Thanks to everyone who for showing so much love for this story! I love reading all of your amazing comments and no I'm not sorry for the cliffhangers, I take too much joy out of creating them to stop. Hope you all enjoy the newest chapter, please show you love in the comments section :D
Lucy was trying her best to keep her power levels up as she arrived in Pelerno on Pegasus, heading to the Pradesh estate. Her vision was starting to blur as the sun made its way over the horizon and she started to do the head bob. Princess, is that the lightning slayer on the balcony? Lucy squinted her eyes, attempting to focus in on the man, but he was just too far away for her to make out who it was. Lucy took in a deep breath and yelled the slayer's name, she was so ridiculously close to the estate but her world tipped on its axis as she plummeted to the ground below. She should scream, should be terrified, but the only she could feel was the looming darkness as her vision went black.
Laxus was standing on the balcony trying to gather his emotions and thoughts over what had been occurring. He needed some fresh air and a fresh perspective from the doom and gloom that was eating away at the hearts of everyone in the room. Laxus heard his name and looked up to see Lucy flying on a spirit, his eyes widening suddenly as the white winged horse disappeared watching Lucy free fall. He gathered his magic and shot off with a flash of light erupting under his feet. He caught her in his arms before teleporting them back to the balcony where Cristoff and Bickslow were waiting for him.
"What the hell happened to Cosplayer, Boss?"
"She came in on a flying white horse then she was suddenly falling."
"She's used up her magic reserves," Cristoff placed a glowing hand over her tired frame. "They are incredibly low, so she must have been busy, but I can give her some back since we are both from the sky. It should be enough for her to wake up, but she's on her own after that."
"Mhmm. Laxus . . ."
"Hey, Blondie. You scared the shit out of me."
"How's Vander?" Lucy hadn't opened her eyes yet, her voice screamed of how tired she was.
"He's alive."
"But? I can hear it in your voice, what's wrong?" Lucy's chocolate brown eyes looked into Laxus' stormy ones, pleading to be told what had happened.
"The voids are eating his soul Cosplayer," Bickslow dejectedly told the celestial mage. "We have all tried everything but nothing is working." The two male mages looked around at one another, consumed in their own misery to notice she placed a hand on her keys, Crux responding to her request.
"Take me to him, please Laxus?" Laxus lifted her petite body up and carried into the room where the rest of the Pradesh and Thunder Legion mages were at. Emzadi was curled up on Arman's lap, Xally was laying with Kaleb and Farron on a spare bed, Evergreen was tucked into the poison slayer's side as Freed continued to rifle through books with a pair of gale force reading glasses. Lucy's heart broke upon seeing the crestfallen looks on their faces, the tears that had been shed visible in all of their eyes.
"May I have a moment alone, please? I'll send Loke out if something happens." With his name being called the spirit opened his own gate, a look of indifference on his face.
"We'll be out here when you're finished my dear," Arman handed Emzadi over to Cristoff, ushering his children out the door.
"Princess are you sure? Crux said this has never been done before and is extremely dangerous," Loke whispered to his tired keyholder.
"I have to try Loke, especially when it could be his last hope." Her teary gaze met his own and he knew he'd lost. It felt like yesterday that she was saving his sorry ass from being erased forever, pleading with the Spirit King to let him return home. Sighing he nodded his head, Lucy grabbed his hand in silent thanks. "Aries will come through her own gate to put up a wool wall, so you'll have three minutes to finish the spell before they all break through it." The moment he left Aries was in his spot erecting a bright pink wool wall around the immediate area and then one around the perimeter of the room. Lucy swung a leg on either side of Vander's hips placing her hands on his chest.
Light of the Heavens
Hear my Plea
Join our Souls
To Save a Loved One
From Eternal Darkness
CELESTIAL TWIN FLAME!
Lucy slumped forward, falling onto Vander's still form as the other mages broke the door tearing into the pink wool. They were all screaming at Lucy and Vander clawing their way through to get to them. Kaleb was the first to reach them, being repelled by an invisible barrier, throwing him back into Cristoff who caught the man.
"What in the ever-loving hell was that?" Kaleb yelled as he pushed himself away from Cristoff. He fisted his hands at his side as he glared at the shimmering barrier.
"It's a barrier of protection cast around the one who issued a spell. It's incredibly strong and I doubt that I will be able to break it, not that it'd be a good idea." Freed was analyzing the barrier, trying to figure out if there was a way in without hurting the two trapped within it.
"Why the hell not?" Laxus glared at one of his oldest friends.
