Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fairy Tail.

The Meeting

If one were to look at him now, he doubted he would be recognized. Far too many years had passed since he was seen by anyone, in public or in private. His chocolate skin blended skillfully into the shadows of the corner he sat in, hiding him and masking his presence. All things considered, he was perfectly safe.

He was meeting an informant today. A shady character that was only useful as a spy or cannon fodder due to the woeful weakness that had infected an alarming amount of potential servants. But, he had learned to make due; each character he worked with had a knack for being barely useful, thus, a 'maggot'. He understood that it was hardly the case that he would ever find many that weren't maggots in his eyes, he had simply become too powerful for others to match him. Whether it be power, skill, or standing, they were all beneath him as far as he was concerned. It had been too long since he had last interacted with someone worthy of being called strong, and even then, he was still smarter than all of them. He was, after all, the smartest person in Fiore and had a mind with perception and sharpness unmatched.

As the insignificant, civilian worms meandered by, he took note of each movement, each action, each thought. It had developed into a habit out of amusement. He would be hard-pressed to fail to understand everything presented before him. It was exactly that understanding that spurred him on. They lived such... simple lives, full of insolence. His primary goal – his foremost plan – was the very thing that would open their eyes to the real world. To sow the seeds of chaos into their very being; perhaps then, they would understand the world as he does.

Silent and motionless in his thoughts, he was interrupted as a man walked forward. His slicked-back, dirty-blonde hair drenched in grease was both repulsive and indicative of his identity. It was easy to tell his criminally-focused intent, prompting the chocolate-skinned man to reach forward and invite him into the shadows. The greasy-haired man had sparked his curiosity and he knew that it had to be his informant. 'What a character...'

The blonde paused at his gesture, before he grabbing a drink from a passing barmaid and sliding into a seat across from him. "I guess you're the guy I'm supposed to meet," the man spoke with an irritating lack of respect, "Your boss contacted me about the stuff you wanted to know about. Real tricky business you got yourself in, man." He continued, "If I were you, I'd just mind my own business. You're just going to die."

Insolence. The most pure example and an unfortunate cause of raising his ire. "You should heed your own words, boy. If you intend to live, you will tell me what you know. Then, you will leave." he returned in his deep, baritone voice. "I don't particularly appreciate those who waste my time... You wouldn't want me to act on my anger, would you?" he asked with a sneering smirk.

The man seemed to sense the aura he exuded and audibly gulped. He nodded quickly, fear radiating from his form and started to recount his information. He wasn't exactly pleased with having to listen to the informant, but with his necessary exile and isolation, he couldn't afford to have any other do it for him. He still made sure to listen intently, but let his mind wander to his surroundings.

A man, abreast with shiny, golden armor had entered the pub. 'How interesting...' Ignoring the bartender, he strode to a corner and sat himself down. His head was covered with a unique golden mask. With a quick glance to his position, the armored man turned around and stayed silent. That wouldn't do. With a twitch of his hand, a nightmarish eye opened on the ceiling above the man. From the shadows it watched greedily, before finally closing when it's supply of energy ran out.

The memories were vivid as usual. One of his unique, self-made spells that shared all five senses from it's location with the caster; useful for information gathering and, in certain cases, intimidation. From the spell he surmised that the armored man was waiting, making him wonder if a new character would enter, but then something caught his eye: a white streak in the memory, the very same streak he could himself see gliding towards the man. It slid gracefully through the air, before finally settling down onto the man's table. He knew what it was immediately. A small, paper cut-out in the shape of a man with it's odd pattern of shapes and lines. He knew right then, it was that magic. A Shikigami.

He couldn't stop himself; his face lit up. His informant nearly wet himself at the sight of his infamous slasher smile blooming onto his face. Ivan... Ivan Dreyar... was here. 'How wonderful... a marvelous opportunity.' He laid a hand over his face, casting a spell at the same time. The spell instantly lit a magical trail to the caster of the shikigami:a plain man outside sitting on a park bench looking inconspicuous. The legendary Fairy Tail traitor had come right too him; most likely relaying orders to the armored man. 'So Ivan believes he can interfere with me, eh...'

