Walking Cliche

by SwiftDragonfly

The oldest cliché in Fanfiction history: A girl from the real world is transported to Earthland, home to Fairy Tail and other magical wonders. Confused, lost, and trying frantically to find a way home, an unlikely character takes an interest in her. Bickslowxoc, Bickslow x oc.

48. Chapter 48

Author's Note: Sorry for not updating sooner. Life has been stressful.

Thank you everyone for all the follows, faves, and reviews! I hope you enjoy the belated update!

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Walking Cliché 48

Roar

Monday, February 26th, 9:30 AM

"What the hell am I supposed to do with that shit?" Bickslow asked the taller man, standing in the kitchen with a bowl of chips in his hand. "I leave for a few weeks and people have been treating her like shit because of me. How the hell do I defend her honor in this situation?"

"She doesn't need defending." Laxus said simply, sitting at the dining room table and sipping candidly from his glass. "I'm surprised she didn't dump your ass."

"Do you think she's going to?" The seith mage asked, his voice going up an octave at the prospect. His mind was already racing, thinking of what he'd do without her, how happy she'd be without him, and how utterly devastated he and Mike would be.

"No. Dude, you're such a girl."

"But what if she does leave me? What if I have to raise Mike on my own?"

Laxus rolled his eyes, both annoyed and amused by the blue-haired mage's state of panic. It's not like he had anything better to do than hang out with his teammate and future brother-in-law… unfortunately.

"I mean, she would probably be a lot happier with someone that isn't being targeted by a dark guild and talks to dead people on a daily basis."

"Dude, she talks to dead people just as often as you and knows more about necromancy than anyone we know. Hell, she knows more death magic than you do, and with or without you they would be targeting her."

"What if she hates me for teaching her seith magic?"

"Shut up and get those chips over here." He ordered, and without thinking, the seith mage walked over to the table and set the chips in the center of the table.

"What if Wendy and Carla change their minds? Shit, what if people think I'm abusing them when they move in? Dude, how do I get rid of this stupid rumor?"

"The old man is going to hold a tournament soon to replace the failed S-Class Exams. Maybe when people see how powerful Fairy Tail mages are, or more specifically how powerful she is compared to you, they'll loosen up."

"A tournament? Like, the thing we helped do a couple years ago?"

"Yeah, since the tournament has been the only successful way to test our Fairy Tail mages the last few years, and it gets good publicity, we're doing it again. We'll probably be doing the Training Week of Hell again, too."

"The Thunder Legion won't be holding it again, will we? That was so time consuming."

"It'll be the same format as the last time, so it won't be as bad. Not only that, but it'll be a way to get Claire's mind off of the rumors thing. With her exercising again, new hairstyle disguising her, she'll be fine. Problem solved."

"I… I guess. And since no one recognizes her, she can do shopping without worrying about the stupid tax thing, and we won't have to rely on Gray."

"We still on for the concert next week?" Laxus asked between potato chips, and the blue-haired mage nodded absently, staring out the back door at his son. The little brunette was currently covered in mud from head-to-toe, rolling around in it, and the toys he was holding were so caked in mud that he couldn't even tell what they were.

1.

Monday, February 26th, 11:30 AM

Claire stopped by the mess hall, still in her work out clothes, and walked straight to the bar. "Hey Mira, could I get a smoothie?" She asked, taking a seat on one of the empty stools. The takeover mage, without a glance in her direction, disappeared to the back.

Fruits and smoothie supplies sat tauntingly in front of her, behind the bar, and the blonde's shoulders slumped. Right, she's mad at me for the Carol thing….

"All right! Rent money, here I come!" Lucy cheered nearby, and the fire mage glanced over, noticing that Team Natsu was gathered in a circle. Most of them had backpacks on them and wore their usual skimpy clothes. Gray was down to his boxers.

"Where are you guys going?" Claire asked curiously. Wendy gave her a polite smile, squirming in her spot.

"Mt. Hakobe. We're retrieving a rare herb." She told her. Claire's eyebrow quirked, eyeing the young girl's attire, and the very small backpack she doubt carried a decent coat. Wendy's outfit was cute, but her legs were exposed and her long-sleeved shirt didn't look like it would keep her warm.

"Are you taking a coat with you?"

"Uh… no? It'll be a short mission, and Lucy's not bringing one…"

"Mt. Hakobe is covered in snow, and you're wearing a mini skirt?"

"What's wrong with a mini skirt?" Lucy asked, hands on her hips that turned to extenuate her light blue skirt.

"Mini skirts are fine in the summer, but do you really think that Horologium will appreciate carrying both of you because you didn't bother to wear the right clothes?"

"She has a point, Luce." Natsu told her as he folded his arms and stood next to the fellow fire mage, nodding exaggeratedly.

"Natsu, you're only agreeing with her because you're scared of her." Happy told him, causing the man to laugh awkwardly and put an arm around the unamused S-Class mage.

"Of course not! I think wearing the right clothes for the right job is important! I only never say anything with Lucy because she always loses her clothes anyway, so it doesn't matter what she wears!"

"No I don't, shut up!" Lucy yelled at him, and while the pair started arguing and bickering (mostly Natsu laughing at her flustered reactions), Claire turned back to the embarrassed Wendy.

"Do you have a good coat to wear? I can lend you one of mine if you'd like. It might be long enough to cover your legs, too." Claire asked the young woman, and before Carla could say anything the young dragonslayer accepted the offer.

2.

Monday, February 26th, 11:45 AM

"I am Mud Man, roooar!" Mike roared as he stampeded into the dining room, skin caked in mud and no longer wearing his clothes beneath it.

"Mike, where are your clothes?" Bickslow asked, starting to realize why Claire needed a break from the young boy. When Claire had told him that Mike took up the new hobby of randomly running around the house as a 'superhero' naked, he'd laughed his ass off, and until now didn't see the problem with it.

"No, I'm Mud Man." Mike whined, breaking his character.

"What does 'Mud Man' do?" Laxus asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"He saves people with his radioactive mud powers!" He explained, and threw a wad of mud at the white wall, smiling as the substance dripped down the surface.

"Dude, you're getting mud everywhere. Not cool. Go back outside so that I can hose you off." Bickslow told him, and as he stood up to usher the boy back outside, they heard the front door open.

"Hey Bixy, Mike, I'm just stopping by to grab something." Claire announced from the front of the house, and before the seith mage could grab Mike, the young boy ran out of the room.

"Mud Man will help!" Mike yelled, and when he'd reached the living room, screamed at the top of his lungs "WHY ARE THERE GIRLS HERE?!"

Both Laxus and Bickslow exchanged a look, snorted, and watched with a grin as Mike ran back into dining room at full speed and back out the open door.

"Does he do that a lot?" They heard Carla ask from the other room, and both men howled in laughter.

"He does realize that Claire is a girl too, right?" Laxus asked mid laughter.

"Who knows?" Bickslow replied, and went back to munching on the trail mix and chips, still smiling. He eyed the young boy hiding in his play house in the back, along with the clothes tossed carelessly across the yard.

"Great kid you have there."

"He could have worse habits. Hell, I'm just glad he gets embarrassed when other people see him, so that it'll make it easier for him to quit."

"Gray gets embarrassed when he strips, but he still does it."

Bickslow grunted, suddenly disliking the conversation, and went back to eating.

"He's probably cold out there."

"Maybe he'll actually learn a lesson this time." Bickslow shrugged, and the blond chuckled again, watching the boy peer out of his playhouse, see him looking, and duck back behind the wall. A few minutes later, Claire and the two girls walked into the dining room. "How's it going?" He asked, and after glancing at Wendy and Carla, remembered his earlier conversation with Laxus about them. Trying to act natural, he took a sip from his water to hide his sudden nervousness.

"Claire is letting us borrow her coats." Wendy answered, her body turning back and forth as he her hands fidgeted nervously behind her. Covering her body, a long wool coat reaching just below her knees protected her, and a similar one covered Carla. Both of them were shades of grays and purples.

"They're going on a job to Mt. Hakobe." Claire further explained, and both men nodded in understanding.

"They didn't have their own coats?" Laxus asked.

"They were originally planning to go in miniskirts like Lucy, so I offered to let them borrow my coats."

"Ah." The lightning mage nodded, and an awkward silence filled the room. "… why don't you go with them on the mission?"

"Yeah, it would be so much fun!" Wendy beamed up at her.

"Wendy, we don't want to trouble her. She probably has better things to do than go on a job with us. Not only that, but it's horribly last minute- we were supposed to have left a half hour ago." Carla argued.

"I am busy for the next couple of days, but how about we hang out when you get back? Maybe we can go shopping for warm clothes?" Claire asked with a soft smile, and both girls blushed, nodding quickly. "When will you be back from the job?"

"It should only take a couple days at most. Thank you for the coats!" Wendy exclaimed as she grabbed Carla's arm and ran out of the house, her face beat red.

"Where'd Mike run off to?" Claire asked curiously, turning back to the two mages. As she spoke, her gaze caught something moving outside, and Mike froze when he caught her looking at him. He had been stealthily crawling through the yard to get his clothes, and so far had managed to grab his pants.

