Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Word Count: 4,789

"I call it the Thunder Palace."

Flashes of lightning filled lacrima floating above the town of Magnolia played in Laxus' mind. The possible destruction he could have caused to hundreds of innocents civilians during Fantasia was one of his dumbest decisions ever, right after his failed attempt at Fairy Law. He could vividly remember the faces of horror and anger when the Battle for Fairy Tail began. The look of disappointment that Gramps gave him. The fear in Levy's face and voice when she said Gramps was dying. The sickening grin he had when he heard that. The smell of tears from Gramps when he was banished.

"Laxus."

Using the Thunder Palace would have done more harm than good to not only the town of Magnolia, but for the guild. The town would be decimated. Who would want to stay in a cruel guild if he got his way? What kind of clientele would want to hire Fairy Tail in the aftermath of the Thunder Palace? All he wanted to do was make the guild stronger in his twisted way. The need to be strong stemmed from his father's constant berating during his sickly years.

"Laxus."

Fucking shitty pops couldn't even stay long enough to take care of him. Always gone for some reason, giving Gramps the most ridiculous excuses. Couldn't even take time out of his 'busy' schedule to train him properly. Instead, he forced him to undergo surgery to implant the lacrima and then left him in front of Gramps house before disappearing to who freaking knows where. Deadbeat couldn't even care for the mess he left behind. For weeks, Laxus was in agony while his body tried to acclimatize the lacrima.

"LAXUS!"

Leona shouting his name finally snapped him out of his cloudy thoughts. She had gotten worried when Laxus didn't continue talking. His eyes were hazy and the tension in his body had reached the point where sparks of electricity was running across his body. Whatever he did with Thunder Palace didn't reflect well with his reaction.

"Sorry. Got lost in thought." Yeah, not good enough. If just mentioning what it was and what it does put him in such a state, it would be wise not to use it.

"It's fine. Maybe we should use something else? Got anything else in your arsenal?" From her observation, Laxus seemed like a proud man and she didn't want to call him out on his little mental breakdown. She wasn't implying that he was weak in anyway, but again, if he were to slip during the battlefield, there were major consequences.

"No, this is the best route to take." He shook his head when his mind played with the idea of using Fairy Law but he immediately rejected it. After his failed attempt and Freed's speech, Laxus had snuck into the guild library and Gramps office after Fantasia to see if what Freed said had any merit. The rune masters words spoke true, but not only that, he had discovered the side effects of the spell. Hidden among the shelves in Gramps office was First Master Mavis' diary. The First Master wrote that Fairy Law was only meant to be used on a singular target. The more targets the caster uses it on, the more lethal it would be to the casters lifespan. With how many people he was going to target, it was a good thing the spell failed.

The other reason he was against using the spell was because he wasn't a fairy anymore. It just didn't feel right for a non-fairy to use one of the 'Three Great Fairy Magics'.

"Like I said, I don't really have the best mobility spells and the ones I do have are too flashy. It's bound to catch their attention." Leona nodded in agreement to his assessment. If the man was confident about it, she wasn't going to stop him. That just meant she had to find the survivors and get them out quickly and double back in case he needed the backup.

"Alrighty then. Exactly how much lacrima are you going to need?" With the surrounding towns being composed mostly of farming villages and the larger ones being small merchant ones, there probably wasn't a large supply of lacrima readily available. Especially since they've been under mind flayer control. Hopefully they wouldn't need that mu-

"I used roughly four hundred last time."

"Eh?!" Definitely won't have enough. Did he carry a huge supply with him or something?!

"Yeah. I think I could of used at least a hundred less." Laxus didn't really experiment much with how far apart each lacrima could be. Also his mind wasn't in the right place so he arrogantly thought that putting more up in the air would force Gramps into giving up his position as guild leader quicker. Obviously that wasn't the case now.

"Do you even have that much lacrima on you? We don't exactly have a huge time frame finding and buying them and then having you fill them up." Laxus shook his head no.

"None. I was hoping that nearby towns might have it but now I'm thinking that's not possible."

"Umm, you think?" It took him a long time just to collect that many lacrima since, one he didn't want to buy so many in one location since that would look suspicious. This caused him to buy most of the lacrima while he and the Thunder Legion went on missions. Second of all, they were a bit pricey since they were about the size of a basketball.

