Chapter Two – Unwanted Truths
Year: 1539x. Luna-cycle: 8. Day: 18.
Laxus was sick of fish. He was sick of the cold, dying old forest that he had been forced to take up residence in. He was sick of waking up on the dirt with nothing but a ratty old blanket to cover him. He was sick of feeling the aches and blisters that remained from the untended wounds that still covered almost all aspects of his body.
But right now, he mainly was sick of the fucking fish.
Only a week had passed since the stranger had arrived in Magnolia. Only a week since Laxus had been forced into fighting the green haired man, had lost and been forced out of his village as retribution. It had been a tough fucking week.
He'd pitched up camp – if it could be considered a camp – at the edge of Hakobe forest, just out of Ivan's territory. He had been forced to rely on the limited skills that he'd gained from the survival training, which he was now incredibly thankful for. He was camping beside a river for fresh water, on an elevated mound of rock that would counter any negative impacts of the rainfall that populated the area and made sure that his food was tied up from a tree as to keep it safe from any animals taking it in his sleep; thankfully, that particular issue hadn't yet arisen.
Laxus wouldn't doubt it if Ivan had instructed his guard to kill all wildlife just to stroke his ego.
The guards were something that Laxus had worried about, but it seemed fate was at least being kind to him in that respect. On the first day, he'd heard the guard approaching and made sure to keep himself hidden, but he had felt a small amount of hope when he heard the loud and familiar voice of the guard patrolling his area of the forest. When he risked taking a glance and looking at the guard, his suspicions were proven right. It was Bickslow.
Although their reunion was short-lived – Laxus knew the guards had a lot of ground to cover in a short time – Bickslow promised his friend that he would help anyway he could. They agreed that Bickslow would smuggle things out of the town and hide them in the large knothole of a tree of an equally large tree.
It really was a blessing. On the first day of their agreement, the knothole was filled with a blanket, some large sheets of slightly torn leather, a large spool of rope, and a bed roll. He'd tied the leather on the trees that overhung the rock he was camping on to create a makeshift shelter and used the bedroll and blanket to get a relatively good nights sleep. Every day, Laxus had checked the knothole and every day, Bickslow had left him something: ranging from a box of match so that he could easily set fires for himself and keep himself warm, to the daily half-finished loaf of stale bread with an equally old pot of jam. It wasn't luxurious, but the blonde didn't care.
But he couldn't rely on Bickslow for everything.
On his third day he'd made himself a spear from a fallen branch and had used it to fish in the river. He knew Bickslow could only smuggle him food for so long without getting caught, and he didn't want his friend to be punished for helping him, so he would have to become self-sufficient. On the morning of the fourth day, he used a knife Bickslow had given him to scratch a note into some leather that he could handle food himself now so he didn't have to worry, which he then left in the knothole for Bickslow to find.
However, after four days of eating hardly anything but fish, and with only enough bread left for two slices and a near empty jam jar, Laxus found himself sick of fish. But he couldn't do anything about it, which was why he found himself holding the impaled salmon over the fire as he cooked it.
He couldn't live like this forever. He needed a plan on what to do next.
As he slowly turned the fish around, he tried to think through what he could actually do. The obvious answer was that he should find another town, see if he could make a new life for him there. The only issue, Magnolia was entirely secluded, and Ivan made sure nobody knew what life was like outside of the town. Hell, the maps probably didn't even include the part of Hakobe forest that Laxus was camping at, and it was less than fifty yards from his settlement.
With a sigh, Laxus leant back. His best options were either to stay in the forest and hope not to get caught, or to choose a direction to go and hope he reached a town that would accept him. Either plan needed a lot of hope, and he didn't feel particularly hopeful at that moment.
He ran his hand over his face, still slowly rotating the fish that would be his dinner for the night. He allowed himself to listen to the sound of the forest. If there was one positive aspect of his exile – and there truly only could be one – it was the calmness of the forest compared to the town. The sound was calm and only consisted of the river flowing nearby and the insects chirping around him. It was a short moment of unbroken peace.
