A/N: Hello hello! Getting this up to you nice and early, only a couple days after the last one!

Thank you SO MUCH for your continued support!

So, you all want longer chapters, so stupidly long chapters with unnecessary detail and irrelevant humor you shall have!

I have another question for you all- How many of you WANT a lemon later on? Say "Aye Sir!" somewhere in your review if you do. But, on that note- Would any of you be OFFENDED if there was a lemon? Say so in a review or you can PM me if you feel uncomfortable. I need to know these things because I don't want to scare anyone off.

Now, for this chapter- I've been waiting to write this chapter for a long time. I wanted to do this scene, but I needed a song for Mira to sing, and I wanted something similar in tone to the song she sings in the show. Well, one day while at work listening to my Pandora, this song popped on and I just stopped everything I was doing and thought "Oh my God, this is the song. This has to be the song Mirajane sings." It's just so perfect- It's soft, celtic, not poppy or modern, and I can totally see Mirajane singing this song.

SO, when you get to the part when Mirajane starts singing, PLEASE look up Sleepsong by Secret Garden on youtube. It will be the first result. Seriously, you need to hear this song when you read the scene. It's so beautiful and really sets the tone for this story, because from here on out is when we start the real romance. At least that's the plan, should my unromantic muse allow it to be so. :)

I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. I just run around desperately seeking fellow fangirls.


"You, girl. Take his shirt off."

Mirajane went slack-jawed. "Um, excuse me?"

"Did I stutter? Take the idiot's shirt off. I need to get a look at his chest."

Wearily, Laxus smirked up at the white haired barmaid. "May as well… do what the lady says, Mira. 'Sides… I'd much rather you do it… than her."

The elderly woman snorted and, for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, Mirajane felt her face go red. She quickly pushed this back once more though. This was not unusual- She often helped Porlyusica take care of Fairy Tail members, this was just standard procedure. As she began to lift his black sleeveless turtle neck off of his chest, Mirajane decided to retort.

"Hmm I thought you were sick. Sure you have the energy to be flirting like that? Weren't you just saying you had something important to tell master?"

The barmaid let out a squeak as the lightning mage shot up into a sitting position once more, his shirt pull awkwardly above his pecs, revealing his black tribal tattoo surrounding the fluttery guild mark they both possessed. "Gramps! It's important, I need to—"

He was cut off as the apothecary picked up her cane and thrust it into the blonde man's forehead, forcing him back onto the bedding. At this moment, the tent flap opened.

"What in the world do you need, you blockhead?"

Mirajane, who had scooted away from Laxus in surprise, looked up, a bright smiling jumping onto her features. "Master!"

Porlyusica, now hunched over the groaning blonde's tattooed chest, nodded curtly, not looking up from her work.

"So the oldest fool is finally here."

The tiny man snorted and stepped further into the tent, moving to sit next to his grandson opposite the two women.

The four of them sat in silence for a while, Laxus trying to regain his mental composure after a combination of being knocked in the head and whatever was currently ailing him. After some time and a few mouthfuls of rather foul tasting medicine, the blonde spoke up, letting his weary eyes rest on his grandfather, who was staring back down at him sternly.

"Gramps, I… I have something important to tell you. It's about…"

"Gajeel, right?" The elderly man stated, sighing slightly. As the dragon slayer's eyes widened, the tiny guild master looked to the side and spoke to what seemed to be the wall of the tent. "You may as well come in, Pantherlily."

The black exceed strode in, his tiny arms crossed over his chest as he stared solemnly. "I apologize for listening, master."

The small man just shook his head. "No, you may as well hear this too. But this does NOT leave this tent, all right? I can't afford to let this fall apart now."

Impatient, the somewhat recovered dragon slayer tried to sit up again, prompting Mirajane to lean forward and put her arm behind his back for support. He gave her a weak smile and nod before looking back at his grandfather firmly. "Gramps, I think Gajeel is a traitor. I followed him yesterday and today, and he was headed towards—"

The tiny man lifted up one hand to silence his grandson. "Towards Raven Tail, right?"

