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. Apparently I have also adopted "Good Hestor".

I also own All Things "Bellum" in this Story. it's my original creation, including the characters within the country.

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Laxus grunted as he used his lightning to get away from the vines again. He had several cuts and his shirt was in tatters, coat thrown over by that strange throne. He vowed to recover it later but right now, it was a small bit of a liability. He'd taken it off the second time that one of the vines had snagged it and nearly gotten him.

He was getting annoyed more than anything, he'd gotten a few good hits in, but the man hadn't let go of that book. Gray eyes narrowed as he let out a growl and gathered lightning, streaming forward again, his eyes took an almost crazy look as he came out of lightning form, fist back to strike at the man.

The man took a step back, a dark glint in his eyes and just a small bit of a smile on his lips as vines suddenly sprung out beneath the Slayer. They wrapped around Laxus' body, thorns digging in and causing the man to roar in anger.

"Very pleasing," The man watched Laxus struggle against the vines, thorns cutting into the skin and blood starting to slowly make its way down in thick rivulets over the slayer's skin. "Mard Greer is Pleased with this look."

Laxus struggled and panted, snorting as he let his head dip forward. He took deep breaths, calming himself before his gray eyes slowly rolled up, staring at the demon from beneath his brow. The man's lips curled into a sneer, "This all you got, Pretty boy? My mate's better at this than you are…" he half purred, "Makes it a whole lot more fun too."

The demon's eyes narrowed, "We are done here." he turned and walked to the throne, sneering at the fur lined jacket before picking it up between two fingers and tossing it away. "You shall stay there until my roses have had their fill."

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Vander hissed as he slid in and out of shadows, never going too deep. Every time he had since July, there was one void shade that seemed to come after him, it looked small, but it was faster than the others and let out a keening wail of hunger that he wasn't used to in the least bit.

The Shadowquip started as the wall exploded and a woman went flying past her, followed by another. He did a double take and arched an eyebrow as he saw long white hair. It took a second, but he barely recognized that the lighter haired of the two was Mirajane. Vander tilted his head as he crossed his arms on his chest, "Huh...not a bad catfight…"

"Hey uh, ladies?" Vander held a hand up, "Got a question!" The man dove out of the way as two attacks came at him, calling over his shoulder, "I was not going to get involved!" he kept moving as more came his way and rounded a corner. When there were no more attacks coming his way, he looked back around the corner, seeing the two going at it again. "Was just going to ask for directions...damn."

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Wendy stared at a giant display, pupils constricting as she swallowed. This was not good and she didn't know how to stop this. She'd heard that the Master of White Sea was amazing with magical technology and she almost wondered if there was some way to get ahold of him.

The slayer heard dark laughter and dove into hiding. She wasn't afraid...per se. She knew, logically, that the demons within Tartaros were much stronger than she was. She needed to group up with one of the others and hope that Laxus had been right about others coming as they were cleared. She'd only come to be a healer in case this group needed it.

She bit down on her lip and put her hands over her head, trying to be as quiet as she could as she heard shuffling.

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Rowan took a deep breath, still concentrating and he smiled as he felt Laxus. The smile soon fell as he realized he was feeling him through the vines and his eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure what the man was doing yet. He shook his head to clear it and then took a deep breath, focusing and putting one hand on another vine, fingers digging in.

His magic flared as he decided that he was done playing delicately to let whoever owned these not know...now he was out for pain. The man shivered and let out a soft and delighted sound...as a shriek seemed to fill the air. He murmured softly, "That's it, baby, writhe for me in pain."

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Mard's eyes narrowed as he watched the vines start to shudder, "...how many ants have gotten in…."

Laxus grinned, feeling the tingle of familiar magic slide across his skin from the vines, "enough to kick your asses."

"We are done here," Mard swiped his hand, smirking as he murmured, "Alegria."

"What is that?" Laxus narrowed his eyes, struggling a bit more before a strange string of pink slammed across his mouth, then more impacted.

Mard's voice echoed through the Cube, "Alegria has been activated." he paused as he watched the red substance turn white, then narrowed his eyes, "It seems an ant has escaped. The one that destroys the blonde woman will be promoted to the empty spots in the Nine Gates."

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Vander had heard the first whiz of something coming at him and dropped, when he heard more and half turned, he did the only safe thing he could do: Dropped into the shadows. He stayed there, just below the surface, sliding around the strange red substance and then getting confused when it turned white.

