Chapter 7

Lucy stared at the walls in her cell, she wondered if her kids were okay. She wondered how Natsu reacted to finding out he had children. How did Lisanna react? She guessed they were all shocked.

She laughed silently picturing their reactions.

The sound of footsteps pulled her from her thoughts.

"Ready to talk yet blondy?" Her captor asked standing outside of her cell. He was a tall dark man, he was musclur. His muscles could be seen printing from his skin tight shirt. He was young, probably a little older than Lucy. He had the iciest blue eyes Lucy had ever seen. His jawline was sharp. Simply put he was handsome and if it wasn't for the fact that he was totally evil Lucy might've had a crush on him.

Lucy's face remained stoic, "As if I'd tell you anything." she said.

Her captor shrugged and unlocked her cell. "I guess that means it's torture time." He said unchaining her.

Lucy had no strength left after numerous torture sessions and no food, so when pushed to stand she fell back to the ground. Her captor paid no mind to that and just grabbed her by her torn dress and pulled her along behind him.

He threw her onto a table before strapping her down. Lucy didn't put up much of a fight and even if she wanted to she couldn't. Her physical energy was drained and she couldn't feel her magic at all. Her captor had placed magic bocking bracelets on both her wrists.

Once he finished strapping her down he looked down at her emotionless face. "Last chance to tell me where the keys are before I fire this thing up." He said. He waited for a response but got none, not even a facial expression.

"Suit yourself." He said before pulling a lever to turn on his torture device.

Lucy tried her best to not scream but once he put it on it's highest level she couldn't help it.

He shook his head watching her scream and thrash around, "If only you were more cooperative." he sighed.

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Nashi jumped on her father's back to wake him up.

"Natsu wake up, we're hungry." The little girl said.

Natsu groaned and held his daughter up by her collar, "I'm up, I'm up." he said tossing her onto the other bed. Nashi giggled as she bounced up and down on the springy mattress.

Natsu had been staying at the inn with the twins since last night as requested. In that short time, they had warmed up to him.

The twins were ready and waiting. He got ready while they played with each other. Once he was done he carried the twins, each of them in one arm.

Once they got to the guild the twins wiggled out of Natsu's arms and ran to their friends. Natsu made his way to the table where all the other parents were.

"So how was your first night with them?" Erza inquired.

Everyone turned to look at him expectantly, they were all curious to hear of how it. They had never seen Natsu handle children. They wondered how he was faring with being a dad so suddenly.

"It was good actually, they woke up once we got to the inn and refused to sleep so we played till they got tired again."  He replied.

Gray who wasn't satisfied asked "That's it?"

Natsu nodded.

"Really? No tantrums? Nothing?" Gajeel continued, just as unsatisfied as Gray. They both had wanted Natsu struggle but was left disappointed.

Natsu shook his head, "They're actually well behaved, Lucy did a great job with them." he said looking at his kids with a smile.

Looking at the smile on his face reminded Gray and Gajeel what they had discovered. It occurred to them that if Natsu hadn't been under a potion he would've had his family.

They felt bad obviously and they felt even worse since they were the only ones who knew the truth. Everyone else probably thought Natsu was just a dick.

They shared a look, glancing from Natsu to each other having a silent conversation.

"Lucy is a wonderful mother, she loves them more than anything." Levy commented with a sad smile.

Before the conversation could continue Luke and Nashi ran over to Natsu telling him they were ready for food. Natsu called over Mira and had the kids order before ordering for himself. The others did the same.

As soon as Mira walked away the guild doors burst open. In walked Happy, Carla, Romeo and Wendy.

The four had formed a team two years ago.

"Hi everyone!" Wendy greeted cheerfully.

Everyone greeted back before the group walked upstairs to the master's office to report what took place on their job.

Upon seeing happy Natsu became saddened , he was once again reminded of how much his stupid decisions cost him.

The twins noticed their father's sudden change in demeanor.

"What's wrong?" Nashi asked looking up at her father curiously. Luke also looked up at him but remained quiet.

He sighed he didn't want to answer but would gladly do so since his children asked. The mere fact that they wanted to know made him happy.

"Remember when I told you that hurting your mom was the dumbest thing I have ever done?" He began.

