Mira's POV

I grinned sadistically at the two mages tied to the chairs with magic restricting ropes, before having Elfman tip a barrel of water over their heads, waking them from their unconscious states. After I had asked Gray what they'd done, he'd fainted out of fear of my Satan soul form, so I forced myself to calm down and barked out instructions to the guild members, which they obligingly followed.

When Erza showed up and asked what had happened, when I told her about Lucy's behaviour and that I wanted to know what they'd done to cause it, she very nearly skewered them on the spot.

'M-M-Mira...' Gray sputtered, his face turning ashen. I heard Juvia wailing from another room, but ignored her pleas to release her "Gray-sama". I smiled sweetly at Gray.

'Good afternoon Gray, how are you feeling?' I asked, my voice layered in sweetness, causing his pale face to go grey.

'And Natsu, how do you feel?' He looked around, confused before trying to get up and scowled.

'Lemme go Mira, I gotta go find Luce!' I scowled at him, before regaining my control and smiling again, my face straining from the effort of locking away my anger.

Lucy was like a sister to me, and had reminded me in many ways of Lisanna, and my affection for her hadn't gone away when Lisanna returned from Edolas. As such, I was overly-protective of the poor blonde mage whose childhood haunted her far more than she allowed herself to express.

'Well Natsu, it seems she doesn't want to talk to you. Would you be so kind as to tell me what you did to hurt Lucy in such a way?' My voice had become more and more strained.

'I dunno. She got angry at ice-tard too.' He muttered, grinning and sticking his tongue out at Gray, who looked as though he was a ghost judging by the pallor of his skin.

I felt my Satan Soul wanting to burst forth and quickly walked out of the room.

'They're all yours Erza. Please try not to hurt them too much, we don't want Wendy to over-exert herself.' Erza nodded sharply before releasing her powerfully dark aura. I heard both Gray and Natsu squeal before shutting up and spilling the beans to Erza, whose aura grew beyond measure.

'YOU DID WHAT?!' She screamed. We all stood in the main guild hall, waiting for Erza to come out and tell us what they'd done this time.

As soon as Erza walked into the front of the guild dragging the once again unconscious mages behind her, the guild stopped their conversations to hear what she had to say.

Master Makarov sat on the bar, drinking a mug of beer, before placing it down.

'Tell us what happened Erza. I've never known Lucy to get this mad before, and I'm just as curious as everyone else.' Erza sighed heavily, frowning and looking at me pleadingly. My eyes widened, but I silently poured her a glass of sake, and watched as the requip mage gulped it down. It was very rare for Erza to drink, and we all knew this was going to shock and sadden us.

Erza's POV

I sighed as I sat down and began to speak clearly about what had happened.

'As you all know, Lucy's Mother passed away a long time ago. I found out that Lucy got into the habit of writing letters to her Mother every day to alleviate the pain of being ignored by her Father, and still does it now through a sense of duty to her Mother. I only know of this because Lucy asked me a long time ago for the address of an elemental spell caster I knew so that she could protect the box these letters were contained in from Natsu's fire. Last night, Natsu and Gray got into a fight while myself and Lucy weren't present in her apartment, her being in the shower. Gray's ice obviously managed to break the protective spell, and Natsu's fire destroyed all of those letters.' The guild was silent before means they realised what had happened.

'Lucy must feel like her last link to her Mother has been severed. Although it was an accident, I believe it shall take her some time to forgive these two for what they've done. I know I would never do so, but it's in Lucy's nature to forgive, they just have to be patient. We have to be patient.' Everyone nodded solemnly, and I turned to see tears trailing down Mira's face. Lisanna quickly walked over to her sister and hugged her, trying to hold back her own sadness for my team member.

'This could explain why she took Freed. She probably has had him write runes to keep them away from her home.' Mast said, sighing as he picked up his mug of beer and taking another sip, before looking down at the other members of Team Natsu.

'They've really done it this time, haven't they Erza?' I nodded silently, my own grief for the girl I had come to consider as my best friend and sister was overwhelming. I knew Lucy would be distraught at the loss of those letters.

'Well, send them to my office when they wake up. I'll have a word with them, and tell them to leave Lucy alone for a while. Erza, would you mind escorting them on a job for a few months? I feel like this will give Lucy time to get over the loss. I understand that you want to be with her, but this may be best.' I nodded at Masters request, agreeing with him, but still feeling depressed at not being able to support Lucy through her sadness.

I felt a hand rest on my arm and looked up to see Levy smiling up at me.

'Don't worry Erza. Lu-chan will be alright. She's stronger than we all know.' I smiled as Cana piped up, putting down her barrel of alcohol.

'Yeah, she took out Gray and Natsu with one hit! Not to mention making metal face over there fly from a punch to the face!' Everyone snickered as Gajeel scowled.

'Stupid bunny girl.' He mumbled, rubbing his chin where she'd sucker punched him. I grinned, nodding in agreement.

'I'm glad our private training sessions worked out so well.' Everyone laughed and began to talk amongst themselves about how Lucy had grown so strong.

I took Levy's hands in mine and looked into her eyes, serious all of a sudden.

'Please Levy, be there for her for me.' She nodded, smiling.

'Of course I will Erza! We all will, won't we guys?' Levy called out over her shoulder, and the guild cheered its approval. I smiled before inclining my head in gratitude and grabbing my two team mates when I heard their groans, signalling they were waking up.

As I made my way upstairs to Masters office, I worriedly looked towards the guilds entrance, staring at the cracked door.

