Chapter Eighty Two - Ivan, Part Four

"Laxus-chan, I thought I told you to get Mari-chan to heal her," Ivan complained.

"Mari-chan," Laxus sneered. "Was shaking too much to do it properly. Sorry that I wanted the plan to go well; next time I'll let her die."

Ivan sighed. "Fine. What would I do without you, Laxus-chan?"

"Lose," Laxus muttered, walking away.

And you're going to lose anyway, he thought, leaving the room.

He could only stand so much of his father at a time.

"Eleanor-chan, I see you're still the same," Ivan said cheerfully. I didn't bother glaring from my place on the floor. There was no point.

He frowned at my lack of response. "Don't you want to know what my evil plan is? It's finally all coming together!"

…did I? Did I even care, anymore?

It didn't seem to matter, since he decided to go right on explaining it.

I can understand why he does it; all crazy psychopaths eventually end up doing it because they like to brag – they want others to appreciate their genius, and in order for that to happen, someone else had to understand the entire plan.

Some twenty minutes later, he finished telling his story (after getting side-tracked several times, because he apparently has the attention span of a stick of wood). "Do you understand now, Eleanor-chan?"

I didn't say anything.

"Well?"

"I think…that you really are…a bastard," I croaked, finally looking up and piercing him with my eyes. "And I hope…Master never has to find out…the full extent of your depravity. All of the heinous crimes you committed. Of your lack of humanity."

My eyes finally met him, and I glared at him, for ruining what I had with Laxus…even if it was all a lie up until now.

I think I still would've preferred that it continued.

"I think you're the type of scum I'd be fine with killing," I finished, narrowing my eyes at him.

He laughed at that, roaring with laughter. "Eleanor-chan, doesn't that make you as bad as me?"

"No," I said. "Because I don't take enjoyment in it. And I'm not a sick fuck."

He growled and reached through the bars, grabbing the chain that lead to my wrist and yanking it forward.

I was dragged towards the bars, and I bit my lip to stop from crying out as my legs scraped up against the floor. As soon as I was within reach, Ivan grabbed my arms and slammed me up to the bars, banging my head against it.

Spots filled my vision, and I could barely see, and it took me a minute to realize that Ivan was shaking me.

"Listen up, you little bitch," he hissed into my face. "I don't know who the hell you think you are-"

"Someone better than you!" I hissed back, biting his arm.

"Bitch!" he yelled, shaking me off, before he sent a wave of his shikigami at me.

Two sliced down the sides of each arm before a hand grabbed his arm.

"Laxus!"

"What did I say," he growled. "You know she needs to recover for the ceremony. How the hell do you expect to take over the world if you're being an idiot?"

"I was just having a little fun, Laxus-chan," Ivan grumbled.

Laxus sighed. "Ugh, it's embarrassing being related to someone who's so incompetent."

Ivan pouted. "Should I get Mari-chan?"

"No, I'll do it. That woman isn't qualified for first aid."

Laxus turned and went to the wall on the side, hitting buttons to open it and pulling out bandages.

"I'll leave you to it then, Laxus-chan," Ivan waved, before walking out the door.

Laxus approached the cell, opening the door and approaching me, before squatting on the floor next to me.

"Give me your arm," he commanded, and I thrust my arms (still chained together) out towards him before looking away.

His hands took mine, and they were gentle.

My heart felt like it was squeezing out of my chest.

His hands are the same.

The same as they were before, when he would hug me, or we would lay together at night up in the North. Or when he would patch me up after I got hurt. If it was scrapes from training, or after a fight, or even rubbing bruise paste on me after the incident with Deliora...

I can't believe I never asked Corvus about that.

I wonder if I'd ever get the chance.

Laxus ripped open one of the antiseptics and ran it down my arm. It stung, but after the usual things I got, I barely felt it.

After wiping it down, he took some gauze and bandaged the large cuts on the sides of my arms, closing them tightly – but still gently.

"Anything else I should know about?" he asked, his voice cold, the exact opposite from the ghost of kindness in his hands.

I shook my head, and he got up, packing up the first aid kit and closing the cell door behind him. He returned the kit to the wall and sealed it up, before leaving the dungeons altogether.

The slam echoed across the walls, and I curled up on my side, my hands clutching at my chest, which still ached.

Laxus…

I stopped crying a few hours later, and finally started thinking clearly, after losing myself in my memories.

"I know…and it's the most amazing feeling. Not being alone."

Laxus leaned in and looked me in the eyes. "Listen, we'll stay by each other sides, alright? So you don't know how to do some things, so what? You can learn. And I'll be here to help you, we all will. You won't be alone again. Neither of us will be."

"You promise?" I sniffled. "You'll always be by my side?"

He smiled. "If you promise to stay by mine."

I nodded, and smiled, though my eyes were once again full of tears – but they were happy tears. "Alright then, it's decided. Side by side."

Laxus nodded. "Side by side. Now that you've got me, you're not getting rid of me."

Laxus had promised so many things to me.

How can he be bad? Even in the original series, he never actually reached a point…

But that was the thing…

And I was brought back to what Ivan had said earlier that day.

