"Babe, we're back," Laxus called as he entered the house late a couple of days after, still dragging his oldest son with him. "I've found the idiots and brought them back."
Lucy came from the study and glared at her kids; she'd received Lex via special delivery from the magic knights a couple of days before after Laxus left him with them on the way to Oaktown. The next morning after that, the news broke that Fairy Tail had been involved in a violent guild war.
This was news to Fairy Tail at large.
"What do you mean you brought them back? You could have just left them on the side of the road with a sign that said, 'cute kids, free to a good home.'"
"If only they were kittens and not idiots. Who would take them now? 'Free to good home, may start wars or blow up mountains when pissed. We made them, so I guess we have to keep them,'" he replied.
Laxus threw his son down on the couch, and Baby Orga came in dragging Petri Nekkis. "Take that upstairs. It will have to stay with us until it can defend itself."
All of the Dreyars knew that when their parents were exceptionally annoyed with them, they'd start referring to them as 'the idiots' and as 'its' rather than people, like they were monsters or unidentifiable animals that had just shown up.
Layla said, "Verbal abuse is still abuse. Our parents are cruel."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Okay, go out, have your own kid, and then you be nice and try to logically talk it out when they run off and start a war. There are no chapters in our parenting books about this!"
"You guys let us go to Oaktown. I don't think you had no clue at all about what we were doing," Layla said.
Her mother narrowed her eyes. "We let you go because we were sure you didn't have a clue. We didn't really expect you to find anything. We just thought you were off working out your grief or something."
But then, she gave each of them a hug anyway, squeezing them tightly because she was glad that they were okay and also because nothing felt better after a bruising battle than a mother's bear hug. It was love; it was punishment. It was Lucy.
Lucy added, "I love you guys so much. My sweet babies."
She even gave Baby Orga a death squeeze after he came downstairs. "My little guild babies. You need to learn how to tell Mavis 'no.' For some reason, none of my daughters deal with that very well. I wonder why that is…
"Anyway, I was going to cook you guys something to eat, but then I remembered I'm pissed off so Lex and I went out for pizza and games by ourselves. There's some noodles in the cabinet. You guys know everything, and you don't need us for anything, so I don't need to cook for you."
Making her children eat instant noodles as a form of punishment was classic Lucy at its finest, and Laxus found he was both amused and satisfied with her response. She wasn't like him; she'd troll them for a week, reminding them repeatedly how displeased she was.
Anna gave her mom a hug. "I'm going to head home. Poor Iggy has had the babies all to himself. Love you, Mom."
"I guess I still love you. But only you," Lucy said when her daughter kissed her cheek.
Lucy said all this, but still helped her babies get settled in.
Once Baby Orga went home, Layla cooked the noodles for everyone, and pondered one thing that puzzled her even then.
While they were eating, she asked, "How did I wake up in a dumpster?"
Mavis and Laxus looked at each other, and Mavis said, "The bad guys did it."
Laxus nodded. "Yes."
"Weird…"
No one was equipped or in good enough shape to deal with Layla being told she'd been thrown in a dumpster by her little sister, or that her father knew about it and left her there.
Yuri was throwing up and shaking while Lucy tended to them when they finished, so Layla took noodles up to Petri, who was laid out in the guest room, still suffering from the spell.
Laxus was too, but he had the benefit of being able to eat Mavis' magic, and since she was recovering magic normally, he was able to move around thanks to frequent refills. He was still exhausted, and both needed to wait out the spell.
"Wake up, boy."
Petri opened his eyes.
"It's time to eat."
He shook his head. "Not feeling so good. Maybe later."
Layla sat on the edge of the bed. "That wasn't a question, you know."
"But…"
She shoved a fork full of noodles into his mouth and forcefully stuffed them in.
He really felt like he was too tired to eat, and the mere act of chewing was draining, like his jaw weighed a hundred pounds. As soon as he swallowed, she gave him another bite because she knew he really was incredibly weak. The spell's effects had been so debilitating he'd needed Baby Orga's help to even shower or go to the bathroom right after he woke up. Now, he had enough energy to move around a little, but he had to conserve it for those basic needs.
The noodles were the first meal he'd kept down, and by the time he finished the very long process of being fed, he already felt a little better.
"How embarrassing," he mumbled.
Layla said, "Way back then, when I was getting used to just having one eye, I used to hold onto your arm so I wouldn't accidentally bump into stuff."
"I always knew. I didn't mind."
She gave him some water and said, "This is probably a bad time, but I just want to clear the air. I feel like you've got the wrong idea. I need to be by myself for a while. Maybe I'm just somebody who is better off on my own at this point in life."
Petri's brows rose. "I didn't ask."
"You act like you want me back."
"I just like pissing you off, to be honest. It makes me feel better."
She gave him an angry glare. "You're such a jerk."
