A few days after the return from Galuna Island…
I was down in the archives, filing some paperwork for Master, as part of my unusually light punishment for letting Natsu, Gray, and Lucy go to Galuna. I was in the middle of sorting through some damage reports for one of Natsu's earlier missions when I overheard Lucy and Mira talking in the main room of the library.
"And then he just stormed off! What a jerk right?!" I heard Lucy stay as I walked around the corner to find Lucy helping Mira sort through some stuff.
Mira laughed at Lucy's disgruntled expression, "Maybe. But that's what makes him so cute!"
"You really think so, Mira? My, my, my, I didn't think you went for younger men." I called out from where I leant against the wall.
Mira turned to face me, "Maybe. But I bet Lucy it attracted to his boyish charms, and so are you I bet!"
I glared at Mira as Lucy started to splutter. "Trust me Mira, I don't mind younger men, but idiot flame brains aren't my type." the she-devil merely let out another giggle, then froze when Lucy slipped off of the ladder.
"Lucy!" Mira and I rushed over to where she had landed in a pile of books. Lucy let out a weak laugh as Mira frantically checked her over.
"I'm fine, sorry about that." Lucy said, then furrowed her eyebrow when she saw a book she had landed on. "Hey what's this? I found an old painting." Lucy flipped a piece of paper over to reveal a picture Reedus had painted of us all as children, the day Happy and Stella had hatched.
"Oh, I remember that!" Mira stated with a grin.
"Is this everyone when they were kids?" Lucy asked us.
"It sure is", Mira stated with a grin.
"This must be Gray." Lucy pointed to a young Gray, naturally stripped down to his boxers. "But who's that? Is that Cana?" she looked at a sweet-eyed brown haired girl, ah memories before the guild corrupted her. "Whoa, is that Macao and Wakaba?! They look so young!" the resident guild bums drinking even then, and then she pointed out Natsu with a grin. "What's with the little, blue dragon, and the cute, little, orange dragon?"
"The blue one is Happy, and the orange one is Stella!" I said with a grin. Lucy looked shocked, then contemplative.
"I don't know if either of you knows this but, how did Natsu and Happy first meet?" Lucy asked.
"Let me think…" Mira said before launching into the story of how the slayers met their cats. I grinned at the shared memory, remembering the day…
I had been out with Erza that morning, we had just been at an ice cream parlor, spending our latest missions' money on ice cream cone after ice cream cone, when we hear a commotion in the park next to the shop. With a sigh, we paid and walked outside to find, surprise, surprise, Natsu and Gray going at it once again.
"Alright, that's enough out of you!" Erza stepped in between the two of them, and sent them both flying apart. Gray and Natsu spring back up and begin to yell abuse at Erza, then lunge at her, resulting in her knocking them down with one blow. I merely smirk as I lean against the tree in the park, it never gets old, watching her beat those two morons in one hit.
"Now behave, no more fighting!" she declares as they lie on the ground, nearly unconscious. They all always fought like cats and dogs.
A few days after that, I had been walking in the East Forest, on my way back from a job, when I had found Natsu beating a tree half to death. I noted with some amusement he had stuck pictures of Erza, Gray, and myself upon it. He threw his all into one punch, and hit the tree so hard, the entire thing shook. I sighed and emerged from behind some trees when he howled because his hand was throbbing.
"You need to be more careful!" I chided him as I held his hand in my own hand turned to ice, helping to bring down the swelling. He merely pouted and turned his head. I sighed once again and prepared to scold him some more, when two eggs fell from the foliage above us, falling on TOP of us. We rolled out from under the eggs, and stared in amazement, at the two eggs as long as our torsos.
"Aquila, Aquila, they must be dragon's eggs! We better hatch them!" Natsu had cheered. I had stared at him in disbelief as he picked up his egg and ran off to the guild with it. I stared at this white egg with orange swirls on it. A dragon's egg? There was just no way. I sighed and left it where it was, it was probably just a strange bird's egg, and I wouldn't want to take the egg from its mother. I had seen what it did to a mother when she lost her children.
I strode back into the guild, just in time to see Mira and Erza start to fight once more. And Gray was in his boxers in front of my (almost) baby sister. I knocked him on the head as I passed by, barking a command for him to put some clothes on.
