Once he'd released her from his grip, he sat them both down on the end of his bed, he'd started explaining things like dragon slayers, generations of those slayers and the few and rare ways those slayers came to be. How he had very little contact with the dragon soul in his own body that gave him his magic and saved his life as a young child. Phrases when he explained how he hadn't planned any of this, that he had no control over his dragon. But the thing that kept ringing in Ashton's ears…
Dragon's mate.
"What does that even mean?" she mumbled to herself, hands reaching to cover her eyes as she leans her elbows on her knees, suddenly so tired she felt she could just curl up and sleep for days. Laxus stopped speaking and sighed through his nose, a large hand scratched at the back of his neck as he exhaled once more.
"Didn't pay much attention when iron dick married the bookworm. Said a few things about it but didn't pay much attention." Ashton groaned and blew her frizzed and tangled hair from her face from between her fingers. "But," Ashton glanced up and moved her hands from her face, her golden gaze shocking the slayer for a half moment before he continued. "I know there's no going back at this point."
"So, what? Now I'm like your woman or something? Do I even get a choice in this?!" suddenly Ashton was on her feet and glaring at the slayer. Even with him seated on the bed she was just at eye level standing in front of him. Her arms spread wide as she screamed the last few words at his face. If Laxus would have blinked he'd have missed the way her eyes brightening and lightning danced over her bared arms, the way his mark on her neck pulsed without a touch and his entire self-focused wholly on the young woman in front of him.
"What if I didn't want this Laxus?! I don't understand anything that's happening and I'm…" she growled out in frustration and started to pace back and forth in front of him, arms and hands moving with her mumbling to herself.
She was stopped, arms slid around her torso causing her to inhale sharply at the sudden contact but then the scent of rainwater, fresh and crisp, hit her nose and she closed her eyes as tears started to form. "I'm scared…" his arms tightened around her and Ashton found herself clutching to his shirt as she sobbed, her knees giving out and Laxus easily hoisting her up to sit her back on the bed in his lap. This should have made her pause, should had been a warning in her head to sit in a man's lap like this. A man she barely really knew. But her neck pulsed clear into her heart and there was a rumbling sound coming from Laxus chest where her ear lay against his sternum.
"We'll figure it out… ya hungry?" it took her a moment to calm and she sniffled softly, using the overly large short on her chest to wipe at her eyes. Laxus let her climb off him on her own and she followed him through his home, down the stairs to a kitchen made for a ten people. The slayer led her to the breakfast bar and pointed to the barstools, nearly chewing his lip as he watched from the corner of his eye while she tried to climb onto the overly tall stool. Everything in his house was made for his stature, so it was taller everywhere.
When bacon started to pop on the stovetop and coffee brewing filled the air, Ashton tapped on the marbled countertop with her fingertips. "What happened? To make you, ya know..." she gestured to her neck when he looked over at her.
The slayer sighed through his nose, which was becoming apparent to the blue haired woman was one of his quirks. "We were working on your magic, right?" Ashton furrowed her brow and tried to remember that last morning and finally she nodded. "You pulled out a lot, enough to surprise me…" Laxus seemed to be looking for the words to say so Ashton stayed quiet and tried to remember what had happened, it was fuzzy. "Started storming overhead and I went to eat a bolt of lightning, didn't even feel your magic seepin' out toward me." He turned and set a plate of crispy bacon on the counter between them. "Our magics touched and from there I guess I lost all control."
Ashton slowly chewed a piece of bacon and stared at the counter in front of her, hands nervously fidgeting. "It's my fault then… because I couldn't control my own magic…"
Laxus stopped her before she could go on, more tears gathering at her eyes. The gold orbs turning wide as the slayer reached over with both hands and gently wiped her tears away in a moment of tenderness she didn't know how to react. "Been arguing with my dragon for a bit now, bout you. I think it was gonna happen at some point." Confusion marred her features and Laxus only grinned boyishly at her, a quirk of his lips and shine in his pale grey eyes. "Promised Gramps I wouldn't fuck with your training so was keeping my distance already. Looks like I skipped a few steps..."
The door, directly to the left of the room, burst open with a slam and the master of Fairy Tail marched his way inside Laxus' house. "You stupid brat, I told you to stay away from her! I warned you not to involve yourself with a new mage and…" the master's tirade was stomped into nothing as Laxus' body vaulted over the marble island to stand protectively in front of Ashton's confused person. A deep angry snarl ripped form Laxus' chest and yellow white static was crawling over his arms and face.
"Get. Out." Laxus' voice was marred by the near never-ending snarl from his own chest, his lips forming wrong over his teeth where the sharp ends of fangs were dropping lower and sharper than normal. The sound of it made Ashton's neck pulse with… she felt fear, she felt the strongest urge to hide either behind Laxus or dart behind the solid island. Something wanted her to hide, to find safety in the face of a threat.
"Laxus, calm down…" Makarov's anger was snuffed out and he held up his hands in calm movements.
The slayer only stepped forward, a lightning blast gathering in his mouth as a roar was building and the only thing that stopped him from possibly deeply injuring his own grandfather was arms gripping around his wide waist and chest, flat palms pressing into him as a shorter body was crammed into his back. The roar gathering in his throat quickly snuffed itself out, but he still stood rigid and angry in front of Makarov.
"Master, I think you should leave…slowly." Ashton's voice came from behind the slayer and while Makarov wasn't keen on leaving the girl alone with his grandson after what Gajeel and Levy had explained to him just an hour ago, he hadn't seen his grandson like this, ever. The old man backed out of the kitchen and kept his steady pace until he was outside the door with it wide open.
Laxus sprung forward and slammed the door in his grandfather's face. The solid deadbolt sunk into the doorframe and signaled a sort of finality to the master that he would not be talking to his grandson today.