Until it was broken. By the sound of branches cracking.
He shot up immediately, leaving his fish resting on the rock as he picked up his knife. He'd set up in thick circle of fallen branches around his camp, so he could be alerted to a threat if it approached. So far, it had been unneeded, but even if he had misheard it, Laxus wasn't going to risk it.
His approach to the source of the sound was cautious, and he was holding the knife with a tight grip. He carefully looked over the landscape, looking either for an animal that could have caused the cracking or perhaps an attacker of some kind. His gaze was narrowed, and face contorted into a scowl, hoping that he could scare the attacker away if they existed.
It took him less than a minute to see who had caused the cracking of branches. His jaw clenched when he did.
Freed fucking Justine.
Laxus had been thinking about the man since his exile, and no thought had been pleasant. This man had been the reason his life had been upended in the way it had, and Laxus' mind had contorted him into a man easy to hate. Seeing him again, Laxus was forced to confront the reality that he was a normal person.
He was wearing the clothes that Laxus had first seen him in, with a sword attached to his belt and a passive expression on his face. He hadn't yet noticed Laxus, but the blonde didn't Care. Because all he was looking at a normal man, and it pissed him off.
"Why the hell are you here?" Laxus snarled through gritted teeth.
This was what alerted Freed to Laxus' presence. He seemed a little startled, but not exactly scared by the sudden arrival of the other man. He looked him up and down, seemingly assessing Laxus in the same way that he had during their fight. This time, Laxus didn't allow himself to be affected by the other man, and his grip around the knife tightened to the point where his knuckles were white and hand nearly blistering against the knife's hilt.
Suddenly, another option of what Laxus could do struck him. If he were to return to the town, holding a knife to Freed's throat as an offer, there was a good chance it could do well to get his father's favour. So he found himself confused by the what he said next.
"I don't care, actually," He grunted. "Fuck off, don't wanna end up getting your neck slashed, do ya?"
Freed raised an eyebrow at that, and slowly grabbed the hilt of his sword. He pulled it out slowly, and it glinted in the light of the fire. He didn't raise it, simply kept it open as both a precaution if Laxus attacked and as a warning to stop him from doing something stupid. Laxus didn't move, so Freed slowly started to walk forward and diminish the gap between them.
"Mr Dreyar," Freed began, his expression patronising. "Given our last encounter, I have to wonder if you're capable of that."
Laxus' jaw clenched. His grip on his knife was as tight as it could possibly get.
"If you're insistent, I will fight you. Just be warned that I not only have the better weapon, but I also know how you fight and know how to counter it, meaning I have a considerable advantage over you," Freed smirked. "So I think it would be in your benefit if we're civil, don't you?"
With a glare on his face, Laxus found himself questioning why he hadn't acted on his impulse immediately. He could have overpowered Freed before he had the chance to pull out his sword if he moved when the ideas struck him. If he had, he could have removed the man's weapons and would already be walking him towards the town, hoping it would be enough to appease his father again and allow him to return to his normal life.
So why the hell hadn't he taken the chance while it was still there?
Wearing a small snarl, Laxus knew there would be no point in fighting. He hadn't slept well, nor eaten anything of substance for a week, so he was in no fit state to fight. And, as much as he wasn't going to admit it, Freed had outfought him before and might do so again.
Instead of speaking, he slammed his knife into a nearby tree and lowered his hand, leaving the weapon where it was; admitting Freed was right with his actions rather than words. Freed seemed to understand what that meant, as he pushed his sword into the ground and pulled a knife from his coat pocket, slamming it into the same tree that Laxus had. With that, an uneasy truce was made.
"So," Laxus muttered. "This a coincidence, or did ya hunt me down to take the piss out of my fighting skills?"
"A coincidence," Freed chuckled a little. "And I wouldn't mock how well you fought. You were good."
