Chapter 18 - mommy and daddy -

As little natsu jr learned to walk and talk, he had developed a strange habit of calling his father by his name.

"Hi Jue!! Welcome home!!"

*natsu jr waved to his father as he saw him return from a mission that was 3 days away. He was happy to see him come back.*

Jue smiled as his 5 year old son came running twords him as he put down his things to carry the only light in his life.

"Woah!! You have grown so much! Have you been a good boy to grandma and grandpa?"

*jue asked as he already knew his son wasn't much of a trouble maker. Instead he spent his days helping out lucy and natsu with chores and learning dragon slayer magic. Natsu jr wanted to be just like natsu even though he possessed demon magic he rejected his nature of his magic and wanted to be a dragon slayer.*

"Aye! I eat lots of what mommy gives me and look what papi showed me!!"

*natsu jr showed jue his first flame as he manifested it on his finger. He grinned wildly as jue looked impressed.*

"Oh wow! You really are a dragon slayer now Nate.. but would you stop calling grandpa and grandma, mommy and daddy? You know I'm your real daddy right?.."

*jue sweat drop as he always tried correcting his son from the strange nicknames he came up for natsu and Lucy. But then again it was only normal since jue was dedicating his time to bring home money and toys for his son, while his parents took care of him. They didn't mind the nicknames as they thought of Natsu as their own son too.*

"No! They are only mommy and papi to me and nothing else!"

*little natsu jr boasted as he pouted a angry face at his dad. Jue only sighed as it was no use to keep trying to correct his stubborn son and walked into the Dragneels residence that had grown a bit dull in its painted walls and the creaking floor that got repaired years ago..*

"Mom, Dad! I'm home!.."

*Jue announced as Lucy was busy baking cookies for her grandchildren. She was expecting all her grandchildren today as all her children were stopping by to visit later. Natsu was reading a book as he wore some glasses now looking like a old man as his once pink hair began turning grey. He folded the book as he got up from his comfy chair and smiled broadly like always.*

"Welcome home jue.. how was the mission?.."

*natus asked like always as jue just smiled softly as he put down natsu jr, who right away began pulling on natsu's arm to play with him.*

"It was alright dad… oh! I got this for you on my trip, it's supposedly some kind of dragon book they found with grandpa Igneel mythology. I'm not sure how much of it is true or anything but I considered you would be interested in reading it…"

*jue handed his father a red leathered book that had the tittle 'Igneel' in gold italics. Natsu smiled warmly as he still remembered his father Igneel..*

"Come on papi! Let's go help mommy! Mommy is going to get burned if she takes out the cookies!"

*natsu jr urged once more as natsu put the book away and carried his mini me into the air and rested him on his shoulder.*

"Aye! We have to save mommy from the fire breathing stove oven! To the kitchen!!"

*jue laughed as he saw his father disappear to the kitchen as he put away his luggage in his old room that had been turned into natsu's jr play room. Just because his son never called him daddy or father or papa didn't mean he didn't miss him… he spent his time playing in his fathers room while he was away on his missions, Lucy was sleeping on the porch outside and Natsu went to town to get groceries.. natsu jr was kind in keeping himself put to not cause any hardship on his old mommy and daddy so he spent time playing with his toys pretending he was accompanying his father on missions to rescue the princesss and fighting evil bad guys jue would tell him about.*

Jue put away his things finally as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked at himself as he had grown a stubble of beard hair on his face and a messy top. He growned at how unattended he looked so he decided to fix his stubble and cut a bit of his hair to look more decent. The final look left him satisfied as he looked like a proper 28 year old single dad, he didn't need anyone in his life except for his son and parents.

Jue came down stairs now as he saw that his siblings had finally arrived. It was a mad house now as 8 kids ran wild in the house. He smiled brightly at how the lonely old childhood house was always brought back to life when their was so many kids.

"Jue! Your back! How are you?"

*Nashi greeted her younger brother as she hugged him and asked him how he was doing. She was relieved to hear that he had been doing better ever since he had his son so she wasn't worried anymore about him.*

"I'm good Nash, how are you and the family?"

