Goodness gracious… I just read over that last chapter, and there were a LOT of spelling/grammar errors, huh? ^^""" I'm sorry. I'm always in a hurry to a post a chapter, so I don't get a chance to read over it for a while…. Ah, I'll read over this one, though ^^ After all, I can't let my grammar nazi status get revoked, right? Haha.

Oh! And I'm so thankful for all the reviews! I love you guys so much *Huggles all of you* And I'm glad to see that there are lots of fellow Freed/Cana shippers out there ;)

Anyway, onto chapter five! :D

Mirajane Strauss was not a woman who liked to fight. She did not enjoy being angry. Besides her regular match-making antics, she wasn't partial to gossip and did not entertain the idea of friends talking badly about each other. Above all, she most certainly did not like to complain.

She was undeniably, however, a demon. And demons did, despite their best intentions, end up complaining profusely in their own distinct way.

This was something that Laxus Dreyar was about to learn.

The blonde had just finished preparing himself for the night (which he was positive was going to be long and interesting and very tiring) before he stopped and rested his large, shirtless shoulder on the doorway to Mira's room, which for some reason he was having a ridiculously hard time entering. Then again, he figured it would be a little weird if he was totally fine walking into a sleeping woman's room in the middle of the night to get in her bed. Not that he was opposed to it, of course, but something about the eldest Strauss made him want to… wait. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy her company, or even that he'd ruled out the possibility, but he wanted to enjoy more of her. He wanted to find out exactly who the demon was, what brought her to life, and what filled those sapphire pools with so much passion, and he didn't want anything holding him back.

It wasn't exactly love, at least not yet, but it was an intense curiosity, and that was close enough for now.

For some reason, that thought sent a drop of contentment into the dragon slayer's heart, and its tiny ripples spread through his whole body, sending a chill down his spine.

A murmur from the bed caught him, and his eyes widen as his head snapped up in attention. Across the room from him, Mirajane was curled on her hip, one arm huddled under her side and the other bent so that her fingers had partially tangled themselves in the soft, thin white strands of her hair, which had been released from her ponytail and now hung like half-drawn curtains over her eyes. The curls were still intact, despite the damp night air, and they sprawled around the elegant woman in long, graceful patterns and swirls, weaving and falling over her slender shoulders and framing a perfect, smooth face. Glowing in the weary hall light, her features had softened, and her flushed lips had parted just enough to let a few whispers slip out.

The blonde man tilted forward slightly, straining his sensitive ears to make out the soft-spoken words. But no matter how intently he listened, he could not get himself to understand, and just as quickly as it had come, the whisper was gone past him like a fading breeze, the pale lips curved up in a content smile. He wasn't disappointed, though, which surprised him. No, the relaxed, peaceful expression the woman had acquired spoke so clearly he could almost hear it singing to him. It was an infectious cure-all, and he had to admit, he was in dire need.

It couldn't be helped. His feet had started moving unconsciously towards her, softly, quietly, closer… closer… closer. He had to be closer. He needed to see her face, to drink in the pale, ivory smoothness of her skin, to understand why she was so filled with such content and passionate life. Before he realized it, he was directly in front of her sleeping face, and his long, thick shadow rained over her tiny form. His heart was pounding now, thudding through his whole body loud enough that he was afraid he would wake her. He didn't even know what he was thinking anymore, but something had captured him, and it refused to let go. Why did she make him feel so… safe? So afraid? His expression of wide-eyed unawareness changed to a look of discomfort, his brow knitting itself together, and Laxus Dreyar stood there like a confused child, a certain part of him wishing that she would wake up and get mad at him, scold him, do anything. Guilt had crept into his chest and he needed something to take it away. He could feel it getting closer, closer, all of it sneaking up on him at once, like a monster hiding in the corner of his mind, waiting until he was distracted. Guilt, anger, frustration, and…

"Laxus…?"

He snapped to attention once again, his eyes now locked onto two very awake sapphires, which were filled with worry and confusion. The dragon slayer stared dumbly for a few seconds, and his jaw dropped slightly when he caught sight of his large, rough hand intertwined with several soft clumps of hair on the demon mage's head. How did that get there…? He wondered, still recovering from his thoughts as he quickly took back the hand and looked away, the slightest hint of a blush playing on his cheeks as he buried the accused limb deep in his pocket and continued staring at the wall, looking anywhere but at the woman in front of him. He only brought back down to her ivory skin, however, when she repeated his name, softer than before, and reached out her slender hand, letting her fingers brush over the muscles in his forearm in a concerned gesture.

