Alert! This is a companion piece to the main story to be read after chapter 30. DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 30 OF AMONGST UNTRODDEN WAYS OR YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON. Plus, you will have spoilers. So just ... go back and read chapter 30: Retribution real quick then come back and read this. Trust me, it will make so much more sense if you do.
Review Response: Dear Natzed202, greetings! So happy you think so! I hope you enjoy this as well!
Dear Dragon Lord Draco, hello there! Glad you enjoyed it so much! That will be all of the future sneak peaks for a while, but hopefully this chapter will be enjoyable as well.
Dear WolfGirl1, hey there! Yep. Wren can be very patient when it comes to revenge and there was no sense in punishing their past selves because they'd have no idea why. Better to let them know and regret while she extracts vengeance, ne?
Dear YumiKnowsBest, hi! I'm planning on referencing it in a later chapter (if I remember that far down the line). Hmm, you have offered a very good suggestion and an interesting reason to do so, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and see what I have planned for that arc and beyond.
Dear skyfir, hello! Heh, heh, whoops? Though really, I'm proud I got you to laugh that hard. So long as you didn't hurt yourself in the process of course.
Dear Mandyne, greetings! I aim to please! The Laxus mystery will have to wait, but hopefully the newest chapter will be just as interesting.
Dear EmberFlame03, hi there! Thrilled to hear it! I hope you enjoy the update as well!
Dear BlackDove WhiteDove, hello! (chuckles) There were serious repercussions for the dress-up incident, believe me. Pantherlily is the ultimate cuteness (next to Mavis and Zeref anyway). So glad you liked it!
Dear Draconicflare, hi! A girl can hope can't she? Of course it's Natsu's fault. When is it ever not, in some way, Natsu's fault? Oh, how's your enjoying the anime so far? It is connected a bit to her nightmares, but he also said that because back when Wren first arrived in Earthland, she used to have panic attacks over being in a fictional world. Bickslow never knew what triggered the seemingly random moments of hysteria, but after learning about her 'Seer Magic' he assumed it had something to do with that. So he's trying to cover his bases about whatever is triggering her hyperventilation. I couldn't do a one-shot in the future and NOT have Natsu/Gray rivalry. They're just too classic. Oh yeah, that's going to be a interesting moment to cover (cackles). Hibernate is a good word for it, he does not get enough screen time. Sweet for Wren, yes, but very, very traumatizing to everyone else. They will FEAR (maniac laughter fades into the distance).
Author's Note: So, just a reminder, DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE LATEST CHAPTER OF AMONGST UNTRODDEN WAYS. It will be called Chapter Thirty: Retribution in the little chapter skip/dropbox thing, so make sure to read that before reading this. Yeah. So anyway, really short one-shot here to go with a really short chapter, but I just didn't feel like I should combine the two, so here they are as partner chapters. I hope you enjoy it! Also, kinda random, but if anyone want's to see what Wren looks like as an adult (in my head anyway) look up pictures of Taylor Swift with curly hair. Now imagine her with hazel eyes and no makeup. That's as close to a picture of Wren as I can get unless I magically acquire actual drawing skills...
Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any references made in this story. The only things I own are my OCs who have run off with my plot.
Dragon's Oath
(Set During Chapters 28 through 30)
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Laxus had been uneasy for the past few days. The energy he'd usually had for his birthday was nowhere to be found and no matter what Jiji thought, his lack of enthusiasm wasn't because he was afraid of Freed and Evergreen going into a shopping frenzy or starting one of their rants of devotion. Even though the rants and near-worshipping devotion were beyond unnerving.
He was worried about his father.
His father always came back to the guild to celebrate Laxus's birthday. Always. No matter what missions he had or how far he had to travel to get back in time, his father always made a point to come back on his birthday. They didn't even spar on his birthdays. Instead, Ivan would take him to a restaurant after the official party and give Laxus the present that he had picked out during his travels in private.
