#character: bixlow

[selfawarecobalt]

the day i am forced to bear witness to the gray vs thunder legion fight from 100yq is the day i break into hiro mashima’s house and eat him

[fairybond]

Lisanna gets a message on her MCL from Bixlow (willpcwer) -- a very dimly-lit video of a certain dragon slayer, sleeping like the dead, purring while black-painted nails scratch his scalp.

[MSG - Bix]: Told ya he does :p

She watched the video play, then watched it again, her grin impossibly bright. Containing her giggle, she played the video a third time, holding the device closer and focusing her hearing to better pick up on the endearing sound coming through. After saving the video to her MCL (you never knew when it might come in handy for teasing purposes later), she sent a reply.

[MSG] – Okay, you win that round 😉

[MSG] – but does he do the cat yawn thing?

[isabellafoster13]

This was requested on AO3 by Andromeda_Isan.

This is probably the most difficult oneshot that has been requested. I've never written or read a "characters react" type of fic, so I hope that this turns out well.

This story takes place two weeks before Lucy arrives at the guild. 

Also, it's been a while since I last watched Fairy Tail, and plan to give it another watch soon, so I apologize if things are inaccurate. 

I hope you enjoy!

Laxus' Soulmate (Laxus x Lucy ft. Levy, Thunder Legion, Loke, and Makarov)

Laxus groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, dim lighting around him. He raised a hand to rest over his forehead and leaned forward in the cushioned seat that he was sitting in. He gave another groan as his headache began to slowly dull. 

Where the hell was he? He looked around, finding to his surprise that he wasn't alone. He was sitting in what looked like a theater, on a cushioned seat within a row of them. To his left were Freed, Evergreen, and Bixlow, all three of them still out cold. To his right were Levy, Loke, and Makarov, who were all also unconscious. 

The dragon slayer rubbed his temples as he looked around. High on the wall in front of them was a huge, black screen. The room was dimly lit. He stood up and looked at the back of the sloped room, seeing a pair of closed doors. With haste, he went up a ramp that was on one end of the row of seats and pressed against the metal bar that was connected to one of the closed doors, only for it to not budge a bit. 

He continued to struggle to open the pair of doors with no success. He groaned in frustration and pulled back a fist, intending to break open the locked entrance with a lightning-fueled punch. However, to his shock and dismay, his magic didn't appear. He looked down at his fist and tried to conjure his lightning again, but nothing happened still. 

As Laxus gritted his teeth, a tenor voice asked, "are you alright, Laxus?" 

The blonde man turned around to see Freed standing there, his face stoic as usual, but confusion was clearly visible in his sea-green eyes. Laxus grunted, "what the hell is going on?" 

Freed shook his head, answering, "I don't know." 

Laxus furrowed his brow and gave a grumble as he walked past his best friend and to the others, finding that they were all awake and trying to regain their bearings. Laxus crossed his arms over his chest and snarled out a question, "where the hell are we?" 

He watched as Makarov stood up and looked around. The old man asked his grandson, "have you found any exit?" 

Laxus jabbed a thumb in the direction of the doors, "some doors over there. They're locked though." 

Levy stood up next and looked at the doors. She then looked Freed and asked, "are there any runes?" 

Freed answered from his place next to Laxus, "I can't sense any." The green-haired man then added after a short, thoughtful hum, "it seems that this room is keeping us from being able to use magic. Laxus wasn't able to summon an attack." 

Evergreen and Bixlow both jumped up, exclaiming in unison, "what?!" 

Bixlow then looked around himself, almost frantically. He sighed, "my babies aren't here, so I'm useless." 

Evergreen looked around, failing to hide her nervousness, "how did we even get here?" 

Makarov spoke up, "that's a good question." He looked around at his guild members, "what is the last memory everybody has?" 

Laxus walked over and plopped back down in his seat as he muttered, "I was walkin' home." 

Freed answered next, "I was at home reading a book." 

Levy nodded, "so was I." 

"I was going to bed," Evergreen unfolded her fan and held it in front of her face. 

"I was going to a bar to get shit-faced," Bixlow chuckled and stuck out his guild-marked tongue. 

Loke strolled forward to join the rest of the small group, "I was on a date." He then flashed a flirty smirk at Levy and Evergreen, only to pale and back away a few steps when both of the women shot him dark glares. 

Makarov hummed thoughtfully and spoke, mostly to himself, "I was in my office. None of that tells us how we got here." 

Laxus rolled his eyes and looked at the huge, black screen on the front wall. He nodded his head at it and asked, "what the hell is that?" 

The others looked up at it, silence following before they muttered their responses of not knowing what it was. 

Before anybody could say anything else, a voice sounded over a loudspeaker that was hanging at the back of the room, "please sit down for the viewing." 

The voice repeated this one line three more times, drawing the attention of the mages. Levy asked, a slight tremble in her voice, "what's going on?" 

Laxus growled at her, "calm down!" 

Suddenly, the screen lit up, the words "please take a seat" in white lettering appearing across it. Makarov stated, "I suppose we don't have much of a choice." 

The mages, not seeing any other options, sat back down in the seats that they had woken up in. Laxus leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, peering up at the screen with a furrowed brow and a mixture of frustration and annoyance rising within him. 

The white-lettered words faded to give way for more, the sentence reading, "witness Laxus Dreyer's soon to arrive soulmate." 

Laxus raised a confused eyebrow at this and stared up at the screen as if it was a person who had asked him the stupidest question he's ever heard. What the hell was this? His soulmate? He didn't have any interest in romance, nor did he have any time. 

Freed whispered to him, "I wasn't aware that you had your eyes on someone." 

Laxus bit out a whisper back, "I don't!" He had no idea who are what was behind this, but he sure as hell was going to get answers for why this stupidity was happening, and he didn't care how he got those answers. 

Bixlow laughed, "as if the bossman would get with a girl anytime soon." He seemed to be having too much enjoyment already. 

Evergreen scoffed, "this is stupid. Why should any of us care about this?" 

Levy only chuckled while Loke leaned forward, muttering something about hoping this soulmate of Laxus' was hot. Makarov gave Laxus' arm a slight nudge. When the blonde man looked down at him, he found that his grandfather was smirking up at him. Laxus gave a silent groan and rolled his eyes before he returned them to the screen. 

The white words and black background faded to reveal a giant waterfall. Jutting out toward the waterfall was what resembled a cliff ledge, and resting on the ledge was what resembled a memorial structure. The mages watched as a figure slowly approached the memorial, quickly zooming in to reveal that the figure was Loke. 

Laxus' confusion grew, and his facial expression reflected that. Wasn't this about his soulmate? What the hell was Loke doing on the screen? 

The Loke who was on the screen stared at the memorial, appearing to saddened by something. The long stretch of silence was quickly broken by feminine voice saying in relief, "there you are." 

Loke turned around to face a woman with blonde hair, muttering, "Lucy." 

The screen then cut to a shot of the woman's face. Laxus' breathed hitched, something that thankfully went unnoticed by everyone else, at the sight of her. She was beautiful, incredibly so. Her eyes were a dark brown color that held a sweetness in them, even as she stared at Loke with a worried expression on her face. 

Was she Laxus' soulmate that the screen spoke of? He would be liar if he said that there was no chance of him being interested. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to date her if she wasn't strong, so he kept his eyes on the screen, waiting to see if she was strong enough of a wizard for him to even consider her as a potential romantic interest. 

The woman, Lucy, smiled at Loke as she informed him softly, "the whole guild's looking for you." She then paused before asking, "that's Karen's grave, isn't it?" 

Laxus heard the real Loke give a light gasp at that question. He glance sideways at the man, seeing that he was staring at the screen with wide, almost fearful eyes. Laxus' confusion continued to grow as he looked back up at the screen. 

The Loke on the screen stared at Lucy with surprise as the blonde continued, "she was a great celestial wizard, and she had a contract with you right?" There was a pause. Then, she muttered, almost to herself, "the spirit Loke." She then looked down slightly and backtracked, "wait, that's not really your name." She looked up at Loke, finishing, "your name is Leo. Leo the Lion." 

Laxus had no idea what he should be thinking. So, what did that mean? He had no idea what this Lucy woman was talking about. Loke? A spirit? Leo the Lion? Celestial wizard? What the hell did any of this mean? He couldn't lie, he was now more curious than he was confused. 

The scene continued to play at as the small group of mages watched with curiosity. In silence, Lucy watched Loke, seeming to expect him to say something. Loke closed his eyes and tipped his head forward slightly, saying with a small smile, "well, I won't deny it. How did you find out?" 

Lucy answered, "don't forget, I'm a celestial wizard too and I have contracts with a lot of spirits. It wasn't too hard to dig up the truth." She then took a step closer to him and added, "still, you should have come to talk to me about this. Normally, whenever the owner of a gate key dies, the contract between spirit and wizard is terminated. The spirit is then forced back into their world until the falls into knew hands a contract is made. Your contract with Karen should have ended on the day she died. I don't understand why you're still here! I've never heard of that before! I mean, that's just not how it's supposed to work, right? I know you kind can't survive in the human world for long, just like humans can't survive in your world. It'll slowly sap away your life, until, finally, there's nothing left." 

Loke closed his eyes as he spoke, "that's right," he opened his eyes to look at her, "and it's been three years now." 

Lucy sputtered, "three years?! I didn't even think one was possible!" 

Loke sighed as he turned away from her, "pretty amazing, huh? But I don't have the strength to keep it up."

Lucy exclaimed, "hold on! There's got to be some way that I can save you! Why can't I just open a gate for you? Tell me why you can't go back to the Spirit World!" 

