So, we start getting a little... kinky here. Still no lemons, but there are very adult conversations in this chapter. So I'm slapping an M label on it, just for tone.
This is the last prepared chapter I have at this time. Don't worry. This story is priority 1 until all the prompts are addressed.
Also. Some of you have noticed the... Exodus? Migration? Jump shipping? Whatever. Authors are leaving for Ao3. They have their reasons. I'm not leaving at this time, however I will be double posting, starting with whatever story I start next. I'm on the site, just haven't posted yet. I'll let you know when my first story goes up over there.
All Hail Hiro Mashima, creator of Fairy Tail. We write to honor his work.
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Lucy peered through Freed's purple runes at the artifact that had turned her into a guy and Laxus into a whimpering ball of misery. From here it simply looked like a carved chunk of crystal. She didn't hear singing, nor did she have any inclination to touch it. It was skilled carving, but just a carving. A man and a woman, back to back, with their heads tipped back to rest on each other's shoulders. They were completely naked and carved with every detail present, but she was ignoring that.
"I'm not feeling much of a magical signature here. If the artifact cast this spell where did it get all the magic energy required?"
"I believe it may have been pulled from Laxus. There is a reference here to 'reaping power from the source to grant the wish'. Meaning the energy to cast the spell was taken from the person it was being cast on. The word wish is used several times. It is my belief that this chamber was designed not to curse people but as a gift to those who were unhappy with the gender they were born to."
"Wouldn't Laxus have noticed losing that much magic power?" Evergreen piped up from where she and Bix were sweeping dust from the stone floor. Lucy looked over to where Laxus was still hiding in his coat being practically useless. He really wasn't handling this very well.
"Hey Boss! How's your magic looking?"
"Fuck off, Bix." Lucy couldn't help but giggle.
"Let's assume that means he's running low. So Laxus was the energy behind the spell. The spell itself is carved into the floor. So... What's with the artifact?"
"Maybe it's just there to look sexy?"
"For real, Bix!"
"It's a lacrima!" Freed hustled over from the stones he had been studying. The look on his face said he had made a breakthrough. "There is a small compulsion spell set into it, along with a spell that works similarly to an SE plug! The spell worked on Laxus, because it seeks out the strongest magic power in the vicinity! It is ment to be a sub-audible spell that strongly encourages contact. Laxus's advanced dragon slayer hearing greatly increased the effect of the compulsion spell. The pedestal acts as a pressure switch, magic power storage, and sensor! Once it has enough magic to cast the spell on all the entities within the circle it activates! The spell isn't really that complex! Well it is, but it isn't! It is a straightforward gender changing spell!"
"OK... So the only question left is... Will it work on us again?"
"Yes!" Freed was bouncing a bit on the balls of his feet. Lucy probably wouldn't have noticed except... Boobs. They were bouncy. No wonder Gajeel called her Bunny. She did have a habit of bouncing when she got excited.
"So who touches it? Laxus probably doesn't have the power to do it again." Not to mention the inclination to touch the thing that already turned him into a chick.
"Perhaps a joint effort would be most advisable. That would lessen the magic drained from each individual." Freed drew his sword and took down his barrier. "We will have a very small window after the spell activates and before it knocks us unconscious to disconnect the artifact from the pedestal. Once disconnected it can no longer activate the spell."
"Wait!" Lucy pulled her keys out. "Open, gate of the golden ram, Aries!"
"I'm sorry! Pr-princess Lucy?" Aries blinked at her silently.
"Sorry if my appearance startled you, Aries. We are about to fix this mess. It's just that when we activate this spell it knocks us out. I was hoping you could cushion our fall for us. And this is to be kept a secret from Leo."
"I'm sorry. Yes. I can do that. I think. Wool bomb!" That was a little more than she had hoped for, but bit would do. "Goodbye Princess. I'm sorry."
"Are you ready now, Miss Lucy?"
"Ready. I'll pull if you guys push. There is no telling how firmly it is attached." The four of them took deep breaths and reached for the statue. The drain on her magic was not nearly as severe as she had expected. When the runes started to light up Lucy pulled the accursed statue off its pedestal and clutched it tight. Turns out it was just sitting there and the others didn't need to push at all.
