Author's Note: Holy shit, guys. Fellow humans. Human variations.
There's only one more short chapter after this, and then that's it. That's when I switched from working on this story to working on the Soul Circus series.
4 years of posting this story, and you lovely humans reading this. Some of you have been here from the beginning, and even reread most of this ridiculously long fanfic, and that is absolutely mind boggling to me. I'm not crying, you're crying.
This has been an insane few years. Reading your reviews, and knowing so many people are reading my writing... it really warms my heart. I love all of you.
So, I mentioned it a few chapters ago, but here we are: as I said before, there is no concrete ending for this story, so I plan to write a cheesy wedding scene for the final chapter. I'll be going through the last ten or so chapters, to refresh my memory on what was happening, and hopefully wrap up any loose ends. So, if there's anything you want in the last chapter, write a review letting me know. Remind me of any loose ends I left, plot wise, that you really want resolved. (I have become exceptionally good at that over the years, apparently... ^^")
As always, thank you all for the faves, follows, and reviews. Stay safe. Sending good vibes and hearts to everyone. :)
Walking Cliché 60
Wake Up Call
June 9th, 9:30 AM
"What time is Bickslow going to be back again?" Laxus asked the takeover mage at the bar. He was more than a little anxious after the seith mage's arrival, namely because he wanted to talk to him before anyone else did. If he didn't talk to him first, anyone else could portray him as a soulless monster. They sure as hell liked doing it for fun.
"10 minutes ago." Mira replied with a smile. "Gajeel has been talking to him ever since he walked in."
He cursed under his breath and searched the room for the men in question.
Just as he found them, they looked at him, and there was an awkward moment of eye contact.
"Looks like he caught him up on everything that happened." Mira giggled, and walked away to help a customer. With the damn visor on his face, Laxus couldn't gauge whether his friend was happy or upset. Likely the latter, given Gajeel's recent mean streak.
It seemed that Claire hadn't arrived at the guild hall yet, and since Bickslow would be less angry with her around, the lightning mage was tempted to avoid talking to him until she arrived. Unfortunately, as he tried to make it look like he was having a conversation with a random person nearby, one of the small floating totems flew over to him.
"Come on up for a drink!" It spoke cheerily.
Maybe Gajeel…? No, he definitely screwed me over. It's a trap.
"Dad wants to know about the house you're buying us over a drink."
Laxus thought about it for a moment, and after another glance at the pair on the second floor, he finally nodded. A big grin spread across the seith mage's face, and his trademark tongue fell out of his mouth. He seemed genuinely excited.
The lightning mage slowly made his way over to them and sat down at the small round table. "It's good to see you in person, Laxus." Bickslow greeted. "Iceberg fucking sucks."
"I hear that." Gajeel chuckled.
"… what have you two been talking about?" Laxus asked cautiously.
"Gajeel was filling me in on Claire, and how you guys have been looking out for her while I've been gone. Thank you." Bickslow spoke, nodding to both of them. "I really appreciate it."
"It's nothing." Laxus said awkwardly.
"No, I know it takes a lot to keep an eye on her, plus three kids. You probably had to babysit a lot."
"Lucy and Natsu did most of the babysitting."
"Stop being so modest, dude, it's weird." Bickslow laughed. "Now what is this I hear about you buying us a house?"
"I, uh… wanted to help out."
"Well that's nice, but we're pretty content with our current one. I'm not sure what we're going to do about space, with the baby on the way, but we'll figure something out. Mike loves the place and we really don't want to move him again."
Please say that Gajeel convinced him to say that just to mess with me. "You guys could do better."
"Not likely. People are still hating slurks right now, so we were super lucky getting that place."
"I'll be buying it and then putting it under Claire's name, so that won't be an issue."
"Maybe." Bickslow shrugged. "Moving is also such a pain. I really don't want to do it again, and I really don't want Claire to stress over it. She gets really uptight when it comes to that kind of stuff."
"… what do you mean?"
"Remember how much she stressed over that security system? She would have to do that all over again, but for a bigger place, plus it's just… it's just too much work. Thank you for the offer, though." Bickslow said kindly, and took a sip of his beer.
"I'm surprised that you're turning down a free house." Gajeel told him.
"It's not the size of the place, it's the people in it. Everyone is happy where they are."
"… but it's so small. What if you borrowed Gajeel's kid for a weekend and thought it over?" Laxus asked.
"Free babysitter? I'm down for that." Gajeel snickered.
"Why are you so insistent on the free house? Did you piss off Claire that badly?" Bickslow asked with a grin. By this point, Laxus was pretty sure that the man didn't know what really happened. Gajeel just made sure to be front and center when he found out. "She can't stay mad at you. Keep babysitting her kids and she'll forgive you in no time."
