Laxus stared at the guild hall in front of him.
If it were up to him, the damn thing would already be in cinders. He could destroy it easily. Any of them could, really. It wouldn't take more than a twitch of his fingers for lightning to rain down on the building, tearing it apart. Only then would he feel satisfied. Only when it had been wiped off the face of the earth could Laxus admit that he felt better.
But, he'd been told to wait.
So Laxus waited.
When they finally made it in, Laxus would destroy it all. When they'd thoroughly searched it for any trace of the man they were looking for, the dragon slayer would demolish it without a second thought, trapping everyone else inside in an electric hell – and even that would have been too much of a grace.
No, they needed to suffer. And they would.
He, along with the Thunder God Tribe and Mira of all people, were waiting just outside Alchemists's guild hall. It was located several hours by train away from Magnolia, in a city just a few hours from Crocus. In fact, they'd all passed through the town before on their way to and from the Grand Magic Games. Laxus had never thought that Alchemist's guild hall would be located here.
The town itself was unassuming. It was neither large nor small, and Laxus didn't get that dirty feeling from it that he got from places infested with thugs. All things considered, it was clean. People greeted the Fairy Tail mages kindly. Some asked Laxus for autographs, which he'd refused; they weren't there for sightseeing. In fact, the dragon slayer would probably shatter anything less sturdy than a piece of titanium with just how tense he was.
Their plan was simple – under the guise of securing a working partnership, they'd enter Alchemist's base and search for Mercury.
Unfortunately, getting in wasn't as easy a task as Laxus had thought it would be. They'd already been waiting for at least an hour outside the guild just to have a meeting with someone who could get them inside. Alchemist was extremely popular, and it had merchants flowing in and out almost as frequently as Fairy Tail had alcoholics doing the same.
"If they don't come out in ten minutes, I'm going to blow up the whole thing with everyone inside," Laxus grumbled.
Mira chided him, "No, Laxus. If you do that, then we'll all be criminals."
He didn't give a fuck.
Thankfully, as though spurred by his impatience, someone did come to meet them just a few moments later. Mira stepped on Laxus's foot to shut him up as soon as he almost started to complain, though she was likely just as irritated as he was.
"Esteemed guests, we welcome you," the person who'd come out of the overflowing guild hall said to them as soon as the five of them were led inside.
Laxus got the feeling that he was just trying to kiss their ass.
The man appeared to be something like a receptionist. He had neatly cropped hair and was wearing somewhat formal clothes; Laxus couldn't spot a single wrinkle on his light colored blazer, even when he stared so intently that he thought he might burn a hole through it. The smile that the receptionist had on his face didn't reach his eyes, which were so squinted that Laxus wasn't certain that he could even see properly out of them.
And he smelled like weed. Laxus looked over to see if any of his accomplices had noticed, but it seemed he was the only one.
Tagged onto his jacket was a nametag. "Jade," it read.
"It's our pleasure," Mira said with a smile.
Jade's smile grew deeper as he turned from the group of Fairy Tail mages, leading them deeper into the building. "We greatly appreciate that the Fairy Tail guild is willing to form a business agreement with our humble guild. Our guildmaster congratulates you on winning the Grand Magic Games as well – she had a great time watching it," he said, then, under his breath, he added, "Almost too great of a time… I had to pick up the slack."
Mira's laugh was just as fake as Jade's smile.
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it."
The Thunder God Tribe remained silent; Laxus was sure that they were as unnerved as he was.
Something about the guild felt stale. Even though there were plenty of people on the inside, both those who were part of the guild and others who'd come for the same reason as them, it didn't particularly feel alive. Maybe that was just because the Fairy Tail members were used to treating a guild hall as a home and not a business; Alchemists's guild hall was certainly the latter, with rows of desks and booths for private meetings lining the main hall area.
Rather than a guild hall, it felt more like a hospital.
"She'll be available to meet with you within the hour. Unfortunately, she's in an important business meeting at the moment, so she won't be able to meet with you all sooner than that. If we'd had more time, our guild would have been more than willing to reschedule the meeting, but as it is…"
"It's no issue," Mira said sweetly. "We apologize for the short notice."
Jade seemed appeased by this, leaving the five mages in a private waiting room with the assurance that someone would be by soon to provide them with complimentary drinks.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Evergreen muttered, "Did anyone else get the feeling that he was observing us?"
Laxus found himself nodding; the other three Fairy Tail members did, too. There'd been no small number of people in the previous rooms and hallways, and it had felt like the majority of them had been staring at their group – though Laxus wasn't sure if they were curious stares or angry ones. They'd sure been intense for a group of mages from the former weakest guild in Fiore.
"I think that means we're on the right track," Mira commented. "It's a good thing we made sure that their guildmaster had a meeting beforehand. I'd rather this be done before she finishes up."
The Alchemist guildmaster was a shrewd woman, and powerful in her own right. Though her guild was focused mostly on procuring goods in order to gain a fortune, they still had several S-Class mages under their banner, and the master was one of them.
Her name, from what Laxus had cared to remember, was Renee Shaleback. He didn't know much about her – just that she was considered to be a nominee for the title of Wizard Saint.
Without meeting her, Laxus wasn't sure he could beat her – but he was certain that he would beat her if it came down to it. They simply had no other choice. If Mercury was here, there was a non-zero chance that things would turn into an all-out fight, and if he wasn't here, they'd probably end up in one anyway. Laxus doubted they guild would take too kindly to people snooping around in their stuff.
"Bix, how many floors are there?" Laxus asked.
That was Bixlow's job – it always had been. With his special eyes that could see souls, he could make out how far the furthest one was, and estimate the distance from where they were standing.
He flipped up his visor, staring first at the ceiling, and then at the floor.
"Two above, and at least three below us," he said after a moment of staring. "Not too many people on the subfloors, but there's a shit ton above us."
"Probably more traders, right?" Evergreen asked.
Bix nodded. "Yep. Only a couple of them have used magic before. There's more mages below ground – probs only four or five strong ones, though."
Apparently, magic made a mark on the soul, and Bixlow, who could see souls, was able to tell whether or not someone was a mage. Cool, right? Laxus would never admit it, but he thought it was. And it came in handy when trying to assess whether someone was a threat or not.
"Downstairs it is," Laxus muttered.
Fried glanced towards the door that they'd come through. "Be careful, Laxus. We don't know what's going on down there." There were two more exits in the room, and all of the gathered members could tell which one led to the guildmaster's office; it was too nice, and held a thick, metal nameplate in the middle of it. The other one likely led to another hallway – the one that the receptionist had gone through, and that Laxus would soon be exiting.
"Just keep her distracted. I'd rather not have to sprint out of this place." Without bothering to expand on that statement, Laxus headed through the third door. He steeled himself.
As expected, it led to another hallway, almost identical to the one they'd just come through. The walls were made of a dark wood, and smelled heavily of cedar. Laxus would have sneezed if he hadn't been prepared for the overwhelming nature of it, but he had to wonder why they'd chosen such a fragrant wood for their building.
