Cobra was just fucking done! He was normally a fast fucking learner but trying to deal with everyone else's souls, training, and Kaleb's instructions had him two steps away from putting himself in an insane asylum. At least he'd be fucking entertained! They'd been at this for five days now, five days since Lucy had saved shadowprick's ass, and he'd barely been able to quiet a third of the guild's souls! The teachings made sense to him but he was having a hard time putting the practicality to them and he knew it was attainable, just look at Kaleb! The fucking man could kill a thousand wizards with his mind and he couldn't even focus enough to block out fifty or so. Kaleb had suggested that he focus on one thing to help drown out the noise well fay fucking chance of that. There were only two people who could quiet his mind like that one being Cuebelios and the other was Tink, who was still fighting to wake up.
That situation wasn't helping clear his thoughts either. The twinkling sound of her soul had always put him, and his dragon, at ease and his life a hell of a lot simpler. After seeing her the handful of times when he was being a major evil douche bag from the darkest corner of Fiore he knew that she'd be bad news for him. However, when he was thrown into that cave with her Cobra had found out just how soothing her soul was. It was then that his dragon began to rant about taking her as kin, marking her as a sister in arms, a woman whom he would protect and vice versa. He had explained how he'd claim her as his and what being kin entailed but was shocked to hell when her magic had claimed him back, not that he'd ever complained. The feeling of her magic wrapping around himself had been the most incredible feeling he had ever experienced. Warmth, kindness, happiness, and love. That's what he felt with the latter one being an all-consuming one that left his lightly breathless. Now he was praying to any deity that Tink was going to pull through.
Kaleb was mostly laughing to himself as he observed Cobra's struggle from afar. Cobra's problem was that he was having a hard time meditating and focusing inwards which is why being close to Lucy made sense. She was slowly helping heal so many people just by being her light and jovial self and after the feat she had performed with Vander he was seriously hoping she'd stay in White Sea. When Cobra was remembering about making Lucy his kin and her powers washing over him in a loving embrace Kaleb could feel it. He was wondering if that was what Cristoff had felt while being bathed in her golden light because Emzadi, Xally, and Vander definitely had not felt that and she hadn't marked anyone else. However, Kaleb couldn't help the smirk on his face when Cobra's heartbeat picked up and his brain had literally shut down for a moment. The guild master rested his arms on the banister and watched Cobra with interest.
Evergreen had needed something, anything, to help with the funk she'd been in after Lucy saved Vander from the depths of his own darkness, so now she was walking into the main area of the guildhall. Everyone had gone their own ways to deal with the awfulness of the situation but Evergreen had just lounged in her room and cried for a while. She cried for her breakup with Elfman, for the guild disbanding, for Vander, and everything Lucy had to endure, even though she knew there was still something she was hiding from everyone. Evergreen sighed as she made her way around the room, stuck in her own world to notice that a purple eye was following her around, listening intently.
The fairy mage ordered an appletini while sitting at the bar by her lonesome self. She'd been in White Sea for what was it, ten months or so now, and had been shared pleasure with her fair share of men to drown her sorrows about her life at Fairy Tail. Now she just wanted to commit to one guy, build a life with them, and see where that path led but there was one minor problem. Her. Evergreen knew that she wasn't the easiest person to get along with, she was a bitch on the best of days with a sharp tongue. She was a strong independent woman, she fucking had to be after dealing with Laxus and Bickslow for over ten years and being the only female on their team. Emzadi and Xally had always treated her amazingly since she had arrived, hell all the Pradesh family members had, but then Lucy arrived and that familiarity had hit home for her.
Her biggest issue was usually her hair, nails, makeup and now she was constantly chastising herself about all of the naughty thoughts she was having about a certain maroon-haired dragon slayer. He was tall with tanned olive skin, unruly spikey hair, and dressed impeccably for a man who had been convicted more times than she could count. She'd seen him training with Kaleb yesterday afternoon and her eyes almost fell out of their sockets if it wasn't for her glasses holding them in place. He was wearing shorts which showed of his lean muscular legs and he was wearing a sleeveless shirt showing off just how toned his arms were. What had her licking her lips was when he took his shirt off to reveal his bare chest. He had a small patch of chest hair that she was dying to run her fingers in and a small trail from his navel to what she was sure was a decent sized dick. She had fled hoping that neither mage had heard her, and to top it off his snark matched her sass perfectly and Cobra could give as could as he could take, maybe one day she could find out if that was true between the sheets.
