A/n Here's the two day break! It's a Lot.

The morning began slowly. Lucy enjoyed the fact that she didn't need to rush her morning routine to ensure that everyone got ready, and that they were out the door by 9 to make it to the arena by 9:30. It meant she could have a bit of a lie in and just stretch and take her time for once. It was a nice feeling. Mira had already left by the time Lucy decided she had lazed around enough. Wendy was still asleep, but that made sense after how much healing she had to do for Freed, and helping out with Elfman and Gajeel as well. Lucy decided to let her sleep, but left some snacks and water by her bed so that she had that right away when she woke up. Lucy knew how hungry one could be after expending that much magic and sleeping.

And then she enjoyed a bath, something she hadn't really had the luxury for over the last few days. She was so glad they had a couple days off before getting back to the events. That was nice of them. She leaned back and sighed happily. But it was then that she noticed she felt a little differently than normal, nothing concrete she could put a finger on, just... different. But it didn't matter much. She then got out of the bath and started her normal after bath routine. It was then that she noticed something odd in the mirror. She blushed when she remembered how she and Laxus had kissed and explored with their kissing a little, eventually leading to some nibbling and biting on the neck... wait a minute. She leaned forward and swiped the condensation away to get a better look. Yep, there was a mark that did not look exactly like hickey.

She blinked and touched it with a bit of surprise. That had happened fast; it was the next step in the whole dragon slayer mate deal. This one didn't come with a power boost like the others did. It just came with some other things... like being able to feel emotions. Which also meant that the dragon instincts became more protective over their mate; this was the first real step. While agreeing to date and even kissing could lead to some magic power boost, this was the first sign that they were going to be committed to each other, even if it was fairly certain from the moment they started dating.

Still, this was faster than she expected. Sure, the chapter did explain that all relationships would progress at different rates. But this was faster than expected. Way faster. But it was possibly because they were that in sync. Other couples would figure it out at a slower pace, because it would take them longer to be in sync. And it kind of made sense, when Lucy considered it further as she continued on her routine. She had been able to get along well with Laxus from the get go. She didn't need to worry about what he thought of her or anything, and they had been able to talk about anything by the time they started their two months of training.

Lucy smiled at her reflection before finishing up her morning routine and checked to see how noticeable it was. It was visible but not super noticeable, but then everyone in the guild noticed those things. And she'd be wearing her swimsuit later so it would definitely then be noticed. She shook her head at her silly thoughts and then left the bathroom. Wendy was still asleep, but seemed to be moving towards waking up. Lucy left her a note and then grabbed her bag with her swimsuit and towel (she didn't feel like relying on Virgo for the day; sometimes she liked doing things herself).

When she left the bedroom, she found Laxus waiting on the couch for her. He had a sleeping Belle in his lap and seemed like he had fallen back asleep. Lucy smiled at them, letting out a giggle. Laxus really wasn't much of a morning person even though he forced himself to maintain such a schedule to get the most out of training. It wasn't surprising he fell back asleep.

Lucy walked over and poked him. He mumbled something and swatted at her hand. This time she laughed. "Good morning Laxus. I'm ready to head out if you are."

"Huh?" He opened his eyes. Then smiled at her. "Oh. Good morning Lucy." He yawned and stretched before looking down at Belle and sighing fondly. "She's such a cat sometimes, I swear." He picked her up and carefully shifted her so she was asleep in his arms without stirring.

"So, what do you want for breakfast?"

"At this point, I don't really care."

Lucy grinned. "You sure?" she teased. He glowered. "Okay okay, let's go find a buffet. Do you know everyone's plans for the day?"

"Not really, aside from them all planning on being at that waterpark sometime after 11am and possibly into the evening."

"You got your swim trunks and towel ready?"

"Yeah... why?"

"I figure I'd put them in my bag so we only have to worry about one today."

"Oh. That makes sense," Laxus nodded and went to go get them. Then they set off to find a buffet that could handle two hungry dragon slayers a little late for breakfast and edging into brunch.

They were silent as they walked. Lucy was mostly awake now, but Laxus was still working on that, so she knew better than to try to engage him in meaningful conversation right now. It would be better to let him finish waking up and not try to talk more than necessary.

He didn't fully wake up until he had some coffee and Belle was eating alongside him. They talked a bit about their plans further, with Belle being very excited to see what a water park was. Then Lucy toyed with her food a little before asking the question that had been burning in her mind for a while.

"Did you notice anything different this morning?"

Laxus frowned at her. "Noooo? Should I have?"

Lucy laughed. "Maybe, but I suppose you were a little too sleepy this morning to pay close attention." He looked even more perplexed by that. So she pulled down her shirt collar just enough to show him a clear view of the mark.

"Uh... Sorry?"

"Are you not awake yet?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you- oh. Do I have one?"

"Yep. It's mostly hidden because you like those collared shirts so much."

"I though you liked them too."

"Oh, I do, but you look good in anything so..." Lucy shrugged. "So, what do you think?"

"Uh... Not sure right now," Laxus admitted. "Aside from wondering why it happened so soon after our first kiss, I thought the timeline would be much longer..."

Lucy shrugged. "From what the book said, it requires both to be in sync and ready for that step. And by ready it means a bit more than going that far along physically, I think. Like, ready for the commitment that this is. Because up until the mark appears, it seems like dragon slayers may not have to stay with their potential mate. That rarely happens that they don't have their perfect match when they date, but yeah. Once this happens... there doesn't seem to be any reference about being able to get out of it, so I figure that means we were ready for... that, even if we're not ready for other things yet."

"That makes sense..." Laxus considered that. "We do get along pretty well, and tend to be pretty well in tune with each other and don't need to think about other things..."

"Exactly." Lucy grinned. "So I think that this step happened so soon was kind of to be expected, though I doubt the next one will happen so quickly. Though the author was pretty unclear on what ready would mean for that one..." She shrugged. "We'll find out eventually I'm sure."

"Ugh, hopefully not for a few weeks at least. The reactions to us dating have not died down yet, and now we have this and they're going to notice... Since neither of us are apparently going to make any attempt to cover it up."

"Well, it is more like a scar than a hickey already, so there's that... and it kind of feels... wrong to cover it up. To the point that I didn't even think about using make up until now. I just made sure it wasn't something someone would zero in right away unless they're Mira or Cana."

"Not Natsu or Gajeel?"

"Natsu was pretty young when Igneel disappeared, do you think Igneel had the time to explain dragon mates? And that if he did he got detailed enough for Natsu to get it? Even Gajeel was younger than Wendy is now, I think, so maybe he knows. But if he does, I'm surprised he hasn't done anything about it and tried to at least talk to Levy instead of hovering and being protective. Oh, right he's been reading the book though, so maybe he's figuring it out."

"That's true. You do realize this means one of us is going to have to explain it to Natsu at some point? And we might want to get those two dragon slayers from Sabertooth alone to explain it to them too."

Lucy groaned. "I know... I've been trying not to think about it... after the Games at least. One thing at a time. I'm not explaining this when we have bigger things to worry about because knowing him he'll decide to try to ask out Lisanna and while she'd probably agree, it'd just be this whole huge thing that I really don't want to deal with."

Laxus grimaced. "Oh, yeah. You're not the only one."

"Well... I think it's time to pay." Lucy commented, noticing that their (previously very full) plates were completely empty.

"Right." Laxus got up and got out his wallet. "And no, you're not paying your share this time. You gotta let me pay for my mate at some point."

That took any thought of argument out of Lucy's head and she subsided with a smile and a nod. Inside she was freaking out a bit at how sweet that was. And the fact that he actually referred to her as his mate, not just his girlfriend. It was enough to awaken her inner romantic that she tried to suppress with realism. Thankfully, she had herself somewhat together by the time she came back.

