This was going to be an issue in their future relationship if she didn't stop leaving him in the dust to help others. Granted he had yet to tell her that they were mates but still! Lucy could be the tactician when she wanted to be but tended to think with her heart first and then her head, which was a reason he had always been drawn to her. Now he needed her to stay in one place long enough so that he could tell her about their situation and see if she'd accept or not. That made Laxus nervous, the fact that she could say no to him and he'd be mateless for the rest of his long life. He sighed, knowing that there was no way around it until he actually asked her.
Lucy hadn't been in Bosco for very long but she had already entangled herself into the Pradesh family to the point where he wasn't sure what either would do if something happened to her. He had been in the guild this morning for some food after his workout and heard the buzz in the mages gathered there. They were all whispering about a blonde hair woman that had managed to save Vander in some amazing feat of power. Laxus snorted at some of the rumors going around but one this was certain, every single person wanted to meet the celestial mage.
"Why so serious Boss?" Bickslow plopped himself down on a seat beside him with his own plate of food. "This isn't about Cosplayer, is it?"
"Of course it is Bix. Who else would Laxus be moping over," Evergreen stated sitting across from Bickslow while Freed sat across from Laxus.
"Evergreen be nice. I'm sure Laxus is just worried about what troubles Miss Lucy will encounter on this impromptu mission of hers," Freed answered hoping to placate everyone here and not cause a disruption this early in the morning. "If her mission was of great importance I am confident that she would have requested more help."
"I'm curious which friend it was that reached out to her. She makes friends so easily that the list would be endless, and I don't mean just from Fairy Tail either." Evergreen pushed her glasses up before taking a bite out of her omelet and continuing. "I think that it was either Erza or Levy that reached out to her. Maybe even Cana."
"I think it was Natsu. He is constantly getting into awkward situations where Lucy needs to get him out of," Freed happily took a bite of his pancake, glad his team of four were together for the first time in a while.
"Definitely not the pyro," Bickslow tried to say as calmly as possible. No need to alert to anyone that he was the only one who knew what she was keeping bottled up. "I'm thinking it was probably the stripper. He was just as bad as Natsu when it came to destroying shit and Lucy having his back, the only difference was that he actually used his brain occasionally." The small group of friends laughed at Bickslow's small jab at Gray. "Who do you think it is Boss?"
"I was thinking it might be the squirt."
"Wendy huh? Well, I suppose that would make sense, but I would have thought she'd ask Erza first. The two always seemed close." Evergreen waived her fork in the air as she was talking, "But then again Lucy was the more . . . level-headed in her team of idiots."
"We shall find out before tomorrow afternoon if Miss Lucy keeps to her timeline in the note. Until then why don't we take a small job to occupy the time? There was a mission on the board that the four of us have been selected to look into about an hour outside of the city. We'll be able to get out, stretch, and use our magic since it's been a while."
"Freed put is down for the mission, then we'll go pack an overnight bag, just in case, and we'll meet back here in an hour and set out." Laxus knew that Freed was trying to distract him and was thankful for that, but no matter what a small part of him would always be focused on Blondie.
Zen had never traveled by gate magic before, but he preferred it to moon and solar jumping that was for damn sure, or maybe it was just the fact that Lucy wasn't a huge ass about it. There were numerous times where Cristoff and Emazdi had 'accidentally' had a rough landing that put him on his ass more than once. They had mastered their magic jumping capabilities by the time they were ten, according to Kaleb, so he knew for sure they were just messing with him. Traveling by gate was amazing, to say the least. He was filled with warmth as he bathed in the power that was Lucy and Apus, filled with so much hope, love, and light. Zen was certain that he'd never felt anything so amazing in all of his life. He felt lighter, happier like things were going to be amazing from here on out and the hope that filled him with things to come was surreal. He'd have to ask Lucy about all of this when they were done, he wanted to know if this was her magic or just Lucy herself.
