The Blue Pheasant Flies On

Chapter 10: S-Class

Fairy Tail Ship

Makarov judged the distance between Tenrou Island and the ship and downed the last of his beer. They were close enough to the island now to get started. He made his way to the front of the ship and shouted to get their attention, "Alright, everyone, listen up! We're starting the S-Class Promotion Trial!"

Eight eager mages formed a rough semicircle in front of Makarov. The air was charged with anticipation as they impatiently fidgeted in place. They could see the ice walls in the distance and were anxious to learn why they were there.

Makarov grinned while he sketched a diagram in midair with his Light Pen. A rough outline of Tenrou Island appeared with a large "S" in the middle, underneath the large tree that dominated most of the island. "As you can see from here, this year's test is a labyrinth. The first person to meet me in the middle of the island will be our newest S-Class mage." Makarov patiently waited for the mages to quiet down after his announcement before continuing, "Of course, it won't be that easy. Along with having to battle the usual beasts native to our island, Kuzan, Ur, and Gildarts are somewhere in the labyrinth, looking for the eight of you." Makarov's grin grew even wider as he watched seven of the mages involuntarily shiver at the thought of meeting the three S-Class mages. Only Laxus remained unfazed, the confident smirk never leaving his face.

Makarov gestured to the island with his arm. "The labyrinth covers the entire island and the entrance is on the beach. The time limit is until sundown. Good luck," And with that, Makarov flew into the air and headed towards the island with the startled sounds of the mages' surprise following him.

"Not so fast, Gramps."

Makarov raised his brow and looked to his right where Laxus was following him with his Lightning Body. The older teen smirked at his grandfather. "You'll be meeting me in the middle of the island," he confidently told Makarov before turning into lightning completely and bolting off towards the island. If he had bothered to look back, Laxus would have seen Makarov smirking at him.

'Go ahead, Laxus," Makarov thought, 'You'll find it much harder to win than that.'

Laxus streaked across the sky to the middle of Tenrou Island. Now that he was closer, he could see that the ice walls making up the labyrinth were at least fifteen feet tall and that Kuzan and Ur had made them wide enough to accommodate the large beasts that were to act as obstacles to the other mages. Laxus snorted in his head. Those weaklings wouldn't even get to step foot on the island before he became an S-Class mage. He focused on the center of the labyrinth where he could see Makarov had set up a nice little camp to wait for the candidates. Looks like he'd be the one waiting for Makarov.

Laxus had nearly reached the middle when something grabbed him by the back of the neck and stopped him in his tracks. He shifted out of his Lightning Body in surprise that someone had touched him in that form, let alone stopped him. 'I was intangible. Who the hell grabbed me?!' he wondered before turning around and seeing his captor.

A full-sized Kuzan was laying across a pillar of ice with one leg sticking up and his cheek resting on his fist, the other hand holding Laxus in place. Strangely, he was wearing a pair of swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt similar to the ones Makarov always wore during these trials. The lazy mage raised an eyebrow at Laxus's surprised expression. "Arara, don't be in such a rush, Laxus. Ur and I spent a lot of time on this maze. The least you could do is take the time to admire it."

Laxus tried to shock the older mage, but Kuzan quickly froze him for his attempt and casually tossed him over his shoulder and into the maze below. The tall mage gave a jaw cracking yawn as he sat up to look out over the labyrinth. "Guess the trial's started already. I wonder where Makarov is? He was supposed to get here first," Kuzan muttered to himself. A cursory glance showed that the short man wasn't anywhere in sight. He shrugged before dismissing his pillar and dropping back down into the maze. If the trials were starting then he better get moving. Laxus was the only one he had to watch out for in case he tried to skip the labyrinth. No one else could fly over the walls and while that was clever, it wouldn't be much of a trial if you didn't have to fight. Hell, that flying blue cat Natsu and Lisanna had hatched, which was apparently a thing here, could make S-Class if they let him get away with that. Kuzan shrugged to himself. Oh well, that was Ur's problem now.

