Chapter 5
3 years later
"I'm telling you, we aren't gonna find anything." Said Max. "It's been 3 years."
Max was a sand magic user whom over the years had trained his power to be more powerful than it was
"We can't give up on them, we have to keep on looking for them. They're alive. They have to be." Said Laki Oiletta, a young woman with long purple hair and brown eyes.
Max didn't wanna give up on them, but they had been searching for years but had always came up empty handed.
"Look!"
Max looked from Laki to where she pointed, apparently the water in front of them was bubbling.Slowly a sphere reached the surface and once it did fully surface the two wizards gasped.
"Axel?!"
"Axel-Kun!"
Suddenly the water sphere around him popped, the slayer opened his eyes and looked around.
"Where am I?" He asked disoriented from just waking up from a 3 year nap
Max explained that he and the others had been missing for 3 years, Axel of course knew that because of the spell that he cast.
"All I remember is Acnologia roaring and then…"
"Nothing?" Laki suggested
"I casted Water encasement, I knew that they wouldn't survive an attack from Acnologia d as I resolved myself to survive so I could avenge the others. Unfortunately, the effect of casting my spell was for my body to fall asleep for 3 years while my magical power increased." Axel exclaimed
"I can't believe he actually showed up." Said Max. "To think the dragon of apocalypse would show himself."
"Yeah, and thanks to him everyone is gone. The bastard." Axel said. "I've failed them."
"Don't say that."
"What? It's true and you know it." Axel said looking Laki in the eye. "If only I was faster in taking out my opponent maybe I could of helped them."
"Look Axel, even if you were there it wouldn't of made a difference. It was the dragon of apocalypse. There wasn't a thing you could've done, and we don't know if-"
"Let's just go home." Said Axel. "I should probably create a training schedule."
Laki nods.
Max wanted to tell the young teenager that it wasn't his fault, to hold in there, but he held his tongue as they towed back to magnolia.
…..
"Axel!"
"Your back, are the others…?"
Axel sighed before telling them about the spell he cast and what he saw just before casting it.
"That's…."
"Axel…."
The ravenette sighs. "I'm not gonna let that monster get away with this. I'm gonna do all I can to get stronger."
After he said that they all gained determined looks, if he was willing to do what it took to grow stronger they could do it as well; when the question of the next master came up they chose Macao, while not the strongest he definitely was the wisest, so he just seemed like the most logical choice.
Not long after that was decided Axel exited the guild saying how he was going to train.
...
For the past two years Axel focused on training, he did things like keeping his magic active as long as he could which was 6 hours. He would punch a tree with each fist about 600 times, after that he would kick the tree the same amount of time.
Axel kept up this training regimen for over two years, occasionally he would go out on missions to give himself a challenge. There hadn't been any interesting missions lately so he really never got the chance to go all out.
Macao watched as Axel walked up to request board eyeing the many requests from
Various different towns and villages. Axel had changed a lot these past two years, he was no longer the shrimp he used to be. Now being close to 6 feet tall.
Axel reached over and grabbed a request he was interested in, his eyes frowned as he reread it.
Requesting help in Taino village; there's been a tyrant whose been requesting funds, in exchange he lets us keep our lives, some of us can afford to pay what Zander demands, others weren't too lucky. Some of the villagers were unable to pay and so Zander killed them all, not even the children were spared. I'm requesting an S rank Mage. Zander has to be stopped.
Axel scowled for what seemed like the longest, clearly lost in thought.
"…el…."
"…xel.
"…Axel…"
"Axel Clyde!"
The ravenette blinked his purple eyes, glancing at Macao. "Are you gonna take on that request or what?"
"Yeah." He replied. "The Quest isn't too far away from here but I won't be back anytime soon, don't wait up for me."
Macao watched as Axel's body turned into a pile of water that headed for the door and slipped through the cracks.
Gotta say, thats still cool every time I see it."
….
Taino village wasn't far from Magnolia, just a little under six hours of walking before he arrived at his destination, even running didn't get him there any faster he didn't even try to run as fast as he could; It didn't matter how fast he got there if he was too tired to fight.
Axel stopped walking and stretched as he passed into the village. From first glance it looked like any ordinary village with food stands, he even saw a few inns.
Feeling pretty hungry Axel walked towards a dango stand. It wasn't his favorite food but still Dango was pretty good. Taking a seat Axel smiled. "Three orders of your best dango please."
"Right away."
Axel watched as the chef began the process of making dango.
"Are you a resident here or…?"
"Nah, I'm just passing through man." Axel replied
"I suggest you don't stay long. If you do I can't guarantee you'll live through the week."
Axel frowned, not long after his brief talk with the chef Axel's dango arrived. The slayer widened his eyes as he tasted one of the dango. "It's good!"
The man laughed as he practically devoured the food, turning to the chef Axel gave him a smile.
"Thanks for the food. It was great."
"Thanks. I take pride in my dango making skills."
Axel got up and yawned placing enough jewels on the counter to pay the bill and a tip.
"Have a good night sir."
"You too." Axel replied exiting the stand, spotting the nearest Inn made him yawn once again. Guess I'll get some rest, tomorrow I'll do some investigating and find out more about this Zander fellow. He thought
….
"Room for one please." Axel said
"Right away sir. Are you interested in our room service? We can send up some food."
"No thank you, I've eaten already."
"Ok, that'll be 5,000 jewels." Said the receptionist
Axel smiled placing the money down on the counter and accepting the key, he headed right up the stairs and into his room. The room wasn't anything special, a bed and a dresser were the main things in the room.
Yawning Axel hopped in the bed and wrapped himself in the blankets before closing his eyes.
