~ALLLLLLLLRIGHTY THEN, so here's the next one. Next chappie is finally going to be vacation time and I'm so excited! I've actually been working on a funky little blurb that's a sort of fantasy AU with Lucy and the Pradesh fam but I haven't decided the pairing yet. It's been fun to work on here and there.

I hope you like this one though!~

Lucy hiked the toddler resting on her hip higher to alleviate some of aching in her back as she tried to soothe the attendant assigned to her family's every whim for the rest of their trip into Bosco. Wearing a shiny new nametag to let the Fairy Tail mage know this poor girl was more than likely new, she really felt for the poor girl trying and failing to keep her eyes focused on Lucy amongst the mania surrounding them. Unfortunately for the whole of passengers taking the train they were supposed to still be on, there had been a landslide blocking the tracks so the train portion of the trip had to be cut short in order to take a different boat from further up the coast of Fiore to a different port than planned inside Bosco's borders. Lucy understood the forces of nature had no schedules to follow but the poor slight woman in a haggard uniform looked like she was about to hyperventilate herself right into some serious medical problems when she had gently informed her they had eight young children all below the age of 8. It only got worse for the attendant when Lucy casually turned to ask the most sensitive of her mates if he was feeling better now that they were at least off the train. The woman had immediately asked if Natsu needed professional medical attention before Gajeel not-so-gracefully butted in and made fun of him for being a sad excuse of a dragon even though he also remained mostly useless for the majority of the trip.

The attendant's eyes went wide as the mention of dragons before the pieces finally clicked in her mind. The reservation might have been under Bickslow's last name but the family standing in front of her was not the accomplished Pradesh family filled with honorable Boscan men and women. Looking at the beautiful blonde woman with lingering dread before panning over to the pink-haired male trying his best to become a cape over her shoulders then up to meet the ruby-golden gaze of one the most terrifying mages in Fiore before Laxus finally exited the office of the busy port with Bickslow and a horde of lovely mismatched children that looked more like a modge podge of daycare goers than a family, the attendant started to really regret taking the extra hours despite needing the rent money. Attending to the conglomerate that was Fairy Tail's first family wasn't really the way she wanted to spend what was supposed to be her day off. They were basically royalty as far as magic families in Fiore were concerned. And they very infamously boasted a large number of dragon slayers in the form of little kids. She had no idea how to handle kids or dragons, let alone dragon kids.

Lucy watched the poor girl's eyes as they hit dangerous levels of bulging out of the socket they were meant to stay firmly inside of before the grey of her eyes dulled and she started up mildly hysterical mumbling under her breath about only wanting some extra cash to play with for once. Lucy felt horrible on the premise that she absolutely understood what it was like to say yes to a job to make sure the bills were paid only to get roped into something that usually wasn't worth the time or the supposed reward. She desperately wanted to make sure her family was well-behaved even though they were a bunch of overpowered lizards and a whole slew of toddlers. Some of them were just regular children after all. Magical children, sure, but that wasn't so out of place for a guild family. They could at least behave enough to not have any of the employee's want to quit their job at the end of the day.

Shooting each of her mates a glare to get the motivation they need to get away from the overwhelmed woman and do something productive like actually help Laxus with the rest of the kids, Lucy reached her free hand out as Iggy shifted from one cheek to the other on her shoulder to add his own piercing gaze in the mix of things stressing the woman trying and horribly failing to calm down, out. The celestial mage tried her best to reassure that they wouldn't be as much trouble as she seemed to think they were going to be. Which wasn't exactly a lie. Lucy had been wrangling dragons for years all by herself.

They even had Bickslow there for the trip. It made the child to adult ratio pretty even. Ji'ku had been invited to come along but the Leech mage insisted she stay at the guild and the rest of their guildmates were preoccupied with their own growing families. It wasn't so bad anyway since Bickslow seemed to be having no trouble keeping Jaxon and Majime utterly interested in his babies as they twisted and put on a show right on the sidewalk while Natsu and Layla took turns headbutting each other with toothy smiles ripped across their faces to pull worried looks from other people passing by. Granted, it was a pretty weird occurrence for those who didn't live in the home they did.

