Hello everyone! Welcome back, this is the finished and corrected version of chapter three! Thank's to my amazing beta I was able to make this story ten times better! Also I have created a playlist for this fic! If anyone is interested to listen to it, it is called "The Mustang Kids are Back!" In 8tracks! You can't miss it seeing as it has Freed and Laxus as the cover! Hope you like this new chapter. If you did don't forget to leave me a comment down below!


Throughout the last few months the entire land was buzzing with energy. With mages training for the Grand Magic Games everyone knew that they were in for good tournament. Many were excited to see Fairy Tail return and others were already rooting for their favorite guild, Sabertooth.

"Now tell me again why I decided to enter into these games?" Freed asked as he walked down the streets of the royal city with his teammates.

Lyon laughed softly, looking over at the rune mage with a raised brow. "I believe that you would have rather entered the games then be spun by the Old Hag."

At that Freed rolled his eyes trying to hide the amused smile. "Cheeky." Was all that he said.

Jura took that in with a boisterous laugh. Yuka chiming with him.

Chelia took this as her chance so she pushed past the two older men to try and reach Freed and Lyon who were leading the group.

"Freed?" She asked excitedly.

The man in question turned around at the sound of his name. When he saw the state the young girl was in, he knew what she was going to ask. Her wide bright eyes and shaking form was clear evidence of one thing.

"Chelia, you are not buying any sweets. I promised Sherry that I would make sure that you would eat well after your training." He said as a matter of fact, his tone carrying something definitive.

The God Slayer let her shoulders fall in dejection. Her eyes began filling up with crocodile tears.

It was amusing how she hadn't changed in the last six years. She was still using her emotions to her advantage.

Lyon shook his head in mock disappointment.

Then suddenly, Freed came up with an idea.

"You know Chelia, I think I changed my mind. Seeing as you have worked very hard in the last few months, I think it's only right to reward you. Maybe you can buy me some sweets as well." His words hung in the air for a moment. All the other men were looking at him as if he had lost him mind. Though considering what Freed had just agreed to, they weren't that far off.

Chelia, on the other hand, could barely contain her excitement. She jumped up in the air, her magic giving her another few feet. The moment her feet touched the ground again she was off like a cheetah.

However, not before taking a tight hold of Lyon's wrist and dragging him down to whatever sweet shop she found.

Yuka stared after the pair in silent shock while Jura just shook his head in amusement.

"It seems that you sent one of our strongest to his death." Jura exclaimed with a sort of mock horror.

Freed could only laugh as they neared their hotel.

The streets getting even more crowded now that the guilds that were appearing. The rune mage had hoped to have kept to himself so he would just be able to get some rest, but a group of boisterous men were exclaiming their excitements. Forcing him to hear something that he was not ready to accept just yet.

"Did you hear that Fairy Tail is here? I heard that Natsu almost fought the Twin Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth!"

"You're kidding," another said, "I saw Laxus Dreyar walking around with two of his teammates."

Soon enough the men began to predict the outcome of the Games.

Freed tuned them out after he heard those words. His heart began to race and his body froze in the middle of the street.

Jura and Yuka took note of that and their carefree attitudes were replaced with ones of worry.

"Are you alright, Freed?" Jura asked in a surprisingly soft tone. Memories of years ago came flooding through his mind. Freed in this very same state six years ago would have been covered in runes of pain and darkness. His face would be wet with tears and his neck an angry red. The guild mark there covered in scratches.

Those were nights where the loss of Fairy Tail was still painfully fresh in Freed's heart. His own mind playing sick tricks on his emotions.

When Jura was faced with that sight he knew that Freed was on the verge of breaking and that it was up to him and the rest Lamia Scale to try and keep him together. For them, family was everything, one guild member's pain was a pain that would be shared and felt by everyone else. With that in mind, Jura was not going to let Freed suffer any longer. Placing a large hand on the rune mage's shoulder, he shook him slightly.

"Freed, are you alright?" He asked one last time.

The Wizard Saint got no response.

Jura moved his spare hand to the rune mage's other shoulder to try and coax a reaction out him. Freed's body only gave a slight shiver that seemed run right through him, while his eyes glazed over as he came one step closer to breaking down.

People around the trio began to stare, whispering amidst themselves, asking what was going on with the strange man.

Yuka acted quickly and began moving in front of both Jura and Freed, trying his hardest to grant his friend some sort of protection from prying eyes.

Freed at this point was still a mute. His eyes were wide with something that resembled fear and something else much sadder. Jura was beginning to truly worry for the younger man.

The rune mage was too far gone to notice the Wizard Saint pushing him forward, away from prying eyes and towards their hotel.

All he could take in was the fact that Fairy Tail was here and if he knew Fairy Tail at all, then the guild would be entering the Games. Freed would be forced to face the family that he abandoned. The thing that truly pushed him over the edge however, was knowing that Laxus was somewhere in the city with Evergreen and Bickslow. Having that information was confusing. He didn't know how to feel. Now that he knew that the people that he cared for the most were alive, Freed wanted to rush to them, to tell them how much he missed them, to hug them and never let go.

Another part of him was scared to death.

He wasn't ready to face their ghosts just yet. His mind was still trying to comprehend the fact thatat they weren't dead, that they were alive and well. That he wouldn't wake up tomorrow and realize it was all a dream.

His mind was screaming at him.

Why was he so scared of the idea of them being here? Was it the fact that he had left Fairy Tail in one of its weakest times? The Guild had needed someone there to make sure that it was protected, to make sure it was not forced to go through what it had gone through. During the first year after Tenrou's disappearance that was what Freed had been, but it had been killing him. He needed to leave that guild, get himself out of the self-destructive mindset that being there had placed him in. He was scared, because he knew that when he saw his old team again they would look at him with anger and betrayal. A part of him didn't care though; he knew that he had did what he did to keep himself alive. He changed in the last seven years.

So much so that the people he once called family might not even recognize him.

He was not going to put himself through that pain. He was going to stay with Lamia Scale no matter what. They were his new family; he wasn't going to abandon them. Not like he had in the past.

As he slowly came back to the world around him, he couldn't help but notice the green of a very familiar dress.

As Evergreen pushed through the crowd, familiar, vibrant green hair caught her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought of who could be the owner of such hair.

She tried to look over the sea of moving bodies, just to find even a glimpse of that color again, but with no luck.

Her shoulders fell and with a broken spirit went back to where she knew Laxus and Bickslow were going to be. When she reached the bench she'd left them at, she saw both men arguing quietly with their heads bent over a map.

It was clear that they had no idea how to read it.

"Have you both figured it out yet?" She asked in nothing short of annoyance. This entire trip had made her jumpy. The thought of seeing their Captain again was making her far more than just anxious.

Bickslow took a step back from the map. It was clear that he was glaring at her even with half his face was covered by the mask.

"It's not my fault that Laxus' won't help! He's been distracted ever since he got a whiff of Freed's scent!"

The man in question just crumpled up the map in his hands and turned it to cinders with a high voltage of electricity.

"Don't go saying shit like that when I know you want to see him just as much as I do!"

At that Bickslow let his guard down and he looked sorry for a change. Looking at Laxus he nodded his head in understanding.

"You're right. It's just this whole thing has been putting me on edge." Bickslow admitted.

Evergreen knew where her friend was coming from, so she let them know that she figured out where they were staying. Iit was nice to see her boys relax as they started following her towards their hotel.

It was only a matter of time until they would be able to see their Captain.

The Thunder Legion only hoped that it would be under good terms, and that they wouldn't have to meet in the arena.


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