"Happy Birthday, dear Lilly," she sang, "Happy Birthday to you..."

"Now what do I do?"

"You blow out the candles?"

"But they're so pretty..."

"Well the wax is gonna melt–and you make a wish when you blow them out, so..."

"Okay..." Lilly took a deep breath and blew, and out the candles went. "I wished for longer lasting candles..."

"Well, okay then," Marigold sighed, "who wants cake?"

She turned to the window to see all the Dragneels standing outside with noisemakers and party hats, all clapping with masks over their faces as they tried to celebrate from outside.

"I wanna slice!" Nashi announced, throwing her arm up in the air and waving it around desperately.

"Okay, okay," Marigold put her mask on and a pair of gloves, cutting a piece of cake and putting it on a plate where Lucy (who was also all wrapped up) delivered it to the outdoor guests.

Everyone was trying to be joyous on this occasion, but it was difficult when all the Dragneels were quarantined away from Marigold, all but Liddan.

He joined the rest of Marigold and her family, who'd joined everyone in their return to Magnolia to stay for a few weeks. Unfortunately, Lilly's birthday was not the cause of this.

"I don't see why you're being so precautious, it's not like you're carrying the disease or something," Liddan said, watching as Marigold viciously washed her hands after almost every move.

"What? I'm just being careful–we don't know how this thing works and I'm not getting your family sick–or–" Marigold paused as she looked Liddan up and down. In the weeks before, he had made it painfully clear that he had no intention of being away from Marigold from then on.

He promised to be with her, "ride or die", and that included quarantining with her as they figured out what this horrible plague was really about.

To join them was Marigold's family, her parents Ceasar and Rosemary, as well as her brother Coladome and his wife Sabrina (with their young son Atticus). They were all allowed inside the quarantine, most humans were, but not anyone with a drop of demon blood. Thus, the Dragneels all stayed outside.

A few others joined the party as inside guests, Sylvie, Gajeel, Molly and Lillian. The event was definitely busy and crowded, but somehow incredibly quiet. Perhaps that was because the loudest guests were all pushed outside, but regardless, it was an odd party.

"This is some good cake," Sylvie sighed, nodding her head in approval. "Oh my gosh...oh my gosh...yes..."

"Geez, eat it don't make love to it," Marigold whispered, threatening to pull the plate from her hands.

It was a wonder Sylvie was even there. Just a few weeks prior she'd had a particularly rough delivery and even if it weren't so complicated, her newborn baby was a go to excuse for missing events such as this. However, she insisted, as did Gajeel who was still recovering from his own medical crisis.

Both were relegated to the couch, all squinting and grunting at any loud noise as they watched the party unfold.

Gajeel picked at his cake, grunting, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"You need some water?" Marigold asked. "Levy said you weren't eating so well, do you need something?"

"Nah kiddo, I'm fine, but I'll let ya know," he nodded, nudging her playfully with his fist as she walked away. At that moment, he locked eyes with Caesar, who seemed rather annoyed by this occurrence. He whispered to Sylvie, the only other person in the inside party he knew very well, and asked, "Is Marigold's dad giving me the stink eye?"

"Maybe he's threatened by you, because you filled in some fatherly void why he was off not remembering he had a daughter–oh my gosh I wanna have sex with this cake–"

"You need to stop that–we're at a child's birthday party!" Gajeel grunted, shutting his eyes in discomfort. "Also–I'm your father-in-law! There are multiple levels of wrong here!"

Across the room, Rosemary kicked Ceasar for staring at Gajeel, reminding him, "You're being weird, stop it."

"Sorry," he turned back to Marigold, who was still busy trying to entertain her guests. "Mari, honey, you did a good job making this weird party a great one."

"Thank you," Marigold said, finding the "weird party" comment was a bit backhanded. "Christmas is just around the corner too, I wanted to do something big since it's Lilly's first real Christmas."

"Oh, I wish we could stay," Rosemary sighed, "I'd love to see her first Christmas, but we can't stay away from the farm too long. We've already missed the end of harvest season."

"It's hard being so far away," Caesar said, "we just gotcha back and now we're missin' ya again."

"It almost feels like it's worth it though," Coladome said with a shrug, "I mean, it feels like everyone's out on this side of Fiore. Now Basil's here too, maybe for good now."

"For good?" Sabrina scoffed, the little baby Atticus in her lap, "Not if I can help it. Oh good for him, his birth parents are alive, that doesn't mean he can go ditching me for them. Who am I gonna talk to, Chase? This baby? As if!"

"Right," Marigold crossed her arms, "Chase, does he remember me?"

"I don't think so," Coladome said, dropping his voice, "but because we were all talking about you he started to pretend he remembered you all of the sudden. I think we accidentally gaslit him into thinking he remembered you..."

"Oh gosh, that can't be good," Marigold said, her face twisting with pity and guilt. She shrugged it off, "I'm surprised he can't remember me, I mean, I did see him once at the train station."

"Yeah, sure, one passive 'hey' at a train station should knock some sense into him," Sabrina scoffed, "meanwhile, diddling your own husband won't get him to remember you–"

"WHOA–" All the Pollen's cooed at once, all cringing at Sabrina's harsh words. Coladome quickly snatched the baby from her lap. "Okay, okay, don't want our son's first words to be diddle Nor do I want to normalize the use of the word diddle because it's gross and if you're gonna talk about s-e-x use better euphemisms!"

"Why are you talking about sex?" Lilly said, suddenly arriving behind her uncle with an odd look on her face.

Coladome made a look of terror Marigold had only seen a few times in her life. She simply rolled her head down, grunting in a low tone before standing up to push Lilly away. "Well, Col, thanks for that one. Come on honey, let's go open your presents."

Lilly had received quite a few presents for her birthday, all of which confused and alienated her.

At first, when Lilly opened the box from Rosemary and Caesar, she frowned saying, "But why do I give them?" She looked up at her grandparents, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.

"You don't give them anything, honey, it's your birthday," Marigold explained. "They're presents!"

"So I don't have to give anything in return?" Lilly repeated.

"Yeah, honey, it's your day."

"It's my day..."

"Oh that can't be good."

Lilly tore her presents open anxiously, now better understanding the concept of "getting", she was fully on board. Of course, she didn't quite understand what manners were, and as she went through her gifts, she would in detail explain why or why not she liked them to the giver.

"Why did they surgically remove the face of a human baby and put it on a teddy bear?" She turned to Gajeel, who had (in a rush) purchased the gift before remembering that kids birthday's want crap.

"Uh..." Gajeel scratched his head, "Like...uh...the baby was in an accident, and to save the baby they put it in the bear. And...now it has bear powers. It has the strength of a bear, the roar of a bear, it can flip tables and eat honey or somethin' like that–I dunno–it's a doll kid! You just play with it! I didn't make the thing–"

"Okay, thank you, Gajeel!" Marigold said with a tight grin on her face. "Say thank you, Lilly."

Lilly only lifted her head to ask, "Did you save the receipt?"

"That's my girl," Layla said from the outside. She, alongside the rest of the Dragneels, were forced to celebrate outside.

They all wore masks and plastic gloves, trying to figure out how to eat the cake without exposing themselves to the air.

