A/N: Let's be honest - this is kind of just a tiny puff piece to show you guys that no, I have not died, just looming close to succumbing to high season working on a public pool (read: hell on Earth).
It was a quiet, late-autumn night.
Erza had no idea how late it was. The lacrima powering her alarm clock had run out and she hadn't gotten around to replacing it yet. Still, she was fairly certain it was so late one could actually call it early.
She imagined most people, night owls not included, would be asleep by then: her guild mates, the townspeople, probably the majority of the residents of Fiore and other nations sharing its time-zone…
By her side, Jellal slept peacefully too, having arrived from a job with his team not only late but also injured – his abdomen was covered with bandages from where his ribs had been bruised and maybe fractured. Although he'd been in pain, he hadn't wanted to wake up Wendy in order for her to heal him and, in the end, since he wasn't having too much trouble breathing, she had given him one of Porlyusica's pain potions and sent him packing to bed. He was probably so doped up he could sleep through the apocalypse. Part of her wished for the same fate.
It wasn't that she was suffering from insomnia. God, no. If she closed her eyes, she could feel herself starting to drift off immediately, so tired that she was. But then… Kick.
She groaned in annoyance, not opening her eyes. "Go to sleep."
The kicker had the gall to ignore her. Kick.
Nearly growling she cracked one eye open and glared at the culprit, which took the shape of the bump on her midriff. "Go. To. Sleep," she repeated in a sterner way.
Again, she was ignored, feeling a series of kicks coming from inside her belly. Kick-kick-kick!
She felt like screaming. She probably could have and Jellal wouldn't have even noticed, so busy he was tripping on a painkiller-induced stupor. She turned her face to him and allowed herself five seconds of resentment before brushing the feelings away. In normal circumstances, Jellal would have already felt her frustration and woken up. He'd try to help by rubbing the bump and talking to it up until the baby quieted down, which sometimes took hours and hours despite his intervention. Still, at least he usually helped passing the time and now she was bored, so bored and so in need of sleep.
As the baby aimed another kick, that one probably hitting something important, she grimaced. "Devil baby," she accused her son before motioning to get up and out of the bed, which she achieved with some difficulty. Six weeks to go, she reminded herself. In six weeks, the internal flailing would be gone… and then become external flailing accompanied by sound effects. She groaned. "Count yourself lucky that I have a soft spot for you already," she warned him, rubbing her belly.
She gave a last glance to Jellal, who was completely out, a trickle of drool running from the corner of his mouth, before shaking her head and walking out of the room straight to the kitchen. Maybe a midnight snack would help the little kicker calm down… well, more accurately, a three-in-the-morning snack, she realized from looking at the clock on the wall.
When she opened the pantry, she nearly sobbed at the contents of it. Even worse, she actually sniffed at the realization that she wanted them. She wanted them so badly. "Please forgive my weakness," she whispered. Not to herself, not to her son… to her omnipresent love, Strawberry cake. Why was she apologizing to it? Because Strawberry Cake was not what she was lusting for. No. She was about to betray it in a way a few months ago she had never thought she would even consider.
With Lemon Bars.
The pain it caused her was immense – she knew it was only her 'baby brain' acting up but, for the life of her, choosing Lemon Bars over Strawberry Cake felt like picking Ichiya over Jellal. "Unthinkable," she whispered before taking the first bite of baked sin. "The things you make me do," she said, that time meant for her son, who kept kicking.
She was unable to keep herself from finishing the entire tray of lemon bars and ended up spending five minutes hating herself for it, especially because her heinous act didn't seem to appease her baby at all. He just kept kicking and kicking. What a restless child… She and Jellal were such peaceful people… well, when the people around her weren't misbehaving, destroying things, being perverts or killing her treats, therefore forcing her to discipline them in the toughest of manners, that was.
"What else do you want me to do?" she asked the child.
Kick. That was her only response. She sighed, looking out the window.
"How about a walk? That helps getting you to sleep sometimes. I think I might still have enough energy for a round-trip into town."
Kick-kick.
She took that as a 'yes'. "Alright. But don't think you will be allowed to order us around like this once you are out of there," she assured her son as she got up.