"Are they gone?" Mike asked from the ground, laying flat against the mud, and she nodded. He promptly stood up, leaving the forgotten pants behind, and ran back into the house. Before he could track more mud into their home, Bickslow swooped his arms down to grab him under the armpits, effectively picking him up and holding him at arms length.

"Nope. We're hosing you off outside." He announced, and started carrying him back out the door.

"But that'll be so cold!"

3.

Tuesday, February 27th, 8:00 AM

Claire yawned tiredly as they entered the guild hall, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Bickslow was close behind in a similar state, while in front of them Mike played happily with their babies with his boundless energy. They flew around him, babbling happily about this and that, and caught him whenever he tripped over his feet trying to walk and play with them at the same time.

The wizards of Fairy Tail were awake and alive with conversation. Makarov had called Bickslow and Claire on their communications lacrima that morning, saying that they needed to come to the guild hall immediately, so whatever was happening was big.

Or, at least it better be, or else there will be two pissed off death mages for Makarov to deal with. They had stayed up late 'catching up', and neither of them had quite caught up on their missed sleep while Bickslow had been out of town, so neither were excited about coming into work early.

As the trio made there way into the mess hall, dodging the excited mages running about and yelling at each other, they noticed quite a few old friends standing around their guild master. Gajeel, Levy, and Jura were standing near the old man and talking. The blue-haired woman had a small child in her arms, looking to be about one year old, and was speaking to Mirajane who ogled the child. Fried and Mavis were nearby as well, chatting with Makarov and Jura.

"Gajeel. Long time no see." Bickslow nodded, and walked forward to pull the man into a brief hug.

"It's been a while." The iron mage agreed, reciprocating the hug but seeming surprised about it.

"Jura." Claire nodded to him, and he nodded back in greeting.

"Claire!" Levy exclaimed, stepping forward and holding out a free arm to pull her into a hug. Surprised by the early morning peppiness, Claire hesitated before hugging her back, smiling softly. "It feels like forever since I last saw you! How have you been?"

"Depends on the day, but overall good." She shrugged. While they caught up with one another, Lisanna was nice enough to get Bickslow and Claire some coffee to help them wake up, and after the small group had caught up enough Makarov interrupted their chatter.

"I'm sorry that I had to wake you both up so early," The old man spoke, loud enough for some eavesdroppers to listen in, too. "But considering Claire's background in this, we needed her here as quickly as possible."

"Background in what, exactly?" Claire asked with a frown. "Please say it's not necromancy. I'm so tired of explaining it to people."

"Your research into Zeref." Jura answered, and at this, Bickslow's brows furrowed and he turned to her.

"What research?" He asked her.

"After what happened to Bacchus I did some research into Tartaros and Zeref. I told you about it, and it's not like I've had much time to do anything more than learn the basics of it." She explained, not entirely inaccurately. She really didn't have enough time to go through all the information she'd accumulated, although she would admit to having a decent collection of classified books.

"Don't be so modest. After bribing so many people I'm sure you have tons of info on him now." Gajeel told her boisterously, and the woman glared, tempted to throw her boiling cup of coffee at him. It was too early for this shit.

"We've discovered a spell that may kill Zeref and everything he has created." Jura told her, smiling.

"Given how so many researchers working for the Magic Council have been killed over the past few months," Makarov spoke up. "I offered my guild hall for the research, given how important it is. Levy and Gajeel informed us of your work with the topic and would like you to help."

"They invited me, as well." Fried added.

"And me!" Mavis added with a grin.

"Wait, exactly what kind of spell are you talking about?" Claire asked, looking between Jura and Levy.

"You can all talk about the details in private, but essentially, you'll be helping take down the most evil wizard of all time." Makarov explained.

4.

Tuesday, February 27th, 9:00 PM

Claire had spent the entire day working with the other wizards. Translating, decoding, researching- it was tedious and time consuming, and everyone working on the project were on completely different levels in terms of what they knew. They were beginning to figure out a system, but ultimately, it could take months to complete the project.

If it was even possible, at least.

The fire mage had escaped to lounge in the hammock out back, and contemplated her current predicament as she gazed up at the stars. Those tiny dots in the sky always seemed to calm her down, while at the same time make her feel nostalgic for her home world. It reminded her of just how small she was, and yet, just how unique she was in this crazy universe.

Thinking about home distracted her from the prospect of killing herself.

Project Sparrow, what she had been recruited to help with, would result in her death if it succeeded.

Project Sparrow: kill Zeref and every creature he had made/summoned through his books. In order for the spell to succeed they would need one of the books and the creature that had been summoned from it, which would obviously be easy for Claire to acquire. The spell didn't specify whether it would destroy the demons Zeref had created or everything he had created.

If she continued to help, she would be helping them destroy the most dangerous and evil wizard in history. Not only that, but she would be saving millions of lives by sacrificing herself (and Carol), and atoning for the hundreds of deaths that her family had caused on this world.

As she continued staring up at the stars, rocking slowly on the hammock, she was glad that she couldn't cry.

Since Levy and Claire had families to look after, they talked the group into not pulling all-nighters every single night until it was finished. Given the complexity of the project and how vital it was to stay vigilant through the translations and decoding, the men agreed, though mostly because Levy was the most educated and key person in the group. Jura and Fried were smart, but they paled in comparison to the information Levy had had access to in her time working for the Magic Council, so ultimately she was the boss on this project.

Claire, on the other hand, wasn't as vital to the group.

Her data compression magic was handy, sure, but otherwise they didn't need her. This fact made her situation even more difficult.

She felt spacey and zoned out as she walked home from the guild hall that night. Light-headed, hands in her jacket pockets, and she'd completely lost track of time. Without thinking about it she took a longer route home so that she could continue pondering her situation.

Whether or not Claire helped them, they would finish it. Zeref would die, along with her brother and sister, and a myriad of other monsters that had been summoned into this world. Mavis was confident in its success.

I'm going to die. In a few months, I'll be dead, along with the truly horrific monsters of the world.

5.

Wednesday, February 28th, 9:00 AM

Claire had been there for two hours, quietly sipping her coffee and trying to find her 'niche' in the group without success. With Bickslow and the others she'd always felt so smart, inventing spell disruptors and manipulating Fried's complex rune magic for her own needs, but now she felt like a complete idiot compared to these guys.

So far the only thing she 'excelled' at was keeping them organized. Using her data compression magic as a back up and easy way for them to pull up information when they needed it quickly was her most important job. When they had started assigning tasks to each other last night, she'd somehow ended up being in charge of keeping everything organized, which basically meant 'don't mess anything up and keep your magic running'.

Jura, Levy, and Fried: they were nerds through and through, having grown up with books and puzzles like this their entire lives. They did stuff like this for fun. They practically spoke a different language with each other, and sometimes they did, while Mavis and Claire sat on the sidelines completely out of the loop.

The ghost of the First and fire mage had learned magic either from other people, on their own, or piecing together information from a variety of sources for the necessity of survival and practicality. They could take tons of information, sort through it, and figure out how to use it for a battle scenario at any given moment. Mavis was particularly good at creating powerful spells like this one; however, given how cryptic and coded all of it was, it was too much in this state for her to help with. Essentially the first few weeks (at least) would be dedicated to simply translating and figuring out what each piece meant.

"Are you understanding any of this?" Mavis whispered to the fellow blonde, standing next to the quiet fire woman. Fried had just cracked a joke to the other two mages, and both of them howled into laughter.

"Bits and pieces. I have a basic understanding of what they're doing, but the specifics are lost on me." Claire whispered back, and took another sip of her coffee. She'd switched to decaf, and planned to be drinking it for the rest of the day. It calmed down her nerves considerably.

"Can you explain it to me?" She asked awkwardly, and the fire mage glanced up at her, surprised by the request. The First had always been hailed as so brilliant by her comrades, she never thought that the ghost woman would ask for her help understanding something. "I mean, if you don't mind. A lot of the things they've been talking about happened after I... died."

Claire nodded, glancing around the room, and wondering where to start. "Anything specific you want me to cover?"

"… everything?" She requested, obviously embarrassed, and the fire woman nodded.

"Alright. Project Sparrow has been worked on by a multitude of different mages from around the world, although not all of them knew what they were working on. A select number of people working for the magic council requested help from these different mages, discretely, and had them do the equations or pieces without giving them all the information."

"I know that part." Mavis nodded.

"So, essentially, we have five boxes of information that could be compiled together to create the spell. Levy is translating the languages from the east, Fried is translating the older ancient texts, and Jura is working on decoding the cryptic ones. We can't move forward until these parts are complete."

"That's all they're doing right now?" Mavis asked, blinking at her. "They made it sound so much more complicated when they explained it earlier."

"I generalized it a bit, and they are a little more complicated, but that's the basics of it. Since the papers are so disorganized, once they come across anything that specifies Zeref, they'll ask for our input. Which, Fried will likely be the one to find that information, since he's working with ancient languages."

"And until then… we're just… hanging out?"

"I mean, we could try to translate or decode something, and you might be a lot better than me, but it would take 10x as long for me to do it than any of them. If you want to help out, Jura might be your best bet." She suggested, and the ghost woman gave a determined nod before floating over to him. For this project, Jura and Levy were temporary members of Fairy Tail so that they could communicate with Mavis.

