The Future Is Ours

Chapter 2

Natsu & Lucy – Continued

Team Natsu returned to the guild in mid x796 when Lucy was just ending her first trimester. Because she was just beginning to show, she'd worn a loose-fitting shirt for their grand return to. Although Lucy knew that everyone would learn the truth in a matter of days, she didn't want her slight baby bump to be how they found out.

As per usual, Natsu kicked the door in and announced his return home loudly. For it being early in the evening, the guild was surprising full. The enthusiastic greetings were nearly overwhelming until a life preserver came to Lucy in the form of a familiar voice from across the room.

"Lu-chan!" Levi's voice called out clearly over all the others.

When Lucy found her friend, she smiled brightly and waved. "Levy-chan!" From across the room, she saw Levy and Gajeel with two blue-haired little ones, clearly the Ryuu and Mari that her friend had mentioned so often in her letters.

The Celestial Spirit mage took one step towards the family before she saw Levy's face change. The diminutive girls smile changed from happy to conspiratorial in an instant causing Lucy to freeze in place. She watched Levy whisper something to Gajeel, place her daughter into his lap and then run her way. She didn't even stop when she reached Lucy, instead Levy took her firmly by the hand and dragged the tired and confused blonde back out the door she'd just arrived through.

Levy led Lucy outside the guild gates and down the road to a bench far away from prying eyes before she sat down in a huff, dragging her friend down beside her. "Oh my god, Lu! Tell me everything! When did it happen? How long have you been together? How did Natsu react? How far along are you?!"

The barrage of questions nearly overwhelmed Lucy as she struggled to catch her breath. Her mind was spinning. She didn't understand how Levy could know yet she very clearly did know! "Wait… What?! How do you know?!"

"HA! I was right! I knew it!", the bluenette squealed in delight, her eyes wide with excitement! "Honestly, Lu. A lot of us girls have been pregnant since you left. I'm getting pretty good at spotting it. Besides, when have you ever worn a loose-fitting shirt?" That last rhetorical question was thrown in with a knowing smirk as she unabashedly reached out and touched Lucy's lower abdomen.

"And here I thought I might get away with it for just tonight," Lucy said with a halfhearted sigh. In truth, Lucy was just thrilled to have someone to confide in who had been in her shoes and before long she was smiling brightly along with her friend. "I should be almost three months by now."

And from there, the two women chatted excitedly for nearly an hour before they made their way back to the guild. It wasn't until they stepped inside and felt the heavy tension in the room that Lucy knew something was off. Looking across to the bar, she saw the problem and knew the news was already out.

Gildarts and Erza were standing in front of Natsu looking stern while everyone else in the guild who'd been quietly watching the showdown turned to look at Lucy. Instantly her face grow hot, but she tried to act like she didn't noticed until Cana spoke up for everyone.

"Congratulations, Lucy!" She laughed loudly with a wave despite holding her own sleeping daughter in her arms. "Welcome to the club!"

Everyone in the room roared with laughter. Even as she thanked Cana with the best smile she could muster, Lucy just wanted to hide. She was seriously considering summoning Virgo to help when she heard Gildarts talking to Natsu.

"You're going to marry her, right?"

"I'm sorry. What?!" Embarrassment instantly forgotten; Lucy walked over to the men looking confused. "Who's marrying who?"

"Natsu is marrying you, obviously!" Erza looked exasperated. Clearly, she had been the one to tell Gildarts the news. Erza was very much a protective big sister to Natsu, so this betrayal wasn't all that surprising.

"Huh?!" Her jaw dropped. "W-Wait, um…"

Although she had no problem with marrying Natsu, and the idea had popped into head more times than she would ever admit, they had never talked about it. It just wasn't the top priority right now. Saying that Natsu wasn't the most experienced person with relationships was being kind. Lucy was pretty sure that marriage hadn't even crossed his mind, and that was ok. Natsu was Natsu and she loved him for who he was. That being said, obviously this wasn't enough for Gildarts and Erza.

