"So…Little Aki is a carpenter?" Aki felt his eyebrow twitch, and obvious sign by now to the blonde that Aki was getting pissed off. It was also a sign to show that Laxus's taunts were working. It had been two days. Nothing significant had occurred in this time. They had explored the town, and then stayed at Mori's workshop. Tonight was the night that the dark guild would come for the crystal. Currently Aki was walking alongside Laxus. The rest of the thunder legion were already at the town hall, as Freed had wanted to place runes ready, and Bixlow and Evergreen had gone with him.

"What are you talking about Blondie?" Laxus grinned

"Mori, has been telling us all about you".

Aki tensed for a moment, but then forced himself to trusted Mori,and he knew that he wouldn't tell them the things that he didn't want anyone else knowing. Finally he sighed

"What about it"He simply laughed

"Nothing"Aki grit his teeth,

He'd be nothing in a damned minute

"So…"Aki was about to ignore the blonde, thinking he'd say something stupid. AGAIN.

"You lived on the streets before you met Mori huh?"Aki surprised at the change of subject, glanced at Laxus, only to find him looking ahead, and he almost thought that maybe he had misheard laxus.

"What are you on about blondie?"Laxus glanced at him, his blue eyes not lighting up with his usual mischief when teasing the smaller man.

"Mori found you unconscious outside his workshop when you were 11. Why?"Aki narrowed his eyes

"How do you think huh? I was a kid on the street, it wasn't going to be a bed of fucking roses sparky"

"Then why didn't you join a guild, try to find your dad?" he snapped.

"If you hadn't been paying attention lightening rod, I have a fucked up family trying to kidnap me. You really think I'd join a guild,just so they would get wiped out? "he glared coldly at Laxus.

"Surely you know what happened to Mori? I wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt by those bastards. That answer your question?"Laxus however simply frowned

"You do realise that Gildarts is the most powerful mage in Fairy Tail… He would have protected you, the whole guild would have"Aki turned away from the blonde, and stared at the large building in front of town a few moments of silence, Aki finally spoke

"I never intended to meet my old man." No, Aki hadn't planned on ever meeting the man. At one point he had dreamed about meeting the mage, but that was many years many things had changed. Aki had once intended to meet his father, infact it had been his dream.

It had been their dream.

Clenching his fist, he pushed the unwanted memories away and walked into the building, not noticing the frown eteched into on Laxus' face as he followed

"Laxus-sama!"Freed yelled, happy to see his leader, grinned at the sight of the blonde, and evergreen smiled slightly.

"And if it ain't Aki too!"Aki glared at the seith mage

"Thanks for noticing bixlow"He drawled out, sarcasm evident in his voice. Bixlow laughed, roughly hitting the back of the auburn haired man

"No problems man"Aki deadpanned, looking tempted to hit him. he then turned to Freed

"Has there been any news yet?"Freed paused but then shook his head

"no, nothing yet"Evergreen scoffed in annoyance

"This better not be some sort of joke, I'd rather not waste anymore time in this place"Aki nodded in agreement , Freed noticing this frowned slightly

"Aki, I thought you like this town?"Aki's face scrunched up in distaste.

"What the fuck gave you that idea?"Evergreen huffed

"Your friend Mori of course! You lived in this town for a couple of years with him. How could you not like this place?"Aki's dark eyes got even darker, if that's possible.

"Just because I liked living with the old man, doesn't mean I liked the damn town."He scowled, as he looked at the crystal they were guarding, it was large and shined white.

"This town,everywhere you go, all you see is crystals, the people who live here rely on the damn gems. If they don't use them for energy, they use them as ornaments, to show how much wealth they have. They care so much about their precious trinkets"He frowned for a moment.

"Yet they didn't give a crap about a starving kid, beaten black and blue on the sidewalk." He sneered in disgust at the thought. Before he had met Mori, people had looked down at the scruffy 11 year old, they had walked around him, not bothering to help in fear of their shining rocks being stolen, they had treated him as if he were inferior, as if his presence tarnished their sparkling city that they lived in.

"How could I like a city that's full of superficial idiots, who are so close minded, blinded by their own wealth .They would probably be better people if they didn't rely so much on magical rocks."He snapped.

The group was surprised at the mages had perhaps been the most they had seen him speak in one given period. Laxus couldn't help but agree with Aki's point, as he imagined a younger Aki, who had nothing, asking help from people who had everything.

However he was snapped out of his musings by a presence above them, that seemed to randomly appear. He glanced up to see a group of four mages. A young man with Dark blue hair , clapped from his perch on one of the ledges above them, a grin on his face, his green eyes wide with glee

"Well Said, I completely agree!"He cackled manically " Then I guess you won't mind if we take this magical rock for ourselves"Suddenly he disappeared only to reappear behind Aki.

"But first, I want to beat you, pretty boy!"He cackled again, and before Aki could react, grabbed his shoulder, and disappeared again.

Taking Aki with him…

The thunder tribe and laxus, looked wide eyed at the spot, in which their nakama had disappeared from. Laxus, stared calmly at the mages that had jumped down to face them.

