Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns all things Fairy Tail

"I broke my rules for you."

Laxus snaps his head around so quickly that his neck cracks. The sound echoes through the empty stone corridor for what feels like an eternity.

He scans the dark hallway, but finds no one. His eye twitches.

Why can't I smell her?

"You betrayed me."

Laxus grinds his teeth together.

A rush of air whooshes passed him.

He crouches in a defensive posture, his skin sizzles with sparks of electricity, and he shuts his eyes to focus his other senses.

"Aw, what's wrong Laxus? You're not…afraid, are you?"

Her taunting tone sends a chill down his spine. He barely manages to contain the shiver, but his arms break out in goosebumps.

Lucy's laugh is cruel and merciless. And just behind him.

He whips around, but, again, no one is with him.

"Tch." Laxus's eye twitches again. "Afraid of you-u?"

Fuck yeah, I am…I've never heard her laugh like that before.

Four months ago

Laxus sits on the dock behind Fairy Tail's guild, feet dangling in the water.

Someone on the other side of the guild laughs, a sound that mesmerizes him to the point that he almost leaves his fishing post to follow it. What a waste of time that would be: he's been sitting here for an hour, watching a sly catfish debate whether or not his, Laxus's, toes are food or not. The fish is inches away, and Laxus gives a tantalizing wiggle of his toes.

Besides, that laugh belonged to Lucy; she's with Flame-Brain.

Laxus sighs, surprising himself.

"Hi, Laxus!" Lucy hollers brightly.

At the same time, the catfish chomps down on Laxus's foot, and spins, its rough teeth rubbing like sandpaper against his skin.

Laxus bellows, more from surprise than pain, and sends a bolt of lightning into the fish. The fish goes rigid as the lightning shoots from its tail into the water, then falls limp and almost slides off Laxus's foot. Laxus flicks his ankle, and the fish flies from his foot onto the deck, a delicious scent filling the air.

Lucy laughs exuberantly as she makes her way down the dock. She sits next to Laxus, her feet nearly in the water when Laxus grabs her and yanks her backwards and into his side.

"Eeep!" She chirps before looking up at him in confusion.

"You want to end up like that fish?" He smirks. He throws in a stray piece of wood from the dock, which sizzles as soon as it touches the water.

"Oh, geez." She giggles nervously.

Laxus puts his feet back in the water, summoning the electricity back into his body. It comes from as far as twenty yards away, and when he's done, his hair is twice as spiky as usual, and there is a slight buzzing sound in the air around him. He nods at Lucy, who immediately puts her feet in the water.

"Thanks, Laxus!" She laughs again, the sound pulling Laxus toward her like a magnet.

"Hmm, was that a stutter? Maybe you're not as fucking stupid as I thought."

Laxus winces this time; she's never called him 'stupid' before, either.

"Did that hurt?" She asks, slightly amused.

Where the hell is she?

"Do you actually care about my opinion of you?"

He had hoped that he would be able to set things right before Lucy found out what had happened. He hasn't slept in two days, has been traveling Fiore in search of the thief, and has been in more fights than he can count. She obviously found out that he allowed Loke's key to be stolen, but still, this seems like an overreaction.

"Show yourself!" He growls.

"So you can kill me, too?"

He draws up short, a sudden pain in his gut. "I'd never hurt you, Lucy."

Doesn't she know that?

"SHUT UP!"

Her voice echoes around the corridor, but instead of fading, it crescendos until the stones shake, and Laxus is sure the wing will collapse.

He calls down his lightning just in time, and travels to the grounds of the castle he was sneaking around. A storm is beginning, the wind thrashing the trees, the rain cold and cutting.

Thunder claps loudly as Laxus is placed on the lawn. Though it is his magic, and he has done it hundreds of times, he always has a second or two of disorientation when he lands.

In those two seconds, something hits him like a battering ram.

Laxus flies back several feet before falling flat on his back.

The air whooshes completely from his lungs.

