[A/N] I'm so sorry that this is so short...but I promise, the final chapter will be better; it'll be as long as I can make it!

Keep an eye out for my next Laxana fanfic! It'll be much longer than this one, promise! And won't be solely Laxana, even though they'll be the focus of the story. GaLe, Gruvia, NaLu (even though I don't ship it)... Get pumped!

Cana ran her fingers over the cards again, thinking and biting her lip. Risk, Laxus, heartbreak, faithfulness. An important decision.

The cards refused to give her a clear answer─in fact, they seemed to be telling her to make up her damned mind; every time she tried a reading, she drew the Fool, the Tower, and two other cards with varying levels of pain and happiness. There was no definitive answer, now that she most needed one.

"Please," she whispered again. "Please, just tell me what to do."

She knew she was relying too heavily on her cards. Nothing is set in stone, she reminded herself. But she needed hope. She needed someone (not Laxus) to tell her that it would be okay (not Mirajane, either), someone she could believe.

But who in the guild would she listen to? Most of the time, she barely even heeded Mirajane's advice. Who did she have enough faith and trust in? Right now, it was her cards. Inanimate sheets with pretty pictures, who were bitching at her today.

What the hell would she do?

What the hell could she do?

…

Laxus wandered. What the hell else could he do? Until Cana made up her mind, he was helpless. Powerless, even.

He didn't like the feeling. He despised the feeling. He felt so useless. He wanted to be with her, to hear the verdict this instant. No matter what it was; he couldn't handle the waiting.

He briefly toyed with the idea of doing something stupid (meaning romantic), but dismissed the thought, knowing that Cana would not appreciate the pressure. He had loitered around the guild, nursing a drink, until Mirajane kicked him out "to clear his head".

Tch. Cana was the one who needed to clear her head. Laxus had to admit, though, that he found that he was thinking much more clearly without her around, despite the fact that she was never far from his thoughts. He knew things, now that she wasn't there, her wide, dark eyes full of fear or anger and blurring his thoughts. He was so certain of it; he wanted her back so badly it hurt.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, meandering along the canals. His coat flapped sullenly around his ankles as he strode through Magnolia.

He'd forgotten how nice the city really was. The lake Fairy Tail sat beside sparkled in the sun, as did the canals, and the houses were so clean, simple and pretty. The weather was clear, but none of the beauty around him could lift his mood for more than a brief moment. There was only one thing that could do that.

Fuck, but he needed something to do. Something that didn't remind him of Cana. He couldn't go drink somewhere, it was literally just a step from thinking about her, how she could hold her scotch better than any man Laxus knew, the way her eyes sparkled happily when she was drunk, waking up beside her after─

"Fucking hell!" See, how could he not think about her? This whole damned town was hers, and he found traces of her everywhere he looked, like he had watched her sculpt the city with her own slender fingers. She was everywhere, but he couldn't reach her, a million miles away from everything he wanted, even as the memory of her pressed in so close.

She had to be doing this on purpose, the same way she'd ignored him when he first got home. Laxus' thoughts returned to the memory of her sitting there on top of the bar, leaning back on one hand, her eyes daring him to say something else. He loved it when she was like that. It wasn't right when Cana was anything but loud, boisterous, and confident. And all this week, she'd been subdued, hurt, and angry; it was his fault, and he hated himself for it.

Laxus sat down by the river, put his head in his hands. How did she even get into his head so effectively? The whole time he'd been in town, he'd either angry, drunk, or near her, and now that his mind was clear, all he could think about was her!

Life had been so much simpler when he couldn't think straight.