He stared with a devilish smirk at the armored man, before turning to his informant, "Is there anything else?" Now that he found out Ivan Dreyar was here, he was eager to end the report. There would be few reasons for the other dark mage to confront him and the most obvious – and most likely – promised to be most amusing.

"No, not really..." the man answered with uncertainty, clearly unnerved by the malevolent attitude displayed by his boss's employer.

"Good," He swept his gaze across the bar before turning back to the criminal, "I'll no longer be needing your services..." The man nodded his head, almost slumping in relief. "...ever." The man jerked his head back up and took a fearful expression, but it was too late. He was restricted by a spell. A maid came by with another drink and offered it to the restrained man, whom for some reason smiled graciously and accepted the drink. 'Oh, I love this spell! To control another's body while silencing them at the same time... almost too convenient... almost.'

As soon as the maid left, he gripped the glass with his hand. Tendrils of dark energy snaked their way through it, leaving a frosted, almost frozen sheen around the glass. He stood, glanced at the armored man, glanced at his informant, then grabbed his staff and left the drink to the man. It wasn't long before the blonde's body reacted without his consent and poured the poisoned drink down his throat. A short spasm later and the man's body collapsed forward onto the table. A quick, clean, and excruciatingly painful death.

He stalked to the door with a quickened pace, body shivering with excited anticipation. Before exiting, he swung back and stared momentarily at the golden knight. On his armored shoulder sat the magical doll, staring at the wall absentmindedly. When it noticed the malicious intent directed towards it, it slowly spun around to look at the source. All it saw was the distant slasher smile, before shriveling into a crumpled ball.

The dark aura was too powerful for the single shikigami, but not the the mage it sat on. He noticed the shikigamicrumple and turned. Staring back was a towering, muscled, dark-skinned man wearing a large white cloak complimenting his straight silver hair and holding a staff. The cloaked man's shadowed eyes glanced down, looking straight at the area underneath the golden man. On the floor, directly beneath him, sat a glowing green seal. From it sprung a cylindrical barrier that surrounded the man and trapped him. He unfortunately didn't have the knowledge to escape, and his magic was not suited for the task. As baffled as he was for never noticing the seal being set, he would have to trust Master Ivan and wait for the seal to end.

'That eliminates that maggot.' He spared one look back to the man whom was surprisingly calm enough to wait for the seal to end. 'Now... Ivan.' The very man who would sell his family's souls to the devil for power; too cowardly to sell his own. Though the Dreyar was cowardly, his conviction was worthy of respect. Sacrifice was the most profitable business in the underworld and Ivan knew it better than most.

After casually leaving the bar, he looked at the man sitting on the bench. Plain and dull. To the untrained eye, it was the perfect disguise, but to someone with impeccable magical talent and a mind to notice even the slightest discrepancies, it was clear as day that it was was an illusion. All he saw... was Ivan. Garbed in a elaborate suit with stylized shoulders guards and accented with a unique ascot, was the guild master of Raven Tail. Topped with an illustrious fur-lined, velvet cloak, he was a menacing sight; even with his unhinged and loopy look. It didn't take long before the guild master turned his head towards him and developed a face-splitting grin.

"Ivan Dreyar. A... pleasure." The entire situation was entirely too intriguing for him not to take advantage of it. "What brings the exiled fairy here? Hmm?" he fully expected that Ivan wanted to either receive something from him or eliminate him. A clear underestimation of how well he could control the situation.

"Well if it isn't little Brain! Oh, how excited I've been to meet you!" he intoned in a jovial voice. "I didn't think you'd notice me, but what can I expect from someone as renowned as you? You stand at the top, so it's only fair! Hehehehe... !" he continued, willfully oblivious to Brain's growing anger at the annoyingly cheery tone.

