Chapter 21

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“Yes, I’m the first daughter of Heartphilia family, Lucy’s blood sister, Lucille Heartphilia.” Vyera said.

“… That’s impossible!” both daughter and father exclaimed.

Vyera grinned, “How could it be impossible? Don’t tell me you forget about your own daughter that you threw away like a trash 18 years ago.” Vye glared at him.

“You should have been dead!” He shouted.

“But I’m standing here, in front of you. At least, I can prove I’m not a ghost…”

He was speechless. The same goes to Lucy who had her mouth open for a while now.

“… H-How did you know that you were abandoned?”

“... 6 years ago, I became the apprentice of Minerva Hawley… I overheard her talking to someone, about me… I can barely hear it… but somehow I managed to get the fact that I’m your daughter and I’m thrown away under your order.”

“Minerva Hawley… that mage who came in a hurry and sealed something dangerous in you…” He recalled.

“Yeah, that’s her… I’m not angry with her for sealing it in me… It was inevitable… But you...” She pointed rudely at him; “You threw away your own daughter just to save yourself. What do you think someone’s life is?!” Vyera said with anger, "My precious friend lost his life to protect me from this demon… But you, as my father, threw me away to protect this useless wealth. Today, I’m going to end everything.”

“W-What are you going to do?!”

“… I will destroy this place... with you in it.” She said while concentrating her magic power on the palm of her hand, "Be happy as you get to die with your beloved wealth."

“Y-You won’t dare!”

“Why won’t I?” She looked at him directly, “This isn’t my home anymore... No, it was never my home to begin with.” She corrected.

But Lucy stood in front of Vye, with her back at her father, stopping her from attacking.

“No, Vyera! He… He’s still my father!” Lucy said.

“Move away, Lucy… I don’t want to hurt you if I can…” Vyera said regretfully.

“No! I won’t!! There are other people in here! I won’t allow you to destroy this place!”

“As long as the thought being his daughter is in me, I won’t be able to pull off my anger towards him. Now back off.”

Lucy didn't intent to move from there. She couldn’t attack her no matter what. She was her one and only sister. She didn’t have any grudge against her. Suddenly, their father shouted.

“I have only one daughter! That is Lucy!” He exclaimed.

Vyera was surprised but absorbed back the magic power that was on her palm, “… Great.” She smiled , "Now, I have no more attachment to you.”

Vyera looked at him, “… I can’t change the fact that I have the Heartphilia blood running through my veins… but with this, I have no more ties with this family.”

“Vyera…”

“This will be the last time I’ll call you “father”… From this point onwards, I’m not Lucille Heartphilia anymore and we are strangers to each other… If you dare to lay a finger on Fairy Tail again, I won’t forgive you.” Everyone could sense her seriousness, “I’ll be waiting outside for you, Lucy…”

Vyera exited the room and closed the room behind her. She sighed in relief. After a few seconds then she realized the whole servants in the house were still eavesdropping outside. Vye was dumbfounded.

After a while looking at each other, one of the maids called her affectionately, “Lucille-sama…”

“Wait… You know me?” She asked while pointing at herself.

“Of course we know!” Everyone answered in unison, making her startled, “All of us here witnessed the moment you were born…”

“Hey, let’s go to the garden… It’s bad if master hears us talking about that here…” warned one of the servants who looked like a gardener. Others agreed.

They pulled her towards the garden. She sat on the grass at the west side of the house. It was a flower garden.

“… So… yeah, we knew everything about you when you lived here… We are just not allowed to say that to outsiders… It’s a forbidden topic among us…”

“Oh… No wonder I feel quite familiar with you… Looks like my body remember the feeling of being cared by each one of you.” She smiled.

Vye chatted a lot with them until Lucy came with different clothes than she was in when meeting her father, much more casual.

“Oh… Lucy.” She called, “All ready?”

“Yeah… but can I ask you something privately?”

