Author's Note: Woohoo! 25 chapters! This is the longest story I've made. The story is almost there to 100k words as well. This has 150+ followers and 130+ favorites! And we're almost there to 200 reviews! Thanks guys, I appreciate it!
I got a lot of positive feedback from the last chapter, and I really appreciate that, it means a lot to me that you appreciate the things I write!
Also, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year guys, hope you guys had fun.
Alright, enough of my needless commentary and let us start the story!
It had been a couple of days since he had captured her. The notorious terrorist slash assassin, Minerva, had been captured by a joint operation between Magnolia Police Department, the FBI and Interpol. Laxus had been given all the credit of taking her down, even when he didn't want it.
The striking blonde looked in his mirror, fixing his tie. He had a black suit, ready to go to a funeral, specifically, Levy's. He tried to hold it together, tried to smile long enough but when he looks at himself, he could only see that he's hurting more by putting up a façade.
He sighed, now comfortable with how the tie looks. Laxus walked out of his bathroom and now stared at the living room.
Her laugh, her presence, there were never coming back. Her habit of leaving the TV on was all but gone and the way she would try to cover his eyes from behind and failing humorously was now a reminiscent of how he missed her.
Laxus sighed as he no longer would have the spark of his life, never getting the chance of growing old with her.
He got his matching hat from the couch and now started to walk out of his own house. Getting his keys that were on the end table next to the couch, he made his was to the front door. From the window, he'd seen that raindrops were now falling from the skies again.
It didn't bother him and without much of a complaint, he opened his door, got out and now headed his way to the funeral.
…
So many people had come to pay their respects. From familiar friend faces to family, even highly decorated cops had come to pay their respects to the fallen forensic scientist.
The father had given his speech, like many times he's done so when he was called in to a cemetery.
The casket was closed and was now being slowly let down.
Her friends and family, all mourned for her.
Still trying to keep his façade of a smile, Laxus couldn't help but let a small tear escaped as it treaded slowly down his cheek. Thankfully with the rain, it was masked with the rest of the rain drops that dripped down his face.
He wasn't like the rest, gouging their eyes out, having hysterical cries as they see the last of Levy. No, he just wanted to mourn for her in peace and quiet.
They now began to place the dirt above her casket. Her tombstone now visible; Levy McGarden, best daughter and lovely fiancé, 1989-2016. That was the engraved writing.
Everyone now headed back inside to the funeral home but not Laxus.
Standing over her grave in the rain, he placed his left hand on the tombstone, feeling the cold wet stone. "I'm… I'm so sorry I couldn't… save you…" The rain continued to mask his silenced cries.
He took out something from his right hand pocket and embalmed in his fist was the engagement ring, the one he took off from Minerva. The ring that rightfully belonged to her.
He looked at it in his hand and without hesitation, brought it right back to who it belonged to. "I got it back… it deserved to be buried with you…" He knelt down on the wet dirt below him. With his hands, he made a small little hole and placed the ring in. Afterwards, he covered it again.
From his knelt position, Laxus saw the engravings up close. "Levy…" He moved his hand around the engraving, feeling the smooth texture. He closed his eyes, knowing this was the very last time picturing her smile, her touch, her everything.
Laxus then felt someone pat his back, feeling the warmth of the person's palm on his right shoulder. He turned to look and saw that it was none other than his gramps, Makarov. The short man gave Laxus a smile. "It's okay, son."
Laxus held his grandfather's hand with his left hand, still on his shoulder. "I lost her, gramps…" He couldn't hold his façade any longer and broke down.
Like the father figure he was to Laxus, Makarov gave Laxus a shoulder to cry on. "I know son, I know."
And in the never ending rain, the two stood in front of the tombstone, mourning together.
…
The chief of Magnolia Police, Jura, was in his office, tidying up the place. As he was fixing his papers, his office door opened. "Hmm?" He looked to his front, behind his desk.
A familiar red haired agent slowly entered his office. "This a bad time?"
"Not at all Gildarts, come on in," Jura told him. Gildarts along with a few others came in. "Ms. Ultear, Ms. Meredy, and-" And a fourth but not so friendly face came in. "Mr. Geer."
"Hello, good to see you again, chief." A smug like smirk loomed over the CIA agent's face.
"Do what do I owe the pleasure?" Jura asked.
"I'm sorry to bother you but Minerva is becoming a pain." Gildarts said as he pulled out the chair, making the excruciating loud noise as he dragged it's legs on the hard wood.
"What?" Jura didn't quite understand what that meant.
"She's not talking." Meredy explained in a better manner of understanding.
"Hmm, am I missing something?" Jura still didn't quite grasp the situation they were telling him.
"She doesn't want to talk to anyone besides you-know-who." Ultear added.
"You guys are like the super police, I'm sure you have some kind of torturous ways of getting your information." Jura now had an annoyed look.
"She's CIA trained, she would handle anything we throw at her." Mard Geer commented on her endurance and durability skills.
"Now who's fault is that?" The chief now had his arms crossed over his chest.
"Hey, I didn't have any idea that she'll go rogue at the time, so bite me." The CIA agent exclaimed.
"Look, we just need Laxus to come and talk to her, that's it." Gildarts attempted at persuasion.
"No," Jura said, calmly and clearly. "The man has been through enough." Jura now stood over his chair, still behind his desk. "He just buried his fiancé, the very person she killed, don't want to do this to him, especially after all the shit she's put him through."
"You're being unreasonable." Mard Geer now has his arms crossed, appalled by the stubbornness the chief police was giving them.
