~ALL RIGHTY MY DARLINGS, here is the next chappie, as promised. Next one will have the showdown between Lucy and Natsu and y'all will get to see the cool new trick our Celestial mage has learned.

Any guesses? Huh, huh, huh? Leave me your best one!

Thank you for all your wonderful kind words and as a special treat, I'm actually early for once. So sorry about all those late chapters, it's my hubbies off week so I've been trying to spend as much time with him before he leaves!

^_^ Enjoy pretties!


Chapter 28

While Lucy was cursing herself at her sudden bout of confidence, Cetus had come out to wait for his mage's little tantrum to be over before his easy, smooth voice interrupted, "My Princess, if I could suggest maybe having a more involved training session now that you'll be 'kicking the ass' of the Fire slayer. You'll be perfectly fine as is, but I'd like to teach you something to put the dragon down up close and personal."

Staring at her spirit with a mix of shock and enthusiastic curiosity, she spoke tentatively, "You mean...I'll be able to actually knock him on his ass myself? With my own two hands?"

Giving the house her dragons had just walked back into a sly look that was altogether devilishly handsome with a maniacal upper-class twinge that would have set her lower stomach on fire had it not already been tuned to the music of her dragons, before he ducked to whisper in her ear, "You'll be able to do far worse than that, Princess Lucy." Straightening up, hands clasped behind his back, he continued with his usual deep baritone, "So get into your work out gear. We've only got time for two sessions before you have to face your foe."

Hooking her arm in his as she patted the Sea Serpent's chest absentmindedly, her voice conspiratorial and scheming, "Oh, Cetus, you have no idea how sweet this victory is going to be."

She gave of her dragons a suspiciously haughty look before leaving her green-haired spirit in their company to change into more appropriate clothes.

Cetus bowed in front the blunette dragon before introducing himself, "You must be the little sister to my Princess. I am Cetus, I represent the Sea Serpent constellation, and it is an honor to meet you Sky Maiden."

Blushing at the handsome spirit's formality and attire, Wendy stuttered back, "H-hello Cetus. L-lu-chan has been t-telling me all about her new sp-pirits. She's quite fond of you."

Straightening back to his full height, he smiled at the young mage, "Is that so? I'll be sure to let the Lion and Cepheus know of her fondness for me. Thank you...?"

Her mouth dropping into an 'o' as she realized she didn't actually give the spirit her name, "Wendy! Sorry..."

"No need for apologies, little princess. Miss Lucy has already told me your name but I find it terribly rude to use a name that hasn't been given by it's owner."

The two oldest dragons gave each other eye rolls and exasperated looks at the smooth spirits quick work at winning over the Sky dragon as Natsu slapped the unsuspecting spirit on the back a touch harder than necessary before throwing his arm around his neck and pulling him in close, "So you think you're going to get Luce to put me down herself, eh? I love her but she's not much in the way of all out physical fighting. Do I think she can kick my ass from here to Pergrande? Absolutely. Do I think she herself can put me on my ass straight hand-to-hand? Not a chance."

Shoving the pink-haired mage from his body and giving him a grin that oozed 'you're about to be proven wrong' smugness, "I wouldn't put so little stock in her abilities or my own. When you are looking up at my beautiful Princess from the flat of your back, I'll try not to rub it in."

Gajeel's gruff voice broke up the back and forth easily, "Well I can't fuckin' wait to see Bunny put ya in your place. Mavis, this'll be better than that time Sparkles was behind her-oofph" Laxus' not so subtle back hand to his chest cut the Iron slayer off before he could finish his very vulgar statement, "What the fuck!"

"Mavis, there is going to be an even smaller, more impressionable dragonling in this house in less than a year and you can't even keep your dick out of casual conversation in front of Wendy," rubbing the side of his face out of frustration.

"Tch, technically ya just brought my dick into conversation yourself, dumbass."

The little dragon rolled her shining brown eyes at her brothers, voice heavy with exhaustion, "I don't know how Lu-chan deals with you all and she still isn't half-crazy herself."

The rich tone of Natsu's voice piped up from down a random hallway leading further into Laxus' house, "Luce is just as crazy as the rest of us, Wendy! You should know that by now!"

