Laxus had had just enough of this guy.

It wasn't like Kipsa was particularly strong; in fact, he was sure it was the opposite. The research lead was scrawny like he hadn't eaten a proper meal in months and subsisted on caffeine alone as a form of energy. His eyes were deep and sunken. The man's arms twitched somewhat erratically.

In a way, he didn't look that different from Mercury. They both looked like they hadn't seen the sun in their entire lives with just how paper-like their skin was – something that made Laxus's stomach churn. Just how long...?

No, there was no time to think about that; he needed to get out of here before Mercury actually passed out, and it wasn't looking like he had much time to make sure that didn't happen.

The only thing that Laxus's adversary had going for him was that he could restrict the dragon slayer's movement. That was it – no strong spells, no hand-to-hand combat. Just grabbing Laxus's limbs before he had a chance to get close enough to blast him away.

And it wouldn't have even been an issue if a choking water mage hadn't been accidentally tossed between them.

Maybe it was intentional. Kipsa had already threatened Laxus with Mercury's life. It was rather obvious that Laxus cared deeply for the former test-subject, even though they'd only had a conversation lasting about one minute.

The first person that Laxus wanted to demolish was still Jade, but Kipsa was easily a close second.

"Just give it up, Dreyar," he said while two of his freaky little magic bands grabbed at Laxus's arms, pulling them apart painfully. "The benefits of IHB greatly outweigh the life of an animal, even if it has the capability for rationality. Are you trying to take that away?"

"Yes." Laxus broke out of the magical binds once more, scorching his own skin with electricity. They were easy enough to shatter. Just the sheer number of them was what made it somewhat difficult; every time Kipsa managed to form another one around his wrist, he started adding more – first one, then two, until Laxus's arms were full of green, tattoo-like circles.

"I don't understand."

"And I don't give a shit – get back here!"

Kipsa had taken to forming those magic circles on Mercury's body, too, pulling the mostly-unconscious man across the floor towards him while Laxus was briefly unable to move. The water mage's face scrunched up, though his eyes were no longer open.

He looked like shit. Laxus's stomach was filled with whirling anxiety, but it was quickly overtaken by the rage that flowed through his body.

Perhaps anger wasn't all that bad if it meant he could focus only on the task in front of him for the moment.

Another set of bands formed around Laxus's abdomen. Instead of staying in a fixed place, they dragged him backwards to or three feet before he could get them off.

God, this guy –

"Despite caring so deeply for the life of a test subject, you're quite unwilling to give up when it's in danger," Kipsa said emotionlessly. Laxus couldn't see his face from behind a wall of shaggy blue hair, half lopped off and half remaining long.

He was now using Mercury as a shield.

Despite the researcher's strength being piss poor, those bands of his were great for doing the heavy lifting. Mercury's body was light, but still unwieldy. It would have been tough to lift an unconscious, fully grown man, let alone pull him up to block attacks, but Kipsa was doing so, and without even a hint of remorse.

"IHB will lead the world to salvation. With it, there will be no need for injuries or death – why do you try to derive it from its purpose?"

"For the last goddamn time, he's not an 'it,' and he's going to die if you keep this up!"

"We will find a way around that soon enough. The world wishes to see this project fulfilled; it will surely provide us a solution eventually."

Laxus knew there was going to be no convincing this guy. He was insane – but, then again, anyone who messed with Fairy Tail had to be at least a little messed up in the head. There was no way they'd have kidnapped Mercury if the majority of the guild hadn't been gone. They wouldn't have been able to. It was their disappearance that had allowed this, and Laxus wasn't going to fail Mercury again.

He knew better than to try to hit the researcher through the water mage. Perhaps during their time in the Thunder God Tribe he might have – Mercury would have pushed for it, even – but Laxus wasn't going to risk more damage. Not at this point. Not when he wasn't sure whether or not Mercury was alive right now.

Overhead, the ground shook. The dragon slayer could make out the screams of people ahead, as well as the shouting of guild members and merchants alike; the chaos let him know that, above ground, his own guildmates were facing the same threat. Whether it was Mira or his Thunder God Tribe, Laxus didn't know.

He didn't even bother hoping that they'd be alright; he knew they would be. This guild was nothing, and it would fall.

Laxus flared his magic power, allowing electricity to overtake his body; any binds still on him burst into the air, fading immediately. Kipsa made a disappointed sound, but the dragon slayer ignored it.

