Downstairs and Dead
Chapter Twelve
Falling For and Falling Apart
It was different, this morning. Different than every other morning. Different even than those mornings when he woke up sprawled on top of her. Which was pleasant, as far as that goes. But waking up with her curled up on his chest was worlds and away better than any other morning. Any other morning with her. Any other morning ever. Maybe. Possibly. Yeah.
She was soft and warm and comfortable and safe. She was, as she had said of him a week before, home in some fashion. This whole time they'd slept together - non-sexually - for comfort, but this was the first time where the comfort really sunk in. Really went bellow the skin. Into his muscles. Into his bones.
It was winter, so the light of the early morning was gray and dull. Barely enough to see by. Even though it was after eight in the morning (nine, really) she was still covered in shadows. But, to him, she glowed.
She shifted in a way that might have ended in her rolling off of him, so he shifted as well to keep her where she was.
On him. With him. Against him.
No pressure. No pressure. No pressure, he had said. Or thought. And meant it. He'd been slightly afraid he'd feel stressed by the idea waiting. But, strangely enough, he didn't. He felt weightless. He felt free. He felt happy in a way he'd never quite experienced happiness before. Not that he could remember.
Before she told him, before she said anything, he'd been more scared. More worried. More uncertain and troubled. But now that he knew what she felt (thought she felt), there was a confidence in him. As long as he could keep her physically safe, things would work out. There was no question in him of that, not like he'd had the night before. When he'd been a little cautious. There was no question in him, now. And it wasn't ego talking, it was deeper than ego. A rooted knowledge of what she was, who she was, and what it meant when she said things.
Sure, she was lost and she was lonely.
Sure, she was scared and she was uncertain.
But she'd been those things before. Having time to think about it, he realized; he remembered her past. She'd been those things before. She would be able to recognize that. She hadn't declared non-platonic love for Natsu (or anyone else) when lost and lonely, just friendship. Known him for a long time, and never been anything more than friends. Granted, the serial killer thing bumped up the emotions, but life had been stressful before this. And granted, losing Fairy Tail had been hard, but losing her father had been, too. And her mother. She knew, he knew she knew, what it was like to struggle. To struggle and to suffer and to fight on. And she had done so, day after day. For months. On her own, in the capital city. Watching after them. Waiting for them. Holding them in her heart.
She could have come for any one of them, had she loved any one of the people she knew better, and she knew all of them better than she knew him. Like he'd said at the very start, they hadn't had much in the way of contact. She'd barely joined before he'd been exiled, and they'd rarely crossed paths between jobs. He hadn't been one for pleasantries. Even greetings.
She'd always at least try. Because of course she would.
So this month together. This was the first time, the first time ever that they'd had to get to know one another. And sure it was an emotional fucking roller coaster. Terrifying, heart wrenching, maddening, rage inducing. Enlightening. He saw her as she was, without walls. Couldn't have walls, not living as they did all these weeks. You watch a person fall apart, and you understand them. She'd seen him do the same.
You make a person laugh, and you understand them.
She understood him. Not perfectly. He was changing, growing. He didn't understand him perfectly. But she understood him as much as anyone did, and she understood the core of him.
She was changing, too. There was a softness, a soft sadness, that sidestepped her usual personality. Like she'd tucked away some of her energy for safe keeping. As he'd noted so many times already, her smiles weren't those large shining things they once were. They were smaller, and she looked away.
Caution tempered her joy. Another emotional response he understood. Life experiences had made him careful in showing his feelings, so he could understand how she was responding to how things happened. But at the same time, it also meant he understood how fast it could tear you down and make you lock yourself away. He didn't want that for her. Not for her. He didn't want her to lose the happiness she was at her core.
Since he knew, understood, lived it, he might be able to help with that. He hoped. If she'd let him.
She wiggled a bit and squeaked, and he assumed that meant she was waking up. It was hard to say how long her waking would take, since it seemed to come in spurts on her own. Unlike all of the other mornings when she woke first… for very understandable reasons.
About thirty minutes later her eyelids lifted, heavy and lazy. Irises distant and unfocused. As was her smile when she finally realized where she was.
"Good morning, Lucy."