Leona let out a sigh of frustration. How were they suppose to get that many lacrima in such a small time?! They had to make a circle that can encompass roughly two miles worth of the lair. Thinking about the items in her requip space, any lacrima items she did have already had a purpose, like her communication earrings.

"We might have to scratch that plan. Good idea but there's no way we ca-" Leona cut herself off. Wasn't a lacrima basically a magically infused crystal? Some crystals are created in nature, such as quartz or gypsum. It's a stretch and it definitely won't be perfect but it was something.

"Can what?"

"I have an idea. If it works, we can get started." Leona grinned brightly as she stood up and made her way to the river. Curiosity filled the dragon slayer. He stood up as well and walked to be a few feet away from the paladin. One minute she was saying the plan needed to be scrapped and the next she's saying that it might work.

Walking into the water, Leona bent over to examine the rocks residing in the river. She would probably need to call the one she's specifically looking for and then enhance them in order for this to work. Shouldn't be a hard thing to do. She just had to manipulate the earth and water to get this to work. Standing up straight, she raised her left hand up.

"Requip Divinity: Wildmother's Embrace!"

Laxus had to cover his eyes quickly with his hands from the bright light emitting from Leona. When the light disappeared, it was like another woman stood in front of him. Her silver hair fell from its braid and flowed down into a auburn red color. The feathers from her hair laid on the floor while a druidic antler circlet with flowers proudly laid on her head. Her silver and gold armor was changed into a flowing off the shoulder sleeve green dress with a brown leather corset. A mantle of dark green leather rested on her shoulders that unfurled a cloak of autumn-colored leaves. The greaves on her hands changed into leather gloves while the boots were replaced with thigh high leather boots. In her left hand rested a shepherd's crook with vines and leaves running up and down the stick and a blue stone resting in the middle of the curve of the crook. The only things that basically stayed the same was her lotus scent, which smelt more earthy than before, and her bright sapphire eyes.

Raising her glowing right hand out with the palm facing downward, the water in the river began to ripple as the rocks below rumbled and shook violently. The blue stone in the crook glowed just as brightly as her hand. The river continued to vibrate and glow as Laxus looked on in awe. Elemental magic itself was difficult to manipulate, something he learned before getting his lacrima. Each element had a different style and method on how to harness and control it in order to condense it into spells. To his knowledge, dual elemental wielders were rare but they typically used elements relating to one another, like water and ice. Leona was manipulating both the earth and water with no issue. Laxus knew that this form allowed her to essential manipulate nature, but as the saying goes 'seeing is believing'.

The rumbling rocks were forming into a large jagged sphere underneath the water in the river. From the ripples in the water, it looking like there was pressure being put onto the rock sphere. A few minutes later, Leona raised her glowing hand up with the rock sphere following her movements. Turning around, the smirking paladin manipulated the rocks to rest in front of Laxus' chest.

"Take it." Looking at her with a questioning gaze, he raised his hands up to hold the rock ball. It was slightly bigger than a volleyball but smaller than a basketball. Leona's hand and staff stopped glowing, releasing the full weight of the rock in Laxus' hands. Not expecting the sudden weight, the slayer almost dropped it, earning a snicker from Leona.

"Ha ha, very funny." Laxus said deadpanned. "What am I supposed to do with this?

"It was funny to me." The smirk never leaving her face. "Why don't you try opening it big guy?"

This earned her a raised eyebrow, as if asking 'Are you serious? You don't think I can break it? These muscle aren't for show.' Deciding to humor the snickering woman, Laxus spread his legs to get into a small stance before applying force with both his hands to the rock. Like he expected, the rock crumbled between his hands. Easy. What he didn't expect was the item that remained in the rocks place. In his hands was a deep purple-blue crystal sphere that emitted a pulse of magical energy.

"Did you just make a lacrima out of rocks and water?" This in turned earned him a deadpanned look from Leona.

"If you want to put it like that, then yes I did." She modeled the crystal sphere similar to the lacrima spheres sold by vendors. "It's more like a pseudo lacrima. Try it out and see if it works the same."

Following her directions, Laxus slowly began to fill the 'pseudo' lacrima that Leona created through the earth. The crystal sphere glowed a bright purple and yellow hue as more electricity was concentrated into the orb. Soon enough, a lightning bolt was jolting inside the orb. Unlike the lacrima he used before, he did not apply the body link magic to this one so it lacked the iron band around it. Rotating the sphere, the orb had remained smooth with no cracking from the magical pressure he applied. When he used the Thunder Palace last time, several lacrima bursted due to it being unable to handle the amount of energy being put out.

