Hello, everyone !

I'm back with the tenth chapter :D

I hope you enjoy reading this~

Disclaimer: I only own Haru Heartfilia and the plot

Lucy couldn't find her voice. She just stared at Lyon with her eyes widened. Even after three years, he still looked the same. His bluish silver hair, his slanted eyes, even the way he smiled was still the same. He was still the same Lyon Vastia that Lucy had loved back then. The same Lyon Vastia that broke her heart.

The only thing that's different right now is the way he looked at her. It wasn't quite apparent, but Lucy could clearly see the disgust that flashed in his eyes as he stared at her.

It felt like her heart stopped. Lyon had never once look at her that way when they were still a couple. He looked angry and annoyed when he knew Lucy would raise Yukino's son, but there was no disgust there. She didn't know how he looked at her after they broke up because she didn't have a chance to cross path with him anymore, so she assumed that that must be the way he looked at her after their story was over.

"What a surprise seeing you here." Lyon's voice snapped Lucy back to her senses. He walked over to her, his eyes caught the staff pass that was encircling her neck. He reached out his hand to hold the pass and read it over. "Hmm… An exclusive reporter from the Sorcerer's Weekly for Fired Up!'s tour, eh? You're quite a big shot now, aren't you?"

Lucy stumbled back a step and quickly turned her body around. "I—I'll be going now."

"Not so fast." Lyon grabbed her elbow and turned her body around again to face him. "It's been three years since we last met, don't you think we should catch up for a bit?"

"There's nothing for us to catch up for." Lucy replied.

"Oh, don't say that." Lyon smiled. "Let's see… What about that boy, huh? Surely we can catch up for that, right?"

"No, I don't want to." Lucy tried to yank her hand away, but Lyon just grabbed her elbow tighter. Lucy glared at him. "Let me go."

"Don't be so cold towards me, Lucy." Lyon said. "We'd dated for two years, remember? Is this how you treated your ex?"

"Let me go!" Lucy finally succeeded in getting away from Lyon's grip by yanking her hand a bit harder. "We're over, Lyon. I won't disturb your life, so don't disturb mine."

Lyon chuckled. "Man, you've changed now, eh? Guess raising a kid changes you. But, Lucy… We've finally met again after three years, don't you want to know how I'm doing?"

"No." Lucy flatly said. "And you don't have to tell me."

"I'm now the guitarist of Saber Lamia and we're on our first tour!" Lyon ignored Lucy's answer. "Of course we aren't as popular as Fired Up! right now, but we've just won the Grand Award for Best Newcomer Band a month ago! It won't be long before our popularity reached the same level as Fired Up!'s, or maybe even higher than—"

"Who are you babbling to now, Lyon?"

Lyon's words were cut and he immediately looked back at the person who called his name. "Oh, hey, Sting."

That name made Lucy's body stilled. Her eyes instantly darted at the same direction as Lyon's, her body tensed as her eyes caught a familiar figure. A spiky haired young man was walking towards Lyon, his dark blue eyes were staring back at Lyon and not her. Lucy's eyes glanced up, pain stung her heart as she stared at his blond hair. She had never met him before, but she would always recognize that shade of blond and that name anywhere.

Sting Eucliffe.

The person that Lucy knew only from a photo Yukino had once showed her. He was Yukino's boyfriend back in college, before he ended things with her one-sidedly and was the first step of Yukino's plunge into darkness.

He was Haru's birth father.

Lucy unconsciously fisted her hands in anger. No matter how much she hated him for hurting Yukino, he was still the man her cousin loved so much. Even though her heart broke because of him, Yukino still forgave him and loved him with the remaining pieces of her heart. During her pregnancy, Yukino also kept telling Lucy about her happy memories with Sting, even though she couldn't stop her tears right after. Lucy knew her cousin was being stupid, but Yukino was still the cousin she dearly loved. She had no other choice, except just holding back her annoyance and anger. Moreover, his blood flowed in Haru's body. No matter how much Lucy despised him, it didn't change the fact that Haru is Sting's flesh and blood.

