A/N Thanks for reading. I don't own Fairy Tail or the Pradesh's.

Sam was woken up just after midnight by banging on the guildhall doors. Who the hell is making all this racket. He started down toward the main hall when the banging had stopped and her heard Nick talking to a woman who was crying. This caused a surged of protectiveness to fill Sam because he recognized the woman's voice. He knew it was Piper Hatchet. He heard everything through her blubbering and manic regurgitation of what happened to her in her apartment. Anger burnt away some of his natural urge of protectiveness. He needed to know who had the balls to break into her apartment. He made sure that she had a very sophisticated security system in place. He knew it was hard to disarm without the code because the mage that created it was in his guild. She was a tech mage.

Tommy was not only able to write code for existing technology but she was able to create new technology. Sam grinned to himself over the fact he was able to persuade Tommy to come to Sin from Bosco before she was recruited by White Seas. Sam knew that Kaleb Pradesh was more than just a Wizard Saint Mindbender. He knew he liked to tinker with tech magic as well. Kaleb created their whole guild electronic system. Sam had sweetened the pot for Tommy to come to Sin with the fact that Tommy would have free rein over the Foxes Tech department as head of the department. He picked up his cell and called Tommy.

His call was answered immediately, "Sam, what's up? It's kinda late for you to be calling me. What happen…did you get a virus from a porn site?" Tommy snickered. There was club music playing the background.

"Hehe no but I'm about to ruin your buzz and probably your night…You know that security system I had you put in for Riko's sister?" Sam asked with seriousness in his voice.

"Yeah what about it? She lock herself out or something?"

"No someone broke into her apartment, cracked your system to do it…while she was in the place."

"The fuck?! I'll be right there. Had to be a mage. Any regular non-magical hacker couldn't break my code." Tommy was fuming and her buzz was fading. She paid her tab at the bar and headed to the guild.

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By the time the sun rose in the morning, Sam had most of the information he needed to start looking for the mages that broke into Piper's apartment. He had already sent the most of what he knew out to his "Eyes and Ears" division of the guild. They were his spies and moles. They were a mixture of mages and non-mages depending on the situation. He had them everywhere in West Nitespring, including The Great Tribune. The Great Tribune was the governing body of Sin. It worked like a large council then broke down into smaller parts, economics, military, legislation for magic and non-magic and so on. Sam liked to keep an eye on them because sometimes the dirtiest group could be the government itself.

Sam took a deep breath and walked to the infirmary where Piper was resting. Nick had told him she was fine other than she was spooked and her feet were scraped up pretty bad since she ran to the guild barefoot in the rain in nothing but an oversized t-shirt. Sam knew she was a tough cookie for being a normal human. She was the youngest in her class and graduated with honors with a PhD in biochemistry and toxicology at the age of 23. Sam watched both her and Riko grow up at the Red Fox guild. Both their parents were mages, Oscar and Georgina Hatchet.

Oscar was a Reflector mage and Georgina was a gun quip mage. Oscar was able to keep Georgina protected while she was able to get some impossible and impressive shots off while being under the pressure of a hail of magic or bullets. Riko followed in his mother's footsteps as a gunner but Piper never developed an magical abilities. That didn't matter to anyone. Both children were loved just the same and treated the same; just the training had to vary a little bit. No one ever thought the children that born in the guild without magic were weak. They were all treated the same as much as possible. Classes at the guild varied somewhat for the non-magical children so that they could better protect themselves. They got really creative at it as well. Piper was a little book worm with her deep purple braids and odd fascination with snakes. Come home with little wiggly snakes in her pockets and dirt all over her with a huge smile on her face. Riko was the typical older brother, watched over Piper, teased her, kept boys at bay which drove her crazy. He disappeared when he was eighteen for almost a year and came back a changed person. He refused to talk about it other than he was in Pergrande not by choice. Sam or his parents never pushed him. They figured he would come to them when he was ready. That's been almost ten years now.

Sam entered the infirmary room and saw Piper sitting up on the bed talking with Nick who was looking at her feet. Sam cleared his throat, "So Nick, I see our sleeping beauty is awake and doing well." He smiled at Piper.

"Morning Sam. Yeah her feet are looking tons better thanks to an awesome water mage that likes to hang out around here." Nick smirked at Sam and Piper. "I'll be off. Everything looks good Piper. You can go when you're ready. I'm heading to the beach to catch some waves or make them. See ya girlie." Nick hugged the purplette on the bed and shook hands with his guild master.

"Yeah and when you see that water mage let him know he has some job assignments waiting on him before the call of the ocean. Later man Thanks for taking care of her." Sam laughed as he shook Nick's hand.