Belle floated by Laxus' head as they walked through the town. "Are we going to go to the water park now?"

"I suppose we can," Lucy agreed after looking at Laxus and checking the time. "It'll be opening soon, and we have to take a short train to get there since it's not in the city proper."

"Not trains," Laxus grumbled. "You didn't mention that."

"It was in the brochure. And there's a special train just for the water park, so come on." Lucy tugged on his hand and pulled him along. There was a brief moment when she felt like they were being watched, but she shrugged it off. There were a lot of people around, and some people staring. People were starting to recognize them from the Games, but at least seemed to mostly have the sense to let them be instead of bothering them.

They made it to the train station and bought their tickets. They found a place to sit as the train wouldn't be ready for boarding for another fifteen minutes and would leave fifteen minutes after boarding began. It seemed the water park was smart and timed the first train to arrive five minutes before they opened.

Lucy leaned on Laxus, laughing a little at Belle's antics until the two of them drew Belle back with a game of magic ball as Belle liked to call it. She chased their balls of magic around happily. They made sure that no one would be in range to be affected by it but otherwise let Belle have fun. She was still settling down and hitting her proper maturity for her age. It was kind of amusing that she was more mature than Happy at a very slowly increasing rate. Probably would be more consistent in a month or two. It was hard to gauge her maturity level growth, especially since it seemed the rapid growth had affected that too, even if her brain lagged behind.

Finally though they were able to get on the train to endure the train ride to the water park. On the train they spotted several mages from other guilds, who they acknowledged with a polite nod before moving on and finding a place to settle in and possibly cuddle for the short train ride.

Then they were finally at the water park where they had to pay for admission and then they went and changed into their swimwear. Lucy grinned at Laxus as Belle went flying by happily, talking about all the things she had seen, especially the water slide. She seemed most excited about that. To Laxus' relief. Because there were a lot pools and slides, yes, but there were also a few water rides too, and well, motion sickness would not be fun even if it was for Belle.

So they had fun, going down slides together and all. Eventually they ran into others from Fairy Tail and hung out with them for a while, enjoying their company and playing around. As expected, some did notice the marks, but thankfully aside from a squeal from Mira, and a raised eyebrow and playful smirk from Cana, no one actually said anything. They probably would get interrogated when people weren't having fun playing with the water. It was kind of a luxury a lot of Fairy Tail had not had for a while. And over all, it was relaxing.

It was then that Lucy and Laxus realized how little they had been paying attention at times because they hadn't really noticed Mavis before, nor they had really been paying attention to anyone who talked to her, which was their bad. They both had been a bit busy with the Games and their relationship. They would have to work on that. Watching Mavis, as what amounted to a ghost, play around was fun. Though it brought up a lot of questions. The biggest of which was: "how is this even possible?"

But ultimately they decided to leave it and continue on having fun with everyone, though Laxus did need frequent breaks that preferably did not include his grandfather dragging him into forced activities, such as stretching. Lucy still found it hilarious and took pictures anyways, getting a glare that promised payback in return. She just waved and went back to her conversation with Cana and Erza about what their plans were for after the Games and how they would continue to improve their magic after.

Eventually, Lucy and Laxus decided they'd had enough fun, and left before most of their guild mates. Well, it was mostly Laxus got tired of being dragged into conversations he wasn't entirely comfortable with and Lucy was supportive and recognized that so decided it was best to get him out of there before he lost it a bit. She knew what he could be like if he didn't get enough alone time. She felt privileged that she was one of the few people that didn't count against it being alone time like most others did.

They got through the train ride with a tired Belle and then started walking through the streets, looking for a good place to stop and eat. The water park was open until 10pm but since they had left before that it was only 8pm, and they were hungry. They found a decent looking place after a while and then ordered and ate. It was getting dark by the time they started making their way back to the hotel properly. Both were content and happy. Belle was perched on Laxus' head and Laxus and Lucy were holding hands as they walked, silent once again. They had only small talk during dinner, since Laxus had talked more than usual to other people, and now just enjoyed being around each other to get back to the hotel together.

After a while, something started feeling a little off to both of them, and they went from relaxed and maybe a bit tired, to wide awake and alert, trying to pick up what their senses and instincts were warning them about. They were just passing an alleyway when something finally happened. A lock of hair wrapped itself around Lucy's hand and yanked her into the alleyway. And it turned out not to be an alleyway, but more of a small opening to a courtyard behind some buildings, kind of like a park but just for residents or store owners or something. Lucy took a second to clear her head, hand going straight for her keys, which were already gone and recognized most of the people around her as those from Raven Tail. Including Flare, who had to have been the one to nap her. There were some she didn't recognize, but had the guild seal somewhere. And there was no sign of Alexei, though Ivan was right there in front of her smirking and holding up her keys.

Lucy just sighed. "Really? Going for the keys? You know that's not all I can do." She started fighting back but Flare's hair was far more resistant and strong than she had realized, and now she was more impressed by how well Gajeel had held up against her. Lucy let out a snarl before unleashing a much stronger dragon slayer attack, freeing herself just as Laxus burst through the protections around the area someone must've set up. He didn't just look angry, he looked ticked off and on the verge of panic. That panic subsided a little when he spotted her looking alright. Then he turned his glare on his father.

"What is the meaning of this?" he growled. Much like the fight with Hades, he would appear more intimidating if he didn't have Belle perched on his head. At least she wasn't talking this time.

"Oh, how nice of you to join us today, Laxus. I see you figured out how to take down the rune barrier. That friend of yours must be useful for something."

Laxus growled. "That doesn't answer my question. Why did you grab Lucy?"

"Well, we noticed she was important to you and what better way to get your attention so that you would actually come talk to me?"

Lucy walked over to Laxus and put a hand on his arm to help him calm down- she could feel his rage and protective instincts. Which was weird, but she had bigger things to worry about right now. Like what Raven Tail was planning.

"Just tell us already." Lucy sighed when Laxus made no move to speak, preferring to wait it out now.

"Oh, fine. We need to know about Lumen Histoire."

"Never heard of it," Laxus replied shortly. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's the dark secret of Fairy Tail, surely you've heard of it or seen it."

"No. I haven't. And I don't care. If Gramps keeps it secret its for a good reason, and it's probably not dark like you think it is. Not all secrets are dark."

"Oh, he hasn't told you then? Don't you want to know?"

"Not really. I'm perfectly content as I am right now. If I need to know, I'll know and not a second sooner."

"Very well. Fairy Tail has something I want. Something that I've not been able to get despite repeated efforts and you being gone- that secret is well protected and even the current imbeciles occupying the guild hall don't even know it exists."

"Okay. And?" Lucy asked impatiently.

"If you don't know about it, that means that old man is the only one who knows about it. Which means I need to get him to agree to give it to me. And what better way than to use his grandson and one of his favorite mages as an example of what I'll do to get what I want?"

Laxus growled and stepped in front of Lucy. "No. He won't negotiate. You'll just make him angrier."

"Oh, don't worry. I have my ways to make it look good."

Lucy shifted stances and turned as she realized they were surrounded.

"Get them." Ivan ordered curtly as he stepped to the side to watch, and be ready to add in his hits, whenever they would be.

Laxus and Lucy moved into motion as their opponents did. Lucy started off with a few good attacks to get the mages to keep their distance, then she summoned Demeter and Loke. After a moment of slight hesitation, she decided to try calling out Kiara as well. It was a big drain, but their lives were in danger. She had to do something to try to hold them off.

