As soon as the door was shut, Laxus joined his grandfather at Lucy's side while letting his tears fall. Natsu, dropped to his knees and felt life itself wanting to slip away from him. Sting and Rogue's hands where balled up in fist shaking in the rage of sacrificing one of their family. And Cobra just felt like he was back in his prison, to be alone with no love for the rest of his life. Master brought Lucy's hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss to the backside of her hand. He looked at Laxus with all the sorrow he held in his heart. Everyone's eyes widened when Natsu picked himself up and walked over to the bed while looking down.
"I'll do it." Was all Natsu could say.
"No, there has to be another way." Laxus said as he watched Natsu lean down to place a kiss upon Lucy's lips.
"You heard what she said, so I will take her place." Natsu said.
"What gives you the right to say that? You know that bunny will be upset if your gone." Gajeel argued.
"I watched her die once, I'm not going to do it again. Besides, I promised her that day that I will never let anyone decide her fate." Natsu said looking up.
"Natsu, you know I'm sorry for what my future self-did. But I think this stands for all of us, that as her mate we all feel responsible to take that place." Rogue said.
"He's right, it's in our blood to protect out mate to the death." Sting said walking up to the bed.
"Does anyone here know how to contact Loke?" The master asked.
"No, but not that you mention it, I'm surprised that he hasn't shown up yet." Laxus said.
"And why is that surprising?" Master asked.
"Because gramps, he shows up when ever she gets emotional or is in some kind of trouble." Natsu said.
"Why did you want to contact him and who is this Loke?" Cobra asked.
"Oh right, he is a spirit who used to live in this world awaiting his death. Lucy saved him and now he is her spirit and guild mate to the rest of us. I'm asking to contact him because the stars have always found a way to help her when needed." Master replied.
"So you wish to know what his thoughts are on this matter." Rogue stated while he thought about it.
"Yes, because unless we can come up with something soon, one of you or your family that is held within Lucy will die." Master said.
"This talk is getting us no where. We have just a couple hours at best before her body rejects another child." Laxus growled while holding her in his arms.
"Master, how can we chose if all of us want to take her place?" Natsu asked.
"The only thing you can do is draw straws." Master replied.
"Are you serious, right now? You want me to draw a straw saying that I have a one in six chance of getting to take her place. Sorry, but that just sounds bad to say that we drew straws." Cobra said harshly.
"Well, you have to do something before she loses another. Her body is starting to get warm, I fear that you don't have long left to decide." The master said.
"That's impossible, the old hag said we have till tonight." Natsu said.
"Natsu, this pregnancy has been a fast one so it would only make sense that this would happen fast also." Rogue said.
"There has to be something that we're missing. And why aren't her spirits involved?" Sting asked.
"I'm not sure, but as far as I know, Leo swore his life to her when she saved him. I have a feeling that he is going to get involved somehow." Laxus said.
"You may be right, but he has yet to show himself since we've been here." Cobra said.
"This is getting us nowhere, bunny is getting hotter and is starting to scrunch her face. We don't have time to sit here in argue about where that stupid lion is. We need to make and decision and we need to do it now." Gajeel said crossing his arms.
As they all took a moment to center their thought, they looked down at their mate to see more blood coming from her. All seven men in the room watched in horror as she laid so still and unfazed by her body's actions. When the blood stopped flowing, they cleaned her up and was to lost in thought to realize that the room was suddenly very full of every spirit Lucy owned. It wasn't until Virgo move past Natsu that they snapped out of their thoughts to see the spirits.
"Why are you all here?" The master asked.
"We have a solution to our princess's condition but we need the healer here to help us." Leo said.
"Speak up little cub, we don't have all day to hear this solution of yours." Gajeel growled.
"You know that Luce would be upset if she heard you talking to them like that." Natsu said as he looked down at her.
"As you know, if we stay here in the human world we will eventually perish. But if we return to the spirit world, we are immortal." Virgo said.
"Yes we know, so can we move on please." Laxus growled, now getting irritated.
"This vile that we hold, is composed of our very essence including his majesty's. We poured our souls into this while in the spirit world so that we would still live." Leo said showing the vile filled with a brilliant gold.
"So what's that have to do with Lucy?" Rogue asked as he tried and piece everything together.
"What brother is trying to say it that this will add at least sixty years to our princess's life, but that's without being a mage." Virgo said.
"You can't possibly be suggesting that she quits magic, you know she won't do that." Sting said.
"The brat doesn't have to quit magic, just being a mage. Every time you take a mission it poses a life or death situation. If she were to die, the remaining years we give her will be lost with her." Aquarius said.
"We will tell her that and let her decide without you around to influence her decision." Leo said.
"We understand, but why do we need a healer here?" Master asked.
"Look what's happening now, life is being taken from her so she is dying. When we give her life, it will have the opposite affect and her body will go into shock while absorbing what was lost. Her body will be able to handle it but the babies are so small and frail and will be lost if they are not out before we do this." Leo said.
"I'll go find her, chances are she went back to her hut." Laxus said.
