I Can Hear You: CoLu Week 2015

Day Seven: Journey

The night sky was awash with colors, only visible from the northern ridge of Mount Hakobe, and he smiled as the petite blond leaned against his arm. After the small party as guild representatives Erik had begun paying a bit more attention to the blond Celestial Spirit Mage and had been pleasantly surprised, she was full of surprises despite her sweet exterior, and he had decided it was time to ask her on a date. So they had a picnic, shielded by the small cabin he'd found months ago when Crime Sorcière had passed through, and now just over the Worth Woodsea the ocean was reflecting the sunlight and making an aurora of crimsons and violets and oranges in the sky.

"It's lovely, Erik. This is amazing." He leaned down and brushed her cheek with his nose, smiling as he pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek, and she giggled as she rubbed her cheek against his.

"Anything for you, Lucy." Her gasp made him crack his eye to look at her, she was grinning, and he raised a brow and tilted his head.

"You used my name. It's the first time you've used my name." He blinked, raising his head in thought, and then nodded.

"It is, isn't it?" He grinned, making her blush, and he heard a shutter click only to see the pink haired maid hand Lucy a camera before vanishing; he rolled his eyes and then shifted the camera to take a selfie of the two of them with their back to the aurora.

Indigo eyes traced the photograph, a blush forming on her face as she looked at the two people, the young girl had time on her hands and the house mostly to herself so she raided the photo albums. Other than Corrosion Magic she had gained a rare power that evidently ran in her father's bloodline, Memory Magic, and it allowed her to 'see' the memories attached to a photograph or image if it was taken with a lacrima device. The girl turned her attention to another photo and frowned as she activated her magic.

He was holding her close, the mission had gone terribly wrong, and Erik turned his gaze to Jellal and growled in anger; the information had been faulty and now Lucy had paid the price, she was badly wounded. The team were all tense as they headed back to Magnolia, thankfully within running distance of the guild, and Erik let out a loud snarl.

"Jellal, take her and go." They knew he was angry but he was also worried, Erik would not let Lucy be in any more pain because of his pride, and the blue haired male was careful in taking the blond before activating Meteor and dashing ahead of the group. When they did arrive at the guild Erik streaked past everyone, ignoring them all as they turned to look, and went right to the infirmary where Wendy and the old bat were looking over Lucy.

"You were smart to send her ahead, Lucy will make a full recovery, if you had waited any longer we might have had to amputate her right hand." Erik frowned, breathing a sigh of relief, and he sank in one of the chairs as all the anxiety he'd felt crashed through him; he briefly heard the shutter sound of a camera but he was too damn busy to care, he wiped his face and leaned back in a more relaxed stance.

"Thank god. I was..." He cut off his words before they could be spoken out loud, he didn't need the Demon hearing any of his personal shit.

Eos had known her father was a former criminal, the twins had figured it out when Uncle Mest had come over and they'd listened under the door, but she didn't realize that her father had been so worried about her mother so soon after deciding to befriend her. The idea that he'd fallen in love with her at the party floated around her mind but she couldn't be positive since it wasn't like she could read their minds while seeing the memory, it was like seeing it from an outsider's point of view and her father was good at hiding his expressions and thoughts like she was.

"Eos?" Belios sat down across from her and she grinned.

"Check this out." The girl had learned that she had a telepathic bond with her twin, quite literally twin telepathy, and she could show him what she saw while using her magic. The girl focused on another picture and grinned.

He was gaping, unable to help himself, and he shook his head with a loud snarl of anger; no fucking way, no way in hell, and laughter rang out around him as Lucy peered at him. The girl was in a damn bunny girl costume, on stage, and she was dancing to Gajeel's bad fucking singing. Again. The Iron Dragon had won a damn card game.

"I'm starting to think I need to kill you." Erik threatened, Gajeel seemed intent on making the blond reek of rusted metal, as far as Dragon Slayers went the Iron Dragon was essentially scent marking the blond with how much time they were spending together. He was stepping in against the Poison Dragon's claim, challenging him, and the crimson eyed male snarled in reply to Erik's tone.

"Guys. Stop it." Lucy warned, seeing the tension rise, and Levy had her Light Pen ready to make rune traps if she needed to; neither male heard her, instead they continued to snarl at one another.

