Chapter 3

They finally defeated all the attacking Mages, some having fled, and the Rune Knights were on their way to collect the ones who couldn't get away.

Now that they had been dealt with, Laxus no longer felt his presence was needed and ran off in search of the Iron Dragon Slayer and more importantly, the golden-furred Exceed. He desperately wanted to have her back so that he may ask her to join him as his partner.

"Hey, Laxus!" Natsu shouted as the blonde Slayer was darting out the guild doors. Laxus slowed momentarily before continuing running off. "Laxus, where you going?" Upon realizing he wasn't going to get an answer, Natsu took off after the older man.

The rest of Team Natsu and even Pantherlily followed after the other Slayers. Pantherlily following only because he had watched Gajeel take the Exceed. He knew it was Lucy the moment her spirit brought her through the guild doors. It was rather obvious, but as far as he could tell, his partner and Wendy were the only other people who figured it out.

Laxus followed the scent of the Iron Slayer away from the guild only to realize that it looped back around, leading right back near the guild. The blond let out a frustrated growl, before sprinting faster.

Were they already heading back to the guild and I just missed them, he wondered, annoyed with himself.

Laxus finally registered the pink-haired terror running alongside of him. Not breaking his stride, he glared at the fellow Slayer. "What are you doing here, Natsu?" he growled out.

"Well, I'm following you, of course. You're looking for Gajeel because he has that Exceed with him, right? I wanted to see if I could help at all," Natsu replied with a large grin. "Also, I smell Luce with him! Why didn't she come say hi to the guild yet?" he pouted childishly.

"And why is she even hanging out with Metal Head anyways?" he questioned suspiciously, more to himself than the other slayer.

Laxus halted abruptly, causing Gray, who Laxus had yet to notice, run right into him. The Slayer whirled around to face the Ice Mage with a snarl on his face. "Watch it!"

"You're the one who stopped suddenly, you watch it!" Gray retorted.

A metal-clad hand whacked the Ice Mage upside his head. "Gray, apologize for running into Laxus," Erza demanded.

With a scowl, Gray reluctantly apologized to the blonde. "My bad," he said simply.

"Whatever. What are you all doing following me?" Laxus asked the other Mages and Exceeds.

"Actually, we're following Flame Brain over there," Gray muttered, gesturing to Natsu.

"I'm following you so that I may find Gajeel," Pantherlily stated after Gray.

After getting his answer, Laxus turned back to the Fire Dragon Slayer. "You said you smelled Blondie, but she wasn't with Gajeel. He took off to protect that Exceed for me," he finally told Natsu. "However, I do faintly smell traces of her scent, but it smells . . ." he contemplated for a second, ". . . off," he concluded.

"Yeah, you're right. Now that I think of it," Natsu stated. All of a sudden, panic swept over the Fire Slayer, his eyes widened. "What if Luce is hurt?" With that said, he took off.

Team Natsu once again followed closely behind. Pantherlily turned to the Slayer questioningly. Has he figured it out yet? Laxus just stood there a moment longer, a slightly perplexed expression on his face, before he sprinted after the others. Pantherlily flew above the blonde. No he hasn't, he thought.

The panic-stricken group made it to Gajeel's place in the forest twice as fast, worried about their Celestial Spirit Mage's health.

Natsu burst through the door without a thought. He was too worried about his best friend; the thought of her injured had terrified and enraged him greatly. The door, unfortunately, was far more injured than Lucy however. It was splintered and hanging off the hinges from Natsu's hasty entrance.

Four eyes whirled around to face the intruder who abruptly and unceremoniously entered the Iron Slayer's home, a scowl immediately marring said Slayer's face. Meanwhile, Wendy and Carla watched confused and Lucy was just curious by her best friend's behavior, though not surprised, it was Natsu after all.

The others finally caught up to their teammate and crossed the threshold into the house, Laxus and Pantherlily following after shortly.

