Chapter Twenty Two - Bickslow

"Would you look at that," I said softly. "How do you feel?"

Laxus smiled back. "I feel great. Thank you, Elle. I know that it wasn't intentional, but this was the best gift I could ask for. Everything just feels right now. Like someone reshaped a puzzle piece that was too big, and now it fits perfectly."

I hugged him. "That's great."

"How's your back?" he asked.

"Phoenix healed it up, too," I said.

"Good," he said, finally hugging me back. "I was upset that you got hurt on my birthday trip."

OMG, Laxus gives amazing hugs.

In my past life, I never really got a lot of hugs. A few of my teachers, when I was younger, would hug me at the end of the school year, when I had to say goodbye.

But other than that, I got no other hugs.

I guess that's why I hug all the kids so much.

And since Laxus is bigger than me (and, you know, he's eventually going to get huge) his hugs are the best.

I'm just glad he stopped being a tsundere long enough to actually give me a hug.

It was as I was pulling out of the hug that I froze up, feeling a signal from my requip space.

"What's wrong?" Laxus asked.

"Nothing, I hope," I muttered, requipping away the keys and switching it out for the alerting card.

Bickslow's card was lit up, shining brightly in the darkness, showing a sign of two things; one, his distress, and two, the full activation of his magic.

I don't know for sure about all of the others, but I know that Bickslow's Figure Eyes and Evergreen's Stone Eyes are both a natural gift they have. Because of that, I added the activation of magic into everyone's cards. The fact that it was signaling both Bickslow's distress and magic activation was bothering me.

I flipped it over and activated the locator spell. After a few seconds, it came up with a destination, and I grabbed Laxus's hand and teleported.

"What's going on?" he asked as we sneaked around the corner. We had appeared in a hospital, and the card could tell me which way to go.

"We're here because another one of our future members, a boy named Bickslow, had a lot of distress and an activation in his natural magic. We might need to take him to Fairy Tail now, so be quiet. Also, don't panic if anything happens. Makarov should be able to fix anything."

He nodded and followed me, where we hid outside a room with a door slightly cracked open.

"What have you done?" came a horrorstruck voice, clearly a woman.

"Mom, look, I've saved Papa!" came a child's voice.

"Saved him? Saved him? You should have let him die in peace, and instead you stuck his soul into some sort of puppet! You evil child, how could you do this to my father!"

"But…but he asked me to," Bickslow's voice was so quiet I strained to hear it.

"What happened…Bickslow, what did you do?" a man's voice entered the conversation.

"I saved Papa, Dad. He…he asked me to."

"That's it, I'm calling the council," the man said. "You're a danger to society."

"What? He's your son!" the mother screamed.

"I've never seen him as my son! My son would never be a demon in a child's body! He looks at us and he knows things, like he sees into our souls, and that's not normal! And now, he moved your father's soul into one of those damn puppets he made! I'm having him put away!"

The man made a sound like he was moving to make a call, and I busted the door open and threw a kunai at the lacrima, breaking it before he could grab it.

Huh. That was the first bullseye I've ever gotten.

Good thing I didn't aim for his hand, like I was originally going to.

Or was it a bad thing?

Also, I'm not paying for that.

"Who are you?" the man said harshly.

I felt Laxus move behind me to back me up.

"We're Fairy Tail. And seeing as how Bickslow is 'not your son'," I made air quotes, "I guess you could say that our guild is adopting him. He's ours now."

"What? You can't just…take him!"

"If you're going to verbally abuse him, then hell yeah, I can! You're obviously not treating Bickslow like he should be, just because you're an idiot and you don't understand magic."

I turned to Bickslow, who stood next to a hospital bed with a sheet covering the prone body. Next to Bickslow was one of his flying dolls, and Bickslow's Seith Mage symbol on his face - a blue stick man - was slowly getting more and more prominent.

"Bickslow," I said to him. "Papa. We would like you to join Fairy Tail. There, you will fit in with others, and also learn to control your powers."

