It was quite literally the happiest his babies had been in nine whole months. When your magic gave you control over souls themselves, it was easy enough to forget that his constant companions were with him, mostly by choice. He could command them, but he didn't have to. He led, and they followed. It had been like that for a decade. From the time he turned twelve and he freed them from the clutches of a dark magic guild, those same souls were his constant companions. Eternally linked to him. With no bodies of their own they existed in symbiosis with him. They could be separated for a time but only if he stored them away. A process he knew they hated.
In a lot of ways they'd become as much of an extension of him as his own hands; it should have been a sign he took to heart when they expressed affection for Ali. Annoying her endlessly. Embarrassing him with their completely inappropriate comments.
He was still staggeringly exhausted two days later when he managed to drag himself to the station to meet the others. Laxus was talking with an overly eager Natsu; the fire Dragon Slayer had darker rings round his eyes than Bickslow had, and the sight of himself in the mirror that morning had frightened the shit out of him. He was a good looking guy, he was well aware of this, but holy hell did he look rough. Natsu was suffering through that phase all new parents became accustomed to. Where your every waking, and often sleeping, hour is spent devoted to the demanding cries of something so hopelessly dependent on you they often needed assistance pooping.
"And it's before ten am," Laxus happily remarked. Glancing Bickslow's way.
"Awww maaaaan," Natsu growled, forking over a sum of money to Laxus while Bickslow glared accusingly at them.
"Fleecing guild members, are we, boss?" He said with a tight grin. He knew very well that that had been a little jab at him as well as a blatant scam if ever he'd seen it. Laxus had once told him he didn't get out of bed before ten am for 'just friends'.
And here he was, ready to go at nine, an easy prediction for Laxus to know that he wouldn't be late, today of all days.
There was a tense sort of comraderie between them. Bickslow knew why he was going, he also knew that Laxus in part was going to make sure he was going where he was supposed to, but Natsu's presence confused him. His son couldn't have been what, six months old maybe?
His questions were answered when Lucy arrived before the train to see Natsu off. A snotty, gurgling infant resting in her arms. When she passed the child over to Natsu to say goodbye, Bickslow recoiled at the ungodly noise the infant started making, pulling at his fathers hair and pushing at him. Face suddenly red with angry tears. The lung capacity was beyond impressive. He watched Lucy wince before taking the child back. In her arms, he immediately settled. Natsu sighed dejectedly. His own son liked Gajeel more than him. The running joke in the guild was that the only reason Levy and Gajeel hadn't had children of their own yet was because Gajeel spent so much time babysitting Natsu's.
It wound him up something fierce to know his own son disliked him to such an extent.
Even Gajeel had stopped teasing him about it. The first burst nappy while the Iron Dragon Slayer had been holding him had ensured Gajeel never mocked Natsu over it again. He could only wish Natsu's son hated him as much as his own father. At least then he wouldn't be getting crapped and vomited on quite so much.
Lucy gave Natsu a kiss and a sympathetic smile.
"When you get back we'll see about getting a bigger place. Maybe more space will help a bit," She offered.
Bickslow stared at the child in her arms, examining him. Before he'd met Alma he would have just seen discomfort or anger. He wouldn't have had the skills to delve deeper. But he did now. He instantly saw the child's problem.
"You need to cool yourself down a bit. You're a million degrees every time you pick him up," Bickslow commented offhandedly to the stares of everyone involved. Lucy turned to look at Natsu and put her hand on his forehead.
"Crap! You're burning up right now," She looked down at the child in her arms and back over to Bickslow. "It can't be as simple as all that? It can't be."
Bicksslow was tired. He wanted to get on the train and be gone already. Maybe get some more sleep. Start applying sunscreen now, because he remembered how hot it was in Atla. And that had been from the memories of someone who'd been born and raised there. If the natives felt the heat like that after a lifetime of exposure then it was going to be bad. It was going to be very, very bad.
"Believe it or don't believe it, cheerleader," He stepped off the platform heading for their compartment. Lucy frowned, unimpressed with his attitude.
Laxus sighed while Natsu started concentrating on bringing his body temperature down. Suddenly pleased to think that it wasn't something personal as like or dislike, he was just careless with his magic.
"I'd suggest he needs to find a good woman, but..." Lucy grinned at Laxus. The lightning Dragon Slayer started laughing.
"Good one," He looked to Natsu who was turning blue. Apparently trying to smother his internal fire with oxygen deprivation. Laxus shook his head. "I'll try and bring the father of your child back in one piece," Laxus looked at the small bag Natsu carried. "You better not have Happy in there?" Natsu picked it up and shook it.
"Hey, I'm not an idiot. He's staying to help Lucy," It had been one of Lucy's requirements. If Natsu went, then Happy would stay. She wasn't so foolish to think that she wouldn't need some in-house assistance with their son. "Besides, he hates sand."
"Don't we all," Laxus growled out. Sand was all well and good when you had the ocean to wash it out of the tight places it liked to creep into, but where they were going, there wasn't going to be an ocean or lake for over a thousand miles in any direction.
