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-Chapter 20-
"Bicks how's his soul look?" Cristoff cried as he dashed toward his younger brother. He could already tell Vander wasn't breathing and his heart was stopped but he didn't know for how long.
"Still here but dim as fuck. What kind of crap did she put into him?" The question was rhetorical. None of them knew or cared at this point because it wouldn't really make a difference. Usually Vander's soul was white, almost silver and painfully bright to look at but now it was grey and wavering trying to pull away. If he could keep Vander's soul attached to his body they might be able to save him. Bickslow's eyes flared a bright green as he immediately started feeding his magic to his brother's soul. It wasn't something he'd ever tried doing, he wasn't even sure it was going to work, but he had to try. Morally he knew what he was doing was sketchy. He was essentially bringing someone back from the dead but for fuck's sake this was his brother and he'd be damned if he'd let the likes of the Bosco's Crown Princess kill him just so she could have an orgasm. As long as Vander's soul hadn't left his body completely he would feed it as much of his power he could until Vander's own body could house it again.
He'd already not been too thrilled earlier today when the requests came for them fromKurino. Everyone there was livid and most had left the house to go fight, shop, do anything, to keep distracted so they didn't come here and cause some sort of international incident. That morning, just that morning he'd been fully and officially pardoned on paper and they were making plans to go back home. But no, fucking Kurino comes in and wants to have a go at more of his family. He'd immediately called Erza and that had not gone over well at all. He expected her to be furious, a little part of him even hoped she was jealous and possessive, but the crushed crippling desperation he saw just tore at his heart. He laid in his bed wanting nothing more than to hold his girlfriend in his arms as she silently cried. He'd come out of his room just in time to hear what Lucy said and the next thing he knows the four of them are running like crazy to the palace. It might have been a full moon tomorrow but the moon hadn't risen yet today so Cristoff couldn't just teleport them there. Once there they had to make their way through all of the guards which slowed them down even more until he was possessing people until Cristoff commanded them to sleep.
Lucy donned the short black fighting kimono that gave her Cancer's speed and raced to her friend large sword like sheers ready to cut him down. She was the first to get there and his brother looked even worse close up. He was deathly pale where he wasn't covered in injuries. What had to be blood, though it was black and thick, was smeared across his flesh still wet. Knowing how it had been smeared made her eyes burn and stomach churn. Tears fell down her cheeks blurring her vision but she had work to do and the longer she took the worse everything would be. Wiping her tears quickly she used her massive blades to easily cut the magic cancelling cuffs from his swollen and bleeding wrists once Cristoff and Bickslow had their arms around their brother so he wouldn't fall.
Freed from the restraints Cristoff gently lifted his brother with Bicks away from the suspension rack to lay him out on the floor. It didn't take a skilled healer or doctor to tell Vander's shoulders were dislocated since there was a dip in his deltoids. Cristoff's hands were immediately lit with his pale silver light hovering over Vander's chest. Stars, if Safra wasn't already making that bitch scream he'd of been after her himself this was bad.
Cristoff started with a quick check to create a list of what needed to be done first and as the list grew longer he got more and more pissed. Kurino had done all of this to him before but never all at once and he was a fucking dragon slayer, physically built to take more damage. He could already tell by the smell coming from Vander that whatever she put into him was nothing she'd used on him or Kaleb before and was the main reason Vander had so much internal damage. His heart was ruptured, lungs were burnt, several organs looked like they were decomposing already…He took a deep breath to steady himself as he continued. He had a concussion, both shoulders were dislocated, 2 broken ribs and one fractured, wrists were fractured, deep lacerations, welts and bruises covered close to 40% of his body and both of his shins were fracture in three places. Gods this wasn't even close to the kind of punishment he or Kaleb had experienced at the hand of their "Crown Princess". The only thing he was grateful for was rather the lack of something in his brother's body. The Lunar slayer couldn't detect any kind of drug or poison in Vander's system and he knew there had been something because Vander did have the puncture mark on his shoulder and black blood around all of his wounds. He figured Safra must have cleared his system of it when she tried to save him but the internal damage would have been just too much for her to even attempt to heal without lots of instruction and practice.
