The Future
"You brat! I thought I told you I'll be having a date with my boyfriend?!" Nagged a certain blue haired celestial spirit. The spirit narrowed her eyes as she raised the urn that she was holding to level her head, threatening to hurl the water inside to her contractor, yet again, with the usual tremendous force.
Lucy, the contractor in question put her hand up exasperatedly as if to show her incredibly feisty celestial spirit that Lucy was wrong, but she had a good reason to summon her spirit despite knowing the hell her spirit could unleash.
"I know! I know! I'm sorry. You can punish me later. I swear I'll just stand and take it with no complaints, but right now I really need your help, Aquarius. Pretty please?" the blonde celestial mage clasped her hands together, giving her angry spirit her best puppy eye. Lucy knew that it was a long shot, but asking Aquarius really was the last resort because if she said no then the plans she had for today would just be buried in the ground.
Aquarius grunted in displease, "I'll smack you if you give me those puppy eyes again," despite the irritated tone, the blue haired celestial spirit lowered her beautiful yet deadly magic urn and crossed her arms, giving Lucy a look that said to explain what she wanted.
Lucy visibly gulped at the frown Aquarius was making, she was quite sure that Aquarius would, one hundred percent drown her after hearing her request, but she must do it. She must gather all of the skills she got from countless negotiations with clients whose properties were destroyed by her team. For the sake of Laxus and Lucy's plan. Their 6th marriage anniversary, that is.
"Okay, don't be mad—" Lucy braced and took a long breath, "but I need you to look after the twins for a while—just until this afternoon!" she exclaimed, adding the last part in a hurry before Aquarius could blow her fuse. Lucy prayed to Mavis that Aquarius wouldn't because her house just finished its remodeling after the whole Natsu fiasco last time—well, any other time, really.
Aquarius hadn't said a word and it made Lucy's anxiety spiked. She tried rambling for all sorts of reasons so that Aquarius wouldn't drown her and the most important thing of all, Aquarius would agree to babysitting the twins.
"You're my last resort, I swear! I wouldn't even bother you in the first place! But the sitter postponed it until the last minute because there was an emergency, and they could only come this afternoon. I even tried reaching out to the others at the guild, but they were all either out of town, on a mission, or just plainly drunk." She mused, recalling how Cana was chugging up a big barrel of wine when she and Laxus called her via the communication lacrima.
Seeing how Aquarius was still unfazed, both surprising and worrying, Lucy kept on bargaining. "I'll make it up to you, of course. How about a reservation in that resort that you wanted to visit with your boyfriend? Or the spa? Oh! The restaurant that served pufferfish that you love so much, I'll get you the reservation. Promise."
The blue-haired celestial spirit raised an eyebrow in interest once Lucy mentioned the pufferfish.
Bingo. Lucy thought, secretly smiling.
"I'll make the reservation whenever you want."
"Nice try, brat, but I could eat all the pufferfish I want in the spirit world with my boyfriend." Despite Lucy being married and having a child of her own, Aquarius still managed to tease Lucy about the former having a boyfriend, it was a wonder at this point. Lucy thought that maybe it was just a habit or maybe Aquarius just likes to annoy Lucy.
Although Aquarius had stated, Lucy could subtly see the hint of interest in Aquarius' eyes and Lucy knew she would agree to babysit the twins if she just pushed on some more.
"Are you sure? Because Loke told me the pufferfish here is way better than the spirit world. I also recalled that he said you were nagging at everyone how the taste is nothing like they had here. C'mon, Aquarius! I'm giving you a lifetime worth of pufferfish, here! You can even bring your boyfriend with you and have a nice little date." Nice, Lucy could see that Aquarius was more and more intrigued with her offer. She just needed a little bit more. One little move.
