Alex hummed with his Peacekeeper spinning on his finger, its ammo on the table and all blank for the time being, at the change that he had caused. He had knocked Jellal out of his stupidity and the Oracion Seis came to claim the Tower over searching more for Nirvana, just them, so it may lead to the Dark Guilds under them to seek out Nirvana to uphold their bosses' ideals in claiming that power, but they would be more apparent and wouldn't cause too much trouble for when the Council reformed.
He hummed on also thinking about how he namedropped one of the strongest Witches as the last name for Erza and she didn't seem interested in approaching him about it in the better Guild Hall for Fairy Tail, not yet at least. He stopped spinning the gun before he started to flick it into fancy tricks as he knew what was coming next, that is if Dreyar didn't get his head out of his butt.
While the Battle for Fairy Tail was how Bickslow, Freed, and Evergreen got to bond with the Guild much more and finally break free from just living with spite in their hearts, as well as give Gajeel and Juvia more room to be a part of the Guild, it also lead to Laxus being banished for starting an internal guild war, it hurt the guild in such a way and it was going to be so hard on all of them. He breathed in slotting the pistol again and putting it back into the runed glove before slumping forward.
That was before his interferences, Gajeel got wrecked by his brother, threatened by him, and then was invited to join Fairy Tail by Makarov, Juvia was less eyed with distrust as Gray can vouch for her nature, having also gotten the notion from Ur, now a member of Fairy Tail to his surprise, that Juvia was what was known as a 'lesser yandere', she is into him and is hostile to all other females interacting with him, viewing them as 'love rivals' and will see things not there at all. Both Ur and Simon had joined the Guild and they possessed great power in spades as he sat in the new Guild building, taking his moment of brief chatter with Kenith to notice memory blocks in both Natsu and Gajeel and would ask to remove those as they may seem to be around since their dragons' disappearance, but it felt a lot older than that for some strange reason.
Still, the open-air café, the shop for souvenirs, a pool, amusement center, and even the allowed access to the second floor was a nice change, especially with both Juvia and Gajeel getting in and none of them got any flak for being a part of Phantom Lord in the first place, it was all good... until the Fire and Iron Dragon Slayers started arguing, that was annoying, but maybe it was their dynamic bond as Mirajane sated all of the Guild with her song, just before Gajeel stepped on Natsu's foot and the Guild devolved into chaos as Kenith moaned with flopping on the counter. "Why did you get us into this Guild...?"
"Because it was the most logical and healthy choice." Alex answered in drinking his juice in relative peace. "Besides we are only going to cause any trouble if we actually start the battles, let them feud with themselves, it just makes them more needed for discipline." He answered with getting a chair, a bucket, and even a table cloaking his head with him being unphased. "That said..." He took one of the mugs and hurled it, launching Elfman to the Guild's silence as he turned, his eyes glowing bright blue in the dark. "I expect you all to behave for when that Jason character comes for interviews and I expect that you actually talk to people if you want to improve on a talent you have, I don't want to find someone shanghai into that mess." They all nodded as he turned back. "Mira, your song, please."
"Oh, of course, Alex!" With that, her song continued and Alex hummed as he took another swag of his juice.
"This is some good fruit punch..."
As expected, the guild did their best for Jason's interview, it going decently with Lucy actually getting a good interview herself before Gajeel showed up on the stage and the members nearly yelped in outrage that he would steal Mirajane's spot before he spoke. "Listen, I want to say I am sorry for how I have been behaving, but for a tough guy like me, it is really hard, so I want to sing a bit, I was going to sing my own song, 'Best Friend', but after a few lessons from Mirajane and tips from Kenith, I decided to instead do something that Kenith thought would be more my style, 'This Is Gonna Hurt'."
Alex sprayed as he coughed with nearly exclaimed. "DO YOU DA-!" Freefall's tail coiled around his mouth and pulled him back as Gajeel pulled out his guitar with Kenith marching onto the stage with a drum set and they started to play, the beat echoing through the guild as Gajeel started to sing with his finger strumming the guitar.
