Phoenix

The Start of a Journey

Laxus had taken Emi back to her inn before telling her to meet him in front of the 8-Island restaurant.

"We leave at noon."

"Wait. Where are we going?"

"Listen brat, I'm not staying here for more than a couple days. I already did what I had to here. We're leaving for Clover Town."

The next day had come around and Emi made her way to the meeting point. Laxus was leaning against the wall of the restaurant as he impatiently waited for the girl.

"You're late."

Emi glanced away sheepishly before admitting that she needed to ask for directions because she couldn't remember where 8-Island was. Laxus rolled his eyes before grabbing her by the back of her shirt and dragging her to the train.

"Hey!"

"I'm not going any later because you don't know how to move," Laxus grunted.

Emi couldn't help but start giggling, which made Laxus turn around and raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled brightly as she was dragged through the town.

"It's just," Emi started, "you put on this tough facade when you really care about people."

Laxus stopped walking, causing Emi to be pushed back slightly. He turned away from her.

"And what the hell would you know about that?"

Emi smiled and spoke, "I might not know a lot, but I can tell when someone is hiding something. Besides, it's pretty easy to tell when someone is trying to deny who they truly are."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You've lost something, and you're trying your hardest to compensate for that. It seems like it's something you don't think you'll ever get back. Am I right?"

"Wow, I never knew you could read someone that easily," Lucy admitted.

"That's really cool. Read me next!" Natsu shouted.

Emi laughed at the dragon slayer before the memory continued to play.

"Let's just get to the next town."

"Why are we walking away from the train?"

"It's close enough to walk."

"But the map says that it's a four hour walk and an hour train ride. Shouldn't we go on the tra--"

"If you're going to be traveling with me then you're going to do things my way."

"You just didn't want her to see you with motion sickness," Gajeel snickered.

Laxus turned to him and gave him a deadly stare.

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

"So this is Clover Town? It looks really pretty."

"We're not here to sight see, brat. Let's go."

"Can we at least stop somewhere to eat?" Emi complained. "It's been hours."

Laxus groaned, "You've got to be kidding me."

Laxus had pushed her into a nearby diner and demanded for her to hurry up and eat. Emi happily ate her food before looking over at him.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

Laxus scoffed before he began to pick at his food. Emi hummed in approval before she turned back to her food. She smelt something on Laxus's plate and intently stared at it. Laxus seemed to notice and pushed her for an answer as to why she was looking at his food like that.