They nodded, Natsu hadn't noticed the others listening.

"Well doing that didn't only make me lose your wonderful mom and you two but a lot of other friends too, like Happy."

"The blue cat?" Luke finally spoke.

Natsu nodded.

After hearing that conversation Gray and Gajeel felt worse. They looked at each other before getting up and walking outside.

"I hate to say it but I feel bad." Gray said.

Gajeel nodded, "Now that I think about it we all kinda stopped talking to him completely." he added.

"Yeah but we thought he was a major dick, I mean he did make Lucy leave." Gray added, trying to justify ostracizing Natsu.

"True but now we know that none of this was his fault and nobody else knows but us and they are all still angry with him especially our girlfriends."

Gray began pacing, "We have to tell everyone, I'm tired of seeing him so sad and lonely. It grosses me out."

Gajeel spoke up "We can't tell everyone yet, we have to do it when animal girl is here or she might run away or something."

Gray stopped pacing and thought about it. He agreed that this would be the right way to do things.

The two went back inside and back to their table.

The group went back to talk about how Natsu was handling the children so far. Mira came with their food and they wasted no time in digging in.

Natsu helped his kids cut up their food as did the other parents.

Happy and his group had come back from the master's office and were now seated at a table. Happy stared at Natsu's table from across the guild.

'Why are they all gathered with him?! After everything he's done, they're all talking to him?!' He questioned, getting angry at the sight. He along with everyone else held resentment towards Natsu for Lucy leaving.

He took it as hard as the girls did. Lucy was somewhat of a mother figure to him. She took care of him and was always kind to him. She always protected him when she could and would feed him too.

When Lucy and Natsu were together everything was perfect for him. The two people he loved the most had finally gotten together just as he wanted. He was crushed when she left since it all happened so suddenly. But he was filled with rage when he saw Natsu and Lisanna together.

He couldn't understand why Natsu was now sitting at a table with everyone laughing and eating.

His eyes shifted down to the two little humans sitting beside him. He'd never seen them before but they looked and smelled so familiar. He stared at them wondering why they seemed so familiar.

"Happy what's wrong?" Wendy asked noticing how intently Happy was staring across the guild.

Wendy followed his line of sight and became as confused as he was.

Just then Mira came to their table. Wendy took the chance and asked her about Luke and Nashi.

Mira happily told them they were Lucy and Natsu's children. She then took a seat and began telling them how Lucy was pregnant when she left and how only Levy, Juvia and Master knew where she was.

She told them how Natsu and Lisanna broke up. She said it so happily they wondered if she was really talking about her own sister.

Processing all this Happy realized that Lucy might be here.

He jumped up happily and began looking around. "Where's Lucy?" He asked.

The entire guild got quiet having heard his question. Everyone now had a sad expression on their faces and turned to look at the twins who now had their heads bowed. Tears brimmed they're eyes at the mention of their mother's name.

Noticing the change in atmosphere, Happy questioned it. Mira calmly explained what had happened.

Natsu stared down at his children wondering what to do. He pushed their food aside and picked up both of his children. They didn't resist and instead wrapped their arms around his neck. They buried their faces in his neck.

Natsu walked out of the guild with everyone's eyes on him and his children.

Natsu headed straight for the park, once he sat on a bench and placed both of them on his lap they burst into sobs. Natsu wrapped his arms around them once more and allowed them to cry. He didn't know what else to do so he just waited till they calmed down a bit.

Once they finally calmed down, Natsu wondered what he could do to cheer them up a bit.

He looked down at them and smiled. "Wanna play a game?" He asked them.

They looked at each other before wiping their eyes and nodded at him. He placed them on the ground.

He formed a small fireball in his hands. The kids stared at it, fascinated by it. This was the first time they had seen their father's flames and it looked so intriguing to them.

"Do you think you can catch it?" Natsu asked them.

The twins grinned liking where this was going. They nodded, eager to begin what ever game this is.

"Alright, spread out a bit" Natsu instructed.

The twins stepped back and away from each other until they had formed a large triangle.

"Okay so this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna throw this fireball around but each time we catch it we're gonna add a bit of our own fire to it. Understand?"

