Broken Fairies

by EnergyMageFrea

Light Magic has won over Dark in the battle to decide the Balance of the world, but shadow has never settled so thickly over the Fairy Tail Guild as it has now, and that darkness does not seem to want to leave. Is it possible, after all the evil and the pain suffered, lived through and triumphed over by the Guild- that Fairy Tail has finally broken? {Fourth Story in Series!}

36. Chapter 36- Reclaim

Chapter 36

Reclaim

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic, and Ideas

.:+:.

"... You guys went hard on the booze too, huh?"

Frea chuckled slightly as she came to a pause in the doorway of the Guild Hall, hands falling on her hips and casting an amused look around the building and the several people scattered around. Tables and chairs were littered about and among them were the bodies of the Guild- minus all the girls who were mostly still asleep or hungover at Fairy Hills (or looking after Carla who had a very bad headache, in Wendy's case).

Those that were scattered about the Hall were either still passed out or groggy, a few of them wincing a little at the sound of her voice and the light she let in with the front door- hungover and with their heads pounding. Which didn't really surprise her, given the thick wall made up of the smell of booze that hit her immediately upon coming in. Even her asking the question was mostly rhetorical, and she didn't expect she would earn much response, if any, when she said it. In fact she only really earned a few groans in reply to it, and she stifled another chuckle before it rose up her throat and added to the slightly ringing sensation her voice had elicited in many of them.

She'd expected that since the girls had gotten drunk well before she ever made it to Fairy Hills last night, that it was more than likely all the rest of the Guild had gone down the same road. So walking in this morning to find the Guild Hall in disarray and everyone tossed about and mostly on the floor wasn't a surprise, but it was amusing, and nice to see they had gotten a good day in with plenty of fun- the usual of this Guild and it's antics that had been lacking as of late.

Frea walked inside, smiling still to herself as she came to a pause beside Bixlow, dropping down into sitting on the balls of her feet by his head where he was laying on the floor with his Tiki Dolls littered around him, and several empty mugs. The Seith Mage stuck his tongue out a bit as she dropped into view, his visor slightly askew and smiling as she tilted her head at him.

"Heeey~" He hummed quietly, the smell of alcohol on his breath heavy still and causing Frea to hold her own breath against it for a moment. "You're back~! You and the Boss already done~?" He asked lightly and she blinked,

"Well yeah, we got done forever ago. It is the next morning ya know." She hummed and he smiled a little more,

"Oh yeah~? Guess we really got into the partyin' and didn't even notice, hehe~"

"Clearly." She murmured, though she sounded amused all the same and glanced up from him toward everyone else, some of them starting to try and stir with her walking in and the morning light seemed to register finally. Her eyes landed on Master Makarov seated on the bar top and pinching the bridge of his nose before her gaze flitted over Freed behind the bar, the green-haired man slightly sluggish himself but at least on his feet and trying to pick up some of the glasses quietly, while Happy snoozed away on the far end of the bar. Gray and Natsu were hardly visible where they'd collapsed behind chairs and tables, Elfman snoring away in a pile of broken furniture that seemed to have been brought into existence by a brawl (or several).

All she could see of Gajeel was his wild black hair slipping past the railing on the second floor, with a white-tipped black tail nearby, while Wakaba, Macao, Vijeeter, Nab and even Romeo were slumped over on a table with no small amount of cups and liquor bottles between them. Max and Warren were tied up together on the far side of the hall and hanging from one of the wooden pillars, Jet and Droy conked out after seemingly been tossed clean through a table, and Reedus sat quietly in the corner, looking tired as he started on trying to right some of the fallen chairs and generally try to tidy up.

"Where's Moon~?" Bixlow asked next, earning Frea's eyes again.

"At Fairy Hills in bed with a hangover." Frea murmured, the affirmation earning an amused and slightly lopsided smirk from the Seith Mage.

"Sounds like everybody up there had a party too~" he pointed out, she let out a small sigh, her eyes trailing off him and back across the Hall again.

"Definitely." She murmured, "Everybody's still as passed out and hungover as you guys seem to be... And they made just about as much of a mess too."

Which was true, she'd left Fairy Hills and the downstairs common area in the same messy state it had been since last night- with all the women still on the floor, though more spread out now and not as bunched together. Everyone had shifted in their sleep after a while and gotten more comfortable, putting some space between themselves, her, and each other without really thinking about it or being awake. Them doing so gave Frea the opportunity to wiggle out from the center of them all and get up, the Energy Dragon Slayer diverting long enough before dawn to check in on Moon and tuck the Exceed away in their bed up in their room before getting ready and heading out. When she'd made her way back downstairs everyone was still passed out, and only Wendy had stirred, with Bisca not far behind to head out herself and check in on Alzack and Azuka.

The sun had only just now breached the horizon and continued to climb as she made it to the Guild, Magnolia slowly stirring around it as the morning set in. She was up early, and certainly earlier than anyone else would have planned to be after an all-nighter, but even so she'd found her feet leading her to the Guild even knowing they were not likely to be up and about just yet. Of which they were not, and as she'd said she wasn't surprised by it... But even so, stopping here to see the likely state of the Guild with her own eyes did sort of help solidify what her plans might be for the day.

She must have gone quiet for a little too long there, because Bixlow's smile faded a bit and he ended up peering at her above him, eyes narrowed and searching. Frea didn't notice the sudden shift in his mood right off though, and she really only became aware of it when he spoke up again, the sudden drop of his voice and tone catching her slightly off guard.

"You good there?" Bixlow murmured quietly, Frea blinking once as she looked back down toward him again, her head tilting a bit in confusion. He noticed it and seemed to let out a quiet breath, his expression softening a tad but no less searching. "You seem like you're daydreaming a bit." He pointed out, Frea smiled a little wearily.

"Yeah I'm okay, I was just thinking is all." She assured him quietly with a small shake of her head. He tilted his head a bit at her, blinking once, before being quick to let that smile of his reappear, and a little bit of his mirth returned with absolute ease.

"You thinking about what you're gonna do today~?" He asked, the inquiry earning a slightly surprised look from Frea for how quickly he seemed to come to a conclusion of what was actually on her mind, before she smiled a little more softly and nodded once.

"Mhmm." She hummed, he perked a bit at that.

"Oh yeah? You gonna be up to anything interesting~?" He chirped, his tongue sticking out again as he seemed to smirk now, eyes flashing behind his visor. "Or is there anybody interesting you're gonna hang out with~?" He hummed, his tone suddenly a little amused and even coy- not that Frea seemed to notice it.

She simply let out a silent breath, silver eyes flashing a bit and her elbows falling on her knees as she leaned her cheeks into her hands, and her mind moved away from the Guild Hall and out through Magnolia, her Senses casting that way with a single thought to it that had the dampening of the Limiter on her wrist letting up. In her mind's eye came a wash of a million different colors, little bursts of light and feeling attached to hundreds of people and things scattered in town and slowly beginning to stir- their Energy Signatures clear and easy to pick up on, but she was only interested in one in particular. Her attention drifted past Magnolia and toward the fringes, toward the trees and where the color lessened and the feel of them did too, becoming more intermittent until she reached one that remained still detached from the bulk in town, but one that was definitely moving closer.

Her eyes dropped closed as she honed in and locked onto that beacon of golden-yellow light with sheer ease, her shoulders sinking a bit as the tiniest whiff of stormy mountain air seemed conjured by that Energy Signature she knew on instinct no matter how far it was, and she let out a quiet sigh.

"... I don't know yet, but I guess I'll find out soon."

.:+:.

"Where the hell are you going?"

Laxus came to a stop, brow quirked and eyes narrowed as his gaze matched with a silver one, Frea slowly headed for him from a little ways ahead and the street around them mostly quiet, though there was a gradual increase of people now that morning was getting into full swing. All of the streets had been much the same in Magnolia as he made his way toward the Guild Hall, the townspeople waking up and getting set for the day, heading to work or where they needed just like he was. It was normal, and running into Frea out in town wouldn't have been that out of the ordinary either since this was something of a halfway point between his house and where Fairy Hills sat- but she was headed away from the direction of the Guild, not toward it. Which he noticed immediately, and had him asking the question right off the bat not three seconds after catching sight of her up the street.

Frea cleared the distance between them with a few paces and came to a pause before him, hands hooked behind her back and smiling almost imperceptibly at that somewhat suspicious look she earned from Laxus, and the one he kept trained on her even as she came to a stop.

She was heading away from the Guild Hall, he was right. She wasn't surprised he picked up on it right away, and unlike Laxus, she didn't look at all surprised with having run into him out here in the town. Naturally, since she had been very aware of his Energy Signature ever since locking on to it back in the Guild, so she'd known exactly where he was and that their paths were going to cross- that was sort of the point. And a point he seemed to catch onto almost as soon as she stopped in front of him, his eyes narrowing further and looking a little more suspicious now, but she just kept up that tiny smile regardless.

"I'm headed to Town Hall." Frea told him quietly in answer to his question, though it really didn't help make him look anything more than confused.

"Town Hall?" He echoed lowly, she nodded once.

"Yeah, I'm hoping to catch the Mayor for a bit and ask him a few things." She elaborated, but not near enough for his liking given the even more suspicious and a little wary look that appeared on the Lightning Dragon Slayer's face for it.

"About what?" He mumbled and Frea seemed to pause at it, her eyes falling from him for a moment and the near imperceptible smile that had been there fading to nothing, her hands behind her back fidgeting slightly as she started on spinning the silver ring on her thumb pensively. It was subtle, but it was a sudden shift in her mood that he picked up on instantly, even regardless of how faint it might have been, and he swallowed.

He shifted a bit on his feet, biting the inside of his cheek and regretting even asking it, because clearly whatever she wanted to ask the Mayor about and what was on her mind was one of those things he'd already told her he wouldn't press her about until she was ready to-

"... I want to find out who owns the land that Nvindorr sits on." Frea told him quietly, the words and the name making him stiffen in surprise a bit more than her actually answering him did.

Nvindorr-?

"I've wanted to try and find out for awhile now, since I can still feel it sitting there like a dark cloud. The Energy there is still so heavy and... haunted, even after I went back and tried to settle things down before what happened with Mordren." She went on, oblivious or otherwise uncaring of the still shocked and stunned look on his face- and then even more so seemingly unaware of the way he went rigid for the mention of that day, and what memories of it flashed across his mind in rapid-time.

.:+:.

Frea's voice dropped, the ring set upon the paper suddenly spinning in the air as it glinted with the silver light of her Magic. Laxus stiffened, his attention snapping upward as the wind suddenly picked up over their heads, and what he thought was the sound of far off whispering suddenly grew louder, and he knew for sure was the faint sound of voices, hundreds, and yet still so faint they could not be made out. The whole of the forest suddenly felt... alive.

The leaves rustled, those things that had been silent and dormant suddenly stirred with life that hadn't been seen in this place for an age. It was as if the air came to life, the entirety of the atmosphere around them shifted, and a sudden faint, yet vivid sort of energy moved through him all at once. His eyes snapped back to Frea, rigid as he stared at her back. What on earth was she doing? What sort of Magic was this...

No, that wasn't right. This wasn't Frea's Magic, he knew that, he felt her Magic hadn't changed the whole time, this was something else. And the words she spoke, they weren't a Spell, they were something else.

Frea's eyes opened as she felt the wind pick up, the voices rose higher and she felt the Energy shift around her. The darkness was throbbing, moving, festering, reacting. Her eyes fixed to the steady spinning of the ring in the air before her, the light of her Magic flashing off the swirling designs carved into the metal.

"Deneos ze."

The wind picked up in a great burst of warm air, the trees seemed to sigh around them, and the voices faded away, the shadows around them seemed to recede, and the air grew lighter. It was as if the energy that had been suffocating this place suddenly disappeared altogether, and they could breathe easily again. The Dark Energy surrounding this place suddenly shifted, and grew lighter, more calm. Like some evil poison had been drawn from the wounds of the Land, and cast away. Everything relaxed, everything felt... peaceful.

Things went silent, and the ring fell lightly into the center of the paper again.

Laxus' attention perked as Frea said the last few words, his eyes moving to her from having been looking around, quite taken aback by how different the forest seemed to be around them. In a place that had felt so heavy and closed in, it felt like it had opened up, and even the scent of death and blood seemed to start to fade, and it was no longer icy cold anymore. It was like an entirely new place, and he looked back as he heard her voice change to that of the Dragon Language.

He stared in near awe, eyes wide slightly and completely still.

If that wasn't a Spell she had been casting, as he was fairly sure it hand been... what just happened? What was that just now? It was like... the forest settled, all on it's own.

Frea picked the ring back up, threading it through the chain around her neck again and placing the paper back in her bag, before strapping it to her back again. Laxus blinked, as she turned toward him, a small smile gracing her lips and all sadness and somberness he had seen in her suddenly vanished, and she just seemed... relieved.

He stared slightly, a bead of sweat dripping down his face as she smiled at him, her head tilting a little. Nothing about her gave any indication of what she had been doing, or even what she had been feeling before coming. She had been exhausted, somber, and he had seen sadness in her too, and now she just seemed... happy.

What in the...?

"We can go home now."

...

"You haven't asked about all of that back in Nvindorr."

Laxus glanced forward as Frea suddenly said something, after having been an hour or two of nothing but silence between them on the way back to Magnolia. She walked ahead of him, balancing on the wall that moved alongside one of the channels that carved through the town, her arms hooked behind her back, everything dark and grey around them as the sky remained covered in deep clouds, though it must have been sundown by now.

They had left Nvindorr behind, and Laxus had said nothing to her since. He hadn't asked about what she was doing, he hadn't said a damn thing, though she knew he had questions, she could feel his confusion. It surprised her slightly he had said nothing however, anyone would be confused and curious, and anyone would want to question her actions, and yet it was odd he hadn't at all.

Laxus sweatdropped slightly, his eyes narrowing on her back as he let out a small, nearly silent huff.

"Why do I need to know?" He replied lowly, causing Frea to come to a slow halt, her eyes widening as she blinked at the answer, her back still turned to him. He grumbled under his breath a little, eyes closing. "You do a lot of weird and insane things woman, it's tiring to keep guessing and questioning your every move. So why bother? You do things for a reason, it's not really my business why."

Frea turned toward him, blinking once or twice as she simply settled her gaze on him, his eyes still closed and not looking at her.

'..it's not really my business why.'

She laughed lightly, causing him to look up her way in slight question at her sudden amusement.

"What's so funny?" He grumbled,

"You." She replied lightly, earning a small frown from him. Her eyes flashed in amusement that was entirely uncalled for in the situation really. "It's amazing how much you manage to surprise me, and how different you are from how you let everyone see you all the time." He let out a small 'tch', a small blush suddenly dusting his cheeks as he shot her a small glare and looked away. "You're making it really hard to get annoyed with you, you know?"

"Well the feeling isn't mutual." He snapped lowly, though he didn't sound all that angry. Frea chuckled under her breath, looking away as she glanced upward toward the dark mass of clouds overhead, her smile fading as she frowned a little, looking wary and sweatdropping.

"...Laxus." Frea murmured softly, her voice dropping and all her amusement suddenly gone. Laxus blinked, seeing her expression suddenly changed as she glanced up at the sky overhead.

"... Hmm?" He mumbled,

"... I'm sorry, for dragging you into things, it wasn't really my intention. And I'm sorry for being such a pain in the ass, I didn't plan to be." She murmured softly, her eyes narrowing as she sweatdropped some more, her body stiffening as he blinked in shock. What the hell was she apologizing now for?

"... I don't think there's any time left anymore."

...

"Today is the day all Wizards will witness and remember this as the day that Dark won over the light, and the day that the Energy Dragon will fall."

Frea felt an icy cold pang of fear suddenly race through her heart, and she saw a sudden flash of worry in Laxus' eyes at the words.

Their eyes locked as she was suddenly bombarded with the feeling of a Magic so deep, so dark and so powerful she felt she could hardly breath under the weight of it's pressure, and she felt it wrapping around her person tightly, the world becoming engulfed in darkness as nothing but cold surrounded her very being, and she felt herself being dragged under immense, choking black waves.

"Frea!"

This was it

.:+:.

Laxus swallowed hard, gritting his teeth and snapping himself out of the memories before they spiraled away from him too far and ended up where he did not want them. Where his dreams had several times brought him, over and over again, and he would not let them resurface right now, not a chance. Because the minute he let them go there he knew she'd feel it- the shift in his emotions and what the memory brought back to the surface with a fervor- and he would not dare let any of that put a pause on what she was trying to do, or trying to tell him. Not when he knew she was already worried about telling him anything, and that it might end up being some sort of a burden.

As if it ever could-

"I know we've never talked about it, or why I went back there in the first place, or what I was even trying to do." Frea kept on, her eyes still down and her voice still quiet, but steady all the same, though she was slightly surprised with herself for managing it. Only slightly though, because even despite what she was walking on the edge of now with her words and where it led... Well, it was him.