"So, there appears to be a part of your absence that Gajeel left out." Laxus spoke, and again, the iron mage snickered. Bickslow looked between them, watching the brunette sit back with a drink in his hand and wide smirk on his face, and suddenly realized that something bad was going to happen. "So, after you asked Ever and I to help Claire more, we may have gone a little overboard and hurt her feelings."
"Ordered her around like a child and tried to force feed her food until she threw up." Gajeel summarized, and the blond glared. "Is any of that false?"
"We didn't force feed her, but we were a little pushy. Anyway, to make it up to her, I cleaned her house that night."
"That's… nice of you." Bickslow told him.
"Mostly I cleaned up the scratch marks on the walls from the poltergeists that Ever brought to the house and endangered everyone's lives."
"Shifting the blame to Evergreen. Smooth." Gajeel chuckled.
"And, since I knew that Claire was stressed out about the broken furniture and damaged property, I hired a cleaning service to professionally clean the house."
"That's… very considerate of you." Bickslow spoke, still waiting for the bad part. Judging by the other man's grin, it had to be something bad.
"And, I figured that I would take it a step further and remodel your house for you guys. It would be a birthday, Christmas, baby gift. Or whatever. You guys would get an extra room for the baby, new dishwasher, furniture, and I'd pay for it. That was the plan."
"… did Claire not like the color you picked or something? That's fucking awesome, dude. Thank you."
"He's not done." Gajeel told him.
"So…" Laxus trailed off.
"He did it while Claire was gone." Gajeel blurted.
"… as a surprise gift?" Bickslow asked, still confused about the bad part of this, and how a new house played into it.
"I had the contractor come over and look at the house, and also had the landlord over to hash out the details and make sure everything would pan out. The cleaners started working, going through the house and taking out the trash…"
"What did they do?" The seith mage asked, tensing suddenly. The suspense was killing him, and it wasn't like Laxus to draw out an explanation like this. Usually he just blurted it out, good or bad, and didn't give a shit whether the other person was okay with it or not.
"Apparently they found some bones and herbs in the walls…"
"What did they do with it?"
"… threw it out…"
"Where?" Bickslow asked, panic rising in his throat. If it was recent enough, he hoped, maybe he could get it. His heart jumped to racing a mile a minute.
"Some kind of animal carcass disposal place. You'd have to dig through dead animals to find it, and by now, they've probably already ground them up."
"That's not all." Gajeel added, seeing that the seith mage was close to yelling. His face was already turning red in anger.
"It turns out that the landlord is pretty religious."
"So?" Bickslow asked, rigid.
"He may have accidentally found out that you and Claire aren't married…"
"He knows that."
"And that you two have had sex."
"So what? We pay rent, we haven't violated the damn contract, why does it matter if he knows that?"
"You and Claire have 2 months to move out." Gajeel stated bluntly.
"Which is why I'm offering to buy you guys an entire house." Laxus spoke quickly.
"The cleaners also dismantled your security system."
"Your new place will have a better security system."
"You got us evicted and lost us irreplaceable protection charms I spent 10 years collecting? Do you have any idea how rare those are? The plants in those take over 50 years to grow!" Bickslow yelled, legitimately torn between wanting to punch the guy in the face and forgive him. In all his years working with Laxus, he'd never seen him act so awkward and guilty over something he did. Even when they did the 'Battle of Fairy Tail' all those years ago, he didn't give anyone puppy dog eyes like he was doing now. They weren't full puppy dog eyes, but for Laxus, they might as well have been.
"I'm sorry. I was trying to be helpful, and it ended up screwing you guys over." Laxus told him, unblinking in his apology. Both of the men sat there, staring each other down, and Bickslow found himself caving in.
"I can't stay mad at you. I know you didn't do it on purpose." Bickslow sighed. "But you're not buying us a damn house. Or if you do, we're going to work out something so that we pay you back."
"We can work out details later."
"Lamest. Fight. Ever." Gajeel told them, stood up, and walked away. Several other wizards around them did the same, and both Laxus and Bickslow exchanged a confused look.
1.
June 9th, 10:30 AM
"Mike really missed you." Claire told the man after he cast the silencing charm. His hands were instantly on her, pulling their bodies as close together as they could get, and he smirked down at her. The visor on his face blocked her view of his beautiful green eyes, but she didn't doubt they were filled with lust.
"I'll make it up to him later." He said dismissively, and leaned down to connect their lips. Being in a small space with Gray Fullbuster for an entire week was way too long. He had no idea what Juvia saw in him.
"We don't see each other for a full week," Claire spoke, pulling back from the kiss, and Bickslow instantly leaned in to latch against her supple neck. "And all you want to do is make out?"
"No, I want to fuck, too." He told her matter-of-factly, and pulled her into his pelvis for emphasis. His hands then roamed up her shirt, quickly pulling it off of her.