Piper watched the two men exchange their pleasantries. She thought about what Riko told her last night. The offer from Sam to join the guild so that she could be safe. She thought she was safe. Safe from the 'bad guys' the darkness in the world once she closed and locked her door and turned on that security system that Riko insisted that she have Tommy put in. She knew that no one could crack that system, at least that's what she though. She was lulled into complacency. This drug lord was not taking NO for answer, but she didn't know which one it was. She got offers all the time. It's not like she kept a log of who propositioned her. Maybe she needed to join the guild to be safe and maybe she needed to get out of Sin for a little bit. Stay with Papa in Magnolia until Sam could get things settled down here in West Nitespring. Piper and most of the kids that grew up in the guild as the uncle that spoiled you by letting you stay up too late or letting you drink that beer when no one else was looking but don't ever cross the man. He could deal out appropriate punishment. Piper looked over at the auburn haired man, "Sam I'm sorry for all of this…"

Sam hugged the petite woman as if she was his own daughter, "Stop that. You don't need to apologize. You know that this door is always open to you. Of course it would have literally been open to you if you would stop being so stubborn and let me put the guild emblem on you." He teased her with a smile that crinkled his eyes. "I know you like your independence and don't want to rely on anyone blah blah blah. I've heard it how many times now? I've told you, you have an standing offer to become a guild member. Hell I'll move all your little friends here. I have room on the fourth floor. You can have the whole fourth floor if you want it to do your work and whatever it is you do with it. I don't want to stifle you. You know you would have your life with the extra protection of a guild backing you."

"I know your right Sam. I'm grateful that you and Papa have let me have my independence. After what happened last night, I think I need to come here. That brute of a man scared the shit out of me and in my own apartment. Those drug lords aren't usually so pushy. I don't even know who he was working for. He was going…gonna…" Piper sudden started crying at the thought of what could have happened if she hadn't have gotten out of her apartment. Sam was right there to calm her nerves.

"Shh…its ok…you're safe now…you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He soothed her.

"Papa wants me to come to Fiore next week for a visit. I think I might go early after what happened. Can I ask you a favor to move my apartment to the guild? I think I need to get out of the country for a bit to somewhere where no one knows me."

"I would love to get you moved to the guild. I'll tell your mom and brother when they get back from Midi. They are out there hunting some troublesome monster. You know how they love hunting."

"Sam…uh…do you care…to…uh…go to my apartment with me? I know your busy…" Piper asked. She felt like a little girl again asking Sam something so simple but she was still shook up.

"Absolutely kiddo." Sam said. He stood up and walk over to the door. "I'll let you get dressed. I think Nick left some clothes here for you. See you downstairs."

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Piper felt panic rise in up in her chest and squeeze her heart. Her breathing started to quicken, sweat broke out over her back chest and face. She felt like she was going to vomit.

Sam sense the change in Piper and steadied her. He didn't push her. He let her lead him at her own pace. He knew she had to face this on her own terms and he knew she would.

After a few minutes of mental pep talking, Piper entered her apartment building and went up to her floor. Sam took the lead once they reached her apartment. The door was slightly ajar. He went in and requiped his long sword and armor quickly waiting for someone to attack. When no one attacked he requipped his gear back. He was once again standing in his causal faded blue jean and black tank top. Piper almost started crying again when she saw that her apartment was trashed. Everything that she worked so hard for; her photos, furniture and her terrariums; broken smashed slashed. It was a message sent loud and clear that NO was not being taken. They even killed her pets, every one of them dead. The only one they didn't touch was her little havati egg because they didn't know what it was. Tears were running down her face. She didn't care about her personal belongings they could be replaced, but her babies they were living creatures that weren't hurting anyone. She hoped one of them was able to bite one of those motherfuckers before they killed them.

With her tear-stained face she went to her kitchen and was able to find a plastic bowl with a resealable lid. She went to her egg, scooped up some of the sand, and carefully placed her precious egg in it. It looked like it was ready to hatch anytime. She went to her fridge and grabbed some of the frozen pinkies to take with her. She then went to what was left of her bedroom and grabbed a few changes of clothes that wasn't destroyed. She looked at Sam with rage in her eyes "Find who did this Sam, make them pay. My babies didn't deserve this."

"I will Piper. The Foxes will find them and we will take care of them. I promise." Sam said with a tight voice. He hated to see her upset and he had to quell his own rage as they left her apartment.