Her eyes fell closed a moment, a silent breath escaping her for the thought and keeping her calm even when it really shouldn't have been possible.

That was the truth of it though; she was talking to him. To Laxus, who she had already spilled a multitude of secrets she'd scattered only tiny parts of between too many people to count, and Laxus who knew the whole of so many of those tiny fractions already... He knew more than so many others, and now she was walking up toward a line where he would be near the only one who knew the most.

The one person who telling anything to, did not end with a sharp and immediate no.

"Hmm... and I know you won't ask me about it, even if you really want to." Frea went on quietly with a tiny shake of her head. "Which I appreciate, and your patience and everything else so much... I... I do think I want to get around to telling you about it, soon. I'm just not there yet, not all the way." She mumbled, her eyes still closed and missing the way he seemed to grimace slightly in front of her when her voice wavered the little it did just then. "I don't wanna keep you in the dark and keep hiding everything still. I know you hate it when I do that, especially with the rest of the Guild, but I'm not there yet. I am close, but I still have some things I need to settle in my own head before I start in on trying to lay bare all of that... insanity." She murmured, her voice dropping to something shy of a whisper on that last word. She seemed to smile ruefully for a moment at the thought of it, shaking her head again and glancing up toward him, silver eyes shining and gaze steady even despite the waver that forced itself into her voice, and what weight there was of all those buried things that he could see in her eyes.

"Everybody went at the alcohol pretty hard yesterday and are still out of it- both at the Guild, and up at Fairy Hills. I figured since they're all nursing their hangovers I might as well get a head start on this in the meantime." Frea told him lightly, her mood suddenly picking back up a little, and with that insane amount of ease under so much bad like it always seemed to.

"If you don't wanna hang around the Guild while they're trying to get over their headaches, and you really don't mind being patient with me a little while longer, you can tag along, if you'd like." Frea hummed, Laxus blinking once in surprise for the offer and how it echoed as eerily familiar to what he said the night before.

.:+:.

"... Hmm...?"

"It's getting late." Frea told him softly, "It's almost sundown, I should probably get back to Fairy Hills before it gets too dark." She mumbled and he seemed to lag a little on the explanation, eyes still closed and nodding his head once and slowly in sign he heard it, but he did not immediately move to unwrap his arms from around her shoulders. Instead his hold on her almost seemed to tighten just faintly for a heartbeat, the blonde letting out another low and heavy breath that washed down into her face and ruffled her bangs faintly.

"... You don't have to." Laxus rumbled softly after a moment, Frea's eyes widening in surprise for the statement out of nowhere. "... Everybody's probably drunk off their asses by now... You can stay if you don't wanna deal with anybody else tonight." He mumbled quietly, the words low and drowsy since he seemed only partly awake still- but the meaning behind it was there, and very much deliberate.

You can stay

.:+:.

Laxus' shoulders sank a bit, the rigidness from the start of the conversation and that had lasted through him stopping his mind from running away from him- that rigidness melted as he held her silver eyes. Those silver eyes in a woman who always found a way to be so bright even under all the turmoil, without fail.

He let out a breath, his lips twitching at the edges with his own smile now, and one that bordered on something near a smirk that was almost- and perhaps a little too unnecessarily- pleased.

Shit... Maybe she was a lot closer to where he'd found himself than he'd even dared to hope she might be.

He stifled a humm that ended up a rumble deep in his chest, aqua blue eyes glinting as the smirk remained and he shook his head a bit to himself before looking back up to her, their gazes locking.

"I ain't got nothing better to do." He told her with a small shrug, the rather nonchalant but still very much decisive reply earning a faintly amused smile from Frea in no time at all. She chuckled dryly under her breath and tilted her head to the left in the direction away from the Guild,

"Come on then."

.:+:.

Frea bit the insides of her cheeks as she shot the paper in her hands an exasperated look, her feet taking her down the front steps leading up to Town Hall and toward where Laxus was waiting patiently at the bottom. He quirked a brow when he saw the less than pleased look on her face, though he waited until she reached the last step before speaking up.

"Find what you needed?" He asked, she sighed.

"No, not even close." She sighed with a shake of her head, glancing up and turning the paper in her hands around so he could see it. His eyes darted over the official lettering and words, 'this land known as Nvindorr' that and 'sole ownership' that, all the way down to the bottom where the faded signature of some town official long since dead was inscribed, and the signature belonging to whoever was supposed to be in ownership of the land was... Nowhere.

He blinked, his eyes moving off the paper and toward Frea again as the paper and her hands fell.

"The deed of ownership is freakin' ancient, neither the Mayor nor anybody working in his office even know of anybody left alive that was there when this paperwork was written up." Frea grumbled, "And they definitely have no idea who this was transferred over for, apparently whoever got the rights to Nvindorr didn't feel like signing the paperwork, or it's been so long it's faded away entirely and you just can't read it. They gave me this copy of it, but without a name it's not really helpful." She sighed, Laxus tilted his head a bit.

"So what's next? If there ain't anybody left alive who was even there, where else are you planning to look for clues about it?" He murmured and she paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before folding up the paper and sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans. She stepped off the last stair and passed him, starting back up the street away from Town Hall with Laxus following at her shoulder instantly, while Frea linked her fingers together behind her neck and let out a heavy sigh.

"I guess it's possible the Magic Council, or even the King's Magistrate, have some records about it somewhere, but I really don't wanna go asking at either of those places... At least not unless I absolutely have to." She mumbled with a small frown, Laxus grimacing slightly himself for the less than thrilling idea.

Even if the Magic Council sort of had to quit being such pricks around Frea with her being a Wizard Saint and everything else now, he couldn't imagine they were going to be very helpful or polite should she come asking. And while the King's Magistrate had no reason to be rude to her if she might ask them, the Capital was not close by and he didn't think her leaving town without the Guild knowing and while they were drunk and conked out would really go over very well. Even if they let it slide, the Guild would definitely ask too many questions about why she was headed to the Capital all of a sudden, and that probably wasn't something Frea wanted either.

"... So barring those... I guess I probably ought to just ask the Old Geezer if he might know." Frea went on, the words earning a curious look from Laxus for the name. He'd heard Frea call Makarov that, though rarely since she usually called him 'Old Man' or 'Gramps' when not simply sticking to Master. And knowing that he found himself a little confused, because it didn't really sound like she meant Makarov- she didn't, right? She'd made it clear earlier she was trying to do this while the Guild was busy getting over the night before.

She must have felt a flash of confusion spark off of him, because he wondered about it for no more than a heartbeat or two before she glanced his way, looking a little apologetic.

"I mean Saige." She told him, the clarification earning a blink of surprise from him.

Saige Balthan, that Wizard Saint who had popped into the picture without warning and before all the shit with Mordren had even happened. The one who had decided on helping Frea out with it even before knowing what was coming, and who continued to be helpful from the sidelines and from behind the scenes- so far behind the scenes that until all the shit that happened in Adgnei, the only people who had ever actually met the guy had been Frea and Master Makarov. And even when in Adgnei and with the guy fighting alongside them and explaining all that crap about the Tomb of Soul, Saige had continued to remain a mystery and hadn't really interacted with anyone in the Guild in any significant way. Laxus surely hadn't ever talked to him, not that he'd had much reason to.

But even though he'd not talked to Saige, it was clear enough to see that he knew a lot about way too many things, and a lot about Frea specifically. He'd never said anything explicit to that effect, but Laxus could tell Saige knew more about what was going on with her than anybody else did. In particular, Laxus had the inkling that Saige somehow knew about that Darkness eating away at her, and probably where it came from too, if not more. He didn't know how Saige knew about any of it though, especially because he had doubts Frea would have told him anything herself. Which meant Saige had figured it all out on his own somehow, or just somehow already knew, even if that didn't make any sense.

Either way though, Saige definitely knew things, and way more than it seemed he should- but even so, Frea seemed fine with it. Both Frea and Master Makarov seemed to trust Saige and his motivations as being honest almost implicitly, and with no real rhyme nor reason to do so since they didn't really know him all that well, or for very long. It was odd they seemed to do so in such a short time, but both Frea and the Old Man weren't fools. If they trusted Saige even a little, then they had good reason to, even if Laxus didn't know what for or why, and it was harder to come up with reasons not to trust Saige after what happened in Adgnei. Because even if he was a big mystery, and reclusive, and very distant, he did help them, and Frea especially. Between getting ready to fight Mordren, helping with the Magic Council and the Wizard Saints, having the Limiter she wore made and all that had gone on in Adgnei- there was no denying that fact.

Laxus wondered what it was Saige might know more about that would make Frea think asking him about Nvindorr was worth the time, though. Because again, he was very sure that Saige did know way more than seemed plausible or likely, but he didn't know what or to what extent- so asking him about this made no sense in Laxus' mind.

He didn't ask Frea about it, however. He wouldn't, just like he wouldn't press her for anything she wasn't yet willing to give, even if he did really wonder.

Laxus held her eyes for a moment before looking ahead again, nodding slightly and saying nothing more about it. He just accepted it with no attempt to question it more or clarify anything, and Frea's expression softened a bit for the willingness he had to just stay in the dark rather than pressure her.

It wasn't fair on him though, she knew that. She hated that she couldn't work herself up to just saying what she needed to right away, but there was a lot about her and Nvindorr and all those things she'd blocked out from her life before Chaitanya that were just... Insane. Like really, really insane, and she wasn't even sure where she would start, or if telling him anything at all was gonna do more harm than good.

She forced herself a silent sigh and looked ahead again, breaking the unpleasant thought off before it could solidify and keep her hiding everything where she had set herself not to do that.

"How are you planning to get a hold of him then?" Laxus asked evenly, breaking the small bout of silence and Frea's own thoughts too. She stiffened a bit at the question, her steps forward suddenly coming to a near dead halt with no warning, Laxus drawing up quickly and shooting her a sort of uneasy glance at first- before he noticed the sort of nervous look on her face, and his own fell flat.

"Uh... I have no idea actually." She admitted, her hand coming up to rub at the back of her neck awkwardly when Laxus' face fell even flatter at the words (if that was possible).

"You're kidding me." He deadpanned and she grimaced a bit for it, and at herself.

"Well he's always just kinda showed up on his own before now, I've never called him or asked to talk." Frea mumbled, "And I doubt it's as simple as it is with Jynx where I kinda just say her name out loud and she pops up... Hell I don't even know where he lives, so I can't just grab a Messenger Bird either." She said quietly, chewing on the insides of her cheeks a moment as she seemed to brood a bit to herself and came up with nothing.

Her cheeks puffed up a bit, her eyes dropping closed as she tilted her head back toward the sky and let out a heavy, slightly aggravated sigh.

"Craaap, I should have asked him about staying in contact before we left Adgnei..." She muttered, Laxus huffed a bit.

"No shit." He grumbled, even though internally he couldn't blame her much for not doing so. She had been in something of a hurry to leave Adgnei and that Tomb stuck on top of the mountain far, far behind.

"I would try tracing his name in Magic over your Limiter, Energy Dragon."

Both Frea and Laxus jumped slightly at the sudden voice, their attention snapping toward the haze of purple that appeared in front of them and onto Jynx as she materialized. She stood there with her hands hooked behind her back, expression serene and the morning sun shining off her wavy black hair, the plaits of the skirt of her dress shifting along with the ebony strands in the bit of a breeze that washed through. She looked older still, ever since she seemed to suddenly age up a few years upon arriving in Adgnei and all that happened there- the change coming with a distinct increase in the feel of her Magical Pressure that had seemed to more than triple since Adgnei too.

Frea had not asked about the sudden shift though, she didn't really need to. It made sense to her that Jynx seemed to change, since her being in Adgnei and all she did had the girl sort of 'coming into her own' as the Seleyn. An increase in power for it made perfect sense, and looking a bit older didn't seem so odd either.

It was a bit of a surprise to have her pop up now though, even if Frea had sort of said her name aloud and it could have been considered a call or whatever. Jynx had been absent from the Guild since they got back, as she had elected to stay behind in Adgnei along with Aisha and Chase to settle the turmoil and lingering effects of what had gone on... Which come to think of it, Saige might have still been there too-?

"-I would offer to try and locate Saint Balthan for you, but I have been a bit preoccupied as of late and I'm not entirely sure where he is." Jynx told them levelly, cutting off the thought in Frea's mind, and answering it one go too.

I guess maybe not

"I believe some of the 'tinkering' he did along with Talarr has it so your Limiter and the one he wears himself are now linked." Jynx murmured as she unhooked her hands from behind her back and lift one to gesture toward her ear in a mock representation of that earring bearing the Wizard Saint Emblem hung from Saige's own ear. Frea blinked in surprise for the information, her eyes moving down toward the Limiter on her wrist reflexively.

"Linked?" She mumbled, Jynx nodded.

"The specifics of it you will need to ask Saint Balthan, I'm afraid my knowledge of it is fairly limited." Jynx hummed, Frea nodded a bit in understanding.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot. Thank you." Frea murmured softly, her hand falling back to her hip a moment and head tilting slightly at the girl. "How are things going in Adgnei by the way? I haven't heard anything from Chase since we left." She asked, her voice dropping a little despite herself and her stomach churning when Jynx seemed to pause, a fraction of that serene air about her dimming as she let out a quiet breath.

"Things are still a bit hectic." Jynx murmured lowly, "There's a lot of discourse between the Noble and Middle Castes about who should rule now with Drennios gone, and several of the regions outside of the Capital have begun open rebellion, with the Families in other cities trying to lay claim to what land they can while the head of the country tries to come up with a plan." Jynx explained softly, Frea swallowing a little for the words and her eyes dropping from Jynx and to the ground.

There's still a war going on then... with all the more people getting hurt or killed because of- tch.

"Aisha and Chase have their hands full trying to band together what Families and Clans there are that want peace. Lord Tuvral and Sir Therigist's Houses are helping quite a bit, along with most of the Lower Castes and the Barren, but they have plenty of opposition and battles yet to win. There is a ways to go before things are nearing stable." Jynx murmured, her own eyes falling from Frea for a moment and seeming to frown, Laxus doing the same though his attention was stuck on the Energy Dragon Slayer and nowhere else. Jynx trailed off for a moment before shaking her head a bit, her red eyes landing on Frea again and giving the now rigid Energy Dragon Slayer a sympathetic look.

"They are doing well in facing the challenge, though." Jynx added, her tone growing a touch lighter now and earning Frea's eyes off the ground slowly. Jynx smiled a bit as their gazes matched, "Things will be resolved in time, you needn't worry about it, or worry too much about anyone there. They will be alright." Jynx assured her, Frea swallowed a bit at the words before nodding stiffly and only once.

"Right." She murmured, the blonde taking in a deep breath and forcing her muscles to unwind again and shake off some of the tension that had fallen so quickly. "Tell them to be careful anyway, okay? And thank you for the tip, and everything else you're helping out with Jynx." Frea murmured, Jynx's smile getting a bit softer as she dipped her head toward Frea.

"Of course."

Jynx faded from view again and left Laxus and Frea alone in the center of the cobbled street, oblivious and uncaring of the strange looks they earned from the passerby who had seen Jynx pop in and out of nowhere. Laxus still had his eyes on Frea as she seemed to let out a heavy sigh, her hands on her hips and fingers digging into her sides as she forced that breath, still tense even despite doing her best to shake it off just beforehand.

"... You okay?" He rumbled quietly, Frea's head twitching a bit in his direction in a show she heard the question, though she didn't open her eyes just yet.

"Yeah... it just... sucks." She mumbled, her voice shy of a whisper. He grimaced a bit for the reply, but Frea didn't linger on it for much longer, the Energy Dragon Slayer shaking herself out slightly and lifting her right hand off her hip to give the Limiter on her wrist a look. "Well anyway, I guess I ought to give her suggestion a try." Frea hummed, her other hand lifting to hover over the Limiter, though she ended up faltering another moment more without getting into trying it. The look on her face went from musing to surprised, like something suddenly dawned on her, and Laxus quirked a brow for it.

"What?" He asked, she glanced his way slowly.

"Did I hear it wrong, or did Jynx just say that the Old Geezer has a Limiter too..?" She asked, Laxus pausing for a moment at it and looking faintly surprised himself when she pointed out- because she was right, Jynx had definitely implied that. He nodded a bit in reply to it and Frea looked away again, her expression turning to something a touch unnerved now.

That's fucking crazy, his Magic Power is already insane just normally, but if he's got a Limiter too how much of his Magic have I not felt yet...?!

She smiled nervously to herself for the thought, a bead of sweat dripping down her spine and earning a shiver.

I mean I guess he's not a Wizard Saint for nothing, but I really don't get how he's a lower seat than even Master Makarov... geez.

She shook her head a bit and warded off the sudden chill that had run up her back, eyes flashing as she turned her attention back on the Limiter and her fingers on her other hand twitched, silver sparking to life on the air and glittering off the ring on her thumb. With the flare of silver came a distinct increase of her Magical Pressure that washed against Laxus beside her like a huge wave, the already heavy feel of her Magic on the air that he had grown used to and let fade to the back of his mind, suddenly pushing its way to the forefront of his thoughts again as she traced her Magic in air and spelled out 'Saige'. She tapped her finger to the center of the name when she was done, the lettering falling away in pieces to pepper the bracelet and the ground beneath her... but that was it. Her Magic faded and nothing happened.

