The beautiful cover art for this fic was created by Kimbeekitty on Tumblr, and used with her permission.

WARNING

Before reading this fic, there are a few things you must know. Disregard at your own peril, as I will have zero sympathy to give.

This fic is Horror/Suspense, and rated M for a reason. This fic features Jellal prior to and leading into the Tower Of Heaven arc. AKA - when he was a raging asshole. I am not a Jellal apologist, and I will not be pulling punches here. Major gaslighting is ahead, along with other heavy manipulation, and discussion on the topics of slavery and abuse. I won't be including any graphic violence, however. Still, you should prepare yourself for a thoroughly unpleasant story.

Even if it starts out semi-nice.

You have been warned.

Tower Of Siegrain

Chapter 1

Siegrain surveyed the ballroom from his chosen corner, so as to mingle as little as possible with the other guests. It was a difficult undertaking given the large crowd present, but so far most had chosen to ignore the man with the prominent facial tattoo and white jacket that were both very much out of place there. Like most other parts of him, it was camouflage, and it served its purpose well. Another hour or so and he would have put in enough of an appearance to fulfill his obligations to the Magic Council for the evening.

The invitation to this particular fete had come with the intention to court favor with the Magic Council, no doubt. If Siegrain had to guess... railway expansion was behind it. Why else would the Heartfilia Konzern concern itself with the magic world's highest authority, otherwise? Jude Heartfilia was renowned for his intense dislike of mages following the death of his wife.

Chances were that wanted to expand through a preserve, or along a particularly dangerous route. Some place that required high influence in order to push through the red tape. An endeavor Jude Heartfilia must be feeling rather confident in already, as he seemed to be content to largely ignore Siegrain's presence. It would have to involve something rather major to warrant Jude's invitation, but not so much that he felt compelled to socialize with Siegrain beyond the initial pleasantries they'd exchanged

The blue-haired, teenaged mage's specific attendance was mostly the result of being the newest member of the council, and therefore required to put in a show at a number of functions with the wealthy and nobility as a part of his political responsibilities. Although the current head of the Konzern was in fact a merchant risen to wealth, the man's deceased wife had been nobility. Therefore, so was their daughter – a fellow teenager, according to the invite.

Whose birthday celebration this was meant to be, or so Siegrain had assumed.

He wasn't well versed in birthday celebrations, having never had one himself, but weren't they supposed to be more... entertaining than this? So far he had seen only three or four people of the same age as the heiress, and that included himself. Plenty of twenty and thirty somethings, however. Was this really a teenager's party? Let alone that of a sixteen-year-old girl?

Truly, this had been the short straw.

It was times like these that he wondered if he should just… drop the facade of Siegrain altogether. The persona was tiring: pretending to care about the rule of law, pretending that what the council accomplished even mattered at all, pretending to feel anything other than contempt for the pretty face these people liked to show to the world.

Well... it certainly wouldn't be quite as pretty upon the return of his God. But he'd put too much work into crafting Siegrain to drop him at this stage. And so Siegrain would remain his "public" face.

For now.

"You look as bored as I feel."

Siegrain blinked rapidly in bewilderment. He had been caught spacing out. How unlike him. Normally he was more alert than that. He turned towards the source of the voice – a young woman in a wine colored dress, with her blonde hair piled upon her head and a teasing smile on her lips.

"Is that really something the star of the party should be saying?" Siegrain smiled tightly at the Lady Lucy Heartfilia, unable to bring himself to fake sincerity with any enthusiasm.

She outright snorted at him, the sound emanating from the heiress making Siegrain's eyebrows shoot up.

"The star of this party is my father's business ventures," Lucy informed him. "So which one are you connected to?"

Oh, she was blunt. And she seemed to be unaware of who he was. This might have some worth in terms of a distraction to get him through the whole tedious affair.

"I haven't actually been told what yet," he retorted, his grimace relaxing into a comfortable smirk. "But if it helps, I'm Siegrain Fernandes, from the Magic Council."

Predictably, her jaw dropped. This was too easy.

