Natsu took another whiff of the incoming scent. Nashi did the same.
Wait.
Scents?
"What's the matter Natsu?" asked Happy worriedly
Virgo and Loke stood rather closer behind Nashi and Natsu, looking guarded.
"Someone is coming" replied Natsu
But instead of wearing a cautious look, a smile cracked on his face. Nashi smiled and sprinted away from Natsu.
"Papa! I'll go on ahead!" she said screaming from a bit far now
"Yeah!" responded Natsu as he waved his hand at her to signal her to go on
Nashi rushed towards the big front gates which is quite far.
"Oy Natsu!" bellowed Loke as he tried to follow Nashi but was stopped by an outstrecthed hand of Natsu
"It's fine!" he said with a toothy grin
"Geez! I didn't expect them to come." he said chuckling and looked back on Lucy's grave
"Is it like this when we turn up without your permission first?"
Closer.
Closer.
And closer.
Natsu could hear Nashi panting as she raced towards the gate.
A bit more closer to sight, Loke now understood why Natsu allowed Nashi to go run towards someone still unknown. A blazing scarlet hair came into view followed by a variety of other colors.
Two shades of blue.
Three heads of white.
A mane of black hair.
Another black one but spiky.
And a hovering black cat.
"Let's go meet them Happy!"
"Aye!"
Natsu and Happy darted ahead leaving Loke and Virgo to run after them. Nashi dashed and landed on Erza's warm embrace and Gray's head-pat.
"You could've told me you were coming" said Natsu as he landed with a thud on the ground in front of them
"Well, we wanted to come and see you in your new home immediately so we went on ahead" said Erza as she let go of Nashi who came running back to Natsu and gripping on his pants smiling broadly at them
"Who's the rich guy now?" said Gray slyly and raised his fist towards Natsu for a bro-fist
Natsu replied with a grin ad punched his fist softly with Gray's.
"Buying this house back. . .YOU'RE A MAN NATSUUU!" bellowed Elfman as he raised his arms as if weighing a barbell
"OH! Elfman! Mira-san! Lisanna"
Lisanna and Mira smiled and waved gently at his enthusiasm at back beside Elfman.
"So, how are you. . .Natsu?" asked Mirajane
There was a still silence.
Even Erza didn't know what to say to break it. Everyone is in bathed breath until natsu decided to break with his answer.
"I'm okay. . ." Natsu said; looked down on Nashi and smiled
"As long as I have her"
Nashi smiled at her father and climbed on to his shoulders and placed her chin on top of Natsu's head. Natsu grinned wildly.
"Geez. . .when did you become such a cheeseball. . .Salamander?"
A man with a bushy mane of black hair strode forward
"GAJEEL! GEEZ!" bellowed a bluenette by his side
"Levy-chan! Gajeel!" exclaimed Natsu
"Yo!" replied Gajeel
"Wendy was supposed to be with us but she went on a job. She said she'll follow us right after she's done" said Gray out of nowhere as he tried to avoid Juvia's fervid gaze and to Natsu's amusement, his blushing.
"Ah! Gray-sama is so caring!"
"Oh! Juvia! How's it going with Gray?!" said Natsu with a laugh
Juvia went as scarlet as Erza's hair
"They llllllllike each other" said Happy and Nashi in unison
"THAT WASN'T REALLY NECESSARY!" exclaimed Gray
Everyone laughed as they made their way into the mansion and Loke and Virgo had to leave so as to not exhaust Nashi.
"We'll take our leave now Princess"
"Yeah, we'll see each other again sometime soon" said Loke as he patted the little girl's hair
"Here. Your gate keys"
"Thank you Loke-san!" she said as she reached for them
"Now don't keep forgetting it or Aquarius will be angry at you."
"Mmmm!"
"Well then. Take care of my owner Natsu" said Loke as he and Virgo vanished
"Yeah" replied Natsu in whisper
They made their way through the big front doors and entrance hall is immediately greeted with "Whoa"'s and cheers of "Amazing!"
"This is really big" said Lisanna in awe as she stared at the high ceiling
"Mmmm! Lucy really is a princess" replied Erza
"Even Juvia didn't expect it to be this big"
"Ah! Lucy looks so cute here!" exclaimed Mirajane as she examined the big Heartfilia family portrait on top of the grand staircase in the entrance hall.
"How did she get there so fast?" said Gray
Natsu and Nashi just laughed at their amazement until Erza came striding towards them and patting Natsu on his shoulder
"Really good job Natsu. I can even feel Lucy smiling now" she said with a smile
Natsu gave them all a tour in the house. From the entrance hall, they went to kitchen which is closest, then to the dining hall. After that, they went upstairs and explored the second floor, then the third and so on. They finished the tour with a warm cup of tea and few more cookies and cakes in the portrait hall where there were soft cushions and comfortable sofas.
All of them goggled at all the portraits, shared stories and laughed and laughed; just like they always do in the guild.
"So when will you go back to the guild and start taking jobs again?" asked Levy
"Mmmmmm. . .I think I'll just go back when everything is settled here" he said as he ruffled Nashi's hair who's sitting beside him drinking a cup of chocolate.
"Papa! Don't ruin my hair!" she said grumpily at Natsu as she tried to flatten it
"Lu-chan. I can see you on your little princess here" thought Levy adoringly
"What is it Levy-chan?" asked Nashi
"Ah! N-Nothing! HAHAHA!" denied Levy as she took another guilty sip on her tea
"You're not really good in lying shrimp" whispered Gajeel
Levy flushed bright red.