In the center of the room was a square table with the 5 boxes in question. Around it were 20 rectangular, short, boxes that would further categorize the papers. Surrounding the table was an enchantment to protect the original documents, and when the translators/decoders wanted to translate or decode something in a different part of the room, they would make a copy with magic paper or Claire's data compression magic to transport it. In each corner of the room every mage had made themselves comfortable with a mountain range of books surrounding them.

Mavis definitely understood more than she let on, and the fire mage wondered if she had been testing her. Ever since the Grand Magic Games she never truly trusted her, and Claire wondered how that would affect their working relationship on this project.

Hell, I'm going to be dead in a few months. What does it matter if the first guild master likes me? She thought grimly, and took another sip of her boiling drink. Might as well read up on ancient languages to help with my own Book of Zeref translation….

6.

Wednesday, February 28th, 11:45 AM

Claire yawned tiredly in her chair, waiting for Wendy and Carla to come out of the dressing room. It was her lunch break: a break which she planned to stay out longer than she'd told her group, because she needed a break from them.

She had hoped that since she had an inside perspective on the project, she might be able to use it to her advantage. Find a loophole to exploit, so that when they casted the spell, she and Carol wouldn't be killed in the process. Along the way hopefully find an easier and quicker way to translate her book, too.

The latter seemed plausible, the first didn't. Which… kind of really sucked.

Poppo tapped her hand, and the fire mage looked down, seeing that the young soul was silently begging for her attention. Quickly glancing around, making sure that no one was watching her, she grinned. Reaching out, she stealthily bopped the wandering soul on the nose, and watched her face scrunch up in happiness and giggles echo in the small space.

Wendy and Carla finally emerged from the dressing room, and the fire mage shifted to try and look like she hadn't been doing anything.

"How do you like those?" Claire asked, and coughed into her hand. Poppo frowned, pouting, and climbed onto the fire mage's lap, staring intently at her face from only a few inches away.

"These leg warmers are itchy." Wendy complained.

"Have you tried on the other ones yet?" She asked, and she shook her head. "When you try on the clothes, make sure to move around and stretch to make sure that they'll stay on when you get into a fight or need to move around in a hurry."

"Okay." The blue-haired mage said with a grin, and Carla rolled her eyes.

"Obviously." The Exceed told them.

"You two are the ones that tried to go on a mountain in mini skirts. Did Lucy end up using her spirits to cope with the cold, by the way?" She asked with a grin, and both of them gave a sheepish nod.

"She's going shopping with Natsu and Happy today." Wendy told her, and as if on cue, they heard an explosion and screams down the street, followed by high-pitched shriek screaming 'NATSU!'.

6.

Thursday, February 29th, 1:30 AM

She couldn't lie to Bickslow, and she also couldn't tell anyone what they would be sacrificing if they went through with Project Sparrow. She couldn't burden them with that knowledge.

In her time on this world, she had been confronted by the prospect of dying several times, but she'd never had this much forewarning before. Usually she only had a split second to decide whether to put her life on the line, and this time, she had months.

Having Poppo with her made it a little easier for her to deal with it. The little soul constantly vied for her attention, and although she usually couldn't give it to her, she could discretely give her some in the form of 'zoning out' in her direction, touching her nose, or making a silly face at her when no one was looking.

It made it easier for her to cope with the idea of her life ending. Bickslow and Mike would have this adorable little soul to look after, they would have each other, they would have a family, and best of all her real family wouldn't be a threat to them.

Everything would work out. Her death would cause more good than bad.

As she approached her home at the late hour, she was surprised by the sound of laughter inside. She'd purposely stayed out late so that Bickslow would be asleep when she got home, but by the sound of it, they had company.

When she entered the house, she was further surprised by the state of it.

The living room was no longer a living room, but instead an elaborate fort made from the couch, furniture, and sheets. Lanterns were the only source of light in the room, and upon her arrival, the costumed faces of Bickslow and Laxus turned to face her. They were both shirtless, wearing cheap feathered headdresses, and covered in body paint.

"No girls allowed." Laxus told her with a straight face, sitting by the entrance and taking a swig of his beer.

"You're home late." Bickslow commented, drunken smile lacing across his pink face. "We were just planning a trip to the guild hall to pick you up."

"Sorry, lost track of time." She said simply, standing on the edge of the room and still taking in the drastic décor change.

"You'd think Levy wouldn't stand for that shit. Having a kid and all."

"I haven't seen you at the guild hall lately." Claire told the lightning mage, changing the subject.

"He's avoiding you-know-who." Bickslow answered, and the man sitting opposite of him grunted, causing the seith mage to snicker.

"… so Makarov hasn't told you about the project?" She asked hesitantly, and the man shrugged.

"Don't really care." He muttered, and took another drink.

"Well, I'm heading up to bed."

"Nooo," Bickslow whined, and fell over, making an 'oof' sound as his upper body collided with the cushioned ground. "Stay with us. I haven't seen you at all the last two days."

"I have to get up in 5 hours, honey. Maybe another time." She said, averting her gaze and disappearing up the staircase before he could further argue with her.

"I told you she was acting weird." The blue-haired mage told him, and the lightning man shrugged.

"Why the hell did Gajeel have to come back?" He grumbled angrily.

7.

Thursday, February 29th, 11:30 AM

Bickslow sat in the fort with Laxus, sipping his morning liquid, and occasionally groaning at the pounding headache he had.

"Suck it up." Laxus told him, and the seith mage grunted again, flinching at the loud sound of Mike cheering as he ran through the house, buck-naked except for the headdress on his head.

"Thanks for hanging out last night." Bickslow grumbled.

"Thanks for letting me bitch about Gajeel."

"No prob. Are you going to talk to him later today?"

He grunted, going back to his morning drink and refraining from zapping the loud child with his magic.

8.

Thursday, February 29th, 7:30 PM

As usual, Fried loved when he knew more about something than Claire did.

When she asked for his opinion on something, or tried to borrow a book he wasn't using, the man would find any excuse to remind her that he was smarter than her. Using words she didn't know and then pointing out that she didn't know them, pompously throwing famous quotes around he knew that she wasn't familiar with, and making it much more difficult than it needed to be to interact with.

Levy was much nicer, but she was also quietly working at a fast pace, so Claire didn't want to interrupt her. Plus, none of what she was working on could help her with her own Book of Zeref translations- only Fried had those books and knowledge.

So she ended up sitting there for a lot of the time, very discretely working on her own translations and being ready to help anyone that needed her assistance. Given how much Fried and Levy used her data compression magic, she couldn't exactly leave, so she was stuck in the room with them.

9.

Thursday, February 29th, 7:30 PM

Laxus had finally gotten the courage to get off his ass and go to the guild hall.

He both hoped that the iron mage was there, and also hoped that he wasn't. Under the guise of coming to take his sister out to dinner, he reasoned that it was a good enough excuse to come to the guild hall. If he saw the fellow dragonslayer it would only be coincidental.

As he entered the mess hall, he found that it was a lot more sparse than usual. Team Natsu wasn't there to create noise, so it was a lot quieter than it could have been.

Of course, as soon as he entered the room, his eyes locked on the person he didn't and did want to see. Gajeel Redfox.

He was standing at the bar, talking to Mirajane and Carol, with a strained smile on his face. Unlike his time as a Fairy Tail mage his hair was brushed and kept, outfit clean and crisp, and he stood up straighter. Judging by the shine of his metal piercings, he guessed that the mage had polished them recently.

Laxus took a deep breath and averted his gaze, looking for the guild master. To his dismay the old grouch wasn't in the mess hall, and he would probably have to ask Mirajane about him.

"Laxus!" The takeover mage in question yelled, waving him over. Speak of the devil.

Ignoring the piercing gaze of his former lover, and internally hating how nervous the brunette made him feel, he made his way over to the trio. When he got closer he realized that the woman was holding a small infant.

"Did you not learn anything from those self-defense lessons?" Laxus asked his sister when he was close enough, and the water mage looked away, embarrassed. By now the woman had almost completely healed, with only a few bandages around her neck.

"Is that why you came to the guild hall? To make fun of Carol?" Mira asked with narrowed eyes, and the blond chuckled.

"No, that was just a bonus."

"You're so mean to your siblings." Gajeel commented with a smile.

"Speaking of which, do you know where Claire is? I was planning to take her out to dinner." Laxus asked the white-haired woman, who was still glaring at him with the baby protectively in her arms.

"She's in meeting room #3 with the others. Lisanna has been bringing them food and drinks, you can ask her to get the message to your sister."

"Nah, I'll just go get her."

"No one is supposed to go in there except-" Mira started to tell him, but the lightning mage was already walking away, and they knew there was no stopping him. Laxus Dreyar did what he wanted, and there were very few people that could stop him.

After taking his sister from the project, to which she had very little complaint and the others could do without her for a few hours, they ended up going to a French restaurant down the street.

"I need your advice." Laxus told her bluntly after they sat down, and didn't waste any time letting her look through the menu. He told the waitress to bring them whatever soup was on special that night and took the plastic page away from her. "And I wasn't going to wait until 1 in the morning to get it from you."

