Third chapter is up! I think there has been a bit of confusion to some readers so I want to make this clear. This is placed after Laxus had been kicked out of the guild. That is why he acts the way he does. Please enjoy.

Silent Thunder

Arc I

Chapter 3: Castle of Vines

Thick tears rolled down the woman's face; they were constant, like a small waterfall that trickled down a rocky cliff in a forested mountain. The type that tricked people into going off of the path to find it thinking that it would be large and impressive, but they were not. Laxus furrowed his brows at Flora, knowing that this was all her doing. That it was her magic that caused the clothing to come alive.

Flora stood only a few feet away, she was shaking, tears still falling, her face red from anger and sadness. Her face was ugly, scrunched up with many wrinkles in her brow. "How dare you." She repeated. "How dare you kill my children!" This time her voice was louder, shouting and echoing through the street but drowned in the struggles of others. She quickly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and forearm. Her face was perfectly fine now, no redness and only slight tear stains but it was angry. Despite her situation, Ringo could not help but wonder who she looked so pretty after crying when she always had looked like a mess.

"So we were supposed to let them hurt us?" Ringo asked with difficulty.

"Yes!" Flora shouted. "You should just stay out of my way! I have a plan!"

"Which is?" Laxus asked, never taking his eyes off the woman. Ringo mumbled to herself behind him.

"I'm taking over this town." Flora said simply. "I will become the most important person, become rich and live with ease."

Ringo stared at Flora with an empty face; she could not help but find the plan to be absolutely stupid. She glanced at Laxus and though his mouth was just in a tight line, it was obvious that he thought the same. Laxus stood up. He faced Flora completely and lifted his hand to be at chest level. Electricity began to generate in the palm of his hand, illuminating his face and putting Ringo into the shadows.

"This just makes things easier." He told Flora. He lifted his hand above his head and a bolt of lightning struck down, right in front of the plant mage. Ringo stared straight the bolt and though it disappeared instantly, she kept seeing spots and the bright line of it, even after blinking several times. Flora had fallen back in fear; she was shaking, sweating and staring at the hole that was burnt into the dirt. It was centimeters from her feet; she felt sick and like she was about to cry. She had no clue that these people were mages, she thought that fire was used against her plants, not lightning.

There was only one plan going through Flora's mind: running. She couldn't win as she was; she had no chances against a lightning mage. There were also the possibilities of the other girl being one which meant an impossible to beat mage plus another one. Flora put out her hand as Laxus prepared another attack, this time to hit the younger mage. He stopped for a second, preparing for what she might do. A green magic circle appeared at her palm but nothing came out. Immediately after it appeared, the clothing on Ringo loosened and turned back into ordinary flowers, leaving her stark naked.

Laxus glanced back at Ringo as he saw the clothing moving again. When he saw her clothing disappear, he immediately looked away. It was then that he noticed Flora, running away with all her might. Ringo never noticed Flora's escape; she was too busy sighing in relief at being able to breath, and covering herself up. She brought her knees to her chest and folded her hands over her crotch area in order to hide everything. A blush was evident on her tanned cheeks but she showed no signs of extreme embarrassment.

"I'm happy to have the dress off…" she began with a sigh. "But I don't like where this left me."

Laxus dropped his coat on top of her and stepped a few feet away. Ringo looked at him as she pulled the coat over top of her. Compared to Laxus, Ringo was only several centimeters shorter, just at shoulder level, but Laxus was broader and his large jacket was still too large on her. The sleeves went a good five inches past her hands and the bottom was down to her ankles. Despite the sleeve length, Ringo somehow managed to get it closed enough to cover everything, but still allowed her to walk.

"Thank you." Ringo told Laxus, lifting her hands up to show that she meant for the coat. Laxus didn't say anything, just turned to the direction that Flora ran off to.

"Let's go." He said, beginning to walk in her direction.

Ringo looked at his back with a bit of surprise. She quickly grabbed her back and followed after him. The fur of his jacket brushed against her bare skin, causing her to smile at how it tickled. "How come we're following her?" she asked Laxus, coming up next to him.

"To finish this." Laxus said simply.

Ringo stared at him and smiled. Laxus was a bit rough, but she couldn't deny that he was a good person. "Well she was rude." Ringo said simply. "So do you plan to just beat her up?"

