Love you guys so much!
Hiro Mashima created the characters we write into our stories. I created... Well, I've got kids so I guess I created them.
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"Mission time!" *mission, mission, fun.
"Whatchya got, Bix?" Lucy watched curiously as Bickslow handed Laxus the single mission flier he had brought over. They hadn't been planning a mission, so something must have caught his eye. Laxus, being Laxus, said nothing, just grunted and handed the paper to Freed.
"I see. Agreed." He hadn't even thought about it. That had her setting her book down and trying to read the mission flier as it was handed off to Evergreen. There was a sketch of what looked like a house on it and S-class written in bold letters at the top.
"Creepy... I hate going on these, but OK. Most of the time it isn't really what it says it is anyway and the reward is worth it. At least it had better be." For some reason she glared at Lucy before handing her the mission.
"Exorcist Required!" She was sure she was looking like a fish right now. "Historical site has become the haunt of a p-p-poltergeist? Evil spirit must be removed immediately without damage to building. Speak to Jason Malone for more details. 125 Master Circle, Arbordale. Reward... Three million jewel or Two million jewel and two silver celestial keys!"
She stared sightlessly at the paper in her hands. The big thing in her mind was the fact that there were, not one, but two silver keys, and the client was valuing them at five hundred thousand jewel a peice. No matter how creepy or scary the mission she would do it for new keys. That would be asking her teammates to give up a million jewel though.
"That's... They aren't... A million jewel for two keys. That's asking you guys to give up a hundred thousand jewel each."
"Two, Blondie."
"What?"
"Two hundred thousand. You get your cut and the keys, and no trying to buck that."
"But-"
"No bucking."
"Bu-" He zapped her.
"We don't mind, Lucy. Besides that's still four hundred thousand for each of us. It's what we always do. This way we don't have to fight over what portion of the reward something is worth."
"The monetary value of an item is dependant upon the value placed on that item. An antique ritual artifact from the eastern islands would be considered extremely valuable to Laxus, but hold little value to Bickslow. Likewise we are all aware that you would consider no price to great in regards to celestial keys, however they would be mere trinkets to us as we do not possess the ability to use them to call the spirits they are linked to."
"You collects antiques?" Lucy stared curiously at the glaring lightning slayer, who simply glared back at her.
"Only those specific to that region. The culture of the eastern islands has always seemed to fascinate him."
"Shut up, Freed." Both girls giggled and the boys grinned, or in Freed's case smirked just a bit.
"So..." Lucy looked back at the mission flier. "Just how dangerous is a poltergeist?"
"Really dangerous, Cosplayer, but missions like this are rarely what they say they are. The chances of it being a real poltergeist are, like... really slim."
"Nice." Considering her luck it would turn out to be a real poltergeist, or even something worst. She was going though. For the keys. "All right! Let's do it!"
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"It doesn't look haunted." It was just a house. Big enough to be impressive and small enough to still be considered super cute. At least that's what Lucy thought. "Or cursed. Or even creepy for that matter." Bickslow pulled his visor off and gave a thoughtful hum. Lucy found that scary, because, let's face it, Freed was right when he said Bix rarely thought. Not that he was stupid or anything, because he was actually bright enough to keep up with Freed when he bothered. He just rarely bothered.
"Well?" Laxus seemed tense as well. That couldn't be good.
"All I see is a house... So far." The tall blunette started forward and the rest of them reluctantly followed. "Buddy up guys. Everybody stays with a baby. Just in case."
The babies split up and hovered by one of the... Alive team members. Grouchy Papa was with Laxus, Popo the Bossy was with Freed, Precious Pipi sat herself on Lucy's shoulder, Big Sister Pupu went with Evergreen, and Pepe the King of Sarcasm stayed with Bickslow. Lucy had to bite her cheek to keep from making comments that would end up getting her or Bix zapped. The personalities of the team just meshed so well with the babies who were with them. Laxus and Papa were just going to wander around and glare and grunt at stuff.
