I love you guys all so much.

Also, remember when I mentioned the '50-reviews a chapter'? Yeah, well, the previous got over fifty reviews, so, since I finished this early, I thought I'd give you all a little present.

So I'll just leave this here... :D

Chapter Eighty One – Ivan, Part Three

THREE MONTHS AGO

"I'm going, and that's final," he said flatly.

"I can read souls!" Erik yelled. "I should go!"

The moment they had arrived at the guild was completely chaotic. After delivering the news, most of the kids freaked; for instance, Juvia losing control of the rain for the first time since she had finally calmed it. Then Laxus had a burst of rage and stormed out of the guild, looking for a girl he wouldn't find.

They were asked if they wanted to join Fairy Tail, and they all ended up doing it, being sworn in and ending up with a guildmark before even introducing themselves or their magic.

Though Erik and Macbeth would forever deny that the color of their guildmarks were the color of Elle's hair, rather than Erik's eyes and Macbeth's new shade of lipstick, since he was switching to a lighter version.

The first few minutes there were chaotic, and extremely overwhelming for Erik.

The guild was amazingly lively, and the sounds he heard in everyone's minds gave him hope.

He had been surrounded by so much desolation that he didn't think he'd be able to find people with good intentions – but this guild was full of them.

Even with all of the turmoil and fear they felt over Elle missing, they still had hope, and it was inspiring.

It made him happy to hear them all.

Of course, some people's minds were louder than others – it depended on their state of mind. Some people, like the ones named Juvia and Freed, were so distraught in their mind it was amazing they seemed so composed, even with Juvia still in tears and causing the worst storm Magnolia had seen in years.

Makarov, the master of the guild, approached them, specifically him. "Erik, my boy, did Elle tell you anything before she got cut off?"

Erik nodded and swallowed. "A few things. For one, Master Hades had one of Cana's cards, and she said to get Freed to up everyone's security."

More than a few people tensed, and the man called Gildarts scooped up his daughter.

Erik tried his best to block him out.

The man's mind was generally a mess; full of odd thoughts, mostly focusing on his daughter and attractive women, though Fairy Tail and its guild members were thrown in there every once in a while, along with some spurts of wisdom.

Frankly, it gave Erik a headache.

"Anything else, my boy?" Makarov asked.

Erik hesitated. "Do you guys have a healer?"

"Are you hurt?" Makarov asked, his eyes widening.

"Elle said that if we told you, you'd probably have a heart attack," Macbeth said bluntly.

"Macbeth!" Erik hissed.

He shrugged. "What, it's true."

"Oh dear," Makarov said. "Then I suppose we should summon Porlyusica."

He turned to an indigo-haired man who was holding an indigo-haired baby girl. "Rex, can you please pick up Porlyusica?"

The man nodded and passed the baby to his wife, Maggie, who stood next to him.

Erik was really thankful for his mind-reading abilities, because there was no way he'd remember everyone's names otherwise.

Sure enough, Makarov reacted badly to the information the Hades was Precht, who was apparently his predecessor in Fairy Tail. Mavis, a ghost that Erik couldn't read, (which is odd considering that it should still be her soul) also had trouble with this knowledge, and turned to her lover, the Dark Wizard Zeref, for comfort.

Yeah, that was a bit of a shocker. After what they went through at the Tower, they wanted nothing to do with Zeref, but Cana took out a Memory Card and showed them the memory of a time Zeref told everyone about his story and his creations.

It was hard for them to accept it (especially since the founder of their guild was with him romantically), but they did eventually accept it.

But Erik still had a problem with Mavis, and it wasn't that he couldn't hear her – he couldn't hear Elle or Zeref either.

It was that she wasn't letting him go.

Mavis shook her head. "The moment that Brain realizes that you're with Ivan, he'll take you back, just like before. Laxus is probably the best opportunity."

"But I want to help Elle!" Erik pleaded. "Come on, my Soul Reading Magic is perfect for this."

"It is, but you're not. I'm sorry, Erik," she said, before turning to Laxus. "But could you do it?"

He glared at her, gritting his teeth. "Of course I could do it. This is Elle we're talking about here!"

Wow. He really loves her, Erik thought, listening to his thoughts.

"I'm asking you to go undercover," Mavis said flatly. "There's a chance that Ivan will try and test you to see if you're really on his side, and it'll probably have to do with hurting Elle. You'll have to actively hurt her."

Laxus's fists clenched, and he sparked dangerously.

"She'll forgive you," Zeref said.

Laxus's head shot up to glare at him. "What do you know?"

"You're going undercover to stop whatever Ivan is doing," Zeref said quietly. "The world could possibly be at stake. Elle will forgive you if you have to hurt her along the way."

"Yeah, she'll still love you, Onii-sama!" Juvia shouted happily.

"Could you do it?" Mavis repeated.

Slowly, Laxus's fists unclenched. "Yeah, I can do it."

I deserve one of those acting award shits for this, Laxus thought to himself. One of those Otters or Emmas or Grannys or whatever.

