Gajeel had woken up early the next morning to head to the gym and try to clear his head. Bickslow and Thane had filled him in on everything that had been happening since they had found Lucy. Needless to say, he was quite surprised that Laxus was Lucy's mate but was glad that the two of them had found one another. The more he thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. Laxus was a complete ass hole ninety percent of the time, had issues dealing with people, but was a huge fucking powerhouse when it came to fighting. Lucy was essentially the opposite, except it seemed she had picked up some new fighting moves that he was hoping he could test out once this issue was fixed.

That was the reason he was heading to the gym. He'd stayed up all night with the other two mages going over every possible scenario, plan of action, details of reports that had come in and they still weren't any closer to figuring out where is Joya Laxus, Kaleb, Cristoff, and Vander had been taken. He had some inside help and was hoping that they'd be able to find something more concrete or at least a viable lead. Gajeel adjusted the weight set so he was starting off with five hundred pounds to warm up with. He was alone in the room which didn't bother him in the slightest but he was missing Lily who had opted to stay in Crocus in case anything good came from there. Moments like this he was missed belonging to a guild, especially after seeing how happy his previous guildmates were here in Bosco.

He was looking forward to taking some time off and exploring Pelerno. Gajeel had been sitting on the fence about joining a real guild again, especially since he and Levy weren't mates. They had tried dating for a couple months but it just didn't . . . feel right so they had parted ways amicably but it was still a bit weird, even if he was the only one thinking it. Plus he hadn't gotten laid since his time with Levy so it'd been a solid four months if not longer and he was really looking forward to working off some extra stress. His dragon had purred the minute he set foot in Pelerno but Gajeel had yet to figure out what the reasoning for that was.

"Hey, Gaj," Bickslow called out as he was changing the weight to six hundred pounds. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Longest consecutive sleep I've had since Tartaros," Gajeel answered honestly. He'd always liked Bickslow, found his perverted sense of humour to be super funny and wasn't as stupid as a lot of people made him out to be. Just hid it really well and when you find that he's a Pradesh and had to leave home due to his magic the barriers he put up makes sense.

"Morning Zen." Gajeel looked up to see another man, not quite as build as Laxus but definitely more toned than himself, strolling into the gym. "Gajeel this is Zen Pradesh, archangel mage of White Sea. Zen, this is Gajeel Redfox, iron dragon slayer previously associated with Fairy Tail and now a lapdog for the magic council in Fiore." Gajeel sent a blue black-haired man a glare before he started a new set of lifts at the new weight. "I asked for help and this is who they sent me." Bickslow cackled then dodged the iron spores that Gajeel shot at him.

"Any leads yet?" Zen asked as he grabbed another set of weights to warm up with while watching Bickslow grab a skipping rope.

"Nothing. I wish we had a direct way of contacting them or some kind of a damn tracker to do the job for us. Almost wish Natsu was here because he had the best nose out of all of us, easily finding and picking up on things the rest of us missed."

"Need some kind of a homing beacon. Could you imagine any of them have a blinking red dots on their asses?" The three men laughed before he added, "Knowing Vander he'd have it slapped somewhere where everyone could see it like his chest, forehead or dick since he uses that just as much."

"What did you say?" Zen immediately stopped, letting the bar rest on the ground.

"About the beacon?"

"No! The placement."

"His dick would be ideal but I don't . . ."

"His chest! Bickslow that's it!" Zen ran from the room, the other two following behind him with curious and confused looks. Zen was excited as the idea formed in his head and he needed Lucy to wake up so he could talk to her about it. They entered her room to find two bluenettes sleeping peacefully but the blonde was missing. "Where is she?" Zen asked in hushed tones.

"Judging by the scent I'd say she's been gone for an hour or so. Bunny have a spot here that she goes to think?" Gajeel looked at Bickslow who was giving Zen a small smile, obviously, they had an idea of where she was at. "Well lead the way." Bickslow turned around and walked the opposite way they came from, taking them to the small pond out back. It wasn't as nice as the one at Arman's house but it would do in a situation like this. "Bunny has always felt calm around water. Makes sense she'd find wherever she's at."

"Has to do with Aquarius from my understanding. She was the first spirit Lucy was contracted with and she often called her out in baths as a child," Cobra came out of another hallway to join them. "How's it going iron prick?"

"Could be better cyclops. How'd you become part of this?" Gajeel had heard about the Thunder Legion, Lucy, Juvia, and Wendy joining White Sea but Cobra was unexpected.

"Got caught by the same people who had Tink, became besties while caged, found static and crew, rescued the princess, and joined the guild."