He directed his lightning towards the ceiling.

The head researcher seemed to get his plan the moment before he did it. While a spear of electricity shot out of his mouth and towards the roof above their heads, more circles appeared on his body to the point that any clear skin had practically disappeared entirely. Laxus was a mass of green magic. Even his face and throat hadn't been spared. Like Mercury, he choked on nothing. It squeezed so tightly that he was almost worried that it might take his head off his neck with it.

And when he called for his magic, nothing came.

Kipsa's voice reached Laxus's ears. It was muffled, but clear enough that his words were audible. "You've been trapped in a magic-sealing barrier. Even you will not be able to burn away these ones so easily when there is nothing to burn them with," he explained.

Thanks for the exposition, fuckass.

Laxus struggled around the binds. They didn't move or shift – nothing in his body did, or even could. He could feel the way that they clung tightly directly to his skin, pressing his arms painfully into his sides and his knees together. His nose and mouth were covered, too, so even if he'd been able to get his throat to expand at all, he'd still be shit out of luck. With all of his might, he tried to move his right arm.

Nothing budged.

Fuck.

With a small increase in panic – not because he was scared, but because the lack of oxygen was hitting him quickly – Laxus began to attempt to wriggle free. No matter how hard he tried, he was still immobile.

This isn't it. I'm not going to allow it all to end like this.

No matter what, Laxus wasn't going to let Mercury go right then.

As if spurred by his thoughts, the tightness on his arms got just the smallest bit lighter. He thought for a moment that they'd expanded, but when he tried to push against them more, Laxus was still stuck in place just the same. A second later, it happened again – though he still couldn't move.

It felt like the binds were getting thinner. They were still strong, but didn't feel as stable.

Another moment passed, and it finally felt like Laxus could shift a little bit. Just his fingers, though. He flexed them back and forth, trying to get a little bit of leeway. His throat felt like it opened up a bit more; his chest could expand slightly, and he took in a shaky, near-silent breath. The tightness in his muscles grew faint. Even his shoulder, which had been aching from being treated so harshly, began to thin, almost feeling… comfortable again.

Laxus didn't need to question what was going on.

He'd felt like this many times before – though never quite in a situation such as this one. He felt the soothing touch of magic humming on his skin, even though the "anti-magic barrier" was still snuggly in place. The dragon slayer's breath returned to him, like a cool, refreshing breeze had brushed against his skin.

He had to wonder, though, how Mercury's enchant magic had made past Kipsa's – or how he was using magic at all.

Laxus heard the head researcher grunt, then shout out in surprise. He took that moment to exert the force that had returned to his body on the binds, and to his surprise, they broke with a strong, instant pressure. When the ones tagging his arms and legs disappeared, so too did the ones that had been covering his face and throat.

The dragon slayer gasped in a breath.

In front of him, the situation had changed; Kipsa was caught between looking at Laxus and the man who had formerly been his hostage. Mercury was back on the floor again, barely keeping his head up as he stared down the head researcher, hand extended. Kipsa, on the other hand, was dripping wet. It wasn't hard to put together what had happened. His fuzzy hair had been slicked down now that it was sopping; he looked like a wet rat rather than a scientist at the magical world's leading alchemical guild.

"You –"

It didn't matter what Kipsa had to say; now that he'd come out from hiding behind Mercury like a coward, and Mercury was no longer in the way, there was nothing stopping Laxus from slamming into the man with as many volts of electricity as he wanted.

"Lightning Dragon Slayer's," Laxus shouted, feeling the buzz in his veins, "Charged Fist!"

Kipsa dropped.

It wasn't satisfying at all.

His body spasmed on the floor, and all Laxus could think about was the fact that he wished he could have taken his time; as with before, a shock wasn't nearly enough to make him pay… but, again, his priority was still making sure Mercury got out of here. If Laxus had time, he'd return. If he got here before the Magic Council or whatever local police agency did, he'd have his fun.

Now that the way was clear, he absolutely had to meet up with the rest of the people who'd come up with him.

Laxus moved to scoop up Mercury again. He was just as barely-conscious as he'd been before, grunting when the dragon slayer picked him up but breathing even more heavily. He still hadn't recovered his breath from being choked.

Was it just Laxus, or had the black that had been resting on his cheek gotten just a little bit darker?

