"That's a lovely idea, Freed," Caity remarked dryly as the self-proclaimed leader of the Thunder God Tribe continued to scale the bookshelves in her study. "Break through the walls, see if you can find the damn book the council lost over a decade ago in my house. Maybe, in the process, you'll even convince me I need a drink."
"I'm not looking for the Greymatter tome," Freed awkwardly turned to scowl at her. "I'm looking for the entrance to the wine cellar you said you and Sieg have never been able to find despite it being listed in the property records according to my wife. And don't lie to yourself. You're just as curious, or you wouldn't have told me about it in the first place."
The butterfly-adorned mage crossed her arms. "Since when have I not been curious? I only found out about this a few days ago, and it has been driving me crazy ever since!"
"You're getting bored," Mira remarked with a smirk. "What is it with you and seeking out danger? Honestly, you and Ever seem to seek it out."
"We've been doing it since we were children," Evergreen shrugged and pulled a bottle of champagne out of her bag. "So! Who wants a drink and the unusual chance to watch Freed make a fool of himself?"
"I'll drink to that!" Caity declared, pushing up her glasses and pulling herself up onto her desk. "Should we make a game out of it?" She added dryly.
Evergreen raised an eyebrow. "Odd suggestion from someone who has never been able to hold their liquor," She teased.
Her sister scowled. "Ever -"
"Seeing you run drunk would be the highlight of my life," Bickslow casually remarked. Lisanna elbowed him, but herself was not succeeding in hiding her laughter. "I'll give you bonus points if you run in those heeled boots of yours."
"How about we not get my wife drunk?" Siegrain nervously patted her hand, and she rolled her eyes, albeit shrugging and twining her hand in his.
"We do have work tomorrow," She paused for a few seconds in consideration and then shook her head. "Shit. And there's still that entire fucking report on what happened with Angel, Wendy, and Lila last month."
"They aren't that bad," Lisanna put in. "And Lila's Natsu and Lucy's daughter. Did you expect her not to get into any trouble?"
Mira giggled. "That's a fair point."
"Regardless -" Freed cut himself off, swearing under his breath when he hit his head on the ceiling. "Damn it, I -"
"Be careful!" Mira warned him. "I'd rather not have to explain to your father how you nearly got yourself stuck in the ceiling."
Elfman, Evergreen, and Bickslow started to snicker, not stopping even when Freed managed to glare at all of them.
"You all are impossible!" He exclaimed, climbing down and rubbing his head. "What is so amusing about my wife being concerned for my health and her hearing?"
"If you're implying that Toma would blow up at Mira, I think you've confused her with Laxus," Caity shuddered. "Or me, for that matter."
"Oh, yes!" Freed smirked and shared a look with her that could only be described as mischievous. "I hope you all remember the time Caity, Laxus, and Hisui almost trapped themselves in the records hall because they had been looking for a book on curses and -"
"I remember," Siegrain chuckled. "I wasn't surprised. I'm not quite sure why Toma was."
"Perhaps because my father hadn't spent much time around reckless people before he met her in particular," Freed glanced towards Bickslow, who was whispering something to his wife that (based on her reaction) was presumably dirty. "Although Bix is a close second."
Mira rolled her eyes. "You're exaggerating."
"No, he's not," Caity grimaced at the thought. "For a variety of reasons, including the fact we had slipped away from the Grand Magic Games that year and that the three of us all had very young children at the time, Toma was horrified…..although in retrospect that might have something to do with the fact that I had gotten myself trapped in some damn curtains because I tried to translate an incantation aloud."
"And that's exactly why the three of you should be glad that you'd left Fallon, Sylvain, and Angel with me and Sieg," Evergreen socked her brother in law in the arm. "Although part of me still thinks you wanted to punch me by the end of the day."
Siegrain raised an eyebrow. "If you hadn't kept suggesting we let the three of them run loose in the Domus Flau - which couldn't have been a worse idea considering that Fallon and Sylvain were three and my daughter was a year and a half - then I probably wouldn't have been as annoyed."
"Now, see," Caity put in, winking. "The highlight of my life would be watching my husband - a Wizard Saint - and my twin sister - an S-Class mage - fight."
"Oh God no," Mira stepped in between Siegrain and Evergreen, the latter of whom seemed to be genuinely considering the idea. "Let's just have a nice evening for once. It's been a long time since we've been able to have any semblance of levity."
"True enough," Evergreen agreed, holding up the bottle of champagne. "Now: who wants to see if they can drink better than me?"
