So I already did something related to Fantasia (my initial idea for this prompt) in kintsukuroi so I thought I'd interpret this prompt a little differently. A slightly humorous approach with twinges of seriousness (I hope)/sadness in this so I hope you'll like it! :)

Summary: Goodbyes are not always bad.

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

Day 1: Farewell/Goodbye

tombstone made of wood

It was the first time they'd seen Laxus run.

Calm and collected as he usually was, he never bothered to run around the guild like a certain pyromaniac screaming for a challenge, nor was he a fan of meaningless physical exertion outside of a job or a battle. He'd usually just turn himself into lightning, anyway, it was much faster and more efficient than running.

Which was why it was absolutely mindboggling for the members of the Fairy Tail Guild as Laxus jumped from the second story and began sprinting out the door. The immediate response was to turn to his loyal Raijinshuu, but it didn't prove much help as they could only see Evergreen scowling at the new permanent fixture Elfman, Bickslow looking confused, and Freed sobbing – whether of true sadness or just because Laxus looked so magnificent as he ran, no one knew. The answer seemed obvious, however, as they watched Lisanna dash out not long after Laxus, struggling to keep up with the man's accelerated pace.

"Elf-nii! Get over here!" Scrambling up from his seat, Elfman too stumbled after the duo, tripping over Evergreen's legs in the process and earning himself a beating.

"Something probably happened to Mira," Levy observed, her gaze directed away from the chaos and at the bar instead, where Kinana seemed oddly lonely as the only bartender.

With the mystery solved, the mages of Fairy Tail soon returned to their trademark partying, knowing that if anyone were to successfully help Mirajane, Laxus would be the one. Laxus, on the other hand, only seemed more panicked as time passed, resisting the urge to turn himself into lightning to increase his speed as he didn't want to leave the demon's sister alone.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the Strauss household, his worry being his driving force up the countless flights of stairs before he barged into the only door left ajar on the floor. Laxus came to a halt as his sensitive hearing immediately picked up the sound of Mirajane's sobs. He took a deep breath, turning around to catch Lisanna's eye and earning a weak thumbs-up from the girl, before marching determinedly in the direction of the sound. He only hoped she wasn't hurt too badly – that it was something he could easily fix.

The first thing he saw was her kneeling on the floor in the far end of her bedroom, her long platinum hair cascading down her back in waves. Her shoulders raked as she cried, and Laxus winced at a particularly loud wail before he reached out and laid a hand firmly on Mirajane's shoulder.

"Mira-" Laxus gulped inaudibly as she turned to look at him, her bright aquamarine eyes overflowing with tears that ran down her porcelain face. Mirajane had always been his weakness.

But then a frown marred his initially confused face, as his eyes zeroed in on what she was cradling in her arms – a… rabbit?

Hesitantly, Laxus squatted down to Mirajane's eye level, the hand on her shoulder reaching to pull her into his embrace instead. "What… what's wrong, Mira?"

"It's Alexander," she sobbed, hugging the white rabbit closer to her chest. It was then Laxus realised that the rabbit was limp; he could hear neither its heartbeat nor its breathing. "I just woke up this morning and went to check on Alexander, and he… he wasn't moving!"

Finally understanding the reason for her tears, Laxus had to breath a sigh of relief at the fact that she wasn't physically harmed, but then grimaced as he knew he wasn't good at consolation.

"Mira… Uh, Alexander… Wasn't Alexander a dog?"

Yup, he definitely wasn't good at consoling.

Appalled, Mira turned to him with a deadly glare, and Laxus shivered involuntarily in fear. "That's Alexandria!"

"Yes, yes… I knew that Mira, I was just trying to… make a joke…?"

He knew he'd said the wrong thing as Mirajane only sobbed harder. "It's not a joke, Laxus! My poor Alexander is gone… and… and I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye!"

Laxus sighed as he decided to seat himself properly instead, adjusting his position so that he could pull her to his chest. He glanced at the sobbing girl in his arms, knowing that she was highly unpredictable, and when Lisanna had burst into the guild that morning telling him that It's Mira-nee! She's- she's crying uncontrollably and- he'd been sincerely hoping she was okay and swearing that he would kill the bastard that caused her pain, but he definitely did not expect her pet – when did she even get the furball, anyway? – to be dead.

"Mira, Mira, it's okay," he said quietly, petting her gently on the head. "Goodbyes aren't always bad. Your rabbit would be happy he had you as an owner, you know? He's hell lucky to have been under your care. Heck, even I'm jealous that you love it so much when I didn't even know it existed! Everyone knows how motherly and loving you are, so I bet– no, I know you were great as its parent…"

The lightning mage could feel himself heating up in embarrassment as he attempted to console Mirajane. He was not one of many words, but he believed that Mirajane was worth his time and effort, and it wasn't like he was lying to make her feel better, definitely not – he believed Mirajane was the most loving and caring girl he had ever met.

Looking down as he felt her head shift, he watched as she brought a hand up to wipe her tears, looking up at Laxus with regained vigour. "You're right, Laxus! Alexander is probably in a better place now, and he's happy because I fed him and played with him all the time."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Laxus nods fervently in agreement. "I'll help you bury it."

It wasn't long before Alexander had been buried in the woods near the Lisanna and Natsu's old hut, and Mirajane had taken the liberty to (or rather, forced Laki to) make a tombstone out of wood for her beloved rabbit. The couple stood in front of the tombstone, Laxus with his hands shoved in his pockets and Mirajane wiping a stray tear from her face.

"Goodbye, Alexander." Mirajane smiled, petting the tombstone with her hand. "I hope you were as happy as I was during the time we spent together."

"I'm sure he was, Mira." Mirajane's smile only widened at Laxus' words, giving the tombstone one last pet before turning and slipping her hand into Laxus'. Laxus, on the other hand, was simply glad that he had somehow managed to fix Mirajane, despite his lack of experience in the area of emotions.

With every passing day, he only felt as if he was learning more and more about Mirajane, discovering new sides of her that only increased his affection, if anything else. Speaking of affection, however…

"So, Laxus, you said you were jealous because I love Alexander?"

Also I wanted to explore their relationship in everyday, non-life threatening situations :) Thanks for reading!

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