Alright! Another Chapter is done and up! Its been so much fun working with StarryFire14 on this and more great stuff is to come! Enjoy this chapter and make sure to leave a review so that Starry and I can message each other at ungodly hours and say, "Look! We got another one!"

"Heya, Cosplayer, did I ever tell you about that time my younger brother glued my older brother's hair to his pillow?"

Ever since Lucy had revealed what was probably her darkest and most guarded secret to Bickslow, she noticed he began to really open up to her. He began telling her stories, a little bit at a time, over the course of many months. He would just work them into casual conversations they had and she loved it. He recounted his favorite missions to her (most of which were just stories of Laxus embarrassing himself), that he was a sucker for sappy movies, and how grateful he was to have found Fairy Tail and The Thunder Legion when he had. He'd even told her the heartbreaking stories of how he'd come into contact with each of the little souls that inhabited the clunky totems always at his side. In turn, she had shared her own stories with him. Stories of adventure, of her life at the Konzern, of Team Natsu's shenanigans.

But, stories of his life before Fairy Tail, of his family...that was new.

She had noticed his avoidance of the topic, of course, but she knew that a lot of her guildmates had some pretty tragic backstories and she didn't want to prod, but if he was going to offer up that information to her freely…

"I didn't even know you had brothers, Bix."

"Oh, yeah, but it's been about eight years since..well, doesn't matter," he said, glossing over it, "Anyway, so Van, my baby brother, he's always been… actually I don't know the best way to describe him." he chuckled lightly, "Let's go with charismatically chaotic. When we were growing up, he had this habit of picking fights with the rest of us, or pulling pranks and making jokes, and then literally vanishing to laugh his ass off."

Lucy raised a curious eyebrow, "Vanishing?"

"Yeah, it's part of his magic. I guess you could kind of call it teleporting." Bickslow thought for a moment for a better way to explain it, because it was honestly a bit difficult to imagine if you'd never seen Van do it. "Well, actually, it's probably more similar to what you do, with the gate-jumping shit, but he's been able to do it for fucking forever." Bickslow got lost in thought for a moment, but then he laughed as he reminisced further, "I actually fucking remember the first time he did it, because we lost him for about a week. Bastard came back covered in lipstick..."

Lucy laughed, "Sounds a lot like you. How old was he at the time?"

"Seven…"

Lucy choked on her whiskey, "And you weren't freaking out when he disappeared?!"

"Well of course we were, well...I mean, a little, but he'd always been pretty scrappy. We weren't that worried." he chuckled.

"And who all is 'we' exactly?" She asked, knowing she was pushing it by prying.

Bickslow noticed her not-so-subtle fishing for information, but it felt… good… to talk about it. He'd spent so long trying not to think about them, to ignore the pain of missing them, that it was nice to finally allow himself to remember without fear of being pitied or judged. She felt comfortable opening up to him, he wanted to feel that way, too. Not for the first time, he sent a thank you to the stars she summoned for how close they'd gotten.

"My family, Cosplayer." he smiled sadly, "My brothers and sisters."

"Tell me about them?" she asked with a tinge of hopefulness.

He regarded her thoughtfully, "You really wanna know?"

She gave him a bright smile, "Of course I do, Bixy. I grew up, pretty much, alone. I have no idea what growing up with other kids is actually like. Besides," she added, "it's clearly important to you. So I want to hear every detail."

"Well, okay...but I don't really know where to start."

"Hmmm...you mentioned hair being glued to someone's pillow. You could start there? Actually, I kind of really need to know now. You should start there, definitely."

Bickslow smiled a little, and signalled to the bartender for another round. He looked into his glass as he thought about it, swirling the contents slowly before he tilted his head back and emptied the glass. He really wanted to open up to her about this, to finally move past the pain, but he was going to need a significantly higher blood alcohol concentration to go into the details.

"How about shots first?"

"Shots?" she reiterated warily, "...I want to be able to move tomorrow, Bix." She really did not like shots, but upon seeing how he seemed to shut down a little at her dismissal, she quickly revised, "But why the hell not? I can handle my liquor! Bring on the shots!"

