"Laxus, have you still got his scent?" Mira asked anxiously.
Laxus quickly sniffed the air and observed his surroundings.
"The scent is still pretty fresh, so we should be good till we find the Raven Tail base." Laxus said with great focus and determination.
At the moment he, Mira, Bixlow, and Makarov were standing just outside of Magnolia. They were following Daimon's scent in the hopes of finding the little tyke and the rest of Raven Tail. All four were unsure of where the dark guilds main base was but had faith in their dragon slayers tracking ability.
"I swear if I get my hands on that psychopath I'll make him bleed for every bit of damage he and his cronies did to Lisanna!" Bixlow growled angered by his wife's current state.
"Oh Ivan will pay for his actions, you can count on that! I'll make sure that fool never messes with my family again!" Makarov bellowed as he boiled with pure rage over his son's heartless actions.
"Smells like they went East towards the mountains." Laxus stated as he then began to move forwards.
Everyone else followed him but they were all silent as the grave. This was how they had been since the start of their journey, whether from grief, anger, or worry it didn't matter, no one had the heart to speak. So for a long while they remained that way, everyone keeping to themselves besides Mira, who stood close to her husband. Laxus didn't say anything about it recognizing his wife needed him close and while he didn't say it out loud, he felt the same.
The silence continued till they stopped to rest for a few moments. They rested by a small lake where they ate, though not very much, and let their feet take a break. Laxus and Mira sat by one another, Mira leaning her head on Laxus's shoulder as he put his arm around her to comfort her the best he could.
"Laxus I want him back." Mira said with a deep sadness in her voice.
"I know, I do too." Laxus admired as he drew his grieving wife in close.
"Why? Why would a man as terrible as your father want our baby, out innocent little boy. And why now after all these years, how did he even know about Daimon? He's never even met him once!" Mira sobbed devastated but the loss of her son.
"I wish I could tell you, he's been a bastard to me my entire life, I wouldn't expect him to be any better to his own grandson." Laxus said as he lovingly stroked his wife's long white hair.
"I'm not going to just stand by and let him do whatever it is he wants with our child. I will not lose my family again, so Ivan better prepare to pay for his actions!" Mira said as she clenched her fists, getting visibly angrier.
For a moment Mira stewed in her anger, but Laxus then took both her hands in his and looked into Mira's eyes.
"And I will be right by your side, my bastard father isn't going to get away with this not by a long shot."
Together the couple looked at eachother and felt their desire to get back their son only grow stronger. They were going to bring their boy back home and no one was going to kidnap him or harm him again.
"Laxus, Mira! We have to get going!" Bixlow called out to the couple urgently.
"Yes, the longer Daimon is with Ivan, the more danger he will be in. I don't know what that mad man is planning but whatever it is, it can't be good." Makarov agreed as he stood and followed.
Mira and Laxus simply nodded and took the lead of their little group. Both of them knowing they had no time to waste as long as their precious son was in the clutches of their enemy.
Raven Tail base
In a hallway that led to the Raven Tail lab Ivan, Nullpudding, Kurohebi, and Obra walked down confidently.
"I can't wait to see that brat suffer, it'll be good payback for our earlier face off." Nullpudding said with a wicked snear.
"You mean the fight where you lost to a toddler!" Kurohebi jeered with a taunting chuckle.
"Shut up Kurohebi, don't forget you lost to the ankle biter as well." Nullpudding retorted saltily.
"Kurohebi, Nullpudding will both of you shut up! I do not want to hear your incessant bickering! We have more important things to turn our attention to." Ivan barked loudly without even looking at the two men.
Immediately Kurohebi and Nullpudding shut up, both knowing better than to disobey their guild master. So they walked the rest of the way to the lab in silence, no one daring to speak up. Once they reached the lab they entered to find it very busy with a large group of people typing using archive magic, except for one.
One woman stood by the tube that held an exhausted Daimon who was passed out on the floor looking worse for wear. This woman happend to be none other than the infamous and calculating wizard herself Daphne. At the moment she was observing and recording her observations, a signature stick of her Metamo-chan in her mouth. However she quickly noticed the presence of her master and turned to face him, as well as took the Metamo-chan out of her mouth.
"Ah Master Ivan I see you have come to check on our progress." Daphne said in her usual confident air.
"Yes my dear girl, now how is progress on our little project?"
"We are already prepared for our first test run! I thought dragon slayer energy was powerful but this little boys is far beyond that! The lightning dragon lacrima energy and bane particles combined reproduce magic energy at such a rapid rate that one amplified blast of it could destroy the surrounding area an entire city!" Daphne said full of excitement and intrigue.