The lightning mage gaped at his grandfather. "Wait, so you KNOW he's a traitor? How could you let him stay? I mean hell, you kicked me out-" He was cut off by another swift knock to his head, but this time by his grandfather, who was staring at him sternly.

"You idiot. Gajeel is a double-agent for us. He was keeping tabs on Raven Tail for me, though they think he's a double agent for them. I tell him little harmless secrets about Fairy Tail now and then to feed that idiot son of mine. Since it's been seven years he's going back now to get seven years worth of information about them, but they all know he's been stuck in stasis for all that time so he doesn't need to tell them squat."

Pantherlily, who had quietly snuck onto Mirajane's lap, spoke up. "So that was it. I was suspicious that it was something along those lines." Seeing that all eyes, minus the apothecary's, were on him, the black exceed continued. "Last night I followed Gajeel as well, but I believe much later than you, Laxus. I followed his scent because I wanted to know what was going on. He told me he was doing something important for the master, but that he could not tell even me about it. When I thought I had caught up to him, I spotted Laxus on the ground. He managed to tell me to bring him here, but that was about it before he passed out. I remember feeling a bit dizzy myself when we took off, actually."

The pink haired woman grunted, not looking up from her work. "You must have only inhaled a small bit of it then."

Curiously, the barmaid turned her gaze towards the elderly woman. " 'It' ?"

"Curse poison. I suspect that idiot Ivan has it scattered around wherever his guild is to keep out unwanted guests. It isn't deadly, but it is intended to cause memory loss and weaken the target, my guess is so that they can be moved elsewhere after they pass out without retaining knowledge of Raven Tail's location."

Makarov cupped his chin in one hand, nodding solemnly. "Makes sense. Mira, have you noticed any signs of memory loss?"

The snowy haired woman looked down thoughtfully, staring at Laxus's face, his eyes tightly closed. "Now that you mention it, he does seem to keep forgetting things he was saying, or just pass out at random."

The golden eyes snapped open and stared at the demon above him. "Tch. I have not." A smirk spread onto his features. "I remember using your breasts as pillows."

It took all of her willpower to not transform into her Satan Soul form. If the man were not already incapacitated she would have pummeled him into the ground- She still had half a mind to, in fact. Pantherlily let out a small cough and Makarov tensed up, glaring sharply at his idiot grandson. The blonde suddenly went wide-eyed, however, as something occurred to him.

"Wait… We were talking about dad's guild…"

Mirajane's expression softened as she looked down at Laxus, who was now staring at the ceiling of the tent blankly. She looked to Porlyusica, who just sighed and sat up, picking up her belongings and packing them away.

"His memory is just muddled. I gave him some medicine to prevent any memory loss and help him recover more quickly, but he will need a couple of days. Make sure he doesn't do anything strenuous for the next two days. I don't want to get dragged up here again." At this she looked at the demon barmaid, handing her a couple of vials of medicine before nodding curtly and exiting the tent.

The remaining four sat in awkward silence for a moment, unsure how to proceed. Finally, Laxus broke the tension.

"So iron head is really a double agent for us? And you're sure of this?"

Makarov crossed his arms over his chest, nodding sagely. "Even if he wasn't at first, the boy has developed too many bonds with us."

At this Mirajane smiled, thinking of the tiny bluenette that had managed to worm her way into that steel heart. She looked down at her lap, her smile growing larger as the black exceed perched there smiled smugly.

"Gihi."

The prone blonde rolled his eyes tiredly. "Alright, alright, I get it. He's got the warm fuzzies now. But there's still something I don't get." He eyed his grandfather, who cocked an eyebrow upwards as he gazed down at his grandson.

"How come Gajeel can pass through there?"

