Disclaimer: FAIRYTAIL characters © MASHIMA
Warning: Possible spoilers (if you don't follow the manga and/or aren't up to date with the anime), language, and mature/graphic scenes.

A/N: My first FT fic. OBVIOUSLY I decided to write it on the most badass pair that is OBVIOUSLY canon in the manga/anime (soon…). This story is solely focused on L/M, so if you pick up any possible hints on other couples… well, that's just your imagination, because I have no intention on writing about anybody else BUT Laxus and Mira.

death
and
dream

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I

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– Fourteen –

"Mira-nee!" Lisanna skipped happily to her sister. "Want to take a break?"

Mirajane exhaled deeply, letting her transformation seep away from her. Yeah, she could probably use a break after all that training. "Mm, sure." Looking at the basket her younger sister was holding onto, she sat down on the mat laid out under the shade. "What'd you make for me today?"

The younger Strauss sister grinned. Kneeling down next to Mirajane, she opened up the basket and revealed the meal she had prepared. "Sandwiches! And lots of it!"

Mirajane smiled as Lisanna set the plate of neat, triangular-shaped snacks onto the mat. "Looks good," She commented.

"It does, doesn't it? I've spent the entire morning working on it!"

She picked out a sandwich and nibbled at it. "Hm, then I better finish them all." Mirajane replied, smiling.

"Yep!"

The older sister wasn't particularly hungry, but she still wanted to try out the girl's skills. As she chewed, she could feel Lisanna eyeing her with anticipation, but she acted as if she didn't notice it.

Finally, not able to withstand the silence, Lisanna spoke out nervously. "Mira-nee, h-how is it?"

Mirajane swallowed, genuinely pleased. "It's delicious. You've improved, Lisanna,"

"Heh…"

The siblings spun their heads to the sound. The older sister stood up and took on her fighter stance (it was her natural reflex), but the younger one simply stared with wonder.

"Laxus!" Lisanna called happily.

"Yo," He greeted casually and walked towards the two girls. "Having a picnic?"

Mirajane rolled her eyes. "It's none of your business." She muttered.

"Mira-nee!" Lisanna scolded. She dropped the glare before looking to the young lightning mage. "It's not really a picnic, but I guess it kind of looks like one!" Lisanna replied with a cheerful tone. "Do you want to join us?"

"Wha—Lisanna!"

Laxus smirked. He was only strolling by and actually had no intention on stopping to greet the siblings, but seeing Mirajane's frustration, he decided to stay, just for the hell of it. "Sure, why not?" He removed his headphones, letting them hang loosely around his neck as he sat beside the younger sister. Laxus planned it out quickly in his head; he decided that using her as a barrier between himself and the master take-over mage (whose magical aura was threatening to strangle him at the moment) would assure a few more years to his life.

Groaning, Mirajane reluctantly admitted defeat. She crossed her arms and looked away, making it apparent that she was not tolerating his presence.

Lisanna obviously noticed her sister's rude behaviour, but like Laxus, she paid no attention to it. Instead, "Here, try a sandwich!" She drew all of her attention to the young mage.

"Looks good," He took it in his hand, "Did you make it?"

"Yeah!"

"Mmm," Laxus took a bite, "Hey, this is good," He chewed hungrily. "This is really good."

Lisanna grinned. "This is nothing compared to Mira-nee's cooking!"

The lightning mage widened his eyes. He even stopped chewing to emphasize his surprise. "Your sister cooks?"

Mirajane frowned. "I'm right here, you know?" She said sardonically.

Laxus chuckled. He finished up his sandwich and brushed the crumbs off his fingers.

"Yeah, Mira-nee is the best cook in the world!" Lisanna answered. "I look forward to her cooking every day!"

Impressed, Laxus nodded. "Heh, is that so? The Demon Mirajane is a master chef, huh?"

A hint of pink spread across Mirajane's cheeks. She turned away, flustered.

"Unn! You need to actually try her cooking to know how good she is!" Lisanna added cheerfully. She could go on all day. Praising her sister, telling others how talented she was made her feel equally flattered. It was almost like she was praising herself.

Laxus smiled at the little girl's excitement. "But then," He placed a palm on her head, which immediately got the older Strauss' attention. His emerald eyes then clashed with Mirajane's cerulean ones. "I don't think your sister would cook for anyone but you and Elfman."