Gajeel angrily rose from his position on the couch. "What the hell are you all doing in my home?" he bellowed, completely pissed off at the damage done to his poor door.

"Where's Luce?" Natsu demanded. His game face was firmly in place and he took on a fighting stance. "Is she hurt?"

"Actually, Natsu, Lucy is fine," a soft voice hesitantly said. Natsu quickly looked to Wendy. "Well, sort of."

Natsu rushed passed Gajeel and the Exceed in his studded arms. He kneeled by the younger Slayer's side. "What do you mean, 'sort of', Wendy? Where is Lucy; does she need help?" Wendy could see how worried Natsu was about his best friend. She wanted to answer his questions, but he kept asking more.

"Give her space," demanded the white-furred Exceed. "Now, go ahead, child, explain what happened," Carla added, seeing how her friend was struggling to get a word in between Natsu's questions.

"Well, Lucy is alright. She isn't hurt, but she's not the same," she said, struggling to explain herself. "She kind of changed."

"What does that mean?" Natsu cut her off again.

"Look for yourself, Salamander," Gajeel growled to the boy. Everyone turned to face Gajeel and the mystery Exceed. It clicked in Erza's and Gray's heads; the Exceed was Lucy. However, Natsu, Happy, and Laxus still didn't get the picture. Laxus hadn't even paid attention to the conversation thus far; he was focused on the yellow Exceed the moment he entered the Iron Slayer's home.

Without thinking, he approached the dark-haired Slayer and Exceed. Laxus brought his hand up to the brightly colored fur and stroked it softly. Everyone who figured out who the Exceed was stood in shock at the gentle caress Lucy was receiving from Laxus, Lucy included.

She stared up at the blonde Slayer with widened eyes. Seeing her unease, Laxus began trying to calm her with soothing sounds while continuing to stroke her soft fur.

"It's ok, little one. I won't hurt you," he soothed. "I wanted to know if maybe you will be my Exceed? I'll take care of you better than anyone else will, I promise." It was the first time that most of them had ever heard Laxus sound so unsure and desperate about something. His eyes gleamed with anxious hope, afraid of rejection, but yearning for acceptance.

Natsu was quiet for once, despite still worrying for his blonde friend. Something felt off to the Fire Slayer. He began focusing solely on this mystery Exceed; she felt off. He couldn't quite pick out what was wrong though.

Meanwhile, said Exceed struggled for words. Laxus absentmindedly continued to rub her fur, something she'll never admit to enjoying, as he waited with baited breath for her answer.

"I, well, um…"

"Laxus," a deep voice cut off her struggling. Laxus quickly glanced over to the dark-furred Exceed.

"What?" he asked Pantherlily.

"That Exceed," he said, gesturing to Lucy. "Tell me, does she seem familiar at all to you?"

Laxus was confused now. He turned back to the furry bundle in Gajeel's arm, ceasing his hands ministrations as he tried to understand what it was Pantherlily was talking about. As he thought about it, the little Exceed did seem familiar, but he didn't know why.

Suddenly, a voice that had been quiet thus far, spoke up. "Lucy, is that you?" Happy's voice questioned the golden-furred Exceed. Realization hit the other two Slayers like a bus. It was Lucy and that's why something seemed off.

Natsu ran to Gajeel and Lucy's side in panic, pushing Laxus out of the way. "It's really you, Luce. What happened?" he questioned her in bewilderment. He quickly pulled his friend into his arms; Happy flying over to hug her too. "I'll fix this, Luce, I promise," Natsu spoke, determined to help his best friend. She began crying softly into his chest, the hopeless feeling returning. The rest of Team Natsu and Wendy approached to show their support as well.

What if he can't fix this?

Meanwhile, Laxus had stumbled away from the two Slayers and Exceeds. It was Lucy the entire time. His chest clenched painfully. For so long, he wanted an Exceed by his side; this was supposed to be his chance. It wasn't though. He was still alone.

He turned and left silently, a numb feeling overtaking him.

