HEEEYYYY. I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL! I GRADUATED! Not that I think too many people care, but I did it! And with high honors! Sorry to toot my own horn, I'm just super proud of my accomplishment. I almost flunked out of high school, so now with two degrees it feels good. Anywho, enjoy! Love you guys always! You can do whatever you put your mind too!
The next morning Laxus, Loke, Lucy, and Perun stood at the training grounds behind the guild. Today they were trying to teach Lucy a special, brand new, spell. This spell would use the stars to protect her baby. Stashface would have ahold of the baby's spirit. If the baby was in any sort of distress, he would call down to Loke to stop the raid that she needs to do with Yukino to fully defeat Dragon's Blood. It was a complicated spell, and with Lucy's hormones, she was getting a little emotional. Okay a lot emotional. She needed a break. Loke nodded and told Perun to give them a moment.
After they left, Laxus put an arm around Lucy. He kissed her damp forehead and whispered softly. "I love you so much baby. Don't give up yet."
"I'm not." She sighed. "I'm just getting fed up."
"Welcome to parenthood, love." They both laughed.
"Do you really think they can keep him safe?" Laxus chuckled, mainly because she was hellbent that they were having a boy.
"I do. I think the stars would never ever betray you. They think you hung those stars." She smiled.
"You're right. I'm just scared. I love him more than anything, and I can't shake the feeling that I'm a bad mom, because I'm still going to fight."
"You will never be a bad mom." He put an emphasis on never. "If anything, I'll be the bad father." He got visibly nervous and averted his gaze from her. "I worry too, ya know?"
"What?"
"I worry that I may not be a good father. That I'll fail them the way my dad did me. That maybe I really am evil, and it's just lying dormant until I fuck up. I really don't want to feel that way, but I feel like because I was a victim of circumstances that I'll fail too."
"Laxus." She said softly.
"I know what you're going to say Lucy. I know that it's impossible for me to ever go back to being that way, but what if I do? What if one day I have a switch flipped and I leave you guys. I can't imagine ever leaving you, but Ivan never thought that way. It happened all the sudden. What is I'm just him?"
"Laxus, you're forgetting your grandfather."
"What does he have to do with this?"
"First of all, his kindness is more than any of us ever deserved. He adopted so many kids so he could give them their best life. He would never turn evil. And no offence, he raised you. Your dad walked out when you were about six. He took care of you. Took you in. Loved you. You are more like him than your own father."
"Sometimes I wish he would have found someone again." He said softly.
"He couldn't. They would have never understood why he kept adopting all of you. He couldn't settle down, because he invested every minute of every day to us. To the misfits who had no home, or parents. He has taken all of us in and loved us all the same."
"One a little more than others." He joked.
"Yeah, but I steal everyone's hearts." She giggled.
"Are you ready to try again?"
"Let's do this!" She said pushing herself up from the grass.
It was a couple hours later that Lucy had finally got it to work. She'd need to practice every day, but it was easier knowing she had done it once. She was desperately needing a break. They stepped into the guild and sat at the table with the slayers and mates, minus Gajeel and Levy. Levy was still resting and getting used to having babies in the home.
"Hey!" She said excitedly to her group. The guild still didn't know she was expecting, so the questions that they were allowed to ask in the guild were limited, but that never really stopped Natsu. Whatever he thought he spoke.
"How ya feeling Luce?" He asked with a wide smile. Lucy chuckled and took a seat next to her husband.
"I'm okay. A little overwhelmed, but I'll be okay. I always am." Natsu smiled over to her.
"Luce can you make me dinner?" Natsu whined. Everyone stared at him. It was noon. And he had Lisanna to cook for him now. What was this man up too?
"I guess?" She raised an eyebrow. "I can make everyone dinner if they want. We could go back to Laxus and I's place for dinner and I could whip something up with the girls." They all looked at each other. They were genuinely confused as to what the hell was going on in Natsu's mind.
"The dragons could use a break." Rogue said.
"They really could, and a homecooked meal does sound good." Yukino said.
"Okay. Great! Be at our place around sixish." They all nodded in agreement. Gramps hollered down to his two favorite brats to come upstairs. They both knew what they were getting into. All the dragons were up there. They were going to be informed on some new parts of this battle. They were about to be put back into their roles as leaders.
They reached the top of the stairs and walked into the big conference room. That where they saw all the dragons sitting along with Gramps and Loke. They all smiled at the couple.