"You remember when we went on that job together, and we were done, we went swimming at the waterfall. Making out there was like…the best experience of my life so far. You were so happy it was like you were going to burst so you squealed in my ear."
"That was nice."
Petri said, "It was good, except when it wasn't."
"What does that mean?"
"On a good day, I wasn't Sam Redfox. On a bad day, I wasn't Sam Redfox. Until all the days were bad days and you decided I wasn't what you were looking for. It sucked. It was my first time to fall in love, and I just wanted you to feel the same way. I kept thinking after we broke up that at some point, you'd realize I loved you all the way down to your crazy, but you ran off and got married instead. Really, fuck you."
Layla replied, "That's grand coming from you. You had someone else immediately, and someone else after that, and someone else after that. You didn't seem lonely, and you've certain never been alone. If you never told me how you felt, how did you expect me to know? Was I supposed to learn telepathy and figure out how to read your little bird brain?"
"Would it have changed anything if I had? If I came to you and told you how much I loved you, you still would have run off with that piece of shit bastard, even thought you knew he always leaves you feeling upset, confused, and disappointed. Now you don't want to be with anybody because he fucked you up that much."
The blonde glared at him and decided it was probably best not to fight with him. It would have served no purpose and she was tired.
"Outside of being a terrible kisser, and gropey and…everything you do with your body is just weird and gross. Your tongue is the most disgusting thing I've encountered in my life. But, I had fun with you."
Petri said, "That's been a long time ago. I've figured out what to do with my hands and—since we're both all grown up now—the proper use of my tongue. I could turn that snotty little scowl upside down."
"You're disgusting. I will destroy you if you ever try to talk to me about your feelings again," she hissed.
He said, "It really would help you unwind."
"I am in the middle of a divorce, you classless, senseless, brainless bag of vomit. And frankly, I'm very busy in my life right now and have better things to do than ask 'what can puke do for me?'"
"So, does that mean you don't want to sit on my face?"
Laxus spoke from the doorway, "I swear if I don't kill one of you today, it's going to be a miracle. Petri, don't run your mouth until your legs work and you can use them to go home and be a 'bag of vomit' over there."
"I don't care if he dies, Daddy."
"How saintly," her father answered.
Just getting the kids all settled in and safe for the night at home gave him a little relief, so he decided not to address the grossly inappropriate comment. It was a moment where he thought maybe it was a good idea for the older kids to move out and live their own lives. Preferably someplace where he would never be subjected to awkward situations, such as across town, in another country, or the dark side of the moon.
Most fathers would have default to rage against the harasser, but he knew his daughter. She was Lucy's daughter—she enjoyed provocation of all sorts. If Layla ever really got irritated, she'd just knock Petri out so he as a father didn't have to worry about defending her.
Lucy took time to talk to her babies, one-by-one, to remind them all how bad they really had been and how she as a mother deserved children who didn't quietly conspire to start wars.
Mavis was the last, and she'd been getting ready for bed when Lucy came into her room.
Mavis now had a sword, which Lucy was puzzled about. Her shoulder was pretty messed up, so she didn't give her too hard of a time. Her youngest daughter had been so adept at avoiding injury that being hurt was apparently a mind-blowing experience for her, as if it forced her to confront her own mortality seemingly for the first time.
"How's my sweet baby?" she said, stroking her daughter's cheek.
"I'm not really a baby."
Lucy pinched her cheek. "I carried you in my tummy. You'll always be my baby. When you're my age, and I'm…geeze, really old, you'll still my sweet baby. You'll understand someday. But, do you really need a sword?"
"It's better to stab than to be stabbed, I think."
"Okay, I'll give you that."
Mavis sighed. "So."
"So?"
"All of this got me thinking about stuff."
"Thinking about what?"
Her daughter said, "Baby Orga is all right. I'm starting to think I'm going to be all right with him long term."
"It's been years, Mavis. Literally years. You are about to turn twenty and you have had the same boyfriend for seven years. You've grown up together and sort of gotten all intertwined, like two thorny vines all tangled up. Mean and prickly, and they'd die if you tried to tear them apart. I mean, you're the prickly one. Baby Orga is actually kind of sweetheart."
"Mom, focus."
"I'm focused. I just think you're a little bit full of crap. As your parents, we wrote you off to Baby Orga ages ago."
Mavis sighed again. "This is why we don't talk about these things."
Lucy settled down in the bed with her. "You have to realize, we knew you were happy with him. Before he came along, we worried about what was going to happen to you once you got old enough to start liking people. We thought you'd have a hard time and that because you're maybe a little feistier than most girls guys would try to change you or avoid you. Baby Orga just adored you since always, and we were happy with that."