Pulling her hair into a high ponytail as she came down the stairs in a pair of black spandex shorts that fell mid-thigh, her black sports bra and a short, loose blue tank top with the Fairy Tail emblem on the front in gold and was showing off each of her mating dragons, she heavy-heartedly added as her very voluptuous chest struggled to stay tamed, "Yeah, I'd kind of have to be to around this lot. Though I do have the sense to not bring up anyone's 'little dragons' in casual conversation with my little sister," sending the giggling girl a playful wink when she finished.

After hearing the indignant cough from the raven haired slayer and booming laughter of her blonde slayer, the Celestial mage asked where she could find her murder boots, not being able to find them in her things which someone had unpacked and put away in various drawers and a separate closet in Laxus' bedroom. Virgo probably.

Her green-haired spirit cut the response from the Lightning dragon, much to his annoyance, "It's probably best if you train in something lighter than those idiotic dead weights you call boots. I have no doubt that eventually you'll be able to wear them if you really needed to but to begin with, I'd suggest either going bare-foot or in very flexible trainers, Princess."

Giving her blonde dragon an apologetic smile for her spirit's interruption before giving her attention back to the Sea Serpent, "Well I guess I'm good to go then. Do you think Wendy could come along with? I really haven't gotten to spend much time with her lately." Turning to the pig-tailed mage to ask, "That is, if you aren't already busy, Little Sister...?"

Shooting the Celestial mage a splitting grin, she shook her head enthusiastically, "No, I'm free all day. Carla, Happy and Lily went fishing for the day. Well, Happy and Lily wanted to go fishing and somehow they roped Carla into tagging along, but they won't be back until after dinner."

Matching the littlest dragon's smile, "Excellent! Then let's head off into the woods while you three go and...start looking for land for the Dragon's nest so Pinky over there doesn't see my new secret weapon, okie dokie?" Not waiting for a reply from any of her grudging dragon's, she nodded decidedly, "Okay, good! Shoo shoo," waving her fingers at them to make her point before blowing each of them a kiss and saying her goodbyes. Grabbing Cetus' arm and Wendy's hand before heading out to the backyard to get a crash course in dragon slaying.

Laxus, already annoyed with the day between actually cracking the ceramic tile of his kitchen floor and Lucy's unintentional assault, was not looking forward to having to make a decision on where they would be spending the rest of their lives without his mate being there. Begrudgingly, he threw on his boots, a new dress shirt and headed out the front door.

The Iron slayer was actually looking forward to watching the Seaweed spirit train his little spitfire so at his behest, he pulled on a black t-shirt, his own black leather boots and moved to join the oldest dragon before thinking better of leaving the little pink-haired cheat alone in the house. Calling roughly to the Fire dragon, "Get your ass back down here, ya fuckin' shit. I know those ridiculous floppy shoes of yours don't take that long to put on."

With little heat in his voice, the slayer answered with his hands behind his head, "Don't get your panties in a twist, Mother Metal Shaving, I'm right here. Let's go find us a nest, eh?"

With a smirk fixed on his face, he shoved his hands in the pockets of a pair of well-worn black jeans and headed out the door behind the excited dragon.

xXx

After four hours of Cetus' 'training', Lucy learned a lot about chakras and the flow of chi through a mage's body and more about her stance before the spirit told her to finally get up from where she had been sitting crossed-legged for most of the afternoon meditating. Wendy, who hadn't learned much about meditating before, was thankfully fascinated at the lesson and the impatient blonde didn't have to feel bad about the little dragon having to sit through the most boring lesson of her life. Which was saying a lot because she had to sit through grueling hours of heiress lessons. Hours upon hours of etiquette training, finance and accounting classes, proper diplomatic relations and how to conduct business meetings, which fork to eat with which course and about a million other things that she had honestly, never really needed to know as a mage. Had they come in handy throughout her career as a guild mage? Sure, a couple of times, but in the long run, the years of classes had been some of the most yawn-worthy of her life, until the drolling deep even monotone of her Sea Serpent had given her yet another, crash course on the finer points of meditation. Something she had already sat through with an even more monotone, Capricorn.

"Okay my Princess, we will work on the practical uses for what I've taught you. Please, call out Cepheus for a sparring partner for the little princess and the Lion for your own," the long-haired spirit had bent over her, where she had laid herself back in the grass before shooting straight up at the mention of getting to spar.

Quickly calling out the Earthen King and Loke, she was attacked with a barrage of sweet compliments and bathed in kisses up her arms before swatting the spirits away, "Enough you two. Cetus is teaching me a new way of fighting and guess who gets to be my guinea pigs?"

