Hello all! It's been a while right? *sighs* Yeah sorry about that. Work sucks as does writers blocks and distractions that make you lose your train of thought. Plus, plot bunnies for other stories are hard to control unless you entertain them just a little.

But I promise to never abandon my stories unless I die, and I'll still come back to haunt my computer, even if it takes years.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Pandora's Towers or any other recognizable works.

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Scar

It was safe to say that after Laxus and Ruby's initial encounter; the two had a very rocky relationship.

To make matters worse, as both punishment for her initial actions—the ones which had him out cold for another two days—and because she had been the one to find him, Ruby's father had assigned her to be Laxus' guide/escort, thus forcing her to keep an eye on him at all times. As imagined, that didn't sit well with either of them.

"I can't believe the old man is sticking me with you," the girl grumped from outside the guestroom as she waited for the tall blonde to finish changing. Eyes closed, the color-changing portion of her hair was an irritable red-orange color, arms crossed over her chest as she waited. Handsome he may be, but that attitude of his—scratch that, his entire persona—seriously got under her skin. It made her almost regret saving his sorry ass. Seriously, how could someone manage to have such a monstrous ego?

"Not like I wanted to be stuck with your sarcastic ass either," the main source of her irritation said as he walked out wearing a black, skintight turtleneck-esque top with no sleeves and red pants. That fluffy long coat of his was perched comfortably on his shoulders. Really? Didn't he know he was in the middle of Ishgar's biggest wasteland? Tch. Whatever. He'd learn soon enough.

Since just about all of his clothes had been brutalized and therefore scrapped after his encounter with the other not-so-nice desert folk, Laxus didn't have much to wear. Normally, she would have just loaned him either some of her brother's or her father's outfits, but their bodies were built more on the tall and lanky side rather than of the wide and brawny variety like the blonde hulk of a man. So naturally, as his 'guide', Ruby had then had to go play gopher and scrounge up a couple new outfits to fit him.

Now typically, the red-head would have taken advantage of this golden opportunity and done her upmost to piss the guy off. Her father's unspoken warnings when he told her to treat Laxus like a proper guest be damned. Ruby would have dutifully ignored all those looks he had given her just to get a good laugh in and spite the cocky blonde by getting several frilly pink outfits for him to wear and innocently saying "oh well" in the end. She really would have done it…had her twin, Lazulis, not insisted on tagging along. Apparently, by calling her "ginger bitch" right to her face, Laxus had earned her twin's undying respect, much to her annoyance. Ruby was pretty sure that Lazulis just got a kick out of each one of their 'interactions', openly amused that someone actually had the balls to continuously insult her directly to her face and not back down once. (The occurrence of which admittedly was scarce).

"Screw you, Short Dick," she snapped at him, glaring at him with one green eye open. Ruby would never admit that the way the body-hugging shirt outlined his muscles made him look absolutely delectable.

He snorted. "No thanks, Flat Chest. Crazy red heads aren't my type."

Her brow started twitching. She was about to tell him to fuck off when her twin chose that exact moment to appear.

"Goooood morning everyone! Are we ready to get this show started?" he asked cheerily in the way only a person who drank too much coffee could do. Scarf fluttering with each step, he flounced down the hall with a huge smile on his face and a carefree attitude to match.

Since Laxus was feeling much better now, marginally more recovered from his ordeals in the desert, Ruby had reluctantly agreed to show him around town today, essentially acquiescing to playing tour guide for the surly man for the entire day. Of course, Lazulis had elected to tag along too. Though to what end, she had no clue. (He and their father were probably just worried about her 'accidentally' murdering their guest if he annoyed her too much).

In any case, the two of them both grumbled irritably, which the chipper bluenette seemed to interpret as a 'yes'.

Lazulis clapped his hands together animatedly. "Great! Let's get going then."

He trundled, practically skipping, down the stairs while the blonde hulk and ginger babe shared a resigned look behind his back.

Way too much coffee.

Eventually, Ruby broke the stare and sighed exasperatedly.

"Ugh, come on, Small Dick. Tour starts now," she said with an exasperated roll of her eyes, grabbing Laxus forcefully by the arm and dragging him along after her hyped up twin.

"I can walk fine on my own, Flat Chest," he snapped back, yanking his arm out of her grasp.

Ruby rolled her eyes but didn't do much else as they walked out the door into the morning sunshine. Though, he swore he heard her mutter something sarcastic under her breath. He didn't quite catch all of it, even with his enhanced hearing. But there was probably another insult in his direction mixed in there, and he caught something about stupid twin's, coffee and hanging out too much with someone.

He rolled his stormy eyes but didn't say anything.

Red-headed nightmare.

As if sensing his thoughts, the annoying woman shot a venomous glare in his direction.

He glowered back.

Bitch.

—X—

The "Knight's Town," as the twin's father had called it, was less of a town and more of a small city only a little larger than Magnolia but still smaller than Fiore's capital city, Crocus. So, it was maybe about the size of Hargeon, minus the port. It had just about a little bit of everything from taverns, an open air marketplace, warehouses, a wide canal, an entire street called Artisan's Way which was home to the various artisans and their crafts, and a variety of other little shops including a couple magic shops too. They even had an arena too where they apparently held fights and small tournaments every so often. According to the twins, it was by unanimous agreement that the annual "Holy Grail" tournament was considered one of the most exciting events of the year.

There was one building he had a question about: an odd tower of sorts located to the south. No matter where they were in the city, the tall turret was always visible, looming above all the other buildings from the distance. However, the greying pale granite structure felt different than the cobbled streets and limestone and wood buildings, older somehow. Laxus assumed it must have been located somewhere on the outskirts of the city because it never seemed to get any closer as they walked.

