Thank you for all the reviews, follows, and the favorites! kurahieiritr Jio, Fujimaru, AnimeFan972- Thank you for all you kind words

I hope you all enjoy this chapter because I'm not sure if parts of the character portrayal is correct.

Well enjoy! :D

Chapter 4

After learning that the man they had found was Laxus Dreyar, Carcillo looked up and began looking around. He needed to find Ryder, their medic. If anything Laxus was in need of serious medical attention. Laxus was having a hard time breathing and he could literally feel the heat coming off him in waves. He wasn't even touching the man.

"Dimitri! Where the hell is Ryder?! We need medical attention now!"

"I'm here! I'm here! Now what happened? Who needs help?" Running up to Carcillo, Ryder looked down and winced. "Well shit! Get him out of the sand now! Put him on one of the sleds! Get me my kit! Why are you just sitting there?! MOVE!"

Scrambling to pull the rest of the large man out of the sand, the four men each grabbed a limb and lifted. Carcillo could feel dryness, the heat, of Laxus's skin. He honestly was a little scared they were being too rough.

Following them to the sled, Ryder examined his patient more closely. The skin was red and beginning to blister, but it wasn't black. All he would need to do for that was wash off the skin, make sure it didn't get infected, and wrap it in gauze. The man was likely severely dehydrated and would need an intravenous drip. Ryder only had two bags of the magic modifier brand for emergencies, but that wasn't enough. His biggest worry was that his patient might have already had a heatstroke.

They needed to get him to a medical facility but the closest hospital was six days away via Speeder. His house was stocked enough that he could treat him there, if he used the sonic thruster he could get there in few hours. It was going to have to work otherwise this man might die.

They had just put Laxus down onto the only empty sled before Ryder was pushing them out of the way. Turning to Carcillo, he told the man what they needed to do if they wanted this man to survive. "Carcillo we need to get him to my place. I can stabilize him for now, but I need more supplies."

Carcillo knew that Ryder was right, but he couldn't send the man alone. How would he get the man off the sled? It took four people to just lift the man. They could probably drag him if there were only two people, but there was no way Ryder could do it by himself.

"Dimitri where is everyone else? I'm going to split up the caravan. You, Ryder, and I will go and get Laxus medical attention. I want everyone else to continue looking for fulgurite. Have them contact me if they find it."

Pulling out a communication lacrima from his lower pocket in his cargo pants, Dimitri began to explain what was going on and what they were to do.

After pushing everyone out of the way, Ryder grabbed his kit that someone had already put on the sled. Opening the worn leather bag, he pulled out one of the magic modifier intravenous bags along with a tube and needle. The first thing he needed to do was get some form of liquid into him before he could start treating the burns.

Grabbing one of the man's hands and turning it over so the palm was facing up, he found the correct vain. With his other hand he took the needle that was already hooked up to the I.V. and tube, and carefully pushed it through the tender skin. Looking to the bag, he pushed a button in the top right corner of the bag. A holographic screen popped up showing the different enzymes and electrolytes that were adjusted to fit the man's condition. As he looked through the percentages he felt glad that they had found this man when they did. If they had showed up an hour later he would be dead.

Turning he could see Carcillo pulling out a rope and a canvas sheet from his Speeder and running over to him. Tucking the I.V. bag between his patient's arm and torso to keep it elevated, he grabbed the canvas and draped it over the man. They were going to have to keep as much sand and sun off him as possible.

Tying down his end of the rope to the sled, Carcillo passed the rest of it to Ryder. Carcillo felt his anxiety growing at the deep frown marring Ryder's face. "Just how bad is it?"

"If Dimitri hadn't found him he would just be another skeleton added to the landscape."

Paling at Ryder's words, Carcillo walked around to the side of sled and activated the force field they would use to protect the fulgurite from damage. "We need to hurry then. Get in the Speeder, we've already switched the control spheres. Dimitri and I will go with you."

Doing as Carcillo said he quickly got in and started the Speeder.

Not bothering with watching Ryder take off, Carcillo hopped in. Turning the spheres a quarter to the left and pushing down, he started the speeder. Turning them down sixty degrees he shot forward with Dimitri following him. Rubbing his right thumb across the speeder activated the sonic thrusters. There was a sharp whistle before a thundering boom was heard, and the desert was a nothing but a white blur.

