My most sincere apologies for the funky typos and such that I miss. My phone likes to do weird shit when I'm not looking and I don't always catch it.
RosesMcKellar I adore you for being able to see my stories the way you do. I have similar reactions when they first tell themselves to me. It was a secret, but I'm glad you saw this coming.
MistressKatana trust me I don't think I'm capable of writing a story without my favorite sexy second gens. In fact when I sat Lucy at her desk at the beginning of this story it was supposed to be Colu. However Cobra told me to go fuck myself because no way in hell was he letting Mira manipulate him like that. Bickslow wanted to be a disco ball anyway so here we are.
Unoyoko94 I'm so glad to hear that I'm capturing the characters so well. Thank you.
Blaaq... sob... thank you. Chan19, Velvet Thorn, MirandaLoveBug, CrowsCaw, twizt312 you guys are so sweet. Thanks. Bickslow is such a doll to write and Lucy has so much potential. I'm having so much fun. I'm so excited for this next chunk. I've been looking forward to it since Mira slammed that mission flier on the bar. Here we goooooo...
Fairy Tail is so cool it makes Gray seem lukewarm. I'm not capable of such coolness.
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"Open! Gate of the Compass! Pyxis! Hey buddy. Can you hang out for a while and keep us moving toward the haunted castle on this map? You are welcome to join Plue and the babies playing hide and seek while we walk." The duck spirit squeeked happily, taking the map from Lucy's hand and waddled into the bushes. I'm guessing he is joining the game. So how do we deal with this haunted castle?"
"Well, first off you might be relieved to know it's not haunted." Lucy slipped around the branch Bickslow was holding for her. He had not brought up her glitch from the night before, so she was doing her best to pretend it had never happened. Like he had said, the mission needed to come first.
"It's not? We aren't even there yet. How do you know?"
"The screaming. Souls can't be heard by regular people. The babies use my magic to talk or you couldn't hear them either. So whatever we are dealing with isn't that kind of haunted. I'm not sure what we're dealing with. The mayor did mention Zeref, but his demons are aggressive, and nobody is dead. I thought it was a prank for a while but these people are legitimately terrified, and it's been going on a long time for that to be all it is."
"So we won't be able to make a plan till we get there. That's so... reassuring..."
"Team Natsu isn't really known for their preplanning."
"I make plans. My magic relys on strategic planning. You know that. They just don't follow them. Erza makes plans just so she can forget them the minute the enemy is sighted. Natsu and Gray both go with the throw yourself in and think after the fact kind of plan most days." Just once though she would have liked to go into a mission actually knowing what the hell was going on and have a fucking plan she knew she could follow.
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They walked for more than half an hour through thick underbrush, crossed a couple muddy streams, and slid down a steep embankment. Lucy managed to find a very large boulder with her shin. If there had been a path once the last month of being 'haunted' had discouraged travel this way enough it had been overgrown. According to Lucy, Pyxis knew where he was going, but Bickslow still felt lost.
He was about to ask her to check in with her spirit again when an bloodcurdling scream tore through the air, followed a few seconds later by another. Both mages took off in the direction of the sound. Bickslow heard Lucy send her silver spirits home as he called his babies to him and readied them for battle. When a human shape emerged from the undergrowth the babies fired a round of energy blasts that it somehow managed to dodge.
"Tits! I knew I heard you." What?
"You..." Cosplayer looked shocked. Did she know this guy?
"Thank Anti-Zeref you are here. Come on! You gave to do something!" The man reached for her arm, but pulled back when the babies shot at his arm.
"Since when do you need my help with anything I would actually want to help you with?!" Well, that answered that. Apparently they knew each other.
"Since Blueberry Pancunt's balls refuse to drop in the presence of She-Thor." Say what?
"What does any of that have to do with me?"
"Yeah like Cosplayer said." *Yeah, like Cosplayer said, back off Cyclops.
"You are her teammate! You have to have some way to deal with her!"
"Her...Erza? Blue... You guys are Witches now?"
"Lucy, what the hell is going on? Who is this guy?" *who, who.
"Oh, you never actually met did you..." Another scream sounded, followed by an enraged shout that sounded vaguely familiar.
"Talk while you walk, Tits. You too, Echo. Move it before ..." The shouts and screams began to overlap. There were at least two people screaming. The one eyed man dodged the babies to come up behind them and start pushing.
"Ok! Ok! Gee! We're going." He stopped pushing as long as they were moving. "Introductions. Bickslow, this is Cobra and apparently he is traveling with Jellal and is still living free and in the wild because he joined Crime Sorciere. Cobra, this is Bickslow. I imagine he sounds echoey because of his babies. Babies say hi." *hi, hello, hi, yo, hi. "So I take it Erza..." Bickslow stopped walking.
"Wait! Cobra, the poison dragon slayer, Oracion Seis, tried to destroy the world twice, shoved you in a reality altering clock Cobra!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm evil. Tits is an angel. You want me dead. Grab a number and get in line. Now move!" Lucy started giggling and grabbed Bickslow's arm to pull him forward.