The Seith Mage snorted. That was a huge lie, and they both knew it, but he appreciated her effort all the same.

After he got a few shots down his throat, he started to feel more at ease. He was glad, he wanted to be able to share this with someone. He missed his family so much and it had been eight years since he'd seen them...well, it had actually been fifteen for them, something he hadn't really thought about before...fuck, did they even know he was alive?

He took in a deep breath and pushed that thought aside for now, maybe later he'd try to find a way to write his father a letter without getting caught. He cleared his throat of his emotions, trying to take on the role of an engaging story-teller.

He spoke in an enthusiastic voice, "Alright, so, if you wanna understand why it was so goddamn funny, and trust me, it really was - then you're probably gonna need to know a little bit about my brothers."

Lucy practically bounced out of her seat, she was so excited. A combination of being excited to learn more about her new bestie, and the alcohol starting to take a real effect on her system. She turned her barstool to face him directly, placing her elbow on the bartop to prop her chin on her hand, and gave him her undivided attention, "Right-o, Sir Bickslow, now go!"

She was so proud of her rhyming that she couldn't stop her giggling.

Bickslow smiled at her antics, raking a hand through his hair. He was glad she was so comfortable around him, he hated drinking with his visor on, "Shit, alright. I guess I'll start with Kaleb. He's kind of serious, even a little grumpy. He was like the 'mom' of the eight of us." he joked.

"EIGHT?!" she screeched in surprise.

"Uh, yeah, eight." Bickslow gave her a tongue-lolling grin, happily reminiscing for the first time in a very long time, "We might as well have been a small, smartass, village. Poor Dad, honestly. But don't interrupt or this will take forever, Cheerleader," he chastised half-heartedly with a finger pointed her direction. He knew it was futile. She was a chatty drunk.

"So. Kaleb. Mr. Mom. I swear, if he could have gotten away with grounding us, I would have spent my whole childhood confined to my room. Not even Fare was so strict, and he was the oldest and kind of a pretty-boy perfectionist."

"I don't like when boys are prettier than me," Lucy pouted drunkenly. "It's not fair."

"Damnit, Cosplayer, what did I say?"

She nodded, "Oh right," she made a zipper motion against her lips, "I'll be quiet."

"Promise?"

She ignored him. Apparently even drunk, she knew what promises to avoid making.

"Anyway, so back to the story. Fuck, where were we?"

"I'm not supposed to talk." she sassed, taking a swig from the bottle the bartender had left next to their glasses.

He chuckled, shaking his head, and gently pulling the bottle from her clutches. Damn it, if drunk Lucy wasn't cute as hell, "So Fare is the oldest, but Kaleb has some ungodly need to be in control, of like, everything. And everyone. One day, though, he took it a little too far and actually had the audacity to tell Van 'no'. And let me tell you something, Cheerleader; that never ends well."

Chuckling, she slurred, "Why not?"

"Well, because Van always gets what he wants. One way or another. And when he doesn't, somebody usually pays in the form of an unfortunate prank."

Lucy made a 'go on' motion, before trying to reach for the bottle again. She gave up when she realized it was out of her reach, deciding just to take Bickslow's glass instead.

"So, I can't even remember what Kaleb was so against Van doing, really it could have been anything, but Van decided retribution was in order," the Seith Mage started cackling, "Get this, a week later, Kaleb let his guard down. He finally thought he was safe, right? So Van snuck into his room while everyone was asleep and glued the entire right side of his head to the pillow! We woke up to Mr. High-and-Mighty screaming like a goddamn banshee, running around the house seeking answers and revenge…"

He chuckled, "Cosplayer, the pillow was still on his face!" he was nearly doubled over at the bar, "Fuck! Why is this still so funny!?"

Lucy giggled right along with his infectious laughter, unable to help herself.

"Goddamn it… the look on his face… It was even funnier because you could only see half of it!"