Laxus said nothing and Ringo pouted slightly. Flora had seemed nice, it was almost like a complete change when she started to take over the town. She glanced around them as they walked along the empty street. Men and women struggled with the plant like clothing. Even children were shown no mercy. They all suffered as it squeezed tighter around them. Some fought against the clothes, making it worse, while others simply stayed still and focused on breathing. At times, they begged the two mages for help. Ringo would glance back at Laxus each time someone asked, but he always seemed to ignore them.

Their destination was obvious: Flora's shop. That was the only place where the plant mage could be. The two turned the corner that had the little shop at the end of it. As soon as both were in view of the store, the ground started to shake. Large, thorned vines burst from the ground, breaking it up as they wrapped around the store. The vines wrapped around each other, flowers bursting open in some places as well as leaves. They wrapped around, looking like buds in the thorny mess.

By the time the ground stopped shaking and the vines stopped moving, a very creepy and plant based castle was in place. Ringo stared at it with wide eyes while Laxus just stared with a straight face that was not completely straight. "I guess she dreams to be a princess?" Ringo asked Laxus with a joking voice.

The lightning mage just looked at her from the corner of his eye and continued forward. As they drew closer to the entrance, the castle seemed to get larger and larger, blocking out the mid afternoon sun and drowning them in a cold shadow. Ringo did not even have to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked up, attempting to see to the top tower. "She's probably at the top." Ringo stated the obvious. "All the villains are at the top."

"What will you do?" Laxus asked her, not expecting her to fight.

"Stay out here and watch you." Ringo told him with a smile.

Laxus stared at her. "Give me back my jacket." He said

Ringo stopped smiling and stared at him. "Why?" she asked.

"No one is around so you don't need it anymore." He said, gesturing to the empty road.

"I'll go in." Ringo said instantly.

Laxus looked away from her and made his way to the door. Ringo followed behind him reluctantly. They stopped in front of what appeared to be a door. It was several thick stems, vertical and a lighter green colored compared to the almost black green of the vines of the castle. There was no handle for the door however, only a rectangle of the branches. Laxus placed his hand on the fines. Despite being in the shade, they were warm and had a pulse, as if they were alive and had a heart. He could also feel the magic running through them. Despite the way she looked and acted, this Flora woman was a powerful mage.

Laxus gathered magic in the palm of his hand again and released it into the stems. They charred instantly under the intense plasma blast. A whole in the stems was made, large enough for even Laxus's large girth to enter. However, like the plant clothing, this one started to regenerate itself, however, much slower than the plant one. Noticing the slow recovery, Laxus made his way in. Ringo followed behind him, finding no point in hesitating outside the castle.

The inside of the castle was very dark, even with the large hole in the door, there was barely any light and most of the interior was impossible to see. Ringo attempted to look around but her eyes were slow to adjust. It became even worse when the hole in the door completely closed and the room was almost pitch black.

Ringo took a step forward despite the darkness, bumping into Laxus who was standing still. She looked up out of habit despite not being able to see him. She could, however, see the thin outline of his spiky blonde hair and the silver spikes of his headphones. Laxus didn't even move as she bumped into him. He was standing still and glancing around, seeing if his eyes could adjust to the darkness.

After a few minutes of silence their still their eyes could not adjust. The sound of movements reached Ringo's ears. Despite having the volume on them turned down more than usual, she could still hear the shuffling through the plant castle. "Laxus…" Ringo said quietly, informing him of their guests.

Ringo was still pretty close to Laxus's back, so when he moved and shot a small amount of electricity to his right, she could feel his movements. The bolt was thin but still loud, causing Ringo to cover her ears as it struck some of the vines. However, instead of charring it, the vines were lit on fire, illuminating the whole room.

With the fire burning, they could see what was moving. The creatures were like humans wrapped in vines, with thorns sticking out of their shoulders and elbows. Some had flowers and buds sprouting from them. They stopped moving when the fire was started, obviously having expected to attack in the dark. The creatures were around five feet tall and moved quickly once they adjusted to the flame.

In no time, the creatures surrounded them. Ringo turned her back to Laxus, almost pressing hers to his. Without warning, the strange creatures attacked them; some charging forward while others jumped to attack from the sky. Ringo looked up at the ones that had jumped and stepped back slightly, pressing her back against Laxus's. The mage turned his head to see what had caused her to back up.