"Don't do that again," he said, unsure of what he was even scolding Mercury for. The stairs under his feet were blurry as he took them two at a time, rushing through the stairway and hoping he wouldn't run into anyone else. They were almost there – just one more hallway, and they'd be out of this shitty guild hall.

"You… were gonna…"

"I'd have been fine."

Whether that was a lie or not, neither man would ever know, and they were both more than happy to keep it that way.

The smell of salt mixed with that of cedar, but on top of even that was the smell of burning and darkness.

"They really don't do things easy, do they?" Laxus commented dryly.

Where there'd been a hallway before had been replaced with shattered walls and thick chunks of ceiling plaster. The rooms that he'd run past earlier were mostly collapsed. Instead of a break room, there was now a pile of rubble, and even that had been caught on fire.

"Mira..." Mercury muttered.

"She's nearby?"

The water mage's sensing abilities had not faded, apparently, if he was able to sense the Take Over mage over all of this chaos. He nodded shallowly, then closed his eyes, becoming somewhat limp once more. Laxus couldn't tell if he'd fallen asleep or was trying to conserve his energy. Either way, he pressed on, digging his own nose into the corner of his jacket to stop inhaling the smoke while tugging Mercury's head close to his chest for the same effect.

Alchemist's guild hall had been ruined, Laxus noted. He felt no pity for it, no remorse. It was the least they could have done – and he hoped that Mira had taken her sweet time battering up the building. Laxus saw no possibility of fixing it; even the structure appeared to be greatly weakened, and he worried for a second that it might collapse on top of everyone remaining inside. Fortunately for him, that wasn't a large number of people. Everyone else must have escaped the chaos when the alarms sounded.

When he got back to the waiting room that he'd left Mira and the Thunder God Tribe in, only Mira remained. She was in her Satan Soul form. Small marks of soot and faint bruises appeared on her exposed arms and chest, though other than that, she looked completely fine, despite her downwards glare.

A glare that was aimed only towards the woman laying at her feet.

"… is she alive?" The dragon slayer asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Oh, Laxus," Mira said, turning away from said woman as soon as she heard his approach. Her voice was much too casual for the amount of anger that Laxus heard in it. "You found him?"

He didn't miss how she ignored his question, nor did he comment on it.

"Yeah."

Neither one felt like explaining the situation other than that – at least, not right then. Mira didn't want to speak of how she'd pummeled Renee Shaleback until the woman hadn't been able to fight anymore, her face now black, blue, and bloody red, and Laxus didn't want to explain what he'd just seen.

Maybe there'd be time later. After he'd processed it. When Mercury was better.

"Let's get out of here. I sent Evergreen and Fried ahead, but Bixlow should be around here somewhere."

"Right."

Laxus took a quick peek down at Mira's feet to observe the guildmaster of what would soon become the "former" Alchemist guild. She lay at the Take Over mage's feet, unconscious. Deep purple bruises marred the half of her face that hadn't been pushed three inches into the ground, though Laxus imagined that the rest of her face wasn't much better. Her jacket and pantsuit had been torn up, too, revealing more bruises and patches of ash underneath.

Yeah. Mira was terrifying when she wanted to be.

Rubble behind the two shifted. Laxus didn't bother to look, thinking it was Bixlow, and that was his mistake. The smoke had blocked his nose. If it hadn't, he'd have smelled the faint scent of salt accompanied with the much more overwhelming smell of wet mold.

He heard a slow clap.

Bixlow wore metal armor – he might clap, but it would never produce the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Laxus whirled around. Mira did the same, just as caught off guard.

Instead of the man he'd been expecting, all the dragon slayer saw was purple. A slick purple fedora, purple hair, a purple overcoat… the man practically oozed the color. Even his pants and shoes were a dark magenta. How he could wear so much of it without getting sick of the color was a mystery to Laxus.

What wasn't a mystery was how Mercury in his arms stiffened. His hands tightened around Laxus's wrists, his eyes still twisted shut. If he didn't have to even open his eyes to know who the man was, that meant they'd probably met face to face at least once before, Laxus reasoned.

And that meant that this man was probably not on their side.

…. Not that Laxus had expected much else. Something about this man was just off-putting, like he wasn't real. Whatever he was doing here in a ruined guild hall when all other occupants had already fled definitely wasn't good.

"Congratulations, Fairy Tail," the man said. His slow applause didn't abate.

