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Erza pushed open the doors to the guild and followed her way to where the most noise was coming from. She looked back to see Lucy talking with a blushed Levy who was shaking her head no. She was guessing that Levy was having some issues with walking into a guild dressed as she was. The three of them had eyes on them the entire walk to the guild, which wasn't unusual when in the company of Lucy on a mission. However, Levy wasn't privy to many of these outings since they were always in Magnolia where people knew who they were, or the world was about to end and no one cared. Erza would leave Levy up to Lucy for now but she wanted to meet the master of this large guild, and one who Lucy was incredibly agitated with.
"Yo Amazon!" Erza looked towards the bar where she saw Bickslow waving like a madman at her. "Glad to see you were able to make it. Where's Cosplayer and Little Blue?"
"They'll be here momentarily. Laxus. Evergreen. It's nice to see you again. Where is Freed?"
"My brother, Farron, has returned home early and has requested Freed's help. More than likely going to work off the edge from his latest meeting," Bickslow cackled, tongue lolling out to the side.
"What'd you say to make Erza so red?" Lucy came to a stop beside the redhead as Levy stood on her other side.
"Just a harmless comment. Damn though Cosplayer, Bosco seems to be agreeing with you." Bickslow was never so glad to have his helmet on so that Lucy couldn't see that he was checking her out, or for the loose pants he was sporting otherwise the chub he was popping might be a tad embarrassing. He'd always had a thing for the celestial mage but after Fantasia, he didn't think that he deserved someone like her. How could the perverted seith mage land the Light of Fairy Tail? He mentally snorted because it would never happen. He would have to leave it up to the wet dreams she frequented, his palms, or whatever mediocre woman he brought home. He hadn't so much as been able to grope her ass but just knew she'd be phenomenal in bed.
"I guess we'll see just how much it agrees with me after the mission. Erza is letting us stay a couple extra days so we can take in the sights and sounds."
"The only sound I want to hear is you screaming my name," a smooth voice whispered into Lucy's ear. Erza had a long sword pressed up against the black and red haired man's throat.
"You will step away from Lucy. Immediately." Laxus couldn't help the booming laugh that escaped him. He'd never seen someone get an upper hand on Vander before, or at least a partial one.
"Ease up there red. I promise the only thing I was offering your friend was a good time."
"Erza I'm fine, really." Lucy threw an elbow into Vander's gut before swinging her leg out to catch him in the head so that he impaled the opposite wall. Bickslow was the first to react by clutching his side, falling off the stool with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. The rest of the guild all started to laugh when they realized that Vander had his ass handed to him by the blonde.
"Damn, that fuckin hurt." Vander was rubbing his head as he sat up from his place on the floor. "Remind me to not to ever get on your bad side."
"Now that my little brother has gotten tuned in would you care to join me in my office?" Kaleb asked the group from the balcony overlooking the guild hall. The group of mages made their way to his office, the three women following the others lead. "Now that everyone is here I will do introductions for the White Sea guild. Cristoff, lunar dragon slayer and powerful healer mage, Double S Class Century mage, and the head of this operation. Beck, beast master mage, part of my own elite team who will be able to help you navigate any area with his magic. Vander, shadowquip mage and one of the Steel Council's top assassins. There isn't anywhere he can't get into with his abilities. Farron and I will be here to quarterback any necessities you may need as well as coordinate with the King. We don't need a repeat performance." Lucy looked around the group, knowing that she was missing something rather important.
"Would you mind explaining to all of us what the plan is, Master Kaleb?" Levy asked politely, not wanting to piss Lucy off or have an irate Boscan Wizard Saint on her hands.
"Of course Levy. Laxus has already informed me of your magic and capabilities, so I have devised a plan that'll utilize all of our strengths," Kaleb started to explain. He had been mulling around this plan for the last several hours, wanting to ensure that it would be successful. "As I stated earlier, Cristoff will be heading this operation while we are on Boscan soil dealing with our dark mage guild. Vander went and did some light recon work last night and was able to find their headquarters. We know that they have several strong mages with them and definitely a dark seith mage. Bicklsow can fill you in all the ritual information that he has figured out from a list of supplies that they were collecting. Freed will be staying with us to help with information gathering and if you need him then Thane will teleport him to Vander or Cristoff's location."
"From there we will assess the situation and make plans accordingly," Cristoff took over for Kaleb. "From Fairy Tail, we will have Laxus, Evergreen, Bickslow, and Erza joining our expedition. This was my executive call, not Kaleb's." He pointedly looked at Lucy who was scowling with her arms crossed and her foot tapping. "We mean no disrespect to you Lucy, but this mission needs to be dealt with in a specific manner and neither of you skillsets are needed. We have talked this over with Laxus who agrees with us, so we are sending you back to Magnolia. Or you could remain here and finish the vacation you wanted."
