Welcome back everyone. I appreciate you reading this little thing I'm writing. Anyways, thanks so much to the two who followed the story, it's a great feeling. I'll make sure to include your names later.
This chapter will give us a look at the backgrounds of the characters in the story and the origins of one of the two teams. Enjoy.
"So… Levy," Gajeel started, causing the bookworm to look up at him.
"Yes Gajeel?" her eyes met his.
"So… like what's your last name?" he started, "You only said your first name in your introduction."
"O-Oh, it's McGarden," she said, "I'm Levy McGarden."
Gajeel sighed before looking her up and down, "How old are you?" he asked while holding onto Levy's hand and massaged her palm with his thumb.
The current situation made Levy's face get a tint of pink. 'Seventeen. Why?"
Gajeel only pulled her close to his body and smirked, "I just wanted to know if you were old enough for me. I don't wanna end up banging some kid."
Levy didn't know which emotion was stronger; the irritation building up in her mind due to the invasion of privacy or the butterflies fluttering around her stomach. Both were pretty strong leaving her indecisive and staring into Gajeel's eyes.
The moment however was interrupted, "Um Levy?" Wendy's voice went; snapping the teen out of her daze.
"Yes, Wendy?" she responded while leaving the dragon slayer's grip with a bit of a struggle.
"Miss Erza and Mr. Gildarts need you in the lab," she said to which the script mage instantly took off towards the labs. She then turned to Gajeel who looked really disappointed, "Sorry."
"So Lucy," Natsu started while walking up to her, "Tell me about yourself. Do you like to wrestle, eat, drink or smoke?"
The blonde shook her head, "The only sensible thing you mentioned was drinking which I do moderately," she replied before looking at Natsu's outfit closely, "Nice scarf, where'd you get it?"
"Huh, this old thing? my dad gave it to me before he left," he explained, "he was a great guy and I still need to find him though."
"If your dad just walked out on you, why do you still care about him? Shouldn't you be upset or something?" she asked while playing with her key pouch.
"He wasn't some jerk or anything, he just left probably for a good cause," he explained, "I just wanna show him how strong I've become."
"I see," she sighed but noticed Natsu leaning in staring at her face, "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong with your face?" he asked curiously alarming Lucy.
"W-What is it? Is it off?" she said while panicking but noticed that the pinkette was staring intently at her… chest, "Pervert!" she shouted after smacking him. She could hear deep laughter coming from across the room.
"What a runt?" Laxus commented before looking down at Mira, "You know Mira, when Natsu got his first boner, it was at the playground while he was trying to drag some girl into playing with him but when she saw it she kneed him in the dick so hard he hit higher notes than a flute. He was made fun of for a while," he laughed but Mira only giggled.
"How embarrassing. If only someone told him about that stuff earlier," she said.
"Say uh Mira," he said causing her to look up at him, "what kind of guys are you into?"
"Let see… I'm into family guys. The ones that are able to help look after the household together with me," she explained while blushing.
"I, uh… see," Laxus knew he wasn't that type of guy but he wasn't going to lose her so easily, "You know, I taught Natsu how to use a toilet. Messy little troublemaker," he said while she looked up at him with interest 'nailed it!'
"Ooh that sounds interesting. Tell me more?"
"I could show you more if you want," Juvia said while biting her lip looking at Gray seductively.
"Listen, please put your clothes on Juvia I don't want to be accused of forcing you or anything," Gray said while looking away blushing, "I don't want to hurt you." he was really close to jumping on her.
Levy walked into the laboratory and found Erza examining some lacrima with Gildarts standing right behind her. she looked exhausted, "Um Erza, you called?"
Erza slowly stood from her position and yawned, "Glad you could make it. I need you to examine these lacrima for me," she pointed at the objects, "I've tried to compare them to all other lacrima but there's no match. Maybe you could have better luck."
Levy nodded and took Erza's previous position, "You go rest big sis, I'll take it from here."
Erza walked over and slumped onto a couch and groaned in exhaustion. She felt another body join her on the couch, "Say Gildarts, we need to get to know each other a little better, "she said while looking at him, "Tell me about how the Tailorz came to be. How did you meet the boys?"
