Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Chapter 1.5: The Dragon's Clan
"Winona couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her father's mouth..." Mirajane read, she said the sentence in a hushed tone, as if she didn't want anyone else to know she was speaking. However, in reality, Mirajane was unaware that she was even talking aloud. It was a habit of hers to talk aloud when she was reading in her head. Quickly, she turned the page, but before she could set her eyes on the page, someone had swiped the book from her hands. She looked up to see Laxus staring down at her, an visibly irritated look on his face. He gently put the book down on the counter.
"Do you mind?" Laxus asked, his voice was strained. "I'm trying to play pool here," he said, as he pointed with his pool cue at the pool table that Makarov had recently purchased for the bar. "Good investment by the old man, I have to say," Laxus admitted, a smirk evident on his face as he walked back towards the table. He got into position to line up a shot. "Besides, aren't you suppose to be working? Unless the old timer pays you to just sit around and look pretty, in which case, I humbly apologise," he said sarcastically, hitting the shot a split second after those words came out of his mouth.
He missed.
"Tch!" Laxus grunted in frustration. At that moment, he looked like he was going to snap his pool cue in half and turn the table over. And despite the fact that she had only met him the night prior, Laxus definitely looked like a man that would do something like that. However, instead of losing his temper, he let out a deep sigh and put the pool cue back on the table before settling down at the bar. "Hey, mind getting me a drink?" he asked casually.
"Isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" Mirajane asked him, as she folded the corner of the page she was on. After she had done that, she closed the book and placed it on the counter, awaiting Laxus' answer. The blonde man looked away and muttered something in annoyance under his breath, a word that Mira couldn't quite catch. "What was that, Laxus? What did you say?" she asked, curiously. The annoyed expression on Laxus' face didn't change.
"Nothing. Don't be so nosy," he scolded. "And water is fine,"
"Coming right up!" Mirajane replied happily, as she turned around, grabbing a clean, empty glass as she did so. She then took the jug and began to pour, only stopping when the glass was more or less three quarters filled. She then handed it to Laxus. "No charge," she winked, but the man didn't take the joke as he took the glass without even a word of thank you. He chugged down the entire thing in one go before slamming the glass onto the counter.
"Man, it's warm. Almost summer, I guess," Laxus muttered, as he grabbed Mirajane's book. He began to fan himself with the paperback novel, much to Mirajane's chagrin. She gave him a stern look, but in the end, it turns out she wasn't really that intimidating. She didn't think it mattered though. Even if she was, Laxus probably wouldn't have stopped. "By the way..." he began, as he stopped fanning himself. "What exactly did Winona do to get her dad so mad?" he asked, grinning.
"What? I don't get what you mean," Mirajane replied, genuinely confused.
The grin on Laxus' face only got wider, as he took the book and showed it to her. "I meant in this novel of yours. You might not have noticed, but you've been reading out loud for the past hour or so while I was playing pool. I was listening. I ignored it at first, but it was really starting to bug me... that voice of yours," he told her, as he put the book back on the counter.
"Oh, the book! Well, Wiona went against her father's wishes and..." she stopped speaking, as she thought back to what Laxus had just said to her. He had mentioned her voice. Her voice... being annoying? Surely not. Laxus was the kind of guy who said what he felt like, sure enough, but Mira didn't think he could be so rude directly in someone's face. "Wait, my voice bugs you?" she asked. There was no anger in her voice, merely disappointment. Just when she thought she and Laxus were getting along.
"Don't take it personally, princess," Laxus sneered. "I just can't stand innocent girls like you. But don't get me wrong, I really am interested in the book. Won't you tell me?" he smirked, but Mirajane remained quiet for a couple of seconds before answering.
"Wiona's father is mad because Wiona disobeyed him. She fell in love with a commoner, Wiona comes from a line of nobles, you see... she disobeyed him by running away with the commoner. They got caught. I'm on the bit where he's scolding her for running away," she told him, and she could tell that Laxus had been listening intently, hanging on every word that came out of her mouth. He nodded after she finished her explanation.
"Well, I thought it would be something like that," Laxus murmured, as he raised a single eyebrow. "Doesn't that remind you of someone though?" he said, looking towards Mira's direction. This time, it was the white haired woman's turn to raise an eyebrow. Laxus was surprised that the young barmaid couldn't see that the situation of the girl in the story was similar to her own situation. "Well, isn't she like you? Wiona, that is. I mean, I doubt your parents wanted you working in a place like this," Laxus pointed out, reminding her of the fact that she was an underage person in a bar.
"Well, what they don't know can't..." Mira began, unsure of how she should reply. In a way, she was in the wrong here. All this time, she had been thinking that Laxus was some sort of bad guy, that it would be wrong for her to be in his presence, that he would be a bad influence. As true as those things might have been, she couldn't deny that she was lying too.
"What they don't know can't hurt them?" Laxus said, taking the words right out of Mirajane's mouth. He said it in an almost mocking tone. "Is that really what you think? Ignorance is bliss? You read the story, you know it better than I do. You might get caught," he told her. "And what are you going to do then?" he continued, as he took the book, handing it over to her. "Why don't you read and find out what happened to Winona?"
