Evergreen wandered down one of the riverside streets of Magnolia with a pang of nostalgia. While she didn't care much for the people, it was still her home, and none of the Thunder God Tribe had visited in over half a year. The only one who ever bothered to come back was Laxus, and that was only to pick up S-Class Jobs on the second floor of the guild hall.

Once she reached a seemingly random intersection, she made sure no one was looking before slapping down one of the magical tags Freed had given her onto the stone. It melded into the floor on contact, displaying that the magic had taken effect. Evergreen smirked and began walking to her next target.

While she may not be able to use Jutsu Shiki to create barriers like Freed could, the man had created simple tags that would automatically write the desired effects into the ground. It took some time for the effect to write itself though, which is why they had all arrived a week early to ensure that everything was setup on schedule.

Evergreen let out a yawn as she glanced up at the sun. It had only risen a couple hours ago, as the three had started early to avoid as many of the weaklings as possible. Walking along the riverfront to her next target, she spied the sign of a building up ahead. It was a local cosmetics store, one that was stocked full of her favorite supplies. Supplies that she had ran out of ages ago due to visiting so infrequently. She cast a sly glance as she approached the establishment.

'Surely the others won't notice if I take a little detour. Maintaining my beautiful self takes effort, after all!'

She quickly turned from her path and swung the door to the store open. A quick glance around the store revealed no one inside but the owner watching the front counter. Perfect! She'll be in and out of here in only a couple minute then. She walked towards the back to look for her favorite perfume, but as she turned down the final aisle, she found that she wasn't truly alone.

Standing at the other end of the aisle was Lisanna Strauss of all people, looking between the two bottles of foundation in her hands. Evergreen just stared at the girl as she continued to fret over her options. She honestly wouldn't have been surprised if Mirajane went to this store, but her younger sister?

The younger girl let out a sigh and turned toward her, walking down the aisle with her head still looking down at the bottles. Facing towards Evergreen, she could now notice the scars along her face. She knew that Lisanna had been heavily injured on a mission ages ago, but when she had last popped in six months ago there wasn't a sign of injury on the girl. What is going on here?

"What the hell is the difference between these things? Maybe I should just suck it up and ask the owner…" Lisanna mumbled, and Evergreen snapped out of her own thoughts. But before she could hide, Lisanna finally looked up, eyes widening as they locked onto Evergreen's. "What the-? Evergreen?! What are you doing here?"

"Shopping for makeup, obviously." Evergreen said with a huff. She already felt herself getting worked up over being spotted so easily. She gave Lisanna an unimpressed look. "I think you're the one I should be asked that. What, running errands for your sister now?"

"…No, this is for me actually." Lisanna finally admitted. Evergreen glanced down at foundation in the girls' hands with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't possibly be trying to hide that much scarring with makeup of all things?

"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think that will properly cover… all of that."

"I know that!" Lisanna said with a stomp. She shot her a glare. "If I wanted to, I would have just had Mira use transformation magic like before to hide it all."

Ahh, so that's how it was. No wonder she looked completely fine before. But she wasn't trying to cover the scars though? Evergreen wouldn't be caught dead looking like that in public. "Why not just have your sister throw you a little spell? Seems the simplest method of fixing your little conundrum?"

"Because I'm tired of hiding who I am from everybody. I kept pushing everyone away because I was worried they'd see my scars and think of me as weak and fragile." Lisanna began to complain. "I've realized that in the end no one in the guild cares about such things, so I've stopped trying to hide it, really. It's just when I go out on jobs, I get certain looks."

"What kind of looks?" Evergreen asked concerned. "None of the clients have tried to get… handsy with you, have they?"

Lisanna looked at Evergreen in horror. "What?! No, that's not… Is that a problem you have? Mira never mentioned anything like that happening to her!"

"Men tend to not overextend their reach around someone known as 'The Demon'. The rest of us women aren't always so fortunate." Evergreen stared at Lisanna seriously for a moment. "If you ever feel a bit uncomfortable around a client, just run for the hills and don't look back. Trust me, it'll save you a lot of headache in the long run."

"… Right, I'll be sure to do that." Lisanna slowly nodded, somewhat frightened by the sudden turn. She quickly shook her head and tried to get back on topic. "But the real problem is that I feel like none of them are taking me seriously. They take one look at my scars and don't think I'm up to whatever they need done. I don't want to cover up my scars completely, but I need something to not make them so… scary? I don't know."

"Wouldn't Mirajane be able to help you. As far as I understood she was one of the more, how should we saw, fashionably aware members of the guild." Evergreen asked.

