Okay so I had the time to kill so here is the next chapter.
This is Chapters 34-38.
Only a few more of the original story to go and then I'll be on my own and the chapters won't be coming as fast as they are now...
Enjoy!
We'd gotten to the train station quicker than the walk to headquarters had been, and it probably had something to do with the fact that Laxus was walking at a much brisker pace. No one was complaining, though. We all wanted to get back home as quickly as possible.
Bickslow carried Laxus' belongings, and I carried Wendy's and Carla's, while Laxus himself carried Wendy and Carla.
Despite his quick steps on the uneven ground of the forest, Laxus was steady as he walked so that the 2 wouldn't wake up. It was a short wait for the train and this time, however fortunate or unfortunate, depending how you looked at it, we were separated between cabins.
Jet, Droy, Gajeel, Pantherlily, Levy, and Doranbolt to one, Laxus, Wendy, Carla, Freed, Evergreen, Bickslow, and I to another. Laxus and I sat on opposite sides of one bench with Wendy and Carla curled up between us, her head resting on my legs.
I was slightly disappointed that I didn't have a window seat, but I couldn't complain as I played with Wendy's hair while I drifted off to sleep.
It was near nightfall when we arrived back in Magnolia and Wendy had still not awakened. According to Laxus, Carla had woken up for a portion of the ride, but had fallen asleep again soon after.
"Should we be worried about her?" Came Doranbolt's voice as we got off the train.
I glanced quickly at him before answering, "No, she's fine... She used a lot of her magic today... Just worn out..." I said.
We were all dragging our feet as we went to our respective homes, Levy walking with a slight limp.
"Levy, are you still hurt?" Levy turned her eyes on me as we walked, an eyebrow raised. "You're limping..." I pointed out.
Understanding clicked in her eyes. "Oh, that's what you meant... When I was up against that guy with the hair, after I was knocked unconscious, he must have broke my leg... Wendy told me she healed it the best she could, while also healing my other serious injuries, before she didn't have enough magic to continue... So it's no longer broken, but it is still bruised up pretty good..." Levy explained.
'So that's what that crack was when Beta dropped her...' I said internally.
We soon came up to the crossroads that sent us our separate ways, but before we completely separated, we discussed what to do with the sleeping girl in Laxus' arms.
"I would carry her to Fairy Hills since I live there too, but Master's orders for us to be at your house with you when you 2 aren't at the guild are still in effect until he says otherwise..." Evergreen told us.
I felt Laxus' annoyance at still not being able to go home and be alone.
"Laxus, she's right... And considering the recent attack, I don't think a reprieve will happen anytime soon..." I told him.
"Can any of you take her?" Evergreen asked, looking to the rest of the group.
Jet, Droy, and Gajeel all shook their heads.
"Boys can't go to the girl's dorm after a certain time, or anywhere near them..." Jet started.
"If we get caught there, at all, we'll be skewered by Erza..." Droy finished.
We were all quiet for a minute, and a few of us looked to Levy, with not much hope on our faces.
"Sorry, if we were closer I'd carry her, but she's almost the same size as me, there's no way I can take her that far..." Levy said with a sweat drop.
"I guess we have to take her with us..." Freed said, looking at Wendy, who looked even smaller than usual in Laxus' arms.
After we went our separate ways, Doranbolt disappearing who knows where, the walk was quiet, the sounds of our footsteps scuffling on the stone ground that slowly turned into the crunching of leaves on the forest floor being the only noise.
Once we had arrived at Laxus' home Evergreen went directly to the couch and collapsed on it, barely managing to put one of the tan blankets down first.
"Laxus..." Freed said, gaining the attention of both Laxus and myself, "I believe that it will probably be best that we went to the guild in the morning to explain what happened while we were gone... It's best we do it before Jet and Droy blow it up bigger than it is..." His eyes flickered to me for a split second, "And it would be a good idea to get there before Lucy's team realized we're back and didn't go to see them..." Freed said.
After he was finished speaking, he nodded his head to Laxus then to me before heading upstairs to his room, Bickslow following behind. I looked to Evergreen, thinking I should put a blanket on her and realized someone else had done it already. Bickslow most likely, Freed was busy talking with Laxus.
I heard Laxus huff and I turned towards him to see he was looking at Evergreen with slight annoyance. I couldn't figure out why until he adjusted his arms to get a better hold on Wendy as she was sliding through his arms.
