Hope you're enjoying this so far! It should be picking up in interesting shenanigans within the next couple of chapters - which will likely be out soon! Thanks for reading as always and remember to leave your reviews! I can't exactly speak for Starry here, although I bet she does, but I enjoy constructive criticism as well so please leave that too!

Lucy found herself annoyed at how utterly stupid her new partner and best friend could be. And even more annoyed at the fact that his family was apparently worse. What kind of ambassador to such a forward thinking country lets his son grow up away from himself and his family just because of a stupid law that most definitely could be changed with the right amount of effort. It wasn't just his father, either. Sure, Lucy was pissed at the Patriarch of The Pradesh Family, as she'd always looked up to him for not crumbling when he lost his wife as her own father had done, but at least two of Bickslow's brothers were in a position that was highly influential amongst the lawmakers of Bosco. They'd not done anything, either.

Farron was also a highly ranked ambassador and Kaleb was the master of a highly successful and long standing mage guild, in a country where that kind of thing held a lot of renown and power. Not to mention The White Sea's Master was a fucking Wizard Saint. The more she thought about it, she was almost pissed off the most at him, because he was supposed to be a leader. How could he lead when he couldn't even be bothered to put forth the effort necessary to bring his brother home and clear his name? Instead Bickslow had been forced to live a life of seclusion, in a whole different country, afraid to even say his last name in fear of being outcast yet again. Always forced to look over his shoulder, never able to relax, never able to feel at home. Never even able to do something as simple as show his own face in public.

Lucy wasn't a Wizard Saint, but she had single-handedly made the Spirit King himself change a law, in ten minutes no less, that had been in effect for at least a millennia - to save a friend she'd only just started getting to know. Surely Arman Pradesh, Bosco's Chief Ambassador, could have done something by now to save his son. Surely Kaleb Pradesh, Guild Master of White Sea and Fourth Wizard Saint of Bosco, could have done something to save his brother. Surely Farron Pradesh, youngest ambassador in their nation's history - quickly showing promise of being a greater ambassador than even his father, could have done something to help his little, lost sibling.

Even if the politics of it all were proving to be a problem, she knew for a fact that Bickslow had other siblings with incredible abilities who could have done something. She had to believe that doing things against the better wishes of those in power was more than just The Fairy Tail way.

Her very first day as a member of Fairy Tail, Master Makarov had given a speech. In that speech he'd said, 'If all we do is worry about following rules, then our magic will never progress.'

She'd never forgotten it.

But now, instead, it was Lucy left to do a job that wasn't hers to do. The job of another person, another family, of an entirely different country and she wouldn't soon let them forget it. Not a chance.

Aside from her anger geared towards the hurt that Bix had to endure silently, it pained her to admit that she was jealous, incredibly so, that Bickslow had the opportunities with his family that she would never have again. She wasn't bitter, she wasn't that kind of person, and yet… she couldn't fight that uncontrollable rage that built up in her when she thought about how they were squandering every chance to be together. Especially when she would give almost anything to have her own family back, even just one of the many precious people she'd lost and the happy memories they could have made. She'd be damned if she let them do this to themselves.

And partly, she blamed Bickslow, too. His family weren't the only ones who hadn't made an effort to make things work. He was a grown man and he could have done something. Lucy was strong now, sure, but she hadn't always been. She remembered the times where she'd been a scared little girl, very well. She had no doubt that Bickslow had been absolutely terrified at the age of eleven, being taken from his home and sent to live in a place so foreign to him. But now, he'd grown up and he wasn't that scared little boy anymore, nor was she the same battered, frightened little girl without the power to make a change.

Bickslow was stupidly strong and a formidable mage in any fight, just as she was. And they were one hell of a team, if they'd just put their effort into finding a solution maybe he'd have been home legally long before now. Fuck, if he'd just mentioned it to her, she could have worked on it for him. Not to mention fucking Freed Justine, research extraordinaire, who could have surely done something to help. For crying out loud! Freed specialized in finding loopholes in rules, or exploiting them! It was the very nature of his magic! The fact that he didn't even think to try and fix the problem himself, or with her help, or with both her and Freed, was both frustrating beyond belief and served to stir up some of those pesky feelings of inadequacy she'd fought long and hard to bury within herself.

