Hey peeps. We're back! As previously mentioned sassykitten1701 co-authored this chapter with me. Let us know what you think of the ships we've revealed so far when you review this chapter! We are also searching for good ship names for Gajeel and Vander (Gander has already been rejected for obvious reasons). Umm... I think that's it.

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. Duh. All White Sea wizards mentioned in this story were created by Desna.

××Overkill Fieldtrip××

Jellal couldn't shake the feeling that he was not alone. Popo's silent presence would have been the obvious answer to that sensation, but He was fairly certain it was more than that. He saw no one though, sensed no magic, heard no noise. His eyes darted from shadow to shadow, frantically searching, and then, finally he saw her step out of the dark.

"I've been waiting for you, Handsome." Bright magenta eyes pulled him in and he found himself glad to see her. "I felt it when that spell went off and you were seperated from your friends." Long waves of purple hair billowed around her as she came closer. "How could they just leave you alone like this." Her full lips pouted and he found himself leaning toward her. "Anything could happen to you." Her hips swayed side to side and he was finding it hard to breath. "I'm glad I had the chance to find you though. All alone."

A rumble sounded through the tunnel, but he ignored it. She reached an elegant hand toward him and he held his breath, waiting for her touch. It never came. A blur of orange and light shot past him with a loud snarl, slamming the woman into the wall. The minute he was freed from her gaze he collapsed, gasping for air and backing away.

The golden blur than had freed him from the seduction spell held the purple haired wizard against the wall by her throat, her feet flailing harmlessly a good two feet above the ground. There was a vicious growl emanating from the newcomer that Jellal found very familiar. He had heard it directed at himself once, by Natsu, and many times since Cobra had joined Crime Sorciere. The wizard with hair like molten sunlight was a dragon slayer, and she was out for blood, preferably as a side dish to death.

"You made a very stupid mistake that you will never be repeating." Her voice was rich and smooth and went straight to his belly like spiced rum. "You will never touch my mate. He is mine!" His jaw dropped. Her what now? His eyes slammed shut when a bright glow enveloped the women. When the light had faded he opened his eyes to see nothing but a flurry of ash in the wind where the wizard who had come after him once was. The slayer turned glowing orange eyes to him and purred. No joke, no exaggeration, the woman was purring at him. It was... incredibly sexy and terrifying.

"Umm. Thank you."

"You are very welcome." Her red genie-type clothing seemed to flutter around her even in the still air of the tunnel as she prowled closer. Jellal leapt to his feet and took a step back.

"So... umm..." He swallowed and backed up again. "You must be Bickslow's sister Emzadi. It's nice to meet you."

"My pleasure." The tone in her voice made him shudder and it suddenly seemed to be a lot hotter. She kept coming closer and he glanced around frantically for something to distract her.

"So, dark guild, maybe we should go?" Wow. He sounded desperate even to himself.

"Hmm. We could." She didn't though.

"Did you want something?"

"My mate." No. No way.

"Maybe you should, um, go find him."

"I already did." Well shit.

"That's... No?"

"Yes." That one word was just pure sex.

"I'm not really... mate material."

"Oh?" She didn't sound convinced. "Why is that?"

"History?" She was way to close for his brain to work properly. "Lots of... bad... history..." She was close enough for him to smell her sweet, warm, feminine scent.

"I don't care. You are my mate." His brain borrowed a phrase he heard from Cobra on a regular basis. Hell to the fuck no. He activated his Meteor spell and fled.

××Overkill Fieldtrip××

Somehow, during the scramble of battle Cobra had found himself separated from his team. That pissed him off because he had chosen that team intentionally because he could tolerate their brand of crazy. Even their forth Boscan member had been more tolerable than most people. Now however, he was stuck in the middle of a tunnel maze with a rune mage who had no imagination and a fucking baby doctor. His dragon was being pissy too, and while he didn't know why it definitely was not helping his mood.

"Can you not, just, draw a map or something?"

"Runes don't work that way."

