Shout out to Nightmare Senshi for not only her Hestor, but her inspiration that birthed Edolas Erik. The Pradeshes are Desna's awesomeness. Fairy Tail is Hiro Mashima's creation.
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Mira smiled broadly at her newly returned sister as they loaded trays to take down into the library. The days after Edolas had been emotional and chaotic. First there had been Erik's meltdown, then Freed had totally lost his shit. She had her suspicions as to why the normally composed rune mage had attacked their guildmates, but she didn't have proof. Yet.
They had lost Mystogan. Apparently the loner was a prince in some alternate reality. Mira didn't really understand all the specifics, but it had somehow returned Lisanna to them so she was happy. Her sister had some adjusting to do, and her magic was way behind, but she was whole, hearty, and alive.
Zen. Now there was a whole kettle full of fish. The Shady Five and Fairy Tail's new Mystogan had risked their lives and freedom to rescue the man on what was essentially a rumor. Erza, Wendy, and Kinana had been hovering in a rather extreme manner since their return. Lucy was still a bit pissed at Erik over that, and Freed was... brooding, which was an odd look on him.
Bickslow was over the moon that his long presumed dead brother had been returned to life. He was less thrilled over how immensely traumatized the archangel mage was. As long as you gave the man plenty of space, didn't move to suddenly or make any loud noises, or come up behind him you almost didn't notice. Well, unless you asked him to interact socially on basically any level, or asked him questions about the past. The way he reacted to certain foods could be a bit scary too. He had also threatened to eat Happy in a way that said he totally ment it.
So... Scratch that. It was really obvious that he was a mess. That was why he was in the library with only a select few individuals while they waited for his family to arrive. It was taking a bit because they had agreed to go fetch the three missing Fairies before coming to Magnolia. Until they got here the group in the library was basically limited to no more than the Thunder Legion, Levy, Gajeel, Pantherlily the newest Exceed in the guild, Lucy and Erik, and of course Sorano who was all but glued to the man. Granted Zen seemed equally as attatched to the moon maiden.
The rest of the guild had been soundly informed by Erik that whatever was going on in the library was "none of your damn business". The Thunder Legion taking him flying twice a day? Also none of the guild's business. The reasoning behind their periodic excursions to the training grounds and the rigorous sparing matches that took place there was also apparently none of their business. By rigorous Mira ment downright vicious. The first match had been...dramatic.
Due to both Erik's insistance that Zen was "insane levels of badass" and the Thunder Legion being accustomed to sparing among themselves they had all three stepped onto the training field against him. Sixty seconds later healing magic had been needed in a major way and the whole guild had been made aware of the fact that Zen apparently didn't really get what a friendly spar was all about. Thankfully Wendy was on hand and Zen himself had some healing magic. Apparently the group in the library had hashed that out, because Zen's next spar against Erza had seemed far less...deadly.
"Drinks are all ready if the food is, Mira!" Mira placed a large bowl of fruit salad on her tray and led her sister toward the library. Zen treated fresh friut with an intense level of reverence so she made sure to include plenty with his meals. As they drew close to the table where Lucy, Erik, Sorano, Zen, Bickslow, and Freed sat she could hear Lucy's voice raised in apparent aggrivation.
"...just terrible. You're safe with me at least. I have Erik to keep me from going looney after all, and I can promise you right here I won't ever be making you do anything you don't actually want to do."
"I...greatly appreciate that." Zen sounded genuinely thankful which struck Mirajane as odd. She really did adore Lucy to peices, but she couldn't see how the little blond could force that immensely powerful chunk of sexy man meat to do anything even with the added magic she had gained when she mated with Erik.
"I'm not sure how much weight my promise holds since my magic changed, but I promise the same thing. I promise to never use your magic against you. We should still keep a non-celestial chaperone around just in case. I don't have a mate to lessen the pull even a bit." Since Sorano was curled up against Zen's side when Mira came around the corner and saw them the whole conversation made even less sense.
"Don't you worry Moon Ninja. We'll be arround basically all the time anyway." *yeah no worries, help you be good, protect Zen, makes you silly too, protect Moon Ninja. Mira was pretty sure Zen didn't need protected from much of anything, quite the contrary, but whatever.
"We brought lunch everyone!" The conversation stopped and five of the six wizards at the table turned smiles toward her and her sister. Zen's smile was small but it was there. Freed... continued to brood, which was really starting to freak Mira out. "Hope everyone's hungry!"