Lisanna blushed slightly and chuckled. Right now, she decided that the master's grandson wasn't as 'cold' and 'anti-social' as everyone described; he was acting normally, almost like a big brother. She went on, getting increasingly enthusiastic with their conversation. "Mira-nee said that she would cook for anyone she likes though!"

"H-hey! Lisanna!" But the girl in question wasn't amused. Rather, her cheeks were crimson by now, no thanks to her little sister's words of praise. "Stop talking!" She attempted to cover Lisanna's mouth, though the tiny girl was agile; she dodged easily, moving to hide behind the blonde boy.

"Get out of the way, Laxus." Mirajane warned dangerously.

"No, don't move! She's going to kill me!" Lisanna playfully responded. She continued to use the mage as her shield as her sister tried to grab her, dodging and slipping away smoothly while holding onto the boy's shoulders for better balance.

Laxus blinked curiously at the Strauss sisters' silly quarrel, but he was equally amused by it—

"Stay still!"

—that was, until Mirajane lunged herself forward without warning and pushed him over, making him land on his back… with her on top of him.

Lisanna managed to move out of the way before she got crushed by the young teenagers, but more importantly, she was standing in the front row seats and therefore witnessed the entire accident.

"…"

Mirajane tried to grasp onto the situation – this was all too sudden. W-was she on top of Laxus Dreyar? Why and… how did this happen again?

Laxus swallowed. The take-over mage's face was mere inches away from his own, and not that she was heavy or anything, but she was on top of him and… well, to put it simply, this was getting more and more awkward as each second went by. So, he decided to speak up, "Um… uh…"

The girl gasped. She bounced right off the boy when he opened his mouth to speak – or at least, tried to. "W-w-what – what are you doing!" She stammered nervously.

He sat up, cheeks tinted with pink. "What am I doing? What the hell were you doing!"

"Sh-shut up! I do what I want!" She glared at her little sister, who, in turn, gasped and turned away, pretending as if she had nothing to do with the 'accident'. Mirajane scowled and stood up in a flash. "Lisanna, we're going home!"

Both Laxus and the younger sister jumped to the anger in her voice. Though, the latter was much more frightened.

"Y-yes…!" She squeaked. Lisanna waited until Mirajane turned away, and then she got to her knees and packed the things back into the basket hurriedly. When her sister was far enough, she turned to Laxus and started, "Um, I'm… I'm really sorry about what happened…"

The blonde scratched the back of his neck. He shrugged and got off the mat when Lisanna stood up. "Er, well… I wouldn't worry about me…" He said awkwardly. "Seems like you're going to have it rough later, huh?"

Lisanna shook her head and smiled slightly. "Nah, Mira-nee doesn't stay mad for long."

"Are… you sure? She's always flipping tables and punching people at the guild."

"Well," She giggled, "At home, she's much… er, calmer – yeah. Actually, Mira-nee's really nice if you get to know her better."

"Uh… nice…?" Laxus looked up to Mirajane, who was already a few yards away by now, and then he looked back down to the girl who just finished folding the picnic mat.

The tiny girl laughed. "Oh, you'll see her 'nice' side one day, I'm sure." She tucked the mat into the basket. "Well then, I better go catch up to her."

"Uh, yeah, sure." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Thanks for the sandwich."

Lisanna grinned. "No problem! Bye-bye, Laxus!"

He nodded in return and watched her dash away into the distance.

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– Fifteen –

He was only trying to find a quiet place to train, but hearing and feeling all the explosions and earthquakes in the outskirts of Magnolia intrigued him greatly. Laxus, all but curious, decided to observe whatever danger lied ahead (though he already had a good idea what – no, who it was).

Indeed, his intuition didn't fail him.

"That was insane, kid." He was able to witness the Demon Mirajane's strength – and she was only sparring. How would she be if she were fighting for real? Just by stating that she was 'insane' didn't do her justice.

The young take-over mage let her transformation disperse into the air. She scoffed, mentally noting to herself that manipulating the entire river and creating holes through mountains wasn't anything special. Regaining her human form, she clenched onto her fists. "Are you stalking me?" Mirajane uttered her question rudely.

"Huh? Stalking? Why would I stalk a Demon?"

She glared at him, blue eyes glowing with peril.

Laxus sighed. "I was just seeing what all the explosions were about. Y'know, if you use your full power, you might end up blowing the entire town to ashes. You'd probably want to train farther away next time."

"Tch," She spun around to face the lightning mage. "I know my own power…" Mirajane said quietly. She looked into her opened palms, "… And it's not enough to beat Erza."

