(Hey guys! I'm really happy you're all enjoying my story. I wanna thank those who leave reviews on here. It makes my day and I feel motivated to write more when you leave such nice words. C; I hope I'll continue to remain coherent to the end of this story. Still quite a ways to go!)
Chapter 25: Laxus' POV:
He'd been in the next spot where he needed to be for the S-class trials. He'd been told by his grandfather at the beginning of this that those who wished to be part of this S-class trial and succeed, that they would need to know their strengths and weaknesses. Know them, accept them, and use them to their advantage. He then told him what those strengths and weaknesses had been for each member and the teams. How he thought they would work together or not. Some had more of a challenge than others, but for those that would have an easier time getting along, the trials themselves would make it harder.
First, the maze. Second, the team fighting. Team building with one they would not generally work with. And Last, was meant to be answering what they thought their team meant. Why they had been placed together. Laxus was put here to answer if they had gotten them correct. Then if they were correct, take them to the Master. Who, Laxus knew where he was. But had no idea what the old man had in store for them from there. Whether it was more questions or something else.
However, Laxus was there for merely five minutes before Erza was behind him. He was surprised, thinking that she was meant to look over the other guildmates during their team versus team battle. He knew it couldn't have been that fast that they had finished. "Done already?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow at her. Crossing his arms. Erza shook her head. "N-no." She seemed to look around her, clearly not in the spot she needed to be. "I was watching them start and then I-" she began but was abruptly cut off and released a sound of pain before she dropped to her knees and fell unconscious. Laxus felt more surprise, followed by anger. He could now see a man he recognized from so many years ago, standing behind Erza's fallen body. A man he never met in person, but he'd seen what he looked like afterwards. Azuma. Regardless, he was part of Grimoire Heart and somehow… still alive. He could recall hearing that this one - like most of them - had died. So how was he still here? Laxus didn't waste any time and struck the man with lightning. Watching as he disappeared again. Laxus kept himself in his spot, waiting for the man to pop back out again. He listened intently. Eyes peeled for him. Then, another strike of lightning was shot from Laxus' hand as he saw Azuma appear. Then disappear. It wasn't long before he felt surrounded by more than one. One by one, Laxus picked them off. Until he felt like they had stopped for the moment. He was surrounded by steam, having melted the snow around him. He felt a little bit dazed. Every time he had hit one, it didn't feel like a real physical being. Like he struck the ground but still hit his target.
Laxus took the silent minute he felt he had to make sure Erza was fine. That she was just unconscious. Relieved to know it, he stood back up again and heard heavy footfalls in the snow behind him. In a snap, Laxus turned around and shot another bolt of lightning towards the sound, lighter than the one he had before. Testing something he thought he'd figured out. Only this time, the figure didn't disappear. He watched as the figure dropped to his knees and started to talk. Stopping as Laxus moved towards him. As soon as the steam parted, the lightning dragon slayer could see he had hit one of his friends. Immediately he felt regret and picked the shorter man up by his shoulders. Gently placing him on his feet. "Sorry. Bickslow. I thought you were another one of them." Laxus confessed. He watched Bickslow raise his eyebrows and suddenly collapse onto him. Arms around in a hug. Laxus grimaced. He hoped he hadn't done too much damage to the seith mage. He wasn't sure how he'd make it up to the man. He felt strange doing so, but he hugged Bickslow back regardless.
The blond could hear his friends' shaky sigh. Smell the tears from his friend. A wave of worry washed over Laxus, readying himself to apologize again. But something else caught his attention. Not just the tears. But the smell of the ocean. Sure, they were surrounded by it, but he could smell it specifically on him. Lucy too, but diluted. He knew it was a little bit creepy to know how most smelled from the guild, but it was hard to turn off his excellent sense of smell. More times than not, it was helpful. "Bickslow. Why are you so damp, man?" He questioned, pushing the seith mage away from him, trying to get a look at his face. He almost wished he didn't. "Crying?" He asked, watching Bickslow shake his head. He didn't understand in the span of almost fifteen minutes, how his friend could look so terrible. Large bags underneath his eyes. Like he'd been crying for days on end with no stopping. He appeared physically weaker, unstable. Laxus had seen the look of grief many times before, this was another like it. What did he have to grieve for? Another thought crossed his mind, but he didn't ask why Lucy wasn't with him yet. "I've never seen you this beat up before. What the hell happened in the time between the two versus two fights and now?" He asked, waiting for Bickslow to answer.
