Chapter 8:

Jude Heartfilia

It was only a few hours later, and the plane had landed and the party of three were getting they're baggage from the airport baggage carousel. "Oh Lucy," a voice called out and a girl with green hair and green eyes who wore a gray dress jacket, pink shirt, and gray dress pants ran up to the three.

"Brandish, good to see you," Lucy said as she dropped her heavy suitcase which landed on Natsu's foot, causing him to let out a silent scream as she ran up to Brandish, "I thought Aquarius was picking us up."

"Well, after some begging and pleading, then Scorpio asked her to let me go and she finally said I could pick you up," Brandish replied with a wide smile.

Natsu, who was now holding the suitcase, cleared his then he said, "Sorry to interrupt but Lucy has not told me much about Brandish."

"Oh right," Lucy spoke then she stepped asides so both Happy and Natsu could see Brandish, "Natsu, Happy, this is Brandish. Brandish is a childhood friend who was adopted by Aquarius who works for my dad as a driver."

"Cool so Brandish what do you do for a living," Natsu asked her and Brandish smiled.

"I'm a lawyer," Brandish replied and Lucy smiled with pride.

"Really, you might be able to help us with a problem," Natsu said.

"And whats that," Brandish questioned, but before Natsu could start to explain the situation with Happy, Lucy gave him the zip your lips signal.

"You know what, we'll just talk about it another time," Natsu answered, "The most pressing matter now is Lucy's dad, lets go see him."

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy had arrived at the Heartfilia mansion, and everyone welcomed Lucy home, it was like she had never left. It was moments after arriving that Ms Spetto took the group to a bedroom where the ill Jude Heartfilia was confined. "Lucy, my wonderful daughter," Jude spoke with a smile, then he coughed a storm as he tried to get out of his rocking chair. Jude was wearing his yellow and blue vertical striped pjs, brown slippers, and that he was hooked up to a oxygen tank.

"Daddy, how are you feeling," Lucy said as she ran over to her father and sat on the bed and Natsu and Happy followed suit.

"Well, I'm hooked up to the ridiculous oxygen tank and the confined to this stuffy room," Jude replied, "I really understand that my body is getting weaker but does that mean I have to be bored for what could be my last few days."

Lucy looked around the room, it was a dull white room with a simple tv, a dresser, bedside table, a closet door, and a bathroom door. "It is boring in here," Lucy spoke, "I'll talk to Virgo and Ms Spetto to see if they can make it more comfortable for you."

"Thank you Lucy," Jude replied and he adjusted himself, "They don't seem be listening to me. Anyways, I see you brought Natsu with you, I'm glad to see you are back together."

"We're more than just back together father," Lucy responded then Lucy showed her father the engagement ring.

"Thats wonderful Lucy," Jude said then stared down Natsu, "Natsu Dragneel if you hurt my daughter again after all this, I will come back from the grave and haunt you for the rest your life. Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes, we do, sir," Natsu replied as he gulped and nodded.

"Good," Jude spoke as he looked from Natsu to Happy, "And this young stripping man must be Happy."

"Yes, sir," Happy said then he jumped off the bed and pulled out a folded paper out of his pocket and gave it to Jude.

"Whats this," Jude said as he looked at the picture, it kinda looked like him and Layla in white robes and with angel wings and a yellow halo.

"Its you and grandma Layla when you get to heaven," Happy replied, "Lucy showed me some pictures of grandma Layla so I could try to draw her as close to right as I could."

Jude smiled and wiped away a few tears as he said, "Thank you Happy."

Five weeks later, Lucy sat in the rocking chair while her father lay in his bed unconscious, he as he has been for 2 weeks now and everyone knew that his passing was coming. "Lay…," Jude mumbled and Lucy gasped, then went to Jude's side and grabbed his hand.

"Daddy," Lucy whispered and a few tears fell from her eyes.

"Lay… Lay… Layla," Jude mumbled as tears fell from Lucy's eyes even faster while she felt Jude's pulse slow down.

"Natsu!," Lucy yelled and Natsu rushed in.

"Whats wrong," Natsu asked and he looked from Lucy to Jude and back to Lucy.

"Layla… Time… Go…," Jude mumbled and pulse slowed to a stop and his breathing had ended.

"He's… Dad… My dad is gone…," Lucy mumbled, then she put her head on Natsu's shoulder and cried her eyes out.

Three days later, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy along with other friends and family were at the grave site of Layla and Jude Heartfilia. "Lucy, I'm sorry about your father's passing," Brandish spoke as many left the grave site.

"It's ok," Lucy replied, "We've been expecting this for a while now, its just hard to believe that it actually happened…"

"Believe me, I know," Brandish replied as sadness glazed her eyes, "I was only three when my father left if you remember so my mother was the only person I had left to take care of me. When my mother died in that car crash, I felt more alone than ever before. After Aquarius adopted me, I made a promise to myself that no one would go through no more hardship than they needed. Which brings me to something me and Natsu have been talking about. Natsu has told me about your's and Happy's situation, Lucy I truly believe I can help. I was working at Zeref's law firm before I started my own so I know every signal trick Zeref has up his sleeve. Please, Lucy, let me help you."'

"I don't know Brandish," Lucy said, "Your cost are high and right now, I just can't afford to pay you."

"Don't worry about it Luce, I've got it covered," Natsu said with a wide grin.

"Natsu, you don't have to…," Lucy spoke as she stuttered from the shock.

"You're right, I don't have to but I want to," Natsu replied as he took Lucy's hands, "Lucy, I love you and I promised your dad I would take care of you so that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Alright," Lucy responded and with that, she looked over at Brandish, "Brandish, looks like you have a deal."

"Good, I'll fly over to Magnolia in a few weeks," Brandish told Lucy, "We'll talk more about your case their."

Dear Readers,

So I hope this wasn't too fast, I thought about stopping after Jude's passing but I decided that the chapter just felt incomplete without the funeral bit at the end and that it just better to have the funeral part at the end of the chapter instead of at the beginning of the next. And another reason, I made Jude's death all happen in one chapter is because it isn't the focus of the story, so I felt that I needed to make it happen all in one chapter so we can get on to the court scenes and what not. Anyways, on to the review response part of the dear reader's:
~Kayorin Gale- As you know I did PM you already and I'll probably be PMing you again in the near future seeing that court scenes are probably going to start either in the next chapter or the chapter following. Anyways, glad you're enjoying the story so far and thank you for reading!
~katiekat2001- Glad you liked Wendy's appearance in the last chapter, it really was important! And here is the next chapter you couldn't wait for! LOL! I hope you enjoyed reading it!
~snowfairy65- Glad you felt the same way I did about last chapter, it really did give emotions I was looking for! This chapter was that final hump to get to the all important court case that I everyone is waiting for. And again, I thank you for being a constant reviewer, it's nice have to at least one person who reviews every chapter, those are the reviews I look forward to because I can kinda tell how my readers are reacting from chapter to the next. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
All right that was all the reviewers posted a review between when I posted chapter 7 and chapter 8! Thanks for all the reviews and I hope everyone keeps reading!
From,

Lavawings