(Hehe, sorry for the late update. I would say I was busy, but that wouldn't be a good excuse. I was feeling too lazy to write and I didn't get inspired to write this chapter until a dream I had recently. I did however make this chapter longer.)
Natsu had woken up to the sound of screaming.
A great way to wake up to.
Wait? What was that? Did Gray accidentally sleep-walk into the girl's apartment homes again?
Natsu started rubbing his eyes, slowly waking himself up. He grunted, who could be up this hour at night?
The voice sounded familiar, although not quite Gray's. Hmm, Gajeel? No, Elfman, eh. Wait, Laxus?
Yeah, it had to be him. Natsu knew him all too well. It was definitely him.
He jumped out of bed, got dressed, and ran into the guild hall. Not many people knew about this, but Laxus didn't like sleeping with the other guys in the apartment so he slept in a room hidden behind a bookshelf in Makarov's office. Natsu had accidentally walked into Makarov's office at night, asking for a switch in his room, because bunking with Elfman kept him up for nights and nights, when he had spotted Laxus talking to Makarov, before he pulled a book off the shelf and disappeared into his room as the bookshelf returned back.
What in the world...?" Natsu had mumbled.
But that was old news. Natsu slowly creaked open the door that lead to Makarov's office room, and inside, everything was clean and all tidied up. Not a spot of dust to be seen. It was deadly silent. Natsu closed the door behind him quietly, hoping not to make a sound. He flinched back slightly at the sound of his foot on a creaking floorboard. Yikes. I guess I'll have to be more careful than usual.
He tiptoed over to the bookshelf. His hands were shaking slightly as he reached out for a book. He quickly swiped it, shutting his eyes and hoped nothing bad would happen.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He fiddled with his fingers, perhaps trying to stretch them out. He slowly pulled out every book at once until it came to the last one. It was a big and dusty brown book, standing tall on the shelf as if mocking the others which were now lying on the floor.
Natsu reached his hand out, and tugged at the book.
*Creak*
He had backed out, his eyes bewildered. Why was he so surprised? He had seen the bookshelf open before, so why did he feel so uneasy?
Maybe it was because of what came, or rather, fell, out of the shelf. With a loud thud, a certain blonde had fell out from behind the passageway, as if leaning on the back of the bookshelf for support. Natsu immediately ran to him. With a grunt and a heavy push, Natsu flipped Laxus onto his back, so that his face was upward.
"How'd this happen? What the hell?" Natsu mumbled.
There, in his arms, was Laxus. He was unconscious, his mouth opened slightly as if he was screaming before he was forced to pause.
His face was pale and dull, with no emotion or expression seen in it.
Natsu eyes were clear and filled with worry. Maybe he just passed out, that'll all, was what he kept thinking to himself. But he knew this wasn't true. Back at the ceremony, Natsu saw the waving smile Laxus had managed. It was unfoolable, to him at least. Natsu had saw right through it.
Something was horribly wrong with Laxus.
Laxus's POV
Laxus had woken up in cold sweat. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was white. A bright flash of light had blinded him momentarily. He reached his arms out to rub his eyes but something warm clamped to one of them. After blinking away his morning attitude, he strained his neck forward to see what, or who, it was.
There, Natsu was sounded asleep against a chair, his hand stilling gripping Laxus' arm. With a small snort, Natsu wearily opened his eyes, before shaking his head. He leaped back a little bit.
"Woah, how long have you been awake for Laxus?" Natsu questioned, relief washed on his face. He was glad that Laxus was okay.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," Laxus replied, awkwardly rubbing his neck.
At first, Natsu thought something was off, the forced smile on the Blonde's face, the uneasy speech, and the tone of his voice. It didn't sound right, a bit off. But he shook that thought from his mind. Of course, he's acting weird. He just woke up, he must feel a bit tired.
"Alright! C'mon then. You had everyone worried!" Natsu said, grinning. He extended out his hand and offered it to Laxus.
"Yeah.." Laxus replied, but pushed the hand away, "I can walk on my own though."
Natsu watched quietly, as Laxus pushed himself off the bed and started walking. He made his way to the door, and looked back, giving Natsu a reassuring smile.
Natsu smiled back but suddenly frowned after the Blonde had exited the room. Natsu noticed it right away. He may have smiled but those eyes of his were cold.
Dark even. No emotion was show through them, except for the hard stoned eyes Natsu was forced to look at. The way he had looked at him just now could've frightened someone. Those eyes weren't Laxus', they were the eyes of a monster.
Back at the Guild Hall...
It was now morning, for the ones at Fairy Tail who hadn't heard the screaming last night were now in the guild hall, chattering and eating breakfast. Most of them were trying to wipe away their morning tiredness. But not Gray.
Right as Natsu had walked in, Gray had sensed this. His presence was thick with pressure. Something weird was going on, and Natsu was the root of it, at least.