As Daphne continued on with her rambling Daimon began to slowly wake up. His eyes heavily opened and everything seemed very hazy at first. But eventually his vision cleared up and he saw the main crew of the Raven Tail guild before his eyes. As he saw them Daimon felt a mix of pain, fatigue, and fear for what was next in store for him. Then much to his horror Ivan noticed his eyes were open and smiled maliciously.
"Well good morning little one, I see you're at last awake." Ivan said very condescendingly.
"Pwe..pweas let me goes! I wan my mommy an daddy." Daimon weakly pleaded as he barely managed to stand on his knees.
"Ah but I'm afraid we have many more tests we need to do on you. In fact today we're going to test a special weapon with your magic today." Ivan taunted with a light and cruel chuckle.
"Pweas..it huwts so bad, I's so tiwed!" Daimon said on the verge of tears, having already endured the experiments for half a day.
"I'm afraid not little magic boy, I have many plans and every single one of them requires your energy source of magic. So toughen up little pipesqueak, because you aren't going to stop until Daphne says so! Start up the weapon!" Daphne yelled as she turned around, feeling absolutely no remorse for her cruelty towards the child that was very much a baby still.
"Yes Miss Daphne!" The other men working on the weapon said in unison.
"If you'd gentleman come over here to the window I will show you our progress." Daphne said as she walked over to an opening in the lab.
The other Raven Tail members followed behind all of them excited to see the destruction of their new weapon. Meanwhile Daimon sat and cried in his tube, missing his mother and father in every way possible.
"You see that mountain gentleman, we're going to aim our little weapon right at it and you'll see it blown up to smithereens! Men are you almost in position?"
"Yes Miss Daphne, start up process at 65%!" One man answered confidently.
As the men operated the weapon a large cannon like machine began to extend out of the top of the base. It had a very long nozzle and it was quite noisy as it moved about.
"Aiming weapon for Mt Helena!"
"Processing stored magic power!"
"Beginning magic extraction process!"
Suddenly Daimon's tube began to glow again causing Daimon to start tearing up and brace himself for the intense pain heading for him. Then much to his suffering his little body started to glow and pain shot all throughout him. The little boy screamed as usual, feeling as if every nerve in his body was a blaze, but no one heard it due to the silencing function of the tube.
"Target locked prepare blast!"
"Blast commencing in 5..4..3..2..1, fire!"
With the startup completed the men running the machine blasted a bright ray of golden light. As the ray shined across its trajectory all who observed it were in awe of its power. It sparked and glee as bright as the sun as it flew like a speeding train. Eventually with a great boom the ray of pure magic energy hit the mountain. It created a great reverberation of sound that echoed for miles and was followed by a thick cloud of smoke covering the targeted area.
For a moment all was silent, no one moved, no one spoke, just quiet. That was until the dust settled to reveal the mountain cut down to a fourth of its original size. At the sight of this the other Raven Tail members appeared shocked, unable to believe such a weapon was in their possession. However Ivan had nothing but a long and malicious smile on his face.
"So do you approve of our progress Master Ivan?" Daphne asked as she then stuck her stick of Metamo-Chan back in her mouth.
Ivan looked over to Daphne, his malicious smile still present on his face.
"Yes my dear, quite pleased, with this machine Fairy Tail and that wretched little town around it will be destroyed. And not only that but with a weapon like this and a human battery like my grandson in our hands we will rule all of Fiore! How much longer before it's at optimal functioning power?"
"I can have it finished by tomorrow at sunset." Daphne said cockily with the Metamo-Chan still in her mouth.
"Excellent." Ivan said as he turned and walked towards his Grandson
As he did so Ivan saw how Daimon had collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily, his clothes torn up and ruined. However he felt no pity nor compassion, for he didn't see his grandson as a human but no more than a power source, an object to be used.
"You have served me well, little one, and I have confidence this will help you in the end. After all now with that endless magic energy of yours being put to use, you'll never have to experience one of those painful little episodes again, how lucky you are!" Ivan laughed as he then turned once more, leaving the room with his lackeys and Daimon to suffer as he was harvested like a mill for magic energy.
Earlier Outside of the Raven Tail Base
All seemed normal as the small faction of Fairy Tail traveled through the forest they had come to on their journey. Luckily Laxus still managed to keep his son's scent and followed it the best he could, sometimes having to stop to get a stronger whiff of it. This was the state they were currently in as they came to a large river that went right through the path they were taking.
