The steady sound of a knife moving across a cutting board was soothing. The faint humming that came from Levy as she worked in the kitchen had Bix and Gajeel smiling softly. After a few moments of shock, Levy had slid from Bix's lap and headed into the kitchen, needing to do something as she attempted to process what had just been learned about Bix. Of all the things, the different scenarios she had come up with on how things could turn out, that wasn't one of them.

A prince.

A lesser one, but a prince none-the-less.

The guild jokester, the soul mage that was as quick to pull pranks as he was to defend his nakama, was a prince.

How was this even possible? She had fallen for two wonderful men, that much was easy to understand. But she had fallen for a prince? That only ever happened in fairy tale stories, not reality. For now, as she shifted things from the cutting board into the skillet on the stove, she let herself focus on the motions of making dinner as her mind chewed on the new information in the back corner of her thoughts.

In the living room, Gajeel and Bix could be found staring at each other. One in trepidation, one in curiosity. When Gajeel broke the silence, Bix jumped slightly, a bit nervous considering the things that had been found out.

"You know I'm not going to do anything that you don't want right?" Gajeel asked softly. Seeing Bix nod quietly, he tilted his head.

"What's going through that head of yours Bix? I'm not Cobra, I can't read your soul."

"I'm honestly not entirely sure. I mean, of all the outcomes I was expecting, this wasn't it." Bix shrugged.

"You don't have to worry, we're not going to do anything you're not comfortable with, and it's definitely not going to be rushed into. We want to show you that this is more than just sex." Gajeel stated confidently. When Bix ran his gaze over him, confusion clear in his eyes, Gajeel lifted a brow. "What is it Bix?"

"I'm not...entirely sure how to take what I'm seeing of you." Bix stated softly. Seeing the soft smile, and nod of understanding, Bix felt himself relax a bit further.

"We'll discuss that a bit more over dinner, but for right now, I have to ask, why? Why didn't you ever approach either of us sooner?" Gajeel asked, leaning back, chewing on his lower lip, smirking as he saw Bix's eyes drop to the slightly abused bit of flesh.

"I didn't approach either of you before because I saw you two drawing closer to each other from the moment you joined the guild. When I looked at your souls, I saw you two had already started bonding. When that happened, even when I felt the pull towards the two of you as well, I thought dragons and slayers could only have one mate. Sooo...I left it alone, and accepted that I would be forever alone." Bix explained with a sigh, shrugging his shoulders.

"And what about shrimp? You've known her for years, I know you have, so why not approach her then?"

"That was something completely different. I actually tried for years to approach her, knowing what she was, but anytime I did, there was always something that stopped me. The timing never felt right, something happened, events took place that created a domino effect, that sort of thing, and it just never happened. When you arrived, it started to feel right, but again, things started happening, and any chances I had to approach her, or you, just didn't happen."

"Serendipity."

"What?" Gajeel and Bix echoed as they turned to see Levy standing at the door leading to the kitchen, a small read dishtowel covering her hands as softly as the smile on her face. Her smile only widened, seeing the men staring at her with match curious looks.

"Serendipity, an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident." Levy explained, leaning against the doorjamb with a shoulder. "The three of us have had our own share of trials, hardships, and things we had to overcome, but each step we took, no matter how hard, was leading us to this. And all of those times when we wanted to approach each other before, but something stopped us? It was probably our instincts, and serendipity helping us wait for the right moment."

Looking back at each other, the trio couldn't help but exchange smiles before nodding.

"I'm not one to argue that. It sounds good to me." Bix stated with a shrug.

"Good. And dinner is ready boys, come eat." Levy announced before turning back to the kitchen and the small table pushed up against a side wall. Hearing the quick steps of the guys behind her, she hurried into the kitchen to grab the various plates that she had already piled with food and set them on the table, grabbing her own smaller portion and joining them.

After a few moments of groans and hums of appreciation, Gajeel leaned back to look at Levy and Bix with a soft gaze. He could already see how well they were going to work together, and knew that things would be just fine. First, though, there were a couple of things that needed to be gone over.