While Lucy was at a loss to say anything else, Natsu looked at Erza, then Gildarts and then finally at her before smiling brightly. "Yeah. Of course, I'll marry Lucy!"

You could have heard a pin drop in that room while everyone processed what had just happened in a matter of seconds. It wasn't until Lucy passed out cold into Natsu's arms that the entire guild erupted at once.

Gray and Juvia

Gray wasn't all that surprised when he realized that Juvia was not at the guild bar with everyone else. For some unknown reason, everyone had their kids in the bar tonight and the bar itself seemed more kid friendly than ever which Gray didn't think it was a bad but a lot had changed in the last couple of years. Knowing Juvia and her penchant for getting lonely or even jealous, he could image hanging out in that environment regularly would be tiring. He wasn't immediately sure where he would find her but a quick conversation with Mirajane put him on the right path and he set out towards town.

Mirajane had told him that Juvia was renting an apartment near Lucy's place and, more than likely, she was there. However, Mira had also told him that she'd been planning to leave on a job soon so he had better hurry before he missed her. Following the directions Mira had given him, he found himself standing in front of the large building where Juvia lived on the 3rd floor. He had to stifle a laugh as he looked at the building because right above it and only above just that building, there was a dark cloud. It wasn't raining but Gray suspected that Juvia was upset about something. He also knew was that he was the best person to whisk that cloud away.

Quickly, Gray made his way inside and to the front door of her unit. He was a little surprised by how nervous he felt. He'd been thinking about this day for a long time. He'd thought it would be further down the road but Lucy's pregnancy had sped up the process. That being said, he had no regrets. Truthfully, part of the reason he'd suggested ending the job was selfish. Gray missed Juvia and as the days, months and even years ticked by, that feeling of longing continually increased. No amount of letters and packages made up for seeing the person you loved in the flesh.

Taking a deep breath, Gray didn't even bother knocking. He simply opened the door and let himself in. Juvia's room was as crazy as ever with little dolls of him all over but he was used to it by now and took it in stride. When he couldn't find the water mage in the living room or kitchen, he headed to the bedroom in the back. The door was half closed so he peeked in and finally got his first sight of her. She was lying in bed, fast asleep, on top of the covers. She was only wearing a cropped tank top and panties, hugging one of her larger dolls. She looked even more beautiful in person than he remembered in his dreams and his heart did a flip. It was actually really nice to get to see Juvia like this before she woke up, saw him and attacked him like he knew she would.

He made his way quietly across the room and sat down on the bed next to her. Carefully he reached out and pushed a loose strand of hair away from her face before leaning down to kiss her lips gently. Only then did she stir. Sitting back, Gray watched as her eyes fluttered open slowly, trying to focus on his face. "Gray-sama?"

"I'm home," he breathed with a contended sigh. Internally he braced himself for impact as he smiled at her.

He watched her eyes blink several times as she took him in again and again. She was trying to judge if he was really there and he nearly laughed but, before he could, it all clicked into place for her. In a flash, he was on his back.

"Gray-sama! Welcome home!" Juvia'd pounced him and was smiling brightly despite the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Right at that moment, the late afternoon sunlight broke through the clouds and shone straight into Juvia's bedroom window. Their eyes locked and for the first time in a long time, Gray felt complete.

A week after he returned, Gray asked Juvia to marry him and she immediately accepted. Gray had known for many years that he would marry Juvia, but he'd wanted to wait until they were both ready for that next step. That was the reason he'd waited so long to answer her feelings. Dating Juvia casually had never been an option.

As soon as Lucy heard news of their engagement, she immediately invited Gray and Juvia to get married at the same time. There were many reasons for this:

1) She knew that Natsu didn't care.

2) She knew that two weddings would be a hassle and having just one big event would be easier for everyone.

3) She was getting a little self-conscious of her growing baby belly and didn't necessarily want all eyes on her for the entire day.

4) Most importantly, Gray and Juvia were two of their best friends in the entire world. The couples had faced death together more times than Lucy could count and she couldn't imagine anything better than sharing one of the happiest days of their lives together.

In the fall of x796, at 5 months pregnant, Lucy married Natsu and Gray married Juvia in a double wedding inside the guildhall.

