Lucy arrived late in the evening back in Magnolia, she decides to go directly home and go to the Guild the next morning. Oh her way she picks some take-out up at a little cafe before going home. Lucy really hopes that her Team isn't back and waiting in her apartment, she could use a quiet night before being back in the usual craziness of her Guild.
Arriving at her apartment she stops outside to listen if someone is inside, hearing no one she enters. She brings the food in her kitchen before going to her bedroom to change into something more comfortable. Just as she was about to lift her shirt, her eyes catch a form on her bed. She turns fully to see who is laying in her bed, firmly believing that it's like always Natsu and Happy.
"What the actual fuck?!" There in her bed lays Laxus, curled up like a little puppy around one of her pillows, nose buried in said pillow.
"Who does he think he is?! Breaking into my apartment and sleep in my bed? And that after the way he yelled at me the last time we saw each other?! After kicking me out of his or actually our office? What the fuck is wrong with him?!"
"Get out of my bed and my apartment you perverted asshole!", Lucy screams at him. In his surprise Laxus falls out of the bed to the floor, pillow landing on top of him.
Laxus lays there for a few moments, sleepily blinking up at Lucy. When it finally registered in his brain that Lucy is standing in front of him and that this is not one of his usual Dreams about her, he smiles up at her. That is until he caught the very angry glare she sends him and her prior words registered. He noticed the way he lays there on her floor dumbly and stands quickly up, tangling in the pillow and falls down once again before he finally stands in front of her.
Everything inside of him screams at him to hug her and to never let go afterwards, but the glare she sends him stops him. And then he realizes that he finally has the chance to tell her what he wanted since the Thunder Legion told him everything.
"Blon.. Lucy! You are fina...", "Get out of my apartment right now before I make you!", Lucy threatens him, not wanting to hear what he has to say. She is furious that he would just enter her apartment and then sleep in her bed as if they were best friends or a couple or something like that! Where did he take the right from to do something like that?!
Laxus is shocked, never would he have thought that Lucy would react this way when he finally found her. But the way she found him and the way he treated her the last time they saw each other makes it somewhat understandable for him. But he can't go now, not when she is finally at his side again, so he tries again, "Lu..."
But Lucy wouldn't have it, "I warned you!" And with that Lucy requiped her sunglasses and the boots. Faster than Laxus' eyes could see it Lucy was standing in front of him and already in the next second he was flying out of her window, head ringing for a second before he passed out while still flying through the air.
To angry to care at the moment what happens to Laxus, Lucy continued to do what she wanted to do before she spotted him on her bed. Just the thought about how she found him in her bed sleeping and cuddling with her pillow makes her furious. But this anger is still the only thing she feels, the walls still intact.
After her little dinner Lucy goes to her bed, still fuming because of Laxus intrusion.
Laxus wakes up one hour later, not knowing where he is and how he got there, everything hurt him, especially his head. He slowly sits up to prevent more pain, he touches his head and discovers a big bump at the side of his head. His body has bruises everywhere as if someone had send him crashing on the ground. Just as he thinks this he remember what happend and that his comparison wasn't wrong at all. Someone had send im crashing to the ground, this someone was Lucy who gave him his first Lucy-Kick. He would never again make fun of someone who whines about her kick, how hard can she kick to knock him out for so long that it's now almost completely dark outside. He looks around again and is finally able to tell where he is, Lucy kicked him all the way to the outskirts of Magnolia. Well, at least he doesn't have to walk very long to his own home from here on.
Laxus starts is painful way to his house, very happy that he doesn't have to walk long after that kick.
As he lays down in his bed he things about what happened this evening. He realizes that it probably wasn't his best idea to always go to her apartment since he is back. But the scent inside her apartment was the only thing that could calm him down enough to sleep probably these last days. Everyday he didn't found her made it harder for him to rest and sleep probably, he became more and more restless. Even now he starts to feel the effect, something inside of him longs to smell her scent again. Sadly he knows that there is no way for him right now to go back, so he needs to live with this longing for now and hopefully can get still get some sleep.
Finally he has seen Lucy again and what he first sees of her is an angry glare, he hopes that she will be in a better mood tomorrow so that he can talk with her. Laxus doesn't know what he will do when it turns out that she hates him now and doesn't want to talk to him ever again. But one thing he knows fur sure, he will try everything possible to at least explain to her what happen. And when she doesn't listen to him, he will make her Team tell her the truth!
And when she still doesn't want to have anything to do with him after hearing the explanation, he will somehow change her mind. With that decision set, he is finally able to sleep.
The next morning gets ready quickly and after deciding to eat her breakfast at the Guild she practically skips in happiness on her way. It's been three and a half month, even if it didn't feel that long at all, since she has been at the Guild and now she can't wait to finally see everyone, except Laxus, again. She will try everything in her might to avoid him, at least until the Games are over in case that she is in the Team.
