Author's Note: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, follows, and faves! I can't believe that this story has gotten over 100 followers!
Random comment about the story: I can't remember if I've explained this in the past, but the idea in this story regarding lore is that some of the creatures from the "real world" actually came from this world. That writers/storytellers were actually somehow telepathically linked to this other world, and so stories told in the "real world" (like Fairy Tail) were actually real, just in a parallel world. That's why there are so many references to real world fiction, like Jason from Friday the 13th.
Anywho, enjoy the story! Have a good day! :)
Walking Cliché 25
Brother and Sister?
"Do we have to do this here?" Claire asked, trying her best to ignore the curious stares in their direction. A crowd had started forming around the group, and bets were being made by the fellow Fairy Tail mages.
"I can't believe you two are brother and sister. That is so adorable!" Mirajane squealed, not for the first time. When they both gave her identical deadpan looks, she squealed again.
"So does that mean that Claire is your granddaughter?" Macao asked the Guild Master, who shook his head.
"No. Laxus was adopted when he first came to this world." He told him, sitting on the sidelines with the other wizards. "I'll bet you $20 that Claire is the older sibling."
"Laxus is obviously the older one. I'll take that."
"Count me in." Wakaba said with a smirk.
"Claire was 22 years older before they came to this world. There's just as good of a chance that she's the older sibling." Lisanna told them, and the older men gave her a confused look.
The runes were almost finished, and Fried had been working on them for the past twenty minutes. In that time Bickslow and Evergreen had made it their job to inform every single person in the Guild Hall of what was transpiring, along with starting the bets.
"Do you want to make a bet?" Laxus asked her.
"I did… before I knew we'd have a crowd." She muttered, looking around at the excited faces making bets and commenting on the age and appearance of them. Laxus was physically much larger than her, but in terms of age, there was no defining difference between the pair. They both looked like they were in their early twenties.
"I'll bet you're the younger sibling." Gajeel teased the dragonslayer nearby.
"How much you want to bet?"
"$50?"
"You're on."
"Are you two ready?" Fried asked, looking back at the two siblings.
"Has everyone made their bets?" Bickslow asked loudly, and his babies echoed the question around the room. People nodded and yelled in excitement.
"Just get it over with!" Kana yelled.
"What did you bet?" Claire asked her boyfriend, who snickered.
"Sorry babe, I'm betting that you're the younger one."
Laxus didn't bother waiting for her and entered the square enchantment, watching as numbers appeared on the invisible wall.
LAXUS:
YEARS: 23
MONTHS: 1
DAYS: 4
HOURS: 5
MINUTES: 23
SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26…..
MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58….
"Accurate." Claire commented, surprised at all the numbers changing and flashing on the screen.
"Your turn." Bickslow told her, and gave a gentle nudge. Chewing on the inside of her cheek she walked inside the enchantment, turning to stand next to her brother.
CLAIRE:
YEARS: 23
MONTHS: 1
DAYS: 4
HOURS: 5
MINUTES: 24
SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26…..
MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58….
The room became silent for a moment, surprised by the results. Everyone did a double take, looking back and forth between the numbers side by side, checking for any differences between them.
"You sure this is working right, Fried?" Claire asked the green-haired mage, who nodded.
"Did anyone bet on them being twins?" Bickslow asked.
"We're not twins. We just… happen to be the exact same age." The checker woman corrected, still going back and forth between the numbers. Seconds and milliseconds were constantly changing, which made it difficult.
"I can create a different enchantment that would only let the older sibling leave, if you're dead set on finding out which is older; however, it seems that you two are nearly identical." Fried informed them.
As she looked up at the numbers, her encounter with the feline man came to mind. "It also required dragon magic to cast, and also unlike the other books, summoned two demons."
There's no way we're demons. And even if I considered it to be true for even a second, Carol would make more sense as the second demon, since we appeared at the same time and had dragon magic.
So how the fuck were her and Laxus the exact same fucking age?
"Do it." Laxus told the green-haired mage, and pulled Claire out of the enchantment for him to work and alter it. It only took a few tweaks, and after another minute of standing around, the pair re-entered the space.
"Now, both of you try to leave, and the older sibling will be able to leave while the other is stuck." Fried explained. Wanting to get it over with, Laxus took a step forward, only to hit the wall. Cheers rang out from the crowd, along with some disappointed 'aaw's.
Claire took a step forward as well, though, only to meet the same fate.
"Fix it." Laxus glared at the mage, who put up his hands helplessly.
"It's not the enchantment, it's you. Neither of you are older, so it won't let either of you pass."
"How the hell can we be the exact same age?" Laxus asked, glaring at the poor man. "Even twins are a few seconds apart."
"How does a dragon summon an entire family to an alternate universe?" Claire countered, feeling a headache come on.
"You two are twins. That is so cute!" Mirajane squealed amongst the confused betters.
"Does this mean that no one won the bet?" Elfman asked, scratching his head.
"I guess so." Bickslow shrugged.
"Does that mean we're twins?" Claire asked, looking up at the man next to her.
"We weren't born at the same time." He argued.
"But we came from the same womb, we're the exact same age, same exact parents… Wait… I wonder how old Bacchus is?" She suddenly asked.
"Let's find out!" The joyous voice yelled, emerging from his hiding place in the crowd.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Laxus growled.
"Would you like me to change the enchantment back to what it used to be?" Fried asked, and Claire nodded, pulling Laxus out of the enchantment after he nulled it.
"I heard you guys were going to find out your true age, so I thought I'd stay an extra day." Bacchus told his younger brother, grinning widely at him.
"I bet Bacchus is the older sibling!" Kana yelled.
"Duh." Bickslow told her, sticking his tongue out. His babies repeated him and swarmed the brunette, and she drunkenly swatted them away.
While the brothers bickered, Claire watched Fried fix the enchantment. As soon as he gave the okay she pulled Bacchus with her inside, not entirely surprised by their findings.
BACCHUS:
YEARS: 30
MONTHS: 1
DAYS: 4
HOURS: 5
MINUTES: 28
SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26…..
MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58….
CLAIRE:
YEARS: 23
MONTHS: 1
DAYS: 4
HOURS: 5
MINUTES: 28
SECONDS: 23, 24, 25, 26…..
MILISECONDS: 56, 57, 58….
"So before Tenrou Island, we were all the exact same age." Claire commented thoughtfully.
"What the hell!? I'm 30?! I thought I was 28!" The drunkard yelled, staring up at the numbers with wide eyes.
"So you've been on this planet for 18 years, not 16." She commented, and when the man tried to cry on her shoulder, a bolt of lightning sent him flying to the ground. "I wonder if there's a connection between our other siblings ages, too."
"You have an August birthday now." Evergreen commented. After the announcement that no one had won the bet, interest in the conversation had dwindled, and very few wizards remained with the group.
"What the hell is with all the lightning!?" Bacchus yelled, jumping to his feet. He barely dodged another bolt of lightning aimed for him. "Dude, what happened to being bros!? You're my bro!"
Zap.
1.
Bickslow stared across the table at her in complete silence for at least 5 minutes, not saying a word or taking a bite of his food. They were eating dinner: pasta night.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" She finally asked, setting her fork down.
