Reviews are Nice; The pairings are NOT decided yet. I get people like Vander/Lucy, I like them too, they're adorable when she's sassy and keeps up with him, but...I really don't know if they will get together or if it will be a friendship...or how far this darkness is going to go.

I don't own Fairy Tail. Mashima Does.

I don't own the Pradesh Clan. Desna does (and thank you for them).

I own the Storyline. That's it.

~)~)~)~)~

Another Class Session, another eight months of hard work that had Lucy Regretting much, especially when all her muscles hurt. She had just opened her second origin up a week before the session ended and spent the last week recovering and then an additional week there making up anything she missed or had to do for the end of term.

She had an evening lecture and that was it, she'd spend the better part of the day around her Family and White Sea, training physically and practicing in the rings at white Sea, pushing herself as much as she could before she poked and prodded a Teleport mage to take her back to the Academe for the lecture and sleep.

The Previous weeks, the lectures on using the stars to find out indications of the Future from the stars and they'd all frowned when it showed something bad was going to happen. It was never truly able to narrow down what but it gave an indication that something big and dark was going to happen. Lucy had been mulling it over as she drummed her fingers on her chair.

The blonde was the only one not doing something. Vander was off in some sort of advanced Sudehpah lessons that she knew she should ask about, but her mind was too far distracted. Emi and Cris were training with Nurem; Xally was in her private studies while Kaleb was at White Sea…training? She truly wasn't sure. It had been a long week and her mind wasn't working well at multi-tasking due to the strain of the last week.

She let out a sharp breath as a hand rested on her shoulder and looked up. She smiled warmly at Farron, "hey."

"Muffin for your thoughts?" He smirked as he sat on the arm of the plush chair.

Her laughter rang in the air, "decent offering…just…you know how I was taking that lecture about how you can tell if something major, either good or bad, is coming from reading the stars?" She smiled as he nodded and handed her a muffin. The small blonde slowly picked at the muffin, "Something…big…and dark is coming, Farron…it's…there's a lot of worry." She took a breath and sighed, shifting to lean into him and letting out a low murr as his arms curled around her.

She missed this part of being around the others: The hugs, the touching. She wasn't touch starved, but it always seemed like it around them. She wasn't unhappy, quite the opposite, in fact, but…it always seemed like a hug made her want more, made her body demand more. At ten and a half, she was still debating on her induction, when she'd feel ready and she felt confident it was soon, but the Star Reading had her too on edge to think about doing it. Celestial Mages and their actions could easily affect the long flow of 'Things that will be' and she didn't want to take any chances.

She let out a yelp as Columbia appeared and took the letter. Her eyes roamed over the letter, pursing her lips. She'd half gotten to know another person; a boy just a little older than she was that was working around the grounds. He was shy and truly didn't talk much, but when she needed a quiet and calm person to talk at, She went to the steel eyed boy and the girl he loved. Things were quiet at the Academe and she was glad for it, learning in the smaller groups made it easier to learn period. Yes, there were still lectures that were highly gone to, but those were far and few between.

Farron arched an eyebrow, "do we have to start screening your letters?"

Lucy waved a hand as she smiled up at Farron, "It's a school friend. He's very quiet, very nice and very much already in love." Her eyes danced as she sat there, "it's adorable."

Farron shook his head, a slight look of amusement on his features, "Alright. So is there anything we need to worry about?"

The blonde girl sat there, letting out a soft hum, "something 'dark' was revealed in a star reading…but…" she trailed off and shrugged, "it's not like it can be pinpointed too well, just that something bad is going to happen. Whatever it is."

~)~)~))~)~)~)~

It wasn't three months later when things went bad. Lucy had been spending from after Lunch until breakfast at the Academe, mumbling to herself and half brushing Hestor off when the man came to make sure she ate.

He gave a sigh as he watched her and then moved to lean over, wrapping his arms around her waist and hefting her up. He didn't listen to her indignant screech as he tossed her up and then slung her over a shoulder before walking out.

Lucy's hands beat on his back a bit, "I was busy!"

"you were about to starve yourself…" He spoke softly, "Besides…a guild that was mostly Seith…went rogue." Hestor made a face, "Started…kidnapping and leaving husks of bodies in their wake."

Lucy went completely still, "Seith…how is…the government…"

Hestor shook his head, "an uproar, but…I'd say this is going to be a bad outcome. Way too many people have ended up dead."

Lucy went limp as she was carried and mumbled, "fuck."

"After your induction," Hestor's lips quirked, then he flinched at the double open palmed smack on his back. "you're a bit rude."

Lucy shrugged a bit, "I need to eat and get home…I'm sure Hygge and the others are already…running around doing things, but…I want to get home. I need to get home."

"is this going to be something hair brained?" Hestor carried her, even as he got two trays of food. The young man moved to put the trays down and then put the smaller blonde down. He stared her down with an arched eyebrow before he sat.