Starting inside he healed Vander's heart and lungs then moved on piecing his other organs back together but it was taking so long!
"You need to hurry the fuck up Cris. His soul is trying to pull away!" Bickslow's frantic tone broke through his concentration.
"Fuck proper I need quick," Cris said under his breath then flooded Vander's body with his magic. He wasn't worried about wasting his magic right now, years of training and fighting had given him three very large magical containers and he would happily use them all right now if it brought his brother back. The moon would be up in an hour or two as well and it was almost full so even if he exhausted himself now he'd be ready for more quickly. There would be scar tissue and other damage left behind from such rapid healing but he had to just get Vander's heart beating again now. Later he could go back and spend the next week reworking everything once his brother was alive and stable. Lucy stood behind him, hands on his shoulders showing him her support and faith but staying clear of the work he needed to do. It was probably the only thing that kept him together as he slowly put his little brother's broken body back together. Bruises faded, cuts mended and, when Cristoff signaled, Bickslow popped Vander's arms back in place so Cristoff could heal his shoulders as well. It all took so much longer than he wanted it to but it would have to do. Vander's body was now free of injuries and Cristoff was left a little lightheaded from the sudden magical drop but he couldn't have risk taking a break, every second counted.
Cursing internally Cris recognized one thing he couldn't do and wished Laxus had not gone out with Emi to spar earlier to work out their anger or that Xally was home. They needed to restart his heart with a shock or Xally could have used her water magic to massage it so it would start beating again. He looked up eyes a bit frantic. "We need something to jump start his system." Scrambling for anything the slayer started doing chest compressions in an effort to try and stimulate his heart to get his blood circulating and force air in and out of his lungs.
"His soul is holding now but you need to bring him back soon." Bickslow wasn't sure how to describe what he was seeing. Vander's soul stopped actively trying to put away but it wasn't starting to settle back down either, it was almost like is was indecisive, waiting for something to happen before it decided to settle or move on. He'd tried talking to him like he would other souls but Vander didn't seem to hear him, like he was so distracted he'd tuned everything else out.
"I have an idea," said Lucy as she quickly called out Gyzor. The little dragon appeared already on Vander's chest on top of Cristoff's hands already knowing what was needed. All of Lucy's spirits had felt her panic and rushed to the viewing basin so they could be prepared if or when they were called. Gyzor had be praying Lucy remembered her because she knew she could help.
Cris removed his hands quickly and the little lighting dragon fed her magic straight to Vander's heart. Moving lower so her brother's hands could move back into place and continue pushing down rhythmically but his heart was still quiet.
"I think it's working. His soul's coming back now." Bicks' hopeful tone could be barely heard over the shrieking chaos behind them. Vander's soul grew slightly bright and was almost scrambling back into his body.
Gyzor zapped him again as soon as Cristoff pulled his hands away then waited with still no voluntary physical response.
"You're going to have to hit him harder," Cristoff instructed his little sister pulling his hands back a third time. "The human body can withstand more than this."
Channeling her magic again with more force she hit him again and they all held their breath waiting for what felt like a century.
Bah-dum, bah-dum. Vander's heart finally picked up the rhythm on its own.
"Thank the stars," Cristoff sighed slumping onto his brother's chest listening to the now steady and strong beat. Looking at Bickslow he nodded and smiled.
"He's steady on his own here too. Still really dim for him but he's getting a little brighter."
The room went silent for a beat before more chaos erupted. Knights were rushing the princess on the other side of the room, healers where being dispatched and Arman was demanding a play by play report from his children wanting to know everything that had happened.
When the princess was removed by the palace healers, still somehow alive but with dark gray blotchy skin, Altiene moved towards the group still hovering over Vander.