"Oh, I see, that's where you were going to put Wendy... I forgot you were holding her..." I said. Laxus only nodded his head, "I guess this means she's sleeping with me..." I said with a sigh.
He gave another quick nod and started up the stairs with me following close behind. Laxus walked just passed by mine and Evergreen's shared room and turned to look at me. I stood there for a moment, thinking he had something to say. He said nothing and only raised an eyebrow with a quick look to the door, to the girl and cat in his arms, then back to me.
Only then did I realize what he wanted. "Oh! Right! Door! Yes, door!" I almost shouted in pure embarrassment. 'Oh my! Mavis, why on Earthland would you let me do that? I'm sure you're laughing there on your island...' I screamed internally.
Laxus walked in and placed Wendy on the bed while I was freaking out in my head. He gave a curt nod in my direction, with a quiet 'night', as he walked out of the room.
I frowned after him at his distant attitude. I walked over to the bed and looked down at the sleeping girl. I could see from the moonlight that she was covered in the dirt and dust of the broken down library, and probably the beach we spent our morning at, along with the dried, crackled blood of the people that she was healing.
I suppose I should clean her off. There's no reason to let her sleep like that.
Kicking off my sandals, I headed down to the kitchen and grabbed a medium sized bowl and brought it up to the bathroom. I set the bowl under the faucet and let it fill as I went through the cupboards for liquid soap and a soft wash cloth. Turning off the water and tucking the soap under my arm, I made my way back to the bedroom.
I knelt down beside the bed and set the bowl beside me, also lighting a candle on the table. I looked Wendy over once more. With the light from the candle she didn't look as dirty as the darkness made it seem. The small girl was still fairly dirty though. She wasn't that bloody, most of it being on her dress, legs and hands, with smears on her cheeks and forehead, probably from where she was wiping away sweat.
The dirt and dust, however, had clung to whatever sweat was on her body and had dried there.
'I'll quickly wipe away the dirt, then I'll focus on getting rid of the blood...' I thought as I leaned forward and took off her sandals.
Dipping the cloth into the water and ringing it out my thoughts began to wander.
'I wonder what's up with Laxus? He's been really quiet since the fight...' I thought as I felt my hands moving on their own as wiped down Wendy's skin of any grime.
'Even while speaking with his team he barely said anything at all, if that makes sense... Granted he doesn't always talk much, but with his team there is a significantly larger amount of words and sounds coming from him... Just now when he was in here, he was acting as if I was a stranger again... I mean, we've been living under the same roof for almost 2 months... We are way past the awkward good nights...' I continued to think to myself.
As I moved onto the blood on Wendy I squeezed some of the soap onto the cloth and rubbed it in, the subtle smell of apples reaching my nose. The cloth ran smoother over Wendy's skin with the soap and I had to rub a little harder to get the blood off. Her hands and legs were simple enough, but she kept pulling away whenever I brought the cloth to her face, not that I could blame her. I'd flinch away from my face being touched in my sleep, too.
"Whatever... I'll let her deal with it when she wakes up..." I whispered with a huff, giving up on cleaning her face.
'I'll just change her out of her dress now...' I though as I flushed with embarrassment as I realized that would mean I'd not only have to see her naked, which isn't that big a deal, we have bathed together, but I'd have to maneuver her into new clothes.
'Get over it, Lucy!' I shook my head and told myself that I wouldn't want to sleep in bloody clothes, even if the blood was mine.
I thought about grabbing her pajamas, but then realized that going through her bag was probably a little too personal, despite the fact that I was about to change her clothes. I bypassed her bag and went to one of my drawers, grabbing one of the large t-shirts I used for sleeping. I paused as I reached for the straps of Wendy's dress, my earlier blush slowly coming back.
'Come on, if this 13 year old girl can deal with seeing and touching both male and females while she heals them, then you can easily do this...' Taking a deep breath I sat Wendy up and readied my shirt.
The second her straps were off her arms, my shirt was on and over her. I slid her dress off while pulling the shirt down on her and slowly laying her back down. Once the dress was completely off I folded it and set it on the back of a chair in the room that had her bag on it.
When I turned back I had to stifle a laugh. What was a loose shirt on me and went to the base of my butt was a dress on her and almost reached her knees, even while laying down. It was hot in the room despite it being almost midnight, and because I had slept on the train almost the whole way back to Magnolia, I was not tired in the slightest.
