#for now you get Light’s horrific Pyrrhic victory

[god-of-this-new-blog]

“‘Cause if it gets you through the night. Well then hey, hey it’s your night, and that’s your right, it ain’t my business” — The Paper Chase

[neoduskcomics]

Samurai Jack Season 5 Review - Part 1 (SPOILERS)

So, for those of you not in the know, Samurai Jack had a final, conclusive fifth season this year that aired on Toonami/Adult Swim. It consisted of ten episodes which ran successively over 11 weeks (one episode being displaced by a Rick and Morty surprise season premiere). This is going to be a review of that season, with one section dedicated to each episode, and then a “closing thoughts” segment. This review will also be split into two parts since it’s so damn long, so hopefully that will allow more people to actually read it. The second part will go up tomorrow.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

XCII

This episode was loads of fun and set a high standard for what was to come. While not a whole lot happens in terms of advancing the plot, this definitely felt more like an episode that sets the stage for the following nine. It allows us to see what sort of a state both Jack and the world around him are in. The world itself seems very unchanged, but Jack has changed a lot, and we can understand a sort of causality between the two.

We see how fifty years of status quo has left Jack in a torn and jaded state, haunted by hallucinations that chide him over his failure. A Jack tormented by shame, frustration, and survivor’s guilt really gives you a compelling gateway into this new story arc for the character—not to mention the fact that he’s lost his sword. But, we also see that the old Jack is still in there somewhere, as he’s still not willing to back down from a fight or run away from innocents in peril (at least, when he’s not being overwhelmed by tree leaves carrying the visages of his dead parents).

Ashi, our deuteragonist, is also introduced in this episode, and we can see through the circumstances of her birth and upbringing just how deeply Aku’s shit storm has seeped into the earth. We get some really dark and intense imagery in this episode that is unlike anything we’ve seen in the series thus far, and it really serves as a great starting point, pulling the audience in to wonder if and how things could ever go right again. Aku’s got cult followers birthing and torturously training assassins to kill Jack, Jack has lost his sword and nearly his mind, and Aku is no closer to releasing his dark hold on the world at large.

When Jack says in the opening “hope is lost”, these first couple episodes really make you feel it. And yet, again, we can still see glimmers of humanity and hope in our central characters to keep us connected. Jack still fights to survive and to help survivors. Ashi, despite her horrendous upbringing, shows glimmers of a soft side and curiosity in the beauty of the world beyond her underground den. The episode does a great job of balancing out its darkness and light. It lets things get intense, but also remembers to keep a bit of warmth and sentiment, however subtle, to keep the emotional stakes from getting out of hand.

And with that in mind, this brings me to Scaramouche, who is, to me, the absolute best part of this episode, and maybe one of the best parts of this whole series. After such carnage and emotional distress, we get introduced to a scene that reminds us “Hey, guys. This is still Samurai Jack. We can still have fun.” And “fun” is definitely a fitting descriptor for this character. Apparently he was modeled after a real actor and singer, Sammy Davis Jr., and while I’m not personally familiar with his work, I’m sure he was a great entertainer if Scaramouche is anything like him. The way this robot assassin talks, moves, dresses, and fights are all wildly stylish and amusing. Moving mindless puppets with a magic flute did give me Naruto flashbacks, but telekinetically manipulating his sword through scatting and his kickass tuning fork blade that blows up shit with residual vibrations were crazy creative and fun.

Overall, this was a great episode. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it definitely hooked me in to see what came next.

 XCIII

This is probably my favorite episode of the entire season or, hell, the entire series. Not only does Jack have seven highly trained and highly deadly assassins chasing after him, not only is he in the most mortal peril he’s ever been in in his entire life, not only is it fantastically animated, not only are the pacing, music, and atmosphere drenched with the most palpable tension and adrenaline…but—BUT—it completely removed all of my hang-ups about Aku having a replacement voice actor.

And I don’t want to make this out to be like it was the highlight of the episode. Because it wasn’t. There was way more stuff to like in this episode. But goddamn, man. In the middle of all this horrible, super dark, super serious and traumatic shit, what is the first scene we get reintroducing the show’s main antagonist and the literal sole cause of all this horrific chaos and torment?

