-Chapter 5-

Lucy trudged away from the train station towards her home wanting nothing more than a bath and bed. For the last 4 months she'd been out on jobs with so many people, even an S-class one with just Erza and another with the old Thunder Legion, that she felt like she's hardly been at home. When she was, most of that time was spent playing with her handsome little godson so Levy and Gajeel could have some free time or watching movies with the boys. Her savings was happy, her life full, but her body demanded a break. Out of all of the jobs she'd been on this last one with just Natsu and Happy had been the most trying. Not the job itself, that had gone remarkably well. With her investigative skills honed from being a reporter and tracking down her guild-mates, Happy's flying recognizance and Natsu's inability to be blown up they three of them had recovered the Governor's child, the job the trio had taken, and a cache of stolen items which they returned earning the finder's fees from the insurance companies and rightful owners. At first she'd questioned just why the request board offered up that particular job for the three of them but after the first explosive bobby trap it just made sense. The fact that they took home at least 4 times the amount of the original request, reunited a doting father and son and Lucy had found a key for Caelum, the chisel, for a reasonable price just made her love the new system all the more. God's Cana's card fortune magic had made such a huge difference in how smoothly jobs went for everyone. Hell, even Nab no longer spent hours in front of the request board just trying to find the perfect job. Now he just swiped his mobile com lacrima and the best job for his skills popped up.

What had her in desperate in need of a shower and nap was the hours she'd spent on the train with a motion-sick fire dragon slayer and an obnoxious cat. It made her wonder how she managed to put up with Natsu constantly attached at her hip for what equaled to about a year and a half. He'd grown so much in the past few months that even the random brawl that broke out in the bar of the hotel they were staying at only had Natsu stepping in and nocking each person out without breaking a thing. It was hard to hold in her giggles listening to him ranting at the unconscious men about not respecting the bartender's beloved and cherished home like he was channeling Mira in one of her demon forms… He maybe took her explanation a little bit too literal back in February but at least the major complaints concerning his behavior from the council had stopped and his ranking in the system increased dramatically. The hotel manager even comped Natsu a free meal which Lucy suspected his might of regretted after watching Natsu had polish off an entire side of beef with tons of fixings. They definitely needed to work on his table manners next.

Lucy giggle again at the memory as she made her way into her apartment and immediately started throwing her clothes off on the way to her bathroom for a long soak in her tub.

"You really should lock your door and look around your apartment before you start undressing," a now familiar voice said behind her freezing Lucy moments before she was going to drop her skirt.

"Why are you in my place Vander?" Lucy questioned wearily as she buttoned her skirt back up and just requipped into a new top all the while keeping her back to him.

"A job came 2 days ago that Bicks and I want to take but the system says we need you too so I came to pick you up," Vander said still laying back on her sofa as if he lived there and wasn't a decidedly unwanted guest at the moment.

"I literally just got back from a job," she reasoned now turning to look at her so called friend. "My list of things to do for the rest of today are, in order - a bath, a large meal because I haven't eaten since last night, then bed. I was also planning on taking the next few days to clean my apartment, do my laundry and work some more on my novel. I don't have time for another job so soon," she argued plopping down on her couch as well. If his legs happened to be what she sat on instead of her couch? That was his problem. All Vander did was move one of his legs out from under her easily then set it back in her lap effectively trapping her.

"First, you know Virgo has been keeping your apartment spotless for the last few months and can have your clothes washed and put away the moment you pull them out of you magical storage space. Which, you should do right now." It took a minor staring contest then him squeezing her with his legs to get her to comply. 'I think this is what it's like having a younger sibling,' he thought when Lucy finally requipped all the clothes in a pile on the floor. Being the older brother was a novel concept to him but he had great examples and quite enjoyed teasing the young blond. In the blink of an eye Virgo had opened her own gate, started a bath and collected all of Lucy's clothes.

"Your lunch will ready by the time you are finished with your bath," she notified. "Punishment Princess?" Virgo's eyes gleamed, the only sign of emotion the spirit expressed.

"Oh no, not from me!" Lucy narrowed her eyes at who was supposed to be her most loyal spirit. "Since you're proving his point," she pointed at the shadowquip mage still trapping her with his legs, "ask him for punishment. He'd probably enjoy it more too!" she huffed crossing her arms under her bust. Virgo turned to look at and the man currently wrapped around her princess with an actual hopeful questioning look.

Vander looked at her with a wicked grin, god he loved this particular spirit of Lucy's for so many many reasons. "Tell you what Virgo I'm all yours for an entire night after the job if you can have Lucy ready for at least a month long mission by the time she's done bathing." Virgo's eyes turned down right predatory.

"Anything I want?" she questioned.

"If you keep the three of us well fed for the whole mission starting with lunch in an hour," he added. He was familiar with what the masochistic spirit had asked Lucy for previously. She seemed to love some pretty heavy bondage but never sex and he was curious if that was because Lucy was her Master or if she was true to her title of Maiden as well as Chained. Either way he was more than willing to pay this price. Hell, he'd enjoy it just as much as the spirit too.

"Deal," Virgo bowed and disappeared into the celestial world.

Lucy groaned and covered her face with her hands. "I still need sleep and I was really looking forward to writing," she tried her last ditch effort. The blond had some serious problems with telling people no. Even when she did it was ignored and she ended up going along with it anyways.

Vander sat up and released Lucy from his legs. "It'll be all day on the train and Bicks is getting a private sleeping compartment for us as we speak so you can sleep however long you want on the train. We'll have plenty of travel time to discuss the mission and for you to do some writing so get up and in that bath."

