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xwing-baby · 4 years

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Freedom (Mandalorian X Reader

Characters: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), The Child, Reader, OC Vinca Dara

Warnings: Mentions of sexual abuse, canon level violence

Word Count: 5691

Synopsis: Y/N is a princess from a planet in the inner rim. Successfully escaping her fate as a Imperial wife, she unfortunately becomes a target for the Mandalorian.

A/N: WOW I look pretty good for a dead bitch! I’m back after a two year writing hiatus, with a fic nobody asked for. This is my blog I’ll do what I want. I noticed that there’s not much Mandalorian stuff here, and the only stuff is all smutty and romantic. No more. Strictly professional relationships here. Basically it’s what I would write if I got to be a writer on the show. ENJOY

Tagged: @tortles @inked-poet @dartheldur

My home planet, in the core of the galaxy, was rich and prosperous. I grew up happily oblivious to any struggle that surrounded me outside the palace walls. I grew up with two older brothers, both jostling for the throne from the age of ten. My mother died in childbirth with me, so my father ruled alone. I had no other family, as I would later learn they had all been murdered by my father and his men to ensure his unopposed ascension to power.

It wasn’t until I was nearly sixteen years old that I learnt about what my father had done and what was really going on behind the palace walls. The only time I’d ever been allowed out of the palace grounds until that point was for public events, I would stand and wave and smile at the people who came to see us while my father gave a speech about peace and prosperity. However, on my sixteenth birthday I met a boy named Han. Han helped me escape for that one night, showed me around the surrounding city, and my life changed forever.

A year later, I made my first escape attempt. I didn’t get very far beyond that city perimeter before I was dragged back by the royal guards. I tried again, getting to the next town before again being captured and sent back to my father.

On my eighteenth birthday, I decided I would try once more. This time I had enlisted Han’s help, now a smuggler, to get me off the planet. I crept out in the depths of night, managed to find the ship and I was gone. That was until the captain of the ship found out who I was, held me hostage and shot me in the arm for trying to escape him and the planet. As it turned out the captain was a great supporter of my father and returned me, with a small fee for the favour of course.

For the next year, my father kept me under close supervision. But unlike my father, I had sympathy and empathy. I managed to make friends with my supervisor, a old lady named Ellyn. She taught me a lot about what was really going on outside the capitol. The famines and the abuse from the royal guards to the local people. She also told me of the growing concern within the palace of my father’s changing allegiance from the New Republic. These concerns only grew when Storm Troopers were spotted on the outskirts of the city.

Then I got the news. My father was intending to marry me off to Vinca Dara, the son of an Imperial officer, to aid the new Empire. I was horrified. My uncle had told me stories of the Old Empire when I was little, the pain it brought into the galaxy. The thought of having to be a part of anything like that made me sick. I had to run away, for good this time.

With Ellyn’s help, I managed to barter a ship and escape the planet without anyone realising. I reached the outer rim before anyone knew. By the time anyone had started to look for me I had landed on a new planet.

And that brought me here. A small, dirty back street bar in the centre of the city. The outer rim was not somewhere good for a princess to be, so to avoid the risk of anyone recognising me, I cut my hair, changed my name and hid.

Of course, a few bounty hunter’s had made their way to me. But I seemingly had luck on my side because they either gave up or I fought them off before they could capture me. The last attempt was several months ago now, I was comfortable and certain that my father had just given up.

The bar was busy, as always. Full of criminals and outcasts from the inner rim searching the wild space to something to do, or to give them purpose again. I had to learn fast who and who not to joke with. I learnt a lot more about the galaxy in the last three months of being in this cantina than I had in my life so far.

“Hey! No droids!” I called, not even lifting my head from the sink as I spotted a glint of metal in the corner of my mind.

“That’s not a droid, you idiot,” My coworker, Tann, jabbed me in the ribs, “That’s a mandalorian!” He hissed. “Sorry, she’s new!” He apologised. The Mandalorian didn’t respond.

“New to the galaxy,” One of the creatures at the bar slurred into his drink.

“Alright Rex calm down,” I said, a little embarrassed. “I don’t know they were real,” I said quietly as we all watched the man sit down at an empty table on the other side of the bar. Rex laughed and shook his head.

“You really crawled out from under a rock or something?”

“Just go do your job, please,” Tann sighed.

I nodded and confidently walked over to the bounty hunter.

“What can I get you?”

“I’m trying to find Asker,” The Mandalorian said, looking around behind me. Asker was a regular, a troublemaker and a renowned criminal, but he was paid his bill so the owners of the bar never minded too much. I wondered why the Mandalorian was looking for him for a moment before answering.

“He left a little while ago,” I replied, “But I imagine he won’t have gone far, maybe try the hostel up the street. Can I get you anything else?”

“No, thank you,” The Mandalorian shook his head and stood up to leave.

“Mando!” The pot bellied Asker bellowed through the bar, announcing his presence before he waddled inside. For such a small creature he certainly knew how to make himself known. Asker was just over four feet tall, with grey-ish skin. His large eyes took most of his face that wasn’t covered by a whiley red beard. For someone so small, he was incredibly strong and quick on a trigger, the blast marks that covered the walls of the bar were testament to that.

The Mandalorian and Asker walked together to the darker back of the bar, specifically reserved for Asker's shady business. Like I said, the owners didn’t really care as long as he paid the bills.

“You know Mando, it’s been for too long! I missed you,” Asker cried.

“You didn’t,”

“No, not really,” Asker barked a laugh, “but I did miss your talent. These new hands they’ve got at the Guild? Awful! Can barely even shoot straight! I’ve been trying to get this quarry off my hands for weeks! All of the have been unsuccessful, so I thought it’s high time I call my lovely friend Mando and get some real professional on the job,”

“I don’t work for you,”

“Not even for half a million credits?”

“Excuse me, gentlemen,can I get you anything?”

“The usual, thanks darling. My metal friend here can’t drink so he’s all good,”

“Coming right up,”

I stepped back to the bar, and they talked a lot quieter from then. I poured the drink and walked back over, back in earshot of the conversation.

“Kids a royal runaway,” Asker said quietly. “Her father is a pretty big deal out in the Mirrin Sector. Last I heard, she’s here in hiding,”

“Any name?”

“Y/n L/n,”

I put the drinks down carefully, trying not let either of the men see how much my hands were shaking. My heart was racing against my chest and I scurried away before I could hear anything else. I leant against the bar and took some deep breaths and tried to calm down. It was fine, I’d fought off the last guys I could do it again. It’s not like mandalorian are the best bounty hunters in the known universe, no. Oh stars!

“I’m going out for a minute,” I said quickly, already walking out the back door before he could even say yes. I pulled the apron off from around my waist, shoving it into a cargo box before stepping into the bright light outside.

I squinted and let my eyes adjust to the bright light. Looking back inside, the Mandalorian had not noticed me leave. I was safe for now. I walked through the city's crowded streets, back to where I was staying to come up with a plan.

I smiled to myself, I’d gotten away with it once again! But four times was too many to be nearly captured by bounty hunters. It was no use anymore just moving to the city, I had to get off the planet.

The port was quiet, as it would be late in the afternoon. Everyone was either eating or sleeping while the sun started to cool down. I tried the first few stations but each door was locked, the next was empty and the one after it was covered in druids working on the rusted shell. Then, bay 8. The door was open, there were no druids around and the ship looked in pretty good condition. It was old, pre empire but it looked steady. I quickly checked behind me, that no one had seen me, then went inside, pushing the large gate shut behind me. I had found my ticket out of here.

My uncle had taught me to fly when I was very little. He unfortunately was murdered by my father before I turned 12 but I cherished the memories I had with him and was extremely grateful for the skills he had passed on now. The first time I ran away I ended on a workers ship and learnt very quickly that the price to pay to get onto the ships and out alive was far too high. The blast scar up my right arm was a reminder of that. Being able to steal a ship and fly it on my own was a major boost. Unfortunately I had been caught before I had managed to leave a planet before. Now was my chance.

I ran around the ship first, checking it out and making sure there was no one hiding on it. Now, to get inside...

Before I could even step closer to it, the cargo load hissed and pulled open. I pulled out my blaster and aimed it at the door. I stepped onto the metal once it hit the sand, and barely had the other in step when I saw who had opened it.

The Mandalorian.

Shit.

I kept my blaster raised, and we both stared at each other down for a few moments.

“You’re Y/n L/n?” He asked carefully.

“Are you going to kill me if I am?” I retorted. “Cus you’re not the first Asker has sent after me and I know my father wants me alive there’s no way you’re gunna kill me if you want the credits,”

“Lower your weapon,” He commanded. I refused.

I kept it steadfast. I could do a standoff, all day. I was not going back home. The mandalorian sighed and shot once, barely missing my head, as a warning. I didn’t flinch.

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Tin Man. Asker must have said I don’t come easy,” I jeered, taunting him. He couldn’t kill me! Wouldn’t risk half a million credits on that. The mandalorian stepped forward, and I took two steps back. “I just want to get off this planet, I’ll pay you. More than you’ll

get for bringing me in,”

Before I could say anymore, the Mandlorian fired a dart into my chest. I looked down at it for a moment, then back at him then fell to the ground. Black.

I came too sometime later, handcuffed to the side of the Mandalorian’s ship. My hands and feet here tied. It was quiet. Looking around me, I was in the hold. A small ladder disappeared above me to the rest of the ship. I had no idea where we were, had he taken my request? Or was I on my way back to the hell hole that is my home planet.

I had to find some way out. Someway to get myself free. I tried to move to reach a tool box so cruelly just out of my reach, but it was no use. Then I heard a little squeal from behind a box. I turned to see where it was coming from but there was nothing. Again, another squeal and a giggle? Was it a rat? I wouldn’t be surprised if there were rats aboard, the place hadn’t been cleaned in forever. But rats don’t giggle, no matter where they’re from.

Suddenly, a tiny green creature popped up from behind the box. It peered at me for a moment, then hid again. It was so cute!

“Hey little buddy,” I said quietly, “I won’t hurt you,” The creature slowly stepped out and babbled something at me. I didn’t understand what it said, even if it was speaking any proper language. “Where’d you come from buddy? He got you trapped here too?” The baby giggled and waddled over to me. I smiled and curled my legs round underneath me to let it get a bit closer. I didn’t see any danger in a creature so small. “Why does Mandalorian have a little baby? You’re not his kid are you?”

“Hey! Get away from her,” The Mandalorian had appeared in the hold while I was focused on the baby. The baby babbled and toddled back happily to the Mandalorian.

“What is that?”

“Nothing,”

“It’s not nothing, it’s a baby,” Suddenly I remembered I had seen a drawing of a creature like that one before. My uncle told me about it, a Jedi master or something. “Do you know what it is? My uncle showed me a picture of one of those once, it was a jedi! I bet it can do weird stuff, right? Where did you get it?”