The Mavis-Baby Orga relationship had full support on both sides. Baby Orga's father had chosen to retire to Magnolia after wrecking his knee to help his son. They didn't have any family except each other, and Orga knew his son wanted to be with Mavis, who was never going to leave Magnolia. So Baby Orga had done what Layla and Sam had been unable to do and given up the future he'd originally planned at Sabretooth to build a life in Magnolia.
Lucy enjoyed the arrangement; Orga being next door kept Laxus entertained when he felt the need to be a jerk, and it guaranteed Mavis wasn't going to go very far.
Mavis said, "I'm thinking I'm ready to live together. I mean, it's not really that big of a deal."
"It is a huge deal. For you, mostly. And for me, because that puts me one step closer to more grandchildren."
"I'm still a little unsure about that. It's not happening anytime soon. I'm not like everyone else in this family. I understand how birth control works and I use it."
Lucy replied, "Okay. What's your plan?"
"Well, that's it. I'll just move next door. I've done the math. I'll be sleeping thirty feet from where I have always slept. I will eat some of my meals over there, not only because it's convenient, but because Orga is like eating at a fancy restaurant that only cooks my favorite foods. We have tentative plans to get a pet."
"Like a cat?"
"That's such a huge commitment. I was thinking more along the lines of goldfish. That way, if it pisses me off or we accidentally kill it, we can just flush it and get a new one," she said.
Lucy replied, "Well, maybe I can wait a little more time for you to become a mom. I need you to mature at least past the 'let's kill it stage.'"
"Why? Dad didn't. He threatened to get rid of all of us and start over like fifty times on the way home. Except Anna. And Yuri. Basically, he just wanted to kill Layla and me."
"I feel like you don't understand how terrible you all have been these past few days. You should just be glad we love you. And, we didn't have our receipts anymore and it's too late to return you to the store."
Mavis said, "Maybe our plan didn't go exactly the way we wanted to, but I'm not really sorry. We should have done things a little better, but we just wanted to help Yuri and I think we did."
Her mother answered, "I'm not happy with Yuri flying into a rage and killing people, and then changing back like everything is fine. That's not how anything works. It's also not the first time he's taken a life. I'm worried about him, and angry you helped create a situation where that ultimately happened. I'm most upset that you involved Lex…well, you kept a secret from us about him, and you involved him. Did you consider that you put him in danger?"
"But—"
"No excuses, Mavis. Just like you found out something the enemy didn't expect; don't think they might not have that ability too. For a time there, Lex knew information that could have gotten him killed. What if they'd figured it out? It was disappointing to me as your parent to know you did that. That's ignoring the fact you basically invited Lex to find out the grim details of a murder. He is a baby, Mavis, and he was so proud he just got to help and be a part of what all of you were doing."
In their house, on both large and small scale, it was always the girls getting the boys into trouble. Always.
Lucy hadn't fussed at any of the older kids in a while, but she would have been in error as a parent and as a leader in the guild if she didn't teach them and help them think about everything they'd done. Yes, Lex was fine and he wasn't in danger, and Yuri seemed a lot better. But they'd crossed lines, broken rules, started fights, and snuck around so no one would stop them from it.
Once she was finished with Mavis, she stopped by Layla's room to see if she handled the rebuke well, only to find she was already sound asleep. She'd always been quite an enthusiastic sleeper, even when she was a baby. It had made caring for her and an energetic toddler like Yuri more manageable.
Yuri was sleeping too, still ill, but he seemed more peaceful than he had in a while. Maybe it was the sickness, or maybe he could finally close his eyes and be still now that questions weren't hanging in the air.
She checked in on Lex, who was on top of the covers in his underwear, snoring with his mouth open. Lucy stopped to put an extra blanket on him and kissed his forehead.
The lights were off across the street, indicating the twins had settled into bed peacefully so their mom could rest.
Lucy crawled into bed with her husband. "How are you holding up?"
"Damn spell. My body feels so heavy. If we ever get these kids raised…"
She kissed him sweetly. "You know, it looks like our older kids are getting ready to fly from the nest and you know what? I'm kind of okay with it. I always thought it would be painful, but I'm excited for them to live their own lives."
"I think there's only so far they can get hanging around here. As long as they're here, they're 'our kids.' Especially Layla and Yuri…they need to go live their own lives. You do things a little different when you're living at home with your family. Anna has been living as an adult on her own with her own home and her own family, and she's grown so much."
Lucy asked, "So how much energy do you have? You seem like you need to unwind. And honesty, I spent my day drinking wine and reading a book called 'Rigid Peaks.' It's got me in the best worst mood ever."
His brow rose. "More raunchy romances? When it was murder mysteries, you'd get into bed and tell me about poisonings and stabbings and policework. Now you want to use me for my body."
She climbed on top and said, "Give me what I want then, won't you? All you have to do is lay there. There's exactly one part of you that needs to do anything."
Laxus went along with her whim, because he wanted and needed it. His body wasn't up for a full-throttle session, but he was more than happy to enjoy the view while she helped herself to him.
