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Freed wasn’t having doubts. He never doubted Laxus. Laxus had always known what was best even when they were children. But he may have had some… questions. Like, wasn’t there a more efficient way of weeding out the weaklings of Fairy Tail than a battle royal? And wouldn’t it be better to not do this in the middle of Fantasia? Freed hadn’t voiced any of these thoughts, of course. Laxus obviously had his reasons for doing things this way even if he didn’t feel it necessary that Freed be privy to those reasons. They were, no doubt, very good reasons, because this was Laxus. …Bickslow was the one who had raised those questions out loud a few days ago. Laxus had electrocuted him for his trouble, and Bickslow hadn’t mentioned it again.
Freed tugged his jacket straight again even though it wasn’t wrinkled. (That definitely wasn’t a nervous habit.) Laxus had become more volatile in recent years. It was concerning, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.
Evergreen was in place and ready to make her grand entrance when the time was right, but Bickslow had wandered off again. Bickslow was the eternal chaos to Freed’s order, and it drove Freed to distraction. It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t suspect that, at least some of the time, Bickslow was doing it on purpose. And now Freed had to find him. If Laxus found out about this, he’d be very upset. Best to find Bickslow before that happened. At least they were back in Magnolia, so Freed was already fairly certain that he knew where Bickslow would be.
The cemetery behind the cathedral was not Magnolia’s only graveyard, but it was the largest and most central. For some reason, Bickslow always tended to gravitate there whenever they returned to Magnolia. Perhaps it was a side effect of his seith magic. When questioned, he claimed it was where ‘his people’ hung out, but Freed wasn’t entirely convinced. Then again, Bickslow did have a tendency to chat animatedly to the dead. Well, that’s what he said he was doing. Thanks to the type of magic Bickslow used, it was hard to tell where the sane ended and the crazy began.
Bickslow was, indeed, in the cemetery when Freed rematerialized on the cathedral roof, but he wasn’t wandering aimlessly between the graves like he normally was when Freed found him. He was standing quiet and still in front of one grave in particular. The babies were hovering tight around his head. For some reason, he seemed to be looking back and forth between the tombstone and his left hand. With a thought and a flex of magic, Freed let his consciousness flow from the roof to the churchyard below.
“If you don’t hurry up, you’re going to make us late.” Bickslow’s shoulders tensed, and Freed regretted materializing behind him. That had been cruel like stealing Evergreen’s glasses was cruel. There were things in the Thunder Legion you just didn’t do. Taking away Evergreen’s glasses was one. Sneaking up behind Bickslow was another. You also didn’t ask about the ugly scar on Freed’s right hip or mention Laxus’s father. “Apologies. In my haste, I didn’t think.”
“Nah, it’s fine,” Bickslow waved him off. He turned and gave Freed a tongue-lolling grin, but Freed had known him long enough to tell that he was faking it.
“What were you doing here this time?” Freed asked. It wasn’t that he was reluctant for the Battle of Fairy Tail to begin and trying to delay the inevitable. Definitely not. He was merely… curious.
“Oh, ya know – the usual. Talking to the dead. Telling them all about Laxus’s dumb plan.”
Freed bristled at that last bit.
“It is not a dumb-”
“It is an incredibly dumb plan, and you know it,” Bickslow interrupted, folding his arms.
“Know it! Know it!” squeaked the babies.
“Laxus knows what he’s doing. This is for the best,” Freed stated with more confidence than he actually felt.
“Laxus has been getting dark and smudgy around the edges for ages now. You can’t trust black lightning.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying- Ah, hell with it – it doesn’t matter. It’s not like I’m going to back out anyway.”
Unspoken, the words hung in the air between them – We owe him too much.
“Were you talking to this particular grave for a reason?” Freed asked to distract himself from the anxiety building in his gut. Everything would be fine. After all, in this game, Freed wrote all the rules. Victory was all but guaranteed.
“Nope. It just… seemed like the thing to do. Somebody ought to apologize.” Bickslow glanced down at his left hand again and flexed his fingers. “We got lucky with both Erza and Ultear competing in the contest this year. Think Ever will catch them both?”
“Of course.” Freed was more concerned with Jellal – he was wickedly fast and destructive when he needed to be and one of Fairy Tail’s seven S-class wizards. (Well, six really these days, since Mirajane’s grief had reduced her power to almost non-existent.) Mystogan and Gildarts were out of town, Ultear and Erza would be stone statues, and Laxus was, of course, orchestrating everything. That just left Jellal and possibly Natsu, depending on how much his power had increased since he had last seen him. Erik was easy enough to take down as long as you deafened him before he had a chance to react. Freed had planned for all of them. It was what he did best.
“Guess there’s no more point in avoiding it. Come on, babies! Let’s go beat up some of our guildmates!”
“Dishonor,” grumbled one of the babies. Freed was fairly sure that had been Peppe talking. Out of the five of them, Peppe was the one that came up with its own opinions most often instead of just echoing. The others did it sometimes, too. Peppe just did it the most.
“Hey,” Bickslow prodded the baby in question with one finger, “we’ve already had this conversation. No cake for you.”
As they turned to leave, Freed hesitated and glanced back to see what the name was on the gravestone Bickslow had been standing in front of.
Lisanna Strauss
Three fresh-picked dandelions lay at the headstone’s base. Against the gray of the stone, they looked like bright yellow sunbursts.
Freed wondered what Bickslow could possibly have had to say to Mirajane and Elfman’s little sister and why he had felt the need to leave her flowers.