The Divine Empress

Chapter 28

"It's better if you didn't," Lucy instantly replied.

Raijin laughed. "Take care of your mother will you, kiddo? She's the most important friend I have." 

"That goes without saying!" Nagi pouted. "I will definitely protect Mama no matter what! I don't need you to tell me that!" 

Raijin chuckled to himself and waved his hand at them. "Time to go back now. Come visit the heavenly realm sometime, Lucy and Nagi. Until next time!" 

In a flash, the thunder clouds disappeared along with Raijin. The sun had returned and the sky was a clear blue. Rufus and Orga were busy chatting up about what happened in each of their training and boy, did they get a good laugh out of it. Within a few minutes, three objects seemed to be hovering in the sky above them and as they got closer, they could make out the features of the objects. Grandeeney, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum had returned with Sting, Rogue, Wendy, Carla, Lector, and Frosch. 

"Talk about the annoying dude," Nagi murmured.

"Welcome back, everyone," Lucy said warmly. "I hope everything went well." 

"It was one hell of a training," Sting replied, releasing himself from Weisslogia's grasp. "I thought I almost died." 

Rogue nodded. "Jumping off a cliff was totally not part of the plan," he added as he thought about the time when they jumped off, unprepared. 

"Mine went pretty well," Wendy replied. "Grandeeney taught me lots of things I didn't know! It was super fun!" 

"That's a good thing to hear," Lucy as she patted Wendy's head. She then turned to the dragons. "Thank you. Grandeeney, Weisslogia, Skiadrum. Without you three, I don't how they could be trained in time." 

"There is no need to thank us, Lucy-sama. We just did what we had to do," Grandeeney replied softly. "Besides, all of us had much fun with our kids if I may say so myself." 

Weisslogia and Skiadrum agreed. "Summon us anytime, Lucy-sama. We dragons are at your service." 

Lucy smiled thankfully at them once again before closing their gates, returning them back to where they belonged. Lucy sighed in relief at seeing how much her friends have grown in the past three months. With the training months now over, it was time to return back to Fiore. 

"So who wants to travel by train?" Lucy asked, turning around. 

"Portal please," Sting and Rogue instantly said, rejecting the thought of even taking the train. 

Lucy laughed as she opened the portal connecting to Sabertooth. 

Sabertooth Guild~

"Where the hell are they? The Games start tomorrow and they're not still not back yet?" Minerva screamed, freaking out by the second. 

Just as she was about to go on a rampage, the doors opened. 

"We're back guys!" Sting yelled with his usual arrogant smirk. "Miss us?" 

Before the guild had the chance to go into a party frenzy, welcoming their guild members back, Minerva stormed up to them and began lecturing them. 

"'Miss you'?! It would be more like worrying my head off for the fact that you guys still didn't come back even though the Games are just right around the corner! And I mean tomorrow! Just how last second can you guys be!" Minerva screamed. 

They all covered their ears in agony, especially the dragon slayers. 

"Minerva, you sound more like a nagging mother now," Rogue murmured.

"Whatya say?!"

"Nothing," Rogue answered, shutting himself up. 

Lucy held Minerva back, patting her back as she did so. 

"Sorry that we took so long, Minerva. But we're back safe and sound. See?" Lucy said as she spinned around with Nagi in her arms. "Perfectly fine!" 

Minerva looked at Lucy with an unreadable expression before finally collapsing on her shoulder. "I thought that you were going to miss the Games that you had been so ready for for three years..." 

Lucy grabbed ahold of Minerva and looked into her eyes. "Why would I miss the Games?" 

Minerva looked back at Lucy, staring straight at her eyes. Her eyes were unwavering and serious, a deadly look reflecting in them. In a second, Lucy smiled, her eyes returning back to their usual kind self. Minerva sighed and smiled as she was at a loss of what to do with her friend. 

"Welcome back," Minerva finally said, hugging them. 

"We're back!" they all yelled. The guild instantly started partying as they all began sharing what happened during the past three months. Upon hearing that they were trained by their dragon parents and also a god from the heavens, they had their mouths hanging wide open onto the ground. 

"That's a story for another time," Lucy replied as she saw their mouths gaping wide open. "I'll be going now." 

"Where you going?" Sting asked. 

"To see someone," Lucy said with a enthusiastic smile, her cheeks a rosy color. Nagi came along with her and the two began speeding away out the guild doors. 

"Who's she meeting?" Sting asked. 

"You're still as dense as ever..." Rogue commented with a sigh.

"She's obviously going to see her husband!" Minerva replied, hitting Sting on the head. 

"Hey, that hurt!" Sting screamed as he rubbed his head. "You asked for it!" 

Seeing that a fight was about to happen, the guild joined in on instinct, causing a full-scale fight between those that supported Minerva and those that supported Sting. They began charging at one another and soon, the guild had become a complete wreck. 

"Lucy!" a voice cried out. 

Upon hearing that nostalgic voice, Lucy immediately turned around, eyes wide. "Zeref!" 

The two ran up to each other and embraced, taking in each other's scent and presence. Nagi was in the middle of the two. Quite an uncomfortable position if you asked him but overall, he was happy to see his mother so happy and also Zeref. 

"It's been three long months," Zeref whispered in her ear, still not letting go of her. 

"En," Lucy replied with a nod, tears forming at her eyes. "I missed you." 

"I missed you more," Zeref replied back. "These three months were hell for me without you." 

Lucy chuckled. "It was hell for me, too." 

"Nagi," Zeref said, turning his attention now onto Nagi. "Thanks for taking care of Lucy this whole time." 

"I don't need to be said this two times a day," Nagi replied with a huff. "But...it's good to see you again."

Zeref and Lucy chuckled to themselves. "I missed you, too, Nagi," Zeref said, stroking Nagi's soft strawberry pink hair. Nagi let him stroke it and tears of happiness started forming. Zeref held Nagi in one arm while he wrapped his other arm around Lucy and kissed her on the forehead. In these past three months, the importance of their presence's in one another's life was made clear. They couldn't live without one another. Having reunited, tears were on the verge of falling down as they each had a blissful and satisfied expression on their faces.