While Lucy worked her own form of magic, Laxus shook his head at the two fire dragons before turning to watch Raiden and Rohan each take one of Ukiyo's hands in their own with a crooked smile peeled across his own face because he knew the only reason they were hovering over their baby sister was to keep her safe from any strangers. Rohan was slightly better at masking his low growls than his brother but Raiden had taken up the stance that strength was something you proved from the get-go with a temperament more like a mash-up of Natsu and Gajeel's own assertive and combative natures. Rohan had more of a 'carry a big stick' method and his silence was all he needed when the concentrated steam from his magic seeped from his nostrils in ways more menacing than growls and glares ever could. They made for a hilarious pair of seven years olds walking their angelic baby sister into the grass. Ukiyo was content to be with her big brothers.

Gajeel was more than content to keep the gilded ruby of his own eyes scanning through the crowds of people for anyone that looked suspicious as he scared away everyone brave enough to approach the pretty blonde mom or any of her adorable kids. He might have learned to tolerate people over the years but nothing made him okay with strangers asking to pick his kids up especially when they went out of their way to ask Lucy and looked about three steps passed creepy. There were only two of the hatchlings who would even consider letting a stranger pick them up. Jaxon was busy trying to keep his sister from disappearing in the trees and Ukiyo was in no position to be picked up right now. Depending on the day, Kaio might let someone pick her up but only if they were pretty like her. It was a very bizarre stipulation that she made very obvious any time anyone made towards her.

The younger of the twin girls was currently standing next to Gajeel, mirroring his imposing stature with arms crossed over the chest, scowl in place and daggers shooting from her own judgemental gaze. Kaio was having a hard time thinking about anything except how much she hated being stuck next to Layla for the longest trip of her short life. It was her way of throwing a tantrum since she wasn't allowed any dramatics about it according to her parents but the silent protest was keeping her quiet and relatively calm so no one was willing to do anything about it for now. The kids drew straws and Layla got her sister as an exit buddy. Layla happened to have gotten her stomach from her father which meant of all the dragons, the young Fire slayer had the hardest time with forms of transportation even after the troia Wendy cast on them all before they left. Kaio spent the whole ride shrieking about her sister throwing up on her even though Layla just wanted to use the little Celestial mage as a pillow so she could sleep and had no indications that puke was even going to be something Kaio was going to wear at any point.

The sweet tone of Lucy's voice drew the attendant's attention back to the devil child boring holes into her head with sharp silver eyes before she flinched back and sank into the warm honey of the insane woman with eight children to be reassured as much as the heat from the hand on her shoulder did. "Oh, don't worry about us. As long as we have a room big enough to sleep us all, we'll be fine." Lucy stopped to consider as she placed a soft kiss into the bright red of Iggy's hair before reconsidering once again with a quirk to her lip. "We'll probably end up in a dog pile honestly."

Taking a cautious glance back down at the devil baby before blinking a few times and taking a deep breath in, the attendant tried to get her thoughts together as best she could manage. "I think-," her throat made soft squeaking noise as her eyes shot back to Lucy's with a fake smile plastered across her face, "...maybe I can find something with three, maybe four beds if one of the couches is a sleeper."

The smile didn't hide the sweat beading at her hairline but Lucy returned the effort with a grin of her own before bouncing the redhead in her arms and whispering down to him loud enough that anyone within earshot could still hear her light-hearted words of encouragement. "Hear that, Iggy? We're gonna have so much fun! It'll be like an adventure on the water."

Iggy remained unconvinced that the woman in front of her would be any kind of helpful as was obvious by the way he remained glaring at her. The toddler was succeeding in making a grown adult nervous enough that she had taken an actual step back from Lucy.

Since Laxus wasn't quite as oblivious as the rest of his family was, he stepped behind his mate and placed a heavy hand on Iggy's head to force the small child to stop making the trembling woman uncomfortable even though all it did was pull the ire up towards himself. "The faster you get us on the boat, the faster you'll get this over with. Just get us the biggest room with the least amount of shit around us. We're gonna be loud and we're gonna eat a lot."

Igneous tried to get the massive lightning slayer to get his hand off him with little hope of it budging. He was just pushing up on the thumb and ring finger with one in each of his little hands as Laxus gave the attendant a look that said 'run before someone gets cranky'. It was a gamble for who it would be. Maybe it would be Laxus or maybe it would be the small bundle of hatred currently taking up residence in his mom's arms.

