So... I'm not sure if I got the last part of this chapter quite right, but I tried. Sorry if you guys find it OOC. Like I said. I tried.

Fairy Tail isn't mine and neither are any of the Pradeshes. Why do I still have to say that?

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Erik ran his fingers gently though his mate's hair, memorizing every detail of her face in the moonlight. When he had seen his sister return Crux's key he had known they would be leaving tonight. Any minute now Sorano would be tapping on the apartment door and he would be heading out. He could honestly say his family was about to do the most stupidly dangerous thing they had ever done.

He had put it off as long as he could, first using Sorano's lack of experience with her new magic, then their innability to travel out in the open. However... Sorano could now hold her own against most sparing partners and Macbeth hadn't had any trouble traipsing around Fiore on that mission he took with Freed, Wendy, and Kinana so he was out of excuses. Daphne had been excited when he told her his family would be going on a mission.

"It's Sorano's mission really, but all five of us are going. We'll head out on the pre-dawn train."

"Oh? I'm glad you guys are getting out. Should be good for you." It could also go desperately wrong and he knew it. "When will you be back?" He had managed a real smile and kissed her forehead.

"As soon as I possibly can." And that had been the honest to Mavis truth.

He had taken his time and made doubly sure to worship every inch her before she fell asleep. He should probably be asleep as well, but he didn't want to waste a single second of these last few minutes with his mate. They all knew that if this rescue mission went south it could take years for them to get home. While it was entirely possible that some of them could simply never come home from this that was an idea he refused to dwell on.

The expected tap on the door came and he leaned down to press one last kiss to her cheek. Should he wake her up and say goodby? Maybe. Should he have told her where they were going and why? Probably. Except if he did that she would want to go with them and there was no way in hell he was taking his precious kitten to fucking Pergrande. Hell to the fuck no.

"I'll be back." He whispered as softly as he could while forcing himself from their bed. "I promise." He felt the tingle of his mate's magic in his veins at the words. Hopefully the promise would actually help him get home quickly.

Hope, he thought as he headed for the train station, was something he hadn't had before Daphne. Hope and love and everything good in his world came from her. It wasn't just his life either. She had done just as he expected she would and made all his siblings lives so much better. They were all happy now. Sorano and Macbeth were finding meaning in life by helping people which he never expected to actually see.

He got slightly sad, sympathetic looks from Sorano and his brothers when he took his seat on the train. None of them needed words to know just what they were all leaving behind and risking being unable to return to. New siblings, friends, family, his mate, whatever the hell Freed was to Macbeth, even their newfound freedom was at stake here, but they were risking it all for some stranger they had never met. It was stupid and he was proud of them all for being willing, no, for wanting to do this.

He resisted the urge to growl when he caught the scent of the sixth person in the train car. He still held a rather strong grudge against the man for the past. He understood there had been outside influences, but still. He was a link in the chains that had caused him and his family a rather large anount of pain and agony.

"The fuck are you doing wandering around in the middle of the night without your cake-loving house-mother, Jellal."

"Mystogan if you please. I would rather my presence in the guild not be found out. For their sakes." The man stood and walked up the aisle to where they could clearly see him despite the dark hour.

"Fine. Why are you here?"

"I recognize the signs of a person keeping secrets. You have all been rather jumpy recently. I don't know what you are up to, but I'm here to ensure you don't do something to hurt those who have taken us in." The whole group tensed and Sawyer jumped to his feet.

"If you are accusing us of betraying Fairy Tail you had better slam on the brakes and throw it in reverse real fucking fast."

"I am not. Howe, if harm were to come to Erik it would hurt Lucy and Kinana, which would make Erza and Wendy cry and I just couldn't stand by and let that happen. The same goes for the rest of you." His eyes drifted to Sawyer and Richard. Besides which I owe it to Wally and Millianna to see you safe and sound when they reach Magnolia. As days went by Erik was hearing these little glimpses into Jellal more and more frequently. "So. Where are we going?"

"Pergrande." He gaped at Sorano for a moment.

"What! Are you insane? What could have possessed you to do such a thing?" Midnight chuckled.

"That's funny. You, accusing us of being possessed."

"I... That wasn't what I ment."

"I know. Still funny."

"So. Why are we going to that gods forsaken country?"

"We are freeing an angel." Jellal seemed to be waiting for Sorano to elaborate on that, though all he got was a determined stare.

"All right then." 'Mystogan' sat himself down just as the train began to move. Erik felt his stomach lurch at the movement and was seriously thinking of asking one of his siblings to knock him the hell out when he heard the sweetest voice in the world.

I don't know what you are hiding from me, Erik, but I trust you. Be careful and tell everyone I love them. Try to check in every once in a while if possible, so we don't worry to much. Of course she knew they were up to something.