Natsu was a loud snored and Bickslow had never truly appreciated how much that bothered him before. Endless months in a mostly silent monastery had left his nerves raw and his demeanor irritable in close quarters with others. He suddenly couldn't tolerate the sound or their presence. He'd never noticed it before but Laxus kind of stank; a musky smell that seemed to follow him around. So many missions with Laxus and it had never bothered him up to now. This must have been how Alma experienced the world; living in a constant state of sensory overload.
He tried to rest, closing his eyes and thinking about something other than where he was or where he was going; the hellish, smothering heat awaiting him in the Desierto province. It kind of worked, but every time he closed his eyes he pictured her. The way her forehead would crease when she got annoyed, or the way she'd snort when she laughed. She had the most amusingly masculine laugh he'd ever heard. It sounded like the kind of laugh you'd hear in a bar from the old guy in the corner.
She didn't care for peoples opinions, wouldn't be polite because that was seen as the default for a woman. Her aggression was off putting to most. Coupled with her need to maintain distance and it left her rather isolated. He may have been the only person that willingly spent time with her. Now the tables had turned and he was finding it difficult to even be in the same room as people.
He found himself smirking. This was some kind of justice the Universe was dealing out to him right now and he was going to cheer the fuck up, grin and take it. Like a moron he'd gotten himself into this mess and he was going to have to face this.
"What the hell are you grinning about?" Laxus asked him while a sleeping Natsu rolled over in his bunk, smoke puffing out of his nostrils. Bickslow stood and cracked open the window letting in some much needed air. How Lucy even slept in the same room as the pink haired fool with the heat he generated, would forever remain a mystery. It was stifling. The guy just wasn't Human. Even heading to one of the hottest places on the continent, both Bickslow and Laxus had to pack enough sunscreen for half the guild, but Natsu just didn't burn. This was going to seem like a holiday for the guy that once fell asleep in actual lava.
"Oh, nothing," Bickslow smiled in response.
"That nothing had better include this magical apology. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that she's not the forgiving sort," Laxus had gotten to know her fairly well, enough to know she could hold a grudge.
"I'm not gonna apologize," Bickslow laughed and Laxus sat up straight. Bickslow knew she hated apologies. Gestures were better.
"So what, should I start measuring you for your coffin now, or wait till we're off the train?" Laxus joked.
"Very funny!" Bickslow swallowed. "She's not gonna kill me. Probably still mad as hell, but she doesn't actually like killing people," He shifted in his seat a little uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I am gonna need to start wearing a cup for the rest of the trip, though." He laughed before growing sombre. "I didn't think it would affect her so..." He couldn't even finish.
"Bickslow, it's not just her it affected. You ran off to spend most of a year in a place with no alcohol, no women and where the main diet is defrosted moss. I think her reaction was probably the more measured one," Laxus smirked knowingly.
"It was a job," He whined.
"It was a job you had no intention of taking. You said you'd cut your own balls off before you'd exile yourself to a place with no booze," Laxus fixed him with a stern look. "And then my emotionally stunted friend, you went and fell in love."
Bickslow pointed a finger accusingly at Laxus.
"That's bullshit" He growled out. Sure he had feelings for her, but they weren't love. He'd been in love before, this wasn't that.
"Sure, you couldn't keep your hands off the last one, and this is different, but it's still love, Bix. Fair enough, when your eyes met across the room it was through bars and you were interrogating her," He spared a chuckle as Bickslow deflated a little. "But you not lusting over her like a hormonal teenager doesn't mean a damn thing. You found someone you can't frighten off, someone you care for, are attracted to. Someone who you're willing to get up out of bed for. Fuck, you were smiling at the thought of her beating the shit out of you," Laxus grinned as a slow burning look of realization started creeping it's way across Bickslow's face, only to be replaced by horror.
"I did dump her," He muttered.
From the top bunk Natsu laughed suddenly. Bickslow had no idea when he woke up.
"Oh man, did you ever," Natsu hung off the side and turned to look at them. "You're lucky Erza wasn't in town when you got back. She swore she'd turn you into a pin cushion," He was teasing Bickslow and in a way it was a relief. Things changed, but some things didn't no matter how much time passed. He closed his eyes and sat back down. The compartment was cramped but there was a cooling breeze blowing in that kept the temperature tolerable.
It would take over a week to get to Desierto by train and another week by foot if they couldn't acquire further means of transport. Atla was hot. Hotter than most of the deserts by far. The minerals in the sand reflected the sun to a lethal extent. The extent of sunburn from even brief minutes of exposure could be genuinely life threatening. It was one of the things that allowed Atla to exist in a moderate, if not tense, state of independence; even the other neighboring provinces didn't feel it was worth the trouble to invade. Atla military was as ruthless at the desert that they were born to. Losses would be high, rewards few. The other provinces had more to gain from ignoring them.
They were as close to a people as she had. It would make sense her coming back here.
But he wasn't entirely sure it was solely on account of him.