Lucy glared at him. "You've already spoken to the client? What if I said no or didn't get back today?" 'The arrogance of the man,' she thought.

Vander ruffled her hair as he stood up to leave to finish his final preparations. "You did say no and see how well that turned out?" he smiled victoriously at her darker glare. "And you checked in last night saying you'd be getting back today so that's a non-issue." Walking toward the door he added over his shoulder, "I'll be back with Bicks in tow in an hour."

Lucy sighed as she watched her front door close. She loved the guy like a brother she never had - or honestly wanted - which made her threatening him non-effective and a waste of energy. She stood and locked her door, not that it ever helped keeping people out, then made her way to the awaiting bath.

Vander had quickly become the best person to get Lucy to do things she didn't want to do since they started really hanging out in January. Whenever he wanted something, he just made it happen, and people couldn't help falling in line even if they meant not to. Lucy had to admit, if only to herself, whenever he coerced her into doing something it always turned out really well for her. 'When he forced me to sing with him in the karaoke contest at the bar I won a spa day,' she thought excitedly. She won mostly because Vander had a killer, to-die-for, voice and was able to harmonize well with her average singing. It did help that the bar was filled with drunk people that she and Vander practically seduced…in her case it was more due to Dom's more risqué creation she'd been wearing as opposed to skill. Lechers the lot of them but with her boys egging her on and following Vander's lead, they won that blessed prize grinning the whole time. It made her hopeful for the mission they were soon leaving on.

-DTRE-

True to his word, Vander let Lucy sleep through the night on the train and neither Pradesh brother bothered her the next morning so she spent her time writing. They'd both made themselves scarce since the night before but when they returned with shit-eating grins and disheveled clothes she realized that was less for her and more for the inevitably attractive women they'd met on the train.

She couldn't even bring herself to care anymore after meeting one of their liaisons leaving Bickslow's house 3 months ago. The women, and occasional men, they tumbled with just wanted sex as well. It contractual terms, how Lucy often thought of their conquests at this point, both parties fulfilled their agreements and left satisfied so who was she to judge? She learned Vander was a little less careful to make sure said conquest was unattached but that was hardly his fault when he was the one being pursued. Sighing internally the stellar mage often wished she could be more like a Boscan, giving and receiving pleasure with no obligations beyond that, but she was true to herself and that just wasn't going to happen. She was beyond curious of what sex was like, especially when she saw them leave to entertain multiple partners, but more so for her writing than any actual desire to participate in the act. 'Maybe I'm broken?' she thought. 'Shouldn't I want to have sex? Everybody else does, even Natsu!' She just found sex disgusting and that was the problem. 'Why would I want someone to put anything in any part of me when they'd just done the same with someone else?' the thought made her skin crawl.

Getting up, Lucy changed her clothes and called Virgo for lunch in time for when both of her partners on this job tumbled back in.

"Eventful night?" she asked eyeing the lipstick smeared on Bickslow's throat. Her only answers were cocky smiles before they all starting eating. Lucy's face involuntarily scrunched up in disgust before she focused on her food.

"Ok what was the face for?" Vander asked. He had actually sat down and talked to Lucy about Boscan culture in depth a while ago and she seemed accepting of it but that little face she'd just made screamed otherwise.

"I…I just…it's just so…gross," she finally got the words out. Out of all the things they had thought she was going to say, that was not it.

"What's gross?" Bicks questioned carefully.

"You don't know where they've been! If they're carrying some sort of disease or virus. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about all the STDs that could be passed!" It was the only thing Lucy literally couldn't get over with their lifestyles. "I mean even if you're careful and use protection every time, it's not 100%!"

After neither of them had responded for a full minute she looked up and met stunned expressions. Without a word said Bickslow reached into his pocket and fished out what looked to be a mint tin only it was completely matte black and metal. Handing it to her Lucy examined the container closely and saw nothing written on it so she popped the lid off and saw what looked to be small thin translucent sea green sheets. Still completely confused she looked up questioningly to her friends. That's when they started laughing and not just a chuckle here or there but full gut-busting guffaws!

"I don't see what's so funny!" she bristled more from her embarrassed at her lack of understanding than anything else.

"Oh my dear little mouse!" Vander struggled to get out as he got up from his seat and pulled Lucy bodily into a hug. "Even for a Fioren you are so innocent!" he nestled her head to his chest and set his chin on her head effectively hiding the red staining on her cheeks.

When their laughter died down and lunch resumed Bickslow tried to explain. "So Cosplayer, you know of condoms and infertility potions, you'd have to being friends with Cana." At her nod he continued. "Like you know the potions do prevent pregnancy and condoms do prevent pregnancy and STDs but only they cover the penis." At that Lucy's cheeks were even redder but she nodded for him to continue. "Thing is, for the last, what…40 years?" he looked at his brother for confirmation.

"Closer to 50."

"50 years, what you hold in your hand has been available through any pharmacist or doctor. It targets all known STDs, which given they were made in good old Bosco that's everything, and destroys them. The formula even gets updated when knew things pop up." Lucy's eyes got big with surprise and looked back at the little tin again. Bicks continued, "They're not completely mainstream in Fiore like they are most other places, but anyone who's ever gotten an STD before would know of them. They can be taken before or after sex, though they work much better before."

"So with a culture like ours we always carry them and have whomever we're with take one before just in case," Vander added matter-of-factly.

Lucy made an "o" face in understanding. "Do you use condoms as well?" she asked figuring it's better to get the rest of her questions out.