Being November, nearly December the air was cold once she stepped out, having already requiped out of her nightshirt and into her winter clothes and coat, which she was fairly sure made her comically look like a snowman. Those days, with only a month and a half of pregnancy to go, the more she bundled herself up with clothes, the more awkward she felt – it seemed like everything hang from her bump down and felt at the same time too snug and not enough.
Her breath sent little puffs of smoke-like air as she walked down the path into town, following the rhythm of her son's kicking: kick-step-step-kick-step-step-kick…
She didn't find a soul to account for, not until she finally made it into town and reached the main street, at the end of which Fairy Tail stood. At a distance, she spotted none other than Cobra standing motionless against the side of the doors as he drank something (probably poisonous) from a flask.
A little nod was as far as he went to acknowledge her before the guild's doors opened and Kinana stepped out. She didn't notice Erza's presence, too concerned with locking up, and Erza didn't stay long enough to be noticed once the barmaid turned back around, going back to the walk her restless child demanded.
Despite the emptiness of the streets she wasn't minimally concerned about her safety. Home-of-a-famously-destructive-guild-factor aside, Magnolia was a fairly calm town. The only thing that might be a little shady about it had to be the presence of Twilight Ogre but those idiots knew better than to mess with her, especially now. Just two months before, she had knocked three bones out of their socket on one of their goons after he'd made a rather disgusting comment about her expanding chest area.
Pride aside, there was no denying how awkward she looked these days, though that wasn't nearly as awkward as she felt. As such, due to the load attached to her front and her sleep deprivation, she felt the need to take a break by the time she reached the local park (unthinkable for her at the top of her shape).
The moment she sat down, the baby kicked up a storm in protest, probably already comfortable with the motions of her walking and unhappy that those had stopped. It didn't surprise her as she already knew her unborn child as well as one could know a baby before it was born. And because of that fact, she had made already made a point of beating it at its own game: she had taken a seat on the playground merry-go-round rather than a regular bench. As such, with only a small amount of her magic, she got the piece of playground equipment to start spinning at a comfortable speed, thus satisfying her baby's need for motion and her own for rest.
She patted her belly cockily. "Lesson number one: Mama is always one step ahead of you," she informed her son.
She got only a soft kick of acknowledgement in response and that satisfied her enough to close her eyes and lean against one of the metal rails for support. She stayed like that for maybe five minutes before a familiar voice called her name. "Erza?"
She opened her eyes, blinking repeatedly as she used her powers to slow the merry-go-round down, allowing it to stop when she was facing the person in question: her fellow expectant mother, Mirajane Dreyar. One thing immediately annoyed her upon landing her eyes on the white-haired woman: the fact that she had to admit that even though she was carrying twins rather than a singleton like Erza and was, therefore, even bigger than her, Mira somehow managed not to look half as awkward as Erza felt. Unfairness if Erza had even seen it! "Mira," she acknowledged, sounding a bit bitter.
"I didn't expect to find you here at this hour," the demon stated. "Are you feeling alright?"
"As alright as one can feel with a restless child kicking their insides into oblivion," Erza replied.
"Ah, of course," Mira said, understanding. "You should see how that feels when it's two pairs of feet kicking you, not just one."
Erza groaned in annoyance. "Could we not start competing at this hour? I am tired enough as it is."
"Oh, no, but I'm being serious. It's not about that at all," Mira insisted, approaching the redhead and taking her hand. "Here, feel," she urged Erza, placing the hand on her huge bump.
Erza's eyes widened. Two extra feet kicking in tandem with the other pair did make plenty of a difference. It was like the kids were brawling with each other and attempting to storm out on one another by kicking their way out of their mother's womb. "Mavis… alright, you win this one. It doesn't even hurt to admit it," Erza pointed out.
Mira chucked. "They're going to be feisty, these two," she pointed out.
"So, I guess you are also taking a late-night walk to see if they stop, then," Erza stated.
