So here I am at Chapter Eleven, and I'm starting to miss the romance that goes on between two long lost friends. This chapter reveals a more sincere facet of Bickslow while incorporating a touch of his usual attitude. If I get too out of character, just tell me, and I'll see what I can do to improve. Reviews are always appreciated. :)

A Moment of Truth

The night air was crisp when the Raijinshuu decided it was time to stop for the night. A crescent moon hung heavily in navy blue clouds that streaked like stretched cotton candy. This was the second night that they'd been searching for the guild, but not a single scent had crossed Adamine's ever perceptive sense of smell.

She laid down on her back in a clearing of the forest. There was a gentle breeze flowing in from the west. It played with her untied hair and went underneath the shirt that Evergreen had brought for her. Her friend had been safe to assume that Adamine would need an extra change of clothes for the trip.

Adamine was now sporting brown leather gladiator shoes, a pair of knee length jean shorts, and a black t shirt. The outfit was made less plain by Adamine's leather belt and vest. The many lacrima that decorated her body from her wrists, neck, and earrings also added a bit of emerald flair to the whole design. It was funny that Evergreen had taken the time to dress Adam appropriate to her tastes instead of just grabbing something.

Right now, Adam laid down with the dark grass tickling her long legs. Her mind was wondering to Gajeel, Levy, and Shadow Hunter. Aside from that bit from Team Natsu, the trip had been calm and quiet. It was the quietest trip Adamine had been on since Lancet found out that she was still alive.

The entire kingdom was in an uproar. One half of the split kingdom wanted Adamine to rule despite her gender. The other half demanded for her to be wed to Gatlin. It put Adamine in an awful situation.

She hated that her kingdom was divided. She hated that her gender kept her from fixing things. She hated the man that had killed her parents and created this ruckus.

Biting the inside of her lip, Adam wondered if she was being too greedy. Maybe she should just marry Gatlin and be done with this charade. She didn't know if it was wrong to fake her death for a better king to rule.

Isaac had a much better head on his shoulders than Adamine did. He understood policy and politics. He loved his country. Once he'd found out that his cousin was still alive, he had sent a carrier pigeon to Freed and Bickslow's place.

It was funny that he had remembered the mages had been keeping her for a few days. It had been even better that instead of going to the apartment, the pigeon had found her when she was passing through Magnolia. Freed and Bickslow hadn't a clue that she had been right under their noses that day, but she had seen them.

She remembered the sense of loss as she'd watched Laxus and the Raijinshuu walking to the guild. Freed had been hanging on Laxus's every word. Evergreen had been fanning herself from the heat. Bickslow had been instigating a fight between two street brawlers.

All that she had wanted to do that day was join them, see if they remembered her after two years and the incident on Tenrou, but she hadn't done it. Adamine had decided it was better to leave to continue where she'd left off on her search for Firmalione.

She had been so caught up in what the letter had read that she'd forgotten all about the team that had taken her in. That had been the day she'd learned Lancet had become divided.

Isaac had told her that he was next in line for the throne if Lancet ever called off the search for her. Adamine had been thrilled originally. She had known he was next in line, but to hear that there was potential for her to live a normal life away from royalty and polite society had caused her to long for Fairy Tail more than ever.

She had wanted to join the guild that day, but she had refrained. Adamine saw just how happy they all were. She didn't want to bother her old friends with the issues that had kept her on the road in the first place.

Adam let out a groan of irritability and hit her fists against the dirt in a fit of annoyance.

"If I'm interrupting something just tell me," a familiar, deep voice commented, and Adamine lifted herself on her elbows to see Bickslow. He'd taken off his armor, likely about to go to sleep in the camp they had set up for the night.

"No. No. You're not. I'm just pissed off."

He approached her, standing beside her elbows. Looking up at the sky, he sarcastically mentioned, "I don't know why. By the sound of things you've had a pretty easy life up to this point. I don't see any reason for you to be pissed off."

