Few days went by quickly as Freed was just enjoying the fact that he was home again. With Laxus. For the first two days they did hardly anything else than just cuddled at home. In the third day Freed prepared a big dinner and they even invited Bickslow, Evergreen, Roxanne, Roscoe and Kvestor over.
After the dinner they just sat around a while, until the door was knocked. Before Freed would get on his feet, Laxus already got up and stepped to the door opening it.
"Good evening, Laxus", Erza nodded politely and they were all pretty surprised.
"Erza", Laxus said.
"Master asked me to find you. He wants us both to come to the Guild House."
"What? Why?"
"He did not tell me the reason and I didn't pry. I'm sure he has his reasons."
"Guess I have no other choice", Laxus muttered. "Gonna be there in five minutes."
"I will then go ahead", Erza nodded and she turned as Laxus closed the door.
"Ohh, maybe he finally wants to announce which one of you guys will be the next master?" Bickslow grinned.
"Laxus! Laxus! Laxus!" 'babies' cheered happily.
"Dunno, but I guess we will find it out soon", Laxus muttered.
"Well you better go then, honeycomb", Roxanne said. "We will take care of sugar while you're gone."
"Will you be alright?" Laxus asked from Freed who nodded.
"Of course, there's nothing to worry about", the rune mage assured. "Just let us know if it takes longer."
"Kvestor, you go with him", Roxanne commanded.
"Me?" Kvestor asked astonished almost dropping his cone hat.
"Yeah, you make sure everything will be alright, you chubby cat. If things take longer, you can come and inform us about it."
"Oh, that's true", Kvestor said. "What do you say, Mr. Dreyar?" he smiled all too happily because he could accompany the famous Laxus Dreyar.
"Uh... I guess that's okay", Laxus grumbled not really knowing what he should say. "But I make sure it won't take long", he promised to Freed, giving him a quick peck on his lips.
"So, since we have time while walking", Kvestor said following Laxus with his wings to the door where the blond put the shoes on. "There is some questions I have wanted to ask."
"Fuck..." Laxus groaned stepping outside and slammed the door shut behind them.
"Damn, is it just me or did Laxus find his exceed?" Bickslow snorted.
"You mean other than Freed?" Ever giggled.
"Har har, that joke is getting old", Freed snapped and he stood up. "Help me clean the table you two."
"I'm still too stuffed, baby", Bickslow groaned.
"Get up, you lazy noodle", Roxanne snapped and Bickslow almost jumped on his feet. "You gonna make your pregnant friend do the cleaning after he made you such a good meal?"
"No, Madam", Bickslow said immediately and went to take all the plates to the sink. Roscoe snickered smugly looking at the seith mage.
"And what are you smiling?" Roxanne said glaring at his grandson who stood up immediately.
"Nothing, Madam", he assured and went to help Bickslow right away.
"Good boys", Roxanne smiled. "You just relax, sugar. Cutie can make us some tea."
"Of course, Madam", Ever smiled standing up and she went to the kitchen as well. Freed huffed and he sat back down, secretly very happy that he didn't need to clean anything. After a meal like that, he really didn't feel like doing anything yet.
"That is not really necessary", he assured. "I could have also handled them later."
"Pish posh, just relax", Roxanne cackled.
In the next morning Freed woke up when Laxus was shaking his shoulder.
"Huh? What?" he yawned confused, looking at the clock. "How are you up this early?" he asked.
"We have to go to the Guild House", Laxus said. "Sorry I had to wake you up."
"It's alright", Freed smiled and he sat up.
"You can take a shower while I do some sandwiches for us to eat", Laxus said kissing his mate and smiled when it made Freed so happy.
He went downstairs and took out what he needed. Even he couldn't fuck up with sandwiches as long as he didn't try doing anything too fancy or shit. Just something simple. After Freed was ready and came in the kitchen, they started eating.
"Why are we going to the Guild this early?" Freed asked. "Does it have something to do with yesterday?"
Laxus didn't tell them anything what happened in the Guild when he returned with Kvestor. Of course Freed was curious, but he knew he would find out when it was time.
"Yeah", Laxus grumbled. "Everyone's gonna be there."
"So it is about you and Erza, Makarov must have made his decision", Freed said. "Do you know it yet?"
"Yes."
