Freed was having quite possibly the best week of his life. Yes, most of Fairy Tail had spent the past seven years in some sort of strange stasis on Tenrou Island, and the world around them had aged nearly a decade while they had stayed exactly the same. And yes, during that time, Fairy Tail, the guild Freed loved with everything he had, had pretty much gone down the gutter. Yes, they were poor and weak now, and Freed couldn't get any good jobs and had to deal with being laughed at.

But none of that mattered. Because Laxus had returned. He'd shown up to fight for them on Tenrou, and proved to everyone that he had the core of goodness and loyalty that Freed had seen in him all along. And then Gildarts had made him a member of the Guild again, and now everything was perfect.

Laxus had officially been reinstated as a member of Fairy Tail for seven days now, and Freed had been nearly too excited to sleep. He'd hung out with Laxus five times in the Guild Hall, and Freed could only hope he wasn't acting as ecstatically happy as he felt inside.

Really, there was only one problem. And that was that it had been almost 48 hours now since Laxus had been to the Guild Hall. Freed knew because he'd been there waiting for Laxus to show up pretty much the entire time it had been open, and he'd asked Mira to keep an eye out for him when he'd been at home. But there had been no sign of Laxus so far, and he hadn't tried to contact any of them either.

Normally, Freed wouldn't have been worried. Even at the height of their friendship, Laxus had pretty easily been able to go weeks without speaking to the rest of the Thunder Legion, if he'd wanted to take a job on his own. And frankly, he was probably still settling in right now. Freed wasn't sure where he'd been staying, and he surely had…business and such that he needed to catch up on after his long absence.

But still, something about the whole situation was sending uneasiness spiking through Freed, and he wasn't convinced that there wasn't something wrong. He wasn't sure how to contact Laxus, or if Laxus even had a new lacrima set up yet, so he took it upon himself to invent a spell that would point to Laxus's location. He figured he could just solve the problem that way, and that would surely reassure him that Laxus was safe, and let Laxus know that Freed was definitely the sort of friend that he could rely on, even now.

It took Freed the better part of an hour to perfect a set of Jutsu Shiki that would point to Laxus's location like a compass. By that point, the sun was on the edge of setting, and Freed hoped it wouldn't take too long for him to find Laxus or he risked waking him up.

As he set out, Freed wondered if this was the sort of thing that a good friend would actually do. He'd been on his best behavior around Laxus so far, since he didn't want to overwhelm him during what had to be an already hectic time. He'd even managed to refrain from yelling at Natsu and Gajeel, who in Freed's opinion were being far too forward with Laxus, and he hadn't even tried to dissuade the local girls from flirting with him.

Freed wasn't going to pretend that it was easy. He'd had a massive crush on Laxus for what had to be years now, and he'd almost managed to convince himself that it was unrequited during the time Laxus was gone. But as soon as he'd showed up on Tenrou, Freed had felt all his previous feelings come surging back.

Really, the problem was that Freed didn't know whether or not Laxus was gay. He didn't want to waste his time throwing himself at a straight man, and he wasn't sure whether or not his Jutsu Shiki compass would come across as "friend" or "stalker." Of course, Laxus might be gay, in which case it might come across as romantic. There had been a few times where Freed could have sworn he felt something like chemistry, and he knew that he was definitely closer to Laxus than almost anyone else. And there was, of course, the notable time that he'd touched Laxus's hand, and the Dragon Slayer hadn't pulled away (immediately). Unfortunately, he was also pretty sure that Laxus had at least kissed Evergreen, which wasn't a good sign for Freed.

"Bisexual," Freed muttered to himself, absentmindedly turning down the next path the compass pointed out for him. "I always forget about bisexuality…. That's an option as well, you know."

Freed stumbled slightly, jostling himself out of the Laxus-related debate he'd had at least two hundred times. He looked up, surprised to find himself on the outskirts of the forest surrounding Magnolia. He'd expected to be led further into town, perhaps an inn, or maybe even Laxus's old apartment.

