Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Clover Town:
Celestial mage desperately needed to destroy a creature in the cave of a mountain.
Reward unknown celestial key, 5.000.000 jewel.

"This is an odd request" Lucy noted as she and the two men sat down on the train, "I wonder why Blue Pegasus hasn't taken care of it?" She wondered looking up at them, Bickslow was staring out the window and Laxus looked a little green, even though the train hadn't even moved yet.

Laxus shrugged and smirked "maybe cause their not as strong as Fairy Tail" he commented, Lucy's brows scrunched up and she swatted the other blonde on the knee.

"That's not nice Laxus!" She scolded him; he scowled at her but then grinned.

"Not afraid of me Blondie?" He asked the question had been nagging the back of his brain for forever; he was terrified she would hate him or be scared of him, but her own scowl got even deeper.

"No I'm not Laxus Dreyar, and you're blonde too!" she scolded him twice.

He bellowed out a laugh "whatever Blondie" he teased, then the train lurched forward and he turned a darker shade of green. Lucy frowned and pat the seat next to her, "come here, lay your head on my lap, it helps Natsu." She smiled softly at him.

He growled inwardly over the mention of the pink haired idiot laying his head on his blondie's lap, but wasted no time himself practically launching his body on the opposite seat and settling nicely on her while she reached out and stroked his head, he practically purred at the contact.

Laxus soon fell asleep and Bickslow was pointedly staring out the window, he wanted rip his friend off cosplayer's lap, pick her up and put her on his own lap, or at least take her somewhere far away from the lightning slayer.

He thought of all the devious ways he could get Lucy away from Laxus and disappear with her that he hadn't heard her at first. "…hey Bickslow?" Lucy was still whispering but she said his name more forcefully, after having said it a couple times now.

He turned "what?" He asked almost begrudgingly, she was still playing with Laxus hair and it was really grating on his nerves.

"Why do you wear a mask all the time?" She asked him, he was taken aback by her question, his babies floated nervously around him.

"Because everyone thinks I'll control them somehow, with my figure eyes" he told her bitterly, "eye's eyes!" they repeated in the same bitter tone.

She frowned and cocked her head to the side, "you can can't you?" she asked; it was such an innocent question and tugged on his heart strings.

"Well, yeah" he said sadly "it doesn't mean I'm going to though" he felt the bitterness creep up his throat again, what kind of monster did they think he was? His babies didn't repeat, instead they floated sadly around him.

Lucy frowned "I'm sorry" she said quietly, he frowned at her response.

"Why are you sorry Cosplayer?" "Cosplayer! Cosplayer!" They repeated happily, her eyebrow twitched at the nickname, but her sympathy won over.

"Because, I don't know how it makes you feel, but you shouldn't have to wear it all the time, because people can't control their own fear, it's ridiculous!" She said passionately.

He smiled at that one, "so what do you think Cosplayer? You scared of me?" He grinned as if he was joking, but it bothered him thinking she was.

She rolled her eyes "first of all, my name is Lucy, not Cosplayer" she quit playing with Laxus hair for a minute to point a finger in the air "secondly," she pointed the second finger "I'm not scared of you, and I'd actually prefer if you didn't wear it! Because truthfully, I think it's more unnerving you wearing a mask than me seeing your face…" She finished in a lower voice, she was feeling unsure just then, she had outburst feeling angry over the way people felt about him, being scared of him, she was upset he thought she was too and she was afraid she might have offended him with that last part.

"I-I'm sorry Bickslow, I didn't mean-" but he cut her off.

"No you're right Lucy" she raised her brown when he said her name "look if you don't like the mask I can take it off?" He offered, feeling hopeful.

"No! She cried waving her arms in the air, he flinched, so she didn't want to see his face, he felt despair creeping into his chest "not if you don't want to! I mean…" she sighed "I'd like it if you did, but I don't want to push you into something you don't want to do."

