Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima.

When We Take Different Paths - Week 2 MLM

Pairing: Doranbolt x Lahar

Prompt: This is Not What it Looks Like!

On The Same Page

Doranbolt sat in a chair behind his desk staring intently at the small item that was sitting atop it in his Magic Council quarters in Era. It was square in shape and when he'd probed it with some Jutsu Shiki magic he'd learned from Lahar, he could see that it was covered in very intricate runes. He'd been sitting this way for at least an hour both regretting that he had accepted it and weighing his loyalty to the Magic Council against the outrage he felt at their actions. He had been able to think of nothing else since it had been entrusted to him by Gajeel Redfox of Fairy Tail.

Fuck it. He grabbed the item and put it in his pocket. He didn't want to be late to the Magic Council meeting he was supposed to attend. He bumped into Lahar on the way and they continued walking together side by side. They remained silent, content in the camaraderie they had developed over the years. Doranbolt stole a side glance at the Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit and quickly looked forward so that Lahar would not notice the attention.

He groaned in frustration, although outwardly his expression remained impassive. He had been harboring the slight delusion that something more interesting could come out of his sometimes contentious friendship with Lahar, and this was interfering with his ability to make a decision.

Doranbolt knew he was not bad to look at, and he could be quite charming when he felt like it, but he wasn't interested in dalliances. He was looking for an equal, someone he could admire as well as desire and Lahar had been at the top of that list for awhile. If he went through with what he was planning he would be putting that at risk. He knew what the right thing to do was but he couldn't commit to the action, at least not yet.

They entered the Council's chambers and stood near the doors. Even though they had been summoned they were not deemed important enough to have a seat at the spacious table, which was currently littered with empty seats. The meeting droned on and on, with only a few questions directed at them throughout the proceedings. Doranbolt began to zone out, once again thinking about his predicament, when he heard something that caught his attention. The Council Members all seemed the same to him and so he had never bothered to learn their names, just assigned them numbers based on their ranks.

"We have received reports that several mages have gone missing in a short span of time," one of the Regional Commanders informed the Council Members.

"Mages go missing all the time, it's probably just a job that took longer than expected." Number Two dismissed the report out of hand.

"For all of them? You haven't even asked if they're from the same guild?! It says here that all of the mages that disappeared had something in common," Number Three argued as he scanned the report more carefully.

"Well? Are you going to tell us or do we have to wait until your brain cells copulate to create more?"

Number Three glared at Number Two, who was a pompous ass as always. "All of the mages used Lost Magic."

"The initial reports started in the East of the continent but they seem to be moving West," the Regional Commander added helpfully.

"We should warn the guilds. Let them know there might be a threat." Number Three attempted to be the voice of reason but as usual his suggestion was ignored.

"We don't know that there is a threat, it would just cause an unnecessary panic," Number Two once again dismissed.

"It's our job to protect our mages - how would it look if word got out that we knew of a threat and didn't inform them." Number Four spoke up for once.

"How would it look if word got out that mages had already gone missing? It will make the guilds think that we can't protect them. Better to let them handle it if it ends up affecting them and we can feign ignorance." Number Five, who had remained silent up to this point, sided with Number Two as he always did.

"Agreed. Next." Number One, also known as the Magic Council Chairman Gran Doma, motioned to the next person on the roster.

"What?!" Doranbolt yelled, unable to remain quiet at the decision. "A lot of those Lost Magic users have put their lives on the line to protect all of us." He bit his tongue to prevent himself from adding that it was usually as a result of the Council's epic mishandling of a situation.

"Doranbolt!" Lahar hissed as he glared at him, "You are speaking out of turn."

"You're unbelievable," Doranbolt muttered under his breath, and he wasn't sure whether he was referring to the Council or Lahar. He did not apologize for his outburst but he managed to remain quiet for the remainder of the meeting. He kept his hands in his pockets, his fingers following the contours of the device hidden there as he thought about what he had just heard.

