Here we go. Nashi's birthday. We'll meet some more villains, too, since this is the reveal chapter.
Nashi gazed out the train window, watching the landscape roll by. Her heart was pounding at a million miles an hour.
She was going home.
Natsu, on the other hand, had been knocked out by Erza so he wouldn't get sick on anybody.
When they'd decided to go to the Heartfilia Manor, a small group of mages had volunteered to go: Erza, Gray, Natsu, Levy, Gajeel, Jellal, Wendy, and Juvia. Their kids, refusing to be left behind, had tagged along. Even now, Gale was eagerly chatting with Celeste about what they might find at the manor.
"It's been a long time since we saw the place," Gray told Juvia pointedly. "Who knows what it's gonna look like."
"Well, knowing Lucy, she most likely had the place fixed up," Levy replied pointedly. "Why live in a place that's super-run-down, you know?"
"At any rate," Erza piped up. "Once we arrive, we've got quite a bit of walking to do. Remember how large the grounds are."
Within about an hour of that conversation, the train pulled into the station, allowing them to get off the vehicle. Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel recovered from their respective motion sickness and they set off.
The manor, as Levy had guessed, was in fairly good condition. The trees in the garden were scorched, however.
"How did the trees get burned?" Juvia asked, tilting her head. "This looks like something Natsu would do."
"Well, it wasn't me!" Natsu protested. "I haven't even been here for over a decade!"
"We'd better get inside," Erza decided, trying the front doors. "Locked… we'll have to break them down."
"Or we could just pick the lock," Gajeel snorted. He turned one of his fingers into a lock-picking tool and managed to unlock it. "Ladies first," he told Levy upon opening the door. She entered, followed closely by the others.
"THIS PLACE IS HUGE!" Storm yelled, his voice echoing. The Dragon Slayers covered their ears in pain.
"Careful," Gray warned his son. "You might break their delicate Dragon Slayer ears."
"SHUT UP, GRAY!" Natsu snapped.
"Let's get looking," Wendy soothed.
They all split up, looking in different areas of the manor. Nashi was the only one who didn't actively search. Instead, she wandered the halls of her home, feeling out-of-place now that she'd met her father.
She remembered every inch of the massive building, a place her mother had hated until it became a safe haven to hide. She wished she could've been at Fairy Tail from the beginning, instead of in a place where she didn't belong. She'd never belonged, no matter what Lucy said. Neither of them really did, and they never would. Not at the manor, and certainly not with the aristocracy.
They belonged at Fairy Tail.
Still, in order for them to truly be a family, Lucy needed to go home.
"Mama…" she whimpered, missing Lucy more than ever.
"Well, isn't that sweet?" a voice said. Nashi looked up to see two female mages. One had short dark hair with a bit of red swept to the left while the other had hair that was blonde in the front but brown in the back. The one with blonde-brown hair looked down at her with an evil grin. "You miss your mama? Well, a little bird told us it's your birthday, so we have a little gift for you." She pulled something out of her vest and dropped it.
Her mother's keys!
Nashi dove and caught the keys before they hit the ground. Her eyes filled with tears as the leg of her jeans tore, scraping her knee. Really, though, it was the fact that they'd taken the keys that was making her cry. That meant they'd hurt her mother; Lucy would never willingly part with her gate keys.
"Aw, you gonna cry?" the dark-haired one mocked. "Maybe your daddy would help you… if he even loved you."
That did it.
Nashi took off down the hall, tears flowing from her eyes. Her blood fell to the floor, creating a little trail. She didn't care, though. She needed something familiar to comfort her. Her room.
Natsu was walking down the hall. He hadn't seen Nashi in a while, and he was worried she'd gotten lost.
"Nashi!" he called. "Where are you?"
Suddenly, he caught her scent, but there was a metallic tang to it. Blood. Nashi was bleeding. Looking at the floor, he saw a trail of dark red dots leading down the hall. He followed both her scent and the trail until he came to a door. Inside, he could hear Nashi crying. His heart lurched and he opened the door.