When he didn't get one, he made a guess so wild he knew it would be wrong. It was a way of getting attention, for his friend to correct him. "Did you get hit by a train? I-" He was cut off by Bickslow laughing. A good sign, but it didn't satisfy or make Laxus feel better about the look of agony the seith mage painted all over his face and body language. Just as suddenly as he started laughing, Bickslow stopped laughing and looked back up at Laxus. The taller man was certain his expression matched his concern. "One of them?" Bickslow asked. Laxus almost chuckled. There was no way he was about to let his friend avoid the question by asking about the multiples of Azuma he saw. "No no. You first, why are you damp? And why do you look like shit? You smell like the ocean." Meaning to be as demanding as he sounded. No wasn't the right answer here. Not when he felt like his friend was on the verge of breaking down.
With his hands still on the shoulders of Bickslow, he could feel the shorter man begin to shiver. Watching him get lost in thought. His throat was moving too much to be normal. He was trying to hold something down, Laxus could see that much. "L-" He heard Bickslow choke. Now Laxus felt afraid. A mote of fear crept up his spine. Something was already wrong, but he knew if Bickslow was struggling to let it out, then it was bad. "Lucy's dead…" His tone was defeated. Laced with the overwhelming sadness Laxus never expected to hear from Bickslow. Sure he knew that the man liked to look at the woman, but one afternoon and morning seemed to change all of that. But could he believe it? Laxus struggled to come to the terms of the happier blonde, running around with a fire maniac and a cold freak managing to stay alive with those two around but couldn't survive half a day on the island with Bickslow? Against friends? "Don't fuck with me Bix." Laxus warned. He could see Bickslow shaking his head. "Why would I make this shit up? Or even joke about it?" His friend retorted. The lightning dragon slayer knew his friend was right. He wasn't known to be a liar. At least, not about stuff like this.
"Wh- What the fuck happened, Bickslow?" He questioned, this time he was the one holding down his emotions. He enjoyed seeing the peppy blonde run around the guild, somehow keeping up with the energies of Team Natsu. To hear she was dead was unreal. He wondered how though, Laxus' only guess was the other demons. Had gotten to her and taken her life. Like how they'd knocked out Erza. The woman was out cold, merely ten feet away from them. He now understood why Bickslow hadn't even noticed the woman yet. "Did the demons get her too?" He knew the question was vague as he asked. Implying that someone else had died. But before he could remedy his words, the seith mage was asking, "Demons? Too?"
Laxus' eyes widened. Whatever Lucy had died from. Whatever his friend had experienced. They were vastly different from what he himself had just experienced. Multiple threats this time, if not the demons, then who? What? His biggest question was why. "No. Not… Grimoire Heart. If that's what you... mean." Bickslow slowly began to explain. It was exactly what Laxus meant, and it concerned him to know they weren't the main issue this time. "This is long and complicated. I don't think what you're seeing is actually the Demons." He continued to explain. The entire time that Bickslow was illustrating what had happened, Laxus grew more and more aware of what he'd already seen. His face grew more and more expressive, grimacing, frowning, anger. The trouble with the maze was their first hint. Every mention of the shimmer had Laxus looking up at the sky, seeing exactly what was described, but only in certain spots. The theory that no one else was affected but himself and Lucy by the loops didn't make sense until he spoke of Gajeel and Juvia. The souls being cryptic didn't truly surprise Laxus but he never really understood them in the first place. "I don't get it, Bix. What- your souls have always been strange." Laxus reminded his friend.
