A/N Happy Forth if July! I hope you all have a better day than me today, in-laws am I right? ANYWAY Even with it being a holiday I just couldn't skip the chapter this week. It's about to get heavy. Sooooo here is my love! 💃
Natsu's POV
When we finally got home all the kids were already in bed asleep. We thanked the spirits for watching over them while we were gone and were about to close their gates when Virgo bowed getting our attention.
"What's up, Virgo?" I asked when I realized she wasn't going to say anything on her own.
"How did you two know how to use Celestial Wings?" She asked after straightening her back looking at us again.
I thought about it for a minute and realized I didn't know. It was almost as natural as using my own fire dragon slayer magic, second nature. I didn't think twice about using it and when I saw Luce do it, it was like I already knew how to. I shrugged and turned to Luce. She looked just as confused as I did.
"I don't know, I just did. Why?" She finally answered after several minutes.
Virgo looked at Capricorn and Aquarius giving a very distinct impression that something was wrong. Scorpio looked just as confused as I felt though.
"Why did you use it?" Aquarius asked next instead.
I smiled remembering our date as Luce told them of how our ice skating turned into dancing under the moonlight high above the trees at the park. To say I was rather proud of myself for the whole thing would be an understatement. I couldn't help the grin on my face as I pulled Luce into my arms and snuggled into her neck. Fuck, I'm getting all sappy again. The last time this happened; hmmm I wonder... But I shooed the thought away at least for now.
"Okay, out with it. Why does it matter?" I asked, getting tired of all their glances and no one actually answering Luce.
"Celestial Wings is a very high level magic spell, only very few, very rare celestial keys have ever mastered it." Capricorn was the one who finally answered.
"Wait so who knows how to use it? A couple of the Zodiac or the Sins?" I asked feeling a bit bummed they didn't show us before now.
"Neither, the keys are far rarer than either." Aquarius answered. So there are even more powerful keys out there? Damn.
"The King or Queen?" Luce asked only to have them all shake their heads no.
"So we are just awesome huh?" I cracked a grin that made Luce smile. Mavis I love her smile.
"Goodnight, your majesties." Capricorn said while bowing prompting the others to follow suit before they closed their gates.
Lucy's POV
I am so tired. We went straight to bed and the following day was met with our kids' daily silly antics. We did our usual routine but we ended up not going on another actual mission for several months. I think it's just because Nashi and Luke were so young, the thought of being too far away from them was a torture all on It's own.
We were currently planning a trip to see Lisa and Kathy and were considering taking a mission in the area. After all, why not? Assuming there would be one at all of course.
Natsu and I left Loke and Aries to get the kids ready and we're finally going to the guild for the first time since the babies hatched over six months ago.
"Hello!" We greeted as if no time had passed at all. We actually got a few surprised greetings back as we walked to the mission board.
"Found one!" Natsu cheered it was a simple supply mission, healing flowers. Hmm didn't we do this one already? Oh well. I smiled nodding in agreement. Natsu's arm was already comfortably around my shoulders, just like before when nobody knew. Not overly intimate, just his usual friendly self. I can't help thinking about how lucky I am that he is not just my mate but my best friend too.
We walked over to Mira while we discussed if we should fly or ride the train.
"Natsu we can not carry all four of them while flying!" I was growing irritated.
"I know that. But they could go to the celestial realm and we could fly there and open a gate to bring them back again." He tried to explain.
"Natsu, it's one thing for them to come here and watch them, it's another to alter the kids view of time itself by having them go there." I love him, I try to remind myself as I tried to get him to see sense.
"What do you? Oh..." His eyes lit up as understanding finally dawned in them. Time passes by differently in the celestial realm than Earthland.
"You're back!" Mira almost whispered like it was a secret. I looked around and realized the whole guild was silently looking at us, staring.
"Why are you whispering?" Natsu asked confused, I know he is putting on a bit of a show for them. If for no other reason than to get them to relax a little. "What do you mean by that anyway we are still members of Fairy Tail."
"Well, I mean you've both been gone for so long now." She hesitated before answering. She kept looking back and forth between us as if we weren't really there.
