Chapter 26

Divergence

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, and my Ideas

..._-+-_...

"Water, Brother?"

Virgo stood before him, holding a glass of water, expression neutral as always.

Loke looked up at her slowly. He was sitting in a chair with his elbows on his knees, jacket hung over the back of the chair, tie partially untied and glasses set on a table near him.

He took the glass from her and slowly drank it, setting it back down on the table, and rubbing his eyes.

"Thanks.. Virgo..." He murmured, voice still harsh from his yelling earlier. His head was spinning, he could hardly even begin to piece together the images that were flashing through his head when he had blacked out... He faintly wondered for just how long he had been out...

Not to mention, he was still in a lot of pain, but by now it had faded away to the point where he could move without wincing.

"What happened...?" Aries asked quietly, arms pulled to her chest and eyes wide with worry as soon as she had taken in the state of him.

"You look like shit, Leo." Aquarius muttered, arms crossed over her chest. He cast the mermaid a weary glare, but said nothing.

"I don't get it, you were only gone for a few minutes." Scorpio murmured, arms crossed over his own chest, much like his girlfriend.

"... I don't really know what happened..." He mumbled, eyes closing again, head hanging. "... Alumina had this... Weird symbol in her left eye... And when I looked into it, I blacked out..."

"... Then why are you so weak?" Aries asked gently, stepping forward to place a hand on his shoulder.

"...No clue... All I can remember is a lot of pain..." He murmured.

"What did this symbol look like, Brother?" Virgo asked and he looked back up at her.

".. A Magic Circle with a scroll in the middle." He answered. Virgo remained expressionless as she simply stared at him. He wondered what was going through her head, but he couldn't even think straight.

"Perhaps Ursa would know more?" Virgo suggested. "Have you tried asking her?"

"Where is she anyway?" Aquarius cut in.

"I haven't seen her for awhile now." Scorpio murmured.

"She's taking care of Alumina.. As far as I can tell..." Loke mumbled.

"Is Alumina ok?" Aries asked, eyes growing wide upon hearing about Ursa taking care of their KeyHolder.

"She will be fine."

They all looked up suddenly, as Ursa appeared in a shimmer of grey and approached them, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well then, welcome back, bear." Aquarius told Ursa, who shot her an evil glare in return, one, that seemed to have a small effect on Aquarius, who sweatdropped a little. Ursa sighed and looked to Loke,

"I have serious concern that you will never stop doing stupid shit." Ursa muttered, closing her eyes and sweatdropping. "You're sort of a cat Leo.. But you don't need to be as curious as one."

"I am not, a cat." He huffed.

Ursa shook her head, "Look, considering you were only out for a few minutes, I'll assume you didn't get hit with too much of Alumina's Magic."

"What is her Magic exactly?" Aries asked her.

"Its a form of Memory Magic, specific to Alumina herself." Ursa explained. "Its called Mind Divergence, its mostly used for sharing information, but it has its downsides..." Ursa's yellow eyes locked with his. "... You startled her, Leo." Ursa sighed. "She can't control it all the time, and if someone is caught in it unexpectedly, as you were, and the caster is unable to take control of the Spell in time... You can be sent into a distorted and warped reality revolving around the... The caster's worst memories."

Ursa's voice grew softer toward the end, and her eyes dropped to the ground. "You experienced the pain that Alumina has been in, in the past, but it looks like she caught enough control of it, that you were spared from too much of it." She looked back to him. "That's fortunate... You could be in a much worse condition if you had been hit with anymore of the Spell."

Loke stared at her, eyes wide and completely still. He was taking in everything she said, and he could hardly believe it. That... That pain, that torture... Alumina had experienced that at some point in her life?

There's... There's no way... How could she...?

His blood ran cold, when a single thought clicked in his head. Ursa had explained that 'Mind Divergence' was used for sharing information... So Alumina must have experienced...

Ursa nodded slightly, seemingly knowing what was going through his head, and she gave him a sad frown. "Yeah Leo... She was sent into your worst memories as well..."

