Hello! ^^ Well, it's finally time for the chapter 50! My, this story really got out of hands, I just can't stop writing. But that's alright, since I really enjoy writing it. I'm doing much better now, no more fever or pain or anything but I still can't go back to work for the rest of the week. So I guess there's nothing else to do than write :D Not that I complain. Thank you for all of your support, comments, votes and reading this story! I was really hoping I could give you something more since it's the 50th chapter, an extra-long chapter or even some drawing or similar but well... I hope you're not really disappointed ^^' Anyway, let's continue the story!
------
Telling the news to the Guild was more easier than Freed actually thought. He was scared that maybe his pregnancy was too odd even for the Fairy Tail to understand but once again he was happily surprised by the fact of how open and acceptive their Guild was. They were happy to hear there would be another new little fairy to join in their wild lines. And when the most of the members were back from their missions, there were big party because for Fairy Tail, that was the obvious thing to do when someone had good news like this.
Probably the one most happiest for them was Master Makarov, who kept repeating how glad he was to be able to see his great-grandchild before he would drop dead. And Dreyar-line would live again yet another generation. Freed just smiled thinking about it. Of course their child would be a Dreyar. Justine was a nice name, he would probably change his name to Justine-Dreyar, but their child would definitely be a Dreyar, that was what he wanted. It would be too confusing for the child to keep both surnames.
"Here we are and everything ended well", Levy smiled sitting next to Freed.
"Yes", he chuckled. "Better than I could even imagine."
"Laxus seems proud", Levy smiled looking at the lightning dragon slayer, who was arguing loudly with Gajeel about something.
"He seems drunk", Freed laughed. "But I forgive him that."
"Of course you do", Levy giggled. "And it seems like they still get along with Gajeel. Though, we should still be careful."
"Yes. This is only the beginning. Who knows what might still happen", Freed said, looking how Natsu barged in and then Gray and they were followed by others. "But right now they are acting just like before", he smiled. "Or not completely, I think I have never seen Laxus that happy to join in the fight with others. He usually doesn't want to get involved."
"He's a little bit too proud to do something childish like that."
"That is quite true. It is nice to see him having so much fun."
Levy looked at Freed and smiled.
"Do you think the little ones might inherit the dragon slayer magic?" he asked.
"I don't believe it will happen just like that", Freed said. "But I do believe they have far more bigger chance to be able to maintain such a power. This magic is from dragons, but dragon slayers are still just humans. It is of course obvious that dragon hatchlings will inherit the dragon magic because it's in their blood, but dragon slayers are not related to their dragons, only taught by them with this magic."
"Except for Laxus", Levy reminded and Freed nodded.
"That actually crumbles the theory that dragon slayer magic can only be taught by dragons. Even if people would say Laxus is not a real dragon slayer because his power came from lacrima, the results are still the same. He may not be taught by a dragon, but he still has a part of his dragon inside him. He's self taught, just like there must have been dragon hatchlings who were orphaned and they had to learn everything by themselves. It is harder than being taught by someone, but if they survive it makes them stronger than most of the others. There must be thousands of lacrimas out there just like Laxus' own, hidden somewhere far, forgotten by time."
"If that is true, there might appear more people in time who have that lacrima just like him", Levy gasped.
"That is always a possibility. Aren't Master Sting and Rogue also implanted with dragon lacrimas?"
"If I remember correctly, yes", Levy nodded.
"So that proves there are more of them. We just don't know where, how many and what kind. I heard Ivan went through great difficulties to get that dragon lacrima for Laxus."
For Freed, it was never an easy task to speak about Ivan, even though he had never done anything directly to him. But he did harm Laxus, didn't even care if Laxus would die... And that he would never forgive to that bastard.
Freed huffed and looked at the blue haired mage and smiled.
"But if my theory is correct, I'm pretty sure dragon slayers are capable to train their offspring to become dragon slayers too. They are the 'modern dragons' of this era. I don't know if they will inherit the same power as they have, but what do we exactly know right now?" he laughed.
"Do you wanna hear what I think?" Levy smiled and Freed nodded. "I at least like to think that in the future, Gajeel can teach his magic for our little ones. They might inherit the thought, the source, the ability to use it and then they can let it shape into what their magic naturally is. Our child might not be an iron dragon slayer, maybe they are a script dragon slayer? Or something else on their own?"
"That does make sense", Freed smiled. "Ours could as well be a rune dragon slayer. I kinda like that idea", he chuckled. "But whatever happens, even if they don't inherit that power, everything will be fine as long as they are healthy and they have us and Fairy Tail."
"Of ourse that goes without even saying", Levy giggled. "They always have their family here, no matter if they even want to change the Guild someday."
"Yes. Most importantly, they should live their lives for themselves, not for someone else and try to fulfill the expectations of the family or similar", Freed said and sighed to himself. He really hoped that their child would never need to have anything to do with Zaldevils.