But aside from that, it basically seemed like any other minor city.

However, as they had been walking around, Laxus had noticed that unlike most large towns he stopped in; this one sported a lot more armor and weapon's shops than he had ever seen before. It was unusual because you were more likely to come across a magic shop in most towns rather than a one that sold weapons or armor. Or at least in Fiore, that was the norm. Though, since he was technically travelling through the country of Seven, Laxus guessed that things might be a little different here. After all, Fiore is renowned as a country that is much more open about magic users compared to others.

Still, Gramps had a been a little vague during his childhood when Laxus asked him about the other countries, Seven especially. At max, he may be remembered a grand total of three things about their neighboring country:

One: It was a remote desert with lots of sand, bandits, and bloodthirsty monsters.

Two: It was named after the original seven warring kingdoms before they eventually united under one banner a long, long time ago.

And three: Seven was a country unto itself. Nowadays, it officially had no central ruling power, and its inhabitants mostly kept to themselves.

End of story.

Keen ears picking up on more whispering, Laxus turned his head and focused his attention somewhere a little to his left, just in time to catch another pair of passersby staring at him. He sighed. That was probably why he was getting so many stares and whispers today. If people here weren't used to foreigners, the dragon slayer probably stood out like a sore thumb. Frankly, he felt like some kind of zoo animal on display.

Hearing more whispers follow his progress as he trailed after the twins on their citywide tour, Laxus did his best to ignore all the wary, watching eyes.

Still, he didn't get nearly this much attention in the last town he had visited. He'd earned a couple raised brows, sure, but that was normal for a close-lipped town that was situated a little too close for comfort on the border of the desert. In fact, Laxus was sure more than a couple of the cloaked figures he had seen were actually bandits. Still, once he had proven he could pay his tab at the bar and behave himself, the suspicious looks had quickly turned away. It had a sort of 'mind your own business and you won't have any trouble' mentality. It certainly wasn't as bad as this.

Something was missing here.

"So you noticed it too?" came the low question.

Laxus fought the urge to jump when Lazulis suddenly appeared next to him, no longer leading the way with his twin. Instead, he walked casually at his side, watching the blonde intently with an unreadable expression in his cobalt-colored eyes.

The former Fairy Tail wizard gave him a dry, deadpanned look. "What do you think?"

The lanky man shot him a grin, shrugging lightly. "Forgive them. They don't mean anything by it. We're just not used to seeing outsiders here."

'Outsiders'? That was a curious choice of words. It almost sounded like an insult.

"I can see that. Why's it such a big deal anyways?" he asked, massaging his nose when he accidentally caught an overpowering whiff of someone's excess Old Spice cologne and aftershave. Damn his sensitive nose.

Ruby, who had apparently been eavesdropping on their conversation, nodded, rubbing at her eyes, which looked a little watery. "Yeah, because –"

Lazulis suddenly cut her off with a triumphant cheer, twisting on his heels with his hands in the air as he gestured around him. "Ah! Here we are! Welcome to the Fountain Plaza!"

Forced to screeching halt or risk being smacked by a hyper bluenette, Laxus blinked and took the moment to glance around.

Lively music and the playful gurgling of water reached his ears along with the smell of fresh water. A small band of street musicians was playing off to the side, armed with an accordion, some sort of flute instrument, a tambourine, a violin and what looked like a legit lute as a small crowd of people gathered around to listen. A few of them looked to even be dancing along too, clapping their hands in time with the music. Several small, brightly colored birds fluttered around the area, some pecking at leftover crumbs at an outdoor café. However, the attention-grabbing part of the little area was main attraction of the courtyard. In the center of the square, a large fountain played, which was probably where the name came from. But instead spewing of regular water, a clear multicolor spray erupted from the water feature as rainbow-hued bubbles floated above the shallow basin. It gave the whole area a sort of enchanting quality that he was sure Evergreen would appreciate.

Okay. That was a little weird. Neat but still weird.

Turning, the blonde caught the wicked grin on Lazulis' face.

"If you think the fountain's cool, check this out," he said, steering the dragon slayer toward the fountain.

Unlike most of the buildings and structures he had seen, the water piece was a worn teal color like it had once been made of copper but had rusted from exposure. There was a small plaque attached to the side of the teal basin that stated:

"Do not play in the fountain. Feed the fish at your own risk."

That was more than a little ominous.

As they neared, he saw that the crystalline water turned out to be quite shallow, only deep enough to barely be considered ankle-deep with an almost prismatic effect when the sunlight hit the surface of the shimmering water. It was only after they stopped that Laxus quickly discovered the source of the multicolored bubbles that floated close at hand.

A school of thirty or so miniature fish swam in the basin of the fountain. They had large, sunset orange eyes with irises that resembled puddles of water and blush-colored eyelids, which made the creatures look rather sorrowful. Their heads and tails were both pure white along with a line of teardrop-shapes on each side of its body with the teardrop nearest the head being slightly larger. The rest of their little bodies were rainbow-hued, including the short, rounded dorsal and two pectoral fins. As the little minnow's swam lazily through the water however, they made these little musical hums as they belched out small, multicolored bubbles of air like the ones hovering nearby.

Laxus had to admit that they looked pretty cute, but something about them unsettled him. Maybe he was just going crazy after too much exposure to a certain color-changing menace, but the way some of the quickly gathering fish eyed them closely with those pitiful pouty eyes had his inner dragon growling warily.

