Sooooooo... PLEASE READ! UPDATE ON LIFE AND STUFFF :)

Update finallyyy! Sorry guys, I have had an incredibly stressful year. I, in all my wisdom, decided to study a Masters at university (yeah, I know, silly me!) and am now desperatley struggling through a 12,000 word dissertation, so this will be all you see of me for at least the next month. Maaybbeee longer as I'm going to need to recover from this trauma called "education".

Quick update on life:

1) Thanks for all the support from all of my loyal readers when that horrible little plagiarism mess happened. Your words really helped me keep what little faith I had in the online Fairy Tail community. Y'all be super awesome dudes and dudettes. ;) (Note to perpetrator: I know you're new FFNET name, and do check your account occasionally, so be warned! I shall unleash my loyal supporters if I spot another instance of cheating people out of their work!) :)

2) I'm moving at the end of the month, so yay and omg kill me I hate moving.

3) I met a guy! yay! Then he had to leave, so sadness there, but he's super nice and funny and smart and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Who knows? I might be a taken lady one day in the future! ;) XD :(

4) This is the latest, most up to date writing I've done in over a year and a half, so count yourselves lucky and please please please understand, I have a LOT on my plate right now, so this will also be the only update for the foreseeable future. BUT! I SHALL FINISH THIS! Pinky swear. And by the time that happens, I will hopefully have a BA and an MSc after my name, cause variety. ;)

SO! Without further ado, here is the latest for Laxus and Lucy.

Many thanks, and all the best,

nikoneko123 xx :)

Wendy lightly gripped Lucy's hand as she whimpered, her head turning as her face scrunched up. The young slayer had known that such a traumatic accident would leave some psychological wounds her magic could not reach, but she hadn't anticipated Laxus' reaction to the celestial mage's nightmares.

'Freed, let's get him onto a bed.' Mira said, reaching down to grip Laxus' feet as Freed moved to lift him at the shoulders. When they had heard Lucy screaming, they'd rushed to find out what was wrong, but as soon as they entered the infirmary, Laxus started snarling, and hints of his dragon mode had appeared across his skin.

Despite Mira trying to reason with him, he was too far gone, so Freed stepped in and placed a series of runes on him that would block his magic use and force him into a state of unconsciousness.

'Is she okay, Wendy?' Mira stood next to the blue haired girl, her brow creased as she tightly gripped one arm and stared down at the whimpering blonde.

'She's fine, she just had a nightmare.' Wendy rested her hand on Lucy's forehead and sent a pulse of green light towards her. 'This should soothe her for a while, but we should be prepared for this to happen again.' Mira nodded, clenching her jaw as Lucy relaxed into the pillow, her stiff limbs sinking back into the comfort of the mattress.

Freed took down the runes on Laxus, smiling slightly as he turned to his girlfriend and placed an arm around her waist.

'It's going to be alright, Mira. She's safe here.' He said, rubbing his hand across her back as she turned to hug him to her chest.

'You two should probably go before Laxus wakes up. He went into protective dragon slayer mode, so he might not be too happy that you're both here.' Wendy said, smiling up at the couple. She, unlike the other dragon slayers, had noticed Laxus' affection for the barmaid, and was glad he'd gotten over her.

'What about you Wendy?'

'I'm a young female dragon slayer, I present no threat and would be considered as part of the clan so to speak. Besides, he knows I'm helping Lucy, and stop her from feeling pain.' Mira frowned at the girl's explanation, but Freed nodded in understanding, and led the barmaid out of the room, softly shutting the door behind him.

Wendy turned her head slightly, peering over at the slayer behind her.

'You can get up now.' At her words Laxus cracked open an eye, glaring at the girl as he swung his legs down to the floor.

'How could you tell I was awake?' He said. Wendy rolled her eyes, before baring her miniature fangs.

'Dragon slayer, duh.' Laxus smirked, reaching out to ruffle her blue locks, ignoring the high pitched growl of annoyance. Turning his attention to the sleeping blonde, he sighed as he ran his hands over his face.

