Freed blocked another attack but at that rate he wouldn't be able to hold his opponents off for much longer. He was up against a whole dark guild. The members of said guild had been terrorizing a village for weeks now and the villagers had sent a request for help to Fairy Tail. There was only one problem – it was an S-Class mission. The rune mage had gone to help Laxus. He was supposed to be backup just in case. However, currently Freed was doing all the work while the blond was lying on the ground, unable to move after five hours on the train. The green-haired mage had known they were screwed when they had still been in the train and Laxus had fallen on the seat, his head landing in Freed's lap.
The rune mage glanced at the dragon slayer behind him to see if he was harmed, risking his own well-being. Losing focus for even a second could be fatal but he had to check on Laxus. He had had no time to write runes to protect the blond and now he had to do that too.
He dodged two attacks but a strand of his hair was severed.
"Great! Now I'll have to cut the rest of my hair too," Freed muttered to himself. "Dark Ecriture: Wings. Dark Ecriture: Darkness." There was no other way. He was no match for an entire dark guild otherwise.
The rune mage attacked. The best defense is a good offense after all. He still had Laxus to protect though and that didn't grant him great freedom of movement. His opponents caught on to that and attacked only from a safe distance.
Freed had difficulty standing after taking a few attacks that were aimed at Laxus. He would be no good to protect the blond if he passed out. He had to charge the enemy if he wanted to win the fight but in order to do that he had to leave the dragon slayer open for attacks. After a quick inner debate the rune mage decided that the sooner he defeated the enemy, the better.
A well-coordinated attack combined with his enhanced speed left most of the dark guild's members unconscious. However, two or three were still on their feet and ready to fight. Now that he was closer though that wouldn't be a problem.
He was just about to lunge at them when he heard a groan of pain that could only come from Laxus. He turned around and saw that another dark mage was attacking the dragon slayer.
"That fairy won't be able to fly anymore," one of Freed's opponents snickered.
The rune mage clenched his fists. That was the last straw. With a single attack he knocked all of his three adversaries out and darted towards the mage that was still beating up Laxus.
Freed grabbed him and carried him away from the blond, dropping him on the ground when he decided there was enough distance between them and Laxus. The man quickly jumped to his feet and made an attempt to assault him but the rune mage didn't leave him that chance.
"Darkness Flare Bomb."
The magic sent the other mage flying in the air. His agonized wail did nothing to extinguish Freed's anger. He was going to pay him properly for hurting Laxus.
He attacked, landing blow after blow on the other man until the latter fell on the ground, unable to move a muscle. Normally, Freed would stop at that moment but the bastard had had the audacity to attack Laxus when he couldn't defend himself. He was going to return the favor.
The rune mage was ready to punch him again, knowing that he might kill him, but the man's fearful look stopped him. He remembered his fight with Mirajane. His life had been on the line back then but Mira had shown kindness instead of taking revenge because she was a Fairy Tail mage. And Fairy Tail didn't kill their opponents no matter what.
Freed transformed back into his human self and ran to where Laxus was still lying.
"Laxus!" He kneeled next to the dragon slayer and put his hand on his shoulder.
The blond stirred and pushed himself up to a sitting position with a grunt.
"Are you alright?" Freed's voice was a bit shaky and full of concern.
Laxus nodded without looking at him. His eyes were fixed on the ground. After a few moments of silence he finally spoke. "I'm sorry, Fre-"
The rune mage grabbed the lapels of his shirt, making him look up. "I could've lost you!" Freed shouted, his knuckles turning white from the strength he was gripping the clothing with. "I could've lost you." This time it was a whisper. A tear fell down his cheek.
Laxus stared at him stunned. He didn't know what to say. The first thing that came to his mind was to hug the rune mage. He engulfed him in his embrace, holding him close. There were no more tears. Just that one. It was enough to break the blond's heart though. "I'm sorry."
Freed nodded and pulled back slightly. The dragon slayer let go of him. "Let's go back to Magnolia." The green-haired mage stood up and helped Laxus on his feet.
"Yeah, let's go home." The blond had to lean on the other man for support.
"We're not taking the train though," the rune mage said firmly.
"Do you have a better idea?"
"You know that I do."
"You're being ridiculous, Freed," Laxus protested.
"If Natsu doesn't get sick when Happy carries him, then you probably won't either when I carry you." Freed had suggested that before they had left the guild for the mission but Laxus had rejected the idea.
"You're worn out. You can't carry me all the way to Magnolia."
"You're in much worse shape than I am and that wouldn't be the case if you had listened to me in the first place." The rune mage wasn't going to risk Laxus' health anymore. "We're doing this my way."
The blond's attention was caught by something else though. "Your hair…" He reached out and caught the strand that was shorter than the rest.
"Luckily, it was the only casualty." Freed regretted his words when he saw the guilty look on the dragon slayer's face. He wanted to say something but Laxus spoke first.
"You can ask Lucy for help. Cancer will restore it to its former glory in zero time."
The rune mage nodded, deciding to put an end to the topic, and started writing runes. "Dark Ecriture: Wings."
Laxus tried to protest, "Freed–"
The menacing look the green-haired mage gave him changed his mind.
Soon they were in the air and Laxus didn't feel any symptoms of motion sickness but he would never admit it lest Freed decided to carry him on every mission.