It was one of the reasons Laxus had been so sure that his father loved him despite how painful their spars were. It was one of the things that he had hung his faith on until Wren and Bickslow had blown into his life and reacted so violently to their sparring. Until Wren had scared off his father —the man Laxus had always seen as immovable and all-powerful and fearless— and Laxus had found himself surrounded on all sides by constant devotion and care and laughter. The Raijinshū treated him like his father did on his birthday only all the time and a small part of his mind had begun to wonder if that was what a real family was like, what real love was like.
It was so … warm. Warm enough that he had actually forgotten about his birthday until Jiji had asked if his wishlist was ready to turn in and Laxus had remembered that his father would be coming back in a matter of days.
And Wren had made it very clear that she would literally dismember Ivan if his father touched Laxus again.
Laxus hadn't known what to do. He couldn't skip out on the party, Jiji would throw a fit. He couldn't avoid his father, because that would get his father's attention —or worse, insult him to the point that he rescinded the no-spars-on-birthdays rule—. He had avoided the problem for as long as he dared, not bringing the Raijinshū down to the guild for several days until he glumly realized that he had to go help with the party or Jiji would go to the lighthouse and ruin any chances he had of keeping his birthday and Ivan's impending arrival a secret.
Laxus had decided to keep the Raijinshū as busy as possible with the party preparations to keep them from hearing about his father's habit of visiting. Then, on the actual day of the party, Laxus had planned to wait until the Raijinshū were busy celebrating and playing with everyone else and then sneak off to meet his father at the train station. He would tell his father that he wanted to spend the whole day with him instead of just having a private after-party dinner and then keep his father busy and away from the guild for the rest of the day.
After his father went back to the mansion to get some sleep, Laxus would return to the guild hall and take the Raijinshū home to the lighthouse. His father usually left early the morning after the party, so by the time the Raijinshū went down to the guild hall to pick up a job, his father would have left and no one would be any the wiser.
It wasn't the best plan. Fairy Tail Luck would surely swoop in and make things more complicated but Laxus had thought he could pull it off. Had thought he could protect both sides of his life from the other. Maintain both the tradition he had with his father and the cheerful, crazy warmth that he had grown so fond of with the Raijinshū.
Then Evergreen had come running into the guild, screaming about Magic Hunters and Mest trying to hold them off and the Raijinshū being in danger and in the space of minutes, Laxus's whole world had come crashing down around his ears.
The guild had gathered in the alley, furious and dangerous and ready to protect their own … but then the threat had been one of the them. Laxus had stared from his position slightly behind the front row, unable to understand it. Wren and Bickslow were handcuffed and hurt. He could see the blood on Wren's leg, the bruises on Bickslow's face, the way Bickslow's breath hitched every time he inhaled, as if something was wrong with his ribs. Freed was there, terrified and subconsciously cradling the side of his face just beneath the eye that Porlyusica-san had replaced as he cried. Mest was there too, battered and cut in a thousand tiny places in a way that was so heart-wrenchingly familiar … except for the shallow cut along his neck, a hairs-breadth from his jugular.
The dragon in him stirred, snarling and hissing at the damage done to his Treasures, at the scent of fear and hate and killing intent directed at those that were his. He wanted to punch the threat, hurt it, destroy it.
But the only man standing in the alley was his father.
Laxus had stared and struggled, but no matter how hard he tried it didn't … it didn't fit. His father wouldn't hurt the Raijinshū like that, he wouldn't. He knew that Wren and Bickslow were part of the Raijinshū, part of Laxus's team. Mest was a fellow guild member, Freed was just a kid. Evergreen had said that the others were being attacked by Magic Hunters but Ivan was a member of Fairy Tail. He wasn't a Magic Hunter. He wouldn't hurt the Raijinshū, he wouldn't try to kill fellow Fairy Tail members.
Surely his father had just arrived in town a few days early and happened to come across the trouble. Surely his father had been defending the Raijinshū from the unconscious thugs Laxus could see in the alley, surely…
But then Jiji had stepped forward —his magic rolling off of him in powerful glowing waves of pressure— and raged at Ivan, accused him of betrayal, of trying to kill Mest, of making the Raijinshū cry. Laxus felt anger on his father's behalf bubble under his skin-
Then his father straightened up and snarled, "Betrayed? I am doing what is necessary!" Wait … what? Laxus felt everything still, even his inner-dragon fell into a stunned, confused silence. "They are a plague on this guild!"