Freed tapped on the runes floating beside him a few times, peering at them to make sure he was reading the directions right. He didn't bother checking the enchantment - he knew he'd made it correctly. Sure enough, the spell was pointing him deeper into the forest.

"Mysterious indeed," Freed said quietly. "I suppose he could be hunting? Or on a job?" But he would have known if Laxus was taking a job, since Mirajane could always be relied on for gossip, and it seemed a bit strange to be hunting in the dangerous forest during nightfall. Even for Laxus, that is.

Freed wound his way deeper into the forest, picking branches and leaves out of his hair as he went. Sighing, he pulled it back into a tighter ponytail. If he'd known he was going into the woods, he would have simply made an enchantment to keep it from being tangled, but there was no time for that now.

Freed made it far enough into the woods that he was seriously considering turning back - maybe Laxus was on the other side of the forest, or something, and Freed would need to rewrite the spell to ensure it only took him on roads. But just when he was seriously considering at least thinking about giving up, he stumbled into a clearing.

The clearing contained a bedroll, a duffel bag, a few boxes, and a campfire. More importantly, it contained Laxus, who was sitting on the bedroll and shivering slightly. He was facing away from Freed, and he didn't seem to have noticed Freed's approach - this was quite unusual, because Freed didn't walk through the woods very quietly.

"Laxus!" Freed exclaimed. "What are you doing out here?! Have you been living in the woods?!"

Laxus startled so badly there was a split second Freed was certain he was about to fall forward into the campfire. Then he managed to stumble to his feet, and whirl around to face Freed.

And it was at that point that everything came together. Laxus's left arm was covered in bloody, dirty bandages, and his face was pale and waxy-looking. His mouth was tight. There was very clearly something wrong with him.

Laxus was hurt.

Laxus had shit-all idea what Freed was doing out here, and he wasn't exactly sure that he wanted him here. Laxus had been living in the woods ever since Gildarts had let him back into Fairy Tail - he obviously hadn't had his old apartment anymore, and he hadn't wanted to put anyone in the guild out by asking to stay with them. They probably would have said no anyway. But hey, he figured he liked camping. The forest outside Magnolia was close to the guild hall, and free, and as easy a place to stay as any until he got back on his feet.

Or at least, that's what he'd thought. But then some sort of wild dog had smelled the food he'd been cooking, and decided to fight with him over it. Laxus had won - more or less. The dog was now very dead, and he would have been turned into food too if he hadn't smelled so terrible when Laxus had tried cooking him.

But Laxus hadn't come away unscathed. The dog had caught him by surprise, which Laxus was still mad about, but he'd been listening to music and he'd had it up too loud to hear anything sneaking up from behind. He'd felt something off at the last second and turned, but by that point the dog was already leaping for his throat, and Laxus hadn't had time to get out of the way. He had managed to bring his left arm up, and the dog had clamped his teeth around that instead, leaving Laxus's right hand free to fry him with a solid dose of lightning. He'd learned that in some kind of survival lesson at some point, and it had definitely kept him alive, but he'd ended up with a nasty bite on his arm. Laxus had tried washing it out, but it hadn't gone great and at this point, he was pretty sure the mangy thing had broken a couple bones as well.

Before the stupid dog incident, Laxus had felt things with the Guild were going…okay, at least. Freed, Ever, and Bickslow were clearly excited to have him back, and that was something. He wasn't sure who else, if anyone, was, and he didn't want to read too much into that. Laxus was the first to admit he'd kind of been an asshole, although not out loud, in case anyone was listening.

Still, he'd been careful to show up to the Guild pretty much every day and hang around in the corner, to show he was "grateful" and "trying to be a valuable member" and all that crap. He hadn't even been insulting anyone, unless they really, really deserved it, and he thought some of the younger kids were beginning to warm up to him. But the dog had really thrown a wrench in things. Now, his arm hurt too bad to use normally, and Laxus didn't think he could successfully hide it from a whole Guild of noisy rabble-rousers. Someone (Natsu) would try to fight him, or even worse, someone (Freed) might notice that he was hurt and try to do something about it.

