Holy crap... So sorry I haven't updated this to everyone that's still following (and thanks for persisting!). I know it's short, but its essentially a bridging chapter to wrap things up with Silver... Props to anyone who knows the two different series where the horse names come from xx

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Fairy Tail... And I'm a bit devo the manga has finished :(

Chapter 42.

The trek to Isvan had been uneventful and quiet. In typical Silver fashion, Gray's father had insisted on spending another week kicking everyone's asses into gear so they were more prepared for the Games.

It had also been one of the hardest weeks of the Ice Make mage's life, and not because of the physicality of fighting Gajeel and then Amalie in the practice ring every day.

He'd honestly thought that, until now, nothing could be worse than the weeks following his parents, and then Ur's, deaths, but there was something about knowing what was coming and feeling so utterly helpless to stop it that had him tired right down to the core of his bones. He felt defeated and betrayed and irrationally angry at Silver for coming back into his life, just so he could permanently leave again after such a short time, then there were other moments where he just wanted to cry and scream and beat the shit out of anyone who'd be stupid enough to fight him.

He trailed behind Silver and Amalie, trying to sort through his increasingly unstable emotions and mentally prepare himself for what would be coming later that day, and didn't notice his companions had stopped until he ran straight into them.

"We're here," the Change mage murmured, reaching out to hold his hand.

He noticed the clearing then. It was the same empty as fuck clearing he'd been to on several occasions and not once had he found this memorial they claimed was here. His emotions swung back up to borderline wanting to scream, interrupted by a twig snapped behind them.

The Change mage spun at the sound and shrieked when a white projectile hit her, knocking her over backwards into the snow.

Gray was on the immediate defense, summoning his magic to prepare for another attack. He silently berated himself for not sensing anything sooner but, when he glanced over at Silver and saw his bored face that completely lacked any concern, his stance relaxed. His father was a Slayer, for fucks sake. It wasn't like anything could creep up on them without him knowing.

"Cloud! I missed you!" came Amalie's breathless laugh when she finally stilled. The Change mage looked more beautiful in that moment than he'd ever seen her, with her face flushed from laughter and covered in snow as her hair fanned out around her. The Ice mage raised an eyebrow as he regarded her cuddling the furry cannonball, that actually looked to be a small wolf.

He reached a hand out hesitantly to help her up, wary of the animal, but it only looked calmly up at him with strange sky blue eyes as it moved away.

"This is Cloud, Gray... The horse soul I have tied to me is... Was her twin," Amalie explained, fingertips brushing the wolf's head as it leaned against her leg. "Twins aren't common and when he died, she inherited his magic."

"But it's a wolf," he observed, not entirely understanding where she was going with this.

"She's a shape shifter. She couldn't do it before he died," the princess told him. She looked down at the creature. "You should show him, Cloud."

The animal glowed brightly, the ball of light growing until it faded to reveal a white horse with the same strange sky blue eyes the wolf had had.

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Seeing the fine white mare again reminded Silver so much of the first time he'd seen the Caros royals. They had arrived mid afternoon; Kallee had been atop a large white stallion, her long copper hair in peasant braids, while her near identical daughter was mounted on a young stallion that was as black as night. Their arrival wasn't a spectacle and they had asked for, not demanded, boarding for themselves and their guards for the night. He'd been surprised by their normalcy, by the way Kallee had sat beside Mika on their porch and chatted with his wife and the other women while she helped peel potatoes for the village meal.

"Can I see him again?" the Fullbuster patriarch asked softly.

Amalie nodded slightly, knowing exactly who he meant, and reached for a knife to slice her fingers before tracing the well practiced runes in the air. Magical smoke engulfed her frame completely, before dissipating to reveal the large horse.

"Gahltha," Silver murmured, rubbing the magnificent black face. He'd been there the day Kallee had tied the war horse's soul to her daughter, allowing Amalie to use the spell that transformed her into him. It was dark magic - most things that bound a soul to another living being were - but the queen had reasoned that tying them together would save the princess in the future, and it had on multiple occasions.

He had often wondered if Kallee had been a seer, at least until she'd been unable to foresee and limit Seraphina's toxic influence and brutal ambition.

He wished he'd been strong enough to kill her.

The great horse pawed at the ground before him before Amalie released her hold on the spell and reappeared before him. She followed silently as he crossed the threshold into the protected area, the small white horse shifting back into a wolf to trail behind them.

He watched Gray's face morph into an expression of awe when he finally saw the rows of meticulously placed crosses and carefully maintained grass and trees protected against the harsh winter outside by the runes.

"This... This has been here the whole time," his son whispered. "I wish I'd known..."

They stopped in front of two crosses, one large and one small, that marked the resting place of Mika and what he had previously assumed to be his son.

There hadn't been much to work with in the way of records after Deliorah's attack. The ones that the Queen's men had found listed names of inhabitants of the town and their addresses, but lacked birth dates and whether or not the person still resided in Isvan. Many of the bodies had been unrecognisable so it had been a guessing game.

"You're like her, you know. Strong, but just and fair. She would have been proud," Silver whispered, turning to the princess and cupping her face with his large calloused palms. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and pulled back to look into her watery emerald eyes. "It was an absolute pleasure being a part of your life, Amalie. Look after Gray."

The princess reached up to rest her hands over his. "I wish this could have ended differently."

"I wouldn't let you do it," he told her with a shake of his head. He brushed the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.

The spell Kallee had used to bind him to her was forged by the blood that surrounded them when he was found. Silver had done extensive research into the spell, trying to find a way around dying, or at least extend his lifespan for a little bit longer. He'd found that it was possible for another mage to 'renew' his time, but the caster needed the blood - a lot of it and from an innocent person with no sins - to do it, and he simply wouldn't allow that to be on Amalie's shoulders.

Seraphina, on the other hand, would not have blinked an eyelid at such a request - but she was not the sort of person he wanted to be bound to, so he'd destroyed all of his notes before she found them.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have a few moments in private with my son," he murmured, searching her face for any objection to his wishes.

"Of course," the princess whispered, reaching up on her toes to press a sweet kiss to the Ice Devil Slayer's unshaven cheek. Tears spilled unchecked down her cheeks. "Thank you, and goodbye Silver. I'll be outside the runes if you need me, Gray."

Silver watched her go, waiting until she'd moved past the barrier to turn to his son. "There are some things you need to know about Amalie in order to keep her safe..."

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