Dear Readers,

Last chapter for today. I will keep posting regularly, but it might be a few days. Don't get mad! I still love you.

OH - also - if anybody knows good graphic artists who can help me bring this version of Lucy (and the Major Problems version) to life, drop me a comment or review.

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, Desna owns the Pradesh Family, GoddessxNyte2 is my beta.

Enjoy!

"But… I don't think… I-"

"You said you would do whatever we decided after we heard everything," Kaleb pointed out to a very flustered Lucy.

"Well, I meant with letting people know! Not getting a whole new guild involved in my problems!"

Kaleb raised an eyebrow, "I'm the master of White Sea, we've been looking for you for months, and you saved my brother from the Pits of Peregrande with exactly one other human ally. Did you think we were just going to let you leave without taking out this dark guild with you?"

"Look, it's not your problem-"

"Lucy," it was Erik who spoke this time, surprisingly enough using her name, "We didn't train for the last year so that you could run off and get your dumbass killed taking on a dark guild alone. The same dark guild that tortured you, that has at least one mage that went head-to-head with a wizard saint and Laxus and didn't die."

"..."

"Don't be stubborn, Cosplayer. You've protected everyone for a year, now it's time to let us help you find these assholes, and we will be helping you take them down."

Vander joined in, "Mia Stella, we all know you're impressive, but I swear, if you take one more large scale battle away from me I might have to sleep my way through the country to distract myself from the sorrow."

"...Van, you sleep your way through this country and all the ones surrounding it anyway…"

The shadowquip shrugged, "Not the point, Starlight."

"Lucy, seriously, don't be an idiot. Let us help you, you can't do it alone," her newest kin argued firmly.

"Em, it's-"

"She's right, Lucy. You need help, and we are going to give it to you," her second newest kin argued.

"Cristoff, just-"

"Lucy, I'm afraid I cannot let you leave the country if it is just to go get yourself killed," Arman reasoned. Farron agreed, looking ready to make the call that would close the border.

"Guys, seriously," Lucy waved her hands in front of her, "You've got it all wrong-"

"Lucy, please, I'm not much of a fighter, but I want to help," Xally said, grabbing the celestial mage's hands.

"Lucy," Zen stated firmly, "If you think, after everything you've done for me, I'd let you go alone-"

Loke materialized at Lucy's side, "Okay, seriously, you're all being idiots. If you'd let her talk, she'd tell you she isn't going to try and fight them alone. She already promised Laxus and Makarov that Fairy Tail could help her take them down once they were located."

Everyone but Kaleb looked confused, so Lucy clarified, "I just mean, I don't think White Sea needs to be involved. I've already got Fairy Tail to help me, there's no reason to put yourselves in danger, too. Right now nobody knows you're involved at all. Why not keep it that way?"

Kaleb glared at her, "Because that's not how family works, you don't just duck your head and hide when things get hard."

Lucy opened her mouth to protest but couldn't think of anything, so she closed her mouth in a frown and looked away.

A hand on her shoulder drew her attention, "Like it or not, we're here to help you. I don't know much about family, but there's no way I'm not helping you as much as I possibly can," Zen told her, "Not just because I owe you. But because we're friends, right?"

Lucy nodded, "Yeah," just as she had when they'd first met, she placed her hand on top of his, "We're friends."

"And we are kin," Cris stated, "Which means you're not getting out of my sight for long. Sorry, Lucy, but you're stuck with us."

"Yeah, pretty much," Emzadi smirked at her.

"Besides, you don't even know where to look yet," Xally pointed out, "But I bet we can find them."

Lucy made a mental note not to cross Xally. She seemed really sweet, and kind, but then again… So did Lucy, and she'd just taken on a whole country when she was mad. Something in Xally's eyes reminded her of herself and she decided that might be dangerous.

"White Sea is famous for tracking down dark mages, after all," Kaleb agreed proudly.

"Is that so...?" Lucy asked him, amusement in her eyes.

"Look, not finding you was a fluke," Kaleb narrowed his eyes at her.

"...right."

"What? What do you mean you went to Peregrande? And why are you in Bosco? And why the fuck do you have two eyes right now? It's been a week… One week since I talked to you… what the hell…?"

Laxus looked dazed. Though that was understandable.

"I mean, I went to Peregrande and found Zen Pradesh in the gladiator pits… and maybe got him out… and maybe also… killed the King, and freed the other slaves, and passed out from magic depletion… and then I woke up on a Boscan Airship with Bix."

"Okay, I need you to back up, and maybe elaborate. Who's Zen, and when the hell did Bickslow even leave Fiore?"

The seith mage propped his head on Lucy's shoulder, looking into the com that revealed a very thoroughly confused blonde dragon slayer, "Uh, about that," he said brightly, "I meant to tell you but we found my long lost big bro and had to go to Peregrande to save him so Cris teleported to Fiore to get me three days ago. It was so busy I kinda forgot to mention it."

"...you had to save your big brother… Zen Pradesh, okay, so that tells me who that is, but why did you have to go save him if Blondie already did? And why was Lucy saving him in the first place? I swear, for the one person in this guild who has been keeping tabs on you, Blondie, I'm pretty far out of the loop."

"Yeah sorry, things happened pretty fast. Anyway, basically, I'm going to be staying here for a while, going out with Van or Cris or Emzadi when we get leads to check them out. We will brief Fairy Tail when we find them, and we can all meet up and take them out. I already got Kaleb agreed to the inter-guild mission."

Laxus rubbed his temple, "You've not answered any of my questions. I mean, great, glad you're with Bix and his family, they're good people, but I have no idea what is going on. And how the hell did you manage to take on a whole country?"

"Erik helped." Lucy responded, as if that answered anything.

"Not really, Tinker Tits!" said dragon slayer called from the other room. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"... you know what? Just… let me know when you need us."

"Actually.. I was hoping you could send my team here. Everyone here thinks we should bring them in, they deserve to know the truth."

He gave her a blank look, "Are you sure about that?"

She nodded, a sad smile on her face, "I've been lying for long enough. And now, if Fallen Star attacks, I'm ready. I can protect them now. I think it's time I faced them."

Laxus looked at her for a long moment, "...alright. But Natsu isn't here, he's been off training almost as long as you have. He checks in occasionally, but he hasn't been back in a month or two. I'll have Wendy, Erza, Gray, and Jellal head that way. What should I tell them?"

Lucy frowned. She'd hoped Natsu would be his normal, happy, positive self by now. She should have known he wouldn't bounce back. She mentally put him on her list of people to track down, because she needed to fix that as soon as possible. If it was possible, "Just… tell them to pack for a mission and meet at the guild after close. Emzadi and Cris said they'd go pick them up."

"Alright. Stay safe, Blondie. Find those bastards soon so I can come help you kick ass."

"Got it, Laxus." she said, giving him a bright smile.