Erza was slow to move, when she finally did her eyes fluttered open and she looked around her smiling, she wasn't in her room, she was in his, in his bed not hers, and she had been there all night….all night.

Stretching there were muscles she had that were tired, sore, that she had never worked before, not a small discovery for her and she smiled, biting the black material of the pillowcase when she remembered how they'd gotten that way.

Oh God, hours, they had made love for hours, and that was what it had been, not just sex, Bix had made love to her. She smirked…ok…the last time…against the wall of the shower…that was sex, pure delicious hungry sex.

Rolling over she reached for him but he wasn't there. Her eyes flew wide, sitting up she looked but he wasn't there in the room, the bathroom door was open and it was dark and she heard no movement.

Her throat tightened, had he regretted last night? Left? Maybe gone to Freeds or Laxus' house to get away from her when he realized what he'd done… tears came to her eyes and she slid from the bed, gathering the black sheet around her and heading from the room, she would go upstairs get dressed and return to her own apartment, give him space, this was his home not hers.

When she came around the corner of the hallway she froze, he was right there, standing in the kitchen in his compression gear, clearly just back from a run, getting the coffee pot going and he turned when she made a soft strangled sound of relief.

Bix was exhausted, Erza had been insatiable, and he had bruises, some relatively painful ones from her clinging to him in the shower, God the woman had been able to get thrusts against him that had forced him to brace himself hard to keep from slipping and taking them both down and she was the one pinned against the damn wall.

He had no complaints, he'd known she was a tough incredibly physically strong woman heavily trained in melee combat, hand to hand, he was just going to have to keep his training up and stay fit as hell to keep up with her, not a bad thing, and, he'd smirked as he'd run, having sex with her was more than a small workout unto itself… like, a few times over.

So he'd gone for his run, to clear his head, she'd been sleeping, draped over the bed her pale skin so pale against the black sheets and her red hair fanned out behind her. He'd hated walking away from that, but…he'd make sure she'd be in that bed every damn night if had any say in the matter. Besides, he needed to get his body worked out, holy hell had the woman done a number on him, another smirk, 4 rounds of mind blowing sex a blow job and him going down on her twice type of number on him.

He was going to get the coffee brewing, take a shower then start working on waking up the gorgeous woman in his bed, hopefully without getting himself killed, Gray had told them sometimes when she woke up she would re-quip swords and come up swinging.

Handling her nightmares was going to be interesting, but he looked forward to the challenge, kind of part of the womans appeal, to him anyway, endless challenge. Maybe Freed was right, maybe he did have a little bit of a death wish. Only where she was concerned though.

Then he heard a little strangled noise and when he turned there she was wrapped in the sheet from the bed, eyes reddened, tears on her face and he panicked. Was she hurt? Did she have a nightmare? Oh God, worse yet…did she regret it?

"Erza…" He came to her a little cautiously, worry in his voice, fear in his eyes. God if she regretted it, if she thought it had been a mistake he wasn't sure what he'd do.

"I thought…you left…maybe regretted…"she hiccupped. Ok so she doesn't regret it thank God, didn't change the fact he had a weepy woman on his hands again. This though, he could deal with.

Grabbing the sheet he used it to yank her in against him "No…I was out for a run Kei'tah," He kissed her, kissed away the tears on her face and wrapped her in his arms. "I'll have to do more huh? Gotta convince you, you aren't scaring me off, I do fucking want you, what's it gonna take hmm? Can't marry you, I already did that shit, you gotta help me out Amazon I'm at a loss here." He was grinning and she laughed and he felt relief flood him.

"Go get dressed, I'm gonna take a shower then we can go get breakfast at Wessmans huh? Breakfast date? We'll just keep going with the theme."

She grinned up at him "Do I get to be carried back to the bedroom again after this date?"

He kissed her "Baby, you can count on that."

Xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Laxus narrowed his eyes as Freed, Ever and Bickslow filed into the office. "What's up Boss?" Bix asked, plopping down calmly on the loveseat across from Lucys desk and earning himself a warm smile from the blonde.

"We have a job, dark guild just popped up, demanding protection money from businesses in…Magnolia." He replied, handing Freed the flier. Makarov hadn't posted it, had handed it straight to his grandson.

"Here?!." Freed said in surprise.

"Yeah, I don't like it, I called the officials that sent it, they say there's only a few of them but they would have to be complete idiots that have grown up under rocks to not realize how fast we would come after them." He said, trying not to look at Lucy.

"It's got to be a trap." Lucy said, frowning at her mate, they had already discussed this when Makarov had brought the flier in, The Raijinshuu had gained a reputation for their talent at knocking out dark guilds. There was no doubt they had made enemies doing it.

"Harass businesses on the edges of town, the only way they could be more obvious would be if they outright attacked the Guild." Lucy went on "They're trying something, it makes no sense to do this in a town where a major guild is based."