The twins nodded excitedly. Seeing how excited they were to play with fire Natsu had a feeling Lucy wouldn't like this game of his. If she saw them now she'd probably give him a Lucy kick to the face.

Natsu threw the fireball to Nashi knowing that his fire couldn't hurt her. Nashi did as Natsu had told her and threw it to Luke who did the same before passing it back to Natsu.

They continued doing that making the fireball get huge. The fire ball had now become bigger than Natsu's head making it difficult for the twins to throw. Anyone who was in the vicinity had made sure to avoid the three after seeing them throw fire around.

Natsu held the fireball and observed how his and his children's magic just melted and swirled around together.

He shots the fireball into the air. It popped and spread out as though it was a firework. It looked beautiful, the children stared up at it amazed. Natsu wished it was night time so that they could witness the true beauty of their flames. The flames disintegrated in the air.

"That was so cool!" The twins exclaimed in unison.

Natsu grinned seeing their bright faces.

They ran to him and began gushing about how awesome that was.

Luke looked up at him smiling brightly for the first time, "Do you think we can make fireworks like that?!" he asked.

"Of course you can kid, I could teach you." Natsu answered.

Luke and Nashi got even more excited. They couldn't wait to learn something new.

They began walking back to the guild.

The guild members were surprised to see them enter grinning from ear to ear and bursting with excitement. They wondered what Natsu had done to cheer them up.

The twins spotted the rest of the children and ran over to them. They gushed about the game they played and how cool the thought the fireworks were.

Storm had gotten tired of listening to them go on and on about the fire magic so he mentioned that his father's magic could make fireworks too. Soon all the children began talking about their parents' magic.

"Our daddy's magic can't do much, it's pretty boring actually." Emmelia said. Gajeel heard her and felt as though his pride had been shattered. Gray and Natsu laughed hearing Emmelia's words and seeing the look on Gajeel's face. The entire guild had begun to laugh.

Levy held in her laughter and tried to console Gajeel but he continued sulking.

It soon became nightfall. The kids had gotten tired from all the playing and were now seated with their parents.

Nashi and Luke were seated beside Natsu, they looked across the table and saw Emmelia cuddled into Levy's side.

They began to miss their mom. They sighed drawing the attention of their father.

Nashi started rummaging through their bag. She took out a lacrima. She stared at it a bit confused, she hadn't remembered seeing this in the bag before.

Luke looked at it curiously too, he pressed a button on it and a large screen like projection appeared in the middle of the guild.

Everyone turned to look at it, curious as to what was going on.

Nashi pressed another button and a video began to play. The twins face brightened when they heard a familiar voice.

On the screen a back yard was being shown, the camera then turned to Lucy who was seating on a lawn chair rubbing sunscreen on her legs while Virgo rubbed her back.

"Loke what are you doing?" She asked after noticing the camera.

"I'm documenting this for the children."

Lucy stared at him blankly, "I'm sure my child doesn't want to watch me swim. And I've told you to stop saying children. You're freaking me out." she said getting up and stepping into the pool.

The camera followed her movements and focused on her as she swam.

Loke's laugh could be heard, "I just have a little feeling is all." he said before the camera cut off.

The guild had different reactions to what they just saw. It felt nice to see their precious celestial mage.

The twins were happy to see and hear their mom.

Natsu couldn't process what he was feeling, he just kept staring at the screen.

Another video began to play.

A heavily pregnant Lucy was in the kitchen with Virgo cooking.

Lucy stood staring at the flames on the stove. The camera zoomed in on her, her mouth was watering and she looked as though she was in a trance.

She shook her head vigorously. "Oh my gosh, I'm going crazy!" She exclaimed.

Loke laughed at the expression on her face.

"Sure you don't wanna take a bite?" He teased.

Lucy glared at him, "That's not funny....it actually sounds very tempting..." she trailed off before shaking her head.

"Yeah I can't be in here." Lucy commented leaving the kitchen. The video stopped.

The guild laughed at the video as another began to play.

The camera was turned to the staircase. The stairs were beautifully decorated with a red carpet flowing from the top to the bottom.

At the bottom stood Loke dressed in armor. On the other side Virgo stood in her regular maid uniform.