Arriving at the Guild, Lucy goes straight to the bar to get a Strawberry-Shake, on her way she greets happily everyone who is already back from their own training. Almost everyone is back, since they leave tomorrow for Crocus.
After she has finished her breakfast she goes up to Masters office, "Good morning, Master. I just wanted to inform you that I am back." "Good morning, Lucy, my child. How are you doing? How was your training?", he smiles at her from behind his desk. "I am very good, thank you! And training was so great! It was just what I needed and I learned so many new things." Lucy tells him a bit about what she learned but let the most things as a surprise.
Across the room in his own office, Laxus noticed Lucy approaching to the Guild long before she was there. As she entered her heavenly scent filled the Guild again and even reached him in his own office. He hears as she approaches the stairs and hopes at first that she comes to talk with him but then deflates when he realizes that she knocks at the door across from his own. Laxus listen to them talk and is happy to hear that she is alright and decides that this his his next chance to talk with her. So he waits for her to leave his Gramps office and stands behind his own door to not miss her. When he hears the other door closing he opens his own.
"Lucy, do you have a moment?" "No.", she didn't even look in his direction and just walks away. Laxus is left there standing, mouth agape and eyes wide open.
While talking with his Gramps she sounded so happy, but this one word from her send chills down his spine.
The Thunder Legion, with whom Laxus didn't speak one word since they told him everything, watched the exchange between them.
"Maybe we should help him? It doesn't look like Lucy wants to listen to him.", Ever begins. "You are probably right but...", Freed begins but the growl from Laxus stops him. Laxus sends them all a glare before turning around to walk away, just before he enters his office again he says his first words to them, "I don't need anymore of your help! The last time you wanted to help me, you took my happiness away!"
After that Laxus tries severely times more to speak with her but she would go away as soon as she sees that he goes in her direction.
In the afternoon the Group who trained at the beach got as last back to the Guild.
Team Natsu immediately swarms Lucy, all tackling her to a big hug and they end up on the floor. Natsu, Happy, Gray and Erza cling to her and won't let go again, Wendy too clings too her but for another reason then the other four.
Lucy pets all of their heads and wiggles out of the hug to take a seat at their usual table, the others following her like lost puppies. There they sat down and just talk, catching up about what happened these last month and what they learned in training. Natsu whines that Lucy wouldn't tell them what she learned and demanded a fight to test her knew skills.
Lucy being annoyed with his behavior, delivers a Lucy-Kick, without her new boots, and sends him flying. Most in the Guild flinch away at seeing the new power behind her kick and look at the poor boy with pity in their eyes. A few minutes later a still slightly dazed Natsu comes crawled back to them and quietly sits down.
The four who were involved with the plan to separate Lucy and Laxus are all quite happy, seeing as it seems that Lucy is back to normal.
One hour later Erza goes up to Master to report about their training but before she can enters his office Laxus stops her and practically drags her in his office.
"Laxus, let me go this instant!", Erza demands. "Erza! You need to tell Lucy the truth! My Team told me what you all did and I will not allow it. I already tried talking with her but she won't listen to me because of the lies you told her about me. I don't know the reason why you did this, and frankly I don't care why you did this, but I won't let you destroy our friendship! I will do everything possible to save our friendship and become back what we had. So you either help me or I will somehow destroy you all!", he growls out. Laxus didn't want to threaten her or them, but this voice in his head was to strong to ignore. The voice if furious that the girl he loves won't speak with him anymore because of them. Erza for once actually scared of Laxus nods and turns to leave, not wanting anger him further.
Right now he looks more angry than she had ever seen him, even more than during Fantasia. It is as if the Dragon in him comes out, ready to destroy anything and anyone who goes against him.
After leaving Laxus office, Erza gives a short report to Master before dragging Natsu, Happy and Gray away from Lucy, telling her that she needs to discuss something with them regarding their training. Lucy looks confused but nods and turns to speak with Wendy and Carla.
Outside she tells them what just happened with Laxus and what she observed from his reactions. The more she says the more panicked Natsu looked. Natsu is furious with himself, how could he oversee this? He as a Dragon Slayer should have known better, but his own Dragon is very protective of Lucy too, so he acted on his own instincts. He don't even know if Laxus knows what is happening with him since he didn't have a Dragon to teach him these things.
