Summary: Wild West AU!Laxus is Sheriff of this town and Fairy Tail is the house of sin that he needs to wipe out to keep his town clean….
Pairings: Alzack/Bisca, implied Gray/Juvia, implied Natsu/Lucy, implied Loke/Lucy, implied Gajeel/Levy, implied one-sided Jet/Levy/Droy, implied Elfman/Evergreen, implied one-sided Ivan/Gajeel, and some mentions of Laxus/Mirajane.
YouTube Prompt: A tribute to some of our tougher male characters – Laxus, Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray – to Bon Jovi's 'Wanted Dead or Alive'.
"Oh Al-Al!"
"Bisca, my love!"
Laxus banged the bars of his two, sole, prison cells which jolted the two criminal lovers apart. "Oi!" he grunted furiously. "You're supposed to be suffering punishment. Not making another criminal baby."
The two prisoners were a couple criminal pair that roamed the Wild West and robbed people by gun point. They had a little girl which Laxus thankfully saved from a sinful and criminal life and has passed her on for fostering. Unfortunately this had left him with two incredibly love-struck people in his two cells which happened to be right next to one another, and they had no problems holding hands between the bars, and declaring their love for one another on an hourly basis.
He was on verge of giving in and letting them go as it was driving him insane. On the verge, he said, not actually. He wasn't going to let a criminal get away nor was he going to let his town, Magnolia, continue to be drenched in sin as it had been since before he took office.
Then Mrs Obaba of the Lamia Scale clothing shop came in and made a complaint. "It's those Fairy Tail lot, Sheriff," she bemoaned, "they are being indecently loud again, with all that brawling, singing, and carousing. And the girls! They were showing their ankles! If I could I would spin them round and send them back to their mothers and fathers!"
"Don't you worry, Ma'am," Laxus said stiffly, "I will deal with them."
Fairy Tail.
Damn Fairy Tail.
Laxus despised that disgusting saloon with all his heart. The owner, Miss Mirajane, was a coy, sly, woman who lured men into temptation with her drinks and girls. Those can-can dancers were despicable and shameful, Juvia with her dramatic fawning over her patrons, Lucy with her breasts falling out of her dress constantly, Cana with her drunkenness (a week doesn't go by without him arresting her for drunken disorderly behaviour), Levy with her annoying fan boys that stalk her, and Erza with her violent temper.
If she didn't want to be groped she shouldn't have become a can-can dancer.
He could hear the noise before he even turned on the street that horrible building stood upon. It was at the very bottom, the last building in his little town, and he could usually hear their antics all the way on the other side. Hell. Even the Indians could probably hear them.
He growled and stormed across the street, ready to give them a piece of his mind. The doors slammed open and the noise halted to a shut as Sheriff Laxus walked in. he was ready to give them a scolding when he saw something horrifying.
His friends were here.
"Evergreen?!" He yelped. Ever was a schoolteacher, she was straight laced as they came! She chided the children for being filthy, raised money for the school roof, and went to church every Sunday, and here she was. In a green dress that was so tight her breasts were spilling over, and waving a whorish purple feather fan as she flirted with Elfman Strauss. "Freed?" and Freed was the local lawyer! Sure a little flamboyant with all that hair and red coat, but a serious, hardworking, and good man. What on earth was he doing here talking to that Levy girl while Gajeel, the blacksmith, growled behind them? "Bicks- oh who am I kidding, I'm not surprised you're here."
"Should I be offended?" Bickslow grinned before he stuck his tattooed tongue out. Bickslow was a wild child but he was honest, hardworking, and obeyed the law.
Laxus decided to ignore him. He had far more pressing problems. Obviously the corruption of Fairy Tail was taking root if the school teacher and lawyer were having drinks and flirting with the staff. Miss Mirajane appeared from the storeroom. As always, she was dressed in pink, her arms indecently bare, and her hair down over her shoulders.
She looked unnaturally angelic, a deceptive look because he knew she was evil really. "Can I help you, Sheriff?" she asked in a false sweet and cheerful voice.