Laxus's frozen body crashed through one of the ice walls before hitting the ground and breaking free of the ice. The blond mage rolled for a bit before coming to a stop against another wall. He climbed to his feet and spat to the side with a curse. He'd show Kuzan for dismissing him so easily. Laxus turned back into lightning, but before he could fly after Kuzan to get his revenge, a new ice wall grew across the top of the labyrinth and trapped him in the corridor. He dropped to the ground and quickly scanned his surroundings in search of Kuzan. It appeared the old bastard wasn't done with him after all.

Sparks crackled across Laxus's skin in anticipation. Fine, he'd show the old man how strong he was. He didn't care how strong Gildarts claimed Kuzan was, all he'd ever seen him do was lounge around the guild and play parent with Ur. Laxus could definitely take him, even if he had to use that.

Before Laxus could find Kuzan, the labyrinth walls disappeared and the roof expanded until he was standing in the middle of an enclosed arena with an S-Class Ice Mage standing across from him with a smirk on her face. "That's better, don't you think?" Ur asked while stretching. "I always prefer to have a lot of room when I fight and those walls were just too restricting." Her lips pulled up into a smirk, "Though, not very thick, were they?"

Laxus grit his teeth in anger and ground out, "Ur, what're you doing here?"

"Were you expecting someone taller?" she mocked. Laxus snarled in frustration and Ur barked out a short laugh. "Damn, I hope my students aren't as easy to piss off when they reach your age or I might have to freeze them till they're twenty-five."

Electricity gathered around Laxus's fists. "Where's Kuzan?"

"Am I not good enough for you, Laxus-kun?" Ur asked with false demur. "Is the bikini not enough? I thought it was a bit too revealing, but Kuzan assured me that it was fine. Though he may have just been tired of watching me try on clothes." Ur bent and twisted herself around in ways that Laxus knew were showing off her figure on purpose. That damn green bikini left very little to the imagination. "Laxus, are you blushing? That's adorable!" Shit, she had noticed. "Is that what the problem is? Am I making you hot and bothered?"

Damn her, this was a serious matter and she was treating it like a trip to the fucking beach and himself like a kid just hitting puberty. Laxus turned into lightning and shot across the ground. If Ur wasn't prepared to fight then it was her own fault if she got hurt. With a cry of rage, he swung a vicious haymaker at her face. "Booming Thunder!"

Electricity discharge across the arena and the sound of the impact echoed around the chamber. Laxus smirked in satisfaction. He could feel that he had landed a solid blow. His smirk quickly died when he felt his hand begin to grow cold. The dust cleared and Laxus was stunned to see Ur standing there with an open palm covered in ice that had stopped his punch in its place. He could see that she had been forced back a few inches, but other than that she looked completely fine.

Ur shook her hand to both get the feeling back into it and remove the chips of ice covering it that hadn't been destroyed by Laxus's punch. The kid packed a wallop to be sure, but she sparred with two men that hit well above his weight class on a regular basis. His punches weren't anything to be concerned about. Ur smirked, "Did I hit a nerve? Don't worry, Laxus-kun, I'll be gentle," she promised before putting her hands together and activating her magic. "Ice-Make: Rose Stem!" A large rose stem slammed into Laxus's chest and sent the teen flying backwards into a wall. The thorns on the stem then shot out and dug into the floor and wall to hold him in place. "Sit tight, kid. This won't take long.

She could see the veins bulging on him from here. That kid's blood pressure was way too high. Makarov had warned them that Laxus's pride was getting worse and he was worried that it might get him killed if he didn't learn to let it go. This year was really Laxus's trial. The other seven candidates were strong, but none of them held a candle to the young Lightning Mage. They'd probably wouldn't make it through the labyrinth before the time limit was up. With that in mind, the three S-Class mages had come up with a plan to test Laxus's temper. Whoever Laxus faced would do their best to piss him off and make him focus on fighting them instead of finishing the trial. Laxus was strong, but he tended to be wasteful with his magic power and relied too much on landing a strong blow in the beginning of the fight before his opponent could get a read on his fighting style or charge up their own powerful spell. With Laxus's strength that was good enough for most fights, but it wouldn't be against the three of them. They were going to draw him into a fight he couldn't win, and if his pride wouldn't let him run away from them and reach Makarov in the middle of the labyrinth, then he'd fail and have to try again next year. If he was able to make the smart decision of abandoning his pride and finishing the goal, they'd let him get away and join them as an S-Class mage.