Only the Exceeds realized he was leaving. Lucy felt horrible and couldn't let that happen. She saw how much hope he had when he asked her to be his Exceed. Never before had she realized it, but now she knew for sure. Laxus wanted an Exceed just as bad as Gajeel had wanted one.

She felt wings spout from her back and she wiggled her way out from her best friend's embrace. Clumsily, she flew to Laxus' retreating form. "Wait!" she shouted.

Startled, Laxus turned around to face Lucy. His face was a blank mask.

"Don't leave," she was lost for further words. She didn't know what to say.

"Sorry, Blondie, I have somewhere to be," he said with little emotion.

"I'll be your Exceed," she blurted out without thinking. Laxus gave her an incredulous look. Everyone stared at her in shock. Lucy felt embarrassed, but continued on.

"If you want, I can be your Exceed until we figure out how to turn me back," she said, unsure now more than when she was giving him the offer. "But if you don't want to, you don't have to," she finished, losing all confidence.

Laxus' face, no longer phased, seemed to brighten with hope. It was weird thinking of having her as his Exceed, but just the thought of having his own feline partner filled him with joy. He couldn't stop the brilliant smile that overtook his face; he was ecstatic.

"Sounds good to me, Blondie," he said, toning down his smile to a mischievous smirk.

Lucy began to feel slight dread. What have I gotten myself into?


Author's Note: I've been real busy with college. It's only my first semester and two of my courses are labs ;_; among other classes of course. Then, I'm in 5 different clubs, one of which I'm the president. So don't be too mad. In other news, the 7th was my birthday. I'm now 19 and my mom paid for me to go bungee jumping. That was fun. Then two day after, it was my mom's birthday and I got to see her again! I don't get to see my mom much, so it was great! I also got Jurassic World B) Anyways, yeah... sorry again.

Review Response:

Shelly22112: That's great, Thank you! :)

kurahieiritr JIO: You review at expert mode, meaning it's awesome! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, Laxus didn't have a major reaction though. His dreams were crushed, he was numb. I could have made him have a more dramatic reaction, but I felt he would just try to slip away on his own. As for Gajeel, I feel like he would be the protective older brother she needs in this situation, since her team couldn't fill in the role yet as they were still ignorant of her current predicament. And thanks for your encouraging words. You're right, when I think of figuring out my next move the way you pointed it out, it makes it far more exciting! ^-^

laknight11: That's great to hear! I definitely wanted them to all be closer because in their time of need, Fairy Tail has each other's backs. :P And yeah, still have no idea where I'm going with this, but hopefully somewhere as cool as I am. B) lol jk. I've considered off and on whether I would eventually add a romantic aspect to this, but again, I'm not sure until we get there. The same goes for Gajeel. I tend to have multiple ships for Lucy, so who knows who she might end up with if I decide to take that path, it'll be a surprise for us all. :)

LaLuloverfairytail: That is super wonderful to hear! Thank you! :)

VA-fan-G-Girl-25: I feel you, I adore LaLu...and many other Lucy ships. :3 I think I created a Wattpad once, but I preferred this site because I'm more familiar with it. Whereas, Wattpad I don't use at all. I think some of your questions were answered in this chapter. You did mention Sabertooth though, I might consider exploring that route or something similar. I do enjoy all the Dragon Slayers, so I wouldn't mind trying to fit them into the story. :P

Rosey 1320: Yeah, it's continuing, just very slowly. º~º That's good to hear, hopefully you can continue to enjoy this story. :) I'm glad I could help change up the stories and make something a little different because I've noticed a good chunk of the stories are similar in theme. Hopefully this different is good. :P

Keerannyx: That's great to hear. I'll try to keep posting, maybe even more frequently, but this upcoming semester is going to be even more packed and I'm trying to get a job on campus. But life isn't any fun if it's not a little crazy, right?! Thank you for the support! ^-^

SuperPsycoNutcase: Here it is! It tried to escape, but I caught it just in time! :3