"Mmm, 'orning, 'axus…" she yawned and sort of buried her face back into his chest, fighting the waking up process just a little longer.
"Come on, Lucy," he poked her cheek. "Gotta get up. Shit to do."
"Ugh, okay. Okay." She rolled off of him, literally rolled. And then fell to the floor in a sort of crouch.
He looked over the edge, grinning. "You doing okay down there?"
"Sure."
She blinked a few times and then crawled to the bathroom, and he laughed. The door slammed shut, maybe a little harder than necessary. How could he not laugh, though? She was adorable, and she wasn't always, not in the morning. Surely she could forgive his seeing humor in her being cute as all hell after such an emotional shit show of a week.
He grinned when he heard her grumbling and splashing behind the closed door. Grumbling about over-large dragon slayers, too big for their britches, who thought they were sooo funny…
Yeah, she'd forgive him. She was just sometimes grouchy in the morning.
At least she hadn't kicked him, yet. A month as her partner, and no solid kicks. He wondered if he'd made a record.
Eventually she finished and allowed him in the bathroom, and they were able to get on with their day. He found himself wishing that he hadn't done what he did. Hadn't pushed himself to wake her. Hadn't pushed her to get going so quickly.
To continue on into hell as opposed to staying in that little moment of peace they had made for themselves.
"We go to Maso and Vew and offer ourselves," Lucy said as soon as she dressed. Slipping her whip onto her belt, next to her keys. "Let them know why we're staying. Give them help, since they're taking precautions."
"Keep the princess out of it?"
"Yeah. Just us. Just us reacting to what happened in Holen, and doing what I said we'd do when I talked to the group at the dinner: do something about it."
He nodded in complete agreement so far, "It'll give us a better run of the house and grounds."
"Had that thought, too. We focus on the girls here, in this house, I think, more than the men. Or you do. You focus more on the girls. Protection. Detection. I can handle the other. Watch the men, I mean."
"No." He felt his insides shut down. Tunnel vision set in. Blood rushing in his ears.
Oh god. Maggie all over again.
"Yes," she insisted. "We saw at Holen how he broke two directions: Maggie and Runnar. Runnar was an anomaly. We don't know why that happened, but it did happen. We have to assume he can and will do it again, so we have to split our focus, too. The girls are still in danger, wards or no wards. You're their best bet. Get them out of the house as soon as their duties are finished … and assume if the servant girls are gone, he will move on to whatever else is available to him.
"I will watch the men and how they move-"
Laxus clinched his teeth, "He was watching you. Maggie was a warning, Lucy."
Her hands were curled tight, "You think I'm unaware of that?"
"I think you're ignoring how much danger it puts you in."
She lifted her chin, "I'm not. I am not. But that won't stop me from doing what needs to be done. And this is that. We're partners in this, Laxus. Last night … I don't want it to … Just because … you can't lock me up, Laxus."
"I don't want to lock you up," probably. "I want you not to be reckless. Not to just throw away your life. Runnar an anomaly? No shit. Four years in, one guy the same night he takes a second girl and fucks her up so she looks like you? Kills Runnar after he spends hours practically dry humping you in public and then trashing your bedroom? That's no accident, Lucy. That means the killer was watching you, watching you and watching what Runnar did, and taking offense to it. And killing him because of it."
"He-"
"No!" Laxus held up a hand, pointing at her, and put it back down quickly. Put it back down because he noticed it was shaking. Trembling. And he didn't want her to see that. Didn't want her to know that. "You're the one who said the mistakes this year might be about us. Take it back one. They're about you. I'm not shit in this place except your guard. Might not like me anymore than Runnar, but I'm no powerless rich asshole. I'd be a challenge. Besides the fact that we've both gone out of our way to pass around that we're no more than friends. And barely that. But the idea that this guy, whoever the fuck he is, is losing it over you … can you blame me? You tell me you want to put yourself more alone with the men we suspect; can you blame me? Even without last night. Even without this whole month with you, I wouldn't like it."
Her lack of immediate comeback calmed him, slightly. That she was thinking about what he said, calmed him. Holy shit he didn't want her t-
"It still needs to be done. Both things. And the only way we can handle doing both is by splitting up."