"Is he?" he couldn't bring himself to finish.
"He was for longer than he should have been and he's not waking up." Arman answered one hand clutching his unconscious boy's hand the other cupping his face.
"What can I do?"
Arman couldn't say anything. From what Cristoff and Bickslow had said Vander was likely to be in a coma until his soul recovered well enough he hand the strength fight back the shades and wake up. There was no telling how long that would take. What he wanted to say was that his family had done quite enough to them already but he'd seen that creature in Kurino. Who knows how long it had been there or how it even got there. Maybe Kurino was a victim as well but Arman doubted it. Ever since the King had denied Kurino's request to have Farron as her first that girl had been a nightmare filled with selfish distain for everyone she encountered. Either way they wouldn't know more until either the princess woke or Kaleb got to her and pried it out of her mind. Thinking of his son he looked around. Kaleb should have gotten here first since he'd only been a block away at White Sea but there was no sign that he'd even been there.
Arman truly doubted his son would have stopped Safra after seeing what Kurino had done and probably hearing a whole lot more from her mind. It would have been unlikely as well Safra had the strength left in her to fight Kaleb off like she had the other knights if he had tried. It's why he'd asked Kaleb to intercept her and maybe alter some memories along the way. His hopes all changed when he'd seen the state of his youngest. Maybe it was better Kaleb wasn't around so his loyalties wouldn't be questioned. He'd have to call his son to see what had happened after he got Vander home, cleaned and settled.
"What's going to happen with Safra?" Lucy asked innocently looking around for her fairy friend and not seeing her anywhere. It was her fault this all got out of hand but then if she'd acted differently it was possible they would not have been in time to save Vander. She didn't want Safra to be executed for what should be considered justifiable actions in stopping a crime. That poor woman did not deserve to lose her life in exchange for saving Vander's, neither of them should have to be sacrificed.
"I'm afraid she did not survive." King Altiene answered when Arman stayed silent.
"Where is she?" Cristoff demanded already on his feet. They'd brought back one person today already, he was up for making it two. He'd have already grabbed Bickslow and headed for her but her scent was everywhere from all the magic she used so he didn't know where to start.
"One of the knights already took her to the infirmary." The king replied woodenly. His eyes were focused on all the blood covering Vander's body and on the floor leading back to the restraints near his daughter's bed. He'd seen the blood on her naked body and originally assumed the tall blond woman had injured Kurino somehow but now he had a feeling that the blood had all been Vander's and the only damage his daughter suffered from was a darkness she had let in herself. Gods she had been raping a dying man for her own pleasure? He felt sick and didn't know what he was going to do with her.
Cristoff took off with Gyzor on his shoulder with Bickslow and Lucy behind them nerves frayed but ready to make another miracle happen.
"Come, let's get your boy cleaned up and comfortable." Altiene was at a loss of what else to do right now but wanted to be as much help to his long-time friend as possible. It was his failing as a parent that had led to all of this and it would fall to him to make amends and see Kurino didn't have the power or opportunity in the future to try again. First thing he was going to do was repeal the archaic law that had given his daughter the foothold she needed to do this heinous crime, then he'd track down a list of all of her official requests so he could start making amends for the crimes they'd suffered at the hands that should have been caring and protecting them.
Arman scooped up his youngest in his arms easily proving that he was still as fit as ever and instead of following the King to the healers in the palace he turned toward the exit.
"Sorry my friend but I'm taking him home." The unspoken I don't want him anywhere near your daughter was loud and clear.
-DTRE-
"What do you mean she isn't here?" Bickslow yelled at the head healer. They'd ran as fast as they could to the infirmary and now they're saying this isn't where she was?
