Hey everyone! Here's a new Fraxus Fic for you all! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to read and review!

"I still don't think it's a good idea that you're going on this mission alone Freed!" Evergreen protested. She crossed her arms over her chest and a pout formed on her lips.

Shaking his head with a small laugh he reached out and patted her shoulder.

"I'm not going to be alone. The twin dragon slayers will be accompanying me on the mission." He tried to ease the other woman's worries but it seem to only put her on further edge. Looking past his shoulder, she threw a glare at the two close friends who were already boarding the train.

Freed rolled his eyes and turned around, catching a fleeting glance of Sting and Rouge.

In all honesty he didn't want to go on the mission with the two men. It wasn't that he had anything against them, it was that he hadn't been on a mission with other mages, beside the Thunder Legion, in a really long time. The thought of having to go with two strangers was unsettling at best, but with the few words he had shared with the Shadow Dragon, he believed that he would be able to work rather well with them.

Shaking her head in defiance, she let out an annoyed gasp and said. "I don't care! I just don't have a good feeling about this!" She argued.

Following her words there was a loud laugh and soon an arm was thrown over her shoulder.

"Ever baby! You don't have to worry about anything! Our Captain here is going to all right and dandy! I'm sure he's going to be okay!" Letting his tongue fall out of his mouth. Bickslow smiled at his two comrades.

With the sudden appearance of the tall man, the air around the trio was put at ease and all they had to do was say their farewells, but that feeling of unease was still something that was making Ever's skin crawl.

"Oi, Freed! You're heading out already?" A loud and rough voice called out from down the station.

All three wizards turned around at the sound of the voice.

Laxus walked towards them with long strides, his coat catching wind behind him giving the illusion of a cape.

A light blush formed on Freed's cheeks and a funny feeling made it very hard to breath.

"Well hello Laxus! I didn't think you would be here to see our Captain off!" Ever spoke up first and for some reason a knowing smirked formed on her pink lips. Letting her arms fall from her chest she rested them on her waist.

Laxus only rolled his eyes and let his attention fall on the Rune Mage.

The sudden eye contact had the blush on Freed's cheeks darken and in a fit of nerves he started to fiddle with the handle of his reaper.

"Hello Laxus." He managed to say, surprisingly his voice was strong over all the commotion going on in the station. The tone itself a good mask for his true emotions. Letting an easy smile form on his lips he looked up at his god.

"So you're really leaving them?" He questioned. His brow was raised in curiosity and his eyes then moved to look at the train with disdain. "Didn't think that you would have been okay with leaving with some two strangers." He added as an afterthought.

Evergreen who had moved to Laxus' side nodded in agreement. The action only made the corner of Freed's eye twitch with annoyance.

Taking a deep breath he bent forward and picked up his travel bag. "If I had a say as to who would have gone on the mission with Sting and Rouge, it would not have been me. However, the mission that they took on required the magic of a Rune Mage and Sabretooth lacks strong wizards in that regard. Also you heard what the Master said, this is a good way to strengthen our bond as guilds." Hoping that his small outburst was enough to calm his friends, he turned around and walked towards the train.

Why were they so dead set on not letting him leave on the mission, it was like any other one. He didn't see how this one would have been so different.

"See what you both did? You made Freed baby sad and now he won't want to say good bye!" Bickslow cried in desperation. His dolls floated around his head and they cried with him. "Come back! Come back!" They said.

Laxus was still in a bit of shock that Freed had gotten so offended and was so suddenly leaving without saying good bye. He wasn't going to have any of that and he pushed passed Ever and Bicks.

He reached out for the smaller man and made a grab for his wrist. For a small moment it seemed that the world stopped for both men and the strange feeling was something that made fear blossom in their chest.

Freed's coat had rode up his arm and the soft skin of his wrist was exposed. The moment that Laxus had touched his sensitive skin, it felt like he was being burned by a thousand suns.

Pulling back so roughly it was like the mere touch truly had burned him.

Clearing his throat Laxus took a few steps back and said. "At least give us a proper goodbye."