"Don't need to save me." Loke looked away from her before promptly turning his back to her. 

"What do you mean? If you don't get some help soon, you're as good as dead!" 

"Look, there's no way I can go back." 

"But why?" 

"I broke a fundamental law that applies to both wizard and spirit. And, as a result, I was banished from the Celestial World for all eternity" 

"Loke...Just what did you do?" 

Loke turned to look at her as he responded, "I can't deny my crime, so I have no choice but to face the punishment. I'm a traitor to my own kind. I was contracted to Karen, but she died, because I killed her." 

Lucy gasped as she stared at Loke in horror. Levy gasped, "you did what?" 

Laxus looked over to see the blue-haired woman staring at the real Loke, who was staring at his lap, the look on his face unreadable. Laxus grunted. Who cared if he killed someone? When you're a wizard, you had to do that sometimes. Sure, it can be bothersome for those who weren't used to it, but that was just a part of being a wizard. He didn't see what the big deal about any of this was. 

Loke on the screen began telling a story, however, Laxus honestly couldn't give a fuck about this Karen woman, so he instead leaned closer to Freed and whispered, "what the hell is a celestial wizard? And what is Loke supposed to be?" 

Freed whispered back, "a celestial wizard is a wizard who uses Celestial Spirit Magic. It's incredibly rare. Celestial wizards use special keys that summon celestial spirits to fight or do other tasks. The spirits have a wide range of uses. It would appear that Loke is once such spirit. Leo the Lion, to be exact. That means, he's pretending to be a human." 

Laxus nodded, now understanding what was going on. He still didn't know why he had to watch this, though. 

He looked back up at the screen, seeing that Loke was finishing up his sob story by saying, "it was my fault and I've lived with the guild ever since. When someone dies, they're gone forever. I wish I could bring her back, but it's just not possible. The only way I can make things right is if die too." 

Just after he said that, Loke fell to the ground, his body fading in and out of visibility. Lucy called his name as she rushed toward him and crouched onto the ground. Loke spoke, his voice carrying an echo, "I guess this is it. It's my time." 

Lucy exclaimed, "what do you mean your time?" Laxus rolled his eyes for what was probably the umpteenth time. Did this woman not listen? Loke clearly explained what was happening.

"For me to disappear...forever." Loke stared down at the stone ground, a look of dispair on his face. 

"You can't just give up!" 

"...Karen." He raised a hand and looked down at it as he repeated, "ever since that day, I've been banned from the Celestial World." 

"No, your hand!" 

"When I killed Karen, I broke a fundamental celestial law. Now, I have to pay the price. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her and what I did. I tried to stay distracted, so it won't constantly be on my mind, but it's like she's haunting me. I've been waiting for this, for my magic energy to finally run out. And now, it's finally about to happened right in front of Karen's grave." He looked up at Lucy. "Then, I'll be free from the guilt that's burdened me. Before I go, I want to thank you. You restored my faith in celestial wizards." 

Lucy yelled at him, "wait! I can save you! You can't give up yet!" 

Loke, however, ignored this and continued to speak, "please tell everyone in Fairy Tail I said goodbye." 

Lucy let out a sob as she hunched over on her hands and knees. She then slammed her fist onto the ground and yelled, "it's not fair! I won't let you die! All you have to do is go back to the Spirit World and your life force will be restore, right? There's gotta be a way we can send you back!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible. I broke the law and I'll being punished." 

"Even so...It isn't right! You didn't kill Karen! It was just an accident! It wasn't you fault!" With a sob, she threw herself over Loke's fading form and hugged him to her. 

Loke echoed, "Lucy, I-" 

Lucy cut him off by begging loudly, "Open! Gate of the Lion! Take Leo back to the Celestial World! Please! Open!" She rested her head on Loke chest as she sobbed out, "...please." 

"Calm down. It won't work. It's okay." Loke gently pushed her off of him as he failed in his attempt to calm her. 

Lucy looked back at him with a mixture of sorrow and anger as she continued to yell, "it's not okay! I can't just sit here and watch as my friend disappears right before my eyes!" She then gave a scream as a circle of gold magic energy appeared around the pair, and that same gold magic energy surged into the sky. Lucy continued to beg, "open! Gate of the Lion!" 

Loke spoke to her, more forcefully this time, "stop it! You're going to use all of your magic ebergy like this!" 

However, Lucy didn't seem to listen to him. She instead yelled, "whatever it takes, I'm gonna save you, Loke! I'll open your gate! I won't give up! I promise, I'll get you to the Celestial World!" 

Loke countered, "it's too dangerous!" 

"Open! Gate of the Lion! Open!" Magic energy surged all around the pair as Lucy continued. 

"It's not gonna open for you! As far as they're concerned, I'm responsible for Karen's death! They're not gonna let me go back!" After Lucy gave another scream, Loke continued to plead with her, "stop this Lucy! You're starting to assimilate! If you don't stop, then you're gonna disappear too!" 

"I won'r stop until it's open! I won't let you die! What's the point in having magic power, if you can't save the people you care about?" 

"Don't do this!" 

Laxus watched with a furrowed brow. He wasn't sure if he should marvel at the amount of magic power that she was giving off or at how stupid she was being. Maybe both. Yeah, both sounded good to him. 

Loke continued to beg, "please don't make me live with the guilt of killing you too!" 

Lucy argued, "you didn't kill her! Whoever decided that you were responsible needs to know that they were wrong!" 

With that, the magic energy stopped and time appeared to freeze as everything with the exception of Lucy and Loke froze. The held onto each other as, with burst of water and swirling of stars, a huge creature appeared before them. 

Lucy questioned, "whoa, what's going on here?" 

Loke responded, "impossible. It's him: the Celestial Spirit King! What in the heck is he doing here?" 

Lucy gasped out, "he's the king? He's the ruler of the Spirit World?" 

The king then spoke to the pair, "hello, my old friend. As you know, both wizards and spirits must obey Celestial Law, and taking the life of a keyholder is forbidden under any circumstance. Though not by our hand, you are still responsible for your keyholder's death, Leo the Lion. Therefore, you have been banished from the Celestial World for eternity." 

Lucy shouted up at the king, her anger clearly shown on her face and in her voice, "hold on, that doesn't seem fair at all!" 

Loke begged her, "Lucy, stop!"

The king then spoke, "old friend, human girl, I have made my judgment and it stands. Leo has broken Celestial Law."

Despite this, it seemed that this Lucy woman still wasn't going to give up. She shouted back, "Loke's been suffering for three long years! He didn't kill her, but he did stand up to her, because somebody had to protect Aries!" 

The king responded calmly, "I must say, I find it heartbreaking to see my old friend in such a fragile condition." 

Lucy took a step forward and she continued to yell, "what is wrong with you? An old friend is still a friend, right? There's one in front of you right now asking for a second chance, so open you eyes, stachface!" 

The king seemed to peer down at her in surprise as he echoed, "stachface?"

Loke muttered, "uh...Lucy-" 

"Karen died because she took a job she couldn't handle!" Lucy continued to argue. "He had nothing to do with it! You have to change your verdict! He's innocent! Please, sir!" As she begged, more magic energy eminated off of her. 

Loke yelled, "just drop it already! It doesn't matter if the verdict is changed! I'm not looking for forgiveness! I want to disappear and finally be free from this guilt!"

With a large blast of magic energy, Lucy yelled back, "I won't let you! You disappearing won't bring Karen back to life! All it's gonna do is create more sadness! You did nothing wrong because it can't be a crime to protect the people who you care about!" 

Laxus stared at the screen with interest and surprise as several creatures and people, who he guessed were more celestial spiritsm appeared to stand behind Lucy, as if to show their support of her. 

Lucy looked back at Loke and questioned him, "what about all of your friends? You're just gonna leave them? If you were to die, you'd leave me and Aries and everyone else here behind! Think about us! How miserable we would be without you!" Then, as quickly as the large amount of magic energy and the spirits had appeared, they disappeared, and Lucy fell to the ground, clearly exhausted. 

Loke called out her name and she pulled herself up as she spoke in a quieter tone, "all of my friends who came forward just now, they feel the same I do." 

Loke whispered, seemingly to himself, "your friends?" 

Lucy the looked back at the king, continuing to yell at him, "if you're a celestial spirit too, you can sympathize with what Loke and Aries went through." 

Loke grabbed as he demanded, "would you stop! You're gonna end up like Karen if you keep this up! Don't risk your life to save mine!" 

The king hummed thoughtfully before he spoke, "hearing you speak so highly of my old friend, has lead me to think that maybe it is not his actions, but the law itself that should be in question. Leo was forced into his crime to protect Aries, his brethren, and the human girl is willing to risk her life to save Leo. I am so moved by your bonds of loyalty, I shall make an exception in this case. Leo the Lion, you are hereby granted return passage back to the Celestial World." 

Laxus watched as the scene wrapped up with the king disappearing after declaring that Loke will be Lucy spirit and Loke gave her his key before he too disappeared in the same way that the king did. 

The screen faded to black, leaving Laxus to continue staring up at it. He had to hand it to her, this Lucy woman had some great potential to be a strong wizard. The burst of magic that had displayed was nothing to sneeze at. He looked over to Loke, seeing that Levy and Makarov were both talking to him in low murmurs as he was hunched over with his hand covering his face. Laxus scoffed at the sight. He didn't care if Loke disappears or not, he's not strong enough to be in Fairy Tail anyways. 

Freed muttered beside him, "that was impressive." 

Laxus looked down at him and questioned, "is Celestial Spirit Magic particularly strong?" 

Freed glanced up at him and answered, "in terms of strength, it's much like any other type of magic: depends on the user." 