Lucy really hated this kind of reality.

"Who's this?" Sting raised an eyebrow as he eyed Lucy.

"Oh, my ex." Lyon introduced. "Lucy, this is the main vocalist of my band, Sting Eucliffe. Sting, this is my ex, Lucy Heartfilia."

"Lucy Heartfilia?" Sting repeated. "Ah, you mean your memorable ex from college?"

"Yeah." Lyon chuckled.

Sting scoffed and folded his arms in front of his chest. "So? Are you trying to get her permission to start taking care of your kid now?"

"Hey!" Lyon protested. "I've told you, that's not my kid!"

"You do know I still think you knocked her up back in college but refused to take responsibility, right?" Sting smirked.

"For the umpteenth time, I didn't knock her up!" Lyon rolled his eyes. "Hell, we'd never even done that during our relationship!"

"You actually want me to believe that all you did with your girl was kissing?" Sting retorted.

"Duh." Lyon replied. "I've told you she had an affair behind my back and got knocked up instead!"

"Affair?" Lucy instantly hissed. She couldn't believe what she heard!

"Yeah, well, that's what the rumor was all about back then, anyway." Lyon shrugged.

"You seriously think I cheated on you back then?" Lucy gritted her teeth. "Did I ever look pregnant to you?!"

"Well, you can always hide it, no?" Lyon asked back. "Like wearing baggy clothes or something like that. Some people even have an unnoticeable baby bump during pregnancy."

"Lyon, you…!" Lucy was about to speak out each and every curse she could think of, but somehow it stopped right on the tip of her tongue. At the end, she only sighed in annoyance. "You know what? I don't care what you think of me, anyway. Let's separate ways once and for all forever."

"You don't care what I think of you?" Lyon scoffed. "Don't tell me you weren't affected by how people looked at you back in college, Lucy! When you showed up all of a sudden while carrying a baby in your arms!"

"Why are you bringing that up now?!" Lucy's line of patience almost snapped.

"Can't I?" Lyon said. "Besides, you still owe me an apology!"

"Why should I apologize to you?"

"Do you know how much I suffered back then?" Lyon became annoyed.

"Suffered?" Lucy hissed. "What kind of suffering could you possibly go through, Lyon Vastia? I was the one who had to deal with all of that!"

"Whoa, dude." Sting put a hand on Lyon's shoulder. "Don't get pissed off because of a baby that looked like you."

"He looked like her, idiot!" Lyon hissed at his main vocalist. He then fished out his phone, browsed on it for a while, then showed Sting the screen. "Look at this! Look how similar that kid to her, with his blond hair and brown eyes! Isn't this proof that he is her son? And yet, back then, she dared to say that this baby is her cousin's son! At first I don't believe she cheated on me either, but after seeing the baby, of course I trusted that rumor!"

Sting's body tensed upon seeing the photo, something that Lucy noticed.

That face…, Sting muttered in surprise inwardly.

Lucy bit her inner cheek. Judging from his surprised look, Lucy knew that Sting recognized Yukino's face on Haru's photo.

"Did you say… cousin?" Sting slowly stared back at Lucy.

"Where did you get that?!" Lucy quickly threw her gaze away from Sting and instead tried to take the phone away from Lyon.

"I secretly snapped it!" Being taller than her, Lyon easily stretched out his hand so that his phone was out of Lucy's reach. "Because this is proof that you cheated on me, Lucy!"

"I didn't cheat on you and I had never!" Lucy huffed out angrily. "But if you refused to believe me and you'd rather keep believing in that stupid rumor, then be my guest! We're over, Lyon, and I don't want you back in my life!"

"Who wants you back either?" Lyon scoffed. "I don't want to be responsible in raising a kid who is not even mine!"

"Stop bringing that up!" Lucy gritted her teeth and kicked Lyon's shin. "Just take care of your band, Lyon, instead of annoying the hell out of me like this!"