Frea bit the insides of her cheeks as she lift her hand a bit more in front of her and gave the Limiter a thoughtful look, quiet for a moment or two as she gave it a bit more time, before her shoulders sank a bit.

"Well that did nothing-" She started, only to break off near right away when she felt a sudden flash of familiar Magic rise up quickly around her, the feeling of it coming to life just as suddenly as the faint glow of golden-white that spiraled up around her feet. She stiffened faintly, the Magic coming and going in the blink of an eye along with the sensation of weightlessness too- but not nearly as fast as the hold of Laxus' hand coming down on her arm and pulling her sideways into him.

Her shoulder bumped against his chest, one hand still firmly around her upper arm while his other landed on her shoulder to steady her when they connected, the distance between them vanishing while the street around them did the same. The weightless instant ended with their feet touching down on grass, the buildings lining the street now replaced with trees as they found themselves suddenly dropped somewhere in the East Forest from the look of it. Frea blinked several times as her mind rushed to catch up with what happened, her eyes flashing as she glanced about quickly, Laxus letting out a slightly agitated huff that tickled against her ear with how close they were now, and neither of them made a move to separate right off. Her attention landed on the owner of that sudden burst of Magic, the Old Geezer's Energy Signature ahead of them now, and clearly with that Rune activated to hide the feel of his Magic Power given the lack of it washing against her.

Her silver eyes matched with Saige's orange ones in the same instant Laxus' eyes fell on the man too, the laid-back persona of the Saint breaking a moment in surprise when he saw not just Frea there, but Laxus too... Before he smiled faintly in amusement.

"Ah forgive me Energess, I did not realize you were not alone." Saige hummed coolly, his head dipping toward the pair of Dragon Slayers and earning a still slightly annoyed look from Laxus when Saige glanced from Frea and to him for a heartbeat. Saige didn't hold the look from Laxus very long, his gaze landed back on Frea as his hand and index finger twirled once or twice in air beside him, "I'll be sure to try and determine if you are alone and increase the radius of my Spell next time, so I might not miss anybody that may be in your company and potentially separate you by leaving them behind." Saige hummed, Frea blinking at the words before casting a fleeting glance toward Laxus beside her when the Lightning Dragon Slayer's hands on her seemed to tighten imperceptibly, and she felt a flash of annoyance spark off him too- a quick jolt of it that very nearly drowned out the deeper sensations of sheer unease and even panic that had flared from him the moment Saige's Magic materialized.

He'd not hesitated to grab onto her and pull her close, and his hold on her didn't let up for even a moment when they were Transported and touched back down again. His hands and body nearly moved of their own accord and made sure to reach her, to hold on and tightly, as if he wouldn't dare let her slip through his fingers... Which was certainly one of the more predominant thoughts that ran through his mind and had him grabbing onto her.

But it wasn't so much a conscious choice, he didn't even think about it, it just happened. It was sheer blind reaction, fueled by the overwhelming need to avoid feeling what he had felt each time she'd been ripped away and whisked off to who the hell knows where, only to end up worse than when she left. Between Mordren, and Era, and Adgnei- there was no way in hell he was about to let her get carried off where he couldn't follow, or even know where she was.

Never again

Frea blinked slowly, her eyes flashing as she saw the way Laxus' lips curled even when his annoyance and the bits of panic faded to none in little time. She didn't understand completely why it was there, but she could take a guess, and she knew it probably wasn't far off from why he seemed to grab her so quickly too (not that she minded it). She could imagine there was some unpleasant sense of familiarity with seeing her getting taken somewhere else by Magical means, even if this wasn't quite the same as the times before where it had happened. But she did get it, so she let a small moment pass between getting there and Saige pointing out their arrival together, before moving to pull herself away from Laxus.

She moved a step sideways away from him and slowly so the Lightning Dragon Slayer had the chance to slacken his hold on her, his hand on her shoulder disappearing while his hold on her arm let up till it was gone. He crossed his arms over his chest while Frea let her hands fall on her hips instead, the Energy Dragon Slayer shooting the blonde one last look she didn't get a return for, before looking back to Saige with a small sigh.

"It's fine." She murmured, Saige smiling a bit more for a moment, before perking up.

"Well anyway, I see you're aware of the Link Talarr and I had placed on your Limiter." Saige hummed with a slight nod of his head toward said device, "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today? I assume you have an inquiry of some kind?" He hummed lightly, his head tilting a bit and Frea nodded once.

"Yeah, I'm trying to find out who owns the land where Nvindorr is." Frea murmured and right to the point, while Saige almost immediately stiffened in surprise, his smile wiped clean and orange eyes widening. Frea's hand reached around to pull the copy of the land deed from her back pocket and unfold it, lifting it so the old man could see. "I asked Magnolia's Mayor hoping he might have a clue, since we're the closest city to it, but all he had was this deed saying the Land was signed away forever ago, but the name of the receiver doesn't exist." She murmured. Saige's eyes only briefly moved off her toward the paper, and the surprise from him quickly melted as he did, the smile gone now and leaving the man's expression unreadable, his attention fixed to her and intent.

"I don't really wanna go bugging the Magic Council or the Magistrate to see if they have any paperwork on it." Frea went on, her voice dropping a bit and her hand with the paper doing the same. "So barring them... well, I thought maybe you might know, given everything." She murmured quietly, her eyes steady on Saige and missing the narrowed and slightly questioning glance she received from Laxus beside her for the last bit; 'given everything'.

There it was again. That inkling that was less an inkling, and more a fact that Saige did know a lot more than it seemed he should have... and maybe even things about what more Frea had told him there was, but she was not ready to share just yet. Then the feeling felt even more confirmed when Saige spared a glance off of Frea and toward Laxus instead, the elder Saint eyeing him almost cautiously as he seemed to give Laxus' presence a moment or two of careful consideration, before looking away again.

"... Might I ask why you're interested now?" Saige murmured, his eyes flashing as his voice dropped. "Are you perhaps looking to reclaim the rights to the land yourself, Energess?" Saige asked quietly, and slowly so. Frea paused for a moment at the question, her eyes falling from him and to her feet a touch uneasily, the Energy Dragon Slayer chewing on the insides of her cheeks. Laxus blinked, his eyes narrowing a bit as he shot her a sideways glance she never noticed for even an instant, nor did the surprise and confusion that sparked off of him make it through either.

'Reclaim'...?

"... I... I haven't really thought that far ahead yet, to be honest with you." Frea admitted softly, her arms moving to cross over her chest almost self-consciously as she shook her head once. "I sort of just wanted to at least try and gauge where everything stands now, with it, who owns it, and all of that before I gave it much thought as to what comes after." She murmured, her tone a little uncertain now and Saige's unreadable expression broke into something more sympathetic for a moment in reaction to it.

But it was gone again quickly after, the old man looking nothing but calm as he nodded once in understanding.

"Of course." He murmured, "And you are in luck, as I do actually know who owns the deed for the Land of Nvindorr." He told her, Frea perking near instantly for the words and her eyes glittering faintly. Saige hummed to himself and shifted on his feet a bit as he nodded his head toward the paper she had in hand. "I looked into this myself quite some time ago, and while it took a bit of doing, I eventually managed to track down the mystery sign-ee on that very same document you have now. And from there trace my way through the number of hands ownership of the land was exchanged between, until about 60 years ago when rights to the land was transferred through inheritance to someone who had never even heard of it beforehand, and who didn't even know the woman who had left it in their will for them." Saige explained coolly, the somewhat placid air faltering a bit with hints of exasperation as he seemed to fade off for a moment before continuing;

"I had attempted to bargain for the deed myself, but failed quite miserably in the endeavor." Saige murmured, Frea's head tilting faintly when she felt the sudden and unexpected flash of... ache from him, though she had no idea what for. And it was there and gone so quickly she had no time to wonder on it, Saige's calm returning just as suddenly as he straightened a bit and settled her with a small, somewhat amused smile.

"Though perhaps you will have better luck than I did." He hummed, "So I'll go ahead and set up a meeting for you. It's probably best that I at least be the point of contact, even if you do all the negotiating, as I am not entirely sure she'll even agree to talk unless I ask." Saige told her, Frea's eyes narrowing slightly in question for the rather nondescript 'she'- not that Saige elaborated any further.

"This might take a fair amount of convincing even coming from me, so please be patient." Saige murmured, his arms unhooking from over his chest and his left hand raising, index finger extended in air and already starting in again on the twirling motion. "I'll go ahead and send you back into town. It's still early, so chances are good that I'll be able to get a meeting set before the day's end." Saige murmured, orange eyes glinting as the feel of his Magic flared to life, translucent golden-white shimmering around her and Laxus both this time, and with plenty of room to spare. He smiled a bit more, a glint of light off the Wizard Saint emblem hanging from his ear dazzling her slightly as the old man tilted his head toward the Lightning Dragon Slayer to her left. "So for now relax, grab something to eat, enjoy the pleasant weather and your company." Saige hummed lightly, and perhaps he looked faintly amused too, though Frea wasn't sure. And she did not linger on it, not when what Saige said next had her all the more confused, and certainly set to brood at least a little, despite him saying not to;

"I'll collect you when we're ready, Energess. In the meantime do try not to brood over it, I'm sure you'll be up to whatever challenge she may throw your way."

The East Forest got replaced in the blink of an eye by the familiar streets and buildings of Magnolia, several townspeople casting Frea and Laxus incredulous looks for the two Fairies just suddenly appearing out of nowhere, though they themselves did not look at all bothered by it. Which was perhaps a little more disconcerting... but the looks only lasted for a few heartbeats before the townspeople moved on. They recognized the two of them as members of Fairy Tail and gave the odd occurrence little mind- after all, this was Magnolia, and Fairy Tail and it's members had always been strange, and up to even stranger things.

Frea's shoulders sank slightly as she seemed to wilt a bit, her silver eyes glimmering as she bit down on the insides of her cheeks, eyes narrowed and brooding.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? 'Challenge'?

She bit down on her cheeks a little harder, her hands tightening around the paper she was still holding on to without her being aware of it.

And who the hell is 'she' anyway? The Old Geezer didn't even give me a name damn it-

Frea jumped a bit, a sudden stinging pain running across her shoulder as Laxus flicked her, and subsequently ripped her out of her own thoughts. She rounded on him immediately, annoyance flaring as she shot him a heated stare,

"What the hell was that for?!" She snapped, he blinked, face neutral even despite the sudden flare of her temper.

"You're brooding." He replied flatly, "The thing he just told you not to do."

"Well of course I am, how the hell am I supposed to not brood when he just left me hanging without a name and some vague comment about a challenge? For all I know I'm gonna have to fight whoever the hell 'she' is, or something even weirder." Frea muttered hotly, Laxus sighed at it and shook his head once.

"Not everything turns into a fight." He rumbled, for once the voice of rationality. "And even if it does end up like that, it'll be fine. Ain't nothing's gonna happen to you." He added, his voice dropping to something just shy of a growl suddenly, Frea stiffening a little in surprise for it and her annoyance shattering in a single instant.

Laxus didn't let the words... No, the damn near declaration hang on the air between them for very long. He shifted on his feet, stepping forward a pace and turning a bit to be standing more facing her directly, his arms crossing over his chest.

"There's no use in overthinking it, the old guy has a point. It'll be fine, whatever happens, so just leave it be for now." He mumbled, "Besides, you were up all night dealing with the girls drinking, weren't you?" He asked flatly, the question, statement and change in subject all earning a look of surprise from Frea- one he clicked his tongue at with a heavy sigh following soon after. "I can smell the booze all over you." He murmured in answer to the surprised face, Frea stiffening a bit at the assertion and grimacing slightly as she gave herself a cautious sniff.

"... Shit, maybe I should have taken a shower..." She mumbled lowly, Laxus shook his head once.

"It ain't that bad." He told her and she seemed to hesitate at it, before glancing up again and settling his flat stare with one of her own.

"If it's not, then why the hell are you pointing it out?" She mumbled, sounding a slightly bit touchy now and he huffed.

"I'm pointing it out because even though you were dealing with them through the night, you're still up and about early as hell." He told her, "Which means you definitely haven't eaten anything yet, have you?" He asked, though it was more he pointed it out, and rather as a matter-of-fact at that. Frea stiffened a bit at the assertion, her expression both slightly annoyed and slightly nervous all at once- though a little more the latter when Laxus huffed a bit and shook his head at her.

"Didn't think so." He murmured lowly, Frea bristling a bit at the words, though he gave her a rather pointed stare and tilted his head. "Did you take those pills the Old Lady gave you?" He asked next, and Frea grit her teeth a bit.

"Of course I did, I'm not dumb." She muttered,

"But you still didn't eat anything." He replied evenly, Frea hissed a bit.

"I'm not a child, you don't need treat me like one and scold me for not taking my pills or not eating breakfast! I can take care of myself, and if I don't wanna eat I don't fucking have to!" She grumbled hotly, her hands at her sides balling into fists indignantly. Laxus' eye twitched a bit at it, the agitation flaring in her now sparking off him for it, but perhaps a little less. He seemed to be trying his best not to get all worked up, but his patience wasn't infinite.

"Clearly I need to, because you're being an idiot." He huffed, Frea bristling even more for it but he shook his head once and firmly. "You know those pills are gonna make you sick if you take them on an empty stomach, right? Or did you miss that part when Porlyusica told you about them the other day?" He grumbled, Frea stiffening a bit in surprise and Laxus actively fighting the urge to groan in exasperation when the annoyance in her face got replaced with bits of nervousness and uncertainty.

"You are so dense sometimes." Laxus sighed heavily, his shoulders sinking as he did it and Frea looking a little cross for the insult, but she looked a little more flustered now- because maybe he had a point. She certainly did not remember Porlyusica mentioning anything about being sure to take the medicine with food, but him mentioning it now struck a chord in the back of her mind where she thought maybe Porlyusica had said something about it, only she'd been a bit too lost in her own thoughts at the time for it to really sink in... And maybe that little tidbit had a factor in why she'd not eaten much the day before. She'd choked it up to being so wound up in knots, and to the nightmare that had her throwing up, as being the reason her stomach was still twisting and turning. But maybe it wasn't all that, and her taking the pills with no food afterward just hadn't done her any favors.

... Shit...

Something about her face must have given her away because Laxus blinked, his eyes narrowing at her almost suspiciously for a heartbeat or two where she didn't return the look, since her eyes had fallen to her feet now. He grimaced a bit for the way her hands found a slightly nervous place clutching the paper she still held on to, the Lightning Dragon Slayer suppressing another heavy sigh.

"Oi." He mumbled, his voice losing the exasperated and slightly scolding tone as it morphed into something a little softer. His hands unhooked from being crossed and one of them reached forward to flick her on the forehead, much like he'd flicked her before, but this time with it being so gentle it did nothing but earn her eyes back up on him. He shifted slightly to the side, eyes steady with hers while he nodded his head a bit up the street, his hand pulling away again and stirring up the air as it did. A waft of that same mountain air trapped in a storm bloomed with the movement, stronger than ever as it danced on her senses at the forefront even around all the other scents of the town, the fall air, the lingering scent of alcohol clinging to her, and whatever else.

"Come on, let's get something to eat before you actually do end up sick to your stomach. This time food's on me."

.:+:.

"Ah, Frea! Lovely to see you again my dear, it's been awhile!"

Frea smiled pleasantly toward the older woman sporting an apron who stood behind the cafe's counter, the exclamation earning several eyes from the other people sat down in the building for their own breakfast (not that Frea noticed it). The Energy Dragon Slayer paused a few paces short of the counter, Laxus trailing in behind her and quirking a brow at how quickly the older woman perked up upon Frea walking in, and the fact that she even knew her by name.

"Nice to see you too, Miss Emmer." Frea murmured lightly as the older woman quickly rounded the counter and headed up toward the Energy Dragon Slayer, wiping her hands covered in flour on her apron as she went before extending her arms out toward the Fairy Tail Wizard. The older woman caught Frea's face in her hands, Frea smiling faintly still even as the woman gave her a rather scrupulous look-over, and even went so far as to pinch Frea's cheeks with a small click of her tongue.

"When Moon came in here two weeks ago without you, she said you'd not been back because you'd gone and got yourself hurt." The older woman ('Miss Emmer' apparently) murmured lowly, her lips pursing a bit while the pinching on Frea's cheeks lightened almost instantly, and the older woman's gaze became more searching and tense. "You Fairy Tailers are always getting into so much trouble, but to keep you away so long you must have been in really bad shape. That whole Guild of yours has been in an awful mood lately, so much less rowdy than normal- it was because of you, wasn't it? Were you really injured so badly?" The older woman asked tensely, her voice dropping a bit while her attention dropped from holding Frea's silver eyes and started to trail downward in order to take the Energy Dragon Slayer in a bit more carefully. Her attention found the bits of scars poking out from under the loose fitting black shirt Frea had on, the tension getting all the worse to find the one on Frea's chest and over her heart in particular- but Frea didn't really let the woman linger too much on it.

