Authors note:
I'm sorry for the delay. An important exam is coming up for me so most of my time is spent learning at the moment. Anyway I will just start writing this now so it doesn't come out too late. Enjoy reading!
July 2. X798, Lucy's apartment, Crocus
It was a sunny morning in Crocus. Nashi woke up as the sunlight entered her room through the window. It was the second day of the Grand Magic Games. Nashi climbed out of bed and got dressed. She couldn't wait to see more magic of Fiore's top guilds.
As Nashi entered the living room she was greeted by Wendy, who had slept on the couch that night. Her mother was standing in the doorway talking to someone about her size.
"Good morning, Nashi!", Wendy said. Lucy turned around. "Ah! Good morning sweetheart!", she said.
"Good morning you two.", Nashi said. "Who are you talking to Mommy?"
"Oh right.", Lucy answered. "Why don't you come over here and see for yourself?"
Nashi walked over to the door and was greeted by the big smile of Master Makarov.
"Good morning my child!", Makarov said gently. "Did you sleep well after what happened yesterday?"
Nashi flinched at the thought of the events from the day before. "I s-slept okay, I guess.", she told Makarov. "Is everyone else okay?"
"They'll be alright", Makarov said. "They've been through worse situations." He laughed.
Nashi couldn't help but smile at the laughing old man. Then she turned to look at her mother only to realize that she had blonde hair today.
"Huh? Was your hair blonde this entire time Mommy?", she asked her mother.
"You didn't realize until now?", Lucy giggled. "This is actually my natural hair colour, Nashi!"
Nashi's eyes grew wide. "Really? You look beautiful Mommy!"
Wendy laughed and Makarov spoke up. "Doesn't she?"
Nashi gave him a wide grin. Makarov raised an eyebrow. "Fangs, huh? You really take after your father little lady!"
Nashi's eyes grew even wider than before. "You know my dad?"
Lucy shot Makarov a serious look.
"I should get going, but you better tell your daughter, Lucy!", he said.
"Lucy?", Nashi asked. "Well... lets sit down, Nashi. Wendy, could you get the photo album from my desk?" Lucy said.
Wendy went to fetch the album while Lucy and Nashi sat down on the couch.
"Okay Nashi!", Lucy began. "I wanted to tell you anyway, but now Master Makarov kinda forced it!"
Lucy stopped for a moment. Then continued.
"You see... my name isn't really Michelle Surge – it's Lucy Heartfilia. That also means that you are Nashi Heartfilia, my daughter. I already told you once that I ran away from your father without knowing that I would be having you. The whole truth is... I ran away from my whole wizard guild! I made up a fake name so they wouldn't find me."
Nashi only listened. Wendy came back with the photo album and gave it to Lucy who opened it.
"I want you to look at this Nashi!", Lucy said and showed her the contents. "Those are pictures from 14 and 7 years ago."
Lucy handed Nashi the album and Nashi looked through it. There were all kinds of pictures in it, but one caught her attention
"The day I joined Fairy Tail"
It featured a blonde woman, a pink haired man whom Nashi immediately recognized as Natsu, a blue flying cat and Master Makarov. All smiling into the camera.
"Is that you Mommy?", Nashi asked her mother. Lucy teared up at the sight of the picture. "Yeah... that is me on the day I joined Fairy Tail. I couldn't have been happier in my life."
"Was that where you met Daddy?", Nashi asked. Lucy nodded. "Yeah. Also while you were sleeping last night I took the opportunity to talk to him... I told him about you."
Nashi was taken by surprise. "Really? W-what did he say?"
"He... said that he wants to meet you... and that he wants to talk to you... would you like that?", Lucy answered. Nashi was left in awe and couldn't stop smiling. "More than anything!"
Lucy nodded. "Okay, then I will tell Gramps when he comes to pick you up."
"Pick me up?", Nashi asked. "What do you mean?"
Lucy and Wendy sweatdropped. "Your Mother has to stay at home. She can't walk all the way to the arena like this and I can't lift the wheelchair all the way up those giant stairs. I'll be watching over her here. Master Makarov will come and pick you up to take you to the games today.", Wendy said calmly.
Nashi didn't know what to make of it. She didn't want to go without her mother, but she also wanted to finally meet her father. At last she hesitantly agreed, because her curiosity got the better of her.
"Don't worry too much Nashi!", Wendy said. "You met all of the Fairy Tail members yesterday, didn't you? Some of them can be pretty intimidating, but they all treat each other as family! You will be in the best hands."
Lucy laughed. "When you said 'intimidating' you thought of Gajeel, didn't you Wendy?" Wendy laughed aswell. "I wonder how you knew that!", she said jokingly.
Nashi was puzzled. "Who is Gajeel?", she asked.
"Oh right! He's on the team so you never really met him in person.", Lucy said and started flipping through the photo album.
"Here. Take a look at this picture.", Lucy said as she handed Nashi the album.
"Fairy Tail S-Class Promotion Trial X784, Tenrou Island"
The picture was taken in a forest. It had a lot of people on it, most stood together in pairs.
Nashi spotted her mother next to another woman with a tan skin tone and long brown hair. Natsu was in the back talking with the blue cat she had seen on the other photo.
Next to them sat a small blue-haired woman with an orange dress and a black-haired man with metal piercings all over his face.
