"Meet Nashi everyone!"
Almost immediately, everyone began to fawn over the peach haired girl in addition to Asuka. The latter seemed to like the attention, but the former still felt uneasy and tried to hide her face in the crook of Kinana's neck. But then, her eyes caught sight of white hair as Mira and Lisanna's eyes met hers. The two Strauss sisters slowly approached the girl and Mira just simply held out her hand while Lisanna greeted her with a friendly smile.
"Hello." Mira said. "My name is Mirajane, but you can call me Auntie Mira and this is my younger sister, Lisanna."
Nashi looked at the white headed girls blankly, something vaguely familiar about them made her comfortable and she reached out to grab the eldest Strauss' hand. "Auntie... Mira... and Auntie... Lisanna..."
After taking her hand, Nashi began to squirm her body out of Kinana's hold as she reached out for Mira. Kinana, knowing what she wanted, just chuckled and passed the young girl to the takeover mages. Lisanna just cooed at the sight of the child and the two sisters began to show Nashi who was who among the Tenrou Team, each name ringing familiar in Nashi's ears. However, when it came to Team Natsu, her eyes widened without Mira or Lisanna noticing.
"That's Team Natsu." Mira explained, pointing to each member as she said their name. "Gray Fullbuster. Wendy Marvell and her exceed Carla. Erza Scarlet. Natsu Dragneel with his exceed Happy."
Right after Mira said that, she immediately heard sniffling next to her and saw that Nashi was crying. The white haired sisters got worried instantly and looked over at the child with concern. But then they noticed that the peach haired child was staring directly at Team Natsu, but more specifically, Natsu. Everyone began to worry over the child's unexpected reaction, especially those not a part of the Tenrou Team since Nashi is someone they knew they just had to protect.
"Nashi?" Romeo asked. "What's wrong?"
The girl's eyes began to produce even larger tears as she whispered something under her breath. Mira was about to pull the child in her embrace when Nashi began to wiggle her body so that she faced towards the Tenrou Team and began to reach her small arms out to Natsu. Literally confusing everyone at her actions. Especially Natsu. He hadn't even known the kid for three minutes and somehow she was crying and reaching out desperately towards him.
"Nashi? Does he have something you want?" Bisca asked in a gentle voice, trying to soothe her. Nashi whispered something again but no one, not even the dragon slayers, could hear what she said. "What?"
When Nashi realized that Mira wouldn't let go out of worry and concern, she pointed at Natsu in desperation and tried to calm her crying so that she can speak. "Pa... Papa!" She finally cried, making everyone go into shock.
"Eh?" Everyone thought. "Papa?"
"That's my Papa, right!?" Nashi asked as she continued to look back and forth between the non core members and Natsu. "Papa's finally come back home! And Happy is with him!"
When Mira made no effort to react or move, the peach haired girl took it upon herself to wiggle out of the takeover mage's grip and jumped down to the ground. Once she caught her footing, she ran to Natsu and instantly tackled his legs into a hug whilst crying. The fire dragon slayer didn't know what to think but the child began to raise her hands, asking to be carried. So with hesitation, he picked Nashi up and patted her back as she continued to cry while hugging his neck.
Everyone was completely baffled at the situation, since they hadn't expected that reaction at all from the girl. Makarov was the first one to regain his composure and looked to see Natsu plead for an explanation with his eyes. He stroked his beard and sighed, gesturing for the dragon slayer to go along with it for now until the girl stops crying. The other members, who finally regained composure as well, agreeing with the gesture as well. Natsu just sighed in defeat and continued to pat her back in a comforting manner.
"There there... Papa's right here." Natsu reassured in a gentle tone, surprising everyone with how fatherly he sounded.
Somehow, he was able to get Nashi to stop crying and soon enough she fell asleep with how exhausted she was after all the crying. Once she was for sure asleep, Levy gestured the pink haired boy to place her slowly in her arms. When the child was securely in Levy's hold, the bluenette knew that there was something up and she immediately looked to Macao and the others for an explanation on what had just transpired, if they could even provide an explanation that is.
She looked to Macao and Makarov, the latter approaching the former with a serious expression. "That hasn't happened since we found her... and when she woke up..." Macao finally spoke to himself in a hushed tone, though everyone could hear.
"What do you mean 'found her' and 'when she woke up', Macao?" Makarov asked, seating himself atop one of the tables. "Is she not one of your own?"
The non core members sighed and Levy decided to place Nashi in in the infirmary to rest. When she came back down, no one had uttered a word about the matter. All anyone could hear was each other's breathings and the dragon slayers could hear the heart beats of those who stayed behind begin to speed up, probably out of concern for Nashi. Bisca sighed and knelt down and gestured Asuka to go look after the peach haired girl while the adults talked, the child agreeing immediately.
Once she was gone, Bisca stood up again and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No... not necessarily..." She said.
"What do you mean?" Juvia asked. "Who's daughter is she then?"
Wakaba just scratched the back of his head in frustration and sighed, crossing his arms as he did so. "Listen guys... to put it simply, Nashi is Lucy's kid."
The Tenrou Team all froze at Wakaba's words. Lucy's kid? As in their Lucy's kid? The same blonde celestial mage that they had been waiting for since they returned to Magnolia? That Lucy? How could that be? There was no way Lucy actually got married and started a family, did she? But for some reason, that thought hurt Natsu's heart. But they all immediately shook their heads out of their shock when Makarov brought his head back to reality.
"H-Her child!?" Makarov asked in a stuttering mess.
"Lu got married and started a family without me there to be her Maid of Honour!?" Levy cried in agony.