"I fear that you either underestimate me or overestimate yourself... Perhaps both?" Brain asked with a hint of amusement. Ivan was known for being rather crude and arrogant. Brain admitted that he was too, but from the experience of his former job, he knew the secrets of discretion and subtlety.

"Oh, how clever... Brain." Ivan sneered at him in clear mockery. "You must be so proud of your diagnosis."

Brain did not appreciate being mocked, but he would not allow the intended reaction. He could swallow his pride if necessary. "Regardless... Why have you come here, little maggot?" he asked with much clearer amusement.

"Oh, you don't know?" He laughed at Brain's immediate scowl, "I'd have thought that you're unmatched intelligence would give it away... how disappointing." He stood suddenly and brushed off the collected dust on his suit, "It's rather simple really. I have a goal, it's not far-fetched, nor is it easy, but most of all, it will take time." he spoke with a surprising calm. He appeared to notice something in the distance, but Brain ignored whatever it was and focused on the man before him. "Time is unfortunately," he paused, "scarce..." a smirk adorned his face. "in our line of work. Combine that with the ludicrous amount of waiting that would be required for my plan to come to fruition, and I need... shortcuts." He swung his arm towards Brain and pointed, "You... are a shortcut!" He lowered his hand and scowled, "But... you are also an obstacle, and one of the most dangerous. You will be captured, allowing me to kill two birds with one stone, so-to-say."

Brain frowned. 'That is actually unexpected...' He spun to his right and walked forward to lean against the edge of the fountain behind the park bench. He set his hand down and chuckled dryly. 'I didn't expect this, but I'm most certainly not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth.' He turned around and looked at the waiting Ivan with a smirk. "Did you convince yourself that you could beat me by killing a bunny or did you actually expect to be able to capture me?" he asked while switching his staff from one hand to the other. He laughed at the scowl that invaded Ivan's features before placing both arms out wide and spreading his feet. "You'll get no mercy from me! I expect a challenge before I capture you and run some well earned experiments..."

The dark haired man clearly didn't take that well, as his expression turned sour. "Oh, aren't you just hilarious!" he cried with both anger and excitement. Ivan took one moment to clench his fist and lunged forward. "I don't know what you did to Alexei, but it won't matter! I'll beat you here and now! Alone! Hahahahaha!" he exclaimed, sending a massive torrent of shikigami at Brain. With speed unknown, Brain leapt sideways, dodging the attack all together. Grunting in exertion, he sent a small disc of Darkness Magic at Ivan, who promptly diverted it with a wave of shikigami. The clash of magic was brief but powerful and caused those around them to panic and hurry into any kind of cover.

"Now, the battle starts!" Brain proclaimed as he charged Darkness energy into his staff, Klodoa. The darkness was released as a disturbingly fast penetrating beam. 'Fast!' Ivan thought in alarm. Using all of his leg strength, he jumped to the right, while simultaneously bringing a swarming mass of shikigami to Brain's side. Erecting a green barrier with his left hand and grunting from the pressure, Brain thrust Klodoa forward from his other hand and sent another beam at Ivan. Said mage dropped to the ground and caught himself on his right hand, before swiping his other hand in a wide arc. This added to his attack by creating a new mass of shikigami to attack Brain's right side. It proved ineffective when Brain slashed through the mass on his left side with a dark protrusion from the bottom of Klodoa. Escaping through the slashed area, Brain watched as the two masses converged and canceled each other out.

Brain grunted once as he turned to his opponent. As the Dreyar lifted himself, Brain stuck to his thoughts, 'He's not altogether too fast, but those shikigami of his are so numerous that he can produce enormous attacks while remaining safe behind the huge masses. This also provides a good cover for him to position himself elsewhere or prepare spells without his opponent's knowledge. Impressive...' He glanced behind the dark mage and smirked, 'Perfect. Now to get him into the right position.'