Hisui stared at her reflection in the mirror, feeling terribly exhausted and strained. She pushed her hair over her shoulder and briefly cast her glance towards her crown and tiara, both of which she had set down on the vanity nearly half an hour ago. Her fingers briefly tightened around the dark wood but she forced herself to let go and started to pace. The day had been long, and to call the meetings she had tedious would have been a severe understatement. Not only that, but she had found herself wanting to be alone more and more. Annetta had coaxed her out of her bedchamber earlier, but, although Hisui had been glad to spend time with her daughter, even she knew the queen was becoming more and more withdrawn. Hisui hoped her children assumed she was only affected by the assassination attempt from the week before, even if she knew that it went much deeper than simply that.
"Fallon...oh, Fallon, Fallon, Fallon," Irene had grinned, and her overwhelming magic energy attacked that of the little princess as the curse was laid on her. Laxus let out an angered cry and tried to run, yet again, towards his children but was forcibly held immobile like his wife and the others. "This poor little girl is never going to be able to step into the sun without being put through excruciating pain. As for Sylvain," Irene had shifted her magic disdainfully onto the prince, who was wailing even more than his sister. "He will fall into dark sleep time and time again...and -"
Hearing a crash down outside in the corridor drew the queen suddenly from her thoughts, and she rushed out to see what had happened. Despite everything, she started to laugh a little at the sight. Her sixteen year old son, by the pair of stilettos on the floor and the way Fallon and Annetta were giggling, seemed to have been walking in their shoes, although Hisui couldn't imagine why. He awkwardly stood up and dusted himself off when he and his sisters noticed their mother, smiling uncomfortably all the while. Annetta perked up considerably and immediately came over to her mother and hugged her tightly. More than anything, for the youngest princess, it was a comfort and, Annie hoped, a sign that things could return to the way they had been.
"Sylvain, honestly," Hisui eventually said, a half-teasing hint in her voice. "What did you do?"
He grabbed the stilettos off the floor and shrugged. "Annie said I couldn't walk in heels. I had to prove her wrong."
Hisui glanced at her daughter who started giggling. "I suppose that's not too unusual," She said, letting her daughter go and ruffling her hair. "But why? Why would you think that's a good idea?"
"Depends. Maybe he thought he'd actually prove something this time."
Hisui laughed when Laxus embraced her from behind and kissed her cheek with a faint smirk. "Laxus!" She exclaimed through laughter, much to the amusement of their children. "What are you doing?"
"I was looking for you," He replied, giving her an affectionate squeeze from his uninjured left. "And, it seems, found where the three of them went."
Annie grinned. "We're not hiding!"
"Like you can hide," Fallon rolled her eyes. "You'd be better at it than Sylvain, but you'd probably end up getting distracted by something shiny."
"I'd love to see that," Sylvain quipped, waving one of the stilettos in front of her face. "Hey, Annie, you think this is shiny enough or should I -"
Annie swatted at the stilettos and almost smacked him in the process. "Hey, those are dangerous! Get them out of my face!"
Laxus raised an eyebrow, mildly concerned having seen some of the more questionable things the three of them had managed to use against each other before, not the least of which was an actual sword Sylvain had found rummaging through old steamer trunks.
"You three aren't going to try and hurt each other, are you?"
Fallon, Sylvain, and Annie glanced between each other before shaking their heads, variously trying (and not exactly succeeding) at appearing innocent. The second they weren't looking, Laxus and Hisui slipped into their bedchamber and he closed the door behind them. Seeing the tension he knew she had been trying to hide, he sighed heavily. He didn't quite know what to say, but it was hard seeing her so unhappy; he knew, of course, why but he wished he could take it away. The damn assassination attempt. Fallon's kidnapping. The curses on their twins. If for no other reason than because it would make their family happier, he would take them all away if he could. In the back of his mind, he felt the guilt from years before rising again but he pushed it aside. Especially now, he was much more worried about her than he was about himself.
After all, the terrible guilt in his mind whispered, if it weren't for you, Ivan never would have hurt her or the kids.
"You feeling a little better, 'Sui?" Laxus gently pressed. "I know today was….rough for all of us to say the very least."
"I'm fine," She hesitated for a few seconds and then sighed. "Mostly, that is."
He nodded, eyeing her worriedly and then sitting down beside her on the edge of their bed. Hesitantly, he wrapped his uninjured arm around her waist and let her curl into him. Hisui briefly closed her eyes, comforted by his warmth and the way he soothingly had taken her hand in his, lightly tracing circles in the palm of her hand.
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine," He murmured, shifting slightly to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. "But I'm here, 'Sui, and I'm not going anywhere. Okay? I promise...no matter what, that we'll get through this together. I meant it when we got married, I meant it when you told me you were pregnant both times, and I mean it now, princess."
Hisui looked up at him and managed a small smile. "I know," She whispered. "That's why you're my thunder beast."
