Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! When I first began writing this story and posted it I didn't expect the level of response I got. silentlyfallen, Fijimaru, Raiza-chan, and kurahieiritr Jio- Thank you for your reviews!

I've been planning this story for some time, and I hope you find it enjoyable!

Warning!- I am a junior honor high school student, so I am likely going to have a hard time updating this story; however, I plan on trying to write and post at least one chapter a week.

I appreciate all constructive criticism, and I enjoy any feedback I get so I can improve or add things to this story.

I plan on writing this story in three arcs, but that can change if the story doesn't go that way.

0o..(~.~)..o0

If there was anything he wanted most in the world, it would be to turn the fucking sun off. This was just mother fucking ridiculous! He had already stripped out of his coat and shirt yet for the life of him it felt like it was only getting hotter.

Laxus knew he should have taken the train. Motion sickness be damned!

Not only that he had ran out of water and he was lost. Lost in a desert, with no water, alone.

Of all the places to get lost in why a desert?! He knew he had a horrible sense of direction. He knew. So what on God's green Earth possessed him to travel through the desert you may ask?

His failure.

It was his way of training. An incredibly stupid way of training now that he thought about it, but there was no turning back. No that would have been three days ago.

He tossed the idea of Lightning travel through his mind, before throwing it out. He got himself into this mess, and he wasn't going to just take the fucking easy way out! Laxus blamed his stubbornness on his Gramps. Who was the one person he wanted to yell at the most besides himself. Who in the hell did that old man think he was?! Right he was the guild master, someone who rallied and held Fairy Tail together no matter the situation, but then he goes and disbands the guild. To top it all off he disappears without a trace, literally vanishing into thin air. With the cloud of smoke and sparkles too which in reality didn't help the situation. All it did was make it worse. Like this whole thing was some sort of sick fucking joke where he would just appear out behind us and shout "Just Kidding!" with a stupid jester's hat on while doing some creepy dance with another stupid creepy ass grin on his face.

Fuck it. All this was doing was making him mad, and he didn't really want to listen to his Soundpods to calm down. It was too hot to listen to music. Not even AC-DC would be able to help at this point.

It was the fourth week since he woke up from the coma he was in due to the Barrier Particles. The fourth week since he found out that almost all of the town of Hargeon had been infected. The fourth week since a good quarter of them died of Magic Deficiency Syndrome. Even those who didn't have magic died almost instantaneously.

Last he had heard Porlyusica was there administering antidotes to the infected within the quarantine zone. He remembered sucking in as many particles as possible even as they felt agonizingly painful. It wasn't as painful as when his Lacrima was implanted in him, nothing would ever be that..that... he couldn't even think of word to describe what that had felt like and he didn't think there ever would be. It was like being torn apart and put back together repeatedly while something other than himself slithered in making room for itself and constantly demanded to have its way. There was nothing like it. He was told it was less than hour before he fell unconscious, but he wasn't unconscious. It was just too much to do anything, to think anything. Even to do nothing was impossible, but the indescribable pain, the pain, did not vanish. It had kept him awake and painstakingly aware. It was like whatever had made room for itself wanted him to suffer. To know pain. To know the fear that he was helpless.

That was the exact reason why he hated helplessness. It made him feel weak, and he hated it.

It was also why he left the Raijinshuu at Blue Pegasus. He couldn't let them get hurt because of his weakness. He couldn't let them... see. His weakness, his utter shame, his hate for his failure. It was like Fantasia all over again. Like a constant cycle that ended with the same result. Never changing in the ending. It was this one constant that never left him, this failure.

He looked down at the palm of his hand. It was calloused from years of training with small creases were the skin would fold when he closed it. He had looked at his hands so much they were carved into his memory. Hands that had hurt his family. Hands that had failed when it mattered. Hands that... were also shaking.

The shaking in his hands had started after he woke up and it hadn't stopped. He clenched his fist, but it still shook. He shoved his hand into his pants pocket and trudged on. It wasn't the first time they shook.

Glaringly white desert is what his eyes saw. It was never ending, a deceiving landscape. Hundred foot sand dunes stretched out across the desert, casting deep dark shadows. There had been no wind for the past three days, and he didn't know what that meant. Whenever he took missions they were usually in the mountains or the forest, he wasn't even sure how he managed to find a desert in Fiore.

Somehow he did though, and now he was lost, without water, alone.

He could feel his skin baking under the sun, crackling with acidic heat, and he knew he should probably cover his skin. It wouldn't work though. All his clothes had sand in them somehow, and if he were to put his raw skin onto the fabric the movement of his walking would cause the fabric to shift. The shifting the fabric would be painful, but he could handle that. The problem is that there was salt in this sand apparently, and it would be quite literally rubbing salt in the wounds.

It was high noon, nearing the hottest part of the day. Just great fucking fantastic! All he needed was a more severe sunburn courtesy of the sadistic mother fucker known as the sun.