'Please be alright Lucy.' I whispered, my voice cracking with sadness for my friend.

Lucy's POV

I splashed water on my face to wash away the horrid feeling tears leave behind on your cheeks, and dried my face, smiling up at Ever, who in turn grinned at me.

We walked out of the bathroom together, starting to talk about each other's make-up brands and preferences, and exchanging advice about which one was best. Though I considered Erza as my best friend, I knew that she wouldn't have as much an input in this kind of conversation, rather she would take everything I said as gospel and not give me her own opinion on this sort of thing.

Ever on the other hand constantly countered my own solid beliefs in certain brands with her own, and I found myself convinced to change my supplier.

We laughed as we noticed the confused and slightly terrified faces of Bickslow and Freed, Laxus was wearing his sound pod, so probably didn't even hear the conversation, then again you never know with these dragon slayers.

'Hey guys, sorry about that. Do you want to stay for lunch? I think I have some bacon left, could have bacon sarnies?' (A/N: sarnies, aka, sandwiches)

I heard their stomachs grumble loudly at the mention of food, and me and Ever giggled as we walked to the kitchen and began to prepare the lunch, still having a girl talk, but this time about clothes.

'Oi! Hurry up with my food!' I heard Laxus shout, interrupting our conversation. Both me and Ever exchanged a look, before turning to glare at him.

'Shut up blondie.' I called out, sticking my tongue out at him, before turning back to the bacon, as it sizzled on the grill. Ever giggled and carried on buttering the bread as we heard Laxus grumble about rude women before shutting himself off in his sound pod again.

I smiled to myself, happy that the Raijinshuu were here.

I quietly walked back into the room to get the mugs so I could pour a second cup of tea, and froze as I saw Bickslow ruffling through one of my drawers; my underwear drawer to be precise.

Freed had his head stuck in another pile of my books, quickly going through them with my gale force glasses, but Laxus was glancing across and smirking at what Bickslow was doing.

I felt my fists clenching and my eyes saw red as I silently advanced forwards, my notorious anger surfacing its ugly head once more.

Laxus's POV

I'd told Bickslow not to do it, and that if he got caught, blondie would deal him out a proper beating, but the perverted seith mage just didn't listen, and searched through her drawers before murmuring "Jackpot!" under his breath as he held up a black lacy strip which women considered as underwear.

'Tch.' I spat out, glancing at the material before turning away to listen to my sound pod. I sure as hell didn't want blondie beating on me.

That's when I saw her standing in the doorway, giving Bix a look that would have left him deep underground if looks could kill. I smirked, waiting to see what she'd do.

I watched as she slowly walked up to him, her anger increasing with each step as Bix carried on rummaging. Her ire reached it's peak as she stood behind him, her eyes narrowed into a deadly glare. Even Freed had noticed the malevolent feel to the air, and dragged his head away from reading some book, his eyes and mouth widening in shock at Bickslows behaviour, before he turned quickly and hunched over into the book again.

I grinned as I watched blondie's hands fist up and waited, watching the show unfold.

Bickslow's POV

The first clue I had to her standing behind me was when I heard her say my name. At the time I was inspecting an interesting red lacy bra, but I felt my fingers release it immediately after I realised I'd been caught.

'Bicksslooowwwww...' Her voice was guttural, and as I turned I realised I'd been too engrossed in her underwear to feel the evil aura that radiated off of her. I glanced at Laxus, glaring at his amused face. I'd asked the bastard to be my look out, and took his grunt as agreement.

'Uh, hi cosplayer... interesting set of drawers you got here... was just looking at um... how they slid in their slots so nicely! Been looking at a set of drawers just like this, right babies?' I said nervously, laughing up at my totem dolls. "Right! Right!" They echoed, hovering behind me.

Lucy's glare narrowed, before she smiled gently, her terrifying anger gone. I blinked in shock.

'Oh really? Yeah, they're pretty good drawers huh?' I nodded dumbly.

Is she stupid? I thought as she turned around to walk back to the kitchen, and I gave a sigh of relief before grinning cockily at Laxus, my tongue hanging out of my mouth.

Laxus's POV

I burst out laughing as blondie suddenly span and slammed her foot into Bickslow's face, knocking that cocky grin of his into shock. She'd backed off enough that she had enough space to kick with maximum power, and Bix flew airborne before slamming into the wall, his babies too slow to catch him.

Bix groaned and staggered to stand up, only to have blondie step right up in his personal space, forcing him to back into the wall.

'I ever catch you looking at my underwear again perv, you'll wish for me to kick you like that again.' Bix nodded, still dazed, before blondie smiled up at him and patted his shoulder.

'Good, now go sit down, lunch is nearly ready.' She said, before skipping back to the kitchen and being greeted by Ever.

I sniggered as Bix got his babies to help him stagger to his seat and drop into the chair, causing it to creak slightly.

'Shut up Laxus. You were supposed to be my look out!' He hissed, glancing towards the kitchen then back to glare at my face.

'I never agreed to anything.' I said still laughing at how blondie had smashed him.

'Alright guys, lunch is ready!' I looked up to see blondie and Ever walking in carrying a huge plate piled high with bacon sandwiches, and heard my stomach groan as it anticipated the food, the mouth-watering smell of bacon making me feel the hunger all the more.

Freed sighed as he shut the book he'd just finished, and smiling up at blondie, he thanked her.

As she took a bite out of her sandwich, I asked her a question.

'Hey blondie, how about joining the Raijinshuu?'