Once they finished, they spent quite a while talking about everything. The kids, Lilia, the guild, Mavis' decision to stretch her legs as an adult. Then, his wife returned to the subject of romance novels.
"I'm thinking about writing one."
"You…a mother of five, and grandmother, are thinking about writing a trashy romance novel filled with ridiculous sex scenes?" he asked.
Lucy said, "Well, my adventure novel didn't get published. I think I'd be really good at it. I could just write about us. You know, before we had kids and we were doing it everywhere, all the time. I could publish it under a pseudonym. I'm an author, and I want to write. I've raised all these awful children. I get to do what I want."
Her husband sighed. "Do you really think there's any chance our children won't find out what you're doing?"
"How would they find out?"
"Keep in mind, these are the kids that cracked a murder case the entire law enforcement body of Fiore couldn't."
"I'll be careful. And if they're that curious, oh well. It's not like they don't know we have sex. That's how they got here, remember? 'Oh, you guys exist? You're welcome.'"
Laxus felt there was no chance this wasn't all going to take them to a weird and bad place, but his wife was excited and happy and she was just so far past the point of caring about what their mischievous grown children did that she wasn't bothered. Realizing they were adults and forming grownup relationships with them helped her let go of them as her helpless babies.
Lucy said, "It's going to be nice anyway. You and me and Lex. It'll be quiet. I've kind of resigned myself to the fact we're not going to have anymore grandkids for a while. Mavis doesn't need to procreate right now, Anna's already pitched in two for the cause. Layla…just Layla. Yuri's on the long road to nowhere right now."
"Layla…ugh. That girl and her drama. Always. It's exhausting. I literally get tired just thinking about it. I think Yuri is going to be okay eventually. Maybe not anytime soon, but he is who he is. He's hurt, but he's still Yuri. He's a companion creature. Losing Lilia isn't going to change that. I think he'll work everything out. Maybe in a year or two or I don't know…I feel a lot more optimistic now."
Lucy also believed this because when Yuri and Lilia had been broken up, Yuri didn't have any serious relationships, but he'd had girls, girls, girls—to the point it was embarrassing. When he was on jobs, he'd drink, party, hook up, and then come back home and be their sweet son. It was probably the first sign they'd had that there were practically two different sides to him and one was quite carnal.
Her husband said, "I overheard Petri ask Layla to sit on his face earlier. I'm disturbed and irritated."
His wife responded to this by giggling uncontrollably, not at the situation, but at the disgusted look on his face. "Relax, I'm sure he didn't mean it. He just knows the way to Layla's heart is through the rage center of her brain. If she didn't want it, she'd just kill him. You know she likes the attention."
"He just out and said it, like that's something someone casually says to someone else. Who does that? Disgusting."
Lucy said, "Anyway, we have an important matter to discuss that's not about Layla, who still isn't the center of the universe after all these years. Lex has this ability and it's making him sensitive and it seems to be able to stress him out. I think we should find a friendly pet for him to hone his skilland learn to control it. Don't be cranky. The older kids had a tiger when they were little. And, we let them have an Exceed."
"One of them is dead and the other one lives across the street. My goal is an overall reduction in things that live in my house that create messes and weird smells."
"Honey, it would help him."
"Fine. A cat. A little one."
"Do you really think cats are friendly? I can't read animal minds, but I'm sure they're rude, they enjoy ignoring us, they're lazy, and they're selfish. Lex needs a better friend. Gildarts' neighbor adopted a dog who had puppies. They're pretty cute."
At this, he frowned deeply. "A dog? Are you serious? Have we not been married long enough for you to know that I hate dogs? They're noisy, they make messes, they tear stuff up, and owning one involves cleaning up its poop. It's like getting a small, hairy baby that shits on the rug."
"Cat people are weirdos, you know. Do you think a dog or a cat would be a better friend for Lex? Let's remember only cats torture their food for hours before eating it."
Laxus felt like this was cruel as he'd been looking forward to the peace and quiet brought by his older children vacating their home. To fill that void with an annoying animal that barks would be totally counterproductive, but his wife had already made up her mind and he was too tired to argue. It was also possible that she was right, but he wasn't going to admit that because he simply didn't want to.
"Whatever. Just nothing huge. Something small."
The next morning, Lucy's rage had cooled enough that she was kind enough to make her children and Petri breakfast, and she was happy to see they were all feeling quite a bit better.
It was Saturday, which meant little to the older wizards who didn't have a set schedule during the week. For Lucy, it meant Lex time, so once they were dressed, she took her son out into the city. She bought him an outfit, a new toy, some snow boots for the impending winter, and then on to the Hay Maze to wander and pick out a pumpkin.
On the way home, she walked him down the street past Gildarts' house, where the old man was standing outside teaching his grandson Crash magic.
They waved, stopped to chat, and then Lucy knocked on the neighbor's door.