Perhaps it was a symbol of status? Wasn't cedar expensive? He vaguely remembered Mercury bitching when they'd destroyed a wooden castle of all things because it was made of the fragrant wood, claiming it would be a pain and a half to replace.
Whatever. Laxus didn't care – all he was worried about was making it towards the basement levels so that he could confirm whether or not said water mage was being held here. He didn't bother sprinting. Even if he wanted to – even god knew that the haste churning in his stomach was trying to make him run – the heavy sound of his footfalls would surely alert someone of his coming, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen.
(At least, that's what Mira had forced him to promise – that he wouldn't brazenly sprint up and down the halls to demolish anyone he saw. The ideal situation would be breaking in and out without anyone spotting him.)
(The odds of that happening, however…)
He was glad that the first hallway he chanced upon was empty. His plan, should he meet anyone, was to knock them out with a jolt of electricity, but the tension in Laxus's body told him he'd have a tough time controlling his strength.
If they were unlucky, he'd kill them.
Not that he actually cared about that in particular, but it would be a hassle later on if they were caught. These guys weren't technically dark guild members, so the Magic Council would throw a fit if any of them ended up dead.
The long hallway extended past four more meeting rooms, which were sparse in decorations; these seemed more like an internal place for guild members to meet, rather than one that was supposed to hold the important clientele that the guild boasted.
Laxus was even pretty sure he saw a sort of break room. It had a fridge, so that's what it had to be, right?
Nothing told him that this guild was anything less than the upstanding legal guild that it presented itself as until he reached the first subfloor. It had been guarded by a heavy door with a padlock when Laxus had approached it, but….
Oops. Somehow, it had broken when he got close. Shame.
The scent of harsh chemicals reached his nose, dredging up horrid memories of the time he'd spent before the operation that turned him into a dragon slayer, and the wooden walls were immediately replaced with stark white ones. Overhead, the lights became harsh and cruel. Laxus actually had to squint with how bright they were, reflecting against the walls.
Now, it looked a lot more like a hospital. The halls were labyrinthine in nature, twisting and turning in directions that Laxus couldn't decipher. It almost seemed like that was their true purpose – to trap any unsuspecting or unwanted visitors.
He pushed on.
The haste in his stomach quickly became overtaken by something else, though he couldn't put a name to the feeling. Something nostalgic thrummed in his body. Breathing in the sterile air made him feel like there was something there for Laxus, something he was missing just below the surface.
Inside the rooms just below the surface of the guild hall looked a lot more like they were dedicated to a research guild, which explained the hospital-like feeling. Instead of benches and lounges, Laxus spotted laboratory equipment and wooden stools; instead of doors that screamed, "open me!", the doors down here were harshly shut, and even wiggling on the doorknob on some of them didn't get them to budge. Laxus could only see within the rooms because each of the doors had a rectangular window on them.
For exactly what reason, Laxus didn't know. He was just glad that they let him scan the inside of each room before moving on. He'd have made a lot more noise if he had to bust down every door to check inside.
Towards the end of the hallway, the dragon slayer spotted his first person: a small, portly woman with a clipboard in her hand ascending from a stairway he hadn't even noticed. Her nose was down to the papers attached to the board. She lifted the first one, wrinkled her nose, then leafed through two more in quick succession, equally as disappointed in whatever was written. She was so distracted that she didn't even notice when Laxus hastily threw himself into the doorway next to him in an attempt to make good on his half-hearted promise to Mira. Thankfully, it was unlocked. The dragon slayer scanned whatever was inside briefly before crouching behind the door, underneath the window.
Actually, she wasn't even tall enough to see over the window, so he probably would have been fine either way. Her head barely went up to Laxus's hips.
When she shuffled past the door, Laxus let out a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He hadn't been caught yet. Sneaking around wasn't his specialty at all, though none of the ones who'd come with him could do it well, either.
(They were, however, much easier to hide than a 6'2 dragon slayer.)
Before Laxus could stand and leave, something tickled the dragon slayer's nose. He wasn't sure how he'd noticed it over the scent of formaldehyde and a mild, burning acid, but it drew him to it – the source being an open vial filled with a red liquid.
For a moment, Laxus could only stare, trying to figure out what felt so familiar about it.
On the bench were various other test tubes, all with lids clapped tightly over the top. This was the only one that had been left open. That probably meant that someone was going to be returning for it soon, but Laxus didn't rush to get out of the room; he was determined to figure out what was in it.
The label on it said, "IHMβ-serum," and a date that was marked with a date from two days ago. Did that mean it was collected then?
He brought it to his nose, uncaring if that left fingerprints on it. It was probably a bad idea to sniff what appeared to be an active experiment, but… the smell of it was bothering him. It shouldn't have been ticking the front of his brain like it was. Where had he smelled it before?
Underneath the harsh scent of coppery blood, the contents smelled… salty?
Laxus's blood chilled. He nearly dropped the glass in his hands, barely managing to slam it back into the test tube rack that it had been in previously.
The vial smelled salty.
Like the ocean.
Like the very person he was looking for.
Oh, god. Was that Mercury's blood?
The very thought made Laxus feel ill, but he knew it was time to move on, to go deeper into the guild's basements. He had to. This, coupled with the freezing cold sensation that Laxus had felt while under that girl's Life-Link was almost definitive proof that Mercury was somewhere within the confines of Alchemists's underground floors.
Laxus slammed through the door to the lab, not caring anymore if people heard him. He'd deal with them later, or he'd slam through them so fast that they had no time to see it coming. The anger that screeched through his veins was telling him that he needed to take him time with the members of the Alchemist guild – every last one of them.
Because he had been right. Oh, god, Laxus was right – and he'd never wished more in his life that he wasn't.
Whatever medication they'd been making hadn't been with Mercury's help, or even with his consent. Laxus remembered the stinging sensation on his wrist that the Life-Link had made him feel. He hadn't thought about it too much because there had just been too many other things floating around in his head, too many other sensations that had been infuriating to think about Mercury going through.
But what if they were needle pricks?
What if that's what Alchemist's miracle cure was made of – blood?
Fuck.
Laxus slammed through the doorway that the short woman had exited from, sprinting down the stairs two at a time. All of his caution had been thrown to the wind. Even if he didn't know where he was going, the dragon slayer was sure that he'd find what he was looking for somewhere on the two floors below the one he was currently on.
Doors rattled as he sprinted past them. He vaguely thought he heard people on the insides of labs on the second basement floor, but didn't give a fuck because his nose had finally caught the familiar scent of salt coming from deeper within.
It was so strong, so him that Laxus nearly choked on it. Something in the back of his throat felt like it had turned into a lump now that he was so close that he could literally smell it.