"Side-effect of taking one is infertility for a couple a days for the man, a month for the woman." Bickslow responded. Ever since he'd purged Lucy's soul of the parasite months back he'd not been able to think of her intimately anymore. Getting such a close look at her soul confirmed that they wouldn't be a good match for the long run so anything they started would only ruin their friendship and Lucy literally couldn't do casual. Regular humans, meaning excluding dragon slayers, didn't have soul mates as far as Bickslow knew, but the best and lasting relationships were between people whose souls balanced each other. That wasn't the case for them so, he safely tucked Lucy into the friend-zone and tried every day to help her open up to people so when he spotted her with someone with a fitting soul she'd be ready and wouldn't second-guess the shit out of it. She flirted and played around a lot more than before but whenever she got approached for sex by some guy she still froze up or lashed out so he still had his work cut out for him. Apparently he also needed to manage her sexual education too.

Lucy calmly closed the tin and handed it back to Bickslow now avoiding eye contact. She had too many thoughts running through her head, too many fundamental "truths" to update, to even begin to know how she now felt about the entire situation. Filing it all away to think about later she changed the conversation.

"So, what's this job we're on?"

"Nothing too bad," Bicks said grateful for the subject change as well. "We find some lost temple, chart it on a map and bring back something so our client can verify so we get paid."

"Dr. Parsons said it's supposed to be haunted and there is definitely some heavy level security setup around the site. So we go in, clear it of all the unwanteds, disable the old security system, setup a new one and grab a piece of treasure and head home," Vander said as he tossed a lacrima display to Lucy. "The conglomerates research says it's somewhere in the Jacinto Mountains near one of the peaks."

"What's this highlighted bit?" Lucy asked as she zoomed in on that area.

"Parsons said they've had 5 teams out already looking for the site and all but one team went missing in that area. The last team came back but severely injured and memories wiped. It was only with the daily check-ins with geographic tags that they have any information at all. Everything else was corrupted or hasn't been found," Bicks said.

"It took 17 people dying before they decided to hire guild mages," Vander stated in disgust. "So we'll start there."

"Ok, ghosts and security systems makes sense our system tagged you both, but monsters and mapping? Wouldn't Freed have been a better choice? He's much better at cartography and dead languages. There are bound to be clues and the like around the site to help with traps…" the rest of her thoughts died on her tongue as Vander pulled three large tomes from his shadows.

"You're magic is more flexible plus you're just as smart and adapt and react quicker than him. I can handle the cartography. Parsons said these are the 3 most likely languages with translations to the right. You don't have to become fluent, just learn some helpful words. Get reading," he said dropping them in her lap.

Lucy looked up at Bickslow hoping that this was a joke. Learning 3 dead languages while on the job? But since he was currently discussing some things quietly with his brother, Lucy could only conclude that they were very serious. Swallowing the lump in her throat she pulled out her Gale-Force glasses for the first read through. If only she had Levy's brain right about now.

The blond spent the next few days with her head down in one of the books, making small notations in the journal she always carried. She didn't notice when they got off the train later that same day, or when they rented a wagon and a team of four goslers. Bickslow and Vander just guided her while she walked and lifted her into the wagon while they drove for the next 2 days. She even studied while she ate whatever was handed to her. She came out of the books briefly when Vander dumped his canteen over her head.

"Whaaaaaat!" Lucy screamed holding one of the texts she'd been reading away from her now soaking and shivering body.

"I said, how do you expect to ride and continue to study malá myš?" Vander repeated more than a little amused with Lucy's behavior since the train.

She sputtered and looked around, only now noticing they were in a dense forest with large looming mountains just ahead. "Ride?" she questioned stupidly. Her eyes quickly followed where both men were pointing taking in four large dark green beasts. Their bodies were the size of large horses but the legs were thicker and shorter more similar to a jungle cat. Their heads and tails were like wild boars with a horse-like mane. She'd only seen them once before when with Natsu but now considered what Vander had said. "I'll ride in front of one of you," she shrugged then mounted the closest beast returning her attention to her book.

"She's worse than Freed and Levy combined!" Bickslow guffawed as he mounted a different animal than the one Lucy was on.

"Hey!" Vander called out.

"No can do little bro. It was your idea to get her wet so you get to ride with her," he laughed. "Just be happy she got on the last animal so you can guard our flank and not have to lead and keep her seated."

-DTRE-

"Draw its attention away from Lucy so I can get a clean shot!" Bickslow yelled as he jumped from his babies to a rocky outcropping.

"Right, because I can do that and prevent the goslers from running while making sure Lucy doesn't fall and break her neck!" Vander yelled back. "How can she not notice this?"

Bickslow cackled as he jumped through the air trying to lead the rock wyvern away on his own. Meanwhile Vander quickly made some rope from the nearby shadows and tied all the animals and Lucy together so he could join his brother. With them secured Vander dropped into a shadow and climbed up the creature's legs and onto its back. Bickslow concentrated his babies on hitting its wings while he hopped around trying to get a look of it in the eye. "Now," Bickslow hollered shakily holding the wannabe dragon still with his figure-eyes. Vander popped out right at the base of its neck then rammed two swords into the thinner skin of its throat.

The wyvern dropped with a gargling cry and loud earth shaking thud, Vander riding it all the way down.

"Those things are such a pain in the ass!" Bickslow whooped flying back to the ground.

"Kind of like I'm going to be to Lucy if she's not where I left her," Vander returned as they walked back through the narrow canyon. Turning the bend they saw Lucy happily writing some notes still perched on her mount exactly where she'd been left.

-DTRE-

"Think of it this way, she makes really good bait for these guys," Vander said as he appeared behind one the forest vulcans and decapitated it.

"That's my woman!" another pink huge ape-like monster yelled trying to get past Bickslow to Lucy.

