The aftermath of Tartaros was difficult and stormy, what with each of Fairy Tail's core member struggling with something, a loss or a realization. Some struggles were more obvious than others: the dragon slayers and the deaths of the only parents they had ever known, Elfman and his guilt for the explosion of the guild, Erza and what happened to her at the hands of one of the Tartaros's demons.
Regardless, everyone had more or less lucid moments that were spared to give thought to the recovery of Raijinshuu, and particularly Laxus, whose condition had remained stable despite Porlyusica's grim words regarding him and his chances of full recovery.
Even so, to everyone that visited the still-comatose lightning mage, Laxus appeared to be in pain. The antidote administered into his veins directly after receiving it hadn't changed it, and while Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow (and Yajima-san, surprising in his age) all made significant progress, Laxus seemed to stay stagnant, stuck in the grasp of the poison.
Some days were better than others: less sweating, lower temperature, a still line of his lips indicating almost painless existence. Those days gave everyone hope that Laxus would be on his own two feet in no time.
But the hope would falter within the next day or two as Laxus's condition would take a turn for worse again.
"Tell me," Makarov began one day as he stared at Laxus's pale, sweat-dampened face, "what are the chances at this point, Porlyusica?"
Porlyusica sighed as she went through with the procedure of checking Laxus's vitals yet again. Heartbeat was steady, although there was occasional fluctuation that worried her. Breathing was labored, lungs rattling with the air that came in and out. It was Laxus's lungs that Porlyusica had initially been most worried about, as they had sustained quite a lot of damage from the magical barrier particles. Even a dragon slayer's organs weren't invincible.
That thought precisely made her frown at the reposed man before she glanced at Makarov, the rash boy's grandfather. "He has been wandering both sides of life and death this whole time, even after I administered the antidote,"she murmured as she changed the damp cloth over Laxus's brow. "Truthfully speaking, even if his organs weren't to fail him, he may not wake up; perhaps it's psychological, perhaps it's in his brain, but for him to not have woken up yet is..."
Makarov let out an audible sound of discontentment, his wrinkled hands holding Laxus's larger one harder. "I see," he murmured, pain seeping into his tone like the poison had seeped into Laxus's body at that time. "That is very disheartening to hear."
"His friends at least have made significant progress," Porlyusica said, voice distant as she went about adjusting Laxus's pillows. "Freed doesn't seem to have any lasting damage in his lungs, and neither do Evergreen and Bickslow. They should be able to get back to work within the coming week or two, if all goes well."
"I reckon that's not a relief for them," Makarov said, glancing at the rest of the beds lined up in the room. All the three previously mentioned wizards were asleep, expressions and postures peaceful and without disturbance. "Should Laxus not make it, they will take it hard." As well as everyone else in the guild, Makarov knew as he thought back to Natsu's enraged proclamation of war at the time of Porlyusica's initial diagnosis.
The rage was something Makarov understood well, as it had blossomed inside him as well, bubbled up like lava, but it was gone now from the way of grief as everything had passed. The chaos Tartaros had caused had settled, leaving behind broken wings of fairies, but Makarov had faith everyone would climb back on their feet no matter how much time it would take.
"Would you-" Makarov started, but he didn't need to finish his question as Porlyusica had already breezed towards the door.
"Take as much time as you need, Makarov. He's not going to go anywhere right now."
Makarov nodded, more to himself than to her, and soon he was left alone with Laxus... and the rest of the occupied beds, though Freed and others were capable of moving by themselves already. Porlyusica was insistent on making sure their recuperation went as planned, though, and for that Makarov was thankful. What parent wouldn't worry about their children's health after such an event?
"Laxus..." Makarov began, brows knitted and hands curling around Laxus's fingers. Thick and calloused, they were. Showed the dedication Laxus had put into becoming strong. A peculiar pride welled up in Makarov's heart, one that was reserved for his grandson alone. As much as blood bonds weren't necessarily stronger or purer than ones made by choice, they weren't anything less formidable either.
He could recall the day Laxus was born very vividly, almost all details coming to him with ease. All the important ones, anyway: how it felt to hold the newborn in his hands for the first time, how Laxus had cried but then calmed in Makarov's hold, how Ivan and his wife of the time both looked exhausted but glowed with happiness for the birth of their son.
