I'd just like to start by saying thanks for all the feedback and responses so far, it was above and beyond what I expected. As a present have this chapter of Laxus being a manipulative scumbag, it was so much fun to write.

Matter of Succession

II

The Best Laid Plans

Laxus Dreyar

August 17th, X784

The afternoon was quickly fading as Laxus nursed a drink at the makeshift bar which Mirajane had set up to keep everyone refreshed whilst they worked on rebuilding the guild. The blonde himself hadn't lifted a figure to help and no plans to do, he was far more preoccupied, rightly so in his mind, with thoughts on how he was going to deal with his new redheaded problem.

Laxus, in his own eyes, was many things. He was no fool however, and if it came down to the guild as a whole making a straight up choice between himself and Erza then the odds would be overwhelmingly against him. He supposed, as he sipped on his ale, that a part of that was his own fault but he didn't care. Laxus Dreyar never regretted his decisions. If anything the whole situation just gave him a clear list of who he needed to get rid of when who took control of Fairy Tail – with Erza being at the top of that list. As long as the redheaded knight was around he could never consider his grasp on the guild absolute. Then again, whilst the guild had been a joke under his grandfather's rule, they had taken down Phantom Lord. Maybe there were some keepers hidden amongst the trash after all.

Although, whilst she was admittedly far more popular with the rank-and-file guild members than Laxus himself was, Erza's current position of power was hardly something to boast about. The battle with Phantom had been hard and many people were looking for leadership and not empty reassurance, which was all Erza seemed to know how to give at the moment and even then it was pretty shit. Even though he had stormed out of the meeting with Ultear, Laxus had hung around long enough to hear Erza emerge from the tent and explain to the gathered members of Fairy Tail what had occurred. The response could hardly be called positive. In the end it was hard to tell if the negativity was over the possibility of having Erza or himself as guild master. Probably the latter. Maybe the idea of someone else taking the position of guild master helped people finally start to actually accept his grandfather's loss as absolute truth.

Still, it was irksome, he knew. He honestly had very few options available to him and Laxus new that regardless of what anyone else said he was likely on a clock to take control of the guild. The thought of him moving up the Battle of Fairy Tail had occurred to him briefly during the meeting with Ultear but all of the preparation that had gone into planning the whole thing had been with his grandfather in mind. He would still be able to execute the Battle of Fairy Tail during the Fantasia Festival but the adjustments he would need to account for Erza being his main opponent would prevent him from bringing it forward.

…No, he thought with a slight scowl, realising even the Battle of Fairy Tail might prove too risky in the coming months. Whilst a part of him would much rather just beat Erza bloody and take what was rightfully his, using force to take control of the guild when the she-devil Ultear could drop in at any moment without warning could see him dragged away in chains and the guild given to Erza just because of impatiences. What's more the Thunder God Tribe suddenly showing up after months of being absent from the guild right after his grandfather's death would no doubt put Erza on high alert.

There was a very good reason he'd decided to make his move at the Fantasia Festival, it gave him plenty of cover to move behind and his bodyguards returning to partake in the festival hardly seemed strange. That meant until Freed and the others returned he only had one major ally in the entire guild who he could count on.

Natsu.

Up until her death, Lisanna had probably been the only one of the younger kids Laxus had actually tolerated to any real degree and he had taken her loss surprisingly hard; even if outside of her siblings the person who had taken Lisanna's loss the worst was Natsu. The salmon haired idiot had somehow found out the mission that had resulted in his friend's death was meant for the none other than the blonde lightning wizard: the slip had requested him personally, but Laxus had thought that routine monster control had sounded boring and told his grandfather he could pawn it off to someone else for all he cared and he picked a different mission for himself before the old geezer could argue.

He returned to the guild the afternoon of the funeral, soaked to the bone and unaware of the death in the family that the guild had suffered. When his grandfather had first handed him the paper explaining what had happened the first thing that had hit him was a sickening sense of guilt. The mission had been meant for him. Still, he cast the guilt aside with the paper that very afternoon: how was it his fault if Mirajane was to inept to protect her own siblings? It'd been simple monster control for crying out loud. Not to mention wizards died on the job all the time, it was hardly unheard of and it would most certainly not be the last time Fairy Tail lost someone to the job.

Yet when he'd found out, Natsu had very much thought him at least somewhat guilty for the entire mess. Laxus had seen Natsu throw many a temper tantrum in his time at the guild but the boy who had come at him that day had been powered by silent fury and grief. It'd be a little disturbing to see the rosette like that, but Laxus had beat down the young Dragon Slayer with minimal effort. Not before Natsu somehow managed to eat some of his lightning.

Now that had been interesting.