I looked to the doors that led to the balcony and figured some fresh air might help. I slipped out, being careful to not to wake Wendy or Carla as I closed the doors, feeling the cool wooden floor of the balcony on my bare feet.
I sighed and leaned heavily on the railing, looking out into the field, thoughts faintly crossing my mind of the moonlight reflecting beautifully off the rippled water of the small lake. My mind wandered through the events of the day, somehow focusing on finding when Laxus had begun acting strange.
Everything had been as normal as it could be when you're in an unfamiliar place with Rune Knights watching your every move. Even this morning during training, before the attack, he'd seemed normal, if a bit irritable, but that's to be expected when no one has had much time to themselves. Something must have happened during his fight. Or soon after it.
"I thought you went to bed, Girly..." I jumped and spun around immediately at the voice, quickly scanning the patio as I went. I heard a deep chuckle as I frowned, unable to see him. "I'm up here, on the roof..." He said.
My eyes flicked up, my head soon following, to see a blood and dirt free Laxus. To see him practically glistening in the moonlight suddenly made me overly self conscious of the fact that I hadn't cleaned myself up yet.
I crossed my arms over myself and leaned back against the railing, one leg crossing over the other automatically.
"What are you doing up there? There's a perfectly good balcony here..." I said, a smile on my face with my head tilted slightly.
"Being up here hides me from the eyes of my team... Besides, I like it up here... It's relaxing..." He finished, laying down on the roof.
I let out a quiet huff as I rolled on my hips to look out at the field again when I saw Laxus tap the spot beside him, only catching it because of the angle I was looking. Pushing myself up, I took the few short steps beneath the roof, Laxus disappearing from my sight. Reaching up, I found that I was too short to even come close to the roof.
This was a house built for the unnaturally tall, like Bickslow. I'd never realized before how high everything went, and I am not a short person so this was strange to not be able to reach something, or to feel short in a house.
"Ugh..." I reached up again, on the tips of my toes.
I stretched as far as I could, looking down as if it would help me, so it came as a shock when I felt a hand encase itself around my wrist and pull me up. I saw Laxus' smirk at my shocked expression as he set me on the edge of the roof before moving back to his original spot.
"Thanks..." I said quietly, bringing one leg onto the roof as I turned to face him.
He said nothing for a few minutes. When he finally spoke it was a quiet tenderness I hadn't known Laxus could use.
"It's a clear night... Relax and look at the stars..." He said.
I leaned back on my hands and realized he was right. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and it was a crescent moon, so the stars were shining brightly without competition. I let a small smile appear on my face at the sight. They really are beautiful, especially without the lights of Magnolia to corrupt them.
This is the one thing about my father's house I missed, seeing the stars without any obstructions. My smile turned sad and bitter as I started recognizing and naming the constellations of the friends I might not ever see again.
"What's wrong?" I looked to Laxus, and from what I could see in the darkness of the night, he had sat up with his knees brought up in front of him, his arms on his knees, with an eyebrow quirked in his curiosity.
I blinked my wide eyes, slowly adjusting to the darkness, "Nothing..." I said as I gave him a lighthearted smile in return.
His eyes hardened. "Don't lie to me, Girly... I can feel your emotions just as much as you can feel mine..." Laxus stated.
I let out a small sigh, realizing there was no point in trying to hide anything from him if he truly wanted to know,
"I was just thinking about my spirits... Looking at their stars just reminded me that I can't see them..." I explained.
Laxus gave a quick nod in understanding then spoke again, "I wasn't just talking about right now, Lucy... During our fights earlier, and again when we were back in that library before you came to speak with my team..." Laxus said.
My eyes widened slightly, "That was just me feeling really useless... Again..." I said.
"What's there to feel useless about?" Laxus asked.
"I'm guessing Bickslow told you everything that happened in our fight?" He nodded. "Then you should already know... I did nothing... I couldn't do anything..." I said.
Laxus stayed quiet a few short moments to let me speak more.
When I didn't, he did instead. "That isn't what I heard from Bicks... According to him, you saved his ass on more than one account... He said he probably would have been lying in the middle of that field beside Levy, barely able to move, if not for you..." Laxus explained.
"I don't know what he told you, but I didn't do anything worth much..." I started, hugging my knee to my chest, "Right from the beginning Bickslow told me to stay out of Beta's range because I still can't control your lightning magic... And after I received one of your injuries, he didn't want me involved at all because we weren't sure when I was going to get an injury from you, and we couldn't risk you getting an injury from me..." I said.