He was back in his private suite at Ivan's…base (for lack of a better word) and he still felt as if he had spent hours on a train. His stomach was rolling, especially at the thought of Elle, and her bruised and battered body, and the look on her face.

He slammed his hand over his mouth, trying hard to keep the bile down.

If he threw up, there was a good chance Ivan could smell it.

Even in the privacy of his own room, Laxus wasn't entirely sure he could be himself – his father was a paranoid fucker, and it was likely he'd hide recording lacrimas all over the room if he could.

Which is why Laxus was currently taking a bath.

Even his father wasn't enough of a creep to keep recording lacrimas in the bathroom, so at least he had his privacy here. Well…enough of a creep to keep it in a boy's bathroom.

When it came to women though, Ivan was as much a creep as his own father was…

Sighing, Laxus took a deep breath and submerged himself underwater. Underneath, the water hollowed out sound, muffling all of his extra dragon senses.

This was officially the worst day of his life. Worse than anything that happened at the Tower of Heaven, or when they were training in the North and he had to shock her or Brain had hurt her.

There wasn't a strong enough word for how much Laxus loathed his father.

'Loathe' didn't even come close.

He threw his arm over his eyes, trying to stifle his tears. He didn't deserve to cry! Not after what he had done to Elle.

He had been prepared to hurt her; that was why he had shocked her, not once, but twice. But even that wasn't enough. Ivan had handed him the sledgehammer, and Laxus knew that he had to do it. He couldn't show weakness, either because of his fondness of Elle, or simply because he didn't want to break someone's leg. Ivan was practically a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out weakness; he remembered that much from his childhood.

Laxus wanted to throw Mavis's entire plan to the wind; to use that sledgehammer on Ivan's face rather than Elle's legs.

He didn't want to continue this 'operation'. He wanted to punch his father in the face, grab Elle, go home, and never let her go.

But he had to.

The look in her eyes as he left…he didn't think he ever saw someone look so defeated.

Would she be able to recover from this? Would he ever get his Elle back?...

Well, the answer to that was no. Laxus was sure of one thing; Elle was likely to cut him out of her life once she returned to the guild.

She'd never be his Elle again. Zeref was wrong about that.

But as long as she returned to the same person as before, he'd be alright with that.

Even if he had to leave the guild himself so she could breathe easily again.

I didn't move for days.

There was no point.

It was real. Laxus was real.

It was literally the worst thing I could imagine.

Laxus…

The worst part about betrayal…is that it doesn't come from your enemies.

"I don't get it. What's the problem?" Ivan asked.

"The bitch isn't eating anything," Laxus's voice echoed throughout the dungeons. "That plate is from four days ago. She doesn't react to anything, either. Doesn't even scream."

Ivan snorted. "Then you're not trying hard enough."

He pulled down the lever and the machine started draining my magic, but I didn't scream now.

There was no point.

Nothing mattered anymore.

What about the dragon slayers? A voice in my head went. After all, I had taken care of the Oracion Seis, so now they were all that were left.

They'll be fine, I told myself back. They have Lax…us…

Oh. That's right.

Oh well.

I was jerked out of my mind by a cranking noise, and the chain linked to the cuffs pulled taut, lifting me in the air.

"See?" Laxus scoffed. "Nothing."

Ivan pulled down the lever again, and I could feel it draining my magic.

I didn't care.

It didn't matter.

Ivan snarled and unlocked the cell door, pulling out a whip, which he pulled back and snapped at me.

I didn't do anything.

Nothing mattered anymore.

Ivan looked at me for a long few seconds before he spun on his heel and walked out into the dungeon. Pushing another button, there was a rumbling noise, and I saw him put the whip on the wall…but what would support it?

Out of seemingly nowhere, he pulled another whip off the wall.

Maybe it was some sort of secret wall you could hang weapons on? It seemed like I was right, because he hit a button again and I heard the same rumbling noise; maybe they were closing the wall.

Laxus moved out of the way and Ivan stormed into the room, snapping the whip.

My eyes widened a bit when I saw it. It was different from the previous one, which was more like Lucy's (like Indie's). This one has little spikes on it, as if it was made with a rose bush.

This would probably hurt even more.

But I didn't care.

It didn't matter.

He slapped it against my back (though I was still wearing the same clothes I've worn for the past few months), and it dug into it.

Each lash hurt, but other than flinching, I did nothing.

There was no point in screaming, or fighting or yelling. Or talking back.

I soon lost count of the amount of times he cracked the whip as everything started going dark, but then the rhythm broke, pulling me back to reality.

"What are you doing, Laxus?" Ivan growled.

What? My heart started getting lighter, and I blinked a few times until my vision cleared and I saw Laxus holding Ivan's wrist in his hand, stopping the whip.

"Do you still need her?" Laxus asked, uncaringly.

"What do you mean?" Ivan asked.

"I mean, do you still need her? If you continue at the rate you're going, you'll end up killing her soon. Even now, she'll need first aid if you want her to last the night. So…do you still need her?"

