The guild goes into work mode as soon as Gramps is done talking. Erza and Gray start taking charge, assigning everyone to groups. Each group had a respective dragon slayer to handle, including the twin dragon slayers and Cobra. "What are we going to do? Our strongest people are dragon slayers! Lisanna exclaims, worried about her sister who was obviously Laxus's mate.
"It'll be fine. Freed, Bixslow, and Evergreen, y'all are on Laxus duty. Lisaana, Elfman, Happy, and Cana are on Natsu duty. Laki, Jet, Droy, and PantherLily are on Gajeel duty. Bisca, Alzack, Wakaba, and Carla are on Wendy duty."
Erza was thinking of more teams when Lector flies over, "Sting and Rouge are mates if that makes the teams easier."
"It does actually," Erza admits, glancing at Lector. "Gray, Lector, Frosch, and Gildarts can be on Sting and Rogue duty, I'm sure he'll be willing to help. Last team will consist of Juvia and I and we will be on Cobra duty. Everyone else, focus on the guild. Teams, go search for your respective dragon slayers and remember the mission is keep them separated from their mates." Erza says, before grabbing Juvia and heading out of the guild.
"Where is Erza taking Juvia?" Juvia asks, glancing at Erza, "does Erza know where Cobra lives?"
"I do actually," Erza replies, "he's friends with Jellal, so I've been over there with him a few times." Juvia nods and she follows Erza to his house, knowing this was going to be extremely difficult. The two mages make their way to Cobra's house. "We should probably just focus on capturing Cobra for now. He'll be able to track Kianna pretty easily because of his nose so if we just grab him, problems will be solved!"
"Juvia likes that idea," she nods as they approach Cobra's house. Erza knocked on the door and immediately began to think of an excuse to get Cobra away from Kianna. They waited for a few minutes and knocked again.
Cobra finally comes to the door, groaning as he opens it, "what do y'all want?"
"Jellal needs some help with an issue, could you help us out? We need all the people we can get." Erza says, acting as serious as possible.
"He can manage without me, I'm on leave right now, he knows this."
"Yes, he said you were on leave but he really needs you! He wouldn't have asked me to come get you if it wasn't serious!"
"What's she doing here?" He asks, pointing towards Juvia.
"Her water magic will help us significantly."
"So you need water and poison?" He asks, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes, come on, we don't have much time," Erza urges.
Cobra listens closely to their thoughts and growls, "you're lying!"
He goes to slam the door but Erza stops it just in time, "Juvia now!"
"Water bubbles!" Juvia exclaims, trying to trap Cobra. However, cobra dodges it easily thanks to his uncanny hearing ability.
"Poison dragon's grip strike!" He says before punching Juvia in the stomach, releasing the toxins from his poison. Normally, Cobra wouldn't hurt his friends with his poison like this but since it's mating season, he's lost all common sense, all he cares about right now is protecting his mate, Kianna.
Juvia flies back into a stand of fruit, groaning. Erza glares and requips into clear heart clothing while also calling for her holy hammer. Kianna comes to the door, yawning, "what's with all the noise?" She asks, pausing when she watches everyone stop mid-fight.
Cobra immediately turns his head to her after hearing his voice and Erza uses this chance to whack him upside the head, knocking him out with one hit. Juvia, who had gotten back up and was waiting for her time to strike, used water bubbles to trap him, "Kianna, you should stay here where it's safe." Erza says, requiping back to her original outfit. "Once we get Cobra to a safe place, we'll come get you and explain everything."
Kianna frowned, "Erik didn't do anything wrong! I thought you two were my friends!" She growls.
"Kianna, listen to me," Erza says gently, walking over to her. "We are your friends and he didn't do anything wrong. He's going through something dragon slayers go through but it's dangerous. He isn't in the right state of mind right now. So, let us take him back to Fairy Tail and secure him then we'll come back and explain everything, ok?"
"No, I'm coming with you! That's my boyfriend that you're talking about!"
"Alright then," Erza says and the three of them head back to the guild, Juvia bringing Cobra back with them with her water bubble. On the way back, Juvia was constantly trying to assure Kianna they weren't going to hurt him in any way but Kianna just stayed silent the whole time. Juvia hadn't started feeling the effects of the poison just yet since it was slow acting but she knew it was only a matter of time. She didn't think Wendy would be in the right mind to help so she was going to see Porlyusica. Kianna didn't know what to say or how to feel about this situation, all she knew was that Erza and Juvia had some explaining to do.
They arrived at the guild and Juvia took Cobra over to Gramps, "does Gramps have anywhere to detain the dragon slayers?"
"Yes, follow me," Gramps says, making his way down to the dungeon.
Kianna turned to Erza with her arms crossed, "what's going on? They're taking him to the dungeon!"
"Let's sit down," Erza says, leading her to one of the many tables in the guild. "The dragon slayers go through something called, The Season. Where they get very protective of their mate and will go after anyone they deem a threat to their mate. If they mark their mate and their mate falls out of love with them one day, both will die. He wouldn't have explained this to you because of the state he's in. He isn't thinking straight, did you not think he was acting weird?"
"He was acting a little weird," Kianna admits. "What about the others? Are they going through this as well?"
"Yes, we have teams sent out for every dragon slayer, hoping to catch them in time. The Season lasts about a month."
"Can I still see him? If I'm careful?"
