Chapter 15 - Serenity

After the girls were ready, they met up with the men outside of the inn. They quickly went to eat and then split up and went to their separate groups. After they were apart and headed in their own way, they realized that the dragon slayers shouldn't have been in the same group together.

"So, we both can smell where Nova has gone, right?" Arcadia questioned to Laxus as they followed the scent.

"Yeah. One of us should have gone with the Thunder Legion." Laxus noted as he looked to the girl next to him.

"Let's get going before she leaves wherever she is right now." Eclipse butted into their conversation.

"Right!" Arcadia agreed as the 3 of them hurried off following the scent of Nova. It led them through the town and to the outskirts of the town. They were led to a cute little home there set in the forest. Once they were close enough, they could smell someone else inside other than Nova, so they hesitantly entered the home. There, they found a child sitting on the floor playing with blocks. The little girl had white hair and golden eyes, just like from Arcadia's flashes in her mind. Meanwhile, Nova was just sitting on the couch watching the little girl.

"Oh, hello, Laxus, Eclipse, and Arcadia. This is Serenity." Nova stated as she looked to the group casually.

"Who is this child and why do you have her?!" To Arcadia's questions, Nova just laughed and shook her head.

"I can't believe you could forget about her. You are cruel. How can a mother forget her own child?" Was all Nova said in return.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?! Are you telling me that this child is mine?!" Arcadia's yelling caused the girl on the floor to hurry into Nova's arms crying.

"Now, now, you've upset her." Nova then began to pat the child on the back comfortingly, or at least it was supposed to be. Meanwhile, Arcadia was beginning to hyperventilate and Laxus was just standing there in shock.

"How do we know what you say is true?! Give us proof that Serenity is Arcadia's child!" Eclipse demanded instantly as she took a step towards Nova.

"Fine," Nova muttered as she picked up the child. She then carried Serenity over to the other 3 adults. "Look, Serenity's eyes are the exact same as Arcadia's. If that doesn't show proof then I don't know what will."

"They are the same..." Eclipse admits but doesn't really want to admit it.

"Oh... my... god..." Arcadia gasped out as she took a step backward. She began to rake through her memories to figure out when she had a child, but nothing came up. Until she thought of the assault she suffered.

"Well, have fun with parenthood," Nova muttered as she set the child down. She then walked right out the door before anyone could stop her. Eclipse hurried after her, but only found air left behind, meaning she most likely teleported away.

"Um... Serenity?"

"Yes, mommy?" The little girl responded, causing Arcadia to jolt.

"How are you a little girl? I... the only time I could have had you, was so long ago."

"I was in a lacrima for a while, frozen in time until Aunty Nova was ready to release me." Serenity responded as she smiled up at Arcadia, who was on the verge of panicking again.

"Do you know who your father is?" Eclipse asks the next logical question.

"Nope. No one can be for sure since so many people were involved in the incident." Serenity clearly knew about the assault, but probably didn't realize that it was such a horrible thing.

"I... I can't do this..." Laxus suddenly muttered to himself. He then began to leave the house.

"Wait Laxus!" Arcadia took a step forward, only for Laxus to snap at her.

"Give me some time alone!" Hearing Laxus' tone so harsh brought tears to Arcadia's eyes, but she wasn't totally sure why.

"Why was the tall man so upset?" Serenity questioned in a small, sad voice.

"Well, everyone right now is a little confused and upset, so he was just reacting to his feelings." Eclipse gently explained to the confused child.

"I'm sorry." Serenity looked like she was going to cry, but Arcadia dropped to her knees and hugged the child.

"It isn't your fault, Serenity," Arcadia muttered to the young girl who was crying now, believing that everything was her fault. However, the tears quickly stopped and were replaced by a smile on Serenity's face.

"Let's head back to the inn. Maybe the others are there." Eclipse suggested only for Arcadia to nod her head. She decided to carry the young girl who was clinging onto her now. Once the 3 of them made it back to the inn, they saw the others, minus Laxus.

"Who is the child?" Evergreen asked immediately with confusion written on her face and in his voice.

"Let's head to our room, then I'll explain." Arcadia then led the others to the girls' room and sat on her bed. She explained everything to the Thunder Legion, up to where Laxus left them out of anger.

"Should we go look for Laxus?" Freed questioned as if that was the most important part of what Arcadia had said to them.

"He'll return eventually. I'm sure of it." Eclipse responded, brushing off Freed's worries.

"So... You have a daughter..." Evergreen muttered to Arcadia as she dealt with the shock of it all.