"Gajeel and Lily sent the guard-"
"None of them have a fraction of your power. They're not even captains, and you heard the level captains ranked at during the Grand Magic Games, when they did the MPF. Lahar straight out said that Milliana at barley over 300, ranked at level enough to make captain. Orga, who lost to Jura - one shot, you were right there next to him, you saw it - pulled over 3000. Jura? Over 8000, and you beat him, Laxus. And you want me to leave those girls to five grunts?"
Well, when she put numbers to it, it sounded absolutely crazy. And selfish. And overprotective. And maybe like he was patronizing her more than a bit. But, he didn't mean it to be any of those things.
"Making yourself bait is insane, Lucy. At this point? After Maggie, especially. It's insane. We know fuck-all about this guy. You won't be able to go in prepared. For all we know, the magic he's got that cleans up his scenes, nullifies other magic. Meaning it'd just be you versus him, and you're not exactly built to go against someone who's been doing this. This guy's gotta have strength. Solid, physical strength. Just like you said, we're partners. We take him together."
"The who watches the women in the house?"
"We do that, too. You've got Loke out. You send out Gemini. Is there another that can blend in? And I'll exercise like I do, and wander. Send out however many your body can handle. Lucy, if you want, you can have eyes all over the house. We have a few more days; I'll jump to Freed. He's got some runes that are as good as living link magic. You can pull from my power if you start getting low. You won't get sick like you did in Holen. I've barely used anything this whole job. It means no matter where you and I are, if you can spread your spirits out, too, we can, together, all of us, guard everyone. It's not just me and you."
She blinked up at him. Smiled. That brilliant, beautiful smile he'd been afraid she'd lost. "Very few people talk about them like that."
"What?"
"Like they're separate from me. Like they're their own people. They talk about Loke that way, sometimes, because of how long he was in Fairy Tail, but … it's not just me and you." She grinned. She was shining; brilliance. "You're right. If I can rely on your power for help, and we have the Wilnlo permission to patrol the house, then we can all range around. It's not just me and you."
Pain shot through his temples, so extreme was his relief.
They agreed to wait to approach the Wilnlos. It was some sort of regional feast day, according to the people who ran the inn. Nothing fancy, just a celebration that was important in the town and surrounding areas, which the family also participated in. They probably wouldn't take kindly to having it interrupted.
So instead they cruised through the open town festival. After so much fucking awfulness, it was a really nice day. A really nice day.
By noon the gray light of morning had cleared to a whiter light, where the sky was clear, if washed of color. By two, it was bright and clean, the gray clouds completely faded away. It made the air very crisp, and the sights cheerful, considering the season and the recent weather they'd seen in the other houses and towns. And, though it was cold, it was not so cold that being outside was unbearable. Nor was the snow, which had fallen the previous night, so thick on the ground that walking was troublesome.
All-in-all, damn good climate for an outdoor party.
It was, Laxus thought, like Midwinter but much calmer. People wandered around town, chatting and eating too much at various food stalls. There were games for the children. Drinking alcoves for the adults. Small spaces set aside for contests; ice carving was one, but it was delicate stuff with tiny blocks of ice, not giant structures he'd seen in other festivals.
And in the center of the town there was a space set aside for dancing.
Lucy didn't give him the option of saying no. Looking at the other pairs and groups twirling around on the make-shift dance floor, there were no set rules here. You could dance how you wanted to dance. Not that he was surprised. Magnolia had festivals much like this one throughout the year, festivals calmer and less flashy than Fantasia, and he had grown up going to them. He'd seen dances like these dozens of times, but he'd never participated. Not his thing.
Now, however, he knew the rules. Or he knew certain rules. Those he knew? Was pretty damn good at them, however much Lucy enjoyed fucking with him about his skill. Calling him mediocre when he damn well knew he wasn't. Was only because she was so fucking amazing at it. Was only because she was joy on two feet when she danced.
Even knowing the rules and being good at it, now, dancing still wasn't his thing. But it was hers. So when she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the raised dance-floor with the upbeat, if simple, music, he didn't fight her. The expression of pure pleasure on her face was too captivating.