"You're Laxus's twin sister."
"Apparently."
"Twins."
"Depends on your definition, but yeah."
"Twins."
"How does that change anything?"
"You're the twin sister of the guy I've been working with for 5 years."
"Yep."
"… twins. I've been boning my boss's twin sister for almost a year."
"My boyfriend is such a romantic."
"… twins."
When she realized that that's all he was going to say over and over again, she went back to eating, deciding to ignore him.
2.
The Thunder Legion was temporarily banned from doing jobs until attacks by dark wizards slowed down. Makarov requested that they stay near the Guild Hall in that time frame, but it wasn't a requirement.
Despite her insistence to train alone, Laxus was even more insistent that she not, and that he should go with her. Bickslow would have tried to join them, but with the stern look his leader was giving the checker woman, he really didn't want to be there if they fought. Which, they likely would, and even though Claire was immune to Laxus's attacks, Bickslow wasn't. Nor was he flame-resistant.
So, after a week of being trapped on an island together and afterwards finding out they were kind of but not really twins, they met up at a café.
"You're actually going to buy something? Didn't you eat before you came here?" The blond asked incredulously.
"No. And I'm not a morning person, so I need extra coffee in the morning." She explained, and stepped forward in the semi-long line to the warm caffeinated beverages. "You're the one that wanted to join me for training. If you don't want to be here, leave."
"You're not getting rid of me that easily. We can have breakfast if you want." He told her, and she shrugged tiredly. Both of them noticed the onlookers around them, who recognized the lightning dragonslayer easily and had instant hearts in their eyes, but the siblings ignored them. Ever since the Grand Magic Games Laxus had the occasional admirer, and sometimes they formed large groups which could be terrifying, but they left him alone for the most part. "Did you think breakfast would make me ditch you?"
Another step closer to the front. "I didn't really think about it."
"I'm your brother. I'm not going to let you train alone, especially after what happened last time."
"Okay."
Another step.
"E-excuse me," A young woman spoke, and when Laxus looked down, he saw that she was standing with a small group of girls. "A-are you really L-l-l-laxus Dreyar?"
"Yes." He said simply, and at his indifferent reaction, the girls swooned.
"Eastern Gonzao tea." Claire told the barista when they finally reached the front. "And two breakfast sandwiches."
"Oh my, are you… you are. How did I not see it before?" The brunette, a woman that Claire had been getting breakfast from for the past few weeks, gushed. "Claire Groh and Laxus Dreyar? You're both Fairy Tail wizards and part of the Thunder Legion, right?"
"I'll have an Earl Grey." Laxus said simply, and like the others, she smiled and swooned.
"S-Class wizard, Laxus Dreyar, is here. At my café. Where I work."
"You live in the same town as him. Why are you that surprised?" Claire snapped.
"And you two had to wait in line? Next time you come here, you can come straight to the front."
"Can you just get us our food and drinks?"
"Of course, of course! On the house!" She said with a goofy grin, and the checker woman rolled her eyes, hoping that she wouldn't screw up their order. The siblings made their way over to the other side of the café, and after the woman's excited outburst, the entire room now was aware of who they were. Some of them were too tired to care, but enough of them were awake enough gawk and stare.
"Sorry." Laxus said after a while.
"It's okay." She muttered, honestly just wanting her coffee.
"So, uh…" He spoke, and cleared his throat, getting her attention. "I, uh… how long did you want to stay here?"
"Before they found out you were a celebrity, I wanted to chill here for a while. Training is usually when I get my alone time, so I like to hang out here and reminisce a bit. Makes me feel grounded."
"What's so special about this place? Can't we meditate or something at the training place?"
"Before I came to this world… we, came to this world," She corrected herself. It was going to take a while to get used to. "I used to work in a coffee shop. Hanging out here reminds me of home."
"Here you are!" The barista chirped happily, bringing them their order. Usually you had to pick up your order from the counter. "I wasn't sure if you guys wanted it to-go or for here, so I put them in to-go containers, but if you want them in the other cups, just let me know."
"This is fine. Thank you." Claire told her.
"Is there anything else I can get for you? Do you want anything to eat?" She asked, turning back to the blonde, who glared at her.
"No." He said simply, and with her swooning, neither sibling were sure how she made it back behind the counter without falling over.
"Do people always act that way around you?" Claire asked her brother.
"Sometimes." He shrugged, and took a sip of his drink. "So this place reminds you of our home world?"
"Yeah. Our entire family was big on coffee, so I woke up every morning to the smell of it. Bacchus got pretty nostalgic when let him have some of my stash." She explained, and at the mention of their older brother, Laxus grimaced. "How long are you going to be mad at him?"
"Until he stops being insane."
Deciding to not push the issue, she took a sip of her drink, and started eating her sandwiches. "So how've you been coping?" She asked between bites. The lightning mage looked up, raising an eyebrow at her in question, and waited for her to finish chewing to clarify. "With family stuff. It must be weird to find out about your blood relatives, especially when you didn't want to know in the first place."
"It is weird, but not as bad as I expected. I didn't grow up with you guys, so I guess it's not as weird to learn about our family as it was for you. I'm more curious than anything."
"You and Bacchus hung out a lot before the trip. What did he tell you about us?"
"A lot of BS." He said, and she chuckled, biting into her breakfast with a smile. "Or, at least most of it was. I'm pretty sure our family wasn't royalty and the 'kings and queens of Spain'. Whatever that means."
"He does like to exaggerate." She commented.
"He almost got you killed tons of times. I don't know how you put up with him."
"I got used to it. He's not too different from the wizards at Fairy Tail, in that sense."
"But he's your brother. He's supposed to protect you, not put you in mortal danger because he's bored."
"Wow, you've been a brother for 2 months and you're already an expert." She said sarcastically, and he rolled his eyes. "If you're going to be mad at Bacchus for putting both of us in danger, that's fine, but don't hate him just because of my relationship with him. I've known him for a lot longer than you have and I care about him."
"I may not know how to be a perfect brother, or whatever the hell that is, but I've been around the Strauss siblings long enough to know that Bacchus isn't a good one."
"So that's why you're taking on the 'overprotective brother' act. You've been taking advice from Elfman."
"Did none of your brothers on your home world do that?" He asked, recalling their family. Before they came to this world she had two brothers, minus him.
"Not really. Our world wasn't nearly as violent as this one, so we didn't need to be protective of each other. Bacchus tried to beat up one of my exes once, but that's the closest. We fought with each other more than other people."
"What about… Carl, was it?"
"Total bookworm. He hated me ever since I burned a few of his books… never forgave me for that. Him and Kelsey are so mad at me for burning their stuff as a kid, that when they found me on this world, they tried to kill me. Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing you didn't know me on our home world."
"Considering their experiences on this world, I doubt their attacking you was actually related to that." He said, watching her quickly go from annoyed to sad. In her tired state she shrugged, going back to her coffee and breakfast. Returning to his own drink, he leaned back in his chair, letting her eat in peace. The onlookers had mostly gone back to whatever they were doing before they got there, when they realized that they weren't going to be putting on a show or doing anything interesting.