The second subfloor was filled much like the first one, with a much deeper chill. Or perhaps Laxus just had goosebumps thinking about the fact that he'd smelled Mercury's blood in a test tube like it was an experiment. Regardless, it seemed like the further he went on, the more inhumane the building felt; where the first subfloor had what looked like distilling equipment, the second one was filled with living things – rats, rabbits, a couple of birds, judging by the sound, and even a dog. Its howls shook the window of a private room before being cut abruptly short.
If the first subfloor was a hospital, the second was an asylum. Laxus was worried what he'd find on the third one, but he knew he couldn't let it deter him.
He soon realized that this floor was larger than the first one. Laxus wouldn't have been surprised to learn that it extended far beyond the reaches of the guild's actual hall and into the city with just how far it seemed to stretch. Each hallway he peered down, mere blurs as he sprinted, carried the scent of harsh chemicals and underground caverns. Cold, wet, and worst of all, a lingering layer of mildew, like water had been left out for far too long.
He raced to the next flight of stairs, almost surprised that he'd run into no one yet.
There, the scent of salt was the thickest. It was so clear that if Laxus closed his eyes, he might have been able to put himself at the beach – if not for the angry sound of someone's voice coming from just below. Too far away to make it out clearly, Laxus jumped from the top of the stairs to the very bottom.
The third subfloor was the most different of the three he'd been to so far.
Instead of endless-looking hallways, there was only a small, square room at the bottom of the stairs; the room itself had three other doors attached to it, one in each direction, and instead of the thin, locked ones that had been present on the earlier two floors, there were thick, metallic ones with several pads of locks on each one.
On either of Laxus's sides, the doors were tightly locked. He wouldn't be getting into either of those without just blowing the doors off their hinges. Only the one directly in front of him had been left slightly ajar – the one that the furious voice was coming from.
"You stupid fuck," someone was saying. Laxus heard the thud of something hard meeting flesh, a small, wet cough, and a groan that sounded like it came from someone who could hardly stay awake. Someone who was dying. "I had to suck up to those stupid fucking guildmates of yours, you know? How funny that they came here of all places. Sure hope they know anything they ask for is coming from you."
Laxus could hardly hear the response. It was so quiet that he could barely pick it up against the sound of his heartbeat thundering in his ear or the cackle of whoever was inside the room, but he'd heard the phrase about a billion times in his life. He'd recognize it anywhere just from the cadence of the voice saying it, the venom coming from it being just like the anger that had been directed at him before everything had gone to shit.
"Fuck you."
The door exploded underneath the might of the dragon slayer's magic, coming off the hinges as easily as though it were wet cardboard. He didn't care that his lightning gave off an angry blue glow, melting the door where his hands had made contact, didn't even notice that its properties had been altered by his anger – all Laxus could do was take in the sight of what was on the other side of the door.
Two sets of eyes stared up at him. One was confused, startled by the sudden intrusion and looking like he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. A kid with his hand in the cookie jar – if the cookie jar was a serrated throwing knife, and the "kid" a grown man. His eyes were caught wide. Laxus recognized him even in the dim light, smelled the thin scent of weed and smoke – it was the receptionist that had come to greet them. Jade, was it?
He had a splatter of blood staining his left cheek. His boots were stained too, as though he'd stepped in blood and hadn't bothered to wash it off. Laxus was pretty sure neither had been there when they'd seen him just a bit earlier, nor had the anger that resided in his eyeballs.
The other set of eyes in the room… their owner was fairly obvious, right?
Jade's shock wore off the second that the door clattered to the ground. The loud "clang!" as it slammed into the cobblestone underfoot made all three of the room's inhabitants flinch in surprise, but the receptionist was the first to react. He shifted into motion, turning his attention from the man he'd been harassing and towards the one that had just burst into the room.
Laxus was too busy staring with equally wide eyes at the man who'd been the target of Jade's attention. He felt rooted in place – either by shock or anger.
How could he? How could this bastard –
"You!" The knife in Jade's hand was diverted from its original target to Laxus, though it was too small to do any real damage. It attempted to stick itself into the dragon slayer's shoulder, but it wasn't thrown nearly hard enough. That, and electricity was coursing through his skin, dancing in his veins. He took a step forward before Jade had the chance to pull out another one.
Bright flickers of electricity brightened the room. The man in the corner flinched away from it, while Jade just cursed louder.
Part of Laxus whispered that he should take his time with this man, making sure that every inch of his body was marred with electrical burns before finally taking his life with the very knife he'd thrown at Laxus. He'd deserve it, too. For what he'd just done. For what his guild had done. But another part of him knew that death wasn't nearly enough. Not enough to satiate his rage, nor enough to free him from his anger – a death, no matter how painful, wasn't nearly enough to pay for their sins. Death was instantaneous. It only took a second before everything was over, which was far too short to pay for four years of misery.
The dragon slayer took another step forward before the man could take one of his own back. His hands found Jade's neck, and he squeezed. Not hard enough that it would crush his throat, but hard enough that no air would be able to get through.
"What the hell have you done?" Laxus shouted in the man's face as it quickly started to turn blue; he wouldn't let even a breath pass his lips.
"You – bastard…" Jade choked out. His eyes weren't fearful. They were angry, like all of this was Laxus's fault – he'd spent his time playing with his poor prisoner, using them as a dart board and making them suffer for fun, but it was all the dragon slayer's fault. Of course. Anything to blame anyone else, because what he'd done was just right – the natural course of the world.
For fuck's sake. Laxus would make sure the man was buried underneath tons of rubble long before he actually died.
Jade's hands desperately clenched around Laxus's, trying and failing to pry them off before a thin line of drool dragged from the corner of his mouth and he passed out. The dragon slayer didn't care that Jade's legs made a painful breaking sound as he dropped the unconscious man; he didn't' care how Jade crumpled, nose hitting the ground and blood leaping from it; he didn't even care that Jade's neck was marred with thick red and black burns with the imprint of his fingers. He'd be back for this man, but for now, there were more important matters to attend to.
More important people to attend to.
"Lax.. sus…"
The harsh light of the now-opened doorway only illuminated a strip of the room clearly, but it was enough for Laxus to see what was behind the door – to see who was behind the door.
He swallowed harshly.
Even his years of tearing through dark guilds hadn't prepared him to see this.
Obviously, the man behind the door was Mercury. The dragon slayer had come this far chasing the man, so it only made sense for him to be the "treasure" at the end of this ridiculous labyrinth. Laxus had been able to tell not just from the sound of his cursing, but also from the way his own head swam with the smell of brine and ocean just stepping into the room; it was overwhelming, and almost covered up the sickening smell of blood and feces that lingered.
Didn't fully prevent the dragon slayer from getting a whiff of it the moment he walked in, though. He felt positively sick – for as much as this guild seemed to be acting like Mercury was some sort of sick experiment, they didn't keep the room he was being held in particularly clean.
He could tell right away that Mercury was in a rough shape. The water mage was chained to the wall, wrists cuffed together and pinned far above his head, preventing him from moving or laying down.
Mercury was kneeling.
