New Moon (Fairy Tail Version) [ON HOLD]

Chapter Four

Laxus was the only Dark Mage in the room that was stable. Centuries of experience in the hospital were obvious in his collected voice.

"Levy, Jellal, Lily, and Erza. Get him outside now." He ordered, striding over to me coolly. Jellal covered his nose, and his eyes shot at Erza sternly as she finally made a move to help.

"Alright, man, come on." Pantherlily grumbled to Gajeel, who looked at me completely different than from a moment ago. His eyes were glassy, apologetic... regretful. A distant part of me felt horrible for the unintentional way I was looking at him. Like he was a monster.

Gajeel still struggled in their grasps, and I noticed Erza's face looking slightly smug as she removed her hand from her face to push her brother out of the room. Natsu held his defensive stance in front of me and Happy, even as Laxus tried to move past him to get to me.

"Let me by, Natsu." He said gently, resting a cautious hand on Natsu's shoulder. The pinkette's gaze stayed locked on the direction Gajeel had been taken, his stance unwavering. "Go check on him. I'm sure he's angry with himself and you're most likely the only one he'll listen to." Laxus instructed. Hesitantly, Natsu nodded stiffly and slowly made his way out of the room, not daring to look back at my damaged self. I could only imagine what his face looked like right then.

Laxus zoomed over to crouch next to me and Happy, the blue tomcat shaking as silent tears fell from his eyes.

"Laxus." Mirajane still had her hand over her nose as she called him. Laxus turned to acknowledge her offering of a towel to clean me up with. He shook his head.

"Too much glass in the wound, Mira." He said softly. He turned back to me, "Lucy, do you want me to drive you to the hospital or take care of this here?"

If he took me to the hospital, there would be no way of keeping this from Jude.

"Here." I replied quietly. My voice sounded completely off.

***

"I never wanted to have a party." I mumbled finally, sitting on the kitchen counter while Laxus steadily removed glass from my arm. Piece by piece. Happy and Mira joined the others wherever they went, not able to witness the procedure.

"It's not your fault, Lucy." Laxus replied casually, as if we'd been having a conversation this whole time instead of just sitting there silently.

I looked around the empty lobby. It was once full of bright, party excitement... And now it was cold and desolate, "Well, I can sure clear out a room."

"It could happen to anyone, sweetheart."

"Yeah," I mumbled, my eyes getting glassy, "It just usually happens to me."

Laxus chuckled surprisingly. He was such a dad, so calm and collected, all-knowing and comforting without so much as saying a word.

I looked down at my numbed arm, seeing only a few more glasses shards in it before snatching my attention back away. Still squeamish.

Something came to mind.

"I didn't know he could have reacted that bad." I said, causing Laxus to lock eyes with me in question, "Gajeel. I mean... It was a papercut... Nothing like this... This, I could understand." I nodded to my gashed arm.

Laxus sighed, "Gajeel is still highly sensitive to the souls of humans... The others have more restraint because they've been here longer or were never exposed to the human-soul-diet to begin with. It wouldn't have mattered if you had a papercut or a wound this bad, your soul would still be exposed... And even more pronounced for someone like Gajeel. Not to mention you're the only human here. You're practically a clear target."

I blinked, finally understanding the weight of my human vulnerabilities on his family. I had been around them so long where I figured they could handle things like this. It was a selfish assumption.

I looked at Laxus, seeing his smooth and relaxed movements.

He was an exception.

"How can you do this?" I demanded, "Even Levy and Mira..." The others had given up the traditional diet of Dark Mages and Demons as absolutely as Laxus had... And yet he was smoking them right now.

"Centuries of practice, honey." Laxus laughed, assuring me his journey was no easy one, "I barely notice the scent or sensation anymore."

"Have you ever even considered... Y'know... doing it the easy way?" I asked, curious, "It's not like you asked for this life, and yet you work so hard to go against it."

He shrugged, "Like everything in life, Lucy, I just had to do with what I was given." He shook his head, "I knew who I wanted to be. I wanted to save people, not hurt them. Once you set your mind on what you want with a mind like ours, it's hard to be persuaded otherwise. Even if I am damned regardless, I would like to go down knowing I helped people instead of killing them because I was 'supposed to.'" He said the last bit with finger-quotes.

Before I knew it, Laxus had me glass-free and stitched up. His hands worked in a flash and I watched curiously as he lit the bowl containing my glass shards and bloody tissues on fire.

"That should do it." He mumbled softly. My mind backtracked to our conversation.

"Wait... You said 'even if you're damned'... 'Damned' like... like Hell?" I asked, chuckling at the incredulity of my words. But Laxus looked at me passively, continuing to bandage up my arm.

I stared at him in shock.

"No." I stated, "Laxus, you couldn't be damned... You couldn't. That's... That's just impossible." I declared, and he smiled sweetly at me.

"Thank you, Lucy." He said, but it didn't sound like he accepted my words at all, just appreciated the attempt, "You've always been very... gracious about us."

I wished there was a way to convince him he was wrong. Laxus's father was a pastor, so it wasn't very surprising that he held certain beliefs. It was surprising that he couldn't believe his good deeds would go rewarded. I held certain beliefs too, and I couldn't imagine God not cutting Laxus some slack for the hand he'd been dealt. I couldn't imagine how his soul could be at any form of risk... This life wasn't his choice, but his actions afterward were... And he'd made all the right ones.

But that didn't seem to settle well with him. And if he felt the way he did about his soul, I could only imagine how Natsu felt... Wait.

"Is that it?" I asked suddenly, catching his attention immediately, "That's why he won't enhance me? Because he's afraid of what might happen with my soul?"

I sounded incredulous, but Laxus smiled as if my revelation was completely justified, "Imagine the situation in reverse."

I gasped at the confirmation, grimacing and shaking my head at this preposterous idea.

"I've had no reason to regret enhancing and saving my wife and children who needed it... But that was knowing they had no option other than death. The same cannot be said for you, Luce. If you believed as Natsu and I do... Could you take away his soul?" He questioned me, and I was at a loss for words.

Could I?

I looked down at the burning bowl of bloody tissues. I sighed.

Anything would be better than being a fragile, little human.