DISCLAIMER: FAIRY TAIL BELONGS TO HIRO MASHIMA.

Chapter 8 - Hero

"Hey, hey, Kou. Are you sure this is the right way?" the young Yoshioka asked as the two of them dragged their weary bodies across the forest. "I said hey!" Yoshioka suddenly stopped in her tracks causing her partner Kou to also stop. He looked back at her, a lazy grin etched onto his face. She wasn't able to tell whether he was being serious or just playing around. Puffing her cheeks out, Yoshioka folded her arms and looked away.

"I'm not too sure whether this is the right way or not, Yoshi," Kou began. "But aren't things more interesting like this? And more fun too," he added, grabbing Yoshioka's hand and dragging her along with him. The ice cold and apathetic way in which he spoke was seen as 'cool' by the other girls and boys but it only irritated Yoshioka. Although she had to admit that there were times when it was reassuring, almost as if nothing could go wrong as long as she placed her faith in him.

"Fun? It's suppose to be scary..." her voice trailed off as she allowed Kou to dominate the pace at which they moved. Before Laxus could jump out and scare them, the young boy and girl were already out of sight. Mumbling something under his breath, Jellal and Laxus appeared from the bush.

"I thought you were going to scare them," Jellal chided as Laxus tore off the mask. He grunted something and turned away. This was all apart of Laxus' innate charm. He acted as though he would drive through anything and anyone that stood in his way, but in reality, he was actually a big softie at heart. It was something that Jellal had discerned from his personality, back when they first met.

"As if I could scare two kids having a moment like that," the blonde haired man grumbled, his mild features being illuminated by the moonlight. "I'll get the next couple for sure though. To make up for this missing opportunity, I'll frighten them twice as much and then..." he stopped speaking the minute Jellal placed a hand on his shoulder and a finger to his lips.

"Shh, Laxus. You don't have to prove anything to me. You're plenty scary. Setting Romeo straight is your goal, right? How do you intend to do that?" Jellal inquired, fairly interested, yet confident that he already knew the answer. Laxus smirked.

"Obviously, once the two brats pass by, all I have to do is scare them both right? I'll send them both packing hand in hand and after that, they'll be friends. Great plan, right?" he explained, as though scaring two kids into friendship was a perfectly natural thing to do. He wiped the sweat on his forehead away with his hand before putting the mask back on, and suddenly, he was a fearsome werewolf again who's only interest was striking fear into innocent hearts.

Jellal sighed and rubbed his temples. "Yeah, I had a feeling that it was going to be something insane like that," he patted Laxus on the back and took a single foot out of the bush before turning back to face the big man. "Well, good luck. It sounds outrageous to me, but who knows? It might work. At the very least, you'll give both those kids a mutual interest - they'll both be scared shitless of you!" he profaned, somewhat uncharacteristically. Still shaking his head in disbelief, yet not completely disapproval, Jellal left the scene leaving Laxus alone with his thoughts and the approaching couple.

"Quit tugging on my shirt!" Romeo growled eyeballing the small and pale hand that was gripping the fabric of his tee-shirt. He made no attempt to pry her hand off though, even though he probably would have been able to do so fairly easily. This threat, however, was not enough to get Wendy to let go. If anything, she actually began to tug tighter. This irritated Romeo even more. "What is your problem?!"

"...You're not scared, Romeo?" Wendy squeaked, spooked by the sound that she had heard coming from her left hand side. Fortunately, the sound turned out to be nothing more than the rustling of the leaves. The boy placed his hand on Wendy's wrist and shook it from his own, gentler than his voice would have suggested.

"There's nothing to be scared of. This is all fake anyway. Every monster, ghoul, ghost... it's just one of the counselors in a lame mask or wearing makeup. Stuff only babies are scared of," he boasted, although there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice. As luck would have it though, Wendy did not doubt Romeo's words or tough exterior, act or not.

"Aye,"

The bush rustled for a second, then stopped, before continuing to rustle. Romeo and Wendy did not move, their eyes fixated on the bush and their heads filled with thoughts of what kind of unimaginable terror would show itself to them. Romeo's brave words comforted the young girl slightly, but in truth, she was still quiet terrified. Romeo, who knew the emptiness of his own boasts, was not quite so comforted and was beginning to doubt himself. He had always imagined tests of courage to be nothing more than simple jump scares, but there was a certain amount of tension being built right now, inconsistent with his own idea.

"Wh-who's there?" Romeo attempted to sound bold, but his stutter gave away his fabricated act. A low cackle began to emit from the bush as a figure began to rise from it. Romeo gulped and began to straighten up his body, trying to look as tall and confident as he could. Wendy's hands were both wrapped around his arms now, but he didn't seem to notice. He was too busy trying to keep his entire figure from melting, but it was likely already too late. His legs had already begun to feel like jelly.

"Oh well," the figure sighed, although there was a dash of delight in his voice. "It looks like I got caught. Whatever will I do?" he shifted his head towards Romeo. From the children's perspective, they could only see a tall, brooding figure and because of the bush, it almost looked as though his body was floating. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, the massive figure took a single step towards them, taking his body out of the bush and making his facial features much easier to see.

"Gah!" Romeo and Wendy both managed to splutter out in unison. The figure was grotesque, its face was a pale green, not so green that he looked like an alien from a cartoon, but more like the boding green that suggested vomit. His eyes were large, much larger than an average human, making the fact that he lacked pupils much more terrifying. A stream of red liquid was also trailing down from his massive orbs down to his lips, a liquid that could only be blood. It accommodated his bright red cheeks and lips well though.