We get Aku waking up to an alarm clock, smashing it, opening his nightstand drawer, pulling out two flaming eyebrows, and then placing them on top of his eyes as though they were miniature eye-hats.

That was it. I was on board.

And let me emphasize the fact that I don’t think this scene was comedic genius for the fact that it had some of the absolute most clever visual or scripted humor ever in an animated series. But for me, especially in a show such as this, comedy works best when it is used to break up tension. A lot of comedy comes from surprise—seeing something somewhere or in such a way that you weren’t expecting. When you use comedy to unexpectedly break a pattern of darkness and desolation, it becomes that much funnier simply because of that contrast. Aku could’ve been reworked to be a much more serious and diabolical threat in this season, sort of like how he was in the “Birth of Evil” prequels, but they did not go that route, and I was super happy that they didn’t when this scene happened.

Giving Aku such a comical introductory scene not only provided much needed levity to the opening of this season, but it also reaffirmed to the audience that we weren’t just getting some post-apocalyptic nightmare-scape. We were going to get a story with a widely varied tone which, for me, is my favorite type of story. I enjoy narratives that let you gasp, cry, clench your teeth, and laugh. Hideo Kojima, the creator and overseer of the Metal Gear franchise (before leaving Konami) said something similar about how he thinks all stories, no matter how serious, require levity. This was a primo example of that.

But, okay, on with the actual bulk of the episode. Whatever that initial Aku scene did for giving the show brightness and levity, the main Jack plot did for reinforcing the show’s drama, atmosphere, and tension. This episode is so beautifully paced, scored, and animated that I honestly don’t even know where to begin in extolling it. Keeping Jack’s humanity in tact from the first episode proves to be an incredibly essential calculation on the part of the writers here, because without it, all we would’ve been seeing is a man who has given up on life and success, following his animal instincts to survive.

But this is Jack. Even without his sword and without his ability to look at anything without it turning into an emaciated victim of war, he still wants to live and fight another day. We remain invested in Jack as a character, and so we are completely and absolutely terrified for him as we see him go up against an enemy the likes of which we have never seen before. Jack is completely outnumbered and seemingly outmatched, and the episode plays this out with masterful execution. Jack tries to fight at first of course, and we get not a fight where Jack is just mowing down baddies effortlessly, but where he’s in a real, life-threatening struggle. It’s packed with adrenaline. And then, when he’s quickly cornered, we shift into a state of survival horror. Where are they? What will Jack do? How will he survive? Can he survive?

The colors, the lighting, the environments, the slow pacing of the events punctuated by huge rushes of intense action—it all plays out beautifully and made me feel like I was watching a segment of a foreign animated film. We also get a deeper look into Jack’s heavily weighted psyche as he converses with an illusory version of himself. We see all of his shame, frustration, and even suicidal notions given a voice—and not just any voice, but his own. It works very well to show us the struggle going on within him, even if it is a bit played out as a plot device.

The ending sequence where he slits that girl’s throat, while we all knew it had to happen eventually, is still a bit of a shock both for us and Jack. And even with this pyrrhic victory, Jack is not only now at death’s door, but he’s still being pursued by the seven (now six) still-deadly and still-threatening assassins. It’s a grim ending to the episode, and it really leaves the mind to wonder just what could possibly happen next.

 XCIV

This episode basically marks the end to the new season’s opening act. It’s where Jack pulls his shit together, is reawakened with a new resolve to fight and survive, and (mostly) puts an end to his deadly pursuers. While it didn’t give me the same highs as the previous episode might’ve, it still worked quite well to give this segment of the story some closure and have Jack undergo some real growth as a character (something that’s almost a bit of a stranger to the Samurai Jack series as a whole).