"You forgot something, Erik, in making a move on Bunny. Laxus, Natsu, Wendy, and I all know about that damn scent mark you've got and none of us are fuckin' happy that you didn't bother asking her about it first. You're not even fuckin' dating." The Iron Dragon finally spoke and Lucy blinked as she looked between the pair of men, Natsu had sat her down and told her all about the process of a dragon slayer's mating process. The males would offer gifts to their chosen female (which explained the new ink and quills she'd gotten the day prior) and then scent mark them when the female accepted their claim, after the scent mark was at its peak they would consummate the mating and bite one another while adding magic to the mark to form the soul bond between mates.

"You're doing what?!" Erza demanded, the guild now all watching the drama as it unfolded, and Erik kicked the floor with the toe of his boot and growled.

"Dammit." He hated this damned nosy ass guild sometimes.

"Erik." His head snapped up to hers the moment she spoke, her tone left no room for arguing, and Lucy's chocolate eyes were just intense as she looked at him. Her mouth was flat, her arms crossed under her breasts, and she studied his face.

"You want to have me as a mate?" He nodded at her question, he'd chosen her long ago and hadn't realized it, and watched as Lucy bit her lower lip; since he could hear her thoughts he knew she wanted it, she confessed that to him, but she was trying to appease her friends too.

"I'm not a Dragon Slayer, you owe me some decent dates if you're gonna do this whole marking thing." He nodded and Lucy turned her gaze to the others, who were watching her, and she huffed as she waved them away.

"Alright, I'm making him wait, back off." The Dragon Slayers growled at her and Lucy surprised them by growling right back, her eyes promising pain if they kept butting in, and Erik knew that his four-on-one beat down had at least been suspended. He knew that if he left on his own at any time that he'd be grabbed up and promptly forced to prove himself to each of the Dragon Slayers, because of-fucking-course he chose the one girl that every Dragon Slayer adored, and Erik steeled himself for it as Lucy walked into his arms.

The pair were grinning since they knew Uncle Laxus, Uncle Gajeel, Uncle Natsu, and Auntie Wendy had indeed challenged their father to a four-on-one match that he'd barely managed to succeed in earning their acceptance; they had seen the video recording of the event that Uncle Romeo had taken, though their father hadn't known until Belios went and spoiled it. The girl turned the page again and blinked as she found another interesting photograph.

Lucy groaned as she let the hot water of the shower run down her body, she and Erik had marked one another the night before and she was sore. The Poison Dragon was still sleeping, he'd never been much of a morning person, and the blond had simply wanted a shower; she traced each of the bruises and bites on her skin, small scratches from his claws, and then she traced the pink belladonna flower that had formed on her shoulder. It was lovely and matched her guild mark, her eyes tracing the scars on her wrist from their first and only mission together where she'd almost lost her hand. The blond shivered and finished washing, getting dressed, and she began making breakfast as her mate stirred.

"You're up early." He rumbled out as he scratched his head, walking into the kitchen, and Lucy grinned at the sight of him in his black boxer briefs; he looked edible and she licked her lips before pushing those thoughts aside for after food.

"You know I can hear you right?" Erik reminded her as he moved to hold her from behind, earning a gasp and a squeak, but then everything was shot to hell as he heard loud voices headed right for the apartment. The Poison Dragon cursed and headed for the dresser, grabbing pants and pulling them on, and the door flew open as Natsu walked in and froze as soon as he crossed the entryway.

"Umm..." He could see the murderous gleam in Erik's eyes along with the dark red star on his shoulder, he knew exactly what that was, and the Fire Dragon turned and walked away without a word; he was not an idiot all the time, Erza and Gray both blinked at the male for his reaction as he grabbed them to drag them away. Erik and Lucy had just mated so the Poison Dragon was going to be more volatile than normal where she was concerned and he was not going to deal with that.

"Who was that?" Lucy asked, concerned, and Erik snickered as he closed the door.

"Your team, Natsu made them leave, for once the Flaming Moron had a brain and left without a word." Erik went back to nipping at her ear.

A look of horror crossed the twins faces as Eos jumped right the hell out of that memory, she would not watch her parents get all gross, and the girl frowned.

"Seriously, mom and dad are gross, now I'm scared to keep going." Belios laughed.

"Go figure the only picture in existence of our Aunts and Uncles looking mortified has that gross of a memory attached, ah well. When do you think mom and dad will be back?" Eos shrugged and went back to scanning the photographs, blinking as a photo that was tucked behind another fell loose of the clear plastic sleeve. Eos didn't even realize she'd activated her magic until it was too late.