"Sir, no one other than the princess and my staff have been here. No knights, guards, personnel or anyone else have come by." The healer was frustrated already with the chaos happening in his domain with the Crown Princess only just holding onto her life. He couldn't waste any more time on some random other person who was most likely the cause of ruining his lazy afternoon. He needed to get the princess stable first then question all of the witnesses so he knew what happened and hopefully come up with a treatment. These people were wasting his time. Never in all his 30 years as a healer has he seen someone who was healthy and tan not even 2 hours ago now have murky grey and blotchy skin just barely clinging onto life with no sigh of injury.
"Shit, where could she be?" Bickslow turned to Lucy and his brother. He knew the healer wasn't lying, made absolute sure he wasn't, but that left them with a mystery.
"Who would steal a dead body?" Lucy asked turning to follow her mate back through the palace. She couldn't see the value in it unless someone wanted to experiment on her but there was nothing anyone had seen that was so extraordinary to merit that except maybe her magic. But with her dead there wasn't anything they could do that she could think of to get answers with a corpse.
"Let's hope we never have to find out," Cristoff said through clenched teeth as they made their way back out of the palace. It was likely already too late by now to save her but they could recover her body, but for that he'd need to consult with his father and make a plan.
-DTRE-
Gin back tracked his way to the Pradesh house as quickly as possible clutching Safra to his chest. He was so grateful no one saw him transform in the chaos and that he was able to get his Sunflower out before the humans in that place killed her too. He knew enough about human laws to know she'd likely be killed for what she did in there and there was no way he would risk her life more so than she already had preforming that spell alone. He'd stolen a large cloak on his way out of the palace so he could hide her body under it to draw less attention. He currently looked like a huge burly man instead of the actually very thin body holding another person which was the reality under the cloak.
When he'd gotten to her body he was relieved that she was still alive if barely breathing. Thinking quickly he made a plan immediately to let the humans think she'd died so he could get them both clear. The fact the she actually survived didn't make any kind of sense but he was grateful all the same. His sunflower was strong, that was not the issue. The issue was that that spell was just that powerful. She should have died halfway through but instead she almost made it all the way through to the end on her own. It was seconds before the last burst of magical energy was released completing the spell that he'd felt a heavy drain on his own magic that he figured must have gone to Safra. That was unheard of too! There was nothing connecting them besides their love...
Gasping his step faltered as a ghost of Vander's mischievous eyes play across his memory. They'd lost Vander and did it ever hurt like hell. He hadn't intended on falling in love with the man, knew he was intended for Safra from the start. Knew Safra would fall in love with him quickly too - she was young and had such a soft heart. But him? He was centuries old even though his maturity would be close to the human 28. That was well old enough that he knew his heart could not be easily touched. But this was deathly beautiful Vander. A better question would have been how could he not have fallen for him? The shadowquip mage was devastatingly handsome, charming, skilled, strong, intelligent, funny, mischievous, dedicated, loyal, kind and thoughtful. Even though he'd spent years as an assassin he still valued life more than most and fought for it. He would say the man sung like an angel but it was more like a sinful delight when his velvety baritone gave life to song. The two senses that meant the most to a fairy was sight and sound and Vander was a feast for both.
Gin's favorite memories were of the three of them cuddled together listening as Vander crooned Sinatra quietly after some deliriously satisfying sex. It was like Vander had been made to be with fairies; since he was supposed to be Safra's sýzygos there was actually no like about it. He was made to be with them, her…
Seeing the Pradesh house in sight Gin changed his path toward where Safra had her skini setup. He needed to get Safra away from here and home before the people at the palace figured out what had truly happened with her body and came after them. Once she was safe they could hole up together taking their time to grieve and heal. It was going to be a very long trip on foot all the way back to the very east corner of Pergrande but there really wasn't anywhere else they could go. It had taken him over a month to get to Fiore so maybe he could get them home in less time if took an animal. They didn't have papers or visas to take a train or airship but that would just leave an easier trail to be followed.