After that party, Fairy Tail kept fighting over every mission sheet they could get day after day. Freed was more than surprised how determined Bickslow was to have his chance in the trials and of course he was cheering for him. Ever had a good start, but she seemed to lose her interest in the midway.
"It's been a while since I last time just sat aside and watched how others do their best to get in the trials", Freed said as they were sitting outside, in the training ground near the waterfall.
"I know, it's like everyone has gone mad", Ever laughed. They looked at Laxus and Bickslow who were training once again. "Bickslow is really doing his best."
"Yes, I don't think I have ever seen him this devoted to his goal."
"I'm actually wondering why he is suddenly doing all this", Ever said and Freed looked at her confused. "He has always spoken about being an S-class wizard someday, but now he's clearly doing ten times more work to achieve it than any other year before."
"Who can ever tell what goes on in his head", Freed huffed. "I just hope he won't exhaust himself."
"You know how he can be when he decides something", Ever said.
"I know... Maybe that fight with the suo-kaapu shook him more than he is willing to admit."
"What do you mean?"
"Bickslow is strong, I would never doubt that", Freed said, watching how the seith mage with his 'babies' did their best to win Laxus. "It was probably because of that beast's roar but Bicks couldn't do much to even scratch it, though he did sunk a stick in it's nose. And it took only one hit to send him fly and almost die. I couldn't do anything so he had to fight for both of us. But if Valdeghar hadn't helped us out... Who knows, we might be both dead. Can you imagine how he must have felt when he realised that?" Freed sighed.
"Poor Bicks..." Ever said. "He must feel like he's not strong enough or even good enough. Now he wants to get stronger and better so something like that would never happen again. He knows you're the captain and I can take care of myself, but he's still the big brother, he should be able to cover us if we need him", she reasoned.
"I believe you hit the mark with that", Freed nodded. "Now he desperately wants to get stronger."
"Can we help him any way? Make him understand that training like this and doing missions non-stop... It's not good for him. He might get to the trials, but what's the point if he's then too drained to do anything?"
"We have to talk with him. Bicks is a smart man in his own way, we can reason this to him. We can't just tell him to stop, he wont listen us with that. But... Maybe we could do our best to help him to improve. You and Laxus can always train with him, I could maybe go through some books in the library and see if I could find something useful for him, and we can make sure he eats healthy and well. And rests."
"You could teach him how to create good strategies", Ever smirked. "That is your well-known speciality in our Guild."
"Something like that cannot be taught in just six weeks", Freed laughed. "But I could do my best. In the days when he needs rest, I could teach him what I found from the books. This is going to be interesting for me as well, I haven't yet read anything about his magic."
"Then it serves both ways", Ever smiled.
She stretched her arms.
"They might still continue that at least an hour or two, I might as well take a nap", she said and Freed chuckled.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea", he admitted. "And it is a nice day, not too cold yet to take a nap outside", he said and leaned against the tree behind him.
Ever smiled and she laid down comfortably on the grass, leaning her head against Freed's side.
"Cute little tummy", she giggled making Freed blush.
"It's not your pillow, you know?" he muttered.
"I know, sweetie, but it's still cute. I won't rest my head too much against it", Ever promised happily closing her eyes, making Freed huff and the rune mage also shut his eyes.
Freed opened his eyes when he felt chills run down his spine. Why was it so cold suddenly? He grunted slightly changing his position, trying not to wake up Ever but noticed she wasn't there anymore. Now confused, he opened his eyes and looked around.
He didn't see Ever nor Laxus and Bickslow. There was no-one but him in the whole area. Where did they go? Why didn't they say anything?
Freed stood up and observed the scene more. Alarm went off in his head and he narrowed his eyes. Was this again one of those nightmares? He had seen them so much lately he was almost one hundred percent sure this was just a dream. Ever, Bicks and especially Laxus wouldn't just leave like that. If they didn't want to wake him up, Laxus would probably carry him back home but he would not just leave him here alone.
The rune mage shivered when again he felt like a frigid breeze run past him, yet there was no wind. It did not rustle the leaves or bend the grass, but the coldness still hit him like it was in middle of the winter. This had to be one of those nightmares. But it didn't seem the same as before. Everything was too normal, not ridiculously shaped surreal mess. So who was behind this nightmare then?
Freed stepped deeper into the centre of the training ground and looked around but he didn't spot anything that was out of the normal. Only that Laxus, Ever and Bickslow weren't here.
He flinched when suddenly he heard like a whisper, coming from somewhere from the forests. He quickly grabbed his sword and was pleased to notice it was normal, not just some jelly like in the nightmares with that other demon. He raised his fingers and drew some runes, but as he suspected, they disappeared right away.
Another hissing whisper echoed from the forest and Freed tried to locate where it came from. He saw how slowly and silently somekind of fog started to rise above the trees, curling and floating around like clouds. He stepped back and noticed that fog also appeared under the trees, wriggling under the bushes and slithering over the grass like snakes.
