The decision to go to the newly minted Grand Magic Games – a competition that had arisen to fill the gap in the public's entertainment that Fairy Tail's absence left – had been a fairly easy one for the newly returned guild members.
They wanted to announce their return in the typical Fairy Tail fashion: as loudly and flashily as possible. They were going to make a statement with it – "Fairy Tail is back, and we're going to take revenge for what was done to the guild in our absence."
According to the downtrodden, non-Tenrou members of the guild, Fairy Tail's reputation for chaos had finally been killed during their seven-year nap. The guild's new reputation was that they were small, weak. It was everything that Laxus had loathed before putting the guild through that foolish fighting festival, and it made his blood boil just as much now as it had then.
It was different this time, though.
Before the parade and his banishment, Laxus cared a great deal for reputation and fame; he wanted to be known far and wide as himself, and he wanted to finally distance himself from his grandfather while holding onto the guild that he secretly loved. If he could simply remove Makarov, he'd have achieved both of his goals. His name wouldn't be linked to his grandfather's and he could hold Fairy Tail within his grasp.
Now, though, it was the opposite. Their reputation had been dragged through the mud, the guild labeled "weak," and yet he found that wasn't what he was most hung up over.
What bothered him the most was that the people within the guild had been labeled weak, and his reasoning wasn't because the people themselves were weak. Even if they were, Laxus had realized that strength wasn't the most important part of the guild: it was the people.
Because the guild had been considered weak, people who thought the same way that Laxus had decided to come in and trample all over the guild. Jobs dwindled, unexpected "accidents" occurred often enough that they became expected, and they'd almost lost the guild hall entirely in a ploy by Magnolia's newest guild, Twilight Ogre – which had been apparently been singlehandedly halted by Mercury having taken on the guildmaster, and then getting jumped by the rest of the guild.
After that, they managed to hold down the fort with Mercury's "emergency" bank account.
Macao had hated using it after the water mage's disappearance, but couldn't find a good reason to deny the funds of their use. Mercury, as well as their missing members, needed a guild to come back to, after all. Where would they return to if not their ancestral guild hall?
Now, however, the mantle of guildmaster was back in Master Makarov's hands – the one true owner of the title, apparently, as he'd immediately passed it on to Guilarts, who'd then announced that he was leaving again, reinstated Laxus as a member, and then passed the title back to Makarov, who was to be the third, fifth, and seventh Master of the Fairy Tail guild.
Everyone agreed it was his title, though, so nothing more was to be done about it.
Some part of Laxus was relieved that Mercury's absence did not go unnoticed by the guild. It was clear that despite what the water mage would have led Laxus to believe, he had touched the lives of many of the guild members – both those who had been on Tenrou Island and those who had not. Many of them immediately took up the mission of trying to find anything about the missing mage's location even as they vowed to become stronger for the upcoming tournament. Even those who'd remained behind renewed their search.
Laxus felt… Well, he wouldn't say "appreciative," but some small part of his chest warmed at the thought that Mercury hadn't been alone the last seven years.
He handed off the letter to Mira, who had been one of the first to ask Macao about the state of their water mage friend, and she hadn't looked the least bit happy about it, likely having come to the same conclusion that Laxus originally had: Mercury may very well be dead. He hadn't seen the woman cry, but she'd seemed very close to it before excusing herself for a moment.
When she returned, there was a renewed sense of determination in her eyes.
Besides Mira, the people who took the news the hardest were probably the Thunder God Tribe.
"What? He's –" Fried couldn't bring himself to say "dying" after reading the letter, the word looming over them all like a threat. None of them could bring themselves to even consider it. The water mage's endless vitality seemed like it would outlast them all, so the concept of it being his very downfall seemed like some sort of sick joke.
Evergreen was distraught, though she tried not to show it – didn't want to ruin her makeup, she said even as her brow furrowed and lip curled to withdraw the tears. Bixlow, however, didn't seem very surprised.
"I seen it," he explained when Laxus pushed him. "That thing on his chest, the black spot he mentioned. I wondered what it was, but never asked, 'cuz it seemed like he didn't want to talk about it at the time – not that he could have. He was so drugged at the time that I had to change his clothes for him, remember?"
(Laxus remembered the incident very clearly. It had been one of the first times that he truly considered himself to have failed in some way.)
"He said it would get worse if he got too far from Magnolia, right? So he's probably just in some other coast town. We should focus our search there," Fried reasoned.
Laxus highly doubted that Mercury would just up and leave the city that his home guild was located in, especially not if it might, quite literally, kill him. The only reason the lightning dragon slayer could think of that would cause Mercury to leave was if he was fleeing from something, and the "something" would only be one of two things – those brothers he seemed to fear, or something that would cause harm to Fairy Tail if he stayed.
But talking about it would get them nowhere; even if they all sat around and discussed the water mage until their throats bled, it wouldn't mean anything if they had no idea where to look for him.
So, in the meantime, the guild as a collective decided to do two things at once: they'd go out on their little training missions for the upcoming tournament, and on the journeys there, they'd try to find news of the missing water mage.
In regards to the tournament, Fairy Tail had come in last every year since the tournament's founding, and they were desperate to end the losing streak. The returning guild members had seen firsthand what seven years of training could do to a mage, and, as such, were incredibly motivated to become stronger, with most of those associated with "Team Natsu" planning to go on a training retreat for the remaining three months.
Laxus thought it was a waste of time.
The past of him might have laughed at the attempt, calling it futile. Fairy Tail had become the weakest guild in Fiore without their strongest members, and a mere three months wasn't nearly enough time to make up for a seven year gap, even if the stars aligned and they did manage to find some way to "cheat" and get stronger. Besides, the tournament itself now felt unimportant; for once in his life, Laxus wasn't especially motivated to prove himself the strongest. He had better things to do.
Better people to look for.
So when his grandfather cornered him in the guild and told him to go participate, Laxus wasn't particularly thrilled.
Apparently, the Grand Magic Games had gotten stale, and the organizers wanted to add an additional rule to the competition to allow each guild to enter more than one team at a time. Gramps wanted to capitalize on that fact. The rule change itself hadn't been announced, and only Levy had caught it while speed-reading through an updated rulebook, so he was sure that no one else would be able to enter two teams into the tournament – and that would prove Fairy Tail's superiority. He hadn't even told those who he chose for "Team A" about the rule change, so it would have been a surprise for everyone save "Team B."
Plus, having two teams would double their chances of winning.
Which was true, but hardly changed Laxus's mind.
His grandfather seemed to understand the reluctance – Laxus had just been welcomed back into the guild, and he had returned to find a very prominent absence within it – but pushed for his inclusion regardless.
"There is no better way to gain information than beating it out of people," was a sentiment that Laxus agreed with, though it hardly mattered. He didn't think that any of the so-called "light guilds" would know anything; they were too upstanding, too do-goody to resort to anything as craven as kidnapping a man, who, for all popular opinion was concerned, was a lazy nobody with a bad attitude.
… Unless someone knew something about the water mage that most people didn't – for instance, that he wasn't human – there would be no reason to take him.
That was assuming that he'd even been kidnapped at all. For all Laxus knew, though it pained him to think about, Mercury could have simply left because he knew that he was soon to die. Or, even worse, those brothers he often alluded to were sent to "retrieve" him.