"This sucks," Nashi groaned, "I wanna go inside! I want to see Lilly's face when she opens our present!"

Jude sat with Cinder in the tree right outside the house. "What'd you get her?"

From inside, they could hear Lilly gladly shout, "Cool! A lighter!"

"NO!" Marigold said, snatching it away instantly.

The Dragneel's tried to enjoy the party, heck, they were desperate for some kind of attention.

Considering all the children carried a demon seed in them, they weren't taking any chances of catching the Demon Plague. Lucy, being the only Dragneel who wasn't vulnerable, was the only one who could come and go from the house normally, but had to thoroughly wash herself before returning to the "pod".

However, the rest of the Dragneels couldn't go past their own front yard on most occasions, except for this party, on the condition they stayed outside away from everyone.

This might be alright if it were in the summer or even spring, but it was late November and barely 40 degrees (F).

If there were two things the Dragneel's didn't like, it was the cold and being cooped up inside all day.

"This sucks," Cinder said, also in the tree. Out of boredom, she repeatedly snapped her fingers, lighting her thumb with a little flame like a zippo. "When you said we were going to a party I thought we'd at least get to have some fun."

"It's not so bad, at least we have cake," Lucy insisted, but morale was low. She smiled, waving the plate of cake around to the others, only to find they were missing a member. "Hey, where's Nashi?"

Nashi was in the backyard, and she was not doing well.

Nashi wasn't good at quarantine, especially because she lived alone. She was told not to leave her home in danger of exposure to the plague, but she didn't manage well for very long.

After half a week she was on the verge of shaving her head after an incident where her food delivery forgot to pack ketchup and she couldn't go out to buy some, so she moved back into her childhood home until they could safely tread the world again.

So she was finding a way to enjoy the trip outside, Nashi mostly sitting by the window where Gideon was to chat with him. They two hadn't been in the same room for weeks, and it was getting to them.

Nashi, finding herself with a boundless amount of time indoors, had created a new passion, wedding planning. Poor Gideon just couldn't keep up. By the end of the first week, Nashi had planned and scrapped three different wedding ideas.

"So I was thinking we could go with a barn wedding!" Gideon held his breath as Nashi held up a new vision board.

Yes, a new one. The week before she was certain they'd do a backyard wedding, before that in a botanical garden, and for a period of time, over a volcano in a hot air balloon. It took a quick science lesson to explain why that one was a bad idea.

"Just picture it, string lights, ivy, little ball jars with FIRE in them!"

"Uh...wow," Gideon scratched his head, "that looks...dangerous to have an open flame that close to all that hay."

"I know!"

Gideon was alarmed by the excitement, but he also wanted Nashi to feel okay. So he decided to do what most men do during wedding planning, "Sounds great, babe."

Nashi smiled, but her mood soured as she turned her head to see someone approaching, instantly having to back away with her hands covering her mask. "Back! Back traitor!"

In walked Liddan, carrying a trash bag with a sour expression. He, unlike all his family, wasn't wearing a mask, nor was he quarantining.

"Keep it down, Nashi, we're at a party," he dropped the bag into the outdoor trashcan kept in the backyard, turning to Gideon to say, "she's still doing the wedding planning?"

"Yes, and it's...great, babe." Gideon said by default.

"You could at least cover your mouth!"

"You're not gonna catch it from me, Nashi," Liddan insisted, "if I didn't catch living with Marigold–the source–then you're not gonna catch it from me. I don't think we're even in danger of catching it–"

Nashi disagreed, "Hanna said we were in danger of exposure and quarantining was our best chance of safety until a real treatment was completed. And, she says it's ANY day now!"

"She said the same thing about Jude's horns," Liddan said, pulling his two pointer fingers up to imitate the horns. "And those ain't gone away yet."

"Come on, don't be a dick," Gideon said, "this is serious, a lot of people have died. According to Sylvie, Laurie's been sent tons of messages from the Underground. Some of them have fallen ill and they live underground."

"Geez, Gideon, we're at a birthday party," he reminded the two, "lighten up." Feeling a bit bad, he went ahead and said, "By the way, Nashi, mom has cake–"

"Cake!" Nashi's mouth hung open, rushing toward the front of the house to retrieve her treat, leaving her vision board behind.

Gideon hung his head down by the window, "She is going insane and taking me with her."

"I wish this would all just end," Liddan sighed, looking down to pick up her board, "wow, is this the plan?"

"One of the plans," Gideon keyed in, "she can't seem to make up her mind."

"That sucks," Liddan groaned, looking a bit somberly at the board before folding it up best he could. "I guess I lucked out not having to do the whole wedding stuff, but I still kinda wish we'd done it."

"Wow, that was an incredibly secure display of your masculinity there," Gideon said, his eyes widened, "I mean, my dad told me not to bother with the wedding planning unless asked, cuz it's really her big day."

"Come on, Gideon, let's not play here, remember when we got wasted and started rambling about what our weddings could be like. You said it clear, color scheme would be gray-blue, dusty rose, and silver, a winter wedding with a gray tuxedo–you've thought about it man!"

Gideon snorted, "I can't believe you remember that."

"Of course I remember that, you'd only been dating my sister for like a week and you'd already had a whole plan. I was at first a little grossed out, but then I was really psyched cuz I realize we'd be brothers and I started crying–you remember that right?"

"Yes, duh," Gideon scoffed, "I remember everytime you cry because if you start crying I start crying because I hate to see you in pain–you know that about me!" Gideon nearly teared up just thinking about Liddan crying, only to wipe his eyes and recollect himself. "No, it's just that night you talked a lot about Marigold so I figured since you don't remember...that whole part of our past, you wouldn't remember the whole night."

Liddan looked a bit uncomfortable. He knew that most of Fairy Tail had come to remember Marigold, including his family, but Gideon's revival somehow hit different. His best friend suddenly remembered all the secrets his past self had conveyed to him, and he'd chosen to hand it out in small bite-sized pieces. It was killing him.

"What did I say?"

"You were just gushing about her, I can't remember exactly what you said–I mean–I can remember what you'd said but not which time. We talked about Marigold a lot."

"You sound annoyed."

"I was annoyed!" Gideon explained, "At first you introduce me to this girl and she's nice and all but you're just obsessed with her. I honestly didn't think she was good enough for you?"

This was all news to Liddan, in fact, he felt maybe it was the first time Gideon had told him this at all, past and present. He propped himself up against the wall by the window, wanting to know more. "Really?"

"Yes, and then I got to know her and I started to realize, 'Oh, she's too good for you.'"

"Screw you."

"I'll tell you, she was out of your league. Not sure how you ever locked that down."

Gideon took a sip from his drink before returning to his cake, Liddan kept trying to piece together this timeline in his head. He turned to the unsuspecting Gideon to ask, "Were we dating already, when we had the whole wedding talk."

"Huh?" Gideon backtracked, "Oh, when, like right after me and Nashi got together? Uh...not yet. You were living together, spending all this time together, but not dating yet. You were really frustrated, I remember. Like you were grumpy because of all that was going on–the S-Class trial were canceled cuz of..."

"I remember that," Liddan stopped and sighed. "I don't like to think of that...whole time."

