Needless to say, the wedding was a huge success and everyone celebrated for almost a week, even after Elfman and Evergreen had left to go on their honeymoon to an island resort, everyone none the wiser to the fact that Laxus and I had stopped a giant Terra Beast from freezing the entire city. Of course we both kept quiet about it and after that event, neither of us could meet the other's gaze, constantly avoiding one another.
After Christmas, which I spent with Lucy and the gang, everyone bunking at Lucy's apartment for old times sake, the new year came and went far too quickly with even more celebrations. The winter season was the coldest it had been in a hundred years and some experts suspected it was due to the mass amount of magical energy that has been amassing around the continent, courtesy of us mages getting a little out of hand in years previous.
It would take a little time but the weather would settle down again soon. Anyway, I rather liked the snow, it was pleasant and peaceful to observe and I enjoyed the snugness of my winter clothes. Thick winter boots, jeans and a long sleeved shirt with a smart fur trimmed coat with a belt buckled around the waist. Levy had helped me find it when we'd gone Christmas shopping together. I pulled up the hood, smiling as the fur instantly tickled against my cheek and continued to walk forwards, hands tucked deep into my pockets.
My old red scarf which was now so worn and old, was wrapped around my neck. I'd used a restore spell on it a couple of times, however it was at the perfect state where it was softened by years of use and was comfortable to wear. I no longer needed it all the time for the sake of hiding behind it, however it was nice to wear it in this winter weather. It brought back so many fond memories.
Exhaling a breath a puff of white blew into a soft cloud before it disappeared, making me smile again. It was so quiet out here in the streets and compared to previous excitement of festivities, it was a rather stark contrast. All the same, I enjoyed having the street all to myself, trekking fresh footprints into the new layer of snow, listening to the crunch of my boots in the six inch deep powder. Turning a corner I lifted my head and down the street I saw Levy walking towards me at the other end. She stopped when she saw me, instantly smiling and giving a wave so I lifted my hand in return and made my way towards her. "I was just on my way to see you." Levy admitted, rosy cheeked as we met in the middle. "Gajeel is driving me crazy, he's ordered me out the house so that he can work on some project in secret but he won't tell me anything about it." She pouted so I gave a soft laugh, pulling her close to wrap an arm around her.
"I'm sure he has his reasons. Are you warm enough? The temperature keeps on dropping and I do not want you to get ill, together with morning sickness you'll feel extremely rough." Levy shuddered, going a little green in the face at the mere thought.
"Ugh…I hate being pregnant. I swear I'll never have another kid." She promised herself with a grumble but I only smiled at her.
"If you say so." I gave her a wink before suddenly lifting her up, making her squeak as I grabbed her legs and hoisted her easily onto my back. "Now hold on tight!"
"Woo-hoo!" Levy cheered as I sprang forwards, her legs instinctively wrapping themselves around me as I took off at speed, a small grin touching my face as I kicked off the ground and swung off a lamp post, flying upwards before I landed on a roof, Levy holding onto me tightly as I continued to run. We surfed down a roof, leaving a long track line behind us as I kicked off and landed mid pace, not breaking my speed to continue running as Levy gave another exhilarated cheer. "This is so cool!"
"You haven't seen anything yet." I laughed, heading straight for the ocean, springing off of buildings, leaping high into the air and jumping over any obstacles in our path, clearing them with mountains of room before we came to the ocean. The sea had completely frozen over, so I snapped my fingers and my boots transformed into ice skates via magic, making me grin as I set off skating.
"YEAH!" Levy screeched happily as she let go with her arms to throw them up into the air, our hair flying in the wind as I gained speed, racing over the ice before starting to loop, spinning on the axel and doing all kinds of manoeuvres with Levy on my back, though I kept it relatively safe so that no accident would occur but I knew she had absolute faith in me. "This is just what I needed to clear my head. "You're the best, Fae."
"I know." I agreed as I skidded to a halt, turning back with a breathless smile. "It's nice to clear one's head every now and then. Ready for another round?" Levy instantly placed her hands on my shoulders, hunching herself low with a determined grin.
"You bet!" I gave a laugh then took off, skating over the frozen waves, using them like ramps as they had been epically frozen in motion, creating a perfect arena for Levy and I to play the day away before we went to a café for hot drinks and something warm to eat. The café had a log fire so we instantly went to the hearth to warm ourselves, Levy choosing to have a little rant about Gajeel but even as she called him the biggest dummy under the sun I knew that she was absolutely in love with him. There's just no question. Though I agree, he can be a little nails for brains at times.
"Are you certain you do not want me to simply beat some sense into him?" I offered as I sipped my cup of tea delicately, one leg crossed over the other. "I am more than willing to make sure he gets the message." Levy giggled, probably imagining me whipping Gajeel into shape. Quite literally.
"No, I think you'd break him Fae." She answered, still giggling as she took a huge bite out of her egg tart. All of a sudden Levy has been eaten egg tarts by the dozen, she can't seem to get enough of them so I assumed it was her craving for the pregnancy. "But thanks anyway. Next time he leaves the chores undone, I'll make sure he's banished from the house until he learns his lesson." She had that evil glint in her eye and I smiled, knowing full well she meant it. Reaching for her third egg tart Levy gave a sigh, leaning back and rubbed her stomach which was only growing bigger and bigger seemingly by the day. "I wonder what it'll be…"
"Well, I am fairly certain that you are limited to two choices, unless it decides to surprise us and be born a dragon…then at least you have a fifty fifty chance of being correct." I said to her diplomatically, putting down my cup of tea and reached for my apple turnover. "What would you like it to be?"