"Cute little guys right? Dad found them, though I dunno where. Anyways, their called Rainbow Wurlitzer fish, and as you can see, they make little musical notes whenever they burp," Lazulis stated matter-of-factly, drawing out a slice of bread from his pocket. "They're really pretty, but be careful. Don't let their pouty features fool you. They might look cute, but they can eat just about anything, literally, including people."

As if the emphasize his point, he threw the chunk of bread into the basin, and Laxus watched was the fish suddenly dove upon the invading food with a savage frenzy, swarming it from all sides. They dragged it below the surface, biting into with surprisingly razor-sharp little teeth. In less than five seconds, the entire slice had vanished, and all the little fish lazily swam away as if nothing had ever happened.

Piranhas. They literally had fucking piranha's in their fountain. What the actual fuck?

Meanwhile, it seemed a certain ginger bitch couldn't help adding her own two cents to the conversation.

"What he means to say is just don't stick anything in there, small dick. You're lacking already as is. We don't need you missing anything else," Ruby sneered haughtily at him, lips curled in a cat-like smirk.

He turned to glare at her, ready to pick another fight with the antagonistic red-head when a snide voice suddenly butted in.

"So this is the outsider."

They all turned, and Laxus' eyes began to water when the overpowering stench of too much cologne suddenly slammed him full in the nose. Beside him, Lazulis choked on a cough while Ruby likewise gave an almighty sneeze that violently rocked her whole body. Due to the sheer force of the unexpected gale, the girl teetered precariously on her dangerous heels but miraculously managed to not break a limb. Nonetheless, as she straightened her stance, electric green eyes watered slightly as they all finally focused on the source of the snide tone.

Laxus watched as her hair briefly flashed an alarming color, but then her expression hardened to one of barely concealed distaste as her hair turned a stormy grey with sickly hints of green.

Standing before them was a man. He was watching them closely with narrowed, hawkish yellow eyes. A slight sneer curled his lips, tweaking the ends of his thin, pointy mustache and rumpling the groomed point he had curling on his chin. Meanwhile, the rest of his sickly, prune-purple hair stood styled upwards in an impressively sized pompadour. In fact, it was almost a couple shades darker than his impressive three-piece silk suit with double lavender, diamond-shaped markings on either side of his chest. Resting on his shoulders like a blanket of snow, a pristine collared half-cape sat with a large, red bowtie holding it together in the front. He looked like he was one of those stuffy nobles, who was ready to attend a fancy dinner party, fancy outfit, sneer and all.

Truthfully, considering how the top of the man's actual head only came up to his lower lip, Laxus found he was neither impressed nor really intimidated. Even Ruby, who was a full head shorter than him, was still at least an inch taller than this guy in her high heeled boots. To be honest, the slayer got the distinct impression that the snooty-looking guy was only compensating for other things, including a lack of height.

—Rubellite's PoV—

Ruby felt annoyed.

Truthfully, she should have expected this to happen eventually. She just wished she didn't have to deal with it, much less the overpowering stench of too much aftershave that made you lightheaded as it robbed you of almost all essential oxygen.

Despite being rather large for a closed community, word tended to travel rather fast around town.

Ever since she had dragged the unconscious blonde out of the desert, everyone had been abuzz with the news. Despite her father's attempts to keep things on the down low, everyone and their second cousin likely already had heard within a fortnight of how Aeron Warrick's troublesome daughter—that damn Rubellite Warrick—had brought an outsider into their midst. But what really turned the rumor mill on its head? It was the fact that this outsider had not only made it this far into the desert without help, but they had been discovered only a couple miles from town, mere yards within their border. It was mind blowing to some people and just as worrying to others. After all, as she may have mentioned before, the entirety of the Knight's town was cloaked in an impassible magic ward. Not only could the outside world not see them, but literally almost nothing could breach the barrier without a special keypass that only residents of the town had access too.

…Except a certain blonde it seemed.

Which is why the scandal was all the more worrying according to the vapid gossipmongers. While magically enhanced monsters rarely broke through if a team didn't dispatch them first, this was the first known instance where an actual person had slipped through. The fact alone that he did was very worrying as it could spell out several things, foremost being that the barrier was faltering. It was very worrying.

Unfortunately, for several people, that worry translated into harsh fear, and many were adamant about maintaining tradition, which included ejecting outsiders. Immediately. Unsurprisingly, the sneering man before them was among the number who had protested quite vehemently about Laxus' presence. In fact, he probably had been the most vocal of all among the councilmembers who had protested her father's decision to let the blonde stay. If it hadn't been for her dad, Small Dick probably would have been dropped back on his ass into the unforgiving sands of the Okanos Desert, regardless of his health status.

Add all of that together and the dickish blonde had become somewhat of a celebrity overnight. It was no wonder stares and whispers had followed them throughout town as soon as they stepped out the front door. Likely, it was probably thanks to all those eyes that the annoying purple prune pompadour had found them so quickly.

Ruby felt a headache coming on, and it wasn't just from the cologne.

"So this is the outsider," the man sneered, looking at the hulking blonde with utter disdain curling his lips and pointy mustache.

Laxus blinked, turning his unimpressed glower towards the little man. "Huh?"

"Councilman Engels," her brother greeted with a tight smile. She could hear him fighting the urge to cough violently too. "What a pleasure to see you. Can we help you with anything?"

Oh, this should be good, she thought derisively, by now anticipating the load of shit that was about to be spouted like a torrential downpour of seemingly endless rain. Already, Ruby watched as the purple haired freak seemed to swell with righteous indignation. His chest puffed up slightly as he basically mounted his figurative high horse once more before beginning his spiel.