Lucy then gave a long sigh, "but, I understand if you like the pufferfish in the spirit world now… guess I just have to tell Mr. Yajima that you won't be coming anymore,"
Lucy slumped her shoulders as if showing Aquarius that she was bummed and tapped on the arm of the sofa she was sitting on, pretending to contemplate something. She could see in her peripherals that Aquarius resolve was beginning to crumble and as Lucy took more time contemplating, she could practically feel the jitter coming from Aquarius, probably worried about Lucy calling off the offer. It was a bit uncharacteristic of Aquarius, really, as she could easily threaten Lucy to make her the reservation by attacking Lucy with that urn of hers. Lucy did notice, though, that after she found Aquarius' key and made a contract once again, Aquarius became way softer and gentler to her.
Like, the amount of time Aquarius had drowned Lucy has been once in every five summon, instead of every summon. So, at this point Lucy's confidence in success was increased to eighty per cent.
Lucy sighed and pouted, "also the twins are going to be soo disappointed. You're they favorite, you know?" Lucy stood and walked to the bookshelves on the corner right side of her living room, her footsteps were light, and it echoed in the quiet both women were in. Her bare foot was met with the clean and smooth hardwood, just newly replaced.
Lucy glanced at the array of frames—with pictures of everybody that she cherished spread around the oakwood bookshelf, that yet again just newly replaced. They used to have a glass bookshelf and Lucy loved that bookshelf because of how clear and pristine it looked, especially when the sun used to illuminate through them—but when your friends are someone like Natsu, Gray, and Erza… Lucy's thoughts trailed to the time when the group were hanging out at their house. Despite Laxus constant whining to Lucy about preventing her team from invading their house, Team Natsu still managed to show up—wherever and whenever.
Laxus did try to threaten them and much to Lucy's disapproval had "accidentally" zapped the two main dumbasses who was always the center of the ruckus, but they just kept showing up. At this point, Laxus' nag just fell on deaf ears for the dumb and dumber. Anyway, the story of how the glass bookshelf was destroyed wasn't any different from any objects that her team has destroyed. It always starts with provocation, then one of them gets mad—or both, then comes the verbal arguments and if we're lucky it will escalate to a physical one and if Lucy was really in her luckiest day, the physical argument would involve magic which would mean a certain red-haired would get involved. Don't even get Lucy started on the amount of sword marks her hardwood floors had sustained—or singed marks all over her precious walls. Gray did offer to make her a new bookshelf with his make-magic, but Laxus vehemently refused, saying that the twins would try to eat them because they'd think it was a popsicle.
Lucy stared at one of the pictures that showed the twins together in a wooden swing Laki gifted them after Lucy gave birth to the twins. The wide grin plastered across their faces expressed joy as the picture also showed their blonde locks flew around them while Laxus was behind them, seemingly pushing their swings together. While the smile on his handsome face looked playful, the look in his eyes conveyed an adoring look to the twins. Seeing the picture of her cherished people warmed Lucy's heart in an instant. On that subject, Lucy almost forgot that she was on a quest to make Aquarius agree to babysit the twin until the afternoon and snapped back to reality as Aquarius said something to her.
"—brat, don't make me say this twice." She couldn't make out what the first part was, and she was scared to ask because that would mean Aquarius has to say twice—which means making her angry, as if she hadn't already done that.
Aquarius clicked her tongue in annoyance but even so still repeated her sentences, "Fine, I'll go and babysit the little brats." Contrary to her grumbles, Aquarius' body language showed a tinge of excitement—Lucy wasn't sure whether it's because of the pufferfish or the fact that she said the twins love Aquarius the most, a fact that was surprisingly true. To Lucy and Laxus' surprise, Aquarius does a good job handling the kids in a way that made the kids absolutely adore her. Not that other spirits didn't do a good job as the kids were equally charmed with all of her spirits—but there's something about Aquarius' naggings that slithered its way into her kids' hearts.
Whichever it was, Lucy couldn't stop her smile to be as wide as a Cheshire cat. She almost went to hug Aquarius but remembered that she'd get smacked instead, so she held herself and just did a little skip in her place.
"Really? Aquarius, you're the best!" Lucy exclaimed; she can't wait to tell Laxus that they get to have their 6th anniversary to themselves.
Aquarius scoffed and puffed out her chest, "now you're just stating the obvious. Now scram before I changed my mind."