Widening his eyes in surprise he saw a flash of vulnerability cross Laxus' face, at that same moment he saw the ten year old boy that he had met years before. His team didn't want him to go and the thought was something that had his heart growing with love. Of course they would miss him when he was gone, they were family.

Leaving his luggage inside the train, he walked off the platform and rushed to his team's side, Laxus close behind.

Meeting each other half way, Ever was the first to open her arms wide and take Freed into a tight embrace. Bickslow let out a loud sob and moved around the pair to hug the Rune Mage from the back. Laxus just stood there with a rare smile on his face. Raising a hand he placed it on top of Freed's head and ruffled his green locks. The act earned him a rosy blush.

"Make sure that you come back safe baby!" Bicks begged.

"He's right! We would all be lost without our Captain!" Evergreen added, she smiled brightly at the greenett and leaned over to give him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Stop pestering him, he needs to go!" Laxus demanded

Rolling his eyes he pulled away from the tight embrace and began to walk back to the train.

A man popped his head out of the train and yelled out that he only had two minutes before it would leave without him.

Taking a deep breath he gave his team a smile and let his eyes linger one each one of them. He felt like he wasn't going to see them for a very long time, it was as if it was his last time to say whatever he needed to, but the feeling was soon pushed away and he just got on the train and said.

"I'll be back soon, I promise! Make sure you don't miss me too much while I'm gone!"

By the end of his goodbye, the train was moving and its engine roared, Freed had to scream just so his voice could be heard. Luckily the people he was trying to talk to, heard every word and they were waving back widely as he began to speed down the track.

One Month Later…

The air around the guild was tense, something that was very strange for the Fairies.

Suddenly the door to the Master's office flew open and coming out of it was an enraged Dragon Slayer.

"Damn it old man! How the hell don't you know what happen to them?" He roared.

His uncontrolled anger was starting to take a toll on his magic and everyone could see electricity being drained from the lights and dark clouds forming above the guild, the promise of lightning something that they all knew would happen within moments.

Close being Laxus Dreyar was his grandfather, a shadow was over his head and it was obvious that he too was severely affected with the lack of information he was able to gather from Sabretooth.

"My boy, if I had known where Freed was, do you believe I would hold that from you?" His voice was deadly calm and it had Laxus stopping dead in his tracks. Like moths to a flame, Evergreen and Bickslow were at his side staring down at the older man.

"He's been missing for an entire month and all we've done is sit back and just wait for any form of news!" Ever pushed passed Laxus and tears made her eyes shine. "At least let us go and look for him!"

Before anyone could say anything, the doors to the guild hall slowly opened. They sound of the creaking hinges echoing throughout the room and the sudden invasion of light blinded the members of Fairy Tail.

Hoped flared up in the Thunder Legion and all three ran to the door, hoping that the person who was walking through their doors was their Captain.

But when they were finally able to register who were the newcomers were, their hearts dropped.

Sting and Rouge were standing under the door way with their heads bowed and a bundle of tattered clothing in their hands. A broken reaper sat on top of the rags.

"Where's Freed?" Laxus whispered.

The guild gasped in unison as they saw despair and fear form on the great Lightning Dragon's face. Bickslow was at a loss for words and the only thing he could do was stare at the broken blade. Ever was the first to move and she slowly reached out for the ruined piece of cloth. With further inspection, she saw familiar red fabric. Running her fingers over the coat's golden buttons, tears gathered in her eyes and soon slid down her cheeks.

Laxus could smell who the coat belonged to, but he didn't want to face the truth so soon.

"He's gone…" Sting choked out.

Laxus took a sharp breath and looked down at the two twin Dragons.

"What the hell do you mean by gone?" He questioned, his voice was harsh and cold. Not a hit of emotion was heard through the tone of his voice, but the menacing stare he shot at Sting and Rouge left no room for beating around the bush.

Swallowing back guilt Rogue finally found his voice to speak.

