Laxus and the Book of the Angels

Hey guys after a dozen rewrites I FINALLY finished this chapter! Firstly I would like to apologize to all of you since this was SUPPOSED to be posted a couple weeks ago but due to homework and band I didn't have a lot of time on my hands. Now I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! No seriously I hope you do because I'm kind of worried haha. Enjoy!


As Lucy is woken up by the shining afternoon sun she hears explosions off in the distance.

"What's with all this noise?" Lucy says as she rubs the sleep off her eyes.

The cracking of thunder and explosions fill the air when Lucy's curiosity begins to overcome her. Wondering what is happening, she begins to make her way toward the source of the noise. As Lucy gets closer to the source the explosions become more visible and when she finds herself at a forest trail, she finds a blonde-haired mage and what looks like six demons attacking them. The mage is quite tall with spikey blonde hair and on his right eye a lightning-shaped scared decorated his face. Decorating him is a simple outfit - a brown t-shirt over his black long-sleeved shirt and brown jeans and magic headphones over his ears. The five of the six demons that are attacking the mage and man had skin as black as the abyss with glowing, fiery red eyes, ram horns jutting out of their skulls, and wielded a grin that expressed their madness and insanity. Wielding claws for nails on their hands and feet, they continuously pounced at the mage as they were each shot with a ball of lightning or received a punch or kick in the face as they got close to the blonde mage. Despite what the mage did to them though, they continued their assault.

"The book! We must get the book for Erebus-sama! Get that book you bunch of weaklings!" the demon farthest away from the mage screamed at the rest as he launches dozens of fireballs at the blonde mage who is barely able to defend against their assault. This demon appears to be the leader of the pack, with dozens of red tattoos decorating his body and red rings around his horns. As he screamed more orders to the rest of the demons, a red aura of magic grows around the demon leader, growing with his anger.

As magical aura grows larger and larger, fear envelops Lucy because of the enormous amount of magic the demon leader wields.

"Shit, we can't get past this annoyance" the demon leader says. As he is about to make an order to retreat, he notices the fear-stricken Lucy standing at the tree line. When he sees the keys gripped tightly in her hands, he grins wildly.

He then orders the five demons to stand by. Then he suddenly teleports in front of Lucy and viciously grabs her by the arm, picks her up, and holds her by her arms and waist with his left hand and holds a red serrated knife to her neck with his right. As the demons see the girl's celestial spirit keys fall to the ground, a grin grows from ear to ear on each of their faces. On the other hand frustration and worry grow on the two men's faces as their situation became drastically worse.

"If you want this girl alive you will hand over that book!" He demands as a madness filled grin reaches from ear to ear.

"Dammit, of all things this had to happen" the blonde man says in frustration.

Flashback

At the wizard's guild Fairy Tail in Magnolia a sixteen-year old blonde haired man named Laxus Dreyar walks in through the guild doors and makes his way upstairs towards the S-Class Request Board. Laxus is a lightning mage and because of his father, he also became a lightning dragon slayer. Laxus became eager to go on a new mission because he wanted to show everyone how strong he is, he wanted to show his grandpa, the current master of Fairy Tail, Makarov Dreyar how strong he is. Being the grandson of a wizard saint, he always felted shadowed by his grandfather and so he made a vow to become stronger and surpass his grandfather.

As he approached the S-Class Request Board, he scanned the three available requests. Two out the three requests had a reward exceeding one-hundred million, but the reality is that they would only result in him getting killed. The third mission though caught his attention.

Looking for an experienced mage to guard me while I deliver an ancient artifact from Shirotsume Town to the library in Crocus!

Client: Michael Reeder

Location: Shirotsume Town at the red-brick house closest to Duke Everlue's mansion.

Reward: 50,000,000 Jewels

Seeing that this is the only mission he could take, he plucked the request off the board and headed towards Makarov's office to let him know of his departure.

"Jii-chan, I'm taking this mission" he says as he shoves the request in his face.