My heart broke all over again.

Ivan scowled and shook off Laxus's arm. "Fine. Yeah, I still need her. Tell Mari and she'll come fix her up."

Laxus shrugged. "Alright."

It didn't matter. None of this mattered. I was all-

When I woke up again, I was tied down to a bed (able to lie down in one for the first time in months), and the side of my head throbbed, as if someone had hit it.

Probably.

My face was half on the pillow, my neck twisted so I could still breathe. Testing my restraints, I could feel each one of the magical restraints attached to the edge of the bed.

I tried moving, and a sharp gasp escaped my mouth as the nerves on my back cried out.

"Geez, Rigby, try not to move so much. You'll just make it worse."

Laxus's familiar voice was what made it worse.

Each day, without fail, he would enter the room, turn on the machine for…who knows how long, and then leave.

Ivan was no longer torturing me – until today, that is.

Something told me he was too busy with whatever his 'end of the world' plot was, but I didn't really care about that any more.

I didn't care about anything anymore.

Maybe it'd just be better to drift off into a deep sleep…

Dream of the older days…

Laxus groaned in frustration as Elle fell asleep.

He didn't want to talk to her, which would probably happen if she was awake, but the fact that she was asleep again just emphasized how badly she was hurt.

How long would he have to stay there? He'd barely been there a week, but he didn't know if he'd last there any longer.

He didn't know if he'd be able to keep hurting her.

Ugh, he was such a hypocrite.

But he couldn't do anything until he got the signal, he knew that.

It didn't mean he had to like it, though.

His fists tightened, and he moved out of the way as Mari rushed in, holding a first aid kit.

She was probably in her early thirties, and spent her time cooking meals, cleaning, and fixing up Elle.

Other than him, Ivan, and Elle, she was the only other person in the building - though Brain apparently tends to visit (even though Laxus had yet to see him).

Mari was a blonde woman, who was so scared of Ivan she jumped at small noises. But Laxus had noticed that she was wearing the same cuffs that Elle was, so she had magic.

But even without Ivan anywhere in the room, Mari fumbled with the first aid, and had shaking hands.

"I'll do it," Laxus snapped, ripping the kit out of her hands.

She flinched and backed away, and Laxus had to bite his lip so he didn't look apologetic.

How he hated it here.

Laxus pulled off Elle's shirt, which was already in tatters, and tried not to look as sick as he felt, shaking off an earlier conversation he had had with Ivan.

"How are your hormones?" Ivan asked suddenly.

Laxus turned to his father. "What?" he asked flatly.

"Your hormones," Ivan repeated. "Are you into girls yet?"

Laxus stared at his father blankly. "Why?"

"Elle is almost done charging the machine," Ivan commented. "And I'm trying to think about what we're going to do with her when we're done."

His stomach started rolling. He really didn't want this to go where he thought it was.

"First, I thought we should just kill her," Ivan continued. "But I want her to suffer more. So I was thinking of giving her to you."

It took everything Laxus had to stop himself from exploding or trying to kill Ivan right there and then.

To even suggest-

"And that way we can continue to torture her," Ivan said, continuing, "and you also get a slave! It's great."

Don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him, Laxus chanted in his mind.

"What do you think?" Ivan asked.

Laxus tried to remain calm. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. She's kinda lifeless right now, you know?"

Ivan frowned. "Yes, you're right Laxus-chan. It was more fun when she was more defiant. I'm not really one for lifeless dolls, and she's a few years too young for me anyway, so you should take her."

His stomach rolled, and Laxus bit his tongue until it bled so he wouldn't attack. He could only reassure himself that Ivan took all of the craziness in their family line, so Laxus should be fine.

"I told you," Laxus repeated in a bored tone. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

And I'll kill you before you touch her like that.

He shook off that memory, returning to the present. Elle was hurt, and he could actually get away with fixing her injuries. Opening the first aid kit, he started cleaning her back from the whip marks, trying not to wince upon looking at it.

Her Fairy Tail mark had several cuts running through it, and he knows that they aren't going to heal properly; there would be scars there.

This was all his fault.

Someday, he would strike Ivan for every scar left on Elle's body.

He was kind.

Mari looked at Laxus.

He tried to be harsh, like his father; barking orders, being aggressive.

But he wasn't.

The most he showed was coldness; he was closed off, and didn't care about a lot of things.

But now, watching him treat Elle, she knew that her heart was right, and it brought light into it.

Maybe there was hope.

She had long since accepted that she would never get away from Ivan, and that was alright. But she was glad that Elle would be able to leave, and that Laxus and her would be happy.

Despite everything Laxus did, Mari could see that he cared for her. Ivan couldn't; he doesn't know enough about love to do it.

But Mari could, and it made her happy.

It was more than that, too; Laxus was a dragon slayer, so he should have been able to smell the painkillers she was mixing into Elle's food.

But he said nothing, and Mari was so happy.

Not only would Laxus end up getting Elle out of there, but it was more than that.

He was a good person.

Her son was kind, and that was more than she could ever hope for.