"If we disturb the spell there may be unforeseen problems, like neither being woken up or both being cast into Vander's darkness. There are too many variables." Evergreen put a sympathetic hand on Freed's shoulder as the run mage slumped, the stress of the day wearing on him.
"What the hell have you done Tink?"
Vander was floating in the darkness, waiting with knives in hand to fend off the void demons that were trying to take him over. He didn't know what the fuck had happened once that dart struck him but he was trapped within the shadows of his own magic. He was fighting for his very soul! Void demons were nasty pieces of shit, always trying to tempt him to the darkness, to swallow everything about him. His soul was a brilliant white light that kept the shadows at bay but they were slowly eating at it, his strength to fight them off waning with his resolve.
His father had searched for years to try to find a more permanent way to keep the darkness at bay but every lead turned cold. Vander eventually learned to work through it with the help of Kaleb and Bickslow and their unique magic. Kaleb had helped him to create a barrier within his mind so that when he was traveling the shadows he wasn't constantly bombarded with their whispers. Bickslow had shown him how to tether his soul to happy memories in case he needed something positive to brighten his soul to continue to fight.
He had mastered his shadowquip abilities by the time he was ten, kept them under control for the next eleven years, well until now. Vander was finding it difficult to stay focused on his positive memories, the ones that had gotten him through everything in life – the love of his family. They had shared so many crazy and amazing moments together that it filled his heart with joy. Now . . . Now he might never get to see any of his siblings get married and have kids, see his father get old and grayer, piss Laxus off at every given opportunity, and ask Lucy to be his sister like she had with Cristoff, Emzadi, and Xally.
Instead, the Steel Council would put a bounty on his head and be ordered to kill him to save the innocents of Bosco. The void demons would possess his body going around feeding the pure souls of anyone and everyone in sight until they were powerful enough to survive in Ishgar on their own. He was hoping that it'd be a painless and quick death should it boil down to that. That thought had Vander dropping his knives and slumped to the 'floor' as he watched a dozen demons come in for another attack. He didn't have the strength to go on, couldn't find any happiness within him to even make a faint glow within himself.
A blinding light erupted in the middle of the darkness causing the demons to scream and shield their black eyes from the brilliant golden glow. Vander covered his own eyes as well which were watering from the shock of something other than seeing black. As the glow got closer he heard his name being called over and over, looking up to see a blinding smile and the most comforting brown eyes he'd never thought he'd see again.
"Lucy?" Vander said in awe as he stared at her.
"I have been looking everywhere in this desolate wasteland for your sorry ass! Don't you dare give up so fucking easily Vander Jerico Pradesh!" Vander stared at her as if she was calling his very essence, bringing him back to life. "I haven't been fighting off countless ugly demons to find you and take you home, so get up! I need you to take my hand and fair warning this is going to hurt." Lucy outstretched her hand as Vander firmly gripped it. Lucy felt a piece of herself tear away and float into Vander, she screamed as it was happening. Vander stood there grunting as he was forced to take in her soul. When it was done though he . . . weird. Like he was made of sparkles and gold dust, entirely too giddy for someone like him.
"What the hell was that Starshine?"
"No time to explain. You should be able to take us back to the land of the living and promise you won't piss Laxus off for at least twenty-four hours. He's already going to be irate when we get back."
"Spoilsport," huffed the grinning shadowquip mage. "Why will he pissed off?"
"I may have barricaded them out of the room so that I could save you using the last of my magic . . ."
"So the entire family will be fit to be tied when I wake up? That'll be a fun family setting." Vander cheekily replied grabbing Lucy and whisking her back to . . . well, wherever their bodies were. He was eager to hear how she had pulled this all off and just how long he'd been trapped.
Vander groaned as he began to wake up, blinking his eyes several times to look at the white ceiling of the medical room. He felt a weight being lifted off of him followed by several feet scurrying off to who knows where. The cool watery feel of Xally's magic flowed over and around his body easing all aches and pains he was feeling. He sat up in his bed rolling his shoulders not liking how tense they had become while he was out. He finally looked into the teary eyes of his family who all decided that a dog pile was necessary.
"Get off me! You're all too fuckin' heavy! I'll be crushed!" Arman's laughter rang out as he watched his children beam with happiness, his own heartwarming at the sight.
"When did you get a tat, Van?" Bickslow asked pointing to the one peaking out from his unbuttoned shirt. Vander looked down in confusion seeing a yellow yip peeking out, before ripping his shirt open buttons flying everywhere. There on his chest above where his heart would be was a golden eight-point star, with the north, east, south, and west points being longer than the other four.