But Makarov would not be dissuaded. He was convinced that something would come up within the span of the Grand Magic Games, so Laxus began to prepare himself to become a public figure once more.
Instead of a three month training "retreat" like the others had gone on, the lightning dragon slayer had secluded himself in a mountain range surrounded by constant thunder clouds – there was no better place for a lightning mage to train. He'd not even invited Fried, Bixlow, or Evergreen along; they'd surely want to make up for their own lost time, but Laxus needed time to sort out his own thoughts.
He had not realized that Mercury had become so important to him.
It wasn't a particularly shocking revelation, once he really took a moment to think about it.
The water mage had merely shown up one day and inserted himself into Laxus's life; Laxus couldn't even fathom why he was the one Mercury chose to stick with, because, as had been noted by the older man, the fifteen year old Laxus had been a bit of an asshole.
("A bit" was putting it lightly. Incredibly lightly.)
But Laxus hadn't always been obsessed with strength.
Looking back, it was certainly his father that imparted this trait onto him. Laxus had been quite the sickly child, and, out of his father's pity, he'd gotten the dragon slayer lacrima implanted into himself in a procedure that had a one-in-a-million chance of success. It turned out that the dragon slayer was just lucky. Ivan had told him that to pay him back, Laxus would need to become strong enough to protect his father, whom, at the time, he loved dearly.
The words made no sense to the child Laxus. Why would there be a time where Ivan, his father, his idol, would need to be protected by his weak son? Still, he trained. Trained and trained and trained until he could finally use that dragon slayer magic that had been grafted into his body.
But by then, it was too late. Ivan was gone, banished.
Makarov never would tell him what his father had done to get himself excommunicated from the guild, but the shadows in his eyes the last time he'd asked – fairly recently, after the events of Tenrou Island — told Laxus it had been bad. Bad enough to never speak of again.
Now, Laxus understood that it hadn't been done out of fear or hatred, but back then, he'd been so incredibly lost and confused. That became his sole reason to become stronger. Even when he no longer remembered, or, frankly, cared about Ivan, he kept pushing to get stronger until he became the man obsessed with strength, willing to kill to get rid of any weakness in his sight.
The period of time where Mercury had been with him, however, had been a beacon to the confused boy who had just lost his father; the water mage was no replacement – at best, he was like an older brother – but the presence of something familiar and unchanging had allowed Laxus to become "himself" again, no longer following the mantra that only the strong could prevail. Dare he say it, Laxus had fun around the water mage. They formed their own little family, made of the two of them and the Thunder God Tribe, and hadn't needed anything else so long as they were making steps towards Laxus's goal; the desire to become stronger hadn't diminished in Mercury's presence, instead becoming an ideal rather than an obsession.
And then Mercury had left him.
Everything came crashing down again.
Laxus knew at the time that the words he was saying were intended to hurt. That they would hurt. They'd been brothers for the past couple of years; of course the lightning dragon slayer would know what buttons to press to get Mercury riled up.
(If he thought back hard enough, Laxus could remember the exact time the look in Mercury's eyes changed from care to disinterest, from brotherly affection to horror and rage at the words being spoken to him.)
It was a fight that would never have a conclusion. At least, not any time soon. Back then, Mercury was strong enough to go one-on-one with the lightning dragon slayer, and Laxus had been so deluded that he'd thought the increasing weakness of the man stemmed from a lack of passion or drive. Now, he would beat himself up for not seeing it. He should have noticed the way Mercury's magic seemed to keep getting weaker, how the man himself seemed to fade each time they left Magnolia and just how tired he looked when they returned.
Maybe if Laxus had been able to put everything together sooner, they'd have more time. He wouldn't have forced the water mage on all those jobs – though he was sure Mercury would have told him that he hadn't been "forced" into doing anything because he was so self-admittedly stubborn.
There was no time for regrets now, though.
Mercury was gone; whether or not he was dead was another question entirely, one that Laxus was adamant he'd get to the bottom of.
The three months of his training-slash-exile went by incredibly quickly. Even when he forced himself to leave the mountains and return to being a civilized human being once more, Laxus hadn't quite gotten his thoughts and feelings settled. It made him realize just how jumbled his mind had gotten in the past few years – though, technically, he supposed it was "the past few years plus seven more" now.
Fairy Tail Team B was assembled with the remaining Tenrou Team members. Laxus wasn't sure exactly how strong Team A's "training retreat" had gotten them, but he was absolutely certain that the teams were unbalanced.
Team A had Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Gray, and Erza.
Team B had Mirajane, Gajeel, Juvia, a man pretending to be Mystogan, and, of course, himself.
One S-Class in Erza Scarlet versus the three of Team B, plus an internationally wanted criminal. Yeah, Gramps surely knew what he was doing.
Maybe it was just that Laxus had overestimated how much the world could change in seven years, but the Grand Magic Games were, for the most part, entirely disappointing.
It began with a preliminary competition to reduce the number of guilds to a more manageable amount, which had taken Fairy Tail's second team less than fifteen minutes to complete. They managed to easily snag second place, which did irritate Laxus, though he still wasn't really in the mood to be feeling much of anything.
(Who knew that an annoying water mage's absence was somehow more annoying than the mage himself?)
The first day had put Fairy Tail at the very bottom; they continued to be the laughingstock of Fiore with both of their teams coming in seventh and eighth place, despite the fact that they were still the only guild with double the members participating in the tournament. If it had been the Laxus of the past, he'd have gotten angry to the point of threatening them all. Now, however, he just watched, moderately disinterested.
Only one person in the tournament other than his guildmates – and the one who'd taken the role of Mystogan, Laxus supposed – interested him, and that was Jura Neekis. The rest of them just seemed like small-fry. Objectively speaking, of course. He was certain that most of them wouldn't be able to put so much of a scratch on himself. Unfortunately, his chance to have a one-on-one match with Jura was taken by "Mystogan" and ended in a laughable failure that had even the stoic Laxus with his head in his hands and a sign on his breath. The defeat was humorous at best, and absolutely awful at worst – so embarrassing that he wanted to up and combust right there.
The second day was another failure. For some reason, they elected to let Gajeel participate in the competition entitled "Chariot," despite the iron dragon slayer's weakness to moving vehicles – a sensation that Laxus found he shared after his three months of training. The younger dragon slayer (or, at least, Laxus assumed he was younger) of the Sabertooth guild dropped out early once he realized what the competition entailed, and Fairy Tail Team A and B fought for sixth and seventh place.
Of course, Gajeel came out below Natsu. Of course the loser would be on Team B.
It didn't matter in the end, because Team B's fight ended in Mirajane's uncontested victory, earning them ten points.
During the night of the second day of the Grand Magic Games, a lot happened. Laxus didn't pay most of it any mind. He usually split his evenings between being in his room and following behind the Thunder God Tribe – but what did catch his interest was when that pink haired idiot went and started a fight with the entire Sabertooth guild.
Laxus had followed closely behind, making sure to stay just barely out of Natsu's scent range. He told himself that it was because he wanted to get a bead on the strength of Sabertooth's members, but he knew that was a lie. No, Mercury would just kill him if the water mage returned to find that everyone's favorite spunky little dragon slayer had gotten himself killed in a suicide attack against an entire guild, and Laxus had done nothing to stop it.
