Here's part two. I hope you all enjoy it. Just to let you know, it has a fist fight and some canon typical violence. Blood is mentioned but it's not graphic at all. Also, I forgot to mention, this should be updated every Sunday and Wednesday throughout december.
As always, thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading. ^.^
Chapter Two: Fighting
Laxus sat unmoving atop a small wooden bench, his face down and gaze held directly on the cobbled pathway below him. He was sitting in the castle's courtyard, on a bench usually used for stable hands when they were taking their breaks, with Evergreen standing in front of him, pacing from side to side. She had been ranting at him for around five minutes now.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had been ranting for about a week.
It had begun when, after his first encounter with his new retainer – Freed, Laxus later found his name was – he had returned to his chambers and to Bickslow and Evergreen. He had tried to keep what had happened to himself but, after enough prodding from his friends, he had confessed to exactly what transpired between him and his grandfather, and then him and his new retainer. When he mentioned the fight that was going to occur with Freed, that was when Bickslow did an overdramatic groan and Evergreen begun her rantings about how stupid he was being.
Most of it had turned to a blur, as it was relentless over the week. Laxus did remember some parts, including Evergreen chastising him for being 'that sensitive he needs to punch someone to prove his ego' and calling him 'a total idiot' who should 'call this off immediately.'
Honestly, Laxus didn't care what she thought about it. Maybe she was right, but it wasn't going to change his opinion that this needed to happen.
Because, despite what apparently everyone seemed to have forgotten, Laxus Dreyar was a prince. He was first in line to the throne. He knew that he was never going to live a normal life, and that he didn't have the freedom to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. That was why he had tolerated Makarov's Magnolia bound rules for as long as he had, because he knew that his status meant responsibility. But there was absolutely nothing in any charter nor rulebook that said he had to sit by and let some cocky fucking knight – a supposedly reformed criminal no less – treat him like shit for his own entertainment.
So yes, maybe Laxus did insist on this fight because he wanted to stroke his own ego and get a little power back on his side. Maybe it was a way to get a small amount of revenge because the man had pissed him off. But he was a fucking prince! He was allowed that if nothing else.
That was how he got to the courtyard, a week having passed, and his injuries healed.
"Do you know what will happen if your grandfather finds out about this?" Evergreen continued, and Laxus made a noise in reply. "Any chance of you leaving this castle for the next year will go; that's the same for me and Bicks too. If you can't leave, we can't leave. We were getting bored of it too; we don't need it anymore. And I'm not being kept here because you can't resist a dick measuring contest."
"You know you could be saying this to your friend," Laxus nearly spat out the word. "He can call it off too."
"We've been trying, but he's just as much a pig-headed moron as you!" Evergreen exclaimed. "And what d'you think Bicks is doing right now?"
At the mention of both Bickslow, Laxus looked across the courtyard to where he and Freed were standing. Freed was wearing the same uniform that he had worn in Makarov's office, though the armour plating his vulnerable body parts as well as his red cloak had been removed; Laxus assumed it was to make their fight fair. That was fine with Laxus; as Freed had said, when neither had an excuse to fall back on it would make victory feel even better. And Laxus would be victorious.
Freed was leaning against a wall, while Bickslow animatedly spoke to him. When Laxus focused on the two, he could hear a small snippet of their conversation. Bickslow was trying to remind Freed that Laxus is a prince and that you don't punch princes in the face. Freed replied calmly that, if Laxus had never been punched before, then it would be fun to see his reaction as to what it felt like.
He was wearing this fucking smirk too. It made Laxus bubble in anger.
"I mean for god's sake Laxus, why do you-"
"Why didn't you say that you and Bickslow were part of the rehabilitation program?" Laxus cut Evergreen off, looking up at her with a small glare. Evergreen wore an expression of shock; Laxus had managed to keep this information to himself up until now. But he was angry, and this needed to be said.
"How do you know about that?" Ever asked after taking a moment to think.
"The bastard told me. To fuck with my head," Laxus shot a glare to Freed for a second. "Why didn't you say, Evergreen?"
"We didn't think it was important," Ever said, voice a little defensive. "Do you think it's important?"
"The fact that my two guards have been lying to me for years? Yeah, I think that's kind of fucking important."
"Oh yeah, remember all those times we just mentioned how we were never criminals. I don't think a day went by when we didn't mention it," Evergreen spat. "You wanna know why we didn't tell you? It's because we saw how you treated everyone else on the program and couldn't be bothered to deal with you doing that with us," Ever looked across the courtyard again. "And when this fight is done and you've got all this ego crap out of your system, you can apologise to us."
Laxus paused for a moment. "Whatever. Tell him I'm ready whenever he is."
Without a reply, Evergreen walked from beside the stable and towards the wall that Freed was leaning against. Laxus watched as she approached, the three of them conversed – Laxus couldn't help but be reminded that they were somehow friends without him even knowing of Freed's existence – and then Freed pushed himself off from the wall and towards the clearing where their fight would take place. Laxus stood up as well, walking to meet Freed in the middle.