Laxus huffed sharply at that. If he was good, he wouldn't be in the fucking forest eating an unappetising fish with a spear hole in it- Shit, his fish.
He walked back to the open fire and picked up the salmon and started to rotate it over the fire, taking note of the sound of Freed's footsteps following him. He glanced back to see that the knives still remained in the tree and his sword was still sticking in the dirt, so he didn't see any point in worrying as he sat on the cold stone and continued to cook his dinner.
It was slightly demoralising, cooking as crap meal in front of the person who lead him into this situation wasn't something that he enjoyed. But he would rather do this than keep his pride and go hungry until Freed left; hopefully that would be sooner rather than later.
"You don't believe me?" Freed said, sitting beside him.
"If I was any good at fighting, we wouldn't be sitting here," Laxus muttered as he slowly started to rotate the fish. "I wouldn't even be in this fucking forest."
"Just because you lost, you can still be good in a fight," Freed continued, seemingly not bothered by the fact that Laxus was half attempting to make him feel guilty. "And I can assure you, you were good at fighting. With a few adjustments, I'm sure you could have beaten me without much trouble."
Laxus kept his gaze forward, though his expression was somewhat impassive. He had turned Freed into someone who was relentlessly cruel and vicious, and that was how Laxus had justified both his loss to Freed and his anger towards him. so, to not only see him as a regular man, but to also have him give Laxus compliments completely destroyed the version of his opponent that he had created. Now sitting next to Freed, who was less of a caricature that Laxus had hoped for, the blonde didn't know how he should behave.
He wanted to fee angry. The only aspect of control he had over the situation was his memory of Freed, and now that his memory was disproved, he lost all control over what was happening. He should be angry, but he couldn't bring himself to it. Instead, he settled for tiredness.
"Please, enlighten me to how I could have done that," He muttered, sarcastically.
"Well, on any technical standpoint, you should have won," Freed said, either not picking up the sarcasm or ignoring it. "Everything you did was correct, and you followed the techniques up with impressive physical strength and you were relentless with how you acted. It was obvious that you've been training for quite some time. You were probably quite good at it as well, correct?"
"Yeah," Laxus said, humouring the guy with a small frown.
"And that was your issue. From what I saw of your town, it was very routine," Freed continued. "So was your fighting style. Following the disciplines of that fighting style, you're obviously very good. But, the problem that fighting in such a disciplined way means, once I know your fighting style, I know how to counter it."
The impaled fish stopped rotating, and Laxus looked towards Freed with a small look of confusion. He'd grown up thinking of fighting as a sport, something that was more artful than anything else. The practicality of it had never come up because he'd never had to fight for something other than entertainment. It was obvious that Freed had a different opinion on fights, that they were things to be won and nothing more. In hind sight, Laxus probably should have gone into the fight thinking the same thing.
An almost nauseating sensation filled his stomach, something akin to regret. What Freed was saying – or at least what Laxus had concluded from what he said – was that he could have won their fight if he was more instinctive and less restrained. It was a small thing, and if he had done it things would have been pretty fucking different.
He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that questioned if that would have been a good thing or not.
"You're burning your salmon."
Laxus blinked at the sound of Freed speaking again, and his gaze snapped towards him. After realising what he had said, he looked towards his fish that was now burning at the bottom and had become the same colour of the burning wood. He quickly removed it from above the open flames and hissed; this was the last fish he had, and he wasn't in the mood to spear-fish again, so he would have to deal with eating this for the night.
As he brought the ruined food to his lips and took a tentative bite, he saw Freed remove the large bag he was holding from his shoulder. Wincing at the taste of the fish, he saw Freed remove a large mass of brown paper from his bag. He watched as the other man unwrapped the paper to reveal a large mass of pastry.
Freed didn't speak as he brought a breadknife from his bag, that was also wrapped in the brown paper. He slowly cut the pastry in half, revealing that it contained a large amount of meat inside. He wordlessly handed one half to Laxus, who frowned at it.
