midnightstar | (no subject)

By the time Natsu was back, Luna had moved over to one of the patio tables that would accomodate the lot of them, and placed Bluebell onto the table in question. That way those who wanted to could sit.

There's an awkward pause when Bluebell was introduced, one in which the fairy patiently waited for the surprise to lessen, and then the round of introductions went around. Also by then the other Lucy and Natsu had wandered near, mostly to be near their daughter, but also general ~~nosiness~~ curiosity.

"My there are a lot of you," Bluebell remarked, glancing around the table. Big too - she cleared her throat, "Hello everyone," she paused, glancing up at the sky, then back at the gathered, "I hope you do not mind if I skip the pleasantries. We are, I am afraid, on limited time."

"Why, what's going on?" Lucy - the younger Lucy - inquired curiously.

"Well.. it is that," Bluebell pointed upwards, unhelpfully. "As I explained to this one," motioning to Natsu, "That is the result of a gateway to another world opening. As both appreciation for dealing with an issue we were unable to, and apology for it being necessary, we mean to send those of you not of this world, back to your own. If you are so willing." She glanced over at the other Lucy and Natsu. "And of course, we will lend our hand in breaking the spell over your mate as well."

Regine already looked wary about trusting any little creatures, but Lucy was wondering 'which' home she meant. Would the fairy send them back to Genessia? To THEIR Magnolia? .. and if it was -their- Magnolia what about Regine, Nev, Justine and little Herb, who weren't from there?

Well all of them were human plus one loving dog so couldn't be helped. He couldn't blame Regine for being wary given how all of this started but he felt he could mitigate the risk well enough. After all it was only cause he held on to Lucy so tightly that they didn't get separated when Apricot brought them over.

"You say home but...could we bring The kids with Regine and Herb to Our world instead? The one we were in before was getting really dangerous not to mention Justine and Neveren want to learn magic too. Plus....I don't want to leave them behind."

Most of the other lights were avoiding Herb a LOT considering he kept trying to catch them. Still Natsu's question got a number of glances, and even more people trying not to look like they were holding their breath for the response.

"That... may be difficult if they are not native to your world.." Bluebell said, a little hesitantly.

"But not impossible?" The other Lucy pressed.

"No, not impossible," Bluebell confirmed. "It will require a little extra mana to do so and..." She hesitated.

"What?" Lucy asked curiously, "If it's just magic, I'll lend you as much as you need."

Her older counterpart nodded, backed up by dragon Natsu. Bluebell shook her head, "It is not just that, however being that you are not native to that other world... we can do as you ask, however ...I am afraid that there may be a..small chance that you will not retain the memories of the events in that world. I am sorry, it is the way of things." Seeing the way younger Lucy tightened her grip on Natsu, the fairy hastily added, "It is only a small chance. I cannot say for certain if you will forget or not. If you still wish to take this chance, then my brethren and I will do our part in this."

"I believe in our bond. The memories we have are too precious to be lost so easily just by chance." Natsu said, squeezing Lucy's hand reassuringly before he showed her that steadfast grin that had conquered her heart so completely.

Lucy glanced at Natsu at that, an utterly smitten, swooning expression slipping across her face. She squeezed his hand back, nodding, "Same here," she murmured, leaning closer to her beloved. Always have faith in those memories. She glanced around the table - the children and Regine looked a little worried, but relaxed a little seeing that bolstering confidence in the smile Natsu gave Lucy.

"I think we're all in agreement, Bluebell," Lucy said after she managed to pull her gaze away from Natsu's.

Bluebell nodded, "Then allow us some time to prepare. We will call on you shortly-" she waved a hand, and several of the lights hovering nearby zipped over in response, "The rest of my brethren will assist with the spell your friend is under."

That was what he did best. Inspire when people needed it most. And so naturally too. Still even if they did end up forgetting their time in Genessia, it would not change the fact that he had loved her before ending up there. Even if it might take a while he would still rebuild it all. That being said Natsu still fully believed that their love and precious memories would not get lost so easily.

"Alright then." Natsu said and led his not so little group a little further away.

Lucy glanced over her shoulder, watching her older self and the dragon be led off by a small group of fairies, with Luna trailing after them, while the other half of the fairies went in another direction.