"There are still a few things to discuss Bix, and while I certainly don't want to interrupt this awesome meal, we'll still go over them." Gajeel stated firmly, pausing to take another bite. Feeling the tension in the room increase, he looked up with calm eyes to meet two set of wide ones.

"Wh-what is there to discuss?" Bix murmured, placing his fork down to lean back as well, tucking his hands down and out of sight.

Letting out a sigh, Gajeel shifted to prop his elbows on the table, leaning forward slightly. "We've already established that you've been at that club for months, possibly before shrimp and I even got together."

"Yes."

"How did you find that club?"

Knowing there was no point in hedging answers, Bix shrugged slightly before answering. "I found that club a long time ago, would occasionally visit it, but not too often. Life with the guild kept me busy. But over the last number of months I've been going more often until I was there every night."

"What changed? What made you start going there in the first place? When did you first realize you're a submissive and started looking for someone to meet those needs?" Levy asked curiously, unintentionally cutting in.

"Kitten." Gajeel huffed, eyes narrowed as he watched her gulp slightly and turn towards him. "You're going to overwhelm him with all of the questions, one at a time." He said firmly. Getting an embarrassed nod in return, he turned his gaze back to Bix. Seeing the confused, and cautious gaze, Gajeel took a deep breath before beginning to explain.

"As you can see, shrimp is a submissive as well. I think we've already established you are also. I'm a dominant. Again, pretty sure you picked that up in the club. When at clubs like that, or in undercover work, I go by Kurogane or Black Steel Gajeel. It helps me keep the two parts of my life separate and safe to an extent. I have certain nicknames for those I'm with that I'll only use in my Kurogane persona, and if I use it when there are many others around, it's a way for me to help keep control of a situation, to help keep the both of you safe."

"Meaning..." Bix trailed off, his head tipping slightly in curiosity.

"Meaning, in the bedroom, I'm the dominant, the alpha, I'll call each off you by certain names, and will only call you by your given name if needed. For example, in the bedroom, I'll call shrimp, Kitten, instead. For you...well we'll have to figure that one out. Now, going back to the valid questions that she had, what changed, what happened to make you go there every night?"

Seeing him squirm and drop his gaze, Gajeel was quick to reach out with his leg under the table and tap the other mans shin. Once his gaze was back up, Gajeel nodded in encouragement.

"I started going there every night because the dreams were becoming too much for me to handle, I wanted to find some form of escape in hopes to get some kind of sleep. How did you even find me there?" Bix asked with a furrowed brow. Seeing Gajeel jerk his head to Levy, Bix felt his jaw drop.

"She's actually the one who found you, and when I got back from a mission a couple of weeks ago, she told me that she had tracked you down to that place. I know of it, know that it's honestly the worse club for a safe environment, and knew I needed to get you out of there. So I did."

"How were you even able to track me there Lev? I've been avoiding the guild for weeks now, purposely." Bix asked, flabbergasted.

"Believe me, I know, it wasn't easy. I had to find out where you live, and finding that information out while fending off Mira is not an easy thing, but I managed it. Once I had that, I started following you, but you didn't come out much for long. Until finally I was able to follow you to an alley where you had been pinned by some woman, and it didn't look or feel like you were actually enjoying yourself." Levy huffed, crossing her arms in irritation. Bix could only blink, remembering that day well. He had gone to get that relief, that escape, and the madame had cornered him in the alley. He remembered her kissing him, painfully, and dragging her nails down over his throat, before being dragged inside and strung up to be whipped in front of the crowd.

Thinking back on it now, he shuddered in revulsion, knowing that there was definitely something wrong with what had been happening. Even now, he didn't entirely feel right, feeling like a cold sweat was lightly coating his skin. Gritting his teeth, he fought to keep his focus on the words being said.

