Dear Readers,

I am so excited about the response from the last chapter. I seriously love all of you.

Because you're all so awesome... I've got another one for you.

Reminder - Desna owns the Pradesh Family, Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

Thanks to GoddessxNyte2 for her beta-reading and for keeping my soul on the lighter side of dark and twisty. :)

Enjoy!

"Zen…" Arman spoke quietly, stepping forward toward his long lost son, but not touching him. He knew what a lifetime of slavery could do to a person, as an ambassador he's seen it several times, and the last thing he wanted to do was make his child uncomfortable.

"I… remember you… Dad?"

Arman nodded, tears in his eyes. Zen's suspicious gaze softened slightly, and his tight grip on Lucy relaxed slightly. He turned his eyes to his brother.

"...Fare?"

Farron stepped up toward his brother as well, placing a cautious hand on the man's shoulder as he nodded, "Welcome home, Zen."

"We thought you died…. I'm so sorry, Zen, I thought you were gone. I had no idea they had you, I… failed you. I'm sorry-"

"Stop that. Don't blame yourself for the actions of my captors." Zen's glare was stern but not hostile, "You came for me. That's all that matters, now. The past is done."

Arman's tears only increased and he reached out to touch his son's face that was so like his own, "I'm so glad you're alive…"

"This is fucking great and all, really, I love the rainbow unicorn happy reunion shit, but Lucy could use some help."

Cris and Emzadi had both made it back to the airship a few seconds before, and Cris walked over to the girl in question. Bickslow was staring at her in confusion, sadness etched on his face and his figure eyes activated, mumbling something about how it didn't make sense.

Cristoff reached out to take the girl from Zen's arms, but found himself looking at a raven-black wing instead. Zen had shifted away and was holding her closer to his bare torso, and his right wing was blocking Cris's view, but he was being defensive, not hostile, and his wings hadn't made a move to attack anyone.

"Easy there, bro, I'm a healer. Saw a couple nasty cuts and she's bound to be magically exhausted, I can help her." Cristoff soothed, his magic reaching out tentatively to calm his adoptive brother.

Zen felt the magic, but it didn't seem harmful, almost like Lucy's - protective - so he didn't fight it and his wings slowly retracted. He gave him a hard look. "Who are you?"

"Actually," Arman spoke up, gesturing around the room, "Most of the people around you are your siblings. I promised your mother we would have a large family, and when we lost both of you… I just couldn't bear to break that promise, so I adopted six others over the years. The healer in front of you is Cristoff, but before we introduce ourselves we really should let him take a look at the young lady."

"...you'll take care of her?"

Zen's magic filled the space, but lightly. He didn't want to overwhelm his newly-found family, but he knew his magic kept people from lying to him when he had the rare opportunity to actually use it - only those times when his magic had grown enough that he was ready for a new piece of magic cancelling jewelry.

"I will. She won't be harmed, I promise." Zen felt the truth of that in his magic, and so reluctantly nodded.

He took a small step forward and lowered the golden-haired woman into Cris's waiting arms delicately. Accepting her slight weight, he walked off in the direction of the infirmary, calling over his shoulder that he where he was taking her and directions to get there to put Zen at ease.

Nodding to a still-confused looking Bickslow, Erik followed.

Kaleb was frowning, listening in on his seith mage brother. Lucy Heartfilia's soul was pure, as pure or purer than it was the last time the man had seen it, but now it held connections and colors that weren't there before. Bickslow had never seen anything like it.

Neither Kaleb or Bix knew what to make of it, and Kaleb resolved to look in her mind at the earliest opportunity. Now though, his recently recovered brother deserved his full attention.

Kaleb quickly ordered his mages on the two airships they'd brought to retreat back to Bosco, and once they were on the move, the Pradesh family gathered together and got comfortable.

Zen sat on a plush chair backed against the wall, Arman in the chair next to him. Emzadi, Vander, and Xally sat on the floor around them and Farron, Bickslow, and Kaleb all stood within the same circle.

"So…" Vander started, "I'm the fun brother. Vander. Nice to meet you officially, big bro." he said with a lazy smile, falling back to prop himself on one hand.