It had turned out alright in the end. Kind of. Happy had taken a hit, though the cat seemed alright when they returned to the hotel that both Fairy Tail teams were staying at.
Laxus was of the opinion that Sabertooth as a whole wasn't particularly strong; they just had a few members that stood out, like that Minerva chick.
That girl was bad news.
The third day of the Grand Magic Games was the most hectic yet. For one, Erza Scarlet proved her superiority over any of the common mages by taking on all one-hundred monsters in the Pandemonium event, which meant it was her unequivocal win.
Well, Laxus was sure he could have done the same. It was a pity he hadn't been picked for the event.
As for their own competitor, Cana, who'd been a replacement, showed that she wasn't a slouch, either. With Pandemonium gone, the event organizers switched to using a machine to showcase the magical power output of the remaining mages, with the decision that the one who scored the highest would get second place, and so on. The first three mages were nothing; Laxus didn't even remember their names after they were announced. One from that suspicious guild – Raven Tail – even scored in the single digits.
Sabertooth, contrary to the performance shown the night before, didn't disappoint. Orga, their representative, scored over three-thousand, and Laxus, with no basis other than what that lame Magic Council dog was saying over the announcing system, assumed that was a good enough score. It was more than ten times that of the previous score, so it had to be good.
Laxus wondered what he would score. Then he wondered how it would feel to fight Orga of Sabertooth.
And then Jura stepped forward to one-up Orga.
Jura Neekis claimed to be a humble man. He treated everyone with respect, going so far as to attach respectful honorifics to each of his fellow mage's names. Laxus had never heard anything bad about him – hell, he'd hardly heard anything at all, which had to be a good thing considering that nearly every mage he'd ever heard of was due to their poor attitudes.
(Rumors regarding himself included.)
When the Wizard Saint stepped forward to use his turn, Laxus realized everything was a lie. A carefully crafted persona made by a man who simply did not like to be the focus of rumors and wanted to stay out of the spotlight.
His score was two and a half times larger than Orga's.
Laxus's blood roared with excitement for the first time since returning from Tenrou Island.
Which made it such a damn shame that Jura had already fought once in the tournament already against Team B's "Mystogan," and Laxus doubted they'd let the Wizard Saint fight a second time.
(Or maybe they would, simply because "Mystogan's" – Jellal Fernandez's – fight was so pathetic that they didn't get the opportunity to show off one of their most prized chess pieces.)
Of course, Cana one-upped everyone in the end. She'd gotten ahold of one of the Three Great Fairy Tail magics somehow and completely destroyed the Magic Power Finder to reveal a final score of 9999, with the potential for it to have been higher.
Laxus hated to admit that he was impressed. He'd never expected her to be able to pull it off, and after Jura's showing, he'd completely written it off as Team B's loss. The shock must have shown on his face because Mira snickered loudly until he got himself back under control, barely able to hide the smirk on his face as both Fairy Tail teams came out on top for day three's competition.
The battles were a different story. It was his turn.
The lightning dragon slayer knew that Raven Tail was the guild that his father – no, that Ivan Dreyar was the master of. He'd never paid it much mind. Ivan was a thing of the past, the father of a weak boy who was too sick to leave his bed for more than a couple hours, a boy who had been completely annihilated by the loss of said father.
But Ivan Dreyar was not Laxus's father. Not anymore. And it felt surprisingly good to admit to himself that he didn't give a fuck about that man any longer.
Raven Tail had always skirted the line between legal and illegal; it was enough to have a pretty poor reputation, but they never went so far as to be considered a dark guild. They never gave Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe enough reason to destroy them completely. And oh , had Laxus searched for a reason – even Mercury had questioned it, and the lightning dragon slayer wasn't sure whether or not he was aware that the leader was his biological father.
Laxus knew nothing about Alexei. He didn't really care to; Raven Tail was not worth his time or emotions, and none of them were strong enough to even be a bump on his radar.
Until the match had started, and it was revealed that Alexei was actually Ivan himself.
It was so like his father to skirt the rules like this; for a guildmaster to be involved in the fight, disqualification was the only answer. The issue, Laxus noted as he blandly watched a version of himself get slapped around by a version of Alexei, was that nobody could tell that Ivan was participating. He'd had the whole thing wrapped up with illusion magic of some sort. The thought projection of Ivan Dreyar in the crowd hadn't moved a muscle, had given no indication that it wasn't real in the slightest.
It took a moment for Laxus himself to realize what was going on. Then, the familiar stench of wet mold, of alleyways and alcohol, reached his nose, and he was momentarily thrust back into his twelve year old self.
"Ivan," he growled. Not father – just Ivan. "What is the meaning of this?"
Ivan stood there and laughed. It wasn't the laugh that Laxus remembered as a kid. It was heartless, cold, and worst of all, it was still familiar enough to send shivers down his spine.
"As you've probably noticed, all of this is an illusion. Only the six of us can see what's going on underneath it."
It was then that Laxus realized that the rest of Raven Tail had also made their way down to the coliseum floor. A quick glance to the side, not taking his full attention off Ivan, confirmed that illusions of the four remaining members remained comfortably in place around the Ivan in the stands.
"And?"
"It's a means to an end. The spectators are watching a scene of that Laxus unable to even lift a finger."
Laxus could hear it, the concern for him coming from the crowd of watching Fairy Tail members. It would have been heartwarming if he wasn't already about ready to boil over with rage and demolish the man in front of him; the only thing stopping him was the thought that maybe a conniving man like Ivan would have had something to do with Mercury's disappearance.
"I can even have the illusion end in your victory, if this discussion goes well."
"There's no discussion," Laxus snapped instead. "I don't care about whatever you have to say. Right here, right now, I'll demolish all of you."
It wasn't just arrogance talking. Laxus knew he could do it; Ivan's primary magic was illusions, and he could rely on his dragon slayer senses and instinct to get around them. The rest of Raven Tail… they were nothing. Not compared to him, not compared to what he'd been through.
Hell, even Mercury could probably take most of them on even without magic.
Laxus slipped off his jacket.
"Even you wouldn't be able to simultaneously defeat all of Raven Tail's elite, Laxus." Ivan's guild mirrored the sentiment, which only made the lightning dragon slayer's rage soar. He scowled – the way that Ivan spoke so familiarly with him was pissing him off. No one got to use his name without his explicit permission.
"Don't care," he growled.
"Really? You should know my strength, stupid son."
Laxus nearly laughed out loud. The only reason he restrained himself was because Ivan chose then to take off his mask, revealing the face that Laxus hadn't seen since he was a teenager. A rush of emotions flooded through his mind, but the most prevalent one was the only one he wanted to act on; it wasn't anger, not really. Laxus knew what anger felt like. It was the heat in his veins, the surge of adrenaline that came with seeing something he just couldn't stand.
He decided this feeling must be disgust.
"I figured you'd say that," he said, a scowl worthy of a dragon on his face, "shitty pops."
There was no reason for Ivan to look so smug at his son's reaction, but he did.
"Makarov would die before he opened his mouth, but you're different. Let's have you tell us, shall we? The location of Lumen Histoire."
Laxus was expecting something bigger. Some big revelation that would make it seem once more like Gramps was hiding something from him, maybe a section of Ivan's work that he hadn't been able to take with him when he'd been excommunicated or something equally nefarious. Instead, he was just confused.
