A/N- I'M BACK, BABY! After being gone all of November, I have decided to do something to reward you all!
So welcome to day 1 of The Great Month of Stories! Something will be uploaded every single day this month, whether it is a chapter for an existing story, a oneshot, or a new story, doesn't matter. And feel free to join in and do this with me!
Disclaimer- As if I owned Fairy Tail. Hah!
Laxus sat at Cana's side, clutching her hand.
"Please, Cana," he whispered brokenly, "Please wake up."
Five days ago had been Fairy Tail's S-Class exam. When he had heard his name get called, he'd been excited - that is, until Cana's name got called, too.
He had begged, prayed, done everything he could, hoping that he wouldn't have to fight her. She was his best friend - his only friend. But, of course, he'd had to fight her. That was just his luck.
So, he'd fought her, doing his best to lose without making it look like he was trying. She knew. She was smart, witty. Which was why he loved her.
~L-loved her?~ he thought to himself in shock, ~I d-don't love her!~
She'd given him That look, the one that said she knew what he was doing, the one that said she didn't want him to go easy on her - that she didn't want his pity.
~But it wasn't pity,~ he thought, pushing her silky hair off of her damp brow, ~It was fear. Fear that you'd get hurt. I wouldn't have been able to stand it.~
He'd cast his lightning down, delighting in the feel of it. It was like being able to stand after having to sit for hours. But, unbeknownst to him, she had just cast one of her stronger cards. Metal Storm.
Of course, his lightning had hit the metal and just made everything worse.
~Oh, god,~ he released her hand and clutched the hair at his temples, ~How could I do this to her? It's my fault, all my fault!~
Cana had dropped to the ground, unmoving, and Laxus, no longer caring who won, ran to her side, "Cana? Cana!? CANA!?"
He'd shaken her, moved her, done every stupid thing he'd ever heard of for waking someone who gone unconscious, but none worked.
"Help!" he'd screamed in desperation, "Help!"
"Laxus-kun," he'd heard.
He had looked up and seen the First Master. She had smiled very gently.
"Laxus-kun," she'd said, the smile obviously one you give someone you're about to give bad news, "If you move her, she'll die. Even here, on Tenroujima, I won't be able to stop it."
"Please, Master Mavis," he had pleaded, "Tell me what to do."
She had simply smiled again, and whispered before disappearing, "Only you can save her, Laxus-kun. You'll figure it out."
So, Laxus had sat at her side since then, only leaving to use the bathroom.
When they hadn't returned to camp at the end of the first day since Mavis's appearance, the others had spent the second day looking for them. No one had found them until day three, and on day four, Gramps had decided to send Mirajane and Erza, who were shockingly cooperating, to get Porlyusica. Of course, he had tried to explain to them what the first master had said, but they just assumed it was heatstroke.
Each day, Cana's condition had gotten worse. Each day, she looked sicker. Today, day five since he'd hurt her, she looked nearly like a corpse. She was pale and sweaty, hair plastered to her face and neck. Her breath was labored, and her hands kept clenching and unclenching.
Gently, he picked her hand back up, "Cana, please. Please come back from wherever you are."
Cana's face and hands clenched again, but that was her only response.
Time continued to pass, and Cana's struggle to breathe grew more and more pronounced.
Once again, Laxus pushed her hair off of her forehead, "Come on, Cana. You can't leave me like everyone else."
Night fell, and Cana's unconscious body started to shiver. He lay next to her, and she rolled so that they were spooning. He held her close, simply holding her and sending her his strength. He didn't know what to do. No matter what he did, he couldn't get Cana to wake up...
"Laxus! You're back!" Cana called waving at him excitedly before charging across the guild hall to wrap her thin arms around his waist, "I missed you."
He looked down, a small smile on his face, "I missed you, too, goofball."
Cana smiled, and held out her arms, silently asking to be picked up. Laxus complied with her wish, complaining teasingly the whole time, "You're nine, aren't you? Why do I have to pick you up?"
Cana laughed and stuck her tongue out at him "So I can do this," gently, she kissed his cheek, "Happy birthday, Laxus."
Quickly, Laxus counted days in his head, "Oh... you're right... it is my birthday."
Cana laughed, "Silly Laxus, of course it is! I got you a present!"
Laxus looked at her seriously, "You didn't have to do that, Cana."
Cana smiled happily, "I know. But I wanted to and Gramps said I could, and I showed him what I wanted to get you and he said it was a very good idea, and look Laxus!" Cana held out her bandaged hands with a smile.
Laxus stilled, asking hesitantly, "Cana, what happened to your hands?"
She smiled, "I burned them when me and Lisanna made your cake!"
"Y-You made me a cake...?" he asked in near shock.
Cana wiggled out of his arms, and then grabbed his hand, pulling him to where Lisanna was sitting, guarding the cake from the flying debris coming from where her sister was fighting Erza, "Course I did, silly head, I love ya!"
Laxus smiled, sitting down and opening the present Cana pressed into his hands, chanting, "Open it, open it, open it!"
He did, and out came a pair of brand new headphones, with long silver spikes. He looked at Cana in shock, "These headphones are 5000 jewels. How did you pay for them?"