Now that he had a chance to look around the place, he understood why she liked it so much. The décor was simple and modest, consisting of a few planted trees and the occasional small painting on the lavender walls. It was the size of a small restaurant but it only served breakfast items, and the tables were spaced out so that each guest had plenty of room. Soft blues music drifted out of the speakers, and he could see how it would be a peaceful place when they didn't have so many onlookers watching them.
"This is a nice place." He commented.
She nodded. "Yeah."
Once she finished her coffee and meal, she stood up, stretching her arms over her head.
"Ready?"
He quickly finished off the last of his drink, and they both headed out.
3.
"Thank you!" Bickslow yelled to the blonde, meanwhile his girlfriend rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend and newly discovered brother had a new thing in common: hating Bacchus for taking her on S-Class missions. "Finally, someone gets it!"
"You guys are overreacting." She told them.
"I have to agree with Claire. I mean, he is her older brother. I'm sure he that he had her best interests at heart." Evergreen spoke up. "And she got great experience out of it."
"Think about all the S-Ranked missions we've done together, Ever, and how we did them as a team after weeks of training together." Bickslow spoke, trying to explain himself. "Remember all those times that we almost died, barely escaping solely because we had each other and that training to get us out of it? Now think about Claire and her alcoholic brother doing those same missions, Claire having no training whatsoever, and Bacchus passing out every other day from over drinking."
"It wasn't every other day." Claire corrected, and both Laxus and Bickslow gave her a look. "… More like once a week." Although every other day would be slightly on the more accurate side….
"Was he sober for more than an hour on any of those jobs?" Laxus asked.
"I don't even know when he's drunk half the time. He acts drunk when he's sober sometimes."
"I'll take that as a 'no'."
"You told me that you had to do most of the work on those jobs because he was too drunk to do them himself." Bickslow recalled.
"Maybe I exaggerated so that I'd seem stronger than I am. It's not like he stayed home drunk and sent me out to do the work- he stayed by my side and kept me safe." Some of the time….
"Maybe you're under-exaggerating it now because you know that your big brother was in the wrong." He said, letting his tongue hang out at her. Usually she thought that was cute, but at that moment, she understood why so many people had the urge to tear it out of his face.
"It's not like he was blind drunk on those missions all the time. Crazy as it sounds, it does help him fight and makes him crazy strong, and he does have a system. He is S-Ranked for a good reason."
"Somehow I doubt that being a responsible adult is that reason." Laxus commented. "And he was stripped of that rank because of those jobs with you."
"You just don't want to admit that your brother is a fuck up because you see him as that sad little boy from your world." Bickslow told her.
"Of course I do. He's my little brother no matter how old he is, and I'll always be there for him. You can joke about it, but he was ripped from our world when he was 12 years old and stranded on this alien planet without friends or family, and raised in an orphanage, alone and confused. Instead of bitching about him having an alcohol problem, maybe we should be helping him." She said, and at the end, looked pointedly at her brother.
"Everyone has a messed up past. It's not an excuse for putting you in unnecessary danger."
"Did you forget that your grandfather approved of those jobs?"
"So, I actually talked to him about that," He said, and set down his drink. "After the Blood Guild thing, he started looking into those jobs and talking with Goldmine. Apparently Bacchus had been leaving out a lot of key details about those jobs and straight up lying about some of them. Did you know about that?"
She paused, her face heating up as she tried to recall her interactions with the Guild Master regarding those missions. She had straight up told the Guild Master that she almost died on those jobs, but he simply smiled and shrugged them off, as if she'd been telling a joke. At the time she had figured that close calls like that were common, and considering how rowdy Team Natsu was, most S-Ranked mages were just as exuberant. Bacchus had been the first person she worked with aside from Bickslow, so she didn't have anyone to compare him to. "I know he fibbed about my experience using magic, and left out key details regarding it so that I could do those jobs with him."
"That was just the icing on the cake. When he gave reports to Makarov about the jobs, he lied about where the jobs were and what they were about, but kept the details close enough to the truth so that if he talked to Goldmine about it, it wouldn't sound suspicious."
"That explains why he seemed so nonchalant when I talked to him about it." Bickslow commented.
"But Makarov knew that they were S-Class jobs. As you guys keep reminding me, S-Class means that they're dangerous and potentially life threatening." Claire pointed out.
"Different guilds have different standards for what they determine is S-Class." Fried told her. "Depending on how Bacchus spun the story, he could have made S-Ranked missions at his guild seem to have higher standards than ours. In other words, our Guild Master probably thought they weren't actual S-Class missions, and that you weren't in any serious danger."
"Still think we're overreacting?" Laxus asked.
"Yes."
"We're not saying that he's a bad person. We're just…" Bickslow spoke, trying to find a nicer word for 'terrible human being'.
"We don't think you should be alone with him… and should never do jobs with him again. Ever." Laxus spoke up, and the seith mage nodded in agreement.
"Hey Ever, feel like going to the baths?" Claire asked, tired of trying to argue with them. She'd spent so much time in the past year searching for her family, that now that she'd found them, their hating each other gave her a headache.
4.
"I still can't believe that you're Laxus's twin." Evergreen commented in the baths, and Claire groaned.
"Not you, too. Bickslow keeps staring at me when we're home, muttering the word 'twin' over and over again. Not to mention-" Just as she was going to comment on Mirajane's constant giggling, the familiar sound met her ears. The pair looked up to see the Strauss sisters wading closer to them in the water, taking seats near them.
"Sorry about Mira." Lisanna apologized, having seen the annoyed look on Claire's face every time her sister giggled. "We've known Laxus since we were kids, so it's strange to say the least to find out he has a sister."
"It's okay." She muttered, taking a look around the room. It was surprisingly empty that day, and the four women were the only ones in there.
"How did your family boat trip go?" Mirajane asked, smiling at her.
"Eh." She shrugged. "Laxus hates Bacchus now."
"That's an understatement." Evergreen added.
"What happened?" Lisanna asked.
"Bacchus acted like himself, and Laxus didn't know how to deal with him."
"Bacchus destroyed their ship, stranded them on an island, spent all their grocery money on alcohol, nearly got them eaten by a monster, and when they got back, Laxus learned more about the jobs Bacchus had been taking Claire on earlier this year, which apparently he'd been lying to the Guild Master about in extensive detail." Evergreen elaborated, and both sisters listened intently. "He almost got her killed on pretty much every job."
"Like I said. Bacchus acted like himself, and Laxus didn't know how to deal with him." Claire spoke..
"Laxus said that he's like all of Team Natsu put into one person, plus more alcohol."
"I think that might be an exaggeration. No one is that destructive." Lisanna laughed, looking to Claire, who seemed to be thinking it over.
"No, that's actually pretty accurate. He's just as powerful as Erza, if not more when he's had enough alcohol." Claire said, and both Strauss sisters stared at her with wide, terrified eyes.
"How are you alive right now?" Evergreen asked.
Claire was beginning to regret teaching that phrase to them.
"He acts more insane than he really is, and he's my brother. Like you said earlier, he does have my best interests at heart."