It was one of the days Makarov would never forget as long as he lived.
"You always have a place here," Makarov said to Laxus, whose face remained relaxed. It was a positive change to the grimaces of pain that had taken over him for some time. "I want you to know that, Laxus. I may not have been the gentlest with you since you rejoined the guild, but surely you know how much it puts me at ease to know you have found your way back to your family. To Fairy Tail."
Makarov paused, huffing air into his mustache. "To me."
These weren't words of goodbye, Makarov told himself as he comforted himself with the warmth radiating off Laxus's palm. Still alive. Still there. Laxus was reliable when it came to shouldering through difficult times, now. To the point where he would take it upon himself to suffer through the worst if it meant saving others.
The tear that clung to the corner of his eye was that of pride.
Perhaps that was what Laxus, too, needed to hear. They hadn't had many heart-to-hearts, what with the age and generation difference between them, not to mention Ivan, Laxus's father and Makarov's son, the blood link between them and the cause of great sorrows.
"I should have known how to intercept when you ran rampant," Makarov mused, his thumbs rubbing at the back of Laxus's hand. "Yet, I didn't know how to, or perhaps it was my own weakness that stopped me from trying to guide you to the right path."
"I'm sorry, both as a guild master and a grandfather." Makarov smiled sadly. "Mostly as a grandfather, though the lines between those two can blur."
Laxus showed no signs of hearing him, which was what Makarov had expected. He knew how difficult it sometimes could be to rise back to the living from unconsciousness, no matter how strong-willed the person was.
"I have always been proud of you, Laxus," Makarov whispered, and another memory of a younger Laxus teased him behind his closed eyelids. It had been around Fantasia, back then, Laxus taking part for the first time... "Call it the sentimentality that comes with age, but it's something I should have told you more readily, rather than let your own thought steam inside you, to the point where there was almost no returning from."
"You did well, grandson," Makarov said, opening his eyes when he felt the slightest squeeze on his own wrinkly hands. Perhaps it was his imagination. "Remember that, when you come back to us this time, as well."
"How's Laxus?" Natsu picked himself up from the bar counter and looked at Makarov that had just hopped up onto the hard surface behind which Mirajane worked on mixing up drinks for everyone. He still looked tired, weary to the bone, from the fights and the losses he encountered, Makarov noticed, and sympathy for the boy filled his heart up, momentarily replacing his growing concern for Laxus's chances of coming back to his family.
"The same he has been as of late," Makarov said as Mirajane kindly, as though acting on premonition, placed a pint of beer before him. Makarov took it and downed half of it on the first go. "We have to wait on him a little longer."
"He'd better not die," Natsu muttered, a ghastly expression crossing his face as Mirajane set a mug before him as well. "It's Laxus. 'Course he won't die..." Natsu continued muttering, fingers clenching and unclenching as he grabbed his drink.
"Natsu..." Makarov pursed his lips, staring down at the frothy surface of beer. The bandages around Natsu had all almost disappeared by now as his injuries had healed, cuts leaving nothing but superficial scars in their wake. But grief was not so easy to rid oneself of, nor should it even be attempted. It would leave in time, or at least become a bearable ache like any loss in life did in one way or another.
Even regardless of Natsu's parental loss, Laxus dying would be hard on him. The kid had seen Laxus as the strength to aim to for so long that the permanent absence of that strength might be...
No. Even regardless of Laxus's strength - it would throw Natsu off the rail, again.
Laxus was Laxus, to Natsu, to all of them, and a special presence like any other. Someone to aspire to be, someone to look up to when a goal was needed.
And Natsu needed a goal that went beyond whatever guild opposed Fairy Tail next, Makarov supposed.
"Can I go check up on him, gramps?"
The question wasn't entirely unexpected, though it took Makarov off guard for the slightest moment. "Just don't disturb others while you're at it, and don't try to wake him up by challenging him to a fight, Natsu." Makarov chuckled to himself, eyes crinkling as he smiled at the huffy pout on Natsu's face. "Just go, if you want."
"Thanks," Natsu breathed out, and he was gone in the next blink of an eye.
Somehow it didn't end up being just Natsu that visited Laxus that time: Happy, of course, joined, but so did Erza, Gray, and even Wendy and Carla.