It was such a simple thing – one leg was up, the other down as if he'd been forced to a knee, but the mere sight of it had Laxus's hands twisting in rage. Mercury didn't kneel. He didn't fall. No matter what, he kept getting back up, even if a normal human would have died long ago.
And these bastards had made him do just that.
Mercury's shoulders were pulled back by the weight of his own body and yet held in place by the cuff pinning him to the wall. At least one of his shoulders had definitely been yanked out of its socket. It was the only way he could allow himself any rest. Laxus was more than familiar with how he'd been trussed up; dark guilds or slave traders did it all the time, aiming to wear out their prisoners long before the time to torture them came around. Mercury couldn't stand without damaging his arms and he couldn't lay down without doing the same.
All he could do was kneel, and Mercury certainly didn't have any strength left in his body to push against it. He hung limply, almost lifelessly. Those gray eyes of him were so pale, so tired, and Laxus could hardly even spot a pupil, as small as they were. He couldn't tell if it was a result of the light bursting in through the hallway or drugs in his system.
That wasn't the worst of it, either. Mercury's chest and feet were bare, leaving only his legs covered up. Laxus could see how mangled one of his feet was, looking like he'd stepped on glass, and he had no doubt the other was just as bad. His chest had heavy gashes, as though he'd recently been whipped. Neither had healed, despite that regeneration likely being what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. There was a reddish purple bruise forming on the right side of his upper stomach, where his ribs were, and even beyond that, there were three of those thin knives that Jade had been holding sticking out elsewhere. One right under Mercury's collarbone, one deep into one of his legs, and one deep into the middle of his chest.
It had pierced right next to where the blackening, rot-like mark had taken over. An inch to the left, and it would have ricocheted off the hard part of Mercury's chest.
Actually, Laxus noted as he rushed forward, his chest wasn't nearly the end of it. Inky black scars took up nearly the entire left half of Mercury's torso, with small lines of it caressing up past his collarbone and cheek like it was even in his veins. Even more were probably located underneath his threadbare pants, the only clothing that adorned his body.
The other half of his body was in an entirely different situation. Laxus still couldn't make out any skin — the remainder of it had been overtaken by multitudes of dull, gray scales. For a moment, he'd almost forgotten that Mercury wasn't human. The sight startled him. In the end, though, it meant nothing whether or not the water mage was human or not; Mercury was a part of Fairy Tail, and beyond that…
He was Laxus's best friend.
"Fuck," the dragon slayer hissed as he quickly tugged Mercury's hands free from the wall. The cuffs were certainly sturdy, but nothing that either of the men should have struggled with; Mercury definitely could have tugged them out of the wall by himself… But his body looked weakened. His skin was pale, and his cheeks were flushed. Was he sick…? His left eye was swollen shut, too, which must have been fairly recent if it was still unhealed.
"Laxus," Mercury repeated, sounding breathy. His right eye fluttered open, squinting against the light of the doorway. Laxus could tell that there was something wrong with his voice, but he'd have to put that aside for now. He let the man sink into his arms, maneuvering carefully to not press any of the blades further into the man's body.
The weight against his chest was light. Too light. He could feel the bony parts of Mercury that shouldn't have been there. His ribs, his arms, even his collarbone protruded almost as harshly as those blades that were still snugly digging into Mercury's skin.
"I'm here," Laxus replied. His own voice was tight – this wasn't how he imagined their first meeting after eight years would play out.
Against his chest, Mercury swallowed thickly. The dragon slayer couldn't see his face, with Mercury not even holding himself up, simply leaning into Laxus's shoulder like every ounce of strength had left his body. It occurred to Laxus that if they'd waited any longer, they may have been too late. He feared that the water mage was going to fall asleep right there. He knew that that was probably the worst thing that he could have done at that moment; if Mercury fell asleep, who knew if he'd wake up again.
… He already looked like he could be dead. A normal human would have already died long ago.
"Knew you'd come… eventually," Mercury eventually whispered right into Laxus's ear, so quietly that he may have just been breathing.
Yeah. It had been a long time, but Laxus had finally found him.
The dragon slayer shifted to try to get a look at Mercury's face, trying to ascertain what he should do next, but stopped when the man groaned into his ear. His eyes were now both squeezed shut, face twisted in pain. Laxus realized he'd nudged one of the blades – the one sticking into Mercury's thigh.
"... out… please – ugh."
Laxus could not bear to hear how much pain Mercury was in. The sound of it was like a knife to his own chest, something he wouldn't be able to forget any time soon. With another groan, Mercury's body tensed more, trembling. Pale, clammy hands fumbled towards his legs as the water mage forced his hands around the knife in his thigh, unable to pull it out, as slick with his own blood as it was.
Laxus knew he'd be in pain, but to hear it was heart wrenching. The man in his arms would never beg for anything, and yet there he was, practically crying into Laxus's shoulder. No, Laxus realized, feeling how his neck was damp, Mercury was crying.
Was it relief, or was it pain?
Laxus knew Mercury like they were brothers. He tanked hits like it was nothing; the man's fighting style was practically suicidal, and he'd taken so many blows meant for other people like it was nothing. He'd never complained about pain as anything other than a joke. Once, Laxus had thought that nothing would phase him other than that past that he kept running from.
But the man in his arms was clearly at his limit.
Who knew how long he had been like this? How close he was to going past the point of no return?
Laxus obliged Mercury's request, pulling out the three little knives. Thick chunks of flesh came out with them – they were made to not come free easily, to hurt. Mercury's chest became a dull, muddy red, the shade mixed with the gray of his scales and that black part of his stomach. The pants he was wearing, if you could even call it that, went from beige to bright, crimson red, and Laxus could see the skin underneath was dirty and bruised.
Mercury's shoulders slumped in relief when he finished pulling out the last one. Only then was Laxus able to pull back a little bit, using his arms to brace the man and get a good look at his face. He couldn't say that it was a relief to be seeing it. Not when it was in so much pain. Not when one of his eyes was stuck shut, and the other one was struggling hard to remain open the way it was.
"Those bastards…" Laxus would destroy this guild. He'd tear it apart, starting with that small man who was still lying unconscious behind them and ending it with that bastard guildmaster of theirs.
But first, he had to get Mercury the hell out of here.
"I'm going to pick you up," Laxus narrated, moving slowly. That's what you were supposed to do in this situation, right? His arms wrapped around Mercury's back and lower body, not missing how the man hissed in pain once more when his hip was touched. "Think you can stay awake long enough to get to a hospital?"
"... No."
"How about until we get outside?"
His voice was growing fainter by the moment. "Can… try."
That was going to have to be good enough for now. It had already been nearly half an hour since Laxus had departed from Mira's group, and he wasn't sure whether or not his absence had been noted by the guildmaster or not. She probably wasn't the type to let that kind of thing out of her notice.
Not that he cared. Laxus would take her down with his bare hands if he needed to – but knowing Mira, if it came down to it, that woman would be more than enough to handle a mere guildmaster.