"Amazing. It's holding the same amount of energy yet is smaller than the one I used before. How did you do it?" The smirking paladin shifted her weight and leaned on her crook.

"Lacrima is basically a magical crystalline substance. Crystals come in different forms and many of them naturally form in nature. One of them is quartz." Leona gestured towards the river. "Using my powers, I called forth quartz-bearing rocks from beneath the earth and used the water to weather and erode the stone before fusing them into a sphere shape. I then infused it with a little nature magic to mimic the magical properties of a lacrima."

He would be lying if he didnt say he was impressed. It was a decent replacement for a real lacrima. Channeling some static electricity on the orb, it started to rise in the air. He was still able to create an electromagnetic chain to stabilize the orb in the air. The true test to see if this orb could do the job was if he could link two orbs and set them off in the air.

"Make two more. If this ends up work, we're going to need a lot more. How much energy does it take for you to make it?"

It didn't take long before the two mages fell into a pattern of creation and infusion. Leona was able to replicate the process over and over. The energy required to make one pseudo lacrima wasn't much, however the further down the quartz-bearing rocks were, the more energy Leona has to expend. The size of the chucks also played a factor in how much more energy she needs to use to fuse, weather, and erode them into a perfect sphere. This also required concentration on her part because if she weathered or eroded them too much or too little, the quality of the quartz would suffer and in result, unuseable. Another thing she had to be careful in was the amount of nature magic placed in the sphere. Too much would cause the property of the pseudo lacrima to change.

Laxus on the other hand was able to test the connection and absorbent energy collected and expelled from the orbs. He was also able to test the distance between two pseudo lacrima and decided that roughly three hundred of the pseudo lacrima was suitable to cover roughly two miles worth. However, in order to account for human error, though he doubt there would be any since he was the one setting it up, three hundred and fifty to be on the safe side. The amount of energy he spent infusing the pseudo lacrima took a good portion of his magical energy, considering how much damage they cause once activated. He had decided not to enchant them with body link magic since it would require more days to ensure all lacrima were filled and enchanted.

For three hours, the slayer and paladin continued their work in silence. Laxus had left earlier to get them some kind of lunch from the town so they could continue to work. Leona sat on the river bank with her boot free feet wadding in the water while her hand was outstretched over the water making quartz spheres before floating them over to the ever growing pile next to Laxus. Laxus sat with his back leaning on the willow tree. To his left was a pile of pseudo lacrima for him to fill while on his right was a pile of magically infused ones. Currently, there was more to fill than already filled and he was getting tired and silence was honestly killing him. Her comment earlier really did bug him and he wanted to talk to her about it. The way she brushed away his apology like he didn't mean it.

The lightning dragon slayer knew what it feels like to do anything for power, only to realize that it the outcome was not worth what he gave up. It wasn't equivalent exchange and he was paying the price for it now. God was he paying for it.

That's probably why Laxus reacted the way he did. From his perspective, it sounded like she had sold her soul and given up her freedom for this strange, foreign power. Jumping to conclusion and fueled with pent up energy from her previous accusations, he voiced his absolutely unwarranted and unnecessary concerns. It wasn't his place to even say anything to her or judge her actions, especially since they just met the day before. Leona could have given him a simple answer or not even given him anything. Instead, she was opening up about her culture essentially and he just basically spat it back in her face with his unjustified response. If he had just waited and listened, he would have known that she was anything but power hungry.

He tried apologizing. He really did, explaining the reason why he reacted in such a way. But it wasn't enough. A moment of vulnerability for a sorry wasn't equivalent. No. He knew what to do but the question was how much was he willing to share.

"Leona." The paladin slightly turned her head to the right, indicating that dragon slayer had her attention despite her back being turned.

"Something has been bugging me for the past few hours. Hear me out?" The woman didn't respond verbally, adjusting her position to face him. While her face didn't show emotion, it was her eyes that twinkled in curiosity. Taking this as a sign to continue speaking, Laxus took in a breath before talking.

"I meant what I said earlier when I apologized about insulting you and your traditions. You went out of your way explaining things that I asked about and I should have shut my mouth and waited until you finished. You kept going on despite my big, fat mouth." Laxus turned his gaze elsewhere, anywhere else, to avoid those piercing eyes. Shit, this is really fucking hard.