Makarov scans the job request then glances at Laxus.

"Ok, you may take this mission Laxus" Makarov tells his grandson.

Without saying thanks or goodbye, Laxus walks out of his grandfather's office and out of the guild and starts his trek toward Shirotsume Town. After arriving, he heads towards the client's home to discuss the mission in further detail.

Finally arriving at the Michael's house, he knocks on his door and almost instantly a man answers. As the man opens the door, Laxus sees that his height only reached his shoulders. His short ebony hair is spiked and combed back and he wore a simple black and white suit. His eyes on his unblemished face gave off a very boring and blank stare.

"Is this where Michael Reeder lives? I'm an S-Class mage from Fairy Tail who came for the job request" Laxus asks.

Suddenly the man's face lit up.

"Ah yes, I am Michael Reeder. Come in and please have a seat the living room" he replies while holding the door for Laxus.

As Laxus walks through his house he notices the vast amount of books sitting in every single corner of his home. One side of his home had books that seem to be fresh from the book store and on the other side had books that were worn down and showed signs of age.

Finally finding himself in the living room, he takes a seat when Michael takes a book from a safe and sets it on the living room table.

"This is the artifact that I will be delivering to the library in Crocus – The Book of the Angels" Michael states. " Unfortunately I have found absolutely nothing about this book besides its name and the fact that it is completely untouchable through direct contact and those who could were unable to open it" He says as he pushes the book towards Laxus, implying that he should try to touch it to prove his statement.

Laxus then tries to touch the cover of the book but receives a shock as his hand approaches the book. Being a lightning dragon slayer, the shock did not affect him whatsoever. He then picks the book up and tries to open it, but fails completely.

"Well you're definitely right but why would need a guard if you know nothing else about this book?" Laxus asks. Suddenly Michael's expression turns very serious and almost sad.

"I was not the first person to hold this book. Many of my colleagues before me who were in possession of this book were chased down by a particular dark guild called The Demon's Court before they passed the book to me. The strange part is that none of them have been targeted by any dark guild until they were given this book." He says with a deep sadness protruding from his eyes. After shaking the sadness away from him, he continues his explanation.

"My colleagues and I have found this book in an ancient library in Desierto several months ago. The man who first found the book decided to take the book with him first to research it when suddenly he ran into The Demon's Court while travelling. They demanded that he should hand over the book but lied and told them that he did not have it. He was then attacked and before he was killed he managed to give the book to his colleague that was traveling with him who was then able to escape from the attackers. Then when that man was travelling he became paranoid; saying that he felt that he was being spied on. Afraid that he too will be killed he gave the book to another person a week later. This routine has continued until it came into my possession. Now that it has been passed onto me I wish to leave this book in the hands of the librarians in Crocus so that no one must suffer the same fate" Michael states.

"Your colleagues are idiots for not thinking of that in the first place" Laxus blatantly states, causing an awkward silence between the two men.

After a couple of minutes Laxus speaks up and asks Michael about the most valuable piece of information he would need to protect his client.

"What does The Demon's Court look like?" Laxus asks.

"Their eyes begin to glow red before they attack, though besides that look just like ordinary people. When they see their target they pounce at him or her simultaneously as a single unit and midway through their pounce, their bodies transform something that looks like a demon – black skin, fiery red eyes, abyssal black hair, and horns" Michael says as Laxus listens carefully, making sure not to miss a single word.

"They often attack in a group of six, one person being the leader. The leader always has tattoos all across his or her body. The five's attacks are purely physical and attack like beasts – using their claws in their demon-form to maim their enemies. Unlike those five, the leader's attacks will be very different. The leaders will always be a mage and often times they are able to use a weapon, physical or magical."

"Ok so are you ready to leave? I think it would be best if we left as soon as possible"

"Of course"

Michael then places the book in a suitcase and the book-lover and lightning dragon slayer make their way outside of Shirotsume Town and climbs onto the horse-drawn carriage. Slowly making their way towards Crocus, they could only hope for the best.