Bickslow shook his head yet again, "But this is a new kind of strange, Laxus. They knew something we didn't." Something that still didn't really surprise Laxus, but he knew that Bickslow controlled them. Suddenly the seith mage had his hand up with a finger out to shush the blond. Laxus felt impatient, he wanted to know what happened to Lucy. He protested against the shush. Bickslow spoke again, instead of muttering, "I didn't account for the souls I was possessing. That's why they're gone." It still wasn't directed at Laxus, so he cleared his throat and told his friend to speak. Shaking Bickslow lightly. Eventually Bickslow had gotten around to explaining what happened right after the team fights started. How they ended up in Hargeon. Only to fall off the boat and nearly drown. Laxus nearly stopped Bickslow from talking once he heard that the man had possessed Lucy. But he remained silent, painfully. They survived with each other and got back to the island again. Laxus was curious as to how many boats were near the island now. Was there just two if the whole thing had been repeated once?
The concept that the two of them stood there for two months, Lucy not realizing and for Bickslow to endure a whole two months, suffering, being stuck.. Laxus felt more empathy for him than he had for anyone in a while. But he didn't understand until the shorter man spoke of Leo and how he and the rest of the spirits were in trouble from some Anomaly. It was what they were calling it. Soon, Gajeel and Juvia were in the tale and they all went back into the maze, finding dead and dying versions of Lucy and Bickslow. All Laxus could think of was this was the stuff of nightmares. He couldn't believe most of what was being said, but he knew Bickslow wouldn't just make something like this up and intentionally look this broken. Losing Lucy, from what it sounded like, his friend had gotten much closer with the celestial wizard.
Then Laxus heard Bickslow's tone change. One from fear and dread to the weight of a loss. Grieving, too freshly to properly function. "She was mid-sentence. She used the air she needed. The fucking Anomaly killed her by putting us in that water in that second and knew what it was doing. Had she been able hold her breath a little bit longer…" His friend trailed off. How the woman was mid-sentence and the thing dropped them into the water. The faces of themselves. It sounded horrifying. But the story had no end. It was open ended. Laxus knew how Lucy died, but not… where she was now. Was she still in the water? He wondered if Bickslow swam with her corpse to the shore. The blond heard the sudden change in breathing from Bickslow. He turned his attention back to the man and his eyes searched for the reason why. Bickslow left his hands and waved his arms to try and find something. When Laxus could see he didn't find what he was looking for, he got to the ground and began to shake more. "Ah shit." Laxus whispered. "Bicks- Bickslow? Can you hear me? Breathe, man. In and out." He urged Bickslow, crouching down to his eye level as his friend sat on the ground. When he didn't respond, Laxus chuckled, nervously. He took a spot beside Bickslow and gave him a sideways hug. His right arm over his, rubbing it lightly. Laxus had very little idea on how to comfort his friend, he'd always been a silent brooder. A silent mourner, himself. So doing this was something totally out of his realm of being knowledgeable.
"I believe you, but only because there's no way in Hell anyone could make that up on the spot. Where is she? Where's her body?" Laxus wasn't happy about having to ask the question, but he figured it would be important to have the body when they go back to their guild so they could bury her. If not here. The silence dragged on, he could see the gears turning in Bickslow's mind but had no idea what was actually going on inside of him. He was glad to see the man trying to take deeper breaths. Shaky as they were. "Bickslow?" Laxus tried once more. Patiently waiting, as much as he could before the seith mage answered. "It's gone, Laxus. She's gone. The Anomaly threw her away just like the rest of them. She and I are littered everywhere on this damned island." He admitted.
Laxus sat in silence with Bickslow. Rubbing his back, awkwardly comforting the man. All of it, everything he had heard spelled trouble. Spelled insane. This much magic energy. Something this powerful. Likely to bring back Achnologia. He wasn't so sure they could survive something like that again. They may have been more powerful now, sure. But against a dragon that ate magic because he could, didn't sound like a winning battle for Fairy Tail. Even if Mavis did save them again. It would be another seven years. Or, simply more if it compounded on top of the time this Anomaly had already apparently taken. Or tried to take.
The lightning dragon slayer continued to stay beside Bickslow, his eyes on the unconscious redhead ten feet from them still. He could see her begin to stir. "Erza?" He called from across the strange shape of melted snow on the ground.