Welcome back!

Now this one is based on an intruiging new OTP i'm silently rooting for.

I hope you enjoy!

Penitence

He remembered how she used to stand on the tip of her toes when they'd steal kisses in darkened alleyways, or in the dark corners of the second floor of the old guild hall.

He remembered the caress of her milky white skin, the way it would always smell like lilies and rain. He recalled the endless blue of her eyes and the flame of determination and ambition that always burned in them. He'd admired her beauty as well as her vast battle prowess.

He remembered how inconsolable she was after the disappearance of Lisanna, how everything he did or said never managed to appease her already broken heart.

Lisanna's apparent death meant the end of their blossoming relationship, their immature affections for each other not enough to surpass the tremendous amount of grief she shouldered during the years that followed.

He'd been struggling with his own issues during that time. The excommunication of his father from the guild made him question his true value towards his grandfather and the guild, which in turn prompted an identity crisis that made him seek an escape from the guild master's ever looming shadow over his existence. He'd felt the need to prove himself, to make a name for himself and he now saw and realized that through all of that she had always been the one he would usually seek up for advice because he knew she'd listen and be frank in her answers about his most tormenting thoughts.

If her words couldn't dispel his fears, her touch did. When both failed, one of their intense sparring sessions that always tested the boundaries of his magic, strength and endurance did the trick.

Immature as their feelings were, he knew that they were sincere and he recognized now what he couldn't have back then. Before…

She'd always been there for him, even when her own ambitions were bigger than his, back when the words that sprouted from her mouth knew no grace and lacked the charitable kindness she employs today. But he hadn't been there for her, not as that insecure, looked over teenager thirsting for recognition. He couldn't have been, because he never pushed hard enough when she closed the door on their relationship out of bereavement.

As the madness of his quest for power subsided, he found the truth lying in wait.

He still loved her. Even after everything.

He was blinded by his arrogance, too embittered by his own strong desire for success to recognize that the true 'problem' of his identity did not lie with the old man, nor that the answers did not lie within him and his cruel aspirations. The problem lay within the way he saw himself and the answer was to be found within the bonds between the guild members, within their friendships and loyalty towards each other.

And most importantly for him, the answers to his true desires lay with her.

He looked up at the festive lights that lit up the street beyond the dark alleyway he was in, the annual Magnolia Winter Street Fair in full swing now.

It'd been six months since his banishment and he'd been all over Fiore, helping and serving others wherever he could. But his mind always wandered back to his beloved guild and all he that threw away and to her and all that could have been.

"Laxus."

He'd heard her footsteps crunch the snow beneath her feet before he heard her utter his name. He lifted his head again and laid his eyes upon her. She was dressed in a light blue, tailored winter coat with dark leggings and matching ankle boots with compensated heels. He'd always liked her regular look over her guild poster-girl uniform, especially since she regained a bit of her old edgy fashion sense after her battle against Freed. A gentle smile formed on his lips. "I wasn't sure you'd show up, or that you even got my message."

She smiled back and showed him the small piece of paper she still held in her right hand. "How have you been?" she whispered, letting her eyes go over his tattered and dirty clothing.

He averted his gaze and closed his eyes. "How is everyone else?" he asked instead, avoiding her question.

She smiled in understanding, "Everyone misses you."

He huffed at that, still having a hard time believing those words from anyone, no matter how many times he heard them.

She moved to lean next to him against the wall of the alley. "Master most of all. A parent never stops loving a lost child, you know? All they want is for them to find their way back home."

He gritted his teeth in regret at that. "I can't come back. I—" He fell silent when he felt her small hand land on his large left arm, finding her looking at him with a compassionate expression.

"I know how you feel. I truly do. It's hard to come back from such a dark place." She then touched her free hand to her chest, "In order to move forward, you start by forgiving yourself."

Laxus sighed, eyes downcast. "How, Mira?" he heard himself ask her, returning to his insecure 19 years old self. "I don't even know how to begin with that one..."