The Magic Council was never going to change - they cared more about preserving their power than they did about the mages they were sworn to protect. It was time for a change even if it meant ruining any possible chance he might have had with Lahar. Some things were more important. He thought of Wendy Marvell, the girl he had failed to protect last time. She was a Lost Magic user. Doranbolt had sworn he would not fail her again.

As soon as the meeting was over, Doranbolt left the Council's chambers, walking quickly and fighting the urge to teleport somewhere until he calmed down. He needed to act normal.

"Hey, wait up." Lahar came after him and though Doranbolt slowed down his pace, he kept walking. Lahar caught up to him and tried to get him to stop, and when Doranbolt wouldn't, he grabbed the teleportation mage's arm. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, but you broke the rules. If you disagree with something there are channels in place for that."

Doranbolt scoffed. "Sure there are, have you noticed what happens to people who use those channels?" Lahar shook his head and looked at him with big honest eyes, "They end up in Isvan. Look, I need to be alone right now, I'll see you later." He teleported away without giving Lahar a chance to respond.

He spent several hours talking with the soldiers in his unit, doing paperwork and overall acting like nothing was the matter. He ate with several friends and when night fell he had the beginnings of a plan. He needed to get into Gran Doma's office to put it into action. Unfortunately, he couldn't teleport in. There were protections in place to keep that from happening.

Doranbolt made his way into the building, holding some official looking papers in his hands. He made sure to give the impression that he was reading them as he walked so he would not be stopped. His stomach was so tight with nerves that even though he'd read the same paragraph five times he had no idea what was on the page. As he made his way further into the building, he looked up every once in a while and nodded at people as he made his way closer to his destination. When he was finally standing in front of the Chairman's door he knocked on it and waited patiently. He'd come up with a reason for his visit in case the office was not empty, but it escaped him at the moment. His mouth was dry and his ears were hyper-aware of any noise in the area. After waiting for what felt like an eternity - but was most likely only a few minutes - he made his way inside the office.

It was a rather large room and he closed the door behind him quietly. He had only been summoned in here once but he'd not paid much attention. He gave a quick look around.There were several suits of armor, each holding several different types of weapons. They gave a nefarious air to an otherwise nondescript room. There was also a large host of magical items scattered in various shelves and cases throughout the room and Doranbolt could only recognize a few with any certainty. He hoped none of them was capable of recognizing intruders. Where was the best place to hide the listening device? He quickly decided on the imposing desk that sat in the middle of the room, covered in various neat piles of paperwork. The writing implements were lined up in a row and now that he paid more attention to his surroundings he noticed that everything was fastidiously neat. It irritated him.

After examining the desk more carefully, he settled on the backside of one of the drawers. He took the device out of his pocket and neared the desk, ready to pull out one of the drawers when he heard a noise outside. He cursed under his breath and changed plans. He quickly placed the device inside the faceplate of the suit nearest to him hoping that it would attach quickly and silently. He tried to look natural, there was no way he could teleport out without activating a magical alarm. He saw the door opening and he went into a defensive stance. The moment he recognized Lahar he knew he was screwed.

"Doranbolt, what are you doing in Gran Doma's office?" Lahar looked at him, sword out and eyes distrustful.

Doranbolt held his arms up and said,"This is not what it looks like! I heard a noise and I came in to check it out."

Lahar relaxed his pose a bit but he still looked suspicious. "What are you doing over there?"

Doranbolt managed to keep his voice even as he replied, "I was checking the suits. Do you want to check under the desk?" Lahar looked unsure but ultimately he nodded, for the moment willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Doranbolt made a point of checking all the suits of armor while Lahar removed the chair and checked the desk. They signaled they had not found anything, quickly slipping into their regular work routines. Lahar gestured at Doranbolt to check curtains as well as the tapestries that hung on the walls while he looked through the neatly organized cases and shelves that contained all of the artifacts. Doranbolt made a point of being extra careful in his search. Lahar used some of his Jutsu Shiki to check for any magic in the room while Doranbolt headed towards the bookcases, littered with books on magical theory that must have come with the office. Doranbolt would have bet jewel that Gran Doma had not read any of them. A lot of the articles glowed dimly in response to Lahar's magic but nothing out of the ordinary revealed itself. Doranbolt forced himself not to look at the suit of armor, not wanting to draw attention to it. Lahar finally relaxed and put away his sword.