Mirajane hummed thoughtfully, cupping her chin in her hand. "He's got a point. The spell probably has something to do with having the Raven Tail guild mark, right? Gajeel has our guild mark- It's plain as day right on his shoulder. One cannot bear two guild marks at the same time, and even if he did, we've all seen him in swim trunks, so there's no way he's got a Raven Tail mark unless it's… Well…"

Laxus thrust a hand upwards to cut her off. "No. I REALLY don't need that image right now. My mind's fucked up enough as is at the moment, let's not add more weird thoughts to it."

The snow-haired barmaid giggled, delicately taking the dragon's hand in her own and placing it back down at his side as he had seemed to have forgotten that he still had it raised in the air, as if to further his point. He grunted in acknowledgement as the tiny master cleared his throat.

"He reshapes one of his earrings to match that of Raven Tail's guild crest."

Pantherlily put a tiny paw up to his chin, nodding sagely. "That makes sense. "

The wizard saint nodded and looked down at his grandson. "Well, you dunder head, do you have any more questions for me, or can I go home now?" It was obvious that the elderly guild master was attempting to hide his concern with annoyance.

Laxus smirked again. "That eager to be rid of me, eh?"

The elderly man just snorted, standing up and moving over to Mirajane. He placed a hand on her shoulder, whispering lowly in hopes his sharp-eared grandson would not be able to hear in his intoxicated state.

"Take care of him, Mira."

The white haired woman smiled, patting his tiny wrinkled hand reassuringly. Nodding, the wizard saint placed his hands behind his back and made his way out. As he came to the entrance of the tent he stopped, not looking back. "You'd better'd not use this as an excuse to slack off. I'll be sure to hold it against you if we don't make it back to number one in Fiore. I want that damned thirty-million jewel prize money." And with that he left, closely followed by the black exceed who gave the demon one last reassuring smile before crawling out of the tent flaps, leaving the demon alone to care for the recovering dragon.


The two sat in silence for a while, Laxus drifting between alertness, dizzy intoxication, and brief sleep. Lisanna had stopped in briefly to bring them both some food as well as some blankets for Mirajane. Apparently, the group had decided that someone needed to stay with Laxus over night, just in case, and that the most logical person was Mirajane, much to Elfman's dismay.

Night had fallen in full force by now and the Thunder God Tribe had supposedly headed back to their camp. Lisanna had informed Mirajane and her charge that Elfman had gone with them and was going to stay in Laxus's tent since his own was occupied by the aforementioned lightning dragon. According to the animal soul mage, this had resulted in Evergreen threatening to turn the male take-over mage into stone if he tried to take advantage of the situation. This was, naturally, followed by Bixlow trying to convince either Cana or Lisanna to come with them to occupy the fairy mage's tent and force her to share Laxus's tent with the white haired muscle-head. Mirajane and Lisanna both erupted into giggles when the latter told the story. Laxus just laid there smirking, stating that Elfman would be responsible for replacing all his belongings because he did not want to sleep on their 'baby-making juice'. The youngest Strauss left, still furiously giggling as she promised to pass on the message.

After the bubbly girl's visit, Laxus seemed in somewhat better spirits. He smiled up at his caretaker, who instinctively smiled back.

"How are you feeling, Laxus?"

For some reason, the way she said his name caused his face to heat up. Maybe he was not as well as he thought. He draped his arm lazily over his face, attempting to mask the blush. "Better knowing that it's just me and three lovely ladies tonight. In fact, you know, this tent is pretty big. You should invite Cana and Lisanna in here tonight too. Might be fun." He moved his arm again, letting it curl above his head on the pillow as a smirk plastered itself on his features.

The demon just smiled, a devilish glint in her ironically angelic blue eyes. "Ooh, a slumber party, how fun! I'll just let Cana take over nursing you while Lisanna and I record you on our lacrima camera we just got." Her smile brightened and she clapped her hands together. "Ohh! Lisanna just bought some cute ribbons and new make-up the other day! We could do your hair and make you look so pretty! I bet Cana would help, and we could get Evergreen to come back here and turn you to stone if you tried to struggle…"

The scarred man's smirk dropped into a grimace and he looked away. Whether or not she was actually joking, he was fully aware that it was likely that Mirajane really WOULD do something like that, and Lisanna and Cana would absolutely go along with it as would Evergreen. The latter in particular probably wanted an excuse for vengeance after all the teasing he had done regarding her and Elfman. Satisfied by this reaction, Mirajane just beamed at him and giggled.