Bixlow chuckled and remarked, "if she's the bossman's woman, then she's gotta be crazy strong." 

Evergreen commented, "it would be nice to have another woman on the team." 

Laxus watched as his three closest friends talked about what they had just witnessed. He gave a short hum to himself and leaned back in his seat to look back up at the screen. Sure, Lucy had the looks, and she was evidently strong, but that didn't mean he was going to take her with no second thought. There was more to it than just that. 

White-lettered words reappeared on the screen, reading out "Lucy vs Bixlow." The seith mage in question snorted in laughter at the words. Laxus rolled his eyes and set them back onto the screen. He wouldn't admit it, but he was interested in seeing if Lucy would win against Bixlow. 

The scene opened to show two people facing each other. One was on an elevated pointed while the second person was on a shorter building, some distance away. Laxus could tell that they were Lucy and Bixlow. He could also see that Nastu's annoying exceed was with Lucy. 

The Bixlow on screen spoke, "yo. You must be the newbie that everyone's been talking about." 

Lucy stood up and responded, "is that so? You want to tell me what they've been saying, cause I'm dying to knowing." 

"Just that you're into whips, playing dress-up, and you like bossin' people around." 

Lucy exclaimed, seeing to be mortified, "geez, they make me sound like some kind of pervert!" 

Bixlow laughed before commenting, "nice cheerleader costume by the way." His babies echoed mocking words behind him.

Lucy wrapped an arm around herself and muttered, "no, I just..." 

Laxus crossed his arms over his chest, feeling an unexpected sense of uneasy in his gut. He hasn't even met this woman and he already doesn't like when people mock her! How pathetic!

The Bixlow on screen grinned and commanded, "alright, babies, time to tear it up!" With that, the wooden totems began attacking Lucy and Happy as the pair ran away from the green bolts of magic energy. They jumped out of the way of a small explosion, which followed by Bixlow saying, "too bad, normally I'd go easy on you since you're just a newbie, but this here's a war, and losing is simply not an option for us." 

Lucy called back, "if you think the Master's gonna let you get away with this you have got another thing coming, pal!" 

Bixlow raised his arms as he responded, "the Master can go suck it for all I care. By the time this is over, Laxus will be the new Master of Fairy Tail." 

Laxus raised an eyebrow at this. Did this mean that he'll be able to organize a coup in the future? Once corner of his mouth ticked upward in a half-smirk. Maybe becoming Fairy Tail's new Guild Master wasn't a bad idea. 

The Bixlow in screen had his babies attack Lucy once again, causing her to jump back and say to herself, "those flying things are really annoying." She then pulled out a key and called out, "Open! Gate of the Archer: Sagittarius!" 

A man man in a horse costume appeared and greeted her, "howdy-do, My Lady, you called?" 

Bixlow remarked, "ooh, a celestial wizard, so your spirits like to wear costumes too?" 

Lucy exclaimed in irritation, "that's real funny!" 

She then ordered her spirit to aim for Bixlow's babies. The spirit complied, shooting them down as Bixlow feigned dispair. He quickly dropped the act and blasted at Sagittarius, sending the spirit back to the Spirit World. He then revealed to Lucy that he was standing atop a toy shop by raising the toys that he had possessed. After Happy informed Lucy of what he magic was, Lucy reached for her keys, only for them to be taken by one of the toys. 

Happy chased after the keys as Bixlow used the other toys to cause Lucy to fall. He sneered, "too bad, little miss cheerleader. I'm afraid the game just went into sudden death. But don't worry, I promise to take extra good care of your soul." 

Laxus bit back a growl at that. What had gotten into him? Why was he suddenly angry about what the on-screen Bixlow said. He looked over at the real Bixlow, seeing that he was smiling up at the screen, clearly enjoying what was happening. 

Back on the screen, Bixlow had formed several of his dolls into a circle and used them to blast a green beam at Lucy. The blonde woman stared at the incoming attack with widened eyes and a fearful expression. This caused an explosion, however, when the smoke cleared, Lucy was revealed to be held by a man. The question of who the man was was answered when he remarked, "it's strange, isn't it? For some reason I have no problem traveling between our worlds without you even having to summon me. That means the wall between humans and spirits is no more. Together, you and I have broken it down, and it's all thanks to the power of love." 

Loke sat Lucy down as she responded, "power of love? Oh come on, don't joke around like that." 

Bixlow yelled to them, "I know you, you're Loke!" 

Loke stared back at him with a serious expression as he spoke once again, "so, the time has come to fulfill my promise, huh?" 

Lucy exclaimed, "thanks, Loke!" 

"Well, what do you know, so you were a celestial spirit," Bixlow mused, "I've kept your secret all this time, and this is the thanks I get?" 

Lucy then questioned how he knew, which Happy answered by explaining Bixlow's ability to see souls, something that celestial spirits apparently lack. The two men engaged in a short back in forth argument before go back into a fight. Loke and Lucy did a good job at fighting the dolls, with Lucy even being able to jump to where Bixlow was standing and nearly take him out with her whip a couple of times. 

This lead to Bixlow removing his mask to use Figure Eyes on his opponents. Laxus clenched his fists on his arms. He was silently hoping that Lucy would win, the reason for this being unknown to him. 

Happy explained what Figure Eyes did while Loke and Lucy closed their eyes to avoid the effects. Bixlow then laughed and mocked as he had his babies attack the pair, trying to get them to open their eyes. 

Loke quickly formed a plan and instructed Lucy to open her eyes and hit Bixlow as hard as she could when he gave her the signal. After slight resistance, Lucy agreed to the instructions. Loke quickly used a spell to blind Bixlow before Lucy wrapped the Thunder Legion memeber in her whip. The battle was ended when Loke gave a short speech and blasted Bixlow across Magnolia. 

The screen faded to black and Laxus glanced at the real Bixlow, already annoyed by his complaining that he got beaten by a cheerleader and a lion cub. Laxus looked down at Freed when he heard the man ask, "what did you think, Laxus?" 

The dragon slayer looked back up at the black screen as he thought about what he had watched. The fight didn't go how he would have liked it to, Lucy wasn't as strong as he was expecting, but she did, nonetheless, defeat a member of the Thunder Legion. That was no small feat, even if she did have help. 

His thoughts were interupted when the doors opened with a bang, drawing the attention of the mages. Laxus muttered his answer, "we'll see when I meet her." He then made his way to the now-open doors. 

He was stopped when he heard his grandfather say from behind him, "we will speak once we get back to Fairy Tail, Laxus." 

Laxus glared down at Makarov for a few moments before he scoffed and turned back around, muttering, "whatever" before he continued to leave the theater.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope that this turned out well. I'm sorry that the Bixlow vs Lucy fight wasn't as long/detailed as the Loke's rescue scene. I didn't want this oneshot to get too long. I was also getting tired by the time I got to the fight. 

[resolvebound]

💖 for Freed, from Bix [initiate Raijinshuu group hug time]

Send 💖 for my muse to give yours a hug (or yours to hug mine) // accepting

Even with the enemy soundly defeated before them, Freed didn’t immediately relax. His keen eyes surveyed the area, wary of any surprises that might arise, yet soon his attention was taken by his teammates as they approached. A quick, assessing gaze swept over them, relieved to note they had only the briefest traces of the fight lingering on them. Although, as Bixlow drew nearer, a particular tear in his clothes became apparent, prompting Freed to frown in concern.

Before he could even ask about it, he received a grin from the man and a reassurance, “I’m fine, it's no big deal.”

As if to prove it (or distract), Bixlow shifted closer, slinging an arm around Freed’s shoulder, tugging him closer. The familiar weight pulled forth an exasperated sigh from him, nevertheless accompanied by a smile. And soon enough, of course, Bixlow looped Evergreen in on the embrace.

“Well then,” Freed said after a moment, “Let’s go home, shall we?”

[lucentaire]

“   these  desperate  times  call  for  desperate  measures  .   ” 

— bix (hearternal)

She laughed as she let go of the railing, now swaying precariously on the edge of the tower. Or well---it would be dangerous for someone else. Not so much for her, not with her wings shimmering behind her. While it seemed dangerous, it was exactly that: seemingly dangerous, actually fairly safe. For her, at least, she was a little more worried about Bix who would stay on the tower while she would be falling for a little before allowing her wings to pull her back up. It was something they had done before, it had always worked---and she trusted him blind. It did not change the fact that she was worried about what might unfold while she was gone to get Laxus---those lightning barriers would make for a nice afternoon snack for him while they were an annoying obstacle for Bixlow and her right now.

'' You know that there aren't many people I'd allow to throw me off a tower, Bix, '' she said as she closed and holstered her fan, winking at him. '' But you're right---desperate times, desperate measures. ''

@hearternal

[fanstuffrantings]

Sticking with outfits for characters I love and lament Mashima changing: let's talk lisanna. Now I know in my art I draw her vastly different from canon, but I don't hate canon lisanna. I just feel like Mashima doesn't know what to do with her. I'm actually an absolute sucker for lisanna in pretty simple/casual fashion. My favorite is the long sleeve blue shirt with the green shorts.

I really feel like Lisanna and Lucy having similar but different fashion works. I know I harp on "make everyone different" and for my art I do like to do that. But for the sake of canon, I really wish Mashima had stuck to the "girl next door" fashion vibes for lisanna. It fits her character really well.

I also want to note that the arc these outfits were largely featured in, tenrou Island, also presented us with some really fun thunder legion/lisanna dynamics I wish we got more focus on. Lisanna befriending, or at least us getting a focus on her bonding with Bixlow and Laxus, could've been really fun. Laxus had an older brother vibe with her, and it was a fun scene.