The Mandalorian ignore my questions and picked up the creature, walked across to the other side of the hold and put it away in a large cupboard. Cruel. I became spiteful.

“Fine, ignore me then. I’ll just report you to the Guild when I get back home. Tell them you have that thing! People would pay good money for information on a Mandalorian gone rogue! And to think Mandalorian and Jedi were enemies for years, didn’t they murder your kind to near extinction? Seems weird you’ve got one in a box as a pet,”

“It’s not a Jedi, and you won’t tell anyone. If I find you have, I will kill you, on sight,”

“You’ll be doing me a favour,” I spat.

I could tell he was angry, the way his hand waved over his blaster for just a second. I should have been scared of him, deep down I was. But the fate that awaited me at home was worse than being killed by this bounty hunter. I knew we can’t be far now. I didn’t have much time left to convince the Mandalorian not to send me back to my father. If it came down to it I really would rather die.

The Mandalorian disappeared up the ladder once more, satisfied that I wasn’t going to cause anymore fuss right now. Before I could even call after him to try and make amends and get him to actually help me, the hatch slammed shut and it was too late.

---

A few hours later, I had dozed off but was harshly awoke by the Mandalorian shaking my shoulders.

“We’re here,” He stated, pulling me up by the shoulder. I shrugged him off, and stood up on my own. My feet had been untied already, I rolled my ankles and sighed as my body clicked. The bounty hunter wasn’t having it, grabbed my arm harshly and dragged me down the ramp to the ground. “Come on,”

The site of my home planet made me sick. It was happening. For months I had managed to be unknown, successfully getting away from this place. But I was now being dragged back, by a Mandalorian none the less, to be dragged through my city like a criminal.

The Child reappeared as we stepped off the ship, babbling quickly and waddling as fast as it could. The Mandalorian grumbled unintelligibly and dragged me back up, collected the child and locked it away, pulled me back down to the soil of the planet. I could hear the creature complain from its little box and wondered if it was trying to help me. Whatever it wanted, the Mandalorian ignored it, closed the cargo door and we walked into the city gates to my family's palace.

The site of the grand building made me sick. When I was younger I didn’t know of anything different, I didn’t know of the suffering of the people beyond the city walls. The people who worked tirelessly everyday on the lush fields only to be paid single credits for the hard labour, and all the food going to my family and court. I never knew of the suffering and poverty that my father ruled over while we lived such lavish lives inside. I had tried to explain it to my brothers after my first escape attempt, they just laughed. Said that that was just the way the world worked. There was a set order. I hated it, actively spoke out against them but all it did was get me slapped and set away to my chambers.

We were met by my father and two brothers in the great hall. Staff stood to attention around the perimeter, glaring at me like I was dirt, as I was dragged in in disgrace by a bounty hunter.

“My daughter, you’re safe!” My father exclaimed, throwing his arms up in praise. There was no kindness or love in his voice. “Get her inside, we can’t have her escape again,” He gave a cold laugh as I was given to a new set of guards. My brothers jeered and laughed in unison with their idol. “I understand you’ve been paid by Asker to do this?” My father addressed the Mandalorian now. “Fucking idiot couldn’t catch his own breath. Here,” He threw a large bag of credits at the bounty hunter. “A million in full.” The Mandalorian nodded, putting the bag into his belt. “You don’t know how great a service you have provided to the galaxy,” My father continued with a wicked smile stretched across his wrinkling face. “A girl like her will surely be the mother of our new empire,”

I nearly threw up, the enormity of my situation now crashing on top of me. I tried to look to the Mandalorian for help but again it was no use. I was marched off into my new, secure, chambers to await my fate.

The Mandalorian frowned beneath his helmet but said nothing whilst in the presence of the King. He’d finished the job, there was nothing else for him to do here. He’d never got involved in politics before and now was not the time. He knew these were not good people but he was not in a place for judgement either.

He returned to his ship, pleased with the doubling of the earnings from this trip. That amount of credits meant he could lay low for a long while with the Child and finally work out what to do with it.

Back in the ship, the Child would not settle down. In the few months the Mandalorian had the creature he had never seen it like this. It cried and grumbled, wouldn’t sit still or fall asleep. He knew what the problem was.

“I can’t do anything about it!” He explained to the Child. “It’s not my problem. The credits I got from that job will keep you in food for weeks!” The Child grumbled and wailed. “Go to sleep,”

-- 4 Months Later --

It was a simple quarry for a quick bit of cash. The ship needed to be patched up after it had run into an asteroid field. The quarry was from a jealous man on Corellia after his wife’s lover. Easy.

The planet was rich and bustling with people, making the Mandalorian disappear into the background. He swept through the city in search of his bounty, following the tracker in his hand. He was only slowed down by a large crowd which had gathered at the town’s centre. A small stage was set up across the square, with many people surrounding it on all sides. People even hung out of their windows to listen and watch what was going on.

A familiar face on the stage caught the Mandalorian’s attention. It was Y/n. Now looking like the shell of her previous self. A black cloth covered her head and moth, leaving only sunken sad eyes on show which were covered in gold makeup. She stood smaller, next to a man talking passionately and animatedly about something. The surrounding chatter from the town’s people drowned out what the man was saying.

The Mandalorian carried on on his mission, shaking off any guilt he had. Bad things like this were always happening throughout the galaxy. There was nothing he could do.

- --

My new life as Vinca Dara’s wife was awful. Far worse than I had ever dreamt.

I was dragged from planet to planet, city to city trying to recruit and inspire rebellion. We travelled to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, as far from the New Republic as possible to try and gain sympathy for a new regime.

I was miserable, abused and exhausted. My husband’s forcible attempts at producing an heir were proving futile and he was getting restless. It was like my body even rejected the idea of giving him a child. I figured it was only long before he killed me. He’d been close before when I lost the last child.

This was a big event. There were already a large group of rebellion supporters on the planet and Vinca Dara and his team were hopeful. I was to stand next to him, looking pretty while he addressed the city, then be his arm candy to a private event with the planet’s leaders.

The evening’s event was filled with the planet’s most horrible people. I wore a tight royal blue dress, my hair down and flowing over my bare back. Vinca Dara had left me to my own devices a little while ago, instructing me to convince some of the ladies of ‘our’ new ideas for the galaxy. So I stood and mingled with the guests wive. They were not interested in politics and rather talked back local gossip which was rather refreshing after months of nothing but plans of death, destruction of the New Republic. A little alarming that they did not care, but I welcomed the break nonetheless.

As I listened to the women, my eyes wandered around the party. Many different species and races all in one room with staff waiting hand and foot, scurrying between the clusters of people. Then, something caught my eye. A flash of blue baskar, glinted in the light from the corridor just outside the room. That had to be the Mandalorian! I thought I had seen him in the city but I thought I was imagining it. He was here!

“Excuse me ladies, I just need to freshen up,” I excused myself from the group and went to find him. This was my chance. Summoning all the courage I had in me, I followed him.

It took a moment to work out which way he went but a sharp shot from inside one of the servants quarters told me exactly where it was. He was lucky the party was so loud, I thought.

Checking nobody was following me, I carefully pushed the door open As soon as I entered the small dark room the Mandalorian held his gun to my face, finger on the trigger ready. I threw up my hands and pushed myself back against the door.

“Don’t shoot!” I exclaimed. The Mandalorian did not lower his gun.

“What are you doing here?”

“I-I’m hosting the par-,”

“Here, I mean here right now,” He interrupted, obviously agitated.

“I need your help,” I said honestly. The Mandalorian didn’t reply, but lowered his gun and returned to the dead body on the floor. “Please. My husband will kill me if he doesn’t get a child soon and… and I can’t do it. Please, I need to get off this planet. Away from him,”

“I’m working,”

“I’ll pay you!” I exclaimed desperately. “I’ll give you everything I have. I just need to get out of here, out of this solar system,” The Mandalorian stopped and looked at me for a moment, the helmet completely unforgiving in guarding his expression. “Please,” My bottom lip began to tremble and tears welled in my eyes.

“No. Go back to your husband,” The Mandalorian turned back to his task. My desperation turned to anger in that moment, I stormed over to him.

“You know he’s been looking for the Child,” I said spitefully, looming over him as he knelt down with his victim. The Mandalorian looked up at me and stood up slowly. “That green thing you keep as a pet? If you won’t help meI will go to him and tell him you have it, that you’re on this planet,”

“Are you trying to blackmail me?”

“Help me and Dara will never know,” I said slowly, staring directly into his visor.

The Mandalorian was quiet for a moment, I held my breath. This was it. My last chance at freedom and even this was the man that brought me to be in this situation in the first place he was my only hope.

“Put that on,” He finally said, gesturing to the pile of servants' clothes piled on a table to the side of the room. “And help me move this body”

I nodded quickly and moved to the clothes. I untied the neck of the dress, the bounty hunter respectfully turned back to his victim as I undressed. The clothes were far too big and made of a very itchy material but I didn’t have much choice. I tied my hair up in a ponytail. The only reminder of who I was, was the gold makeup across my face and sandals on my feet.

I stood on look out while the Mandalorian pulled his bounty into a bag and dragged it out the building. A transporter waited outside.

“Take that one, with the bounty. My ship is out on the east fields. You’ll see it,”

“What about you?”

“I’ll meet you there,”

I nodded, unsure of why he was trusting me with his bounty but it was the easiest way to go out of the city unnoticed. I dodged in and out of people on the streets, finally coming to the East gates. Two guards sat asleep at the post and didn’t even wake to see me go. As I rode out into the open land, I began to laugh. The suns were setting beautifully over the horizon casting beautiful colours into the sky. I was free!

I sped through the fields, towards the familiar ship a little way away. The noise another transporter hummed behind me. I figured it was the Mandalorian so I didn't bother to look back until a red shot flew past my head, narrowly missing me, and exploding in the grass. I screamed and swerved violently, nearly losing all control of the vehicle.

I turned back quickly, to see who was attacking me. My husband led a band of four guards on smaller bikes. That bastard Mandalorian must have told them I was trying to escape!

I sped up, racing towards the hills in the distance. I skipped down between ditches and ploughed through crop fields to try and evade capture once again. They remained on my tail.

Another two shots fired out, missing me again. “Stop! Y/n! Stop right now!” My husband called out. I held my hand up in an offensive gesture, turning back to narrowly miss a large boulder. I was getting into the forest now, it was becoming more difficult to maneuver the heavy vehicle through the trees.

The trees became denser and I decided I could move better on foot without the extra weight.

“I’m going to fucking kill you Y/n!” My husband screamed. I could imagine his horrid sweaty red face, that awful vein that pops on his forehead when he’s angry. I shuddered, and kept running.