In January of x797, Nashi Dragneel became to the newest family member in Fairy Tail.

Juvia realized that she was late about two weeks after Nashi was born. Not wanting to get Gray's hopes up for nothing, Juvia kept her suspicions a secret for nearly a week before she'd built up the courage to go visit Porlyusica. Within minutes, Mrs. Fullbuster was receiving congratulations from the normally ill-tempered woman. Juvia wanted to run straight to Gray and scream out the good news at the top of her lungs, but she couldn't.

Of all the members of her Fairy Tail family, Gray was the one who most remembered his own parents. Their loss and losing Ur were a pain he still felt every day. Juvia knew that, although he rarely talked about it, having a family of his own was very important to him. She knew that he wanted to have the type of nuclear family life that had been denied to him so many times before. That's why she knew that this moment needed to be extra special.

She thought about asking Lucy for help but with a brand new infant, her hands were full. Also, it only seemed fair that Gray should be the first to hear about it. So that night, Juvia set to work on a plan to give her husband the good news. Three days later, the plan was set. Gray had been off on a job with Erza for the last week so the water mage had been knitting in secret day and night making a sweater. She was well aware that it would probably never get worn but it was all she could think of. Also, she was so eager to tell him that keeping busy was the only thing that kept her from trying to run to his side.

When Gray returned home, Juvia had dinner ready and she was dressed up a little more than usual. He noticed that his wife also couldn't keep the large smile off of her face and her usual enthusiasm was turned up a notch. Warning alarms went off in his head as Gray looked walked in the door and looked things over. The apartment was always clean, but that night it was eat-off-the-floor clean. Also, the table was formally set and dinner consisted of all of his favorite foods.

"I've only been gone a week…" he said warily, sitting down at the table eyeing it all.

"Welcome home, Gray-sama!" she called brightly, rushing in to give him a hug and a quick kiss before returning to the kitchen to finish everything up.

To Gray, even that was weird. Normally Juvia would practically assault him at the front door. Something was definitely up, but he had no idea what that could be and that made him more than a little nervous. Thankfully Juvia had all the food out and ready to eat before he could over think it. As the meal progressed, and they talked casually, Gray let his guard down. If Juvia could act normal enough through dinner, then surely whatever was on her mind couldn't be that terrible.

It wasn't until they'd finished everything and put it away that Juvia pulled a bag practically out of thin air and shoved it into his arms. "Juvia made you a present!"

"…a present?…" All of his earlier suspicions crept up again as he turned the bag over in his hands. "You've been acting weird all evening…"

"Just open the present!" she nearly shouted, her own nerves getting the better of her. However, as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she instantly regretted it and found herself apologizing. "No. … Sorry. … It's just…" Juvia fought the urge to cry as she tried to explain herself to Gray. Nothing was going right.

Gray watched as Juvia fought back tears and he realized that whatever was going on in that head of hers was really important. Otherwise she wouldn't be acting so evasive. With a heavy sigh, he forced a smile her way and opened the package before she could start crying in earnest. Peeking inside, Gray could see that, once again, she had knitted him something, and he fought back the urge to remind her that he was an ice mage who didn't get cold. Yet, it took a single glance over at his wife's anxious expression to shut his mouth and pull out the gift.

He could feel Juvia watching him closely from the seat beside him as he pulled the item out of its packaging. Quickly he realized that the item was a sweater which meant that there was probably not a chance in hell he would ever wear it out of the house but he didn't say it out loud. Instead, he unfolded the sweater to get a look at it and in an instant it all became crystal clear.

Gray stared at the sweater for a long time until the tears came that made the word knitted into the front blur illegibly. He literally had no words, but he didn't need them. With tears streaming down his cheeks, Gray put the sweater on the table and turned to his wife. He buried his face into the front of her shirt and wept.

Later that night Juvia walked into the guild hall hand in hand with Gray who wore a knitted sweater with the word Dad across front in large black letters.