The result was something Laxus had never expected: Natsu could now use his own brand of Dragon Slayer magic. Or rather combine the blonde's Lightning Dragon Slayer magic with his own Fire Dragon Slayer magic. Laxus had needed to beat the idiot senseless a second time in short succession to ensure the younger Dragon Slayer wouldn't go running his mouth off about what had happened.

In the end Natsu's silence had come at a price: he wanted Laxus to train him how to use the magic he'd accidentally obtained. Even back then Laxus had known the reason Natsu wanted to learn was because he planned on using the magic to punish him for the role he'd played in Lisanna's death. It'd been stupid of him to agree, but a part of the blonde wizard had been curious to see just how much the younger boy could achieve when he was driven by such a powerful goal. So, even after nearly two years of training together in secret, whilst they hadn't made the kind of progress Laxus would've like, Natsu had admittedly still improved drastically as a wizard.

Of course Laxus' had expressly forbidden Natsu from using the magic in front of anyone. Originally it was down to that Natsu had little to no real control of Laxus' magic and he would not have the idiot make a fool out of him by misusing his magic but in time it was replaced by another reason. Whilst Laxus had taught him how to use Lightning magic on its own and he forced the pink haired idiot to learn pyromancy that wasn't related to dragon slaying. Only real opponents should be allowed to face Dragon Slayer magic, the Lightning Fire Dragon Slayer mode (as they had come to call it) seemed to be highly unstable and dangerous for Natsu to use for more than a few minutes at a time without risking serious self-injuries. What was more shocking though was that even if accidentally, Natsu had helped Laxus to learn a thing or two about what it meant to be a Dragon Slayer and somewhere along the way the blonde had grown surprisingly fond of the pinked haired pyromaniac – in an annoying younger brother kind of way.

Shaking his head, Laxus cast aside such stupid thoughts as he took another sip of his drink. Chancing a glance over his shoulder at the place where the guild hall would eventually once more stand. Turning away, he resigned himself that in the end he would just have to be patient and wait for his time to take what was his as there was no real way he could actually turn Natsu against Erza fully, at least not currently.

"You could at least try and lend a hand; you know?" Laxus looked up see Mira staring at him with a pointed look. Whilst she had tolerated his presence earlier in the day it seemed he was starting to push his luck with the white haired barmaid. His attitude during the entire war with Phantom Lord hadn't earned him any favours either.

"I don't do grunt work," Laxus scoffed into his mug before taking a swig of his ale, an idea striking him as he lowered the flask. Looking to the barmaid with narrowed eyes, he smirked to himself. It was no secret that Mirajane was one of the most influential members in the guild and whilst she would never join his side over Erza's he could most certainly sow the seeds of discord between the pair. "Besides, all of this has got me thinking about things,"

"About what?" Mirajane hissed in a tone that made Laxus give a mock expression of hurt at her hostility. Mira sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath as she tried her best to act more like the mother everyone now expected her to be. "What have you been thinking about, Laxus?" This would be all too easy, everyone already seemed to be on edge and trying to find their way back, even the usually nowadays placid Mirajane was wound tighter than a new spring and an emotional wreck.

"I dunno, losing Gramps and what it means for the guild," Got her, Laxus thought gleefully although his face was perfect mask of sombre remorse and regret whilst Mirajane went rigid. She took one last look at him, about ready to burst into tears, she turned away but Laxus was ready for that. "I guess it got me thinking about the last time we lost someone. Your last s-class mission. You were never meant to get that mission, you know?"

That stopped her in her tacks, just like he thought it would. She looked over her shoulder at him, utterly stunned. Good, he had her attention now all he had to do was reel her in. Jerking his head to the left, indicating over his shoulder to were Erza and Macao stood around a table discussing the blueprints for the new guild hall: "You see our precious Queen of the Fairies over there?"

Mirajane just nodded as she turned around to look at him horror struck, completely enraptured by what he had to say. A part of him was honestly finding it hard to not burst out laughing at how easy this was turning out to be. Maybe he really didn't have to worry about taking over the guild at his rate – if everything proved this easy he'd be guild master before the month was out.

"The mission slip that came in originally requested her specifically," Laxus was lying through his teeth, of course, but Mirajane held a lot of sway in the guild and whilst she might never side with him outright, if he could turn her and Erza against one another the chaos it would cause amongst the rest of the guild would be more than a solid foundation for him to work on.

"Of course," he added after a small pause for effect, "precious little Erza thought she was too good for monster control and instead told Gramps to dump it on you. Why do you think you got to take Lisanna and Elfman along with you? The numbers were there to help try and balance out the power gap. When I found out the old geezer swore me to secrecy, but I feel you should know the truth."

