Moving Day:
"There it is," Lucy called, Kyri on her hip, Layla's hand in hers as she led her family to their new house. "Our new home."
"Whoa!" Igneel cheered as he let go of Natsu's hand and ran to the front door of their new home, jumping over the white picket fence surrounding it. "It's so big!"
"That has to be twice as big as our old one!" Layla gasped, holding Birdie closer to her chest.
"Oh!" the little spirit exclaimed in agreement.
"Well, something like that," Natsu chuckled as the rest of the family caught up to Igneel, who was now tugging on the front door.
"The door's stuck!" Igneel cried, a look of worry on his face.
"Well, we've got to unlock it first, silly," Lucy giggled as she pulled the house key out of her pocket and stuck it in the doorknob.
"Whoa!" the three older children gasped as they ran inside to the foyer.
"Wait, before you go on, let me show you something!" Lucy said, setting Kyri down. She pointed to a door just inside the foyer.
"See this door?" Lucy asked.
All favie children nodded.
"This leads to the laundry room. So when you come in from outside with muddy or smelly clothes, TAKE THEM TO THE LAUNDRY ROOM! Drag that mess into my new house."
The children chuckled, but nodded.
"Furthermore, follow me," Lucy said, beckoning with her hand as she opened the door to the laundry room.
"So, here's a door to a bathroom, and here's a door to a utility closet," Lucy said, opening both doors. "And if we go through the utility closet and through this door you shall see-"
"Is this a training center!?" Nashi gasped as she stepped out of the utility closet. "In our house!?"
"Oh, so cool!" Ingeel cheered, running around and jumping on several pieces of equipment.
"Igneel, don't break anything!" Lucy scolded, before answering Nashi's question. "But, yes, this is our own, private training center."
"So cool!" Layla gasped.
"But again, when you get training, go to the laundry room, take a shower in that bathroom, throw your workout clothes in the wash. Don't bring your sweaty clothes and smell into my new house!"
"Yes, Mommy," the children all answered at once as they explored their new training center.
"So cool!"
"Look at all this!"
"The guys at the guild are going to be so jealous!"
"Alright, c'mon guys, there's more house to see," Natsu said, waving his hand back to the foyer. The children all followed after him.
"What's in this door?" Nashi asked as the family made it back to the foyer, pointing to the door in the wall opposite of the laundry room's door.
"That's an office for Mommy and Daddy, try and stay out of there as much as possible," Lucy said. Did she and Natsu need an office? Not really. But both agreed it would be nice to have a specific room for job and guild business. Outside of being able to take on high-paying and dangerous jobs, both of them being S-Class put them in powerful positions in the guild. They, along with the other S-Class wizards, were basically Laxus' advisors. They were also among the ones he called on when a weaker member for the guild may have needed help when he was too busy to do it himself.
Besides, Lucy hadn't published a full book since before Nashi was born. She'd released a few articles and short stories here and there, but not full books. Now that Kyri and Luna's second birthday was coming up though, and she and Natsu had decided that they would have no more babies, she was hoping to have more time for writing soon. So while an office may not have been necessary, it was going to make their lives easier.
"Alright, go explore," Lucy smiled as she motioned for her children to take off.
Nashi, Layla, Igneel, and Kyri scampered off. Luna whined from where she was still perched on Natsu's hip until he set her down to go run after her siblings.
"This is so huge!" Layla cheered as she ran across the living room. "Wait, why are there no walls between the livingroom and the kitchen? And where is the dining room?"
"It's all one big room," Natsu explained, closing the front door behind his family. "That way there are fewer doors for you five knuckleheads to run into."
"Check it out!" Igneel shouted as he ran from one end of the room to the other. "Am I in the kitchen? No, I'm in the dining room! Now the living room! Now I'm in the kitchen again! Now I have a foot and hand in all three!"
Igneel collapsed onto his stomach, stretching his body over the floor so that he could be in all three areas at once.
"You silly baby dragon!" Lucy smiled as she knelt next to him and began tickling him. Igneel recoiled, laughing.
"No, Mommy, stop!" he begged between laughs.
"No!" Kyri called, running to Igneel's aid, trying to get between her brother and her mother.
"Oh, you want tickles, now?" Lucy asked, pulling Kyri to her and tickling her stomach. Kyri squealed with laughter, squirming to get away.
"Ooh!" Luna cheered as she toddled to the back of the living area.
"Whatcha see, Luna?" Natsu asked as he followed after her.
"Two!" Luna said, pointing to the double staircase at the back of the living area.
"Yeah, there's two," Natsu nodded.
"What's this?" Igneel asked as he ran to the double doors under the staircase and threw them open. "Wow! It's a room of windows!"
