Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

So this is a pairing that I've been thinking about quite a bit and I only have 2 (probably invalid) reasons as to why I think about them being together, but I don't care. 1, after the 7 year time skip, Laki is either the same age or I think 1 year older than Laxus. 2, she was in the frame shot when Laxus' team was hugging him because he was allowed back into the guild (don't forget he was actually still excommunicated when they were all on Tenrou.)

So I thought me, who only does crack ships, no one would be surprised another crack ship story from me. And now I've done it.

You know the drill, Fairy Tail ain't mine. Apologies for the poor spelling and grammar, I promise you I tried to proof-read it!

ENJOY!

Cloud to ground

Oneshot

Laki knocked back her drink and slammed it hard on the bar. There were a few people around her and their eyes widened with shock. The wood make mage was always calm and level headed. The only time she usually showed some sort of crazy emotion was when she was talking about her latest torture creations.

"Laki? Are you okay?"

The beautiful barmaid wore a look of concern. Never had she ever seen Laki exhibit such anger before. Her jaw was tight and her teeth looked like they were grinding together. It looked like she was trying her best to hold back some sort of attack or something.

"I'm fine," she replied through gritted teeth. "Another scotch. Please," she added after some hesitation. Mira nodded without saying anything else and went to go and get the drink.

Laki was fuming. To think she had allowed herself to get played. To think she had nurtured all these emotions within her heart, built up the courage to tell him how she felt, all for everything to backfire. He had said he wasn't interested, said that he only liked her as a friend.

Laki wanted to laugh at herself. Just friends? She had practically joined his team! There were no open invites to his team, unlike Team Natsu that always had a new member like every week. They were their own set four and there was nothing anyone could say or do to change it.

But he had accommodated her. She thought that maybe there was a high chance that something could become of them. It was her own fault. She had read into it too deeply, and now she was the one sitting at the bar trying to burn her anger away with flipping alcohol.

"Cana, come and drink with me!" You could hear the aggression in her voice. Everyone around her jumped at her bark.

"You paying?"

Laki shook her purse at her and Cana immediately found herself sitting next to her as they were drinking to their heart's content. Many feared that Laki wouldn't be okay and they tried to get her to stop, only they would find themselves being shuffled away as she controlled the wood in the floorboards to move people away from her. If you weren't here to drink with her, she didn't want to hear it.

Laki knew that Cana wouldn't ask any questions. As long as the booze was there, she didn't care. She cared in her own way which was watching her guildmate out of the corner of her eyes whenever they lifted their glasses to their lips, but she never said anything. Laki would tell someone in her own time.

Meanwhile, at their usual table, Evergreen smacked the back of Laxus' head. The blonde dragon slayer looked up at his female teammate with a scowl. She mirrored his look as they both stared at each other.

"What?" He finally grunted out to her. He was in a foul mood and being with his team right now probably wouldn't make it better. At least they weren't hanging off his every word and treating him like a damn King, but whenever Evergreen got in this mood, he wasn't sure what was better.

"What is wrong with you, Evergreen? Why have you hit Laxus like that?!"

The spectacled woman rolled her eyes at Freed, turning her glare back around to Laxus.

"Look what you've done," she seethed. She pointed over to the bar where Laki was polishing off what seemed to be her sixth glass. Laxus' eyes widened. To the untrained eye, no one would have noticed it. His team however, had been friends with him since they were young. They knew each other's facial expressions and habits. They knew Laxus was shocked. However, he didn't show it and seemed to sulk even more.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

Fuck was he stubborn. He looked away from the mage, but only after he had looked her up and down. He had gotten a glimpse of her face and while the obvious rage was there, you could see the sadness that he had brought on. He had ripped his eyes away from her and was staring at Evergreen.

"I don't know what it is you've done to get her in that state-"

"And why do you think it was me?"

Evergreen gave him a withering look as if to tell him not to interrupt her again and he complied.

"Because she's knocking back fucking scotch not some cocktail! What did you say to her?"

Laxus shrugged his shoulders as if to look indifferent. Bickslow let out a low whistle. "Scotch? Trouble in paradise, ey boss?"

Laxus shot him an annoyed look, but the seith mage was far from phased by it. He just let his tongue hang out and even Freed spoke up.

"Yes Laxus-san, what did you do to anger Laki like that? Did you guys argue?"