The only really cute and unique outfit in media I've seen for her that I adore is actually the outfit from Phoenix priestess.

I actually wish we got this one in canon because it legitimately is one of the cutest outfits any fairy tail girl has ever worn. I can't even find better pictures of it and god I wish I could.

Bonus for one more lisanna outfit I love with my whole heart, 15 year old lisanna:

Truly a fantastic look.

[fandomtrash-whataboutit]

Fairy Tail Freed Justine Thesis

Character! Part 2b. (Of ???)

The first important thing to do is realize how outstanding Freed is in his characterization as compared to others with whom he should be similar. I mention this in part 2a, but Freed is introduced as a side antagonist (not that i think any of the Thunder Legion are villains, but the point stands) and yet is given this depth of character, this internal conflict, that comes a a great surprise. Compare him even just with Bixlow and Evergreen in season 1. Both are one-note characters, and that’s not necessarily a jab at the show, it sort of makes sense for the first introduction of a side character. In a show like FT, that runs for a very long time, side characters do tend to get proper characterization, but it is a lengthy process. Bix and Ever are both having fun with the fight, they both follow Laxus’ orders easily, they both are just support antagonists. Yet Freed is presented with this crisis of conscious that, if you bother to think about it, shows things like the loyalty he has to the guild, a trait assigned to many of Fairy Tail’s members, especially those raised in the guild, yet something that is not shown for Bix and Ever until later appearances. Freed’s love and care for his home and family are represented in a way Bix and Ever’s aren’t, not to mention the guilt of causing harm to others.

Which brings us to the next stopping point: Tenrou Island. As we all know: freed doesn’t fight his hardest against Cana during their battle during the S-Class trials, eliminating him from the running. This is in reference to the fight he had with Cana (and Juvia?? She sorta didn’t fight) during the Battle of Fairy Tail. We’ve established that Freed is shown to have that dedication to the guild that is shown in characters like Natsu, Erza, and Elfman. He has very real, very strong motivations to want to gain that high honor of being recognized as an S-Class wizard. But he remembers the unfair situation he put Cana in, the pain that he doesn’t and never did agree with or want to carry out, her anger over his treatment of Juvia. And he feels guilty, he is remorseful, and more than that he actively wants to take repentant action because he wants not just to apologize but to make up for his actions. And no other characters get that sort of treatment. Laxus has the obvious way to make you have to think about the Battle of Fairy Tail even after season 1: he’s freaking exiled. He doesn’t come back until season 3. But in terms of lasting emotional consequences? Fairy Tail follows in the footsteps of a million other action/adventure shows, they forgive and forget past grievances offscreen. No one is shown to still be mad at the Thunder Legion, Bixlow and Evergreen don’t really mention it, and Laxus is only connected back to it through the exile itself, not in reference to any specific actions. While I believe it is mentioned a couple of times, it is only ever in reference. Freed is once again given this significant emotional maturity and general representation that is not afforded to any other character.

But now let’s talk about the Thunder Legion, shall we? Because with a bit of time we do get the Bixlow and Evergreen characterization that I so desperately seek. Bixlow is loud and excitable and sharp, Evergreen is snarky and rude and confrontational. Freed is not similar to either of them in terms of character traits, but he sees their better sides beneath the sarcasm. For whatever reasons you think are behind Bix or Ever’s motivation for being standoffish, Freed recognizes that. And he knows the roots of Laxus’ anger, he knows the pain that the lightning wizard is trying to hide. During the time that were teenagers and young adults, Freed was probably one of the only people who saw the gruff himbo behind the angry asshole persona. Freed is bookish and somewhat introverted, no-nonsense as he can be. Yet he is also someone who really loves his obnoxious, crazy friends. The dichotomy between him and his closest friends is an important aspect of who he is. And it is important for another reason, because it shows a significant, not directly stated aspect of his character. He is someone who repeatedly makes that choice to look beyond the rough exterior of those around him, who chooses to give others the benefit of the doubt. He is a trusting, optimistic person at heart.

Another thing that is less overlooked but still not discussed enough bc we don’t talk about Freed enough: he goes beyond bookish into scholarly. He is an academic, and I therefore hypothesize that he is something of an expert, or at least considered a reasonable authority on subjects of ancient magic and the roots of magic. Runes are essentially the legos of magic, they can be used to construct pretty much anything with the right pieces, and considered to be a very old form of magic with a lot of history. I think that should be respected considering how much his knowledge probably contributes to his strength, while also contributing to how fearsome of an opponent he is. In any given fight, he probably knows more about your magic than you do.

My final addition is that I want to highlight that Freed is incredibly generous. The selflessness with Cana on Tenrou, the willingness to give up his own beliefs for Laxus’ cause, his willingness to DIE in season 9 to protect his friends. He takes on the responsibility to cook for his team every time they go out on a mission. I bet he loves teaching Asuka and helping her with reading, I bet he goes out of his way to recommend books to Levy. I bet he never turns down someone asking for help with a weird obscure magical thing for a job. I bet he helps Wendy learn more about her lost magic. I bet he coos at Bixlow’s babies. (Can you tell i am normal about him?? Cus i am so normal about him.)

[werewolfcave]

Okay reworking the ages of the characters because the fact that they're teenagers astounds me and feels false.

Lucy: 20

Gray: 22

Natsu: 21

Erza: 25

Wendy: 13

Mirajane: 26

Elfman: 22

Lisanna: 20

Juvia: 23

Gajeel: 22

Levy: 20

Jet: 21

Droy: 22

Cana: 24

Alzak: 23

Bisca: 24

Laxus: 27

Freed: 26

Bixlow: 29

Evergreen: 26

This is a rough current idea of the ages at the beginning of canon

[nocentis]

🎭

✧ ┆ Accepting!

🎭 a blog i miss writing with

There are so many, but I’m going to list a few. Warning: I am a sentimental bastard.

Of course Ziro, who played Gajeel & Jellal. I talk about him all the time (mostly because we still keep in contact). He played a fantastic Gajeel, was my twinnie Jellal, and is all around a delightful person who I’m lucky to call a friend.

Mira, who played Lucy, Levy, and a few others iirc. She was always so very kind and I cherish the threads we wrote together.

M, who played Krait. Again, so kind and so fun to talk to IC & OOC. She really brought Krait to life and was always a blast to write with.

Bren, who played Bixlow. Last I checked, she was doing big things! Always a friend and so fun to write with.

Ari, who played Minerva and Ultear. I’ve always looked up to Ari even before we ever interacted. She really made those characters her own and I have always admired her writing. @dcvrsthrn

Chelly, who played Lucy & was one of my very first rp partners! We used to stay up until the wee hours of the morning collaboratively writing crack fics on google docs and I would literally kick my feet and giggle so hard about it.

[raiiryuu]

𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘕𝘌𝘙 𝘞𝘌𝘓𝘓 𝘊𝘈𝘕 𝘗𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘠 𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘌 𝘞𝘙𝘐𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘈 𝘓𝘖𝘛 𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘐𝘌𝘙.

REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME: Vyn PRONOUNS : they/them PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION : IMs here, or you can find me on disc.ord/mutuals can request it! NAME OF MUSE(s) : Laxus Dreyar [alongside Pantherlily, Bixlow, Yuriy Dreyar, and Acnologia over on willpcwer ] BEST EXPERIENCE : Coming back to the FT rpc after almost a literal DECADE and finding so many lovely people here! Y'all are great okay RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS : (You would ask the hard questions huh, I'm bad at listing negatives) Godmoding/railroading (if you want/need a specific thing to happen please reach out to me, we can make it work that way!), people that don't expect/respect consequences, uhh. idk don't be rude to ppl there are literally so many better things to do. You could be eating garlic bread but you playin. MUSE PREFERENCES: I'm not sure what this means, is this like 'what muses would you like to see?' If so...where the Alzack blogs at. Laki, Nab, characters like that who could shine with a little love. ALSO. Capricorn would be an interesting/fun muse to see. I'm tempted tbh. PLOTS OR MEMES : Memes are great for breaking the ice or if you need something to start with, but plots are also fun. I'm about equal towards either one! LONG OR SHORT REPLIES : I'm kinda in the middle I feel? I don't have novella replies but I write a paragraph or two on average. I don't have any preference for my partners' replies because mine tend to vary, so I don't mind if anyone else's will also. BEST TIME TO WRITE : If I'm awake and not otherwise busy. (currently, that's quite often) ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S) : In some ways. Frighteningly. tagged by yoinked from: @shinebrightlikealion

[varietales]

Bisca – general dynamics with FT members. Part 4

Unless plotted otherwise, this is how she feels about these characters and is a rough idea of their dynamic with her.

Freed – Due to him and his team only rarely being around the guild (particularly pre-Fantasia), she didn’t get much time to interact with him. Of course, it was the similarity in their hair colour that drew her eye initially (not to mention the fact he’s just damn pretty), and his air of mystery was a topic that came up in the guild whenever he made an appearance. In their limited encounters, she found him polite and hard to read, but cool (in a similar way to Erza), and although she didn’t dare to, she was tempted to try find a way to ruffle him somehow. Post-Fantasia, she took a while to forgive him and the others for what they put the town and guild through, but seeing them all begin to fit in better and make more of an effort was rather heartwarming. It wasn’t long after that that he disappeared along with the others on Tenrou. Now, having spent more time around him, she enjoys his company and feels more comfortable around him, appreciating his detail-oriented nature and maturity. She's still lowkey looking for ways to ruffle him.