"You guys," Natsu grumbled, "can't a guy have some privacy here? I just wanted to chat with Laxus." Very pointedly, he patted Laxus's eerily still arm perhaps a little too hard. Not that Laxus would ever flinch from something like that, no way.
"Looks more like you were planning on slapping him awake to me," Gray deadpanned, a small smirk pulling at his lips as he leaned against the window sill beside Laxus's bed. "Planning to kick his ass that way, huh?"
"I wouldn't, but maybe you would, droopy eyes!"
"Don't fight, guys," Lucy said quietly, bangs of blond hair slipping over her eyes as she watched the slow rise of Laxus's chest. It was terrifying to know how easy it was to lose someone, as she had lost Aquarius, and they all were still in some danger of losing Laxus despite his seemingly stable state.
He could be gone in the next instant, and no one could do anything about it...
Lucy swallowed the gloomy thought away, her hands automatically seeking for her keys. One was missing. Still. Aquarius wasn't going to come back.
Please, at least you have to come back to your family, Laxus...
"Lucy's right," Erza agreed, her eyes narrowing into a withering glare that made both Gray and Natsu freeze on their respective spots. Some instincts died hard. "I thought you were here to pay Laxus your respects, Natsu."
"He's not dead," Natsu hissed, but his posture relaxed as he sat on the edge of the bed, frowning at the blank, closed-eyed expression on Laxus's face. "He's not gettin' out of our upcoming duel that easily."
"What duel?" Gray snickered. "I don't think Laxus himself knows what you're talking about, idiot."
"You haven't yet won against me, Natsu, and you're already looking for a fight with Laxus?" Erza smiled, a tiny touch of gentle amusement lighting up her face. Wake up, Laxus. You have so many that need... and more importantly, want you around.
"Anyway," Gray cleared his throat and rapped his knuckle against the heart monitor that stood beside the occupied bed. "Since when has Laxus been hooked up on these things? These look like they come straight from a hospital."
"That's because they do," Erza said softly. "As Laxus required some assistance in breathing, he was, erm, 'hooked up' to the machines."
Erza's words sobered them all up once more, and they stared at the tube that went into Laxus's mouth, the thing that Natsu (and they all) had willfully ignored and pretended to not be there.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, Laxus was supposed to wake up...
"Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow at least are out of danger now," Erza murmured. "Yajima-san had to be transferred somewhere else, but he too seems to be making considerable progress as we speak... despite his age."
Wendy, who had been silent this whole time, clenched her hands. "I wonder if my magic can..."
"Wendy," Carla nudged her friend, her partner, with a white-furred paw, a frown on her feline face. "There are things not even your magic can do - undoing the damage in his organs is one of those. And waking him up, as well."
"But..." Wendy bit on her lip. "I feel useless like this... Laxus-san is one of us, so..."
"We know how you feel, Wendy," Lucy interjected gently, Happy agreeing noisily in the background with Natsu. "It's up to us to wait and welcome him back when he does wake up on his own."
"And then kick his ass!" Natsu snickered.
"IS THAT YOUR ANSWER TO EVERYTHING?!"
"How are you holding up?" Freed asked her, his hand hovering in the space between them, hesitating on whether to pull back or to offer her help if she needed any. "Ever?"
"I'm fine," she said simply as she cast him a sideways glance, an oddly lethargic look (for her) on her paler-than-usual face. She slipped a curl of hair behind one of her ears, sighing as she did so. "It feels rather bleak without him, doesn't it?"
"Indeed," Freed agreed readily, closing his eyes as a mild dizziness washed over him. He would refuse bed rest now that he was doing better, but he wasn't going to go on a job for several days yet. Not that he would imagine going on one with Laxus still incapacitated. "Bickslow's out socializing?"
"He went to buy some music for Laxus," Evergreen replied in a low murmur as her hands clutched onto Laxus's arm. "They apparently say classical helps coma patients..."
"I thought that was for cows and plants," Freed said frankly, smiling a little as he pulled another chair beside Evergreen's. "...Laxus doesn't like classical, though."
"You can never be sure, can you," Evergreen shrugged, the movement elegant despite her obvious exhaustion after staying beside Laxus for the majority of her time. "Some good piano concerto might be enough to make him jolt up and demand for better music. That'd be our Laxus."
"It's plenty good," Freed muttered, fondness smoothing the wrinkles on his brow as he set his hands on his lap. "You can go, Ever. I'm sure Elfman is waiting for you to show your face in the guild hall."