"Sorry we don't share outside the family!" Bickslow argued back with an echoing "Family!" "Protect Lucy!" from his babies before they shot it between the eyes.

"Shit!" Bickslow screamed as one of the vulcans circled round past him making it to Lucy who was leaning against a tree.

"Woman!" the vulcan shouted in success beating his chest before reaching out to grab her. Vander heard a "Lucy kick!" come out of nowhere and turned in time to see a vulcan fly away and Lucy's clothes changed back to normal from a black and gold strapless number he didn't even know she had while her nose was still stuck in the fucking book.

"Pervert," she muttered unconsciously.

Laughing along with Bicks they both finished off the rest of the vulcans. Trust Lucy's pervert radar to keep her protected even subconsciously.

-DTRE-

"What are these things?" Vander asked quietly as more and more small green spotted pink squirrels surrounded them.

"Goblins, they have wicked sharp teeth but they're usually non-aggressive," Bicks responded eyeing them warily.

"Maybe we have something they want," Vander shot back.

"Like what?"

"Cheeee!" they all yelled as they suddenly swarmed Lucy or more specifically Plue, who had apparently opened his gate and as was sitting behind her.

"Puuuun!" he cried as the goblins ran off with him.

"Shit! Lucy's going to be pissed," Bickslow yelled giving chase.

"Plue God Damn it! Close your gate!" Vander screamed back out.

"Pun, puuun…pun pun!" he squealed.

"I'll get you a sucker when we're in camp tonight!" Bicks yelled back. Not a second later they saw a yellow poof of smoke and heard pitiful goblin cries as they looked around for the missiong Plue.

"Fucking candy addict!" Vander swore as they walked back to where they left everything.

-DTRE-

"Okay!" Lucy chirped happily as she shut the tome in her hands and sent it to her magical storage space as she put her Gale-Force glasses and notebook in her messenger bag. She first noticed the strong arm around her waist followed by the peacefully tranquil forest. "It's been awfully quiet," she said with a smile.

"I will never, I repeat, never give you study material on a job ever again!" Vander's tenor voice declared right by her ear. She felt his arm tighten around her as Bickslow laughed so hard he almost fell off his mount.

"Something happened?" she looked behind her at the usually relaxed shadowquip mage.

"Yes so you better be fluent in those languages," he said then looked down to meet Lucy's innocent doe eyes. His own softened involuntarily as he sighed. "Just pay attention from now on," he advised kissing her temple lightly before he started scanning the jungle again. 'This woman's made me soft,' he internally sneered at himself since he couldn't manage to stay angry at Lucy.

-DTRE-

The three mage's left their wagon about 2 weeks prior and still had no luck finding the ancient temple they were looking for and Lucy was getting frustrated. They'd covered almost the full area Dr. Parsons had indicated with no success at all. She'd even called out Crux to look into temples built in this area, anything older than 500 years since that was when the languages she'd been studying had been used, but he'd had to return to the spirit realm to finish his search; that was 8 days ago.

"Just eat your food Lucy, we're not in a hurry," Bickslow said as he sat next to her and handed her a bowl of the pasta Virgo had brought out for their dinner. She'd given Vander some seriously meaningful looks Bicks was choosing to ignore.

"I just, I miss my bed," she pouted. "And we haven't seen any aggressive animals or monsters…" at the pointed glares and throat clearings she amended, "I haven't seen. This is boring and I could use some sort of beast to take my frustration out on!"

"Just wait Lucy. I have a feeling any minute now old man Crux is going to proof out screaming with exactly what we need," Vander said as he sat on her other side.

"Lucy? That's new, I was just getting used to malá myš," Lucy said then took another bite.

"I've called you by your name before little one," Vander bopped her nose.

"Great, you know I'm technically older than you are."

"Yes but 7 of those years don't count making you younger. Plus you'll always be smaller so you are my adorable malá myš, my little mouse," he said adding extra honey into his tone.

"Bet you're glad I call you Cosplayer right about now, aren't you," Bickslow stuck his tongue out with a grin on his face.

"I'm undecided," she mumbled. She'd always wanted a cute nick-name as a little girl, but who wouldn't when everyone called her either Lucky Lucy Heartfilia or Lady Lucy. Now she had too many of them and very few were acceptably cute; Bickslow called her Cosplayer mostly but occasionally he threw in a Cheerleader, Vander mostly stuck to little mouse, Levy called her Lulu, Gajeel still called her Bunny girl, Laxus stayed strong with Blondie, Natsu and Happy said Luce, Lushy or Luigi, her spirits called her Princess, Miss Lucy, Lady Lucy or various terms of endearment from Loke specifically. Her favorite was still Tink that Cobra called her. Tinkerbell was blond, beautiful, feisty and a fairy, 'What's not to like about that!'

"Yaahoooaaaahhhh!" echoed loudly in the clearing startling everyone except the goslers - those things didn't startle for anything.

"Grandpa Crux!" Lucy cheered.

"Miss Lucy, I was finally able to find a temple that met your specifications."

"Only one?" Lucy asked surprised.

"Yes, I've marked it here one this map," Crux said as he pulled up a display similar to what she'd seen Hibiki's archive magic look like. "Indicated here about 4 miles away from your current location was an old temple built for the God Apollo. It was supposedly where Apollo buried his dead human love Hyakinthos in the form of a flower now known as the hyacinth. This mountain range was actually named for it too. It was built before the Holy Wars that ended almost 800 years ago but it is the only temple I could find information on in these mountains."

Seeing Vander already marking their map Lucy dismissed her spirit after thanking him for the hard work. "How do you do that?" Lucy questioned the shorter of the two males.

"What?" he asked shutting his map off and returning back to his meal.