I love you, Daphne.

I love you too.

Jellal is with us. Tell Erza and Wendy I will keep him safe, and take care of Cu for me?

You know I will.

"Daphne says to tell you guys she loves you. She figured out this is more than I told her it was. She knows 'Mystogan' has joined us too."

"You lied to your mate?" Erik scowled at the blunette.

"No you idiot." Honestly since they had mated he had found lying in general and especially to her next to impossible, not that he had been one for altering the truth much in the firat place. "I just only told her... A tiny bit of the truth. Think about it. What would they do if they knew where we were going?" Jellal cringed and Erik could hear him imagining Erza's reaction.

"I see your point."

"Tell Lucy we love her too." Sorano was smiling a little brighter than she had been.

"Yeah. She is our Polaris so we will be sure to find our way back."

"Fast as we can. It shouldn't take us that long."

"And we shall be sure to bring her love back safely! Oh yeah!" Erik smirked and shared their messages with Daphne.

I know they do. And I know you will. His stomach rolled again. Shall I sing to you?

He nodded, his stomach making him instantly regret it especially since she wasn't there to see it. He curled up in a ball and hid his face in his arms as he heard her singing to him through their bond. He clung tight to the distraction until distance forced her voice to fade away. Noone saw the tears that escaped his eyes when silence fell, though quite honestly he wouldn't have been much bothered if they did see. He would miss his mate dreadfully and was not ashamed to admit that.

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Pergrande was Zeref's necrotic asshole. The filth he was hearing both from inside people and even plainly on the street was making him want to gouge out his own ears with a rusty steak knife. Thankfully Macbeth's illusionary and reflector magics were keeping them from having to actually interract with people for the most part. The rest of the group was barely managing to keep Erik from poisoning people by the dozens and even hundreds.

The only real think keeping him from losing his ever loving fucking mind was the little parcel tucked in his pocket. He had only found it the day before they crossed the border. They had managed to find a lacrima they could borrow and had called the guild. Mira had passed the call almost instantly to Daphne. Somehow his mate kept people from hounding them for information on where they were and what they were doing and even kept Erza's lecture to a minimum. They had been caught up on the guild's activities and heard all the hilarious details of the twenty-four hour endurance race.

Right before they had been forced to end the call Daphne had asked him if he had checked the little pocket in his bag. He never packed anything in there, so he hadn't bothered to look in that particular pocket. As soon as the call ended he had pulled his bag out and searched. There, in the to small to bother with pocket, was a piece of blue fabric. The headband she had worn every day for almost a week before they left. All that time she had known he was leaving and had prepared this for him. Even now, as much as he had handled it since, it still smelled like her. Folded up inside the headband was one of her silver keys, Pyxis the compass. No matter where he was the compass spirit could guide him back to his Daphne. He had almost cried. Sorano had actually shed tears when she had seen it.

So now whenever he got the urge to kill someone or a whole town of someones and totally blow their cover he clutched the key tight in his pocket and thought of his mate. The further they got into the country, and the closer to it's heart where Sorano's angel was, the more frequently he needed that little trinket and the warm glow of celestial magic it let off when it touched his skin. He could have summoned Pyxis, and had been tempted to as a connection with his mate. The matebond allowed him to call Daphne's spirits and, while a gold key took an enormous amount of magic, the silver keys were managable for him. However opening an interdimentional gate was not the kind of magic even Macbeth could disguise so he wouldn't be doing that unless it was an emergency.

"These people are going full speed in reverse with no rear view mirrors." He just grunted at Sawyer's muttered statement and tried not to listen to what the speed mage had seen to make him say that. He had seen and heard enough in this poisonous, broken country to last him a lifetime.

He glanced around to ensure that they were not drawing any attention. Macbeth really was a genious and they couldn't have pulled off this mission without him. His skills with makeup had made them all look... Boring. Their clothes were chosen to avoid drawing attention and disguise the fit bodies and toned muscles that came with being an active wizard. Sorano had her shirt stuffed to make her look rather pregnant. A pregnant female was not worth notice for any reason as well as giving them a reason to be keeping her with them, dressing her properly, and caring for her health and safety. So far they had been largely ignored. He could only hope that held true for the rest of the trip.

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It had taken long hours of waiting, days of hiding, and several carefully orchestrated accidents and dissapearances that they would not be talking about when they got home to gain access to Sorano's angel. They had seen The Dark Eagle fight once in that time and Sorano had nearly lost her cool and given them away when they had sent him barehanded against an armed and armoured berserker. She had hidden her face in Richard's shirt and Macbeth had closed his eyes and turned away from the sight. The rest of them had clenched their teeth and watched. He survived, though not without injuries, and they were determined to set him free before he was forced into the arena again.

