Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 1: Demons and Dragons

She closed the textbook and let out a deep sigh, a sigh that was unheard in the busy bar as it seemed that every single patron had already drank past their limit. For a split moment, Mirajane thought that she was the only person in the entire bar who was sober, the only person who hadn't drank away her problems. She had always been a good student, that was a fact that was well known by everyone who knew her. As a result, the board of eductation were more than happy to grant Mirajane a scholarship to Magnolia University, the college of her dreams. However, she still needed to raise some money in order to fund her tuition. That was the only reason why this young, studious high school senior was in a bar on a school night.

"What do you have there, Mira-chan?" a voice called out, causing the startled white haired girl to turn towards the direction of the voice. At first, it looked like nobody had called her, but then she looked down towards the ground. A very small man was waving at her. Mirajane knew this face well, it was her boss, Makarov Dreyar.

"Nothing, sir. I was just doing some light reading," Mirajane told him sweetly, a faint smile appearing on her lips, but the young girl's tired face gave everything away. She used her elbows to hide the textbook that was she was reading. Makarov was not convinced. He leaped onto the stool besides Mirajane's, standing but still only managing to reach her shoulders.

"Let me see that," the old man said, as he swiped the textbook that Mirajane had tried so hard to hide. He opened up the book, flipped through it's pages, muttering words under his breath as he did so. After he had flipped through the whole book, he put it back on the counter. "Ah, I don't understand a word of it. It's been a long time since I was in school," he let out a deep sigh. The melanholic expression on his face didn't last long though as he looked back at Mirajane.

"But you don't need to hide anything from me, Mira-chan. If Mira-chan needs to study, then she can," he told her, cheerfully. Mirajane was speechless. She was only 17 years old, much too young to be working in a bar. However, she had lied to Makarov when she had applied for the job. She had told him that she was 21. Mirajane was quite developed for her age, and could easily pass for an adult, so she thought that he had been fooled.

"Sir... I..." she began, but Makarov stopped her by holding a single finger up to his lips and making a 'shh' sound. Mirajane stopped speaking immediately. Makarov was a small man, but she had never met anyone more intimidating. Fortunately, more often than not, her boss was in a good mood. Makarov grinned as he looked at Mirajane, the girl still not really sure how to feel. It was clear that Makarov knew she lied, but he didn't really seem mad at her.

"Mira-chan, do you know why I employed you, despite knowing that you were underage?" Makarov asked slyfully, confirming Mirajane's suspicions that Makarov had seen through her little fib. She didn't reply with words, she simply shook her head. Makarov let out a sigh as he sat down on the stool. "It's because I think you're a good girl, a honest person. If you want to work in a place like this, you must really need the money, right? Well, I'd rather you work here than at some other type of shady place," he explained with a sombre tone. "So, don't lie to me. Okay?" Makarov smiled, a genuine smile.

Mirajane could feel herself tearing up, but tried her best to not cry in the bar. Whenever Mirajane cried, she would generally end up bawling. There was no such thing as silent tears when it came to her. However, no matter how hard she tried to surpress it, a single tear came rolling down onto her cheek. She wiped it away. "Yes, sir," she sniffed, in such a soft tone that had Makarov been further away from her, he wouldn't have heard it. The old man opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a word out, the door slammed open, drawing both the old man and the young girl's attention towards who was making the ruckus.

Standing at the door was a stockily built man with spiked up blonde hair. A brown fur cape was draped around his shoulders and massive earphones were resting on his neck. A strange attire indeed, Mirajane thought, as the man began to walk towards the bar, presumbly to order a drink. However, his eyes were not focused on Mirajane, the barmaid. No, they were focused on the person sitting beside her. Mirajane turned to Makarov, who had a shocked expression on his face, to the point that it almost looked comical.

"Lax...Laxus!" Makarov managed to stutter, his voice a mere croak. The surprised expression on Makarov's face seemed to amuse the man known as Laxus though, as a smirk appeared on his lips. He grabbed a stool and sat down, his eyes left Makarov and drifted towards Mirajane for a split second, before turning their attention back to Makarov, who still looked dumbfounded.

"Oi, Gramps. Isn't this one a bit too young for you? I mean, she must be around my age," Laxus said, gesturing towards Mirajane with his head but not even glancing towards her direction. At that moment, after hearing that comment, Mirajane decided that she didn't really like this guy. But wait. What did he call Makarov? Gramps?

"It's nothing like that, you idiot!" Makarov snapped, defensively. Mirajane was shocked, she had never seen her boss snap at someone like that. He was always so polite to everyone, but the way he spoke to his blonde stranger had an air of familiarity around it. She wouldn't have been surprised if these two really were grandson and grandfather. Makarov turned his head towards Mirajane. "Sorry about this, Mira-chan..." he apologised, his tone changing completely from before.

