Roscoe followed Elfman and the others through the forest. There had still been a large storm going on when they arrived at the train station in a small town near, but now the air was getting more clear. It was still pouring water but they heard no more thundering. They could see a large cloud of smoke from miles away and knew exactly where they needed to go.
"I'm gonna be so pissed if there's nothing left for us to fight with when we get there!" Natsu said as they followed the road.
"Wouldn't that be a good thing if they managed to get rid of the enemy by themselves?" Wendy asked.
"But I want to fight too! That Dreamcatcher or whatever attacked us! He made us sleep over a month!"
"I wouldn't mind giving him an ass kicking myself", Gray growled.
"Focus on the mission Master gave us, our first priority is to make sure Laxus and the Thunder Legion are alright", Erza reminded. "They are strong, but we have no idea how strong the enemy is. If they need our help, we will do what we can."
"Aye!" Happy grinned.
Roscoe followed them and looked around the forest at the same time. It seemed like some of the trees had lost their branches and whatever leaves were still left even through the winter had been blown away. Some of the trees had also fallen down and pretty much everything in this forest was somehow battered. There were patches that had no grass whatsoever, as if someone had turned the ground upside down.
"There must have been an intense fight here", he muttered.
"Real men don't fight half-heartedly", Elfman smirked.
"There is no need to destroy the whole forest either", Roscoe said.
"Sometimes things like that are unavoidable", Erza noted. "This forest will survive, don't worry about it."
Finally they got to the mansion, or what was left of it. They all stared at the remains of the enormous building that was still giving off smoke but it seemed like there was no fighting going on anywhere.
"It's really quiet", Erza frowned. "Do not let your guard down."
They stepped through the garden and carefully inspected surroundings but didn't find any traces of Laxus and the Thunder Legion.
"Maybe they are inside?" Lucy suggested, wiping her wet blond hair out of her face.
"Let's go check out!" Natsu grinned and bolted right towards the ruins.
"Natsu! There might still be enemies! For god's sake..." Erza huffed. "Juvia, Gray, Cana and Elfman will stay outside, warn us immediately if you see anything suspicious. We will go inside and see what the situation is."
"Alright but when you see Bickslow you tell him he better be alright so I can kill him because he left like that", Cana growled.
"That I can do", Erza nodded amused. "Let's go then", he said to Lucy and Wendy, following Natsu inside the ruins.
Inside the mansion at the north wing Bickslow and Ever were sitting in the hallway that had most of its parts fallen down. But they had a roof over their heads and they even had lit a fire after moving some rocks and thrash. Who cared anymore where they put the fire when the whole place was broken?
They were just talking about how to return back to Fairy Tail when they heard a familiar shouting.
"It's Natsu", Bickslow grinned standing up.
"How I'm not even a slightest bit surprised?" Ever chuckled standing up as well.
They waited until quick steps came closer, flash of pink and black ran past them, stopped and came back.
"I found you guys!" Natsu smiled. "Where's the enemy? I'm all fired up! I wanna fight too!" he announced looking around like just any second an enemy might bolt out somewhere.
"Relax, we already took care of everything", Ever huffed. "There's nothing left to fight with."
"Whaat?! That's no fair!" Natsu yelled frustrated.
"Bickslow, Evergreen!" Happy shouted with a smile, when the blue-white exceed caught up with them. "You are okay!"
"Of course we are, we're the Thunder Legion", Ever stated swishing her tangled hair back and took out her broken fan. "What did you expect?"
"Where's Laxus and Freed?" Natsu asked confused. "They didn't get knocked out, did they?"
"Like hell that would happen", Bickslow snorted with a grin. "They're just sleeping."
"Oh, then we should go wake them up", Natsu said.
"Better not do that, baby. There is a tiny little... Problem with Laxus."
"Huh?" the fire dragon slayer wondered and they heard more steps coming closer. Erza, Wendy, Carla and Lucy appeared right behind the corner.
"Is everything okay?" Erza asked immediately. "Is there any danger around?"
"No", Ever huffed lifting her nose and looked at the other direction. "No-one messes with the Thunder Legion."
"This looks bad", Wendy said worried taking a look at Bickslow's arm. "Evergreen, are you alright?"
"Nothing that I can't handle", Ever said haughtily.