"We're going to put them in cells that are protected by magic strong enough to stop a dragon slayer. That way, y'all can still see them, just make sure not to get too close and don't let them persuade you to let them out."
Kianna nods, "Alright, thanks Erza, for everything."
"Erza nods, "we wouldn't do this if we had another option."
"I know that now," Kianna says, making her way to the bar.
Freed, Bixlow, and Evergreen had just arrived at Laxus's house and started to prepare themselves for the worst. Freed knocked on the door and waited. The three of them waited a good while before opening the door, Laxus doesn't normally care enough to lock his door. "Laxus, Mira." Evergreen calls out as they walk inside.
"What are the three of you doing?" Laxus growls as he walks into the living room. "I didn't answer the door so obviously I don't want you here!"
"I get that but this is important!" Freed sighs.
Laxus crosses his arms, "and what's so important that you have to interrupt dinner between Mira and I?"
"You need to come with us to the guild, something big is going down!" Bixlow exclaims.
"Something big, something big!" His babies exclaim behind him.
"Since when do I care about the guild?"
Evergreen sighs, "look, gramps is calling all the dragon slayers down to the guild, ok? Come on, you can bring Mira with you."
"Oh, I know what this is about," Laxus says, narrowing his eyes. "You're trying to separate Mira and I so that I can't mark her? I'm not stupid and it ain't happening!"
"Mira, we might need your help to fight him, I'll explain why later," Freed yells, getting ready to create an enchantment.
Mira walked into the room confused, "is this because he basically forced me to come eat dinner with him? I really didn't mind. I mean, it would have been nice if he asked me in a different way but at least he tried, it's the thought that counts."
"Just help us and we'll explain later. We're a part of his team. We wouldn't ask this of you unless there was a very good reason, which there is." Freed explains.
Mira thought to herself for a moment, 'he's right. He wouldn't ask this of me unless there was a good reason, one they can't say in front of Lauxs.' "Take over, Satan Soul." She mumbles, getting into a fighting stance, "Laxus, let's go to the guild."
"Nope, not happening. You can go back to your dinner now, I'll get rid of these pests."
"They aren't pests!" Mira growls, flying into the air. Mira doesn't even wait for the other three, she just grabs Laxus with her new strength and drags him towards the guild, ignoring Laxus's protests.
"Dark Écriture: Fear," Freed mumbles out, weakening it just a bit. He didn't want Laxus to be terrified since that is his friend, he just wanted to make it easier on Mira. Evergreen and Bixlow trailed behind while Mira and Freed took care of the front.
Laxus, who's eyes were darting between the four of them, struggled as Mira pulled him. Although, with Mira's strength and Freed's enchantment, he didn't really have a way to get free. If it was just Mira, he might have been able to, but the added fear made it worse.
The five of them made it to the guild, no one had uttered a single word throughout the walk. They walked into the building and Evergreen glanced at Gramps who pointed to the dungeon. Ever walked over to Mira and whispered in her ear, "gramps has something set up for them in the dungeon." Mira nodded and dragged him down by the dungeon, she had been trying to calm him down on the way but he was kinda scared due to the enchantment.
The five of them entered the dungeon and looked around. There were beds for each of the dragon slayers, plenty of blankets and pillows. A couple of fridges, probably since Natsu would soon be among them as well as books, notebooks, pencils, anything they could want. Mira still wanted answers since it seems like they knew about this, but that would have to wait. She led Laxus to one of the beds and laid down, pulling him down with her. Once he was laying down, she got up and sped out of the cell. She stopped using her magic and Freed lifted the enchantment.
Mira looked at him, a sorry expression on her face, "Laxus, I'm not sure what's going on but they wouldn't have asked me to do this if it wasn't an emergency. Once we figure everything out, we can go on a real date, I promise."
Laxus ignored her and glared at his teammates, "let me out of here!"
"We can't do that," Freed says, "it's for yours and Mira's safety! It's The Season and she's your mate, we can't risk you attempting to mark her."
"What's The Season?" Mira asks, confused.
"The Season is something that all dragon slayers go through at the same thing. They become extremely possessive over their mates. If the dragon slayers end up marking their mate then the two will become one. If one of you dies, the other one will die. If one of you falls out of love, you both die. It's a very dangerous concept which is why we have to keep the dragon slayers locked up behind magic protected cells. As you can see, it's humane, I'm not a monster. These cells are also made out of a special material that Gajeel won't be able to eat through once he gets brought here as well." Gramps said, scaring everyone except for the two dragon slayers in the cell. No one had noticed Gramps had followed them down there.
"Oh, ok." Mira says, a little off. She looks over at Laxus and gives a small smile. "Laxus, I will make sure to visit you every day until this is over, ok? I'm sorry about everything."
"This is bullshit!" Laxus growls, punching the wall. "You can't do this to me!"
"I'm sorry Laxus, this is honestly the only option, I promise." Mira says, softly.
"You three better stay away from Mira while I'm stuck down here!" Laxus growls at his teammates.
"Trust me, she's all yours buddy," Bixlow says.
"Buddy, buddy!" His babies repeat. Mira chuckles softly and they walk upstairs, leaving Laxus and Cobra alone together in the cell.
Laxus sighs and lays down on the bed. He had to come up with a plan to get out of here, he had to be with Mira.
Cobra just sat up against the wall, his thoughts constantly bombarded with Kianna, he already missed her.