Chapter Five:

AN: So, I made an oopsie last chapter. Micah is on the GMG team for Phoenix Grave. Not Mace. Mace is in jail. My bad! I typed that chapter late at night and got a little tired and wasn't paying attention.

Farrah tapped her foot impatiently as leaned against the front desk of the lobby of the jail. She waited for someone, anyone to come back and tell her she could go back and talk to Ivan.

"They're still talking," Benedict informed her.

"About what?" Farrah asked.

"About whether or not they should two kids talk to a crazed criminal by themselves."

"We're not kids!" Farrah argued. "Can't they just let us in!"

It's not like she wanted to be here, anyways. And she'd rather get out of here as soon as possible. Finally a tall, middle aged woman in a Rune Knight uniform came back out of the side room and

"What was your relation to the prisoner again?" she asked.

"I'm his granddaughter," Farrah answered. Just saying that put a bitter taste in her mouth.

The Rune Knight nodded with a sigh. "Alright. This way, you two," she led Farrah and Benedict to a door at the back of the lobby and then down a hall.

Farrah let out a sigh of relief. It had taken forever to convince these guys to let them have a visit, but she was finally getting what she wanted. Though, was she really? She didn't want to visit Ivan, not really. But she needed answers, and since Ivan was a historic enemy of Fairy Tail he was the only person she knew of who might have any clue as to what happened to the adults.

The Rune Knight led her through a long hallway. On either side of the hall were cells holding crazed, angry looking wizards with magic cancelling chains on their wrists and ankles. They all turned and watched the two teenagers walking by. One of them raced to the blue barrier between his cell and the hall and slammed both fists against it. Farrah jumped. Benedict quickly grabbed her by the shoulder a jerked her behind him, putting himself between her and the inmate, frowning at him. The inmate chuckled menacingly before returning to a corner.

Farrah kept her eyes straight ahead of her, not really wanting to look at her less than pleasant company. They'd made it clear they weren't happy with her presence and the feeling was mutual. Benedict walked a step behind her. Unlike his friend, he was glancing at everyone around him, glaring at them as he kept a hand on Farrah's shoulder. Many of the inmates glanced her way, some of them smiling hungrily at her form, some snickering at the protective way Benedict shuffled along behind her. All of this only made him tighten his grip on her shoulder and pull her closer.

"Benedict...that hurts," Farrah whispered.

"Sorry," he grumbled as he finally let her go.

He hung his head, embarrassed, then he caught a glimpse of someone familiar. A man with the same black hair, dark skin, and deep blue eyes that he had. His heart stopped. His body went cold. The man glanced over his shoulder at Benedict. Benedict picked up his step and rushed ahead, out of the man's gaze.

Farrah took notice. She glanced back to see what could have spooked Benedict, and seethed through her teeth at the man as she followed after her friend. Now it was her turn to put a protective hand on his back.

The Rune Knight finally led them to a door and opened it. It was empty with the exception of a gray table, a chair on either side of it. The walls were white. There were two doors, the one Farrah and Benedict had walked through, and one on the other side of the room.

"Wait here," the Rune Knight said as she walked through the door opposite the two teenagers.

Farrah took a deep breath as she pulled one of the chairs out and sat down in it.

"Are you okay?" Benedict asked.

"Yeah, you?" Farrah asked.

"I'm fine."

"So...um...that spell…"

"Yup," Benedict nodded as he called: "Sound Magic, inflection detection."

A small magic circle with a music note in the middle appeared in his palm and he held it to his ear.

"So...how does that work…?" Farrah asked.

"When people lie their body and voice react," Benedict explained. "The reactions are usually small and hard to detect. But I can tell while using this spell if their voice has changed due to a lie."

"Cool," Farrah nodded as the doors opened and the doors open. Five Rune Knights came in, carrying a man with one arm and no legs. Farrah held her breath as they set the man in the chair opposite her and chained his one hand to the table. They put a chain around his waist tying him to the chair.

He grumbled as he was locked down, glaring at each of the guards. Then he looked to see who was sitting across from him. His eyebrows raised.

"Farrah," he gasped.