I jumped into a small creek, the water soaking the ends of my trousers and nearly bare feet. The hum of the transporters had disappeared, they were on foot. I noticed a cave and decided it would be best to hide there while they were some way behind. I crouched down and sat in the warm water, my body pressed against the back wall, hidden from sight.

“Y/n!” Vinca Dara screamed again. This time multiple shots followed and a crash as something fell into the water. “You can’t hide forever!”

They were getting closer. A red shot splashed into the water in front of the mouth of the cave. I jumped and hit my head on the low roof, making me yelp. I clamped my hand over my mouth praying that I wasn’t heard. I pushed myself further into the dark and shut my eyes as more shots rang out. Shouting erupted from above me and heavy footsteps splashed through the water.

I whimpered and curled up into my knees, screwing my eyes shut, waiting for the end to come.

“I told you to go to the ship,” A metallic voice said from the front of the cave. I opened my eyes and gasped in relief. It was the Mandalorian! I pushed myself up out of the water and walked over to him, my relief turning into rage.

“You sold me out!” I screamed, pushing him as hard as I could. “You fucking told them!” The bounty hunter remained calm, and was not at all affected by my attack.. “You fucking bastard!”

“If I did, why would I be here now?”

“You-,” I stopped and saw the three bodies floating in the water around us, “You killed them?”

“I thought you still had my bounty,” The Mandalorian said nonchalantly. I smiled.

“Thank you,”

Seemingly satisfied that I wasn’t in any more danger, the Mandalorian turned and began to walk back to his ship. I quickly followed behind, not wanting to be left behind again. I stepped over my husband’s dead body, pleased by the multiple shot wounds that had killed him. He deserved a bloody death. I ran to keep up with the Mandalorian, and jumped back on the abandoned transporter, following him back to the safety of his ship,

“Thank you again. And I promise I will send those credits to you as soon as possible,” I thanked him again once we were inside. I sat on a crate, and pulled the ruined sandals off my feet.

“It’s not necessary,” The Mandalorian said, his back turned to me as he put away his weapons.

“Yes it is. I am a woman of my word, I owe you my life,” I said sincerely. The Mandalorian shut the cabinet and turned back to me.

“Where would you like to go?”

“I don’t care. Just drop me off wherever you are going next. As long as there's opportunity for work and a place to sleep I will be fine. I just need to be as far from all of that as possible,”

“I’m going to Nevarro next,”

“Sounds perfect,”

I sat in the back of the cockpit while the Mandalorian flew off the planet. I couldn’t help the smile that grew on my face as the planet soon disappeared into the vast black of space behind us. I had finally made it out, with both my father and husband dead I knew no one would come looking for me. I was truly free.

“Hello again,” I cooed to the Child as he toddled over. The baby babbled and giggled when it recognised me and raised its arms to be picked up. I happily obliged. “You’ve grown! Yes! Oh aren’t you just the cutest little thing!” I tickled its large ears, making the child laugh. “I don’t know how you get anything done with this thing around. He’s so cute!” I said to the Mandalorian. He didn’t reply.

I shrugged it off, and went back to playing with the baby. The stress of the day finally settled in, and I yawned, absolutely exhausted. The little creature in my lap, copied and babbled at me. I smiled softly as sleep began to take over me and stroked its little head until I fell asleep.

A rumble awoke me, we had entered the Nevarro atmosphere. I sat up from my slumped position and sighed as I stretched. The Mandalorian turned around, I smiled and he turned back. The Child was sitting on the desk, playing with a silver ball too busy to notice I was now awake.

We landed without any trouble.

“So I guess this is it,” I said. “I will forever be indebted to you Mandalorian,” I bowed my head in reverence, “Are you staying here very long?”

“A few days possibly,” He said as we walked towards the small settlement. “I’ve got some business here,” We walked in silence for the rest of the way until we reached the gates. “There’s a cantina not too far from here, tell them I sent you and they’ll give you work. There’s plenty of rooms to stay in here,”

“Thank you,” I smiled, “I will sort those credits out as soon as possible,”

“It-,”

“I swear bounty hunters don’t usually refuse money,” I laughed. “Take it, and I’ll see you around, hopefully not too soon,”

“See you around,”

We shook hands and parted ways. My life had finally begun.

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superfreakerz · 5 years

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TDS 17

"The Dragneel Scrapbook"

Rated M.

In collaboration with @ccrispy :D

Summary: They've loved each other every step of the way, from becoming partners to getting married, and now they get to experience raising kids. Snapshots of the Dragneel family life.

Read earlier chapters on FF.net

Chapter 17

Come Here!

Mira sat Nashi in one of the guild's booths before grabbing a tray stacked with booze-filled mugs. She carried it with such skill and grace, making it look easy to balance all of the cups without spilling an ounce of liquid. She had offered to watch Nashi at the guild so that Lucy and Natsu could both go on a job with the rest of their team.

Watching Nashi was easy for her. Not only did her cooking manage to sedate her when she was crying her lungs out, her magic also managed to amaze her. Cana had told her that Nashi wasn't quiet in awe, and that she was quiet out of fear thanks to her Satan Soul causing a shiver to run down anyone unlucky enough to be close by. The girl dismissed her. Her magic wasn't scary. It was impressive!

After handing everyone their orders, Mira made her way back to Nashi, who was munching happily on chicken- Mira had removed the bone to make sure the child wouldn't choke. Mira would never forget the day Nashi was old enough to consume normal food. Natsu and Lucy had busted inside the guild, ordering one of everything. Tears were streaming down their faces, glad to finally be able to eat anything other than mashed potatoes.

Nashi was growing up right before everyone's eyes. They were scared that if they blinked, Nashi would turn into a full-sized adult. Instead of needing to be put in a highchair, she could sit in normal seats. She didn't need her head to be supported anymore because she could do it herself, she knew how to stand, and she could finally eat solid food thanks to the tiny, sharp teeth that she now had. She had even hinted at taking her first step. It hadn't happened yet, but it was sure to happen soon.

Nashi was a pink-headed ball of curiosity, constantly crawling around and exploring her surroundings. At the guild, she and the twins were always traveling together. They would wait for her to catch up while she faithfully crawled after them.

Mira glanced at Nashi in the corner of her eye to make sure she wasn't venturing off to places she shouldn't be. Last time, she nearly crawled right out the door.

"It's so crazy to think that Natsu and Lucy have a kid now," Cana said, grabbing the girl's attention.

"You think so?" Mira asked, a pleasant smile forming over her face. "I knew they would get together from the start."

"Well yeah, we all did. Hell, remember the betting pool we had for them? I just meant that it's weird how much time has passed. We were all just kids before, and now some of us are raising our own!"

"What about you? When are you going to settle down and start a family?"

Cana gave a face-splitting grin and lifted her booze. "Never! That just ain't me, you know that. I don't wanna settle down or nothing. I'd rather be the cool aunt that slips these kids some booze behind their parents' back when they wanna party or something. What about you? You don't strike me as the typa girl who doesn't want kids."

Mira shrugged. "I wouldn't mind if it happened, but I'm not actively planning for it either. I think after raising Lisanna and Elfman, I did my fair share. Besides, babysitting my OTP's kid is enough for me! Nashi is proof that I finally managed to get them together!"

Speaking of Nashi, Mira glanced towards the child again. She was sitting with the Jutla and Yajee, all the while babbling words that nobody could understand. It would take a while longer before she would be able to say her first real word.

As Yajee left the table, Jutla followed closely behind. The two always shadowed each other and were never found without their counterpart. Nashi's mouth parted before she carefully climbed off the booth. Wobbling unsteadily, the child got down on all fours and crawled after them.

However, the twins were moving too fast for her to catch up. Releasing a frustrated noise, Nashi stood back up on her feet. She swayed as if she was going to fall over, but she managed to keep balanced.

Mira's eyes went wide at the scene.

"I think Nashi's about to take her first step!" she exclaimed. At this, the entire guild stopped what they were doing and whirled their heads to find the child shakily lift her right foot.

"Oh no! Lu-chan and Natsu aren't here! They're going to miss it!" Levy said with a frown.

"Do we stop her then?" Cana questioned.

But it was too late. Right in front of their eyes, Nashi swung her foot forward and took her very first step. The guild roared with cheers, nearly scaring her enough to make her fall back on her bum. After the first step, she went for another.

"Oh my gosh, she's doing it!" Levy said. "Good job, Nashi!"

"Come here, Nashi!" Mira exclaimed, holding her arms out in front of her. Nashi glanced towards her, lifting her foot to take another step when someone else shouted.

"No, come here!" Cana said.

Rerouting directions, Nashi took a step towards the brunette.

"No fair! I want her to walk to me!" Macao protested. "Come here, Nashi! Come on!"

And with that, war had begun.

"She's gonna come to me!" Cana shouted. "Just watch!"

Levy furrowed her brows and shot back, "No, she's going to come to me!"

"You know what this calls for?"

"Betting pool!" everyone shouted in unison. They threw together a large sum of money before they resumed beckoning towards Nashi.

"I bet she'll choose me," Cana said, a wide grin on her face.

"No, she will come to Juvia!" the blue-headed girl replied. "Nashi spends much more time with Juvia!"

"Well she spends even more time with me!" Levy argued.

Mira flashed them all a smile. "There's no point in trying. She'll come to me."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because she's got Natsu's genes in her, and if there's one thing Natsu loves almost as much as he loves his family, it's food. I am the one who feeds Nashi."

Everyone else shared a worried glance. She had a point. Nashi may not have even been a year old, but her appetite rivaled those of Fiore's championship eaters who competed in shoveling large amounts of food down their gullets. It didn't help that Mira's food was to die for.

"Come to your Aunt Mira," the woman calmly said. She knew there was no way she could lose. Sure, Levy may have spent more time with her, but food was the way to the child's heart.

Sure enough, Nashi tilted her head to the side before taking a wobbly step towards her.

"No fair!" Cana shouted. "You're the babysitter! You can't be part of the bet!"

"Says who?" Mira replied. She crouched down to Nashi's level, wiggling her fingers in an attempt to make the child go faster and end their bet already.

Everyone groaned, watching as Nashi took step after step towards the take-over mage. Curse her and her insane cooking abilities.

Just as Nashi was right within reach, the grand doors to the guild swung open, revealing Team Natsu.

Natsu roared his typical greeting as they all entered. Immediately, their eyes landed on the large pile of money that sat on one of the tables. They then looked at all of the adults in the guild crouched down with their arms held in front of them. Then, their gazes traveled to where Nashi stood with one leg dangling in the air as if she was going to take a step.

Lucy pushed Natsu out of her way as she took a step closer towards Nashi.