When they landed in Pranghes he wasn't sure what to expect but being locked in a bubble of water not one of them. On instinct, his wings sprung out to cut himself out of the water but became alarmed when the bubble just expanded to accommodate the size of his wings. He wasn't drowning either so this was either a very powerful spell or an equally amazing mage. He started to feel sleepy and was fighting against it with everything that he had, trying to retain his mental faculties so that he could fight the enemy and protect Lucy. LUCY! His head whipped around looking for blonde hair, hoping she'd escaped this onslaught as well. His eyes widened as she stood on the ground yelling at someone with blue hair before he was promptly let go and set back on the ground. Lucy ran to the blunette, as Zen was getting to requip his swords in case she needed back up but was stunned when she wrapped her arms around the woman. Did Lucy hug her enemies frequently?
"Juvia is so sorry for hurting Lucy and her friend!" Lucy held the woman as tears gathered in her eyes. "Juvia is happy to see Lucy here. Juvia has some troubling news that Juvia would like to share with Lucy and . . . "
"Sorry, Juvia! This is my friend Zen. He's an archangel mage from the White Sea guild in Bosco where I have been staying recently and has agreed to help us on this mission."
"Juvia is sorry for attacking Zen. Juvia thought that Zen had attacked Lucy while Lucy was being transported by Apus. Zen has Juvia's deepest apologies." Juvia dipped her head, slightly ashamed for hurting the handsome man.
"No harm no foul, Juvia. That was some pretty powerful water magic you have there, what guild do you belong too?"
"Juvia has no guild. Juvia has been working for Princess Hisui and the Rune Knights since Fairy Tail disbanded. Gajeel was nice enough to invite Juvia on Gajeel's travels with Levy and Juvia has since been working in Bosco and Fiore to stop this slave trade. Juvia will explain everything once we're all back at the base, so please follow Juvia." The three mages made their way through the winding streets of the small city of Pranghes where children were running through the streets chasing after one another and neighbours were happily chatting amongst one another.
The walked through a small farmer's market where Juvia bought some food and spices for their lunch once they reached the compound. Lucy stocked up on some candy for her spirits, each having their own specific flavour and kind they preferred. The two women idly chatted about nothing as they were conscious about their surroundings, that's when Zen felt it. Eyes, several pairs were watching the two women as they laughed, seemingly unknowingly, in the marketplace. Zen knew better as he watched the girls shoulders tighten and the laughs were a little more fake and forced as Juvia led them out and into a random house. Juvia pushed her magic into a lacrima in the wall before walking through with him and Lucy following behind her.
The basement was filled with at least twenty Rune Knights from both countries all milling about in different duties. Most were gathered around a large table with maps of the city and building blueprints scattered everywhere. There were even pictures of women on the board behind them with a different heading, which Zen came to realize were the names of the places the women had been abducted from either Bosco or Fiore. Fifteen pictures were currently up on the wall with what looked like another ten potential victims that they were waiting to get confirmation on. They needed five more women to make a minimum shipment of slaves to either Seven, Pergrande, or Joya. In Seven the women were slaves to the upper class who could pay for them, in Pergrande they'd only be bought if they thought they'd produce strong males since women's were worth less than cattle in that country, and in Joya they'd be going to the Amazonian warriors to see who would be worth training to keep amongst their ranks and the others were either put to death or would become labourers in the house or field. None of the scenarios were great, but they always prayed to go to Joya where their chances were the greatest.
"Fill us in on what's going on, please Juvia." Lucy made her way around the head of the table with Juvia, as the Rune Knights placed some plans in front of the two women, with Zen standing to the right of Lucy.
"Yesterday we found where they are storing the women," a deep voice of a Rune Knight stated as he pointed to the map. "They are being housed in an underground bunker that is heavily fortified by magic and roughly fifteen mages as guards. We sent a small troop in, dressed as civilians, to test them with the council's new magic identifier prototype. They are all gun mages of varying degrees, but none seem to be as talented as the two that were in Fairy Tail. Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka are safe in the capital," the knight said when he had seen the worry cross the blonde's face. "They are running a magic shop that specializes in guns, as well as teaching emerging artillery mages."
"How do you know all of this?" Lucy raised an eyebrow as she skeptically looked at the knight.
"Alzack is my cousin and Bisca wanted to me to give you this when I saw you next. I didn't get into the specifics of my mission just that you had been requested," he handed her the note as Lucy tucked it away in the pocket of her shorts to read later, then motioned for the knight to continue. "We have been monitoring Bora for months and have been counting the women he has been grabbing and our count is at twenty-five, with the last five to be arriving tonight. This is when we plan to strike. They will be heavily guarded with incoming women but we should be able to get inside at this time to take them down from the inside, however, we don't know how many enemies will be inside."
