The Rune's Shadow

16.

After an hour or two of searching with no avail, Laxus and Levy decided to stop and get a sandwich at a nearby store, as the fish didn't keep them very full for that long. As they walked into the shop, they overheard an argument from a table to their left.

"THAT'S NOT HOW YOU EAT A SANDWICH, YOU HEATHEN!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, WITCH!"

As the argument continued on, Levy gave the dragon slayer a long look. "They sound kind of familiar, don't they?" 

Laxus sighed, rubbing his temples. "Yes...and they, and they alone, would be having this argument. Wait here, I'll go talk with them."

He walked over to the table to see who it was. And just as he predicted, Evergreen and Bixlo were sitting there, still bickering. The only difference was the third person that sat on the far side of the bench beside Bixlo. The boy had dark brown hair with hints of green that shone in the sunlight from the window, and his eyes were pale blue.

He had folded the sandwich in half and was eating from the middle of it, a cheeky smile on his face as he watched the other two squabble. 

Evergreen looked over at him and did a double take, then looked at Bixlo who was eating the crust all around the sandwich and not touching the middle part of it, before putting her head in her hands. 

"I give up."

Laxus cleared his throat to get their attention, causing Bixlo and the boy next to him to look at him, but Ever seemed to have stopped functioning entirely.

Bixlo grinned, "Oh hey! We've been looking for you, what's up?"

Laxus raised an eyebrow, "Same thing. Who's that?"

Bixlo glanced at Evergreen, "Uhh...not it."

Ever looked up and sighed, "I'll let you off the hook this once, but you owe me big time next time we have to explain something to it."

"IT?!" Laxus protested, but Ever ignored him.

Evergreen gestured towards the boy, "He was traveling with Bixlo when we all met up yesterday." She took a sip of her drink and continued. "Anyways, this is Kiba."

Laxus stared at her, "Kiba as in Freed's brother, or just some random dude called Kiba?"

Kiba fake sniffled, "Rude much?"

Laxus ignored him, "Well?"

"Yeah, it's Freed's brother."

Kiba squinted at her, "I thought that he was the 'it'...?" 

Evergreen waved him off, "You are not human according to how you ate that sandwich." Kiba considered this for a moment before shrugging and taking another bite.

Laxus looked at Ever, "But why am I an 'it'?! What did I do?!"

Ever brushed him off, "Many reasons. Now do you know where Freed is?"

Laxus shook his head. "No, I did find Levy though. Apparently her family is from here. She's been helping me look for you morons."

Bixlo swallowed the last of his sandwich and spoke up, "So now we just need to find Freed, right?"

Laxus nodded, "Yeah...well kind of..."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ever complained as she began to collect together the dirty dishes for the waiter to collect.

Laxus sighed heavily, "There's someone else we need to find too." He leaned against the booth they sat in then continued his story. "I was looking for Freed when I ran into someone who said he would help find Freed. The price being that after we find him, we have to help him find someone."

Evergreen, Bixlo, and Kiba considered this for a moment, before Kiba spoke up. "That sounds reasonable I guess."

Laxus nodded his head in agreement, "That's what I thought." He stood up and stretched, "We should probably leave soon. Are you all ready?"

They agreed and got out from the booth, heading towards the register to pay for their food. As they paid, Laxus walked over to Levy and stood beside her. After a minute, he spoke up. "Thanks for the help, but I think we got it from here." 

Levy glanced up at him and smiled, "Your welcome. Good luck with finding Freed, ok?"

The dragon slayer nodded, "Thanks. See you back at the guild."

She waved goodbye and left the shop. As she left, Evergreen, Bixlo, and Kiba walked back over, Bixlo whining with an empty wallet in his hand.

Laxus waved at them, "Alright, lets go."

As the four walked down the street, Laxus realized that he would not have to introduce Levy to Awai, but instead, the rest of his team and a stranger.

'...Well this is going to go well."

On their way back, they didn't bother asking if they had seen Freed, already knowing the answers. The entrance to the town was approaching and Ever sped up a bit to walk at Laxus's side. "So where is the guy who is helping us find Freed?"

Laxus kept his gaze straight ahead of him, "He is checking in the forest around the town. We were planning to meet up, and now I'm late."

Ever nodded, and fell back into step with Bixlo and Kiba. The twenty more minutes of walking until they got to the place where they agreed to meet up, was very quiet, the group worried for their missing teammate.

When they finally reached the clearing, Laxus caught sight of Awai first. The ghost was sitting on a tree stump and fidgeting with a small pine cone, looking extremely bored. He looked up at the sound of footsteps and grinned, "Look who's FINALLY back! Took you long enough..." 

He trailed off as he saw the people behind him. "Oh hey, you found your buddies." He smiled innocently and waved at them, "Hello!"

The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife and Laxus tried to stay still as he waited for their reactions.

Evergreen slowly turned around to face Laxus, "When were you going to tell us that the guy who is helping us is a ghost ?"

Bixlo was about to add to Ever's question, when a quiet voice spoke shakily, sounding near tears. 

"Awai...?"

The ghost looked past them and smiled sadly.

"Hello Kiba. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"