Freed's POV

Finally, we'd arrived at Clover Town. From here on out, we'd be walking to Waas Forest or hitching a ride, though I got a feeling that Laxus would want us to walk all the way judging by how bad his motion sickness had been, and how embarrassed he was that Lucy had helped calm him.

She was truly remarkable. Not only had she broken down Laxus's defences against people outside of the Thunder God Tribe, but she'd also managed to get under Bickslow's mask.

I smiled gently at the arguing group before me. Bickslow and Ever were arguing about him calling Lucy Cosplayer, with Laxus agreeing with Ever, then Lucy pointing out calling her blondie all the time wasn't much better, then both of the men had Ever and Lucy ganging up on them.

I laughed to myself, ignoring Laxus's questioning glance in my direction.

'Everyone, we should start walking, don't you agree Laxus-sama?' I said, stepping forth, carrying my bag over one shoulder and my other hand resting on the hilt of my rapier.

Laxus sent a final glare towards the two giggling women before nodding gruffly and turning, his cloak billowing out behind him as he stormed off, swinging his heavy bag over his shoulders.

'What about you Freed? Don't you think they should call Lucy by her name rather than the nasty nicknames they've given her?' Ever asked, grinning mischievously. I ensured my face remained stoic as I replied.

'Laxus-sama may do what he wishes, but Bickslow should show the proper respect to his team mate.' Bickslow protested over the sounds of Laxus's guffawing, when Lucy piped up to argue with me.

'But Freed, don't you believe Laxus shouldn't be a hypocrite?' I frowned at her question.

'Laxus-sama could never stoop to such a common fault. He is above such things of hypocrisy.' I watched as she smirked evilly, glancing at Ever.

'Then don't you think that he isn't living up to your expectations by degrading me with the nickname "blondie" when he himself is blonde?' I sputtered, unsure of what to say, and glanced at Laxus, begging for help.

'Well, if he can call me blondie than I can call him something too.' Lucy grinned evilly, before grabbing Ever's hand and running ahead with her, both of them giggling.

I noticed they'd left their luggage and was about to call out to them, when Lucy's spirit, Virgo appeared, grabbing the bags and disappearing back into the spirit world, leaving us to carry their own bags.

Laxus growled, before pulling his bag further up his shoulders and storming after the girls, muttering under his breath as he jerked his sound pod over his ears.

Bickslow walked beside me as we walked to catch up to the girls, who were again talking about the latest make-up Ever had read about in her magazine.

I heard Bickslow chuckle beside me before he began his teasing.

'Freed got beaten in an argument by Cosplayer!' He howled, laughing as his babies repeated his words. "Beaten! Beaten!" I frowned, glaring at him, before quickly walking to be nearer Laxus.

Suddenly, I saw a golden glow of sparks next to Lucy, and say the recognizable orange hair of a certain spirit all of us were familiar with.

As he threw his arm over Lucy's shoulder and leaned into whisper in her ear, I heard both Bickslow and Laxus growl, quickening their pace to catch up to the three.

I smiled to myself, knowing I would have to restrain my team mates from hurting her celestial spirit.

Evergreen's POV

'So what are you going to nickname Laxus then?' I giggled. Lucy was bringing out my more mischievous, girly side that I'd managed to suppress, being around a team of men was so boring sometimes, and I loved Lucy being with us. She just managed to relax everyone with a smile and a laugh somehow.

She laughed and smirked evilly, before whispering in my ear. I gasped, before bursting out in laughter.

'Oh he's gonna hate that!' I laughed, my arm still linked with hers as she nodded in agreement, still laughing as we walked out of the town and on to the dirt track that we would be walking on for the next few days.

Suddenly, Loke appeared in a shower of golden light beside Lucy, and threw his arm over her shoulder to whisper in her ear. He looked really serious, and Lucy's face turned to look at him in shock.

'What? Are you sure?' She asked, sounding stunned and panicked. At that point, the guys caught up with us, glaring at Loke's arm over Lucy's shoulders.

'What's wrong Lucy?' I asked, frowning at her now serious face as she shook Loke's arm off of her.

'Okay Loke, thanks. I'll talk to you later.' He nodded, turning to look at Laxus, Bix and Freed, before disappearing.

'Lucy, what's happened?' I asked her, as she started to bite on her lip nervously. She turned and smiled up at me.

'Yeah, he just came to let me know there's some issues in the spirit world at the moment. I can't say much else. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon though.' She said, frowning and walking ahead, lost in thought.

I looked at the others to see their own faces contorted with worry for our celestial mage.

'Why can't she tell us?' Laxus asked, growing frustrated, before Freed interrupted him, holding him back as he was about to charge after Lucy.

'From what I've read so far, celestial mages are not entrusted with all the information from the spirit world, and if they are, they aren't allowed to tell anyone else, no matter what the circumstances, or risk being stripped of their contracts and keys. The spirit world has its own rules and ruler, and Lucy must abide by their rules as well as our own. We can't push her on this Laxus-sama.' He explained in a low voice. We started to quickly walk to catch up to Lucy, who was still lost in thought, chewing on her lower lip as she fiddled with her hair.

I skipped up to Lucy and linked my arm with hers, hugging her tightly and smiling at her. She looked at me, and smiled back gratefully, giving my hand a squeeze before grinning.

'Come on slowpokes!' She called back to the guys. 'We've got a job to do!' I think we all knew she was trying to hide her worry for our sake, but we pretended to go along with it for her sake, and they all smiled as they jogged to catch up with us.

'Who you calling slow, cosplayer?' "Cosplayer! Cosplayer!"

'Tch! Shut up blondie. You need a head start with your tiny legs, you'd never keep up.'

'I concur with Laxus-sama. We are faster than you believe Lucy.'

Me and Lucy grinned to each other before we started running along the road, easily creating a large gap, as the guys still carried their luggage over their shoulders.

We laughed again as they shouted for us to stay in sight when we saw them easily catching up, looking odd with their bags bouncing around their shoulders, banging their heads every few minutes.

Lucy's POV

I knew they were playing along for me, and I was grateful for it. If I was with team Natsu, they'd have continued pestering me for the information till I told Erza to knock them out. Even then, she would try and sneak the knowledge from me, though would give up when seeing how distressed I was getting.

Yet the Raijinshuu seemingly accepted that I couldn't tell them anything, and I was glad they didn't press the matter.

Glad I lent Freed those books on my magic. He probably held them back for me, and explained. I think I'll buy him a new book, or go and visit my Father's library again. All of the books belong to me anyway. I smiled at the thought of taking Freed with me there, imagining his face upon entering my Father's old office and seeing the walls filled with books from floor to ceiling.

I felt my mood darken a bit at the memory of my Father, and felt sad that I never got the chance to have a true relationship with him, but I was happy that he had finally recovered from my Mother's death before he passed away himself.

That reminded me of what Loke had told me. I brushed it off as nothing, but really, it was incredibly serious. I couldn't summon any spirit other than Loke and Virgo till he told me otherwise, and I knew this would be a problem with the job we were going to do. I needed to try and think of a solution so that I could help my spirits.

Before it was too late.