"Sunroom, Igneel," Lucy smiled as she helped Kyri to her feet and followed after him.
"What about these doors?" Nashi asked, pointing to two more doors, one behind either set of stairs.
"That one's a pantry," Natsu answered, pointing to the one closest to the kitchen. "The other one's a bathroom."
"Oh," Nashi nodded. She was about to head upstairs when she heard Igneel shouting.
"NO WAY! GUYS, WE HAVE A POOL!"
"A what!?" Nashi exclaimed, bounding down the stairs and into the sunroom, Layla and the twins behind her.
Sure enough, sitting in a patio outside the sunroom was a swimming pool.
"Wow!" Layla gasped as she and her siblings ran outside.
"Cannon ball!" Igneel cheered as he jumped in the pool.
"You could have waited, Igneel!" Lucy scolded. "Now you're going to be soaked until we get your clothes unpacked!"
"Worth it!" Igneel cheered as he floated along his back.
"Guys, we have two kitchens!" Layla called from the other side of the patio. "We've got one outside!"
"Wow, really!?" Nashi asked as she ran to her sister's side.
"Yup, now we have a place to have outdoor cook-outs with friends," Lucy nodded.
"Hey, is that a giant playhouse?" Igneel asked as he climbed out of the pool and to the small house next to the patio.
"Don't go in there with your wet clothes!" Lucy called as he reached for the doorknob. "And, no, that's a pool house for guests to stay in when they come visit."
"Oh," Igneel said with a nod as he scampered off to explore some more,his four sisters in tow.
"Well, I'd say the new house is a hit," Natsu smiled as he walked to Lucy's side.
"They haven't even seen their rooms yet," Lucy chuckled.
Natsu chuckled in response as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. "I think we did good, babe."
"Yeah, we did," Lucy smiled as she snuggled close against him.
Their new home was nice. Really nice. Nicer than most people could ever dream of. The past two years of constant S class jobs, saving, cutting back on expenses had been a bit tricky, but it had definitely paid off.
This new home wasn't nearly as big as Heartfelia Manor, but Lucy was okay with that. That house was too big, easy to get lost and feel lonely in.
Their new home was big enough to feel luxurious without feeling isolating.
She thought back to that small apartment she'd first gotten when she initially joined Fairy Tail. Natsu often snuck in when she lived there and she had to kick him out. Now they'd bought their dream home together in the woods behind the guild hall where they could raise their five children in peace. They'd come a long way, and it hadn't always been easy, but now that they were here she could honestly say it was worth it.
Lucy sighed as she leaned her head against Natsu's shoulders, watching their children play. It looked like they were playing tag...kinda...it was obvious that the older three were going very slow to give the twins a chance to actually tag them. Well, to let Kyri tag them that is. Luna had gotten distracted by a butterfly she was now following around.
At some point Layla noticed Luna wasn't playing anymore. She gently caught the butterfly in her hands, letting the little creature perch on her finger so Luna could get a better look. Luna's eyes grew wide as she toddled to her sister's side.
"Careful, don't scare or hurt it," Layla whispered as Luna watched the butterfly sun it's wings.
"P'etty," she gasped, smiling wide.
"AUGH!" Igneel screeched, scaring the butterfly away.
"Uh-oh," Luna cried.
"Igneel!" Layla scolded, but then began to laugh when she saw what Igneel was yelling about.
Kyri sat on Nashi's shoulder as she chased after their brother, causing him to yell.
"Two against one, no fair!"
Kyri just laughed as she clung to Nashi's hair.
Layla stood up and ran to cut Igneel off, catching him mid run and holding tight.
"I got him!"
"NO!" Igneel screeched, struggling to get away.
"Good job," Nashi grinned, setting Kyri down on the ground. "Now...GROUP HUG!"
"NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Igneel screamed as Nashi all but jumped on him. Both Kyri and Luna giggled as they joined in.
"NO!" Igneel lamented from the center of the group hug.
Natsu just laughed at them from where he and Lucy still stood watching them.
"Oh, you sillies," Lucy shook her head, smiling.
Igneel continued to struggle and thrash, eventually freeing himself. All of his sisters laughed at him as he ran away from them.
"You girls are vicious!"
"Darn right we are," Nashi grineed high-fiving Layla.
"Me!" Kyri called, holding her hand up.
"High-five!" Nashi cheered, gently placing her hand against Kyri's.
"Eh?" Luna asked, holding her hand up.
"High-five!" Nashi smiled, repeating the process with Luna.
Igneel just frowned at his sisters, then a thought entered his mind. "Hey, what about our rooms?"
"They're upstairs, wanna see?" Natsu said, releasing Lucy from the hug he'd been holding her in for the past few minutes.
