Hey Guys,

Signed here! The next chapter is up and ready. Definitely more development in this chapter. Also, fair warning, there are a lot of time jumps. Anyway, as always hope you enjoy!

- Singed

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Number Six was furious. They were all fools! Including Number Four which surprised him. Behind all her bitterness and sass, there was a very bright and intelligent mind. How could she of all people even think this would work? He sat hard in his chair and sighed.

It wasn't just the stupidity of it though that had him fuming. It was that this might actually work. Number One had yet to reveal his entire plan, but if someone could figure it out, it was him. He was a genius, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that pride came before the life shattering fall. After all, that was why he was in this mess in the first place. He'd thought that with his magic would be able to overcome any and every opponent. However, with Number One that wasn't the case. That blasted devil had found his one weakness. Number One mockingly called it his treasure and used it to force him to do whatever was desired at the time.

He needed to get out of this mess now, but that was the problem. He couldn't because if he ran he would either be killed or his weakness exploited. He'd just have to watch for an opportunity to get out and when he found one he'd take it. Then he'd disappear for real and he'd be taking his "treasure" with him, or die trying.

Two Weeks Later

"Oh, that is a delightful taste!" Mira exclaimed to the vendor. He'd come in a few times over the months to sell Mira some new products. This one came in a small bottle and tasted like fresh cherries.

"Yes, and the best part it only takes a drop! Watch." He added a drop to the glass and gave it to Mira. She tasted it again and the same delightful flavor filled her mouth.

"Oh, yes! This will be a big hit!"

"Of course the only problem is that it only tastes good to the women. Men find it awful."

"What? Why?"

"It's something to do with the fruit. The island where it is picked has some weird magical properties, causing the men and women to eat and enjoy totally different foods. Here, watch. You sir, try this." He unknowingly gave it to Laxus, who was once again sitting at the bar not speaking to Mira but an ever present shadow. Mira always grew excited when he appeared but it was a bother too. She wasn't sure when she'd grown fond of Laxus and she was even less sure when she'd actually fallen for the brute, but she did distinctly remember the moment she realized it. Shaking her head, she sighed and straightened up. If he was just going to ignore her then that was fine. She could ignore people too.

Laxus, who of course had heard everything decided to humor the guy. "Fine I'll drink your magic, but it'll cost yeah." The man was confused for just a moment, when Laxus, taking a sip, instantly spit it out and then slammed the glass on the man's head. The man fell to the floor and was out cold. Mira looked over the bar in concern and then looked back at Laxus.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I warned him. Besides, that was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted." Mira sighed and took out her rag to clean up the mess.

"Don't do that," he said, as the man finally came to. Laxus took the rag, cleaned up his spit, and then gave it to the man as he stood reeling. Mira watched him saunter out and giggled a little.

"You're soft side is showing," she whispered. Knowing he'd heard her when he paused in step, but then kept walking not looking back. The merchant was looking at the rag in confusion as Mira smiled at him.

"So, how much?"

"40 Jewel."

"Bargain! I'll take it!" As Mira turned around, she didn't see that his smiled turned from friendly to villainous.

A Month Later

"Congratulations Levy!" The guild shouted as she walked back into the main part of the hall. She'd had her daughter two days earlier in the medical wing and now she was taking her home.

"Siser, siser," Gavey kept saying as Gajeel protectively watched his growing family. Lucy, who was now seven months pregnant, already felt like she could burst as she waddled up to them.

"Levy, so glad everyone is alright. You went a little early didn't you?"

"Yes, but I'm glad. She was starting to take up way to much room."

"What's her name?" Lucy asked as she followed Levy, Gajeel and Gavey out of the hall.

"Well, we decided to honor Gajeel's dragon with her, so we're naming her Metalicana. We had originally wanted to name Gavey that, but we both agreed that on a person it sounded too feminine."

"True," Lucy laughed. "Are you going to give her a nick name?"