Sighing in defeat, the dragon slayer moved his eyes towards the tent ceiling, as though he were very interested in the stitching. The demon's expression softened as the two sat in another bout of silence for a bit, until she spoke up again.

"You didn't answer my question, you know. Are you… doing alright?"

The twang of concern in her voice did not go unnoticed by the blonde, and he turned his golden gaze towards her, mouth partly open and eyes slightly wide. He mulled over his response carefully. It was obvious that she was not just talking about his physical state or the curse-poison. She was delicately asking if he was alright after getting so close to his father's guild, after hearing that his father was being spied on by one of their own, after realizing that his grandfather had confided all of this in someone so new to the guild, and not his own grandson. He scrunched his brow together and pursed his lips thoughtfully.

This was a man who had abandoned him long ago. Sure, he had offered to let the lightning mage come with him, but when the boy had said no, in such an unsure and scared voice, the man had simply turned his back. He sent the boy one letter, telling him his location and attempting to convince the then teenage boy to join, but when the self-absorbed older mage had received no response he gave up on the boy, leaving him in the care of his grandfather.

Even after Laxus had been exiled from Fairy Tail, just as his father had, he made no efforts to join Raven Tail. He considered it, for a brief, fleeting moment, but no more than that. After all, he was not angry at his grandfather- In fact, he soon became grateful to him for his actions. Laxus had been spoiled in Fairy Tail. He hated being praised only for being the master's grandson, but in the real world he realized how good he had had it in that warm guild. And, in truth, he knew that not everyone saw him as the master's grandson- After all, he was praised for his power and strength, and these were things that belonged to him. Yes, they had been granted to him by force by his father, who was ashamed at having such a weak son, but in the end, Laxus had made this power his own. He honed it, controlled it, wielded it all with his own inner strength.

This brought him back to Mirajane's hidden question- How did he feel about what just happened? Was he sad? Did he need closure to this silent and distant war of emotions with his father?

Finally, he let out a deep breath, closing his eyes and moving his forearm to rest on his brow and over his eyes. "To be honest, Mira… I really don't know."

The woman frowned slightly, furrowing her brows together in concern. Unable to come up with a response to that, she delicately reached a pale hand out, moving his arm away from his eyes. He just looked at her, silent, eyes full of uncertainly, lacking their normal abundance of confidence. Her hand moved up to his forehead, checking his temperature once more. He was still cold and sweaty, so she picked up a piece of cloth and dipped it into a warm bowl of water, wringing it out slightly and placing it on his forehead carefully. He smiled weakly up at her, his way of saying thank you.

"I must seem pathetic right now. You and the old bag were right- My mind is a mess. I can't make heads nor tails of anything. Nothing makes sense, and I just can't hide anything right now."

The motherly barmaid shook her snowy head, smiling gently. "You are not pathetic, Laxus. Uncertainty is not a sign of weakness, but something that we all must deal with in our own time. Even if your guard is only down because of this curse-poison, I admire that you are being honest about your feelings, no matter how incoherent or muddled they may be right now."

Mirajane delicately removed the damp cloth from the thunder dragon's forehead, placing it back into the bowl of warm water. She wrung it out slightly before once again placing it back onto the sickly mage's forehead, eliciting a soft hum from the muscular man. The barmaid sighed, shifting herself to get more comfortable on the blankets beneath her. She focused her cerulean orbs on the now relaxed features of the dragon mage. He gave her another grateful smile as he closed his eyes, either content with her response or he had already forgotten what they had just talked about.