And Ur knew the best way to piss Laxus off was to make him think you were looking down on him. That and mention his father or imply that his strength came from being a Dreyar, but she knew better than to press those particular buttons. She wanted to make him angry, not send him into a mindless rage. Pretending to care more about her looks and treating a fight with him like it wasn't going to be difficult was more than enough to set him off.

Sure enough, Laxus discharged electricity from his entire body with a loud roar of anger and destroyed both her Rose Stem and the wall behind him. Instead of using the opening to flee, he charged forward and tried to engage Ur in hand-to-hand combat in an attempt to use his superior height and lightning-enhanced strength to his advantage. Booming Thunder after Booming Thunder began to rain down on Ur, but it was no use. The older woman created a pair of ice gauntlets that were letting her match Laxus blow for blow while her cooler head let her strike when Laxus overextended himself in reckless attacks. The only damage he was doing came from the bursts of electricity that he would unknowingly give off at random intervals.

Eventually, Ur was able to hit him with a vicious shot to his diaphragm that briefly knocked the wind out of him. She then brought both fists down on his head and forced him to his knees. He glared up at her with a scowl on his face, but before he could say anything, Ur sent him flying with a punch. She watched Laxus skip once then turn into a bolt of lightning and flash away. He was zig-zagging all around the arena and despite her best efforts, Ur couldn't keep track of him. Laxus took the first opening he saw and body checked her from behind. He followed it up by bolting ahead and kicking her before she touched the ground. She slammed into a wall, and then Laxus punched forward with his electrically charged fist. "Breakdown Fist!"

The large lightning blast shaped like a fist shot forward and hit Ur's position with a mighty crack of thunder. Not willing to give his opponent a chance to recover, Laxus held both hands into the air and charged lightning between them. It quickly formed into a three-pointed spear that he proceeded to hurl at Ur. "Heavenward Halberd!" The halberd hit even harder than his electrical fist and the wall was destroyed by the impact. A great burst of steam created from the heat of his lightning meeting the frozen water. Laxus was panting from the effort, but still stood tall with a confident smile. "You still alive, Ur? I don't want to have to tell Gramps that I killed you on accident."

"Oh, don't worry about me," Ur called back. With a wave of her hand, she refroze the steam surrounding her to reveal a large flower-shaped shield that was filled with cracks and had a few pieces missing around the edges, but otherwise had withstood Laxus's assault. Ur herself looked no worse for wear with only a light sheen of sweat betraying the effort it took to block those attacks. "A little static never hurt anyone."

Ur smiled at the look of rage that crossed Laxus's face while she was internally wincing. Laxus certainly hadn't pulled any punches with that combo. He had mostly destroyed her first shield with that electric fist of his and she had been forced to create a second one when he sent that halberd flying at her. Not to mention that kick of his packed a wallop. If she hadn't blocked it with her arms she'd have at least a few cracked ribs. Even now her arms were still stinging. She'd have to start breaking out the big guns. "Ice-Make: Snapdragon!" A large stem with a flower shaped vaguely like dragon's open maw burst force from Ur's hands and launched itself at Laxus. The younger mage shattered it with a lightning-enhanced punch, but Ur had been counting on that.

She used the distraction to rush forward and slam her hands on the ground. "Ice-Make: Sweet Peas!" Tendrils of ice burst forth from under Laxus and began to climb up his legs and torso. He attempted to smash the stems, but for every stem he broke another took his place and now his arms were in range. Soon, he was tightly bound by stems and the flowers that blossomed from them; blocking his view and weighing him down. With a shout filled with rage, Laxus released a surge of lightning from his body and destroyed his bindings.