Evergreen – As with Freed, their interactions were few and far between up until the Battle of Fairy Tail. Bisca had heard a few rumours about her but was interested in making up her own mind about her, but never had much of a chance to do so. Again, as with Freed, Bisca took a bit of time to forgive her (being turned to stone was not easy to forget), but once she had worked through her feelings on the matter and had a few friendly conversations with her, she found she quite liked her. She once asked Evergreen about her wings, which eventually led to the pair doing some flying practice together (one of Bisca’s pets is a large birdlike creature capable of carrying her on its back). Now, they hang out together semi-regularly if they can manage it, between jobs and other life things, Bisca enjoys Evergreen’s views and humour. Bisca is more of a coffee drinker, but enjoys having tea with her whenever they catch up.

Bixlow – Perhaps due to the fact he wasn’t so directly involved in the Battle of Fairy Tail (you know what I mean – yes he was involved but he wasn’t the one that placed runes that would force others to fight, and he didn’t turn anyone to stone), and the fact that he was someone she got along with beforehand, but she found him easier to accept/forgive afterwards than the others. He’s the type that’s always up for shenanigans and trying new things, so she found him fun. As it is now, since she’s gotten older and matured somewhat, she kinda sighs (in fond exasperation) at some of his antics and tries not to get involved (he’s pulled her into some things in the past). He is one of Asuka’s favourite people, so Bisca can’t help but appreciate him for that and for the way he entertains her and looks after her.

Laxus – He didn’t make a great first impression, his attitude and demeanour were certainly Not Great, leaving her with an unfavourable opinion of him. She heard stories about him more than she ever saw him around, and she struggled to understand Natsu’s excited and positive view of him but still, she thought that as he was a member of the guild, he surely couldn’t be that bad. The Battle of Fairy Tail did not help her view of him, and honestly, to begin with she was glad that he was kicked out. As she healed and things settled, she did wonder if what he really needed was help, and not to be isolated, as she knew from her own past experiences of acting out and causing trouble that sometimes a helping hand was needed. Due to him being excommunicated and then lost along with the others on Tenrou, seeing him again once the group returned (and him looking the same) was unnerving, bringing back memories of his unpleasant attitude and being electrocuted by the Thunder Palace. She kept a wary eye on him, softening as she noticed the subtle changes in him. When Asuka developed a fascination with him, Bisca couldn’t help being a little tense at their first interaction, however she soon saw there was nothing to worry about. Surprisingly to some, Laxus has become one of the more regular babysitters (along with his team) for Asuka and is someone Bisca trusts. Outside of bonding via the girl, Bisca and Laxus aren’t particularly close, but she is becoming more and more fond of him.

Gajeel – Being a good friend of team Shadow Gear, Bisca did not take kindly to Gajeel when he joined, knowing how brutally he had attacked them. Protective of her friends after the attack, particularly Levy, Bisca kept a close eye on them and often escorted Levy to places or watched over her from a distance. She also kept a wary eye on Gajeel. Having come from a rough patch herself, she understood that there might be more to him than met the eye, so she also hoped to gain a better understanding of him through her watchful gaze. Before she could really see too much, Tenrou happened. Following his return and everything that happened since, she’s come to accept him and even find him amusing at times. And she can finally admit she really likes his aesthetic. They don’t tend to have much to do with each other, but she has told him off a few times (using her ‘mum voice’) when he’s done something he shouldn’t. And also, Asuka once (very loudly) asked her where Gajeel’s eyebrows are.

Pantherlily – Out of the exceeds, she thinks he is the cutest. They don’t interact all that much, but she appreciates his levelheadedness and they can enjoy a good conversation.

Makarov – When she first met him, he reminded her of her own grandfather, simply for the fact that he’s an old man and grumpy at times. It didn’t take her long to realise that was where the similarities ended and that Makarov was…strange. As a mage with great power and knowledge, he had her respect, and for allowing her to join the guild despite her crimes under the guilds name, he had some of her loyalty. Aside from that, she kept her distance as she preferred not to be anywhere near his wandering hands or creepy commentary.

[selfawarecobalt]

i gotta say, whist fraxus is easily the most popular freed ship, and one i have always loved, recently ive started preferring bixfreed, if only due to the fact that it’s one of the only gay freed ships where he’s not made into the “flamboyant one”. thats bixlow. noone is out flamboyanting bixlow, and he never loses any masculinity despite it.

ive always hated how common it is for freed to be completely mischaracterised (not even flanderised hes just straight up not the same character anymore) in most gay ships. people seem to really love making him a “damsel in distress” type, especially with fraxus, i can only assume because laxus is so stereotypically masculine.

this really seems to only be an issue with gay ships including freed (although it is especially egregious with fraxus, and a LOT of old miraxus media. no im not getting into that.)

ive never seen a ship involving freed and a woman that has this issue. he’s almost always presented as this suave intellectual, a gentleman, someone independent, but who chooses to help others. (i personally headcanon freed to be gay so its always a little annoying seeing him being characterised so much better in many of these straight ships lol)

anyway back to bixfreed

its always fun seeing freed have to act as the straightman (lol) to bixlow, and it further helps bixlow’s own character. its so good to see a man be presented as wearing typically feminine things (his skirt and nail polish), and be so willing to be silly, to goof around, to hang off ceilings, and yet not once is his masculinity compromised.

I’ve seen a great deal of fanart of freed where i genuinely thought he’d been genderbent. Freed is still a masculine character, but so many fans just see his eyelashes and hair, and throughout the series mashima just fed into this, especially in the anime, with multiple “gags” of him fawning over laxus, to the point where fans started comparing him to juvia (also someone who was flanderised to the point of being unrecognisable.)

im not even sure what my point in this rant is anymore im just so tired of this mischaracterisation. you can have a character be gay without forcing stereotypes onto them so much it becomes homophobic. im BEGGING just leave this in 2016

[x-theolivia]

Fairy Tail Masterlist

Welcome in Fiore. In a magical world.

My requests are open for: Fluff, comfort, angst and smut

Also I write for the characters: Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Wendy, Erza, Juvia, Laxus, Freed, Bixlow, Mirajane, Gajeel, Levy, Rouge, Lyon

Fluff - 🩷 comfort - 🩵 angst - 🖤 smut - ❤️

Wendy Marvell

You bring the best out of me 🩷

She’s mine 🩷

You’re me and I’m you 🩷🖤

Mashed potatoes… everywhere 🩷

Don’t risk your life for me 🩷

Whiny and Clingy 🩷

You mess with the wrong 🖤

Gray Fullbuster

Don't leave me 🖤🩵

Lucy Heartfilia

-coming soon-

Natsu Dragneel

-coming soon-

Erza Scarlett

-coming soon-

Juvia

-coming soon-

Laxus

-coming soon-

Bixlow

-coming soon-

Freed

-coming soon-

Mirajane

-coming soon-

Gajeel

-coming soon-

Levy

-coming soon-

Rouge

-coming soon-

Lyon

-coming soon-

[isabellafoster13]

Chapter Five: The Rescue

WARNING: TORTURE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mages of Fairy Tail sat within their guild, drinking, laughing, and talking. It was a strangely calm day for the destructive guild. Perhaps it was because several Sabertooth mages and Crime Sorciere were visiting. Jellal and his friends had decided to drop by before they went off to continue fighting dark guilds. Sting had decided that the perfect way to celebrate his miraculous freedom from paperwork was to drag Rogue, Rufus, Orga, and Minerva to Fairy Tail for the purpose of hanging out. 

All were calm. That is, all were calm except for three certain mages. Freed sat with Laxus, Evergreen, and Bixlow, his arms crossed over his chest and his leg bouncing as he glanced over at the guild's doors every minute. It had been a full week since Lucy left. He wasn't upset that she had missed their lunch date. Instead, he was worried. Mira had told him that the blonde was going to Poppy Town on a job with Yukino and Sorano. Poppy Town was only an hour away and since there were three of them, they should've been finished by now. So, where was Lucy?

Worry bubbled in his gut as he struggled to calm the distressing thoughts that ran through his mind. His usually logical brain was jumping to the worst of conclusions like how Natsu jumps into fights. He tried to tell himself that he was being ridiculous. That Lucy was a more than capable mage and could take care of herself on a job. He tried to tell himself that she was fine. But, was she? He couldn't help but wonder if maybe she had run into trouble and was in danger. 

Freed looked over at his closest friends. They were talking with each other, seeming to not notice his worrying. His sea-green gaze moved to the first floor of the guildhall. His eyes roamed over the mages, trying to find at least one other person that noticed the strangely long absence of Fairy Tail's Light. 

He didn't see anything out of the ordinary with his guildmates. As the green-haired man was distracted, he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Freed looked to his side, seeing Laxus staring at him with a raised eyebrow. The dragon slayer asked, "are you okay, Freed?"

The rune mage looked down at the table he was sitting at. He furrowed his brow as he answered, "Lucy should be back by now, don't you think?"

He kept his eyes on the table, listening as Laxus answered, "I guess a week is a bit long for her." 

Evergreen then spoke up, "she went with two Sabers. I agree that they should be back by now." 

Bixlow suggested, "they could be staying in Poppy Town to shop, or something else that women do." His babies echoed the word "women" as they floated around the small group.

Freed nodded. It sounded reasonable. Evergreen responded, "for a week? Not even I shop for that long."

As the small group continued to debate if Lucy's absence should be cause for worry, Rufus looked around the guildhall, searching for a certain celestial wizard. The only reason he had allowed Sting to drag him to Fairy Tail was so he could finish what he had started and ask Lucy on a date like he was trying to do before Yukino dragged her away. 

However, the blonde woman wasn't present. He looked over at Natsu, who was having an argument with Sting. The memory-make mage tapped on the pink-haired man's shoulder, getting his attention. He then asked, "I would like to inquire as to where Lucy is."

