A/N; I may or may not be fooling around with a story involving my version of Kathryn from Call of Cthulhu and her psycho best friend Marie {Based on my real-life best friend, Valerie, with her input into character design}. It's something I'm just messing around with right now as I'm thinking about playing with Desna's Pradesh boys and I don't know if I feel right using someone else's OCs. It's just that I love the characters she's created and I like the idea of throwing my girls into a story with them to see where it goes. I'll continue considering it before I start to actually write or post it, kind of give myself time to work past my doubts in using someone else's characters in my own writing {Mostly because I don't want to get any of them wrong and want to keep them true to how Desna created them}. It's only because I'm pretty guilty of making characters have very... OOC moments, honestly. We'll see!

Anyways, I hope you like this chapter as the plot thickens and we get into the main story arc in this fic! We're going on an adventure!

Word Count: 1,839

The guild was the same as ever, boisterous and active as could be with alcohol flowing freely- though it was only noon- and a brawl already starting between a couple members off in a corner. Kathryn couldn't help but feel that this place had quickly become home to her and the members of Fairy Tail were her family.

That's what made her depression click a bit more in her mind as she sat at her table with three of her mates. She had been neglecting those around her and been selfish, slinking into the depression that came and went within her mind at odd times. It took something so small as touching her stomach to make herself remember her loss and the heartache would return as freshly as a ripped off scab.

She was useless, honestly. She couldn't even put on a façade around those who cared for her, for their sake. She just allowed the depression to sit in her heart and fester, showing in the slight frown on her face and the single tear that fell from her eye as she stared at the table.

A hand on her chin had Kathryn looking up into the serious red gaze of her Iron Dragon Slayer, he was frowning down at her, his pierced brows drawn together in frustration. "Stop," Gajeel ordered, narrowing his eyes at her.

Kathryn lowered her lashes and sighed, "I don't know what you're talking about." Yes, she did. She knew exactly what he meant. He wanted her to stop dwelling on the bad thoughts, to let herself just allow her friends and family to comfort her in her time of need. She was closing in on herself again and none of her mates wanted that to happen as they'd just partially gotten her back.

Gajeel tugged her hand and made her stand up, dragging her along up to a free office on the second floor. Sitting on the couch, he tugged the small woman into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "Ya need to stop lettin' this eat at ya, love," The slayer said as gently as he could, surprising Kathryn.

This was her Iron Dragon Slayer, the most surly of all her mates and he was here, comforting her and trying to snap her out of her imminent depression. She felt tears prick her eyes and her throat ache painfully as the emotions in herself built up. "I can't," She whimpered out as the first tears seeped from her eyes to trail down her cheeks.

The man's hands came up to cup her cheeks, his thumbs wiping away the drops of moisture. "Ya can," Gajeel pressed his forehead to hers. "Ya have us ta help ya. Ev'n the guild will help, if ya let 'em."

"Gaj… It-"

"If ya tell me it was yer fault, I'm gonna get mad," The slayer cut her off gruffly before sighing and pressing his forehead to hers. "None of us blame ya, we blame ourselves. Ya think yer the only one who lost the babies?"

Kathryn sniffled and shook her head a little, he was right. She had been told the same thing by Sting only that morning. The men all blamed themselves for the loss of the babies for not being more protective of her, they felt guilty for her even getting hurt in the first place. She felt the guilt, love, sorrow, all of these emotions over her bond with each man, even the usually fun-loving Bickslow felt guilty over it all.

The redhead closed her eyes and sighed, she had to let people bear her burden with her. Especially her mates as they hurt as much as she did and they would only hurt more if she pushed those emotions over their bonds.

"I'm sorry," She whispered softly and her eyes snapped open when Gajeel began to growl. "I don't mean like that," She scolded gently. "I mean I'm sorry that I've been pulling in on myself so much. I know you all hurt too and I let myself just forget that so I could wallow in my own guilt. It's so hard to let it go, Gaj."

He wiped away the fresh tears and kissed her softly before pulling her head down to rest on his shoulder. "Ya won't ever let it go, love. Ya just need ta learn that we are all here with ya through this," The slayer told her.

Kathryn felt like she understood more fully now. After her conversation with Sting before and this one with Gajeel, she knew she needed to let the men help her to get through this as much as they needed her. They'd all lost the babies and it was hard on all of them, though it was a learning experience.

