We topped 90 followers! I'm feeling so loved. I know that doesn't seem like a lot to some people but I'm super psyched.

Fairy Tail belongs to its creator. I'm only playing with the characters. Because they are awesome.

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"Because it's not an elm tree, Bickslow." Lucy hissed between clenched teeth

"It's not like they did that specifically to slight you. You are acting like it's a personal thing." *So personal, how dare they.

"Well it's driving me up a personal wall." He was laughing at her again. The stupid visor was in place again since they were in town, so she couldn't see his eyes, but she could tell. He was trying not to laugh. Probably because he had yet to recover from her total melt down this morning, which she was still embarrassed over.

"Well, the sooner we get to the mayor's house the sooner we can finish this ghost hunt and get out of town. So move your sexy ass and quit whining about trees." *sexy ass, yeah shake that thing. Lucy eyed the babies circling Bickslow's head. They seemed less... themselves than they had been the last two days.

"Are you doing that magical swaddle thing with the babies?" He tipped his head to the side.

"Yeah. You've seen how excited they get about new things. We've never been here before. It's new. They tend to... wander off and... pester people. So I've got them dampened to keep them out of trouble."

"What about their sneaky thing? They seem to be really good at that."

"That only works when they are calm. It's why I dampen them at the guild. It's exciting there, and they really don't have much in the way of self control." He shifted his shoulders like he had a bug crawling up his spine. "And people get weirded out when they realize the babies are their own people. It's easier on all of us if they just echo me. Draws less attention to the fact that they are dead people in boxes." *creepy dolls, so scary.

"Oh, Bix... do poeple really say stuff like that?" His head jerked back to look at her.

"Do you not remember Happy explaining my magic to you when we fought?"

"Umm... yeah... sorry. I don't really think about Fantasia, or Phantom, accept when I have nightmares. We are all friends now. None of that matters, so I try not to remember."

"Nightmares? About us..."

"No. Not about you. Every once in a while the Thunder Palace will show up, but not much else. I was a statue for most of it..." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "The Pantom War was pretty bad though, and it was my fault. So many people were hurt... and the guildhall... They almost blew up the whole town. Black Steel came real close to killing me and Team Shadowgear. We had a whiskey and vanilla ice cream float therapy session about it, after we got back from Tenrou. The five of us and Pantherlily. Poor Gajeel got just drunk enough to admit he has nightmares about it too. He watches his old self kill us and can't do anything about it." She felt tears begin to form and shook her head to clear it. "Hey, look we're here. Let's go get the low down on this castle." Bickslow grabbed her hand before she could go up the front steps to knock on the door and turned her to face him.

"We will be talking about this later. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, you might even be able to put it off till next week, but we will be talking." He sounded really serious about that. She didn't want to, but if she was going to get him to stick around like she wanted him to he would have the right to insist that conversation happened. Now or never Lucy...

"Those sound a lot like relationship words, Bix. You sure you know what you are doing?" He leaned forward, close enough for her to hear him whispering.

"Would it bother you If they were?" She shivered. "You understand me, Lucy, and I'd like to think I understand you. In ways even our teams don't. Now I'll be the first to admit I have no idea what I'm doing. I know what I want though. Considering what your team will do to me, you have to know I'm serious. Think about it. We finish this mission first. Go home, breath for a couple days. Then you come find me if you still want those kisses." He brushed past her to knock on the door himself and introduce them to the man who opened it.

Lucy couldn't breath. It got to the point where Plue reached up from where he was cuddled in her arms to, in his concern, slap her across the face. She took a deep breath only to have the molasses and cedar tinted air left in Bickslow's wake get caught in her lungs. Plue kicked her in the stomach and laughed at her. Once she began breathing normally he waved and went home.

She never saw Bix being the one to be the one to propose an actual, serious relationship between the two of them. She had expected him to laugh all her teasing aside as a joke. She had expected diversionary tactics and the use of kisses to avoid the conversation any time she brought it up. She had expected a refusal when she finally pinned him down and forced the issue. She had not expected Bickslow, of all people, to use words like serious and when he said he wanted her, despite the threat of imminent death from her insane team. If any type of relationship proposal ever came from his lips she would have expected it to be more along the lines of a 'you, me, bed' kind of thing, not a 'take time to think and breath before we even talk about it' kind of thing.

She really hoped Bickslow payed close attention to this meeting with the mayor, because it was looking like her brain was going to be flatlining for the next few hours. Maybe she should find an anvil to drop on her head to help kick start it. It took two Cosplayer's and a Lucy all but shouted from him to get her legs to follow him into the house.