Frea's hands came up lightly to catch under Ms. Emmer's elbows, the Energy Dragon Slayer giving the older woman a soft and reassuring smile as she earned her eyes back up again.

"I'm alright, please don't worry about it." Frea hummed, "Things have been a bit rough lately but I'm doing okay now, and the rest of the Guild is too. I'm sure the town will end up annoyed again with all our brawling and noise soon enough." Frea told her lightly, the older woman pausing a moment at the reassurance- almost as if she wanted to question it further- before smiling a bit herself and nodding.

"I expect so, I heard there was quite a bit of commotion from that Hall last night." The woman murmured lightly while Frea smiled a bit nervously at the comment, though she said nothing in reply to it. Ms. Emmer seemed amused with the silence, though she didn't linger too long on it before her hands found Frea's face again and gave her cheeks a few gentle taps. "Well anyway you're here and looking a bit peaky, so let's get you something to eat hmm?" The older woman chirped, Frea's smile returning again as she nodded.

"That would be great." Frea hummed, Ms. Emmer nodding a bit and her hands pulling away as she glanced passed Frea toward the blonde man standing a few paces behind and watching them in silence. The older woman looked surprised for a moment when she spotted him there, before she smiled a bit more and patted Frea's shoulder lightly.

"Come on then dear, I'll have something fixed up for you and your friend in no time." The older woman hummed brightly, her eyes leaving Laxus and motioning with a hand for Frea to head over toward some empty seats before the woman herself moved off back behind the counter and through a door to the kitchen, waving as she went.

"Have a seat, settle in you two, I'll be back in a snap with some of those muffins you like so much Frea! And then some nice breakfast after that~!"

Frea shot the older woman a smile over her shoulder, slowing up at an empty table with Laxus just behind. "Thank you, but take your time." Frea called back easily, the words earning a smile from the woman and a last wave of her hand before all sight of her was lost through the door. Frea hummed a bit at it and glanced away, her attention landing on Laxus as they paused a moment at the table, her smile brightening a tad when she caught his eyes, before she tilted her head at the seats with a small shrug.

She sat down and he followed suit, her eyes moving off the Lightning Dragon Slayer again when Miss Emmer popped back out of the kitchen not a moment later, a tray stacked with muffins in her hands and smiling pleasantly as she approached and sat them down on the table between the two Dragon Slayers. Miss Emmer's hand patted Frea's shoulder as the old woman pulled away, Frea murmuring another thank you after her that the woman shook her head at with a soft smile, and a promise that drinks would be coming soon after.

Frea's eyes landed on the tray full of muffins and she wasted little time in picking one of them up, her nose twitching as she gave it a sniff and grinned to herself soon after. Her fangs bit down into the soft top, a pleasurable humm escaping her as she started chewing, the Energy Dragon Slayer looking a bit too pleased as she kept on chewing... While Laxus across from her watched quietly, brow quirking as his attention danced between her, the tray of muffins, and over toward where 'Miss Emmer' had moved back into the kitchen.

His attention settled in on Frea solely after letting his eyes wander for a moment or two, a small, slightly amused breath escaping him as she popped the last bite of the muffin (she had basically devoured) into her mouth, smiling still as she kept eating and Laxus leaned into his elbows on the tabletop.

"How often do you come here?" He asked, Frea blinking as she glanced up at him and her chewing broke off a second.

"Hmm?" She hummed around her food, Laxus tilted his head to the kitchen door.

"Seems like the old woman knows you pretty well." He pointed out levelly, his head tilting toward the try and muffins next. "And she knows to bring you these right off the bat too, so you must come here pretty often." He murmured, Frea swallowing the last bite of her food with a small shrug.

"I guess so, but I don't come here all the time. Only maybe like twice a week usually... Though in the beginning I guess it might have been more like four or five times a week. But for a while now I've been so busy I don't come near as often." Frea explained, smiling a little nervously as she had to retract a bit mid-sentence, though she didn't pause long on it. "But I have been coming here for years. It's my favorite food place in Magnolia, and it has been since pretty early on after I joined the Guild. Miss Emmer owns the place, so she does know me pretty well because of how long I've been coming back." She explained with a small shrug, silver eyes flashing. "Plus the food is great here, by the way. These especially." She pointed out with a nod of her head toward the tray and muffins atop, Laxus blinked, quiet for a heartbeat as the information sank in, before letting his eyes fall from her and toward the food with a small breath.

"Well they must be, since you scarfed one down in ten seconds." He said coolly, Frea stiffened against it.

"I did not!" She muttered back quickly, he shrugged, plucking a muffin off the tray for himself.

"Maybe not in ten seconds exactly, but you did scarf it down."

"Oi!" Frea hissed, her cheeks puffing up again in agitation at him, but he only smirked at it, ignoring her annoyance as he busied himself with taking a bite of his own muffin rather nonchalantly. His eyes fell closed as he did it, humming a bit to himself as the flavor of the food washed over his senses- tangy like lemon, but with a more earthy taste underneath it that reminded him of spices like cloves mixed with pine trees... A sort of odd combination, but it wasn't bad by any means, and in fact he rather enjoyed the sharpness of the lemon. But still, kind of a weird combo, not that he was all that surprised since it was Frea who seemed to like the damn things so much, and she was weird as hell about a lot of things.

Laxus stifled a tiny chuckle in the back of his throat for the thought of it, his lips twitching at the corners for a brief moment while he kept on chewing and Frea's cheeks deflated after a minute, the Energy Dragon Slayer looking away from him with a huff. She felt the spark of amusement come off of him, which just made her grit her teeth at the teasing... But honestly, she wasn't mad.

Her silver eyes trailed back toward Laxus soon after looking away rather stubbornly, the agitation in her fading quick enough as he took another bite, the blonde shrugging his shoulders a bit with a small humm.

"Hmph, they're not bad." He relented quietly, Frea scoffed a bit, her elbows crossing on the table top in front of her as she leaned in.

"They're great." She said rather pointedly and this time he did chuckle, shaking his head a bit.

"You'd think so." He replied with ease and she stiffened at it, eyes narrowing a bit.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She mumbled lowly and he cracked an eye open, tossing the last bit of his food into his mouth, chewing as he gave her a rather nonchalant shrug.

"You go around stuffing different types of Magic into your mouth on a regular basis. Weird flavor combos are sort of your thing." He pointed out levelly and she grit her teeth again, a small flash of annoyance on her face there and gone in the matter of a moment, before she smirked a bit and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh don't be jealous that I can eat whatever Element I want, and you can't without wanting to throw up." She quipped back with ease and he rolled his eyes a bit, chuckling under his breath but finishing his muffin without saying anything back.

... Not sure I should be jealous of that, coming from the idiot who decided to go ahead and eat Poison Magic on purpose...

Both Dragon Slayers glanced around as Miss Emmer approached with another tray filled up with two glasses of what looked like ice tea, and a pair of menus. The Old Lady smiled sweetly as she set them down and handed the menus off, setting the drinks down and heading off with a word that she'd be around shortly to take their orders. Frea barely glanced at the menu for more than a moment or two before she set it back down, already well aware of what she wanted and her silver eyes landing on the front counter across the way in silence while Laxus settled on reading. Her hands wound around her drink absentmindedly as she did, her ring on her thumb clinking against the glass softly and earning Laxus' eyes off the menu for a brief second, before he went back to reading.

Frea smiled faintly as she watched Miss Emmer busy herself in the back with whatever new baked goody she'd been in the midst of before they'd come in, the old lady's hands moving methodically on stirring a bowl full of stuff before pouring it out into a pan. Some other workers and a cook milled about around her, taking care of other foods and things, fulfilling orders for the other people around and getting ready on new ones. There was constant movement back there, the sound of pans and utensils along with the sizzle of a grill and crackle of flames in ovens and stoves alike were ever persistent... but even with the bustle, it was calm and quiet to a point it was almost unnatural- but all the same it was pleasant. Things rarely ever got really noisy here even when it was busy, the old lady kept the kitchen and the cafe running smoothly at all times, and Frea honestly couldn't remember very many times where there was ever a huge mess up, or even rowdy customers- spare maybe once or twice.

She smirked faintly to herself at the thought, her eyes dropping closed a moment.

Miss Emmer didn't really stand for anybody being rowdy or causing trouble to begin with, Frea had seen the old lady toss out people who were being pests quicker than they could react, and she did it without hesitation or trouble too. She was a tough old woman, sweet as can be and someone who really never got mad- until she did, and she was not someone you wanted to mess with. And those who got on her bad side were quick to fold, apologize profusely, or just never come back for fear of falling under her ire.

She suffers no fools... hehe.

Frea blinked her eyes open and glanced back toward Laxus when she heard him set the menu down on the edge of the table, the Lightning Dragon Slayer lifting his glass to his lips to take a drink, before pulling it back and shooting her a quirked brow when he caught her attention back on him. She smiled a bit, head tilting faintly and silver eyes flashing.

"So, what are you gonna get?" She asked lightly, he set his glass back down on the table.

"An omelet." Laxus replied evenly, brow quirking a bit as she smiled and leaned her cheeks into her hands.

"Ah, that's a good choice, Miss Emmer makes really good ones~" She chirped softly and he rolled his eyes a bit,

"You think everything here is good." He pointed out and she smirked,

"Everything here is good." She replied with ease, and he let it be and said nothing more... And certainly said nothing when she was right about the food later on.

When the plates of food were brought out and set before them, he took his first few bites entirely aware of Frea watching him do so even when she started in on eating her own food (a strawberry crepe), and he was careful not to let the pleasant taste of the meal be too noticeable on his face for it. He did it out of stubbornness, spite, whatever- because he wasn't gonna give her the satisfaction of knowing she was right, at least not that easily.

She knew he enjoyed it regardless of him trying to remain a bit stonewalled though. The flash of surprise and pleasure that sparked off of him when he started eating was a dead giveaway, and she ended up smiling to herself in amusement when it became clear he was deliberately watching his reactions and facial expression to not let it be outwardly clear he was enjoying his food. But just like him, Frea said nothing, and they fell into a comfortable silence as they began eating.

Several more people began filtering into the cafe as the morning ticked by, adding to the bustle that still remained almost impossibly mellow despite the influx of people and work to be done serving them. Miss Emmer began shuffling around a lot more between the front counter, the dining room, and the kitchen, the old lady surprisingly quick on her feet and juggling all the goings on with ease. The old lady stopped by once as they started eating their food to refill their drinks, but otherwise kept herself busy elsewhere as the two Dragon Slayers dug in.

Things were content that way, Frea's eyes wandering to watch the old lady work even as she continued to eat her food (and at a much slower rate than the muffin), a tiny smile appearing on her lips as the woman dodged about without end, greeting people, delegating, etc. She really had so much energy all the time it was impressive, and the quick shift between kind and friendly when talking to customers to slightly stern and authoritative when directing her cooks in the back was amusing. Laxus even found himself watching the old woman flit about too, quiet as he kept on eating his food and intermittently casting Frea a glance to see her eyes just about everywhere else, and only briefly back on them and her plate of food long enough to grab another bite before her attention wandered again.

Laxus' eyes left Frea slowly and stuck on to Ms. Emmer as the woman started in again on giving out orders and flitting about her kitchen, her hands and attention in ten places at once and still unfazed by the amount of moving around or the number of different things she had her attention on... For an old lady she certainly moved around pretty good, he would give her that-

SNAP

Laxus stiffened, his heart skipping a startled beat and his eyes snapping off the old women and the kitchen toward the sound of metal snapping in two, which was quickly followed by a shaky hiss. His attention landed on Frea where she'd hunched a bit, her fangs clamping down on her fork hard enough the iron shattered between her gritted teeth, eyes scrunched closed and rigid in her seat, hand white-knuckled around the end of the fork as she bent a bit, the hiss that slipped through her teeth breathless and pained. Laxus swallowed, instinct and sheer blind reaction forcing his ears to tune in passed the sound of the hiss and search for her heartbeat, a wash of unease racing through him for the few seconds it took to do so, his mind about to run away from him and lost as to what the hell happened- until he wasn't.

His thoughts pulled together in rapid time, the patter of her heartbeat remaining steady despite the uptick in its pace instantly leading his mind away from where it had been about to go, and toward realization instead.

He'd seen this before. A few times now, since what had happened in Adgnei and she'd broken down that night, laying bare a million things he'd never had any hope she'd ever say out loud, let alone to him. Twice after that first night, and then maybe half a dozen in the week since- times where she went very still out of nowhere, her muscles locking and her lungs seizing as she forced herself not to show any amount of what chilly agony was suddenly rushing through every inch of her as the Darkness in her core swirled. A handful of times between the Guild fussing, Porlyusica doing all her tests, and whatever else where he'd actually managed to notice her falter, even just a little... and he knew the only reason he picked up on it at all was because he knew what was behind it now, and knew to look for it.

But this had been going on for months and he'd only just now picked up on even a little bit of it. Months already where neither he nor anybody else had ever noticed her suffering like that in utter silence. Even if he saw it now, and had started seeing it lately, seeing it at all was so few and far in between that he couldn't help but wonder if he was still failing to pick up on it even now. That maybe she'd gotten so good at hiding it and at pretending like nothing was wrong all this time, that even when he knew the truth he still couldn't see through that facade she put up all the way, or even halfway.

Laxus swallowed hard for the thought, aqua eyes flashing and his expression growing slightly grim as he watched her quietly, gritting his fangs a bit and his stomach curling tightly when all he could do was sit there and wait for the pain to fade.

Useless

The rigidity of her figure faded after a minute or so, the grim of Laxus' expression shifting to quiet neutrality as she forced herself to take in a breath of air after holding it, her shoulders sinking and her grip with her hand and her teeth on the fork loosening. She cracked her eyes open and pulled the now ruined fork away from being pinned in her teeth, a weary and slightly shaky sigh escaping her as she gave the bit of metal handle lacking any prongs an exasperated, and somewhat exhausted glare, before she started chewing the bits of the metal leftover in her mouth quietly. Her eyes fell closed again as she leaned against the tabletop with her elbows, munching slowly before swallowing, and then started on eating the rest of the fork too- she figured she might as well, since it was ruined anyway.

Laxus blinked once at it, quiet still and saying nothing to the bit of pain, the ruined utensil, or the fact she was eating it. He just watched her silently, Frea's eyes closed still and her posture losing the stiffness slowly but surely... and whatever amount of content and at ease she'd had just before even slower to come back, sluggish under a sudden shadow of tiredness that reached out and sank it's claws in just a little bit.

Laxus frowned faintly, his shoulders falling slightly as Frea sank her teeth into the last of the fork, the sound of the metal crunching with each-

"-Do not tell me you've gone and picked up that bad habit from that Gajeel fellow!"

Frea's chewing ended in another abrupt snap, her jaw locking and her fangs clacking loudly for the sudden and rather stern voice just beside her, and the rather looming and ominous figure of the old lady that seemed to appear beside her out of nowhere.

Frea jumped, her head snapping around toward Ms. Emmer, silver eyes flashing as the old woman stood there, arms crossed over her chest, lips taught, and a dangerous glint in her eye as she stared the Energy Dragon Slayer down. Frea swallowed the last of the metal quickly, her lips twitching upward in a shaky and altogether nervous smile, sweating up a storm as Ms. Emmer kept a steady glare on her, the old lady's toe tapping in agitation.

"I've already had to throw him out several times for eating my silverware, do not make me do the same with you!" Ms. Emmer muttered lowly, an icy edge and warning to her voice that was so very unlike the kind one she'd kept since they'd come in.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I wasn't really thinking about it..!" Frea apologized quickly, her hands coming up in what was supposed to be a calming gesture, but the old woman's toe just tapped a bit more, puffing.

"Thinking about it or no, I can't have you eating my utensils willy-nilly!" Ms. Emmer muttered hotly, Frea smiled a touch more nervously, shaking her head quickly.

"It was an accident, I'm not gonna do it again, I swear!" Frea told her, Ms. Emmer huffed.

"You had best not!"

Laxus let out a small sigh, his shoulders sinking tiredly as he glanced between both women in sheer silence, Frea still apologizing and looking nervous as she worked to appease the rather cross old woman, and they continued back and forth for a bit with a few more scolding words aimed Frea's way, and a few more quick assurances from the Energy Dragon Slayer in response. All the while with both of them not at all aware with the looks they were getting from Laxus or any of the other patrons alike, and no mind to care much even if they did notice. Ms. Emmer was a bit too heated at the fact the fork had been eaten (and surely heated all the more because of an Iron Dragon Slayer causing this very same issue before), and Frea was much more concerned with trying to work her way out of the old woman's ire- of which, she'd never actually been unlucky (or dumb) enough to find herself in before now... Not that it was entirely her fault.