Laxus was beating off everyone while absolutely covered in lightning. Said lightning did not affect Belle in the least and she was almost dozing on his head as he fought. Probably from being used to how he practiced and trained with her on his head. It was just a bit comical the way a fully grown exceed was draped on his head, but it didn't matter. Laxus was a force of nature.

They had taken down about half of the mages around them, and that meant they were knocked out and out of the fight. Of the remainder, about half had injuries.

Ivan tossed in some of his paper magic and sighed. "Obra. Now."

Lucy gasped in surprise as her magic disappeared. One minute it was there, and the next it was gone. She wasn't sure what had happened, was someone able to cancel magic? And then the mages were on them again. Lucy continued to fight with her whip, not willing to go down without a fight. She had almost forgotten about it but remembered at the last minute. Laxus was fighting with just his fists.

Then Lucy got taken by surprise by Flare and her hair and she fell down. She growled under her breath and tried to push herself up, only to find herself pinned pretty well by the hair. The paper magic that Ivan used (whatever it was called) swarmed her and gave her many paper cuts, though did not do too much damage. Maybe it was supposed to do more; she was way more durable than before with her dragon slaying abilities.

The other mages started in on her and she continued to struggle, unwilling to just give up without a fight, even if there was no good way to get out of it without her magic. Laxus was pretty much being held back at this point, he was trying to get to her. She smiled weakly at him before Flare set her hair on fire, and therefore set Lucy on fire. Lucy screamed and then the last thing she saw before she blacked out from the next blow was Laxus roaring in rage.

.

Lucy woke up blearily and stared at the ceiling. It didn't look like the infirmary... She really felt like she should be there with what she remembered last. And the pain she was still in. Ow. But her magic was back, and that was what was important. She struggled to sit up.

"Whoa, Lucy slow down," Mira said, moving to help her. "You're a bit too banged up to move right now."

"Ugh... what did I miss?" she grumbled. She could feel Laxus' worry, and his anger. And pain.

"I'm not sure. Sometime after you were knocked out, the Rune Knights showed up to all of Raven Tail knocked out and Laxus barely standing... And all of your spirits out protectively. They took your keys, and are running an investigation. They'll want to interrogate you later."

"Ugh. That'll be fun," Lucy groaned. "And what time is it? And why am I here and not the infirmary?"

"Well, it's 7am, you've been out for a while. Wendy and Porlyusica were getting a bit worried. And the Knights have decided you and Laxus are to be on house arrest for the fighting, so they wanted you where they could ensure you could not leave."

"Wonderful. Well, at least I can still call my spirits if I wanted to... Wait, all of them were out?"

"From what Laxus said, yeah. Anyone in the guild who thought how nicely you treated your spirits wasn't necessary has shut up about it now. I heard that they gave the Knights an earful when they showed up."

Lucy smiled. "Of course they did..." Lucy winced as she reached for the glass of water. "So, what was the damage then?"

"The worst of it is the burns. Porlyusica is making Wendy take healing those slowly. Other than that, you weren't too bad, and the rest was easy to heal. You should be good to go by tomorrow morning... if they'll let you and Laxus compete."

"And Laxus?"

"He got some other injuries, it seems. He was pretty banged up, and had gotten poisoned by that needle guy. They're letting the poison run its course since it seems his body is dealing with it well enough on its own, and it wasn't lethal. He's not exactly happy."

"I know, I can tell."

"You... can tell?"

Lucy sighed. "I can feel his emotions now. Um. Dragon slayer thing. With. Mates," she explained shortly and awkwardly. It was one thing discussing with Evergreen or even Wendy about it, but someone like Mira who was obsessed with romance... well. That was another story.

"Wait, really? That's a thing?" Mira beamed. "Tell me more!"

Lucy sighed. "Not much to tell, dragon slayers get close to potential mates in a short amount of time, don't really feel attracted to anyone else. Ever. And eventually they take an initial step," Lucy indicated the mark on her neck that did not look like a normal hickey, "and they can exchange emotions and stuff. We only just hit that so we're still figuring out what that's like."

"Oh, it's in your book then, isn't it?"

"Yep. And the description doesn't really do it justice..." Lucy shrugged. "But that might be because it's a little different for everyone. Is Laxus confined to his bed too?"

"And not very happy about it. He wanted to wait for you to wake up and Porlyusica wasn't having it."

"Of course not," Lucy smiled. "His instincts are probably driving him wild." Then she sighed. "Can you get me something to eat and then see if the Rune Knights want to interview me now? I'd rather just get it over with."

"Of course, though Porlyusica is going to want to clear you first."

Lucy grimaced. "Of course she is. Well, bring it on."

Mira left, leaving Lucy to stare at the ceiling for a few minutes, ignoring the pain and practically twiddling her thumbs as she tried not to think too hard about the house arrest.

"Thanks, Mira," Lucy smiled as she started eating. Porlyusica had followed Mira in and started grumpily doing her examination.

"You'll be fine to move from bed, just take it easy, you don't want to open any of the blisters. Makes it harder for Wendy to heal them."

Lucy sighed in relief. "Okay."

"And that girl will be in every two hours to heal those burns for five minutes at a time all day. Burns are tricky business, so whatever you do, do not distract her when she is healing you."

"Got it. I understand." Lucy nodded then went back to eating. She was hungrier than she realized. And after the loss of magic the night before, she kind of needed to eat some celestial magic, but she would have to wait on that a little longer. She wanted to get through the interview/interrogation first.

When she was done, Mira took the tray. "I'll let them know you're ready."

"Thanks." Lucy sighed, then considered getting out of bed. She decided to against it because it was going to be rough to move, and might as well let them see how banged up she was even after some healing.

Finally the two Knights doing her interview came in with their notepads and settled down on either side of her bed. "Let's start with your memory of what happened, how did the conflict start?"

Lucy sighed, then started explaining from the moment Flare had snagged her with her hair. She glossed over a little on what Ivan wanted from Fairy Tail, not sure about how much detail the Knights should get on that, but making it clear that Ivan wanted power and to get back at Makarov. Then she went on to talk about the fight, losing magic, getting tied down, and how the last thing she saw was Laxus getting incredibly angry.

"Did you know that Laxus Dreyar had unlocked his second origin?"

"I don't even know what that is," Lucy responded dryly.

"It is a second pool of magic all magical beings have, and is incredibly difficult to unlock, usually done under situations of extreme stress."

"I can think of a few times that might've happened, then. Maybe even last night. He's very protective of me, and not very fond of his father. Might have been a bit much to be without magic and not be able to help me when I was burning." Lucy shrugged. She wasn't exactly comfortable talking about the dragon slayer mate thing, but it made sense. He might've unlocked it because his dragon side was panicking.

"I see. What do you know of his relationship to his father?"

"I know that at some point Ivan Dreyar had done something that gotten him kicked out of the guild and he started a dark guild. Laxus was never treated well by him; Ivan had a lot of pressure and expected perfection and power, and Laxus did not always live up to it. Laxus got the dragon lacrima because Ivan forced it on him. But Laxus didn't realize how badly he was treated at that point, and even considered leaving Fairy Tail to join the guild, but by the time I joined, had grown to resent his father and his treatment. And from what he's said, Ivan has hardly actually contacted him."

"You know a lot for someone who hasn't been in the guild for long, aside from the time you were missing and apparently... in stasis?"

"Laxus is a good friend of mine and my boyfriend. We talked a lot about our families when we were getting to know each other. We both know something about the pressures of fathers."

"I see. Now, there are records of Laxus Dreyar having staged a war within Fairy Tail years ago before being kicked out. With that in mind, does it surprise you that Ivan and his guild were completely knocked out, some with severe injuries, by the time we arrived?"

