BROKEN AND BRUISED
CHAPTER 11
Lucy sat at her desk and started arranging the stacked papers, after the whole fiasco with Ivan a week ago, she took a break from work to deal with the problem at hand, which is adding more security to the mansion, she talked with rune knights and spent nights reading on runes so she could strengthen them. Yesterday she had a breakthrough and made the runes ten times stronger, but she didn't stop at that, she hired more than twenty guards to stay at all times on the property.
When it came to her family's safety, Lucy would go to hell and back. She continued studying about runes to make them even stronger resulting in neglecting her business but today she said enough was enough and started working again.
When they asked her about Ivan Dreyar, she didn't know what to tell them, so she told them everything from the beginning. About him being Laxus's father, about Laxus and what he did to her and what Ivan did to him, she didn't leave anything untold about that incident, and it shocked the hell out of them. They didn't know that in this incident there were two victims not one, and more importantly they didn't know that the man Layla talked to was someone so vile and evil, sure they did their share of bad things but now that they all changed, they were able to see the difference in everything around them, and especially in the good and bad.
But what truly worried them all is the fact that the kids don't believe in bad guys, even though they almost got kidnapped by some very bad people, they acted the other day as if nothing happened, Lucy tried many times to explain things to them but they just never understood it. This was something that made things a lot harder for all the members of the house, sure they were still kids but it's what made it way more dangerous.
She heaved a sigh as she started rubbing her temples, because of all the work and stress, the sleepless nights and rune learning, Lucy looked and felt as if she would drop any minute.
A knock sounded on the door before Lucy gave the permission to come in, a blue mop of hair appeared holding a mug of something seemingly hot from the steam coming out of it.
"Mother you look tired."
The blonde heaved another sigh before sinking back in her chair whining "Not you too?!"
Jellal laughed as he put the steaming mug of coffee in front of the blonde, he sat in the chair opposite from her and smirked "With how you are fussing about our safety the past week, it's natural to call you mother now."
"You are older than me, most of you are older than me and yet you all call me mother or mommy, hell my kids are starting to get confused." She sighed as she took a small sip of coffee, "Thank you by the way."
Jellal smiled at her and leaned back in his chair "How are you feeling? You look as if you are going to drop any minute so do answer truthfully and not with the usual 'I'm okay'."
Lucy looked at him then stuck her tongue out "Meanie!" he gave her a smirk and she a small smile "Honestly, I have no idea what to feel, what to think and what to do. I just feel like it's not enough, like no matter what I do, he will find a way to hurt them. And-…"
It was silent for a while, Lucy was staring at her cup of coffee and Jellal was pondering her words, he exhaled a breath before he asked her something that she knew was coming a mile away "Is therapy not working?"
She took a deep breath, already feeling the tears welling up in her eyes, she closed them and shook her head "I don't know anymore, I don't feel good with the therapist, even though she is very kind it's just, I am not comfortable with her."
Jellal widened his eyes, knowing Lucy it was safe to assume the worse when she is uncomfortable around someone. The blonde was intelligent and observative, she would notice the smallest details and judge accordingly, so for her to be uneasy with the therapist meant there was something wrong with her.
"What do you think?" the blue haired man asked the blonde who still had her eyes closed.
"Honestly?" she opened them and looked at the man before her, he nodded and she continued "I think there is something wrong with her. But…"
"But…" Jellal urged her to go on.
"It could be my paranoia speaking." The blonde ended her thought as she took another sip from her coffee.
Jellal watched the blonde's shoulders slump, he now noticed the bags under her eyes, her sickly pale face, he noticed the pale color in some places and some not then summarized that she was masking it with some powder and make-up. He shook his head and got up while muttering "Seriously…?"
The blonde looked at him quizzically, watching him as he rounded her desk and stood beside her, he took the mug from her hands and carried her in his arms. Lucy squeaked as she demanded to be put down, but it all fell on deaf ears. The door to her office opened and in came Cobra who stopped mid track at the scene before him, before he sent the pleading blonde a smirk and moved out of the way.
"She's being stubborn again isn't she?" he asked the blue haired man as they passed him.
"Yup!" was the simple response Jellal gave, there was no need for further explanation, the blonde was known for her stubbornness, and especially when it came to her health, stating over and over again that she was fine.
They walked down the hallway and came face to face with Angel, she looked at Lucy then at Jellal and shook her head "Honestly Mommy, take care of yourself and stop being stubborn."
"Oh shush you! And stop with the mommy thing!" Lucy whined as Angel chuckled.
Then came a voice from behind a door "Then stop babying us and it's a deal."
The blonde pouted at Midnight's words but stayed silent, "Guess that's not happening then, so deal with it Mother!" Midnight shouted from behind the door as Lucy continued to sulk.
They continued their track to the blonde's room, they opened the door and entered, Jellal laid Lucy gently on her bed while Angel went and brought her mug of coffee. Her kids came in and huddled close to her entrapping her in a hug while Cobra brought some blankets and draped them over the bundle of limbs.
"All this resistance for nothing really, huh?" Cobra questioned as he gazed at his sister's sleeping form, it appears she fell asleep almost immediately after Jellal put her on her bed.
"She just doesn't know a thing called limits, does she?" Angel questioned as she took the coffee mug to the kitchen.
"That's Lucy." Jellal gave a small smile as he closed the curtains, it was still two in the afternoon, so the sun was out and shining.
They all got out of the room and closed the door behind them, going down the stairs they saw Racer and Hoteye sitting in the living room. Without even looking up Sawyer asked the blue haired man "She finally sleeping?"
"Yeah."
"That's good. Now what's up with you?" he looked up at Jellal who had his eyes wide.
"Me? What are you talking about?" Jellal questioned them as he turned around and saw that all of them are sending him looks of different kind, worry, confusion, and curiosity.
"We all noticed that you have become kind of distant this past week, well save Lucy but she has enough on her own, so what's wrong?" Angel inquired as the man in question simply shook his head and muttered out a nothing, he turned and left for his room, leaving behind him curious stares following his every step.
"Something is definitely up with Blueberry." Cobra noted as the rest were still gazing at the retreating figure of the blue haired man.
"Yeah…" Angel said before she turned around and walked into the kitchen.
Arriving to his room, Jellal shut the door behind him and sat on his bed. He looked out the window and questioned himself "What's up indeed."
…
"Layla! Red! Justin! Where are you?" Lucy shouted in her garden as she walked. She gazed at the sky to see it's full of stars with the full moon shining its soft light on the garden, illuminating the different kinds of flowers and giving the statues a nice blue hue.
"MOMMY!" came a scream she knew all too well, she darted in the direction from where she heard the scream from only to come upon the scene of her daughter talking with a mysterious man, the little girl turned to greet her mother.
It all happened too fast…
A minute the little blonde was waving to her mother, the next her body lay lifeless on the grass with the mysterious man's sword slick with red liquid.
Lucy's eyes widened as she willed her legs to move but to no avail, she was frozen in place watching one by one as each and every one she cared for die in front of her. She sensed a presence behind her and thought it was her time to die, she closed her eyes that already had tears falling from them but opened them the minute she felt him touch her.
She widened her eyes as he whispered something in her ear that had tingles of fear running down her spine.
"Blondie."
Lucy jolted up awake in her bed, her body drenched in sweat and her face soaked with tears. She looked at her clock to see that it was one in the morning, she sighed and got up to take a shower, and after she was done she changed into clean clothes. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, maybe seeing the therapist would help her, if she could get over her uneasiness with her that is. She felt a tingling sensation going up her left arm, she quickly slapped it with her hand and started looking around fearing that someone was in the room with her, it was as if she could still feel his touches, even after all these years, what Lucy did was not move on, only postpone the issue until she would break, and she did.