"I only said that because Bickslow and Laxus were ganging up on you about it. I'm totally on their side."
"What's it like having Laxus as a brother?" Mirajane asked, interrupting them.
"I dunno. Kind of cool, I guess."
"Don't lie, you totally love the attention." Ever teased with a knowing smile.
"It is nice to have brothers look after you." Lisanna commented. "Even if it can get a little annoying sometimes."
"Apparently Laxus has been getting tips from Elfman on how to be a good brother." Claire spoke, and the sisters chuckled with a wide smile.
"That sounds like him." Mira said.
"You're right Ever, I do kind of like the attention. It's nice to have family again."
5.
September 20th, X791
After a week of no activity with dark wizards not attacking Claire, nor any word from the Ghoul Guild, Makarov was considering letting the group do jobs again. In Magnolia, at least.
And when the infamous Jura Neekis came to the Guild Hall requesting Claire's help for a boring, three day job, she'd been allowed to go. They would be convening at the Lamia Scale headquarters, where his guild would be keeping her safe. After Jura explained the job details to Laxus and her team, even Fried thought it would be boring, and no one wanted to go with her. Extensive paperwork and filing of known worlds wasn't as fun as it sounded, although the main reason she'd been chosen was to talk about her home world, it would be very boring details, like the environment, technology, cultures, etc.
Even though she loved her brother, and sometimes enjoyed the over protectiveness of her team, it had gotten old after the first few days. She was looking forward to a little time away from them.
Last time she had spent time with Jura was at the Grand Magic Games when he'd consolidated her on the roof, and she'd always admired him, if not for that then his status as one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
6.
September 22nd, X791
"She's not there."
Makarov looked up from his paperwork, full and untouched mug next to the pile, and raised his eyebrows at the man. It was half past noon and the Guild Hall was alive with joyous laughter and drinking, and in front of him, was one of his strongest mages: Gajeel Redfox.
"Excuse me?" The old man asked.
"You asked me to check up on Claire at Lamia Scale. She's not there." He elaborated, and at this news, the guild master furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Jura has been on a job on the other side of the country for the past month. Whoever came to the Guild Hall the other day wasn't him."
Makarov looked behind the young man to the second floor, where the Thunder Legion usually sat, and sighed in relief. They weren't there. "Are you certain?"
"The only other explanation is that it was him the other day, but he took her somewhere other than Lamia Scale HQ. Without telling his guild. And not bothering to tell his Guild Master that an imposter was doing his job in Bosco. When I brought up the job she was supposed to be doing with him, they said they'd never heard of it." Gajeel further explained, keeping his voice low and taking a seat in front of the Guild Master. "Laxus is going to flip his shit when he finds out."
"Let's keep this between us until tomorrow, when she was originally scheduled to come back. Until then, we're going to try and find her covertly. With any luck she's fine and just snuck off somewhere."
"Is that really such a good idea?"
"You've seen how Laxus acts when it comes to his sister. I don't want to tell him until we have more information."
"What if the Ghoul Guild has her?"
"They have no reason to take her. Let's not jump to any conclusions until we know more."
"Where do we start looking?" Gajeel asked.
"Let's go to Quatro Cerberus first, and see if Bacchus has seen her. After the stunts he's pulled in the past, I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind it."
7.
September 23rd, X791
7:32 PM
Makarov had been watching the door anxiously all day.
After their trip to Bacchus's Guild Hall and speaking to Goldmine, he was pretty sure that Bacchus had something to do with Claire's disappearance. The martial artist had just accepted a dangerous job across the border only a day before 'Jura' had requested Claire's help on a job, and considering the man's habit of lying to do jobs with her, it wouldn't surprise him in the slightest if he'd done it again. Goldmine surmised that, considering the drunk's personality, he could have done it just to piss off Laxus.
Ultimately when it came to Bacchus, no one really knew why he did half the things he did. It was one of his charms, and more often than not, some of his miraculous situations would be perceived as absolute genius.
So the Fairy Tail Guild Master sent Gajeel to go find and bring Claire back, hoping that she was with him and not held captive by a dark guild. At that point, her being with Bacchus was only a slightly better situation.
Since Gajeel had left the previous day, the fastest he could back (assuming he found her exceptionally fast) was tomorrow.
But she was scheduled to return today.
"You seem awfully nervous, gramps." Laxus said, walking over to the old man and taking a seat. "Anything I should know about?"
"Nope. Just tired." He said with what he hoped was a convincing grin. "Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, I got a message from Lamia Scale. It might take longer than they thought to complete the job, so Claire might not be back until tomorrow."
"That's not like Jura to be late."
"This is Claire we're talking about. For all we know, she accidentally set fire to half the papers they're supposed to be organizing."
"They are working with flammable materials…" Laxus agreed, and shrugged. "Whatever, old man." The blonde said, and waved him off, walking back over to the bar.
"Brat." He said, loud enough for him to hear and going back to his own drink. If anything happens to her….
1.
September 20th, X791
"Dude, why do you keep doing this?" She asked her brother in the train car. They had just gotten on the train for Margaret Town, home of Lamia Scale Guild Hall, when who she thought was Jura Neekis, 'poof'ed into Bacchus Groh. Since they had their own compartment to themselves, she was the only one to see this transformation.
A lazy smirk crossed his features, and he leaned back in his seat, a full bottle on the empty space next to him. "Do what? Spend quality time with my sister?"
"You can do that without impersonating a wizard celebrity. Since when do you know take over magic, by the way?"
"Since none-of-your-business." He replied, and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm heading back to Magnolia at the next stop. Once they find out what you did, they're going to be worried."
"You haven't even heard what I have planned for us. Why leave so soon?"
"Do you have any idea how mad Laxus is going to be at you for this? He already thinks you're the devil incarnate trying to murder me. If I go back now, he might not blow a gasket."
"What's that guy's deal? He was nice enough before the boat trip, and for some reason he hates my guts now."
"He's just not used to your sparkling personality."
"Clearly."
"You have been extra… you, since you met Laxus. Why are you being so out there? With me you at least toned it down a little when we first met."
"After being with Fairy Tail his entire life, I didn't think I had to."
"And why'd you lie so much about the jobs with me? Apparently you lied about some major things."
"What's with the interrogation? I'm your brother and I care about you. I don't need to explain myself."
"I'm your sister I care about you. That gives me the right to interrogate you when I see fit, younger brother." She said, and stuck her tongue out him. He did the same, and looked out the window, realizing that they were slowing down. "Looks like my stop is coming up."
"You sure that you don't want to stay? It'll be fun." He said with a hopeful grin.
"Sorry bro, I need to get back to Fairy Tail. I love you, though." She said, and not a second later, was knocked out cold.
Bacchus moved forward to gently move her so that she was laying down on her side of the compartment, her legs bent so that she could fit on the bench. Since her fire magic was most effective in close proximity, and he'd learned from experience that she was not afraid to use her magic on him, he had to take her out fast. A simple Vulcan Neck Pinch (on this world it was called something else) had her unconscious.
If Claire had looked closer at their train tickets, she would have realized that they had multiple tickets, not just one to Margaret Town.