"I'm not being unreasonable, I'm being human, I forget that people like you have aren't any more." Jura raised his tone, becoming angered at the topic.
"You have to understand that she may have information we need." Again, Gildarts tried his best at persuasion.
"Information that you could easily obtain through other means," Jura exclaimed. "Now, if you have anything other to say, please tell me, otherwise, leave my office."
"It's not your decision to begin with." Mard Geer now told him.
"Maybe, but I still got the decision to kick your ass out of my office, now leave." He wasn't going to say again. The man may be a CIA Agent, but nothing says Jura can still kick his ass at the very least.
Just as the rest were leaving, Gildarts stayed, attempting one last time of persuading him. "I'm sorry we came here for this."
"It's… it's alright," Gildarts looked at the red haired man. He could see that this conversation was just as hard on him as it was to himself. "Look, since you guys took Minerva away, Laxus hasn't returned to work."
"A lose like his was hard, I would see why he wouldn't want to come back for some time." Gildarts completely understood Laxus' actions.
"Exactly, all he needs right now is time, give it to him, he doesn't need none of what Minerva is at the moment." Jura explained his precautions.
"I understand, I and the others, will give it to him." Gildarts raised his hand, like some type of promise.
"Alright, now, get out of my office, I have stuff to do." Jura exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, doing that now."
…
"Another -hiccup- shot, bar keep." Laxus, now drunk, told the bartender.
"Sir, I think you had enough already." The bartender had advised him. He could see the man was in mourn, drowning himself in nothing but alcohol.
"I say I had enough when I say I had enough!" Laxus in his drunk disarray, slammed down his small shot glass. Unfortunately for him, it shattered. Fortunately, he didn't get a single scratch from the shattered glass. "Oops…" the drunken detective said as he saw his mess on the bar counter.
"Sir, do you want me to call someone to pick you up or a cab?" The bar keep got his broom, telling Laxus if he needed someone to pick his sorry drunk self up.
"I have -hiccup- one in particular…" Laxus took out what seemed to be a business card of some sort and gave it the bar keep.
While holding on to the broom with his right, the bar keep grabbed and held the card with his left. He took a glimpse at it. "Uh, sir? There's 3 numbers here." He raised an eyebrow.
"Call one of them, all of them, I don't care," the detective now laid on one of the pool tables in the bar, about to take a drunken nap. "Surely one of them will pick up…" And like that, he snoozed away.
After picking up the mess the detective made, the bar keep went to his land line and inserted the first number on the card. Surprisingly, it was an active number.
He waited a couple of seconds until it went straight to voice mail. "This is Levy McGarden, sorry I wasn't able to answer, please leave a message at the tone." No luck.
The man now tried the second number. After a few seconds of waiting, someone picked up, primarily a male's voice. "Y-Yes? Who is this?" His voice sounded groggy, like he had just woken up.
"I got a man here in my bar, told me to call you if he ever got drunk," the bar keep told him. "His name is Laxus."
"Oh crap…" By the sound of his voice, the bar keep could tell that the detective in his bar doesn't rarely drink himself to death. "What is the name of the bar and where is it located?'
"The Lamia Bar," the bar keep answered. "It's downtown, by Mag Street."
"I'll be there in a few, don't let him out of your sight." He commanded.
"Don't worry, the man fell asleep on one of my pool tables, he isn't going anywhere any time soon," the bar keep looked to his right where the detective was snoring on one of his pool tables. "Ah, what's your name? Just in case."
"Freed. Freed Justine, I'll see you there." And like that, he hanged up.
After waiting about a few minutes or so, no longer than 10, a man with long, emerald colored hair and a red raincoat soon walked through the bar's doors. "You Freed?" The bar keep asked, cleaning the last few beer mugs that were in his sink.
"Yeah," he turned to his right and walked towards the sleeping detective. "God dammit, you really got your sorry ass drunk again, huh?"
"Zzzz…" Laxus snored loudly.
"Does he often get drunk?" The bar keep asked.
"No, it's been years since he gotten himself drunk." Freed got Laxus to sit up, still sleeping on top of the pool table.
"Years? I guess something must've happened for him to get himself drunk." The bar keep was now going through his register, clearing up the money.
"Yeah, he lost his fiancé," Freed managed to get Laxus off the table, now holding him up as he has the blonde's right hand over his shoulders. "Her name was Levy McGarden."
"Levy McGarden? Huh, now I kind of feel bad." The bar keep sighed as he told Freed that.
"And why is that?" His sentence made Freed raise an eyebrow.
"That was the first number he made me call." He answered.
"Oh," Freed, along with Laxus, was about to walk through the front door. "Well, don't feel bad about it." He advised him. "And thanks for calling."
"Yeah, no problem." The bar keep saw the two head out now.
Freed dragged Laxus all the way to his car, which was a few meters away. Already opened, he opened the back seat door and threw Laxus in there, now laying down in his car. He got in and turned the engine on.
Fixing his mirror, he saw the sleeping detective. "L… Levy…" The detective whispered in his sleep.
"You dumb bastard… we've already lost her, don't need you drinking yourself to death now…" Freed sighed. He looked away from his mirror and into the streets. Swiftly, he now drove away, taking the blonde to his home.
Author's Note: It felt like a small chapter I know but I wanted this chapter to be about Laxus and how he was coping with his lose.
Losing someone is hard and that's why I felt compelled to just make this chapter about him.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. If I didn't mention this earlier, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Years!
I've also written a new book called Learning To Love, another NatZa story except, it's Edo!NatZa. Be sure to check it out if you want, should be able to update that story along with NatZa Drabbles soon.
Alright, see you next time.