While she was looking around she noticed that her bed was empty and wondered where her kids went, she remembered that they were sleeping with her on the bed. Panic settled in and her heart started beating rapidly before she willed it to calm down, shaking her head she went to their room and looked inside to see them all sleeping in their respective beds. She smiled and closed the door quietly as to not wake them up, she heaved a sigh and ran her fingers through her blonde locks, figuring out that the best thing to do right now would be to read on runes, she made her way towards her office when she noticed along the way a light coming from underneath a room.
Looking up at the door she realized it was Jellal' room, she knocked softly and waited for a reply. Few seconds later the door opened and there stood Jellal with wide eyes staring at the blonde before him.
He couldn't believe that after they finally succeeded in making her sleep, she stood there before him like they did nothing, "What are you doing up at this hour?" he whisper shouted at the blonde.
"I could ask you the same thing, but to answer your question I… I woke up." She averted her eyes from his gaze and he immediately understood what she meant, he opened his door for her and let her in.
As she was passing him, he asked "Another nightmare?"
"Yeah…" she breathed out, "They just won't stop, when I was seeing her it was better but I don't know how to feel at ease with her lately."
"Did this start after the incident with Ivan?" the bluenette inquired as he sat on his bed.
"I guess, but enough about me. What about you?" the blonde looked him in the eye as she dared him to tell her nothing.
He swallowed his saliva and was about to answer but she beat him to it, "And I know about the secret meetings with someone so do answer truthfully and not with the usual 'It's nothing.'" She smirked at him as he widened his eyes, she used his words back at him and he realized something, that girl is dangerous.
The fact that she knew about the secret meetings rang the alarms in his head and questions started flooding his head, like how? When? Why hadn't she talked to him about it before?
More questions kept running in his head and Lucy could see the wheels in his head working, she giggled softly and that caught his attention, she smiled warmly at him "It's okay, you can do whatever you like. But sneaking up in the property like that is a bit disrespectful, so do tell your friends that they could come in and talk to you in the mansion."
"Ho- how the hell did you find out?" Jellal was beyond bewildered, every time he thinks he saw everything that Lucy has she surprises him with more.
She chuckled and shook her head "You either forgot that there are hidden magic sensors all over the property or you are playing dumb."
Jellal slapped his forehead before he groaned and planted face first into the mattress. The blonde giggled at his reaction, earning a scowl from the bluenette.
"Nothing ever gets past you Heartfilia, huh?" he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.
"First of all, it's not like I was following you around, I just kept checking the sensors and they showed that there were magical residue in the garden behind the mansion, but it showed that it was not malice so I thought that maybe it was some magical beast, but then I noticed that you were disappearing quite frequently and going in the same direction of the magical residues so I figured that you were meeting up with someone since they signaled three different kind of magic, so yeah I just added things up and- oh would you stop looking at me like that!" she threw a pillow at him that was on the sofa she was sitting on.
"Like what?" he said as he easily caught the pillow.
"Like I'm a crazy stalker! I once knew one who was like that and trust me I am nothing like her." she pouted cutely as Jellal still looked at her as if she was crazy.
He chuckled and it grew louder till he was full on laughing his heart out, Lucy all the while was looking at him with raised eyebrows as the man kept laughing. A soft smile appeared on her face as she thought that this was her first time ever seeing him laugh this much, Jellal noticed that smile and stopped laughing, he looked at her "What?"
She shook her head and answered him with a nothing, Jellal composed himself and heaved out a sigh, he seemed troubled by what was going on with him so Lucy thought of something to make him feel better, "Therapy session?"
Jellal locked eyes with the blonde's and cracked up a smile "Yeah sure."
Lucy got up from the sofa and brought a pillow with her, she climbed the bed and laid next to Jellal as he put his head on the pillow that was on the blonde's lap and Lucy started playing with his hair.
"Tell your mother about what's bothering you." she smiled as he laughed a bit.
"I thought you hated the nickname." Jellal said as he chuckled.
"Well I figured might as well, in the end I do love a big family." The both of them started chuckling before they both quieted down.
Jellal closed his eyes and was enjoying Lucy' fingers in his hair, he exhaled a breath and began telling her what was bothering him, "Two girls were going to break me out of jail, but then you brought me out of there and I am forever grateful. But… I just feel like there is something more I should be doing."
Lucy listened carefully at what the bluenette was telling her, "I just feel… unworthy of everything that's happening to me right now, I don't even know why you helped me back then even after everything that I have done, I just feel like… that I need to atone the sins that I committed."
Silence ensued between the two, Jellal not knowing how to continue and Lucy analyzing what the bluenette just told, she didn't understand anything but there was one thing she was sure of, she called out his name.
He opened his eyes and looked at her, he could see the worry and sadness in her eyes and he felt guilty that he was making her feel that way, but what she said shook him to the core.
"When I heard you laughing just right now, I was so happy! You are always so serious, that sometimes you don't see the bright side of things. When I look at you I don't see someone who in the past did something bad, I just see someone who deserves the world for what he went through, someone who deserves to smile more, laugh more, and enjoy his life more, because you are living Jellal, even when sometimes you think you aren't. And if you feel like you want to do more, please let us help you, you are not alone anymore, you have people who care for you and wish you the best in life, so please... let us in."
Jellal all the while was looking in the blonde's brown orbs as she expressed her feelings about the issue, and all what he could see was pure sincerity is every word she said, he was flooded by the worry evident in her eyes and he didn't know what to do. His eyes misted and he quickly closed them before forming a weak smile on his face.
"Yeah, I think I will."
XXX
Jellal sat nervous in Lucy' office, fidgeting in his chair every once in a while before he got up and went to the window.
Through the lush trimmed green bushes and colorful roses, was a white table that three females were surrounding, each having a cup of tea. From his position, he could also see that two of the tree females were extremely nervous. He shook his head and went back inside, leaving it to the blonde to handle the meeting.
Last night after they were done with the meeting, Jellal slipped that these two females were on Tenrou Island before it exploded and Lucy instantly wanted to meet them, so he agreed on it and now here she was having tea with Ultear and Meredy.
With the three women, Ultear and Meredy were barely drinking their tea and Lucy could feel their unease with the whole situation, so she gave them a small smile and told them not to worry, that she just wanted to know about what happened at the island.
They gave each other quizzical looks before Ultear told the blonde everything they knew of, at the end of the story Lucy held a stoic mask, a lot of things were going through her mind but she shook her head and decided to think about these things later. She smiled at the two girls and they both were shocked to see tears falling on her face, the blonde didn't even notice she was crying.
"Lucy-san are you alright?" Meredy shyly asked.
The blonde looked confused before a drop of water hit the table, making the blonde look down before bringing a hand on her face only to feel that it was wet. She looked at the two females before her and wiped her tears "Excuse me, I just felt happy for a bit, this is the first time I've heard about them in a long time, I guess I just miss them."
Meredy and Ultear both nodded, the blonde got up and ushered them to follow her. They went in the mansion and got up to the second floor where Jellal was waiting in the office, Lucy opened the door only to see that the office was empty, she told the two girls to wait there while she fetched Jellal.
She found him in the kitchen pacing in front of the chef while the latter looked as if he will explode any minute, the blonde giggled and that caught both the men's attention. Jellal quickly bounded to her and asked about what happened, she only told him that they are waiting in her office for him.
He left her with the chef and went to the office, Lucy turned to the chef to see him exhaling a breath of relief.
"That bad?" the blonde asked.
"You have no idea." Zeno replied "He almost scorched the floor with his pacing."
The blonde laughed and left for the library, figuring she would do some reading. What she didn't expect was to see Angel there reading books, magical ones as well.
"Sorano, are you feeling alright?" the blonde inquired causing the silverette to yelp and bump her head into a shelf.
Lucy stifled a laugh and went to check on her, Angel kept rubbing the sore spot on her head as she looked at Lucy.
"You completely surprised back there mommy!" Angel whined, "I am not used to you calling me by my name."
The blonde chuckled, "Yeah I know, not only you the others as well. Well it's your fault for telling me your real names. By the way, what are you doing?"