Lucy loved the way his face was lit up in joy. She'd never seen him looking so carefree, but seeing it now, she knew she'd do whatever it took to make more moments like this.

It took literal minutes for him to calm down enough to take a deep breath, and when he did, he grinned over at Lucy happily, "Ya know, I haven't told anybody about this. The Thunder Legion knows about them, my family, I mean. But I've never told them anything specific really. This is…nice."

"I don't talk about my family much, either. It hurts too much, but with you, I don't know...it hurts less."

Bickslow threw an arm over her shoulder, and ordered another round of shots, "That's because I'm awesome as fuck, Cheerleader, and so are you."

Smiling happily, she nodded.

"You know what? I think my sister, Xal, would have really liked you."

Lucy downed her drink, officially saying 'Fuck it' in her mind. She wasn't going to be doing much of anything tomorrow, she knew, but the fun she was having was worth the potential hangover.

"Oh? You think so?"

He rubbed his chin, pulling out his flask and gesturing to her. She eyed it with veiled disgust, before pulling hers out as well, and they did a 'cheers'.

"Yeah," he said after re-securing the lid on the container, "I've always actually hoped that she turned out to be somewhat like you. Fierce and strong, caring, but maybe a little bit less scary." He joked, in reference to the famed ferocity of 'Scary Lucy'.

Lucy just smiled and took another drink, giving him a look.

"Fuck. Like that. What the hell?"

She just laughed it off and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

He laughed along with her, but then was silent for quite some time, "Man, I really fucking miss Xal. She's gotta be so different now… Did I ever tell you she wanted to be a doctor?"

Lucy hiccuped, "Bix," she rolled her eyes, "I didn't even know you had a sister before half an hour ago…"

"When we were all little kids, I remember this one day. We were all playing a game outside, trying to figure out how to use our magics, and then Emi's magic just fucking went off and she couldn't control it. Cris ended up taking a direct hit of some crazy powerful blast and he got hurt pretty bad. Dad took Cris to a healer and Xal decided right then, at fucking five years old, that she wanted to be a doctor. Because even though Cris uses healing magic, it only worked on other people, and she said there needed to be somebody who could heal him when he got hurt or sick."

"She sounds pretty incredible, Bickslow," she said softly, "I can tell she meant a lot to you."

He laughed a little to himself, "I'm not saying I had a favorite sibling, but…"

"I can totally imagine little you doting over a little baby sister," she teased and pinched his cheek. When he swatted her hand away, she laughed, grabbing his glass again.

"No, don't…"

She gave him a look, and tilted the drink up to finish the rest of it.

He sighed, "You're gonna throw that up."

She shrugged, uncaring. When he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, she sighed. She wasn't sure why, but Lucy couldn't stand seeing a disapproving look on his face, and it was frustrating as fuck, "...sorry."

"Don't apologize, just maybe take it a little slower, Cheerleader! This is why you always get hungover. You don't know your limit." 'cheerleader, find your limit, cheerleader' the totems chanted, snuggling up to her face and neck. Apparently they and Plue had finished whatever scheme they'd been hatching for the last hour. She giggled, then picked up Plue from where he sat on top of the grumpy totem, and holding him close.

"And stop fucking stealing my drink," he pouted, stealing her own glass - though it was empty - in retaliation.

"Yeah, you're right." They were silent for a while, until she spoke again, "Thanks, Bix. You know, I'm glad I didn't have to spend Christmas alone this year. My old team of destruction and I, we used to do something for the holidays, but the last couple years we weren't able to get together."

"Yeah," he said, "Same for The Legion. I asked Freed if he wanted to join us, but he said he had research to do."

Lucy smiled, "Something tells me that's not entirely true."

"I have to agree with ya there. Guys been taking things pretty rough lately," he frowned, "I wish he'd take the others' leads and, I don't know, move on a little…"

"I could say the same about you," she gave him a pointed look, "But, yeah, I've noticed that too. I wanted to invite Gray, but his last letter said he thought he was finally getting closer to figuring out how to deal with his magic, and I just couldn't pull him from that. Not just because I'm desperate to see him."