After she was settled and he was confident that she wouldn't fall out of her seat, he moved back to his side, sitting sideways so that he could stretch his legs and look out the window at the scenery. He took a swig from his bottle of whiskey, enjoying the burning liquid that filled his belly, and went over his plan again in his mind.
Step 1: Get Claire.
Step 2: Get Claire on train, and if she tries to leave, knock her out. Then give her enough drugs to keep her out for the rest of the ride.
Step 3: Get to destination without anyone asking questions about his unconscious sister.
He leaned over and poured a small amount of his drink on her.
Step 4: Wake her up, tell her the details of the job, and complete the job.
Step 5: Have a drink with sister, joke about how stupid Laxus is, and convince her to leave Fairy Tail. Nah, she likes Fairy Tail. Scratch that.
Actual Step 5: Have a drink with sister, joke about how stupid Laxus is, and make plans for their next family adventure. Maybe a beach trip?
Step 6: Get her back to the Guild, on time, and avoid getting killed by baby brother.
Why the hell is that brat so protective of her? Every time I touch or go near Claire, he attacks me. I mean, I had planned for them to get along after the trip was over, but I didn't think he'd hate me so much after it.
He is new to the whole brother thing. Once he gets to know her, see how strong she actually is, maybe he'll loosen up.
His gaze lingered on her for a moment, seeing that incredibly rare calm look on her face. Claire had a habit of stressing about things too much, and when he saw her sleep, the change always amazed him. 18 years waiting on this world, and his older/younger sister was finally here, and only a few months had passed for her. Only a few months, and she looked almost exactly the same. She still saw him as the 12 year old boy back on their home world, despite all of the very adult things she knew (and unfortunately saw) he did, and he loved that. In some ways he still felt like that lost kid in the woods, but now he wasn't alone.
If he was going to be lost, he wanted to be lost with someone else.
They had a bond that no one, not even Laxus, could understand. It was a connection he thought that he had with his mother until she died, and one that could only be had with someone from their world. No matter how hard he had tried to make friends when he came to this world, to make true connections, he never could. This world always felt off, like he never truly belonged, and even though it was amazing and wonderful, he missed home.
He missed his family. He missed his mother being happy, playing with his baby brother and seeing him smile for the first time, and showing off his boy scout crap to his older siblings when they visited at Christmas. He missed playing video games with his friends on the couch and ignoring the mountain of homework waiting for him in his bedroom.
Taking another drink from the bottle, the sweet nectar dulled the heartache a little.
Claire knew exactly how hard it was to be in this world. When he talked to her about his transition, she didn't laugh or joke about the mistakes he made as he stumbled in this new life of his. She nodded and listened, occasionally agreeing or adding that she had the same problem, and even reminded him of some of the hardships he'd forgotten about.
And she was proud of him.
Just like when he'd show off what he'd learned in boy scouts, or school, or whatever the hell he was interested in when Christmas rolled around, she looked at him like she was proud. Even though he drank too much, said stupid things, and didn't know what the hell he was doing half the time- she was proud of him.
Thirty years old, and he got the approval of his older/younger sister. She wasn't crazy, or brain damaged, or suicidal- she was normal (relatively speaking).
And she was proud of him.
Bacchus Groh.
He took another drink, watching the trees roll by.
2.
The abrupt sound of someone banging on the door woke him up.
"Inspection. Open this door."
Another bang.
He groggily looked over at his sister, who was still sound asleep, and then back to the door. "Jus' a minute," Bacchus called out, and coughed, clearing his throat. According to his watch it was 1 AM, and they weren't supposed to arrive for another 2 hours. "Wha's the 'spection 'bout?"
"The Bosco Militia checks every train that crosses the border. By law you are required to let us search this compartment."
In his sleepy, slightly drunk state, Bacchus thought about it for a moment. "Since when?"
Another bang on the door. "Either open this door or we'll force our way in. We don't have all day."
"A'right, a'right, keep your pants on…" He muttered, pushing himself to his feet. Turning the light on and not bothering to put a shirt on, he opened the door, raising his eyebrows at the armed men. One of them shoved past him, and upon seeing his sleeping sister, nudged her. "She had a little too much to drink. She'll be out for a while."
"Names and passports." He said simply, and Bacchus rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, moving back into the room to his bag.
"Bacchus Groh, and this is my sister, Claire Groh."
3.
September 21st, X791
"Hey, wake up." He said, shaking her roughly. At that point he had been a little surprised that she was still knocked out, considering how loud the past hour of the trip had been.
Their job was simple: extract Martin Hooley from the battlefield of a civil war happening in Bosco. Get in, grab him, and get out. Easy enough.
He'd given Claire a sedative to keep her out for the train ride, and enough to keep her knocked out for most of the journey there. They were currently on the edge of the active battlefield, guns going off in the distance, and he needed her awake for this. She was supposed to be awake from this.
He slapped her across the face, telling her to wake up- nothing. No reaction whatsoever.
He checked her pulse, finding that it was slow and steady, and then her eyes and breathing. In all the times he'd used the sedative on people, it had never kept them out for this long before.
"Shit." He muttered, and ducked down when he saw a flashlight go near them. Well I can't take you into a battlefield unconscious. I'm not that irresponsible. After looking at her for a few seconds, and then looking around the secluded area, he nervously chewed the inside of his cheek.
When he'd been carrying her on his back, they had managed to hide in an old, half torn down shack. It was far enough from the patrolling guards that they wouldn't search it, but close enough that he might be able to run into the fray in order to get the man he was sent to find, come back, and get back into town without problem.
Should be easy enough.
Assuming she didn't wake up before he came back.
He checked her pulse again, and considered how long she'd been knocked out. It had been close to 30 hours at that point, her pulse was so low that he was afraid to give her more of the tranquilizer until she woke up at least once. He'd expected to give her at least 2 doses to get her there, realistically more like 4 or 5.
Yet 1 dose was all it took.
I'll leave a note! Brilliant, Bacchus! He beamed, and pulled out a piece of paper and pen from his pocket.
'Claire,
BRB, don't go anywhere, next to war zone. Seriously. Don't go anywhere.
Your BFF,
Bacchus'
And then he put the note in her pocket.
Once he checked that the area was clear, he exited the decrepit space in search of 'Daniel Whitkins'.
20 minutes later, once the Quatro Cerberus mage had left the vicinity, the dark mages made their way over to the half torn down shack. How lucky were they that Claire Groh's own brother would get her away from the Fairy Tail Guild (namely Laxus), leaving her easy for the taking?
Colossus, the leading mage wrapped in head to toe with bandages, entered the shadowy space first. He was on guard, in case the girl would attack, but was surprised to find her already unconscious.
4.
Charles Ding sighed contentedly, looking around the room once again.
Everything was in place.
Everything was perfect.
His severed body parts, placed in alphabetical order on his top most shelf, were exactly where they were supposed to be. Below that, his jars of small animals ranging in dead to moderately alive were exactly where they were supposed to be, sorted by the name of their species. Below that, was his collection of insects, ranging in size and complexity and taking up much more space than the other collections.
His shelves covered the entirety of the wall, reaching exactly 50 feet.