Cracking a grin, Adam looked up to him. It was a rare occurrence to see him without at least a visor on. His features were easily displayed before her, and she noted the interesting facets of his physique.

He had a prominent jawline, and without his tongue sticking out Adamine could notice that he had attractive masculine lips. His slanted eyes had an interesting swirl that went up on his skin. Eyeliner? There was no telling. It was probably a tattoo knowing him. Somehow, he could even work that large marking in the middle of his face when he was using his magic.

Adamine released her elbows and collapsed fully to the grass. "Has anyone ever told you that you aren't a complete ass?" she wondered, fond of the slight snicker he made in his chest.

"Na. That's not something I get much, but thanks for the compliment. Mind if I sit?" At Adamine's raised caramel eyebrow he wondered, "What?"

"Huh? Oh. I'm just surprised you asked. You usually just do what you want and to hell with everyone else."

"Mmm. You are right. Well, in that case…" Bickslow sat down before stretching himself out beside Adamine. He put two hands behind his head and propped a knee up. "I'll lay down."

She snickered and let her hands lay out on either side of her. They were close. She could feel his body heat from this distance and smell his skin. He smelt good for someone who'd been trekking through the woods and getting lost several times because of Freed's nonexistent sense of direction.

"Where are your babies?" Adamine wondered.

Instead of answering, Bickslow reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out one of the adorable totems. He tossed it to her, and she caught it carefully.

"Did you make them yourself?" she wondered and rubbed her thumb over the smooth wooden doll. It was hard to believe that this cute item could be made into a Seith mage's weapon. When they were in this state, they looked completely harmless. Then again, it wasn't the doll that was fighting you, it was the spirit possessing it.

"Funny. No one's ever asked me that but yeah. Whittling is a kind of hobby of mine. Doesn't hurt that I can use that to my advantage either." She gently handed the doll back over to him, and he took it, letting his fingers linger against hers for a moment.

Adamine didn't want to explore the feeling that was in her chest, but she couldn't deny it. Being around Bickslow caused a certain girly feeling to rise up inside of her. It was strange since she was independent and lived off the land more than anything because of her travels. The term gender didn't matter when someone was roughing it in the wild. Animals didn't care whether you were male or female. If they were hungry, they would attack you.

It made Adam realize that true equality is treating one person just as shitty as you would the next. No special treatment for differences.

She squeezed her eyes shut hard. People in Lancet thought that they were above nature. They thought that mages were an unnecessary evil to be eradicated from the kingdom. If she went back now, her kingdom would think that she was corrupted, not a part of the pure people. She could stop using her magic, but after living so long dependent upon it, she wouldn't feel whole if she did. Adamine could help her people, but she could only do it through the authority of Gatlin.

Adamine doubted that he would allow her to raise her voice during meetings or when passing laws. The guy was a prick, but if she married him, the country would reunite.

"What's on your mind, Adamine? You're quiet and not the 'I'm planning a creative way to torture Bickslow for being annoying' kind of quiet." He cast his red eyes her way, and he adjusted himself until he was resting his head on his hand.

Heat began to rise on her face, but she returned the look. Instead of turning to her side, she cast him a stubborn gaze he was familiar with. "You didn't say stoner."

"You didn't answer my question."

Bickslow sat quietly as he awaited Adamine's response. Under the moonlight her pale skin glowed. With this image of her face and her hair pulled back into a loose bun, he could imagine her being the princess she was, but if he looked down to her battle hardened body, to the feminine six pack abs she sported, he knew that she was more than just some spoiled royal.

She was a woman. She was a woman who'd been through a whole lot of shit but could somehow still come out smiling. She'd lost family. She'd lost friends. But, she could still wake up every morning and keep going on her endless journey across kingdoms. As weird as it was to admit it, Adamine Terra was awe inspiring. It was no wonder he was so fond of her.

It was more than just the fact she was the sexiest mage he'd seen with her tight athletic body and soft breasts. It was the fact that she could keep up with his snarky personality and keep him thinking about her even when she was gone for years.