Cobra chocked on the beer that he was drinking as he heard that last thought within her soul and the yearning she felt for him made it hard to breathe. His dragon had even cocked its head as he listened to her internal musing. Cobra would have to have no fucking heartbeat to not notice how attractive she was with her light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and vibrant pink lips that he found himself wanting to nibble on. She had taken to wearing contacts occasionally but he still preferred her with her oval glasses. Evergreen had a very voluptuous figure with very large breasts where her dark green guildmark resided on the swell of her left one and wide, curvy hips, but his favorite thing had to be when she wore stockings on her sinfully long legs. What he wouldn't give to have them wrapped around his waist as he thrusted his . . . FUCK NO! He was so not going there right now, what the hell was wrong with him?
Evergreen got off her stool, deciding she'd go get some flowers for Lucy, but she'd need to go to the market first in order to find some she thought Lucy would like. She walked past the brazen slayer when her wedge seemed to catch something on the floor that had her falling forward. She internally cursed when she realized that she was going to have an impossibly large red spot on her face from where she was about to faceplant, so she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped for the best. She wasn't expecting a strong arm to catch her around the waist, stopping her mid-fall. Evergreen righted herself while holding the callused hand of her rescuer, so she dusted her emerald green dress off and stood straight to thank the man who stopped her from landing on her face. The cocky smirk and piercing purple eye wasn't exactly who she had in mind for her rescuer but she wasn't about to complain.
"Thank Cobra," Evergreen leaned in a kissed his cheek before taking off. Whatever had possessed her to do such a thing she'd never know but the giddiness she felt after doing it would last her through the next couple days. She couldn't wait for some girl time with Lucy to gush about this as she patted her cheeks hoping the redness would fade soon. Cobra, on the other hand, was dealing with a whole other shitstorm. His damned dragon was purring in delight when she had kissed him, flapping its wings and puffing out its chest as his tail slammed into the ground. Mate. Dominate, claim, mark her as ours forever.
Kaleb walked back to his office chuckling. He couldn't wait to tell his dad and Bickslow about this new development, he just hoped this dragon slayer wasn't going to be as damn stubborn as Laxus was to claiming and accepting his mate.
Bickslow had gone to check up on Lucy only to find her curled up around Laxus' large frame. He pulled out his com to take pictures, future blackmail to add to Evergreen's collection, and quietly exited the room. Knowing that she was in more than capable hands of his boss he headed out to find Vander, see what that sneaky shit was up to. Laxus had been crushing on Lucy for years, now that she was his mate Laxus just needed to come to terms with his past, and who better to do that then the eternal optimist that Lucy was. He just needed to be pushed . . . from behind . . . by a crane . . . off a cliff in order to make the leap that would lead him to where he was meant to go.
Dragon slayers and god slayers all had mates out there waiting to be found, but there were several other classes of magic that also happened to have mates as well. Seith, shadowquip, celestial, archangel, and beast mages were also destined to find their soul mates out there and he could see soul mingling once they'd found their other halves. Only thing was that he couldn't see his own soul connecting with another, but that was ok. For now, he'd be happy with his families happiness knowing full well that his was out there as well.
"Hey Bix"
"Zen! Hey man, what are you still doing here? Thought you'd be back at the academy already?" The seith mage hugged the archangel mage before slinging an arm around his shoulders. "What can I do for you today?"
"Well actually . . . I think I've found one of Lucy's spirits in Mom's pear tree out back. Was hoping you might have an idea which one it was and why it's here." Zen had come back from his run to find this large bird perched there just staring at him non-blinkingly.
"I highly doubt I'll be much help. Maybe we should just wake the princess and her dragon? Maybe Van would help so I don't fried this time." The two large men laughed as they went back to Lucy's room where Vander was already waiting with another glitter bomb in hand. Lucy wasn't in the bed so Bickslow surmised that she must be the one in the shower since the water was running, and after sleeping for five days he'd want to be clean as well. The water shut off as Vander crept closer to Laxus, Bickslow nudged Zen's side as they watched the blonde come out in a wrapped towel glaring at the black and red-streaked hair mage. Lucy touched her keys on the side table before looking back at Vander who was falling into a hole in the floor that was already closing. Within minutes Virgo had returned him in magic canceling cuffs and covered in bright pink glitter from head to toe. The brothers couldn't contain their laughter, as Lucy hid her giggles behind her hand, the sounds woke Laxus up from a dead sleep. His frown was obvious until he saw Vander covered in shimmering pink foil.
