Here to clear up everything before the new arc later! Dragneel family feels inbound!

Enjoy!

Nashi was elusive when she wanted to be, and Lucy was only now just realizing this. They had a lot of people from the guild out and looking for her but nobody had laid an eye on her. They were looking everywhere, and no one had seen her.

"Mavis, how fast dd she run?" Natsu demanded, watching the streets. Lucy sighed.

"I don't know, she could've gone anywhere." Natsu nodded as the two continued down the street, looking for any sort of sign. They had given every group a mobile lacrima phone to keep in contact in case anyone found her, but nobody had called in just yet.

Until it rang.

"Hello?" Lucy asked, answering it immediately.

"Hey Lucy, it's Ultear."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, I just called to say her dorm is empty, she isn't here. She didn't pack anything to run away though, everything's still here." Lucy sighed at the news. It had been unlikely Nashi had run to her dorm of all places but it never hurt to check, right?

"Well, thanks for telling me that."

"Ill call back if I find anything."

"Alright." Lucy hung the phone up and followed Natsu as he did quick sweeps of the streets, looking for any sort of sign that would point them in Nashi's direction. Natsu's sense of smell was good, but he'd already said he couldn't pick up her scent. Taking the next left in a vain attempt to find the girl, Lucy wondered if letting Natsu doing it was a good idea. Even thought Lucy didn't see her daughter's reaction being that much different even if she'd said anything.

"I feel like an idiot." Lucy looked over at Natsu as he clenched his fists. "I should've kept my tongue."

"Don't worry about it." Lucy replied quietly. "I doubt even if you had let her know in a more reasonable way, she would've have reacted much better."

"Maybe, but..."

"Don't hit yourself about it." Lucy wasn't going to let Natsu take all of the blame for this, it was mostly her fault for not telling anyone if effected the most. Natsu had never been good at that kind of thing, anyway. "Do you have any idea where she'd go? At all?"

"I think I should be asking you that." he replied. "You know her far better than I do. Where does she feel most comfortable?"

"I sincerely doubt she'd go to her old room back at the house." She said. "That's really the only place I can think of."

"Her dorm room?"

"Ultear said she wasn't there." Natsu sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation, which Lucy could understand. "Maybe the park?"

"It's worth a try, I guess." Deciding that was their current best bet, the pair went off in the direction of the park. Once they got there, they once again came up with absolutely nothing. "God damn it!" Natsu cursed, slamming his fist into the Sola tree. Lucy crossed her arms as a light breeze rolled past them. She was just about to say something when the lacrima phone rang again.

"Hello?" She asked curiously.

"Hey Lucy, it's Simon." Lucy waited as she heard wind whistling past the phone. "I can't see Nashi from up here, so it's possible she's not in the city anymore."

"Really?"

"Possibly. Here, I'll double check." With that, Simon hung up the phone and Lucy thought about it. It was unlikely Nashi had fled the city that quickly, but it wasn't entirely out of the question.

"I have an idea." Lucy looked up as Natsu spoke, watching him.

"Yes?"

"Follow me." Lucy did as she was told, and began to follow Natsu through the streets again. She didn't pay much attention to where they were going, too wrapped up in what she wanted to say to Nashi once-if- they found her. She did look up when she bumped into Natsu.

"Why'd you stop?" Lucy looked over at their destination. "And why are we back at the guild?" Natsu had indeed brought them back to the guild hall, but why, she had no idea. However she got no response from her husband as he walked inside, leaving her nothing to do but follow him. Natsu walked to the back behind the bar and up a flight of stairs. Lucy knew where they were going now, the roof. It seemed unlikely, but worth a shot. "Why check the roof?" She asked.

"I couldn't smell her out." Natsu replied, starting up another flight. "And what does the guild hall reek of?"

"Booze?" Lucy asked.

"Exactly, even more so for a Dragon Slayer. Why couldn't Simon find her from the sky?"

"...Because he didn't check the guild?"

"Uh huh." Lucy began to realize what he was getting at, and followed him with more enthusiasm than before. Once they had made it up the final flight of stairs, Natsu stopped.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"I can hear her crying." He replied hoarsely, his eyes full of guilt. He slowly opened the door to the roof, and Lucy could see the back of Nashi from around the bell. She was either ignoring them or hadn't heard them, but they approached quietly all the same.

"Nashi?" Lucy asked sweetly, and Nashi curled up into a tighter ball than before.

"Leave me alone." She hissed, and Lucy felt the stab of guilt.

"Sweetie, don't be like that." She cooed, approaching closer. "Why are you so upset with us?"

"Why do you think?" She demanded, still not looking at them. "You're trying to replace me!"

"Who the hell told you that?" Natsu demanded.

"You didn't have to tell me!" She shouted as she turned around to face them, eyes full of tears. "Why else would you be pregnant and not tell me?!" She turned back around and buried her face in her knees. "Just go away, I don't want to talk to you." Lucy didn't really want to listen, and instead opted to walk up next to her and sit on the edge of he roof, looking out over the city as she wrapped an arm around Nashi. The teenager tried to shrug her off, but Lucy wasn't going away.

"I wasn't aware that this was how you felt about this." She said quietly, pulling the girl closer. "If I had any idea, I would've told you myself, and much quicker than I told even your father." Nashi didn't make any attempt to shrug her off, so Lucy continued, "I'm sorry you think that we're trying to replace you, because that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Don't try and lie to me." Nashi whispered quietly. "I can take it if you are."

"But we aren't." Lucy smiled weakly. "Why would you think this was an attempt to replace you? Because I didn't tell you?" Nashi didn't say anything, and Lucy sighed. "Why would we try and replace the perfect daughter?"

