Chapter Text
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we’ll be there, now shush.”
Laxus nodded and followed his father into the creepy town. There were scary people everywhere, and he could feel their eyes on him at every crossroad. The whole city looked like a bad guy’s lair.
The houses were old and dirty, and their broken windows didn’t help them look any better. The villagers must be freezing during winter. The only kids he saw were running after a rat and soon started fighting each other for it.
The young boy didn’t like this place at all. But he loved his father, and perhaps if he showed him he wasn’t afraid, Ivan would start to love him too. He was a potent wizard of Fairy Tail, he shouldn’t be scared of some creepy town.
His father was looking for something here and he took him with him for the mission! Finally! The blond kid knew his grandpa didn’t want him on a mission yet, but his dad told him this one was meant for him and would make him worthy. Of what exactly, he didn’t know. With a bit of luck, it would be his father’s love!
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see his dad had stopped in the middle of the street, and bumped into him. When the older wizard turned to him with a death glare, Laxus gulped and avoided his eyes. He better not make his dad angry right now. What if he just left him there?
“We’re here. Now, for once, do not make me ashamed,” the dark-haired wizard spat.
The child nodded, and followed his father into a big, old building. All the windows were broken just like those of the other houses. There was dust everywhere as if nobody had used this place for years. Ah, and there, next to the old bottles of alcohol, was another rat.
They arrived in front of a room with the door torn off its hinges, and his father smiled. Inside the room stood a sole man in what looked like a doctor's apron. Next to him waited an old medical bed, and the way the stranger looked at him made Laxus shiver. He had a scary smile, and when he moved toward him, Laxus backed away.
“What did I just say, Laxus?” Ivan said with a disapproving look.
“Sorry…” the boy whispered before reluctantly taking a step forward.
The other man chuckled at that. Throughout, he’d kept staring at the kid like he was some sort of lab rat. He suddenly turned over to the bed and grabbed something in his hands to observe it. Laxus let out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“I think that will do it. His body is small and he looks sick, but he should survive the experimentation.” Finally said the stranger.
“He better, Raph, I didn’t pay this lacrima a fortune for nothing. It better not be another failure of yours.” Grumbled Ivan to the other wizard.
Before Laxus could understand what was going on, he found himself attached to the old bed. His father looked at him like his son’s fear disgusted him. It hurt him, and sometimes Laxus wondered if any of his efforts would ever be enough for the man he loved and respected.
“Dad….?” His weak voice wavered. He didn’t understand. What was going on?
With a heavy sigh, the stranger, Raph, his father had called him, approached him with a glowing yellow crystal.
“Okay kid, I’m going to start the process so I need you to stay still, okay? That’s why we tied you to the bed so you don’t move. If you don’t move and I manage to complete the experiment, you’ll have great magic.”
Laxus bit his tongue before he could ask what would happen if he made a mistake. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. It wasn’t like his father would allow him to leave this creepy place.
Instead, he tried in vain to stay still. He could feel his body shiver when Raph started whatever he was doing. At first, it was just a numb feeling, but suddenly pain shot through him. It was like his body was on fire, he could feel some new and unknown energy running through his veins.
It was too much. His vision was full of black dots and his sense of touch was practically non-existent. He could feel the energy trying to break free from his body. He tried to scream for his dad's help but he couldn’t hear his voice anymore. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything at all.
When he sensed the energy piercing through his face, right into one of his eyes, he finally blacked out.
*****
The first time Laxus opened his eyes his father was there. He tried to reach him with his hand but it was pointless. His body couldn’t move. He tried to call him but like earlier, he couldn’t hear anything coming out of his mouth. He could still feel some spark of energy running into his veins.
“You really can’t do anything right can you? I’m done with you, Laxus. Don’t bother to come back.”
He could see his father's lips moving, but all he could hear was a dull sound, like when someone stayed way too long in a tunnel or had water in their ears. The last thing he saw was his father moving away from him, before keeping his eyes open became too much for the young wizard.
The next time he opened his eyes, Laxus was feeling a little better. He could move and his senses seemed to have come back to him. They were back but something was wrong. He was hearing voices, a lot of voices, some sounding distant, others closer. What was weird was that the room was empty.
“Dad?” Called the little blond looking for his father.
He recognized the old and scrambled building, but the room was different. A weird and disgusting smell made him want to puke. It was like rotten meat. When he saw where the smell was coming from, he couldn’t help but scream.
Raph, the weird and creepy guy that tied him to the bed, was dead in the corner of the room. His body was in pieces and his blood was everywhere, even on Laxus himself. His eyes were bulging, and his skin was covered in wounds that looked like thunderstorms.
“Dad!” the boy screamed, now desperate to find his guardian.
What had happened to this man could happen to him. Perhaps it was a monster who did it, and it could still be in the building.
When no one answered him, Laxus decided to look for his father by himself. He couldn’t be that far. After all, even if Laxus wasn’t what he was looking for in a son, his father wouldn’t leave him behind in such a place, right?