Sparks were now constantly jumping off of Laxus as he glared around the arena in search of Ur. To his surprise, all he could see was Ur. Dozens of ice sculptures in her likeness filled the arena as far as he could see. Laxus focused on looking for movement, but there were so many sculptures that were packed so close together that he wouldn't have been able to see Ur through them if she were wearing a neon sign. The potential S-Class mage growled in frustration. "If you won't fight me face-to-face then I'll just have to flush you out!" he declared before sweeping his arm forward and creating a wheel of lightning that bit into the ground and began to carve through the sculptures. "Lightning Wheel."

While his Lightning Wheel carved through the sculptures, Laxus began to launch Breakdown Fists to destroy large swathes of sculptures from the other side. He continued to get more and more frustrated with every sculpture he destroyed that wasn't Ur. "Show yourself, dammit! Are you afraid to face me, Ur? Some Wizard Saint you are!" he shouted over the sound of shattering ice.

In response, Ur hit him in the back with a tree.

Laxus went flying forward into the wall with the tip of the pine tree digging into his back. As soon as he hit the solid surface, the tree began to break in stages so it rapidly hammered into him with more and more force until the trunk finally hit him in the same spot as the tip. He slumped to the ground with a groan as he could feel the giant bruise already forming. He rolled over and propped himself up to catch his breath when he noticed that he could see his breath. In fact, everything in the arena was beginning to grow cold. He looked up to glare at Ur, but froze. Not out of shock, but out of fear.

The entire floor was covered in ice and wisps of frozen wind were being emitted from Ur's body. With every step she took, there was a slap as her real foot came down on the ice followed by a thud when her fake hit the ground. Behind her was a constantly growing wall of curling roses that kept advancing one pace behind her, each thorn looking much deadlier than a mere sword. The normal kind, motherly face she had around the guild was now frozen in indifference, her black eyes appeared much harder than any ice construct she had made and cold enough to freeze him with a glance. This was Ur's true power, the power of a Wizard Saint.

"Well? C'mon, Laxus. Here I am, in your face," she told him in a dull tone, as if she were bored despite being in the middle of a fight. She could see comprehension dawning in his eyes as he realized the gap between them. Ur leaned down so that she was staring him in the eyes and the condensation from her breath hit him in the face as she echoed his words, "Are you afraid to face me, Laxus?"

Laxus couldn't say anything in response. His mouth felt like it was frozen shut and every breath he took scratched against his throat, like he was breathing in sandpaper. He finally realized that he couldn't beat her. He could activate his Lacrima and use all of the magic he had stored in it and it wouldn't matter, she'd freeze him where he stood before he could emit so much as a spark. His pride and rage screamed at him to try, to fight back against Ur and hit her with everything he had to show her he was strong. That Laxus was good enough to earn the title of S-Class, not Laxus Dreyar. But logic, which he had been mostly ignoring until now, told him to flee. To run away to fight another day. It reminded him that all he had to do was reach the middle. He didn't have to beat Ur, just get past her. Laxus's two sides argued in his head as Ur stared him in the eyes; one saying to attack, the other to flee. He needed to decide, Ur was right in his face, but he couldn't decide which one to listen too.

So, he picked both.

Laxus gathered his magic into his eyes and released it in a sudden burst. But, instead of an electrical burst that would harm Ur, he released the brightest flash of light he could. The S-Class mage jerked back in surprise and pain as she clutched at her eyes and instinctively froze everything in front of her, but Laxus was already gone. He had immediately shifted to his Lightning Body and made a break for the hole he had blown in the wall at the beginning of the fight. He managed to dart between the massive rose garden that filled the arena, knowing that even the tiniest touch from a single petal would freeze him solid. He made his way out of the arena and stopped on one of the walls to allow his eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight.

Laxus briefly looked back at the arena and considered charging up a Raging Bolt and waiting for Ur to follow him out, but discarded the idea. He had pushed his luck enough for today. With a quick jump up to get his bearings and check for any sign of Kuzan lying in wait to stop him, Laxus turned into lightning once again and streaked across the island for the center of the labyrinth.

