"The worst thing in the world is watching someone you love suffer in pain when there is nothing nothing you can do to stop it."
-Vanessa Wilholt
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Laxus POV
The dark guild was ten times stronger than we'd anticipated. When we reached them, our expectations were pretty low. After all, these guys sounded like thieving lowlifes who spent all their time stealing because it was the easiest crime to commit. But they turned out to be a legitimate dark guild with legitimately powerful wizards. It wasn't an S-Class job for no damn reason. But fortunately, we were S-Class wizards.
Bickslow's dolls had completely ransacked the guild's tall black building, chewing holes in the walls, smashing every window, and destroying everything and everyone inside. It was a very effective attack, because it drew all thirty of the dark guild members out. And boy, were they angry!
I leapt out of the way as the ground where I had been standing a second ago exploded, dirt erupting from the new crater in the earth. I could feel the heat of the explosion from here, it made my skin burn uncomfortably.
I growled low in my throat as the fire mage approached me. She was a dark guild member, with the ability to cause explosions wherever she pleased. She was clad in red and orange robes, and her hair was a dirty brown color. All in all, she wasn't very attractive at all, but man was she dangerous.
"Maybe you should've thought twice before attacking our guild, bastard." she taunted.
I smirked. "Maybe you should've thought twice before assuming you're too much for me to handle."
I called upon my magic, and it responded. Electricity crackled all along my body, yellow and white bolts jumping off my skin and sparking in the air. The fire mage's eyes widened slightly when she saw it.
"Y-You're Laxus Dreyar..!" she exclaimed, shocked out of her wits.
"Seems my reputation has been spreading around lately." I took a few steps closer, she took a few steps back. "What's the matter? Weren't you all big and tough just a moment ago? I'm not even the captain of the Thunder Legion and you're already quaking in your boots."
Freed was the captain of the Thunder Legion, I was the lightning. But even so, Freed was ten times scarier than I was, especially when he used his Dark Ericiture magic.
Suddenly the fire mage's face contorted into a defiant glare. She really was ugly. "If that's the case... This shouldn't be a problem at all and I'll return to my guild that your Marionette wizard so kindly destroyed with your head on a silver platter."
"I'd like to see you try." I called forth a bolt of lightning from the sky, but she saw it coming and sprang to one side right as it hit the ground with a deafening clap of thunder.
"Yaaaaa!" she screamed, tackling me as a chain of explosions followed her every step.
Her arms wrapped around my neck and she drove me to my knees, punching me in the jaw. I'll admit, she was pretty strong because that kinda hurt, but she wasn't strong enough. As she readied another explosion, I grinned sloppily at her.
"Did nobody tell you that you should never, under any circumstances, touch a thunder dragon slayer?" I snapped my fingers, and she shrieked in agony as her entire body became a conduit for an electricity surge I summoned from the ground.
She collapsed into a heap in the grass, muscles twitching and spazzing uncontrollably, moaning in pain. I dusted myself off and whirled around to face the next enemy. It was a tall, lanky guy with greasy black hair plastered to his neck and disgustingly pale skin. He grinned at me with black, crooked teeth and suddenly an icicle spear flew right at me, nearly skewering me like a fish. A well-placed lightning bolt shattered the spear. I had sparred with Gray Fullbuster enough to know how to quickly and effectively dispatch ice mages.
With a hiss of outrage, the skinny guy fired another spear at me. Once again, I handled it easily. Was that the only trick he had up his sleeve? Damn, this guy was weak. He was nothing like Gray, who could make pretty much anything out of ice and turn it against you.
I took care of the wannabe ice mage with a quick flash of lightning. It was almost insultingly easy.
"Laxus! Watch out!" Freed's familiar voice shouted, from where he was engaged in a heated sword duel with a card magic-user.
I turned around to face the danger, just in time to see the flashing silver blur of a dagger that had been flung right at me. I raised my hand to shoot electricity at it and knock it off its trajectory but I was too slow. It was about to hit me square in the chest. I braced for the horrible bite of steel in my flesh, but none came. There was a metallic clang, and I realized the knife had stopped dead in the air. It was being held up by a series of flashing purple runes.