"Runes work however you write them to work! Just think outside the box!" The green haired man reacted as if he had suggested he eat his own child.

"The rules are there for a reason!"

"Good gods! You two have never worked together before have you?" Cobra gave The water mage his best are-you-stupid look. "Don't make shit-on-my-shoe eyes at me! I have brothers and my only sister is way scarier than you could ever hope to be!" He overheard a memory of a large chunk of vaporized sea resulting in a change in ocean tides and a whole years worth of weather and migration patterns. He had to admit that was pretty fucking scary. "Also, I work with children as a medical professional." She glared at him and the things she started remembering were causing the blood to drain from his face. "You can not scare me."

"You're crazy as a Fairy!"

"I will consider that a compliment. I have only the highest respect for my brother's guild. Now. Freed, I know this jackass has messed with you and thrown you off, but my brother says you are reliable in a pinch. Since this cave is messing with the slayers senses can you point us in the direction of something that is not another empty hallway?"

"I shall endeavor to do my best Miss Xally." Cobra bared his teeth at the females back, but before he could do any more than that a giant ball of water dropped out of nowhere right on top of his head. He would murder anyone who ever dared to bring up the undignified squawk that escaped him when the cold water hit his skin. He hadn't heard it coming. All these Boscan wizards had this weird fuzzy shield up that kept him from hearing them unless he specifically tried.

"What in Zeref's asshole is your problem woman!" The box-brained rune mage was silent and wide eyed, but Cobra could hear him silently applauding. "I oughta string you up by your intestines!"

"But you won't." Freed's whole face was twitching.

"And what gives you that idea?"

"I work with kids and have brothers." Like that was an explanation. She still had her back to him, waiting on the rune mage to get out of his box. "Cool your acid, poison slayer. You being an asshole isn't going to get us out of here any sooner. Now let the smart ones do their jobs. Freed, focus. We need to give the poisonous child something to do before he starts eating his own hand."

"Right." He drew his sabre and began casting his rule-box. Cobra gaped at them as his two luck-of-the-draw teammates as they ignored his shivering wet self. "Within the bounds of this enchantment..."

Overkill Fieldtrip××

That stubborn, psychotic, warlord of a woman was going to fucking die. When he caught up to her he was going to strangle her within an inch of her life. Then he was going to drag her behind him by her hair, and when she came ro he was going to slam her pig head into the wall till she passed out again. He would keep doing that till he found Bickslow and his super-healer of a brother. Then Laxus was going to kill Erza scarlet for real, then force them to revive her so he could do it again. The woman was always ridiculous but this shit was unreal.

He had found his mate. Actually heals them in his arms at one point during the fighting when he pulled out of the path of a blast of dark energy. They should still be there, in his arms, where he could keep them safe, but no. Instead of following his mate he was following Erza fucking Scarlet because the redheaded monster had run off alone, again He didn't know Beck from Zeref's uncle and he sure didn't trust Racer to back up Erza in a pinch, his magic was running away for fuck's sake, so being the only one left he had to follow her and trust his mate to his guild.

××Overkill Fieldtrip××

He didn't know how long exactly they had been walking for, but the feeling of Meredy clinging to his belt to keep from stumbling since she couldn't see in the dark tunnel was keeping him calm. At least a little bit. The faint smell of black cherries and smoke beside him had him tense, and fighting against his dragon instincts.

Ever since the man next to him had first appeared in the shadows, twirling a dully gleaming knife around his fingers, Gajeel had been fighting every instinct he had to just grab the man and ravish him. He may not have been the smartest slayer, but he knew what seeing this man, and feeling his dragon react, meant. All of his life, his dragon had been primal but worked with him, guided him, never purposely directed him into danger, heightened his senses to keep him safe.

This was the first time, EVER, that he had felt his dragon react so strongly that he had nearly gone into dragon force against his will. And the waves of confidence that were damn near pumping off of the amused mage on his left had his teeth on edge.

