Chapter 5

The room remained silent for a long time. There was too much on everyone's mind to talk right then. Just as those images had terrified Lucy, they would haunt each member of the Pradesh family. Lucy though finally started to relax a little more but still clung desperately to the little totem in her arms, the soul inside sensing her distress and giving her the same comfort as her spirits.

As soon as Lucy was fully calmed down she stood up from Vander's lap and walked up the stairs to the room she had slept in the night before, ignoring the questions called after her. Stepping into the room she was quick to make the bed and then gather what few of her belongings were with her before summoning Virgo to store them. After all was said and done she walked back out of the room and straight through the front door. Only pausing when she got outside and heard her name being shouted by the people she was trying to leave behind.

She never turned around to look at them. She just stopped, allowing them to catch up to her.

"Cosplayer, where are you going?"

"As far away from here as I can get. It was a mistake coming here. I should've known he'd find out. I refuse to put you all in more danger by staying."

"So, what? You're just gonna run and hide? Leave Van and Bix behind and not even give us the option to get to know you? To help you?"

Lucy rounded on the mindbender, her eyes burning with what he was implying.

"You have no right to judge me or my decisions. You know nothing about me. I may have been about to run but I sure as hell wasn't hiding. I had every intention of coming back if I live through what I'm about to do. I just wasn't going to put your lives on the line in the process. You think I didn't see the fear on all of y'alls faces when you saw those images of y'alls deaths. What kind of person would I be if I allowed any of you to help me knowing what the outcome could be? What kind of soulmate would I be? I'm not stupid enough to go after this asshole alone, but that doesn't mean I have to drag you all down with me."

Lucy looked at everyone before facing the ground. Too scared to admit what she was about to while looking at any of them.

"Call me selfish, but for once I'd like to actually have a family. And right now you all are the closest I've got because you're my soulmate's family. I'm not gonna mess that up by allowing you to come with me only for one of you to end up getting killed. So I'm leaving. I'm going to train with the only two people who have even the slightest possibility of being able to prepare me well enough to take him on, and then I'm going to kill him."

Lucy turned back around wanting to walk off and be done with this conversation. However one arm slung across her shoulders and another wrapped around her waist.

"So Starshine? Who are these two people we're headed to see?"

"What?! There's no we!"

"Sure there is Cosplayer. You didn't really think we'd let you have all the fun did you? I haven't had a good fight with a dark guild since the guild disbanded. Maybe I should get Laxus and Freed to meet us there. I know they could use another 'rescue Cosplayer from a dark mage' mission."

Lucy just spluttered at a complete loss for words. Groaning, she threw her head back.

"Fine! I give. I'll have them come to me. Assholes. I wanted to go on my own. I was trying to protect you."

"Come now Starfire. You really think mine and Emi's dragons were gonna let you out of our sight. We may not have claimed you as kin yet but that's only because we were waiting for you to give a sign saying it was okay. But after that display this morning and learning about what happened to you yesterday, you weren't going anywhere without us."

"Besides Princess. We don't need you to protect us. We are all very capable mages."

"I never said you weren't I was just trying to keep you all out of the line of fire damnit."

"Lucy dear, there really is no point in arguing. I'm afraid my children aren't going to let you go after this man without them. Really you should just tell us who it is you were going to go train with so we can get them here as soon as possible."

Lucy huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine. But just so you know I'm still against this."

The siblings all grinned in triumph at her making Lucy roll her eyes.

"If you must know I was going to find Crime Sorciere so I could have Midnight and Cobra train me."

"Why those two? Aren't they criminals?"

"Ehh. They're former criminals. I don't think they're criminal activities ever left Fiore so they shouldn't have any troubles after getting across the border. As for why I need their help, the mage that is after me is some sort of nightmare mage. Midnight is the only Nightmare mage I know of. The guy that's after me though, his magic is different in the sense that it's based on souls. I don't really understand it but I do know that's how he's able to get to me no matter what the distance between us is. Cobra, other than being the Poison dragon slayer, is a soul listening mage. I figure the best way to train to go against this guy is to train with those two."

After giving it some thought they all nodded. It made sense.

"Go ahead and call them. We'll figure out how to get them here once we know where they are."

"Getting them here will be easy. I don't even have to call them first. I could just gate hop to them and then bring them back."

"Gate hop?"

"Yeah it's kinda like my own form of teleportation."

"Impressive. I have a celestial mage in my guild but he can't do any of the things you said you can."

Lucy closed her eyes and everyone could feel the tiny bit of magic she was using. When she opened her eyes they looked to be shining a very soft gold.

"Hestor Kedanza. Keyholder of most of the Brothers of Ma'at and the Sisters of Ammit. Possible future wielder of the Hall of Two Truths. Descendant of the Xing family."

The light behind Lucy's eyes faded and the Pradesh family was left staring at her. Lucy gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of her head, something she had picked up from being partners with Natsu for so long.

"Sorry"

"Uhm Cosplayer? What the fuck was that?"

"I'm the Princess of the Celestial Realm and I'm contracted to Crux. Both of which mean I have knowledge of everyone who uses any heaven based magic. How do you think I knew of Cris and Zen's magic when we first met?

Anyway, Hestor won't be able to accomplish any of the things I have because of the keys he wields and how much they corrupt their keyholder's soul until the set is complete."

Kaleb gave her a blank look and Lucy sighed.

"Hestor is a Xing. That is the only reason he can even wield those keys in the first place and not go completely Heartphilia and Xing bloodlines are the only ones who will ever be able to wield those keys. The Sisters of Ammit literally eat souls and unless the Brothers of Ma'at and Osiris are there to control them, it will take a toll on Hestor's soul. Can we move on now? I need to go get Midnight and Cobra."