“Yes, sure. See you again everyone. I will miss you.” She waved to the servants and followed Lucy to the east side of the house.

“Come back to this house anytime! We will always welcome you, Lucille-sama, even if Master opposes it!” They shouted from afar. Vyera gave them another wave as thanks.

“… Do you seriously want to kill father just now?” Lucy started

“No.” Vye answered fast and simply, making her startled, “I only meant to threaten him a bit and made him feel guilty. It worked rather well, wasn't it?”

She stared at her disbelief then she laughed, “That’s the Vyera I know.”

“Well… I’ve thrown away the name Lucille Heartphilia. I’ve decided… from the day I was born till I’m dead, I’m Vyera Phoenix from Fairy Tail.” She stretched, feeling released from a burden that binded her for a while now.

There was silence for a while till Vye asked, “Can I visit mother’s grave before we go?”

“Oh… You know about her… Here… It’s just over there.” Lucy pointed to the edge of the flower garden. Vyera followed her. There was a memorial tomb at the edge of the garden.

“…” She kneeled down in front of the grave with the engraving ‘Layla Heartphilia X748-X777’ and prayed. After that, both of them walked towards the exit. On the way, Lucy requested something she didn't expect.

“Vyera… I have a… request.” She asked anxiously.

“What is it?”

“Can I … can I call you 'Nee-chan'? I- I know you are not Heartphilia anymore but… I have always been alone in that house…”

Vye stared at her for a while. “… Sure. You are my sister after all. It’s your privilege to do so even without asking me.” She patted her, “And here.” She handed her the stellar spirit key of Ophiuchus.

“But... This…”

“I know you will take a good care of it. Use it well.”

“Yes… I’ll take care of it. It is our bond.” She said happily.

Suddenly a bunch of noises and footsteps were heard from the exit. The usual gang was here with worried faces and in a hurry. Happy was already crying.

“You! Don’t ever think of leaving Fairy Tail!” Natsu just said directly at Lucy’s face when he saw her.

“And Vye! Don’t just run off without telling us anything!!” Gray and Erza yelled.

“W-Wait people… Give us a chance to explain everything.”

Both of them took turns to explain whatever that had happened and the fact that Vyera and Lucy were blood sisters.

“So you are… Lucille Heartphilia?!” Natsu said amazed.

“...I’m Vyera and will always am. Let’s go home…”

On the way home, they were talking a lot. Lucy surprised everyone by saying that the whole garden was her family’s property until the hill that was so far away. Everyone was startled and didn’t know what to say. Who would have thought she was a princess?

“Vye, don’t you have to go to the Council tomorrow morning?” Gray asked quietly.

“Oh man... I almost forget…” She sighed, “Shouldn't have agreed to go.” She replied as soft as possible too but apparently Erza heard it.

“What else did you two keep from us? Huh?!” she said with killing aura and her blade in her hands, ready to kill.

“Ah no, nothing… Really!” They added nervously when she started to hold high her blade.

“Oh! Lucy!” Gray suddenly shouted, “Here.” He took something out from his pocket, “Your keys.”

“You found them? I thought I lost them when they kidnapped me.” She received the keys.

“No, it’s not me… It’s Loke who found them.” Gray corrected her.

“Eh? Loke?” she was surprised, “Why would he do that?”

To think that Loke finally decided on his master unconsciously made her less worried about him. Vyera giggled at the thought of Loke, “Just thank him properly later, Lucy…”

All of them were back to the guild without very much incidents on the way. The next morning, Vye followed Jii-chan to Council Branch to be witness of the Phantom incident. Jii-chan was the representative from Fairy Tail, while she was the witness and neutral party though she told the others except Gray and Jii-chan, that she was just going to accompany Jii-chan there.

“Hey, Jii-chan… Do not fall asleep in there.” She warned him beforehand.

“… Let’s hope I’m able to do it.” He said that with a straight face, which made Vye sighed in defeat.