"Yeah," Laxus grunted. "You could shut this godforsaken place down and leave town."
"I do not see why I should," Miss Mirajane's eyes flashed dangerously. "We are not doing anything illegal."
"It is immoral."
"It is good fun, and a warm, loving atmosphere."
"That ain't love," he shot a pointed look at Juvia who was all over Gray, and another at Natsu who was pulling childishly at Lucy's skirts, trying to pull her away from Loke. "That's lust."
"They are in love, trust me."
"I don't care if you think they're in love or not!" Laxus barked, having finally lost his temper. "I care that you're putting my town in danger with your sinful, reckless, behaviour. Five brawls in the last two days alone-"
"Natsu and Gray are our customers," Miss Mirajane argued, "and are very enthusiastic in their rivalry together."
"It is your drink and women that excite them!"
"Oh I doubt it."
"Indecent drunken behaviour!"
"Cana does enjoy one drink too many."
"Indecent nakedness!"
"Gray gets hot far too quickly. Poor lamb."
"Lewd behaviour!"
"I cannot tell my customers how they should behave or what they say, only that they treat my girls with respect."
"And your brother-"
"What is wrong with my brother?" the sweetness left her voice and a dark shadow suddenly cast over on her face. "Well, Sheriff, what exactly is wrong with my brother?"
"He's a bumbling buffoon who has destroyed public property multiple times," Laxus snapped, "and there are still people who think we should have arrested him for the murder of Miss Lisanna."
She slapped him for that, and really, he deserved it. Bring up her dead little sister was definitely a step too far but he would never admit it out loud.
"Striking an officer of the law is a punishable offence, Madam."
"I don't care," Miss Mirajane snarled, "get the hell out of my saloon before I throw you out myself."
He had no doubt she could. When they were children she had always been unnaturally strong. He knew when to fight or not fight his battles, and right now this one he could not fight. Not if he wanted to keep his respect from the people of Magnolia. "Very well," he said stiffly, bowing his head mockingly at her, "I bid you farewell but I warn you. If I receive another complaint about this place, I will shut you down."
"I would like to see you try!"
He walked away, head held up high, when he caught sight of little Wendy and Romeo playing cards with some of the men, the drunken smokers who were making lewd comments about the girls….he pitted them. Corrupted before they had a chance by being an orphan left in a dancer's care and a motherless boy with a terrible father.
Laxus stormed out determined to make his town perfect despite this Fairy Tail stain.
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
And then Governor Ivan comes.
He is dark, a little strange, but has all the right ideas to make Magnolia great. He was a good, honest, Christian man, despite his strange servants and ward, the redheaded Flare who looked at the world in an odd angle. Laxus felt he could get on with a man like that.
Until it becomes apparent that Ivan is a tyrant.
Natsu was humiliated in public for losing his temper when Lucy returned to Fairy Tail with a black eye, blessedly given to her by one of Ivan's lackeys. She had had refused to go down on him and this was her punishment. Gray was also humiliated, Erza had been verbally abused in the streets and her quiet, virtually invisible, suitor had been taken away to prison for a non-existent crime (and Laxus knows it was non-existent because he had investigated it), and then Gajeel was being targeted. In the strangest ways that sent chills down Laxus' spine. He didn't like the way the Governor touched his Blacksmith.
Children stopped smiling, the girls no longer left the saloon in fear of their safety, and the men carried scars that they shouldn't.
The final nail in the coffin was when Laxus stumbled upon Ivan trying to confiscate the saloon from Miss Mirajane.
"I own this building!" Miss Mirajane shouted. "I brought it out of my own money and have the deed in my safe! You cannot confiscate it. It is against the law!"
"You are a woman, an indecently unmarried one with a reputation that makes me worry for my town," Ivan said in a slimy tone that made Laxus uncomfortable. "A woman like you should not be allowed to own property. In fact I imagine a woman like you had obtained this deed illegally."
