Lucy felt shock ripple through her once more. Heat was still rolling in waves off of Natsu, though his face had softened to a heartbreakingly adorable smile. Ryuu and Stella looked up at them almost expectantly; all of the others had had tearful meetings with their children, but Lucy felt glued to the guild's floor. Natsu took a few hesitant shuffles forward and Stella nearly bounced over to him, Ryuu finally giving her the go-ahead.

"Hi, Daddy!" Natu's steps faltered as he eyed her, her hair matching perfectly to his, and her big brown eyes, Lucy noticed, mirrored her own. Natsu covered his face a bit with his hand, his cheeks visibly burning with a flush. He nervously cast a glance back at Lucy before composing himself a bit and squatting down in front of Stella.

"Hey there," Natsu began, his voice cracking a bit. Lucy felt like she was floundering; never had she seen Natsu so… Taken off guard. She felt unguided and ungrounded. If Natsu was silently panicking, what was she to do? Her head was swimming with thoughts and scenarios and how the hell they were supposed to help them back to their own time. She knew her eyes were wide and panicked. Levy sent her a worried glance and began to step towards her, but Gajeel shook his head slightly and placed a large palm on her shoulder, stopping her. Lucy and Natsu were in this alone.

Lucy didn't understand why she couldn't move. She couldn't speak or think straight; she felt like the air had been punched out of her. How on Earthland did she and Natsu have children? In any future? They were friends… Best friends, yes, but more? Lucy didn't think it would happen, didn't think it was possible, but yet here was living proof it does. Lucy wasn't disappointed at all, she surprised herself by feeling the flutter of excitement and happiness deep within her belly, but there was more to it. She felt disappointment in a way that something had been spoiled for her.

"Uh, um… M-mom?" Suddenly, Ryuu's timid voice broke through Lucy's thoughts, his big green eyes shining with uncertainty. "I-I'm s-sorry…" He murmured, casting his eyes to the ground, his brows furrowed. "I'm sorry if you're disappointed." The sentence shot through Lucy's heart like an arrow and, suddenly, she found her mobility. Lucy gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth, and very nearly started sobbing on the spot. Natsu looked alarmed, shooting a concerned look over his shoulder at her.

"O-oh, no… I'm sorry." Lucy began, stepping towards Ryuu who snapped his head up, glistening eyes meeting her gaze. "I'm just… This is a shock." She said smiling, crouching down to be eye level with him. "A good shock." Lucy grinned widely and shot a look over at Natsu who still had that sweet smile on his face. Her cheeks warmed as Natsu caught her gaze and broadened his grin.

"R-really?" Ryuu stammered, a small smile playing on his lips. Lucy nodded and motioned for him to come to her. He nearly bowled her over by flinging himself into her arms. Lucy giggled through her tears as Ryuu cried into her shoulder.

"Always a Momma's boy," Yaje snickered and Shutora glared at him.

"I would only hope that you would be too." Gajeel sent him a stern glance and Yaje shuffled his feet sheepishly.

"Um, he totally is." Shutora grinned causing a rumble of laughter to pass through the crowd. Lucy pulled back a bit and wiped at Ryuu's face as he then looked embarrassed about his emotional outburst.

"The only thing I'm disappointed about," Lucy began, a small grin starting to form while Ryuu looked alarmed. "Is that I feel like the ending to my favorite book has been spoiled for me. And Natsu." Lucy exchanged another look with Natsu who grinned at her.

"Oh, Lu…" Levy giggled behind her hand and Lucy turned back and faced Ryuu once more.

"But the thing is," Lucy continued, swiping a few stray strands of blonde hair out of his face as she spoke. "It doesn't make me want to read our story any less. In fact, it makes it all that more exciting."