"What is this outsider doing here?" Engels demanded, pointing one of his white gloved fingers at Laxus. "Last I checked, prisoners should be confined to their quarters. Take him back immediately you two and lock the outsider up securely this time. Honestly, what is Aeron thinking letting this interloper roam free as he pleases? If it were up to me, he would have been expelled immediately. I—"

"That's enough." Ruby drew herself up to her full, proud height, glaring harshly at the man as she advanced on him with a soft clicking of her heels. Her tone simmered with acidic fury. "May I remind you, Councilman, that Laxus, while an outsider, is here with my father's permission as well as that of the Council's. He is not a prisoner and is free to roam as he likes so long as he keeps his recovery in mind, so you would do well to remember that in the future. Now either you learn to treat him with more respect, Councilman, or I will teach it to you myself. I'm sure my dad would love to hear all about this."

They both glared harshly at one another with neither of them willing to back down. By now, her hair was a dark steely grey, showing her unyielding resolve on the matter while her electric green gaze bore into his dark coals. While her father probably wouldn't let her act on her threat to teach the man some respect, Ruby had other means of doing so, and none of them would be pleasant for the man.

Finally, after several tense seconds of silence, he relented.

"See to it that the outsider does not wander off," he said with an accusing stare in her direction as if to say anything Laxus did from then on was her fault.

The girl growled lowly, sounding almost animalistic as she advanced a step towards the man.

With that, the man turned on the heel of his pointed white dress shoes and thankfully retreated from the scene. However, she still caught the tail end of some of his mutterings as he walked away, grumbling about 'foolish, immature brats' and how they 'should never be allowed to lead.' There was also something else about 'high and mighty children who would get them all killed one day' and how he would 'raise hell before seeing them ever crowned', but she hoped she misheard. Like it or not, words like those always stung quite a bit to her.

Her father was an amazing leader, kind, generous and fair. Thus, while she probably would never be given leadership over their town, Ruby hoped to one day be as fair and just as he was at the very least.

Hissing softly between her teeth, the redhead inhaled deeply through her nose before exhaling it all through her mouth with a soft, muttered, "Bastard." Regardless, her hair eventually morphed back to a dark but much more mellow orange color.

"Nice guy," Laxus commented dryly, breaking the ice that the retreating figure had left in his wake.

Lazulis and Ruby both snorted at that.

"You can say that again," the red-head grumbled, ignoring the warning look her brother shot her.

"That was councilman Marx Engels," Lazulis informed him lowly, all of them still watching the man's retreating form. It was almost funny how people instinctively knew when to get out of the pompous man's path, giving him a wide berth like he had an infectious disease or something. Then again, his overpowering cologne probably helped. "He was one of the more…vocal ones about our father's decision to allow you to stay here."

"I noticed."

Ruby huffed, grumbling how that was an understatement. Having grown up here, both twins knew how the Councilman had often insisted on getting underfoot many a time over the years. Unfortunately, while Engels was not as strong at their father, he did hold quite a bit of sway in the council, which made him a lot harder to get rid of.

Eventually, her twin gave himself a little shake. "Anyways, we've got one last place to show you. Come on."

Behind his back, Ruby rolled her eyes but followed regardless, somewhat pleased when she heard Laxus following behind them.

"Well that could have gone better," she muttered.

"Tell me about it," Lazulis huffed back.

"Wish he'd learn to leave well enough alone though, snide bastard."

"Maybe, but unfortunately, he does still have some uses," he reminded her with a light grin.

"According to Dad that is. Still, I have half a mind to break into his place and glue all the furniture to the ceiling again."

He barked a laugh at that, mirroring her wicked smirk. "Count me in. Maybe we can even turn all his suits that awful lime green color too and put pink dye in his shampoo this time. I'm sure Sterling would love to help with that."

"Speaking of which, how are Blaine and Lily?" she asked her twin lowly.

The lanky man's shoulders sagged as he ran a hand through his hair distractedly, messing up the cobalt-colored locks enough so that they resembled her own rubicund spiked rat's nest, which was untamable in its own right. For the first time in a while, Ruby could visibly see the weight the poor guy was carrying around on his shoulders. The exhaustion, the wariness, the scars, the sleepless nights under his eyes and that ever-present invisible mass bearing down on already strained limbs and shoulders; she saw it all. The same weight she shared at times: the burden of leadership.

"That bad huh?" she said sympathetically. Poor guy.

"Yeah…"

"And Sterling?"

He gave her a look and shook his head.

"Damn."

Her twin managed to put on a shaky smile. "The good news though is that the merchant convoy should be arriving soon. We should have the medicine in a couple days."

Ruby nodded but didn't comment. Frankly, she wasn't sure her friends had that sort of time. Little Lilabelle had been sick in bed for three weeks now, and Ruby had been there when the little girls' second eldest brother, Blaine, had collapsed with the same symptoms after working himself into exhaustion once again in his forge. That had been a week and a half ago. In the meantime, the duo's eldest sibling, Sterling Gladwyn, had been worrying himself half to death, barely eating, much less sleeping as he did his best to take care of his younger siblings.

Worried for their friend, Ruby and Lazulis had been taking turns checking in on the Gladwyn's with the aid of another friend and teammate, helping out where they could to ease Sterling's troubles. Considering the last time that she saw him, Ruby wondered just how tired the man looked now considering the growing shadows she had seen under his eyes and how his skin had taken on a pasty pallor after he stopped trying to hide it the second week in. To be honest, it shook her to the core to see someone usually so lively and cheerful and joking, suddenly act like a ghost of their usual self.

With their team now down half of its members, Ruby had been feeling more stressed and antsy as of late while they all waited impatiently for the next merchant caravan to bring the medicine they needed to treat Blaine and Lily. As she quickly discovered, the waiting turned out to be a form of torture unto itself. In a way, Laxus' arrival had actually been a godsend in disguise, distracting her from some of her current worries and woes for a time as she helped take care of him.