"Oh? Did you not here what happened to my sister from Laxus? He seemed to know about it when he showed up earlier." Lisanna said in surprise. "She got heavily injured during her last mission and Erza, Natsu, and Gray had to go rescue her. She only just woke up a couple days ago and her memories are still a bit mixed up."

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea it was that bad." All Laxus had said was that Mira had screwed up a mission spectacularly. She figured she just caused more property damage than was typical for even a Fairy Tail Mage, not that she had nearly died! She was going to have to have a word with the man when they met up later.

"It's fine, I mean it's not your fault you've been out on jobs so long." Lisanna said dismissively, which made Evergreen nearly flinch, because yes, it really was her own fault. "Everyone at the guild has been so understanding of our situation. Of everything to do with us, too be honest. It's kind of a miracle we managed to join up in the first place."

"It was?" Evergreen thought back, but never really knew the story behind the Strauss's. The three siblings simply were in the guild hall one day after she came back from a job. Considering their age when they joined, she figured they were some more strays that Laxus's grandfather was so fond of.

"You know how my sister uses Take-Over Magic on demons, right? Well, the first time she did it completely by accident. We lived in some far away town as children, and one day a demon came by and nearly killed us. Mira used her magic for the first time that day, but it was incomplete, so she had demon bits sticking out of her still. Horns, a mutated arm. They treated her no better than a monster." Lisanna let out a sigh as old memories flooded her head. "We were run out of town after town. She wouldn't lift so much as a hand at anyone, but everyone still looked at her like she was going to rip them apart!"

Evergreen unconsciously adjusted her glasses, as she found herself thinking about her own past as a young girl. The way people refused to look her in the eye and call her names due to her Stone Eyes. But it never got any worse than some pebble throwing from the more unruly kids. It was the whole reason she wore her glasses, despite not having any actual need to.

"But then we ran into Erza and her mom, Irene, and we quickly ended up joining Fairy Tail." Lisanna continued, unaware of Evergreen's introspection. "It was Irene who taught Mira how to use her powers. Honestly, without them and the rest of Fairy Tail, I don't know what we would have done."

"I had no idea you all went through that." Evergreen admitted. She couldn't help but think back to all the time she simply ignored the family as she picked out jobs. She always figured no one would want to talk to her in the guild, since they wouldn't understand her. She glanced away disappointed with herself. "I have to admit, my reason for joining was incredibly… basic."

"Oh, come on, how bad can it be?" Lisanna laughed. "Mira told me use Fairy Magic, right? Don't tell me you join just due to the name or something?"

"…"

"Wait, seriously?!"

"I…" Evergreen tried to defend herself, but the girl had nailed it on her first guess. She let out a sigh of exasperation. This was why she avoided the other guildmates. "Okay, maybe I did. But I always planned to join a Magic Guild. It's the only place that would accept me due to my… eye condition."

Lisanna looked at her in surprise. "Your eyes?"

"I… have Stone Eyes." What the hell was she doing? When was the last time she had mentioned this to anybody? Why couldn't she just stop talking? "I could turn people to statues with just a look. I was always afraid of how others would react, so I… never really talked to anyone, even when I joined the guild. Laxus was the only one who actually seemed to understand me."

"Laxus?" Lisanna said in surprise again. "What did he do?"

"One day he just got up in my face and asked if I wanted to go on a mission together. I wouldn't look him in the face, he got annoyed, and eventually I yelled at him that if he didn't piss off, I'd turn him to stone. The next day he handed me a pair of magic-filtering glasses and asked me again. When I put them on and saw that he wasn't scared of me, well…" Evergreen smiled nostalgically. "He has a big heart, even if he has trouble showing it."

"Really?" Lisanna said in an almost unbelievable tone.

"Yes, really." Evergreen let out a sigh, turning away from Lisanna. Why did it seem that no one understood Laxus like she did? No wonder he didn't want to hang out around the guild hall. "He looked out for me and the others in the Thunder God Tribe when we pushed others away. He wasn't scared or mean to us like others. Even with cursed eyes like mine…"

"Your magic isn't a curse!" Lisanna suddenly exclaimed at her. "I'm tired of people putting themselves down over their differences. You're a member of Fairy Tail, and that matters more to me than whatever you can do with your eyes."