Natsu stared at him blankly, probably trying to figure out what he was asking. The dragon slayer then suddenly exclaimed, "oh! You're asking where Luce is! She went on a job with Yukino and Sorano!" 

Rufus nodded and Natsu returned to his argument with Sting. He looked over at the guildhall's doors as if Lucy would just burst through them at that moment. He guessed that he'd have to wait for her to return to ask her out. As he stared at the entrance to Fairy Tail, he remembered when she had visited Sabertooth and he flirted with her before trying to ask her on a date. The memory of the lovely blush on her radiant face made Rufus smile to himself and he felt a bit of heat creep onto his cheeks. He wondered how much he could make Lucy blush. Would kissing her have the same effect? He frankly couldn't wait to find out. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a feminine voice coo right next to him, "what's got you blushing, Rufus?" 

The blonde man jumped in his seat and snapped his head around to look behind him, seeing Fairy Tail barmaid standing there, her hands clasped in front of her and an innocent smile on her face. The white-haired woman inquired, "are you thinking about a certain woman or man that has your heart?"

Rufus felt the faint heat on his cheeks increase, the accompanying blush growing from a light pink to a redder shade. He looked away from the older woman and tilted his hat downward slightly, a failed effort to hide his blush. He had heard about the so-called "Matchmaking Demon" from Fairy Tail and didn't want any part of whatever plot she was already coming up with. 

Mira leaned closer to him and sang, "who is it? I would love to help you woo this person!"

Rufus gently pushed her away, dismissing, "would you kindly mind your business? I do not need any assistance with anything." 

Mira laughed lightly before she responded, "if you say so! Don't forget, I'm always happy to help!" She then strode away, most likely to continue serving her guildmates. Rufus looked back at the guild's doors. He wondered when Lucy would return. He hoped that he wouldn't have to wait too long. 

As Rufus stared at the pair of wooden doors, Midnight sat alone at a corner table. He stared around at the loud mages, his red eyes searching for the celestial wizard that has strangely caught his attention. Since his previous encounter with Lucy, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. He couldn't figure out why. What was so appealing about her?

He would admit, the blonde woman was gorgeous, intelligent, kind, and seemed to easily draw people to her. The former dark mage has found himself being allured by her, wanting to be near her whenever he saw her and getting this rotten feeling in his gut every time he saw a man get close to her. 

Why was he feeling this way? Why did Lucy incite such feelings in him when nobody else has ever done the same? Was it that he just really wanted to be her friend? Could that be it? Midnight sighed. He needed to get over this want to get closer to her soon. How could he become her friend after everything that he had done to her? How could she forgive him? What right did he have to become her friend? 

The young man looked around the guildhall. A feeling of guilt settled in his gut. Maybe he could make it up to her. Maybe if he redeemed himself to her, then he would finally feel like he was free of his previous wrongdoings. 

Midnight was sad to find that Lucy wasn't in the guild. Or, at least, he didn't see her anywhere. Could she be avoiding him? That thought made his mood sink further. He couldn't blame her if that were the case, considering what he had done to her. Could she be afraid of him? He didn't want her to be scared of him. He wanted to be close to her. He wanted to know that she had forgiven him. He wanted to redeem himself to her. The others didn't seem to matter to him, just Lucy. Why? He couldn't figure it out. 

The two-tone-haired man looked down at his lap. He couldn't figure out what he wanted to do. Stay away from Lucy and save her the torture of having to be near him or try to atone for everything he had done to her and befriend her? Which was better for him to do? He wasn't sure. 

As Freed, Rufus, and Midnight were deep in their thoughts that centered around a single blonde celestial wizard, the guildhall's doors slammed open, causing all of the occupants to look over in surprise. Leaning against the doorway and panting heavily was one of Lucy's celestial spirits, Aries. The pink-haired spirit looked up at the mages, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and announced in a distressed tone, "Lucy, Yukino, and Angel have been captured!" Many of the present mages promptly began panicking, with several others trying to calm everyone down. 

As Laxus, Evergreen, and Bixlow stared down at Aries in shock, Freed jumped up from his seat and hopped over the railing, landing smoothly on his feet. He joined Natsu, Gray, and Erza in demanding to know what happened from the panicking celestial spirit. 

Rufus stared down at the table he sitting at. His mind was reeling at this information. Lucy, Yukino, and Sorano were captured by dark mages. A feeling of fear and dread filled his gut as his mind wandered to the possibilities of what the three women could be going through. He had to help save them. 

Midnight watched the scene before him with widened eyes. He felt tears prick the corners of his eyes and his mind went blank. He was frozen to where he sat. Lucy and Sorano were in trouble? He had to rescue them, but why couldn't he move? His brain seemed to stop functioning and his body was frozen. What happened to him? This has never happened before. Fairy Tail went into chaos as the former dark mage remained unmoving, his brain not even creating worst-case scenarios. He was simply frozen. 

Lucy groaned from where she hung from the ceiling. She was strung up from her wrists by chains, hanging in the air within a cell. Across from her was a closed, barred cell door. Through it, she could see an unconscious Yukino, hanging from the ceiling in the same way that she was. There were two other cells, both of which were occupied. 

The battered blonde tried to move as little as possible, not wanting to make the pain she was already in increase. She was sure that she was a bloody mess. She had been tortured continuously since their capture. She involuntarily shivered, causing her to groan from the pain. She was drenched in blood, her body covered in slashes and burn marks, while her clothing was completely gone, leaving her once unblemished body naked for all to see. 

She hung her head, remembering their first day in these cells: 

Lucy jolted awake on a cold and dirty, stone floor. She sat up with a groan, rubbing her head in a failed attempt to ease the dull pain. She gazed around her, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Once doing so, she took in her surroundings. She was inside what looked like a prison cell, the barred door closed tightly. There was no window, only the door offered any exit. She crawled over to the bars of the cell's entrance and pulled herself up by them. Once on her feet, the blonde looked into the cell across from her, gasping when she saw Yukino, still laying on her side. 

Lucy called to her friend, "Yukino! Yukino, wake up!" 

No response came from the light blue-haired woman. Just as she was about to call out for Sorano to make sure she was present and unharmed, the older woman from the cell beside hers spoke up with concern, "Lucy! Are you alright?"

The blonde answered, "yes, I'm fine! How about you?" 

Sorano responded, "I have a bit of a headache, but other than that, I'm alright!" 

A third voice then joined them, "Lucy? Is that you?" 

Lucy looked over at the cell next to Yukino's, watching as another young woman walked over to the bars of the door. She gasped at who she saw. 

Queen Hisui! 

What was she doing here? Shouldn't she be at her castle? Lucy looked over the queen, relieved to see that she was unharmed, albeit a little scuffed up from what was probably a struggle. The blonde questioned, "what are you doing here?" 

Hisui shook her head, answering, "I'm not quite sure. I was visiting some friends when I was suddenly ambushed by a group of dark mages. They managed to take out all of my guards and my celestial spirits. I woke up here before you and Sorano."

Lucy looked down at her feet. She could understand why she, Yukino, and Sorano were captured, but why Hisui? Why take three mages hostage when you already have a queen? She looked over at the green-haired woman and asked, "do you have any idea why we are here?" 

Hisui shook her head while Sorano offered, "ransom, maybe?" 

Lucy's grip on the bars in front of her tightened slightly. She looked down at the floor as she voiced her thoughts, "why would they ransom three regular mages when they have the queen?" 

Before anything also could be said, a groan came from Yukino's cell. Lucy and Sorano looked over to see the younger of the three sat up, dazed. Upon coming to her senses, Yukino jumped to her feet and rushed to the bars at the entrance to her cell. She quickly spotted Lucy and her sister, exclaiming with a relieved smile, "Lucy! Sorano! Are either of you hurt?"

Lucy shook her head as Sorano answered, "we're fine. The queen is here too." She pointed toward the cell next to Yukino's. 

Yukino pushed her face against the bars, straining to see into the other cell. When she couldn't, she instead called out, "are you really there, Hisui?"

The queen called back, "yes, I'm here." 

Yukino looked between Lucy and Sorano, questioning with a panicked look on her face, "why are we here?"

Sorano answered, "we have no idea."

Before anybody could say anything else, the sound of a heavy, metal door rang through the corridor that the cells lined. Footsteps followed as the four women waited in tense silence. The footsteps soon came to an end when a woman and two men came to a stop between Yukino's and Lucy's cells. 

The woman was tanned, dressed in a black, cropped tub top and baggy, camo pants, and black heels. Her pink hair was tied into a high ponytail that reached her mid-back with a black ribbon and had striking blue eyes. A brown belt was nestled around her hips, a brown pouch on it, presumably containing her keys. The man on her right had brown skin, his black hair was shoulder-length and styled into dreadlocks. His dark brown eyes looked almost black. His clothing consisted of no shirt, revealing a well-muscled abdomen, a dark blue trench coat, and baggy, black pants. He had no type of bag hanging from his black belt, making Lucy wonder where his keys were. Did he use requip magic like her? The man on the left of the woman had pale skin, and hip-length, blue hair that was tied into a low ponytail. His eyes were different colors, one purple and one pink. He wore a black tank top and brown jeans that seemed to hug his lower body snuggly. A black belt was wrapped around his hips, a drawstring bag was hanging from it.The woman was smirking smugly while the men's faces were blank. 

The woman took a step forward and pronounced, "Lucy Heartfilia, Yukino and Sorano Agria, and Queen Hisui. The only four remaining mages capable of  using Celestial Spirit Magic...besides us, of course." Her voice was high-pitched, sounding almost like a child. 

Hisui gripped the bars tightly, demanding, "why are we here?"

