Revised: see author's notes at end for changes.
PM me you noticed any grammar mistakes. I edited this myself.
A storm approaching. Laxus could feel the current changing around him. A pressure pulsed behind his eyes. Sounds from downstairs echoed off the walls. Laxus enjoyed a good storm, the raw unconstrained power eased his inner dragon, energy tingling ever part of his body to the deepest levels. It was—it was, euphoric. But the time right before a storm was an annoying pain. It was almost like he was holding his breath for too long and his lungs were ready to burst.
Laxus licked the sides of his lips, savoring the last bits of the sweetest relief. A summer brew, light in taste, citrus undertones, and a hint cedar from the barrel. Alcohol tended to dull his over sensitivity enough and made the time a bit more bearable, especially when he was at the guild hall. Constant brawling, frequent arguments, certain members with zero idea of the term 'inside voice', added to the everyday tomfoolery of Fairy Tail, he had his own tap behind the bar.
Heavy footsteps clomped up the stairway and he glared into his empty pint and by the smell of mint and metal growing stronger, he needed another. Only two members had strong metallic scents, Gajeel Redfox the Iron Dragon Slayer and Erza Scarlet the Knight. Gajeel's scent was more raw and earthy while Erza's was refined and airy.
A head of scarlet came into view through the bannister, a knight out of her armor. Laxus thanked the founders. Her close and in armor before a storm was like biting a fork. Repeatedly. Laxus rapped his finger against the table, concentrating on the sound. It wasn't that Erza was obnoxious annoying, but this was just going to be an intense storm, and everything was set to annoy him. There was no helping it.
She plopped down into the vacant chair across from him. "Laxus," she greeted, joints cracking as she stretched in the seat.
He tipped his empty pint back. Just another sip. The bar was only down the stairs and Mira had just received a fresh shipment. Just down stairs. Laxus sighed. It was even louder down there, and he was sure that a pink-headed idiot would cause a scene.
"Is there lead in your boots?" Laxus grumbled, pushing his worthless cup away.
She looked down at her boots and flexed her foot. "No, not today."
If eyes could fall out, his would have popped out years ago. As one of the most powerful members of Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet was witch of extremes, not above placing lead in her boats as a form of training.
"So, you got a note, too?" He pulled a folded piece of paper from his jacket.
She pulled out a pristine letter, barely a wrinkle, and placed it on the table.
"Old Man's up to something again. Got any ideas?" Laxus asked.
"Not at all. It is rather cryptic." She brushed back her bangs, but they went right back into place. "S-Class exams? But then Mira would be up here too."
S-Class exams was a valid idea. The guild had yet to promote any members in almost eight years, considering no one was promoted during the last exam when it was interrupted by a dark guild and an island destroying dragon.
Many members were already performing at S-Class levels now and could easily pass anything thrown at them, except maybe a written exam. There was a slight pull in the corner of Laxus' mouth at the idea of the S-Class Exam being written. Two, maybe three, would pass.
"Do you think it is even worth it anymore?"
Erza's question caught him off guard. "What?" How much had he missed?
She stared off at the S-Class job board, only three job postings, unlike the other board at the ground floor that was cluttered with jobs. All three of the jobs posted offered high pay outs but would take between one to three years to complete.
"It's just these jobs are-," her brow furrowed. "Gildarts has been gone for a year now and I know Cana does not care, but—." She let out an exacerbated huff.
Laxus looked over at the posting. Lost heirlooms and relocating a pack of mountain badgers that had settled in the middle of a mine weren't exciting and worth the worry. They were all just jobs. Boring meaningless jobs, nothing to get twisted over.
He pushed back into his seat balancing on the back legs of the chair, annoyed. Why was she making such a big deal over Gildarts being on a job? He was notorious for taking long jobs, gone months even years at a time. And why would Cana mind, she was drunk off her ass half the time anyway.
She turned and looked at him, one eye brighter that the other, and quickly looked down at the table, fiddling her fingers.
"Bisca is thinking about resigning from the guild," she whispered, her focus still on her nails. "What if everyone starts leaving?"
Silence was heavy in the air and Laxus watch her pick at nonexistent dirty under her nails.
Members leave all the time. Fairy Tail use to have over a hundred active members at any given time and losing one or two didn't mean much. So, his first thought was, 'who cares?', but then he remembered who he sat next to. Erza Scarlet cared. He didn't understand why she would waste her time though. So, what if someone leaves, that's on them. Good riddance.
Erza didn't flinch at the sound of his chair fully connecting with the floor. "Then that's their choice."
"She said doesn't want to raise Asuka in the guild. What's wrong with that?"
Everything, he thought. Everything was wrong with that.
"Erza look at me," he demanded, his eyes hardening once she finally looked up. "This is a guild. If she wants to leave to raise Asuka away from here, then good. Family has no place in a guild."
"Does there have to be a choice? Guild or family?"
"Yes."
"But guild is family," she argued.
"We've talked about this before, Erza, and guild ain't family." He stated firmly. He was the only third-generation member of Fairy Tail, he knew. And he firmly believed in the separation of guild and family.