"You weren't so miserable, believe me," Gideon explained, "I think the first time you ever actually told me you loved her was that night. Yeah, it was that night I think."

"Why'd I love her?"

"Huh?"

Gideon turned to look at Liddan, who was looking up at the trees with a weary look in his eyes. For a moment, Gideon had thought of jokingly saying, "Titties, man" but as he saw the desperation in his face, he realized Liddan was looking for some kind of reminder.

"You said you felt safe with her."

Gideon could tell that something flicked in Liddan's mind. For a moment, he thought that was it, that was the trigger that made Liddan remember. Of course, as Liddan blinked, he quietly returned back to his normal demeanor. It wasn't the thing. Whatever the thing was that would make him remember Marigold.

"I should get back in there," Liddan said suddenly, scratching his head, "so should you, get out of our bedroom, anyway." He stretched his hand out to Gideon, passing him the folded up vision board Nashi had left behind.

He walked along the side of the house, returning to the party and Gideon waited by the window a moment longer. Gideon unfolded the vision board, looking at the love and care Nashi had put into a wedding that didn't quite match the one in his head. However as he looked at the edge of the board where cutouts and glue had somehow been left unused, he saw there little doodles of Nashi and Gideon. He smiled, remembering that's the part he was looking forward to.

───※ ·❆· ※───

"Where did you get this thing?" Elwin said, picking at the odd device that played the cassette tapes.

Hanna quickly snatched the device from him, "Don't play with that, they don't make these things in Earthland, if you break it, that's it."

Liz looks at Hanna as she too waits around her in the Fairy Tail infirmary. Since Hanna and Liz had semi-joined the guild, Hanna had set up shop there, trying to do her best to figure out a way to remove Jude's demon mutations.

At least that was what she was doing originally. After the plague started, all she'd been able to focus on was finding some kind of cure or treatment for the Dragneels. It was exhausting, and unfortunately not very lucrative.

Liz and Elwin had been keeping her company, only half of which she wanted. Layla was there too, getting poked and tested while sitting on the exam table. Hanna had just drawn blood from her, and gone ahead and swabbed her throat to try and spot any existence of the illness. That's why Elwin was there, afterall, as it was the only chance he got to see her since the quarantine.

He was, however, forced to wear a mask and not touch her, much like their first date.

"I saw something like that in Edolas," Layla said, glancing at the device, "they have a weird system, where they get light and energy through the walls but I know it isn't magic–"

"You know those cars that don't run on magical energy?" Hanna spoke up suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"It's like those," Hanna pulls the device up onto her desk, pressing play. Suddenly, the music started to play.

"If you need a friend...don't look to a stranger..."

"Look, your blood looks normal, I mean as normal as it can. And the swabs aren't different than last week either. I just wish I could get a sample of the infection, but even then...I don't know what the heck I'm gonna do."

"Come one, Hanna," seeing she looked rather deflated, Elwin perked up to give her words of encouragement, "I'm sure you can do it, isn't this what you did in Howl Caedo?"

"I'm sorry, but you all gravely overestimate my ability," Hanna blurted out, "look guys, I only stuck around for Liz and Jude, I thought I could figure out how to reverse the Ichor because I was so familiar with it but I'm not a medical researcher–heck–I'm not even a doctor. All I know is how to treat illness and wounds–and I can't treat it if you guys don't have it and if I don't even know what the illness is!" She pulled her glasses off, wiping her brow as she turned to Liz. "Look, this isn't even a normal illness, if we want to figure this out, I'm gonna need to talk to the source."

"The source?" Liz said with a raised brow, "is that what we're calling her now?"

"What else are we gonna call her?" Hanna shrugged, "get the amateur god here and then maybe we can figure something out."

When Marigold arrived at the guildhall, she was already with Sylvie. Outside the guildhall, Layla, wrapped up in her mask, looked to the two of them with a confused gaze. "Shouldn't you be home?"

Marigold started to answer, "I got called here–"

"Mind your business–Layla!" Sylvie shouted back at her, grabbing Marigold, and rushing into the guildhall.

Sylvie didn't need to be there, but Marigold had begun to notice that whenever Marigold told her she was doing something, Sylvie would invite herself along.

Marigold didn't want to say anything though, as she'd sort of come to the conclusion that her life was so chaotic that commenting on anyone else's would just be throwing stones in a glass house.

Inside the guildhall, Hanna explained the situation quickly, "Listen, I was wondering if you could...produce the infection for me."

"What now?" Marigold said, unknowingly slipping her hands under her arms as if the illness ran right from her finger tips.

"Look, I don't know how any of you expect me to study it without actually seeing it. I've run test after test on the Dragneel's and they're fine...they're so wrapped up in their bubble there's no way they can get infected."

"Look, I didn't really release the plague knowingly," Marigold explained, "it was more like...a response to my rage."

"I ain't a therapist," Hanna said abruptly. "Listen, little goddess, you want to help me? You want to help your family and all the other innocent demons who are getting infected, figure out your business. Figure out how to use your powers and maybe I won't need to come up with a cure."

Marigold stood their stiffly, "Well it's not like I've got a mentor here, the only existing gods manipulated me in the first place–"

"Are you sure they're the only existing gods?"

Marigold squinted, "No..."

"Well then, start there," Hanna spun around in her chair, turning back to her desk to continue working as if Marigold were never there. After a moment, she could tell Marigold and Sylvie were still in the room. "Go on, get." She said, waving her hands at them to leave.

Outside the infirmary, Marigold turned to Sylvie, "How am I supposed to find any other gods? I mean, I'm not even sure there are any other gods."

"Well, how did they die in the first place?" Sylvie suggested, "There's got to be some history there we could look into–oh! I know just who to ask!"

Sylvie led Marigold, of all places, to her in-law's place.

Inside the walls of the Redfox home, Laurie sat with his father in his den, or "man cave". When Laurie was young, he was hardly allowed in the room, mostly because Gajeel was surprisingly particular about keeping his hobby "safe". His records, guitars, and other equipment were off limits.

Levy, on the other hand, was happy to leave books in the young Laurie's grasp like it was no big deal. When the then toddler Laurie inevitably scribbled inside the books, Levy would snicker and show them off to her husband as if it were some work of art.

That was why Laurie felt so odd in that room, especially when he sat with his own father holding Dover Jo with such a giddy expression.

Gajeel was seated (as he couldn't stand very long), rocking the little kid as he hummed some old blues song to the little boy. Laurie thought he looked odd. He had never imagined his father so comfortable with a child in his arms, which was a terrible thought to have considering Gajeel was his father.

However, since Dover Jo was born, Gajeel was eager to be involved. Laurie thought he'd feel some kind of envy or resentment of his father's sudden burst of paternal instinct and behavior, but he was just happy. It was odd, really, it was the first time Laurie had just felt happy to be around his dad. Weird, very weird.

"You like that song? You like it?" Gajeel cooed, "When you get older, I'll lend you my records, yeah? Lend them, mind you, not have them. Not 'til I'm dead–then again–Laurie gets them when I'm dead–you can have them when he's dead."

"You need to work on your baby talk, dad," Laurie snickered, taking his son back into his arms.