Who are you talking about? He couldn't be talking about the Raijinshū. Not Laxus's Raijinshū. His team, his friends, his bond-siblings, his Treasures. "A plague to my son!"
He was. How could he? How could he be talking about them that way? Surely he didn't mean it, surely he wasn't saying what Laxus thought he was saying. His inner-dragon stirred and a growl sounded in the back of his mind, growing rapidly louder and deeper because how dare he? How dare he say that? Imply that? No, Laxus protested mentally, he doesn't mean it like that, he can't- "I will not let your soft-heartedness for strays ruin Laxus's future!"
But he did. Laxus had heard his father talk about preserving Laxus's future before, had had things taken away because his father thought them detrimental. Certain toys and books, his budding friendships with the non-magical children of Magnolia. He had stolen things from Laxus before and Laxus had always let him because Ivan was his father and surely he knew best-
My Treasures. His inner-dragon snarled and lightning yellow tinted his vision as Laxus's thoughts blurred and meshed and whirled until he became unable able to tell where the dragon's instincts ended and his own thoughts began. My Treasures! Mine! Thief near my Treasures how dare you, how dare you, you can't, you couldn't have tried to take them, they're mine and surely you know that, you wouldn't steal them thief thief thief you dare- no stop, shut up-shut-up it isn't true you tried to hurt them, tried to steal my Treasures, to steal what's mine-
Ivan's words pierced the haze, "You would not remove them, so I had t-" Treasures-MY-TREASURES-STAY-AWAY-FROM-WHAT'S-MINE!
Laxus lunged at the threat, rage and hate and pain ripping from his throat as the dragon shrieked. He pinned the threat to the ground and lightning surged from his skin, ready to destroy. Laxus began to maul the threat with his bare claws instead because the threat was a thief, the threat was a traitor and traitors deserved to suffer first before they died-
A huge hand wrapped around him, pulling him away from the prey-thief-traitor and Laxus struggled with a shriek of rage. The hand refused to let go even as he channeled lightning through it. He heard someone —someone he knew? Someone he trusted. Someone part of the High Pack— yell something at him, but Laxus didn't listen. He didn't have time to listen. Didn't they understand that there was a thief-traitor right there and Laxus needed to punish him, rip him apart and make him scream his regrets for his sins before he died?
Words spilled from his throat as he howled in frustration, "Thief! Traitor! Traitor! Stay away from what's mine! I'll kill you for trying to steal them do you hear me? I'LL KILL YOU!" It wasn't a threat, it wasn't even a promise. It was a guarantee, an Oath of blood and rage and hurt. An Oath made not by mere human words, but by the magic of a dragon who had been betrayed. A roar of lightning that ripped from his jaws, a seal to the Oath even though the hand restraining him caused him to miss his target. It didn't matter that it missed, it didn't matter when a sleep spell swept through him and smothered his magic core and senses.
He was passed from the huge hand to a waiting shoulder and the dragon began to relax as it recognized the scent of soothing-sensible-amusing-Flicker-Space. He was quickly surrounded by the injured and tired but wonderfully alive scents of silly-fierce-loyal-Clear-Sight, shy-steadfast-devoted-Word-of-Sight, and dangerous-old-protective-Abyss-Eyes.
As the thief-traitor was punished by old-loving-Alpha-Giant and taken away, the dragon finally retreated. It slowly untangled itself from the jumbled mesh of what-was-dragon and what-was-Laxus-Dreyar and slid back into the realm of the subconscious. There was no need for it to be in the forefront anymore.
But it would remain. It would stay in the background, remembering that day, remembering that moment. A Dragon's Oath had been sworn and it had been sealed with magic. The dragon growled low as it receded into the very back of Laxus's mind, watching distantly as the thief-traitor was dragged away, silenced by the death threat of old-loving-Alpha-Giant. It could not fulfill the Oath right now, not suppressed by old-loving-Alpha-Giant's sleep spell and in defiance of the High Pack Alpha's direct orders. But a dragon never forgot its Oaths and there would be time to hunt down the thief-traitor again. There would be a later.
The dragon could wait.