"Is this all you've been thinking-"
"Less thinking," Bickslow interrupted, and gently pushed her onto the bed. "More stress relieving." He spoke with a grin, and started removing the layers of cloth on his body. Times like this he hated all the guards her wore, and when Claire starts wearing them, he dreaded the frustration it would cause to take to get them off in a hurry.
Claire leaned back on her elbows, looking up him up and down, and for a second he was a little worried about that. It was a cross between aroused and annoyed. When she had that look, he had to hurry before it switched fully to the latter.
"Is there something else you'd rather be doing?" He asked carefully. Bickslow had said his earlier comments because he thought she was being playful.
"No, I was just admiring your new fighting outfit. It's the first time I've seen you in this one." She stated evenly, continuing to look him up and down.
"… do you like it?" He kept unbuckling and clasping his guards, keeping his gaze on her. His eyes may have drifted a little south.
"Yeah. It's sexy." Now it was definitely arousal on her features. Claire shifted forward, her bra still covering her breasts, and she placed a small kiss on a patch of exposed skin over his hip. Just the small amount of contact sent blood rushing to his crotch, and he moaned softly, wishing these clothes would get off faster.
Her nimble hands helped get the rest off, and when he was down to his boxers, he gently pushed the woman to the middle of the bed. A small frown graced his features when he realized how much weight she'd lost, but she kissed the thought away as soon as it disappeared. I'll worry about that after I bang her brains out. He thought decisively, and finally unclasped her bra.
His lips found one of her perk nipples and sucked it into his mouth, earning a loud moan from her. He loved making her squirm, how her back arched into him, how those wonderful hips teased his erection with such delicate friction. Letting the small nub free, he blew some cold air on it, watching it continue hardening at the sensation.
The last of their clothing was quickly lost, and he was about to slide into her folds, when she reached up to stop him.
"You seem wet enough." He stated, having already fingered her to make sure.
"Protection, remember?"
"… but you're already pregnant."
"It's possible to get pregnant while you're pregnant." She told him, and the man stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was right. Sure, he knew the basics of making babies, but when it came down to the finer details he was less educated. He also really wanted the tip currently teasing her entrance to actually enter.
He groaned, leaning over her and kissing her lips, tempted to thrust anyway.
Once they separated, he groaned again, but this time pushed against the bed to sit on his knees. "Do we even have any?"
"I bought some the other day. Nightstand drawer." She instructed, pointing to her left. Bickslow wasted no time in reaching over to it, hurriedly opening and finding the box inside. Impatiently dumping the contents onto the blanket, he then grabbed one and opened it.
He moaned at the touch on his throbbing penis, closing his eyes at the delicate warm hand that encased it.
"Glad to know you missed me." She teased with a small smile.
"You have no idea." He was tempted to let her continue, but the idea of entering her sounded all too appealing. Besides, he needed to be close to her, inside her, show her how much he loved her with his body. He wanted to be as physically close to her as humanly possible.
Finding direction again, he rolled the condom on and went back to his original position, sliding a little too quickly into that sinfully hot cavern. Her body heated up beneath him, even a stray flame licking her shoulder, and he leaned down to kiss her collar bone. It wasn't quite as nice with the condom, but he still loved her. Loved this.
Their lips met in a sloppy kiss, and he retreated, only to slowly push back in.
She loved the feeling of him filling her up. The feeling of someone so close to her, entangled with her, and so intimate on a level that she couldn't even recognize. "Woah," He breathed in her ear, pausing for a moment.
"What?" Claire asked, and kissed his cheek, gently nuzzling him to answer.
"Sorry, I'm just used to bracing myself against your magic. Laxus mentioned it was lower than usual, I just didn't realize how low it was." He explained, and she froze against him, her chest constricting. Moving slightly inside her, he stopped again, propping himself up to look at her.
Her soul actually shrunk. It was normal for souls to change slightly throughout the day, even for it to move or shift differently with strong emotions, but within an instant her usually vibrant red soul shrunk as if it was left in a pool for too long.
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it." Bickslow pulled out, using the most soothing and sweetest voice he could muster, and cupped the side of her face. She looked about ready to cry, lip quivering, and tried to turn away from him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset. It was stupid and I shouldn't have said anything, I'm sorry."
"I-it's fine." She stammered, and tried to roll out of his grasp, but he wouldn't let her. He started placing a flurry of kisses along the side of her face, neck, and ears. By this point, the kisses weren't to get things started again, but to instead try and make her soul go back to normal. To make her feel better again.
"It's not fine, I said something that hurt your feelings. I'm a terrible person." He told her between kisses, and saw a hint of a smile tug at the corner of her lips.
"You're not a terrible person."
"I disagree." He stated, and after another ten or so kisses, he leaned back to look at her again. Her gaze flickered to his face but then to the pillows next to her, and she turned onto her side, as if caving in on herself.