"Considering we'd managed to knock out half of them between us before our magic disappeared, no, I'm not very surprised. Dragon slayers can be vicious when they're given reason to be. And if my spirits were there, there's no way they wouldn't have caused some damage themselves, so it's not like it was all Laxus' doing."

"Ah yes, your spirits. Why were they all out if you were unconscious? What kind of contract have you forced them into?"

Lucy straightened and glowered at them. "I have done nothing more than the average celestial spirit contract with my spirits. All I do is befriend them and they help me. I fight along side them, so they respect me. They have taught me spells thought lost that celestial mages would use in the times before they started using spirits as a shield. This is not the first time my spirits have popped out on their own power to help. Usually it's only one at a time. All of them is a bit surprising, but considering the danger they might have sensed me in..." Lucy shrugged. "Not to mention the abrupt way the gates closed on the spirits I was using before my magic disappeared."

"We will make note of that." They didn't sound like they believed her. "Are you sure you have done nothing to provoke them? That it was not the other way around?"

"I know how bad it looks that there were two of us standing and some spirits against a whole guild and they were the ones knocked out. But I assure you, I'm telling you the truth. I have no need to lie. We would not start a fight and risk disqualifying Fairy Tail from the Grand Magic Games. Not when so many guild members suffered for years while the rest of us were gone. These Games are far more important to my guild, my family than you can imagine. There is no way I would intentionally jeopardize that. Which means there is no way I would start a fight. And neither would Laxus. We had just finished our dinner after having fun at the water park for most of the day, and were on our way back here, we were tired, and content after the day. Meanwhile, Raven Tail only just became a legal guild a few months ago. Have you considered that maybe they are just putting on an act? Yes, Fairy Tail doesn't always follow the law, but we do what is right, and you can always count on that. I don't care what you choose to punish me with, though be prepared to deal with angry spirits if you keep my keys away from me for too long, just don't punish the guild."

"Very well. You are under house arrest for the time being. Do not leave this room, or your guild will face the consequences. We will hold your keys until the investigation is over unless we find reason to charge you with a crime."

Lucy nodded shortly, still a bit incensed by their line of questioning. By their insulting line of questioning. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding when they finally left the room. She grumbled a bit before shoving aside her blankets to go to the bathroom. And then she would go find Laxus, she could feel his worry building. She tried to calm down and send reassurance back, but wasn't sure she managed it properly. She wished they had had more time to work on what the emotion thing meant before this happened. But they would have time now, even if it meant that they could not leave the room and properly relax for their second day of break time. She just hoped it would be cleared up by tomorrow without any issue or the team would be down by one person. At least Gajeel would be back in action, or it would be worse.

Once she had splashed a little water on her face and felt a bit more alive, she carefully walked out to the living room area, hoping Laxus would be out there now too. She winced at the pull on some of the healing burns, but it didn't feel like anything dangerous and like she was popping any of the blisters. It was just a little bit of pain. She smiled when she saw Laxus stretched out on the couch looking miserable. He looked up and his face lit up, only to fall seconds later when he took in all the bandages.

"Hey you," Lucy said softly as she sat down in the chair next to the couch. "How are you feeling?"

"Miserable," Laxus grumbled. "At least the worst of it has passed, but it's painful, and I can't eat much... but you look so much worse."

Lucy smiled slightly. "Maybe I am, the burns are pretty bad, but I'm good to move around as long as I'm careful and don't pop any of the blisters. Wendy's apparently been instructed to work on healing them once every two hours for five minutes, but I should be good enough to compete by tomorrow morning... if you know, they let us."

"You've already dealt with the interrogation too then?"

"Yep. After I ate breakfast. It was not fun, and I'm still a bit angry about the way they're handling this. Just because we came out on top that makes us more suspicious. Please." Lucy rolled her eyes.

Laxus chuckled. "As if Fairy Tail would do anything different. And your spirits were a great help last night, they came out like an army. Raven Tail didn't stand a chance against their fury. I was too busy fighting Ivan to fight the rest. He's a bit stronger than I remembered, but well... I was a bit pissed off last night and reserves I didn't know I had came up out of nowhere, so that fight didn't last too long, though by the end I was starting to feel the injuries I'd gotten earlier. And the poison."

Lucy reached out and ran her hand through his hair. "Sorry to worry you. I'm okay now. And we're okay, at least. Heard you unlocked another magic reserve last night."

"Yeah, I must've. I was too angry and worried to think straight and forgot I didn't have magic and then I used it..." Laxus shook his head. "I didn't even realize what I'd done at first, but Ivan's surprise made it clear that I did something off, and it didn't take much for me to realize what I'd done. And then I couldn't think about it because we were fighting, his response was pretty intense to me lashing out, and I had nearly completely lost my temper for the first time since... well, you know... and so next thing I know, he's down, a bit more injured than I intended, and the rest of the guild is down with your spirits crowding around you trying to make sure you're okay."

"Well, at least we're not too bad off," Lucy smiled. "It could've been worse, even if I could do without the Rune Knights restricting us for the fighting as if it was our fault or we provoked them."

Laxus huffed. "Yeah that. They even went to interview Gramps after they got us back here. Something about wanting to know why he'd kick his own son out of the guild."

"Do you actually know the reason? You don't have to tell me, I'm just curious." Lucy was still running her hand through his hair.

Laxus had his eyes closed. "Yeah. I do. Took me a bit to piece it all together. I didn't have the full picture, but there are records, that are available for S-Class to read, and that had an incident report. Part of the reason I'd been so angry is well, Gramps had found out that Ivan had caused my scar, and I thought that was why he banished him. I thought the abuse and all was normal, I didn't think that was enough cause to kick him out. But it turns out there was more to it than that, he'd tried to sabotage my S-Class trials to give me a real challenge to prove I was strong enough. And the sabotage could've killed guild members. He was also suspected of giving guild information to dark guilds, because some of the stronger mages kept mysteriously running into trouble on their missions and either dying or getting injured enough they chose to retire. There's a reason there's no S-Class at the guild older than me besides Gildarts."

"I never thought about that..." Lucy mused thoughtfully. "So Ivan really had it out for the guild, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Even then. I'm not sure why, but considering the record of Gildarts and Gramps confronting him with evidence has him mentioning Hades of Grimoire Heart and we now know who he used to be... I suspect that has something to do with it."

"Oh. Yeah. I could see that." Lucy nodded. "Hades coming across Ivan, recognizing he was from Fairy Tail, and deciding to see if he could get ahold of whatever that secret is that he knew about, and basically corrupting Ivan through repeated contact."

Laxus nodded slowly. "I don't think Ivan needed much, to be honest. He was always a bit angry and abusive, even when I was young. Always obsessed with me having power, and with me being weak. But then, after one of his longer missions, shortly before mom got pregnant, I think, he started getting worse." He sighed. "And instead of just focusing on me, he'd focus on her, and I hated that, because I deserved it and she didn't so I'd try to take it for her. But I wasn't always around and yeah."

"And then she disappeared so you didn't have to worry about her, though you really wanted to be a big brother," Lucy finished.

"Yeah. That." He sighed. "I don't like that he's dragging up all these bad memories, but its not like we've had much choice." He frowned. "Have you been able to call your spirits?"

Lucy shrugged. "I want to, but I don't feel magically recovered enough from last night, and I don't know how much distance from my keys will affect the magic drain, since it always costs a little extra to use my eye instead of them. And I don't want to risk the Knights knowing and getting in further trouble. I'm sure I'll be hearing from Loke soon regardless. Nothing will stop him or even Virgo from popping in to make sure I'm alright."

"You called," Loke popped up, as did Virgo. Both looked worried, but relaxed a bit when they saw Lucy.

She smiled. "I didn't exactly, but great timing. I hear everyone showed up to help us out?"