"Make the universe bend to your will." At his raised questioning brow she explained, "Whenever you declare something it happens, usually really quickly, even with things like Grampa Crux finding a lead."

His smile went crooked as he took another bite. It was probably the cockiest look she'd seen on his face to date and that's including the time he showed up late to movie night one week because the hot guy that rung up the snacks he'd bought for said event went immediately on break and pulled him into the breakroom where they fucked right up against the vending machines.

Bickslow just rolled his eyes and pulled Lucy into his side. "Just ignore him and we normal humans can hang out," he said as he took a bite of her leftover pasta.

-DTRE-

It was early the next day when they caught their first glimpse of the temple high on a steep cliff.

"I'm not walking up that," Lucy said flatly already noticing the path was too narrow for them to take the goslers up. As she dismounted and helped tie the animals in a grassy glen a plan for flight was already being made.

Bickslow snorted but was in full agreement. His babies could fly them all up in no time but space was limited and balancing would be difficult with them all.

Without saying a word Vander picked Lucy up and dropped into the shadows then glided up Bickslow's leg.

"That's fucking weird," Bickslow said as he hopped on his babies as they agreed. "Super weird!" "Disinfect your leg!" He flew up to the top ledge in a few short minutes enjoying the easy feeling after riding on the ground for so long. The second he hopped down Vander was out of the shadows holding a distinctly green Lucy.

It was her first time travelling like that. The whole time Lucy felt like she couldn't breath and didn't know which way was up. By the time Vander pulled them out she was lightheaded and dizzy, weighing the pros and cons of vomiting. Fortunately the effects didn't last long and she was able to focus again and breathe.

"You ok there Lucy?" Vander asked the short blond who looked close to trying to kill him with a look. "I probably should have warned you…"

"You think?" she wheezed out then took a deep breath standing up straight. "Let's go," was all she said as she started walking toward the entrance but paused at the strange glyphs written along the wall.

"What do they say?" Bickslow said wrapping a supportive arm around her waist.

"I don't know," she said simply but her tone was strained.

"What do you mean you don't know? What were you doing the whole time you were reading?" Vander asked trying to read the wall too.

"I mean, this isn't one of the 3 languages you had me learn. It's not any language I've even seen!"

"Old man Crux said this was built before the Holy Wars began… that means it's at least over 1,000 years old," Bickslow helpfully added, "and didn't you say those languages were only about 500 years old?"

Nodding Lucy pushed the two brothers behind her as she turned to face a wider portion of the ledge. "Gate of the Dragon, I open thee! Draco!" Lucy summoned her newest key save one. There was a brilliant flash of white light and when the Pradesh brothers uncovered their eyes, what they saw was a bit underwhelming. They had expected a huge dangerous looking dragon, this was Draco she was summoning, and they both knew his mate Nurem because of their brother Cristoff. What they saw instead was a miniature dark blue dragon the size of cow. He looked fierce kind of how an action figure who compared to the real thing. His silver eyes gleamed with intelligence as he adjusted his wings and looked up to his master.

"Princess," a surprisingly deep voice greeted Lucy with a nod of his narrow head.

"Hi Adro!" Lucy said as she walked up and hugged his neck slowing stroking behind one of his long silver horns that pointed back along his neck. He rumbled and nuzzled into her neck enjoying every bit of attention his master was lavishing on him.

"I thought you were going to call me out to fly up somewhere but it looks like we're already here…" the dragon questioned.

Lucy nodded and pointed at the figures behind her. "That one took me into a shadow and rode the other one who flew up here. Worse way to travel ever!" The small dragon just nodded in sympathy. Flying without being able to feel the air rush took all the fun and excitement from the experience.

"Wait, when did you get Draco's key?" Bickslow asked finally finding his voice.

"And why aren't you bigger?" Vander joined.

The blue dragon snorted and ignored both men. Stupid questions like that were not worth his or his master's time. Lucy turned to face her partners but put one arm around the dragon and rubbed under his chin to calm him as she answered.

"The job back in January we took with Erik. Part of the reward was Adro's key. The Draco constellation has five silver keys and it takes having them all and being able to use them all at the same time to actually get Draco," Lucy explained. She'd never admit it but she'd been just as confused as Bicks and Vander were now when she first made the contract. Fortunately Natsu was there running his mouth as a nice cover for her ignorance. "Usually one of Draco's stars is assigned key duty when one of the keys are contracted but I got lucky to have one of Draco's hatchlings," she ended excitedly dropping a kiss on his snout. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"Yes," both men responded with firm nods knowing there really only was one correct answer to that question. It happened to be true but even if he wasn't they'd of answered the same.

"Anyways Adro, I was wondering if you know the language written on the wall here," Lucy said as she walked toward the wall where the inscription was engraved. "I know you aren't even close to this old but I figured Draco may have taught you," she said hopefully.

Giving the dragon a wide berth, Bickslow and Vander moved out of the way. He was tiny compared to a full sized dragon but he still was bigger than them both and his claws and teeth looked just as sharp.

"You are in luck Princess," Adro said still examining the wall. "This language is similar to what dragon's use; it's from a time when our species lived in harmony together."

"What does it say?" Lucy asked getting closer.

"Those who seek balance need Strength of Mind, Body, Soul and Heart."

"Thank you so much Adro," Lucy hugged her spirit again.

"I have a request Princess," the dragon asked somehow looking shy. At her nod he continued, "I would like to stay out if I may?"

"Of course!" Lucy quickly agreed.

"Wait!" Bickslow called out immediately getting both celestial mage and spirit glares turned toward him. "Hey, I'm just saying, he's a bit big and it'll be awkward going through the doors and all," Bickslow quickly explained.

