Remy smirked as they arrived at the council. It had been so long since he had been here. The last time being when he stole his son from the King.
Arma gave him a smile. "What are you thinking?"
He chuckled. "I'm just imagining the look on that scoundrels face when he sees me. He thinks I'm dead."
"You never know. He may be happy to see you alive." She looked like she didn't believe what she was saying, but laughed anyway.
"We won't know if we don't go in, right Grandpa?" Xenia said next to him.
Part of him regretted bringing her here, but this was the only way. Lisanna would never let her train and he wasn't going to allow his magic to become lost to the world. Xenia had to know what she could do. If she didn't she could protect herself for what laid ahead. "Right." He gave his granddaughter a small smile before they walked in. Time had not changed the council. The building looked the same as ever, only the faces that were walking around were different. Some new and some old, well older. They didn't seem to notice him though. They must have thought that he was a cohort of 25 and that was enough.
"Follow me." 25 said, even though he already knew where he was going. It wasn't like he hadn't been in this place before. But he followed her regardless.
Everyone once and a while he got a funny look from someone. They didn't say anything to him though. They looked too confused. Like they felt like they were seeing ghost but at the same time they were questioning if he was even the same person. He did look different now a days.
He looked down at Xenia to find her looking around excitedly. She must have thought that it was cool to be running around a government base. He could almost see himself at that age. The only thing that was missing was Ivan at his hip. His husband wouldn't like this. He wouldn't like it one bit.
"Grandpa, who is that?" The girl pointed and he froze in place. He couldn't believe his eyes. That….that couldn't be right….
"It's been a long time Remy." A man with greying brown hair walked forward.
"Bra…Brass?" This couldn't be right. He remembered what he had seen all of those years ago. This man had been blown in half. "You're dead…"
"Now who told you that?" The man sneered.
He wanted to cry, but held back his tears. This had to be a trick. He turned to look behind him, but no one was trying to attack him. Everyone just carried about their business like normal.
He looked back and found that Arlinton was still standing there, lighting a cigarette just like he had in the past. "Come on now. The others are waiting."
Remy looked down at Xenia, unsure of what path to take. She gave him a smile and he felt himself move forward. He followed Arlington through the old and familiar halls. Again, everything looked the same as it was before. It was almost as if he had traveled back in time, but he knew that impossible. Arlington was far too old for that.
He was lead into a room and Xenia sat next to him. Around him he watched as three more people came from the shadows. He couldn't stop himself as he fell out of his chair and began to sob. Why were they all here? They were dead. What was going on?
"Oh, Remy, what is wrong?" Carolta said running up to him.
"I…I…" He couldn't get out anything he was trying to say. He was just too happy.
"The poor thing is speechless." Sasha giggled.
"How?" That was only word that he could comprehend at the moment.
Winoona chuckled. "Just a little thing called magic."
"But…" He just couldn't believe what was in front of him.
"It is hard to explain, but you will understand that I had to do what I had to do." He turned again, finding the King of Fiore had stepped in.
He glared at the man. "What have you done this time?" He said venomously.
The king only smirked. "I could say the same thing about you. You have been giving me a headache for quite some time."
"You still didn't answer my question." He stated angrily. He looked around at them angrily. "Do you not know what he had done?! What he was planning to do?!"
"Sit your ass down, idiot." Arlinton said, pushing him back into his chair.
The King smirked. "What did you do to them?!" He tried to push himself up, but found that he couldn't move.
"I told them everything. Unlike you and your boytoy they understood what I was trying to do." The King sneered at him.
"Boytoy?" Arlinton said, looking to the three women. All of them looked back at him.
"Grandpa?" All of the faces when to the young girl. "Are they talking about Papaw Ivan?"
"So Ivan is still running around?" Sasha laughed as Carolta giggled.
He wasn't paying attention to them. He only worried about where his husband was right now. "If you touch him I swear I will kill you."
The King chuckled. "I always knew that there was funny going on between you two."
With that all of his old teammate froze. They must have taken Xenia's comment as a joke or something. "You mean that you and Ivan finally hooked up?" Winoona finally said.
He glared at them. "What do you think?!" He watched as the four of them began to whisper amongst themselves. Then he watched as they started to exchange money. "What the hell?"