Another pair was standing next to her mother and that other woman. They were two men, one had orange, the other had black hair. The black-haired one only wore pants, the orange-haired one wore a green t-shirt and had glasses on.
The last pair in the picture consisted of a tall, muscular, tanned man with white hair and a light brown-haired woman with glasses, wearing a green dress.
Lucy pointed at the black-haired man with the piercings. "That is Gajeel, Nashi!", she said.
"I don't think he looks that scary.", Nashi answered. Wendy giggled. "I think he can be more intimidating in person."
Nashi pointed at the orange-haired one. "He reminds me of Loke!"
Lucy couldn't help but to burst out in laughter. "That's because that is Loke." She laughed so hard tears were forming in her eyes. "He took the day off from his contract to be Gray's partner at the trial. Gray is the shirtless guy next to him."
Nashi laughed. "He looks nothing like today. His hair is different. And who is that woman next to you Mommy?"
"That is Cana. I was her partner on that day.", Lucy said. "I wanted to help her become an S-Class Mage... it's a pretty complicated story."
"So she's your friend?", Nashi asked. "Yeah, she's a very nice woman.", Lucy answered. "But my best friend is the girl next to Gajeel! I can't wait to talk to Levy again."
"She missed you, Lucy", Wendy added. "You'll have a lot to talk about."
Nashi flipped over a couple of pages until another picture caught her interest.
"Team Natsu X791, after the return from Tenrou Island"
The picture showed some people in front of a bar counter. It had a list written under it.
Member's (from left to right) :
Natsu Dragneel
Lucy Heartfilia
Happy
Gray Fullbuster
Erza Scarlet
Wendy Marvell
Carla
Natsu had his arm around Lucy's shoulders and was giving a wide grin into the camera. Happy was in mid-air next to them. Gray was once again shirtless. The red-haired woman who's name was Erza according to the list stood confidently at the counter, smiling into the camera. At the right end of the counter sat a little girl with dark-blue hair and next to her on the counter stood a white cat.
Nashi giggled. "Is that you Wendy? You look so small!"
Wendy blushed. "Y-yeah, that is me."
"Why are you so embarrased, Wendy?", Lucy asked. Wendy looked down on herself.
"Oh, I get it.", Lucy said. "Don't worry too much! I don't think it matters that much to Romeo"
Wendy's face went from blushing to red in a matter of seconds. Nashi laughed.
Suddenly it knocked at the door.
"Huh? It's already this late?", Lucy exclaimed. "Come on, Nashi! We got to get you ready. Go ahead and get your shoes, I will talk to Gramps and tell him to take you to your father."
Lucy smiled gently at Nashi and Nashi's eyes lit up with joy. "But you still didn't tell me who it is!", she exclaimed.
Lucy chuckled. "That would take away the surprise for you! Have fun sweety!"
And with that Nashi was off to fetch her shoes. Lucy opened the door and greeted the old wizard who gave her a serious look.
"I trust that you told your daughter everything?", he asked. "I showed her a lot of old pictures from the guild. I also told Nashi that he wants to see her. I want him to tell Nashi herself however!", Lucy said calmly.
Makarov sighed, but then nodded. "I guess that is enough. I also think he has the right to let her know after all this time."
"I told her it would be a surprise.", Lucy said.
"Oh I think it will be!", Makarov stated. "I'll take her to a common room in the basement so they can talk. I'm going to substitute Natsu with someone else so he can see her. Otherwise he'll be stuck in that waiting room the entire day again."
Nashi came back with her shoes on. Lucy gave her a goodbye kiss, Makarov took her by the hand and they were on their way.
Nashi asked Makarov a lot of questions about her father on the way to the arena. Makarov just smiled and said that he would answer them. Nashi pouted. "No fun, Gramps!"
Makarov just laughed. "Patience, child!"
As they reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the arena Makarov took Nashi upon his shoulders and began climbing.
"Are you sure this is okay for you Gramps?", Nashi asked, worried about the old man's health.
"Don't worry about it.", Makarov answered. "I may be old, but I am feeling young for my age!"
Nashi gave him a wide grin. As they reached the top of the stairs Makarov sat Nashi down on the ground again.
"Follow me, child!", Makarov said. "I will take you to a place where you can talk to your father alone."
He led Nashi into the basement of the arena and came to an halt in front of a wooden door.
"This is one of our common rooms for this year.", Makarov stated while opening the door. "Normally our team members use these for taking breaks or getting their clothes fixed, but this year they introduced this weird ruling that we can't talk with them during the duration of the game day."
He led Nashi inside. The room kinda looked like an all-purpose room. There was a bed, a table with a couple of chairs, even a wardrobe and a mirror on the back wall.
Nashi sat on the bed and Makarov turned to her. "I'm going to fetch your father now, child. I'll be back soon. Please wait here."
Nashi nodded and Makarov left the room. Nashi felt her heart beating faster than ever before. She was so happy to finally be able to talk to her father. A second later she suddenly fell unconscious on the bed.
Cliffhanger... sorry, but it felt like a good point to end this chapter without it getting as long as the rest of the story. But it feels good to finally continue the story! I'm happy writing it so I hope you enjoy this new addition even though it just seems to serve as a filler between this and the next chapter.
