It all happened in a matter of minutes, but even that was plenty of time for him to slip out. Ivan had pressured Cornelia to slip away too, but she, ever the resistant, did not seem to care much about hearing the Rune Knights approaching from the back alley. She was still unperturbed when she saw the man with the Rune Knights too, the man Ivan imagined had been sent by the retired king out of fear of him. He had been expecting this, of course, and had no doubt in his mind that Laxus was more than alright with his father in law sending the White Knight, the head of the royal guard, out to find him. Seeing Arcadios with the Council's Rune Knights was truly not a shock to Ivan. Why Cornelia was unafraid of them, however, was absolutely beyond him. Nevertheless, she had stayed and he had slipped out through an obscure basement exit, his appearance heavily obscured from her magic and the heavy layers of fabric all around him.

In the distance, as he got farther and farther away from his refuge, Ivan could hear the sounds of the door being forced open and Cornelia's angered demands and yelling at them all for "encroaching" on her property. Ivan didn't particularly care, and soon enough he was in the silence of night once more. He was far more cunning than he was typically willing to let on, and this was a moment of proof, for that. He knew full well that he would not be caught, and that he would be able to return to a different part of the city soon enough. He was running, now, towards Magnolia, to get a different perspective and, indeed, take a visit to Era on the way. He was very much going to address the issue of his ex-wife when he returned to Crocus, but he was well aware that she could very well be in Era too.

The sooner he could deal with her, the better.

What Ivan did not account for, however, was that Cornelia would in fact be arrested. Whilst he was escaping cleanly out of the city, Cornelia had been violently fighting, cutting cards, killing multiple members of the squadron of Rune Knights that had been sent to merely question her, and becoming so aggressive with her magic energy that she shattered nearly all the lightbulbs in her apartment from the force of her cards. She certainly was swift, and she was difficult to pin down, too, something which only made it more difficult for the authorities that had come for Ivan. It was not until, after an intense struggle, Arcadios and two senior members of the Rune Knight squadron managed to pin her down and cuff her that she stopped resisting. Nevertheless, Cornelia kept spitting curses at them and making demands, absolutely incensed at their treatment of her.

"Block off the crime scene," One of the senior Rune Knights ordered several other subordinates. "We'll have to report these deaths and have an investigative team come to examine the scene."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll send a brief account of the situation to the Magic Council immediately."

"Yes, do that," Cornelia spat, her voice drenched in venom. "I'm sure they'll immediately convict me for defending myself against people accusing me of harbouring a criminal I have never met."

"A warrant was issued for a proper search," Arcadios coldly reminded her. "There was no need for violence, and you have a history among many in the city of having killed before, have you not?"

"I was acquitted every time," Cornelia hissed. "Self defense."

"Regardless, we have reason to suspect you may be involved, to a variety of extents, with recent prison escapee Ivan Dreyar," Arcadios went on without paying much mind to her interjections. "Who is quite the dangerous criminal to have at large."

"Sometimes what's dangerous is right under your nose," Cornelia sneered. "And I think you all should know better than to play the fool when you clearly are grasping at straws. I know nothing of this situation, and you all, as so often seems to be the case, are looking in all of the wrong places."

"I hate the cold," Jade muttered, scowling up at the tops of her glasses while they began to fog up. "Damn it. I'm not going to be able to see soon enough too."

Laxus glanced towards her with a raised eyebrow. "That's what you get for having grown up in the south of the kingdom."

Jade sent him a dark look. "That isn't funny."

"Yes, it is," He replied, just barely jumping out of the way when his six year old niece ran in front of him to get to her mother. "Well, looks like she might be faster than Lacey."

"It's cold, mommy!" Lana Marie giggled, putting a little bit of snow she had in her hands on the top of her mother's dyed, dark purple locks. "Snow is fun!"

"It can be," Jade adjusted her daughter in her arms, holding her against her hip and tapping her nose. "Now, where did your gloves go, love? Your hands are starting to turn pink."

The six year old grinned. "They got stuck in my shoes!"

Her mother glanced down and, sure enough, she could see the tops of her daughter's gloves poking out of the top of her shoes. Laughing a little, Jade pulled the gloves out with one hand and delicately tugged them back over her daughter's tiny hands.

"So," Jade said after a moment, still walking with her brother. "How are you and Hisui? She seemed really nervous earlier when we were talking...of course, that was before her father called her into that meeting. Honestly, I'm worried about her even without that. I can't imagine it was anything good."

"I am too," Laxus sighed. "I think part of it is she's scared about Ivan, especially given the things he has tried to do to us and our family, but more of it, I suspect, is her worry for Lacey and the baby. She's been sick a lot more, and I know this pregnancy is taking her harder than it did with Lacey."

"You better be making things easier for her," Jade sent him a pointed look and then shook her head. "I know you are, I just also know she's always felt the need to put work before herself. We were both like that in our teenage years, and, to be honest, I know Toma, probably not on purpose, hasn't helped with that complex."

"I'm not going to argue with that," Laxus paused for a few seconds in thought. "Having Lacey changed things for her, though. Really, having our daughter changed both of us. I definitely…..have been less reckless and she's taken more time for herself."

"You think meemaw will be home again tonight?" Lana Marie suddenly exclaimed, looking at her mother with wide eyes. Jade briefly startled.