"What happened cream puff? Someone beat you at your own game?"
"The kinky chained maid sucked me into the ground and my glitter bomb exploded," Vander whined before his narrowed eyes looked at the celestial mage. "This is all your fault, I almost had him this time!"
"Cosplayer doesn't take too kindly to pranks and if you EVER happen to get her caught up in your stupid ploys . . . well, you've been warned." Laxus stated as Bickslow nodded his head vigorously in agreement.
"Stop complaining Van or I won't have Virgo take the cuffs off. What can I do for you Bickslow and umm . . ."
"Zen. I'm the second eldest Pradesh sibling and it's a pleasure to meet you, Lucy." He kissed the back of her hand as she smiled at him.
"He's Farron's actual blood brother from mom and dad, plus he's an archangel mage to boot. Dad called him back from the Academe Celestine when you soul started to struggle." Bickslow briefly explained.
"Thank you." Lucy hugged the tall, broad, mahogany-haired man. "You were the one that poured all that light into me then?"
"Cristoff healed what he could and I added my light to his healing. How did you know it was me?"
"You're magic signature has the same calming effect as it did when I felt it in the darkness. Bix wasn't wrong when he said my soul was struggling. I was being attacked hardcore and had some pretty nasty things attached to me, I could feel them." Lucy looked over at the seith mage. "You and I have some things to discuss, soon." The sad look in her eyes had him feeling guilty about the intrusion to her innermost thoughts and feelings, but she placed her hand on his forearm, smiling up at him before hugging him as well. "What brings you two to my room anyway?"
"I'm heading into the shower and will meet you shortly," Laxus said as he walked to the bathroom just waived her hand behind her head to acknowledge his statement.
"I found a white bird in our mother's pear tree out back and since it's a celestial spirit I figure that it must be yours." Zen watched as her eyes got wide in understanding. "It's been there all morning from my guess."
"Apus!" Lucy ran between the two men and booked it to the where she would be at. She could hear the heavy footsteps of Bickslow and Zen behind her but didn't slow down until she saw her perched in the tree. Apus was a beautiful white crane with bright blue eyes whose tail feathers were five feet long and sparkled silver with celestial magic. Lucy had bought her silver key at a magic store at Akane beach when she was on her way to Bosco, she'd paid five thousand jewels for the dusty key that was sitting in the side window of the store. Apus could find anyone that her keyholder knew with her eyesight while flying, but she also had the ability to transport Lucy to the last person Lucy had received a message from.
Princess Lucy. I am so very glad to have found you in Bosco! I'm hoping you'll call me out so I may enjoy the waters of the Grass Sea and prim my feathers. "Of course I will Apus! I'm assuming you have a message for me?" Yes, Princess. The water mage asked me to tell you that there was a slight . . . complication with her mission and that she was requesting your presence to help her as soon as you're able to go. "Am I able to take anyone with me Apus?" I can take one other with us on our travels because I will only be able to bring back a max of six others and the miss made it sound as if there'll be more mages coming back with us. "That's fine. Do you need to head back and rest at all? Did she indicate anything else about what kind of help was needed?" She said that she'd need a healer and fighter for the mission and that you'd know all about the mission if I mentioned a name. "Who's name?" May I return for an hour of your time Princess? And the name was Bora. Lucy clenched her fists at her sides as she glared at her bare feet in instant recognition of that name. "Return Apus and I shall call you out in one hour my time." The spirit bowed its feathered head before disappearing in a soft white light.
"Cosplayer . . . you alright?"
"Perfect Bix! I know Loke told you about the two men that were captured, but there was also this," Lucy called Leo out and asked him to hand the L-tablet to Bickslow. "One of the men that are prisoned in the celestial world dropped and I figured you guys could use it to figure out hurt Van. Loke, why don't you come out on your own magic and help Bix and Kaleb with the interrogation?"
"Anything for you Princess. Let's go see how busy the master is for this, shall we?" The two men walked away laughing and catching up with talks of their latest sexual encounters.