It was a little girl's room; that much was obvious. Stuffed animals were on the bed, surrounding Nashi as she cried. The walls were painted bubblegum pink. On the dresser, there was a pretty music box. In Nashi's hands was… Michelle.
"Nashi?" he whispered. She looked up at him and buried her face in her arms. "Nashi, what's wrong?"
"I want my mama!" she choked out. He gently stroked her hair to comfort her before glancing around the room again. It had Nashi's scent, but Lucy's was there, too, just faintly. His eyes rested on the nightstand, where there was a framed photo. In the photo, he could see Nashi and—his heart stopped—Lucy with her arms around her. They were both smiling and he could tell they were laughing.
Lucy. Nashi's Lucy's daughter?!
"Lucy," he murmured. Nashi looked up at him with startled eyes. "Lucy's your mom?" She nodded stiffly.
"She-she told me n-not to t-tell you who I a-am…"
He wondered who her father was.
Nashi had pink hair and a fanged smile. She liked spicy food and was able to eat fire. With a jolt, he remembered the scorched trees outside. If she was able to eat fire, that meant she used fire magic. Fire Dragon Slayer magic, like him.
With a shaky breath, he realized who Nashi's father was.
It was him.
Nashi was his daughter.
She was still crying. He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly, as if she was going to disappear if he didn't.
"Nashi… why didn't you tell me?"
"Mama told me n-not to…"
"Not to tell me I'm your dad? I'm surprised half the guild didn't figure it out…" She smiled, wiping away a tear. "Does anybody in the guild know?"
"Master Makarov did. Mavis and Zeref know." He raised his eyebrows. "They've been visiting me and Mama since before I was born!"
"They knew where Lucy was the whole time?" He chuckled darkly. "I have some ghosts to kill…"
"Silly Daddy!" Nashi giggled. "You can't kill ghosts; they're already dead!"
He smiled and pulled his daughter closer. She cuddled her doll to her chest and smiled back.
"I smell Nashi's blood!" Wendy gasped in the hall. She looked at the drops that led down the corridor. "There's a trail!"
She and the others ran down the hall, following the trail of blood to the room where Nashi and Natsu were on Nashi's old bed. They opened the door to find father and daughter.
"Nashi!" Levy cried, rushing towards her. "What happened to your knee?!"
"I… tripped." Nashi was holding onto Natsu.
"Uh-huh. I'm a mom, sweetie. What actually happened?" Nashi buried her face in Natsu's arm.
"Bad people," she whispered. "Two very bad people. They're part of the group that took Mama…" Levy noticed Natsu tense.
Out of curiosity, Jellal wandered over to the nightstand and picked up the picture of Lucy and Nashi.
"I didn't know you knew Lucy," he remarked. Suddenly, Levy's eyes landed on something peeking out from under the bed.
Lucy's gate keys.
"Where did these come from?!" Levy gasped, picking them up. Nashi leapt up and grabbed them from the Solid Script mage.
The truth dawned on Levy and her eyes widened.
"NATSU, YOU—" she began, but cut herself off when she remembered there were children in the room. "Nashi's yours, isn't she?! Yours and Lulu's!"
Natsu bowed his head, nodding stiffly.
Faster than anyone could've predicted, Erza slammed Natsu to the floor, her eyes blazing with rage.
"How dare you?! You impregnated Lucy and then got with another woman?! Shame!"
"Look, I'm sorry!" he yelped. "All that matters is that I intend to fix my mistake!"
"How?" Gray inquired.
"By finding Lucy and having us be a real family." Nashi's face erupted in a massive grin and she hugged Natsu.
"Do you mean it, Daddy?"
"I mean it, Nashi."
D'awww! The feels!
This chapter sucked. The title of this entire story sucks. I'm regretting this, but I'm going to finish it because I love you guys.
Oh, and in case you're interested, I'm thinking of writing a series based on Shakespeare plays: Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Midsummer's Night Dream…
Tell me how you feel!
So long and thanks for all the fish!