Once again, she pushed them to the side, 'I'm going to fix this, Bix. I promise. They might not have helped you, but I will, even if I'm not sure they deserve you right now. Even if I'm mad as hell that you've not tried to fix it yourself.'

And so, there she was, packing a bag for the very Seith Mage she had just chucked through a celestial portal. She gained the tiniest bit of satisfaction out of the fact that she knew he hated travelling that way, because she was very frustrated and definitely petty - even if it wasn't his fault, entirely.

And the babies, though adorable, were not helping. She was tipsy, irritated, and they were… aggravating, to say the least. Especially as Bix wasn't there to reign them in.

"No, Papa, you cannot take all your toys. Don't you sass me right now! BECAUSE I SAID SO, fuck!" Lucy was pretty sure her golden blonde locks would turn gray before she even had the chance to send the babies back to Bickslow.

When his little totem body pushed her as she was digging for clothes, she decided she wasn't sure he was going to make it back to Bickslow with a body at all.

It had been fifteen minutes of pure torture (and Lucy wasn't unfamiliar with that particular activity, not in the slightest, unfortunately) while she tried, and mostly failed to pack a bag. With Bickslow's totems following her around his apartment, tossing in their toys from various random Magnolian citizens whenever she turned away from the luggage. In the end she'd managed to put at least two of those stupid armor sets in his bag, she was pretty sure she'd managed to throw underwear in as well (if the babies didn't take them out - they kept trying to make room for their own stuff), maybe a set of pajamas and a set or two of normal person clothes. Taking the bag with her, because she did not trust Pipi in the slightest, she went to the bathroom and tossed in his favorite body wash, his toothbrush, and his deodorant before zipping the bag and giving the babies a hard glare.

"He's lucky I care so damn much," she grumbled to herself before she addressed the souls that were still hovering around her head, "Did you take anything important out of here?"

She got a round of "No way!"s and "We would never!"s from the babies that she didn't believe in the slightest, before sighing and opening another portal, pulling on Bickslow's magic to find him.

Without hesitation, she threw his bag into the gate, hoping it would hit him in his stupid face, smirking when she heard him faintly shout at her.

"Go on, babies," she said, and she heard the dull thuds of each of them hitting him in the face before closing the gate. She did love those little souls, frustrating as they were.

With her best friend's clothing needs taken care of, and some of her wrath released in the form of little totems hitting him in the face - as well as packing a neon pink shirt Evergreen had bought him that she knew he hated, she began taking steps to right the wrongs of that dumbass Seith Magic ban in Bosco.

So, begrudgingly, she did what any proper heiress would do; she called the royal to beg for a favor.

"...Lucy?" the princess answered, her green locks disheveled and the room around her dark, until the woman sat up and activated her lacrima lamp. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she fully focused on the communication lacrima feed, "Is everything okay? Is it your spirits? What's wrong?"

Lucy held up a reassuring hand, "It's nothing like that, Hisui, I just need a favor."

The blonde heard the shuffling of her sheets as she readjusted and fully woke up, yawning, "Well," she said tiredly, "Celestials know you've got about a million to cash in on. Though I might have appreciated you doing so in the warm light of morning," she teased.

Lucy smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, sorry, I'm just a little worked up and I don't really feel like wasting time. This problem has gone on long enough."

The green-haired celestial mage regarded her cautiously, "...what kind of international incident should I be preparing myself to get involved in?"

The blonde laughed at her friend, "Nothing major… Okay, it's kind of a big deal, but it's probably best if you didn't get too overly involved."

Hisui put a hand to her chin, considering, before nodding slowly, "Alright. What can I do for you, Lucy?"