Laxus blinked. Right, the exam just ended… he probably shouldn't have started the conversation regarding her powers. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he walked up to her. "There's… always next year." The blonde mage added with a hint of optimism.

"The fact that she got chosen over me already means that she's stronger." She responded stubbornly.

He sighed. "Well, if it makes you feel any better…" Laxus continued, awkwardly keeping eye contact with the girl, "Jiji told me that picking between you and Erza was the toughest."

She eyed him impatiently. "But she got the spot in the end, which means that she is stronger." Mirajane crossed her arms. "So, no, Laxus. You're not making me feel any better."

"Oh." Laxus shrugged his shoulders.

The two stood in silence as an awkward tension filled the air.

"Uh, Lisanna's not here today?" He tried to change the subject.

"Does it look like she's around to you?" Mirajane frowned. "Look, I want to get back to training. Can you leave me alone, now? I don't even know what you're doing here."

"Whoa, calm down. Do you have your period or something?"

"Wha—! Excuse me?" Mirajane spat. The girl believed that she responded rather calmly.

As if he did not fear death, Laxus approached her, grinning slyly. His movements made the take-over mage tense up naturally, but he did not stop there. The young mage leaned down so he was looking at the girl at eye-level.

"W-what are you doing…?" She spoke out as smoothly as possible.

"Oh, nothing," Laxus smirked and continued, "Hm, to be honest, I personally think that you're already S-class material." His smirk widened into a grin. Then, pointing two fingers at the girl's forehead, he pushed her head back gently. "So don't feel too bad. The title will eventually come to you."

What… what exactly was going on?

"And don't look so damn pissed off all the time. You'll scare off even Lisanna one day."

… What!

"W-wha…" Mirajane was stiff as a stick. The slight, physical contact with arrogant boy made her lose all the rage she had inside her a few moments ago. She tried to put up with him by answering in her usual, tough-girl attitude, but what came out instead was a pathetic stammer. "W-w-why do you care…!"

He chuckled. "Because," Laxus rolled his eyes.

"Because what!" She figured that her face probably resembled a tomato right now.

"Isn't it obvious? She'll never make me snacks again." The blonde joked.

"Ugh! You…!"

"And more importantly, you'll get wrinkles for frowning and scowling so much."

"Laxus, y-you…! I…!"

"I'm being serious. We can't let one of Fairy Tail's prettiest mages look like an old hag when she's only fifteen. You'll never get a boyfriend like that." He finished with a wink.

… Which, then, immediately resulted in a tantrum of flushing madness on the girl's cheeks, followed by a massive downpour of water from the skies.

"H-holy shit!" Laxus yelled. Mirajane just threw a large portion of the river at him. Other than flooding most of the area, she got the lightning mage soaked, from head to toe. Laxus frowned in annoyance. "What the hell was that for! Ugh, my headphones are ruined! You're paying me back! They were freaking expensive!"

"Shut up!" Mirajane yelled back, "I do what I want!" She spun around. To Laxus, it only seemed like she was angry, but in truth, she was trying to hide her face. Yes, that face that was showed all her emotions. That face that just so happened to be redder than Erza's hair. Mirajane started to walk off, as calmly as she could usher.

"Hey, where are you going! Don't walk away, let's get this settled!"

Mirajane turned her head slightly, enough so that she could see the older boy in the corner of her eyes. "Unless you want to get electrocuted, I'd gladly fight you."

"…" Laxus blinked. Oh, right. He was completely soaked. "Heh, if you're concerned, let me tell you that I don't take damage from getting electrocuted. In fact, I can—"

"Whatever," The girl said, "I'm going home." She finished softly and left the blonde standing by the river.

As the younger mage stormed away, Laxus could only sigh. Yeah, sure, it was probably his fault for making such rude remarks, but… did he just take away her will to argue? … Anyhow, the girl needed anger management – that much was clear. Laxus brushed away the bangs that were covering his eyes and then glanced over to the river on the side, which was once again flowing peacefully despite the ruckus that happened just now. Slowly, a smile appeared on his face.

"Huh. Had no idea the kid could do all this without transforming."

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– Sixteen –

"Hey."

Leaning against a wooden pillar, the mage cocked an eyebrow upwards at the shorter take-over mage. He didn't bother to remove the headphones when answering. "What do you want, kid?"