The attendant nodded her head and took the silent advice with a quick bow before practically sprinting away to try and work everything out in the next hour.

He would hate to have her job. The whole of their brood was a circus on the best of days.

As the little Diamond mage struggled under the weight of his hand, his voice remained even as he listened to make sure the boys weren't taking their protection duty too seriously. "What are we gonna do on a boat for a week?"

A valid point since they were originally supposed to only have a day trip for a boat ride and now they'd be enduring five days and six nights on the only boat they could find for the passengers trying to get over the border into Bosco. It was a damn nice boat since the massive liner was made as a way for wealthy businesses to meet with Boscan representatives but anything made for business meetings wasn't going to keep eight children preoccupied for any amount of time. Unless you counted bumper cars with rolling office chairs but that was just asking for a head injury and a burnt piece of furniture.

Thinking it over as Lucy dipped Igneous out from under Laxus's grip to keep her son happy, she pinched her mate's butt with an innocent smile on her face as a means of retaliation for Iggy's bruised pride. His eyes slid down over her face with another of his own smiles that stayed on the cusp of amused before sighing and ducking down to give the grumpy child's head of red hair a ruffle.

The humor in her voice only made him shake his head at her playful sarcasm. "We've been keeping them entertained for this long. I'm sure we can do it for a little longer."

Before Laxus and his mate could have any more fun with the exchange, gruff tones caught their attention and Lucy listened in to see if everything was okay with Gaj and Kaio.

"Oi." Gajeel's rough voice aimed at the child still posted at his side was harsh not in any way that was meant to be hurtful or scary. "Quit your mopin'."

Laxus and Lucy shared a knowing look over the oldest of the triplet's head. Either this would go incredibly well or Kaio would make a scene in the middle of the crowded port. It was a gamble only Gajeel would make since he rarely tolerated the banshee shrieks that emerged from the girl when she got worked up.

He had finally acknowledged Kaio with a lazy draw that nearly made Lucy roll her eyes. Neither of the two had moved from their hard stance. Kaio still stared forward and Gajeel still acted as on-duty guard dog but somehow, it seemed to make the younger Celestial mage relax just enough that Laxus and Lucy could tell she wasn't going to throw herself like she had a habit of doing. An audible exhale of relief swept through them to further ruffle Igneous's wily hair and pull an annoyed huff from the boy who just wanted to eat and fall asleep.

Kaio's chest raised as she took in a deep breath like the weight of the world was resting on her little four-year-old shoulders before throwing her arms out emphatically towards the bench that held both Fire slayers as they rubbed their foreheads and rested their heads backward on the bench. "Sissy's mean when she doesn't feel good and I'm not s'posed to be mean back. It's not fair."

"Tch, you think life's fair, angel?" The teasing tone of his voice went right over her head as she nodded so hard the green ribbons holding her pigtails loosened.

Instead of bursting a bubble of innocence for the four-year-old, Gajeel offered the flat of his palm to Kaio. It was an offering that nearly all of the kids recognized with joyful excitement. Her honeyed eyes went wide with that same joyous recognition as she laced her own fingers together and laid them over his palm because it meant her papa was going to lift her up and let her sit on his shoulders. Kaio particularly loved sitting on Gajeel's shoulders. He had the most hair of anyone she ever met and the little Lucy-look-alike had just learned how to braid and would happily spend the next hour at least twisting and knotting the length of long raven locks in peace without mention of her sister or the rest of the trip. The Iron slayer would have to spend the next two hours afterward trying to untangle her masterpiece but it was a small price to pay if it meant she was happy. The risk of meltdowns was already too high as it was given their current predicament.

The instant she was secured on his shoulders, her fingers dove into the silky depths of hair and Lucy caught the corner of a frown on the Iron slayer's lips for what he was subjecting his poor hair to before Kaio started talking a mile a minute about how pretty his hair was when she braided it before educating him on all the different hairstyles the cool princesses had.

Lucy really had to hand it to him. Of all the kids, Kaio was the hardest for him to talk to since she was girly and had extremely hard opinions on literally everything but they had an easy relationship that consisted of the little girl spouting all her thoughts while he just listened. She knew it meant a lot to their daughter since the only one who usually just let her talk was Jaxon. It made her cheeks warm with pride since it took Gajeel the longest to realize just how different girls were after having three hilariously easy boys. Ro and Rai didn't feel that way at first but when they had Layla and Kaio, all of them realized just how nice they had it between the twins and Jaxon as the three oldest siblings.

