BROKEN AND BRUISED
CHAPTER 8
Angel was looking at the wall when the ground shook and she heard a roar that reminded her of the one four months ago.
"GUARDS!"
She could clearly hear the guards rushing in the corridor to reach the room Cobra and his visitor were staying in.
Five minutes earlier…
"Oh my god what do I do? What do I do?" at this point Cobra started hyperventilating.
"What do you do? CALL THE FUCKING GUARDS!" the blonde yelled as she clutched her belly in pain, it was starting.
And that's when Cobra took a deep breath and with all his might roared "GUARDS!" Lucy put her hands on her ears to try and diminish the pain.
At this moment guards filed in with them Lahar, they were originally just outside the room to give the two some privacy, courtesy of Lahar, when they all heard the roar and came barging in, now they are all standing around the slayer and the blonde who was in pain.
"Cobra what happened?" asked Lahar, but unfortunately now that Cobra has fulfilled his role, he shut down.
"Eric-nii, WAKE THE FUCK UP! Lahar-san, my water broke. Also do me a favor and smack him on his fucking head!"
Lahar widened his eyes and did as was told. Once that was done he called the guards to ready the infirmary to take the blonde in to give birth. Cobra was wide awake now and next to the blonde who was heaving from the pain. He helped her get up with other guards who joined him as well, he was going out the door when a guard stopped him but let the others walk through.
The blonde looked back to see her brother behind her "No Eric-nii, please don't leave me, I'm scared."
Lahar gave an appointed look to the guard to let Cobra go "As if I'm gonna leave you, come on Sunshine, let's got get your babies."
The blonde smiled a bit, relief showing in her eyes that she was not doing this alone "Let's!"
Arriving at the infirmary, they quickly laid Lucy on the bed and nurses started to file in, they began preparing her also checking if she is good to deliver.
"How are you feeling sweetheart?" asked one of the nurses as the other got her out of the dress she was wearing into a hospital gown.
"Bad, really bad!" screamed the blonde as she felt another contraction.
"On a scale of one to ten how much does it hurt?" asked the nurse nicely.
"FUCKING HUNDRED!" she held on to the closest thing next to her and squeezed it tightly. Unfortunately, the thing that she held on to was Cobra's right arm who was about to faint from the pain her grip was causing him.
They started examining her and found her cervix fully open.
"She is ready to go!" yelled one of the nurses.
Lahar thanked every deity there is that they have a medical wing in the headquarters. Guards were stationed all around the room the blonde was in, and also two inside to ensure and interfere in case the prisoner acts.
"Okay, honey I just need you to push, alright? Give me your strongest push! We are going to deliver those babies smoothly."
"Babies?" Lahar questioned, he was also in the room.
"Yes, she has triplets." A nurse replied to him and the man felt sorry for the blonde, he didn't know when he started to care, maybe when he saw how much she affected Cobra, but he liked whenever she was around, she always brought with her light whenever she went.
"Okay ready?" the nurse looked at Lucy who nodded.
"Okay, PUSH!" the blonde started pushing hard, she started screaming and didn't notice that Cobra was screaming with her due to the fact that she was crushing his arm.
She started sweating and Cobra brought a small fluffy towel then started dabbing her forehead "Come on Sunshine you can do this!"
"OH YOU TRY GIVING BIRTH TO THREE BABIES, LET'S SEE HOW YOU HANDLE THIS SHIT!" the blonde cursed as she pushed again.
"Oh I can see the head, just a little more Lucy, come on!" the nurse encouraged the blonde.
"Yeah the head is showing…" Cobra fainted once he saw the head pop from her vagina.
The guards were there to pick him up and out of the room, but they flailed around because they had their eyes closed.
"WAKE THIS MOTHERFUCKER UP!" Lucy was now soaked with sweat, her breathing heavy and hard. She was seventeen and she was giving birth to not one, but three babies. She felt her eyes shut tightly as she pushed one more time then breathed out a sigh of relief.
It was then she heard it, a small cry bubbled in the room as the nurses started cleaning the newborn.
"It's a boy!" one of the nurses exclaimed, unfortunately Lucy couldn't hold him for she needed to push another time.
"Come on honey, come on. One down two to go." The nurse urged the blonde.
"I can't do this, where is Eric? I need him!" Lucy started tearing up as she struggled to breathe.
"Honey, I need you to calm down, alright take a deep breath, your brother will come soon, okay?" cooed a nurse as she caressed Lucy's hair.
Lahar stood there looking at the state the blonde was in and heaved a sigh, he walked out of the room and looked around "Where is Cobra?"