Laxus couldn't believe this right now! "What the fuck makes you guys think we were dating in the first place?" His voice was low, eager to not catch any attention of any other guild members close by. Especially if they hear he knows what's wrong with Laki.

The two other guys in the group looked confused. Even though you couldn't see Bickslow's face, his mouth was warped into that of a frown which gave away that he wasn't following along.

"You got pretty damn close to her boss. Not gonna lie, I thought you guys had hit it off or somethin'. Sorry if that's not the case, but she was practically one of us. You know that we don't allow anyone onto the team."

Evergreen rubbed at her temples in frustration. She could clearly see the issue here. The worst part was, she felt like this was all her fault. She had helped Laki pluck up enough courage to tell the resident lightning dragon slayer about her feelings. She was so sure that he would return them! He had practically let her join the team and they hung out a lot! What had gone so wrong?

"So you rejected her?"

Laxus didn't know why Evergreen was making him so uncomfortable. Maybe it was because hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"Well of course I did," he said slowly. He felt as if he were standing on eggshells. The thing is he hadn't meant to. Well he did and he didn't. He did like Laki, he really liked her, but he felt like she could find someone better than him. Someone who wouldn't end her life tragically.

"I don't like her the way you think I do, why would I date her? And besides, we all know I don't date. I'm into my no strings attached."

He was more of a one night stand kind of man. He looked over to Bickslow for some support, but he wasn't smiling. He remembered that each member of his team was dating a member of the Strauss family and he rolled his eyes to look back down at his own drink. Scotch. Just like the drink she was knocking back. Fuck.

"Honestly? You could have fooled me."

Freed had crossed his arms and Laxus actually felt bad. Freed was usually one who backed him most of the time. He knew he had now fucked up if Freed was giving him that look. He sighed and decided to ignore them. He had his reasons and it was no one's business.

However, he couldn't help but glance up at Laki whenever his team wasn't looking at him. He noticed that she no longer wore her red cape and she wore a shorter dress that was similar to the one she wore before. He felt himself grip his glass when he saw her not wearing any tights. She always tried to keep herself covered and away from men with leering glances, but here she was, practically entertaining and inviting any man to stare at what she had to offer and he clenched his jaw, trying to squash down his anger.

She was smiling and joking around with the people around her at this point. Her and Cana were drinking joyfully and Laxus' heart hurt. It hurt to know that she was having fun without him, but this was definitely for the best. He didn't want to be the one that put her life in jeopardy. She deserved to live and not have the curse that seemed to follow Dreyar men.

Finally, everyone was disappearing. The night was coming to an end and some people had jobs to attend to in the morning. Evergreen sighed when she saw her friend struggling against Cana. She knew that the usual guild drunk wouldn't be able to carry Laki home, so she decided to do it herself.

"I'm going to get Laki home."

Laxus was ready to jump up and say that he would do it, but the offer died out on his tongue. He watched as the purple headed girl smiled lazily at Evergreen before dropping her dead weight into her hands. Freed was staying with Mira to help her close up and Bickslow was walking Lisanna home. Elfman was on a job, but because he was returning in the morning, Evergreen was staying the night at his place to surprise him. Fairy Hills was in the complete opposite direction of his house and he felt bad making Evergreen take Laki home.

He sighed, finally moving from his table. He brought his glass with him and left it at the bar. By the time he turned around, he saw Max helping Evergreen as they stumbled together with Laki who was just giggling at their attempts to help her. He knew that Max was just trying to help, but that should have been him, no one else.

Laxus knew it was selfish. Wanting to keep the girl at arms length yet make sure no other man could have her was the defining characteristic of madness and he hated himself for it, but he also couldn't help it.

Before he knew it, he was by the guild door. "I'll take it from here if you want."

Max saw that as the perfect opportunity to finally get away. He let Laxus take his place and he thanked the lightning dragon slayer before running after Jet and Droy who was luckily only down the road. Evergreen on the other hand wasn't so excited. She was disappointed in her team leader.

"I'll be fine Laxus, just let her go."

Before he could respond, Laki spoke up as she tried to lift her head. She let out a loud groan. "Oh Kami, is Laxus here?"

Her words were slurred as she tried to turn her head and see where he was. "Ever? I don wanna see him right now. I don wan him to see me like this."

Evergreen gave Laxus a pointed look as if to say to him 'look what you've done,' but he ignored her and scooped Laki up into his arms. Without even thinking, she laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes, moving into his warmth. Evergreen stood there with her arms crossed, not impressed.