The demon felt her shoulders slump as her guard instinctively lowered and her motherly instincts kicked in. Without thinking, her slender hand found its way into the spiked golden locks of the lightning mage. Delicately, her fingers moved on their own, combing the sweaty locks as she lightly grazed her fingernails over his scalp, this time evoking a contented sigh from the blonde mage lying prone before her. A soft smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, pleased that she had managed to calm the confused and ailing man.

She continued her soft ministrations for what seemed like hours but was likely only a few minutes. Without realizing it she had begun humming to herself, something the still sharp-eared dragon slayer picked up on quickly. He let out a long sigh before speaking up quietly, almost whispering.

"…Sing for me, Mira…"

Her hand came to an immediate halt and her eyes, previously half-lidded in an almost trance-like state, opened wide. The platinum haired woman stared listlessly at the languid man before her, realizing too late that his golden eyes were open and boring into her own cerulean ones. The barmaid tried to gulp down the nervousness in her throat, but to no avail. She looked away briefly to compose herself, but was brought back to that golden stare when she felt a hand much larger than her own delicately squeeze her slender fingers.

"…Please… I think if… If I hear your voice… I can sleep." His normally hard or mocking face was pleading, and Mirajane was not sure if it was because of the medicine kicking back in, the curse poison acting up, or some combination of both. This was a Laxus she was so unfamiliar with, a Laxus she had seen glimpses of in the past, but never so fully as now. Lying in front of her was a frightened and exhausted child, a boy who needed to be sung to sleep as if he were one of her siblings when they had just experienced a nightmare.

Her eyes softened at this thought. She knew the song to sing, a song she had sung to Lisanna and Elfman whenever they were scared or had trouble sleeping. The songstress took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she settled herself comfortably into the blankets she was sitting on. She shifted her hand in his, moving it so that his palm was on his own chest, her hand trailing back up to his hair as she began her comforting melody.

"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay

Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby

Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay

And I'll sing you to sleep

And I'll sing you tomorrow

Bless you with love for the road that you go"

Laxus let his eyelids flutter closed, taking in a deep breath. His felt his body relax considerably, Mirajane's ironically angelic voice and gentle touch doing wonders both for his mental as well as physical state.

"May you sail far to the far fields of fortune

With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet

And may you need never to banish misfortune

May you find kindness in all that you meet"

The blonde mage let his head lull to one side, his mind drifting away to the days of his youth. He knew this song- This was the song Mirajane would sing to her siblings when they were ill or could not sleep. He remembered sitting in the branches of the old oak behind Fairy Hills, back when the Strauss siblings lived in the dorms before they found a small home around the city limits of Magnolia.

"May there always be angels to watch over you

To guide you each step of the way

To guard you and keep you, safe from all harm

Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay"

He remembered one night- The night his father was exiled from the guild. He remembered running for what seemed like hours, his feet hitting the pavement step after excruciating step, rain splattering on his face to wash away the tears that streamed violently down his cheeks. He remembered the sting as one tear found its way into the bolt-shaped scar on his cheek, reminding him of the man who had caused that scar, the man who his grandfather had forced away from him. He had such mixed feelings- He knew there was something wrong with his father, but he was still his flesh and blood- Still his grandfather's flesh and blood, and that bond should have kept them all together… Right?

He kept running, letting the tears from the sky soak his body to the bone, the lightning in the sky the only thing lighting his way. After a crash of thunder, however, he stopped- something was gently pushing itself through, blanketing the pattering of the rain and his own beating heart. He stood below the large oak behind what he recognized as the Fairy Hills building, trying to hone his sensitive ears to only pick up that gentle sound, a melody delicately pushing all others aside and attempting to blanket all in its sweet warmth.

"May you bring love and may you bring happiness

Be loved in return to the end of your days

Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you

I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li lai-lay"

The lightning mage continued to play that long ago night over in his mind. It was this song, this very song that he heard that night. He recalled slumping against the trunk of that great oak, attempting to catch his breath as his eyes tried to focus themselves, barely able to make out the soft light emanating from a window on the second floor- the very window from where that angelic voice was flowing out of. The thick foliage protected his shaking body from the rain and lulled him into a sense of security alongside that melodic voice. He felt his body slide down the tree trunk until he came to rest at its base, his back propped up against it as he laid his head back on the ancient bark. His eyelids started to flutter closed as he felt sleep take him.