Kuzan glanced up when he heard the crackle of electricity and watched a lightning bolt pass overhead towards the center of the maze. Ur must have let Laxus pass. He leapt up onto the wall and began to make his way over to the covered section of the labyrinth. Ur was standing at the entrance and furiously rubbing at her eyes. Kuzan dropped down in front of her and shrank down to his usual height. "Yo. What's wrong with your eyes?"

"That little fucker flashed me!" Ur cursed. She took her hands away from her eyes and blinked a few times before cursing again, "Fuck! I'm still seeing spots."

"Ah, I see your corrupting influence has spread to more than just your youngest and most impressionable student," Kuzan told her without bothering to hide his smile. "Soon every boy under the age of eighteen in the guild will be stripping in the streets like degenerates."

Ur kicked him in the shin for his remark, but her lack of sight caused her to hit his fake leg. "Like hell it has! And you know I didn't mean it like that, smartass," she told him in mock anger. Ur gave up rubbing at her eyes and just folded her arms across her chest and tried to glare through squinted eyes at Kuzan. Her aim was slightly above Kuzan's head and to the left, so he adjusted his position accordingly and added a few inches to his height. "Do you have my clothes? Wearing a bikini this skimpy makes me feel naked."

"From what your students say about your training methods I'd think you'd be used to that," Kuzan quipped as he requipped Ur's usual tube top and pants along with some underwear. She had left her jacket in his bike basket once they had gotten close to Tenrou Island. Past experience had showed that the weather was ridiculously hot around the island this time of year and was only bearable once you actually got on Tenrou and were able to get under some shade.

Ur used one hand to flip off Kuzan as the other was held out expectantly for her clothes. Once Kuzan had handed them off, she put her hands together and created a changing booth. "I've already said it a million times: I don't know why Gray picked up that damned stripping habit. I only did that until they were able to stand out in the cold without shaking. You don't see Lyon running around in his underwear, do you?" Ur asked from inside the booth. "Besides that, my underwear covers more than this thing." She punctuated this by throwing the bikini in question out of the booth and at where she assumed Kuzan was.

"Then why did you buy it?" Kuzan asked as he picked up the discarded swimwear. He stored it in his requip space since he figured Ur would want it back later, if only to not have wasted money on it. She had been pretty pissed to learn that she needed another pair of heels after she burned her old pair. That hadn't been a fun shopping trip.

Ur was glad that she was still in the changing booth so that Kuzan couldn't see her blush. She wasn't going to tell him that she used the shopping trip as an excuse to model a bunch of swimsuits in front of him in search of a reaction. That bikini just happened to be what she was wearing when she finally snapped and asked Kuzan what he thought about what she was wearing instead of waiting for him to say something on his own accord. He told her she looked great, so she bought it. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Ur stepped out of the booth and glanced around. Her vision had mostly cleared up with a few spots left over that were quickly fading. "Alright, I can mostly see and Laxus has definitely made it to Master by now, so the trial's over. We just have to check in before dropping the walls."

"And then it's back to the guild to throw the party for the new S-Class mage, and then it's time for our yearly vacation," Kuzan listed. "Where do you think Master's planning to take us this year?"

Ur shrugged. "Dunno. We're running out of places that haven't banned the entire guild. Maybe a resort down in Hargeon, we haven't destroyed anything there."

"Yet."

Ur nodded. "That's fair. But just imagine it. Relaxing in a poolside lounge chair while the kids are way out on the beach raising havoc we don't have to worry about." Ur loved all the kids in Fairy Tail, but they were a bunch of hormonal preteens with strong magic that were regularly encouraged to practice that magic so long as no one got seriously injured. With the definition of "seriously" being flexible. They were a bit of a handful. Kuzan wasn't the only one finding gray hairs and she wasn't even forty yet, goddammit!

"I imagine there's a bar located next to these lounge chairs," Kuzan said with a hint of a teasing smile.

"But of course," Ur stated with complete sincerity. "It wouldn't be a vacation without day drinking."

The two looked at each other seriously for a moment before their amusement got the best of them and they snickered at each other. They continued to describe their hypothetical vacation as they made their way through the labyrinth. And if they took the scenic route through it instead of hopping on top and making a beeline towards the center, oh well. It's not like waiting to drop the walls was going to kill anyone.

