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.

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Lucy arched an eyebrow at Kaleb, showing him the last GMG in its entirety, including her interactions with tilted her head as she crossed her arms under her chest, just keeping her eyes steady, "Marakov's been the biggest pain about the sisterhood. He wanted to be able to contribute more….now…"

"Now you want to protect Bix's guild while he's gone," Kaleb leaned back and stared at her, "and you know that the ones left won't do much for opposition…" he trailed off, "and yes...there is something going on in Crocus."

Lucy shrugged a bit, "Mother never spoke about her periodic trips to the capitol. Means that she didn't want me to know...which means…." she trailed off for a moment, "It was something she was trying to protect me from." She let out a faint sigh, "So...I don't trust Hisui."

"You've got some sort of plan into place," Kaleb lightly prodded into her thoughts and arched an eyebrow at her mental image of standing over a pile of defeated mages cackling maniacally. "...and I don't think...that's your plan."

Lucy stared at him, "..partially." she blinked slowly, "I like thinking things that may or may not ever happen."

Kaleb let out a sigh and then looked over the paperwork again, "you'll have to take Dad or Farron with you to get these pushed through the government."

Lucy debated as she stood there, shrugging a bit, "whoever you think is best. She'll probably try to get time with both, one to try to woo, the other to talk about arranging a marriage." she grinned, "I want Van though...and I doubt Zen will let me go alone. Hestor's at the Academe, checking star readings." she shifted on her feet, bringing a hand up and then moving to tug at a bit of the silvered hair that fell through her honey locks, "we're going to turn Fairy Tail into a bigger force to be reckoned with." her lips split into a grin that was almost sharklike.

Kaleb watched her for a moment, "...you're truly frightening at times."

Lucy bowed a bit, "thank you, thank you, I'm here all year." She leaned forward, "now sign."

Kaleb wasn't afraid of her, but the look on her face? He knew better than to argue with that look. He signed where she pointed and then blinked as she snatched the folder and turned, "no thank you, Celebrían?"

Lucy looked over her shoulder and grinned, "when i get back, I'll make it worth it."

Kaleb sighed as she walked out, mumbling, "wicked woman."

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The doors to Fairy Tail burst open and everyone froze at the figures that they saw there. Things weren't that bad yet, but it was getting there. Lucy could see how things were starting to deteriorate...and only because of what happened. She spoke firmly, "I need to speak with your guildma-" She blinked as everyone pointed to Macao and slowly her lips curled into a large, devious grin, "-ster."

"I don't want trouble," The fire mage spoke as he put both of his hands in his lap.

Lucy slammed a folder down and leaned into his face, "you're going to sign where I tell you and then you'll be in a sisterhood with White Sea…" her eyes danced, "which means...you and yours can come to Bosco, ours can come here…" she let out a small devious little laugh, "and we can shore up your teams for the GMG next year."

Macao went to say something, but when a pen was held out, he took it and started signing where he was told to. When he was done, the little blonde turned and grinned, bouncing back to Farron and holding out the folder, "I leave this most important file in your hands."

Farron arched an eyebrow as he looked down at her, "you're beautiful when you're a devious little goddess."

Lucy grinned as she put her hands behind her back, clasping them, "I try."

Zen rolled his eyes, he could see the nerves that the little blonde had, the insecurities, he could feel them through...whatever the bond between them was. The outward front she put on was amazing and he couldn't fault others for succumbing to it, but inwardly, she was just a little scared and wanting to protect.

Vander sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "C'mon, Farron, let's go do that...then we can wait in the embassy for stardust to get done here."

Lucy grinned at the two and rocked from side to side, "just going to let Macao take the extra set, so he can look over it...then...I think...I'd like to go somewhere. Mostly alone. I know you guys won't let me go anywhere alone, but…" she gave a sad smile, "I need to do this."

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Lucy stood in front of the large angel statue and then sighed as she leaned over, brushing off the gravestone and setting a small bouquet of flowers down. "Hello, Mama."

Zen watched her from not far away, arms crossed and ready in case something happened. He could tell she needed this time, but that didn't put him any less on edge. He'd felt people watching them since they walked into the small rural city a few hours ago.

