Disclaimer: The characters belongs to Hiro Mashima
My shitty approach to Zervel, because I can't see their relationship as anything but unhealthy and toxic. So, not cuteness here.
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"I would love to have you with me" He said, with a sweet smile that didn't really reach his eyes. He extended his hand, asking for some help he never needed and Invel had to fight to keep his face still.
They were talking about the war and the army, and he knew there was no way it could mean anything else than his necessary assistance during the campaign, but sometimes he could help but hope. Maybe this time his words had a secret meaning. Maybe this time was different. Maybe… Maybe not.
He was asking for a favor after all and any time he needed something from Invel he did the same. Smile to him, say something nice and gave him any kind of lingering touch. Because when he smiled, Invel couldn't say no. It had been that way since the first time, when he was the first human to cross his frozen field. The first one to reach him since he was a kid and lost the control.
Invel was stronger now, and smarter, so he had noticed how the emperor was aware of the way he made him feel and how he kept doing it on purpose. Invel was his closest general and therefore he knew the emperor found a strange pleasure on controlling him as if he was some kind of pawn on his hand. And Invel also knew he wasn't important to him.
Neither were the other Spriggans or the Empire itself. They were all nothing else than some sick game, something to keep his mind entertained while the really important people waited at the other side of the sea.
Invel didn't know at first, when he was barely more than a kid, but he had realized as he grew up. And sometimes a part of his mind, some forgotten place inside him, told him to leave, to find a better place, far away from the strings that liked to play him like a puppet.
But he couldn't. He was unable to stop himself from basking on the rare displays of fake affection. He was unable to move away, to reject the hand patting his shoulder or head, to say the few words that could set him free.
He wasn't trapped there, he could quit his job as general any day or at least that was what the emperor liked to say when any of them seemed unhappy with something. The Spriggans were there because they were the strongest ones in Arakitashia but the Emperor would never force them to stay. If any of them decided that they didn't want to be a part of that group, they were free to leave.
The Emperor said that and Invel believed it was probably true, but he was still unable to leave. Because beyond the extended hand he saw just a frozen desert and his own solitude. At Emperor's side he had lies, fake loves and broken hearts. Sweet whispers that meant nothing and soft touches with cold intentions behind. It didn't matter. They weren't colder than his raw magic.
Anything was better. Even when the Emperor smiled and lied to him, saying how much he appreciated him, it was better. And, therefore, he took his hand, as he always did and always would.
A/N: Remember, reviews feed hungry writers, feel free to use the box!