The Aftermath

The last thing Freed remembered before closing his eyes from the bright light was Meliodas jumping into the light, towards Laxus.

Freed opened his eyes again. There in front of him, was Laxus, laying on the ground. Underneath him, a pool of blood was forming. Standing above him, was Meliodas. Freed felt his skin crawl as he felt Meliodas's power. It was dark. Darker than Mirajane's Satan Soul whom he just fought and lost to. The ominous feeling he was sensing vanished quickly as Meliodas's features returned back to normal.

Freed slowly walked over to Laxus's side. Laxus lay on the ground with his eyes closed. A tear began to roll down Freed's face as he saw a soft smile on Laxus's face.

"Laxus…" Freed whispered.

"Well well well. That was close wasn't it." Meliodas commented with a grin on his face. Freed stared at Meliodas with awe and fear.

"I can't believe you defeated Laxus…" Freed said as his wobbly knees gave way. Just as he was about to fall to the ground, Meliodas grabbed onto his arm, catching him.

"So you're Freed? I don't think we've met." Meliodas mentioned as he helped Freed back on his feet again.

"That is correct. I am Freed Justine of the Thunder God Tribe." Freed replied.

"Thunder God Tribe...I think I fought someone like you. He had weird eyes and stuck his tongue out a lot." Meliodas said, recalling his fight with Bickslow.

"So you've met Bickslow. It's no surprise you were able to defeat him then." Freed commented.

As Meliodas looked back over at Laxus, he heard a voice shouting at them and getting closer.

"Meliodas! Freed! Laxus!"

Freed and Meliodas turned their heads and saw Levy running towards them, with a panicked look on her face. As she stopped in front of them, she looked at Laxus, who was unconscious on the ground.

"Laxus is…?"

"Meliodas defeated Laxus. But what is it you came here to tell us?" Freed asked.

"It's the master… he doesn't have a lot of time left. I came here to tell Laxus to go see him but...I don't think that's possible right now." Levy said as she stared at Laxus lying on the ground. The pool of blood began to grow as more blood leaked from his open wound on his chest.

"Laxus!" Freed exclaimed.

"You guys should probably go check up on the Master then. I'll go drop Laxus and Freed off at the hospital. Especially Laxus. I don't think he'll last long with those injuries. Then I'll go meet up with you guys." Meliodas said.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking back myself. In fact, I will be the one to take Laxus to the hospital since you're not in such good condition your-" Freed paused as he glanced at Meliodas. When Freed had first arrived to the scene, Meliodas was covered in heavy bruises. But now, all of his injuries on his body were gone from his fight with Laxus.

"Wait, weren't you all battered up just a few moments ago?" Freed asked.

"What ever could you be talking about?" Meliodas jokingly responded as he picked up Laxus over his head.

"Well I think I'm good enough to walk. I'll just get treated at the guild infirmary." Freed replied. He took a step forward and immediately stumbled forward, almost falling on his face. Levy rushed to his side and helped him back up.

"Here, I'll take Freed back to the guild. You take Laxus to the hospital. His injuries look really bad." Levy said as she looked at Laxus.

Meliodas nodded and waved goodbye as he carried Laxus over his head. As he walked away, Freed continued to stare at Meliodas with a skeptical look on his face. 'He has such a childlike face and demeanor but that strength of his...and that darkness…'

"Something wrong Freed?" Levy asked as she noticed Freed staring off into the distance.

"N-no...let's go back to the guild." Freed replied.

'Hmm...Maybe I should go pick up that Bickslow guy on the way. I left him lying in the street somewhere.' Meliodas thought as he walked back into town.

---

Several hours later, Meliodas sat at a table in the guild hall with Wakaba and Macao across from him as well as other members as they listened to Erza, who was wrapped up in badges, inform everyone of Makarov's health.

"It looks like thanks to Porlyusica, the Master's life is no longer in any immediate danger." Erza declared to everyone. The guild hall immediately broke out of its silence into loud cheering as everyone celebrated. Meliodas smiled but remained silent as he drank his ale. 'I wonder where Mystogan went…' Meliodas's thought to himself.

"Something on your mind? You should be celebrating!" Wakaba said with a mug of ale in hand.

"Yeah you showed that punk Laxus." Macao commented.

"Well he's just a guy whose passion burned too hot and he went on the wrong path." Meliodas replied.

"Hmph...I guess if you put it that way...but still he had some nerve making us all fight to the death like that. At least none of us actually died." Wakaba said. As Meliodas continued conversing, Natsu approached the table and went up to Meliodas. Behind him, Gajeel was following.

