Phoenix

Snake Fang

"Should we get orange flowers or purple flowers?"

"Why are we getting flowers at all?" Laxus asked with slight annoyance.

The pair strolled through the flower shop, Emi looking at all the flowers with stars in her eyes. Laxus reluctantly followed her through the shop, making sure she didn't run off. She kept picking up different flowers and asked his opinion on them, and he would just shrug every time. Laxus started to look at the different orange and purple flowers, eager to finish this errand so he could take a nap. The dragon slayer would pick up a random purple flower and ask Emi's opinion.

"You're not good at this at all, Laxus."

"Who said I ever wanted to be?"

Emi laughed before turning back to an orange flower. Laxus turned to look away from the flowers when his eyes spotted a group of orange and purple flowers a few stands over. He wandered away without warning and picked up the colorful flower.

"Laxus," Emi said after finding him, "why did you run off? You always yell at me for doing that!"

Laxus looked back towards the purple and orange flower before picking it up and turning around to face Emi. He looked at her and asked if she would approve of this flower. In response, Emi's smile grew wide.

"Birds of Paradise! Of course! How didn't I think of that?"

Emi excitedly took the flower from Laxus, returned to the stand and bought multiple before turning back to Laxus and saying that they could now return home. Laxus breathed out a sigh of relief, thinking that he could finally take his nap.

As the two were walking back, Emi would ramble on about the new flowers, saying that Laxus was a natural at picking out good flowers. Laxus just looked at her unimpressed. Didn't she say I wasn't good at it earlier?

"We're home!"

"Emi, who the hell are you greeting?"

A voice sounded from the living room, "Welcome back! I was waiting for you guys for hours!"

Laxus immediately pushed Emi behind him, told her to stay by the door in case, and slowly made his way to the living room to see who had broken in. He spotted a small group of men sitting in the living room, all carrying weapons. He snuck back over to the front door and told Emi to hide in the forest until he gave the all clear. Emi nervously and silently ran into the forest. Laxus walked back into the house, made his way over to the doorframe of the living room and cracked his knuckles.

"Who the hell do you think you are breaking into my house?"

The leader, presumably, spoke up, saying, "We are Snake Fang, the mightiest dark guild in all of Fiore! We are here to eliminate you, Laxus Dreyar."

"That was a rhetorical question, but that doesn't really matter. I'll kick your ass no matter who you are."

From the forest, Emi could see a huge storm rolling in. She didn't feel afraid, signaling to her that it was Laxus who called the storm. Emi hid behind a short tree and peaked from around the trunk. She saw multiple flashes of light coming from the living room window. Suddenly, everything was quiet.

Emi's head began to ache, and suddenly there was a sharp pain shooting through her temples. She crashed to the ground on her knees and held her head. She kept looking at the light that was in the house, and it caused her to feel nauseous when combined with the pain.

Laxus had finished tying up the remainder of the group from Snake Fang and tossed them out of the house. He was on his way to town to turn them in. The mage quickly found Emi and went to tell her that the house was now safe. However, Laxus found that the woman was folded over in pain. Laxus immediately rushed to her side and asked what happened. She looked up to Laxus with pain-filled eyes.