"My past isn't something I really want to talk about but, you need to know why I reacted in such a way." He felt that rumble from earlier rest in his chest. "I was always a sick kid and my shitty dad would just yell at me for being weak. To him, being strong and having power was all that was important and being sick all the time didn't make him any happier. For so long, he ingrained his beliefs onto me and me, being a stupid and wanting to please him, took up those beliefs." Breath in, breath out.

"I pushed myself to be the best mage at the guild and did horrible, shitty things to a lot of people. Especially to the people I was suppose to view as family. I was arrogant and cocky, thinking that I was above everyone in the guild. I thought that I could make the guild just as strong as me so we wouldn't be a laughing stock anymore. All I wanted was for us to be the best guild in all of Fiore." Laxus rubbed his face in frustration.

"I was angry and frustrated that no one was taking it as serious as me so I did what I thought at the time was a good things- a battle royale that would weed out the weak from the guild. It didn't work out as I planned. Power corrupts. I learned my lesson too late and I'm paying for it still. When I heard you talk about your abilities, something in me just reacted." Words were starting to fail him. He wasn't even sure if what he wanted to say was coming out right. He wasn't even sure why he was talking so much. Hell, even the Thunder Legion didn't know half the shit he just said! There was just too much that he was going on in his mind and nothing was stopping. Too many whispers, too many flashes, too many memories, too many feelings. Everything was spiralling

"Shhh. Hush my dear lumiere. Calm your tears and steady your breath." An unknown soothing, ethereal voice echoed in his ears. Not recognizing the voice, Laxus quickly snapped out of what could be technically be described as a panic attack. Standing in front of him was Leona however there was something different about her. At some point during his internal struggle, Leona had dropped her requip and knelt down in front of the slayer. Her hands, void of the metal gauntlets she typically wore, reached out to wrap his own in hers and glowed a bright gold glow. The golden glow engulfed her whole body, rimming the sapphire blue eyes he had been enchanted with. Her silver hair was free from her usual braid and floating in the wind. The most puzzling thing was the enigmatic smile gracing her face and the gold glowing wisps flowing from her back.

"My, look at you mon petite lumiere. So full of confusion and doubt, which I must admit that it is my fault that those emotions are surging. When I first appear to many without divinity energy, it can cause an emotional shock to the body. C'est ma faute. My apologies." Her hands gave a squeeze to his. "I just wanted to talk to you for awhile now but it is difficult to manifest on the material plane in a land devoid of any of my holy symbols."

"Who are you? What did you do to Leona?" He should be panicking, on the defensive. This entity had just admitted to messing with his emotions and on top of that was clearly possessing Leona at the moment. However, despite his misgivings to the situation, there was a calming and soothing aura flowing through his entire body.

"I did nothing to ma soleil. She had noticed my hovering only a while ago during your work and allowed me access in order to speak with you. I've hovered before in observation but could never get your attention." The enigmatic smile on Leona's face grew a little wider. "Mon lumiere, you have suffered so much but you have grown as well. Only now have you truly begun to walk the path of forgiveness and redemption. There will be good and bad days but as long as you walk this path of light, you will never be alone." One of her hands left his own to caress his cheek.

"Stay with ma soleil and you'll never have to walk alone again. It will be good for the both you and her. Now I must depart. She does not have enough energy to hold me here any longer and there are things I must attend. When we next meet, perhaps I shall grant you a gift mon petite lumiere." She leaned forward, now holding both his cheeks, and kissed his forehead. A blush immediately flushed his cheeks before he pushed her away, causing the entity to laugh. The gold glow began to fade away from Leona's body.

"Wait! You never answered my question. Who are you?" The glow diminished until only Leona's eyes remained gold.

"I am known as the Everlight. I am also called the Dawnflower, but to those who seek the path of redemption, I am Sarenrae." That smile was starting to annoy him. Before he could ask her another question, the glow completely left Leona's body causing her whole body to collapse.

"H-hey!" Laxus was reached out to grab her before she face-planted. After a few moments of silence, Leona let out a painful groan.

"I really hate doing that sometimes." Her head was absolutely throbbing. Reaching up to try and relieve the pain, Leona realized that she was leaning on something warm. Looking up, she sees a red faced dragon slayer. She tried to stand in order to put some space between the two but immediately fell back onto the floor onto the slayer once more.

"I- I might need a few minutes before I can move." With the majority of her magic being depleted while creating the pseudo lacrima, Leona wasn't expecting the sudden appearance of Sarenrae and her request to speak with Laxus. Sustaining the deity in the material plane would be easy if she hadn't used up the majority of her magic.

