Fairy Tail Guildhall

It had been a recurring pattern that some of the guild's patrons had noticed.

She had religiously and voraciously consumed the news first thing in the morning when the paperboy arrived at the Guildhall to deliver the newspaper. Every time she opened the papers her eyes lit up full of hope, looking at each article and each time her eyes fell in disappointment when her search turned up empty.

With her eyes closed in silent pain and a sigh, she would put the papers down and prepare a cup of tea. It was the same milk tea that she made every day, sometimes adding a bit more condensed milk than usual, before starting the day like any other at the guild.

It was not known who she chose to confide her pain in although there were a few individuals who seemed to know what Mirajane was going through.

Mirajane chose to close off the pain eating at her, every day her hope dying a little bit by bit. The guild showed no obvious signs of helping her cope as she continued to work the bar as patrons continued to come and either enjoy the guild's public spaces or submit a job request.

That meant that her suitors, albeit fewer in number compared to the previous years, were relentless in chasing after her heart.

Mirajane Strauss

"I'm sorry but a date is not important to me right now," she smiled back at a handsomely dressed man, his hair slicked back. "please make way for customers or buy a drink if you wish to stay."

"Mira-chan! Why so harsh? All I want is to spend some time with you alone!" he clutched his chest in mock rejection, the other arm outstretched towards her. "I'll even bring you to this nice place I happened across the other day!"

"I'm working," Mira said flatly.

"Well," he countered with a hint of nervousness in his laugh, "how about after work? How does that sound to you?"

"I end pretty late," she said before turning away and walking off.

"Mira-chan! Don't avoid me!" the chap then followed her through the guild, making offers to her.

"I told you already, I'm not interested. Please leave me alone."

"But!-"

"Please, no."

"Mira-"

"Nee-chan said no," the towering physique of Elfman dwarfed the man, "get out of her sight or I'll teach it to you like a man."

Without any further warning, the man scooted off, muttering curses under his breath.

Elfman then turned to face his sister.

"Nee-chan, it would be nice if you'd let one of the men date you," he kindly spoke. "Seeing you lose hope for a legionnaire long gone worries me."

Her head turned in a split second to face him, eyes full of hurt and anger while her aura threatened to burst out and lash at him.

"Come on Mira," Cana, who had watched the whole thing unfold gently took her by the shoulder and led her back to the bar. "He doesn't mean that. I'm sure Ghost is still alive and kicking around somewhere, hiding away from the Red Cross as much as he can."

"But there hasn't been any news!" Mira's arms flailed. "At least he should have written back!"

"Maybe he has his reasons for not writing back," said Cana. "Maybe if you want an idea of what he's up to, just stop by his house?"

Weeks later.

Kardia Cathedral

They had done it.

Mira had always known that Ghost chose to climb up the bell tower every time he returned from his missions or simply when he went out for errands or to meet her.

What she did not know was that the Assassin had gone above and beyond to set anti-magic barriers around the bell tower, preventing any physical manifestation of magic from approaching it as Happy painfully found out. However, the barrier only stopped at the window, presumably to allow Ghost himself to practice his magic when he was around.

When Happy, Cana, and Mira found out about the anti-magic barrier, they thought about climbing up the walls to get to the room above the bell tower. As much as it looked easy with magic, and even getting up onto the roof with its help, the anti-magic barrier prevented them from ascending any further, even with magic assisted jumps.

In the end, they decided to outsmart the barrier by having Happy fly higher than its limits and divebomb through the barrier to get into the tower. It took him a few tries but eventually the exceed managed it by the skin of his teeth.

Once he had brought the codex book into Mira's hands, the three of them huddled around in the quietness of the sole bench in the cathedral gardens. With shaking hands, she opened the hardcopy leatherbound book to see the familiar empty, aged, yellow pages within.

"I am a friend who knows the three tenets of the Assassin's Creed," she breathed, anticipation all over her hushed tone.

Just as it had done before on so many occasions, the words began to materialise on the pages, like small spiderlings scurrying across the page. It caused both Cana and Happy to yelp in surprise. Mira quickly explained that Ghost had taught her previously how to read it, simply by giving her the words to say and the intention that what she was about to read was still controlled by the book itself.

"So not all of the book is available to you? That's interesting," Cana commented, never having heard a book with such self-awareness to identify and assess people who were reading the book. "Any news on Ghost?"

Placing the codex on her lap, Mira turned to a section of the book where she knew Ghost's personal entries were kept and stumbled on a page that had the writing suddenly stop.