"So what's up?"

"Gajeel is back. What the hell do I do?"

"I dunno." She shrugged, and he glared. "Have you even talked to him?"

"I saw him briefly when I came to get you."

"Levy mentioned that they're seeing other people, so I mean, if you wanted to get back together with him…"

"Why the hell would I want that?"

"Because you loooove him?" She teased, and he threw a small balled up piece of napkin at her.

After their short dinner, they made their way back to the guild hall, where they were told that the project was done for the night. Unfortunately, unlike her previous nights, Claire couldn't go for a walk or avoid going home. Laxus wanted to drink with her and wallow in his indecision and self loathing, so there was no escaping him. On their brief visit to the guild hall Gajeel made an attempt to talk to him alone, but ultimately failed.

"Mom," Mike spoke that night, and held up a childrens book to her. "Can you tuck me in?"

"Can't Bicks do it?" Laxus complained, and the woman chuckled as she reached down to pick Mike up. Carrying him on her hip, she left the room with the small boy, relishing the excuse to leave.

Bickslow watched her exit their dining room, frowning, and was tempted to go with her. Whenever Mike requested that one of them read to him, they always at least checked with the other to see if they wanted to join or stay behind. Claire hadn't even asked him. She just… left.

His thoughts involuntarily went back to his conversation with Laxus a few days before, and he wondered sadly if she really was thinking about leaving him. He'd briefly talked to Gajeel earlier that day about the crazy hours people on the project were doing, and he'd had no idea what he was talking about. Two nights in a row, Claire lied about where she was for 4 hours.

10.

Friday, March 1st, 7:30 AM

"Mooom, get oooout." A familiar voice whined, and the woman felt two small hands tugging at her shirt. She felt warm, tired, and… oddly in pain. An unpleasant smell reached her nose, and she scrunched it up, recognizing it as 'little boy' smell. Opening her eyes, she was met by the face of a frustrated ten year old in his dinosaur pajamas, bumping his forehead against hers. "Moooom," He pouted.

"I must have fallen asleep reading to you last night… sorry, Mike." Claire said tiredly, and sat up, flinching as she did so. His bed was much too small for her.

"I need to do guy things. Goooo," Mike continued to groan, pulling at her limbs and trying futilely to pull her off the bed. "Go go go go gooooo."

"What guy things?"

"You wouldn't understand, you're a girl." He huffed, and cried out when his hold on her slipped, and he fell tumbling backwards onto his giant stuffed bear.

"I'm going, I'm going… and remind Bixy to wash your sheets." She grumbled as she got out of his small bed, narrowly avoiding stepping on one of the several toy cars strewn across the ground. "And clean your room."

"Just gooooo," He repeated, jumping to his feet and physically pushing her out the door.

11.

Friday, March 1st, 2:00 PM

Fried shook his head from across the room, mentally debating whether to throw one of his books at the sleeping fire mage or not. The woman in question was sleeping, curled up in the middle of her small fortress of books with her headphones on, looking not unlike a slumbering dragon in its castle.

It's not like she was particularly important to their process at the moment, and realistically, she may never actually become part of the group and help them complete the project. She was, at best, a cheerleader. This was advanced magic with languages that the three experience wizards spent most of their lives studying, and Fried would be lying if he said he wasn't a little happy that Claire was so frustrated. She didn't understand most of the concepts, nearly everything he told her went right over her head, and even the century old dead woman picked up the concepts faster than her.

And, really, they probably would have let her leave if her magic wasn't so damn useful. Fried was stubborn and disliked her, but her magic really was amazing, and try as he might he couldn't deny it. Being able to summon any book in her magic library was immensely convenient and saved hours of time. Levy had warmed up to it quickly enough, and even though Jura was set with using paper and pen, he would occasionally summon the occasional text from her library as well.

He still hated her for stealing his work.

He spent hours working with her on the enchantment for Michael, making it exceptionally strong and compatible with her magic, and expressly asked her to not alter or use it for any other purpose. Sure, it saved their lives, but she still went behind his back.

And now, without even being conscious, she's saving us potentially days of research time just by physically being here. While she's taking a nap, we're working out ass off and she's going to get the same amount of credit as us. He thought bitterly, resting his elbow on his knee and chin in his hand as he glared at the blond. She looks just like Laxus.

And then it clicked.

An imaginary light bulb turned on above his head, and he verbally called himself an idiot for not thinking of it sooner.

Laxus and Claire are practically twins. If I can get Claire to like me, then she can help me get Laxus to like me.

"You okay, Fried?" Levy asked, and the man nodded with a wave of his hand, pretending to go back to his work.

Laxus, one way or another, you're going to notice me.

12.

Friday, March 1st, 10:00 PM

Bickslow scowled as he gazed at his fiancé, unsure of what to do.

After what happened last night and learning that she had been avoiding him, he had planned to follow her after work to see where she went. When the group had dismissed for the night, about thirty minutes ago, he had stealthily waited for Claire to exit the room.

To his surprise, she didn't exit. After ten minutes of just standing at the end of the hall, crouched down like an idiot hiding from no one, he eventually went back to the mess hall to find Fried. He told him that Claire left to nap in the backyard early that evening, since technically she could power her magic from anywhere in the guild hall, and Jura was getting annoyed by her napping.

So now Bickslow didn't know if he was an idiot for suspecting nefarious things from his fiancé, or whether he should continue watching her from afar to see what happens. It's not like she was getting much sleep at home, since she got home late and left early, so it made sense that she would take naps here.

And Poppo won't tell me anything… The seith mage thought grumpily, glaring at the little soul cuddling up to his fiancé. It was normal for his souls to flock to Claire, since souls loved attention wherever they could get it, but he'd never had a soul take this much interest in another person. Ultimately the little girl just loved being around her, and try as he might, he couldn't figure out a good system with her. She didn't listen to him, she didn't come when he summoned her and blatantly ignored him most of the time. He'd never been so rejected by a wandering soul before, and he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt a little.

He jumped in surprise when he realized that Claire had been looking at him for a while now, watching him stand there lost in thought. Poppo was content in her arms, glancing up as well when she felt the fire woman shift in the hammock.

"Is this, uh… why you've been getting home so late?" Bickslow asked awkwardly, standing a few yards from her and scratching the back of his head. He felt uncomfortable, like he'd intruded on her, and was tempted to just leave and let her go back to sleep.

"What do you mean?" She asked tiredly, and yawned cutely, her purring louder than usual in her sleepy state.

"I talked to Gajeel… I know that you haven't been coming home right after working…. Have you just been sleeping?"

"Do you want to sleep with me? I'm tired." Claire asked, and yawned tiredly again.

"Could we sleep at home?"

"But this hammock is so comfy…." She grumbled, and closed her eyes as she shifted and snuggled in her spot.

"What if I carried you home?" He asked with a soft smile, feeling his nerves calm as he watched his innocent fiancé shift and squirm in her makeshift bed. Walking closer, he crouched down next to her and reached up to caress the side of her face. There were small lines across her cheek and temple, matching the shape of the rope.

Making a small whining sound, she shifted again, and the man chuckled.

I can't believe I thought she was cheating on me. I'm such an idiot. He thought to himself, smiling fondly at her. We're both catching up on sleep, after all. It makes sense that she would take naps and lose track of time. Considering how important her work is, it's probably draining her, too.

13.

Laxus sat by the entrance of the fort, drinking. The little native was passed out on some cushions nearby, naked and covered in paint, with a small blanket covering him. With the living room still in disarray, and Bickslow having made no indication of cleaning it, the lightning mage had rolled with it. He and the seith mage had spent the last couple days playing with Mike, half-naked and playing 'Natives', drinking their body weight in booze and talking about their relationships between 'battles'.

It was by far the strangest bonding experience either of them had ever had. All part of being a Fairy Tail mage. Laxus thought with a shrug, and took another swig of his beer.

When he heard a click from the front door and the sound of metal scraping metal, he glanced up, watching as Bickslow slowly entered the house. A sleeping blond was on his back, face nuzzled in the nook of his neck, and their babies hovered around them whispering and trying to stay quiet.

"You guys work everything out?" Laxus whispered, and the seith mage nodded, quietly closing the door behind him.

"I found her sleeping in the hammock in the back of the guild hall." He explained quietly, and the lightning mage snorted.

"Told you you were freaking out about nothing." He told him with a cocky grin, and the blue-haired mage rolled his eyes from beneath the visor.

"Yeah, you were right. I was overreacting about nothing. We're going to bed, are you staying the night or heading out?"

"I'll sleep here. No sense in letting this fort go to waste."

14.

Sunday, March 3rd, 6:30 AM

"Are you living here now?" Claire asked groggily that morning, sitting at the dining room table and yawning tiredly. She wore her headphones, as she'd been doing a lot lately, and several of her babies were with her at the table. Her brother moved around the kitchen with ease as he made breakfast, enough to feed two families, and scoffed as he continued his task.

"Bickslow and I have been hanging out a lot lately. Although, Mara will be out by the end of the week, so I technically could take her room."