Lucy looked around Angel and at the mess she created, books about magic and different kinds were scattered all over the floor. Angel followed her line of view and scratched her cheek "Well I figured since I didn't work out as a celestial spirit mage, I should try some other magic and so I started searching for something else."
The blonde contemplated a bit before asking the silverette, "Well have you ever thought about being something other than a mage?"
Angel shook her head furiously, "Nope, not a second in my life. Why are you asking?"
Lucy sat crisscrossed on the floor, "Well because I got a nice deal and I am looking for someone to help me and I thought of you."
Angel looked confused as she pointed a finger at herself "Me?! How could I ever help you?"
Lucy smiled, "Well I bought a building in Magnolia, and I am planning on turning it to a spa, and I need a partner so I thought about you. So, what do you say, interested in owning half a spa?"
Angel' mouth hung open as she stared in disbelief at Lucy, "You are joking, you have to be. Because this is not possible, why would you ask me? Why would you-"
"Because you know about this stuff much more than I do since you always take care of yourself, you know about which brands I should get, and what to do and what not to do, so it's only fair that you get 50%, don't you think?"
Angel could only flung herself in Lucy' arms as she thanked her over and over again while crying. Lucy held her tightly to her as she smiled while looking down at the quivering form of the silverette.
"You are the best mommy ever!" Angel whispered while sniffling and Lucy giggled.
Slowly Lucy let her go and wiped Angel' tear stained cheeks, "Work starts tomorrow early at nine, be prepared."
"Yes Ma'am!" Angel saluted her before she scrambled off the ground to her room to prepare herself for the next day.
Lucy got up the floor and walked to her room. Arriving at her door, she opened it and walked in, going towards the night stand beside her bed, she opened the second drawer and took out the white file she prepared for Fairy Tail, the monthly money she sent out. Before she closed the drawer, her eyes landed on her late father's letter that she still hasn't opened till now. She didn't know what was stopping her from reading the letter, she just felt as if she wasn't ready to know what's in it, so she left it. She wasn't ready about his sudden death, but she wanted to be ready about his final words to her.
She left her room and descended the stairs, she spotted three mops of blond hair running after each other, at first she thought they were playing together but then she saw Sawyer running behind them with a doodled mustache and understood what was happening. She didn't know why but her kids loved to mess with everyone, but Sawyer was their favorite, and Lucy thought about the different reasons why but she stopped at the fact that his reactions are priceless.
She walked in the main hall and opened the door, ready to leave but was stopped when a hand tickled her from the side. She shrieked and spun around only to meet her annoying brother with a smirk planted on his face.
"Where you going Sunshine?"
The blonde inhaled a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm her frantic heart. She knew Cobra didn't mean anything by it, she was just on edge with everything that has been going on. She gave him a weak smile and answered his question, "Therapy."
He nodded his head and kissed her forehead goodbye, assuring her that he and the others will keep watch of the kids.
She bid him farewell and left, grateful for his care for her and her kids. She took to the road, and soon she reached her first destination. She dropped the mail with the mailman and then left to the rune knights' headquarters, they all didn't trust any normal therapist, so Lucy went to the one the military uses, being in a good relationship with some captains and knights they allowed her to take sessions there.
She reached the HQ and went to the medical wing where she saw her therapist, Doctor Linda Stylez, waiting for her with the door open. The blonde came in and her therapist stood up to greet her, her green inviting eyes that are shadowed by her long silky black hair brightened when she saw the blonde.
"Good morning Lucy-san, how are you today?" Linda asked the blonde with a welcoming smile.
"I am alright, thank you for asking Linda-san, how are you?" Lucy replied and when Linda said that she was as well alright, they began their session.
Midway through it, Linda excused herself to go to the bathroom. Lucy was waiting for her when she got bored, so she started to look around. Linda' office was nicely decorated, with large windows and many bookcases, small antiques here and there and her diplomas laid on the wall next to the door. Lucy started scanning her diplomas when she came across a picture that she didn't realize was there, it was of Linda when she was young but with another boy. Lucy caressed the boy's face and she swore she has seen him before, he was tanned and had dark hair, he was smiling weakly at Linda as the latter hugged him. She was about to grab the picture when Linda spoke from behind her.
"That was my childhood best friend."
Lucy jumped from her spot before she swiveled around and came face to face with Linda' sad smile.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn-"
"It's alright Lucy-san, I don't mind." Linda giggled softly as she gazed at the picture behind Lucy.
"What happened to him?" Lucy asked delicately.
"He was killed when we were young. But, he still lives on in my heart." Linda laid her hand above her heart while she looked at Lucy with a bit of sadness and something else, but Lucy couldn't decipher what it was. No matter, it made a chill run up her spine.
"I'm so sorry for you loss."
"Thank you Lucy-san, now let's continue with you. Has the nightmares stopped a bit?" Linda took her pen once more to scribble on her notepad while Lucy gave her the answers.
"No, it… it actually got worse."
Linda raised her eyebrows before she wrote something down, she then looked at the blonde, "And are your house mates by any chance, are troubling you with something?"
The blonde was quick to shake her head, "No not all, they are the best family anyone could ever wish for, I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for them."
The grip on Linda' pen tightened as she continued to write in her notepad. Lucy' eyes flew towards the pen and she noticed that it was starting to break, she realized that she did a mistake and was quick to apologize, "I'm so sorry Linda-san, I didn't mean to upset you."
Linda immediately brightened up, "Nonsense, what are you talking about?! Let's move on."
As they continued with the session, Lucy' eyes kept darting towards the pen that Linda was writing with. When they were done, Lucy bid farewell the woman and got out of the clinic, she released the breath that she didn't even realize she was holding.
Walking down the corridor, she kept thinking about her therapist's strange behavior. She didn't notice where she was going so she bumped into someone and fell flat on her bottom, she quickly got up and was about to apologize until the mysterious person spoke up.
"Lucy-san?"
Lucy looked up to see Lahar standing before her, she smiled and greeted him.
"I suppose you are here for your session?" he inquired and she nodded.
"Yeah, just finished with it honestly."
He heaved a sigh, "That's good." It was now that Lucy noticed the bags under the man's eyes and his ragged breath. She took a step closer to him and was about to ask him if he was alright when he fainted, Lucy quickly dove in and caught him just in time, then started shouting for help and other knights rushed to her aid.
…
Lahar slowly opened his eyes before he shot upright from the couch he was laying on, only for a hand to push him back for him to lay down again.
"Easy Lahar-san, you aren't off the hook yet." A gentle voice from next to him said and Lahar looked at his side to see Lucy sitting on a stool next to him.
"Lucy…san?"
"Hai!" the blonde cheerfully answered as she took the rag from his forehead to place another one.
"Wh-what happened?" asked Lahar as he gazed around to find himself in his office.
"You passed out when you were talking to me. Your guards told me that it's because you are working really hard for the royal banquet", her tone then turned scolding, "but seriously Lahar-san you need to take care of yourself!"
"I- I'm fine!" he felt heat rush to his face and he didn't know if it was because of the fever or of the way the blonde was taking care of him.
He started to get up but was pushed back by the blonde once again, he was about to argue but she gave him a stern look that made him think otherwise.
"Your knights can manage without their captain for a few hours Lahar-san, alright? Plus, these are your knights, so you have nothing to worry about, they are more than capable." She smiled at him as she put another rag on his forehead, and he surrendered himself to her, leaving himself vulnerable in her care.
"Yeah… I know." He heaved a sigh as he thought about all the work that was left for him to do.
He fell back asleep and Lucy put a light blanket on him, looking around she noticed that the office was a mess and figured that he didn't have time to clean up. She shook her head and rolled up her sleeves, then got to work.
As she was cleaning, she noticed a huge stack of finance paperwork on his desk and muttered "Why does everybody hate paperwork?"
When she was done with cleaning the office, she took to the paperwork and started finishing it up quickly.
