Phoenix

Finding George's George

Laxus came into Emi's room with a very serious look on his face. Emi looked up from her book and looked at him questioningly.

"He took all our food."

All Emi could do was sigh, close her book, grab her cloak, and motion for the dragon slayer to do the same.

"Well I guess today is shopping day. Let's go. We still have to clean the bathrooms today."

Laxus groaned in response, grabbed his cloak and followed the woman out the door. They wore cloaks in order to not be seen by the wizards that travel though Hargeon. If wizards were to catch a glimpse at Laxus, they would most likely either challenge him or run away and draw attention to him. Within his three years of exile, Laxus has learned that he liked to lay low, and fighting would just blow his cover. He looked over at Emi, who was looking at the produce section of a local farmers market.

Suddenly, a small boy ran into Laxus, causing the boy to fall to the ground. Laxus looked down at the boy before helping him back up.

"Sorry, mister, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's fine, kid. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I'm looking for my dog, George. He ran away this morning and I haven't been able to find him yet."

Laxus sighed, walked over to Emi, told her that he needed to go do something, and returned to the boy, saying that he would help him look. Emi continued to look at the produce, gently squeezing the fruits to see if they were ripe.

"Back for more apples, miss?"

"Yes. These apples are always delicious. You have the best apples in town!"

She bought apples, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. She then made her way over to the bread stand and picked up a couple loaves. Emi turned back to find Laxus and became confused when he wasn't there. She thought that he would have surely been back by now. Not paying any attention to the missing mage, Emi decided to head back to the house to drop off what she had bought before coming back to the market to get the meat.

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"What does this dog even look like?"

"He's brown and has white spots on his ears and paws."

Laxus looked at the boy with a bored expression. Kind of a weird looking dog.

"Please, mister, you have to find him!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll look, kid."

Laxus started searching in alleyways and behind buildings to see if he could find the dog, George. When he came up empty, he started looking near the food stands to see if he was trying to steal something from the carts. He still saw nothing. He looked towards the produce section and saw that Emi wasn't there anymore. He mumbled.

"Great. She's gonna kill me."

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Once she dropped off the food to the house, the white-haried woman made her way back to the market. Halfway through the woods, however, she noticed something following her. She took off her hood on the cloak so she could see around her better, but she couldn't sense any danger. She continued along the path when suddenly a small dog stood in her way.

Emi bent down to the dog's level, patting it on the head and smiling.

"Well hello little dog. What brings you out to the forest?"

The dog simply barked and started running towards the market. Emi smiled, following the dog while humming to herself. Once the pair arrived back at the market, Emi decided that she should start looking for Laxus. As she weaved her way through the crowds of people, she noticed that the dog was following her. Emi looked back at the dog and then walked over to the produce stand and bought two apples. Emi handed one of the apples over to the dog.

"Here you go. You look a little hungry."

While walking away from the dog once more, Emi started biting into her own apple. Emi and the dog casually walked through the market. Emi made her way over to the meat stands when she heard a little boy running towards her.

"Mister! Mister!"

Emi turned her head to the boy, wondering who he was talking to. He ran right up to her.

"Mister! You found my dog! Thank you so much."

Emi slowly removed her hood, causing a gasp from the boy.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry. You're not the man I spoke to before."

"Was he also wearing a cloak? And much taller?"

The boy looked down in embarrassment before letting out a quick "yes." Emi silently laughed at the mix up before asking the boy where the other cloaked figure went.

"Well he said that he would help me look for my dog, and he moved outside the market. I don't know where he is now."

"What's your name?"

"My name is George!"

"Well, George, it was nice meeting you and I hope that you and your dog stay together for a long time. It's always nice to have a friend."

"Is that guy in the other cloak your friend?"

Emi smiled softly before answering, "Yeah. Something like that."

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"Where in the goddamn hell is this thing?"

Laxus was starting to get annoyed with the situation. He was supposed to be helping Emi shop and yet he couldn't find her or the dog anywhere. He finally spotted a tail wagging. Brown tail, brown dog. He slowly moved closer, so as to not scare the dog. When he saw the white spots on the paws he sighed in relief. Finally. One missing thing down.

The lightning mage slowly made his way over to the dog and, just as he was going to grab it, the little boy came out to meet him.

"Hi mister! Your friend found my dog!"

Laxus's eyes twitched.

"And you didn't think to tell me before I spent the last hour looking for a dog that was already found?"

The boy and dog walked away, leaving an annoyed Laxus behind.

"Great, Now I have to find the other one."

"Laxus!"

Laxus turned to see the woman he was looking for. She was holding a few bags in her hands.

Emi let out a sigh, saying, "I was looking for you everywhere. Where did you go?"

"I was helping a brat find his dog."

"Oh. That was really nice of you! I already took most of the groceries back to the house, but you can carry these ones for me," Emi said as she handed over the bags of meat and fish.

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"Whew. That was quite a walk back."

"You weren't even carrying anything, brat."

"Hey I carried all the bread and produce back by myself, so it's only fair that you carry the meat and fish."

"Meat and fish are a lot heavier than bread and produce."

"And you're a lot stronger than me, so it's even."

Laxus quietly grumbled as he set the bags down on the counter. He slowly handed each item to the white-haired woman as she put them away.

"That boy you were helping, was his name George?"

"No, his dog's name was George."

"A brown dog with white spots?"

Laxus eyed her suspiciously before nodding slowly in agreement.

"The dog belonged to a little boy named George."

"A kid named George calls his dog George? Really?"

"I think it's kind of cute. It means they're close."

Laxus turned away from the kitchen and made his way to his room.

"Whatever. It sounds stupid to me."