Sanctuary

Chapter 11: Memories

"Stop." Evergreen's voice was firm. "What he suffered was not because of you. The hell he went through was caused only by the guildmaster of the Twin Snakes." Evergreen moved Laxus' hands away from his face. "So stop throwing yourself a pity party. What are you going to do to make this right?"

Laxus wiped his face. Evergreen was right. The one that needed to pay for what they did to Freed was that guildmaster. Anger replaced his sadness. Laxus felt the need for revenge, but first he needed more intel about this guildmaster. He got up from the floor, grabbed his jacket, and threw it over his shoulders. He made his way to the door when Evergreen stopped him.

"Wait! Wherever you're going, I'm coming with you."

Laxus hesitated, "Fine let's go."

"Where exactly are we going?" Evergreen questioned.

"To the one person who knows the most about the Twin Snakes." Ever looked up in confusion before Laxus spoke again, "We're going to talk to Ivan."

****

Freed felt emotionally drained. His eyes were puffy, and he felt dehydrated from crying. He pulled at the chain tying him to the bed. He grabbed the glass of water that was next to it and sat down trying to gather all of his thoughts. The infirmary doors opened and Freed turned. Bickslow was entering with caution.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna go berserk on you again," Freed said.

"Do you really want to go back there?" Bickslow asked, cutting right to the chase.

Freed studied him for a moment before answering, "Yes."

"Why?"

"What?"

Bickslow looked down, his brows were furrowed and he was frowning. "Why do you want to go back to the place where you were tortured?"

"That's none of your business."

Bickslow shot him a glare, "None of my business?? Do you know how long I've been searching for you?!"

Freed gulped, "Excuse me?"

Bickslow threw a pile of papers at Freed. "You can pull that crap with Laxus fine, but not me. I don't know what lies that guild has been feeding you, but I have never stopped looking for you Freed."

Freed skimmed through the papers to find records on the Twin Snakes. Other pages were logs filled out by Bickslow himself. He had kept a record of everything he was investigating. Each of the logs were dated, some were even dated back to nine months ago.

"Look, I don't know how much power and influence this guild has, but I had a hell of a time finding any information about them. They were hidden from us for so long. Makarov finally gave Laxus and I a set location for the guild a few days ago."

Freed realized then that in the clip Marissa had shown him, Bickslow was not present. He was nowhere to be seen. They must have altered the video tape to make it seem like nobody was looking for him. Freed felt rage build up as he realized he was fooled once again.

"Your my brother Freed," Bickslow went on, "there was no way in hell I was going to give up on you."

Freed set the papers aside and turned to face Bickslow, "I have to go."

"Freed-"

"You don't understand Bickslow!"

"Then help me understand!" Bickslow moved closer to Freed, "We're family Freed. Whatever you need I'm here for you. Laxus, Ever, and I.. we would do anything for you, so please. Please help me understand. We can help you."