Chapter Seventy-Six

"You all realize this is extremely stupid right?" Gray asked and all the females in the shuttle lifted an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked out the walls; watching as the enemies advanced on them. These new draconics shined in the light and he felt his unease growing. He watched as Juvia stretched, her movements as fluid as the water she was tossing in the air in front of her as she stretched various ways.

"Aren't you going to get ready for a fight?" Meredy asked him and he rolled his shoulders without uncrossing his arms.

"I have my own means of precision strikes." He looked back outside. "Besides; learning how this new generation moves is important too. They're lighter on their claws; and they don't move their tails as much."

"Wonder what the tail thing means." Ultear frowned and squinted. It was true, the tails; which on older draconics were long and whiplike were now shorter and stumpier.

"Probably more force in a hit." Juvia said and inhaled deeply. "Like being hit with a blunt object and not a whip."

"More force." Flare shivered a little and then clenched her jaw. She was brushing her hair, whispering prayers in her native tongue. She looked out and watched as they moved. "Alfie, can I get a map of the area?"

"Here you go." Alfie produced the map on a screen and Flare stared at it. She zoomed in on a few different spots and nodded to herself. She tapped on four spots; dead ends that branched out from an intersection. Close to the intersection as well. It was a strange layout compared to the rest of the area.

"This is where we need to go."

"Why?" Meredy asked trying to look at the map. She wasn't sure what that good the location was.

"We can park the shuttle here;" Flare tapped one of the dead ends. "Each of you can take another one of the three dead ends. I'll take the intersection."

"I don't understand." Ultear said and shifted to prop her hip against the wall.

"I'll be able to weave walls between the buildings on the corners; trapping each of you in with a number of draconics; and I'll have some in the intersection I'll be able to battle as well. And keep the shuttle safe—like their targets are in it."

"That's a good plan." Juvia nodded. "More misdirection for Mard Geer."

"Is everyone okay with being cut off from the others?" Gray asked, a tightness in his gut at the idea of the plan. Flare looked at him and he saw emotions warring in her eyes.

"Once my hair witnesses the defeat of the last draconics within the dead ends; it will allow you out to aid whoever you want. My hair is aware of who is an alley and who isn't."

"If the draconics attack your hair after getting trapped; it will hurt you. I saw that on Solarium." He pointed out and she straightened to her full height. Her expression hardened.

"I can handle it."

"You don't have to risk your life to try and impress anyone." He said and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone I am trying to do my share of this war."

"By being reckless?"

"Every interaction with Mard Geer and his underlings is strife with recklessness. You can't pretend otherwise." She stomped her foot. "Don't look down on me because I am not a member of your Guild! Before Solarium fell I was in a Guild and I was respected there."

"Why didn't you stay with them then?" Meredy asked softly and they all saw the sorrow in her gaze.

"Our General fell under Mard Geer's sway and I would not be tainted as well. I had to fight myself free; and went home to Solarium to recover." She gnawed at her lip. "It was a long time ago. It doesn't matter now. I know I can do this."

"Atlas is not going to be amused if you get yourself killed."

"At least he'd respect a warrior's death instead of a coward's inaction." She puffed up her cheeks. "So is this the plan we are going with or does anyone else have a better one?"

"I like hers." Juvia said looking Gray straight in the eye.

"I second that." Ultear nodded and looked down at her nails.

"Fine." He shook his head. "Alfie, are all of our health trackers in working order."

"Affirmative." Alfie stated and brought up the metrics on a screen. "I will be sending a copy of the data to Wendy for tracking."

"Thanks." He said and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when we get there."

"Males…sleeping all the time." Flare rolled her eyes and started to braid part of her hair back away from her face. She needed to be able to see without distraction.

"Five jewels someone on our side smacks Gray about before we reunite." Natsu said into the empty room and they heard Gajeel snort through the screen.

"I'll take it. He's gonna end up keeping them all pacified."

"Don't bet on this." Levy rolled her eyes but Lucy merely smiled softly as people started placing their wagers. She slipped out of the main area and headed down the hall. Lights lit up on the walls and she followed them and found Cana sitting in a room.