Seeing Jack in such dire straits, bleeding out into the river, still running for his life, struggling to remain conscious and yet still vigilant and on guard, keeps us on our toes as we know he’s not out of the woods yet (literally). But we are allowed to ease off a bit once the wolf from the previous episode returns (who we may have thought was just a thinly veiled symbol) He meets Jack and we see the healing process that Jack undergoes. While this part of the episode may come across a bit as padding, I think it was important for us to see Jack recuperate and see him form a connection to something—in this case, the wolf. Again, it’s a reminder that humanity still dwells in that guilt-ridden mind, and it makes the process of Jack’s both physical and mental healing seem natural, so that he is prepared for the climactic fight at the end of the episode.

It is also in this time that Jack is able to recall a vital lesson from his childhood. It was nice to see Jack when he was a child living with his family—a good reminder of the time before; what it was that Jack lost and once sought to reclaim. And, more importantly to the plot, it provided Jack with some much needed guidance. Jack understands from this memory that he is responsible for his actions, but his actions are also what define him as a person. It was a succinct if a bit simplistic way of getting Jack through the guilt of killing another human being. To me, this also helped absolve Jack of some of his other guilt as well—the guilt of never having returned home to save his people. The flashback itself is well-told, giving us just enough to understand what Jack experienced, what he and his father were feeling, and why it was such an important lesson for Jack to learn.

The resolving fight that follows is of course greatly animated and a lot of fun. The tides have turned, and Jack is now ready and capable to take his assailants down. This turning of the tide is also reflected in the background. In the previous episode, the landscape was always dark, foggy, and obfuscated in one way or another, complementing and enshrouding his black-clad enemies. Here, the land is so pristinely white that the only thing you can actually see is Jack and his opponents. It harkens back to the “Samurai vs Ninja” episode wherein while the Ninja uses the darkness as his domain, Jack uses the light to combat the darkness.

We also get a tiny bit more of Ashi’s humanity working its way to the surface in this episode. We see her volunteer for guard duty and then use the opportunity to gaze at the starry sky. It’s not a lot, but it communicates to us that there’s something more to her than there is to her sisters, and that we can probably expect more to be explored.

Jack, of course, beats all the bad guys as the episode leaves us on an almost literal cliffhanger, as Jack and Ashi are dropped from a towering precipice to the ground far below. It’s not quite as intense or exciting a cliffhanger as the last couple episodes, but the show at this point has demonstrated enough quality and gotten us invested enough in the characters and events that we’ll definitely tune in again anyway. Overall, a well-told story and a pretty fitting end to the season’s first act.

 XCV

This is probably what you could consider to be the first “comedy” episode of the season, and it actually comes at a good time. Jack has just dealt with probably the shittiest situation in his life (maybe short of the time he realized that he was sent thousands of years into the future, that his whole family and nation were dead, and that Aku essentially had taken over the world). If there was a time for some levity, it was probably now.

Here is where we first see Jack and Ashi directly interact outside of combat, and we really get a sense of just how thorough her brainwashing is, in spite of her glimmers of humanity. What results from these interactions varies a bit. We get some genuinely funny exchanges, but we also get a lot of Ashi consistently and unyieldingly berating Jack and praising Aku. While I still welcomed the episode at the time despite it not being my favorite, and while I do still think it was a nice change of pace for the season, I now kind of recognize that it wasn’t just a break from the incredibly tense first several episodes. It was actually more of an indication of the general direction the show would now move in, and this has caused me to revise my initial opinion of it.

This is getting ahead of the episode, but a lot of the story that follows relies heavily on Jack’s relationship with Ashi. In fact, their relationship is kind of the emotional backbone for the final act of the whole season, and for that to work, we really needed something skillfully and gracefully defined. This episode, if you ask me, was a bit of a missed opportunity—in retrospect, at least.

This was basically 20 minutes of us having nothing but Ashi and Jack alone together, but instead of learning more about them and them learning more about one another, we spend most of it just repeating the same motions over and over again, either to play up the pointlessness of Jack trying to reach Ashi, or for the sake of escalating the absurd comicality of it all. Or perhaps both. But in either case, especially when the past few episode were so rich with characterization and insight, it does kind of feel like some time was wasted here, and this is reinforced by the fact that we really don’t get much meaningful dialogue or interaction between Jack and Ashi even after this episode, which I will discuss when we get to the relevant episodes.