"I've been looking for you, Erza!" Mira had swung around in her way too skimpy clothes for a 14 year-old. "Why don't we pick up where we left off?! Come and get some!" she waved her hand in a challenge towards Erza, who grinned.
"You know Mira, now that you mention it, we never did finish our match, did we?!" Erza smirked and angry, powerful auras began to emanate off the two of them.
"I'm gonna bury you alive!" Mira roared as she leapt for Erza.
"You're going to beg for mercy!" Erza screamed as she ran for Mirajane.
With a sigh, I stepped in between the two, intercepting their fists and throwing them both back.
"What do you want, Popsicle?!" Mira yelled at me.
"Stay out of this Aquila!" Erza practically snarled. They both aimed a punch at me, when I held up an iced over arm that they promptly hit, then fell into a heap, because if you've ever hit solid ice, you'd know, it feels like punching a brick wall. I sighed and went over to sit with Cana and Elfman.
"Aw what's a matter, Elfman?" Cana asked as she slid in next to me, and I passed her a juice, she was too young to drink yet.
"My little sister's perfected the full body takeover, but I'm still having trouble with it. I'm a sucky wizard." Elfman sulked across the table.
I tuned out their conversation, more interested in watching Erza and Mira to make sure they weren't destroying the guild hall, but tuned back in after hearing Elfman say he wished for an egg like them. I sighed, what a bother.
"Elfman.", I stated firmly, getting his attention, "If you would like to raise and egg so badly, there is another one I found in the forest. We can go find it and help it hatch together."
"R-really? You'd do that for me?" Elfman whispered with a small smile on his face. I sighed, then gave him a nod. I was a sucker for the younger kids, someone had to be, when they had role models like Laxus, Wakaba, and Macao.
"I really would. Cana, you want to help?" I asked my ward, fussing with her bangs until she shooed my hands away.
"No, I'm fine, thanks. Macao and Wakaba got me these cool cards, and said I could learn magic with them. I need to practice though." She explained with a smile on her face. I ruffled her hair and plopped a quick kiss on her forehead before saying good-bye. I called out to Elfman to join me and we made for the East forest.
"Thanks for letting me help you! I'll make sure to help you take real good care of the egg!" Elfman enthused as we walked along. I smiled at him and thanked him for helping while feeling a kernel of guilt inside of me. I was going to leave that egg in the forest and never think of it again, if Elfman hadn't said something.
I ruffled his hair, "No problem Elfman, you know, I'm the one who should be thanking you. I couldn't do it alone, the egg's going to need an Uncle's touch." I cocked a smile at a bright-eyed Elfman, who grinned back and gave me a thumbs-up.
As we approached the scene of where the egg was, we found a beat-up Natsu, an unconscious forest vulcan, Lisanna, and the two eggs, all thankfully unharmed (well, except Natsu, but that kid could take a beating from Erza, that makes him practically invincible).
"Are you two alright?!" I called out as Elfman and I sprinted over to them, Elfman making a beeline for Lisanna.
"We're okay, thanks to Natsu! And he beat the vulcan without using magic!" Lisanna chirped. I sighed in relief as Elfman fussed over Lisanna for a moment.
"Ugh, what's happening?" Natsu grumbled as he came out of it. I iced my hand over and sat it on top of his head, which was covered in bruises from the vulcan's attack.
"You sure are tough kid, not many as young as you could take on a forest Vulcan without magic and live to tell the tale." I said with a grin. "But I would expect no less from a fairy tail wizard."
Natsu beamed at the praise then frowned as he looked up at the sky. "It's going to rain soon. Lisanna! We need to get the egg back to the shelter!" He called out to Lisanna before standing up.
"You're right! Thanks for checking on us Aquila, Elf, we've gotta run!" Lisanna gasped before she and Natsu promptly ran off into the forest. I sighed in exasperation at their impetuousness, before turning to Elfman.
"Well, I don't think that it's good for the egg to be caught in the rain. Shall we get her back to my house?" I asked Elfman, gesturing to the egg.
