He couldn't believe what Lisanna had told him. It all had to be a bad dream. There was no way that Bickslow had become so neglectful of his family. The last time he had seen his brother, he was so gung ho about reuniting their entire family.
He kept shaking his head as he tried to process the information. As much as he tried, it was just too much.
He jumped as Freed clasped his hand on his shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?" The green haired mage asked.
He didn't know how to respond. How could he respond? Between his brother ignoring his family and all of that demon business, he just didn't know what to think. He hoped that he would run into Bickslow so that they could get all of this figured out.
"Laxus, I think you need to face the facts. Lisanna wouldn't have told us all of that if it wasn't true." Freed said trying to reach him.
He wanted to just unleash all of his anger and frustrations, but found that he couldn't do that. He had to remain calm or the others would notice.
Across the room, his wife and the others were talking with Mrs. Modd about what they were having for dinner. He didn't care what they were having, his mind was so clouded with the severity of what was going on. If Bickslow was planning a war, then he had truly turned against everything that he once stood for. If he was working with Absolon's Prime Minister, he was no different than the flunkies that works for the King of Fiore. If he was leaving his family behind for power, what was really left of him?
He chose to stay quiet as Mrs. Modd started dinner. Eventually all of this would come out and then everything would come crashing down.
He smirked to himself. Both he and Flare had worked most of the afternoon on their plan. When Magnus had shown up, like had promised to do, they had pitched their idea to him.
He watched as the Prime Minister grinned at what they had come up with and found that he wasn't fazed by it. Rather he was relieved that it was going to be approved.
As Magnus left, he looked down at his watch. It was far past supper time. Lisanna wouldn't be happy with him again.
He sighed, looking down over his work again.
"Master?" He looked up to find Flare staring at him nervously.
"You can go home for the night, Flare." He said, but she didn't leave. She stayed planted right in front of his desk. "Do you need something?"
She blushed. "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner? We've been in this office all day without breaks, so I'm sure you're hungry."
He found himself just staring at her. She was asking him to dinner and he was hungry. If it meant that he wouldn't have to listen to Lisanna bark at him when he got home, then he would take it. "Where did you have in mind?"
She seemed stunned that he accepted her offer. In the past, he had ignored her, but she was proving to be very useful to him. If it wasn't for her intel, then he would still be here trying to figure out how to get rid of Modd and figuring out when the best time to strike was.
He chuckled at how lost for words she was. "How about we go to that place on the corner. It will be my treat."
She blushed. "You don't have to do that. I have my own money."
He laughed. "Let me pay for it. It's the least I can do after you got me that information."
She gave him a smile, as he got up from his desk. "So I can have whatever I want?"
He chuckled. "Do you want to go somewhere else now?"
She laughed. "No, I think that place is the best one."
"The best place for you to bleed me dry." He joked.
She giggled. "Now Master, why would I ever do that?" She tried to look all innocent, but he knew better.
He just smiled. "Just get your things."
She looked down at the dinner she had made. Xenia had just finished up, while she stared across the table and sighed. Once again, the meal that she had made would go to waste. There anniversary was the last time that he had sat down with her and before then, she couldn't remember a time. Maybe her birthday.
She looked up at the clock. It was getting late.
She shook her head, maybe it wasn't a good idea for her to lead Laxus and Freed to her house. She knew that Bickslow would be furious if he knew that she revealed herself, but she was at her wits end. His constant lack of caring about what was going on with their family was wearing on her heavily and she just couldn't take it anymore. She deserved better than that, her daughter deserved better than that.
But she couldn't leave him. They were bond to each other by the meteor shower all of those years ago. But now it felt like that bond was gone, which was odd as Remy had told her that it was supposed to be unbreakable.
'But that was before Cetus was a part of the picture.' Her thoughts reminded her. Yes, if that demon had never invaded her husband, he would probably have stayed the loving man that he was.
She almost smiled as she remembered the day he proposed to her. His eyes were so full of love, while now all she saw from one of those eyes was paranoia and the other was vacant, as it was that monsters home.
Xenia let out a cry, she looked tired. She gave her little girl a sad smile. "I'm thinking its bed time."
Her daughter passed out on her way up to her crib. As she set her daughter down, she couldn't help it as she started to cry.
She knew what she would have to do, she just didn't want to do it.
He had been out later than he planned. They had just spent most of the dinner talking about random things.
When he finally paid the bill, he had almost spent all of the money in his wallet.
As they stood outside of the restaurant, he wondered what he should do now. Lisanna would be on him the moment he entered the house and he really didn't want to deal with that right now.
"Master?" Again Flare pipped up, breaking him free from his thoughts of home.
He looked over to find her nervous again. "Yes, Flare."
"Well….I was wondering if you wanted to…wanted to come back to my place for coffee." She stuttered.
Alarms were going off in the back of his head. That would be a bad idea, having dinner with the redhead was on thing. Going back to her apartment was another.
'I don't see a problem. She wants your company, unlike your wife.' Cetus said, annoyed with him.