Regine let out a long sigh, "... this one at least seems more trustworthy - and up front than that awful pixie," she murmured softly, "If she is able to do what she says, it will be a shame our things will be left behind." She thinks, anyway. Who knows, maybe the stuff will get sent home too. "I hope this is the right idea." She didn't want to lose the memories of meeting her friends, and she knew the children didn't, but Natsu and Lucy were so confident that they wouldn't forget.

Especially Natsu - Lucy thought she was falling for him all over again, and even harder than before. "You really are too much, Natsu.." She murmured softly, fondly.

"This one is an actual fairy. The red ones are pixies and they have that power to cross over into other worlds so if we ever run into one of those again we'll know for sure. Still with this everything should be back to almost normal. The guys here are going to be stuck rebuilding this place but I know they can do it. They might be from another world but they're Fairy Tail." natsu stated proudly.

"I think it is. Genessia is becoming way too unsafe with the whole Hands thing. As long as you're there Nev and Justine would never get to really enjoy being mages." That was one of his reasons really. The more selfish one was that he did not want to say goodbye to any of them.

"Hmmm? Not sure what you mean?"

Regine chuckled, claiming a bench with the kids on either side of her, "It does look like it'll be hard work - but when the rest of their friends make it back, it'll be easier I'm certain."

Lucy also claimed a seat on the bench, shaking her head with a soft smile for him. "It's okay, you don't have to."

She didn't want to say goodbye to them either, so she was glad Natsu had made the suggestion of getting Regine, the kids and Herb to come with them.

"Yup. That's when we're at our best." Natsu greed before Lucy joined him on the bench. Moment that had him pressing up against her side and fingers locking together as he leaned against her shoulder slightly.

"You really scared me there for a moment. But your luck did hold out in the end. I found Nev and Justine not to mention this world's Lucy. But you still gave me one hell of a scare."

Lucy glanced over at him, leaning against his side in turn, "I'm sorry ... I wasn't thinking when you took off like that, and.. I didn't pay attention when I went after you." She smiled faintly, "I knew you would find me anyway." Find all of them. Even her older self, she was positive that Lucy would have believed to the very end she would see her Natsu - what if things had happened differently?

"It seems something is always happening to pull us apart." His training trip, missions, this incident - what the hell, world, do you not want them together or something?

"Well that ends the moment we get back home. Since I'm not going anywhere anymore without you. Ever again." Natsu promised and gave Lucy's hand a firm but aodring squeeze as he let his head rest atop her shoulder.

Lucy grinned, returning the squeeze, "Being around you constantly? I'm okay with that... I guess." She was about to relax a little, when there was a small sniffle from across from them.

That being from Justine, who was biting her lower lip and staring down at her lap. Regine pulled the smaller girl close, though she remained tense - Nev looked awkward, and Lucy - well she knew some of what had been bothering Justine earlier, and gently she pulled away from Natsu a bit. "Justine?"

Natsu on the other hand did not know so he could only look back curiously at the two but did nothing to stop Lucy from calling the little girl over.

At first Justine didn't move, and only got up when Regine prodded her. The older girl stumbled forward a step, hands clenched and her gaze on her feet.

"..m sorry.."

Lucy exhaled quietly, glancing at Natsu for a moment, before reaching forward to pull the girl closer - which is all that was needed before the teen needed before she let out a whimpering wail, "It's my fault..! If I hadn't brought that thing here we wouldn't have got in trouble."

Nev hesitated, even more awkward once Justine started crying. Uh. He's supposed to do something right? "..b.but I found it first," he said, desperately trying to find some way to make his sister stop crying. OGOD SOMEONE TURN OFF THE TEARS.

Natsu looked back at the two kids trying to take responsibility for their mistake. He could tell Justine was the one most torn up about it. So Natsu smiled softly and went up to both of them and pulled them into a warm hug against his chest. It was all so instinctual yet he felt that was the best thing he could do for them as they vented everything that was on their hearts.

"No one is going to blame you for anything."

D'awww. Lucy smiled at the sight, glancing over at Regine. Look at that man, he's such a good not-dad-big-brother figure!

When they're pulled into the hug, Justine practically wails, clinging onto Natsu, while poor confused Nev hugs them both, "Don't cry, Justine..!"

At Natsu's words, Justine paused. "Really...?" Justine sniffled, glancing at Natsu worriedly.

