I would like to give a big shout out to my reviewers for helping this story top 80 followers and 40 favorites.
Morenoel RosesMcKeller MirandaLoveBug Q'Nisa ksw906 twizt312 Illustre Firesong23 Anui Wolf LouiseShirley melissaanne29 Velvet Thorn I've been going through a lot of...shit...in real life so you guys and your positive encouragement mean a lot to me.
If I wasn't so excited for their mission I would be tying myself in knots trying to get these two back to Mira and Laxus. It's going to be so much fun. We have to deal with the haunted castle first though. I think Lucy is doing a good job of helping Bickslow bring his heart to the surface, and Bickslow is obviously getting Lucy in touch with her inner orneriness (is that even a word?). Let's peel another layer off this emotional onion. Sensitive souls may want a tissue on hand.
Fairy Tail is totally awesome and I had nothing to do with it being that way.
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"Thanks, Virgo. You are the best."
"It is my pleasure to serve you, Princess. I will return in the morning to break camp. Please call me if there is anything else you require."
"I doubt you forgot anything. You never do."
"Yeah, like she said. This stew smells awesome, Virgo." *yeah, awesome. "You don't have noses and can't smell so how would you know?"
"It pleases me to provide for you satisfactorily Princesses. I bid you goodnight."
"Night, Virgo!" They called in tandem. *night, night ,bed time punishment. Lucy gave Pepe a look that bordered on Scary Lucy.
"Let's eat, Cosplayer." Bickslow handed her a bowl of rabbit stew smelling richly of carrots and mushrooms, and she settled on the fireside log next to him. "Question. Do you always use a bright pink tent when you camp? It kinda... stands out." *pink, pink, so pink, ow my eyes. Lucy giggled.
"Aries and Virgo made it for me. There are probably bright pink bedrolls inside too. They are super soft and warm and Aries's wool absorbs sound too."
"Bedrolls plural?" He stared at her with a spoon full of stew halfway to his mouth.
"Yes. Two. Why? You hoping to share one?" She had that evil look in her eye again.
"No!" Dream maybe but not hope. "I just didn't expect you to share the tent is all."
"Good grief. I'm not going to make you sleep outside when we have a perfectly good tent." She looked slightly offended.
"Why?" She blinked at him.
"Well why not? You aren't planning on attacking me in my sleep are you?"
"No!" He was horrified at the thought. "Why would you think that?" *Why, no, Cosplayer.
"The point is that I don't think that, Bix. Hence sharing the tent. I trust you."
"You are weird."
"Says the guy who wears a helmet and has his guildstamp on his tongue." He rolled his eyes at her. She flicked his nose. He tried to lick her hand. "Hey! Back off!"
"For the record you touched me first."
"What are you, four?"
"Maybe."
"...such a shame." She looked so sad he was worried. Had he said something wrong? He was just joking.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. It's just... I'm not a pedophile. If you are four then I can't appreciate your sexiness. I'll have to find someone else to lust after." *ooooh, Cosplayer broke daddy, sexy daddy. He sucked in a noisy lungfull of air. His mouth opened and closed silently several times before he heard himself whimper.
"I can be not four." He knew his whisper sounded desperate. "I can absolutely, definitely be not four." She smiled like he was that fat puppy he had felt like earlier and he had just learned a new trick.
"Good. I'd hate to have to switch my attentions to, say... Vijeeter."
"Excuse me! Vijeeter?"
"What? Almost everybody else is either dating, hunting someone, or being hunted!"
"Hunted? What are we animals?" *animals, bears, bunnies, slippery kitties, stupid diaper baby.
"You tell me... Laxus and Mira aren't dating but can you deny that they are circling each other like animals? Or Juvia? She is definitely stalking poor Gray. Evergreen's version of flirting is violent and Elfman's response is to beat on his chest. Erza literally told me she was 'going hunting' before she disappeared. Gajeel and Levy are swimming in the Nile hard core and he literally follows her around growling. And I saw Laki..."
"Ok! Gee, Cosplayer. Fine. I admit the guild is full of a bunch of animals. Wow. The way you see things is scary sometimes." *so scary, terrifying, run away, monster kitty. "Ok guys that's enough. No more kitties and no more monsters. I mean it. Time to take watch babies."
"They take watch?"
"They don't have bodies so they don't have to rest like we do. I can sleep while they watch as long as they don't get to noisy in my head. I still hear them, so I sleep better if they do too, but we make it work." *work, work, sleep and work.