Elfman gave me a small smile and shook his head. "I won't be helping you. Natsu and Lisanna are smart but, they don't know everything about raising an egg. I think they need my help more than you." Elfman gave me a small, sad smile, "I know you only asked me to help because you felt bad about my parakeet. Don't worry about it, and thanks for being nice to me." He turned to follow Natsu and Lisanna into the forest, calling out over his shoulder, "Thanks a lot, Aquila! Have fun raising that egg." I stared in shock at Elfman as he left, then looked at the egg in incredulity.
I actually glared at the egg for a moment, before turning on my heel to leave it. The only reason I came back in the first place was because Elfman had wanted an egg.
I started to walk away when I heard a knock. I froze and turned around to see the egg, practically bouncing, trying to come towards me. I sighed and returned to the egg, placing my head on it and hearing a patter of knocks in response. I had to give a small grin at that. Then with a sigh, I picked the egg up carefully and felt the being inside settle, before turning to walk home.
After I got home, I turned up the heat to where any normal human being wanted it to be, which was to the point of where I felt like I was dying of heat, and covered the egg in blankets. I stripped so that I could cool off some and kept the egg beside me, a quiet companion as long as it was close enough to touch me. I ended up falling asleep, curled up on top of the egg next to me.
The next morning, I walked into a guild wracked by chaos. "That's it, you're going down!" Natsu yelled as he yanked on Mira's hair.
"Oh yeah? Bring it on!" Mira yelled back as she tossed Natsu off of her. I ducked, guarding the egg with my body as I strolled up to the bar, where the Master sat with Macao and Wakaba.
I placed the egg on the stool next to me, before grabbing a beer over the side of the counter. I kept a careful watch on Erza and Mira as they seemed about ready to get into it. The tension was released however temporarily, when Elfman showed up with the egg. Natsu and Lisanna were happy, Cana and Gray relaxed, and I sent a glare towards Erza and Mira when they started to argue, causing them to simmer down.
Everything was interrupted however, when cracking noises could be heard in the guild. First I looked to Natsu's egg, where cracks could be seen appearing in the top, then to my own, where they were creeping across the sides.
Natsu's egg hatched first, sending a blue glowing thing into the air. When the glow faded, a flying, blue cat was revealed. It fluttered down and landed on Natsu's head. As everyone began to coo over the new cat, christened Happy, I watched my own egg. It cracked and there was no explosive hatching like Happy's. Instead the little ball was orange and it tumbled out of the egg and into my lap. I watched as a small, orange cat looked up at me and purred. I lifted her up to my cheek, and nuzzled her head, eliciting another purr from this tiny cat's mouth.
"Stella. I'm going to call you Stella!" I whispered as the kitten wriggled out of my arms and onto my shoulder, then my head. I harrumphed as the tiny kitten purred once again. Great, first Cana, now Stella, I was making a bad habit of picking up tiny, cute things.
I was brought out of my reverie as Mira finished explaining the story to Lucy.
"I see, that was a totally cute story. I really hate to see those two fighting though." Lucy commented on the tale.
"The closer two people are, the more they fight. It's fine." Mira stated with a smile, and I caught the undertones of sadness in her voice as she no doubt remembered Lisanna. I sighed as Master came bouncing around the corner.
"Yo Mira, could I have some help?" Master called from the top of the stairs.
"Of course." Mira called back, leaving Lucy and I with a smile and a wave.
I turned to Lucy to continue talking, when I heard Master bellow for me to get back to work. I gave Lucy an apologetic smile, and returned to the archives in the back. I sighed, remembering Lisanna, and how wonderful she had been.
I finished up my paperwork after a few hours and emerged from the archives. I called out good byes to everyone as I scooped Stella up form where she was talking to Mira at the counter and we left. I looked down at Stella, as she peered up at me.
"What's a matter, Aquila? You're awfully quiet." Stella frowned from where she was and I laughed at my cat.
"I'm fine. Just remembering the day we met, and how happy I was to have found you." I whispered into my cat's ear, nuzzling closer to her.
"I'm glad you came back for me.", Stella whispered back.
"Me too." I added with a smile, as we strode through Magnolia.
A/N: I'M SO SORRY! I know this should have bene out Sunday, but I was SOOOOOOO busy. Forgive me, expect a new chapter on Monday for next week since I'm out of town all weekend, and don't forget to read and review!