"I know Elfman is coming back tomorrow morning. Making you walk from Fairy Hills back to his is pointless. I've got this."

She finally sighed and nodded, letting it go. "Don't hurt her anymore, Laxus."

His teammate held the door open for him and they both parted ways. He looked down at the mage in his arms. She was so beautiful it hurt. Her hair was longer than when he had been frozen and her figure had definitely matured. He had even heard she tried to become a model to help the guild out financially. She would have been a great one if the photographer hadn't been a creep.

He looked back down again when he felt her drawing circles on his chest. She looked up at him and she smiled. He smiled in spite of himself and realised that she must be so drunk she didn't know it was him. Or she couldn't see that well in the dark.

"Thanks for taking me home, handsome stranger."

Laxus couldn't help but smirk. He was also relieved that she was so drunk she couldn't tell it was him. "You think I'm handsome?"

She nodded. "Even if I weren't wearing my glasses I would think you are. What are you doing taking a plain girl like me home, huh? You should, you should be home with another girl!"

Her tone was so jovial and Laxus knew it was definitely the alcohol talking. If she had been sober, there was no way she would be happy with him taking another girl home. He didn't even want to.

"Nah, I'm good with getting you home instead."

"Are you sure?" Her voice was muted and Laxus wondered why she sounded like that. "I'm not really worth much. I've got no doubts a guy like you has a girl waiting for him. I'll be fine. The guy I like isn't interested. I can't take you away from someone else."

Laxus gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe that this is how he had made her feel. There was no other girl he wanted in the world more than Laki. She really liked him and he had shot her down from her high. He really hadn't changed. He was still here, disappointing people who tried to get close to him.

"Maybe it's him who doesn't deserve you."

Laki laughed softly and shook his head. "Nah, I doubt that. He just doesn't like me. He didn't really give me a reason, not like I need one, but yeah." Laki sighed and pushed herself further into him as his grip tightened around her.

They were pretty much silent the rest of the way and Laxus thought she had fallen asleep until he heard her humming a tune to herself. He smiled as he finally got to hers. He had never been to her apartment due to the rules, but this was hopefully a good enough exception. Considering Laki was one of two people who enforced the rules like a dictator.

Her scent led him to her apartment and when Laki saw the door, she giggled.

"Oh you naughty boy! You took me to your place!"

She looked up at him with a seductive look that was so inviting. She gave him a sultry smile and Laxus had to shake his thoughts away. She was drunk.

"As much as I would like that, you're drunk. I've brought you back to yours so you can sleep."

Laki pouted. "Party pooper."

Laxus actually chuckled. "And you're a child when you don't get your own way. Now where's your key? I need to get you inside."

He placed her down on the ground, but kept his arm around her so that she wouldn't topple over. She sighed and reached into her cleavage, making Laxus turn red almost promptly. He turned his gaze elsewhere so that he wouldn't be staring at her reach around for it. Why would she not give him any warning? She was drunk, that's why.

"Found it! Can you help me, I don't think I can put the key in."

Laxus took the key out of her grasp, but their fingers brushed against one another's. Laxus had always enjoyed the feel of Laki's hands and he hadn't realised how much he had actually missed it. He had stopped to look at their hands and he couldn't help but stare at her until he heard Laki giggle a little bit.

"What are you doin'?

"N-nothing," he responded.

He twisted her key and the door handle before walking inside. He switched on her light and looked around her main living room. He raised an eyebrow at the wooden things she had made in the corner. Were they...equipments of torture? Laki leaned on him as she stumbled about and he pulled his gaze away from the strange objects to stare down at her.

"Let's get you to your room."

Laki hummed and he took her hand in his and gently guided her along. Her bedroom door was wide open, so it was easy to see into what room was what. Her bed was extremely fancy and Laxus grinned when he realised that she had made it using her magic. Maybe if they were on good terms again, she could come and make them a bed for the both of them...No, not the both of them. Just him. Him only. Yup, just him.

Laki fell onto the bed and smiled dreamily as she looked up at him. Laxus had to gulp when he saw how good she looked. Her breasts were almost falling out of her bra and her dress had ridden up, her thick thighs on for show. She probably still couldn't recognise him because he hadn't bothered to turn the light on in her room. He didn't want her freaking out at him while she was drunk.

"Why are you looking at me like that, you naughty boy?"