"Laxus, is something wrong?" She asked gently, starting to sit up. He stopped her, however, and turned to face her with his back. His head was tilted downward, towards the cracks and swirls in the old wooden floor, and he studied them intently, both hands now shoved in his pockets while he mulled over his thoughts. He quickly faked back to himself, however, and shrugged, still staring at the floor. "You had something in your hair." He mumbled, trying his best to keep a cool, unfaltering tone. His voice quivered, though, and Mirajane Strauss was not one to miss those sorts of things, but she let it slide for that moment, only because the blonde man had already left her and made his way to the other side of the bed. It was then he noticed the wall of pillows built up to keep them on separate sides, and despite himself, he smirked.

She complained in the best way.

From across the mattress, said complainer had turned and was now lying on her back, her eyes glued to wooden rafters of the ceiling in deep thought. She felt the bed tilt towards the other side and her body shifted as the springs and support beams let out a few creaks and groans of protest while the dragon slayer climbed in and situated himself. There was a long, deep sigh, the distinct sound of hands running through hair, and then a long, still silence, and the woman resumed her thoughts. It was weird enough having Laxus in her room, but at least there was an explanation for it. There was, however, no explanation for waking up with him directly in front of her with his hand resting on her head. Why was he there? Did he honestly think she wouldn't wake up if he put that gargantuan hand on her? She was already on high alert considering that he was supposed to be in her bed, but even Laxus wasn't stupid enough to pull something like that and expect to get away with it. What was he doing? What was he thinking? The again, he probably wasn't thinking at all. But there was something there, something about him, that the woman could just not get out of her head. He had seemed so… lost.

Thinking for a few more seconds, Mira pinched her brow together and let out a sigh of defeat. She couldn't resist. She really couldn't. "Laxus?" She called softly, over her wall of pillows. From the other side, she heard the man let out a sigh before a large hand clamped down on one of the fluffy cushions and tossed it to the bottom of the bed. From the hole in the newly breached defense, Laxus stared back at her, his orange eyes cloudy and tired. His jaw was resting lazily in one hand, and his elbow was propped up in the crook between his pillow and the head board, and he was looking at her with a weird mixture of boredom and skepticism. He was confused, and when he was confused, social anything was at the very bottom of his list. And believe it or not, this was under his "social anything" category.

He blinked and arched his brow. "What is it?" He asked, and his shoulder relaxed a little under the concerned gaze of the snowy haired woman. Safe.

Said woman shifted, suddenly unable to find the correct thing to say. She honestly wasn't sure why she had called out to him in the first place, but something had latched onto her mind and she was positive she wouldn't be able to think properly until she figured the blonde man out. But, then again, what went on with Laxus was really none of her business, right? After all, he was thunder and lightning. Just the other night she had been protecting her little siblings from that, right? Wasn't Laxus someone who she had to be careful around? Someone she needed to be defensive towards? The barmaid shut her eyes and sighed through her nose, and she felt Laxus shift again. He was running out of patience.

"I was just wondering, Laxus, do you have enough room?" Her tone was sweet as always, soft and gentle, drippy with white lies.

The dragon slayer sighed and rolled onto his back, folding his muscled arms behind his head and closing his eyes. "You're a terrible liar."

The demon mage scrunched up her brow and made a face. How could he tell? She wondered, edging a bit closer to the dragon slayer, whose face was now hidden behind the top tier of the pillow wall. This time, it was her turn. She reached up and curled her thin fingers around the pillow and moved it, twisting her body around to put it behind her. It pressed against her back, pushing her closer to the blonde man. He peeked open one eye and stared at her.

"What's going on, Laxus? You're not being yourself." Her voice had softened considerably, and she looked up to the dragon slayer with a mixture of concern and sadness. Laxus raised a brow at this and sighed, resuming his previous position to face her, his orange eyes drilling into hers as he studied the tender scrunch of her worried features. Their faces were dangerously close now, but they didn't seem to notice. They had captured each other.

No going back now, right?

"I mean, normally you're so… you. There's just no stopping it. Why not now? Isn't this the perfect opportunity for you to say something crude and sarcastic?" Her tone was just gentle enough to keep her words from being hurtful. She was very good at complaining.

The dragon slayer smirked at this and shut his eyes, letting out an amused grunt. "It's nice to know you've got such a high opinion of me." At that, the demon mage tried to protest, but he stopped her and kept trudging through. "I don't blame you, y'know. I'm not really recognized as saint." He thought for a moment and his smirk widened, although his brow twitched. "Freed would disagree." He mused.

Mira smiled warmly and leaned her head on her pillow, reaching up and placing a hand on the blonde's large shoulder. It quietly perched there, like a dove on a mountain top, protective and brave, but still so gentle and kind. "You really do love them, don't you?"

Laxus's shoulders tensed, but they relaxed quickly as he let out a content sigh. "Yeah." He smiled slightly, something daring him to go on even though he didn't have much to say. He went with the first thing he thought of, despite the fact that it really didn't go with their conversation and was (as he would realize when he was finished) pretty embarrassing.