"Can you describe the noise you heard?" Lahar asked, once again giving the office a once over while eyeing Doranbolt with an expression the teleportation mage could not quite interpret.

"It was loud, kind of like a clank," Doranbolt lied as he noticed what looked to be a metal artifact on the floor. "Do you think it might have been this?" He picked the object up and brought it to Lahar, who looked it over.

"I suppose." Lahar said as he grabbed it and put it in his pocket without giving it a second glance. "I'll enter it into our report."

Shit. Doranbolt tensed up - he couldn't let Lahar fill out a report about this. He'd have to say that he had found Doranbolt already in the office when he arrived. Doranbolt realized with a sinking heart that he might have to use his memory magic on the Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit. Although that thought did not sit well with him, if he couldn't think of a way to keep Lahar from writing that report he might not have a choice. Maybe he could get him involved somehow? He viewed the office with a critical eye but nothing stood out, until he looked at the desk. He had the inkling of an idea, it was stupid but it was all he had at the moment. He hoped Lahar disliked Gran Doma as much as he did.

"Will you look at this?" Doranbolt said as he pointed at the impeccably organized desk. "Even his pens are lined up perfectly. Seriously, who does that?"

"The Gran Doma is a very meticulous man, it shows in everything he does." Lahar said with more than a twinge of admiration.

"What you call meticulous, I call anal, Lahar." Doranbolt looked at the desk with disgust. "What do you think he would do if we messed up his perfect desk, huh?" He grabbed one of the piles of immaculately organized papers and held it in his hands. Lahar moved to stop him but Doranbolt grabbed the top paper and threw it in the air.

"Put those down, are you insane?" Lahar hissed at him as he ran to grab the paper that had landed on the floor, and Doranbolt did stop for a second because he saw something in Lahar's face that he wasn't expecting. Concern, for him. It amazed him and made him want to explore what seemed to be a new dimension to their relationship, but the fact remained, he couldn't afford to get caught.

"Sure, I'll put them down," he said before throwing the entire pile of papers in the air. He smirked, satisfied, as he watched them all land on the floor in a haphazard pattern.

"What have you done?" the usually calm and collected Lahar looked anxious, "He's going to have your head!"

"No he won't, we can say we found it like this. Come on Lahar, grow a pair and grab a pile," Doranbolt coaxed as he grabbed another pile of documents and offered them.

Lahar stood amidst the fallen documents and looked at Doranbolt like he'd just lost his mind.

"Doesn't he make you angry, Lahar? You're a mage, a damn good one I might add, and you stand there day in and day out and hear how little regard he has for us. Don't tell me that doesn't bother you."

"Of course it bothers me," Lahar snapped. "Do you think I enjoy doing some of the things they ask of me?"

"Then why do them? Come on, Lahar - just this once do something for you." Doranbolt cajoled.

"This is immature bullshit, what is this going to change?" Lahar protested albeit he did not sound as adamantly opposed to the idea as he did earlier.

"Nothing," Doranbolt agreed easily, "but it will make you feel better and it will piss him off." He grabbed a paper off the top of his stack and threw it to a different part of the room. "After today's meeting I really want to piss him off. Come on, if you do one, I promise I will stop."

"Just one?" Lahar asked and sighed when Doranbolt nodded at him with a sly grin."Fine." He frowned as Doranbolt handed him a piece of paper. He held it in his hand and stared at it. The ticking of the clock that hung on the wall behind the desk the only noise that could be heard until Doranbolt had enough of waiting for something to happen.

"Oh for the love of.....you can't do it, can you?" Doranbolt groaned with frustration, "You're hopeless! Fine, whatever. Report me, arrest me, do whatever you have to. I'm going to go get my last beer as a free man." He walked past Lahar and made his way towards the door, a mixture of conflicting emotions running through him.

