Chapter 18: Three White Roses
People whispered about the three children who appeared in town. Laxus tried to stay away from idle gossip, but he was curious when hearing people speculate about the white-haired family. Not one member of the group ever seemed fully clean. Dirt covered their cherub faces while their poor attire was always trash worthy. The eldest, the girl who had snapped at him in the street, had gotten a job at the local café even though he knew she wasn't old enough to work yet. She cleaned up rather nicely, but didn't fit in with the well-to-do's that commonly ate there. Although she never let that affect her. If you could watch her work them over, you could almost imagine her just as happy with them as anyone else.
That's what he liked about her, the smile.
She always wore a smile that made the atmosphere dance until her eyes saw him. Then they would cloud up like a dark, turbulent squall. Laxus could tell she was stubborn with every fiber of her being. She wasn't about to let his comment go any time soon.
So he kept his distance, not even inquiring after her name.
Little did Laxus know at the time, fate was about to bring the two together.
The three were actually staying on the edge of Love and Lucky property. One day coming home after buying a new pair of Arabian horses, he crossed onto Love and Lucky property with a fellow handworker, where they witnessed a munchkin dart across the path, barefooted with a tattered pink dress. The child's white hair reminded him so much of the girl he met in town that he that he was sure it was the younger sister.
He did not think much about the little girl at that moment, continuing home.
About a week later, he was riding the border alone when it happened the second time. This time there were two children, a boy and girl, carrying a pillow case. The girl wore the same tattered dress. The two looked guilty enough but he swore he saw a crabapple fall out of the cloth. He then remembered something had been digging up their vegetables and their fruit trees seemed to be under producing.
"Well. Well. I guess a pair of rabbits got into our garden." He mumbled to himself.
Deciding to follow, he tracked the children, noting the trampled grass and shuffled leaves left in their trail. Laxus had the property memorize so he had a good idea where they were headed.
The sensation of moisture and coolness told him they were getting close to the old cow pond fed by a small stream. Sure enough, the foliage started to become less dense and the ground became richer. He could hear the swirling waters. And laughter?
Pausing, he listened very carefully, willing them to speak.
"Come on!" A boy cried. "Be a man."
"But we aren't men, brother," stated a smaller voice.
Unsure if he wanted to approach them or not, he took off his boots to sneak closer. His socks would muffle the noise of the leaves crunching. Using the trees as a shield, he arched his way around the place he heard the children, coming to the south of them. He was able to crawl behind a hill of debris without them noticing him.
Carefully he raised his head to see two children trying to set a campfire out of dried hay and sticks. After a few tries, curls of smoke began to waffle through the air. The little girl gave a shout of joy.
"I told you Elf that we didn't need to be men!"
He watched as the boy pulled on the occasional fish trap. "We don't seem to have much, Lisanna. The traps only caught a couple of fish today."
"But at least we have these crabapples and veggies." The smaller girl, who he guessed was Lisanna, pointed to the bag. The boy frowned.
"That's not enough. It depends on what sister can bring from town."
The children cleaned the fish and set them on sticks to cook. Laxus was wondering if he should introduce himself when he heard a whistling noise. The man turned his head just as a huge hunting knife impaled itself in the wood by his left ear.
"Dang it! I missed." A female voice hollered.
Laxus gulped before holding his hands up. "
Who's there?" He asked gruffly though he recognized the voice. The angelic creature he had met earlier walked into view. Her arms folded, she scowled at him. The blue dress she wore matched her eyes.
"At least your attire is better now."
Finally recognizing him, she rolled her eyes at him, "Oh its you. The rude boy I met in town."
"You are pretty accurate a shot." He complemented, taking the knife out of the tree. Some bark fell with a couple of termites flying away. Both ignored it. She shrugged, walking to him. Clearly, his words did not impress him.
When he held the knife to her, the girl smirked, "What are you saying? If I was truly accurate, you would be dead."
Laxus laughed good and deep. How long had he laughed like that? Probably before his dad had betrayed his family. Before Sting became unmanageable. He noted the brown purse slung over her hsoulder.
"It will take something a lot bigger than you to kill me, darling." He teased.
"You should be careful. Death has a way of hearing random talk. At least, that is what I have heard."
"Speaking of death. You do know this is private property."
"I know. I just don't care. When you are poor, you live one day at a time."
"What's in the bag?"
The girl huffed, "What are you? A lawman?" She pulled out a loaf of bread out of her brown satchel. The other children appeared by that time. The smaller girl squealed running over.
The skinny boy clapped, "That smells delicious."
"It's not much but its only thing I could come up with today. Here take this Elf, while I talk to this stranger."
Laxus frowned. He had heard the girl was going house to house cleaning for spare change in addition to working at the café – whitewashing fences and pulling weeds. She must be trying to support this family.