Three years ago. What happened?

The three continued to read down; a horrific account of what seemed to be Ghost's final hours on Earthland. The more Mira read, the more her fingers trembled, ultimately leading Cana to remove the book from her hands and flip further to find…

"Another new entry? Four months ago?" Happy looked over her shoulder to read the date. "But how? Didn't it say earlier that Ghost-?"

"Not just that Happy," Cana pointed out as Mira glanced over to look at the page. "The book is writing itself in as time passes. What we're seeing now is most likely a real-time update of what Ghost is doing as of this moment."

"No way…" Happy muttered.

I am being cornered right now by the guards and yet a few more government agents that the witch brought in.

The three of them continued to read just the words literally wrote themselves across the pages. With each word their astonishment grew.

No way out of this corner of the city. There! Some Assassins have been kind enough to provide some smoke cover for me to make a run for it… but I have no idea at the very least of where I can run to hide while this whole magic battery weapon thing passes over. Thinking about it just does nothing but inflict migraines on me.

Running off towards the city gate now… If Irene decides to pursue me she will have to think of a better way to get the entire embassy off the island before King Anima retaliates. If the old man ever finds out what my intentions are, he should know by now where I am headed, which is always the hideout below the city.

"He's… alive?" Happy gasped. "How?"

"I don't understand it either," Cana thought, bringing her hand to her chin, "the last entry before the ones this year clearly indicated that he was going to die right there and then. So what magic has enabled the book to continue writing into itself?"

As the three returned to the guild, their thoughts slightly more confused than when they had started out, Mira bore in mind to search through the entire codex to see what she had missed. If there was any indication about Ghost's death four years prior, the book that doubled as a journal and encyclopedia would definitely have some information on what happened, who caused it, and the aftermath of the incident.

The rest of the day would have her mind thinking in overdrive until the moment her room provided the solace and conduciveness that she needed to find out what happened to her beloved Vergil.

Mira's Home

Okay… Where should I start?

From the last moment of his life? Or should I work backwards from his most recent memory? Maybe the first time I met him when the dragons came through the Eclipse gate?

She opened the book and revealed her intentions as a friend of the Creed so that the words would print themselves across the pages. Flipping through until she found the date, she read through the account that Vergil had seemingly written out, although she could barely remember if he had the codex with him when she pulled him out under the rubble of the cursed gate.

How did she know my name? I never give my name away to people that I do not know… Back to the matter at hand. I do not want her to be upset with me.

She noticed this that day as well: the Assassin seemed to be avoiding her for some strange reason and pulled out all the stops to ensure that he was not caught by her. The fact that she knew his name seemed to irk him.

"He acted as if he didn't know who I was," she thought aloud. "He behaved like he didn't know who I was."

Mira continued to flip back, reading horrible accounts of his time hunting demon hunter guilds under the persona of Jormungandr. While the whole world didn't know the name of the persona, the demon that had been heavily condemned by both the council and the public brought widespread fear, bringing the demon-hunting community to its knees. The memory of Vergil killing Jormungandr seemed to indicate that the two were completely different persons with shared memories as if someone had tried to make a carbon copy of the Assassin for some special purpose.

The memories of Jormungandr were terrible, killing hundreds of people and actively hunting down demon hunter guilds so that he could draw out hellspawn for 'her'.

Her. Who is this person? Why would she send a copy of Vergil to hunt down hellspawn?

The more she flipped back through the entries, the more her mind was racing for answers but there was a particular blank page that piqued her curiosity.

Why?

"I am a friend who knows the three tenets of the Assassin's Creed."

I am no friend of the Brotherhood! I am beyond your understanding! A sudden, silent hiss came from the book and screamed at her mind. Keep your business and leave the Ghost be! Demonesses have no authority over the Lady of the Pits!

Mira let go of the codex, the book falling to the ground with an unearthly gravity as she clutched her head from the sudden pain that struck her. After the pain had passed, her hands reached out to take the book from the ground before her magic stopped her.

I would not touch that book again if I were you.

What? The Take-Over mage did a double-take at the new voice in her head. It was one she recognised clearly but strongly advised against when her magic was kept in check.

Halphas speaks sense. She heard the voice of Sitri in her mind, his voice sleek and alluring. That was not just any premonition that came out of a jack-in-a-box.

What do you mean?

This Lady of the Pits is dangerous, even for the kings of hell. If all the kings plan to send out hellspawn to conquer territories and defeat each other through cult followings, then there will be no doubt that she will make her move.