'What the fuck is wrong with me? I shouldn't be going psycho when you guys come into help blondie. Just… lost control for a second there. Sorry.' Wendy blinked in shock, before turning away to hide her smirk.

'Don't worry about it Laxus. Dragon slayers are protective of their nakama. You were just reacting on instinct.' He grunted at her words, his eyes fixed on the blonde woman's chest as it slowly rose and fell beneath the blankets. 'She should be waking up soon, her magical containers are pretty much full, so stop being a worry wart.' Laxus chuckled at her words, and fell into full on laughter as Wendy dodged the hand that had reached out to ruffle her hair with a glare.

'Thanks kid, I know you've done a lot for her.' Wendy's glare intensified.

'Don't thank me. Lucy is my kin, the same way she is to Natsu. She's my most valuable person until I find my mate. It's why I've been going to the hospital every night to make sure the other survivors are ok. I know for a fact Lucy would blame herself for their injuries, just because she was asleep and wasn't aware of the danger. She's that kind of person.' Wendy's glare softened as she spoke, looking down at the sleeping woman.

'Yeah, figured just as much myself.' Laxus said, his lips pulled up into a one sided smile, before he turned to scowl at the girl before him. 'You better look after yourself too, she'll blame herself just as much, if not more, if you collapsed from exhaustion you know.' Wendy blushed and blinked rapidly before turning and walking away.

'I'm a dragon slayer, I can handle anything.' She shot a smirk over her shoulder that reminded him of that iron eating bastard, before she skipped out of the room.

Smiling, he returned to sitting in the chair beside the blonde, caging her tiny, soft hand within his calloused paws.

'You better wake up soon blondie.' He said, his voice barely above a whisper as he brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the fingertips.

Lucy felt a moan crawl up her throat at her aching head, and tried to reach up to rub her temples, but her hand was held down. She scrunched up her face slightly, before forcing her sleep caked eyes to open.

Looking down, her breath caught in her throat.

What's he doing here… Her mind went into full on panic mode as she recognised the blonde spiked hair that rested next to her arm, his rough hands gently clutching her own as if it were a lifeline.

Lucy felt a cough scratch at her throat, and couldn't stop her body from jerking as it ripped through her chest, the noise echoing in the otherwise empty infirmary.

Laxus immediately sat upright, his reddened eyes wide and his breathing heavy as he stared down at the woman. For a moment, he just froze, thinking it was another one of his dreams, yet the warmth of her hand against his and her unique scent slapped him into reality.

He stood from the chair and helped raise Lucy to a sitting position, plumping up the pillows behind her as she continued to cough. Reaching for the glass of water at the bedside, he guided her hand so she could take it from him, and waited for her to drink her fill.

As soon as it was clear she was finished, she handed the glass back to Laxus, her arms aching slightly.

'Laxus, what –' Before she could finish speaking, Laxus's arms pulled her against him in a tight, unforgiving embrace.

'Thank… fuck blondie, don't you ever fucking do that again, you hear me?' His breathe shot across her back as he pushed his face into her neck.

'Wait, what –'

'You've been asleep for over a week… you should have woken up but you didn't… Wendy said you would but you didn't… don't. Just don't do this again. Please.' Lucy felt water dripping against her skin and felt her lip quiver as she brought her arms up to hug the shaking blonde man that had yet to let her go.

'I'm… I'm sorry Laxus. Its ok, I'm awake now. You're ok, I'm okay.' Her voice was quiet and slightly hoarse, but she still sounded like an angel to Laxus right then. He took deep breaths, trying to force himself to calm down, tensing slightly before relaxing as her fingers started tracing circles across his back. Every intake of air was filled with her scent, rich, fresh and intoxicating.

Before he knew what his body was doing, a low pitched purr emanated from his chest. Lucy froze as the sound eclipsed her hearing, and the vibrations rattled through her body. As soon as her hands stopped moving, the purr ceased as well.

'Blondie –' His words were cut off by his own purring as Lucy resumed caressing his broad, muscled back.