"Are you going to have us arrested?"
He looked her straight in the eye, "No."
"Good."
The little girl reached up for his hand, "Would you like to eat with us mister?"
"Really? It's not like we are starving?!" The older girl sighed in distress.
As she walked by Laxus stopped her. "What is your name? I would hate to not now the person who hates me. Especially when she's tried to kill me with a knife."
"Mira."
"Mira? What?"
"Mira... Strauss. And these are my siblings, Elfman and Lisanna."
Ignoring him, she moved toward the camp. He followed and watched as she scrapped the partially cooked fish into a bowl. His mouth water at the scent as she rubbed wild onion flowers and garlic before she skewered fish kebobs and sat them to cook once more. He sat really unsure of what to do. He still had his shoes in one hand so he decided to put them on.
The smallest girl sat next to him. When he finished, she climbed into his lab. Mira scolded "Lisanna! Come here to me."
"It's alright." Laxus said.
"Thank you but I don't want my little sister to develop habits of climbing into stranger's laps. You could even be a pervert for all I know." She pointed her hunting knife at him.
"She's right, you know." Laxus eyed Lisanna seriously. "You have to be careful. You are so cute, someone would want to steal you away." He pinched her cheeks and she giggled before running to Mira.
"Lisanna, you aren't three anymore. You are ten. Stop acting like a child."
"But hes so warm Mira and I am cold." She looked pathetically down at her clothes. The mood changed. Everyone grew quiet. Laxus was debating on inviting the three to stay at the ranch. He barely could eat what they offered him from their meager stash - afew wild crabapples, fire roasted fish, and a piece of stale bread - even though it smelled delicious. Laxus felt a pain in his heart at their dirty faces so he decided to take them home to get a good meal.
"Would you mind coming to our ranch?" He finally asked.
"We don't need charity." Mira smarted back leading to a heated argument. Laxus finally made her agree by saying, "But when you have to clothe and feed your siblings, you can't be prideful."
It did not take long for them to gather up their belongings.
When the three entered his home, Sting joked about Laxus picking up strays earning him a sharp right hook to the jaw.
The next day Laxus road into town as the children slept to ask Freed Justine, who had been the school master before Levy, to take the three orphans. The school master had declared it inappropriate to take three children, two of which were female. The two finally decided to room the children with an old man who lacked heirs named Wolfheim. Feeble and alone, the old man needed someone to tend to him plus he had money.
Once Laxus convinced the old geezer, time flew by. The three started attending school. Everything seemed normal. After getting some food and aging Mira began to fill out in her womanly areas. Actually, all of the children began to improve drastically. He supposed he just took more notice of Mira's improvements. Even Elfman began to retain muscle on his skinny body. It wasn't long before Mira started working around the bar. She ended up working both jobs at the cafe and the bar without finishing her schooling, which was common in this time period. Laxus tried to keep an eye on her. He wanted to pulverize every male who looked at her pervertedly. She was only a teenager. There were grown women that worked at the bar. The good thing was Gildart's own daughter was about Mira's age so he was very protective of Mira so Laxus didn't have to worry too much.
He taught her how to sharp shoot and how to use a pistol. He tried to teach Sting as well. Funny thing was Mira was better at sharp shooting while Sting was better at quick drawing.
Within a few months, Laxus managed to hire Elfman on at the ranch as an apprentice. It brought Laxus happiness he had never felt before to see how his actions were doing good for people. They were like three white roses, alone in the wilderness ready to bloom with the littlest of sunlight, water, and food.
Lucy hung on the edge of her seat as she watched Laxus stop to cough. Mira rubbed his shoulder. She moved to Lucy when the girl whispered. "You never told me all this. Even though I have been here for two years."
"This story doesn't have a good ending." Mira hung her head sadly as she hugged Lucy. Turning almost to ask permission, Mira gave Laxus a sour expression. He shrugged not looking happy. Lucy would have been intimidated by that frown.
Mira decided to take over the story then. She moved back to him and squeezed his hand. Nodding, he did not try to talk again.
After a moment to take a deep breath, she began, "One afternoon, a man broke into our house and killed Wolfheim. Elfman was gone to Love and Lucky. This was a few months after he started. Timeframe would be about a year after we met Laxus? Maybe a little more. I was sixteen. Lisanna was the only one home when I got there. School ended before my shift stopped. She always went home alone. I always told her to hide under the bed if anything bad happened while I was gone. Now I am not sure if she followed my words or not. When I walked in the house, I could feel something wrong. There was a smell in the air. Plus this creepy feeling. Do know how your hair stands on ends when you get the shivers? The thought just went through my head when I was attacked. He was waiting for me. This person. He grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth. I couldn't move. His breath was fowl from alcohol He leaned over my shoulder." Mira's hand fisted around Laxus for a second. "I manage to get away by being lucky. At first, my body would not move from terror, but then my mind started working. He positioned himself in a way that I was able to elbow him enough in the gut to push him away. Then I followed it with a punch to his jaw. He wasn't expecting that, especially being drunk. I shot him with Wolfheim's prized pistol before he ran off, not realizing he had taken Lisanna with him. As soon as I realized that, I ran barefooted all the way to Love and Lucky. That's a nine mile trip without shoes across the plains. By the time I got there, my feet looked like ground chuck. They were bleeding, but I didn't stop. I found Elfman and Laxus."