"Lucy, you pulled him out of danger when he didn't realize that this Beta guy had more than one type of magic until it was too late... And you figured out that guy had more than one trick up his sleeve in time to save Bickslow from what could have been a fatal attack-" Laxus started saying until I cut him off.
"I didn't save him that time..." I interrupted.
"You tried, and it gave Bicks enough warning to get out of the way, which both him and me consider saving... And you used that brain of yours to figure out some part of what this group of people can do, but not only that, you somehow got that guy to explain all the parts you didn't know, gaining more information in a few minutes than we probably ever could have on our own, even with both Levy and Freed with the best research materials..." Laxus explained.
"Maybe, but I couldn't even help him by sending in a spirit to fight alongside him because I lost them in my own stupidity..." I said with a bit of a snap in my tone.
It was in that moment that I felt Laxus' patience break for a moment, but in that moment I received a light smack to the back of my head.
"Quit your talking like that, damn it... We all know you're a damn good mage, and a freaking powerful one at that, so stop putting yourself down... You may not be as physically powerful as some of us, but you've got your brain and an incomparable amount of magic storage, which is only ever getting bigger and stronger... Once you get you spirits back, they're going to be stronger than ever before, and so will you..." Laxus words had gone from loud and stern to a tone full of certainty.
"What makes you so sure that I'll even get them back, anyways?" I asked.
"Like I told you when you first lost them, all your spirits are probably busting their asses to find a way to fix your keys..." My eyes widened at his words.
"That was you who told me that..." I whispered, more in relief than question.
"Ya? You thought it was someone else?" Laxus asked.
"No! I mean, my hearing was damaged and messed up at the time, so I didn't recognize anyone's voice, not even Wendy's when she came to speak to me... When I woke up again the next day and I found out you were the person I was 'Linked' to, I always kind of figured, but I didn't want to ask, in case I was wrong..." I said in a rush.
It stayed quiet between us for a minute before I broke it. "What made you say that anyways? I mean, we didn't really know each other all that well at the time..." I asked.
"Well, uh... I guess it's because your magic is kinda similar to Bicks' magic... Like how he has a bond to the souls in the totems, I knew that you had a bond with your spirits through your keys, so suddenly not having them would be devastating for anyone like you guys... And I heard from Wendy that a few of them were left to you by your mother, so..." Laxus let his sentence carry off, looking away from me slightly.
A comfortable silence fell between the two of us. I moved farther up the roof, beside Laxus. In the distance I could see the sky beginning to light up, the stars disappearing. I hadn't realized how much time had passed until then.
When I first came out onto the balcony it was almost midnight, and probably just past then when Laxus first made his presence known, so it should have been at least 3 or 4 more hours until the sun rose, and judging by the light that was appearing, it was about 3:30am, maybe 4am.
Knowing the time made me feel more tired than I was a few minutes ago. I laid back on the roof, almost immediately I began to drift off, curling on my side.
I was in that in between of being awake and asleep when I felt a hand push my bangs off my face, tickling my forehead. The hand tensed when I tensed slightly, and once I relaxed again it moved and rubbed my cheek lightly before pulling away. I was completely asleep within seconds after.
When I woke up, it was on the other side Wendy, who was still asleep but looked well rested, on my bed. I let my groggy mind work out how I got here. It took a few minutes before I figured that Laxus brought me in.
I pushed myself up and looked out the window to see the sun was fully risen, but it was only maybe 8 in the morning. Cursing whatever had woken me, I sat up completely. I stretched my arms in front of me and saw the dirt and blood that was coating my arms, my wrists and hands clear from washing Wendy.
Since there was very little chance of me sleeping again any time soon, I went to run myself a bath, rinsing myself off quickly as the tub filled. After soaking in the bath for a half hour, I got out and put on some loose sweatpants with a t shirt and grabbed a book because I knew there wasn't an overly high chance of Evergreen and Bickslow waking up within the next hour.
I had learned that, from our time spent both here and at the council's, they are both late risers unless there was something that woke them. Walking into the living room I saw Freed sitting like a perfect gentlemen in one of the chairs that sat in the living room, one in a corner about a foot away from the couch, the other was against the adjacent wall midway between the entrance to stairway and the end of the couch.