Bickslow was twirling a pen through his fingers, tossing it up so Pipi could bat it back to him. "I dunno Cosplayer, sometimes these dark mages are just morons." He said lightly.

"Never the less, I agree with Lucys concern, I do believe we should be careful. Tracking is important so perhaps we should bring in one of the other dragon slayers to assist? Gajeel has a certain…flair…for these sorts of things." Freed said.

"He's in town too, sitting out in the guild hall, Ok, Bicks you stay here, Freed, Ever you can go and Lucy could you get Gajeel in here?" Laxus said. Lucy stood, grateful at least Freed agreed with her that this required some caution, and left to go find Gajeel.

Bickslow rolled his eyes toward Laxus "Go ahead boss man, lay it on me." He sighed.

"You've been busy." Laxus said flatly.

"The date went great, perfect in fact, took her to the Garden, we danced, ate Macarons then went home to watch a movie. We even went out to breakfast the next morning and out to dinner again that night, in fact, we've been on 5 dates this last week." Bix said lightly. Smirking, and they'd gone home after each one and made love, and to him, that was exactly what each time had been, but he knew better than to say so.

"And had sex..." Laxus dead panned.

"No we had fucking incredible world rocking sex and do not lecture me…I know what I'm doing." He smiled.

"I hope so, because you tend to fall in love first and figure things out later." Laxus said.

"Says the man who mated himself with Lucy within 24 hours of his first date with the woman." Bicks countered.

"I've been in love with Lucy for years Bix you know that!" Laxus glared at his friend.

Bix did know it, but he wasn't above using the whole time line to defend himself.

"And I've known Erza since I joined the guild Laxus. Come on man, give it a chance." He returned.

"Do you love her?" Laxus knew that was the thing with Bickslow, he always jumped in with both feet, it was why he'd been hurt so many times.

Bickslow hesitated, not really wanting to delve into that yet, he wasn't sure himself where his feelings all were.

"I don't know, not yet…but…I'm falling I admit it. She's great Laxus, once she relaxes and just acts like herself she's fun, laughs, jokes, plays around…" and the sex, holy gods above the sex. The woman had stamina, physical strength, and…once they'd been together a few times, she had revealed she had some pretty fun kinks once she was brave enough to ask him.

He was excited to see, as they got more comfortable with each other, what the woman would come up with next, he was letting her set the pace right now, hadn't pushed once for sex, always let her start things then he jumped in with his usual enthusiasm.

He wasn't going to tell Laxus any of that though, the particulars were between him and the redhead.

Laxus sighed, smiling at him "Ok, just…take it easy man." He said as Lucy was walking in with Gajeel on her heels.

"Whatcha need me for?" Gajeel asked, casting Bix a sideways glance before siting down.

"There are some dark mages hitting business owners along the edges of the city demanding protection money among other things. One of them, Clover Bookstore, was hit this morning, the owner got beat up pretty bad. City authorities want us involved since the attacks and injuries caused have all been magical." Laxus replied.

Gajeel narrowed his eyes, Clover Books was one of the stores Levy drug him to on a semi-regular basis. "Want me to check it out then?" He asked. Laxus nodded "Take Bix with you, keep it quiet for now, I don't want the whole guild running out through the streets halfcocked they'll terrify the public. Find out what you can, see if you can get a scent trail, if you do, call me and I'll come help you run it down. We don't know how many are involved but…" He looked at Lucy who was listening from her desk with worried eyes.

"It's likely they're trying to lure us out, so no solo shit, we need to know more." Laxus said, not missing Lucys grateful smile when he took her concerns seriously.

Gajeel stood "Right now only us in here and the other members of the Thunder Legion know about this, keep it that way for now…if you have to, yes, Levy can know." Laxus added the last because he knew how Lucy was, and didn't doubt Levy was the same about not handling mystery work well.

"I'd prefer she didn't know anyway, she'd want to get involved and if were dancing on the edge of some fucked up trap being set for us, I want to keep her clear." Gajeel said, nodding to Bickslow who stood and followed him out.

Lucy looked over at Laxus, they'd argued all morning about this, him insisting she was probably wrong, that the mages were probably just overconfident morons like most dark mages were. But in the end, he'd listened to her and was being cautious even though she knew he wanted to roar over there and crush the people doing this to their home town.

"Thank you." She said softly. He smiled at her "If I'm gonna have you running this guild by my side, I have to listen to you right?" she stood and walked over to him, grabbing him by the face and kissing him soundly.

"I love you." She said simply when she pulled back and he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her down into his lap for a longer softer kiss. "Love you too Lucy, now get your cute ass back to work, we have a shit ton of businesses to call and see who all these assholes have hit." He growled but was smiling when she looked at him and smacked her on the rear when she stood making her yelp and give him a nasty look before returning to her desk, her pink tongue sticking out at him.