He flops onto his stomach, desperate for breath, and tries to get to his hands and knees.

An invisible force slams into Laxus's back, knocking him flat again. His mouth fills with mud and grass, but he has no breath to cough it up. His fingers quickly dig the material from his mouth, but when he can finally take his first breath, he inhales drops of mud, and is sent into a coughing fit.

She's actually trying to kill me!

Lightning sparks around him, trying to protect himself from another attack.

Something's wrong with her.

"How—uck!" He coughs violently and spits the last of the mud from his mouth. He can breathe consistently now, though not fully. "How are you doing this?"

"How have I brought the mighty Laxus to his knees?"

He shudders again.

Three days ago

"EEEEEKK!" Lucy's shriek pierces the air.

Laxus—who definitely hasn't been skulking near her apartment for the last hour, trying to figure out how to ask her if he can borrow one of her spirits without getting a Lucy-kick to the balls—doesn't even bother with the stairs, and simply jumps up to her open window.

Lucy is standing on a small table on the other side of her bed, looking around her room in a panic.

"M-m-m-utant!" Lucy stutters and points at her writing desk. "S-s-s-."

Laxus jumps inside, bypassing her bed, and landing with a thump next to the table. She grabs his shoulder with a shaking hand and shouts,

"Spider!"

Laxus has to lock down every single muscle to stop himself from joining Lucy on that table.

Why did it have to be a spider?!

"W-where—." He clears his throat and channels his inner-Elfman to return his voice to its normal register. "Where did you see it?"

"O-on my desk." She shudders violently and slams her foot into the table. "It b-b-bit my hand!"

Laxus reaches down and tucks his jeans into his bright orange socks with yellow swirls before tentatively making his way toward the desk. He wraps his left hand in lightning shaped like a tennis racket, but more tightly woven.

Get a grip, man! Lucy's watching you. It's just a spider! Nothing to be scared of…so what if it has eight eyes? And eight legs...

He suppresses a shudder.

What does anything need eight legs for anyway?!

His question is answered when a tarantula the size of his hand leaps from the shadows beneath the desk, aiming straight for Laxus.

Lucy shrieks again.

Laxus jumps back instantly, landing on a rug which slips beneath him, bringing him hard to the ground. He yelps in a very un-manly manner, getting his lightning racket in front of his face just in time to keep the spider from landing there. The spider lingers in the lightning field, and fries to death before Laxus realizes that he'll have to retract the lightning before the spider will fall.

The smoking tarantula hits the ground with a sickening thunk.

Laxus scrambles away from it, and gags before pulling his shirt over his highly-sensitive nose.

Lucy stares at him, a mixture of relief, concern, and gratitude on her face. She looks at the immobile spider, then back to Laxus. Her eyes roam over him, looking for injuries; then she sees his orange socks.

Her lip twitches, and even biting it doesn't help. Her brown eyes close and she shakes her head slightly.

"Go on." Laxus tells her, arms crossing over his massive chest.

Lucy's arms wrap around her stomach, and her back arches as she cackles mercilessly.

Laxus's eye twitches, but he lets her continue until she mocks his yelp and says,

"Who'd've guessed the Thunder God was a mere mortal like the rest of us? The mighty Laxus brought to his knees by a spider!" She laughs again, and shuts her eyes against the tears.

Laxus lightly brushes his fingers up her calf.

She shrieks and jumps onto his shoulders, her shins digging into his overdeveloped muscles, her hands clenched in his hair.

"Kill it!"

"Who's scared now, mortal?"

"I've been training with Jellal." Lucy's voice is full of power, but there is an out-of-control quality to it.

Laxus growls and his lightning crackles angrily, his temper getting the better of him. "I offered to train with you!"

"Are you jealous?" Her voice is right next to his ear, quiet and frightening.

I can't even feel her breath! Where the hell—?

Laxus is slammed into the ground again, and the cracking of his ribs can be heard even over the howling of the wind.

"Is that why you murdered Natsu?"