Lucy had been thinking about Cobra and finding where he was at but then her mind drifted to the concern she felt for her loved ones. They were so far away, in Mavis knows what kind of conditions, and she just wanted them home and safe. Wanted Kaleb being the fearless leader they were needing right now, Cristoff to calm everyone's nerves and mate with Juvia, to have Laxus wrap his arms around her, and Vander . . . she just wanted him home safe. After what had happened not that long ago she desperately wanted him home. She knew something special had happened with them, a once in a lifetime bond, so concentrating on Vander she had felt the wells of her magic surge. She had made a promise to him after all and she was going to keep it!
Her magic had curled around her like a warm cocoon, filling her with warmth, hope, and love and just let it take her where it needed too. Lucy had stumbled out of the black starry dimensions she had passed through, not exactly her most graceful landing ever. Looking up she was met with familiar wine coloured eyes, a smile erupting from her lips. "Vander?" She whispered hesitantly, unsure if she was actually seeing him or hallucinating.
"Hey, luce stellare. You're a sight for sore eyes," Vander smiled warmly at the blonde. She ran up to the glass pressing her hands where his were at, tears forming in her eyes.
"Are you ok? Where's everyone else?"
"Right here blondie." Lucy turned her head to the side to see Laxus in the same container as Vander. "Not that we aren't grateful to see you, but how are you here?"
"How about we go over that theory when we're home? Where are we anyway?"
"No idea Stella," Cristoff stated from behind her.
"Pyxis," Lucy whispered out as her trusted guide came through the gate. "Can you map the coordinates of this place please?" The hands on the compass spun in several circles before the bird flapped its wings to alert her keyholder that he'd locked in on where they were at. "Thank you. Can you head back now and let Virgo and Capricorn know and tell them I'll call them when I'm back in Bosco, please?" The spirit bowed its head as he headed back to his realm. Crux, can you find out everything you can on Queen Sydelle and her warriors for us, please? Lucy felt the silver key on her hip warm as he started to look into it for her. "We've been trying for days to get any sort of clue to where you might be. What happened?"
"Ambushed but Joyan warriors that used a powerful knock out agent to get to us," Kaleb explained as he looked at Laxus, wondering if they should relay the other news.
"Blondie, when you leave here you shouldn't come back."
"What the hell Laxus? I'm a White Sea mage so bet your ass that I'll be helping to get you out of here. Don't think for one minute that . . ."
"Let me finish dammit!" Laxus raised his voice slightly to get the woman's attention. "Queen Sydelle plans to kill you, Lucy, needs you for something important. She's already warming up some of her lackeys to fend off the mages that are coming here, plus she plans on using us to breed specific women the night of the full moon."
"But that's only a few days away!" She had no idea what the plan would be when she got back, hoping she could repeat what she did to get here.
"Stella," Vander said with a smile on his face, "You mean the world to us, too many people back home and we just want to keep you safe. Sydelle is not someone to mess with plus we don't even know what kind of magic she possesses." Lucy glared at him as she poked the glass where the middle of his chest would be.
"You better listen up, all of you, because I am only going to say this one time," Lucy took a moment to look at the other three mages in the room. "I fought for my guild rank in White Sea, several of you in this room were the ones who deemed me worthy of it, and some bitch who is after you will not stand in my way. Not now, not ever!"
"Can't say we didn't try," Cristoff said with a shrug of his shoulders. "How are things at home?"
"Tense but Thane is doing an amazing job. Plus Bix called in a favour of our favourite iron dragon slayer, who also happens to be very high up in the ranks of the magic council. He's been helping us where he can and enlisted the help of some friends."
"I know you're doing everything you can," Kaleb looked to the door then to Lucy, "but you should probably go back before someone figures out you're here."
"I promise I'll be back with help. Stay strong, I love you all." Lucy's gaze landed on Laxus last as her magic curled around her, thinking about home and Cobra who was probably losing his ever-loving mind, along with the others.
"Think they saw and heard all of that on the cameras?" Vander asked the group.
"Without a doubt," Kaleb answered, "I just hope this doesn't speed up their timeline at all."
