Lucy sat caged in a small cell made of iron and bricks, impenetrable by her crazy team but maybe not for the stealthy shadow mage. That was her only ray of hope right now. She still had her keys but wasn't able to do anything since she had magic cancelling cuffs on her wrists. However, she was able to communicate with Leo and Virgo so either her magic had grown or the cuffs were quite weak. She believed it was her first realization. Lucy sighed and hugged her arms around herself, pissed that she was more than likely going to be sick once she was out of this frozen hell hole. They had stripped her upon her arrival, bathed her in frigid waters with a 'special' kind of soap, dressed her in a brown rag that was tied together at her waist with a rope. It covered the essentials but was doing little to provide any warmth in the dimly lit room.

She had heard mutterings about how she was going to be bait for the light mages of Bosco. They needed Kaleb and Cristoff's souls in order to summon some hellish demon from the underworld. Her hope was that it wasn't any of the demons from Tartaros or any past baddies they had taken down. Slowly she was building up power, so not to bring attention to herself while formulating a small plan. Lucy deducted that they must have a dark seith working with this dark guild, who else could take the soul of the living and sacrifice it. She knew from talking with Bickslow that seith mage was rare, especially after Bosco and their purge fifteen-ish years ago. It was either a new mage that the guild had gotten their hands on early or it was one that had skipped town during the countrywide kill order on the mages.

Lucy was leaning towards someone who had escaped. It made the most sense since they were targeting two of the men from White Sea that also happened to be Bickslow's brothers. Coinincedense, she snorted, highly unlikely. She heard someone coming down the stairs and was mildly hoping it with food because she was starving since she had missed lunch the previous afternoon in her anger at the two. Her blood still boiled thinking of Laxus and Kaleb. She was currently concocting her retribution on those two stupid ass idiots. Her revenge would be incredibly sweet!

"Get up woman," a man yelled as he kicked the door to her cage, glaring as she stood up. "The master wants you to eat up. She has decided that if White Sea hasn't come to gather you by nightfall then our seith will take control of your body and slaughter every single person at the guild." Lucy gasped, eyes wide, as she was informed of their plans. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes over the thought of them doing something so awful.

"Why?" she asked the one question that her brain could formulate, her heart already breaking at the thought of murdering her family and friends.

"Broken spirits make for vengeful souls and out seith is quite curious to see how long it takes a celestial mage to fall to the darkness. Master says your soul is a dull yellow colour so unfortunately you can't be used to summon our great Queen of the Dead."

"Queen of the Dead?"

"Gethsemoni, you foolish woman!" the man yelled, his fist banging on the metals bars. "She rules in Death's place while he is away, claiming the lives of those whose time has come." He slid the tray of food under the gate before he turned his back and left Lucy to her thoughts. She really didn't think something like that was possible, summoning a spirit of death, but then again she had been taken captive for less. Hell, she had been trapped inside a giant mechanical fish for Mavis' sake. However, the man had let one piece of information slip and she smiled when she realized she now had a solid piece of evidence. The seith mage was the master who obviously had a score to settle with Bosco and the Pradesh family. For now, she was content to eat her two slices of burnt white toast and gather her magic. She needed to send one of her spirits to White Sea as soon as she was able too.

Bickslow still was seething after he had woken up from Cristoff's induced sleep. Last night's meeting had not gone over well, not at all, as there had been a great deal of yelling from several people in the room. The three of them had been the last to arrive in Kaleb's office but stepped into a scene where Levy was tearing into Thane and Kaleb who had both ignored her earlier that day. He couldn't have been happier to see the small woman give the two large men a piece of her mind, which was only made better when Farron and Freed sided with her.

Thane had made his apologies known and Kaleb followed shortly not wanting to incur the tiny bluenette's anger tongue lashing anymore. Levy, however, wasn't done as she rounded on Laxus and called him a lovely assortment of colourful names. She had known that speaking up against Laxus and Kaleb wouldn't have done her any good and had known that forming a plan in Kaleb's presence would have been detrimental. Levy had devised a plan that would have let the two women follow a team out on the job and when they were up shit creek they would jump out and help. She never got to enact that plan due to the fact that Lucy had been kidnapped.

Bickslow was ready to slug the two blonde men as they went around in circles over the debate about Lucy and Levy not being allowed on the job until Farron had interjected stating that it was time to move past this and onto rescuing the celestial mage. That in itself had been a whole other issue because they still didn't have clue as to where the dark guild was located and no way to trace Lucy. He had slammed his fists on the table, snapping it in two from the force, because he was frustrated with how nothing was being done. No search parties because Bosco was too large, no scouts because they had no direction to send them in, not even Presca could track Lucy because he had never met the woman and he can't track a magic energy signature of someone he had never met.