One of the guards answered him "He's down there in the bathroom." Lahar nodded his head and swiveled around, heading to the office.
Back with Lucy, the blonde was barely able to keep herself awake anymore from the fatigue.
"I can see the head, come on Lucy, one more big push!"
Lucy looked around and through her teary eyes saw her first boy sleep in a basket while being bundled in a white baby towel. She then pushed as the nurse requested and it wasn't seconds before she heard another faint cry, she smiled from relief and heaved a sigh.
"It's another boy!"
"Okay, sweetie one more to go, alright you can do this! Come on honey push!"
Outside Cobra had just gotten back from the restroom with the guards, when he was about to enter the room a hand stopped him, he turned around to see Lahar.
"What do you want? She needs me!" breathed Cobra, he felt his whole body tremble, this was the first time he ever saw something like that and even though it was beautiful, it shook him to his core.
"When you are done, if you have any stuff in the cell pack them." Lahar gave him a small smile followed by a pat on the back.
Cobra stood wide eyed "What do you mean?"
"You are going home with her." Lahar simply answered.
"What! How?" Cobra couldn't believe his ears.
Lahar only shrugged his shoulders "I don't know, I guess you grew on me. I always believed that a prison should be a rehab to the prisoners, to make them see the wrong in their doings and change for the better, but it appears that your rehab is your sister, so it is better if you stay with her than stay here."
Cobra felt tears prickle his eyes but was quick to mask it, he wanted to hug the man but a shout from the inside had him dash into the room.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT ASSHOLE?!"
The door opened revealing Cobra with more color to his cheeks than before, the breath of air was needed.
"Where were you?" cried the blonde.
A second was all he needed to be by her side "Don't worry Sunshine I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise?" sniffled the blonde.
"Promise!" he gave her his signature grin and offered his left hand, the right one was already bruising.
The blonde grabbed it and held on to it tightly "Come on Sunshine PUSH!"
With the encouraging words from her brother and the nurses, Lucy gave one big push then relaxed in the bed. A nurse came next to her to wipe her forehead "You did well sweetie, congratulations! It's a girl…" the nurse smiled softly at the blonde whose eyes started closing "Thank you so much." The blonde breathed out before the darkness swallowed her, she was still holding Cobra's hand as she slept.
Erik brushed the blonde locks that stuck on her forehead and ran his thumb gently on her hand, in a low voice he said "You were amazing Sunshine."
A nurse was walking by but stopped to look at the scene, almost all the other nurses left to tend to the babies and to give the blonde some rest. She smiled at the caring side the prisoner was showing to the sleeping blonde. She slowly came up to him and looked at his right hand "Do you need to bandage your arm?"
"No it's nothing a slayer can't handle, thanks though." He responded his eyes never leaving the sleeping figure of his little sister.
The nurse stood wide eyed with her mouth open, only one thought ran in her mind 'Did the poison dragon slayer, the one infamous for his ruthless words, thank me?' quietly she left the room leaving behind her a sleeping blonde and her dragon kin.
A few hours later Lucy woke in an empty room, panic settled in and she was about to get up when a hot searing pain shot through her private area, she leaned back on the bed groaning.
Cobra came in with a sandwich in his hand, he was about to take another bite when he locked eyes with Lucy "Sunshine!" he happily exclaimed.
She gave him a warm smile "Coco!"
He was about to reach her bed when he stumbled backwards "Coco? The fuck is a Coco?"
She laughed at his reaction, it was so similar to the one Gajeel gave her when she called him Gaj even Gaj-nii.
He sat next to her "How are you feeling?" he asked her gently.
"Like three little humans crawled out of my vagina some hours ago."
He chuckled "Man, you should have seen yourself when you were giving birth, I had no idea you even talked like that!"
She gave him a small giggle then noticed his bandaged arm "Did I do that?"
He looked down at his arm "Yeah don't worry about it." He wondered why she hadn't asked about her newborns yet. He sported a quizzical look on his face making the blonde sigh.
"Coco…"
"Hmm…"
"Do you think I will be a good mom?" he widened his eyes at her question.
"What are you talking about Sunshine?"
She put her hands on her face to cover her tears "I'm so scared! I'm only seventeen Erik, and now I have three babies to care for on my own, and also I don't feel ready to see them, I just feel like I am going to mess this up so bad-"
"Sunshine." He called out to her softly.
"Oh my god what if I turned out to be a horrible mother or something happened to me-"
"Sunshine." A little more volume was let out in his voice.
"I'm terrified that I will ruin the lives of my children, that I am not going to be able to give them a happy life-" a hand was clasped on the blonde's mouth who turned to see a very angry Cobra.