He had dived into the shadows after seeing it flex ever so slightly, with the intention of pulling out one of the shit mages they were hunting. They didn't know what type of mages were in the dark guild, so he didn't think it was so far fetched that there would be a shadow mage in their ranks. When he had seen the knife flying at him, instinct, confidence, and he'd admit, cockiness, had him catching it on the fly then taking a hefty bite out of the metal with a smirk on his lips.

He had not been expecting the bone melting pleasure that flooded him as the taste of the metal swept over his tongue, or his dragon slamming to life within him, nearly pushing him into dragon force.

Then his voice. His voice had eased through the darkness, wrapped around him, and like his dragon had just been scratched under the chin in just the right spot, a purr escaped him. Since then, Gajeel went to extremes to make sure they didn't touch skin to skin, a little worried as to what the results might be. Then the silence was broken, and Gajeel fought not to growl.

"So. I don't know about you hot stuff, but I've got two dragon slayer siblings, and what I'm feeling is nothing like what I've ever felt before. And I have a LOT of experience." Coming to a stop to look at Gajeel head on, and ignoring the pink haired chick that normally he'd be all over but hadn't really noticed since seeing the man before him take a hefty bite out of one of his self-made knives, Vander smirked, tilting his head to expose his neck slightly.

"What are you getting at?" Gajeel huffed, crossing his arms, fighting not to look into the wine colored eyes staring him down. He could feel Meredy nearly vibrating at his side, and worried she'd explode in excitement at the tension building between them.

"I have a question for ya, and I want the truth. And I'll know if you're lying." Van explained, crossing his own arms, ever watchful.

Gritting his teeth, Gajeel met wine red eyes with his own crimson gaze, and bared his teeth in a silent snarl. "Ask already, we have a job to finish."

Smirk widening, Van eased closer, feeling his own blood run faster at the warning flashing in dragon eyes. "I've had a feeling for a bit, so I need you to tell me." Pausing, he lifted a hand to run careful fingers down the exposed part of Gajeel's chest, loving the shuddering response he received. "Am I your mate?"

××Overkill Fieldtrip××

Angel was thrilled with the group she had somehow ended up with when the dark wizards had taken off into the spiderweb of tunnels in the mountain. She had thought she was chasing down the overgrown toddlers she had been babysitting before, but had apparently taken a wrong turn. The slayer from Bosco had smelled her coming and called the group to a stop to wait for her. She was tickled pink for two reasons, three if you count no longer having to deal with Smolder and Denial.

The first was that Lucy and Midnight were stinking adorable. She had caught her guildmate watching the blond Fairy more than once when their teams happened upon each other during jobs, but had never noticed Lucy returning his apparent crush. Either she had hidden it well, or she had developed one over the last few hours. If the latter was the case then it had developed with some sort of record speed. The two were alternating between hovering just short of hanging on each other and blushing while pretending to ignore each other. She had heard Lucy refer to the reflector mage as 'Cuddles' three times now.

The second thing that made her happy she ended up with this group was the slayer. He was absolutely gorgeous, with long dark hair she really would like to make time to play with. His eyes were a reflection of the night sky, stars included, and she wondered if she could fall into them. He was tall and strong, with shoulders that made her fingertips tingle with the urge to touch them. His soft smile made her stomach flutter like a little girl's.

"Cute aren't they?" She did not blush when Cristoff spoke to her. It was just hot in here, in the dark underground stone tunnel.

"Yes, actually they are. They have no clue what they are doing." His deep chuckle sent shivers down her spine.

"She might, but he is definitely lost." She had to agree with him when Lucy murmured something and reached up to run her fingers through Midnight's hair, causing him to dance away from her like a nervous filly. Angel raised an eyebrow at the slayer, knowing from her limited exposure to Fairy Tail's slayers that, while Cobra was an extreme, all slayers had exceptional hearing. "She asked if his hair was as soft as it looked."

"Did he answer?"

"Not with words. I could hear his heart rate speed up and he quit breathing for a minute." Angel smirked at 'the nightlight kids' as Midnight settled down and returned to walking at Lucy's side.