Laxus had figured he could just handle it on his own. It hurt, yeah, but he'd had worse. He had mostly planned to just wait until the swelling went down and he could pull a coat over it and use his hand kind of normally until it healed. It was his left arm, so he hadn't thought it would be that much of an issue. It had maybe been a bit worse than he'd expected, and he hadn't been able to do much these past few days other than just curl up in pain and try to sleep, but he wasn't a little bitch. He could get through this.

But now Freed was standing in front of him, gaping in horror and pulling twigs out of his ponytail. Laxus…hadn't counted on that.

"Laxus? Are you injured?!"

Laxus considered just lying his way out, but Freed was already coming closer, and Laxus was in too much pain to get away. Freed stopped about a foot away, covering his mouth with his hand as his eyes widened.

"That looks horrible! Why haven't you told any of us about this? I think I'm going to be sick…."

Laxus scowled down at his bandaged arm. He couldn't imagine that just looking at a little old blood could make Freed nauseous - the rune caster could get pretty vicious in a fight.

"Why are you out here with an injury like that?" Freed demanded. "Does Porlyusica know you're in the woods still? What does she have to say about that?!"

Laxus had certainly not been to see Porlyusica. Porlyusica was a last resort kind of gal, and at this point, he would only visit her voluntarily if he really, actually, honest-to-god thought he might die without her assistance. A few teeth marks from some gross dog and a broken bone or two didn't even come close to qualifying.

And anyways, even if they had, he wasn't too sure that she would want to help him. He wasn't even sure if she knew that he had been allowed back into the guild.

Laxus certainly didn't want to tell Freed any of that. But Freed was staring at Laxus with those wide, scared blue eyes, and Laxus knew he had to say something reassuring. "Uhhhhh…."

"Laxus! You haven't been to see her, have you?"

"Uhhhh…."

"Stop just saying 'um!' This should be an easy question, Laxus! Have you been to see Porlyusica yet?"

"Uhhh…nope."

"Laxus!"

"I-"

"Why not?" Freed was so incensed that he'd started making broad gestures with his arms. "You've clearly done…what's even happened to your arm? What did you do to it?"

"Uhhh…a dog bit me." Laxus considered. "Maybe it was a wolf."

Freed threw up his hands - if only his eye would start twitching, and then he would be the perfect mirror of one of those teachers who'd yelled at Laxus in school for not doing his homework. "A wolf bit you? That's disgusting! Come on, Laxus, that obviously merits a visit to Porlyusica…."

"I…uh…wasn't sure I could afford her."

This seemed to stop Fried cold. He slowly lowered his hands to his sides. "I don't think guild members have to pay her. Do…do we? Do you normally pay her?"
"I dunno, Freed. I can't go and see her tonight anyways. She's probably asleep by now."

"But…but it's barely evening, I'm sure she isn't-"

"It's fine. Just…let it go."

Freed took a deep breath. Laxus was acting like a crazy person, refusing to see Porlyusica even though he'd been mauled by a wild animal, and Freed really didn't want to just let this go without a fight. But Laxus could be horribly stubborn, and at least for now, Freed knew he wasn't going to be able to get Laxus to get his arm looked at by a professional.

But that didn't mean that he had to leave Laxus here to fend for himself with what looked like a very badly injured arm. Laxus would probably just be attacked by more wolves, or possibly something even worse. Even though he was undoubtedly the toughest wizard that Freed had ever had the pleasure of meeting, he didn't want to allow him to court danger unnecessarily.

"Well, if you won't go to see Porlyusica, at least let me have a look at it," Freed said. He walked closer, within reach of Laxus, but he didn't take his arm. He'd known Laxus for a very long time, and the Dragon Slayer was often wary of being touched. Freed was usually fine (obviously), but it had been months since they'd seen each other, and Laxus was hurt, and Freed didn't want to push his boundaries. That is, further than he'd already pushed them by mildly stalking Laxus back to his makeshift "home" in the woods.

Laxus gritted his teeth, clearly considering, then cautiously extended his arm. "Fine, whatever. But it's not a big deal, okay? It's just a bite."