"Oh yeah? That's how I talked to you as a baby, and you turned out..." Gajeel paused, "yeah maybe I should work on that."

"I'm both offended and thankful," Laurie said. He turned his head at the sound of his mother's voice, excitedly welcoming in a set of guests.

"Sylvie! Marigold! Welcome! Welcome!"

Laurie's eyes widened, "She didn't tell me she was coming over..."

Gajeel made a face, "Uh, just a hunch, but I don't think she's here for you," Gajeel glanced down at Dover Jo. "Or the little guy..."

Laurie, carrying Dover Jo, rushed into the living room to greet Sylvie. He was all smiles, excited to see her. "Mommy's here!" He cried out as he rushed into the room, only to be met by the stares of Marigold and his own mother. "And Marigold?"

"Hey Laurie..." Marigold said, squinting at the man. She wasn't quite used to his baby voice just yet, or him calling Sylvie "mommy". She smiled as she looked down at Dover Jo, walking over to touch his tiny little fists. "How's the little guy?"

"He's fine, just eating, pooping, sleeping, and looking at everything with bewilderment and wonder."

"That's normal, I guess," Marigold shrugged, "I mean, I guess I wouldn't know. I missed those days with Lilly. Now I just get to deal with...tantrums, picky eating and...questioning the very fabric of existence and the meaning of humanity."

"Yeah," Laurie stared back at Marigold, watching a vacant look fill her eyes. Slowly, he pulled Dover Jo away from her, as though it would somehow prevent him from absorbing her dark existential dread. "Anyway..." He turned to Sylvie, "Did you come over cuz you missed Dover Jo? I bet he missed you too!"

"Yeah, sorry," Sylvie smiled weakly, "we're here for Levy's library. We were hoping she had some info about, you know, gods and what not. How they came to be and how they died." She quickly pulled her coat off, hanging it on the rack as she moved about the room. "We're trying to find out if there are any other gods out there that can help Marigold figure out what the heck is going on with her powers."

"Oh," Laurie seemed disappointed. "Well, did you wanna feed him while Marigold went through mom's books?"

"You can feed him right?" Sylvie shrugged, "we've got a lot to comb through, so I figured it was all-hands-on-deck."

Marigold's gaze followed Sylvie as she swept through the room past her son and estranged husband, heading toward Levy's library without instruction. "Actually, Sylvie, if you wanna..." Sylvie gave her a look somewhere between panic, rage, and insanity, "Let's hit the books."

She smiled awkwardly as she passed Laurie, leaving him in the dust as they moved toward the library.

Once they'd left the living room, the three women were completely silent. Levy awkwardly placed herself beside the bookshelves, sliding through them vigorously as Marigold and her tried desperately to not address the elephant in the room.

"Stop fussing, already!" Sylvie said, finally breaking the tension. "I need this from you too, Marigold–"

"I didn't say anything!" Marigold said, whipping around to look at Levy, "Levy–please, tell me you found something?"

"I did...but...well," Levy spun around with the book in hand, presenting it to Marigold rather shyly. "It might not be what you need."

What she had in her hand was a book of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Sylvie fumed, "Fine–I get the message Levy–"

"No no–I don't think you do," Levy said, "you see the history of gods...well...they're incredibly old. From what I understand, they started to disappear only a short while after humanity became civilized. Back then, it's not like they had people writing down the happenings, rather they told stories about what happened. And eventually those stories turned to myths and legends. The closest thing we really have–humans at least–are these."

Marigold let out a sigh, "Thank you Levy, I'll make do with what we have."

Sitting down at Levy's desk, Marigold and Sylvie prowled through the pages together, trying to find an answer of some kind.

"What about that one," she said, tapping on the table of contents where a list of poems, songs, and psalms were listed. "When Death kissed Life" it read.

Marigold shrugged, "It's worth a shot," and she flipped to the page.

She read it aloud, stumbling through the little song.

"When Death kissed Life, the birds did fly,

their feathers came off and they came down to die,

but Death was occupied by that kiss,

so the birds kept flying without a triss.

When Death kissed Life, the lake did grow,

but soon she knew she'd lose her beau,

so Life and Death kissed being goodbye,

and waited for the next one to try."

Marigold squinted at the text, "This is useless, no offense Levy."

"I didn't take offense until you said no offense."

"I mean, it's just riddles–and poems–I need to talk to someone! Someone who knows something and doesn't have some ulterior motive!" Marigold flipped through the book ferociously, creasing its pages before dropping it back onto the desk in frustration.

"There's no such thing, honey," Levy sighed, "now look here," she held the book in her hand, passing it back to Marigold. "The answer isn't going to be in bright bold letters, you have to read carefully. Analyze it, try and figure out why these stories were important."

Marigold held the book tightly, "Why they were important?"

"Fairy Tales, myths, even nursery rhymes have existed longer than some civilizations. They're immortal stories because people decided they were worth telling. You have to read them carefully and figure out why people kept telling them. Why did people feel the need to keep these stories alive? After you've found that out, then maybe you'll find out what these ancient stories were meant to tell us."

She moved toward the door, turning to the girls one last time before leaving. "Take the book, read it carefully, and see what it has to tell you."

As the door shut, Sylvie and Marigold lingered a moment longer. Marigold spoke up, "We should go–"

"Or...we can stay in here another hour and then we can go."

"Sylvie," Marigold sighed, shaking her head as she approached the door, "just...no..."

───※ ·❆· ※───

"You like your new bookshelf?" Liddan said, watching as Lilly sat on the floor surrounded by a pile of books. She was in the midst of organizing her collection, and her process seemed rather confusing.

"I do, I like it a lot!" Lilly said, sliding another few books onto the bottom shelf. "I didn't realize how badly I needed one."

"I did," Liddan glanced around the room where stacks of books made it almost impossible to touch any surface without them toppling down. "I thought you'd like it, I'm just sorry I couldn't get it here in time for your birthday. I told you I had a present, didn't I?"

The present was meant to be delivered by Lilly's birthday, but with the state of the world and shipping companies being shipping companies, that didn't happen.

Lilly teased Liddan almost daily about his "imaginary perfect present" prepared for her. Little did she know it was real.

"It makes it all feel real, you know?" Lilly said with a grin, "Like this is my shelf, in my room. And it's right here, not in my head."

Liddan smiled, squatting down beside Lilly as he touched the side of the wooden shelf. "It's all yours, kid. I'm glad to have someone in this room, makes it all a little less lonely. And look," Liddan tapped the side of the shelf to a spot Lilly hadn't noticed, "I even carved your initials in it right here."

Lilly leered around the side of the shelf to see carved with a spare set of lines "L.P.". However, thanks to a shaky hand, when marking the bottom half of the "p", it looked more like "L.D."

With a giggle, she said, "Those are your initials!"

"No–they're supposed to be your's–see? That's a P!"

"Do it again!"

"Fine, I'll fix the 'd'–"

"No no! Add my initials next to yours," Lilly insisted.

Though he wasn't sure why Lilly wanted both their initials on her shelf, Liddan complied. He took out a small hunting knife and carving an "L.P.", this time careful to show the bottom line of the "p".

Lilly was giddy, pointing to the shelf as she said, "Now it's both our shelves!"

