S.R: So how'd you guys like the ending of the last chapter? I'm fairly certain you all already know whats going to happen. Rather than build up the suspense for what happens after I'm going to shut up now and let you guys read.
Cana wasn't certain she could slow the drake down enough to at least let Happy get the baby to safety but she had to try. Tossing a trio of cards behind her and into the drake's face she cried out "Cards magic: The Prayers Fountain!"
A large gushing torrent of water sprayed forth, blinding the drake temporarily as Happy caught up to Cana. She handed the baby over, but before Happy could start moving, the drake had already caught up lashing out at them with it's claws.
The flying blue cat was sent to the ground as one of the drakes claws tore through his white wings from the Aera magic he was using. Thankfully it didn't actually damage his body directly instead just destroying his magic wings. Luckily Cana was only knocked to the ground by the claws and not cut or pierced. It was also lucky that Happy and the baby were cushioned as they fell on top of her. Unable to throw her cards for another spell in time as they were pinned under the two on her stomach, Cana closed her eyes in acceptance as the drake closed in on them with it's jaws wide open.
"I don't smell any other drakes, so you're the last one."
A voice spoke out as the drake was stopped in it's tracks. When Cana opened her eyes she saw Natsu with his right arm extended. Blood ran down his arm but she had a feeling it wasn't his. The drake was thrashing about, but rather weakly and not in a way that would suggest it was trying to get away from the pink haired man. Natsu shook his head sadly as he covered his arm in flames, but the heat from the fire was far beyond anything Cana remembered Natsu being capable of. As the flames burnt the drake and caused it to thrash about in pain, the brunette noticed it's movements were becoming more and more sluggish. Moments went by as the drake grew weaker and weaker, moving less and less, until it went still.
"I hate that I had to do this..."
Natsu mumbled when he pulled his arm free, letting Cana see that he had punched through the top of the drakes mouth and into it's skull, when he stopped it from eating her, Happy, and the baby she'd rescued. Strangely she noticed the child was silent and started to panic, but as she looked at the cloth wrapped infant she realized it had just fallen asleep the rise and fall of her chest only just being noticeable underneath the blanket that was wrapped around her.
"You okay Cana?"
"Y-yeah. That was a bit close for comfort though."
She responded her heart still beating fast as the adrenaline wore off. But she was calming down as she didn't need to panic about the baby's safety just yet.
"I know. The drakes were pretty spread out. I managed to kill four of them before I noticed one was heading towards you. I got a fifth one with a surprise attack while I ran. Then this guy. I thought I felt your magic drop pretty suddenly, so can I take that as you dealt with the other two?"
The Card magic mage just nodded her head, as she tried to calm her still fast beating heart now that she was safe. Natsu gently lifted Happy off of her, the blue cat having fallen unconsciousness from the pain of his wings being destroyed, despite the fact they were made of magic. But then he noticed the baby that Happy was trying to carry to safety. He almost panicked, but he saw the rise and fall of the little ones chest. Sighing in relief that the baby was okay, Natsu gave Happy a proud smile, even though he wasn't awake to return it.
"I'll carry these two. Let's go see the survivors and make sure everything is okay."
Natsu offered as Cana stood up. She was going to frown about the idea of Natsu carrying the baby, but then she remembered he raised Happy and had a general idea on how to carry the baby girl. The tenderness of his movements as he slowly and carefully maneuvered the two in his arms being enough to convince her it was okay to let the pink haired man carry them.
"Alright. Just remember to be quiet since she's sleeping."
Natsu smiled softly at that, before slowly spinning on his heels and walking towards the path that would lead them out of the valley and back to the train station. Around the time that they got to the top of the hill and out of the valley the little girl woke up. Natsu and Cana both thought she would have started to cry since they were strangers, but rather than cry she giggled at Natsu. Making silly faces at her to keep her entertained Natsu smiled from ear to ear as they walked. Cana also had a smile on her face at the scene.
When Happy stirred in Natsu's arms, he handed the baby over to Cana while he made sure the exceed was okay. The little girl was perfectly content in Cana's arms just like she was in Natsu's. Though since Cana wouldn't make silly faces for her she settled for giggling as she pulled on the brunette's hair and tried to grab her nose.
