When Cristoff yanked the door open the last person he expected to see was Gajeel and especially carrying a beaten and much worse for wear looking Levy. Shadowgear had gone on a mission he knew, they had talked about it before the Raijinshuu had left for theirs but it had been something about recovering some books stolen from the Grand Library in ERA, wasn't supposed to be dangerous. Yet Gajeel looked bad, and Levy looked worse.

"Wendy!" He called over his shoulder, helping Gajeel stumble into the house as Wendy came running from the bedroom one of his shirts hastily pulled on.

"Glad you're both here…help her…Levy first…" Gajeel breathed as Cristoff took the woman from his arms and laid her on the couch, letting Wendy push to her side while he turned and narrowly kept the Iron slayer from collapsing onto the coffee table.

Hefting the big man he kicked the coffee table aside and laid him on the rug beneath it as Natsu and Emzadi were coming down the stairs.

"Find out where they were, Jet and Droy…we have to find them I have a feeling they need help…" Cristoff barked at them, Natsu took off running out the still open door, Emzadi right behind him while Wendy and Cristoff went to work.

Almost an hour later, Wendy, looking a little pale, sat back heavily and looked down at Cristoff, he was finishing with Gajeel, the slayer had started coughing blood and still had it on his face and chest but his breathing no longer was labored and gurgling. Cristoff sat back, looking at Wendy and reaching out a hand to her. "Still a few hours of moonlight left, I'm going to set up a well out back, we'll get them into it and let them soak away the rest." He sighed, rising and going through their bedroom, he opened a Moonwell right out the doors, grateful the moon was high and it was a clear night.

He paused to toss aside the towel still around his waist, grabbing a pair of sleep pants and pulling them on instead before going back through the house to the living room and picking up Levy to carry her back to the well. He left her with Wendy, who removed Levies bloody ripped up clothes and put her into one of her own night shirts, it was big on the smaller woman, but would protect her modesty.

She was easing Levy into the well when Cristoff came out with Gajeel, the Dragon Slayer was walking, though he needed Cristoffs support. His tense face eased the moment his eyes settled on Levy resting peacefully in the moonwell.

"Ok, so I'll help you out of this, down to your boxers and into the well, you can hold Levy and I want you to soak for an hour, once you're done, we'll get you into the bed there and you two should sleep" Cristoff was saying.

Gajeel nodded, tossing his ruined tunic aside and not bothering with his pride, he leaned on Cristoff heavily to get out of his boots and pants and slid down into the soothing liquid moonlight in the well, drawing Levy into his arms and thanking the Gods she was breathing without rattling and gurgling like she had been the last length to Cristoffs house.

The teleport lacrima they had used had gotten them to the outskirts of Magnolia, but he'd had to carry Levy the rest of the way, his own injuries screaming and keeping him flirting with passing out the entire time.

"Ok…can you tell me any of what happened Gajeel?" Wendy was asking, inside she saw Cristoff was dressing, getting ready to go out to help find the other members of Shadowgear, he was listening though.

"I think Jet got Droy clear, I was trying to get Levy out but Shrimp wanted to make sure we covered Jet and Droy, Droy aint exactly easy for a scrawny thing like Jet to drag outa harms way. Fucking Sevenese, damn nest of the bastards have the underground wing of the library, they didn't need books recovered, they need the wing recovered…shrimp has a teleport lacrima to get us back to Magnolia. When they fucking lit into us and Levy went down I grabbed her and used it." Gajeel explained.

"Ok, so near the Library…I think I can get to Peace Village then jump to ERA, see about finding Jet and Droy…" Cristoff dropped down to kiss Wendy, "I'll stop at the guild, see if I can grab Natsu and Emi" he told her then was gone.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lisanna rolled over in her bed, grinning as she came on top of Kahns firm body, a yellow eye cracked open to peer sleepily at her, a smile lifting his lips just as she kissed them.

"You're in a good mood." He observed, voice husky with sleep as he watched her slide from the bed and walk into the bathroom, hearing the water turn on in the shower.

She came back then, leaning over him again, pulling the blankets down low enough she could kiss down from his hip to his cock and making him moan and close his eyes.

"I am in a good mood, the mission went so well, Vander will be happy with it, so much so Thessaly should get a nice night out of him since he promised her if I got the second Take over mastered, which I have, and we finished the mission successfully, which we did, he'd give her a whole night. Thessalys about beside herself, can't wait to collect on that promise." She said brightly.