Bickslow kept looking away. "Thank you for the offer, but I think my Dad is right. Maybe I shouldn't be around people."

"Bickslow," I said quietly. "Look at me."

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No way, I can't control it!"

"Relax," I told him. "And look me in the eyes."

Slowly, he turned to look at me and opened his eyes.

Instantly, I felt his soul grab hold of mine. It was admittedly an odd feeling, but I ignored that and leaned into his soul, hugging it and accepting it, filling it with love and warmth.

His soul slowly let go, still holding on by a thread, as if it was holding my hand, but mostly staying away.

"There you go," I told him, taking his hand in mine. "Now come on. Let's go to your house and get your things. Don't worry, you'll like Fairy Tail."

"Wait, I said you can't take him!" the man yelled.

"That's bullshit, and you know it," Laxus said.

I turned to him. I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

"A few years ago, the Council implemented a law that allowed bona fide members of registered and approved guilds to take away anyone they saw being abused or mistreated, particularly because of their magic. You have no claim," Laxus said coldly.

And then we walked out the door.

Well, that explains why it's so easy to take kids with me...I thought.

Bickslow was crying as we walked down the street. "Thank you…" he said quietly.

"That's what a family is for," I told him.

"Then why didn't my Dad do that?"

"He wasn't nakama," Laxus said quietly.

Bickslow looked over at him.

"My father was never kind to me. He always expected too much from me, he always wanted more, more than I could give. Elle helped me realize that he was never really my family. He might have my blood, but if he was really my nakama, he wouldn't have treated me that way." Laxus's voice was quiet. "I know it's not easy. It hurts, thinking about how they treated you. But you aren't alone. You have me, and Elle, and the rest of Fairy Tail. We'll accept you. You're one of us now."

"Thank you," Bickslow whispered, continuing to cry.

"Why don't we actually introduce ourselves?" I said with a smile. "I'm Elle, I'm nine years old. This is Laxus, he just turned twelve."

"A few days, actually, but whatever."

"I'm Bickslow and I turned nine last month."

"How can you be nine, you're taller than Laxus!"

Bickslow merely shrugged, but it was true; Bickslow was two or three inches taller than Laxus.

I wonder if he gives better hugs.

"I'm Papa!" the doll cried. "I was one hundred and two when I died!"

Laxus let out a whistle. "That's impressive."

"While it is impressive that you lived over a century, Papa, Laxus doesn't need to rub it in."

"Rub what in?" Bickslow asked, confused.

Laxus snorted. "I get that look on her face. It means she can't whistle."

"You can't?" Bickslow asked, before whistling himself.

"Don't rub it in!" I cried.

"Yes! I found something I'm better than Elle at!" Laxus cried.

"Whistling? Really?" I deadpanned.

He glared at me. "Ahh, shut up!"

Bickslow laughed, and pointed out a house in front of him. "Here's where the four of us lived."

I nodded, and gestured for him to open the door. "Cool. Laxus, go with Papa to see if he wants to keep anything from his room, I'll get Bickslow's things."

"How are we going to keep it all?" Bickslow asked as he opened his door.

I smirked. "Grab all your loose items and clothes and throw them on the bed." Then I went around requipping the dresser and the rest of his things.

Bickslow watched in shock, and didn't get his voice again until we left his room.

"Where did it all go?" he asked.

"One of my magic's is Requip – it allows me to store things in what's technically another dimension. It's like I'm carrying around an invisible, floating storage space."

"Is that how you made that knife appear out of nowhere?" Bickslow asked.

I froze in the middle of opening the door to Papa's room. "My kunai! Dammit!"

I left it at the hospital.

Laxus laughed. "Seven minutes, Elle!" And then he pulled out the kunai from a knife strap in one of his back pockets. "Can't believe it took you seven minutes!"

"Shut up!" I yelled, before pointing to the pile on the bed. "This everything?"