I glanced over my shoulder at Freed. He was still tangling with the card magic guy, but he had somehow managed to construct a rune barrier around me without being anywhere near me. I whistled in admiration. His sword was a blur of motion as he slashed left and right, gracefully battering down his opponent's defenses with ease. It was like a dance, an elegant dance of death.
I had let my guard down, admittedly so. Whoever had thrown the dagger at me the first time had more knives, and Freed's rune barrier had disappeared because he thought I was aware of the danger now.
Suddenly bright, stinging pain flared up in my left thigh. I let out a bellow of agony and went down, hard. I landed on my shoulder, which screamed in protest as I hit the ground. The hilt of a knife protrudes from the side of my thigh, the sharp steel buried deep in my flesh. Already, a dark starburst of blood was blooming around the hilt, staining my khaki pants.
"Laxus!" Freed shouted, voice high-pitched with panic. He made quick work of the card magic guy, slicing him to ribbons, before running over to me, jade hair streaming out behind him. "Are you alright? Oh, Jesus Christ, who did that to you?" his whole expression darkened when he saw the knife in my leg.
Weakly, I gestured to the tall, beefy guy several yards away that was using metal magic to control his knives with his mind. "I'm alright, it didn't go in that deep." I reassured, wincing as Freed's fingers brushed across the hilt of the knife. "It just hurts, really fucking badly."
Freed rose to his feet, shaking with anger. Purple runes flickered around his fingers, circling his palms. He was pissed. His right eye, which was usually concealed beneath his bangs, had turned a swirling neon purple color, and the white of his eye had turned obsidian black. It was terrifying. Dark Ericiture Freed was back, and he was more angry than I had ever seen him in my life. The knife-weilder grinned and cocked his arm back to throw a dagger at the rune mage.
With a scream of absolute rage, Freed sprang at him, hands flying in elegant, frantic motions as he drew a complicated series of runes in the air, too fast for my eyes to follow.
"You hurt my Laxus! You're gonna fucking pay for this!" Freed shrieked, slamming into the knife-weilder with such speed and ferocity I heard bones cracking and fracturing.
Oh damn. Freed just said a swear word. He's really fucking mad. My heart dropped into my stomach.
The knife-weilder grunted in pain and staggered back, but recovered quickly and drew his arm back to exchange blows with Freed. His hand slapped into an invisible wall. But it wasn't invisible anymore. A solid wall of angrily flickering purple runes appeared, surrounding the guy.
"Dark Ericiture: Detonation!" Freed shouted, quickly drawing out a small set of runes and launching them at the massive rune wall.
As soon as the two rune sets collided, the knife-weilder within the wall of runes gave out one last scream of agony as he exploded. That's exactly what happened. He simply exploded. Flesh and bone fragments flew everywhere, mixed with massive amounts of blood. A dying scream of pain lingered in the air. All that was left of the knife-weilder was a smear of blood, gore, skin tissue and brain matter splattered on the ground where he'd been standing a moment ago. The rune wall had vanished, as well as the small set of runes that had caused him to go up in flames like that.
My eyes were wide with shock and horror. Freed was capable of some pretty scary shit. No, that was more than scary. That was mind-numbingly terrifying.
Now that Freed was over his little angry rush, his eyes had widened to the size of little moons set into his face. He clapped his hands over his mouth, all the color draining from his face, as he realized what he'd just done. I felt a pang of sympathy. He scared himself sometimes, with how terrifyingly powerful he was.
He turned slowly and started walking back to me, eyes sparkling with tears. "A-Are you alri-..?" he started to ask, but he wasn't able to finish his sentence.
The dark guild members weren't so happy to see one of their comrades explode. So two of them rushed Freed. My eyes widened as the little rune mage was suddenly forced back against a wall. He drew his sword and started fending them off viciously. I started struggling to get up. He was outnumbered and freaking out. There was no way he'd survive that. I had to help him. Right as electricity began flickering between my fingers, right as I managed to get to my feet, something absolutely horrible happened.
I've never been able to get it out of my head, it still haunts me to this day.