"Thanks, but I don't have many books to begin with," Liddan said, standing up, "so you can keep it for yourself."

As he left Lilly's bedroom, he walked into the kitchen to put the knife away, only for Marigold to enter just as he opened the drawer.

"I'm home–" she turned to him, and concern colored her face as she saw the knife. She tried not to overreact, but as a terror filled her eyes, Liddan knew what she was thinking.

"Relax–" he quickly said, "I was just adding Lilly's initials to her new shelf."

"Oh," Marigold smiled, the relief clearing her tense expression, "it finally came in? I was beginning to think you'd forgot and were just saying it was late–"

"Hey now," Liddan dropped the knife into its place in the drawer, "I didn't forget–come on, I'm not a monster!"

"I know," Marigold nodded, sliding her coat off as she walked about the house. "How does she like it?"

"I LOVE IT!" Lilly announced through the open door.

Marigold grinned, "That's good, hey, you put your books away, Liddan and I need to chat."

Though she smiled as she closed the door, Liddan knew the chat wasn't going to be a pleasant one. He also knew there was little chance that Lilly would take the bait and leave them be.

Marigold turned away from Lilly's closed bedroom door, she turned to see Liddan already seated on the couch as though he were waiting for her. However, his expression wasn't a pleasant one.

With cold eyes he asked, "Is something the matter?"

"When isn't something the matter?" Marigold sighed, "I mean take a look at your family–"

"Okay, can we not..." Liddan put his hands to his mouth, "things have been...pretty good between us, and I really don't want to hear you go on about what's happening with my family."

Marigold looked at Liddan with frustration. "Liddan, their lives could be in danger–don't you care?"

"Come on–they're not in danger–they're not even fully demons, they'll be fine everyone's just overreacting."

As Liddan turned away, Marigold sat down beside him. "Fine, maybe your family will be alright, but what about the rest of them? The demons–one completely innocent and undeserving of this."

Liddan turned back to Marigold. He hesitated to answer, mostly because he knew every thought crossing his mind would make him sound like an absolute bastard.

He looked down, "I just don't understand why it has to be you," he said softly.

"What?"

"I just want you to stay with me," he spoke up, "I don't want you to leave again–trying to find a way to save the world or find yourself or whatever excuse you need–"

"Liddan–"

"I need you too," Liddan said, putting his hand on Marigold's. He pled with her, "Just...please...don't go again."

Marigold wasn't sure what to say, and as Liddan leaned in to kiss her, she realized he didn't want an answer anyway. She shut her eyes as she absorbed the kiss, knowing that if she promised him she wouldn't go, it might easily become a lie.

━ ◦ ❖ ◦━

"Which dress do you think would be best? I kept this catalog from Edolas but there aren't a lot of dresses like it in the catalogs on Earthland! I wish the fashion wasn't so different!"

"Please stop," Hanna said, dark circles deeply ingrained under her eyes as she took a blood sample from Nashi.

"Come on..." Nashi lifted the magazine in her hand with three wedding dresses circled with a red marker. All of them had big puffy sleeves and a large princess skirt. "I love the sleeves! They look like a princess dress or something!"

"If you're into that kind of thing," Hanna pulled Nashi's arm down, wrapping it with a band as she prepared to draw blood.

"I mean, maybe I can just ask for a tailor to make it for me based on these old catalogs, that way I can have it be fire retardant."

"Why would you need a wedding dress to be–" Hanna paused, "Never mind–having known you for at least a month I can see why that'd be a good choice."

Taking the blood sample, Hanna moved to her desk as Nashi continued to doze off in her wedding fantasy. She clicked her tongue as she dropped various potions and chemicals into the blood, watching for the reaction.

"Well that's...odd."

"What's odd?" Nashi perked up, "The wedding dress? Look, puffed sleeves are coming back, I promise–"

"No, it's just your blood sample isn't like the rest of your family's," Hanna spun around in her chair to face Nashi. "I read you were exposed to an early version of ichor–the one they used to create titans."

"Yeah, I guess, I don't remember much but that's about right," Nashi looked somewhat distracted, "Do you think I should do a veil or a tiara? Or both?"

"The ichor–or titan–seems to have dissolved your demon seed entirely. Perhaps as a means of evolving the dragon seed more. Cinder had a similar reaction...but not nearly as...explosive...as you."

"It's not the first time someone has described me as explosive," Nashi said with a grin, "Wait, so what does that mean?"

"I think–and stretch the word think–that means you're immune. The virus can only hurt demons, and you have no demon seed like your family. So it can't harm you." Hanna rolled her head to the side. "Probably. Just...I mean I'm pretty sure but you know, I'm not a doctor–which only seems to matter to this guild when it comes to my paycheck." Hanna scoffed as she spun around in her seat to turn back toward her desk. "Look, I think you can lax the precautions, but like with all viruses, you can still carry it without being sick yourself–so be careful around your family still. All that being said, you can probably leave your family's quarantine and go back to your apartment."

Hanna spun back around to the exam table, only to find it was empty. "What the..." she looked around the room to see an open window. Rushing toward it, she saw out on the street Nashi was sprinting shouting, "I'M FREE!"

Hanna grumbled to herself, "One less Dragneel to keep track of, I guess."

Down on the road, Nashi was making a mad dash toward one place in particular.

Arriving down the street, she jumped up to window (on the third floor) to the apartment she had been unable to visit in what felt like forever. There, she banged on the door, grappling onto the window frame desperately before just opening the window herself.

"GIDEON!" She cried out in absolute, unadulterated, joy, "I'M CURED!"

Gideon was holding a guitar passively, awkwardly dropping it onto his bed as he watched Nashi roll into his bedroom. The breaking and entering wasn't shocking, nor was the fact that she'd made her way into his third floor apartment, just what she said caught him off guard.

"You're cured?! You were sick?"

"No–I'm immune!" Nashi announced, throwing her arms up, "I'm not a demon! My mom and that guy from that daycare were wrong all these years!"

"Wait, so you don't have to quarantine?"

"No–and I know what I wanna do now," Nashi grabbed onto Gideon, pulling him close in, "Let's get married!"

Gideon's face twisted as he tried to process all the new information, "We were already gonna do that–"

"No, I mean now!"

Gideon was dumbfounded, he looked up at her with glossy eyes, his heart beating fast as he grinned. "Now? But all your plans–"

"Forget the plans," Nashi pulled Gideon closer, "I just kept myself busy with the plans because I had nothing else to do–I wanna get married now–as soon as possible so we can start our life together. I can't put this on hold any longer!"

Gideon pursed his lips, "Okay," he announced, nodding his head, "well, you wanna go to the courthouse? Or...what?"

Nashi shook her head, "I well, I want my family to be there, we can do it at the Dragneel house–oh and I can wear the dress I got at Edolas–I was gonna get it altered but screw it–if I burn I burn!"

"Please don't catch fire at our wedding–it'll just be really awkward if you end up naked in front of both our families again–"

"And I need my bridesmaids–Layla and Marigold–"

"And Sylvie–"

"UGH–if you insist she comes–"

"She's my sister–"

"IF YOU INSIST!"

"And flowers! Marigold can get us flowers!" Gideon added, "Oh–and I need a tux–and Liddan and Xavier, and heck–Elwin!"