"Ouch!" Lyon lifted his shin up in reflex, then quickly grabbed Lucy's arm again to prevent her from leaving. "I won't let you go away just like that without you saying sorry first!"

"Let me go!" Lucy tried to yank her hand away again, but Lyon held firm this time.

"Tell me, Lucy," Lyon smirked. "I remember that you took care of that kid all by yourself in college, guess that means his father refused to take a responsibility, right? What about now? Has his father showed up and tried to amend things with you?"

"That's none of your business!" Lucy glared. "Let me go, Lyon!"

Lyon ignored Lucy's words and his eyes traveled down onto her fingers. "Hmm… No rings, eh? Guess you're still a single mother, then?"

"Let me go!" Lucy struggled.

"Don't you regret it, Lucy?" Lyon taunted. "If you've never had that kid, I'm sure your life would have been different now. Maybe we're still in a relationship, or perhaps, I might have proposed to you. You'll be the fiancée of the Saber Lamia's guitarist, you'll have an easy life. But you know what? It's still not too late. You can still leave that kid at an orphanage, bury your past as a single mother forever, then find a nice guy to spend the rest of your life with. Besides, maybe that kid will have a better life if he is adopted by some childless rich family and—"

"Let her go."

Another hand suddenly grabbed Lyon's and forcefully broke them away. Both Lyon and Lucy quickly whipped their heads to look over.

Lucy's breath hitched upon seeing who had just helped her, but thankfully her brain was quick enough to stop her tongue from calling her savior's name out loud.

Because it was Natsu.

"Who the hell are you?" Lyon glared at Natsu, not recognizing him because he was wearing a wig and a pair of glasses.

Natsu pulled Lucy to behind him, placing himself between her and Lyon. "I don't think it's appropriate for a guy to keep pestering another guy's girl, right?"

Lucy blushed upon hearing Natsu's words, but quickly shook her head and inwardly scolded herself to get a grip. This isn't the time for her to blush!

"Oh, you're her current boyfriend?" Lyon said. "But this is a problem between her and her ex, which is me, so you can just step aside for a moment."

"Get away from my girl." Natsu warned.

Lyon scoffed. "What's this? You actually got a protective one, eh, Lucy? How did you do it?" Lyon suddenly gasped dramatically. "Don't tell me… He didn't know you have a son already, did he? He didn't know that some other guy knocked you up back then and—"

Whatever Lyon was going to say after that was abruptly cut off as Natsu's fist landed on his cheek. Natsu's jaw tensed, his dark green eyes glared at Lyon in anger.

"Na—!" Lucy's breath choked. "I—I mean, what are you doing!"

"Punching him." Natsu looked back at Lucy and grinned. "Man, I've always wanted to do that to him."

Lucy blinked. "Wait… You knew him?"

"Only from some stories." Natsu shrugged.

"What stories… Oh. Levy-chan told you about him, didn't she?" Lucy asked.

Natsu simply nodded and held Lucy's hand. "Let's get out of here."

But a hand quickly turned Natsu's body around again and another hand swung its fist at Natsu's face. Natsu instinctively dodged, missing the punch by a split of a hair.

"You bastard!" Lyon roared and lunged at Natsu, quickly grabbing her collars.

"Lyon!" Lucy screamed, but Natsu quickly placed himself in front of her to keep her safe.

"Lyon, knock it off!" Sting tried to pry Lyon away from Natsu, but Lyon was too angry to listen.

"LYON VASTIA, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Lucy jumped a bit at the sudden thunderous voice.

"Orga…" Lyon looked back at the one who had just scolded him and released Natsu's collar.

Orga Nanagear, the leader and the drummer of the Saber Lamia, was standing not far behind them. Along with him were the rest of the band's members: Rogue Cheney who was also the band's guitarist and also Rufus Lore, the band's bassist.

