I don't own Fairy Tail or the Pradesh family. But I do own Rhiannon and Emery.

Xally walked out of the hospital, glad to see the sunlight for once. Then she was even more glad to see Presca leaning against a pole.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a smile before kissing him.

"Surprising you."

"I like surprises. Especially when they fill out pants as well as you do." She reached behind him to grab his butt.

"Down. Come on. We have enough time for you to go home and change before the reservation."

"You made reservations?"

"Yes."

"What kind?"

"It's a surprise."

"I get that, but I need to know what to change into."

"Something to dance in."

The couple drove in separate cars to Xally's apartment near the hospital. She was so excited to see what he had in mind that she didn't try to seduce him once they were inside. She picked out a bluish-purple dress with lace over her abdomen, showed off a nice bit of cleavage, and a flared skirt that she enjoyed the feel of it swirling around her when she moved.

"You look beautiful," he said.

He'd made reservations at a jazz restaurant in Malaren. It was the next major city north of Pelerno. It competed with Venetia as the most romantic city in the country.

The restaurant had a live band that was performing. The tables were situated around the dance floor. It was lit by candles and twinkling lights that dangled from the ceiling.

"Wow," Xally murmured.

The last time she'd been on a date to a place like this, the food had been abysmal. This time, the food was as good as the environment.

She knew about his family. It was only after the Steel Council had been shut down that she'd found out how they died. She'd held him when he mourned their deaths. After finding out that she'd been the blackmail they'd held over Vander, and to an extent Presca, she'd wanted revenge for all of them. That wasn't what they talked about that night.

That night, they talked about their potential future. When he'd asked about marriage and children, she'd said that she wanted to wait until she was more secure in her position. That she hadn't decided if she wanted to stay at the hospital or move into a position at the guild hospital. Her interest in pediatrics had her considering staying at the hospital.

He admitted that he was still figuring out what his next steps were too. Vander liked spywork and was considering going back to the Steel Council because he knew that, occasionally, their work was for the greater good. Despite hating him at first, he couldn't imagine teaming up with anyone other than Vander.

After they finished eating, Xally pulled Presca him onto the dancefloor. She was giggling as he twirled her around. Sex was great, but it was these kinds of moments that she'd wanted. With a man that she'd known was as big a hopeless romantic as she was.

Knowing that she had to be up early the following day or her shift, Presca led her out with that reminder. They were walking towards the lake when they heard the first screams.

"Stay here," Presca said.

"Yeah, that's not happening," she said, slipping off her heels to run after him easier.

"I don't want you to get hurt. Not to mention, Van would-"

She kissed him. "If you'd like to do that again, shut up and run. 'Kay?"

He nodded though Xally would acknowledge that it may have been the additional screams that persuaded him. After all, she was primarily a healer.

Growing up around powerful mages, Xally had been in a few battlefields as a medic. The carnage around the square made bile rise. The bodies had gaping holes that were burned along the edges. If it wasn't an initial kill shot, the wounds would have bled just slow enough to give the victim the illusion of being able to make it to a healer.

"What could do this?" she muttered, pausing to examine an injury.

"Xally!"

"Go. Be careful," she said, squatting down to get a better look. She'd never seen anything like it. Knowing that the man was dead, she stood and ran after Presca.

Presca grabbed her as she nearly ran into one of the main streets. Walking down the street, shooting at anything that moved, were three creatures that looked like a cross between robots and dragons. The injuries made sense when considering the lasers.

A man wearing only loose pants followed the dragons. His hair was steel grey and his skin look metallic. Trailing behind him, making notes in a book, was a woman. She would watch the three dragon creatures for a moment before making a note.

"Are those-"

"Call your brother."

Kaleb, there are dragons attacking Malaren.

On my way, was Cristoff immediate response followed by Emzadi and Vander echoing it. It didn't surprise Xally not to hear Lucy or Kaleb. Kaleb was probably reminding her that the inaccuracies of her jumps would probably be problematic than good.

I'm nearby, too, was Zen's response.

Be careful, Arman said.

There was a scream and a wail of a child. Before Presca could stop her, Xally had run out of the alleyway and summoned a geyser of water to shoot at the dragon. The water propelled it away and Presca pulled the energy out of another. Even after disbursing the sheer amount of energy and magic in the dragonoid, he still found himself giddy, overdosing on its power.

The two that they'd attacked disappeared into dust. Before they could celebrate the apparent win, the man made a circular motion with his hand and two eggs appeared then the dragonoids hatched from them.

Zen landed in the street a couple minutes later. He'd started flying for at least an hour every day. It was almost like meditation. After getting lost, he'd made a point of memorizing a map of everything within a hundred-mile radius of Pelerno.

