Hello, my pretties.

I don't own FT or the Pradesh family. Also, "Haud yer weesht" means shut up.

Bickslow and Erik stood outside the door to Lucy's apartment. Bickslow was hesitating while Erik just listened to him argue with himself.

"I can go alone," Erik said finally.

"No. I should…"

"I don't think she'll hate you for never wanting to talk to her again."

"I don't hate her. I know she's probably hurting just as much as Kaleb is. But he's my brother. I can't figure out who I'm supposed to be supporting."

"They're not asking you to pick sides, so why not support both?"

"If you're coming in just do it already," Lucy yelled through the door.

"Hey, Tink," Erik said as he entered. "Your hearing is getting better. I brought-"

He stopped when he noticed the four-course breakfast spread out along the table and counters. There were eggs in nearly every style, bacon, sausage, pancakes, French toast, hash browns, and even a quiche.

"I cook when I'm upset."

Her hair was in a messy ponytail, there were noticeable bags under her red eyes, and she was wearing a shirt that looked suspiciously like Kaleb's.

"Must be part of the reason Flametard kept you around," Erik said as he bumped her out of the way to hunt for unused plates.

She made a noise like a half-chuckle, half-cough. "I don't think he knew. Didn't exactly leave me enough food in my kitchen. Mira did. She'd let me use the guild's kitchens when I needed to."

Bickslow moaned when Erik shoved a bite of pancake with homemade strawberry syrup. "And where did you learn this amazing coping mechanism?"

"There weren't many places I could escape to growing up, so I ended up in the kitchen a lot." She sighed. "I'll probably leave in a few days."

"Leave where?"

"I don't know. I have enough money saved currently. I'll probably go back to Fiore. Help rebuild Fairy-"

She stopped at the same time Arman started yelling through the mental link.

I lost Zen!

Bickslow watched as Lucy's aura flared and Zen dropped onto her balcony.

I've got Zen. He just dropped onto Lucy's balcony.

Tell him that I don't care that he's twenty-six. He's grounded.

Yeah. That'll go over well.

"Zen, Dad says you're grounded."

"'Grounded'?" he asked, looking at Lucy.

"It means you're in trouble. You shouldn't have just flown off without telling anyone."

"You weren't nearby."

Lucy opened her mouth then changed her mind and closed it before turning to Bickslow and Erik. "Why don't you two go? Take some food with you please. Zen and I need to talk."

"Lucy," Bickslow said quietly, "you don't have to leave."

"I broke the guildmaster's heart. I don't think I can stay."

Bickslow took the offered plate heavy with food that Erik passed him and left.

Kaleb, I think I saw what you were talking about.

What do you mean?

Her aura's changed. It was always a bright golden-yellow. Even after becoming a dragon slayer. It's more like burnished gold now. It must've been happening slow enough that I didn't notice. It flared when Zen arrived. It sensed him before he'd landed. I'm not sure what it means, but I don't like.

*.*.*

Kaleb was surprised when it was Zen who knocked on his door. His siblings had been periodically poking their heads in to check up on him. It took a few calming breaths for him sooth the animosity that he knew wasn't fair.

"You won," Kaleb said when he sat down in the chair that Lucy so often occupied.

"No. I don't want her."

"What?"

Zen stood and started pacing. "Sorry. That wasn't the right way to phrase it. I love her, and I don't know if I'll love anyone the way that I love her. But I don't want her. Not like this.

"We just had a conversation where she told me everything that had happened. She reached for the ring nine times. I started counting after the third. And the look on her face when it wasn't there." He sighed. "I love her and would work hard to make her happy but what kind of relationship could be built when that's the look on her face when she sees you?"

*.*.*

Draco summoned himself to Lucy's side when Zen left. He flinched slightly when he saw the look of fear that crossed her face when she saw him.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked in a small voice.

"No, hatchling. Come here," he said, opening his arms so that she could run into them.

It had been so long that she'd forgotten how a father's hug felt. The sense of safety and comfort.

"Sit," he said finally. "We need to talk about what happened."

"I don't even understand what happened," she said, sitting down and pulling her knees to her chest. "I knew that I was waiting for Zen to become stronger. More stable. Then he was attacked. Then, all I remember thinking was that I had to protect him at all costs." She reached for the ring again only to choke back a faint sob as its absence. "I don't understand why I ended things."

"Do you remember me telling you that I was a spirit first and a dragon second?" Lucy nodded. "It's only with a celestial mage that and archangel can have more archangels. It's why the urge to mate, not just bond, is so strong."

