Chapter 124:
Laxus woke up because of a knock at the door. He startled, dragged from the trenches of one of his renegade dreams. He vaulted from the couch, hoping it was Gajeel but knowing in the back of his mind that if it were, he wouldn't be knocking. He tried to hide the crushing letdown at seeing Levy and Mirajane at his door. The surprise, though, was that Evergreen with them, her arms crossed as she looked sharply over at him. While Levy pretty much got along with everyone, Mira and Evergreen could hardly stand each other on a good day. They'd grown to tolerate each other more and more because of Elfman but seeing them together was still a rarity.
The dark thing in his chest breathed a little life into itself. Laxus didn't hide his confusion. He crossed his arms to help stave off the chill of the morning.
"What's going on?" Laxus asked, feeling lightning rolling in his stomach. There was a shared silence he didn't like before Levy cleared her throat. Mirajane gave her an apologetic look. His stomach rolled even more viciously. He failed miserably at levity when he spoke with more sarcasm than he'd initially intended, "Well, don't leave me in suspense."
"Two things," Mira said, shoring up her resolve, "First, it's just a hunch, Laxus. Evergreen and I got to talking and... Levy put some things together."
"Alright..." he said slowly, looking from one woman to another, feeling more and more anxious. Was this about Gajeel?
"And you have to promise not to get angry." she said, her lips pulling into a tight line, displaying plainly her doubt that he would, "We don't know anything for sure... yet."
Laxus's mood continued to darken. He took a moment to make sure his magic was carefully locked away. He stepped back from the door and ushered them to come in. All three of them hesitated but did. He snatched his blanket from the couch so they could make themselves comfortable and called down the hall to Lily that they had guests before tromping up his stairs to get dressed, figuring whatever conversation they were about to have would be best witnessed with a shirt on. When he returned, the three women hadn't sat down, just stood in tense silence with each other as Lily made coffee in the kitchen.
"You guys really know how to make a guy nervous, you know that?" he griped as he crossed his arms and braced for whatever this was.
The three exchanged a look and Mira sighed, looking vexed. She visibly gathered her resolve.
"So… Bickslow hasn't been to the guild for… about a week now," Mirajane began like that would mean anything to Laxus whatsoever.
"…Alright…" he said, "If I had to guess, I'd say he got into another fight with Freed."
"Do you remember the other day when you thought you caught Gajeel's scent over by that bar? The Buttonhole or something?" Mira asked and Laxus nodded, his heart skipping a beat, "I was talking to Elfman and he mentioned Ever had told him that was where Bickslow had been hanging out recently, since he and Freed have been fighting a lot. That's where he goes to drink when he's avoiding the guild."
"Droy told me that Jet likes to go there, too, when we argue." Levy said quietly, "None of us are usually over there. It's quiet. He can gather his thoughts, I guess."
"Ok?" Laxus said, still confused. The women exchanged another nervous look. "You think they all ran into each other?"
"Did you know that Bickslow and Freed were hooking up?" Evergreen asked snappishly.
Laxus blinked, surprised by her sudden outburst. He shot her a skeptical look, "No."
"Well, they have been… for years. Bickslow is a fuckboy and Freed... is flamboyantly gay. I don't know how you never realized that."
"Yeah, I know. I'm an idiot," he groused back at her, "I don't get what that has to do with anything."
Her eyes turned hard as she frowned, "You know they've been fighting about you, though, don't you? That's why you're avoiding Freed?"
"What? No." Laxus scoffed, but he was growing even more concerned, "I was avoiding Freed because he's been acting like an ass ever since Gajeel and I came out. He makes digs at him, and... shit, I don't know, I didn't want to yell at him but I was sick of hearing it."
Evergreen gave Mira a pleading look, and Mira cocked a brow at her as if to say I told you so. Ever flicked out her fan, her lips twisting in disgust.
"They've been fighting about you, Laxus," Mira said calmly, "Because Freed has feelings for you that he's having trouble getting over... and Bickslow has feelings for Freed."
He furrowed his brow. He wasn't really surprised. Freed didn't hide how he felt by any means, and ever since he'd asked him for advice, he saw his compliments in a new light. If he and Bix were hooking up, and Bix had feelings for Freed, well, it would make sense why Bickslow had become standoffish towards him. He had just assumed it was to not drag the rest of the Raijinshuu into their drama. What he didn't really understand was how this was his business.
"And you're here telling me this because...?"
"You know how Bickslow is. He doesn't see people like we do," Evergreen jumped in defensively, "He stares at souls all the time. He manipulates them with magic. He doesn't... sometimes, when he's upset... he forgets they're... people. Or he acts like they're not. That's how he is. He's an ass."
"I know how Bix gets," Laxus snarled, "Did he do something to Freed?"
The three girls shared another look, and it made anger strike in Laxus's chest.
"This is getting real old, guys."
"J-Jet still hasn't been back to the guild. I can't find him anywhere." Levy said, "He hasn't been... home. Or with Droy. He's been gone for days and I don't think he'd stay at a hotel for this long."
"So, he's probably couch surfing? Unless he took a mission just to get out of town," Laxus muttered, but when he glanced to Mira she had a doubtful look.
"He hasn't taken a mission," she said, messing with her hair so she didn't have to look at him, "Ever and I got our heads together and I went back to the bar. I was able to convince the owner to tell me if Gajeel was with anyone the night he was kicked out, and he was. Two other guys, a red-haired mage drinking beer, and one with dark hair and wooden dolls. He kicked them all out, and to his knowledge, they left together."
