Just when he was finally drifting off to sleep, the loud cry of the infant drifted down the hall. Bickslow groaned into the pillow as he pulled himself to the edge of the bed, sluggishly sitting up as he ran his hands down his face. Still not in the guild. Not a dream. This is real. This is happening. Why the fuck is this happening?
Bickslow eventually pushed himself up from the bed, straightening his back as he stretched his arms above his head with a yawn before turning around to face the bed again. The room was lighter this time from the small amount of sunlight streaming in through the open curtains in front of him, and he realised it was probably early morning since it had still been dark the last time he had been up. He could see Lucy curled up on the far side of the bed with the top of the blanket pulled over her head, and for a second, his lips were curling up into a smirk.
"She's crying again," he mumbled, still half asleep. Bickslow reached to pick up the pillow on his side to throw it where he assumed her head would be.
"I noticed," Lucy groaned into the pillow as she pulled the duvet tighter. She didn't want to get up. Maybe if she stayed in bed, she could pretend it wasn't happening.
With a sigh, Bickslow headed down the hall again. She'll get up, right? Who in their right mind would leave me a baby? She'll realise that, and she'll get up. The man honestly had no idea what to do when it came to kids. He spent most of his time in the guild or with Laxus and the other members of the Raijinshuu, and the only children in the guild were Wendy, Romeo, and Asuka, if he didn't include himself, because he was probably more of a kid than the three of them most of the time.
Reaching the yellow room, he only stared down at the screaming infant, kicking her legs as she stared back up at him. He let an arm dangle lazily over the edge of the railing and his eyes went wide when she moved slightly, as if to try and reach for his hand. Were babies even capable of doing that? Babies are scary. The screaming got louder the longer he stood there, and realising that if she could talk, then she would probably be swearing at him to do something.
But that's what Lucy was for. "Are you going to stand there or do something?" she asked as she walked into the room and went over to the crib, giving Bickslow a stern look on the way.
He shrugged as he straightened up. "No idea what to do."
"She probably needs changing or something," she muttered as she reached down pick her up before taking her over to the changing table on the opposite side of the room.
"In that case, I'm out." Bickslow did not want anything to do with that. Babies were mostly disgusting – that, he knew. But speaking of babies… Where the hell are the babies?
He walked back out into the hall, and looked up and down once. At one end was their bedroom, and at the other, he assumed he'd find the living area, but he wasn't sure since it was still fairly dark. Bickslow walked back down to the bedroom and found the light switch next to the doorframe again and flicked it on, lighting up the room. The bed sat in front of him. The dark frame supporting the mattress that was covered in a patterned grey duvet with white sheets, and simple bedside tables on each side with metal stands with grey lampshades.
Bickslow walked into the room slowly and turned. One on end, on his side of the room, he figured, was the large mirrored wardrobe built in to the wall. The opposite end of the room had just a tall set of drawers in one corner that matched the other furniture, and a grey armchair sat in the other corner and in front of the tall window that was half covered by the black curtains. He made his way over to the window then, and he quickly pushed the curtains all the way back
"Where the hell are we?" he muttered under his breath as he looked out the window. The yellow and orange sky and the sunrise he could just make out wasn't what made him wonder where they were, though. It was the buildings. Bickslow had never seen anything like it: the towering rectangular buildings that were everywhere his eyes could see. His first thought was that they were in Crocus, but he knew that was wrong the instant the thought had popped into his head. He wasn't even sure if he was in Fiore anymore, or even Earthland – he'd only heard stories about Edolas, though.
He focused his attention to the ground. If he placed his forehead on the glass, he could see the streets below. Yellow objects were going along the black pavement, and they reminded him of the magical vehicles that were sometimes used, but he knew they were different somehow.
Bickslow took a step back from the window, turning to look at the door that was next to the chair. He tentatively twisted the handle, pushing the door open slowly. He sighed in relief when he realised it was just a bathroom when he switched the light on. A large tub sat in the corner, with red candles sitting on the edge of it as well as various bottles of what he could only assume were different soaps and lotions. A separate shower sat in the other corner next to the tub and a dark blue towel was hanging on the railing on the glass door.
Next to him was another door, but next to that sat the counter that was cluttered with more bottles of random junk he didn't recognise, and the large mirror sat above it. Bickslow took a step forward, looking at himself in the mirror. He almost didn't recognise himself, but it was definitely himself. The mark was gone, and his hair seemed almost tamer – he didn't like it. The top wasn't as high and was pushed back more, while the sides weren't sticking out as far and were also more pushed back. Shrugging, he only looked around the rest of the bathroom once more before leaving it behind.
Bickslow went through the other door in the room and found himself in the hallway once again. There were four doors in the hallway, he noticed. One he had just come out of; the one to the left led to the nursery where Lucy was still dealing with the crying infant; the one to the right and at the end was the bedroom; and another was opposite him.