She could have smacked her forehead, feeling stupid and like she was digging herself into a hole and there was really no getting out of it now, she just hoped that she hadn't made him angry.

Bickslow smiled warmly at her, before reaching up and taking the damn thing off, it felt good to have the cool air touch his face and he leaned back for a minute reveling in it. "You didn't offend me if that's what you're thinking Cosplayer, but thanks." He gave her a wink when he looked back at her, his babies giggled floating around the compartment.

Lucy blushed "why are you thanking me?" She asked.

"Because," he shrugged "I get sick of people having me keep it on, it's nice to know someone doesn't mind it being off." He put the helmet down next to him, and Lucy reached over and plucked it from the seat, careful not to disturb Laxus.

"What are you doing?!" Bickslow asked her, slightly panicking, he felt like he was losing a piece of himself, but he tried desperately to smash that fear deep within him.

"I don't want you to wear it anymore," she replied stuffing it into her pack "I'm gonna hold onto it, until your used to having it off, and everyone can kiss it; if their uncomfortable with you not wearing it, they can just get used to it!" She said almost defiantly and he had to laugh at that one.

"Your something else Cosplayer" he grinned when she humphed and crossed her arms under her breasts, pushing them up to give him a nice view of her cleavage.

"My name is Lucy, not cosplayer, what's up with everyone giving me nicknames?" She sighed exasperatedly, relaxing her arms again and going back to playing with Laxus hair.

Bickslow shrugged "because your cute; and it's easy to give you nicknames" he said.

She blushed "well… everyone needs to stop" she muttered and he laughed again.

Laxus shifted on Lucy's lap so his face was pushed right up underneath her breasts and Bickslow snarled, the blonde had looked down at the male on her lap squeaking when she felt him shift and noticing where he was, but she looked up confused when Bickslow had made that deep sound in the back of his throat.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

He coughed and turned away staring out the window again, "yeah I'm fine." He replied in a gruff voice.

Laxus smirked and wrapped an arm around Blondie pulling her to him, this was great and there was nothing the Seith mage could do about it.

"Laxus?" Lucy whispered gently poking his head, "helloooo? Are you awake?" she leaned down to whisper in his ear and his heart stuttered. She had leaned so far down she hadn't realized she was cradling him really closely to her chest and her breath was tickling his ear giving him goosebumps, there was no fucking way he was letting her know he was awake, instead he grunted and gripped her tighter making another squeak come out of her and he almost had to stifle a laugh.

Bickslow tensed up, and when the train stopped moving indicating they were in clover town finally; he roughly kicked Laxus in the knee jerking the man out of his little game.

Laxus carefully maneuvered Lucy to the side and growled at Bickslow harshly, "what the hell was that for?" He snarled.

Lucy bit her lip and while the two men glared at each other she slipped out of the compartment and made her way off the train, whatever they were pissed at each other about, she was not a part of it. When she walked outside she immediately made her way to the mayor's house and hoped to focus on the mission, rather than the weird feeling blossoming in her chest.

Meanwhile back in the compartment Bickslow was snarling right back at Laxus "What? We were here, and your lazy ass wouldn't wake up!" He bit back.

Laxus grabbed him by the collar and Bickslow shoved him away from him, startling the man, he had never known either of them ever being mad at each other, that when he noticed.

"Where's your mask?" He asked the Seith mage dumbly.

"Bickslow crossed his arms over his chest and smugly replied "Lucy likes seeing my face, so she asked me to take it off." He smirked at the dragon slayer.

Laxus growled deep in his throat, "and?" he snapped.

"And... I think she likes me" Bickslow chuckled, still feeling smug.

"Yeah well, I was in her lap!" Laxus bit back.

Bickslow's lip curled and then he realized something, or someone was missing. "where'd cosplayer go?" He suddenly asked.

Laxus looked around but couldn't find her anywhere, then he noticed her scent drawing away from the compartment and he quickly followed it, with the Seith mage at his heels.

His babies were agitated 'Lucy!" they seemed sad and Bickslow was surprised they were saying something of their own will.