"We made the biggest mistake! I really hope that we can heal what we broke between them!", the other just looked confused at him, "You probably won't know it but we Slayer have Mates. Not in, there is some person who is made for us but more that we have this Dragon in us who searches for potential Mates. A potential Mate is a person who matches us in many aspects and and is like out other half. But our Dragon won't just decide on a Mate, we first needs to fall in love with this person. So the Mate is chosen when both, we and our Dragon, loves this person. I believe that Laxus was about to fall in love with Lucy or already loved her when we separated them. From what you told us, Erza, I can tell that his Dragon hasn't claimed her as it's Mate otherwise we probably would be dead right now, you never comes between a Dragon and his Mate. But the way you described his behavior shows that his Dragon has taken a liking to Lucy. Laxus probably craves her presence and scent, these last month were probably complete hell for him. First thinking that his potential Mate rejects him and and now she is rejecting him. The longer he is away from her the more he will hurt, now that he at least can see and smell her again he should be somewhat calmed down but not for very long when she will continue to reject him because of what we did. We Dragon Slayers are really possessiv and protective of our, potential, Mates and always wants them near us, so with Lucy not wanting to be near Laxus... If we don't act fast Laxus probably will make his threat real and when the Dragon accepts Lucy as it's Mate we will likely be killed when he looses control of his Dragon."
After Natsu finished he turns around and sprints back in to speak with Lucy. The others stay there a little longer to process all these information before sprinting after Natsu.
"Luce, we need to talk with you! It's really important!" "Okay... What is so important?", Lucy asks. "It's about Laxus, the..." "Sorry but I don't want to talk about Laxus right now!", with that Lucy stands up and walks away from them. "Fuck! We messed up big time, Lucy probably felt the mating pull when Laxus' Dragon started to accept her before we separated them and this caused damage to the bond between them. She probably hurt almost as much as he did while she was away. And if I'm right, Lucy somehow buried these feelings to be able to make the pain go away!"
Wendy who stayed behind looks angry at her Team mates. "What exactly did you do to damage a mating bond?!", she growls out. The little Slayer can be very terrifying when she wants, especially when someone hurt her Lucy-nee.
So they explain to her what they did. Wendy understood that Natsu did what he did because of his own Dragons possessiv nature but she is still furious with them and demands that they makes this right before stomping of.
Up in his office Laxus hears every thing and finally he knows what this voice in his head is. And finally he is able to understand why he is so restless when Lucy isn't near him, the Dragon wants his potential Mate in reach, to be able to protect her.
His hope crashed as Lucy refused to talk with her Team about him, now he needs to find a new way to make her listen to him.
Laxus stands up an goes his Gramps, to set his new plan in action, "Hey, Gramps. I know that you already have the Team for the Grand Magic Gamed but could you please bring Lucy in my Team? I know I didn't explain what happened and I won't tell you now, everything you need to know right now is that I need to speak with Lucy to explain something to her but she won't listen to me. She even doesn't want to talk with her Team about me. I tried to talk with her multiple times this day but as soon as she hears or sees me she turns around and goes away. So please, if you put her in the same Team as me than there is no way for her to avoid me the whole time. I really need to speak with her!", Laxus practically begs him.
Master sees how desperate he is instantly agrees to change the Team.
A few minutes later they leave his office to announce who will fight in the Games. Being the sly person he is he decides to just announce one Team and make the other a complete secret.
"Listen up brats! It's time to announce who will be on the Team. We will send, to win back the title of the strongest Guild, Erza, Natsu, Gray, Wendy and Lisanna with Elfman as the backup. And now lets party! Oh and Lucy, Mira, Juvia, Gajeel and Cana could you please come to my office?", Master jumps down from the railing and goes back to his office, Laxus at his side.
The Guild breaks out in a party, typical Fairy-style.
Lucy just wanted to curl up somewhere alone, she really wanted to be on the Team but she had no other choice but to go up to Master along with the others.
As they all are in his office, Lucy being as far away from Laxus as possible, Master begins to speak, "You will make our secret second Team, Cana you will be the reserve. I don't want anyone to know about this, so don't tell anyone. You alle will be our secret weapon! You will stay in a different hotel too, the Sleeping Devils. And now go down to party with the rest of the wild bunch.", Master shoos them out before they have the chance to say anything to his plan.
Lucy happily skips down the stairs, very pleased that she is chosen to fight in the Games. But then her steps falte and she almost falls down the rest of the stair as she realizes that she is on a Team with Laxus. How will she be able to avoid him? She somehow needs to find a way to avoid him! Hopefully they won't have to share a room in the hotel, otherwise she really don't know what to do.
She is so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that the one who saved her from falling down the stairs was Laxus, she just mumbles a quiet "Thanks" before walking of.
Laxus who was finally able to be near her again, take a direct whiff of her scent and to even touch her, practically purrs in contentment for this short time. But stops as soon as he sees her once again walk away from him. In his eyes you can see the sadness and that sadness is noticed by no other than Mira, who immediately decides to help Laxus and turns back to Masters office to make a plan with him.