This was a very significant year in the canon Fairy Tail as this was the year the Eclipse plane truly began. This year, Layla Heartfilier opened the gate that connected to the past and brought the dragon slayers to the present, completing the 400-year plan of the Heartfilier Clan. This was also the year Makarov found Natsu and brought him into the Fairy Tail guild.

But all of this doesn't really have much to do with me right now. Maybe in the future, I might play a supporting role or something but at the moment I have no intention of going to the center of the future, namely Fairy Tail. Right now I'm at the current year for only one reason. And that is to grab ahold of my next target.

I am currently at the border between Alvarez Empire and The kingdom of Fiore. And I'm currently walking around a small village which is housing another one of my future wives. One of the future Spriggan 12, the future Country Demolisher.

Brandish Myu.

A month has pa.s.sed since her mother was killed by that psycho Zoldeo. Of course she doesn't know it was him and thinks it was Lucy's mother. During the time I'm going to spend with her, I have the option of telling her the truth but I won't. because the interaction she had with Lucy and Aquarius in the canon during the war was necessary in my opinion.

I mean, Aquarius was supposed to be dead or something at that point but she suddenly came back after all. I think if Brandish knew the truth and didn't try to kill Lucy, Aquarius might not have been able to come back. Even if that is not the case, I don't want to take the chance. And besides, it would be more convincing if Aquarius showed her the truth than me just telling her with words.

Anyway, I have investigated her situation for a couple of days now and she had closed herself off inside her house when she learned that her mother was dead. My first task is to enter her world and bring her out of the darkness, even for a little bit of time.

So, I made my way in front of her home and knocked on the door a couple of times. I repeatedly knocked not hearing an answer and this continued for about a good ten minutes before I heard the door unlock and open just a tiny bit showing me one eye of Brandish.

What was supposed to be filled with joy, innocence and curiosity about every new thing it saw, was now filled with sorrow, despair and hopelessness. Her eyes were swollen and red, probably from crying too much and you could see exhaustion in it.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Her voice was coa.r.s.e from crying so much and from being dehydrated. It looked like it took a lot of her strength to even talk considering the gasping voice I am hearing from her. I decided to take care of it later and focus on first getting inside. I gave her a smile and gently spoke to her.

"My name is Ray Cross. From the looks of it, you have already heard the news so I won't say it. My condolences but your mother asked me to take care of you and teach you in order for you to be stronger in this world. I know you aren't able to trust me since I'm basically a stranger but I mean you no harm."

She looked pensive after recovering from her shock of knowing that the boy her age in front of her was asked to take care of her by her mother. She had been living with her mother ever since she was born and never saw her mother talking with me, so she was probably beginning to become suspicious so I said.

"I met your mother on her journey to Fiore. Well, let's just say I'm the type who goes around challenging people to fights. Your mother being one I had recently fought with. After the fight she asked me to take care of you should anything happen to her and I agreed. A week ago I learned of… the accident and I have come to fulfill my promise."

It seems she bought my story as the suspicious look she was giving me left her. After thinking for a bit, she opened the door inviting me inside. I made my way in and saw that it was dark. It was almost sunset outside and she hadn't lit any lamps so I looked for one and lighted it.

Brandish was watching me carefully and curiously. Carefully, because I'm still a stranger to her obviously. Curiously, probably wondering what type of kid I am since I fought with her mother and impressed her enough to be asked to take care of her. Sorry for lying, I'll make it up to you in the future. I promise.

"it looks like you have neither eaten or cleaned up in days. So you go take a bath while I cook something to eat. I'll make extra since you must be hungry."

She gave me a nod and started walking towards the bathroom. After seeing her enter the bathroom, I looked for any usable ingredients to cook something. I decided to make something nutritious and started to cook.

When I finished I heard the door open and Brandish came out all cleaned up. I smiled at her and told her to sit down and served her some food and then some for me. She was hesitant at first but the hunger of almost a month probably, was too much to handle so she began to eat at a very fast pace as well. After eating, I cleaned the dishes before sitting in front of her in the living room and started talking about her future.

"Well, first of all, I will be in charge of training you physically and I will also teach you various knowledge that I think might be useful to you. Apart from that, I will bring you to study about the human body and basic medicine from a doctor once your physical training reaches some achievements. Is this alright with you? If you have something to say, you can."

She looked at me and shook her head but then nodded so I asked her what is it and she finally spoke more than a few words that were not questions filled with distrust.

"My name is Brandish Myu. Please teach me how to be strong so that I never become sad again."

Her words were filled with firm will and I also saw a very strong desire to be strong on her small cute face. Although the part about her mother telling me to take care of her was a lie, I will take care of her and I will train her to become stronger. So I smiled at her and said.

"Ah, once again, my name is Ray Cross. You can call me Ray. And don't worry, I will make sure that I lay the path for you to become one of the strongest in the world."

This was how I began my life with one of the Spriggan 12 of future. One of them who will be a key player for the Empire. And this is also how I began to slowly bring back smiles onto the poker face of Brandish Myu.