Slipping into the skini, Gin laid his Sunflower in bed. "Ora, we're leaving. Please clean up milady and take a humanoid form for her physical comfort. We have lost a friend." The word was beyond inaccurate and didn't even begin to explain what they'd lost but he couldn't bring himself to say the whole truth out loud. "I'll be closing the exit and traveling away from here for as long as possible." With that Gin left Safra in the hands of her attendant and left the skini. Commanding it closed he picked up the roll of fabric and made his way to the stables.
A few grass runners lined the out building but he didn't have to think which one he'd take. Vander had taught both of them how it ride starting when they first got here and they always used the same one - his. Grabbing the well-worn saddlebag they always used when bringing a picnic he packed the skini inside then saddled Vander's grass runner. He wouldn't need it anymore and Gin would take care of her from now on. He could already tell she knew something was wrong and it wouldn't be much longer until she recognized her bonded person was gone. They could comfort each other in their mutual loss.
-DTRE-
Steel gray eyes followed the retreating figure on the large elegant sea horse as he took off over the grass sea. He wasn't sure what he should even do now. His orders were to follow the pair and make sure they stayed safe but there was no way he could keep up with them over the grass sea on foot - the grass runner was too swift. Pulling out his com he called in for an update.
"Something wrong Presca?"
"They left on a grass runner and are headed northeast. Do I need to follow them?" he said tucking loose strands of his dark chocolate hair behind an ear.
"No, they're in the clear. Thanks for your help today."
"Well if you change your mind I have a really good fix on their magical signatures now so I'll be able to track them. You going to tell me what the fuck kind of magic those two use?" Presca had been surprised to say the least when he saw Master Kaleb storm out of his office earlier that day, bright long hair and cloak billowing behind him only to tell him silently in his mind to follow. If that wasn't odd enough breaking into the palace unseen definitely was. As a retired Blood Hunter and energy mage, avoiding people had been a cake walk since he sensed a person's energy long before they approached. Breaking in with a mind bending wizard saint at his side made things especially simple. He'd not questioned the man once during the entirety of what he could only consider a shadow op.
Presca owed too much to the entire Pradesh family not to help them unquestioningly when asked, but that didn't mean he wasn't curious as hell and wouldn't want answers afterward. When he thought back on just how much he used to hate everything and anything to do with the youngest Pradesh, thus including his family, his eyes still rolled at his immaturity.
Vander had been brought in as a Blood Hunter a few years after Presca was but they didn't have their first job together until after his wife had already been murdered in an effort to keep him under Grendance's boot, the Steel Council Member that was supposed to be his handler not owner, so he really was not in a very happy place. The young shadowquip mage was always happy and joking around on their jobs even going so far as taking unnecessary risks just to get his rocks off with some random piece of ass. His behavior just continued to piss Presca off even more as the energy mage lost his 2 year old daughter next, followed by his adoptive mother, father then uncle. He only had his cousin left and Vander had been given the order to bring the young boy in. Fortunately for Presca, Vander wasn't stupid and this was not the first request that Vander had been given that he flat out disagreed with. In his mind there was no reason to kidnap one of their own's family so instead he got the young man to safety using his family's connections while he started his investigation into Grendace in earnest.
It didn't take long for the man to turn up dead in some fluke "accident" and a large file of secret documents appeared on two other Steel Council member's desks. Those documents spawned a huge investigation that ended with 5 out of the remaining 9 council members sentenced to death for high treason and no less than Kurino losing her leadership of the Steel Council to her father until she actually became queen. Those actions enabled Presca - and many other mages - to finally retire and care for his young cousin. After that day his animosity was forgotten and slowly they built up a real friendship. Vander and his family was why he'd decided to join White Sea and act as a regular mage after being retired, he trusted that family more than anyone else. The only bad thing that had come out of it all was when Vander needed to retire late last year the council tried their damnedest, legally, to keep him on since he had not technically served long enough to retire.