"Alright, I'm confused." Lucy said plainly looking at everyone's smiling faces.
"We haven't even said anything." Loke said.
"Your faces are gonna get stuck." Lucy said with a chuckle. "Stop smiling!" She giggled. "It's not a time to smile."
"Oh, but it is, my dear." Gramps said. "It's a time for celebration. It's a time for all of us to rejoice in the fact that the light of this guild is having a baby."
"It's not exactly the greatest of times." Lucy said plainly.
"There's no perfect time to have a baby." Perun said.
"Yeah, you really can't plan that kind of stuff." Gramps said.
"Fate could've not done this. The world could've not done this whole thing. Then maybe things would be different. But they're not. We're in a huge battle and he could get hurt."
"Laxus won't get hurt." Perun said.
"She isn't talking about me." Laxus chuckled. "She convinced she's having a boy. She's talking about the baby."
"Baby L is in good hands Lucy." Loke said.
"But he could get hurt still. Even with Stashfaces' new trick, my baby could be hurt."
"It's highly unlikely that it will be harmed." Perun said.
"But even if there's a sliver of chance he'd get hurt, and I do this, I'm a bad mom. A very bad mom. And I really don't want to be a bad mom right off the bat. I'd like to work up to that." Lucy sighed.
"You'll never be a bad mom. And if you think about it, doing this makes you a better mom. How many moms do you know would risk their own life for the future of all of the slayer and mate's babies?" Laxus said grabbing his wife's hand. "I love you more than anything Lucy. I would never ever put you in a situation that could make me possibly lose you, or our little one. That's not the man you married. If these guys are saying you're safe, then I trust them. I have no choice but to trust them at this point. And I don't trust anyone." He sighed and looked around the room. "Guess that's not true anymore, huh? I trust you guys and the mates and slayers. I've never had anyone I could trust like you guys. I had gramps, but I always felt out of place with him, because of how good he was. I thought he was too good for me."
"My boy, you learned to trust because the right people at the right time swooped in to save you. I know you've trusted me over the years, but trusting them was hard for you." Gramps said.
"But so rewarding to watch." Perun said looking at Laxus. "I've been in your head since you were six. I know all the issues you've carried. All your baggage. Everything. I know you better than anyone else, probably even yourself, but I have had so much joy watching you interact with your group. And watching you with Lucy has been…I don't know. It reminds me of my wife, and the way we were. We were always young and dumb. We went on dates every week until she passed. We always looked at each other like we did the first time we saw each other. We loved each other more and more every day. And you guys have that special love."
"Something some of us always dreamed of." Gramps said softly.
"I'm sorry gramps." Lucy said.
"You know I've thought about it a lot over the years. Why I could never find love like I did my first wife. Then one day I was looking over the balcony at all my children. Ones I've raised since they were young, and ones I've only raised a few years. And it hit me. I choose not to. I subconsciously pushed all love interests away, because I choose you guys. At the end of every day, I choose you guys. I chose this life. I wouldn't want any other life. I want a life with you guys, not some woman. I don't need another love interest. My heart already belongs to my kids. I'm okay with that. Really, I am."
"That's amazing Gramps." Lucy said hugging the man. "You're gonna be a great grandpa."
"My dear, you have made me so happy over the last year and a half you've been here. I owe a lot of my new happiness to you. You know my loyalty to you, since I refused to give you back to your dad. I will ALWAYS fight for you. You're my daughter-in-law after all." Lucy smiled through her wet tears.
"Gramps, thank you for loving her the way I really needed you too while I was gone. I should have never fought back against you, but I'm glad I did. It taught me a lot, and led me to her." Laxus said with a small smile to the man he called his father.
"Always my boy." That's when Perun approached Lucy and Laxus.
"As happy as we are for you, there's still some things that need to be discussed." He said. The couple nodded and took a seat at the table. "The war isn't over, you know that."
"Of course." Laxus said.
"While we're here to fight this battle, but we still need all of you guys too. We need everyone on hand, because they're going to pull out their big guns. This means they are going to be a lot harder than before. I know you guys can do it, but we need to fight closer together than before. All dragons need to be in a close range so if we need to double up, we can." Perun looked at Laxus. "Laxus, you have a new role." That caught Laxus' attention. "You are going to kill a demon."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Laxus said.