Right now, he wanted nothing more than to reach out and cross the short distance to touch her body, but the somber look in her tired eyes held him back.

He wasn't a sentimental man by any regard. He was sarcastic and lewd. He enjoyed checking out women's bodies in the Weekly Sorcerer and instigating fights, but Adamine held a strange interest for him that made him feel… pretty damned stupid.

"You can tell me anything. We are friends. You know." He'd meant for that to sound gentle. It had come out snarky. Oops.

He looked at her chewing on the inside of her lip with her sharp little teeth. Weirdly attractive. She exhaled a gust of breath then rolled over to her side.

"It's my kingdom."

"Yeah. That piece of rock on another continent."

"Humph. Yes, that piece of rock on another continent. Well, it is my piece of rock. Thank you, and I'm the heiress of it." She paused. "But, that's the problem."

"You don't want to be the… heiress. Did I say that right?"

"Heh. Yeah. You did. I don't want to be the next queen, but I feel like I'm being self-centered about it all. While it's true that faking my death will cause them to crown Isaac, I worry that I may be putting too much pressure on him. He wants to rule, yet I know if I just went ahead and married Gatlin the country would rejoin again. There's not only the problem of my kingdom. There's also the problem of Shadow Hunter. I don't know who exactly is after me. It may be Zeref. It may be Gatlin. One wants to be my king. The other wants to be my reaper. I feel like marriage would be better than being murdered by an occultist."

Bickslow felt a strange flare of jealousy for this Gatlin guy. He was obviously an ass undeserving of Adamine, but Bickslow wasn't any more deserving. He had his own share of issues to deal with. Still, he knew he wouldn't subject Adamine to wife-i-tude against her will just to get some authority in a kingdom who thought women were nothing more than incubators. Adam was probably better off away from that royal douche and in Fiore.

Not wanting Adamine to get any more depressed than she already was, Bickslow taunted, "I don't know, stoner. Getting your head lopped off to summon a dragon sounds like a pretty epic way to go. Think about the books people will write about you."

Something hit him in the gut, and he grinned up at Adamine. Her knee was placed firmly into the spot below his sternum. "Ow. I don't think I deserved that. Dragon sacrifice or being subject to a royal asshole's whims for the rest of your life? I'm just stating my opinion. Dragon sacrifice. One hundred percent."

She flashed those pearly white fangs at him, but a shadow crossed over her face. "I don't want to be an omen to anyone anymore. Gajeel and Levy wouldn't be in this situation if I had never shown up with that stupid chunk of rock and book on translations."

Bickslow shook his head. "No. No. That's not true. Being in Fairy Tail is hard work, Adam. Gajeel and Levy getting kidnapped was going to happen eventually. Pretty much all of us take our hits and misses. I've been taken hostage before. It just made me want to get stronger. My motto is shit happens, so you might as well get over it. Besides, I doubt those two are complaining much about being trapped in a jail cell together. They seem to have a thing. I know of several ways I could entertain myself in a cell with a sexy girl." He gave Adamine a pointed look that she didn't seem to get. So, subtly was lost on her. No wonder the Trimen had no effect.

Adamine tossed herself onto her back to stare at the crescent moon. She was obviously feeling better, but she was still out of it. She looked lost and just a little bit scared.

Feeling completely awkward, Bickslow took her hand in one of his. Her big, green eyes looked up at him in surprise, and leaning closer to her face, he explained, "When the time comes for it, I know I'll be happy to play a part in killing you in front of your kingdom. Just tell me when I need to cut loose."

The sound of a snapping twig captured their attention, and they looked back the way towards camp. Bickslow shook his head and commented, "If you're looking for a show, you came to the wrong place, Freed, Evergreen. Brothel's back west."

After giving Adamine's hand a light squeeze, Bickslow rose and slapped grass off himself. "I'm gunna call it a night, stoner, but don't come crying to me when it gets too dark for you. I know how you get when you hear wolves."

She cast him a grin he didn't see as he walked off to camp.