There it was. There was that open, bright, happiness he wanted to make sure she regained. And if all she needed was dancing… well, fuck. He could manage that.
Not being in the ballroom, and not being hampered by those long, heavy skirts, she danced more like she had in the rainy forest clearing outside of Holen. Her feet frequently lifted away from the ground when she turned. There was a sharp fluidity to her steps when she turned away and a longing to her touches when she reached out to him.
Laxus was aware that there was nothing he could do to match her in this, so he settled for doing what he could to keep up and helping to keep her going. If this movement was her joy, and it was blatantly obvious that it was, he would keep her from falling. From stopping. From losing her momentum, and pleasure. And if she got too far away from him, he lifted her and pulled her back. Closer. There was plenty of joy that could be had nearer to him.
People watched them, watched her. Dancers, other dancers gave her room on the stage. She would laugh, and spin; she would giggle and skip, and space would open up around her so that she would have the freedom to move as she wished. Early on, Laxus realized they'd, she'd become something of a show for the festival itself, but following that original thought, couldn't really bring himself to call halt to the dancing.
Let them watch her. Let them see her. Nothing wrong with showing off. Wasn't like they were hiding who they were. Let them watch her. Let them see her.
Lots of people in Fiore, he knew, cared deeply for Lucy Heartfilia. That in itself was a sort of power. Mira, for example, was a powerhouse, but honestly, he'd rather take her head-on any day of the week than face the combined wrath of her fanbase. They were crazy. They were creepy. And they were alarmingly devoted. He wouldn't want that for Lucy, not that exactly, but the more people who cared for her, the safer she would be.
The more people who cared for her, the more dangerous it was to reach out and touch her in violence. He hoped their enemy would figure that shit out. Maggie was a warning, yeah. Would the killer have bothered with a warning had Lucy been out in the open. Would he have gone to her directly if she hadn't been in his bed? Or was the knowledge of his care enough to protect her? Would-
"You're scowling, Laxus," she whispered, lifting his hand so that her lips brushed the pulse-point on the inside of his wrist before spinning away and around him. Placing a firm hand on the small of his back, grabbing his right hand, and turning him back around to face her on a fierce climax of sound. When had the music become so serious? "Don't. Don't frown. Relax."
He nodded, bending down to kiss the crown of her head, briefly.
No pressure. No pressure.
For the remainder of that song, he held her tight against him, ignoring all the traditional rules of dance that she'd taught him, and her general impulse for movement. For less than a handful of minutes, he held her and did as ordered. He relaxed.
Then the music changed, and he moved back. Allowing air between them. Allowing her limbs the freedom to move. She grinned and tapped his nose with her finger. She understood. She understood what he had needed, and she understood that he was okay.
And she danced. Holding his hands, occasionally inside the tight circle of his arms, she danced.
They spent an hour that way, maybe even two.
It was hard to measure something so mundane as time in the bubble of space she created for them. Watching her dance, helping her dance, narrowed his focus to her and nothing but her. And she was kind enough to allow him to participate.
She grinned. Lifted a hand to brush the backs of her fingers across his cheekbone, and stood on tiptoe to kiss his chin, before slipping once more from his grasp.
She laughed as she escaped the dance floor, and he chased her.
Her golden hair was tied up high, the tail of it whipping around, snapping as she turned a corner. Her red skirt and brown boots, a sharp contrast to the blues and blacks and greens most people, including himself, wore in the town. The red gloves covering hands fisted and flying in the air as she ran and laughed and knew, surely knew, that she couldn't beat him.
She was color and light and music.
She was magic.
He stopped running. Remembering the resolution he'd made the night before. It took her a block before she realized he'd stopped chasing her. She turned and looked at him and laughed even louder. "Well played. Which of us will break, then, I wonder?"
"I wonder," he smirked. "How about you be that kind, generous person you're so famed for being and get your ass over here."
She cocked her head to the side. The sun was setting behind her. It was harder to make out her expression as her body was silhouetted and she was shadowed. Her teeth flashed white. "The world's a changed place, Laxus Dreyar. And here? What I'm famous for is running away from men who try to tell me what to do. So," she wiggled her fingers in a sarcastic wave, "I'll be in the room."