"I say we snatch the angel, blow some shit the hell up, and make tracks. The sooner this place eats our dust the better." Sorano popped Sawyer upside the head.

"Would you guys stop calling him that!" She was hissing instead of yelling, but only because they were trying to be stealthy in order to avoid slow agonizing deaths. "His name is Zen. He is a person, not a thing." For some reason he heard his mate's voice when she said that and it creeped him out a bit.

"What about the other souls we would be leaving behind?" Erik shook his head at Jellal's question.

"We can't. We just aren't equipped to extract more than one person. We try to rescue anyone else we all die and so do they. You want to reform Pergrande? Come back later with an army." Jellal seemed to wilt a bit, but accepted the harsh fact. "Time is up. We do this like that opium job in Cedarwood."

"That was half a decade ago and we got caught!" Erik smirked at his family.

"Half a decade to learn to do it better then." A gaurd rounded the corner and he dashed forward. He slammed into the man as his family rushed past them, Jellal internally cursing because he had no fucking clue what was going on.

The first mistake Erik remembered making in Cedarwood was giving his opponent an option regarding whether he inhaled poison or not. This guy didn't get a choice. Before he even consiously grasped the fact that he had been attacked Erik had his nose plugged and was forcing the kiss of death into his lungs. He held him there until he lost conciousness, both preventing him from calling out and ensuring he never woke again to stab them in the back. He shoved the man into a dark corner and kept going.

Richard was smoothing the stone over his target when he passed him. Another mistake from the past avoided. Leave no way for the enemy to be found and rescued by allies. Macbeth stood near Sorano using his reflector magic to prevent blood from her still twitching target from staining the walls and floor and alerting anyone passing that a death had taken place.

He paused to exhale enough knockout gas to take out a whole cell block. Another mistake avoided. Never assume the enemies captives are on your side and will not betray your presence. He still hadn't seen Sawyer or 'Mystogan' so he hoped they were using their magic to prevent runners from escaping. He was passed by Richard, Sorano, and Macbeth while he double checked that the unconscious people would stay unconscious for a good long while.

They kept up a similar pattern until they came to Zen's cell. Seeing as how Erik had already gassed this block the males were all rather surprised to see him upright and alert. Sorano, however, was not surprised. She had already known that Archangels have a certain immunity to toxins and the like due to the healing nature of their holy magic. Whatever. It might make the whole plan go easier if they didn't have to carry the guy.

The snarl the man let out when Erik melted the lock and opened the cell door was not entirely human. Thankfully Erik himself wasn't entirely human and knew exactly what that sound ment. It loosely translated to 'Touch me and I will tear your arm off. If I'm going down you are sure as hell going down with me.' A sentiment Erik could totally understand and a threat the man was quite capable of carrying out. They had already seen just how deadly a cornered Archangel mage was even without using his magic.

"Look, man. We are here to bust you out." Erik slowly stretched out his arm and pushed up his sleave. The pale scar left behind from his own years in shackles stood out even in the low light. "No harm will come to you by our hands, you have my word." He felt his mate's magic rise in him again at his words and heard an answering magic in Zen. It was weird.

"Zen Pradesh." His head jerked around to stare at Sorano in obvious surprise. "The stars told me your name. They told me you were being held here against your will. Please. Let us help you. Let us set your free, Zen."

"Guys, guys!" Sawyer came skidding around a corner with 'Mystogan' on his heels. "We've got a problem."

"Our friend here is about to have a rather wealthy visitor. We have to go. Now." Erik looked at Zen who nodded. The whole group took off the way they had come. Having been where they had been they gave the man plenty of space. They knew how they had been when they first came to Fairy Tail. He was now where they had been then, quite possibly even worse. Personal space was a precious thing.

"I set timed charges. They should go off in about forty seconds. Shouldn't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it, but it will cause a hell of a distraction."

"You really are becoming obsessed with blowing things up. Natsu is a bad influence on you."

"Don't knock it till you try it." The explosives went off just as Sawyer predicted. It broke a lot of shit and threw a lot of dust in the air, but as far as Erik could hear no innocents were killed or even severely injured.

They made it all the way out of Skyreach with only one incident. The gaurd had lept out of the shadows and before anyone else could take care of him Zen cut the man in half with one of his wings. He screamed, there was blood, there was viscera, pieces went everywhere. Basically he managed to make every single mistake they had avoided making on the way in with just one blow. Thankfully they were rushing out instead of sneaking in now so it was less of a big deal.

It wasn't until they were well away from the city that they paused to deal with the cuffs on Zen. The magic surge that followed the release of each magic draining device was... Intense. His magic also caused a crazy reaction in Sorano's and Jellal's magic as well as the celestial magic Erik had running through his system as a result of his taking Daphne as his mate. It was wierd and Erik was highly disturbed. It also reminded him of the way his own draconic magic did shit without consulting his brain. The others didn't seem affected in the least by the wierdness. Sudden access to all his magic at once also made Zen more than a little magic drunk. He suddenly went from being pretty much a silent glaring machine to being something of a super horny three year old.