He licked his cracked dry lips, hoping that he wasn't getting close to heat stroke or dying of dehydration. Out of all the ways to die, those would be the stupidest way for him to die. It would be mockery to everything! That after everything, the one thing that would bring him down was his own ignorance, not arrogance nor his once twisted idea of the world, but being unprepared. He was always unprepared in some way. Just never quite had what he needed to succeed when it mattered.

There was a soft rumbling coming from the west. Like thunder far off in the distance, but growing louder. Laxus stopped, his feet sinking slightly into the fine grain of sand, and looked around.

He felt the soft caress of a hot wind across his back, and he heard the whistling roar of a breeze. It was so quiet in the desert any sound felt extraordinarily loud. He tensed in surprise. There hadn't been any wind for three days, none, zero. With the wind came the ever growing roar and he turned around.

Behind him, maybe a few miles, was a massive wall of sand and it was approaching fast. Glancing around hurriedly, Laxus thought of anything that would be able to get him out of this storm. The only thing that came to mind though was to hunker down and wait it out. The only problem with that was there wasn't anywhere to hide.

Pulling a button up shirt out of his travel bag he wrapped it around his head like a turban and mask. He was trying to keep the sand out of his lungs and it was one of the few things he had on hand that would work. A stronger gust of wind whipped through the desert kicking up sand and he clutched to the shirt on his head trying to keep it from flying off. Looking behind him again he could see that the sand wall had traveled about half the distance in a few seconds. Feeling the tendrils of panic starting to slither in he turned back around only to be thrown face first into the sand from another peal of wind. The roaring sound now sounded like it was thundering in his ears. It was too close.

Ignoring the gritty sand in his mouth he reached for his bag again. When he didn't find it at first the panic snook in a little more. Finding it about a foot in front of his face he pulled out his favorite fur lined coat and draped it around himself. He pressed himself as close to the ground as possible and hoped the storm would pass soon.

It was frustrating to just have to sit there and wait out this Sandstorm. The roaring and ripping sound of the wind made his ears ring in pain.

Suddenly he was practically slammed down and forward into the ground. He could feel the sand pounding into his back. It was painful as the salty sand got smeared into his raw and burned skin. He grunted and tried to ignore the pain. The sound. The world.

He blocked it all out and focused on his breathing, his heartbeat. Badump. Badump.

He found himself becoming drowsy, tired from the brutal beating of the desert. He knew he shouldn't fall asleep at the moment because he would likely due by being buried by sand, but he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. He was too tired to.

With that last thought along with the lingering physical pain and emotional turmoil, Laxus fell asleep.

'~~~~'

"Oi! Carcillo! The sandstorms passed!"

Turning to the young lad, Dimitri, Carcillo tiredly glared at him where he stood holding open the canvas flap of the tent. While glad the storms had passed he was irritated by the good mood of the young lad. He was having a lovely dream about his lovely lady friends back in Kimaro. Oh what exotic nights he had when they were there!

But now was the time of hunting. Not hunting as in for food, but hunting for Fulgurite. Also known as fossilized lightning. It was a sneaky little fossil to find, but it was what brought in the doe.

Rolling off the matt on the floor, he pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"You know it's too damn early for that mood, brat."

Smiling brightly, despite Carcillo's complaint, Dimitri ran out of the tent into the crisp air of early morning.

Pushing himself up, Carcillo rolled up the matt and stuffed it into his pack. Walking out into the cold desert morning air, it was maybe a few hours before dawn. Only a few hours before the scorching sun marked it's angry rays upon the white sand dunes.

Sighing in annoyance, he scratched his bristly beard. If anything he knew he would stick out like a sore thumb in this desert with his skin tone, and thus he would get more sun. Yay!

Carcillo was a short slender man of 5" 2. He was rather young, only in his late twenties, but he was the leader of this caravan. The title of leader was passed down from one generation to the next, teaching the young the traditions of old. His father passed away six years ago.

His skin was a rather dark walnut color and his head was bald, but he had been growing himself a beard as of late due to neglect. A beige colored tunic, a pair of pig leather pants, and old worn leather traveling boots completed his ensemble. Swirling black tattoos started at the sides of his head and ended at his lower back, they were symbols of his status in his clan.

Quickly packing away his small canvas tent, he whistled signaling they were moving out soon. Walking to his custom Sand Speeder, he opened a side compartment inside the cockpit and threw his pack inside before snapping it shut.

Stepping back he examined his vehicle for any signs of damage. It was a narrow vehicle made up of light alloys and new Magina Sails. It was roughly nine feet long and three feet wide, and painted a alabaster white with cranberry red engravings along the nose and rear. It was the shape of a bullet and made for speed and quick maneuvering. Tucked into compartments on either side were the Magina Sails that would give the craft speed and maneuverability.