"She's still living here? I haven't even seen her the past few days…" The fire mage mumbled absently, and stared out the window tiredly. It was pouring rain outside, and she realized with a frown that sleeping in the hammock wouldn't be an option. Well, not a smart one, at least.

"How much are they paying you?" Laxus asked, and after a moment of waiting for an answer, stopped and looked at her. "Claire?"

"Hmm?" She hummed, glancing up at him.

"You okay?"

"Just tired. You know I'm not a morning person." She mumbled, looking back out into the backyard. Everyone else in the house was still asleep and likely would be for the next hour or so. The backyard looked like a desolate wasteland, with the playhouse and swing set melting into the dreary landscape of mud and water.

"How much are you getting paid for working with Jura?" Laxus repeated.

"Not very much." She replied.

The lightning mage watched her for a moment, observing the strange woman for the first time that week. When Bickslow explained her strange behavior he hadn't really thought much of it, since he'd honestly been too caught up in his own drama to care, but he was suddenly understanding some of what the seith mage had been talking about. Something seemed… off, with her, and he couldn't quite place it.

"Have you talked to Gajeel lately?" Claire asked, and he grunted, going back to the fried eggs he was cooking.

15.

Sunday, March 3rd, 11:30 AM

Bickslow felt nervous.

That morning he had spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to pick out what to wear. Posing in the mirror, trying on different outfits, trying to decide whether to wear his visor or not… he was terrified and had a million scenarios running through his mind.

He couldn't remember a time that he'd been this nervous. Working at Blue Pegasus helped rid him of most of his social phobias, and he knew how to talk to people, but it hadn't really prepared him for this kind of social interaction. Even with all his experience with dead children, and Claire's insistence that living and dead children were pretty similar, he still had no idea how to do this. He felt like an idiot.

Upon the encouragement and of both Claire and Laxus, Bickslow had asked Wendy and Carla out to lunch.

A simple lunch date.

That's all.

If they were thinking of adopting them, it made sense that he should at least have lunch with them before they made any decisions. Claire had been trying to set up a 'sit down' for all of them to get together and talk things through, but it would be on hold until her schedule cleared up.

Bickslow had settled on a black and purple button-down shirt and simple dark jeans. His Mohawk was brushed back, no visor on his face, and hands stuffed precariously in his pockets. As he entered the guild hall, he took yet another deep breath to calm his nerves, and approached Team Natsu's table. Wendy and Carla turned to look at him, looking just as awkward as he felt, fidgeting with their hands.

"You girls ready to go?" He asked, and they were about to get up when Natsu stomped his foot on the table and pointed at the seith mage.

"Oi!" The fire mage yelled, and the blue-haired man simply stood there with a bored expression on his face. "Tell weird fire girl that I'm looking for her!"

"Natsu…" Lucy said with a slow shake of her head, sighing. "Weren't you just about to lecture him about taking care of Wendy and Carla?"

"Eh? Why?" He asked, dumbfounded, and the group of mages nearly fell over. After a brief awkward silence, Bickslow completely lost on what they'd been talking about, cleared his throat.

"Where are you taking us to lunch? Do they have a good selection of fish?" Happy asked next to Carla, drooling slightly as he did so.

"I'm taking Wendy and Carla to the French place down the street. Is that okay?" He told the annoying blue cat, and turned back to the two girls.

"I love that place." Wendy told him, and the two girls stood up, trying to ignore the arguing taking place with their team.

"Right!" Natsu suddenly yelled, and pointed at Bickslow again, now standing fully on the table. "Hurt Wendy and Carla, and I'll beat you to a pulp!"

"Natsu, don't be mean!" The little sky dragonslayer told him, but the man simply smirked at the seith mage.

"He's just looking out for you. Don't worry, they'll be fine." Bickslow spoke, and turned, looking back down at the girls standing close by. They were wearing matching blue dresses, and it seemed that he wasn't the only one that had spent time on their appearance. "You two look cute today. New dresses?"

"W-we didn't dress up for lunch with you, if that's what you're inferring." Carla stammered as she turned to walk away.

"Carla, don't be rude!" Wendy called after her, and with that, the group made their way to the restaurant. Since it was raining outside, Bickslow offered them cover under his umbrella, and made an effort to be as gentlemanly as possible for the meal. When they were seated at their tables, he pulled out their chairs for them, and gave compliments when he could.

"So, when are you going to ask Romeo out?" The seith mage asked her with a knowing grin, and the little air mage blushed madly and shook her head quickly, unable to respond. If Bickslow was good at anything when it came to girls, it was teasing them about their crushes.

16.

Sunday, March 3rd, 2:00 PM

Claire smiled to herself as she eavesdropped on the conversation taking place with Team Natsu.

Wendy and Carla couldn't stop talking about Bickslow. He had been the perfect gentleman with them at lunch, and although they'd been nervous about living with him considering his eccentric nature, they were now more excited than ever for moving in. Since Mara would be moving out soon, that left them a great window of time to finalize things.

I'll be leaving Bickslow alone to raise three kids… She thought sadly, zoning out as she stared absently at the words floating in front of her. But he won't be alone. Laxus will be there, Evergreen and Fried will be there, and Wendy and Carla have practically raised themselves.

"Claire," The words brought her out of her thoughts for the moment, and she looked up, realizing that Fried was sitting in front of her and trying to get her attention.

"Sorry, what?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like the rest of my lunch. I accidentally made too much today." He offered, holding out a full container of sushi rolls to her. The fire mage stared at it for a moment, and then at the word mage, entirely suspicious of his actions. Fried hated her as of late, and he never made 'too much' of his meals. The only time he 'accidentally made too much' was when Laxus was around, and he just wanted to feed the lightning mage and get praise for his cooking.

Fried was also just too OCD to 'accidentally' make too much food for himself. He was always precise about his measurements and never made too much of something. Ever.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Why are you being weird?" She countered, and the man rolled his eyes.

"I'm not. I just made too much food today, and since you and Laxus have such high metabolisms, figured that you might want it."

"You 'accidentally' made too much of my favorite kind of sushi for your lunch today?" She asked him.

"You're entirely too paranoid today, Claire. I can offer this to Levy or Jura if you don't want it."

"No, I want it… but… is it poisoned?"

"Of course not." He scoffed. Hesitantly, the woman reached forward, taking the container and chopsticks from him.

"… thank you."

"Is that a new top today? It looks rather slimming on you." He complimented.

"… no. Thank you?" She spoke, further weirded out by his behavior. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Of course not. I'm gay, remember?"

"I thought you were still claiming to be bi?"

"I've given up on it." He stated with a shrug. "All men for me."

"… good for you?" She spoke, and slowly started eating the food, continuing to be weirded out by his staring.

"So, have you figured out what to do about Michael's education?"

"Not really. Until we get something figured out, we're having him read and do some educational books."

17.

Sunday, March 3rd, 8:00 PM

"Do you have plans tonight?" Gajeel asked the young woman as she left the dull room, yawning tiredly. She was dressed down, wearing sweatpants and a black tank top with a loose jacket over it.

"Not really."

"Good, then you're drinking with me." He told her, and she raised an eyebrow at him, just before yawning tiredly into her hand again. "We can drink something caffeinated."

"Do we have to drink tonight?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because I said so." He said with a cocky smirk, and the fire woman grunted as the man started guiding her down the hallway with an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm not sure if I like this new Gajeel. He's a cocky ass hole."

"Strangely, you're not the first person to tell me that." He told her with a half-hearted shrug, not relinquishing his grip on her. Too tired to argue, she let herself be taken to a grungy, dimly lit bar several blocks away, and got soaked in water on the way. As they took their seats in the corner of the room, Claire vaguely recalled getting in a fight there once over Gajeel.

She pulled the wet coat closer to her body as she looked around the dimly lit room, noting that there weren't many people there that night: a few drunks at the bar and two older men in the middle of the room muttering to each other.

"Lois," Gajeel nodded to the bartender, who grunted in reply. "Two drinks and a basket of fries. Have you had dinner yet?" He asked, turning back to the fire mage.

"Yeah, about an hour ago."

"Good." He commented, and turned back to the bar.

"What do you want to drink?" Lois asked.

"I'll have the usual and she'll have something with caffeine and booze in it."

"Coming right up." He nodded.

"Did you drag me here to socialize or work?" Claire asked the iron mage, slouching in her chair and resting her head tiredly against the palm of her hand.

"Mostly socialize. Natsu and his group are idiots, and most of the other mages at Fairy Tail either hold a grudge or are smart enough to not hang out there."

"So you dragged me here because you've been lonely and bored hanging out at the guild hall? Why do you hang out there at all?"

"Security. Remember those murders I told you about?"

"Right, those guys… you still haven't caught them?"

"Nope." He said simply, and shifted in his seat, getting comfortable. It was strange for her to watch the iron mage, noticing the minute differences since he'd quit Fairy Tail, and how he'd basically turned into Laxus. "So, how've you been lately?"

"Tired."

He chuckled.

"How's being a dad been?"

"It has its ups and downs. I haven't had a solid night's sleep since he's been born." He told her, and she grinned. "It's been weird, not going to lie. Being responsible and shit."