Orga walked towards them and quickly yanked Lyon away from Natsu and Lucy. "Are you stupid? Take a look around you! The staffs are gathering, the media and the paparazzi are snapping pictures from the outside! We're on our opening event for our very first tour, Lyon, don't you dare ruin it!"

"But he punched me, Orga!" Lyon protested.

"We're celebrities, think about your public image for a second before swinging your fist back like that!" Orga hissed. "Let's go! Our press conference is about to start! Sting, you too! Why the hell didn't you stop them?!"

"I…" Sting abruptly stopped his words. "Sorry."

"Let's go, you pair of imbeciles!" Orga wrapped his muscular hands around his two members' necks then dragged them away. Sting glanced back at Lucy, but quickly shifted his gaze away again.

"That's rude." Natsu softly scoffed. "Not even a word of apology."

"You…!" Lucy slapped Natsu's back, prompting Natsu to turn around and face her. "What would you if they knew it's you?!"

"Are you okay?" Natsu ignored Lucy's question and instead cupping her cheeks.

"I—I'm fine." Lucy couldn't fight the sudden blush that colored her cheeks.

"Thank goodness." Natsu smiled, his eyes then darted towards Lucy's arm. He gently took it and softly rubbed the knuckles. "It's a bit red, you should ask Levy to give you a pack of ice."

"S—sure." Lucy drowned in Natsu's warmth and care towards her, before her rationality kicked in. "That's not what's important, here! What would you do if they knew it's you?!"

Natsu chuckled in response to Lucy's repeated question. "They won't. My wig is pretty trustworthy."

Lucy glared back at him, but then smiled at him. "Thank you, though."

Natsu grinned back and softly patted her head. He then regretfully let go of Lucy's hand and walked away. "I better head back to the press conference room right away. I'll see you there."

"Sure." Lucy nodded and waved at Natsu. A thought then suddenly appeared in Lucy's mind. How did Natsu conveniently popped out earlier? What a great timing he had.

Little did Lucy know, Natsu was actually looking for her when he peeked into the press conference room and couldn't find her figure. His gut feeling instantly told him that something bad was happening to her, so Natsu quickly wore his disguises and stepped out to look for her. When he saw a guy was stubbornly holding on her and smirked mockingly at her, something boiled within Natsu and he quickly walked over. When he heard how the guy was dissing at Lucy, Natsu couldn't take it anymore. He quickly stepped in to get him away from her.

And when Natsu knew that the guy was Lyon, Lucy's ex, he couldn't stop his fist from punching him. Not that he even wanted to, anyway.

Natsu clicked his tongue in regret. Damn it, he should have punched him harder, hard enough until he bit his own tongue! That jerk!

Just what exactly did Lucy see from him back then?!

In Saber Lamia's press conference room…

Lyon and Orga were bombed with questions regarding Lyon's fight with an unknown guy over a blond haired girl earlier. Rogue and Rufus also helped to soothe the situation in every way they could, even though they weren't there from the beginning and they didn't know what exactly happened. While his four bandmates were busy answering questions from the reporters, Sting's memories took him back to four years ago.

To the day that changed his life forever.

Yukino was sitting on an empty bench, fiddling with her fingers nervously as she glanced to her right from time to time. Finally, after waiting for around 15 minutes, the one that she had been waiting for arrived. Yukino's eyes lit up upon seeing the blond young man who became her boyfriend since a few months ago.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Sting ran towards his girlfriend. "The class ended late."

"It's okay." Yukino smiled at her boyfriend. "Are you hungry? I brought you lunch."

Sting's smile lit up. "I'm starving! What did you cook for me?"

"Your favorite." Yukino giggled and opened her lunchbox for him.

Sting quickly took his chopsticks and popped a rolled omelette into his mouth. "Mmhmm… This is so good, Yukino!"

"Eat up." Yukino said, pushing the other lunchboxes towards her boyfriend.