The house was silent and empty, furnished as though it was being lived in, but empty. Since the possibility of their really being a poltergeist was low their real mission at this point was to figure out what was really wrong with the house. Lucy was sure she wasn't the only one hoping that age was just giving it extra personality by way of creaking floorboards and drafts, maybe critters in the attic.
She and Freed were looking over the parlor when the oddness started. The piano started playing itself, and it was no player piano. Lucy's hands went to her keys and she waited. The music was beautiful, but she very much wanted it to stop.
"Uh oh. Sadness. Waiting. Holding on."
"Daddy come. Daddy help. Make it right."
"If he could hurry that would be great." The music changed. Somehow it wasn't pretty anymore.
"Miss Lucy, perhaps we should retreat until Bickslow is available."
"I like that plan." They didn't get to enact that plan however. The entire wall of books started flying around the room, blocking all the exits. "Not good!" Before she could even think to call a spirit or defend herself they were flying straight at her face. Her eyes closed involuntarily but they never impacted.
Instead she heard her name shouted and found herself pinned to the floor and surrounded by a very pissed off demon Freed. At least that's what she assumed having never seen his Darkness form, but the green hair and eyes said it was Freed. It was beyond startling because she could have sworn he had an incantation to activate that spell. That and being tackled by a large grey demon without warning was startling no matter who you were.
"BICKSLOW!" Well, wow. Serious voice change there. "GET IN HERE NOW AND MAKE IT STOP!" Pipi and Popo tried to block what they could, but their tiny bodies could only do so much. Freed seemed to not even notice the books pelting him. Lucy winced at every thump when they hit him though. When the furniture got involved he started swinging at it. "GO AWAY!" When she saw the dark magic forming in his hand she yanked on his horns.
"No! Freed you can't do that! We can't damage the house! You'll blow the whole thing to smithereens if you do that!" He stared at her with those gorgeous mismatched eyes and blinked. The magic faded and he turned a full blown roar toward the poltergeist tornado thing.
Then green light flooded the room and there were three babies . Lucy shut her eyes tight and hid her face in Freed's shoulder, pulling his head down into hers since he seemed to be thinking none to clearly right now. Bix couldn't do his thing if he had to worry about them. She felt Freed's currently huge hands cradle the back of her head, trying to protect her from the items still being flung about the room by what she guessed was an evil spirit.
She held them both there while Bix did... Whatever he did that made the spirit scream like it was dieing all over again. She tried not to listen to any of the actual words that were spoken by any of the other entities in the room. Those she did hear were... Not fit to be heard by the living. She had a whole new respect for what Bickslow did, not that she had ever discarded his magic. Slowly silence fell and Freed seemed to shrink back into his usual form. She wasn't about to risk letting go until Bickslow said to though.
"You know, if you two took off some cloths that would be way more fun." *so much fun, huggy touchy, strip em. She reached around blindly until she found a book and threw it in the direction of Bickslow's cackling. She grinned at the satisfying yelp she got in return.
"You're good now, Blondie." She pulled her face away from Freed's shoulder to see the other three members of their team string at them, each with their own emotion. Bickslow, despite looking exceedingly exhausted, was grinning like a kid who just got his first bike. Evergreen appeared to be slightly concerned, but there was an odd sparkle in her eye that made Lucy think of Mira. Laxus just looked curious, the kind of wide-eyed curiosity that, if she had seen it on Natsu, would have heralded something mortifyingly stupid coming out of his mouth.
Freed's eyes were a bit hazy as he pulled away from her. He just lay there on top of her and stared at her. She had never seen him use his Darkness form so she didn't know if this was normally how he came out of that spell.
"You OK?" He didn't seem to hear her. "Freed?" He blinked.
"I- I-" Then his eyes flew wide and he scrambled away from her. "I'm sorry. P-please forgive me. I didn't mean to- to-"
"Easy." She followed him and held his face in her hands. "Is keeping me safe a bad thing all the sudden?"
"N-no. I- I just..."
"Then there is no reason to apologize."
"...I lost control..."
"Well, I kept you from blowing the parlor up, so it's no big deal."