"Should have known you'd come after me." Her friend said as she looked up from where she was sitting and looking at the cards on the table in front of her. They were sitting, stacked, as if untouched after being pulled out of her pocket.

"Wanna talk about it or just sit here and glaring at the cards like they personally offended you?" She asked and sat down next to her and rested her head on her friend's shoulder. Cana leaned her head over, resting it on top of Lucy's blonde tresses.

"Can we do both?"

"Sure. Where do you want to start talking?"

"Do I have to face him?"

"Yes. You'll need his help learning to control your powers. You don't have to listen to him about his relationship with your mom. And you don't have to forgive him. But you need to be able to compartmentalize until the war is over."

"Damn it." Cana swore and cleared her throat. "Fine. Since it's my General's orders."

"As your friend, I'm sorry and wish I could say you didn't have to."

"I know. Amazing how we're now both part of the Anti-Dad relationship club."

"Karma for mocking me." Lucy joked and Cana snorted.

"Any idea how I can learn something about my powers before having to deal with him? I hate going in blind."

Lucy tilted her head back, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Cana lifted her head and watched as Lucy's hair shifted around her, and her skin glowed softly. It was like watching streaking stars race across her skin, and she was mesmerized. Lucy's hair settled and she opened her eyes, the golden light still evident in them.

"The stars say they remember some training they witnessed long ago. They're willing to share the memories with you, but it won't be gentle. Their memories come with a price of witnessing as a nonmember of my line."

"I'm not going to be giving away years of my life to see this…am I?" Lucy's lip quirked.

"Life span, no. Comfort, extremely. It will be painful."

"No pain, no gain." Cana swallowed and tried to look haughty. "Bring it Celestial Barbie."

"I figured so." Lucy lifted her hands and put her fingertips on either side of Cana's temple. "I'm sorry for this."

"Just do it!" Cana reassured her and then her eyes rolled back and her mouth fell open. Her scream ripped out of her throat; light filling the room and heat rolling out and into the hall. People came running but when they hit the heat they froze. Natsu moved through it undeterred and opened the door and gritted his teeth. He watched as flames whipped around Cana and Lucy where they sat; Cana's screams ramping up as Lucy's own head was thrown back. He tried to move forward but he was blocked by a force he couldn't see. Then suddenly, Aquarius appeared; her hands gripping his upper arms and holding him back.

"Why are you here?" He asked and she gritted her teeth as she watched the scene in front of them.

"Because the stars warned us that Lucy was performing a high level spell and given it involved flames; I was told to come and make sure to be on hand if she needed help extinguishing this." Her cerulean eyes were watching, a hard glint to them.

"What is Luce doing?" He asked, behind them he heard Erza stepping forward and people whispering about the Fire Empress armor. He heard her mutter about the heat but then was just waiting behind them.

"She's sharing memories from the stars with Cana. It's reckless. Their memories, besides being long; are on a level that those outside of Zodiacrian genetics aren't meant to endure."

"Aren't meant to?" Natsu turned his head and looked up at her more. She nodded.

"It's a defense mechanism to ensure mindreaders and the like couldn't try to steal memories from us."

"Oh Igneel." Natsu murmured and returned his gaze to the two females. He watched as Lucy's fingers pressed harder into Cana's temples, and Cana's scream rose an octave.

"Lucy needs to release Cana, this is insane." Erza started to press forward but Aquarius used her tail to push the redhead back and ignored the heated look thrown at her.

"Interrupting could cause Cana's mind to collapse in on itself. If you value her at all, you'll wait." There was a sympathetic undercurrent to her tone.

"Why would they do this?"

"Cana's powers." Natsu guessed.

"You are correct Dragis." Aquarius murmured. "Lucy is helping her to learn about her powers given how little even Gildarts knows. Imagine eons of knowledge crammed into a mind never meant to hold even a shell sized amount of it."

"They were too reckless." Erza bemoaned and closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Reckless seems to be a trait that makes them fit into Fairy Tail really well." Natsu murmured and they watched on. The wind in the room picked up, swirling around the two, and breathing more life into the flames around them. They smelled…old. Natsu inhaled, surprised to realize the flames smelled old. He'd never realized flames had an age. He shifted and closed his eyes. Breathing in deeply.