Lucy pursed her lips a bit as she sat, "I don't know…" She shrugged, "I mean…maybe…possibly…"

"most likely," Hestor rolled his eyes, "but I get wanting to spend time with your family."

She went to get up, but the other Celestial Mage put a hand on her head and forced her to sit. He never stopped eating his food but looked at her, "Food first, then everything else. Otherwise, you're going to starve."

Lucy let out a low growl and grumbled as she sat, sulking as she worked to finish her food as quickly as she could.

~)~)~)~)~)~

By the time Lucy got back to the Pradesh estate, there was chaos; semi-controlled Chaos, but still chaos. She crossed her arms on her chest and sighed faintly with a shake of her head before she moved towards Bickslow's room. She smiled softly to him as she saw the fear in his eyes and moved to hug him.

"I don't…want to go," the blue haired young man said softly.

Lucy let out a reassuring hum as she let him half rock with her, "I know…but you know…I've got a way to get letters back and forth thanks to you guys." She looked up at him, "we can keep in touch, right?" her eyes were soft, "And I know Hygge will find a way to make sure you can come back and be safe, okay?"

She could almost taste the fear in the air and she continued to hug Bickslow. She had a feeling that whatever was happening wouldn't be smoothed over too quickly. When it came to the government it was rarely a fast thing, that was just a fact of life. She gave him a tight hug and mumbled, "we'll find a place to get you safe…" Her lips drew into a thin line, "there's always the Konzern. It's a good place to hide out a bit."

"really?" Bickslow frowned a bit and shook his head, "I don't know…"

"there's a small staff there, so they'll be able to help you and there's a few mage guilds that you can go to as well." Her eyes danced, "I always wanted to join Fairy Tail because Mama talked about them." She nudged him, "They're good people….and I can always visit to check on the Railways."

Bickslow let out a low sound, "you could get in trouble."

Lucy arched an eyebrow and then poked the young man's shoulder, murmuring, "you're family…" she smirked, "and use what there is at your disposal, okay?"

Bickslow nodded a bit and sighed, "Okay."

What Lucy wouldn't know, is that when Bickslow was finally 'smuggled' out of the country two weeks later, there was a fight and the boy never did make it to the konzern. They'd agreed to write after a month, just to let him settle in.

~)~)~)~)~)

Letters had been gathered and Lucy narrowed her eyes at people in and out. They were poking around and when they tried to get into the ornate box she had, her hand slammed down on it.

"what is in there?" The woman that was staring down at her looked suspicious.

Lucy pursed her lips, "Letters to my dead mother, a way to honor her even though she's gone."

The woman blinked for a moment and held up her hands, "Alright, my apologies."

The little blonde watched the woman leave the room with narrowed eyes. She was glad that she did the letters to her mother. She had a good place to hide the letters from the Pradesh Family to Bickslow until they got them all together…and the reply letters for when they came.

She took a breath as she sat there, letting her shoulders relax. She understood that they were looking for Bickslow, but they didn't have any idea where to look past the family home and for information that they could get. However, he didn't do anything wrong…it wasn't fair for him to be punished because of his magic. She knew Arman and Farron were going to do everything they could to get Bickslow back home, but…all they could do was wait and she hated waiting, especially for one of her Partners-in-Crime.

~)~)~)~)~)~

Lucy stared at Vander for a moment over her ice cream, "…say again?"

The dark haired male grinned as he licked at his ice cream cone, "I need a practice partner, for my Sudehpah training."

She slowly arched an eyebrow as she licked her cone, "and you felt the need to tell me this because…?"

"you'd be readily available!" He grinned wider and then blinked as he had strawberry ice cream shoved up his nose. "COLD!"

Lucy clapped her hands together, "I'll have my induction when I'm ready. I'm not quite ready yet." She shrugged slightly.

Vander wiped at his face, scowling, "I didn't say that to rush you! You wasted good ice cream!"

Lucy shrugged, "Sorry, not sorry." She crossed her arms and sat back, staring at him. She glanced around the guildhall for a moment, "I've got a lot to do…and I know I should soon, but something still seems…" she shrugged, "I miss Bixy, a lot."

Vander let out a sigh and moved to side hug the smaller blonde, "I know you do, we all do, but at least you've made it so we can keep in touch…and he's doing well, yeah?"

Lucy curled his nose, "he's being called a pervert…"

Vander let out a low hum, "why don't we see about going to visit…you've got a legal reason to go there..." He shrugged, "Visit the place he's at and come back with a lighter heart?"

Lucy looked around again smiling as she waved to Beck as the large beastmaster walked across the guildhall, "…sounds like a plan."

Vander's lips quirked and he leaned in purring in her ear, "like what you see there?"

Lucy scowled and put a hand on Vander's face, shoving him away, "Oh, my stars!"

"I'd totally do him," the shadowquip grinned, "good choice there!"