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"The castle has always been... unsettling. People avoid it. Teenagers dare each other to spend the night as a test of courage and a right of passage, I spent a night there when I was young. About a month ago however it got... worse. Screams of terror and rage can be heard at night. Not every night mind you, not at first. Most of us thought we were imagining it. We don't spend a lot of time in that part of the woods. Then things started happening. Kids went out there and came back saying they saw things... moving inside. The past week the screams have been heard every night, loud enough some folks even heard them in town. Three days ago I heard them myself... while the sun was still in the sky. Curses and ravings. One of the voices even spoke the name..." The mayor paused and looked aound as if someone else might be present and overhear him. He finished his sentance in a whisper. "Zeref." Well... that explained the job request.

"We will go out in the morning and take a look. Lucy and I specialize in spirit and soul related magic so whatever it is we will find a way to deal with it." No need to tell the terrified old man that Lucy was a Celestial spirit mage and that if whatever was 'haunting' this castle could be heard by normal people it wasn't a soul. "Is there an inn you would recommend in town? We made the trip from Shirotsume in less than two days and my partner is exausted." Or something. He seemed to have broken Cosplayer. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing he hadn't decided yet, but he hadn't heard five words from her since they were ushered into the mayor's office.

"Of course my boy. There is a bed and breakfast my niece runs just down the street. Beautiful yellow building, can't miss it. She calls it The Niche. Silly name I say, but..." The man droned on for several moments before Bickslow decided he really did want to make time for dinner before he went to bed.

"My apologies sir but we really must be going." He had his babies steer his apparently broken potential girlfriend out the door. "In the future sir if the name of Zeref comes up in any context please let Fairy Tail know. We have dealt with remnants of his... legacy before, and find it best to come prepared." If he had to channel three more words of his nonexistent inner Freed he was going to scream. The next time he had potentially life altering words with Lucy it would not be before a client interview that's for sure. "Goodnight sir." The next word would break him. The old man had better just let them leave.

"Goodnight. Rest well and good luck tomorrow." Bickslow had the babies push Lucy faster as they escaped, all but running out the door. Dinner was in order. Then a bed. He would think about the not haunted but possibly Zeref related castle tomorrow. Hopefully it was all just an elaborate prank.

"Hungry, Cosplayer?"

"N-no?" Was that a question? Maybe he should find Lucy a room first. 'Pipi?' 'Yes daddy?' 'Would you like to stay with Cosplayer tonight?' 'Yes! Yes, yes, please daddy!' 'We'll take her to the bed and breakfast first then. Try to make sure she talks to Virgo before she falls asleep ok?' 'Punishment before sleep.' 'Umm... yeah, something like that.' Virgo would make sure she ate at least. If she didn't snap out of it by morning he would find a way to get Loke down here.

He got Lucy into her room without any trouble. The smile she gave the girl who handed them their keys was only slightly vacant. He waited outside the closed door untill he heard Pipi succeed in convincing her to summon 'the hide and punish girl'. He turned away to go hunt his own dinner and came face to face with a smiling zodiac lion.

"Shit! Loke what is your problem? Is it the cat thing? Do you have to sneak up on people all the time and be creepy?"

"Nah. It can be lots of fun though. You know that. Remember I was a partial witness to your stunt in Shirotsume."

"Yeah, whatever. What are you doin here?" This could be good or very bad depending on whatever was going on behind the blank look Cosplayer was giving the world this evening.

"Brought you your bag." Bickslow barely caught said bag as it was tossed at his head. "Don't worry about our princess. Virgo will make sure she gets a hot bath and a good dinner before bed. You just better not be peeking on her." Loke had to duck as Papa swooped through the place his head had been occupying. "Touchy aren't we. You made Aquarius's day by the way. She was laughing so hard Scorpio had to carry her home."

"Aquarius is the murderous mermaid that was her mother's right?"

"Yeah. She and Scorpio have been dating for centuries of your time."

"How long is that in your time?"

"Still a very long time. You really doing this?" The smile was gone. "Can you swear to me on your babies that you aren't playing with her? We hopped the same clubs for years, Bickslow. I know how you were. She likes you. I want to trust you with this, but..."

"Loke, have you met her team? You know as well as I do I'm literally putting my life on the line just by looking at her. I'm very serious. My babies love her, and... I trust her. She isn't just guild to me. I promise you this is not a game to me." Loke smiled again.

"In that case, let's go find something to eat, Disco Princess. I'm here on my own magic so I can stick around a while."

"Hey! Virgo can get away with that because she's... special. And Lucy. Maybe Plue. Not you! Slippery Kitty."

"Dude... You are stuck with it. Eventually Virgo will talk about it on some mission or other in Natsu's presence and you know the guild will hear. Embrace it with pride. That's the only way you will survive."

"Mavis, Laxus is going to be such an asshole when he hears about this..."

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To be continued