The woman chuckled. She snapped her fingers and the two men moved to Lucy's cell. They grabbed a struggling Lucy, quickly gagged her, and dragged her out of the cell. They disappeared through a large, metal door as the woman spoke, "well, first we are going to have some fun with you four. Then, we are going to take your keys so we can take over the Celestial Spirit World." 

As Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui yelled after the woman, she left through the aforementioned door, leaving the other three mages to despair. 

Lucy struggled in the metal chair that she was tied to. She had been brought by the two men to a room with a stone floor and stone walls, empty with the exception of the chair and a table of what she feared were torture devices laying on a long piece of cloth. 

She breathed heavily through her nose as she stopped struggling and looked around the room as best she could. Her heart was racing and she could feel beads of sweat rolling down her temples. She felt fear grip her heart, a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long time. She wasn't particularly scared for her own safety, just couldn't find the will to care, instead, she was scared for the safety of her three friends. She had to escape and help them. But how was she supposed to get herself out of here? 

Lucy was brought out her thoughts by the metal door across the room opening, dragging against the wooden floor loudly. She watched with a furrowed brow as the brown-skinned man walked into the room, his face blank, just like earlier. He stopped in front of her, his arms behind his back. He stared down at her for several silent moments before he reached forward and pulled the gag out of her mouth, letting it rest under her chin. 

Lucy demanded, "who are you? What's going on?"

The man's expression didn't change. He stared down at her for what felt like several hours before finally speaking, "I'm Nyx." 

Lucy's eyes widened slightly. She was surprised at the sound of his voice. He sounded young, like he was still a teenager. Now that she was able to get a good look at him in the dim light that was provided by the two closed windows, he looked like he was no older than sixteen. He looked like a kid. 

She soon got over her shock and repeated, "what's going on?"

Nyx walked over to the table as he spoke in an even tone, "we want to take over the Celestial Spirit World. In order to do that, we need all eighty-eight of the Celestial Spirit Gate Keys."

Lucy stared at him, watching as he looked over the torture devices on it. So, she, Yukino, and Hisui were captured because they were keyholders, the last ones except for Nyx and his two partners, apparently. Why capture Sorano though? Sure, she was a Celestial Spirit Mage, but not anymore. 

The blonde voiced her confusion, "why capture Sorano? She doesn't use Celestial Spirit Magic."

The young man didn't answer. He picked up a strip of cloth and made his way back over to Lucy. As the bound woman spoke, a hint of fear in her voice, "I don't understand."  When she noticed the blindfold, she questioned, no longer hiding the fear that began to fill her, "what are you going to do?" 

Nyx walked behind her and tied the blindfold around her head covering her eyes. Lucy was suddenly engulfed by darkness. She shook her head trying to make the blindfold slide from its place. She yelled at the young man, "what are you doing? What's going on?" She could feel herself beginning to panic. It was strange. She hadn't gone into a state of panic in so long that she had forgotten what it felt like. She tried to wrench her arms free of the thick ropes that bound them to the armrests. She felt a stinging pain in her wrists, telling her that the struggling she had been doing caused the self-inflicted cuts to open again. 

She froze when she felt Nyx grab her right hand, holding it in a way in which her fingers were outstretched. She muttered, "please, don't-" 

Before she could finish her plea, she felt one of her fingernails get pried off of the finger that it belonged to. She let out a short, pained scream before she bit her lip, almost drawing blood. The pain was excruciating. She bit her lip harder as the young man pulled another nail, and then another, until all five of her fingers were fingernail-less. 

Tears threatened to fall, but she blinked rapidly to make them go away. She refused to let him hear her scream or see her tears. Nyx soon moved to her other hand, ripping nail after nail, causing Lucy to bite her lip even more, her struggle to hold back the tears that welled up in her eyes becoming harder to do. She felt blood drip rapidly from her stripped nail beds, just as blood from her lip rolled down her chin and dripped onto her chest. 

She listened as Nyx walked away from her. Lucy's breathing came in shallow pants as she listened to Nyx's footsteps. They stopped for only a few moments before they began again, coming closer. She felt him grab the rope that tied her ankles together, lifting her bare feet onto an object that left them elevated. She involuntarily flexed her fingers, causing more pain to shoot through them. 

She hated not being able to see what was happening. She opened her mouth to speak when a sudden sharp pain shot through her feet, up her legs, and into the rest of her body. She let out a scream as Nyx continued to whip the bottoms of her feet with a blunt object, perhaps a cane or pipe. 

Lucy bit further into her lip, drawing more blood. Her fingernail-less fingers gripped the armrests painfully as tears slipped from under the blindfold and down her cheeks. She felt the skin on the bottoms of her feet break open and bleed. All she could hear was the sound of the blunt object hitting her now bleeding feet, and all she could feel was the pain that engulfed her body from the torture. The blonde tried to pull her feet away, but Nyx had a strong grip on them, managing to hold them in place and hit the arches and soles with great force. 

The beating eventually stopped and Nyx walked away once again, leaving Lucy in the chair, her fingers and the bottoms of her feet bleeding and throbbing with pain. Tears streamed down her face as she panted, struggling to contain herself. 

She had expected to be subjected to more torture, but was instead unblindfolded and dragged back to her cell. She was thrown onto the stone floor with a yelp. The blonde pushed herself into a sitting position with her bleeding and pained hands. Grimacing in the process, she crawled over to the bars at the entrance to her cell and looked through them at Hisui's and Yukino's cells. She gasped and cried more at what she saw. Hisui's was empty and Yukino lay on her side, her back to Lucy. The light blue-haired woman was shivering and covered in blood as she hugged herself. 

Lucy called to her, "Yukino!"

When the other celestial wizard didn't answer, Lucy looked in the direction of Sorano's cell, calling out, "Sorano? Are you there?" 

She received no answer. 

Lucy panted as she looked back at Yukino. She had to find a way to get her and her friends out. Either that, or try to hold out for rescue, but what was the likelihood of either happening? Was this how they would die? That thought raced around in her mind as the blonde felt her body go weak and lose consciousness. 

Over the course of an unknown amount of days, Lucy, Yukino, Sorano, and Hisui had been tortured for hours on end, the woman, apparently named Terra, and one of her right-hand men, named Lust, seemed to take sadistic pleasure in the act, while Nyx only tortured with a blank expression, seeming to not be enjoying it. 

Lucy had tried to appeal to the young man, hoping that maybe he could be swayed. However, no such luck. Nyx would simply become more aggressive with his torturing, causing Lucy to scream and cry, preventing her from talking to him. 

Her brown eyes shifted to the direction of the metal door upon hearing it open and footsteps follow. She lifted her head as much as she could and watched as Nyx opened her cell door and walk toward her. He unchained the blonde and carried her out of the cell, through the large, metal door, through a wide, dark hallway, and into a torture room. 

As Lucy was sat in the chair, she tried to struggle, managing to bring her hands up to push weakly against Nyx's chest. However, she was too weak to force him away from her. Her wrists were quickly tied down to the armrests and her hair was yanked on painfully, forcing her head to fall back, her face looking up at the ceiling. 

As she waited for the torture to start, she began to wonder. How long had they been there? Was help going to come? Did anybody notice that they were missing? Were they going to be killed soon? Lucy hadn't been able to find a way to escape, and she quickly became unable to even stand. Sorano, Hisui, and Yukino weren't in any better shape. Honestly, Lucy wasn't even sure if they were alive. The blonde woman was rapidly losing hope as time went on with no rescue or chance of escape. Now, she just wished that her captures would kill her so that she wouldn't have to suffer for much longer. But, she knew that death was a distant dream. 

Her vision was quickly covered by a piece of cloth that was being placed over her face. She hadn't had time to even question what was going to happen before a stream of water was poured over her face. Lucy's gag reflex kicked in and she began to cough and choke, trying to inhale some much-needed oxygen. She felt like she was drowning. The water was being poured over her nose and mouth. It took all of what little strength she had left to pull her arms and legs against her restraints. She wiggled as best she could, hoping that maybe she could get the piece of cloth to slide off of her face. She could feel herself losing consciousness as she experienced what it was like to drown. Her lungs burned due to the lack of oxygen.

Just as she felt herself slip out of consciousness, she heard the door open and Terra shout, "Nyx! We need to leave!" 

Lucy didn't hear Nyx answer as he stopped the water and rushed out of the room, leaving Lucy where she was. The celestial wizard allowed the darkness to consume her as she heard a man's voice call out to her, "Lucy! You're going to be okay!"

Midnight followed Aries through a forest in Poppy Town, making their way to the hideout of the dark mages that captured Lucy, Sorano, and Yukino. He had been chosen by Makarov to rescue the trio of mages. Also chosen were Minerva, Sting, Erik, Laxus, and Mira. Two other mages, a green-haired man and a blonde man, insisted on going as well, but Makarov had denied both of their requests, stating that if the group he had chosen needed backup then they will be sent in. Midnight was fine with that. He wanted to be the one that saved Lucy. He didn't need anybody trying to get in his way.

So, now the group was walking behind Lucy's celestial spirit, all itching to save their friends. He tried to not think about what the three women were going through, knowing the dark mages were most likely not being kind. His mind returned to Lucy, no matter hard he tried to not think about her. He was worried about Sorano, why wouldn’t he be? But, for some reason, he couldn't get Lucy out of his mind. He couldn't keep his worry from focusing more on her. Why? What the hell was going on? Why was he so focused on that blonde woman who he had tormented? 

He felt someone gently elbow him, trying to subtly get his attention. Midnight looked to his right to see Erik. The dragon slayer's face was expressionless, but his eye revealed that he was concerned. The maroon-haired man questioned with a voice so quiet that only Midnight could hear him, "you good? Worried about Blondie?"

