Remy smiled at his granddaughter as she relaxed. Her training had come a long why over the years. She was already healing with her shield eyes. She was only 11 now and she was more disciplined than her father was. Sure, it took her longer to learn the different eye powers. She was a child after all.
"Grandpa, when are we going to move on to seeing souls?" She said, giving him a smile.
"Just be patient, Xenia. We'll start soon. I just want to make sure that you've mastered healing." He said.
She sighed. She was certainly as inpatient like her father. Her personality was so much like Bickslow.
Laxus's son had already become the leader of their little group. Every weekend he would see Maky, Xenia, Goyle, and Libert playing. They were always getting into trouble, even if it looked like Xenia wanted no part of it.
He had heard old man Makarov refer to them as the new thunder legion. He kind of had to agree. Maky took after Laxus, Libert was just like Freed, and Goyle had some similarities to his mother.
He was about to tell Xenia that they were done for today so she could go and play when Lisanna came into view. His daughter-in-law had kind of lost it over the years. At this point, he wasn't sure if she was really alive. It was like she was a walking corpse and he didn't know what to do.
He had talked with Ivan about it and he said that they should leave things be. Mira and Elfman would have killed them if they even tried to take custody of Xenia. The girl was the only thing that Lisanna had left. He really didn't have the heart to take her.
Lisanna didn't say anything, which had become normal. She had dark circles under her eyes from a lack of sleep. Xenia turned and saw her mother. The girl frowned. She wanted to keep training.
"We're done for the day, Xenia. Why don't you go play with your friends?" He said.
"Okay, Grandpa." The girl gave him a smile and then ran off.
Lisanna stopped in place. She glared at him, but really that was what was planning for Xenia to do anyway. The girl didn't need to be bogged down by so much anger and depression. The darkness would be coming some day and he just wanted her to enjoy the time she had as a child.
Lisanna said nothing though. He swore the last time she talked was 5 years ago. She must have finally given up hope on Bickslow.
He often wondered what his children were doing. Sure, Bickslow was being used by Cetus, but he did wish that he knew what Cetus was thinking.
The same went for Vik. They had heard nothing from the newly formed Miresa. The shielding spell was impossible to penetrate and over the years, the people of Fiore had grown to ignore it. Nothing came to attack so it wasn't seen as a danger, but he knew better.
Ivan didn't like some of the ideas that he had had as of late. He was thinking about revealing himself to Fiore. He knew the risk, that was a given, but he wanted to do something. He hated waiting for the ball to drop. If he could just get close to the action, he could maybe find at least one of their children. He doubted that Vik was dead and Cetus had to be keeping Bickslow alive. If he didn't the body would decompose and they would have seen the shield come down. Also Lisanna would be dead.
Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Lisanna stormed off. He sighed to himself. "Remy, what have you become?"
Vik walked back into his house, giving his wife and daughter a smile. Lily had been born only a year after he and Rosa ended up in bed together. They married some time later.
The only reason that they had married was so that their daughter had a stable home. They had no one else to turn to either and Rosa was the only one that he could trust. He could barely remember what his life with Kitt and Edwin had been like. Wherever they were, they were probably happy with each other.
He watched his daughter as she finished up a picture that she was drawing. Her black hair reminded him of his parents in a way, while she had her mother's green eyes. She was the only light in this dark place and he couldn't bring himself to regret that night he spent with Rosa. She was such an innocent child and her smile seemed to be the only thing that kept him going.
Rosa walked up to him and smiled, before giving him a kiss on the cheek. It wasn't until a couple of years after Lily that Rosa had told him the truth. His wife was actually a lesbian. It made sense really. He could remember Rosa and 25 being close. He just never realized how close they were.
He guessed that they were genetically engineered to be gay, unlike that first batch of human weapons. The King of Fiore probably didn't want them to breed. Looking at himself and Rosa, along with Warner and Carma, the King had failed at that. He probably had his reasons for it though. He just didn't know why.
A small knock came to the door and he went to answer it. To his shock Cetus had come here. The tyrant king only smirked at him as he invited himself in. "How are you this evening, Viktor?" The king thought of him as his most loyal soldier. He hated to admit it, but he kind of was. He worked day in and day out for the man and the fact that no one had even tried to come after them pissed him off greatly.
"I'm well, my lord." He looked around and saw someone walking behind the King.
The Prince of Miresa was following his father proudly. He had his mother's red hair and the red eyes of the demon. The boy was half demon. He really didn't know if the boy would register as his nephew. Was he Bickslow's son with Flare or was he truly Cetus's. With him having the blood of a demon, he betted on the latter. Xenia had been born completely human and that was after Cetus was inside of him.
But he watched the prince as he stared at his daughter. Lily had looked up and was blushing at the Prince. "Do you want to draw a picture with me?" She asked.
He then heard Cetus chuckle. "Not today, maybe later, child." The King turned back to him and he could already see his plan. He wanted Lily to marry his son.