"Working for the government, living with the girl you knocked up, raising a kid with her…"

"It hasn't been all bad, but yeah. I haven't gotten laid in forever."

"Have you talked to Laxus yet?"

"I can't find the ass hole. He hasn't been at his house and I only briefly saw him when he grabbed you for dinner. He's avoiding me like the plague."

"Can you blame him?" She asked, and thanked the bartender when he brought over their drinks and fries. "And he's been at my house, drinking with Bickslow and turning my living room into a damn fort."

"A fort? Like… what?"

"Pillow fort. They've been playing 'Natives' or something with Mike."

"Mike…? Right, Mike. Forgot you were a mom. How's that going?"

"It's tough raising someone else's kid as your own." She commented, but then coughed, shaking her head. "I mean, he's great, and I love him,"

"Hey, you're allowed to say that. Being a parent is hard as hell, nonetheless raising someone else's kid."

"And then the stupid slurk thing, and the Sparrow project…"

18.

Monday, March 4th, 7:00 AM

Fried watched from afar, being only a few yards behind the fire woman that morning, and finding a potential obstacle in his plan.

Gajeel.

"Nice burns, bro." Claire jested with a punch to the iron mage's arm, an uncharacteristic smile on her face this morning. She was always grumpy and unhappy in the morning. She wasn't a morning person. What the hell is going on? Fried wondered as he slowed his pace.

"Nice… face. Loser." Gajeel retorted, and made a face at her, shortly followed by a smirk. They pulled each other into a brief hug, careful to not spill their drinks, and exchanged a strange conglomerate of words that Fried could only guess was an inside joke.

Once they separated, parting ways to get to their respective jobs, Fried followed close behind her and greeted her. She gave him a smile, nodding, and took a sip of her drink. "I didn't know you and Gajeel were so close."

"He took me out for drinks last night." She said simply, and he nodded.

"I thought you went home after work?"

"I usually do, but the ass hole dragged me into the damn rain and to some bar a few blocks away."

"If he's an ass hole, why'd you go?"

"I was tired, and I ended up having fun. He also paid for my drinks."

"You know, I heard about a new bar across town. Want to check it out after work today?" Fried asked, stepping to the side of the meeting room and facing her. The pair paused, being the only ones 'late', and she stared at him curiously. He knew after he asked it that he probably shouldn't have, and judging by the long pause afterward, he was right. "But I mean, I know you're busy, and-"

"No, I can do drinks. Sounds fun." She said with a smile, or as much of one she could muster up that morning.

"Great." Fried said awkwardly, and after another awkward pause, he ducked into the room with her close behind.

"Good, you two are here. Close the door." Jura told them, the graveness in his voice startling both of them. Claire closed the door behind her, making sure that the silencing charm took hold on the room, and walked over to the small circle forming. The room smelled like old books and dirt.

Once the group was together, Jura reached into a paper bag on the center table, and slowly pulled out a large book. The group was silent, watching in anticipation as the man slowly removed the heavy object, and the words inscribed on it piqued everyone's fascination.

"'Deliora'?" Levy asked, taking a step closer and staring at the intricate letters on the book. Fried was just as fascinated, recognizing the name immediately as the one and only demon that destroyed Gray's entire village and family.

"As you know, Deliora was killed, but his book remains. It was recovered from the Tartaros base."

"W-were any other books recovered?" Claire asked, her voice wavering.

"Why weren't we made aware of this before? That would have been immensely helpful two days ago with my translations." Fried asked him, barely stopping himself from reaching out and touching it.

"I couldn't get permission until now, and very few people know about its existence. To my knowledge, this is the only one that survived the crash." Jura explained, and slowly, handed it to the word mage that stared with wide and curious eyes. The fire mage quickly activated her data compression magic to copy it to her library, the action so quick that they barely saw it. "The new magic council is convinced that this project is worth the risk, and entrusted this to us."

"Has anyone else read it?" Claire asked.

"No. Upon retrieval of this, it was put away in a vault to keep safe."

"Why wasn't I told about this?" Levy asked, turning on the rock mage.

"I'm going to start working on this. Do you have any other information?" Claire asked the older man, and he awkwardly shook his head as the younger word mage started lecturing and ordering him around. Fried, too preoccupied with the heaviness of this situation and what it meant, simply stared at the book in his hands.

Seeing Claire move in the corner of his eye, he glanced up, surprised at how quickly she moved to her section of the room. Sitting behind her own wall of books, he couldn't see much of what she was doing, but she was moving fast. Zooming through pages, using her magic in a way he hadn't see before, and if he was so distracted by the powerful object in his hands, he would have thought more about it.

19.

Monday, March 4th, 12:30 PM

"I'm really happy for you two." Gray told Wendy and Carla that morning, who had yet again started rambling about Bickslow. They were happy about moving in with him and Claire, and even though everyone in their team was beyond excited for them, it was a difficult topic for all of them. Gray couldn't help the pang of jealousy and sadness that appeared in his heart, remembering his own parents, and most of all remembering what happened to his father.

A necromancer had turned his father into a monster, and a demon from the Book of Zeref destroyed his family and home. Since Claire and Bickslow have had a history of dealing with both for the last few years, Gray had purposely stayed close to them. Wendy and Carla moving in with them would make it easier. Granted they were members of Fairy Tail, and they were family, but they had secrets.

Gray needed to take down END no matter the cost. Since Claire was the resident expert on necromancy, he hoped to someday ask her about what happened to his father. Someday. When he was ready.

He smiled at Wendy who had started staring at him, and upon the insult from Natsu about his lack of intelligence, found the perfect escape.

"You're one to talk, idiot." Gray told the fire man, but before Natsu could retort with something much more idiotic, Claire walked up to their table. She was stiff, her hands in her long coat and eyes dark. A chill ran down the ice make mage's spine, having seen that same expression on Erza's face right before she pummeled him.

"Can I talk to you?" She asked him, and he gulped.

"S-sure. What's up?"

"Let's talk outside." She told him, nodding to the back.

"Is everything okay?" Carla asked.

"It's fine." Claire replied, unconvincingly, and the ice mage jumped to his feet. Gray didn't miss the curious gaze of Gajeel Redfox, who had been watching the mess hall like a hawk ever since the secret project started. Trying to act natural, the younger mage walked to the back of the guild hall with the S-Class mage close behind. "You're not in trouble or anything. You can relax."

"Then why do you look like you're going to kill me?"

"There's been a complication in the project and I need your advice." She whispered as they walked, and he blinked at her, stumbling when she pushed him to move faster. He winced at the harsh light that met his eyes, not expecting the bright sunny weather, and they made their way to a fairly secluded table on the other side of the courtyard. They both took a seat, and Claire eyed their surroundings for eavesdroppers before speaking. "Do you remember your childhood?"

Subconsciously taking his clothes off, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, not expecting such a random question. Did she read my mind or something? He wondered.

"Look, I know it's a sensitive topic and I'm sorry to ask," She apologized, obviously trying to find the right words as she paused to stare at the table. "Before Deliora attacked. Do you remember anything about your life before that?"

"… why do you want to know?"

"I have a theory that I need to rule out."

"Okay, uh… how about this." He spoke, ignoring the narrowed eyes of Juvia Lockser several yards away, 'stealthily' hiding behind a wall. "I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."

"Within reason, fine." She agreed quickly.

"Well, uh… I don't remember much. I remember my dad, I remember bits and pieces of the town,"

"Do you specifically remember seeing any magic?" She asked, and he blinked at her, trying to figure out what she meant. He was trying to remember back over 15 years.

"Magic?"

"Like… do you remember seeing magic spells cast, lacrima, etc."

"Uh…" He muttered, going through what little memories he had of that far back. "Not… specifically. Wait, I remember a lacrima screen, except little boxes appeared on it. With words, I think. I remember because I kept thinking they were food. And then my dad had this… thing, attached to it, that controlled the screen."

"A remote?" She asked, but the slowly shook his head, staring at the flat surface of the table.

"Maybe? It… no, it must have been. But it was connected to the lacrima screen with some kind of chord."

"What's your question for me?" She asked him, interrupting his train of thought. Gray hummed quietly, glancing back up at her with only boxers on. "You said that you would answer my question if I would answer one of yours."

"Oh, right…" He muttered, and thought quietly for a moment, wondering if now was the time to ask her. His chest hurt, thinking about his father, but he had to know. He had to know the truth. "You know a lot about necromancy, right?"

"Unfortunately."

"Do you… I mean, I need to know… what did my dad go through?" He finally asked, unable to look at her.

"… you'll have to forgive me, I've looked into what happened to your dad but I don't remember the specifics."

"He, he was resurrected by the necromancer in Tartaros."

"Right, right," She muttered, gathering her thoughts on it. "Well, there's two types of necromancy that I know of. The one that I'm more knowledgeable on involves changing the body and putting an artificial soul inside it. From what I gather, what happened to your father was… the other kind."

"I don't… I don't know much about either of them, other than my dad suffered."

"In seith magic, Bickslow and I take unbound souls and give them the ability to bind to objects. It's unforgivable to bind a soul to a body after it's been separated. It's… it's not natural, it-"

"So seith magic was used on him?"

"It's not seith magic." She clarified. "Seith mages never do that. It's not what seith magic is about."