Wasting no time, Lucy quickly slipped on her shoes and ran to open the front door. She was met with a rather chilly breeze brushing against her face. The sun almost reached its apex and Lucy could feel warm light basking her, contradicting with the crisp autumn air that was hitting her skin. Her house was located just on the outskirts of Magnolia, so there were many trees around instead of shops. Lucy thought that it was way too far from the guild, but Laxus had insisted on building their new home far away from the guild. According to him, the furthest they got from the guild, the less damage their house would have to sustain. Little did he know that the source of the guild's chaos was none other than Lucy's own team. So, wherever Lucy went, her team would have followed her anyway.
As Lucy stepped outside of her house, a gleeful squeal reached her ears. The infectious squeal was soon followed by a giggle and an all-too-familiar deep, baritone laugh. Lucy peered over to the garden in front of her house, exactly to the source of the sounds and she saw Laxus playing with the girls near the same wooden swings she saw earlier in the picture. Laxus was lifting one of the girls, Laura, into the air while the other, Layla was on his back, her tiny arms wrapped around his neck, swinging her legs excitedly.
"Daddy, lift me up too!" exclaimed Layla with a fit of giggles.
Lucy watched them with a tender smile. If seven years ago, anyone had told Lucy that she would get married and have two very adorable daughters, she would have laughed at their faces. Especially if she got told that she would be married to the Laxus Dreyar, because seven years ago the chances of Lucy doing a back handspring five times in a row would still be higher than her marrying Laxus Dreyar—heck even dating the guy, not to mention the crippling depression that she was in. No number of oracles in the world could have predicted this development and Lucy had nothing but relief and gratitude because right now, Lucy wouldn't have been able to imagine her life without Laxus by her side.
"Be careful, you guys," Lucy called out, walking towards them with a big smile on her face. Layla's face brightened at the sight of her dearest mommy and the little girl let go of her arms around her daddy's neck, landing on the ground with a soft thump—seemingly forgetting about her request to be lifted in the air and ran to Lucy. Lucy, who was already kneeling with her arms spread wide, was ready to envelop Layla in her warm embrace.
"Mommy!" yelled the older one of the twins as she leaped into Lucy's embrace. Not long after, the younger one also lunges into her embrace.
"Aw, c'mon you guys are forgetting about me already?" groaned Laxus while crossing his arms and pretending to pout at his kids—despite them not being able to see it.
With her arms still wrapped around the two little girls, Lucy stole a glance at her husband's tall figure, catching his attention. Laxus stared back and raised his eyebrow, as if inquiring Lucy about something to which Lucy responded by giving him an "OK" sign with one of her hands and winked. Laxus looked surprised for a second and gave her the biggest grin, raising both his thumbs, telling her that she did a good job.
Laura, who was still in Lucy's embrace, turned her face towards Laxus who was now standing beside Lucy, arms on her shoulders.
"It's okay daddy, we still love you, don't worry," assured Laura with the cutest smile on her face, patting his hand that was resting on Lucy's shoulder with her tiny palm.
Laxus bit his lip as to hold himself back to not gush over the cuteness his daughter just threw at him. Boy, was Laxus glad that the twins face took after their mother so much. Although they do have his stormy gray eyes, their faces are just the carbon copy of their mom and Laxus always thank Mavis for that. Laxus kneeled beside Lucy, his body facing Laura and lightly pinched at his daughter's cheek affectionately. It took all of his willpower to not go and squeeze all of her chubby little rosy tinged cheek due to her excessive cuteness.
Laura giggled and squirmed, "Ouchie."
"Stop bullying Laura, daddy," Layla chirped from Lucy's embrace.
"I will consider it if you girls stop being so cute," he playfully replied.
Another giggle came out of Laura, "you know we can't, daddy. We're mommy's daughters so, naturally we can't help being cute." Laura reasoned, her rather serious tone heavily contradicts with the way she slurred at pronouncing "naturally", to which was responded by hearty laughs from both Lucy and Laxus.
"Of course, little princess, fool of me for even asking." Laxus nodded his head in a serious manner, while his lips were curled in a playful smirk.