"I thought I was small?" the dragon shot back petulantly. "You should see my real size!"

"Real size?" Vander now entered back into the conversation. He was not a diplomat in any sense of the word but he'd seen his father and oldest brother work often enough to give it a try. "Well that explains it!" he nodded as if talking to himself though obviously saying it loud enough everyone could hear. "He appeared smaller than normal to fit here on the cliff, of course it was so simple!" he exclaimed laying it on thick like he was an idiot as opposed to just uninformed. They'd never seen a young dragon before so how could they know what to expect? It's not like there were many dragons still alive on Earthland. Turning back to Adro he asked, "So you can become larger or small based on your needs?"

If a dragon could smile, Adro would be doing so right then. "Of course! Any hatchling older than a year can do so. We can only get as large as our true size though so you should say we can shrink. I learned to at 8 months," he boasted.

"That is impressive," Bickslow finally caught on and joined in to mend their little burnt bridge. "I bet you can do all sorts of things we can't even imagine." Lucy looked at the two men indulgently as they placated the young dragon. While it was a fact that Adro was born over 400 years ago, he and other hachlings had only spent a year on Earthland with both parent's before Draco had to return back to the Celestial realm with his kids in tow to keep them safe until Arcnologia was killed. She learned shortly after contracting with Adro that time flows differently for mortals and spirits in the spirit world. She knew that to some extent but it was much more complicated than she thought it had been. It took Crux and Adro both quite a while to explain to Lucy how it all works but she basically broke everything down to these few points.

1 day for a human spent in the spirit world = 90 days for a human passed on Earthland

1 day for a spirit spent on Earthland = 4 days for a spirit passed in the spirit world

1 day for a human spent on Earthland = 7 days for a spirit spent in the spirit world

Also since Adro has a mortal body but his soul is both dragon and spirit -

1 day for Adro mentally in the spirit world = 29 days for Adro mentally on Earthland

All this means is time is not linear and when you fuck with space and time, if fucks you back.

So now Adro and all his siblings are mentally 17 but physically 6. "The disparity between their mind and body does cause some behavioral instabilities," Grandpa Crux said once after Adro had left. 'So sometimes, Adro acts like he's 6 years old.' Lucy personally thinks that Grandpa Crux was just making excuses for the dragon since she's seen adult men act like babies just because they're sick and upset and figures the same must hold true for dragons as well.

When all was said and done though, she just enjoyed watching her two intelligent friends, flattering her dragon friend - and he loved it.

"Alright boys, we've a job to do and day light is wasting," Lucy drew their attention in.

"Yes Princess!" Adro cheered and in a swirl of white smoke shrunk to the size of a ferret. He flew to Lucy and wrapped himself around her neck, content to cuddle to her warmth until he was needed again.

"So what kind of security do you think this place has," Lucy asked as they made their way to the opening in the wall.

"Probably nothing I can't just slip through," Vander assured as he walked right in quickly followed by Lucy with Adro then Bickslow. They looked around and saw nothing terribly exciting. The temple was set back about 50 feet from the wall opening and didn't look like it could hold anything let alone a security system. There were large rounded pillars standing around a rectangular space all connected around the top and triangular pieces across the narrower sides.

"Maybe there's a secret entrance?" Bickslow asked. "In the movies there's always a secret entrance."

"Might as well look around," Vander said.

"Couldn't hurt," Lucy added stepping forward to join the two men only to stop immediately at the warning growl from Adro.

"I smell something dangerous," he said as he jumped off of Lucy transforming to the size of a train carriage right behind her.

"Your nose does you service dragonling," a creature flew out from behind one of the triangular stone pieces on the temple. It looked like a small child created it from pieces of random animals. The head was a human woman but the body was a lion's. It also had large feathered wings.

"What the hell is that?" all three humans asked as Adro just growled keeping his eyes focused on the creature. His first instinct was to run forward and attack the threat but his father said to be more careful of what you can't see so he stood behind the humans as a shield since his scales were exponentially stronger than their skin.

"Oh cruel world!" the woman's head wailed dramatically as her wings fluttered. "To think that the legends of my kind have been forgotten even if only by weak creatures like you humans."

"Oh this thing is just begging to get dead," Vander drawled now looking bored. The only reason he hadn't killed it yet was in hopes they could get more information from it and save themselves some time.

"Like a human like you could even harm a hair on my tail. Sphinx are an ancient species known for our strength of body and mind," she crowed.

"Then why aren't there more of you," Lucy said back, barely restraining backhanding the catty chick. She'd worked hard to prove to herself that she wasn't weak or stupid and this ancient hag starts right off spouting insults.

The sphinx's eyes glowed red locking onto the blond. "My race was killed by duplicitous humans like you scrambling for strength and power and ours wasn't the only ones! There was no honor and respect among your kind then and there seems in all this time things haven't changed."

"If that's true then why are you hanging out around an old human temple?" she questioned back. She couldn't believe how presumptuous and bigoted this thing was. Yeah, she might have a legitimate beef with people long since dead, but she started this by disrespecting them first.

"The God Apollo placed me here to test the intelligence of anyone who comes seeking his guidance!"

Before Lucy could retort back Vander grabbed her arm and slightly shook his head. He'd crossed a goddess before and spent the following 2 weeks sitting through endless blessings by The Maidens of Immaculate light to remove the curse she'd laid on him. He didn't care 2 jewels about Apollo's guidance but if they could get passed his guard dog by being smart why the hell not?

"How do you test our intelligence?" Vander asked warily.

"You must answer 3 questions correctly then I open the path," she answered through clenched teeth then smiled maliciously. "If you get one wrong I get to eat you."