"Your hair is so pretty. Like starlight. Can I touch it?" He didn't wait for an answer, and Sorano would have given a magically wonky 'yes' anyway, so Erik was the one slapping his hands away.

"No. Don't touch her hair. Remember what happened last time you touched her?" The two had near lost their minds and were about to fuck each other right there in the road.

"Where are we going?"

"Fiore."

"Why?"

"Because that is where we live."

"How long will it take to get there?"

"Hopefully just a few days since we- Hey! Don't touch Jellal either!"

"But his magic feels good."

"See that just sounds wrong."

"Why?" The three not magically influenced members of their little group were doing absolutely nothing to help him. In fact they were only muffling their laughter because they were on the run fot their lives.

"It just does."

"Are we almost there?"

"Where?" The magical... Thing was making it hard for him to concentrate.

"Fiore."

"No. It took us almost a month to get here because we were sneaking. We are running now, but it will still take a while."

"We should fly!" The man looked up at the sky and nodded firmly. "Flying would be faster."

"Only you and Jellal can fly." That was the wrong thing to say because it put Zen's attention back on Jellal, who had been watching him with an intense curiosity the whole time. The grin Zen gave the man was downright seductive.

"You can fly. I saw you do it. Fly with me? How high can we go? I've never been high enough to see out of the collosium."

"Don't answer that! Nobody is flying anywhere! Somebody would see us for sure." Suddenly Sorano threw herself at Zen, wrapping her arms around him and glaring at Jellal.

"No! You can't have him!" The Archangel straight up purred at her.

"Oh, for fucks sake!" Erik reached out to pull his sister off the man only to have his hand knocked away with a black wing.

"Mine!" He could have screamed in frustration.

"You two are just..." He reached out again and was blocked. Again. He stomped his foot and growled at them, only to turn and growl at his brothers when they started laughing harder. "Stop it! Help me!"

"I c- Mavis! It's just so- so funny!" Macbeth was about to topple himself over he was laughing so hard. Erik decided he should just fall over already and shoved him. His brother didn't even defend himself. He just took the shove and fell and kept laughing. A purely sexual groan had him spinning back around fast enough to yank Sorano out of her tonsil hockey game before anymore clothes could come off. She and Zen both made sad whining sounds as Erik adjusted her dress.

"Here's the deal guys. How about Zen gives Sorano a piggyback ride?" That kept his wings In his back and them from fucking eachother in front of him while also letting them touch so he didn't have to fight them. That sounded like a good idea. "Put those wings away and you can carry her on your back." Zen actually pouted at him but relented. Erik watched the two closely for a while to make sure Sorano stayed on the man's back instead of shifting around where she needed to Not be.

Erik watched Sorano giggle and tell Zen stories about the guild and felt the distance between himself and his mate more keenly than ever. He missed Daphne. Daphne could fix this whole mess. Daphne fixed everything. She was like magical, sparkly, fruit-scented, fix-it spray. What the hell was he thinking? He was so done with whatever was wrong with them!

Zen suddenly jerked to a stop, eyes focused on the horizen. The happy, chattery three year old was nowhere to be seen. He was deadly serious and Erik had a bad feeling about that.

"What's wrong?"

"Wrong."

"That's what I asked."

"No. I mean something feels Wrong. Broken. Sick. Twisted. Like the world is bleeding. I don't know what it is, but... We have to go there. Now." Erik pulled Pyxis from his Pocket.

"Open, Gate of the Compass, Pyxis." When the little duck compass appeared he leaned down to look him in the eye. "Pyxis, what is in that direction?" The spirit made a quacking noise he was somehow able to understand. "Princess? What-"

"He referes to his keyholder." How the Archangel knew that Erik didn't know, but he was suddenly terrified.

"Daphne? No!" He lept to his feet. His Daphne was a trouble magnet. If the Archangel could sense the world bleeding from the same direction his mate was in... "Please no. Ah!" There was a sudden pain in his chest that had him dropping to his knees. He gasped for breath for a moment until it eased to a sharp ache.

"Erik? What is wrong? Has something happened to Polaris?"

"I- I don't know."

"Erza." Jellal seemed to have pulled himself out of his magical whatever, Sorano too for the most part. "If Lucy is in trouble then the others are as well. We have to go! If we fly we can be there in two days if we push it. I can carry the weight of one with me." Zen shifted Sorano around and shook out his wings.

"Go, Erik. Let Jellal take you. We will catch up. Go!" Erik nodded, and soon all three of his brothers vanished into the distance as they sped toward Magnolia.

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To be continued