"Th- the demon... I shouldn't... I'm sorry. I didn't- I didn't mean to." Her brow furrowed a bit as the struggled to put together the bits and pieces he was giving her.
"Casting Darkness... Was unintentionall?"
"Y-yes." He tried to look away from her.
"Freed, look at me. I'm not upset with you and neither is the rest of the team. Don't be ashamed of your magic. It's beautiful. I'm really impressed you can cast a spell that powerful that fast. Now," She leaned closer held his eyes. "Are. You. OK. You took a lot of blows there."
"I- Yes. I will be fine."
"Will be or are?" When he was silent she raised her eyebrow. That was usually all it took to force a response from him.
"I believe I am currently all right, Miss Lucy." She smiled.
"Good."
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He was not fine. Fine as in 'meh, I'll survive' maybe, but try as he might he couldn't hide the fact that he was injured. Not from Lucy at least. She had waited until they were all in their rooms that night and Ever was in the shower before heading out, leaving a note to tell her roomie not to worry. She stood in the hall until Bix left the room, knowing already that the man hardly ever slept in the bed he paid for after a job was done. He grinned and dropped his room key into her open hand without her saying a word.
"Figured you'd come take care of him."
"And if I hadn't?"
"Then I'd have come found you and tattled on him of course. Or let Pupu do it." She grinned and pushed off the wall.
"Thanks, Bix."
"Cosplayer..."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
"Uhh... For what?"
"Taking care of my best friend." He started walking off and threw over his shoulder. "Oh, and I ship it."
"You're a geek, Bix!" She could hear him laughing even after he was out of sight.
Freed froze when she opened the door. He was in the very early stages of gingerly removing his coat. The wide-eyed shock was quickly replaced by a guilty puppy look when she stood there silently with what she thought of as her 'mom face'. The one that almost always got instant results with Freed.
"When I asked you if you were OK I didn't mean 'will you survive' and you know that."
"I- I'm-"
"You are going to let me tend to the injuries you sustained protecting me is what you are."
"B-but-" She mom faced him. When his shoulders relaxed a bit she walked the rest of the way into the room and dropped her small first aid bag onto the table. She very geltly eased his jacket off his shoulders and let it slide down his arms. She winced when she saw that some of his injuries had broken the skin and bled through his white shirt. She sighed and hung his coat, glancing inside to ensure the blood hadn't gotten on it too. The fact that it was spelled Elluris mageweave had not only kept it blood free, but no doubt protected him from additional harm.
"Honestly, Freed. This is just pure stubborn pride. You're the smartest person I know, but I guess you're still a man." She couldn't help but gape at the cocky smirk that graced his face.
"That is indeed indubitable." She couldn't shake the idea that Freed Justine had just made a vague and extremely subtle sex joke, but she couldn't quite accept it as true either. She mentally set it aside to deal with later.
"You going to unbutton that shirt or do I have to do all the work here?" His cocky smile faded into a blush as he began to work the buttons. She had to be even more careful with his shirt than she had been with his jacket since it was stuck to his back in some places with dried blood. His back was covered in welts and dark bruises. There were a couple of punctures, but most of the bleeding was from where the swelling had gotten so bad that it had split the skin. If he hadn't been such a Man about it and just let her know sooner so she could treat him it wouldn't have been this bad.
"Sit." She spoke softly, guiding him to sit on the ottoman so that she could start gently cleaning his back. Truthfully she was extremely upset with him for not telling her about this when she had asked, but she had yet to find the words to express that.
"I'm sorry, Miss Lucy. I never wanted to- to- lose control like that... when... I never wanted you to see that."
"Why not? Why would you hide that part of you from me?"
"I didn't want you to... To be afraid of me. I'm...
"You're a very foolish man apparently. I'm not afraid of you, and you may very well have saved my life. You went toe to toe with a pissed off She-Devil and came out looking better than this. I know how sturdy your Darkness form is. The amount of force behind these blows..." Her fingers were shaking and she felt like she was going to cry. "D- don't... h-hide from me. Your demon doesn't frighten me, but you getting hurt and not taking care if yourself does."