Or she already has. Remember Asmodeus?

Let's take this discussion elsewhere. Our dear Mira does not have the stomach for what we are about to say. Satan's voice spoke out as the other two agreed. Return to your reading while we work to keep her influence at bay.

Gingerly she picked up the book and turned to the latest page where new words had already written themselves across the pages. Her eyes widened in shock and horror at what she was reading.

Altair city

"You're cornered now and have nowhere to run! Surrender now and you will still live. Surrender now or we will be authorised to use lethal force!"

Trapped in the middle of a small city square, the Assassin saw numerous melee weapons aimed at him.

"Lethal force you say?" the figure of Virgil turned around, the smile under his hood menacing as he released the illusion covering his prosthetic limbs. The pistons and gears in his arm and leg began to hiss and grind as the flaps covering different hidden weapons peeked out before retreating back into the shell housing of the limb. "Your laws prevent weapons from entering the country and yet there were blacksmiths around, the police could not even stop me unarmed even with weapons. What makes you think that you can take me on?"

"That is why I am here," the voice of Irene Belserion rang out.

"So it seems that you have taken liberties to decide my fate for me," Virgil spoke. "Essentially to join you or die."

"Only the Empire can stand victorious under the Emperor Spriggan," her magical seals appeared and began to dance around the square. "No one else shall have the means and the opportunity to wage war against the Empire of Alvarez."

"Heh," he laughed, as the agents surrounding him grit their teeth and tightened their hold on their weapons. "That is what great people always tell the masses they conquer; that there is no possible way that revolution can rise. See for yourself the horrors of power when given to the oppressed!"

At once, black magical tendrils began to form around Virgil as Irene's seals increased in size to accommodate the sudden magical presence from the Assassin. Every second the intense pressure continued to build up between the two like a display of power before the tendrils began shooting out not at her but at the agents that had been chasing him all over the city. While most of the tendrils were blocked by Irene Belserion's seals, a few of the tendrils met their targets.

The tendrils pierced through them and into other unlucky targets but did not kill them; from the point of contact where the tendrils met their flesh, smoke began to pour out and materialise into a few different forms. A few monsters were formed from the black smoke like giant serpents, ferocious chimaeras, dead and decomposing bodies walking about and demons that bore terrible appearances. The smoke also formed itself into a massive thunderstorm with pulverising winds forming sheets of water in a torrential downpour.

At the realisation of the sudden increase of monsters without rhyme nor reason, the assembly against the Assassin was struck with great fear. Many had their knees shaken while others had turned as white as sheets.

"Stand tall men of Alvarez! These are just illusions!" Irene shouted to bring them back to their senses.

"No…" some spoke as the Assassin began to walk closer, claws flexing and tendrils began thrashing about. "There's no way these things are real!"

"They are just illusions! Hold your ground and capture the target!"

More and more of the ominous creatures materialised from the smoke as Virgil simply smiled at the enchantress.

"You must understand Irene, these are not just any normal fears that any individual can deal with on their own." He spoke as the creatures pounced on the fear-stricken agents, the serpents swallowing men whole while the other creatures tearing limb from limb, killing them.

"How?!" Irene struggled to keep the tendrils at bay with more magical seals as she watched in horror at the illusions that ended the lives of men that had been entrusted to her.

"These are the deepest, darkest fears of men materialised for all to see and experience," Virgil thrust his claw through the neck of an agent frozen with fear. "When fear is not dealt with courage, it eats away at the essence of life until the guilt of not having dealt with it kills you. All of these creatures you see, the weather that we are experiencing now are all the fears of men made real for them to face for them to live or die trying," he let the body slip off his claws and slump ungraciously to the ground, a puddle of blood pooling at the fatal wound before more creatures crawled out of it.

"Illusions cannot be real!"

"So Irene, what is your fear?"

A tendril had sneaked past her seals and penetrated her through her back but to both their surprise, the tendril drew no feelings of fear from within her.

"Interesting," Virgil mused. "Never did I think I would be able to sink my teeth into the Queen Mother." He licked his lips viciously as all the premonitions stopped what they were doing and intently stared at her, all ready to pounce on her. "The Lady will be interested to know more."

Mirajane

There it is! She clutched her head, the mention of the Lady!

Mira slammed the book shut, unable to comprehend the horrors of what she had just seen and the character that Vergil had become through the codex. As each memory of the loving man she had grown to care for began to peel away to reveal a darker person in the recesses of her mind, her eyes watered with tears and her heart despaired.