What the hell was Lumen Histoire?
"What are you talking about?" It was the first time during the conversation that Laxus actually wanted a response from the man in front of him.
"You don't have to pretend. Makarov must have told you," Ivan pressed, but Laxus just shrugged.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," he said with a second small shrug. He filed the word away for later, away from prying ears. It seemed important.
"Oi, you're saying you'd give away a victory, even under these hopeless circumstances? If you don't accept the conditions, just having your illusion lose won't be enough."
Ivan's mask slipped. Not the physical one – that was still in his hand – but the image of a carefully put together man who was "superior" to those around him. The mage's face twisted, and he looked down his nose at Laxus as though the dragon slayer was nothing more than a little bug to be crushed under his feet.
It was a familiar look. Laxus had seen it so many times in himself, after all.
Laxus sighed. "You seem confused, old man. I'm not sure where you got the idea that the five of you would be anywhere close enough to defeat me. Bring it on," Laxus stuck his hand out, beckoning. "I'll take on all of you at once."
It felt so good on his fists to beat the hell out of Raven Tail, and it wasn't even hard . For once, he could forget about anything – this fight wasn't about strength, it wasn't about lofty ideals. It was about him beating the shit out of the people who had wronged him and his guild.
And goddammit, that guild had become family.
This guild stood directly in Fairy Tail's path. They claimed to be a specialized "anti-Fairy Tail" guild, and though he doubted these nobodies that fell so easily to his casual punches and kicks would do much of anything, anyone who stood in opposition needed to be taken out of commission. Especially Ivan. Laxus had no idea what his father held against Fairy Tail, nor what the hell Lumen Histore was, but he could tell that this wasn't a mere passing fantasy by the guildmaster. No, Ivan told him as much as Laxus slowly took the guild members around him down.
"I've lived in the shadows all for this day! All to obtain Lumen Histoire!"
And Laxus simply didn't care.
He took care of Raven Tail's members one by one, even as they rushed him en masse; his initial assumption had been correct, and none could get close enough to even land a scratch on him.
Laxus found himself fighting for himself no longer. He didn't care about Ivan, about the illusion that still displayed himself getting beat by Alexei – it was a mirage, and it would be over quite soon. The lightning dragon slayer's attacks became for his guildmates; a punch to the needle-head for Gray, who'd been targeting during the first day, a jolt of electricity for the one who'd attacked Wendy and Carla before the preliminaries, and a loose kick to the fiery-haired woman who'd all-but tortured Lucy on the first day.
Ivan cowered in front of him.
"No – no, no, wait! I'm your father, you can't do this!"
When Laxus paused over him, Ivan thought he'd won.
"Yes, I knew you'd see reason!"
The man in front of the lightning dragon slayer had been so, so large when he was a kid. Now, he was a small, pathetic little mess that needed more than anything to be cleaned.
"Do you know anything about a man from Fairy Tail named Mercury?"
"Who? Agh –"
Ivan did not know anything.
Having learned everything he needed to know, Laxus slammed the man with so much electricity that he wouldn't be shocked – or unhappy – that the man had a heart attack and died.
The illusion around them faded with the man's unconsciousness, the crowd roaring in response as they saw the tattered remains of Raven Tail scattered around the lightning dragon slayer's feet looking battered and bruised. That tiny little pumpkin mascot said something as well, noting Ivan's presence, then declared Laxus the winner.
He didn't feel much like a winner. The only reason he'd agreed to participate in the Games, after all, was to gain information, and even an obsessive stalker like Ivan appeared to not know anything.
Without any other words or even pausing to revel in the cheers of his guildmates, Laxus stalked off the pitch.
.
.
.
Most of the guild avoided Laxus for the next couple of hours, likely at his grandfather's behest. Or maybe just because he felt like he was going to explode into a little pile of cinders, and they didn't want to be caught up anywhere near the blast.
Ivan was such a goddamn piece of shit.
He'd been disqualified, of course, and the tournament then had an uneven number of teams. For some reason, that meant it fell on Fairy Tail to condense their numbers into just one team, which completely destroyed the advantage in numbers that they'd had going into it. The lightning dragon slayer tried to convince himself that that was the reason that he held such a frustration in his chest – definitely not because he'd had to see his shithead father, or because said shithead father hadn't had any good information about a certain missing mage on him.
Admittedly, it had been cathartic to punch that bastard so hard that he'd passed out.
From there, when Laxus got picked for the united Fairy Tail team, he had mixed feelings.
On one hand, he needed this - needed some outlet to relieve himself of the lightning in his veins and irritation in his head, else he'd likely just go on a rampage out in some forest outside the capital as soon as he got everyone's eyes off of the other hand, it had been almost a week into their time in the capital city, and no one had pulled up any good information on the missing water mage. Laxus doubted they'd find anything there; Mercury himself had claimed to not be well enough to travel much further than the outskirts of Magnolia, let alone all the way out here to practically the furthest inland one could get in Fiore.
In the end, his guildmates had convinced him to stay.
It made sense for him to focus on the tangible goal in front of him – winning the Grand Magic Games – rather than a goal that could, for all anyone knew, be a wild goose chase with no treasure at the end. No one said as much, but the thought was all that kept Laxus moving forward in the tournament.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, he didn't need to fight any more for the rest of the tournament. In a way, the dragon slayer had already demonstrated his strength to the crowd by fighting off all of Raven Tail's participants on his own, including that shithead guild leader of theirs, because although Raven Tail was a shady guild, they had made it into the tournament on their own. No one could deny the feat of strength it took to not only defeat them all, but to defeat them all and come out (relatively) unscathed.
So, Laxus took the time to watch from the stands and attempt to force himself to relax.
It didn't work, of course. Not when the next game they participated in was a Naval Battle.
Laxus's chest throbbed mysteriously at the thought that there was someone who could have dominated the competition immediately, had he been there. Mercury probably could have taken out all the opponents with a simple wave of his fingers, even that Minerva girl from Sabertooth who the lightning dragon slayer knew was bad news.
Laxus was getting really tired of that damning feeling that he knew meant that he missed the water mage. Mercury would never let him live it down if he knew that the real cause of Laxus's recent bad attitude streak was that his chest felt empty without him by his side.
(And so, Laxus vowed to never tell Mercury, despite the fact that it was obvious to everyone in the guild except himself.)
The Naval Battle had gone horribly. Minerva was just the bastard he'd thought she was. Actually, she reminded Laxus of himself not a year ago — well, technically eight years ago – in how she was so cruel to those around her, not caring whether or not someone got hurt if it meant displaying her own strength.
He wondered if that's how he looked to others.
When Minerva dropped the unconscious Lucy out of the water sphere, her body dropping like a forgotten sack, something in Laxus snapped; he vowed right then and there that they'd beat the hell out of Sabertooth. Destroy them . He put aside his goal of finding Mercury, just until the tournament was over.
They got their opportunity two days later, though by then, the situation had changed quite dramatically.
For one, the Celestial Spirit mage who had been the linchpin in Laxus's changing motivation had been arrested under false charges in an attempt to get her to do something weird with her Spirit Keys – it wasn't fully explained to Laxus, but he got the gist. They were told she could be pardoned (though of what, it wasn't exactly clear) if they won the entire tournament.
The king, they'd been told, was partial to Fairy Tail. He'd listen – but only if they proved themselves victorious.