"Yeah, I've already been calling her Ali." Lucy smiled, but it dropped a little when she spotted Juvia watching with longing and desperation at her table. Juvia had of course told Gray later the day she told Lucy and Gray had taken the news, well not as well as Lucy would have hoped. Gray hadn't yelled, or blamed Juvia, even though she tried to take it for not noticing that the charm was missing. But he had been taking job after job now that he and Juvia were going to need a bigger place, as he put it. However, all Juvia wanted was Gray by her side planning for the baby and slowly growing excited for it. Lucy felt bad for her friend.

"Juvia," she called, "come say hi to Ali." Juvia did and she was soon smiling and talking baby talk to the little one. Lucy looked over and saw Natsu standing nearby watching with interest, but he refused to approach. It was because of Gajeel of course. He'd been the same with Gavey. Women were fine, males, not so much. It apparently had something to do with an instinct back from an older age, when male dragons would hunt and kill the young of other males to make sure their own young had enough resources to survive.

When Levy, Ali, Gavey, and Gajeel left, Lucy went to be with her Natsu by the bar. He was speaking to Eric, who was here to see Kinana. Sure enough, he'd made his move about two weeks ago, after he'd finally convinced the last of his doubters that he'd changed. Kinana wanted something closer to an actually wedding though, so he was humoring her. They planned on having it in another month. He'd officially become part of Fairy Tail a while ago, but he was finally becoming a part of the social aspect of the guild.

Mira had become Kinana's wedding planner and the two were inseparable, and a lot of the time, Lisanna joined them. This however, might have had something to do with Rogue coming by, a lot, and helping Lisanna write her research on the history of dragon slayers. Everyone agreed that she didn't need that much help, but hey what the shadow dragon slayer wanted, he got. Lucy was happy for Lisanna, especially because she could tell that they both really liked each other. Hopefully, this time she would really fall in love, and not just think she had.

What really worried her though was Mira. Every time she saw the she devil now, she just looked depressed. She really did love Laxus, didn't she? Lucy noticed that he was always sitting at the bar or always watching the bar and she often wondered what was holding Laxus back. He wasn't one to hold back, so why now?

"You okay, Lucy? I've been calling you?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm just tired."

"Then let's go home." Natsu put his arm around her and led her out, perfectly happy to see her comfortable. He took a large inhale, collecting and savoring her scent. He'd always loved her scent, even when they first met. However, now it had an undertone of his son's. He smiled to himself. He'd known the gender for a while thanks to the scent, but Lucy had mentioned early on that she wanted to be surprised so he'd kept it to himself.

Two Weeks Later

Laxus had to get out of here. He'd almost knocked a guy out this morning who'd been hitting on Mira a little too hard. He stood in agitation as her scent was brought over more strongly thanks to the door opening. He had to forget that stupid kiss! After all, she apparently had and hadn't even meant anything by it to begin with. No, he needed to get out of here, the more he stayed around the more she drove him crazy. He hadn't been on many jobs since he became master. It wasn't like he couldn't, but he often had to do stuff here now.

However, thanks to a letter from the council and a preplanned meeting between the guild masters, if Laxus timed a job right he could be away from the guild for two maybe, three months. He just needed to find something that would take him faraway and require a month or month and a half to complete. Then he could go to this meeting with the guild masters and pop over to the council on his way back. They had said that it was urgent, but honestly if they thought that Laxus Dreyar was going to become their lapdog, they had another thing coming.

He made his way to the job's board and read all the flyers. Most were completely useless and a waste of time. Finally, he found two that might fit the bill. The only problem was that neither one would take long enough. Well then, he'd just take both. Pulling both off the board, he made his way towards Mira. She was looking particularly fetching today and that made him all the more ready to leave her behind. He didn't need nor desire a mate no matter how much he wanted Mira. If any other woman had drove him this crazy, he'd have bedded her long ago, but Mira was a different story. If he took her to bed, it would start the bond and that would be all she wrote.