"Your lying!" Mira's voice become a high pitched scream and Laxus could feel the eyes of everyone else still present turn on the two of them. It was annoying, he could have done without the audience but he could still make this work in his favour. "You're lying." Mira repeated, now at a controlled volume.

Of course he was, but Laxus shook his head in denial: "Truth stings doesn't it?"

"Erza would never do anything like that." Mirajane shook her head and whilst it seemed like her loyalty to Erza was unshaken, Laxus could see the slightly hint of doubt in her eyes. That slither of uncertainty was all he needed though. Standing up, he took one last swing of drink before slamming the glass down on the bar top.

"Hey, who am I tell you the truth, right?" Laxus held up his hands in mock surrender, "I mean only Erza can tell you whether it's true or not," leaning in he added in a whisper, "but do you really think she'd admit to something like that? I mean she practically killed your sister by proxy of not doing her job. Lisanna would still be here if she'd just sucked it up and done what was asked of her."

Something inside him seemed to twist at his own words, but Laxus refused to pay it much heed. Sure there was some truth to what he was saying, maybe a tiny part of him still felt a little guilty, but like he'd thought the day he learned that Lisanna died, the blame was ultimately Mira's because she was too weak to protect her little sister.

"Laxus!" He moved away from the barmaid, turning to see Erza had hobbled her way over to the bar, flanked by Macao, who was quickly joined by a nervous looking Cana. "What are you saying to Mirajane? Is he upsetting you, Mira?" her attention quickly swapped to Mira who just stared back at the redhead, too stunned to really say anything, tears falling down her checks.

Laxus just shrugged his coat back on, looking towards Mira for one last comment: "Like I said, ask her. I doubt she'll give you a straight answer though." There were many confused looks exchanged as Laxus made his exit, chuckling to himself under his breath.

Erza would obviously trying to coax what had happened out of Mira but the barmaid would probably prove tight lipped. It'd be enough to unsettled his competition. He'd opened a heavy wound and if he kept poking at it then maybe he'd get real lucky and the Demon would come out to play one last time and dethrone Titania for him. Looks like I can call this one a win, Laxus thought as the noise of construction faded away and he made his way home. Whilst he might not have earned a new support he had certainly left a rift between Erza and Mira, even if the former didn't know about it yet.

Now that the ground work was laid, all he needed was to figure out what his next move was. Perhaps, he thought, as he caught of Kardia Cathedral out of the corner of his eye, he wouldn't have to wait for the Fantasia Festival to make his decisive move but as he walked something else occurred to him.

Word of his grandfather's death would spread across Fiore in no time, possibly the continent. If it hadn't already. It wasn't uncommon knowledge that Fairy Tail had made many enemies over the years and many would be chomping at the bit for a chance to be ones to finish off Fairy Tail now the guild was without Makarov Dreyar. Perhaps he could use one of those guilds with a grudge against Erza without directly involving himself if his plan with Mira proved to be ineffective.

No, that wouldn't work.

Despite his low opinion of her for the most part, Laxus would not underestimate Erza. He wouldn't be Jose and lose because of misplaced overconfidence. Any of the enemies the guild had that would be strong enough to be a serious threat to Erza were his enemies too. He'd never be able to control such lose cannons and they'd most likely be more interested in taking him down than his competition.

He could maybe use some of their lesser enemies to undermine Erza's ability to lead, cripple those most loyal to her and spread doubt amongst the rest of the guild about what his challenger for the title of guild master was capable. If nothing else, he could use lesser guilds to push Fairy Tail to the precipice of destruction just in time for the Fantasia Festival and the return of the Thunder God Tribe – Ultear would probably be long gone by that point. It was by no means a plan perfect but at least it was the bases of a long term one, which was no doubt more than Erza had by a long shot.

In the end it didn't matter though because there was only one absolute about the coming months as far as he was concerned. Fairy Tail would be his. He would be guild master, and when people spoke of his guild it would with fear and respect in their voices and not amusement and laughter. His grandfather's guild had been a joke and suffered for it – Laxus' guild would crush anything in its path to glory.

There was no other option.

A/N: So one of the big changes I mentioned in the first chapter notes was the change in certain relationships: Laxus and Natsu's probably being one of the biggest, as seen here Laxus actually has his claws in Natsu but the flame breathing hero of canon is pretty much the same as he is supposed to be, he just has a more positive (?) relationship with Laxus which will be a large part of Natsu's character arc as he must decide where his loyalties lie.

That being said, the next chapter will have some focus on Natsu and we'll get to see some of the other relationships that don't really exist in canon that I want to address in this story. Catch you with the next one,guys.