"How long until White Sea comes for us?" Laxus asked while sitting on the small bed.
"Earliest would be a couple hours, but I'm going to assume they'll need time to go over the news that Lucy will have for them. It could be a day at most." The four men were silent after that, each hoping that nothing bad would happen before then.
Meanwhile, Kaleb had been right and Sydelle had been watching the entire exchange with several of her top-ranked officers. She had felt the familiar tingle of celestial magic in the air and had stopped her warriors from startling the newcomer. Instead, they had watched the interaction between the five mages as they talked briefly about what was going on. She knew that Lucy was powerful but to see her appear through a gate, well that was purely amazing. No celestial mage had ever been able to do so before and the thought of taking her magic was making her almost giddy.
"Inform the others that we will more than likely had company coming by mid-morning tomorrow. I want him to be prepped and ensure there are extra magical restraints placed on the other three. Not enough to cause damage though, we will want to ensure they are all able to be bred once we have claimed our victory. Tell the alchemists to prepare more knock out draught plus another dozen vials of the aphrodisiac. I have a feeling we will be collecting more mages from White Sea that will ensure strong bloodlines and I want them to be able to breed as well." The women bowed to the queen and left her alone in the room. Sydelle poured herself a glass on red wine and walked about to the balcony. It was only midday but the outline of the moon was present in the blue sky, so she raised her glass up to it. "You will rue the day you stripped me of powers."
Cobra was sitting in the chair in a random room he had picked for Lucy to try her new skills on. He was glad for a little bit of peace and quiet because the guild had been in chaos ever since they were informed about Master Kaleb. On the outside they all seemed to be managing their shit but the inside what another fucking thing entirely. Many people were worried about what would happen if Kaleb didn't return. Where would they go? What would they do? Would they be safe? Most didn't realize that the mindbender had a contingency in place if he should die before he was married and had a co-master of the guild. He had talked to Thane about it in private one night because he was also concerned about it. Thane had informed him that Cristoff would take up the mantle with Thane helping where he could. Cobra had breathed a sigh of breath, internally of course.
Now he sat alone in hoping that it would work because he didn't think he could handle to grief should this go south. He had come to actually like the guild and its mages, Kaleb had taught him a decent amount on shielding himself from others. Farron and Arman had also stepped in to help a couple of times too, since they all had the same magic. He could actively shut out every soul in the guild and sleep on his own at night, but if a bunch of people were all feeling the same thing it automatically triggered his magic. Which seemed to be happening right now. There was a whole of people panicking.
"Cobra," he heard Evergreen's higher than usual voice call out to him.
"In here fairy queen." She was throwing the door open to see Cobra calmly sitting in the chair.
"Lucy did it, but we don't know where she is or what happened! Zen said she wasn't in the same room as you were because he couldn't detect any trace of her magic." Cobra was quiet as he thought about what they were trying to do, and about the celestial mage herself. Evergreen walked up so that she was standing directly in front of the poison slayer. "Erik?"
"She's safe. I don't know how I know but Tink is alright wherever she is."
"How? How can you possibly know something like that? She could be stuck in the celestial world or another plane altogether! What if she was captured? What if she used to much magic up? What if . . ." Cobra pulled Evergreen into his lap, placing his lips on hers in an effort to quiet the woman. Her legs landed on either side of his so she was straddling the maroon-haired man. She wanted to be mad of him for silencing her like this but she was too concerned for her friends, so overwhelmed with what was happening that she let herself get lost in the feel of his lips dominating hers.
Evergreen had one hand on his chest to steady herself while the other rested on the back of his neck, craving closeness. She pushed her body into his, getting as close as possible, and moaned into the kiss when she felt this thick cock brush against her core. She knew sitting like this would cause her dress to rise up, had felt Cobra's hands rubbing her bare thighs and the curve of her luscious ass. This was the furthest he'd let her go so far, not that she hadn't been doing her damndest to tempt him but he was staying just far enough away. He still thought she would run, she was positive, but she needed him to know she wasn't going anywhere and this was the best way to show him. They had been spending so much time together lately that while she was bathing this morning it dawned on her that she was in love with the grumping and cocky poison slayer.