"You think Gajeel is with Bickslow and Jet?"
His heart jumped a little bit. Gajeel might be in Magnolia? Just a handful of blocks away? At Bickslow's house? He suddenly felt excited. He could find him! He could apologize and fix this!
Yet again, the three women shared a look. He didn't understand why they were all so nervous. Why did they think he'd be angry? At Bickslow? For not telling him Gajeel was with him? Maybe it was a little shitty, but if Bickslow was angry with him or even if Gajeel just wasn't ready to see him yet, if they were all avoiding the guild, it wouldn't be crazy. Why were they all so anxious? Why were they here like this at all? Why wasn't it just Mirajane here telling him to go to his friend's house to find his boyfriend? What the hell weren't they saying?
Evergreen fanned herself. Levy was fidgeting with her skirt. Mirajane's magic surged like she was getting ready for a fight. Satan Soul alighted in her eyes, locking him in place with a stern look.
"It's just a hunch, Laxus," Mirajane reiterated, her voice splitting in two as Satan Soul became more commanding, taking over. It was like... like when they used to fight. His magic, too, instinctually surged to match her. "It's unfair Laxus. You didn't do anything wrong, but Bickslow has been angry for a while... with you. We're worried something might have... happened."
Laxus meticulously unclenched his fists. He was so confused. Why was Mira acting this way? Levy cringed back from him slightly. Evergreen peered at him over her fan, her sharp looks twisting into something else, something like guilt. He couldn't see her mouth. It was like she was hiding from him. When their eyes met, he felt like the wind was being swept out of the room.
"You know how Bix gets... when he's upset." she said quietly.
What they were saying suddenly snapped into focus. A stabbing realization rocked him to his core.
Bickslow was vindictive. It was easy to overlook because they'd been friends for so long, but Laxus was very well aware of how he was when he was angry. He'd followed him without a second thought to take over Fairy Tail. In fact, he'd relished the chance, impelling Laxus to continue his tirade, enacting his plan. He had shared the same views he had, looking at mages weaker than him with more than a little disdain. The difference between them was that Laxus had changed his opinion and Bickslow seemed incapable of the same. He had confided in him more than once when they'd been drinking about how it was easy for him to disconnect from people, like flipping a switch. When all you see is shades of color, bodies just become shells to puppet. He had trouble empathizing with people, his magic innately requiring he not care about their free will in order to use them. And he was manipulative. Because people were puppets, because they were intrinsically separate from him in some way, they were easy to equate to his faceless totems. It had been apparent how he viewed Gajeel when they'd taken the mission in Datura together. He'd manipulated Gajeel more than once, belittled his feelings, and made him open wounds just to satisfy his curiosity. He was beneath him, indistinguishable from his dolls.
It made a lot of sense now why Mirajane was calling on Satan Soul, why the girls were nervous, why Evergreen wouldn't look him in the eye. Bickslow had flipped his switch, not just on Gajeel, but on him. He knew Bickslow was capable of a lot of things, but this kind of betrayal knocked the wind from him. It didn't last long, quickly replaced with scarlet fog flooding through every fiber of his being.
"He wouldn't..." Brontide reverberated and shook the house. His voice devolved into a growl. "...He'd better not."
"We don't know anything for sure-!" Mirajane started but he was already heading for the door, halfway to hell and dragging the rest of it with him.
His magic swelled with his rage, static leaping from the air and across his flesh, called by something that ached and rushed wildly like a wounded animal. His skin prickled, a scream for violence sounding out around him in a song of thunder as he took to the street. Lily flew ahead of him, morphing into his larger form to stand in front of him, holding his hands out as if he could stop him. The impulse to knock him out of his way was difficult to restrain. He had to wrestle it down inside of him to stop from lashing out at the Exceed. Maybe he saw the fight in his eyes, because he looked shaken.
"Let's calm down. If you go in looking for a fight-"
"If you don't move," Laxus said, raw stillness in his voice, "I will hit you. And it will hurt."
Lily was shaken. He didn't move from the way, but he didn't reach for Laxus as he stepped around him either. The Exceed's fur stood on end from how his influence spread wide and furious, electricity biting at anything near. Each step he took towards Bickslow's house had red throbbing in his periphery, growing stronger. He was near mindless by the time he got to the steps and stood before the door. The lingering smell of iron stabbed at him, the sharp, scent of Gajeel, stale but there, unmistakable. He didn't know why he knocked. He was sure Bickslow knew he was there long before he made it to the entrance. There was a long pause where Laxus wondered if he wouldn't answer, if maybe he wasn't there, maybe he had to hunt him down.
His eye throbbed as he waited, the silence fragile enough to shatter, and then the door opened lazily. Bickslow didn't look confused to see him, but he wasn't forthright either. His smile was all wrong, dark and a touch insidious. He looked Laxus in the eyes, unabashed, without a hint of regret.
"Well... you seem angry," he laughed and it bit into Laxus's flesh like the teeth of a dog biting back on the hand that fed it, "What's going on?"
"Be honest with me," Laxus said as calmly as he could, "Is Gajeel here?"