Loke took out a horn and cleared his throat before blowing it.

"Hear ye! Hear ye!, the adorable prince and princess of the celestial kingdom are descending!" He bellowed.

Luke came down first, his hair was gelled back. He was wearing a princely outfit that he definitely got from the spirit world. With a crown on his head.

He stood on the last step as Nashi took her time coming down. She was wearing a pink ball gown. Her was done up in a bun with a few curly pieces hanging down. She wore a gold tiara.

Luke took her hand once she made it to the bottom step and walked with her along the rest of the carpet before standing off to the side. They looked at the staircase expectantly.

Loke cleared his throat once more before blowing the horn again.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! We must now welcome the queen of the celestial relm! The best celestial wizard to have ever walked Earthland! The radiant, stunning and just drop dead gorgeous Lucy Heartfilia!" He bellowed out.

The gentle clacking of heels could be heard as Lucy descended. She was dressed in a golden ball gown. Her golden hair was done up just like Nashi's and she wore a golden crown. She was adorned in gold from head to toe and it looked fitting.

She looked as if she was glowing. She was indeed radiant.

Luke and Loke bowed once she descended the stairs while Virgo and Nashi curtised.

"Um...don't you think this is a bit much for a preschool costume party?" Lucy asked looking at what she was wearing.

"Of course not your highness, it's only fitting for royalty to be dressed like royalty." Virgo answered as all four of them stood up straight.

Lucy rubbed her temple, "We aren't royalty, and since when did I become the queen of the celestial world?" she asked.

"Well, since the twins were born they became the prince and princess so obviously you became the queen." Loke answered.

Lucy stared at him with an unreadable expression, "I don't think that's how it works and I doubt that the spirit king would be okay with you guys calling me that." she responded.

Loke laughed, "He's actually the one who told us to call you that."

Lucy looked shocked, her jaw fell open in disbelief. She felt something tugging on her arms. She looked down and saw her babies smiling up at her. She grinned back at them.

"Mama you look beautiful." Luke complemented.

Nashi nodded, "You look so pretty." she added.

Lucy kneeled down to hug them. "Thank you my babies, and you two are the most adorable things I've ever seen. I just wanna stay here and look at you all night." She said placing kisses all over their faces making them giggle uncontrollably.

There was a bright light. After the light dimmed they saw Capricorn kneeling on the ground in front of Lucy and the kids.

"I am here to accompany you as well your highness." He said.

Lucy let out an exasperated sigh, "Don't tell me that they roped you into this too." she said making everyone laugh and Virgo crack a smile.

The entire guild laughed at Lucy's exasperation, happy to see that their blonde mage was still the same. During the videos all the guild members had ordered snacks and drinks. Natsu ordered himself a glass of fire whiskey and some apple juice for his kids.

The lacrima then switched to a picture. It was the one Lucy and her spirits took right after she gave birth. Everyone stared at the picture not noticing a certain animal take over mage sneak into the guild.

She held a bottle in her hands. She turned herself into a rat and made her way around the guild till she made it to Natsu's table. Natsu had turned his back towards his drink, he hadn't sensed her. He was awe struck by the picture being shown.

Lisanna took one look at the picture and began to scowl. She opened the bottle and dumped it in Natsu's whiskey. She smiled in satisfaction and turned to leave knowing that Natsu would come crawling back to her.

"Hold it right there pipsqueak!" Gajeel said loudly grabbing Lisanna's rat form. Gajeel's words called the attention of everyone.

Everyone was confused of course, 'Why is Gajeel holding a rat?' they questioned.

Gray, however, noticed the bottle that had now fallen to the ground. He realized that it was the potion bottle they found in Lisanna's house.

Lisanna tried wiggling out of Gajeel's grip but had no luck. She decided to transform back to her human form and forced her way out of Gajeel's grip.

"Juvia use water lock on her now!" Gray commanded.

Juvia didn't question her beloved and casted the spell, trapping Lisanna in water.

Everyone had grown even more confused. 'When did Lisanna get here and why did they trap her?'

"What is the meaning of this?!" The master asked.

Gray and Gajeel turned towards the rest of the guild. They looked at each other and nodded.

Gray began to speak, "Well gramps, we figured out why Natsu broke up with Lucy like that."

