Chapter 3

I watched Lucy sleep on my shoulder for an hour as I was thinking about what could possibly be laying ahead of us. The Guild Masters rarely met up to talk about the state of things anymore. Looking back down at Lucy, I gently shook her awake.

"Lucy, we're here. Wake up."

She swatted me hand away and attempted to bury herself deeper into my side. "Five more minutes…" She groaned.

"Five more minutes and I'll have you on a train to the Principality of Veronica." I teased.

She shot up. "Okay! Okay! I'm up!" She looked around and frowned at me. "Laxus that's not funny."

"Do you see me laughing, Blondie?" I smirked as I picked up her small bag and slung it over my shoulder with mine in tow. Walking off the train and into the small town of Clover, memories hit me in waves. First it was just before Lucy had joined the guild and Gramps had taken me with him to a guild master's meeting. The second one was when I first came here on my own as the new guild master of Fairy Tail. Everyone kept asking what had happened to Gramps. Lastly it was the memory of the time I had a run in with Gray. He demanded I released Lucy to the Ex-Fairies.

"Laxus?"

Lucy's sweet voice broke me out of the ocean of memories that was drowning me. "What?"

"They'll be Ex-Fairies here…"

"They were weak. Don't let them get to you. You're strong, so hold your head up high. I'll pick you up if you fall, okay?" I said as we pushed open the doors to the conference hall. By the looks of everything, we were the last to arrive. We sat down at the two seats assigned to Fairy Tail.

We were approached by the other guild master's saying our greetings before the man in the center grabbed everyone's attention.

"As most of you know, I am Doranbolt from the Magic Council and as happy as we are about not having to send letters to a certain guild," He gave a pointed look in out direction. "We have come requesting your best team from each of your guilds. There is a Dark Guild called Oracion Seis and they are planning to unleash a powerful magic that can plunge the very world as we know it into chaos. We ask that you send your best team."

The guild master's nodded, but Lucy scowled. "Who are going to send, Master?"

I frowned. "No one; I'm not going to put my members to face a weak dark guild with other weak guilds. It'd be an insult."

Lucy frowned at me. "Freed, Bixlow, and I can go. Gajeel can come, too. And the best part is, is that it wouldn't be an insult to us." She finished her counter argument with a smirk and leaned back in her chair.

I recognized the stares that were locked on us and gave all of them a glare until my eyes landed on Mira. Smirking at the opportunity to get back at the Ex-Fairies for storming my guild hall yesterday, I stood and walked over to her. I watched as Erza walked to stand next to her. Stopping a few feet in front of them, Lucy decided to catch up with me. Standing next to me, she offered them a small smile and wave.

"Are you accompanying your new master?" She asked, obviously trying to break the tension.

Erza nodded. "We were afraid Fairy Tail would launch an attack. We would have to defend our Master."

Mira shifted her soft gaze from Lucy to a full on death glare onto Laxus. "That is why you're over here, right, Laxus? To show us that Lucy is too afraid to leave you?!"

Lucy bit her lip. "It's not bad, Mira. It's peaceful." Lucy said, choosing her words carefully. "Sometimes it's quite fun and I'm a lot stronger now, than I was back then. I'm on par with this big oaf." She said, smiling up at me with kind eyes.

I gave her a very small soft smile, which unfortunately did not go unnoticed by Mira and Erza. Mira frowned at us. "Well, well, well, what is it we have here? It sure looks like an attraction spell, doesn't it, Erza?"

"Who knew Master's grandson would stoop so low." Erza said in mock awe. "Oh wait, we did because he's a coward."

Both Lucy and I frowned at this. "I'd like it if you didn't mock Laxus like that…" Lucy said quietly. "You don't know him…"

Mira frowned at her. "We don't know him? Lucy, if anyone knows Laxus it's us. We grew up together. It's you who doesn't know him. Since he was a teenager, he's been an evil son of a-"

Lucy's frown deepened at this. "You're not fairies anymore, so how would you know anything about Fairy Tail or it's Master. I'd suggest you back off while you still can."

Mira had wide eyes at Lucy's tone. She turned to me and frowned deeply. "You aren't worthy to hold Fairy Tail's name… Neither do you, Lucy." She turned on her heel leaving us and Erza behind.

Erza moved forward, wanting to hold my mate in her arms, when Lucy reached up and took my hand silently; her bangs covering her eyes.

"Can we go home, Laxus? I've had enough for today…"

"Yeah, of course, Luce." I steered her towards the exit, seeing as how the meeting was over with and all the guild masters were just socializing.

"Lucy, come see us soon, okay? Natsu misses you a lot and Gray would love to see you. We're located not too far of the west side of Crocus, okay?"

We didn't acknowledge her, but we both heard her. We kept walking through the streets of Clover and decided that we would stay in a hotel for the night and head back to Magnolia in the morning. We rented a one king sized room.

She curled up onto the bed and brought her knees to her chest. "Laxus… I want to go help the council. I'm sure it won't take long. But… I wanted to yell at them today, Laxus… They don't know you, like I've come to know you…"

"Baby… That can't be what's bothering you, can it? Of course you know me better than anyone. I'm your mate. Just like I know you like the back of my hand." I sat down next to her and stroked her hair.

"But you see what I mean, Laxus. It would be like Natsu saying that you don't know anything about me."

I smiled lightly. "Remember when I first started to train you a little under a year ago? What was my first lesson, Luce?"

"That you're with me and that the guild will stand behind me, just like the old Fairy Tail." She mumbled. "What's your point Laxus?"

"I'm sorry, is my point." I sighed and stood as she sat up. "I tore your family apart for my gain. I expected you to hate me and runaway when you had the chance and go back to them. Yet, you stayed. You stayed with me, Lucy. I put Natsu into a coma and you forgave me. If nothing but this, I almost wanted you to hate me."

"I couldn't do that, Laxus." She cut into my little rant. "I couldn't hate you, because deep down, I knew who you'd be to me. Despite what you did to the guild, I like to think that this was all written in the stars and that nothing I could do could stop it." She looked me in the eyes and gave me a small smile. "But that doesn't mean I won't try to fix the bonds we've broken."

She managed to place a smile on my face when I didn't want to. "I suppose allowing you to go help out with this Dark Guild shouldn't be a problem. Though, Freed and Bixlow will be under strict orders to protect you at any cost."

A small giggle burst from her lips. "I'd expect nothing less of you Laxus. You're so protective."

"I've got to be, with the way you attract trouble like you do." I sat back down next to her again. "Let's order some food and get some rest, eh?"

"Okay." She replied softly.

I wanted to tell him he should come, too, that he can leave the guild in Freed's hands and come in his place, but I held back, knowing what he would already say.

"We'll head back in the morning, okay? Get some sleep." I told her as I watched her eyes fall to a close and her breathing even out. Lying next to her, I renewed my untold vow to protect her as much as she smiled, which is, of course, a lot.

I'm sorry for the long wait. I've had so much to deal with in the past few months and things were starting to get a little intense for me. Anyway Let me know what you thought!

-Jay