The bass was so loud and so high that she could feel it in her bones, Lucy only laughed as she followed the girls to the club, and they were given admittance with a wave of the bouncer's hand before Cana led them to the side room.

"Alright, so take this with you and paint what you want covered, when you're done you simply dip or pour the sprinkles and glitter on." The Card Mage explained as she turned around to get herself ready, Lucy sighed and went into a room and removed her shirt before having Virgo hold it; she'd promised to do this and she would do it, so with a little liquid courage Cana had managed to get her to go through with it for real. After she was covered, which she did thoroughly, the blond left the dressing room and looked at the others; Mirajane had even given herself a little star on her cheek, Erza and Levy had been just as detailed as she had, and Cana had only covered one full breast before simply doing her other nipple.

"Alright!" The Card Mage cheered, dragging them out into the crowd, and the girl simply danced and drank and had fun; the blond mage ignored her anxiety and waved as Levy waved a camera at her, then she lunged and began grinding on the petite bluenette who was laughing as she joined in while men stared at them.

"Abort mission! Abort! Abort! No!" Belios howled as he shook Eos' shoulder and broke her out of that memory, while they hadn't seen anything it was still the fact of the matter that he had just witnessed his mother and aunts all dancing like that. Eos coughed, a little disgusted, and hurled the book across the room before grabbing the next one; the first photograph promised to be a more modest, and sweet, memory.

The room was bright, but not too bright, and her body was trembling as the soft music played out in the main room as the girls and their escorts went ahead of her.

"You can still back out." The blond turned her head to look at her best friend, Natsu had agreed to hand her off since he was her first friend and had been the one person she'd depended on the most before Erik, and she smiled as she shook her head.

"No, I'm ready for this, I'm just...jittery. I'm excited but...I'm pregnant and weird." Natsu chuckled, keeping his voice low, and gripped her hand a little tighter.

"You're always weird, Luce, but we wouldn't have ya' any other way." He reassured her, earning a teary smile, and the pink haired male watched as Levy went up with Gajeel as her escort; while he wanted Happy to be the best man, since they were best friends, he wouldn't challenge the Iron Dragon's claim on the bluenette and make trouble at Luce's wedding and Erik felt the same way. Instead Happy was with Carla, who had gone right after Wendy and Romeo since the Sky Dragon had been the flower girl, and there was a hush as the room waited with baited breath for her entry.

"I'm all fired up." Lucy commented, grinning, and Natsu chuckled.

"That's the spirit." He commented as he took her arm instead of her hand and they made their way into the room, gasps sounded around them as she came into view. Virgo had insisted on making the gown and Lucy was glad she had, the white fabric was a very lightweight silk while the bodice was covered with lace that had delicate stars encrusted in the fabric and the skirt flared out with layers of sheer silk tulle that had white stones sewn into the fabric like water droplets since they pooled at the bottom hem. The back had a wide laced corset style and it was also a high waist because of her baby bump, the sleeves were detached and made of the silk tulle with the delicate star lace at the top hem; her veil was really just silver stars woven into her hair, which cancer had done in a lovely French braid, and she had a diamond necklace on along with her engagement ring. The blond smiled as Natsu placed her hands in Erik's, moving to his seat, and she looked at the Celestial Spirit King, Jellal, and Makarov as the trio stood to officiate the ceremony.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the joyous union of Lucy Heartfilia and Erik." The old Wizard Saint began with the traditional route and then he branched off.

"I am proud of both of these wonderful mages, both have shown courage and compassion beyond measure, and I know that they will live and fight for one another until their very last breaths and beyond." Lucy felt tears gather in her eyes.

"When I first met Lucy she was a timid young woman, a little unsure of her place in the world of mages, and now she stands before us all as a powerful and strong Celestial Spirit Mage that has proven her strength time and time again. I have witnessed her grow from a young teenager into a lovely woman who has a special ability to befriend everyone she meets, I know she will continue to grow and flourish as time goes on even longer, and that she will become an amazing mother when that time does come." Lucy had twin streams of tears sliding down her face, Levy slipped up beside her and wiped her cheeks gently, and the blond knew her spirits were here too; Mustache Man had insisted on coming to the ceremony and so he'd allowed the spirits that wanted to come as well, so most of the crowd were Celestial Spirits or mages from other guilds.