He'd felt Xally's magic first. There was a purity to it that made it easy to track. However, he'd felt another magic and knew that the mage had sensed him as well. He landed where he could get a decent look at the woman.

She was pretty, around Lucy's age, and curvy like all the women he knew. Her hair was a mixture of ash blonde and dusty purple. Her heart-shaped face wasn't made up, so he could see the dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks. It was her eyes that captivated him the most. They were large and the same shade of brown as Lucy's.

Like him, she seemed to be studying him with a bemused look on her face.

"That's enough, Motherglare," the woman said.

"Excuse me?" the man said. "They're-"

"That's enough," she said lowly. "Do I need to remind you why you listen to me?"

"No," he replied then turned the dragonoids to dust.

"Return to Acnologia. I have another stop to make first." She charged a teleportation lacrima, handed it to the man, and watched as he disappeared. Then, with a smirk and an appraising look at Zen, she disappeared as well.

"What was that?" Xally said, running over.

"I don't know."

"You're late," Presca said when Vander finally arrived. Soon followed by Cristoff and Emzadi.

"Xally wasn't real specific about where you were," Vander said defensively.

"Sorry. I was more focused on the dragons."

Guys, knock it off, Lucy said.

Cris, Xally, walk in opposite directions and stop. Everyone else look for survivors and bring them to them. Meredy's handling the mages coming from Pelerno.

Xally looked around. As exhausting as these healings might be, she knew it would be worse if no one was brought to her.

.~*~.

"Emery?" August questioned when the lacrima dropped her in front of the gates of Vistarion Castle. "Was Zeref expecting you?"

Emery gave him a bland glare. "Does it matter?"

August pursed his lips but acknowledged that Zeref didn't want anyone to stop her on the occasions that she came to Alvarez. She was one of the many pieces on his ever-moving board.

As she walked into his library, she passed Invel who flinched slightly. The first time that they'd met, she had commented that she found him attractive. Acnologia had not taken kindly to that and attacked him. The dragon's immunity to most magic allowed him to nearly kill the ice mage.

"Zeref," she said, bowing her head slightly.

"Your first attack was planned for today. How did it go?" he asked gesturing for her to sit across from him.

"I think we left an impression," she replied. "There was something strange though."

"Strange how?"

"A mage came to fight us. He had black wings, feathered like an angel's. I felt something…" She pursed her lips. "My magic- the celestial magic- it reacted to him."

Zeref frowned, his expression turning inquisitive, before standing and looking for a book. It took a few minutes but eventually he returned with a thick tome.

"Like this?" he asked, flipping to a drawing.

"Yes."

"Interesting… This is an archangel. That magic should be extinct now. At least, it was." Zeref's face split into a grin that sent a shiver down her spine. "I questioned him picking you, but this might work out better than I ever imagined. What will you tell Acnologia?"

Emery swallowed. "The truth. Most of it anyways."

"That's probably for the best."

"You didn't pick me because of the archangel, right?"

"No. You interested Acnologia," Zeref said.

She smiled and nodded slightly. "Good."

"Emery, I'll let you decide how you want to handle the archangel. But I want him. Either through you or the warqueen. Understand?"

Emery frowned. She hated the Joyan warqueens and their tactics. If she had her way, she'd raze both them and Pergrande to the ground. However, both countries were inclined to side with Alvarez under the condition of protecting their way of life. Potentially even expanding their slave trade.

Even though her contracts were broken, she carried her keys with her to protect the spirits from potentially becoming slaves to another master.

"I understand."

.~*~.

Lucy found Rhiannon in the guildhall, flirting with a couple.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said, pulling Rhiannon away from the crowds. "A town was attacked by what sounds like the little dragon-things that the large metal dragon that Future Rogue flew around on created when they attacked after the Grand Magic Games. Whatever scheme you're waiting to hatch, it's time."

Rhiannon's already fair skin seemed to get paler. "When will he get 'ere?"

Understanding who she was talking about, she said, "Got here a minute ago to debrief Kaleb."

It wouldn't be until the following day that Rhiannon managed to catch up to her mate.

The guildhall was abuzz with conversations about robotic dragons. There'd been twenty-three fatalities and another ten that healers managed to save. Something that had brought people hope was that not a single child was killed. Even parents seemed not to have been targeted. For most of them, it was still something separate. Something not real yet.

Vander was talking to Cana when Rhiannon found him. He smiled and waved her over.

"We need tae blether," she said without preamble.

"I'm busy."

She gave the card mage a cursory once over before saying, "We kin blether about sharing her efter. Come now."

"Rhia…"

"Ye'r my mate. Either ye come willing or I will throw ye ower my shoulder."