Laxus turned around quirking an eyebrow at him, but Bickslow shrugged. The dragon slayer continued to follow the celestial mages scent until the men finally made it to the mayor's house.

.

.

Lucy spoke to the mayor about what happened, some giant snake like creature with several heads was crawling out of some cave in the mountains and even though Blue Pegasus had tried to stop the menace from attacking the town; they couldn't defeat it because apparently they felt it was a celestial spirit.

"Are you sure?" she asked the mayor, it was odd to hear of a celestial spirit not only attacking people, but being in this world seemingly on its own.

The mayor nodded "It disappears, but on every full moon, like the one tonight… It reappears, there is a celestial key hanging around its neck, one of the members of our town's guild got a good look at it and its key handle is in the shape of the creatures' heads."

"This is strange" Lucy noted, she felt worried, and the feeling mirrored on her face.

The mayor wrung his hands. "Can you stop it?" He asked, sounding very desperate.

Lucy snapped out her thoughts "I don't know…" she answered honestly "I will try; definitely though, and I have some back up, though they're not here at the moment.." she ended bitterly, wondering if they were still fighting, she was worried about them though and looked toward the doors for a moment.

She looked back at the mayor then, when she heard him shuffling nervously, and she smiled warmly at him trying to ease his fears. "I'm gonna go to blue Pegasus, if my friends come here to find me, send them over there" she stood to shake his hand "we'll figure this out somehow; I won't leave you until I've exhausted all my options."

"Thank you Miss Heartfilia!" The mayor grasped her hand, shaking it wholeheartedly, she left with a wave and made her way to the Blue Pegasus guild.

Lucy slowed her brisk walk suddenly remembering who would be waiting at the guild, Oh lord, she thought. Hibiki, Ren and Eve, the notorious, bad pick up line, wanna be playboys, that took way too much after Ichya, he was not a good ladies man and the three of his… students; were going down that path to being creepy weirdo's. Which was too bad, they were kind of cute, she mused over that thought as she continued to the guild finally coming up on the doors.

Master Bob was the one to greet her at the door "oh miss Lucyyyyyy! Is your team Natsu with you?" He asked sweetly, looking dazedly around for the two boys that usually escorted the young lady.

"No Master Bob, um Laxus and Bickslow are somewhere behind me though, they should be here soon." She smiled at the large… winged man.

"Ooooh!" he twirled around "those gorgeous hunks are coming? I can't wait to see them!" Lucy giggled behind her hand, poor Laxus, and poor Bickslow.

Before she could ask about the threat she heard a distinctive voice coming from atop the stairs "Is that you sweet Lucy?" Hibiki called down to her and suddenly she was surrounded by the three boys.

"Oh hi guys" she said shyly.

"My dear sweet Lucy, there's no need to be shy around us, we are your knights in shining armor of course," Hibiki winked and then bowed, the other two boys followed suit, Lucy couldn't figure out if she wanted to suppress a giggle or an eye roll.

.

.

Laxus followed Blondie's scent to mayor's house who was quick to point them in the direction of the guild. The two men groaned in frustration, "number one why did she have to leave us behind?" Laxus complained, muttering incoherently his next words, something with the word number two and Blondie thrown into the mix.

Bickslow had his arms crossed over his chest and his babies were hovering agitated in circles around him, "I'm not looking forward to greeting master bob" he grumbled.

Laxus paled at the thought, "what about those three playboys?" He snarled next, thinking about those three hovering around his mate.

Bickslow's face darkened, his own thoughts on level with Laxus "let's just hurry up and get there, get this over with." He grunted and they picked up their pace.

When they walked through the guild doors they were instantly blocked from looking for Lucy by Master Bob "hello boyyys!" He giggled wiggling his fingers at them, Bickslow gulped and Laxus looked pained "we're looking for Blondie" he spat out, trying to avoid master Bobs keen interest.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about her, the trimens are taking very good care of her" he purred then giggled, Laxus and Bickslow both simultaneously snarled causing the master to jump, he looked at the two men more closely and frowned, hmmmmm, he thought.