"What are we doing here?" Lex asked.
"Your dad and I talked about it, and we decided that it might be a good idea to get you a pet that's nice."
He was dumbstruck, and when the neighbor answered the door, Lucy said, "You still have puppies?"
There was only one left, a ridiculously fat little white ball of fur with a little black nose. While running to meet them, he tripped and fell, capsized, and rolled on his belly before managing to get back up to bark and jump around.
The puppy's mother was the size of a small, very hairy horse and Lucy decided she'd just let how big it was going to get be a surprise. Her husband actually had quite a soft heart so the dog would probably grow on him. Hopefully.
"You're old enough to be responsible for him, so you're going to help make sure he goes to vet on time, and gets fixed, and gets fed, always has lots of clean water. You'll need to help teach him where he can go to the bathroom and not to chew or destroy things."
"Really, Mom? Really? Really?"
When Lex picked up his puppy, Lucy was sure they were both going to explode from excitement. Lex was happy, and the puppy was so happy all it could do was yip and lick him all over his face from the sheer joy of being a little dog with a little boy. Once they left, the puppy decided to bark at a sign with a bumble bee for the better part of five minutes, so by the time they got to the pet store to buy necessities, he was already named Bumbles.
As soon as they got home, the older kids were flabbergasted that a dog had been permitted to join their cat-only household. Layla and Mavis regarded it as a vampire gazes upon garlic, Yuri sat down on the floor for a few minutes to play with Bumbles before heading back to bed.
Anna and Iggy brought over her twins—now crawling—so they could scream and laugh and play with the puppy who was more than happy to run, bark, lick, and play with anyone he met.
Laxus gazed at Bumbles through narrow, suspicious eyes, and it bounded over toward him to meet him, and then stopped at his feet and pooped right there, mere inches from his bare feet.
He just sighed.
Lex picked Bumbles up. "We go potty outside, Bumbles. I'll show you."
"You're going to show your dog how to poop outside," his father said.
"I have to lead by example. That's what you and mom say all the time."
"I don't know that it's necessary."
Lex said, "How else is he going to learn?"
His father answered, "I ate dog when I was in the west for a job once. I didn't understand the language, I just said I wanted meat. Tell him I'm going to eat him if he ever poops in my house again."
Lucy punched him on the arm. "Stop being like that! You are being immature, and Lex is being responsible."
She cleaned up after the dog while Lex had Bumbles outside, and when they returned, Bumbles went back to playing with the babies and running about until they all fell asleep on a blanket in the living room. Lex covered them up with a blanket, picked up the dog and baby toys, and put them away.
Laxus was sitting on the couch sulking over a crossword puzzle, but he did find it cute to see his little son being a caregiver to his nephews and puppy.
The quiet lasted exactly nine minutes because someone knocked on the door and the dog jumped up rolled around in the blanket barking, and eventually made it to the door jumping up and down.
When Laxus opened the door, he picked up the dog to keep it from running outside and it was so excited it peed on him.
Sting and Yukino were there, and he opened the door to invite them in.
"Lucy! Come greet our guests, someone's dog peed on me."
Lex took his dog. "Maybe you squeezed him too hard."
Sting had visited the Dreyar house on numerous occasions over the years, and it was never calm and quiet. Something weird, dramatic, or funny was always going on. The first time he'd set foot there, he'd discovered his late daughter sleeping with a tiger and discovered her first friend ever was a tiny little mini-Laxus.
Even as adults, the resemblance between Yuri and Laxus was almost eerie. The easiest way to tell them apart from afar was the older Dreyars' distinctive, silvery-white hair.
Sting had been told privately by Chairman Jura that it was possible they might not solve Lilia's murder, and he'd been furious. Outside of working with Fairy Tail to track down everyone who might have been responsible—which was always a long shot—there hadn't been much hope.
They were surprised to find out two days later that Fairy Tail had figured it out and gone after those responsible.
Sting was grateful beyond words.
Once they were seated, they watched Hadyn and Taryn sleeping peacefully and Sting pondered on his grandchild. He assumed she would have been a cute little blonde girl, probably dangerous and—if she was around her aunts or paternal grandmother enough—quite bossy.
Iggy and Anna were still there, so they brought the travelers tea and offered them a snack while Lucy sat with them to talk about everything. Yuri came back downstairs to join them, dark circles still prevalent under his eyes.
Sting hugged him, tightly. "You okay?"
Yuri nodded. "Are you guys okay?"
"As okay as we can be, right?"
Yuri settled in on the sofa next to Sting, who said, "You don't look good."
"I ate Baby Orga's black lightning. Terrible idea, actually."