In there, all the council members had present. Jii-chan and Vye took the respective place to stand in the hearing. The frog councilors or whatever they were, started to read the report on the incidents after everyong settled in their seats.

It was illogically long that even Vye couldn’t blame him if Jii-chan fell asleep in the hearing. She couldn’t resist the temptation to sleep in there. It’s worse than hearing a president’s speech.

“…So based on the report I just read, the responsibility falls mostly on Fairy Tail… Vyera Phoenix, as the witness and neutral party, do you have anything to add?”

"Finally..." She said to herself and after clearing her throat, she said, “I object on the decision that Fairy Tail must take most of the responsibility.”

“… What’s your reason?” said the head of the council.

“The one that started the attack first was Phantom. Phantom Guild launched an attack on Fairy Tail guild in the middle of the night, which fortunately, nobody was in at the time.”

“So why did Fairy Tail suddenly attack Phantom without a warning??” said one of the council members.

Another member helped in, “This proved that Fairy Tail attacked them which in the end caused casualties!”

“Please listen before jumping into conclusion, which I knew you have been eagerly waiting to disband Fairy Tail…" She said, "There was a part of this incident that wasn’t mentioned in the report. While the guild had no one at the time, the attacker from Phantom guild went ahead and injured 3 of the Fairy Tail’s members.”

“Are you sure?” They confirmed again.

“I’ve proved it from their magic power… It was filled with genuine fear. So it was not a mistake. I could summon them immediately and you could see it for yourselves, if you would like that.”

“… Continue.”

“Thus, Fairy Tail attacked Phantom afterwards. Phantom even fired the Jupiter towards the guild while all of our members were out there, defenseless. This wasn’t mentioned in the report as well. I was there at the scene and I was the one who faced Jose, the master of the Phantom guild. I heard everything. He had been planning to destroy Fairy Tail in the first place. The request from Heartphilia family was just an additional reason to attack.”

“How did we know that you are not protecting your own guild? You are from Fairy Tail too after all.”

“… Then, do you sense any of uncertainty in my voice since I talked? Do I ever defend my own comrades when they have faults in their missions? The answer is no.”

They were taken back, Vyera continued, “From this point onwards, if there is any uncertainty in my voice, you can take me out from here right away, with the most votes.” She said with utmost certainty and looked straight at the eyes of the members. Nobody dared to object. She had managed to convince them.

“I won’t deny that Fairy Tail has its own fault as well, for attacking Phantom without reporting to the Magic Council first. However, it was a state of emergency. So I could say it was a self-defense action.”

“… Um, Makarov-san?” said one of the frogs or whatever position they were.

Jii-chan had been asleep since the very beginning. She could only sighed with most of the council members just stared or scratched their heads in disbelief.

“… The Fairy Tail’s supporters have been disbanding, in a record ten times of the godly. This is all within our calculations though.”

“May I interrupt?” Vyera said again before Jii-chan said anything.

“Permission granted.”

“Even though the supporters are disbanding, however, the members of the Fairy Tail, which are up to almost a hundred, are still loyal. Up till now, none of them leave the guild and I believe none of them will. This proved that Fairy Tail is still believed by its members. So based on that assumption, I requested that Fairy Tail to be judged not guilty.”

After that, the 10 Council members excused themselves to take the votes. After 30 minutes waiting, they came up with the decision ‘not guilty’, as Vye requested. After that, Jii-chan was pulled by Shitou Jii-chan to have a good talk for a while. Vyera didn't want to interrupt them so she waited for Jii-chan at the front of the council. Sieglein then appeared before her.

“What do you want?” She asked straight forward.

“Nothing.” He grinned, “I’m just checking your condition.”

“I’m fine, thank you.” She replied coldly.

He closed in and whispered, “Even after the demon Xrytos sealed in you?”

Vyera backed off and looked at him disbelief, “How do you know about it?!”

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