Outside Crocus 5 days ago

The group were on their way back to Crocus, the trader currently held between Bixslow and Freed. Sensing the presence of the strange lightning from before behind him, Bixslow glanced back to look for the mystery mage. But all he saw was Laxus who had somehow managed to fall far behind the group. He kept looking around for the mage for a few moments but couldn't see anyone lurking there, suddenly finding Laxus was now doubled over. "Uhhhh Laxus...you ok?".

"Yeah Bix. Fine" each word sounded strained from Laxus

"You sure about that...you don't look fine to me"

"Ugh, ok maybe not so hot. Maybe I'll just si-iit..." with a loud thump Laxus hit the forest floor behind the group.

"LAXUS!" The whole group shouted in panic for their leader, being the only one not holding up the trader Evergreen sped backwards to him to check on him the other two trailing slower with the added weight between them.

However just as Evergreen got close to Laxus she stopped suddenly sensing a strange aura seeping off of him. Sure enough not a moment later Laxus was surrounded by black lightning crackling all around him.

Laxus hadn't wanted to admit his struggles on route back to the city, not wanting to seem weak in front of his team but that lightning he'd swallowed was doing a real number on him. 'Urgh what the heck was that, whoever's lightning that was needs to learn to conjure tastier stuff'.

Every breath seemed to leave him more winded than the last, his vision was blurring in and out 'the fuck is this about?! No lightning has ever done this to me before, maybe I can get rid of it with my own bolts'. And so he tried summoning his own lightning only to be wracked in pain throughout his whole body.

He could vaguely hear Bixslow asking him if he was ok, still not wanting to alarm them he tried to say he was fine but each word was a struggle. His sight had big spots all over, he'd stopped walking with the pain and had doubled over with the force of the agony he was in.

'What is going on', dizziness started to overthrow him finally admitting some defeat he made his way to sitting down vaguely mumbling out to his team but before he got far his whole world succumbed to darkness.

'Hello little dragon'

'The hell is this! And you obviously can't be talking to me, I am far from LITTLE!!". He could see nothing, still encompassed by the darkness, his own thoughts rattling around his head with this incessant voice speaking around his.

'Oh but I am talking to you, you are little to me dragon. Your power is little in comparison to the amount that I wield. You are nothing"

'You show yourself right now! Whatever you're playing I will put an end to. Just you wait till I get my hands on you'

'You are wildly mistaken. And my games have only just begun, you are now mine little dragon. You have been since you consumed my pets lightning. This is merely me taking full control of you, have patience dragon it shouldn't be long now before you are overthrown'

'Hey! I am Laxus of Fairy Tail, and we do not go down without a fight. So you need to man up now and show yourself so we can fight this out! And you want to tell me why you're even TRYING to take control of me?'

'Well, I need you. Actually to be specific I just needed a dragon, But it is far easier for me to take one as insecure as you, yes I see in your soul how terribly you still feel about the pain you caused your guild, I see that you still feel you need to earn their trust back and you don't feel worthy of being in your guild. Not to worry little dragon, I will give you a purpose to your life, you can feel worthy. All I need from you is the celestial mage it's quite simple really'

"The hell you want with Blondie?!?'

'Oh where would the fun be if I told you everything little dragon. No you're going to need to just stay for the show to find out all the details. For now though I'm going to need you to go find the celestial mage. Yes the command transition is complete, you will now do as I say. And for now, I'm done with our little chat. We'll speak again soon little dragon, now go achieve your mission'

Laxus awoke on the forest floor, the pain was gone and his vision was clear. He could see his team coming towards his but instead of heading in their direction as he wanted to he found his feet turning him around in the direction of Magnolia back towards Fairy Tail, towards Lucy.

'What is this, why won't my feet move the way I want them to? What the hell has that guy done to me? Maybe I can tell the Thunder Legion and they can work this out. Still, what the hell do they want with Lucy...?'

Laxus was still walking away from the group, he managed to open his mouth to speak but when he tried forming the words he was struck again with immense pain - pain that had his ears ringing and felt like his head was splitting in two. That pain was nothing compared to what he felt when he actually managed to get a word out "Lucy".

'Fuckkkkk! The pain is too much, no way I can get a whole sentence out. Hopefully I can get enough to them they can work it out'

"Find. Lucy" those two words had already caused his world to start spinning again but he knew he had to get something else important through to them even if it meant him blacking out again, taking a deep breath and clenching his fists to try to fight through the expected wave of pain, "I'm. Possessed"

'You troublesome little dragon, I see I'll have to use more power than I thought. How bothersome", the voice rang through his head again, angrier this time.

The pain came to an abrupt end but just as Laxus started to relax he felt what little control he'd had slip away from him. No longer being able to move in any way. He felt his power surging through him and one thought clear 'Find Lucy', before he knew it he was lightning and was quickly zipping away from his team and towards Magnolia.

"Laxus!!!! Oh no, we've failed him. Just failed. What do you think he meant? How do we help him now?", Freed had dropped his hold on their trader and was frantically pacing around after Laxus had zipped away in his lightning, although it hadn't looked entirely his, Freed had noticed black streaks throughout it.

"Ain't that clear, he's been possessed. I could sense his soul was in turmoil, something's going on there. And it got stronger after he spoke to us, the part that was Laxus seemed to get smaller like he lost some control", Bixslow was mad with himself too. Mad that he hadn't noticed a change in Laxus' soul earlier - he guessed something had happened back at the cart with the lightning Laxus took in.

"Indeed. And did you notice his eyes changed too? After he spoke his eyes went totally black, it was eerie." Evergreen shuddering at the thought. "Right, we need to get that trader back to the village...then I guess we find Lucy?"

"Yeah, come on Freed. Sounds like whoever possessed Laxus want's cosplayer for some reason and I doubt it's for something good. We can't beat his lightning travel but hopefully we can get there before something too bad happens. Maybe we can ask in the town if this possession guy is known too"

They took off running back to the town, Bixslow slung the trader over his back to try to get them back quicker.

When they made it to Crocus they handed the trader to the guards for them to help further whilst quickly recalling what happened out in the forest. They asked if the guards had any details that matched the possession type that had taken over Laxus but they didn't seem to know anything, with time low they decided to take off for Magnolia rather than asking around town. They'd been out most of the day and there were no more trains back to Magnolia so they took off as fast as they could - Bixslow running on the ground with Freed and Evergreen taking to the skies to increase their speed.

And so we've seen more of what happened to Laxus! Hope this was clear enough to follow with the change in perspectives and the internal battle Laxus had - let me know in the comments, if it's too confusing I'll look to reformat it around :)

Thanks for the likes, reviews and follows everyone!

Copperreign12 thanks for the feedback on timelines - I'll leave the format as it is and keep hopping around for the time being. They'll probably converge soon so they'll be less to keep track of anyway :)

Jessifer89 Natsu doesn't seem to know what he feels! Hopefully our fire dragon slayer can work out what he wants soon :)