"Don't forget you were the first to get a kin mark with Lucy. Then the others slowly started . . . Shit! That's it, isn't it?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Want to share with the class?" Gajeel asked the other three who seemed to be in on something he wasn't.

"Lucy saved Vander from the darkness a little while ago," Bickslow started to explain, "and she ended up forming a bond with him and marking him as hers in some weird ass way."

"She created a contract with him that essentially protects him from the shadows of his magic," Cobra finished listening to things start to click for the slayer.

"So you think she can somehow what? Sense him?" Gajeel questioned. It was absolutely crazy but if she could do something like Cristoff's moon jumps or Mest's teleportation then perhaps . . .

"Exactly," Cobra smirked. "We know Tink has that grandpa like spirit that's super smart so maybe he can find something."

"Good morning guys. What brings you out here?" Lucy smiled as she swished her feet in the warm waters of the fountain.

"We have an idea to pose to you about a way to potentially find the others," Zen smiled as Lucy's feet stopped moving.

"Really?"

"You'll need your grandpa spirit and maybe the call the kitten out." Cobra grinned when the familiar magic of a gate opening greeted them.

"I resent that. I have been around for hundreds of years, so I'm definitely out of the kitten stage." Loke readjusted his glasses before taking Lucy's hand a placing a kiss to the back of it. "Hello, beautiful." Lucy rolled her eyes before pulling her hand out and summoning Crux.

"I honestly have no idea what this is about but they asked me to bring you out. Hope you don't mind."

"Of course not Miss Lucy. What can I help you youngsters out with today?"

"We are wondering if there is a way for Lucy to sense Vander because of the connection they have, or even Cris with his kin marking," Bickslow asked hopefully. It was a long shot but it was the best they had right now.

"Let me look into it." Crux went into 'sleep' mode as he searched for the information across hundreds of years of knowledge.

"She could try it with Cobra first," Loke stroked his chin in thought. "If we had him sitting in another room then maybe Princess could focus on him, see what happens? There haven't been kin marks in . . . centuries, so no-one knows what to expect and that mark with Vander is even more mysterious."

"What do you think Erik? Want to give it a shot?" He shrugged his shoulders in response and went to find a random room to occupy for a bit. "Anything, in particular, I should be thinking about or things to expect?"

"No idea, so best of luck. I'll be around to see what happens and keep track of where you go too."

"That sounds cryptic," Gajeel narrowed his eyes at the spirit.

"We don't know how she's going to locate Cobra. Will it be a magic signature? Gut feeling? It's too new to know for sure."

"Cosplayer won't be hurt, will she?"

"I don't think so . . . but it could drain her magic since it's something new to her."

"I am right here!" Lucy had her hands on her hips tapping her foot in annoyance. "We wait for Crux to finish up and then we can . . ."

"Princess I have found something." Lucy nodded her head at the elder spirit for him to continue. "There are few passages that contain information on the topic but based on what I have found it is possible. It depends on the mage though for how you are to find him, each case was different, essentially a trail was found and followed. You need to think about what the link means to you and push positive thoughts into it in order to find them."

"Anything else Grandpa Crux?" He motioned his head no so Lucy sent him home. "I'll give this a try and we'll go from there?" Lucy started to think about her time with Cobra in confinement and how it was essentially him who had brought her to White Sea. Without him, she wouldn't have met any of the Pradesh family, who she had come to love and respect in so many different ways. Each one brought a unique ray of light to her world and she was forever thankful for that. The more she thought about them the happier she became until she was glowing a soft golden colour. The next minute she was gone.

He was bored! Vander had nothing to occupy his time with and he only had so much time to talk to the other three before they'd turn off that 'privilege' as the warriors had referred it to. Today was day six that he had been locked up for and he wasn't liking it one bit. He needed to stretch his muscles, feel his magic at his fingertips, and feel another body moving against his own. The only saving grace was that no one was to be bred until the full moon, which was also another day closer. Cristoff wasn't feeling any effects yet which they figured had to be because he hadn't seen any moonlight at all since before the night they were captured. He'd take that small blessing, didn't need any horny women out and about when he couldn't even fuck them.

"So not fair," he bumped his head against the glass wall.

"What's not fair?" Cristoff asked.

"Ooh! Talking time has been restored," Vander smiled when the others realized this too. "Just bored. I could be doing so many other fun things right about now. Mostly referring to sex. What I wouldn't give to find myself a bathing partner to fuck until . . ." Vander's jaw dropped as what looked like a large golden star circle appeared in the middle of the room. A petite blonde fell out of the circle as she lifted her head to meet his shocked red eyes. "Luce stellare?"