"I say we kill her now and find another way in," Vander said quietly to the others having lost the only fuck he had left in caring about offending Gods. Ear him indeed. The sphinx was only set here to guard a door so pretty much useless from his experience. If he was cursed again he'd at least have good company this time around.

Bickslow smiled and was about to agree when Lucy said quietly but firm, "No, we might learn more playing by the rules. If we lose, then kill her." Raising her voiced she address the sphinx, "Ask your questions."

"Very well," the sphinx said sitting back on her hind legs. "I'm light as a feather, yet the strongest man can't hold me for more than 5 minutes. What am I?" The sphinx looked at each of the human's blank stares and smirked.

"Breath," a deep voice answered leaving her confused.

"Who?" she said then met the knowing eyes of the dragon.

Her smirk fell as her eyes narrowed. "There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?"

Adro huffed, "Day and Night. You're riddles are simple sphinx. You should know better than ask that question of the child of the heavens." Lucy beamed at her spirit. She wasn't too sure if she'd of been able to figure either of the riddles out in time but Adro didn't think like a human, which these riddles seemed to be tailored to stumping.

"If it's information you seek, come and see me. If it's pairs of letters you need, I have consecutively three. Who am I?" she stated fury shined in her eyes. The three humans looked to Adro, waiting for his answer but the silence started to stretch out. "Oh, does the baby lizard not know?" she feigned concern. "Looks like the humans can't rely on a higher intelligence, even if he's only a child," she boasted licking her chops. "I believe I will start with the mouthy girl. The world could use one less whore."

Lucy's eyes narrowed as her aura darkened. All her companions backed away from the appearance of what Natsu and Gray called "Scary Lucy."

"Whore am I? That's big talk coming from a decrepit old hag. You couldn't get laid even if you were the last female among a hundred males of your kind!" she shot back. The sphinx leapt at her but Lucy's whip was quicker and snapped in her face.

"Aaahhhhhh," she screamed, paw covering her left eye. "You are dead!" she shouted while her wings opened.

"You can't kill us unless we answer incorrectly! Who's the duplicitous one now you hypocrite?" Lucy accused dodging another attack and catching the sphinx in the side with a lash. The ground shook as the sphinx landed. She started prowling around the blond, blood dripping from her injured eye.

"You do not answer because you do not know. Not answering is an answer you hopeless fool."

"Bookkeeper," Lucy deadpanned as her fist clenched her whip. "Now open the path you stupid lying ugly old beast!"

The sphinx froze trying to figure out how all her riddles could have been answered so easily. She'd killed so many humans recently without one of them getting even one right. Her lips pulled back as she bared her teeth. "I was supposed to fly you there but I think I'll just let the fall kill you," she said as she started to fade away in a show of sparkles.

"Fall?" she questioned to the no longer present guardian.

"You ok there Cosplayer?" Bickslow asked as he walked back up to Lucy with his brother and her spirit. "She kicked ass!" Cosplayer rocks!" "Scary Lucy!" his babies cheered as they floated all around.

"Yeah I'm fiiiiiiiiiiiiine!" Lucy ended with a scream as the entire courtyard disappeared under them all. There were no more paving stones or even falling debris for the mages to use to control their free fall down the deep black hole

"Son of a Bit-ooph!" Bicks's yell was cutoff as something grabbed him stopping his fall suddenly.

"We got you and Vander too!" Lucy yelled over the sound of wind being beaten by Adro's wings. Bickslow looked off to the side to see his brother hanging in one of what had to be Adro's claws glowering. Sighing, the seith mage waited patiently until their escort landed on the ground. He'd gotten a good look up when they initially started to fall only to see the floor reappear as the ceiling of wherever the hell they were now so going back up wasn't an option. "You guys ok?" Lucy asked as she slid down her spirit's back.

"Fine but can you tell me how he's still out when all magic is being cancelled?" Vander said angrier than he'd intended. He was going to find that sphinx and kill her once he got out of here.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked petting the now much smaller dragon in her arms.

"He means the walls of this room must be lined with magic cancelling rock," Bickslow said as he started looking around for the wooden tikis that housed the five lost souls he'd befriended. "My babies fell right out of the air when I fell below the ground so I can only imagine Vander couldn't go all shadow to stop from falling either. Which begs the question, how are you still here Adro?" he questioned the small dragon wrapped around Lucy's neck again. "Not that I mind, you saved my ass."

"I have a mortal mother so this is a mortal body. When Princess summons me she doesn't have to supply any more magic to keep me here or to sustain my life or magical attacks. It's why I asked if I could remain, I'd never do so if it would weaken her unnecessarily," his deep voice echoed in the large dimly lit cave.

"How did you change your size then? Can you still use magic?" Lucy asked really confused at this point.

"My only guess is that my scales slowed the magic dampening process for me. It felt like mud was surrounding my magic so I changed sizes quickly before I became stuck in here." Lucy nodded as she moved to the side trying to find a wall and maybe a doorway.

"Princess, how did you solve the last riddle? I must admit, I am not familiar with places people in Earthland would go to seek answers," he asked while he watched as Bickslow moved along another wall like Lucy was doing and Vander just stood near the rooms exit and watched their progress. Humans did have such poor eyesight in the dark

"Oh," Lucy blushed. "We go to a librarian typically but that couldn't be the answer since the person also had to have repeating letters in their title. So I thought of all the different things a librarian could be called and bookkeeper was the only one I came up with that fit all the clues," she explained as she examined one of the glowing speckled rocks scattered about the room. They were their only light source so she collected a few as she moved along the wall.