"When are we not hungry, Mira?" *always hungry, munchies, lots of eats, growing boys. Sorano scoffed at the seith mage.
"Speak for yourself, you bottomless pit. Lucy and I eat like ladies"
"I don't know. My metabolism seems to have increased since we mated." Bickslow grinned widely at Lucy's comment.
"It takes a lot of energy to have as much s-" Erik snatched a grape out of the salad she had just set on the table and lobbed it at Bickslow. That yanked Freed out of his brooding state real fast. He lept to his feet and hissed at the rest of them.
"Not. In. The. Library. You... Heathens." Erik pointed at Bickslow.
"He started it." Lucy giggled, but said nothing.
"And so you resort to throwing things and pointing fingers like an infant?"
"Personally I totally skipped my childhood and reserve the right to be as immature as I want whenever I want." Freed glared at Lucy as though this was somehow her fault.
"What?"
"Is he this bad at home?" She grinned evily and Erik covered her mouth before she could even open it.
"Don't you dare Dahpne. Not a word. I heard that." The blong giggled hysterically behind his hand and he rolled his eyes. "Now see what you've done Think Demon? You broke my mate."
"She's Your mate," Sorano waved a hand at them. "She was already broken." Zen had his head tipped just slightly to the side and seemed to be studying their interactions intently.
Mira was a but concerned about the ex gladiator learning to interact socially from this group. Sorano and Erik were still adjusting themselves and had a tendency to be...vicious. Bickslow was a clown who never took anything seriously. Freed took everything far to seriously and had trouble understanding most people on his best day. Lucy...Lucy had voices in her head. She seemed well adjusted, but Mira knew how much hearing your magic talk to you in your head affected a person. Then again... Thinking about the other people in the guild he could have chosen worse people to learn from.
"That's funny!" Lisanna laughed aloud as though they had said something ridiculous. "Just... The idea of Lucy somehow being negatively influenced by Erik! It's to funny." Erik's face grew increasingly more twisted and horrified by the second.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me."
"Oh, this I've gotta hear." Lucy leaned toward Lisanna and grinned. "I met Lucy Ashley. Girl was crazy. I can only imagine what Erik was like." Erik let out a pained groan. "Do tell Lis."
"He was the sweetest man I think I've ever met. Maybe even sweeter than Big Brother. Hated fighting and violence. He always used to say 'We need to calm down, talk, and hug this out guys.'" Sorano had disolved into hysterical giggles. "He was never directly involved in the war against wizards on either side, but he used to let us hide in his kennel sometimes of one of us were cornered near him."
"Wait. Kennel? He raise dogs or something?" *puppy lover, so many puppies, woof woof. Erik's eyes flew wide, but before he could say anything Lucy had wrapped both arms around his head to keep his mouth shut. He struggled, but there was no way for him to get free without harming his mate.
"Quick, Lis! I can't hold him long!"
"Umm. He was a world renound breeder of miniature cuddle-corns. You could always recognize his stock by the bright pink color of their coats." Erik struggled a bit harder. "He adored his sparkle babies!"
"Sparkle babies!" Sorano was gasping words around her laughter. "P-pink! Cuddle- Oh Mavis!"
"Dare I ask," Well at least Freed wasn't silently brooding anymore. "What exactly is a miniature cuddle-corn?" Erik thrashed and yanked at Lucy's arms.
"They're these cute little unicorns that are just the right size to scoop up and cuddle! They are so precious! Their little horns are soft and they make the cutest squeaking sound when you squeeze them!"
"Shit! Run, Lis!" Lisanna did right before Erik broke out of Lucy's hold and lunged for her. Lucy managed to catch him and tackle him to the ground before he made it far. Mira calmly unloaded the rest of her tray before heading after her sister.
"You two are going to have the cutest, feistiest babies!" Erik and Lucy choking and sputtering was the last thing she heard as she left the room. For all their protesting she knew for a fact that those two went at it like bunnies and it was only a matter of time before Lucy made her a godmother.
It was almost an hour later that an unnatural silence fell over the guild. Mira didn't even have to glance around to find the cause. Macbeth, Sawyer, and Richard were back. That wasn't what brought about the silence though. It was the people with them. While they had been expecting guests this was...a whole damn pantheon's worth of gods, or demigods at least.
