"'Sui?"

Laxus stepped out into the balcony where his wife was taking in the night air. Hisui turned towards him with a smile. It was the only answer he needed. The moonlight cast a soft glow onto her pale skin and the breeze played with her long green hair. He came over to her and took her hand. She squeezed it with a smile. They were in the palace, making the final preparations for their weekend in the south on the beach. Toma's insistence on them being married so quickly had robbed them of a proper honeymoon, after all. For several minutes, the two of them simply stood with their hands tightly intertwined. It was a warm summer night, and there was a slight haze in the air that partially obscured the moon. It was almost like an eclipse.

"I don't want to believe his words," Hisui stared at her hands. They both knew what she meant. "If they're true, the future of the entire kingdom is in the balance."

"I know," Laxus shook his head. "I don't want them to be right either."

Hisui turned towards her husband and then tightly embraced him. Laxus held her securely in his arms, his hands running through her hair. Hisui relaxed a little, loving his arms around her.

"Eclipse is the last thing we should be thinking about right now," He soothingly murmured. "At least since we're hoping to start a family soon."

Hisui blushed. "Laxus…"

"You said yourself, princess," He kissed her cheek. "Not to mention that you'll be the queen soon enough too."

Hisui managed to laugh a little. Laxus smiled. She felt safe in his arms. He was right. They had a little while longer before Eclipse needed to be addressed. Still...Hisui worried. If something went wrong, the entire kingdom would we wiped off the map.

"I can't believe Freed so willingly renounced his claim to the throne," She sighed. The last few weeks had been nothing if not tumultuous. "I don't know if I would have in his position."

"Don't worry about it," Laxus tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. "Okay?"

"It's hard not to," She said quietly, glancing out into the night. "But you're probably right."

Laxus kissed her forehead and held her close. He knew there was nothing he could say to make her feel better. Rain began to lightly fall and, eventually, they went back inside. The storm was starting to pick up, but it wasn't heavy in the traditional sense. There was no thunder, no lightning. It was eerie.

"It'll be nice to have a few days for just the two of us," Hisui said after a moment, starting to unpin her hair. Laxus nodded, relieved that she seemed to feel at least a little better. "No paperwork, no guard…"

"No seemingly endless meetings?" He jokingly suggested.

Hisui rolled her eyes. "I thought you were going to fall asleep during the Magic Council's request to cancel the Games."

"You could have hurt my foot," Laxus said with a teasing smirk. "Your geeks are sharper than you think."

"My father would have done much worse of you had fallen asleep," She countered, amused by the mischievous look in his eyes. "I did you a favor."

"Given how strange your father can be, I'm starting to think you might be right," Laxus grimaced at the memory of how angry Toma had been after what had happened at the Tower of Heaven. "He's eccentric, isn't he?"

"He is," Hisui agreed, laughing a little. "I suppose you have to be if you're going to dress up in a pumpkin head. Can you believe my mother encourages it?"

"I can," Laxus said, watching her set her jewellery aside before embracing her. She smiled and rested her hands on his chest. "You know, maybe Freed's eccentricities should have been the first clue."

"I'll give you that," Hisui said, softly kissing him. "You know something? I can't wait for you to rule by my side."

He smiled, holding her close before closing the space between them with another kiss.

"You aren't actually considering it, are you?"

"Why not? I can consider any damn job offer I want? How is this any different?"

"You really think Belno doesn't have a personal motive here? I trust her judgement, of course, but, at the end of the day, she terrifies me."

"You're avoiding the question again. Tell me the truth, Sieg. You think we couldn't handle working together, don't you?"

"Not exactly."

Siegrain and Caity had been going back and forth for over an hour. With little new coming from the unwritten pact to preserve and protect Erza, Jellal, and Wendy, the unexpected job offer the twenty two year old mage had been offered was at the front of her mind. Siegrain shook his head. It wasn't that he doubted their ability to work together professionally so much as the politics of the Magic Council they worried him. Even more than that, he was always worried about her. His wife was impulsive by nature but he had never imagined her considering a political career. She had been part of Fairy Tail nearly three years before they had met, and she had been happy. He was more surprised than anything else, at least when it came to how seriously she was considering Belno's unexpected offer.

"Look," Caity said, slowly teasing her butterflies out of her hair. "This is an incredible opportunity and I am not going to pass it up just because we would be working together."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Siegrain said, sitting down on the edge of their bed. "It's that I know it'll make us a target."

Caity sighed. "I grew up like that, Sieg. Ask my parents."

"I know," He said, rubbing his neck. "But I don't want us to be constantly afraid. Darling, I won't stand in your way but it makes me nervous."