"We've been dealing with two toddlers and two newborns. What did you expect? We are still only human." I hear Natsu grumble, to be fair Mira was being kind of ridiculous.
"Mira, can we go on the mission or not?" I asked my patience finally coming to an end.
"Right, yes of course!" She answered quickly before stamping the flyer and handing it back to us.
"Great see ya later," Natsu yelled as we waved good-bye.
We stopped just outside and to the side of the door to listen to whatever they were about to say because of course they were going to talk about us.
"They really came back." Mira said weakly.
"Yep," was all the Master answered with.
"Will they stay?" Mira asked.
"Don't know," he answered her again. The rest of the guild was stone silent.
I can't help rolling my eyes at the exchange before grabbing Natsu's hand and pulling him towards the train station. Of course we are going to stay, Fairy Tail is our family why wouldn't we? I guess in the end we will just have to talk to them about it all. They can't seem to be able to figure anything out as far as we are concerned it seems.
What are we going to have to do? Sit them down and tell them they are being utter morons?
Natsu's POV
What exactly are we going to have to do? Beat some sense into them? For Mavis' sake! We quickly ran to the train station and met Loke and Aries with our kids before boarding. The reason the mission seemed so familiar was because it was exactly the same as last time. It was even for the same client, Lisa's employer Slim. He was super happy to see us again and he was even more ecstatic to meet the twins.
The mission goes well and we end up staying for dinner and it's already so late that the last train for Magnolia has already left.
"Perfect! You can stay the night here," Slim gushed and Melody and Tidus stayed with Kathy for the night while the twins stayed with Luce and I in a guest room.
We ended up leaving after lunch the next day allowing the kids time to play before we did and when we got back to Magnolia they wanted to go straight to the park. Yep no question about it in my mind, they are spoiled rotten.
We played for about an hour before Luce called for Virgo and Capricorn to take them home. It was time for us to go on a real mission again, finally.
Lucy's POV
We walked into the guild hall just like we would regularly; Natsu kicking the doors open and us both calling out that we were back smiling as we did. The guild however was not ready for our sudden return; they all froze in whatever position they were already in whether they were sitting and eating or about to punch someone like Gajeel and Gray were. Everyone just froze as if time had stopped there and just looked at us.
Yeah it's about time for all of this to end. I can feel the vein in my forehead starting to throb as I tried not to scream at them to stop staring.
"S class today, we have been way too lazy!" Natsu laughed walking ahead of me.
"Speak for yourself! Somehow I am always the one summoning the spirits when we need help with something." I grumbled as if I was actually upset.
"Luce you have their literal keys on you all the time, even if I do summon them I would have to use some of your magic anyway." He defended.
"You could go out and get some of your own keys. The silver keys have multiple copies and you're usually calling for Lyre anyway." I reminded him, this is a team effort after all and I'm getting tired. I frown before he slings an arm around my shoulders.
"Okay!" His big boyish grin made my heart flutter. Damn that smile of his. "You know if you keep looking at me like that we might have to go back home," he purred low enough that only the closest people to us might have heard but Gajeel, Laxus and Eric definitely heard considering the way Laxus seemed to cough up a lung and Gajeel had managed to get away from Gray before he could turn too red. Wendy just shook her head in annoyance. She had gotten well used to it a long time ago.
"I don't really see anything all that great on the S class board," I groaned ignoring his smirk before turning back to him frowning. "Damn it, now how are we going to pay the price?"
He shrugged thinking for a minute before turning back to me, "We could have a fight? A real one between the two of us, that should work."
I was already shaking my head no, "Can you imagine the damage we would cause? We could completely wipe out the area."
"What about using a barrier?" He asked and I still frowned and shook my head again.
"No, we could still end up actually hurting each other. Face it neither of us like to give in," I groaned finally walking over to Mira at the bar, "Two strawberry shakes please?" Before I turned back to Natsu.
"I don't know, it's not like there are a lot of people who could actually act as a referee for us. You do remember when Wendy tried last time?" I asked him just to see him groan slumping onto the barstool next to me.