"They've taken young Lucy upstairs" he pointed, taking on a more serious tone.

He noticed the men barely registered him as they shoved past and barreled up the stairs. They saw Lucy looking bored with the trimens antics, as they fawned over her and had sat her down on some throne like chair; with a table that had small dinner set on it.

"What would like Miss Lucy?" Hibiki asked.

"Do you need anything?" Ren asked as well.

"You are incredibly beautiful" Hibiki commented.

"I love your hair" Eve was holding her hair in his hands, she had let it grow out to her waist and stopped sporting the side ponytail since they had come back from Tenrou, but now she was regretting it being so long, I should have cut it short. She thought dryly, trying to wave Eve's hands off of her.

"No I don't need anything, thank you, thank you" she replied absently, until she finally noticed her two companions and sighed in relief "Laxus, Bickslow!" She pleaded with them silently to rescue her.

Bickslow was on one side and Laxus on the other in an instant, and while the Seith mage held up Hibiki in one hand by his collar Laxus had the two by theirs.

"Would you get off our teammate?!' Laxus roared, Bickslow rattled Hibiki for good measure before dumping him on the ground with a dazed look on his face.

Laxus threw the other two into the wall, dusting his hands off he turned to Lucy but she disappeared again, "where the fuck did she run off to now?" Bickslow was way ahead of him and was following Blondie closely, smirking back at Laxus who growled possessively and stalked after the two, shoving Bickslow out of the way.

Master Bob watched the two men as they shoved each other around Lucy; who meanwhile was ignoring their behavior as best as she could. She smiled at the Headmaster "I wanted to talk to you about the job before I got held up" she grinned sheepishly.

She heard someone whimpering and turned to see Hibiki had crawled to the edge of the stairs and was holding his hand out to her and tears were running down his face, she blanched and quickly turned away from him, blushing from embarrassment.

Laxus and Bickslow stopped fighting long enough to glare at the guy, and Laxus shocked him for good measure, Master Bob was still watching them curiously.

"Well My dear Lucy," he turned to her then "it appears to us to be a celestial spirit, and Hibiki tried doing research on it but came up short, all he knows is the Hydra is indeed a constellation, but there are no records of there being a key."

Lucy frowned "I've never heard of it either honestly, are you sure it's a celestial spirit?"

He shook his head," no we're not sure, when we entered the cave it appears in… before it comes out to destroy things of course, we did find a key suspended over what seems to be an altar, and we figured a celestial mage would not only have the most knowledge on how to defeat this thing but would probably benefit from the reward."

Lucy nodded her head, someone wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she turned to see that someone was a recovered Hibiki, Ren and Eve right behind him." I can give you the information I dug up, sweet Lucy, somewhere… private?" He said smoothly.

She brushed his arm off and Laxus shocked him again, while Bickslow's babies pounded into Eve and Ren, knocking them unconscious.

"We'll go check it out Master Bob" she grinned at him "and try to figure it out, you guys ready?" She asked turning to her two companions.

Laxus looked up from glaring viciously at Hibiki and Bickslow was just staring at her, making her feel nervous suddenly. Her heart rate quickened seeing the both of them, standing there arms crossed and looking very stern and slightly over protective and attractive, she blushed again, they're not being overprotective, it's your imagination, she scolded herself.

Laxus picked up on her heart beat change and frowned, not sure if it had been meant for him or Bickslow, he twitched thinking about it.

"Of course, we'll be waiting for your return" Master Bob said from behind her.

"Right…" Lucy said slowly, she turned back around and with another wave and smile she made her way to the door to exit the guild.

Master Bob watched the two men flank the poor girl still glaring at each other, for some reason something felt strange about the situation, and a really high energy was in the air surrounding the three.

He mused over it thoughtfully as the doors closed off his view of them.