"Yeah. I guess so." Arcadia responded simply as she looked to Serenity. The little girl was seated on the ground coloring with stuff she was given from Eclipse's bag. Eclipse was an artist, so she had drawing and coloring utensils with her at all times.

"Why do you think Serenity was let out of the lacrima now of all times?" Freed asked suddenly.

"I was let out when mommy and Laxus became a couple. I was then raised for a little while by Nova and this scary man." Serenity spoke up as she turned her attention to the adults.

"Was his name 'Ivan'?"

"I think so. I never liked him, or Nova. They were weird together and to me. It was gross. They tried to get me to call them 'mother' and 'father', but that's not important anymore, I'm just happy to be reunited with my true mommy." Hearing those words caused Arcadia to become conflicted.

"I'm so sorry that I forgot about you. Though, I wonder if Adryn even remembered you at all."

"It's not your fault for not remembering me. You were drugged all those months and then once I was born, I was taken away from you."

"How do you know all of this?" Freed questioned instantly, a little shocked that a young child knew about drugging someone.

"Nova and Ivan told me all about it."

"I see." Just then, the door to the room opened up to reveal Laxus standing there. "Laxus!" The Thunder Legion was instantly at his side as he walked into the room.

"Where have you been?" Evergreen demanded as she looked up at the man who had a sour look on his face.

"I was trying to find Nova's scent. I caught it only to lose it in the middle of town." Laxus responded as he walked past his friends to sit on one of the beds. He sat on the one furthest from the bed Eclipse and Arcadia were sitting on. Despite his obvious avoidance of Arcadia, she was glad to see him. She'd been worried about what he was doing and where he was going. Mostly though, she was worried about what was going on inside his mind. However, Arcadia didn't want to push him, so she made no move to approach him.

"How did you lose her scent?" Freed asked curiously.

"I think she teleported away."

"Unless she has somehow learned it later on after she 'died', she isn't supposed to have that magic," Eclipse muttered mostly to herself.

"She might have someone who is with her to teleport her to wherever she wants to go," Arcadia suggested, causing Eclipse to nod her head in agreement.

"I wish we had for sure answers on Nova. We need to try harder to capture her or something." Eclipse muttered angrily. At this, Arcadia just sighed and got up from the bed she'd been sitting on. "Where are you going, Arcadia?"

"I need some air. I'm going to take a walk." The redhead responded simply as she left through the door. She could sense that she was being followed, but she didn't bother turning around. She could smell that it was Laxus following her. So, she led him through the halls and outside of the inn. They walked to an alley and only then did Arcadia stop walking and finally turn to face the man behind her. She was a little nervous, as the last time they spoke, Laxus had snapped at her. "Laxus?"

"We need to talk," Laxus spoke up finally, causing a pit of doom to begin to grow in Arcadia. She didn't know what he wanted to say, but she knew that she was terrified of what he could possibly be thinking at that moment.

"Laxus, I swear that I had no memory of Serenity. I honestly don't even remember being pregnant in the first place, and Serenity said that Adryn probably didn't even remember it all either. So I don't think I purposefully kept anything from you."

"I know. It isn't your fault and I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's perfectly understandable for you to be upset with me due to the circumstances."

"Honestly, I am confused about where to go and what to do now," Laxus admitted as he looked away from Arcadia and up to the sky.

"...Did... did you stop loving me over this?" Arcadia didn't truly want the answer to that, as she was scared of what his answer was. However, her terror disappeared when Laxus met her eyes once more and shook his head at her.

"Of course I haven't, but I am a little unsure of what I feel towards the situation."

"Laxus, I'm so sor-"

"Don't. I told you to stop apologizing to me." Laxus' words were a little harsh, but Arcadia could tell that he didn't mean for them to come out like that.

"What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Just... just remember everything." With that, Laxus turned away from her and began to walk back tot he inn. He paused and looked behind him, seemingly wanting Arcadia to follow after him. So, she did. With Arcadia trailing behind him, the two made their way back to the room the others

were in. Once inside, Arcadia made her way to Eclipse's side once more.

"So, what should we do now?" Arcadia questioned her friend.

"We need to figure out a way to prove that Serenity is your child. The eyes aren't a solid way to prove that she is your child." Eclipse responded simply.

"I believe I can help with that." Freed began as he approached the two girls. "I think I can make and enchantment circle that could tell the people standing inside of it if they were related or not."