An hour later, Lahar woke up feeling better. He looked around him and was shocked by what he saw, he was quick on his feet when he heard the door behind him open but relaxed when he saw the blonde walking in with a cup of coffee. Looking outside the window, he could see the sun's light starting to fade.
"Lahar-san, how are you feeling?"
He turned around to meet the blonde's worried gaze, then started looking around his office, at first he didn't even recognize his own office by how neat and tidy it became. He turned back to the blonde, "Are you the one who did this?"
The blonde, suddenly realizing that what she did was a major invasion of privacy, started stuttering and apologizing to the man before her. Her face reddened from the amount of embarrassment she felt, but then she heard Lahar chuckle and she shot her head upwards.
"You know, for a minute, I didn't even know it was my office." He chuckled once more, "Thank you so much Lucy-san, for everything."
The blonde heaved a sigh of relief before she smiled brightly at the man, "After everything you helped us with, you deserve much more Lahar-san, I should be thanking you."
Lahar quickly turned around to hide the blush forming on his face, "Yeah, don't worry about it." He could hear the blonde giggle from behind him, he sighed and went to check on the paperwork stacked on his desk when he noticed it was divided in many piles.
"Oh yeah, I also did the paperwork, I hope I wasn't trespassing, I just wanted to help, you seemed very exhausted and I didn't have anything to do so I thought I would take them off your hands and-"
"Lucy-san!" he called out to stop her from further rambling, she shut her mouth and looked at him, "Thank you, you worked in such precision and speed, you must be used to this."
Lucy chuckled as she came to stand next to him, "Yeah I helped my father with the paperwork, it wasn't much different so it was easy to pick up. All you need right now is to just sign them and it would be done. I also divided them according to the topic they are handling, so medical affairs, military affairs and such are all piled up in their own category."
Lahar looked astonishingly at the girl that stood beside him, and he thought that nobody could compete with her big heart and kindness. But then he saw her face change from a relaxed one to a worried one.
She shot her eyes and locked them with his, "Lahar-san, I need to tell you something."
He gulped and nodded his head for her to continue, "I wish to help you with the royal banquet."
He widened his eyes and was about to deny her request when she cut him to it, "While doing the paperwork, I came across something. There were so many deliveries to the offices, and that usually won't raise suspicion, but the company you are dealing with is the same company I deal with. They usually don't take this much money, I could be wrong but it would be best to check up on things."
Lahar looked at the papers on the desk before looking back at the blonde, "That is true, at first we did think it was weird but the company said that it was because we order in large quantities that this happened."
"What do you mean at first?" Lucy questioned as she sat on the chair opposite of the desk.
Lahar, who didn't want her to intervene in this matter because she had enough on her plate, didn't know why he was giving her the information. Maybe it was because he needed an outsider view on the matter, or maybe it was because he didn't want her to leave just yet.
"Oh come on Lahar-san! We agreed on a deal remember, you help me and I help you." she sat expectantly on the chair as she waited for him to answer her question.
He knew that she was right, and he didn't even know why he was fighting back when it was obvious that it's no point telling her not to intervene. He sat on his desk chair and answered her question, "It started almost four years ago, they started to take more and more from us and blamed it on the quantity we were ordering."
"So it wasn't always like this?"
Lahar shook his head. Lucy slumped in her chair, after a few minutes she checked the time then got up, "Lahar-san, is it possible to know what the office is ordering? And how long till the royal banquet?"
Lahar stood up as well for he figured she was going to leave, "Yes it is possible and The Royal Banquet is in four and a half months, why?"
"Plenty of time to figure this out, I should be going, it's gotten late." Lucy turned to Lahar, "Take care of yourself and don't overwork, alright? Goodnight Lahar-san."
She turned around to leave but he called out for her, "Wait Lucy-san, how did you know that something was going to happen at the banquet?"
"Well, all the delivery dates for weapons are for a day before the banquet, so I think it was more of a lucky guess." She waved him goodbye and left.
Lahar closed the door behind her and went to his desk, he looked out the window and after a few minutes he could see her walk out for the HQ. He widened his eyes and hit his head at the table.
"Such an idiot, I didn't even request to take her home." As he got up, he looked outside the window to see that she was already long gone.
He sat back in his chair and started rubbing his forehead, "Honestly, such an idiot I am." He slumped in his chair and stared at his ceiling.
XXX
Sitting on the train watching from the window as the sceneries change before her eyes, Lucy sighed because a bad feeling has not left her at all today.
She felt that something strange was about to happen and she wasn't prepared for it, she thought that living the business life will put her more at ease, but that doesn't seem the case for her, because Lucy missed fighting, missed being in a guild, going on missions.
She loves everything that she's doing right now, but she also feels that there is something missing, her heart is begging for some adventure but Lucy is sure that she can't answer that call. She is a mother, a businesswoman, she has a duty that she couldn't abandon and would never think of doing so.
The train stopped and she got up of the leather sofa, being the owner of all railways now whenever she goes on train they immediately prepare her one of the best elite rooms, with complete services. The elite room stands for a special room for special guests, it has a bedroom with a bathroom, a small living room with a communication lacrima used to ordering food or anything else.
An attendant came by and knocked on her door, "Miss Heartfilia, we have arrived."
Lucy opened the door and stepped out after she thanked the attendant. Walking the normal way home, she pondered about her extreme uneasiness with the therapist, and not only her, some guards as well have been keeping an eye on the blonde whenever she would cross the main hallway.
She sighed as she shook her head, having arrived at the mansion she opens the door only to be knocked back.
"Mommy!" Red yells as he hugs his mother.
Justin and Layla come and lay on top of their mother to join in on the hug, Lucy embraces them all before they help her up. She dusts herself and then walks in with her three little angels right behind her.
"They surprised you didn't they?" asked Hoteye as he hugged the blonde.
She gave him a smile, "They did, but I needed that."
He nodded and ushered her for the dining room, "Come on, we were waiting for you."
"What? You didn't have to wait for me for dinner." Lucy blushed as he led her to the table.
"As if we could eat without you Sunshine." Cobra sent her a wink as the others nodded.
They all sat at the table and enjoyed their dinner, Cobra breathed a sigh of relief at how everything was going well, that is until Red opened his mouth.
"Mommy, Mommy, look at what I can do." Lucy looked at her son and saw him get up to the electrical socket and put his finger through it, Lucy screamed at her son to get away but when she saw the electricity traverse on his hand and up his arm, her fear turned to shock as she hung her mouth open.
Justin rose from his seat, "Mommy, Mommy, me too. Look, look." He got up next to his brother and touched him, the electricity moved from Red to Justin and both boys' hair electrified. They stared at their mother and grinned, Lucy slowly closed her mouth as she heard Cobra mutter something about how the kids don't know what 'Don't tell your mother' means.
Lucy steadily rose from her seat and came next to her boys, Justin quickly put his arms up, "Don't mommy, you get hurt."
She smiled and shook her head, reaching out with her finger she booped Justin on his nose and watched as the electricity slowly made its way onto her arm before disappearing.
She got up and looked at her brother to see a cloud of gloom hung above his head, she laughed at his expression then her gaze slid down to her kids, they were both beaming up at her with so much love and adoration. Red took out his finger and the electricity still cackled around them, Layla came up next to her brothers with a pout, "Mommy I can't do that."
Lucy got down and brought all her kids in a hug, "It's okay sweetie. You two," she pointed at Red and Justin, "Good work both of you, and Layla", she looked at her daughter's pout and pinched it gently, "It's okay, you only need time."
They all nodded their heads and rushed back to their seats, all of the occupants on the table were looking at Lucy, and they all noticed her wicked grin.
"Oh this ought to be good." Angel interlaced her fingers and supported her head on them.
"Indeed." Midnight slid his gaze at Cobra who was muttering profanities, they all wondered why was the poison dragon slayer so antsy the whole day after these two showed them what they could do.