The girl scowled. "Stop trying to act cool, Laxus." She crossed her arms. "You look like a troubled-teenager with those headphones on. By the way, if you keep blasting music to that volume, you're going to be deaf by the time you're thirty."

The blonde rolled his eyes. Ignoring her warnings, he, too, crossed his arms. "I said what do you want, kid?"

She frowned. "I was going to ask, have you seen Erza anywhere?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Damn it." Mirajane bit onto her lower lip.

If his music wasn't turned up so high, he could swear that he would be able to hear her growling. "Fighting again?" He commented.

"Not fighting," She frowned. "Or, at least, I'm not trying to."

"Hn."

Mirajane walked to the railing and looked down to the lower-ranking mages. They were, as per usual, fighting amongst each other for no apparent reason at all. Despite being an S-class mage, she would still join in for the hell of it, but, at the same time, she truly had no idea how or why any of the fights start. Things just happen at Fairy Tail.

"So, if you're not fighting, why are you looking for her?" Laxus suddenly questioned. Seemed like that was the only thing the two did.

She turned back to him. "Tch. I can't find Lisanna. That bitch might've kidnapped her or something."

Laxus fought back laughter. He ended up choking on his own breath.

"What's so funny?"

Coughing to clear his throat, he smirked. "For such a talented mage, you come up with the dumbest assumptions."

Mirajane stiffened. Here it was again – she could feel blood gushing up to her head. Damn it, she was blushing. And it probably wasn't because she was pissed off. "T-that wasn't dumb," The take-over mage stuttered slightly. She held onto her hips and stomped over to Laxus. "It's Erza, she does the stupidest things to get my attention."

"On the contrary…" Laxus removed himself from the pillar. He placed a hand on the shorter girl's head, messing up her platinum-coloured hair a little. "I think you're the one who does pointless things for attention."

"…!" She gaped at him, mouth opened wide but no words would come out to counter his words.

Laxus winked at her, and then walked away, disappearing down the stairs.

Took a moment, but Mirajane finally remembered that she was still breathing. She sat down at the closest seat, holding onto her flushing cheeks at the same time.

God, she was burning up. And don't even get started on how hard her heart was pounding against her chest.

"Ugh…! Stupid Laxus…!" She murmured. "Stupid Laxus and his stupid blonde hair and stupid headphones and stupid music and stupid smirk and stupid wink—"

Wink.

Mirajane tensed up. This was exactly like that time, a year ago! When that stupid lightning mage poked her forehead and called her a hag and said that she was one of the prettiest mages—

"…!"

She gasped. A weird, unfamiliar, strangely-warm feeling gushed into her chest, and wow, did she feel like she was going to melt. Oddly, though, she didn't dislike the feeling— "UGH! What the hell, Mirajane!"— no, no. No. Really, no. What was she thinking? She most definitely hated this feeling.

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– Seventeen –

"Hey, Demon."

She frowned. "I have a name, Laxus."

He smirked slyly. "Whatever. Want to go on a mission with me?"

Mirajane glanced at him. She didn't know what it was, but something in her yelled, screamed at her to go. But what came out instead was, "No."

"Being kind of harsh, aren't we?" The man mocked.

"I'm not being harsh, I just don't want to go." She replied bluntly. "Besides, I already picked up a mission."

"Oh?" He mused out loud. "Mind if I tag along, then?"

"I'm going with Elfman and Lisanna."

It was a clear 'no' judging from her tone. "Well, can't I come with the family? Elfman and Lisanna will get to know their future brother-in-law better."

It was annoying. The fact that he was only like this to her – it was so annoying. "You're nobody's 'brother-in-law', Laxus." She said coldly.

Laxus chuckled wryly. He stood up and walked around the table, seating himself beside the girl. "Aw, is the Demon getting colder and colder each year? I can't seem to flirt with you properly anymore." Without warning, he clamped his arm around Mirajane's exposed waist, intentionally pulling her towards himself. "Ditch your siblings. Go on the mission with me…" He whined sarcastically.

She frowned. Pushing against his chest, Mirajane attempted to back away. "Would you stop it—"

Suddenly, a third presence filled the space. The two S-class mages turned around to the strong aura, and Mirajane immediately tensed up upon seeing who it was.

"E-Erza!" She exclaimed.

Said girl looked away out of reflex. She didn't really know why, but whenever she witnessed couples doing their 'thing' and whatnot, she would get all worked up. "Uh, um… I'm sorry, was I… interrupting?"