I wonder what I'll find in here? He only pushed the door open, revealing an empty room. How disappointing. Bickslow frowned as he walked back into the hallway. He had yet to find his beloved babies, too, which was odd. He could usually feel them – or the souls, really – but he couldn't. He couldn't feel anything.
Straight ahead and opposite the hall he could see a large white door what he assumed was the door to the apartment, but he ignored that for the moment, deciding that he could investigate what was past that door later. To his left was the black lounge, one side of it almost separating the lounge room from the rest of the large room. A glass coffee table – which he thought was strangely dangerous, if there was a kid living there too – was in front of the lounge, and another chest in front of that with some kind of screen – lacrima-vision, maybe?
On the wall behind the longer section of the lounge and was a large bookcase that took up that entire wall. The shelves were completely filled with books of all genres and random knick-knacks that he didn't recognise at all, but of what he did know about Lucy, he found himself not being all that surprised that there were so many books. It was like every day he was in the guild, Lucy and Levy had always been raving about some new book series.
Bickslow's gaze shifted to the other wall that was covered entirely by the black curtain then. He moved forward, and carefully pushed back the dark curtains all the way, almost lighting up the entire room once they were open.
He was looking at same sunrise and the same towering buildings and the same mostly yellow vehicles on the street below him. He still didn't understand any of it, and with a sigh he turned around and started heading towards the other side of the large room where the kitchen and the dining area was.
It was only when something caught the corner of his eye that he stopped and looked above the lacrima-vision-like screen. There, on the dark blue wall sat a small shelf with each of his babies. Bickslow jumped over the couch and the coffee table then, and just stared up at them, trying to figure out what was so different about them right then.
Something's not right… Where are the souls?
"Babies?" He stared up at the lifeless dolls, and tried to focus in on the souls that they should contain, but frowned when he couldn't see them. Why are their souls gone? I'll just have to try something else then.
Bickslow raised his arms, crossing them in front of him as he continued staring up at them. "X Formation! Line formation? Victory formation?!" They sat there motionless as he dropped his arms in defeat and frustration. "Oh, come on!"
And then it occurred to him: the souls weren't gone. His magic was gone. There was no magic, and that was why he couldn't see their souls or command them. It was the only thing that made sense, but he remembered that nothing about their situation made any sense at all, anyway.
Sad and frustrated about his lack of magic, he looked at the black frames that sat on each side of the shelf. The one on the left held gold keys, while the one on the right held silver keys. Are they Celestial Spirit keys? Why are these the only things that are here?
His thoughts were interrupted as Lucy came down the hallway, looking extremely pissed off and tired. "Can you hold her for a second?" She asked as she walked up to him, holding her out in front of her.
Bickslow froze. He'd never held a baby in his life. What if she breaks? Can they even break? God damn it, who the hell would trust me with a kid? "Uh… How?" he mumbled as he lifted his arms hesitantly.
"Hold her under her arms like this."
He did as she said, raising his arms so that he could grab the child under the arms and just below where Lucy's hands sat. He was holding her in the air, staring back at the face of the child that could possibly be his but at the same time wasn't his. It was a weird feeling to say the least.
"Okay, now pull her close to you so she's resting on your chest."
"Right…" he murmured, moving his arms so that he was pulling her closer. He unconsciously moved one arm so that it wrapped around her back and the other moved lower, supporting her bottom as she basically sat in his hand. Well... Sort of.
Lucy nodded, apparently approving the way he was holding her before she turned around and headed into the kitchen. Just slightly out of curiosity, Bickslow looked down at the tiny face that was resting on his shoulder as he moved his arms again slightly, only making sure that he wasn't going to drop her any time soon. He was pretty sure Lucy would actually kill him if he did. Slowly walking towards the kitchen on the other side of the room, he just watched Lucy go through all of the cupboards and drawers in search of something, apparently.
Suddenly, the infant started crying again though, and he looked back down at the tiny human. "H-Hey, stop crying, come on. Don't do that," he pleaded as he looked back up to Lucy for help.
"She's probably hungry," Lucy said over the crying as she opened another cupboard, pulling out a large tin. "Baby formula?" she mumbled under her breath as she spun it around to read the back of it.
He continued watching as she rushed around the kitchen, looking through every cupboard and cabinet for something. It gave Bickslow time to continue looking around the room, trying his best to ignore the incredibly loud crying in his ear. The cupboards and cabinets were white while the countertops were a black marble – pretty nice kitchen, he had to admit. The sink was in the middle of the island, while behind it sat the rest of the kitchen, with the fridge at the end of the breakfast bar.
On the other side of that half of the room sat the dining table. The dark table matched the chairs, and the grey fabric on the chairs matched the stools at the bar. Down one end of the table sat a highchair instead of another chair, which, Bickslow also had to admit, wasn't that surprising. He looked towards the back of the room towards the small office nook. Shelves with more books and random pieces of junk he'd never seen in his life littered the shelves while the desk was neat and organised.