Freed currently sat in the one that faced the stairway, looking like he barely noticed Evergreen sleeping on the couch as he read his book and drank his tea. Freed never drank coffee, he said it was too bitter for his taste, though he didn't like his tea overly sweet either. He looked up when he noticed my movement.
"Good morning, Lucy..." Freed greeted quietly, an almost nonexistent smile gracing his face. "The water is still hot if you would care for some morning tea..." Freed asked.
"Oh, um, ya... That will probably help me stay awake a bit... Thank you..." I said.
Freed nods in return, then bows his head back to his book.
I set my book down in the open chair then make my way into the kitchen area. Grabbing a small teacup and the brown sugar, which apparently isn't that common to use in tea, I begin thinking back to the time that I first actually met Freed.
After the Fantasia incident, I mean. 'He just showed up at my apartment, looking slightly embarrassed and annoyed... More embarrassed than annoyed, though... I remember it taking me a minute to get to my door because nobody ever knocks so I almost didn't recognize the noise...' I smiled at the memory of his perplexed expression when my door flew open and I immediately began apologizing.
'It took another minute for me to recognize him with his short hair... The long mint green hair really left an impression, so seeing it so short on the same person was strange...' I sat in the chair with my tea on a small table and opened my book, though it didn't take long for me to become absorbed in the memory and my thoughts again.
~~Flashback~~
"Ah, hello, miss Lucy..." I blinked my eyes at the man standing on the steps to my apartment, "I apologize for arriving at your home with no notice..." He continued, while running a hand through his short green hair.
I noticed a guild mark on his hand. "Oh! Freed!" I stated once I figure out who the man was. He looked at me with a shocked look on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I've never really seen you or your team, since I only joined the guild a few months ago, and I wasn't aware you had cut your hair... Like, wow, it's quite the change..." I rambled, nervous about a member of the Thunder Legion being at my home.
"Actually, that's what I came to speak to you about..." He interrupts before I can say more.
"If we're going to be talking, would you like to come inside?" I asked.
"I suppose it would be better than you keeping your door open..." As I turned back inside I asked if he would like anything to drink.
That's how I found out he doesn't like coffee.
Once we had settled down with the tea he had requested, I'd asked what brought him to my home. Turns out, it actually was about his hair.
"I arrived at the guild this morning, I was speaking with Levy at the bar about my magic since she was curious... That was when Natsu made a comment about me looking weird with short hair now, Bickslow noisily agreed, with members of the guild mumbling agreements... I'd asked them what they expected me to do... It was already cut and gone... No way to change it back... That was when Happy flew by, mentioning something about you having a, how did he put it, a 'delicious spirit that does people's hair'... Then Bickslow started pestering me to get my hair back, so I told him I'd come here if he'd stop..." Freed explained.
"Hm..." I pursed my lips in thought. "Well, yes, I have a spirit that does hair, and he is a crab, so he would be delicious to Happy... I've only ever asked him to cut hair though, I don't know if he can grow it... That kind of defies a few laws of nature, I would think..." I stated.
"I see..." He states, and if I wasn't mistaken, he seemed a little upset even though he was doing this at other people's requests. He finished his tea and stood to leave.
"Slow down there... I only said that I never asked him before..." I said, reaching for him before he can get to the door.
He turns to look at me. "You also said it defies a few laws of nature, which I should have realized before coming here and wasting your time..." Freed allowed himself an eye roll, breaking his formal standards.
"Hellooo, they're spirits... You know, not of this world... I don't think our laws of anything really apply to them... With our magic, they barely apply to us... I mean, I don't think clothing is supposed to change color depending on a person's mood..." Freed still looked a bit skeptical. "At least let me ask him... The worst that can happen is that he'll say that he can't and you have to wait for your hair to grow out like a normal person..." With those words he came back into the room and sat back on my couch.
I went to retrieve Cancer's key and come back to the room, Freed having not moved.
"Open, gate of the Giant Crab. Cancer!" Twisting the key in the air, a golden glow appeared, blinding both me and Freed for a second, then dissipates revealing Cancer in it's place.
"What hairstyle would you like today, ebi?" Cancer asked, bowing slightly.
"Can you make hair grow, by any chance?" I asked.
"You would like me to grow out your hair, ebi?" He asked, an eyebrow raising from behind his sunglasses.
"Oh, this isn't for me, Cancer..." I answered, gesturing an arm towards Freed.
Cancer looks to Freed, or, more specifically, at Freed's hair.