In late fall of x797 Slate Fullbuster was born to the happiest parents in all of Magnolia. Just one month later, Gajeel and Levy welcomed their 3rd child, Akemi Redfox into the world as well.

Jellal & Erza

For this story we will need to backtrack just a bit. This story begins in late x796, not long after the joint weddings of her dearest friends.

Although Erza felt wholehearted joy seeing the men who had essentially been her little brothers get married to wonderful women, there was also a growing sense of loneliness that had crept into her heart. In just a few short years, Erza had found herself surrounded by happy couples who were moving forward with their lives and starting families and doing all of those things that Erza had hardly ever dreamed of. It came to the point that somehow she ended up feeling as though she was on the outside looking in at her Fairy Tail family. When it all piled up, she knew that it was time to step away for a while.

After talking candidly with Mirajane and then later with Master Guildarts, Erza decided to take an extended vacation. She knew that it wasn't good for her to fall into a pit of self pity and it wasn't good for her friends who worried about her even more than she realized. So, when Lucy was seven months pregnant, Erza set off from Fairy Tail with no real destination in mind.

For about a month, she just wandered here and there. She took small jobs every once in a while but really, she just found herself thinking a lot. In fact, she thought too much. Before she knew it, it was time for the holidays. Christmas had always been her favorite holiday. Some of her best memories were at Christmas parties with her friends (although said parties usually ended with a room full of highly intoxicated, unconscious, naked people) but still, those days were wonderful memories. So it was no surprise that the holidays left her feeling just a little more down than usual.

It was the morning of Christmas Eve when she walked into a new city only to realize that it was the very town where Crime Sorciere headquarters was located. Somehow her feet had unconsciously brought her there, and she instantly felt embarrassed. For a split second she considered turning right back around and leaving. She hadn't seen Jellal in a long time. Although they had stayed in touch over the years, it still seemed a bit much to just show up at the man's doorstep unannounced. And to make things worse, it was Christmas Eve. Surely even if he was in town somewhere, he had plans of his own. But, as soon as she considered leaving, she knew that she couldn't.

Erza was sick of running and she was sick of taking a backseat to everyone else. She had been in love with Jellal for nearly her entire life and even if they were not destined to be together every day, did that mean she wasn't allowed to have any happiness of her own? Pulling herself together, Erza made a split decision. She decided that although she hadn't planned to come see Jellal, perhaps it was fate. Erza knew that if she was ever going to take a chance with Jellal, that time was now and she would not let that opportunity go to waste.

It was late afternoon when Erza walked right up to the front of the now official Crime Sorciere guild hall. It wasn't huge like Fairy Tail or gaudy. Instead, it was big enough for their group and even a little understated. It seemed perfect for a guild that had once worked solely in the shadows. Taking a deep breath, Erza reached out towards the door when a familiar voice called her name from only a few feet behind her.

"Erza?!"

In a flash all of Erza's tension melted as she spun around and found herself face to face with Meredy who was smiling from ear to ear. "Hi, Meredy."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling her into a tight embrace.

Erza returned the hug and let out a sigh. "Honestly, I don't even know. I ended up in town here so I wanted to come by and say hello."

"Good! Come inside! Everyone will be happy to see you!"

Before Erza could even collect her thoughts, Meredy took her by the hand and threw open the doors to the guild loudly announcing her presence. "Look everyone! Santa brought us a present!"

Shocked at Meredy's words, Erza felt herself blush deeply as she was flung into the center of the room. Maybe it was due to the holiday but everyone was there. Meredy, the Oracion Seis and of course Jellal who met her eyes immediately and looked just as shocked as she felt.

"Erza?!" It seemed more like he was talking to himself than to her and it was clear that she was the last person he had expected to pass through those doors. Somehow that made her feel even more self-conscious, and she quickly found herself making excuses.

"S-sorry to interrupt. I just h-happened to be in town and I-"

As she was stumbling over her apologetic words, Jellal seemed to get himself collected because he stood up and walked over to her with a smile. "It's good to see you."

Those words stopped her own in their tracks. His smile was the gentle one that she loved so much and despite her efforts, she left a blush creep into her cheeks. Everyone else in the room seemed to fade away because, to her, this was the moment she'd been waiting for. "It's good to see you too."