"It's fine." Not really. "Does this happen often?"

"Sometimes. It depends on the situation usually. I act as a conduit of the gods and goddesses when they cannot manifest in the material world, however, they are only allowed to do so when I consent to the possession."

"So without consent, they can't do what Sarenrae just did." At the name of the Everlight, Leona raised her head from his chest to look at him.

"She gave you her name?" This got an eyebrow raise from Laxus.

"Uh, yeah? Couldn't you hear us talking?" The paladin shook her head.

"No. It gets really hazy when they do that, hence the throbbing headache and shaky knees. Oh, and it doesn't help that they are ten times worse since I was low on magic." Laxus gave the woman leaning on his chest a deadpanned look.

"Let's put the claws away Kitten. What's the big deal about telling me her name? She called herself the Everlight and the Dawnflower if that means anything."

"Well Sparky, most gods and goddesses don't go around personally giving mortals their true name unless they are devout followers. Typically, they just use their titles, like the Wildmother or the Storm Lord. In your case, Sarenrae's titles are the Everlight and the Dawnflower." Was this how Xayah felt when she was teaching her? Next time she sees her, Leona was definitely going to apologize for being a little shit. Actually, she probably owes Laxus one now with her snapping.

"But why appear before me?" That's one of the most important question Laxus wanted to ask the deity. The man had done nothing but ask questions since meeting the paladin and he had more questions than answers now. He was now talking to the mental manifestation of his consciousness, probably, but he'll figure that out later, and meeting fucking gods (or in this case a goddess). On top of that, he was an emotional wreck now (also partly the fault of said goddess through her own admission). Maybe he was finally crashing. Running on empty fuel. Before his thoughts could go any further, Leona's voice cut through the fog.

"From what I can gather from your confession before she took over, you did something bad, almost unforgivable, to your guild. You've been cruel and heartless in your actions and only now have you recognized the harm it caused. That guilt is slowly destroying you." Her words sounded harsh but turned soft and gentle. "It is your ability to recognize your wrong doings and willingness to change that attracted her to you. Did she tell you what she was a goddess of?"

Seeing the slayer shake his head in a 'no', Leona released a small sign, letting a small smile peak from her lips as she reaches out to hold one of his shoulders.

"Sarenrae is the goddess of redemption, healing, and temperance. She believes that everyone, especially those corrupted, can be redeemed and searches for souls that need a little push in the right direction. The problem is that Sarenrae is a minor deity and her domains overlap with more influential deities in Ishgar, like the Dawnfather. Most of her followers were wiped out years ago during the Dragon King festival and any followers that are around now are small and private. Because of this, it is extremely difficult for her to reach out through the material plane to help those seeking redemption. She mostly works behind the curtains in order to help however possible. On the rare occasion, she is able to communicate through dreams. Fiore has been a difficult location for many deities because of the lack of belief. "

"She reached out to you for a reason. Sarenrae sees something special in you if she wanted to use me as a conduit. Whatever she said to you, I would listen to her words and follow her instructions. I have never seen her steer someone in the wrong direction, especially when seeking forgiveness and redemption. So hold your head high dragon slayer and let's go save people and kick some asses."

Stormy green-blue eyes met clear sapphire. Whatever inner struggle he was feeling and worrying over felt smaller and smaller with each word she spoke. It was like wave of clarity breaking through a fog of uncertainty. Taking a deep breath in and then out, Laxus felt his mind more calm and relaxed for the first time since his banishment.

"Guess you can make sense sometimes, Dollface." Leona puffed her cheeks up in annoyance at the new (unnecessary) nickname. "Never heard you curse before either."

"Maybe you're just a bad influence on me. Ever think about that Muscles?"

"Heard that one before Short Stuff. Try harder Cub."

"Thunderdolt."

"Ankle bitter."

"Dragon breath."

"Pala-nut."

"Bolt for brains!"

Yeah, he could push through and persevere. There was a mission at hand and as a S-class Fairy Tail wizard, exiled or not, he would not fail.

Translations

C'est ma faute- It's my fault

Lumiere- Light

Soleil- Sun

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, favorite, and followed this story! I wasn't really happy with how this chapter turned out but beggars can't be choosers. Would love to hear some feedback from you darlings!

Shout outs to Savage Kill, SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta, and Guest for reviewing for the past two chapters:)