Evergreen whirled back around to glare at Lisanna. "What could you possibly-?!" But the words died in her mouth as she stared into Lisanna's eyes. There was something… different about them. It was only a small nagging feeling, but as someone who spent so long obsessing over her own eyes, she knew something wasn't right with Lisanna's. She noticed the scars on Lisanna's face were rather prominent around her eyes, and it finally clicked into place. They were magical prosthetics.

As Evergreen stared at Lisanna, the girl let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I'll just get out of your way!" She said hurriedly, trying to walk past Evergreen to exit the store. But as she passed by, Evergreen grabbed her by the arm. "Huh? What are you-"

"You need help finding something to smooth over your scars, right?" Evergreen asked, causing Lisanna's eyes to bug out.

"Wait, are you actually going to-"

"Yes! I'll help you this once, alright!" Evergreen cursed her heart. She couldn't help but sympathize with Lisanna's plight. "But mention this to anyone, and I'll turn you into a statue and plant you in the Fairy Hill gardens, got it?"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Lisanna quickly confirmed as Evergreen began to drag her back down the aisle.

By the time she had walked out of the store, both her and Lisanna had a bag of new products to try. She realized she was way behind schedule at this point, but she honestly didn't care. She was too busy wondering when she would next get the chance to see Lisanna.


Bickslow sat on one of the benches in front of Kardia Cathedral, staring up at the building as he took a break from all his work. He had been placing the tags that Freed had given him around town, but it was rather hard for him to be inconspicuous compared to the rest of his team.

For one, not many people walk around wearing a metal visor and hood. He could already feel the rising sun's heat beating down on him. Wearing almost all black probably didn't help. Maybe he should have taken Evergreen's advice and come up with a new look.

As for the second reason, he happened to not be walking alone. He had his five totem dolls floating along with him. While they usually stuck close to him, they also had the unusual habit of repeating things back at whoever talked to them. With how busy the streets were due to the upcoming festival, it was like a second job wrangling his babies from annoying every passerby long enough for him to place a tag discreetly.

Speaking of, they had been rather quiet for the past couple minutes. Where had they ran off to? He looked behind himself just in time to see the five dolls hovering around a woman in blue. She raised up a hand towards one of them, and he quickly got up, rushing over before she could raise a hand against it.

"Well, aren't you a cute little thing!" The woman said, patting the doll on the head. Bickslow froze as they began to circle around the woman, who began to giggle at their antics.

"Cute! Cute! Cute!" They began to repeat, moving excitedly around the mysterious woman. Bickslow took the chance to finally approach and call the dolls back to himself.

"C'mon, you already knew that. Don't let a little compliment get to your head!" Bickslow said to the dolls as they floated back to him.

"Head! Head! Head!" They all began to cheer rather morbidly as they floated into position behind himself. Bickslow shook his head as the woman approached.

"Sorry about that, lady. They can be a bit much!" Bickslow laughed, letting his tongue out. "Thanks for not getting rough with them."

"Juvia wouldn't dare do that! Juvia thinks they are rather adorable!" The woman, Juvia apparently, said with a smile. She seemed surprised by something though when she looked at him, and a moment later she was in a polite bow. "Are you a member of Fairy Tail too? Juvia is so sorry for not recognizing you!"

Oh, right. His guild mark was on his tongue. The one he tended to leave sticking out. "Eh, don't worry about it to much. My team and I haven't been back in almost half a year. I'm sure there's plenty of people who I wouldn't recognize." He admitted to the girl. "Like yourself, I presume? The name's Bickslow, I hang out with Laxus's crew."

The woman curtseyed politely. "My name is Juvia Lockser. It is a pleasure to meet you. Juvia only joined a week ago."

"Isn't that right after that stuff with Phantom Lord happened?" Bickslow let out an uproarious laugh. "You sure have some guts lady, joining after that mess! I heard one lady even got kidnapped, twice. You must have heard about that?"

"Y-Yes, Juvia is aware of that." The woman seemed to lean in on herself at Bickslow's comment, looking away from him nervously. "In fact, Juvia is responsible for one of them. Juvia… used to be a member of Phantom Lord."

"What?" Bickslow's eyes widened under his visor.

"What? What? What?" The dolls repeated behind him, moving erratically.

"Juvia isn't proud of it now, but Juvia used to be one of the best mages in the guild." She began to explain. "Juvia did a lot of things back then that Juvia knew was wrong, simply because Jose said to do so."

"If you knew it was so wrong, why didn't you just not listen? Seems simple enough to me?" He responded.