Fairy Tail

The celebration for Laxus making S-Class was in full swing. Beer was flowing, spirits were high, punches were being thrown, and the mage of the hour was the center of attention and looking like he'd rather die than have to put up with the guild's exuberance and eccentricities. Off to the side, Ur was regaling Kuzan and Gildarts with her fight against Laxus.

"So, my feet are frozen to the roof and I'm hanging directly over Laxus while he's throwing his little lightning powered temper tantrum and talking more shit than a four-way argument between Erza, Mira, Gray, and Natsu. I don't know if it was all the ice shattering or the sound of his own voice, but the little bastard didn't even hear me drop down behind him. I was able to say my incantation and everything without him noticing. Then, Wham!" Ur clapped her hands together for emphasis,"He's halfway across the room with an evergreen buried in his back," she finished with a satisfied smile.

Kuzan recognized that spell, he hadn't enjoyed being its test subject. "Ice-Make: Collapsing Evergreen. I take it you blunted the tip?"

"Yeah. I also didn't shove it up his ass like I wanted to. That would have been a bit much," she said.

"A little bit," Kuzan agreed. A smile that could almost be called mischievous crossed his face. "You really wanted to though, didn't you?"

"Gods yes!" Ur cried. "Can you imagine the look on his face? I could have made a fortune if I did that and got a picture." She shook her head to get rid of the possibilities from the missed opportunity, "Anyways, you should have heard him during the whole fight. I'm leading the little shit around by the nose and he still has the balls to act like he's got the upper hand. I mean, I'm matching him blow for blow in a fistfight and shrugging off his best shots like they were static from a doorknob while beating him like a dirty carpet and he's the one asking me if I'm dead. Crazy kid's going to get himself in trouble with that mouth one of these days," Ur finished.

"Ha! That seems to be the theme with the new generation," Gildarts laughed. He pointed over to the crowd of mages and they watched Natsu say something to Erza that ended with him getting kicked across the room and into Gray. The mostly naked teen shouted something they couldn't hear at Natsu, but by the way his lips moved probably started with an "F" and would require Ur to wash his mouth out with soap. The pink-haired teen responded in kind and then the two ended up in another brawl. Meanwhile, Mira came to her fellow pseudo-student's defense and yelled some choice insults at Erza accompanied by a rather unladylike gesture that earned her a knuckle sandwich and then those two started a separate brawl. The two rowdy teens made a half circuit around the guild and dragged in then kicked out several other members before they collided in the middle and Gray and Natsu were swiftly launched into opposite sides of the guild.

Kuzan and Ur sighed in unison while Gildarts let out an uproarious laugh at the sight. "Arara, those two just can't seem to get along." The teens were worse than any rivals he'd ever seen. They were willing to thrown down any time, any place. Half the time they didn't even have to say anything; the pair would just randomly glare at each other across the guild at the same time then they'd be at it like starving dogs fighting over a steak. The only saving grace from their fighting was that they never used their magic, just their ridiculous strength.

Ur looked past the fighting teens and sighed in relief, "At least some of them don't need to talk with their fists." She was referring to how Cana, Lisanna, and Elfman were sitting around a table and talking politely with each other. Ur narrowed her eyes at Cana's drink, but it didn't seem to be beer, so she let it slide. But if she was drunk later that night then she'd be having words with the wait staff.

The three S-Class pseudo parents watched with warm smiles as the rest of the teen mages ended up at the same table. Natsu made his way over to sit between Cana and Lisanna. Cana called Gray over and had him sit on her other side so that she could mediate between the two. Erza and Mira eventually settled down and joined them, and while at first, they refused to look at each other, they eventually got caught up in the celebration and loosened up. The only one missing from the picture was…

"Where's Lyon?" Ur asked while glancing around. It wasn't hard to find him, he was sitting next to Laxus and talking animatedly with the older teen about something. The strange thing was that Laxus seemed to actually be listening to what Lyon was saying and nodding.

Gildarts raised his brow when he saw the two of them together. "Oh, that can't be good."

