The Curse of the 9th Master

Chapter 4:

Natsu had woken up to the sound of screaming.

A great way to wake up to.

Wait? What was that? Did Gray accidentally sleep-walk into the girl's apartment homes again?

Natsu started rubbing his eyes, slowly waking himself up. He grunted, who could be up this hour at night?

The voice sounded familiar, although not quite Gray's. Hmm, Gajeel? No, Elfman, eh. Wait, Laxus?

Yeah, it had to be him. Natsu knew him all too well. It was definitely him.

He jumped out of bed, got dressed, and ran into the guild hall. Not many people knew about this, but Laxus didn't like sleeping with the other guys in the apartment so he slept in a room hidden behind a bookshelf in Makarov's office. Natsu had accidentally walked into Makarov's office at night, asking for a switch in his room, because bunking with Elfman kept him up for nights and nights, when he had spotted Laxus talking to Makarov, before he pulled a book off the shelf and disappeared into his room as the bookshelf returned back.

What in the world...?" Natsu had mumbled.

But that was old news. Natsu slowly creaked open the door that lead to Makarov's office room, and inside, everything was clean and all tidied up. Not a spot of dust to be seen. It was deadly silent. Natsu closed the door behind him quietly, hoping not to make a sound. He flinched back slightly at the sound of his foot on a creaking floorboard. Yikes. I guess I'll have to be more careful than usual.

He tiptoed over to the bookshelf. His hands were shaking slightly as he reached out for a book. He quickly swiped it, shutting his eyes and hoped nothing bad would happen.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He fiddled with his fingers, perhaps trying to stretch them out. He slowly pulled out every book at once until it came to the last one. It was a big and dusty brown book, standing tall on the shelf as if mocking the others which were now lying on the floor.

Natsu reached his hand out, and tugged at the book.

*Creak*

He had backed out, his eyes bewildered. Why was he so surprised? He had seen the bookshelf open before, so why did he feel so uneasy?

Maybe it was because of what came, or rather, fell, out of the shelf. With a loud thud, a certain blonde had fell out from behind the passageway, as if leaning on the back of the bookshelf for support. Natsu immediately ran to him. With a grunt and a heavy push, Natsu flipped Laxus onto his back, so that his face was upward.

"How'd this happen? What the hell?" Natsu mumbled.

There, in his arms, was Laxus. He was unconscious, his mouth opened slightly as if he was screaming before he was forced to pause.

His face was pale and dull, with no emotion or expression seen in it.

Natsu eyes were clear and filled with worry. Maybe he just passed out, that'll all, was what he kept thinking to himself. But he knew this wasn't true. Back at the ceremony, Natsu saw the waving smile Laxus had managed. It was unfoolable, to him at least. Natsu had saw right through it.

Something was horribly wrong with Laxus.

Laxus's POV

Laxus had woken up in cold sweat. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was white. A bright flash of light had blinded him momentarily. He reached his arms out to rub his eyes but something warm clamped to one of them. After blinking away his morning attitude, he strained his neck forward to see what, or who, it was.