"Hm? No. Nah, he left a couple nights ago, actually." He crossed his arms and leaned on the doorframe, nonplussed, as if Laxus wasn't standing there with lightning barely contained behind clenched teeth, "He was pretty torn up, too. Sounds like you guys got into a nasty fight."
"You ain't lyin' to me, are ya, Bix?" Laxus asked, his tone turning acidic.
"Why would I lie?" he said with a shrug and stepped back into his tiny house, "See for yourself. He left in a hurry. Forgot some of his shit."
He retreated back towards the kitchen as Laxus came inside. The place was a wreck. The scent of weed was still overbearing, like maybe Bickslow hadn't opened his windows since he'd smoked. Half-used blunts and empty bottles were on the counter, shot glasses were in the sink. His eyes zeroed in on a pack of cigarettes on the bar and Gajeel's lighter. He stepped deeper into the house, taking in the modest table, tracking the latent smell of Gajeel where he had been nights before. Bickslow's totems whispered and giggled where they were stacked on the floor, silenced by one swift look from the Seith mage.
Jet was on the couch, sprawled out with his arm over his eyes. He stirred at Laxus's approach, suddenly startled out of his doze.
"Oh, hey," he said, a little confused. His eyes flashed to where Bickslow was leaning at the bar and back to Laxus, trying to process the situation, "You, uh... everything ok?"
Laxus didn't respond to him. He took a deep breath, his senses overrun by the smell of smoke, of spilled whiskey, of Jet's sweat and acrid misery. There, below everything, the electroplated pull of iron tugged at him, leading him along. It was in the kitchen, the living room, the hallway that led to the bedroom. Jet scrambled back to stand by the chair as Laxus passed by, cursing when static shocked him as he passed.
"What's going on, guys?" he heard Jet saying as he drifted back towards the bedroom, "Why is he so pissed?"
Laxus stood in doorway to Bickslow's room. He could smell Gajeel and it made his skin buzz. His stomach twisted and he swallowed around lightning that clawed up his throat, filling his mouth with the acerbic taste of battery acid. He was back through the hallway, crossing the living room, knocking Jet out of the way as he grabbed Bickslow and threw him into the wall.
"You fucking bastard..." Laxus seethed.
Bickslow's breath was knocked from him. He spluttered in surprise as he wrested Laxus's hands from his collar, "Hey now...!"
"Is this the game you wanna play, Bix. Really?" Laxus snarled, "I thought we were friends."
"You don't know what happened...!" he hissed back at him. "You weren't here."
"Did you fuck my boyfriend, Bix?" he growled lowly.
"Oh shit..." Jet gasped, rushing to the other side of the room but too scared to pass them to get to the door.
Something hateful sparked in Bickslow's eye, "How could I do that, Laxus? Jet was here, too."
Laxus's gaze didn't move from him. Tendrils of lightning unspooled around him, making Bickslow's hair stand on end. His wild eyes flashed green for just an instant. A threat? Laxus narrowed his eyes at him.
"Tell him, Jet. You see us do anything?"
"I-I mean I don't think so..." he stammered.
"You don't think?" Bickslow snapped, shooting him a nasty glare, "You were here the whole time."
"Ok, no!" Jet fumbled over his words, "I mean... I passed out, so..."
Laxus leaned unbearably close to Bickslow, so close he could feel his breath falling rapidly against his face. He titled his head to the side and took in a deep breath of him. He heard the way he swallowed, could see the pulse of his throat jump. Bickslow smelled like his totems, like wood and the oil he used to treat them. He also smelled like weed, like alcohol, and like someone who had pulled a few too many strings and lost sight of the consequences. The bitter scent of regret, and the twist of metal still clinging to his skin from being close to someone, from touching them, pressing his body to them, intertwining his scent with another that Laxus knew well.
Thunder rumbled low against the building, pressed against it. Jet yelped as the house first shivered and then shook from the concussion of it. The windows rattled in their wooden frames. One of them cracked.
Laxus's eyes flickered back up, staring deeply into maroon. Bickslow's eyelids drooped, and he looked at him through his eyelashes, dropping his front. He knew he was caught. He didn't even pretend to care.
"It was an accident," he said flatly, not meaning a word of it.
"Yeah?" Laxus sneered, "I forgot how easy it was to accidently fuck your best friend's boyfriend."
Bickslow's eye twitched, and a deranged laugh bubbled up from his mouth. He grinned, "I didn't see your name on him."
"My mistake, Bickslow." Laxus's voice twisted into a growl that started deep in his chest. Red spotted his vision, filled his mouth with the taste of copper, "Next time, I'll be sure to brand it into his fucking chest just for you. If that's what it takes to make sure don't touch what belongs to me, fine. He's a fucking freak, anyway, he'd probably enjoy it."
Bickslow's grin vanished. The malice that had been there rapidly dissipating, turning into alarm, "What the fuck Laxus..."
"Or maybe, I have a better idea, Bix," the red spots kept expanding until he couldn't see any other color anymore, just red, just Bickslow in his crosshairs, "Why don't I fry off your fucking hands instead?"
Lightning struck in the tiny home, lightning that was concentrated, that Laxus pushed into the hands that held Bickslow at his throat. He didn't hear Bix scream. All he heard was the pounding of his blood behind his ears and the thrum of his magic filling the atmosphere with rage. When thunder erupted, the Seith mage was no longer in front of him. His body was smashing against the ground, rolling against the brick streets. He cried out when he came to a stop, dazed for a second before he attempted to climb to his feet. Laxus stepped through the ruined wall of the house, electricity sizzling around him.