At this point, Mirajane felt the need to come to her boss' defense. She looked Laxus in the eye and smiled. It wasn't a genuine smile, but it wasn't a fake smile either. She had decided that she didn't like this person, but even then, she barely knew him. She should give him another chance, at the very least, even though he had messed up his first impression. First impressions were important, but she still felt compelled to introduce herself. After all, this person was Makarov's grandson. He must have inherited some of that kind personality, right?

"I'm Mirajane Strauss. I... I work here," she said, pausing slightly in the middle after looking at Laxus' face. Now that she got a better look at him, she could see a scar coming down his right eye, which intimidated her. The scowl that was apparent on Laxus' face didn't help either.

"I'm sure you do," Laxus simply stated, looking completely unimpressed. As he said those rude words he didn't even bother to acknowledge Mirajane, looking towards the bottles of alcohol that were behind her, rather than at her. He then stood up and walked behind the bar, scanning through the different bottles until he found out that he liked. He grabbed it, uncorked it before chugging it down, then and there. He then slammed the empty bottle onto the counter, wiped his lips before walking away, heading towards the stairs that led to the bar's second floor. When he was halfway up the flight of stairs, he looked back at Makarov.

"Gramps, you still got my room? You didn't rent it out to anyone, did you?" he asked, looking down towards Makarov, who was still sitting down on the stool. He didn't reply, and it seemed like Laxus got impatient and decided to take Makarov's silence as a 'no'. "Good," Laxus muttered as he climbed up the stairs. Mirajane watched as he climbed, and didn't take her eyes off Laxus' back until he was completely out of her sight. After she couldn't see him anymore, she put her hand on the bottle that Laxus had left, intending to throw it away. However, before she could get a touch on it, a hand had already swiped it away. Makarov's hand.

"Sir, are you okay? Is the bottle not empty? I thought..." she began.

"No," Makarov simply stated, as he jumped off the stool, the bottle still in his hands. "Your job is to serve the customers. That person wasn't a customer, just my idiot grandson. That's why I'll clean up after him. You don't worry about it," Makarov told her, as he walked away. However, much like Laxus had done earlier, he stopped halfway and looked back at Mirajane. "You can go home. Get some sleep. It's Thursday. School tomorrow, right?" he told her, as he he continued on his way. Mirajane opened her mouth to speak.

"But there's 2 more hours until my shift is..." she began to say, but Makarov had already walked away, having left the building. Mirajane sighed. She was pretty confused. If Makarov had a grandson, why hadn't she seen him before? Maybe he lived very far away. That would explain why Makarov was so surprised to see him show up today. While she was deep in thought, Mirajane ended up knocking her textbook onto the ground. She went over to pick up, but a hand had beat her to it. The person who had picked up her book was none other than Laxus. However, unlike before, he was wearing only a yellow bathrobe.

"A textbook?" Laxus said, curiously, not bothering to return the book to Mirajane. Instead, he flipped through the pages of the book, similar to how Makarov had done it. Afterwards, he held the book in front of Mirajane, who accepted it without saying thank you, uncommon for her. "Whoa, I said you and I were the same age earlier, but it seems like I was wrong. Thermal expansion? What are you, a high school student?" Laxus laughed, as he took a seat that Makarov had just vacanted. Mirajane looked away. She didn't think that guys like Laxus were the company that she wanted to keep.

"Yes... I'm a senior," she told him, stuffing the book into her purse. Normally she would have carefully placed the book, organizing the contents of her handbag so that everything fit perfectly. However, this time, she hastily stuffed the book in before zipping the purse. She just wanted to leave the place immediately. Laxus didn't seem to reply to what she said, but it was obvious that he was shocked that a high school student was working at a bar. She picked up the purse and began to walk towards the exit, only muttering a quick farewell to the blonde man as she left. But as she passed him, she felt someone grab her arm. She turned around to see Laxus holding onto her wrist.

Without expression, Laxus opened his mouth. "The name's Laxus," he said, formally introducing himself. "Laxus Dreyar." he continued, before letting go of the girl's wrist. And with that, he got back up off the seat and disappeared up the stairs, not even bothering to look back this time, leaving Mirajane standing there, not really sure what to think. At first, she thought that maybe he had some manners after all, actually introducing himself. But then again, it wasn't very gentlemanly to grab a woman's hand without warning. Mirajane began to rub her wrist. At first, she thought that Laxus would have been able to crush her hand, but her wrist wasn't sore after he grabbed it. She could still feel the warmth of his hand on her wrist.

"Strong... strong grip," she murmured, before turning around to take her leave.