"Once I found you there, and Gajeel came home later that evening, I told him what I had seen, and where I had found you, and I knew he would get you out of there." Levy finished, crossing her arms, staring at the table. Because she didn't have dragon slayer senses, she didn't notice the faint trembling, or light clicking of Bix's teeth, until the warmth of Gajeels hand on her arm brought her out her thoughts. Looking up, she saw his steady gaze on the man across the table from him, and turning to run her gaze of their blue and black haired mate, she noticed the trembling and quickly became worried.

Looking back at Gajeel, she saw his nose flaring slightly, narrowed eyes that were quickly filling with fury, and knew there was definitely something wrong. She shifted to get up quickly, but before she could even move from her chair, Gajeel shot around her to brace Bix as he started to convulse, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"Levy, call Cobra, now!" Gajeel snarled, fighting the urge to destroy things even as he gripped his mates body close, doing all he could think of to keep him from coming to further harm. Seeing Levy spin and sprint out of the room, he was able to split his focus between the call that quickly connected between Levy and Cobra, while staying with Bix. Bix whose heart was racing, and breathing was shallow. And smelled off.

Dammit, he should've noticed it before!

"Hey book-whoa, what's the matter Lev?" Gajeel heard Cobra ask, his worry loud and clear through the comlink.

"Cobra, please, we need you to come over, it's Bix!" Levy whimpered, casting a glance towards the door leading to the kitchen.

"Oh no, uhuh, I'm not going to be anywhere near you three when -"

"GODDAMMIT ERIK WE NEED YOU OVER HERE NOW!" Gajeel roared, enraged that he could feel his mate getting worse, getting weaker, and he was hesitating.

The silence broken just by the pained sounds from Bickslow were all that could be heard for a split second before Cobra answered.

"I'm on my way."

It felt like forever, but knowing that Cobra was home for the night from before Gajeel had left to get Bix, they knew it had not even been two minutes when Cobra burst into the house, following his nose and the smell that had been permeating the air even from outside of the small house. He had been just down the street in his own cottage when he had gotten the call, and as soon as he had stepped outside, he had smelled it. From then he hadn't wasted a moment and broke into a sprint, shoving his shoulder hard against the closed door, and barreling into the house full force.

He wasn't even into the kitchen when he called out to the two he could smell near Bickslow.

"Both of you need to stand back, and for fucks sake don't stop what I'm about to do!" Cobra snarled, skidding into the kitchen and shoving Levy into Gajeels arms and further away from Bix. Before more could be said, he was ripping what he recognized as Gajeels coat away from the flushed neck, and seeing the flushed scratches, lunged down to sink his fangs into the raised welts he saw there. He could hear the snarls echoing behind him, hearing the dragon within Gajeel roaring at the sight of an unmated male biting his mate.

Sucking all the poison he could into his mouth, Cobra staggered back for a moment to allow his lacrima to create the antidote, fighting the urge to scrape his tongue clean of the shit tasting poison that was now coating it. Instead he lifted a hand to wipe his mouth, and after a few moments, bent down to sink his fangs once more into Bix's neck, pumping the antidote into him before turning and biting both wrists as well, encouraging the medicine to be pumped through his body faster.

Stepping back again, panting slightly, Cobra narrowed his eyes slightly as he listened closely, hearing the soul mages heart start to slow, his breath even out, but...there was something else...he was having a hard time pinpointing it, but there was something in Bix that wasn't natural and shouldn't be there.

Turning around, he faced the sight of Gajeel in dragon force mode with Levy wrapped securely in his arms, with no fear on his face. Don't get him wrong, mentally he was pissing himself cause holy fuck was Gajeel a scary looking fucker ready to kill someone for messing with his mate, and Cobra figured he owed little blue a meal of her choice, or even one of the books she was craving for not letting him be attacked by this Gajeel, but it had needed to be done.

He could see the tears pooling in her eyes that she was fighting to keep under control, and his eyes could pick out the slight tremors that were racing over her even as Gajeels growls echoed through the room.