His voice was just as disconcerting. It was rather high pitched for a man, but still held a low quality that Laxus couldn't put his finger on.

"Don't –" Mercury said, then broke off in a small fit of coughs. He struggled to catch his breath from his spot in the dragon slayer's arms. Laxus knew he had to get the man out of all this smoke quickly; it already sounded like his throat had been damaged enough, and the smoke wasn't going to do him any favors. Any more, and the dragon slayer knew it wouldn't be good.

"Who the hell are you?" Laxus asked. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mira stiffen as well, preparing to fight if it came down to it. She was still in her Satan Soul, though she looked rather drained already.

"No one for you to worry about. If you're curious, you can ask that one," the man said, eying Mercury pointedly. "I've never so much as put a hand on him."

But it sounded like he had been involved somehow – Mercury wasn't relaxing, even if he couldn't talk. He was tenser than Laxus had felt him even when they were fighting Kipsa and he was being choked.

Laxus had a bad feeling about this.

"Doesn't explain who you are or what you're doing here."

"Me? I'm not here to do anything anymore. I can already tell this guild is no longer going to be useful."

Mira cut in. "Are you this guild's sponsor?"

Laxus had no idea what she was talking about, but the man in purple clearly did. He laughed loudly. It was just as odd as his voice was – high and nasally yet holding an air of artificiality.

"No. I'm just here to get what I'm owed, nothing more. I wouldn't fraternize with people like them if it wasn't strictly necessary. In other words," the man's voice turned cold and hard, "I'm completely innocent."

Laxus got the feeling he wasn't.

"Don't – lie," Mercury ground out, wriggling in Laxus's arms.

That was all the dragon slayer needed. He pointed his fingers out like a gun, allowing lightning to trace a line from himself to the man in purple. It was as fast as he could do it, but…

When the smoke cleared, no one was there.

That man's voice echoed from the remains of the guild hall. First a laugh, then his parting words – "Good luck, Fairy Tail. I think he's going to have fun watching what comes next."

They met up with Bixlow just a couple of minutes later. The man looked a bit worse for wear, with an obvious dent in his headpiece, but he looked fine overall.

"You two okay?!" He asked when they finally managed to exit the crumbling guild hall. The longer they stayed in the ruins, the more likely Laxus thought it was for the whole thing to collapse. As soon as they were out, he wouldn't care. Any of the unconscious guild members in the basement could rot and die for all he cared.

"We're fine. Are you okay, Bixlow?" Mira asked.

"Some fucker came up behind me and smacked me! Before I knew it, I was on the ground. What the hell, man?" Bixlow moaned. "I managed to get a glimpse of him, though. He –"

"Was he wearing purple?" Laxus asked.

"Yeah! You see him too?"

Mira nodded for the dragon slayer. "He just left a moment ago. Did he say anything to you?"

"No, just hit me with something and ran. I think it might have been a broken piece of cement. Get this, though — his soul was like, really messed up."

His dolls proudly whispered, "Messed up! Messed up!"

That caught Laxus's attention, but he was just so ready to be gone. The outside of Alchemist's guild hall was abandoned for the moment, entirely devoid of people, but it wouldn't be for long. Soon, droves and droves would be swarming, either to get the scoop or to just see what happened.

Knowing Fairy Tail's luck, though, there'd be Rune Knights setting up a perimeter in the next couple of minutes.

"Let's get the hell out of here," he muttered. Against his shoulder, Mercury had gone quiet once more, this time seemingly for a while – the water mage had kept his promise, passing out only once they'd left the building.

Laxus just wished it wouldn't be for too long. He wasn't hopeful.

Fried and Evergreen had already done their job, alerting a hospital nearby that they were coming. Well, calling it a "hospital" was an overstatement. It was more like a home clinic, run by one of Fairy Tail's connections – a former member. The building itself housed a private clinic, which had been shut down for the day once the two mages had burst in, telling the owner to get ready.

Fairy Tail was not willing to trust anyone but themselves with the health of their guildmate.

Perhaps if they'd been in Magnolia things would have been different. In their home city, they held some level of trust in the hospital and doctors there because they'd been treating Fairy Tail members for at least two generations now – they had a "Fairy Tail protocol," apparently – but here, the guild was practically in enemy territory. Laxus didn't know who knew who, who was on who's side. For all they knew, everyone in the city had seen them destroy the guild hall of their beloved guild, and wanted revenge.