It was more of an accident really, Red stuck his thumb in the electrical socked and didn't feel any pain, it was as if the electricity welcomed him, so was the same with Justin. But when Layla touched Justin, she got hurt. After that, Cobra started begging the two boys not to tell their mother.
"With how all of you are not surprised, I take it they showed you all." Lucy said and all nodded except for Cobra who still had the gloom aura around him.
The wicked smile returned to the blonde's face much worse than the last, she looked at her brother and called out for him, "Coco-nii, I take it you told them to be quiet about it?"
After a few seconds he nodded, already accepting his fate and knowing there's no way to get out of this.
He locked eyes with the blonde's and he already knew he was going to regret this, "Fuck my life."
Lucy laughed as the rest all looked confused about what's going on, she noticed their confusion and addressed them, "No worries, it will all become clear tomorrow."
They finished dinner and all went their separate ways, except for Lucy and the kids, she took them to their room and showered them. Each kid then climbed into their respectful beds and waited for their mother to tell them a story.
This time, Lucy told them about when they all went to Galuna Island. About the curse, the demons that were all along demons and not humans, about Gray and his friend, Lyon. About Natsu and his fight against Yuka and Toby, about her fight with Sherry, and how she got Sagittarius' key from it.
They all looked at her when she was done and demanded more stories, so she told them about how Gajeel and the Raijinshuu helped her when she was pregnant with them, they didn't know what the word pregnant meant and she tried to explain as best as she could.
When she was done with the story, she heard her kids' soft snores and got up to turn off the lights, she gave each one a kiss on the forehead and was about to head out when she heard Red whisper to her, "Mommy, who is our daddy?"
Lucy froze upon hearing the question, she slowly turned to her kid and asked him from where the question came from.
"Uncle Jellal was weading us a story, about a pwincess and her family, she had a daddy, so we ask what is daddy, and he told us, then we ask about our daddy, and he said to ask you." Red explained in a quiet voice, knowing that his other siblings are asleep, but that wasn't the case, both Justin and Layla woke up the second their brother asked the question, Justin with his good hearing and Layla because she wasn't asleep yet.
Lucy' brain shut down as she tried to come up with an answer to this question, but she couldn't find any at all, so she stood there in front of the door breathing rapidly.
A chime was heard and a golden glow shone in the room before it faded and there stood Loke, he looked at Lucy then at the kids who all yelled for him to come and carry them. He got closer and sat at Red' bed, "Your daddy was a good man, he was just treated badly."
Layla climbed up Red' bed and snuggled next to him, "What does it mean?"
Loke fixed his glasses and glanced back at Lucy who was looking at him quizzically, he decided that it was time that the blonde knew.
He turned back to Layla, "His daddy was a bad guy, he hurt him, and then your daddy hurt your mommy, but he didn't mean to."
Justin as well climbed the bed, "Daddy hurt mommy, but isn't daddy supposed to pwotect mommy?"
Loke nodded slowly, "He should, but he couldn't. Like I said, his daddy is a bad man, so he forced your daddy to hurt your mommy." Layla and the boys gasped.
"Loke what are you doing?" Lucy took a step forward.
"Uncle Loke, is he better now?" asked Red, tears glistening his face.
Loke cleared his throat, but before he could talk Layla cut in, "Uncle Loke, is daddy good?"
Loke held on his face a bittersweet smile, "He was."
Lucy widened her eyes at what her spirit said, after all this time, why is Loke defending Laxus? He hated him the most.
"Do you remember when your mommy told you about the island that disappeared?" they all nodded their heads.
"He was there." Loke could hear Lucy gasp from behind him.
"He fought the dragon with so much bravery, he told everyone to give it their all so that we could win against the dragon. He came to the rescue of team Natsu when they were against a real bad guy as well. So yes, he was a good man."
The kids' eyes shone with pride for their father, they all started talking about how cool and brave he was, that was until Justin asked Loke about their father's whereabouts.
"Like I told you, he was on the island." Loke said with a sad tone.
"Oh no." Layla gripped the sheets and brought them close to her.
He got up, "But you shouldn't worry, after all your father and family are all fairy tail wizards, they don't know what it means to give up. So don't you dare do that." He fixed his suit and smiled as they all nodded their heads with determination, from the corner of his eye he could see Lucy' tears flowing and he knew he should talk to her about what happened.
That was until she gave him a closed eye smile and he stumbled back, she brought her hands to her face and started crying in them. Her whole body shook and he quickly was by her side, him and the kids who started asking her about what was wrong.
He heard her whisper about something, and when he brought her into his chest he figured out what she was saying.
"Thank you, thank you so much Loke."
He pushed her away softly, looking confused he asked her for what, and her answer shocked him.
"Now I can finally see him as someone else, as someone who didn't hurt me but fought to protect my family. So thank you, thank you so much." She hugged him and he held her tightly against him.
'I'm such an idiot…' he thought as Lucy cried in his arms.
"No you're not." She hiccupped.
"Eh?" he was bewildered by what she said.
She looked up at him, "You are not an idiot, I probably wouldn't have taken it well if you told me earlier, now was the perfect time so thank you Loke."
Loke widened his eyes, he was for sure he didn't say anything out loud, and he thought about testing this out.
'But I was, I shouldn't have kept this from you.'
Lucy widened her eyes as she heard him but didn't see his lips move at all, she took a step back, "What?"
"You heard me didn't you?" he asked while smiling.
She nodded her head, and he brought her into a hug and spun her around.
"Do you know what this means Princess?!" he exclaimed loudly as he continued to spin her.
"No and please stop I am starting to get dizzy." She begged her spirit who apologized and let her down, she staggered a bit but he held her firm.
"I wanna play too." Layla said with her arms up, Loke held her and started turning her around while he explained to his princess.
"You formed a telepathic link with me Princess, now we can communicate with each other without even needing to summon me." He said as he put Layla down and took Justin to give him the same treatment.
The blonde smiled brightly as she brought her hands together, "Seriously?! How?!"
"It's when the bond between the spirit and its master is deep that this happens, seriously I can't wait to shove it in Corvus' face."
They both laughed as Red took his turn, then they put the kids back in their beds and walked out of the room after they gave them goodnight kisses.
"I'm heading back, goodnight Princess." He kissed her on her forehead and vanished back to his world after she as well bid him goodnight.
She stalked back to her room, once arriving she discarded her clothes and went to the bathroom, she opened up a cabinet where she kept some wine in and turned on the tub's faucet. Once the tub was filled, she turned it off, went to her room to fetch something then came back. She placed the wine bottle and glasses on the counter next to the tub as she lowered herself in the water.
Sighing once the hot water touched her body she leaned her head back and closed her eyes, thinking about the events that occurred today and the heavy shock that her boys were indeed lightning dragon slayers.
She didn't want them to be.
It's not that she hated the magic, and it's not because of Laxus. But it's because she didn't want her kids to be targets. Magic such as hers and the slayers was rare, and people used it for all kinds of bad things, she didn't want her kids mixed up in some plot to take down the world in using their magic.
But it wasn't her choice.
And she has to be okay with it, it just means that she would have to protect them better, and that's fine with her.
She looked at the object that she fetched and picked it up, putting its tip in the water she chanted, "Open, gate of the water bearer, Aquarius!"
A bell chime was heard, the water rippled a bit as the mermaid spirit appeared before Lucy. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Lucy, the latter gave her a sheepish smile.
"Trying to recreate the past brat?"
Lucy laughed a bit then sighed, "I wish."
Aquarius' face softened as she slid into the water as well, Lucy handed her a glass already filled with wine, Aquarius took it from her and laid back in the water.
"What's on your mind brat?"
"A lot," Lucy closed her eyes to shake the tears that started to pile, "A lot is on my mind."
Aquarius watched her thoughtfully, at first she couldn't see past the little girl who used to beg her to play with, the little girl who would call her in the bathroom to keep her company, ironically like she did at the moment. But this little girl, got broken.