"Because Jose was the only one to accept Juvia for who she was. Or at least, that's what Juvia thought." She looked up at the clear blue sky. "Juvia used to bring rain everywhere. Everyone would push Juvia away, not wanting to be around someone so cursed. It was impossible to make a meaningful relationship with anyone. When Jose approached with an offer to join Phantom Lord, Juvia hopped at the chance."

She used to be cursed? Bickslow brought a hand to his visor as the dolls around him became uncharacteristically quiet. "It sounds like this Jose guy was pretty nice for seeing past all that."

"But he didn't!" Juvia spat out in disgust. "He just wanted to use Juvia, and didn't care about Juvia's personal feelings. When the Element Four all failed to defeat their opponents, he strung us up and planned to punish us… physically, for being so weak."

"That's terrible." Bickslow admitted. He was initially worried about someone from Phantom Lord joining the guild, but after hearing her story, he couldn't help but relate to Juvia's story. "I understand why you'd want to join Fairy Tail then. Speaking from experience, they don't push others away due to stupid stuff like that."

"From experience?"

Bickslow sighed, realizing he had probably said too much. He didn't want to scare this woman away, but maybe she'd be able to understand. He lifted a hand to his visor, pulling it and his hood over his head, revealing the man-shaped tattoo on his face and glowing green eyes.

"I have a magic called Figure Eyes. It lets me manipulate other people like puppets. I can also manipulate wandering souls and put them in puppets." He said, gesturing to the dolls behind him. "I was born with both powers, and everyone thought I was some sort of freak. The only ones I had for company for a long time were these little guys, even after I joined the guild."

"Let Juvia guess, someone in Fairy Tail eventually saw past all of that?" She said with a knowing smile. Bickslow couldn't help but nod his head in agreement.

"Yeah. One day Laxus came up to me and asked if I wanted to go on a job with him. Don't know what prompted it seeing as I kept away from everyone else, but maybe that was the only reason he needed. I asked him if he was really okay going on a job with 'the scariest member of the guild'. Want to know what he said?"

"What?"

"That can't be true. I'm the scariest guy in the guild!" Bickslow quoted with a laugh. "He was such a dork back then, but he sure knew how to make a guy like me feel welcome. It wasn't long until I was going on jobs with him as part of a team. He saw through all the bullshit and made us feel accepted."

"He sounds like a wonderful person. Juvia sure hopes to get the chance to meet him eventually." Juvia said with a smile. "Juvia feels safer already knowing there are people like him in the guild who would stick up for Juvia!"

"Yeah, he's-" He felt himself stopping as he realized what she had just said, and what he was doing. What was he doing? He was setting up traps so that his guildmates would have to fight each other! Laxus… If Laxus knew she was a member of Phantom Lord, how would he react? He glanced over his shoulder, as if his leader would suddenly appear at the thought.

"Is something wrong?" Juvia asked in concern.

"I-It's nothing!" He hastily put his hood and visor back over his head, and hastily walking off. "Sorry, but I have a job to get to!"

"Oh! Well then, see you around?" Juvia said in confusion at his sudden departure.

He wandered toward his next destination, lost in thought. Juvia was strong, right? She'll surely be able to pass whatever test Laxus was planning to determine who was worthy. Then he wouldn't have any complaints about her joining.

That's right! Laxus accepted him, so he should have any problem with Juvia, right?


Freed walked around the library carefully and quietly. He had already written the runes that were needed for this area's fight, but he couldn't help but add a little extra just in case. He was rather fond of this library, so he decided to place some extra runes around the shelfs to protect them from harm. He was well aware of his guildmates reputation towards property damage, and feared that Laxus's game would only increase such infamy.

Turning down one of the empty spaces between shelves, he walked to the middle of them. Glancing around and hearing no one coming, he leaned down and began drawing his protection runes.

"What are you doing?"

"Gah?!" He jumped up as a young boy's voice echoed out next to him. He put a hand on the hilt of the sword on his waist, looking around aisle but seeing no one. "Who goes there?"

"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" The voice said again, and a boy melded out of the shadows in front of him. He appeared to have a cat-like creature napping on his head much like Happy. "My name's Rogue, and this is Frosch. We just joined Fairy Tail! You're a member too, right? What are you doing with those runes?"

"Oh, that?" Freed calmed himself. The boy clearly didn't know much about his magic thankfully. He could easily lie his way out of this. "I was just doing some practicing where it's quiet. I'll clean them up later, so could you please not tell anyone?"

"Oh, sure! You're secret's safe with me." Rogue said, before picking Frosch off his head and holding them in his arms. "I didn't mean to interrupt you, honest. I just was looking somewhere quiet for the two of us to nap."