"Meliodas! You may have beat Laxus by but next time I'm fighting him!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Gi hi, there won't be a next time salamander. I'll be the one to fight him!" Gajeel interjected.

"Like hell you will! I destroyed more Lacrima than you!"

"Are you blind Salamander? I destroyed far more than you did!"

Meliodas sat the table, amused by the two dragon slayers as he drank more of his ale. He glanced over at the entrance as he felt a familiar magic coming towards the guild.

"I mean if you guys want to fight him, he's coming here right now." Meliodas commented. Both Gajeel and Natsu stopped bickering and looked towards the entrance, surprised. The guild fell silent as they all turned to the entrance and saw Laxus's figure standing at the entrance. He had several bandages over his face and a cast on his right arm. On his torso, was a cast that wrapped around his body.

"Laxus?!"

"Laxus is here?"

"You have some nerve coming back here Laxus!"

Guild members started loudly voicing their anger and frustration at Laxus as he walked into the guild.

"That's enough!" Erza shouted sternly to the rowdy guild members, silencing them immediately. Erza stood in front of Laxus and the two exchanged serious looks at each other.

"The master is in the medical office." Erza said. Laxus nodded and continued walking only for Natsu to run up to Laxus.

"Next time, it won't be Meliodas kicking your ass, it will be me!" Natsu exclaimed, pointing a finger at Laxus.

"So Meliodas really beat Laxus by himself?" Lucy asked Gajeel. Gajeel nodded.

"Yeah...I originally went to the cathedral after Natsu and Erza left. Then I saw how Meliodas and Laxus were fighting and uhh...yeah..."

"So you left and decided to help with the Lacrima around town instead?" Lucy asked. Gajeel remained silent as he looked the other way.

Laxus seemingly ignored Natsu's request and continued walking forward, but waved a hand in acknowledgement to Natsu before stopping and glancing over at Meliodas.

Meliodas gave Laxus a friendly grin as they locked eyes as Laxus nodded silently in response. The rest of the guild watched in silence, curious about the interaction between the two.

"Want some ale?" Meliodas offered. He summoned an unopened bottle and handed it to Laxus.

"Thanks, but not now." Laxus replied. "But I want to know why you didn't kill me. You were holding back that entire fight. Even at the end, you only punched me with just enough force to stop me from casting Fairy Law…"

"I've fought plenty of guys like you before." Meliodas replied with a smile. "And compared to them, you didn't seem all that bad. Now how about drop that sour attitude and have some ale?"

Laxus shook his head but a very faint smile formed on his face as he turned around and continued walking away towards the medical office. As Laxus left the main hall, the guild returned to its festive atmosphere and Meliodas continued drinking his ale until he was approached by Mirajane.

"Meliodas will you be joining us for the Fantasia Parade later tonight?" Mirajane asked. Meliodas put his mug down and thought about it.

"Hmm...maybe. What do I have to do?" Meliodas asked.

"Well we have a variety of parade floats that you can either dance on or perform magic to impress the crowd." Mirajane answered.

"Dancing isn't my thing. And my magic isn't quite flashy…" Meliodas said as he tried to think of an idea.

"Why don't you come out back and check out the other parade floats then?" Mirajane suggested. "You could always participate with one of the themes."

"Good idea!" Meliodas replied. Meliodas hopped up enthusiastically from his seat. As he stood up, he felt slightly wobbly in his legs. 'Huh...looks like that fight took out a bit more from me than I thought.'

Meliodas walked out to the back lot behind the guild. When Meliodas had last come out here with Erza to train, it was completely empty but now it was filled with various constructs and many of the guild members working on them.

Meliodas walked down the empty row at the middle of the floats. He took a closer look at the floats as he walked by. One of them was designed like an ice castle. On top of it was Gray who was doing finishing touches on the roof. Gray noticed Meliodas looking and waved.

"Hey Meliodas!" Gray greeted. He jumped down from the roof of the castle. As usual, he was shirtless.

"That's not gonna melt right?" Meliodas asked. "We still got several more hours until it starts."

"Nah. If my ice melted that easily, I wouldn't be a good ice make mage." Gray replied smugly.

"Then why is there a puddle right there." Meliodas commented as he pointed at one of the pillars of the castle.

"Puddle? Hah, nice try but I won't fall for-" Gray abruptly stopped as turned around. To his dismay, there was a puddle forming.

"What?! There's no way!" Gray exclaimed as he ran over to the puddle. Meliodas chuckled as he watched Gray scurry around and start refreezing the walls of the castle until Mirajane approached him.

"Did you have an idea what you wanted to do yet?" Mirajane asked.

"Nope, not yet." Meliodas replied. "Although...I think I have an idea now for a parade float."