Author's Notes: This is the continuation of the last chapter, and I am nearing something very deep here. There is a lot to explore with Azuma's character, as I haven't explicitly made his intentions clear. I am going to start revealing his "Master Plan" over the course of several chapters, and this chapter serves as the groundwork for some of it.

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail doesn't belong to me.

DRYAD (Part 2)

The island was much farther than he had anticipated, but Laxus knew he was inching close. Three days ago at dawn, he had taken the anchor off Gildarts' boat, setting sail for the island with the red cross on it. The map must have been hand-drawn by Freed, Laxus reckoned, but it was quite neatly drawn. It had the bearings and such, and from the scale, it looked like the island would be difficult to miss.

Dryad Island, said the map. Dryad… Again, Laxus had a hunch he'd heard the name before. But he couldn't care less about that. If the merchants were to be trusted, Gildarts and the missing members of the Raijinshuu should be safely camping there. He just had no other leads to go by, so checking out this island was his first and only move.

After this mission, Laxus swore to himself to find Freed and talk everything out, perhaps even own up and apologise for the harsh words he shouldn't have said. He was explosively angry the night he left, literally, but as he ruminated on it the following morning, Laxus realised where Freed might have been coming from. Perhaps he was just saving what little dignity he had left. If he was the one in Freed's shoes, he wouldn't even know what to do. Having feelings for someone who would never feel the same for you… That must have been rough. Besides, Freed had obviously been drunk the previous night and it must have had some impact on his decision-making. For all the years they have spent working as mages together, those angry words shouldn't have been the note they left on.

But that would be the concern of another day. As Laxus looked ahead of him, he realised the boat was approaching a thick fog. Once inside, it would be difficult to manoeuvre the boat. But the waters seemed quite calm, so he didn't worry much. By the minute, the fog was coming closer, and Laxus began randomly pressing controls in hopes of turning the lights by the head of the boat on. It wasn't working.

"SSHHHHHHH…" a sound came over the boat. It sounded like a wave breaking, or a whale singing. Whatever it was, it was huge. In the next instant, the boat was swept turbulently into the mist, and there was nothing ahead but velvet white. He heard another wave approaching, and he was bewildered beyond belief because everything seemed so calm thirty seconds ago. The waves crashed onto the boat, perhaps already flooding the deck. For the following twenty minutes, the boat was tossed around in all directions by waves that seemed to come from all angles.

Laxus' head was spinning fast. As a Dragonslayer, he is much more prone to motion sickness than the average human, but this storm was insanity. He found difficulty in even moving his feet. The taste of prawn sandwich he had eaten for breakfast surfaced at the back of his throat, and he could feel himself nearly throwing up. He tried walking towards the bed for support, but the waves threw him in the opposite direction he was walking. He took little baby steps afterwards, trying to hold on to whatever he could, the ladder, a bedside table that had been thrown into the far corner of the cabin, anything. But he found himself sliding with every hit of the wave.

Then, he heard it. Another giant wave. This one was huge, he could tell. He counted to three. One… Two… Fuck. THREE. He could literally feel himself flying across the room. The boat shook so turbulently his breakfast was purged out of his mouth whole and flew in the air. Then, something hard and sharp knocked him straight at the edge of his head, and everything faded to black.

FIVE HOURS LATER

Laxus was woken up by the gentle lulling of the waves tugging at his boots. After he opened his eyes, he was quick to cough out the sand clogging the back of his throat. Slowly, he sat himself up, and looked around. It was nighttime. The sun had probably been gone for two hours, and it wasn't coming back for probably another ten. He was deserted on a beach; the waves had probably washed him up ashore. Behind him, the sea stretched as far as his eyes could see. The boat was gone, probably wrecked by the waves and swallowed by the ocean.

Where the hell am I? Am I on Dryad Island…?

Soaked, Laxus crawled out of his clothes, shedding them onto the sand until he was naked, with the exception of a pair of black boxer shorts clad around his crotch. The wind was chilling to the bone, he had to admit. Despite the layers of muscle insulating his core, he couldn't help but shiver from the biting air.

Ahead of him was a dense forest, and within one glance, he was in awe. It was a pack of the tallest trees he had ever laid his eyes on, and they occupied the whole of the island, spreading from his near sight to the faraway apex of the island, each tree competing for the dark heavens above. This island was huge, at least thrice the size of Fairy Tail's holy island of Tenrou.

Is this Dryad Island? Suddenly, he remembered. Dryad is the name of an old tree he read about in those bulky books his grandfather made him read when he was little. He always assumed it was fictional and non-existent.

Without himself realising it, Laxus felt his feet move out of his own accord and towards the forest. There was something drawing him in, magnetising him. After a few steps, he snapped out of it, shaking his head in confusion. What was that? It felt like spirits were pulling him in. Is Gildarts really here?