Smiling brightly, she responded, "Oh! I just need an invite to the Boscan New Year's celebration in the castle!"

The princess deadpanned, "...an invite to the most exclusive event on Ishgar's political event calendar. Is that all?"

"...now that I think about it, I could use a rundown of all the major politicians and high military officials in Bosco, too…"

Hisui rubbed a hand down her face, "I can probably manage that… but this is at least three favors."

The blonde smiled brightly, excited to have somewhere to start.

"Oh, and you'll need a date. And for the love of the stars, don't bring Natsu. Whatever you do, don't… bring Natsu."

Lucy laughed openly at her old partner's expense, it seemed he would never be rid of his destructive reputation, "Not to worry, Princess. I've got the perfect person in mind."

-:-:-:-:-

"I've told you time and again, Master Laxus, this form needs to be filled out in black ink. They will send it back and fine you for the return if you use blue. I don't even know where you keep getting blue pens, I keep throwing them away! This is rudimentary paperwork etiquette, redo it. "

The blond slayer sparked slightly in response, "Fuck the council, I'll use blue pens if I want. It's not like they can't fucking read it just because its in blue!"

Freed just sighed, "This is far from a war worthy of waging, Laxus, just-"

The Rune Mage didn't get a chance to finish his tired plea because just as soon as he reached to hand Laxus the correct pen and a fresh form, the door to the guildmaster's office was violently shoved open and a second raging blonde entered the fray.

"Excuse me, Lax, but I need to borrow this."

"Borrow what?"

She grabbed a hold of Freed's arm and shook it, "This."

The Rune Mage, for his part, just looked on amused. He'd always liked Lucy, but this was a bit odd, even for her.

"What use could you have for my arm, Miss Lucy?"

"Not your arm, Freed. You."

Laxus sparked more furiously. He liked Blondie, he really did, but she had this way of jumping on his nerves and grinding her heels in. Probably something to do with them often differing on opinion, and also being stubborn as fuck, "You can't take my Freed, Blondie, especially if you're already taking my you. Who's gonna help me with paperwork?"

Lucy and Freed shared a look of amusement, "...you know, you could always do it yourself."

He shrugged, "Okay, but then who's going to deal with those council twats?"

"...that would also be you, Laxus."

The Dragon Slayer shook his head violently, "Oh, fuck no. I can't do both. How long are you planning on being gone, anyway?"

"It's literally the definition of your job…" Lucy snarked, crossing her arms.

Laxus glared, this was why he didn't get along with Lucy. She was a sassy little jerk, sometimes, but what was worse...she was always fucking right. It annoyed him endlessly. He almost missed the days when she was intimidated by him.

He sighed, raising an eyebrow, "So? How long is this going to take?"

Freed looked at her in question as well.

She shrugged, "I told Bix a week, but who knows?"

"So you've effectively stolen half of my team, for an indefinite time frame, and I'm just supposed to be okay with it?"

She gave him her brightest smile, "Hate to break it to you, Sparks, but I've stolen Bixy from you indefinitely. And I did so forever ago. I'm just borrowing Freed for a project, I'll give him back… Probably."

When both men saw the flash of gold to her right, both paled, for different reasons. Freed, because he hated celestial gates, and Laxus because he was sure she'd not just leave him high and dry. There was a council meeting tomorrow…

"Blondie, don't-"

"Miss Lucy, wait-"

"See ya, Lax!"

And she disappeared through her gate, a pale Freed in tow.

"Goddamn it, Blondie…" Laxus groaned in defeat, slouching in his chair and picking up the dreaded black pen that had been placed on his desk.

-:-:-:-:-

Behind the Scenes Dramatics

Starry: You read my brain again. I didn't like it.

Redfoxed: We seem to do that a lot.

Starry: Right? It's creepy.

*Note from Starry*

….we didn't talk much this time. Our dramatics isn't very dramatic. I hope you'll forgive us. Maybe we will be funnier next time…?