A pack of dragons among the fairies

Chapter 4

It had been seven years since Ivan was excluded from Fairy Tail for implanting a Lacrima in his son's body before leaving him in the lair of a dark guild. Laxus had stayed with his grandfather since then, though in the beginning, even if he hated it, he missed his father.

This new magic he got because of the lacrima was powerful and really dangerous if not handled with care. With it came a lot of responsibility and training he hadn't even thought of before. If he wasn't careful, this power could destroy him from the inside in its early stages of manifestation.
At first, Makarov forbade him to use it. But when it became clear that, if unreleased, the magic could be dangerous for other people, the master of Fairy Tail quickly changed his mind.

Neither the young wizard nor his grandfather foresaw the instincts that came with dragon slayer magic. At first, Laxus spoke with the old man about them, but seeing as he didn't understand anything, he stopped.

The young dragon slayer was feeling lonely even among people, among friends. The feeling of emptiness was taking over all of his thoughts, but he didn't understand what it meant. He had the affection of his peers. What was he missing then? Gradually he stopped to getting closer to his guildmates. What was the point, if it just made the emptiness feel worse?

Some days it was driving him crazy, Freed called them tired days but honestly, it wasn't tiredness. It was like everything around him was too much, like he was trapped and surrounded by people.

The multitude of smells and sounds was awful as well. He couldn't bear being in the guild hall at first, and the only thing that now helped him with that, except from Freed, was his noise-canceling headphones. A gift from his team so he could stay in the guild with them. A pretty good idea, he had to admit.

He liked spending time with them, but he still needed to go on missions on his own sometimes. Today had been one of those missions. He took it upon himself to defeat a dark guild of wizards that robbed honest shopkeepers, in a little town lost in the middle of nowhere.
The job went fine, he even got an extra reward since he destroyed the dark guild's headquarters.

The road back to Magnolia wasn't difficult terrain, but it was a long journey, especially when on foot. He'd never had motion sickness before, but when he started using his magic, boat, train, car or anything that wasn't a living thing became his new personal hell. He hated them, but when missions called him to the edge of the country, he didn't really have a choice. Freed was his savior in that kind of situation, since he cast a rune spell that forbade him from getting sick.

He smiled a little when the familiar scent of his hometown reached him. The town was as cheerful as ever, which made the dragon want to go home, but before that, he had to report back to his grandfather.
Urgh.

He hated mission reports. It was just a summary of what happened, in order for his grandpa to make sure that Fairy Tail wizards didn't destroy anything. Which was a complete failure, because everyone destroyed something on every mission. At least this time, the people of the town were glad that he destroyed a building. Luckily for him, it was one they wanted removed.

The dragon slayer was now in front of the guild entrance. he winced at the noise, already loud even if he was still behind the door. With a sigh, he moved forward and entered the wide, rowdy hall.
During the years he'd spent at the guild, it had become easier for him to stay there, but even with that, he still needed his noise-canceling headphones.

As he reached the door to his grandfather's office, a new and peculiar smell came to him, a smell almost like a campfire. Nobody smelled like that in the guild. There was something in it that tugged at Laxus' instincts, pulling him to its source. It was kind of familiar, but he could swear he'd never encountered a scent like that.
He repressed the urge to get closer to the newcomer, and entered his grandfather's office. The old man was still busy with his papers. Looked like Gildarts destroyed a lot on his last mission, considering the size of the files bearing his name.