"But Kaleb-"

"Has the potential to become one. Zen already is. Combine that with your big heart and is it any surprise that you'd want protect him?"

"But Kaleb is my mate. And I love him."

"And only time can tell if you'll find your way back to him."

There was a knock on the door. "It's open," Lucy yelled.

"Hello, Draco. Lucy, can we talk?" Cristoff asked.

"Yeah. Of course." She smiled at Draco. "Thank you for checking up on me." She looked back at Cristoff when Draco disappeared.

"Your turn?"

"You knew?" She nodded as he walked over to sit where Draco had been. "There's more. There's another dragon slayer: Rhiannon McKinnon." Cristoff proceeded to tell her everything Kaleb had learned when he met her.

"She went to Kaleb?"

The temperature started fluctuating rapidly as she channeled both hot and cold stars. How dare another dragon slayer go near her mate?

"Lucy, stop," Cristoff ordered, reaching out to grip her wrist only to jerk back when she burnt him. Normally, their magic, the bond of being her knight, negated injuries like that. "Look what you did," he said, holding up his injured hand as his magic started healing it.

"I'm sorry," she cried, burrowing her face between her knees. "I'm so sorry."

She stopped blubbering when they heard a large crash accompanied by a loud bellow, "LUCE!"

"You heard that too, right?" she asked, hoping that even dragon hearing couldn't hear through two floors and that she was just hallucinating.

"Yeah."

Lucy sighed, this time beating her forehead on her knee. "I don't have the patience for this. Downstairs, there's a pink-haired idiot. Can you go knock him out and put him somewhere? Preferably where Laxus can't find him."

"Why don't you want Laxus to find him?"

"Because he'll kill him and I want that pleasure," she replied as she walked into her bedroom to get her comm.

"Was that the infamous Natsu?"

"Unfortunately. Gajeel," she said when he answered his comm, "why is Natsu in White Sea?"

She waved Cristoff goodbye. She was certain that he must've heard stories about him for him to take off that quickly.

"'Cause he has a better sense of direction than I gave him credit for. We're all in White Sea."

"Why?"

"Here's the Shrimp. You two talk it out."

"Hey, Lev. What the fuck is going on?"

"We got anonymous letters saying the we needed to be with the queen in Bosco. Well, the dragons anyways. Natsu didn't know you were the queen until Cana blurted it out."

"Why would you tell Cana? The only secret she's successfully kept was that Gildarts was her father."

"She cornered me. She was looking for you with her cards and found out you were a queen. She thought you were mated to a dragon slayer, not that you'd become one. I don't deal well under that kind of pressure."

"Who all is with you?"

"Your team. Juvia. Chelia. Cana because of course Cana was coming. She'll probably spend most of the time in the bathhouses. And um…the Strausses."

"Please tell me that you're kidding."

"No."

"Fuck. Okay. I've gotta go."

Kaleb? Kaleb, I know you can hear me. I don't blame you for being angry with me but-

I'm not angry. All right. Yes, a little. But mostly I'm hurt.

Lucy sunk down the wall by her door. I know. I don't blame you, but we've got a problem.

What?

Fairy Tail's here.

Yes. Cris is dealing with your partner.

Yes, but more importantly, Mira is coming.

I know that name.

She was Laxus's other potential mate and one of the only people in Fairy Tail that could hold her own against Emi.

I'll figure out where they are and keep them out of the guild for a while.

Kaleb, I'm sorry.

I know. The house you were talking about renting with Wendy. Do you want me to ask Thane to look into it?

Please. She smiled. That conversation had seemed so irrelevant at the time, but he'd remembered.

.~*~.

It took a day before everyone was settled into the house with protection runes from Freed to limit any potential damage. Cristoff, Kaleb, and Lucy had been working hard to keep Mira from finding out about Emzadi just yet.

"So, you're the earth dragon slayer?" Lucy said, sitting across from her in a corner booth of the guild. The red-headed woman had appeared suddenly that morning saying that it was time for her and Lucy to meet.

"Aye. Rhiannon McKinnon."

"Why are we just now meeting you?"

"There wis ne'er a reason for ye tae know me before. I just play my part an' get out o' th' way."

"And there is now?"

"Acnologia." Rhiannon watched as the color drained from her face. "He's preparin' for war. Wi'oot a tatsu, we dinnae stand a chance. I came tae save the tatsu."

"They said you were a tactician."