His medical equipment was clean, sterile, and organized in the room. Perfectly.
Perfection was his specialty.
It was his life.
The specimen in front of him would help him attain even more perfection. Indirectly, that is. His employer wanted the secret to her magic, and since he was in need of funds, conceded with the request. Humans were hardly his favorite subjects, but you know. Gotta do what you gotta do.
"Remember, Seravenous. If she attacks me and somehow gets the restraints off, chop her head off. Don't hesitate." He reminded the man behind him, who sat bored and slouched in his uncomfortable chair. It was metal, and he hated it, but he got paid good money to be his bodyguard.
Holding up the axe, he nodded. "Yes sir, Ding sir."
"This woman is supposed to specialize in fire magic, so I also want you to be ready with the fire extinguisher."
"Yes sir, Ding sir." He said, nodding to the red cylindrical object on the floor next to him.
"Miss, wake up! Wake up!" The tiny voices from the jars yelled, watching helplessly as the doctor snapped his gloves on. He double checked that they were exactly the same length on both sides, because sometimes one plastic glove was longer than the other and he hated that, but today they were exactly the same.
They were perfect.
"I can tell that this is going to be a good procedure." He said with a grin, ignoring the small voices across the room. Reaching for the small tubular device, he applied it to the woman's exposed arm. It was a non-invasive machine designed to suck out a small amount of magic from the specimen and analyze it. "What a pity." Charles said with a small frown, and held up the small device closer to his face, watching the small flame burn the plastic material in fascination.
"Need the extinguisher, sir?"
"It's only a small flame. No need. You may look at it if you like, though. It rather a peculiar flame." He said, turning so that the large and bulky man could look at it.
"Just looks like a regular fire."
"Perhaps to the untrained eye." The man scoffed. "The way it's moving is remarkably. It's hardly noticeable, but it's like it has a mind of its own. A personality, almost."
"Fascinating, sir."
"Quite." He agreed, and as he studied it, almost entranced by it, it moved. Charles only got out half a scream before the flame jumped onto him and started burning his face, the sound which finally woke Claire up.
"Run!" A tiny voice yelled, and in her tired and groggy state, set her body and fire and rolled over. As she hit the floor, the metal end of the man's axe landed where her neck used to be. Acting on instinct she rolled under the table, kicked the large man's knees as hard as she could, and rolled back out. "Run, get out of here!"
Looking to the source of the sound, she realized that there were little people talking to her.
Little people with wings.
In jars.
Talking to her.
"Get out while you can! More guards are coming!"
"What about you?" She croaked, surprised at how terrible her voice sounded. Everything felt fuzzy, the sounds were confusing, air smelled way too sterile-
"Watch out!"
She easily ducked and dodged the fist aimed for her head, and vaguely recognized her attacker as not being the one that she had kicked in their knees. Purposely she threw them at the strange jars on the wall, causing the shelves to fall and crash to the ground.
Another person tried to latch magical vines to her limbs, but she easily burned them. In the back of her mind she realized that she was just in her bra and underwear, but upon that realization, also realized she had more important things to worry about.
"Run! Let's go!" The tiny little people encouraged her, and being too tired and utterly confused to argue, followed the little flying people while shooting her fire magic at her enemies.
She was uncoordinated and crashed into more than one wall, but after a series of dodging, burning, stairs, walking, more burning, she ended up outside. Just like inside it was hectic, but just as easy to get passed.
Running as fast as she could, little flying people at her sides, her heart thudded against her chest painfully. Adrenaline was still pumping, her magic flying, and in the early morning light, didn't see the cliff until it was too late.
"Shiiiiit!" She cursed loudly, and although the little fairies tried to help her, were unable to.
5.
September 23rd, X791
9:30 AM
Gajeel was starting to understand why his boyfriend hated Bacchus so much.
"That ass hole? Yeah, I saw him. He was with some passed out chick he claimed was his sister." The guard told him, recalling the past few days. His memory had gotten remarkably better with a twenty.
"Claire Groh?"
"I think so. The compartment reeked of alcohol, and he was half-naked. I'm not one to judge, but, uh…" He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
"Did you by chance see her hair?"
"Yeah, it's pretty unique. Black and white with a weird smiley face."
"When did you see them?"
"Uh… couple days ago, late at night. 2 AM or something."
"Was anyone else with them?"
"Nah, just those two."
"Thanks dude. You've been a real help." Gajeel said, and gave him an extra five before walking away from the station and back to the train. He really hadn't expected to get that lucky so quickly- literally the first person he talked to happened to have seen them, which was good, because the train was going to leave again soon. Some part of him had hoped that someone had seen Bacchus but not Claire, because hell, now he had to go into a war zone to freaking find them.
6.
September 23rd, X791
9:30 AM
Bacchus stood there for at least five minutes.
Eyes wide.
Frozen in place.
Can that idiot not read?
"Aaauugh…" The man he was hired to retrieve groaned as he hit the ground, rolling onto his side and holding his stomach. Finding the man hadn't been quite as easy as Bacchus had initially planned, and along the way he had been unconscious for a fairly long period of time for mysterious reasons, so he wasn't sure how long he'd been gone for.
But as almost always, it worked out. He got the man he was paid to find.
But his sister was gone.
So that hadn't worked out.
He turned in place, looking around the now lit area for any sign of his sister, and after a while of slowly spinning, came up with a new plan.
Use the drugs he had bought for Claire on new guy, go find her, come back, pick him up, go home drinking in merry. I amaze myself with my own brilliance.
7.
September 23rd, X791
5:45 PM
Gajeel couldn't believe his luck that day. After what Laxus had told him about the -debatable- psychotic martial artist, he half expected to be tracking them across the country on horse back. Or something more creative.
Instead, when he'd arrived on the edge of the battlefield, he walked up to one of the guards and explained his situation. He was a Fairy Tail mage looking for a girl, average height, weird hair, and might be traveling with her brother. To his amazement the guy said he knew who he was talking about, that they had found an unconscious girl matching that description smack dab in the middle of a fire fight.
They couldn't find any identifying markers on her, and since she was a half-naked girl obviously wounded and in need of help, they took her back to their base. If she'd been a guy they likely would have killed her on the spot.
Since they were so low on medical supplies, food, and water, they couldn't really give any to her, but they did have a blanket and a bed for her in a cell. When Gajeel got there he found her sleeping soundly on a bed, facing away from the entrance, and a faded blue fleece blanket on her. "How long has she been been sleeping?"
"She was unconscious when we found her yesterday afternoon, and to my knowledge hasn't woken up. There's a dark guild base somewhere in the area that will sometimes dump bodies around here, so some of us have been guessing that that's where the markings came from."
"Markings?"
"There's weird marks on her body. I haven't seen them personally, but someone said that they look like cutting marks." He explained, and a knot formed in Gajeel's stomach. Walking forward, he gently nudged her shoulder, glad when she made a sound. Pulling the blanket back a little, to try and see what 'marks' the man had been talking about, he pen marks dotted along her skin, along with the now fading black hand print where her guild mark used to be. "Is she yours?"