"You sure you're okay buddy?"
"Aye, sir! Something soft broke my fall so I didn't hurt myself too much."
Cana grumbled at that, but since Happy was already out cold when he collided with her stomach she let it slide. Happy did look around for the baby, but when he saw her in Cana's arms he sighed in relief that they'd managed to save her too.
"Still. It's surprising she isn't crying. We're strangers after all, and she has to want her mother."
Natsu said when he noticed where Happy was looking.
"Her mother wasn't going to survive and begged me to protect her."
Cana said with a frown, tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she remembered the scene. Natsu frowned as well. No one spoke for a moment as they offered up a small pray for the baby's mother.
"So how do we handle this? See if some of the survivors can take her? Find an orphanage?"
Cana just shrugged. Both sounded like good ideas. Sure she was growing to like the baby, but Cana didn't think that she or Natsu would be able to raise the little girl properly.
"Well let's check with the survivors and see what happens."
She offered after a moment. Nodding at her idea Natsu and Happy followed her to the train station. Luckily one of men that survived was able to use Dispel magic and freed everyone from the cards that Cana had sealed them in so Happy could carry them all in one go. After being thanked profusely over and over by the survivors, Cana mentioned the baby, and tried to hand her over to one of the woman that managed to escape. But the little girl in her arms began wailing the moment Cana stepped away. She reached towards Cana in a way that made it seem as if she was pleading for her to come back. No one was able to calm her down, as all of the adults that lived and worked in the vineyard tried to comfort her. It wasn't until Natsu tried to comfort her that the little one stopped crying. But the crying started up once more when he followed Cana's lead and tried to hand her to another adult so Natsu took her back. While the whining stopped the baby girl was frowning. Unable to handle the sad look on her face Natsu began playing with her while Cana figured things out.
"She seems attached to the two of you."
The elderly man that Cana had spoken with to start the job said. He had watched as the infant sobbed when away from the two with a mix of awe and confusion over just how fast the little girl had grown attached to them. His tone of voice did make the brunette think he as asking if they would take care of her since she didn't want to be separated from them.
"Natsu may have raised Happy here, but I don't think either of us could raise her properly."
Cana said with a frown. It was too much of a struggle to hand her over to these people. People who knew her mother and were part of her life already. She didn't like the idea of handing the child over to an orphanage, mostly because it would be even harder to comfort her since they'd be complete strangers, unlike the adults that they tried to hand her to.
"What choice do we have though Cana? She knows these people yet, clings to us instead. Just imagine how much worse it would be with an orphanage."
Natsu said, his tone making Cana look at him in confusion. She would have thought Natsu wouldn't be as considerate as he was of the situation. She was a little surprised he'd had the same thought as her in regards to how the little girl would react to being handed over at an orphanage. But it also looked like he was bonding with the little one already since he had yet to divert his attention away from the giggling baby in his arms. Which was something she couldn't deny doing a bit of herself as she had also grown to like the little girl. But Cana didn't know that Natsu had already decided to make sure the little girl had someone that would always be there to look out for her. He didn't want to risk her being adopted and then abandoned. He didn't want her to to grow up without a parent either.
Cana was still unsure however.
"I know but… Do you really think either of us could be parents?"
"Well she's attached to both of us so I'd say we're in this together. Besides I'm sure the guild would support us. We'll have all the help we could ever need."
Natsu responded, with a far away look on his face. Cana could tell there was more to it, but she didn't pry. Mostly because she had an idea of what he was thinking. He hated it when people weren't happy after all. If it meant she would be happy, then Natsu didn't mind raising the child.
"Alright. But as you said, we're in this together Natsu."
Cana agreed, somehow not feeling even the slightest bit of disagreement on the matter. Since they had agreed and decided how to handle the situation the old man spoke up again.
"Once more, from the bottom of my heart I thank you two for all you've done. Especially now that you've taken the little one in. I don't know how we would have gotten her to settle down if you hadn't decided to raise her yourselves... I know it's probably not enough, but here is the reward for completing the job."