With a small, unnecessary grunt, Laxus lifted Mercury into his arms. The water mage surely would have died of embarrassment if he'd been in any state to see that he was being carried around like a princess, but he was too out of it to care. That, and the carry seemed to aggravate one of his scarcely-healing wounds. He flinched under Laxus's hands.
"Ribs… fucked," he murmured. It was just loud enough that Laxus could hear him. "Hip, too."
That wasn't a good sign, but Laxus had been expecting something of the sort. Jade had probably done it; the dragon slayer recalled hearing the sound of it happening not long before entering the room.
Jade… had likely been using the man as some sort of stress relief. He'd been frustrated by the appearance of Fairy Tail and wanted to take it out on someone else, and who better than a man who was tied up in the guild's basement?
Laxus had to wonder if that was a common occurrence. It certainly seemed like it was.
When the two reached the harsh lights of the hallway, Mercury's eyes screwed themselves shut. He groaned again.
"You okay?"
"Bright…" Mercury said like he was a teenager who'd been forced to get out of bed too early.
Just how long had he been in that dark room? Dimly, Laxus remembered the man mentioning that the ocean he'd lived in had been particularly dark, but he hadn't thought that it meant he was entirely unable to see on the surface at first.
"Bear with me. I'll be as fast as possible," Laxus tried to soothe.
He wasn't very good at it.
Their relationship had never included comforting words on his part; most of the sentences he'd used with the water mage's name had been accompanied with the word "bastard," or some other derogatory phrase – that's just how Laxus talked to the people he cared about. He wasn't used to being the one telling others it was alright. That was Evergreen's job, and if not her, it was Fried's; even Bixlow was better at it than he was.
But it would have to do for now; there wasn't much else he could do.
Laxus rushed up the stairs that he'd just come down, leaving the unconscious Jade where he was, crumpled on the floor. Above him, the ceiling rumbled.
… Surely that wasn't a good sign?
As if on cue, alarms started ringing in the second subfloor hallway. The white lights shifted to a brilliant red, dyeing everything within it crimson while the voice of someone speaking on an intercom thrummed in the hallway. Laxus hadn't noticed the lights or the speakers at first, but it was now impossible not to.
"Attention, all guild members. Intruders have been detected on subfloor two and in the main hall. Please remain calm, and, at your earliest convenience, assist in the subduing of the intruders. Additionally, subject IHM-beta has been removed from confinement; please prioritize returning it to its room."
At least it seemed calm, but Laxus's hands trembled at the way they referred to Mercury as an "it." In his arms, Mercury must have heard it, too – if he was even awake enough to do so. Though his neck had gone limp and his head lolled around against Laxus's shoulder, he tried to open his right eye once more, squinting up at the dragon slayer's face.
"Fuckers," the water mage muttered.
Laxus agreed entirely.
Based on the way that the alert had mentioned the main hall, it was clear that Mira and the Thunder God Tribe had been outed as well. It was likely that they were the source of the rumbling he'd heard earlier. Actually, Laxus wouldn't be surprised if Mira had already started to take on Alchemist's guildmaster.
That woman was more terrifying than anything else in the world.
Drawn in by the alert, several Alchemist guild members rushed from their laboratories to see what was going on. When they spotted the blonde carrying what had been "subject IHM-beta," it was clear that they were caught between actually engaging the two and running away in fear; Laxus's face wasn't unrecognizable, and it sounded like the guild had actually watched the Grand Magic Games. They all knew who he was.
Only the stupid or the brash would dare approach Laxus. Especially with how mad he was.
"Scram!" He shouted, beginning his sprint down the hall. It took a second for them to respond, their response almost perfectly halved; about half of them slammed their own doors shut, while the rest surged out to attempt to stop him.
Just his luck that there were suicidal people in this stupid guild.
There wasn't much he could do in the way of electrical attacks with Mercury in his arms, lest he risk shocking the man. For dragon slayer magic, Laxus had a breath attack he could unleash, but the risk wasn't much better, so he thought it better to rely on hand-to-hand combat as much as he could.
It wasn't hard. These were researchers, not mages; most hadn't tried to do anything other than sit at their desks for ages. They went down with a kick at most, sometimes a palm to the back of the neck.
All less that they deserved, but Laxus was in a rush. He tried his best to memorize their faces for later.
The first person he came upon that didn't go down so quickly was another woman – she had frizzy red hair that was almost the same length as Mercury's had been. Instead of hesitating at the sight of Laxus, she shouted at him – "Hey, drop that!"
Like hell he was going to.
With a growl, Laxus lunged forward towards the woman. He anticipated that she was a mage from the way that she held her ground, allowing him to get in close.
What he didn't anticipate was the pillar of fire that erupted around her.
The dragon slayer was forced to jump back to avoid being scorched – or more importantly, to avoid letting the man in his arms take the hit at all. He spun around, pivoting on a foot to avoid a second blast that would have taken up the space that he'd been occupying a second ago.
For someone who thought of Mercury as a test subject, this woman didn't seem to care much about whether he got burned up or not.
Into Laxus's ear, Mercury began to whisper. It was almost too quiet to hear above the sound of crackling flames. "Uses fire magic," he muttered. "Weaker Natsu."
Laxus nodded, trusting the water mage completely. He moved forward with a speed that had Mercury groaning again, apologizing internally but determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. He moved first towards the wall, baiting the woman into targeting the wall. Fire leapt over Laxus's head, leaving her wide open – he slammed a foot into her stomach.
She flew backwards.
Perhaps Laxus had used a bit too much force…?
"You…" she grumbled, fighting to stand, clutching her ribs. "You're just trying to take a valuable sample like that? I didn't know that Fairy Tail played so dirty."
Laxus was getting really tired of people referring to his friend as an item.
"I'll tell you this just once," he ground out, shoving his foot into her chest. "If you fuck with Fairy Tail, you're going to have to pay the price."
With that, he turned and continued his way up the stairs.
There were two more mages at the top of the stairs, both just as strong as the woman he'd just taken down – meaning, "not very." Mercury whispered into his ears what magic they used – some sort of wind enchant magic and a type of steel-based magic – as well as the fact that they were technically S-Class mages. How Mercury knew was another matter entirely, but the dragon slayer assumed he'd picked up the information from being within the guild hall.
And he didn't want to consider it any further than that. At least, he wouldn't yet.
Laxus laughed cruelly as he took them both out. Perhaps they'd be considered S-Class mages among the weaklings that made up this shitty guild, but compared to real strength like Laxus's, they were nothing.
Finally, the lightning dragon slayer came to what appeared to be the last obstacle in his way – a tall, spindly looking man that looked thin enough for Laxus to be able to blow him over with his breath alone. His hair was shaggy and poofed out, and combined with a pair of glasses that had obviously been fixed with tape several times, the man looked like a massive fucking nerd.
Mercury didn't have any information on this man.