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When the team went to pay Lucy's rent upon their arrival back in Magnolia it was the first time Lucy had been to her apartment since before her last mission with Team Natsu. The condition it was in was, quite frankly, atrocious and horrifying. Before Lucy could even say a word Freed had his rapier out and was casting runes around the entire building. A smooth-talking Bickslow had managed to keep Lucy's lease intact, though Lucy wasn't all that sure she wanted to stay in this particular apartment anymore.
She was so fed up with Team Natsu's behavior she was ready to move to another town entirely to escape their lack of respect for her person. She had no plans to allow them back into her dwelling place, no matter where it was, any time soon. She still loved them, she was just done with them abusing her good graces. She deserved better and the Thunder Legion had shown her that.
She had planned to talk to Team Natsu once she got back to the guild, but after seeing what they had done to her apartment while she was gone... Let's just say everyone that wasn't the Thunder Legion was glad that Team Natsu had taken a mission. The guild might have had to rebuild again if Lucy had been able to express her wrath. Especially since her present team was just as pissed as she was.
They had spent the previous day training as a group. Despite being the only holder mage on the team Lucy hadn't been treated as a cripple during training. In fact Laxus had put her through some hand to hand combat exercises and Bix had insisted she run obstacle courses with him, or behind him as it were. Meditation was a group activity, which Lucy had never experienced before. The Thunder Legion believed that while they each had their own strengths they should help shore up each other's weaknesses as well.
"What makes a mission S-class?" She and Ever were currently at the S-class board. It was Ever's turn to choose the team's mission jobs. Lucy was there mostly just to observe. Evergreen would choose two or three and then the team would vote on which one to go on. "I mean, the only one I went on was super vague on the job flier. Aside from saying the island was cursed it didn't tell us anything about how strong the enemy was or anything like that."
"Potential risk. A lot of the time we have little to no info on the enemy, like with that Galuna job. There wasn't even an enemy there as far as the poster knew, right? You found Lyon almost by accident."
"Exactly. The leader of the local population was convinced the moon needed destroyed because it was turning them into monsters." Evergreen snickered at her.
"Laxus told us about that job. The reason it was S-class was because the curse affected a whole island and there was no information on the caster. That's a lot of power without knowing what it is doing or other potential complications. Or even if the curse would affect the wizards who took the job. That's why it was S-class. It had the huge chance of getting really complicated really fast."
"Which it did."
"A dark guild is considered an S-class job unless there is evidence that they are really puney. So technically you have done three S-class jobs. Galuna, the Eisenwald incident, and that guild you took out at Love & Lucky. At least that would have been S-class if you had been sent after the core of the guild. Four actually if you count the Nirvana incident. I'm not counting any of your kidnapping incidents."
"Gee thanks. So what are we looking for?"
"Well first we just scan the board and look at the rewards. If there are any with a much smaller reward we like to look at those first. We used to ignore them, but... well... Change of heart, ya know. Often those are from people that really need help, but can't afford it. Ignore them and the person who posted it won't be around very long for someone else to help them."
Lucy glances at the table the guys were sitting at and smiled. She was learning that under their proud, snobby, pervy, grouchy fronts the Thunder Legion was super sweet. Like pineapples. Why they hid that she wasn't exactly sure.
"Another thing to consider is if an item of some type is included in the reward." Like Sagittarius's key. That had been the reason she went on the Galuna job. "Sometimes it's something the team wants, like books for Freed. Sometimes it's something valuable, or useful. Again, nothing like that today. When it's my turn I like to choose jobs that take us somewhere exciting, like Crocus or Rosegarden. If a job is close to or in Bosco we will take it for Bix. He used to have to stay on this side of the border, because of their Seith ban, but Arman and Farron finally got that lifted last year. So now-"
"Hold! Stop! What? Arman and Farron, as in Arman Pradesh the Boscan ambassador? You guys are on a first name basis with Arman Pradesh?" Lucy was about beside herself at the idea. Arman Pradesh was her idol. The man was everything her own father wasn't.
"Umm... Did we not..." Evergreen stared at her for a long minute before her face slowly morphed into an ornery grin. "Hey, Bix!"
"What?" *what, what, what do you want.
"I think Lucy has a crush on your dad!" The world grew fuzzy and started to spin. Her guild mate and temporary teammate was related to not only her idol, but the guildmaster of the largest guild in Bosco who was one of their Wizard Saints. Bosco took their Wizard Saints a whole lot more seriously than Fiore did, so that was a big deal.