"We are good, we have a third one on the way though.. hehe.. dad freaked out as he asked if it wasn't too soon to be having another one.."

*Nashi laughed as she rubbed her tummy that was barely showing her baby bump. Jue congratulated his sister as he felt someone pull him back into a headlock.*

"What? Not going to say hi to your older brother?"

*Liddan gave his brother a noogy as jue broke off the headlock and punched his brothers arm playfully.*

"Of course I am! How are you Lin? And how's the twins?"

"Pshh, they are good.. they are my two favorite boys, but how come you didn't tell me you were going out on missions again? Let me join you for once, just like old times.."

*Liddan smiled at his brother as he looked at him unimpressed by his begging.*

"No way! Then I would have to split the reward I earn, you can go on one by yourself if you want. Haha!"

*jue waved as he left Liddan to pout at him as he looked for his son, he ran across Igneel now who was helping his wife Ethe with the triplets who got some chocolate stuck in her hair.*

"Oooo! Watch Igneel! I'm going to put all three of them on time out!"

*ethe seized in anger as Igneel carefully wiped the chocolate out of her hair with some baby wipes he had.*

"Hi Ig, hello Eth, ooh that must be a pain.."

*jue commented as he greeted his brother and wife.*

"Hi jue, how are you? And oh my mavis how big is your son already! I wish I had a well behaved son like him.."

*ethe complained as Igneel only huffed a flame of fire out of his mouth.*

"Sure… that's what you said about the triplets, and look at you now.. covered in chocolate.. hahahaha!"

*Igneel laughed as he finished cleaning his wife's hair who only smacked his arm and left him to talk to his brother for a awhile.*

"So jue, how are things? I heard you are on missions again? Do you want me to give you any easy missions when I see them?"

*Igneel offered as jue shook his head declining the offer.*

"Nah, I rather kick something's butt then wipe it.. well nice seeing you ig, I gotta find my son.. i got him a surprise you see.."

*jue showed Igneel the surprise as he opened up the box. Igneel looked surprised too as he looked at it fascinated and gave a approval nod to jue.*

"Alright! Good luck!"

Jue continued to walk through the house looking for his son as he saw his nieces and nephews run past him. He saw someone knocking at the door so he went to open the door to see two familiar blonde twins with gifts.

"Jue!!! How are you!!!"

*lina and luxe chanted together as they did from time to time.*

"Eww, it's the twin freaks…"

*jue teased as he saw his sisters faces reddened in anger.*

"I'm just playing! Haha! I'm good and how was the trip over seas?"

*jue stepped aside to let them in and helped them with some of the bags. They put down the gifts as they took off their scarfs and hats. It was cold from where they came from but had regretted wearing the warm clothing to magnolia.*

"We are good, we are almost done with our studies so from here on out you will be seeing S-Class celestial mages."

*luxe flexed her arms showing how cool she was as lina nodded in agreement.*

"Ah! That's so cool! But not as cool as my son, natsu~"

*jue said with a smug face as the twins didn't know about their extra nephew yet.*

"You had a son? When!"

*lina asked as luxe tried looking through the hoard of running kids.*

"You will see him soon, I have been looking for him actually and I can't find the squirt.. also I named him after dad because he looks exactly like him.."

*jue bragged as the twins were now eager to meet him now.*

"Well let's go look lina! We gotta say hi to mom and dad first!"

"Right! Okay we will leave you to search for your son then jue.."

*the both left with the gifts they brought for natsu and Lucy from over seas. Jue nodded as he continued to look for his son but saw his sister leia now who brought a cake with her from the kitchen.*

"Oh jue! Help me a bit with carrying this… it's too heavy."

*leia squirmed as jue helped her carry the cake to dinner table where she was heading with*

"Oh man! What did you put in this cake to make it so heavy!!"

"Oh it's nothing, just put a lot of fruit in it that I didn't know which to choose.. I began learning how to make cakes from aunt Erza who told me this recipe was the best.."

*leia wiped a sweat from her forehead as she stood back to acknowledge her work.. she wasn't interested in magic anymore and turned to running her own bakery now.. she looked happier now as she was well known for her pastries in magnolia and was planning to spread her bakery across the kingdom of fiore.*

"Well they don't say your cakes aren't the best for nothing.. hey have you seen natsu around?"