"I see. That's good." He couldn't let any of Laxus's plans leak to the other members of Fairy Tail. Maybe he should figure out more about this boy, just in case. "You say that you joined recently? You seem a bit young to join a Magic Guild."

"I'm plenty tough! If you're a member of Fairy Tail, then you know how Natsu and Wendy are Dragon Slayers right? Well, I'm one too!" Rogue said proudly, producing a raised eyebrow from Freed. He had heard the rumours, of course, about how those two had been raised by Dragons. Most simply laughed them off as overimaginative children, but their magic and bodies were certainly not entirely human. If this boy was like them, then he was certainly stronger than he appeared.

"I see, then you must be quite strong." Freed said in praise.

"Nah, I'm not that tough, especially compared to Gajeel!" Rogue said excitedly.

"Gajeel?" Freed put a hand to his chin. He felt like he had heard that name before. Had Laxus mentioned him?

"Yeah! He's a Dragon Slayer like me. He says he even beat Natsu! Natsu says he still won, but Gajeel complains it doesn't count since his girlfriends helped. Honestly, it's getting tiring hearing them argue about it all the time." Rogue let out a sigh as he leaned against one of the bookshelves. "The only reason they haven't had a rematch is because Master Makarov forbid it. Probably worried they'd level the guild hall before we even finished building it."

"That sounds pretty accurate." Freed acknowledged with a nod. This Gajeel must be pretty strong to beat Natsu of all people. While Natsu would obviously be no match for Laxus, he was still a rather tenacious opponent. Anyone able to overcome a fight against him would likely impress Laxus. "It sounds like you look up to him quite a bit."

"Of course! I was always so scared around others, and no one would take me seriously due to the whole Dragon thing. But Gajeel was like me, and he understood. Even before I told him I was a Dragon Slayer, he saw the potential in me and took me under his wing. He was even willing to risk his life for me, back when-" The boy suddenly stopped talking, and looked down in embarrassment. "Um, I'm sorry. You probably think I'm weird, rambling about someone you've never met before."

"No, it's fine. I think it's wonderful to have such an amazing person to look up to." Freed said honestly. "I have someone similar too, actually. Has anyone told you about Laxus?"

"I think I've heard his name mentioned by the other guild members." Rogue admitted. "He's an S-Class Mage, right?"

"He is. He is also the Master's grandson, though there's plenty more to him than that." Freed began to explain. He knew how much Laxus felt overshadowed by the Master. "He was always so strong, and I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to team up with him, but I thought I was too weak, so I kept taking tougher and tougher jobs until I believed he would notice me."

"Did he?"

"He noticed that I was being incredibly reckless. He noticed the kid who kept spying on him coming back to the guild hall more and more beat up. One day I finally took a job that was clearly beyond my abilities and almost got killed by a monster, only for Laxus to appear from the sky in a bolt of lightning. He took a blow that was meant for me and took out the monster in a single second." Freed shook his head at the nostalgic memory. "I tried to thank him, but before I could he turned to me and demanded to know why I took such a risky job. I eventually said that I was just trying to impress him so I could work with him. He just laughed and said that asking if we could do a job together would have been impressive enough for him. We've been working together ever since."

"Wow, he sounds pretty cool." Rogue admitted. "Fairy Tail is full of great people to look up to, isn't it? They really care about each other, unlike at Phantom Lord. I hope Gajeel can find someone to look up to here. Someone better than Jose, at least."

Freed froze as he finally recalled where he had heard Gajeel's name. He was one of the Phantom Lord members that had joined Fairy Tail. And it was clear that this boy was too. The ones that Laxus had decried as stains against his guild. But talking to him, he was just some idealistic boy, just like… Just like himself, back in the day.

He had been weak once too. But Laxus looked out for him like Gajeel apparently had for Rogue. They were so similar to each other, so were they really not welcome in Fairy Tail? Was this plan of Laxus's really for the best? No, he couldn't think like that! He owed Laxus his life, and would do anything asked of him.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get going now." He said politely, suddenly turning to leave.

"R-Right! Um, I hope to see you again." Rogue said at his sudden exit. But freed just shook his head. He knew that the next time he would have to meet the boy would be as an enemy to his commander. It would be best if they never met again.

Even if he wanted to talk with him more about his friends…


As the sun was setting, the Thunder God Tribe returned to Laxus's residence on the edge of town. As they filed in wordlessly, they say their leader sipping a glass of wine while staring out the window. Most would assume the man was simply unwinding, but they knew better.