"Of course we did Princess," Virgo responded seriously. "We felt your magic disappear. And Demeter, Loke, and Kiara came back when that happened, so we knew something was wrong."

Loke nodded. "I didn't even really think to say anything before trying to get back out there to protect you. I knew what situation you were in, and I wish I had been fast enough."

"With so many people against two without magic, I'm not sure you getting there faster would've made too much of a difference," Lucy responded quietly. "They didn't have to do much when they had their own magic to beat us up with."

"Do you need anything?" Virgo asked Lucy worriedly.

Lucy shrugged. "I'd be happier if I could cuddle with Laxus, but right now I think I could just use a smoothie, and something from the celestial world to eat. I feel pretty drained after yesterday."

Virgo nodded once and disappeared.

Loke smiled. "Well, that was pretty impressive, calling out a silver key while holding both me and Demeter out as well. I know you haven't quite made it that far, but it was necessary, with Kiara and I being best able to handle foes when we can work together. I just would like some more details on what exactly is going on and why your keys have not been returned to you."

Lucy winced. Laxus groaned. They took turns explaining everything, including a bit about dragon slayer mates (Loke's expression turned thoughtful; Lucy then remembered he probably could consult with the dragon spirits for more information). And then of course ended with Lucy's interview with the Rune Knights.

Loke grumbled. "Of course they would... even when there's a clear aggressor they treat both sides as if they were equally at fault. I know they have procedures to follow but it's ridiculous. How can they look at two people having taken down a guild and wondered why that was necessary, we should've stuck around to do some more explaining and be there for you."

"It's okay," Lucy smiled. "It'll be okay, it'll work out once they finish their investigation. I doubt they'll find us guilty."

Loke gave her a flat look. "Their investigations will take weeks. You won't be able to compete until they resolve this. We will need to find some way to completely clear your name. Do you know what the main sticking points are?"

"My fault," Laxus sighed. "Breaking out of the no magic thing, having gone crazy and nearly destroyed the guild before, thank goodness they have no clue how close I came to actually destroying Magnolia. And just the fact that I don't think they realize how lethal you spirits are when you're protecting someone."

"They also think that we might have provoked them; I think Fairy Tail's reputation has something to do with that. Even though Raven Tail was a dark guild until this year, apparently our reputation is worse than theirs or at least I think it's that."

Loke considered that further. "Well, I'll see if there's anything can do, I hear that the princess of Fiore is a celestial spirit mage, more minor, only has silver keys but that might give us something."

"Please don't just turn up and surprise her."

"I wouldn't do that." Loke responded with mock indignation.

"Uh-h

uh. Sure. Just... be careful. I don't want to lose you guys, okay?"

"I know, I know." Loke smiled. Then he frowned. "What is taking Virgo so long?"

Virgo popped up with a bed. "Sorry it took me so long, you can punish me princess."

"Um. No, I think you're fine. We were just passing the time talking with Loke. And you found a whole bed."

"Anything to make you and your mate more comfortable," Virgo replied then moved Laxus before he could react. He flailed around in surprise. He hadn't quite realized how strong Virgo was until she did that. Lucy rolled her eyes and joined him.

"Thank you," she said sincerely when Virgo set down a tray of celestial food and water. She also passed a lightning lacrima over to Laxus who blinked in surprise but gladly took it anyways. With his magic being part of what was fighting off the poison, he could always use a boost right now.

"Seriously, Lucy, we'll figure something out to help you. You certainly don't deserve this. They didn't see how sadistic Raven Tail was being, they didn't see the direct aftermath of Flare's fire. They didn't..." Loke shook his head. "We're not going to forgive that any time soon. I just need to do some research and hopefully I should find things fast enough to get it sorted out by tonight."

"Loke, don't stress yourself about it. It's fine."

"It's not fine. You were hurt, we couldn't help you, and now they're punishing you and Laxus for defending yourselves, and even took away your keys. You know we'll do anything for you."

"Okay, okay," Lucy sighed. "Just... take care of yourself, okay?"

"I'll make sure big brother takes care of himself," Virgo promised. "If I have to tie him down to do it."

Loke started protesting.

"You could always delegate some spirits to help you before she does that," Lucy pointed out as Virgo grabbed his arm to disappear into the spirit world. Loke smiled and gave her a thumbs up before they were fully gone.

Lucy shook her head and turned to her food. Celestial food tasted the same yet better than real life food, and had the nice advantage of the magic flowing through her body and making her feel better, even with the still healing burns.

Laxus was halfway through the lacrima. "You know, your spirits are pretty protective of you. Shows how much you care for them."

Lucy shrugged. "The sad thing is, for some of them, it doesn't take that much. Virgo liked me right away, and has pretty much always been that accommodating, Loke pretty much worshipped me for saving him, and Scorpio, Gemini, and Aries came to me because I beat their owner and their owner got arrested. Being abused is all too common for spirits, and even I'm sure even Aquarius and Cancer had their own share of issues before they came to my mom."

"That makes sense. They do go pretty over the top though. Finding a whole bed just so we can be comfortable?"

Lucy shrugged, blushing. "I shouldn't be surprised, though I kind of am. After my battle with Angel during the Oracion Seis issues, I woke up to find that Virgo had done first aid and changed my clothes. All on her own power. I didn't think she'd go so far as to find a whole bed. I would've been happy with like a double recliner or something."

Laxus laughed. "Okay, yeah, your spirits really don't do things by half. I'm not going to complain though, means we can be near each other after last night, and I got some lightning out of it. I'm good."

"I know what you mean, I'm very happy with the food right now... mmm." Lucy finished up and drank some of the water before setting the tray aside and scooting closer to Laxus to get comfortable with him. He wrapped an arm around her and tugged her close while he finished off the lacrima.

Just then, Mira came in and stopped dead. "Um. What happened?"

"Virgo happened. Made an offhanded comment, and this happened." Lucy waved a hand.

"Um, how were you able to summon Virgo without your keys?"

"Oh, I can do that thanks to eye magic that Freed helped me with, but I didn't summon her or Loke. They came of their own power to check up on me. They were pretty worried." Lucy winced. "And I'm lucky all of my spirits didn't try to come check up on me when they did."

Mira relaxed. "Oh that makes sense." She turned to the door. "Are you coming in?"

"Y-yeah..." A timid voice responded quietly. Two seconds later, Yukino stepped in and fidgeted. "I heard you got hurt... are you alright?"

"Yeah, I will be. Still painful, but I can live with it for now."

"O-oh. Um. I wanted to let you know I decided to join Fairy Tail after talking with my spirits, and seeing how all of you interact."

Lucy smiled. "That's great! What did your spirits think?"

"They wanted me to be happy. And they understand why I always treated them the way they did... And Libra was very enthusiastic about the spells you showed me, and wanted to work with me right away when I told her."

"That's great! Did you make any progress?"

"Yeah! I did! Ophiuchus told me that I should probably pick up a weapon but I'm not sure what would go good with celestial magic."

"I think any weapon can work with celestial magic, but I prefer a whip. But maybe something like a staff or archery would be more suited for you?"

"Oh! I never thought of that. I'll look into it." Yukino paused. "There's rumors about your spirits all showing up to protect you, is that true?"

Lucy nodded. "It is. I was unconscious so I didn't see it, but I've been told by several people now that it happened. I'm not surprised. They can be very protective of me, and I had three spirits out at one point, so they knew the danger I was in."

"Wow, you must've really shown them love and caring for them to want to do that," Yukino replied in awe.

"Yeah. I don't really think anything of it, I just do what comes naturally and treat them as people, not shields or pets or slaves. But for a lot of them, that's more kindness than they'd seen in centuries, and even the ones who have the best luck have had a few bad experiences. It's... kind of depressing."