Cepheus' blood red eyes went wide, his voice shook ever so slightly as he turned to the smirking spirit with his hands clutched behind his back, coal black eyes dancing with an evil glint, "Oh, no. I know exactly what he's teaching you and I won't be apart of this. Every single time he does this to me and every single time I end up a heap on the ground for hours. No. Absolutely not."

Before the Celestial mage could guilt the handsome brunette into letting Wendy practice on him, Cetus was looking down at him, standing a few inches taller than the Earthen King, voice cold and deadly, "You wouldn't deprive our beautiful Princess of vital knowledge that could save her life in the heat of battle, would you Cepheus?"

Swallowing the lump that had developed at his throat before his eyes darted to where Lucy was smothering giggles with the tiny dragon and back to Cetus, he spoke softly but firm, "I wouldn't dream of hindering the Celestial Princess in her training, but I swear to the Spirit King himself, so help me, if you leave me in the middle of nowhere by myself, again, I will personally make sure there is no water anywhere for your twisty serpent head to swim in all of Earthland."

Stepping back from his threatening position to address the pair of ladies who were openly gawking at the two men with a casual smile, "Sky Maiden, if you would come stand a foot away from the Spirit World's biggest baby, and if you would take up position with the Lion darling Princess, we shall continue the lesson."

The curvy blonde shared a look of 'what the hell just happened in front of us' with Loke, who responded with his own look that said 'I don't fuckin' know, but let's just do what he says, okay?'. Giving a mutual nod, they turned to face each other.

Wendy moved to stand across from the grumpy royal spirit before holding our her hand, voice cheery and bright, "I'm Wendy, Lucy's little sister, it's a pleasure to meet you Cepheus."

At the mention of being his precious mage's little sister, the spirit's frown instantaneously curled into a handsome smile before taking her hand, bowing deeply and kissing the back chastely, "It is an honor to meet you, little princess. If I'd have known I'd be sparring with you, I would have had less objections. You don't seem the type to abandon me after the lesson is over."

Her melodic giggles, the spirit noticed mimicked those of his Princess, rang through little opening before her pigtails shook with her head, "Oh no, you can just call me Wendy but I'm sure Lu-chan wouldn't leave you in the woods either so you have nothing to worry about," patting the brunette re-assuredly.

Giving the four bodies in front of him a knowing, twisted smile, his voice was back to being even, but not unkind, "Then let's proceed with the lesson, shall we?"

xXx

"Luce won't like this," stating matter-of-factly to the hulking blonde.

Running his heavy hand down his face, the Lightning mage spoke tiredly, "And why, pray tell, is that, Natsu?"

Gesturing to the open plot of land before them, voice obviously irritated that he even had to say it out loud, "It's too close to Magnolia."

"I thought Bunny liked being close to town, ya know, where the guild and all our nakama are?," the Iron slayer's voice obviously irritated at the round-about complaints the Fire dragon had come up with for the last nine properties they looked at.

"Luce is a Celestial Summoner mage."

"Yeah? We all fuckin' knew that Ash-hole, what's your point?," verging on homicidal, the raven haired dragon was hitting his limit on dealing with the youngest of their little house-hunting party.

"And this is too close to town. The lights will drown out the stars and she won't be able to see them as clearly at night," giving the two older dragons a shrug, again, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Giving the pinkette an impressed look, the Lightning dragon turned to move to the next property, calling back to the astounded Iron dragon, "Let's get moving then. Blondie needs her stars like we need our elements."

The trio of of dragons was well into the two hour walk outside of Magnolia, directly behind the guild hall before they came to the For Sale sign at the edge of the property they were to look at next. Much like Laxus' current house, it was deep in the woods, away from the light pollution the city produced and hopefully, would be the last of the properties for the sake of his ever-shrinking tolerance of the two bickering dragons behind him.

"My hatchling is gonna use yours for target practice, Burnt Toast," Gajeel gave the laughing Fire mage a good-natured punch on the arm.

"Pfffft, any baby of mine is gonna be able to kick your puny dragonlings butt."

"Mavis, will the two of you shut up already. This is the last one we are looking at before heading back to Blondie so get your asses moving before I electrocute you both and tour the land by myself," without looking back, the blonde mage started down the narrow road towards the bulk of the property.

After a short and thankfully silent fifteen minute walk, they came to a small opening in the maze of tall trees which opened into a wide, crystal clear lake.

Before Laxus could say anything, Natsu had exclaimed, "Now this! This, Luce will love. I vote this one and so will she."