"Lisanna drugged him." Gajeel finished.

They waited for the guild's reaction. They all stood still before the shock wore of.

"What?!" They all shouted including Natsu.

"Guys you can't make an accusation like that just because you want Natsu off the hook." Mira commented, not liking how they were coming for her sister like that.

"Yeah, those were Natsu's choices. He made them willingly." Erza added.

Gray and Gajeel knew they'd react like this.

Gray stepped forward. "You guys might not like it but it's true." He said.

He and Gajeel then proceeded to tell them what Natsu had told them and what Gajeel said about the whole mate bond. They even mentioned how Natsu reacted to Lisanna's advances comparing them to when Natsu and Lucy were together.

They then told them what Lisanna had said to herself after the break up. And lastly they told them what they had found after breaking into Lisann'a house.

Gajeel then took out his portable lacrima and showed the picture they took in her bathroom. Gray then picked up the empty potion bottle and showed it as well.

"I caught her dumping this stuff in Salamander's whiskey." Gajeel finished.

The two smiled triumphantly and gave each other a fist bump. Their detective work had paid off.

Everyone was processing all that they had just heard and seen. They couldn't believe it at all.

Master walked towards Lisanna who was still being held in Juvia water lock.

"Release her." Master commanded.

Juvia released her spell and Lisanna dropped to the floor soaking wet.

"Why Lisanna? Why would you do such a thing?" Cana was the first to ask.

Lisanna's head snapped towards the guild members. She glared at them, the hatred and anger in her eyes made them tense up.

"He's mine! That bitch took him away from me! I was supposed to have his children...me! Not her! All he needed was a little push to see that I was the one for him!"

Everyone was silent after her outburst. They had never seen this side of her. They had never seen the unstable look in her eyes.

Master looked at her with pity. He and Mira wondered what they had done wrong for her to be like this.

"You have broken the rules of this guild. You harmed a guild member and caused pain and suffering to us all. For that you must be punished my child. You are hereby banned from Fairy Tail. I will be sending you to a facility for troubled young minds like yourself. And once you get better you may come back to apologize and if we as a guild accept your apology you may rejoin if we see fit."

After Master finished speaking he casted a sleeping spell on her and removed her guild mark.

He called over Laxus who was comforting a sobbing Mirajane.

"Come son, we must take her before she wakes up and begins to fight back. Elfman and Mirajane may accompany us as well."

Elfman picked up his younger sister, he tried to maintain a stoic facade but his eyes betrayed him. You could see the heartbreak and betrayal in them.

Both Elfman and Mirajane questioned how their sister turned out like this. They couldn't understand why she would want to hurt the guild in such a way.

They felt as though they were responsible for her actions.

"None of this is your faults, these are her own actions." Master said to them as the four (five) walked out of the guild hall.

The guild was now silent. Everyone was processing all that had happened.

Gray and Gajeel didn't know how to proceed from here. They looked around at the shocked faces of their family and friends before they settled on Natsu who had an unreadable expression.

Natsu's emotions were spiraling. He felt elated that he wasn't just a complete asshole for leaving his mate, that it wasn't his fault. But a bigger part of him felt rage.

He was angry at himself for falling under a potion like that. He lost everything, all because he was too weak to resist the potion's power. He was angry at Lisanna for doing that to him.

Natsu's body temperature rose with his anger. You could see the steam coming off his body.

Everyone felt the rise in heat and turned to look at him.

Two little hands touched his thighs. He saw his children looking up at him. His anger diminished just by looking at their faces.

They rested their heads on his sides to process what they heard.

Their father wasn't a complete douche bag. They realized that he truly hadn't meant to hurt their mother and had actually loved her. They saw the hurt in his eyes and understood that he was suffering too.

Both of their parents were hurting without each other.

Their hatred towards him left their bodies, completely this time. They felt it was okay to be comfortable around him. At first they had felt guilty, like they were betraying their mother by being around the man who hurt her.

"I think we should call it a night, a lot has happened and we should go home and get some rest. I'll be taking Levina with me. See you all tomorrow." Erza announced breaking the silence that was cast over the guild.

Natsu picked up his children and left to the Inn.