The surprise event of that day was called Naval Battle, where the contestants would fight inside a giant aquatic dome-like sphere. That was good news for Team Fairy Tail B, since they had Juvia, who was basically unbeatable on water. However, they all got surprised when Juvia ended up being easily casted out of the sphere, even if she earned them the third place and six points. That was a disappointing moment...

But the hardest part to watch came when Lucy and Minerva from Sabertooth were the only ones left inside the aquatic sphere, where the former was viciously attacked by the latter. Seeing Lucy being attacked without mercy... even after she admitted defeat, made Laxus experiment a tremendous anger. That anger was nothing like the one he used to feel when he was still obsessed in taking over the guild. It was more like when he went to confront Hades at Tenrou Island... A rage that filled him with the desire to punish those who hurt the ones he cared about. All the muscles of his body were telling him to do something to stop that. The only thing that prevented that from happening was his brain, the only part of him to be reasonable at that time. After all, the rules prevented any other member of the team from participating or intervene on the event.

Laxus didn't even know how he was able to contain that much anger so well, especially because he was already upset for what had happened before with his grandfather. After Minerva finally let Lucy go, dropping her out of the water sphere in such a bad shape, all Laxus wanted was to give those bastards of Sabertooth a taste of his lightning, to make them scream with an agony even bigger than the one that was inflicted on Lucy. Fortunately, much like Erza, Laxus didn't give in to the anger, as he knew that would give a lot of troubles to their guild.

It was a relief when he saw later on that Lucy was okay. Thanks to Wendy and Sheria, who quickly intervened with first-aid care, she was in a much better shape, even if she would be unable to participate on the rest of the games. But that didn't satisfy Laxus' anger. Even if Lucy would be okay, the sight of her with those bandages and holding her keys as if she was afraid they would be taken from her made him to react to all that.

After his grandfather declared the unification of the two teams, Laxus excused himself and got out of the room. He walked around the arena until he spotted them: the Sabertooth team. Seeing them acting as if nothing had happened... as if one of them didn't just brutalize one of his guildmates in such cruel way... Worse, they knew about it and yet acted as if it was the most normal thing in the world. All that made him get so angry... Sparks of lightning came out of his closed fist. He could feel the desire to confront them building up... until he heard someone saying:

"I hope you're not thinking in doing what I think you want to do."

Laxus turned and saw his grandfather. He was so focused on his anger and frustration that he didn't even notice his approach.

"I don't know what you're talking about, old man."

"You know very well what I am talking about" Makarov replied, using his . "I have to confess I expected such behavior from Natsu. But from you? That is quite surprising. Don't tell me this is all about earlier."

When his grandfather mentioned the talk they had before, Laxus could feel his frustration increasing even more, but, with that added frustration being different than the one he was feeling towards Sabertooth, he could feel himself more in control of his anger. Taking a deep breath, he just started to move away, saying while passing by his grandfather:

"As if I would let something like that guide my actions..."

Makarov observed his grandson, wondering what may had caused him to act that way.

Later on, after Lucy was imprisoned, together with Yukino, the guild came together to figure out a way to free her. Even if they were told that winning the Grand Magic Games could secure her safe return, Makarov knew any better than to rely on just one option, so he put together an alternative plan, by organizing a small group to infiltrate the castle and rescue Lucy and Yukino, while everyone was distracted with the final day of the games.

As the teams had been decided, with Natsu leaving the Fairy Tail team to go rescue Lucy and Juvia taking his place, Makarov noticed his grandson had gone to sit at some distance from the others. Approaching him, he sat next to him.

"You're still upset, I see... Is that about the talk I had with your father?"

"Having in consideration you were talking about my mother, I think making that question is pointless" Laxus replied.

Sighing, Makarov said:

"I understand... You have every right to hold that against me."

There was a pause and then Laxus asked:

"That man was responsible for my mother's disappearance, right? And then invented that story she betrayed the guild?"

Makarov nodded with his head.

"And you knew about it and still let him stay at the guild..." Laxus said.

"I didn't have how to counter Ivan's story" Makarov replied. "For more unconvincing it was and the fact most of the guild didn't believe him, he had fabricated enough evidence to keep his story steady. But the main reason why I kept him around... was you. I feared what could have happened if I kicked him out of the guild and he had taken you away with him. The fact he placed the Dragon Lacrima in you not long after only solidified my fears."