"Doranbolt!" Lahar called out to him, the sharp tone of his voice making Doranbolt turn around. "Don't ever tell me what I can or can't do." He grabbed a pile of paperwork from Gran Doma's desk and threw it in the air. Then an unexpected thing happened. Lahar began to laugh as he watched the papers dance in the air before making their final descent to the ground. He looked over at Doranbolt and all the teleportation mage could do was stare in awe as he saw the twinkle in the script mage's gorgeous lavender eyes as he took his glasses off to rub at them.

"You were right, that did feel good," Lahar smiled conspiratorially, "It's a pity we found it like this, huh?"

Doranbolt nodded slowly, still somewhat shocked at what he had witnessed.

"Shall we go get that drink? Come tomorrow we might both be arrested." Lahar winked at Doranbolt as he closed the door behind them. They walked together, once again side by side, both a little unsure of what had just happened, but aware something had changed. A trust had been given that had once been withheld.

They reached the bar and Doranbolt saw Gajeel, who, to his surprise, was sitting at one of the tables with his Exceed and Former Councilor Belno. They were engaged in what seemed to be a lively conversation, Former Councillor Belno laughing and slapping the Iron Dragon Slayer's arm in approval. Gajeel noticed his arrival and raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question. Doranbolt nodded in answer and continued walking. He had officially become a double agent.

Doranbolt had to figure out what he was going to do about Lahar. He knew he should be thinking of ways to convince him to not file that report but his mind was currently filled with lavender eyes and concerned expressions. They sat down at a table and ordered food as well as drink.

"Doranbolt, I know you get frustrated with the Council," Lahar spoke earnestly as he drank his beer. "I know their rules might seem arbitrary and they don't always seem to have our best interests at heart, but it's not our job to interpret the rules. Just enforce them."

"But what if they're wrong, Lahar?" Doranbolt asked quietly, aware of his surroundings. "Shouldn't doing the right thing be more important than following orders? Don't you think Lost Magic Users should know they could be in danger? Gajeel Redfox is here, I saw him when we entered. We could let him know and then they could protect themselves - we both know the Council sure as hell isn't going to do it."

"This is about Wendy, isn't it?" Lahar frowned, "I know you worry about her but you can't let your guilt cloud your judgment."

"It's not just about her, think about the types of magic that fit into this category. Dragon Slayers, God Slayers, Human Subordination, Arc of Time - these are just a few and most of the mages that use it are not exactly lightweight.They'd certainly kick both our asses. The fact that they're disappearing like this worries me. The Council is wrong this time." Doranbolt tried to get Lahar to see his side of things but he could see by the way the script mage was tensing up that he had pushed too far.

"You need to understand something. What we did in that office, that's one thing. In the grand scheme of things it's a harmless prank. What you're suggesting now is treason. I will not be a part of that."

"Don't you think the real treason is their actions?" Doranbolt uttered, words thick with disgust, "How many tragedies could have been avoided if they had only done their job, Lahar?"

"We can't change the past. Look, I don't know what you were doing in that office and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but our friendship will only get you so far." Lahar stated coldly. "If you tell Gajeel anything of what you heard at today's meeting I will arrest you for treason."

Doranbolt glanced sadly at Lahar. He should have known better. There was no way that Lahar was going to come over to his way of thinking. The concern, the twinkle he thought he had seen in Lahar's eyes earlier was but a mirage amidst a desert of denial. He had seen what he had wanted to see. Perhaps Lahar had owned his mind once but he'd been a cog in the Council machine for too many years. He saw nothing wrong with how they operated and now he was a liability.

Doranbolt ordered another beer and mulled over his options. After they finished their meals they remained at the bar, drinking mug after mug and talking of other topics. When Doranbolt felt the effects of the alcohol begin to affect his thinking he stopped drinking and made sure to keep Lahar's cup full.