She sat up abruptly when a thought occurred to her and she looked at the slayer. "You were with your dragon longest," It was a statement, not a question, but he nodded anyways. "Why did a female have so many mates?"

"Ta protect her," Gajeel responded as almost a question.

"From what?" She needed to know the answers to these questions before she could allow herself to let the subject drop. It felt important, in a way that nothing had before, for her to know the answers.

"Metallicana told me that they were the targets of attacks, no one knew why, it was thought to be a curse or something." His brows drew together as he tried to think about a reason and trying to follow his mate's train of thought.

"So the mates of dragon slayers are targeted?"

"Something like that."

"Could it be a curse specifically on the females?"

The studded man's brows shot up when he heard this question. "Maybe? It was only a thought by Metallicana, but I s'pose there could be a curse of some kind."

Kathryn hopped up from his lap with a quick nod, "I'm going to go talk to Freed, Rufus, and Levy. I'm going to need their help."

"So I take it we aren't going to Bunny Girl's house?"

The redhead shook her head quickly, "This is more important. If there's a curse, there has to be a way to break it. It could explain why Lucy, Lisanna, and I have such bad luck." She leaned forward and kissed the slayer quickly. "Thanks, Stud. I'll be in the library if anyone needs me."

She didn't wait for a response as she bolted from the room to seek out the trio she knew would be able to help her try to break this curse, if that's what it really was. She had to admit that it did sound exactly like what a curse would be back on Earth.

This thought made the small woman stop in her tracks as she was about to push the library doors open. She hadn't thought of Earth in so very long, hadn't even had a stray thought about it since she'd talked to each mate about it that day about two months ago. Strange that she would think of it now that she knew she might be cursed.

Shaking the thought away, Kathryn walked into the library and found the three mages she wanted to see already at a back table, talking quietly to themselves. She knew that her other mates had heard her conversation with Gajeel and had sent the trio into the library for her. They really were the best, she thought to herself with a small smile.

Levy looked up at her as she approached and quickly moved to hug her. "What's going on, Kat-chan?"

"I have a serious project and I need your help with it because I have no idea about anything to do with curses," Kathryn responded, looking between each of the faces of the three mages. They all looked confused and for good reason, she was confused herself.

"A curse?" Freed prompted when Levy and Kathryn sat down at the table. He opened a notebook, mirrored by the bluenette woman while Rufus watched the redhead intently.

Kathryn quickly explained her idea and how she came to the conclusion herself, making sure to not leave out the fact that Lucy and Lisanna were likely cursed as well. She couldn't see how the curse would be placed on her, but figured it may be something to do with being placed as the mate for five men when she'd come into this world.

"So we need to figure out if there really is a curse and hopefully break it before any of us bear children or, worse, end up dead from an attack like I went through," She finished, looking at the intelligent mages.

"This does have the calling cards of a curse," Levy remarked from her seat next to Kathryn. She tapped her pen on the notepad she'd been taking notes on and hummed to herself.

"So, where do we start?" Kathryn asked the gathered mages.

"We find everything we can on dragons and slayers," Rufus spoke up for the first time since they'd gathered. "I brought all of the tomes with me that we had at Sabertooth. There is likely more here that I do not remember ever reading. We learn what we can about the dragons and run the information by those who were raised by them."

"I will look around and find out if there are any books that we may not have that will be of any help," Freed said, standing up from the table and tucking away his own notebook.

"I'll get Lucy and have her help me with reading the books we do have again as well as the ones from Sabertooth," Levy added on.

"What about me?" Kathryn asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I did hear of one book in a town near Seven that could be beneficial," Rufus murmured to himself. "You should take a couple of your brutes with you and try and obtain the book, if it does, indeed, exist."

Kathryn nodded, this made sense. She would be the best choice to go obtain new books as she had her mates to help her, making the trip faster than it would be for any of the others. "I'll have Laxus talk to Natsu and Rogue about keeping closer eyes on their mates until we get this figured out. I don't want Lucy or Lisanna getting hurt like I did," She sighed out the last part and hugged Levy one last time before turning to leave the three to their research.

They would figure this out, she told herself. She had three of the smartest mages in Fiore working on this and, if they figured out what it was, they would save not only herself and the other two women mated to slayers, but, hopefully, any mates for their future children. They were doing this for more than themselves and that's what made Kathryn know that they would succeed in their venture.

They would break this curse… or whatever it was.