"Any luck yet?" Makarov asked nervously.
"I've got something, but I can't really tell where it's coming from." Laxus said, feeling very stressed.
"Maybe I could fly you over the river and you'd get a stronger scent!" Mira suggested desperately.
"No it's leaving, I'm losing the scent!"
"Oh no! Bixlow, is there anything you can do?!" Mira asked in pure desperation as the fear of losing her child filled her heart.
"I'm sorry I can't, if I can see into his eyes, there's nothing I can do." Bixlow said feeling absolutely useless to the mission.
"Gramps maybe you could go giant and see if we're close at all!" Laxus begged his grandfather.
"I would but if we are close and Ivan were to see, it could put Daimon's life in danger." Makarov said regretfully, wanting to in all honesty go into giant mode and smash Ivan into a bloody pulp.
Laxus was then about to respond when a great burst of sound suddenly interrupted everyone's thoughts. Everything suddenly began to shake and tremble causing the little group to fall to their knees. For what seemed like forever everything was quiet as a fog of dust covered where they were. Eventually everyone opened their eyes and looked up only to be filled with horror as they saw half the mountain that had once loomed over them gone.
"The mountain.." Bixlow started to stay but was too shocked to finish his sentence.
"It's entirely gone." Mira managed to finish.
As the group took in the absolute shock they were feeling Laxus's nose started burning intensely.
"What, how can this… what's going on?" Laxus said as he smelled around frantically.
"Laxus's what are you doing?" Makarov asked, confused by his grandson's actions.
"I smell Daimon super strongly all the sudden!" Laxus said dismayed by his own senses.
"What where?!" Mira asked her heart, beating quickly with hope and fear.
"It smells so strong I can barely trace it but…the most I can make of it is that it's coming from that mountain!"
"The mountain, but just a moment ago you said you were barely holding on to it." Bixlow stated, now equally confused by his brother-in-law.
"I know but after that blast it was like his scent was suddenly poured over everything."
"Wait a minute, Laxus if you started to smell him after that blast? You don't think…" Mira started to say before the horror of her very thoughts consumed her mind with pure fear.
Laxus was unsure of where his wife was going till the state of their son's condition suddenly returned to his mind.
"No they couldn't...they wouldn't… but how?" Laxus's said as he began to freak out.
"What are you two going on about, explain yourselves!?" Makarov asked, full of anxiety and worry.
"My no good father tried to harvest me for my magic power, who's to say that he won't try to do the same to…" Laxus said as his fist clenched tighter and tighter, his rage threatening to blow up.
Makarov and Bixlow's eyes grew as wide as possible, both realizing what the Dreyar couple was implying.
"No, that idiot, of all the things he could do! Using a child to power a weapon, and in the poor boys state it could kill him!" Makarov said, allowed and full of anger.
Mira immediately broke down in tears, falling to her knees as she cupped her face on her hands. She sniffed as she sobbed over the terrible revelation, fearing her son could be killed at any moment by her estranged father-in-law's cruel and unethical actions. However Laxus quickly came over to her and wrapped his strong arms around her and kneeled by her side. For a moment he just comforted her, as tears leaked from his grey eyes, and then he spoke up.
"Mira we can't give up, he's not gone yet. As long as that weapon works we can have hope. I promised you we'll rescue him and that's what we're gonna do!" Laxus said as he held his wife as tightly as possible.
Mira nodded and wiped her eyes as best as she could.
"You're right, no more tears! I'll save our baby and I'll destroy Ivan at the same time too!" Mira said as she choked on her own tears.
"Make sure you leave enough for me. But first we have to find him, do you think you can fly up?" Laxus asked, trying to put both his feelings to the side for the time being.
"Yeah, I'll see if I can see Raven Tail base." Mira said as she bucked up her courage and realized tears got her nowhere.
She then stood and transformed into her She-Devil form flying like a wicked wind into the air. Eventually as she got high enough in the sky and saw Raven Tail's base lying a few miles to the left of where the group was. After gathering enough information Mira flew back down, returned to her normal form, and relayed what she saw.
"It's a few miles to the right of us, it looks like it could take us at least half the day to travel. Especially if we don't want to be seen."
"Alright, we'll have to move quickly then, our boy's counting on us to bring him back home." Laxus said as he took Mira's hand in his.
Mira nodded and moved quickly, all while leading her husband and extended family towards the direction they needed to go. But little did the group know their
journey had hardly begun.