Wendy had tried to separate us and had gotten thrown a few kilometers away. It wasn't until she crashed on the ground that we noticed at all. Natsu looked down as if regretting the memory.
Mira sets the shakes in front of me and I thank her before handing one to Natsu who made a face but took it anyway. "I don't know about you Luce but I am starting to get sick of strawberry milkshakes and I didn't like them before this."
"I know but I wasn't kidding when I told you they are the best thing for it," I sighed thinking back on it. "Before Mira's shakes I swear I was almost ready to give up my magic altogether. You know except for the whole Fairy Tail being my dream and everything."
"Yeah? What did you do before?" He asked actually interested. I don't think he even realised he was drinking the shake.
"Well, it's kind of hard to describe," I started almost hesitantly, I looked into his eyes. "I think I pretty much lived off tofu and broths," I frowned. "Although the staff would sneak me sweets. My mother told me that it was a huge secret from my father. Sweets are pretty much the only thing back then I could eat without getting sick."
"I remember Happy and I got sick from eating too many sweets," he grinned at me. "Now a lasagna or pasta sounds amazing," he rubbed his stomach frowning a moment before looking back up at me.
"Do you regret it?" I ask him, I know he knows what I mean. Learning my magic has been hard on him but more than that I would never have been able to get all of the sin keys, at least not Pan's, let alone unlock as much of their power as I have so far. Most require two for the more difficult spells, hell even my Zodiac keys have two person spells.
He grinned at me before slinging his arm around my shoulders again, "Of course not. I would rather only eat air than change that."
I smile before leaning into him yawning slightly, "Maybe today was a bad day to pick to go on a S class mission after all."
"You're probably right we can probably wait a couple more weeks, the twins are not even a year old yet," Natsu sighed.
"We cannot go a year without going on a mission! Not unless you want to spend the next 50 in a barrier." I hiss at him.
"You know I'm not exactly against that?" He laughed before dodging the hand I was going to use to slap the back of his head. "I'm kidding!" I relax again before he adds, "Mostly." He starts laughing as I try again and he jumps out of his seat to dodge me this time.
"That's it!" He yelled before explaining, "Instead of a fight let's have a match, Tag but we can only use magic and we are not allowed to touch the ground." Natsu cheered as he continued to dodge what was no longer going to be a slight pop to the back of his head but an actual blow.
"Natsu," I groan thinking he was playing around again.
"I'm serious," to be fair he did look completely serious. "Think about it, we would have to use magic to stay airborne and a lot of it considering the spells we know that can actually keep us up without touching the ground. Instead of actually touching like when we are goofing off we would have to use magic like fire dragon's roar or something." He looked at me hopefully.
I sat back and gave it serious thought. It wasn't a bad plan and we wouldn't be likely to destroy our surroundings or go overboard and hurt each other, especially if we went high enough into the air. I looked up at him to see him still skirting outside of my reach but he still looked hopeful. High enough in the air? Hmmmm.
"What if we set up a platform high in the air? We could have our fight and use one of the sin spirits as a referee. They would know what we would be allowed to do during the match too." I mumbled almost to myself.
"It's always more fun when we are together," He beamed at me. He was almost shaking with excitement.
"Says the man staying well out of arm's reach," I pout.
"Maybe if I believed you weren't going to knock me into last week once I got close enough..." He trailed off when he saw my frown. "Well I am mostly kidding," he held his hands up as if he didn't have a weapon. I just glared at him more.
"Fine tomorrow," he started celebrating before I continued talking, "I'll use Griffin to make the arena tonight and Aries to set clear markers so they are easy to see. Maybe we can even use Pan as the referee."
"This is going to be so great, I can't wait!" He cheered and hugged me. I smile before popping him upside the back of the head.
"Next time don't run," I told him when he pouted.
"Would you two care to explain what exactly is going on?" Master seemed to come out of nowhere to ask. He seemed curious but not overly concerned.
"We are going to have a match, the most awesome one ever!" Natsu answered grinning, he seemed to have forgotten all about me hitting him in the back of the head. Yep he is an idiot, but he is my idiot.