Cobra had pulled away from the kiss when he heard her soul whisper that four-letter word to him. He was searching her eyes for the truth, needing the confirm what he had just heard. Her flushed face and heavy breathing did little to hide the warmth and love that was clearly shining in her eyes. He growled, sending shivers down her spine, as he pulled her in for another mind-blowing kiss. Hands grabbed her ass as he pushed her against his throbbing member, realizing that he'd need to mate with her once they rescued the others because there was no way that his dragon would give up with the knowledge it now had. A breathy moan escaped Evergreen as he kissed her neck, teeth itching to bite her fair skin. Cobra and Evergreen heard someone clearing their throat as they looked to where the noise was coming from.
"Not that I don't support this but could you maybe cover her up some?" Lucy was smirking at the dishelved look on her friend's faces, snickering at how red Evergreen had become as she adjusted the top of her dress and pulled the bottom over her ass. She went to get up when Cobra's hands tightening made her look at him puzzled.
"Don't need Tink to see this," he looked down so she followed his gaze to see he was still sporting a hard-on for her. "Give us a couple minutes Tink and we'll be out. Go calm the other fuckers down who are freaking the fuck out over your disappearing act." Lucy laughed as she exited the room leaving them to become somewhat presentable.
"Sorry I didn't mean to push you so far," Evergreen softly said to her mate. "I know sex isn't the answer to the dealing with the excess of emotions, especially since we haven't done anything more than kiss. With everything going on I just needed you to know how I felt and maybe I came off a little strong."
"Never apologize for that," Cobra stated leaving no room for argument. "I don't deserve you, fairy queen, but whatever reason you're my mate and I will cherish you forever. I've done a shitty fucking job of it so far because I've been keeping you at arms race thinking you'd run off because I'm not the most touchy-feely person out there." Evergreen's giggle warmed his heart. "Once this shit show wraps up I'm locking you up in my room for a week." He grinned as he heard her heartbeat speed up, knowing she was looking forward to it as much as he was. "Now let's go see where Tink gate hopped too."
"Glad you two could join us," Bickslow's smug smirk was enough to know that he was well aware of what happened between the two. "Turns out Lucy is able to use the links to travel time and space to get to her destinations. We'll have to test that out more in the future."
"Lucy was just informing us about what the others had told her as well as their location in Joya thanks to her spirit," Zen mentioned with the same smile Bickslow was sporting. "The three of us are going to head to Thane's office to talk about next steps if you want to come." Cobra nodded his head as the four men left the women to themselves.
"Just how much fun did you two get up too?" Wendy asked with a crooked smile. Evergreen paled when she realized that Wendy would be able to smell their arousal from their encounter.
"Juvia thinks that this is a good thing," the water mage clapped her hands in happiness. "Cobra and Evergreen have been on edge for a while and sex helps with that."
"We didn't get that far!"
"No but I'm sure you would have if I hadn't dropped in," Lucy snickered at the brunette. "How about we go have a drink to celebrate this small victory? After that, I'm going to head to my room and do some research with Grandpa Crux." The four women walked to the main hall of the guild, each in happier spirits than they had been in days. Their chat was still heavily about Evergreen and Cobra, but there was some teasing about Juvia being able to stay away from Cristoff on the full moon. They had talked about how Wendy's lessons were going with her stand-in instructor and Wendy was pleased to tell them they had moved to actual sex now. Lucy had decided to depart before they could pick on her sex life, or lack thereof.
She entered her apartment to find several books about Joyan and their culture. She picked up the first one and immersed herself in their culture and how the operated. Turns out Joya and Pergrande weren't so different of their view of the opposite sex and how they were treated. In pergrande men were everything. They held power, sex slaves were all male, the entertainment was all male as well. Women were used only when one wanted a male heir and all female babies were killed upon birth and if the woman bared a third female child in a row they were also put to death. It was a barbarian way of doing things that had Lucy feeling ill, granted Joya was a tad better. They at least knew the value of keeping men alive and well, even if they were the cream of the crop and were to produce powerful females. Male children weren't killed but they were raised as slaves trained in either pleasure or as a warrior then sold to Pergrande, Sin, or Seven.