"I'm gettin' there and I've got you, so I'm doing pretty okay for myself." Bickslow stated, "And I'm sure Gray will be fine. Dude's fucking tough, he's just working through some shit like everyone else."

They sat in silence for so long that it became uncomfortable, like it hadn't been between them in what felt like forever.

"So…" Lucy began,"Your family. You make it sound like they're all still around, but you don't see them anymore? Why…? You don't know what I'd give to see my own family again... " she trailed off.

Lucy felt it, that moment she'd crossed the line from friendly conversation to digging for info, and knew he likely wouldn't answer. She couldn't really find a reason to care, though, despite the fact that she'd sobered considerably, it seems her filter didn't really get the memo. And really, she wanted to know.

"They… I... ," he sighed, "They all live in Bosco and, well, Seith Magic isn't exactly welcomed there."

The Celestial Wizard turned her full attention to her best friend, feeling a sense of trepidation, "Why would they live in a place you're not allowed to go?"

"Well, I'm from there, it's my home. Theirs too. But because of that dumbass fucking law, when I was 11, I had to leave the country. Dad's pretty tight with the monarchy, so they knew about me. They keep a close eye on them, so we… can't really talk, anymore."

"...what."

"I said-"

"I know what you said. Just give me a second... You said Kaleb, right? Kaleb… Control Freak…Bosco...huge family of mages... Fuck," she slapped a hand to her forehead, "Tell me, Bickslow, please fucking tell me you aren't talking about the Guildmaster of White Sea."

The Seith Mage regarded her darkening aura with widened eyes, but didn't say anything, worrying that if he did it could awaken 'Scary Lucy'. He almost whimpered, shrinking away from her.

"Fare… Farron," Lucy continued, as if she hadn't just asked him a question he didn't answer, "It's Farron, right? Goddamn it, tell me your last name isn't Pradesh."

He looked sheepish, and saddened, and a little bit confused, but… he nodded. He didn't want to lie to her, "...why does that matter?"

"Because I really didn't want to fucking lose all my fucking respect for one of the few role models I actually have, but here we are. Goddamn it," she stood up, grabbing him by his collar. It happened… she was awake. Scary Lucy was real. Slightly-Drunk Scary Lucy was the shit myths were based on.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked, managing to snag his visor just before she pulled him all the way off his stool by the back of his collar.

She didn't say anything, but he felt as her magic swelled, and saw the shining gateway he'd come to recognize as Lucy's magic, "...Lucy?" he said her name, a last ditch attempt at catching her attention. When that didn't work, he tried to get out of her grip, "Oi, fuck, Cheerleader. I don't know what I did, but I'm so sorry!"

"Shut it, Bixy. I'll be back for you in a week." she said, chucking him through the golden gate and closing it off behind him. "Merry Christmas, you're welcome."

She walked up to the stunned bartender, and settled their tab. Walking out, she mumbled under her breath, "Great. Now I have shit to fix that should have already been dealt with… When I see that guy, he's gonna wish he'd done this shit himself."

Behind the Scenes Dramatics

Starry: If I die, you have to finish this story

Redfoxed: You can't die because I can't spell

Starry: Ohhhh yeah

Gotcha

You know

Spell check is a thing

Refoxed: But I can spell 'because' lol

Starry: Aw dammit

Roasted

You couldn't spell feral, so…

Boom

Idek

Ignore me

Redfoxed: I tried to spell that like 3 times and finally gave up

English is a garbage language

Starry: Lol. You put in a last name

Like 'Will Ferrall'

Ferrell?

I don't know

He spells it some way

But feral

Like wild

Is f-e-r-a-l

And btw, fixing that is my job :) so don't worry

Redfoxed: Haha thanks

Starry: just don't misspell 'becuase', I'll never be able to get that right

fuck

Beause

Because

FUCK

Redfoxed: Lol

Free entertainment