Firelight **DISCONTINUED**

Bring me home

The next couple of days were a blur with Natsu being as sick as he was. He couldn't get up without turning green in the face, but what was worse was Lisanna ended up having to deal with her older siblings. I ended up telling her siblings about her problem and it turned out that the man who was threatening her was all talk with no promise of what he would do. 

Even still, we made sure that Lisanna wasn't alone for long. Today Wendy went with Lisanna and me to have a relaxing day, Natsu had something to do even though he is still sick. I was becoming very concerned for his health with how long he was sick for since dragon slayers don't stay sick for long, but he had Erza kick me out of the guild with these two. 

While we walked around the town I kept looking around the trees with a longing look in my eyes whenever I saw a mother bird feed her young. Lisanna and Wendy had been talking about anything and everything while we walked, but I just wasn't feeling into interacting today. 

Layla looked at her husband with loving brown eyes, her hand on her pregnant belly. The two had just bought their home that they will raise their daughter in just that evening. Jude smirked down at the short woman in the fitting lilac dress, he bent down and kissed her belly before he swooped his wife in his arms before taking her to the living room. There was a fire going on, maids made their rounds of getting everything that their bosses asked of them.

"What do you think Lucky Lucy," he asked with a gentle town in his deep voice.  He would do anything for his baby. Lucy will have only the best of the best and nothing less. With how rich he had become in the last year made him feel most accomplished. 

Layla giggled as her hand flew to her lips- as if to quiet her giggles, "you're a goof." 

Jude smiled wide at Layla with  loving hazel eyes, "I can't wait for her to come home to us." 

At the exact moment, Layla felt liquid flow down her legs, "dear, you won't have to wait long. The baby is coming!" 

I looked at Wendy holding a baby girl in her arms, the baby looked to have a cut on her cheek. Wendy took action quickly so that the baby won't get an infection from the fresh wound. At first, I noticed, the mother was frantically trying to prevent Wendy to touch her baby but allowed it when she saw that Wendy was only healing her child. It was a tender moment, but I couldn't be here anymore. Not when it's my mother's birthday. 

My feet took me away from the streets and into the forest as tears fell down my cheeks. I miss my mother so much that it physically hurts, it burns. The feeling was like a fiery hand was grabbing ahold of my chest before it began to slowly clutch where my heart was at. Breathing became something of a challenge. 

Layla took slow and deep breathes as she had been in labor for only a few minutes before panic began. Today was her birthday, but she was going into labor and she had no idea how long she would be in labor for. Jude had taken off the moment she announced that she was in labor to get the midwife. Luckily for Layla, her soon-to-be lady-in-waiting had come in the room at that moment and helped her into the bedroom. 

The green-haired woman had gotten Layla into bed with the lightest feeling nightgown she found, it was just a bonus that the color was a dark blue so the stains won't be too bad. 

"Stacy," Grammi called out, "get some fresh linen and some hot water." 

Stacy was a dark-haired teen who was squeamish to blood or others being in pain. She ran out and got what Grammi would need. The midwife had come in the room and would ask for some supplies, and Grammi would retrieve the items needed. 

Layla was in labor for a total of fifty-two hours before Lucy was born. It was love at first sight and touch for the new mother, but she was too exhausted to stay awake for much longer before she fell asleep. 

I watched as the sky darkened enough to show the stars in space. It has been close to eight years now since mom had died. Being without a mother or a mother figure for this long is something I never once I had to think about when I was a child. When I was a child I remember that I thought my mother would never die, but then she got ill when I was seven tearing those thoughts away. 

Happy birthday newly seven-year-old me, happy damn birthday. 

Tears seem to fall down my cheeks like a river, but I couldn't feel it unless a tear fell back in my eye. The irritation from it helped me feel something, even if it was for a moment. My senses were almost nonexistent, everything is dull. Faintly I could hear snapping twigs coming closer, but I did nothing other than stare at the dark sky with tears falling to the ground. 

"What are you doing out here," Natsu said gruffly. I wanted to respond, but my brain wouldn't cooperate with me and kept me quiet. Arms scooped me up and began to bring me back towards town. "We are going home."

Home? What makes a home a home? Was it a place to call your own? A place where you can be yourself around? Is it cold and lonely? 

"What is home," I mumbled incoherently. 

Natsu looked down at me with a saddened look in his dark onyx eyes, his flames reflected in his eyes making them look much warmer and livelier than normal. "For me, home is where I can relax and not have to worry about being abandoned." Natsu was quiet for a bit before his hold on me tightened, "now that I think about it, home is where ever you're at." 

Warmth seeped into my body when I hugged Natsu as more tears fell from my eyes. I never felt so needed or wanted in such a long time I never knew I needed someone to tell me that they felt at home with me around. 

"Take me home, Natsu." 

He didn't need to be told twice as he ran at break-neck speed to a clearing not far from the guild- maybe fifteen minutes away walking. The house was like something from a fairy tale. It was a two-story building made out of wood- vines hung off of the roof and fell down the sides. Windows were in every room making the place feel more open, the curtains were all dark brown lace that hung at the sides of the windows themselves. 

"Happy thought you would like this place," Natsu said as he sat on the couch in the living room. "I found this place not long after Happy was born, been living here since then. Being engaged to you made me want to fix it up a bit." 

"It's perfect," I breathed, "it feels like home." I walked to Natsu to sit by him so my head laid on his shoulder, "especially since I get to share it with you and Happy. You both make it much livelier than I ever could all by myself." 

***So I had recently watched the Satsuriku no Tenshi (Angels of Death) anime and fell in love with it. I really recommend it if you haven't seen it. It is a horror genre and I personally found it funny in some parts. It was based on the game of the same name and has the same storyline, but it is only sixteen episodes. Please give it a try, I think 80% of you would like it.***