"Where did he go?"He asked quietly, his eyes narrowed. Another man, with slicked back purple hair with matching eyes, smirked

"Worried blondie? Well don't worry, he's being taken care of" The other two, a slender blonde woman and a old grey haired man laughed, as if sharing a inside joke. This seemed to make Laxus snap. his mind flashing back to to the surprised Aki, his dark eyes wide, a strange change from the usual Aki. He hadn't expected to disappear with the cackling maniac. His eyes had flashed with something he assumed had been panic, even fear.

His team mates seemed to notice the change in their leaders usual stoic demeanour, and looked at the blonde with caution as he narrowed his eyes at the group. Lightening crackled around him, and he clenched his fists.

"Where did that bastard take MY NAKAMA!" He roared with such an intensity that the mages cringed in fear, as the town hall seemed to almost shake with thunder and lightening.

Aki had also felt the tremors from below him, but he hadn't the time to think about it as he receive another blow to the face. He spit out blood as he scanned around him, his eyes narrowed as he tried to pinpoint the laughing bastard. He was a teleportation mage, making it no easy task in fighting him. His fists crackled with his magic. He grit his teeth,He had yet to land a hit on the cocky bastard, and he had yet to dodge. Another hit was his right shoulder. It was hard enough to hurt, but not enough to make him fall over. He retaliated with a right hook, only to be greeted with air.

"ooooh you were close that time, fact it tickled slightly"Aki scowled. The guy was obviously fast, but he had a strength behind his blows too.

"Is that all you've got? Your not actually hurting me much"He heard something like a snarl, and then something behind him. Jumping out of the way, a thin and small throwing knife whizzed past him.

"Ah, I seemed to have pissed him off" He thought, dodging three knives. It was easy to dodge the weapons then the mage himself. Weapons were predicable, they moved in one direction, and sliced through the air, making their presence evident. He felt something kick his leg, knocking him to the ground.

Knives didn't disappear either.

Their dance continued for some time. Aki got punched sure, and whilst he knew they would bruise, his life wasn't in imminent danger. He had yet to land a hit on the bastard he had been close, but the man would simply cackle, before vanishing.

It was starting to piss him off.

Things only got worse when next to him, on the roof of the town hall, something shot out of the roof. He was startled for a moment, panicked for a moment thinking it was one of his guild members. However much to his annoyance, it was 2 of Bixlow's totem dolls. Due to being momentarily distracted, he hadn't reacted quickly enough, and as a result his left leg was instantly impaled by three knives. He cringed at the sharp pain that travelled through the appendenge. Dodging was now made near enough impossible, and he knew removing the blades would just result in unnecessary blood loss.

"Oops, did that hurt?" The manic laughter continued.

"Maybe you should have been paying closer attention!" Aki however simply sighed in annoyance, and without warning grabbed the air above him, a strangled cry was quickly silenced as he was smacked into the roof. Sitting up he glared at the auburn haired man, who looked at him emotionlessly.

"Impossible! How could a pretty boy like you-"He didn't get to continue his complaint as dark energy soon surrounded his fist.

"Crushing evil-Spreading the truth" He lifted his fist and dark energy seemed to morph into that of the silhouette of a dragon.

"RYOZUCHI!" The fist slammed down into the horrified mages head, sending him plummeting to the ground, creating a crater as he landed. Noting that he probably wasn't going to wake up for a long time, he glanced back to where he had seen the dolls land. Limping over, he picked up the wooden totem dolls. They seemed void of magic, and he had to wonder what happen to the seith mage.

However he decided he best join the others, so going back to the hole in the roof, he jumped through. Using his energy magic in his legs, he used it to soften his landing, though he still winced as his dagger impaled leg hit the ground. Glancing round he noted that the others had finished their at this was approaching him, followed by a slightly battered thunder tribe.

Holding the totem dolls up, he threw them at Bixlow, who caught them and grinned.

"Thanks man, bastard old man off lined them"Freed huffed.

"Well you didn't have to deal their pet" Aki noted that the rune mage was covered in a purple gunk of sorts, maybe the transporting mage hadn't been so bad, he mused. Evergreen noted the state of their newest team mate

"Seemed like you had some trouble too Aki" He glanced at the brunette, before sighing.

"Not really, he was more annoying then anything"He muttered. "This was mainly due to my carelessness"Laxus noticed the daggers imbedded in his leg, and scowled

"Baka, you do realise that you have something in your leg" Aki glared at the mage

"I'm well aware of that blondie"It was Laxus' turn to glare

"Well then why don't you get them out"Aki raised an eyebrow

"If you stopped bitching maybe I would"

The rest of the thunder tribe, watched perplexed as the pair bickered, not seeming to care about Aki's leg or about their presence. Evergreen hated the thought, But it was if they were an old married couple. It was that comical. However she was glad that her leader was back to teasing the mage. She shuddered slightly as she remembered his reaction to the disappearing auburn haired mage. She subtly glanced to a wall, that was scorched and cracked, much like the rest of the room.

Yes,Laxus had been very angriest she had ever seen the blonde mage be. And from the shared glances from her team, they agreed.

Who knew that Aki had such a great effect on their leader?