7. Chapter 7 (1/2)

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dedicated to

stavroula99

meow orbit

guest

magicalfoxinthewilderness

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and a special shout out to

flor de cerezonftlc

who is the godmother of my dragneel twins!

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"i think this thing is

oken," a voice behind me grunts with frustration as i straighten up and look over at my companion who is currently attempting to look through a telescope while grumbling under their

eath, "i can't see a thing."

"let me see," i suggest as i nudge my companion aside so that i can look through the small peephole to find a blurry image greeting me. twisting some nobs on the side of the telescope and shifting the direction of the lens, i am finally able to get a clear view of the night sky, "it's fixed," i note before moving to go back to spreading out the picnic blanket i had

ought with us.

peeking in through the telescope again, jude heartfilia exclaims excitedly before standing up and looking proud for something he clearly did not accomplish. i ignore the older male's antics before fanning out the fairly large picnic blanket along with the help of loke and virgo.

"thank you for your help," the pink-haired maid thanks as we all stand up to

ing down more things from the carriage nearby.

around us, the other workers from the manor move around carrying their own picnic baskets and blankets to set down on the giant lawn a good distance away from the manor. tonight there was to be a meteor shower and my father had decided to make it a household event so that everyone could participate.

once everyone has finished setting up their blankets, we all take our seats and chatter amongst one another as we patiently wait in the dark. a few people have set small campfires to give us light and warmth while we wait.

the end of august has begun to

ing with it cooler nights making it impossible to sit out without needing to wrap oneself in blankets or light coats. still, it was cool nights like these that made the waiting that much sweeter. especially when surrounded by the people you loved.

after story 7

fairy wishes

pov: lucy

disclaimer: i do not own fairy tail

"lucy, lucy, lucy!" two exuberant voices chant as i'm suddenly pulled down by both arms. i look on either side of me to find two young children pulling either arm with wide excited faces as they continue to try to get my attention even when i'm already looking at them, "sit with us, sit with us!" they chant again without removing their hold on me.

"ok, ok, ok," i groan while trying to pull my arms free from the surprisingly strong kids, "i'll sit with you two, just please stop trying to pull my arms out of their sockets," i whimper while they cheer and continue to pull my arms as if i were a ragdoll.

these kids would be the death of me.

leading me towards the blanket that i had helped virgo set up, gem and mini promptly sit down after forcing me to sit between them where they chatter about how excited they are to see the meteor shower. it had become a sort of tradition for the three of us to spend the night watching the streaks of light paint the night sky every time a shower would hit in august.

sometimes their parents, aquarius and scorpio, would accompany us and other times virgo and loke would join us as well. this would be the first time ever that the whole household would join in on our late-night picnic. it honestly made the twins that much more excited to have everyone together to witness such an extraordinary event.

"it's a clear night out," capricorn, the butler of our home, comments as he looks up at the night sky with his ever-present dark spectacles that shield his eyes.

"perfect for star gazing," loke chimes in while sitting behind me and i nod in agreement.

we all settle down to talk and eat while we continue to wait while in the distance a few gardeners and the cook play their instruments while lyra sings an enchanting melody. a few others even dance along to the catchy tune and i catch sight of aquarius being twirled by her husband to the beat of the music. even the twins ooh and awe at their parents beautiful dancing.

everyone is smiling and laughing and for that moment i can forget how

oken and distant we had all once been a memory ago. now it all felt as if the past nineteen years of my life had been nothing but a bad dream.

"look, it's starting," jude excitedly exclaims while straightening up from looking through the telescope so that he could warn us all.

quickly jumping from foot to foot, he makes his way towards us and plops down beside mini who bounces eagerly in her seat. behind us, everyone immediately quiets down and put out the fires as we watch the heavens patiently.

a streak of light paints a white line across the dark navy before disappearing and later replaced by another streak of light. one by one, meteors zoom across the sky looking as if the stars were falling. a feat i had always believed to be a sad one as those stars would never be able to return to the heavens with their

ethren.

