Chapter 2

The Raijinshuu were on the train heading to Hargeon. It was still very early in the morning, Lucy and Ever were cuddled up next to each other sleeping, Laxus was listening to music, Freed was reading, and Bix was bouncing in his seat. Laxus sent a little shock at Bix to get him to stop bouncing around. He yelped and glared at Laxus, he smirked and kept his eyes closed. They finally made it to Hargeon, and headed to where the airship was waiting for them. Once on the airship, Lucy and Ever got themselves cleaned up, dressed and put on makeup.

Lucy and Ever couldn't stop looking out at the grass sea as the ship docked. They couldn't wait to see the sites and be able to swim in the grass sea. They were so excited to meet Bix's family, they hoped that his sisters would want to go out shopping with them. Lucy was nervous about meeting Arman, she looked up to him growing up, and was impressed with all his accomplishments. They made their way off the ship and saw two cars there to pick them up and take them to Bix's childhood home. Freed and Laxus rode in one car, Lucy, Ever and Bix in the other.

"Bix, it is beautiful here! Are you excited to be able to see your family again?"

"It is, I've missed home and my family a lot. I am grateful for the chosen family I found though. I can't wait to see everyone." he said and bumped his shoulder against Lucy's. It took them about forty minutes to get to his house. Lucy's jaw dropped when she seen it. It was bigger than the konzern she grew up in. Waiting outside the home was Arman. As soon as the cars stopped Arman was there pulling Bix into a hug after he stepped out of the car. "Dad, I missed you. It's great to see you!"

"I missed you too son. Now, introduce me to your friends."

"This is Laxus, Freed, Ever, and Cosplayer. We are a group together, and we are called the Raijinshuu."

"Really Bix, you can't even tell your father my real name. Hello, sir my name is Lucy, it's an honor to meet you."

"Now where is the fun in that, you will always be Cosplayer to me." He cackled. She just shook her head and smiled.

"It's an honor to meet you too Lucy, please call me Arman. You remind me of someone I met years ago when I was at a function in Fiore."

"Oh, who do I remind you of, if you don't mind me asking?" She was nervous to hear his answer.

"Layla Heartfilia." Lucy went ridged, and everyone looked at each other worriedly. They knew how hard it was for her to hear her mother's name, even after all this time. "I'm sorry my dear, I didn't mean to upset you."

She shook her head, "It's okay Arman, Layla was my mother. She passed away when I was young. But she was an amazing mother and person."

Arman pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry my dear. Let's all go inside; my children are inside waiting to welcome all of you." Everyone laughed as Bix took off running into the house. Everyone stood back while Bix said his hellos to his siblings. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Even Laxus had tears in his eyes watching the reunion.

"Bix, don't forget to introduce your friends." Arman said.

"Of course. Guys these are my friends Laxus, Freed, Ever, and Cosplayer." Lucy just hung her head and laughed. Ever patted her shoulder and laughed too. "Guys these are my siblings. Farron, Zen, Kaleb, Cristoff, Vander, Emzadi, and Xally."

Lucy and Ever couldn't keep their eyes off Bix's brothers, they were all very handsome. What is in the water here to make all these men look like gods. They both thought at the same time. Kaleb smirked hearing their thoughts, but he and his brothers were thinking along the same lines about them looking like goddesses. Lucy saw Kaleb smirk and then remembered that Bix said he is a mindbender. Hello Kaleb, it's an honor to meet the Guild Master of White Sea. His eyes widened, not many people outside their family were comfortable talking to him through their minds. The honor is all mine, Cosplayer. Lucy mentally groaned, as he laughed into her head, Lucy is a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

"Alright, let me show you to your rooms and you can put your stuff away and get settled. Bix, why didn't you guys bring anything with you?" Arman asked. Bix laughed and nudged Lucy. She smiled and ran her hand over Virgo's key, calling her out.

"Punishment Princess?" Virgo said bowing.

"No Virgo, would you please get our bags."

"Of course, Princess."

"Punishment?" Zen asked with an edge to his voice.

"I do not abuse my spirits. I never have and never will."

"It's true bro, Lucy and her spirits are all friends and have a wonderful bond. Virgo jokes around and asks that every time she comes out because she knows it embarrasses Lucy." His family relaxed hearing that. Virgo reappeared with their bags.

"Here are the bags, Princess." Then she turned to address Bix's family, "Yes, Princess is very caring to us, and is also very protective of us. She fights alongside us instead of using us as shields. She won't let us call her master, so we call her Princess, she doesn't really like that name either, but knows it makes us happy." With that Virgo went back to the spirit realm.

"It's refreshing to see a Celestial mage that has a wonderful bond with her spirits. Which keys do you have, if you don't mind me asking?" Cristoff asked.

"I have most of the Zodiac keys, and about five silver keys." Lucy said, looking down. She really wasn't wanting to talk too much about her keys right now. Lucy quickly put up her mental shields so Kaleb wouldn't be able to read her mind about why. Kaleb frowned at how quickly she put up shields. He looked at Bix, and he shook his head at Kaleb silently telling him not to push the subject for now.