He didn't answer the demon, instead answering the red head. "I think that would be unwise. Besides, Lisanna is going to wonder where I am."
"Oh." She said, backing up a little. "Sorry. I was just…"
"I know." He sighed. She looked so vulnerable right now. "Why don't I just walk you home?"
Her face brightened up a little at that and she nodded.
'Fuck taking her to her door, you should be taking her to your bed.' Cetus argued.
Again. he thought nothing back to the demon. Maybe he should ignore Cetus more often. It was kind of amusing to find that demon flustered with him. The headache later would be worth it.
As they reached the apartment, he didn't know what compelled him to actually follow her to the top floor of the building.
As they stood in front of her apartment, he started to feel awkward. Like he didn't know what to say or do.
Well he did know, but why wasn't he doing it? He was only supposed to wish her a good night and go home. That was it.
But here he was standing her, just looking at her as she did the same to him.
Cetus laughed in the back of his head. 'Stop lying to yourself. You want her. At least give her something for helping us out.'
'I do not want her and I bought her dinner, that is enough.' He answered the demon for the first time that night.
The demon chuckled. 'Is that really enough? Don't you think you should reward her in another way?'
He wanted to shake his head, but it would look weird if he did that out of nowhere. 'Look it's not happening.' He thought as his arm twitched.
"Master?" He stopped arguing with himself and found that Flare was looking at him as if she was worried. "You seem out of it. Are you sure you don't want to come in and get a drink?"
He didn't know how to answer. Was Cetus right? Did he want Flare? He denied it, but in the back of his mind, he continued to question himself.
When he didn't answer, she reached forward and grabbed his hand, leading him into her apartment. He looked around for a second, noting how small it was and reminding himself that only one person lived here.
She led him to the couch and he found himself sitting down on it, as she ran to go get him something from the kitchen. When she came back, she tripped over her coffee table and landed almost on top of him, the glass she was holding, had crashed down to the floor and was broken into a million pieces.
But he didn't even hear it fall. She was practically on his lap. She made a squeak, and tried to get off of him, but he held her still, looking into her eyes.
He kept telling himself to let her go, but he held back.
'See I was right. You want her. Go ahead and have some fun. You've been working hard. Shouldn't you give yourself a reward every once and a while?' Cetus's words towered over all of his other thoughts, as he felt himself begin to move forward.
As he was about to close the gap, his wife's face flashed before his eyes and he moved back.
"I should probably get going." He said, helping her up and standing from the couch.
She said nothing, but nodded. He could tell that she was embarrassed at her actions. She wasn't the only one.
"I will see you in the morning. We have to start organizing everything. Modd's speech is this Saturday and that's when we must strike."
Again, she nodded. "Yes, I will see you tomorrow." She walked him to him door and they just looked at each other again, before he finally left her home.
As he walked down the stairs and towards his own house, Cetus chastised him in the back of his mind.
His headache grew as he opened the door to his house, to find Lisanna waiting for him.
"I didn't think that you would still be up." He said, removing his shoes.
She tapped her foot at him angrily. "Where have you been?"
"I was at work. You know Magnus can talk for hours." It really wasn't a lie. He had seen the Prime Minister and the man did hold him up from time to time, just not today.
She gave him a sad look. "If you stayed so late tonight, can you at least take off some time tomorrow?"
He sighed. "You know that I can't do that. There is so much that I have to do. Magnus kind of back loaded me with a bunch of new stuff and now I have to figure out our new budget." Again, these weren't lies really, but they were minor problems. He didn't really need to attend to those things at the moment.
She started to cry. "Bickslow…do you still love me?" She asked.
He felt himself soften. "You know that I love you." If only she knew what he had almost done.
She looked down. "I just wish that I got to see you more."
He almost smiled as an idea hit him. "Tell you what. I'll be at the office all week this week, but I didn't forget what this weekend is."
She looked up at him realizing what he was talking about. "You mean that you didn't?"
"I'll try to get this weekend off. Magnus can wait let me go for a couple of days." He said, watching as her face lit up.
She practically thrust herself into his arms. "You promise!"
He smiled down at her. "I promise." He leaned down and kissed her, before scooping her up and taking her to their bedroom.
She had fallen asleep as she cuddled into his side. He had at least made her happy this night. If only she knew the real reason that he wanted the weekend off.
To Be Continued….
Author's Note
So why does Bickslow want to have the weekend off? And man that was a close step to being a naughty cheater Bickslow, my boy. What was Lisanna talking about when she said that she would do what she had to do and what about Laxus's involvment?
Sorry about the lack of chapter last week. I am a student at a veterinary college and I had not only kennels all week, but I had midterm exams. In the future, I will be posting the weeks that I can't update on my profile, so that people will know what is going on.
Anyway on to the comments
Cardfighter By Maple- Uh oh indeed.
Paupus- Thank you for saying that. I am a vet student at the moment, but I love writing in my spare time and have been working on multiple stores at the same time. Most of them are fanfics, but I do have a couple originals floating around on this computer.