Sting waited for Laxus to return and said, "We just came from Crocus. The Magic Council has been trying to put all the little pieces together. It looks like there are still a lot of loose ends. Ikaruga told Layla she'd been permitted to 'keep' the lightning dragon magic they'd harvested. The Magic Council doesn't believe Kain Hikaru, Aria, or anyone from the Phantasm guild was the one who made that choice. Like there's someone above her."
"So we didn't track down the stolen dragon powers?"
Sting shook his head. "The first power she used was from the sword, which is at least four hundred years old—Master Hades had it at some point, but it was in Eileen's hands at some point before that as well. The second power she had was lightning magic, which had been taken from Lilia's body. She was lying when she said she had multiple powers, probably to try and intimidate Layla.
"The other accomplice, Aeris, only worked with Aria, so he's not aware of where the other powers ended up. The Magic Council has learned they're turning their powers into lacrima, which makes them portable and also probably difficult if not impossible to track down. They could use them to make weapons, or third gens, or anything really. Jura thinks they're either making a little army of third gens that can successfully assault the larger guilds or maybe some kind of weapon."
Lucy asked, "How does the Magic Council know about the lacrima?"
"Putting a dragon lacrima in someone's body and letting it bond with them is apparently extremely dangerous," Sting said.
Laxus nodded. "I almost died when I went through the process. I've heard the potential hosts are more likely die than to survive. As a Dreyar, I was able to survive because I was born on the powerful side. If Ikaruga had just put it in her body on the night of the killing, it doesn't make sense that she'd be able to fight. That has puzzled me."
"She was using some kind of dark magic spell to keep it from poisoning her body. When Layla hit her with Fairy Glitter, she not only damaged her magic container and brought her physically close to death; she broke the spell that was keeping the lacrima from making her sick. She was weak and in bad shape. The lacrima caused magic poisoning and basically cooked her from the inside out with lightning. They didn't couldn't figure out how to stop it before it was too late. She died before they got her back to Crocus."
Yuri said, "She died because the baby's powers killed her?"
Sting nodded and pulled out a little box. "Jura gave me this. I don't think it belongs with me. I'm not sure what you'll want to do with it. Destroy it or hide it or keep it or give it to someone else. I'm not sure there's a right or wrong thing to do."
Yuri took it and opened it to find a pea-sized bauble crackling with lightning inside. "Damn…"
Even Yuri knew there was no sentience in a lacrima. It was just magic power trapped in a shell, but it did seem appropriate and right that Ikaruga would die this way. To be destroyed by the life that one took was a fitting end for a monster.
It was discouraging that while they'd ultimately brought those directly responsible for Lilia's death to justice, there were roots they couldn't see. There was someone above it all who might have made that decision, and they didn't know.
Sting said, "Yuri, you're family to me now. I know it was never official, but the technicalities don't matter now. I want you to calm down and think about your future. Don't run off and get angry and do what you do. There's a difference between vengeance and justice, and if you cross that line too many times, it's going to be bad for you. Lilia is gone, but you're still here.
"Really, it's hard for me too. I decided to let Minerva watch the guild for a while, and I'm taking a job in Alvarez. I was thinking maybe it would be good for you too. It'll take two, three months maybe. I'd consider it a favor to have some company."
The real favor was getting Yuri and completely removing him from the continent for a little while. He could fight, travel, have an adventure, and bond with the person who would have been his father-in-law in another universe where things went a little differently.
Yuri nodded. "I'll go with you."
Yukino said, "We have some business with Anna too."
Anna collecting one of her sons from the floor when she heard her name. The conversation going on really wasn't her business and it was an incredibly depressing subject anyway. She was surprised to hear her name.
"Me?"
Yukino nodded. "You showed yourself to have great character. You're not interested in vengeance. You tried to protect everyone from their enemies and themselves. The scales of justice matter, and I wanted to give you something as a way of rewarding that, because vengeance is gratifying but doing the right thing sometimes isn't."
The wizard held out the Libra key.
"N-No way…"
Yukino said, "Take it. The twelve all want to be united under one summoner soon. You're trending toward that end, aren't you?"
Lucy said, "I've been passing keys to Anna for years. I'm still able to use Star Dress even after the contract is broken, so that's been enough. It would have been different for us if older summoners had kept possession of all the keys when we were young. If we held all the keys until we're ready to really retire, we'd basically skip a whole generation."
"I agree. No one in our guild has an interest in spirit summoning. None of our children are able to summon spirits. It was a big disappointment, because every wizard wants to have a student they can teach. Anna already have a teacher and she's the best summoner maybe of all time, but I believe if the twelve want to be together, Anna is the right person. I'll only have the Pisces key, but eventually, that will also come to Anna. That's my plan."
Over the course of the fighting of the past few days, and in the larger scale, the past year and a half, Anna felt like she'd made the least progress. She'd had the least remarkable victories, been noticed less than her siblings, and struggled to find balance between being a mother, being a wife, and being a wizard. That had all come at a price to her magic—or so she often felt—but celestial spirit summoning was quite a different thing altogether.