Ivan, being meanwhile frustrated with the outcome of their second clash, sent a small sphere of shikigami at Brain. The dark skinned man noticed it's slow speed and instantly understood it's purpose. He protected himself with another barrier just as the ball exploded in a shower of Dark Magic. Masked by the smoke from the explosion, he sent another Dark Capriccio at Ivan, many times faster than the previous one. It only grazed Ivan's left side, but it left a horrible burn on his side.

Before Ivan managed to recover from the wound, Brain summoned a knife and lunged forward. 'Let's see you handle this!' Even as Ivan raised a hand to send forth a horde of shikigami, Brain twirled Klodoa around skillfully and struck the outstretched hand. The momentary stumble from the hit, gave brain the chance to strike. He backhanded towards Ivan with the knife, but the shikigami – in answer to their master's call – pulled Ivan back and out of harms way. Undeterred, Brain spun again and shrugged his cloak off at the same time. With the instant of time where the cloak blocked their view of each other, Brain slammed his foot down with a flash of light resulting in the summoning of a wall behind Ivan. Suddenly unable to continue retreating, Ivan only barely moved to the side as Brain appeared with the knife thrust forward. Though disappointed with only hitting Ivan's shoulder, Brain slammed the tip of Klodoa into Ivan's stomach and prepared to pierce him with another Dark Capriccio.

Reacting just in time, Ivan transformed his waist into shikigami and spread it apart as the dark beam screamed through the empty space and needled into the wall behind him, shattering it. Brain's eyes widened before noticing shikigami holding his feet down. 'You got too close to me, fool!' Ivan thought, as he raised his hands above his head and summoned a shikigami spear and thrust it down into Brain's chest. It came just slow enough that Brain jumped back so that it only grazed his chest.

Skidding back, he snatched up his cloak and frowned, 'Interesting... I didn't know his shikigami could be used that way. But he's close enough now.' He swung his cloak back and then lobbed it forward. Ignoring the cloak, Ivan through another mass of shikigami at Brain in hopes of distracting him, but was interrupted when the cloak didn't fall, but instead shot forward with a sonic boom at Ivan. Taken completely by surprise, the guild master's left hand was struck by the cloak and he was jetted back. Slamming into the side of the fountain with a crash, he expelled a wave of dark magic from his body that blew the cloak off of him.

'What the hell was that!?' His thoughts were unfortunately cut short as he noticed an enormous mass of ghoulish arcs lancing towards his position. Quickly summoning his shikigami back, he created a dome around his position in the fountain. It held true, but outside, Brain grinned before snapping his fingers. Suddenly the dome warped and bulged unnaturally before popping with boom. In the resulting crater stood Ivan, arms crossed in front of him and teeth bared in rage. 'How the hell!? How did he manage to attack me from inside my shell?' He glared at the grinning Brain, before gasping in realization, 'Of course! When he put his hand on the fountain before we fought... he had this entire thing planned out. The cloak hit the hand that he previously struck with his staff, he attacked me with the knife to get me to back up. He was controlling the fight the entire time!'

With palpable rage, Ivan swung his arms out widely. "I underestimate you, it seems... No longer! Feel the full-power of my Shikigami!" he shouted, while twisting his arms around. The entire town, structure or person – bar Alexei – was gripped and then twisted by Ivan's magic. In entirety, their surroundings peeled apart until finally separating into countless shikigami dolls. There were so many, a literal tornado of shikigami surrounded Ivan and Brain. "I'll admit that I didn't think I'd need to use this technique, but you're more resourceful than I expected." A simple twitch later and they converged towards the waiting staff-wielder.

Brain wasn't phased; he slammed Klodoa into the ground and shouted, resulting in the jutting of a massive crest of stone with an tunnel to the other side of the tornado to allow him to escape. He rocketed to the entrance, but quicker than he could reach it, Ivan sent a plethora of shikigami into Brain, lifting him up into the sky, hundreds of feet. Brain struggled to free himself, but was incapable of moving and could only watch in futility as Ivan flew up after him on mass of shikigami.