"Yep. Thanks for the help." The iron mage said, and pulled the blanket back over her arm. Gently, he reached a hand under her side and thighs, and slowly rolled her into his arms.
She made a whining sound and shifted against him, resting the side of her face against his chest as he stood up, holding all of her weight. Since she was at least partially awake, that was a good sign. Laxus once mentioned that one of the reasons he was protective of Claire was because he had held her unconscious, and that it gave him a weird feeling of responsibility for her that he couldn't explain. Gajeel didn't really understand it at the time, but now he did.
"You should get out of here before nightfall. It gets pretty hectic." The guard told him, and he nodded, making his way back out the door. "Good luck."
8.
Sometime that night, Claire finally woke up, her head pounding. Shifting in her spot, she winced at the following pain, especially when her leg thudded loudly to the floor. Apparently she didn't have much leg room, whatever she was laying on.
"Are you awake?" A gruff voice asked, and she made a whining sound, clutching the blanket around her. He chuckled.
"I feel like I was hit by a truck." She croaked, her voice cracking and sounding terrible. As she thought that, she recalled feeling it earlier, and tried to recall when that had happened. "Are the fairies okay?"
"Fairies?" He asked, and she nodded. "I didn't see any fairies, but from what I heard, you hit your head pretty bad. We'll have Wendy look at you when we get back."
Her blanket smelled like gun powder, and upon realizing it, she pushed it from her face. Blue, blood shot eyes opened and peered around the room, and landed on an unlikely figure. Despite the pain she kept he eyes open, blinking rapidly against the dryness. "Gajeel?"
"Makarov sent me to get you." The iron mage explained, and held up a waterbottle. "Thirsty?"
Nodding, the fire woman slowly sat up, shaking as she did so. After taking the waterbottle she quickly brought it to her lips, drinking it as quickly as she could. It felt like she hadn't had water in days, and as it passed her chapped lips, her eyes closed. As a fire mage she usually hated water and took it for granted, but now, it was the best thing in the world.
"When was the last time you ate?" As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly.
Her belly felt full of water, which was a little uncomfortable, but she didn't mind it right then. Once she had drank the entire container she gasped for breath, beginning to feel the sleepiness egg away from her. She sat up straight, stretching her sore muscles, and then handed it back to him. "What the hell happened?" Upon feeling a draft, she looked down, realizing that she was in her black bra and underwear. There was so much dirt and grime on her that it almost looked like she was fully clothed. "What happened to my clothes?"
"Bacchus was hired to retrieve someone captured in a civil war happening in Bosco, and apparently, brought you along. When I got there, someone said that they found you half-naked in the middle of a fire fight, unconscious."
"Seriously?" She asked, and happily took the sandwich he offered her, immediately digging into it like the waterbottle.
"They also mentioned that there's a dark guild nearby, and that those markings by be from them." He added, and she looking down at herself, seeing dotted lines along parts of her slightly less dirty skin.
"I do remember being strapped down at some point, and a voice telling me to run. It was pretty easy to escape, if I remember right…. and then I fell off a cliff… I think?"
"Do you know which guild it was?"
"No idea. Could have sworn that I freed some fairies that were trapped in some jars, but I lost them after I fell."
"Did they have tails?" He asked, and after a moment of silence, broke out in a grin. "We should be back in Magnolia in another 8 hours, by the way."
"Do you know where Bacchus is?"
"Nope. My job was to find you."
"What if he's hurt?"
"He's going to be dead if Laxus gets his hands on him. Hell, if I see him I"m going to kick his ass into the New Year."
"That's not funny. He could be hurt somewhere."
"He dumped you, half naked and unconscious, in the middle of a war zone."
"Well when you say it like that, it sounds bad."
"Phrase in any other way that doesn't 'sound bad'."
"We don't know the full story. Maybe… he had… a good reason?" She suggested, adding a cheesy grin. Finishing off the sandwich, she set the wrapper to the side and then wrapped the blanket back around her. "Do you have clothes for me to wear?"
"I'm gay, remember?"
"You expect me to walk around Magnolia in my underwear and raggedy blanket?" She asked, and he shrugged. When he didn't move, she became set on staring at him for another minute before he moved to dig into his bag.
"I grabbed some clothes from the train station before we headed out. You owe me $50."
"Kay." She said simply, reaching for the sweatpants and baggy shirt. "Too bad there aren't showers on the train." Standing up, Gajeel looked away as she pulled on the clothes, feigning some level of modesty. Once clad in the new clothes, which had that new clothing feel, she plopped back down on her seat with her legs crossed beneath her. The iron mage yawned into his hand. "Huh. Wonder why Bacchus drugged me."
"What?" He asked, and she held up her forearm, pointing to a part of her skin. In faded blue marker were the letters 'BG'.
"He has this weird thing about signing people when he drugs them with tranquilizer."
"... is that insanity genetic?" He asked, and she looked up at him, now ignoring the mark and clasping her hands together in front of her.
"I don't think so. Until we came to this world there was no crazy gene or anything like that. Unless something in this world unlocked a hidden 'crazy gene', it's purely psychological circumstance. I'm guessing you're asking because of Laxus?" Claire asked with a knowing smile, watching as a cute little blush tinted his cheeks. Still feeling gross, she tried to distract herself with conversation. "How are you two doing?"
"We're fine. So long as he doesn't go crazy on me." He muttered the last part, and sighed.
"Out of all of us, he has the best chance of turning out okay, if that makes you feel any better." She told him, and he looked up, slightly confused by her choice of words.
"What about you?"
"Initially I thought that out of all of us, Bacchus would be best off, because he was at the best age and he had survival training. The more I think about it though, Laxus has the best chance, because he has no memory of being on our home world. He's strong, capable of taking care of and defending himself, has a good support system, and he doesn't have the memory of our home world to bring him down. So he has the best chance of turning out okay."
"He also had the benefit of being the Guild Master's grandson." Gajeel added, and she nodded. "Does that mean that you think you won't be okay?"
She shrugged. "I try not to worry about it too much. Worst case scenario I turn out like Kelsey, slightly better and more likely case I turn into Bacchus, or best scenario, I'm a pyro seith mage."
"Aren't you already the last one?"
"Right now I'm just a pryo. I won't have another wandering soul to work with for another couple weeks. So what's your family like?"
"Not nearly as interesting as yours." He chuckled. "My dad was a dragon."
"Are you kidding? That's super interesting. Tell me about him."
9.
September 24th, X791
11:30 AM
"Is it just me, or does the Guild Master seem to be more anxious than normal?" Fried asked the group, and they all turned to look at the main level of the Guild Hall. Laxus had been eyeing the old man as well, since hell, it got boring just sitting around all day, and had also noticed the man's odd behavior.
"He keeps looking at the door, like he's waiting for something." Laxus added.
"Did he say what time Claire would be back?" Bickslow asked, and he shook his head.
"You'd think that Jura would be a bit more specific, time wise." Evergreen spoke, and they nodded.
"He could have told Makarov a time, but he 'forgot' to tell us." Bickslow spoke.
"Wouldn't be the first time." His babies added, and he nodded in agreement.