The condition of the heart, the treatment of her friends and loved ones, and her progress as a kind and loving person made more difference than which fights that she won. All while she'd been thinking she was falling behind, she was about to step onto a path she'd never imagined might be before her.
A celestial spirit summoner with all twelve keys was a force on an entirely different level.
She cried, hugged everyone, cried some more, and then sat on the floor with her babies and kept crying.
Even Sting couldn't help but smile at her. "What a sweet girl. Are you sure you're a Dreyar?"
"Mostly," she sobbed.
Hadyn sneezed and fire came out of his nose, and his brother started to crawl away, and just sort of drooled lightning onto the carpet.
Laxus picked him up off the floor and Yukino asked, "Do you have a flameless enchantment on your carpet?"
"And the blankets, the grass outside, the walls. The twins haven't burned anything down yet, but they are trying very hard and will probably succeed eventually. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be when they start walking," Lucy explained.
"Oh my…"
Yukino picked up Hadyn for some snuggles. "But they're just so adorable. What's better than a happy little chubby baby?"
Lucy said, "When it's your kid's happy little chubby baby. I get to squeeze and pinch those cute little cheeks and then send them home where they can exhaust their parents."
Yuri was quiet, but happy for his sister. Even he knew she'd been struggling to stay encouraged as a wizard when her attention had been pulled in so many directions at once.
It felt strange to him to finally earn Sting's full approval and affirmation after Lilia was dead, but he'd been just like any father. They'd had his blessing to get married, but the level of kindness and acceptance was different now that she was gone because they had their grief in common.
Layla came down before they left, and Sting said, "I'm supposed to tell you that you have the Rogue vote."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
This gave her two votes out of the five needed to join the ranks of the wizard saints. Some of them Layla was reasonably confident she could get on her side. Flexing her magic muscles while pursuing an enemy of Sabretooth had won Rogue's favor. Had that not been the case, she would have assumed he'd be an automatic 'no.'
It seemed like the easiest vote should have been the Natsu vote, but she imagined he'd always vote in the affirmative because he was the kind of person who took chances. His somewhat separate life as a Saint Wizard was evidently a little different than what she knew of him.
The next morning, Yuri felt well enough to pack up and head off with Yuri and the summoners had gotten up early to train together that morning for a couple of hours.
Layla headed to the guild after waking up predictably late, had breakfast, and then decided to have a chat with Natsu, who he was sitting by himself with the job stamp until either Lucy or Laxus could show up and take over.
In a pinch, Natsu always picked up whatever slack there was. They had a huge guild, and since Lilia's death, things had been hard, so he'd been performing some of the duties she'd usually expect her father to do. He was banned from doing paperwork for a lot of very predictable and obvious reasons, but he was good at nearly everything else.
"I heard you turned a small mountain into a crater. People yell at me when I do stuff like that."
Layla said, "I didn't have a choice."
"Just a warning: that excuse doesn't work. Sometimes I look up and everything is wrecked and I've saved the day and all anyone ever does is complain about property damage. You can prevent the world from ending and all anyone wants to say afterward is 'you blew up our town.'"
"Didn't you burn down an entire village trying to kill a small rat demon?"
"I got it, didn't I?"
Layla asked, "Anyway, I'm sure you've heard Jura is submitting my name as a Saint Wizard candidate. I have Rogue and Jura. I've heard you always vote 'no.'"
Natsu said, "Here's the problem: I'm the only one who knows how crazy you actually are. Everyone thinks you have a colorful personality and that you're maybe stubborn. They don't know the real you. The last time the wizards picked a young wizard to groom him to be a good leader, it was Jellal. You know how that went."
"Obviously, I'm not hell bent on bringing about the end of the world."
"Not today. But who knows what mood you'll be in tomorrow? You're an unstable prodigy with a weird mark over one of your eyes. A little blue hair dye and what?"
Obviously, he was testing and provoking her, because there was exactly one way to win Natsu's approval in a case like this and she really didn't want to go along with it.
She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and—in a bored tone—mumbled, "Okay, let's fight."
There was no chance in hell she could beat Natsu. He was possibly the most powerful wizard currently alive anywhere in the world. His love for sparring and desire to do it continually every day had never gone away, so it was common to see him fighting on the shore of the lake with literally anyone in the guild, from her father down to the littlest fairy of them all.
"I'm not going to go easy on you," he teased.
"Of course you are. My parents would be pissed if you killed me, and I'm not dumb enough to think you don't have that ability."
Layla took off her heels since they were going to fight in the sand, but she knew what Natsu wanted. He wanted her to give it her all, so he could see for himself her power, her state of mind, how she operated in battle. The only acceptable end was for her to be too exhausted to move but still in good spirits. If she got frustrated or snapped at him or tried to sneak in a serious injury, he'd knock her out and vote against her.