Nonetheless, considering the way the health of all three siblings had been declining despite their efforts in recent days, Ruby really started to worry. She decided to give it two more days. If the merchants didn't arrive within the next two days, Ruby planned to take a horse and find the merchants herself. She could dump babysitting duty on Lazulis since he seemed to get along with the blonde, though her twin would probably insist on joining her when he found out.

Whatever. She'd probably just ditch him. Somehow.

—Laxus' PoV—

The sun was setting when they arrived at their final destination. Painted a melon orange color as the sun set in the west, the sky bathed all their features in a golden glow as they approached the ivory structure. The tower he had seen in the distance was a lot bigger up close. Reaching higher than the new guild building after Phantom tore it to shreds, its cylindrical shape was reminiscent of a chess piece, but it was far more stationary if the patches of moss and climbing ivy were any indicator. Regardless, the building felt old, older than anything he'd ever seen before.

Built on a cliff, it was surrounded by a vast grassy plain which seemed to function as a sort of training grounds. Even though the sun was setting, a small number of people were out sparring with both weapons and magic, some clad in armor or practicing archery.

According to the red-head's droll explanation, the tower was simply dubbed the Observatory or the Neutral Tower. Manned at all times by a competent trained guard of sorts—the twins both trembled slightly when mentioning someone called the Taskmaster—the structure was multipurpose. Serving as both an essential check-in station and somewhere to stop if you needed immediate access to medical bay after missions or emergency supplies, Ruby told him that the tower often hosted Council meetings and housed a vast collection of archives in the basement. To add to that, fully fledged Knights—whatever that meant—often used the surrounding grounds for training and the occasional mock competitions.

It all sounded kinda interesting, but Laxus' attention had been quickly captured by something else.

As mentioned before, the Observatory was built near the edge of a cliff…a cliff overlooking the maw of the most gargantuan crevasse he had ever seen before. Stopping mere feet from the edge, the dragonslayer literally could not even see the bottom of the sheer black crater and could just barely make out the outline of the opposite side, even with his draconic eyesight; it was just so massive. Laxus felt like that if he fell off the edge of the cliff; he would take eons to finally hit the bottom (…if it had any that is).

"Welcome to great fissure otherwise known as The Scar. It's the largest and deepest chasm in the world," Lazulis said as he came over and leaned an elbow on Laxus' side. However, there was something in his voice that sounded off; the usual boyish cheer muted as he spoke quietly. "It's also the most dangerous one you can find."

"They say this vast rift was created when some of the god's fought for the control of Ishgar, scorching the surrounding land with their power, nearly destroying everything in their wake and tearing the world asunder when two of their number attempted to cast some of the great Law spells at each other." It took him a moment to process that Ruby had just spoken, her voice just as eerily muted as her twins' as she gazed almost hypnotically out into the distance. Her eyes had this almost mesmerizing orange-gold hue to them in the light of the dying sun.

But he could understand why they acted the way they did. Compared to such a large and impossibly deep fissure, Laxus felt impossibly small. Not only that though, but there was this odd and ominous quality to the air both near and in the deep black pit. It drew you in and made you want to stand near the very edge—almost alluring like watching a fire burn—calling to you in a way that didn't seem natural and made you feel nervous all the same. Was there some sort of magical quality to the great abyss that did that?

However, as he looked closer, Laxus noticed something else odd about the picture before him.

"What's that building in the middle?" he asked, his voice just as hushed as the others.

Looming like a great spider in its web, a large fortress was suspended above the rift now dubbed as The Scar, held aloft by several gigantic chains that were anchored firmly into the surrounding walls of the chasm. In fact, one of these said chains was anchored into the ground some couple yards away from where they stood, anchored into the cliff side near the Observatory. Even from this distance, Laxus knew it was easily three or four times larger and taller than his own height, and each link was easily five or six times thicker than his own body! The entirety of the great mass of metal stretched on for what could easily have been well over ten miles before finally linking with the edge of the distant fortress, which looked absolutely tiny from this distance. It was enough to tell him that the building must have been massive.

"That's the Thirteen Towers or Pandora's Fortress, as we call it. It's a series of interlocking buildings or towers that essentially make up the entirety of the building," Lazulis informed him.

Ruby continued on from there. "Each of these towers has innate magic that corresponds to an elemental god or goddess according to a very old religion. So, say for the plant based gods, you are more likely to find yourself in a series of gardens and miniature crops for various edible or medicinal uses, though most of it has gone wild by now."

"Or for water, you'd find an endless wellspring of clean, clear water flowing from the multitude of fountains, canals, streams and waterfalls," Lazulis added.

"And for fire, you'd find yourself in an area akin to walking into an inferno, filled with lava streams that never cool and can incinerate or melt most objects with a single touch."

"Or for the metal based gods, you'd likely find yourself in an industrial, forge-like area with multiple large machines attempting to make things at a rapid pace."

The two continued to list the various environments to be found in the large fortress back and forth before Ruby finally stopped them and quickly tacked on to the mass of information, "But knowing all that is useless since you first have to get past all the monsters that live in there. The ones in the fire towers are the worst because they have almost no fear of anything, especially fire."

"Yeah, not to mention that you have good control of your magic too since something about both the Scar and the Fortress make it difficult to use it while inside them," the bluenette agreed with a grimace. He caught Laxus' look and quickly added, "It's nothing horrible of course, but it feels like there's some kind of pressure bearing down on you when you try to use magic in there. We suspect it's because the fortress actually draws in stray ethernano particles from both wizards and the environment to keep itself stable."

