~ Night Four ~
Her dress was beautiful. The red silk formed a nice contrast to her dark hair and her tanned skin. To him, she would have been the most beautiful among the female participants anyway but he had a dark feeling that everyone in the audience might agree with him – and he was not sure whether he liked this idea or not. Well, it might play out to be an advantage for them but sometimes, he wondered why she had been so passionate about this special competition. The Fantasia Tournament was certainly an important one but if everything would go on smoothly, they would also be qualified for the National Championships – and this would be even better.
While she was adjusting her makeup and the straps of her shoes, he looked around, trying to figure out whether her boyfriend was present. There had been a duo that had been domination the scene for the past few years – Sting Eucliffe and his partner Minerva (he had not paid enough attention to hear her last name because Cana and the other woman had had some kind of verbal fight after the stranger had insulted Laxus' partner first, something about being an incompetent loser who had to stick to an equally incapable partner for obvious reasons) but somehow, Laxus could simply not imagine that Cana would go for a wannabe-bad boy like Sting – what kind of name was that, anyway? Rogue Chenney and his partner Yukino Agurina were kind and they had both friendly chatted with his partner while he had supervised the conversation. There was the inevitable duo of Ultear Milkovich and Lyon Bastia (and it was no surprise that Lyon looked just as forced and annoyed as he had used to, all those years ago) but Lyon had always been dating Ultear.
So maybe, the evil and traitorous boyfriend was simply not even present. Laxus would prefer things this way because the mysterious man had the tendency of dragging Cana down and making her very unhappy and this was the last thing they needed right now.
"Laxus, it's our turn now," Cana said as she got up from her chair, smoothing invisible wrinkles. She was obviously quite nervous but he knew that they would succeed.
During the time they had practiced and worked hard for their performance, he had realised that she stuck to her never-date-your-partner-philosophy and he had no idea how painful it was for him to wave her goodbye while she took off with some random guy. And yet, he was happy to be her partner because while her dates and boyfriends changed at least every week, he was always there, always welcome in her life. He had never felt uninvited when he had visited her at her apartment. And while he was in limbos, no potential date material for her until he would quit and stop being there for her as her best friend and closest confident, he preferred being in limbos over being not part of her life anymore.
It was strange how quick the brunette woman had become an important part of his life – if not even the most important part of his life. He often mused how bitter it was that whenever they went out in the evening to dance, she would leave with someone else. He sometimes felt like her bodyguard – someone she took with her when she went out without truly caring about him. On other days when she remembered his favourite food and made it for him for no particular reason and this showed him that she did care for him – sometimes even more than she cared about her other friends when she cancelled outings for no other reason but to spend time with him.
He often had to control his tongue when he was present because along the past few months, he had come to terms with his feelings and he was not afraid to tell her that he was in love with her. If he would not pay attention, he might let it slip any day. They had both stopped drinking in each others presence and while he had done this to prevent that he told her that he was 'um yes, pretty much in love with' her, he had no idea why she did not drink anything anymore. He could read her eyes like open books and he knew how much she had grown to hate those empty lines because she had heard them too often when the other one had not meant it and yet, he prayed that one day, he would be the one to show her that some people still meant it when they said those words.
Their performance went well, better than he had expected it to go because somehow, they had been calm and absolutely relaxed – nearly as if they had never done anything else but to dance together. And sadly, they would never do anything else because she was very strict with herself.
Their friends were cheering them on. Erza nearly slapped Natsu as she tried to give Mira a high five and if it had not been for Lucy's and Lisanna's quick thinking, Natsu and Erza would have killed each other during their friends' performance.
Afterwards, they met the chaotic group in the hall where the dancers and the audience likewise could drink water and champagne. And this was when Laxus felt like someone had punched him. It was not like Erza had tried to injure him verbally and she had probably not even noticed it but she had to go and mention Cana's very first partner who had been – according to the brunette – involved in a lot of her firsts. He had been her first best friend, her first dance partner. He had been present when she had first skipped school – and he had been her first crush.
Therefore, Laxus did not appreciate it when Erza said that Cana had never danced this well since Gray had left Magnolia to live with his foster family in the North of Fiore. He tried not to show his discomfort but somehow, it felt strange to be compared to a brilliant dancer such as Gray Fullbuster because there was no way that Laxus could ever measure up to the dark-haired man.
Cana left the group soon afterwards to freshen up before they would show the second part of their performance and when she did not return, Laxus went to look for her because everything was better than to be faced with Erza's tales about how great and friendly and generally amazing the moron called Gray was.
"Cana?" he called out as he passed the women's changing rooms. "Are you in there?"
"Right on time, Mr Dreyar," a cold and cruel voice said before Minerva grabbed his tie and pulled him into the room. Cana sat on the floor as her skirt sported an ugly rip and her shin showed the beginning of a huge bruise.