"Hello children," the figure rasped as though it was unused to speak in a human's tongue. "Are you well?"

Romeo stepped forward slightly while Wendy stepped back, their hands still joined together. "I know it's just a counselor. Big guy like you... Laxus, right? Wipe off the makeup, you big dummy! No adult takes a test of courage this far!" he shouted, unsure of what else he could have said. He thought that if he made it known that he was aware, the figure would take off his mask, revealing himself to be nothing more than a counselor. The figure spoke again, this time in a bemused tone although his face suggest that irritation.

"Oh? You children are using this place as the venue for your test of courage?" the figure smacked his lips together, making a sound not dissimilar to how a person would suck on a lollypop. "I suppose your being here was a result of you being bad children," he concluded. "And I have no sympathy for bad children, you know," he took a single step closer, yet Romeo and Wendy remained rooted to the spot.

"Stop... stop kidding around..." Romeo uttered, his voice shaking with every word. The figure only seemed to revel in delight at the boy's quite obvious fear, almost as if fear was a physical dish, a dish worth savoring.

"Please..." Wendy inputted, just for good measure but the figure did not seem to hear, and if he did, he certainly did not care as he continued his trek towards them, his footsteps growing louder with every single step. Thud, thud, thud. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back towards the bush from whence he emerged earlier.

"If you go far enough that way, you should see a barbed wired gate, boy, girl," he addressed the two of them by their genders since he did not know their names, nor did he feel like guessing the names of the soon to be deceased. "A large gate that spans around a massive yard. In the middle of the yard is a building. St Gregory's is its name, or if you would rather call it, an asylum for the insane," the figure took another step forward.

"You should... come... with... me!" he snarled quickly as he extended his hand. His intention was to grab Romeo and drag the boy towards him. Wendy, who was holding onto Romeo would also be pulled in his direction and with his free hand, he could grab the girl and make his escape. They could scream sure, but with the forest's deepness and the shadows of the night, they would not be able to find him.

However, as foolproof as that plan was, the hand that he grabbed was not the pale and slender hand of a young child but rather the more refined and scarred hand of an adult. Before the dark figure could grab Romeo, a man close in size to the massive figure had wedged himself between the children and the figure. The dark figure snapped back, hissing at his new adversary.

"Damn. You're almost as ugly as I am," the newly arrived Laxus provoked as he placed his hand on his own face. He took off his own mask and threw it aside. "Well, why don't you speak up? Who the hell are you?" he questioned but the figure only recoiled, turned around and began to run.

"Hey, get back here you creep!" Romeo shouted as he geared up to run after the figure. Laxus put a single hand on the boy's shoulder though and he immediately relaxed. Suddenly, Laxus ran after the figure and managed to catch up to him just as he jumped into the bush. By stretching out his favored right hand and putting it into the bush, Laxus was able to drag the child abductor out.

"Is it a mask? Is it a mask?!" Wendy cried out, pointing at the figure's grotesque excuse of a face, an anxious expression on her face. The same anxious expression was also printed onto Romeo's face. Laxus began to chuckle, as he picked up a bottle of water from the ground. He uncapped the bottle before pouring it over the figure's head, causing his makeup to drain down.

"Of course it wasn't a mask. Just incredibly detailed and artistic makeup. And an amazing performance to go along with it. Isn't that right, Head Counselor?" Laxus asked as the wet 'figure' looked up at his captors. The head councilor was not a looker by any means, but his real appearance was not nearly as unsightly as the persona that he donned. "Head counselor Jura, the man of a 1000 faces and former theater actor. Maybe you have heard of him?" the blonde man added, addressing the two puzzled kids.

"How did you know it was me, Laxus?" Jura smirked, his tone suggested that he was somewhere between impressed and disheartened that his cover was blown so easily. Laxus shrugged, as he helped the head councilor to his feet. Wendy and Romeo were still quite wary of Jura and began to take cover behind Laxus when Jura arose. Up close, he practically dwarfed them and was almost a head taller than Laxus, a man who was already quite tall in his own right.

"Mira... ah, that's Mirajane," Laxus informed him. "She told me that you had a habit of taking this a bit too far. I didn't want you doing that to my kids," he muttered, almost turning red as he motioned towards Wendy and Romeo, who were both still hiding behind the junior councilor.

Jura began to chuckle. "What a filial councilor," he praised as he bent over slightly so that he was more on level with Wendy and Romeo. "Boy, girl," he cooed softly, in a voice so unlike the voice of the grotesque figure that Romeo and Wendy almost doubted that Jura and him were the same person. "Let me ask you. Were you scared?" he probed.

Wendy nodded, as she engulfed three of Laxus' fingers with her whole hand. "Yes,"

Laxus, Jura and Wendy all turned their attention to Romeo who was still looking up at Jura. "And you, boy?"

Romeo bit his lip and thought for a second, averting himself away from their gaze. Amused, Laxus used his free hand to ruffle Romeo's hair slightly. Immediately after that, the young boy turned his head back towards the three of them.

"Yeah," he started. "I was scared,"

A/N: Do I even deserve any of you great readers? Honestly, I'm not sure since I admit that I ended up neglecting this story, and in turn, everyone who enjoys it. I'll have to take this opportunity to wish you guys not only a belated Christmas, but a belated New Year as well! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!