Farrah's skin crawled but she tried to keep her face calm as the Rune knights began to file out, leaving them alone. The door slammed behind them and Farrah jumped slightly at the noise. Benedict noticed and set his hand on her shoulder once again. She was shaking. His heart ached for her. She hadn't told him the full story of what happened to her birth family, but he knew Ivan had been involved. She had to be terrified. He gently stroked the back of her shoulder with his thumb, trying his best to calm her. It helped a little. She took a deep breath to further try to calm herself, but at seeing Ivan for the first time in twelve years she couldn't help but feel a surge emotion.

"You're Farrah," Ivan gasped again eyes glued on her.

Farrah's throat felt dry and she tried to swallow and loosen it. She slowly set her hands on the table, threading her fingers together, trying to look sure of herself.

Ivan's face curled into a smile.

"You're my granddaughter."

"Don't call me that," Farrah said in a low voice.

Ivan's face fell downcast.

Benedict frowned. He'd heard of the things Ivan had done. They were pure evil. But this man didn't really match what he'd pictured. He was actually happy to see Farrah. His vocal inflections had shown that. Of course, that didn't mean that the happiness didn't have a sinister reason behind it.

"Sorry," Ivan whispered. "I...didn't mean to offend you."

"You passed that a long time ago," Farrah seethed, anger rising through her as she remembered that day. She'd told herself to remain calm, but with the memories flooding in uncontrollably she couldn't do that anymore. That day all those years ago, when her tribe's peaceful journey was interrupted by a vicious attack. One of which she would be the sole survivor, only saved by the luck of being able to hide under a bush where she would later be found by Mirajane and Laxus.

Ivan raised his head, eyebrow arched. "Eh…"

The anger rose through her and she slammed a fist onto the table, frowning deeply, lightning cackling around her fist.

"Lightning?" Ivan asked. "You have my son's magic?"

"Oh, don't try to play the warm fuzzy grandpa look!" Farrah shouted. "You and I both know that's not who you are!"

Ivan's frown deepened. "I...I...I don't blame you for thinking that. I'm sure your parents told you alot-"

"They didn't have to tell me anything!" Farrah said.

"Eh?"

Farrah slammed her other fist onto the table. "YOU KILLED MY BIRTH FAMILY!"

Ivan hung his head. "Oh. I see."

Silence fell over the room, except for Farrah's labored breathing as she glared at Ivan. Benedict squeezed her shoulder and gently guided her back into her seat. The gesture managed to calm her for a little bit.

"I'm sorry…" Ivan whispered.

"It's too late for that," Farrah muttered before taking a breath. "But I didn't come here to talk to you about that. I came here to ask you some questions."

"Yes," Ivan looked up at her, his eyes strangely brimmed by tears. "Anything. Anything you want, ask away."

"Our parents are missing," Farrah said.

Ivan gasped slightly. "Uh...what?"

"They're missing," Farrah repeated. "All of the adults in Fairy Tail have gone missing. They just vanished into thin air right before the Grand Magic Games."

Ivan actually looked concerned. "B-b-b-but how? Why? Who did it?"

"That's what I want to ask you," Farrah stated.

"You think I did this?" Ivan asked, looking both confused and hurt.

"No," Farrah answered truthfully. "But you've been an enemy of Fairy Tail for a while, and you're in here with a lot of other Fairy Tail enemies, so maybe you've heard or seen something."
Ivan slowly shook his head. "No, no, I haven't heard of anything."

"Oh, come on!" Farrah shouted. "You mean to tell me-"

"Farrah," Benedict said as he gave her shoulder a small squeeze again. "He was telling the truth."

Farrah stopped her tirade. She glanced back at him in surprise, and he nodded. "He doesn't know anything about it."

Farrah's head dropped. "You...don't know anything at all…?"
Ivan shook his head. "No. I don't...well…"

"What?" Farrah asked, hopeful that maybe he'd thought of something.

"...I have noticed something strange. Two folks who haven't really had much to do with one another at all have been talking whenever possible now. Elena Alteria and Mace Orlando."

Both Farrah and Benedict gasped.