"You know, the first mission we went on after I… I came back, we had to spend a night in the cargo car of a train. We all picked our spots and went to bed, but when I woke up they were all huddled around me. I swear to god it was the most ridiculous damn thing they've ever pulled." He paused and quirked his brow. "Then again, they're all pretty crazy bastards." At that, the demon mage giggled, and pulled her hand back, curling it under her chest. Laxus smiled slightly down at her, but then his expression turned serious. "Oi, you know I'm… I'm uh, I'm sorry Bixlow started this. I swear he won't even touch your sister. I lectured the hell outta him in the hall." He grinned. "Besides, I doubt he wants to face the demon Mirajane. Plus he knows I'd beat the crap out of him."

The barmaid smiled before a thought struck her and she leaned towards the thunder mage. "I lectured Elfman, too. You don't have anything to worry about. If he did anything with Ever right now, I wouldn't go easy on him."

"What do you mean 'right now'?"

"We have to keep the future in mind." She winked.

After that, the two S-class mages stayed up talking about useless things for almost an hour before finally falling asleep, although they were much closer than they had been before, and they were still, undoubtedly, captured.

Needless to say, the pillow wall was completely dismantled by the end of the night.

No need for defense now, right?

…..

The next morning, Mira awoke to an empty bed, which for some reason made her feel a little hurt (she would never admit it). Of course, when she heard water running from down the hall in the bathroom, she couldn't deny the wave of relief that spread over her.

He didn't run off again. That's good.

After slipping into a cute, pale blue sundress, the demon mage made her way down the hall and headed straight towards the main room of the house. Of course, that was after sneaking a peek at Elfman and Evergreen, who she was happy to note were still in bed, curled up against each other.

Ah, the joys of a matchmaker.

She had been tempted to peek in at Lisanna and Bixlow, but their door had been wide open and no one was inside, so she assumed that they were already up and just being exceptionally quiet. When she finally did make it to the living room, however, the two mages were nowhere to be seen, and the woman felt her chest tighten instinctively. She tried to stifle her anxiety, though, when she noticed Freed sitting quietly on the couch with a book in his hand and a calm, non-crisis look on his face. She couldn't help being worried about her baby sister disappearing with a relatively weird soul mage, though. After all, Bixlow wasn't exactly known for having an outstanding status as a gentleman.

When the green haired man caught sight of her, he shut his book softly and smiled, standing to greet the woman. "Why, good morning, Mirajane. I do hope you slept well." He said, with just a hint of jealously in his normally calm voice.

The demon mage smiled and nodded briskly, still trying to mask her worry. "Good morning, Freed. I hope you and Cana had a nice time." She tried to ignore his massive blush. "Have you seen Lisanna and Bixlow?"

Shaking the heat from his cheeks, the rune mage nodded, sitting back down and opening his book. "They went to the resort to buy soemthing to make breakfast. They said that they assumed everyone else would sleep late." He glanced over at the clock, then the open window. "Actually, they should be back soon. I think that's them coming up the road."

At that, the oldest Strauss made her way over to the window and peeked out, spotting two distinct figures on the thin drit path, the sun casting long shadows in front of them.

Lisanna was laughing and holding Bixlow's "dolls", (which were lifelessly stacked in her arms) while grocery bags floated playfully around her head, spilling out a lone carrot every now and then. Next to her, the soul mage was talking animatedly, his tongue sticking out in joy as he spoke and laughed.

Mira smiled warmly, and although she was feeling very happy and content, only one thing was going through her head.

Damn. Too fast.

…..

After breakfast, Elfman and Evergreen arguing, Laxus being Laxus and Mira taking note of him, the seven mages had made their way down to the beach to watch over the tourists, and in an attempt to blend in, they had all crowded together on a large blanket under the only free umbrella, and they were invested in trying to look normal. Which, with the Thunder God Tribe, was proving to be a little more difficult than it should have been, especially after Bixlow had taken off his mask in a debate of whether or not his face was more 'normal' than the hunk of metal. It was a tough call. Chaos erupted.

On the edge of the blanket, away from the torrent of mages, Laxus was sitting with his knees pulled up as elbow rests and his hands clasped in front of him. He was wearing a pale yellow shirt that was just light and thin enough to let specks of his tattoo show through and dark purple swimming shorts that Freed had suggested.

He let out a sigh. He was bored, and frankly, he was tired of it. It was one thing to go on vacation to a beachside resort and have fun gambling and eating and doing whatever, but it was another thing to be on a mission at a beachside resort and have fun doing whatever.

One was filled with guilt.

Suddenly, the dragon slayer smelled something extremely sweet, and he looked up to see Mira smiling and standing over him. She was clad in a black bikini that clashed recklessly against her snowy hair which was pulled up in an old, demon-Mira ponytail. The dragon slayer cocked a smirk at it as the woman took a seat next to him and smiled sweetly.

