Their first child, Igneel, was a long expected piece of joy.
He was golden haired, bright eyed, and a spitting image of both his parents. Lucy was in labor for a full day, screaming and crying and cursing alternatively, but then laughed as Natsu bawled when his son was put in his arms.
Iggy grew to be a mischievous child, witty and sarcastic by turn, and ended up with a history of having broken both his arms, torn his tendon in his left ankle, and had countless bruises by the time he turned eight.
Impressive, to say the least.
The reason for these injuries arrived when he was three. A little sister was gifted to the small family, a girl with rose hair and a tomboyish personality, called Nashi. She was a flurry of unrelenting energy, from the day she learned to stand on her two feet to today.
You see, Igneel became her personal bodyguard. He would throttle anyone who dared call his sister, "Wimpy" and would beat them so badly Lucy was sure the kid would grow up to be a serial killer.
Natsu only laughed and taught Igneel how to control his attacks. After all, it wasn't long since another Igneel taught Natsu the same thing. He didn't have to afterwards, as Nashi learned to beat up the boys by herself and didn't need her brother anymore.
Two years after Nashi, Layla landed in their lives. Layla was a surprise, a beautiful golden haired one with soulful brown eyes, but a surprise nonetheless. She was sweeter than rough-and-tumble Nashi and Igneel, but was just as active, and would wheedle treats out of the most hardened of mages at the guild hall. She and Nashi were called the "Scarf Sisters" due to their habit of wearing scarfs just like their father.
Then, one buttery summer morning, when Igneel was seven, all three kids tromped up to their parents' bedroom, kicked down the door and demanded to learn magic.
Natsu beamed and said, "Sure thing!" Lucy flushed and shrieked, "GET OUT! LEARN TO KNOCK!"
The kids had burst in during one of their…..er…lovemaking sessions, or as Evergreen liked to call it, "The Dance of Springtime."
Not disturbed in the least, the kids closed the doors and sat down outside the room, playing with Happy and Carla's youngest kitten Farsight, who was blind.
"I want to learn how to burn people like Daddy." Igneel declared, tossing Farsight in the air. "But not like that. I want to bash people too."
"You could learn Ember Magic." Lisanna, resident babysitter suggested. "It implements Flame and Rock magic into one. I think I know a Wizard from the Volcano Throat guild who could teach you."
"I want to beat up people too! But I want to be fast like the wind!" Nashi put in, running up and down the stairs, never stopping to sit down.
"And I want to FWY! Like a big golden bird who can bweathe fire and slice things and spin in circles and sing and…and…" Layla was so excited she could hardly pronounce the words.
"I don't know a magic like that. You could ask your friends at the guild hall." Lisanna sweat-dropped.
At the guild hall, Master Makarov dug around in old magic tomes and found a book for Nashi. A form of Astral Magic, called Comet, which allowed the user liberties such as increased speed, powerful attacks, and much to Nashi's delight, spectacular explosions.
"This would be good for you, Layla." Master gave her a picture book with magic runes on it. "It's called Golden Feather. One of the variants of Phoenix Magic." Lucy started and stared at the squat Master, who looked at her gravely and nodded. They thought of Éclair.
When Igneel turned nineteen, Nashi turned sixteen, Layla fourteen, they mastered their magic to an incredible level. Igneel now was a master at Ember Magic, fiery flames that formed into iron-hard rocks, much to Natsu's despair. "How am I supposed to eat those?!" "Deal with it, Dad."
Nashi mastered Comet, and soon learned to soar above the skies like the magic's namesake. The first day she learned to fire her projectiles with glee and abandon she ended up with a 10,000 Jewel fine for property damage and reckless behavior, plus a domestic grounding of three weeks. Nonetheless, she loved her magic, and Natsu plus a slightly spooked Lucy were glad she found a passion.
Layla was slow and deliberate in her magic learning progression. She wanted to be the best in her magic, and was well on her way to achieving her goal. Golden Feather was a strange magic that was elusive to many masterminds, but to the mind of a child, it was easy. With it, one can make beautiful rippling feathers sparkle in the air, turn as sharp as steel, or grow as big as balloons. She loved it.
The three formed a team when Layla reached the age of sixteen. "We shall be The Team of red hot Fire and blue cold Stars!" Igneel whooped, only to bopped on the head by an unimpressed Nashi. "Too long! Make it Team Starfire! Short and simple!" "Firestar sounds cooler." Layla wailed.
As the kids left on their first mission, Natsu and Lucy watched them tumble out the doors, flurries of unrelenting energy, tripping over their own feet in excitement.
He gripped her shoulder, and she leaned a little closer to his chest. They smiled at each other.
"They're all fired up."
A/N: Next: Gruvia kids! Like and review!