"He's not out of the woods yet, there's something, like a seed or whatever, keeping Bix sick. We need to find whoever the hell put those scratches- who the hell is Madame?" Cobra sneered, catching the flash of memory from Gajeel.

"A bitch who tried to lay her mark on MY MATE!" Gajeeel growled, his arms tightening around Levy, trying to gain some comfort and calm from her.

"What the hell was dripping for her nails?" Cobra snapped, mind racing as he started putting pieces together from the flashes he was getting from Gajeel together.

"Poison. She'd been drugging him too, for I don't know how long, she tried to attack me, and I could smell the poison." Gajeel growled, tensing as he followed Cobra's train of thought.

"Levy, call Lily, he's at the guild, get him to come and stay with you and Bix, Gajeel and I have a poison bitch to hunt." Cobra stated with a feral grin.

"As soon as Lily was talking to Levy the two slayers took off from the house and headed toward the district where the seedy club was. Gajeel was honestly impressed when Cobr slid to a stop and waved impatiently at him to double back, pointing in another direction and sure enough, when he reached the other slayer there was that off smell he'd caught on Bix.

His blood was boiling, rage making it difficult for him to think straight, the desire to hurt things was running high in him and the faint smell of poison and Bickslows blood on Cobra wasn't helping him but he had no choice but to deal with it.

They ran straight to the train station and Cobra eyed the other slayer warily ans he paced and snarled.

"You hang man, you're in no shape to talk to people…" He said firmly and Gajeel nodded at him. Gods, pretty sad when Cobra was the best man to go interact with the public he mussed as he approached the ticket booth.

Pulling the memory of the woman from Gajeel he described her and the elderly man behind the glass nodded. "Hargeon, train left about 10 minutes ago, next one will be along in about 30 minutes." He replied.

Cobra cursed under his breath, thanked the man and looked around, a 40 minute head start into a big city like Hargeon that had a very active nightlife meant they weren't likely to track the bitch down, unless they could beat her there….

He ran past the station a short distance and 5 minutes later Gajeel leveled a glare on him as he pulled up driving an SE-Car.

"The fuck are you doing with that?" He demanded.

"Just get in, she got on the train to Hargeon, means she doesn't live in Magnolia, just makes the two hour jaunt from Hargeon or, she had business in Hargeon or some shit, either way she'd got a lead on us and the next train isn't for another half hour." Cobra replied.

Gajeel frowned and yanked open the door, dropping into the passenger seat. "Drive" He snarled and Cobra pressed the pedal down spinning the cars tires.

The road to Hargeon honestly would take as long as the Train, which was why most people took the train, well…if you drove like a normal person anyway. With two dragonslayers driving…they beat the train into Hargeon by a few minutes, watching it come in as they weaved toward the station, finally abandoning the car, leaving it locked up by the road and electing to run because the crowds of people were making it almost impossible to get through.

Gajeel was worked into a near blind rage at this point, he fucking hated trains, hated SE-cars, and his mate, who he had drug his damn ass telling the truth to for some ungodly dumb ass reason he really couldn't figure out, was laying poisoned with his other mate who was scared out of her mind over the whole situation and ultimately, the responsibility was his.

If he'd moved faster, told Bickslow sooner instead of waiting more than a fucking month after he'd told the shrimp, he could have spared Bickslow this.

It was his fault. He was going to find out what the woman had done and fix it so he could get back on track, then no more wasting time thinking and waiting for stupid bullshit reasons that made no sense. He was claiming both their asses, setting his mark into them and they would get on with their fucking lives, they could talk afterward, work details out afterward.

Indulging things like Levys endless tidal waves of doubts and thinking he would do another time AFTER the mating mark was set and dark in both of their fucking necks.

They reached the station and Gajeel damn near came unhinged, if not for Cobra, he might have just plowed right through the crowds of people leaving the train that made it near impossible to search or even fucking move of the train platform.