"Hello, Laxus. Why are you over here all by yourself?"

He raised his brow at her quick inquiry and shrugged, nodding his head in the direction of other five mages, who were caught up in some sort of intense dispute. The barmaid nodded her understanding and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them loosely. Sensing the approach of awkward silence, the Strauss tilted back her head and searched the sky, then turned back to the blonde man and opened her mouth to speak.

"—How long do you think the average girl can hold her breath?" She was cut off by the dragon slayer, who was staring intently at the ocean, his brow arched slightly. The barmaid recoiled from the randomness of his question and blinked, but quickly regained her sense and put a finger on her chin in thought.

She furrowed her brow and shrugged. "I'm not sure. Probably no more than one minute, though. Why?"

Laxus stood and sighed, arching his back in a stretch. "Some girl went under about three and a half minutes ago." He replied coolly, peeling off his shirt and making his way towards the shoreline. At least I'm not bored.

Behind him, Mira sputtered before getting up and walking calmly after him. She caught up a little too quickly, and figured that the dragon slayer must have been lagging.

"Laxus! Where are you going?" It was Freed's voice. The rune mage was waving his arm and running towards the two S-class mages, his green hair bouncing with his step.

Of course, the rest of the group followed.

Laxus could only grimace.

….

After a few minutes of swimming, yelling, and Laxus nearly electrocuting all of them, the seven mages were bobbing in the deeper part of the ocean, all looking confused and somewhat annoyed.

Elfman and Evergreen got caught up in an argument and Freed, Bixlow and Lisanna had grouped together and were talking calmly. Mira, of course, was left with Laxus, who was scowling at his warped reflection in the water. She tried to be as gentle as she could.

"Laxus, are you sure she didn't come back up? Maybe she swam off somewhere else and surfaced."

The dragon slayer furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth, clenching and unclenching his fist in the water. "Damn…"

Lisanna, sensing the discomfort, quickly swam up to the two older mages and smiled lightly. "Here, Laxus, I'll go under and look, okay?" She smirked innocently and splashed her newly formed tail in the water. The dragon slayer raised his brow, but nodded, while Mira smiled proudly at her younger sister. Takeover magic was as useful as always.

The youngest Strauss dove down and quickly disappeared, leaving only a few ripples behind in her place. There was a long silence as they all focused their attention on the spot where she had been.

A minute went by.

Two.

Five.

By now, Mira was starting to worry. In fact, it was so evident that the other mages had stopped looking at Lisanna's stop and were now all staring at the barmaid with faces filled with concern. Bixlow tried to play it off, and even sent his babies to dance around the Strauss's downcast head, but she was despondent. They were all quiet.

"Hey, sis, how about I go after her?" It was Elfman who broke the silence, looking at his sister with the desperate look a child gets when their mother is upset. Of course, the last thing the demon mage wanted at that moment was for both of her younger siblings to be away from her, but she didn't have time to protest, and the muscular Strauss was gone within a few seconds. He couldn't stand that worried look she had. He needed to find Lisanna, for both their sakes.

"I'm going too." Evergreen mumbled, and she quickly disappeared after Elfman.

Laxus raised her brow at where she had been, but shrugged it off. After a few more minutes, tension was thick.

"I have to go." Mira said, shattering the thin layer of silence that had fallen. All eyes went to her, and Laxus nodded.

"Freed, Bixlow."

They returned the nod and dove down, leaving the two S-classes alone. Laxus raised his brow. "Well, go on. I'll be right behind you, so, uh… you'll be fine." He stuttered awkwardly. The demon mage swallowed hard and nodded, too worried to notice the sweet gesture.

They both took a breath.

They both went down.

Neither one came back up.

Oooooh, goodness gracious, I totally lost the end… I was actually going to cut it off sooner, but then it would be too short, and the chapter would kinda be pointless, so I figured I'd kick-start the plot a little bit…

Ugh.

Anyway, please excuse my awful description towards the end XD I really wanted to get this chapter out for you guys. And OMIGOSH. Thank you guys again SO MUCH for the support this thing is getting! I totally feel like I suck for not getting very good quality chapters out with all the time I'm taking between updates, but you guys have still supported me TwT Aq;wirbf;qober What is this. I don't desrve this kindness. *Loves you all*

Oh, and, uh… You guys, I'm, um... I'm not even old enough to drive ^^" I am sosososo sorry for you guys who want M-rated stuff, but I really can't… I mean, I don't know how to… It just… It's not something I can do right now ^^""" *Cough*Ormaybeeverhehehehe*Cough* Anywho, I was tempted to have them kiss or something while they were in bed, but I don't think it's in either of their characters to just do that so soon, so I'm sorry if that's what you wanted. Don't worry, they'll be in plenty of situations like that again )

Thank you all so much for reading!

~Kishi