"Yo Erza," Gray called at, signaling his hand to her as she walked inside the Guild Hall.
Gray watched as she sat down in front of him. "What is it Gray," She asked.
"Hey... Have you noticed anything different about Natsu...recently?" The raven-haired boy asked. Watching cautiously as Natsu was talking to Makarov about something.
"No not really. What brought on this question?" Erza asked, watching Gray carefully. Why would Gray say something like that? He wouldn't be saying that unless there really was something wrong with Natsu, but there's not, right?
"I'm not really sure myself. It's just, I felt something strange when a Natsu walked in today. Ah, but I bet it's nothing," He said with a smile.
Erza just nodded. She wasn't sure if Gray was lying or not, but the best answer would just be to wait and see.
"Hey Erza! I brought the cake you asked for!" Lucy shouted, as she jogged over to their table. Lucy slide in the booth next to her and gave her the cake. Erza's blank face suddenly turned to joyful, like a little kid on Christmas morning.
Lucy began pointlessly talking and saying random things as Erza mowed through her cake. Gray stared hard at the table trying to figure everything out. At the midst, Natsu was watching all of this, and speaking to Makarov.
"So what do you think we should do about it?" Natsu asked, waiting for Makarov to speak back.
"I think we should try to find him down before the curse can get any further, and we can't tell anyone about this, we don't want to cause panic."
"Yeah," Natsu said, "but h-"
Everyone's eyes turned to the guild door. It was broken open and a deadly presence started walking in. He turned his head to Makarov, glaring at him. It was Laxus.
By then, everyone had already felt it. The change in the air, the pressure now thicker then ever, and the shallow breaths everyone took. This was not Laxus.
"Makarov, grandpa," Laxus said, walking towards him.
"What do you want," Makarov said, clenching his teeth, "Laxus."
"As you know. Now that I am the new Guildmaster, Fairy Tail will be my guild from now on. And... There will be a change of rules."
Laxus turned his head away from him, "First, I want you out and gone from this Guild. And never return."
Gasps could be heard from the crowd of people that now gathered around Laxus and Makarov. What this truly happening? Why was Laxus kicking Makarov away from the guild, forever?
"Second, everyone will look down whenever speaking to me. None of you have the power to be as strong as me and furthermore, are weaker then me. I will not allow you to disrespect me like that."
"And third, if anyone lets any of this out, they will be burned to ashes and will receive a slow and torturous death, in front of everyone at the guild."
"Those are all my standard rules, I hope you exceed to follow them. If not..." Laxus said, raising his fist which was glowing with dark lightning, "I'll burn you until you're nothing."
Everyone widened their eyes, what kind of rules were those? This was not like Laxus, he would never do anything like this! All eyes were on the Blonde as he began walking back into what use to be Makarov's office, now his.
"Natsu! Gray! Lucy! Erza!" Makarov shouted, the crowd clearing away to make a path for them. All of four of them stepped forward.
"What is it gramps," Natsu asked, probably already knowing the answer.
"As you know, I cannot be in Fairy Tail any longer because of the rules Laxus set down, but the reason he is acting like this is because of a curse."
"Huh? What kind of curse?" Lucy asked, a bad feeling creeping over her.
"It was a curse past down from my father Yuri Dreyar. Long ago, when Yuri was still a treasure hunter, and before Fairy Tail was formed, Yuri had stolen a jewel from what he thought was an abandoned temple. It turned out not to be abandoned though. And when Fairy Tail was formed, Yuri decided to rid of all his treasure hunting items and sold or gave all of them away, including the jewel. The jewel had belonged to a witch and she placed a curse on him for it. The curse of the 9th master."
"Wait, so, is the curse what's causing Laxus to act so weird?" Gray asked.
"Yes. The curse of the 9th master is for when a descendant of Yuri will turn against his dearest friends and betray all of them. He becomes ruthless and cold. His eyes just aren't bright anymore," Makarov said sadly, "But there is a cure. A remedy to reverse the effect of the curse."
"How?" Ezra asked.
"It's at the top of Tenrou Island, on the tree. At the top of the tree, there'll be a spirit who guards the Potion of Ever-Healing. You need to reach it and bring it back. Once it's here we can give it to Laxus to reverse the curse. But be careful, as the spirit will destroy all of you if the wrong person touches it. Only the ones with the purest heart of all will be able to receive the potion."
Alright! If this means we can help bring Laxus back, then we'll do it!" Natsu cheered, pumping a fist in the air.
"And... Please, save my grandson," Makarov said, tearing beginning to form in his eyes.
Natsu stopped cheering for a moment and looked at Makarov.
"Don't worry, we're a team. Nothing can stop us. We'll get the cure and bring it back to help Laxus," Natsu said, before raising a big grin of his face.
"I promise."