A/N Thank you to DestroyingDestiny! I couldn't have done this without you! I'm going to keep trying! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و
TW: Gory and accurate description of childbirth
"Rise and shine bitches!" Natsu hollered down the apartment hall, excited to find his best friend finally, he just needed to talk the pack of mages to wake up and get out, even at the early hour of 6AM.
"I will murder you." Cana growled from her spot on the pullout couch. "Shut the fuck up, we can't leave when it's dark and we can't go when we're so tired."
"She's right, we haven't slept properly in 5 days, we can't go on with 10 hours of sleep for 5 days, we're supposed to be getting 8 hours per night." Wendy walked to the doorway of her room. "We can't go out this drowsy, it makes us weak and puts us in danger."
"But what about Lucy?" Natsu huffed, he just needed to see her, to make sure she was still alive.
"At this point, a day or two barely matters, they probably won't move on, if the amount of places they ransacked means anything, they've been here for months, they'll still be here this afternoon or even tomorrow." Gray grumbled sleepily from his bed. "She's probably fine, and we'll see her soon. We just need to be awake and alive to do that. So I'm going back to bed."
Natsu looked around, not finding any supporters of his idea he pouted and went back to his room to try and fall asleep once more.
"I'm going to kill him." Cana muttered into her pillow. Rogue silently snickered at her grumpy face and the crusted over drool on her chin. He could see it in the dark and found it quite entertaining. And with a tired smile on his face Rogue fell back to sleep.
Wendy shuffled back into her bed, scooting in close to Levy, who nuzzled The top of Wendy's head for body heat almost as soon as she was near enough. Wendy soon joined Levy and fell back to sleep in their warm bed.
Once the house fell silent once again and all his companions were asleep, taking deep, slow breaths, Natsu rose, careful not to wake Gray as he slipped into the hall, treading ever so sluggish toward the front door. He knew any distinctive noises would probably wake up the other slayers, so he slid out the front door of the flat and tiptoed his way to the stairwell, waiting until the door shut behind him quietly before he ran down the steps like a madman.
All that he could think about was his missing best friend and her disappearance. He wanted to ask why. Why she left him? Why she left them? What had been so important that she couldn't tell them? Natsu sprinted out of the building, burning any and everything standing in his way as he sped through the streets, catching whiffs of Juvia and Bickslow every so often, he knew he was headed in the right direction.
And then it began to rain, Natsu cursed, his ability to track was greatly deterred by the downpour. He'd have to actually enter buildings to capture scents, greatly slowing his process.
"I know you're here." He muttered to himself as he walked into a jewelry store, not smelling a single useful thing, though he did find a significantly decomposed body, still moving of course, and took it out of its misery. "I know you're close." He stepped back into the rain.
Natsu found most buildings void of the smells he was desperately searching for, but he could only trek on, down the main street, until he finally laid eyes on a magic shop, he knew if Lucy could've, she would have ransacked the wrecked store. He jogged to it, excited to smell Lucy's scent for what felt like the first time in forever. Only to find the store had no trace of Lucy, or Bickslow, or Juvia. Natsu wandered the small shop, noticing there were no celestial keys present, but most other magical items were present and left more or less in their designated places.
Natsu huffed impatiently, stomping his way out the broken window like a petulant child. And so his search continued.
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The afternoon after the births of Lucy's children, she was still lying in her bed, having woken up a couple times in the night to breastfeed. She laid the children next to one another and was lying on her side watching them sleep. To say she adored them was an understatement, she would easily have died for them in that moment, not even 24 hours since their births she was so intensely attached to them, so much so that she was pleasantly surprised. She'd never loved something or someone so much. She hadn't really even truly loved their fathers, though she had been admittedly fond of them, and she'd always assumed that in time she might grow to live one or both of them like she knew they wanted, but her escape cemented the fact that she couldn't let that happen, and they must hate her by then, Or at least Lucy thought so. She let them love her and care for her and then whisked away in the dark of night. It may have sounded poetic but it didn't feel so beautiful or bittersweet as a story, Lucy had betrayed and abandoned her friends, her family. Without a reason as far as they knew, that is if Wendy hadn't told them already. Lucy tried to shake off those negative thoughts as she stared at her children, her greatest achievements. She would protect them until the day she died.
