Saving Irene (1)

As I walked along the hallway with my hands cuffed behind me, I couldn't help but think on how I am going to act when things get really messed up. Honestly things aren't so hard right now, what will happen next can be easily handled since it's basically physical labor.

But once this whole predicament is over how am I going to fix the problem of mental health. I may say philosophical things on rare occasions, I'm not really that smart on dealing with emotional things. Well, I guess when the time comes, I will just have to go with my heart.

As I put my thoughts to a stop we finally reached our destination. The cell I was going to be put in is at the very end of the hallway right next to the largest one. There wasn't anything really noteworthy, there wasn't even a bed. Just chains which was hanging from the ceiling.

I was pushed inside as I was musing about the look of the place and the guards just glared at me for no apparent reason before walking away. Sheesh, did their great aunt come to visit or something? What's with their attitude.

With a no nonsense and no wasting time attitude, I walked to the side of the largest cell and looked at its habitant. Inside the cell, a woman was cuffed to the wall by her hands with her head hung low and with her whole body covered in wounds and blood except her stomach which was just slightly bulging.

Even though you couldn't see her face and that she is covered in dust and blood, anyone can tell that she is a beauty from not just her figure which is gorgeous, but also her aura. From someone whose situation can be considered the lowest of the lowest, she was giving of a savage and fierce aura. It was screaming determination and yet helplessness.

Her hair had changed color because of not cleaning up but there was still some shine to it and she was breathing shallowly while looking down to her stomach. This was the true ruler of this country and the woman who will become a fearsome character in the future. The person who invented and became the first dragon slayer and introduced it to the world.

Irene Belserion.

The mother of the future Titania is right in front of me with said girl in her infant stage inside her mother's belly. She is the one I'm here for and as I said before, I'm not really worried about helping her break out of here. It's what I will have to do after that that worries me.

It was stated in the Fairy Tail story that, due to undergoing dragonification, Irene had gone insane and she had at one point even considered enchanting herself to Erza when she was born. And through this process she had developed a very cruel side to her which is vastly different to her former gentle and caring personality.

What I do from here on out can change a lot of things. And how I do it can both help Irene or worsen her sanity in the future. But for now, I will focus on the time I will spend here in the prison. By spending so much magic power she is basically speeding up the dragonification process. For now, I have to make her stop that and help her save Erza at the same time.

Thinking up to here, I move towards her cell and watched as she tried to breath harder and harder as time goes with her over spending her magic powers.

"You know you're only worsening the situation by doing that right?" I said in a calm voice despite the anger that was rising inside me from the sight in front of me.

Though I saw this scene yesterday, it still pisses me off to no end when I see the situation that she is in. Here she is, the ruler of the country, the one who saved it from imminent disaster, and most importantly a pregnant woman, fighting against the very same people who she fought to save from trying to stop them from killing her innocent unborn child.

It isn't just because it's Irene who I want to add as a harem member, but even if it was another woman who is a complete stranger, I would still feel angry with the sight in front of me. As a person who has been living in a comfortable society where most people don't witness the darker side of mankind, it wasn't really a surprise that I would react like that.

It could be that she didn't hear me or she didn't have enough energy to reply to my obvious fact but she didn't even look up. I wasn't really expecting any reply in the first place so I wasn't disappointed by that or anything.

"Hm, if you want, I can help you protect the baby so that you could concentrate on protecting yourself. And if you are wondering why I would do that, well you're the only reason I came here anyway. I could've easily beat away those so called elite guards and the so called king of this country but I just let them bring me here. Because you were here. So what's it gonna be?... Queen of Ishgar." I continued as calmly as possible while keeping my emotions in check as Irene slowly raised her head to show me bloodshot eyes looking straight into me.

I matched her gaze without any nervousness or deception. Right now what she needed was hope and desperately at that. So I will give her that hope, the hope for a mother that's protecting her child. Because honestly right now, I am not looking at her as a woman but as a cornered mother. Of course after this is over I won't look at her in anyway but as a woman.

"What... is in it... for you?" she finally asked with a hoarse voice.

"Nothing, well, nothing for now but don't worry, you will know what I will get when the time comes. But if it's anything, then I think you will like it, maybe, hopefully." My calm façade came crumbling down at the end of my answer as I got a more confused face.

"…As long as you protect my baby… I'm willing to bear any kind of hardship. But… if I find… anything…wrong, I will kill you… no matter how… weak I may be…" She released those words with a weak voice as she finally went unconscious.

As if the bars separating us weren't there, I phased through them and walked near Irene. After reaching in front of her, I reached out my hand and touched the top of her head before using my control over time to reverse her injuries. Although I am healing her I couldn't do so completely as that would be detrimental to her already worse situation. But I could heal the internal injuries and recover her stamina and magic powers so that she can last longer before she loses consciousness again. And this of course included her throat so that it won't sound so raspy anymore.

After finishing, I released a relieved sigh as I looked at her sleeping form. Although I can just break her out of here, there two reasons I won't. First, she needs to experience this to become the strong woman she will be in the future. Second, I want her to be able to access the full dragon form, so that she will be stronger in the future.

After looking her over one more time, I went back to my cell and sat down on the floor to get some sleep and also wait for Irene to wake up. Of course, I didn't forget my end of the bargain. Before I slept, I had separated Irene from reality by using my space powers. Now, once she wakes up, we can have a proper conversation.