S i x

(Y/N)

I violently ripped the gauze from the roll and wrapped it around my knuckles. I enjoyed utilizing my magic through hand-to-hand combat, and I'd rather not have bloody knuckles while fighting.

"(Y/n), where are you going?" Laxus sighed.

"Where do you think?" I muttered back without looking at Laxus. "To get Mae back."

"(Y/n), we don't even know where to look! We have no idea where this bastard is hiding."

"I'll find him." I snapped, getting angry now.

I stood up and started storming towards the forest. Bad guys always hide in creepy places; stereotypes are somewhat accurate, right?

"(Y/n) stop! Use your brain- I know you have one. You have zero idea where you're going and who this guy is." Laxus roughly grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face him.

"I can't just let him get away with this! Did you see the look on that mother's face? Both of her babies have been kidnapped. I can't just sit around and- mmph!"

Laxus smashed his lips against mine with his eyes squeezed shut. I widened my eyes for a moment before accepting and melting into the kiss.

Laxus' hand moved down to my waist and suddenly I felt a sharp jab in my stomach.

I pulled away from the kiss and down to my stomach to see Laxus' large fist punching me. My (e/c) eyes grew wide and I looked up at Laxus in confusion. He had a stoic yet sorrowful look in his eye.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as black spots appeared in my vision.

"Laxus..." I said weakly, reaching my hand to his cheek and grazing my fingertips along it, before my arm went limp and I fainted.

* * *

I woke up from a dreamless sleep with a jolt in a cold sweat. Memories of what had happened moments before I fainted rushed over me like a tidal wave.

"Finally awake?" I turned around and saw Laxus standing over me with a stern look on his face. He handed me a plate of eggs and bacon. "You slept through the night completely silent. For a moment I thought I had killed you." He chuckled.

My stomach growled as I looked down at the food in front of me. I began to gobble it up. "Why did you knock me out?" I murmured, surprisingly not as angry as I thought I would be.

"You were being illogical. You wanted to go after this asshole when we had nothing on him." Laxus emotionlessly.

I stayed silent and stared at the empty plate in my lap.

"You're always the one to think things through... you've really grown attached to this little girl." He spoke slightly sympathetically, which was unexpected.

"She reminds me of someone I know... knew." I retorted in a tone that said 'Don't ask.'

Laxus understood and stopped talking at he cleaned up the mess he made while cooking. His cooking wasn't too good but I didn't say anything, I'd just be doing the cooking from now on.

An awkward silence formed between us. I stared up at the baby blue sky and sighed, the events of last night replaying over and over in my head.

"Why did you kiss me?" My question sliced through the tense air like a knife.

Even though I wasn't looking at I knew that stupid smirk was forming on his face.

"Don't even try me with some perverted response, Laxus. I'll rip your head off, just answer the question honestly." I snarled, my face turning bright red as I realized what I had just asked him.

He paused for a moment and I heard him sigh. "Honestly, (y/n), I still-"

A loud crash from the forest interrupted him. I jumped up and ran towards the forest, with Laxus right on my tail.

(A/N- Hmm I wonder why Laxus and reader-sama are always interrupted... cough cough author-san is trying to create climax using a cliche writing tactic cough cough sorry about it)

Magic bullets shot at us and I nimbly avoided the attacks. Laxus on the other hand, agility wasn't his strong suit but he was still able to block the attacks with his incredible strength.

Finally, the bullets stopped as we reached an obvious orifice in a large cave.

"God, how stereotypical can this guy get?" I wrinkled my nose at the sight. We entered the dim cave, though our magic aura surrounding us allowed for enough light to see. I couldn't help but notice our auras mingling, something that happened when the mages had forged a bond with one another because our magic was essentially a manifestation of the mage's soul, in a sense.

We reached the main room of the cave, which was seemingly empty. I felt someone watching me though, from the shadows. "Laxus." I murmured worriedly.

"I know." He replied, his lightning sparking around him.

All of the sudden magic bullets rained down on us, too many to block or dodge. I ran to Laxus and cast a defensive spell around us. I crossed my forearms and yelled the spell's name, "Cosmic Barrier: Rho Aias!"

"Thanks but I didn't need help, Princess." He said arrogantly.

"Shut up and appreciate my kindness, Sparky." I snapped right back.

"Well, look who I ran into." A seductive female voice chimed.

Who else but Ophelia walked out to meet us. She smirked at us as she looked us up and down.

"How did you like my magic turrets? Nice, hm?" She crowed.