"His hair used to be quite long, can you grow it out again?" I asked.
I was completely shocked when Cancer said he was able to grow out hair using special massaging methods on the person's scalp. I believe Freed was as well.
Watching it happen was quite enjoyable, considering it involved Freed's head being washed and massaged in my own house, my initial nervousness completely disappearing when I watched Freed's face relax as Cancer worked on his hair. I never thought I would see it again.
"Thank you, miss Lucy... I appreciate you doing this..." Freed spoke on my step, fingering his newly regrown hair, a small grateful smile on his face.
"Just call me Lucy... And don't worry about it... You do look really good with long hair..." I stated. Freed's eyes widened slightly. I felt my face heat to an almost unbearable temperature as I realized what I said. "I-I mean, long hair suits you better than short hair..." I sputtered out.
Freed had an almost invisible blush on his face at my compliment, and chuckled lightly at my embarrassment.
"Thank you..." He said quietly, then spoke louder, "I suppose I'll be seeing you at the guild..."
"Ya, I'll see you around... Bye, Freed..."
"Good bye, mi-" He stopped when I gave him a look, "Lucy..." And with that he turned and walked down my steps.
~~End Flashback~~
"Lucy? Are you alright?" I blinked and shook my head when I realized someone was talking to me.
My eyes cleared and I saw Freed squinting at me quizzically from his seat. "Sorry, what?" I asked dumbly.
"You've been staring into your empty cup for a while... Are you alright?" He asked.
"Hm?" I looked down to see that my teacup was indeed empty. "Oh, when did that happen? But, yes, I'm fine... Just stuck in my thoughts..." I said as I looked back up at Freed with a smile.
Wendy had finally awoken around 10, Laxus coming down the stairs at the same time. I now understood why Freed liked the chair that faced the stairs, 'cause for a big man, Laxus made almost no noise as he walked. What little noise he did make went unnoticed by me because I was absorbed in my book until it was too late.
The shriek that emerged from my throat was enough to wake Evergreen, who jumped and came close to falling off the couch at the noise. We all had waited another half hour for Bickslow before Freed went up to drag him out of bed because he figured the others would likely be on their way to the guild by now.
Within another half hour we were walking into a stare down between Natsu and Doranbolt. The moment the guild doors closed with a bang Natsu turned his attention on Laxus.
"Laxus! What the hell is someone from the Rune Knights doing here? He said you agreed to it!" Natsu yelled as he walked towards our group.
Laxus just grunted and walked past him to the small, circular table in the back corner by the stairs that he always sat at, the Thunder Legion following. Natsu turned to yell at Laxus for ignoring him before Wendy spoke up.
"Don't worry about it, Natsu, I'm sure Laxus had a good reason..." Wendy smiled softly as she walked past him, cradling Carla in her arms, to speak with Doranbolt.
Natsu 'tch'ed while crossing his arms before he looked at me. "Do you know why he's here?" He sounded pouty, very unlike Natsu.
"Yes, I do... I was there when the agreement was made, and if he didn't agree to Doranbolt coming, Lahar would have just sent more Rune Knights... Lahar said that Doranbolt would be here just to observe and report, nothing else, so don't worry about it..." I explained.
"Ya, you really think Lahar will keep up his side of the agreement?" Natsu asked skeptically.
"Lahar might not..." I looked to Doranbolt speaking with Wendy, a gentle smile on his face. "But Doranbolt will... He always has been fond of our guild, and has gotten into a fair bit of trouble for it before... He wouldn't risk screwing that up now..." I finished and walked to the Master, who is sitting on the bar, eyes closed and beer in hand.
I sit in the seat to his side and place my elbows on the wood in front of me, crossing my fingers and resting my chin on them. I wait for him to acknowledge my presence by opening his eyes before speaking.
"Have Levy and the others come by yet?" I asked.
"Jet and Droy arrived not long ago..." He waved a hand to one corner. I looked over my shoulder and could see them making grand hand motions to Elfman, Macao and Wakaba. "Levy called on the lacrima in my office, she said she might have found something of importance while she was in the council library but then ran into a bit of trouble, so she was going to look through her books for a bit and said she would arrive in the next couple hours... I believe Gajeel was with her..." Master explained.
I hummed in response.
"So what was the trouble she ran into?" He asked after a few moments of silence.
I saw Mira look over at us, seemingly debating coming over, but deciding not to.