And she bounced away, chuckling and humming the music from their dance.
…that little brat!
But then he laughed, and followed her. Because of course he did. How could he not?
0000
They woke up to not the best news. The Wilnlos would be unavailable for another day. Or at least, they weren't accepting Lucy's appointment request. Which could mean anything. Of course, it wasn't the worst news, either.
It just means we've got time to get a few things done while I send a second message with a bit more information, she had told him. And he had scowled as she said he should go talk to Freed about getting the power-link rune set up, while she would deal with resupplying them with a few things they were running out of, like toiletries.
Like hell she would. He was quick to shut that idea down.
He hadn't wanted to leave Lucy alone when he jumped back to Blue Pegasus, so he'd basically forced a promise out of her to stay in the room (she was rolling her eyes and drawling through the entirety of her oath, but she did promise, so he knew she would) and to not go out alone. Since she promised, he went.
He went, feeling mildly disgusted with himself at how quickly the loss of her hit him, despite the fact that he was only planning on being gone a few hours. They'd been together, constantly together, too long. Knowing how much space there was between them now, there was an emptiness expressed through loneliness deeper than he'd felt while exiled, and it was absolutely embarrassing.
Not that he didn't accept that he felt what he felt or anything, but seriously. He'd have to keep his attachment-based worries clamped down a bit, because he was pretty sure she'd be pissed off about them. He knew he would have been just as worried a week before, based on how freaked out he'd been over Maggie, but at the same time, he knew he wouldn't have been the same kind of worried about Evergreen or Mirajane or Bisca. And Lucy'd consider that patronizing as fuck.
At which point, she'd likely kick the shit out of him. Ruining his one-month-and-counting-long record of not getting the shit kicked out of him.
Problems for another day, though. He had other things to focus on.
Walking into the Blue Pegasus guild wasn't … comfortable. He was grateful for the place to go. And he liked Master Bob just fine. And Ichiya was an impressive mage, despite his oddities.
But he'd been practically born into Fairy Tail, stamp already permanent on his skin. His dad, his gramps, his great gramps... Even with the exile, when his shitty pops called for him to join Raven Tail, even if he hadn't hated the old bastard, his first thought had been that Dreyars belonged in Fairy Tail. That to be anywhere else was wrong. Dreyars and Fairy Tail, they were connected. It's why he wanted, thought he was meant to be Master. But if he couldn't be in Fairy Tail? He wouldn't be a guild mage. That's what he thought.
That's what he thought, before Tartarus.
But … it was a Dreyar who ended the guild. And arguably the best of them; the best of their blood. Gramps was a good man. Laxus knew that despite any argument or disagreement they'd ever had, at any point in their relationship, Laxus always knew that his grandfather was a good man.
It made no sense.
Still sick, heart-sore, and confused when they learned of what their Master, his gramps, had done, he, Freed, Bixlow, and Evergreen had accepted Master Bob and Ichiya's offer of sanctuary. But though it was sanctuary, and the guild was good to them, and there was nothing at all wrong with the guild… it wasn't quite home.
It wasn't Fairy Tail.
"Welcome back, Laxus," Master Bob greeted him from behind the bar.
"Thank you," he nodded, but before he could say anything more, he was attacked.
"Laxus!"
He was mobbed by three, very happy, very loudly sobbing people.
There was no surprise expressed about this by any of the other people in the guild, thank goodness, because Blue Pegasus was almost as odd as Fairy Tail when it came to personalities. That, at least, was a familiar element to the place.
"You've been away for a month! Without even calling!" Freed sniffled, wiping a few tears from his eyes. "A month! No calls! Why haven't you called?!" Laxus had to swallow several times to keep down the laughter that threatened to break out at his sudden - and almost overwhelming - mental image of Lucy teasing him.
Thank goodness he'd come without her. Of course she'd be safe on her own! Probably perfectly fine out shopping with Loke and the others beside her. This was what he should have been worried about.
"No kidding, man. Was a long damn time to just disappear like that." Bixlow slapped his shoulder as his souls swarmed around him giddily chanting no kidding. "How was the job?"