She couldn't remember a time where she felt so self-conscious around him, especially when they were naked. On this world she worked out so much that she didn't worry about her weight, barely gave it any thought, until the past week. All at once she just wanted to hide under the blankets and act like nothing happened.
"We don't have to do anything. We can just cuddle for a while." It pained him to see her react to him that way, but he tried not to take it personally. Instead, he wrapped one of his arms around her and pressed his chest flat against her back, holding her close.
2.
June 9th, 12:30 PM
"Watch me!" Mike yelled at the seith mage.
"I'm watching, I'm watching," He told him assuredly, and true to his word, didn't stray from the pale little man's body. Mike, confirming that he had his attention, then ran forward and jumped into the pool, hugging his knees to his chest before hitting the water.
It was summer time and it was swimming season. Everyone was in bathing suits, laughing, drinking, and having fun by the poolside. The sun shined brightly, a perfect breeze kept them just cool enough, and magic was in the air.
"Nice cannon ball, buddy." Bickslow complimented when the boy came up for air.
"That was nothing! Cannonbaaaaall!" Elfman announced, and jumped into the pool before anyone could escape the waters. As he plummeted a wave of water surged up, engulfing the inhabitants of the water, and caused a small layer of water to roll across the ground.
"You sure you don't want to go swimming, babe?" Bickslow asked the woman on his lap. Ever since those visions he'd been worried about her, and after that morning, he was even more concerned. He hated seeing her so upset, so irrevocably self-conscious that her soul shrunk up like a prune, like it was doing now.
"I'm not a fan of swimming. You should go ahead if you want to, though."
"I'll stay here for a little while longer." He told her, slightly tightening his arms around her waist and placing another kiss on her cheek. They'd been lounging on one of the chairs for a while now, watching Michael and their friends splash and hang out.
"Why are you wearing so many layers?" Kana asked, and after setting down her barrel of alcohol, sprawled out on the lounge chair next to theirs.
"I felt like it." Claire answered simply. She was wearing a long pair of pants and sweater.
"It's summer. Bikini season." The drunk said with a grin.
"Then why aren't you wearing a bikini?" Bickslow asked her, commenting on the fact that she was wearing a lacey bra and underwear.
"Didn't feel like spending the extra money on a new one, especially when I had new underwear I could show off instead." She explained with a small shrug.
"Why the hell aren't you soaking up rays, Claire?" Laxus asked from the pool, resting his arms on the edge to talk to them. "Last time you sunbathed, it somehow healed that nasty injury to your stomach, and you over capped the amount of magic your body can handle."
"And apparently scared the hell out of you." Claire added.
"If Claire is self-conscious about her body," Carol spoke as she approached them, showing off her tan skin and new itty bitty bikini. "Then you guys shouldn't pressure her into wearing anything she's not comfortable in. Me, personally, I think pregnant bodies are beautiful, and she should be encouraged as the beautiful woman she is."
"How are you recovering?" Laxus asked her, not bothering to comment on her entrance. The scar from her surgery was still pink, extending from just below the bump in her belly to just below her sternum.
Recalling the surgery all too vividly, having to physically remove the snake from her body and watch the skilled healer maneuver the water mage's innards, Claire reached over to the bucket next to her chair and puked up the grapes and water she had that morning.
"… no offense, but I'm moving to that chair." Kana said, quickly moving one chair away from them to get some distance. Bickslow gently rubbed circles on the woman's back, and her siblings gave her mixed looks.
"Is my new scar that disgusting?" Carol asked her. "If I recall, you have more than a few yourself."
"Who's the self-conscious one?" Kana asked her, to which the woman chewed the inside of her cheek.
"Yes, that scar is that disgusting." Claire answered finally, grabbing a napkin nearby to dab the corners of her mouth and recline back into Bickslow's arms.
"Hmph, that's pretty rude, even for you." Carol told her, hands on her hips and shifting her weight to one foot.
"I helped Polly do the surgery. Seeing your guts was disgusting." She clarified, and the water mage stood there for a moment, unsure how to respond.
"You saw her insides? Gross." Kana laughed, relieving some of the tension in the group. Hearing Mira in the pool calling to her, Carol walked to the edge of the pool and hopped in.
Thinking about what Laxus said, the seith mage came up with an idea.
3.
June 9th, 6:30 PM
"Another vacation?" Claire asked him, sitting in the middle of the bed and watching him pack in disbelief. "We just got back from a month long one."
"No," He corrected, not pausing in his movements. "As you stated so many times, it was a rescue mission poorly turned into a vacation. We had fun, but you were miserable, Mike was miserable, I was miserable, and ultimately, it wasn't a vacation. It was going to a few spas with a bunch of spazzy idiots because the guild master didn't want to put up with them."