"There she is. About time." Laxus announced, and the group turned to the front of the Guild Hall, smiling at the friendly face. The dragonslayer's smile fell when he realized that Gajeel was with her, and how terrible his sister looked.
As she made her way to the Guild Master with Gajeel, the Thunder Legion ran to meet her, giving her hugs and talking about how much they missed her, even though she'd only been gone for 4 days. The iron mage stepped to the side, avoiding the questioning look of his boyfriend, and turned to the Guild Master.
When Laxus got his turn to give her a hug, which he rarely did in public, he smelled her hair. "Why the hell do you smell like gun powder and whiskey?"
"New shampoo?" She joked with a guilty smile, and as he put her at arms length, his hands on her shoulders, she made a small whining sound and looking away. When he gave her that look, the one he'd used on her at Tenrou Island and somehow got her to spill her guts about the leg scars thing, she knew that lying wasn't an option.
"'Shampoo'?" He repeated.
"Claire, why do you look guilty? And you smell terrible, no offense." Bickslow added. He didn't need extra dragon senses to smell that.
"Bacchus posed as Jura and took her into a war zone." Gajeel said, knowing that the girl wasn't going to spit it out any time soon.
"... Bacchus did what?" The blonde seethed, shocking everyone around him with his lightning magic.
10.
Claire couldn't sleep that night.
Namely because she was laying on the floor with only a thin mat under her. The prison cell was more comfortable.
She sat up, sighing for the millionth time, and looked around the dark room. When she moved, her boyfriend re-wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and nuzzled his face into her side. Nearby the rest of her team slept in their respective sleeping bags either on the couch or floor, snoring softly.
It was cute that her team was so worried about her, so much that they didn't want her alone that night (even though she would have been fine with Bickslow and their babies) and piled into Laxus's living room. While they had been able to fall asleep easily, her sleep schedule had gotten so messed up on the previous days that she felt wide awake. The near non-existent cushioning beneath her didn't help.
Slowly, as to not wake Bickslow, she removed his arms and quietly padded to the kitchen. Since her return she had been able to take a shower, get clean clothes, and eat plenty of food, so physically she felt pretty good. Wendy had used her healing magic on her too, which helped.
Today was the first time that she had been in her brother's house. The reason they were all staying there was because he had the biggest living room of the group, and they were dead set on having a slumber party. Fried tried to call it a 'teamwork building activity' to make it seem less weird.
This was probably the nicest house she had been in since her arrival to this world. Extremely clean, tidy, and well furnished. The house was next to the river, relatively close to the Guild Hall, but far enough away on the outskirts of town to not be bothered by city noise.
Her gaze landed on some of the magical items in the room, and she recalled her conversation with the lightning mage the previous week. Bickslow had told him about her embarrassing stories trying to learn 'basic' kitchen appliances, and when the lightning mage had told her he knew that, he had been insulting Bacchus more than her at the time, but it still made her feel self-conscious about it. It was something she always felt uncomfortable about, since her parents had banned her from the kitchen growing up, and something she could never truly get over. When she moved out her roommates taught her some basics, but when she came to this world, she was back to square one.
At least she knew how to make tea, and as she'd discovered earlier that evening, Laxus had plenty of it.
Careful as to not wake the others, she quietly moved around the room to make it. Unlike her world, boiling water took a matter of seconds, which was handy. After pouring herself a cup of chamomile tea, she sat down at the adjoining dining room table, lost in her thoughts.
"He dumped you, half naked and unconscious, in the middle of a war zone."
"Well when you say it like that, it sounds bad."
"Phrase in any other way that doesn't 'sound bad'."
And she couldn't. Ever since that conversation, she ran countless scenarios in her head as to why what had happened happened, and she couldn't think of a single one with Bacchus in good light. In all the crazy, messed up situations she'd been in with him, he had never drugged her with tranquilizer so that she couldn't defend herself.
"He dumped you, half naked and unconscious, in the middle of a war zone."
From what little she remembered and what Gajeel told her, all that she could piece together for sure was that Bacchus drugged her, she somehow ended up in a dark guild lab with fairies she may or may not have hallucinated, she either fell off a cliff or otherwise hit her head, and ended up in enemy crossfire. Whether Bacchus was alive or dead was unknown, and she worried about him. For all she knew, he was killed defending her from dark wizards that had followed them from Magnolia.
Even if that was the case, it didn't explain why he drugged her. She distinctly remembered him doing the stupid 'Vulcan Neck Pinch' on the train, so she knew they weren't ambushed.
Setting aside that she knew he would never hand her over to a dark guild, all evidence was pointing towards it. That he kidnapped, drugged, and then handed her over to a dark guild, which she escaped from.
Just thinking about it made her sick.
Laxus's footsteps were unique to their group. He was much heavier and bulkier than the others, which made him stand out. Upon his arrival she didn't bother looking at him as he navigated the kitchen, and after a few minutes, found him sitting next to her at the table with his own cup of tea. Same kind.
"Are you in here to keep an eye on me, or because you couldn't sleep?" Claire whispered.
"Both." He whispered back. They could both hear the soft breathing of their teammates in the next room, sleeping soundly and unaware of their disappearance. "How do you feel?"
"Emotionally I feel like crap. Physically, not so much." She replied, suddenly feeling weird about talking to him. Before their trip on the island she was mad at him, but in his anger at Bacchus, she had forgotten about her anger at Laxus. Briefly she wondered if Bacchus had actually planned that, but tossed the idea aside, since it wouldn't make sense for him to purposely make Laxus hate him, especially without a plan to regain his favor. Remembering her previous anger for the blonde, she suddenly recalled their spats before they found out they were related. They'd always had a weird friendship- one day they would be cursing each other out, the next, joking about their team or completely silent for hours at a time.
"Sorry." He whispered after awhile, and she looked over at him. It was rare that she saw the man in pajamas, and even though she had seen his hair tussled to the side several times on the island, she still enjoyed the sight. The famous Laxus Dreyar with bed head.
"For what?"
"Overreacting today."
"I think the guild deserves an apology, not me." She pointed out, and he grunted.
"I didn't shock them that bad."
She smiled, taking another sip of her tea. Laxus fidgeted with his mug, occasionally stirring it with his spoon, and pressing the small bag inside of it to the side of the wall, over and over again.
"I originally wasn't going to say 'I told you so'…" He said softly, looking up at her with playful glint in his eye. "But I totally did."
"Congrats." She said sarcastically, and he went back to looking at his tea, smiling softly.
"Back when we first met… when I told you that I was adopted, you said something that stuck with me." Still looking down at his tea, he continued stirring it as his sister looked at him curiously. "You said that I should look for my family because even though some of them are jerks, I could have some family that aren't jerks."
"Sounds like something I would say."
"Bacchus may be a jerk, but you're not."
"Thanks. I don't think you're a jerk either. Together we are the amazing non-jerk twin duo."
"So are we officially telling people that we're twins?"
"Easier than telling people that we're actually from a different universe, but we were summoned by a dragon and even though we were born 22 years apart, we're actually the same exact age down to the millisecond. 'Twins' just sounds better."
"Do you just wait for excuses to say that?"
"No, but it is fun to say. Have you tried it?"