"Oh now..you don't want to tease me Blondie, I just got the table in the meeting room fixed from last time." He grinned wickedly and she smirked "You're fault you got so rough." She purred.

Laxus narrowed his eyes at her "You wanted it…begged me…should I remind you?" He asked in a soft husky warning voice.

Lucy grinned "Well you'd have to because I don't beg for anything." She returned and he lunged out of his chair but she was fast, faster than he'd thought she'd be, vaulting over her desk and for the door but her mate had long arms and ridiculous inhuman speed on his side and hooked his arm around her waist, slamming the office door shut and locking it before carrying her kicking and laughing to the meeting room.

Gajeel growled low in his throat as they came to the bookstore. It sat at the back of a group of buildings beside a small park that had been put in for the use od the residents in the area, the store was tucked between the park and the edge of the forest on the north edge of town. The store had police tap covering the windows and doors but Gajeel didn't even hesitate to swipe it away and push a door open.

"Kinda breaking and entering there metalhead." Bix pointed out.

"We were invited to investigate so shut the fuck up and start investigating." Gajeel snapped, waving his hand in front of his face at the acrid horrible smell coming from inside the store.

Bickslow snickered "Dragon got your nose?"

The Seith stepped past the Dragon Slayer but even he almost gagged and looked around frowning.

"What the fuck is that?" Gajeel did gag having to step back outside. Bix shook his head looking around his eyes lighting up as he brought his magic to bear. He could sense dark intent, the soul left traces behind whenever it was sacrificed for the use of dark magic, it was why Laxus had sent him with Gajeel. He could see just how saturated the dark really was in whatever magic was used based on how much of the casters soul was shaved and left like dust over everything the magic touched.

It was a unique Seith ability the Raijinshuu, with all of their hunting of dark guilds and mages, used often. If the casters had spent enough their souls would leav little hints of that "dust" behind, a visible trail as clear to the Seith as a strong scent was to a Dragon Slayer.

"Some kind of…poison..or acid…" Bix said, holding an edge of his cloak over his nose. "You feel that?" He asked, there was a distinct vibration in the floor.

"What?" Gajeel asked, covering his mouth and nose and trying again to go into the store. When his boots hit the wooden floor he sensed what Bix was asking about. "Yeah…" He listened, something was making a faint noise he couldn't identify or really pinpoint…

"Maybe you should look outside, see if they left a trail like the boss said. I can look around in here, the shit doesn't bother me like it does you." Bickslow offered. Gajeel nodded gratefully and went back outside.

There was some sort of substance on the books, sort of splattered around almost everywhere, a weird rosy colored goo. The way it smelled Bickslow knew better than to touch it and instead pulled out one of the small glass jars he always had one or two of on his belt. Carefully grabbing a book by and edge and scraping some of the substance into the jar before sealing it again. The magic containing ability enchanted into the jar meant to contain a soul would keep whatever the shit was contained until they could find out what it was.

There was residue from dark magic use here and there all over the inside of the shop, blood too by the cash register that had been shattered.

Gajeel found a trail and pulled out his com lacrima, Laxus, looking a bit breathless for some reason answered.

"Got a trail, and there's some really weird shit inside the store, smells like some kind of acid or poison, never smelled anything so awful in my fucking life." He told the blonde. Laxus nodded "Ok, I'll be there in a few minutes and we can follow it, Bix find anything?" He asked.

Gajeel grunted "I'll ask, he's still inside." He walked to the open door, steeling himself, the stench was so bad it made his scales slide out over his skin because he could swear the fumes were burning his skin.

"Yo Bix, get your fucking tongue out here and talk to Laxus!" He called, he could hear that sound again, weird intervals and then he froze, paling.

Bix seemed to get it about the same time the Dragon Slayer did because he came racing from the store, shouldering the slayer hard in the chest "Get down!" He shouted just as the entire building exploded.

They were thrown a good 40 feet, straight into the heavy wall of the utility building across from the store, through it, out the other side and through two trees before finally hitting a third and instead of just snapping in two it cracked but stopped their movement, both men fell to the ground unmoving, blood starting to pool beneath Bickslow.

Laxus heard it, fucking felt it, everyone in the damn guild did, most of Magnolia probably did. "Gajeel! Bix!" He screamed into the com but it was dead in his hand. Exchanging a look with Lucy he shot out of the office, lighting crackling around him as he ran, he knocked over Natsu and Erza, grabbed a startled Wendy up into his arms horridly certain she'd be needed, running toward the door he slammed open and the instant he was outside thunder cracked at his departure with the screaming Sky Slayer in his arms.

He landed in the park he knew was by the store and it was easy to see where he and Wendy were needed. The leveled utility building, two trees snapped like twigs and the third cracked and leaning precariously over two prone unmoving bodies.