It was a giant load of bull. There was no way the rule-breaking Fairy Tail would simply sit and wait while one of their own was imprisoned in some dungeon god knew where, having god knew what done to her.
Fairy Tail split in two once more, with half participating in the final game – the Grand Magic War Game – and half forming a "rescue team" to break into the castle and rescue their comrade.
It was awfully ballsy, but something ballsy was exactly what was needed.
Laxus found he had no time to even focus on what the remainder of the guild was doing once the starting bell for the final game rang; he'd been told to remain still and listen to the words of Mavis Vermillion – the "Fairy Tactician" – as she spelled out everything they needed to do.
Each of them had their own roles to play. On any other day, in any other time, Laxus might have been angered at the assumption that he needed to listen to what someone else was telling him to do, but just for today, he heeded the advice calmly. There was so much on the line – it wasn't just Lucy's freedom, though that remained the most pressing issue. Winning the tournament would grant them a chance to meet the king of Fiore, and Laxus wasn't going to be the one to miss that opportunity, not when there were things he wanted to ask the short man.
So, he listened.
And then he went off to go fight Orga and Jura.
Laxus knew that he and Erza were the two strongest fighters remaining in the Fairy Tail team. They each were headed off to fight the biggest threats to the younger members of the group, with Erza aiming to knock out the bastard woman from Sabertooth and himself pursuing one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Part of his blood raced through his body at the thought of going head-to-head with one of the strongest mages in all of Fiore. His own grandfather was technically of the same rank, and if he was able to prove himself superior to Jura, it meant he was that much closer to beating Makarov - that much closer to achieving his dream to be the strongest.
Jura did not disappoint.
It had originally been Laxus versus Orga, with the latter claiming to be a Thunder God Slayer. Laxus had seen the Wind D ragon Slayer girl fight the Wind G od Slayer girl to a standstill, but he couldn't find it within himself to be wary of Orga. Something about the man was like watching a tiny little dog trying to pick a fight with the scariest opponent he could find, regardless of whether he had a snowball's chance in hell at winning or not, which was why Laxus feltirritatedwatching Orga's constant shows of arrogance. The way he spoke actually reminded Laxus of how Mercury spoke (why was he thinking about that man again?) when attempting to goad his opponents into making stupid mistakes. It was probably this similarity and familiarity with the tactic that prevented Laxus from making the same mistake, watching quietly as Orga tried to get the dragon slayer to make the first move.
Laxus looked down his nose at the Thunder God Slayer, simply staring. It definitely irritated him to see someone who was weaker than himself acting so haughty – because even though he was impressed by Orga's strength during the previous competitions, that in no way meant that he thought the Thunder God Slayer was stronger than him.
And when Jura popped up out of nowhere (which wasn't truly nowhere, because Laxus had been able to smell the scent of peat and tree bark that seemed to follow Jura around), it turned into a three-way battle.
… A three-way battle well within Mavis's predictions.
Orga clearly thought himself the best of the three of them despite the results of the event with the MPF, turning to stare down Jura and ignore Laxus completely; who cared about some silly mage who had been gone for seven years when the sixth ranked Wizard Saint was standing right in front of you? He didn't even stop to consider the fact that he could lose.
It didn't mean Laxus was going to strike first, though. He'd been explicitly warned not to do that, and he wasn't hasty enough to ignore someone with a reputation like the Fairy Tactician.
"Jura," Orga said with a flippant tone. It was so disrespectful that Laxus could only hear himself eight years ago in it, making him cringe. "I want to see you go all out. Do you have the guts to stop this?"
Laxus nearly muttered, 'It seems like you have enough guts for all three of us,' but refrained. If Orga and Jura wanted to duke it out before he got involved, that was perfectly fine by him – it would make everything easier in the long run, especially if Orga did have the power to back his words up and could do some serious damage to Jura before it was Laxus's turn.
The self-proclaimed Thunder God Slayer didn't even make it that far.
All it took was one punch from Jura to take out Orga's seemingly strongest (and most pretentious) attack, the "Charged Particle Canon of the God of Thunder," though it wasn't as though Orga really even got to use it. The attack felt overwhelming to the point Laxus wasn't even sure that he could have consumed the magic without getting severe indigestion, or maybe just straight-up magic overload; it was electricity in its most pure sense, ringing out in the clearing like someone had used a paintbrush to put it there. Something about it was soperfect, so beautifulthat it almost seemed a waste to even try to block it.
Jura had no such reservations, though. The man was built like a brick wall, but had a surprising agility to him that let him simply dodge the attack despite its wide range, then get it close and slam the pretentious man into the ground.
Orga was out in one hit. Completely gone, passed out without even so much as a groan of complaint from where his face was pressed painfully into the cracked, dry cement below him.
For a moment, even Laxus found himself stunned; sure, Orga was definitely weaker than himself, but to be knocked out in a single hit was insane.
Jura's danger rating in his head went from ten to twelve – on a scale of ten.
"I remembered your fight on the first day," said Jura calmly to his fallen opponent, "so I ended this right away."
He wasn't even out of breath – Laxus wasn't one to bitch about fairness, but come on , that just wasn't fair. There wasn't even a single hair out place on Jura's… face, the dragon slayer supposed, because the Wizard Saint didn't even have hair, and he looked just as composed as he'd been before, no sign that he'd exerted himself but a moment before.
And now it was Laxus's turn.
Part of him groaned as Jura turned to face him, but a (slightly) louder part of him roared at the opportunity to fight someone strong.
Jura turned to him. "I always wanted to fight you once. Master Makarov's –"
In a move that was equally as pretentious as Orga's self introduction, Laxus cut the Wizard Saint off. He was fully aware that it was a baited statement, that Jura was just trying to get a rise out of him. That just meant that the Wizard Saint saw him as an opponent he needed every possible advantage to win against.
(Why was Laxus so internally proud to hear that?)
"Stop there," he asked of the Wizard Saint. Well, it wasn't really a question, but Jura allowed him to speak regardless. "Here, you're not an old guy with some fancy title, and I'm not someone's grandson. We're just two men."
Laxus glared down at Jura, and Jura stared right back.
"Nice eyes," Jura commented.
When Laxus launched himself at Jura, he wasn't sure what he expected. Lightning flared around him as he sprinted towards the brick-wall-man as fast as he could – but the attempt to catch Jura off guard didn't go well.
Jura's hands slammed into the back of his head.
For a moment, Laxus was stunned. It was just like all those years ago – though, again, it was less than one for the dragon slayer – when he and Mercury fought in Magnolia's Cathedral, and suddenly the ice was dragging him down and slamming him into the wall; he was just as taken by surprise now as he'd been then, except this time, it hurt so much worse.
The world spun painfully, and Laxus could hear the cries of the coliseum from here.
"In this world, there is always someone stronger than you," said Jura, staring down at him.
No shit.
Of course there was always going to be someone stronger. Laxus had been reminded of that fact since the day he was born; he'd been weak, and then it was only with that bastard father's help that he managed to become strong enough to become his own person. And even then, it was never enough. Laxus had never become strong enough to keep what was precious to him. First, his father, and later, his best friend. His whole life had been about getting stronger – an endless pursuit of an ideal that would ultimately put Laxus on a bad path until he had been corrected by someone he now knew was weaker than him.