Or maybe he did, and he just couldn't bring himself to say it because he was too busy clawing at his throat like he couldn't breathe.
"Merc, you okay?" Laxus asked with urgency.
It was clear that he wasn't; Mercury's face looked panicked, a dark green circle having appeared around his neck that hadn't been there moments before. Between the gills on his neck appearing to spasm and the way that his fingernails were digging into his throat, drawing blood, Laxus had no choice but to turn his attention away from the new adversary that had appeared.
Fuck, what was happening?
Mercury began to thrash when it was obvious that it wasn't mere shortness of breath – and Laxus realized when the man was starting to frantically mouth words without being able to speak that it wasn't going to go away anytime soon, either. In a last ditch effort, Mercury slammed his finger in an accusatory manner towards the man at the end of the hall.
Was this his doing…?
"Yes," the man said as though reading Laxus's mind. "I will not be releasing the seal unless you allow me to retrieve the specimen."
"You'll kill him!"
He tilted his head as though confused. "It will not die from something as simple as asphyxiation."
This bastard –!
Laxus's only choice was to defeat him before Mercury passed out from lack of air. Even if he claimed that the water mage would be fine, it wasn't a risk that Laxus was willing to take.
Frantically – god, when had Laxus become someone who did things "frantically"? – the lightning dragon slayer closed the twenty feet of distance between himself and the man; when he approached, he could pick out the finer details of this scraggly-looking man – specifically, the name tag that was affixed to his white lab coat.
'Kipsa, Head Researcher,' it read.
Before Laxus could get close enough to swipe at "Kipsa," something snagged his right arm, pulling it away from his body – and sending the man who had been in his arms tumbling to the ground without the balance the second limb had provided. The force damn near pulled Laxus's own arm out of its socket too, but he ignored it. His attention was split between Kipsa and Mercury, who collapsed on the ground. He writhed around despite the pain that the movement was causing, but couldn't so much as make a sound other than that of skin slapping the floor. Kipsa, on the other hand, stared down at the two men like they were beneath him.
Laxus hated that.
He hated being viewed as less than someone else, hated the way people around him looked down on him with that look in their eyes.
But most of all, he hated the fact that there was nothing he could do about something that was right in front of him.
Laxus whipped his head around to see that his wrist had been entangled with a green magic circle much like the one that had appeared on Mercury's throat. It squeezed tightly, painfully. No matter how much he pulled, Laxus couldn't get his arm to move even an inch. The magic had fixed the limb in place where it was, pinning it against empty space.
It really was Kipsa's doing.
Seeing as Laxus was now unable to move, though, the head researcher lightened up the magic restricting Mercury's breathing, allowing the man to take the shallowest of breaths – just enough that he wouldn't pass out on the floor. He still couldn't move, though. Even with his breath returned, Mercury's chest heaved, audibly panting, gasping. Shaking hands formed tight fists that rested against the floor, shaking from the effort of even staying awake.
"Laxus Dreyar," Kipsa said, staring down his nose. His voice seemed more robotic now, lacking any sort of emotion that should have been present in a human being. "I did not take you to be interested in the way of regenerative medicine."
"I don't give a fuck about medicine," the dragon slayer agreed. He tugged and tugged and tugged against his arm until his shoulder was screaming in pain. Any more, and he'd definitely tug it out of the socket.
"Then why bother trying to obtain our most valuable sample? It has no use outside of providing us with the basis for the medications we make."
"You bastard," Laxus growled. "He's not a sample. He's a person."
Kipsa tilted his head again, confused. "It's not. IHM-beta is not even human, therefore it cannot be a person."
"You think I give a shit? He's more human than you are, glasses bastard."
"No. You're being illogical. Think of it like –"
"I –" Laxus slammed electricity through his arm, forcing it to throb against the pull of whatever spatial magic held it in place. " – don't care how people like you think."
He could feel the band weakening. Overwhelming it with his own magic seemed to be his best bet for now, at least until he could get closer to the one casting it. Even if it was scorching his own skin, Laxus kept at it, sending another bolt towards his own fist.
"Hmm… Perhaps I should study you, too," Kipsa said after a long silence filled with only the sound of crackling lightning and quiet gasps. "It might be interesting to see what a dragon slayer looks like on the inside."
"Back off. I ain't letting you near me with that creepy-ass look of yours."
"It's not like I am giving you a choice –" Kipsa said, only to flinch, shocked as Laxus's arm finally broke free. It was smoking slightly, but he had a natural resistance to electricity and lightning; the arm would heal soon enough.
"I hold the life of IHM in my hands. Are you sure you wish to attack me right now?"
True to his words, Mercury flinched again, and his breathing stopped once more. His mouth hung open limply. Laxus noted how the man seemed to be trying to do his best to remain still despite the terror that filled his eyes – he was trying not to worry the dragon slayer again.
What an idiot he was. Laxus was going to be worried regardless.
"I just have to beat you before it comes down to that, don't I?"
.
.
.
Elsewhere, things were just as chaotic.
Mira hadn't intended to do any fighting today. If things had gone well, they'd be in and out before Renee Staleback even finished with her meeting, leaving the woman to wonder where her potential business partner had gone.
But this was Fairy Tail – nothing ever went as planned.
She let Laxus go off on his own into the basements because she knew he was the most worried of any of them, even if he'd never admit it. In truth, she was just as worried. Losing seven years of her life had never been in her plans, but coming back to realize that Mercury had disappeared within that time was terrifying. It was as though something had been taken from her once more – this time, instead of her sister, it may as well have been her brother for how much she trusted the water mage.
So she'd allowed Laxus to go off on his own. If anyone could find Mercury, it would be him.
That was her mistake, though.
Soon after he'd left, Alchemist's guildmaster had suddenly become available as though the man they'd paid to take up her time was never there in the first place. Mira doubted he'd been bought off. It was more likely that Renee Shaleback had sensed something was fishy and decided to cut off the meeting preemptively.
As Mira's luck would have it, both she and Renee found themselves sitting across from each other in the guildmaster's office. It was much nicer than Fairy Tail's office had ever been. Even when their own guild's office was perfectly clean, papers filed away neatly and alcoholic guildmaster removed, it could never compare to the plush seats and fine wood that made up the furniture in Renee's office.
Mira hated it.
She hated the woman in front of her from the moment she'd sauntered into the Take-Over mage's vision.
Something about her was so fake that Mira almost couldn't stand it. It was worse than the receptionist, Jade, that they'd just said farewell to less than ten minutes ago. Renee's smile almost reached her eyes, but once Mira realized that the rest of her face remained stiff, her perfect smile didn't look so perfect anymore.
It was perfect for tricking merchants into deals… but it wouldn't work on someone who'd been seeing through lies and deceit since she was twelve.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Shaleback," Mira greeted when she was welcomed into the office. She allowed the remainder of the Fairy Tail mages to stay behind, waving them off; she was certain she could deal with whatever came next.