When both Ivan and Brain reached a certain height Ivan created a floor of shikigami out of the tornado. With the surface to stand on, Brain assessed the situation. Immediately expelling a spherical barrier around his body to escape the cocoon of shikigami, he was forced to reinforce it as Ivan sent wave-after-wave of shikigami at him. After several seconds of charging his staff with dark magic, Brain sent a widespread Dark Rondo into the attacks, decimating the shikigami.

'I'll need to find a way out of this situation. There's just too many of those damned dolls!' Brain's thoughts were cut off as he kicked off and slid away from a large amount of shikigami spikes erupting from the floor. 'He most certainly has the terrain advantage. I'll have to get back to the ground somehow.' Before he could act on his thoughts, more weapons sprung forth and attacked him. Lacking the speed to dodge, he was forced to take several hits, before cutting them down with swing of Klodoa. Ivan settled into his sights, but he was suddenly grabbed by an enormous hand and swung back and into the floor with a crash.

Ivan attacked Brain with the shikigami in the floor, but Brain surrounded himself with a spherical green barrier in a panicked manner. Ivan attacked Brain with a renewed vigor, noticing Brain's panicked face. He sharpened his shikigami into a spear and punctured the barrier, before piercing Brain himself. Ivan grinned in victory, "Too bad..." but suddenly, the skewered Brain turned into a tar-like sludge and the real Brain attacked from behind, sending a wave of Dark Magic at Ivan. It blasted straight into Ivan and put a large hole in the floor.

Ivan managed to jump off of a hastily formed platform and easily slid up through the floor, before spinning and sending an entire half of the floor into Brain. The shikigami were too numerous for him to block all of them; they broke through his barriers and assaulted him, before he managed to fry them with a spherical wave of Dark Magic.

Ivan smiled while looking pointedly at Brain. "I'm disappointed Brain. I have heard tales of your power and you're failing to live up to them." he said in a mockingly disappointed tone, despite his injuries. "You're stronger than I expected, but I now find it hard to believe that you accomplished some of the things you were said to have done..."

Brain scowled slightly, before settling on a frown. He stared into the sky for a moment, before sighing, "I was hoping to keep him out of this, but it appears he's necessary. At least a little bit." he whispered. "I don't let him out often, but you deserve to be taught a lesson."

Ivan raised an eye-brow. 'Him? What does he have up his sleeves now.' He crossed his arms in front of him in preparation.

Brain looked at Klodoa and flicked his head. "Klodoa."

The skull atop the staff shook for a moment and it's eyes suddenly gained a greenish glow, "Yes, Master Brain?" Klodoa asked in surprise, before realizing Brain's intent. The voice from the staff surprised Ivan, making him wonder if that skull was this 'him'. "Brain, don't do this. You know it's too dangerous, for both you and me. You shouldn't allow him freedo–"

"Silence." he ordered sternly. "I'm going to let him out to finish this battle; that is final. Use the sealing spell in the lacrima to stop him when he's done. I want Ivan Dreyar alive. Understand?" he questioned as he closed his eyes and slowly backed up.

"Of course, Master Brain." Klodoa answered simply, then floated out of Brain's hand. He paused a moment and looked at Ivan, "You're a complete and utter fool to challenge my creator." he looked towards the retreating Brain, "He is two different people. One loves knowledge and is called Brain, but the other... none survive his love..." With that, he rocketed down through the floor to the ground.

Ivan stared at the space where the staff was in silence, but was suddenly assaulted by a putrid aura of dread. His head whipped to the source of the aura and his eyes shot open in shock. He could only stare, as the white haired man's magic levels increased dramatically before exploding into territory Ivan couldn't believe existed outside of his father or Fairy Tail's ace. Brain started getting paler, his hair blasted out under the magic, and finally he opened his eyes. They were red.

Ivan opened his mouth in shock. His opponent looked – and felt – like a completely different person. "What did you do, Brain?" he inquired in slight fear.

