)