Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or ANY other characters aside from Charlotte Phantomhive, but even with her I made her the daughter of characters that aren't my own.

Warnings: same as usual. Not as angsty as the last chapter, though.

To the Guest who commented that Kozue sounds a lot like Lucy: Well, I don't disagree—there are a few similarities. But as she isn't an OC but a crossover character, there's not much I can do about that without changing who she is, or how I see her, at least.

Millicat: Getting annoyed at the crossover aspect of the story? Really? The words 'lots of crossover characters' is literally in the summary, and I'm sure I mention it in the disclaimers for a majority of the chapters, at least. If you're one to get annoyed by crossover characters, this is not the story for you.

Anyway, sorry it's been so long since I updated, everyone! I got caught up in other stories—both reading and writing, and my new job is data entry, so one of the last things I want to do in my free time is type some more. I can't promise regular updates, or every few days like in the past, but I will try not to go quite so long without at least officially putting this on hiatus (but I assure you if that does happen I wouldn't decide to abandon the story like I have some of my others.)

Also, the next chapter will probably be longer, so don't worry.

Enjoy!


Once Mato had managed to calm everyone down by assuring them that he would personally ensure that the king would have a talk with the creators of the serum (he mentally groaned at the thought), the judges announced the first match of the battle round.

Unsurprisingly, the mood was still rather somber in the arena, though Porlyusica's report that Lucy would recover lightened their spirits somewhat.

Of course, no one was surprised when Laxus immediately left to go see her, either.


"I'm fine, Laxus." The blonde said with a small smile as her boyfriend covered her up with a blanket, making sure not to jostle her too much after seeing the state of her body from the illusion, with all of the burns, bruises, and lacerations. "I'm not in pain."

"Not physical pain, anyway." The Lightning Dragon Slayer said with a scowl, continuing to be careful with his movements, but not hovering quite as much.

Lucy was quiet for a long moment, before admitting. "That was pretty horrible. It was a relief to see my guild mark still on my hand when I woke up."

Laxus looked even more pained at that, reaching to take her hand. "You know gramps would've given you the stamp again even if it had actually been removed, right?"

She gave him another tiny smile, squeezing his hand gently in thanks. "Yeah, I know."

But it was still nice to hear.

"He loves you too much to let another guild try and snatch you up." Laxus continued with a smirk, trying to cheer her up a bit. "We all do."

Lucy blushed slightly, as did Laxus when he realized that he had just indirectly admitted that he was one of the people who loved her.

But then he brushed off the embarrassment, because honestly, who wouldn't love her?


Back in the arena, the first fight of the day had just ended, with Millianna from Mermaid Heel thoroughly defeating Semmes from Quatro Cerberus.

"They're really not having a good year, are they?" Macao muttered to Wakaba.

"You're telling me." His friend snorted, blowing out a bit of smoke. "I'm sure my cousin* isn't feeling particularly wild at the moment."

The two men were cut off as the judges announced the next contestants.

Everyone in Fairy Tail, besides the three in the infirmary (AN: I'm including Porlyusica even though she's not really an active member), turned towards their guild master.

"Well then…" Makarov grunted awkwardly. "Anyone feeling particularly brave right now?"

He wasn't surprised when more than a few people either back away or pretended that they didn't know what was going on.

Even those who could match him in a fight weren't all that interested in trying to separate him from his girlfriend right after she'd been through hell.

After a long moment, Kozue sighed. 'I'll do it.'

The others were more than willing to let her, especially since she wouldn't have to go get him in person, so she wouldn't be in any physical danger.

With that, she closed her eyes, feeling Rin's hand clasp her own as she established a telepathic link between her and Laxus.


As predicted, Laxus was not happy at being called away, even though Lucy assured him that she would be perfectly fine, and even Porlyusica said that she would likely be out of the infirmary in time to catch the end of his fight.

It was only when Kozue told him who his opponent was that he hesitated.

On one hand, he didn't want to leave Lucy.

On the other…Raven Tail had apparently tried to pay someone to kidnap her, and this might be his only chance to find out the 'who' and the 'why' before it escalated, and he didn't want to risk her getting hurt if it did.

"Damn." He groaned, surrendering to women's urging and going back out to the arena.


Ivan Dreyar, from under 'Alexei's' mask, groaned as he caught a glimpse of his son's rather angry and tense body.

Of all the times for their inevitable confrontation, why did it have to be right after the blonde bitch his son was screwing had been hurt?

After all, a pissed mage was a powerful one.

Still, Ivan was confident that he could overpower Laxus any day, so he decided to continue with his plan…

A decision that he would later regret.


The battle turned out as well as could be expected.

Ivan had set up an illusion to make everyone watching think that Laxus was losing before taking off his mask, and was trying to bribe his son with a victory if he would tell him Fairy Tail's 'dark' secret, Lumen Histoire…

Which, of course, Laxus knew nothing about, not that he would tell the bastard anything, anyway.

Furious at his son's blatant disobedience and disrespect (the hypocrite—it wasn't like he had any respect for his own father), Ivan called down the rest of Raven Tail to punish and beat the information out of him.

Laxus dealt with his opponents swiftly, making sure that none of them would get up again, though he was infinitely more careful with Flare than the other mages, knowing what Lucy and Erik had realized about her place in the so-called guild.

"That's for Lucy." He muttered with a dark scowl as the illusion dissipated, showing the audience who had truly been winning the fight.


"Raven Tail is disqualified!" the judges announced as soon as they realized—sort of—what had happened.

Lahar, the guest judge, frowned severely down at the group. "Men, have Raven Tail arrested. We'll see if we can't bring them up on assault charges…"

He didn't like Fairy Tail, certainly, but that didn't mean that he would neglect his duties as a Rune Knight.

"Not the girl." Laxus called. "She's innocent."

Most took this to mean that she hadn't participated in the attack, but the Fairy Tail mages, or those old enough, at least, knew better.

She might very well have tried to attack Laxus, but knowing what they did about Raven Tail, they were certainly behind Laxus' decision.

"Nonetheless, we'll need to question her." Lahar replied, eyebrow twitching in irritation.

Laxus paused before shrugging.

"Meh, fine with me. But since I'm the 'victim' here—" everyone could hear the air quotes in his voice. "I'm the one who decides whether to press charges for assault, right?"

Lahar gritted his teeth. "Yes."

Laxus nodded at the acknowledgment—the reluctant agreement that came with their exchange being witnessed by hundreds of people, before surrendering Flare to the Rune Knights' custody, ensuring that they didn't put magic-nullifying cuffs on her like they did the rest of Raven Tail.


Lucy, now back in the arena as Porlyusica had promised, smiled broadly down at her boyfriend, and as he walked back up to where she was waiting, she got on her tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Are you okay?" Laxus asked, concerned.

"Perfect." Lucy responded with a grin.

Laxus didn't doubt that she was fine now, but he wondered if she would end up with nightmares caused by the serum.

Hopefully not.

Still, he mused, Raven Tail was in custody. Lucy was safe.

…Or had Carla's suspicions about them not being the ones responsible for the attempted kidnapping been true?


Please review! :)

Again, the next chapter will most likely be longer.

*Wakaba's last name is Mine, and I figure Goldmine might be more of a nickname. Either way, I think it's entirely possible that him and Wakaba are related. And somehow I don't think Goldmine would be all that disappointed if a relative of his chose Fairy Tail instead of Quatro Cerberus, considering he himself was a member of Fairy Tail before founding Quatro Cerberus.)