"Wow!" Lucy breathed, her eyes wide and a genuine smile spreading across her face. "That's impressive. You can't be much older than me!"

"I'm eighteen."

Her face colored slightly. "Sorry if I seem a little excited - it's because I'm actually a celestial spirit mage. I haven't really met another mage in... years. Anyway, it's really nice to meet you, Mr. Fernandes!"

"And I you, Miss Heartfilia." This was unexpected. A celestial spirit mage? They were rare. Siegrain wondered how it was that he had missed that detail when he'd looked into the evening's events.

"Lucy, please," she insisted.

"Then you may call me Siegrain in return."

Silence fell between them. A moment later, it was broken by a sheepish Lucy. "I must apologize for not recognizing you," she admitted. "I mean... I'm sure Sorcerer Weekly's already done a piece on you, and I missed it. This is embarrassing."

"Avid reader, are you?"

She let out a giggle, her shoulders shaking slightly at the force of it. "Don't get me wrong - the gossip articles are great. But I mostly buy it for the centerfolds," she joked.

Or rather, Siegrain assumed she was joking. Either way, it was refreshingly amusing to hear that phrase coming from someone of her position.

His ensuing, choked laugh in response made her brighten. Tentatively smiling at him, she giggled again. "So you've heard about my magic. So what type does a member of the illustrious Magic Council possess?"

Siegrain shook his head slightly. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to burst whatever illusion you have of the Council mages. Most of us have fairly mundane magic. It's mostly a political position."

"Uh huh," Lucy said, disbelief painfully clear. "In high society, we know all about how politics work, and for someone of your age to make it to the same rank as the old fuddie duddies who've spent their entire lives working towards the position, you must either have a lot of political clout or magical power outside the normal sphere. Also, we call what you just did 'deflection.' No more evading. Out with it."

It suddenly felt like he was talking to Ultear. This girl was a lot smarter than rumored. Also, bossy.

Hands raised slightly in defeat, he acknowledged, "Fair enough. I use heavenly body magic. It's not all that different from your celestial spirit magic, if I'm not mistaken. Only instead of spirits, I bring down meteors."

Now she would get all flustered, and try to suck up, he determined. This was usually the case, he'd found thus far, when it came to weaker mages and civilians when faced with an incredibly powerful mage. Gratifying though it usually was, it was also incredibly boring.

Instead, he was surprised when Lucy gave him a hard, searching stare. After a long pause, she hesitantly asked, "How do you keep from causing a mass extinction with your magic? Like... how big of meteors are we talking here? Is the damage localized? Does the burn off upon entering the atmosphere affect the size and power of your spells?"

Magical theory? She wanted to discuss... magical theory?

Boring was not a word that could ever be applied to Lucy Heartfilia, Siegrain decided. That she didn't fit neatly into his determinations irritated him somewhat.

Her eyes sparkled with interest as she gazed up at him, and his inherent need to proselytize and monologue overcame his reservations as he launched into an explanation of some of the finer points of his magic. Maybe it was foolish to reveal his secrets like this, but it was more than passing difficult to resist the urge to show off to such an intelligent, beautiful young woman. Especially one that could match him argument for argument, he soon found.

Could he actually be having… fun? He couldn't help but wonder. Normally fun for him was restricted to great destruction, or achieving power over an opponent. Or even perpetuating his mind games with Erza. But then again, he had been without a decent challenge for some time. Not since he'd managed to slither his way into the Magic Council, in fact.

It wasn't long until they exhausted their former talking point, and moved onto personal experiences with their respective magics – the details of Siegrain's stories being the heavily sanitized versions he'd crafted for the persona, of course.

"And that is why you should never summon an angry mermaid out of a mud puddle," Lucy concluded the story she was telling him with a grimace.

Siegrain nodded. "Noted." In more ways than one. The ability to create a tidal wave from such a small bit of water was a distinct threat if she ever came to his Tower. It would take a severe twist of fate for that to happen, but he would be sure to look into it for the sake of easing his paranoia.