"It wouldn't be fair to Wendy and Carla to go without them, and our team is going to want to come along."
"Nope. You, me, and Mike. The girls can come with us next time." He told her, and after shoving a bunch of clothes in a bag, he jumped onto the bed and gave her a long, sweet kiss. "We'll research houses while we're gone, you will soak up some sun since you can't keep down food, we'll spoil Mike rotten with attention until he's sick of us, and bitch about our friends to get it out of our system."
"Where were you thinking of going?"
"A beach, naturally. Not too far from home, far enough that people we know won't be there, and hopefully isolated enough that we can have sex on the beach without getting caught."
"Fat chance of the last one, sweetie."
"I don't mind getting caught." He joked with a smile. "Now, let me look at our baby soul that I've been refraining from staring at all day."
4.
June 10th, 9:30 AM
"I thought people got fat when they were pregnant?" Mike asked the woman standing in front of the full length mirror. They were at the hotel, getting ready to go, and Bickslow was the last to change into his swim trunks.
Claire wore a dark blue bikini top and blue tie-dye sarong to cover the lower half of her body. Compared to Carol her bump was miniscule, and it was painfully obvious that she'd lost weight not only in the past month, but the last week in particular. She was practically all skin, bone, muscle, and scars.
"What did I say about commenting on mom's weight?" Bickslow asked from the bathroom.
"… to do it?" Mike replied.
"No, you little smart ass."
"Mom's adorable!" Bickslow's babies echoed after they possessed the vessels on the bed. Claire's were around as well, but she didn't want to spend what little magic she had on binding them. "Momma's cute!"
"Thanks, babies." Claire replied with less enthusiasm, still looking at herself in the mirror. My baby is going to have some kind of muscle deficiency disorder because I can't stomach a damn sandwich. Maybe Mike was right and I am a bad mom.
"Mom's adorable!" They repeated again.
"What do you want to do for your birthday tomorrow, sweetie?" Claire asked loudly.
"Shit, it is tomorrow, isn't it?" Bickslow cursed in the bathroom, and after a moment, he finally opened it. "How about a nice dinner someplace, and all the milkshakes I can eat?"
"Yeah, milkshakes!" Mike cheered excitedly.
"You look beautiful. Are you ready to go?" Bickslow asked, standing in his black swim trunks and flip-flops. She grabbed one of the extra sarongs from the bed and put it around her shoulders, like a shawl, and tied a knot.
"Yeah, let's head out." She told them, to which the boy cheered again and ran for the door. Both parents grabbed one of their bags, following suit.
Once they got to the fairly crowded beach, they set up camp. Claire would stay behind to guard the watercooler, towels, and other various supplies, while the other two played in the water. "Are you going to keep that on the entire time?" Bickslow asked her, referring to the sarong she still wore as a shawl. He'd figured that she would take it off once they got to the sand.
"Yeah… is that bad?" She asked awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with the question.
"Not at all, you look cute in it. I just thought you were going to sunbathe is all."
"Mom is cute!" Three of his babies told her, hovering around him.
"Mike is waiting for you." She reminded him, and he nodded, looking out into the water. "Have fun." She told him with a reassuring smile, and the man gave a hesitant one in return, following after the little brunette.
It felt so weird being surrounded by strangers.
At the guild hall, everyone knew everybody. They'd grown up together, laughed together, shed tears together.
These people… she didn't know them. She knew her souls, who were floating around and inspecting the tourists, but otherwise she was on her own. It felt unnerving, and as she sat there awkwardly observing her surroundings, not feeling in place, she wondered what exactly she planned to do. Reading was a possibility, but she really wasn't feeling it. People watching felt too awkward.
It felt like people were silently judging her, and even though she knew it was ridiculous, since no one knew her, it didn't help shake the feeling.
After a while of deliberation, she asked her souls to keep an eye on her while she took a nap, hoping that sleeping in the sun would calm her nerves.
It felt like she'd only been asleep for a few minutes when her souls abruptly woke her. Mom, someone's taking your wallet!
She opened her eyes slightly, shifting to look over at the bag next to her, and saw that there was a strange man reaching into it. He had a plain pair of yellow swim trunks, and at the current angle, the only other feature she could distinguish was his dark hair. Upon realizing that she'd awoken, he gulped and tried to run for it, but she easily reached up and grabbed his ankle, causing him to fall.
"Help, this crazy lady just grabbed me!" A chortled scream rang out from the boy, and instantly, everyone looked in their direction.
"Hey, she's a wizard of Fairy Tail! That bully guild that wrecks entire towns!" Someone stated nearby.
Seeing that he was still holding her wallet, she had Riley possess it and fly out of his hands. Unable to see anything else of hers in his possession, she let go of him, allowing him to escape. The man in his late teen's, probably early twenties, ran off with a black handprint on his leg.