His legs felt like cotton, and he couldn’t move as quickly as he wanted, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He needed to get out of there and find his father. The last time he saw him, the man was leaving, so perhaps he left the building to fetch a room at an Inn or a hotel. Macao said it was what wizards did when they needed to sleep somewhere, and right now it was almost nighttime.
The street should have been quiet, but noises were coming from everywhere. It was so loud. Laxus kept his ears covered but it wasn’t helping. His head was killing him. There were too many noises, too many different smells around him. But he wouldn’t let that stop him. He started walking through the city in search of his father.
“Hey, kid are you lost? Do you need any help?” a creaky voice asked from behind him.
There were three men next to him, and one of them forcefully grabbed his arm to keep him close. When Laxus tried to back away, the stranger strengthened his grip, hurting the child.
“Stay calm, kid. Can’t you tell when you’re not in a position to discuss anything?”
“We could get a good price for this one, Pete. He looks way healthier than the other kids in town. There’s just this scar… I hope the price won’t drop because of it.”
Laxus started to panic. If those men took him away, he wouldn't be able to go home. He tried to use his magic but couldn’t feel it, he screamed for help but nobody came. A sudden, painful hit in his face made him shut up. The first man, Pete, looked furious.
“Shut your mouth, kid! No one will come for you here.”
The panic and pain coursing through him mirrored those of the experiment. He froze, suddenly back in the room, strapped to the medical bed. Raph was here, and so was the white-hot pain. Laxus screamed and closed his eyes as a wave of energy blew out of his body. One of the men screamed in terror and pain, but he didn’t know which one.
He could feel the energy shooting out of him again and again, but it wasn’t as strong as his first burst of magic. Another voice was talking to him now. It was familiar, he knew that voice!
“Gildarts…?”
*****
Gildarts was running as fast as he could to the city Ivan mentioned.
When the dark-haired wizard came back pretty pissed and without Laxus, the master started to worry. Then this crazy bastard said the kid was probably dead right now and that it wasn’t their problem anymore.
The S-class wizard never saw Makarov this angry before, he thought that he was about to kill his son. As soon as Ivan told them the name of the city where Laxus was, Gildarts started to run. It was a day away from the guild and he needed to get there as fast as he could. He wanted to come with him, Makarov stayed at the guild to deal with Ivan and ensure he couldn't get away with this.
When he finally arrived in the city, he sprinted to the building the other wizard mentioned. When he arrived though, Laxus was nowhere to be seen. When he saw the corpse in one of the rooms, and the amount of blood on the walls, he gagged. Just where was the kid?
He searched the whole building, but it was pointless. The kid wasn’t in there. He was about to call the guild, hoping to get better info from Ivan, or more likely from Makarov if he’d managed to get anything from his son. Then a giant lightning bolt fell from the sky into the street.
The wounds of the corpse seemed to be caused by lightning magic, so perhaps this was the source. Maybe he could find clues about Laxus if he followed the wild lighting magic.
Gildarts hoped the kid was still alive, but what if Ivan was right? What if his fears were right? In this kind of town, alone and probably hurt, Laxus wouldn’t be alright for long. It had already been a day since Ivan came back to the guild, and so the kid had been alone in this crappy town for at least two days.
He got to the dark alley where the magic was pouring out from, but wasn’t prepared at all for what he saw.
Laxus was there, his body glowing, and Gildarts could see small bolts of lightning running across all of his skin. He had sharp teeth and the way he looked at him reminded the wizard of a wild animal.
“Oh my god, Laxus…” was all he could say. He didn’t look like the shy and happy child he knew anymore.
New bursts of magic were bursting from the blond kid. Gildarts grabbed him as softly as he could, and tried to wake him up. Now he understood where the body in the room came from, as there was a new one bearing similar wounds right next to him.
He could sense that Laxus was calming down, little by little. When he heard the child saying his name, he allowed himself to breathe again. His body was sore because of the child’s magic continually hitting him, but he didn’t care.
“It’s okay now, kid. You’re okay…”
Laxus started crying, and clung to the S-class wizard as hard as he could. The kid was shaking and looked scared to death. He was trying to speak, but his sobs made the words unintelligible.
“Shhh…It’s alright now. We’re going home. You’re safe now.”
“W-we need to-to find Dad! I do-don’t know where he is!”
Fucking hell, Gildarts had never wanted to kill someone more than he did right now. He carefully took the little kid in his arms and got up. How was he supposed to explain this to a kid? Damnit. First, he should inform Makarov that Laxus was with him and alive, even if he was hurt. The wizard couldn’t stop himself from wincing as he inspected the wound on the kid’s face. It was going to leave a wide scar.
“Your father is at the guild right now. He…He sent me to get you home…” lied Gildarts, his heart hurting.
With the confirmation that his father was okay, Laxus relaxed in the arms of the Fairy Tail wizard, and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep. Not knowing that his father would be expelled from the guild, or that he wasn’t fully human any more thanks to the lacrima in his body, Laxus slept as peacefully as a child could after everything that had happened.