They returned to the Red Fox guild compound. They walked through the manicured courtyard that opened to the sidewalk. The green mages kept it beautifully maintained. The building itself looked like the other multi-story glass building around it. They entered in the motion detector sliding doors that opened up into a large very open ground floor modern décor with large pieces of artwork hanging on the walls, lacrima screens showing directions to visitors. Several people moving here and there were going on about their duties at the guild. Many waved at Sam. The Red Foxes weren't a large guild but it wasn't small either. Sam had to manage 300+ members with new members every week including recruitment all across Ishgar. West Nitespring was an international trading port in Sin, Sam liked to keep the guild very diverse. He escorted Piper to his office. There he knew she would have privacy to talk to Oscar without eavesdropping spies that were most likely all around where she was living at to showdown her movements.

"Hello, Sam…" the reflector mage started with a hint of confusion in his voice at his former guild master and old friend calling him on her personal cell.

"No, Papa…It's me…Piper…" Piper started but just started sobbing at having to relive what she saw at her apartment. Sam gently took the phone from Piper. "Oscar, she needs to come stay with you for a while. Is that fine with you and Lucas?" Sam asked after he recapped everything that had happened since he last spoke with his daughter on the her phone.

"Sam, please don't let her come alone…" Oscar pleaded to her old friend.

"Oscar, you know me better than that. She will be protected. She doesn't have much." Sam reassured him that Piper would be protected and reiterated that she only had one bag of clothing and her little egg left of everything she owned.

"I'm not worried about material items Sam. Just make sure my daughter gets to Magnolia unharmed. I know it is a two week trip by air ship to Hargeon and then another day by train. Do you mind letting Georgi and Riko know what happened when they return from Midi?"

"Of course because I'm gonna have two gunners pissed the fuck off when they get back. I'm gonna have to keep them focused on something." Sam smirked as he said that. "Not to mention I already have some angry Foxes on the trail of these dirt bags anyway. No one hurts family, you know that Oscar."

There was a knock on the door and Sam bid them entrance as he finished his phone call. Tommy sashayed in with her magenta streaked chocolate colored hair braided into twin tails down her back and a black gothic Lolita dress with her combat boots. She didn't wear the traditional knee high socks with this outfit. She might have remembered to put socks on with her boots, just her long tan legs that her Boscan heritage blessed her with. Her lipstick matched her hair. She smiled sadly at Sam and shook her head before Piper turned around. "Tommy! Oh my Gods! I haven't seen you in forever!" Piper jumped up and hugged the woman.

"How's my ultra-smart chica doing" Tommy grinned widely as she hugged Piper and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead leaving a lipstick mark where she kissed her. Tommy pulled her back, "You did get the guild emblem on you right, girlie? I can't have you running around here without it now." The brunette looked at her and then at Sam.

"Hold on to your boots, Tommy. I just got off the phone with Oscar and you came in. I was just about to ask Piper where she wanted it at." Sam said in a light hearted tone. "Piper where do you want the emblem at?"

"Uh…my left forearm, please, in black." Piper asked as she held out her left forearm.

"Alright now down to business," Tommy said as she pulled out a small case. "This my little girlie is your new laptop, tablet and Lphone. Custom made by me, of course. I created it. Its untraceable so you can do your work and studies from anywhere you can get Wifi to get on the mageweb. I'd tell you how but I'd probably confused you just as if you told me about biochemistry and poisons. Now that is all I have unless Sam has anything else, our flight is leaving in an hour; I'm going with you to Fiore along with Nick."

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Piper was having conflicted feeling waiting at the air dock for their airship to be ready. She was angry that she was being forced to leave her home country because her life was threatened. She knew that she wouldn't be killed. She was too important for that. She would be used to make designer drugs that would keep the druggies coming back for more, chasing that higher high. She knew as long as she did that the drug lords would keep her like a queen, a queen in a gilded cage. She wouldn't be free to live, to shop, to see her family, to find the love of her life. That is what made her angry.

She was also feeling sadness and loss. She lost her apartment, her life, her independence that she worked so hard to maintain, to prove she was able to do it all on her own without anyone to help her. Sam had told her no one thought she was weak or a failure because she was moving into the Foxes guildhall. He told her everyone knew she was strong enough to survive on her own but she needed to be smart and see the bigger picture. The offers from legitimate companies will still come in, but the dark guilds and the drug lords are starting to get braver. The proof was all her babies were dead, except her little egg. That was where her sadness and loss hurt the most. Living things were murdered because of her.