"I...I already finished the book. This is my second time reading it," Mirajane replied, calmly. She wouldn't let Laxus' words get to her. At first, they hurt, but the sting would go away soon, she was sure of that. After all, Laxus didn't know her that well. He knew that she was underage and working as a barmaid, but that was it. Who was he to judge her? He had no right to say anything.
"Eh, really?" he muttered, putting the book back down again. "Alright, then. Tell me what happens. What did Winona's father do? What was her punishment for disobeying him?" he asked, curiously. His eyes lit up as he said this, he sounded like he really wanted to know, but Mirajane could read it in his face. It looked as though he already knew the answer.
"They disowned her, of course." Mirajane simply stated, rather bluntly as well, which seemed to catch Laxus by surprise.
"I see. So that's how it was," the blonde man mused, as he began to stroke his chin, similar to how a wise man would stroke their beard. "I suppose that would be the most realistic way of looking at it. I was expecting a happy ending though, like the commoner comes to rescue her and they live happily ever after,"
"Not all stories have happy endings,"
"You're right, of course. This isn't a fairy tale we're living in," Laxus nodded curtly. "There's no guarantee of a happy ending is there, princess?" he said, resting his elbow on the counter, a grin still sketched onto his face. Before he could say anything more, however, the door slammed open. The grin faded from Laxus' face as he turned around to see who was there. Mirajane's attention was piqued as well. Nobody ever came here in the afternoon.
Three people stood at the door, two men and a woman. Laxus looked at them with expressionless eyes. Mirajane couldn't tell what he was thinking. The three people at the door, however, seemed to be on the verge of tears. Without warning, all three of them ran towards Laxus, surrounding him.
"Laxus, so the rumours were true! You really did come back!" an average sized green haired man shouted, as he draped both of his arms around Laxus. The other two joined in the group hug as well, but Laxus didn't look so pleased. He tried to pry them off him.
"Freed, Bickslow... Evergreen too..." Laxus said, putting emphasis on each name that he called out. "To think that news of my return would reach you guys so soon," he muttered, almost regretfully. Deep down, though, he was somewhat happy to see his old friends again. Things had been... quiet without them. Laxus turned his head towards Mirajane's direction, and held out three fingers.
"Three drinks for my friends, Mira-chan. I'll float the bill," Laxus instructed, showing that he hadn't forgot the 'pet name' that Makarov called her. As he ordered, he gestured towards his three friends. While he called her 'Mira-chan' in jest, it seemed like the green haired man took it seriously, while the other two simply shrugged it off. The man known as Freed shifted his attention from Laxus to Mirajane.
"And who are you?" Freed said, pointing an excusing finger at the young barmaid. "She just works here right, Laxus?" the man asked, looking towards the blonde man for confirmation, to which Laxus nodded in reply. Freed turned his head back towards Mirajane. "So why are you two talking with such familiarity?!" he said, gritting his teeth.
Bickslow began to stroke his chin, clearly imitating Laxus. It seemed like he was trying to copy Laxus, or perhaps it was the other way around, and Laxus had gotten that habit from Bickslow? Mirajane didn't know, but she didn't really care either. "Freed's got a good point. You two lovers or something?" he asked. Freed almost fainted after hearing that, while Bickslow and Evergreen remained relatively unaffected.
"Do you guys not have a sense of humour?" Laxus asked dryly. "I was just kidding..." he told them, although the tone in his voice didn't suggest that he was being lighthearted at all.
"Yes, he was just kidding!" Freed said, clearly overreacting to Laxus' words. He shrugged Mirajane off, as if she had suddenly become irrelevant after Laxus admitted that he had only called her Mira-chan as a joke. "There is no woman in the world who is good enough for Laxus, after all!" he added, clenching his fist as he did so. Bickslow patted the guy on the back, as if to ask him to calm down.
Mirajane tapped Laxus on the back. "Hm?" he replied, as he leaned in closer to hear what Mirajane had to say. The white haired girl moved her lips closer to Laxus' ears. "Since you live on the second floor, does that mean these three will be coming over often?" she asked.
Laxus nodded, his face was still expressionless. "More or less. Why? Can't handle them?" Laxus asked, loud enough for the three people to hear. Bickslow, Freed and Evergreen didn't hear what Laxus said though. Freed was still letting out sighs of relief after finding out that Mirajane and Laxus weren't a couple, Bickslow just seemed to be staring blankly in the distance while Evergreen was staring at herself in a compact mirror.
Mira shook her head, and let out a sigh, before a smile appeared on her lips. "Right then!" she began. "Three drinks coming up!"
A/N: Hi guys! An author's note was missing from the first chapter, because... well I didn't really have anything to say. But now I do! I want to thank the my reviewers, xNightDreamerx, SheRa-ver, ShiroKuroKnight, DDRV, D-Maestro. And thank you to all the guests as well. I hope you guys enjoyed this ... filler 1.5 chapter! It was just something I thought up of and was originally suppose to be a one-shot. Consider it a preview. More to come! Also, if you guys have any preferences as to how you want the story to pan out, leave a review! I'm open to suggestions!
