Dear Readers,

This is the last chapter I've got to post today. I'll have the next one ready soon, so... don't hate me when you get to the end.

Please, if you love me... review. I'm dying here, I need validation!

AND DON'T FORGET - Desna owns the Pradesh Family, Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, and I own nothing. Also - GoddessxNyte2 is my beta and she's the best.

Enjoy!

"Kaleb, I found something in Peregrande but it wasn't… what we were looking for, exactly," Van explained to his brothers in a rush after popping unceremoniously out of the voids into Kaleb's office in White Sea, Bosco.

Cristoff looked at his brother, confused, and then addressed Kaleb, "You sent Van into Peregrande chasing that celestial spirit mage, didn't you? Are you really having that much trouble finding her?" it sounded almost accusatory, but the amusement in Cris's eyes said differently.

Kaleb waved him off, ignoring the question, and focused on his youngest brother. Deciding to avoid Van's typical way of talking in suggestive circles, he just dove into his mind, and promptly paled.

"That's… not possible."

"I didn't think so either, but here we are. We've got to go get him," Vander confirmed, all hints of his normal joking aside.

"Wanna fill me in here, guys?" Cristoff piped in, confused.

Instead of responding, Kaleb tossed in Van's memories into this the loose mental link he shared with his whole family. Cris paled just as Kaleb had, "Is that really…?"

"Yes. Has to be."

It took less than a minute for Arman to chime in mentally, 'Kaleb, gather your mages. Farron and I are getting approval from the king, but even if we don't get it, we are going to be headed towards Peregrande within the hour.'

'We've already started. Cris and Emzadi, teleport to the others. I'll call Bix, everyone else be ready to move out in ten.'

"You're sure about this?"

"Yes"

"Absolutely positive?"

"...Yes."

"Tink, you're going to get us fucking murdered. In the middle of the world's most disgusting country ever. They are going to hang our naked bodies up on a flagpole and host one giant circle-jerk to our corpses. The orgy to end all orgies."

Lucy giggled, but it sounded odd. Because it was coming from a veritable cockroach of a man. Seriously, it was nasty. "Your corpse, maybe, Cobs, but mine? Nah. They hate boobs here, remember?"

"Yes, I remember, Tinker-Tits. It's hard to forget with everyone's souls screaming out for my delicious looking man-flesh."

The odd, greasy, dark-haired man with horrible teeth standing next to the poison slayer giggled. Again.

"Have I mentioned how much I hate your Gemini stardress? Because I do. So much."

"Yeah. In fact, you keep mentioning it, but it was either that or be caught and sold for my wide, childbearing hips, so I think you'll just have to deal with it."

Erik sighed, "You know, you could have at least picked a less disgusting person to copy."

Shaking his/her head, she argued, "You're drawing enough attention as it is, Arse."

"Hey," he protested, "there's no need for name calling."

Lucy nearly dropped her transformation in her sudden loss of focus that accompanied her laughter, "It was a nickname… Short for Arsenic. Don't you like it?"

Erik punched him/her on the shoulder, albeit lightly, "You're dumbass jokes are even less appealing than your current appearance."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "That's not true, and we both know that."

Erik shrugged, noncommittal.

Several minutes passed as they kept walking, their steps taking them closer to the slaving part of town. Where the markets and unsavory people were, the center of the city, and where the infamous gladiatorial arena was.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like we are heading for Sky's Reach. You know, that large, circular stadium-like structure full of powerful mages that may or may not be able to see right through your Jedi mind trick?"

"You don't appear to be wrong, no. Well, that last part is wrong. Gemini's transformation power is flawless. At most they will be able to sense my magic. But yeah, Sky's Reach, that's probably a thing."

Erik didn't feel any better after that statement, "Lucy. You have the most unique fucking magic in the world. If they somehow don't recognize the fact that you're one of very few celestial mages in the known universe, the sheer amount of power you have will make you a target for their twisted games. Ugly or not, they think you can put up a good fight in the colosseum, that's where you're going."

'Loke, you know how we have been practicing on that thing where I make it seem like I have more magic than I do?'

'Uh, yeah?' Loke responded internally, 'Why?'

'Can we do the opposite?'

'Probably, but not if you aren't calm and controlling it on your own. Your energy spikes and the rest of us won't be able to do anything about it. Otherwise, yeah, I'll get the other spirits started on pulling some of your residual power into their gates to dampen the appearance of your magic levels' Loke confirmed.

Several of her spirits chimed in that they were already aware, because they were all in her head, so they began. The only one who couldn't help was Gemini, as it wasn't possible to pull her magic in and out of the gate at the same time, and she was using the gate for her stardress abilities.

Cobra looked at her a moment later, somewhat intrigued, "What's going on?"

"You had a point, Erik. My magic is a problem. My spirits are helping dampen my signature. Why, can you tell the difference?"

"Yes. Keep doing that. It actually feels like you're a normal mage, now, instead of… well… you."

"Hey! I'm normal!"

"Tink, you're so far from normal it's not even funny. Now shut up and move. If we're going to die today, I'm not doing it before we even see what the fuck for."

"I'm going in. I could have Gemini cloak you but I don't know what we're going to find in there and they take up more magic than the other Zodiacs. I think the smarter play here is to conserve as much energy as possible."

Erik's single violet eye seemed to inspect her, "I hate this more than you'll possibly understand, you know that?"