"Get the fuck up Bix." he said, flexing his hands, his influence. His eye throbbed in its socket, "I ain't through with you yet."
"Laxus!" Mira gasped.
"Stay out of this one, Mirajane." he warned.
"Babies!" Bickslow called.
Laxus felt one of them ram into his side, rocking him where he stood. He dodged out of the way of another, and another he caught in his hand. He clenched his fist, searing lightning into the wood, filling the imperfections of it with light before it caught fire rapidly and exploded in his grasp, sending slinters flying. The four that made it past him hovered over Bickslow's shoulders and he gaped, realizing now how serious Laxus was. Laxus, who was losing more and more of his sanity by the second, looked daggers into one of his best friends... his best friend who had touched what was his.
"Did you think I was stupid?" he asked, stepping towards him with power and purpose. "Or did you just think I wouldn't find out?"
His magic hummed, swelling larger, twisting the air into with a wicked wind. He rolled his shoulders, letting his power loose, slowly releasing his practiced grip. Like an anchor dropped in the ocean, it picked up speed as it fell from his grasp. Yellow flashes of light struck around him, growing more and more wild as he lost his temper. His stomach rolled. He flexed his fingers, itching to send lightning straight into Bickslow's chest and make him hurt just as much as he was now.
"You weren't there!" Bickslow yelled at him, recoiling a step, "How do you know he didn't come on to me?"
Laxus's eye throbbed. Livid darkness made his chest feel like he'd just breathed in the embers of a campfire. He was burning from the inside out, his stomach writhing. Thunder stampeded in the street between them, shaking every house within miles.
"You better watch what you say to me."
"Maybe he was upset you called him a murderer and he came to me?" Bickslow said, a wicked sneer touching his face, "You know how he is when he's depressed. All he wants to do is self-destruct. What's it matter that I helped a little?"
"You knew he was hurting and you used him?!"
"What if I didn't? What if he used me? Ever think of that?" Bickslow jeered at him, crossing his arms and tossing back his head haughtily, parading his conceit and derision proudly, "He told me he wanted to black out, to get fucked up. I gave him what he asked for. Besides, he told me you weren't together. How was I supposed to know any different?"
That last one was a gut punch and Laxus responded with malice. Bickslow dodged just as lightning would have hit him.
"He wouldn't..." Laxus breathed, "...it was a fight. We didn't break up."
"That's not what he said." Bickslow huffed, readying himself to dodge again.
"That's not what happened, Bix, and you know it!" Freed's voice cut between them.
Laxus snapped his attention to him. His arms were raised, shielding his eyes from the wind that whipped past him. Mirajane was beside him, barely holding her own. Lily was wrapping his arms protectively around Levy, Jet beside them both. His eyes were wide as he prepared to bolt at a moment's notice.
"How the fuck would you know?" Bickslow challenged, his glare an accusation.
"Because I ran into Gajeel outside your house!" Freed screamed at him, "He told me what happened."
"What did he say?" Laxus demanded.
"He said he didn't know what was going on... he blacked out..." Freed hesitated, his eyes dashing to Bickslow and back to Laxus, "It wasn't... it was a mistake."
"Don't you fucking lie to me too."
Lightning snapped around his fists. The storm around them kicked up a notch, howling as reason and restraint became more and more foreign to him. He had a way to figure it out, didn't he? If he couldn't trust Bickslow, if he couldn't trust Freed, he had a way he could drag out the truth. He was so fucking good at dragging out the truth now.
Without a second thought, lightning consumed him. He flashed to Bickslow's side, snatched a hold of his wrist before he could try to get away. Electricity slithered up his arms as he dragged him close. Maroon eyes flooded with terror when Laxus let the full pressure of his magic fall on him. The street beneath their feet fractured, stone giving way and shattering. Wind screamed around them, dragging away the air they breathed. Laxus bared his sharper teeth as he stood and Bickslow crumbled. His knees buckled beneath the weight of a tempest, and Laxus grabbed a fistful of his hair, holding him still.
"Don't struggle, Bix," Laxus said, his tone chilling and calm, "Or I'll fry your fucking brainstem."
His field snapped to life around them, not some weak radiance only he could see, but pulled into reality, crackling and shaking with his ire. He heard Bickslow cry out as he dug into his spine, dragging out the bleary memory of that night and bearing witness to what he had done. The stomach-turning stench of vomit, how Gajeel had stumbled into him, too inebriated to keep himself up any longer. Dragging him to the bed. Being enraged when he'd kept telling him to stop... only stopping because Gajeel threatened to hit him, because he remembered the pain of the last time he'd felt his iron fist.
The present snapped back painfully and Bickslow clung to his hand, his eyes unfocussed and jaw slack as he tried to understand what Laxus had just done to him. Laxus curled his fingers around his throat and dragged him to his feet before he could recover. He couldn't see through the red of his anger, of his swelling wrath that made his blood boil. Lightning slithered from his mouth as his magic expanded past well-traversed limits. His grip on his control was slipping. Thunder rocked Magnolia and Bickslow shivered in fear and confusion.
"Not only did you touch something that doesn't belong to you... but you did it even when he told you to stop?" black hate scorched his chest. It felt like his ribcage was burning.
"You don't own him, Laxus," Bickslow gritted out.