The other woman sighed. "Not intentionally… With two babies, all these hormones can be even worse than the kicking – those hot flashes… God, it felt scorching! I had to come out into the porch for a few minutes to get some air but then ended up locking myself out of the house by accident instead." She shook her head. "And what a time to do it too… silly me. Laxus is away on a job, Master sleeps like the dead and we both know his hearing has had better days… I didn't want to break the lock and I can't exactly climb up a window like this, so I was heading to Elfman and Lisanna's to get the spare key. That's when I spotted you here and came to see if you were okay."
"Better than you, apparently. I think I have a lock-picking kit inside my requip space. If you would like some assistance getting into your house…"
"Ah, that would be wonderful. It's starting to feel a little chilly," Mira agreed, sounding rather relieved. "But maybe after I take a few minutes to rest… these two are such a load on my back – I think I need to recharge my batteries for a while, or else I might not make it all the way back. Mind if I take a seat too?" she gestured, nodding at the merry-go-round.
Erza shook her head. "Go ahead. Here," she added, producing a blanket out of her requip space and handing it to Mira as she took a seat on the structure took. She looked at it, confused for a moment. "You said it was getting chilly," Erza pointed out.
"Ah," Mira said in realization, accepting the blanket and quickly bundling herself up with it. "That's right – thank you. Guess I should expect this from you – Erza Scarlet, always prepared."
Erza chuckled, getting the merry-go-round spinning slowly again. "You never know…"
"It's been a while since I've been in one of these things," Mira stated, referring to the spinning equipment. "Guess that will change in a few years – give them time to learn to walk and these kids won't want to leave the playground."
Erza nodded. "As far as I can tell with this little boy, he appears to be quite in love with this particular structure."
"Little boy, you say? So it is a boy, then – I knew you would cave and tell me some time."
Erza frowned because she hadn't realized she had done so until too late. "Ugh… you have caught me at a weak moment due to sleep deprivation. Just do not go around telling everybody – I don't want the betting pools to be influenced."
"You're really going to keep them guessing until the last moment?"
"Of course," she stated. "If I am not allowed to take place in my own wager, then I am going to make them suffer for it."
Mira giggled. "How cruel of you… oh, well, then I guess that for the sake of reciprocity I should really inform you that I will be getting a little boy of my own too," she stated.
Erza raised an eyebrow. "Only one? I thought you were having twins. You have made sure everybody knew about that tiny little fact…"
Mira giggled. "I am having twins. It's just that they're one little boy and one little girl. One of each! Isn't it cute?"
The redhead had to nod. She couldn't help but feel a little bit envious: a little boy and a little girl in matching outfits… the practicality of getting the full set all at once… but then again, if she already trembled a little at the thought of a tiny human being completely dependent on her, having two of them was just… terrifying.
On her seat, Mira was still smiling, rubbing her belly. "Who would have thought we would have ended up having babies at the same time? I suppose we like to compete a lot, but this time it wasn't really on purpose. Still, I'm really happy that it happened like this: our children will get to grow up together as friends. Family, even."
Erza chuckled a little. "You do not think they will turn out like us? Competing over every little thing?"
Mira sighed. "Maybe a little. Tempers can be inherited and I suppose they will also have our terrible example since we just can't help ourselves sometimes. But we'll make sure they're friends first and foremost, won't we? A little bickering doesn't hurt too much if it's built over a steady friendship-based foundation."
The redhead nodded. "That was mostly our problem, was it not? That we started out as rivals before becoming friends."
Mira nodded. "It's true and it was mostly my fault… There you were, such a do-gooder, talented with your magic, a role-model for every kid at the guild, even Elfman and Lisanna… and then there I was, with a power that made me feel rotten inside… every time I saw your face, I really just got so annoyed that I wanted to punch you."
Erza chuckled. "I had my own share of the guilt – you acted like such a little punk around the guild… in ways, I thought of you less as a comrade and more as one of those people that us mages get hired to put in their place. I should have been able to see that you were just having trouble coping with your powers and taking it out on everybody. My behavior wasn't exactly exemplary either."
"Maybe, but it doesn't really excuse me starting fights left and right. And at the end, you were the one taking the first step for us to become friends. Remember? After that horrible job where Lisanna…" She didn't finish the sentence – even now, it was painful to remember it. The job where Lisanna had been presumed dead.