Everyone had been listening in silence, getting even tenser as they continued to listen. They all went deathly still at her words, their eyes growing wide.

"... She went through... What Leo had too...?" Aires asked in a shaky voice, tears swelling up in her eyes. She was trembling, hand brought up to her mouth as she stared at Ursa in utter shock. "... With Karen...?"

Ursa nodded slowly, eyes closing. "Mind Divergence drains a lot of Magic Energy... That, put on top of whatever memories Alumina experienced... Takes a toll on her, that's why she was so weak after it..."

"Princess is in possession of an ancient Ability, correct?" Virgo spoke up suddenly, she had kept the expressionless face, but her tone betrayed her surprise. "That is what Mind Divergence is, is it not?"

Ursa nodded slightly, "Yes, Mind Divergence is an ancient Ability.."

"That's right, I remember now." Aquarius voiced. "It hasn't been used for centuries... Where in the hell did she learn to use it?"

"And from who?" Scorpio finished for the mermaid.

Ursa fell silent for a few moments, biting her lower lip and sweatdropping.

"To this day... Alumina will not tell me how she came into possession of Mind Divergence, as an Ability."

..._-+-_...

"Ursa, let me go." Loke muttered, holding the Bear Spirit in a steady gaze. Ursa was standing before him, arms crossed over her chest and utterly neutral expression on her face.

"You're not going anywhere." She told him flatly. "You can barely stand up." She pointed out.

Loke growled under his breath, not at all in love with the fact that she was right. In fact, he was leaning against the table beside him for support, but his mind was pushing him to go back, to see if Alumina was ok, to get some answers. That was all that was going through his mind right now, he had to see her, make sure she was alright, and get her to explain what had happened in more detail than Ursa had.

"Alumina would be pretty cross with me if I let you leave." Ursa murmured, "I know you're worried..." She sighed, "But, you need to be worried about yourself first, I promise you that Alumina is alright." Ursa fixed him with an intense stare, "You trust me don't you?" She asked and he stiffened.

She... Had a point. Somewhere inside of him, he knew she wouldn't have left Alumina alone unless the blonde really was ok.

"Fine..." He sighed, sitting back down heavily and rubbing the back of his neck. He could of sworn he saw Ursa smirk in triumph from the corner of his eye as he sat down, but wasn't really sure. "... Have you, ever been...?" He mumbled.

"No." Ursa replied immediately, and he blinked at her. "I've never accidentally been hit with Mind Divergence, I learned to control my curiosity around Alumina." She added with a meaningful look. "But I did see it happen once, to some poor guy who rescued her from the Train Crash."

Loke's eyes widened at the news, and he sweatdropped a little. "Was he ok?"

Ursa shrugged a little, "... Sort of, he doesn't remember any of it... But he was in a coma for about a month after it." She sweatdropped, upon seeing Loke's reaction to the words, he had literally gone deathly still. "Like I said Leo, you were lucky, Alumina don't hit you with much of it, so you only blacked out for a few minutes." She smiled sympathetically, "The unlucky part I suppose, is that you don't have the luxury of forgetting what you saw, or felt, like that other guy did."

"What happened to Alumina after that?"

Ursa stiffened at the question, and quickly looked away, arms wrapping around her torso and grey ears folding back against the top of her head. She sweatdropped, and he couldn't mistake the sight of small tears appearing at the edges of Ursa's yellow eyes.

Loke stared at the reaction, he had never seen Ursa so sad... Never seen her unlike her normal self, he had never seen her close to crying, and it made his heart sink to think what could have happened to Alumina to make Ursa be like this.

"...what happened...?" He asked lowly, and Ursa turned away from him, so her back was facing him.

"Alumina... Was already injured from being in the Train Accident..." Ursa murmured. "... But the added on stress of Mind Divergence... For an extended period of time... It was hard on her... It weakened her... And..."

"... I... I've never seen her so close to dying..."

..._-+-_...

Enjoy~