One of the taller, more powerful mages managed to pin Freed's sword arm up against the stone wall behind him. Before he could struggle, the other mage brought down a heavy hammer on Freed's hand, crushing it into the wall. There was the horrible sound of tendons snapping, bones fracturing, wrist breaking. My eyes went so wide I feared they'd pop right out of my skull.
Freed's scream of absolute excruciating agony seemed to come from everywhere at once, so loud and high-pitched I feared my ears would start bleeding.
"Oh my god!" I shouted. "Freed!"
I rushed forward to help him, injury suddenly forgotten amidst the shot of adrenaline coursing through my veins right now. Freed's scream ended in a wailing sob of pain, and he sank to his knees, clutching his wrist, which was bent at an awkward angle, betraying the fact it was broken. Lightning crackled in the air over my head as I fired several electricity bolts at the two mages cornering Freed, being careful not to hit my injured partner on accident. He was already in enough pain as it was.
I made quick work of those two idiots who had dared to hurt my Freed. They tried to fight back, but couldn't once they had a strong dose of my electricity coursing through their veins.
"Oh no... No... Freed..." I whispered, as I slowly sank to my knees in front of the broken rune mage. There was blood everywhere.
Freed had curled into a little ball, knees drawn up to his chest, sobbing so hard he couldn't breathe. His whole face was contorted into a horrible expression of pain. His hand, which he was clutching so tightly his knuckles were turning white, was a bloody, mangled mess. His fingers were bent at all the wrong angles, every single one of them broken. His palm and the back of his hand were torn to shreds. Loose strips of skin hanging off the torn flesh. Blood, so much blood...
Oh god... He may never be able to use his left hand again... I thought, as I tentatively crept closer.
"Freed? Oh goodness, what did they do to you? Jesus fucking Christ. I'm so sorry." I murmured, watching with wide eyes as blood dripped off his mangled flesh and spattered on the ground. Tears were streaming down his face, he didn't even look at me. "Dammit... Hey, look at me, it's okay, shhh..." I lowered my voice so it was gentle and soothing, reaching out and slipping my arms around his trembling shoulders. He was shaking so hard. "I need to bandage your hand so you don't bleed out. But this might hurt really badly. I need you to be brave for me, okay?"
I went to work, tearing off my sleeve and taking Freed's injured wrist. He cried out as soon as I touched the swollen, bruised skin. I shook my head and pulled him closer, whispering soft reassurances into his hair as I carefully wrapped the makeshift bandage around his injured hand. He whispered as the cloth touched the broken skin, and screamed when I tightened the bandage.
"Shit. I'm really sorry, but this is gonna have to hurt. Oh, you poor thing, I wish I could've prevented this..." I hated seeing him in so much pain, and knowing that I couldn't do anything to help.
I tore off my other sleeve and wrapped it around the one I had already tied off. The less blood that managed to escape, the better. I was fully aware that what I was doing was only causing him even more pain, and I hated myself for hurting him, but I really didn't want him to bleed to death. Finally, the tedious process was over and I could pick him up. I gently guided his shaking limbs so his hands were resting on his chest. It would be easier to carry him that way.
"Come on, let's get you out of here." I pulled him closer, sliding my arms under his legs so I could scoop him up.
He let out a weak, strangled whimper of pain. "I-It hurts!" he cried.
"I know, I'm so sorry." I cradled his body to my chest and started running, being careful not to jostle him too much. "It's gonna be alright, Freed. You're gonna be okay. Let's find Evergreen and Bickslow and let's get out of here."
It only took me a moment to locate our other teammates. They had finished off most of the dark guild members, the last few were running scared. Evergreen was picking them off one by one from the air, reinforced and protected by Bickslow's dolls, which circled her like a flock of angry birds.
"Guys! We have to go!" I shouted at them.
"HOLY SHIT!" Bix roared, once he saw the broken figure nestled in my arms. He came running over, eyes wide with worry. "Whoa! What happened to Freed?! Is he okay?!"
"No he isn't, they got him really badly." I shook my head sadly. "We have to go right now, and get him back to a healer. If we don't hurry, he might never use his hand again." I pushed past him and hollered at Evergreen to hurry up and get down here.
She complied once she realized Freed was hurt and quickly returned to the ground, wings disappearing into her back.