"Wait! Is Nashi walking!?" she shouted. "Tell me we didn't miss her first step!"

"Sorry, Lu-chan," Levy replied, followed by an awkward chuckle. "If it makes you feel better, Nashi is really good at walking!"

Natsu and Lucy fell to the ground, their faces pale.

"I can't believe we missed it!" Natsu cried, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"We'll never get to see that moment!" Lucy joined in. Before she could really start the waterworks, her eyes darted to the pile of money again. Then it hit her. "Wait a second, are you all betting on something?"

The guild froze, sweat dripping down their foreheads.

"N-No! Of course not!" Macao answered.

"He's lying," Natsu said. "His heartbeat is going crazy. What's the bet this time? Who're you guys tryin' to get together?"

"That's not it," Lucy replied, her brows furrowing. "They're betting on who Nashi is going to walk to!"

"Oh, I want in on this," Gray said, tossing some jewels to the pile. Holding his hands out in front of him, he created a Happy-shaped ice cube. "Come to your Uncle Gray, Nashi! Remember how I always babysit you? Time to return the favor!"

Erza cleared her throat before casually placing some of her own money in the pile. She hadn't spent as much time with Nashi as Gray had, but she'd be damned if she lost a competition of any kind.

"Nashi," she called out, her voice stern. "Come."

Before Lucy could protest, a light appeared out of nowhere as Loke stepped through his gate on his own accord.

"Hey, Lucy. Don't mind me, just joining this bet really quick," he said. At her bewildered look, he held his hands up in surrender. "Can you blame me? It's easy money! Nashi loves me. Besides, I'm the lion spirit with cat ears, kids can't resist!"

"Will you guys quit betting on our family!?" Lucy demanded, planting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah!" Natsu chimed in. "Besides, we're the ones who're gonna win this bet!"

"Huh?" Lucy watched as Natsu threw all of their earnings from the job they just returned from into the pile. "Natsu! That's all of our money!"

"Exactly!" the pink-headed boy replied, a toothy grin stretching over his face. "Don't worry, Luce! We're gonna win this for sure!"

"What makes you so sure?"

"We're Nashi's parents! 'Course she'll come to us!"

Lucy blanched as Natsu crouched down and started calling for their daughter. There went their money for the week. Well, there was no going back now, and she was not about to let everyone else win a bet based off of her family anymore.

"Come to Mama!" Lucy said, waving frantically. The child glanced at her before taking a step towards her. "That's it, Nashi! You can do it!"

As everyone beckoned for the child to come their way and used magic or food in an attempt to lure her, Nashi only took straight steps towards her parents. Natsu and Lucy watched in awe as she walked. She was really walking!

"I can't believe she's walking already," Lucy said, tears pricking her eyes. It felt like only yesterday when she was sporting a baby bump.

"Yeah, I know," Natsu replied. His heart was full of warmth as he took in the happy smile on his daughter's face. "She's growin' up so damn fast. She needs to stop!"

"I agree! But at the same time, I'm so proud of her!"

"I know! Look at her go!"

Finally, the bet ended as Nashi took the last step towards her parents. They wrapped her up in a tight hug, both of them praising her.

"Good job, Nashi!" Natsu exclaimed, planting a kiss on the girl's forehead. "You did it!"

"We're so proud of you," Lucy added. She knew that Nashi couldn't understand a word they were saying, but she refused to go without praising her daughter.

Natsu gave his wife a wide grin. "Told ya she'd come to us! She'll always come to us because she's our little girl!"

"Until she's old enough to get a boyfriend," Happy said, flying over them.

"Or a girlfriend," Lucy added with a shrug.

Natsu furrowed his brows at the two and clutched Nashi close to his chest. "She's not allowed to have either!"

Mira and Cana watched as the family began to bicker and tease Natsu.

"You know," Cana began, leaning against the bar and taking a swig of alcohol before continuing, "I don't think I mind losing the bet this time."

"Me neither," Mira replied with a smile. "What a happy family."

#fairy tail #nalu #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #ftfanfiction #nalu fanfiction #tds #the dragneel scrapbook #super writes

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tiefling-queer · 6 years

Note

★★★★★★ *whispers* tell me about all your ocsssssssss :D

Allen Krueger - he’s the Chosen One and he’s just trying his best. Allen would rather be spending his time playing Overwatch with his discord pals or longboarding around listening to music than taking on these dangerous missions where people die or trying to figure out this weird axe that makes his head overload or some destiny and Choice-with-a-capital-c that he has to make. This was cool for about a day before it got incredibly overwhelming. Allen’s mixed race - his father is middle eastern, his mother is white. He’s 16 at the start of all this (which begins in 2016) and a sophomore in high school and he doesn’t deserve what we put him through lol. Allen’s big into emo, pop punk, punk, and basically anything you can find on a warped tour comp cd (since his mom was big into the offspring and green day back in the day, and his uncle is big into alt rock, so as a kid he latched onto fob and mcr and was just like ‘these. these are good’). Allen loves animals, especially marine mammals (ESPECIALLY WHALES), and was defo one of those kids who just kinda sits around and if prompted gives you their entire encyclopedic knowledge of wildlife. Allen often has difficulty putting his thoughts to words, and so he’ll trail off, try to use hand gestures to symbolize the word he’s looking for, use vague language like ‘the thing’ or ‘stuff’. That said, Allen also has problems filtering his words, and often says things as they come to mind. A double-edged sword because Talking is Hard. This boy is also just a terrible, terrible liar. He doesn’t like lying, he’s not good at it, Allen’s quick to draw conclusions about situations, things, and people, but also open-minded and quick to reconsider. He thrives on praise and a well-defined set of instructions or plan - he likes to know that he’s doing the right thing and on the right track.Allen was originally a Monster of the Week character, but is currently one of the characters in a webcomic i’m cowriting with @i-want-it-on-fire. his personality is based on a combination of some of my brother’s personality with some of my own (so instead of a sarcastic wallflower stoner or an edgy emo theater kid, Allen is a sarcastic edgy emo wallflower)

Tam es Eleutherios - he’s a minotaur. he’s a sailor. he’s a scottish highland cow who talks like barbosa. he’s a little over a century old. he’s deadly with a long sword or a trident. he’s the last of his name and told his fiance he was getting some wine and purposefully got himself shanghaied to a pirate ship. Tam’s the equivalent of about 60 in human years, has a long, long list of vessels he’s sailed on over the past century (about half of those are pirate vessels) and he took the mission sailing on this expedition past the Ghostly Isles in the Undersea to die.For Tam, the idea of dying on an uncharted and untamed ocean is, well, exactly what he’s always dreamed of (frankly he’s surprised he lived this long). While he went through a minor crisis at first with how dauntingly still and unmoving and dead the Undersea appears to be, he’s back to his original goal after they’ve slowly discovered currents and life in the black waters. Tam’s afraid of commitment, and doesn’t like facing consequences of his actions or mistakes. He really just kind of goes with the flow, and does what needs to get done, and doesn’t put a lot of thought into what he’s doing.

Baylock Craft stole his name, coat, and boots off a dead man. He’s been in prison for 5 years, since he was left behind by his thieves’ guild to take the fall for a job that went bad. He’s lied about his identity to get a group of rebels breaking out prisoners to believe he’s also a rebel fighter. Baylock’s a bit in over his head now, and has only recently had a couple close-enough calls to realize just how fucked he is, and how dangerous the missions the rebel fighters go on are. His goal is to get back to his home town and get revenge on his former friends.Baylock is, despite his raspberry pink skin and lavender hair, more suited to life in the shadows. His strange arcane powers come from being born during a solar eclipse, and his personality is that of someone who’s reserved and a bit shy - content to observe. He errs to the side of caution, but is kind of a bad judge of character. The betrayal and years in prison kind of twisted that original nature - he’s now mistrusting, abrasive, and guarded.

Sydel Anastol - As a younger man, Sydel had… noble intentions. Lofty goals. A sense of duty and a desire to right wrongs and protect innocents. These were the parts of him that contributed to his becoming a blood hunter as a teenager. But over the years of self-mutilating and watching the people around him lose themselves to their obsessive quests, he began to become unhinged. Hunting wasn’t about killing monsters and protecting innocents anymore - it was about the hunt. It was about the rush. It was about any distraction he could get from the pain of the hunter’s bane, even if that was more immediate pain. Those lofty ideals, they don’t make you a better fighter, a better hunter. They don’t make you heal faster or hit harder. He drifted from the order, turned to bounty hunting.Sydel hasn’t felt a human emotion in years. He spends most of his time drunk, partly to distract from the chronic pain caused by the hunter’s bane, and partly to keep from thinking about his time with the order. Sydel is eccentric, a little unhinged, will lick anything he doesn’t recognize, and is seeking the rush of a hunt or battle in order to feel something and keep himself distracted. If he can keep himself in a constant state of intoxication and adrenaline high, he can feel good. Sydel is impulsive, reckless, callous, and doesn’t think ahead or care who gets hurt as a result of his actions (though it’s usually just him so it’s fine). He’s also a masochist. All in all he’s just a garbage bastard man, trying to keep the part of himself that was trained to be an obsessive monster hunter from taking over again - ‘because that’s how you go crazy.’

Tsuruchi Natsumi just wants peace in her life, but she hasn’t had any since some asshole Matsu dropped out of the sky and demons destroyed her village. As the eldest child of the current Wasp clan leader, she’s technically pretty damn important. Too bad she wants nothing to do with it. She planned to run away at a young age, citing being ‘fed up with clan politics’ and not enjoying her training with anything other than a bow - she didn’t want to learn court niceties, she didn’t want to learn bushido, she just wanted to shoot her bow and wear comfortable clothes. However, being a child, and with things at work in the world she was unaware of, she found herself literally spirited away, dropped in the spirit world and left there, a world apart from her family. She was taken in by a seaside village she was drawn to because of her sea-spirit folk heritage on her mother’s side (originally of the Mantis Clan), where she continued to do what she does best - shoot a bow and mind her own business. As she grew older, she eventually became the village’s protector and primary watch, and things were pretty good - just her, her village, her bow, and the red panda she took in as a pet - for a little over a decade. Until the Matsu and that Phoenix clan idiot dropped from the sky and upset the balance of the worlds, leading to a disastrous string of events that landed her back in the mortal world, having her ancestral bow thrust upon her, getting sucked back into clan politics, and dealing with a brother she barely remembers telling her that she’s got, like, some kind of duty to protect the city her family founded, or some kind of destiny as the person currently wielding Tsuruchi’s Yumi.Natsumi, while she claims to not want to be involved in clan politics, still follows Wasp Code, and still holds clan grudges and prejudices. While she is compassionate and (with some exceptions) quick to make friends and form bonds with the people around her, she’s ultimately a self-oriented person - Natsumi is very in tune with herself, what she wants, and her own beliefs, but isn’t likely to pick up on the wants and beliefs of those around her. She doesn’t even attempt to anticipate the desires and goals of other people, unless she suspects they’re up to no good, and as such comes off as a self-absorbed. Her pride is easily wounded (but don’t tell her that), she’s no-nonsense in the field, and she’ll shoot her way out of any problem she can’t talk her way out of. Her experiences in the last 5 years have left her paranoid and slow to trust her surroundings once weird spirit shit starts happening.