Midnight turned his gaze to look back at Aries. He simply nodded his head, whispering back, "I don't know why. Shouldn't I be more worried about Sorano?" 

He heard Erik chuckle before responding with an amused tone, "never thought I'd see the day." 

"What day?"

"The day that you would fall in love. Guess I owe Richard a thousand jewel." The last part was grumbled. 

Midnight looked at Erik with furrowed brows. His friend didn't actually think that he was in love, did he? The younger man corrected, "I'm not in love with Lucy."

Erik simply rolled his eye and muttered, "whatever" before he drifted away from him. 

Midnight looked back at Aries. He wasn't in love with Lucy, right? He couldn't be. He had no right to fall in love with her after everything he did. He had no chance with her, so this want he has, it is merely a want to befriend her, not date her. 

Needing a distraction, the two-tone-haired man asked the celestial spirit in front of him, "how were you able to get to the guild?" 

Aries glanced back at him before answering meekly, "our keys were placed under a spell, so none of us could summon ourselves. I was able to escape because one of the dark mages summoned me. I managed to run away and switch to using my own magic." 

Minerva observed, "since you're out on your own magic, the mage that summoned you can't close your gate." Aries nodded at that. 

Midnight furrowed his brow at that. How the hell did they get Lucy's keys? Didn't she use requip magic to hold on to her keys? It seemed that he wasn't the only one to wonder that. Mira questioned, "Lucy uses requip magic. How did they get her keys?"

Aries shrugged, responding, "I don't know. Maybe they have a requip mage that can reach into another's pocket dimension." 

Mira merely hummed in response. Midnight balled his fists. That was possible? He had never heard of that happening. Could Erza do that? There was something for him to investigate. He was brought back to the present when Aries spoke, "we're here." She stopped walking and turned to the others, continuing, "they have a celestial spirit that guards the hideout. I'll distract him while the rest of you go in." 

Midnight and the others responded with nods and watched as Aries pushed through the vegetation and walk toward the hideout, which looked like a warehouse. She yelled for someone named Grus and soon raced for the trees on the other side of the clearing, a bird-like man flying after her. Minerva and Laxus immediately rushed toward the hideout, Sting, Midnight, Erik, and Mira following close behind them. The bulking, blonde used a blast of lightning to break open the doors. Inside, many men sat around, looking at the mages that had suddenly burst inside. 

Laxus looked toward Midnight and Sting, ordering them with an authoritarian voice, "Midnight! Sting! Go find Lucy, Yukino, and Sorano!" 

The two men nodded before they raced toward a nearby door, Sting in front as he sniffed for any familiar scent. Midnight tuned out the sounds of fighting behind him. He had to find the three missing mages. 

As they walked down the resulting corridor, the two men came to a staircase. Midnight looked at Sting and asked, "do you have their scents?" 

Sting nodded, muttering, "I have Yukino's, Lucy's, and Sorano's. I also got another one, but I can't identify whose it is." 

Midnight didn't waste any more time, descending the flight of stairs in a rush. He quickly noticed that Sting wasn't following him. He turned around to see that the blonde man hadn't moved from his spot. Midnight walked back up the steps before he came to a stop next to the dragon slayer. He saw that the other man was staring at something that only he seemed to be able to see. Sting's dark blue eyes were blown wide. He looked petrified, frozen to where he stood by a frightening sight that was revealed only to his eyes. 

Midnight questioned, feeling annoyance rise from his gut, "what's wrong with you?" His brow was furrowed. He didn't have time to deal with this. The more time they spent standing in place was more time that Lucy, Yukino, and Sorano could be hurt even further than they already have been. 

Sting muttered his response, his small voice shaky, "b-blood...I-I smell blood." 

Midnight's red eyes widened. Panic, worry, and anger took over his body. His legs bounded down the steps, skipping several, and he pushed open the door that he came to at the bottom. He didn't know if Sting had broken out of his trance, and honestly, he didn't care. He had to find Lucy. 

The two-tone-haired man came to a large, metal door. He pushed it open, not bothering to falter in his pace. Once inside the resulting room, he skidded to a stop. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could feel himself starting to sweat. The smell of blood hit him in waves with such force that it made his stomach turn. It was a strange thing. He was a former dark mage. He had witnessed terrible things and smelled blood before, so why was it affecting him in this way now? 

Midnight walked down the wide corridor that was lined with cells, soon coming to the four cells in the middle. He looked into the one on his right, freezing in place when he saw what it contained. 

A completely naked Sorano was laying on the ground. She was covered in cuts from a whip and deep burn marks. Her fingernails were all gone and her eyes seemed to have been gouged out of their sockets. It was a sickening sight that Midnight couldn't look at any longer. 

He turned his gaze to the cell that was across from Sorano's. He clamped a hand over his mouth. He was just barely able to recognize the broken body of Queen Hisui. He hadn't known before that the queen had been captured. How long had she been here? Why wasn't anybody told about her disappearance? The sight of the green-haired woman was sickening, even for him. She was also laying on the stone floor, a large puddle of blood surrounding her mangled body. It appeared that she had also been whipped. Her entire left hand was gone, as was her right foot. Her hair was cut incredibly short. Half her face appeared to have been burned off. 

Midnight looked down at the floor. He wanted to turn around and run out, but he couldn't. His body wouldn't allow him. Not until he found Lucy. 

He walked forward to stand between the other two cells, ignoring the sound of Sting's choked sob. The former dark mage looked into the cell on his left, the sight causing his stomach to turn even more. Sorano's sister was hanging from the ceiling, her arms above her as she was suspended by chains. She wasn't completely naked, but she might as well be. Her clothing was reduced to mere rags. Her body was more covered in burn marks than it was in cuts. Her left leg was bruised and almost twisted grotesquely, clearly broken to an extreme degree. Deep gashes were raked over her closed eyelids. 

Midnight took a step back. He dreaded seeing what state Lucy was in. He pulled his hand away from his mouth and looked down at both of his hands. He could see that his entire body was shaking, but he couldn't feel himself shaking. It was a weird experience that he had never been through before. His mind turned to Lucy, imagining what she could be going through. Tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to spill over. He forced himself to hesitantly turn around and face the cell that he was standing with his back to. He didn't want to face Lucy's broken state, but he also wanted to see how bad her condition was. Maybe she wasn't in as bad of a state. Maybe she had a chance of being saved. The independent mage found that the fourth cell was empty, save for chains that hung from the ceiling and a large puddle of blood below them on the floor. 

In a rush of panic, Midnight ran to the large, metal door that was on the other end of the dark, stone, cell-lined corridor. He pushed it open, leaving the grief-stricken Sting behind. It didn't take long of running down a hallway for Midnight to see two people race out of a room and disappear around a corner. He wanted to go after them, but he had to find Lucy first. 

He quickly came to the door that the two people had exited and opened it, coming to an immediate stop when his red eyes fell on who he knew was Lucy. She was tied to a chair, her bloody and wound-covered body completely naked. She wasn't moving, but he was able to see the slight rise and fall of her bare chest. The blonde's head was pulled back, a drenched piece of cloth covering her face. 

Midnight felt bile rise into his throat as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. He hated the sight, but couldn't look away. He swallowed down the bile that had risen and he managed to force himself to walk toward her. Not knowing what he should say, but also knowing that he had to let the blonde know that someone was there to save her, he called out to her, "Lucy! You're going to be okay!"

He forced himself to focus on undoing the restraints and pulled off the piece of cloth that was over her face. He gently picked up Lucy and made his way back to the others, trying to focus on getting her help rather than on her condition. He couldn't allow himself to break down, no matter how much his body wanted to.

[resolvebound]

💖 + Freed

Send 💖 for my muse to give yours a hug // accepting

“There she is,” he said, greeting her with a warm smile. For any of them to leave on a solo job (even jobs together, he knew), it brought with it the chance that they might not return, so it was always relief that was present whenever they made their way home. Had he been waiting for her in the entryway ever since she messaged to say she was nearly there? Maybe.

He allowed her to make her way inside and remove her shoes and coat before he indicated she come closer. Only a matter of years ago, it would have been entirely out of character for him to initiate such contact, yet now? With her? He knew it was more than safe to do so.

Pulling her into a hug, he kept in mind that she might have been injured in some way during her journey, so his hold was not as tight as it otherwise would have been. Still, it was enough to reassure him of her return. He contented himself with the moment and placed a brief kiss to the top of her head, smile still in play.

“We missed you. How was it?”

And of course, he had to add with a touch of dramatics, “I thought you might not come back. Have you heard the latest? You’re breaking up with Bixlow and I and leaving us for Lisanna.”

[lucentaire]

platonic kiss for bixlow ! ( hearternal )

None of them were strangers to nightmares, and it was not out of the ordinary to come into the living room at night to find someone else sitting on the couch. Depending on who it was, there were different things they did---Carena liked to make a cup of tea before sitting down and letting little golden sparks dance through the dark room while Bixlow had different hobbies. She nodded quietly as she passed through the room and into the kitchen, almost a ghost in their own home.

She would make a second cup of tea. For a moment, she paused to listen into the relative silence of the house. Yes, two was the correct number, she could hear neither Freed nor Laxus move---and by now, she was very familiar with the sound of their footsteps.

She hummed quietly as she put the cups (and the cookie jar) onto a tray and returned to the living room, quietly handing one to Bixlow. There was no need for words, not when she knew him so well. There was also not really a need to pat his shoulder or to kiss his forehead, just above the edge of his tattoo, before sitting down with her own cup of tea, but comfort was something she would never deny her closest friends.

@hearternal