Fate Brought Us Here

sincerity

Gajeel POV

Unfortunately, I was paired with Laxus to take the tropical road. It was incredibly hot as compared to the snowy weather engulfing the hut.

I glanced at Laxus. Oddly, he was still wearing his black fur coat with his hands in his pocket. Although his face interpreted emotionless, I knew he felt disquiet.

"Spill it, you know everything about their magic don't you?" I questioned Laxus.

He stood unbothered. We were in a desert area, the whole place was covered with sand and the carcass of sea animals.

"Gramps taught me a thing or two when they quit," he responded monotonously.

"Tell me, what do you know?" I asked once more.

"It's none of your business Redfox," he replied sharply.

I crossed my arms, "I know something is up. The way Natsu acted was so out of character a while ago. What's really going on?" I questioned once more.

Laxus shut his eyes momentarily and sigh softly in defeat.

"Each of them was cursed but by the looks of it, I'm certain the curse was broken a long time ago. The reward is a wish if they broke it," He explained.

My lips formed an 'o' shape.

"Why was there a curse?"

"The council did it to prevent intermingling between the horsemen. Emotion is a powerful drive. It's extremely dangerous when the holder wields such power," Laxus replied.

I nodded my head, "Why couldn't they use their wish to undo everything?"

Laxus shook his head in annoyance as if he was talking to a toddler, "For the wish to be granted, it must be from sincerity. If it interferes with the horsemen's purpose then it shall not be granted. It's pretty subjective, not all wishes were granted. I bet they tried to wish themselves out of this one but it wasn't granted."

"That sucks," I grunted.

Laxus chuckled, "Useless actually."

I nodded my head in agreement.

We walked in silence for a while. The beach was awfully quiet, it's hurting my ears.

Suddenly—

"Gajeel watch out!"

I quickly jumped as high as I could. My eyes widened when I saw a huge snake emerge from the sand with his huge jaw and venom laced fangs pointing at me.

I quickly transformed my arm into an iron tube and smack its head as hard as I could but instead of going down, the snake grew another head.

"Laxus!" I shouted.

Laxus smoothly ran up the snake's body and punched its second head. However, a third head emerged and the first head completely healed.

I landed on the floor and quickly ran. The snake immediately went back under the sand but I could feel it trailing me from the vibrations of the sand.

"Laxus you okay back there?" I yelled as I glanced to the back.

Laxus was far behind me but he was running as fast as he could. The snake could emerge anywhere.

The vibrations abruptly stopped. I stopped running and cautiously studied the sand.

"I hear no movements at all," Laxus grunted as he caught up to me.

"We shouldn't let our guard dow—"

The snake emerged up from beneath them. However, it was covered in blood and scars.