"Mom, since you're from the past, can you tell me when you fell in love with Papa?" Nashi asked.
The discombobulated gasp that left Lucy's mouth was one that put even the most dramatic theatre actors to shame. After a week of her being in the future, the two of them decided to just go hang out by themselves in Magnolia without the other kids. The peach haired child wanted to show the celestial mage her favourite places and basically just bond without any distractions. Natsu and Happy had left on a job so it was the perfect time for Nashi to finally enjoy that mother-daughter time that Senna kept bragging about.
Even though the blonde woman did not have the same spice tolerance as her dad, Nashi found quickly that her love of sweet treats had come from Lucy. While she liked peach flavoured desserts, her mom was a big advocate of anything that had to do with strawberries - chocolate being an added bonus. Lucy also loved books just as much as Gale did, but her stories were way more interesting than what her dad made it out to be.
The celestial mage was everything that Nashi could ever hope of her mom. Her dad was right when he said that no one could understand and tolerate their weirdness other than her. When they were eating lunch in a small diner, Lucy never stopped her from ordering a ton of food with some weird combinations. Her friends would look at her weird for her insane appetite (and Senna would nag at her about being a lady) but her mom just reminded her to chew her food so she could enjoy every bite.
Lucy joked that even if Nashi had been an illusion that her wish created, she would not doubt the young girl of being Natsu's daughter. This led to them walking around while holding hands with crêpes in their free hand to the rainbow sakura trees. Nashi had told the blonde woman that it would be the last place they would go before Natsu and Happy returned. But for some unknown reason, the topic of conversation went from the rainbow sakura to falling in love with Natsu.
"W-W-Whaaaaat?" Lucy stuttered with a flustered blush across her cheeks.
Nashi tilted her head. "Oh, does that mean you're not in love with Papa yet?" she asked. "But he told me that you've been in love with him for a really long time just like him."
In addition to her absolutely flushed face, Lucy's heartbeat sped up to a rapid rate. There was no way she could confirm nor deny whatever feelings she had for Natsu to Nashi. With all things considered, it was still very awkward for Lucy to be around everyone after the guild disbanded. Every time she saw the faces of her nakama smiling and greeting her in the morning whenever she came back from the spare room in the guild, she could not help but feel bittersweet.
One moment, all the loneliness she had for the past six months disappeared without a trace and the next moment, she had this unexplainable heavy feeling in her chest that made her want to keep her distance from everyone. And the most of that weird feeling came from whenever she made eye contact with the fire dragon slayer specifically. It made her reach for her broken Aquarius key and hold onto it for comfort.
She pursed her lips, tightening her grip onto Nashi's hand slightly which made the peach haired girl look at her. "I'm... not really sure how to feel about your dad, Nashi... sorry."
The peach haired girl looked at her mom with a pout and raised eyebrow after taking another bite from her crêpe. "Doesn't look like that to me," she said, causing Lucy to look at her. "You look like you miss him."
"W-Well... it's not him specifically, if you get what I mean..."
Nashi nodded and did not say anything more, taking a few more bites out of her crêpe before finishing it entirely. Lucy followed suit and then found a bench for the two of them to sit on while she helped Nashi clean her mouth and hands. She could not help but feel like she had disappointed the child for not telling her what she wanted to hear. It had been a long time since Lucy ever thought about Natsu and romance in the same context.
Once she was done cleaning up the child's hands, the blonde woman got up and was about to help Nashi down, but was held back by her tight grip. Nashi pouted while staring at the ground between the bench and Lucy's feet and Lucy took a deep breath before kneeling down to meet the eye level of the peach haired girl. The two did not say a word for awhile; Lucy was trying to think of what to say and Nashi sulking because of how difficult her mom is.
The more the blonde woman stared at the young child before her, she could not help but smile softly. Nashi really was her future kid, her sulking expression and her immense stubbornness were both derived from her own habits. Lucy wondered if Natsu ever had to deal with her lashing out. She remembered how bad she had been to everyone around her when her own mother passed away. She could only imagine what Nashi might have been like when her future self first disappeared.