"Virgo," Lucy summoned the maiden and promptly instructed her, "Release Van if you haven't already then go and pack two bags. Once you're done that you'll need to inform Farron and Cristoff about what's happening, please." "Of course Princess."
"How are your healing and fighting skills?" Lucy rounded on the archangel mage with an inquisitive look in her eyes.
"My fighting skills are unmatched and my healing is somewhere between Cristoff and Xally. Why?"
"How do you feel about an impromptu trip to Pranghes?"
"Not until you tell me what's going on." Zen was firm in that regard. He could tell that whatever Apus had told Lucy had rattled her more than she was letting on.
"I have a friend, Juvia, who was working a solo job in the city when she ran across some disturbing news. She's been working with local Rune Knights to handle the situation, but unfortunately, she can't finish it by herself. Juvia has been patiently waiting to take down a small female slave trade happening in the city and the culprit behind it all is the escaped mage, Bora. I first encountered him right before I met Natsu and became a Fairy Tail mage. He tried to charm me into falling in love with him, but the spell broke, however, that didn't stop him from lying to me to get me on board his hip with about fifty other woman he was planning on shipping to Mavis knows where." Lucy rubbed her temples in frustration, "He escaped prison somehow and has been on the most wanted list for roughly a year."
"Oh you know I'm in now! What's you're plan?"
"Apus will take us to where Juvia is and once there we'll figure out how we want to do this. Rune Knights are following her orders for this mission, but knowing that you'll be there, the son of the Ambassador will make things go smoothly. Until Apus is ready why don't you tell me about your magic, since I'm sure you know all about mine after studying at the Academe Celestine."
"I'm the only Archangel in existence and had a shitty upbringing since I was stolen from my home when I was young, which we will delve into another time," Zen offered when he saw Lucy about to ask. He also raised an eyebrow when he saw her brush keys but said nothing more. "I promise. I use a form of heavenly body magic as well as have black wings that are as hard as steel, which comes in handy during a fight. I've been studying about my magic and celestial magic as well for the past year and will finish up my studies in two months time."
"You're compelled to celestial mages, aren't you?" Lucy saw the shocked look in his eyes at her question. "The way your mouth tightened when you said 'celestial mage' was a dead giveaway, plus I know a small bit about your magic. So do you feel anything around my magic?"
"No, which has me confused. Every other celestial mage I've met I have been drawn too, even though I stop myself from doing so. The Dean is the only person I don't feel like I'm losing control of my magic."
"It's based on intent."
"I don't understand Lucy."
"A celestial mage's power is based heavenly on several things. The size of our magic containers, the bonds we share with our spirits, our own personal beliefs, and our intent in everything we decide to do. I know you have a tragic past Zen, I can see it in yours eyes that you have endured more than anyone else I've ever known. Most celestial mages know that to claim an Archangel mage would be a huge power boost and that the two would be chained together for all of eternity if they mated, which strips the Archangel of the majority of their choices in life. With that being said my intentions towards are you are to be your friend, maybe family, but I have there's no way I will ever trap you in something that you do not want, Zen. I promise you this." Zen felt the power of her words flow through his being, cementing her word to him.
Princess, I am ready to head out. Apus appeared before the two mages in a soft glow and some white sparks. "Are you ready to do this, Zen?" Lucy asked extending her hand out to him, giving him the option to come or not. She smiled brightly when he placed his large hand in her small one and nodded his head with a grin on his face. "Alright Apus, take us to Juvia please." Apus unfolded her large wings from her sides and wrapped them around the two mages as a magic circle appeared beneath their feet before they were gone.
Bickslow and Loke were sitting in Kaleb's office explaining everything about what had happened that night and what Lucy had done to capture the two men, while Kaleb looked over the slightly damaged L-tablet. This was the break that he had been hoping for in order to find Vander's assailants and bring them to justice in front of the entire White Sea guild. He'd be thanking Lucy profusely when he saw her next and hopefully, she'd be part of the attack of whatever dark guild was behind all of this. He'd sent a warning to all the mages in his guild and to all family members when Cobra had examined the dart that Cristoff had picked up when he brought Vander home.