He started to sit up but then she was back to his groin, licking him and he groaned, laying back down and lifting his hips into her touch.

"That's Thessalys reward though…" He observed starting to breathe deeper.

"Mmm, she's our friend, I want her to get him, he's sort of got one hell of a reputation in the guild, and Thessalys wanted him a long time, I'm happy I could help her get that desire filled…I know mine have been…" She smirked at him and he smiled, sitting up and pulling her to him to kiss her.

Lisanna drank in the kiss but started pulling Kahn to the edge of the bed. "Mmm, come shower with me…" She pleaded and he smiled, letting himself be pulled from the bed even though he would have preferred to either fuck her or go back to sleep, if she'd kept teasing him the first option would have become his preference.

He loved showering with her, she was prone to giggles and laughing and he loved the sound of that, still they'd gotten in a little late from their job and not exactly gone straight to sleep, his fault, he'd wanted her so much.

He'd gotten more and more involved in her, had spoken with Kaleb a few times about how much she was improving now that she was just away from all of Fairy Tail, wasn't seeing anyone but White Sea.

He almost drowned at times in her painful memories when they would surface, but he'd never missed it when they did and was quick to redirect her, bring her back to the present, Thessaly and Brice learning to be observant too, eager to help.

They all loved her, she was actually bright, witty, and showing a good talent for planning. He knew she was falling in love with him too, felt it, her feelings getting deeper, and he'd thought about stepping back but had found he didn't want to, that his own feelings mirrored hers, and he'd not been in love before, he was enjoying those growing feelings way too much to stop them just because this pretty woman had a bad past that had made her hold on reality a bit shaky for while.

He liked the idea of being one of the things that was turning things around for her too. On top of it all, she was a passionate lover, and that was something he understood well and was comfortable with.

So when she'd asked him to stay with her when they'd gotten home last night, he hadn't hesitated, had greedily taken her right to her bed once they were in her apartment above the guild, used up the last bit of energy they both had.

Thessaly had told them about Vanders deal with her, a night of his time in exchange for their team seeing Lisanna with a second Take over and a successful mission. Thessaly had harbored a crush on the Shadowquip mage for a while, seeing him come and go but not being able to get his attention, he was always so busy.

Lisanna had loved the idea, which had surprised Khan, who knew Vander was a sort of stability point for Lisanna, he'd never been anything but tough on her but that had always been consistent, she trusted him to be honest with her, relied on him to sort of let her know when she was losing her grasp on things. So having her new friend so interested in him could have been bad, but Lisanna told them, her sister was a devoted match maker and loved getting couples to hook up, so she figured it ran in her blood.

Either way, Thessaly had been thrilled Lisanna was ok with the whole thing, encouraged it even, and the team had worked hard to get Lisanna comfortable in her new Take Over, the Havati wasn't an easy one, but it was likely to become Lisannas strongest.

Trailing kisses down Lisannas shoulder, feeling her press more against his body, her hands gliding over his wet skin, Khans thoughts faded to the background and his focused shifted back to the white haired woman in his arms, pushing her against the wall of the shower, Thessaly could go collect her reward, he was perfectly happy right where he was.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Vander didn't get into the guild until a little after dinner. He'd missed seeing everyone off, caught up in a fairly unpleasant mission for the King, but he'd completed it, and now wanted to forget about it.

He enjoyed working, and a lot of what he did, especially the rescues of kidnapped children, removing items of leverage, guard work, he was very good at and left the jobs feeling pretty good afterward.

Some of it though was ugly. Wiping out those people in Seven hadn't bothered him, he'd felt better after that, but some jobs…like eliminating a potential rival for the soon to be husband of the Princess, that he wasn't overly fond of.

The young womans death would go down as a tragic accident, and he had honestly uncovered she was fucking some commoner and would have been happy not to marry the Minstrellan Prince anyway, but the King of Bosco wanted his daughter married, needed the alliance with Minstrell that would come from it, so, the Duchess from Icenburg had to go, just shaming her by exposing her love affair with the common guard she'd been sleeping with wasn't good enough, though he really had tried to sell that to the king, he wanted her out of the way.

So, when she'd gone riding out to meet with her lover, he'd shot her horse up on some toxins that would make the animal crazed and followed her to make sure the horse did what he wanted it to.