Freed knelt down beside him, glancing into Laxus's face as he did so. Now that he was closer, it was obvious that Laxus was in agonizing pain. Freed could see deep grooves of pain lining his eyes, making him look older. His skin was paler than usual, too, and the scar across his right eye was standing out red and raised against his ashy face. Freed had no idea how long he'd been injured, but it was clearly far too long to be alone and untended to in the woods.

Carefully, Freed took ahold of Laxus's wrist. As tough as he was, he still expected Laxus to flinch, or try to pull away. He knew that even touching Laxus's arm must be truly agonizing.

But Laxus didn't move a muscle. When Freed looked back at him, his face had somehow gone a shade paler, and his jaw was locked so tightly Freed momentarily feared for his teeth, but he didn't say anything.

"Are you alright?" Freed asked, before he tried to actually take a look at the wound.

Laxus's eyes flicked from their frozen point in the middle distance to somewhere nearer to Freed, and Freed was rewarded with a tight nod.

"Are you sure?" Freed asked. "This all looks…very painful. Just let me know if it hurts too badly, and-"

"It's fine," Laxus grunted, barely audibly. "I'm fine."

"I suppose I'm forced to believe you," Freed muttered, returning his attention to Laxus's arm. "For now, anyway."

As gently as he possibly could, he reached for the loose, messy bandages wound around Laxus's forearm. As soon as his fingers brushed the edge of the fabric, he heard Laxus take a hissing breath in through his teeth, but the other man still didn't move or speak.

"I don't…know that I should unwrap this," Freed said softly. "I'm afraid I'll start it bleeding again."

"Yeah," Laxus said. He sounded distant and distracted. "Yeah, I don't know, it was bleeding a lot."

"Did the bleeding stop once you wrapped it?"

"M-mostly."

The obvious pain Laxus was in was really setting Freed on edge. And it couldn't be good to have him out in the cold like this, without access to enough food or fluids or a proper bed…. As much as Freed never wanted Laxus sleeping in the woods, it was one thing when he could make it to the Guild. He could get hot food there at least, and get out of the elements for a little while. But now that Laxus was too injured to fend for himself, this makeshift campsite was completely untenable.

"You're coming home with me," Freed announced.

Freed expected Laxus to outright refuse. He at the very least expected some token protest. But Laxus just nodded slightly. "Al-alright," he whispered.

"God," Freed said, aghast. "You're just agreeing? You must be really sick."

"No, I'm fine, I just-"

"You just wait there for a second. I'm going to pack your things up. Then I'll take you home."

"Are you sure I won't…it's really…."

"It's fine. Please, I…I want you to stay with me."

"I don't want to put you out any…."

"You won't."

"Th-thank you."

Freed wasn't sure Laxus had ever thanked him for anything in his life. Frankly, it was weird.

"I promise, it's really okay. Just…stay there for a second."

Laxus sighed and nodded. His eyes were half-lidded, and glassy with pain, and Freed was desperately glad he wasn't spending another night in the woods.

It took Freed less than five minutes to pack up Laxus's campsite, which made sense because Laxus had about three belongings. That was strange - Freed had always thought of Laxus as someone who tended to hoard and collect, which made sense now because Freed knew he was a Dragon Slayer. But Freed supposed he'd lost most everything when he'd been forced out of the guild, and now, he didn't have more than what could fit in a backpack.

Still, that didn't seem right. Freed had a momentary twist of guilt as he thought about all of Laxus's things that had probably been thrown out or lost. If Laxus had only said something, or if Freed had thought about it more, he could have made sure they were kept safe. But Laxus had left in a hurry, and he hated asking for help.

"Do you have anything else?" Freed asked, looking uselessly around the empty campsite.

"Just my headphones," Laxus mumbled, nodding towards the ground. His lacrima and headphones were about six inches to his left, where his bedroll had been before Freed had packed that up. For a second, Freed wondered why Laxus hadn't gotten them himself, and put them in his pocket. As far as Freed knew, they had been his most prized possession even when he was in the Guild, and he'd barely wanted anyone else to so much as touch them.