Lahar was currently laughing at his own joke, his words slurred and his body relaxed and Doranbolt felt a stab of guilt as he watched the Custody Enforcement Captain get drunker than he had ever seen him. Doranbolt let his gaze wander, memorizing every aspect of Lahar's face as the script mage sat across from him, opening up in a way he never had before. He was vulnerable, trusting and still completely unaware of Doranbolt's intentions.

"You know," Lahar slurred, "you're rather attractive when you're angry."

Doranbolt snorted at the drunken compliment, there was no point in letting it affect him when he'd already made his decision. "Just how drunk are you?"

"I'm completely sloshed, but that doesn't mean it's not true." Lahar laughed but then he got a sad look in his eyes. "I missed you when you left, you know. They were going to send someone else after you but I volunteered." He looked down at the table for a bit before looking up at Doranbolt resolutely. "I never realized how lonely I was until you came along. No one had ever tried to get to know me before." Lahar laughed softly. "You're my only friend."

Oh god, please don't say that to me now! Doranbolt allowed Lahar to grab his head but his attempt to touch foreheads became an accidental headbutt as Lahar was too drunk to control his movements. I totally deserve that, he thought as he rubbed his forehead.

"Since you stopped drinking about an hour ago and I don't think I can get any drunker, I have to tell you something before I change my mind." Lahar looked at Doranbolt with an expression so serious the teleportation mage began to sweat under its scrutiny. "I know what you have to do to me and it's ok," Lahar's words were slow as he struggled against the alcohol flowing through his body.

Doranbolt attempted to deny the accusation but Lahar waved him away.

"I know you put something in Gran Doma's office, Doranbolt. I planted that artifact on the floor to see if you would take the bait." Lahar let the words settle in the space between them before continuing, his voice full of regret , "I really wish I could be the man you want me to be, but no matter how much I'd like to I can't. I can acknowledge that you're right but I have pledged my loyalty and I can't betray that directly. I've been sitting here running it over and over in my mind and this is what I came up with, the only thing I can do is give you my permission to tamper with my memory."

"Can't you just-" Doranbolt tried to argue but Lahar shook his head.

"We both know that If you don't, I will more than likely report you and you can't take that chance." Lahar actually looked disappointed in himself, the alcohol interfering with his ability to hide behind his usual impassiveness.

"I want to tell you one more thing before you do it. Now that you know how much of a coward I am you'll understand that I might never get the courage to say this again. I care for you, Doranbolt. So whatever you're doing, be careful. If something happened to you, it would hurt me." Lahar refused to meet Doranbolt's eyes as he announced. " I'm ready."

Doranbolt could not believe everything he had just heard. It was too much for him to handle. Lahar had known all along that he had had done something against the Council but had been trying to fight his nature to protect him. Lahar had admitted he was important to him and that he cared for him and now Doranbolt had to erase that memory? That wasn't fair, although he supposed it was only fair that there were some consequences associated with his betrayal.

"Ok," he agreed, "but I'd like to do one thing before I wipe your memory." Lahar looked up at that and Doranbolt leaned closer to him, his lips moving ever closer to Lahar's own. As he was almost about to touch Doranbolt whispered, "Can I?" Lahar nodded and their mouths met in a kiss that managed to be both joyous and full of grief. As they kissed, Doranbolt placed his hands on Lahar's head and performed his spell, separating himself from Lahar only when he was done.

Lahar's eyes were cloudy as the spell settled in his mind and when they cleared up he looked around him confused. He spotted Doranbolt sitting across from him and asked, "How much did I drink? My head is pounding."

"A lot. Come on, let's get you home." Doranbolt said as he stood up and helped Lahar do the same. They left the bar, Doranbolt holding most of Lahar's weight as the script mage was still a bit confused. They arrived at their building and Dornabolt escorted Lahar to his quarters and then headed to his own, a small smile playing on his lips as he thought of the kiss. He wouldn't be able to pursue Lahar for the moment but at least he had learned his feelings were returned, maybe someday when the Magic Council was but a memory, they would be together.