"Where is Mae?" I snarled.

"And who may that be?" She cocked her head innocently. "I have many young mages here, you'll have to be more specific." She raised her hand and on queue the shadows in the corner of the cave dissipated revealed dozens of mages trapped in magic handcuffs, chained to a cave wall. Most of them were sitting down limply. The handcuffs were glowing and you could see a current of magic energy flowing from the cuffs to a huge orb of concentrated magic energy in the center of the room.

My eyes widened as I realized what she was doing; she was draining the magic from the mages and transporting it into a lacrima.

"Stop! You're killing them!" I demanded. A mages magic energy serves as a life force. If it was drained unnaturally and too quickly it could easily kill the mage.

"Those lives are meaningless, they're just unimportant peasant villagers. They don't even deserve that magic." She snickered.

"Who are you to play God and take away someone's magic?!" I screeched, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes.

"(Y/n)!" I turned around to the prisoners to see Mae's big blue eyes staring hopefully at me.

My eyes softened and I gave her a reassuring smile. 'I'll get you out of here.' I mouthed to her. She replied with a huge grin.

Suddenly she cringed and fell to the ground as her magic cuffs began to glow. My eyes widened and turned to glower at Ophelia.

Ophelia laughed maliciously and raised her hand, her long fingers cutting through the air. As she raised her hand a dark magic circle appeared on the ground and shadow monsters leaked out of it.

Laxus and I began to fight the monsters, easily killing them in one or two strikes of magic. However, they continued to spawn.

"They aren't gonna stop coming until she's defeated. Go (y/n), knock her out. I'll take care of these things." Laxus instructed.

I nodded and began rushing towards Ophelia who was walking away as if she'd already won. I used my territory magic to teleport in and out of pockets between the monsters.

I finally reached her and she turned around with her mouth agape. Purple magic surrounded by hand and I raised my fist.

"Surprise, bitch." I snarled and before she could say anything, I punched her in the face and sent her flying with her back hitting the cave wall with a painful crack.

While she was down I sprinted to the magic lacrima, trying to find a way to reverse the energy back into the bodies of each mage.

"You can't defeat me that easily." Ophelia jeered from behind me. I turned around to see her glaring at me with blood gushing down her face and a fire in her eyes.

Once again we fought with our fists but this time it was much more passionate. This time we were both fighting for something we believed in, rather than only protecting ourselves.

It was obvious we had reached a stalemate as we both continued standing after each fall. I made some space between us and shut my eyes. I breathed in deeply and changed my stance. I bent my right elbow at a right angle with my palm raised to the sky, facing me. I bent my pinky and ring finger and left my other three fingers up. I held my right forearm with my left hand. I took a deep breath in and whispered the incantation to the spell, "Aurea quae supra caelo..." Light magic energy appeared on my fingertips and grew exponentially in size. "Cosmic Ruler: Supernova!" As I screamed this wind appeared around my right hand. My hair flowed in the wind and I lowered my right arm and pointed it at Ophelia. A massive amount of energy came from my fingers and explosions appeared in a trail leading from me to Ophelia. She wasn't given any time to dodge and was hit head-on by the magic and tumbled back in a cloud of dust, defeated.

I limped to the lacrima due to how little magic energy I had left, and inspected it before realizing how to return the magic to its rightful owners. By nature, magic energy will always seek to return to where it fits, like a puzzle. So, the magic in the lacrima would separate and each ounce of magic energy would return in full to each mage.

I hit the orb with the palm of my hand, shattering the crystal encasing the magic. The magic immediately swirled around the air, searching for its corresponding mage. I watched the magic with wondrous eyes, the raw magic was beautiful. It shone brighter than all the stars in the sky. I reached up and grazed it with my fingers. It travelled through my fingertips; it was soft yet I could sense its sheer power.

The magic travelled into the bodies of each mage and they stood, destroying their handcuffs. They all watched me with thankful eyes. I looked over at Laxus and admired him as he fought the shadow monsters, his muscles showing as his fur coat slid down his shoulders.

I turned back and saw all the mages awaiting for my order.

"Fight!" I demanded, raising my shaking fist.

They all paused for a minute then agreed, yelling a war cry and rushing towards the shadow monsters.

I watched proudly as the mages fought the monsters, until a blood-curdling screech was heard. I turned around and my heart dropped to my stomach at what I saw.

Ophelia, covered in fatal wounds yet somehow conscious looked at my horrified visage clearly entertained and licked her blood-covered blade sinisterly.