She was happy though she was going to be able to go see her Papa and Lucas. She was always Papa's girl. What little girl wasn't a papa's girl. When Papa had told Riko and her that he was gay, it didn't really surprise her really. He would always help her with her hair and make-up and other things most mothers would do with their daughters. Her mother would do things with her too but not like her Papa. When they sat her and Riko down when she was 20 and Riko 22, told them that they were divorcing amicably. Piper was very supporting of both her parents and gave them both hugs. Riko said nothing and left after he asked if that was all? Piper tried to talk to Riko about but he wouldn't and changed subjects. Papa met Lucas a few years ago while Lucas was on holiday in Sin. They finally were married last year and moved to Fiore where Lucas was from. Piper was so happy now she had Papa and a step Papa.

"Penny for your thoughts, serpent girl…" Nick asked as he draped his long tan arms over her shoulders.

"Pfft, don't call me that. I know you loved them too. Deep down you were a snake fan, water boy." Piper deflected as she laughed and shoved Nick's arm off her. "I was just thinking about them anyway…" She drifted off.

Nick grabbed her up in a hug. She was right deep down her loved her 'babies' as she called them. He wouldn't handle them like she did. He knew one bite from any of them and he was a dead man, even with his healing powers.

His healing worked like a combat medic, keeping people alive until the major healers got there or the trauma surgeons. That is what Sin had to offer, highly trained and specialized surgeons and doctors. Healing magic was rare, Nick was lucky have learned how to use his water magic to manipulate the water in the blood to keep it where it was supposed to be. That was the extent of his 'healing'. This is why Sin had such a huge pharmaceutical base and hi-tech hospitals. The medical community in Sin were experts in healing mages and non-mages alike. The medical professionals were looking in better ways to manage the magic deficiency disease that afflicted mages.

"Where are my hugs, water boy?" Tommy pouted as she pulled a sucker from her mouth that made a pop. She loved to tease Nick about his hugs. Tommy grew up in Pelerno, Bosco. She moved to Sin after she graduated from the University. She was full-blooded Boscan woman who enjoyed her pleasures. She had her sudepah training at age 14. She wasn't clan borne, so she didn't sport any tattoos. She did love to get physical attention from Nick though. Tommy sidled up to the two hugging and hugged them both. She kissed Piper on the check leaving her signature lipstick mark. When Piper let go to wipe the magenta lipstick off her cheek, Tommy snagged Nick into a lip lock would have left a normal man sagging, but Nick was Boscan as well and used to Tommy. Nick wasn't born in Bosco. He was born here in Sin but he was raised Boscan all the same. His parents even had a sudepah flown in for his training. Unlike Tommy, he was clan born from Clan Felarnas. His parents left the clans years ago for Sin. His mother feared for their safety because her aunt was a seith mage as well as her cousin. Her cousin Tess was seeing a shadow mage. Nick's parents just had a bad feeling about it and left for Sin, but raised him as if they were in Bosco no the less.

"OK, you two, don't make me get a hose. We are in public so if your done…" Piper cleared her throat.

Tommy let Nick go and looked at Piper, "Puh-lease, chica. Don't knock it til you try it. I'm sure Nicky here would get you all wet and let you play on the slip and slide. When was the last time you got laid anyway? Christmas party two years ago?" Tommy teased with a giggle.

"Tommy really? I had work to do and I had my experiments and I had to take care of my babies…" Piper rolled her eyes at Tommy with a burning red face. "Anyway, I think it's time to board isn't it…" Trying hard to change the subject.

They boarded the airship, many people getting on as many people were getting off. Two weeks to get to Firoe because there was a layover in Minstrel and then a day on a train into Magnolia. Piper walked to their cabin. She entered the modest cabin with two beds and a bathroom. It was decorated in simple colors of grays and blues. She set her bag down and pulled out the little plastic container to check on the precious contents. She opened the lid slowly. Her yellow eyes were the size of dishes at the site see saw in the container.

There in the little bowl on the bit of sand she had gathered was a little maroon colored ball of scales. She saw the tiny little head in the middle of the coil. It's little tongue darted in and out. Piper was over the moon that her little havati serpent egg had survived and hatched. She started digging through her bag again and found the container that held the pinkies. She put one in the bowl very carefully and returned the lid. She knew the little snake would eat when it was ready.

One week into the trip, they were getting ready to dock in Minstrel. Piper was content sitting and surfing the web researching her little baby. She named her little baby Flick and he was not like her regular snakes she owned in the past. He was active and loved to slither up her arms and burrow in her hair when she pulled her purple tresses up in loose styles. He never tried to bite her. Her research on Flick was limited. There wasn't much other than some myths about them being sentient beings. Some myths said they were worshipped as Gods of the wind. Piper was a scientific woman. All she had was science in this magical world. She couldn't wave her hand and something wondrous happen, talk to animals, hell she couldn't even protect herself. She closed her laptop, made sure Flick was tuck securely in her hair, and left her cabin. She always wanted to see Minstrel.