Hello everybody!

I know it's been a while since my last update and I'm not even going to try and justify why it's been so long. Life happened. xD

Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters, objects or locations from the world of Fairy Tail

"Magic… It's all magic. It's all real."

Lucy stared at Laxus, aghast, her mind trying to comprehend his statement. Magic? She had read books about magic in the past, but logically, Lucy knew that they were just fairy tales, fanciful scrawlings which enticed the reader into a world entirely separate from reality, a world where anything is possible. Golden keys that call down spirits from the evening skies, manipulation of the elements, manipulation of time and space… it was impossible to believe that anything could exist that would make these things possible.

They both stared silently at the shattered crystal, both equally as unnerved and excited by the prospects the new discovery offered them. On the one hand, magic could be real, and their search for a way out of the hospital would be infinitely easier. On the other hand, though, they had discovered a form of technology they knew nothing about, which would make escape infinitely harder.

Lucy's gaze drifted to the fallen zombie, and she asked the first question that popped into her head: "How did they get up here?"

Laxus narrowed his eyes and stalked out of the room, heading for the stairway leading to the lower levels. The door gaped open, offering them an eyeful of the multitudes of corpses that had collapsed on the stairs, gruesomely contorted to appear as though crawling up the stairs to the humans waiting unsuspectingly above. Laxus scowled and rounded on Lucy, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"When you came back upstairs yesterday, did you remember to close the doors behind you and bolt them?"

Lucy frowned as she struggled to remember the finer details of the previous day. When she'd come upstairs, she'd had her hands full of papers and things from her room. She remembered trying to close the door with her foot, but had given up and resolved to return once her hands were empty. But then she had started reading with Laxus and... she'd forgotten. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened, and she looked apologetically at Laxus.

"I'm so sorry… I thought I'd remembered to close the doors but I forgot to come back and do it. I'm sorry, Laxus."

Laxus glared at Lucy and threw his hands in the air, forming an imposing figure against the pitch black of the corpse-filled stairwell. He turned and stormed down the stairs, muttering to himself about stupid women who want to get him killed. Lucy followed hesitantly, unsure if her presence would be refused. Laxus ignored her and started dragging the corpses by their feet. Sickening thuds echoed in the small space as the heads whacked each stair, juicy crunches and squishes. Fighting back the nausea, Lucy mimicked Laxus and grabbed a pair of feet from the bottom of the stairs.

They worked in dead silence, the only sounds being the growls from the corpses when she ventured too close to their mouths, and the growls from Laxus when she tried to say something. Lucy did her best to ignore the jaundiced eyes rolling in gaping eye sockets, but by the time the final corpse had been shoved into one of the abandoned rooms, Lucy was feeling mildly ill. She followed Laxus timidly back to the stairwell, where he stood and watched her fasten every bolt on the pair of doors. He narrowed his eyes at her and stalked off in the general direction of the kitchen, his stomach growling angrily.

Lucy hung her head and wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. She had let down the only other human in this hospital, and now he was so mad that he wouldn't talk to her. She would even prefer the shouting and screaming instead of the furious cloud of tension and anger surrounding him. Lucy's arms folded cautiously around her stomach and she decided against going to the kitchen for food. She would give Laxus his space and hopefully, he would start to forgive her.

-x-

That stupid, infuriating blonde bimbo! She had appeared so intelligent yesterday, keeping up with his explanations and asking only relevant questions about the formulae he'd scribbled on the wall, but it appeared she was nothing more than some dumb blonde after all. How could she leave the door open?! She knew what those things wanted to do and yet she had come straight upstairs to the kitchen, valuing food over security!

Laxus stomped around the kitchen, knocking lacrimas off the counters and tossing cutlery across the room. He hadn't felt this angry in months. The last time he'd wanted to kill someone this much was when doctor Shiki had stabbed a needle into Laxus' arm without warning, prompting Laxus to shove the doctor hard enough to give him a concussion. Laxus couldn't imagine doing something like that to Lucy, who looked as though she might break if he touched her, but he definitely wanted to.

A sharp grumble interrupted Laxus' violent thoughts, and he glared at his stomach. First, he would find food, and then he would go and figure out a way to undo the damage that the idot doctors had done by playing God.

Scarcely realising it, he set out two trays of food and drinks. Rolling his eyes at himself, Laxus decided to go in search of Lucy, who was undoubtedly as hungry as he was by now. Walking along the passage to each room he had entered with Lucy, Laxus felt the anger dissolving. She hadn't really caused much harm – it could have been a lot worse. He had been alert enough to detect the zombie before it had harmed them, and she had definitely learned her lesson. He had seen how pale she had become while moving corpses, had seen how much her hands shook as she fastened the bolts, and he had decided that he could, perhaps, forgive her.

Laxus grew more concerned with every empty room he entered – Lucy was in neither of the studies, the lounge, the staff rooms or the bathrooms. She had not gone back down the stairs – the bolts were still firmly in place – and the room she had chosen as her bedroom was empty. Laxus started walking faster down the passages to the only room he hadn't yet checked – the library. He burst through the door in a flurry of white cloth and clanging metal trays, startling the fragile girl curled up in the corner of the room.

