Souls Intertwined (Fraxus)

Chapter 4

After leaving the treehouse, I walk back to the guild hall, downcast, as my friend was suddenly taken from me. I sat down at one of the tables with a plate of Sheppard's pie in front of me for my dinner, but I can't help but prod my food with my fork and only take small bites. My concern for Laxus continues to grow and I just want to know that he's okay. Master Makarov walks over to me and sits down next to me at the table.

"What's troubling you Freed? Don't you like the food?" Master questions.

"Food is the least of my problems at the moment." I grumble.

"Let me guess, is it about Laxus?" Master asks.

"Yeah. I'm worried about him. His dad was literally dragging Laxus against his will and you just stood there and did nothing." I say tautly.

"Freed. I have tried time and time again to help Laxus, honestly I have. A year ago I even tried to take guardianship of him because I was concerned about his home life, but Ivan, his dad, he's crafty. The authorities saw nothing wrong and days continued as normal. When I can, I invite Laxus to stay with me, but Ivan is very controlling, so Laxus only stays with me about two days a week, if that." Master explains.

"But... can't you do something else to help? He looked so frightened when he left." I say with concern.

"As I've said Freed, I've tried. I could banish Ivan from the guild to punish him, but then I will lose all contact with Laxus. All I can do is watch over him the best I can. This is none of your worry though, you are too young to know the details." Master says.

"Fine. I'm not hungry at the moment, I'm going to sit in the corner for a bit." I say sadly as I get up from my seat and walk away from the table to the quiet corner in the guild hall.

If only there was a way I could help my friend. I get out a pack of cards and start playing a game I made up to pass the time, until a familiar face catches my eye.

"Cana." I say as I look up from the game I am playing.

"Hey Freed, how are you doing?" Cana asks.

"Better than I was, thanks." I reply, trying to keep my worry for Laxus at a low level.

"Aw c'mon, I know something is still troubling you. You can tell me." Cana says as she sits next to me.

"Well, I made friends with Laxus, Master Makarov's grandson, but I'm really worried about him, what should I do?" I question.

"Oh, I think I've seen Laxus around occasionally. I think that if you are worried about him, then go and visit him, maybe even give him a gift to cheer him up." Cana answered.

"That's a really good idea, except that his dad is quite scary." I reply.

"Well, the way I see it, he can't stop Laxus from having friends. I think I know where Laxus lives, only because I overheard from someone. He lives in a house on Camellia street, if you let me borrow your notebook and a pen then I can write it down." Cana offers.

"Sure. Use the back page." I say as I hand my notebook and pen over that is in my satchel.

"Thanks." Cana smiles as she writes the street name down and hands the notebook and pen back to me.

I continue to play my card game as Cana observes closely.

"That looks really cool, I've never seen cards like those before." Cana mentions as she picks up one of the unused cards and observes the design on the back, featuring a pale blue cross in the middle with a darker blue 'x' shape underneath and a gold octagon outline beneath.

"Yeah, my mum got them for me for my 9th birthday. They're not really playing cards, if you use them correctly then you can use them for magic since each card has a different power, I never learnt how to use them properly but use them in a game by drawing a card from each of the two piles and seeing which one is more powerful, water would beat fire for example." I explain.