The now pale man shot his eyes towards Ivan and a smile erupted from his face, "Brain? No... I am Zero!" he swung his arms out and blew Brain's cloak and jacket off in a wave of pure eternano. "You must be Ivan." He clenched his fist and looked at said mage curiously, "Interesting." He summoned a military jacket and breathed in heavily, then exhaled. "I think I'll destroy you now. Hahaha!" he exclaimed with mad laughter.

"Impossible! You cannot defeat m-" Ivan started, but was interrupted when Zero lifted his foot and slammed it down on the shikigami floor with a shockwave. The area around Ivan lit up with green energy, before everything was thrust downward from an increased gravitational pull.

Ivan crashed onto the ground, hard. Zero casually jumped down after him. As Ivan tried to move, Zero slashed a Dark Capriccio in front of him, then behind him, then all around him, before landing. He smiled at Ivan, "Another form to destroy..."

Ivan, panicking, took hold of what was left of the shikigami floor and thrust it down at Zero. Zero just laughed and brought his hands up, before clapping them together, creating an enormous wave of Dark Magic that threw the shikigami off-course, crashing them into the ground. Ivan used the attack as an opportunity to escape from the distracted Zero.

"Your certainly stronger than Brain, dear Zero. But... ! You won't beat me today." he proclaimed confidently. Ivan spun his hands, before creating several magic arrays around the battlefield. With a thrust of his arm, the previously defeated shikigami started transforming. They started folding over and through themselves, creating spheres of purple energy around them. The energy expanded continuously, before finally settling into the vague shape of a person. Each of the shikigami were surrounded by ghostly, half-tangible bodies reminiscent of a human. "Taste the true power of unsealed shikigami!" Ivan exclaimed, watching as his shikigami spirits flooded the area, blotting out the sun.

All of the spirits rushed towards Zero, attacking en mass. Hundreds-of-thousands of spirits launched at Zero. Each one attacked with an astounding vigor. Zero thrust his hands out and launched hundreds of discs into the approaching wall of spirits. Each disc exploded on contact and destroyed hundreds at a time. It did not stop the spirits, however, as they continued forth, a seemingly endless army.

Zero laughed uproariously. "What incredible destruction! Hahaha! Absolutely marvelous!" he exclaimed with glee. In both hands he channeled energy, before unleashing two enormous Dark Rondo's at the horde of spirits. Thousands of the spirits were destroyed, but a new wave rushed at Zero, intent on destroying him. Zero just laughed again and spun while swinging his arms. A colossal, circular Dark Wave launched outwards. Each of the spirits were slammed and consequently destroyed by an unholy force. To finish it off, Zero swung two extra-long Dark Capriccio's into the mass, cutting down wave-after-wave.

Zero continued swinging, until a flash of gold entered his vision and slammed an elbow into his face. As he skidded back, he noticed the armored mage that Brain trapped earlier. He smirked at the man, before launching towards him. They met, blow-to-blow, sending shock-waves out with every hit. Punch, elbow, two consecutive kicks, uppercut, backhand, spin, leg thrust, separate, repeat. As they traded blows at incredible speed, Zero glanced at their connecting fists and legs, then smiled at the man, "Outstanding!" he appraised, before striking with a quick downward chop that the man dodged, then snaked his arm into Zero's guard and swung at his side. In a surprisingly fast move, Zero jumped and spun over the horizontal chop. As soon as he landed, they immediately continued their barrage until they finally stopped when Zero slammed his palm into the man's chest, forcing him to skid back. "You're a diamond-in-the-rough, boy! Shame I'll have to destroy you... Hahahaha!"

"This is Alexei, Raven Tail's 'Ace'!" Ivan proclaimed proudly. "His power and skill are both beyond extraordinary. Do you think you can fend both of us off, little Zero?!" he continued arrogantly. He brought to his hands a group of shikigami and formed a sword, while Alexei dropped into a combat-ready stance.

"Indeed, most impressive. But it matters not. You will all fall before me!" Zero countered. He attacked Alexei with a destructive passion. Lighting his hands in Dark Magic, he struck at the armored man. The two continued their previous exchanging of blows, but Zero quickly gained the advantage and pushed Alexei back. Before he could capitalize on his advantage, however, a shikigami spirit leapt through Alexei. Zero raised an eyebrow, but stepped back into a crouch and struck the shikigami inside the spirit, destroying it.

