From One Dragon To Another: The Next Tail

Chapter 8 - Searching For Answers

Laxus's POV

I returned back to camp with Akari in my arms and Freed, Levy and Gajeel following behind me. Everyone was waiting there, wondering what was going on. Their questions were answered when they saw me carrying an unconscious Akari.

"What happened?" Lucy questioned with worry.

Everyone was thinking and saying the same thing as Lucy.

"I'll explain in a minute, but right now we need to lay her down and keep her warm." I explained.

"The best way would be to get a sleeping bag and put her inside it to insulate her. Laxus, you'll need to wrap yourself around her to give her extra warmth." Levy instructed.

"If it'll help her then that's what we will do." I replied.

I quickly dried my hair with a towel and changed into a t-shirt and spare pair of trousers. Everyone helped move Akari into a sleeping bag and placed her on a double camping bed, so that I had room to cuddle her.

Everyone was sat around the burning fire, the day was drawing to a close. I laid on the bed with my arms wrapped around Akari. It felt weird, just because she wasn't aware of what was going on and although she is still breathing gently, she still couldn't feel my embrace and she couldn't smile like she usually would, in some ways, she felt lifeless.

"How's she holding up, Laxus?" Master Makarov asked.

"Her breathing is very gentle, but steady, I'm hoping she will be able to continue breathing throughout the night. As for her heartbeat, it's still quite faint, but again, it's staying steady." I replied.

"She must be low on energy, I'm not sure what else we can do though." Lucy commented.

"What happened exactly?" Gray asked.

"From what I can gather, she's been ill for a few days, but because I haven't been around, Freed knows more than what I do." I replied.

Everyone turned to look at Freed, he hasn't said much after Akari collapsed. I know he's still feeling guilty, even after I told him that it wasn't his fault.

"She's just been sick a couple of times just before the trial started and when she was fighting Gajeel. She's had weird scales appear on her body and her nails have grown longer, just like what you see now. I tried to stop her from doing the trial because I didn't think it was wise, but she insisted she was okay. I should've stopped her no matter what she said." Freed said regretfully.

No one looked angry at Freed after what he said, they felt sad just like he did.

"Freed, look around you, no one is angry at you." I said.

Freed looked up at me and looked around at everyone else.

"Freed, this was just an unfortunate accident, I don't think anything any of us could've said anything that would've stopped her. Even Laxus probably wouldn't of been able to stop her if he tried." Evergreen explained.

"I still feel responsible though, I'm her partner, I was supposed to take care of her. I wanted to do that for Laxus whilst he was away." Freed explained sadly.

"Is that all this is? Freed, you've done a really good job training her, I was happy to hear that you volunteered to work with her, because I knew that you would take care of Akari whilst I was away. Don't worry about it anymore. I'm not upset with you." Laxus explained.

"Really?" Freed questioned as he looked at me with eyes watering.

"Really, you know I wouldn't say that if it wasn't true." I replied.