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Zen's wings flashed out, cutting through the first strange attack, he moved, using the large cavern he was in to his advantage. He wove through the air, avoiding them and then grinned when four of them came at him at once...and the wall behind him opened up. He dove outside and back until he found the extent of their reach.

His eyes narrowed as he saw the color changing and then took a breath. He could see that the cube had changed and while he wanted to get back inside, he could feel the bond a bit better right now and he'd take a moment. Taking a quick flight around, he saw the transformed cube and his eyes narrowed. He knew he needed to go back inside and he banked, making his way back to where he'd come out from.

The moment he landed inside, he let out a hiss as again, the bond seemed to be half torn. His eyes narrowed as he let out a low growl. The announcement made him turn his head to the side. There was only one blonde he knew of that should be there and he felt the dread in him. He threw his senses out, moving towards where he could feel Lucy.

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Lucy was crying as she looked at Aquarius. She could just barely feel Zen and Vander, knowing that whatever was going on with this Cube was making everything hard, right down to them being able to go to one another. "I...I can't do it!"

Aquarius sent another wave of water towards the demons, seeing the one get closer and closer, "You have to." She smiled softly down at the girl...no, Lucy was a young woman. At Times, the older Spirit still thought of the blonde as a girl that was growing.

"I don't want to!" Lucy let out a scream of pain as she felt her magic drop a bit more. Three origins and she wasn't sure why it was doing that.

The Water bearer spoke softly, hugging the blonde with one arm and murmuring as her hand rested on the blonde's stomach, "you need to...for these two."

The words rang in Lucy's mind and she looked up at the spirit, shaking her head. She could see that the spirit wasn't lying to her and she let out a cry that was both full of pain and full of joy at the same time. "I…"

"Do it, Lucy, for the future, don't…" Aquarius smiled warmly, "I know you can."

The blonde looked at Aquarius for a moment and then sniffled before she held the key out, "i'm sorry...i'm so sorry I'm not strong enough…"

The Spirit kissed the top of the blonde head of hair, "you are strong. You are your mother's daughter, you are the Star Maiden, do it."

Lucy let out a wail as she held out the key, "I summon...The Celestial Spirit King." the power that poured off her was the last of what she had, she knew it was, the last that her body would allow itself to spare. As the key broke, lucy's cry of anguish filled the air.

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Zen groaned as he fought through the hallways, cutting through anything in his path. He could barely feel Lucy, he hated this cube and he would kill anything in his path. When the magic washed over the cube, as well as wail of anguish that rocked him to the core, he looked up. Seeing what was going on, he felt a bit of dread and the anguish that slammed into him as the bond between his mate, his brother and himself seemed to come back in full force, he staggered.

His eyes glowed and he focused on the bond, moving to follow it, only to have shadows curl up, "Van?"

There was a grunt before the two were both moving, swirling up out of the voids by a collapsed Lucy. Vander gathered her up, even as Demons seemed to come out of nowhere. The Shadowquip nodded, "burn them down." his eyes were dark, promising pain before the archangel was throwing himself into the battle. He absently traced the symbol that had appeared on her collarbone, "shit, stardust…what did you do to get this?"

He gently brushed her hair back and looked at Zen, they could hear fighting from all around them, from different points, "I'm going to get her to Dad and Farron!"

"Move it! You've got five minutes!" Zen called back, magic curling around him.

Vander nodded, shifting without a thought. He snarled at the void shade that was still insistent as hell, but he couldn't care much about that at the moment. He let out a breath as he came up in the middle of the room that they were in, starting when he saw Raven, "...hey kid."

The boy looked at him and then let out a squeal before holding his hands up. Vander smiled and leaned down, setting Lucy on the couch before kissing the boy on the forehead, "You be good."

Gajeel snorted softly, "I think it's his mom we gotta worry about. She's pacing and worried."

Vander looked at Gajeel, "get people together." he looked towards the window, seeing the strange, transformed cube list to the side, "can't let it hit the city."

Gajeel picked up the boy and nodded before he settled him against Lucy's side, watching the boy curl into her and nuzzle close with a soft purr. "Farron's outside. Emi's been throwing spells at it."

Vander stepped outside, watching as his sister, brother and Father sent out magic. They were sending wave after wave of attack at falling debris and he stepped up next to them, "don't strain yourself, Sis."

Emi arched an eyebrow, "what are you doing here?"