Ur lightly whacked his shoulder, "Shush. If he's actually putting forth an effort to get along with someone then that's progress. Even if it is Laxus."

Kuzan took a swig from his drink instead of commenting, but he agreed with Gildarts. He didn't like the way those two kept stealing glances over at the three of them. Especially with how often they seemed to be looking at Ur.

The next morning, Kuzan was waiting with Erza in the guild for the other members to arrive. The guild was leaving for their vacation today, so he had cut their training session short. They were eating breakfast while Kuzan imagined what Ur and Gildarts's reactions to him being at the guild before them would be when Gray burst into the guild. He was panting heavily and had lost his pants and shirt somewhere along the way, so they could see that he was covered in sweat from running so much, but he still managed to bolt over to where they had been sitting and try to say something. He was in such a rush though, that neither teacher nor student could make heads or tails of what he was saying.

Kuzan pushed a glass of water over to Gray. "Easy, kid. Take a drink and calm down first. We can't understand what you're trying to say."

Gray gratefully took the offered glass and chugged it down. He wiped the excess water off his mouth and took a deep breath before saying, "Lyon's fighting with Sensei!"

"Lyon's always fighting with Ur-san. What's the big deal?" Erza asked in her usual blunt way.

"It's really bad this time!" Gray insisted. "Lyon said that he's found someone better to teach him and that he's leaving! Ur got really angry and told me to head to the guild early, but I stayed back and I could hear them raising their voices and Lyon was saying some really awful things to Ur and then she was screaming back and then I ran to find you guysbutyouweren'tatyourhousesoIcheckedthetraininggroundsbutyouweren'tthereeitherand—!" Gray's words eventually ran into one long stream of noise that they couldn't understand and he started to hyperventilate.

Kuzan covered his mouth to get him to stop talking. He gave him a reassuring smile, "Calm down, Gray. Take a deep breath." Gray stopped talking into Kuzan's hand and inhaled loudly through his nose. "Better?" Gray nodded, so Kuzan removed his hand. "Now don't worry about this. I'll go check in on Ur and Lyon and make sure everything's okay. You stay here with Erza and wait for the others, okay?"

Once he got confirmation from Gray that he wouldn't be going anywhere, Kuzan turned to his student, "Erza, take care of Gray until I get back." He ignored Gray's protest that he didn't need a babysitter. "When you see Master or Gildarts tell them what I'm doing and let them know I'll take care of it so they don't have to wait up."

Erza nodded with a serious expression. Her sensei was trusting her with two important jobs and she wouldn't disappoint him. Once Kuzan had headed for the exit, she grabbed Gray by the back of his neck. "Come, Gray. We need to get you dressed."

"When did I get undressed?!"

Once he was out of the guild, Kuzan dropped his calm façade and took off for Ur's house using Shave. The buildings of Magnolia town blurred together and he quickly came to a halt a short distance away from Ur's house. He watched with emotionless eyes as Lyon walked away from the house with a bag thrown over his shoulder and a stubborn, angry expression. He said nothing as Lyon caught sight of him and a flash of fear appeared in his eyes, before they hardened in that headstrong way only teenagers and zealots could do. One born of an unshakeable belief that they were right and it was the entire world around them that was wrong.

Kuzan maintained his silence until Lyon had walked a few steps past him. "Lyon." He didn't need to use his Haki to feel the teen tense behind him. "You're joining Laxus on his new job."

It wasn't framed as a question, but Lyon still felt the need to answer it, "Yes."

"Good." Kuzan began to walk forward and Lyon let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He sucked it right back in at Kuzan's next words, "Make sure it takes a while to finish." Lyon hadn't felt truly cold for years due to Ur's training. While Ice Mages could feel the change in temperatures, they remained unaffected by the cold. It was a side effect of working with magic that only dealt with temperatures below freezing. Despite this, he began to shiver.

Kuzan ignored him as he continued on to Ur's house. This break had been a long time coming and Lyon had made his choice. Now he had to see what the damage was and what he could do to help.