"After all we've been through I never would have thought she of all people would see him that way."

"Maybe you will give me the straight answer I couldn't get out of the other three earlier. What did happen between your guild and Fairy Tail?" She had a sour feeling in her stomach.

"Your brother didn't tell you?"

"Bickslow's communication with us is... sporadic. Honestly I've learned five things about your guild since I've joined this hunt. Cobra's name, Midnight's name, the fact that you are incredibly secretive, you have some sort of complex history with Fairy Tail, and now I know your name. Angel." She gave him a sad smile.

"Then you only learned two things, because those aren't our real names." His eyebrows went up at that.

"That actually... makes sense." He didn't ask again, but for some reason she felt compelled to share anyway.

"None of the people in my guild have happy pasts. We were orphans, torn from our families in blood and fire. Most of us were slaves after first opportunity that came to escape we took, and fell into darkness. We tried to destroy the world for a man who called himself our father and promised to answer our prayers. I tried to kill Lucy, Cobra and Midnight almost succeeded in killing Natsu and Erza. Fairy Tail stopped us and exposed our 'father' as a lier and a betrayer. We escaped from the prison they put us in and tried to destroy the world again in order to achieve our lasting freedom. I believe Bickslow was involved that time. Midnight attempted to sacrifice Lucy to achieve our goal. When she turned the ritual around and attacked him with the spell he was attempting we went back to prison. We only escaped when the prison was destroyed during the Tartaros war." She stopped speaking then. There was nothing left to say.

"And yet they choose to work with you." She blinked at him before turning away. "Lucy has obviously forgiven all of you, as have the rest of the Fairy Tail members here today. Maybe it's time to forgive yourselves." She stared at him with wide eyes for a long minute.

"Sorano. My name is Sorano." He smiled and she had to fight the strange urge to lean into him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sorano." Wow. Her name sounded good when he said it. The ground suddenly rumbled and they could hear an explosive type sound echo from one of the spider web tunnels. An audible growl was heard from Lucy.

"Natsu Dragneel! So help me if you bring this mountain down on our heads I will personally do things to you that will make you beg for death!" She strode off in the direction of the explosion.

"That woman is terrifying." Angel and Midnight both nodded.

××Overkill Fieldtrip××

"Shut up flame brain!"

"Make me popsicle dick!" Gray gave a shout and tackled Natsu, sending them both rolling off town the tunnel and out of sight. Bickslow groaned and dropped his head back to look at the ceiling. He finally felt sorry for Laxus having to deal with him and Evergreen bickering all the time. Maybe he would be more considerate in the future. Maybe, but probably not.

It was obvious to him what was going on with those two. He wasn't sure if Natsu had consciously figured it out yet, but Gray still had no idea. How the constant fighting had changed into what it was now without Mira noticing he had no clue. He hadn't needed the ability to see souls to understand the situation, but that ability had confirmed the whole thing. He just hoped they didn't see issues come from these two and the thing with Gajeel and Vander happening at the same time in the same place. Slayers were territorial and two was one to many most days. They had six under this mountain right now.

"So much brotherly love shown through the power of their fists! Oh yeah!" Bickslow facepalmed. What was with this guy?

"Ok, first of all big guy, in healthy relationships you don't express affection by punching each other in the face. And for the record, that love isn't brotherly. I'm not even sure it's love at this point. It's sure complicated as shit though."

The sounds of Natsu and Gray bickering suddenly broke off with a scream of pain. Bickslow and Richard ran down the tunnel. They found Natsu collapsed on the ground wheezing and losing blood rapidly. Gray, to put it lightly, was pissed.

"Show yourself you fucking coward!" He was throwing ice all over the place, not even bothering to cast it in an effective form. It was shattering and sending splinters everywhere.

"What the hell happened?" Bickslow hit his knees, searching Natsu for injuries. The way his breathing sounded he thought he might have a punctured lung. Richard stood over them in an attempt to guard them.