"By realizing that others need you in their lives, that this loneliness shouldn't be yours alone to shoulder," she whispered, averting her eyes in turn and blushing. "That your absence does not go unnoticed… Open your heart and let those who care about you in." She let go of him at that and turned away from him with another smile. "Because you truly are a part of us, Laxus, of Fairy Tail."

He instinctively reached out to her and retreated when his fingertips grazed the pure white of her long hair, standing in stark contrast to the rough and blistered uncleanliness of his hand. "Mira…"

"I never properly asked for your forgiveness, Laxus," she said in a small voice. "Have you heard about Lisanna's return?"

Laxus nodded. "I have."

"I've had over two years the time to mourn the death of my sister. In that time I also thought about how we ended things. I had time to think about… how we were." She turned around to look at him again, and he found that flame of determination in her eyes again, the dullness of complacency that had taken over now gone. For a moment he thought seeing the old Mirajane before him again.

"Me too, Mira," he admitted. "And I'm sorry—"

"If I could take back all those things I said to you back then, I would, Laxus," Mirajane confessed quietly.

When that first tear rolled down her face, he was by her side in an instant, reaching up to wipe it away. "Mira—"

"Can you forgive me for abandoning you, Laxus?" she whispered, hesitantly grabbing hold of his shirt.

Laxus closed his eyes and pulled her close. "There's nothing to forgive, because you didn't do anything wrong. You were mourning, I should've stuck by your side then, but I was too angry. Too selfish, too filled with arrogance, too everything to invest more into what I wrongfully considered lost to me forever. I've regretted it ever since, Mira. I still do."

Mirajane sighed in relief and tightened her grip on him. "I've missed you, every day since that day," she whimpered. "I've never stopped missing you…"

A small, sad smile crept on his lips at that. It was all he'd dreamt of hearing from her, it was all he'd hoped for.

But he couldn't.

"Mira," he began, pulling back to look at her. His new hope was for her to still be there when he could live with himself again. She did not deserve him as he was now and he couldn't have her, not the way he was now. He took a breath and looked away again, resolutely pushing her away. He'd gotten what he'd hoped for, he couldn't ask for more. Not now. "Thank you, Mira."

She only looked at him for a few moments before a small smile formed on her lips and she chuckled, the tears still falling down her eyes. "You're welcome," she simply whispered before taking a steadying breath to regain her composure. She stilled then and looked away. "When do you think you'll be back?"

"I don't know. I still have a lot to think about," Laxus admitted softly, looking at the ground between them. He was almost certain he'd heard her hope smash to bits somewhere down there.

"The master is going to announce this year's S-class exam tomorrow," Mirajane said quietly, still not looking at him. "It will take place on Tenroujima Island this year."

"I have no purpose there," Laxus replied dully, yet feeling a tinge of nostalgia coming over him as he recalled his own S-class exam all those years ago. "I have no right to go anywhere near that place. I'm no longer part of the guild."

"You're wrong, Laxus," she whispered, shaking her head. She then closed her eyes at the tears that welled up in her eyes. "You're wrong..."

He simply closed his eyes in regret.

"When you feel ready, Fairy Tail will be there. I'll be there," she said quietly, meeting his eyes as he looked up at her in surprise. "I'll carry you in my thoughts, so you're not alone in your loneliness," she whimpered, fighting the tears with everything she had now. "If it helps take away your loneliness, I'll do whatever it takes..."

"Mira." He took a step towards her again and took her in his arms, giving into kiss he knew he couldn't deny either of them any longer.

"I never stopped," she whimpered in between furious kisses, her tears mingling in between them. "I never stopped, so promise me you'll come back."

"I promise," he murmured back, kissing her again and again.

He now remembered her lips, their softness and their taste like unspoken promises whispered in the dead of night.

The future was a clear-cut path and it lead straight to back to Fairy Tail.

And the promise.

Of her.

Up next - 22. Affirmation

Catch y'all on the next one!

-BDP-