"The stars would like to offer their blessings to this union, for the power of heart that Lucy has is one that has not been seen in many years, as this old friend of ours has proven to many just how stubborn and just she truly is. When I first met her she was a human girl defying a cardinal rule of the Celestial Spirit World, fighting for the fate of Leo despite his previous treatment of her and despite knowing that he had committed a crime that could make him a pariah of our world under different circumstances. Instead of backing down she held her head high and demanded his innocence, she helped show me there were humans who truly did care for us spirits, and so I gifted her his freedom and made him vow to protect her from that day forth. I have not regretted that action for my old friend has continued to prove to me just how good of a person she was, and she has sacrificed much for the happiness of her family, and even in summoning me to your world to fight she was forced to make a hard choice that I wish she hadn't been forced to. As the Celestial Spirit King I bless this union, in all worlds, and offer nothing but the best for my old friend and her soul mate." Erik brushed his thumbs over the back of Lucy's hands and watched the watery smile on her face, even Aquarius had been allowed to pass through and see the ceremony as the Mustache Man's wedding gift.

"In everyone's life they have a single point, a single moment, where they ask the question 'why am I getting this chance' and that is especially true for Erik. Like many of us his past was rough that that helped shape him into the closed off person we all met in the beginning, using distancing techniques to protect our hearts, and yet when given the chance we have all been proven to flourish. This is especially true for Erik, he has gone from enemy to nakama, and it is for this reason I offer my blessings to this union. In the time that I had known him, prior to him and Lucy even becoming acquaintances, I had never guessed him capable of the gentle affection he shows for her. Erik is a good man who will protect those he holds dear with every last bit of strength, and more, in his body. From one friend to another, Erik, I offer you the best wishes and my complete support in any circumstance." While Jellal's speech wasn't nearly as shining of a speech as what Makarov and Mustache Man had given for Lucy the Poison Dragon was still touched, he offered Jellal a warm smile before the old man cleared his throat again.

"Please present the rings." Romeo walked up, handing the rings to the happy couple, and as they faced one another Erik grinned at his little mate.

"Lucy Heartfilia you are certainly more than I could ever have expected to one day call my mate and wife, you are strong and passionate and devoted to your loved ones with every ounce of being, and even now I feel a little awkward just standing before you since you're glowing bright enough to blind a man. Everyone has insisted I am a good person, including you, and it is foryou that I am trying so hard to prove you all right, while I don't see it I do strive to fill that role. I'll be honest, Belladonna, I was jealous of you for the longest time when I heard about who you were; a rich girl who just threw it all away, from someone who grew up as a slave it was a slap to the face, I had promised myself to avoid you. But of course things change and we had to attend that guild representatives meeting together and I learned the truth of high class life, that those with money might not have the same problems as those without, and I realized how unfair I was being to you that day. I then changed my promise and told myself I would give you a chance, that we would become friends, and you simply overwhelmed me with your kindness and understanding. In less than a minute you figured me out, stripped my soul bare, and made me realize just how incredible you are. I fell in love with you at that moment, when you cut through me with a single look, and I will give you everything that I am and ever will be as your mate and husband." He was trembling, which everyone ignored, and he could hear soft crying in the crowd as he stared at the blond girl before him.

"Erik...when we first met it was because I had been sent along with representatives from other light guilds to take out your guild and stop you from awakening Nirvana. I thought you were cruel, arrogant, and deranged; I hadn't known what I did then and if I had...I feel I would have judged you far more fairly. Our second meeting was after our return from Tenroujima, when you were after the power of Real Nightmare, and even then I thought you to be rude and angry; but when I was pinned to that clock I had a moment where I saw everyone's memories and saw your fears, I came to realize that you weren't evil for the fun of it. It was all you had known, all you craved was power so you would never have to fear, and all you wanted was to hear the voice of your first and only friend at that time. When Crime Sorcière began coming to the guild I sought you out to apologize for my unfair judgment but you always avoided me or gave me a cold glare and demanded I back off, I didn't realize it was because of my past that you were so angry, and then we went to that party. I know you acted civil because you had to but you looked past the exterior and I was finally able to apologize. You are already my mate, I am already pregnant with your children, but now we will be husband and wife officially in the Fiore Kingdom. I will be by your side until my last breath and beyond." Lucy's voice was firm, despite her tears, and Makarov looked between the pair before clearing his throat.