But Laxus was just hunched over his arm, eyes mostly closed now and shaking with pain. There was no way he could reach over for them, not even six inches. As carefully as Freed possibly could, he picked them up off the ground and packed them into Laxus's bag, in a pocket where he was sure they would be safe.

"Very well," Freed said, standing up and automatically brushing off the bits of moss and leaves that had collected on his clothes. "My house it is, then."

He held out his hand to Laxus, but he didn't really expect the other man to take it, even as injured as he clearly was. Sure enough, Laxus ignored the outstretched hand, pushing himself to his feet with his right arm as he kept his left arm tucked close to his chest. He made it to his feet, staggering a little as he stepped forward, but staying upright. Freed let him stay a little in front, just in case Laxus pitched forward or backward and Freed had to steady him.

"It's that way," Freed said, pointing Laxus down the path he'd come from. He didn't think Laxus had ever actually been to his apartment, or any of the others', either. It would have been nice if the first time had been under better circumstances, but that was about how it went when Fairy Tail was involved.

It only took a few minutes for Freed to realize that, like it or not, Laxus was going to need a significant amount of assistance. With every step he took, he swayed uncertainly back and forth, and there were a few times Freed was almost certain he would fall. As Laxus stepped forward a little heavily, hissing in pain and veering to the side, Freed darted up next to him and took his uninjured arm.

"Let me help, please," Freed offered, looping Laxus's arm over his shoulders and hesitating as he went to put his own arm around Laxus's waist.

"I got it," Laxus muttered, then staggered heavily into Freed and biting back a growl. "I- uhh, I mean…thanks, Freed."

Two thank yous in one night. Freed wrapped his arm around Laxus's waist, vaguely wishing he hadn't heard either. He'd never imagined a situation in which he would be this close to Laxus and not absolutely overjoyed, but he was starting to get genuinely concerned. It wasn't like Laxus to be this vulnerable. Freed strived to be a great friend to Laxus, and that wasn't to mention his gigantic crush on the man, but this…a broken, bleeding, possibly infected arm was probably above his pay grade. Desire and devotion couldn't heal wounds, and he really wished Laxus was going to someone who could actually help instead of just back with Freed to his place.

Maybe ten minutes went by. Laxus was a quiet guy, but Freed wasn't, and normally, if they were alone together, Freed would have been chatting up a storm, telling Laxus about his thoughts, his day, meals he was going to cook, dreams he'd recently had, etc. But in this case, Freed was too worried to do that. All he could do was walk next to Laxus, keeping an arm wrapped around his waist and trying hard to keep their footsteps in sync, and listen to him breathe.

Laxus tripped over something Freed couldn't see. Instead of just stumbling, which would have been concerning in and of itself, Laxus pitched forward and went down. And instead of just falling to his hands and knees and then scrambling back up, he fell and started retching into the space between his hands.

"Laxus!" Freed said, his knees folding so he could kneel beside Laxus before his brain had really caught up to what was happening. He forgot to be worried about what Laxus would do if Freed touched him, and a hand automatically went to Laxus's back.

"Sorry, I-"

Laxus cut off with a cough as the retching turned to vomiting. He threw up whatever meager meals he'd managed to acquire in the past day, shaking and panting the whole time. As soon as he was done, Freed helped him sit up a little, wiping off his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket. Even in the dim light, Freed could see that Laxus had gone dangerously pale, and Freed realized with alarm that when he'd fallen, he'd put weight on his injured arm.

"Are you alright?" Freed asked worriedly. "Are you sick? Did you eat…?"

"Nah," Laxus grunted. "Just…hurts a lot, is all."

Freed's mouth twisted. Laxus had always been very good at hiding pain. If he was now in enough pain to vomit, and Freed really hadn't noticed….

"Okay, that's it," Freed said. "I don't…I don't think I'll be able to do anything to help you at my place. I mean, you're welcome to stay there of course. Tonight, and…as long as you need. But first, we need to go see Porlyusica. I can't fix this on my own."