It was just the two of them in the centre of the courtyard now, with Ever and Bickslow on the bench Laxus had just left. The two men looked at each other, not exactly staring each other down but neither showing any amount of fear or respect to the other.
"We start on the count of three?" Freed offered in suggestion, voice calm. Annoyingly so.
"Sure," Laxus shrugged, face still a glare. "Three. Two. One."
It might have been a somewhat cheap tactic to start the countdown without warning, but Laxus didn't care. The moment he finished, his fist shot forward, aiming for Freed's jaw. Freed, obviously having quick reflexes, shunted himself to the side to avoid it.
That was fine, Laxus expected his first his to miss, and quickly followed it with a punch delivered directly to the other man's stomach. Freed hunched over slightly but didn't lose his fighting stance.
Adrenaline rushing through him, Laxus tried to land a flurry of attacks. If he could wear the man down while the fight had just begun then even when he started to tire out, assuming the fight lasted that long, he would still have something of an advantage.
Freed was forced to be defensive now, ducking back and dodging hits whenever they flew his way. Laxus say how quickly the man's eyes moved and how he was calculating exactly where he was backing into, and it was obvious that he wasn't going to allow himself to be backed into a corner. That was fine, nowhere in Laxus' plan had he intended to get him against a wall; though he wouldn't lie, it would have been pretty satisfying if that did happen.
However, Freed wasn't as defensive as Laxus expected. After a slight stumble from a further punch that was dodged, Laxus found Freed's foot slam into his shin with vicious strength, and Laxus' balance was worsened because of it.
Just as Laxus tried to regain his footing, a fist came from the side and cracked against his nose.
Laxus had been punched before – most recently as part of the failed kidnapping against him – but this was probably the worst he had experienced. Punching was never part of his swordsman training, and only occurred when he was attacked. If someone resulted in punching him while attacking, something had gone wrong for them and they were clearly unprepared. But Freed, evidentially, knew how to properly throw a punch. Because it fucking hurt.
Staggering back slightly, Laxus allowed himself a moment to be dazed. He knew this was a mistake when Freed stepped forward again and slammed the same fist into Laxus' stomach.
Rather than a continuation of an attack, which he expected, Laxus felt nothing. He looked up to see Freed panting slightly, and Laxus guessed that maybe his original punch had affected the retainer more than he first thought. Even though he, too, would have wanted to take a few seconds to recover, Laxus shot forward and barged his shoulder into Freed's chest.
Winded, Freed wasn't able to dodge the attack and took it face on. He let out a grunt of pain that was music to Laxus' ears.
The satisfaction was short-lived, however, as when pushing Freed forward he had pinned him against a nearby oak tree. Freed used this to his advantage, grabbing Laxus' hair and slamming his head into the edge of a knothole that jutted out to the side of him. Freed then pushed Laxus off of him.
Laxus brought a hand to where his head hat hit the tree, thankfully there was no blood. He went to turn around to confront Freed again, but a sharp pain ran down his leg. Freed had kicked him again, apparently on a pressure point.
He couldn't fight it, so Laxus let himself crumple slightly at the attack. He then felt himself being pushed against the tree, a hand on the back of his head forcing him into the bark while another grabbed his arm and restrained it behind him. He was almost certain Freed was pushing his face against the rough tree trunk out so harshly of pettiness.
With nothing else to do, Laxus started to ram his left elbow against Freed as best he could. He hit time after time, though didn't know where on the other man's body he was making contact with. The sixth almost helpless elbow must have had some force behind it, as Freed let out an almost guttural groan, released Laxus from the hold and staggered back a few paced. Laxus silently grinned, hoping maybe he'd hit the bastard's balls; it would be no more than he deserved.
When he turned around, the first thing he did was deliver a sharp shove against Freed's chest to get some distance between them both. He noticed Freed was breathing heavily again, and the blonde's grin got wider.
"Tired?" He taunted. "If you are, might as well leave now. Keeping up with me just walking is more exhausting that this?"
"Perhaps," Freed nodded, voice as haggard as Laxus expected his own to be. "I expect you'll have a lot of experience moving fast. Lots of running away I imagine."
With gritted teeth and a refreshed sense of anger, Laxus sprung forward. He grabbed the collar of Freed's uniform and dragged him forward, slamming his fist into the man's jaw and delighting in the painful sensation that ran from his fist and up his arms. If he felt that sting, he could only imagine what Freed was feeling.
After taking a second to recover, the retainer attempted to land another punch on Laxus' face. The blonde blocked this by raising an arm, forcing Freed's arm back. This allowed the man to slam his knee into Laxus' stomach again, which was starting to churn after the roughness it had endured.
More attempts at punching one another occurred, some successful while others not. Freed also attempted what could be described as more complex moves, such as kicking and aiming for pressure points on the blonde rather than punching as hard as he could, which was Laxus' main tactic. In fairness to himself, even with a less than stellar plan in mind Laxus had fucked Freed's face up pretty bad. The bleeding nose was amazing to see on his smug fucking features.
It seemed to take an age before the relentlessness of the fight wore off, and both men took a moment to catch their breath; though neither let their stance loosen or become any less defensive. As they stood, Laxus caught sight of a young boy who worked for the castle – Romeo – running towards Bickslow and whisper something in his hear.