"Let me just check on you, just in case", Wendy smiled. Of course Ever wouldn't show any weakness in front of them especially since Erza was here, she had learned that much.
"Please go fetch others too since there is no enemies around anymore", Erza said to Happy.
"But it's raining there", he complained.
"Then you better leave right away so you can return back here quicker."
"Aye..." Happy sighed, flying back outside.
Ever and Bickslow sat down again as Wendy mended their wounds. Soon others joined them with Happy and Bickslow flinched when a pair of dark purple eyes shoot daggers towards him.
"Bickslow, you idiot and the biggest asshole ever!" Cana shouted angrily, her brown hair dripping water.
"Ohh, you just finally got yourself a new middle name and surname", Ever chuckled to the seith mage.
"Hey baby", Bickslow smiled, though he was sweating.
"Don't you 'hey baby' me, you mindless cross-dressed wanna be knight!" Cana shouted shaking Bickslow by his collar. "Why did you ran off like that?!"
"We had to go after Laxus and find Freed", the seith mage quickly explained. "I'm sorry baby, we didn't have time to wait."
"Cana, please calm down, he's injured", Wendy piped up worried.
"Just a second", Cana growled, shook Bickslow a little bit more rigorously and finally let go of him. "Alright, I guess I'm satisfied now", she tisked crossing her arms and Wendy could return back to mending Bickslow who seemed a little bit ruffled up.
"Could you tell us what happened?" Erza said to Ever who huffed.
"That might take a while", she said.
"We have time, we're not going anywhere before Wendy is sure you can travel", Lucy smiled.
"So what is the problem with Laxus?" Natsu asked.
"Problem?" Elfman asked confused.
"Yeah, they said that Laxus and Freed are sleeping and there is some problem with Laxus."
Ever and Bickslow looked at each other. They weren't even sure where to start or what all had happened.
Freed fluttered his long eyelashes open slowly and yawned. He leaned his cheek against the warm scaly skin and sighed. He wasn't sure what the time was but he was pretty sure he hadn't slept long, maybe an hour or two.
Laxus was still sleeping with a growl-like snore, his big dragon head just beside Freed. He smiled slightly and run his slender fingers through the golden mane. Laxus was calm now when he was so tired and sleeping, but what might happen when he would wake up?
Freed frowned his eyebrows worried. What could they do? There had to be some way to turn Laxus back to normal. There had to be!
He got startled when suddenly he heard deep sniffs and those orange eyes opened.
"Laxus, what's wrong?" Freed asked, though he didn't actually wait that Laxus would answer.
The dragon lifted his head looking at the large opening at the wall.
"Freed? Are you awake?" they heard Bickslow's voice. They had decided to keep their distance and stayed few hallways away from them, but were now coming closer.
"Yes, we are", Freed said and he climbed down on the floor.
"We got company, others found their way here", the seith mage grinned peeking inside the remains of the living room.
"They did?" Freed said. "That's good, but -"
His words were cut by large low growling.
"Whoah! You weren't kidding!" Natsu said as they stepped out and saw Laxus as well. "He's one big ass electric eel alright!"
"Natsu!" Freed hissed annoyed. "Don't you dare insult Laxus like that!"
Freed's angry voice affected Laxus immediately, making him roar fiercely as it seemed to him like Freed didn't want the others to come closer. The large paws with their claws crashed the floor as he stood up and Freed could guess what would happen next.
"Quickly! Get out!" he ordered. "Laxus won't tolerate even slightest risk right now so you better leave!"
Laxus snarled his eyes locked at Natsu and Wendy. Those two were different from the others... They were a threat. He had to protect his mate from them so they wouldn't cause anything!
"Laxus!"
The lightning dragon was just about to charge forward with his sharp teeth, but stopped immediately when Freed got between him and the enemy that now escaped. The rune mage couldn't say that he wasn't scared at all, but he knew Laxus would do anything else but hurt him. He just needed to stay firm and block his fiancé's way so he couldn't hurt their friends.
Laxus seemed flabbergasted for a moment but then he just moved his head to go around his mate. Freed took a step aside and blocked him again. Laxus growled and tried to circle Freed by going over him from above, but the swordsman wrapped his arms around the big snout tightly from below, stopping him.
"I need you to calm down", Freed said, keeping his voice steady and composed. "It's alright, there is nothing to worry about", he smiled. "They are friends. They won't harm us."