"Let's try it!" Arcadia hurriedly responded. Freed nodded his head and pulled out his sword to begin writing the enchantments. Once they were done, they had Freed and Bickslow stand in the circle first, only for the enchantment to say they were not related. Then, Eclipse and Evergreen stood in the circle, for the enchantment to tell them as well that they were not related. So, taking that it works for at least people who weren't related, Arcadia and Serenity entered the circle. The runes instantly began to glow a different color and tell them that they were, indeed, related.

"So, do you believe that you are my mommy now?" Serenity questioned as she looked up to Arcadia. The redhead just paled a little bit and walked tot he bed to sit down. It seemed like it all was finally hitting her and she was slightly panicking now.

"This... this is all so much..." Arcadia whispered to herself, even though she knew that everyone else in the room could hear her. She then shot up and stood up once again before turning to face Serenity. "I'll be a mother to you, Serenity. I don't really know how and I probably won't be the best, but I will try."

"That's all I can ask for." Serenity then threw herself at Arcadia and the two hugged for a few moments. Once they separated, Freed began to speak.

"I think we should call it a day and get some rest. A lot has happened and I think it would be best for us all to get a good night's rest." Freed told the group. After a moment of thought, everyone agreed and they all said their goodnights to the men as they returned to their room. Serenity sleeps in Arcadia's bed that night. It seemed like the child got good rest, while Arcadia was up every hour, meaning she didn't really have a dream that night.

~

The next morning, everyone woke up around the same time and got ready for the day. They then headed to a place to eat and began to figure out their next move.

"How can we hunt down Nova if she is teleporting with someone?" Arcadia questioned as they all ate their food.

"Well, I think I have a way." Serenity spoke up from her seat between Eclipse and Arcadia.

"What is your idea?"

"If Aunty Eclipse uses her telepathic magic to get a link to Nova, then she might be able to track her through that link."

"How did you come up with this idea?" Freed wondered after Serenity was done with her explanation.

"It just came to me." The little girl shrugged and then went back to her food. That worried Arcadia, but she didn't choose to say anything. So, they all quickly finished eating and headed out of the place they were eating. They made their way into an empty alley where Eclipse could search for her sister through her mind. After a few minutes, Eclipse connected with Nova.

'Nova, we need to talk.' Eclipse mentally spoke to her younger sister.

'How did you find me?!' Nova responded sounding a little panicked. She quickly recovered and began to speak again before Eclipse could say anything. 'Don't talk to me, I have nothing to say to you.'

'Well, I have something to say to you.' Eclipse snapped back instantly.

"What's she saying?" Evergreen questioned breaking Eclipse's concentration.

"Nothing yet. She doesn't want to talk to me." Eclipse responded sounding a little annoyed.

'What do you want to say to me?' Nova finally responded after a moment of contemplation.

'I can't believe that you had been keeping Serenity to yourself. What were you going to do with her? Were you going to use her against Adryn one day?'

'Who cares about what I was going to do with that rape baby? It's my business, not yours.'

'Who is Serenity's father? Do you even know?'

'Why should I tell you?' Nova snapped instantly defensive towards her sister.

'We deserve to know.'

"Fine! Serenity gets her hair color from her father. He is an international serial killer who was once with Raven Tail before he moved onto another country. I won't tell you his name.'

"Well? What's she saying?!" Arcadia questioned now, growing irritated with her friend. Eclipse held her hand up and closed her eyes. She began to try to see through nova's eyes. It was only possible with an extremely strong mental link, which Eclipse now figured that she had with Nova.

'Nova, why did you bring Serenity out of the lacrima she was in?' Eclipse questioned as she tried to get the link stronger.

'I wanted to use her to ruin Adryn and Laxus' relationship, and it seemed to work well.'

"Found her!" Eclipse suddenly shouted to her friends. She was able to see through Nova's eyes and recognize a shop that was only in the town that was a few towns away from the one they were currently in. So, she explained it to the group and they headed to the train station.

'You won't get away with your actions, you know that, right?' Eclipse spoke up finally to her sister. However, Nova never bothered to respond. It seemed like Nova had gotten tired of speaking with her sister.

As soon as they got onto the train, Laxus and Arcadia immediately began to feel sick. Arcadia, not wanting to sleep, decided that she was just going to talk and ignore her feelings of sickness. Laxus and Adryn sat next to each other while Eclipse and Serenity sat across from them, with the Thunder Legion seated in the seats next to them.

"So Laxus, what are we going to do now? We had already decided that I would try to grow feelings for you, but now Serenity is in the mix. Do you even want to continue with that or do you want to move on?" Arcadia questioned the man next to her as she watched Serenity lean against Eclipse and begin to drift off to sleep.