His anger had gotten the best of him when Cristoff had tried to whisper to Vander that he thought Laxus and Erza had mated. Everyone's attention had flipped to the two blushing mages, neither of which were saying anything, so Kaleb told everyone that they had mated in the forest before coming back. He did punch Laxus then because Kaleb had conveniently left out the part about the lust potion. He realized today that he'd need to apologize to his best friend, even though he wasn't really sorry for punching him. He'd also need to apologize to Erza for pinning her to the wall with his babies so he could inflict pain on Laxus. Maybe not his finest moment. After that point Cristoff had knocked him out, assuming he had also carried him back to his room.

He knew that he was acting crazy about Lucy's disappearance but didn't really understand why. They had only ever talked to one another at the guild so it wasn't like he had an invested interest in her, minus his crush for the blonde. They were friends and guildmates, but that was all. Okay, maybe there was some flirting and sexual innuendos on his part but that was really it. He felt like he was calling out to her, he needed to get to her before shit really did go sideways and Mavis knows what happened next. How? That was the million jewel question. No leads, no remote ideas where this guild was at, absolutely fucking nothing.

"You know you the more you think about it the more circles you'll go in." Bickslow looked to see his father smiling at him as he leaned against the doorframe to his room. "Lucy sounds like a smart and resourceful young lady, who has been in this situation before, so I am sure she'll figure out how to get a message out to her. As for your feelings towards her, I thought that would have been quite simple for you to deduce." He raised an eyebrow in confusion over what the Pradesh patriarch was hinting at. "Soulmates." His red eyes became super wide as he let his dad's word sink in, his breathing had sped up as the idea floating about.

"It would make sense. I have never been able to cause her any harm, even during Fantasia. How she somehow knew that I was miserable without my friends and how she'd pieced us all back together. I gravitate towards her for no apparent reason while at the guild. Fuck, I am stupid."

"Not stupid, just a man blinded by love. It happens to all of us at some point or another."

"Maybe except Van," Bicklsow snorted as his dad chuckled.

"His day will come, eventually. I heard about Laxus and Erza," Arman couldn't help the beaming smile that lit up his face. He loved Laxus like another son, had helped him deal with his ideas around Fantasia and become the man he was meant to be. The fact that he was mated to Erza, and equally strong mage in her own right, seemed just fit. Even if it had come out of left field and smacked them all with a 2by4 in shock and surprise. None-the-less it was amazing to see how happy the two of them were and how strong they'd make Fairy Tail one day.

"Yea," Bickslow scratched the back of his head, feeling a smidge guilty. "I should go apologize for being an idiot." Bickslow stood from his bed when a shower of golden sparkles filled the room. Standing in his room was a man he used to party with quite frequently, one who used to be his wing-man and vice versa. "Loke! What the hell are you doing here? How?"

"Don't have much time to explain. Lucy is trapped in a cave not far from where she had originally heard the plans about the souls and resurrecting the dead. Her magic has grown and was able to send me even though she had magic cancelling cuffs on."

"Good, we'll get Erza and Levy to lead the way and then we can . . ."

"NO!" Loke held up his hands in protest. "The dark guild's master is the seith mage, one who escaped the massacre in Bosco all those years ago. She plans to sacrifice Cristoff and Kaleb's souls to bring Gethsemoni to life. Lucy will be in grave danger once the moon has risen." He paused momentarily, weighing how this part of the conversation would go. "The woman wants to control Princess' soul and have her slaughter all in White Sea if they haven't come for her by then. She wants revenge but she hasn't been able to find out why. Princess doesn't think it has anything to do the country or else there would be plans to overthrow the crown. Attacking White Sea is a personal vendetta." Leo started to flash in and out, his couple of minutes were clearly coming up. "Her keys are on her so we can help the minute the cuffs are removed, but until then she is a sitting duck."

"Can you talk to her through your bond still?"

"Depends how much magic is left."

"Tell her to keep her eyes closed. Seith mages can't control a soul unless we've gazed into their eyes, windows to the soul ya know."

"With will remind her. I am sorry I couldn't help . . ." Leo faded out right then and there. Lucy's small amount of magic had given the two mages in the room enough of an idea as to what they were up against.

"I'll round up the others. You need to shower quickly before meeting us at the table for breakfast and planning a course of action." Arman left the room, using his sound magic to call everyone that wasn't already in the kitchen to meet there. Bickslow was in and out of the shower in under four minutes, not really too worried about his appearance right now. He threw on some shorts and a sleeveless shirt before heading down to get some of Mr. Elan's food. He was starving now that he realized he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon. Upon entering the room he saw Laxus, Erza, and Levy were the only ones in attendance.

"Hey Bossman. Hey Amazon. I wanted to say sorry for yesterday. I was out of line and shouldn't have taken my anger out in either of you."

"It's fine Bix. I understand where you're coming from. If someone I cared about had been taken and I found out you were screwing some chick's brains out while looking for them I probably would have sent several volts of electricity into you." Bickslow laughed as the two men high fived, everything was back to normal between the two of them. Erza smiled and nodded her head, giving him the ok he needed. Kaleb walked in with the rest of his siblings as they surrounded the table, Levy through a loathing look at the Master of White Sea before turning to talk to Evergreen. Levy wasn't ready to forgive Kaleb just yet it seemed.