Vander gawked at her.

"Come now."

He followed her, half waiting for the punchline of the joke. Once outside, she took his hand, for the first time feeling the pull to mate, and shifted them to her island.

Her house had no floors. The walls were made of light wood meant only to keep the rain out of the house. The inside had most of the amenities he'd expect but it was one large room. Meant for someone that lived alone and had no intention on having guests.

When she looked up at him, for the first time, he saw a hint of vulnerability. They got along well, but there was always a detachment in her reactions. Except, maybe, when she came.

"A'm sorry. A'd hoped there'd be awa' aroond this bit- A'm sorry," she said, her accent becoming thick.

He cupped her face and kissed her. Though he'd teased her about being his wing woman or enjoyed threesomes with her, he'd never attempted to push harder because he could recognize someone that was using sex as a distraction. He'd been there more than a few times himself. When he needed that distraction, he always made a point of going for someone who wouldn't expect anything from him.

In that moment, he could feel her. Could feel the sincerity that always seemed to be lacking. Next thing he knew, he was shoving her dress off and letting his shadow leather disappear. He fell onto her bed with her hovering above him.

"Do ye submit?"

"Yes."

He saw the tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she repeated before sinking her teeth into the juncture of his neck and allowing his erection to enter her.

*.*.*

Vander felt like he was suffocating. It almost felt like the Voids but without the sensation of hope or love. Throughout all his time in the Voids, it was knowing that his family was on the other side that helped him through the darkness.

The darkness faded and was replaced by scenes.

Rhiannon being attacked by children and adults when her draconic features started to appear. Years of isolation with nothing but the earth and plants to keep her company. The few months in her youth that she spent with Nurem and Draco were a bright spot amongst the loneliness.

She was surrounded by dead men. Her clothes were disheveled. The men showed signs of her magic attacking him. Vander watched as she went home only to be turned away by her father because of her magic. The magic he'd forced upon her.

As suffocating as her earlier isolation had been, it became a physical weight that he honestly thought he was going to be crushed by.

Going to Bosco had been the act of a woman who believed the world was ending. She took pleasure to distract herself. Even now, she took pleasure because she didn't think they'd win. She claimed him because she needed to.

He felt every wound as she tried to survive against Acnologia. Felt her bones move awkwardly in her skin with each shift. Knowing that as long as she touched the earth, she could shift but not knowing if Acnologia might catch up eventually. Surviving him had led her home again. Her mother found her half-dead behind their house. The most she'd do was bandage her wounds outside and give her some food to take with her.

The earth was cold but constant. To survive alone, she'd become the earth.

"I'm so sorry."

*.*.*

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she kept repeating, her face streaked with tears.

"That's not usually the reaction women have with me."

She chuckled. The sound was watery, but he smiled. "Oh, I ken. I was surprised how muckle that one guy came."

He laughed. "I remember that." He watched as the veil came down on her face. "Don't. Only one of us can afford to be a fucked-up bastard at a time." Her eyes widened slightly, and he pulled her close to kiss. "Also, ease up on the accent. I know you only keep it because you want to go back."

"I dinnae-" She sighed. "Fine."

"Has the bite set?"

"No."

"Good." He flipped her over and started moving down her body. When his mouth reached the juncture of her thighs, she moaned.

"Fuck."

"That's the plan."

"Better use for your mouth."

He bit her thigh lightly, making her laugh before moaning again.

.~*~.

Lucy stood on the balcony of the guildmaster suite staring at the stars. It had been a long day. Going to the memorial in Malaren with Kaleb had been the first time she'd worn white as the Mistress of White Sea. At least it meant that no one propositioned her or Kaleb anymore though there'd been more than a few speculative looks. However, it meant that everyone in the guild wanted to get to know her and she couldn't run away.

She smiled when she felt Kaleb's arms wrap around her and snuggled into his chest.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Stuff. The mage that caught Zen's attention. Cassi thinks it must be a celestial mage."

"I thought the point of Andromeda's key was to shield him."

"From the compulsion but not the instinct to recognize celestial mages."

"She could control dragons?"

"Like the version of Rogue from the future. It's got present day Rogue worried." Lucy giggled. "Actually, most of them are annoyed that they can't shift like us and missed the fight."

"How long until the bite finishes setting?"

"Tomorrow will be three days so assuming that Van doesn't talk her into staying in bed with him, we'll see them then."

"Good. Dad's chomping at the bits to meet her."

"That'll be fun."

"Come to bed."

She looked up at him with a coy smile. "Can I be on top?"

"Short of an X-frame, you can have me anywhere." He kissed her and lifted her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist and carried her to bed.