But he couldn't worry about that for now. He'd have to trust the will of Fairy Tail on this one.

The owner of the private practice was a small, aging man named Rufus. He was a longtime client of Fairy Tail's. He'd been in the guild a long, long time ago before leaving for undisclosed reasons.

And he was familiar with Mercury.

"Ah," he said as soon as they carried in the unconscious man. "I never expected to see him requiring medical attention."

"Just get on with it, old man," Laxus snapped. Mira jabbed him in the ribs as though asking him to be polite, but he was done being respectful. The day had just been one gut punch after another.

"Leave him be," Rufus said with an eye to Mira. "He's just worried. I understand."

"I'm not –" But even Laxus could not deny that he was incredibly worried. "Whatever."

With eyes that seemed to know too much, Rufus directed Laxus to bring Mercury to one of the back rooms where a bed and IV had already been prepared. After setting him on the bed, the four other mages had their first good opportunity to gaze at the water mage.

Laxus could tell that none of them liked what they saw. But really — who would?

There were three protrusions where the knives had been pulled out of Mercury's body, still bleeding faintly yet almost fully healed. Scales had overtaken the right half of his chest and generally the right side of his body, covering both his right arm and right leg down to the ankle, while his face remained clear of any of them.

The left half of his body was almost the opposite: there were no scales, but in their place was just black skin. Laxus had been able to tell while carrying him that it wasn't quite "skin" anymore. The texture was smooth and cool to the touch, like rock rather than what was supposed to be there, melting into real skin in the middle of Mercury's chest.

His two sides were split near perfectly. One half a dull gray, the other black.

And neither half looked human in any way other than shape.

"God," Evergreen was the first one to speak. "What'd they do to him?"

Mercury was incredibly thin. Even at almost the same height as the dragon slayer, he weighed little more than a child. His bones were clearly visible, what skin you could see hanging loose, and even that had taken on a pale tint that felt like you could see through it.

He just… didn't look right. That long, blue hair that he so frequently fawned over, spending ages brushing it so that it was just perfect had been cropped in some places and left long in others; some sections brushed the back of his neck, and some had been practically buzzed off, though for what reason, Laxus couldn't fathom. Combined with his lack of voice…

Mercury didn't really seem like Mercury anymore.

"I'll judge that shortly," Rufus said, trying to usher them out. "I'll have one of you boys stay behind just in case, should your assistance be required."

Unanimously, that person was decided to be Laxus. He hadn't even had to ask. The other four left the room to remain in the doctor's lobby, blinds shut as they prepared to wait out the doctor's prognosis.

Laxus watched on in some combination of horror and blankness as Rufus removed what remained of Mercury's clothes, which had been stained with both blood and grime. All he'd been wearing was pants. They were formerly white, like hospital ward patients wore when waiting for surgery, though they were somehow even thinner than that. Underneath was much the same – black on one side, gray on the other. There were thin gashes on the backside Merc's hips that Laxus hadn't seen.

His hands trembled in rage – how could they?

Mercury was just as much a person as the rest of those bastards who'd locked him in a basement, probably even more so. At least, Laxus could tell which of them had more humanity. He was a test subject, and yet he'd been subjected to so much abuse, and for what? For fun? For "experimental purposes"? Just because?

What had Mercury done to deserve all of this?

After inspecting his lower half, the doctor immediately used a thick blanket to cover it, and moved onto the water mage's upper body. Laxus almost couldn't bear to look, but he did anyway, forcing himself to stare at each movement that Rufus made, each twitch of Mercury as he felt someone else's hands on him. Forced himself to take it all in. Everything that had been done.

If there was one thing that hurt Laxus the most, it was that Mercury no longer had the Fairy Tail guildmark anywhere on his body.

He knew where it should have been – right under his left lung, tucked away under his pectoral muscles as though there to protect Mercury's ribs – but his skin was now entirely black, and any remainder of it washed away. Nothing marked him as a member of the guild anymore. The man didn't even have much magic left in his dwindling body; if not for the scales, Mercury might well have just been a normal human being.

It felt like "Mercury" had disappeared. In his place was this bundle of skin and bones and scales that didn't look like it could wake up, even if it wanted to – that looked like it might be dead.

To that end, Rufus's final prognosis wasn't great.