This is part of why I felt like Ashi’s turnaround at the episode’s end was somewhat unnatural. Okay, as a scene by itself, it’s pretty well done. We have Ashi flash back to a moment from her childhood concerning a ladybug, and then a parallel is drawn with Jack and another ladybug. It mainly uses visuals to communicate to us how Ashi has a change in perspective, and it’s done pretty well. But I couldn’t really shake just how stark a change it is when, for the first couple episodes, Ashi was unyieldingly determined to kill Jack, and then for this entire current episode, Ashi was totally closeminded and did nothing but hold fast to her belief that Jack was evil and Aku was the shit.

I’m not saying that I didn’t believe this shift in perspective could’ve happened, but, again, it feels like there were a lot of opportunities, not just in this episode but in the whole season, to give us a more natural and emotionally poignant transition. This discussion of Ashi’s turnaround from evil to good will be further explored in the next episode, and I hope that my views on it will be more substantiated by the evidence provided there.

However, all that said, this episode was still good. It was nice to see Jack find himself resolute enough to try to save Ashi not just from bodily peril, but from the poison in her own mind. We get more of Jack debating with his inner, negative self over whether he should continue to bother with all the trouble, and Jack struggling to remain steadfast in his resolve. We also got a bit of a return to the show’s roots, putting Jack in a new and fantastical environment with strange creatures and obstacles for him to explore and overcome—only this time with a very, very vexing and trying companion (who also wants to kill him). The comedy in this episode also still worked pretty well, and I did enjoy some of the ways in which Ashi and Jack displayed that comical chemistry. Not an amazing episode, but still a pretty good one.

 XCVI

Scotsman is back. This is easily the highlight of this episode. He is very old, but he hasn’t lost a step (well, figuratively speaking). And he and his (now deceased?) wife were apparently very busy making an able-bodied army of warrior daughters, except not the vicious murderous kind that we were familiar with from the first couple episodes. Seeing Scotsman charge into battle against Aku before bombarding him with his trademark longwinded flurry of insults was great for longtime fans of the show, even if it did end with Aku laser-eyeing him to death (and then thankfully him returning as a ghost). It was another fun and funny return to a beloved character from the show’s history, not unlike Aku’s own introductory scene this season.

That being said, I actually did not care for much of the remainder of this episode. I discussed previously how I felt that there was some missed opportunity in exploring Jack and Ashi’s relationship. It instead devoted an entire episode to Jack fruitlessly trying to reach Ashi, only to be spurned at every turn and then only for Ashi to undergo a decisive emotional epiphany through a single moment at the episode’s end. Here, we now spend half the episode with Jack providing Ashi with exposition, explaining to her how Aku is evil and, like, literally just the worst with some visual aids.

Now if you were to ask me how else I would’ve done it, I honestly couldn’t tell you. All I can tell you is that the high bar set by the first several episodes of this season left me a bit disappointed with this one and the ramifications that spread outward from it, both forward and back. It lessened my appreciation of the prior episode and it made me feel like there was something missing from the episodes that followed. Again, this turning of Ashi from Aku to Jack, her emotional transformation, and the resultant relationship between Jack and Ashi was all incredibly important to the season’s ultimate plot, and having an episode that’s half exposition and half nearly meaningless action took a lot away from all that, at least for me.

And, yes, I felt that a lot of this episode felt kind of insubstantial. Once we get to the village with the dying villagers and abducted children, it basically turns into a generic villain-of-the-week plot where we don’t really learn anything new or interesting about the characters, the characters themselves don’t really undergo any interesting changes or experiences, and the plot itself is just not really all that captivating. Jack has that moment at the end where all the children seemingly die and he finally gives into the mysterious horseback rider in the distance, but it all feels a little cheap. After all, those children didn’t actually die, for one. And for another, Jack didn’t even cause their seeming death, which is obvious. It’s not as though he finally gave into his anger and started beating the kids up, and then they all collapsed and Jack was like “oh, no! I killed them all! I must accept my punishment!”