"Mama! Mama look at Muu! Uncle Bixy says he's the best flipper but look!" One little hand pointed up to the totems floating mid-air.

Pulled from the sweet exchange between her mate and Kaio, Lucy turned her head toward the source of Jaxon's excited voice. He had the triplet who looked like a mini-Gajeel, iron studs at the end of her sharp brows and all, sitting in between his legs as they found the one patch of grass on the whole dock to watch Bickslow and his babies put on a little trapeze show. Majime was completely fascinated with the tumbling and turning totems and took to reaching her own hands out to try and catch them despite being far out of reach.

She let him know she'd be right over before giving Laxus a playful glare telling him to remain on his best behavior before walking passed him to sit down next to Jax in grass. Before she could make it there, Laxus gave her ass a smack to earn a half-hearted smack to his chest from Lucy and a whole-hearted glare from Iggy for the Lightning mage 'hurting' his mama.

Laxus poked the middle of the boy's forehead from behind his mates back to have the little boy bare his pointed teeth at him with little remorse. It never failed to impress Laxus that despite not having an ounce of dragon slaying magic in his body, Igneous had all the mannerisms of an actual dragon. Including Layla and the twins, he was most animalistic and remained so with ease. It pulled a smile from the blond slayer that beamed with pride that most of their kids had the confidence to stand up for themselves. It made him stifle laughter to think about just how protective they all were of their mom though. Lucy would rip someone apart before anyone had the chance to hurt any of them and they felt the same way about her. It was almost as if they learned it from the way all her mates and the guild acted the same way.

As if to prove his own point, the instant Lucy sat down was like a beacon to the tired troop of children who had already spent nearly a week cooped up in a train cabin already. Moths to the flame that was their mother's warmth, Raiden and Rohan lead their youngest sister over so Raiden could sit right smack in Lucy's lap while Ukiyo sat in his lap and Rohan pulled his mom's arm over his shoulder so he could hold her hand in his lap beside his brother. Natsu easily carried Layla over upside down before flipping her over and sandwiching the little pink-haired girl between his chest and Lucy's back as he sat with his legs wide on either side of his mate to cage she and the kids in. Both Fire slayers let out tired breaths as they both inhaled the soothing scent that naturally surrounded Lucy and put them at ease.

She couldn't help but think about how her leg was going to eventually go numb with the way Rohan's elbow was digging into her thigh or how Iggy was already drooling all over her shoulder in his sleep but the corner of her lips still quirked up as she soaked in the feeling of belonging and steady reassurance that this was exactly where she was meant to be. No matter how trying or difficult things were, she would always find peace right here. Between their lessons and the guild work, they had been having a hell of a time finding time for all of them to be together and they rarely were all in decent enough moods without someone complaining about being hungry or dirty or bored.

Laxus was more distracted by the deep rumble of purrs coming from beside him as Kaio giggled under breath because of all her papas, it was the funniest when Gajeel purred. The little girl absolutely loved it when they purred. For a very long time, she was convinced they were all actually big cats. This was the most offensive to Gajeel considering he was a big powerful dragon slayer and he did not purr like a kitten.

Before Laxus could get the smartass comment from the tip of his tongue, Gajeel had already snapped out to cut it off. "Shut the hell up, lightning rod."

Kaio took the opportunity to mimic one of her mom's usual moves and gave his cheek a pat before ducking her head and whispering in his ear. "I won't tell mommy you said a bad word, papa."

Knowing there was nothing given freely by the little manipulator, he turned his head to look up at the smiley blonde with skepticism. "Oh yeah? What'll it cost me?"

"You can sit by sissy now." Satisfied with herself, she kissed the side of his head before leaning back to continue her masterpiece of black hair and braids.

He scoffed to no one in particular as he turned his attention back to the streams of people running around trying to find the right dock or where their luggage had gotten to. "The little fire goblin is nothin' to be scared of."

The implication that she was afraid of Layla offended Kaio enough that her fingers stalled for just a beat before firmly speaking to the Iron slayer. "I'm not a'scared of sissy."

"Then why can't ya handle somethin' easy like sittin' by her?"