Lucy carefully sat down and let out a sigh, "I miss you, It's been awhile since...we've talked...and I'm really sorry, I know letters...don't excuse not coming and talking." she let out a soft sigh, "i'm with great people now though. My godfamily." her lips quirked a bit, "they're all very nice people, fun to be around...they help me forget that I'm on the weak side, make me feel that I can do anything."

Zen frowned as he listened to her, though he didn't look towards her, keeping his eyes on the area around them. This was the inner workings of the bright soul that seemed to almost always hide something.

Lucy let out a sigh at the slight breeze, "I know...I know I shouldn't feel like I'm weak, but I do. I've trained and trained; learned and learned, but…" she shook her head, "they're...all…" Her voice softened, "Their magic is all so amazing compared to mine. I'm just…." she shrugged slightly, "well you know. I'm not sure if you ever felt this way, I doubt you did."

The blonde shifted, "I'm worried, something is going on. Something big and I don't know if I can even be helpful in dealing with it. I mean...I froze in the middle of a fight because...memories." she curled her nose, "which stunk. Big time. It...was disgraceful." She let out a huff, "I know you said to always trust my magic, and I will, but...I wish...I wish you were here to answer my questions sometimes."

Her hand moved to rest under the name on the gravestone and she murmured, "I'll try to get back, as soon as I can." She slowly stood and then turned, smiling at Zen and rolling her eyes at the arched eyebrow she got, "what?"

"It's just us," Zen continued to watch her, "there's no need for a mask."

Lucy shook her head as she walked towards him and then next to him when he stood, "...I'm scared to death. Of Hisui, of these...these keys, these Spirits..it feels like...some cosmic entity is attempting to make me get married before I'm ready and…" she leaned against his side, mumbling, "I hate it."

He raised an arm and slowly pulled her to his side as they walked, "you don't have to love everything going on…" he snorted, "and none of us are pushing you, past trying to see if you are ever going to settle, because it looks like you've no want in the least bit to."

Lucy giggled softly as she wound an arm around his waist, "not yet. I...have to figure out the marks…" she murmured, "and hope that...I've not accidentally done anything to you that will make it so that you can't fall in love."

Zen gave a faint smile and shook his head, "I don't think you have."

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Presca carefully carried a small bag in one hand. Lucy had asked him to get a few pints of the Autumnal batch of Celestine Ice Cream via her com and he'd noted she'd snarled at him in a way that he truly remembered from Gwen only a few times. He knew to not argue with that tone, it either meant Cramps or Cravings. This year they had done something special and had said there were instructions on the inside of the lid. He didn't want to read them, simply leaving it for the blonde to deal with.

Lucy flung the door open and looked at Presca, almost having a sixth sense that the man was there, or rather, he mused as her eyes were stuck on the bag in his hand, the ice cream. She smiled as much as she could and hugged him tightly before murmuring, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, instructions are inside...there are apparently some for this year," He smirked at her confused look, "I'll be going, I've got a few things to do."

She watched him go and then smiled as she smelled mint and looked at the dragon slayer behind her, "ice cream, from the Academe. Always has a bit of stardust in it.."

Both of them grinned as they walked back inside the apartment and pulled out the two pints. Their brows furrowed as they pulled off the top and saw very clear instructions 'open, wait 10 minutes, crack and Enjoy'. Slowly the foil was pulled off and all both saw was a layer of chocolate.

"...I don't want to wait ten minutes…"

"Lunar dragon slayer, warming things isn't…."

Lucy grinned broadly, "Emi!"

The two got up, they could smell the stardust from the pints and it was almost like they were getting a little magic drunk before even eating it.

Emi let out a yelp and half turned as she saw Cris and Lucy appear, both of them holding a pint out to her, "...do...I want...to know?"

Lucy's eyes went big and wide, "Can you...carefully thaw the outer shell, pleeeeeeeeeeeease, it's from the Academe…and limited edition…"

Hestor arched an eyebrow as he walked over, "What you are doing now?" he paused, "wait...you got some…"

Lucy let out a low growl at the other Mage as if laying a claim on the pint, even as Emzadi shook her head and took both, taking deep breaths to carefully warm up the chocolate on the outside of the ice cream. "We got two...we can each get half a pint…"

"Happy Equinox!" Vander grinned as he appeared behind Emzadi, yelling with a grin on his features. When he saw two pints of ice cream distingrate, he blinked, even as he felt anger starting to radiate off the three Celestial type mages and the dragon slayer. "Uh…"

"Van…" Emzadi said, "I have a suggestion for you: run."