You could argue that it was more guilt from not being able to save them rather than from causing their deaths directly, but I would argue that this is in direct contradiction to the seminal lesson he learned only two episodes ago—it is the decisions you make and the actions that follow that define who you are. Jack knows this now. He decided to help the villagers and save those children. He decided not to harm them and do whatever he could to survive and help. They SEEMINGLY died anyway, but if he really understood this lesson, and it was pretty clearly conveyed that he did, while he may not be totally absolved of guilt, he definitely isn’t at a tipping point where he should now face the music and kill himself.

But perhaps that isn’t really the problem. Maybe the real problem here is that, I mean, come on, it’s all just a misunderstanding. Jack left two minutes too early to see that the kids were actually fine and for Ashi to explain to him what happened. Whatever character development (or regression) that follows is merely the result of an overly convenient plot device and not because of any natural causality. I might be sounding a bit harsh, but this is exactly the sort of character drama that I hate. I hate drama that is caused not by problems with the characters and the consequences of their inherent flaws and deliberate actions, but drama that happens because it’s necessitated by the story to promote conflict.

This episode was quite underwhelming for me as it was half heavy-handed explanation and half mindless, predictable action. It lacked the emotional punch of the first several episodes and really left me wanting more.

When Ashi was left at the end to go save Jack, it was also the first time where I really felt that more should’ve been done to establish a more meaningful or at least complex relationship between her and Jack. Sure, Ashi now had to save Jack, but is there really enough of a connection there to make it a journey I’m going to be invested in? After all, their relationship is presently defined by nothing other than a single one-sided connection Ashi made via flashback and Jack lecturing Ashi about how wrong she is and how bad Aku is. I would have to watch the next episode to see for myself whether that would be enough.

PART 2 TOMORROW.

[pyropsychiccollector]

The Fervent Crimson Flame, Practice Scene #01: Worth Redeeming

            Ultear watched the explosions that rocked the battlefield that was once the “blossoming” capital of Crocus. Night had long since fallen, but it was easy to see in the darkness at this point, especially with so many Magical attacks being thrown around. Ultear was leaning on a piece of rubble that towered over her, and her body was tense as the sheer hopelessness of this battle made her heart clench like a vice. This was exactly like the Demon Deliora rampaging in Isvan, so many years ago. Only instead of one Demon from the Book of Zeref, there were seven dragons. 

            The Arc of Time mage clenched the fist that was leaning on the rubble. She could barely make out the various Dragon Slayers giving the flying lizards hell, but she could still see them. There was still hope that they would win this battle, but at what steep cost? Her mother had sacrificed her life to seal away Deliora; in this case, any number of mages or Rune Knights could fall. How many mages from Fairy Tail would meet their end here? How many from the other Guilds would perish? How many civilians, Rune Knights, even members of the royal family… just how many were going to die on this day? Ultear didn’t like to worry, but the dread was gnawing away at her with every moment this battle was prolonged.

            There was no way to prevent a pyrrhic victory… at least, not through traditional methods. Ultear had formulated two solutions that would save as many lives as possible, but at least one life would be lost in each method. The first… The first involved killing off the Rogue of the present. Certainly, he was innocent now; would never dream of unleashing an army of dragons on the world. However, he would get to that point eventually, if time kept its course. Ultear reasoned that because time was currently influx, they could get away with killing Rogue in order to prevent this entire fiasco from happening.

            No one on the Celestial Wizards Recovery Team had liked that option. Even Meldy, who trusted her implicitly, didn’t like the thought of killing a man that hadn’t done anything wrong. And when you got down to it… neither did Ultear herself. Frankly, she was disgusted that “solution” had been the first thing to spring to mind. Seven years in Fairy Tail, and she had yet to completely do away with her “old ways”… She was still every bit the cold, calculating, murderous leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory that she was seven years ago… It’d just been a long time since she actually committed a murder. She had become lost in a “façade”…

            And that was why… a second solution sprang to mind. Arc of Time was an amazing Magic, even with its inability to affect living things, and yet there was one variant of it that could affect anything and everything… a Spell known as Lost Ages. It would cost her worthless life – the life of an unforgivable murderer and criminal – but in the end, time would be reversed to a certain extent, and everyone would be able to see the horrific events to come and avert them by keeping the Eclipse Gate closed.