He hated himself as he gave him a nod. He didn't really want to agree to such a thing, but he had no choice. His daughter would be stained by the horror that came from living in this place and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Ivan stared at Remy as the man paced. He hated that they had to stay in hiding, but it seemed to bother Remy more. His husband lived for the moments that he got to train Xenia. He was allowed to be out in the forest, during that time, but he had to watch his back. After living on the run for years and then having complete freedom, these last 10 years had been horrible on Remy.
Even if he told himself that he didn't agree with Remy's idea of going to the King, he wanted to go. They really couldn't kill them; they had grown too strong for that. All they could do was help really, even if it was for a person that he despised.
But wasn't that what they did for Magnus all of those years ago? Or Cetus? They seemed to run into the problem of helping the wrong side and he was sick of it. He was perfectly fine with his retirement.
But as he stood there, he wondered if it was okay for him to let his husband go. Remy probably be fine and he would be with Arma. They would have better information if he went. But he also knew the other scenario. The one where Remy would be captured and killed. Then he would die as well. They just couldn't win for losing.
Remy looked over at him, stopping his endless pacing. "What are you thinking about?"
He sighed. "I just want to know if you're going to do anything stupid. I don't want you running off because your bored."
Remy just continued to stare. "What if it means I can find our boys? I want to do something. Because all I'm doing now is waiting for death. I can't stay here Ivan. It's just too much."
"What about Xenia's training?" He knew this was a low blow. His husband only seemed to connect with their granddaughter. Everyone else seemed to be at odds with him. It wasn't because they didn't try, Remy was just very wary of other people. His lover had lost all trust after Cetus's takeover.
"She's almost done. Within a year or two she will be completely trained. If I had more time with her, she would already know what she needs to know." He could hear some resentment in his voice. He knew that Lisanna's family hadn't been too keen on letting Xenia learn her magic. They feared that it would lead her to the same path as her father.
"But how do you think she will feel about you leaving?" It was no secret that Xenia didn't seem to fit in with the guild, sure she made friends with Laxus's son and his two friends, but it seemed that she wanted more. She wanted to be the best.
Remy sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "For the moment, I'm not going anywhere. This is just…for me this is hell Ivan."
He looked at his lover and could see that it was the truth. "I know it is."
A week later
Xenia turned a corner, she was trying to hide from her mother. As much as the woman wanted her to stay behind, she just couldn't do it. She wanted to learn as much as possible.
What happened to her father, was not much of a mystery. Her mother tried to keep it from her, but her grandfather was the one that spilled the beans. She could always trust him. Papaw wouldn't say much, nor did her great grandfather, but Grandpa Remy always told her the truth. He knew that there was no reason to hide it. She would have discovered it eventually.
Right now, she was trying to sneak out for some training. She hated just sitting around. She knew that if she got to her grandfather, they could be going over soul seeing exercises. Hell, she would rather listen to him talk over anyone in her guild. The truth was that she put up with Maky and his friends. For the most part, they seemed such up and that Libert boy would always follow her around which did nothing but annoy her. She just wanted freedom for a change.
She couldn't wait for her grandfather to teach her how to teleport because once that happened, she was finding another guild, even though she didn't wish to leave him behind. He looked so sad most of the time. Just like her, he wanted freedom.
She jumped free of the house and headed down the street. They lived close to her great grandfather and she knew she would find him there. She flashed through the streets hoping that she wasn't seen by her Aunts or Uncles. They would just take her home.
But she was lucky as right in front of the door. She didn't knock and went straight to where she knew he would be. "Grandpa!"
He gave her a smile as she looked at his aged face. From the photos she had seen, he used to have black hair, now it was completely grey. His face bared some wrinkles and his clothes were a little tattered. "I didn't think that you would get away." He joked.
She only laughed. "They're no match for me. You know that."
He held out his hand. "Ready?"
She nodded and walked over, taking his hand in a second. Seconds later, they were in a place she had never seen before. "Where are we?"
"I thought we would train somewhere where your mother wouldn't interrupt." He said. She knew he was annoyed with that.
"Good. I want to get soul seeking out of the way!" She said.
He laughed, but then stopped. He was looking off into the distance. She wondered what he was looking at.
She was confused as he walked forward. There were a couple of soldiers out there. Soldiers of the king. Why were they out here?
"Remy?" She looked and saw a young woman with red hair.
"It has been a while Arma." Her grandfather said.
"I know that you probably want left alone, but I need your help. I can't get Makarov and Laxus to budge and we are on borrowed time." She sounded anxious.
"How long do we have?" He asked as she listened.
"5 years." Five years, five years till what.
He turned back to her. "I'll take you home, tell everyone that…"
She shook her head. "You can't. I…I don't want to go back there. There's nothing there."
He looked at her weakly, thinking everything over before chuckling. "You know your mother and Ivan are going to kill me."
To Be Continued….
Author's Note
Only one more timeskip after this. Then the fun begins.