Laxus felt his temper flare on behalf of Miss Mirajane. She had most certainly obtained the deed legally! She had inherited the building from his grandfather which was another reason why Fairy Tail irked him so. Technically it should have been his to do as he wishes.
"I did not!" Miss Mirajane shouted. Tears were beginning to well up in her eye, and Laxus wondered how long she had been out here arguing with the Governor, she was not prone to tears usually. "I am not a thief!"
"Nonetheless this business shall be shut down and this building confiscated until you have proven yourself a redeemed lady," Governor Ivan declared coldly. Unmoved by Miss Mirajane's misery. "I will not have a place like this in my town, and I am sure Sheriff Laxus here will agree."
"Pardon?" Laxus raised an eyebrow. "I am not sure I know what you mean, sir."
"You know what I mean," Ivan growled. "It's dirty. Disgusting. A place for wastrels, whores, and criminals. The girls here are no better than the prostitutes in the big cities, the men are layabout that never work, and do not get me started on the sinful behaviour of this woman before me-"
Laxus snapped at that. He couldn't help it. He had witnessed his people suffer for months now. The bruises, the tears, the humiliated misery, and there had been nothing he could do but watch. And now Miss Mirajane, his Miss Mirajane was being insulted for nothing more than owning her own business. He punched Ivan full on in the face. The arsehole deserved it. "Don't you dare," he growled. "Don't you fucking dare insult my people."
"Your people?" Ivan laughed cruelly. "I believe you'll find that they're my people. Just as you are my Sheriff. Now obey my every wish and arrest this woman."
"Like hell I will!"
He went to punch Ivan again only to be punched by one of Ivan's men. Another took advantage of his moment of weakness and pushed him into the wall, as he slumped to his knees, he was kicked in the back of the head, and fell completely down as another, a more psychotic looking man with black make up on his face, attacked him with a knife.
"LAXUS!"
He is surprised that Miss Mirajane would scream for him but he was glad she did. Her scream brought the attention of Bickslow and Freed, they instantly came running to help him, and with some of Ivan's men distracted from attacking him, he was able to stumble back onto his feet, and fight back.
He is surprised when Gajeel, Natsu, Gray, and Erza suddenly join the fray. Even more so when the other girls came running out with brooms and mops as their weapons. Steadily but surely, they beat Ivan and his men out with a roaring rage and determination like no other.
Once Laxus gets the last kick in which toppled Ivan over the town line, everyone cheered.
It was a satisfying moment.
Until his injuries took hold and he passed out.
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
A couple hours later from his disastrous fight, Laxus was propped up in his chair at his desk, heavily bandaged by the local doctor, and now having his facial wounds being tended to by Miss Mirajane herself.
He doesn't know why she was doing it but he sure hell appreciated it. Her soft hands were a nicer touch than the doctor's forcefulness. "Thank you," Miss Mirajane said quietly as she rinsed the blood of his face and dabbed at his wound. He winced. It was definitely going to scar.
He never was a vain man but something about having a scar on his face ate at him.
"What for?" he grunted.
"For standing up for us," Miss Mirajane said gently, "you didn't have to."
"You are my people."
"But are we not sinful?" she probed. "Indecent? Immoral?"
"You are my people," he repeated forcefully. "It doesn't matter what you do with your lives. That's your choice. But you will always be my people, and it's my duty to protect you while enforcing the law."
She smiled. It was a beautiful smile that startled him. "And you are our sheriff," she said, "and we never had a finer one."
"You're laying it on a bit thick there."
She giggled and put down the rag she had been using to clean his face. "Join us for a drink." It was a demand, not an invitation, "one drink should not hurt, surely?"
"I suppose I can bear one drink," he grumbled, "but no dancing or indecent music! I will not have your girls flounce their skirts at me."
"I will not have them flounce at you either!"
He was startled at such a passionate declaration but smirked nonetheless. He allowed her have her way with him and ended up in Fairy Tail. Just for one drink.
"To the Sheriff!" Freed toasted.
"The Sheriff!" Everyone cheered.
He ended up staying the whole night. What? It was a good party. And it was in his honour.