He stomped his way over to Mira so she could put it on the books and contact the clients. She was just passing Natsu a fire whisky and some water with that cherry flavoring all the women were talking about for Lucy. There was a growing part of him that wanted what Natsu and Lucy had, but it wasn't there yet to trump his desire for freedom. When she turned to him, her smile brightened and he almost lost his nerve to leave her. No, he had to do this or he was a goner.

"Oh, hey there Laxus! What can I get for you?"

"Nothing really, Mira," Laxus said, not looking her in the eye. "I just need you to put these on the books." He handed her the jobs and he watched her face drop a little.

"You're going on two jobs, Laxus?"

"Yeah, I need to do something. Plus I have to be somewhere in a month anyway. I figure that I could get in some action on the way."

"Are the Thunder Legion going with you?" Her brows folded down and Laxus suddenly realized some of her concern. Evergreen and Elfman's wedding was coming up, but that wasn't for another five months of so, so really there was no real concern.

"No, just me. I need something different."

"That's nice. I can understand that. I still enjoy a mission from time to time." Laxus nodded and reached his hand out as she handed back the jobs. He over reached, or maybe she did, maybe it was both. It really didn't matter because when his hand brushed hers a jolt of pure excitement and emotion raced through him. He pulled back as quickly as he could and raced out of there, his coat trailing behind him. If he'd turned around, Mira would have had a surprised looked on her own face. As he left, she turned her eyes to her still outstretched hand and allowed her fingers to flex. Laxus hadn't been the only one to have a strong emotional reaction.

Hours later, Mira sighed and stretched. It had been a long day and now she just wanted to go home and take a nice relaxing bath. Maybe she'd be able to use that new body rinse that Lisanna had gotten her a few weeks ago. Yeah, that sounded wonderful.

Mira hummed as she approached her house, but something caused her to pause. She looked back down at her hand, just as she had a thousand times that night. It hadn't just been that spark between them though that had her reminiscing about that kiss. Something about the night and the air reminded her of the incident. Then again, it had been a year ago. And she'd never spoken of it to anyone. It had been a gut reaction at a time of turmoil.

Sighing, she allowed herself to think on it. After all, maybe if she finally allowing herself to think about it she could finally move on. She had been out on a mission with her siblings. Makarov had just announced that in a month Laxus would be ready to take over. The siblings had decided to take one last job while he was their master. So they'd gone out and saved a small mining town from some jewel robbers. They had been rewarded with diamonds and rubies and Mira was pretty sure that the massive diamond in Ever's ring was from those mines.

On their way back, they'd gotten an emergency signal from the Thunder Legion. Evergreen was in a panic and it took nearly five minutes for Elfman to get a straight answer out of her. It would seem that there had been some kind of natural disaster caused by the dark wizard they were fighting. They had defeated him, but after he'd hit Laxus with a spell that sent him over a cliff, causing the group to seperate. They were now in the town they were helping and Laxus had not returned. They'd been looking for him for the last day, but nothing had come up. When Elfman had relayed the message and her heart had stopped, Mira knew that her feelings towards the dragon slayer had changed.

They'd all split up and Mira, on some kind of instinct had taken the highest passage that he could have fallen to. She saw how the stream had been turned into a raging thing, dark and swirling. She'd flown over it and spotted him miles away from where he'd last been seen. When she landed, she'd found him unresponsive and not breathing.

"Come on Laxus! You can't die! What would we do without you?" She'd begun CPR, but after five minutes with no response, Mira had sat back with a cry and wept into her arms. After giving herself that moment, she looked back down at the man who'd been her team mate and guild mate for so long. In that time he'd somehow become more. Leaning forward, she cupped his face and whispered, "Laxus, please." Closing her eyes, she had kissed him.

A sudden shock had shot her into the air and caused her to land on her back, hard enough to knock the wind out of her. When she'd finally come to, she'd sat up and saw a very alive Laxus staring at her.