Ainsley grew up in Mesnia, a country where magic is a capital offense, on the streets of the central trade city of Kerrys, following their older brother and cousins in attempts to become a thief. They weren’t very good at it. One day, while their brother was giving them the slip, they were enthralled by a street musician and jumped on the offer this man gave them for apprenticeship. Growing up, they split their time between shenanigans and schemes with their cousin Brynn and learning this instrument, as well as, unbeknownst to them, bardic magic. After their mentor was tried, found guilty of, and hanged for illegal use of magic, they put their time into simple cons with Brynn - or rather, Brynn would get them into trouble, Ainsley would talk them out of it, and the ferret would manage to steal some coin.Ainsley is curious, naive, quick to make friends, compassionate towards strangers, genuinely wants to do good and right the things that are wrong, and primarily trusts their eyes. They spent most of their life not believing in gods, and only decided to do so after they saw one. They’re also mostly illiterate, stubborn, and they don’t think things through very well. They drank a potion that they were warned caused ‘random mutations and death through madness’ in desperation after an enemy killed one of their party members, hoping to gain some kind of power that could destroy him (now they can breathe fire). While eventually on their travels they found out and accepted that what their bardic abilities did was magic, they were in denial about it for quite a while.

Kip - Joffric ‘Kip’ Ravenhall was born to the head priest at a temple to the Raven Queen, with a proud lineage of Ghostwise Halfling Raven Queen worshipers - funeral preparers and Grave Clerics. As a child, he and his older sister Hattie were well on their training for priesthood themselves (though Hattie would eventually leave to find her own way to follow their goddess). However, when Kip’s father fell ill while he was still young (about 18 - Halflings reach maturity around 20), Kip began desperately searching for ways to cure his disease, or at least extend his father’s life until they could get him to a priest who could help. His father, being at peace with death and believing that the dying aren’t to be pitied, disapproved of Kip’s studies and attempts to heal him, and Kip, becoming more and more desperate to save his father, eventually sought the aid of a necromancer he and his father had dealt with several years before, agreeing to bail him out of jail in exchange for training in the necromantic arts - particularly those involved with extending life. His father found out, there was a big fight and falling out, Kip abandoned his priesthood training and tensions were high when his father died. But Kip was already too curious and too far gone, and so he continued studying, occasionally seeking help from the necromancer he bailed out. Kip’s primary area of study was reviving the dead, and extending the life of the living. His belief was that if it were possible to choose when one dies, or ensure everyone died only after living a full and fruitful life, after they’ve accomplished whatever they set out to do, society could flourish. He didn’t think it was fair that study of resurrection apparently stopped once people found out that diamonds could serve as a conduit for the spells - it limited resurrection to only the rich, the powerful, and the truly desperate. If only he could, say, find a cheaper solution? A more plentiful component?His family found out about his studies. He was disgraced, accused of necromancy, and has been on the run under the alias of ‘Geoffric Greenbough’ ever since.Kip is deeply conflicted about his studies, as he believes that undead - creatures brought back without agency or souls - are affronts to nature, and those creating and using them are particularly morally bankrupt for desecrating and enslaving the dead. While he’s abandoned his religion, he still finds himself following his old ways, and often feels directionless without the peace that worship once gave him. That said, Kip is truly driven by a morbid curiosity, a desire to see and feel and know - that’s what keeps him going through failed experiments and terrible mistakes and feeling sick to his stomach. Although Kip tries to hide his true colors to keep people from getting close enough to find him out, those who travel with him will find that his humorless and cold personality is a facade, and that under that he’s a pretty playful and friendly person. The exception to this is when he’s in a situation that requires spell casting, which is a personality quirk that even predates his necromantic studies - he’s always been taught that magic is a serious thing that requires full attention and focus, and he doesn’t have time for nonsense then. Kip is incredibly loyal and very quick to become ride-or-die for those around him. Above all, he wants to help people, and he wants to make people happy. (Ironically, while his sister was more devoted to the Raven Queen than he was, Kip was always more suited to being a cleric, and if Hattie had been around to keep him level during their father’s sickness, he probably would have finished his training and become a cleric.)

These are just a few, and mostly rp characters since it’s been 3 billion years since I’ve thought about my other ocs.

As characters, they’ve all got really fun aspects to them. Allen is probably the most ‘real’ character to me, and honestly probably has the most of me in him. Sydel is my first attempt to play someone who’s just, objectively, not a good person, and it is challenging (he’s officially done damage to every member of the party except the kobold and the rogue). Ainsley is a very simple character who I honestly slip into like a glove. Kip has the most fleshed out backstory of any RP character I’ve ever had I think, and I love the internal conflict between his need to sate his curiosity and help people and his questioning about whether what he’s doing will do more harm than good.

#emo poetry #long post under cut #ocs #ideally human #dnd #legend of the 5 rings #renaissance-aeroplane

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fallen029 · 6 years

Text

Remember Me: Twists and Turns.5

Previous Chapter

The sun was crawling closer to the center of the sky as Kai and Marin found themselves lying on their backs next to their garden, him toying with his puzzle cube while she read a children's book. Everything felt peaceful and calm, in those moments, before Ravan arrived. 'cause when he did, Kai knew it would all turn bad. Ravan would shove it in his face, that he'd done so well at his job and there was poor Kai, not even able to complete a stupid puzzle. Then he'd be subjected to the terrible word of having an arrow shot at him and that would make him cry and it just…

Rolling onto his stomach in the grass, Kai continued to diligently work at solving the damn thing while Marin sat by, reading to him the directs Lucy had given him when asked. He felt like he was memorizing them though and understood the cube a lot more than he had previously, but his confidence over being able to eventually solve the thing was kind of shot.

"Still working away, I see," was what Erza remarked when she came out into the backyard to lord over them. "On everything, but your magics. Marin, do you wish to be a true slayer or not? And Kai...oh, Kai."

"Hey," the little boy grumbled with a frown at the woman. "I have lofty goals too."

"Lofty?" the elder mage repeated, partially in shock that he even knew such a word. "Or lazy?"

"I'm ambitious, Erza," he insisted to the woman. "How could you say that?"

"You are learning quite the array of words, apparently, I will give you that."

"I'm an uncle now," he reminded her. "That's a lot to deal with. It's matured me."

"Hmmm." The swordswoman only continued to stare down at him. "Has it?"

Pushing up some, he nodded his head at her. "I think about other things now, than just food and myself."

"What do you think about?"

"This cube. Being Ravan's arrow boy. How come the baby doll's eyes are painted on instead of those cool googly ones that I like much better."

"Riveting," the woman told him simply, "thoughts."

She'd stumped him finally, with her words, but he could tell from the tone that it wasn't anything nice. Glaring at her, he retorted, "I've got a lot of other thoughts too. I'm a real deep person, Erza. Like, do you ever think about how come some people eat a lot and get fat, but other people eat a lot and get really muscular, like Elfman? No. I do."

"I don't," Erza replied, "because I know why. There's regimen and working out that go into all of that as well the type of food one is consuming. Not to mention-"

"I also think about other things!" Kai wasn't giving up so easily. "I think about...um… I think about life."

"Life?" Marin giggled back. "What do you mean?"

"In general," he specified without being specific at all."

Erza, that time, didn't question him. Only folded her arms over her chest and chuckled softly. Then, shaking her head, she continued on past them and went over to her weapons shed. She summoned her key from her reequip space before unlocking the heavy metal locks.

As they softly tumbled to the ground, Erza became reequipping other things.

She was swapping out her weapons.

On any other day, Kai would have happily rushed over and offered his service in polishing for them, as he had way back when (a year ago, at most), when he didn't know her too well and the action was an order from the woman. It felt like so long ago to him though that he didn't live with Erza and they weren't the best of friends.

Some nights though, when he thought really hard, he could remember life before… Before. But it got harder and harder with each passing day. He could still recall his mother and father's faces, but his other relatives and members of his tiny village grew tougher. It was hard for him to even think of names, some days. Or the path he and his father would take down to the best fishing spot.

Even the terrible event that he thought would forever be seared into his memory, when that hideous monster came out from the water and destroy his home, his family, his life, was slowly beginning to fade. And, though it still hurt his heart to think about, Kai struggled to honestly understand his true emotions in it all. He loved his mother and father. Their village. Their simple life.

Honest, he did.

Or he had.

Now, being so young and being inundated into a new lifestyle, it was hard for him to say with confidence that he wouldn't choose it over the other. Had he stayed on that coast and never ventured with Ravan to Magnolia, he'd have never truly met Erza. Or Master. Or Ms. Master. Or Marin. Or anyone. Fairy Tail woudln't mean anything to him.

But as it was, it meant everything to him.

How oculd he ever consider it not being that way?

Ravan got really mad at him sometimes, when he'd ask for him to tell him a story about their past. About how they lived. Before. Ravan didn't like to think about those things.

But Kai did.

Or at least he wanted to.

He wanted to remember that he was happy back then too. That there were happy times when he was with his family. His real family. He never wanted to forget that there had been something before Fairy Tail. Before he met Marin. Before Erza started taking care of him.

For as slow and immature as he could be at times, Kai wasn't dumb. He knew that if it was already so hard for him to recall things, that as time went on, it would become impossible. And that made him sad.

And he didn't like being sad.

It was as he watched Erza disappear into the overly filled shed that he thought of all this. Again. And he wanted to go over there and help her. Honest, he did. But…

He had to finish his cube, after all.

No, those few, easy jewels that he would make off that could wait. He had to-

"Ravan!"

He had to be shot in the butt with a bow by his vindictive older brother who would then make fun of him for the misfortune.

Yep.

The sound of Marin announcing his brother's return made Kai fall back down to the ground in defeat.

It was over.

There was a chance, of course, that Ravan would come back unsuccessful and therefore would void the contract, but no. The air he had about him just gave off an enormous victorious vibe. And, as he came to sneer over at his brother, Kai knew for sure that his goose was cooked.

"Looks like I'm back," the older boy said while pointing to the cube that the younger held in his palms, "and you're still not finished."

Kai had to bite back any complaints he had, literally grinding his teeth to stop the excuses from coming out. Instead, he only sat there and nodded as his brother. Because he was right. He hadn't finished and that was the deal.