It had, breaking into a blinding gallop and tearing through trees the Duchess had taken a branch to the head and Vander hadn't needed to touch her, her neck had snapped along with her skull, the horse had run back to the estate, been found and the search party had found the Duchess a few hours later.

Job done.

He hadn't liked it, but the Princess had no competition for the Prince of Minstrel anymore, Vander just hoped the playboy Prince didn't love up someone else he'd have to go put through an accident before agreeing to the marriage to Kurino.

He didn't like killing people who didn't deserve to die. He did it, the Steel Council and the King were the only ones he ever did it for, and their covert jobs were often dangerous, and involved him doing things he didn't like doing. He reasoned it was for his country and followed his orders with few questions, making him a favorite.

He much preferred working for his father and brother, and the regular jobs he picked up now and then from the guild.

He sat at the bar in the Guild Hall and ordered some Dewars 25 year scotch, told the barmaid to leave the bottle and figured he'd get drunk, maybe pick up some pretty thing and fuck away some memories.

He was most of the way through his second bottle when a hand tapped his shoulder. Thessaly smiled at him when he turned.

"Thought that was you, we're back, successful mission report on your desk and Lisanna has got her second Take Over down." She told him.

In his slightly fuzzy head he remembered making some sort of deal with the pretty young woman about those things but wasn't sure if it involved sex or not…looking at her in her snug dress, remembering Kaleb had told him he wasn't to fuck her because of what she meant to Lisanna he smirked, pretty sure she'd wanted a deal that got him around that.

"You promised me, a whole night of your time for that…well…the sun is going down…I want my reward." She told him, stepping right between his legs and running her hand between his legs.

He didn't react, narrowing his eyes, oh hell yes, Gods he was a genius sometimes, he remembered that now, and her long fingers curling around him through the silk-like shadowfabric of his current black pants felt a lot like memory loss via sex was in his near future and not even with some random woman whose name he wouldn't bother to get, Thessaly was gorgeous.

"Only one night, Master Kaleb has orders I'm not allowed to mess around with you but a deals a deal." He agreed and she beamed, lit up like he'd just told her she'd won a damn pony or something. Why a beautiful kind hearted woman like her would want to get into bed with a killer like him escaped him, but oh he was going to make her so happy she'd wanted this deal.

"Give me your address, I'll be there in an hour." He told her and she snatched up a napkin from the bar and wrote on it before putting it in his hand squeezing his thigh and turning and hurrying away grinning.

Vander smirked, finishing off the bottle before putting some jewel down on the bar and heading for the showers. He needed to get out of the Leather and shadow clothes he was in, fine for the guild but he fucking looked like the killer he was at the moment, katanas on his back, daggers on his thighs, his attire clearly geared for combat.

As he started for the upper ranked member showers he smirked slightly, plenty of female eyes on him, he worked so much and his brother made him pace himself with guild members, so a lot of these women hadn't been with him, most hadn't, but enough had he was well wanted. Not tonight, tonight he made good on a deal, but he tucked away the idea that maybe it was time he hosted a nice party at his house nearby, he hadn't had one in over a year…yeah…past due.

Thessaly lived in one of the nearby high rise apartment buildings, only a block from where his own home was, which was nice, it wouldn't take him long to get home after he'd fulfilled his deal with her.

Two bottles of scotch on an empty stomach had given him a nice buzz in spite of his ability to absorb toxins with his magic.

When he knocked on the door it was after being tempted to just step through it and find out what was waiting for him. Deciding that would probably be rude, even though it would also be his style he watched Thessaly open the door and pull him into her dimly lit apartment.

"One whole night." She said softly, already pulling his shirt free of his jeans so she could get her hands under it "Anything I want right?" She looked up at him, searching his face and he nodded, not like he had any limits he was aware of, he didn't fuck guys or let them fuck him but other than that, he'd done a whole hell of a lot and not encountered anything he wouldn't do again, well, except the whole arms chained over his head while he was whipped and Kurino rode him, yeah, wasn't going to be trying that again, didn't care for flower beds either, holy hell did mulch sting.

"Anything you want Thessaly." he let her pull him down to kiss her, opened his mouth for her tongue, his hands sliding up her sides, massaging into the sides of her breasts and she pressed into him, drawing a deep breath, moaning softly. She pulled him then, led him to her room, to a large bed and he unzipped the dress, pushing it from her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.