As everyone watched him leave, her spirits gathered around her bed pushing her mates behind them earning a growl from each of them. Laxus had heard the growls but didn't pay any mind to it, seeing as how he had to fetch the old hag before Lucy lost another baby. After ten minutes, Laxus came back through the door with the healer, taking his spot with the other mates along the back wall. As Porlyusica pushed through the spirits, she noticed the vile and waited for them to explain themselves. As everyone listened to Leo talk, they saw a look of understanding flash across the healers face. With a nod saying that she understood, all of Lucy's spirits move out of the way knowing that she liked her space to work. Everyone watched as Capricorn passed out six blankets to the spirits standing closest to the bed waiting to collect a baby. As Porlyusica got to work, the slayers noses twitched at the smell of blood and waited to hear the babies first cries. Gajeel noticed that Aquarius and Capricorn had blankets of their own but stayed in the back. When the first cry was heard, everyone's face lit up with the biggest smile anyone could muster up.
They watched as one by one, the babies were pulled from their mate. The seven men in the room watched as the two spirits in the back moved up with their blankets ready. When the last two were pulled from Lucy, everyone realized that those were the two ones that they lost. The spirits respectfully wrapped them up and walked over to the mates with sadness in their eyes and watched as Laxus and Sting took them. While the spirits holding the six live babies, everyone in the room watched as Leo approached the bed with the vile open in his hands. As Porylusica stabilized Lucy, she gave a slight nod then stepped back to allow the spirit room. He lowered his head down to hers and whispered 'I'm sorry' in her ear before parting her lips just slightly. With a deep breath, he carefully poured the liquid into her mouth before closing it and walking away.
Everyone watched as Lucy's body tensed as the liquid lid down her throat and into her stomach. Everyone watched in pure horror when Lucy started seizing uncontrollably and looked to the healer for help. When she approached, she was stopped by a barrier of light and could do nothing. It was only after a couple minutes that the barrier dropped, when the healer approached again. As she checked over Lucy, she noticed that the news she would have to share would be upsetting to the slayers. She turned around with her eyes closed and took a deep breath.
"Your mate has stabilized for now, but is currently in a coma while her body process the life that was given to her."
"She will wake up, right?" Natsu asked.
"It's hard to say at this point. Should the life given to her be to much, she will die. However, if her body keeps accepting it then she should be fine and awake at the end of the day."
"So you expect us to just wait again, while her life could still be in danger?" Sting asked.
"No, we expect you to take care you your new family while Porlyusica and myself stay here to watch over her." The master said.
Everyone stopped and looked to Lucy when she muttered a name, Rogue. Rogue walked to the bed and held her hand and noticed that she was trying to curl her fingers around his. The other slayers left and headed to Mira for help, because none of them knew anything about how to handle a baby. It was only then that they noticed all of Lucy's spirits still out and holding the babies. When the mates looked at how peacefully they looked, they knew that if they were to die right now that they would be at peace.
"Our princess picked names out, do you want to wait and let her do it or do you want to name them by personality." Virgo asked.
"I think we should name them, so she can meet them by name when she wakes." Sting said.
"I agree." Cobra said.
"Fine, can you bring the boys forward and tell us the names?" Laxus asked.
"Her names picked out for the boys are Rascel and Nicolai." Capricorn said.
"I think this one looks more like a Rascel." Natsu said pointing to the only one with pink fuzz on the top of his head.
"Good choice, so then that little guy is Nicolai." Sting said holding the baby with the brown hair.
"Princess will be proud that they will be named for her." Leo said stepping up with the other spirits and baby girls.
"What are the names she has picked out for this bunch?" Cobra asked.
"Sakura, Summer, Layla, Granadine." Aquarius said.
"This one is definetly Layla." Natsu said pointing to the little girls with some blonde hair.
"I think this one looks like Sakura, because she has a strawberry blonde fuzz on her head." Gajeel said.
"I think this one looks like Summer." Laxus said pointing to one that had brown fuzz and brown eyes.
"So then this one must be Granadine." Sting said pointing to the black haired baby.
"What are we going to do for names for the lost ones?" Laxus asked her spirits.
"She wanted to name them after her spirits with your help." Leo said.
"What does that mean?" Natsu asked.
"It means that the our princess wanted names for the girls who also had the names of her spirits." Aries said.
"Lori for Leo and Aries, goes to the blonde hair." Sting said.
"Stella for Sagitarius, Aquarius, and Tarus, goes to the black haired one." Laxus said.
"They're wonderful names, princess will be pleased with this news.
"Why didn't bunny come up with the names?" Gajeel asked.
"She said that she wanted you guys to come up with some names on your own since she came up with six names for the others." Leo said.
"Figures and she didn't even tell us to think of names, much less names after her spirits." Laxus said.
Back in the room, the three there watched as Lucy kept trying to squeeze Rogue's hand. After another few minutes, she called his name again and waited for him to squeeze her hand. When Lucy felt him squeeze, she felt like she was closer to waking up. She felt so sure that she was ready after another great while and called for his name again. When she felt him squeeze her hand again, she found the strength in her to squeeze back. As she opened her eyes, she found his red ones looking down on her with a soft smile on his face.