'Sorry, what was that Laxus? Couldn't quite catch that.' She giggled quietly, taking in a deep breath of his woodsy smell before he pulled back. The sudden chill that hit her skin made her shiver. Before she knew it, a thick, fur lined cloak was swaddled around her upper body, the thin fibres tickling her face as she exhaled.

'You've got to stay warm blondie, a lot happened and you're still recovering.' Lucy pulled the edges of his cloak to her chest, relishing in the immediate warmth that encompassed her.

'No wonder you never take this off.' She said, her voice barely a mumble from beneath the thick folds of his cloak. He grinned at her, staring into her clear brown eyes, nearly the only part of her visible from underneath the cloak, and Laxus felt his whole body relax. As though a tonne of bricks had been lifted off his shoulders, just from looking at her eyes.

He didn't even realise his hand had reached out to stroke his knuckles across her cheek, till he felt her skin get incredibly hot underneath his touch. He frowned, moving his hand up to clasp her forehead.

'You feeling alright? You're a bit warm.'

'I'm fine. Totally fine. 100% okey-dokey. Yup! All good here!' He pulled away from her as her overly chipper voice grated on his ears.

'I'm going to get Wendy, want her to give you the all clear now you're awake.' Laxus stood from the chair, rolling his shoulders till they released a satisfying click, and heading towards the door. He paused with his hand on the handle and turned, levelling the blonde with a glare as he pointed at her. 'Stay put.'

Before Lucy could even respond to the command, the door had already shut behind the slayer.

The celestial mage pouted, tightening her fists around his cloak as she muttered about ignorant dragon slayers talking to her as though she were a dog.

She was quickly interrupted from her musings when a small blue haired girl barged through the door.

'Lucy!' Lucy smiled as Wendy barrelled across the room before restraining her excitement and stopping herself from flinging her arms around the blonde.

'Hey, Wendy.' Lucy pushed Laxus' cloak off and held her arms out, letting the girl into a tight hug.

'Ok tiny, back up, you need to make sure she's actually better before hugs.' Laxus grabbed Wendy by the back of her shirt and tugged her away, ignoring Lucy's glare.

'Didn't seem to stop you from hugging me, Sir Purr's a lot.' Laxus narrowed his eyes at her, still holding Wendy in the air as the little slayer snickered. 'What? Don't like that one? Kitty cat? Tigger? Fluffy?'

By this point, Wendy was holding her hands over her mouth, glancing between the two blondes; from Laxus's confused, aggravated expression to Lucy's familiar teasing smirk.

'Wendy, I think blondie's lost her mind.' Laxus's eyes were wide and he'd suddenly gone quite pale.

'This is how she usually is Laxus.' Wendy said, shaking herself loose from his grip as she grinned at the woman she'd adopted as a big sister. 'How are you feeling, Lucy?'

Lucy smiled softly at the young slayer, giving Laxus a reprieve from her teasing.

'A little weak, tired and achey. I have a bit of a headache, but it's easing up now.' Wendy frowned as she reached up and sent a pulse of magic towards Lucy's head. The blonde sighed in relief as the jabbing pain behind her eyes dulled to almost nothing.

'That's probably just from the blood loss you experienced, or the shock. You have technically just woken up from a coma, even though it was only a week long.' Lucy felt her smile drop, and looked down into her lap.

'The train. The civilians. How many.' Wendy looked up at Laxus, biting her lip.

'Blondie –'

'Tell me. How many died.' Lucy's voice was shakey, her hands clenched in her lap; her knuckles a pale white.

'There were only four casualties. They died on scene. Considering how many people were on the train, it's a miracle that there weren't more. Your maid spirit got to the worst of the injured and treated them enough that when tiny got there, they survived. You saved a lot of people.'

'The families of those four won't think that.'