The star was solid gold and nestled in the middle of it was a black teardrop, the contrast in color making the teardrop pop out. Vander ran his hand over the new symbol and flashes of memories played before him, ones that were mostly not his own. He saw Lucy smiling as her mother called Aquarius out for the first time, Lucy joining Fairy Tail, missions with her team and the craziness at the guild, watching Laxus become guild master, to meeting him and his family. The love that she felt in each moment was overwhelming as tears flowed freely down his check landing on the white sheet covering his legs.
Vander ripped the sheet off himself and tore through the house trying to find where Laxus and Cristoff had taken Lucy, his family hot on his heels. He found them in her room Laxus cradling Lucy rocking her back and forth as she whined randomly. Lucy was still dressed in her ratty clothes from earlier as Cristoff hovered over Lucy healing minor scratches and wind burns. Cristoff walked over and hugged his brother in a tight embrace, which Vander returned.
"What's wrong with Lucy?"
"We don't know Van. Hell, we don't even know what she did to bring you back." Cristoff ran a frustrated hand through his black locks.
"Perhaps I can help fill in the blanks?" Loke stepped through his own gate and was met with a combination of glares and curiosity. He knew that once Lucy had decided to do this for Vander that he'd be the one to face everyone's wrath, he just hoped it wouldn't lead to anything too drastic.
"What did Lucy do that helped save my son?"
"She created an everlasting soul bond called Twin Flame." Loke looked from Lucy to Vander then back to Lucy with a frown. Something wasn't quite right with how she was acting after the bond was complete, but then again no one knew for sure what would happen. "Vander's soul was being eaten by the demons giving him very little hope and light to cling too. Once she got on Vander's plain she did fight off countless voids using her Leo Stardress form because celestial light is so much more intense than regular light, but not as blinding as the sun. Lucy took a piece of her soul to mend what had been broken in Vander's, which almost damn near gives him immunity to all shadows now." Bickslow's eyes glowed as he started to look into Vander's soul, what he saw had his jaw going slack.
"Van, your soul is littered with golden dots everywhere, they almost look like . . . well like stars, hidden amongst your own soul." Bickslow stated somewhat in awe since no one else could see what he was seeing. He looked over at Lucy still nestled in Laxus' arms, shaking like a leaf, and saw no damage . . . "Cosplayer just split her soul, so how can she not have any damage?"
"It's part of being a powerful celestial mage. Lucy is special, has always had an insane ability to know what people could be saved," Loke made a point of looking at Cobra, "and who would never be able to come back from the darkness. If Lucy feels strongly about something or someone, she can use her power to manifest something that most mages could only dream of."
"Like our kin markings," an awed Cristoff looked at his wrist suddenly aware of the importance of these symbols given by Lucy.
"Correct. Once she mates with Laxus she'll come into her own even more." Loke grinned at the shocked look on the lightning slayer's face. "Yea we know all about that and if you don't pull your head out of your ass and tell her then we've been given permission by the Spirit King to inform our Princess of this," Laxus growled at the lion spirit who was too smug to give a shit about Laxus' emotional unavailability.
"Then what's happening to Lucy now?" Evergreen asked while watching Lucy shake and convulse occasionally.
"She's working off the effects of being in the shadows for almost twelve hours while dealing with a severe case of magic depletion on top of using an incredibly powerful spell to save this one," Loke gestured over to Vander. "She'll sleep for a while but the King says not to worry that all is fine. I'll see you all when our Princess wakes up."
"It has been a very long and emotional day, so how about we all get some rest and convene in the morning. I am sure Lucy will want to make sure Vander, and everyone else, is alright once she's better." Arman ushered everyone but Laxus out of the room, giving the dragon slayer some much needed alone time with his kind-hearted mate. Arman was thinking of ways to pay Lucy back for bringing his son back from what could have very well been a very horrific ending.
Laxus placed Lucy on the bed, stripping down to his boxers before crawling into bed and pulling Lucy close to him. He'd been a right ass about going about claiming Lucy as his mate, ignoring her wasn't his best idea. Alright, he was fucking stupid. She somehow managed to worm her way into the Pradesh family's hearts, which wasn't an easy feat and had won them all over with her love, light, and laughter. She'd done the same thing with him, now he just needed to figure out a way to show her he wasn't an unemotional asshole. Mavis, this was going to test all of his limits but he knew that she'd be worth it a hundred times over in the end.