...
For the most part Axel's sleep was rather pleasant, that was until he heard an explosion waking him up.
Axel sighed before standing, stretching real quick he walked to the window and found it was morning as he heard the birds chirping.
Guess I'll go get ready. He thought as he yawned
…..
"Stay outta the way!" Growled a man with silver hair and red eyes.
"Not happening Zander."
"Damn you, Alexa! I have to make sure that newcomer pays his taxes!" Growled the tyrant, he waved his hand and a blast of flames came to life and headed towards her, fortunately she saw the attack coming and jumped out the way.
However he was ready for that, appearing behind her he ignited flames to his palm and struck her leg. Alexa cried out in pain as she fell down.
"Not do mighty now are you, Lightning empress?" Zander laughed. Grimiore heart was nonexistent, they were taken down by Fairy tail. What Zander didn't get was why she wouldn't let him pass.
Alexa tried standing but found doing do brought forth unimaginable pain.
"I'm getting that newcomer to pay or-" Zander growled as he felt lightning crash into his back.
Alexa chuckled. Consider that a little gift just from me.
"Damn you, Alexa Clyde!" Zander ran at her, his fists ignited with powerful flames. He had the intention to kill her, just as his fist was about to connect he apparently missed creating a mini crater in the ground.
"Axel….you…."
The dragon slayer laid her down. "We're gonna talk about that later Alexa. Why you have my family name."
Alexa looked to the side.
"Well, if it isn't the almighty water dragon slayer. Come to get your ass handed to you?"
Axel smirked. "Not likely." He put his hand behind him blocking a punch to the head.
"How-"
"Your not quite as fast as you seem to think." He replied
"You just got lucky, that won't help you out Clyde." Zander said. "You and your sister are gonna die here."
Axel faltered shocked by what had just been said. "What did you say?"
"Alexa is your sister, always has. I guess I know why she didn't want me collecting taxes from the newcomer, you are him." Said Zander.
"But why would she…"
"Why else? Because she's your older sister." Zander said. "It's the duty of an older sibling to protect those who comes after them, isn't that right Alexa?"
The older Clyde glared at Zander.
"But she…."
"Tried to kill you? I'd that what you were gonna say? I'm sorry to tell you this but she didn't really want you dead. I'm her eyes I guess she had to be tough on you, to be the enemy so you could be strong. Stronger than anyone."
Axel appeared in front of Zander, his fists balled into fists, he tried keeping up but at the end of the day Axel was not only faster but due to his powers as a water dragon slayer he was stronger; any flames he dished out were doused with water.
The young Clyde looked at Zander who had his fists ignited, he sighed before appearing behind him and chopping him behind the neck effectively knocking him out.
Axel turned to Alexa and ran to her, she had a lot of scorch marks all over her body not to mention the burn that made her unable to move, she looked at him as he hovered his hands over her, he let water surround his hands and pressed it against her exposed skin, taking an immediate effect the water surrounded her entire being. Within moments her burns vanished as of they were never there.
Alexa sat upright shocked that Axel had such an ability. Axel grew more and more impressive by the day it would seem.
"That's an amazing ability." Alexa complimented
"Thanks." Axel said. "So…."
"Yeah. I knew you'd want to know, especially after what that idiot revealed."
"So it's true then?"
Alexa nods. "I know you probably don't appreciate it or may of not even wanted it, but I wanted you to be strong. So strong that you could protect all those you held dear. It might of been a bit selfish on my part but I just wanted you to have the strength to pull through any situation, that's why I had to be seen as the villain."
"Did you really have to join Grimiore heart? They hurt so many of my friends." He said
"I mean….I could've joined any other dark guild but that's the first one that came to mind, at least I didn't have to kill anyone, you did notice that I never caused any of your friends physical harm right?"
Axel opened his mouth with surprise, so shocked he couldn't even form words.
"What? Is there something on my face?" She asked
"No." Axel said a smile coming onto his face. "Looks like your one doting big sister huh? Who knew I had someone like you looking after me."
"You know that stuffed animal you keep at your house? I was the one to give you that."
Axel widened his eyes. "Have you been spying on me?"
"Of course not. I do check on you from time to time, every time I always saw you with that stuffed dragon I gave you so long ago."
"I always thought it was a gift from mom." Axel said
Alexa smiled. "It looks like my plan worked though, you got strong. Enough to beat me anyway, that's no small feat. I am an S class mage.
Axel scratched his head. "Where were you when Mom and dad died?
"I had been given a request from the magic council, I was to locate and eliminate a criminal who was really talented in wind magic, it was a rough battle but in the end I won, however…"
"When you returned they were gone?"
Alexa nodded. "I suppose through all the trauma you forgot about me, I was never really around. I was always busy training. When I returned I found you unconscious so I placed you in the care of the most famous guild."
"I see….Alexa…." Axel knelt down and wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you for always looking after me."
Alexa was surprised at first about the sudden hug but returned it once she got over her surprise. After a few minutes the siblings pulled away from each other allowing both of them to stand up.
Axel asked her if she had anywhere else to stay to which she replied by saying she always stayed on inns or outside, namely a tree or in a forest somewhere.
"Nonsense." Said Axel. "Come back with me and you can stay with me at my place."
"Are you sure? I don't wanna be a problem-"
"It's not a problem. It was me and my surrogate sisters place, but since she isn't around anymore…" Axel frowned. "You can move in with me, it might take the guild awhile to warm up to you but I think they'll come around eventually."
"I-If your certain…"
"Cmon. Follow me."
And Alexa did, she followed after her younger brother as they headed towards Magnolia.
TBC