Hearing that, Laxus didn't know why, but pins and needles rushed across his skin. His eye throbbed harder, sending pain searing through his face. He bared his teeth. His voice was level, pragmatic, and he spoke the truth straight into the atoms shivering around Bickslow's form. The Seith mage's face colored with terror.
"I think I'm gonna kill ya, Bix."
Magic moved back with him as he drew up his fist and rocketed forward when he punched him in the chest, sending him tumbling with a spiral of lightning. The power of it sent him wheeling until he struck a tree, the searing energy only leaving his body once he was back on the ground. Bickslow groaned, but snapped up his hand anyway. His remaining totems sailed at Laxus, but they could hardly make contact. He ducked them like they were flies, summoned lightning into his fist and smashed another one to pieces. The connection parted the red in his veins like a dropped stone in a puddle, and then it flooded back again.
He felt magic brushing against his own and looked back to where Bickslow had been. He had moved, balancing amidst the branches of a tree. Laxus knew what he was doing, hiding himself within something much larger in the hopes it would attract his lightning. The ploy was laughable. He blinked and a massive lightning strike fell from the cloudless sky, shearing the ancient tree in half and scorching a hollow through it. It sparked, dry leaves immediately fueling a fire that spread wickedly through the brittle branches. It lit up like a tinderbox, and Bickslow was forced to drop to the ground.
Laxus went for him, his body consumed with lightning. He pulled it straight from the air, from his soul, manifesting a spear in his hands and rearing back. Bickslow threw up his arms as he launched it and his totems responded, taking the brunt of the attack but still sending him reeling back a step, off balance. That was where Laxus wanted him, always falling backward, because Bickslow always did have good balance and could dodge him if it came to it. Laxus didn't allow him to recover, striking him with a knee to the stomach. He knocked him back into the burning tree, snagged one of his giggling dolls and smashed it into the bark until it caught fire and burned screaming.
Bix was already running out of options. Laxus feinted back, positioned himself between him and his house, not allowing him the chance to find replacements to his dolls. Down to just two left and unable to reach anything else to possess, soon he'd be completely defenseless aside from bare fists. Up against Laxus, it was a death sentence.
The thunder dragon raged, power swelling, and the skies responded to his call. Raining strike after strike of lightning as he stood there in the street, not having to move an inch even though he was chasing Bickslow. A bolt struck the Seith mage, damning him with one hit. His muscles seized. He threw his head back and screamed, unable to escape the blow. When it ended, he didn't even have time to take a breath before Laxus struck him again, and again. Raging, raging. The sound of Bickslow in pain made his skin writhe but he still craved more of it.
"Laxus! Stop it!" Mirajane screamed, "That's enough!"
"Stay out of it, Mirajane." Laxus said, his tone flat and cold as a razorblade.
"You're going too far!" Evergreen yelled at him.
But Laxus wasn't stopping. He had no desire to. His eye was throbbing and he was pulling magic up from the deepest parts of himself, relishing how it felt to let go, to succumb to the song of violence playing brutal tones inside of him. He was an instrument of savagery never allowed to be used to proficiency.
He was a thunder dragon and this bastard had tasted what was only his to claim.
He should pay, he would pay, and Laxus wouldn't stop until he begged or worse.
Until he couldn't.
Bickslow fell down shaking. He was on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. His body was scorched. Laxus could smell burning hair and it made him heady. He wanted more.
"Get up Bix." Thunder cracked overhead, echoing in the distance, "I'm not finished with you yet."
"Please, Laxus," Freed stood in his way, his stance wide. He was holding his hands up, pleading for him to stop. Laxus didn't care. In fact, it pissed him off he'd come to Bickslow's defense, "He's had enough. You're hurting him."
"That's the fucking point," Laxus snapped. His lip curled. His fists sparked with electricity, "Get out of my way."
"No! It's enough, Laxus," Freed implored, not budging, "I know you're angry but please..."
"If you're standing in my way, you're against me." Laxus said and Freed fell into silence, dismay written across his face. "Last warning. Move."
"See reason," Freed begged him, "you're going to kill him."
"He deserves it." Laxus said with lurid determination.
Before Freed could blink, he called down a strike from the heavens. It ricocheted from him, a splinter of it firing off the metal of his sword and burying into the ground. It was at that point Evergreen got involved, whizzing by him on glittering wings. A distraction, and one he didn't take lightly. He dodged beneath her, rolling his shoulder back, flexing his power. The stilting pull, the manic energy; the livid burning inside of him flared. He couldn't think past the desire for violence. For retribution.
He would lay low anyone in his way to claim what he deserved.
A rain of glittering bullets peppered down on him from above and he rushed it, slipping beneath it. His body turned into raw power and they sifted through him harmlessly, not able to damage him when he moved faster than the speed of light. He arrived past her, but found Mirajane before him now, her form fractured and replaced by a demon. The wicked curl of her lips he knew intimately. She reached towards him, her claws curling at him. She didn't hesitate like the others.
A black magic circle opened up below him and tendrils of darkness burst forth. It abraded his flesh, feeling like the licking tongues of flames up his body. He shielded his face and called his own whirling magic. The long, slithering coils of electricity whisked around him, dashing through the darkness and rending it where they touched. He was stronger than she was, immensely so. His energy dipped and churned around him, encapsulating him in a protective sphere. When her darkness broke around him, he sent his power spiraling out from him. The pulse of lightning tore across the ground, flashing out in a rapid wave of heat. It knocked Evergreen from the sky, sent Freed tumbling. Only Mirajane withstood it, flaring out her wings to keep from being buffeted backwards.