This island didn't sit right with his soul. It was like this place had demons of its own. Demons. Do those really exist, except in nightmares and ghost stories adults used to scare kids with? Laxus shrugged, but he wasn't afraid, that much he knew.

"Gildarts! Are you there?" Laxus shouted into the open air, unsure of who was on the island, if there was even anyone. "Bickslow! Evergreen! Are you there?!"

He could hear nobody's voice except the echoes of his own. Laxus started walking around the perimeter of the shores. Perhaps he could see another face of this island, one that wasn't dark trees and eerie forests. As he turned the corner, he saw a range of mountains, not too tall, but enough to hide whatever lied beyond it. As he grappled the sand with his bare feet, every step proved to him that there was not much more to this island than whatever was inside that forest or behind those mountains, and he told himself he wasn't sticking to find out.

If Gildarts, Bickslow and Evergreen were really here, Laxus reckoned they would have left traces of themselves on the sand. But there were no wet boots, no footsteps, even up to the part of the island where high tides would sweep them away.

The waves must have swept me up to the wrong island, Laxus thought. He slowly treaded back towards where he had dumped his clothes. He had decided it was wise not to check out mysterious forests and tall mountains. The last time he was in a strange forest in a strange land, Azuma happened. As he reached the spot he was goddamn sure he had left his clothes on, he discovered they were gone. He looked to the seas. Did the waves wash them away? No way, the waves couldn't reach that far.

"You are on exactly the right island, Laxus."

Laxus' heart pounded. It thumped hard against his ribcage he swore it could have throbbed out of his chest. He knew that voice. He knew that voice too goddamn well. With a swerve of his neck, he turned around and saw a muscular man, pitch black hair springing out his skull. Laxus knew that man too well.

Azuma.

He was shirtless, just as Laxus was, their muscular bodies both gleaming in the dark. He was clad in nothing but a tiny piece of garment covering his crotch, and as he walked closer, Laxus noticed it was made of some sort of tiger skin.

"Why are you here?!" Laxus asked, his blood starting to boil. "Where are Gildarts and the rest?!"

"I don't have them. Gildarts took your friends with him. I assume they are safe now." Azuma said, walking even closer while Laxus moved back.

"Don't you dare take a step closer. Why are you here?!" Laxus asked again.

"This is the island I grew up in. This is my home. Dryad Island. The more appropriate question is… why are you here?"

Laxus didn't even pay attention to Azuma's words. He knew at that moment, he had to strike. This man was the reason his life has been in tatters. He was the reason Freed left, and the reason he began questioning his own sexuality. This bastard deserved nothing but pain and misery and agony. He had to die.

"ARGHHHHH!" he ran towards Azuma, launching giant thunderbolts with every step he took. Each left a crater in its wake, roasting the sands airborne and shambled the shore. "FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!"

The tree mage somehow evaded his attacks with almost no effort. He didn't even seem to move from the point he stood on. "Thunder Bullets!" Laxus shouted, and missiles of lightning fired at Azuma. A chain of explosions bombarded around him, but when the smoke cleared, Azuma stood unharmed, like his attacks didn't even happen. He then ran forward, not thinking much, and turned himself into a body of lightning, moving close to the speed of light. He struck fast, and hard, at his opponent, but before he could land an attack, he found himself deflected just as his attack almost hit.

What the fuck?

He let the smoke between them clear, and by then he was standing a mere few steps from Azuma. Again, he fired thunder bullets at him, but his attacks deflected and disappeared, simply vanishing into nothing. He noticed how his attacks disappeared. It was unnatural. It was… by design?

And that was when Laxus realised. There was a screen. There was a powerful shield between them, protecting Azuma and vanquishing all the attacks he fired at him. He observed the space between them and let the screen glimmer in his lightning.

Laxus Dreyar recognised that magic. A layer of purple runes gleamed in the light as his eyes panned across it. This wasn't Azuma's magic.

Just then, a man appeared from within the forest, far ahead of him. His heart pounded another time, and this time harder. Laxus could only let one word escape his lips, scraping his throat like a sword grinding against a whetstone, "Freed…?"

Laxus froze as he watched him walk. A realisation hit him. Freed was the one who gave him the map and told him to head for Dryad Island, and Laxus believed him. Freed lied. Freed was the one who led him here. He had been betrayed. Then, Freed mouthed something. Talc Manicure Terra Lily? What is that? Just as Freed mouthed it, a beam of purple light shot towards Laxus. Then he realised. Freed was chanting "Dark Ecriture: Paralysis." He was casting a spell. He had seen Freed use it many times on his opponents. Only this time, he's using it on Laxus.

Shit. Duck. Jump. Evade. Whatever, just move, Laxus, he told himself. But he couldn't. He flinched, and the beam of light hit him straight in the chest. Freed, why did you…? Before he realised he had been struck, he had fallen to the sand, and he lay awake, unable to move.