"Why would I-" Vander's voice was cut off as Lucy was lunging at him, letting out a banshee like scream that vaguely sounded like 'my ice cream!'.

The shadowquip's eyes went wide as he started running,diving into a shadow only to be thrown out at an attack on it. "Wait! Wait! It was an acci-" he let out a scream as he rolled out of the way, seeing his attackers got even more in number. Two very pissed off women, Cris and Hestor and four spirits.

Kaleb slowly wandered out, having heard the enraged minds and wondered exactly what was going on, but seeing Vander being mobbed was a new thing. He decided to dip into the mind of the man behind the counter, knowing he'd have seen everything and visibly flinched. He knew the ice cream was fairly difficult to come by, but hadn't ever bothered to get any and the four of them actually planning to eat it together? He prayed his brother wouldn't be hurt too much.

There was screaming and yelling as attacks went towards the shadowquip and the Guildmaster just watched as Vander attempting to explain it was an accident but it seemed the four weren't hearing it. He let out a chuckle as Vander eventually got outside, with more shadows than the four could go after.

It shouldn't be that hard to replace ice cream, maybe. Then he caught where the ice cream had come from in Cris' thoughts, in Hestor's thoughts and the rage in Lucy and Emi's thoughts over the lost ice cream. Oh, Vander was in the dog house, there was no way around it.

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Vander wasn't allowed at the Academe, but he'd begged Presca for help, the energy made just staring at the shadowquip when he explained what happened. The flat look the other had given him had actually made Vander cringe because he knew for a fact that was not just any flat look, it was the 'how fucking stupid are you?' look that Presca seemed to have mastered.

It had taken two weeks, but with assignments, he'd finally managed to get to Stella. It wasn't Celestine Ice cream, but Stella soft candies were almost as hard to get. He'd felt fear every time he'd seen one of the four and it was truly hard to believe that Cris had actually been as angry as he had been. The man sighed as he walked into the guildhall and automatically felt the ire and slowly walked to the bar. He put two bags on the bar when he felt himself flanked by his siblings, "i'm sorry. I screwed up...these are Stellan soft can…"

He let out a sound as the bags were grabbed and the two ported away. He had to wonder some days if all the mages that dealt with magic that was related to the sky were all fucking nuts. That was the only thing his mind could come up with.

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Lucy had holed up for a few months, going over the current roster from Fairy Tail. She'd smacked Kaleb quite a few times when he'd tried to pick who was going to shore up the guild. He learned fairly quickly that she saw this as her project, but what sort of project, he wasn't sure.

Farron had, apparently, had quite a few issues with the Magic council over the paperwork, but, finally, and much to Hisui's dismay apparently, the guilds were sister guilds. Lucy had cackled manically when she'd heard the official statement and he'd seen that odd scene in her head with her standing on a pile of defeated mages, as a far too adorable and twisted Chibi.

It had been popping up whenever she was plotting something, he noticed. He was currently leaning against the door frames to one of the meeting rooms, listening to her 'call'.

"Okay, so...we're going to be sending some things over, including a variety of mages, ranging from A rank to S Rank," Lucy picked up a cup and slowly sipped from it, "we'll also be instilling training regimens and allowing people to come here for more formal training." She paused, "...There are a few Fire mages that would love to help your son learn and train...and we have a school, specifically for children that are mages."

"I…" Macao flinched as there was a childlike whoop in the background and shook his head with a small smile, "I Think he wants to come...thank you…"

Lucy waved a hand, "it's fine, we're going to be sending some different Maker types over, to help with...an impressive amount of side thoughts Max, Including a Glass Make Mage that might actually get along with him pretty well." her lips quirked into a small smile, "We'll get mages trained.." her lips quirked, "and we'll get some sort of something in place to better rank each mage. Having essentially a free for all isn't good, some magics aren't good against one another.."

"But...that's how…" Macao frowned a bit, "...will it be better?"

Lucy grinned, a very sharklike look, "it is. Trust me."

"...yes, Ma'am."