Mira had seen pictures of Kaleb, Emzadi, and Cristoff Pradesh. The pictures hadn't done them justice. Arman and Farron looked enough like Zen to identify them pretty quickly. Mira had suspected his good looks were caused by his magic, but not so. There were a whole lot more than just Pradeshes in that group though.
They had been expecting two sisters, four brothers, and Ambassodor Pradesh. Mira's quick head count was at three unfamiliar females, a redhead, a blond, and a brunette. There were four men she couldn't identify anf only one of those could be Bickslow's youngest brother. And then there was...
"Laxus." Master Makarov's rough voice pretty much summed up the reason for the guild's silence.
"Don't get yourself all wound up old man. I'm here for my kin. Ain't got nuthin to do with the rest of your brats. Where's Bix?" Makarov didn't answer, but Natsu did.
"They locked themselves in the library and Luce won't let me in."
"Pretty sure you're the primary reason the rest of us are locked out Smoke For Brains."
"You wanna go Ice Princess!"
"Anytime you think you're man enough Flamebrain!" Macbeth and Laxus both ignored the forming brawl and led the rest of the group toward the library. There were a few interesting looks from the Boscan's, but Mira guessed they were in to much of a hurry to see Zen and Bickslow to give the odd behavior of the Fairy Tail wizards any of their time or energy. Though the sneer the smallest, silver-haired man gave Natsu and Gray looked like it took a lot of energy. It wasn't until the large group was gone that Mira had the thought that someone should have warned them about some of Zen's...quirks. Oops.
While the library group really had just finished lunch Mira had no idea when their guests had last eaten. Proveding refreshments was only proper. Besides, there was no way she was missing out on whatever juicy thing was going on in the library. She quickly stacked a tray full of finger sandwiches and loaded another with drinks and headed toward the juicy gossip, er, potentially hungry guests.
What she found was... Not what she had expected, and yet it maybe should have been. The people in the room seemed to be in some sort of standoff. Those who had already been in the room joined by the three recently returned Fairy Tail wizards versus the Boscan guests. How it had started Mira couldn't begin to guess, but most of the people in the room were quite obviously trying not to laugh at the two who were apparently trying to finish it.
Zen's back was against the wall and both his arms were wrapped around a struggling Sorano. Master Kaleb Pradesh and the silver haired sneering wizard were facing them in an almost identical stance. Mira was convinced it was only the strength and patience of the two delicious men that was keeping the two pale wizards from strangling each other. As it was they were hissing and spitting insults that made little sense to Mira coming into the middle of the... conversation as she had.
"He does not want you and never will!"
"Do you seriously think I'm such a barbarian as to not understand that!"
"You keep your greedy, power hungry paws off my angel!"
"Your motives are not mine!" There was this little furry creature that kept bouncing around near Sorano's feet. It looked almost like it kept bouncing off of her. Macbeth's magic probably.
"I set him free and I will die to keep him that way!"
"I wasn't the one rubbing my magic all over him like a wanton Stellan whore when we walked in!"
"Says the man who asked to sink his claws into him almost the moment he walked into the room!"
"Do you see his abs? Any boscan would ask the same."
Sorano gave a shreik of outrage and began to glow. Zen groaned and tightened his grip on her. That seemed to be some sort of signal for Lucy and Erik to get involved.
"Sorano! Your magic!" Erik lept in front of her and shook her shoulders a bit.
"Zen! Look at my eyes! Can you focus? We good?" Lucy reached out and physically turned the man's head so he looked at her. Sorano's magic vanished almost instantly and she turned herself around in Zen's arms.
"I'm sorry! Are you ok? I didn't mean to!" Zen tucked her under his chin and the two of them just... Stood there. Shaking a bit. Mira felt like she had missed something extremely important. The little fuzzy creature crawled up into the sneering man's arms and he held is close and stroked it for all the world like a villain in a bad comedy movie. He even leaned down and nuzzled it like it was a baby.
"You guys sure you don't need to seperate?" Mira thought it was pretty obvious they wanted to stay together, but seeing as how Lucy wasn't one for stupid questions she figured she must have reasons for asking. Zen shook his head.
"I'm ok. She... We're ok."
"Trust me, Daphne when they lose it you'll know." Sorano made a bit of a growling sound from where her face was buried against Zen's chest.
"Shut the fuck up, Erik."
"I just wanna go on the record as having pointed out," The lean darkhaired man spoke in a smooth, rich voice that had Mira's inner demons purring. "That if you two had just let that cat fight happen it could have been super sexy."