"Never in your life say that you would ruin someone's life. You have no idea how the light that's within you affects people, how it affected me. Sunshine I changed and it was all because of you, and do you know how I am one hundred percent sure that you are going to be an amazing mom?"
She looked at him with teary eyes and shook her head no, he softened his eyes and continued "Because the care you had for those babies in the eight months you held them was amazing, when you used to come visit, your hand would always be rubbing circles on your belly, as if protecting it. You love these little rascals Sunshine, and with your love they are going to have the most amazing life they ever had."
He slowly took his hand off her mouth and she gaped at him "Was the hit on your head that hard?"
He stared at her "What?" then it clicked in and he gave her a wicked smile "Now Sunshine you have to know something, I may be an evil fucker, but when it comes to you angels envy me." He winked at her.
She giggled "But honestly, thank you so much Coco, I really needed that."
"Anytime. Oh also I have something I need to tell you, I am coming with."
"Really?" the blonde was surprised at this news.
"Yeah, Four eyes is putting me under house arrest."
The blonde looked confused then gave him a smirk "Lahar-san?"
He nodded "Yup, he says I grew on him, well it was bound to happen, no one can resist my charms anyway."
She shot him a knowing look "You bet! Is that why you have an ankle monitor?"
"Yup, it is also a magic dampening device, so I also can't use my magic, but at least I'll be somewhat free and comfortable."
"I'm so happy right now, this is amazing news." He smiled at her and leaned in his chair "So, are you ready to see your babies?"
The blonde was hesitant but then nodded, he grabbed the wheelchair next to the bed and sat her in it "They are right in the other room sleeping."
He took her to the other room and opened the door, Lucy greeted the guards standing outside her room and the babies' one as well, who in return congratulated her.
Entering the room, Lucy stared at the three little babies sleeping bundled up together in a massive blanket. She touched their little feet and smiled, she even started crying.
"Oh my god Coco what was I thinking? They are precious little things." Lucy said ashamed of herself for not wanting to see them sooner.
"It's alright Sunshine, you just needed time. But you are right, they are really precious. Have you thought of any names yet?" he asked the blonde who was silently sniffling while looking in wonder at her little miracles.
She gave him a serene smile "No, not really, but I have a few that popped up now."
Just then a nurse came in "Oh sorry if I am intruding, but I need to do the routine check."
Lucy recognized the nurse, it was the one who kept encouraging her "No please, come do your work. Also thank you so much for before."
The nurse smiled and walked in "Don't worry about it dear and you are welcome."
She went to check the charts then turned to the blonde "Do you have any ideas for names?"
The blonde nodded, "Would you like to fill out the birth certificate now?"
"Yes please."
The nurse left then got back with three papers "Here you go." The blonde thanked the nurse then asked her "Who was the first born?"
The woman got closer to the crib and pointed to the one on the left "This one here according to his wristband. The one on the right is the second born, also a boy and the one in the middle is the last born, a girl."
The blonde thanked the nurse yet again, she then left the blonde for some privacy. Lucy started writing down the names of each baby with Cobra hovering on top of her trying to see but the blonde was blocking the view. She reached to a section and froze. Cobra sensing her turmoil peeked and saw what she froze at, it was the father section.
"What you wanna do Sunshine?"
She heaved a breath and wrote Laxus Dreyar on the three papers and Makarov Dreyar in his family part.
"Are you sure?" he asked her but she just hummed and continued filling out the papers.
When she was done Cobra called the nurse using the intercom who came and collected the papers.
She looked down at her three angels and whispered as she caressed the foot of the first born "Welcome to the world Justin Green Heartfilia…" she looked at her baby girl "Layla Erika Heartfilia…" Cobra from behind her widened his eyes "And lastly… Red Bicks Heartfilia, I don't know why but I have the feeling that you are going to turn out just like those two." She lightly smiled at her babies, she put them under her name because she didn't want the questions and pressure that comes with the Dreyar name, also both Makarov and Laxus don't know that these three even exists. At the godfather and godmother section, she put Cobra, and even though they weren't here, she put the names of the Raijinshuu as well as Gajeel, because she believed with a passion that they are still out there, she's holding on to hope with tight fists and she was not planning on ever letting go.
The nurse came back to point out about that matter but the blonde insisted that their names be put, and in the end the nurse relented.
And so, on April 16 year X785, at 4:00 pm, Justin Heartfilia was born; at 4:13 pm, Red was born and at 4:30 pm, Layla was born. And this day will be remembered in history as the day the blonde gave birth to three little babies in jail, it will be a story the kids are going to hear for the rest of their lives.