Her grin was malicious. She charged him, an orb of unending darkness in her hands. He hadn't had time to brace for it, and so her Evil Explosion hit him hard. The cold blackness felt like fire against his skin, the concussion of the resounding blast knocked him back but not off his feet. He leaned on the balls of his feet, keeping his balance, eyes tracking her movement as she circled overhead. Black holes consumed her hands when she twisted in the air, gaining speed as she swooped down on him. He met her in kind, catching her fists with his hands. Lightning scattered around them, power oozing from him, whisking the breath from her lungs as he sent hundreds of millions of volts into her. Her lips pulled back in a grimace as she took it, refusing to flinch from him, trying to endure everything that was raw and everything that was him.
She smiled. It was licentious, seductive, and cruel.
"Are you angry, Laxus?" she sighed and it made his stomach swoop. His skin hummed, shivers threatening to break out across his body as she leaned close to him. "We always had the best fights, didn't we?"
His eye throbbed. He felt too hot. His response was breathless and he leaned into her, pushing her down with power he rarely unleashed.
"Can you handle me, Mira?" his voice thick and low, "How much me do you think can you take?"
He whipped back his fist and struck her across the face. She returned it but he swept his other hand back, knocking her fist wide. He flashed his palm into her chest. She fell back from him. Before she could gather her magic he'd already folded his fingers together, raising them above his head and shoring up magic from deep within his soul. He slammed his fists into the ground and the shockwave devastated all of them. Even Levy and Lily were scattered, knocked to the ground alongside Jet. Thunder rolled. It felt like it would annihilate the entirety of Earthland. It was exhilarating, addictive. He was unstoppable. He stood amidst his decimated comrades, tendrils of lightning singing around him.
Freed drew his sword, was before him in an instant. Laxus ducked a slash that would have sliced his throat. He stepped back, avoiding a precision strike that would have shorn him across his middle. Freed was quick but he was lightning, faster than the blink of an eye. He grabbed Freed's wrist, stopping the blade before it could come down again. His eyes blew wide with dreadful astonishment. His iris bloomed with black magic as he called upon his Dark Écriture. He snapped his fingers forward, writing a rune just as Laxus called down his thunder. Reflect.
He should have known better, or maybe he wasn't really trying to hurt him. The lightning that fell backfired on Laxus, but he couldn't be harmed by his own magic. It fueled his next attack, doubling it over. He gathered lightning in his fist, called it spiraling down around them and struck the ground. White light flooded the area as it spiderwebbed around him, destroying everything in its path. He pushed his pure, undivided vengeance into the strike. The ground cratered beneath them. Freed's sword turned red, then white, and then shattered like glass, the hilt falling from his hand as he was sent sprawling to the ground. Freed cried out, clutching his sword hand which was now scalded red from metallic burns.
Arms slipped up from behind him. Black hands tried to wrestle him still but Laxus threw his head backwards, knocking into Lily's nose. He tasted the sweet scent of blood in the air and for some reason his eyes rolled back in his skull. His spine shivered and he was lost, acting purely on impulse. He twisted his arms back, gripped the scruff of Lily's neck and dragged him over his shoulders, tossing him into Evergreen just as she had begun to recover and stagger to her feet.
Levy stepped in front of him, pen poised in the air as she frantically wrote. Her dress ripped back from her thighs as he charged his attack, but just as he was about to snap his hand forward, movement caught his attention. Blazing green eyes locked with his and he froze. Realization that he was staring directly into Bickslow's eyes made his heart begin to hammer with red haze and he remembered why he had started this fight in the first place. The burning fingers of his wrath stung deep into his chest as he was forced to remain still, a feeling like metal wires rooting him and making him clench his fists. But he had stood up against a god. What was Bickslow but a pathetic excuse for a man?
A man that had taken something that hadn't belonged to him.
Levy was writing long copper poles into existence, surrounding him with them. She was such a smart woman, but she underestimated his control. He could force his lightning along any path he chose, even if he couldn't move. Bickslow, never looking away, became more and more terrified as he desperately tried to keep him immobile, but Laxus was far past rationality. It was instinct, and Bickslow couldn't control that which was so intrinsic to him and only him. He leaned into their connection, though, unleashing every terrible emotion tearing his heart apart, plucking those metal strings like they were an instrument to play and taking joy in the way Bickslow flinched back from him.
Were you trying to punish me, Bickslow, because Freed was obsessed with me? Did it work? Was it worth it? Let me get my hands on you, Bix, and you'll feel everything you've done as viscerally as your guts spilling onto the ground.
Laxus was changing. Despite being kept a statue in the street, his power and influence was blooming. The sky flashed with color, yellow and blistering white. Thunder fell on them like a mudslide, shaking the world. The ground beneath their feet quaked and static charged the air. Levy's copper poles sparked from it, galvanized by the pure energy emanating around Laxus, trying to steal it away and ground it. One by one they were overpowered, warped and melted and useless from more voltage than metal was ever meant to contain. Even a lightning rod will fail after its hit one too many times. The next roar of thunder had them all flinching towards the ground, scared of what the skies were gearing up to let loose.