"Hm uh okay. where to start?" he thought before it clicked.
FLASHBACK
"Listen, I know you may not think it's a good idea but take him with you," Makarov said to Gildarts who was in his twenties.
"I mean, I've never raised a kid in my life and you want me to take your grandson," he said while looking over to where a small boy played with some toys.
"I need you to raise him into a powerful mage for me," the old man explained, "If I could I would raise him here but I don't want contact between him and his father plus this is a girls' only guild."
"But Makarov," the crush wizard started.
"It's the least you could do considering we decided to keep Cana for you," Makarov said causing Gildarts to sigh in defeat.
"Fine I'll do it," he said while stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Great, I trust that you will do fine," the giant said before turning to the child, "Laxus, come here boy!"
Laxus rose to his feet and happily jogged up to his grandfather, "Watcha need gramps?"
"Laxus, meet Gildarts," he introduced as the child waved to the older man who waved back.
"Hey there buddy."
"Laxus, you will be going to live with Gildarts," Makarov said while the boy shook his head fiercely.
"Why?" he asked, "I don't wanna go."
Makarov held Laxus' shoulders in both his hands, "He will turn you into a very powerful wizard almost as strong as me. Maybe even stronger," he tried to entice but failed as he shook his head even more.
"I don't wanna. You won't make me," he started, "Why do you want to get rid of me?"
"It's not like that Laxus. I just want the best for you."
Gildarts scratched the back of his neck, "Makarov, look at him. He doesn't want to come. Don't force him," he said as he watched the child start to cry.
"Gildarts, I know what's best for him so just take him," Makarov said as the child cried even louder, "This will be best."
Gildarts looked at the old man holding the crying boy. He hated to make kids cry but he just had to. Gathering all the courage he could, he bent over and picked up the child who started to fight back hysterically, "Let me go!" the crush wizard put him over his shoulder and was able to take in the kicks and punches he received continuously.
"You should get going, I have work to do," Makarov said before turning away. The pain he felt nearly brought him to tears, "Just look after him well." With that he walked away.
Gildarts made his way towards the door with the kid still fighting back over his shoulder. He had never raised a kid before. This was going to be hard. 'Now I have to make ends meet for two people' he thought as he walked.
By the time he reached his house, Laxus had fallen asleep probably due to exhaustion from all the fighting. He opened the doors to the building and stepped into the man cave. He walked into his bedroom and rested Laxus onto his bed and after he removed the boy's shoes and let him lay comfortably on the bed. He watches as the boy stirred about before settling.
Sighing, he walked downstairs and slumped onto the couch and turned on the LacrimaVision. He was going to raise a kid, how exhausting. He slowly drifted to sleep.
The next morning, he was woken up by the sound of a large crash. Blinking rapidly and looking around, he noticed Laxus on the ground nursing his head. Next to him was an empty beer can. He probably tripped over it. Guess he hadn't child proofed his house not like he was expecting a kid.
He rose to his feet and approached the boy. He knelt before the child, "You need anything buddy?" he asked but the child only ignored him and stared at the ground. this was going to be harder than Gildarts thought. He wanted to help but the kid didn't say a word. It's not like he could read minds or anything.
Suddenly, a low grumble could be heard from the boy's stomach. He was hungry, "Alright, make yourself comfy while I fix you breakfast," Gildarts said before walking into the kitchen.
Laxus took this as his chance to go back so he made his way to the door and was met with thick forest once he stepped outside. He bolted right into the forest hoping he would somehow make it back to his grandfather.
Gildarts set the meal on the kitchen table and went out to call Laxus, "Laxus! Breakfast's ready!" the boy was nowhere to be seen. A wave of panic surged through his spine when he saw the door wide open, "Shit!" he rushed outside the house hoping to find the boy.
Rushing through the woodlands, Gildarts pushed away any obstruction in his path. He wasn't going to lose the child so soon, "Laxus, where are you?!" his panic increased when he heard the child's scream. He quickly took off in the direction of the voice.