There were three sofa's facing each other. Some squashy chairs were spraweled on the floor which Gajeel complained on to why Levy chose to sit. The Strauss siblings occupied the on Natsu's right and on the left is Erza, Gray and Juvia. Natsu and Nashi on the middle sofa.
There was a knock on the door and Spetto-san came in
"Oh! Spetto-san!" said Natsu
"You're dinner has been prepared" said the old lady warmly at them
"Oh! Dinner!" said Gray jumping
*clang*
Gray was knocked off his feet by a sharp jab from Erza.
"Get yourself together. You're embarrassing us. . .So, Natsu. . . "
"Yeah?"
"Where's the dining hall again?"
Spetto-san smiled as she followed them out of the room and to the dining hall
"My my. What wonderful friends Lucy-sama. Wonderful friends." thought Spetto-san as she stared at the lot, imagining how Lucy would've looked when she is with them
Wendy arrived just in time for dinner. A good number of delicious looking food were prepared for them, which were all gone after a few minutes.
"Thank you for the meal" said Wendy finally
"That was good food" said Lisanna
"Whoever cooked all those is a man"
"Mmmmm. I can't eat that much though" said Erza knowingly
"You ate almost all the cake Erza!" exclaimed Gray
"Ara! Gray-sama! You might get hit again"
"I KNOW!" Mira shouted as she stood up, shocking almost all of the people inside
"Natsu!" she said as she looked fiercely at him
"W-What Mira-san?" he asked nervously
She raised one of her fingers and winked
"Let's have a slumber party!"
There was a still silence and then Nashi jumped out of her seat and went straight to Mira and hugged her.
"Well, it seemed your little princess like that idea" said Erza as she stood up
"I like that too!" said Lisanna
"Juvia wasn't prepared but that would be really nice. . .and maybe share a room with Gray-sama! Ah! I'm not prepared" said Juvia as she clapped her hands on her burning face
"That's not happening oy!" bellowed Gray, flushing bright red on the process.
It was thirty minutes past 9 when the girls finished their bath and as they went back to the portrait hall in pajamas where the boys are waiting, they proclaimed a "better" idea they came up with.
"Let's all sleep in one room Papa!" shouted Nashi as she came galloping towards Natsu and hugging him on the waist
Natsu looked at Gray and Gajeel for their opinions
"Well, it's okay for me" said Gajeel
"No difference"
Natsu smiled.
"I have a great idea where we should all stay"
Spetto-san and the rest of the staff prepared enough sleeping bags and extra pillows on Lucy's room as Natsu and the rest settled in.
Nashi was once again rummaging through Lucy's clothings and showing it to the girls, much to their ammusement.
"What do yo think Luce?" Natsu thought as he looked at the group huddling together playing cards on the carpet beside her bed, Nashi layed watching on the bed
"Just like the old times, don't you think?" he said on his mind and a smile appeared on his face
"Oy Salamander! Stop grinning stupidly there and join us"
"Gajeel! Watch you mouth! Nashi is listening!" said Levy with a tone of warning
"What Nashi?" replied the Metal Dragon Slayer
Everyone turned to look at the sleeping little girl on the bed
"It was only a few minutes and she's already asleep" said Mira adoringly
"She took after you Natsu" said Lisanna slyly
"Nah! She's so much like Lucy" replied Natsu as she went to Nashi's side and carried her carefully to land her head on a soft pillow and cover her with warm blankets
"My my. . .Your Natsu is so cute Lucy" thought Mira as they all looked at Natsu kiss the sleeping Nashi's forehead goodnight.
"You've grown so much Natsu" thought Erza
"W-What?!" Natsu said burning crimson when he turned around to see everyone staring at him; with a look of pure adoration.
The girls giggled in reply.
The night with his guild mates brought a lot of happiness and ruckus in the house. They played cards, pillow fight (that almost destroyed the glass window), and ate as they made their way through each other's stories and Natsu had to carry Nashi way back to her room to keep her from being disturbed by their boisterous laughter.
It was already past midnight when everyone finally got tired and had too much food to keep themselves awake except for Lisanna who found Natsu staring at the midnight moon on the glass window when everyone else is already asleep.
"Natsu"
"Oh! Lisanna."
"Can't sleep?" she said as she walked beside him
"No"
They remained quiet as they both stared at the moon which was quite big.
"You miss her, don't you?"
". . ."
"Lucy-chan was such a good person. Even I can't believe she had to say goodbye too soon."
"Mmmmm"
"But you know what Natsu?"
"Huh?"
Lisanna smiled ever so warmly at him
"Lucy-chan. . .did bring out the best in you. And. . .you turned out to be a better father than I would've thought"
Natsu grinned
"You see. . .Nashi-chan is such a wonderful girl. You and Lucy did a good job raising her. And I am sure. . .Lucy is very happy right now" finished Lisanna as she raised her thumb for a thumbs up
"Thank you Lisanna." Natsu replied with his toothy smile
"Yeah. Lucy would be really happy now" he continued as he turned to look at Lucy's portrait.
"Mmmm!" replied Lisanna
"So. . .Let's go to sl-"
Lisanna broke off in mid-sentence as the door creaked open revealing Nashi leaning on the door, hugging Lucy's old doll named Michelle. Even in the dim night light of the moon illuminating the room, Natsu could clearly see a flush of red on her cheeks and he could easily hear her heavy uneven breathing.
"P-Papa. . ."
"I. . .I don't. . .f-feel good" said the little girl weakly
Then, slowly, Nashi falls on the ground.