He glanced at Lucy who still had her arms around the twins. Lucy looked enchanting under the sunlight, as if Mavis herself was bestowing grace upon her. Her cheeks that were tinted with sheer rosy hue complemented well with her almost porcelain-like complexion, making her seem ethereal in his eyes. Seeing Lucy's radiant contentment as she hugged their child made Laxus faintly remember the time when Lucy was in labor. He had never felt so terrified in his life—getting a lacrima shoved inside his eye couldn't even compare to the horror he felt seeing Lucy in labor. He almost shut down half of Magnolia—then again it wasn't really a rare occurrence, but Laxus was really terrified at that time. He learned the tough lesson that getting pregnant with a twin was extra painful—and to wear a condom next time they decided to slip out of their own wedding after party to do it in the guild's storage because there is no way in hell, he'd let Lucy get through that again. Two is enough, two is plenty, after all if he took all the angels, wouldn't Mavis be lonely up there?
Laxus took a glance at his wristwatch and realized that quite some time had passed by. He and Lucy had several plans to celebrate their anniversary. This one was a bit more special than the previous since it would be the first time they get to celebrate and spend time the whole day to themselves since their wedding. Usually, Laxus would only be able to take her to dinner at most—if not they would just celebrate it in their home, after the twins have been put to bed of course. Since the twins had turned six a couple of months ago, Laxus and Lucy decided that they could lessen a little bit of their worries of leaving their kids to the hands of another and opted to hire a babysitter to take care of the twins for their anniversary day.
The watch showed the time a little past ten, which would make them a little late for their appointment at the cathedral. See, they had planned out the activities that they're going to do today—all of which concerns both spending the time together without any second to waste. He had finally got to have Lucy to himself, after all of the stolen moments, the sneaking around, and everything else he had to come up ever since they had two little angels gracing their lives.
Laxus gently touched Lucy's shoulder, grabbing her attention to him. He signaled to his watch and proceeded to point out to the streets with his thumb while mouthing 'we gotta go' to her. Lucy nodded in response and put her hands on Laura and Layla's shoulders—her right hand on Laura's left shoulders and her left hand on Layla's right.
"Okay girls, we have to go now" Lucy said softly, tapping the twins' nose lightly with her index finger.
The twins' slightly pouted. "Now, Aquarius is going to take care of you in the meantime—until this afternoon," Lucy added, and the twins' pout turned upwards as they jumped excitedly hearing the name Aquarius from Lucy's mouth.
"She will?!" They squealed in unison, no longer feeling sad with Lucy and Laxus leaving which made both of the latter just a tad bit disappointed.
Lucy nodded with a smile, "After that the sitter will come. You remembered Valeria, right?" Lucy asked, mentioning the name of the sitter that they interviewed a week ago. The twins nodded in unison.
"She'll come by in the afternoon. Be good girls and don't give her any troubles, okay?" Lucy reminded them, feeling a bit worried about the new sitter. Angels as they were, Laxus and Lucy knew that the twins were far from innocent. Mischievous little devils, as Cana had described them—it wasn't any surprise considering they grew up around the likes of her team and Laxus' team (well Fairy Tail in general, really), the twins were bound to pick up a thing or two.
Laura and Layla shared a look between themselves for a while before replying, "Okay, mommy."
Laxus narrowed his eyes in suspicion, feeling that the girls would cause ruckus one way or another, but decided to ignore the feeling–clearly, the wrong choice, but Laxus won't know until later when it was all too late.
With Lucy's arm gently wrapped around his, they finally waved the twins goodbyes. The twins both clung to Aquarius' side and waved back happily while chattering to each other about what they're going to play after their parents left. Laxus and Lucy both chuckled as they saw Aquarius lead the chattering kids inside with her usual scowl.
After making sure their kids were safe and sound, Laxus and Lucy began walking towards the cathedral where the first agenda of their anniversary began; renewing their vow.