"They fucking stabbed him!" He flung another chunk of ice that shattered.

"Calm the fuck down before you hit one of us with that shit! Who stabbed him?" Bickslow finally found the wound and got pressure on it.

"I don't fucking know! Natsu should have heard them coming or smelled them or some shit! He always does!"

"C-concealm-" Natsu gasped. "C-can't-"

"Shut up smoke for brains! If you can't fucking breath you shouldn't be talking!"

"Gray! Listen to what he's saying. If it's some sort of concealment spell or stealth magic then there won't be any finding this guy! Get down here and hold this and let me do it! You can't hide a soul with a stealth spell."

Gray gave another shout of rage and slammed his hands to the ground. Ice covered the tunnel as well as all those linked to it almost instantly. A startled yelp came from around a corner and Gray grinned. The ice in that direction spread and grew. Sharp spikes shot across the open spaces and a cry of pain was heard. Gray shoved more ice magic into the tunnel and the chunks that weren't supported by the now red-tinged ice collapsed with a roar.

"Fuck that shit. Dead men don't have souls. You're welcome to go hunt his ghost." Even for Gray that was... cold.

"Gray. He's losing blood here and it might be getting in his lungs. I could use some ice on this wound."

Gray was there in a blink, hands shoving Bickslow's aside and freezing the wound over. He stayed there, with the excuse of keeping the ice from melting from Natsu's high body heat. Bickslow wasn't sure either punch happy lunatic noticed that Natsu's hands were fisted in the unbuttoned shirt still draped over Gray's shoulders. Bickslow perked up when a familiar female voice grew loud enough to echo in the now icy halls they were in.

"...chain you up in a cave and cook bacon outside where you can smell it, then bring it inside and eat it where you can see." Cosplayer was so fucking weird. She could calm down Gray and Natsu both though and Cris should be with her though so it was good she was here. He had been prepared to be forced to use his magic. If Cris was here he wouldn't have too. "I'll feed you nothing but lettuce for the whole week I leave you there and- What the hell! Is this ice? Wow. It just keeps going doesn't it? Damn. Who pissed off Gray?"

"Cosplayer! Is Cris with you?"

"Bickslow?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Could you guys hurry it up! We've got a situation!"

"Trying not to slip and die, Bix!" Her voice finally registered to Gray.

"Lucy! He can't breath!" His wide eyes were fixed on Natsu's pale face. They all knew He was unconscious since he hadn't responded to the sound of Lucy's voice. Bickslow noted that he still had ahold of Gray's shirt, though barely.

"Shit! Go Cris! Don't wait for my clumsy ass!" A lightly glowing Cristoff slid into sight quickly followed by Lucy and Angel. Bickslow wondered for a moment where Midnight was, before he heard his voice mumbling.

"It's not clumsy, it's gorgeous." Lucy, accustomed to interacting with a guild full of perverts, simply cast a single raised eyebrow over her shoulder. Angel, however, completely stopped walking and gaped with wide eyes at the man as he came around the corner.

"Oh my heavenly angels! Cobra was right! You really are a closet perv!" The man froze stiff as ice and turned red enough to glow himself and began to stutter.

"No! I-I didn't mean- I wouldn't- It's- gods! I'm sorry! I don't know what possessed me to say something like that out loud! I didn't mean to!" Lucy of the gorgeous ass giggled as she carefully watched her feet.

"That's what makes you a closet pervert instead of just a pervert. You didn't mean to say it out loud. You forgot to deny thinking it." Midnight groaned. If his guildmate wasn't as close to dying as he was Bickslow would be cackling up a storm. Lucy glanced up and turned pale as Midnight when she saw what was going on. "Natsu! Mavis, no."

Bickslow was convinced that it was only because of Midnight's careful observation and obvious use of his magic that the blond avoided serious injury in her mad scramble to get to her partner. Cris was already working on Natsu when she got there. Gray didn't appear to be happy about it, if his glare was any indication. You could never tell with Cosplayer whether something was intentional or not, but her throwing herself into Gray's arms probably ended an ugly scene before it even began.