"You can't honestly let them go on with this vague ass plan, Laxus!" Lucy was beyond pissed, so much so that she could feel the angry tears welling up. "You know we can both help you! With my spirits and Levy's brains, we would be assets to this mission." Lucy looked at her Fairy Tail family and the only one who seemed to be as mad as she was, was Evergreen. Levy looked indifferent and Erza had a stoic look on her face. Lucy felt betrayed.
"We aren't betraying you, Lucy," Kaleb rested a hand on her shoulder, which she promptly shrugged off and took a step back.
"Blondie," Laxus looked his kin in the eyes, his dragon raging at him the entire time for being an idiot, "YOu need to trust us and know that we are making the best decision."
"Lies," Lucy looked at Laxus' stormy eyes. "You can lie to yourself, lie to the team, and even try to lie to your dragon, but you'll never be able to lie to me!" With that Lucy stormed out of the office, slamming the door so hard that the glass shattered. The guild could feel the rage pouring off the blonde woman and parted like the sea, not wanting to get in her way.
"Just give Lucy some time," Levy said with a small smile, "She'll be alright with it, eventually. I'll happily stay behind until I can get her back to Magnolia. Granted I have to find her now. When are you all leaving?"
"We'll be taking off right after we've had lunch," Cristoff said addressing Levy. "I am sorry that we've hurt Lucy and you, inadvertently." Levy waived him off and headed out the broken door in hopes of finding the blonde.
"Well at least nobody got Lucy Kicked again today," Bicklsow smirked at Vander you flipped him off. "You both know that I don't agree with this plan. I also think they'd be more of a help than a hindrance."
"I second that," Evergreen stated while snapping her fan shut. She had almost turned all of them to stone and taken off with the girls to complete the mission.
"The decision has been made. This is what makes the most sense for the mission." Kaleb looked over the group of mages, knowing that on some level they were all regretting the decision in some way or form. "I suggest you all get packing. I will be in touch with Cristoff or Vander. If you split up you will need to get in contact with me so I can link up with someone else in the groups." They all headed to their own rooms but Bickslow stopped Laxus before he went into his room.
"You know Cosplayer is going to take her sweet ass time forgiving us, you and Kaleb in particular, over this. Right?"
"I know Bix. I know."
Lucy found herself down by the Grass Sea, angry hot tears continued to fall down her reddened cheeks. She couldn't understand why her family and friends didn't think she'd be able to help them on this mission. She was strong, she had her spirits, and could handle stardress forms so she could actually fight alongside everyone else. She'd helped, just like everyone else had, when it came to the battle of Alvarez, defeating Zeref and Acnologia, hell she had rewritten the book of END and saved Natsu's life. She'd pulled her weight when it came to rebuilding Magnolia and helping wherever else they were asked to by the King of Fiore.
Now they were throwing her out like last week's trash, no-one had dared stand up for her either. The past hurt from when everyone abandoned her after Tartaros came rushing back. She cradled her head in her hands as heart-wrenching sobs escaped her dry lips. She didn't understand and probably never would but it didn't make it hurt any less. Lucy could hear crunching in the sand but didn't honestly give two shits about whoever was approaching. She was perfectly content in wallowing in self-pity a little bit longer.
"You know child," a purely feminine voice pulled Lucy from her thoughts, "Even though you are in Bosco it still isn't safe for one such as you to be on your own. Especially not so far from the Pradesh estate or the White Sea guild. You're the perfect bait that we need for our plan to succeed." Lucy's eyes widened as she looked at the woman with rose-colored before everything went black. "Young celestial mage you are the key to so many different plans and I am forever thankful for the idiocy of the White Sea Master and your friends. Didn't have to try and kidnap you after all, just fell into my lap like it was meant to be, and I do love it when things go my way." The woman whistled and a large bird-like creature flew off the cliff overlooking the Grass Sea.
"Lu, I know you're upset but we can still make this work," Levy yelled while walking on the white sandy beach. She watched as a large animal flew down to the beach a short run from where she was at. "LUCY!" Levy yelled while she began running towards the blonde mage, trying to think of a way to stop whoever was capturing her best friend. The creature took off, sand blasting in every direction so that Levy had to shield her eyes from the tiny bits of dirt. "LUCY!" The bluenette fell to her knees in despair. The team had already left on their mission, Cristoff moon jumping them to Mavis knows where, so what was she going to do now? "Farron. He'll know where they're at and hopefully understand. Maybe I can try Kaleb too?" She picked herself off the ground and started heading back to the guild, she had to try something, anything.