"I'm not sure," She said carefully. "My mother has been having….a difficult time of late. Be patient with her, okay?"

Lana pouted but eventually nodded and curled up against her mother.

"Did Bell….does mom know yet that gramps told us everything?" Laxus eyed his sister curiously. "Knowing you, I doubt you could keep from pressing her on that for long."

Jade hesitated. "I've talked with her a little about it," She said anxiously. "Mommy definitely isn't happy with Makarov….though, really, when is she ever? She was willing to talk to me about it after I told her….but she's definitely not happy about Makarov circumventing her will with her own children when she was already worried about them. So weird to think you're my brother though...but I guess her having been married to Ivan explains a lot….especially with why she didn't want to talk about it or have that part of her past known. Ivan is pretty...scary, for lack of a better word, after all."

"I would tend to agree with that, though we are probably better off knowing."

Laxus and Jade both whipped around upon hearing Hisui from behind them. Laxus quickly embraced his wife, and she laughed a little in surprise, though she did welcome her husband's warm arms around her. He quickly stole a kiss and let his fingers gently tread though her hair. Seeing little Lacey coming out into the snow with her (decidedly nervous looking) uncle, Lana Marie squirmed and all but jumped out of her mother's arms, causing Jade to turn on her heel and quickly change her expression from one of longing for such intimacy with her own husband to one of annoyance at Freed, who merely smirked back at her in return and winked.

"Stay near Freed and Lacey!" Jade called out to her daughter, who met her mother's gaze and nodded excitedly.

"Everything alright?" Laxus murmured to Hisui, still holding her close.

"For now," She softly replied. "Thank God."

"I'm utterly infuriated," Mest remarked, reaching for a glass of whisky across the table, much to the amusement of Gajeel and Levy, both of whom started snickering a little despite knowing full well what had transpired in just the past few days alone. "How could he possibly escape that quickly when the Rune Knights had him practically between their fingers?"

"He's a slippery one," Cana shrugged, her eyes narrowing. "We should let Freed, Bix, and Evergreen handle him, maybe even with their spouses. I can betcha that Freed and Mira, Bix and Lisanna, and Ever and Elfman could do some serious damage if they were trying and we all know the six of them don't usually have to try."

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Geez, and they wonder why everyone else in the guild constantly jokes about them. They can be more destructive than Erza and her teammates when they're actually tryin' and not just putin' on a show."

Mest took back a rather long swig of whisky. "Well," He said dryly. "Given that Evergreen is a member of the Council herself, her skill is without question."

"Exactly!" Cana slung her arm around his neck with a grin, playfully socking him in the arm. "But, hey! None of us are working right now, let's try to have fun."

Levy smirked. "You suggesting a drinking game?"

"You'll be rollin' on the floor after just two, Small Fry," Gajeel teased. "And I think Lila and Casper are gonna need their mother intact tomorrow because I can't handle them alone when we take them out."

Levy giggled. "We're just taking them indoor skydiving."

"Wait, you're taking little kids indoor skydiving?" Mest blinked, surprised and then shook his head. "Well, I can't say I'm all that surprised. Your children would probably be tenacious enough to find someone who would take them even if you wouldn't."

All three of them turned to Cana, who shrugged.

"I bet Natsu would do it. Lucy would whine at him over being irresponsible, but he's taken their daughter out to do plenty of questionable things and she's only seven!"

"The Salamander is not the standard you should hold us to," Gajeel said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "Just to be clear, he's not the standard any parent should be held to. He's pretty damn lucky he has Lucy, cus she's the one keeping him from introducing their kid to the wonders of hacking up cars with golf clubs or some shit."

"Jade got drunk and did that once," Mest remarked. "She dragged Hisui into it too. I think they were twenty. From what I heard of it from Freed, Toma was pretty angry at them and was only glad they didn't get caught. In fairness to them, it was an old junker car in a lot that was going to be compacted and scrapped anyways, but the fact Jade knew that while drunk doesn't exactly make them doing that look particularly good."

Gajeel chortled. "I can't even imagine that, damn!"

"I've done worse," Cana slyly put in. "It's a lot of fun to vandalise highway dividers, you know. And I sprayed this one dick from a dark guild in the face with spray paint."

Mest snapped his head towards her in horror. "Oh, dear, Cana, you did not."

"I did," She cheerfully replied. "It was pretty fun. Just me and Mira. You can ask her about it, she remembers it just as well as I do! Actually, her telling of it is even more fun because Master Makarov still doesn't know we were responsible for it to this day! The Council couldn't even confirm Fairy Tail had done it, either!"

Levy started wheezing from laughing so hard and Gajeel patted her shoulders, almost as if he were afraid she would implode.

"I don't think I had a wild phase, to be honest!" She finally exclaimed. "But now I'm wishing I had! Between you guys and Erza's team, you all seemed to have the most fun!"

"Given all the things they've managed to destroy in the past twenty years, some might argue too much fun," Mest said, sipping his whiskey. "But point taken."

Cana winked. "Don't worry, Mest," She joked, tickling his arms. "I'll continue to teach you our ways, don't you worry."

Mest raised an eyebrow. "Oh, believe me," He said with a chuckle. "I won't."