Seven Years Asleep
. . .
Cobra watched from the deck of the merchant ship as Acnologia circled the island a few times before charging his roar. Thankfully, the winds were favorable and he was well out of range of what was soon to be Fairy Tail's demise.
Tentatively, he reached out with his soul magic and was able to hear small snippets of what the large creature was thinking. In his current form, his thoughts were fragmented but Cobra was able to make out the main ideas. "Anger, rage," and above all, "fear."
It was that last one that surprised Cobra. What would Acnologia have to fear? He was arguably the strongest being in existence. Something didn't add up.
"You got any info on this shit?" Cobra projected to Rancidus.
"Obviously."
"Care to share it with the rest of us?" Cobra quipped.
"Go find us another Conquest to play around with. Preferably one that we can actually play around with this time. No more long distance relationships. Then we'll talk," Rancidus snickered.
"You should know, if you're going to be a smartass, you have to be smart. Otherwise you're just an ass."
"Touche, douche."
. . .
Laxus was falling in and out of consciousness. He opened his eyes, blinking at the bright light around him, not fully understanding where he was. "Lucy?" he said in desperation. He moved slightly and noticed that she was lying next to him, completely knocked out. "Lucy?" he called out her name and she shifted slightly.
It was all he could do to drag his body over to her. With what strength he had left, he pulled her close to his body, holding her close. "I'm sorry," he said as tears streamed down his eyes before he once again lost consciousness.
. . .
Acnologia circled the island, letting his rage fill and consume him. He allowed it to take control of his emotions, his magic, his very being. It is what ultimately gave him the power to transform into a dragon in the first place and he enjoyed the release he gained from giving himself over to his baser instincts.
Anger.
"I don't understand after all these years how father managed to show himself, and in another slayer, no less. Had our time together meant so little that he could allow his soul to be imbued in another human?"
Rage.
"He had said that a dragon could only gift Slayer Magic to one human in their entire lifetime! He must have lied! There was no mistaking it, that man bore the magical signature of Electrum. His entire human life, I have been lied to."
Fear.
"That man, he blended forms of magic in a way that left me completely defenseless. I've never experienced something like this. I need to end his life, now! If I do not defeat this challenger, he will surely return for me. The nightmares will come back. The restlessness, the hopelessness, all of it. He must be destroyed. I must do it quickly!"
Acnologia allowed these feelings to control his magic. Energy poured into his body from the surrounding atmosphere, charging his breath. Without thought, he released it all back in a concentrated roar. When the light cleared from his attack, he let out a relieved sigh, knowing he had destroyed another opponent, and began an exhausted flight back to his mountain.
…
Nurem turned to Merlin with wide eyes. "Did it work?"
Merlin was breathing heavy but otherwise looked okay. "You doubt me? Nurem, I'm bloody hurt."
"I definitely don't doubt your powers but," Nurem scanned the skies alongside Draco. "I can't seem to sense any of the members' magical signatures."
"Right, so I thought they could go to the Plane of Dreams. Don't ask for its actual name, ya couldn't pronounce it without a forked tongue."
Nurem furrowed her brow, a look of worry coming across her features. "What does this mean for all of them? I put them to sleep just before you transferred them."
"Here's how it works. Try to keep up mates. They are safe, they can't go mad because their minds get to dream and because it's where the Yaara Falani live, they can keep nightmares away with their magic and songs. Lovely people, truly. I like being there when I can't sleep..." Merlin looked around, playing with her fingers, mumbling a bit. "Should probably sleep at some point, it's only been..." she flipped her arm over and looked at the clock tattoos, "three years since my last nap."
Before Nurem had the chance to respond, Merlin gave a quick embrace to her and Draco and vanished.
Nurem looked back at Draco and tears filled her eyes."I know she said they're safe but, I don't fully understand what's happened."
Draco knew of the Plane of Dreams and knew Merlin spoke the truth when she said they would be safe. However, she had not filled Nurem in on the larger details of how that plane worked and now there was no time.
"Love, we need to get you somewhere safe. Acnologia will surely pick up your magic signature in a matter of hours and we need you well away from the Oasis by then."
Nurem brushed a tear away from her cheek and smiled at her Mate. He always had her best interests at heart and she knew that. "Thank you, Draco. I will reach out when it's safe. Until then," she reached up and gave him a long kiss, "please watch over them."
Draco drank in his mates last embrace and nodded as the two parted. He knew his Mate would be in hiding for many years before he could construct a new magical field. It would likely be many decades before he saw his love again.
…
Year One: Shock
Lucy blinked her eyes open as she looked around. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she knew she was dreaming, but she was having difficulty accepting the world in which she awoke-or lack of world, for that matter.