He hadn't knocked twice before he heard loud footsteps rushing towards the door. Ur flung open the door and bit out, "Lyon!" before she recognized Kuzan. "Oh."

He ignored the disappointment in her tone and walked inside, shutting the door behind him. "Sorry I'm not who you were looking for," he said as he walked forward and guided her back into the living room. He saw tear tracks under her eyes and they were already starting to turn red. She must have started crying as soon as Lyon had left.

"No. It's fine. It's just…" Ur trailed off as she sat down on the couch next to Kuzan. She let out a shaky laugh, "I'm not even sure what I would've done if it was Lyon. Would I have yelled some more? Would I have taken him back? Hugged him? Throttled him?" Ur's laugh turned into a sob and she put her face in her hands.

Kuzan remained silent. There was nothing he could say that could fix this. He just awkwardly rubbed (hopefully) soothing circles on her back and let her cry. He had wanted to try and help her, but now that he was here he didn't know what to do. Lyon was Ur's first student, the not-quite-a-replacement-but-still-kinda-was for Urtear. And now he was gone. Kuzan didn't need to be present for the fight to know that it was ugly. Gray had said Ur had been screaming back at Lyon, and he knew that it took a lot to get under her skin like that.

Ur calmed down after several minutes and wiped the tears from her eyes. She kept her head bowed and stared at her clenched hands. "I'm an idiot."

Kuzan said nothing but kept rubbing her back. This was something that Ur seemed to need to get off her chest.

"You've been telling me for years that Lyon is drifting away, that he'd been becoming more disrespectful and rebellious. And for years I've said that I could handle it. No matter what he said or how badly he talked back I thought that I could reach him. That I could… fix our relationship without knowing how I was going to do that." She leaned her head back over the couch and stared at the ceiling. "Everyone in the guild could see it, hell, Gildarts probably saw it and he's only ever around the guild once in a blue moon. But why? Why am I still surprised that he left? Why did I think that I could convince him to stay? That everything would magically turn out okay even though all the signs pointed to failure?" More tears began to silently fall down Ur's face. "Why did I fail one of my kids again?"

Kuzan pulled Ur into his side for a hug. She glanced up in surprise, but he kept looking ahead. "You're not an idiot and you didn't fail, Ur. You taught him how to use magic and how to fight. You took care of him when he had nobody left and gave him a home and a family. He's a fool for throwing that back into your face and leaving. You're not the one that failed him, he's the one that failed you."

Ur turned so that her face was buried in Kuzan's shoulder as she returned his hug a little harder than necessary and said, "Thank you." His words wouldn't bring Lyon back, but they did make her feel a little better. Even if she didn't fully believe what he was saying and still harbored the guilt of failing him, it was comforting to hear someone say that it wasn't her fault.

After a few minutes, Ur relaxed her grip and sat up straight. "We should get going. I wouldn't want to ruin everyone's vacation," she said while putting on a brave face. They had delayed their departure already and she'd have to take some time to cover up her crying so that the kids weren't worried. Explanations could wait until after vacation. No need to worry the kids while they were supposed to be enjoying themselves.

"We don't have to. I left word for Master or Gildarts to let them know what was going on. If you want to stay we can stay," Kuzan told her.

Ur relaxed a little, glad that the guild wasn't going to be held up by her. "Okay. But you don't have to stay if you don't want to. I wouldn't want to ruin your vacation."

"I'll stay," Kuzan said.

He didn't offer an explanation and Ur didn't need one. The two remained that way, with an arm slung around each other in Ur's empty house, taking solace in each other's company.

A/N: Jesus, that ending was a pain. Everything's been written up since the middle of April, but then finals got in the way and I couldn't find the motivation to finish it. So Lyon has, unsurprisingly, quit being Ur's student and moved on to join up with Laxus, continuing the trend of every kid in the guild having some sort of S-Class mentor. What does this mean for the future of Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe? Nothing that will be explored before the Fighting Festival Arc. What it does mean is that I won't have to write about Lyon being a moody little shit for a while. And some things about Ur's personal feelings and confidence along with her relationships with Kuzan and Gray, but who cares about those major repercussions to the story? Later.