"Laxus! You're alive!" She sat up and crawled to him, happy. That is until he continued to stare at her with hard unwavering eyes.

"Come on Laxus," she said, wavering a little. "We need to get going, the others are very worried."

"Why did you kiss me, Mira?" Mira paled a little before she turned on her smile.

"I was performing CPR silly. Now come on." With that, she helped him up and they limped back to the town. Mira had never tried to speak to Laxus about the incident again, since she herself couldn't answer his question. And by the time she knew herself, it had been so long that it would have been weird to bring it up. However, ever since then, he'd been acting weird around her. Always coming to the bar, but never speaking. Keeping an eye on her when he thought she wasn't paying attention. Yeah, she knew, but she wasn't really sure what it all meant.

Sighing, as she stood from her bath, she walked out to her room in a towel and began rummaging through her drawers for her pjs. Suddenly, lightening split the sky and Mira turned towards the window in fright, only to scream. There was a man sitting on her bed, but just not just any man. Laxus.

"Laxus! What are you doing here?" She was all alone this evening as Lisanna was on a job and Elfman was living with Evergreen now.

"I need some answers Mira, and I'm not leaving until I've had them." He was drunk, she could hear it in his voice. This caused her eyebrows to furrow. Not since the incident with that village that had tried to blackmail him, had Laxus been drunk. What could have him so upset? And when did it happen? When he'd left the guild, he'd been sober as they come.

"Okay, can you let me dress though? I feel kind of silly in nothing but a towel."

"This isn't a game Mira," he insisted and stood, lumbering to her and catching her by the arms.

"Laxus…"

"Why did you kiss me?" Mira froze and looked up at him.

"What?"

"I know that that wasn't CPR. I felt that part. I was trying to wake up, but the spell I'd been hit with still had me under. I was trying to wake up to let you know I was fine, but then you kissed me and I was finally able to move again. So, why did you kiss me?"

"Why did it take you this long to confront me about it if it has bothered you for this long?"

Laxus shrugged, but didn't let go of her arms. "At first, I thought maybe I'd imagined it. But, I know better. You did something Mira. Now, I can't really go a day without seeing you and I always have to make sure you're okay." Mira's heart leapt with joy at that, but when she heard how angry he sounded, she sank a little.

"Some would say that was sweet, but you resent me for it."

"Because I'm beginning to think you're my mate and I'd made a deal with myself a long time ago that I wouldn't deal with that load of crap. I want to go and do what I want to go and do. A mate and then family would just get in my way."

Mira looked down as her heart broke. "Well don't worry. I was just saying goodbye to someone I thought was dead. I won't make that mistake again. I'll let Freed or Bigslow do that next time." Laxus looked at her for a moment, before a slow smile crossed his face.

"Everyone thinks you're so nice, and then you say things like that. That, that hard thorn to the rose is the part that calls to me. That part I could happily ignore until you had to go and kiss me."

"What do you want from me Laxus?!" Mira cried. "I'm sorry okay! Just … just leave me alone."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He said, suddenly leaning in. "You've awakened my instincts and now, I must act on them." Before she could ask what he meant, he kissed her fiercely. Mira kissed him back before she even knew what she was doing and it wasn't long before they found their way into her bed. More like tripped, since she fell backwards over a bag he'd brought.

The next morning, Mira awoke feeling happier than she'd been for ages. Last night had been amazing and now they could maybe discuss this. After all, the bond was only partially done. However, when she rolled over to speak to him, he was gone. She looked, but he was nowhere to be found. She began to panic when she remembered that his jobs would have started today. He should be gone a month's time. Well, they'd just talk when he returned, although it still hurt that he'd just left.

However, a month soon passed, and then another and when he didn't return to the guild hall after two months, Mira's heart finally snapped. Sitting hard that night after a full day, Mira cried herself to sleep, realizing that she'd been used by the man she loved. And if she were being perfectly honest, she'd allowed it.