"I'm not accusing you." Gray clarified, unable to look her in the eye.

"One type of necromancy takes the body and modifies it for a new, fake soul. The type of necromancy used on your father involved modifying the body, but binds the original soul back to that body. I would never wish that fate on anyone, and Juvia did the right thing by freeing him from that."

"But if… if it was his soul, then you or Bickslow could have bound him to something else, right? Something that wasn't a body?"

"Your father's soul was ready to pass on. He was lucky." She told him, although her words didn't quite reach the young man. With him seeing, she turned to the hiding water mage, waving her over.

20.

Monday, March 4th, 9:00 PM

"You like gay bars, right?" Fried asked her, suddenly feeling nervous. The woman deafly nodded, gingerly sipping her drink. "Are you thinking about the… book, we received today?" This caught her attention, her stormy blue eyes locking with his, and for a moment he saw Laxus in those eyes. He could never see Laxus in his other sister, Carol, but it was unavoidable with Claire.

"Hard not to."

"I've never seen anything like it. I don't even know where to begin translating it." He admitted. "It's so unique, and… it's a lot of pressure, too."

"Can I ask you a weird question?" She asked, shifting in her spot. He nodded, taking another sip of his light drink. "On this project, supposing that we finished it and it worked… do you think it would be possible to target exactly what we killed?"

"I doubt it." He said, shaking his head. "The spell is so complicated that altering it too much could risk it not working or accidentally backfiring. It's all or nothing if we go through with it."

"Do you think we will?"

"Honestly?" Fried asked, and she nodded. "No. I think this project is going to be a dud, but I think we'll learn a great deal from it. I mean, we're given some of the most powerful spells and equations in the world, but in order to actually cast something that intense would be too risky. Not to mention this is so obviously a trap for whoever is targeting Zeref researchers."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, don't pretend you haven't noticed. They told the entire guild what our project is so that word will spread about it. Nothing about our project is secret, except maybe the item we received today, and it's so obviously a trap."

"Do you think that Levy and Jura know that?"

"Even if they don't, once we find out whatever the 'catch' is on the spell, they won't be able to go through with it. Now, let's talk about something else. Have you talked to the elementary school about getting Michael back into classes?"

21.

Tuesday, March 5th, 9:00 AM

Laxus made a beeline for the old man that morning, having only one objective that morning.

Learn about whatever the hell project his sister was working on.

Bickslow had asked him to look into it, and ever since his brief conversation with the spacey woman the other day, he'd had the nagging feeling to do it. That nagging feeling may or may not have been the seith mage, who although was convinced that she wasn't going to leave him, was immensely curious about what was going on- just like the rest of the guild.

"Laxus," Makarov greeted with a nod, sitting at the bar next to Gajeel and Wakaba.

"I want to know what Project Sparrow is." He told him, ignoring the piercing gaze of his former boyfriend.

"Why the interest?" Gajeel asked him.

"None of your business."

"Well, considering that I'm head of security on the project, it actually is."

"Gajeel," He growled, glaring at the insufferable man.

"Laxus." He said back, although instead of a scowl, the younger man had a slight smirk on his face. He stood with his back straight, confident, and playfulness in his gaze. "Why do you think we should give you such sensitive information, Laxus?"

"Because I'll destroy you if you don't." Laxus threatened, taking a menacing step forward with his lightning dancing dangerously across his taught muscles.

Makarov rolled his eyes at the two, having no delusions about what was really going on. "Come to my office, Laxus, and I'll explain everything."

22.

Tuesday, March 5th, 9:32 AM

As Claire Groh exited the women's restroom, she didn't expect the stampede of Laxus Dreyar coming towards her, nor did she expect the pure hatred boiling from his narrowed eyes.

"Laxus, what's going on?" Their resident iron mage asked, almost running after the moving storm of a man.

Before Claire could respond to the cold glare of her brother, the man latched onto her upper arm, mumbling under his breath, and pulled her down the hallway. Finding an empty room, he shoved her inside and followed after her, closing the door behind them and casting a silencing charm.

"What the HELL were you thinking?!" He boomed as he loomed over her, matching her every step as she tried to back away, unable to steady herself as the S-Class mage cornered her. "You're working on a project that is going to kill you! Did you think that you could sacrifice yourself without anyone noticing?!"

"Th-the situation is a lot more complicated-"

"So you weren't going to sacrifice yourself to take down Zeref?" He demanded, and she flinched when her back made contact with the wall. "What the HELL were you thinking?!"

"Think about all the people that have died because of our family!"

"So that justifies killing yourself!?"

"Not just me! Carl, the thing that-"

"I don't care!" He screamed, and punched the wall next to her face, causing a resulting shockwave of his immense magic to ripple through the guild hall. Claire activated her magic to protect her from the electricity and energy wave so close to her head. "That is not how we do things at Fairy Tail!"

In all the times they trained, the time they spent together, it was easy for her to forget just how strong Laxus was. She may have the ability to burn him, but ultimately, he was the stronger wizard. He could probably reduce her to a pile of dust if he wanted to.

She flinched as he hit the wall again, and he cursed as he turned to take a few steps away from her, trying to take deep breaths. "You just… what the goddamn hell!?"

"The project would happen whether or not I was there. At least this way I could gather information-"

"Were you going to go through with it?" He interrupted, and she turned, crossing her arms and looking at the wall. He stormed forward again in an instant, grabbing her face and forcing her to look up at him. "Were you?"

She tried to pull away, her fire magic burning his flesh, but he tightened his grip.

"Look at me."

"You're hurting me."

"Good. This is nothing compared to what would have happened to us if you had died."

"And what about the thousands, maybe millions of lives I'd save? Laxus, look at the big picture-"

"Fine, let's look at this logically." He said decisively, and shoved her face away, relinquishing his grip and walking away again, getting space between them. Claire attentively touched her jaw, soothing the sore flesh and watching him warily. "This project would take out Zeref and everything he summoned."

"No, everything in his books. You and anyone else accidentally brought into this world would be fine."

"Whatever. Even with Zeref dead, hell even Carl and a few other Book of Zeref demons still in hiding, what the hell do you think would stop the Ghoul Guild from attacking Fairy Tail?"

"The Ghoul Guild works for Zeref."

"So what? They have such a strong hold, they could take down this country whenever the hell they wanted to."

"Zeref is the emperor of an entire country."

"And what about the anarchy and chaos that would result from his sudden demise?" He asked, and she thought about words, unable to come up with a good response. "Hundreds, maybe thousands of people would die. The Ghoul Guild would slaughter thousands and try to take his place, and Fairy Tail would be the first obstacle for him to remove."

"By that logic the Ghoul Guild could attack any moment. Makarov has dirt that's keeping this guild safe and-"

"He has you keeping us safe." He corrected, and she tried to figure out what he meant. It was hard to keep up with this conversation when there was electricity moving erratically across the room and a concerned Gajeel outside, knocking on the door.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Think about it, idiot." He told her, holding back his rage. She could see his body quivering when she looked back up at him, but wasn't able to look him in the eye. "Our guild has powerful wizards right now, and in a basic frontal assault, we could probably beat their guild in a fight. Their advantage is death magic, and they made the mistake of teaching you necromancy, thinking that you wouldn't remember it or would join them."

"What's your point, Laxus?"

"You give our guild an edge, and without you, Makarov wouldn't be able to hold his ground against them. He didn't want to tell you because he didn't want to put so much pressure on you, but if anything happened to you, we would be fucked."

"I can't use necromancy, though."

"You can use seith magic, you can burn souls, you can burn bodies, and you know their most powerful weapon better than anyone else outside of their guild. You could destroy them in one attack if you wanted to- you're a goddamn fire dragon."

"You're… that doesn't sound right."

"I'll have Makarov tell him himself. If you had gone through with this idiotic bullshit plan of yours, you would have doomed us to death. Idiot."

"The silence charm is still up, right?" She muttered, glancing over at the door that had suddenly gone quiet. Laxus waved his hand, and the silencing charm briefly shined, indicating that it was still working. "In other news, Gray isn't from this world. He was summoned with Deliora, and their book is in the meeting room with the others."

"I'll go get it." He muttered, and suddenly moved, making his way for the door.

"What are you going to do?" She asked, but he was already gone.

Gajeel stepped inside, looking back and forth between the retreating blond and Claire. "What the hell was that about?"

Barely two seconds later, the loud sound of something crashing followed by the screams and yells of the Sparrow team echoed through the building, and he ran down the hallway. The fire mage took a shaky breath, shoved her hands in her pockets, and followed after him. Instead of going into the room with lots of yelling and cursing, she continued down the hallway and went to the mess hall, finding an empty seat at the bar.

"Claire, what's going on?" Makarov asked, and she glanced over at him, not realizing that she'd sat so close to the old man.

"I think Laxus blew up Project Sparrow." She told him, and after a moment of wide-eyed disbelief, the wrinkles on his face morphed to that of pure rage.

"LAXUS!"

As he ran off in the direction of the yelling, she took his forgotten beer and took a sip of it, wincing at the unexpected strength of it. "Shit, how is he not shit-faced right now?" She muttered, although shrugged to herself, deciding to not complain about it.

