"Hurry up!" A young, blonde boy calls to a little girl. "Mom said to be back before dark, and the sun is almost set!" He huffed impatiently as his attention-deficit younger twin got distracted by every little thing that interested her. Eventually, he snapped and grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards their home without allowing her any rest.
"That hurts. Kaoru! How dare you be so rough with a lady!" The girl whined, pulling her hand out of his grip, stopping to rub her wrist while flipping her messy pink hair out of her face. "We have plenty of time! And even if mama gets angry, papa can just calm her down again!" Her eyes drifted to a little white moth that was fluttering in a spider's web. "Poor thing!" She muttered, reaching out to free the insect. Suddenly, a dark fuzzy creature the size of a large dog popped up and snatched the moth and spider into its mouth, curious by the taste.
The girl's face was a mask of horror as the boy, Kaoru, busted out laughing. "C'mon, Kaori, it's just a moth! And obviously, Chubaka wanted a taste." He cracked up even more as Kaori took a flaming swing at him. The fuzzy creature, Chubaka, made a face at the taste of the insects and promptly spat them out in pieces, revealing the white splotches that marked his mural baby fur as he ruffled his feather wings.. "Athough he didn't seem to like it."
"KAORI! KAORU! YOU BETTER BE HERE BY YESTERDAY!" An angry, feminine voice boomed. The twins looked at each other with wide eyes and took off in the direction of the voice, hoping to get there in time.
They arrived, panting, at a large building with the word "Thanatos" printed in large, intimidating letters over a pair of large, black oak doors. They slowly opened the doors and hesitantly walked into a large, dark room with candles hanging from the steep ceiling. Two staircases spiraled around the room, each floor above the second loaded with books on crimson shelves. The first floor, regarded as the "Lounge" by the members of the Dark Guild, had a bar along one wall. The floor was black marble, and leather furniture was scattered around the high tables and booths.
The second floor had a throne room-like set up, with two throne-like chairs. In these chairs sat two cloaked figures, one a manly, built form and the other a very curvaceous feminine form, the owner of the voice from before.
The members of the Guild gave the twins glances of pity, as they had also heard the call of their Matriarch. The young eight-year-olds gulped as they climbed the stairs, knowing they weren't in any real danger, but scared nonetheless.
When they reached their destination, the woman knelt down and embraced the children, much to their surprise. "Don't you dare ever worry me like that again, got it?" The woman told them in a quiet, exasperated voice.
They nodded and were released, turning to the male figure. He smiled and removed his hood, reaching out to ruffle the hair of both twins. "You have no idea how worried we were when the sun had set and you two hadn't returned." The man said in a deep, rich voice. The kids fidgeted and apologized, having no idea why their parents had been so worried.
The woman removed her hood as well, sending straight blonde hair identical to the boy's cascading down her shoulders. She smiled lovingly down at the two. "Now, you two seem utterly exhausted. Why don't you go to your room and rest for a bit?"
As the children nodded and headed towards their room, the man slipped an arm around the older woman's shoulders. "Lucy, are you ever going to tell them?" He whispered in her ear, causing her to tense.
"Maybe, but only if they figure something out and ask me. Right now, it's too painful to tell them. What if they hate me for keeping it from them, Yuuto?" Lucy whispered back.
"Well, being in this guild will probably cause them to meet with that guild, so I would think it's inevitable. The longer you wait, the harder it'll be to tell them. They need their real father." Yuuto stated.
"For all they care, you are their father. You helped raise them, you helped care for them. You've showed them all the love that a father can give. They call you their father." At this, Yuuto flushed a bit. He wrapped his arms around her waist in full view of the entire Dark Guild, warranting a chorus of whistles and a punch from Lucy. "Hey! Not so rough!" Yuuto cried out in mock pain.
Once he was done teasing and getting hit, the dark man turned serious. "Are you really going to go on that solo mission?" When the woman bobbed her head once, he sighed. "You'd better come back, okay? This mission could be very dangerous, if your speculations and Circinus are correct. Even if you do succeed."
Lucy nodded, hitching her travelling bag over her shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Take care of the kids while I'm gone, ok?" She turned to see Kaoru standing a few feet away. "Kaoru, honey, why aren't you in your room?"
"How long?" He asked simply, his chin set, determined to get an answer. Lucy considered feigning ignorance or lying to him, but knew he wouldn't buy it. She silently cursed his intelligence.
"I don't know, but most likely around five days."
Kaoru nodded before giving a toothy grin, one that he most definitely hadn't inherited from her. "We'll be waiting."
..O..
"KAITO!" A small girl with short crimson hair screeched as she pounced on the young ice mage. "Take it back, NOW!" The boy struggled helplessly under the girl's grip before trying to form an ice block around her iron grip. She was suddenly yanked off the boy by a woman with identical crimson hair.
"Rin! How many times have I told you not to let your temper get the best of you?" She set the fuming child on a bar stool to cool off, ignoring her mutterings of "he started it" and "he deserved it". When her mother wasn't looking, she slipped off the stool and silently exited the building, heading towards her favorite place to cool down and sulk.
Gray Fullbuster looked at his icy son. "One day, Erza isn't gonna be here to stop Rin from flattening you, you know. You'd better stop teasing her like that." He pointed out. Kaito simply shrugged, mumbling a "whatever" before making a crane made of ice. Gray sighed at his son, who seemed to keep his heart in a chest of ice.
A small girl of roughly six years old watched the entire situation with a smile. "They get along so well!" She exclaimed, not noticing the eye rolling she received from the surrounding mages,
Levy chuckled and finished combing her daughter's straight, black hair and put it in a high ponytail. "If you really believe that, Shun, then okay, although I'm not too sure." A large, muscled man stated, looking down at the child. She looked up at the man with her crimson eyes and grinned innocently before hopping down and running to tackle Kaito, asking to play.
Suddenly, the doors swung open as a certain Dragon Slayer strode in, sitting at the bar and ordering a drink and some spicy ramen. He laughed when bubbly little Shun told him what has conspired just before his entrance, although his smile never reached his eyes.
Levy promptly ignored the fire mage as he approached. "Did you find anything, Natsu?" She asked vaguely, although everyone in the Guild knew what she was referring to, even the children. Natsu's face darkened as he shook his head, and his blue exceed looked like he was about to cry…again. Erza nodded and retreated as Mirajane set a bowl of steaming spicy ramen in front of the Salamander, along with an alcoholic beverage, and gave Happy a fish.
So many of the guild members had started families, yet it always felt incomplete without their celestial mage. All of the children were told the stories of Team Natsu, of how kind Lucy was and how amusing she could be. Everyone who hadn't met her before, wanted to, simply because her absence had caused such a large hole to appear in the hearts of the members, and even the guild itself.
After 2 years, Natsu had attempted to date again, starting with Lisanna, but he could never stop thinking about her; he kept wondering why the hair on his pillow wasn't blonde, why the woman wouldn't talk about a book she wanted to write, why she wasn't a celestial mage, or why she didn't smell right. Every though and comparison led straight to the answer being that everything, every partner, was wrong because he wasn't with Lucy. Even Lisanna had found someone who made her happy, even more than she thought Natsu would, but his fire couldn't be sparked by anyone. Natsu felt like the only one left behind.