"I know what you mean. I love my spirits, I hate the idea of anyone having treated them so badly in their past."

"What are you going to to do now that you are joining Fairy Tail?"

"Keep training, try my best, and see what friends I can make. I'll miss some of the Sabertooth guys, because for being such tough guys they were pretty cool and decent friends. But the rules were rules so they could never help me or anything and it was kind of upsetting. I'll miss them because they would always apologize and try to help me afterwards to make up for it. It was kind of sweet.

"Remind me to introduce you to our friends when we get the chance. That's Freed, Bixlow, and Evergreen. And Wendy too. Otherwise we do have other friends but they're not as close as those four. There's Erza, and Levy and Gray... Natsu isn't a bad friend when he's not being so clueless and stubborn."

"Don't forget stupid" Laxus grumbled without opening his eyes, being too comfortable to move, and maybe dozing off a little now that he knew Lucy was okay, or as okay as she could be after what had happened.

Yukino giggled. "I'll keep that in mind. You have a lot of friends in this guild, huh?"

"Yep. And they're all great, and pretty protective, so you don't have to worry about something like what happened at Sabertooth happening ever again, because they will rip apart anyone who dares try it, even the grumpy ones like Gajeel and Laxus."

"I'm not that grumpy." Laxus mumbled.

"Sure you aren't. You don't sit there crackling with lightning every time you don't want to be bothered."

Laxus made an annoyed noise but didn't refute it at all.

Mira giggled at their antics. "I'm really glad Yukino is joining, we could always use more members, and it would be nice if she's interested in running the bar once in a while."

"Running the bar? You don't hire someone else to do it?"

Mira shook her head. "No, we don't. We can pay guild members who don't want to take missions, or take a lot of low ranking missions, or are dealing with recoveries so they can have an income without leaving the guild. There's a few other things they can do too, for money. But it's nice to keep the bar to being only members, so we don't have to worry about others and those of us who do run the bar can keep track of who's taking missions so that Master Makarov doesn't have to deal with that."

Yukino put a finger to her chin in thought. "I wouldn't mind doing that. It gets hard trying to keep up with everyone and rent with being just a celestial spirit mage, there's not many missions I can can do on my own, and most of the guild likes doing missions on their own, so I didn't have many opportunities for missions outside my comfort zone that way."

"That would be nice," Lucy grinned. "You can learn all our favorites, and hear the gossip every time we come back from missions that way."

"That's a good point, I'd like that. At least until I make friends and can go on missions with others or get strong enough to handle tougher missions."

"Don't worry, there are plenty of people who have trouble with strong missions, and people who have such a specialized magic that there isn't many options that pay well."

"Thank you... you're all so nice."

"That's Fairy Tail," Laxus stated simply. "We try to make everyone feel at home and like family."

They continued talking and telling Yukino about Fairy Tail and how things normally run, though they did have to remind themselves at times that they don't have their guild hall. Eventually Mira and Yukino left, leaving Lucy and Laxus to cuddle. And fall asleep cuddling. Lucy didn't even wake up when Wendy came in to do her healing session.

They woke up in time for lunch, which was once again brought up by Mira. They were quiet as they enjoyed their food, both already feeling quite a bit better after that nap. Mira at least gave them time to themselves to eat and all after they finished.

Then they were invaded by the Raijin Tribe who were very worried. And nearly piled on the bed trying to hug them. Both Lucy and Laxus had to hold back laughter at their antics. Once that was out of their systems they settled down.

"Okay, now we need like all the details," Evergreen stated matter of factly.

Lucy sighed and exchanged a look with Laxus before they began explaining it once again. They did not leave out the fact that they had officially become mates this time, to everyone's excitement. The further conversations were enjoyable as they avoided dissecting and speculating about what Ivan had really wanted. Even Freed, though everyone could tell he wanted to do that. Lucy normally would agree, but she just needed time right now to deal with what had happened.

Eventually, they left too. Wendy came in on time every time to work at healing Lucy, which was going well. Lucy could feel the difference, and definitely thought she'd be in shape by morning. Maybe some lingering burns but nothing too bad for her. And by only doing a small amount at once with long breaks between, Wendy wasn't exhausting herself, which was good all things considered.

Right before dinnertime, Gramps finally came in. The first thing he did was hug Laxus and cry. Laxus shot Lucy a pleading look before awkwardly patting his back. Lucy giggled at the sight, but couldn't help since she was a little too far away to reach and help out. Thankfully the crying fit was short lived, and then the guild master pulled away.

"I'm sorry I didn't visit sooner. I've spent a lot of the day in meetings about Ivan and what he had done to be kicked out, and what my assessment of the situation is and..." He shook his head.

"So basically you've been held hostage by paperwork and interviews all day," Laxus smirked. "Better you than me."

"One day. One day you'll deal with the devil that is bureaucracy," Makarov threatened before sighing and taking a seat. "How are you two?"

"Better, a lot better," Lucy spoke up. "Everyone's been great today."

"And where did this bed come from?"

"Virgo. Made an offhanded comment about wanting to be more comfortable." Lucy blushed lightly.

"Do you have any news Gramps?" Laxus asked, wanting to get any bad news out of the way.

"Not really. They're being rather stubborn about how injured many of Raven Tail is after the fight, and did not appreciate my comment about how it would've been worse if I was there. They seem to be mostly stalling things, this should be a clear cut, open and close case, done in days, especially with all the interviews they've done, but the Council and their Knights are very strict on protocols and have some weird ideas about what's okay in situations like this against other guilds." Makarov grumbled something about idiots and needing a drink before clearing his throat. "I was finally released from all that because the Princess apparently somehow got a hold of the case or the news at least and wanted to discuss it with the ones in charge. I'm not sure how or why, and I'm just happy she might actually be able to get them to stop stalling at least."

"I thought the royal family doesn't get a say in how the magic council runs things for mages?"

"Ah, but they do. They just usually let the magic council run things because they have a better understanding of magic, and a greater ability to arrest those who use magic. But the Royal family is still in charge regardless. On top of that, I've heard rumors that the Princess is a celestial spirit mage, so she already has a greater understanding than most in her position."

"Really?" Lucy asked, surprised. She had only just heard about that rumor today, from Loke. But then, Makarov was a guild master and had a lot of connections that always surprised everyone when they realized it.

Makarov nodded. "If things do get cleared up quickly, and you're allowed to compete, I'm going to have to ask you both not to go overboard. To start at a low level and up the power and attack when your opponent proves they can handle it. Even if you're cleared, that may set things off, even if it is how the Games work, and other teams sometimes go far more vicious and harmful in their attacks."

Laxus grimaced. "Understood. I'll try to keep it down and keep from getting in trouble."

"We both will." Lucy nodded in agreement. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"None that I can think of at the moment. Now... on a completely different topic, how serious are you two as a couple?"

Laxus groaned and leaned back into his pillow, ears turning red, though he would deny that he could get embarrassed to anyone who commented. The blush started spreading from his ears to his face. It was only to be expected, still being new to the whole dating thing, and now they were fully committed. And they had avoided most of the teasing from the guild, so they weren't used to it.

"Um. Actually... Very serious." Lucy blushed.

"And how did it happen, tell me everything!"

"You're family you don't need intimate details," Laxus grumbled before relenting. "It's a dragon slayer thing, apparently. Our instincts and magic help us find people who are compatible, who we then get to know, and get close to in a shorter amount of time than the average person. We date, know we're compatible from a magic boost from that, and our first kiss..." He trailed off awkwardly, not sure how to explain the next step.