A week passed by and Lucy was feeling better. The nurses helped and taught Lucy on how to shower her babies and about how to burp them, change their diapers and so on. The shocking this was that Cobra wanted to learn as well about this things, so he and Lucy both were busy this week with baby lessons.
She was sleeping at the moment in the carriage leaning on Cobra who was about to throw up, Lahar sitting opposite of him with two guards next to him, one of them being Mest, and the babies sleeping soundly in a cradling basket.
Reaching Magnolia, the blonde woke up and was about to carry the basket when Cobra beat her to and extended his hand as a gesture to lead the way. Lucy lead them through the forest and was about to reach the cabin when she started noticing some differences.
Just as the cabin came into view, she saw what changed. The cabin was decorated with ribbons and balloons, a huge banner with the words welcome home and another one with Congratulations, the balloons were of pink and blue, the table outside was filled with all kinds of delicacies, meat, fish, whatever a person desired it was found.
All of her spirits appeared before her and bowed "Welcome home, Princess!"
Lucy was baffled "Did you guys… do all of that?"
"It is a gift from the celestial spirit king." Smiled Loke and Virgo continued "He gave us permission to open our gates and organize this, he also handpicked the balloons and the different types of food."
"Really? Stacheface did that?" the blonde asked with excitement and the others nodded "Oh stars, tell him I thank him so much."
The spirits nodded their heads, Cobra and the others were standing behind the blonde, the officers were quick with their work as they determined the perimeters Cobra was allowed to walk in before the alarm went off. They gave him the whole clearing with the lake, they turned to leave when the blonde stopped them.
"Please, stay here and refresh before heading back on your journey." She kindly said to them but they nevertheless declined, it felt as imposing on a special family event.
Lahar turned to Cobra who was keeping watch on the newborns "Stay out of trouble Cobra."
Cobra looked up at him and grinned "I'll try."
Lahar patted Cobra on his back while the latter chuckled, they soon left heading back to their headquarters.
Cobra looked around him and smiled softly at his new home, he was more than happy to be here. He turned around to see Sunshine smiling at him, tiredly she winked at him and whispered "Welcome home Eric-nii!"
At that moment, Cobra felt like crying, which he did… small tears started escaping his eye as the blonde held him in a tight embrace. The kindness and warmth the blonde emitted deeply touched the poison dragon slayer's heart, slowly he returned the hug only to crush her in it "I'm home!" he quietly whispered.
They soon broke apart when Virgo appeared "Hime, please follow me into the cabin to see the rest of the surprise."
"Rest of the surprise?" asked the blonde confused. Virgo nodded then bowed, when she straightened up she turned around and walked in the cabin with Lucy and Cobra following behind her, the newborns were being held by the spirits who chatted away while enjoying the food and drinks.
The blonde walked in to notice that the living room was polished, not a single dust peck was to be seen, also in the kitchen they were three high chairs, one pink and two blue. She saw her spirit go up the stairs and followed her. They stopped in front of Gajeel's room where the spirit opened the door to see the room was fully furnished, a bed in the right corner of the room with black sheets, on the left was a wardrobe and next to it a small desk. A black fluffy rug lay in the middle of the room next to a small black couch.
Cobra sniffed the room and even though it's been cleaned he could still smell the faint smell of Iron Head's smell, he peered at the blonde from the corner of his eye to see her looking around in wonder only to give a small smile.
"Are you sure it's okay Sunshine? I can just sleep in the livi-"
"Of course it is silly! I'm just glad that it's not empty anymore." The blonde looked at him smiling warmly.
"Please follow me into your room Hime, Cobra-sama."
The poison dragon slayer widened his eye at the spirit, but before he could say anything she already had left to Sunshine's room. The blonde opened her room and gasped, three cribs were positioned in the right corner of the room, all packed with toys and blankets, next to them was a rocking wooden chair. In the middle lay her bed with a new change of sheets, instead of the grey one she now had pink ones. In the left corner lay her wardrobe next to a changing table, she also noticed three different small toy chests.
"Virgo… this is amazing, thank you so much." The blonde began sniffling while looking around her room.
"You are the most welcome Hime, we the spirits all chipped in to get the baby furniture ready before you arrived." The spirit bowed.
"What do you mean Virgo?"
"All the spirits who most resembled humans took on jobs in the human world to raise money enough to buy all these things, while the rest helped in the decoration. Surprise Princess." Loke replied from behind the blonde.
Lucy was now full on crying "How the hell did I get so lucky?"
Loke chuckled at his princess as he held her close to him "Believe me, we are the ones who are lucky to have you Princess."