Cobra though was focused, and honing in, the scent was distinct, this little poison mage was a foul little bitch who liked mind control toxins and succubi drugs. There was no way of knowing why she was down here in Hargeon, but, and he pointed this out to Gajeel, they should maybe find out in case they had to track her down again.

"She's not living to be tracked again Cobra, don't fuck with me…you saw what she did to my fucking mate." Gajeel snarled, crimson eyes scanning carefully.

"Yeah, and you want her dead I'm the last person in the world who would stop you, far as I'm concerned, one less dark mage bitch, the better, but info is always a good thing to have, you never know when you might need it." He pointed out.

"Antidote for whatever she did to Bix first, then I'll think about letting her sustain a pulse." Gajeel replied and Cobra shrugged, figuring that was the best he could hope to get he caught whiff of the toxin and spun, slapping Gajeels arm as he did, honing in he spotted her, the little bitch wasn't alone though, she had company, 4 other people with her and as one reached to grab her bag from her his shirt lifted and on his side was a guild mark that made Cobras blood run cold.

"What?" Gajeel demanded.

"Nightmare, she's with Nightmare mages….fuck…we can't face them here, they'll take human shields, kill innocent people without a second thought, we have to tail em until they wont be able to pull in easy shields or distractions…" He said, eyeing Gajeel carefully.

The Iron Slayer growled but nodded and grabbed Cobra, yanking him suddenly with him right out of the crowds into the shadows.

Beyond a creepy un-nerving experience being drug along through shadows but it was the best thing he decided, finally relaxing in Gajeels hold as they tailed the poison woman and her cronies for a long ways, and as Cobra was beginning to wonder how Gajeels patience was holding up the other slayer ripped them from the shadows, depositing Cobra on his feet and fading again, a moment later one of the men walking along was literally sucked right down into the ground but only partially before he saw the shadow dragging him angle and a metal lance shot up, through another of the men and hit a light post so it flashed its light right over the shadow severing it and…cutting the man in half, his bottom half lost to the shadow that had just been banished by the flash of light while Gajeel stepped out from behind the lamp post and Cobra, shaking his head because the man sure as hell hadn't wasted time cutting through some of the odds, lunged in and ripped another man off his feet, sinking his claws into the mans flesh and smiling faintly when he shrieked in agony as Cobra pumped his own special mix of toxins through his claws.

He knew this was Gajeels fight, knew Gajeel needed it, so he hovered, making sure his target was all the way down.

Gajeel squared off with the last two, a tall orange haired man and the bitch who hurt his mate. He noted Cobra had polished off the other one and appreciated the man wasn't stepping in, was hanging back, letting him have this because he so badly needed violence right then.

The man jerked a hand up and Gajeel felt the shift and snarled, gravity magic, gritting his teeth he shifted his own magic and started toward the man, he could re-enforce his own skeletal structure, gravity mages were some he rarely struggled with.

"You! What are you doing here!? Don't angle that fucking field toward us you moron.." She snapped at the mage beside her.

"Oh I don't fucking care why you're here, have a fucking drink!" She snarled then and held out her hand, from her fingertips a viscous yellow fluid flowed in swift streams at him and Gajeel knew better than to chance it hitting him.

His scales coated him as he ducked to the side and watched the fluid hit the cobblestone and start chewing through it, hit the metal light post he'd thrown down and ate right through that too.

The gravity mage tried to get a shot on him but he suddenly stiffened, back arching and eyes rolling back in his head as bloody foam spilled out of his mouth over gaping lips.

Cobra stood about 20 feet back lowering his hand from which he'd just shot a poisoned fang attack.

Gajeels warning look and the Poison Slayer held up his hands making it clear he'd do no more

"Just leveling the field man…Stinky Bitch is all yours." He smirked.

The woman glared toward him and shot something at him, Cobra held out his hand and blocked it and her eyes widened as it ate away the cuff of his shirt but he just licked it off his skin smirking.

"Nasty stinky shit poison you got there Hoebag." He sneered, walking to a bench and sitting nonchalantly down in it.