"the stars are falling!" gem cries out as he reaches his hands up towards the sky looking as if he were trying to catch the shooting beams of light.

his words strike a chord in me and soon i'm no longer looking up at the sky with my family. instead, i'm looking up at the sky through the opening of the clearing over the lake with natsu beside me. a moment the two of us had shared a lifetime ago.

the stars are falling! lucy quick, we need to catch them! the boy had roared while waving his hands up in the air looking as if he were trying to fly, quick! they're getting away!

smiling, i lean over to gem and whisper into his ear, "quick, you need to catch them before they get away," and with the biggest grin i have ever seen the young boy give me he then takes a hold of his sister's hand before they chase the stars together.

while watching them, i absently pick up a white dandelion and twirl it between my fingers while thinking of a rosy star that had gotten away from me eons ago. i could only wonder how he was doing and hope that these years had treated him better than they had treated me. i also wished that i could one day see him again and possibly reconnect… with that thought i blow away the white seedlings and watch my fairy wish float away, hoping that this one actually came true.

thankfully, all the fairy wishes i ever made did come true…

squealing laughter resonates throughout the clearing, carried by the wind and caught within the falling leaves that spin happily as they fall. it mixes with the soft summer light that filters in through the treetops and causes the space around us to glow in that ethereal way that i loved. especially in the late afternoon when sunset was just around the corner.

the magical world that had once belonged only to natsu and myself was now a place we shared with the children whenever we visited magnolia for my business meetings regarding love&lucky as well as the konzern. happy and rosy loved the clearing as much as we had and to make it even better for them natsu had rebuilt his treehouse with a ladder that wouldn't

eak. i would even come here on my own whenever i came down to magnolia without the children and natsu to feel close to them. sometimes it even felt like we now spent more time here than anywhere else in the world.

down by the lake, happy and rosy run by the shore chasing butterflies in their attempt to capture them. their squeals fill the air as they continue to run around the wide-open space with bunches of flowers tightly held in their grasps. lures to try to tempt the fluttering butterflies.

"be careful you two!" i call out to the pair as they continue to chase the fluttering insects, succeeding in only catching a few before letting them go again after admiring their wings. however, they're very careful that they don't damage the butterflies before letting them go and moving on to chasing other ones.

cooing catches my attention and i look down at the five bassinets situated on the ground in front of me that i was left to watch over while the others were away. looking down i find find two wriggling newborns blinking up at me curiously as they kick around while the other three babies remain soundly asleep.

"good afternoon," i coo back at the two infants who were awake and looking around as if they couldn't figure out just where they were, "seiko, siro, did you two wake up already?" i ask my babies who direct their eyes towards me at the sound of my voice before letting them wander again.

"oh good, they're waking up," erza says when she walks into the clearing while carrying her baby alexander who excitedly claps his hand and cries out, "phy!" towards the butterflies fluttering throughout the clearing, "yes baby, that's a butterfly," erza smiles while bouncing alexander on her hip, careful to keep him away from her growing belly. she was only two months pregnant with her second child and ecstatic for it.

"are the others behind you? i don't know what i'll do if they all start crying at once, and that's that i can barely even manage with the twins on my own," i tell her while she sits down beside me with alexander clutching her neck in a tight hug.

"they're just grabbing the last of the things before heading on here," erza says while bumping her nose with her son who

ushes her hair away from her face and smiles.

he stares into his mother's damaged eye, but doesn't cry from the sight of it. instead he traces a curious finger down the scar that ran through her eye looking to be very gentle for a one-year-old. he doesn't even seem to mind that the damaged eye is filmy and blind, but instead leans forward to plant a sloppy kiss on her eyelid before scrambling down her arms and hobbling away.

the sight warms me because erza doesn't try to cover up her injured eye as much as she used to, much like how i always covered my hands. she still hadn't told me how she had gotten it, but i knew that the memory, much like my own, was a difficult one to talk about even to this day.

i never wore my gloves anymore, allowing everyone to see my scars, but i just never talked about how i had gotten them. thankfully hardly anyone ever asked about the injury and if they did, a dark glare from natsu always helped change the topic to keep me from feeling uncomfortable. usually it was only the nobles who weren't close to us who ever asked, but always made sure to never probe after being rejected an explanation the first time.

"oh look, the little princess is awake!" erza says while reaching into the bassinet to pull out seiko who stares at the red-head with wide eyes. erza cradles the newborn while i look down to find that siro had fallen back asleep looking unperturbed by the noise his siblings nearby made.

siro was a heavy sleeper, just like his father.