"Oh, no need to call me that. Just call me Renee, and I'll call you Mira. That's what your friends call you, right?"
Mira didn't question how she knew that.
It seemed that Renee was quite the Fairy Tail fanatic; according to the receptionist, she'd been engrossed in the competition that the guild had just won, and she acted like she knew everything about the guild itself.
Mira allowed herself to be seated in the extra plush chair. Inexplicably, her own chair was a couple of inches shorter than the guildmaster's, giving the appearance that Renee was much taller than Mira, when in reality it was the opposite.
Psychological warfare, was it? The way the chairs were lined up made Renee seem so tall and imposing. Fortunately, Fairy Tail had their own reminder that height meant nothing in regards to power or character; their own guildmaster barely reached Mira's knee, and he was the most morally sound man that she knew.
"I appreciate that you've prepared time for us, Renee," Mira said. Consciously, she pressed her lips into a delicate smile.
"Oh, of course I would make time for the current most popular guild in Fiore! Especially if we can come out of this with a deal — one that benefits both of us, of course."
Right. Fairy Tail would definitely be coming out of this with something, that was for certain. Mira would prefer to walk out with a certain water mage than any sort of business partnership, after all.
"Our guildmaster is very interested in the purchase of some of your guild's potions. He was very apologetic that he couldn't make it to this meeting — something came up within the Magic Council regarding the transferring of guildmaster titles several times so quickly, and you know how the Council is."
Renee laughed. "That, I do; they've never been ones to let their authority slip. I'm sure that Makarov's return has them shaking in their boots over there."
Mira didn't like how familiarly Renee used their guildmaster's name very much. She let out a sigh — one that wasn't entirely fake.
"Yes, they've been bugging us ever since we won the Grand Magic Games. Our guild's been quite far behind on paperwork for the last seven years. Apparently, their grace only goes so far, and now that everyone's back, they want everything filed away all at once," Mira said. Only part of that was a lie; their official paperwork was actually in pretty good order, all things considered. Macao had been doing a great job in the last four years, and before that, the role had supposedly been Mercury's.
Her heart ached at the thought of him. Part of her hoped that he was here, rather than somewhere else, because that meant that they could find him quickly, and everything would be over soon.
On the other hand, if he was here… Mira was sure it wasn't as a willing collaborator.
"Right! Your miraculous return to the land of the living. I've been wondering how that happened. Seven years, and you haven't changed a bit. It's almost like you time-traveled!"
Well, Mira supposed, that actually wasn't far from the truth.
"Were you a Fairy Tail fan back then too, Renee?" The Take Over mage probed.
"Yes! I've been a fan for ages. I wanted to join when I was younger, you know? But I'm much better suited to the merchant life than that of a guild mage. I'd never be able to get up to as much trouble as your guild does. Just thinking about being in a position that would give the Council reason to use their secret weapon on us gives me chills, even if it was overkill."
How much did Renee Shaleback know about the events of Tenrou Island?
Mira knew that the Magic Council had interfered in their S-Class trials, but honestly, their reaction wasn't entirely unfounded. Overkill, yes, as Renee had said, yet almost reasonable.
That black dragon that had attacked the island – Acnologia – was something that the Take Over mage would rather not meet again. Its presence had been terrifying like nothing she'd ever felt before. Even facing down the demon that she'd thought took the life of her little sister hadn't been nearly as terrifying as looking up at that thing as it prepared to wipe out Tenrou Island and everything that was on it.
If Etherion had been able to even scratch the dragon, maybe the Magic Council's actions would have been reasonable.
But it hadn't.
All it had done was nearly destroy the island, adding yet another thing to the ever-growing list of reasons that Mira had to dislike the Magic Council.
"It was quite the ordeal," she said noncommittally.
"I was planning on sending on some assistance to Fairy Tail to help in the search, but our guild wasn't nearly as large as it is now back then. Plus, our sponsor was directly against it, so…"
"I understand," Mira smiled. "Bureaucracy these days is…"
"Messy," Renee finished.
She had to wonder who exactly their "sponsor" was. Maybe they hadn't wanted to help Fairy Tail because it would have been a waste, or perhaps they'd had other reasons to withdraw their aid.
What were the odds that this sponsor was one of the people that Fairy Tail now knew was backing the Alchemist guild? One of the ones responsible for halting the investigation of the supplements they were producing.
Quite large, probably. Mira's blood boiled at the thought.
But, as long as Mira could keep the conversation flowing, she'd engage in wherever the talks took them. The less she had to come up with, the smaller the chances of Renee calling her out for just wasting time.
"Anyway," said Renee. She checked her watch – a large, gaudy thing that took up at least two inches of her wrist. "Let's get down to business. I have another meeting coming up in half an hour, and Jade will have my head if I'm not prepared."
"He seems a bit high-strung," Mira commented.
"I know, right! I've been trying to get him to take a vacation for months now, but he always refuses," she sighed deeply, putting a hand against her cheek. "He used to be so much worse, though. We've developed some great stress-relief methods for employees in the last couple of years, and it's helped everyone out a lot. If we can come to a deal, maybe I'll let you in on the secret," Renee finished with a wink.
"Interesting. I'm sure Fairy Tail could use something for stress relief. Everyone's been so worked up after the games."
Outside the office, Mira heard the sounds of people talking. The door was thick enough that the details of the conversation were lost on her, but she could tell that the voices didn't belong to any of the Thunder God Tribe.
Renee either didn't hear them, or didn't care enough to comment on them.
"What kind of partnership does Fairy Tail intend to form with Alchemist?" Renee questioned. She leaned forward in her chair, leaning on her elbows.
Mira had talked with people in the job of selling things enough to know that this was her shift into a serious conversation; Renee's body went from relaxed to almost tense, shoulders tilted forward in a way that denoted her interest in the topic. Gone was the kind smile. In its place was a straight-faced stare, lips pressed together tightly. She wanted something out of Mira, despite the fact that there was little Fairy Tail could provide outside of funding.
"We'd like to secure a continuous supply of one of your prescriptions. There were a lot of rumors going around Crocus about a medicine that can heal any wound, so when we got back, we did a little bit of research into it, which led us to you," Mira explained.
"You must be referring to IHM. That's what we call it internally, anyway; to our clients, we usually just call it a 'regeneration potion.' They really like anything with the word 'potion' attached to it."
"Does it really heal all wounds?" Mira asked.
"Anything short of death, yes. As long as they've got an ounce of life left in their body, whoever drinks it will be good as new within the hour. We're especially proud of it – the experimental process took a long time to make sure it was non-toxic and non-cancerous."
Mira shivered.
"But," Renee continued, ignoring the Take-Over mage's discomfort, "all of those barriers have been cleared, and it's perfectly safe to consume, even in high doses. The amount required to fully heal is directly proportional to how bad the wounds are. For a scratch, all you'd need is a couple of drops, but for a near-fatal wound, you might need two or three servings, depending on the size of who is using it."