            That was the ideal solution in this case. No one innocent would have to die; the dragons would never reach this time, and hopefully the Rogue from the future would be captured and contained. It would all be in their hands… and Ultear was willing to put her faith in Fairy Tail one last time. Their hands weren’t tainted with blood like hers were; they would give Meldy the bright future she deserved. Ultear knew she would only drag the pinkette down to her level, if she allowed this fight to play out and let history continue naturally…

            ‘I’m sorry… Meldy… Gray… Lyon… Natsu… There’s no other way.’ Ultear thought solemnly as she channeled her Magic into her hands and prepared to cast the Spell. “Arc of Time: Lost…!”

           Before Ultear could cast anything, however, there was a brilliant light that passed by her and smashed into the clock tower that was nearby. She would have continued on with her efforts without even sparing the clock tower a glance, if it weren’t for the voice that followed and made Ultear freeze in her tracks. 

            “Ouch… bastard hits like a friggin’ train…” The Fire Dragon Slayer grumbled as he clutched his forehead and emerged from the hole in the clock tower wall. It only took a few moments for Natsu’s gaze to fall on the shell-shocked Arc of Time mage. He murmured softly, “Ultear…? What’re you doin’ out here…?”

             Ultear could feel her whole body trembling the longer Natsu’s impeccable timing sank in… Damn it. There was no way she was going to be able to pull off Lost Ages with him right here; he wouldn’t allow it. Not without hearing just what it did, and especially after hearing about it… Her resolve was not going to go over well with him.

            “Natsu…” Ultear’s shoulders shook, and she turned away from the pink-headed man, unable to look at him in general, let alone in the eye. “… I’m going to set everything right.”

            The Arc of Time nearly whispered this, but Natsu heard it all the same, and it made him uneasy. The tone, her choice of wording… The Dragon Slayer hadn’t seen her like this since that time back on Tenrou Island, except this time was a much worse.

            “Ultear… what’s wrong?” Natsu asked with a concerned tone, striding over to her hurriedly. He stopped just a couple feet away from her when he noticed she didn’t seem to take his attempt to approach her very well.

            “I can’t… I can’t keep going on like this, Natsu.” Ultear replied in a strained voice. In her moment of weakness, she allowed every one of her emotions to seep into her tone. “I thought I would be able to redeem myself, after seven years in Fairy Tail… But I just can’t. I’m still rotten to the core, and I hate it.”

            Natsu watched as Ultear’s back was wracked with sobs, and he took another step toward her carefully.

            “Ultear… You’re not the same person that you were seven years ago. I can…” Natsu trailed off as the Arc of Time mage cut him off sharply.

            “I am, Natsu. I might have swapped one Guild mark for another, helped a few people, and grown soft in these last seven years, but I’m still fundamentally the same…” Ultear remorsefully shook her head; fresh tears continued to spill from her eyes. “I’m still fundamentally the same. Tonight… Tonight I seriously gave thought to ending an innocent man’s life. All for the sake of stopping all of this. And you know the worst part? It was the first solution that came to mind. I didn’t stop to think that maybe we could win this fight without major losses; I immediately doubted everyone – doubted you – and thought the ideal path to a safe future was to kill the Rogue Cheney of the present.”

            As Ultear continued to weep, Natsu shook his head firmly.

            “Ultear… that doesn’t make you irredeemable. That makes you human.” Some frustration poured into Natsu’s voice as he clenched his fists. “Do you think no one at Fairy Tail has thought about committing murder, not even once in their life? It’s not our way of doing things, but that doesn’t mean none of us have ever thought about it. Hell… even I’ve thought about it a few times – you know I can get carried away when people piss me off.”

            Ultear recovered slightly from her shock and resumed her downcast expression. Not that Natsu could see it from his position behind her.