'Blondie. Stop right now.' Lucy looked up and flinched at the glare Laxus had fixed on her. 'Without you summoning Virgo and Loke, there would have been at least another fifty deaths. Virgo treated the worst injured whilst Loke got as many people out of the unstable carriages that were about to collapse on the passengers. You saved people. So I don't want to hear a fucking whisper about how it's your fault that some innocents died. That's on the heads of the mages that caused the crash, not you. You hear me?' Laxus was doing his best to hold back a growl, and failing abysmally.

'Lucy, Laxus is right. You helped save a lot of people. Those four… I saw them. There was nothing you or I could have done to save them. I tried… I tried so hard, but I was too late…' Wendy didn't notice she'd started crying till Lucy pulled her tightly into her chest, stroking through the girls hair as her tears flowed freely.

'It's ok Wendy, you did your best.'

'So did you, Lucy.' Wendy's voice was muffled against Lucy's chest, but the blonde woman clearly heard what she'd said. Lucy sighed, smiling slightly as Wendy looked up at her.

'I guess I can't argue with you two, can I?'

'Damn right you can't blondie.' Laxus grumbled as he dropped into a chair beside her bed.

'Not fair, you two teamed up on me.' Lucy pouted, and smiled as Wendy let out a quiet giggle, before pulling back and wiping her tears away.

'I'm so glad you're awake Lucy… we've missed you so much.' Wendy said, hiccupping slightly as a smile split apart her face.

'Sorry for worrying you guys.' Lucy's voice was barely above a whisper as her fingers absentmindedly stroked through the fur lining of Laxus's cloak that rested on her lap.

Laxus stared at Lucy, his mind flashing back to how lifeless she had been only days before. His jaw started to tighten, before he coughed awkwardly.

'Come on tiny, we should let her rest now.' Laxus said. Lucy laughed, turning her gaze towards him. Laxus felt his breath seize in his throat. After so long waiting for any hint of life from the blonde woman before him, seeing her smile and hearing that iconic laugh leave her lips was like a balm to his soul.

'I've been sleeping for far too long apparently.' Lucy said, not noticing Laxus' sudden statuesque appearance. She turned back to face Wendy, her brow slightly furrowed as she spoke. 'How's the team handling this?' Wendy sighed and rolled her eyes.

'Just as well as you'd think. Erza's been nursing the same cake all week without actually taking a bite, Natsu and Gray are constantly at each other's throats and Happy just floats about scratching at the beams until Mira throws something at him.' Lucy sighed with a small smile, pulling Laxus's coat closer around her.

'I made them worry again, huh?'

'They'll be fine Blondie, you just focus on getting better yourself.' Lucy turned and grinned at him again.

'Don't worry, I will. I always do don't I?' She paused and frowned slightly, turning to glance at her keys that rested on the bedside table. 'Eugh, Capricorn is going to be so annoyed I've missed a week of training… all that progress… gone.' Her eyes suddenly widened in mild fear. 'Oh no, he's going to make me run laps again.' Wendy tried to hold back her laughter, but the sound of Laxus's snicker set her off. Lucy pouted as the two broke down laughing at her.

'Hey, you don't get it! I've worked so hard over the past few months and now I might as well have not bothered! Besides, Capricorn's a slave driver-' Lucy squeaked slightly and pulled Laxus's cloak over her head as the dreaded doorbell sounded at the foot of her bed, and the goat spirit emerged.

'Miss Lucy, I believe it was you who asked for my assistance and expertise. You even requested that I, and I quote, "don't go damn easy on me or I will summon you along with Canes Vanetici every day for the next three months". Considering you are aware of my dislike of the… dogs, I believe it is your fault I am, as you put it, "a slave driver".' Capricorn's mouth twitched slightly at one corner, before he bowed and disappeared.

At this point, Wendy was on the floor clutching her stomach and desperately gasping for air, and Laxus was wheezing as he tried to wipe tears from his cheeks.

It was this scene that Freed opened the door to, carrying a large medical text in order to try and help Lucy. Instead, he was greeted with peals of laughter and a very red faced celestial mage who was currently clutching one of her gold keys in front of her and repeatedly bowing her head and apologising.

The Rune mage smiled, shutting the book in one hand and slotting it under his arm.

Lucy's back.