Freed sprung towards Laxus before he could wonder what had been said.
As they began to fight again, they were sloppier than before, both in their reflexes and in the viciousness of their attacks. Their moves were slower and less aggressive, and Laxus felt his endorphins pushing him less and less. He couldn't focus on this, however, as a fist was flying towards his jaw.
Neither man had any idea how long the fight had been going on for – Laxus had felt time both dragging and rushing forward simultaneously – and they both felt as though they were in something of a bubble. This was broken when, after listening to whatever Romeo had to say to him, Bickslow ran up towards them both, with Evergreen quickly following behind him. The two fighting men only paid attention to their friends when Bickslow pushed his way in between them both and shoved them apart.
"You need to stop, like, right now. His highness just left the office and is looking for you," He said quickly to Laxus. "This fight isn't going anywhere other than both of you ending up in Porlyusica's office in a fuck ton of trouble. So it'll be a hell of a lot easier if you both give in and go back to your chambers. I can make up some bullshit about you being sick to Makarov and wanting to be left alone, and he won't need to know."
Laxus, still in the mood for a fight, thought for a moment, then turned to Freed and sneered. "Just one more punch."
"That all you've got left, your highness?" Freed spat his title like a slut, and Laxus tried to take a step towards him before being firmly pushed back by Bickslow.
"You need to stop," Evergreen said with authority. Laxus was shocked to see that she was using that tone on Freed, rather than him. "Seriously, you need to stop this now."
This, apparently, struck some sort of a chord with Freed, and he seemed to lower his aggressive stance somewhat. He turned on his heel – in a way similar to how he had when leaving Laxus in the corridor – and started to walk away. Laxus frowned at this, wondering what had gone over his head in Evergreen's statement, because there was definitely something. Some kind of weight was held in those words that he couldn't understand.
Before Freed left the courtyard completely, he spoke again. It was in a loud voice so obviously meant to be heard, but he didn't look back. "You're a better fighter than I expected. I'm impressed."
Despite himself, Laxus smirked at the compliment.
"And you," Evergreen turned to Laxus after a moment. "If you think your grandfather will let this go, you're wrong. The reason you're being punished is because he thinks you're a brat who takes risks. Right now, he is right. So go back to your chambers, get Bickslow to heal you up as much as he can, and take a few days to recover or all four of us are going to be stuck here for months. And I really cannot deal with that, so go."
Evergreen's words left no room for argument, and Laxus nodded slightly. He didn't exactly want to spend any more time in the castle than needed either.
As he nodded, he felt the adrenaline roll out of him, and came to the conclusion that Ever had been right about his reason for wanting to fight as well. It had just been a matter of ego and now – after getting some pretty satisfying punches on the man – he felt himself calming. He still didn't like Freed, but perhaps he could coexist with him. He would be a necessary evil, if nothing else.
After taking a few moments to fully catch his breath and realising that he was covered in sweat and his hair was sticking to his head, he looked towards Evergreen again. His expression lacked the ego that he had shown when looking at Freed.
"Thanks," He said softly. "And I'm sorry."
"I know you are," Evergreen nodded.
"No, seriously. Both of you," He looked to Bickslow. "It's shitty that you felt like you had to hide something from me, and I shouldn't have pushed you into feeling like that. Whatever happened, it ain't all that there is to you but, I'm glad I know now. Even if I only know because some asshole told me so he could fuck with my head."
"Don't sweat it, Blondie," Bickslow grinned. "So, you open minded enough to try and be friends with Freedy?"
Laxus laughed at that. "Don't think I'm gonna get past tolerating the bastard. But that's all I need to do, tolerate the fucker."
"Suppose so," Bickslow laughed, and Evergreen shot them a glare.
"You two really need to go," She insisted with a hiss. "Now."
Bickslow chuckled and wrapped an arm around Laxus' shoulders, sending a small amount of his healing magic into Laxus' body, though not as much as he would if they were maintaining eye contact. Laxus smiled a little as the warming magic flowed through him and started to knit some of his lesser wounds together.
"You ain't gonna heal him, right?" Laxus asked, slightly joking.
"Afraid I have to. He's part of the team and that means I gotta look after him," Bickslow cackled. "Nice day for me, really. Intimate eye contact with two handsome men all roughed up. It's basically Christmas," Laxus chuckled, and nearly pushed Bickslow off him for his stupid joke. "Good looks aren't the only things you've got in common; you know."
"Yeah? What else?"
"Wow, not denying you that either of you look good huh?" Bickslow grinned. "And what you've got in common is that you're both massive assholes who need to calm the fuck down and stop being so dramatic about pointless shit," Bickslow smirked at Laxus' glare. "Seriously, I bet you'd get along if you stopped this whole alpha dog bullcrap. You might even become friends with him like you did with me and Ever."
"Sure we might," Laxus laughed sarcastically. "He's a smug motherfucker who's disrespectful and treats royalty like shit. Definitely going to become friends with him."
Bickslow didn't say anything, just smiled as he walked the prince back to his chambers.