Lucy took pity on him and took over. "Which is done at our own pace, we don't feel forced into it, and in fact it seems that magic helps keep any... eagerness for physical intimacy at bay. The next step is the step where a couple gets committed to the relationship; there's no going back." Lucy pointed at the mark that was still there, but starting to fade to the faint scar it would remain for the rest of their lives. "This is a that step. For both of us." She blushed a bit more. "Which also had the side effect of raising protective instincts, hence Laxus' reaction last night, but also allows us to feel each others' emotions which is something we're still figuring out." And they hadn't had time to do that with everyone hovering so much when they were around. So far it hadn't been anything troublesome, they could feel how one was feeling during a conversation and steer around the touchy subject or take over. It was nice. It made them more in sync already, and they didn't even have much experience with it yet.

Makarov stared at them, mouth slightly agape. "That's... that's incredible. So, you two are basically married then?"

Both of them hesitated, sharing a glance. "According to the book, this step in dragons did have them considered to be mates, and by human definition married, though its a bit more complicated in humans with dragon slaying," Laxus explained hesitantly. "So I guess... yeah?" He scratched his head, face burning with the implication, after such a short time of knowing Lucy. They weren't quite ready for the full implications of that, or at least how others would see it, but it was technically true.

Makarov grew to be able to hug them both at once, crying tears of joy. "My grandson has found his mate! Welcome to the family Lucy!"

Lucy and Laxus exchanged an amused and resigned look before wiggling enough to be able to return the hug. After a few minutes, he calmed down and shrunk back to his normal size. He sat back down.

"Lucy. You can call me Gramps you know."

"Okay. I'll try to remember that." Lucy nodded, pleased with that request.

"Just... please don't tell everyone about this yet?" Laxus asked desperately. "We're not ready for that, and we'd at least like to make sure Natsu and Gajeel have a chance to understand what dragon slayer mates are and everything before we have to try to explain it to the guild."

"Do they not know? Weren't they raised by dragons?"

"And how old was Natsu when Igneel disappeared, nine? Do you really think any sane dragon would try to explain all the details to a child?" Lucy asked. "I think he might know some, but not enough to understand how it works or anything."

"Okay, I understand. Please don't make me wait too long."

"I know I know, it's a big important thing. We just need a little time to adjust, it's only been two days now."

"I'll leave you alone for now then. I need to go eat. Take care."

"You too."

Laxus and Lucy relaxed as Gramps left the room. That had gone well. They were both a little on edge around everyone because of all the hovering, but that hadn't been all bad. Now they just had to wait for someone to bring them their dinner.

Which happened just a few minutes later, and it seemed that the Raijin Tribe, Erza, and Gray, along with Belle, decided to join them. It was a mostly relaxed affair once Erza and Gray got over the shock of the bed and got their questions out of the way.

All in all, it was a good dinner, and Lucy and Laxus were happy with how it went before their friends left to bring the dishes back down to the bar. And happy to have a little more alone time. Gajeel had returned at some point and retreated into the bedroom with a grumbled comment to them about feeling better. Which was as close to him showing he cared as they would get and was kind of hilarious.

They were trying to relax, talking with Wendy and Carla but they hadn't heard anything further on the investigation, and it was making them nervous even if they knew it probably wouldn't be over for days. They just wanted it over with and to know what was going on. But Wendy was nice to talk to, and had different things to talk about than the others, since she noticed different things.

Then the door opened without any warning. A few Rune Knights entered, followed by someone none of them recognized, but she seemed important. Wendy hurried and stumbled over a formal greeting, while Lucy and Laxus hesitated, not sure what the proper greeting when they were still technically on restricted movement was.

"Hello, you don't need to worry about that right now," she greeted them kindly, smiling at Wendy. "I am Princess Hisui E. Fiore. I came upon some information and took a personal interest in your case."

Lucy grabbed Laxus' hand as they both experienced shock over this surprise. "Nice to meet you. I'm Lucy Heartfilia, this is Laxus Dreyar."

"Nice to meet you, Princess Hisui, I'm Wendy Marvell," Wendy spoke up softly as she sat back down, shaking a little as her confidence disappeared.

Hisui smiled at them and found a place to sit down. "I've taken the time to review all the notes from everyone on the case, as well as doing some research of my own, or delegating that. I've found that some of the members of Raven Tail were criminals, wanted for charges, or having spent time in jail and should never have been a part of a legal guild for those crimes. The worst of the worst. The stories from the Raven Tail members didn't all match up, especially not to the guild master's attempt at covering up what he was doing. Meanwhile, Fairy Tail has a reputation for going overboard, and not always following the rules when there was something that needed to be done. But nothing actually criminal, and in fact, Fairy Tail has done a better job of handling criminals and other situations than the Rune Knights, who should've been doing something about situations like Oracion Seis without the need for guilds to step in.

"And I would not have even heard about the case if a celestial spirit had not appeared to me. He introduced himself as Leo the Lion and a member of Fairy Tail by the name of Loke. He had some interesting things to tell me, some things that were in the reports, and some I believe the Rune Knights chose not to to mention. Along with a few things I can understand why you wanted to keep to yourselves but did help me out a bit. I do believe that yes, your spirits did most of the damage that the Rune Knights found, which puts both of you off the hook for injuring so many, even without considering whether or not you actually instigated the fight. Which, again, after reading over reports, including some about Raven Tail's activities before they suddenly stopped doing such illegal things and started toeing the line a few years ago and were able to become legal as a result, seems to point towards Raven Tail being the instigator, and I'm questioning the integrity of the Rune Knights if they really think that it's remotely likely that two people would start a fight with a whole guild, since not many have the guts or skills to do so, and win, let alone with so many injuries.

"Which brings me to my final point. The real reason they have been so suspicious was two of the Raven Tail members who were criminals have died from their injuries." Lucy winced and Laxus squeezed her hand, glancing at her worriedly. "And Ivan Dreyar has the worst injuries. Broken ribs, fractured skull, broken bones, severe electrical burns, some internal damage that he will have a hard time recovering from, and and a crushed hand."

Laxus froze, a bit horrified. He knew he'd lost it, but he hadn't realized he'd lost it that badly. Lucy leaned on him and started running her hand through his hair, taking his hand with her other hand in order to be able to reach properly.

"After Leo explained that the two of you are mates, and what you know it means, I did some research. We have some very archaic laws that were never repealed. Laws that revolved around what is now considered lost magic. Only many of those magics are not lost any more. I plan to bring those more into view so that the Rune Knights are aware of them for future reference, and so that another incident like this can be treated appropriately. The law basically states that attacking a dragon slayer's mate knowingly or unknowingly comes with great risk, and so, the one who does the attacking should be given appropriate punishment, and the dragon slayer given nothing in punishment, as back when dragon slayers were common, it was well known how dangerous it was to attack a dragon slayers mate, and that was meant to protect the dragon slayers from retribution for going overboard in their very reasonable reactions.

"There have been records of dragon slayers who killed anyone who touched their mate, and while dragon slayers could learn to rein in their protectiveness, it depended on three factors: The actual situation and how hurt their mate was, how long had it been since they had initiated the proper bond as it takes a while to settle, and they're at their most volatile in the first few days after bonding, and it can take as much as five years and typically no less than one to learn how to rein it in a little, and the final factor being how well their mate can protect themselves- a mate who did not have much by way of offensive magic caused a dragon slayer to be far more protective than a dragon slayer with a dragon slayer mate, though due to the other two factors, that didn't mean that protectiveness and going overboard in protecting their mate never happened, and it often happened just as badly as with the others, depending on the situation. Much like last night, if I understand the sequence of events properly."