Families didn't exile others, leaving them with nowhere to go, but guilds do. Families don't pressure fathers run off in shame when they have weak sons, but guilds do. And families most definitely do not hurt each other for selfish gains, but guilds do.
"But could you choose?"
Laxus glared out the window behind her. The grey clouds darkening. "I chose a long time ago."
The silence weighed heavy on the room. The chatter from downstairs did nothing to fill the space.
His ear twitched toward groaning stairs. It was a small sound. A grunt with each step and a faint smell of whiskey.
A short, balding man, white hair only on the sides lumbered up.
Laxus frowned at the condition of his grandfather. He could see the stress of the climb up all over his grandfather. Old man needs to retire, he thought. The last time that thought crossed his mind, a rage burned inside of him that ultimately exploded in his face, but this time, no longer crackling with anger, he was truly concerned for his grandfather's wellbeing. He was older than dirt and he refused to allow the guild to claim another member of his family.
Erza popped up from her seat and bowed at his arrival. "Master Makarov."
"Erza. Laxus" he greeted. He used the chair Erza had pulled out for him to step up onto the table and sat cross-legged. Makarov placed a thick file onto the table between himself and them. "The job."
The earlier tense ebbed away at the mention of a job. Laxus shared a look with Erza. Cryptic indeed. Erza scooted closer to Laxus and pulled the file between them.
"Are you going to tell us, or should we guess?" Laxus said. He hadn't had enough to drink, the storm outside was still building, and his patience was limited.
Laxus' grandfather quickly took file out of Erza's hand, rolled it up, tapped him on the head, and gave it back to Erza. "Insolent brat."
Laxus glared at his grandfather. "Old Man."
Makarov turned his nose up at his grandson. "This is a job for you two."
"Get one of the others to do it." Laxus crossed his arms and pushed back on his chair.
"Laxus—," his grandfather groaned, rubbing the space between his eyes.
By this point the push and pull was so natural between his grandfather and himself, that it was more a reflex than intentional aggravation.
"Master?" Erza said softly, flipping back through the file, brow furrowed returned from earlier, but deeper. "What is this? Dmitri Marx, ten, missing. Zahir Luo, nine, missing. Ambreen Huff, eleven, missing. Master," she looked up wide-eyed, "these are all missing children."
Laxus sat up correctly and looked over Erza's shoulder at the papers. Each page had the face and information of a missing child from all over Fiore. Six boys and two girls.
"Missing magical children," he corrected.
Shit, thought Laxus. That ain't good. Not that regular missing children weren't bad, but missing magical children imposed a special set of problems.
"Sounds like something for the Magic Council, Gramps."
"That it is does."
"And yet you're giving it to us?" he questioned. "And not Levy and Gajeel?" Laxus glanced up at his grandfather. It didn't make sense not use the only members with connections with the Magic Council for a council issue.
"Correct." He continued to hold Laxus' glaze, until Erza drew their attention.
"Good," mumbled she more to herself, but Laxus heard and felt the spite in her words. She flipped over another page and intently studied the information.
"Good, that this wasn't given to our own members, or-?" he dragged. Erza being angry at other members was rare and usually justified. He knew firsthand the wrath of Erza Scarlet.
" No, not that. Levy, Gajeel, even Mest are trustworthy, of course," She said off hand and continued onto another page. "But they were just a few out of the whole organization. The Magic Council isn't worth its weight in lacrima, especially for something like this to get past them again."
His eyes cut over at her. Again?
"So," he drawled, focusing back to his grandfather, "why us, exactly?"
"You two have more experience with these types of jobs," he twirled the end of his mustache, "and that's what we—no that's what they need."
"Do you suspect another R-System?"
R-System? What the hell is that? Laxus thought. He made a mental note to find out what that was.
"From what I've gathered, no. Would handle this, but don't think anyone would appreciate another long disappearance from me. Plus," he patted his knees, "getting too old for long missions."
"Alright, so what do you want us to do? Just find the kids?"
"That is your number one priority, Laxus. Find them and bring them back home, safe and sound. Don't care if you have to burn a town to the ground."
Laxus sat back in shock. To actively ignore the destructive power of any Fairy Tail member was outright negligent and possibly illegal. They paid more in destruction of property than anything else and for his grandfather to basically give them free reign was telling. This was much direr than just simple kidnappings. Something was darker.
He ran his hands through his hair, mentally planning the next steps. "Okay, so what about the criminals?"
Master Makarov shrugged. "The authority in me says bring them in for trial, but if something were to happen," his relaxed demeanor shifted swiftly, "I wouldn't blink an eye." With that his grandfather hopped off the table and left.
Author's Note: So, for anyone who has read this before may have taken note of some rather drastic changes. Don't panic! The plot remains the same, but I would like to think a bit more refined. I realized that I relied on my audiences' knowledge of backstory, characters, etc. to push this story foreword (which was later confirmed when I asked someone to read it and they didn't even know the characters) and it read like shit. With an outline, countless rough drafts and notes at my disposal I hope to finish this story in a way that will truly bring my original idea to life. I'm deleting all the chapters, since some have been condensed each other.
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