Laxus didn't know that she could be such a tease when she was drunk. He crouched by her bed as she rolled onto her side to come closer to him.

"Because I think you're beautiful."

Laki scrunched up her nose in disbelief. "Noooo, I'm not! Otherwise Laxus would want me. I thought we were getting on great...Am I not okay?"

Laxus removed her glasses and placed them on the side before running his hand through her hair. He heard Laki's breath hitch, but he didn't dare stop. To think that he had made her feel like she wasn't enough. She was all he wanted.

"You're more than okay. I personally think you're great. Maybe he's going through something. Maybe he has a fear of letting people get close because he doesn't want to lose them."

Laki looked confused. "But...I wouldn't be going anywhere. I would never leave him."

Laxus smiled. "He knows. It's just a fear of his."

"Then why didn't he tell me that?"

Laxus sighed. Yeah, that was a good question. It was hard for him to open up, especially when so many saw him as strong. Laki had come, flipped him 180 and he started relying on her more than he would have ever thought he would have needed to. She became his weakness, but with the sort of mage he is, he couldn't have any weaknesses. He couldn't put her in danger like that.

"You know guys, we're such hot heads and we've got a lot of pride. We would rather hurt girls to make ourselves look like villains so that they would never like us again to cover up our own guilt."

Laki was silent before she smiled tiredly. She reached out to cup his cheek and Laxus couldn't help but clutch at her hand. He ran his thumb gently over the back of her hand. This conversation would be forgotten in the morning, and he was going to savour this last moment he would get with Laki. He had ruined everything and he wasn't sure that they would be able to come back from this.

"Thank you for sharing this with me from a guy's perspective. Will I see you around?"

Laxus shrugged his shoulder, holding onto her hand a little tighter. He wanted to. He wanted to be able to go back to how they were before she confessed. Before he pushed her away with his indifferent, insensitive words. But that was wishful thinking and he didn't deserve that. He watched as her eyes grew heavy before they finally fluttered closed. Her hand went limp and he gently removed it from his face. Dropping a kiss on her forehead, he left.

"Maybe not."

Laki woke up the next morning with a slight headache as she saw a glass of water on her bedside table. She sighed when she noticed that she was still in her clothes from last and wondered how she even got home. Spying the glass of water and aspirin once again, she gulped it down as she started to think back about yesterday and what had made her start drinking in the first place.

She clutched at her heart and fell against her headrest, tears building up in her eyes. "I really miscalculated things, didn't I? I really thought that he liked me back, not that he saw me as some female best friend. How foolish was I to think that? I don't know how Juvia bounced back from all the previous rejections."

She laughed bitterly at herself as she dried her eyes. She had tried to act tough by drinking away her sorrows, and it had worked. It worked only for the few hours that she had been drinking. Now she was here, picking up the pieces and the memories all with a damn headache.

"I really need to thank..." She gasped when she realised how she had gotten home. The very same person who had led her to drink in the first place was the very same person who had carried her in his arms and brought her back.

"I can't believe him! He tells me that nothing will ever happen between us then he does...he does THAT! Ugh, THIS is why I was confused! He seemed so nice to me! He treated me differently from the other women who he had slept with! It was a nice to me, devil to you situation, how could I not believe he was in love with me?"

Her pain had turned into anger. Was she just a plaything to him? Is that what it was? She got up from her bed in a huff, deciding that she was going to get a job to take her mind off of things. That and she was going to unleash her anger in a place where she would get money and not waste it at the bar and then gaining a headache. It was so embarrassing having Laxus take her home in that state.

She hopped into the shower, trying to think about what else happened. At least Laxus hadn't attempted to change her clothes because that would have made her even more mad. She angrily scrubbed at her skin before slowing down, the gentle conversation playing back in her mind. She had remembered Laxus' fear. He had a fear of her leaving him?

She recalled the whole conversation, but it didn't make sense. He pushed her away so that it wouldn't hurt him when she left him. She had already clarified that she would never leave him, but he still didn't explain himself. There was definitely a hidden meaning in there somewhere, and she was determined to find out for herself.

~x~

"Laxus," she called him gently. Laxus turned around and they were both by themselves on the second floor. He was standing in front of the S class mage board and Laki was standing there, her eyes on the floor as she rubbed her arm. He had smelt her the moment she walked into the guild. The smell of alcohol was gone, and her normal scent was back. The smell of jasmine and vanilla wrapping itself around his senses. He didn't expect her to come and see him though.