Claire didn't really listen to the squabble nearby, instead, checking her wallet to see if anything was missing.
Luckily, he hadn't taken any of her cards, but unfortunately, he took all of her cash. I had one job, and I couldn't even do that right…. She thought miserably, and reached over to the bigger bag it had came from, beginning her check to see if anything else had been taken.
"Oi, what's going on?" Bickslow asked as he jogged over, and instantly addressed the couple that was ranting about Fairy Tail wizards attacking people. They were berating Claire about her treatment of the man, but she was too occupied in her own thoughts to give them any attention.
"Someone robbed us while mom was sleeping." One of Claire's souls told him after possessing one of Mike's toy trucks. The couple that had been ranting just moment ago screamed, frightened by the floating, talking, and firey object.
"I-I-It-" The couple stuttered comically.
The seith mage paid them no mind, walking around and falling to his knees in front of Claire, checking if she was alright. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just lost a couple hundred dollars, is all." She mumbled, still looking solemnly at the near empty wallet on her lap. Bickslow took the sides of her face and made her look up at him, so that he could inspect her better, and rested his forehead against hers.
"I don't care about money. We can replace that- but I can't replace you, dummy, so just tell me if you're okay."
"I'm fine."
Suddenly sensing a massive build up and release of magic nearby, Claire instantly turned and grabbed Michael, pulling him into her arms and using her magic to shield them from the blast. Sand blew everywhere, screams rang out, and within seconds everything and everyone was covered in two feet of warm sand.
Claire sat up, her head emerging from the sand, and pulled Mike high enough so that he could get air as well. She turned to the source of the blast, having recognized the magical signature, and gave the famous wizard a deadpan look. Of course, Natsu had been the source of the blast, and he stood there with a stupid grin on his face.
"Natsu! You could have hurt someone!" Lucy yelled at him.
"Relax, it's just sand." The fire mage snickered.
"Numbskull." Gray insulted nearby.
"Natsu, you really should hold back your strength when you're around commoners. They're a lot more fragile than wizards." Erza informed him.
"Natsu!" Mike screamed happily when he realized who was over there, and the group instantly turned their attention to the pair. A few yards away, Bickslow sputtered and rose from the sand, ready to kick the little dragonslayer's ass for causing such a ruckus.
"What are you guys doing here?" Lucy asked amid the groans and angry yells of the beachgoers. The boy in Claire's arms climbed out of the sand and ran towards the group, excited to play with them.
"Could ask you the same thing." Claire replied to the blond, and turned to look over at her fiancé, who was spitting up sand glaring at the group. "You okay, sweetie?"
"Peachy." He growled, glaring daggers at the laughing fire mage about to high-five his son. "I'll get our stuff out of the sand if you want to go see what they're doing here."
"You sure?"
"I'll beat the shit out of Natsu if I don't preoccupy myself with something before talking to him." Bickslow explained, already summoning his souls to start searching for their belongings now buried in the sand. "This is why we can't have nice things. Damn dragonslayers."
Seeing that he was physically fine, albeit in a foul mood now, Claire climbed out of the sand and walked over to join the rowdy wizards. They seemed excited at the new addition to their group. "I'm sorry for not telling you I would be here." Wendy immediately apologized.
"It was a spontaneous side trip." Lucy added. "We bumped into Erza when she was on her way back from a job, and we thought that a couple days at the beach could be fun, since we were already here."
"And then this asshole decided to join us." Natsu stated, glaring at the ice mage.
"I was invited, idiot." He responded with his own glare. Recalling her conversation with the requip mage, Claire looked over at Erza with a questioning look, and it was answered with a very subtle blush.
"Did you call the guild hall to let us know you'd be here?" Claire asked the sky mage.
"We planned to… but then…" Wendy trailed off awkwardly.
"Why is there an issue, exactly?" Erza asked, confused.
"Part of our arrangement is that when Wendy and Carla go on missions, we know what the mission is, where, how long it'll be, and how to get into contact with them. If their mission changes, they're supposed to contact us and let us know." Claire explained to the fellow S-Class mage.
"So what are you guys doing at the beach, huh?" Gray asked. "I don't remember hearing anything about you guys going to the beach."
"Spontaneous adventure. The guild master has the information for our trip in case he needed us." She explained, and turned back to Wendy and Carla. "Side trips like this are fine, but you need to let us know when you change plans, okay?"
"We're sorry." Both girls bowed politely.
"It's okay, I know that it'll take a while to get used to checking in with us."
"What's with all the layers? Are you afraid of getting sunburned, or something?" Natsu asked her, wrinkling his nose as he inspected her. Out of all of them, she was the only one not showing off a bikini or swim trunks.
"Mom is adorable!" Her babies suddenly announced behind her, and Claire turned slightly, seeing that 2 out of 5 of Bickslow's babies had come to join them.