When it came closer, he heard how tiny crackling filled slowly the air. Freed looked suspiciously at fog that slowly moved closer, swallowing the forest in its depths, away from his sight. The rune mage looked closer at the grass and noticed how it turned white after fog touched it.
Hoarfrost. Fog covered everything in beautiful white hoarfrost, making it freeze still. Quickly Freed stepped further, as he could guess it was not a good idea to touch that. Not even once yet had he actually been attacked in his dreams directly, but he still didn't want to try if it was possible for the demon to do so. Whoever the demon was now.
As Freed moved, it seemed like the fog stopped for a moment. But then it started to move quicker, more determined. Like a snake looking for something to eat, sensing Freed's heat waves and seeing him as a prey when he moved. Freed quickly turned around and ran away from it.
The swordsman ran through the forest towards the waterfall. Fog followed him, turning everything into a beautiful glimmering sculptures, before everything disappeared as more fog surged over covering everything.
Finally he got to the waterfall, looking around what he should do next. In his dreams, he always just ran away until he would wake up or stay still and stare at his opponent. But now he hadn't even seen the demon that was causing this nightmare. But surely just a hoarfrost wouldn't be able stop the fierce power of waterfall? Even if it wasn't that big. So this place felt safest for now.
Freed looked around and noticed the fog did not follow him behind the rocks. He could still see how it was floating over the forest, but it didn't come over the tiny cliffs that surrounded the waterfall almost completely, leaving only two narrow passes. One where Freed just came in and the other where the water would join with the main river.
The air got even colder and Freed shivered, his breath misting in the air. Even the noise from the waterfall sounded like it was muffled because of the fog that was surrounding the forests, not yet entering the area that was circled by the rocks and cliffs.
But slowly Freed heard the same crackling approaching and he looked at the stream that flowed away to the main river. It started to slowly get covered by the hoarfrost. As the fog finally started to slither down the cliffs, the hard rock walls turned also white.
Freed looked around but there was no longer way to escape. He was trapped. He watched in horror how slowly the water stopped pouring down the waterfall as it was covered with the frost. He tried to move away, find a place where he could still stand but here and there new patches of the ground started to fill with hoarfrost.
Until there were only left the place where the rune mage was standing. And slowly, the crackling sound louder than ever, that spot was getting smaller and smaller until he felt how the coldness was hurting his feet. His black boots started to turn white and the panic filled his guts. What would happen now? Would he actually get hurt? He could feel the coldness, would he freeze to death and never wake up from this nightmare?
As the coldness started to numb his limbs, it was harder to stand anymore. Finally he had to take a step back, even if it was a bad idea and his leg slipped on the hoarfrost, making him fall.
Laxus stared at his mate worried, wrapping his dark coat better around Freed. The rune mage didn't wake up and he was pale. So pale it was terrifying and his skin felt cold to touch.
"Freed", he said again trying to gently slap those white cheeks. "Freed, wake up."
"What's with him?" Bicks asked worried.
"Owie! Freed's cold!" 'babies' said.
Laxus growled and he was just about to pick Freed up and ran to see Porlyusica, but then the smaller man suddenly opened his turquoise eyes and panted like he was almost drowned.
"Freed", Laxus said relieved pulling him closer. "It's okay. You were dreaming. You're awake now."
"I-it's... Cold here..." Freed jittered.
"Are you feeling sick?" Ever asked worried, sitting on Freed's other side.
"No..." Freed muttered shaking his head. "Just... Cold right now."
"I'll bring you home right now", Laxus said and he stood up, carrying his mate on his arms. "Bickslow can fetch Porlyusica to come see you."
"N-no", Freed said quickly. "There is no need... I'm starting to warm up", he assured. "Everything is fine now."
"Like hell everything's fine!" Laxus snarled. "Something happened, we will find out what it was."
"I know what it was", Freed sighed, making others confused. "It was one of the demons that belong to Zaldevil family."
"Demon?" Ever asked.
"It is a long story", Freed said tiredly. Laxus was the only one he had mentioned this and even he didn't know much yet. "I didn't actually see that demon but in my dream there were fog everywhere and it covered everything in hoarfrost where it touched."
"If you didn't see it, how can you be so sure it's some demon?" Bickslow asked.
"Because one other has been causing me nightmares for a while already..."
"For a while?" Laxus said. "And you didn't say anything?"
"I wasn't sure if it would be necessary. My grandfather is plotting something. I need to find out what it is and -"
"No!" Laxus forbid. "You're not going to do anything. If that old fucker is doing something like this to you, you're not going to just walk there and let him have his way. We're going home and then you're going to tell me every single fucking detail what you've been hiding, everything about those nightmares and demons and shit", he growled, frowning while looking at Freed.
Freed wanted to argue, but he was too tired. And he knew that look what Laxus gave to him that the lightning dragon slayer wouldn't even listen to his argues. Obviously Laxus was mad at him, but also worried and he wouldn't let go of this before Freed had told him everything.
So he just lowered his gaze and surrendered.
"Yes", he said and they started their journey back to the town.