"I found a door!" Vander finally yelled calling everyone over to him. He had no issue seeing in the dark of the cavern and had actually watched them both stumble around blindly for a little while. No one thought to ask if he or even Adro could see so he had his little bit of fun. Both mages followed Vander thru the tunnel like hallway outside the door. Each turn became progressively brighter; the same blue green glow from the rocks Lucy'd picked up earlier.

They each stayed quite as they walked deeper into the mountain listening to what sounded like consistent thumping and scraping getting louder until the hall opened up to a large cavern where giant boulders were lifted up and dropped, pulled up slopes and let roll down, some were even swinging back and forth slamming into others. Each boulder glowed blue/green and looked to be attached by an electrified cable if the sparks arcing off them as they crossed were any indication.

The quartet looked out across the chamber seeing only two ways to get through; fly above or run a twisted path through the obstacles. "Look," Bicks pointed to a lever on the opposite wall. "I think that might turn all this off."

"Yes but how are we going to get there?" Vander observed. They all looked at the small dragon.

"If I were a lightening dragon I'd fly but I'd most likely be electrocuted if I got even close to that tangled mess of cables in the air," Adro said sniffing the air and sneezing.

"Bad day not to be Laxus," Lucy said tapping her fingers to the stones regular rhythm. "One of us needs to run it."

"Bad day not to be able to enter the shadows," Vander added to Lucy's observation. He was quick and maneuvered well since he'd taken acrobatics like Bickslow but he'd never attempted something like this. The occasional parkour run through Magnolia with his brother, yes, but not this.

"I guess this is my song," Bicks said as he set down his pack and started stretching.

"Bicks," was all Lucy could say. Out of everyone there Bickslow was probably the fastest and most agile without his magic. He had a huge maze type thing program setup as part of his personal training plan back at Fairy Tail and he'd brought her with him once to see what level she was at before he started teaching her. Bickslow reached out and grabbed his little brother and friend pulling them into a hug.

"Watch my babies for me," he said as he ran into the fray laughing like a lunatic. Mechanically Vander shouldered his brother's bag then wrapped Lucy in a hug from behind as they watched Bickslow vault over some stones, leap from one wall to another, slide under ones that swung from above. He occasionally yelled, "Parkour!" when he executed something especially difficult. Near the end Bickslow was almost flattened when he landed a flip too short but he fortunately tumbled into a roll just in time clearing the entire mess.

"Princess, your friend is very impressive," Adro said before they heard Bickslow shout, "Who's the fucking parkour king?"

"Don't let him know you said that. He has a big enough ego," Lucy giggled giddy now that the danger was over.

Bickslow swaggered up to the switch and said, "The park will be closing in five minutes. Please collect your belongings and make your way to the nearest exit," as he rested his hand on it lightly.

Vander laughed but Lucy yelled. "Bickslow you turn that switch off right now so I can come over there and kiss you!" The words were out of her mouth without thought but got the desired reaction as everything stopped moving and the electric buzzing sound ceased. Lucy immediately started running through the obstacle course leaving Vander standing there with a puzzled look on his face but not for long. They ended up reaching Bickslow at the same time since Vander was quicker but Lucy jumped at him the instant he was in range wrapping her arms and legs around the tall man in a full body hug. Bicks had to take a step back to steady them so he didn't fall but the grin never left his face.

"I'm only going to say this once and will deny ever saying it in the future," Lucy said as she grabbed his head with her hands. Trapping his gaze with her eyes she continued, "You were amazing Bickslow." She drew his head forward and kissed the face of the tattooed man across his brow. Bicks' smile softened as he nodded hugging her just a little tighter before setting her down and hugging his brother.

"How'd you do that? It almost looked like you knew what was coming next," Vander asked as he sat down next to an exhausted Bickslow.

"I did for the most part," Bickslow started. "I noticed Lucy tapping her fingers then realized everything was running on the same interval. The sequence was relatively short so it didn't take long to memorize and plan out a route."

"Hmmm," Lucy said distractedly as she paced back and forth. Before either of her partners could question her she stopped and turned to face them. "Do you think the phrase we read outside was a clue to the "trials" the sphinx mentioned we have to face?"

"What do you mean?" Vander asked.

"I'm talking more specifically about the part that said Mind, Body, Soul and Heart. The Sphinx was going on about testing our intelligence which is Mind and this was almost completely a test of the body."

"Those who seek balance need Strength of Mind, Body, Soul and Heart," Adro repeated what he had read before.

"So we have to pass through a test of our souls and hearts next?" this time Bicks asked.

Lucy nodded, arms crossed under her chest eyes looking at a spot on the floor. "I think so but what does it mean by balance? The sphinx said something about seeking Apollo's guidance…"

"Apollo was the God of Prophesy and Oracles so I would think that whatever the balance is referring to it has to do with his diving powers," Vander suggested twiddling a rock he'd picked up with his fingers. At the silence he looked up to see three surprised faces looking at him. "Hey, if you'd been cursed by a goddess before you'd learn more about them too!"

The incredulous looks turned to understanding and he wasn't sure if he felt vindicated because they agreed or offended that no one was surprised he'd been cursed before. Vindicated it was then.

"So we likely have two more of these exciting tests to get through before we even reach the temple. I wonder how long this is all going to take because we only have the water we brought with us and I can't call Virgo for any food either," Lucy said rubbing her stomach. It had to be well past 2 judging by the intensity of her hunger pangs.

"Well, we better start moving," Bickslow said as he stood up knowing everyone was waiting for him to finish resting, "and finish this before Lucy decides to eat one us." That said Bickslow ran to the stairs, the only exit he saw, and started up them putting some distance between him and the now irritated Lucy.