"What happened?"

"Stealth magic." Gray's voice was tight. "Snuck up on us and put a knife in his lung." Lucy trembled and her voice had a dark quality to it when she spoke next.

"Where did they do?"

"Hell." Bix wasn't the only one to shudder at the way Gray said that. "I bought him a one way ticket." Lucy smiled. The only thing creepier than that was the look of adoration on Midnight's face when he saw it. Bickslow was more than a little concerned about the mental states if the people on this little field trip.

"Bix, you wouldn't happen to be able to use the babies to guide Xally here would you?"

"No. Why?"

"Because while I can heal the damage I can't pull the blood off his lungs. Xally can because blood is mostly water."

"I can!" The group stared at Lucy in shock. "Do a unison raid thing with me. Show me where the blood is and I can move it."

"How?" Gray looked as lost as Bickslow felt.

"I just can. Help me do this."

"Ok. Give me your hand. It will make it easier to guide you." Cris and Lucy held their hands flat over Natsu's chest. Lucy's eyes closed and she began to glow. Not all of her, just this weird blue squiggle that was a bright enough blue to shine through her shirt, which Bix now noticed was unusually modest for her. Come to think of it he was pretty sure he hadn't so much as seen her collar bones in a very long time.

Natsu jerked and started coughing. Watching blood follow Lucy's hands out of him was one of the most disturbing things Bickslow had ever seen. It was really scary that she could do that. He was even more scared of his sister now too. Natsu's breathing evened out and Cris relaxed visibly.

"Thanks, Lucy. He should be fine now, just needs some rest. He's a dragon slayer so he might even be awake in just a couple hours. Enough fire and he'll even be in fighting shape, though I wouldn't encourage that."

"We'd better keep him unconscious then." Gray's irritated scowl was back. "Even if Natsu can't stand he will fight."

"We'll gave to carry him then."

"I got it. Give me a hand, Lucy. I don't want to jar him." When Cris opened his mouth to argue Bickslow shook his head at him. Gray trusted Lucy. She was like a sister to both boys. The rest of them should just stay out of it.

"Ok, kids." Bickslow attempted to lighten the mood as Lucy helped Gray settle Natsu onto his back. "Let's stay together now. As long as you stay close to the teacher you don't have to hold hands." He stuck out his tongue and laughed. "Unless you want to of course."

"Bix, you're an idiot."

"That's why you're the teacher instead of me, Cosplayer."

"Me! Why me?"

"Anybody who trusts somebody else more than the Cosplay Queen raise your hand." No hands were raised. "See? That's why."

"Cristoff is S-class! Why can he be the teacher?"

"Technically I'm not a member of a Fiorian guild so I shouldn't be here."

"Ugh. Fine. I'm in charge. Cris and Bix have point. Bix, I want those eyes on. No more surprises. Midnight, nothing hits us from behind. Richard, I want our path marked. We need to both know where we have already been and allow the rest of our teams to follow us if they cross our path. Let's go hunt us some bad guys."

It didn't take long for them to fall into that formation. Cris and Bix leading, Angel and Lucy flanking the Natsu burdened Gray. Richard worked his magic to leave a trail, and the nearly untouchable Midnight brought up the rear.

"Your Cosplayer sounds like Kaleb when she gets going."

"I still don't get why her team never listens to her."

"She underestimates herself, so they do too." Bickslow held up a hand when he caught the dim glow of soul energy where another tunnel branched off. Forewarned is forearmed, so he was looking the guy in the eye when he turned the corner. He started digging for information immediately. What he found made his blood boil. He heard the screams as he tore chunks from the man's soul. He dropped his dead body to the ground and took off.

"What the hell, Bix!"

"Bickslow! You were the one who said to stay together! Get your obviously snapped self back here! Bix!" He ignored both his brother and Lucy and ran faster.

××Overkill Fieldtrip××

To be continued