Late on the morning of August 10th

"Bigger is better?" *better, bigger, that's what she said

"Shut up, Bickslow!"

"It certainly makes more of a statement than the old guildhall." Evergreen huffed and snapped her fan open.

"It stinks."

"Ouch." *burn, so cruel, so mean.

"Laxus!" Freed recoiled in horror at his leader's rudeness.

"It's lovely, you brute!"

"Sure it looks nice but it fucking reeks."

"Oh. You intended the statement literally." Freed's hair became slightly less fluffed as he relaxed.

"How the hell else would I intend it?"

"So does it smell too much like booze and smoke or not enough?" *booze, Cana, smoke, fire, burn it down.

"That's…normal for this lot. Smells like…" Laxus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Wind magic and shadows and… It just doesn't smell right."

"Hmm. Perhaps your being away while the new building went up has something to do with your distress."

"I'm not distressed!" The sparks the slayer was giving off called him a liar.

"Vander did talk about that adorable little shadow slayer." *adorable, flexible, the purring

"Stop."

"And the little healer."

"Fucking baby slayers moving in while I'm away."

"Technically you were part of the recruitment mission for-"

"Doesn't matter!" Laxus strode forward, slamming the guild doors open and leaving his team snickering behind him. "Gramps! Who the fuck decided to put a fucking bell tower on the guild?"

"Laxus. Welcome back. Master isn't here right now."

"Then where the hell is he?"

"Era. You all look tired. Beer, boys? I'll get your tea steeping momentarily, Freed. I've got a new cucumber melon smoothie you'd like, Evergreen."

"Why? His brats get us in trouble again?"

"Oh no." Mira set Freed's tea next to two mugs of beer and began chopping fruit for Evergreens smoothie. "He and a team were visiting Yajima, but complications arose so he's staying there for a few days." Laxus glared at the white haired mage over his beer mug, letting Freed take over the conversation.

"What complications would those be, Miss Mira?"

"Oh, Erza got kidnapped." Bickslow inhaled beer foam and went into a coughing fit. "Nothing to worry about though. We sent a team to handle the situation. Mystogan and the slayers are also other way just in case they need help."

"Who was sent on the original team?"

"It was more akin to two teams actually. Juvia took Max, Lucy, and Gray while Cana took Elfman, Mickey and Bacchus."

"The fucking Drunken Hawk!" Laxus shot out of his chair, sparks dancing over his skin. "Why didn't you call me? You sent a dog on a Fairy mission?"

"Laxus." Her blue eyes narrowed slightly, flicking to Bickslow and then back to Laxus. "Bacchus joined voluntarily since Cana and the rest of her team were visiting Quatro Cerberus when they heard the news." Laxus growled before sinking back into his seat.

"Fine. You said Gramps took a team with him?"

"Macao, Erza, and Lucy." Mira looked concerned for a moment. "Macao is the only with him now."

"I see." Laxus fell silent, staring into his mug.

"When did they leave?" *leave, Dewdrop, big team.

"Erza was taken three days ago. It took us a day to send the teams out so they've been gone for two."

"We haven't heard from them?" Evergreen almost managed to hide her worry as she accepted her smoothie.

"I'm afraid not."

"Right." Laxus stood again. "Freed and Bix will stay here. Hall still isn't done and I bet the wards are in tatters. Ever comes with me." He turned and headed for the door again.

"What?" Ever scrambled to follow the lightning mage, leaving her smoothie untouched. "Where are we going? Laxus! My feet hurt. I wanted to sleep in my own bed!"

"Era. We aren't leaving those old men to handle this shit show. Erza and Lucy went for a reason. We'll stay with Gramps till Erza gets her ass back where it belongs."

"But Laxus!" Freed stood, arms reaching for his leader.

"Stay, Freed. We need those wards stronger than they ever were before. Make sure they keep Vander out!" The door closed on Evergreen's whining protest.

"Damn. Not sure even you can do that, Nerd." *nerd, slinky brother, dare you

"How…of course I can! I will have you-" Freed's rant died and he stared at the plate full of food that had somehow found its way into his hands.

"Eat first. Here Bickslow." Mira placed two carefully wrapped packages next to Bickslows own suddenly appearing plate. "Could you and your babies make sure these get to the other two before they leave town?"

"Me?" Bickslow slowly took the packages, eyes wide under his mask at being actually asked by a guildmate to use his babies.

"Of course."

"Hear that? Delivery time!" *delivery time, delivery time, order up. Four of the babies settled into a platform and the fifth held the backages steady once Bickow set them down. "Hurry back!"

"Right. You boys want a tour of the new hall before you get to work? We're building it ourselves when we aren't on jobs!"

"Please, Miss Mira."

"Yeah! I wanna ring that bell!"

"Bickslow. Behave."

Tea Time

"Fire dragon's-"

"RRRAAAAAHH!"

"Hey! That wall was mine!"

"Then you should have punched it first!"

"So much for a secretive entrance." Ryos coughed at all the dust Gajeel's attack had tossed into the air.

"Well…" Wendy waved her hand to blow the dust away. "Did we really expect those two to stay calm?"

"Come on, Natsu! You can do better than that!"

"Great. Looks like we're the only two slayers with any sense."

"Hey! You take that back! Sting has plenty of sense!" Ryos. Wendy, and Carla sweat dropped at Lector.

"Fro thinks so too."

"Ya meanies! Natsu has sense too!"

"Sting has more!"

"No way, Natsu has the most!"

"Intruders!"

"Crap!"