It was always the strong that preached to the weak, but it was the weak who really understood what it meant to be strong.
"I know," Laxus ground out once the words found his tongue. "But sometimes, I like to look down, too."
Electricity gathered in his first. Jura was agile, but even he couldn't outspeed lightning, and this time, he was taken by surprise as Laxus forced himself upwards.
The fist on Jura's chin felt much better than his fists on any of the Raven Tail guild had been. It was like punching a door; the chin gave way easily, swinging upwards, and sending the Wizard Saint with it.
Laxus had punched a Wizard Saint in the face. A spike of pride snaked through his chest as Jura stumbled several feet backwards, struggling to regain his balance.
The dragon slayer had no time to revel in this victory, however. Even as Jura was sent reeling, the mage managed to send spikes of earth upwards right underneath Laxus's feet, and he had to jump to avoid them before countering with his own spell.
"Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!" Electricity gathered around his fist in the form of a spear, launching forward as soon as Laxus threw it. Jura hardly had enough time to dodge. He did, however, have plenty of time to erect a wall in the spear's path, almost blocking it completely.
Almost, because it still tore a hole in the earthen wall as though it was mere paper.
It didn't hit Jura dead on, unfortunately, but it did graze him, and Laxus knew better than anyone what electricity did to the human body. That arm would likely be out of commission for a minute – a couple, if he was lucky.
Jura countered once more with more pillars of rock erupting from the ground. It was much slower this time, though, so Laxus was able to easily dodge each of them with the help of a little lightning transfiguration; when he did so, the world seemed slow, each pillar still digging upwards as he allowed his feet to push off of them to change direction until he was ultimately back to facing Jura.
Laxus launched himself forward again.
Jura slapped him on the head again, but he didn't fall – a mere slap to the head was nowhere near enough to stop a concentrated pillar of lighting, though, once again, it did hurt.
It turned into a flurry of hand to hand combat. Laxus was no expert at the style of fighting, though clearly neither was Jura as they fought for the upper hand. Jura punched him in the shoulder – god, those fists hurt like a brick wall, too – and Laxus hit him with another uppercut, then called down a bolt of lightning to strike them both.
The attack gave both fighters a moment of reprieve. Laxus was huffing something fierce, fighting to remain upright as his breaths seemed to get harder with each passing one, and Jura looked the same. He tasted blood on his lip, split from getting hit into the ground.
"Well," said Jura, humble facade entirely gone now. "It's the first time in years that I feel this excited. You are a monster like everyone says…"
Laxus paused; for some reason, the statement brought to mind something he'd said to Mercury once in their final fight. He'd called him a monster just to see the way that the water mage's eyes would go from adamant and angry to upset and broken, but it had seemed to have the opposite effect. Mercury's eyes had calmed. He was done.
The context was entirely different, but Laxus couldn't help but wonder what Mercury would have said in a situation like this.
That man always seemed to be fighting losing battles. He relied on his intensive healing abilities to get him out of fights without serious injuries, all the while taking hits intended for other people, and now even that ability was likely gone.
He'd probably say something snarky. Maybe an insult. Maybe call Jura the real monster, then barrel forward and try to fight the Wizard Saint regardless, because his guild was depending on him to win – things like pain didn't matter when it came to Mercury's family.
Laxus said nothing, and the wry smile made its way on Jura's face once more as he saw that the lightning dragon slayer was not going to be going down easily.
"Come. Let's fight until one of us falls!"
Jura took a large step forward, and the magic surging felt just like that time in the arena. What was the spell called? Rumbling Mount Fuji?
It seemed to be Jura's strongest attack, but they were already both going to be going for broke with this one, the battle decided by whoever's final attack was going to be the strongest.
Laxus prepared his own.
Again, the words surged forwards into his mouth, but he wasn't ashamed to say – no, scream – the name of the one attack that he'd only ever gotten to use once before.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!"
Honestly, everything was a blur after that. Laxus knew he'd won, Jura falling before admitting himself the loser, but everything was… distant. Far away. He was much too tired to consider anything other than putting one foot in front of the other.
It was probably a testament to just how much that last attack had taken out of him.
Still, there were things to do – they still needed to take out that upstart dragon slayer to secure their final victory. If – what was his name? Sting? – managed to take them all out, Sabertooth was still going to win the competition.
And Laxus was not going to let that happen.
They had done it.
Well, they'd won the Grand Magic Games, and then they'd won a battle to the death with literal, real dragons – in which, Laxus noted disappointedly, he hadn't been able to take out even one dragon – before they finally got a chance to rest.
Laxus fell asleep for almost two days the moment he got back to his hotel room, and after that, he woke up, ate a meal meant for three people, and then passed out again for another three. He was tired in a way he'd never been tired before; it was like every single cell in his body was about to quit on him if he didn't get some rest right that instant, and he nearly had to ask Fried to lend him a shoulder to make it back in time.
(He didn't though, because Laxus was much too proud for that, even if his relationship with the Thunder God Tribe had been getting better.)
When he woke the second time, he'd already missed the royal ball that had been held in honor of the mages who'd saved the day, and it wasn't like it would have meant much if he'd gone, anyway – according to Evergreen, Natsu had basically crashed the whole thing by impersonating the king…
And had gotten away with it.
That kid sure had some balls, that was for sure.
Still, that left Laxus at a loss for what to do. The whole reason he had even participated in the damn games was so that he could get information on his missing friend, and he'd gone through the whole thing without even hearing a peep of the man's name – no one had. Not even a whisper. Sure, the participants hadn't had much of their own time to look into rumors, but they had an entire guild that hadn't just been sitting still while the games were going on. A lot of them had connections to people in the royal capital from jobs in the past, and the Tenrou Team's reappearance was just the excuse they needed to reach out to those connections once more and subtly farm for information.
Laxus knew that Fried, Bixlow, and Evergreen were doing a lot of the heavy lifting, too. The Thunder God Tribe had numerous connections to different Magic Council subdivisions, especially those who went after dark guilds; they'd both seen each other in passing while handing off criminals, or they'd begrudgingly cooperated (or, rather, tried to stay out of each other's way) when their goals aligned.
And nothing had come up.
Normally, Laxus wasn't one to sit around and bitch about the circumstances, but as more time went on without any news… Well, his hope was faltering. Maybe Mercury simply didn't want to be found. He stalked around the city in a bad mood. It was enough that the passersby didn't bother him, though their inquisitive stares followed his every movement.
Until he was approached by a very mysterious looking man who definitely had not been his teammate during the first day of the Grand Magic Games.
Mystogan – no, Jellal, he corrected himself – gave Laxus a small, nearly imperceptible nod when they made eye contact. He had his hood up, but the dragon slayer clearly saw the way Jellal's eyes locked on him, then darted to a nearby alleyway.
It seemed as though Jellal wanted Laxus to follow him.
Hesitantly, Laxus did.
He couldn't remember doing anything that would warrant an internationally renowned criminal to be searching for him, which meant it must have been important. Jellal hadn't even really interacted with the dragon slayer during the games – they'd been so short on time, and Laxus was in a poor enough mood that he didn't feel like speaking at the time – so it really was curious that Jellal was trying to converse with Laxus.
So, curiosity getting the best of him, Laxus followed.