"...ucy... iss Lucy!" Someone was shaking her. She blinked a couple times to focus and found Freed with his hands on her shoulders looking at her with a great deal of concern. "Miss Lucy, are you ok?"
"Umm... Yeah. I just... I need to sit down." She knew she was moving like a wooden puppet as she walked over and sat at the team table. Between her silence and the wide-eyed way she was staring at Bickslow the others were becoming more than a little concerned for her wellbeing. So she forced her mouth to emmit words. "You know my dad tried to get me to marry your brother?" Bix grinned and tipped his head to the side.
"Which one?" *yeah which one, who, tell us.
"Farron. But I don't think he would have been particular. Any of the four of you would have satisfied him. Even you."
"Even me?" Bix placed a hand over his heart. "You wound me, Cosplayer. Wait... Four? They hadn't found Zen yet and Cris is younger than you. At least he was." *not anymore, stupid little brothers all got big.
"Yes Four. Though I never knew your name. You were always refered to as 'the one who is traveling'. Kaleb was a practicing guild mage, and therefore less favored as a match. Farron and your father were the preferred potential husbands."
"My dad is more than twice your age!" *terrible, how, no way. When she was seized with a fit of hysterical giggles Freed took it upon himself to respond to Bickslow's outrage in her place.
"In high society it is seen as an honor to be given to an older man who has wealth and power. Second and even third wives are most often in their teens. Your father would indubitably have been the preferred match over your brother." Lucy managed to get a handle on her giggles and leaned on the table so she wouldn't fall over.
"Yep. My father would have cut off his own leg if it ment your dad would marry me and I would give you a little brother." The looks on Bix, Laxus, and Evergreen's faces was hilarious. Hopefully none of them would actually throw up. Bosco was a sexually free country, but that freedom was reflected in their abhorance of arranged marriages. It wasn't done. And to force an unwilling female into a relationship was almost a sure death sentence. "The man he was trying to engage me to when I ran away was more than three times my age. The man who I was supposed to marry after the Phantom war was also older than your father." Laxus started to look guilty and she leaned over the table to flick his forehead.
"What the fuck, Blondie!"
"None of that. It was a long time ago. You are enough of an ass now without making yourself a fatter ass by lugging around your past assness." Bickslow cracked up.
"Past assness! That's hilariously!" *Laxus has a fat ass, Laxus has a fat ass, Laxus has a fat ass. Laxus zapped them both. Bix a little more than her judging by the way he was left twitching. His little smirk said he got the point though.
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Evergreen had a date with Elfman that night, so Lucy was left to her own devices. At least she would have been if Bix hadn't kidnapped her for a slapstick comody marathon at his house. He bribed her with meeting his family. Also it sounded fun.
"Good. Now just mix it till the chocolate is on all the popcorn. I'll see if dad is busy." *daddy's daddy, grampa, busy busy.
"You aren't really calling him are you?" Bickslow vanished into the living room.
"Course I am. He knows all my team mates. It's only fair." *so fair, friends all know, knows the team. She didn't get the chance to respond since apparently Bickslow's dad was very not busy and answered instantly.
"Bickslow? Bickslow Altiene Pradesh I haven't heard from you in over two weeks. You neglectful child." Lucy could hear the teasing and love in his voice.
"I was on a mission dad. Chill." *do the chill, busy, so busy.
"Bickslow Altiene Pradesh!" She wasn't going to let her new knowledge of his middle name go unused. "Don't you lie to your father! We were only on a mission for two days and you were in the guildhall at the whole week before that and then some!"
"Thank you young lady."
"I hate you, Cosplayer." *traitor, betrayer. Lucy couldn't see Bix or his lacrima com, but she could hear both men's smiles in their voices.
"You're welcome, Ambassador Pradesh!"
"Ambassador? Good heavens. Why is there a woman with manners in your house son, and why are you not introducing us?" Lucy started to giggle, but something about the second part of question disturbed her.
"Dad. Don't be Mira. It's creepy." *creepy, not like that, please don't. Oh. That's why it disturbed her. Bickslow practically danced back into the kitchen and stole a particularly chocolatey piece of popcorn before turning the lacrima toward her. "Cosplayer, dad. Dad, this is Lucy Heartfilia. She's a temporary Thunder Legion member because her team is a bunch of overpowered toddlers." *kaboom, hairless zombie, sexy zombie.
"It is very nice to meet you, Ambassador."