His frown turned into a scowl as he noticed the ones jumping. He lifted his hand in the air. A magic circle appeared above them, bright yellow and already sparking with electricity. Seeing the new source of light and feeling the massive amount of magic in the attack, Ringo immediately ducked down.

As soon as she hit the ground, large strikes of electricity shot out from the magic circle. Despite it being above them, Laxus controlled the bolts to only attack the vine creatures, creating a Fairy Ring of electricity. As the lightning struck, Ringo was crouched in a ball, covering her ears and closing her eyes tight. Even with her eyes closed, she could only see yellow from the lightning and could even feel the heat it gave off.

The lightning stopped after several seconds. The smell of burning plant substances filled the already stuffy room. Ringo opened her eyes when the smoke crawled across her face. She sat up slightly and looked around. The vine creatures were charred black, smoking and some even with little flames dancing on them. None of them, however, were regenerating like the door and clothing had. When she noticed that they were down for the count, Ringo stood up all of the way, adjusting the fur coat that Laxus let her borrow as she did.

"Can I get a warning next time?" Ringo asked him, turning to face him. "It's rude to attack without warning."

Laxus glanced at her and gave her a simple shrug before walking towards his fire. He ripped the dying vine off of the wall, creating a make shift torch without worry. Ringo watched him but when her surrounding area started to become dark from the lack of lighting, she followed him to not get lost. Laxus wasn't moving much. She moved the fire around the room, looking for any sign of a door or entrance; however, none was found.

Ringo looked around as well, unable to spot anything, even a slight difference in color like the main door was. She closed her eyes, to think if there was anything that she had missed. With her eyes closed, Ringo could hear a slight breeze blowing in the room. She opened her eyes and looked upwards.

"We have to go up." She told Laxus. "There's an opening up there." She pointed up to the ceiling. Now that they were focusing on it, a circle light could be seen.

Laxus looked up, noticing the light and figuring it to be an opening. "But how do we get there?" Ringo asked aloud.

Laxus didn't say anything, he simply activated his magic. Ringo watched him turn into a bolt of electricity and made his way up to the opening in less than three seconds. Ringo watched mouth ajar, in awe. She saw Laxus stand up and could see him gesture for her to come up as well.

"I can't do that." Ringo said, loud enough for Laxus to hear her echo.

Laxus came down quickly, landing in front of her. Ringo stared up at him, a bit confused by the irritated face he wore. Laxus reached out and grabbed the back of the collar of his jacket, managing to pick Ringo a few centimeters off the ground. The jacket pushed against her arm pits, causing discomfort as she flailed her legs slightly. Ringo gripped the front of the collar with her hands to keep herself from slipping through.

"Please put me down." She asked Laxus, almost level to his face. Laxus gave her a smirk that was definitely evil and Ringo couldn't help but shiver.

Though he was as fast as before and didn't use his lightning, Laxus easily scaled the vine covered walls, only using his feet. Ringo instantly gripped his wrist when he started to jump, her eyes wide in fright and never leaving Laxus's face despite him not looking at her. Though it felt like an eternity to Ringo, after just a minute or two of scaling, Laxus made it to where the opening was and dropped Ringo who fell to her knees.

The brunette panted slightly despite having managed to keep quiet and gripped at the solid ground under her. "I think, I'll learn to climb." She said with heavy breaths.

Laxus looked at her as she caught her breath and went to the wide opening. It was like an entrance, letting in the light but not enough to illuminate the room they had been in before. He stood at the edge and noticed it continued out on a large leaf. He tested it by putting his foot on it and found it to be solid. Knowing that the platform was secure, the lightning mage walked out onto it. Ringo followed him after her heart settled and her legs were no longer jelly. She looked out at the horizon and could see the whole entire town from where she stood. It was a pretty sight, accept she could even see the struggling people in the bright flower clothing.

The two looked above them to find another path that could lead them on. Ringo frowned as she noticed that they were not even half way up the castle yet. Laxus walked back towards the entrance and stopped just beside it. Here, a stairway of thorns was waiting, wrapping around the beanstalk tower that they were outside of. Laxus immediately started to climb the stairs despite how short they were.