The inside of the alleyway was gross, a pungent smell leaking from the trash bags piled nearby seemingly there just to assault Laxus's senses. His face turned into a grimace as he fully entered. Sure, no one was likely to follow them in here, but it wasn't like Laxus wanted to be there, either.
A slightly younger girl with pink hair was waiting for the two of them in the alley, and Laxus vaguely recognized her as someone who had been on Tenrou Island, but had ultimately escaped before the island had been trapped in time. Was she also a part of this new guild? Or was she here for some other purpose?
Laxus knew better than to let his guard down. Even if they were tentative allies for the moment.
Jellal pressed a small device to one of the walls, then tapped a small button on top of it. Laxus felt the telltale surge of magic leaking from the device as his senses immediately dampened as though someone had placed earmuffs on his ears and something to block his nose.
Ah, he realized. Something to prevent them from being overheard. Made sense, considering the stakes if someone realized he was talking to Jellal Fernandez of the infamous Crime Sorciere guild.
Laxus attempted to appear disinterested, but he knew his face was something of a frown instead. The bad mood from earlier, the tiredness he just couldn't shake off, all of it was irritating him.
Jellal didn't remove his hood, but did take a step closer to the slightly hesitant Laxus.
"I hear you're looking for someone," he said.
Laxus tried not to let his heart flutter at the statement. He wasn't some anxious schoolgirl who could be easily excited by mere words – even if those words hinted at the very thing he had nearly desperately been searching for.
"Yeah," was all he said.
Laxus would not get ahead of himself. He refused.
"I don't have anything specific," Jellal said, eyes shifting from the entrance to the alley and back to Laxus. "But I have been hearing rumors recently."
Get on with it, the lightning dragon slayer impatiently bit back. He tilted his head to the side, trying to get Jellal to keep talking.
"There's been a special drug circulating recently. It's generally being sold in black markets around Fiore, but some of it is being sold legally as well. Supposedly, it's used as both a healing medication and anti-aging serum. We haven't gotten our hands on a sample yet because it's so rare, but according to a couple of sources, it works by speeding up the body's natural recovery and even works as an anti-aging applicant. The rumor is that it doesn't even leave scars after healing even the most lethal wounds," Jella explained, eyes locked on Laxus's. "It's very popular among the rich, but they say it disappears rather quickly if not used right away, so stock has been very limited."
It speeds up recovery, doesn't leave scars, and disappears if left too long… Jellal's description was sickeningly similar to Mercury's own regenerative abilities.
Laxus knew his friend very well, and had seen the regeneration firsthand – his body would regenerate to the degree that the sealing of cuts was visible to the naked eye, and his skin never showed a hint of any of the damage he'd taken while in the Thunder God Tribe. In his letter, too, Mercury had mentioned that parts of his body that were removed would eventually fade away.
Laxus could hardly choke out a, "And you think that's related to Mer – to who we're looking for?"
It wasn't that Laxus didn't believe Jellal. In fact, every fiber of his being was screaming that this was correct, a very valid lead that they should pursue.
And yet it seemed so incredibly horrific.
Jellal nodded. "It seems to fit the description of your friend that Er – I mean, that one of your guildmates gave us, though we're still not sure where it's being produced, or how."
Laxus felt sick to his stomach. Who knew if this was related to his friend – hell, who knew if this was even real? All he could think about was the fact that Mercury was alone out there somewhere, and nobody knew where to find him. If this was indeed related – if Mercury was indeed the source of the medicine – Fairy Tail had to find him.
The girl beside Jellal finally spoke up. She was a lot older than Laxus had realized, almost an entirely fully grown woman – nothing like the child he could barely picture from Tenrou Island.
"Is it possible that he's the one making the medicine?" She asked.
What was her name again?
"No," Laxus found himself saying before she'd even fully finished asking the question. He was sure of it; Mercury had no knowledge of medicines, or, at least, he'd never shown an interest in the subject during his time in the Thunder God Tribe. Plus, Mercury was flat out gone. He absolutely would not have left the guild if not for something forcing him to; if he was making the medicine, he could have done so from Magnolia.
The way that Jellal spoke suggested that this might not have been an entirely legal product, either. The more likely conclusion was that a dark guild was producing it, and Mercury would never have associated with one of those – they'd eradicated more together than Laxus could count. It was more likely that a dark guild was in possession of Mercury than that he was working with them.
Jellal and the girl – Melody? No, that didn't sound right – shared a quick look, hidden beneath their capes. Neither said anything for a moment, leaving Laxus left out of an apparently very important conversation.
Then, Jellal turned back to the lightning dragon slayer, and said, "There is a way to confirm whether or not he's alive –"
Laxus didn't even wait for the mage to finish speaking before saying, "Let's do it."
"It's not that simple."
If it wasn't that simple, then why bring it up?
Jellal started to explain. "There's a magic that can link feelings together if the two people share a bond, even if the distance between them is great."
" But ..?" Laxus was getting more and more frustrated by Jellal's roundabout way of speaking. Just spit it out already. If they weren't going to help, the dragon slayer was ready to rush all the way back to Magnolia to start tracking this guild down – now that they had a lead, it would be so much easier.
" But," she enunciated, "this is a magic that connects souls through the power of bonds. A soul can linger after death if it has a strong attachment to life, so what do you think happens if I connect your soul with a one that is already dead?"
Oh. Laxus may not have been the smartest man, but even he could tell what she was referring to. If Mercury was already dead, he'd die too?
Well… That was indeed quite a big "but," yet it wasn't nearly enough to stop Laxus from easily agreeing. If he died, he died – though, there remained a part of him that knew that Mercury was still alive and kicking, ready to come through and kick Laxus's ass for taking so long, so he wasn't too worried.
For the most part.
Jellal seemed to accept this. "Meredy?"
(So that was her name.)
Meredy removed her hood and took a step towards Laxus, holding out her hand – Laxus stared at for a moment before realizing he was meant to take it within his own. He did, and saw that his hands greatly outsized her own.
"My magic is called Maguilty Sense," she explained. "It allows me to link together the senses of two people who share a great bond. You'll be able to feel everything that he's feeling, and he'll be able to feel what you're feeling."
Laxus nodded. He could do without the exposition, anxious as he was to just get on with it already.
"For the record though, I'm against this. As Jellal said, if he's dead, you'll be killed along with him. I think there's better ways to do it."
"Just get on with it already," Laxus growled. He'd steeled his resolve already; if he was going to die right here, right now, it was at least going to be with people who wouldn't mourn for him – and both were people who'd go tell Fairy Tail what was going on if the worst in fact was happening.
(And if it came to that, hopefully they'd at least be able to recover a body.)
Meredy paused, then gave a small nod. "Imagine a picture of who you're looking for. Recall their voice, their image – anything that will let me pick the right bond to link. Don't want to link someone who isn't expecting it, after all."
Without any more speaking – finally – her hair began to flow on a phantom wind as the magic enveloped the air around the two of them, flowing from the Maguilty mage to the thunder dragon slayer.
It was easy to think about Mercury; Laxus had been doing it so often these past three months that the image called to mind was immediate, and exceptionally clear. It had, after all, only been about half a year in his mind since he'd last seen the water mage, so he was able to recall the image of a pale skinned, blue haired man with relative ease.