"Um. Thanks. That makes sense," Lucy nodded. Laxus was still a bit in shock about his father's injuries. "We didn't know much about any of that, our only source was kind of vague on that point and just gave an overview because 'every pair of mates is different'. And I think me being pretty much tied down and getting burned would qualify as a situation that would cause the severity of the reaction to go up."

Laxus recovered enough to ask, "Does that mean I'm in the clear?"

"Yes. It does. Even if you had provoked it, there was no way you or the spirits were going to be reasonable after how they attacked your mate. In fact, that was what I am here to tell you. You're clear of all possible crimes for the situation last night. You will be allowed to compete tomorrow, provided you have been properly healed, and there will be no further repercussions. We just ask that you keep the details of this case to yourselves until the investigation can be fully wrapped up."

"We can do that, thank you for your help."

"You should thank Leo. Without him, I would've never been able to interfere and look into things myself. And I find their investigation protocols to be a little stiff, so this has done some good for me. I will be looking into this to see if I can make things easier for situations like this."

"I'll thank Leo once I have my keys," Lucy decided. She was keeping the summoning without her keys secret as long as she could.

"That's right, they took away your keys to keep you from escaping, as if they could not have used runes to accomplish the same thing." Hisui sighed and turned to the Rune Knights.

"We'll be right on it," one of them promised and left right away.

"I better get going now. It was nice to meet you. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

Lucy nodded. "Me too. Good bye." She waved slightly as the princess left, the Rune Knights following. Then she turned to Laxus.

"Okay, I'm not going to ask if you're alright because I can feel that you're not. Do you want to talk about it?" Lucy hoped he said yes. She didn't want him to go along too long with the feelings he had bottled up. The disgust and horror and guilt. The terrible feeling of having enjoyed it.

"I'm going to get Porlyusica so she can do a check up to clear you for tomorrow," Wendy announced, standing.

"Alright, thank you." Lucy smiled at her, grateful to get some privacy.

Laxus took a deep shuddering breath as he stared at his hands. "I... I was trying to focus on what the princess was saying too much to really recognize what she had said about my father, well. Okay, I did, but I wanted to get through the rest of it before I really reacted and... I don't know... I nearly killed him Lucy. Damage that severe... I'm surprised it's not worse. He deserved worse, but I didn't want to be the one to deal it. But I really did just lose it when you..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

Lucy wrapped her arms around him. "I know. And the princess gave us a clearer picture on that- we had two things working against us, I was in a totally helpless situation and getting burned, and our bond was very new, only one day old. And the least amount of time it takes for the protectiveness to die down enough to control is one year, and that's without factoring the helpless situation and getting hurt. You did what your instincts told you to do- protect me. I imagine that if my spirits had shown up, you would've knocked out your father, and then attacked the rest of the guild like a one man army and destroyed them too. But they showed up, and you trusted them to be on the same wavelength. You did what you had to. Yes, it was destructive. But it was to protect me and I can't be upset about that."

"I know I know I just... it's so hard to come to terms with what I did. Even if I hate him for what he did to me and my mom, I still don't want him dead and I could've killed him. I didn't even want to hurt him that much. I don't even remember what I did while I was so angry and worried and I don't know what I did. I can guess but I don't even know what techniques I actually used on him and so I don't even know how he got those injuries! And two people died from their injuries."

"You do know those injuries might not have been caused by you. You only fought Ivan while you were out of it. We both dealt some serious injuries before we got stopped by losing our magic. And I don't think my spirits would try to give fatal wounds no matter how badly they wanted to get revenge, but either of us could've caused the injuries before they got us back. We weren't holding back. I wasn't holding back. And dragon slaying abilities can be very devastating so I don't think it's a big deal that they died. It happened. It would not have happened if they had not chosen to get involved in this instead. We did that to defend ourselves and the guild. Because we knew what Gramps would do if he caught wind of what Ivan had done to us, and he would've if Ivan had a say in it but I think we neatly stopped his plans. Maybe a bit more harshly than they deserved by at least we stopped him and and now we're here. And that's better than what he can say, and better than what his guild can say. I bet they're going to be booted out of the Games now because the whole guild participated, though I don't think Alexei was there..."

Laxus groaned and hit his head. "That's right, I realized it was him yesterday and I forgot about it. And I should've realized it sooner; Alexei was the name my mom had wanted to use if I had a sister and Ivan agreed to it and I think he actually liked it too so he was the one who was Alexei... which is probably against the rules isn't it?"

Lucy nodded. "Well, that's one mystery solved. I don't think we should worry too much more about it, okay? We can compete as soon as we're cleared, and everything has turned out okay, this time. We'll be more careful next time, and next time the Knights will know not to mess with us. And now we have something to tell our friends, too. Wonder how they'll react..." she mused.

Laxus snorted. "You mean besides the fact that they're totally in denial even though Evergreen has been sitting with Elfman for hours every day while he recovers from that poison? I heard that she was even there when he was finally allowed to leave today."

Lucy smirked. "Yes. I mean that. She's probably the most likely after us, at this point anyways. Unless Gajeel decides to make a move, but that means admitting he has feelings."

"True enough." Lucy was pleased to see that Laxus had totally relaxed, and happily leaned against him. "So what do you think the remaining five days will be like?" he asked.

"No idea. I noticed that the events are getting more complicated though, so I think we can expect some more interesting and difficult events. And then on top of that we can probably expect at least one day of pairs for the battles, which will be fun to see. And I heard rumors that the last day won't be following the usual format either, so I'm looking forward to that. I also heard something about last day usually being anyone's game? But we'll see."

"More challenges would be interesting, that's for sure."

The doors opened. It was the Rune Knight with Lucy's keys. She politely thanked him then clutched her keys to her chest in relief, so happy to have them back finally. Once the Knight had left, she called out Loke to thank him properly. He was just happy to see her looking better, and to know that it worked way better than he thought it would. He was also a bit surprised by the law; he had known that there had been laws around lost magics because a lot of them were dangerous, but he hadn't known about the specifics.

Just after Loke left, Wendy returned with Porlyusica who started grumbling about insane kids wanting to push their limits as she examined them and poked and prodded. Eventually she sat back and sighed. "I would prefer Lucy not compete tomorrow, those burns could use a little more time to fully heal, and doing anything could aggravate them. But you're good to go," she poked at Laxus. "Just don't get poisoned again, we don't know how your magic will react to it a second time, especially considering you burned through it in a day, and it took Elfman until today to be cleared. So be careful."

"Got it." Laxus nodded respectfully.

"Good. Now get some rest, it's getting late." She stomped off, grumbling under her breath about hating humans and their need to get in trouble.

Wendy giggled. "I'm glad you're okay... I'm sorry I couldn't heal you more..."

Lucy pulled Wendy into a hug. "Aw, it's okay. We're okay, and it's good enough that we'll be able to go to the Games tomorrow, even if I'm not competing. Besides, simple movements aren't causing pain anymore, so I'd say you did good, okay?"

Wendy nodded as she hugged her tightly. "It was so scary seeing you when they brought you in, you were all burned and I couldn't tell how bad it was at first, it looked so much worse than it really was, and that was bad enough!"

"I know. But I'm okay now, and you did your best. If we didn't have to worry about the Games, it would've been better if you could've done more, but you had to conserve your magic and work a little at a time. And that was okay, so don't you worry anymore about it. Please."

Wendy nodded. After some quiet talking, they eventually decided to go to bed properly. Lucy called out Virgo to get rid of the bed and to thank her for finding the bed in the first place. Then she hugged Laxus and gave him a good night kiss.

"I know you're still shaken up. But we'll get through this, okay?"

Laxus nodded mutely and returned the kiss before they went to their rooms and sleep.

A/N Hope you enjoyed! I'll see you next week!