Narration:
They'd barely crossed the threshold when Mirajane slid plates onto a corner table like she'd expected them all along—warm cinnamon bread, fruit, and eggs Natsu immediately declared "the best eggs ever."
Lucy (grinning, to Mira): "You read minds."
Mirajane (wink): "I read footsteps."
Happy dive-bombed the plate. Carla intercepted him with a paw to the forehead.
Carla (prim): "Not before the others sit."
Wendy settled beside Ryuji, eyes bright.
Wendy (soft pride): "You answered people on the way here. Bit by bit."
Ryuji looked down at his cup; the tips of his ears went pink.
Ryuji (murmur): "...It wasn't difficult."
From the next table, Cana smirked over her mug.
Cana: "He's getting the hang of greetings."
Levy (beaming): "Look at you—already opening up!"
Ryuji pretended the bread needed his full attention.
Across the aisle, Natsu slid into a chair like a meteor. Gray slid into the same chair from the other side.
Natsu: "Move."
Gray: "You move."
They rose in the same breath, chairs screeching.
Natsu (grinning): "Fire Dr—"
Erza appeared behind them like a red-armored verdict and bonked both with two clean chops.
Erza (even): "Eat. Then you may duel outside. Not on the furniture."
Natsu & Gray (rubbing heads): "...Yes, ma'am."
The guild clapped. Ryuji's mouth twitched—almost a smile.
Report to the Master
When the plates were crumb-clean, Erza stood. Her eyes lifted to the balcony; Makarov met her look and nodded once.
Erza (quiet to Ryuji): "With us, please."
They crossed the hall, up the stairs, into a small room that smelled faintly of tea and paper. Makarov's presence seemed to make the space warmer by itself.
Makarov (gentle): "Sit, lad."
Ryuji sat—straight-backed, hands folded.
The door clicked shut... and opened a finger's width again. A stack of guildmates arranged themselves in the most suspiciously innocent line: Lucy (keys chiming), Wendy (hands clasped), Carla (unapologetic), Natsu and Gray (already elbow-sparring for ear real estate), and Levy with a notebook "just in case."
Erza (without turning): "You will stand quietly and not interrupt."
Natsu (muffled): "Aye..."
Family Talk
Makarov swung his legs once off the chair, then stilled them, eyes steady and kind.
Makarov (father-calm): "In this guild, we carry each other's loads. If a shadow follows you, Ryuji, it follows us. Let us see it."
A breath. Ryuji's shoulders tightened, then settled.
Ryuji (low): "There's a Dark Guild. Crimson Veil."
He swallowed. "They take children. Not to teach— to drain. They force ethernano into crimson lacrima. What's left of a person is... poured into those stones."
Silence pulled taut like a bowstring.
Erza's hands curled over her knees, knuckles white.
Erza (quiet, iron under it): "They prey on children."
Makarov's gaze warmed and hardened at once.
Makarov: "How long, son?"
Ryuji: "Years. I was taken once. I got out before they took... everything."
He flexed his hand, a ghost of shackles in the motion. "After that, a watcher found me. Noctis. He hunts at the edges—tests, tracks. When I fight, they notice. When I hide, they wait. I kept moving. I learned their residue. I survived."
Erza: "Those bandits yesterday—"
Ryuji: "Infused against their will. You saw the veins. That crawling cold is what's left when crimson lacrima are forced through a body that can't hold them. It makes them strong, then breaks them."
Outside the door, Wendy's breath caught.
Wendy (barely above a whisper): "That's... awful."
Carla (low, controlled): "Monstrous."
Makarov set his staff aside and reached across, not commanding—anchoring.
Makarov (steady): "Listen well. You did not bring danger to us; they brought it to you. Now it has reached our door, and we will answer. Fairy Tail is not a harvest to be reaped—it is a wall."
Ryuji blinked hard once, jaw tight.
Ryuji: "If I stay, they'll come."
Erza (absolute): "Then they will face us together. Better our front door than your back."
Makarov (nodding): "Two things. One: you are not a burden. Two: we'll teach our own to recognize the stain. Erza will prepare an internal bulletin—signs and counter-measures—so our members spot it fast and call for backup."
Ryuji (thinking, then): "Three tells: a low storm-hum from the lacrima; marks that feel like pins of cold, not heat; and an iron smell with no blood."
Levy (scribbling outside, hushed): "Iron without blood... pins of cold... storm-hum. Got it."
Natsu (a rumble he barely swallows): "We'll crush them."
Gray (through teeth): "All of them."
Erza rose.
Erza: "I'll draft the bulletin, and a short training brief for teams."
Makarov: "Good. Ryuji, sit with Erza and write what you can today—no more than you can bear. Wendy, stay with him."
He raised his voice just enough for the eavesdroppers.
Makarov: "And the rest of you can stop breathing on my door."
The door swung open to reveal the whole audience in a perfectly guilty tableau.
Makarov (sigh, fond): "Family, indeed."
Wendy slipped inside first, stopping in front of Ryuji.
Wendy (soft, sure): "We're here."
Ryuji met her eyes. The tightness in his chest wasn't only fear anymore.
Ryuji (quiet): "I know."
Natsu (already perking up): "Paperwork. Then training."
Erza (instant): "Paperwork. Then breakfast, part two. Then training."
Gray: "Then a shirt."
Lucy: "Your shirt."
Happy (popping up): "Then fish!"
Carla: "Denied."
Button — Mirajane's Foresight:
Back downstairs, Mira slid a neat stack of wrapped lunches into a basket—enough for two teams. She tied the ribbon, glanced toward the upstairs hall, and smiled a little, soft and sure.
Mirajane (to herself): "Just in case."
Makarov tapped his staff once—a small sound that felt like a vow.
Makarov (low, to all of them): "They will not take from our children again."