Struggle To Victory

"Bolt, lay back down," Lucy said. She gently pushed the boy back into his hosiptial bed while Laxus watched the scene.

"I have to get going," Bolt responded.

Laxus had his arms folded across his chest. He looked down at his son serious. "You've only woke up three days ago. You have to get your rest if you want to get up to speed."

"You're father's right." Lucy wagged her finger in front of Bolt like a proper nagging mother. She rested the back of her other hand on her hip.

Bolt sat up with his arms supporting him. "I can't stay here any longer. I have to start setting up the spell."

Laxus shut one of his eyes. "You can barely walk."

Bolt looked over at at the younger version of his father. "That's good enough. You know Myra and the rest of Crime Spree could attack at any time. I'll becareful, but I have to get going if we don't want them to win."

Laxus turned his attention from Bolt to his girlfriend. "Lucy, I can go with him to make sure he stays safe."

Bolt narrowed his eyes in an annoyed bored expression. "Don't bother. I've been taking care of myself for years."

Laxus looked down at his son. "It's either me coming with you or you staying in this hosiptial."

"Then who will protect mom when Crime Spree strikes again?" Bolt questioned. "If she dies I'm dead anyway."

Laxus' eyes opened so wide they trembled. The nightmare of everyone he cared about dying came flashing back to him in the present.

"Laxus." The lightning dragon slayer turned around to see his best friend, Freed leaning against the door. "I can accompany your son and make sure he's safe, besides I'm a rune mage myself and can help him with his enchantment."

"Good idea," Laxus responded. "But are you sure you're up to this? You look like you can barely stand yourself?"

Freed breathed slightly heavy. "I'll be fine, beside Bolt is right. We have to end this as soon as possible before something like the fight with Dix happens again."

Laxus' eyes slightly widened. He quickly readjusted and shut his eyes. "Just becareful out there and take the rest of the Thunder Legion with you."

Freed nodded in agreement. "Right."

"Just look after Layla," Bolt said. Both of his parents looked at him as he dragged himself out of bed. "Now let's get going. The sooner the beter." The young lightning wizard left the room with Freed.

Lucy placed her fist over her chest. "I'm still not sure about this."

Laxus sighed. "We don't have much of a choice."

"When we raise him this time around maybe we could teach him to be a little less reckless," Lucy suggested.

Laxus lightly chucked at the thought. "Kind of impossible with a guild like ours." He looked over at the other blond. "Come on, we should check on Layla."

Darkness surrounded Layla Dreyar as she slowly began to gain consciousness. Her eyes began to open with a blur of faces and lights in front of her. "Huh?" After a few blinks her vison became clear to see… "Mom, Dad."

"Hey, glad to see you're awake," Lucy said.

Lalya turned her head in her mother's direction. "How's Bolt?"

"Well, he's walking," Lucy answered still alittle upset Bolt decided to leave the hospital early.

"And everyone else?"

"This sticks!" Natsu yelled.

Layla looked past her mother to see Natsu lying in the bed beside her clearly upset. Wendy stood by his bed. "Sorry, Natsu. You're just have to bare with it for a few days." Gray, Erza along with the exceeds were also still in bed, resting up.

Lucy looked back at the other bed ridden wizards. "It seems Dix's magic hit them harder than everyone else. So they still need to stay in bed for a few more days. Natsu's not too happy about it."

"What about the Juvia and the wizards from the other guilds?" Layla questioned.

"The members from Sabertooth and Lamia Scale went back home to rest up while Juvia and the others went back to their places to rest," Laxus explained.

Layla brought her head straight and shut her eyes. "I see, sorry that we got you into all of this mess."

Lucy waved her hands in front of herself. "It's not your fault."

"Crime Spree was the one who decided to change the past," Laxus spoke up. "You can't be blamed for that."

"But it was our responsibility to keep Crime Spree in check."

"You said it yourself that it takes everybody to keep those guys in stalemate," Lucy responded.

"We were supposed to be ahead of them," Layla said. "We couldn't find out about their plan in time and this was the result."

"Stop blaming yourself it's not healthy for you," Laxus said, stepping closer to the bed. He smiled down at his daughter. "Just get some rest."

