I don't own Fairy Tail. Mashima Does.

I don't own the Pradesh Clan. Desna does (and thank you for them).

I own the Storyline. That's it.

Don't ask when I'm going to upload. I don't know. when the whim hits me, or I get enough extra written.

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The woman sighed as she stood there, well used to the male's actions, and seemingly detached from them, "what is today's errand, Mercuphobia-sama?"

The male growled and stood up, slitted eyes looking down at the woman for a moment with distain. His lip curled back, showing fangs that glinted in the light, "fifty Ev'ntide pearls."

Lucy sucked in a deep breath before nodding, "as you wish." She bowed her head and then looked at the water, magic swirling around her before she dove under the water. Calling Aquarius' stardress to her was now second nature when she was in the water. The dragon god apparently had a long list of 'tribute' he wanted if he was going to do as she wished.

The job originally had been to seal the dragons, but Lucy wasn't a stupid woman. These were beings just as, if not more, powerful than Acnologia. They were also very, very old and had more intelligence than most people she knew. The male had reeked of boredom though, and she had debated on how to deal with this entire quest. Her first meeting hadn't gone well, and he'd asked if she was there to attempt to seal him as well, making shivers run down her spine at the malice until she'd summoned Loke, if only for back up. The large, massive, holy shit she wasn't even a breadcrumb to him dragon and grinned a fangy and toothy grin before shifting down his body to that of a human and making her a deal.

She would give him Tribute and when he felt it was enough, he'd form a contract with her, like one of her spirits. It wasn't what she expected, but…if the dragon was as old as the Old wizard had said? He was most likely bored and would find something like this unique. She didn't bother to think more on it. It didn't do her any good.

Vander slowly stepped out of the shadows, watching as the man stood there, smirking. His arms crossed his chest and Vander had to admit that the blond woman attracted one of two types of males: ones that hadn't grown into men yet, or attractive and well built men. The Second type were either family, kin..or trouble; he himself probably fit into all of it.

The ocean haired man slowly turned his head and looked at Vander and the shadowquip stared. The male exuded power this close and obviously was keeping it in check. Having had an actual dragon to be around thanks to Cristoff, he knew the feeling of that power, but this…this was almost overwhelming and he didn't even know how much of the power was leaking.

"who are you," the deep voice rumbled watching the wine eyed man with a detachment.

Vander shrugged a bit, grinning as he scratched his cheek a bit, "just a passerby."

"Try again," Came the flat reply, the man slowly arching an eyebrow at Vander, "this is inside a magical barrier."

Vander went to open his mouth, but the power he felt wash over him nearly stole his breath, "…I was…" he wanted to be cocky, to give a snarky reply, but he could hardly think, "Stardust."

The power ebbed and the male looked at Vander for a long moment, "I see. Do not interfere. This is her task. You interfere…" He trailed off and a dark grin curled his lips, "I'll kill her. Let you live with the fact that your actions killed her."

Vander's eyes widened a fraction as he looked at the man. He would kill Lucy for helping her? He knew from Nurem that sometimes dragons saw things differently, but this was a scope he didn't know. He licked his lips and nodded, "I get it. I just…wanted to make sure she was safe."

"As safe as her actions can be," The ocean teal eyes slowly turned to the water, glowing for a moment before sliding back to Vander, "go. I don't want you here." His hand was raised, not at the shadowquip, but towards the water.

Vander figured that the creature knew where the blonde was and he held up his hands, "right. Gone."

The dark haired male swirled into the shadows, leaving wisps in his wake. He'd gone through a lot, but never, ever had he felt so terrified. This creature had different…everything. He homed in on where his brothers were, appearing in a chair and lounging, trying to not show anything was wrong.

Cristoff arched an eyebrow, "where were you?"

He threw a grin at his brother, "looking for something exotic for my bed."

"Dammit, Van," Cris sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

Kaleb wasn't convinced and decided to have a private conversation, "you're shaken. What happened."

Vander debated on talking about it, but instead he showed Kaleb, watching the man's eyes flicker a bit and then sip his drink. He shrugged slightly as he sat there, "anyway…Stardust pretty much told us to fuck off, I think it's time to go home."

Natsu let out a low growl, "this is stupid, Luce needs to come home! Where we can keep her safe!"

Vander frowned as he looked at Natsu, then his lips curled into a sneer, "she's a fucking mage, flamefuck, she can take care of herself."

Natsu let out a low growl and Vander was across the table, grabbing his scarf and yanking the pinkette into his face, "Don't you fucking growl at me, Natsu. While the rest of you were off finding your Fucking Happy Endings, you all fucking ignored her. Now that you want something, you want her back?" He shoved the dragon slayer back into his seat, "fuck you, Natsu, she's not a fucking possession, she's a mage, a powerful fucking mage in her own right. Not some fucking brood mother there for your own use! Dragon or not, don't fucking treat her like breeding stock."

Vander snarled as shadows curled around him, "Keep acting like this, and I'm going to think you're nothing more than a Peregrandian fuckhead that my brother had the unfortunate condition of being mates with." His lips curled up in a sneer.

Kaleb blinked as he watched Vander just swirl away and looked at Cristoff, arching an eyebrow. The lunar slayer hadn't stepped in, he knew better. He'd been trying to get that exact thing through natsu's head, but the smaller slayer's dragon had been chomping and apparently was a bit too possessive of wanting to protect the blonde from…everything and every one.

Cristoff was disappointed at these thoughts and he wished that he knew how to help Natsu. Yes, he himself wanted to protect the small blonde, but he knew that they couldn't just lock her up in a tower. Not after Finding out her past. Her entire former team had treated her like some sort of object to be put on display, but never touched, by anyone. As a Boscan, he found the Fiorian way of life restricting, almost smothering to women and that made him very much wish the country would change. He knew change like that would take generations to do, and he doubted they'd see it.

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Yes, I'm completely aware that some will say "but Natsu isn't like that!"

Maybe not, but the character has no disregard for lucy other than "protect the damsel". I was reading through the new FT Manga 100 year quest and he just...put his hand right down her cleavage. that shows an utter lack of respect past wanting to do what he wants.

I get people Love natsu. he can be a loveable character, but I don't think his mind sometimes works past what he wants right then, or what he thinks needs to be done. Cris will temper him with time, but at this point? their mating is maybe a year now, he wants to make Cris happy, but there's still that back burner of "Lucy is my partner, no one else can have her and she'll listen to me and do what I want." mentality going on.

No one Taught Natsu any better. He was let run, basically feral, for years. His common sense is non-existant and he simply doesn't think at times. Look at the Manga, really take a good look. Yes, he protects Lucy, but at the same time, none of team natsu let's her grow much. she made more progress, imho, during the year time skip than anything, when she was away from them and not under their overprotective gazes.