"Don't patronize me." Nashi hissed.

"I'm not, what about you do you feel needs a replacement?"

"I..."

"No, nothing. We love you just the way you are, even with your faults."

"I..."

"I mean, if I tried to replace everyone I loved who had any faults, I'd have replaced your father years ago."

"Hey." Natsu said indignantly. Lucy cast him a sorry glance.

"Just because we're having another baby doesn't mean it's to replace you. Don't you think you'd make a good big sister?" Nashi lifted her head a little bit at those words, a small smile on her face.

"I didn't think of that..." She said slowly. Lucy smiled back at her.

"See? Nashi-Onee-san has a nice ring, right?" Nashi's smile grew, so Lucy continued. "Your little brother or sister may get more attention when they're born." Lucy smiled as Nashi stopped resisting and her head hit Lucy's shoulder. "You may play second fiddle for a little bit, but absolutely nothing on this earth could replace my baby girl. Right, Natsu?" Natsu had clearly not been ready to get called on, so he jumped.

"Exactly." He managed, although he still seemed shocked. "Besides, how could he or she compare to you? I know you didn't have the easiest childhood in the world, but you came out of it a strong, loving person. I'm sure you'd make a great big sister." Nashi seemed to think these words over for a minute, her chocolate eyes full of thoughts.

"I..." Both Lucy and Natsu stiffened. "I...guess I overreacted a bit, huh?" Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as Nashi cast her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for what I said...and did, seeing as I wasn't being very respectful."

"It's fine." Lucy replied. "As long as you understand that we still love you."

"Hm." Silence fell over the three of them, then, "So, is it a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know, yet." Lucy replied. "Wendy says she's been researching some magic that may be able to help, so we'll see." Nashi nodded and stood, craning her neck to look down the building.

"Well, I'm going to go bury my head in a pile of booze and forget this ever happened." She informed her parents flatly. "Maybe it'll help when everyone starts teasing me over my overreaction." She smiled at the pair of them. "Thanks for telling me all of that."

"We shouldn't have had to told you." Natsu said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well I'm a teenage girl." Nashi replied. "You should've seen it coming. Anyway, I'll go get that booze, you guys can do whatever. Well, not whatever..." Lucy reddened at Nashi's knowing look.

"W-What are you implying young lady?!" She demanded, and Nashi's eyes widened innocently.

"Um..." She said. "Dad's a pervert, he does this to me!" With that, she jumped off of the building, slid down the shingles, and sprinted inside the guild.

"Natsu..."

"Hah?"

"Just what the hell do you talk about with our daughter!?"

"Lucy, wait!"

"Get back here!"

It had been a week since Nashi's explosion, and she'd gotten over it. She wouldn't lie, it had been more difficult to except at first. Everyone acted as if it was her mothers first child, even with Nashi sitting next to her. Was it just because she was a teenager? Yes, surely that was it. Her mother's baby bump was also finally coming in a bit more, so that it was visible. For whatever reason, Nashi had wondered if it had been all a joke even after being told all of that by her parents, but the bump told her otherwise. Nashi sighed as she placed her brush back down on her dresser, observing her face quietly.

"Nashi...Onee-san..." She said to herself, observing her face carefully. "I suppose it does have a nice ring to it." Finally deciding to stop wallowing in her own confusion, she opened her door and left her dorm, walking towards the guild with the bottom of her face buried in her scarf. Once she got there, people were packed inside the guild, all seemingly waiting for something. Nashi knew perfectly well that Fairy Tail had other branches across Fiore, all of which got jobs and orders funneled down from the main guild hall here in Magnolia. Were these people from those branches?

"Excuse me..." Nashi said quietly. People who took notice of her scarf and hair color immediately moved out of the way, allowing her to squeeze her way inside. There were far to many people in the guild hall, even with it's size.

"Nashi!" Nashi turned as someone called her name, and her eyes widened happily.

"Asuka?!" Nashi held out her arms as the gun mage tackled her with a hug. "I haven't seen you in so long! How are you?"

"I'm great!" She replied, pushing her hat out of her face. "Although I hear through the grapevine you're much better."

"Everyone who hasn't seen me in a while has the same reaction." Nashi replied, lighting her open palm alight, causing Asuka to laugh.

"It's great your dad came back." She said. "I'd almost forgotten what he looked like, even after babysitting you so many times." Ah yes, Nashi remembered that well. Seeing as Asuka had been one of the only teenagers at the guild during Nashi's childhood, she'd often been tasked with babysitting them. That was until they'd moved to start another Fairy Tail branch in the west. "So, how old are you again?"

"I'll be seventeen in about a month." Nashi replied, and Asuka smiled even wider.

"Good! I'll be here for it!"

"Are you staying here?"

"I'll be doing rounds around the branches." She explained. "Although I'm sure I could find a reason to stay around here for a bit."

"Sounds good." Nashi replied. "So wait, how old does that make you?"

"Well, if I'm eight years older than you, how old is that?"

"Um...twenty-four? Five?"

"I'll be twenty-five soon enough." She replied. "Damn, I'm old!" Asuka and Nashi shared a laugh as more people filed in.

"Do you know what this is about?" Nashi asked curiously. "All these people, I mean." Asuka tiled her head to the side.

"Did you forget?" She asked. "It's the..."

"Attention everyone." Nashi turned to find Laxus standing in front of everyone, causing the whole guild to go silent. "If you're all here, I'll announce the participants of this years S-Class Advancement."

I'll just leave it here, alright? Sorry if that whole scene with the parents and Nashi was a bit underwhelming, but I didn't want to drag it out anymore. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!