"What is going on?" he asked as he looked from his partner to the other woman.
"Cana, dearie, why don't you tell him what I told you the last time you messed with me?" Minerva asked amused. "You see, Mr Dreyar, Cana over here is a real genius on the dance floor. I would kill for only half her talent but sadly, that would get me only into prison. I don't like to lose – to be honest, I absolutely loathe it but as long as Cana sticks around, I will be never more than second best. I don't think that I can accept this. So, sweetie, do want to choose which foot I am going to break?" she asked with an evil smirk as she turned at the brunette.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Laxus snapped as he took one step forward. "How crazy can you be? You want to break her foot just because she's better than you? If someone's better, you train until you surpass him. It's easy like that. And while I loathe you, I got to admit that you're skilled. Yes, Cana is extremely talented and yes, it will take time to become better than her but … you can't seriously want to injure her for such a petty reason, woman!"
"Funny, Gray Fullbuster said exactly the same thing when he was in your place," she replied as she raised her foot. "But you see Cana has already understood that it is very dangerous to mess with me. She is very silent, isn't she? That's because she has learned her lesson – at least partially."
"Cana, get up and go away," Laxus said pleadingly. "She can't hurt you if you don't let her."
"Oh, Cana and I are old acquaintances and she knows just too well that I can get very mean if my prey tries to run away. It's merciful to break only one foot. I could also smash in her face…"
"I am sorry, Laxus," Cana said as she closed her eyes, awaiting the pain. "I am a terrible partner, I know. I hope that you can forgive me. I know what this competition means to you. I apologise."
"Listen, Bitchnerva, if we stop our participation, would you refrain from hurting Cana?"
"Nah, nah, Laxus," the woman said amused. "Unfortunately, I got a pretty mean and sadistic streak and letting go of my prey after I chased it down would be pretty foolish from me. So no, I won't let go of her … you just wasted your chance to fight me openly, by the way," she said as her foot slammed down onto Cana's ankle, crushing her bones. "I changed my shoes for this one," she said amused as she left the room through the second door.
Laxus cursed before he hurried over to Cana and lifted her from the floor. "Sorry for failing you," he whispered as he wrapped her coat around her. "I will get you to the hospital … but you have to report her. This woman is dangerous, you see?"
"Yes," she muttered as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you for caring so much."
Laxus had intended to visit her the first day after the attack but caught up in the business of getting Minerva trialled for what she had done to Cana, he had not been able to stop by until the first few days had passed. Therefore he had brought flowers and chocolate to apologise for being such a 'lousy and foolish moron of a dance partner' as Bixslow had put it. Evergreen had chosen the flowers because she had insisted that the wrong flowers might be as insulting as a verbal assault. He also brought her new painkillers because Erza had mentioned that Cana was running out of them when he had met the redhead on his way to Cana's apartment.
Right now, Laxus hurried up the stair cases to her apartment and knocked forcefully. The door was opened faster than he had expected Cana to open it because she was still walking on crutches. But then again, maybe she had been expecting someone else. "Sparky?" she asked.
"Yes, I wanted to check on my favourite dance partner," he shrugged. "So, um, those things are all for you and Erza said that you were running out of painkillers so here you got some more."
She smiled as she mentioned towards her living room. "Thanks," she said before she sighed. "Dad threw a fit at the broken ankles. He is currently getting the best lawyer from the capital so that we can win this case. You will have to be witness since there is no other kind of proof. Mom is saying that she tracks down Gray because the last time it happened, he was forced to watch."
"Gray, huh?" Laxus muttered, trying very hard not to sound as jealous as he felt. "So, he's coming back to Magnolia? I heard from many people that he left the town a few years ago…"
"Yes, but he had reasons to leave," she confirmed. "It will be strange to have him back. I haven't seen him since he went away even though we call each other every few weeks and we write each other for our birthdays and other important dates."
He flinched inwardly because this was the first time Cana had showed some kind of affection for another person. Sure, he had known that Gray had been always her friend even in the more difficult times of her life and since the dark-haired man had probably also been the only partner she had ever felt some kind of connection before – at least this was what their success had implied – Laxus simply could not help but feeling jealous. "So, um, what are you planning on doing now, that he is coming back?" he asked, loathing the answer already before he had gotten it.
"Well, he will stay most likely until Erza's wedding so I will have lots of chances to catch up with him," Cana said cheerfully. "You will like him as well, Laxus. Gray is a really funny person."
Laxus got up from his chair and before he even realised what he was doing, he had nearly left the room. "I just remembered, Cana, I have a business trip to Era pending … I probably won't be back until we are dragging Minerva in front of a judge," he said hastily. "I will call you when I'm back."