"You see, Eleanor-chan, I needed someone of the five bloodlines in order to harvest the magic of the stars. But Brain wouldn't give up his kid because she was too weak, so we had to find a new one. Honestly, the best fit would probably be the Heartfilia girl. Her magic is at a purer state, and she's also a lot stronger on a pure magical level, because she needs deeper magical reserves. Still, though…I'm glad Brain and Hades brought you to me. I much prefer it this way, even if it does take longer to harvest your magic. It just means I get to torture you longer, too."

I felt a flash of anger when I heard he was thinking of targeting Lucy, but it eventually disappeared as I realized she was safe.

"Of course, I could've always used my son," Ivan muttered.

And for the first time since Laxus showed up, I spoke. "I thought...you needed to harvest magic...of the stars? Laxus...is a lightning mage."

"I'm not talking about Laxus-chan, Eleanor-chan!" Ivan said, rolling his eyes. "I'm talking about the other one."

I stopped at that. What?

"You have another kid? Who is it?" I demanded.

But I already knew.

After all…a male of the five bloodlines…only one person fit that bill.

"But Jellal-chan is still too weak," Ivan said, sighing. "Which is the same reason why Brain-chan didn't let me use his own girl."

Jellal.

Ivan had openly admitted to raping his mother, which is what led to me calling him sick.

I probably should have seen it coming. In Edolas, Mystogan was related to Makarov, and it makes sense for them to be related here, too. After all, the Strauss Siblings were related in both universes.

In the first timeline, both Jellal and Laxus had had their dark spots, but they had pure hearts – they came back to the light in the end.

I thought back to earlier – as Laxus bandaged my arms, with tenderness and gentleness.

I was right, and I was a fool for falling for it.

I'm sorry, Laxus. I should've had faith in you.

In the original series, no one got hurt when Fairy Law was cast because Laxus still cared. After everything we'd been through, all of our time together, he couldn't do that this time around.

But if I'm right…if my first assumption is correct…why is he here? Why does he keep hurting me?

Laxus had Fairy Tail behind him, and Fairy Tail had Mavis.

The Fairy Tactician.

And even she admitted that sometimes she had trouble remembering that the people she was directing were…well…people.

Ivan was obviously up to something suspicious; he'd all but admitted it when he taunted me, though he didn't really reveal his plan.

Man, Ivan was a shit villain. He couldn't even fuck up villainy right.

So if we needed more information…and Laxus had to go undercover…

My heart settled down.

Going over everything that happened, it still hurt. And I didn't know if our relationship would ever be the same. My heart ached about it, and already wanted this to be over.

But Laxus was still Laxus, and that was okay.

Because I was still in love with him, and I'd rather believe this than anything else.

I could withstand everything, as long as it was over soon.

I'm not quite sure how much time passed over the next few…sessions.

Laxus would do the simple draining every day, looking as if he had no care in the world.

I didn't dare say a thing. I have no doubt that (with the amount of times I tried to escape) Ivan had installed recording lacrimas, and I didn't know if they would pick up anything, if I said something, even if I barely breathed it for Laxus's high level of hearing.

So I kept quiet.

A few days after my revelation, I had a visitor.

"Hades," I said, before sarcastically commenting. "How nice of you to visit me."

"Ivan said that he'd broken you," Hades commented.

"Ivan is an idiot," I said, shrugging, which I could actually do because I was on the ground this time, not suspended by my wrists. "And I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard. We don't give up easily." I smirked at him. "You'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

He moved forward and gripped the bars. "You insolent little girl. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't I?" I hissed back. "What would Mavis say if she saw you now?"

He reeled back a bit, as if he'd been struck, before he moved forward again. "You know nothing."

"Don't I?" I hissed. "Mavis spends time with all of us, we both know her real state. Sure, she isn't there physically, but she's there with all of us in spirit."

Hades scoffed, looking away. "Zeref is more important."

"Zeref is also with us," I hissed. "You've met him before – he was the one who taught you magic in the first place. And you want him to leave his peaceful state and go insane?"

I glared at him. "He's happy now. He's with Mavis, and the two of them are happy together."

He lifted his hand and shot one of his bullets at me. It slammed in my shoulder, and I wasn't able to hold back the cry from it. It wasn't fire – if it was it wouldn't hurt so much, because of Phoenix's gift. It was closer to Sting's magic – like a type of laser.

He turned and began to walk away. "The Grand Magic World will come, no matter how many I have to sacrifice."

"You been beside her for years," I hissed. "She's the reason you know magic! How can you betray Mavis like this?"

"I watched over the Lumen Histoire because it was my duty as guild master, and because it was an unlimited power source," Hades shot back. "Mavis means nothing to me."

And then he turned and walked away.

Damn.

He mentioned the Lumen Histoire, and I tried to avoid it because I didn't know how much Ivan knew about it.

Hopefully he wouldn't know anything, and he would just think that the two of us were talking about two different things.

Damn you, Hades.

Damn you, Mashima

But I tried to save him. For Mavis's sake.

He's just too far gone.

So Elle knows about the Lumen Histoire? Ivan thought, leaning back from where he was observing through a lacrima.

That was interesting.

He'd up the torture tomorrow – see what he could find.

Next chapter is the last one of the Ivan arc.