Ringo followed behind him, staying a few steps back as a precaution. As they climbed, she could feel the wind underneath her, causing her to shiver and remember that she wore nothing underneath the jacket that Laxus had loaned her. She wrapped it around her more and thought about getting new clothes once this was all over with. She didn't have a spare and the shirt she had lost was her favourite, making her hope she could find it again.

Ringo's mind stuck with clothing and small pleasures while Laxus simply focused on what was ahead of them. It wasn't silent as they climbed. The wind wrapped around the castle, causing them to force down as it attempted to push them off. Birds chirped and the mumbling complaints of the villagers reached them as well. The castle seemed to moan as the wind struck it as well. The higher they climbed, the larger the knot in Ringo's stomach grew. She wasn't necessarily afraid of heights, but being up so high without a proper railing caused her to be nervous. She could not look over her side to see how high she was but could tell from the cracks in the thorns.

As they continued to climb, Laxus stepped on a thorn that instantly cracked under his foot. Ringo's head snapped up as it fell and she watched Laxus quickly regain his balance by moving down the steps. The two mages stopped for a few seconds before Laxus continued to climb, easily over stepping the broken step. Ringo managed to step over it as well though did it much slower than Laxus out of fear of falling but easily made it. She looked up at the back of the taller man. Somehow, it reassured her to know that he was taking the lead in this.

After walking a while more, the two came to another leaf. Laxus walked onto it without testing it, assured that it could hold their weight as it did. Ringo stepped onto it as well, this time, feeling the fuzziness of it under her bare feet, something she had not felt on the other one. Believing it to be another type of leaf, she noticed that it was also shaped different. Though Laxus could feel the different texture of the leaf through his boots, he paid no heed and walked over to the opening that was against the vines.

When they entered, they noticed that this room, unlike the other was well lit and held a low ceiling. There was also another exit that revealed even more stairs. Ringo frowned; her legs were already getting sore from the first flight of stairs that they had climbed. The room was small and practically empty aside from a large flower that was in front of the stairway. It was a white carnation and the bloom was the size of Laxus's chest.

The two mages stepped closer to it, both with a bit of caution. Their opponent was a plant mage and they had seen her vicious little flowers first handed. They continued to step forward until they stepped too close and the flower erupted. The middle of it split open, showing rows of razor sharp teeth and a long slobbery tongue. It screamed and wiggled itself free from the fines, showing its root legs. The petals started to turn a deep red as it crunched up and almost glared at the two mages, despite having no visible eyes.

Ringo took a step back as the creature started to move, especially since the flower now stood taller than Laxus. It stepped closer, saliva dripping down its lips and petals, puddling at the floor. Laxus stared at the flower, very unimpressed with what he saw before him. Ringo on the other hand, slinked behind Laxus in order to hide from it. Laxus didn't even bother raising his hand completely to attack; he shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. He gave the flower a glare and a large bolt of electricity charred the toothy flower.

Ringo peaked out from behind him. "I'm really thinking I shouldn't have come." She said, knowing that she was being useless.

"Then you lead." Laxus told her, moving so that she was no longer hiding. Ringo looked at him with a face saying that she didn't want to. However, Laxus just raised an eyebrow, hands still in his pockets.

Ringo walked forward to take the lead. She walked around the burnt up flower, not wanting to step in the ashes with her bare feet. She went over to the stairs and looked up at them. However, she could not see much due to the curve in the stairs. She swallowed hard and started to walk up the stairs which were made of wood and not vine like the rest. The wood was warm under her feet, despite their being no light or sources of warmth.

The stairs didn't creak as they climbed them. Ringo's bare feet made small patting noises as she took a step while Laxus's steps were much louder since he was wearing boots. These stairs were much shorter than the thorn like ones that they climbed on the outside of the castle. The ended shortly but it was much more obvious that they spiraled and Ringo had already lost which direction they were facing.

Ringo finally saw the top of the stairs. As she climbed up, she came out from the floor and they were only given a small square opening. She went up it first and stopped, and just a few steps behind her was Laxus who also stopped when he got off of the stairway as well. They were now in a large open room where one wall was completely opened, allowing all of the sun light to come through. The suns light warmed them up instantly after they had walked in the dark and cold like castle for so long. Ringo even had to move her feet slightly from the warmth of the vines underneath them.