"Yeah!" Igneel cheered.
This caught the girl's attention and they stood to their feets, breaking out of their high-five party.
Natsu and Lucy led their children back inside and up the staircase. The first room they walked into was an open space with several cabinets covering the walls.
"This doesn't look like a bedroom…" Igneel said.
"It's not. This is the game room," Lucy explained.
"Oh, sweet!" Igneel cheered.
"This door is to mine and Mommy's room," Natsu said, patting the door next to the staircase before pointing to a door right across from his and Lucy's. "That door over there is to the balcony. You five are down here."
He led them to a door on the left wall of the game room.
"Wait, that's just one door. We aren't all going to share a room, are we?" Layla asked, a bit scared.
"Oh, no way!" Nashi crossed her arms at the thought.
"No, no," Lucy assured them, smiling. "That's just the door to the hall."
She opened the door and led her children through a short hallway that opened into a carpeted room and seven doors, five regular and two sliding.
"This is a little play area for the five of you to share," Lucy explained. "But you each have your own room."
"Sweet!" Igneel cheered.
"Nice," Nashi smiled and nodded.
"Here," Lucy explained, opening the door closest to the hall entrance, near the front of the pla area. "This is Nashi's room."
"Yay!" Nashi cheered as she bounded into her new room.
"This is Layla's," Lucy said, walking to the middle of the play area and opening the door on the left wall.
Layla just smiled as she walked inside her new room.
"This is Igneel's," Lucy continued as she opened the door right across from Layla's.
"And these two," Lucy pointed, walking to the two doors at the end of the play area.
"This is Kyri's," she opened the door on the left.
"And Luna's," she opened the door on the right.
"Ooh!" Kyri smiled, toddling into her room.
Luna just cooed in curiosity as she peeked her head into her room, seemingly unsure what to think just yet.
"Now Luna and Kyri are sharing a bathroom," Lucy said as she turned to her three older children. "Nashi, Layla, you two are sharing a bathroom too. Igneel, you don't have to share, but you have the smallest bathroom in the house."
"Hey, I don't care!" Igneel cheered. "No girls allowed in my bathroom!"
"Fine by us," Nashi called, poking her head back out of her room. "Now we don't have to smell your farts anymore."
"Mine are no worse than yours," Igneel argued.
"Yeah they are," Layla called from her room. "You could kill an exceed with your farts."
Natsu laughed before walking into Nashi's room. "Hey, Nashi, come with me."
Nashi followed her father into hers and Layla's bathroom.
"Layla, c'mere," Natsu said, poking his head through Layla's door.
Layla skipped into the bathroom. "Yes?"
"I want to show you something," Natsu said as he opened the cabinet, and pointed to something already stored inside.
"Is that a rope ladder?" Nashi asked.
"Yes, and I hope you guys never have to use it," Natsu said glumly. "But your Mommy and I have a switch in our room that, if we turn it, locks the front and back doors to your hallway and bars all your windows."
Both of the older girls glanced a worried glance at one another.
"Hopefully that will be enough to keep you safe, but if someone makes it through the first door and you hear them banging on the second one, get Igneel, Kyri, and Luna in here. Open the window, throw this out, climb down to the patio below you and then run for the guild hall."
"I thought you said that switch would lock all the windows…" Layla said.
"You'll still be able to open them from inside," Natsu explained. "But no one outside can open them."
"Can't I just use Styx to get us out?" Nashi asked.
"No," Natsu answered.
"Why not?" Nashi asked.
Natsu sighed. "You both know your Mommy and I are S class wizards. And because of some of the jobs we've taken we've made a few enemies. I don't think any of them would be stupid enough to attack us in our own house, but if they do, then they'll most likely have some sort of equipment on them that they can track you with if you use magic."
"Oh," Nashi nodded.
"So if worst comes to worst, try not to use magic until you make it to the guild hall."
"Right," Nashi nodded, hugging herself.
Natsu smiled softly at her and ruffled her hair.
"Don't worry, Firecracker. Like I said, I don't think anyone is going to come breaking in. But that ladder's in here just in case."
"Okay," Layla nodded when Nashi didn't answer.
"Alright," Natsu patted both girls on the head. "Let's get you knuckle heads unpacked."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Wee!" Igneel cheered as he continued jumping on his bed, doing back flips and such as he went.
This was awesome! His new room was much bigger than his old one. And he got to have a bathroom all to himself! No more sharing with his stinky sisters!
He did another backflip and then collapsed onto the mattress upon his back, laughing to himself as he stared at his ceiling.
He wondered if he could get some of those glow in the dark stars to stick up there. That would be cool! Maybe he could even paint a glow-in-the-dark dragon up there!