"Just Arman, please. And it is very nice to meet you too, Miss Heartfilia." Lucy couldn't contain her grin.
"Just Lucy. The Heartfilia only goes on official paperwork since I left home."
"Some of which hit your desk, dad. Cosplayer's father wanted her to pop out Pradesh babies way back before Laxus lived with you guys." Lucy flushed at Bickslow's highly personal comment, but said nothing. "She's our celestial spirit wizard. I've told you about her." *Lucy Kick, bad ass babe, bikini babes, so nice.
"Ah, Layla's girl."
"You knew my mother?!"
"Say what?" *what, what, say huh.
"I did. She was a close friend of my wife when they were younger."
"Hey! How come you never told me that?" *how come, yeah daddy's daddy, why a secret.
"Because it wasn't any of your business at the time, Bickslow. And hello babies. I'm sorry I didn't greet you before."
*hi, wazzup, hugs and kisses, love daddy's daddy, hello.
"Welp. Popcorn is done and we have slapstick waiting. We are heading out on an S-class mission in the morning, but I'll call you when we get back." *when we get back, so much fun.
"Don't forget."
"Yeah, yeah. I won't." *won't forget, nope, we so will.
"And I'll make sure of it, Arman. I promise."
"I happen to know that is a promise I can trust. You kids be careful and take care of eachother. Give my love to the others. And come visit us sometime, Lucy."
"We will and I'll try!"
"Love you dad. See ya later." *bye, bye daddy's daddy, love you. Lucy smiled as the lacrima dimmed.
"I like your dad even more now."
"My dad is a saint. I mean, he's human, but he's a saint. Kinda like you." *good people, so shiney, pretty souls.
"I'm not a saint, Bix."
"Yes you are. A sexy, cosplaying, dominatrix type saint." *sexy saint, scary Lucy, so nice. She glared at him as they settled into his insanely comfortable couch.
"That doesn't even make sense." It did remind her of some things though. "Can I ask you a question? Like a-a sex question? Kinda. I think. Like a knowledge sex question, not a-"
"Chill, Cosplayer. I get the idea. And yes. You don't have to feel uncomfortable about it either. I'm Boscan. Ask away." *ask, ask, it's OK.
"It's... It's about Virgo. What you and Freed said about her. That she wasn't asking me to hurt her. Thathatt wasn't abuse. But... Why does she want me to punish her? Why does she think we should have that kind of relationship? That's just... Wrong. Right? I mean I'm not some twisted, perverted-"
"Stop, right there. Just because something is different doesn't make it twisted or wrong. You follow me?" *not wrong, just different. She nodded. "And BDSM isn't always about sex. It's... A way to relax, like a state of mind. Most people who enjoy that kind of thing are what you would see as perfectly normal. Not that Virgo is normal, no offense." *crazy maid, special in the head, love her anyway.
"Wait. Rabbit trail question. What does BDSM actually stand for?" She was all sorts of odd colors right now, she just knew it. But this was important to her spirit and she had finally found someone who might be able to give her the answers she needed.
"Bondage and discipline. Domination and submission. Sadism and masochism."
"See that still sounds like a bad thing." Her mind was supplying her with pictures of people being tied down and stabbed by cackling maniacs. There were whips and blood and screams and she wasn't seeing how that was a good thing at all.
"It isn't. It's all about trust and balance." *trust, only safe, lots of talk.
"How could you trust someone who hurt you?"
"Pleasure in pain is a hard thing to explain to someone who doesn't enjoy it. It's... A release. Like... Popping your back. The actual popping hurts, but it feels good. The trust concept is easier to explain. A bottom, or sub, someone like Virgo who craves attention, feels comforted and safe and free when they are being cared for by someone. It is the job of the top, or Dom, to take care of their partner. To guide them and supply what they need, and they feel pleasure in doing so." *so exciting, let it go let it go, shut up Pipi.
"Like... Like taking care of a little kid or a pet?"
"Pet is actually a term that is used, so is little or little girl. It's... I'm not very good at explaining this. Freed would probably do a way better job. You should ask him." *totally, ask the nerd, let him tell you, should be fun. Lucy about choked.
"F-Freed? Why would I talk to Freed about... Sex? Or not sex. Or... This." There was an odd smugness in Bickslow's smile.
"Well for one thing I guarantee he has a book about it." *so many books, books on everything, likes to answer questions, Miss Lucy.
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To be continued