The Lightning Dragon Slayer let out another sigh at the thought, his eyes moving off Frea and settling on the old lady, expression neutral and entirely calm.

"Put a bit extra on the bill for the fork." Laxus announced levelly, breaking off the tiny bit of banter back and forth and causing both Frea and Ms. Emmer to jump in surprise, their eyes snapping off each other and toward him, shocked and a little wary (in that order). Ms. Emmer narrowed her eyes at him, brow quirking and Laxus remained steady under the rather piercing look, shaking his head slightly and arms crossing on top of the table. "I'm paying for the meal, and she ate it. So technically it's food and it should be on the bill anyway." He pointed out levelly.

Ms. Emmer seemed to pause on the words, the sternness of her expression remaining for a moment as she and Laxus held each other's gazes steadily, and remained doing so even when Frea turned on Laxus a bit, the Energy Dragon Slayer shaking her head.

"Wait a minute, you don't have to-" Frea started quickly, only to get cut off when Ms. Emmer's stern expression suddenly brightened into a smile, and the old lady hummed pleasantly.

"Oh, what a gentleman!" Ms. Emmer murmured brightly, easily interrupting Frea's attempt at protest and the old lady's arms uncrossing from over her chest to clap her hands together a bit in front of her instead. Laxus' expression didn't shift from neutrality for the comment, and Ms. Emmer didn't linger long on it either, she seemed to flip moods in a heartbeat and just moved along. "Very well then, I'll treat it like a meal this time around. But please do refrain from eating any more of my utensils, hmm?" The old lady murmured with a nod of her head toward Frea, though her eyes still had yet to leave Laxus, and his hadn't either. She waited no more than a heartbeat after that before smiling a bit more and turning on her heel, heading off again and her hand patting Frea's shoulder lightly as she passed her by. "You and your friend enjoy the rest of your meal dear, I'll have someone bring you another fork so you can finish up." Ms. Emmer hummed lightly, her hand leaving Frea's shoulder soon after and the old lady headed back off to the kitchen with a smile and no amount of the stern or daunting persona from just a few moments before.

Frea faltered, glancing quickly back at the old lady as she left before looking to Laxus instead, blinking several times and a little lost for the sudden shift, and more so when Laxus' attention left Ms. Emmer and returned to his plate to continue on eating as if nothing ever happened. She hesitated as he took a bite of his food, silver eyes glittering as she struggled to come to terms with it and what he'd just offered so nonchalantly, before grimacing faintly, her voice dropping.

"You really don't have to pay to replace the fork." She told him quietly, "I'm the one that ate it when I shouldn't have, I can pay for it." She mumbled, but Laxus shook his head once and firmly, his hand stalling with his fork raised halfway with his next bite of food and his aqua blue eyes moving up to match with hers again, steady.

"It's fine." He told her levelly, "I said food was on me, so I'm paying." He murmured quietly, his tone leaving no room for argument and Frea bit the insides of her cheeks a little, looking ready to protest, before something about Laxus' very nearly unreadable expression shifted, just faintly. His gaze on her grew all the steadier, and just a bit more intense and she felt a flicker of weariness spark off of him that was paired with tiny bits of frustration too, which she wasn't expecting at all... because the frustration didn't feel like it was aimed at her...?

"Besides, it ain't your fault." He added, his voice dropping just a bit as he said it and Frea stiffened despite herself for the assertion. She swallowed, her eyes dropping from him quickly and looking uneasy despite herself- which he noticed immediately and seemed to bite his own cheek for, but he didn't press it. He wouldn't, not now.

Frea nodded stiffly and let it be at that, her attention diverting when a server came by with a new fork for her. She murmured a small thanks and started on the last of her breakfast again, with a little less vigor than before and a lot less of letting her attention wander toward the old lady moving about and delegating still. Whether her failure to return to watching was out of unease or a fear of catching Ms. Emmer's ire again, Laxus wasn't sure... Maybe it was both.

But either way, what calm and content there had been had had a wrench thrown into it that Frea couldn't seem to shake off so fast, and he frowned faintly to himself for it.

Laxus forced himself a quiet breath and looked back toward his plate rather than letting his eyes linger too much longer, or allow the frustration swirling in his core to gain any further traction and let her feel it more than she probably already had. He wasn't looking to put in any further of a wrench, or give her anymore to brood about- not brooding had been one of the primary reasons for coming here, after all.

So he did his best to leave it be and move on, and not give it too much attention and all the more foothold for that bit of unease to wriggle in even further. He didn't think lingering on it would do any good, and he was more sure of it given how quickly Frea had settled into saying nothing about it to begin with, before the old lady popped up. So he followed suit and let it be, quiet as he finished his food and careful not to let himself fall away into any of the tumultuous thoughts surrounding it. He let out a breath, let it go, and moved on with a near insane amount of ease that Frea couldn't really understand- but she did appreciate it, immensely.

And then Frea ended up doing that same thing she always did- she picked up, perked up, and fell again into a content rhythm after a few minutes, her smile returning and the familiar (and no longer agitated) attention given to her by Ms. Emmer returned in near no time at all, like nothing had ever happened.

She always managed that, without fail and it was a feat in itself, it was amazing really…. But this time his awe of the fact was dimmed by the knowledge that all of it- it wasn't fair.

Laxus' shoulders sank faintly as his eyes trailed over Frea smiling gently as the thanked Ms. Emmer for the food. He could see that blanket of tiredness that had come and settled in the quake of a few minutes ago still clinging faintly to her, even despite the way she seemed to brighten, and if Frea felt it at all she either didn't give it any mind, or she had gotten too good at burying it.

It was probably both of those things- burying and hiding and ignoring it because she had no other choice to. It was either that or… he didn't know.

Laxus forced himself a silent and heavy sigh, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck wearily.

None of this shit was fair, and she didn't deserve any of it. Not what had happened, not what was, and least of all whatever awful was bound to happen in the future too. She'd had to deal with enough already, pushed on and lived through too much already…. And she was stuck now living with that Darkness in her, for the rest of her life, and it was already near too much now.

He bit the inside of his cheek and something about his expression softened and hardened all at once, steadiness trickling in where Frea was unaware of it, or what silent promise he set himself just then. A similar one he'd made months ago already, then solidified a week ago, and now it was much a vow as a promise, and one he was determined to stick to with all his being, no matter what.

Frea glanced back around to him after a moment, her attention on Ms. Emmer shifting as the old woman headed off to get the bill, and by then any outward indication of that promise or what it was in Laxus was long gone. He didn't let himself linger on the promise long, though he kept it close, and he did his best not to wallow in any of that truth of the matter that this shit was not fair, or that she'd been dealt way more than she ever deserved on a constant loop. He didn't linger just then on the awful fact that in most of it, he was mostly useless or had been, or that even in some cases he'd been the reason she got more than she deserved.

He didn't think about it, he set his mind to it and tucked it in his center where it would firmly stay- but for right then he put it in its place and shook the rest of it off. He was calm and determined to remain in some sense of that as well as he could, for her sake. No brooding, no amount of unnecessary unease or anything of the like for now- they had time yet still before whoever Balthan was getting in contact with would be showing up, and he was determined to keep her mind off it as much as he could. If he was tense or brooding himself she would pick up on it way too easily…. And he would be lying if he said he didn't find it easy to get consumed in the moment, rather than stuck in his own head, while he was with her. That strange air of content and at ease they'd grown between them as of late was there still, returned in no time at all even after the little hitch that worked its way in, and it was just as she had said the day before.

Comfortable, for both of them, where that word would have never even been on either of their minds before the last few months to now. And certainly never a word they would have dared use in the context of each other so, so long ago in their early years. But it was there and like that now, and neither he nor Frea would have wanted it differently, even if it and the change it was brought forward a dozen other things that were new and still needed to be worked through…. Things that Laxus had settled already for the most part, where Frea was still lagging some.

But maybe-

Laxus blinked, Frea trailing out of the cafe after him with a wave toward Ms. Emmer at the door, saying goodbye. The old lady returned the gesture with a kind smile and a comment for them both to come back soon.

"I expect you back here sooner this time around Frea!" Ms. Emmer called and the Energy Dragon Slayer dipped her head a bit shyly, nodding as she shifted on her feet a little in her walking to cast a glance back at the woman.

"You will, I promise." Frea hummed lightly,

"Good, and bring him back with you anytime." Ms. Emmer said with a nod of her head toward Laxus, an amused smile gracing her lips. "Most of the other restaurateurs in Magnolia have nightmares about having more than one of you Dragon Slayers in at the same time, but I wouldn't mind having you two back. Despite eating my fork, you were both on your best behavior, and you didn't eat me out of house and home either." Ms. Emmer chuckled, Frea looking a touch nervous at the mention of the fork again and the bit about Dragon Slayers being a nightmare for food places (given Natsu's eating habits though, it was understandable…), but she smiled softly anyway and nodded once as her only reply.

Ms. Emmer's eyes gleamed at it, before she let out a little breath and her arms crossed over her chest, her smile softening for a moment as she remained outside the front door and watched Frea shift again on her feet to keep forward toward where Laxus had drawn up several paces ahead to wait for her. And then Ms. Emmer turned to head inside herself, but only got about a step or two in before she perked, the older woman clapping her hands in front of her as she turned back around added quickly;

"-Oh, and do have fun with the rest of your date, dearies! It's a lovely day today, don't waste it, because it'll be snowing before you know it!" Ms. Emmer called brightly, the words near an afterthought given the way she seemed to retract, and the older woman uncaring or otherwise oblivious to the way in which Frea had stiffened at the mention of 'date', her steps earning a hitch in them. Laxus reflexively stiffened in surprise too, the Lightning Dragon Slayer quickly casting the older woman a glance and she caught it, her brown eyes flitting over him in particular and adopting something of an amused look as she nodded her head to him, and then to Frea just once before she headed inside and out of sight.

Frea faltered, her walking stuttering to a stop as she glanced around quickly toward the older woman, only to find her already through the door and away, any attempt she may have had for commenting on the assumption dying quickly on her tongue…. And really she wasn't sure what she was planning to say, she'd mostly turned back around from sheer nervous reflex. Reflex backed by no small amount of heat that had flooded her face to hear that word out of nowhere, and her heart skipping a startled and altogether flustered couple of beats at what it implied.

D-Date…?

That… that wasn't what they were doing. They were hanging out sure, but it was just that- a way to kill time while waiting for Saige, and the meal was just because she needed to eat something with the medicine from Porlyusica. People hang out all the time just as friends, and it was pretty commonplace to find more than one Mage from the same Wizard's Guild in the company of each other, especially around Magnolia. It would be no different than if she were out and about with Moon, Chase, or Erza or Juvia or anybody else. So why did the old lady call it that-?

Thump-thump

Frea swallowed, the thought breaking off as recollection of another wormed its way into her foremost thoughts- that last day not so long ago back in Adgnei, just before Maveel and its sudden appearance.

.:+:.

"... H-He seems like he f-finally let someone take a... Better look at him... But... H-How is he doing...?" Talarr asked hesitantly, and Frea sighed.

"... He's not feeling great, but he's stubborn as hell... So he won't show it... But... He'll be fine..." She mumbled, her voice dropping and her eyes too. "... Eventually..." She added quietly, and Talarr nodded stiffly, his eyes darting to the side to cast her a little glance, but she wasn't looking at him anymore. Her posture seemed to have wilted a little, and he swallowed at it.

"... I see." Talarr murmured, his hands pulling off the screen and wringing together in front of him a bit. "... I am sorry Energess, for what happened to you... But... Also for what happened to your Guild, and all those you care about..." He mumbled, and Frea's teeth grit at the mention of it- and the ever nagging, pestering, uneasy and terrible feeling that hit her every time she saw everyone in the Guild beaten, and bruised, and bandaged.

... Tch...

"... I hadn't realized you were Bonded with someone, Energess." Talarr told her quietly after a moment, and Frea went absolutely rigid for the comment, and the word: 'Bonded'

W-wha-?!

"... I can't imagine how difficult you getting so hurt is on your Guild, but it must be especially hard for him, and certainly so after having to... Use his Magic on you as he did..." Talarr went on softly, oblivious to the rigidity in the Energess so suddenly. "I can't imagine seeing him so wounded is easy for you either, Energess... I know you said I needn't apologize anymore, but... I am sorry for how hard all of this has to be on you." He murmured and Frea blinked several times, her head snapping his way and face flushing ever so slightly.

W-wait, does he think...?!

Talarr jumped a little when her head snapped his way so quickly, his face falling flat in confusion and green eyes glinting. He saw her heartrate spike via his Scan-Glasses, and the sudden subtle pink on her cheeks had his head tilting a little.

"... Ah... Is something... Wrong...?" He asked slowly,

"B-Bonded...?!" She hissed quietly, her own voice adopting a hushed tenor, just as Talarr's had. He blinked, looking shocked for half a second and head tilting even further.

"... Ah... Maybe I misspoke...? I can't imagine that's a common name in Fiore-" he started uncertainly and Frea shook her head.

"I know what being Bonded means..!" She hissed, cutting him off and he blinked in surprise again. "That's not what I meant, I meant... I-I'm not Bonded with anybody...!" She told him quickly and he faltered.

"... Y-You aren't...?" Talarr echoed breathlessly, his eyes narrowing slightly. "... B...but... You both... I mean... The way he was... With you...? A-and you both... Being together... In the... Gardens...?" He stammered uncertainly, and Frea shook her head stiffly- and Talarr went bright red, looking absolutely mortified.

"O-oh... I ah... Ahh...!" He nearly squeaked, his head and top half bending in a bow in no time at all and absolutely all wound up. "G-Gods I am so sorry, I didn't m-mean to a-assume anything... O-or imply... Oh dear...!" He apologized quickly, bowing a few times and in rapid succession. Frea just watched, her lips pulled into a tight line and letting out a somewhat forced breath.

"N-no it's fine, I know you didn't mean anything by it, I just-" She started quickly, waving her hand at him in what was supposed to be a calming gesture. She broke off halfway through though, her eyes widening a little when it suddenly occurred to her;

"-Wait, is that why you gave him my ring to hold on to..?" Frea asked slowly and Talarr stiffened at the question,

"A-ah... Well... Yes...?" He replied softly, still bent over so she couldn't see his face fully, though Talarr peeked up at her a bit cautiously all the same. But Frea's eyes dropped from Talarr and to her hand, glinting as she spun the ring on her finger a bit and chewed on the inside of her cheek at the same time.

... Bonded... Huh...?

She knew what that was, all too well- it was the same thing Reyan and Mordren had been, so very long ago... Adgnei's equivalent of marriage, or Dragon's equivalent of... but...

... I mean... Maybe... From his perspective... That... Might not be a huge leap... But it's still-

.:+:.

She blinked, another wash of heat rushing through her face and making her stomach do a sudden sumersault.

Talarr had assumed the same thing that Ms. Emmer just had. To both him and the Old Lady they saw her and Laxus together and it didn't register like she thought it would. They saw them, and something about them, that made it so they didn't see Guild-Mates or Friends, but something else entirely.

On a 'date', and even Bonded-

Frea swallowed, the two words ringing on her ears as she cast a nervous glance over her shoulder toward where Laxus was, silver eyes flashing in the sunlight as she found herself quickly searching for some amount of the discomfort or nervousness she felt mirrored in the Lightning Dragon Slayer in reaction to the insinuation- but there was none.

Laxus didn't look at all bothered in the slightest, in reality it didn't even seem to faze him, or like he'd picked up on the last comment from Ms. Emmer at all… which he definitely had, but it was no different for him than it was when he'd caught those random girls on the street whispering the same thing. And outside of one tiny spark of nervousness making his stomach twinge for a moment, he just let it go, the insinuation not making so much of a dent on his mind as he remained the picture of calm and unbothered where he was waiting patiently for Frea to catch up. It hadn't bothered him the day before with those looky-loos, and even though there was something about the way Ms. Emmer smiled when she caught his eye then, it still didn't bother him. It was nothing to get worked up over, he didn't care what it meant or what it implied, or any of that. Why should it?

It didn't matter what other people were saying or thinking, they could say and think whatever the hell they liked (as long as it wasn't something they needed their faces bashed in for or something), and he didn't linger on it. The flash of surprise was there and gone with it being said, and then it slid off him as quick as can be as he settled into that very much unbothered. And so much so, that he only barely registered the fact that the Energy Dragon Slayer's movement toward him had faltered the little it had, and it wasn't until he became aware of her eyes on him that he glanced back toward her again and caught her eyes... for only a second.

Frea's silver gaze darted off of him near a millisecond after their eyes matched, the Energy Dragon Slayer diverting her attention from him and toward her feet as she stepped forward and continued on making her way toward him. Her hands hooked behind her back as she did, fingers twiddling with the ring around her thumb as she seemed to force herself a breath, her eyes still stuck on her feet even as she walked, and he blinked.