5.
June 10th, 5:30 PM
A few minutes after sitting down at the nice restaurant, a woman and her baby sat down right behind Claire's chair. That wouldn't have been an issue, if the infant didn't start screaming almost immediately after sitting down, and the mother wouldn't do anything to help quiet him down.
Since Claire couldn't stomach much, she settled on getting a salad and water. While her comrades perused the menu, trying to ignore the wailing child, the fire mage shifted in her seat to look at the people behind her.
The waiter was just serving the mom a glass of wine, to which she immediately started chugging. Large, fake gold earrings shined from her loose ears and similar jewelry hung from her body. Too much make up covered her obviously tired face, and she was in the middle of taking out one of her cigarettes to smoke. On this world they weren't illegal indoors, though it was frowned upon to do around children.
She ignored the infant best she could. The wrinkled woman wore a cheap black dress with a stain by the breast. Her eyes only briefly landed on the infant, who was maybe a few months old, but otherwise gave him little to no attention.
It tore Claire's heart to hear the sound.
"Is that your kid?" She asked the woman, to which she simply lit up her cigarette, and blew the smoke in her face.
"Yes, you blond prick." She spat, narrowing her eyes at the fire mage.
"Well, are you allergic to him or something?"
"Don't tell me how to raise my kid. You don't know me."
Claire knew that feeling all too well, to have someone judge you for how you treated your kid, and found herself tempted to soul possess her just so that she would take care of her own child. "I'm Alex, and I'll be your waiter today. Can I get some drinks started?" The waiter asked, and upon hearing the sound, Claire turned to look at him.
It was the punk that robbed her that day. What were the odds?
As he made his way around the table, she contemplated the ways she could handle this. If she outed him, she risked her friends killing him. If she discretely threatened him, maybe she could get some free stuff out of it. Well, not exactly free considering what he stole, maybe she could get some of it back.
"Anything for you mi-" The water choked up mid-sentence when he got to her, and a small smirk graced her lips. Good, he knows the shit that he's in.
"I'll just have water, thank you."
He coughed awkwardly into his hand. "Are you, uh, sure that you don't want anything else? A nice glass of wine, on the house?"
"I can't have alcohol since I'm pregnant," She told him. "But I guess I'll have a mixed berry smoothie. Still free?"
"Y-yeah, why not? Anyone else want a free smoothie?"
"Can I get a milkshake?" Mike asked her.
"Sure, why not?" Claire replied nonchalantly.
"What kind?" The waiter asked.
"Chocolate!"
"I'll have a strawberry milkshake." Erza added. After a round of new orders, the mages getting a sudden sweet tooth from the sweet drinks mentioned, the waiter finally walked off quickly to place the orders.
"What was that about?" Bickslow whispered to the woman next to him.
"I'll tell you about it later." Claire told him with a wink.
"Gaaah, will someone shut that baby up? It's hurting my ears." Natsu whined, and although he wasn't exactly nice in his declaration, many of the other wizards at the table were feeling the same. Lucy leaned over, a few seats away from the woman ignoring her child, and tried to politely get her attention.
"Hi, uh, sorry to bother you," The blond spoke awkwardly, visibly taken aback by the harsh glare that the inattentive parent gave her. "But, uh, could you maybe take your baby outside until he stops crying? He's kind of loud…."
The woman blew smoke in her face, and the blond coughed, returning to her previous posture.
Feeling something build up in her chest, Claire sat up slightly and was about to excuse herself for the restroom, when instead a strange sound reverberated from her chest. It was extremely similar to the sound she made when she listened to headphones, but the sound was much, much lower. She doubted that anyone without exceptional hearing would be able to pick it up.
A calm quiet suddenly enveloped the room as the baby stopped crying, and a collective sigh of relief filled the room.
"I didn't know you could do that without headphones." Wendy told her with a smile.
"Neither did I." Claire replied, sinking into her seat slightly. She wasn't making the sound on purpose.
"Someone really likes you." Bickslow whispered, and she looked up at him in confusion, only for him to nod his head back. When she looked behind her, the little infant was staring up at her with big, wide, and curious brown eyes. He giggled when their eyes made contact, and a too adorable baby smile encompassed his entire face.
"Stop lookin' at my kid." The infant's mother snapped. Reluctantly, Claire turned back to her table, and realized that another baby across the room was also staring at her. It was a cross between adorable and insanely creepy.
6.
June 10th, 8:30 PM
"I'm sorry." Bickslow apologized when they were alone. After a long dinner with their comrades and walking back to their hotel, they had changed into comfier clothing, the seith mage pulled her into the bathroom with him. Traveling for a month with Michael got them accustomed to this way of getting alone time, and the boy got used to them spending way too much time in the bathroom together.
"For what?"
"That our vacation sucks."