As he lay there he could hear what his sisters were doing in their rooms. Nashi was singing along to some song she was listening to through magic headphones. Layla was talking to one of her spirits about the move, Zelos from the sounds of it. Kyri was asleep, snoring softly and Luna-
Igneel sat up as he heard a small whimper coming from Luna's room. He jumped off his bed and raced to Luna's room, slowly poking his head in.
"Luna?"
Luna was sitting in her bed, rubbing at her eyes as she whimpered.
"Luna?" Igneel asked again as he walked to her bedside and knelt down. Luna peaked between her fingers at him, then cried and reached for him.
"Hey," Igneel crooned as he sat on her bed and pulled her into his lap. "What's wrong, Luna?"
"No mah bed," Luna whimpered. "No mah room. No mah house."
"This is your bed," Igneel assured her. "And your room. And your house. We got you a new, bigger, better one."
"No," Luna shook her head. "I wan' mah room."
"But this is your room."
"No!"
"Luna…" Igneel sighed as she clung to him, still whimpering.
"Where mah room?"
Igneel patted her back. He guessed moving houses was a lot for little kids. Maybe even a bit scary.
But it wasn't like he could take Luna all the way back to their old house.
There was only one thing to do. He stood to his feet, Luna still in his arms, and knocked on Nashi's door.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Natsu sighed as he lay on his and Lucy's bed. They were about halfway done unpacking, and he was wiped out! He knew he still had to take a shower, he'd sweated all day, but he was trying to wait until 9:30 in the hopes that he and Lucy could spend their hour together in the bath.
His wife was currently outside on their own, personal balcony, enjoying the night air as well as the view over their new home. Outside of their massive house, their backyard spanned about four acres, plenty of open room for their children to run free.
Speaking of which, as Natsu laid there relaxing her heard what sounded like a whimper coming from the kids' area. He sat up and listened some more.
Yup, that was definitely a whimper.
He stood to his feet and headed towards the kids rooms to see which one it was, and what exactly was wrong. As he made his way through the game room he heard some other chatter. Apparently he wasn't the only one who heard someone crying. He couldn't make out much of what was said, but he did hear the words "blanket fort."
He paused for a minute, a small smile beginning to spread across his lips. He tiptoed through the hall and carefully cracked the door open, trying not to draw attention to himself.
Just as he suspected the three older children were busily working to construct a blanket fort as Kyri dropped a teddy bear in Luna's lap.
"No sad," she said.
Luna sniffled and then hugged the bear close. Natsu bit his lip to keep himself from chuckling. That bear was almost as big as Luna!
So she'd been the one crying, huh? He wondered why.
"Mah house?" Luna asked, looking around.
"This is our house now, Luna," Nashi said as she stopped building the blanket fort and picked Luna up. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
"But until then," Igneel said in a heaving voice as he carried every pillow he could find into the play area. "Blanket fort! I call the pillow with orange stripes!"
Natsu watched as the children finished their build, and then piled into the fort, stretched out over piles of pillows and stuffed animals. It only took a few minutes for them all to fall asleep, apparently they'd worn themselves out too.
"Natsu?"
Natsu turned to find Lucy walking towards him. "What are you doing?"
"C'mere," Natsu said, opening the door all the way now that the children were asleep.
Lucy walked to his side and gasped the sight in front of her. "What's this?"
"Apparently Luna was having a hard time adjusting to the new place, so they all piled into a blanket fort to help her feel better."
Lucy's smile brightened as she leaned against the door frame, watching her sleeping children.
"Is this just going to be a regular thing for them now?" she asked softly. "Everytime one of them is struggling they just dogpile into a blanket fort?"
"I guess so," Natsu shrugged.
Lucy sighed happily as Natsu slipped an arm around her shoulders. They stood in silence for a while, watching over the sleepy fort.
Then she giggled.
"What?" Natsu asked.
"Tell me something," Lucy said. "29 years ago when you got on that train to Hargeon, did you think you'd be here now."
"No idea," Natsu answered, smiling as he shook his head. "I had a lot of things going through my mind that day, but none of them had anything to do with romance or marriage. I never would have dreamed that I was going to meet my wife that day."
Lucy smiled as he kissed her cheek. "And yet here we are. Thirteen years of marriage, just moved into our dream home, and we've got five great kids."
"Five incredible kids," Natsu agreed, smiling back and the sleeping dogpile. "I think we've done pretty well for ourselves, Luce."
"Agreed," Lucy smiled, before turning around and setting her hands on his chest. "Well, since they've gone to sleep early, I guess that means we get more than an hour together tonight, doesn't it."
Natsu smirked as he began leading her back out the hall to their new room. "True. Should we break in our new room."
"Oh, yes, let's."