We remember what time forgot. He tensed, the voices soft and deafening all at once. Under our gazes nothing is secret and yet everything is hidden. Our memories are infinite and yet finite. What we share, a price is paid and another memory is made.

Natsu opened his eyes and watched as the flames flared again, and then slowly tapered out. Lucy dropped her hands, her hair settled around her shoulders and she started to breathe heavily. Cana's voice had given out at some point; and her head was still thrown back, her breathing erratic. Erza pushed forward and Aquarius let her through, as she herself moved to Lucy.

"You shouldn't be wasting so much energy so recklessly when you are heading into war." She scolded as used her powers to produce water and have it surround Lucy. Natsu watched as steam rose off of her skin as the water cooled her down drastically quick. He slowly inched towards her, and her head rolled and she gave him a faint smile.

"Helping a friend to become stronger isn't reckless." She said and waved her hand, the water returning to Aquarius, and Natsu saw the surprise. The bluenette stared at the water and then looked to Lucy. Lucy got to her feet and shuffled over to Natsu and held her arms out. He melted into them, pulling her close. As he breathed her in, he smelt the aged fire melding with her scent. He nuzzled close and sighed, his breath puffing against her neck and making her shiver.

"What was that?" He asked and she returned the nuzzle.

"It's an old spell; transferring memories from the stars to Cana."

"It was a spell created by the Celestial King to train Zodiac Guards when they didn't have time to go through the proper training." Aquarius murmured. "I believe that Urma was the last to go through that."

"Urma?" Lucy asked her browns furrowed.

"Ursa Major; she doesn't leave the Celestial King's side often any more." The bluenette shook her head as memories of her own raced through her mind. "She served with Capricorn and Cancer; she retired before your mother started her training."

"I see." Lucy nodded slowly and looked up at Natsu before turning her head and looking over at Cana and Erza. Erza had popped Cana's mouth closed and had brought her head upwards. Her brown eyes were still wide, tears glistening in them. Lucy worried her bottom lip and Natsu tightened his arms around her waist.

"Ooow…." Cana's voice was hoarse and small. But the word had everyone breathing a sigh of relief.

"While it is late now," Alfie's voice made everyone jerked. "I have provided a health tracker for Cana. While I cannot read all of her metrics; I think now would be the best time to apply it; so the pain is on the tail end of the current pain she feels."

"Hand it over." Cana shivered and a metal claw came out of the wall. Cana grabbed it and pressed it to her chest; shivering as the cold metal made contact with her skin. It delved under her skin and everyone watched as she wrinkled her nose and gritted her teeth. Once it was out of sight, she breathed out a heavy breath. "I need a drink."

"You never change." Lucy giggled and Cana smirked. She stood up, shushing Erza who tried to stop her. She ran her hand out in front of her in the air; multiple cards appearing and she grabbed one by the corner and pulled it down and flipped it around; a mug appeared. She held it out briefly as Erza's mouth dropped and Natsu threw his he'd back and roared with laughter.

"Glad she feels up to drinking." Mira giggled from the doorway and everyone nodded.

"The day I don't…is the day I die." Cana winked and Erza rolled her eyes.

"Thanks Jellal." Freed signed off and he stepped out of the shuttle and looked up at the sky. It was starting to lighten. He stretched, enjoying the deep scent of the world around them. The humans were sleeping in the shuttle; Mickey was asleep inside the bank, curled up inside one of the empty cargo boxes. He walked by her box and watched as her breathing came slow and even and he smiled softly.

"What was that call about?" Laxus asked as Freed joined him next to a series of controls. They were setting up parameter alerts and checking their readings.

"Lucy tortured Cana to give her knowledge about her powers and she also accepted the health tracker with no more than a soft "ow"." Laxus shook his head and chuckled mirthlessly.

"Yeah. First use of her powers was to summon a mug of some drink; Jellal wasn't sure what it was."

"From what little I know of her, that tracks." Laxus muttered and tapped on the screen. "We should put a few more alerts along the north and east boundaries. And I want a few more spells added at the corners. There are too many issues with those intersections to leave them as they are."