"No... how could she!?" Erza sulked, her forehead against the wall closest to her. "Everyone else sure... but Lucy... why...!"
The non core members were shocked at everyone else's reactions, but at the same time they couldn't blame them. But when they looked at Natsu, they were scared as his magic aura grew at a dangerous rate and his expression darkened. "Who's the father?" He asked in a serious tone. "He had better not made Luce cry."
"Aye sir!" Happy agreed.
"Guys relax!" Romeo said while sweatdropping. "Nashi is not Lucy's biological daughter, but her adopted one! She adopted her after finding her passed out on the outskirts of Magnolia!"
When the Tenrou Team heard that, their anger, despair, regret and whatever other feelings they had vanished completely and they all recomposed themselves as if nothing ever happened. The others couldn't help but laugh and think about what would happen when the core members meet Lucy herself. Would they react like this? Would it be a teary reunion? They just knew that whatever the case was when they meet Lucy, it would be a grand event in of itself.
"So... Lucy adopted?" Wendy asked.
"Well... she hadn't planned to in the beginning." Laki replied. "However, Nashi is a special case and Lucy has grown quite attached to her over the years."
"You mentioned that Lucy found Nashi when she was unconscious and I'm assuming something happened when she woke up?" Carla spoke up, crossing her arms while swinging her tail. "What exactly happened?"
"Lucy had found her passed out abandoned and alone when she was coming home from one of her trips around three years ago." Romeo explained. "Nashi had a high fever so Lucy brought her back to the guild for treatment. But when she woke up, she immediately began to cry and hug Lucy while calling her 'Mama' and wouldn't let go. Luckily, she remembered her own name."
"So then what?" Lisanna asked.
"We began to search if there were any missing person cases that involved someone who looked like Nashi, but nothing came up and Nashi was only about four years old at the time." Macao continued. "The strange thing is that she continuously insists that Lucy's her mom and somehow knows all of her spirits and even refers to them as aunt and uncle."
"In the end, when we couldn't find any clues as to Nashi's origins so Lucy took it upon herself to raise the girl." Alzack finished. "Though, we hadn't expected the two of them to become as close as they are now, but that's to be expected since Lucy had been training Nashi in magic since then. She is quite the prodigy."
"The fact that Nashi only ever acted like that after seeing you and Lucy for a few seconds, Natsu, must mean that whatever the mystery behind her is... both you and Lucy are connected to it one way or another." Jet said.
"Yeah! She's never done that with any of us you know!" Droy added. "She got used to use fairly quickly sure, but with you and Lucy, she's definitely convinced that you two are her parents."
Upon hearing those words, a sense of pride suddenly filled Natsu's chest. He had no idea why, but for some reason he was excited that Nashi thought of him as her father and was even more excited considering her display of power. He wondered if that was how Lucy felt when she decided to adopt Nashi. It must have been, right? The others did say that Nashi and Lucy were very close, so what's stopping him from having that relationship with the kid too?
"I guess I can take care of her until Luce gets back, if she's that convinced that I'm her dad." Natsu said while shrugging.
"Are you sure Natsu?" Erza asked. "Levy or Mira could take care of her."
"If she thinks I'm her dad, I might as well act like it." The dragon slayer said while puffing out his chest. "Maybe I can check out what Luce's been teaching her! Did you see how crazy her magic power was!?"
"Aye sir!" Happy cheered. "We should bring Nashi with us to the fishing spot and teach her how it's done!"
Watching both Natsu and Happy get excited about taking Nashi under their wing, the fairies couldn't help but be amused at the scene. It wasn't everyday that they get to see the hot-headed dragon slayer go around getting excited in taking care of a child, Lucy's child no less. Even though they had their doubts, the ones who stayed behind didn't seem to oppose it and so they all silently agreed that it might be best to leave Natsu be. And they couldn't help but await how Nashi would react to it.
"Well since you're so set on taking care of her Natsu, let me just say one thing." Macao said in a warning tone. "Though Lucy knows Nashi is a pretty tough kid, that won't stop her from being protective if Nashi gets hurt. So be careful with her or you might be saying goodbye to that head of yours."
"You better hope that Nashi doesn't get hurt in your care, 'cause if she does, we won't be able to protect you from Lucy's wrath." Wakaba added, chuckling at how badly beat anyone who had threatened Nashi became because of Lucy.
"Oh this I gotta see." Gray said, chuckling at the mere thought of a seven years older Lucy beating Natsu for getting even allowing the tiniest scratch on Nashi's skin. "A chance to see Lucy beat up Natsu, it'll be like old times."
"You wanna go, Ice Princ-"
"Papa!" Natsu was about to brawl with Gray but he was stopped when he felt someone hugging his leg. When he looked down, Nashi was staring at him with wide eyes in happiness and Natsu knew that Lucy might not like him fighting in front of her kid so he had to reluctantly back down, much to his displeasure.
But his displeasure was replaced as fast as he formed his signature grin and he picked the little girl up and carried her so that she was facing him. "Hey Nashi! You sure woke up quick, huh?"
"That's because you're home now, Papa! Mama will be real happy once she comes home!" Nashi said as she hugged him tightly. "You know! She doesn't talk about you a lot but she always looks at your pictures when she misses you!"
Everybody watched as Nashi told Natsu and Happy things about Lucy and while the both of them just listened to the little girl with full attention. It was a charming sight, to see Natsu act mature in front of Nashi. He had never backed out from a fight with Gray but he did because Nashi was watching. When Lucy hears about that, she's surely to blow a casket but that would be when she gets back from her trip. Whenever that time may be.