"I," Ravan continued, "am gonna go ask Erza for the biggest bow she has with the sharpest arrows. Then we can get to practicing, huh?"

Kai was shaking.

No, literally.

Seeing this, Marin frowned a bit and asked the oldest boy, "Don't you wanna rest? You just got back home. Did you wanna go play at the guild?"

"I don't play at the guild, Marin," he griped at her. "I'm a serious mage with serious responsibilities. Playing is for babies. Like you. Who can't even solve a puzzle made for babies."

Still, before he walked away, Ravan dropped his sack of stuff on his back to the ground and, digging around it some, produced a large bag of candy, like the one he'd purchased the same day Kai got his cube.

"Share," was all he ordered the two kids who, now in better spirits, took to doing just that.

But Kai didn't have to be an arrow boy just yet, it seemed, as at his return, Erza wanted a complete rundown of his job and how he went about completing this.

It was at the bar that this took place, however, where Erza bought herself a stiff drink and Ravan purchased his own lunch with his own money because he was a man. Kai and Marin ate what Mirajane gave them because they were still kids.

And honestly, as he munched into his grilled cheese, Kai didn't think that was all that bad.

"Hi, Locke," Marin greeted with a giggle when the older boy came in with his father and Pantherlily. He'd made a beeline right over for them.

"Hi," he greeted them all with a nod. Erza was the only one to return it as Ravan only glared at him and Kai was too busy eating to focus on much else. "Have you seen Haven? I wanted to know if she wanted to go with me to the toy store to get a cube-"

"You can have mine," Kai offered as he finally came up for air. "I don't want it anymore."

Erza, taken aback a bit by this, asked, "Why? You seemed so enamored with it before."

"Well, I can't solve it!" he complained. "I gave it everything and I didn't solve it. Locke wants one and-"

"So?" Ravan, from his spot next to Erza, frowned at his younger brother. "You're just gonna give up? I thought you didn't want to be a baby."

"I'm not a baby!"

"Then don't act like one."

"I'm not!"

"Are too. Quitter."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I used to want a brother," Locke remarked as he glanced between them slowly. "I'm glad I never got one."

"Locke!" And Haven had found him, it seemed, as she came to shove his shoulder. "You're late."

"Late?" he gripped, rubbing at where she'd no doubt left a bruise. "What are you talking about?"

"I learned a new magic spell from Laxus last night that's super powerful and I want to test it out on somebody."

Widening his eyes, the older boy said simply, "Why do you think I want to be the one?"

"Locke-"

"I'll do it." Ravan was still eating, but dropped his fork then at the sound of a challenge. "Haven."

Which, of course, made Locke glare at the boy before remarking, "She asked me."

"And you said no."

"Why do you guys wanna get shocked so badly?" Marin asked with a frown.

It was weird, honestly, the way they all intertwined together. All friendships at the stage of life are, in some ways, but the closeness in which theirs were frequently brought made it even odder. In any close group of friends, there always has to be a leader of sorts. With such pigheaded people like Haven and Ravan around, most would assume that it would be the two of them that butted against one another frequently.

And it was. It definitely was.

But at the same time, Haven more or less was just the defector leader. Her father was the guild master, she was one of the oldest and, most importantly, by far, she was the one with the least will to give up. She would kick and scream and punch and bite until she was unconscious if it meant getting her way.

Her strong will, when put up against the other children, was usually enough to at the very least outlast them. While Locke only got bigger and Ravan only got stronger, neither would ever have as much drive as Haven did.

So, that left Locke and Ravan to fight for second in command.

Of sorts, at least.

Because Ravan would never admit that he wanted anything to do with the slayer kids. And Locke would never admit Haven was kind of sort of his leader. However, they could both feel that though Haven was Ravan's mortal enemy and definitely Locke's best friend who he hated, the two of them just had a natural rivalry to them.

Fighting over letting Haven potentially paralyze them went into that.

"It doesn't matter," Haven decided. "I probably can do the attack twice now, I'm so powerful."

Still, Locke and Ravan glared at one another. It was during this though that Kai asked, "I thought you wanted to go to the toy shop? Locke? Or will you take my puzzle cube?"

That, at least, got the dark haired boy to look away from the other. Instead, he stared at the other's brother, shaking his head.

"I wouldn't take your toy, Kai," he told him with a bit of a grin. "Besides, Master bought you that. Remember? That makes it special."

Staring at where it sat on the table, Kai only shrugged his shoulders. "Mr. Bickslow said that I gotta learn to do it piece by piece. That may take awhile."

"But you've already gotten so much better!" Marin insisted. "You get it started all on your own, even, without the instructions Lucy gave us. And the more you go on, the better you'll understand it. You can't just give up, Kai. It's not manly!"

He wasn't sure, Kai wasn't, when he told Marin of his desire to become that. A man. But he was sure it had been divulged during their deep integral conversations where they discussed things like what made some people fat and some people muscular. Why the sky was blue. What's the difference between paste and glue? Lost in all that deep, stimulating conversation, was no doubt a tip off.

Or maybe...maybe Marin just knew.

He did like Elfman a whole lot.

They were both uncles, after all.

"You'll get better at it, loser," Ravan told him simply as he stood to accompany Locke and Haven. "Just keep practicing."

It was only after the older kids were gone though that Erza, who'd silently been sipping at her drink, spoke.

"When I was a girl," she began to which both Marin and Kai, too young to roll their eyes, only sighed softly, fearing a lecture, "I was quite scared of it too, Kai."

"Puzzle cubes?" he asked softly.

"Failure," she corrected. "Of course, the stakes were quite raised for me, in comparison to you-"

"His arrows hurt when they hit me, Erza."

"-but the first part of overcoming that fear is accepting the defeat when you taste it. And you have already done that part," the woman said with a nod of her head. "Have you not?"

"Well," he said slowly as Marin only giggled, "I didn't gripe too much when he told me I lost. And I will go collect his bows for him, when he practices his archery."

"The second part, however," she went on, "involves something much harder."

"Harder than getting hit with arrows?"

Nodding a bit, she said, "You must keep your head up. And continue to improve. Do you think that when I first arrived at this guildhall, I was capable of handling the toughest of jobs?"

"I dunno," Marin remarked slowly. "I always kinda thought you did."

"I did not," Erza assured them. "I worked at it. And I failed, at times. But when I failed, I hardly gave any time to licking my wounds. I got another job, I practice the move that failed me, I leveled up my magic. Whatever it took to get back out there, I did it. Ravan bet you, fine, and you lost, but that does not mean that you give up on what you originally set out to do. You must continue on, Kai. Eventually, you will be able to do a puzzle cube in your sleep. And what then?"

"Then...then I go on a job?"

"No." Reaching over, she patted him softly on the head with care that she only seemed to have for him. "You take the lessons that you learned from it and you continue to grow and mature as a person. You widen your magical abilities and find a side to you that doesn't constantly have to smart off and loaf about. Then, and only then, will you take a job."

Kai frowned some, down at the table, and thought on this for a long moment before raising his head and staring the scarlet warrior right in the eyes as he questioned, "Erza?"

"Yes?"

"You knew that I bet Ravan that I would go on a job, if I won and finished the cube."

"You told me that, yes."

"But… You don't want me to go on jobs yet. And you didn't tell me that if I won, I wouldn't be able to. Did you lie to me?"

"No," the woman said with a bit of a shrug as she raised her mug to her lips. Around it, she told him simply, "I knew you would never finish the cube."

His eyes falling then, Marin felt her own spirit crush at the woman's words as the boy only whispered, "Oh."

"But I was pleasantly surprised by your determination," she complimented him. Sort of. "Even in the face of inadequacy, you persevered. That is not something that you do often."

"I just wanted to prove Ravan wrong."

"Good." Nodding her head, she said, "Whatever drives you, use it. If we're lucky, maybe one day Ravan will dare you to actually learn some more spells."

Doubtful.

But maybe.

As it turned out, Haven's new spell was not as master as she thought and wound up with all three kids rather ill the next few days. She'd been far more powerful than she planned and nearly killed Locke, as he was the first to be shocked, and injured herself and Ravan in the process as the electricity flowed through the area behind the bar they attempted this, striking both the young reequip mage and the girl herself.

Laxus had a long talk with Haven about control and what it meant to have power over others.

Gajeel talked to Locke about not being such a weenie and, hey, maybe even finding a new best friend because the Dreyar girl clear had it out for him.

Erza didn't talk to Ravan about the incident at all though she did hold off on a job to stay around the house as he laid up on the couch, feeling singed from inside out.

Mira had to work though, up at the hall everyday as Lisanna was going out on a job and they were just too busy for Kinana to work alone. Laxus had to go out of town, to attend a guild master meeting. This usually meant that either Evergreen and Elfman would watch the girls, but that couldn't be the case as they were off too. During the evening, their mother could be with them, but during the day, with Haven so laid up…

She wanted to go to Locke's house and he wanted her to come there too, so they could heal (bicker) together, but Gajeel and Levy seemed a bit peeved about the whole thing, Laxus felt, and he didn't want a whole ordeal (being a master and all, he was always worried that eventually he'd be forced to actually discipline Haven for her misdeeds, worst of all when she wasn't even doing anything wrong, just being too powerful for her own good), so he was going to send her over to Navi's place, but Mirajane insisted he not do that as Lucy already had enough to deal with.

"Oi, boss, I can watch the kid," Bickslow told the man and his missus the morning Lisanna was leaving. "I already have Ajax here to watch, right? So I'll just come over here with him and sit with Haven. Like she was a baby again. Won't you like that, Haven?"

"No," she insisted from the other room, where she was stretched out on the couch, bandaged from head to toe. "I don't. Laxus, no, please."

From the kitchen, Laxus grunted a bit down at his coffee before saying, "You able to handle that, Bickslow? Your kid and Haven? Especially when she's so whiny-"

"I am not. And no, he can't. Mom, tell Bickslow no.":

"I can watch her!" Bickslow even saluted Mirajane and Laxus, getting the former to giggle. "Take care of it all, I will. I'll keep her entertained too. Movie lacrimas rot the minds of the young. I'll keep her entertained with the same things I was entertained by as a kid. The mystics of card tricks! The illusions of juggling! How to do a back flip. How to not do a back flip. Are you really a tragic clown trapped in the body of an equally as tragic acrobat? Find out!"

"Laxus, I won't ever do anything bad again," Haven continued to plead. "Don't make me listen to that."

"I, for one," the slayer said with the brightest smile he'd had in awhile, "am sold."

"Laxus!"

But when her parents were gone and it was just Bickslow and her (Ajax was too busy playing with his toys to care about either of them), Haven didn't gripe too much.

Mostly because he didn't do all that he told Laxus he would.