She went through so much as a child, but never once has she lost her radiance, her smile, her light. And it was what made Lucy, Lucy.
But now, all she sees in front of her is a girl whose childhood was stolen. A teenage girl at seventeen turned into a mother, a girl who lost so many people left and right, but yet she still smiles. She still has her light, and her radiance if not more. She brought a band of criminals and turned them into her family.
Now Aquarius realized, that Lucy in no longer the brat from her memories, and she missed that.
She missed the girl who would call her out in the middle of the battle, the girl who would get annoyed at her attitude and she definitely missed washing her away with her waves.
This girl is no longer a girl, she turned into a woman, and Aquarius respects that woman.
She put down her glass of wine and laid back her head, "You know Lucy."
Lucy perked up, not expecting Aquarius to call her by the name and not by her usual cute nickname for her, brat.
"Yes…?"
"When you were a kid, you were the whiniest brat there ever was."
Yup, that's her Aquarius.
"You used to whine all the time that you didn't have any friends, or anyone to play with."
Lucy nodded her head as she recalled the memories. She raised her glass to take a sip.
"Is that still the case?"
The glass stilled in her hand.
She looked at Aquarius to see her staring at her with a frown tugging at her lips.
Lucy shook her head, and Aquarius nodded. "Good."
Aquarius quietened and took her glass once more, Lucy watched Aquarius warily trying to analyze her words. No she isn't alone anymore and she knew that, she had friends and family that would go beyond their capability to help her and she would do the same, so what did she mean by that. Her thoughts were interrupted when Aquarius spoke again.
"How long do you think you can keep this façade up?"
Lucy' head shot up, "What are you talking about?"
Aquarius had her eyes closed, "Lucy." She opened them, "Are you dealing with your problems, or are you running away?"
"I am." The blonde responded defensively.
"You aren't." Aquarius' tone had an edge.
Lucy shrunk back, and watched as Aquarius' glare returned.
"How are you dealing with your problems if when your kids asked you about their father you froze? How are you dealing with your problems if your nightmares intensified? How are you dealing with your problems if you get triggered by being called Blondie?"
Lucy flinched at that, her eyes were cast down so that Aquarius can't see the emotions that she was sure were flooding her eyes at the moment.
"I am going to a therapist but I feel uneasy with h-"
"Excuses!" Aquarius spat out, "What's stopping you from going to another therapist?"
Lucy gulped, because Aquarius was right. She promised her brother that she would get help, but she's still running away from everything, busying herself with more work so that she doesn't have the time to face her demons.
"Lucy, why haven't you still opened up your father's letter?"
It was the last straw, the blonde broke down. She put her glass on the counter as to not spill the wine from it and sobbed.
She cried so much that it started to get harder to breathe, and Aquarius sat there watching her break down, watching her break the mask she put on.
She got up from the tub and floated on the water, she approached the blonde and brought her in an embrace, "Lucy, I know it's hard, but stop running." This time her voice was softer, "You need to let the emotions piled up in you to spill, and you can do that without a therapist."
She started to play with the blonde's locks as the latter started to quiet down and sniffle, "Lucy, don't let yourself break more, stop running away and face everything head on, that's what you did with your pregnancy right?."
The blonde nodded, everything that Aquarius said was true. She needed to face this head on and to stop hiding or running away from it. She wiped her tears and laid back in the water, "I can always count on you for advice huh Aquarius?"
The spirit grunted as a response but tipped her head towards the blonde when she called out for her, "Call me brat, I don't want anything else to change."
Aquarius smiled sadly at the blonde as she nodded then faded back to her world, leaving the blonde deep in her thoughts.
This night was the first in a while that Lucy got some good sleep in.
…
Corvus was standing on the edge of a floating island in the celestial spirit world when Loke approached him.
"Are you ready?" the lion spirit asked the crow spirit.
Corvus heaved a sigh before shaking his head, "Can I bid her goodbye first?"
Loke fixed his glasses before turning around and started walking away, "The celestial spirit king told me to fetch you, except I haven't found you yet."
Corvus cracked a smile and turned to the lion spirit, he will never tell him that but he will miss everyone here. He enjoyed his time in the celestial spirit world, even if it wasn't meant to be like that.
"Corvus." Loke called out to him, "Wherever you are, the competition is still on."
Corvus chuckled at the lion's words, "You bet, though I feel like I have already won."
The lion snickered, "Fat chance of that happening, her kids adore me."
It was quiet for a while until Loke faced him and sent him a grin. There were no words needed, his time in this world has come to an end, and Corvus needed to accept that. But that still doesn't mean that he wasn't going to miss certain people.
He vanished from the celestial spirit world and appeared in the blonde's bedroom, checking the clock it appeared to be 5 in the morning. He sighed and shook her a bit to wake her up.
Opening her eyes groggily, Lucy sat up only to see Corvus staring at her.
"Corvus?" she sent him a quizzical look and he just answered her with a sad smile.
"I came here to bid you farewell Princess."
Lucy' eyes widened as she straightened up in her bed, tears already gathering in the corner of her eyes, "Wh- what are you talking about?"
He let out a dejected sigh as he sat on her bed, he looked at her key ring next to the bed and picked it up, he took his key out of the ring and handed it to her.
Lucy looked at the silver key in her hand, its top had silver wings and his mark on in the white shone. She caressed the key then looked at him, confused of what he was trying to do.
He took a deep breath then began his story, "I'm going back to my world Princess."
Lucy was shocked by his words, she tried to say something but nothing came out of her mouth.
"I know, it is shocking. I am not from the celestial spirit realm, I am from another one, a darker one, a more powerful one."
He stopped for seconds to let that sink in before he continued, "I was thrown in the celestial spirit world for a crime I did, it was my punishment."
Lucy was barely even breathing nor blinking at this point, she was listening to his story with wrapped attention.
"I got turned into a silver key, and it limited my powers greatly. It also cost me my weapon."
Lucy took in a shuddering breath, she was not understanding anything of what was going on and she didn't like that, "What is going on Corvus? What do you mean going back to your world? What do you mean your key turned silver? I don-"
He put his finger on her lips to shush her, she quietened and he continued, "I know it's strange, but I couldn't tell you earlier because it was forbidden to talk about this, it still is. The king doesn't know I'm here, I came to explain myself and to say goodbye."
A tear escaped Lucy' eye and he gently wiped it away, "I killed my former master."
Lucy gasped, she remembered Loke and his past. She remembered how he was ready to fade from existence because of the immense guilt he felt, and Lucy thought that the same was going to happen to Corvus. But he said that he was going back to his world, and she hadn't heard of anything like that before now.
"Do I need to talk to Stash face? I'll call him right now I don't give a fu-"
Corvus looked at her confused, "To who?"
"Stash face." She answered confidently.
"And that would be…?" Corvus drawled out.
Lucy looked at him weirdly and answered, "The king."
Corvus' eyes widened before he put his hand on his mouth and started cackling like a maniac. Lucy looked at him trying hard to contain her laughter but soon enough she joined him.
At this point Corvus started wheezing, "You call…" he took in a breath, "The king…" another breath, "Stash face?!" tears were leaking from his eyes, his face was all red and it got to the point where breathing was proven to be the hardest thing to do.
After a while they both quietened down, Corvus wiped his tears and was about to go into another laughing fit when he was reminded that he doesn't have much time left.
"Listen up Lucy." She noticed how his demeanor changed back to serious and gave him her full attention.
"The reason I killed my master was because she was murdering kids for her merriment, and I hated that."
Lucy' mouth hung open but she didn't interrupt him, "She was a vile master, and I hated her with everything I ever had, so I killed her. I brought down my axe on her and killed her. My king found out and sent me to the celestial world where I got turned into a silver key and lost half of my powers. I didn't care about that, I hated our rules, just because we are spirits doesn't mean we don't know what's right and what's wrong, so when I saw no one was taking action of this I took it my own. I have been stuck in that world for over a hundred years, until you came along and that's when things changed for me, and now I was excused back to my world. It was all because of you Lucy that I get to go back to my home."