"Tch, no shit she'd like this one. It's far enough away to get away from nosy team mates, lots of room for buildin' and baby-makin', the lake for the creature from the green lagoon and this means, no more shoppin' around for property," rolling his golden-ruby eyes at the pinkette.

"I'm sure Laki will have a blast with all this. Maybe Blondie'll like the idea of a log home, save us some time on building it...," Laxus mumbled under his breath more to himself than to his counterparts before turning to take the walk back down the road, motioning the pinkette and the raven haired slayer to follow him quickly.

When they finally made their way to the end of the driveway, he pulled the For Sale sign from the ground and carried it home to make the call to the realtor.

xXx

Lucy had sweat gathered on her brow with Loke flat on his back as she crouched to his side, smile firm on her face though she was panting. Too pumped to care that she was breathless, her hand shot up, "Hah! Fuckin' finally! Natsu won't know what hit him tomorrow," grinning maniacally to no one in particular as she spoke under her breath, "but I will. Cocky, sexy, fiery dragon will be so in shock that I put him down and in front of the whole guild, heh heh."

"Um, Lu-chan?"

Turning back to the Sky dragon with glee in her eyes, "What's up, Wendy-" Her eyes went wide as she turned to meet her panicked brown orbs as they darted from the blonde to the collapsed brunette spirit. Tilting her head to the side quizzically, "Uuuuuh, you okay there, Ceph?"

With a faint smile and a weak thumbs up, the Earthen King returned to the Spirit world with an equally as immobile Loke in tow.

Bowing deeply, Cetus took Lucy's hand in his before giving her unexpected but earnest praise, "My Princess, I've never seen someone catch on to my methods so quickly. I'll be sure to wake you early tomorrow to refine what I've taught you this evening before you head to your guild." Turning to meet Wendy's gaze, "And you, little princess, have become my favorite dragon. I am highly impressed with the way you knocked Cepheus around. Excellent form, if a little hard with the hits."

Blushing at the spirits compliment, the blunette ducked her head and let out a quiet 'thank you' while she twisted her toe in the grass shyly.

Giving her one last smile before placing a kiss on the back of Lucy's hand as the blonde gave her spirit her own very exuberant 'thank you' and pulling him into a very sweaty bear hug. Finally releasing her green-haired spirit to let him head home after a few seconds of crushing her chest to his.

Shooting her little sister a beaming smile before looping her arm in hers, "How about we go shower and get some dinner ready for the guys? I think I saw the makings for homemade pizza in Laxus' pantry. It's kind of weirdly well-stocked for a man notorious for being a bachelor through and through. I kind of pictured him living off guild food and take-out."

Speaking with a renewed pep as they made their way back to the house, Wendy giggled, "Laxus is full of surprises it seems. He keeps to himself most of the time so the only people that really know him outside the Raijinshu and Master would be you now."

"And Gajeel and Natsu. Probably Gajeel more than Natsu though," getting a far-off dreamy look in her golden-chocolate eyes.

"Ew, Lu-chan. That is something I do not need to know," chuckling at the older mage's blush.

Smacking her forehead with her palm, "Mavis, I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget you've got slayer senses like those the guys. You're just...not a giant di-jerk about it."

"I think I've been around the guild enough to be able to handle some swearing, you know," teasing the already flustered blonde.

Hoping to change the subject, Lucy turned to the intelligent little dragon, genuinely curious to see what she has to say on the subject, "So why do you think Natsu's mark changed?"

Hesitantly speaking, "Well, I don't really know for sure. Grandeeny never said anything about the marks being able to change but if I had to guess? I'd say it had something to do with the fact that you almost completely used all his fire when you channeled it through yourself. It changed as soon Natsu pushed more of his magic into your neck when Laxus brought you to the guild." Giving the blonde a very intimidating look before hardening her voice, "Which by the way, you are incredibly lucky Natsu happened to be at the guild still. You could have severed the bond with him if he wasn't"

Unconsciously tightening her arm, she looked down into the narrowed brown eyes a half head below her sheepishly, "I know. I'll be more careful and listen to my mates about things that I don't fully understand. Right before the black took over, I could feel it. Just...nothing. It was the scariest thing to fall asleep to, like I was trapped like that until I felt his fire wash over me."

Staring at the blonde skeptically for a moment before nodding and returning to her usual cheer, "I'm sure you've learned your lesson, Neechan. Though I doubt you'll be going anywhere too far without your mates for a while."