"No—"

"As a matter of fact," Laxus cut Mirajane off. He pulled the girl closer, "You were, but we don't mind." He looked into her cerulean eyes tenderly, "Do we, now, Mira?"

The take-over mage could feel blood gushing up to her head. Any second now, she might explode. Her jaw hung loose as she stared at the lightning mage. Either she was losing it, or… no, she was definitely losing it. Her vision was getting blurry, and she could swear that she could see stars.

Erza swallowed. "Then… uh, I'll just—"

Mirajane spun around, looking her rival desperately. She was trying to send her messages through her eyes, since she couldn't quite seem to get her vocal chords to obey her.

But it was too late. Erza had already gone downstairs.

Damn it, Erza! You're such a useless bitch! Mirajane screamed in her head.

… And so, the two sat in silence for a while longer. That was, until Laxus decided to talk again. "So, you're sure you don't want me to go in their stead…?" He went back on topic, almost feigning sadness in his voice.

Mirajane's eyebrows arched inward. The rush of emotions inside her was going berserk; a dark aura filled the air as her blue eyes glowed dangerously. "Let go of me." She finally spoke up.

Another chuckle, this time it was filled with amusement. He released her. "Calm down, Demon. You don't have to act all scary."

"Shut up!" She tried to throw a punch in his face, but the man evaded it without much effort.

Laxus was laughing by now. Apparently, pissing a girl off was really fun to him. "Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone, jeez." He raised both palms to admit defeat.

Mirajane was too worked up to say anything. She could only glare.

"Hn," He smirked once more. "I thought I told you to lay off with the frown and scowl. You look the best when you're not pissed off, Mirajane."

She gasped silently.

He winked. "I'll see you later."

And then he was down the stairs once more.

"…"

Her mind was spinning. Questions like 'was Laxus Dreyar always like this?' Or 'why is he more and more arrogant?' kept on rolling through her head. But above all, she couldn't shake away this same, strange, unfamiliar, strangely-warm feeling. Every single time when he bothered her, she felt it.

It was so pathetic.

She, the great, Demon Mirajane was getting flustered over the arrogant Laxus Dreyar. What bullshit. She shut her eyes in frustration. Out of an outburst of anger, she pounded a fist onto the table, cracking the wooden material with her effortless strength.

"What is wrong with you, Mirajane…?" She muttered under her breath.

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"Elfman, we're leaving." Mirajane called as she descended from the second level.

"Oh? Already?"

"Uh huh," She responded coolly. Looking amongst the people in the guild, Mirajane crossed her arms. "Where's Lisanna?"

"I heard she was looking for Natsu or something."

"Oh," Mirajane shrugged and walked to the exit of the guild. "Well, then, let's go look for her."

"Uh, nee-chan…" Elfman called, stopping his sister's tracks.

"What?"

"Are you… okay?"

She raised a brow.

Elfman scratched the back of his head. "Well, I mean… uh, your cheeks are all red. If you're sick or something we can do this another day—"

Mirajane slapped her cheeks to cover the colour – although she did it a bit too hard, with much credit to her embarrassment.

Her little brother blinked.

Damn it. She thought. This was all Laxus' fault. If she sees that stupid blonde again, she would beat the—

"Nee-chan?"

"What!" Mirajane exclaimed.

Elfman jumped. He backed away slightly. "Uh… I, uh…"

"Never mind!" She said angrily, stomping out of the guild. "Let's go! Where the hell is Lisanna!"

Sweat-dropping, Elfman followed his older sister without uttering a word. It was probably best to let her cool down first. If he chose to talk to her now, well… it just wasn't a bright idea.

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"Are you two fighting again?" Lisanna asked in her motherly voice with her hands at her hips.

The fire dragon-slayer looked up. "Oh, Lisanna. You're back?"

Before the girl could respond, Happy cut into their conversation. "Natsu is really mean! He ate all my fish!"

"Egh, would you stop being so stingy?" Natsu grumbled.

Lisanna shook her head to the two's pointless quarrel. "Really, now… you're the father, aren't you, Natsu?"

"Huh?" Happy and Natsu raised their heads.

She winked and continued, "You'll protect the mother and the child, right?"

"Gah—" Sweat rolled down his face, "H-how long ago is that from…?" The young dragon-slayer stammered.

"Hey, hey, what are you talking about?" Happy questioned innocently.

Cheeks flushed, "I-it's nothing!" Natsu yelled out his reply.