With that in mind, Lucy used her right hand to move Nashi's bangs away from her field of vision before bringing her into a hug. The peach haired girl looking at her with confused wide eyes. "Mom...?" she asked softly.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone in the guild what I'm about to tell you, okay Nashi?" Lucy said before breaking their hug. "If anyone should tell anyone in the guild, it should be me - understand?"
She shook her head. "Why can't I tell them?"
Lucy looked up to the sky briefly, blowing her own bangs away from her eyes so she could look at the sky above her. Nashi following suit. "Sometimes... there are things people can't tell others - even people they love," she explained. "And when those people hear about those things from another person, it might hurt everyone involved."
"What do you mean?" Nashi asked as the both of them looked at each other again.
"Before I tell you any more, you have to give me your word that you will not to tell anyone - not even your dad or any of the other kids." she said, raising her pinky finger to Nashi. "As a celestial mage, our promises are absolute. Nothing is worse than breaking it. So, in exchange of telling you what you want to know, you must promise not to tell."
The peach haired girl looked between her mom's unwavering gaze and her pinky. Even though she did not understand why Lucy did not want anyone else to know what she was going to tell her, her dad had told her that she would never do anything without a reason. That was why no matter what her mom did, her dad would always trust her. And that was enough for her to wrap her small pinky around her larger one.
"I promise." Nashi said firmly.
Lucy smiled and released their pinky promise. "Thank you."
"So... what are you gonna tell me?"
Nashi watched as the blonde woman pursed her lips for a second. She could hear her breath quicken and her hands shake as they moved to rest on her shoulders. Whatever she was about to hear, it was hard for Lucy to say out loud. But the young girl waited. Lucy just told her that celestial mages' promises are absolute and that they would always be kept. So Nashi waited - waited until Lucy took one deep breath and moved her eyes to stare at the ground rather than meet the peach haired girl's eyes.
"The truth is...I'm mad at him." she said in a whisper.
But Nashi heard it so clearly that her eyes widened. "What...?" she whispered back.
"I'm mad at your dad." Lucy said slightly more clearer.
The peach haired girl could not fathom her mom, the one her dad said was the most understanding and caring person in the world, to be mad at him. She wanted to ask why, how, when, so many things to piece together the reason. She realized why Lucy made her promise not to say anything. She understood, in that moment, what she meant when people hide certain things from people they love. Her dad loved Lucy so much, it would hurt him to hear she was mad at him.
When Nashi got her thoughts back together, she placed a hand on one of her mom's shaking one. "Can I know why?"
Lucy took in another breath. "Remember when I first got here, and I said I came back from a time when the guild was not around?" Nashi nodded. "Your dad left me."
Her eyes widened and her body stilled. "Not just your dad," Lucy continued. "Your aunties and uncles - they all left. Left to heal form the battle we all just fought together and left to figure out a new way of life. But your dad, he left way before everyone else. Left nothing but a note that said he would be gone for around a year."
"B-But... that can't be," Nashi stuttered. "Dad loves you."
"I know why he did it, because he lost someone very important to him. I understand why he would leave to get stronger..." she paused and Nashi could smell the faintest hint of salt forming. "I lost someone very important too... so I wanted to get stronger together. I wanted to us to stay together. Get though the pain together. But he left."
The young child just stared at her mom, slowly moving so that she got off the bench without stepping on the blonde woman's knees. Once she was off, Nashi tugged on her mom's hand so that she could look at her. Glossy brown eyes stared at one another. "Do you think... that's why Mama left me?"
That caught Lucy off guard. "Huh?"
"What if... Mama left Papa and I for the same reason," she repeated, her grip tightening around Lucy's. "I don't remember a lot about her and Papa said I used to be a big crybaby like her and Happy. Did Mama leave us because she wanted to be stronger too?"
The celestial mage immediately knew where Nashi's thought process was going and took the child in her arms and carried her in a warm embrace. Nashi's arms wrapped around her neck and her legs wrapped around her torso tightly, not wanting to let go. She was shaking slightly and Lucy could only sway back and forth slowly while gently patting her back. Small sniffles making themselves known. It was a tough bonding experience for both of them, that was for sure.