"Ooh, can you give us the inside scoop, Claire?" Wakaba asked nearby, and she briefly glanced over to him, still holding the large mug.

"No." She said simply, and she slumped, obviously disappointed. Returning the drink its original spot, she almost went to order her own drink from the bartender, but stopped when she remembered who was working. The demon woman was standing a few feet away from her, baby in her arms, and attention on the loud yelling on the other side of the guild hall.

"Heeey, best buddy," Lucy spoke as she skipped over, and put an arm around the fire woman's shoulders. "If you tell me what happened, I promise not to tell."

"Subtle, Luce." Kana spoke from nearby.

"Don't listen to her." The celestial mage waved off, and made a small squeak before hiding behind the fellow blond. Sensing his magic approaching, Claire reluctantly looked up, seeing her pissed off brother striding towards her with a group of men trailing behind him.

Laxus gripped her shoulder, forcing her to spin on her stool and face him, further bruising her arm. Lucy cringed behind her, hiding from the powerful mage in front of them, peering over the woman's shoulder.

"H-h-h-h-h-hey L-l-l-laxus." Lucy stuttered.

"You're not going to pull that shit again, got it?" He glared at his sister. With her sitting, he stood over two feet taller than her and there wasn't a wizard in the room that wasn't intimidated by his powerful presence. No one had forgotten his strength after the 'Battle of Fairy Tail', but this was an ample reminder of it.

"Yeah. Got it." She replied, meeting his harsh gaze for the first time that day.

With a grunt, he shoved her into the bar and walked off, causing a number of wizards to jump out of the way as he walked out of the mess hall. "Laxus!" Makarov yelled after him. "Laxus!"

"What the hell did you do?!" Jura asked, and not unlike Laxus, loomed over her. He was taking shallow breaths, obviously trying to stay in control of his anger, but Claire understood why he was upset. This project was his baby, and Laxus destroyed it in an instant. Lucy, still behind Claire, was beginning to wish that she hadn't gotten so close to her, clinging terrified to the back of her coat. "Tell me-!"

Before he could try to strike her, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, breaking through the ceiling and landing less than a foot from Jura's boot.

They all turned, looking at the S-Class mage at the doors of the mess hall, who appeared ready to kill the man standing so close to his sister.

"Why don't we all calm down, take a deep breath, and look at this rationally?" Fried asked as he came over, standing next to Claire and acting as another barrier between Lucy and the angry wizards. "Laxus wouldn't have done what he did without a good reason. Perhaps he found a flaw in the spell."

"Then why the hell didn't he tell us instead of destroying it!?" Jura seethed, turning to the young word mage. Fried stood his ground, green hair standing up like everyone else's in the room, and remained confident.

"Once we all calm down, I'm sure that Laxus will be more than willing to explain his reasoning for his actions. We all knew that this project wasn't guaranteed to succeed, so it shouldn't be a surprise that there was a problem with it."

"Was there something wrong with the spell?" Jura asked, turning to the fire woman again, although obviously calmed down. His voice was lower, and the men and women on the other side of the room strained their ears to listen.

"Yes." She muttered, and reached for her grandfather's drink again.

"Laxus, Claire, Jura, Levy, Fried, and Gajeel. All of you will meet me in my office in an hour to discuss what happened. In the mean time, get some food and cool off." Makarov ordered.

An hour later, in Makarov's office, a very tense air filled the room.

Laxus and Claire were on opposite sides of the room, Jura looked to be meditating in front of the guild master's desk, Levy was seated in one of the few chairs in center of the room, Fried was standing next to the sitting lightning mage, and Gajeel was standing next to Claire. Mavis floated next to the current guild master, who was sitting at his desk.

Makarov, leaning back in his chair, was eyeing each of the mages in the room.

"Did you at least catch any of them?" He asked after a while, his question aimed at the iron mage.

"No. I think they knew it was a trap." Gajeel answered.

"What trap?" Laxus asked, seeming bored with the conversation. Despite the early hour he took another sip from the golden liquid in his glass.

"Anyone knowing anything about Zeref has been hunted down the last few months and killed. We had hoped to lure them out using this project." Gajeel explained.

"But you planned to go through with the project anyway, right?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Jura asked, calmly turning to look at the blond. "We were going to take out the most evil wizard in history, along with every demon that he had created."

"You were going to assassinate an emperor. Imagine the death, chaos, and shit storm that would have resulted." Laxus told him, also keeping his voice calm.

"Is that why you destroyed the project so prematurely? Without so much as talking to us?"

"Remember the last time someone tried to kill him with magic they didn't understand? The 10,000 dragons that tried to come through?"

"Laxus," Makarov spoke. "Everyone knew that this project couldn't be taken lightly. It also wasn't our decision whether to use it or not, only to determine if it was a possibility. There's a lot going on that you don't understand."

"Claire, you said that there was something wrong with the project?" Jura spoke, turning his attention to her. She looked bored, maybe tired, and completely uninterested in the conversation. "Considering how interested you were in Deliora's book, I'm guessing that it had something to do with that."

"We can't tell you the details," Laxus spoke up, interrupting her before she could talk. "But the result of using the spell would have completely screwed us over and killed a lot of people."

"Why can't you tell us the details? What the hell is going on?" Jura asked, looking between the two siblings.

"You think the Ghoul Guild set all of this up?" Claire asked, turning to her brother.

"Probably." Laxus muttered.

"How does the Ghoul Guild play into this?" Levy asked, confused. "Do you have any idea how sketch you two sound?"

"You think the Ghoul Guild was using us to take out their boss?" Jura asked, turning back to the fire mage. "But it… if the spell worked, we would have taken out Zeref along with his most powerful weapons. It would be the perfect opportunity for the Ghoul Guild to go in and seize control, and then they could conquer Fiore with ease." He spoke, mostly to himself, as the pieces started falling together in his mind.

"Does this mean that Claire should destroy her copies of the documents?" Fried asked, and everyone paused, pondering the question. "If it was a trap from the Ghoul Guild, it's possible that there's more layers to their plot."

"Assuming the Ghoul Guild set this up, I doubt that they would have been able to come up with a more sophisticated plan. More likely that when we finally got the spell set up and cast, there would have been a hidden spell within it. As it is, they're simply valuable information."

"Claire keeps the info, trap and future deaths averted, everything is good. Can I go now?" Laxus asked, pointing to the door.

It was another hour until they were allowed to leave, having to sort out the details of the project. Laxus had been shown the door, but he refused to leave without Claire.

Once everyone except for Claire, Laxus, Mavis, and Makarov had left, Claire asked the old man what had been on her mind for the last two hours.

"Laxus said that I'm the main reason the Ghoul Guild won't attack us. Is that true?" She asked, stepping forward and plopping down on the seat that Levy had just occupied. Her grandfather frowned, grumpy gaze fluttering to his grandson, and then back to the young woman. Mavis had a serious expression as well, sitting on a stool near the old man.

"Laxus said that, did he?"

"Was he exaggerating?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah, and I would also like to know if you were involved in Bacchus's death, but for now I'll settle on knowing just how vital I am to the truce between Fairy Tail and the Ghoul Guild." She told him, and the old man sighed, muttering under his breath before leaning back in his chair.

"She needs to know." Laxus stated, silently wishing that he had more alcohol in his glass.

"Your… demonstration of your magic when you saved Bickslow gave us an edge." Mavis explained. "It was wrong of you to destroy that man's soul; however…"

"Death magic, as you realize, is extremely complex. Very few people have the ability to tolerate it, nonetheless understand and seek it out like you do. Before killing Tinkerman, you destroyed the zombies they created on an island with ease. Your fire magic easily took them out, and I suspect that he had video lacrima on the island to see how powerful you are."

"And you can use seith magic like Bickslow, even though you don't have the gift of seeing souls." Mavis added. "In fact, we've been debating trying to recruit more seith mages to our guild."

"So… what?" Claire asked, looking between the pair. "You've been threatening to sick me on them? I'm your not-so-secret weapon?"

"To put it bluntly, yes." Makarov told her.

"Even though it was terrible what happened to the members of the Soul Circus, you exposing the Nether Clan reaffirmed our strength to them."

"But I lost that fight. My mom could have killed me easily." She pointed out. "And Clarence can control my body whenever he wants. Either of them could have killed me by now."

"We never said that you were our only weapon." Makarov told her.

"But if I died you guys would be screwed."

"Not to worry you, but… they've been trying to kill you ever since what happened to Tinkerman. Remember all those dark wizards?"

"You're practically immortal. You don't need to stress about other people killing you." Laxus told her.

"But… I thought Kelsey was behind that?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if she started it." Makarov told her.

"Wait… but… people have been trying to kill me because of you? Is that why you forced me to compete in the Grand Magic Games two years ago? Why didn't you make Bickslow compete since he's a seith mage?"

"You're stronger than he is. Pure and simple." Laxus told her. "None of this is new information, Claire. You've suspected this for a while now."

She sat there, staring at the edge of her grandfather's desk, and trying to absorb the information. After a few minutes of sitting there completely still, the other mage's exchanged worried glances, wondering if it really had been wise to share that information.