Wendys eyes were huge and she leaped out of Laxus' arms as soon as they got close to the two men. Gajeel stirred slightly and Wendy pointed Laxus toward him, running to Bickslow, who, of the two, looked far worse.

He lay on his side, his cloak and most of his clothes scorched away from his body from the back, the compression shirt and pants he always wore because the damn man layered like crazy though were only mildly shredded, the real problem was the hunk of wood that ran through his left shoulder and four or five more chunks of it imbedded in his chest and left thigh.

Looking at the two Laxus got an idea what must have happened. He'd heard Bickslows shout of "Get down" the Seith must have jumped at Gajeel to try and protect him from the blast he must have seen coming. Laxus had watched on the com as scales had slid out over Gajeels skin so the Slayer must have been covered in scales and took the impacts to his back as they were launched away from the explosion, with Bickslow taking the force of the explosion to his back, upon hitting the trees Gajeels scales likely shredded wood and as he crashed through those trees, Bickslow took those shreds of wood.

Wendy was already at work and glancing back at Gajeel she heaved a breath "Laxus, I need you to pull this big piece out, I can get the others…" She called and Laxus hurried over, bending over his best friend and trying not to let the waves of remorse and fear obstruct his ability to help.

Bracing one hand against the mans shoulder and grabbing the hunk of wood with the other he looked at Wendy who nodded and he yanked the chunk free. It took a lot more force than he liked, he knew it tore things as it came out, and the blood that poured out had Wendy biting her lip, her hands closing over the hole and her magic flowing through a spinning pale green wheel that focused it.

That one stopped she pulled her hands back with a gasp, sweat on her forehead her dark eyes darted over the Seiths body and she reached down and yanked out the piece of wood in the mans thigh, pressing her hand over the spot for a few seconds before getting the smaller pieces out of his chest "These didn't get in too deep…" She breathed.

Laxus glanced over as Gajeel made a groaning sound and Wendy looked over at the Iron Slayer again but jumped over Bickslows body to his back, her hands hovering over him she gasped as magic poured through her and Laxus grabbed her shoulder. "Wendy…Gajeel needs you too." He said.

"Not as much as Bickslow does…you have to call Porlyusica…" She said. Laxus moved over by Gajeel, he could hear people running in their direction saw some residents coming out, a couple were carrying medical bags.

Pulling out his com he dialed Porlyusica "What the hell do you want?" The woman snapped.

"Porly, we have two badly injured, they were in an explosion, I need your help!" Wendy shouted before Laxus could say a word.

"Figures Fairy Tail would be where that explosion was, I'm on my way, keep them alive child." She called.

"Yes ma'am!" Wendy replied, getting breathless. She finally left Bickslows side and came to Gajeel who was breathing far better than the Seith and even moving a little, trying to regain consciousness.

"Two broken ribs, otherwise he's fine." She said, focusing he magic to start the bones mending before returning to Bix.

Laxus dreaded the question "What about Bix?"

Wendy bit her lip.

"Well, I've mended his fractured ribs, broken shoulder and collarbone, sealed the open wounds, but the burns aren't responding to my magic…It's really weird…and there's something else..like a poison…" She said.

Laxus narrowed his eyes, he could smell it, he remembered Gajeel mentioning a stench and then he saw the jar clipped on Bickslows belt.

"Maybe this…" He said, thanking the Gods Bix always carried the fucking things, had thought to gather some of the shit in the shop and sealed it in one of those jars because he knew they were heavily enchanted, strong as hell because of what Bickslow used them for.

Lifting the jar Wendy looked at it in narrow eyed curiosity 'Did that come from where they were?" She asked, glancing over toward the devastated store.

There was little left of it, debris was scattered in all directions for a few hundred yards around it, some of the closer trees had been flattened by the blast and were on fire.

People started reaching them then and Laxus had to keep most of them back, when a medical team from the hospital arrived her debated whether or not to send Bickslow there and decided against it, whatever had gotten the Seith and Gajeel had been magical, between Wendy and Porlyusica he believed firmly they could handle it.

The team unhappily accepted his decision but insisted on helping Wendy get both men bandaged and treated the array of minor cuts and scrapes both had as well. Fairy Tail started arriving, Lucy running alongside Erza and Natsu, Levy not far behind and Laxus stood, grabbing both Erza and Levy firmly before letting them get near the two men.

"They're both hurt, but they will both be ok, we need to get them back to the infirmary and then you can be with them but right now stay back." He tried to be gentle, but had to be firm, especially with Erza who he could see coming unraveled.

"Who did this?!" She demanded "Who hurt him?!"

"I'll fill you in once we get them back to the Guild, now you can help with that Erza." Laxus assured her. Levy was in tears, Lucy holding her and Erza stood, dark eyes blazing in a mixture of fear and deep burning fury.