"And Laurie?"

"Ugh, if you insist, is he even still technically my brother-in-law?"

"Fair point, we'll leave it to Sylvie," Nashi nodded, "but I wanna do this, right now."

───※ ·❆· ※───

"You're getting married–now?"

"YES!" Nashi announced as she arrived at Marigold's home. "We're gathering everyone at the Dragneel house and having it there. The rest of the family will put masks on and we'll stand far apart from one another–it's just a small ceremony, no big reception or dance, just us getting married and then immediately deflowering each other afterward."

Liddan, who had just entered the room, immediately winced, "What did I just walk into..."

"Wedding plans," Marigold said, she too trying to avoid Nashi's awkward comment, "Gideon and Nashi are tying the knot tonight and we've been summoned to bring it all together."

"What if I have plans?" Liddan said.

"What plans?" Nashi scoffed, "Your only friend is getting married–who else you gonna hang out with?"

"He isn't my only..." Liddan muttered, then nodded, "good point, what do I need to wear?"

"You remember that suit mom bought you? It still fit?"

"Probably, but I've never tried to fit my robot arm into it."

"Then TEAR the sleeve off if you must!" Nashi said, throwing her hands up. "Tonight, WE WED!"

With her invitation delivered, Nashi began to sprint away from the house, only for Marigold to stick her head out to say, "Wait–you never told me what kind of flowers you want!"

In a quiet and distant voice, Nashi was heard crying out, "PINK ONES–THAAAANK YOOOOU!"

Marigold sighed, "Looks like we're having a wedding."

The rest of the clan was a little less keen on the idea, if that's possible. Gideon was out summoning his family, but Juvia and Gray weren't as pleased as he was.

"You're KILLING me, Gideon!" Juvia said, dropping to her knees as her husband shook his head. "You're throwing your wedding–now? I don't even have a dress?! What will people say? What will they think!?"

"Mom," Gideon groaned, pulling her off the floor, "they're not gonna be looking at you–Nashi said her dress is big enough to cover at least three people in the wedding photos."

"It was bad enough when Sylvie eloped," Juvia said, continuing to weep, "now my soon is just throwing together a backyard wedding–a mother can only take so much!"

"Mom!" Sylvie, who had been called to the Fullbuster estate for Gideon's news, decided it was best to stand by her brother. "Calm down. This isn't about you." She pat Gideon's back, but quickly grimaced as she said, "Besides, it's still gonna be Nashi's wedding, there's no reality where that would have been a classy affair."

"On the contrary," Gideon muttered, "in Edolas, Nashi Ashley had a splendid wedding. I saw the pictures, they had it at the palace."

"That should have clued us in..." Gray muttered from his chair, lighting a cigarette as he watched the rest of his family unravel. "Well, tell us what we have to do and we'll begrudgingly do it."

"Gather our friends from the guild, heck anyone who can make it. We'll be having it outside so the Dragneels should be safe–safe-ish–and get Cana–she's a registered minister–"

"She is?" Sylvie said, turning to Juvia, who was still on the floor with tears rolling down her eyes.

"Yes, technically," Juvia explained, "she got wasted and ended up applying to become a minister and somehow became a minister. She still preaches from time to time, but only when she's so drunk she blacks out."

"Well, be sure to give her lots of wine first!" Gideon announced as her fled the house, "I've got other things to prepare, I'll meet you at the Dragneel's house. Sylvie, you're good to be a bridesmaid right?"

"OF course not!" Sylvie said, jumping up to follow Gideon as he approached the door, "Not that I don't want to–but I just had a baby and I don't think I fit into any of my dresses yet."

"Then ask Liddan to fix your dress–he could open it up I bet!"

"Whoa there–" Sylvie and the rest of the Fullbusters all seemed to freeze, "Liddan's..."

"Look, I thought you two were doing better–"

"No–it's fine–we're civil but..." Sylvie looked just a bit docile, "we haven't really been alone together in awhile..."

Gideon shook his head, "Well Marigold will be there, it should be fine!"

As Gideon dismissed the awkwardness to leave the house, Sylvie was left with little options.

However, when she arrived at the cottage with her dress, she found Marigold had already left to deliver the flowers and decorate at the Dragneel's.

Lilly opened the door, eager eyes as she saw Sylvie.

"Sylvie–do you wanna see my new bookshelf?!"

"Is that what kids are into these days?"

Lilly led Sylvie into the house, more accurately she dragged her into the house. The way kids do when they're over excited and want to show you something.

Inside Lilly's bedroom, Sylvie watched as she saw all the new toys scattered on her floor, still fresh from her birthday. However, dear little Lilly could only think to reorganize her bookshelf.

"I'm not sure which way to do it! Alphabetical, or by genre–or by color!" Lilly went on and on, not taking notice to Sylvie as she seemed to go pale just entering the room.

Sylvie looked around at the child's bedroom, and suddenly she felt overwhelmed.

The soft floral wallpaper and the small bed scattered with toys and books and children's drawings. Somehow, what was once charming, felt suffocating.

Within a moment, a loud cough snapped her out of her dizzying thoughts. She turned her head to see Liddan wiping his mouth as he approached the door from the bathroom. "Sylvie? When'd you get here?"

From the frantic look still in her eyes, Liddan could tell something was wrong. All while Lilly sat on the ground with her books.

"Did you need Marigold?" He pushed open the bedroom door, as if beckoning Sylvie into the hall and away from the bedroom. She rushed out, moving toward the center of the living room as she caught her breath. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sylvie shook her head as she shrugged off his concern. "Gideon told me I should ask you to fix my dress. It just doesn't fit, can you open it up or something?"

"Gosh, right now?" Liddan looked at the clock, "I'll have to put in a panel if it needs to open up and I don't know what we have on hand."

"You're right–" Sylvie balled up the dress with her hands and turned toward the door. "It's stupid–maybe I shouldn't go–"

"Hey, wait–you're not missing your brother's wedding–we'll figure something out." Liddan stepped between Sylvie and the door, putting his hand up as he proposed an alternative. "Try on the dress and we'll see how it fits."

In the shared bedroom of Liddan and Marigold, Sylvie changed into her dress. Liddan, of course, had been pushed out into the living room while she changed, but that didn't feel far enough for poor Sylvie.

Before inviting him back in, she stared into the mirror. She had never felt so ugly in her life. Standing in the dress she once felt beautiful in just made it all feel worse.

The dress used to fit like a glove, now she could hardly latch it shut. The color used to compliment her complexion, but now it just made her look like a pale and blotchy mess. She looked like a cracked china doll. All the scars and stretch marks over her colorless skin.

Had she always looked this way? Was she always so unpleasant looking? What hell had brought this onto her body?

"Sylvie?" She turned her head, Liddan had begun to knock on the door, "Not to rush, but...well...yes I mean to rush–we ain't got time–"

Sylvie rushed to the door, unlocking it and allowing Liddan to enter. She was motionless as the door hung open, Liddan taking a look at her in the dress.

Suddenly she couldn't stop thinking of Liddan in that hotel room, trying to kiss her. How could he possibly have found her attractive then? How desperate must he have been?