They went down and enjoyed the food with the rest of the spirits, who gathered around to listen to Cobra's story of what happened when Lucy was giving birth, oddly enough, all spirits accepted Cobra's addition to the family, and the slayer felt that he fit in.
All the spirits laughed at the story as Lucy kept throwing things at cobra whenever he made fun of her. She also added in the fact that he passed out when Justin came out when Cobra oh so conveniently forgot to mention it. The night soon came and the spirits said their goodbyes to their princess, everyone left except for Aquarius who stood before Lucy. Cobra was down for the count sleeping on the couch while the babies were sleeping in their cribs after Lucy fed them.
"So, finally a mother huh brat?" Aquarius asked softly as she looked at the night sky while standing beside the blonde.
The blonde hummed in response, the spirit turned towards Lucy and hugged her "Your mother would have been so proud with how you took this head on, Lucy."
The blonde was lost for words at what her spirit said, after a while she returned her hug "Thank you so much Aquarius, you don't know how much this means to me." The spirit broke free from the girl and patted her head as she started to fade back to her world.
Lucy stood for a while outside gazing at the stars that twinkled brighter, she gave them a small smile then went inside the cabin and draped a blanket on Cobra before walking up to her room. She opened it quietly and headed for the cribs, Lucy looked at her sleeping angels in the crib and smiled "This day was perfect, if only you were here, Gaj-nii, Lily, Ever, Bicks and Freed. God I miss you so much guys… you see these people were the ones who took care of me while you were in my belly, they were such amazing people. Your uncle insisted on calling me Bunny the whole time, he even told his exceed that my name is Bunny, can you believe it? Well I guess you don't know what an exceed is, or a bunny for that fact, it's alright, all in due time. Bicks would just make fun of me all the time and roll his tongue, this always caused Ever to swat him with her fan while Freed would just scold him at how he shouldn't disturb a pregnant lady… how I wish they were here to meet you three, I know they were really excited to."
That's how Lucy spent her whole night, telling her sleeping kids stories about her family while sitting in a rocking chair next to the cribs. Morning soon came and cries were heard, Cobra quickly shot up from the couch to Lucy's room, he opened the door to find Lucy breastfeeding Layla, he recognized her from her pink singlet.
Lucy looked up and winked at her brother "You know what to do."
He sniffed the air and groaned, he cursed at himself for deciding to learn with Lucy how to change diapers.
"Okay Red, let's see what you got" he sniffed closely then recoiled quickly.
"He got you the big one didn't he?" the blonde giggled at her brother's expression "Don't worry, I already changed Justin and Layla, so now all that's left is Red."
The slayer nodded and went to change Red "You know, it's amazing how much they look like you, they all have blonde hair huh? Layla also has your eyes while Justin has grey eyes and Red blue eyes."
She chuckled "I know… he also has blond hair, but it's a bit lighter than mine, Layla takes after him with hair but her eyes are the same as mine."
He tensed at the mention of him, but quickly relaxed when he didn't feel uneasiness from the blonde.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" Cobra asked as he finished changing Red.
"No, I spent it telling the kids stories." The blonde replied as she stared at her daughter.
"Okay, Red is finished… I'm going to take a shower and will come back right away." The slayer said as he lay Red back in his crib and gave him a lion plush, Lucy already knowing who left it there, Loke left one in all the cribs, also they all had lion onesies, the blonde chuckled at Loke's antics.
"You see that was your uncle Cobra, he may seem mean but he is a teddy bear when you get to know him, especially with you three… I caught him once at the infirmary making faces to entertain you, once he saw me he made me swear to never tell a living soul of what happened, he should've known that wasn't going to happen." The blonde giggled as she remembered Cobra and the faces he made.
XXX
It has been eight months since Lucy gave birth, currently the blonde was buying groceries from the market, she felt refreshed for having gotten out today, those eight months were spent with the kids in the cabin, who now started eating kids food, she was surprised at how much her boys ate. Right now she left them with Cobra who begged her to get out for a while, stating that she needs the rest.
She bought her things and went back home, she opened the door and walked in, putting the bags in the kitchen to unpack them. She heard laughter from upstairs and knew that Corvus was back at it again, it turned out the spirit was a sucker for kids, ever since she brought them back, he has been popping up and finding different things to entertain her kids with, sometimes that involved hitting Cobra because the kids seemed to love that a lot.
She heard a knock on the door and furrowed her brows, Lahar wasn't supposed to come till tomorrow to check on the situation. The blonde shrugged her shoulders and opened the door, her eyes widened when they landed on the figure standing before her, a tall man with mustache and piercing black eyes that bore into her.
The blonde stuttered out "F-father…!"