There was absolutely nothing around her. It was simply her, surrounded by an endless expanse of the night sky. She shook her head, trying to make sense of everything. The urge to panic welled up inside of her and she suddenly found herself short of breath. Closing her eyes, she knelt down, trying to suck in air.
Suddenly, the smallest of lights caught her eye in front of her. As she looked at the ground, she realized she was catching the reflection of one small star up above her.
Standing, she squinted her eyes and thought she saw the flashes of lightning far off in the distance.
Her legs began to carry her towards the scene of their own volition. Perhaps she should have been afraid, but for some reason, she knew she needed to head in that direction and she let go and ran with all her might towards the storm.
. . .
Laxus awoke with a start. "The fuck," he exclaimed. Looking around he blinked his eyes several times as he met nothing but a dark expanse. "This can't be right," he said aloud as he got to his feet.
As he grew more panicked, lightning began to flash around him, narrowly missing his body. "Hello?" he called out, trying to get a grip on his current situation.
He tried to tamper down the gut wrenching feeling that he might have died or that Lucy might have died. As he began questioning his very existence, something in the back of his subconscious told him that this was a dream and that he was safe, but that didn't quell his panic.
Turning around again, he tried calling out for Lucy. "Lucy!" When she didn't respond, he began to grow increasingly anxious. Then he heard her.
"Laxus!" Lucy shouted frantically. Finally he came into view in front of her. Somehow she knew he would be there all along. The two looked into each other's eyes and as they reached out to link hands, the world faded.
. . .
Year Two: Guilt
. . .
Looking down, she noticed that her hand was being held tightly by another. It was warm and the feeling of it around her made her feel safe somehow. She followed her gaze up and saw Laxus, standing beside her. He looked at her, coming to terms with the world that was forming around them.
Lucy gulped as the Guildhall infirmary began to form. A depressed sigh caught her attention and she looked towards the window and nearly gasped as she saw herself, lying in the bed talking with Makarov. She put her foot forward to move but Laxus' hand didn't budge. She looked back at him and he grit his teeth. "I know this day."
As those words left his mouth, another Laxus, wrapped up in bandages, walked through the door to the infirmary. His Grandfather turned around and the two began to talk. Laxus' hand tightened around Lucy and she looked up only to see tears starting to stream down his gray-blue eyes.
"You are expelled, Laxus." The words hit him again just as they had the first time and he nearly collapsed. Lucy began to cry herself, knowing what was to come.
As Laxus walked over to her cot, the present Lucy gripped Laxus tighter. "I'm so sorry," she said, as she knew what she was about to say.
"I don't think I can believe you, Laxus."
"Lucy, I-I've never felt like this about any one. You're all I think about-almost to the point where I feel insane. You've got to feel it, right? It can't be just me."
Lucy would have collapsed to the ground if it hadn't been for Laxus catching her on the way down. "It's okay," he said, trying not to sound weak from everything they were being forced to relive.
"But it's not," Lucy nearly weeped. The scene before them vanished and the pair found themselves back in their previous landscape. A completely dead night sky stretched out around them. Lucy looked up, looking for that one little star she had seen last time only to discover a second by its side.
"I've never forgiven myself for turning you away like that," she confessed as she sat on the ground. "It was so unlike me. I've always given people a second chance. And when you came to me, I turned you away in a time of need." The girl sighed. "Reliving it just now," she said, swiping a tear from the right corner of her eye away, "I never realized how much I was holding onto the pain and regret of what I did to you. I suppose it's why when you showed up on Tenrou, so amazingly changed for the better, I accepted you immediately."
Laxus swallowed hard, trying to process everything he had just seen. He sat down next to Lucy and hugged her tight to his side. She curled into him and let her tears flow. "I guess I never knew how much pain I felt from Gramps expelling me like that. Instead of facing it, I just turned tail and tried to cover the emotions in travel and fighting and sex."
Lucy chuckled slightly. "Classic Laxus." She felt him laugh the smallest bit next to her before the two just fell back into a comfortable silence. Each understood the pain the other way feeling and each supporting each other as they allowed themselves to fully feel it.
. . .
Year Three: Anger
. . .
The ground beneath his feet felt soft and Laxus looked down to see he was standing on grass. He looked to his right to find Lucy standing next to him, he looked to his left to see that he was standing in a clearing surrounded by forest of some sorts and in front of him he saw a vision of Lucy.
His skin itched as he watched that bastard from earlier on the island come into view.
"C-cobra?"
"That's right, baby. And you're about to be all mine."
"Who are you?"
"You don't remember? You wound me!"
Laxus began to clench his fists, his knuckles turning white as he watched the man steal Lucy's keys from her, leaving her completely helpless. His throat constricted and his breathing shortened.
His eyes widened in surprise as the Lucy in front of him moaned his name as the man circled her, licking the skin of her neck almost affectionately. His anger almost reached a peak when Lucy, clearly believing this man to be him, started to roam his body as he did the same to hers.
