Purple runes in my memories

Chapter 28

In the morning Rufus had a horrible headache. He really didn't want to eat anything, but Freed made sure he ate at least something before they left. Rufus got a permission from Sting so he could leave to Crocus with Freed, while they decided to leave back to Sabertooth with Orga. Magaidh decided to stay as she wanted to study the poison more with Porlyusica.

They found master Makarov from his home and after explaining the situation and assuring him everything would go well, Freed was allowed to leave to Crocus. Rufus was both happy and disappointed because of that, he had been hoping that maybe Makarov wouldn't allow Freed to leave Magnolia.

"But you will take Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion with you", Makarov had said and it was an uncompromising demand. Without his team, Freed wasn't allowed to leave Magnolia even if he would travel with Rufus.

So now they were all in a train that was rattling as it was heading towards Crocus. Freed smiled slightly smugly as he looked how others were dealing with their hangover. Yet he had to admire how Laxus, who was already suffering motion sickness because he was a dragon slayer, could actually act like nothing was wrong with him. Well, he was more pale than usually when they were travelling, but other than that he looked normal. If it was just them without Rufus, he wouldn't need to act like everything was fine but he refused to show his weakness in front of anyone but them. It always warmed Freed's heart how special they were for Laxus.

The rune mage lifted his gaze from his book when Rufus' head flopped against his shoulder and he looked at the memory mage.

"It is really amusing to see you like this", he chuckled and Rufus quickly hushed, keeping his eyes tightly shut.

"Darling, I love you, but please don't talk right now", he murmured and pulled his hat to cover his eyes, leaning better against Freed.

"You poor thing", Freed smirked, touching Rufus' cheek.

"I need some love too, baby", Bickslow whined and he leaned against Freed on his other side.

"Go away", Rufus growled.

"No! Freed was ours long before you appeared, you dandy snot!"

"You can lean against Evergreen or Laxus."

"Come here and I will kill you", Evergreen murmured half-asleep as she and Laxus were sitting in front of them. Laxus wasn't even listening to them and they could hear music from his headphones, his eyes shut to concentrate on not feeling sick.

"You can't steal Freed away from us", Bickslow said to Rufus who huffed.

"I'm not stealing him away, I just want to stay close to him", he said.

"You two are acting ridiculous", Freed said and he slammed his book shut. "I'll go and buy you all something to eat and drink. You need something sweet and something salty so you start to feel better", he decided and stood up, heading towards the dining car where he could buy food.

Seriously, sometimes it felt like he was taking care of a bunch of kids. It was sometimes annoying, but he knew he liked them just the way they were even if he sometimes felt like he wanted to drown them all.

Once the train finally stopped after a few hours, they all were feeling a bit better. The station was busy as always and after they got their bags, they could leave.

There was a big car waiting just beside the station and the chauffeur almost jumped out of it and greeted them politely. After that he opened the door for them and they sat inside.

"This is nice", Bickslow grinned as they found their places inside and the limousine started moving. "I could get used to this."

"Too bad you can't", Freed said.