"Yeah... that deadbeat does have a knack to always find a way to get what he wants" Laxus sighed. "Most of the times, that is... But I can't help but feeling you know more about my mother than you are telling me, gramps."

"Trust me, my boy, somethings are better stay in secret until the time is right for them to come to the light" Makarov told.

"To me that is just an excuse for you to not have to tell me what really happened" Laxus replied. "What can only mean that it was something huge. Well... it's not like I can take anything from you when you are dedicated to keep it a secret."

Hearing that and noticing the look on Laxus, Makarov concluded that his grandson seemed to have overcome that issue between them. However, besides that, it seemed there was another thing distracting him.

"Is something else in your mind, Laxus?" Makarov asked.

Sighing, Laxus replied:

"It's this all thing with Lucy... Gramps, don't you think I should go on the rescue team? With me, it is certain that we rescue her."

"I see..." Makarov said, now connecting all the dots. "So that's why you acted the way you did before. I didn't know you had an interest in Lucy."

"What?!" Laxus exclaimed, while reacting with a blush. "I'm not interested in her!"

That only caused Makarov to chuckle, amused by his grandson's reaction. He was aware of the way Laxus used to be with women, something that was a subproduct of his obsession with strength and power. So it was good to finally see him to have a real romantic interest in someone... especially a very nice girl like Lucy.

"There's no shame in feeling interest on someone, Laxus" Makarov said. "As long your intentions are pure, it is only natural to feel it. And even more natural to go with the flow, if you feel like it."

But Laxus remained silenced, while also dodging his look from his grandfather's. The truth was that he was still trying to figure out what he really felt about Lucy. There was no denying Lucy meant a lot to him, she was important... very important to him. And, whenever she was close by, she made him feel good... very good. And, at the same time, her presence made him feel strange, as if she could make him lose control of himself... in a good way. But could it be all those feelings he was having for her were really romantic? Or was it just his physical attraction towards her, something that he twisted when he was still his old self?

And he also didn't know how she felt about him. Even if they were now friends, Laxus couldn't forget the way he initially treated her... especially his attitude towards her when Phantom Lord attacked or what happened between them at Akane Beach. All those were more than enough to make a girl (even one as kind and forgiving as Lucy) to not want anything to do with him. And there was also Natsu, since he didn't know the extent of their relationship, even if they appeared to be just friends and teammates.

Makarov noticed the turmoil that was happening in his grandson's mind regarding his feelings for Lucy, so he decided to dodge the subject.

"But answering to what you said... I have no doubt that you would most likely be more effective in rescuing Lucy" he said. "But put you in the rescue team would simply be very unviable. We can't forget that we still have a chance to get her back in a more official way by winning the games. That's the all point of this strategy. While one team tries to rescue Lucy..."

"The other serves as a distraction, while also working on the way to accomplish the mission and, at the same time, recover Fairy Tail's former glory" Laxus completed. "Yeah, yeah, I already got that part..."

"Yes, and for the Fairy Tail team to succeed, it is going to need all of its aces and you, my boy, are likely our biggest ace" Makarov said. "That's why I need you to stay right where you are now. But Natsu is a different story. Not only he is fully determined, but he also has the perfect excuse to miss the games. His magic was drained because of the Eclipse and, even if he has already recovered, the Minister of Defense will still think he has not, so he won't suspect a thing."

"Sometimes I hate when you're right, old man..." Laxus sighed, supporting his head with his hand.

"Don't worry, my boy, just have faith that everything will work out" Makarov said. "Just do your part and trust that Natsu and the others will do theirs. When you least expect, we will get back the member of our family that was taken from us."

Despite still feeling uneasy with all that, Laxus knew that his grandfather was right. That was the best course of action having in consideration the situation. Even if he found Natsu to be too much confident on his skills and also very annoying, he knew that he would do whatever it would take to get Lucy back. Meanwhile, he and the others would give their all to win the games... both to save Lucy and to recover Fairy Tail's full glory.

AU: In my original plans for this story, I wanted to rate it as "mature", since I had in mind more explicit scenes. However, I started to have second thoughts about it. Combine that with how my views would be low if I went ahead with the original rating, I decided to rate this story as "teen". But, as I wrote the story, I had decided to follow my original plans, but adapt it to the "teen" rating, even if I got unsure if I should change it back to mature or not... That is until I signed up on AO3. There, I was able to give this story a "mature" rating. So I have decided that, on the chapters with an explicit content, I would leave the full version on AO3, while censoring it here on FanFiction and let the readers decide if I should change the rating or not.