"What do I care if he's-" Evergreen's face heated up, and it was rather obvious she was trying to deny what was true. Freed smiled as he gingerly uncurled her fingers from Laxus's arm.
"Ever."
"Fine," she sighed, her face twisting into a neutral expression. "Come find me if he wakes up, you hear me?"
"Naturally," Freed offered a soothing smile, which seemed to pacify her well enough as she pulled herself up, coughing into her hands when she made her way out of the room.
Mostly alright, but not completely, Freed thought, brow furrowing in concern before his gaze shifted to their wayward team leader.
Laxus's sunkissed skin looked much paler than what he remembered, but the man was also in a lot less pain than what he used to be. Freed still remembered the way Laxus's heavy body had quivered in pain when Freed had gotten him and others back to Fairy Tail, as well as the raspy, barely there breaths of air against Freed's neck.
It was a memory Freed didn't want to think too much about, but it was there, as persistent as Laxus ever was. Freed took a breath in, wiped his eyes to make sure he wasn't crying, and carefully set a hand over Laxus's unmoving arm. A silent request. A plead. A beg. The gesture could have been so many things all at once, and Freed himself wasn't sure which word fit best for it.
"We'll be here when you come back," he said, eyes closing as he smiled again, gentleness painfully obvious at the edges. "Just make sure you do, Laxus."
And maybe, maybe Laxus heard him.
Freed had no doubts about it, as he thought he saw Laxus's lips curl into the tiniest, most unnoticeable smile.
Laxus's awakening was a surprisingly quiet affair, even with the tube still stuck in his throat and to which he nearly choked. Luckily Porlyusica managed to pull it out, after which Laxus slumped back, gasping quietly for air with his own lungs.
The raspy quality in his breathing rhythm and sounds was obvious to Raijinshuu's members and others present in the moment, but no one really thought about the possibly life-lasting damage deep in Laxus's lungs as much as they were relieved to have him back with them.
It was truly all that mattered.
Laxus's eyes fluttered back open after a couple of short moments spent in taking in other senses, head lolling to a side to cast a look to the Raijinshuu's tearful faces and radiant smiles. Laxus's eyes softened in recognition, his lips forming their names with soft fondness. "Freed... Bick...slow... Ever."
"Yes... yes, we're here, Laxus," Evergreen said, her smile wide even as tears prickled at her eyes.
The Raijinshuu weren't the only ones in tears, as was obvious from the loud sniffling (Elfman, mostly) and low murmurs of the members present in the room. All of the guild obviously couldn't be there, but the core members, for most part, were all there.
"J... job well done, Freed," Laxus struggled with the words, his voice hoarse. Soon, in response, a glass of water made its way to him, and he drank it greedily with some help from Freed, whose face resembled, almost humorously so, a waterfall. Bickslow sniffled loudly, a large grin on his face as he stuck out his tongue and laughed in relief.
"You got everyone home," Laxus continued, firmer when the glass was put aside and Laxus lay back on the back. His eyes blinked a few times more before they fully focused on his team and their faces. "Thank you," he murmured, soft and more tender than anyone could have imagined Laxus just some months ago.
Or years, in some cases.
"I don't obey a direct order from you," Freed said quietly, smiling as he made room for the Master to get onto a chair to face Laxus. Quietly, Freed pulled Evergreen and Bickslow further back from the bed to give Master and Laxus much needed space, though there was no real privacy with all the spectators around.
"Gramps," Laxus turned his head to a different angle to look at his grandfather.
Makarov took in the rough syllables, the worn-out expression on his grandson's face, and heaved out a sigh of relief that had been waiting to be let out for far too long.
"Welcome home, Laxus," he said simply, smiling kindly and watching as Laxus's lips curled into a responding grin, one that resembled his childhood days.
"I'm home."
Of course, it was Natsu that broke the emotional moment.
"Laxus, fight me!"
"Someone stop Natsu, for the love of-"
"You're hundred years too early," Laxus said, grinning, before breaking into a coughing fit that was drowned by Natsu's indignant screeching.
"What was that?!"
Yes, it's as it should be now, Lucy, hanging in the back of the room between Mirajane and Erza, thought to herself as she too smiled. This is the Fairy Tail I love.