"Alright, I think this will work for now." Bickslow turned at the voice and saw the blonde place a small bottle on the counter before she walked towards him to take the small girl from him, cradling her in her own arms once again.
He watched as she picked the bottle up, holding it above the child. The crying seemed to stop as soon as she realised what it was, and her own tiny hands reached up to grab at it. Bickslow took a seat on one of the stools, resting his head in his palm as he watched in… amazement – or something close to it.
"Wow," was all he could say as he swivelled on the stool, turning to look at the wall behind the dining table. The dark blue wall was covered in framed photographs of all different sizes and styles of frame, but his focus was instantly drawn to the one in the centre as he got up and walked over to it.
It was him. And Lucy. Well, it was him kissing Lucy, which was making his head hurt. It was black and white, but he knew what he looked like and he knew what she looked it and it was definitely them, or their twins or something. Everything was too confusing. But maybe the scariest part about that particular photo was the fact that he was wearing a suit, and she was in a wedding dress. That meant they got married. They had a wedding. They were married.
Married?!
He looked down at his left hand, instantly hating himself for not noticing the plain dark band that sat on his finger. Bickslow looked over his shoulder and looked at Lucy's hand and immediately noticed the rings that sat on her finger. The larger one caught his attention first with its large princess cut stone in the centre, while the band was inlaid with smaller ones. Damn, I proposed with that? Good job, me. The other one which he could only assume was her wedding ring was similar to the other one, just without the larger diamond in the middle.
Lucy looked up when she noticed Bickslow was staring at her. "What is it?" Bickslow looked back up, and raised his hand and pointed to the grey ring on his finger. "W-What?" she shrieked as she looked her left hand to look at the rings on her own finger that she hadn't noticed.
"Yeah. Apparently we're married or something, I guess. This really is a fucked up world." Bickslow mumbled as he turned to look at the other photographs. Most of them seemed to be from holidays or trips or something that they had gone on together, and he noticed that they actually looked happy together. As a couple.
This is too weird.
On one side of the black and white wedding picture sat another wedding photo, but it was of everyone, he guessed. He moved in closer, just to get a better look at it. Bickslow and Lucy were in the middle of the large group, looking happy as they all stood on a beach. We had a beach wedding? Laxus, Freed, and Gajeel stood just behind him in the photograph, while Erza, Mira, and Levy stood behind Lucy.
"So we had a beach wedding, huh?"
Bickslow turned to see Lucy standing next to him and looking up at the photos with him. He nodded as he pointed to the photo on the other side of centre wedding photo. "Look at that one."
They both moved slightly to stare up at it. It was them, again, but this time it was with the tiny human that the blonde was holding. He was kissing Lucy's forehead, while she kissed the baby's that they held between them. Bickslow didn't know what to do, or think, or feel. By the looks of it, he was married to Lucy, and they kid was definitely theirs – well, a version of them at least.
"How does it feel to wake up knowing you're a mother?" he mumbled as he continued staring at the photos. Most of them were actually pretty sweet, even he would admit that. It was just strange seeing himself in all of them when it wasn't even really him.
"How does it feel to wake up knowing you're a dad?"
"Fucking terrible."
Lucy sighed as she looked down to the infant in her arms. She was a mother. She was married, and this kid was more or less hers. Sort of. "At least we have a cute kid." She forced a smile.
"She's not really ours though." Bickslow turned to look down at the two. She's… kind of cute, I guess. "Well, she seems like it, but it's not us."
"You're right, but something tells me that it is us now." She wasn't really sure how she knew, but everything was so different for some strange reason she really wanted to know, and even if they were just there on a temporary basis, at the very least, they had to act like the kid was theirs. Until she had her real parents back, anyway. But her forced smiled turned to a frown as she went to sit on one of the chairs at the table behind her. "Have you seen any keys around?"
"They're framed over there." He pointed towards the lounge room. "They'll be no use, though. There's no magic."
Lucy sighed as she looked down again. "I figured as much."
Bickslow took the seat opposite the two and went back to watching them, and he couldn't help but notice the way that Lucy would smile weakly whenever the infant in her arms smiled or made some kind of noise.
In that world, he had married Lucy and they had a daughter. He was never going to get his head around that. Ever.
He'd only been in this world for a few hours, but he already knew he didn't like it. He didn't like that he couldn't recognise anything; he didn't like that he didn't know where they were; he didn't like the strange objects that covered the entire apartment; and he didn't like that he had a life in this world. A happy life, to top it off.
But nothing about this situation was making him happy. More than anything, he wanted it to be a dream or at least an incredibly well-thought prank that even he couldn't pull off, but he knew it wasn't.
Maybe Lucy was right, though. Maybe that it was supposed to them now, but he didn't how that could even be possible to begin with.
He just didn't understand any of it.
A/Ns: First few chapters are just a little boring, I'll admit that. They're short though, unlike the later chapters. This story does get better though. I promise. ;)