Ivan glanced back up at them. "I take it by your reactions that you're familiar with them."

"Unfortunately," Benedict sighed.

Ivan nodded slowly. "I see. Well, whenever at the cafeteria or the yard they always seem to be talking to one another. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the adults of Fairy Tail disappearing, but-"

"Can you find out?" Farrah asked.

Ivan smiled softly. "Most certainly. Give me until this time tomorrow. I promise I'll figure something out."

Farrah's eyes narrowed. "How can I trust you?"

"He meant it," Benedict said, gesturing to the magic circle around his ear. "No lies."

Farrah lowered her gaze. "How are you going to do it?"

"I'm a crippled, triple amputee, no one will pay attention to me. But that doesn't mean I can't pay attention to them."

Farrah nodded slowly and stood up. "I'll be back tomorrow."

She turned and walked back towards the door. Benedict began to follow after her.

"You look out for you, won't you, boy?" Ivan asked.

Benedict stopped and turned back to him. Ivan's eyes were deadlocked on him.

"You'll look after my granddaughter, won't you?"

Benedict nodded, then followed after Farrah. The door clunked closed behind them.

"You really think he'll do it?" Farrah asked.

"He's gonna try at least," Benedict shrugged. "That's all we ca-"

His voice faltered. Farrah glanced towards him. Mace was standing right up against the barrier of his cell, an evil smile on his face as he narrowed his eyes at Benedict. Benedict's hand shook as he set it over the scars on his neck, the scars Mace had left on him.

Farrah quickly grabbed his shoulders and pushed him in front of her, glaring back at Mace. The dark wizard just chuckled in amusement. That little girl was trying to intimidate him? What a joke!

Her hands firmly on Benedict's back, Farrah guided them both back to the busy streets of Crocus. They walked back to the arena in silence, neither sure what to say...until they passed a screen.

"Wait, is that...Roman?" Farrah asked as she pushed through the crowd to see. Roman was convulsing and screaming on screen. He collapsed to his knees, then his side, his body shaking as cries of agony ripped through his throat. Farrah gasped. Her insides grew cold and she took off, Benedict following after her.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Ergh…" Roman grumbled as he opened his eyes. When had he fallen asleep? He shifted a bit and felt a small weight on his chest. He looked down and found Maisie nestled on his chest. She slowly peaked up at him.

"You okay, Ro-Ro?" she asked.

Roman slowly sat up, putting a hand on Maise to keep her from falling.

"Roman?"

He turned and found the triplets sitting next to his bed. Minette stood and ran to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh…" Roman asked. It was only now that he realize he was covered in bandages. Maisie snuggled closer to him. Minette watched intently. Eva held both hands close her her chest. Von's bottom lip trembled.

"I...guess…?" Roman asked.

"Lie back down." Before Roman could protest Storm appeared seemingly from nowhere and pushed him back onto the bed. "You took a rough beating back there and you need rest."

"Right," Roman grumbled as the memories came back. He had first place! He had it! And then…

He pulled the blankets over his head and rolled onto his side, turning away from everyone.

"I really screwed us, didn't I?" he asked.

"What? No!" Storm protested. "You got us third place, that's a great start!"

"I had first, though," Roman grumbled.

"Don't worry about it," Storm said as he patted his friend's shoulder. "We'll get back in the lead. And we'll find out who did that to you."

Roman said nothing, but pulled the blankets tighter around him as tears stung his eyes.

The doors to the healing ward attached to Fairy Tail's locker room opened.

"Roman?" Farrah's voice rang out. Roman lifted his head to find Farrah and Benedict walking towards him. Farrah raced to his side and leaned against his bed. "Are you okay?"

Roman pulled the blankets back over his head. "What do you think?"

Farrah frowned as she turned to Storm. "What happened?"

Storm quickly recounted the events of the obstacle course.

"Hm…" Farrah thought.

Benedict clenched his fists. "So who hurt him?"

"We...we don't know yet…" Storm muttered.

"When do the battle rounds start?" Farrah asked.

"Any minute now," Storm shrugged.

"Good," Farrah nodded. "I'm going in."