Laxus lowered his head a bit, looking slightly confused at Freed.
"Everything will be alright", Freed assured gently caressing the mane, not even thinking about how there were a line of sharp teeth just few inches away from his neck.
He sighed, wrapping his arms around Laxus' head better. At least he wasn't trying to fight back so he could go after the others.
"Can you feel that?" he whispered as he placed his neck against the scaly cheek. He liked it how it felt against his mark. "There's nothing to worry about. You can calm down", he reassured closing his eyes.
Laxus' growling lowered into a purr and Freed could feel how he relaxed. That was good. Laxus was still capable to understand him, even if not with words. They would work things out.
In some way or another they would solve this mess. There had to be a way for Laxus to return back to normal. Freed refused to even think about it that Laxus might remain as a dragon for the rest of his life. That was just not right! Laxus didn't deserve that!
Laxus' body tensed up again and Freed tightened his grab around his head. He would protect Laxus from losing himself to his dragon side any more than he already had! He would return back to normal still.
"You are not a dragon", he said. "You can still come back. I know you can, Laxus. You just... Need to find yourself again. Remember who you really are. You did it once before, you can do it again."
Freed leaned more against Laxus, feeling the warmth against his neck and smiled when he felt slight tingling. He always liked that. He chuckled when the big head snuggled against his neck, also enjoying that touch.
Then suddenly Laxus started shrinking and Freed opened his eyes. The lightning dragon was vanishing with tiny little sparks, what then reformed into the familiar figure.
That was now almost crushing Freed and he did his best to keep Laxus standing as the blond man was leaning against him almost limp.
"L-Laxus, I seriously can't carry you right now", Freed panted and was relieved when Laxus heard him and obviously with great efforts stood up himself. "And you're naked", Freed noticed.
"Wha...?" was a tired grunt.
"Nevermind. Just sit there on the rock", Freed softly commanded, helping Laxus to sat down.
He looked around and saw the partly ripped dark velvet curtain laying on the floor, grabbed it and wrapped it around Laxus. He got worried when he saw all those horrible bruises, but they could think about them later.
Freed kneeled beside his fiancé, looking at his tired face as Laxus rubbed his eyes trying to shake the sleepiness.
"Are you feeling alright?" the rune mage asked.
"My head hurts like hell", Laxus grunted. "And I think I have few broken ribs and stuff..."
"What can you remember?"
"Something... My thoughts were kinda messed up, not sure how that all happened. And I'm not entirely sure what all happened after it. Did I hurt anyone?"
"No", Freed smiled. "Everyone is safe. Do you know where grandfather is?"
"Dunno, didn't see him after that... Whatever happened. You haven't seen him?"
"No. But I know he's not here. We will tell about this to the Magic Council, don't worry", Freed assured. "I'm sure they will arrest him after all this."
Of course it was also possible that Lucados was already dead, buried somewhere in the ruins. But Freed decided it was better if they didn't think about his whereabouts too much.
"Hey."
He lifted his gaze back to Laxus, who smirked slightly and kissed him softly.
"I'm glad you're okay, babe", the bigger man smiled wearily but happy. "I was worried."
"I noticed", Freed chuckled. "I'm glad that you're alright too now", he smiled and hugged Laxus, this time feeling those strong arms around him and it felt so nice. He had missed this so much!
"Are you gonna cry?"
"You made me cry."
"It's okay, I understand. I'm sorry I left you alone for so long", Laxus murmured, gently brushing his fingers through the green hair.
"It wasn't your fault. It was none of us fault", Freed said shaking his head and sighed. "We don't need to talk about it right now. Everything is fine again. You need medication."
"I'm fine, just tired", Laxus grunted and Freed chuckled.
"After Wendy has treated you at least a little bit, you can rest. But before that we need to find for you at least pants to wear. We can leave back home tomorrow again", he said.
"Mmm... Back home, I like that", Laxus purred kissing Freed's neck softly and inhaled his odour. "After this fucking crappy day it feels like forever since we had a chance sleep at home together in peace."
"I know", Freed smiled. "We will be back home soon."
"Good. Okay, so how did I lose my clothes?"
"I guess they got ripped off when you suddenly changed into a dragon."
"Damn. I'm not gonna borrow Bickslow's skirt."
"I'm sure we can find something from here when we look around enough."