"Lucy Heartfilia. Do you take this man as your husband?" The blond nodded as she felt Erik slide the ring onto her finger, it was a gorgeous band forged of meteor stone with a star shaped diamond; the blond could hear her spirits sobbing on each other and resisted the urge to smile at them.

"I do." The tension in the room was rising, mostly because people were ready to party since the sweet words were done, and Erik could feel it just as well as she could.

"Erik, do you take this woman as your wife?" The Poison Dragon grinned as she slid the ring up his finger, he had a matching band but his diamond was a belladonna flower.

"I do." There was a collective whoosh of people letting out the breath they'd held, they were so ready to mob the bar and food, and Makarov looked around the room.

"By the power vested in me, as the Fifth Wizard Saint, I name you Mr. and Mrs. Erik and Lucy Heartfilia. You may now kiss the bride." Makarov announced, grinning as the mahogany haired slayer grabbed his beautiful woman and pulled her into a searing kiss. The females in the crowd fanned themselves while the males grumbled about being shown up but the happy couple could care less, they pulled apart and stared at one another for a moment, and Erik scooped Lucy up into his arms as he walked down the aisle.

"Let's party!" The girl shouted, earning a loud cry of 'aye sir' from every guest, and they went to the large selection of tents where the food and cake was all arranged. Lucy was put in a seat, too much standing with how big she was getting was a bad thing, and Aquarius made her way over with the rest of her spirits.

"Lucy..." The blue haired mermaid started, earning a soft whimper, and the blond hugged the water spirit close and felt arms wrap around her. They stayed like that for several minutes, Erik had gone to get Lucy a plate before Natsu and the Dragon Slayers demolished everything, and finally the pair pulled back to talk to one another.

"My dear, I have another wedding present to you, I can only hope that this is a fitting gift for the pain the rules of our world have caused you. When a golden key is broken it is through the mutual bond of a spirit and their owner, they do it because they know there is no other choice, but that key is repaired upon the death of the caster and the spirit is allowed back in the world." The King sighed softly and looked at the blond woman.

"As I have done with Leo I will again do with Aquarius, for you have proven deserving of this, but you cannot contract her. This key has been repaired but you must give it to whichever child is the Celestial Spirit Mage." Lucy grinned before hugging the king.

"Thank you, Mustache Man, I won't let you down. If I'm lucky it'll be my son who is the Celestial Spirit Mage so Aquarius can teach him how to get an amazing girlfriend." The mermaid laughed and nodded before the rumbling sound of fire made them all turn to see Natsu and Gray arguing. Lucy's eyes grew wide and she dropped her face in her hands.

"Every. Damn. Time. FREED!" The blond wailed as she pointed to the trouble that was starting, the Rune Mage and Script Mage both had their respective writing tool out and had traps around the pair in a heartbeat; the blond female was ready to start wailing as she realized the cake had suffered. Badly. But Erza came and hugged her.

"We had a feeling this would happen." The redhead explained as a bigger and more beautiful cake was brought out, they had all pitched in to make sure Lucy's wedding was perfect and so Erza had come prepared with the cake.

"For a bunch of nutjobs you are efficient as fuck." Erik commented before he, Gajeel, and Laxus let out barks of laughter since that was a thought they had all shared at one point in time. Lucy grinned but scooped up a small part of the toppled cake, her look positively devilish, and Erik was too slow to stop her from smearing the cake along his face with a triumphant laugh.

"Don't talk about your family like that Erik, they're wonderful people, you know how we get." He laughed and rubbed his frosting coated cheek against hers before taking her to the table to eat.

The pair were quite literally sobbing because of how sweet it was, their parents wedding was absolutely perfect for a change, and the two looked at the clock to gauge how much time they had left before their mom and dad returned from the store. Not long, honestly, since their mother was quite the efficient shopper and their father hated large crowds, and so they put the photo albums away and left the library. They rounded the hallways until they opened one of the doors, grinning at the sight of the two people in front of them, and they unwound the bindings holding the pair before stepping back.

"Uncle Romeo, Auntie Wendy, you won't tell anyone about this right?" The pair reminded the duo, who they had caught making out in the kitchen when they were tied up, and the blushing duo shook their heads before grinning as Lucy and Erik called out their return. The group of four headed to the main entrance of the manor and the kids ran to their father, grinning as he dropped the bags to hold them in his arms, and Lucy rolled her eyes and went over to Wendy and Romeo before pulling the pair into a hug.