In the era after Jellal, Jose Porla, and God Serena, character and temperament were as important as power and there was a great deal of scrutiny given to potential saints.
Layla obliged even though she knew he'd only barely be playing with her, and was left disheveled, with burned, wet clothes after deciding she'd make her lot a little better if she knocked Natsu into the water. This ended in both of them soaked to the bone, although once the fight was over, he stood there surrounded in flames, drying himself off.
"That was fun!"
She flopped onto her back and groaned, "How do you figure? I'm too tired to move, I can't get the taste of ash out of my mouth, and you singed my hair and my clothes. And I'm soaking wet. Wet and burned."
"You've gotten a lot stronger. Your light is starting to feel real warm and nice, like the Gramps' was. I'll vote for you. But it doesn't matter. I've already talked to some people about this. This has been something we've known was probably going to happen soon."
"You have?"
He seemed quite serious, so she assumed it was bad news.
"Ichiya, Kagura, and Lyon already decided to vote for you. So with Rogue and Jura, that's already five."
Layla sat up. "You mean all this time you knew I didn't even need your vote?"
"Well, sure. But I was bored and I wanted to have a fight."
She dragged herself to her feet and kicked sand at him. "You...idiot! Layla kick!"
Natsu went flying, but also laughing at the same time. "Man, that brings back some memories. But seriously, Saint Layla really sounds like the name of a volcano that blows up and kills everyone."
"You. Just you. You're the only one I want to kill right now."
She fell back down, and he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, still heartily laughing. "That's the spirit."
"Put me down, you big, dumb jerk!"
"If I do that, you'll just wallow around in the sand. Not very ladylike. Or saintly."
Laxus had arrived at some point during the fight and rather than intervene or watch it, he decided he'd just drink his coffee in peace. It wasn't surprising, and neither was the sight of Natsu dragging her in while she yelled and insulted him.
"I think this belongs to you," Natsu said.
He shrugged. "Never seen it before in my life. Maybe stick some posters up and see if anyone claims it."
Natsu finally put Layla down in a chair and her father said, "Why did you pick a fight with Natsu? I thought you were supposed to be talking him into voting for you?"
Layla screamed through gritted teeth. "Everyone get away from me!"
Laxus said, "It's not very saintly of you to pick fights and scream at everyone. I expect more. Are you sure she's ready for a promotion like that?"
Natsu shrugged. "I don't know. Let me think."
When Lucy came through the guild doors, it was to a shrill screech from her oldest daughter. "Moooooooom!"
Lucy rolled her eyes because she knew ashen clothes meant she'd been sparring with Natsu. She knew everyone involved well enough to figure out exactly what was going on. And, rather than help Layla, she decided to join in.
"Why are you screaming my name like you're four and you can't reach your blankie?"
Layla said, "I don't want any males to talk to me for the rest of the day."
"Don't be childish. It's not saintly. If you'll excuse me, I have three hundred and twelve pages of paperwork to do because you threw a temper tantrum in Oaktown," she said.
Layla decided that since she was a little to tired to move at the moment, she'd drown her sorrows in some strawberry maple cider, fermented in her parents basement and now available for purchase at the guild for a lot more money than she'd usually pay for a drink.
She had one, and then another, and then another.
As a future saint wizard, sitting at the bar at eleven in the morning wasted and filled with complaints about Natsu was the most Makarov moment she'd had in her life so far.
Iggy came in, quickly selected a job, and headed to the table where Laxus was sitting with the stamp. "Since lots of people are hurt, I'm going to see if Layla wants to go with me."
Laxus stamped his flyer. "Good luck with that. She is completely plastered."
"What time is it?"
"In Laylaland, it's drunk o'clock. Henry Freed is at the library, he might go with you and he's probably not wasted. His parents raised him better," he answered.
Iggy said, "Well, isn't she supposed to be a saint now?"
Somehow, this comment made it all the way to her ears and Iggy moved just in time to avoid a glass thrown at him. It shattered on the wall, and her mother called from a table where she was working on forms, "Layla, that's not very saintly, is it?"
Layla turned to pick a fight with literally everyone but tripped and passed out on the floor instead.
The last thing she heard as she slipped into a state of sleep was someone mumbling something about how unsaintly this was.
Laxus looked back down at his crossword puzzle. "Well, I don't think it's going to go to her head."
"We literally drove our daughter to drunken rage coma. I don't know if this is a parenting high or low," Lucy said.
"I was amused by it, so I'm going to consider it a highlight. It shows our versatility as parental figures. We can nurture and help our children develop, or we can literally drive them insane for their own good," her husband answered.
"You're right. We're good parents. Except when our kids are drunk before noon, lying, scheming, starting wars, breaking into crime scenes, or rearranging the local landscape. You know, the kinds of things all kids must do. Our kids are lucky to have us as parents."
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