Affronted and attacked now, her words were clipped. "I can do it. I just don't want to."

"I don't know. Ya seem pretty chickenshit to me…" He was purposefully making the huffy blonde riled at this point. It was working flawlessly and soon his cuss word was forgotten and Kaio would have to sit with her sister out of sheer pride.

Her grip tightened on his hair for a flash of pain before she actually huffed out and spoke with an air of haughty confidence. "I'm gonna sit by her and you're gonna see. I'm not a'scared. I'm just like daddy."

In the grand scheme of a three-dad dynamic, daddy usually referred to Laxus, papa was usually attached Gajeel or Natsu while dad was used for anyone of them at any given moment. It never failed to make Gajeel laugh that the kids called Laxus daddy. He was just twisted like that at his very core.

Given the stubborn look on Kaio's face, it took far more for him to keep his laughter trapped in his chest for fear of actually upsetting the drama queen on his shoulders and ruining his careful steps out of the weird funk that dwelled over her head.

While the pair tried to keep everything civil, Bickslow walked up behind his best friend and draped his arm over his shoulders with a beaming smile on his face since Majime had moved to squeeze herself between Natsu and Layla and no longer needed distracting. After a hard few months of taking jobs and running himself into the ground, the Seith was ecstatic about taking a trip home. His dad was surprised, to say the least with his son's request to stay with him for the entirety of his stay home. The last time he had been home to visit, it was to make sure Laxus wouldn't be homeless when he was kicked out of the guild. This time he was bringing eight kids, the majority of a brood and a bonafide dievinu. It was more than Arman could have hoped for with the way his own kids had been busy with their own responsibilities and far too old for him to coddle. It didn't prevent him from doing so when they came home but having young ones in his home again was a literal dream come true. After Laxus came to stay, he more than thought of Fairy Tail's current guildmaster as one of his own. He made it a point to say to Bickslow that he was happy with god-grandchildren since he didn't have any grandchildren of his own to spoil. Bickslow hung up the phone after the not-so-subtle dig at his single status.

Despite his own lack of success in the arts of long-term love, Bickslow fed off the family dynamic of his favorite dragon nest. He liked to think he had something to do with shoving his emotionally stunted best friend in the right direction even though he had done absolutely nothing but hit on Lucy up until the moment she walked out of the guild wearing his jacket. He liked to delude himself in the manners of matchmaking and rub it in Mira's face and being around all the kids made him think of his own happy memories from a Boscan childhood surrounded by siblings.

His voice was laced with amusement as he and Laxus took in the pile of people on top of Lucy as she smiled and listened to everything her kids had to say. "I have to call dad to let him know there's a change in plan."

Because Bickslow should have already done that, Laxus gave the Seith a friendly little zap to get him off his persons and away from himself. Not that he didn't want to talk to Arman, Laxus just hated being on the comm no matter who was on the other end. He also knew that Bickslow would somehow turn the conversation back around to focus on him and his kids instead of reassuring his own dad that he wasn't going to die alone. "Probably, yeah."

Filled with flair and far too much energy than someone should be for their age after the train ride from hell, the Seith sulked with impressive drama that rivaled Kaio's particular flair for it. "He's going to blame me for the rocks on the tracks."

"Pretty sure he can't blame you for that. Bad taste wouldn't make the mountain fall apart, no matter how fucking terrible yours is."

"I'm wounded. You wound me, man." Bickslow had clutched his chest as he faked his own offense.

Laxus's arms crossed over his chest as a way to tell the blue-haired idiot that he wasn't convinced. "If only it were that easy."

The cackle that left Bickslow was only slightly subdued after years of maturing before he slinked away to give Arman Pradesh a much needed call.

Laxus shook his head as the fleeting hope that his best friend would settle down and quit pretending he wouldn't make a great father and partner for someone else flickered and faded once again. For a moment, he thought maybe Ji'ku would be a good fit but Bickslow intimidated the hell out the poor sheltered girl and rendered her mute when he entered the room. After many years of being around each other at the guild, she still barely spoke more than pleasantries with the Seith playboy. A few trists with Levy were normal here and there but she was far too involved with teaching the growing number of kids at the guild now to really think about any relationship remotely serious. Somewhere there was someone patient enough to deal with Bickslow's fear of commitment but there was a nagging feeling in the back of Laxus's brain that he wouldn't find that person in Bosco. It was the birthplace of one-night stands and casual, comfy sexual encounters.