"Gods…your body…" She breathed when he pulled his shirt off, barely able to get it out of the way with her yanking at his jeans. He knew Brice and Khan weren't clanborn, hadn't earned much in the way of acknowledgement yet in their lives, but Vander had been serving the Crown and the Steel Council since he was 14, his body showed it, clan tattoos, the brand of the Knights, of the Steel Council, White Sea and the add on to his guild mark designating his rank and status.

As his clothes hit the floor she was running her hands over the evidence of how hard he'd worked, how much he'd sacrificed, he smirked, letting her be distracted, he was getting her bra off, he'd been wanting to sink his teeth into her breasts for months.

He lunged down and caught a nipple and she gasped, "I…I wanted…" She had her words cut off by his hands and mouth, he wasn't going to waist time, he could go all night, he'd done it before plenty of times, she could ogle his body in between orgasms, right now, he wanted to lose himself in a womans body.

Thessaly was used to being the aggressive one, setting the pace, Brice and Khan were so relaxed and easy going, happy to let her lead and satisfy her wants. She'd had half the idea all men were pretty much that way if handled right, that once she had him alone Vander would let her dictate what happened, and he was, to a point, but he was aggressive.

His touches were firm, direct, and precise, there was no fumbling looking for places to make her moan, everywhere he touched set fires in her, drew gasps, moans, made her breath stutter and her heart race. He reduced her to a babbling mess so fast her knees almost gave out, would have if her weren't holding her, he eased her down on the bed and followed her down and she found herself writhing, a needy mess so fast she was almost embarrassed.

She was experienced, Gods she had sex every day, usually at least 2 or 3 times between Khan and Brice and sometimes a few other guildmates that were always receptive to her. She thought of herself as passionate, lusty, but Vander was on a whole other level.

She felt herself close and he hadn't laid a hand on her center, had only handled the rest of her body, her breasts, and she was already gasping in shallow breaths, felt herself teetering and when he moved up from her chest caught her mouth again, his tongue plunging into her mouth skilled fingers slid between her legs and she felt him smile against her lips, he pulled back, wine colored eyes half lidded and cocky "Cum for me Thessaly." He purred and one move with his fingers and she did, screaming in surprise, body arching up into him and he pulled her along, following her bodies rhythm and drawing it out while his tongue plundered her mouth again.

"I…I wanted to…" She panted out, trying to remember what she had wanted, she'd known before, she really had, she'd planned tonight so carefully, then she remembered and she pulled back from his kiss, almost whining when he withdrew.

"Tell me what you want to try…I said anything you wanted, lets hear what you want." Vander smiled, a little impressed she'd stopped him, most women just got swept away by him.

She reached up and dug into the drawer of her nightstand, a couple pairs of cuffs coming out and he smirked. "You or me?"

Hours later he slid from the cuffs, quipped into his clothes and left Thessaly passed out in her bed, the sun was about to come up, he'd dodged a night of nightmares in Thessalys bed. He missed the times when Cristoff could be called, a couple words from his older brother and he slept like a baby, deep and dreamless.

For now though, he stepped out of the elevator in his own building and opened the door to his home.

The sprawling three bedroom condo was on the 40th floor overlooking the Guild that only rose 25 stories, he could see the consulate and the Steel Council headquarters as well as the sky port from his large terrace. He sread out his shadows, touching everything, every door, window, piece of furniture, making sure everything was as he had left it before he walked to the wet bar off the kitchen and poured himself a drink. The sky was starting to lighten so he carried his drink out onto the terrace, enjoying the cool breeze.

Hopefully there would be fewer of these longer missions that had him so far from home, not that it mattered much, his brothers were all settling down, even his sisters were. He shoved his hand through his hair, frowning at the scent of Thessaly clinging to him he abandoned the terrace and watching the sunrise in favor of a steaming hot shower and once he was out of that, his dark cool bedroom called, his bed decidedly the best place for him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Seriously…how did Natsu score that?" Macao frowned, sitting back, Romeo snickered at his father, "I don't know dad, but she's gorgeous." He said.

Natsu was sitting at his usual table with Gray, Juvia, Erza and Lucy, cuddling with Jaden while Lucy was holding Layne. Emi sat beside him, idly running her long red nails through his pink hair while she smiled at the bright eyed baby her mate was holding.