"When we went to the mansion that needed our help. They had this shack at the very end of their property. For some reason it was surrounded by runes. We went to go check it out and Freed was able to take down the wards in minutes. It was way too easy, we thought it would have taken us hours just to get through them." His hands turn to fists and his nails dug into the soft flesh of his palm.

"While we were walking back to the mansion to get our reward, Sting and I smelled something strange…" Rouge's voice began to shrink back to nothing and Laxus had a good part of his mind set on just tearing the blonde and his partner to shreds.

"It was a trap, we were being followed by a Dark Guild and they attacked us. We were able to take most of them out but there were too many and we had to run. Luckily there was a tree line behind the shack that we used as cover." It was Sting who started to talk. He was a bit more emotional about the entire ordeal.

To Sting and Rouge, Freed had been a part of their team, even if it was just supposed to be for a short time. To them being in a team meant that they had each other back, making sure that nothing happen to one another. Yet that was the one thing that they didn't do. They weren't there to make sure that Freed was alright. Because of them he was most likely dead.

"The farther we ran into the woods, the more dark wizards seem to appear. We don't know what the hell was happening and we knew at that moment we had no chance in making it out alive." The memory was fresh in Sting's mind and it felt as if it was happen right before him.

At this point the guild had grown silent a feeling of grief making a home in all the mage's heart. They had lost one of their own.

Makarov slowly walked up to the group of wizards by the door way. A look of despair and utter sadness made the man look far older than he already was. With a grave voice he spoke.

"And why is it that you did not suffer the same fate as our Freed?" Behind the words there was an unspoken judgement passed over the two Dragon Slayers. It almost seem to mean.

Why are you here and he's not?

Rouge bowed his head in the presence of the master of Fairy Tail more out of habit than respect, he was forced to do that when his own guild was under different control. "Knowing that we were surrounded, he cast a strange spell and turned us both into runes. He said that he would be able to handle the bandits on his own and then we disappeared only to end up back at the Inn that we were staying at."

Laxus and his two close friends had not said a single word during the entire time.

Bickslow was in a state of shock, Ever was trying to fight back her tears, and Laxus was angry.

"By the time we were able to go back to the mansion, it was completely disserted and his scent had disappeared. There was nothing that we could do…" Sting spoke for both him and his best friend, the last words he spoke hung in the air with think tension.

Those simple words were all Laxus needed before he snapped.

His eyes glazed over and soon his magical energy was coming off him in waves of golden light. The people close to him took a few steps back in fear and his murderous gaze was fixed on only two individuals.

"There was nothing you could do?" He said menacingly. "I just lost my best friend, my family. And all you can say was that there was nothing left to be done." His voice was a low rumble of emotions, with every word spoken you could hear the emotions that they brought up in the Lightning Mage.

"Because of you Freed's dead…" He said as a matter of fact.

He was out for blood and the guild knew this.

If they didn't stop Laxus from doing something drastic, then someone was going to get hurt and it wasn't going to be him.

A flash of golden light blinded the entire guild for a short moment. Suddenly a giant hand had Laxus encased in a makeshift cage. A mental damn broke inside of the Laxus and he roared in pure rage.

"Let me go!" He screamed. His eyes had turned completely white with rage. Lightning covered his body and it was evident in the way that his muscles began to grow that he was going into Dragon Mode. Scales formed on his body and it was hard to miss the look of pain Makarov wore as his hand was burned by his grandson's magic.

"I'm going to rip them to fucking shreds!" Laxus threaten.

Not a single person moved to try and intervene. Some of them thought it was fair that Laxus be set lose on them. An eye for an eye they thought.

"Bickslow, take them outside!" Erza shouted over the roaring of the lightning dragon.

She quickly reequipped to her Lighting Empress Armor and stood between Laxus and the door. His eyes landed on her and a look of betrayal formed on his face. His face fell and his magic started to die down. "They killed Freed, and you're ready to fight me?" Laxus said in disbelief.

When reality finally dawned over him, his body grew limp and the only support he had was the old man's hand wrapped around him.

Bickslow left the guild with a lingering glance. Taking Sting and Rouge by the elbows he led them out of Fairy Tail.