"With how you've cooked that, you'll probably chip a tooth," He commented, looking to the fish.
It was tempting not to take the offer of food, to claim Freed was being patronising and that his comments on the fish were just him being a dick. But Laxus wasn't in a position turn down food at this point – certainly food that wasn't fish or stale bread covered in a thin layer of jam. And if a small amount of mocking was what he needed to get this, he could accept that.
"Thanks," He nodded, taking the half pie for himself. "Fish is all I've eaten for like a week, would've thought I'd figure out how to fucking cook it."
"I'm sure you'll pick it up," Freed chuckled, and Laxus couldn't be sure if he was being mocked or if Freed was just making conversation. "I will admit, I didn't think I would see you again. After the expression your father was giving you, I assumed you'd be spending the next few months doing any dirty work that he could think of."
"That's him on a good day," Laxus chuckled spitefully.
He took his first bite of the pie, relishing in the flavour of what he concluded was breaded pork. As he swallowed, he caught sight of Freed side-eyeing him with confusion on his face. After finishing the bite, he looked to Freed and sighed.
"He kicked me out," He explained.
"Of your house? Just for losing a fight," Freed frowned, shifting slightly. "Seems like an overreaction."
"Yeah," Laxus let out a bitter laugh again. "Wasn't just the house, either. Not allowed in the village."
"Really?" Freed seemed shocked. "For how long."
"Don't know what your definition of an exile is," Laxus muttered. "But for Ivan, it means I ain't allowed back at all."
Funny, that was the first time he'd said it out loud. He expected it to fill him with the same sense of dread and nausea that he had felt when he had first been told of his exile, but instead he felt almost hollow. Perhaps he was just tired of the situation – as well as being generally tired – and was just accepting everything for what it was. Unchangeable.
Freed was frowning after taking a bite out of his food, not bothering to hide his expression as he looked towards Laxus. The blonde couldn't blame him for acting like that; even without knowing any other life, Laxus knew that Ivan ran his town in a way that wasn't the norm. He mindlessly wondered if Freed would have acted differently if he had known the consequences Laxus had faced for losing beforehand. Probably not; Laxus wouldn't have risked losing his life if the only consequence his opponent would face would be losing their home.
"Just for losing a fight," Freed finally spoke again. "That's… that's just ridiculous."
"The kinda man my dad is, I guess," Laxus all but shrugged, tearing into another bite of the pie. "The way he saw it, he'd put his reputation into that fight. You didn't worship the ground he walked on and, if I lost, it might tell other people they can get away with treating him the same way. Kicking me out was restoring his power."
"If that's true, you're father's pathetic," Freed frowned.
Laxus shrugged, not finding it in himself to disagree. In many ways, his father really was a pathetic man. He hid it behind layers of sadism and false power, but Laxus had always felt that he would be all bark and no bite if actually challenged. The only issue was that the layers of sadism and false power meant that nobody was going to challenge him. Laxus included.
"Guess he is," Laxus sighed. "But that's just how that town is, now. Ivan's in charge of the place and you do what he says. If you don't, he'll make your life hell until the next person pisses him off, and even then, he'll hold a grudge."
"Has he always been like that?"
"For as long as I can remember, yeah," Laxus took another bite of the pie. "The town used to be better, though. Before he died, my grandfather was in charge and it was a different place entirely. We used to export all the time, people could actually leave the damn place and Ivan had someone who would stand up to him. After he died, Ivan could do whatever the hell he wanted and destroyed anything that was good about the town. Said he wanted to make it strong, whatever that meant."
Freed nodded a little. He wouldn't say it, but his reason for visiting the town was the small mystery that surrounded it. Seemingly without reason, the town had cut off contact with everyone and refused all trade. Obviously, that unknown reason was Ivan.