She'd been hurt, at the hospital, her sister gone, her brother taken for questioning by the rune knights without the right to have visitors… nobody had really known what to do with her in the silent, almost shell-shocked state she'd been in, so they just hovered full of good intentions, which unknowingly to them was the very opposite of what she wanted. What she needed.
Strangely, Erza had been the one to figure it out. She hadn't been intending to visit Mira… not because she didn't feel sensitive to her plight but instead because their relationship had always been a huge question mark and she didn't know if showing up at such a terrible time would help her and upset her. The Master had called her silly when she'd pointed that out as a justification not to visit Mira at the hospital and promptly dragged her there to see her rival. She had been a shadow of herself, small and more broken than ever on that hospital bed, not speaking a word but clenching her fists every time someone spoke to her, as if she couldn't stand it. Maybe it was the amount of time they spent trying to annoy one another that allowed Erza to see just how upset everyone's presence made her at that time – because the more people visited her, the more she was reminded that the two people she genuinely wanted near, her siblings, couldn't be there.
"I am still impressed that you dared to break the rules long enough to sneak me out of that hospital in the middle of the night," Mira stated. "I never would have thought you'd do it for me, of all people."
"You needed help and you could not help yourself, so I did it for you," Erza simply said.
Mira chuckled. "The guild's very own knight in shiny armor. Literally. And I am glad: I'm glad you hid me in your room at Fairy Hills for a week, away from everyone's well-intentioned prying; I'm glad you covered for me and gave me the time and the space I needed for that week; I'm glad you lectured me to put myself together after that week was over and I'm glad you dragged me over to Era so we could hound the council into stopping dragging their feet and release Elfman. I can only hope that our babies are as good at being each other's friends as you were to me when I didn't really do all that much to deserve it."
"As I said before, our animosity was mutual. Don't overthink it. But yes, let us hope they grow up as friends," Erza agreed with a little smile. "Childhood friendships can be very special."
"Awww, look at that… now you're reminiscing about Jellal, aren't you?" Mira teased.
"Wha…? I…" Was the woman a mind-reader?!
"Oh, shush. You get this funny look on your face when you think of him," Mira told her. "Which is to be expected when the two of you are having a baby and getting married after such an epic love story. Have I ever told you how glad I am that you found your way back to each other? You know I like to keep myself updated on the romantic statuses of my fellow guild members and I've got to say… for a few years there before I knew there was a Jellal, I thought you might be a bit of a grounded vessel on that area."
"A what?!" Erza demanded, full of outrage.
"Don't get me wrong – you just didn't seem to ever be interested on anybody like that! I did wonder about Natsu or Gray, but they're really as much your little brothers as Elfman is to me… I also thought you might just like girls instead, which is perfectly fine, but there was nothing there either! I was so relieved when I first heard about Jellal – everything started making sense! It's not about boys or girls to you – Jellal is the only way you swing! And the most adorable thing about that is that he's just the same! It's just so sweet!"
By the time Mira was finished, Erza was as red as her hair. And the worst part of it was that… well, Mira might actually be right about her theory. "S-stop it!" she stammered.
"Don't be embarrassed! It's a good th…"
"Big sis!"
Mira blinked and turned towards the source of the voice along with Erza, only to find a rather anxious-looking Elfman running towards them… followed closely by Evergreen.
"Elfman?"
"Big sis!" he repeated just as he reached them. "You're okay!"
"Of course I am okay. What happened?" she asked, confused.
Evergreen was one to respond, sounding a little out of breath. "Laxus called just as soon I got home. He said you were not in the house, that you were missing and the Master was unconscious…"
"I assume you mean asleep," Erza corrected.
Mira sighed. "Sometimes it's hard to tell – every so often he'll sleepwalk and lie down somewhere strange, like the bottom of the stairs or the roof… we have had a few scares."
"We thought you had been kidnapped with the babies! A man cannot stand idly by when such a thing happens!" Elfman said dramatically.
"Aw, so you were looking for me all over the town… Don't worry, nothing happened – I just got myself locked out of the house by accident. I ran into Erza by coincidence and she was going to help me break back in." She turned to Evergreen. "I didn't know you guys were coming home early – if I did, I would have waited there."