"Not my secret to tell but I'll let you know if something changes." Presca put his com away and looked back out over the grass sea. He was so fucking curious what was so special about those two. When Vander had first introduced them over drinks about a month ago he hadn't thought anything about it or them. They were both exotic looking but still very beautiful, expressive and open, people he imagined Vander would enjoy spending time fucking until they all got bored and moved on. He had his suspicions that his friend had fallen for one or both when they were still around him a month later but still hadn't given them much more thought outside of that. After what he saw today and channeling magical energy to the girl from Kaleb and, when that wasn't working very well, Vander's other love interest, he knew all too well they were not normal. Their magic was fundamentally different from every other mage he's encountered to date and it was festering into an itch he desperately wanted to scratch.
-DTRE-
Kaleb sat back at his desk at the guild rubbing his temples. He expected his father to call him soon but he really just needed to have silence to cope with the very dark and disturbing things he'd heard from Kurino in her anger induced insanity. Gods that woman was a piece of work and no matter what anyone thought, that creature was only feeding off of her, not controlling her. The most it could do was push her to act on her own thoughts and feelings but so did vast amounts of alcohol. If being drunk couldn't excuse half the things she's done, that thing couldn't either.
At the light knock on his door he knew who it was before they said anything. He couldn't say he was really surprised after today but he had been hoping for a little more time, maybe finally agree to sleep with a pair of mages that have been begging him for an opportunity for quite a while now so he could de-stress and start to think clearly before he had to speak with anyone.
"Come on in Farron." His older brother entered the room pale blue eyes fierce in the dim light.
"I take it you already know about this?" Farron tossed a file onto his brother's desk. It was the supposed identity of the leak in their contacts and it was upsetting to say the least, it also made no sense whatsoever. Minda had known their family for years and was probably his father's closest friend outside of White Sea's previous guild master Grendlow. There was a time he thought his father was actually going to propose to the Boscan Aircorps General shortly after Xally had been adopted. They'd been sleeping together for a while by then but suddenly they stopped and his father would never talk about it. They were still very good friend's so finding out it was her who'd notified Kurino…it had to be a setup.
"I don't know what I'm going to tell Dad. Minda has been arranging meetings between Queen Kressa and Kurino for the last three months as well as passing on classified information. Farron, Vander was dead for 11 minutes before they could get his heart started again! He's in a coma now and will be for who knows how long…" He looked up at his older brother whose face had drained of all color.
The oldest Pradesh sibling still hadn't know exactly what all happened at the palace today other than Vander had been injured badly during his time with Kurino. This was so much worse.
"Farron, he was so hurt." Kaleb buried his face in his hands and finally started to cry. This would break his father's heart no matter the circumstances of Minda's betrayal. Everyone in Bosco knew what kind of woman Seven's queen was and because of that they didn't have very much contact with their government. With Kurino feeding Kressa information through Minda, no wonder their spies' haven't be able to gather much information recently.
"But why? What do they want?" was all Farron could think to say. When he finally managed to get the com's transcripts un-encoded he'd thought there was a mistake; that someone was setting Minda up and that's why he'd been so angry. Kaleb had not only just confirmed the logs were not faked but that things were so much worse than expected.
"I don't know. All I got was a partial memory of them planning something against Pergrande's King. We already know that Karadin has agreed to lend Seven several berserkers and some research information for their labs so they can make a push at conquering Fiore in exchange for them finding a circlet that's supposed to be somewhere near their border with Fiore."
"From what Vander brought back we also know that Kressa is having her son reverse engineer the berserkers and disabling the control collars so she can use them against Pergrande. What I don't get is where Kurino falls into it. I mean it would make a lot of sense to get us to attack Pergrande jointly with Seven but Kurino, even before today, didn't have the authority to make that happen. She'd need her father's support and a majority vote in the parliament to do that. There's little love for either country but there hasn't been an actionable reason to support full war against one for the other. And I still don't see what Minda gets out of all of this? Why would she be doing this?"
"I don't know." The brothers sat in silence thinking and avoiding going home and telling their father what they found out. With Vander in a coma too…today was just completely fucked up.