"Feels like your life is over, feels like all hope is gone. You kiss it all away. Maybe, maybe. This is a Second Coming. This is a call to arms. Your finest hour won't be, Wasted, wasted." Kenith smiled in beating the drums to the tone he got going and joining in.
"Hey, hey, Hell is what you make, make. Rise against your fate, fate. Nothing's gonna keep you down. Even if it's killing you. Because you know the truth." They hit the chorus with power with Kenith echoing the final sections.
"Listen up, listen up, there's a devil in the church. Got a bullet in the chamber, and this is gonna hurt. Let it out, let it out. You can scream and you can shout. Keep your secrets in the shadows, and you'll be sorry."
"And everybody's getting numb (everybody's getting numb). And everybody's on the run (everybody's on the run)."
"Listen up, listen up, there's a devil in the church. Got a bullet in the chamber, and this is gonna hurt!" Kenith took over the next part with Gajeel playing his piece.
"You got your Hell together, you know it could be worse. A self-inflicted murder. Maybe, maybe. You say it's all a crisis, you say it's all a blur. There comes a time you've gotta. Face it, face it." Gajeel rejoined in singing, his aggressive power pounding into the song.
"Hey, hey, Hell is what you make, make. Rise against your fate, fate. Nothing's gonna keep you down. Even if it's killing you. Because you know the truth." Once more, they hit the chorus as Alex got himself free and grumbled with snatching one of Cana's bottles and downing it to her exclaim of disbelief.
"I ain't listening to them right now." He returned back and dropped, face first, into the floor while Freefall lightly took him under his wing and let them sleep while the duo played their metal.
"Listen up, listen up, there's a devil in the church. Got a bullet in the chamber, and this is gonna hurt. Let it out, let it out. You can scream and you can shout. Keep your secrets in the shadows, and you'll be sorry."
"And everybody's getting numb (everybody's getting numb). And everybody's on the run (everybody's on the run)."
"Listen up, listen up, there's a devil in the church. Got a bullet in the chamber, and this is gonna hurt."
"This is gonna hurt." Then Gajeel shredded it on his guitar before they picked back up.
"Listen up, listen up. There's a devil in the church. Got a bullet in the chamber. And this is gonna hurt."
"Let it out, let it out. You can scream and you can shout. Keep your secrets in the shadows, and you'll be sorry. And everybody's getting numb (everybody's getting numb). And everybody's on the run (everybody's on the run)."
"And everybody's getting some (everybody's getting some). And everybody's on the run. And this is gonna hurt."
"This is gonna hurt." With that, the song ended, but it did little in the applause that followed, the Fairy Tail actually liking the song compared to who sung it while Jason went so 'COOOOOL!' that he completely fainted from sheer awe and joy, the day turning out rather well and the Fairy Tail was left with a slightly better rep throughout, somehow between some many behaviors that were up there...
(Truthfully, 'Kenith' gave me the idea of using 'This Is Gonna Hurt' by Sixx A.M., as it most speaks of Gajeel's character, much better than his friendship song and works better than trying to force his way into being everyone's 'friend' and guildmate.)
A few days went by for the guild and, while Gajeel's attempt of being better 'friends' with Fairy Tail was indeed working, there was still a sense of unease with the Iron Dragon Slayer, Lucy a small part of it as she was technically the capture target for Phantom Lord if he went for her first, but in subtle hints and moves, he acted more like an older brother, teasing and joking with the members than just a bad boy looking for trouble.
Thankfully, Levy was of the same mind as she followed Gajeel out to the park in inquire. "Gajeel..." The Iron Dragon Slayer hummed as she spoke, Jet and Droy close by to intervene if they needed to. "Did you really want to destroy the guild by Jose's orders, or did you just following through the motions.' Normally, Gajeel would have dismissed her, but he closed his eyes before he spoke.