She eyed him for a long moment, not sure of what to say. Caity knew she was conflicted. There was almost too much to consider.

"I don't know what I want to do," She eventually said, adjusting her glasses. "I love being part of Fairy Tail. In a lot of ways, it's like having another family to lean on. But... I don't want to ignore this either."

"Alright," Siegrain said slowly, waiting for her to elaborate. "Is there any reason in particular —"

"It's a rare opportunity," Caity paused again, shaking out her hair. "And it's much more predictable than being a guild wizard. I'm not likely to end up in as...strange or precarious situations as I have and…"

"You miss stability?" He gently suggested.

She nodded. "Life was unpredictable for me growing up. Ever and I had anything a person could want but we never knew whether or not all our luck and money would be gone in an instant. I suppose that's what it means to be from a low-ranking noble house."

Siegrain wrapped an arm loosely around her when she sat down beside him, looking nothing short of exhausted.

"Sorry," She said softly. "I just don't know what to make of all of this."

"Don't apologise," He murmured, giving her an affectionate squeeze. "This brings up a lot of memories, doesn't it?"

"You could say that," Caity leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm going to talk to Makarov, you know, get his take on it. I can't make this decision alone."

"And you don't have to," Siegrain promised her. "We have time, though. Maybe we should try and take some time to ourselves."

She raised an eyebrow. "Won't that be when the Grand Magic Games start?"

"True," He agreed with a faint smirk. "I was thinking I could help my wife prepare so she and her guild could win."

Caity shifted slightly to kiss him and then smirked herself. "Then let's show the world what power lies in the air."

Freed was staring at his phone again, waiting for Mira to call. She had promised she would when she was almost to the palace. He still couldn't believe this was his home. He couldn't believe he was the prince that Toma and Heather Fiore had been looking so desperately for. What he found the most shocking, however, was how numb he felt. Looking at the time, Freed put his phone aside and leaned back against his desk chair, more upset than he cared to admit. He told himself Mira was probably fussing with her car (which was almost impossible to start some days) and was running a little late because of it. He told himself it was nothing to worry about and that he would see her soon enough. The trouble was, he didn't believe his own words. He was terrified that she was going to leave him. Mira was really the only consistent thing in his life anymore and he couldn't imagine how he would feel if they were suddenly over too. It made his head hurt just to think about it.

"Freed?"

He turned around to see his father enter his room, looking rather worried. Freed sighed. He supposed it had been awhile since he had done anything other than hideaway in his room. Of course his father would be concerned about him.

"Is something wrong?" Freed asked.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Toma said quickly, a little surprised. "I was only worried about you. I know...I know this has been hard and —"

"It's not your fault," Freed said shortly. "I don't know what to make of everything, that's all."

Toma and Freed stared at each other for a long time. Neither of them were completely sure of what to do or say, and that had been true since the revelations. Freed imagined it was very much the same for his mother, although she was away to handle affairs with the Magic Council. He knew it was more of the same. The Council had their suspicions of why the royal family was so secretive about their own magic. Freed knew now that they had plenty to hide. His parents had been willing to go to any extreme, it seemed, to find him. There were several dangerous magical objects in the palace that proved it. He was just as aware of the blood magic they used to protect certain relics. Then, of course, there was the inexplicable sense of immense magical power he felt in the lowest level of the library and the archives. He had first felt it when he had started going through the records, trying to understand more of who he was. What unnerved him was that his parents were not so attuned to it and that his sister had been so evasive when he had asked about it. If anything, Freed was certain that his sister knew far more than she was letting on.

"Toma?"

Both Freed and his father turned away from each other and to the doorway where his mother was standing. She had a faint smile on her face, one that was almost mischievous.

"There's a lovely young lady here to see our son," Heather went on. "I think you ought to meet her before we give them a little privacy."

Freed almost cried when Mira hesitantly stepped into his room alongside his mother. Heather lightly tapped her shoulder, and, sensing it was okay, Mira all but ran over to Freed and hugged him tightly. He hugged her just as fiercely, never happier to see her.

"Oh!" Mira, remembering that they were not alone, turned towards Toma and bowed. "It is an honor to be here, your majesty."

Toma smiled. "The pleasure is mine. It does me good to see my son so happy."

Freed flushed a little in embarrassment but didn't object when Mira took his hand.

"Freed and I met in the guild," She explained. Toma and Heather shared a knowing look. "I never imagined he was a prince, of course, but he's always been such a sweet gentleman."

"That's my son," Toma whispered. "I've never been more proud of him."