He walked into the scene of Laxus being lifted from the ground by a forest Vulcan. The little Dreyar was bawling his eyes out as the creature laughed at him, "Looks like I'm having a kid for breakfast."
Gildarts unleashed some of his crush force on the creature turning it into smaller versions of itself. Gildarts caught Laxus before he hit the ground. the child buried his face in the older mage's chest, "How about you have some breakfast?" Gildarts asked to which the child nodded.
Days went by as Laxus opened up to his new guardian. The pair began to grow to be very close and eventually Laxus began his training in Lightning Dragon Slayer magic. It wasn't easy to teach nor was it cheap as Gildarts had to start buying new books.
He eventually began to take Laxus on jobs with him and started to bring home other boys with them. He met Gajeel in a scrapyard while chasing some bandits. The boy tried to chomp on the crush mage's belt buckle. He eventually followed them home.
He met Gray crying in outside a destroyed village. He asked the child what was wrong and the child cried about losing his master and asked him if he knew how to reverse the spell; Iced Shell but the older mage was unaware of how but insisted that Gray came with him to search better.
Later on, Gildarts heard a knock at his door and came face to face with little Elfman. The timid child asked him if he could train him to be strong for his sisters to which he agreed. He was grateful for the fact that the newcomer proved useful in the kitchen. Less work for him.
Finally, he remembered walking back home from a job that involved robbing a treasure hunting guild and came face to face with little Natsu, "G-Give me all your food!" the child demanded, "Or I'll burn you."
Gildarts only chuckled, "Is that so? Bring it on."
Natsu tried to hit the older mage with a fire attack but it only proved worthless as only smoke came. The little boy stared at the ground in shame as his tummy rumbled.
The older mage examined the child even more. The boy was quite thin and didn't even have a pair of shoes on. Heck he didn't even look like he ever bathed. Gildarts knelt before him, "Listen little guy. I can get you lots of food if you come with me."
The child quickly agreed and hopped onto the older man's shoulders.
He brought little Natsu home but there were mixed reactions to it. Gray was annoyed by the fact that Natsu kept on picking fights with him, Gajeel wanted to beat him up, Elfman was afraid of the loud boy and Laxus only ignored him.
When the boys finally grew older and more powerful, he decided to call them a gang. The name Tailorz came about because of how they never lost track of who they were tailing (A/N: weak, I know).
END OF FLASHBACK
"That's pretty much it," Gildarts explained, "Now, how about you?"
Before Erza could start, Levy's voice called out to her, "You might want to see this," Levy said from where she examined the lacrima.
"What is it?" Erza asked while looking down at the script wizard.
Levy yawned before starting, "I examined the lacrima and it turned out to be a match with a lacrima I received in town," she started, "I compared them to other lacrima and it turns out it isn't a common one. It's actually an engineered lacrima."
"You mean it wasn't an extract but a creation?" Gildarts asked the younger mage, "How is that possible?"
"I'm not sure how just yet but we need to do more research," Levy explained while rubbing her eyes, "the one thing I've learnt about it is that it drains energy."
"I have an idea." Erza said while catching their attention, "In the evenings, several people from all over Fiore visit Fairy Glitter to get a chance to interact with the many hosts."
"What're you implying?" Gildarts asked.
"I suggest we do a little spying. The Fairiez will pay attention to the guests they are hosting while you boys position yourselves strategically," the knight explained, "All of us should be equipped with sensors that can detect the frequencies emitted by the strange lacrima. If we find anyone suspicious we tail them. We should have a way of communicating though."
"I could ask Cana to hook us up with her communication cards. We could use those," Levy said while placing the lacrima away.
"Alrighty then, operation: L.S is a go," Titania declared as Levy left the room to prepare.
"Say um Erza?"
"What is it Gildarts?"
"Tell me about Cana."
Hello readers. Thanks for reading this so far. I hope enjoyed some of our characters' interactions as well as the Tailorz backstory. Please dip some reviews I'd be very grateful to hear your opinions. Anyway, toodaloo.