"Honestly?," ducking her head down as they made it to the back porch, "I feel so much better having them around me. I thought I'd hate it, that I'd feel too crowded and out of control but it's this weird sense of calm; like everything is where it should be and I'm home. I hated not having Natsu around, and then when I heard Gajeel was gone, I could feel the loss like a ache in my chest. It's just not right when one of them is gone." Opening the back door to let the youngest slayer into the house, and heading to the kitchen, "Do you want anything to drink? I was going to make some jasmine tea."

Pulling herself on the leather bar stool at the island before answering, "Yes please! and that's how it's supposed to be, Lu-chan. A dragon's mate is there perfect other half, their missing piece, they make up for all the things the dragon might be lacking while still being able to rein them in when need be. If you think about it, I really don't think anyone else would have been able to handle any of them. Laxus has a lot of pressure on him to become the next guild master and he's going to need a mate who can handle not only the guild along side him, but be a voice of reason and encouragement when he doubts himself, which you've pretty much been trained to run a whole entire business and you're the light of our guild so who better to be at the master's side than you; Gajeel needs someone who has enough heart to make up for his lack of empathy but someone who can actually still go toe to toe with him, who better than the first person to not only stand up to him but to forgive him and don't even get me started on Natsu. That dragon is the most clueless, destructive, hopeful mage I've ever seen and aside from Erza's...unique way of handling him, you are literally the only person in the guild who can talk to him, reason with him, fight next to him. You've always been everything to him and he's always been there for you, that one just makes sense."

Lucy's jaw dropped at her astute, clear-cut dissection of her relationships, only being interrupted by the soft whistle of her kettle boiling before she grabbed it to pour into the ceramic teapot. Blinking away her shock as she carried a tray with the tea, two matching teacups and some cookies she had found stashed away, to the bar to sit next to Wendy. She couldn't help the light astonished tones that mingled in her words as she poured the tea, "Damn, Wendy-lou, when did you get so intuitive and grown up?"

Grinning over the rim of her cup, the little dragon spoke casually, "I make it a point to know my kin very well," taking a sip and sighing happily at the soothing liquid, "and honestly, it should have been obvious with the way they pined over you. They weren't very subtle about their attraction of you. Just remember the Magic Games? Or Gajeel's constant growling at the dragons from Sabertooth when they would come visit the guild and hang on you. Again, I shouldn't even get started on Natsu's obvious claiming of you."

"I guess I just chocked it all up to them just defending their nakama...and Natsu was not that obvious. I do not have slayer senses you know," proud of herself for at least having some defense as to her own density went.

Deadpanning at the smirking blonde, "Lu-chan, he's been sneaking into your bed to sleep with you for years."

Honeyed eyes going wide as she stuttered, "Y-yeah but, you ALL sneak into my bed."

"Natsu is always the first and always curls around you. He even sneaks into your bedroll on missions with Team Natsu! Like he would've risked Erza's wrath for just anyone."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm just as oblivious as Natsu, but can you blame me? What would they be doing with someone like me? A mage like I am-was...," her voice dropping as she looked at the few leaves that fell through the screen into the bottom of her cup.

Setting her cup back on the bar before putting a hand on Lucy's arm, her voice soft and comforting, "You mean...because you lost Aquarius?"

It seems her little sister's intuition was eerily in tune with the blonde as her golden eyes widened, "How long have you known?"

"You were missing a key when we got back from the whole Tartaros disaster and when I took a closer look, I saw it was Aquarius' key. I figured you would talk to us when you were ready, and when you never did...I thought it was something we couldn't help you through," looking apologetic before the blonde pulled her into a hug.

Whispering so quiet, even Wendy had trouble hearing her sweet lilting voice, "Thank you, Imouto. It makes a difference just knowing you noticed."

Squeezing the blonde a little tighter before answering, "Of course I noticed, Lu-chan. I love you and your spirits are a part of you, it's hard not to notice."

Pulling away before she was reduced to tears at the mages heartfelt words, more upbeat than she expected, "I love you too and I'll be sure to let you know if I have anymore issues. I'll have to explain to the guild about just how I...lost her key, but she's back on Earthland somewhere and all I have to do is find her again."

"And if the whole guild knows to look for her, it shouldn't take too long," giving the blonde a million watt smile before taking a cookie and biting into it.

I really hope not. I've been without her far too long as is.