Sting gobbled up his girlfriend's cooking, his stomach was pretty hungry. He then realized Yukino was acting a bit strange. "Yukino? What's wrong? You seemed so anxious."

"I…" Yukino couldn't find her voice for a few seconds. She then took a deep breath to brace herself and stared at Sting right at his eyes. "I… I'm pregnant, Sting."

Sting's body stilled, his chopsticks and the rolled omelette fell onto the bench.

"…What?"

Fearing that her boyfriend couldn't hear her, Yukino took Sting's sudden stiff hand and placed it on top of her stomach. "There's a baby growing inside of me, Sting. Our baby."

Sting suddenly felt he was showered with cold water out of nowhere. His hand was as stiff as a statue, but he could somehow felt that there was something else within Yukino's belly.

It took him a few more minutes of processing, before Sting could find his voice back. "How far along?"

"I haven't gone to the hospital yet, so I'm not really sure, but counting from my menstrual cycle… I'd say about six weeks." Yukino smiled. "Can you believe this, Sting? There's another life growing inside of me! Isn't it amazing? I wonder how our child will look like once they're born! Will they look like you or like me? Will they have your hair and my eyes, or my hair and your—"

"Abort it." Sting retracted his hands and cut Yukino off with a cold tone.

"W—What?" Yukino blinked.

"Abort it, Yukino." Sting repeated.

"A—A—Abort—" Yukino stuttered out of shock. "S—Sting! How can you say that?! This is our child!"

"Six weeks is still safe for an abortion." Sting flatly replied.

"Sting!" Tears started to fill Yukino's eyes.

"I don't want—that, Yukino!" Sting spat out. "We're still in the first year of college! How are we going to raise a child?!"

Yukino's breath choked upon hearing the way Sting referred to their unborn child. "We can work it out together! I don't want to abort it! I don't want an abortion!"

Sting ruffled his hair in anger and frustration. He'd always made sure that he wore protection every time they did it! Who would have ever thought that an accident like this would happen? The protection he used last time must have been defective somehow.

"Damn it, Yukino, just abort it!" Sting hissed, still remember to hold back his voice so nobody could hear him. Even though there were only the two of them here, but ears could be everywhere.

"I don't want to!" Tears rolled down from Yukino's eyes.

"Yukino, I don't want it!" Sting said. "I'm not ready for any of this and I'm unable to provide for the both of you!"

"We can get all sorts of part-time jobs, Sting!" Yukino pleaded and grabbed Sting's arm. "We can work this out together!"

"What am I supposed to say to your family and mine?!" Sting slapped Yukino's hands away. "What will our friends say about us?! I can't, Yukino, I can't! I can't bear this responsibility, not now! If you don't want to abort it, then it's up to you to raise that yourself!"

It felt like Yukino's heart had just shattered into pieces.

"S—Sting…"

"I can only give you two options now: either you abort it, or you're on your own!" Sting said.

"You… You're going to leave me just like this?" Yukino muttered softly.

Sting sighed heavily upon hearing Yukino's soft mutter. He calmed himself down and hugged his girlfriend. "Yukino, I'm sorry. But I'm not ready for a family now. If you want to keep this baby, then I… I'm unable to bear the responsibility. I can't. Please, Yukino… For your own future also, just abort this baby…"

Upon hearing Sting's words, Yukino sobbed in his arms.

"Okay, Yukino?" Sting patiently rubbed his girlfriend's hair. "I'll look for a safe abortion clinic so it won't endanger your life. After this, we should be more careful or perhaps we can just not do it until—"

"No."

"Eh?" Sting blinked confusedly.

. Yukino gently pushed them apart, then gently shook her head. "No, Sting. I'm not aborting this baby."

"Yukino…!"

"No matter what, this is my child." Yukino said as she placed her hands protectively in front of her belly. "Whether you want to be responsible for it or not, this is my child. I can't throw away my flesh and blood."

"Yukino, you…!"

"You've made it clear to me, Sting." Yukino smiled bitterly. "If those two options are all that you can give me, then I will choose to be on my own."