Lucy's heart felt full. She watched as Natsu fell straight into the Dad role, playing with Stella effortlessly. They group had confirmed that Shutora and Yaje were thirteen, which made everyone feel really old and another existential crisis ensued, after the initial shock that they all were parents. Kei was eight and he clung to Erza with every move she made. After the "meet and greet" with the kids, she had immediately sent for Jellal to turn back around and head to Fairy Tail. She hadn't told him what was going on, as to not give him a shock, but she told him it was urgent and he was needed. Ryuu and Briny were both seven, and finding that out made Lucy's head spin, because she was, apparently, going to give birth to Ryuu in just six years' time, and she and Natsu weren't even together. That was a whole other hurdle to jump over.

Gray was also falling straight into the Dad role, now chatting with a very reserved and bashful Briny. Juvia was near bursting at the seams at the prospect of Gray as a dad and her becoming a mom. Stella, the "Littlest Star", as she was referred to by older Lucy and Natsu, was only five and she was a spitfire. Just by watching her with Natsu for a few moments, there was no doubting that she was Natsu's daughter. Though she was young, her personality was fun and mischievous and a bit of a terror, just like Natsu's.

"Look at her, Luce!" Natsu broke Lucy's thoughts as he laughed maniacally while Stella climbed up him like a wild woman.

"They really are alike." Ryuu stated quietly, looking at his sister fondly, but a shadow soon passed over his eyes. "But she's so annoying! Ugh, she won't leave me alone half the time, and is so nosy, and she's always catching something on fire, ugh…"

"Whoa! You can use fire?" Natsu's eyes bugged out as he finally managed to grab a hold of Stella, slinging her up in the air as she lit her little fists ablaze. "Whoa-ho!"

"We both can, actually," Ryuu pouted a bit and Lucy realized he must be feeling left out a bit since Natsu was being so enthusiastic with Stella.

"Oh?" Lucy smiled down at him, though a little disappointed that neither of them, she supposed, were interested in celestial magic.

"Yeah," Ryuu grinned up at her. "So far, Stel just uses regular fire magic, but Dad has been teaching her dragon slayer magic too." Lucy nodded; how proud Igneel would have been to see Natsu teaching his own offspring.

"And what can you do?" Lucy asked, and Ryuu's grin broadened.

"I use celestial fire magic." His smile growing nearly reaching ear to ear as Lucy had another pulse of shock pass through her.

"Celestial fire?" Lucy breathed out, her own smile bursting through. "What is that? Tell me all about it!"

"Yeah! We were both born with fire abilities. But as I got older, you realized it wasn't the same type of magic that Dad or Stella uses. You said that I was actually summoning fire spirits." Ryuu explained and Lucy felt dazzled at the prospect of the magic. Her heart was so full, their kids were so talented. "And you've been training with me ever since." Ryuu continued on shyly. He then, waved his hand gently through the air, small sparks popping and sizzling, the area around them warming. His palm started to glow, and suddenly, out of nothing, something appeared.

"Puun puun!" It cheered as it appeared and Lucy's eyes nearly leapt out of her head.

"Plu?!" Lucy gasped and Ryuu giggled, holding his sides as he did.

"It's a fire spirit that's like Plu, his name is Sora." Ryuu smiled proudly up at Lucy as she studied the spirit.

"That is so cool!" Lucy managed to gasp out. While she very nearly geeked out over her son's magic, she suddenly felt strong arms envelope both her and Ryuu.

"Both of you are amazing," Natsu's voice was close to Lucy's ear as he looked between Stella and Ryuu. Ryuu blushed furiously, but embraced Natsu tightly; Natsu passed Stella on to Lucy so he could focus his full attention on their son. "Tell me more about your cool magic, bud…"

The impromptu meet and greet was brought to a halt as reality was swiftly brought back up. They needed to find a way to help the kids return to their time, and they were on a short time frame to do so since Levy was on the brink of giving birth.

"We need to get Freed to help," Levy thought out loud, her finger tapping her cheek while she rested her face in her palm. Lucy thought it was amusing that Shutora stood in front of her in the exact same thoughtful stance. "If he's the one that helped you out with the spell in the first place, he may have an idea how it works, even though it's from the future."

