For the first time in forever, there was no tension in the air at the winter ball; rather, it truly was a time of releasing tension and joy. Fallon, Angel, and Sylvain were joking together in one corner of the ballroom. Annie was trying to be sneaky about how many sweets she was trying with her uninjured arm. Ryan was dancing with Natsu and Lucy's daughter, who seemed to be poking fun at him while they danced and spoke. Mira and Freed were speaking quietly between each other, their hands loosely entwined. Near them, Bickslow and Lisanna were themselves dancing, albeit decidedly unconventionally, and Elfman seemed to be amusing Ever, who was already rather tipsy. With Laxus and Hisui were Caity and Siegrain, although they all turned around in surprise upon hearing a loud crack and seeing Fallon trying to grab firecrackers from the Salamander, whose wife was practically climbing him to try and get them away from him. It certainly was chaotic, but it felt right.
It was how things should have been all along.
"I would love to see Fal play with firecrackers," Caity remarked, sipping her wine with a smirk. "To be perfectly honest, I've always enjoyed explosions."
Laxus glanced to her warily. "You and Ever also did a shit ton of dangerous things as kids, so I'm not convinced you've ever developed a….reasonable sense of danger."
Hisui laughed a little. "That's not entirely fair, Laxus!"
"Exactly!" Caity exclaimed, pushing up her glasses. "Don't you recall the X791 Grand Magic Games?"
"Where you almost became an exhibitionist?" Laxus replied, jokingly quirking an eyebrow. "Or did the rest of us all dream that up?"
"No, she really did," Siegrain took his wife's free hand and gave it a squeeze. "Not that I had any objections."
Hisui smirked. "Have you ever objected to seeing her like that, though?"
Siegrain flushed a little, while his wife began laughing hysterically.
"M'dear, are you sure you're alright?" He asked, steadying her against himself.
"I'm fine!" She declared, wheezing a little.
"She's always been like this," Laxus remarked, shrugging. "I'm surprised you have to ask the question at this point, Sieg."
"He and Freed are far more similar than they'd care to admit," Caity said, teasingly elbowing her husband. "Both of them are far too restrained for their own good."
"Sieg just needs to loosen up!" Evergreen declared, smacking her brother in law in the ass. "Come on, Sieg, if my sister can be an exhibistionist I think you can be too! You did agree to being in cahoots with her when you two got married, so -"
"Ever," Elfman deftly pulled the champagne out of his wife's hand and slipped it to Bickslow as he passed by them, who grinned devilishly at Evergreen. "Slow down. You're going to break yourself at this rate."
"I've never broken anything!" Evergreen jumped up on him, and he nervously let her stay held up in his arms. From her new vantage point, she started to mess up Laxus' hair. "Your hair isn't messy enough for this to be a ball! Usually you sneak off with Hisui and come back with messy hair!"
'Wonder what they get up to?" Caity said under her breath, her soft, high voice betraying her amusement.
Hisui tried not to laugh a bit herself, blushing a little. "Nothing worse than you and Sieg have over the years in your office in Era," She teasingly replied.
Caity considered that. "Fine, I'll give you that one, that's fair."
"You know!" Evergreen all but fell onto her sister, who let out a small, scared yelp. "I have never felt more alive than I have in the last few weeks!"
Laxus glanced towards her, sharing a concerned look with Hisui, Caity, and Siegrain.
"How drunk are you?"
Evergreen grinned. "Oh, come on! Don't be a killjoy, Laxus!"
"Coming from you, I get the idea I ought to be at least a little bit scared," Laxus replied, wrapping an arm affectionately around Hisui. "You don't think she's going to do what the Salamander did that one time, do you?"
Hisui gasped and began laughing. "Laxus! She's not going to steal the crown jewels, honestly!"
"She's stolen plenty of other things before!" He countered, warily looking back at Ever, who Caity was trying to get her sister to stop trying to tug at her cheeks and take her wine. "I don't know how they handle being twins. Honestly, I -"
"Ever, are you alright?"
Freed regretted butting in almost the second he spoke, given that Evergreen immediately ran at him and hugged him painfully tight. Off a pointed look from Mira, he awkwardly patted her back. He had dealt with plenty of odd situations with his teammates over the years, but this was, somehow, by far the weirdest. That, he internally shuddered, included the time Bickslow had chased Caity with an axe and she had shrieked, eventually hiding behind Laxus and yelling at Bix to go "back into the light from whence he sprang." It was almost unbelievable that had been twenty years ago. So much had changed, yet, despite it all, Freed believed the Thunder Legion had remained mostly the same. They were still the same inseparable group.
"Who's a good Evergreen?" Freed uncomfortably kept patting her back, all but feeling Mira's gaze drilling holes in the side of his head. "You're a good Evergreen, right? Good Evergreen…..good Evergreen."
"She's not a cat," Elfman chortled. "You don't -"
He cut himself off when he saw his wife was, in fact, a giggly mess and rubbing her head against Freed's neck.
"Ever," Mira, sensing her husband's discomfort, helped the woman up and swung an arm around her shoulders. "How much have you had to drink? More or less than Cana?"
Evergreen giggled. "I think more!"
"She's gone," Laxus whispered to Hsui, who started laughing again behind her hand. "Inevitably, she and Fal are going to end up in some sort of ridiculous argument about the parts of a cookie or some shit."
"You're just trying to make me laugh now, aren't you?" Hisui turned slightly, smiling at him and then leaning up to softly kiss him. "It's alright. I'm enjoying it."
"That's my goal," Laxus replied, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. "Anything to see you smile."
They both glanced suddenly towards Ever, Mira, and Freed again upon hearing a loud crash, only to see Evergreen dizzily waving at Fallon, who looked rather concerned. She eventually started waving back at her, much to the amusement of Annie, Ryan, Angel, and Sylvain. Freed shook his head, reminding himself, again, that, weird as it was, it could be worse though he was struggling to think of something in the moment. Mira, however, much like Bickslow and Lisanna who had joined them, seemed particularly amused, part of her wondering if Ever was simply relieved that everything had turned out alright. Either way, they didn't find it nearly as funny as her sister who, no longer the subject of her sister's moment, was practically wheezing, half collapsed against her husband who himself was trying not to laugh too hard. Laxus and Hisui exchanged a knowing look and he cupped her cheek before stealing another kiss, never the more happy to have things as they were now.
"I never thought this was how it was going to end up," Laxus whispered. "But I'm so glad it is."
"I am too," Hisui agreed, taking his hands tightly in hers. "No matter how chaotic, or eccentric, or emotional anything becomes, we still have each other, the kids, and everyone. We finally won."
"After far too long," Laxus pulled her in a little closer. "You're right, though. We did it."
"Exactly," Hisui softly replied, melting into his embrace. "And, now, what happens is up to us."
"I like the sound of that," Laxus grinned. "And," He added, lowering his voice. "I'm sure you and I can more than take on anything that comes at us."
Hisui kissed him again. "I know we can." She murmured. "We already have."