Her teammates filed into the area but it was too late. The man had sunk his teeth into her before he released a purple toxin towards everyone. Instinctively, Laxus threw his hands up at Natsu's flames but realized that they wouldn't hurt him. He almost roared as he watched the scene in front of him and watched the aggressor flee the scene, leaving Lucy and Erza in a crumpled mess in the clearing.
It wasn't until Laxus felt the present-Lucy's hand drop away from beneath his that he looked down and saw her. She had fallen into the ground, watching the scene before them and was shaking. Laxus tried to shake the anger he was feeling away and breathed out his tension.
The scene faded and once again, he found himself sitting besides the girl, the both of them crying out the painful memories they were being forced to relive. Overhead, three stars twinkled amidst a black sky.
. . .
Year Four: Depression
. . .
Lucy blinked her eyes open. She was laying down on what she wasn't quite sure and the world around her was pitch black. She started to feel awareness in her limbs and realized that her hand was currently being held. Lucy managed to turn her head to the right and saw that Laxus was laying down next to her.
The two stayed this way, silently looking up at the dark expanse above them, neither of them speaking; neither of them having the will to move.
After what felt like an eternity, it was Lucy who finally spoke first. "Will we ever escape from this?"
She heard Laxus sigh. "I don't know," he responded, his voice gravely.
"I feel like we're trapped in some crazy world that only wants to show us our most painful memories. I don't even have the strength to fight it anymore. I just feel," Lucy sighed.
"Numb." Laxus finished the sentence for her.
"Yeah," she agreed before her lips fell silent again.
Nothing else was said. The two of them simply stayed where they found themselves, sprawled out next to each other on the ground, lacking the strength or willpower to move. Overhead neither of them noticed the fourth star amidst a black night.
. . .
Year Five: Ascent
. . .
"Maybe there's a purpose to all of this." Laxus startled at the sound of his own voice and moreso at the words he just spoke.
"There must be." That was Lucy. The pair was still laying next to one another but now there was the faintest hint of a sunrise in the distance and Laxus finally realized he was laying out on what appeared to be the hill overlooking Magnolia.
"What do you think it could be?" He was wondering himself but he agreed with Lucy, there had to be some reason the pair was seeing such visions, and together. If they were truly dead, it wouldn't make sense for this to be happening.
"I don't know for sure," Lucy pondered. "But, I do feel like I understand you better now that we've seen these things together. Like, being with you again in the infirmary and seeing how you reacted when I was Claimed," her words trailed off.
"I know what you mean," Laxus admitted, sitting up and pulling the girl closer to him. The human connection felt nice and he wouldn't deny himself of it any longer. "I'm sure I don't even know the half of what you went through when that slayer bit you, Lucy. Knowing that I had a part to play in it." Laxus sighed.
Lucy burrowed into his warmth further, letting him put his arms around her as they watched the sunrise over their city. "I don't fully understand everything that happened to me, but I told you already, what matters to me is that you made it right."
Laxus pursed his lips and dug deep for the courage he needed to say the next words. "Let me tell you what happened, all of it, and then you can tell me whether you still feel the same way. Okay?"
Lucy turned around to look up at the big blond. His eyes were clear and serious and she nodded her head in agreement. She didn't know for how long the pair sat, but Laxus divulged everything to her. How he had unintentionally started the Mating, how he had left her vulnerable without knowing, and how that other Slayer Claimed her because of his ignorance. He held nothing back and Lucy winced when he told her that had the man been savvy enough, there was a strong likelihood that he could have gotten access to her magic and seriously messed things up in the Celestial Realm.
But when he told her of how he had finally come to the decision that he needed to go after her and all that he risked to do it, her heart softened even further. He'd been brand new to his enhanced power but he still chose to fight Acnologia to defend her and the Guild. He admitted that he honestly thought he would die in the fight-and wasn't sure that that hadn't actually happened given the circumstances.
"But, if it turns out we are still alive, I mean to make it up to you, Lucy. If our bond is still in tact after whatever this is ends, I promise to let no harm come to you." Laxus' heart was pounding out of his chest after he finished these last words. He wasn't sure how he managed to tell Lucy everything he had but he felt so relieved to have gotten it all out. Now, he just had to wait for her rejection.
He closed his eyes, waiting for her to kick him, yell at him, run away from him, hell all three and he would have taken them because he deserved it. But what he didn't expect was for Lucy to press her lips against his. His eyes flew wide and he tried to pull back but she wouldn't let go. She deepened the kiss, holding him hostage until he finally relented, pulling her tighter into his body.
