Thorn in his Side

S-Class Trials - Lucy vs Mard Geer

Reminder, I'm doing time skips in the story now, since I have decades to go through yet. This is about 2.5 years after the last chapter.

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Last day of the trials, and Lucy was grateful it was almost over. She missed her family. From Scimi and Mard being half asleep in the mornings around the kitchen table. To Haladie full of energy and smiles and Rammie happily sitting on the counter wanting mama's attention and pancake batter. The time seemed to get away from her. Felt like just yesterday she had the twins and now they were three. Scimi had adapted to human schools and was top of her class, though she'll never win Miss Congeniality.

After the ceremony funeral in the Celestial Realm, Mard had decided to live in their Magnolia house and he would only visit the Underworld once a month. Lucy didn't understand it at first until he told her what he saw happen in Haladie's eyes that day. He didn't want to risk stifling her magic by being in the Underworld. They made the decision that when Haladie's magic shows up they will re-evaluate the decision.

Though if Lucy was honest with herself, they both seemed happier living in Earth Land. Mard was much more relaxed on a day-to-day basis, Scimi was over her Princess phase and smiled a little more often, the twins were doing wonderfully, and Lucy had her friends and guild.

Fairy Tail had changed much in the last few years, mostly as mages got older and settled down. Natsu and Meredy had four kids and she was pregnant again. Lucy asked if they planned to stop, Meredy said no and Natsu said he already wanted to after Junior threw his first fireball. In her house it was reversed, Mard wanted more demonlings and Lucy, well she was done after the twins.

Laxus and Cana had a little girl and Levy and Jackal wound up working through their issues and just welcomed their first son. Which reminded Lucy that in two weeks would be little Mardie's dedication ceremony. She thought it adorable that both new parents wanted to name their son after Mard, and he was completely touched. Until Jackal called him Grandpa, then all hell broke loose.

She chuckled as she unzipped her pink sleeping bag and rolled out of it. Lucy looked out over at the ocean, watching the early morning sunlight play off the blue green waters. It reminded her of Aquarius, and she looked up at the sky for a moment with a heavy heart.

Despite everything, they hadn't been able to find a new key for the mermaid spirit. Mard had taken some risky S-Class missions, in the hopes of finding the key or tracking down ancient information on it. Merlin couldn't help, saying that the key will respawn when it's ready and not a minute beforehand. The only times Lucy had seen her old friend was when she visited the Celestial Realm.

"Mom, I'm here. Final day of the trial. I hope you're proud of me." She whispered as she knelt into the soft white sand and started rolling up her bag.

As Lucy tidied up her mini campsite and mentally prepared for the last trial, she heard splashing in the water. She looked up and saw a pod of dolphins leaping through the air causing little droplets of water to cascade like gems in the light. Lucy smiled as she heard their chirps and sat on her heels, watching them move with grace. To her this felt like Aquarius and her mother were wishing her luck.

Her quiet few minutes of watching the pod at play was broken when she heard a "good morning."

Lucy looked over her shoulder and saw Laxus walking towards her. This year he oversaw the S-Class Trials, under Gramps's supervision, of course. He was wearing a blue tropical print shirt and khaki board shorts. Least he didn't put socks on with his brown sandals.

"Morning, Laxus," she said with a smile.

"How did ya sleep?" he asked as he took a seat down next to her, carefully holding his tin cup of coffee.