"It's not that bad."
"Some guy robbed us within the first half hour of being on the beach, Natsu and his team showed up, and now we had another two days to put up with them."
"They're not too bad."
"They're terrible." He told her decisively, and she chuckled. Compared to his team nowadays, she actually preferred the rambunctious group to the snotty idiots getting her house torn apart and her family kicked out of. "You are beautiful and wonderful, and I just wanted a few days for you to be stress free and healing with your photosynthesis thing."
"Is that why you wanted me to sunbathe?" She asked curiously.
"The only reason you don't do it more often is because you're afraid of turning into a dragon. At this point, your magic is so low that it's not an issue."
She looked down, sadly, and he watched her soul shrink up slightly. Not as bad as the other day, but still bad.
"No, no, no," Bickslow spoke quickly, and ran his hands under her thighs to pick her up and set her on the counter. "Why do you get so depressed when I bring up your magic?" He tried to study her face for some kind of answer, but aside from sad, he really had no idea what was exactly making her so upset. "Come on, I'm not a mind reader. I don't care about what the reason is, I just want to know what it is so that I can make it better."
She slouched, as if tried to sink into the ground, but he wouldn't let her.
"Do I have to play the guessing game?" He asked. No answer.
"Can you just drop it?"
"Nuh-uh." He informed her. "Are you self-conscious about how you look? Do you think you're not attractive enough? Do you… think people think you're weak because of your magic level?" She shifted, and he guessed that the last one hit the mark. "Honey, no one's judging you on your magic level. Everyone at Fairy Tail knows what it's like to be low on magic, except maybe you."
"How can I protect our child without magic?" She choked, voice cracking as she stared at the stupid drawing of a dog on his shirt. "Our kid is going to end up with some kind of deficiency since I can't keep down a stupid sandwich. Maybe everyone's been right and I just need to shovel tons of food in my mouth until something sticks." Her body shook as she spoke, emotional pain wracking through her and shaking her to her core.
"Honey…"
"Severe morning sickness like I have is usually hereditary, but no one else my family has had it that I know of, and both my mom and sister turned into whales by the end of their first month. I'm a walking skeleton with a barely hospital womb and a terrible mother."
"Heeey, you are not a terrible mom. If anyone has told you that, they're complete morons." He told her, and she choked a small laugh, resting her face against his chest. "You carried Wendy through one of the most deadly places in the world, with a stab wound, and you both made it out okay. In my visions, you were so dedicated to saving our baby that you were prepared to chew your own arm off. You called my babies 'adorable' when everyone else called them 'abominations' or 'creepy bastards'."
She quietly listened, still trembling in his arms.
"You adopted my nephew when you were recovering from open heart surgery, you were willing to take in my other nephew and niece because you wanted them in safe homes. I could literally go on for hours giving examples of what an amazing mother you are." Bickslow told her, gently petting her hair to try and further soothe her. "So what if you can't keep food down? Your body can withstand tougher shit than anyone, you should have died several time now, and you pulled through. The doctor said that so long as you stay hydrated, take those vitamins, and avoid stress, the baby will be fine."
"Everyone at the guild hall thinks I'm starving myself."
"Everyone at the guild hall is a dumbass. Natsu tried to eat his soup with a damn fork today." He told her, and although it was a little out of context, it still applied. "It doesn't matter what they think, only what the healer says."
"I can't eat the meal plan that Ever made me." She told him.
"She can go fuck herself. I asked her to help you be healthy, not guilt you into puking half your weight." He explained. "And you know what? In another month, you're going to be fat and miserable because you'll be so big."
She smiled at the idea, and although at the concept that he was probably right.
"You should stop comparing your size to your mom and Carol, because you know what? I think they're just fat, not even pregnant fat. As soon as Carol found out she was pregnant and Mira wanted to keep it, Mira probably went into 'mommy mode' and shoveled tons of food down her throat. Then, roped Elfman into carrying everything for them, no doubt Carol isn't working as much, so the fat that Carol got isn't from being pregnant. It's from being lazy and eating too much."
Claire laughed, imagining her sister in the tiny bikini she wore the other day. She did look a lot chubbier, even for being pregnant, than just a few weeks ago.
"I'm also guessing that neither your mom nor Carol just got back from one of the most deadliest places in the world and traveled across several countries by foot, train, and ship. Not to mention you fought off a horde of poltergeists just the other day, mostly by yourself. Give yourself a little credit for that. I've heard of seith mages that have been using magic for over 5 decades, and one day they get overrun by poltergeists because they weren't careful enough."
It irked her a little that he managed to make her feel so better, since she still felt like she was doing something wrong, but she was scrambling to find a good example.
"As for your magic level…" He added, recalling that that's what started the whole thing. "I've got enough for both of us right now. It's my baby too, and nothing bad is going to happen on my watch."