Instead, he pulled up a chair by the couch and sat down, tossing around a rubber ball he'd found in their toys, throwing it up high enough to just graze the ceiling before falling back down into his waiting palm.

"Why'd you wanna stay with me so badly?' Haven asked with a bit of a frown. Honestly, she was banking on being sent over to Freed's where he'd make her read books and give her lectures on her recklessness. "Is it because you wanna impress stupid Laxus?"

"What, kid?" he asked her with his own frown. "I can't love you? I'm your uncle, aren't I?"

"Not like Elf. And don't be gross."

"Love ain't gross," he insisted with a sigh. "Love is special."

Still, Haven stared at him. "You just wanna impress Aunt Lisanna and Mom, don't you?"

"Perceptive little shit, huh?" Bickslow snickered a bit. "It's why I love you."

"Stop saying that."

"Your aunt needed to go out on a job," the man said then with a more straight face. "Can't keep forcing her to stay home with Ajax here. A man should raise his son and all."

"Now you sound like Elf."

"He isn't the only one that can worry about that sorta stuff," Bickslow insisted. Then, looking off, he added, "Besides, I'm not trying to just impress them. Your aunt and mother. I'm just trying to be a better person. What's wrong with that?"

To Haven? Everything. To admit you wanted to be better at something meant that you'd failed at something.

And she'd never admit something like that.

"It's a piece by piece thing," he insisted to her as, that time, when the ball came down, he held it in his hand, clutching it tightly. "Piece by piece."

Across town, Marin was having a much better time than her sister as, rather than worry for her own flesh and blood's well-being, she worried over the sibling she had in hushed whispers only. Ravan.

He was much better at being a big brother than Haven was a big sister.

In true big brother fashion, even, he made her sit by the couch, reading a comic book to him. This annoyed Erza who, by this point, though the boy was playing up his injury a little too much, but did take the pressure off Kai to entertain the girl for a few days.

Because yes, he did think of that as his job. It was an important part of their friendship, after all.

During all this though, as Kai sat near by, tinkering with his cube, it happened. After days of trial and error and assistance from others, he'd done it.

He'd solved the puzzle cube.

It was with a lot of pride that he came to set it on Ravan's chest who, a bit put out considering he was very invested in the comic he was having read to him, frowned at first. This changed though, after a moment.

"Well, look at the big baby," he congratulated in his own way as Marin, noting then its completion, dropped the comic to go hug her best friend. "Finally finished it, did you? It'd be a shame if someone messed it up again!"

"No!" And Kai had to be quick to grab it before his brother did. "Ravan!"

"What's the point then?" the older boy asked. "It's how the toy works, ain't it? You mix it all up and start all over again, don't you?"

"Not me," the younger said as he took steps back, away from his brother and friend. "I'm gonna go glue it together. So ti can never be messed up again?"

Joke lost in his tone then, Ravan told him simply, "Don't do that. You big diork."

"You're a big dork!"

"You're the biggest one if you go and do something like that."

"Fine," Kai huffed as, looking down at his cube again, he said, "But I'm not messing it up again. Not yet."

"Don't then," Ravan huffed as the moment passed and he wasn't so congratulatory towards the younger boy then. "You big baby."

"I'm not a baby."

"I like it, Kai," Marin told him with a big grin. "I think you did great."

"Thank you," he grinned right back. Then, glancing down at it, he said, "It looks so nice. This way. I'mma go show Erza!"

"Me too!"

"Hey," Ravan complained as they ran off for the kitchen to find the woman. "You were reading to me. Marin!"

That's what he got though, he figured as his body cried out at him when he tried to reach to grab the comic where Marin had discarded it on the ground. Trusting another Dreyar girl. What was he thinking?

Locke wasn't thinking about much of anything as he laid in his room, having taken a far worse brunt of the magic than Kai or Haven had. He wasn't sure what was worse, the way his head banged or everything smelt like smoldering coals, but mostly he just knew it plain stunk.

It was the shittier end of the stick, for sure, being an only child. And only family, it felt like, at times, as even though Marin and Haven didn't get along too well, she had all those aunts and uncles to play with. And Navi's brothers were too small to really do much, but she had her dad who was more like a big brother than he was a, well, dad.

Locke loved his mother and father and Lily, but sometimes you just needed someone else.

Which is what he got when, after some convincing, Haven was allowed by his mother passed the front door and there she was, in his room.

But she didn't apologize.

He'd have feared he was hurt far worse than he was if she had.

"Here," she said simply as she held out something to him.

Locke smiled, maybe, a bit, as he asked, "Oh. Kai solved his puzzle cube?"

"No, loser," she remarked as, no longer holding it out, she took the solved cube and begin to mix it all up. It was only once it was thoroughly mangled that she moved to actually place it in his hands then. "I bought it. For you."

He grinned widely at that and Haven wanted to punch him, but she couldn't because he was so hurt and it probably would actually get them grounded for one another even longer. The short few days they had been had been terrible for them both and were more than enough.

He wanted to thank her and ask her how she was feeling and, maybe, even about Ravan (bleh, maybe not), but she was sinking to the floor then, to sit with her back up against his bed and he only began to toy with his cube as she started to tell him all about her horrible punishment of having to be babysat by her Uncle Bickslow and, honestly?

He'd take that moment over a stupid apology any day.

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#Erza Scarlet #Bixanna #Miraxus #Fairy Tail #Fanfiction #5 of 5

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fallen029 · 7 years

Text

Remember Me: Demons and Uncles

It wasn't like it was supposed to happen. It just sort of…did. Everyone else in the guild was more or less pairing off and, though it seemed like an odd attraction at first, he grew to rather like her.

Honestly.

Lisanna was…fun, in short. In long, however, she was so many different things. Before then, he'd only ever seen her as the one who died or as Mirajane's little sister. And later, he just thought of her as Laxus' sister-in-law who had this annoying habit of, well, annoying Laxus. And that was never fun.

But one day, there was hardly anyone in the guild and Mirajane was out, taking care of one of her kids, and Lisanna was working the bar with Kinana. And Bickslow was drinking and Lisanna was bored because she'd just broken up with some guy, Arik or something, and complaining about how everyone was having babies and getting married and not caring anything about the same things as her.

And he was totally getting wasted. She was really just rambling as far as he was concerned. Freed had taken a solo job and Evergreen never wanted to hangout anymore because she was always either fighting or loving on Elfman. Yuck. It used to be fun, when they were younger, to tease her about it, but watching Ever actually become committed to freaking Elfman Strauss was…well, in a nutshell disturbing.

Finding himself with Lisanna Strauss, however, was not nearly as bad.

She was actually pretty funny. And that very night, as he was too drunk to get home, instead of leaving him alone in the guildhall all night, she stayed up there with him, just the two of them. And his babies, though they went dormant after awhile. Then it was just him and her, sitting down on the floor, with their backs against the wooden bar behind them, him still drinking and her still complaining about change.

And at some point, he found himself the only one awake as she somehow fell asleep on his arm. Bickslow only tossed back the rest of the bottle of whiskey in his hand before shaking his head and falling asleep too.

It was Mirajane who found them the next morning and seemed rather shocked by it. Bickslow was hungover though and only struggled to his feet, grounding out for his babies to follow him. And Lisanna only assured her that when she closed up that night, he had been drunk and she was only being kind, sitting with him. And Mirajane bought it, because it really was the truth, and that should have been the end of it.

Except Bickslow kinda felt bad that he'd put her in that situation of having to sit with a drunk him. Especially considering that they weren't even friends or anything. So he offered to take her out to dinner a few days later, as a way of making amends.

And gah! Lisanna was even better when he was sober. It was then that he was able to find that she was really smart and witty. Two things he never thought she was. And they liked some of the same music. Not to mention the babies loved her because after dinner, she went for a walk with them and let him show her all the cool tricks he was able to make them do.

Then she was giggling and he was grinning with his tongue hanging out, a real big one and before he knew it, they were making plans to hangout again, when she got back from some job she was taking. And then another date after that (he begun to admit that it was more than just hanging out) and before he knew it, he saw her nearly everyday and not just as a barmaid.

As a date. They were dating. Frequently.

Laxus was quick to warn him, when he caught wind of it, that under no circumstance was he allowed to get serious about Lisanna. Because he knew Bickslow and knew that 'serious' with him was fleeting. Lisanna was his baby sister, Laxus said. And that Arik guy had hurt her. She was just rebounding. But if Bickslow hurt her too, well, he just wouldn't stand for it. So no letting her get serious either.

But it was just so hard. Because she was so perfect. And she cooked real great. And cleaned. And her apartment was nice too, when he stayed the night over there. Except she didn't have any hair gel for his Mohawk the next morning, which was always awkward. But the next time he came over, she'd bought some without saying anything. Even the same brand he used. Which just made her even more awesome.

The babies thought so too. They really liked her. She put up with all their different moods (most people didn't notice, but they were pretty temperamental, his babies were), let them sleep in bed with them when she slept over or he slept over at her place, would play silly games with them like hide and seek (they loved that one), and even would sit around and talk to them for extended periods of time. Tell them stories. They seemed to like hearing about Edolas.

And eventually, after Mirajane told him to, Laxus let up on Bickslow about keeping things relaxed with Lisanna. He even eventually agreed to go on a double date with them, though that was more because Mirajane made him. Not that it changed anything between Bickslow and Lisanna. It was all still fresh and there were no distinct lines. Just that when he got home from a job, he'd go to the guildhall to find her and she'd act surprised that he would seek her out and then somehow they'd spend every day after together, bouncing back between their apartments.

Vice versa too, when she'd be the one with a job. It was just so much fun to be together. To hangout. And even when it wasn't fun, when the effect wore off after about two months, it was still nice. They weathered their first fight and their second nicely and actually been able to resolve both of them.

He was getting pretty set on her being his. It was around month three, however, that it happened.

"Crap."

That word was what he awoke to as well as the sound of Lisanna getting out of bed. It was too early. Did she not know that it was an off day? Neither of them had a job and she didn't need to be down at the bar.

"Unless you meant you have to take a literal crap, kid," he grumbled sleepily as she went around the room, getting dressed. "You better come get back in bed. Except if you're making me, like, breakfast or something. Then-"

"You have to get out, Bickslow. Or at least up."

"Wh-"

"Now."

"What? Your other lover 'bout to come in or something?"

"First off, ew. I hate that word. Secondly, just get up and get dressed."

"I got boxers on. How much more dressed I gotta be?"

"Just get up. And preferably leave."

"Lisanna-"

"I'm doing it for your own good," she told him. "I'm babysitting today."

Oh. She did that a lot, actually. Mirajane had two kids, Haven and Marin, the latter still only being a baby. Since she worked up at the bar, when Laxus was out on jobs, she usually asked Elfman or Lisanna to watch the kids.

