Phoenix

Fairy Tail Finds Out

After a trip on the train, Team Natsu arrived back in Magnolia.

"Now," Erza demanded, "we are not to tell of seeing Laxus until we are alone with the master. Agreed?"

Everyone agreed to this, thinking that it was better to not draw attention to it.

Team Natsu walked into the guildhall in time for the second half of the meeting. There was a dark guild that was going around and kidnapping children to demand money for ransom. This meeting was a briefing on the events, as well as a plan to use going forward. Upon entering the guildhall, all of Fairy Tail looked at them in shock. Master Makarov looked at the group with a fire in his eyes.

"What do you think you're doing being late to this very important meeting?! I told you all to be here by seven o'clock and it is now nine!"

"Gramps, you'll never guess what we saw! It was totally a reason to be late."

Lucy looked at Natsu in surprise before whispering to him, reminding him of the agreement they all made moments before entering the guild. Natsu, however, seemed to not care, as his excitement was showing when he yelled the words that were not supposed to be spoken to the guild.

"We found Laxus!"

Upon hearing the name of their former leader, the Thunder God Tribe ran up to Team Natsu and started asking questions and demanding answers. Erza looked at Natsu with a look that could kill, earning a small "sorry" from the fire mage. Master Makarov, however, was having none of it. His fist grew and snatched the Thunder God Tribe away from Team Natsu before clearing his throat and looking at them seriously.

"And where exactly did you find him? And how?"

Lucy, Wendy, Gray, and Erza spoke respectively.

"Well," Lucy started, "we were in Hargeon for that squid request..."

"...And Natsu picked up on a scent that he said was familiar..."

"...And we all decided to follow the person and the person led us to a house along the edge of the forest..."

"...And we found out that Laxus has been living there with a young woman."

"Yeah!" Happy exclaimed, "He lives with his girlfriend! She gave me fish!"

All of Fairy Tail was especially taken back by Happy's statement, letting out a "GIRLFRIEND?!"

Master Makarov silenced them all. He walked up to Erza and looked up at her.

"Is this true?"

"She says she's been living with him for two years, sir."

The master huffed and turned back to the rest of Fairy Tail, telling them that he will look into the matter, but their focus was to take down the dark guild.

--------------

"Do you think it needs more spice?"

Laxus looked up to see that Emi had absentmindedly picked up a bottle of hot sauce. Laxus looked at the woman carefully before taking the bottle of hot sauce away from her, telling her that it wasn't needed for pancakes.

"Pancakes and hot sauce? Really?"

"Oh. I didn't even notice."

Laxus looked over Emi's shoulder to watch her make the pancakes, paying close attention to her hand which had drifted towards the hot sauce again. Quickly taking the bottle before she could get to it again, the lightning mage placed it on top of the fridge where she couldn't reach it. Her hand had tried to grab the air where the bottle was, and she looked confused when she saw that she was reaching for something. Laxus pointed to the top of the fridge where the bottle was not located.

"You did it again."

Emi sighed before flipping the pancakes onto the platter and turning to bring it over to the table. When she turned around, however, she was met with bumping into Laxus, who was still standing behind her.

"Hey! What are you doing? You're supposed to be at the table."

"Just wanted to watch. Good thing I did because hot sauce would absolutely ruin pancakes."

--------------------

Team Natsu was called into the master's office after the meeting about the dark guild. After being asked what exactly they saw, Natsu shrugged.

"I mean I don't understand what the big deal is. So what? Laxus has a girlfriend. It just means that they live together."

"Natsu, you idiot," Lucy started, "Having a girlfriend is not just about living together."

"Yeah Natsu!" Happy exclaimed. "It means he lllooooves her."

Erza cleared her throat, effectively drawing attention to her.

"What is it, Erza?" Master Makarov asked.

"This woman...she was very sweet. However, there was something strange about her."

Wendy looked at her in confusion, asking, "What do you mean Erza? What was strange about her?"

"Probably because," Natsu started, "she's putting up with Laxus for so long."

"Knock it off, idiot. This is serious," Gray retorted.

"Oh yeah? Who says I'm not being serious, Ice Princess?!"

"ENOUGH!"

After the master silenced them, he asked Erza what she found strange about the young woman. Erza explained that Emi was able to sense that she was being followed from the start, which is something that not very many normal people would know how to do.

"There was one thing that threw me off about that thought. You see, I couldn't sense any magic from her at all."

"Wait, seriously?" Gray and Natsu exclaimed at the same time.

"Woah," Lucy stated in shock, "I didn't even notice!"

"I knew something was off about her," Charle explained.

"Wow, Charle," Happy gushed, "You're so smart."

Makarov thought for a moment before looking at Erza, asking if she was sure. Erza simply nodded at the master's question.

"Why do you think that he would be living with someone without magic?"

"Well, master," Lucy started to explain, "love doesn't know any boundaries. Someone can be in love with anyone. They don't have to be the same type of person. Someone with magic can fall in love with someone without magic. In fact, it happens a lot."

The master hummed in response, looking deep in thought. Natsu decided to speak again.

"I mean, she did invite us back for dinner at some point. We could just go back and ask questions if you're really interested."

"Woah," Gray started, "did you just have a good idea?"

"What was that?!"

"Hmm," Makarov said, "I don't think he would appreciate me coming there unannounced."

"So you're not going to join us?"

"Oh no, I am going to join you."

-------------------

Emi and Laxus sneezed at the same time.

"Wow," Emi commented, "looks like someone is talking about both of us."

"You know that's a myth, right?"

"Just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean it's not real."

Laxus closed his eyes as his head was in her lap, only humming in response.