            “But you’re all still different from me… I haven’t just thought about murder, I’ve carried it out, countless times. If I let things run their natural course, I might very well kill again. And who knows if I would feel any remorse over it? After all, I used to believe ‘the end justifies the means’, and considering I was so willing to take Rogue’s life, I have little doubt I still cling to that belief on some level…”

            The Arc of Time mage tensed as Natsu closed the gap between them and place a hand on her shoulder.

            “And I don’t buy that for a second! Ultear, look at me…” Natsu spoke sternly, and as she craned her head towards him, he made sure to lean forward so that she would have a very hard time breaking eye contact. “I’m not gonna lie and say all those crimes in the past were okay; moving on from the past isn’t about literally forgetting that it happened! It’s about not allowing those things to hang over your head and taking away your choices! Strive to be a better person than you were yesterday! Live for all those you cut down! You won’t be able to bring them back, but you can make sure that no one else has to suffer like they did! Save as many people as you can, but also don’t throw your life away to do it! Not only does it hurt those of us left behind, but it does nothing to truly absolve you of your past sins. Death is a coward’s way out.”

            Natsu finished off his speech with a low growl, and the Arc of Time mage was left speechless. Truly, Ultear was stunned to hear Natsu speak all these things. The passion was unsurprising, but his reasoning… Where had he learned even half of this? Natsu was known for encouraging others to never give up, but she had never heard him get this specific before. But more than that…

            “H-How do you know about the effects of Last Ages…?” Ultear whispered, not tearing her eyes from his for a second. Natsu slightly broke the eye contact to look down at the ground.

            “Honestly… I didn’t know what Spell you were gonna use, or what it does, but I do know you were planning to throw away your life. Your eyes said it all, and I… I just can’t let you go through with that, Ultear. Maybe I’m being selfish here, but you’re a member of Fairy Tail. You’ve been one of us for the last seven years, and I just can’t let you… go like this. Whatever Spell you’ve got up your sleeve… It’s not worth it if we have to give up you.”

            As the Dragon Slayer trailed off in frustration but raised his head to meet her gaze again, Ultear’s lips thinned into a grim line.

            “… There are still going to be deaths… I can’t imagine a clean win here.” The Arc of Time mage tried to reason with the Dragon Slayer one more time, but he shook his head and gave a wry smirk.

            “There’s nothin’ to say your Spell would guarantee a “clean win” either, y’know. All it does is guarantee we lose you, and I’m not gonna let that happen.” He removed his hand from Ultear’s shoulder and punched his open palm in determination, his wry smirk morphing into a scowl. “We’ll get through this, I promise! And I’m gonna make damn sure we don’t lose anyone from Fairy Tail, or any of the other Guilds helpin’ us out! I’m a Dragon Slayer, so I’m perfect for the job here!”

            The pink-head grinned, and turned around to return to the battle that he’d so rudely been kicked out of. But before he could take another step, Ultear embraced him from behind. To say that she still had doubts would be an understatement, but… Natsu  quite literally embodied his element. He was a ray of sunshine, a beacon of hope even in this seemingly hopeless situation. Because of him, she would muster the strength to move forward despite all of her doubts and guilt. The more she thought about it, the more she really didn’t want to throw her life away just yet. Not if it meant bringing unimaginable pain to Meldy, Gray, Lyon, and Natsu. She would make up for her past misdeeds, and she would live on with her loved ones, dedicating that life to helping as many people as she could.

            “Thank you…” The dark-haired woman murmured into his shoulder.

            Ultear would hold out hope that everyone could be saved… and in the event that there were casualties, she would continue to live on for their sake. Ultear knew she wasn’t alone, and she intended to be there for Fairy Tail in return. She liked this mindset a lot better…

~*~

Note: Hehe. I just felt like writing out this little scene for FCF, which is one of my stories on FFNET. Not gonna be reaching this part of the GMG arc for a while, but it's one of the bits I'm looking forward to, and this might not be the final product, hence the 'practice' part of the title of this post. Hope you enjoyed! ^__^