"Captain Tek!" a lesser knight saluted the captain before continuing, "We have an issue, sir. The shipment of women has come in early and there are another twenty-five women with them and twice as many guards." Tek took his helmet off and slammed it into the table in annoyance and frustration. His shoulder length black hair seemed to shine against his pale white skin, but his emerald eyes were filled with concern and anger. "Sir, we were able to get pictures and are waiting on them to finish printing from the lacrima. I will bring them to you the moment they are complete." He saluted again and walked away leaving the four of them to their own thoughts.
"Juvia doesn't know what to do Lucy."
"Think it's time for some reinforcements?" Zen smirked knowing exactly who he wanted to bring on this mission.
"Already ahead of you," Lucy grinned back. "I sent Virgo to speak with your father and brother before we left, so I am sure they are working on something for us. I also may have asked her to tap a couple of your family members shoulder's for help."
"Who did you ask for?"
"The Thunder Legion, Cristoff, Emzadi, and Vander. Plus there were a couple others I've heard your sibling chatting about that Virgo will be asking Kaleb about." Lucy figured that this plan wouldn't go as smoothly as she wanted it too and already had a backup plan in place. She knew that Bora wouldn't do just the minimum, after all, he had fifty women on the ship when she was captured by him years ago and figured he'd keep to what he was comfortable with. Plus he was greedy and the money he'd make by adding twenty more women to the group was something he wouldn't let up on. "They should all be arriving within the hour along with an additional blessing from the King of Bosco for this mission. We will still head out once they reach the underground bunker since it'll time to transport twenty-five women from the dock, but we'll want to tweak your original plan a bit. Juvia?"
"Juvia agrees with Lucy. Juvia and Lucy will pose as women that have been captured. Juvia has several fake magic canceling cuff that Gajeel crafted to break the moment magic is pushed into them. Juvia and Lucy will use those to get inside, but what's the plan from there?"
"Lucy's spirits will come in handy here. We'll easily be able to take out the guards posted outside the complex and we'll use Emzadi's heat to melt a hole in the side of the bunker giving all of us access to get in and out. The spirits will be able to safely keep the women safe where we'll have a couple of guild members to protect them until everyone is captured or dead."
"Sorry to interrupt, sir!" the knight from earlier appeared with a vanilla envelope. "I have the developed pictures for you." He handed it to Captain Tek who hastily opened it and started pulling out the twenty-five pictures of the additional women that had been captured. He was spreading them across the table when Lucy's gasp stopped what he was doing. Lucy's shaking hand picked up a picture as her eyes instantly filled with angry tears. She despised Bora, but now, now she hated him with the passion of the burning sun.
The intensity of Lucy's emotions could be seen as well as felt to all of those in the room as her aura suddenly turned darker. Gone was the happy and smiling mage that most of them knew and in her place was the angry tactician that had put several people through walls with her legendary Lucy Kick. As Lucy stared long and hard at the picture, letting angry tears fall, she shook with rage. She wasn't sure if Bora had planned this in hopes of getting her too or if he was just lucky with the mage he had caught, but either way, he had her undivided attention now. Lucy slammed the picture on the table and stormed out of there to go meditate and calm herself so she had a level head to go into the fight.
Zen watched Lucy storm out of there and was utterly confused by her reaction to the picture. He was assuming she must know who the bluenette in the picture was, but to have that strong of a reaction to her she must be someone of importance to the blonde. Zen watched Juvia pick up the pick and hold it close to her heart as tears also fell from her eyes. He was beginning to think that this woman was either an old guildmate or someone they had met while on a past mission, either way, this slave ring would be demolished. Zen just wasn't sure if there'd be any action for him between the idea of Juvia flooding the compound and Lucy using her spirits to exact her revenge. Juvia put the picture down and caressed the face on the person she knew involved in this mess.
"Juvia is sorry Wendy."
Mwahahaha!
I know you all hate cliffhangers, but they are just sooooo much fun to write. I promise to update soon so that I don't leave you all hanging in the wind for too long. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!