"So careful at the library, not a book burned, and now so good with babies…we should have lots of babies…" She whispered in his ear and Natsu almost shuddered, smiling at her.

"You want to?" He asked and she smiled at him "I love babies, I love big families and I love you, maybe we should go home and start working on that…" She purred, Lucy and Erza both snickering.

Erza had been grounded, Arman and Bickslow had ganged up on her insisting she go on no more potentially hazardous missions. Unlike Lucy and Wendy, she had decided on a traditional Fioran wedding, and so she and Lucy were going through wedding magazines and books.

She didn't have much time, the baby would be due in early September according to Wendy who was expecting hers in August thanks to the accelerated gestation of Dragon Slayer children. So the wedding was scheduled for June. Still, she'd found her dress already, the shopping trip to Crocus with all of the women had been incredible fun.

Jet and Droy were hovering over by Levy, still enduring unhappy glares from Gajeel who was not as quick to forgive them over their mistakes around the whole library job, that they had so insisted they take because it was safe. Levy was pregnant, due in July, and that all came out while Wendy was tending her wounds and found out. She and Gajeel had been planning to tell the guild after they were done with the mission, but things had worked out, Levy, like Erza and Wendy, was banned from leaving Magnolia for anything even resembling a job.

Cristoff hadn't been wrong, baby fever had struck, all of the women had stopped taking their birth control when Lucy had started really showing and baby things were being seriously shopped for. Erza hadn't, but she had also screwed up and taken an energy potion instead of her birth control before leaving on a mission, then she had been particularly excited to see Bickslow when he'd come home from one and the two had spent the better part of three days in the bedroom, it was amazing Erza wasn't expecting twins like the slayer women.

Her anxiety about Bickslow was all but gone, the beautiful engagement ring on her finger a constant reminder he was going nowhere and very much meant to stay at her side and take care of her and their child.

Arman purchased a house in Magnolia, declaring it a necessity for a Grandfather that needed to see his grandbabies on a regular basis and Bickslows family made use of it. Kaleb bringing Cana to Magnolia to see Lucy and the babies, she sat on the table beside Erza, she'd already teased the daylights out of the knight until Erza had threatened to rip her new Boscan nose ring out.

Now she was helping with planning and taking Jaden from Natsu who Emi had finally talked into taking her home. Their house had finally been finished shortly after the whole incident with Team Shadowgear finding a nest of Sevenese mages hiding in the underground wing of the Grand Library. Laxus, Cristoff, Natsu and Emi had dealt with it, Cristoff lighting it up so bright the mages couldn't see, Laxus electrocuting everyone he could reach and Natsu and Emi barbequing any that tried to run out. They found Jet and Droy hiding in an abandoned barn a couple miles away mostly unharmed, Gajeel and Levy having taken the brunt of the sneak attack by the mages.

Lucy looked up as the Raijinshuu came into the guild, beaming as Cobra spotted her his expression warming as he saw his son in her arms and his other now in Kalebs being cuddled by her uncle.

Erza jumped up to fling herself into Bickslows arms, something she had taken to doing every time he returned home from a mission. He'd gotten better at bracing for it, no longer getting tacked to the floor and having the wind knocked out of him. Wendy wasn't far behind Erza, she felt Cristoffs absence painfully now that she was pregnant, and her husband barely managed a wave to everyone before he was drug out of the guild, the babies had been draining Wendys magic heavily, it was time their father relieve some of her burden and make her happy on several levels at once.

Standing Lucy was more quiet about greeting her husband since she had a sleeping infant in her arms, but the kiss was just as hot as any of the others. When Cobra pulled back he smirked at her "You love me." She said and he nodded "Damn right." He said, taking his son from her and nuzzling into the infants chest. Layne barely stirred, tiny fingers curling in his father hair, a deep sigh of contentment coming when Cobra gently blew Poison into his little mouth. The baby smiled, eyes popping open in delight and Lucy rolled her eyes, they could suck on her until she was sore, drain her magic, but all Daddy had to do was blow a little poison in Layne mouth and their son was all grins and giggles for his daddy.

At least Jaden loved being in her arms while she meditated, and adored all of her spirits, being especially cuddly with Virgo. She smiled, sitting back down, her husband sinking onto the bench beside her, back to the table, his attention fully on his son as he cuddled giggles out of him.

"Some deadly Poison slayer, put his son in his arms and he's a teddy bear." Cana teased.

