Told you this chapter was well underway. Tada! And yes, the actual Festival will be addressed in it's own chapter.

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. Duh.

XxXxXxXxX

"Heed my words dear friends." Erik smirked at their tiny guildmaster as he stood on the bar making his speach. "If you fancy yourself a member of this guild you must hone your skills both day and night. Do so and fortune will always be yours. Never forget you are responsible for your own keep. While many of your days will be sunny others will be clouded with hardship. Peace and prosperity tempered by tragedy and heartbreak. However I have faith we can fight through even the darkest of days as long as we have each other. You are surrounded not by coworkers, but by an enduring and loving family. Together we are one! That's what being a Fairy Tail wizard is about!" He slapped his hands over his ears in time to not go deaf from the chear the guild let out. "I couldn't be more proud of what you kids have accomplished in the last year, so to commemorate your hard work and diligence tomorrow we will be holding the highly anticipated flower viewing party!" He barely heard Gajeel's grumble over the renewed cheering.

"Bunch of morons." He did have to agree. Makarov made the announcment as if the damn flowers wouldn't have bloomed if his wizards had slacked off over the previous year. It was stupid. The guild just wanted an excuse to drink, not that they needed it. Cherry blossoms did smell good though, and he knew Daphne was looking forward to the festival when she got back from her job.

He was restless with his mate gone, but the Shady Five, as everyone was calling his family, as well as "Mystogan" were sticking close to the guild and staying out of sight until the memory of the Seis died down. In the mean time they were supposedly helping the little group of researchers find Sorano her new magic. They were having trouble though. Celestial spirit wizards were holder type wizards so caster spells were extremely difficult for Sorano to learn. They had gone through a ton of books and were pretty stymied at this point. Erik was sure Daphne and her Northern Cross spirit would get the ball moving again as soon as they got back.

The preparty party was getting really loud really fast. He could have gone up onto the balcony where it was quieter, but Gajeel was up there. His brain knew the man regretted what he had done to Lucy while he was with Phantom Lord. He knew Jose was the same type of man Brain was. Evil. He still had a dislike of the man. He had hurt his mate after all, bad enough there were still marks on her body. He tolerated the man being in the guild, but that was about it. He couldn't stay down here in the noise and he wouldn't go up there so he quietly left the building. He didn't make it very far before he was startled by a guildmate's voice.

"Hey man. You aren't supposed to be wandering off on your lonesome. Cosplayer would kick us all into next week if you got yourself picked up." He bared his teeth and growled at the seith mage but didn't stop walking. The guy freaked him the hell out. Not only had he hurt his Daphne while he wore the Fairy Tail guild mark, but Erik couldn't hear him at all. He didn't know if the man had regrets about what he had done. He didn't know jack from shit because he hadn't heard a single sound of what was going on inside the man. "I get you don't like me, not that you like anybody but your team and your mate. I don't blame you. I'm still not letting nakama get picked up by rune knights." Erik growled again low in his throat. The asshole grinned at him. "Sometimes you really remind me of Laxus." That brought him to a complete stop. He glared at the grinning man.

"Are you seriously comparing me to the man who betrayed his guild, had my mate turned to stone, and gave the order to kill her when she escaped?" Bickslow stopped grinning.

"How much do you actully know about Laxus?"

"He's a powerful asshole, and a traitor who harmed my Daphne."

"He's a slayer without a dragon." Erik flinched. "Yeah. You know how that is, don't you? Know who shoved the lacrima into him through his eye socket? His dad." Erik's eyes widened a little. How could someone do that to their own child? "You had Cosplayer when shit got to be to much. He didn't have somebody like that. He had us, but we've got our own issues. He's not as bad a guy as you think he is." Erik took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. His back itched. It tended to do that when something made him nervous.

"You know where he went when he left?" Bickslow gave a small smile.

"Bosco. I've got a sister and a brother who are slayers. They are helping him straighten his shit out."

"If you had family who understood why didn't you help him?"

"Gimme a break man. They were, like, younger than Wendy when I had to leave and it's fucking illegal for them to talk to me."

"What! Why?"

"My magic. Seith magic manipulates the souls of the living and the dead. I was born with it but it still means a death sentance back home."

"That sucks balls."

"Yep. Big hairy ones." Erik snorted.

"Well-" He spun to look in the direction of the train station when he heard the unmistakable sound of his mate's male team members bickering."Daphne." He took off without another thought to the man he had been talking to.

"Hey! Don't get yourself arrested before you find her!"

Erik! I'm home!

Not yet you aren't. Not till you're naked in my arms.

Down dragon. I'd rather not give Natsu a nosefull.

I missed you so much.

I haven't even been gone for twenty four hours.

You were gone for Hours!

Silly dragon.

I couldn't hear you and I worried. Your team is nuts.

They love me.

Still nuts. I can hear them.

The whole town can hear them most days.

Erik vaulted over the luggage tower he knew to be Erza's and scooped his mate up to spin her around as soon as his feet hit the ground. Her delighted squeal made his heart flutter like a jar full of butterflies. Gray and Happy made obnoxious comments, but he could hear how thrilled the whole team was at her happiness. He noticed how cold her skin felt and set her down with a scowl.

"Why are you so damn cold?"

"Lucy got caught in an avalanche when we were attacked by a wyvern. I healed her the best I could, but we should get her somewhere warm." He took the time to pat the littlest dragon slayer on the head. He liked Lil Breezy. Her cat was a bit of a bitch sometimes, but the girl was a good kid.

"Come on,Kitten." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started walking. "Let's get you home." I have just the thing to warm you right up.

That's not what she ment.

So? Are you objecting to me burying my face in your pussy until you writhe and beg me to fuck you?

No, but... I was supposed to help Sorano with her magic when I got back.

The guild is already drinking for tomorrow's flower party. Nobody is going to work on Soprano's stuff until they sober up from that.

I'm so excited about the festival tomorrow!

"See ya at the guild later, Luce!"

"Bye, guys!" Daphne waved sweetly at her team before they walked up the stairs to her little appartment. "You go house shopping while I was gone?"

"I was thinking... What about building our own house." She stopped in the middle of making coffee to stare at him. "We could put it out of town a ways. It would give is a little privacy and we could make it just the way we liked it. Richard would help us dig the basement out, and I bet some of your guildmates would-"

"Our guildmates." He rolled his eyes at her.

"Fine. Our guildmates. I bet they would help out at least a bit. And it would save us money in the long run. I just-" She cut him off with a kiss.

"You don't have to convince me sweetheart. I like the idea. We can talk to the guild after they recover from the festival. Which reminds me... How is Macbeth handling all the daytime chaos? I really havent gotten to hang out with him much since we came home, between our mating and having to take this mission to cover rent." He loved the woman in his arms so much. She had embraced her offer to be Macbeth's sister with a passion.

"He's ok. The rest of the guild has been really good to all of them. People go out of their way to help them feel at home. Those three...colorful ones especially. The Thunder Legion. I actually... Um. I wasn't exactly very nice to them."

"Erik..."

"But. But I had a talk with the one who tried to suck out your soul and... I think I'm ok with them now. Laxus was like me, a dragonless slayer, and the other three ware just... loyal. I think I might even like Jesterhead." Daphne dramatically dropped her jaw and placed a hand over her heart.

"You like someone? A human someone? I'm speachless!"

"Then why is your sexy face still speaking?"

"Because you haven't given it something else to do." He growled and tackled her onto the couch. If she wanted him to occupy her mouth he would absolutely do that. After all he still hadn't welcomed her home and she still smelled like wyvern and Natsu. That just wouldn't do.

XxXxXxXxX

To be continued.