"Well, it was a bit of a lucky break that we ended the job before the last train – we thought you were already asleep by the time we figured out we could still make it. Laxus didn't want to stay away for the night if he could help it," Evergreen pointed out.
"I see but… wait a second, didn't you say Laxus called as soon as you got home, Evergreen?" Mira asked, her face turning devilish. "Elfman lives across town… how come you arrived here together?"
"O-obviously Laxus did not just mobilize me for the search," Evergreen said a little two quickly.
"And you just happened to arrive here exactly at the same time? From two opposite ends of town?" Mira pressed further, delighted at having caught her brother in the act. "It sounds like somebody was waiting for another someone in their apartment… which is even more suspicious when that other someone wasn't supposed to even come back home tonight. Could it be that someone actually took the time to inform the other that they would be home early?"
"Big sis…"
"You're imagining things! Clearly pregnancy is addling your brain," Evergreen shouted. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to inform Laxus that we've found you."
"I… a man shall go and help you," Elfman offered.
"No! A man will stay put and leave me alone. You'll give your crazy sister more crazy ideas!" And so, she walked away as quickly as she could, tapping furiously into a com lacrima.
"You are the devil," Erza pointed out, shaking her head as her friend giggled.
Mira smiled, looking nothing but proud. "I thought that had been established a long time ago."
Extra
By the time she returned home, she had been gone for nearly an hour and a half.
Laxus had arrived shortly after Evergreen had called him over – he had just stormed the playground, scowl on his face, picked his wife up bridal-style from the merry-go-round and carried her away while grumbling all about how she would be the death of him one of these days. Mira seemed to find it amusing because she giggled cheerfully as she carried away, while waving Erza goodbye.
Freed, ever courteous, insisted he and the rest of his team walked her home and although she argued that there was no need, she was utterly unsuccessful likely due to her own tiredness. The way home ended up being spent with the Raijinshuu telling Elfman, who had tagged along for the journey, in how many different ways a statement of his regarding the "manliness" of pregnancy was just disturbingly wrong… and Evergreen wanting to know in a scale of one to ten how bad her stretch marks were.
They left her on the porch with quick goodbyes and went off discussing someone off entirely between them.
The house was just as she left it – with the kitchen light on and an empty tray of lemon bars on the table. She turned the light on and left the tray where it was not wanting to tempt fate – it seemed like her son had, once and for all, fallen asleep and she was eager to do the same before he decided to change his mind.
So, she climbed up the stairs, even requiping into her nightgown on the way up, fully intending to do nothing more than to drop on the bed and sleep her heart out… only to find Jellal not asleep, as she had predicted he would still be, but instead sitting up on the bed, looking confused.
She blinked. "Jellal?"
He didn't respond.
"Jellal?" she called again, starting to feel concerned.
"Why is this bed so… big?" he mumbled, his voice groggy.
"What?" she replied, wondering if he was actually awake or just taking in his sleep – he wasn't known for such a thing but one never knew what side-effects might come from taking Polyusica's pain potions.
"The bed… it's sooo big… it wasn't this big before. Why is it now? …what if I got lost in it? Imagine getting lost in a bed… all these layers… the sheets and the blankets and…" he grabbed at the outer layer of the covers "…this thing."
She paused for a moment. Mavis, he was high as a kite. "The duvet?"
"That's the word. The duvet… it's even got a cover on it! You'd never find the way out if you got lost in there… so how come the bed got so big."
"It… it looks the same size as it's always been," she pointed out.
"Eh… something's wrong," he declared. "That's why it got so big. I can't remember what… something's… missing? I'm supposed to look for it? It's… Erza?"
"Yes?"
"No. Erza – it's Erza. Erza's gone – that's why the bed is so big. I should look for Erza."
"No… Erza is here. I… I am Erza – you are aware of that, correct?"
He looked at her and blinked… then paused and blinked some more. "'Course I am. You're Erza with your pretty hair and pretty… everything. Oh, that's right – you're here. You're not missing," he said, his tone adorably childish.