"It was probably the library being blown up..." It was probably the casual way I had mentioned it but the Master's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.
He regained his composure after a few seconds then asked, "Is that why all of you look so beat up?" His eyes went towards the Thunder Legion and settled on Bickslow's arm that was just sitting by his side, unmoving.
Wendy hadn't gotten around to healing it yet, I had almost completely forgotten about it this morning.
"No, we weren't anywhere near the library when that happened... We came up against some strong mages... Rune Knights were hurt in the explosion and whatever had occurred right afterward, and Levy was injured badly in her fight, healing all of them completely wiped Wendy out... In fact, I'm pretty sure she still doesn't have any magic left..." I explained.
"Who were they?" Master asked.
"I'm not sure, but we should probably wait for Levy and explain all of this to the entire guild..." I said and Master's eyes settled on my face and seemed to be thinking it over, before nodding in agreement.
"After Levy explains everything, to all of us, there's something I want to bring up..." Master said before I stood and walked to the Thunder Legion's table.
I sat between Evergreen and Bickslow. Freed sat on the other side of Evergreen, and Laxus sat beside him, leaning back with his eyes closed, and that lead back to Bickslow.
Bickslow adjusted so that I would fit easier, his jaw clenching when he moved his arm.
"What were you and the Master talking about?" Evergreen asked, drawing my attention away from Bickslow's arm.
"I asked where Levy was, he said she may have found something before the library was attacked, so she'll be here later... I also mentioned a little of what happened... He noticed your guys' injuries..." They all gained a sheepish look on their face, aside from Laxus, of course. "What happened to you 2, anyway?" Looking between Freed and Evergreen.
"It was nothing in comparison to Levy... The mage we fought mostly used physical attacks..." Freed answered. "Granted, there were a lot of him..." Freed added.
"Ya, not much to worry about... We've mostly got bruises and scrapes..." Evergreen said, overshadowing Freed's last sentence.
"Right, you guys would have been against the Multiply mage..." I said. When they nodded I turned to Bickslow, "So, it seems the worst off of us is you..." I said.
Bickslow's head turned to me, so I could only assume he was looking at me. "What are you talking about, Cosplayer?" Bickslow asked.
Annoyance raised in me at both the nickname, and at him trying to hide his injury. "Don't you 'Cosplayer' me!" I started, my voice stern. Bickslow looked shocked at my tone. "I was there, I know you were hurt so don't play dumb... Even Master noticed your arm... You can't even move it without cringing in pain... You may have only got hit once, but it was pretty bad... Did you even have anyone look at it?" I didn't notice that voice had gotten loud or the fact that I ended up standing from my seat with my hands clenched into fist at my sides.
"Calm down... Jeez, you'd think someone who worked with someone as reckless as Natsu wouldn't be that worried about one injury..." Bickslow grumbled trying to urge me to sit down.
"It's because I worked with Natsu that I get so worried about an injury that was meant to kill a person..." I stated.
From behind Bickslow I saw Laxus open his eyes and stare at us. I could almost feel the confusion emanating from Evergreen and Freed.
"Well, you don't have to worry, I had Laxus close the wound..." Bickslow stated.
I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked at Laxus. "You can heal people?" I asked, confusion coating my words, all anger or annoyance I felt towards Bickslow fizzling out in a second.
"No. I used my lightning to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding..." Laxus explained.
"Oh, that's kind of cool... I didn't know you could do that..." I said.
"It's really high level and requires a lot of precision and control... It's difficult even for me... Don't even think about trying it..." Laxus said.
"I wasn't!" I shouted at him, crossing my arms and puffing out my cheeks.
The next thing I knew I was hearing the wondrous sound of Laxus laughing. Evergreen and Bickslow began laughing. At me. Bickslow pinched one of my cheeks with his good hand, and Evergreen poked at my side. I saw that even Freed was laughing lightly.
I'd never realized before this moment, but these people that I had felt nervous around for so long, had become my friends. And they had accepted me as well. With that realization I had begun laughing alongside them in this isolated corner of the guild, all of us either not noticing or not caring about the looks of confusion being sent in our direction, or the look of pride and happiness that glittered in Master's eyes.
Okay so yeah this is sooner then I thought of getting this one done.
Obviously I had to correct spellings and such so it takes a bit.
But still I didn't think I'd have it done this soon or have the time to do so but oh well I don't think anyone would complain...
Anyone Take care and Be Safe everyone!