"But- but what did I do?"
"You showed me that not all masters are evil, that humans can be kind. You changed my perspective on so many things and now when I go back home, I will tell everyone about you, and about your gigantic heart. And the fact that you call the celestial spirit king Stash face."
Lucy laughed a bit but then fell silent, "Why are you talking as if we won't see each other again?" Lucy bit back a sob.
He sighed and looked outside her window at the sun that was starting to rise, "When I go back to my world our contract will break."
"What? No!" Lucy gasped and held onto his hands, there was no stopping the tears that were spilling down her cheeks now.
He brought her in to a hug, "Lucy you can call me again to form a contract, but not right now. Now…" he didn't know how he was going to tell her that, he knew about her insecurities with her abilities and what he was going to say next would be a major blow to her.
"Now… I'm not strong enough am I?" she whispered as she brought her hands around his back and clasped them together.
He didn't know how to answer that so he opted to nod at her question, "Our keys Lucy require a ton of magic, when I was turned to a silver key it was possible for you to summon me, but when I take back my power, it will be too much for your body and you might die."
She started shaking in his hands, all these years she was working to become stronger and now this? She trained almost every day so that she is able to handle herself and to protect her loved ones. But to be told that one of her spirits can't be summoned because of her tore a rift in her heart that broke her. Because the problem was from her and not her spirit.
"Stop running away and face everything head on!"
She remembered Aquarius' words and smiled, that's right. No more running away.
She looked up at Corvus and smiled, "So all I need to do is train harder."
Corvus widened his eyes from shock at seeing how determined she was, few seconds passed and he slowly nodded his head, "Uh… yeah."
"Okay! And Corvus?"
He raised his eyebrow in question, Lucy just gave him a closed eye smile, "Don't you dare forget about your family here, alright?"
His eyes started to glisten but he just shook his head, he crushed her in a hug before he let her go. He stood up and turned to see her standing up as well.
"Lucy, my keys and the other are labeled as Legendary Keys. We differ from the other keys in strength and superiority, and also that we get to choose our master. And Lucy Heartfilia, I choose you, and I'm pretty sure that my comrades will love to follow you too, though…" he shuddered, "Some of them are downright scary."
She laughed at the expression he was making, "They got you scared Corvus?"
He nodded and muttered out, "You have no idea."
They both got closer to the window and watched side by side as the sun started to take her place in the sky.
He glanced at his side to see the sun reflecting in Lucy' blonde hair, making it shine just like a star. Her brown orbs locked into his void ones, she whispered to him.
"I will get you back, I promise." He gave her a soft smile and continued in her stead, "And a celestial mage never breaks her promises."
Lucy winked at him, "You bet."
He started to fade in front of her eyes, his silver mist engulfed him till he disappeared completely. Lucy stood there with a sad smile on her face, she focused once again on the sun and sighed.
"I guess the day has started." She mumbled.
Corvus returned back to the celestial spirit world and was brought directly to the king.
"Are you ready, spirit of the crow, Corvus?" the king questioned as Corvus bowed and answered that he is.
The king raised his sword and then recited, "By order of the spirits, Corvus the crow is hereby excused back to his world. May the stars align your journey and guide you in the right path."
Corvus felt himself fading from this world, he glanced around and saw that all the zodiac spirits were circling him, some had nice smiles on their faces while other had frowns.
His eyes stopped at Loke to see him grinning at him, he shot him a grin back before he vanished from this world and back to his.
Lucy was still standing in front of the window when she saw that the key in her hand started shining. She looked down at the key to see the silver on it break, leaving a place for the color black to appear, with a resounding crack, the key that the blonde was now holding turned black, its top had black wings and the face of a crow was in the middle of the white.
Lucy gazed at it astonishingly, she closed her hands around it and promised once more that she will get him back.
…
After her shower, she got dressed and was about to open the door when she heard someone knock, she opened it and saw that it was her daughter, dressed in a waitress costume, she already knew where this was heading.
"Good, you are up, now help."
Lucy chuckled at her little girl's cute demand and helped her wake up the rest, they moved on to the dining room where Justin and Red were already there at the table in their waiters costumes. Everyone gushed at how cure they were, and her daughter started acting cutely so that Jellal, Midnight, Cobra and the rest would give her attention, which she succeeded in doing. Lucy could already picture the boys coming on her doorsteps when Layla matures, only for Lucy to send them packing because no one is taking her precious baby from her.
She locked eyes with Jellal and they both grinned, turns out she wasn't the only one thinking like that. Zeno served breakfast and the kids helped him, while the adults spoke about what they would do if someone approached any of the kids. They spent this morning laughing and joking around, especially when Layla shouted that she would like a boyfriend only to have all the males on the table to either spit or choke on their food, her brothers included. The women just sat there laughing at the men's reaction because they knew that Layla did this on purpose. She liked to trigger them a lot.
At the end of breakfast, the males sitting on the table agreed to never read stories about princes and princesses to Layla ever again.
Red was laughing when he started coughing, he became red from the coughs and Lucy immediately became worried. After a while it died down and everyone thought it was because of the laughing fit.
Now Lucy was on her way to her office, she stopped at Angel' door and knocked, "Come on Sorano, we have work to do."
The door opened and Lucy raised a delicate brow at the woman's attire. Sorano was clad in a white and black strips business suit with white high heels, her silver hair pulled up in a bun and she had on a faded shade of pink lipstick.
"How do I look, boss?"
Lucy laughed at what she said and clapped her hands, "You look amazing, but I'd prefer the word partner." Sorano beamed at that.
Lucy clasped her hand with the silverette, "Come on we have a lot of work to do."
They spent half the morning with Lucy teaching Angel how everything goes, from the documents to the shipping and the different companies they are partners with. Lucy was surprised at how fast Sorano was learning things and found out from the girl that this was her dream job when she was a kid. Unfortunately, Sorano can't sign any legal documents that give her half of the shares because she is a prisoner at the moment, but Lucy promised her that the minute she is done with her time, she would sign these papers and Sorano didn't have any problem with working till then.
"Alright." Lucy put a thick folder in front the both of them.
"What's that?" Angel inquired as she looked at the stack of papers in front of her.
"Job applications, these are all the people who applied to work in the spa."
Sorano widened her eyes, "But it's not even open yet, it's still being remodeled."
Lucy nodded, "While that is true, it's better to get this out of way, so when we open everything is set and good to go."
Sorano smiled at her and got to work, they spent the next hour going through different applications and discussing each individual's abilities. This morning, Sorano surprised Lucy in many ways. She found out that the girl is smart, has a business mind and cares with a fiery passion about this job.
Midway through the discussion, the communication lacrima started emitting a soft light and Lucy answered the call.
"Good morning Lucy-san, hope I haven't interrupted you from anything."
Lucy shook her head and smiled at the man, "Not at all Lahar-san and good morning to you too."
Sorano immediately perked up at the mention of his name and started eavesdropping on them.
"I got the folders Lucy-san, I will send them to you today."
Lucy nodded her head, "Okay that's great. Anything else Lahar-san?"
Sorano could see the man start to blush and she held in her giggle.
"I- I just wanted to make sure you were alright, th- that you made it back home safely." He averted his eyes and the blush intensified.
Sorano could no longer hold it in and a small giggle escaped, thankfully it wasn't heard by the blonde who was now smiling brightly at the man and reassuring him that she was alright.
After that they bid each other goodbye and closed the call, Lucy turned to see Sorano smirking at her, the mirth practically spilling from her eyes.
Lucy rolled hers as she continued sifting through the files, her peace came to an end when Sorano leaned in and started singing.
"Lahar and Lucy, sitting under a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N, OW!" Sorano held her head and started rubbing it.