"Oh god, just what have they done to him?" her eyes widened when she saw all the blood.
"His hand. They crushed his hand." I explained, glancing down at Freed. "And the pain is so bad it's completely incapacitated him."
"Jesus Christ." she clapped one hand over her mouth.
"Let's get home. We've completed the job anyway." Bickslow turned and led the way to the nearest train station.
Normally I would've been pissed about having to take a vehicle of any sort, but right now, Freed was more important and I was willing to bear any sort of discomfort my motion sickness could throw at me if it meant he'd be okay. We had to get him to Wendy as fast as possible because as more time went by, the chance of him losing his hand altogether increased.
I couldn't handle the thought of that. Freed, sitting alone in his room, unable to use his magic, unable to move one of his hands, unable to do much of anything without help. And he'd be unable to help me like he always did. That would crush him worse than the actual loss of his rune magic.
I made it my personal mission to hold Freed during the three-hour trip home. He was lapsing in and out of unconsciousness, but when he was awake, he'd often clutch my shirt with his good hand and make small, pained noises, like soft whimpers or the occasional quiet sob of agony. I cradled his limp, trembling body to my chest, stroking his soft, silky hair in an attempt to comfort him.
"Damn. Poor little pipsqueak." Bickslow said, his voice strangely quiet compared to his usual full-blast volume.
"Don't swear. He doesn't like it." I replied, eyes transfixed on Freed's still form. He was unconscious right now, but I knew that he could be awake any second now. "But yeah, I feel so bad. If only I hadn't gotten hurt and put him in a position where he felt the need to protect me. To go to such drastic measures."
"It's not your fault, Laxus. None of us saw it coming." Evergreen reassured. "He's gonna be okay. Don't beat yourself up over what happened. He wouldn't want you to."
"You're right." I sighed. "I just... Can't get the sound of him screaming out of my head."
"He screamed when they did that to his hand?" Bickslow asked, with a hint of sympathy in his voice. I nodded, and he winced. "Jesus. That's awful."
I didn't feel the need to respond. I ran my fingers through Freed's hair, trying to offer some comfort to him. I didn't know if he could feel anything while unconscious, but if he did, then he was still in a world of pain. Perhaps my touch would help ease some of that. A few minutes later, he stirred and came awake with a weak whimper of agony.
"Shhh." I whispered, pulling him close against my chest, cradling his head. "It's okay. You're safe. I've got you. I'm never gonna let anyone hurt you again, okay?"
"You really love him, don't you?" Evergreen suddenly asked.
"I was just telling Freed that you and him would make an adorable couple, you know." Bickslow jumped in.
I glared at each of them in turn. "He's in pain, and he's in such a state because he saved my life. He might die, you know. Perhaps it's best if what might be his last moments are spent with the knowledge he is safe, loved, and well looked after."
Ever blanched and Bickslow actually leaned back a little, both shocked at the bitterness of my words. "Laxus. Don't talk like that. He isn't going to die." Box scolded, not unkindly.
"He's still bleeding." I shook my head, having completely forgotten that Freed was listening.
"But he's gonna be okay, stop despairing." Ever gave me a heartbroken look. "Please."
"I can't lose him, but let's face it. There's a major artery in his wrist that might've been severed when they crushed his hand. He might bleed out." I told her.
Suddenly another voice joined the mix. It was familiar but foreign at the same time. It was softer and laced with pain and fear. "I-I don't want to die..."
I glanced down and met glassy, tear-filled hazel eyes that wouldn't focus. Shit. Freed was still awake and alert, he'd heard everything I said. And now he thought he was dying.
"See? I told you to shut the hell up, this is what happens when you don't listen." Bix grumbled.
I gave him a sharp look before returning all my attention to the rune mage in my arms. He pressed his free hand over his eyes, beginning to sob softly.
"No... N-No..." he whimpered.
"Freed, listen to me. You are not going to die. I'm here. I'm gonna take good care of you, and I'm gonna make sure you get through this." I told him, gently pulling his hand from his face and guiding it back to my chest, where he'd been clinging to my shirt for dear life.
"Laxus... I-I'm scared." Freed gave me the most heartbreaking look I had ever seen. In that moment, he seemed like nothing more than a small, frightened, innocent child.