"May there always be angels to watch over you

To guide you each step of the way

To guard you and keep you safe from all harm

Loo-li loo-li lai-lay loo-li lai-lay"

He was back in the present… Or was he? Was it still that stormy night from so many years ago? There was a beautiful figure hovering above him, snow white hair cascading down her shoulders… Or was it in a high ponytail? A soft blanket was pulled up to his chin and gently tucked around his shoulders. That tender, motherly hand was still stroking his golden locks, combing out either beads of sweat or drops of rain, he could not be sure which.

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

All Laxus knew for certain…

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

Was that the last thing he saw before sleep finally took him for the night, whichever night it was…

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

Were a pair of cerulean eyes,

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

Gazing down at him with such warm tenderness that he knew he would be able to sleep without fear. For watching over him was not an angel…

Loo-li, lai-lay

But a beautiful demon.

As she finished her song, Mirajane gazed down at the thunder dragon, seemingly in her own kind of sleepy trance caused by the tune she had spun. Before her lay a teenager lost in the rain of his own heart, a child in desperate need of comfort and warmth. Slender fingers found their way out of sweat drenched blonde locks and over surprisingly soft cheeks, coming to rest at the jaw line just in front of sensitive dragon ears. The tender demon leaned down, brushing her lips gently against the sleeping lightning mage's forehead before falling back onto the blankets at his side, too exhausted by the stress of the day to register her own actions as she, too, fell into a deep slumber.


Lisanna Strauss sat just outside her older brother's tent, her knees tucked into her chest as her head rested upon them. She listened carefully to the song her sister was singing, a song that she had only ever sung for the young animal soul mage and her brother, and one time Natsu because he was crying and happened to be sleeping over that night.

The youngest Strauss's eyes were wide despite her exhaustion, taking in the situation fully. This song was special, a secret lullaby that Mirajane kept reserved only for her own siblings. The fact that she was singing it to someone else- No, to a very particular someone else- Was all the proof Lisanna needed to confirm the thing she already knew deep in her heart.

Too tired to fight back her tears, Lisanna just buried her face into her knees, hugging her legs tighter to her chest. She was so happy that they had a chance here, a chance that was missed and forever lost in Edolas. However, this also meant that he was never meant to be hers.

She knew it. She knew it the moment she heard her Natsu utter that name. She knew as soon as she saw the sweet and tender Earthland Lucy, and she had tried to come to terms with that and give her closure on Tenroujima.

She knew, yet the reality of it all still hurt. This final piece to the puzzle she had always known was there.

The truth that Natsu Dragneel's other half was the cheerful and beautiful spirit mage, and not Lisanna Strauss.


A/N: Okay okay, before anyone freaks out- I actually go through and look at the profiles and favorited stories of anyone who favs or follows my stories, so I know that there is at least ONE NaLi fan, and I want to apologize for the last part but please trust me. I ship NaLu, but I also LOVE Lisanna's character, and this scene sets the tone for how I want to develop her character. She is going to play a big role in this story and I feel her tragic one-sided love thing is really essential to her character in this story, and you'll see why later on. But really, just trust me- If you like NaLi because you like Lisanna's character, you will still like this story because Lisanna is gonna get some really great and beautiful scenes, so don't give up on me! I'm also not against having 'moments' for pairings that I don't ship- If you've noticed I had a couple Cana x Laxus scenes and a Freed x Mira scene, just as little shout outs to any fans of those pairings- You know, the same sort of thing Mashima does ;)

I also hope the part with Laxus half-dreaming made sense.

Review and stuff! I'm lovin' all the follows and favs and reviews and I totally listen to any requests you guys make!