"Uwu, you hurt me mommy!" the silverette whined as Lucy shook her head at her, the folder she used to smack her on the head wasn't even thick, "Work Sorano."
"Hai!" the silverette mock saluted and got back to work.
XXX
It was night time now, they finished dinner and everyone was off in their own world, the kids put to bed, Sorano reading some magic books, Jellal and Meredy plus Ultear having their meeting, while the rest played some poker.
Lucy was in her office inspecting the folders she had received from Lahar, it turns out the office deliveries was divided between different categories, some went for the military officials and others to the doctors. Lucy looked at the amount of money each category got and found out that the officials got more than the doctors, which didn't make sense since the doctors need a lot of equipment in their offices, as for what they were buying it was all normal.
Now she looked at the files that she got from HPICA, the company they are dealing with, famous for the fact that it has any resources a person could ever need and only deals with big companies and the military.
She studied every deal they made and nothing came up, everything was clean. Then she studied the names that were handling the deals, and this one name came up for each category many times, Roran.
The blonde groaned as she felt a headache coming along, she let go of everything and went to the bar to get some drink. She met the others who were playing poker and decided to join in.
Her drink of whiskey in hand, her chips ahead of her, she looked at her cards and folded. This was just not her day.
"I can literally see the gears in your troubled mind working, what's up Sunshine?" Cobra asked as he handed another game.
She sighed and told them about what happened this morning, about the call with Lahar and of her visit yesterday to the HQ.
"Damn." Racer noted as he took a shot of his drink.
"Yeah… that's a lot." Midnight added as he folded his cards.
"I have never heard of Legendary Keys ever before." Hoteye commented as he scratched his chin.
"Well that makes two of us." Lucy stretched, feeling the bones in her back popping made her feel a little better.
Cobra got up and went behind her back, he started massaging her head and Lucy relaxed her shoulders.
Midnight straightened up and looked at the blonde, "Lucy, you know you can count on us for anything right?"
The blonde nodded her head, "I know, I'm so sorry if you felt like I was keeping you in the dark or something, I just haven't been sleeping well and things are just messed up."
Racer glanced at the blonde and noticed how tired she looked with everything that's happening around, "You know we can ask some acquaintances for help."
Lucy' brow rose at his statement, "What do you mean?"
Midnight perked up, "That is correct, we still know some people from the underworld, we can help you with information, because at the moment that is all we could do."
Lucy thought about it before she nodded, "Alright, if you could get me information on HPICA then that would be great."
Racer winked at her, "Deal."
It was silent for a while before Lucy looked at her brother.
"By the way Coco-nii, why haven't you dressed up yet?" Lucy smirked at the slayer's frown.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
She laughed at his pathetic try of getting out of the bet.
"What's that all about?" Racer asked.
Lucy heard Cobra curse behind her, she shot him a glance and answered, "Almost two years ago, we made a bet on the boys, I betted that they would both be lightning dragon slayers, he betted that one is celestial and the other is lightning."
This earned everyone's attention.
"And on what was it?" Midnight could see the despair shaping on the slayer's face.
Lucy winks mischievously at Midnight, "The winner gets to do whatever the hell they want with the loser. And I chose that he has to act as a maid for a day, while wearing a maid costume."
Cobra growled at the amused looks on the men's faces.
"Well this will be interesting to see. Cobra why didn't you wear it today?" Hoteye turned to the slayer.
"I- I forgot."
Lucy giggled at her brother, "It's alright, I will make sure tomorrow you won't forget."
Cobra surrendered once again to his fate as they spent all that night making fun of him.
The next morning, Lucy knocked on his door and the minute he opened it Lucy almost fell from laughter. It resounded through the hallways and everyone gathered to see the commotion, soon after they all joined in on the laughter, Spetto even said that he looks good while Zeno took so many pictures 'For leverage' as he said.
XXX
"That's good Lucy-sama, now you should feel your magic flowing inside your veins, I want you to reach out for that magic and hold on to it, then lead it outside your body." Capricorn instructed the blonde as she meditated.
Lucy did as was told of her, she held on to her magic and let it flow outside her body. The air picked up a little bit, glowing threads started to appear around the blonde and it continued to thicken until it surrounded her in a ball of light. The rest was watching her, they agreed that this morning they would all train together while the kids are still asleep.
"Very good Lucy-sama, now I want you to expand your release on the magic just a little so as to not lose control of it."
She listened to his advice and loosened the leash on her magic, she felt it swell next to her and the pressure increased. Sweat started to trickle her forehead as she concentrated on her meditation. She was going to fulfill that promise she made a month ago no matter what.
"Now reign in your magic, pull it back into your body. Guide it through your veins back to your magic containers."
She pictured herself pulling her magic through her pores, then she pictured golden threads flowing through her veins until they reached her containers. The pressure decreased and the threads faded, Lucy let out a breath as she laid on her back.
"Excellent job today Lucy-sama, you have advanced quite far in your training." Capricorn complimented his master as he stood next to her.
"Thank you so much Capricorn." She smiled brightly at him and he bowed before he vanished.
Lucy closed her eyes and relaxed, training today was liberating for the blonde, she has begun her steps into taking one of her family members back and she couldn't be any happier. That is until a scream tore at her heart and she dashed to the mansion.
She reached the door to find it open with Spetto worryingly waiting for the girl.
"What happened Spetto-san?" Lucy rushed to the woman when she saw her shaking.
"Red-sama was playing with his brother when suddenly they both started coughing and they choked out some blood." Spetto didn't know how she said all that without stuttering.
"What?!" Lucy widened her eyes before she ran inside, everyone else following her.
She saw Zeno kneeling next to the boys, Layla crying next to him. The minute the little girl spotted her mother she ran and hugged her as she sobbed. Lucy immediately picked her up and went to Zeno, the scene she looked at when she crouched next to him will probably plague her mind for the rest of her life.
The rest were coming closer when she shouted at them to stop, she didn't want them to see her boys like that. She put Layla down and told her to go to them.
"Sunshine what's going on?" he could smell the putrid scent of blood, and of something worse.
He watched as his sister called out for Loke, the spirit appeared and gasped at the sight in front of him.
"Sunshine!"
Lucy turned to him and he saw the tears flowing down her cheeks, but he also saw fear like never before.
"Eric, I need you to take Layla out of the house, don't let her see this. I don't want any of you to see this. I'm taking them to a doctor I know of that lives outside of Magnolia, please take care of Layla until I return."
Her whole body was shaking as she took the blanket that the lion brought and she enveloped her oldest in it, immediately the white sheet started to turn red.
He only nodded his head and rushed everyone outside the house, he picked Layla up who went into hysterics screaming how she wants to be with her mother. Lucy and Loke ran each one carrying a boy in their hands, they reached the train station and from there they rode it to Magnolia.
Zeno got out of the house and met with the rest, he had a look on his face as if he just saw a ghost.
Cobra took him to the side after he handed Layla to Jellal who worked on calming her down.
"Zeno what the hell happened?"
Suddenly, the bulk of a man started crying, resulting in shocking the slayer and the others as well.
"Thank god you didn't see, thank god- I- I don't know how will I ever forget this." His body gave in to the shock and he crumbled to the floor, Cobra was quick to catch him before he hit the ground.
He looked over his shoulder at Midnight who was breathing heavily, not liking the situation at all, Sorano was next to him crying. His attention was brought back to Zeno as he heard him whisper.
"It was like a bomb of lightning exploded in them. They were torched black laying in their own pool of blood."
Hello everyone, first of all I would like to apologize for not updating in so long, I had so many things going on so, sorry for that.
Second of all, in my previous chapter I said there will be a surprise at the end of this chapter, well it's for the next chapter, so sorry for that as well.
Also there will be another long chapter after this one, and we will get back to the moderate size ones.
On another note, I really should let Lucy catch a breath shouldn't I? hehe, thank you so much for the follows, favorites and reviews, it won't be long before I come back with another chapter.
KAWAIINECKO, signing out.