The elderly man said with a bow towards the two Fairy Tail mages. He handed Cana an envelop full of jewels. The Card magic mage shook her head at that, saying it was more than enough given the fact they could have tried to do something else as payment so they could save the money for rebuilding purposes.
"I couldn't do that. This was the agreed upon reward for dealing the situation. I only wish I could give you more."
No matter how much she tried the elderly man refused to budge. In the end she gave up on trying to convince the man to keep some of the jewels to rebuild. His stubbornness at making sure they got the payment they deserved trumping her desire make sure they could safely rebuild without worry. When Cana finally caved and agreed with the old man about accepting the job payment, she was the one holding the baby. Natsu had handed the little one over to her so he could entertain the little kids that had been bugging him about his magic since Cana started arguing with the older man.
With the baby in her arms Cana motioned with her head for Natsu to follow her as she moved to buy the tickets they'd need to get back to Magnolia. When they boarded the train Natsu seemed to be much worse off with his motion sickness than when they'd left Magnolia. Unsure of what could be the cause, and feeling that he deserved to be able to relax even if it was only just a little, Cana adjusted their positions on the seat. Natsu was laying down and she put his head in her lap, a little off center so that he was only resting on her right knee. Can cradled the baby against her left breast so that she didn't have an arm in Natsu's face. Since Happy had yet to use his magic to make his wings once more, the exceed sat in Natsu's lap.
"Come to think of it, we never learned her name."
"If we're adopting her we can give her a name."
Natsu was just barely able to hear, let alone respond but he did managed to get a comment out before having to close and cover his mouth to avoid getting sick. Cana nodded at that as she started thinking of names. But then she realized they had no baby supplies. Suppressing a groan she decided they'd get off at the next town. Since it was late they'd cheek into a hotel and have a serious talk about how they were going to handle things. Then, in the morning they'd head out and buy everything they would need to raise her.
What she didn't know was that Natsu was distracting himself from his motion sickness by thinking about how everything would change, and how to make those changes easier. That including thinking hard about how things would be different if it was someone else from the guild that he was going to raise the little girl with.
As Cana dragged him off of the train Natsu told Happy to head back to the guild and talk to gramps for them to explain the situation. Cana was surprised that Natsu thought about that, but she figured they could talk about it, and other things after they settled into the hotel room for the night. They checked in rather quickly and settled in fast too, since the room they'd been given was only just down the hall from the front desk.
"So there's a lot to talk about. Let's start with how we're going to take care of her."
Cana started the conversation as she gave the little girl in her arms a smile.
"Well… I was thinking if you were okay with it you could move into my place. That way we could both look after her."
Cana could find the words to speak, she was so shocked that Natsu had thought about that. Instead she sat on the bed, as she struggled to come up with a reply. Because she didn't say anything Natsu continued as he flopped down on the couch that was in the room.
"Though at least for a couple weeks you'd have to stay in Fairy Hills still, so I could add on to my house. I don't have a guest room just yet so unless I slept on the couch and you took my room, it'd be better for you to stay at Fairy Hills while I built that."
"Can you afford to do that?"
Cana asked as she finally recovered from her shock. It was an important question since she knew Natsu never got the full reward for a job. It didn't help that since the founding of Team Natsu he had to split the profit with the others. She wasn't going to let him drain his resources for something like that if it meant they wouldn't be able to afford everything they'd need to take care of the little girl.
"Yeah. I own a lot of land so I can just knock down some of my trees for the material and do the work myself. I should be able to make a crib and high chair for her too, so we don't need to worry about those."
"Okay… But back to the suggestion of moving in with you. Natsu you do know how people might misunderstand right?"
Cana asked. Since Natsu mentioned it she decided it would be a good idea to figure out how their relationship would change because of raising the little girl.
"You mean how when a guy asks a girl that it's normally because they're dating? Mira explained it to me back when we were kids because of Lisanna insisting she was my 'wife'… I just figured if we're going to raise her we might as well live together like a proper family."
"I know that, and I understand that. I'm asking if you're fine with people thinking that way."
The only hassle with it that Cana could see was that she thought Natsu had feelings for Lucy. Well that and she didn't want to come between the two of them if that was the case.