"We're making bets." Sasha said.
He glared at her. "I see that. Why?" He knew that they had no idea that the two of them had ended up together.
"Oh, it's all in good fun. It's not like you too would ever give into your feelings. We figured that out a long time ago." Arlinton said, not looking at him.
Now he was pissed. "For your information, Ivan is my husband."
They all froze as they looked him over. "You mean…?"
"It's just as he said." The King said rolling his eyes. He looked at the King and the man sighed. "I saw the paperwork from Absolon." The King then proceeded to pull out a piece of paper. "On the day of October 17, of the year 790, one Remington Resus was joined together with one Ivan Dreyar in our capital. The two were witnessed by their 2 children and other family." The King put it away. "As you can see, I know everything."
He felt himself go pale. "So you knew that I was alive all of this time?"
"I wasn't sure of it, but I suspected. You were the only one that I didn't get conformation on and Ivan disappeared after soon after your death. Then there was the disappearance of the weapons from the facility." He noticed that the King's voice had cracked on the word weapon.
Winoona then laughed. "What would you two need with weapons anyway?"
He froze and looked back at the King only to find him sweating a little. "You never told them."
"Told us what?" All four of them asked.
"Don't you want to know how I brought them back?" The King said changing the subject.
As much as he wanted to keep the man on that train of thought, he was curious. "Did you use the same tech that you made Bickslow and Viktor with?" The man seemed to cock his head at the names. "One of them you would know as 55."
"Oh, I thought he was dead." The King said. "Is he still alive?"
"Both him and 32 are still in what we know as Miresa. They were left behind when Cetus came to power." He stated.
"You know quite a bit about this." The king said, clearly interested.
"Well I was there. Bickslow is in fact Cetus." He stated, next to him Xenia looked down at the floor.
"Daddy's not coming back is he?" She said. He almost forgot that she was in the room.
He frowned. "He'll come back." He said looking down at Xenia. "We can't lose our hope."
"But it's been so long. Even momma has lost hope." The girl was on the verge of tears.
He turned her head to look up at him. "Xenia, I promise that I will bring him back."
"Really, Grandpa?" She looked up at him wide eyed. He could never say no to her.
"Yes, really." She let out a giggle as she jumped up onto his lap.
A set of knocks came to the door and it crept open. "My lord, there is someone here to see you."
He looked at the King and then he heard a familiar yell from down the hall. "WHERE DID YOU TAKE THEM, YOU BASTARD!"
The door crashed open and he was face to face with his lover. Ivan looked down at him and practically tackled him. "Ivan…I can't breathe…"
Ivan pulled away slightly to look at him, he didn't look too happy. "You ran off without telling me anything, you bastard!"
"Ivan, let me explain…"
"No, you let me explain mister! I waited up for you! I made dinner and waited for you to come back. My dad even left the house to stay with Mira and Laxus so we could have things to ourselves. You ruined everything!" His lover made to pout.
"You're such a woman." He stated, crossing his arms and forcing himself up. Ivan wasn't looking at him, so he was forced to move his chin over and make him look at him. "I'm sorry I worried you."
Ivan blushed a little. "I know you've been wanting to get out of the house. I should have listen more."
He felt himself smile at his lover. "I should have been more understanding. You are enjoying your time with your father and the kids."
"Will Grandpa and Papaw kiss now?" Xenia giggled.
He felt himself grab onto Ivan and in seconds, they were kissing. "Well I'll be…."
Ivan pulled away from him. "Shut up Arlinton, you prick." His lover made to kiss him again and froze. Turning to look about the room. "What the hell?!"
"Now you know." The King said. "I know that the two of you hate me, but the only why for us to defeat Miresa lies with you. I don't care about our past. I just want to protect the future. If we don't do something. Everyone will die."
He looked back at Ivan, using the link between them. "What do you think?"
Ivan only smiled at him. "Every time I think I'm done; you pull me back in."
He turned his attention back to the King. "Okay. Spill everything you know."
The King nodded. "It's time you knew the truth. Not just about them." The King pointed to his former spies. "But the children as well."
To Be Continued….
Author's Note
Well that is surprising. It looks like the old crew is back or our they? What is the King's tale and can he be trusted?