When they finally broke for air, he looked at her with questioning eyes. "My answer is still the same. But perhaps it means more to you now, knowing that I know everything." Laxus eyes widened as she looked at him. "Yes, Laxus. What I went through was horrible. But you suffered as well. I forgive you and I shall never regret making that decision." A smile lit across Laxus' face for just a moment before he capture the woman's lips for his own.
Up above, a fifth star added its light to the rising sun.
. . .
Year Six: Reconstruction
. . .
"Chickens?" Lucy laughed as she ran through the open field. Laxus smiled as he watched the woman throw her arms out and bask in the warm sun. He directed his gaze towards the building in the distance and squinted. The words "Fairy Tail" were carved out of some old plywood and were barely hanging to the posts in front of the building.
"Lucy, come look at this with me," he shouted to her and she quickly ran over to him. "What do you see?"
"I think it's the Guild," he responded with a furrowed brow.
"Really? This doesn't look like the Guildhall."
Laxus began to pick up the pace towards the building. "I know."
When they reached the front door, they simply walked through, knowing from experience that they couldn't actually touch the physical world.
Macao and Wakaba were sitting at the bar, looking several years older than the last Lucy saw them. "Do you think this is in the future?"
Laxus shook his head. "Don't know."
"It's no use getting everyone excited, man. You gotta give this up," Wakaba lamented.
"I know, but," Macao trailed his words briefly, "the mages from Blue Pegasus. They said they thought they found something. It's worth checking out, don't you think?"
Wakaba took a drag of his cigar. "Look, if you go, go alone. Don't get everyone else's hopes up over a big fucking maybe. That ain't fair and you know it. After nearly six years, everyone's just starting to rebuild."
"Six years," Lucy breathed out. "This is so odd."
Laxus nodded his head in agreement. He hated to admit it, and didn't want to scare Lucy, but he had a sinking feeling that they were actually observing the present situation of the Guild. Or perhaps some future version of it that might exist if they didn't return.
He turned to look at Lucy with growing urgency. "Lucy, we need to get back to the Guild. We've got to figure out a way!"
Lucy embraced him on instinct, sensing his despair and growing anxiety. "I know."
Laxus sagged into her hold. "I'm just so ready to go back."
"So am I," Lucy whispered.
As the two stood in each other's arms, a sixth star shot across the sky.
. . .
Year Seven: Awakening
. . .
Freed started to feel heavy as his mind started come out of the dreams. As he stirred he felt a myriad of things all at the same time. Warm soft moving flesh under his head, lithe arms wrapped around his shoulders, fur ticking his naked body...
Naked?
Trying to sit up he felt the arms around him tighten. "Five more minutes, hold still love." She murmured and Freed had no idea what to think in this moment.
"Excuse me, but who are you? Why am I naked? Did I do anything offensive?" Freed asked trying to move again but those arms would not let him go. Now she ran her hand down his face and tilted his head up to place a kiss to his forehead.
"You are not letting me go back to sleep are ya?" She said and for the life of him he couldn't place the accent. she let go of him and he sat up, blushing wildly at the intimacy of the moment. Looking around he had no idea where he was.
"Where are my clothes?"
"Do you always wake like this? I was finally having pleasant dreams." she said with a yawn and a stretch.
Freed tried to be a gentleman and not ogle the naked woman but she was just such a unique creature. From her multi-colored hair, slim but strong form and the tattoos all over her. Some of those he recognized as runic scrolling, ancient and powerful ones from dead languages.
"Right, clothes are over there, I don't like them when I sleep. Name is Merlin. You're absolutely brilliant, I couldn't resist having you for a cuddle bunny."
"I'm flattered, truly but..." He pursed his lips as he went to get his clothes. As far as he could tell they were alone, but where they were was lost to him.
"Plane of Dreams, I plane shifted everyone here to escape chaos. Surprised you woke up. Then again, you are fiercely beautiful. Anyone ever tell you that?"
Freed blushed as he put his clothing on and he watched as she simply waved her hand and clothing formed over her. "So now what do I do?"
"You can stay here and watch your friends or run away with me. I'll bring you back, eventually." She said with a wink and a subtle laugh.
END CHAPTER 36
. . .
Hello my fetching readers!
How long has it been since an update? I can't remember! So have one!
Not sure if you caught on, but I was modeling the seven year slumber as a sort of extended cycle of grief that the two had to work through. Hope you enjoyed it. I figured it would be much more interesting to have some character development during that time rather than just a straight slumber.
Hold tight because we are finally going to be getting back to the Lalu and all its goodness soon! I'm very excited for the two to start working through and understanding their bond. While at the same time, continuing to get some backstory on Acnologia and his connection to Electrum. It should be all the fun!
We'll move into the Grand Magic Games from here! Thanks for sticking with me through this!
Big thanks to MadSoullessQueen for her little tidbit at the end with Freed waking up!
Sending you all my love!
Musicera