Mira blinked, thought about the two previously hissing wizards together, and she could see it. Prickly, hissing, gorgeous moon babies! They would be so pretty! She got so excited she didn't even notice her tray being plucked from her hands or the fact that she didn't hit the ground when she passed out.
She woke up to the sound of murmering voices. The calm was disorienting. Her head was resting on something soft which was also disorienting. She heard at least three seperate conversations taking place. One was between Zen and, she presumed, his family. On one end of the room she heard Lucy, Erik, Sorano, and the man who would make beautiful babies with her, on the other Laxus and the Thunder Legion. Her curiosity over how Laxus had come to be here had her focusing on that conversation first.
"Stop hovering over him like a fucking mother chicken, Freed. He's fine. Was fine when we found him aside from a bit of dirt."
"I'm not hovering." She could hear Evergreen's signature scoff so she must have returned to the guild while Mira was unconcious.
"Freed. Dude. You are." *so hovering, hover chicken, bock bock bock, helicopter chicken.
"I am not ho-"
"Freed." Macbeth's soft voice sounded a bit... scolding. "You are hovering. I don't mind, but you are. I really am ok."
"You're tired."
"He fucking slept the whole trip here. How could he still be tired?"
"He doesn't sleep at night Laxus, and I seriously doubt you all let him get adequate rest during the daylight hours."
"Cris helped. He even managed to keep me asleep through the first full night aboard the ship."
"You still need to rest."
"Later. Once this rune wears off."
"You're... using them?"
"Of course." Well. As cute as that was she wasn't gaining any real information from that conversation. She continued to fain sleep and turned her attention to her newest ship.
"If contact makes it worse why do you keep rubbing your self all over him?"
"Do you really have to ask that? Boscan?" There was a hissing sound Mira thought was from the male and some laughter from Erik.
"Don't be such a bitch, Sorano. I hear you both. It's not about magical compulsion shit. You two just like to cuddle." Lucy giggled.
"Is that really why you do it? Or is he just projecting?"
"Ouch. You doubt my truthfullness? Some mate you are." Lucy giggled again.
"Honestly, who would blame you? Access to that? I'd cuddle aggressively too?"
"You? Cuddle?"
"He cuddles." A new voice said. "Hestor what are you all plotting over here? All of you have this... cackle echoing in your minds." Hestor made a happy humming sound.
"We are going to take over the world." The new voice gave a longsuffering sigh.
"While that sounds like fun it's not what we are doing Master Kaleb. We were discussing how to limit the effects of the compulsion on Zen and the celestial wizards around him." Compulsion to what? Mira was extremely curious now.
"It strengthens with exposure to active magic does it not?" No one answered so Mira guessed they had nodded. "Then I am fairly certain I can work something up to block the magic, or at least mute the pull."
"Really!" Sorano sounded elated.
"Kaleb is a genious with lacrima technology."
"He's being nice." Lucy stage whispered. "I'm worried." Hestor hissed again.
"Take your sanctimonious bullshit and shove it up your ass you bouncy blond-"
"Hestor. Please." Mira was fairly certain Kaleb had covered the man's mouth to make him stop insulting Lucy. A good idea too, because Erik was likely to get a bit... murderous. Erik started laughing.
"I like him, Daphne. Can we keep him?"
"No." Kalab sounded quite emphatic. "This one is mine. You already have that one."
"Yeah, but she's my sister. Makes it less fun."
"No one is Keeping me!"
"We aren't toys for you assholes to play with!" The two wizards in question seemed able to agree upon nothing other than the fact that Zen was sexy and the rest of the world insulted them to the core of their beings. Maybe their babies would be more scary than beautiful. Mira could tell this conversation had moved on from useful information so she moved on as well.
"Whatever you need, Zen, we will make sure you get it. We know you need time and a certain amout of space. That is understandable. Whether you take that time here with your new friends or you come home with us is up to you. They have earned your trust already while we are still practically strangers and we understand that as well. Just know that you never have any reason to hesitate to reach ut to us. We will be here."
"Thank you...father." Now normally Mira was not shy about eavesdropping. At all. This conversation seemed to have an extra personal feel to it though so she decided to leave it alone. She blinked her eyes open to find herself staring into the most gorgeous night sky eyes she had ever seen.
"Are you finished pretending to sleep?" The fact that her head was in Cristoff Pradesh's lap was just to much for her brain and she passed back out.
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To be continued.