Laxus's ears were ringing. He couldn't hear past it. The weight of his magic was fracturing his bones. His gaze zeroed into Bickslow and the world fell away from him. His hands were burning. Something bitter began to slip down his throat, viscous and sour. He felt like he was going to choke. His eye was throbbing, sending stabbing pain into his skull. When the thunder shivered the air, it sounded like the roar of a dragon.
A piece of him he kept carefully in place,
ties meticulously kept tight, started to loosen and unravel.
Something in him was breaking.
He couldn't control it.
He couldn't control it.
"We need Erza!" Levy screamed over the building tempest, "Jet! Run!"
He obeyed without question, there one second and gone the next.
The wind howled and it sounded like a beast was screaming. He stared into Bickslow as the color drained from his face. He shook where he sat on the ground. There was so much magical pressure that Evergreen folded, unable to keep herself standing any longer. Freed couldn't pull himself to his feet. Lily was holding up Levy, barely standing and struggling. Mira's face was cracking, the proof of her weakness striking down her throat. The demon was struggling to stay strong in the face of Laxus's sweltering ire, growing impossibly stronger, bending reality.
Bickslow's hold was slipping.
"Don't let me go, Bickslow..." he growled and brontide rumbled, growing loud, blanketing them all, "...or I'll kill you."
"I'm sorry..." Bickslow whispered, "I'm sorry!"
"How you going to fix it, Bix? You got your fucking fingerprints on him, you can't take them off now."
"I just... I was angry!" he said, his hands raising up weakly like they could help hold him back. "I'm sorry!"
"We were friends, Bix! I trusted you!" Laxus roared. His marrow was full of thunder and it shook with rage, "What the fuck did I ever do to you?!"
"Nothing..." he whimpered.
"Nothing?! You touched him over nothing?!"
Lightning struck the ground in front of Laxus.
"Fine! Fine!" he flinched back from him, "You were there! You were the one I couldn't stack up to!"
"When did I ever ask for that?!" Laxus demanded, "What did I do to make you fucking hate me?!"
"Nothing!" he cried, his voice spinning into the high pitches of a violin, "I don't hate you!"
"Then why did you hurt me?"
The green in Bickslow's eyes flickered as his hold became ever weaker. His eyes were watering and he was trying to hold the tears in, desperate not to blink. His totems swirled over his head, taking up a defensive position.
"He's mine, Bickslow. And you tried to take him from me."
Bickslow shivered, "You don't sound like you, Laxus."
"You're slipping Bix..." Laxus growled, his voice rolling with thunder. Heat lightning flashed, strobing the sky. "Don't. Blink."
He didn't have to. Laxus crashed through the ties that bound him, his rage more than Bickslow could keep trapped down even with his Figure Eyes. Lightning became his body. He hurtled towards Bickslow, the savage detonation of his power shattering the last of the totems. He had Bickslow by the throat and slammed him against the blazing tree. Fire bit into the body in his grasp and Laxus sent tendrils of electricity spanning out around them, a protective orb, a threat to anyone who tried to get close. Bickslow tried to struggle free as his clothes caught fire.
"Laxus stop!" he pleaded, "Please! I'm sorry!"
"Were you going to stop?" Laxus asked, a chilling stillness in his tone as Bickslow struggled, "Or were you going to keep going?"
Something in the atmosphere shifted. It was a little thing. Storm adjacent. But it wasn't Laxus. It was different, kicking up a cold wind in its wake. He turned his eyes upwards towards the skies. Lightning knifed through tumultuous clouds that hadn't been there just moments before.
"Drip, drip, drop."
The light of the day was snuffed out by storm clouds, sending the world spiraling into darkness only lifted by angry streaks of lightning. The sky opened, a downpour dropping on them all out of nowhere. The flames licking up Bickslow's back died, hissing as the rain put them out. Laxus dragged his eyes to the figure that stood on the sidewalk, her pink umbrella in hand.
"You don't know what you're doing, Juvia," he snarled.
"Laxus is unwell," she said frigidly, her vacant blue eyes digging blades of ice into his veins and bringing with it the cold that only water carries, "He needs to stop now. He will regret this later."
"Mind your own business," he warned, flexing his power. She didn't move, only continued to watch him from the shadow of her meager shelter.
"Juvia's body is water," she said quietly.
Laxus's lips twisted, an insidious smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "And mine is lightning."
"Juvia's body is water. Juvia's body is water..." she whispered again, steadying herself. She set her jaw, squared her shoulders, "Laxus is going to put Bickslow down. Now."
"Fuck off," he snarled.
Her eyes turned hard. She spread her feet apart, readying to fight, "Bickslow... belongs to Juvia."
A shock raced up his spine. A feeling like gooseflesh started from the base of his spine and fuzzied his edges, spreading out to all of his extremities, settling in the base of his skull. For an awful moment he didn't feel real, just a bundle of nerves buzzing with energy, trembling with power that continued to build. He choked on a breath. He gripped Bickslow tighter. The bitter taste in his mouth returned. He ran his tongue against his teeth, felt a new sharpness, and tasted blood.
"Oh shit..." Bickslow whispered under his breath. The scent of his terror made Laxus dizzy. "Oh, fuck. Shit."
"Why the fuck would you say that?" Laxus demanded of the rain woman. "Are you... challenging me? Me?!"
"Laxus is unwell," she said again, "Juvia will stop him if she has to."