"Wow babies you are such good helpers." *help, help, good babies, good helpers. Four totems flew into the trees and settled on different sides of their camp, out of sight in the shadows. Pipi plopped herself down on Lucy's head.
"Pipi stay with Cosplayer."
"Babies? You ok if she stays with Lucy? I don't want anybody throwing fits." *Ok, Pipi stay, protect Cosplayer. "Traitors. I've been replaced." He mumbled. He wasn't really upset. The babies caring about Lucy was a good thing.
"I bet Plue will snuggle with you if you are feeling lonely, Bix." He gave her his signature grin.
"I'd rather snuggle with his princess."
"Nope. You've got a little more work to do before you earn that privilege." Well. Ok then. He didn't know that was something he could actually earn but if she was serious he was all for the idea. After the way she pulled him into their game of tag earlier he was starting to think there was more to her little comments than just teasing him. He was also starting to think it would hurt if it turned out she was only playing. It would hurt a lot. "Bickslow?"
"Yeah?"
"Where did the babies come from?" He closed his eyes and winced. He had really been hoping she would never ask that question. He really didn't want her to know..
"I know they are souls, so they are people, or they were people once. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He didn't have to tell her. That was the only reason he was going to. He turned his eyes to the fire so he didn't have to see her face when he told her.
"They were. Once. They are my failures. They don't remember anything from before... I was tied to each of them when they died. Either I was to stupid to know they were beyond saving or I just wasn't strong enough to hold them untill help got there. Because I didn't let go in time they are stuck here, with me. They can't move on till I do because of the soul link. When my soul loses its connection to my body they will be set free. But untill then they have to stay."
"You were trying to save them when they died?" He nodded. "Oh, Bix." He felt Lucy wrap herself around his back and tuck her face into his neak. He hadn't realized he was shaking till then. "They don't remember, but you do don't you?" He started to deny it, but she would know if he lied. She had an uncanny way of knowing things like that. So he nodded again. "Oh, Bixy. Does your team know?" He tried to speak but nothing came out. "Freed knows right? He would have researched it, even if you didn't tell him." A tiny smile played at the corner of his mouth at the thought of his very knowledge oriented friend. "And I bet the master knows since he is old as dirt and knows everything, or knows someone who knows." He shrugged. Makarov had never asked. "And Laxus. Is that it?" He nodded, swallowed hard.
"Laxus was there. When I... found Papa. Stupid old man got himself caught in a rock slide." He felt a tear escape and run down his cheek. Lucy pulled away from him and the loss of her warmth almost made him cry out before she crawled right into his lap and wrapped both arms around him. One of her hands found the back of his head and she ran her fingers through his hair before she pulled his head down to her shoulder. Somehow his words kept coming. "I was fourteen. That's how we met. He was on a mission and saw the slide. Got there just before I did. Helped me pull the rocks off but... There was to much damage..." his words stopped and the shaking got worse.
"Hold me, Bix. It helps." So he did. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as he cried, remembering a death that wasn't his. One he had tried so hard to prevent. He cried for a soul He had prevented from moving on after that death. He cried for a life he had failed to save. He sobbed into her because while he spoke of one there were really five of them, and he had only told her the easiest story.
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Lucy managed to move Bickslow to the tent before he fell asleep. She hadn't let go of him. She held on and whispered to him over and over again that it wasn't his fault and that his babies loved him. Papa loved him. Trust and love, she reminded him, go hand in hand with souls. The babies trusted him because he loved them and had tried his best to help them.
While she didn't speak of it, she thought of Loke, her loyal lion. She remembered the night she had saved his life, how hard she had fought. What if Stache Face hadn't come? What if she had to watch Loke die in her arms? She knew the rules of the cosmos had been bent, broken, and reformed that night to save Leo the Lion. No one had done that for Bickslow. He had fought that fight and lost. And it wasn't only with Papa. He had done it five times. Lost the fight four times and still tried again for Papa.
They hadn't needed the two bedrolls in the tent. Only one was used that night. Bickslow had fallen asleep still holding Lucy so tight against him that she was a little surprised she could breath. He needed her. So she hadn't let go either. She held him and cried for his pain untill she had run out of tears. As her eyes slid shut the thought that their waking up tangled together in a knot was likely to be at least a little awkward flitted through her mind, but she tossed it aside. They needed this. So she held on.
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To be continued