"I was thinking... You've accepted Serenity as your own, and I should as well." Hearing those words from Laxus caused Arcadia's heart to skip a beat.

"Wh-What?" Arcadia muttered in disbelief. Serenity instantly perked up and began to listen in to their conversation, along with the others around them.

"I still love you, and if you are going to be a mother to Serenity, then I should be the father." Laxus' words left no discussion. He clearly wasn't joking either. Hearing this, Arcadia began to have flashes in her mind of a time where Adryn and Laxus were discussing having children. Arcadia wasn't sure when they'd discussed it, but it had apparently happened before everything blew up in their faces.

"Laxus?" Arcadia slowly began with confusion.

"What is it?" Laxus seemed to be a little worried since Arcadia didn't say whether she was alright with him being the father to Serenity or not.

"Did you an Adryn ever talk about having children?"

"...We did. Why? Did you remember something?"

"I did. I saw you and Adryn talking about having children. When did that happen?"

"We talked about it during our first month together."

"Wait, why did you two talk about children, during your first month? Isn't that a little too soon?" Bickslow butted in from his seat across the way. Bickslow's babies echoed him, saying "Too soon! Too soon!"

"We thought we would get there someday." Laxus simply responded as he looked out his window. Hearing him say that caused pain in Arcadia's chest. She didn't like hearing him speak of things like that in the past tense. So, with hearing Laxus' words, everyone became silent for the remainder of the trip. Eventually, though, they got there and got off the train.

"Okay, guide us to where Nova is," Evergreen spoke to Eclipse who just nodded her head and began to wander through the streets of the town until she came across the place Nova was when she saw through her eyes. The group then began to ask around to find Nova and figured out that she was in the only inn in town.

"Let's hurry and get there before she goes somewhere else!" Eclipse called out to her friends as they all began to hurry towards the inn. They made it there and pretended to have rented a room only to use Eclipse's sensing abilities to search for the room where Nova was staying at. It wasn't too hard to find out which one it was and they made their way to the room. Eclipse knocked on the door and when Nova answered, they all piled in the room and Freed instantly put a barrier of runes surrounding Nova, to the girl's surprise.

"What the hell is this?!" Nova demanded angrily as she looked at the group of people surrounding her. She began to pound at the barrier, only causing herself to be shocked by it. "Come on, this isn't funny! You need to let me out of here!"

"Be quiet!" Eclipse snapped at her sister as she began to look around the room. She passed a chair through the barrier to allow her sister to sit on something instead of standing. "Sit down and shut up."

"Fuck off!" Nova yelled back at them as they all began to look around her room. They found black magic books and other books on how to bring someone back to life.

"What the hell is this? What's up with all this shit to bring someone back to life?" Arcadia demanded as she approached the girl in the runes.

"I am going to bring Ivan back to life."

"Why?!"

"Because I love him and he loves me!" Nova screamed out to Arcadia.

"Ivan was a manipulator and he only loved himself! Possibly Adryn too, due to his obsession over her, but you get my point!" Eclipse angrily yelled at her sister. Hearing that brought disgust to Arcadia and Laxus' faces. Neither liked thinking about how Ivan was obsessed with Adryn. Arcadia didn't like thinking about such things and Laxus hated remembering

all the shit that Ivan had put them through.

"You are a vile fool, Nova!" Serenity began from Arcadia's side. "You are also an idiot for having feelings for a monster!" To that, Nova laughed at the little girl.

"That would mean Laxus is a vile fool as well since he has feelings for a girl who has committed countless murders all for my sake," Nova responded with a smirk on her face. Hearing that caused Arcadia to begin to feel terrible. She could vaguely remember the murders she's committed for Nova's sake. She didn't like thinking about those things because she knew how much of a fool she was now to do such things to save a girl who didn't want to be saved.

"Adryn did what she had to do to protect who she loved." Laxus began from his spot next to the conflicted redhead. "Just as I will do the same thing to protect Adryn, no, Arcadia." Nova then laughed at the man.

"You are the true idiot for falling for someone as tainted as Arcadia. I can't believe you could still love her after finding out she has a kid."

"That's because, unlike your love for Ivan, Laxus' love for Arcadia is true!" Eclipse snapped instantly to her sister. That clearly pissed Nova off and she began to glare at her sister.

"How dare you say that!? You know nothing of my feelings for Ivan!" Nova began to scream various things. Some were incoherent and some were understandable. However, the group just ignored her screams and moved over to the black magic supplies. While there, Eclipse noticed that there were a few ingredients that she needed for the potion that she'd been planning on making earlier for her sister.