Laxus was pissed.

They had only been back a day, and something had already managed to get completely under his skin. It was honestly starting to worry the group how easily their leader could fly into a rage at the mere mention of Fairy Tail. Half the reason that the Thunder God Tribe had insisted on preparing everything themselves was so that Laxus wouldn't start a fight early and screw everything up.

As the three of them finally stood ready in front of him, he turned his gaze away from the window. "Ah, you all are back! So, how was the first day of preparations for our game?"

"It is going well sir. With everyone busy preparing for the festival there was little interruption. We will be finished well ahead of time, I assure you." Freed assured.

"Of course, you three will be! You're the best after all!" Laxus praised, raising the glass in his hand in cheer before taking a sip and staring back out the window. "If only all teams in Fairy Tail were as useful as you…"

"… Did something happen, boss?" Bickslow finally braved himself enough to ask, realizing they likely wouldn't leave until Laxus had explained his issue.

"It was nothing big, I just ran into those weaklings, what were they called, Team Shadow Gear? That's the one with that bookworm on it, right?" Laxus seemed to ask seriously. None of the Thunder God Tribe was sure if the man really had forgotten Levy's name or he was just being coy. "Anyways, the two guys were roughing up that one mage from Phantom Lord who dared to punch those holes in my guild building. The one who my grandfather had the genius idea of letting into our guild. Gajeel, I believe his name was."

"They were attacking him?" Evergreen had said in surprise. "I'm surprised they'd raise their hands against a member of Fairy Tail in broad daylight. Even if he used to be a member of Phantom Lord."

"Well, it was because those three were so weak that he trashed the guild in the first place. But you want to know the best part? The jackass wasn't even fighting back! He was so worried about being accepted as a member of Fairy Tail, as if trash like him ever would." Laxus said with a laugh, and all the three all flinched back as the man got a crazed look in his eyes. "So, I figured that if he was just going to take his lumps, I might as well pitch in! Man, watching him getting shocked like that was cathartic."

"Wait! You-?! Laxus, what if he reported you to the master!" Freed shouted in concern.

"Weren't you listening? He was too worried about fitting in to do tattle to the old man." Laxus waved of the concerned man. "Hell, he even took that one bolt I tossed at the others for being so loud."

"What?!" Freed was having trouble understanding what he was hearing. Laxus had nearly gotten himself expelled before the battle even happened? He understood the man's annoyance at the one's responsible for Fairy Tail's embarrassment, but this?

"Come on, don't worry about it! I know how important this plan of mine is, I won't screw it up so easily. Besides, I can't get in trouble for attacking him anyways, he's not a real member of Fairy Tail. None of them are." Laxus assured them, before staring back out the window again. "I can't wait to clean that place up. Enough of the weaklings and pretenders. We'll be nothing but the strongest, and the four of us will be at the top."

"O-Of course sir." Evergreen said hurriedly.

"Nothing but the best!" Bickslow nodded hastily, his dolls chanting in agreement.

"… If it's as you command." Freed eventually said, trying to keep a neutral face.

"Great! Then here's to another day of preparing those faker's downfall." Laxus cheered. He glanced over at them one final time. "By the way, I heard through the grapevine that the guild hall will be finished tomorrow, and that Gramps plans to make an important announcement that he wants everyone there for. But if I show up, he'll just nag my ear off for hours, so I want you three to go in my place."

Freed nodded politely. "Of course, sir. We'll let you know how it goes."

"It's probably just some speech about the festival coming up. We just need to hear it so we can properly plan when to reveal our game to the others." And with that, Laxus dismissed them with a wave.

The Thunder God Tribe walked out of Laxus's abode without a word, knowing to give their boss the space he obviously wanted. Once they filed out the door, they all turned to each other, but continued their silence. Each one looked like they wanted to say something, but all that came out were shy glances.

"Well, I guess we'll meet up at the guild tomorrow." Freed finally said, before walking away in a hurry. Evergreen and Bickslow barely made a sound of affirmation as they also split off to their own homes.

If no one said anything, they wouldn't have any problems, right? They didn't need to discuss what had happened during their day, or what they thought of Laxus's actions. They all agreed to follow Laxus unconditionally. He had accepted them when no one else had, and they would do whatever he asked of them. Even if it meant going against the rest of the guild.

That's right, nothing could stop Laxus's plan. By the end of the Harvest Festival next week, he would be the new Guild Master of Fairy Tail, as he rightfully should be.

Next Chapter: Festival for the Fourth