"I do not stink!" She snarled but had no more time for Cobra, she jerked her head to the side as Gajeel swung at her and the fight was on.. Unlike her companions, the "Madame" was fast, agile and while it did reek, her poisons were potent and she could ignite some of them with a lighter she held, making them hot enough…to melt steel…possibly. Gajeel was taking some care avoiding those, he wasn't certain.

He was impatient, he had two unclaimed mates at home, his dragon was just seething inside of him too make this woman pay for what she had done, find out how to undo it and get back to those mates, see Bix well and CLAIM THEM.

Gods he should have done it a while ago.

"Black Steel…you could go far in our guild, word has it you've gone soft recently, normally we'd kill a mage for killing some of ours, but these fools were lesser ranked…no great loss they were only here to carry my luggage anyway." She hissed and he knew she was tiring, she'd been at the club for God knew how long having Gods knew how much sex and such, she had to be worn down already going into this and was breathing hard, bruising showing on an arm Gajeel had grazed with a pole attack she hadn't been fast enough to dodge completely.

"Oh Fuck off, what did you do to my mate?!" Gajeel snarled.

The woman laughed "Oh gods, is that it? You're upset about the sexy mage from the club you tried to take? Bad move darling, you snatched him away too early, I dropped a toxic seed into him, laced with blood magic, little gift from my boss, and if I don't feed my pet his suppressant elixir that seed will open and spill a blood toxin into him that will kill him in minutes…he may be dead already, he was due for the elixir hours ago. I was even planning on removing it, it gives me extras mind control sway over who I drop it into and he'd been just delicious fun…"

Gajeel growled, the deadly rumble making Cobra take a step back unconsciously but not the poison mage, she was delighted by Gajeels response.

"Oh that bothers you little lizard boy? I used the hell out of that sexy body, made sure lots of others did too, he wasn't even conscious for a lot of it, some mate you are, letting a tasty morsel like that run around all miserable and easy to influence, you should thank me, you know he cried sometimes? When the drugs went a bit heavy because I was too drunk to measure them right, he'd cry for Gajeel, for Levy while I fucked his damn brains out and bled him for all he was worth!" She hissed and shot another stream at Gajeel, igniting it.

Gajeel roared, charging past it and finally catching her with the pole, her heard bone snap as it hit her hip and carried her back into the brick wall behind her and in an instant he had her poison tipped hands bolted to the partially caved in wall and was wrenching her head back making her scream out in pain.

"How do I get it out of him?!" He demanded.

"Don't…kill me…purification spell…will make him throw it up, but if you don't beat the seed opening…nothing, nothing can save him…" She rasped, blood running from her mouth.

Gajeel saw Cobra already on the com lacrima talking to someone, a moment later he looked up "Wendy is almost at the house, Laxus is getting her there, she can cast that spell." He said firmly.

Gajeel nodded glaring back at the woman whos heart was slowing, internal bleeding was taking her.

"Fuck…fuck you…Nightmare will find you…" She hissed before her eyes rolled back in her head.

Gajeel sneered, turning away from her and going to Cobra, someone was holding the lacrima, probably Lily, Levy was on the floor where he'd left her holding Bix and Laxus was setting Wendy down.

The young woman rushed to Bix and they could see right over the lacrima screen as her hands lit and the spells pulsed over Bickslow.

"Get a can or something for him to be sick in!" Wendy called and Laxus handed over the nearby trash can as Bickslow sat up already heaving. A few moments later he lay back into Levys arms again and Wendy looked at the lacrima smiling.

"It's ok, it's in tact, it didn't open!" She cried.

Gajeel let the breath he'd been holding flow out of him "We'll be back in a couple hours…Thanks Wendy, Laxus…" He said.

"Yeah no problem, Was bored anyway, nothing like getting told my best friends fucking dying and I have to get Wendy to your fucking Cabin as fast as possible to save him…fucking lightning rod." Laxus huffed. He glared down at Bix then "Fucking Bix."

"I aim to entertain…" Bix rasped from the floor.