"Honestly, I wouldn't mind if it were true."
Natsu replied, which confused her.
"But don't you have someone else you'd rather date?"
"Nope. I've never really given it any thought before, but to distract myself from getting sick on the train I was thinking about it. Lucy worries too much and when she whines it gets more annoying than Happy begging for fish. Erza would beat me senseless for not doing something perfectly. Mira wouldn't let me do anything and would just use me as a source of money. So if I had to chose anyone from the guild to raise her with it would be you."
The Card magic mage was surprised by the amount of thought Natsu put into it. But Natsu wasn't done speaking.
"As I said, I wouldn't mind dating you. Though I don't know if I'd have thought about it if we weren't going to be raising the little one."
Natsu commented as he made silly faces for the baby girl to laugh at.
"I hadn't really thought about anyone from the guild either."
"We don't have to do anything though. I just thought it might be better to raise her like a proper family."
Realizing that Natsu was letting her make the decision, and that he was just offering her his thoughts behind the matter, Cana shook her head.
"I'm not saying I don't agree. I mean we're going to be her mom and dad, so it would make sense for us to be together in some way. I just don't know how I feel about it."
Natsu nodded.
"Just think about it then. You can tell me what you decided when you figure out if you're going to move in with me after I finish my home expansion."
"That sounds like a good idea… Now the next thing to talk about. We're going to need baby supplies so we'll buy some tomorrow, but we'll need a lot of stuff. Some of which I'm surprised we haven't needed yet. Like diapers, wipes, clothes, baby bottles, etc. The guild might pitch in, but it's still going to cost a lot."
Since she wasn't sure about Natsu's offer, she changed topics. Money was another big issue in regards to raising a child after all. Between the two of them and help from the guild she was certain they'd be able to make due, but she needed Natsu to know just how expensive it was going to be. Natsu however shook his head about money being an issue.
"I've actually got a lot saved up from before I made team Natsu with Lucy, Gray, and Erza. When it was just me and Happy doing jobs, 90% of the time I also got something on top of the money reward. Including several large uncut diamonds that I still have siting in my safe at home."
Cana let out a relieved sigh at that. Knowing that Natsu was going to be a larger help in the money department than she'd thought was a blessing to her. After all she recalled Macao's ranting when Romeo was still a baby, and she didn't want to raise the little girl while poor.
Speaking of the baby, she was yawning in Cana's arms. Since it was rather late, she laid down on her side with an arm snaked around the little girl so she couldn't roll away and off the bed. Natsu was still sitting on the couch but he had already stretched out on it to relax.
"Is there anything else we need to talk about before going to bed?"
She asked already fighting back a yawn of her own.
"Her name."
Natsu responded instantly.
"I don't have any suggestions. Do you?"
"I have one. Michiko. It means beautiful."
"Really?"
Cana wondered, having never heard of the name before.
"Yeah. It's from an old language that is no longer spoken anymore. The same one as my name actually."
Natsu replied, a smile on his face as he recalled Igneel telling him about the forgotten language.
"Does your name have a meaning in that language too?"
"Yeah. Natsu means Summer. My energetic and wild personality reminded him of summer time, which is why he named me Natsu. At least that's what he told me his reason was."
After explaining Igneel's reasoning behind his name Natsu yawned as well. Which caused Cana to yawn.
"Well I like the name you came up with. But what about her surname. Is she going to be Michiko Alberona, or Michiko Dragneel?"
Cana mumbled. But Natsu still heard her.
"You can choose her last name."
Natsu responded, but Cana was already fading into the dreamworld and didn't hear. The pink haired man wasn't too far behind her, falling asleep a moment later.
S.R: I do need to warn you all about how the update schedule will work for this story. When I started typing it out I didn't stop and ended up doing the first three chapters at once. But as one word document. Then I realized just how much I wrote, and chopped it up into more manageable segments. Rather than posting all three at once I'm separating them and doing one a day so I can gauge just how well received this story is. The results will determine if it's once a month, or once every other month on an update schedule. So far it's looking more like once a month, but we'll see if it stays that way.