"I see," Mira said.
It had been cancerous? That was news to Mira; perhaps it hadn't been made in some way related to Mercury after all.
Then again, it wasn't like she knew all that much about the man in the first place, and she'd certainly never tried to ask him about how his healing had worked. She'd assumed it to be based on an innate magic of some kind, like her Take Over. Healing magic was, after all, a Lost magic. Only Mercury and Wendy had access to anything like it.
"You seem less eager now, Mira," Renee commented. "I assure you – it's perfectly safe. We've tested it in enormously large doses, and it's never caused any sort of reaction, even if whoever was using it wasn't injured in the slightest."
"I don't doubt you," Mira explained. Well, she did doubt Renee, even if it was just on principle. "I was just concerned about how it's made. I've never heard of something that can regenerate that strongly other than demons."
And, of course, Mercury.
"Obviously, I can't give any hints as to how it's made – my associates and researchers would have my head – but I'll say that the development process didn't include anything of that nature. It's not anything that's technically alive."
The way that she emphasized "technically" did not reassure Mira in the slightest.
"I can't provide you a sample at the moment, either. We've just sold our latest batch and we'll need to wait for a new one to be made. I'd be more than willing to move Fairy Tail up near the top of the waitlist, though. The issue that we're currently trying to work around with further batches is to make it last longer; as it is, the ethernano particles in it will dissipate within five or so days if it's removed from the source."
"That would make a continuous supply difficult then, I assume?" Mira asked.
Renee nodded. Her face remained serious, though she'd tilted her head to the side. If the Take Over mage didn't know any better, she'd assume that Alchemist's guildmaster was listening to something else that she couldn't hear.
Well, stranger things had happened.
Mira just wondered what she was listening to.
"Yes. At most, we'd be able to guarantee a supply just after people are injured. It's impossible to store for very long, but our guild would be willing to offer a sort of subscription service for it."
"Subscription service…?"
"Every month, Fairy Tail would pay a certain amount of money to be at the top of the waitlist, should they need any. Think of it like insurance."
"That would be disadvantageous, though. Why would we be paying for something that we aren't sure that we'll need? We'd rather just have a doctor on standby."
Actually, researching the Lost art of healing would probably have been more cost-effective. They had Wendy, anyway – though the young girl couldn't heal everyone, if anything particularly serious happened, she was extremely reliable.
And the girl had just been part of the Grand Magic Games. The odds of Renee knowing that were quite high.
"It's the only way to guarantee a product if you were to need it. The demand for IHM is quite high right now, and we're unlikely to be able to produce large amounts until we get over the hurdle of how quickly it loses effectiveness. In a sense, the funding provided by Fairy Tail will be what pushes us forward to achieve that. Once we get around that issue, I'll make sure that the conditions are more favorable for your guild as a result. None of our shareholders would be able to argue against it if Fairy Tail is also a shareholder."
"And if you never manage to increase its longevity?"
Renee didn't bother pretending like that would be a bad option for her. This medication that her guild was making was going to forcibly take over the market – anyone would want it, from doctors, to politicians and mercenaries. She didn't need to propose a deal that was favorable to the other side.
"You'll still have a guaranteed supply if you need it."
No matter what, Renee Shaleback was going to come out of this on top… Unless Fairy Tail hadn't wanted to make a deal with her in the first place.
"Alright," Mira's smile reappeared on her face. She hadn't noticed that it had faded – maybe back when she thought about Mercury again? "I've been given the authority to purchase some today, but it sounds like that's not an option. I'll have to talk to our Master before agreeing to anything with a contract."
"Understandable. In the meantime, I'd love to show you some of our other stock – but it looks like my time is almost up, too."
"I think this conversation has been rather productive," Mira said, standing after Renee did. This was as far as she could take the conversation – from here on, Laxus would have to be quick. Once the discussion was over, Mira and the Thunder God Tribe wouldn't have any reason to stay within the building to be able to provide backup if he needed it.
"Yes! I'm excited! It's not every day you get to meet one of your idols in the flesh," Renee practically squealed, done with her "serious" attitude now that they'd come to a tentative agreement.
"You're too kind, Renee."
The guildmaster looked guilty, like a child about to ask something they knew would get them scolded for. "... Would it be too much to ask for an autograph?"
"Unfortunately, I've been told to refrain for the moment by my manager. They want me to come back to Sorcerer Weekly once things settle down."
That was a lie, too. Mira just couldn't justify signing something for a woman who was so visibly fake.
"What about Laxus Dreyar? Think he'll give me one?"
Mira laughed – the first genuine one to come from her mouth since entering the guild hall.
"No, he's rather grumpy about autographs. You'd be better off asking for one from Erza than him." Though she was just as likely to sign something given to her by the person they thought was responsible for holding their friend captive.
"Aw, I wanted to get an autograph from someone brave enough to go galavanting through my labs like they're trying to steal away our research."
Mira knew right away they'd been caught.
How, she didn't know. All that mattered was that Renee's aura had shifted from an inquisitive and playful one to that of someone who was pissed.
Well, Mira's did the same. If Renee was going to reveal that she knew exactly what was going on, then Mira had no reason to pretend otherwise either.
"So you've caught on, then? He's not going to take anything that belongs to you, don't worry," she said, allowing magic to flow through her limbs. Renee did the same – and suddenly, the small office wasn't nearly large enough to contain the two women.
"Yeah? He's running off with our most valuable test subject right now, you know? Is Fairy Tail condoning this sort of thing?"
"If it's Laxus, then what he's carrying isn't a test subject."
It was definitely related to Mercury in some way.
"Okay," Renee said. Instead of speaking anymore, she turned back to her desk, reaching underneath it. Mira heard the sound of a button depressing. In moments, the room had gone from cozy to flaring with red lights, the sound of a siren wailing through speakers that Mira hadn't spotted before.
"That's a bit overkill, isn't it?" She asked sweetly.
Renee Shaleback glowered back at her, still smiling. "We take research fraud very seriously here in Alchemist. The number of people who have tried to run off with guild secrets is high… but the number who have actually managed to get away with it has always been zero."
The siren blared louder before breaking into the voice of a woman who announced that there were intruders in both the main hall and down on one of the basement floors. It requested for the employees to engage the intruders and return "subject IHM-beta."
Mira knew then what had happened.
Subject IHM-beta shared a name with the "potion" that Alchemist was producing, the one that induced regeneration, and Laxus was running away with it. The only thing Laxus came here for was Mercury – and therefore "IHM" was likely both the source of the medicine and Mercury.
Bastards. All of them.
Mira wouldn't be satisfied if every member of the Alchemist guild didn't break every bone in their scrawny, kidnapping bodies.
'Not alive,' Renee had said of the medication's source; they didn't see him as "alive." They likely didn't see him as human, either; as a living, breathing creature that could feel pain and emotion just the same as them.
They wouldn't be getting away with this. Without another word, Mira shifted into her Satan Soul.