The blonde nodded as he followed along, frowning lightly. If that was true—and he admittedly had trouble swallowing the idea that something like this existed—that would explain the continual bareness of the surrounding desert. Even if they didn't actively practice magic themselves, all people, plants and animals carried at least a small amount of magic. So, it would stand to reason that a large fortress like the Towers would draw in magic and eventually suck the surrounding area dry until no plants could grow, thus creating a desert. Even in other countries, the Okanos Desert was renowned across the world for its inhospitable environment. The only reason there was even plants like the ones in the Knight's town or the grass and trees surrounding the Observatory is because of continual contact with humans, who were supplying just enough free ethernano to keep it all alive.

Ruby turned towards him now, folding her arms over her chest as she said, "That's why everyone here is trained thoroughly in both armed and unarmed combat as you saw. Not knowing how to defend yourself here, especially living so close to The Scar like we do, is likely to get you, your friends, and your family killed if you don't. The monsters that live here aren't like the other ones you've encountered elsewhere."

"Oh yeah? Then why do you? Why haven't I ever heard of this place before?" Laxus demanded. A place like this… Surely, a lot of people would love to know about this place? And why, if it was as dangerous as the twins' said, would people willingly live here with their families, especially with all the monsters they mentioned? Wouldn't it be safer to live elsewhere?

"Because it's too dangerous for anyone else to know about," Ruby said, her voice startling him out of all his questions. Turning to face her, Laxus noticed the dead-serious look on her face—on both their faces actually—as she said, "We are the ones who have elected to safeguard humanity from the Towers as well as guard and protect the Towers from the greed of humanity as well.

"And the only reason you have never heard about this place is because the Magic Council in Era doesn't want you to," Lazulis added calmly. "You may not know it, but there's actually an invisible barrier protecting us and the Scar in general. It helps keep low level monsters in if they escape the Towers, and it prevents unwanted visitors from entering the border.

"That's why everyone was acting so oddly around you, Laxus. You are the first person that we know of to have ever crossed the barrier completely unchallenged."

"And that makes some people very nervous," Ruby said bluntly with a troubled look on her face as she started out into the distance. The color-changing portion of her hair was now a murky bruise purple-blue-black with hints of grey, showing just how concerned she was. "They are worried that your appearance is a sign that the barrier is weakening. That Z—"

"Ruby. Lazulis."

Turning, Laxus saw a ghostly pale young woman approaching. She was lean like Ruby, though less endowed in the chest area and slightly shorter too. Clad in black like a panther, her skin almost appeared to glow under the light of the rising moon. Familiar eerie hawk feathers were pinned in her dark-violet hair along with some pale lilies, and the only thing ruining the delicate fae-like visage was the midnight-colored eyepatch covering her right eye.

Ruby grinned, giving her a lazy two-fingered wave in greeting. "Yo, Raven."

Meanwhile, Lazulis did a complete 180 as lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as he laid eyes on the woman. "Ah sweet Ravenna! How lovely it is to see you again!"

Was it just Laxus or did the blunette's voice sound a little dreamy?

Ravenna, or Raven as he guessed she was called, completely ignored the lanky man, who dramatically pouted as she brushed past. Her single molten gold iris was completely transfixed on the redhead standing to his left, though he swore he thought he saw her gaze briefly flick to him before refocusing back on her target. She stopped only a couple feet away from the ginger girl.

Then, with a voice as soft as her footsteps, the dark haired mystery girl delivered her message. "Ruby, something's happened."

—Ruby's PoV—

Legs pumping and stretching as far as they were physically able to, Ruby raced home as fast as her feet would carry her, hearing the sound of the other three dashing after her. Cutting through a couple alleys to reach the main road that she'd knew her father and the other council members would take to the Observatory, the redhead barely heard the sound of her heart yammering in her ears as she replayed Ravenna's words over and over in her mind.

—Flashback—

"Ruby, something's happened," Raven said.

As one of the co-leaders of their team, Ruby knew her friends inside and out. She had to in order to be able to work effectively with them, and years of fighting alongside each of those special individuals only added to their bond. So when Ravenna Blackburn, or Raven as she preferred to be called, said there was a problem, Ruby listened.

Though her delicate appearance and airy-faerie soft voice gave the impression of a rather air headed individual, the redhead knew all too well how deceiving appearances could be. While the mysterious girl was admittedly mostly food-obsessed and a little oblivious, Raven's senses were sharp as any animal's. Combined with her magical abilities and practical knowledge when it came to tracking, she was a force to be reckoned with as she was usually the type of danger you didn't see coming.

Still, despite her composure at the moment, Ruby heard the perturbed disquiet in the soft-spoken woman's soft voice. Raven was worried.

The easy grin fell off her face, and the lazy sunny blonde in her hair clouded over into various shades of serious steel and the purpled bruise-like tones of confusion. Noticing her brother about to open his mouth too, Ruby lightly smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand, belaying any further ridiculous swooning from her twin. Now wasn't the time.

"What's wrong?" she asked, voice deadly serious.

Noticing her friend briefly side-eying Small Di–er, Laxus, Ruby considered the situation then minutely shook her head. For all her dislike of her new rescue puppy and his whole 'I don't give two shits' demeanor, he seemed like a decent enough guy. And if he decided to divulge any sensitive information in the near future when he left? Well, Marx Engels would get his wish; there was always more than one way to make someone disappear in the desert after all.

Catching this, Raven obeyed.