"I was just following the motions, I was considered the strongest in the guild, besides the Element Four, and while the chumps at the former guild could put up a fight, it was not... fun anymore, like they were beaten and just as quickly gave up with getting stronger." He breathed as he continued. "When Jose sent me to provoke Fairy Tail, I thought that I could finally get a proper fight, drunk on my own ego, but since coming here and getting downed by Arcturus, I just got a reality check I needed dearly, that I was no longer a big fish in a small pond, I was a small fish in a enormous ocean." He reopened his eyes in speaking. "I can't apologize for things I hadn't done, but if the guild hadn't been attacked, if it didn't provoke, you may have been made an example, all three of you."
Levy nodded to Jet and Droy's unease as she spoke. "It makes sense, Master would only willingly fight a war if his 'children' were harmed in any way, he is protective like that, but that is in the past now." Levy rested a hand on his arm as she spoke. "It is going to be fine, you are coming along with being better, you will be amazing in no time, especially if I heard Lucy right that he is training them to be much stronger than before, I hadn't known Natsu even had a power-up called Dragon Force." Gajeel smiled as he spoke.
"Oh? Dragon Force is certainly a tough one to do without hardcore training, that he didn't do it beforehand makes him sound a lot more interesting than before." His senses flared and he pushed Levy off, Droy and Jet nearly moving to stop him from attacking before a bolt of lightning struck him, he groaning in remaining to stand as a arrogant voice spoke.
"So you are one of the Phantom Lord goons, good thing I decided to drop by to teach a lesson." The other three turned to find Laxus, smiling with cruel glee, but before he could take another step toward Gajeel, Levy threw herself into his path, arms spread out in blocking him, Droy and Jet gaping at her sudden protection as even Gajeel was surprised as she spoke.
"I don't care if he former was Phantom Lord, I don't care that he might have been our enemy at one point, you have not the right to strike at him like this, Laxus!" The bigger man growled as he glared down at Levy as he spoke.
"You shouldn't get involved, runt."
"I don't care, you will stop this right now before things get out of hand, leave." Laxus growled as he spoke again.
"This has nothing to do with you, but if you insist on protecting this criminal, then you can suffer with him!"
"Leave!" Levy growled back before Laxus growled louder and, in a second, pulled back a fist, Levy unafraid as Jet and Droy made an attempt to stop Laxus, even Gajeel starting to don his Dragon Force to save the first one who believe in him before all froze to a hand gripping Laxus's elbow and he grunted in pain as he turned his head to the larger young man standing behind him, his grip like the crushing earth.
"What... do you think you are doing with MY sparring partner, Laxus Dreyar? What... do you thinking you're doing, intending on punching Levy for standing her ground?" Laxus tried to get his arm free before Kenith just moved, switching position to his ribs and slamming him into the ground, it cracking to the impact as Laxus gasped in pain as Kenith spoke in the crouching grip. "I am just as recent as Gajeel Redfox, but if you are going to let your ego control your actions, then I will agree with my brother, you don't deserve the chance to be Guild Master in your current state, you can only see all of that power going to your head."
He then shoved Laxus aside, he slamming into the tree with a grunt as Kenith stood up with his full height and walked right toward Levy, she bravely facing the titan before he spoke. "McGarden, please step aside..." She stared back with shaking limbs before he rested a hand on her shoulder. "You were very brave, no one should be treated like that, they are people too, after all." Her expression softened before she moved to the side carefully and he walked past them, extending out a hand to Gajeel. "Come on, Iron Bod, let's take you to Alex to get you patched up right." Gajeel, slow but accepting it, took the hand and he was slung over Kenith's shoulder as the Earth Dragon Slayer walked back to the guild with the slightly injury man on his shoulders, Team Shadowgear looking at the recovering Laxus before they left too, Laxus growling as he cursed.
"Blast... this isn't over, yet!" He grumbled in getting up and leaving, his point missed and foiled by that... wannabe lug who thought he knew everything...