"I think it looks nice," Liddan said with a nod, "can I see the back?"

Sylvie zapped out of her thoughts, turning around to allow him to see the back.

"I mean it does look a bit tight–hey, lemme look at the back–" Liddan fully went into work mode. Sylvie shuffled awkwardly to face away from Liddan as he observed the back of the dress. he began to touch her back, and she felt a sick feeling in her stomach rise.

"You know, I could unlatch these and just sorta...wrap it up like a shoe–or what are those things called?"

"A corset?"

"Yeah–those things–that way we can adjust it," Liddan's inventive idea was met with pause as Sylvie felt his fingers unlatch the back of her dress.

"Whoa–hey–" Sylvie jerked her head toward Liddan. "Don't–"

"Hey–I'm just trying to fix it," Liddan said, pulling his hands away. As he squat down, he looked up to Sylvie with an irritable gaze. She could tell what was going on in his head, the resentment and annoyance at her sensitivity.

Then, suddenly, those thoughts seemed to stop.

"I'm sorry," he looked down, "I know this is uncomfortable for you and I shouldn't get pissed just cuz you're...still uncomfortable around me."

Sylvie looked down at him, then turned away. She straightened her back as she said, "Just do finish it. It's fine."

Liddan unlaced one of Marigold's shoes, taking the lace and weaving it through the latches best he could. It wasn't easy, nor was it a great fix, but it came out with a sort of corset back that allowed for Sylvie to wear the dress in greater comfort.

"Okay, just...don't move around too much. Or bend over..." Liddan said, losing confidence the longer he looked at the dress. "I don't know what Gideon expected me to do–I can't just conjure up a dress, dang it."

Crossing his arms, Sylvie looked in the mirror. Despite the untidy back, the fit looked better. She felt more comfortable.

"It's better, way better," she said with a sigh of relief. "I'll just wear a sweater over it, cover the back."

"Yeah," Liddan looked Sylvie up and down, then dared to ask, "how's Dover Jo doing?"

Sylvie whipped her head around, "What? Why would you ask that?"

Liddan's eyes widened, "What? I can't ask you about your kid? Is that so inappropriate?"

"No–it's just, it's just weird that's all," Sylvie turned back to the mirror, and suddenly she could feel the short boost of confidence fading fast. She wiped her face, shaking her head, "look, I need to go fix my face before the wedding. Just–I'll see you there, okay?"

As Sylvie bolted for the door, Liddan released one final passive aggressive, "You're welcome!"

He wanted to say more, or perhaps go after her to see what was the matter, but he felt yet another horrid cough erupt from his throat.

Lilly poked her head out of the bedroom. "Liddan?" She was still holding a few books, having still been organizing her shelf. "You aren't sick are you?"

Liddan quickly wiped his mouth, "Of course not, I don't have time to be sick," he squatted down to her level with a smile. "You know why Sylvie was here? Cuz we're having a wedding."

"But we already had one of those," Lilly said.

"Not for me and your mom–my sister and Gideon. So why don't you put on your best dress and we'll go down and help them."

At the Dragneel's, things were somehow coming together. Everyone close to the family was already gathered. The Dragneel's and Fullbuster's were arguing over unimportant details, Wendy and Erza were hard at work setting up chairs spaced out far enough to keep the Dragneel's safe, and Marigold was with Nashi and Layla, getting her ready for the big day.

Layla worked on makeup, while Marigold kept growing flowers right from her hands to try and make a bouquet that Nashi liked.

"Pink!" was all Nashi said.

"Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?"

"Just–I don't know–a good pink!"

"Roses? Carnations? There are a lot of different pink flowers!"

"You pick one–pretty pink ones you like!"

"UGH!" Marigold shook her head, turning around to the little pot she'd made for herself and started to think of pretty pink flowers.

Roses didn't suit Nashi, she thought, and carnations felt too simple.

She paused for a moment, then an idea blossomed.

From her hand, she grew a flower she felt was perfect. A pink lisianthus. She presented the flower to Nashi who's face lit up with excitement. "That–yes–that's it!"

"Alright, I'll add some peonies as well..." Marigold drifted back into her world of flowers .

Layla rolled her eyes, putting blush on Nashi's face as she followed the image Nashi provided for her. "Are you sure you want this much blush?" The image had been torn from a magazine from Edolas.

"Exactly like the picture!" Nashi insisted. She just couldn't stop smiling, which made putting her lipstick on a bit of a challenge.

"Well, I don't think we have nearly enough makeup on hand," Layla said, sifting through the makeup of Lucy, Layla, and Marigold combined. "Not just because this sample photo is ridiculous."

"Do what you can," Nashi said, "it's okay if it isn't perfect."

"Said no bride ever," Layla scoffed, "you're really okay with how this is going?"

"The wedding wasn't what I was looking forward to anyway," Nashi smiled, just as Marigold turned around with her bouquet in hand.

"Here we are," she announced, a grin falling on her face as well. "You like it?"

Despite the rushed nature of everything, in its own way, the bouquet was perfect.

As was everything else.

The guild gathered outside the house, all trying to stay as far away from the Dragneel's as possible. Gideon waited by the makeshift altar, in a suit he'd pulled out of his closet and a smile he just couldn't shake since Nashi proposed this whole plot.

Liddan arrived shortly with Lilly in a green dress and a suit himself. He, unfortunately, had torn off one of the sleeves of his suit to fit his arm in. Gideon squinted his eyes at the odd sight, wondering what he was looking at.

"It...wouldn't fit..." Liddan muttered as he walked toward Gideon.

Gideon however, gawked at the arm with excitement, throwing a thumbs up, "I love it."

"Lilly," Liddan turned to the child as she seemed to look around in wonder, "why don't you go find your mom, see if we're supposed to be walking down the aisle in any particular order or what not."

"Right, cuz it's just kind of a clumpy mess right now," Lilly announced as she rushed toward the house.

Inside the house, Lucy had gotten the rest of the Dragneel's ready. Jude and Cinder, believe it or not, were wearing matching suits, as Cinder had last minute announced a dislike for dresses and ended up just wearing Jude's second suit instead. The two looked quite dashing together.

The triplets were wandering around aimlessly, with Lucy occasionally grabbing them and redirecting them toward the group as she tried to explain how things were working.

"Okay, so the triplets will walk down the aisle and throw flowers around–and Igneel will carry the ring, then I'll grab them as the ceremony starts. Then we'll send down Layla and Elwin, Marigold and Liddan, Sylvie and maybe Laurie? Then finally Xavier and Esmeralda."

"Laurie's really walking down the aisle with them?" Jude said, squinting in disbelief.

"We'll see, it's up to Sylvie. Whenever she gets here," Lucy turned to see the door open, only to find Lilly poking her head inside. "Lilly, come on in, did you just get here with Liddan?"

"Yeah, did you see the snow?"

"What snow?"

Lucy pulled the curtains back to look outside to see, to her displeasure, heavy snow beginning to fall. "What? We had a clear forcast, how'd this happen?"

Emerging from the bedroom came Layla with Marigold, leaving behind Nashi as they spotted the storm outside.

"What's going on?" Layla said, "it's snowing, like heavy snow."