Without taking a step towards her, he dragged his magic to his call. It simmered through his veins, scalding him from the inside out. Large arches of his magic fled from him, striking the tree and the ground around him. Thunder rolled in his stomach. He felt like he was losing his mind.
"You want him?" Laxus chuckled darkly, "Take him from me."
She outstretched her hand and the saturated air around them heeded her call. The puddles at his feet sprung to life, slipping swiftly up his legs and wrenching him from his feet. He was suddenly weightless as water coalesced around him. Instinctively, he sucked in a breath as the chilling water took the place of his air, suspending him above the ground in a bubble of her Water Lock. He twisted but wasn't able to reach the edge of it. It moved with him, not allowing him to escape. He wasn't flustered, though. He had taken in air, after all. The thunder in his stomach churned in his gut, effervescing up his throat as he glared over at her. Tendrilled lightning shivered from his mouth as he let loose a roar. It blasted through Juvia's trap and overtook her in an instant, destroying everything in its wake. Overkill maybe, but he didn't care. He fell to the ground, gasping a breath, and scattered his atoms into pure energy.
He slammed a charged fist where he knew her body should be but she had vanished, sinking into the water beneath her. In the next instant, she was across the street, raising her hand towards him once again. Spiraling blades of water rose from the ground, mercilessly slicing into him as he tried to dodge back from her. The humid atmosphere dampened his thunder, made his magic harder to control. He'd always fucking hated the rain. Now, he hated her. He rushed her as a torrent of rain swirled around her, whipping into a cyclone. Laxus drew up his strength, meeting her with a spear of lightning he pulled straight from the sky. The stilting rampage of it corkscrewed through the wall of her attack, shattering it as it crashed into her and sent her into the house behind her.
Mirajane was before him again, striking him in the chest with black demonic magic. She was Halphas, cerulean and cruel. He was swimming in darkness, gritted his teeth as it scorched up his arms. A double helix of water broke though it, battering him with concentrated waves, trying to keep him pinned down. His chest heaved and the atmosphere charged. His vision swam with dry red, the color of cold blood, the fire of a furnace, the slaughter. He raised his palms. Lightning from the heavens responded to his cry for violence, forming the beautiful and unstoppable shape of a halberd. The convulsive concussion of pealing thunder. Both women were dashed like blanketing waves to the rocks. He saw in his periphery the twinkle of magical runes jumping to life. He seared through Jutsu Shiki, through Script Magic. Nothing could withstand him. Nothing could withstand him.
He was angry. He couldn't think. Another piece of him was coming undone. Armor he used to keep himself in, to trap the magic that raged constantly inside of him, met its breaking point. His magic was tainted with red, as if with light spun straight from the gates of hell, and the world was falling away from him. He struck out at anything that made a move towards him, deaf to screams. The red, it was the red. He hated the red that bled into everything.
The heaving madness of it.
The terrible heights.
He was falling, f f fa lli ng
Ii nsi ide t t he e
Mm madness s s of s scarlet tt
Broken rubies shattered like glass
M MMore ee e e .. - - '',
''- - ;' .,.. .h he wa aante d d d ..,. '; - -''
' , - .. , M MMore ee e e
Thunder. Lightning.
What more powerful and terrible element was there than lightning?
He knew what this was.
He'd felt this before.
Control slipping.
Magic raged and crashed around him.
It took his breath away.
He felt it gathering in his chest. Thunder was gathering in his chest, transmutating into something more. It unfurled like wings around him as he lost his grip on reality.
He knew this. He'd done this before.
Not again.
…S s sscreaming gg g…
…He c c could he a sscreaming gg g…
''- - ;' .,.. .NN ot tt a gai n nn n ..,. '; - -''
- - ;' .,.. .NN ot tt a gai n nn n ..,. '; - -''
N
O
T
A
G
A
I
N
!
His lightning arched away from him against his will. He didn't understand why. Again, it was dragged from him again, escaping into something it was drawn to more than his call. He felt an impact near him and his magic snapped towards it. Through the haze he saw a silver flash. Silver and black. It swept through the air, disappearing as his power arched up and away. Grounded, he was being grounded. His eyes focused on the blur of motion as something rose up from the shattered street around him. His mind couldn't process what it was, just the color. The shimmering, silvery color. Another pillar fell in front of him, larger than the rest, and a figure dropped onto it, balanced atop like a raven perched on the steeple of a church. Red eyes reflected a flash of lightning. All the devastating fire in Laxus's chest flared, burning him alive. His gaze rolled upwards. A shiver fierce and painful almost made him double over.
"Hey Sparky..." Gajeel said, crouching down on the iron pillar he stood on. The tangled mess of his midnight hair fell over his shoulder. His piercings caught the light of magic Laxus held between his teeth. His heart seized in his chest, "...you uh... got a minute to talk?"
Author's Notes:
*shocked pikachu face* :o
This is the last of the "breakup" chapters, I promise :')
Mira to Laxus: oh our fights were great
Laxus to Mira: oh yeah I didn't have to worry about hurting you because we were so equally matched
Mira: *is taken out in like two hits*
Me, the author: ah yes, equally matched. Definitely equally matched.
Laxus, rampaging:
Juvia, rolling up her sleeves: You know what this needs? Water.
Makarov sitting in his office, feeling the building shake from Thunder: I should call my insurance agent.