"Yep!" Papa said. "Can you take the blanket, too?"

"Why the blanket?" Bickslow asked as I requipped it.

"Your Grandmother made it, and I wanted to keep it."

"Is there anything else you want me to grab around the house, Bickslow?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"Cool, let's go. Laxus, take a bunch of food from them, too. They deserve it."

Laxus snorted, but went to the kitchen anyway.

Bickslow, who was giggling, went to grab some toys and other things, while Papa led me over to a bookcase.

"The first row," Papa said. "Those are all books on magic. Take them all. They'll be useful to you, and the other ones should help Bickslow."

I nodded, requipping them. "Thank you."

Bickslow came back with more things. "I've got everything."

"I've got food," Laxus said, having emptied out the fridge and the pantry.

"Cool, we'll take it to the guild," I said to Laxus, requipping all of the food. Turning to Bickslow, I took his stuff and held out an arm. "Take my arm, and wrap Papa under your other one."

He listened, and Laxus grabbed my other arm.

And we went to Bickslow's new home.

"I present to you; the Fairy Tail guild!" I yelled, spreading out my arms so Bickslow could see the front. Before I turned and kicked the doors open. "Guys, we're back, and we brought food!"

There was a bunch of yelling, and the training room door burst open, with a legion of tiny children running into the room and attacking us.

Well, mostly me.

"Onee-sama!"

"Elle-chan!"

"Ella-sama!"

"Elle-nee-chan!"

"Elle, thank god, they're evil!"

The last exclamation came from Gildarts, who was crying as he threw his arms around me, sobbing as he held onto my legs.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey guys. Gildarts, you're an adult. Stop this; you're acting younger than Levy."

Levy and Juvia giggled. Cana facepalmed.

I shook off Gildarts and went to the bar, requipping all the food onto it. "Anyway, I've brought in a new guild member!"

Everyone turned to look at Bickslow, who tried to hide behind Laxus; keyword being tried, as Laxus instead steered him around and towards Makarov, who was sitting on the counter.

"Hello, my child," Makarov said. "What is your name, and magic?"

"My…my name is Bickslow," he said quietly. "And…and I don't know my magic."

I threw my arms around his shoulders. "C'mon, remember what I said? You're fine here!" I turned to Makarov. "He's a Seith Mage, and he also needs help controlling his Figure Eyes."

Makarov nodded. "Very rare. You've got quite the talent ready to be cultivated, my boy."

"You don't think it's weird?" he asked.

Makarov shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, I wish I could see souls."

"See souls?" Cana asked.

"Souls?" Levy asked. "Does that mean you see soul mates? Do they exist?"

"What are soul mates, Levy-san?" Juvia asked.

"Soul mates are two people who were absolutely destined for each other in every way!" Levy said happily. She turned back to Bickslow. "So, can you?"

"Uh…"

"How does that work, exactly?" Freed asked, moving quickly to Bickslow's side. "What do souls look like? How can you tell the difference, what do the souls tell you? Can you see memories? Thoughts? What about things like gender, and age, or other physical properties?"

"See?" I whispered, nudging Bickslow's side. "No one will condemn you for anything. They're just interested. We all have our own interesting pasts or powers or tics, alright?"

He looked at me, and then very slowly, he smiled.

"Alright."

A guest review mentioned Bickslow being in the circus, which is from One Word Can Change the World. However, I like Chefbabe's origin story for Bickslow better - moving his grandfather into one of his puppets on his deathbed. If you haven't already read Celestial Mage Wanted, I suggest you do. It's updated around once a month, and it's all the main ships. It's great, and a wonderful story, so I suggest you check it out.

Also, a friend of mine asked me if I would break into their houses if I could teleport in real life. The answer is YES.

However, I would not take your food, or even anything, because I'm not a kleptomaniac.

I'm not really sure how Elle ended up being a kleptomaniac, but she definitely is one.