A/N- Lucy/literally everyone is my brotp, so this happened. Set immediately after Laxus's failed attempt at supplanting Makarov.

Laxus meant to leave town after saying his farewells to the Raijinshuu. It was a goodbye that hurt more than he's willing to admit. They've been his closest companions all these years, but after the events of today, it's occurred to him that possibly he's been treating them more like followers than friends lately. But that's another piece of baggage it's going to take him awhile to unpack.

Good thing he has a lot of free time on his hands now.

Despite his nonchalance as he waves a farewell over his shoulder, he doesn't turn around because if they saw his face he's pretty sure it would undo the effort he just put in to convince them to stay with the guild. His steps feel heavy as he trudges away.

The plan to catch the last train of the evening are regrettably derailed not even two blocks from South Gate Park.

"Laxus, wait!"

He stops and glances over his shoulder and sees a blonde girl come skidding out of an alley. She jogs up the street to where he's paused and stops a healthy distance out of arm's reach.

He vaguely recognizes her as the new girl who's been hanging around Natsu lately. He doesn't know much about her except that she's a runaway rich girl, and that she's responsible for all that ruckus that happened with Phantom Lord. "Yeah?" he grunts, eyeing her skeptically.

"I… um…" She appears flustered, as if she'd been so busy catching up to him that she hadn't actually thought about whatever it is she wants to say. Fine by him, he doesn't feel much like chatting. But just as he's about to turn around and leave, she finds her voice.

"I was kind of… well, petrified through most of what happened," she says clumsily, "but Levy told me about what I missed. And I just wanted to say…" She flounders again, staring down at her hands as she fidgets with her fingers.

"Just spit it out," he says, wanting this encounter over with so he can get to the damn train station already.

Oddly enough, her confidence seems to be somehow bolstered by his words. "I don't really understand why you did this," she continues, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin to look up at him, "but you really thought you were doing what was best for the guild, didn't you?"

He nods, grunting in affirmation. He's not sure why he hasn't already walked away. Maybe it's curiosity. Maybe the old man's words from earlier are getting to him.

The blonde, to his astonishment, beams up at him. "Then things will be alright."

"Huh?"

She's still got that sunshine smile on her face, wide brown eyes sparkling in the sunset, and he honestly has no idea why any member of Fairy Tail would be looking at him with this much cheeriness at the moment.

"Well, Fairy Tail is family," she says matter-of-factly. "And sometimes family fights, but it doesn't change how we care about each other. I know I'm pretty new, but even I can see that. And I think… I think that being expelled from the guild doesn't change that. Not really."

Laxus has had an awful lot of surprises today, but having a virtual stranger say things like this to him is definitely one of the weirder things to happen to him in awhile. He gives another non-committal grunt, because he doesn't really have a better response.

She suddenly seems to realize what already occurred to him awhile agoᅳ that this is a very strange first conversation to haveᅳ and flushes, eyes dropping to the pavement as she shuffles her feet awkwardly.

"A-Anyway, uh, I don't know what you're planning on doing now but you should at least stay for the Fantasia," she says. "It's been moved to tomorrow night."

And the surprises just keep on coming.

"That's all I really wanted to say. Bye!" she says in a rush. It seems she's run out of words, or possibly patience with his taciturn attitude. He wouldn't be surprised by either. She turns on her heel, cheeks flushed brilliant red, and prepares to flee.

With a humiliating amount of effort, he finds his own voice. "Hey, stop a second, would ya?" he calls after her.

She stops and turns to look at him again.

"What's your name?"

She pouts, and he figures she's probably put out that he has pretty much no idea who she is. That's fair enough, he supposes, but she really shouldn't take it personally. "Lucy," she says sullenly. "Lucy Heartfilia."

Heartfilia… yeah. He knew she was a rich girl. But apparently she's not as stuck up as he would have figured. The guild has been full of unexpected things today, and he supposes Lucy Heartfilia is the latest, maybe the last.

But she's inexplicably managed to cheer him up. He feels the corner of his mouth twitch, and suppresses the urge to smile. Instead, he raises his hand, thumb and index finger outstretched in the symbol he came up with so many years ago, the gesture that's become the universal salute of Fairy Tail. She's so new to the guild that he's sure she won't recognize it, let alone the meaning behind it, but her smile replaces the put out frown, and she raises her hand in kind.

With a final nod of acknowledgement, he lowers his arm and turns to walk away into the sunset. His grandfather's words are ringing in his ears again.

You're so awkward. Try relaxing a little, would you? If you do that, maybe you'd see things you can't see right now. Maybe you'd hear words you can't hear right now.

Just maybe the old man has a point. He's not sure whyᅳ the encounter was so short it doesn't even count as a real conversationᅳ but he's suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that this girl, this Lucy, whose specialty as a wizard he doesn't even know, would make a better Master of Fairy Tail than he would.

Maybe he will take her suggestion and stick around. Just for until tomorrow night.