"We know what they did to you, I had Virgo watching everything too." The blond whispered, paying the pair a little extra since her kids had essentially bound them with magic canceling rope and locked them in a study for an hour and a half, and the older teens left with a wave. Erik tightened his hold on the kids and glanced at Lucy, she gave the barest of nods and he took them to their shared room, the two kids blinked as they were set down on the beds before blinking again as Rune Traps activated.

"You two need to learn your lesson of why you don't trap someone with no magic for an hour and a half, I had Virgo watching over everything here since nobody ever volunteers to watch you a second time, so you'll be sitting here. You can't get up off your beds and Capricorn will be supervising you." The goat spirit took his job seriously, as caretaker of the Heartfilia family, and so he strived to make sure Lucy-sama's kids were a shining example of what a Heartfilia should be. The two kids pouted their best before the door closed after the goat spirit appeared and Lucy rolled her eyes at the dramatic cries as she and Erik headed toward the kitchen.

"Our kids are such little bastards." She commented dryly, earning a bark of laughter, and Erik nodded as he grabbed a glass of bleach for himself while Lucy had a small cup of glass cleaner; the pair got to work on dinner and Erik chuckled.

"You would think we went on some soul searching, week long, journey with how Wendy and Romeo looked when they came around the corner." Lucy chuckled and the duo put the food in the oven before heading to the study, Lucy owned a company of her own that specialized in anti-venom and Max was managing it for her, all she had to do was read and sign the occasional documents. The girl noticed that her photo albums were out of order and laughed.

"We might not have but they did. They're looking through our photos." He blinked and switched them back in order, they both knew about Eos' rare power and wanted her to use it but they were suddenly very glad that they had hidden the dirty pictures in their room. As Erik pulled out the last album, to shift it to the front, a picture fell loose and he began laughing.

"What?" Lucy blinked before walking over, her eyes widening as horror formed on her face, and she felt a blush of mortification run through her.

"I thought you put this in the other album." She breathed out, making him blink, and he shook his head.

"No, you never told me to, but I'm glad she found it because if I recall you promised me something on our wedding night and I'm cashing in." The blond realized that was why he'd bought chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and sprinkles and heat flashed through her.

"I think if we're doing that we should send the kids to Laxus' for the night since they behave for him." Erik snorted and nodded, of the older mages it was Laxus and Gajeel who could make the two children behave while everyone else got railroaded by their sneaky behavior, and the pair of adults made a call to the blond Lightning Mage.

"Hey Laxus, Erik and I were wondering if you could take Eos and Belios for the night if it's no trouble." The male blinked and laughed.

"It's never trouble, Lucy, considering that Mira loves it when Eos and Belios come over." He assured her, knowing just how bad her hell spawn could be, and they pair smiled at the blond male.

"Thanks, Laxus, we'll send them over." He nodded and Lucy grinned as she headed back upstairs to get the kids ready for a night with Uncle Laxus and Auntie Mira, since they had bought the manor and property they had simply allowed everyone to build houses on the large space and so they all still lived close together while having their own places. Erik rolled his eyes as the kids dramatically pleaded against spending time with Uncle Laxus or Uncle Gajeel, though their pleas went on deaf ears, and Capricorn chuckled internally as he returned to the spirit world. Once the kids had their bags packed the pair walked them down to where Laxus and Mirajane's house sat, it was a lovely three story building that was full with two adults and three kids. Go figure that if Lucy had twins the Take-Over mage had triplets, which seemed to be a family thing considering Lisanna had also given birth to triplets and Evergreen was pregnant with three.

"Hello Auntie Lucy, Uncle Erik." It was the first born, Galen Dreyar, who opened the door; he was only a year younger than her kids but acted so much more mature for his age; he had white hair and stormy blue eyes with Laxus' slightly more tanned complexion, he would be one hell of a looker when he got older.

"Hello Galen." Laxus came to the door and took the hands of Eos and Belios before offering a grin.

"You'll take the kids tomorrow, right?" Lucy nodded and Erik did too, of the many adults few could inspire fear in the kids as Lucy did; the blond was just good at making them listen so they got roped into sitting a lot. Laxus waved them away and the pair headed back to the manor.