"So what's this news that had dad calling us in at an ungodly hour this morning?"

"Van, it's only just after eight am," Xally rolled her eyes as she sat next to her whiny brother.

"Exactly! Do you know how many more hours I could have used with my bedmate?" Aquamarine eyes rolled in annoyance over her brother's weak protests.

"What news do you have Bixy?" He smiled at his youngest sister, who had in late last night at their father's insistence. Xally always had a soft spot in his heart, she had just been the sweetest little girl who liked cuddles, well before he had to head to Fiore. He hadn't seen her on his last visit since she was busy at the hospital but was glad she would be able to help.

"Dad and I had a chat with Loke."

"What the fuck? How the hell did he get here and why wasn't he here sooner?" Laxus shouted, surprised to hear this news.

"Lucy had been building up some magic while wearing cuffs, so she could send her spirit here to alert us as to what's going on." Arman offered the lightning slayer. He relayed the rest of the conversation to all mages present, letting them process the information before ideas, questions, and theories started flying around the room.

"Who is Gethsemoni?" Evergreen asked while holding Beck's hand. He had refused to leave her side after they had returned last night, opting to spend the night with her in his large bed and just sleep. It was one of the most restful nights the fairy mage had in a long time, plus he was a really good cuddler.

"She's known as the Queen of the Dead," Freed offered to shed some light on the subject. "It's said that she rules for Death while he is out claiming souls of the living to usher to heaven or hell."

"Books have stated that she holds souls over for judgement when they are on the verge of being good or evil," Levy pipped up with her small bit of knowledge on the subject. "However I don't see how you can resurrect someone of her nature."

"You can't," Bickslow stated as everyone looked his way. "When I was younger there were stories about the Queen of the Dead. How if someone could find a way to raise her from the dead, control her, then you would have the Queen under your control. The issue was how to bring her to life in the first place since the only people who would ever see Death or the Queen were, well, dead. It was thought that feeding her souls of light would ensure that a seith would be able to control her. There was only one infernal man that had the guts to try and do that when I was younger."

"The man that tried to take your soul for his own," Kaleb uttered as the pieces started to slide together. "He needed a light soul and nothing is as light as a child's uncorrupted pure soul. You being a seith mage with a light soul in a dark guild would have been easy enough to take, especially with all the killings that were starting at the time. No-one would have looked twice at your body in the cell."

"Exactly," Bickslow shivered slightly thinking about that day with such clear recollection. His father put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back from the past to the present where he was very much needed. "Imagine the chaos and death that could be wreaked on Bosco, hell all of Ishgar, if someone happened to trap the Queen on this plane. Death is only a ferrier of souls where the Queen judges those hanging in the balance, so if someone with evil intent was able to control her, sway her choices and judgement they could send anyone they wanted to a certain death."

"Ok, so obviously Kaleb and Cristoff can't go because they are too high risk," Levy said thoughtfully. "Do any of the rest of us have light souls that would draw attention to ourselves?"

"The closest one is Emzadi. Her yellow soul glows brightly like the sun but it's not a gold." Bickslow said looking around the room, his eyes red eyes turning to a soft green as he quickly took everyone's colour.

"What about Lucy's soul?" Farron questioned his brother.

"Her soul is yellow too," Bickslow said slowly while thinking.

"I feel a 'but' coming now," Vander stated as he listened intently to the conversation going on. This was some heavy shit they were about to get involved in and they needed every piece of information that would help them gain the upper hand.

"Her soul has always felt . . . muted? I don't really know how to explain it any better than that."

"Alright," Kaleb rubbed a hand down his face. "Cristoff and I can't go because of our light souls while Bickslow will need to go because he is a seith mage, which means he will be targeted for his white soul. That will leave everyone in this room, plus I am sending Presca who will round this group out with his expertise and Vander's partner. Now we need to plan the attack on the cave."

"I have a suggestion," Levy voiced with a slight blush on her cheeks at being the center of attention. All eyes were on her as she relayed her idea, Kaleb suggesting minor edits here and there. She was still pissed at the man but his expertise was welcome right now, plus he was hot as hell. If he hadn't automatically landed his ass on her bad side she might have wanted to get to know his a little better. Kaleb looked at the bluenette from the corner of his eye, clearly hearing her thoughts which turned her the colour of a tomato. Maybe it'd be worth exploring after they brought Lu back home? Laxus was shacking up with Erza, Freed had Farron, and she was sure by the end of all this that Evergreen would finish wrapping Beck around her finger, so she deserved to have a little fun too, right? She could be considered an honorary member of the Thunder Legion since Erza was mated to its leader and Lucy was more than likely going to be driving Bickslow insane for the rest of their lives. Kaleb choked on the water he was drinking while listening to Levy's monologue.

"You ok bro?" Bickslow asked the platinum blonde-haired man.

"All good Bickslow, all good."