Laxus Dreyar woke up in a cold sweat, feeling worse while everything slowly came into focus. It was still dark outside, and only a little bit of soft moonlight drifted into the room. His wife was stirring a little beside him, but she was still asleep and her green hair was strewn over the pillows. He sighed. It had been ten years since she had ascended the throne at twenty two. Ten years since they had been wed. Two and a half years since the youngest of their three children had been born and another ten years since Fiore had been spared from the destruction of Acnologia and Zeref's wrath. He simply couldn't fathom why he was still dwelling on the horrors his father had inflicted on him.

Tiredly, Laxus ran his hands through his hair and tried to explain away the awful dream — the awful memory, really. The last time had been so worried had been a few years before during Hisui's last pregnancy. They had a terrible fight about him letting their children wander out in the city with him (and none of the guard), and he had lost his temper, storming out of the palace and not returning until very late that evening. Seeing how much he had hurt her had caused him to fall silent for weeks, afraid he was becoming his father. Swallowing hard, he glanced over to his wife and gently kissed her cheek. It was almost a habit of his, struggling to apologise for things that were long since in the past.

"Hmm?"

Hisui mumbled in her sleep, her eyes slowly opening. Laxus pulled away, something that caused her to roll over, groggily eyeing him in concern. She was silent for a moment but then reached up to brush her fingers through his hair.

"Is everything alright?" She murmured. "You look upset, honey."

Laxus sighed. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright," Hisui said, curling into him with her head resting against his chest. "Are you still worried about what happened earlier with Felix?"

Laxus hesitated and stroked her hair for awhile in thought. Their six year old son had almost been taken in the streets by some ruffians when he and Hisui had stopped for just a moment outside the palace gates. He had pushed through the guards to grab his son away from the suspicious mage that had tried to take him. Their daughters — Elissa and Blaire — had been with Hisui and had witnessed the whole thing. Eight year old Blaire had started screaming, horrified and scared for her little brother. Two and a half year old Elissa had panicked because of her big sister's reaction. The guard had almost immediately ushered the queen and the princesses safely inside the grounds and Laxus knew it was a miracle neither he nor his son were hurt in the altercation.

Felix had been excited after, having so rarely seen his father use the power he held by being an S-Class mage and a dragon slayer. Laxus had never been more happy to have his son hugging him so tightly, but he had been terrified by the implications of what could have happened. He was angry with himself for not keeping a close enough eye on his own son. He was pissed at the woman who had tried to take him for getting away in the chaos. Hisui kept telling him all evening that it wasn't his fault, that he had saved their little boy, and she was so glad everything had been alright. Laxus wanted to believe her, but he was struggling.

He hadn't felt so angry since he had tried to prove himself to his grandfather seventeen years before at twenty one by pitting everyone in Fairy Tail against each other. He hadn't felt so guilty since then, either. Seeing the pain on his face, Hisui leaned up a little to kiss him, wishing there were something more she could say or do. She could only begin to imagine the hopelessness he felt. No matter how far in the past anything was, he tended to blame himself for it more than anyone else even if it wasn't true. Hisui knew how difficult it was for him, being the king, and she knew that it was just as hard for him to be a father some days when he had never had one of his own. Not one he deserved, at any rate.

"It wasn't your fault," She murmured, cupping his cheek. "Our baby boy is safe because of you, not in danger. You did everything you could, honestly."

"If I'd been paying more attention, he wouldn't have been in danger in the first place," Laxus said quietly. "I know you see the best of me, Hisui Dreyar, but —"

"Shush," She said gently. "You had nothing to do with what happened. I'm sure Makarov or even my own father will say the same thing."

He silently considered her words, a part of his heart warming and knowing she was right. His head insisted, however, leaving him conflicted as ever.

"You've been mine for twelve years," Hisui reminded him, dropping her hand and letting it rest against his chest. "Since the Grand Magic Games. Since I saved your life."

Laxus held her closer. "You remember who I fought during the games," He said, his voice low. On the off chance that any of their children would wake up and come in, he didn't want to risk having to explain Ivan to them. "Don't you?"

Hisui felt her eyes go wide in shock. "Your father…" She breathed. "Was...the same nightmare as before?"

"Doesn't seem to ever change," He said. "I… after what happened earlier, I guess I…there's something I don't understand."

Hisui rested her forehead against his. "What is it? How the woman disappeared?"

"She looked like my mother."

Laxus could hardly believe he had said it but Hisui seemed even more shocked, if that were even possible. Annabelle Dreyar, someone whom Laxus hadn't seen since he had been eleven, had never expressed much interest in her son. The mere thought of her returning to try and take one of her grandchildren away from him was almost too awful to consider. Hisui had never felt more protective of her husband and children than she did now. Her hatred of his parents was almost as strong as his own, but Ivan had been missing (though both Laxus and Hisui were sure he was still alive) for a decade and Annabelle herself had been presumed dead. Even Makarov, a cynic if anything when it came to his own family, had thought so. Yet there was nothing but fear written on her husband's face, and she knew how rare it was for anyone to get that far under his skin.