"Laki...Hey."

"Hey yourself. I just...I just want to thank you for getting me home last night and dealing with my stupid babble."

Laxus stiffened. She remembered everything despite being drunk. He nodded his head, trying to gauge her reaction. She didn't seem mad at him at all for what he did, so maybe they were okay? But that meant she remembered everything he told her. That was definitely her reason for being here. She wanted answers.

"It's no problem."

Laxus wanted to say more, but he didn't know how. Laki decided to take it upon herself and she stepped forward towards him. Her face was set as she gave him a stern look.

"I wasn't lying when I said that I'll never leave you. But you owe me an explanation. You can't like me and not want to be with me. Explain yourself."

Laxus sighed. He knew she wouldn't let it go. Laki had once been a shy person, but he guessed that she outgrew all that in the 7 years he had been frozen. He really was going to have to explain himself now.

"The Dreyar women haven't had a lot of luck in life. My great grandma, my grandma and even my mother have all passed on at childbirth. I...I don't want that happening to you. It was already bad enough not growing up with a mother, but I couldn't bear not living with you for the rest of my life due to some family curse. So in order to protect you, I pushed you away. You need to go and find yourself a man whose family isn't cursed and who you can be together with until you're as old as gramps."

Laki's heart flipped in her chest as she bit her lip, her eyes wide. It was true. There were no Dreyar women at all and she had wondered why that was. She did remember Mavis saying something about her existence affecting all her friends in some way. But with the war over and Mavis gone, that would mean that the curse was gone too. Laki couldn't help the next comment that came out of her mouth.

"What, you think about getting married to me? And us having kids?"

Laxus chuckled as he came forwards towards her too. "I have thought about it once or twice."

He was standing right in front of her now as she looked up at him. They were so close to one another and Laki just wanted to fall against his broad chest. "Hmm, you've got no right thinking about that. Not when you haven't asked me out."

Laxus sighed, wrapping his arms around her. He couldn't stay away from her for too long, but he also didn't want to get too close. Laki didn't even seem bothered by it. Did she not understand what he was telling her? She's not stupid, but why wasn't she understanding that she was going to die because of him?

"Laki, you know I can't."

She shook her head. "I know you can. Tell me about all the women in your family. Were they civilians? Because I'm not one. I'm a mage and a strong one at that. Mavis said that her being alive also cursed her friends. Your great grandfather was probably her best friend. Now she's gone, the curse is also gone. I'll handle childbirth. But that's something for the future. Let's live for the now."

Laxus pulled back his arms as if she had burnt him. His face was hard like thunder as he realised that she was disregarding her life for him. "Laki, that's like sealing your fate! I'm not doing it. We can't be too sure if the curse has been lifted or not! What if it wasn't anything to do with Mavis?"

Laki laughed and brought her hand up to run it through his hair. He couldn't help but growl lowly at the contact and Laki pulled his head down gently towards her. He didn't bother stopping her as they both stared into each other's eyes. She smiled at him softly.

"I don't care. I want you, you want me, let's go with it. I don't want anyone else Laxus. I'll rather be alone than not be with you. You can't live in fear, it's something you have to overcome someday. Everything will be okay. We have to find out someday if the curse has been lifted, right. I don't mind testing it out with you."

Her voice was soft and gentle and Laxus couldn't help but stare into her eyes, worried. She rested her forehead on his and he sighed before nodding. Laki wasn't going to let this go, so there was no point arguing about it. Why are the women of Fairy Tail so annoyingly stubborn?

His grip on her tightened, practically pulling her into him. "Fine. But first. Laki, would you like to go out with me?"

She giggled with a nod. She traced the lightning bolt scar on his eyes very gently. "I would love to..."

So, how was that? I've been working on it for a bit and I thought I would try my hand at some form of one shot. I think they would be cute together (but I enjoy Miraxus). As for the name of the story, it's something to do with lightning hitting the ground or a tree. You know, it links to their magic and stuff.

Once again, I'm really sorry about any errors. I have an older macbook with this STUPID butterfly keyboard that is just shit with typing. My phone and my work iPad's predictive text isn't the best, especially as my phone has now decided it doesn't like contractions when I write using google docs...which is where I keep all my works...

But please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Make sure you all stay clean, stay safe and stay sane!

Lolita-love,

Lolita-chan