They had heard of the ceremony a couple of years back and found it weird at first, but the trend soon swept over all the married couples across Fiore—both to mage and non-mage married couples and suddenly everyone wanted to renew their vows, Lucy included. Hearing it on and on from her blue-haired best friend made Lucy's curiosity spiked. Not to mention the Sorcerer's Weekly magazine that she always read made a special feature of the trend! Seeing all kinds of ceremonies held by mage couples in the Sorcerer's Weekly made her green with envy and she decided that she wanted that too.
It didn't take long for her to convince Laxus since the blonde dragon slayer also kept hearing about the ceremony every time and everywhere and so he got curious as well. However, Lucy was faced with a problem about how and when they can have the ceremony. Their daughters were still infants back then, and both didn't want to entertain the idea of leaving their kids' side—even if it's just for a while, they simply didn't have the time to set aside all matters and prepare for it with all the job shift they had to get to.
See, when their babies were born, Lucy did take some time off from work—as she didn't really have to worry about rent anymore, she was able to rest and hand the matter of work to Laxus for a while. After some time, when Lucy was finally able to go to work, she and Laxus made a system where they would take shifts of who goes to work and who stays to take care of the kids. So, when Lucy had to go with her team, Laxus would stay and vice versa. They do set aside time for themselves, where they both didn't do any jobs and just simply stay and spend the time together. Hence, why at that time they simply hadn't had enough time to spare to prepare the ceremony.
Finally, the time came when the twins were old enough for them to be taken care of by someone else without either Laxus or Lucy falling into a nervous breakdown.
"I wonder if the priest is going to yell at us," Lucy mused while they were picking up their pace.
Laxus expression turned sour, "probably will… but I don't think he can hate me more than he already is," he grumbled, cringing to himself, remembering what happened at their wedding.
Lucy pursed her lips, "I wished he let us invite the others though, it would have been fun doing the ceremony with them present." To her statement, Laxus could only stare at her incredulously.
"Babe… I'm surprised they even let us renew our vows there, after what happened." His tone was laced with disbelief, before adding a thought to himself,
Well, the dean is one of your biggest supporters and honestly seeing your figurines in his office still freaked me out to this day—but still, it wasn't a surprise that they don't let the other guild members attend our renewals.
Lucy let out a disappointed sigh and fell silent. Laxus knew her mind was trailing to the events of their wedding—because that was what Laxus was doing as they approached the cathedral. Before they opened the door, Laxus caught a glimpse of Lucy staring at him, her eyes twinkled in a way that made him knew instantly what she was thinking about and without any notice they both burst out laughing in front of the cathedral, gaining a few weird looks from the passerby.
"I still can't believe that happened" Lucy choked in between her laugh, wiping away a tear that managed to escape her eye.
Laxus snorted at the sight of Lucy crying because she was laughing too hard. His eyes trailed to the huge gate that served as the entrance to the cathedral, he followed each intricate design that seemed to connect with each other across the gate until his eyes landed on something familiar; a huge burn mark right on the middle of the gate. He snorted once again before opening the door to the cathedral and held it in place, letting Lucy walked in first before he followed suit.
Once they were inside, Laxus eyes immediately glanced around the inside of the cathedral. Everything was pretty much the same since they last came here, the long and majestic hallway with sets of long oak benches on each side and ten pillars underpinning the structure. The only thing missing was the golden carpet spread with flowers that started from the entrance down to the aisle—one that they used for their wedding.
At the end of the aisle, Laxus could see the priest standing—waiting for them with an annoyed look at his face, clearly because of their tardiness and partly because of Laxus. He let out a chuckle at the sight of the priest with his arms crossed and was tapping on his foot impatiently, to which earned him a pinch on his biceps.
Whispering apologies to Lucy, Laxus glanced back to the cathedral. The light had shone through the humongous windows, hitting their faces as they walked with Lucy's arm on his down the aisle towards the priest. He couldn't help but feel a tad bit nostalgic as a rush of memories from their wedding day flooded him. Between seeing the annoyed look of the priest and remembering the events of their wedding, Laxus burst out another chuckle. At that time, it was infuriating but looking back, he couldn't help but laugh at the past events.
The chaotic events, that is.
a/n comments/reviews are highly appreciated bcs my soft heart requires the validation T_T