Sorry this chapter is late... Some things came up.
Thank you for your kind words and support and thank you all for following and favouring my story, it makes my day brighter.
Previously...
"Yes dear, Acnologia is your father..." Layla said with a gentle smile. "...And the four of us will destroy him for what he's done to our kind!... No!... For what he did to Lucy thirty years ago!" Layla growled as fire started to spark around her, causing everyone to jump back.
"I promised Igneel I'd grind him to dust!" Natsu grinned as he lit his hands on fire, following Layla's lead. "I'm all fired up!" We grinned and shook our heads.
Chapter 14 - Part 5 - Final Part
Normal POV
"Okay!... I can understand why you wanted to keep that a secret from us, but..."Lucy sighed as she stared at the floor. Her shoulders slumped forward allowing her bangs to cascade down, masking her tear-filled eyes... A solitary tear fell to the floor and echoed throughout the cavern, "I..." She gasped as her mother gently spoke.
"My dear sweet child!... I know you and your brother deserved to know but I just couldn't bring myself to tell either of you! ...Then there was that incident thirty years ago! After that happened everything changed, everything went wrong!" Layla sighed as she knelt down in front of her precious daughter and gently raised her head. She gazed upwards, staring lovingly into Lucy's beautiful brown eyes and her heart broke at the sight of her child's pain.
"Y-You don't understand!" Lucy trembled as she fell to her knees and collapsed into her mother's open arms. "He... He tried to kill us... He hurt Gildarts... And he hurt Natsu... Igneel... HOW!... How could he do that to us, his own family!" Lucy whispered in-between sobs.
"Child I'm sorry, I just don't have any answers to give you but I really do believe that 'somewhere' deep down inside, some part of him is still in there... At least that's what I want to believe!" Layla shifted to her side and sat on the cool floor pulling Lucy deeper into her embrace. A few moments later Gildarts and Natsu both took a spot on the floor directly in front of them.
"I hope so!" Lucy whimpered as she watched her new brother and her best friend each attempt a smile but fail.
"Excuse me!... Lucy's Mom!... What incident were you talking about earlier?" Natsu leaned forward and was quickly smacked across the head by a very annoyed Crash mage.
"Shhh!" Gildarts said as he held his finger to his mouth and motioned for Natsu to drop the subject.
"Gildarts!... DON'T, do that again!" Layla growled at her son, who immediately leaned back and mumbled a silent apology. "Lucy needs to know what happened back then! You understand that!... Right!?"
"Fine!" Gildarts crossed his arms over his chest and tried to seem disinterested but failed miserably. Layla understood his childish antics and coyly laughed.
"Lucy!" Layla took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Lucy, I need you to pull yourself together and sit up straight for me... Please!... I have something very important to tell you!"
Lucy nodded and wiped away the last of her tears as she slowly spun around and took a seat between Natsu and Gildarts. She looked forward and forced a smile much to her mother's chagrin.
"That's better!... I guess!" Layla said as she took another deep breath. She thought long and hard for the best way to broach the subject and then it dawned on her, 'Natsu'. "Natsu!... What do you hear?"
"Huh!?"
"Just humour me for a moment!" Layla grinned as she watched the young Dragon Slayer squirm uncomfortably. Try as he might he couldn't understand what this woman was asking of him. "You're a Dragon Slayer with heightened senses... Tell me what do you hear?"
A confused Natsu shrugged but finally relented as he closed his eyes and focused on any and every sound that permeated throughout the large room. His ears slightly twitched and a second later his eyes snapped open... He had an epiphany!
"I can't hear it!" A stunned Natsu exclaimed as his gaze shot from Layla to Lucy in an instant. "I only hear three!"
"Three what?" Lucy asked as she turned her best friend's face towards hers. She could feel the heat that radiated of him due to their closeness and she felt a warmth cross her cheeks. "What's wrong Natsu?" She demanded.
"N-No heartbeat!" He said as he pointed at Lucy's chest. "Lucy!... Y-You don't have a heartbeat!"
"T-That's not f-funny, Natsu!" Lucy nervously said as she hoped this was one of Natsu's bad jokes but she was stunned to find that he wasn't grinning, instead he looked out of sorts... In fact everyone's faces revealed no emotion, just a empty and somewhat sad stare as no smiles could be seen on anyone in that large cavern. It wasn't a joke and Lucy knew something was a-miss! "Can't be!?" She rested the palm of her hand on her chest and anxiously awaited the familiar beat of her heart but seconds ticked by and still nothing. Her hand quickly shot to the side of her neck as she desperately tried to find a pulse but again she was disappointed.
The look in her eyes spoke volumes... She found no heartbeat and a pulse was non-existent. "HOW?... H-How am I alive?"
"Child I need you to calm down and listen very carefully to me... As long as you are in this realm you will remain alive, leave here and you will perish the moment you walk out!" Layla reached forward and gently grasped Lucy's chin and raised her head and stared deeply into her warm eyes as a gentle smile passed her lips. "Don't worry my dear, before we leave here, your heart will be as good as new... Please don't worry oka..."
"How long do we have to stay here?" Natsu interjected.
"Two, maybe three years!" Layla smirked as she quickly realized she would have a chance to spend some 'quality-time' with her children.
"How will you heal her Mother!" Gildarts looked on... He was just as confused as Lucy, who looked to him and then back to her mother as the same question was on her lips as well.
"Actually!" Layla looked up and pointed. "The Dragon's Heart!... It will repair the damage! It has amazing regenerative powers! Lucy, over time it will restore and make you good as new... It will probably repair your damaged limbs as well, Gildarts!"
"Really!... Is that even possible?"