"I'd like it to be a girl, I think a girl would just be the cutest thing but Gajeel is already convinced that it's going to be a boy." Levy rolled her eyes. "Though if she is a girl, I hope she doesn't get Gajeel's looks…the poor thing." I chuckled slightly.
"Not exactly feminine, is he?" I agreed.
"He's handsome in his own way. Admittedly I think he's just so badass and sexy that there's no one that could compare." Levy said and I almost choked on my pastry as I laughed, never having heard Levy say such a thing before. "It's only the truth!"
"Yes but to put it such a blunt way, I wasn't prepared!" I continued to laugh lightly, drinking some water to clear my throat before recovering myself. "So you hope for a girl with your adorable looks, any thoughts on names?" Of course Levy had ideas for names. She had boy names, girl names, unisex names, historic names, cultural names, famous names, popular names, unpopular names…she had so many names that I struggled to see how she would pick just the one.
"There are just so many! Fae you have to help me!" Levy wailed in frustration so I pondered a moment.
"Well, to me it would make sense to properly meet your child first before you named them." I shrugged finally and Levy blinked at me in surprise. "After all, I think once you hold your baby in your arms you'll know exactly who they are and then the perfect name will come to you. It's a very important aspect of the child's life, they're going to have that name now and always so you have to get it just right so that it suits them."
"You're right." Levy relaxed in her seat, smiling at me. "I think that's good logic. Thanks for putting up with me Fae."
"I'm always here." Giving her a loving smile we finished our drinks and food but then sat for a while by the fire, talking about books before I noticed that it was starting to get dark. "I'll walk you home Levy, Gajeel will probably worry about you if you're out and about after dark." I reasoned and Levy nodded, standing and got her coat. We paid our bill then I looped Levy's arm around mine, letting her lean against me as I walked her back to the house that we had used to share together. The one that Loke had given to us.
It was exactly the same as when we'd first moved in, except now it smelled predominantly of Levy, Gajeel and Pantherlily, though there was a faint trace of my own scent left behind. There was also a very strong smell of old books, however I rather liked that papery smell. Levy insisted I come inside to stay out of the snow as it was starting to fall a little more heavily and I gladly accepted. When she opened the door, Gajeel was instantly in front of her.
"There ya are shrimp, let me show ya something!" He grinned and gave his signature chuckle, grabbing Levy by the wrist and dragged her upstairs.
"Gajeel slow down! Dummy!" She wailed, making me blink before I pushed the door closed, Lily padding out to greet me.
"It's good to see you." He greeted in his deep and mellow voice, making me smile down at him warmly.
"Hello Lily, it's good to see you too. What does Gajeel have upstairs? Levy mentioned that he'd been working on something all day and had not allowed her to see what it was." I said to him and Lily only responded with a knowing smirk, walking over towards the stairs and started to hop up.
"Come take a look." He invited so I followed after him into the main bedroom, pushing open the door to find Levy standing with her back to me, staring in awe at the creating that Gajeel was proudly standing beside, arms folded with a smug smirk on his face. I stepped inside to find a beautiful old fashioned wooden crib, however above it hung a baby mobile with flawless metal designs.
The centrepiece, which was larger than all the rest, was the Fairy Tail crest and it turned slowly on the fine string that it was situated on. Around it were several metal objects, including dragons, books, quills and even three tiny exceeds. "Gajeel…it's beautiful…" Levy whispered before bursting into tears, throwing herself into his chest where he gently patted her on the head.
"Quit ya crying, shrimp, it's nothing to get all worked up over." He said but held her close anyway, his features relaxing into an adorning expression as I stood silently next to Lily. I felt like I was intruding and so I made to leave, however Levy turned and called out to me.
"Fae! Look at this, isn't it pretty?"
"It's amazing. Did you create these yourself Gajeel?" I questioned, moving forwards and touching the metal pieces as Gajeel gave a firm nod of his head.
"You bet I did." He answered, jerking a thumb at his chest as one arm lazily rested around Levy's back, holding her as she leaned against him, dreamily smiling at the baby mobile as each image turned slowly and hypnotically. "So what's for dinner?" Instantly she swatted his chest, shooting him a look.
"You can feed yourself!" Before they could start arguing I offered to make something and Lily offered his service as well, so together we put together a meal and sat down to eat together, reminiscing about our best times together, recalling embarrassing moments which had Gajeel blushing pretty quickly and Levy instantly called him out on it as I chuckled, Lily grinning as he sucked on a kiwi.
I stayed until it was late in the evening and the snowstorm continued to whirl, so Levy brought me down warm blankets and pillows so that I could sleep on the sofa. Lily had his own bed upstairs in the attic, however he kept me company once Levy and Gajeel had gone to bed, intending to rest a while by the fire but I picked him up with a single hand around his waist. "Wha-hey!" He wriggled slightly but I only chuckled, tucking him in under the blankets next to me and snuggled into him, closing my eyes to sleep.
"Goodnight Lily." After a while Lily signed, resigning himself to his fate as I was not going to let him go. He was cute and fluffy when he was small and I snuggled my cheek against his.
"Goodnight Fae." He answered finally and I smiled further before allowing the gentle glow of embers to soothe me into sleep, Lily soon purring next to me in sleep and I vaguely remember thinking that it was one of the cutest things I'd ever heard, but then my eyes became enshrouded in black and I fell into pleasant dreams.