The next book she picked up was all about the Warqueen hierarchy. It was based on the royal bloodlines of the country and only those bloodlines could challenge one another for the title of High Warqueen. There were currently five royal lines in the country, each of which operated within a specific territory. The eastern territory was ruled by Warqueen Carina Hosta who looked after mining of emeralds and other jewels as well as being in charge of Joya's elite warrior's training and acquisition. Carina had several women under her employ that were responsible for travelling to different countries to talk with slave traders about buying females who would benefit their cause. Lucy figured that Wendy must have caught their eye and that was why she was going to be sold to the Joyan empire, well before the rescued them all.
Warqueen Lanni Janeston ruled the southern part of the country that was responsible for arms manufacturing and sale. They'd buy whatever materials were needed to create the most fascinating and intricate weapons for their leaders while selling other weapons on the black market. Warqueen Zella Tucain, of the western territory, looked after all the finances for the country. Her followers were scholars that were trained in the art of warfare as well as ensuring the country was able to sustain itself.
The northern territory belonged to Warqueen Angeline Custos, who also happened to be the successor to Sydelle if she should meet her untimely demise before a female heir was born or of age to ascend the throne at sixteen. Angeline had the smallest territory but the most defended one since she looked after all the pregnant women and children up to the age of eight when they were sent to Zella for six months then Carina for the remaining six. After that period of time, it would be decided who would be better suited as a warrior or scholar. Each woman was trained in each area but the majority of their training would be one or the other.
Each Warqueen was expected to produce at least three female heirs, in case something should happen, but only the oldest could duel for rights as High Warqueen. If the High Warqueen had nieces then they also had the right to challenge the High Warqueen, if she had no heir apparent, for the right to rule. The only the book didn't mention was the magic each Warqueen possessed, seemed like it was a well-kept secret.
The current ruling High Warqueen had been on the throne for twenty years, the longest reigning queen to date. Most queens were challenged by other bloodlines or died in battle but Sydelle had dominated all, so much so that no-one had issued a challenge in seven years. Joya's economy was blossoming, even if most of the funds were from the black market. Lucy turned the page to read more about her biography, wanting to know her enemy inside and out. High Warqueen Sydelle Ake . . . Lucy blinked several times as she stared at those four words. Her mouth went dry as her heart raced, her world suddenly sinking. Akemann was Lucy's mother's maiden name and the horrible feeling in her stomach churned more.
High Warqueen Sydelle Akemann took the throne when she was twenty but was only inducted on her twenty-fifth birthday after she had passed her final test. The final test was to ensure that the new ruler would do anything to keep Joya in power, so to ensure another of the same strong lineage was unable to interfere the Warqueen council decided Sydelle's task. She was to kill her sister, Layla Heartfilia. According to records Sydelle had met with alchemists to help in her task but there is no known record as to what actually transpired, just that Layla did pass away after some time. The day of Layla's death was Sydelle's official first day as acting High Warqueen.
Lucy's vision swam with tears, which were falling onto the old texts that she had been reading. She had always wondered how her mother developed magic deficiency out of the blue and was slowly killed, now she knew the tragic truth. Her aunt had killed her mother all to gain a title, the same woman who currently had four of her friends held captive. She angrily rubbed the tears from her eyes and steeled her nerves. Lucy would have to come up with another plan, one to take down Sydelle, without the help of her guild, friends, and family. Lucy pulled asked Crux for a book on Joyan warrior stances and the book appeared before her in a shimmer of gold light. She wondered if her spirits were aware of this event, or at least the ones contracted to her mother. Either way the Spirit King must have had some knowledge on the topic but had been hiding it away. She'd deal with them later, right now she needed to learn as much as she could in less than a day.
Soooo there's that . . . Decided I needed to throw a twist of sorts into this story and voila! Next chapter will be the rescue and showdown between Lucy and Sydelle!