Hear me

11

Leave it to Natsumi to be completely and totally wrong, Laxus thought dryly.

As they walked through the doors, the heads of nearly every Fairy Tail mage snapped to them, several of them abandoning conversations mid-sentence.

"They really came out of the woodwork for this, didn't they?" he mumbled to himself. It seemed like today was the day everyone decided to come back from jobs. It amazed him how quickly everyone mobilized when there was a promise of a show involved.

He felt more than heard Natsumi's stifled giggles, and he smiled inwardly. He really did appreciate her staying with him, not wanting to admit that he was apprehensive about facing everyone, the Old Man included.

Dead silence greeted them as they stopped in the entryway. Looking around, Laxus found that most faces looked more bemused than afraid, which he wasn't sure was a good thing or not. Though, to be fair, the faces that he knew hadn't been there the day before, like Wendy and Erza, seemed to contain only surprise. He suspected, however, that that had more to do with his entrance with a certain dragon slayer than his reclaimed status as a public enemy. He couldn't see the rest of his team, but he saw Lucy at a table with the Exceeds and Gray, looking expectantly in their direction.

When no one said anything, he cleared his throat.

"Okay, look. I know I screwed up. Again. And I don't know what you guys want me to say other than I'm sorry. So I guess someone should probably go get the Old Man or something." He'd already decided the best approach would be to just own it and get it over with as quickly as possible. He may have fucked up in front of these people, but he refused to cower under the weight of their gazes. No matter how sorry he was, he wasn't about to be weak in front of them again.

"There's no need for that, Laxus," a voice from the second floor terrace called. Laxus immediately stiffened.

"Hey, Gramps," he said, deflated. He'd been hoping that his grandfather would manage to stay away long enough for this all to blow over, but it'd seemed like he'd wished in vain. He looked up at the small man, who was standing on the banister on the far left side of the guild hall, overlooking the crowd gathered beneath.

Makarov's brows were drawn together, giving his grandson an inscrutable look.

"So what's this I hear about you making a ruckus yesterday? You not only enlisted the help of your team members to force one of your own to fight you, but you destroyed guild property as well," he listed off, his voice firm. "Is that correct?" His face gave nothing away as he stared Laxus down from above.

He wasn't going to be cowed by the Old Man. He didn't come here to try and run away. Squeezing Natsumi's shoulder, he answered his grandfather.

"Yeah, it's true." He made sure to keep his voice even. The Old Man would get nothing from him that he didn't wish to give.

"And you think threatening and assaulting a member of your family is excusable just because you show up here and throw out a halfhearted apology?!" Makarov yelled, his voice booming at a level that should have been impossible for a man of his stunted stature.

He just pissed Laxus off.

"Look, Old Man!" he yelled back. "I came here to apologize for what I did. It doesn't matter if you think it's halfhearted or not, because it's genuine. I can't change what I did, but I said yesterday that I'd come back and face whatever punishment I earned, and here I am. Nothing else concerns you, since I've already apologized to everyone directly involved. I'll do whatever you want to make up for it, but I didn't come here to be lectured about what I already know." Laxus refused to have his intentions undermined just because Gramps was angry with him. Not today.