But Lisanna didn't stop. "We're family, so there will be times when we disagree, but fighting is no good, okay?" Then, she too started blushing, "Remember, Happy is our kid, right?"

"SHE JUST SAID SOMETHING REALLY AMAZING!" Happy exclaimed.

Natsu was yelling as well, "D-D-DON'T SAY SUCH WEIRD STUFF!"

"She liiiiiikes you!" Happy teased, rolling his tongue.

"Can you not speak like that? It's really annoying!"

Lisanna shook her head, sighing at their silly quarrel. No matter how much she told them not to fight, they would still do it – ranging from once a week to even once a month. Needless to say, however, the two were extremely close, so she didn't need to worry much about them.

"Hey, Lisanna, it's time to work. Work I said!"

The girl in question turned around. "Eh? B-but didn't we just get back?"

"It's an S-class mission." Elfman said proudly. Pointing to Mirajane, he went on, "We're going to be nee-chan's backup."

"What—! That's not fair! What the hell!" Hotheaded as always, Natsu butted in to express his unwanted opinions.

"What kind of mission is it?" Happy asked.

"Emergency Subjugation." Mirajane replied with her arms crossed. "We're going to go suppress the king of monsters, 'The Beast'. Natsu, do you want to come with us? It'll be good experience." She finished with a wink.

"What, seriously?" Elfman quickly intervened. "I'm not agreeing to that. As a man, I should protect my family all by myself!"

"AHH!" Natsu yelled in frustration, "Don't be selfish! Just let me go with you!"

"No! You're not going!" Elfman said.

Lisanna sighed. If nobody stopped them soon, this could go on forever… or their obnoxious behaviour would piss her sister off, and she wouldn't want that. So, before any of that could happen, she held onto the pink-haired boy's shoulder and started calmly, "Don't worry, Natsu, there's always next time."

The boy sulked. "Aw, but…!"

"Don't cry, Natsu,"Mirajane smirked, "Man, you're so cute."

"I-I'm not crying!"

"Stop it, Mira-nee," Lisanna said. Right, she totally forgot; her sister had this infatuation with Natsu whenever he cried – saying how he was 'cute' and—

"Anyway, can we go already?" Elfman went back on topic. He looked to the orange sky. "The sun's already setting. Anymore delays, and I think the village's going to get destroyed."

The oldest sibling shrugged. "That and I don't want to miss another train. Come on, Lisanna, let's go."

"Unn, coming!" She looked back to Natsu and Happy. "Now, while I'm gone, I want you two to behave, okay?"

"Psh," Natsu scowled. "Yeah, yeah. Ugh, still, an S-class mission… that's unfair!"

Lisanna turned around. "Oh, don't be jealous. You'll take on one soon, Natsu."

"When would 'soon' be?"

"Mmm, I don't know. But when you do, I'll support you. Until then, protect Fairy Tail well!"

"Lisanna, hurry up!" Mirajane called, her voice resounding from the distance.

Natsu watched helplessly as his friend walked off with her siblings. He was about to yell at Happy again, when Lisanna called to him,

"Natsu!"

He looked up.

Lisanna grinned. "Off I go!" She said in her usual, cheerful tone.

Natsu sulked for a brief moment, but a similar grin spread across his cheeks soon after. "Goodbye!"

Hearing his energetic voice again, Lisanna ran off, catching up to Mirajane and Elfman in no time.

"Took you long enough," Her sister said.

Lisanna smiled. "Just saying goodbye. It's really sad, y'know? He really wanted to come along…"

"Tch." Elfman looked away.

Mirajane smirked. "He'll get the chance. Maybe he can go with Erza or something?"

"Ehh…" She highly-doubted that. "S-sure, whatever you say, Mira-nee." Lisanna hooked her arm around her sister's.

"Hmm?" The older sister eyed the shorter girl strangely. "Why are you suddenly being so clingly?"

"Oh, nothing," Lisanna giggled. "Just felt like hugging you. Haven't done it for a long time."

Elfman smiled.

"Do you want to join, Elf-niichan?"

His smile disappeared. He looked away, flustered. "I-I-I'm a man, I don't need a-anything like that…!"

A laughter escaped the youngest sibling. "Okay, if you say so!" She held onto Mirajane tighter.

Mirajane too, uncharacteristically, held back onto her little sister, and she held onto her for the rest of the trip.

For as long as she could.

Until the very end.

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Thanks for reading!
Was it too long/short/boring/super cool? Your opinions are greatly appreciated! So please review! :)