"Obadiah's merchant caravan just made it back ten minutes ago. How—"

"That's great!" Lazulis cut her off with a premature cheer. "That means Sterling's b—"

Ruby punched her brother. Adopting a false cheery smile while the man doubled over in pain—wheezing through his teeth "Whyy…?" with his voice a couple octaves higher than normal— the redhead said, "Please go on, Raven. What were you saying again?"

She thought she heard Laxus shuffle a little uncomfortably on the spot, but she paid him no heed.

"As I was saying: Obadiah's merchant caravan arrived a couple minutes ago. However, the merchant train reached us in less than ideal condition. Apparently, when they were a couple miles from the border, their party was attacked by a group of bandits. They struck out of nowhere, wearing sand dweller clothes and riding on horseback. They attacked both the merchants and their wares, leaving nothing untouched. Luckily, the convoy made it out alive. However, several of the travelling traders were seriously injured, though thankfully no one died. But, Ruby…"

Dread welling up in her stomach, the redhead knew what she was going to say even before the words left her blood-red lips. But it still hit her harder than any punch to the gut.

"…They took the medicine. They took the medicine we need to cure Blaine and Lily."

Her heart stopped, and the entirety of Ruby's hair flashed pure white with shock, betraying her emotions.

Then, the fury came. Her usual impossible scarlet flared back with a vengeance, the only thing keeping the blackened ends and the enraged curling at bay was the single-minded intent to get answers.

"What are they going to do about it?"

Noticing the way Raven eyed her before answering, the Warrick twin knew she probably wasn't going to like the reply. She turned out to be right.

"Your father and the other council members are going to hold an emergency meeting at the Observatory to see what can be done."

—End Flashback—

Ruby glowered at the cobble road ahead of her, pushing her legs even harder. Stilettoed feet devouring the paved boulevard beneath her at neck breaking pace, it was only thanks to many years of practice that she didn't actually break something important as she sprinted, whipping around corners almost at the speed of light.

Far behind her, she heard her brother, Laxus and Raven racing after her, but she barely paid them any attention. Her main goal as of this moment was catching her father before he was ensconced in that meeting.

If she knew her dad and the other members of the Council, they would likely be somewhere along the winding main street, heading towards the Observatory for the meeting. If not, they might head to their house since her dad did occasionally hold emergency meetings at home, though not often. Regardless, she needed to catch them. If she didn't, Ruby had the options of either busting in and demanding answers or listening in from another vantage point like she, her brother and friends used to do as kids.

She needed to know what they were going to do about this. Lily and Blaine needed that medicine!

Still dashing at max speed, Ruby cut another corner before she finally saw them. Arriving at a screeching halt a couple yards from the small contingent of various council members, including her dad, she took only a couple seconds to calm her breathing. Behind her, the others skidded to a stop. Raven was collected as ever, not even breathing hard, while the boys panted slightly from the sprint.

"Dad! I just heard. What are we going to do about the attack? Did we send someone already? Are we going to send a scout party before sending another team to deal with the bandits? What are we going to do to get the medicine back?"

Her father held up a hand to quell the torrent of questions spewing from her lips like word vomit. Taking the time to adjust his glasses, he gave her one of his patented fatherly looks. The one she always ignored as a kid because it meant "stay put and behave." (One she still tended to ignore nowadays too).

"Ruby, please, I need time to deliberate with the council to decide which course of action we should take."

—Laxus' PoV—

The dragonslayer watched the brewing drama unfold with something that felt almost like apprehension in his heart. For some reason, he got the feeling this would not end well.

"Ruby, please, I need time to deliberate with the council to decide which course of action we should take," the twins' father said with a surprising amount of calmness.

"What?! But by then it will be too late!" Ruby seethed, her hair a furious red. Actually, if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, some of the tips of her hair seemed to even be turning an ominous black-red color, curling ever so faintly instead of just changing color. The scent of out-of-control wildfire and unrestrained tempest began to permeate the air, but it was the sight of that barest hint of black that sent warning signals to both his draconic and human instincts as if they both knew that the full on color black was an extremely bad sign.

In fact, Laxus got even more uncomfortable as the extremely powerful magical pressure rose slightly around the older blonde man in response. It was just a hint of it. But combined with the smell of something like pure power, looming storms and danger!-apex predator coming from him; it set Laxus on edge as the man's voice cut through the air like a knife. The tone sharp and clear as he made a direct order.

"Enough Ruby, my decision is final."

Vein ticking in her jaw, it looked for a moment as if the young woman was either going to yell at her father or punch him (or at least do something drastic along those lines) as her magical presence flickered and rose in response to her emotions. But after a minute of heatedly glaring her father in the face, who just stared back with a neutrally calm expression, Ruby huffed through her nose, making an irritated noise in the back of her throat that sounded like a mix between a growl and a strangled scream of frustration. The scent of wildfire calmed somewhat, simmering down to simple wood-smoke and a dangerously large campfire; the raging tempest to scalding desert sand and slightly old waterlilies and freesia on a stagnant lake. Whirling around, she stormed away.

"Come on you guys, let's go back home and sit around twiddling our thumbs while the oh so important council deliberates on whether we should save lives and deal with a bandit guild or not while our people slowly die," the young woman spat venomously, not turning around once.

Glancing one last time towards the twins' father, Laxus decided to follow the others' example as they all turned one-by-one and followed obediently after the seething red-head. He had a bad feeling about this.

—X—

The door to the Warrick household crashed open with a loud sound, surprisingly still in one piece despite the abuse that it obviously received on a daily basis if the kick to the middle of it was any indicator.

"He can't do this!" she steamed, hair still that angry red tone that blended in with the other half of her hair. Thankfully, no red-black though. Marching into the dining room with Laxus, Lazulis, and Raven trailing behind her, they watched as she violently kicked a stray dining chair out of her way, barely holding back from using her full destructive strength as she did so.