Mercury had fractured ribs from a blunt impact – once more, Laxus wished he'd done more to that Jade bastard – and a deep bone bruise on his hip. Rufus also pointed out even more lacerations on his back, incredibly obvious from the way that the scales had been torn away and dark brown blood had crusted over. Lacerations, like he'd been whipped. His wrists were heavily bruised as well, still oozing a thick, coagulated blood. Laxus didn't know if it had been done recently or if Mercury's healing had just degraded to that point.

Because in the past, he'd definitely be able to heal all of that in less than a day.

As for his voice, Rufus mentioned that there was some pretty bad swelling going on in his throat, but also noted that there wasn't much he could say without speaking to the man.

Thankfully, that was about it for the physical prognosis.

Rufus noted that Mercury was both malnourished and dehydrated, but Laxus had been able to tell that much without the help of a doctor. He gave the water mage an IV, struggling to find a good place to put it in. Eventually, they'd had to peel back a couple more scales to reveal a vein that hadn't been damaged as a result of constant blood draws.

The only other thing that Rufus had been able to tell them was that Mercury was suffering pretty badly from Magic Deficiency – it was so bad that he was surprised to learn that he'd even been conscious at all.

Laxus decided to keep the fact that Mercury had used a little bit of magic in their escape to himself.

Rufus took care of all of the man's wounds as best he could, wrapping bandages around the parts that were still oozing blood and administering antibacterial and antiseptics to reduce the chance of an infection. When all was said and done, there really wasn't even that much for Rufus to do.

Time, he said, was going to be the biggest factor in Mercury's recovery.

If he even recovered at all.

"So," Rufus said once they'd all settled back into the small infirmary room, crowded around the water mage's bed. "How exactly did he get like this?"

Mira looked at Laxus. "You didn't tell him?"

The dragon slayer could only bring himself to shrug. He sat at the foot of Mercury's bed. Honestly, he was exhausted from everything that had happened – mentally, not physically.

Physically, he still felt like he could – and should – go burn down a forest with isolated lightning strikes. No, maybe what was left of that damned guild would be a better target…

"He was being held captive at the local guild hall," Mira explained. "They were making medicine from him, somehow."

"From his blood," Laxus added.

He didn't want to think about it anymore.

Rufus looked horrified. "By 'a local guild,' do you by chance mean the Alchemist guild? Is that why there's been people in those blasted Council uniforms running by since you lot showed up?"

For a moment, Laxus almost worried that Rufus was going to turn them in or rat them out. They were no better than outlaws at the moment, at least until the made it back to Magnolia, and he was sure that at least someone had managed to see their faces or put things together, so there were probably already people looking for them.

He trusted Mira when she nodded. She was a far better judge of character than he was.

"Those… What are they doing, putting the name of doctors everywhere at risk? Have they no shame? How dare they take up the legendary name of 'Alchemist' if they're just going to turn around and do this?"

Rufus actually seemed incensed.

Laxus suddenly liked him a lot better.

"This – this damage wasn't done overnight," Rufus said. "How long has it been?"

No one wanted to answer. They didn't want to admit their failings, even if they hadn't been physically present in the world to have offered their assistance, feeling guilty despite the fact that there was nothing they could have done.

"Four years," Fried was the only one to break the silence.

"Four – four years? Oh, dear. I knew that that guild had come out with some kind of medicine somewhat recently, but to think it was made out of dear Mercury himself…"

"Did you know about the IHB, Doctor Rufus?" Mira asked.

"Just call me Rufus, dear. And yes, I knew about it. The guild offered me a sample a couple of years ago, trying to get me to purchase some. I had no idea why, at the time – it had already become such a hot commodity that acquiring any of it was like striking rich. I didn't trust it at all. The only thing in humans that regenerates so quickly is cancer. Of course, now I trust it even less."

Now that Laxus thought about it… If there were shortages, how had a druggy ended up with a bottle of it? Why did it sound like it had just been dumped on him? Why were they trying to get more people to buy it when they couldn't even produce enough for the customers they already had?

Who had even given them the idea in the first place?

"I wonder… if that man we saw had something to do with this," Mira murmured. "What's his role?"

Evergreen tilted her head in confusion. "What man?"

"Oh, right, I never got to finish telling you!" Bixlow cut in. "There was this dude who showed up. Had an awful fashion taste, was wearing only the color purple! How crazy can you get? That wasn't the weirdest part, though. His soul was insanely messed up! It was like there was more than one floating around in there."

"More than one?" Fried asked.