"Not finished," he was blunt. He knew better than to go easy on them. Might as well rip the bandage right off the bat and let them know he wasn't actually back.
"Not finished!" Evergreen pushed him into a booth and sat next to him. "What in the world are you doing that you can't finish it in a month?"
"Can't say. Not supposed to talk about it with too many people, per the client's orders. But I need a favor," he nodded to the rune mage.
Whose eyes burned with fierce purpose as he tilted his head in a slight bow, "Anything. Anything you need, Laxus-sama. It is our great pleasure to help you in any way."
Good god, Lucy had poisoned him. He could hear her mocking him in his head almost like she was hovering over his shoulder. Her voice bouncing around him in triplicate as if she was Bixlow's tikis.
Laxus grunted. "I need a rune that can replicate the living-link magic, so I can pass some of my magic energy on to another mage. The other mage has the ability to work the spell, but I've got more power, so to keep the thing going, or rather to keep my partner going, we think a link to my power would help and this method would fit. There are probably other ways to do this, but I trust you more than anyone else."
Okay, he was laying it on a little thick so that Freed wouldn't ask too many questions, but fuck. It would work. Manipulative as hell, and underhanded, and by the sly look on Ever's face a little obvious since she caught on to what he was doing, but he needed what he needed, and he needed it fast.
Laxus pushed on. "I know you'll do it so that this will be safe for both of us"
"What sort of spell?" Freed asked.
"I can't say. And I wouldn't actually be casting it. Just giving power. My partner would have that power as backup if needed." He really didn't want them to know about Lucy. She hadn't specifically told him to keep her name out of it, but he couldn't take teasing from all sides. He already got enough of it from her. If Bixlow and Evergreen found out… no. No. Absolutely not. After the job was done. Then he would have the energy to spare for their torture.
"What is the other mage's magic?"
"Is that necessary to know for the rune?" he asked. Wasn't something he'd wondered about. He'd only ever offered power to the three of his teammates, and they were all known to one another.
Saying her magic would give her away in an instant. There were probably only a handful of celestial spirit mages left in all of Earthland, and all of two who knew him, at all. And only one who would even bother to call for help. The Saber girl had her own lightning mage in Orga, why would she need to call him? (Ignoring the fact that he was in all ways superior to Orga, of course.) His team was in no way stupid enough to not figure out who she was. Hell, Natsu wasn't stupid enough to miss that.
Freed gave a sort of elegant shrug that would be acceptable in the houses he'd been visiting. Laxus scowled. "Some magics work together better than other magics. You're a lightning mage. Your magic won't feed well into a water mage, for example. On one level it is just power, so it shouldn't matter how you express that power, but - especially for a dragon slayer - we spend most of our lives visualizing and using that power in one set form. As a dragon slayer, you embody that form even more, consume it even, it's elemental for you. You're good as a mage, with expert control, and you can likely pass clean power through, but it will still be flavored by the lightning. So if your fellow mage isn't prepared or compatible with that magic-"
"She can handle it," Laxus said, repressing a grateful sigh. He didn't have to out himself... her. He wasn't going to have to out her. "Compatibility's sort of what she does."
There was a moment of silence. Then Bixlow's tongue rolled out, and he began to chuckle. Evergreen's eyes and mouth narrowed in a very evil sort of smile, and she snapped open her fan. Freed's eyes widened.
"She. She. She." The tiki dolls repeated his mistake back at him, echoing it through his ears and deep inside his head where Lucy's teasing voice also lived.
Fuck.
"Yeah, she." Laxus sighed.
"She hot?" Bixlow's grin was annoying. And Laxus still couldn't get the word erotic out of his head!
He considered lying, but there was only one answer to that question that he was at all capable of giving: "Yeah."
"Is she the reason this has taken you a month?" Evergreen's smile stretched and thinned.
"No." His mouth was hard, and he was glaring, but it wasn't doing him any good with his three oldest friends.
"Is she causing you problems?" Freed's hands were twitching.
Whose laughter was that he could hear? Oh? Wait? Yeah. Lucy's. Lucy's laughter. Fucking hell. She would have a blast with this if he ever told her. Which he absolutely would fucking not.