"I'll contact the Thunder Legion," Mira called from the bar, quickly getting out the guild's communication lacrima. "I don't think they went far."

"Freed, from this time, may be able to help… But the base of the spell wasn't runes," Yaje's brow creased in thought, making him look strikingly similar to Gajeel it was almost haunting. "It came from a book. That's why we wanted to come here where you, Mom, and Lucy were." Yaje sent a small smile Lucy's way.

"We figured that you two would know best about books. Especially since Lucy's a multiple times national bestseller."

"Wha-!" Lucy exclaimed, "I have more books that I wrote? Ah, don't tell me anymore! I want to be surprised!" Lucy pressed her palms to her ears childishly and Natsu snickered.

"Lucy, it's no surprise. You're talented and amazing." Natsu rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Pretty obvious." Lucy blushed and tucked her chin down to her chest.

"Geez, can you guys keep the disgusting flirting to a minimum?" Gray rolled his eyes and Natsu scowled at him.

"I'm quite sure we're beyond that, Gray. Considering," Erza deadpanned, sweeping an arm around the full guild hall, while Gray's ears burned red.

"R-right…"

"Sooo," An arm suddenly slung over Lucy's shoulders. Cana's face popped up beside hers, smirking deviously. "Y'know what this means, heh?" Cana was barely containing her giggles and Lucy felt a blush creeping up onto her cheeks once more. "That means you and Natsu finally got your freak on." If Lucy could catch fire, she would have at that very moment. "At least twice." Thankfully, Ryuu and Stella were with Natsu further away, but Lucy knew that Natsu had heard Cana's vulgar words because he stiffened, his ears turning as red as Gray's had been.

"Cana!" Lucy yelped and Cana giggled. "Children!"

"Exactly! That's what happens when you do the do!" Cana burst out into a fit of laughter and Lucy glared at her in spite of her deep embarrassment.

"Moving on!" Lucy hissed through clenched teeth while Natsu didn't seem to be able to make eye contact with either of them. Thankfully, Stella and Ryuu kept him busy; that was not a conversation Lucy wanted to have at the moment.

Just then, the guild's doors burst open, and a wildly frantic looking Jellal stepped in, bee-lining it to Erza.

"What's going on?!" Jellal practically yelled, seemingly oblivious to the strange children that were also occupying Fairy Tail as well as shedding his usual quiet demeanor. "I came as fast as I could."

"Oh, it's alright," Erza soothed, smiling up at Jellal who seemed completely taken aback by her calm behavior.

"Erza," Jellal started quietly, running a hand through his now wild looking blue hair, "You told me this was life or death." Natsu and Gray burst out a laugh while Mira shook her head.

"Erza, you might want to work on your phrasing of things…" Mira chided and Erza looked bewildered.

"Well, I needed you here promptly." Erza said simply, looking confused. Jellal just side, placing a hand over his chest where his heart was probably beating like a caged bird's wings.

"Erza," Lucy had to admire his keeping of composure, "All you needed to say was that you needed me to come here. I would have regardless of a life or death emergency. I thought someone was dying."

"Why ever would you think that?" Jellal sighed once again, dragging a hand down his face in exasperation.

"What's going on?" He asked finally, taking a glance around the hall. His gaze passed over the kids and his eyebrows shot up. Lucy caught sight of Kei; he had been so keen on seeing Jellal, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder why. Didn't he seem him plenty in the future? Kei stood stark still, quivering. Tears welled up in his eyes, the patch that was covering the one with the birthmark was long gone. Jellal's gaze rested on him, his eyes widening at the sight of the identical mark. The two could have been having a staring match had it not been for the sobs that were now being ripped out of Kei's throat.

"Erza, what's this-?" Jellal started, his throat bobbing hard. "W-what-" Before he could continue his thought, Kei practically flung himself across the distance between him and Jellal, crashing him into a death grip.

"Dad!"