"Ahem," Lucy looked up to find Bickslow looking at her fondly, Juvia behind him, both with gentle smiles on their faces. "We thought it might be time for you to officially introduce us." Their arms were around each other comfortably. "If that's alright with you of course."
"Yeah," Lucy rolled onto her back and sat up, cringing slightly at the uncomfortable feeling of blood and tissues ejecting themselves from her body, she couldn't wait to recuperate, she it felt the the most painful period she'd ever had, but far worse. It was worth it, she thought, but she didn't want to feel it ever again. Two was more than enough even if the world wasn't ending. "I haven't named them yet but I'm thinking about it." She pulled both babies into her lap one by one, moving them so gently that even though they were woken up they didn't bother crying about it.
"Hello, loves, this is aunty Juvia. He's uncle Bickslow. They're going help take care of you two." The older twin gurgled, his large red eyes watching Lucy coo to him. His brother quietly stared at Lucy's hair, which was only inches from his face.
"Can we hold them?" Bickslow stepped forward, leaning down to put himself in the children's short line of vision.
"Of course you can," Lucy handed one child to each of her friends, watching them smile at the little bundles in their arms. Lucy smiled, laying back down on her side to rest some more.
"Lucy did well. Juvia is proud." Juvia hummed as she continued to smile down at the younger child.
"I think that one is Rogue's,"Lucy stared at the child in Juvia's arms.
"Why?" Bickslow leaned over, keeping a firm hold on the child in his own arms as he peered at the smaller baby.
"His eyes are darker. And bigger. He looks like a Chali. There, I named him." Lucy sighed into her pillow, "now the other one, he's heavier, larger, and just about as difficult as Gajeel." Lucy smiled, looking at the child in Bickslow's arms with an exhausted expression. "His eyes are cherry red, not burgundy. And I'm almost sure his teeth will grow in with sharp canines."
"And his name?" Juvia held the smaller twin to her chest, one hand bracing his head as his cheek rested on her shoulder.
"Lyle." Lucy inspected him. "Probably."
"Where are you getting these names?" Bickslow chuckled as he handed Lucy her child. She set him down beside herself and reached for the next one, keeping him secured safely in her arms.
"You know there are more places than Fiore, there are plenty of names that are uncommon in Fiore but are heavily used overseas." Lucy huffed good naturedly. Bickslow nodded and waved, noticing the children falling back asleep, he crept out the door.
"Juvia will be back." She whispered as she followed Bickslow. "Bickslow and Juvia love Lucy." And with that the door shut.
In the hall the two mages side hugged, walking to their own room. "Those kids are really cute." Bickslow admitted.
"Juvia knows." She hugs her boyfriend properly, grinning up at him as they fall onto the comforter, all but sinking into it. "Juvia loves Bickslow. Truly." She nuzzled his chest, taking in his scent. She loved his smell, she loved everything about him. Bickslow was Juvia's person, she had decided the day she realized she loved him. It took her a few weeks after they found each other amidst the chaotic new world for her to confess to him, which he took time to process before giving her the chance that she never got with Gray. Bickslow grew to love her the way she needed to loved, Juvia's heart couldn't be fuller.
"Bickslow knows." He says as he pulls her up to him, turning them on their sides, facing each other face to face. He gazed into her familiar blue eyes, they were usually wild, like a storm in the middle of the ocean, a violent, havoc wreaking natural disaster, he loved that side of her. But in that moment her eyes were calm, glimmering at him in a way that he knew she only would for him. They reminded him of the sun reflecting off of slow water trickling through a brook, she only calmed like this for him.
Juvia closed her eyes, moving closer to Bickslow, obviously with the intention of falling into a deep sleep. Bickslow pulled the edges of their comforter up over them, wrapping them in a cozy cocoon, before he closed his own eyes, his nose buried in Juvia's hair.