Two days later

At high noon Laxus and Michael make their way down the path in the forest southwest of Shirotsume Town when several piercing red eyes stare into their souls from the trees surrounding them.

One, two, three, four, five pairs of eyes. It must be The Demon's Court. But where is the sixth? Laxus thinks to himself as he observes the surrounding forest while preparing for what may be an attack.

"Do you see those eyes staring at us Michael?" Laxus asks.

"Yea,it's definitely them" Michael responds fearfully at Laxus' observation.

Laxus stares back at the red eyes while Michael's hands shake in fear of what is to come.

After what seemed to be an eternity, five figures ferociously pounce at the carriage with Laxus and Michael as their bodies change into the demon-like appearance mid-pounce. Laxus quickly reacts to the attack and immediately grabs Michael around his waist with his right arm and the book with his left and jumps out of the way of their attackers before the carriage was obliterated. Laxus gracefully lands in front of the tree line and hides Michael and the book behind the tree and quickly turns back around and launches dozens of lightning balls, punches, and kicks at the demon-like men lunging at him. But no matter how many times Laxus attacks the demons, they each respond only by getting back up and rejoined the assault.

Damn! These guys won't stay down! And where is that leader? Laxus thinks as his eyes dart at each demon that suddenly stopped in their assault, their bloodlust still freshly present in their eyes. Why did they stop attacking? He thinks as he gasps for air. Suddenly another demon emerges from the tree line - a demon completely decorated from horns to toes in vibrant red tattoos.

"You must be the leader" Laxus states with caution in his voice.

"How observant of you. I am the leader, of this particular pack" the tattooed demon man says.

"Pack? So there's more of you" Laxus growls.

"Plenty more" the demon hisses as an evil grin appears on his face.

"How do you always know who has the book? And why do you want it so badly?" Laxus asks.

"Spies, inside sources, etcetera. As for why we want it there is no need for me to tell you since I do not plan on letting you out of this alive. Now kill him! And get that book already!" the demon man commands. The five other demons respond with at a breakneck pace and reinitiate their assault on an already exhausted Laxus.

End of flashback

Am I going die here? Is this my punishment for running away? This scary person is going to kill me! But I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!

"Papa! Papa! I'm so sorry Papa! I won't run away again! Just please save me! Somebody save me!" Lucy screams as she struggles to try and free herself from the demon's arms, uselessly kicking and punching the demon hoping that he will release her.

"Let go of her you bastard!" Laxus growls as he hopelessly watches the girl struggle in the demon's grip.

"I will let her live if you bring out Michael and make him hand over that book!" he responds with Lucy still firm in his grip and a knife at her throat.

"Why the hell do you want the book anyways?!" Laxus restates.

Without giving him an answer he runs his knife across her neck, creating shallow but utterly painful and jagged cuts. As the knife slices her the skin around the cut begins to turn an abyssal black. With the demonic poison from his knife he only needed to create cuts deep enough for it to have any noticeable effect, an effect good enough for him to witness the agony of his victim.

"Ahh!" Lucy screamed in pain. He then raised his knife and began to create another cut.

"What are you doing to her!?" Laxus screams.

"This knife contains demonic poison" the demons states as he continues to create more cuts. As Laxus hears this his eyes widen in horror.

"You fucking monster! Stop it! I said stop it dammit!"

The demon only ignored the lightning mage and continued with his torture. Cut after cut Lucy's blood slowly seeped from her wounds. Cut after cut Lucy's neck became redder and bloodier. Cut after cut Laxus stood their unable to take a step, completely stunned at what he is witnessing, unable to comprehend the level of monstrosity that he is seeing before his eyes. Cut after cut Lucy's screams reverberated throughout the forest. Cut after cut Laxus grew angrier and angrier.

Miraculously while Lucy is on the brink of fainting she remembers her celestial spirits and suddenly screams out to the sky.

"Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" Lucy screams.

"A celestial spirit?" Laxus says as a levitating blue mermaid suddenly appears, his anger is still rising.

"Lucy! How are you able to summon me without-" Aquarius' eyes widen in shock when she sees the numerous amounts cuts on her master's neck. As a look of horror appears on her face she screams at the demon.

"Let her go you monster!" she screams as she points her urn but before she could release a jet of water, the demon interrupts her by creating another cut across her across.

"If you want her back alive then I suggest you stop what you are doing celestial spirit" the demon hisses.

"Please save me Aquarius!" Lucy pleas as tears flow from her eyes.

"Don't worry I will save you Lucy! I will save you!" Aquarius cries.

As Laxus is listening to the girl and her celestial spirit he continued to grow angrier and now tiny sparks began to shoot themselves from Laxus' body.

When Lucy suddenly faints, the demon takes Lucy by her neck and drops her onto the ground like a boy who finished playing with a broken toy.

"I'm getting bored, so why don't we finish this before I…" he says while grinning wildly as he raises his foot and places it over the fainted Lucy's head, taunting Laxus and Aquarius.

"YOU MONSTER! I will kill you for hurting Lucy!" As Aquarius angrily raises her urn to launch an attack at the demon she snaps her head back when she hears the loud crackling sound of lightning behind her.

Laxus is now completely outraged, furious. Massive branches of lightning were now dangerously shooting out from him like a lightning storm and his eyes glow with the intent to kill the demons before him for committing such a monstrous act. In a matter of milliseconds Laxus disappears and replacing him is a massive arc of lightning and instantaneously passed through the six demons. Recently he was able to learn how to transform his body into lightning, granting him the same traits as lightning and allowing for him to pass through anything. As a result the enormous amount of voltage that he had is something that no living being could handle and one by one each demon he passed through instantaneously exploded into billions of pieces and decorated the trees and shrubbery with blood and gore.

After passing through the sixth demon Laxus fell to his knees and spewed bile and other stomach contents. He had just taken the life of six men, and making them explode only made him feel much worse. Although he knew that the death of someone during an S-Class mission was inevitable, he was naively hoping that he would never need to take someone's life. After simultaneously killing six people, he could only hope that he would never feel the sensation of killing ever again.

"Lucy!" Aquarius cries.

Appearing as if she is oblivious to the blood and gore below her she immediately made haste towards Lucy. When she reaches her she kneels by her side,raises her head and uses the water from her urn to clean the blood from her wounds as she cries for her master. But her tears turn to horror as she witnesses the blackness creeping across her body.

When Michael hears a stranger's worried cry he proceeds to come out from hiding, but he did not expect to see the gruesome sight of the scene before him. In front of Michael are Laxus and a mermaid kneeling beside a girl surrounded in puddles of blood and gore. As Laxus vomits his stomach contents Michael soon followed his example.

After their stomachs were completely emptied Laxus and Michael stood and made his way towards the mermaid and fainted girl. As they approached the mermaid Michael looks at the girl with worry while Laxus looks at her with deep regret.

"The demon said that it's demonic poison" Laxus says sadly.

"Can she be saved?" Aquarius asks.

"I don't know. This is my first time seeing this kind of magic" Laxus says as deep regret fills his eyes. Aquarius then looks at Michael at sorrowfully. Michael only shakes his head as they make eye contact.

Aquarius kneeled in despair. She felt disgraced and utterly ashamed to be a celestial spirit. It was just a year ago when she had made a promise to her mother Layla Heartfilia that she would protect Lucy when she chose the path of the celestial mage and a year later she had already broken that promise as she caressed her dying master.

Guilt panged at Laxus' heart. As he stared at the dying girl the guilt ate away his insides. A bystander had gotten involved and he disgracefully failed to protect her. As the guilt weighed down on him he knew that chances of saving the girl were slim to none. Even if a miracle saves her life the mental scars will remain forever.