"Dropped off, Lucy, something happened. I'm going back...Zen's tearing shit up...they hurt her, bad." He gave a faint smile, "Knock it away from the city. Maybe out into the lake?"

Farron rolled his neck, "we'll have to get closer to do that."

Vander arched an eyebrow, "c'mon, you can do it." He gave a small grin to Farron, "I trust you. Raven's inside curled up against Lucy."

Farron went to say something, only to watch his brother disappear in a wisp of shadows, "Who's driving?"

Emzadi snorted a bit, "I'll do it." she grinned, "Time to recreate a bad Mad Max film!"

Farron watched as his sister moved away, paling, "please don't…"

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Vander paused as he heard, just barely, a laugh that he'd not heard in a long while. He leaned out of the hole that he'd come in by and stared as he watched Farron's hands extend and he could almost imagine the annoyed look on his features as the half crazed laugh from Emzadi filled the air.

"Well...she's in Mad Max mode…" He shook his head "think about that later." He turned and saw the demons that were slowly coming out of the woodwork. He let out a breath and then grinned, "Alright, time to dance...one of you has to know what happened to Stardust…" his eyes glinted dangerously as he dove forward, silently dipping in and out of the shadows to start cleaving through the low powered beings.

If anyone knew, he supposed it would be some of the stronger ones, taking out the weak ones would either make them appear, or clear things out enough that they'd be able to find one of the creatures that knew what had happened.

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"Why are you not killing it?!" Vander glared at Zen, then to the demon that was restrained in some sort of holy seals, as far as he could figure.

Zen crossed his arms on his chest, "he is the leader…" He paused, a slightly awkward look on his face, "...Rowan...and he use similar magic..he...wants him." he paused, side eyeing the redhead "...and he may have information about what happened to Lucy"

Rowan was in a quiet, if visibly heated conversation with Laxus. Both men had looks of annoyance on their faces and it looked like Laxus was having a bit of an issue.

The dragon slayer growled and drew a hand down his face before looking between Rowan and the demon. "Let's talk about this later.." He growled at the redhead.

Rowan let out a low sound and blew a snort through his nose, "Fine, but it is going to be a long discussion."

Laxus looked slightly bemused, "They always are."

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Hestor stood near Kaleb, arching an eyebrow as the mindbender seemed intent on the now defunct artefact and rolled his eyes, "it can't be that fascinating."

"They just fell apart…" Kaleb looked up from where he was crouching, inspecting a piece of the broken material.

"I'd guess they're old as fucking hell," He snorted, "old enough that the Steel Council didn't know about it." He arched an eyebrow slowly, "which poses a huge question."

Kaleb let out a grunt as he picked up a few more pieces, putting them into requip space for storage, "How is Fiore going to recover from something this big and this hidden?"

Hestor nodded a bit, "Indeed." he narrowed his eyes, "before you start pondering that. We're going home, you're taking a shower and we're soaking...you're covered in ichor." He leveled a look at Kaleb as the man opened his mouth, almost daring him to argue.

"...we have clean up to do here."

Hestor slowly arched his eyebrow just a slight bit more as his arms crossed over his chest, "there are thousands of troops here. They can clean up." when Kaleb opened his mouth, Hestor leaned forward, "I want our bed. With you in it." his voice dropped, "I felt the Ethernos in the air dropping...I can still feel where there are spots where there is no magic." his hand went out and he grabbed the collar on the breastplate the man wore, tugging him close, "I got a fresh honeycomb in a pot just before we left."

That Caught Kaleb's attention and he quirked an eyebrow, "...go on."

Hestor let out a hum, "we leave now...and you can play with it however you want."

Kaleb's eyes danced with delight as he leaned in, kissing the Celestial Mage, "Deal."

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Notes:

So...after the Lucy Scene...the muses refused to touch more of the fighting.

Ta-da, big reveal...quite a few. Including Hestor learning how to Ply Kaleb into doing what he wants, if only a little bit.

Also: Imagine that. "let's knock the big thing out over the water...so it doesn't destroy half the town". So...Props to Vander there.

I changed a whole lot...and I'm feeling lIke I could have tried better...but...after the Aquarius/Lucy scene...I can't. that was...yeah, emotional for me to write.

Obviously...Fiore (as a country and King Toma himself...) are going to have a lot to answer for on the world stage...so we'll be seeing a whole lot of Farron and Arman.