In his mind's eye, Mercury was just as he'd been when Laxus had left the guild. His hair was in that ponytail that rarely ever let down, a crooked grin on his face as he teased Laxus for being immature before disappearing into the sunset like some kind of protagonist, a wave tossed over his shoulder. The scent of salt water passed his nose. It always followed the water mage around, even when he was covered in blood – either his or someone else's – and had been such a common smell for Laxus that every time he smelled the ocean, he thought of Mercury.
He felt the magic twist within himself, and it was hard to not flinch away at the oddness that settled within his veins.
The sensation of "bonds connecting" was a weird one.
For the first moment or so, it felt like Laxus's chest was physically warm. It wasn't a bad feeling at all. The sensation was almost comforting, like what he imagined his grandfather felt when looking at his "children," or Laxus's feelings when he did something exceptionally well.
And then the sensation disappeared entirely. In fact, any sensation in his chest had vanished, leaving behind the crippling feeling of something missing.
Laxus had no time to take in the sensation, because in its wake, came pain.
Immense, body shattering pain. He was familiar with it, the feeling of a broken bone in his arm and in his hip, so he recognized the feeling immediately. Somewhere below his right elbow, a bone had been broken – no, not just broken, fractured. Jagged shards dug into the muscle. His right hip felt the same, but less painful, and there was another dull throb in his left leg.
Laxus's wrists prickled with discomfort, too. They felt like something small had stabbed it repeatedly.
The sensation of wetness – of blood – wrapped itself around his arm and wrist, and he fought to look over to see what was happening, why everything hurt so much.
Laxus flinched at the sensation, but found he couldn't do so much as move a muscle; this wasn't his body that he found himself in, so there was nothing he could do to ease the radiating waves of scorching pain that jabbed upwards from his shoulder.
The dragon slayer felt like he was choking.
This just – it wasn't right. There was something wrong with his body. Something was inside of it, and yet it felt so, so empty. Laxus couldn't even move – wouldn't have been able to move even if he wanted to.
Every inhale felt like shards of glass were digging through his chest, if he even had the strength within his body to force his lungs to expand to take in air; he was choking, asphyxiating, because his body wasn't going to respond even while running out of oxygen.
Laxus knew was going to die.
There was no way he was going to be able to make it more than a few seconds with that kind of pain, both in the sense that what was causing the pain was killing him and that the pain itself seemed all encompassing.
He saw stars. Despite not moving, he was out of breath, and perhaps even more tired than he was after the final day of the Grand Magic Games.
And dizzy.
And nauseous.
He doubled over. Laxus barely managed to force the bile in his throat down to an acceptable degree until his stomach settled enough for him to not worry about throwing up right then and there. Even the hand he placed on the brick wall to his right was barely enough to stabilize him as the world spun, words in his ears distorted and far away. He was hardly able to feel his own body; the thick layer of sweat that had accumulated over the last – well, he didn't know how long it was, but it definitely hadn't been enough for him to be covered in so much of the stuff that he thought he might drown in it, choke on it.
That had been Mercury's experience?
Shit.
No other words came to mind.
"Laxus? Laxus!"
Concerned voices finally started to come back into focus as his heart rate returned to a somewhat normal level. They were distant, far away, like his head was underwater. Even as his heart calmed, Laxus's blood roared into his ears, demanding something of him that he couldn't remember.
Oh, right. These voices calling his name – they must belong to the two Crime Sorciere members.
Someone moved to shake Laxus's shoulders, but he briskly brushed them off, finally able to stand without feeling like he was going to fall right back over.
"I'm good," he said, though it was definitely, on some level, a lie.
Though he hated showing such a weakness in front of two people he ultimately didn't trust, Laxus knew his face remained pained. The aftershocks of the sensation of Mercury's experience lingered in the rest of his body, radiating from the impact spot outwards and giving him the sensation of his body being loose.
But he knew Mercury had it worse.
"How'd it seem – is he the one distributing the medicine?" Meredy asked.
Laxus all but growled – "I already told you, it wasn't him. Do I look like he was doing something like distributing medicine?"
Astonished at the tone, the girl stepped back, and Jellal put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
"I take it that it wasn't good? Can you describe it? We might be able to narrow it down."
Even though Laxus didn't think it would come to anything, he told them what he felt. An intense pain in his arm, and the feeling of something poking through his chest. Something dull and empty in his throat. It all seemed so distant now that Laxus was feeling the sensations of his own body, but he knew it was real, and that it had been Mercury he'd been feeling.
"It doesn't sound like he's in a good shape," Meredy pointed out. "Will he be alright?"
Laxus was getting real sick of her speaking.
Mercury was going to be fine. He'd have to be.
"He's…" Jellal said, eyes flicking between his own companion and Laxus. "He's got a unique constitution. He should be fine."
Did Jellal know that Mercury wasn't human, or did he just know about how quickly he healed? Maybe Erza had told him.
"If you say so. It was so strong that I could feel a little bit of it, too. It feels like he's not fully conscious, but also at least awake enough to respond to the magic."
"That might be for the best…" Jellal trailed off. "That doesn't give us much more of a lead, though."
"No," Laxus said. "It does."
Jellal stared at him, obviously waiting for the dragon slayer to continue. He wasn't sure exactly how much he wanted to share with the fugitive, but he continued anyway.
"He's underground, and he's not anywhere near the coast," Laxus explained. The full feeling of Magic Deficiency had thrummed in his veins, a sensation that Laxus was only familiar with because of how he'd grown up the same. That meant that Mercury wasn't close enough to the ocean to feel it – and the way his body had felt so hot meant that the air around him was cold. Definitely not anywhere the sunlight could touch.
"I see… We'll further our search with that in mind. Though this isn't the sort of thing that our guild usually handles, I'm sure we'll find connections to the underworld if we approach this the right way."
The way that Jellal said, "our guild" nearly made Laxus laugh; his guild was as illegal as the one that they were going to aim to take down, should it come to that. He also didn't mention the fact that Jellal's rationale was probably a lot simpler than he let on: Erza Scarlet wished for Mercury to return almost as strongly as Laxus did.
"What are you going to do?" Meredy asked Laxus. "Search every single dark guild until you find a basement?" It sounded like she had come to the same conclusion that he had; there was a dark guild involved in the production, and so that was where their biggest lead would be.
Well, yeah. If Laxus had to, he would. Fortunately, he'd definitely have the might of Fairy Tail on his side.
Clearing his throat, Jellal said, "It'll be simpler than that. We've already got a lead on one of the distributors. Despite coming from a dark guild, but as I said, they're going through some legal channels to distribute it as well."
That peaked Lauxs's interest. "You're saying this thing is just out there on the market?"
"Yes. It's hard to get a hold of, but it's definitely out there. I'll see if I can get my hands on some, but Fairy Tail will likely have a better chance of that than me."
Yeah, because Fairy Tail actually had funds. Unlike these broke ass -
"We'll look into it," Laxus said. "If you find anything, no matter how insignificant, you come to me first."
Maybe he was being too obvious with how desperate he was.
With that agreed on, though, the path forward was much more tangible than it had been before; all Laxus needed to do was beat the hell out of a couple of dark guilds until he got his hands on the information he required. Someone had to know where this shit was being distributed. Hell, if they got their hands on a sample, maybe one of the nerds in Fairy Tail could find out how it had been produced.
For the first time in a long time, Laxus felt a smidgen of hope rise in his chest.