As they looked around the room, their eyes stopped on a single chair, fit for the king of Fiore himself. It was large, wrapped in vines and thorns and decorated with flowers of all kinds. Sitting on the chair with her hands on the arms of it, fists clenched and looking down, was Flora. She wore a different dress; this one was white like her daisy dress, but longer and more elegant. A vine like crown was wrapped into her hair with large red roses to replace ruby gems.

She looked up when she felt their attention on her. Rage danced in her eyes, her teeth were clenched, grinding against each other. Her brows were furrowed, causing veins to pop in her forehead. She glared at Laxus and Ringo and pointed at Laxus. "I was going to forgive you for killing my babies the first time!" she shouted, her voice cracking slightly under her anger. "But no more!"

Flora stood up and swept her hand out in front of her. Several small magic circles appeared in front of her and once they did, several red carnations, toothy and drooling like the first also appeared. "I won't just let you go this time!" Flora continued to yell.

"You were the one who ran away." Laxus reminded her.

Flora flinched and hesitated. "I-I simply went to prepare for your attack!" she stuttered.

"Didn't you just say you were forgiving us?" Ringo reminded her with a smile.

Flora glared at her and Ringo's smile stayed. In her anger, Flora increased her carnation army. "End them!" she ordered, thrusting her hand forward.

Laxus didn't even bother moving from where he stood. He put his hand out in front of them, conjuring a large magic circle. Lightning started to rain down from it, striking whatever was underneath it. Laxus pushed Ringo back, out of range of the attack but causing her to fall on her butt.

The lightning completely rained on the enemy, including Flora who screamed in pain. Ringo covered her ears as she heard the agonizing scream. The lightning strike ended shortly but it had done its job. The carnations were defeated and Flora lay on the floor, unconscious and burnt badly. Her eyes were white, hair frizzy and dress burnt up in a lot of places.

Ringo sat up, though still sitting on the floor. She looked at Flora and the burnt up carnations in awe. "Well that ended quickly." She told Laxus with a smile as she stood up. Soon after she did, the castle began to shake. The vines started to tear and dissolve underneath of them, showing sure fire signs of the castle collapsing.

And it wasn't long before it did. With little warning, the floor of vines underneath them collapsed, causing them to fall as well. Ringo instinctively gripped Laxus's shirt, getting dragged down faster as she held onto his sleeve.

The whole entire castle collapsed into a pile of crumbed and torn vines, loose petals and a lot of dust. Pieces of wood from the original store stuck up, splintered or surprisingly only scratched in random places. Laxus managed to land on his feet but was crouched down while Ringo lay next to him, face down but her hand still gripping his sleeve.

She sat up, sporting a bloody nose and some bruises and scratches but generally unharmed. She let go of Laxus's sleeve and wiped the blood away from her nose with the back of her hand. It hurt but was something that only brought small tears from her eyes. She stood up along with Laxus. The castle was a pile of rubble now and the sun shined back on the village. Flora could be seen, buried under her vines and flowers.

Ringo looked out at the village and noticed that the clothing on people had turned back into flowers. Many of them cheered in relief before running back to their homes for a new set of clothing. Some screams of terror or embarrassment could be heard from women who disliked their new found nakedness. Despite this, Ringo could not help but smile at the fact that they had managed to save the village from the plant mage. Even though it was really saved by Laxus.

Laxus dusted himself off quickly. "Let's go." He said, having no intentions of staying in the village for any longer than that.

Ringo snapped into attention and looked at Laxus. The blonde haired man was already making his way off of the pile of rubble and onto the dirt road. Ringo jumped down, watching where she landed carefully and made it to the road.

Laxus picked up his bag which he found entangled on a thorn after it had been dropped in the fall. Ringo's had been on her shoulder and somehow managed to stay on it. When she reached the road, Laxus turned on his heel and started to make his way out of the village. Ringo followed behind him, his large coat floating behind her as she walked. When they got to the edge of the village, she turned to look at the village again. People were coming out of their houses, wearing clothing of a much plainer style than the floral clothing but obviously what they had been used to.

"The present has become the past." She whispered.

I do accept critiques and I would love any helpful tips. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.