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

"...Wow. Wendy's amazing."

"Agreed."

"Hey! I smell Mystogan!"

"Natsu wait up!"

"Get back here, Salamander!"

Evening of the 10th

"Councilman Yajima. Councilwoman Belno. Master Bob. Gramps." Laxus sounded like attempting to be respectful caused him actual pain. They'd tracked Master Makarov to a private reception area, where he seemed to be holding some sort of somber court. "Where's the other useless old man?"

"Welcome home Laxus. Evergreen, you're looking lovely as ever. Macao is on a beer run." Laxus snorted at his grandfather, but didn't get a chance to reply.

"So many of these young upstarts are full of their own power. You're sure you can handle the children from Phantom Lord in addition to what you already have on your plate, Makarov?"

"Maki will be fine, Belno. You remember how we all were when we were young."

"Oh, I'm not sure any of us were that strapping when we were young." Master Bob cooed at Laxus and Evergreen hid her snicker behind her fan. The way the short, pudgy Guildmaster eyed him had Laxus seating himself on the opposite side of the room.

"Eh. They're good kids. Even Gajeel is settling in and forming bonds, though I think they'll be more comfortable if we can find that fire mage, what was his name…Toe-two…"

"Totomaru. Dramatic boy, but his heart seems to be in the right place."

"Right. Totomaru. Juvia speaks highly of him."

"Juvia Lockser. I'm not sure about that woman."

"Excuse me?" Evergreen's fan snapped closed and she pointed it at the other woman. "Juvia is a darling. A strong mage with an open heart and a bright smile for anyone willing to reach out to her. The Thunder Legion considers her a valuable asset to our guild!" She glanced nervously at Laxus in case she had overstepped, but he just nodded. "The Rain Woman is a Fairy Tail mage and we will not tolerate anyone speaking ill of her. Not even a member of the magic council."

"Oh how marvelous!" Bob's wings fluttered faster than his hands. "I do see what you meant, Maki."

"Yes, After the rumors I had heard I admit I was concerned. What do you say, Belno?"

"Hmm. I'm not selling myself to Makarov's pouting and outlandish ranting, but I'm more than willing to hear you out without sharing what you tell me with those you chose not to trust."

"Excellent. Now if Macao would just-" A knock sounded and Macao pushed the door opened, ushering in a pair of carts being pushed by serving girls.

"I brought dinner too. Someone said they saw- Oh. Laxus. Speak of the devil. Thank you ladies." The maids giggled and one even blushed as Macao saw them out of the room. "Right. Beer for the gentlemen, Wine for the ladies, Hello Evergreen, and dinner for us all. Sorry if you were waiting long."

"No. You are right on time." Makarov stood and activated the pre-cast privacy shields on the room. "Now we can get down to business. Bob already knows a little of this from the letter I had my mages bring him. Goldmine received a similar visit, and we saw Warrod before we came to Era." He arched a brow at Laxus who grunted in acknowledgment before speaking.

"While we were with Boscan Forces we spoke with Ambassador Pradesh and the Master of their White Sea Guild. Wasn't much of a meeting since we were busy."

"Fiorian Mages mixed up in a Boscan invasion of Pergrande. What were you thinking, Makarov?" Makarov took a long drink before answering the councilwoman.

"Some of what we will talk about here will be news to both Macao and Evergreen."

"Thought we agreed on complete secrecy, Gramps."

"We did. I'm just going over present events. After all, you need caught up too, my boy." Makarov took another drink. "My mages being involved was a personal matter. As some of you know, Bickslow, Laxus's teammate, is Boscan. The recent manouver-"

"It was an invasion Makarov, not a yoga position."

"Manouver! It was a rescue mission for one of Bickslow's relatives. Personal. Fiore was not involved, so you don't have to worry, Yajima. A successful rescue as I hear it. Since Laxus left several interesting things have happened. One being the fact that one of my guild members almost died because he kept too many secrets." Makarov huffed at Laxus when the lightning mage growled. "Hush, he's fine. Turns out Loki was actually a celestial spirit this whole time!"

"The fuck?"

"I know! Thankfully when the strain of living separated from the celestial realm became too much Lucy was on hand and managed to save the boy's life. She holds his key now as I understand it."

"Lucy…That's your lovely little blond, yes? I believe Hibiki shared some images from the Phantom Lord takedown. He was quite enamored with your little ladies. He and your sweet little Script mage had quite the rappourt going when I left."

"None of your matchmaking, Bob."

"But, Yaji, they were so lovely together."

"We are here to work."

"Spoil sport."

"My point was that Loki is safe. He's with Lucy, which brings us to the actual point we need to address tonight." Makarov poured himself more beer. "Lucy is currently rescuing another of my mages from a dark cult attempting to use Erza Scarlet as the blood sacrifice that will activate the Tower of Heaven, an 'R' system Tower. Their goal is to resurrect Zeref."

"No!"

"Those towers were destroyed!"

"Who would do that?"

"That's where it gets tricky." Makarov stopped and essentially tried to crawl into his beer.

"How is this not already tricky?"

"Tch. That's just a dark guild doing dark guild bullshit." Laxus leaned forward and grinned, fangs glinting in the fading light. "Tricky is the fact that Seigrain doesn't actually have a twin brother. He's himself and Jellal and he's been brainwashed by Ultear who is actually a member of Grimoire Heart and also plans to bring the Council building crumbling down around your heads after they convince you to fire the etherion Canon at that fucking tower in order to activate the thing for them."

"...fuck."

"Aptly summarized Councilwoman."