"Yukino!" Sting hissed. "Think about this carefully! This isn't something that you can decide just on a whim—"

"It's not a whim!" Yukino said. "I've thought about this on my own days before I decided to tell you, so no matter what, I'm keeping this baby!"

Then without waiting for Sting's response, Yukino stood up and quickly walked away from there.

"Yukino!" Sting called, but he was ignored.

The buzz from the medias slowly brought Sting's focus back to the reality. He lightly scoffed upon remembering how stubborn Yukino was back then in keeping that thing. And yet, she decided to hand her baby over to her cousin at the end instead.

What a hypocrite.

Done !

Huft, another roller-coaster chapter is finished !

What do you think about this chapter ?

Don't forget to leave your reviews and/or flames :D

P.S.: Below here is a little bonus for you !

Yukino rubbed her seven-month-pregnant belly affectionately, while waiting for Lucy to come back home from her part-time job. Ever since she was kicked out of her family and dropped out of college, she lived together with Lucy to lessen her expenses. Yukino was grateful beyond words towards her cousin. Without her, she wouldn't have been able to survive until now.

"Yukino, I'm home!" Lucy's cheery voice greeted her ears. "I bought some chicken soup for you and your baby!"

"Welcome back, Lucy!" Yukino greeted back.

"Hey there, young mommy." Lucy chuckled and sat down beside her cousin. "How did the check-up go?"

Yukino handed over her ultrasound results towards Lucy with a bright smile. "It's a boy."

"I'm having a nephew?!" Lucy squealed and eagerly snatched the ultrasound photo. "It's a boy! I'm having a nephew, Yukino! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Lucy." Yukino laughed at her cousin's excitement.

"Have you decided on his name?" Lucy teasingly asked.

To her surprise, Yukino nodded. "It's Haru."

"Haru?" Lucy raised an eyebrow. "But Yukino, you won't give birth to him on spring…"

"But I met Sting on spring." Yukino gently smiled.

"Yukino!" Lucy complained. She was so sensitive with that particular name after Yukino told her everything. "Don't tell me you're going to give my nephew that jerk's surname, too! Haru Aguria sounds so much—"

"Haru Heartfilia." Yukino interrupted, causing Lucy to be momentarily stunned. Yukino's smile widened. "His name would be Haru Heartfilia, Lucy."

"Yukino…" Lucy's gaze softened.

"Lucy, listen to me." Yukino gently took Lucy's hand into hers. Lucy flinched upon feeling how bony she was. After Yukino announced she was pregnant, her life had never been easy. She had lost so much weight and yet she would still do whatever she could to keep her baby safe and healthy. "I'm not going to make through the labor."

"Yukino!" Lucy glared. "We've promised not to talk about that anymore!"

"No, please listen." Yukino urged, making Lucy bit back her leftover protests. "I know the limit of my own body, and I know I won't make it through the labor, Lucy. Once I'm gone, I want you to take care of my baby. I want you to love him as if he is your own and raise him as if he is your real son."

"Yukino…!" Lucy choked.

"Please." Yukino smiled, although she couldn't stop her tears from rolling down. "He doesn't need to know who is his real parents are. I want him to grow up only knowing you as his mother. And I hope that one day, you'll find someone who can love him too as if he is their real son."

Lucy's voice failed and she softly sobbed.

"Please promise me that, Lucy." Yukino hugged her cousin as she also started to sob. "Let me be selfish for one last time…"

"I promise." Lucy hugged her cousin back and softly nodded. "I promise to love and raise him as my own and I won't marry anyone who won't love him the way I love him."

Yukino let out a soft chuckle. "Thank you Lucy, thank you."

Six weeks later, Yukino gave birth prematurely to a healthy baby boy named Haru Heartfilia.

She then soon breathed in her last breath and passed away in the labor room.

And not being there beside Yukino when she was giving birth was one of the biggest regrets in Lucy's life.