~.~

It took them three and half hours, but they had finally reached the small village of Kimaro. It was around six in the morning and the heat of the sun was already beginning to scorch everything. They had turned off their sonic thrusters and were going about half speed through the street, but they were still going way above the speed limit. They didn't really care at the moment. About halfway through their trip they had to stop and let Ryder switch out the I.V.

It was the last one.

After finding Ryder's house they had pulled up around the back, quickly turning off the Speeders and pocketing the spheres. They had managed to get Laxus off the sled and into the back room somehow.

It was used during the off season, when Ryder wasn't out hunting for Fulgurite, for his patients. He was the town doctor.

Lifting him higher and just barely managing to do so, they placed him on one of the two cots in the room. While the three men were fit, all the muscle and the sheer size of Laxus made him exceptionally heavy. Carcillo and Dimitri stood there panting for a few seconds, but Ryder didn't wait to catch his breath. He strode over to his stash of of I.V. bags in a small fridge on one of the stainless steel counters. Typing in the eight digit combo, he opened the fridge and pulled out a bag.

Quickly switching out the depleted bag for the new one, Ryder was worried about how fast the I.V. bags were being emptied. The rate at which they were being sucked dry was becoming farther between each bag. He hoped that was a good sign.

Walking back over to the cabinets, he pulled out a few rags, a bucket, and gauze. Putting the bucket in the sink, he turned on the water on and adjusted till it was just below lukewarm. If the water was too cold it could kill the skin cells and send his body into shock. After the bucket was full, he turned off the water and pulled it out of the deep sink. Walking back over to the other two, he threw a rag at each and put the bucket on the end of the bed between his patient's feet.

"I need the both of you to gently clean off the sand from the burns. Make sure the rags are wet all the way through, not sopping wet though. Leave the worst burned areas to me."

Following Ryder's orders, they began to clean the skin as carefully as they could. The skin seemed to almost sizzle when they began, and the water was practically soaked into the skin the first couple times. When the trio finished with his torso, shoulders, arms, neck, and face, they lifted him up so he was sitting upright and they began to work on cleaning his back.

It was slow work, and after maybe thirty minutes they had successfully cleaned off all the sand.

Now that the burns were clean, Ryder began examining for infection. It took about ten minutes before he deemed the man to be clean of any infections. Grabbing the gauze he began to wrap the burns as Carcillo and Dimitri held Laxus steady for him. When they were finished Ryder kicked them out of the room. He needed to run some more tests before he could go speak with them.

Walking through the kitchen, both of them went and fell on the light blue couch exhausted.

If there was one thing Carcillo knew about Ryder is that while he may be a brilliant man and an amazing doctor, he did not know how to decorate his own house. The three most common colors were blue, white, and gray. Literally everything in the house was one of those three colors, it kinda made him feel depressed every time he came over. It was a relatively large house with three floors, four restrooms, three bedrooms, one study/library, a fully stocked kitchen, formal dining room, a large living room/ waiting area, and of course the backroom where he would do his checkups, emergency surgeries, and keep overnight patients.

The first floor had the living room/ waiting area, the kitchen, the backroom, and two bathrooms. The second floor had the formal dining room, the study/library, two guest bedrooms, and one bathroom. The third and final floor had the last bedroom that Ryder used and the last bathroom. It was a large space with windows on all four walls, and had an enormous skylight. It was the only floor that was magically sealed to keep everyone out unless you were invited.

Another thirty minutes passed slowly, and before he knew it Carcillo had fallen asleep.

Dimitri himself was beginning to get drowsy from waiting and the ceiling held no form of entertainment. He was contemplating just barging into the backroom and demanding that Ryder hurry up. This was just so boring!

He was so focused on the ceiling and his ever growing boredom he never heard the loud squeak of the back door opening.

"Well aren't you two a sorry lot. I kick you out for half an hour and Carcillo falls asleep and you're glaring at my ceiling." Ryder shook his head in annoyance. "My poor house. Why didn't you take off your shoes? You know my rules about shoes in my house." Throwing his hands in the air and falling down dramatically onto an a heather gray armchair, Ryder threw his head back in defeat. "Why do I even bother?! Neither of you listen!" Kicking Carcillo's feet off the coffee table in the middle of the room, he woke him up. "See look now sleeping beauty is awake! It's not like we just picked some random guy out of the desert! Nope not all! As far as you know he could have died within the last half hour."

