9 Chapter 9: Another Passenger

"This is Erza Scarlet, daughter of Irene and most importantly one of the main side characters.", thought Dante to himself. Dante can clearly see the wound on her eyes, while other injuries seemed to have started healing a little, Dante sighed after looking at the condition of this little girl. Before Dante moved he saw a small row both from the corner of his eyes and quickly turned to look at it, he was really happy and thanked Erza while picking her up and pulling the boat using telekinesis. Deji seemed to have found his spot on the boat, and jumped seeming to cheer Dante on to pull the boat faster, rolling his eyes at him, Dante brought Erza to his home and channeled the life energy from his body to Erza's to heal her wound. The depleting life force from Dante was recovered, thanks to his hyper regeneration, after healing all the external wounds, Dante moved his hand on Erza's eye and tried to regenerate her eyes. It took more than 15 minutes to regenerate her eye and by this time Dante was covered in sweat all over.

Although he didn't exhaust his life energy as that was enormous but trying to manipulate life energy and create something that is not there anymore was very difficult even for him. However, Dante didn't end it there as he started to channel Ki into her body and massaged her limbs to strengthen them and remove any hidden injury from long periods of work and lack of nutrition. After a while, Dante left Erza alone and looked at the rowboat to look if it needs any repair.

After repairs were done it was evening so Dante prepared for food and finished eating his dinner while still waiting for Erza to wake up, he can understand why her body needs mental rest then physical rest now, thanks to him. So Dante slept on the other side of the bed, and hope that she wakes up in the morning. As Erza was still 10 years old, Dante had no thoughts towards her but he knew that this girl would become a beauty in the future.

(In the Morning)

As Dante was sleeping he felt a sudden pressure on his neck, to which he opened his eyes while also activating repulsive force, Erza who was ready to break Dante's neck if he tried to attack her was sent flying and hit the ceiling, but luckily Dante controlled his strength at the last moment and reduce her impact. However, that force was enough to knock her out, Dante quickly got up, looked at Erza, and sighed, "I really don't get girls sometimes."

After putting Erza back in bed, Dante went out to start his workout and asked the mother bear to go hunting. While Dante was in the middle of his workout, Erza walked out cautiously and looking around nervously. Seeing this Dante sighed and motioned towards Erza, and went towards her, while Erza seeing him come towards her changed her expression and got ready to attack.

Ignoring her actions Dante asked, "Are you alright now? How are your injuries?", hearing his questions and concerned look, Erza relaxed her guard a little. Even though Dante is a 10-year-old like her, she still is in shock after what happened to her and her friends at the tower of Heavens. "Are you hungry?" asked Dante again seeing her lowering her guard, to this question Erza first looked at Dante and then said, "Yes."

Dante gave her a smile and started cooking the beast, mother bear brought back, due to his years of practice, Dante prepared the food in a short amount of time. Seeing Dante working hard to make food, and the friendly nature of the bears, Erza opened up a little and told Dante her name, which he already knew but still acted like he didn't. "Erza..." whispered Erza, "Huh! What are you saying?" asked Dante acting confused.

"My name is Erza. Thank you so much for saving me.", replied Erza looking bolder. "Nice to meet you Erza, my name is Dante Kamishiro, you can call me Dante," said Dante while extending his hand forward for a handshake. Hesitating a little, Erza shook his hand and quickly withdrew it. "Do you have any idea how you came across the shore?" asked Dante looking at Erza, who looked back at her clearly conflicted about something. Most likely thinking whether to tell him or not, but Dante didn't rush her, after some time Erza simply shook her head. Understanding her way of thinking, Dante simply smiled and said comfortingly, "It's alright, you eat properly and rest while I prepare the boat you brought. In case you don't know, we are on an isolated island, I was looking for a way to leave but ended up finding you on the shore. Let's rest for some days because although I healed you physically I still feel that you need to recover from your Trauma."

Nodding her head Erza simply sat down at the stairs in front of the wooden house and watched Dante train, in fact, Dante can feel her intense gaze on him. After not being able to ignore it, he finally looked towards her to see determination, anger, and regret in her eyes. Seeing this Dante had an idea of what was going to happen next, and it did happen, as Erza saw Dante stopping his training to look at her, she walked towards him with expectation.

"Can...Can you teach me how to be strong?" asked Erza with a very determined and cute expression, to which Dante say no. Hence, Dante first asked Erza to train her body and her mentality by meditating, as Dante knew that meditation can help her in magic recovery, control and capacity. Dante plans to teach her magic that she was famous for in the anime, Requip, but he also plans to teach her other magic, if she has the affinity.

(After Three Months)

Dante and Erza have been living together for three months now, Dante has been focusing on training Erza while practicing his daily exercise but he hasn't done anything new. Although not mastered, Erza did learn and can use Requip quite nicely while she also had an affinity towards the earth and gravity magic as such Dante tried to teach her magic manipulation and whatever she could manage. As Dante himself doesn't know much about magic, the only thing he can do with magic energy is manipulate it and perform raw actions such as producing fire, making rocks or water, even blowing wind. While Erza is talented even she can't do something that isn't taught.

And the most change through this time was Erza's behavior towards Dante, she opened up to him completely, she has a good amount of trust in him, so much so that she told him things that happened in Tower of Heavens. Although Dante had known what happened in Anime but hearing many new details and injustice that happened to her and other children, made Dante very angry, and swore to Erza that he will take revenge for her. Although moved, Erza still shook her head and said, "I will take revenge with my own hands, I will gain more power and take revenge for my friends. I... I just want you to support me and help me become stronger."

Dante just shook his head helplessly, and promised to help her in any way possible. The boat was prepared for a long time but Dante extended his stay to train Erza little bit, and now he plans to leave tomorrow morning for Fiore, with Erza Scarlet.