He pulled away from her hands just to turn and pull her down into his lap. He held her tight against his chest while she shook. She didn't cry. She refused to, but she came close. He hummed some sort of soothing tune until she was breathing smoothly again.
"I won't do it again. I won't hide. Not from you. Not that I was very successful in my attempt to do so today." She giggled a bit.
"Bix noticed too."
"He did?"
"How do you think I got in here?"
"I... Hadn't contemplated the notion honestly. I was to shocked that you were here at all."
"Let me up. I need to finish cleaning your back."
"It's not that grave of an injury."
"Wanna tell me what you would do if my back was darker than my current hair color and bleeding in half a dozen places and I tried to tell you that?" He flinched and let her go. "Exactly."
The bruises tapered off low on his back, which she was mostly grateful for. The back of his neck was a mess. Decapitation by book would have been a real thing if he wasn't a wizard. It might have happened anyway if it weren't for his 'out of control' demon form. It was also a wonder that he didn't have a concussion. After she washed and cleaned all his wounds she bandaged those that needed it.
"Freed, let me brush your hair for you?" She made it a question about halfway through saying it, because she realized how personal a request it was. The delighted, slightly awestruck look he gave her said it didn't matter though. He made happy humming noises as she brushed, at least until the medication she had put on his back along with exhaustion started putting him to sleep upright. When she noticed that she put it in a quick, loose braid and, on impulse, kissed his cheek. He stared at her while she took her turn blushing.
"I'm gunna... Just... Go back to my room now." She tried to leave, only to have Virgo appear, practically under her feet. "Virgo! Uh... Hi. What- what are you doing here? In this room?" Mavis, could this get any more awkward.
"Princess, p-please forgive me." She knew better than to think that please was the 'p' word she had started originally. "When I arrived in your room to gather the day's wash Lady Evergreen instructed me to bring your evening supplies to Lord Freed's room, and to inform you that if she saw you before dawn she would be contacting Lady Mirajane."
'Lady' Evergreen was going to get her butt kicked Lucy style, and so was 'Lord' Bickslow for starting this lords and ladies thing with his stupid comment about the Princesses Court. Virgo had latched onto it like a snapping turtle. In fact Lucy was attempting to think up a reason to go after Laxus too, because two butt kickings just weren't enough to make up for the mortification of this moment. Not that she could kick Laxus's butt, or even his shin, but still.
"Lucy..." Her eyes shot to Freed. No Miss this time, huh? "Please stay. Not because whatever mental malady Mira has seems to have spread to our teammates, but... Stay with me because... Because I want you to. Please."
That was all she needed. Lucy had already wanted to stay, she just hadn't thought Freed would want her to do so. She took her things from Virgo, flicking her forehead for knowingly contributing to the awkward situation she had found herself in. After the delightedly maid spirit had vanished back into the celestial world she went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change. Freed was holding her brush and sitting cross legged on the bed when she came out. She had that brush before she got in the shower and had a strong feeling Virgo had come back to be naughty while she was washing her hair.
Regardless of whether the pinkette was involved or not Lucy let Freed brush and braid her hair. As soon as it was tied off he had pulled her back to his chest and all but melted into the bed. Lucy had beenthe one to fight the blanket out from under their legs and back over them. As awkward as she thought sleeping tucked up against Freed would be it wasn't. It was perfect. She even tried to stay awake to savot it, but failed.
That was where Laxus found them the next morning. When Evergreen had come down for breakfast without Lucy, and refusing to say where she might or might not be, he had gotten worried. When both Bix and Ever declined to help him look for the little not-blond he had become agitated and gone to get Freed's help finding their newest, most kidnap inclined teammate. It was on his way upstairs that he came to the startling realization that Evergreen was awake and alert and he had yet to hear from the man who was normally the first one up. That worried him enough that when Freed did not promptly answer his first knock he had lightning jumped himself into the room, only to stand and stare in shock at the two perfectly safe, sound asleep wizards. When he got back downstairs Bickslow and Evergreen were all but hysterical with their laughter.
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To be continued