Lucy chuckled lightly, but she wasn't unaffected either. She's a lot stronger now than she had ever been, but that didn't mean she was confident enough to take on the entire fucking nation of Peregrande. Or at least the entire population of their capital city. The magic that was pulling her, though, made up her mind for her.

She didn't know what or who was causing it, but she was going to find out. It was something significant if it had called to her half a nation away. Her spirits seemed to agree with her, and despite that they were all on edge with her being in such a hostile territory, they were all just as determined to see it through as she was.

"I know, Cobs. I have to do this though. Will you trust me?"

He crossed his arms in frustration, but gave her a single nod, "If you die in there, I'm killing myself just so I can track you down in the afterlife and shank you. Understand?"

Lucy giggled, and Erik found himself extremely grateful that she'd dropped the ugly visage she'd been sporting once they'd found this mostly-private corner of the market. He wasn't sure he'd have been able to take one more of her giggles delivered through the uneven teeth of her copy subject.

"I'm leaving Virgo here with you. Sky's Reach has containment cells underground, if I'm caught and not killed on the spot, they will take me there. You and Virgo can stage a rescue, if necessary. Now that they are anchored to me," Lucy rubbed at the metallic marks along her forearms, "they will always be able to summon themselves to my side if they use their own power."

Erik gave her another nod, "Alright. Now copy this limp piece of flesh and get going," he said, kicking the knocked out guard at his feet.

She knelt down and placed a hand on the colosseum guard's shoulder, and was about to transform when she was pulled roughly into an uncomfortable hug by her maroon-haired kin, "And I'm serious about the dying thing. Be careful."

"What the fuck took so long, Jarod?"

Gemi-Jarod-Lucy responded, thankful that Gemini's copy ability was so thorough, "Oh shut it, Balrin. Last time you took a 'bathroom break' you came back sexually satisfied and limping."

Balrin, for his part, blushed, "It's not my fault if a man catches my attention…" he muttered, but didn't mention Gemi-Jarod-Lucy's extended absence any longer.

She played at keeping watch of the gate for a few minutes longer before glancing at Balrin, "Hey, you keep watch here for a bit. I have to check something out, I've got a weird feeling."

It was actually the truth. They had gotten very lucky that the guard they had managed to catch was known for his dedication to his 'intuition'. From what Lucy saw in his memories, it was more of a lecherous need to ogle gladiators fighting wearing little clothing, but still. It played in her favor.

Balrin rolled his eyes, "I know your tricks. You just want to see if today's handicap match will finally do in the Dark Eagle," he glared, but then sighed and waved him off, "Go. But hurry up. If it takes him longer than five minutes to die then you have to come back without missing the finale, got it?"

"Whatever."

With that, Gemi-Jarod-Lucy walked away (feeling a little ill) from the entrance and through a corridor that led to a balcony overlooking the battlefield. What she saw there had her stopped in her tracks.

All semblance of control she had over her magic went down the drain, and all around her she saw people dropping under the sudden pressure of her magic.

'Princess… Princess... ' that was Virgo, through the link. She found just enough willpower to listen in on her maid spirit, 'Master Erik asked me to inform you to "calm the fuck down", he says even he can feel your magic pressure and he fears you will soon be noticed.'

'I'll get back to you on that request Virgo, give me a second.'

Lucy felt uncontrollable anger from each of her spirits, apart from Virgo, who had been focused on Erik and was not actively looking through Lucy's mind. She didn't know why, but she imagined it had something to do with the very exhausted looking mage in the area below, who sported beautiful black wings spattered with blood and elegant eagle tattoos across the left side of his torso. Clan tattoos, if she wasn't mistaken, from Bosco.

The bonds were forcing that anger into her as well, they just weren't all that great at separating themselves when it came to strong emotion. Not that she cared, because that blonde-and-red highlighted mahogany haired mage in the stadium below was clearly the source of magic she'd been connected to for months. And someone was going to pay for the state he was in.

They had officially made it right to the top of her shit list, right next to that Alec bastard (who, she had already decided, deserved to have his eye gouged out by her hand. As soon as she found the pompous piece of shit).

'Loke, who is that?'

'An archangel mage, Princess. The… last…. Archangel mage, Zen Pradesh. Son of Ambassador Arman Pradesh of Bosco and his celestial mage wife, Ganier. He… he was supposed to have died, and taken the last of the line of archangel magic with him when he was blown up in Peregrande with his mother at the age of two. Lucy, the celestial realm mourned this man. Not even the Spirit King knew he lived. This… this cannot go unpunished.'

The rage she felt intensified. Peregrande had held this man captive and used him for entertainment from the age of two. Loke was right. Someone was going to pay. A lot of someones.

People were starting to look at her, now. She'd long since lost the delicate transformation she was holding, and had unknowingly dropped the stardress altogether. If that wasn't enough to draw attention, she was putting off so much magic that she was actually glowing, the pressure from her own spiking magic causing her hair to stir and her clothes to wave about in her own personal wind.

'Virgo'

'Princess, I understand the situation. What are your orders?'

'Take Erik, if he's willing, and free the slaves from the dungeons. I'm afraid this stadium won't be standing much longer.'

'Master Erik finds this agreeable, but has asked me to relay this: "Don't fucking die while I'm playing hero."'

'Tell him not to worry, I'm thinking dear old dad would like to hear about this. What do you think, Virgo? Dire circumstances?'

Lucy could feel Virgo's excitement, 'I believe, Princess, that the King's punishment will be swift, and severe.'

'I think you're right, Virgo. And so will mine.'