Sitting up in alarm, Carcillo felt fear crawl down his spine. "WHAT?! How could he be dead?! You said you could save him!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on a second! I never said he was dead!"

Resisting the urge to punch the man, Carcillo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then why did you say that?"

Raising his hands in surrender to the man, Ryder tried to get this conversation back on track. "Look I was just trying to get your attention! Now since you're not so sleepy can I tell you what I found out?"

Running his hand down his face in exasperation, he grabbed a gray couch pillow and threw it in Dimitri's face. He fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"What the hell was that for?! I was paying attention!"

Grinning with mischief, Carcillo settled himself back into the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. "It made me feel better."

"Well now that you're done, I'm going to explain what I was doing when I kicked you two out." Pulling out the two control spheres from his pocket he rolled them across the glass coffee table, but with a metallic clink they stopped in the middle of the table. A 3D holographic map popped up about half a foot off the table showcasing the desert and the weather formations.

Pointing to a blue dot Ryder began talking. "You see this blue dot here, this is where we found the man. Remem-"

"His name is Laxus Dreyar."

"Well Laxus was hit by the sandstorm we had to wait out around one maybe two in the afternoon. Because he was hit by the sandstorm, he was forced to cover himself from the sand. Not only that but the sand covered up most of the sunlight so he was pretty much out of the sun until Dimitri uncovered him. Now usually someone in his condition would have died within four to seven hours, but by being out of the sun and also being covered in sand brought his body temperature down."

"How did being covered in sand save his life?

"Well initially I couldn't figure out how in the world he survived that long, but then remembered that at night the desert gets below freezing. Now the sand isn't going to automatically cool down, which would have sent Laxus into shock, but it instead cooled gradually also cooling him down enough to keep him from dying. This man, Laxus, is insanely lucky."

~.~

"What do you mean you're leaving?!

Cringing at the shrill and loud voices of his team, Laxus tried to keep a straight face. "It sounds exactly like what it is. I'm leaving."

Freed was gaping at him, enormous amounts of disbelief and hurt on his face. The last time he had heard Laxus say anything like this was when he was excommunicated, but that was different. Laxus needed to leave, to sort himself out at the time. Freed understood that.

He didn't understand this time.

"B-but that doesn't make sense! You don't have to leave!"

"Freed this is my choice. You guys are my team, my best friends but I need to do this alone." Holding up his hand to stop them from interrupting him, he needed to say this otherwise he never would. "In my opinion I failed in Hargeon an-"

"BUT YOU DIDN'T!"

"To myself, I FAILED. I absolutely, utterly failed, and staying with you three where you constantly tell me it wasn't my fault and coddle me, isn't helping. I understand that all you want to do is help, but right now that's not the type of help I need."

"Well if that isn't helping that way then tell us what will! Just let us help!"

Rubbing his face in exasperation, Laxus felt warmth growing in his chest. He was happy they wanted to help him, but the problem is that they always are. What he needed, wanted was space. Time to figure out what he wanted to do now that the guild was gone. His first and only home was gone along with the last remaining blood family he trusted and loved. He may see them as his family, but it wasn't the same.

"Look I'm not asking you to help me. I'm not asking you to understand either, but what I want is for you to let me do this because I'm going to whether you like it or not."

Sagging their shoulders in resignation, the trio felt useless. They didn't agree with him. Not even a little, but they wouldn't argue with him. If he wanted to do this they won't stand in his way. They trusted him after all.

"Just call or something once in awhile, so we don't think you're dead." Evergreen was the one who spoke, but her voice was shaking as she tried to hold back tears.

Laxus watched his team. Freed looked resigned, yet was trying to regain his composure. Evergreen was on the verge of tears and her posture made her look defeated. Bickslow was the quietest out of all of them. He hadn't said anything, and Laxus couldn't see his face. He could feel the penetrating stare of the seith mage. It was something someone didn't often see from him, and it meant the man was serious.

Laxus found himself waiting with baited breath, but when he saw the nod from Bickslow he let out a sigh of relief under his breath.

"Don't worry I'll call you or something. Just stay out of trouble."

"You know you say that, but you get in more trouble than we do, Laxus."

Eyes snapping open, Laxus was awake.