That really surprised Freed as his eyes widened. Laxus just kept eating like nothing, just looking out of the window.
"So... Will it be -"
"I'm not gonna tell", Laxus cut him off. "Gramps will tell it to everyone. He told me an Erza so we would be prepared."
"Oh... That does make sense", Freed nodded and Laxus chuckled.
"Try to bear with your curiosity a while longer, okay?" he said. "Let's just eat and leave."
After the breakfast they headed towards the Guild House. They stepped inside and almost everyone was already present. Freed looked around for the first thing and spotted Levy with Gajeel at the other side of the Hall. Since they were both worried that some day Laxus and Gajeel would start a fight, they had made a deal. They would stay at the other sides of the Hall with their dragon slayers.
Freed nodded as a greeting when their eyes met and Levy smiled, continuing talking with Lucy and others.
"Let's go sit down", Freed smiled to Laxus who was frowning because that tiny little contact between Freed and Levy. But he didn't worry about it, he just followed his mate and they sat down at the other side of the Hall. The whole Guild knew about this arrangement and everyone agreed it was for the best.
Soon after that the rest of the Guild arrived as well. Many of them were confused why they had to gather so early in the morning.
"I bet it has nothing to do with anything that we had to arrive so early", Bickslow snorted.
"I'm pretty sure you're right", Ever huffed.
They waited and talked with others. Freed had ordered some tea and slapped away Bickslow's hand when the seith mage tried to snatch one of his biscuits he had on his plate.
"Order your own snacks", he finally snapped after third attempt to steal his food.
"I can't, I'm broke", Bicks whined. "Give me just one biscuit, baby."
"No. And you shouldn't use your money like that. You should try saving sometimes so you could also – Laxus!" Freed almost yelled when the blond took one of the biscuits and ate it.
"Don't worry, I'll ask Mira to bring more of them over", Laxus snickered. "You can have as many as you want."
All the chatter went silent when Makarov hopped on the bar counter and cleared his throat.
"Good morning, you brats", he smiled. "It is so nice to see you all up and gathered here this early in the morning."
He let his stare wander all around the Hall as everyone waited him to talk.
"Now then, there is no need to make any long speeches, let's just go straight to the point", he chuckled. "Erza, Laxus. Come over", he called.
Freed looked at Laxus who stood up and walked over, as Erza got up on the other side of the Hall. They both stopped in front of Makarov, looking at the old man.
"I gave it a long thought and read your reports over and over", Master said and the tension in the Hall was so thick you could cut it with a knife. "The final decision was not easy. I'm not lying when I'm saying how proud I am of both of you", Makarov smiled and Freed could see how the corner of Laxus' mouth slightly pulled up when he heard his grandfather's praise. "I'm more than happy to say that both of you are indeed very good choices to be the next Master. But only one can be the Master at a time."
He went silent to build up the suspense. Freed almost chuckled when he saw vein in Laxus' forehead as this was clearly annoying him, but Erza just seemed amused.
"Just say it, old man", Laxus finally snapped.
"Eh? What?" Makarov blinked. "Oh, yeah, I just somehow ended up thinking other things", he guffawed. "So you want to know?"
"YES!" was a loud yell coming from all of them, making Makarov only laugh louder.
"Very well then!" he said. "I'm happy to tell you, that the next Master of Fairy Tail will be my grandson, Laxus Dreyar!" he announced more than happily.
All of them cheered and Laxus seemed more like he was pouting.
"Go, Laxus!" Bickslow howled his 'babies' dancing around them.
"Laxus made it! Laxus is the new Master!" Ever squealed hugging Freed tightly.
The rune mage could only nod as he was still amazed. Laxus was really their new Master. Laxus might have said that he had no interest being the next Master but he knew better. The lightning mage didn't demand to be the next master anymore, but Freed knew he was going to do his ultimate best if he ever would finally earn that title. He was so happy for him.
"Okay, just shut up finally!" Laxus roared when a whole five minutes there was loud cheering, yelling and shouting all around the Hall. For a moment it seemed like a new party was already starting.
They all went silent when Laxus' voice finally reached their ears.
"Good", Laxus grumbled and Makarov chuckled. "Okay, so that was Gramps' choice. For the first thing, when I'm not around – because like hell I will spend all my days just sitting in that fucking office all the time – Erza will be the one making decisions", he said and Erza nodded. It seemed that they had talked about this earlier and made this deal.