-DTRE-
Bickslow sat on the back deck staring off over the grass sea. A part of him wanted nothing more than to go back to Magnolia just so he could hold Erza in his arms but more of him knew he couldn't leave Pelerno until Vander woke up. Not because he was capable of doing something more for him now – because he couldn't - or even because he loved Vander and his family and needed to be there to support them through everything that was going on; he did but that wasn't the whole reason. He stayed because he felt guilty. Guilty because he was relieved that it was Vander who the princess had chosen first instead of him. Guilty because it was Vander and not him who had suffered, died and was now in a coma.
The drugs weren't meant to be lethal, horrible yes, but not lethal. Arman had snatched the bottles Kurino used on Van in the confused chaos and from what Erik and Cristoff could tell they were both made from Succubus venom – potent but not deadly in the doses missing if the bottles had been full before Kurino used them. Xally would have been able to give so much more information, she had a way with chemistry. What they were sure of was they weren't deadly, to anyone except Vander that is.
If a shadowquip lost their will there would be no stopping the shades in the void from using him as a gateway into this world and if that had happened there would have been no way to save Vander. They'd of had to kill him to stop the fallout from his unrestrained magic. Their best guess was Vander realized this and had done most of the internal damage to himself so he would die before the shades got control. It would explain why his soul was ready to leave so quickly; why he had to struggle so hard to keep Vander's soul in his body. It was just like the little shit to go all noble in the end.
Had Kurino decided to have Bicks first he would have most likely survived yesterday only maybe as a love slave until his family had figured out how to free him, and they would have freed him…eventually. Still, he was glad it hadn't been him and that made him feel like a heartless shit. He loved Vander and should be wishing it had been him yesterday. Had this happened earlier in the year Bicks' knew he wouldn't have hesitated taking any of his brothers' places in a situation like this. Now though, now he loved Erza and knew that had something like this happened it would have destroyed any chance at a future with her and he didn't want that. Love was supposed to make you a better person, not worse! It was killing him that loving Erza, needing to be with her, made him a fucking selfish bastard.
Bickslow heard steps approaching but ignored them lost in his thoughts until his head was wrenched to the side and hot lips pressed onto his. The kiss was hard and he fought it until he smelled strawberries, sweet cream and metal polish. 'Erza,' he thought then gave into her deepening the kiss as he pulled her onto his lap so he could get a better angle. After a minute he tried to pull away, his feelings of self-hate welling up harder now that his warrior kitten was here with him, but Erza tightened her grip refusing to be let go. His hands fisted into her hair and forcefully pulled them apart knowing he didn't deserve her especially now. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her, she was too beautiful, too kind and honorable to be with scum like him.
It took hearing a painful whimper from the woman in his lap to finally draw his gaze back to hers and his heart cracked again seeing the look of rejected devastation in Erza's deep brow eyes. Without thinking he clung to her, head buried in her neck as he finally broke down and sobbed. Brokenly he explained what had happened, what he thought and how retched a person he was.
"Erza, I'm such a good for nothing bastard but I want you. Need you! You can hate me, I deserve it, just don't leave me." His grip tightened on her.
Tears burned Erza's eyes as she held Bickslow in her arms as he continued to cry. After Bickslow had called her yesterday she'd made a decision right then to stop waiting and consequences be damned, she was going to come back to Bosco and take what was hers immediately. She'd gotten on the next possible airship headed to Pelerno and arrived just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. The whole way here she ran not waiting for a car in hopes of catching Bickslow before he left for the palace so she could propose marriage instead. If the princess pressed the issue she would cut her down and make the world a much better place at the same time.
"Bickslow, you are not heartless. You wouldn't be torn up as much as you are if you were." She tried stroking his hair to calm him.
"I would rather my own brother died than lose you!" he insisted.
"So you've convinced yourself now."
"Erza I thought about this all night! I know" – her hand over his mouth cut him off.