"They said ye were clever. Then again, ye shoved yer mate awa'."

Lucy slammed her hands onto the table separating them and leaned forward. "And you won't go with-"

"Haud yer wheesht. I 'ave my own mate."

"Luce!" "Lushy!"

Lucy stood when she heard Natsu and Happy barreling towards her. Before he could reach her, Lucy sidestepped so that Natsu crashed into a table, but she let Happy crash into her chest.

"I'm sorry. I need to let them wake to eat," Cristoff said following them.

"It's fine."

"Lushy, we missed you. Natsu's an awful cook. And he takes all my fishies. And we got back but you were gone. Are you really a dragon slayer now?"

"Yup," she said, smiling for the blue cat.

"Yosh! Fight me."

"No."

"Luce," he whined.

She made a low growl in the back of her throat. The urge to obey was much weaker which worried Cristoff.

"Luce, fight me."

"O' course, he's capable o' ignoring a queen's growl." Rhiannon rolled her eyes.

"You know what? Fine. Let's go." Lucy started dragging him out by his scarf.

"We should follow them."

"Lucy can handle him."

"Who said 'twas Lucy that I was worried about?"

He studied her as they followed. "You're scheming something."

"Generally. Emzadi should be in place by now. When ye hear the signal, jump her away."

"What's the signal? And jump her where?"

"Ye'll ken it."

Lucy chose the training facility where the obstacle course was housed. She typed something into the computer so that the jungle that had taken over disappeared.

"What was that? This place is cool," Natsu said, running into the center. "I'll let you have the first punch."

Lucy gave him a feral smirk. Combining her meteor spell with her newfound ability to wrap the power of a star around her wrist, she launched at him. The punch threw him back and he dug his hand into the ground to stop himself from colliding with the wall. He grinned and ran back at her.

Between the meteor spell and the acrobatic lessons that she'd been getting from Bickslow, Natsu's wild swings weren't landing. Her Elluris clothing was holding up well when a few of his wide burning did catch her. The outfit she was wearing wasn't specifically fireproof though and it was beginning to show.

Using the meteor spell, she ran around Natsu placing four magic circles around him. "Beta, Gamma, Nu, and Xi Draconis, tróo!" The head of a dragon appeared beneath Natsu and seemed to swallow him. When the head disappeared, Natsu was bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for air.

Lucy was panting softly. The meteor spell didn't require a lot of magic, but it still physically exhausted her. She walked over to him.

"Get up. I'm not done with you yet."

"Luce?" he questioned as he straightened up.

She punched. It was just with her dragon slayer strength, but it pushed him back slightly. "You left. I was still sleeping and you left." She followed each word with a punch. The tears streaming down her face had him frozen. "You snuck out."

"I-"

"You did because you're loud when you get up and you snuck out with a note. And you're going to take me seriously." Lucy knew his tells. Knew when to he was taking a fight seriously or when he wasn't.

Cristoff watched as the fight changed. The destructive but powerful pain-in-the-ass that all of the stories portrayed him as hadn't been the mage he'd been watching. Lucy's technique was as calculated as usual. She'd been careful not to use any attacks that would create flames for him to eat. It didn't surprise him that she wasn't using her spirits. She needed to beat him on her own.

Suddenly, Lucy's scent changed and she pinned Natsu down. "Submit."

"Shit," Cristoff cursed and glanced at Rhiannon who was now covering Happy's eyes. The other dragon slayer winked.

Cristoff jumped to Lucy and hoisted her off the struggling Natsu before teleporting away.

*.*.*

"Emzadi, right?"

"You're Rhiannon, aren't you?" Emzadi asked looking at the shorter woman.

"Aye. Ye kin track ye brother's jumps, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Yer brother is gonna make a few jumps. Take Kaleb ta 'is flat."

"Why?"

"'Cause it'll make yer brother happy. Or oor lives depend oan it. Take yer pick."

*.*.*

Avoiding her attacks was difficult. Lucy was practically feral. She wasn't using her magic except to make small jumps in an attempt to get back. Or maybe out. He wasn't sure if she appreciated that they were in the guildmaster penthouse. As much as it bugged her, Cristoff was glad that she hadn't gotten a hang of making the jumps yet.

"Lucy, you don't want to do this."

"Take me back to him. Or the archangel."

"Not Kaleb?"

That made her freeze. For a moment, he was relieved. Until she kicked him. He'd heard they were powerful but underestimated when shifted out of the way instead of outright dodging it. Despite it not landing fully, it knocked the air out of him.