"Oh!" Lucy exclaimed, her face suddenly flushing. "I think I've been remiss as a host. Would you care for any of the refreshments...?" She glanced around, panic stiffening her shoulders and setting her eyes alight.

He shook his head. "No, thank you. I can't drink any of them, anyway."

"Are you allergic?" Her tone was concerned. "If you are, I can-"

He waved off her incoming offer. "No, I'm not allergic to anything. My thanks for your concern, however." When she had visibly calmed down, the tension carried in her shoulders and in her forehead draining away, he added, "It's because I'm technically not here."

Lucy stared at him blankly. "Come again?"

"I have a bit of a confession to make." His form flickered for an instant, like static – becoming blurry around the edges. "This is actually a thought projection. Sorry for not saying so sooner. It wasn't an intended deception, I assure you." It really wasn't. It didn't actually matter all that much that he hadn't physically come to the party. ...Well, the other Council members would scold him, and Jude Heartfilia would definitely consider it a slight if he noticed, but both consequences were easily weatherable as far as Siegrain was concerned. It was his magical power that had secured his position on the Council, and there really wasn't anything that could be done to unseat him short of full-blown treason.

He resolved to make said upcoming treachery as flashy as possible. Because why not. Ultear was unlikely to object, either.

Lucy Heartfilia was quick to bounce back. With enthusiasm, no less.

"Where's the real you, then?" she asked, a lopsided tilt in her smile.

Something about the way she'd asked that was unsettling to Siegrain.

"Where's the real me?" he repeated, the words echoing in his head.

Siegrain found himself having to bite back the urge to immediately reply, 'Dead, in a red-haired girl's place.'

He eventually settled for, "In Era, catching up on paperwork." It wasn't even a lie. In front of his real body sat numerous reports. These ones mostly required signatures, not major consideration, so he'd put them off perhaps a little too long. Leading a double life left him with some tight time constraints and required constant upkeep.

It didn't help that Ultear was off who knew where, or he'd have gotten her to do it for him. She was scary good at forging his signature these days.

Lucy laughed at his answer, absolute delight across her face. "So you'd rather work than attend this party?"

"No offense meant to you, but yes," he told her. "Illusions made from magic are very useful, but they cannot pick up a pen. Otherwise I would never leave my... abode." Such an arrangement would ultimately be safer for him, of course, but alas was not possible. Instead, he split his physical body's time between the Tower and the Council, with Ultear to cover the difference, so that none would catch onto his deceptions. "The choice between getting work done and attending this affair was an easy one to make."

She waved off the slight. "It's fine – I think I'd rather be anywhere but here, myself. Is the thought projection trick something anyone can learn? Because that seems pretty useful for getting out of these things."

Siegrain rolled his shoulder in a half-shrug. "Anyone with sufficient magical power can make one, but they require a good deal of maintenance and are a constant drain on one's magic. The further away you are, the more magic is needed as well."

The heiress's expression turned thoughtful. "That makes sense. I doubt I'm at that strength yet, but celestial magic works in much the same way. Keeping the gates open requires a constant magic drain, and combat spirits will drain more of it in order to fight."

"Then the principle might be easier for you to pick up compared to a normal mage," Siegrain found himself saying. Was he seriously encouraging her, here?

His response seemed to fill her with delight, however.

It wasn't long before Lucy's attentions were required elsewhere – this being her birthday party, she was required to socialize with every guest at least for a little while. But she grinned and waved farewell to him. "I enjoyed our talk!" she said. "Take care, Siegrain!"

Having left a positive impression on the young woman might work in his favor, he later considered. At the very least, he could claim to have at least attempted to make a good impression of the Magic Council on the nobility at the party, and thus fulfilled his official obligations.

On the other hand, she'd seemed fairly interested in him, if not outright enamored, and although she was still young, she could wield powerful influence in the future as both nobility and heir apparent to the Heartfilia Konzern. That magical power she would grow into was nothing to sneer over either.

She might have some worth as a pawn.

It was something to consider.