"Laxus will be our Master and I won't have that title, but we have agreed that when Laxus is not around, I will take care of things", Erza said.
They were all surprised and maybe confused because this decision. It was really unusual.
"Is there anyone who has something against this?" Laxus growled and stared at his Guild with a frown. No one dared to argue. "That's what I thought. It's a really simple arrangement. I wanna still go out for missions and Erza will be in charge then."
"You are really thinking about going to missions when being a Master?" Makarov asked.
"Sorry, Gramps. New Master, new rules", Laxus smirked and Erza chuckled.
"Everything will be fine", the red haired mage assured. "We can't force Laxus to stay and do paperworks day after another anyway."
"I'd rather kill myself", Laxus snorted. "Okay, we have still some stuff to go through so listen up!" he said turning back towards others in the Hall. "S-class Trials: cancelled."
"WHAAAT?!" Bickslow yelled and others were stunned as well. "Laxus!" the seith mage roared almost jumping on the table. "Why would you do that?!"
"Shut up and get down you idiot, before you break yourself", Laxus grunted looking at his old friend. Bickslow was doing much better, but needed still some healing and they all knew he wouldn't be able to continue in trials. "The Trials are over."
"We will try again in next year", Erza assured when Bickslow slumped on his chair. "It is only a year."
"Okay so that's over, what was the third thing?" Laxus grumbled frowning.
"I believe you wanted to invite four new members in Fairy Tail", Erza reminded.
"Oh, right", Laxus said and they were all surprised. Four new members?
Freed was confused when Laxus walked over and he quickly stood up from his chair.
"What is it, Laxus?" he asked when the lightning dragon slayer stopped in front of him.
"Would they want to join?" the blonde asked and Freed blinked.
"I... I don't know", the rune mage said. "We have never discussed about something like that." He smiled. "But I'm sure they would like that."
"Okay. Can you call them out?"
Freed nodded and he stepped further from the table. Others immediately took their distance, though no one really understood what was going on. Freed took his sword and used it's tip to draw runes that formed up four circles on the floor. He smiled when links were created and he felt how the demons answered to it with their own magic so they could make things easier for Freed.
First one to appear was of course Umanor. Valdeghar followed after him almost right away and there were murmur's around the Hall. Everyone recognized those forms. Some of their guild mates were slightly worried what might happen next.
Third demon was huge, slim but muscular. Freed smiled looking at Jish-Ahrna who was nothing like he used to be. Long arms had muscles, scaly skin and long claws were shiny and healthy, there was even a fluffy dark mane and dark onyx eyes looked around curiously.
Last but not least was Moranga who appeared with a sparkly 'poof' inside his circle. If Jish-Ahrna was looking different, it was almost impossible to recognize Moranga. There was no old, dusty sheet covering him anymore. There was a colourful little demon, looking more like made out of rubber than flesh and blood. He had long arms and legs, his colourful fur was like he was wearing somekind of a ridiculous old fashioned clothes. His rainbow coloured hair formed a big brim hat with feathers and he had a huge smile over his face.
Freed chuckled when seeing how others looked stunned, confused and even curious. Laxus smiled and he stepped in front of the four demons who locked their gazes towards the new Master of Fairy Tail.
"Are you guys interested?" Laxus asked. "I don't see why you shouldn't have the guild marks as well just like the rest of us."
The four demons looked at each other. They all nodded obviously excited and Freed smiled.
"That was really thoughtful", Freed said to Laxus, when Mirajane came over with the guild mark stamp.
"Just thought that they might like it", Laxus said. "They are part of this guild just like any one of us others, right?"
"You are absolutely right", Freed smiled, looking how Mirajane gave all four demons a stamp where they wanted it. "Who knows what might still happen once we just train a little more. One day they might not even need the link anymore to appear when ever they want to do so."
"That's exactly what I thought", Laxus chuckled, seeing how Asuka grabbed Moranga's hands and pulled him along to meet all the other members. That girl really didn't get that easily scared. "I knew you wouldn't stop with just this. And they wouldn't either. And I kinda felt bad for Moranga and Jish-Ahrna after learning how things really were for them."
"I understand", Freed smiled. "This place is perfect for them."