He was about to ask her if she was fine, make a comment to her having avoided the eye contact, or something else about what he could only gauge as off behavior- she wasn't acting like she'd gone and done something dumb, or tense like she was hiding anything either, but it was odd. He almost wondered if she was trying to hide being in pain again, but he was fairly sure that wasn't it either, her posture wasn't rigid enough to make him think that. She was tense yeah, but this seemed more like nervousness, which was a little more solidified by the way he saw her hands behind her back fidgeting and he needn't even see them to know the little movement was owed to her spinning that ring on her thumb in that nervous habit she seemed to have picked up as of late. But what the hell was she nervous about now-?

The question cut off in his mind as he watched her and whatever it was faded again in near no time at all, the Energy Dragon Slayer's mood seemingly shifting in some miniscule, yet definitive way, as she seemed to shake her head a bit and her eyes moved off her feet. She glanced up to meet his eyes and Laxus blinked, the wondering and questioning shattered in surprise when she smiled softly at him, silver eyes gleaming in the morning light and her cheeks dusted in a rather noticeable and not at all subtle shade of pink.

She's blushing-?

Frea's smile brightened a tad as she tilted her head toward him just a bit, her hands still hooked behind her back and her fingers still twisting the ring- though a bit more slowly now as the intensity of the heat in her face seemed to wane a bit, and her churning core settled just a bit too. She hummed lightly under her breath as she stopped at his shoulder, silver eyes settled on him from the side and cheeks still flushed, her voice quiet but steady all at once.

"Zennei, for the food." She told him softly, her voice dropping so naturally into the accent of the Dragon Language making a sudden appearance, her expression softening even as she seemed to smile at him a bit more brightly, cheeks tinged pink and eyes gleaming- striking silver that got washed out for a moment in soft gold from the sun overhead as she dipped her head just the bit. "The meal's on me next time, and I'll throw in a few forks too, if you want." She told him lightly, her voice so very teasing, and Laxus blinked once, eyes stuck to her and fixed for a heartbeat that felt more like a million years, his mind running a million miles a minute and so sluggishly all at once in just that single moment…. And hell.

Hell if he could help the way his heart fluttered more than just a little bit when she smiled like that. Hell if he could keep his lips from pulling at the edges in an amused smirk in literally no time at all, and hell if he could help the chuckle that rumbled in his chest for it too.

"I'll leave the stuffing weird shit in your mouth to you, thanks." He replied without missing more than that single beat, though his heart did more than the one, and she smiled more for it, her own laugh suddenly making an appearance and dancing on the air between them.

"Hehe, they don't actually taste bad, just so you know. But have it your way, that just means more for me." She chuckled lightly and he scoffed a bit, rolling his eyes but the smile was there on his face still, and her expression seemed to soften for a moment at it, though with his eyes moving away for that tiny second he missed it… and when he caught her eye again she was just as suddenly bright and content, despite the little hitch in her steps just before, and the still persistent dusting of pink across her cheeks, while her hands twisting the ring around her thumb slowed to a stop.

Frea tilted her head a bit to the left and up the street from them, humming faintly under her breath as her eyes flashed.

"Well, we might as well try and do what Ms. Emmer said and try to enjoy the day as much as we can before the Old Geezer pops back up, yeah?" She asked lightly, her feet shifting as she stepped forward to head off, but diverted sideways a little to bump her shoulder lightly against his, playful and gentle all at once, before stepping forward another pace and casting him another smile over her shoulder as she did it.

"Come on Lightning-Boy, let's see if we can't find something fun to do in the meantime."

Laxus' feet did not falter for even a millisecond to follow after her once she started off, her bump against his shoulder there and gone so quickly but the warmth of her touch lingering behind for longer than it likely should have…. And a small bit of that warmth and heat that wormed its way through his core when he realized not two seconds after starting to follow her that she was still blushing, faintly. And then worse, he felt his own face heat up a bit too when it suddenly occurred to him that Frea hadn't reacted to what Ms. Emmer had said nearly at all. She'd gotten nervous clearly, and not just nervous but flustered- which was certainly what the blush was about, and the little stint where she'd kept her eyes down, and maybe even why she'd been so quick to make a joke. But that was it.

The old lady said that and Frea just… let it be.

Laxus' eyes widened faintly as he fell into step a pace behind the Energy Dragon Slayer, aqua blue eyes flashing as his attention traced her back and flitted over the edge of the spiral scar on her shoulderblade and the one between them, his mind stuttering and racing all anew again.

She didn't reject what the woman said, or deny it, or even make a comment about it. She heard it, but let it go, even when it had her acting briefly nervous and her face flushing like it was. She moved on and returned to being that unendingly bright Frea, smiling like that, joking with him, teasing and so at ease.

Laxus swallowed, his center fluttering again despite himself and where it never had with anyone but her, his eyes dropping from her to the ground for a moment- and parts of him was surprised, unsure, and faintly hoping, despite himself. Even when hope for this seemed a stupid thing to do, especially for him. Even when he'd already resigned himself to waiting and knew rationally he shouldn't push too much, that things needed to wait- because there was that part of him that was a little afraid of putting stock into something that might have just been nothing but a pipedream. That though he was there already and had been for awhile now, that there was likely no chance at all that she'd settled on the same thing as he had.

Frea smiled over her shoulder at him again, gesturing toward a side street with a word for him to hurry the hell up, though there was absolutely no bite to it, and he wordlessly stepped forward a pace faster to bring himself level with her. They walked in tandem, their shoulders brushing now intermittently with the instinctive and near natural lack of space to be had between them as they fell into step together, neither of them bothered by the contact or the persistence of it, but very aware of it all the same. Aware of it and comfortable with it.

Laxus let out a silent breath, the scent of something sweet and light tickling his nose, of stormy mountain air that seemed to tug at his chest with some pull, some feeling, something deep down inside of him that was stirring now a third time. Instinct or whatever, warm and deep, his mouth watering and every inch of him fighting the urge to do what it wanted- and he did, but it was getting harder. He had to though, because maybe he was assuming something that wasn't even true, and that hope that he felt stupid for having was false hope after all.

He held his breath, willing it away and the tug in his center with it, intent to divert his eyes away from the source of it all and instead ahead where they were going, but he never got the chance.

Frea caught his eye from the side, through no action of her own, his attention just stuck to her again when he saw the way she was smiling softly to herself even as they walked, and when their shoulders suddenly brushed again a bit more than just faintly, he could have sworn she must have taken a minuscule step closer- perhaps even an unconscious one, and maybe one made from some pull or tug inside of the Energy Dragon Slayer she didn't recognize, or notice.

His eyes flashed, aqua gaze softening for a moment as he looked ahead again and he felt another pull in his center- stronger, warmer.

Hell….… Maybe she was closer than he thought

They didn't get up to much of anything in the next two hours, not really anything 'fun' in the normal sense anyway, but that didn't matter. Even though they'd ended up diverting to another walk (much like the day previous), they were content that way, and much more talkative too. Silence had become comfortable for them, they didn't need to talk or chat normally, and usually stuck to that content silence, but Frea seemed to be in the mood for talking, and Laxus did not mind. He'd been intent to not let her brood, right?

It was nothing consequential, small talk really that wasn't so common between them mixed with a more normal bit of teasing, insults and 'arguing' with one another that might have seemed heated or truly annoyed to a random passerby- but there was no bite in their words, and there was no denying the air of familiarity and mirth in it either. And really no denying that to those in Magnolia who had been here the longest, and caught sight of these two Fairy Tailers over the years- they weren't sure they had ever seen them smiling like that with anyone (a rare thing in the Fairy Tail Master's grandson to be sure), or seen them so pleased to be in one another's company, let alone actually enjoying it.

And they were enjoying it, more than either would likely care to admit out loud, but that didn't change the fact. And the townspeople couldn't help but smile themselves as they caught sight of the otherwise daunting figures of the two Dragon Slayers making quips at one another back and forth, winding their way through their hometown with the utmost ease and nearly entirely caught up in their own little world to boot.

The center of town faded as they made their way toward the edges, Frea hopping lightly onto a low stone wall bordering one of the dirt tracks leading out into the East Forest from town, and casting a smirk down at Laxus as she did it.

"You know one of these days you're gonna end up eating something just as weird as I have. Natsu and Gajeel have done it already- several times in the Flame-Brain's case- just to get an edge up in battle." She pointed out lightly, Laxus huffed.

"Like I need any kind of an edge in a fight." He grumbled, Frea chuckled.

"Usually you don't need one, no, but never say never." She hummed, shrugging a bit as she spun on her heel a little and started walking backward along the top of the wall with grace and ease, her hands hooking behind her back. Laxus blinked a little in surprise at what was bordering on a compliment, but Frea didn't pause long.

"Besides, it's not always about getting a boost or anything- you might just get curious, ya know? Or it might not be a choice out of wanting to do it or needing a pick-me-up, but just something that's useful in the situation." She mused, he let out a breath, hands in his pockets and shaking his head a bit.

"Don't count on it." He told her lowly and she hummed, chuckling faintly and turning easily on her heel again to face the right way around.

"Heh, whatever you say~"

Frea took a step off the stone wall only to stiffen halfway through it, Laxus on the ground beside her doing the same when he felt the sudden surge of Magic too- and only for a split second before the world got washed out in white and gold and it felt like the earth around them swept passed at breakneck speed.

The cobbled and dirt path Frea had expected to hit with her feet came instead as dry and brittle grass that crunched as she caught herself, though she did stumble a bit in surprise for the rather awkward movement. Laxus' hand came out to hover behind her elbow in case she did more than just stumble, the Lightning Dragon Slayer grumbling slightly for the being whisked away yet again, but at least this time he'd been picked up without having to make sure of it himself.

The bit of agitation for being snatched and dropped was shattered by unease and shock in no time at all though, Laxus immediately picking up on the way Frea went rigid as she glanced around at their surroundings, and he frowned as he followed suit.

They were much further than the East Forest now, Magnolia left far far behind them in the distance where it could no longer be seen. Behind them stretched moors of empty space that separated their home from this corner of the country that so few ever trekked into, but that had been stepped into more times lately than it had in who the hell knows how long. Gnarled trees with twisted roots, bark ashy grey and the whole of the forest closed off and sunken in on itself, dark and nearly suffocating as it sucked in all light from the afternoon sun overhead and dampened it in ways that seemed not at all natural.

Frea swallowed hard, her eyes darting quickly over the edge of the wood as her heart clenched for the distinctive feel of heaviness still lingering. Dark and looming, sitting like a black cloud and full of unrest and unease still now even despite her attempts at making it not so, to repair some of the damage, apologize, and even managing to lighten it just a little right before that last day, and what Rite Mordren forced them into.

She bit the insides of her cheeks, silver eyes flashing as her hands at her sides balled into fists and she felt her center ache, deeply.

Nvindorr

Her eyes found the orange ones of Saige standing a few paces ahead of them and just at the edge of the treeline, a similar sort of ache echoed in his gaze when she caught it, but more overlaid in empathy when he caught her eye. Frea blinked once, stiffening faintly against the look and the Old Geezer seemed to let out a silent breath, eyes flashing.

"Hello again Energess, Dreyar." He hummed, his attention moving from Frea to Laxus briefly, before he cleared his throat a bit, his voice raising a touch, steady and calm and he gestured with a hand over toward his right. "May I introduce the current holder of the lands of Nvindorr," He murmured, Laxus and Frea's eyes both following the motion of his hand as Saige announced coolly;

"This is Silas Kuhu, of the Ten Wizard Saints."

Frea went still, silver eyes going wide as her heart skipped a beat in shock, Laxus beside her stiffening faintly for the strange woman and the completely unexpected title.

Wizard Saint-?

Frea blinked a few times in rapidity, her attention darting over Silas and her mind racing slightly for the introduction and the fact that Frea recognized her- naturally, since the woman had been there doing the hearing at Era with all the other Wizard Saints, where Frea herself had been given the same title. Though at the time Frea had not given her much a thought or even much attention, considering that her Senses had been fairly well overwhelmed the whole time she had been in that Hearing Chamber, and she'd had more pressing things to try and focus on with trying to explain all she did, deal with God Serana, and all else.

Besides, of all the Saints that had been there that day- this one was the only one who had said absolutely nothing the entire time. The only reason she even knew the woman's name was because Jura had told it to her, and seeing her there now?

She couldn't say that Silas was the last person she expected Saige to go and talk with about all of this, but she couldn't say she wasn't reeling either…. Because what the…?!

Frea went stiff-backed as her silver gaze matched with Silas' dull blue one, the woman standing quiet in her space a few paces off from Saige, arms hooked behind her back and long pale lavender hair left loose to fall down her back. Silas looked about as old as Saige likely was (maybe a year or two younger though), crows-feet peppering the edges of her eyes and signs of wear and age marking her skin here and there, and the color of her hair seemed to have even likely dulled over the years too. She was wearing dark pants with brown boots that reached her knee, a pale grey shirt that laced up the front and a long leather jacket atop it that's length reached her knees, trimmed in stripes of grey on the bottom and around the upper arms on the sleeves. The sleeves were rolled up to her elbows and around her wrists hung a multitude of braided wire bands, all different hues of metal in greys and silvers and darker ones bordering on black, with several rings too on her fingers, simple bands mostly outside a few with carved runes etched into them, and a single one on her right hand that sported the emblem of the Wizard Saints. But the most striking thing besides the emblem and the array of jewelry littering her hands and arms were the fact that the tips of her fingers were seemingly stained with black dye all the way up to the first knuckle…?

Frea's attention snapped off the woman's hands and instead further up her arms, sweatdropping faintly as her eyes traced a number of scars halfway hidden between the bands and bracelets, then less so as they moved further up toward where the sleeves were. She had a few scars tracing along the flesh of her throat too, just under her jaw and one that seemed half hidden by her hair around her right ear.

She'd not given Silas more than a fleeting glance back when they were at Era, she'd had no reason to, and she couldn't help the wandering of her eyes now as she tried to come to terms with the woman's appearance, and the fact that she was the one who actually owned Nvindorr…. But even more odd than that- Frea couldn't feel her Magic Energy, at all.

But she should have been able to feel it right? Even with the Dampening Talarr and Saige had put on her Limiter, she should have been able to Sense some amount of Magical Pressure coming from the woman- she should have Sensed a ton of Magical Pressure from a Wizard Saint, but there was nothing. All she could pick up on was the feel of Silas' Energy Signature, normal and clear as a bell from this distance (despite its somewhat… jagged feel), and not at all colossal or overpowering as she expected it would have been.

Does that mean… Does she have the same sort of Hidden Energy Spell that Saige is using?

She must have, but… if she's using that now, was she using it back at Era-?

Frea swallowed hard for the thought, a shiver running down her spine.

If Silas was Hiding her Energy like that even back then, then that meant that sheer and unrelenting pressure she'd felt in the Hearing Chamber had been coming from everyone but her and Saige, and that was no small amount. Hell, that had been damned near too overwhelming and had made her world start to blur and swim in color as her Senses got easily overloaded by it all- but Silas' Magic Energy hadn't even been in the mix?

H-Holy shit-!

"So," Silas started lowly, her tone nothing but neutral and the sound of it cutting Frea's thoughts off in an instant, the Energy Dragon Slayer instantly at attention. But Silas' eyes, which had briefly wandered Frea up and down just as the Energy Dragon Slayer's had too, moved off the younger woman and shifted over toward Saige on her le- no.

Frea blinked, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion for the tilt of the older woman's head and her eyes moving not toward Saige, but to the dark and dim forest behind her.

"This is the one, is it?" Silas asked lowly, to seemingly no one in particular, but near as soon as the words left her lips the sound of them got drowned by a sudden rush of wind that rose up out from the depths of Nvindorr and blew outward with a fierceness.

The air rushed, stirred into existence in the matter of a millisecond and coming fast out of that forest, washing over them with a sudden sheer force, leaves and dirt streaming passed. Frea blinked, a shiver running up her spine as the air rammed into her, whipping her hair back and bringing with it the scent of death and decay and mold all tightly wound with wood and trees and a million other things so faint and so familiar it ached to catch even the tiny whiff. Her ears rung slightly with the sudden woosh all tangled with the sounds of voices and whispers, all of them too quiet and too disjointed to make out words or even really describe it as voices- but it was a roar of hundreds of them all the same, there and powerful, and in near some ways alive despite the death and the destruction, and the fact it had remained all too empty and haunted for so, so long. There now where they had rarely ever stirred even when she'd been forced there and returned all on her own, where they had shifted only a little in response to her apology that last day, and yet still remained to fester silently afterward all this time since Mordren and what had been wrought.

But now? And just at that simple and entirely vague question on the part of Silas?

Nvindorr as a whole reacted to her, in an instant, powerful and pulsing and absolutely teeming with that non-life and a hundred imperceptible lives and Energies all jumbled into one. Countless lost lives and trapped souls bound here for so long now all pouring themselves into that wind and pushing forward, ramming into the lot of them to answer in what capacity they could to them standing there, who were all unable to hear the words as the Seleyn would have. There was no singular answer, no real confirmation, no reply to make sense of- but the response was potent and clear as anything, direct and without doubt to its meaning in just being there at all, and with so much force to back it where it had been sleeping just a heartbeat before.