"Good, now… put Max on, we need to talk about Guild Finances and what you have on hand." Her grin widened, "and I'll have one of my spirits drop off some paperwork that will alleviate some things...and hopefully make more money…"

Kaleb listened to her mind and blinked at the plans that were rolling in her head like stories. Making it so that the Railway she owned gave discounts to Mages, monthly passes, so many different things that would boost the railway and would also allow so much growth. She was truly an evil genius and he was glad he would never be pitted against her...especially as The Scene of her standing on 'vanquished' foes with a small, overly cute chibi of herself cackling over the fallen bodies yet again showed up in her mind.

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Farron sighed and looked at Lucy as she threw her head back and cackled. He shook his head, "you know, I liked her better when she was a little sweeter after winning…"

Vander laughed softly, "the last year's been rough, let her get it out. She was totally smiley and stone faced until right now...totally take over the world evil level too."

Kaleb snorted softly as he stood, "The maniacal laughter is newer. I believe it's a stress reliever."

Lucy took a breath and smiled brightly, "I needed that, I'm sorry. It's been a long week getting Fairy Tail's Paperwork in order."

Farron shook his head with a small amused smile, "now I see you doing that at a Board meeting…"

There were chuckles all around as Cocoa was passed out and Lucy relaxed back against the couch between Zen and Vander. Her eyes closed as she sat there and both her soul and mind seemed to slip into contentment. "I would, completely and fully." She grinned slightly and opened one eye, "but I try to be good there."

~)~)~)~)~)~ (A/N: if you don't like weird, strange implied relationships of a type that most people cringe at...skip to the next marker)

"So it's true?" A slender woman with blonde streaked black hair looked across a table at a man with similar hair.

The man gave a faint smirk, "it is. The Starseers say the Palace of the Gods became active again, but they're unsure when."

The woman let out a faint sound as she slowly brought a small tea cup to her lips, holding it with both hands and lightly sipping from the cup. She let out a low hum in thought, "and the Heartfilia heir does live?"

"She does," The man purred and slid a folder across the table, "this is what the Seers have gleaned, you'll find it...interesting, Sister Dear."

The woman licked her lower lip as she opened the folder, eyes dancing with glee, "oh, this is wonderful. What a beautiful specimen…" she purred as she sat back slightly, golden shot through lapis eyes staring into her brother's matching ones, "Imagine if we could get them to mate, Brother...just...think.." She let out a low moan, "I bet it would be so beautiful to watch…I bet her skin will glisten with..." her voice trailed off into a breathy groan.

He grinned at her and then licked his own lips, "it would be.I can only imagine how their bodies would move together" he leaned over, gently curling a finger along her jaw, "beautiful sun darkened caramel skin against flawless just tanned peachy flesh.."

The woman let out a low moan, "both of them being lit by starlight…" She groaned, "and then the golden glow of the celestial magic…"

The man chuckled softly, seeing the flush come over the other's cheeks, "come, Sister, I can tell you need release, let us retire to our room."

The woman moaned softly, "oh, yes please, Brother dear." she purred, "let's get them here...I want them mated here, say we can invite them for the lunar new year celebration."

The man let out a laugh and nodded, "for you, my love, anything, but it will be next year then, we don't have the time to invite them and get them here." He carefully picked up the woman and grinned as she curled into him. "Naughty, naughty Sister, I can feel how much you need me just by holding you."

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Everyone blinked as both lucy and Zen sneezed. The man looking started and the blonde blinking owlishly, "...well that was odd."

Zen made another face as he sat there, "I do not get sick easy…"

Cris moved and gently put a hand on both of their shoulders, pursing his lips and shaking his head after a moment, "...completely healthy...maybe just something in the air…"

The two shrugged a bit and Lucy let out a small sound, "probably a bit of dust or something…"

Zen just looked at Lucy for a moment and arched an eyebrow, "It would not have affected me."

"We are not playing the paranoia game," Lucy scowled as she sat there, "besides...It could have been something as simple as...someone hoping our Christmas was fine."

"Three days before New Year's Eve?"

Lucy scowled at the archangel and her nose curled a bit, "yes! Yes! It could have been! Or maybe someone wanting to see if they can find us at the New Year's Party at the guild! Who knows!"

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A/N: Say Hello to Creepy one and Creepy Two. you will see more of them in the future...and yes, they are implying what sort of relationship you might think they are. Hence the Nicknames.