"I'll have the guard look into in the morning," She promised. "But it's late...let's try and get some sleep."

As it happened, sleep didn't come easily to either of them, even curled up tightly in each other's arms.

"Mommy?"

Blaire Dreyar awkwardly poked her head into the drawing room, where her parents were looking over several different documents. Hisui glanced up in surprise, having expected her daughter's lessons to run longer and then sighed upon seeing the time. Laxus squeezed her hand reassuringly and motioned their eight year old daughter in. Much to their surprise, she was followed by her great-grandfather, who, despite his his increasingly advanced age, was as strong as a bull and still the guildmaster of Fairy Tail. Per usual, he seemed lively but his furrowed brow suggested he was deep in thought too. Blaire watched him, bouncing on her toes, and hoping to see a bit of magic. He, however, suddenly told her to go into the gardens and play with her siblings and friends under the supervision of the king's personal guard.

It just so happened that the Thunder Legion hadn't planned to stop being Laxus' personal body guards when he had married Hisui and, in doing so, become the king. While they were, like Laxus, still officially members of Fairy Tail, they worked almost exclusively as a team in Crocus. The Thunder Legion had expanded, too, around that time upon Freed proposing to Mirajane and, two years later, Elfman marrying Evergreen. Mira had been thrilled to be able to help raise Laxus and Hisui's children, especially after her and Freed's four year old daughter, Emily, had been born. Evergreen, though she usually said she only did it for Laxus, had softened a little too. That was especially true since she had given birth to her own daughter, Cosette, a few months before. Bickslow was the only one of them to still be single and without children but he quite enjoyed himself, particularly if it meant he could tease the rest of them.

Glancing to Hisui, who was lost in her thoughts, Laxus sighed. He knew just as well as she did that they had both been preoccupied of late. Even without what had happened the day before, there had been more and more worries expressed to them by the Magic Council about the resurgence of dark guilds. Some of the traces they left were deeply worrying; not only were people dying and towns being put in trouble, but some of the attacks were reminiscent of the work of two dark guilds in particular: the Eisenwald and the Raven's Tail. It sickened Laxus to even think about the possibility of his father gathering his followers again, and he knew that, the more of a concern it became, it was scaring Hisui.

"Good to see you, Gramps," Laxus said, gently setting a hand to his wife's shoulder. She startled but did not pull away. "I'm sure the kids will be excited to play with you later."

Makarov chortled. "I'm getting too old for that! I'm nearly eighty-three!"

"The only thing that suggests that is how small you are," Hisui lightly teased.

Makarov quirked his bushy mustache with a smirk. "That's quite bold, coming from a woman as petite as yourself."

Hisui smiled weakly and, feeling how tense she was, Laxus squeezed her shoulder. For a moment, she relaxed a little.

"Blaire...told me about what happened yesterday," Makarov cut into the silence unflinchingly. "I have to say, things have not been looking good lately. It makes me wonder…"

He trailed off, tapping his chin in thought. He then shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Bearing everything in mind, I'm sending Erza and Jellal to come and help the guard protect your family," Makarov said, leaving no room for argument. "Well, to help them and the Thunder Legion, of course."

Hisui bit at her lip. "Do you have any idea why this is happening?"

Makarov ruefully shook his head again. "I wish I did," He replied. "But the truth is, I don't know where even to begin."

Laxus swore under his breath. "Great."

Hisui turned to him and rested her hands lightly against his chest. "We'll figure something out," She said. "Nothing is going to happen to them, Laxus."

"You don't know that," He said, his voice low and his eyes almost pleading. "Something almost did."

Hisui let him pull her in close and they spoke rapidly and quietly for several minutes. Makarov looked around, wondering how different his visit could have been if his great-grandson had been taken. The terrible thought unnerved him. His eyes lingered on the many shelves of books in the drawing room, but something on the desk caught his eye. An ornate silver cigar box.

"You started again, didn't you?"

Laxus nearly jumped at the question before noticing what his grandfather was looking at. He felt taken aback; he had quit smoking in his mid twenties, shortly before he had met Hisui, and he hadn't touched it since, especially after she had become pregnant the first time.

"No, no," He said, opening the box. "'Sui and I keep pictures of the kids in there now."

Makarov cursed himself for letting his attention be diverted and probed his forehead. So much was beginning to blur together as he had gotten older.

"My apologies for interrupting, your majesties," Bickslow suddenly burst into the room, looking hassled. "But you need to be in the gardens at once. It's baby Elissa. There's something you need to see."

Hisui and Laxus all but tore out of the drawing room and into the gardens, which were close by. The second they ran through the doors, they found Evergreen tending to the little princess. Whatever had happened, it was clear that something — or someone — had stolen magic energy from their little girl by pricking her finger.