Five Little Sacrifices

Chapter 1

"Yeah, he's usually sitting here even when doing paperwork", Bickslow said.

"Well, I'll be going now", Ever smiled. "I'm tired. Don't bother me at least for a few days with missions or stuff."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere either", Freed assured.

"Same here", Bicks smirked. "We have money again so everything's fine."

Ever left and Bickslow slipped away to sit with Cana. Freed just smiled and they sat with Felix who wanted to know everything about their mission, while getting some juice and tea from Mira. Some time later Laxus appeared down the stairs and headed straight towards them.

"Welcome back, babe", he said giving Freed a kiss.

"It's good to be back", Freed smiled. "How did everything go? Did you have problems with each other?"

"Nah, he's a good kid. He missed you much but otherwise everything went fine", Laxus said ruffling Felix's wild blond hair.

"Dad missed you too, but I missed you more", Felix assured and Freed chuckled.

"Well, I'm here now."

They looked at the window when they heard a familiar sound coming from outside.

"It's them", Felix gasped. "The bells are ringing!"

"Yeah, I suppose there's something going on at the Cathedral", Laxus said.

Freed closed his eyes as they enjoyed the beautiful sound and for a moment it felt like the whole town had gone silent, except the bells of the Kardia Cathedral. After a while they stopped and all that was left was a lingering memory in their ears.

But soon the Hall was again filled with chatter as everyone kept doing what they were doing.

"They sounded kinda sad", Felix suddenly said making his parents confused.

"Why do you think that?" Laxus asked.

"I don't know... They just did."

"I see... Don't worry, they will ring happily once again."

"Really?" Felix asked worried.

"Absolutely", Freed reassured.

"Good", Felix smiled. "We have to do something fun together!" he suggested excitedly.

"Of course. We can have a whole day tomorrow doing something fun together. Today it's already too late, so we should just go home", Freed smiled.

"Good idea. You look like you might collapse at any second", Laxus said picking Felix up and Freed stood up as well.

"So what did you eat while I was away?" the rune mage asked curiously when they headed out the Guild.

"We mostly ate at the Guild", Laxus explained.

"Dad destroyed one of the pans at home", Felix said getting a glare from the Thunder God.

"Didn't I give you a bag of cookies so we wouldn't tell that to mama?" he reminded and Felix covered his mouth.

"Oh? You bribed him to stay silent?" Freed asked lifting his eyebrow. "I'd love to talk about this more once Felix is in his bed", he said and Laxus groaned.

In the morning Freed woke up and he wasn't at all surprised that Felix had appeared in their bed, sleeping between them in deep sleep. He chuckled looking at how Laxus snored and Felix sounded like he was muttering something in his sleep. Those two were so similar Freed had to restrain himself so he wouldn't laugh.