"We've been interrogated the demon downstairs. Blaze has a severe problem with electricity. Recent health problems have now caused a need for a pacemaker. This isn't going to be an easy kill, but it'll be an easier one. I want to work closer to Lucy, and I think you are up for this. I'm also giving you your whole team. Thunder Legion makes their reappearance."
"Lucy's part of the Thunder Legion now too, so there will be a hole missing in our dynamic. Bickslow is gonna hate being away from her. They've got one fucked up relationship." Laxus chuckled.
"Yeah we do. However, you've got to do this." Lucy said. She looked over to Perun. "You want to stay with me in case my magic goes haywire or I faint." He nodded. "But you're still going to let me fight?"
"I will let you do whatever you want, however, you are learning two new spells. You and Yukino will learn a new raid in a couple days. I need you to master this one first. We have a lot to do in the next week. I suggest seeing a midwife too."
"We already have one." Laxus said.
"Off the books?" Perun asked.
"A friend of mine that I met while exiled." Perun shut up on the topic. He knew which woman he meant.
"Good. This does not get out to the guild. Your team can't even know guys. If Dragon's Blood gets ahold of that information we could be in huge trouble, and more than likely Lucy would lose the baby. And none of us want that." Lucy started to shake at his words. "Are you okay Lucy?" Perun asked.
"I-I don't know. It's all so scary. I feel like I wasn't as excited as I should have been when I found out I was pregnant. Now that I'm surrounded by all this positivity about it, I feel guilty. I should have been over the moon. It's all I've wanted since I was a child, but I got scared. I am scared now that I'll lose him before he's even mine."
"You were scared. It's totally understandable. I get it." Loke said. "You won't feel as excited as Levy did until this war is over, and you can relax. But stress isn't good for babies either. You need to take a moment every day to do some meditation, even if we're on the battlefield."
"My dear," Gramps started, "I have loved you like a daughter for a while now, and I love my grandbaby more than anything, but it's okay to be scared. It's okay to be nervous. We all are when we have babies. It's just a bump in the road this war. But this Spirit King says he can protect your baby. He will be able to feel if the baby's in danger. You are in good hands. Loke promised."
"I know, it's still just scary." Lucy said.
"I'll be by your side every step of the way." Perun said grabbing her hand. "I won't let something happen to you guys. Igneel is going to fight with Natsu and Laxus. They don't need me too. You can have me. I won't ever leave your side." He paused with a sigh. "I never thought I could love another human as much as I love Laxus, but you, you have me fucked up." Everyone laughed.
"She does that." Laxus said with another chuckled. "Take care of her old man."
"She's in good hands." Perun said. "How are you feeling?" He asks turning to face Lucy.
"I'm not nauseous like I've always been told happens. There have been a few times that I've felt ill, but really I'm just moody and tired."
"You know that the only reason you could pull of Laxus' magic as well as you did, was because Laxus' magic was coursing through you because of baby L, right?" Perun said and Lucy stuck her tongue out at him.
"You couldn't let me believe I was strong enough?!" She playfully yelled.
"I'm sorry?" Perun asked.
"Yes! You are!" She giggled.
"Go home kiddos." Igneel said. "Have fun with your team for diner. We have opted to just eat out."
"Thanks you guys for, well, everything. I appreciate it." Laxus said with a soft smile to everyone in the room. "We owe you, big time." They all smiled at the couple before they left. They dragons and Loke all looked at each other and smiled.
"She's got this. She really does." Perun said. "I couldn't be a prouder dragon of my mates. I can't believe she's actually going to still fight. We all knew she was stubborn, but this? This is called perseverance. This is called spunk."
"This is called the light." Gramps said.
"Why do you guys call her the light of the guild?" Igneel asked. "Natsu has never said that she was. He just calls her his best friend."
"We were in a dark place before she came. We were almost in a damned position. We had a member die. Another great one, and we were all super depressed. We didn't know how we were going to go on. Then she came. And she brought a light with her. Forget all her problems. She was a sunny presence. It was what we needed. We needed her. We needed a Lucy Heartfillia, and she did not disappoint. Even Natsu needed her." Gramps said with a bright smile. "She helped us move on, and she doesn't even know it. We are forever in her debt, and she doesn't even understand it. I love her like a daughter, and now she officially is my daughter. Keep them safe. I need them. I can't take another blow."
"We won't disappoint." Perun said.