"Understood." Freed nodded and wrote down the notes and leaned against the wall. "Anything else?"

"Currently I think that's it. There are multiple things that I want to discuss with the others before making determinations. And Alfie has them in route to arrive in about half a sckrowl."

"And the decoy team?" Freed asked and Laxus snarled lowly and shook his head.

"They've arrived to a location and are setting up for the fight."

"Brave group."

"Foolish."

"Because all of the one who offered to go were female?"

"No…because the first one to offer is probably doing it in the misconstrued efforts to pay back our involvement on her home planet." Laxus crossed his arms over his chest. "And then the water woman no doubt wants to prove to any who are uneasy that she isn't a double agent."

"Just because they have ulterior motives doesn't mean they won't succeed."

"That isn't the problem." Laxus looked at Freed, and there was a look in his eyes that Freed couldn't name.

"What is the problem then?"

"The problem is that we obviously haven't done a good enough job of convincing them that we already trust them; and consider them to be our allies." He looked away. "The fact that we can't instill assurance is a problem."

"Maybe it isn't that." Both jerked as Mickey slowly rose out of the box, blinking slowly and looking haggard. She yawned and crossed her arms on the lip of the box and tilted her head, then rested her chin on her arms.

"What do you mean?" Laxus rose a brow and watched as she yawned again.

"Maybe they felt so much like a part of the team, they wanted to do everything they could to protect their team." The yawns interrupted the words. The males shared a look and looked back at her and she offered a small smile. "Women protect their own; they'll die for their friends and family. We are the creators of life; and as such; we are willing to do everything to protect life as well."

"I guess…that makes sense." Freed conceded slowly.

"Good. I'm going back to sleep." She dropped out of sight and they heard a heavy exhale and then deep even breaths.

"Feel any better about the decoy team?"

"Maybe a scale." Laxus grinned softly and shook his head. "Amazing how these Earth females are so insightful."

"I think it's because they are forced to see more than just what is on the surface of this world." Freed said, more to himself than to Laxus. "I will head out and put those spells up and the extra alarms."

"Be careful." Laxus instructed and Freed nodded before turning on his heel and walking away.

"We are getting closer." Bixlow murmured and shifted on his feet. Alexander squealed and the flying wooden dolls shifted, and he gurgled excitedly and tried to reach for them. His little arms flailing while his mother held him in a standing position on her lap.

"Good, I think the hatchling is eager to get out of the shuttle." Lector said and finished the food he was eating. "He's nearly caught a few of those dolls."

"For something with no real motor skills to speak of his eye tracking is impressive." Rufus was watching with rapt attention. He himself had missed a few of them as they darted around; and yet the hatchling hadn't missed anything.

"Smart boy." Katya murmured softly and pressed a kiss to his head. She hummed softly and swayed, watching the dolls fly around and around.

"Is Uncle Bixi playing with you Alexander?" Lisanna asked as she appeared from the back. Aquarius had used her water magic to speed up her healing; apparently being made of seventy-five percent water had its perks. Her energy was restored and she felt revitalized.

"Lis…I told ya not ta call me that!" Bixlow snarled as he frowned at her. She wiggled her fingers at him and cooed at Alexander who squealed and managed to catch one of the babies and popped its wing into his mouth.

"He's eating my baby?!" Bixlow sounded horrified, and both Katya and Lisanna giggled.

"He's teething, he won't actually eat it."

"Teething?"

"His teeth are starting to come out of his gums. Chewing on things help to sooth the feeling of the gums being broached from underneath."

"Ehhh." Rufus flinched at the expression of what was happening. "You all have weird physiology."

"You have no idea." LIsanna said and shook her head. Rufus and Bixlow both shivered. "Alfie, do you have anything softer that can be used as a teething toy for Alexander so Bixlow can have his precious baby back?"

"I believe so." Alfie stated and the table opened up and a bright purple ring appeared and Alexander squealed; releasing the doll and grabbing the ring. He immediately shoved it in his mouth; drool almost immediately coating it.

"Thanks Alfie." Bixlow whispered and carefully wiped the drool off of the doll. Lisanna and Katya shared a knowing look and then turned their attention to Alexander.