"Exactly, you've been thinking about it for hours saddled with stress, fear and regret." At his continued confused look she expounded. "Think back to the moment you saw Vander when you got there."
Bickslow closed his puffy eyes and concentrated on that moment. On his way to the palace he was more concerned about Safra doing something that would get her killed more than anything else. He knew Vander could handle whatever kink Kurino could dish out and Cristoff was with them so the healing would be fast and smooth. That all changed the second they got there in her room. Horror morphed into fear. Fear of losing Vander. Fear of never hearing his sarcastic ass crack a joke, taunt and tease. No more crazy pranks, having him pop up out of nowhere scaring you half to death or just generally taking shit too far. He'd wished it had been him instead and was going to spend every ounce of magic he had to make sure his brother stayed right here where he belonged even if it…killed…him.
He gasped and fresh tears streamed down his face and he pressed even more into Erza's calm presence. It was such a relief to know he was only a heartless bastard after hours of exhausted stressed out crazy thinking but when it matter he'd been ready to sacrifice his life to save someone he loved and that, that is what mattered.
"You're right," he barely got out. His voice crocking a little at the end.
"Of course I am. I would never be engaged to the man you were describing."
"Engaged?" His tears stopped abruptly and so did his breathing.
"Yes."
Bickslow waited for her to say something more but she just looked so very pleased with herself like he'd actually proposed to her already with a slice of her favorite cake. It was so convincing he was starting to think that he had. If it wasn't for the slightly demanding expectation gleaming in her eye... Gods he loved this crazy woman. If she wanted him for life she could have him. Standing them both up, he held her hands as he dropped to his knee.
"Erza Scarlet, I can't imagine my life without you in it. More importantly I don't want to try. Will you be my Promised and my finance before doing me the greatest of honors and becoming my wife?" Bickslow had never seen a smile so bright.
"Yes!" She squealed tackling him to the ground.
Yep, he loved his crazy woman. Their poor future children didn't sand a chance.
-DTRE-
Cristoff looked down at his little brother's still form trying to focus. He and Lucy had originally had some incredible plans of holing up in Vander's penthouse apartment all day and night so they could fully enjoy the full moon's affect but now he was spending all his excess magic on meticulously redoing all the healing he'd done for Vander that afternoon. Unfortunately that meant he'd been away from his beautiful little mate all day and now most of the night. Turns out, his piece of soul in Lucy was fundamentally changing her so now she got moon drunk too and put off some incredibly strong pheromones herself. Fortunately, since they were mated their lust was focused solely on each other, unfortunately it made focusing on trying to do anything other than sex next to impossible when they were near each other and people still flocked in a lust induced daze towards them. That meant Lucy had been kept at Vander's penthouse with Emzadi watching over her and Laxus was guarding the door here at his father's so he could work in peace on his brother.
Fuck he wanted his mate but he refused to leave Vander with any marks, even unseen, left by that selfish sadistic bitch and the full moon gave him the power needed to do the intensive healing required all in one go.
Was there some rule in the universe that said their family couldn't ever be too happy? He was starting to think there was because they hadn't even enjoyed Bicks' freedom for a day before almost losing Vander forever. He was just glad Lucy had explained things to Safra and that the fairy had not wasted a second before going after him setting things in motion. Any longer and they might not had been able to bring him back. When Kaleb announced both fairies were alive as well but on the run Cris had felt equal parts relief and sadness. He worried mostly what Vander would do when he woke up to find both fairies gone thinking he was dead. Probably finish Kurino off before taking off after them if he knew his brother at all. Vander was so incredibly driven when there was something he wanted and it was obvious he'd wanted them both. There was a softness in eyes when was looking at either fairy. They'll probably have to restrain Vander until he was recovered enough to go after them depending on how long he stayed under.
Cristoff finally leaned back in his chair finally finish with all he could do. The rest was up to Vander and time so the healing magic could set. Looking out of the window Cris got up and stretched. The moon was starting to set but he still had a mate to see to.