*jue asked as leia smirked and answered him with a question.*

"Depends on what natsu your talking about? The small natsu or big natsu?"

*jue rolled his eyes as he used the nickname he came up with to not have this confusion with his family members.*

"I meant 'Nate' have you seen Nate around?"

*he asked again as leia nodded and pointed outside.*

"I saw the little guy outside, you know he takes after dad so much so he's outside training on his fire dragon roar."

"Oh mavis that can't be good.. okay I'll see you later then leia.."

*he waved off at his sister as he walked outside to find his son sitting on a big boulder. He walked up to him as he saw his son focusing on something while his eyes where closed.*

"What ya doing their Nate?.."

"Nothing jue.. I'm trying to see if I can hear mommy and daddy from outside… you know, giddian and Louis said they can hear their mommy and daddy when they are far away from them.. they said it was one thing they had that showed they were ready to be dragon slayers… but jue… I can't hear anything.."

*natsu jr gave a sigh as he burrowed his brow as he tried focusing more but was no use..*

"Well.. that's a bit sad then… natsu? Why do you want to be a dragon slayer so much?"

*jue finally sat with his son on the boulder as he watched his small son look at him then looked at the woods.*

"Because I want to be strong like daddy one day… I want to protect everyone and be awesome! … I don't want anyone to die.."

*natsu jr brought his knees to his face now as he curled up and hid his face from his father.. jue can see that something had been eating at his sons feelings so he asked him what was wrong.*

"Natus? Is their something you want to tell me about?"

Natsu jr. looked up at his father as he tried holding back some tears.. he quivered his lip like Nashi as his eyes grew puffy like Igneel.. he made a brave face like Liddan as he told his father the truth of what he had been thinking about.

"Ju-… Papa? Did my real mom die?…"

*jue felt a since of panic strike him as he was thrilled to hear his son finally call him father in some way but was harshly reminded of his tragic past… he took a deep breath in now as he calmed down to give his son a reply that wouldn't effect his childhood.*

"Yes natsu.. I'm sorry for telling you this but I don't think I should lie to you… she died when you were born.. she.. she was so beautiful and had very pretty blonde hair.. she- would have been a great mother if she didn't leave so soon.."

*jue left out the parts of natsu jr.'s ugly parts of his mother as he only told him of the pretty ones he remembered in that time when he first met the woman.. jue felt his vision going blurry before feeling his son hug his waist.*

"Jue… I don't want mommy and daddy to die either… I want everyone to be healthy and happy forever..*sniff sniff* I want to grow up and play lots with all my cousins and uncles and aunts…*sob* but… I heard mommy was sick when a doctor came by to visit while I was asleep… daddy… is grandma going to die?"

*jue couldn't handle it anymore as he hugged his son and cried with all their hearts. He really knew his son was so smart and was going to grow up to be a good person one day but.. he knew he was to smart for his own good sometimes.. they both cried as one couldn't pacify the other. Soon the rest of the Dragneels came out to find jue and natsu jr wailing in each other's arms as they tried figuring out what had happened.*

Lucy finally came through as she walked slowly to her son and grandson to ask why had they begun to cry.

"Why are you both crying?… what's wrong?.."

*lucys hair had been once the loose long shiny gold silk like hair, was now a grey dull blonde as it was neatly brushed into a bun. Her eyes had grew smaller as her wrinkles began to sag her skin on her face but she still looked lovely with her old age. She brushed natsu's jrs tears away as he pushed his father to stop hugging him and lunged himself at Lucy.*

"Are you *sob* going to die soon mommy? *sob* like the doctor said when she came to the house?•"

*lucy was surprised by what her grandson said as it surprised everyone else.. even natsu who looked at his wife with a worried look. Lucy only sighed as she shook her head to settle everyone down.*

"No natsu.. I'm not dying yet.. I just have a little bit of a cold and sweet's problem… the doctor said I can't have anymore candy if I want to live longer.. so don't cry my little natsu.. grandma is going to be here for you for another 10 years…"

*lucy hugged her grandson as he wailed into her chest more.. everyone began tearing as they denied the harsh reality that soon.. they will have to say goodbye permanently to their parents.*

"Mom.. why didn't you tell us?.."