With the short reprieve, both Ivan and Alexei lunged forward, ready to attack. While the spirits came closer, the three combatants traded blows. Zero blocked and dodged each attack with surprising ease. After several harsh hits to both Ivan and Alexei, Zero slammed his hands to the earth, causing the two Raven Tail members to suddenly be pulled into the earth, as a ring of green energy surrounded Zero. "Admirable, but you cannot defeat me, Ivan! Hahaha!" he shouted.

Slowly raising one hand above him and one below, he gathered dark green and purple energy in each. "Genesis Zero!" Zero exclaimed as a torrent of dark ghouls shot from his hands. The countless ghouls then consumed the horde of shikigami spirits, completely eliminating them. Even as the shikigami struck out, ran away, or simply self-destructed, the ghoulish phantoms of Genesis Zero sought out and obliterated all of them.

As the last spirits were destroyed, Zero smirked at the chaos taking place before him. This momentary pause allowed Alexei to jet towards Zero, but the red-eyed mage kicked Alexei in the chest and allowed a Dark Wave to then shoot from his foot directly afterwords, launching the armored man away. Zero smirked in amusement at the mages attempt to strike him down, before looking straight into Ivan's eyes, "Now it's your turn." he spoke in a menacing tone.

Walking forward, Zero leveled a ready-to-be-fired, Dark Capriccio at Ivan's head. The Fairy Tail exile cowered away, assured that Zero would kill him, but before he could, Zero was struck by a hazy beam of blue energy.

"What!?" Zero roared, looking at Klodoa, the one shooting the beam. His eyes widened in shock and desperation, "What are you doing!? No! Not now!"

Klodoa stared back. "Master Brain said to keep him alive. I'm sorry Master Zero, he told me to seal you again. Forgive me." he said before Zero started transforming back into Brain.

In that moment, Alexei appeared next to them, with his armor being extremely damaged. He helped Ivan up, and held the man's damaged limb over his shoulder. Ivan looked at Brain with an insane smile. "You're an interesting man Brain. I hope we meet again." he said, before the both of them disappeared in a torrent of shikigami that then flew away.

"Well." Brain started, panting from the strain on his body. "What an interesting meeting." He looked around at all the carnage from the battle. Remembering the fight, he smiled. "It's a good thing I left you alive Ivan. You're going to help me more than you know." Soon after, he broke down into near-insane laughter, while walking off. He had much to prepare for.

A/N:
I didn't think I'd get a story out this fast. Then again, it is only a one-shot. The only real reason why I finally have a story out is because I was in a car for 13 hours. I have mild motion sickness and it killed me. I ended up drawing a modified picture of Brain and Zero during the ride, and it inspired me to write this.

I actually made Brain/Zero and Ivan a lot stronger than they are in canon, because I love Brain/Zero and think that he was portrayed as too cannon-fodderish and Ivan was too weak IMO. I also gave Ivan the ability to use shikigami spirits because in Japanese mythology, sorcerers would summon spirits and when the spirits were harmed or defeated they would turn into harmless paper dolls. Hence, Ivan's shikigami.

Note: I may or may not end up making a story out of this. It actually does kind of branch of from a separate Fairy Tail story I was hoping to make. (In the very, very distant future.) So, I might connect with this other story that I might make.

Boredom Edit: 8/5/14

Revised and updated for better story quality. Fleshed out the characters more, added dialogue, fixed perspective confusions, etc.

Also realized that I never explained about Alexei. In canon, he's simply a cover that Ivan uses, but my plan from the very beginning was for it actually to be an homage to Ivan's Raven Tail Ace. My Alexei was also that character using a codename, but I won't reveal who it is, because it will be an enormous spoiler. The character is an OC, but one I think fits in beautifully with Ivan's character and his connection to certain people.