He felt Emzadi's magic signature with Kaleb.

"We need to go," he said, grabbing his sister and jumping them out. You need to challenge her.

For a moment, Kaleb and Lucy stared at each other. Lucy attacked first. The dragon overrode her desire to hide away and cry. It saw a potential mate.

The fight stayed hand-to-hand, which he was grateful for. That didn't stop the damage, but it limited it. The dragon knew that this mate was the strongest magically. That this was Lucy's preferred.

She slowly managed to physically tear his clothes off as well as remove her own before dropping down to sweep him to the ground. Then, she climbed on top of him, making a point of ensuring that she rubbed against his erection.

"Submit," she ordered.

When he looked at her, for the first time since the fight started, he saw Lucy in those brown eyes at they studied his face. "Yes."

As she slid down on him, she sighed before leaning forward and biting his left pectoral. Kaleb groaned then blacked out.

.~*~.

Kaleb knew from both of his siblings that when slayers mated, they saw visions of their mate's lives. He'd been expecting that. Not the image of a small Lucy sitting in a spectator's box in Skys Reach next to her father. Once again, he was glad that Lucy didn't expect him to ask for his blessing because all he really wanted was to throttle the man that thought it was a good idea to bring a child to place like Skys Reach.

Despite that, something in the field had her entire attention. Kaleb followed her gaze and saw Zen's unmistakable wings.

"Daddy, can we bring him home?"

"Slavery is illegal in Fiore. We're here about their agriculture not their slave trade."

"Why would he be a slave?"

"I'm not going to pay good money to buy an orphan to set him free," Jude barked. Lucy flinched away as if she was worried he'd hit her.

Kaleb decided that he really wanted to talk him about how he treated his daughter after all.

Child Lucy turned to Kaleb who was standing next to him. "I just wanted to protect him," Lucy said softly. "I wanted to save him."

Kaleb squatted down so that he was looking her in the eye. "You did."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It'll take a few more years, but yes. You saved him."

"Did I?" the voice of the adult Lucy asked.

Kaleb stood and looked at her. "Yes."

The scene faded until they were back in his living room, but he knew that it was still an illusion. Their fight was happening around them like translucent ghosts.

He walked over to her and cupped her face in his hands. The scene changed to the night at the Pradesh Mansion when he'd tried protecting Lucy and Zen. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not listening to you about coping mechanisms. I'm sorry for not making sure that the link between you wasn't a two-way path. But he doesn't need to just survive now. He can live now."

She smiled.

"Come home," he said, his lips pressed against hers. "Come home."

.~*~.

Lucy woke up feeling more like herself than she had for days. It was as she cuddled up to the hard body half underneath her that she fully remembered what had happened over the last few days.

Her eyes flew open and she sat up. Kaleb's naked body was as distracting as always before she realized that her mating mark decorated his left side. The head was over his heart and trailed down his side. The dragon itself was faint with the stars that made up the constellation superimposed against it.

She glanced up and saw Kaleb's lavender eyes watching her.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done this but I'm not sure there's a way to undo it. Once it settles we can-"

Kaleb pulled her up and kissed her until he felt her melt into the kiss and moan softly before pulling away. "You are the most stubborn, thickheaded, amazing person I've ever known. I love you and want to be mated to you. When I get up, I'm going to put that ring on your finger and it's not going to come off again until I put a wedding band on it. Understand?" She nodded mutely. "Good." He kissed her again. "Do you understand what happened?"

"Not really. The last few days are kinda hazy."

"We didn't realize that the connection between you and Zen went both ways. That you were taking in some of his darkness. We thought by lessening his need to take your light that we saved you both. Instead, his sense of self-preservation- It was as if you were enthralled. You needed to protect him at all costs. At least, until your draconic senses kicked into overdrive."

"I'm sorry," she said, peppering his face with kisses. "And thank you. Thank you for saving me. I love you."

"I love you, too. After all this, I think I deserve my prize."

She gave him a bemused look before frowning when she remembered the bet that resulted in them going out dancing that night in Pelerno.

"Honey? Really?"

"Yes. I think I have enough in the cupboard." His eyes glanced down as he considered every place he wanted to lick honey off her body.

"We should talk to your family," she said, marveling at him as he stood and walked to his kitchen cabinets.

"Nice try. They can wait." With the bottle of honey in one hand, he scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom, kissing what he could reach as she giggled.

That was more lemony than I'm used to. Also, really awkward but that's why I said I don't write lemons.