"No more than you three." Gasps all around. His mask cracked and he laughed. "Nah. She's good. Pulls her own weight, and then some; knows her shit. She's the expert on the job, I'm just the muscle." He lifted a fist, "And a battery, if you'll get that rune set up."
"Oh, o-of course!"
While Freed worked, the other two continued to interrogate him. Evergreen leaned forward. "If you won't tell us the job or who the mage is, you have to give us something. General area of where you've been?"
"All over. We're on the move. Another part of why I'm useful."
Bixlow leaned back, "So. Hot. Hot like how? What's she look like?"
Laxus looked at the masked man. How to describe Lucy, who they all knew, without letting them know it was Lucy? "She's about Ever's height, natural height I mean. In heels or barefeet, or what the fuck ever. Eh, maybe a little shorter. Hair's blond, bit paler than mine, long, almost down to her waist, and she usually ties it up. Probably longer if she didn't." The hair was the biggest, only real difference… "The usual, great rack," he smirked at Bixlow, "but really, to us, we grew up surrounded with all that. She's hot, though, no question."
"Just the two of you on the job?" Ever asked.
"We consulted with two others last week, ended up in a same place/same time situation, but other than that, just us."
"Allll alone," Bixlow leered.
"In public, mostly," Laxus drawled. "We're on the job, alone, but the job isn't being done in a cave under the sea or anything."
"Well-"
"Laxus!" Master Bob shouted across the guild. "Current client's on the com-lacrima."
Current client? The PRINCESS was calling the….
"Got it!" He ran back into the Master's office behind the bar and took one look at Hisui's face and almost freaked out. What the hell?! "What's wrong? What happened? Is she okay? Is-"
And then came the laughter.
"…the fuck, Lucy."
"Hahahaha!" Lucy laughed as she pulled Hisui to the side as she popped in a puff of smoke to turn into the two spirits that made up Gemini. "I'm getting you back for making me stay here. Are you done yet? The W… the family is having a thing that isn't the thing we usually go to but is a thing we could go to, that we're allowed to go to because of my second message, and I think we should go to… based on what we did go to yesterday… wow, this is annoying."
"You should hear it from this side," he muttered.
"Heard that." She was almost singing her amusement at him.
"Fan-tastic."
"Having a good time?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. She grinned. She knew. About the teasing and his wariness and his horror at her joining in, about Freed... Somehow, she knew. How did she know?
"Maybe," he was cautious.
"Freed almost done?
He shrugged, "I'd say within the hour."
"Good. I need you back."
He burned. Every inch of him. Outside and in. Lightning sizzled over his arms and popped on his fingertips.
"Might want to get control of yourself before you make a mess in the Master's office, Laxus. The thing at the place happens in two and a half hours. I need to talk to… someone. So if you're not back…"
He snorted, "You still won't go. You promised. You'll stay in the room, like you promised. But don't worry, I'll be back. If he doesn't finish, I'll just come back for it tomorrow. We've got time for that, yeah?"
Lucy nodded, "Especially if we can do tomorrow's job, tonight."
Tomorrow's job. Offering themselves to the Wilnlos.
"Even more important, then. I'll be there in an hour and a half, max."
"Got it." Her grinned softened. "I'm guessing you didn't tell them it was me?"
"No."
"Yeah. Probably better that way. Especially given that you're at your guild and all."
He flinched at the phrase. Then felt guilty for flinching.
She noticed, because of course she did.
"Don't. It's okay." She smiled again. "Command Freed to hurry his pretty ass up, and then come back, Laxus."
He considered several different replies, but settled for a nod and a simple,"Yeah."
The lacrima went dark, and that feeling of loss swept over him again. His feet, when he left Master Bob's office, were heavy. And heavier still when he made his way back to the table where Bixlow, Freed, and Evergreen were waiting with curious expressions. He fucking hated secrets.
"My partner asks that you, and I quote, hurry your pretty ass up, Freed," Laxus told his friend, knowing that one day, eventually, his team would learn that it was Lucy who said it. And it would come back to get her. One day… he would get his own back. Sure, she generally was able to tease him much more than he could her, but in this case, he'd have something over her. "Our appointment's been moved up. I've got an hour and a half. If you can't make it in that time, I can come back tomorrow."