Frea swallowed hard, silver eyes flashing and stuck rigid against the sudden storm, Laxus beside her similarly stiff in his place and near wide-eyed when he felt it too, heard it, and not just the wind.

A hundred voices backed by strength and power lying dormant until just then- now moving and swirling in reaction that question, and with a fervor near triple more than that of the shift Frea had managed to bring to Nvindorr on that last day. That last day where she said what she had in those foreign words owed to Dragons and the whole of Nvindorr had seemed to take a breath of air, and to settle as the dark cloud it had huddled beneath for who the hell knew how long was lift by what she'd said;

"Deneos Ze."

But this…. This was not that. The answer to the question by Silas and her words had brought this, and it was no peace. It was no calm, no relief or a lessening in the heaviness and the pressure, nor a light suddenly shining in some unending dark- no.

This was insistence, fierce and unwavering, no room for argument, no thought and no hesitation; a demand.

Saige stiffened faintly himself where the force of it battered at his back, his orange eyes trailing slowly toward Silas where the older woman's had remained fixed on that forest and that power she addressed and called forth all with a single statement, quiet…. Before the woman's utterly neutral expression shifted ever so faintly, morphing into something akin to disquiet bordering on faint agitation- there and gone in the matter of a moment where Saige blinked just once. And then any hint of that was gone and Silas returned to that utterly neutral, the woman letting out one silent breath as she turned her head again, and her dull blue eyes found Frea a second time, steady and unflinching.

Frea stiffened further when Silas' eyes landed on her again, swallowing slightly as the wind died off, slowly, and all it brought with it began to fade too. Her attention snapped immediately from all of that and toward the older woman, the Energy Dragon Slayer's gaze on the Saint steady and calm even despite the sudden wash of unease and all else- resolute even, as she let their eyes lock and she wouldn't dare let them flit away for even a second.

"Hmph, well then Nadege." Silas murmured lowly, and despite herself Frea could not help the way her breath caught in her throat for the name, or the way her eyes widened faintly to hear it suddenly on the air and on Silas' lips of all people.

H-How the hell does she-?!

"You have me here, and whatever you intended with that or not, if you wish to earn the rights to this Land back, I will warn you now that I do not intend to simply hand them over." Silas murmured lowly, Frea stiffening at the words and gritting her teeth faintly at the warning bordering on a threat.

Frea's fists clenched faintly at her sides, silver eyes narrowing and any amount of that unease or shock that had been in her face gone away with a sudden steeliness. She straightened, feet planted firmly and unflinching even as another rush of wind stirred out from Nvindorr in its own reaction to the 'warning', buffeting the lot of them with near as much force as just before. But only the two woman didn't budge an inch under it, or even seem to notice the sudden charge that ignited on that wind in the matter of a moment, mimicking the faint tension slowly seeding itself between both Saints. Laxus and Saige felt it though, both of them wary themselves as they shot both women quiet looks and even stepped up slightly toward Frea's shoulder in Laxus' case- but Saige stayed still, shooting Silas a small look that seemed tense and exasperated all at once…. Naturally, as it was something of a threat, but not one of the caliber Frea and Laxus seemed to be reading it as. But he was used to dealing with Silas and knew better, the Fairy Tailers though?

There was a heartbeat then of nothing, just heavy silence woven with the whispers in the wind, grumbling almost and insistent between the four while Frea and Silas stared one another down, both of them resolute and calm, even outside of that bit of charge. Neither moved an inch, nor blinked, and for that heartbeat that lasted too long it felt as if they were waiting for a bomb to go off, and for that threat to be made into a tangible physical thing, rather than just words. Silas' expression never broke from the neutrality and Frea's was damn near close to something of the same despite the faintly adopted defensive posture- especially so for the name- and Silas blinked, once.

"Saige tells me you don't have a plan in asking about this." Silas pointed out flatly, Frea gritting her teeth a little harder for it while the woman, silver eyes flashing.

"I think you know damn well what my plan is." Frea hissed back lowly and without missing nearly a beat, the sudden declaration- out of near nowhere- earning sideways glances toward her from both Laxus and Saige alike. Because that did come out of nowhere, she'd been entirely uncertain what asking about Nvindorr would lead to just that morning, and even admitted to Saige she wasn't sure what she wanted when the Old Geezer had mentioned the same thing as Silas about 'reclaiming' the land. She'd been wavering just a few hours ago, nervous and tense at the prospect of what comes next or any of that, but now?

She was dead set on it now, spurred into being on the back of that anger that flared with the 'warning', and somehow even further solidified in that sheer energy and force that came from that wind and from Nvindorr ahead of them. Even despite the uneasiness and ache the surge of power and life from that old and dead wood brought with it, Silas asked that question and its answer was thrumming in her core now, demanding, declaring, and pushing for this- for her.

Laxus blinked, eyes narrowed and a shiver running up his spine a moment when he realized it, and in near the same instant another gust of wind whipped about them, the air crackling in that tension and that need- the whispers disjointed still, but fervent no less, and he swore he heard that one thing layered in the middle of all the jumble, fractured and nearly impossible to make out, but there.

Nadege

His attention left Silas and stuck to Frea, fixed and quiet as he watched her as she stood taller, silver eyes burning with a sudden fire that only grew with the uptick in the wind, and steadier than she had seemed in way too long. Steadfast and resolute as she stepped up and declared her intention in so few words, but did so in no uncertain terms and there was no mistaking that look now, that sheer will.

Months now she'd faced countless things that had broken her, torn her down, ripped her apart. Things that had shattered her over and over with no sign, nor hope of stopping, the world and all that was unfair pounding her again and again. She'd been battered and beaten, died and near so too many times, haunted and aching, and whittled away time and time again where the iron-willed and fiery Frea had become less and less- rarer to see, or see there without the same hurt and fear lurking at her heels, and her trying so hard to keep it at bay. To force herself back up again and force herself to march on, keep up face and keep trying even when it took everything to do so. It had been so long- too long- since she'd been nothing but bold and determined, too long since she'd been that same Energy Dragon Slayer able to stare down even the worst evils and never flinch for even a second, or show even a shred of fear or doubt.

Too long since she'd stepped up, dug her heels in, and stood tall like that without the uncertainty, the second guessing, the keeping up face, or the burying of all the rest of it. Too long since she'd stepped back into that role and that part of herself that was nothing but damned and determined, utterly and completely. Too long since he'd seen this- the Frea who was in all things always bright no matter what happened, who always picked up and pushed on, who was resolute and strong willed and determined to try. The Frea who was, and always had been this, where now she stood there and faced down a Wizard Saint without even a millisecond of thought to it, held her eyes steady, declared what she just had, and the world around them bent under the intensity of her will. The wind and Nvindorr in itself shuddered, winding fast, the whispers louder, more fervent, the air absolutely crackling under the force and the ground under their feet trembling faintly for it too. Because this was Frea, and even before being S-Class, or a Wizard Saint, the Malurey, or anything else- she had always been this, and it had been too long since he'd seen so vividly.

A force of goddamn nature

Laxus let out a silent breath, eyes flashing as his attention dropped slowly from that fire blazing in those silver eyes and fell to the ring on her left hand instead, a glint of light bouncing off the metal surface as she clenched her fists harder.

…. And all of that, reignited after being doused and drowned over and over by too many things. There and blazing again, at the single resolution on both Frea's part, and somehow Nvindorr's too.

He didn't get what was going on, all of this shit about Nvindorr and her 'reclaiming' it or whatever didn't make any sense. Clearly there was something about this place that meant more to her than just being the place where she'd been forced to let some ancient Magic loose, or come back to and did whatever she had on that last day. Something about Nvindorr meant something more to her that he didn't get, something wrapped up in whatever the hell Silas just called her and seemed to be being whispered in that wind; Nadege.

And he knew that meant something to Frea just based on how shocked she'd looked when Silas said it to start, but now it was like it was… a call to arms or something. A call to her that Nvindorr was demanding her with, and she was stepping up to the plate now with no hesitation on the matter. He didn't get it, and he was even more so out of the know because clearly Saige knew what was going on, and Silas seemed to too. But he knew this was something important, something Frea needed to work through and was damned and determined to do so now on the back of that 'warning'- which seemed somehow the point.

Laxus glanced from Frea and toward Saige slowly, the Old Geezer's orange eyes gleaming faintly and a tiny smirk pulling at the edges of his lips as he looked at Frea standing there now as resolute as anything, and he seemed almost amused and relieved all at once.

Laxus let out a silent breath more like a huff, a tiny fraction of the tension in his body melting as he glanced from the man and toward Silas instead, and he quickly caught on to what Saige had been aware of from the start.

Silas' threat wasn't really that at all, she just made it sound like that on purpose. It was calculated and deliberate, and done for the very singular purpose of earning what they all saw in Frea just now, dragging it back out of her after months of nothing but hardship and heartache, and proving once again that that Frea was still very much there, even after everything.

And no sooner did Laxus catch on, did the whole of the mood and the tension thick on the air disappear, nearly entirely.

Silas' eyes dropped closed as she let out a single breath, the woman's hands fell on her hips, and she shook her head once.

"Well then as I said, I won't simply hand it over to you." Silas told Frea lowly, the Energy Dragon Slayer's muffled agitation sparking just a touch higher for it, only to get cut off abruptly when she finally noticed a shift in the mood too, lagging behind Laxus surely, and her mind stuttering to a shocked halt when the wind suddenly ceased its wild tenor at some unknown order. The whispers dropped out to nothing and the crackling tension like electricity on the air came and went in the matter of a moment- wha?!

Frea faltered, blinking several times and almost reeling now with the wind gone, the whispers too, the energy, the intensity of it- everything. And all of it just cut down to about nothing in no time at all..?!

She didn't get it, she didn't even sense any shift in Silas' mood either, but something definitely changed, and she froze out of sheer instinct, eyes narrowed and her head tilting in confusion as Silas lift one hand off her hip in air, and hummed quietly (and matter of factly);

"I won't just give them to you, but I am willing to return them with a few conditions." Silas told her evenly, Frea bristled, eyes wide and more than reeling now.

"Conditions-?" Frea muttered quickly, only to bite her tongue when Silas snapped her fingers, and in that same instant she felt a flare of Magic come to life just above her along with the shadow of something suddenly materializing there.

Frea jumped, basic instinct making it so her feet went to push herself back and away from whatever had suddenly blocked the sunlight, only to stagger halfway through the motion when some corner of her mind made sense of what was suddenly falling through the air toward her. Her step backward hitched as she tried to course correct, her arms extending forward to catch what she guessed was a book in her hold, only to stagger when she caught it and it was way bigger than she anticipated, and more than just the single book.

She nearly toppled forward with the ton of weight pulling her down, her arms aching with the heavy impact as the books landed with a series of thumps in her arms and on top of each other, and knocked the breath from her as she hugged them into her chest to try and keep her balance. The edges of the hardcovers earned a hiss from her when they jammed into her ribs and flesh, the Energy Dragon Slayer stumbling a few paces to the right and back as she struggled to balance them in her arms and avoid them toppling over along with her, and she only barely managed to keep her feet after the initial shock.

She staggered to a halt, arms shaking faintly for the ridiculous amount of weight between not one but three different books, all of them easily six inches in width or more, and all of them sending up a cloud of dust and old musty smell to ram into her nose. She stifled the urge to sneeze as she worked on coming to a halt again, silver eyes darting quickly over the books where they sat just under her chin now, jaw dropping slightly.

"What the hell..?" She mumbled under her breath and mostly to herself, the lettering of 'Council of Ishgar Ordinances and Laws' printed on the cover of the first book catching her eye in an instant and making her all the more confused. Her eyes left the books and snapped up toward Silas ahead of her, the woman's hand falling on her hip again, and still as neutral as can be.

"The first of four conditions; you need to read all of these in full." Silas murmured, Frea blinking once at the information, before bristling.

"R-Read them..?!" Frea snapped,

"Yes, in full." Silas repeated coolly, "I do not care if you use Gale-Force Reading Glasses to do so. But don't think you can skimp through them, because I will test you on their contents when you are done." The woman told her levelly, Frea's eye twitched, the Energy Dragon Slayer looking dumbfounded.

"You… you're gonna quiz me..?" She mumbled lowly, and again Silas nodded once.

"Yes, and when I feel you have absorbed the information well enough, we will move on to my next condition." Silas told her, Frea paused, her head tilting more than a tad and her eyes narrowing to slits too.

"... what the hell are the other three conditions?" She asked, Silas shook her head.

"I will go into the finer details of each condition once the previous is fulfilled." The older woman murmured levelly, Frea grimacing faintly for the rather non-answer, not that Silas seemed to care.

"Tch, you can't just expect me to sit around without a clue as to what exactly you're gonna have me doing." Frea grumbled lowly with a sharp shake of her head toward the books in her arms, "Or just drop these with me and say read them without a reason as to why."

"If you are truly determined to earn the rights to this land from me, you should be happy enough to do as I ask with little argument." Silas replied flatly, "You have no need to know what I will ask before I ask it, and you are being told to read those books because I have deemed it so as part of the terms to this arrangement. If you do not read them, you do not earn anything from me, it is that simple." Frea grit her fangs, agitation quickly burning brighter than the confusion or the shock.

"That's a half-assed answer-" Frea started hotly,

"-I told you I am not going to just give it back." Silas cut her off, sharply so, though nothing about her voice or her demeanor changed in the slightest. "You must earn it back, and in order to do so, you start by reading."

Frea growled under her breath, silver eyes flashing as her fingers curled tightly around the books and she fought the urge to snap anything back. It wasn't going to get her anywhere by arguing or yelling about it, that was clear enough by the lack of any sort of reaction from Silas at all. And really the older woman did have the leverage here, and like it or not Frea had to do whatever the hell she wanted. Which Silas fully knew, and very blatantly made clear to boot.

Frea huffed, averting her eyes off Silas and toward Saige instead, searching him for some kind of answer as to what the hell else Silas had planned or even what the hell was going on, but the Old Geezer simply smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders with a quiet shake of his head.

Well that's fucking helpful…. tch.

Frea forced herself a big (and slightly heated) sigh, the Energy Dragon Slayer adjusting the books in her arms and shifting her silver gaze back over to Silas, frowning faintly still.

"... Fine." The Energy Dragon Slayer muttered, and agreed, though grudgingly. Silas just blinked, nodding once and only barely as her dull blue eyes left Frea and started to trail over toward Saige instead, but Frea didn't let her attention wander too far before stepping up again, silver eyes flashing.

"I'll do whatever the hell you want to earn the rights back, and I won't complain about you being so damned vague about your conditions or whatever- but if I'm doing this, and taking your damn tests, or whatever else, you're gonna have to explain to me who the hell you are" Frea started, Silas' eyes moving back her way and quiet, Frea's expression hardening as her voice dropped to something wary and that left absolutely no room for argument.

"Back at Era you were the only one who didn't say a damn thing the entire time, you didn't budge when Serana popped in, or ask questions about any of what we talked about, nothing. You never said a word, and now all the sudden when I ask who owns this place, it's you?" Frea grumbled, "After all the shit that's gone on between getting dragged here by Mordren and forced to open the Tomb, coming back after that, fighting him, explaining all that went on- you didn't ask anything at Era when I explained it, even when you've been the one who owns this place? Even when it was all tangled up in the middle of everything else?" Frea grumbled, "The only reason you wouldn't ask is if you didn't care, or you already knew about all the crap that's gone on, and all the shit that-" Frea hissed before cutting herself off, her eyes narrowing to slits as she paused, some of the agitation in her face suddenly peppered again in unease and her shoulders hunched.

"-You have known, about all of it, haven't you?" Frea asked lowly, her voice dropping more than a few decibels. "This entire time you've owned this place, you've known what happened here and has kept happening here, you know about what it is and about me too, and you just… left it?" Frea hissed, Silas' expression never changing for even a moment as the near venom worked its way into Frea's voice, the Energy Dragon Slayer's eyes narrowing further as her hold around the books tightened. "The Old Geezer said he tried to make you an offer to get Nvindorr back himself, but you said no." Frea mumbled lowly, "He made it sound like you were gonna be hard to convince to even talk about this, but you gave in only after what? Two hours? And then I show up and you say like twenty words to me, and just decide you're willing to give it up to me as long as I meet your conditions? Why?" Frea hissed, "Why just decide like that, even if you know a little bit about any of it? And how the hell would you know about any of it at all?" Frea growled, eyes flashing.

"Who the hell are you exactly?"

There came a pause then, Silas quiet in her place and eyes level on the now faintly bristling Energy Dragon Slayer, entirely unperturbed by the words, or the meaning of them, the accusations, or even the bit of hostility that seemed to have flared. Frea didn't let her eyes wander off the woman either, not even to cast Saige a questioning or perhaps suspicious look- which would have been warranted, given it would have been a logical assumption that he had been the one to tell Silas any of what she seemed to know about this palace and it's relationship to Frea too. And maybe he did tell her things, maybe a lot or a little- but whatever it was couldn't have been enough to warrant Nvindorr acting like that when Silas had asked that single question.