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Cana's POV
I wake up with an arm stretched over my back and my leg sprawled over a mystery leg. Opening my eyes I know it's just Rogue. I extract myself from the tangle and pad over to the kitchen, not very much leftover food. I wake Rogue, "I'm gonna go get more food, for breakfast." He grunts and rolled over to spread out over the entire couch mattress.
Shutting the door behind me I wander the hall, not exactly able to recall where the stairs were. Soon enough I found a door at the end of the corridor, by the window that provided a great view of the city, featuring the stadium. The stairwell smelled like musty feet and gore but I continued down, past the decayed bodies and forgotten possessions. I see a faded yellow backpack in a corner of the stairwell between the third and fourth floors. It reminds me of Laxus.
I wonder how he's doing without me. He marked me as his mate almost a year ago, it didn't affect me very much, I don't have dragon abilities or instincts. I knew it was a big deal for Laxus though, all the dragonslayers thought mating was a sacred thing. After the fight, Laxus and I were the only couple broken apart, Gray and Natsu agreed and got to stay together, Yukino and Erik left us together, and Laxus made his point to leave me behind. Because he was stubborn and he gave up on Lucy. She's a survivor, and he gave up on her. So I'm trying to give up on him, i thought he might find us, and come crawling back, but so far there's no sign of him. Without me, I'm sure his physical and mental health are deteriorating. I miss him. But I'll get over it. At least he's not dead.. yet.. his impaired state of being without his mate leaves him vulnerable. I doubt he'll make it longer than two months without me. I want to be with him. He was there for me when my withdrawal ran its course, this is a little like that. We both hurt ourselves, and needed each other to survive, but this time we're apart. I know he needs me. And I love him. But I thought he was more loyal than to abandon our search for Lucy. It'll be okay, he'll find me, hopefully, and I'll find Lucy, hopefully, and everyone will be together again.
Wandering the streets without a dragonslayer's nose proved to be quite a pain, I'd turn down an alley and turn into a dead end. One of many strange things I noticed was all the smoking corpses, i mean I know civilization has collapsed and it's an apocalypse or whatever but there must be hundreds of burning bodies out on the street. I would follow the trail but I'm almost afraid to see who or what did that damage.
As I'm trying to find a grocery store that hasn't all spoiled or been cleared out completely, something wet lands on my forehead. Suddenly rain pelts my head and shoulders, it's stronger than I remember rain being. Maybe it's Juvia, I hope it is, that would mean we're close, but I can't afford to be that optimistic, I'm sure it's just regular, totally not magically triggered, rain.
I stand in the rain before the discomfort pulls me from my thoughts, I take cover under the colorful canopy of a bakery table umbrella, taking a seat on a cool metal chair.
I must be quite a sight, some bruised, scrappy woman sitting in the middle of corpses and chaos looking like someone on vacation. I watch the smoke from the bodies halt after the water fizzles out the burning. Burning… Natsu? I look around puzzled. I'm suddenly 100% sure that the fire dragonslayer has been out on the same path as I'm currently on.
I would stand and follow the trail of singed and sullied corpses, but watching the sudden downpour calms me in a way I haven't been in months. I hum a slow song to myself, watching the water pitter patter down the street, hearing it assaulting the umbrella above me. Like this I could easily be lulled to sleep. Storms always remind me of him. I can't stand him. I can't believe him. I love him.
I'm in no mood to enjoy the weather any longer, I stand and trudge out into the rain, flinching at first from the cool water sliding down my skin, but I kept walking, wherever Natsu was going, he was onto something good, I just know it.
The trail of charred bodies goes for at least a mile before I remember my original mission, to acquire breakfast for the pack, which I had abandoned 50 minutes ago. "Shit-" I hiss into the rain-filled air. As much as I want to find Natsu, and by association if my gut feeling is right, Lucy, I need to return before they all worry about us. Besides, if and when Natsu finds anything he'll come get us and let us know, it's the upside to him having the intelligence of a lapdog, he was just as loyal and persevering as one. I turn back the way we(I guess I should say I since we came separately) came, I can still see the apartment our comrades are cooped up in. I make my way back, taking my sweet time to keep an eye for any possible food opportunities the whole way to our temporary home.