Michael felt the utmost guilty. He could not understand the irony behind all of this. He could not understand how a book with such a name could cause so much suffering. Because of this book a bystander was dying in front of his eyes. He wished that he knew more of the book so that maybe this would not have happened. He wished that he and his colleagues had never found this accursed book.

As the three were drowning in despair a ball of light suddenly erected from the suitcase and engulfed Lucy in a blinding white light.

"What's happening?" Laxus said as they shielded their eyes from the blinding ball of light. As the light engulfed her it lifted Lucy and the beams of light began to swirl around her and through her. With each passing beam the blackness slowly began to recede back to the cut which they originated from. As the blackness reached the cut it floated, left to be vaporized by the passing beams of light. As each cut emerged from the receding blackness the cuts began to close, leaving behind nothing but pure and untouched skin. After the last cut closed the light gently placed Lucy onto the bloodied ground and when the light detached itself it left a golf ball-sized ball of light before retreating back inside the book. The ball of light hovered over Lucy for a moment sank into the depths Lucy's heart.

As this happened the book then took on a mind of its own and broke itself out of the suitcase. It began to float towards Lucy and for a moment it hovered over her before finally floating down and slowly resting itself in her hands.

After witnessing the surprising event, Laxus, Michael, and Aquarius were left utterly confused. Laxus and Aquarius stared at the unconscious girl while Michael glanced at his decimated suitcase and the book that resided in the girl's hands. Laxus then hastily walked towards the girl and collapsed onto his knees at checked her vital signs. Tears suddenly began to flow from his tears after feeling her pulse and hearing her steady breath.

"She's okay… she's okay…" Laxus cried as he stared at the ground with the shadow of his bangs covering his eyes. After hearing this Aquarius bursts into tears as she attempts to stifle her sobs. Michael smiled at Laxus as relief engulfed his heart after hearing of the girl's safety.

"Th-th-thank you so much for saving her!" Aquarius bows her head towards the lightning mage.

"O-oi! I wasn't-" Laxus was interrupted when the celestial spirit had disappeared and returned to the Celestial Spirit World.

"Who was she?" Michael asks as Laxus sighs.

"That was a celestial spirit and it seems that this girl is a celestial spirit mage" Laxus states.

"Ah I see. Well I believe we have a more important issue at hand" Michael says. Laxus only responded with silence and took that as a sign to continue.

"I don't know what happened, but the book had saved her life" he assured Laxus. "But what do we do now? Now that the book…"

Laxus looked at Michael who then looked at the book in the girl's hands. Following his eyes Laxus also looked at the book and knew what he was about to say.

"Yeah from what had just happened everything is just becoming more confusing" Laxus stated as he began to regain his composure.

"I agree" Michael nodded. "Now this is just a guess but I would like for you to try to touch the book."

Laxus immediately did what he was asked and placed his hand on the book when suddenly sparks began to fly onto Laxus' arm. As Laxus pulled his arm away from the book he noticed that the sparks had avoided the girl and looked at Michael with a confused look on his face.

"The sparks completely avoided the girl" Laxus states. Michael only nodded and looked unsurprised.

"Based off what the book just did I believe that it had claimed the girl as its owner," He states as he points at the girl. "But that is all I could tell from what had just happened."

"If you're right then I don't think we can just take the book to Crocus now that it has an owner" Laxus says.

"Indeed but now she would need protection because I don't think that this will go unnoticed by The Demon's Court"

During a pregnant pause Laxus stares at the unconscious girl. A moment later he then stands up as a look of determination resides in his eyes. He then turns and faces Michael and looks at him in the eyes and finally breaks the silence.

"I'll take her to Fairy Tail"


Man I felt like I was going insane when I wrote this chapter! Now with concert band season over I will have a lot more free time until August rolls around since that's when practice starts for marching band =/ (40 hours a week for the first 2 weeks woohoo!). I'll see y'all next time in chapter 3: The Radiant One!