Freed's skin went an alarmingly odd shade of red that looked really bad against the green of his hair. Bixlow nearly fell out of his chair laughing. Evergreen had her fan open to cover her mouth… also likely laughing, but trying to spare Freed a bit of embarrassment.
"This partner of yours sounds fun," Bixlow overcame his laughter to lean forward, while giggling chants of fun swirled around him. "You having a good time at least?"
...a direct echo of Lucy's question. He didn't quite give the words the inflection Laxus figured he wanted to, at least. He really should keep the two away from each other as much as he could.
Laxus crossed his arms. "Not having a good time or a good time. The job is completely fucked. She's fine, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to have fun with what we're doing."
"You okay?" Evergreen frowned and put her hand close enough to his arm so that her fingers brushed his elbow. "Maybe we can't help with the job directly, but if we can help with you or this girl, you know you can come to us…"
And he smirked, "Yeah. Yeah, I know that. I-"
He smelled celestial magic. He stood up fast enough to throw back the booth bench he was sharing with Evergreen and shift the table.
Loke was at the door.
Every muscle in his body went hard, ridged. His heart nearly turned to stone, preparing for what the fear on the spirit's face might tell him.
"She didn't leave, she didn't break her word, but the inn reeks of mint. Plue can smell it all over town. She sent him out. He's there, Laxus. She needs you back, so she can be released of her promise to stay. So she can hunt him. So you can hunt him."
"Cosplayer?"
"Lucy…"
"Laxus-sama, does Loke mean-"
"Tell her I'm coming, but not to leave until I get there!" He turned on his team, "I'll be back for the rune tomorrow." Usually he was considerate enough to transform into lightning and teleport outside of populated areas, especially outside of buildings. But not today. Not in that moment. He called his power to him right there at the table, and shot into the sky. Racing, racing to a woman he trapped with a promise - whose who life was built around promises - in a building that he had thought safe! Not so much anymore, was it?!
Shit!
0000X0000
Author's Note:
And how did I do ANOTHER before December? I have no damn clue. Procrastination on more important things? Yeah. That. And it's likely to get me into all sorts of trouble, but it's happened, so … no undoing it.
Honestly... not much happened here. But it was a quick chapter, so please don't hate me for that.
I didn't initially plan on bringing in Laxus' Trimen, but it occurred to me in the chapter where Lucy exhausted most of her power that Laxus wasn't actually using a ton of his, so why couldn't he help out with that? And wouldn't that be a good excuse to bring in Mr. I LOVE LAXUS himself?
Also a bit more romance than I planned because my month has been shit, and I need it. And a cliffhanger because … I'm cruel? And I guess my month has been shit. Conference is still a week away. My work for it is STILL not done. I'm STILL stressing out. But not enough to be done, yet.
ANYWAY. Massive thanks to the GUEST reviewers I had on chapter 11. Up until 11 I'd pretty much had registered only, so this is my first chance to do in-story responding:
Anon 4 – Thanks. My style is a bit awkward at times, so I'm glad it appeals to you! And I'm glad you enjoyed the part about the book!
A Random Reader – The rest of the month HAS been a little better, thankfully. I don't think anything can be as bad as that week was, so thank you for your concern and your hope! And thank you for picking up my story!
Guest – (just says Guest) Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as what happens next!
Moon - I'm glad you are responding well to the fact that they're taking time. I appreciate that! It would be easy, I think, to just let emotions take over in such a situation, but they're also both adults. And Laxus especially knows something about control, so it's not like he's some sort of raging beast, like he was when he let his power get away from him in Fantasia. LOL. Hormones aren't generally QUITE so bad when you're in your mid-twenties in that you can wait if you try. Especially when both of them are mages who can express calm well (at least, Lucy does meditate... she can express energy and rage pretty well, too!) and I think he would see the benefits in trying. He's quite cunning.
Oh my! That was quite a ramble I went on there! Anyhow! End comment reply section! Thank you any non-registered individual for reading. If you are registered, I PM you when you review... that being why I didn't reply directly here!
Love and thanks to all! -AL