"This is good news, Mr. Redfox, if you had not sensed Laxus's unprovoked attack, I would be treating Levy as well and she would have more serious injuries." Alex spoke with spacing his fingers across Gajeel's body and plucking up the images from him and hovering them in the air as he pulled out his candy stick, shaped like one of the elegant cigarettes, form his mouth as he took in all of the damages before he nodded with turning back to Gajeel laying on the bed with Kenith close by for hand-on support. "Nothing but minor scarring down the back and toward the left hip, Laxus's attack could have paralyzed a lesser man, and your manhood is perfectly fine, just a bit of burning on the sides."
"You are really being nonchalant about nearly cutting them off there." Alex snorted as he put the stick back in.
"That would have broke me a bit if I had, I would like to believe that I would only do it to prevent more stupid heads running around." He turned to look at the images before he frowned, grabbing one and showing it to the both of them, Kenith getting a cheeky grin while Gajeel flushed red. "However, this image of your member has shown signs of arousal for some strange reason, and I could place it being-"
"OKAY, STOP POKING AT ME, DOC!" Gajeel yelped in getting out of there as he booked it away, Alex blinking at the retreat before he narrowed his brow and spoke with Kenith.
"Kenith..."
"Levy stood up for him against Laxus and, if I hadn't stopped Laxus, he would have gone Dragon Force in fighting the man." Alex huffed with a smile himself as he took all of the images and crushed them, returning them to Ethernano, before he spoke.
"How bad...?'
"Laxus attacked first, Jet and Droy were only on guard duty, and he was getting worked up with Levy standing his way." Kenith spoke with leaned forward in voicing the encounter.. "I took time to find out where the Thunder Legion Tribe were and they are handling the Dark Guild Ghoul Spirit, so I don't know if they are still in on Laxus's ego, but if anything did happen, we will have to handle it." Alex nodded with taking out his candy stick again, tapping it against his arm as he spoke.
"I thought the message was made quite clear that he needed to change, getting clocked with a mug, getting slapped by Mirajane, and now getting a casual toss from you, but this is getting worrying." He looked at Kenith and he pulled out a small paper doll and he narrowed his brow. "One of Ivan's, I can tell, but it has a strange pattern to it, a harmony resounding with his own blood..." He looked and Kenith nodded in speaking.
"I looked into Laxus's apartment and I found several of these in the walls, I blazed them, but still, if what you are say is true, then Ivan had been making sure that his father's power base is so weakened that he can just sweep back in for what he wants." Alex nodded as he snapped and his thumb ignited and the paper doll burned as the bounty hunter spoke, his Stetson's crown dyed a blue color with some parts of the overcoat as he rested it on his head again.
"One thing is for sure, he will not be so hard to deal with if this does go down as intended..."
Laxus grumbled at the sheer disregard of Fairy Tail, even had a freaking monkey man mocking the guild before getting blitzed, resolving his plan to make Fairy Tail the strongest before he paused, his eyes flexing in giving him a headache before he blinked in speaking to himself. "That's... weird, it felt like a weight on my mind has been removed and I can suddenly think clearly now..."
He walked in piecing it out, he starting to realize that his old man was getting a bit nuts over something only Guild Masters should know about, he was feeling rather angry with how Fairy Tail just trashed the place, but it was only because it was no longer just play fighting, they were full-on brawl and that tested them greatly, maybe not to the best, but they were strong in their own right.
He paused again in recounting his previous events, he was just... but even if Natsu had broken the rules, Erza was still sent to help out. Phantom Lord had always been a problem and a rival, but to go that far for money and a chance to kill off Fairy Tail, why didn't he feel more... upset with them, more like disappointed that they had failed in wiping out Makarov, why were those feelings fueling his mind from back then...?
He stopped altogether with a hand to his face as his eyes widened in horror. "Oh Magic... I didn't... I didn't just try to kill Levy for standing her ground... did I...?" He stared up into the sky and closed his eyes in breathing before he looked back down, wanting to get to the bottom of things, and he had a feeling that both that bounty hunter and his brother will help in answering those questions...