"I know. I know. And that's totally okay. But you're not gonna die. I won't let you. I swear on my life that I will see you through this." I promised, caressing his pale face and hugging him as close as possible, trying to completely surround him in warmth. "Relax. Everything's gonna be alright. Try and get some sleep."
His familiar lavender scent was almost completely overrun by the harsh, metallic smell of blood, the watery smell of tears, and the unmistakable smell of pain. Yes, pain has a smell. And, seeing as I am a dragon slayer, I know what pain smells like. The makeshift bandage I had tied tightly around his damaged hand was already stained with fresh blood. I winced when I saw that. It was so bad it was already bleeding through. I didn't want him to die.
But if he is gonna die... It'll be in my arms. I'm never gonna let him go.
I almost wished I knew how to cast certain spells that would tie his life force to mine so that we'd live and die together. I was sure he knew how to with his runes, but in this state, he certainly couldn't teach me.
"Good god, Laxus, I'm so sorry." Evergreen reached out and put her hand over mine. "This must be so difficult for you..."
"It is. But I'm gonna stay strong, don't worry." I gave her a halfhearted smile. "He needs me."
-
When we made it back to Fairy Tail, Bickslow ran ahead of us to get Wendy. I could hear him screaming from outside, as Ever and I approached the guild, Freed still nestled in my arms. He was completely unconscious, and had been like that for about an hour, which was absolutely terrifying. He hasn't woken up in so long that I was starting to fear the worst.
"Good ol' Bix." I muttered, as Bickslow came running out with Wendy, Erza and Natsu right behind him. It seemed he had gained a paparazzi of sorts.
"What happened?" Wendy demanded, as she reached me.
"His hand was crushed between a hammer and a wall." I replied, as she carefully examined Freed's limp form. He hung like a rag doll in my arms, so weak and floppy that I felt I might break him on accident if I wasn't careful.
"Oh damn. That's intense." Erza remarked, but then she noticed the cut on my leg, which I had forgotten about this entire time. "You're hurt too, Laxus, should you really be carrying him?"
"Shit." Natsu muttered, as he came closer and reached for Freed. "Let me help you with that..." he started to say.
I growled a warning at him, turning away, keeping myself between him and my Freed. "Don't touch him." I gave him a death look. He stared at me for a minute before raising his hands in a harmless gesture and backing off. I couldn't help but hate him in the moment for trying to take Freed from me.
Wendy turned and waved me inside, saying, "Let's get the both of you to the infirmary right away, I'll send one of my healers to take care of your leg."
I obediently followed her, pushing past Natsu without hesitation. The pinkette huffed his annoyance but didn't say anything, much to my relief. I was admittedly being unnecessarily cold towards him after he tried to take Freed from me, but I didn't want to fight right now. I needed to stay with Freed.
Once we reached the infirmary, I had to let him go so Wendy could take care of him. For the sake of being sanitary, I had to go to a different room to have my leg taken care of. I was absolutely dismayed when I found out I had to leave Freed alone for a bit, but it had to be done. My leg was beginning to hurt like a bitch now that I was fully aware of the wound, and I wanted it taken care of before it got infected.
As a male healer examined the injury to my thigh and started healing it, all I could think about was Freed. The wide-eyed look of absolute terror as his hand was cruelly crushed into the wall. The horrible sound of him screaming in pain. And lastly, the way he looked afterward: face stained with tears, eyes clenched shut, clutching his injured wrist, shrieking and sobbing in agony. It was so heartbreaking, there was so much blood. Skin torn away, mangled flesh, broken fingers, a snapped wrist. The injury was awful and disgusting to look at. I couldn't imagine what it must be like, experiencing it firsthand.
I'm so sorry, Freed. This never should've happened. Your poor hand... The one you never let anyone except for me touch... I failed you.
I sighed and tried my hardest to relax, but I couldn't. All I could do was lay there and hope that Freed was gonna be okay. I couldn't lose him.
To be continued...
Sorry this is so sad, I'm kinda sad right now so that's how this ended up being written. I'm not so proud of it but oh well. I hope you like it. Bye.
-UltimatexAdmin