Magina Sails were a type of synthetic lacrima membrane that when powered by magic would push the air behind it or in front of it thus creating speed. A special sonic magic thruster was at the back of the Sand Speeder for emergencies since it drained heavily on the magic fuel. It was an extremely efficient vehicle that replaced the old method of using animals.

It was the most absolutely thrilling thing Carcillo had ever experienced. It gave him an adrenaline rush every time he rode the thing. Smiling in excitement, Carcillo put his hand on the cool metal and gently brushed his fingers along the outside of the craft.

Turning away from his prized beauty, he saw that the rest of the crew were ready to go. Walking to hitch the sled that would hold any of the fulgurite they found to the back of his speeder, he felt his horrible morning mood dissipating. Out of everything in the world the one thing that would forever pull his mood up was his Sand Speeder. Flinging himself into the cockpit, Carcillo whistled a short three note tune and with that they started their engines. Putting his hands on the Lacrima sensors, that were two floating spheres that were specifically coded to specific pilots, he turned them a quarter to the left and pushed down. The Speeder's engine roared to life and the sails extended full length. At full length they were six feet long and separated into twelve sections that were connected by magnetic fields. Using this method for the sails cut down on the drag as well as making it easier to maneuver through tight spaces.

The Sand Speeders purred quietly, and the exhilaration of the speed this baby could give shot through all twelve men`s minds. There was nothing like it in the world to them. It was a specially crafted vehicle from their home village, and the central government had yet to get a whiff of it. That was how they preferred it to stay.

Suddenly they shot off with the opening of their sails and the blinding red glow of the engravings; all that could be seen was streaks of white, red, and clouds of sand.

Looking down at his scanner on his left consul, he could clearly see where the edge of the thunderstorm was. He corrected his course and in less than an hour they reached it. It seemed that the storm had already moved on during their ride, but they wouldn't need to chase the storm till after they scoured the sand for the fulgurite. Dawn was approaching fast and the sky was already turning a blue violet color. As they got closer they began to slow down, but then all of a sudden a Sand Speeder shot forward leaving them in a cloud of sand.

Realizing that was Dimitri, Carcillo turned the spheres sixty degrees down and he shot forward after the reckless boy. Dimitri was the first to get off his Speeder, and before he could call out to the lad, Dimitri stopped. They saw Dimitri fall to his knees and start digging into the sand. It made no sense, the only way to look for the Fulgurite was to bring out the scanners that were specifically tuned to look for residual electricity and abnormal concentrations of electricity.

Quickly slowing down and swerving the speeder to the side of the boy he prepared himself to receive all nonsense for answers. Suddenly remembering that the boy had the uncommon ability to sense magic, Carcillo quickly jumped out of his Speeder not even bothering to turn it off. If there was one thing he knew, it was that whatever had gotten Dimitri to move that fast must be rather serious.

Running over and then sliding to his knees next to the boy, he too began digging. After a few seconds he felt his hands hit something soft that was most definitely not sand. Pushing aside more sand, he began to see the dark fabric of a coat. A few more men pulled up aside them and quickly joined the two and together they unburied whoever this was. When they finally got enough sand off the coat, Dimitri pulled back the coat to reveal a man.

The first thing they saw was a badly sun burned back that was bleeding in some places and had sand sticking to the raw skin. Not receiving any reaction Carcillo began to panic. Fearing that whoever this person was might be dead, he quickly yet carefully rolled the person over. He was clearly a man, a well built one at that, but he couldn't see his face; it was covered up by a shirt that was wrapped around the man's head. Ignoring his curiosity about who this was he put his hand to the shirtless man`s neck to see if there was a pulse.

Sighing in relief that there was a steady pulse, he reached up to pull back the man`s shirt from his face. The first thing he noticed was the scar, not only that, but his face was extremely familiar. The man was in his early twenties with blonde hair that was sticking up in all different directions. Dark bags were under his eyes and his face was set in a deep frown. He knew who this man was when he looked down slightly and caught a glimpse of the black swirling tribal tattoo surrounding the black mark of the mage guild Fairy Tail. Adding together the fact that this man had been all over the Lacrima Vision for months, he knew exactly who this was. This person here was Laxus Dreyar.

0o..(~.~)..o0

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I tried to write Laxus`s point of view as best as I could, but I don't know if I made him too OC. The next chapter we will be going back to Lucy, Wendy, and Carla. I have been working on the chapter for the past week and have been having saving problems. By the way I don't have a beta, so the only person checking for mistakes is me and spell check. Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Sorry if you don't like the OC I added, but they are rather important to the development of the characters.

On a side note, fulgurite is an actually real. It occurs when lightning hits sand, and due to the exceedingly high temperature of the plasma it instantly melts the sand turning it into glass. The outside texture is rough while the inside is smooth and hollow.

(This chapter was edited- 9-25-2015)