"He just can't!"

Cautiously taking a seat to her left at the head of the dining table, Lazulis eyed his sister's movements warily though he still managed to look completely at ease, balancing on the back two legs of his chair with his crossed ankles perched on the table, and hands folded behind his head. Despite this however, Laxus faintly smelled the barely contained stench of the eerie calm before an epic thunderstorm coming off him too. Nonetheless, the bluenette remained outwardly at ease as he said with false cheer, "Hate to say it sis, but he can. And there isn't much we can do about it when he gives an order like that."

"Screw orders!" Ruby spat, banging her fists on the table, eyes flashing and gnashing her teeth. "There's got to be something we can do!"

"Yes, because we very much have the power to defy the entirety of the council and your father," Ravenna deadpanned in that airy voice of hers as she followed Lazulis' example and sat to the right of the angry red-head, fingers intertwined carefully. She was completely calm and reserved as if nothing could phase her, but that could just be another false-front too.

Laxus, who had decided to remain standing, nodded along from his position directly across the table from seething girl. "Hey, I haven't been here long, but even I know it would be a stupid move to defy your old man. We just gotta wait for this…council to make a decision."

"And then what?" she snapped, whirling on him. "At most, all they're gonna do is send some D-rank team who has no idea what they're doing and will likely destroy the place along with the medicine for Blaine and Lily with their poor control. And that's only if they just don't just decide to cut their losses and order another shipment of medicine, which will still take too damn long."

Laxus raised a scarred brow. "And what do you think we should do? Get the medicine ourselves?"

She paused, going way too still for his liking as that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach increased. Finally, a triumphant smirk made its way onto Ruby's face, hair changing to a dark golden, honey-reddish color. "That ain't a half-bad plan, Blonde Dick."

Before he could retort to the last comment, Lazulis nearly toppled out of his chair in his rush to get to his feet. "What! Are you crazy?"

Raven, however, nodded and hummed thoughtfully. "It could work."

Actually considering the idea now, Laxus had to agree as his mind started to work though the possibilities. "Yeah, it's a smaller team, but it could definitely work with the four of us if we aimed for a stealth approach instead of just busting in, fists flying. We could probably take out a good portion of them before anyone notices, depending on what their numbers are."

"Exactly," Ruby said with an approving nod, gracing him with the first smile she'd ever willingly given him, albeit a slightly feral one at that. "And with the element of surprise on our side, we can easily take out this guild before they know what's hit them. Raven, can you try to scout ahead so we can see where we're going and maybe what we're up against?"

The pale-skinned girl nodded as she stood gracefully from her chair. "Yes, that should not be too much trouble. Shall I inform Sterling of our plans too?"

The redhead shook her head. "No. The less people to get in trouble for this, the better; keep it small. He needs to take care of his siblings first."

Then, she turned to the hulking blonde, a question in her gaze.

"I'm in."

She raised a brow. "You sure? You have absolutely no stake in this. Not to mention your injuries. And we may have to fight in some areas with a restricted amount of space."

"I'll be fine, Flat Chest."

"You got a weapon?"

Laxus held up a sparking fist. "I got my magic."

Her eyes narrowed at that but didn't comment as they all turned toward the last person at the table.

Lazulis, whose gaze had ping-ponged between them all as they spoke, froze as his sister and the other two all turned expectantly to him for the final say. Grimacing a little, he seemed to be deciding whether to just go with the flow or just call them all crazy. Eventually though, he just threw his hands up in the air in exasperation like he knew he wasn't going to win this argument as he said, "Fine! I'll go get my stealth gear. But don't say I didn't warn you when dad tears us a new one for disobeying his orders."

Ruby just grinned victoriously, standing to her full height.

"Pack your gear everyone. Meet at the stables in half an hour. We've got a score to settle with some bandits."

A/N:

Hey all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter even though it was a little filler-y-ish.

Anyways, I've got a question for you all. As you just read, Ruby was not happy about Laxus' choice to only rely on his magic. But while I'm sure Laxus is decent at hand to hand considering his dragon slaying magic, he will have a tougher time against armored opponents, especially if he can't rely on his magic all the time. So, I'm going to remedy that by giving him a weapon. However, I need your help deciding on a weapon. I've got some ideas, but I'm always open to new ideas. But I want something that will compliment him and his magic. Thus, there is going to be a poll on this open to any and all who choose to leave a review. So this is my Poll question:

What type of weapon should Laxus use?

—Royal Claymore (Like the one in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but basically a very large greatsword)

—Lance-Sword hybrid (since it has both great throwing potential with his magic and close quarters combat)

—Lance (less of the jousting type and more of the spear type)

—Dagran's Ceremonial Sword (the sword that Dagran and Zael both used in The Last Story, please look up for images)

—Halberd (Laxus has the spell "heavenward halberd" so I figured it complimented his magic)

—Partisan Spear (something similar to what the Spear hero wields in the Rising of the Shield Hero)

—Other Weapon (you may list any other weapon you can think of, but please try to be specific, (don't just simply put 'spear') especially if you want the weapon to have a custom characteristic)

Please consider all options thoroughly before deciding. You have two votes available to you. And, as per my usual review voting rules, those who add at least a small explanation why they chose that option will have that vote count as an extra point. But you have to add that reasoning for each vote or votes for it to count as double.

I will keep you all updated but I expect the poll to end around maybe the fourth or fifth chapter. So you have a bit of time since these freestyle chapters tend to take a bit of time to write.

Thank you! Have a good night/day! And please favorite, follow and most of all review!