Five Little Sacrifices

Chapter 62

"Freed's a badass!" his tiki dolls praised.

"Sadly I couldn't trap Ichabod", Freed said shaking his head. "I already had to use my strongest runes to keep Bickslow down and I couldn't take a risk that Ichabod might still have some energy to land a hit."

"So you didn't go after them to fight with Ichabod, but to stop Bickslow?" Makarov asked.

"Yes. It rarely happens, but I know how dangerous Bickslow can get if someone manages to make him mad and I was sure that was a situation when it would happen. When he gets mad, he simply stops thinking. No offence, Bickslow."

"None taken, baby."

Erza looked like she was thinking really hard what to say next.

"Considering that fact", she finally said. "You went there to only help out your guild mate, not fight yourself."

"I didn't land a single punch on Ichabod", Freed swore.

"Then I think this doesn't require punishment", Erza nodded and smiled. "If you had gone after Ichabod to fight with him, that would be a clearly different case. Instead you made sure Bickslow wouldn't do something he would regret and what would obviously take him to a jail."

"That was my only goal. I know the rules I must follow, but I know that by doing this I did extend them really far."

"That is true. But I'm sure Porlyusica will take care of scolding you about that later once she hears about this", Erza said with a small chuckle and Freed sighed. "So where did you get that bruise then?" the scarled haired mage asked confused.

"Oh, yeah, that was me", Bickslow said. "I was still a bit pissed off because Freed stopped me, even though I was also relieved he did it, so I gave him a little punch."

"I don't mind", Freed assured. "It will be gone soon."

"So that is all what happened? Nothing is left out?" Makarov asked now. "You didn't hear anything from Ichabod or he didn't do anything else?"

"No", Freed said. "He left instantly and we got no information from him what they might be planning."

"True story!" 'babies' chanted.

"I see", Erza said slightly disappointed. "I guess we still have to wait until Laxus and Evergreen come back before we might learn something new."

"So we can go back now?" Bickslow grinned.

"Yes, you may go", Erza said and they got up from their seats.

They stepped out from the office and were heading towards the infirmary, when suddenly Freed stopped.

"What's wrong, baby?" the seith mage asked confused when looking at Freed. "Hey, you alright? You feeling sick?" he quickly asked when noticing how pale Freed was.

He was not sick. He was terrified. The rune mage felt how his hands trembled and the only thing that fit in his head was how something was terribly wrong. He felt cold sweat and his step faltered and he took support from the wall.

Something happened to Laxus. Something that was threatening his life.

"Laxus", Freed whispered and turned towards the hallway that lead them to the guild hall.

"H-hey! Freed!" Bickslow yelled when suddenly the rune mage bolted through the hallway. "Oh shit!" he grunted and quickly ran after his friend.

Freed arrived to the stairs, staring at the doors that were at the other side of the hall.

"Stop, Freed!" Bickslow shouted but he did't care. Laxus was wounded! He had to head straight towards Ginkgo so he could help! It was not a good idea to let him and Evergreen leave alone after all!

Bickslow's yelling had made others lift their heads and they were confused, looking at Freed who came down the stairs and headed towards the doors.

"No you won't!" Bickslow howled and he jumped down and managed to catch the green haired man wrapping his long arms around him.

Makarov and Erza were quick to appear to the second floor when they had heard Bickslow's yelling. Freed growled annoyed and his fingers wrote runes. In the next second Bickslow was hugging air when the rune mage teleported himself out of his tight grasp.

"Stop him!" Erza commanded and everyone bolted up from their seats. Some more and some less excited to try and catch the rune mage who was known of his strength and tricky magic.

The runes flashed as they disappared and appeared everytime when someone tried to jump towards Freed. He was swift with his movements and it didn't take even more than just seconds when he was already outside the guild house.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked confused just like many others and she was definitely one of those who didn't want to run after Freed just like that when they didn't know what was the reason for all this.

"Who cares! Let's just go after him!" Natsu laughed already running towards the doors. "I'm gonna catch him first!"

"In your dreams", Gray snorted with a smirk.

"You guys are enjoying this too much..." Lucy sighed and she had really no other choice but to join others to the hunt.

Freed gritted his teeth as he ran to the street. Part of his brain was screaming to him that he was being foolish! The other part simply told him he should go and help Laxus as fast as he could. Before he even realized it, his body was aleady moving. It was stupid. There was no way he could travel all the way to Ginkgo. Travelling with a train would take too long and using wings was out of the question. Running there? That was just absurd!

But if he was honest, he was too scared to stop no matter how ridiculous this was.

A huge wall of ice appeared right in front of him and Freed narrowed his eyes, taking out his sword. The air was filled with ice shards as he crashed down the wall and continued. His hands moved and he set down a trap on the street. After a while, he heard how some Fairy Tail members had been trapped behind.

The rune mage mostly used his teleportation skills to avoid his guild mates who had scattered around around the town now. Everyone was clueless of why they were doing this but since it had been orders from Erza, they did what was told.

After a while of avoiding everyone, he finally got out from the town and was heading towards the long bridge. That was when he had to stop finally, when suddenly out of nowhere Erza dropped right in front of him, cutting his route with a harsh look.

"Stop, Freed", she said with an adamant tone.

Freed didn't really have any choices so he halted, but didn't raise his sword. He wasn't going to fight against others.

"If you cross this bridge, you have officially broken the rules", Erza warned as she straightened herself. "Calm yourself and explain what is going on."

"I know Laxus is hurt", Freed said and Erza frowned. "Don't ask me how I know."

"I believe you if you say so, you wouldn't be doing something this stupid otherwise", Erza said. "How bad is it?"

"Really bad", Freed huffed and they both sheathed their swords. "I think it might even kill him."

"Even so, you leaving Magnolia won't help anything", Erza reminded and Freed lowered his gaze. He knew she was right. "I will go after Laxus and Evergreen", Erza promised and Freed lifted his eyes again in surpise. "But first we have to return back to the guild house and explain the situation."

Freed nodded. No matter even if he would keep on running, it wouldn't change anything. He wouldn't be able to go to Ginkgo. He wouldn't be able to find and help Laxus in time. He could only wait here and hope that his mate was alright.