Xally had been the next target but thankfully had been testing her water with a special litmus test she'd concocted and had avoided being hurt. That was the second attack on his family, so Kaleb was going to bring the roof down on this dark guild. Loke had just left to get the two mages that had been captured thanks to Lucy's quick thinking. He'd called Cobra into this office and between his mindbending, Cobra's soul reading, and Bickslow's soul magic these two goons didn't stand a chance. Everything would be checked, no thought, memory, or soul imprint would be left uncovered by the time they were done. Kaleb was more than ready to find out who the fuck was behind all of this.
"Here you three go." Loke threw the two men to the floor, both in magic canceling handcuffs. "I'm just going to sit here and watch until you're ready for me to take them back to the celestial prison."
"What's the plan bro?"
"We are going to pull every memory they have until we find out who is orchestrating this. Loke will then take them back to the prison until we can devise a plan to take down the dark guild. At that point in time I will erase all memories of them being captured by us and place another memory in their place, maybe Rune Knights capturing them and then having them escape. We'll track them back to the base and attack them."
"I like where this plan is going already. Count me in on that action!"
"I'll count you in if you join the guild," Kaleb smirked at the glaring dragon slayer as Bickslow cackled in the background.
"We'll settle that once we're done here." Cobra started going through their souls, as Bickslow held them in place with his figure eyes. Kaleb was doubling his efforts as he sifted through their minds. Neither mage had anything dark in their pasts that would make them evil, but both were easily swayed by a dream of being on top and it didn't matter if it was a dark or light guild. The guild master had brought order to their area and was a firm believer of letting them grow at their own pace while collecting dark magical artifacts. Kaleb finally got to see who the master was and recoiled at the image of the person he saw.
"Hestor!" Kaleb spat the name as he glared at the two men.
"Who's that?" Cobra questioned as he looked between the two brothers.
"He's a celestial mage that tried to manipulate me by using Zen's magic against him." Kaleb rubbed a hand down his face at the memory. "Hestor had seduced Zen with his magic, threatening to bind Zen to himself, in order to get me to relinquish the title of Master to him. Hestor owns several of the Black keys of Ammit and is powerful in his own right, but how he was able to block me out I still don't understand. He slipped up in his plan though and trusted the wrong person, who let slip what was happening and we were able to stop everything, but he got away before we could imprison for before a trial was held. He plastered his name at every guild and informed his parents about what had happened, who shunned him after that."
"Who did he trust that turned on him?"
"Presca. The energy mage had worked with Vander on the Steel Council for years but decided that he just wanted the quieter life as a mage, same with Vander. Hestor made friends with him but always kept him in the dark, until the night of the supposed bonding. When Presca found out he reached out to my mental link and we quickly created a plan of attack. Loke would you return these two, please?" The lion spirit grabbed their collars and hauled them through his gate.
"Any idea how we're going to take down a dark guild in Caelum of roughly five hundred mages?" Bickslow asked even though he was pretty damn sure that Kaleb had created three different courses of action.
"First I talk to Dad and Farron. Then we gather the family for a meeting before addressing White Sea." The three men grinned at one another, content with what had been discovered and how they were going to go about it.
"Well Fuck," Cobra said as he walked out of the office.
"Cobra?" the brothers followed, curious as to what was going on.
"Cris. Laxus. What's going on? Why are you so riled up?" Kaleb as the two dragon slayers.
"Virgo handed Laxus this note about five minutes ago," he handed it Kaleb who read it out loud. "Dear Laxus, Thunder Legion, and the Pradesh family. I was contacted by an old friend who is in need of some help with her mission. Due to the nature of the mission, I cannot go into details but know that Zen has come with me to sort it out. Should be back by midday tomorrow and we may need Cristoff and Xally's help if all goes accordingly. See you soon, Lucy."
"Dammit Cosplayer," Bickslow cursed as he looked at a fuming Laxus knowing he hadn't been able to tell Lucy about the whole mate thing yet. Hopefully, she wouldn't be this reckless or careless once she found out, right? Cobra snorted.
"Tink's heart is too big for that shit Bix. If she believes in it strongly enough then nothing will stop her. Why don't we talk about where I'm placing my guildmark . . . I'm thinking that I want it on my left shoulder blade and in a color that matches my hair." Cobra knew that it was a small distraction for now but hopefully it was enough. "Bix catch this two up on the other plan."
"Oh right!" Bickslow caught what Cobra was putting down. "So who wants to know who's after the family and why?"