"Yeah, I've seen it a couple of times. Usually from an incomplete Take Overs," his eyes flicked to Mira briefly before adding, "Human Take Over is kind of forbidden, but I saw it once. That guy from Tenrou did it on a Celestial Spirit, and this looked kinda similar. Like they were just stapled together."

"Do you think he did the same?"

Bixlow considered for a moment. "Maybe. I didn't get a great look at it. All I saw was that there was two of 'em, and one was definitely human."

"What was the other one then, if not human?" asked Mira.

Instead of answering right away, Bixlow's eyes flicked briefly to Laxus's left – to the man resting in the bed.

"It kinda looked like Mercury's, to be honest."

The room sat silent. Then, "What the fuck does Mercury's look like?" came from Laxus's mouth before he could think about what he was saying.

Mercury's soul looked weird? And Bixlow had never told them?

"Yeah, it's uh – sorry, I never mentioned it?" Bixlow's dolls chattered nonsensically in the next room.

"No." It was news to Laxus, and going by the looks of everyone else in the room, it was to them, too.

"Well, it looks kind of like the corner section of a puzzle, like there's s'posed to be other parts connecting to it, and you can see all the little bits between other pieces. I never really questioned it, you know? He's not human, so it's kinda like looking at an animal –"

"Don't," Laxus cut him off. "Don't talk about him like he's an animal."

Unconsciously, the dragon slayer's nails dug into his palms as he clenched them tightly.

"Right, boss. My bad," Bixlow swallowed. "It's just not the same as a normal soul. I can't do shit with it, either. Won't budge if I try to grab it or anything, like it's nailed down in there."

Ignoring the fact that Bixlow had apparently attempted to mess with Mercury's soul before, this was information Laxus hadn't heard of – hadn't even considered. And he didn't think Mercury had, either. He would have mentioned it if that was the case, right?

Maybe not.

Mercury was a chronic secret-keeper, even if he'd tried to nip that habit as of late.

"Then," Mira said, deep in thought, "is it possible that that man was related to Mercury in some way? Maybe that's how they found out about him."

Laxus had to admit that sounded reasonable, but it didn't explain who he actually was. After all, wouldn't Merc have been aware that they were siblings? He wasn't the type to simply forget, not with all the resentment that he held for his "family."

"This is getting complicated," Evergreen commented.

Yeah. It was.

"We might be better off waiting until Mercury's awake and can tell us what he knows."

"However long that will take…" Bixlow trailed off.

"Hey! You have to have hope."

"I mean, yeah, but Ever, you saw him, right? Never seen him so beat up before 'cuz his damn body just heals that shit so fast."

"Evergreen's right, though," Fried cut in. "There's no point in worrying about it now. There's nothing we can do about it ourselves."

Rufus suddenly, inexplicably laughed. Laxus had almost forgotten he was there, what with the conversation shifting from Mercury himself to what had been done to him. When all eyes in the room turned to Rufus — how could he be laughing when things were so dire? — the doctor sat up a little bit straighter in his chair, letting his back rest against it.

"Sorry, didn't mean to laugh, my dears. It's just good to see that so many people care about him now. Back in my day, he was always kind of a lonely guy – never really talked to anyone other than the few who talked to him first, but he looks a lot better now, a lot less weighed down. Even if he's not awake, I can tell. You guys have been good for him."

"You knew Merc?" Bixlow asked. "Like, personally?"

Rufus nodded. "We weren't particularly close, but then again, he wasn't very close with anyone back then. Always kept to himself. I could tell he had a lot of stuff going on in his head. Sometimes he'd get this far off look in his eye, like he was there but not really there, the poor dear. I always regretted not asking him what was wrong."

Laxus grumbled, "So he was just as bad about keeping secrets then, too? Figures."

"No, I'd dare say he was a lot worse back then. Dear Mercury was never the type to let others shoulder his burdens, even when it looked like he was going to fall under their weight. Looks to me that he has at least five other dears willing to carry it with him now, though. Probably more back at the guild, right?"

"Right," said Fried. "There were a lot of people working together to find him. Even then… I wasn't sure we were going to," he admitted.

"Well, what matters now is that you've got him, right? I'm sure he'll be back to Fairy Tail's usual chaos in now time as long as he's got you all backing him up."

Laxus wasn't sure what made him mutter, "I sure hope so," under his breath, but if anyone heard it, they didn't comment.