No, there was more to it, Frea was sure. She didn't know what exactly, but there was something else about Silas and all of this she was missing, and something important too. She knew it.

And far be it for anyone to doubt the Energess' instincts lightly.

Silas' eyes dropped closed again, breaking the locked eye contact with Frea as the older woman let out a short (and perhaps slightly heated) breath of air.

"An answer to that question requires retelling more than a few stories that I have no wish to recant." Silas replied simply, still calm, still unbothered, and still not seemingly caring that it was vague and not at all what Frea was asking for-

"-But in simplest terms, I am nobody. Just some unfortunate soul that was landed this wretched place without want of it, and has had to deal with the curse it wrought." Silas went on coolly, Frea stiffening a little in confusion for it, especially so for the sudden and entirely unexpected flash of resentment she felt spark off the otherwise unreadable woman.

And stranger still, there came a sudden spark of ache off Saige when he heard it said aloud too-?

"As for why I've decided to relinquish the rights, the simplest answer is that I wish to be rid of this damned place." Silas went on, her voice dropping suddenly and the sound of it keeping Frea's eyes locked on her rather than casting a reflexive glance at the Old Geezer instead. Frea blinked, her eyes narrowing as something in Silas' unreadable expression shifted, tense and worn, but angry too, just for a moment.

"I never wanted it, but I was dealt this hand and I have lived with it. I've known what happened here, I know what's housed here- I have known for awhile, you are right. And in knowing that, I have resigned myself to keeping it in my hands, rather than cast it away and let it fall into the hands of someone else that would do as the Black God intended, and cause irreparable harm." Silas murmured lowly, the shift in her expression come and gone as she shook her head once, and her eyes opened again to meet Frea's, steady.

"I've held on to this place for a lifetime and passed what I ever wanted, keeping it in my hands where it does not wish to be, just so I could avoid it being taken by even worse ones." Silas murmured lowly, "But now there is you, and that is what this place wants. Someone here now finally and at last, that it wills it be given back to. After all this time, who am I to deny that?"

Frea swallowed, the anger and suspicion dying off in a sudden show of unease that had her eyes dropping to the books in her hands instead.

"... so these conditions… you're being cautious, then?" Frea mumbled after a moment, "You want it gone, but you're not going to just give it up because after all of it… you can't just let it go without being sure?" She asked, Silas blinked.

"You did nearly let loose the Magic in this place and condemn the world." The Older Woman pointed out flatly, Frea stiffened against it, grimacing as her eyes snapped off the books and back toward Silas, only to shiver when the looks she earned was nothing less than piercing.

"And I am not going to trust these fools blindly knowing full well what you are, and what history is so apt to repeat itself."

Frea's breath hitched in her throat, the words sharp and cutting despite the neutrality of her voice in the statement. A cold chill fell down her spine and into the pits of her stomach, her center clenching tightly enough it was agonizing in a different way than that sheer and unrelenting pain born of the stain on her soul. Something suddenly there that was even worse than whatever amount of panic and whatever else rammed into her at the simple whiff of water, or the sound of it rushing on her ears.

Terror

Frea's hands trembled around the books, her face paling slightly as she felt her heart-rate pick up in an instant and skip all at once, her stomach churning so badly all of a sudden she wanted to retch when that one statement made it abhorrently clear that Silas didn't just somehow know about this place, about who she was, about what it meant- but she knew about that Darkness calling her into the Abyss relentlessly too.

And she… she knows there's a chance I might not-

"That ain't gonna happen."

Frea jumped, her eyes snapping to her left and toward Laxus when he spoke up and said words without missing a beat.

Her silver eyes flashed, stunned and a little taken aback when she glanced toward him and saw him standing there, arms crossed over his chest, straight backed, expression firm, and absolutely sure of it. There was not a hint of doubt in his expression nor in his words, he didn't hesitate or have to think about it. He said it and he meant it, whole-heartedly, and just as much as he had every single time before now when he told her that, and promised it.

"You won't Fall."

Frea swallowed, her heart skipping a quick beat and putting a stall in the way her core felt like it was knotting tight and creeping up to wring around her neck. Her expression softened, aching and appreciative all at once as she cast him a quiet look and saw the steadiness there even now, and even despite the fact he had no idea what the hell was going on in its entirety. He didn't need to get it, or need any of the details, what he gathered from the conversation was more than enough to catch Silas' meaning when she said that, and he did not falter for a moment on shutting it down and making damn sure to say she was wrong.

There was no waver, no uncertainty, it was as much a promise as it was a fact when he said it- a declaration in itself not unlike what demand and answer Nvindorr ahead of them had stirred into motion. He said it and he met Silas' eyes as the woman glanced to him without blinking, staring her down and looking back unflinchingly, and almost angrily too, because how dare she even suggest it? Let alone say it out loud like that?

He'd wanted to snap at Maveel or Time or whatever when the damn thing brought it up too, but he'd kept his mouth shut back then. But this time he didn't, and he didn't give a shit if he was throwing the suggestion back in the face of a Wizard Saint either. The only thing that mattered was that she hadn't Fallen yet and she wasn't going to. Ever.

No matter what they said, no matter what had happened before with Mordren or anything else, and no matter whatever history had already laid out- that wasn't gonna happen with her. There was nothing that was gonna repeat itself or any of the rest of that shit, and the sooner people stopped hinting that she 'might', the better.

And hell if that monster of a man with that soft as hell side to him wavered for even a second on that truth, even when Silas- the Wizard Saint- shift her blue eyes toward him, flinty. Laxus held the look and didn't budge, stonily quiet even as he nearly stared the older woman down, and with enough force behind the look Frea and Saige wouldn't have been surprised if a flicker of gold suddenly sparked to life between them for it.

Saige blinked, the Old Geezer stuck stiff in his spot as he looked quietly between Silas and the Fairy Tailer, quite frankly taken aback by the finality of that one simple statement, and the one uttered without missing even a single beat. It was instant and absolute, and the fire burning in that man's eyes as he stared Silas down was…. Hmm.

Saige's attention drifted quickly from Laxus to Frea instead, his expression softening slightly to see the way her eyes gleamed when she shot the Lightning Dragon Slayer her own look, quiet in her place, shocked as he was by the rapid-fire reply, and her entire countenance aching and so appreciative all at once. And within the span of a heartbeat or two where he said it aloud and it settled so heavily on their air between all of them, some fraction of that ache in the Energess shifted into something else- something firmer, brighter, determined, and hopeful.

Frea's eyes flashed as she looked from Laxus and toward Silas herself, her posture straightening without consciously thinking about it, and while her heart seemed to skip another beat in her chest, she felt a newfound warmth settling deeply in her very center, and that statement more a wish she'd uttered with Maveel now drummed in her core. Not a want, but a promise.

Prove him right

"It won't." Frea spoke up suddenly, her voice nothing if not steady, and Saige could not help the twitch at the edge of his lips to hear her say it aloud…. Nor could Laxus help it himself, a wisp of a smirk on his face for a moment at the affirmation, and the one he'd not once heard from her before.

She'd never agreed with him, never dared to let herself hope and say out loud that he might be and could be right about it. Every time he'd assured her of it she'd been quiet, scared to think it and doubting it relentlessly, letting it linger between them and quiet her down for a time, but she'd never been settled on the idea, and he knew it. That was part of the reason he'd repeated it so many times, and made sure to say it again now- he'd had to repeat himself a million times over with her on a million things before it ever seemed to make a dent, and this was no different.

But she said it now, she settled, put her mind to it, and trusted it as the truth where she'd never dared to…. And it meant more than she realized that she was willing to do so, to really put that confidence in him, to believe it, and fight for it.

Silas' gaze moved off Laxus and toward Frea slowly, unreadable still, and quiet. She kept her attention on the Energess and what sudden firmness and fire had burned again, fierce, but not of the same sort as before when she'd demanded answers or announced her intention to gain this place back. This was different, something sparked and now fueled by one thing she'd not allowed herself to do in full and without reservation for months now. The thing she'd not been able to do for years even, and a lifetime. To believe in someone else and trust that she won't be that thing she'd been afraid of- monster, Demon, Fallen- any of it.

That she needn't be terrified of herself, because he wasn't.

Silas let out a silent breath, her eyes dropping closed as her hands fell onto her hips almost wearily now, and she nodded just once, and imperceptibly.

Finally

"Best get reading then." Silas spoke up again at last, her voice a touch lighter now and lacking the iciness from just before. She lift one hand off her hip and gestured toward Saige, finger twirling slowly and only a few times, and the man smiled slightly at it, nodding once.

"Very well." Saige started, suddenly taking over the conversation at the unspoken direction and turning his orange gaze on the Fairy Tailers instead. He smiled pleasantly as he lift a hand in air, motionless for a moment, and almost looking much too pleased now- but for what, neither Fairies were entirely sure.

"Call me again when you are done, Energess, and I will happily set up the next meeting. I wish you luck, and do try not to hit the books too hard if you get frustrated, hmm?" The Old Geezer told her lightly and Frea stiffened a bit at the comment, but had no time to react to it or question his suddenly elevated mood before his hand moved and his finger twirled a few times, Magic and golden-white light springing to life around them in no time at all.

Nvindorr's looming figure and heavy cloud of unrest came and went, leaving her Senses entirely along with the faint ones of Silas and Saige as Frea and Laxus were Transported away and dropped back down where they had been. The cobbled stone wall she'd stepped off of was to the side, Laxus and Frea standing still in the silence of the outskirts of Magnolia, the Energy Dragon Slayer's arms still full up with the books, and both of them quiet for a moment on coming back.

Frea shifted the books in her arms a bit and let out a small sigh, grumbling internally for the weight, the prospect of having to read them, and the insanity of all that just occurred. It was a lot, way more than she anticipated in setting herself to this track that morning, and the turn it took… well, turns.

Silas knows about… so much, and all these things she's gonna have me do to earn Nvindorr- what the hell could they be? Reading and a quiz, but then what….?

And all of that to make sure giving it over isn't a mistake… that giving it to me is not gonna end up the same way it did with Mord-

She cut the thought off, the echo of another worming its way in again and stomping it into the ground along with that newfound warmth in her center that still had not gone away, and only seemed to grow just a bit when she cast a glance toward Laxus.

"Prove him right, no matter what comes."

Frea's expression fell, softening and quiet as her silver eyes stayed fixed on him, and there came another bump up in that warmth which settled inside her, secure and almost like it was meant to be there. Like it had been missing but now had filled in, and was right where it was supposed to be.

Laxus shifted, seemingly catching up with the being dropped back in place after a brief moment, shaking himself out slightly before he caught her eye, and sighing once as he waved a hand her way, and at the books in particular.

"Give me those before you tip over." He ordered lowly, wasting no time in waiting on her to comply before stepping up and grabbing the top three, pinning them under his arm with a ridiculous amount of ease and not seemingly any notice to their bulk that had nearly made her topple over when catching them. His hand reached out to grab the fourth from her next, but Frea's fingers curled a bit more tightly around the edges and held on, stopping the motion and his hand between them, tethering them with the book in the middle.

Laxus blinked at it and took his attention off the book and her hands to match her silver gaze instead, his head tilting just an inch in question at the refusal to give it over, and the look of what he could only describe as disquiet on her face when she looked back at him.

His eyes narrowed faintly at it, searching for a moment and realizing that 'disquiet' didn't really fit…. But it was the closest he could get, because he couldn't read her. The expression was foreign to him, and any hope of piecing together what she was thinking just then was too far out of reach. Something about her mood and her demeanor had shifted, again, and he had no clue as to what it was, or why. And that look she had on him now?

It was…. New. He'd never seen it before, ever. And that fact, along with the way the look seemed to make him squirm internally, had him swallowing.

"... What?" Laxus mumbled lowly, abandoning the attempt at figuring it out himself and deciding to just voice it. Frea blinked when he did, the foreign and entirely perplexing expression and mood breaking as he did, and she shook her head once, and only faintly, a tiny breath escaping her as the look took on a hint of wistfulness and serenity all at once.

"It's my name." Frea murmured softly, Laxus stiffening faintly at the comment and eyes narrowing further in confusion too. She noticed it immediately, silver eyes flashing as she let out another breath more like a humm, her eyes dropping from him and to the book between their hands briefly. She stayed quiet for a moment, her attention on the book and his hand as she seemed to mull over something, and he swore he saw her lips pull upward at the edges in a tiny smile for just a heartbeat, before she looked back up again and it was gone. But the wistfulness remained, and the calm, and something else entirely he still could not place.

"Nadege." Frea elaborated softly, silver eyes glimmering and he stared, his heart skipping a quick beat in shock. "It's my last name. I never remembered it, until after all the shit with Mordren… I lost it, between Kasumi, and Chaitanaya, and everything else…." She murmured, her voice wavering slightly on her Dragon's name and Laxus felt his stomach churn, but she didn't pause. Frea took a breath and shook her head, eyes still steady on him, voice still quiet, but even all the same, and she did not waver again.

"... I blocked it all out. My name, my family, what happened, all of it. Some of it started coming back before, small bits and pieces here and there and never the whole thing. But after Mordren, and after seeing his life, and more than him, it's all come back. A million things I probably shouldn't remember, but do. Things I shouldn't want to remember, but have to- want to- because losing that much of me…. I never wanted that, even if it is all insane, and even if it hurts." Frea explained quietly, Laxus stuck motionless in his space, mind racing slightly for the information, the shock of it, what it implied, and his heart twinging painfully for the last bit.

Frea must have sensed some amount of that ache too, because her shoulders seemed to sink faintly, and she offered him one of those tiny, barely-there smiles that was so bright despite all else, and one of those that always without fail made his heart skip a beat.

"I'm not gonna unload all of it on you today, even though you deserve some answers after all of this, and what just went on with those two. I know you won't ask, I know you're fine to wait however long I need, and I know you'd let it be if I wanted that. You are being exceedingly patient with me, and I appreciate it way more than you realize. Thank you, for that, for being patient, for keeping an eye on me, for not prying, for helping, and for saying all of it… Thank you, for everything. I could say it a million times, but it will never be enough." Frea told him softly, silver eyes gleaming while the smile brightened just a little more, and around them the wind picked up in a sudden gentle upsurge. The already turning red and orange leaves overhead rustled in the light breeze, quiet and wispy while a few shook from their branches and fell, scattering on air and around them like crimson and gold snow. Frea's hold on the book didn't let up, and nor did Laxus', his eyes stuck onto her and hers to him even when a few of those leaves landed on the book's cover between them, brushing their fingertips, featherlight.

There was something there in her eyes that sparked, something unfamiliar, something Laxus couldn't place, something where she seemed to pause, maybe even catch herself when something seemed to suddenly dawn on her…. And for it she let out a small breath, Frea's shoulders sinking slightly as she shook her head once to herself, and when she said the next her voice had softened, wispy and light, but warm and steady, and just as steady as the smile on her face, despite that fleeting pause. It never wavered nor faltered, there remained that unending gentleness in the way she looked at him now, so bright and calm and filled with that warmth, lightness, and care.

"You're my Reyan, you know." Frea murmured quietly, Laxus blinked, his heart stuttering in tune with a wave of surprise, nervousness, and something else all at once rushing through every inch of him lightning-fast.

Reyan? Wasn't she Mordren's-?

"Silas was partly right." Frea kept on quietly, shaking her head once and barely. "It's all rewound, even a thousand years and later now, things are repeating… Not all of them, but a lot of the big things." She hummed, silver eyes flashing. "So much of it is happening again, has happened…. Some that needed to, and other parts that can't. No matter what comes." She murmured, her eyes dropping from him for the briefest of moments and to the book between them, before she shook her head at herself, and her fingers uncurled from the book, releasing it. He stayed quiet, his hand with the book retracting subconsciously while his eyes never left her for even a moment, not even with hers down and away from his own.

"It's all insane, it always has been, and there's no way it won't continue to be… But you've stuck with me this long. You're doing what she did, looking out for me, determined that you're gonna be right, even when things just keep looking worse… You're stubborn, maybe more than she was, and you're definitely more patient… So hold out a little while longer, yeah? And for today, let's start with that bit, hmm?" Frea said softly, her eyes coming back up to him, smiling, and their gazes locking silver on aqua blue. Her hands fell on her hips, a shaft of sunlight leaking through the trees above dazzling off the ring on her thumb, the falling leaves swirling in spirals all around them, and Laxus swallowed, lost, confused, hopeful, and so utterly fixed on her and nothing else.

Thump-thump

"My name is Frea Nadege."

---

Helloooo! Long time no see, huh? XD

I am not dead, I do apologize for the long wait for any updates- but I am around still! And now at least for Frea, we are hitting something of a turning point? XD

I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write! And I hope you look forward to what's coming up next!

Thank you so much for sticking with me this long and your patience! I appreciate each and every one of you so, so much!

Please follow, fav and Review if you can! Thankies!