Arman added, "He's the youngest, aside from Xally, and whatever you do, don't listen to him. He never means well, and he has a knack for getting into trouble, but… most of the time he is a decent human being."

Eyerolls were seen from every other sibling, but Zen only nodded, "Thank you for getting us out of Sky's Reach. It would have been an uncomfortable few days trying to walk out on our own power."

"Shit, anytime. Though, next time, leave me some baddies to kill. I was so excited, but there was literally nothing for me to do once we got there!" he whined.

Zen smirked, "Oh, that wasn't me. But, for the future, I'll keep that in mind and try to reign Lucy in."

Bickslow blinked in surprise. "Lucy… did that? The whole collapsed stadium thing?"

Zen tilted his head at the blue/black haired man, "Yes…? Why? I was under the impression that you hadn't been working together to come get me. Do you know her?"

Arman spoke up, "Ah, that's a bit complicated. This is Bickslow, by the way, he is a Seith Mage and he has been in a guild in Fiore for the last several years. He is older than Vander, but not by much, but he was adopted about a year before Van was."

"Nice to meet you," Zen said, "But what's complicated about it? Is there something wrong with Lucy?"

Kaleb spoke up then, "So far as we can tell there is nothing wrong with her, other than that she needs healing. Cris says he will be out in a moment, by the way, her wounds are healed and now she just needs rest," frowning, he continued, "but, Lucy is wanted in several countries in Ishgar for working with a dark guild, and for stealing the golden celestial keys from another spirit mage: Libra, Pisces, and Ophiuchus - along with silver keys Deneb and Polaris. And she was once a part of Bickslow's guild in Fiore. That is all we know about the situation for now."

Zen's eyebrows furrowed, "That… doesn't make sense. Though I did see Libra during the battle, so I know she is in possession of that key."

The archangel seemed conflicted, on the one hand, she saved his life. But now he was hearing she was some kind of criminal on the run from multiple countries?

"There's nothing we can do about it until the young woman wakes up and we can question her, or until Kaleb can get a look into her mind," Arman chimed in, placing a hand on Zen's shoulder, "I am sure there is something we're missing, but let's not dwell on it for now. You are both safe, that's what is important."

Zen nodded.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up, Zen. Of course it is a subject for another time. I am Kaleb, the third oldest, behind Farron and yourself, and I am a mindbender mage."

In his mind, Kaleb continued speaking with his brother, 'And I am incredibly glad to welcome you home.'

Zen cracked a small smile and nodded.

"I'm your sister, Emzadi, and I am older than Vander and Xally, younger than everyone else. The solar dragon slayer. Nice to have you home, Zen." She smiled, displaying a fang.

"Xally," a black-haired young woman spoke up from next to Vander, "I'm the youngest. I use water magic, sometimes for minor healing, and I'm in school to be a pediatrician," she spoke up brightly, standing to approach.

Zen didn't move, but observed her cautiously as she approached and moved her hands a few inches from his skin. He felt a soothing sensation on his various minor scrapes, and along the slash on his calf from the Wyvern hours ago.

After a few minutes she backed away, "I'm not as thorough as Cris, but you should feel completely healed by the time we get home!"

Zen smiled at her, "Thank you, Xally."

She hummed in response and kicked Vander - who had moved to lay in her spot - as she went to sit back down.

Cristoff came walking back in moments later, Erik in tow, and walked right up to Zen to pull him up and gave him a light hug. Zen, shocked, did not return it, but did not fight him on it either.

"It's really good to have you back, bro. We are all excited to have you. And don't worry, Lucy will be fine. She should be up and about tomorrow after she gets a good night's rest."

Cris didn't let go after he was done talking, seeing this the rest of the family decided to join in. Only Kaleb's constant yelling through the family link kept them all from tackling the archangel to the ground.

Zen was overwhelmed, and while he felt uncomfortable, he couldn't help but smile at the affection he could sense from his family.

He knew he had a long way to go before all of this felt normal, but he found himself thinking about how good it was to be home.