"Wait, I have something for you both." The king summoner opened her eyes and pulled her arms from under her blanket. She placed her hands in a cup form. A golden floating orb appeared in them with a crisscross of words that surrounded it. "After I made contracts with the four kings they grew to really love our family. They gave me this to give to you."

Laxus blinked. "What is it?"

"A spell. It can only be used once by those that don't have contracts with the kings."

"Why wouldn't you give it to our future selves?" Lucy asked.

"To be honest I didn't think you needed them," Layla answered. "But maybe if I did we would have been better off." A light flashed from the orb. A green tiger emblem appeared on Lucy's right arm as a blue tortoise symbol fleshed out on Laxus' right arm.

Lucy brought her arm up, looking at the symbol. She blinked a couple of times at the amazing sight. "So this is the spell Byakko gave you?"

Layla nodded. "Byakko and Genbu. I already gave Bolt Seiyu's spell before we came here. I hope they can help." The orb faded away as Layla dropped her hands down.

"We'll make good use of them I promise," Lucy said.

"Now take a nap before you kill over," Laxus told her.

Layla turned her head toward her father. "There's one other thing." Layla re-quip a photo ablum into her hand. "I don't know how much will be changed after this is all over," Layla shackily lifted up the photo book to Laxus, "but I want you to have this so you know the memories we have together." Layla faintly smiled.

Laxus took the family photo ablum. "You just carry this around?"

"It once saved our family from…" Using so much magic in session had tried the weaken girl out and she fell unconscious.

"Layla."

"Layla."

"I'll help her." Wendy ran over to Layla's side and placed her hands over Layla and used her healing magic to revive the girl's magic. The sky dragon slayer then removed her hands. "That's all I can do until my own magic returns." The young girl wiped her brow.

Lucy looked over at the girl. "Thanks, Wendy."

Lucy had finished doing the dishes. She turned off the faucet and dried her hands. She then left the kitchen and headed into the living room of Laxus' place where the dragon slayer sat. Laxus held the photo ablum in his hand, exaiming it.

Lucy sat down next to her babies' father. "Shouldn't you look inside of it instead of just looking at it?"

"Layla said that this thing saved our family once." Laxus looked at the dent in the spine of the book. "It looks like it was used as a weapon from the looks of it."

Lucy leaned in closer. "It looks like it struck someone in the head, but that's not why she gave it to us." The celestial wizard took the book away from the muscular blond and opened it up. The first page in the book was filled with pictures of Laxus and Lucy together at the same age they were now. "I guess this is when we orginal started dating."

She flipped the pages to see herself pregnant and the two of them getting married. A picture when they cut the cake and Natsu waving like a crazy person in the background. There were pictures of Lucy with her bridesmaids and Laxus with his groomsmen.

A smile arose on the dragon slayers lips. Finally they got to the pictures where Bolt and Layla were born. The two looked as their children basically grew up in their guild as their own relationship grew too. They blushed when they saw a picture of them in Laxus' bedroom with Lucy dressed in a maid outfit on Laxus' lap. Clearly they didn't know anyone was there.

Warmth came in their hearts when they saw the photo of Blot and Layla holding up their Fairy Tail guild marks at the age of ten. Pictures of the family celebrating the holidays, birthdays, and fairy celebrations such as Fantasia through the years brought tears to Lucy's eyes.

Laxus noticed how beautiful and refine Lucy had gotten over the years. She even stopped wearing her short skirts at least around the guild hall. Layla and Bolt were clearly a hand full growing up and as they got older Bolt seemed to take less and less pics with the family for awhile. Laxus figured it was rebellion. Pics of the family both together and separately appeared in the ablum from Sorcerer's Weekly as cover stories and articles. It was clear that both twins were very popular.

"Laxus." Lucy had her head lowered when the man looked over at her. "We have to make this future a reality."

Laxus looked at the last few photos in the ablum. One showed the entire guild together, taking a shot together. Bolt had his arms crossed and was off to the side while Layla stood right beside him, giving a bit of a cute pose. Laxus himself and Lucy stood in the middle of the picture with everyone else surrounding them. The younger teens and kids Laxus figured were the kids of his current guild mates. "Yeah, you can a count on it."

All the remaining members of the Crime Spree guild now stood before their master at their main base. "I don't care what it takes," their master said. "Go all out on the legal guilds and destroy them. Don't leave a single one alive."

All the members bowed. "Yes, Master."

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