*Nashi asked as she began crying next, she quivered her lip as she tried holding her cry's.*

"Because, it's not something to worry about now.. "

*lucy was interrupted by natsu now who looked angered at his wife. He looked into her old eyes as his held back tears as he asked her afraid of what to expect.*

"Luce… I thought I told you to not keep secrets from me… why didn't you tell me you were sick?.."

*lucy only smiled as she placed a hand on natsu's old face as she kept hugging her nephew.*

"It wasn't a secret, plus I'm sure you had noticed how I have stopped eating sweets already.. I just wanted to keep living like we have been without worrying… so don't worry… when it's time, I want you all to cry then.. so don't cry now.."

*lucy held her tears now as she smiled sadly, all her children pouted as Liddan her second born son, gave in to hug her. Next was her daughter leia who furrowed her brows as she hugged her mother next. The twins hugged her too as jue and Nashi where the only ones who refused to join the hug.*

"Come on now, it's a happy day where I get to see all my grandchildren! Where's my cute grandchildren!"

*lucy wiped her tears as she called for her grandchildren. She was met with her horde of grandchildren who began sobbing with natsu jr as they told her as much nice things to her to make her feel better.*

"I love you grandma!"

"Don't die grandma!"

"Your still so pretty grandma!"

"I love your cookies grandma!"

"I like the way you smell grandma!"

"You have to play with me next grandma!"

"Grandma, you have to show me how to use magic still!"

*all her grandchildren chanted as she smiled and hushed them one by one, until she was left with her little natsu who wouldn't let go.*

"Come on natsu, I'm not dying yet.. you can let me go now."

"No! I'm not letting you go, not until I grow up and become old like you!"

*lucy smiled as she remembered how her natsu had said the same thing once when they had fought, she would have cried like that time too but she had become more wiser so she only hugged his little body back as she shush him to sleep.*

Everything calmed down as the kids had fallen asleep from exhaustion, and where tooken home by their parents. Natsu and Lucy bid everyone farewell for now as the sunset on their front porch. She began thinking back at how she sat in the very spot when she was pregnant with Nashi and her water had broke. Natsu had freaked out then and had pushed her with a wheelchair all the time way to the fairy tail guild… oh how those times had passed so fast. Now she sat their with her little grandson who still had his iron grip on her dress and apron. She heard Natsu walk outside as he sat next to her.

"… so how long?…"

"Hm?"

"How long did the doctor said you have?… I'm not stupid luce, … I know when your hiding something… how long did they tell you, you have left to live?.."

*natsu snarled the comment as it left a bitter taste in his mouth.. Lucy only smiled sadly and sighed.*

"The doctor said if I eat less milk and sweets, I can live for another 10 years… but if I keep going with my current diet… I only have 6 more years to go.."

*lucy didn't cry… she was already prepared to die ever since she came to love natsu and how close they came to death every time they faced foes on their missions. She didn't want to die yet though as she still had one more child to raise… and that was her little natsu who always considered her as his mother since he first learned how to talk. She cried a few tears now as she brushed her grandsons hair trying to distract her from thinking of death.*

".. then let's make these 10 years count luce, let's give everything we got to raise him… let's live with no regrets…"

*natsu gave a sad smile to his luce as he held his hand with the fairy tail symbol 👆. Lucy giggled as she responded back.*

"Yes… let's do this natsu, let's give it al we got .. 👆"

The two elderly couple smiled at each other as they thought back to all their hardships they have been through.

From their nights sleeping on the dirt roads while on a mission.

To laughing at each other when they were dressed as cute bunny girls in edolas.

There passionate night as they both made love to each other.

And their first memories of giving birth to Nashi.

Everything was playing back as they looked into each other's eyes.

'..yeah we're ready for anything that comes our way now… we will always be together from now on..'

The sunset finally as the sky lit up with beautiful stars… tomorrow would be another day as everyone kept living their lives and got through their life's one day at a time..

~The End~