"Now that we know we're gonna have to watch the brats tomorrow night I propose a camping trip so we can work on their magic." Lucy giggled.

"You just want to travel again." He huffed but nodded, no point denying it, and she nodded.

"I think that's an excellent idea, we can see who else is up for it, maybe we can even take the journey to Worth Woodsea and make them train in the forest." He hummed before shrugging his shoulders and scooping her up into his arms.

"Maybe, but first I get my damned Titty Sprinkles. As promised." Lucy laughed openly but nodded at his request, she had indeed promised him such, and the way his eye darkened with lust promised good things for her night. Lucy's toes curled and she thanked the stars for guiding her to the man that made her life brighter and cherished her as her father had done to her mother, she giggled as he let out a purring noise in her ear and nipped at the skin. While she still had a long ways to go before she was ready to join her parents among the stars, had much more knowledge to pass on to her evil little offspring, Lucy knew that they would be proud of her.

"Erik." He kicked the kitchen door shut and sat her on the counter with a salacious grin.

"Yes, Belladonna?" He had the chocolate syrup in hand and she bit her lower lip, her thighs rubbing together as heat speared through her, and he raised an eyebrow to prompt her to continue her question. With how erratic her thoughts were he couldn't pinpoint where she'd been going with her statement at all.

"I love you." His grin softened, an expression only she ever got to see, before turning absolutely wicked before he lunged for her mouth and kissed her; their hands pawed at each other and she let out a husky laugh in his ear as he growled at her bra.

"Still struggling? I'll be glad to teach you again." Lucy purred as his mouth found the column of this throat.

"Not tonight." He groaned as her hands tangled in his hair and pulled him closer.

Footsteps echoed through the forest as the parade of children headed through the trees, all wearing varying expressions, and Eos frowned as she crossed her arms.

"I still don't like this!" She shouted, hoping to convey how stupid she thought it was that they'd been forced to go on this trip, and Gage Redfox rolled his eyes beside her.

"Why not? We're out in the middle of nowhere, we get to spar, and they're gonna let us fight monsters and stuff." Eos turned her head to look at the black haired male, his crimson eyes watching her face, and she simply huffed and looked away with a slightly blush. Levy and Lucy shared knowing looks.

"It's gonna be so much fun, Eos, live a little!" Ignatia Dragneel shouted as she spun in a circle, flames springing to life from her palms, and Thetis Fullbuster quickly extinguished the flames with a well aimed orb of water; the Fire Mage glared while the Water Mage cast a hopeful expression toward Galen in hopes that he'd noticed.

"Oi! Watch it you wet blanket!" Ignatia shouted while her two brothers rolled their eyes, Lore and Pyralis were far more calm than their sister and so they both grabbed one of her arms and held her in place while they carried her along.

"Sheesh, they're all lively." Asuka commented as she walked beside Wendy, the sharpshooter Guns Mage had asked to come along and her parents had made her bring her little brother Onilwyn since he was the same age as the rest of the kids.

"They're young and I'm sure if there were kids your age back in the hall you'd have been the same way." Erik reminded her, the girl had taken a liking to the Poison Dragon for whatever reason and idolized him ever since.

"Well hopefully we can lose some of them on this trip, that way it's not as much of a pain on the way home." The joke from Gajeel had the adults snickering while the kids looked horrified.

"You don't want to lose us!"

"Dad how could you!?"

"What the fu-"

"Don't even think about finishing that!" Lucy roared as she clamped a hand over her son's mouth, glaring at Erik as the Poison Dragon looked rightfully ashamed.

"Repeats of last night are not happening for a long time." She warned quietly and Erik glared at his son as the boy offered a look of mock innocence while Gajeel and Natsu snickered at his misfortune.

"It's okay, next time we'll send them with Capricorn." The entire group of kids snapped into a perfect line, walking calmly, to avoid having to spend hours listening to the goat spirit's poetry.

So we have now reached the end of CoLu Week and I just wanted to say that I had a blast writing for it. To Eien no Touko, gemNika, and Dragon'sHost...I want to thank you for such amazing reviews since you're all such fantastic writers! I made this chapter longer than the rest to celebrate the end of the week and to give a bit of back stories of the journey that the couple have faced in my 'verse. Thank you, everyone who followed and favorited this story, it means a lot to me since I love writing but get so nervous about posting my work. See ya'll around!