Either way, he was too busy with star-powered dragons and counting heads to really worry about Bickslow's love life right now. Walking back to where Gajeel and Kaio had wandered over to the bench next to their mate and the pile of hatchlings scattered around her, Laxus just hoped they made to Bosco sooner rather than later. He was really tired of walking kids to and from bathrooms every five minutes.

Four hours and a few choice words from Lucy to the man stupid enough to make a joke about the mismatched children trailing behind her, they had finally settled into the room on one of the ships heading to Bosco. Before any of the mages lacking dragon souls could complain about how Lucy needed to stay with those who did have draconic souls, the Celestial mage asked Cetus and Leo to come out to take whoever wanted to walk around the deck out of the room to burn off some excited energy until she could get the dragons of her family comfortable on their sea legs. Ato and Saki had easily invited themselves and followed the Sea Serpent and Lion spirits to keep Kaio and Jaxon from wandering anywhere they shouldn't be while Iggy made himself comfortable on Cetus's back and Ukiyo and Majime took Loke's hands in their own. Ukiyo carried Bubbles in her free arm while Majime tried to match her footsteps with Loke's as they all meandered out of what basically equated to a meeting room with futons spread all around.

Raiden and Rohan had curled up in their dad's laps on one of the couches as the two dragon slayers fought their own sleep thanks to the way Wendy's troia soothed the sickness into a heavy sense of relaxation. A short crop of feathery blond hair rested on the broad expanse of Laxus's chest as his face remained buried in the fur of his dad's coat while Rohan had kind of smooshed himself into the crook of Gajeel's arm with his feet hanging off the end of his knees. Just like when they were babies, the twins favored the closeness of cuddling to the sprawled snoring of their younger sister. Layla took up most of the futon she was currently attempting to share with Natsu. He wasn't asleep like his daughter was though. He wouldn't be able to sleep until he was sure the little fireface wouldn't wake up. It wouldn't take much longer but she had this habit of jolting awake if anyone left the room when she was even slightly conscious. When Lucy asked her about it, the young fire slayer just told her mom that the room didn't smell right if someone left and she had to get used to it all over again. Thankfully Kaio slept like a rock or they would have far more trouble with the more than weird quirk than they did.

Lucy was leaned over the back of the couch that held her two oldest mates with her fingers running through their hair. It had taken a good bit of time for her to undo the beautiful braids Kaio had given Gajeel but now that his mane was free of tangles, it slipped through her hands like silk. A habit that made both parties sigh from the comfort it brought.

They would need all the comfort they could get. It was going to be a very long week on the ship since, by the end of it, there would be no troia to buffer the dragons away from the misery of their own souls but the instant they landed, Arman would be there to greet them. They would be whisked away to vacation land and could all just breathe for a minute. If the kids still had energy—which they would— Lucy and Bickslow would still be mostly sane. They could manage the rest of the brood while the dragons recuperated. It's just a matter of making it until then. Five days and six nights. It was all the travelling that was left.

Mama bear was nervous only because they would be spending a huge chunk of the trip trying to find Draco, the spirit of the dragon constellation itself. It wasn't like she was scared for Jaxon or worried about the time it would take. Spirits were rarely malicious despite some of the circumstances that brought her and her spirits together in the past. No, she was nervous because out of all of the Celestial mages on Earthland, a spirit that hasn't been seen or heard of for centuries wants her son to meet with him. Those sorts of meetings usually didn't end in ways that kept things easy for anyone involved and Jaxon was still just a baby. He was her baby. Sweet and sensitive. She didn't want anything to ruin the wonderful temperament of her first born Celestial mage.

All she could do was keep positive and check-in with Loke to see if he had noticed anything out of the ordinary in the spirit world until they actually met Draco. Something that made the butterflies in her stomach cause to flutter and frolic without a second thought.

~I actually have a couple little one-shots that are more or less ready for reading. A Lucy/Cristoff coffeeshop pairing, the VanLu singer rewrite and HALF of a chappie that pairs with Cabin in the woods. It's just been a weird few weeks as far writing goes but I'm still here and not dead. So that's pretty cool.

Love and cookies to y'all and THANK YOU for being patient and amazing!~