From One Dragon To Another: The Next Tail

Chapter 9 - Waiting Game

Laxus' POV

I opened my eyes and saw light shining on the tent as I was looking upwards. The next day came round quite quickly. I turned my head to the right and saw an empty bed, Freed was already awake and left the tent. I looked to my left and saw Akari still laid next to me. I put my hand on her arm and shook her gently to see if she had gained consciousness over night.

"Akari, are you awake?" I asked.

I received no response from her. To double check that she wasn't in a deep sleep, I decided to shake her arm with a bit more force.

"Akari, are you with us? Akari." I said again.

Still no response, Akari must still be unconscious. Although I knew that it was unlikely that Akari would be awake when I woke up, I had still hoped that I would open my eyes and see her smiling at me. I know that Wendy managed to heal Akari quite a bit, but I'm hoping that Akari doesn't have any long lasting health issues on the back of this.

I got out of bed and changed into a burgundy t-shirt, a pair of dark, olive green trousers and a pair of black shoes. I put the blanket back over Akari and put my black coat over the top to keep her insulated. I left the tent and walked over to the campfire, everyone was already awake and eating breakfast.

"How are you doing Laxus?" Mira asked.

"I'm okay, I guess." I replied.

"There's different cereals and drinks on the table, and I'm currently cooking up sausages, bacon and eggs if you fancy something cooked." Mira explained.

"I'll just make up a sausage sandwich I think, I'm not overly hungry." I replied.

"That's alright, sit down and I'll make it up for you." Mira said with a smile.

"Thanks." I responded with a small smile of gratitude.

I sat down on one of the benches around the fire next to Freed and Gramps. As I looked into the crackling flames of red and orange, all I could think about was Akari's beautiful, burning eyes, representing the passion she has for being a wizard and being the best.

"We didn't know if you were going to wake up, it's pretty late." Master Makarov said.

"I didn't really sleep well, I probably didn't sleep until the early hours of this morning." I replied.

"Trying to play night guard then?" Freed asked.

"I was just worried about her, I didn't want to fall asleep and then find out this morning that she stopped breathing during the night." I replied.

"That's understandable, but Wendy used her healing magic on Akari, so she should've been fine anyway. How is she this morning?" Freed questioned.

"No response from her, still breathing, still has a regular heartbeat, but her scales are still on her body. I'm wondering if it's a defense mechanism whilst she is unconscious." I explained.

"It's a possibility." Freed answered.

Everyone finished breakfast and tried to occupy themselves whilst waiting for Porlyusica to arrive. I didn't know what to do with myself, time was ticking by so slowly.

"This sucks, I want to get back to the trial." Gajeel grumbled.

"Yeah." Elfman replied.

"I know, but we have to put Akari's health first, once we know she is alright then we will hopefully be able to continue with the trial." Levy said.

A couple of hours passed and most of us were at the front of Tenrou island. Some people went swimming and some just decided to lounge on the beached area. I decided to go for a swim with Freed to take my mind off of the situation. I changed into my black swim trunks with a lightning bolt pattern covering them and joined Freed in the sea. The water was a light blue due to the sun reflecting off of the surface, this caused the sea to feel warm, it felt really relaxing. I leaned back in the sea and just floated on the water, my mind floated away with the ripples in the ocean as I embodied a sense of calmness despite everything else going on.