Lucy jumped up and stood prepared to run, knees bent and heart pounding. She stared wide-eyed at Laxus, who stood breathing heavily in the doorway of the room. His face was pulled into an expression of concern, the emotion visible in his stormy eyes even from the distance Lucy was at. She dropped back into her chair with a hand over her heart, trying to calm herself down. Before she could blink, Laxus had shot across the room to stand in front of her. He placed the trays of food on the sleek steel coffee table before her, and stood with his arms crossed. He glared down at her, and she gazed timidly back at him. He sighed and unfolded his arm, reaching one hand over to flick Lucy roughly in her forehead.

"I didn't help you just so you could run off and die of starvation, Blondie." Laxus mumbled gruffly.

He narrowed his eyes, grabbed his tray and strode to the chair across from Lucy's. Lucy stared in surprise at him. Did this mean he was no longer angry at her? He had appeared concerned, and he had brought her a tray of food.

Lucy stared at Laxus as she ate her plate of food, lost in thought. Laxus jerked his head up and stared back at Lucy, but she didn't notice. Her head whirled with thoughts of what had happened, how she could fix it and how they could escape the hospital. Laxus dropped his tray quietly to the floor and folded his arms, his eyes boring into the glazed chocolate orbs of the blonde across from him. His eyes dropped momentarily lower to glance and the cleavage that was displayed so prominently to him, and he could feel an erection starting beneath his ivory hospital clothes. He grabbed one of the couch's cushions and stuffed it into his lap, hiding the growing bulge beneath hideous green and blue floral patterns.

Lucy stayed in her trance for a long time, barely blinking or breathing. It felt similar to the state she entered when she meditated, but it was different. Instead of her head clearing to be free from all thought, it was as though every thought she'd ever had was cramming into her brain to vie for attention. Memories – old, new and unfamiliar – pushed against her skull and bounced around her cranium.

Without warning, a plush mass of green and blue slammed into her face, startling her and breaking her trance. Lucy stared dumbfounded at Laxus, who was straining to keep his face straight. He frowned at her and barked, "Don't just zone out like that, Blondie."

Lucy's lips tugged into a smile and she giggled softly. She picked up the cushion he had thrown at her and stared at the hideous pattern – fleur-de-lis and floral intermingled with random splotches and blobs of contrasting colours. Waiting until Laxus' eyes were on the bookshelves around them, she launched the cushion through the air at him. It was a shot that would make a basketballer proud, and yet it made no contact. Laxus' hand whipped through the air and snatched the pillow from its collision course.

A menacing look on his face, Laxus stood slowly and stalked towards Lucy, the pillow held like a club in his fist. Lucy, understanding his intent, leaped from her chair and sprinted towards the door, laughter bubbling from her lips. As fast as she was, Laxus was faster. He caught up to her in mere seconds and smacked her across the bottom with the soft cushion. Lucy shrieked in surprise and changed her direction, ducking under Laxus' grabbing arms to snatch a cushion from a couch. She walloped Laxus hard across the chest with it and he grunted, rubbing his chest as though it had hurt.

Laxus pounced at Lucy and tackled her to the floor, twisting in the air so that she would land on top of him. Once she was on top of him, her hands shot to his ribs and started tickling him mercilessly. Laxus held out as long as he could, refused to make a sound until the tears streamed from his eyes, but soon could hold the laughter in no longer. He roared with laughter, grabbing at Lucy's hands in an effort to stop her. He twisted again so that he was on top of her, holding her hands down above her head with a single large fist. With his other hand, he inflicted the same torture she had inflicted on him. Lucy screamed and struggled, but it was in vain, for Laxus was so heavy that she couldn't budge him. Lucy's legs parted and spread to either side of Laxus' muscular torso, pushing against him to try and get him off of her.

One brief bump of Laxus' growing erection between her spread legs was all it took to change the atmosphere of the moment. In an instant, the laughter had vanished from the pair. Lucy had stopped squirming, and rosy pink flooded Laxus' cheeks. He let go of her hands and made as if to stand up, but Lucy placed an arm around his shoulders and stopped him.

"Laxus, I… We're both alone and… I've been alone for so long… please…" She breathed gustily into his ear.

Laxus pulled away slightly, his stormy eyes gazing deeply into the wide, innocent chocolate ones below him. He felt his erection stir against her stomach and he gulped, already thinking of the possible ramifications of their actions. On the one hand, he wouldn't be walking around while hornier than a teenager. But on the other, it would change the dynamics of the relationship. Laxus knew, from his conquests among the hospital nurses, that once a physical aspect had been introduced, all intellectual aspects disappeared. He couldn't imagine Lucy as a real dumb blonde, content to do anything he asked simply because he'd slept with her a few times. Conflicting thoughts flew through his brain and he frowned, unsure what to do.

In the end, it was Lucy that decided for him. Her nimble fingers stroked down his chest and moved to the bindings holding his pants closed. A swift tug and his erection was breaking free, covered quickly by her warm hand. Lucy's lips met Laxus', and all thoughts of resistance were lost as he sunk back to the floor, her lithe body writhing below him.

-x-

I started this chapter totally unsure where it was going, but it turned into a bit of a filler chapter with somewhat more important stuff towards the end. I realise it may seem a bit sudden (them sleeping together only 5 chapters in, EGAD!) but I was trying to make it seem less for emotional reasons and more for the physical side because emotions haven't quite started developing.

Let me know how it was! I'd also love any constructive criticism, so anybody who feels like typing an essay of the 'good, bad and ugly', please feel free to tell me in a review/PM :D :P

Bubbles xx