That night they welcomed Erza into Crime Sorciere as an honored guest. Although the Christmas party with her new friends wasn't nearly as exciting as the ones she'd shared with her family, it was new and wonderful and exactly what she needed to begin feeling like herself again. Suddenly all that pent up frustration and jealously that had been plaguing her, which she had tried so hard to deny, seemed to just fade away. And the feelings of love, that she had been holding back for so long, began to bloom.

Her visit to Crime Sorciere that was supposed to be one night somehow turned into two, then it was a week, then it was a month and before she knew it, it had been a year. In that time, Jellal and Erza had finally crossed that elusive bridge in their relationship and had finally become the lovers that they desperately wanted to be. Things felt so right and the couple was so happy spending their days and especially their nights together. However, in the back of their minds, they both knew that it couldn't last forever. Erza's true home was Fairy Tail. It always was and always would be. No matter how much love she felt for Jellal, there was no way that she would abandon her family long term.

Jellal was much the same. Crime Sorciere had become his family. He was their leader, and they needed him there. Although Jellal had once masqueraded as a Fairy Tail member in the Grand Magic Tournament, his destiny lay somewhere else entirely. Jellal and Erza were truly star-crossed lovers. Yet, it was not until the following Christmas that the couple made the hardest decision of their lives.

Erza lay in bed letting the light of the early morning sunshine wash over her while Jellal rested his head gently on her six-month pregnant belly, not wanting to have the conversation they both knew was coming. Just a few days before, Crime Sorciere had accepted a long-term job that would take them across the country for at least a year if not longer. It would be hard and dangerous and even if Erza had been a full-fledged member of the guild, it was no place for a pregnant woman or a baby. When the decision was made, both Jellal and Erza knew that it was time for the fairy tale to end.

"Can you make me a promise?" Erza finally spoke softly, breaking the silence.

"And what promise is that?" he asked sadly, his eyes still focused on her swollen belly. He couldn't dare meet her eyes just then.

"Promise me, even if we aren't together every day, that you'll love our child." He could hear that her voice was at its breaking point and he knew that tears of his own had begun to fall even before she added, "And promise me you'll come to visit when you get home."

"I promise."

Later that day, before either of them could lose their nerve, Erza left Crime Sorciere and Jellal and made her way back to Fairy Tail where she had a lot of explaining to do.

In her absence, Nashi Dragneel, Slate Fullbuster and Akemi Redfox had all been born in x797.

In early x798, Erza gave birth to Dillon Fernandes inside the Fairy Tail guild with Lucy and Juvia at her side. By the end of the year, Dillon was joined by Daisy Strauss and Haruki Fullbuster.

In x799, Nashi Dragneel became the big sister to a little boy name Aki who was the spitting image of Natsu. Not long after, Laxus and Lisanna welcomed their second son, Gabriel Dreyar.

Elfman & Evergreen

In x800, Evergreen was pregnant with Elfman's fourth child. From the start, the pregnancy was different than the others had been. She felt ill early on and had little to no energy as things progressed. Porlyusica ordered Ever to bed rest around her sixth month, leaving Elfman to care for his three daughters practically on his own. Thankfully, Aunt Mira moved in to help with the girls and care for Evergreen taking some stress off her little brother. It was a rough time for everyone.

But the real danger came when Evergreen went into labor. Everything seemed wrong. She was losing too much blood, and the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. When the baby was finally out, it was the boy that the couple has always dreamed of having but he wasn't breathing. Seconds felt like hours as they fought to save both mother and baby. Just when things seemed like they might make a turn for the worst, Katsuo Strauss began to breathe on his own. Shortly their after, Evergreen's bleeding came under control and the danger slowly passed.

Recovery for Evergreen took time and the couple ultimately decided that they were done having kids. Katsuo, on the other hand, was a fighter. In a matter of days, he was putting on weight and thriving. He was a little blessing to the family. Between his parents and big sisters, Katsuo was destined to be a spoiled child.