"I'll lock up when you leave," he told her. "I-"

"Over here. I'm babysitting over here."

"What?"

"Yeah, so get up."

"Why?" he complained, rolling onto his stomach. "I'll just stay in here and sleep. I-"

"Because, Bickslow, I always let Haven sleep a little when she comes. It's only, like, six in the morning. So you have to-"

"Make the kid sleep on the couch."

"Bick-" And then the doorbell was ringing, causing her to groan before heading off to answer it. Mirajane did have to get down to the guildhall, after all.

"Stay," she told him as she closed the door to her bedroom before making the trek through her tiny apartment over to the front door, calling out coming while she was at it.

Upon opening it, she found a sleepy three year old and her overly joyful mother.

"Hi, Lisanna," Mira greeted cheerfully as Haven, who was holding tight to her mother's hand, released it and reach out for Lisanna to pick her up. When the woman did, the blonde child only wrapped her arms tightly around her neck and yawned.

"Hey," she said, taking a step back. "Did you wanna-"

"No. I have to go." Then she moved to press a kiss to Haven's head. "Lisanna will take you home later, alright? I love you."

"Love you," was the muffled reply the child gave before yawning once more. Then Mira was scurrying off and Lisanna only moved to close the door behind her with a sigh.

"Haven," she began as she went to drop the child off on the couch, slipping the backpack of toys she was wearing off as well and laying it on the ground. "Can you sleep out here, on the couch, sweetie?"

"S'eepy."

"I know. And I'm going to make you a bed out here on the couch, huh?"

Haven ignored her though as she got to her feet and head off towards the bedroom. "Go s'eep."

"Haven-"

But she was over at the door then and was reaching up to open it. Then she padded into the room while yawning loudly.

"You are bad," Lisanna scolded as she followed her. She'd left the lamp on the side table turned on, which allowed the child to see the man sleeping in bed. As he hadn't fallen asleep yet, Bickslow only stared back at her.

"Uh-oh," Haven said, just staring at him before looking up at Lisanna. "S'eepover?"

"Yes," Lisanna sighed. "I…I had a sleepover."

Bickslow smiled at Haven. "Hey, kid."

They knew each other in a very basic way. She knew that Bickslow hung around her father a lot and that he had those cool looking dolls, but other than that, he was just another person up at the guild. He didn't have any children for her to play with and therefore wasn't worth her time.

"No go wid Laxus?" Haven asked as she went over to the man's side of the bed and just stared up at him. "Bick'o?"

"Nope, kid, not this time."

"Bickslow, can you go sleep out on the couch?" Lisanna asked him then. "Please? She really wants to sleep in here for some reason and-"

"Yeah, sure, Lissy." He moved to get out of bed then, apparently having been kind enough to pull on his jeans while Lisanna had been out of the room. "Just-"

"Ooh." Haven was climbing up into the bed then and noticed Bickslow's dormant babies lying there. Puppu was the closest to her and she easily lifted him up, cupping the dolls in her palms for a moment or two before shaking him.

"P'ay," she complained at it, but the doll didn't awaken. Bickslow stopped upon seeing this and turned around.

"You wanna play with my babies, kid?"

And just like that, Puppu was awake, along with all the others, flying out of Haven's hand before taking to traveling around her head. The previously drowsy child was suddenly as animated as the dolls, reaching out to try and grab them. This of course amused Bickslow, who quickly went to grab a shirt and pull it on.

"Come on kid," he said, picking up his helmet as well. "You wanna play with the babies in the living room?"

Upon his command, the dolls headed away from Haven and towards the door, making noises the whole way. Haven saw this and moved to chase after them.

"P'ay!" she demanded, chasing after them. Lisanna gave Bickslow a look, but he only gave her a kiss on the cheek before tossing his helmet on his head. "Come back."

"She's supposed to sleep until nine, Bickslow," Lisanna complained. "Now-"

"Now I'm gonna go play with the kid. She likes the babies, Lissy." He gave her one last kiss before heading out there.

"Hey, kid," he called out to the child. "You know how to play hide and seek?"

"Hide'n'seek," she cheered along with his babies, who began to chant it to. Groaning, Lisanna figured she'd better go back out there. Honestly, she was banking on Haven sleeping so that she could sleep.

That went out the window quickly. It wasn't so much that she didn't trust Bickslow to watch Haven alone. It was just...she'd never seen him care for a child before, other than his babies, and he forced those to fight for him in battle, so really, that was no ringing endorsement.

Not to mention, Haven was a handful. She was in a good mood at the moment, fine, but as Lisanna tried to warn Bickslow at one point, when he decided they should all go to the park, she was always quick to change.

"What? Nah. Look at her," was his only reply, nodding over at the child who was happily introducing his dolls to her own, which she got from her backpack. "Kid's an angel."

"She's a demon," Lisanna told him. "Remember that."

"Potty trained though, right?"

"Yes, Bickslow," she sighed.

"Perfect."

She made them breakfast before they went anywhere. And, as Lisanna didn't have a table, they ate on the floor, Bickslow and Haven did, with the babies circling around. And he made a big show of making her laugh frequently by telling silly jokes or making funny faces. And she liked pointing at his face tattoo and giggling.

Once she was sure that they were fine, and that yes, Bickslow was competent enough to watching the girl, Lisanna headed off for a quick shower. A very quick one. Then Bickslow had to go and style his hair and they were finally able to head out.

Haven loved piggyback rides and Bickslow didn't mind giving one. He didn't even wear his helmet out of the apartment like he usually did, because Haven wanted to be able to see his Mohawk. And the babies laughed and repeated Haven's words the whole way, which just excited her more. Lisanna only yawned though, following along at a slow pace.

It would be a long day.

They stayed at the park for awhile, Haven and Bickslow playing tag and hide and go seek and all sorts of other silly games, the babies involving themselves as well. Lisanna mostly just watched and waited. Because she knew. Oh, she knew. The happier Haven was, the bigger the meltdown would be later.

They stayed at the park so long that eventually it became lunchtime. And Bickslow, since he was in such a good mood, offered Haven to go eat wherever she wanted to. He even gave her another piggyback ride.

"This is great," he told Lisanna as they sat down at the restaurant, Haven being entertained by his dolls. "Babysitting's a piece of cake."

"Yeah, sure."

"I'm serious," he said, leaning back in his seat as he stared at him. "Where's the other kid anyhow?"

"Ever and Elfman have her," Lisanna said as she watched Haven happily talk to Pippi about something. "It's easier to watch them separate. If we can, I take one and they take the other."

"How come?"

"Haven has a tendency to, well, be mean to Marin."

"What? This kid?" he asked as he gestured to the blonde at the table with him. "She's mean to someone? Yeah right."

Again, Lisanna only shook her head. He'd have to learn all by himself.

When they arrived back at the apartment later, Lisanna was ready to set out on getting Haven down for her nap. The second the child said that no, she didn't need one, Bickslow joined the fight.

"If she says she ain't tired, Lissy, why would we make her sleep? Huh?"

"Huh?" Haven mimicked.

"Huh?" the babies repeated.

She gave in rather easily. If Bickslow wanted to be the fun, great babysitter, she figured she'd just let him. It would be a big lesson in the workings of taking care of a child, she figured.

And boy was it. Because when Haven flipped out, she flipped out.

"I warned you," Lisanna said as the three year old stomped her feet over Bickslow's refusal to go out and buy her some candy about two hours later. "You never, and I mean never, skip naptime."

Boy, did he wish he'd listened. The kid was a monster. She started throwing things at him and hitting. Not to mention the biting. Eventually, Lisanna tried to intervene, but Haven was having none of it. The only thing that calmed her down was the threat that when Laxus got back from his job, he'd be hearing all about how bad she'd been.

"Not bad! I'm not bad!" She literally collapsed then, falling back on her butt and sobbing loudly. "Don't tell Laxus! Laxus! I wan' Laxus! Mommy!"

And she cried like that for awhile as Bickslow and Lisanna tried to get her to be quiet. His babies were going crazy at that point, flying around the apartment in a panic over the way Haven was acting. Then, just as randomly as it had begun, it was over. Haven only fell down onto the floor and shut her eyes.

"Is the kid dead?" Bickslow asked after staring at her in shock. "'cause-"

"No," Lisanna sighed, rolling her eyes as she bent over to pick her up. Haven whined a little, but didn't fight her. "She's tired. She just finished a tantrum."

"Huh." He scratched at his head before cautiously coming closer. Peering down at the child, he asked, "You alright?"

Haven snapped at him. Literally. He only took a step back while Lisanna sighed and took her into the bedroom to get her all settled. She'd tell Mirajane about the issue, of course, but she didn't feel like getting the child fired up by yelling at her in that moment.

After getting the toddler to sleep, Lisanna headed back into the living room to find Bickslow flaked out on her couch, his babies either on the armrests or his chest.

"Uh," she began. "You alright?"

"No. That was torture, Lisanna. Torture!"

"Keep it down," she told him. "You might wake her again."

"Ugh. Lord, I hope not," he grumbled. "This was seriously the worst day of my life. The worst."

"An hour ago it was, like, one of the best."

"Yeah, before the kid did that," he said, gesturing to the toys scattered around. "How could a kid be so…so…"

"Demon like? I'll give you one guess."

"Bleh." He sat up some then, shaking his head. "I ain't cut out for this uncle stuff."

Lisanna paused then, just standing there for a moment and staring at him.

"Uncle?" she finally asked with a slight frown. "Who said anything about that?"

Bickslow only got this is feet though, picking up his helmet from where it was sitting while he was at it. Then he was headed to the door, calling out for the babies to follow.

"I'll see ya tomorrow, Lissy," he told her. "This was just too much for me. Seriously. I gotta go, like, shower and relax for a bit. Do something to get the sounds of her screaming out of my head. Seriously. Brutal. See you later."

"Bye," she whispered as the babies bid their farewells also, following after their master as he left the apartment. Then, slowly, Lisanna went over to the couch to rest also, if only for a minute. But she knew she needed to get the toys cleaned up and start dinner. She'd take Haven back home around the time the child went to bed, where Evergreen and Elfman would be waiting.

They'd gotten the easy job to the day, after all. In fact, they always rotated between who got which kid, just because, if left to choice, they'd all choose Marin. Not that they didn't love Haven. 'cause they did. A lot. She was all of their first baby, really, as they'd helped care for her since birth. But still.

No one in their right mind would choose Haven over Marin. Maybe Laxus, but then again, he'd married a demon. Not shocking he'd choose to spend all his time around another one.

Link to Full Series

#Bixanna #Miraxus #Fairy Tail #Fanfiction #Bickslow #Lisanna #Mirajane #Mira

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