"I am not," she replied, her cheeks were a little hot. Was it normal that she still blushed when he called her pretty? She was plenty aware he thought so, but every time he said it, her heart started beating madly.
"But you were," he said.
She sighed, approaching his side of the bed until she was standing right by it. "I am aware – I apologize. I should have left a note."
"'t's okay… you're back now," he mumbled and then, without a warning, turned on his side and wrapped his arms around her midriff (now quite fully, given how big she was), pressing his cheek against the top of her bump – he was, effectively, latching onto her like a barnacle.
"J-Jellal?!" she screeched in surprise. She didn't know what to make of him at that moment – he was acting so unlike himself, but at the same time so… adorably needy.
"I like it when you're back…" he mumbled.
Her face was redder than ever. "I… can tell…"
"Don't go again, 'kay? …where did you go?" he mumbled against her bump.
"For a walk. The baby was kicking."
"The baby?" he mumbled, confused for a moment. Then, he pulled his face away from her belly and, as he looked at it, he suddenly seemed to remember. "Oh, this baby." And then we proceeded to lower his voice. "The one that we've made," he said like it was a big secret.
She chuckled. "That's the one."
And so, he frowned. "Why was he kicking you? Bad baby," he declared, scowling her belly.
"It seems as if he has learned his lesson for the night and stopped kicking," she stated in her son's defense.
"Good," he mumbled before latching onto her all over again. "I like our baby… why's he taking soooo long to bake?"
"It is just how it is… we will meet him soon enough," she informed Jellal, a little smile on her face.
"Can't wait…"
Erza's smile widened as she reached to gently stroke his head as he adorably and on-so-drug-induced-ly rubbed his face against her bump like a cat. But then, she stopped as she got a pull view of the position he was in. "Aren't your ribs bothering you?" she had to ask.
"Eh?"
"Your ribs. You injured them, remember?"
"Oh… I did?" he mumbled, before pulling away, looking down at his own taped up chest and then poking said ribs hard enough that he likely regretted it. "Ouch…"
"You should lie back down before you make it worse," Erza pointed out, nudging him back with a sigh. "Mavis knows I could use some sleep too now that the baby had decided to give me a rest…"
"Mmm…" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "'m sleepy too." And he made a point of that by dropping back onto the mattress in a plank-like fashion… which expectedly had him letting out another small yelp – not nearly as loud, she imagined, as he would let out, were he not so thoroughly drugged.
"Careful," she told him patiently as she wobbled to her side of the bed, where she lay down carefully, her back supported by several pillows for the sake of not lying completely horizontally and being potentially crushed by the weight of her belly.
The bed felt like a dream – truly… there were no words to describe the amount of relief that being able to lie down again gave her.
Jellal was now quiet by her side, looking a little dazed with nothing in particular… that was, until he reached for a strand of her hair and started playing with it in a delightfully childish manner. He was often unable to keep his hands away from her hair, however the way he was doing so now was more like he used to do in his childhood than he did these days. It made her smile and keep her heart warm – it was a pity that only being doped up would make him relaxed enough to let that childish part of him out…
"Your hair's pretty," he said. "Have I ever told you that?"
"Several times. The last one being five minutes ago."
"Good. 'Cause it is – an' soft too… sooo soft…" he continued sleepily.
She smiled.
"'m gonna sleep now."
"That makes two of us."
"'kay… night-night…"
… and he was out. Just like that, as if someone had flicked a switch. Erza didn't get there so easily, first watching him for a while, chest rising and falling softly as a trickle of drool made its way back down his chin, before her eyes started to shut.
It was so close… sleep. Right around the corver. But then…
Kick.
Her eyes opened sharply. Not again… "I will ground you for a month," she threatened
Then, she waited, daring her son to defy her. Ten seconds passed, then twenty, then thirty… soon, a whole minute had passed but no more kicks. She didn't allow herself to relax until three of them were gone.
It was unlikely that her threat had anything to do with it, but she still congratulated herself for it.
"Good baby," she finally declared, patting her belly.
And soon all three occupants of the bed were out. What a long night it was.
The end
A/N2: Hope you guys enjoyed it! Hopefully I'll be able to send out proof of life more often after the high season is over!