"I don't know why my future self disappeared," Lucy finally said as she could feel both their heart rates slowly slow down to normal. "Honestly, I can't imagine myself ever wanting to leave my kid behind for any reason. But one thing I know, is that I love you so much after two days. Which means she loves you even more."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Nashi snuggled her head on the crook of Lucy's neck while the latter continued to pat her back gently. She began to continue making her way to the rainbow sakura trees while carrying the peach haired girl and thought to herself how insane it was that they had so many similarities. Lucy wondered if this was what her mother used to feel like whenever her younger self was being sentimental and insecure. Nashi missed her future self just as much as she missed her own mother.
The thought got Lucy thinking about all her nakama. Gray. Erza. Wendy. Carla. Happy. Natsu. If only they could see their future selves. She wondered what they were all up too. The last she heard, Wendy and Carla were having fun in Lamia Scale. Erza had been taking odd jobs here and there and Gray was pretty M.I.A along with Natsu and Happy. Knowing they were all together again in the future was all good and fun, but she knew it was not the same. She wanted her family back, not the future versions of them.
When Lucy finally got to the park, she nudged Nashi on the shoulder. The young girl looked up and her gloomy expression disappeared and she immediately jumped away from the celestial mage's arms. Running all the way to the tree that stood at the center of the park while giggling. Lucy noticed that the tree was different from the rest - somehow someway it looked like it had been uprooted once long ago. All around the base of its trunk, tree roots poked from underground and uneven bits of soil lumped up together.
"Nashi, what is this-"
Before Lucy could finish her sentence, her eyes zoomed in to what was engraved on the tree's trunk. When Nashi took notice of the blonde's silence she smiled knowing what she was looking at. "Papa told me that this tree is super important to him and Mama, just as important as Big Sis Asuka's snow globe."
"This tree is important?" Lucy asked to which Nashi nodded. She thought about it for a quick moment, her eyes widening at the realization of which rainbow sakura it was that stood before her. "You mean this is-"
The peach haired girl nodded again, taking a hold her mom's hand and bringing her closer to the tree so she could properly see what was engraved on its surface. "After Papa and Mama got together, Papa suggested that they carved this together!"
Lucy ran her hand through the carving. She could see her own handiwork and she could easily tell which parts are probably Natsu's. Our rainbow sakura - Natsu and Lucy (Me and Happy dug it up for Luce during her first year in Fairy Tail! - Natsu). Her heart ached recalling the memory when she was too sick to attend her first Harvest Festival. She had not known Natsu long when it happened and he had went to all that effort to dig the tree up for her to see. It made her miss the goofball.
It made her also remember the time when she first went to Natsu and Happy's home, how she had originally barged in there to see how they liked her breaking into their home. But instead, she cleaned it up and even found the fire dragon slayer's wall of mementoes. Now she understood what Gray and Gajeel meant when they said that Natsu still had some romantic touch when she first arrived. She never would have thought the dense idiot could be so cute.
As Lucy smiled at the memories, Nashi looked at her mom and could feel the vibes around them become serene. It was almost familiar. Like she had been here looking at the carving with just the two of them once long ago. She imagined her mom carrying her as a baby, her babbling while Lucy told her the story of the rainbow sakura to her like her dad did every time she asked for it. Kisses would be given on her cheeks and soon after, her dad would come by to bring them both in a huge hug.
The both of them tightened the grasp they had on their hands and looked at each other before chuckling at how melancholy they were acting. Lucy knelt down to meet Nashi's eye level and hugged her quickly as a thanks. "Thanks for showing me this place, Nashi," she said. "I can see why you like it so much!"
The young child had a toothy grin identical to her dad's. "Does that mean you'll get along with him now?"
The blonde woman gave her a perplexed look before ruffling her head. "Maybe not right away," she said much to Nashi's displeasure. "But I won't avoid him and the others as much as before, alright?"
Nashi's expression brightened at the sound of that. She would take whatever crumbs she could get. "Okay!"
With that agreement, Lucy picked Nashi up to which the latter kissed the former's cheek in thanks. "Natsu and Happy should be back by now, so let's go back to the guild."
"Aye sir!"