"Hey, Freed?" Eclipse began as she looked to the green-haired man.

"Yes?" Freed responded simply as he turned to the girl.

"Can you help me make a potion?"

"What kind of potion?" Arcadia questioned from her spot now next to Eclipse.

"This potion will completely wipe Nova's memories. Meaning she would lose her personality, memories and well, everything. She would become a blank slate that we could mold to make her a better person."

"Alright. I'll help." Freed agreed instantly as he approached Eclipse. Arcadia and the others then went away from them to give them space. They all needed to keep an eye on Nova anyway. However, questions suddenly popped into Arcadia's mind.

"Nova? Why do you love Ivan? Why are you so willing to do horrible things for his sake?" Arcadia asked the girl who was no longer screaming and was sitting in the chair again.

"I just... I just wanted to be his favorite, but I couldn't because he was so focused on you and your life." Nova responded hesitantly. However, instead of pitying the girl, Arcadia got mad.

"I never asked for him to care about me!" Arcadia yelled back to the girl.

"You should be grateful that Ivan cared for you! He didn't care about anyone, so you were special to him!"

"If that's true, then why did you say that he loved you? If he didn't care about anyone, that means he didn't care about you either." Hearing that, Nova began to cry. She put her hands over her face and she began to speak, even though it was muffled.

"I was just a toy for Ivan to use at his whim... He never cared about me at all..." After Nova spoke, everyone in the room began to pity her. Even so, they all knew that she needed to drink Eclipse's potion. She needed to be changed, no matter what.

"Please Nova, you need to change your ways. You need to stop all the things you're going." Arcadia practically begged to the lilac-haired girl. However, Nova just lifted her head and laughed at Arcadia.

"You're a pansy, you know that?" Nova then changed gears and smiled at Arcadia. "So, how'd your relationship with Laxus going?"

"Well, it isn't great, but it's better than when I first became Arcadia, so there's that."

"You know, Laxus is only staying with you in hopes you become Adryn again one day. However, that's impossible due to the strength of the potion that I used on you." Nova then thought for a moment and spoke up again. "While you will remember your time as Adryn, you will never fully be that person again. Plus, those memories will never feel truly like your own."

"I will continue to remain by Arcadia's side. No matter what." Laxus stated simply as he approached the two girls with Serenity at his side.

"What are you going to do when Arcadia won't let you touch her in more of an intimate way?"

"That's none of your business." Hearing Laxus' words, Nova just laughed at him.

"I trust Laxus. I know he isn't like the men that attacked me." Those words seemed to confuse Nova, so Arcadia continued. "I remember the attack and at first I was affected by it, but I don't feel the full emotions from it anymore. It's as if I've finally gotten over it, the best I could."

"That's because you aren't Adryn. You didn't go through it as she did." Nova simply responded. That seemed to get inside of Arcadia's head. She began to wonder if Nova was right. Maybe she isn't Adryn and never could be. At the confused look on Arcadia's face, Nova began to laugh.

"Shut up!" Arcadia yelled at the girl instantly, but that seemed to make Nova laugh even more. Before Arcadia could respond angrily, Eclipse and Freed walked over and the girl was holding the potion in her hands.

"The potion is made. Nova, this will wipe away your memories. If it works right, you'll end up like a baby without any knowledge of how to do anything an intelligent person can do." Eclipse explained to her sister. Hearing this, Nova began to pale. She was finally realizing the situation she was in.

"Listen, if you don't force me to drink that and let me go, I'll tell you the potion to reverse the one I gave Adryn, which turned her into Arcadia." Nova was clearly on edge now. She didn't want to have herself erased completely, so she was willing to do anything to avoid it.

"How do we know you're telling the truth? How do we know you won't give us a false potion that would kill Arcadia?" Evergreen questioned from her place next to Bickslow.

"I'll go through her mind to see if she's telling the truth or not," Eclipse responded simply as she turned her attention to her sister. She began to search through her mind only to see that Nova was telling the truth. "Oh wow. You're actually telling the truth. First, you give us the information about the potion, then I won't make you drink this one."

"...Fine. Give me some paper and I'll write down the ingredients and how to make it, but seriously, don't make me drink anything and release me afterward." Nova clearly didn't want to do it like that, but she still understood that she needed to do anything to get out of the situation she was currently in. Arcadia had hope for the first time in a while that she might actually become Adryn again. She just hoped that everything turned out alright. She didn't want to let Laxus down any more than she'd already had.