"Yup!" Layla smiled and nodded happily. "In the past it fixed worse injuries than what you both have but you both will have to remain here until the process is complete.
"...While we are here for the next few years we will have a lot of time to get to know one another again and of course we'll train hard everyday, so that we can someday destroy Acnologia for what he's done to us!" Layla said as everyone smiled and nodded their approval.
"So how did that happen to Luce?" Natsu asked as his mind wandered to all the times he'd protected his best friend and now he would have a chance to do it again and this small yet insignificant gesture made him proud.
"Remember the story Gildarts mentioned earlier about how he bought Mackey to the old Heartfilia estate... Well it all happened there!" Layla grinned for a moment until her thoughts drifted back to that eventful evening thirty years ago. "I think it was the third night after Gildarts returned! We had just finished eating when Gildarts and Lucy went outside to explor..."
"I remember that evening... We were outside one of the servants quarters when we heard the distant roar of a dragon. I told Lucy to stay put while I went to investigate the source of the roar... I was only gone for a few minutes but when I returned I saw Lucy pinned to the ground by a large black Dragon!" Gildarts stopped as a shiver ran along the length of his spine as he remembered his own encounters with that wretched beast.
"The moment I heard the roar I knew who it was and I quickly returned to my dragon form and took to the sky... Ahead in the distance I saw him and below were the both of you, I knew I was no match for Acnologia but I was determined to protect you two, at any cost... Even if it meant my life!"
"Sounds scary!" Lucy mumbled.
"It was!" Layla sighed and continued on with her story. "Anyway... As soon as Acnologia saw me he headed straight towards me and to be honest I figured I wasn't going to live to see my children again! I remember what he said to me like it was yesterday, Acnologia said, "he sensed the presence of his mate!" We're not sure if he attacked Lucy because he knew who she was or if he had smelt my scent off her, either way he was on to me and it wasn't safe there anymore!"
"How did you survive if he was stronger than you?" Natsu said as he leaned in and begged to hear more.
"Actually that was Jake and Jude's doing! Their family had measures put in place for such a threat... It was a shot fired from a magical cannon that bought Acnologia to his knees. Still to this day I don't know how he survived that blast as most of his chest was destroyed... He should have died that day but somehow, he survived!"
"So what happened to me after that?" Lucy said as she was now feeling more at ease. The initial shock of her situation had worn off sometime after Layla's story began.
"I was able to buy us some time by placing you in stasis... Basically, I cast a spell on you! It kept you alive until I could find some way of getting you back here but no mater how much I tried I couldn't find the right spell to open a portal back to this realm. So after Jake died we moved around a lot, always attempting to stay a few steps ahead of Acnologia who returned a year later... More powerful than ever. I think Zeref had a hand in it!"
"Bastard!" Natsu growled as flames started to dance around him.
"NATSU!" Everyone yelled in unison as the Dragon Slayer quickly relaxed. With three growling Dragons staring him down, he thought that might be his best move at that moment.
"Jude and I married just after Jake's death and thanks to that my link to Acnologia was severed and we were able to relax and move around more freely. Unfortunately the spell on Lucy was quickly running out, so a few years ago I decided to cast a rare spell, one that other dragons cast on their slayers to prevent them from changing into Dragons. It was used when they knew their slayers were on the verge of becoming like Acnologia... I used my own life, my body and soul to replace Lucy's damaged heart and keep her alive until I could find a way back here... Lucy I've been inside you since x777!"
"But I remember, you dying when I was younger! I fought with Father, left home and joined Fairy Tail... I remember it all!"
"Sorry dear I altered your memories, it was easier that way!" Layla smirked when an evil thought crossed her mind. "Lucy!... You remember all those times you would over-sleep, causing you to be late meeting your team... Well that was my fault!"
"Huh!... How so?" Lucy's eyes darted to her Mother who had a certain evil glint in her eyes.
"When you slept, I took control of your body... It was me who kept unlocking the window for Natsu!" Layla laughed.
"HUH!... That was you!?" Lucy shook her head as she glared at her mother. "I wondered how he kept getting in after I locked up!"
"Sorry, but it was the only way I could communicate with Igneel. I remember your first mission with Natsu... I was surprised to find out that my old friend was inside Natsu, protecting him! Ever since that night we've talked many times and it was with his and Mackey's help that I finally found a way to re-open the portal back here!... I guess that's about everything... I think!?" Layla said as she placed her finger on her lips and thought for a moment. "Yup! That's everything!"
"Lucy's Mom! Tell me what my Father said?" Natsu anxiously inquired.
"Sorry Natsu but it's been a long day, and besides we have plenty of time to discuss all of that... I will say this though, Igneel loved you very much and he was very proud of you!" Layla leaned forward and gently kissed Natsu's cheek. "That's for being such a good son to my dear friend!" Natsu smiled as his cheeks turned the same colour as his hair.
Layla waved her hand and four sleeping bags and pillows appeared. She handed one to each of them and smiled as she tucked each of them in... Gildarts put up a small struggle but relented after he saw the look of disappointment on his mother's face. As she kissed Gildarts goodnight she made herself comfortable... It had been a long day but Layla was for the first time in many years, truly happy, as she was together with three of her favorite people... Her family!
"Goodnight my babies!" She yawned as she drifted off to sleep.
I hope that answers some of your questions. I still have some secrets up my sleeve but hopefully that should make everyone a little happier.
Review and give me your feedback on this story! Fav and Follow if you like it.
Next update will be in about three weeks! I want to finish Hell's Favorite Demon before I pick this up again and then we'll see how the rest of Fairy Tail are doing. COOL!
See you then!