Cobras smile didn't falter, his gaze staying on the toothless grin of his son "Fuck off Cana, he likes Poison, would make him giggle more if I ramped it up and melted your hair off your head." He said, burying his nose in the babies chest again "You'd like that wouldn't you? Would you like to see Daddy poison the fuck out of Cana?" He sang to the infant who giggled while Cana slid more toward Kaleb, figuring Cobra wasn't going to jet Poison in Jadens direction who was busy yanking on Kalebs long hair.

Lucy smiled, leaning in to kiss Cobras ear, earning a growl and then she and Cobra froze as the babys in his arms growled back at him.

Cana was moving quickly over to peer over Cobras shoulder. "Did he just growl?!" Cobra grinned "Yeah he did, hey Sparky you hear that?" Cobra looked up and found Laxus looking their way from the Raijinshuus table "I fucking felt it…kids already a monster." Laxus called back.

"Damn right he is." He crooned at Layne. He leaned up when Kaleb came around with Jaden so he could kiss the babies forehead. "Gotta catch up with your baby brother now Jaden, can't be letting him get all the firsts." He advised.

"Do Dragon Slayer babies develop faster than other children, The gestation is so swift so I was wondering?" Kaleb asked.

"For the first year, Wendy says it's likely they'll be walking and start talking before the end of their first year." Lucy replied.

"We might even see them use some magic, they already have it and Layne is a glutton for Poisons already." Cobra was grinning again, Layne had grasped the chains on the back of his left hand and pulled his finger to his mouth and Cobra was quick to indulge him, poison starting to drip from an easily extended claw.

They had seen some of it with Ruby, how she loved eating her elements, especially fire. Ruby adored the babies, when she'd met them everyone was a little reserved, but the dragon, now bigger than a horse so she no longer lived inside the house, Natsu having a barn put up for her she would be able to fit in for a while, had been careful, gentle around the babies, crooning and purring at them.

Ruby was flying now, her wings had started functioning well for it about a month earlier and she could speak, though she preferred just letting Cobra know what she needed or wanted since human speech was work for her and while the Dragon Slayers were rapidly learning to understand the rumbling intricacies of Draconian, it was still easiest for Ruby to just tell Cobra what she wanted everyone to know.

The dragon perched atop the guild hall, looking down watching her "family" come and go, satisfied to bask in the sun stretched out over the roof, even her wings stretched down to soak up all the sunshine she could get. When she got a little bigger, mastered using her magic a little better, she would set off to try and find other dragons, but this was home, this was family, and for now she was content, a Dragon of Fairy Tail.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

THE END

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o—o

A/N Yes I am already working on my next Chapter piece, "Roads less Travelled" here's a sneak peak:

"Why would somebody leave something like this out where anyone could find it?" Natsu asked incredulously, narrowing his dark eyes on the shimmering orb of what looked like water but sure didn't smell like it. Suspended inside the orb was the tiny purple gem they were supposed to recover for their client.

"Don't touch it…I have a feeling it's not as simple as just finding it, look there." Gray pointed and near the wall of the cave was a skeletal hand, Natsus eyes dilated "Cool…" he breathed moving to the hand and dropping to a knee to inspect it, the bone was weird, melted and spongy and the hand was stretched, like it had been reaching for something…or away from something in desperation.

"Why would you say a skeleton hand is cool Natsu…that things creepy!" Lucy frowned, a shiver running through her.

"I agree with Gray, we should be very cautious, I am uncomfortable with how smooth the rock is…and these odd little holes…like swiss cheese…" Erza was saying, prodding at a hole with the toe of her boot, she was right, the rock of the cave was worn smooth on the ground and about 3 feet up the sides of the walls of the cave, but there were little holes of varying size in the rock, most just an inch of so deep but some deeper, almost like weak points of the rock had worn away or somehow been consumed by something.

"Yeah…granite shouldn't look like this…" Lucy agreed

"Well we can't stand here all day looking at it, the guy said this might be the key to opening that vault…" Natsu said, rising and turning back toward the shimmering orb that was large enough three of them could have fit inside of it.

His hand lit with fire, he could smell the stuff wasn't water.

Wendy was poking a hole, sniffing, she knew the scent she just couldn't place it…it was like she'd smelled it somewhere a long time ago and…her eyes widened "Natsu no!"…..