"Yes, Bix, that Cobra. If Jellal is vouching for him and he isn't actively trying to kill anyone he must be fine. Kinana is a good judge of character too. I trust her call on this."
"What!" His shocked exclamation was echoes by the slayer behind them, who began growling at Lucy. "What did she tell you? Who else knows? I swear if you hurt her I'll..." Bickslow spun to face the man.
"You will not threaten her that's what you will do. Lucy knows shit because either people tell her or she just figures it out because she is smart as fuck. She doesn't use it against people ever. Kinana is Fairy Tail. She will come to no harm by us and if anyone else hurts her we will rain down wrath on their heads just like we did when you hurt Lucy. So you can just shove your asshole comments back where they came from and..."
"Take it like a man!" What the hell? Was that Erza? Lucy rolled her eyes at the men and pushed into the clearing. All three of them stood and stared at the scene before them.
"Well, Cosplayer, I guess we found the castle." It was a big castle before it ran to ruin. Even now there was still a turret that reached three stories. There was still a deep depression running around the tumbled down stone structure from what used to be a moat. Large trees stood, surrounded by rose briars, where gardens were tended many years ago.
"You were right about it not being haunted. Racer and Cobra could pose as demons though, and I'd totally label the looks on Jellal and Angel's faces as spectrelike."
"It's about to be though. The monster known as Erza Scarlet is going to turn that black and white guy onto a ghost." Midnight was trying desperately to escape as Erza dragged him back to the circle of witches. Lucy giggled.
"Cobra, am I supposed to be rescuing Midnight? Is that why you were so excited to see me? What did he do to her?"
"Oh, up yours, Tits. He didn't do anything. We got in from a mission really early this morning and Racer brought out some whiskey to help them wind down." Bickslow watched as Lucy blanched.
"You let Erza get drunk?! Doesn't Jellal know better? He saw her after the Master game the one Christmas we let her drink!"
"What did I say, Tits. No balls."
"Would you stop calling her that!"
"Nope. The giant guppy clock left a pretty good picture. I'm sticking with Tits. It suits her."
"Why does no-one use my name? I mean Lucy is so simple and you all have to go and make up weird names." Lucy took her summoning stance. "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" Virgo appeared standing silently, staring at the spectacle before them, instead of with her usual bow. "Virgo, I believe we are in desperate need of strawberry cake." She nodded silently and vanished. "What is she trying to do to him?"
"The Master game, Tits. Notice you don't see Hoteye anywhere? He's hiding in the castle. See how Meredy is passed out? Kinda like I've heard your Demon does?"
"She ordered Midnight and Hoteye to do something didn't she?"
"A tongue was mentioned." They watched in horror as Erza chained her captive to the portcullis and turned to enter the castle.
"Richard! You will return to fulfil your duty as ordered!"
"Erza let me go!" Midnight screamed and hit the end of his chain. "Jellal control your girlfriend!"
"She isn't mine!"
"Well, she sure didn't hunt us down to cuddle with me! Do something!" Bickslow couldn't take his eyes off the terrified criminals in front of him.
"Ex criminals."
"What?"
"See the guild seal on my neck? Means I'm not who I was before it was put there. Our whole purpose is to redeem the memory of who we were. And destroy the remnants of Zeref's legacy." The look on his face reminded Bickslow of Laxus during Fairy Tail's first Grand Magic Games. He meant it. He could accept that.
"Cobra? What is an Anti-Zeref?" Lucy asked.
"Some rainbow cat unicorn hybrid that farts sparkles and dances on clouds probably." Bickslow let his tongue hang out as he cackled.
"I'm so telling Mavis you said that next time she shows up." Lucy snorted at him. Cobra stared at them with an odd look in his eye.
"The ghost of your first master haunts your guildhall and you are ok with that?"
"Well..." Lucy tipped her head to the side with a cute little thinking pout. "She doesn't just haunt the guildhall. She was at the Grand Magic Games, and Tenrou Island, and I've seen her around Magnolia spending time with the guild members."
"You know she isn't really a ghost, Cosplayer. She isn't a soul. Ghosts have souls. I haven't figured out what she is yet. It's really disturbing actually."
"This coming from a guy who drags his dead baby sister around in a jar. You people are weird." Bickslow felt like he had been struck by Laxus's lightning. His breath caught as he watched Lucy's eyes widen, glancing behind him at the babies.
"Princess I have brought your cake." He had never been so glad to see Virgo, or Erza either as she dragged the huge man he assumed was Hoteye out of the castle toward the screaming Midnight.
"Showtime." Lucy muttered. "You boys might want to take a huge step back so she sees the cake before she sees you standing so close to me." Bickslow dove behind the nearest tree with Cobra right behind him. "Erza! I knew I heard your voice!"
"Lucy? What are you doing here?"
"Virgo and I brought you cake."
"Is it strawberry?"
"Of course!"
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To be continued