Lucy got to her feet to add her arms to the group hug, squeezing the little girl, "Don't think of it as being your fault - you have such a good heart, sweetheart. And think, if we weren't sent here after the both of you, things might have ended up badly." She didn't for a second thing Natsu would have failed to find her in time, that's just not possible. But other people could have died - Levy, and Freed, and Laki -

"Besides, we were able to meet a real fairy weren't we?" She didn't have a tail though, and Lucy didn't think to ask if there were fairies who had tails. Damn. "And we'll be able to go to our -real- home all together. None of that would have been able to happen if things didn't happen the way they did."

At that, Justine sniffed a bit and nodded, rubbing her eyes - -Nev sighed with relief, and then immediately started squirming because feelings ew.

Natsu chuckles seeing Nev growing a little uncomfortable with the whole love hug thing so he was released from the tighter hold. Justine was free to enjoy being snuggled boy both of her not!parents for a while longer though so Natsu stayed like that with Lucy on her other side for a while longer.

Justine stayed right where she was once her brother was released from the love hug, and Regina had to stifle her laughter when the boy seemed to shake himself from love cooties. Lucy resisted the urge to nab Nev and give him an extra big hug, but .. she'll do that later, when they get home.

"Pardon me, humans." The familiar voice of Bluebell reluctantly intruded on the affectionate scene. "We are ready for you now."

Lucy drew away from Natsu and Justine, "What about our other selves?" She kind of wanted to say goodbye to them at least.

"Regrettably it is taking longer to break the spell than we expected." Maybe it's just as well - maybe it'd be weird if they talked to them..selves.. Lucy glanced over at Natsu to see if he was okay with it too.

"Give me a second." Natsu said and pulled away to walk up to his dragon self, tapping his knuckle against the dragon's side.

"Hey. You make sure to keep hold of her properly from now on okay? Or next time I come here I'll kick your ass for doing a bad job at it~" Honestly that was an empty threat since odds of him coming back here were slim to none. But it still felt like a reminder worth stating so he did before turning back and doing the Fairy Tail sign with his hand as he walked away and joined his Lucy again.

"All set. Lets do this."

The Natsu dragon swiveled his head around when Natsu the Human rapped against his side. The empty threat almost got a laugh out of him, but he snorted a puff of steam at the smaller self instead, as if saying 'Yeah yeah, you don't have to tell ME that.' His tail curled a little more around his Lucy, though he glanced over to the other Lucy rather pointedly. Don't make him have to hunt YOU down for losing YOUR Lucy either.

Lucy didn't have to exchange words with her other self, though they stared across at each other during that little exchange, a knowing and understanding smile matching each other's expressions. The things they put up with.

When Natsu joined her again, she grinned, "Okay. Everyone stay close, all right?" She couldn't help but feel a little nervous excitement - they're finally, FINALLY going back home and with some very dear friends. They were also going to remember each other - everything they went through.

"You are certain you are ready?" Bluebell asked curiously, "Very well. Please step into the circle there." The fairy pointed over to where a circle had been drawn into the ground, and where there was a large ring of fairies creating its outline with their glow.

Natsu quickly reached for Nev while he naturally expected Lucy to take hold of Justine's hand as well. That left Herb and regine to join the circle but as soon as they were there as well, Natsu looked back at Bluebell and gave her an unwavering smile and nod.

Once everyone was in place, Bluebell smiled, nodding a little. "I wish you all the best." Again, that brilliant, brilliant white hot light engulfs the area, but there's no sensation of trying to yank people apart or numbness. There IS a great deal of disorientation, and Lucy tightens her hands on Natsu and Justine. The disorientation is followed by a feeling of weightlessness, and then nothing for several minutes.

And then the soft sensation of a cozy, familiar bed, a gentle breeze, the weight of an additional body and the nearby scents of all those you were with only seconds ago. Lucy's bed. Which means next to Natsu is ...

The differences are like night and day yet Natsu still didn't let go. But not just with his body. His mind clung fiercely to the memories he had of everyone he could sense. Every single one. The sad, the happy, the painful. All of it.

And then just as soon as it started it was over. Natsu's senses restored completely only to realize this...sensation. Natsu slowly opened his eyes only to see a familiar ceiling.

"Lucy?" He said turning to his side where he felt Lucy was holding his hand first.

"..mmm..." Lucy is there, yes, her grip on his hand looser than before their transport. Hearing her name being called, she opened her eyes slowly, staring at him for a long moment, her brain catching up with the rest of her. She glanced around, confirming where she was, a smile starting to curve her lips upward - and then she went tense. Wait. Did he still remember everything... did he still remember her? Should she start making excuses already?

"N.. Natsu..."