"Alright, let me show you all to your rooms. Then I thought we could all relax and swim." Everyone got excited to swim and get to know each other even better. Lucy and Ever had rooms across from each other. Bix's room was next to Lucy's. Freed was next to Ever's, and Laxus next to Bix. Lucy quickly ran over to Ever's room to ask if they should wear their matching swimsuits today. Ever smirked, loving the idea. Lucy went back to her room and put on her white swimsuit and tied a white sarong with golden stars over her hips. She met Ever in the hallway, Ever had on her forest green one piece on and a forest green sarong tied over her hips. They could already hear everyone downstairs, so they linked arms and headed to where everyone stood waiting for them. Farron, Kaleb, Cristoff and Vander looked at them with hunger in their eyes. They blushed when they noticed everyone staring at them. Emzadi and Xally walked up to them and complemented them on how beautiful they looked in the swimsuits.

"Would you girls like to go shopping with us tomorrow?" Emzadi asked. Ever and Lucy both nodded, saying they would love to go shopping and hang out.

"Alright, let's get outside and swim!" Bix said. They all followed Bix outside and down to the beach. Lucy decided she didn't want to swim right away and decided to walk along the beach. She didn't want to bring anyone's mood down with her thoughts. She is glad that Capricorn has worked with her on building up her shields. She didn't notice that everyone was watching her, wondering why she separated herself. Laxus, Freed, Ever and Bix looked at her in worry. They knew that she needed a little time by herself, and she would let them know when she needed one of them.

"Why is Lucy, down there by herself? Shouldn't one of you go and check on her?" Kaleb asked. They shook their heads, and then looked at each other.

"Lucy is going through a hard time right now. While she is doing a lot better, even we sometimes forget that she is still working through it." Bix said. "It's not our place to tell you what happened though, except it's something that happened during Tartaros."

"The only thing I'm comfortable saying on her behalf, is that she shouldn't have been abandoned by people who called themselves friends and Nakama." Ever said. Everyone felt anger at hearing that. None of them could understand why anyone would want to abandon someone as sweet as Lucy.

"I'm going to talk to her. She is here, surrounded by people who care about her. I want to let her know that." Cris said and walked off.

"If there is anyone that can get her to open up and come join us it's Cris." Xally said.

"I just hope he doesn't push her into talking about it before she is ready." Laxus grunted.

"Nah, Cris is a giant teddy bear. I agree with Xally." Bix said, and then ran into the water. Everyone joined him, knowing Lucy was in good hands with Cris. Farron couldn't keep his eyes off Ever once she took off the sarong, he thought she was absolutely breathtaking. Ever noticed him staring and gave him a small smile while blushing. Then she got a smirk, and did a slow spin, letting him see the back of her swimsuit. His breath hitched when she spun around, and he saw her ass cheeks.

Down the beach, Cris had caught up with Lucy. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's just so beautiful here that I wanted to walk and take it in more."

"Lucy, I can tell that something is eating you up, it shows in your eyes. If you aren't ready to talk about it, I understand, but I will listen if you want to talk. Any of my siblings would. This should be a happy time, spending time with your friends and making new friends with us."

"Thank you, Cris. I am happy being here with them and getting to know all of you better." She sighed, and decided to open up to him, maybe it would help. "During Tartaros, my Nakama got sucked up into this cube and I was the only one that wasn't. The demon Jackal found me; I called out two of my Zodiac spirits, Leo and Taurus. They were having trouble holding him off, so I opened a third gate, Aquarius. I was running low on magic, but I had to save my Nakama. Leo and Taurus ended up getting sent back, my magic was pretty much gone, and Aquarius couldn't hold Jackal off by herself. She told me that... she told me that I could summon the Celestial Spirit King but to do that I had to break a Zodiac key. I asked if there was another way, she told me there wasn't. She told me to... to break her key." Tears were running down her face and she told Cris what happened. His heart broke for her, and he wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest. "So, I broke her key and the Spirit King showed up and defeated Jackal and released my Nakama from the cube. Aquarius was my first spirit, I got her from my mother. Losing her key was like losing my mom all over again. Then once we won the battle, I looked for my friends, they were gone. The person I thought was my best friend just left a note saying he was going to train, the other two didn't say anything."

"I'm so sorry Lucy. I wouldn't consider them friends."

"That's what Bix tells me too, and I agreed with him. He and the others got me to see that they weren't good for me. I'm sorry that I cried all over you." Cris chuckled and gave her a squeeze.

"It's okay, I'm known as the family teddy bear." Lucy giggled and smiled at Cris. Cris smiled back and couldn't help but stare. She is gorgeous. MINE! MATE! Cris went ridged for a second but didn't want to worry Lucy. He took her hand, and they walked back to join the others. Once they got back by the others, she took off her sarong and Cris's jaw dropped, and he groaned when he seen her perfect ass. Bix quickly grabbed Lucy throwing her over his shoulder and ran into the water.

"Bix! Put me down, ya big oaf!" Lucy said laughing.

"Okay Cosplayer." Bix cackled and tossed her into the water. She came up glaring at Bix and splashed him with water. Everyone laughed at the two as they got into a water fight. After a couple of minutes, they stopped and joined everyone else. Kaleb smirked at Cris as he moved closer to Lucy. They played some water volleyball. Then Arman called them stating dinner was ready. As they were heading back to the house, Bix checked on Lucy's soul and grinned when he noticed that her soul was reaching towards Cris's soul.

"Bix, you will not tell her. It's up to Cris when he wants to let her know that she is his mate." Kaleb said.

"I won't tell her. I'm just glad to see her soul start to shine like it used to. And before you ask, no I won't tell you why. That is her story to tell. I'm thinking she told Cris though." Kaleb nodded and went to change before dinner. He was happy to have Bix home, and couldn't wait to get to know his friends and hear stories of their adventures.