Laxus made a noise of protest. "You don't have to tell this. I will finish it Mira."
"Why am I crying?" She asked brushing away her tears. "Look how weak I am?"
Lucy said, "I don't think you are weak for crying Mira. My mom use to say our hearts are like pitchers. Sometimes we are too full and have to make room for new emotions. You have just been carrying so much for so long that sometimes you have to pour some out."
Mira's smile was watery. "You know Lucy. I still regret not killing that bastard when I had him at gunpoint. If I had to relive that day, I would have definitely killed him, and not wound him. Then I would still have my sister."
Laxus continued waited to see if she was fine before continuing.
As soon as Elfman and Laxus came within view of the ranch, they saw Mira running toward them. She was still holding the gun and when she realized that, she threw it down before running to Elfman. Mira tried to tell him what happened but he could not understand what she was saying.
Laxus tried to get her to stop crying enough to tell them but as soon as he touched her arm, she flinched away. He backed up but before he could get out of her sphere she had leaped on him, sobbing into the neck of his shirt. Eflman stood looking stunned and afraid. Mira was normally the one who took care of them. He had never seen her cry before. "Sis, stop those tears."
"Lisanna is gone." Mira sniffled as Laxus picked her up. He carried her into the house. Her nose was buried in his collar as she recounted her tale between sobs.
"Did he do anything else Mira?" Laxus asked quietly, rubbing her shoulders and looking at how her sleeve was torn. She didn't look like she had been sexually assaulted, but you could never tell.
"He touched me but not bad. I managed to hit him and get away. Then shoot him." She stared at him.
"Did you recognize him?" Elfman asked, running to keep up with Laxus's deep strides.
"Yes. It was one of the new privates at the fort. He wasn't in uniform, but I recognize him from the group that comes into town. He is the only person I know with hair like that. I don't know his name."
When Laxus finally sat her down on the couch, he noticed her feet. "What is wrong with your feet?" His voice as icy cold.
She gazed down at the wounds thoughtfully, finally stopping from crying. "I ran here. I didn't have shoes. I wanted to find you."
"Elfman, see to Mira's feet. I am going to hunt him down and get your sister back."
"Don't you need a better description, Laxus? I think his name may start with a 'S." Mira asked. Worry making her lips quiver.
"I am going back to your house to track him. If I can't find him, I will go to the fort and by God they can help me look. If he's shot and has your sister, he would not dare show up at the fort. So when I see who hasn't reported in, I will know who attacked you. We are going to get Lisanna back."
"I trust you. Make sure he pays dearly, Laxus."
"Don't worry. I will."
But when Laxus returned later that night, he could not bring Mira good news.
Next Chapter: Jinxed
AN: I don't know about this chapter. The switching of POV's might have been weird? Maybe felt a little rushed? It's not finished, yet. Mira and Laxus will continue their flashback next chapter.
In the beginning (17 chapters ago) this story was more or less based around Angel by Lindsey but with Natsu being a lawman instead of gunslinger. Lucy was also living on a fully functioning ranch with family instead of by herself alone damsel in distress in the middle of two feuding families. In the other story, the main girl wanted to be the peacemaker between the two families, but here I want more of a Hatfield/McCoy feud. Soon I want situations to escalate the tension between Lucy's ranch and the other leading to a mini war. As I move away from that plotline and delve into all these fairy tail character's history, I sometimes am at lost for what I want to do with them. Right now I have touched most of the characters a bit. Levy and Juvia are really the only regular characters I have done nothing with, but I have an idea of what I will be doing with Levy in a few chapters. I also haven't brought up Jellal, Erza and Irene in a while. My aim is for both a cattle drive (like in the movie Australia) and also an old fashion corral shootout (Tombstone). Even though I mentioned Gajeel being in prison with Laxus and I had Lyon refer to someone who could be Gray, I have not committed to the idea of bringing either in this story. I will bring Zeref into the story. Also I want to build up Lucy's aversion to being manipulated by people around her to her growing feelings with Natsu. Does her pride win? Does she make the noble decision? What about Natsu? So please stay with me "Until the END." LMAO
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