The conversation ended there, and Laxus continued to eat the pie that he had been given. It was strange, he having a conversation with the man who had completely changed his life for the worse and he felt no anger towards him. If anything, they were talking like they were acquaintances. Perhaps it was the uneasy truce that had come by the abandonment of their weapons, or the food that could have been seen as a peace offering, but Laxus really didn't feel any hatred towards Freed when he knew he should. Most likely because of the unwanted truth he was denying himself from believing.
An unwanted truth Freed was going to voice.
"Not to trivialise what you're going through," The stranger said, almost hesitant. "But maybe it's better to get away from that kind of life."
There it was. The reason he didn't feel his blood boil at the sight of Freed. The reason he hadn't been dragged out of the town kicking and screaming. The reason he didn't take Freed to his father when he had the chance. Because compared to living in the town, camping alone in a forest he was ill equipped to deal with was actually the better alternative.
He didn't voice this, though. He just shrugged.
"What are you plans now, then?"
And there was the other thought Laxus had been pushing to the back of his mind. He had no idea what to do next. Staying in the forest for the rest of his life was ridiculous, and he couldn't put his hopes into finding a town by coincidence and hoping for the best. And those were his best options.
"I haven't got a fucking clue," He laughed, running a hand over his face. "I'll be fine, though. Somehow."
There was silence between them for a moment, and Laxus found himself doubting his own words. He could say that he would be fine, but that really wasn't a certainty. He had no idea how to deal with living outside of the village, he had no idea if he would be able to make a living for himself even if he did manage to find some kind of civilisation. Nothing in his life was certain right now, and it was yet another fact that he was trying to push to the back of his mind.
He looked towards Freed to see that his face had tensed slightly. It looked as if he was calculating something, and Laxus didn't care enough to think what that was. He simply waited and watched as Freed was brought back to reality.
"Would you like to travel with me, at least for a little while," He eventually offered.
Laxus paused at this, and his face turned into a frown. He grunted his next words. "You taking pity on me?"
"Yes," Freed said bluntly. "But given you're in a situation that is completely foreign to you, and that your best option seems to be eating burnt fish until you die, I don't think you're in a position to let your pride get in the way."
The blonde's jaw clenched. Freed was still an arrogant asshole, it seemed.
"It's up to you entirely, of course," He continued. "But I imagine I'm considerably more experienced in traveling, and I'm aiming to go to some of the larger cities, which will probably be the places best suited to your needs currently, I can probably get you there with minimal trouble. Unless, of course, you've grown fond of eating the charred remains of the local wildlife."
He knew Freed was mocking him, but he couldn't find the effort to feel offended. What Freed was offering wouldn't come again. Having a guide to the cities, and perhaps even someone to help him find work when he got there, was something he needed.
His jaw clenched a little. His pride needed to be put aside for this. Practicality needed to take its place, a lesson he had learnt from his fight. A lesson he needed to take.
"You got anything I can write on?" He asked.
Freed reached into his bag, pulled out some paper and a stick of chalk, and handed it to Laxus. The blonde wrote a small message for Bickslow, explaining that he was moving on from being at the edge of the forest, that he was thankful for the help Bickslow had given him, and that he hoped to see him again eventually under better circumstances.
He had felt Freed looking over him, reading as he wrote. The note was as much confirmation Freed was going to get on his offer; Laxus was putting his pride behind him for most situations, but not completely.
After finishing his note, he started to walk towards the tree Bickslow has been stashing things in, telling Freed that he wouldn't be long. The walk only lasted a few minutes, but it gave Laxus the time to feel the nervousness return, but this time it wasn't nauseous. This time, he wasn't being forced to do something against his will, he was taking a step into the new life he found himself. Making the first decision he had all week about what he was going to do.
His mind strayed to Freed as he carefully placed the note in the knothole. He had no idea what their relationship would be. Maybe they would not grow out of their cautious truce, maybe they would bond, or maybe Laxus would realise he had made a mistake and leave Freed before they got close to a city. It was all uncertain.
But one thing was for certain, Freed was Laxus' best and only chance of moving on.