"I-I used..." she blushed and looked imploringly at Lisanna, who nodded and walked away, "I used the birthday money Gildartz gave me."
Laxus's eyes shot wide, and he stared down at the headphones Cana had bought him in shock, "T-The money Gildartz gave you?"
Laxus knew that Cana hadn't wanted to take the money from Gildartz, but that her father had pressured her until she had taken it, saying it was for the birthday he had missed. She hadn't gotten to feel special long when he proceeded to give each of the children in the guild a matching amount. She had told him later that very day that she wanted to use the money to buy Gildartz something for his upcoming birthday. She had saved it until then, and when he hadn't shown up, she'd spent three days in his room crying, before deciding to save it until he got back.
"Yes," Cana said, crawling into his lap, "I didn't have any other money, and you weren't here to take me on a quest to get some. So I thought and thought and thought, and decided that you were more important. I can live without a father, but I can't live without my best friend."
Laxus hugged her tightly, squeezing his eyes against the tears that threatened to fall, "Thank you, Cana."
"No problem, silly Laxus," Cana said, hugging him back for a second before she pulled away with a smile, "Let's eat your cake now, can we!?"
"Sure," he smiled.
It was probably the worst cake ever made, but Laxus made sure it was all eaten. Cana and Lisanna had each taken a bite of their pieces and instantly pushed them away. But Laxus ate his entire piece, and forced other members of the guild to eat the cake, too.
Because Laxus had just realized how important Cana was to him…
Laxus opened his eyes with a snap, inhaling the comforting smell of Cana in his arms. But she didn't smell quite right. Mixed in with her beautiful scent was the scent of sickness and death.
She was dying. And there was nothing he could do about it.
In desperation, Laxus tore himself from Cana's side and went looking for the First Master.
"Master Mavis!" he screamed, running blindly through the forest. In the distance, he heard the crash of thunder, and saw the flash of bright light that signified lightning, "MASTER!"
He burst into a clearing, and saw the First Master sitting on a rock, kicking her feet over a pond.
"Master," Laxus called, falling to his knees, "Please…"
The First Master looked over at him, sparkles in her eyes, "Did you save her… oh."
"I… don't know what to do…" he whispered quietly, staring at the ground, sounding childlike in his own ears, "What do I do…?"
He felt the Mavis's cold hand pull his face up to look at her. He looked into her eyes, "I want to help you, Laxus-kun, but I can't."
He stared down at the ground, "Then she'll die."
Mavis pulled his face up again, "All I can give you is this one question: why do you want to save her?"
~Why… do I want to save her…?~ Laxus thought to himself. He looked up, "But Master, how will-"
Master Mavis was gone.
~Why do I want to save her… she's my nakama, but I don't think I would feel this strongly if it was someone else. She's my best friend. Could that be it? No one has ever loved me as unconditionally as she does. No… what I feel for her is more then friendship. Do I… love her?~ Laxus's eyes widened, ~I love her…~ Somehow, that thought felt so right, and something Laxus had only felt during extremely dangerous fights was felt. His inner dragon.
"I… I love her," Laxus said, eyes going even wider.
He felt a cracking within himself, and suddenly, with a flash of pain, he felt his magic power level grow, grow, grow, until it was more then double what it was before.
Thunder rumbled again, and Laxus snapped out of his daze.
"Cana," he said, standing up, and thundering through the woods heedlessly.
As he ran, the rain that had been threatening finally began to fall, heavily. He continued to run, even as the dirt turned to mud beneath his feet.
Suddenly he slipped in the mud, and tripped over a root as he tried to keep his balance. With a painful tumble, he fell down the hill, hitting a tree with face-cracking force.
Once his spinning head allowed him to move, he crawled away from the tree, keeping his blood-filled right eye shut. Lightning flashed again, and he saw Cana, lying on the ground, shivering.
"Cana," he said, and he crawled carefully across the ground towards her.
Her breath was coming in shuddering gasps, and Laxus knew she was nearing the end of how long she could cling to life. He finally realized what the clenches had been: her literally fighting to stay alive.
"Cana," he said into her ear, struggling to be heard above the storm, "I love you."
Her breath continued to creak in and out of her cracked lips. No change.
"You hear me, Cana!? I love you, and you're gonna get your little ass back here so that I can love you for real!"
No change.
Laxus felt tears start falling from his eyes. With gentle fingers, he moved her face and pressed his lips to hers for the first – and last – kiss he would ever have from the girl he loved.
He pressed his forehead to hers, and whispered, "I'm sorry."
At the same moment, a tear from his left eye and a drop of blood from his left fell, and landed on Cana's face.
"With love… blood… and tears…" Master Mavis's voice echoed throughout the little area where Laxus and Cana were.
Cana coughed, "L-Laxus? Why are you sorry?"
Laxus opened his eyes to see Cana's purple-blue eyes staring back at him, "C-C-Cana…?"
Cana smiled up at him, "Duh."
"For hurting you," Laxus said, answering her earlier question while he crushed her to him in a hug, "Because I just can't live without you…"