"We can set something on fire, that'll at least keep things warm," Cinder suggested with a shrug.

"What something?" Lucy muttered, slight concern perking up as she looked at her children. She shook her head, reaching for her lacrima on the table to call Natsu, who was making a last minute dash to the guildhall to help Juvia bring the cake (a surprise they quickly whipped together as soon as they heard the news).

"Hold on guys," Lucy said, stepping to the side for a moment to get some quiet as she made her call.

Natsu picked up quickly, "Yeah? We got the cake. It may not be cooked all the way through but we thought it would fit into the half-baked theme of this whole ceremony, what's wrong?"

"It's snowing really bad, we're not sure if we'll have to postpone–not that any of us would be upset about that but–"

"What do you mean it's snowing, there isn't a cloud in the sky."

Natsu, who was just outside the guildhall with Juvia, looking up into the sky. The two were both carrying the cake with each of their hands, carefully moving it to one of the Fairy Tail vans to get it to the house. Above them was a blue sky with not a cloud in sight. It was chilly, but not freezing.

Juvia glanced over at Natsu as he continued to talk with Lucy. "What did she say?"

"She said it's snowing at the house–heavily–"

"That can't..." Juvia paused, then a realization came upon her. "Oh dear."

━ ◦ ❖ ◦━

Sylvie was behind the house, peeking out at the crowd as she tried to pull herself together.

She could hardly breathe, and the tight dress wasn't helping. She tugged on the sleeves of her sweater as she kept glancing at the snow falling around her.

"Keep it together," she muttered to herself, "Keep it together–keep it together–"

Every mantra she muttered was unsuccessful, and she couldn't stop thinking about it until she heard a horrid cough coming from nearby.

She opened her eyes, turning the corner to the other side of the house to see Liddan keeled over coughing and hacking. As he went about his business, he spit out something black and slimy, falling into the snow as he gasped for breath.

Sylvie stared as he saw Liddan try and pull himself together, but as he turned to face her, they both knew they'd been exposed.

"Sylvie," Liddan said softly.

"Liddan," she squinted her eyes, "you're sick."

"Pot meet kettle," he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"You could be endangering your entire family just by being here."

"I don't want to ruin the wedding–"

"Liddan!" Sylvie wiped her eyes, "You're gonna ruin it either way if your sick–think of your siblings–"

"Stop it," Liddan turned to Sylvie, his hand covering his mouth as he avoided her eyes. "I'm fine, I can wait it out and then I'll deal with it. I'm not going to bring my drama into this like you."

Sylvie grabbed onto his arm before he could move. "Don't you think I'm trying–maybe I can't bottle it up like you–I don't have control here–you think I want to be having a melt down at my only brother's wedding? If I mess up, that's it, you can mess up all you want–you've got siblings falling out of your mother's cuchi by the day!"

Liddan squinted his eyes as he grunted, "You did not just refer to my mother's–what is wrong with you!?" He turned to her with genuine frustration. "Look Sylvie–you've always been a bit of a mess–but this past month you've gone literally insane!"

"Oh and you think you're all in the clear–just cuz you've got Marigold now?"

Liddan grit his teeth, pointing his hand at Sylvie as he spat out, "How about this–you hate your own child!"

Sylvie gawked as she smacked Liddan's hand away. "I do not hate my son–how dare you!"

"Marigold said you avoid him like the plague–"

"Funny use of language–since you've literally got the plague and you're pretending you're fine!" Sylvie then paused, "Marigold said that?"

"She mentioned it," Liddan crossed his arms, a curt look on his face, "it was also pretty obvious with how tense you were around Lilly. Guess the whole mom thing isn't meshing?"

"Stop it," Sylvie shook her head.

"You asked."

Sylvie squinted, watching as Liddan brushed himself off. He looked as though he was glowing from some kind of victory. "You think you're better than me now, or something. Because the last time we were screaming at each other you were in the wrong. And now that I'm a mess you feel better."

Liddan's face contorted as he was sucked back in. "I never said that."

"You're still just as sick as ever, Liddan. You just got better at pretending–that's the only thing you're doing better than me." She jabbed a finger at him, "But I think we both know the cover won't last. Sooner or later that sickness is gonna do what it always does–spread and grow until it hurts someone else!"

Sylvie stared Liddan down, but the longer she looked at him, the more glossed over he looked. His eyes were wet and red, his face pale and colorless. She backed away as his hand shot for his mouth and he erupted into another coughing fit.

"Liddan–" Sylvie wasn't sure what to do. As Liddan propped himself up against the wall, she suddenly didn't feel as though she'd found victory at all.

As the snow fell, and then Liddan fell, she froze.

Shortly after, Gideon arrived, having wandered to the back of the house as the snow grew thicker.

"Sylvie–what's going on?"

She turned to look at him, watching his eyes widen as he saw Liddan there on the ground. He rushed past her to him, beginning to ask what happened.

All she could feel was numbness.

━ ◦ ❖ ◦━

Gideon was quick to change pace as he dragged Liddan inside. The door burst open on Lucy with the others, Nashi still in the bedroom getting dressed.

"Guys–emergency!"

As Liddan was propped up by Gideon, Hanna rushed in behind him to announce, "I knew this was a bad idea–and you should have been visiting me like the others–then maybe I wouldn't have found out about this!"

"What is happening–" Lucy watched as Gideon moved Liddan to the couch, the others scattering as he was laid down. "Liddan–he's not sick is he?"

"Oh yes he is," Hanna said, "Look, I'm sorry, it's snowing like crazy out there and we needed to get him out of the cold–get all the kids out of here though, get them somewhere else–this house is officially contaminated."

Lucy shook her head as the triplets scattered behind her, Jude and Cinder watching with uncertainty as she moved about. "Liddan–how did this happen?"

Liddan was unresponsive, though Lucy couldn't be sure if it was because of the sickness or because he didn't quite have the nerve to explain himself.

Hanna was quick to act though. "Get them to the bathroom, wash them up and get them in masks then take them somewhere else. Somewhere with little to no people and Liddan hasn't been. We don't know how long he's been sick." Hanna dug her hand into her hair, "Wait–Cinder can stay–Nashi too."

"Why me?" Cinder said, "Can't I get infected?"

"You were mutated a lot like Nashi–your demon seed was just as dissolved. But not Jude–Jude was the opposite. He's at the highest risk of all of you."

Jude squinted, "Is Liddan gonna be okay?"

Hanna paused, "I'm gonna try, Jude."

With that, Lucy rushed out with all but Cinder, knocking on the door to alert Nashi, Marigold, and Layla of what was happening.

Hanna was quick to work as the house suddenly became a hospital. She pulled Liddan's coat off. "Cinder, get some cold water, he's burning up."

"I can take care of that," Gideon said, kneeling down beside Liddan and pulling his own handkerchief from his pocket and filling it with his own ice. He wraps it up and puts it to Liddan's forehead, softly insistenting, "You're gonna be alright, buddy, just hang in there."

It didn't take long for Marigold and Nashi to come rushing out, Layla following the rest of the family to get out of the house.

Marigold was shocked, "Liddan–what happened?"

"Gosh dang it–" Nashi couldn't help but say, "It had to be today! Really! COME ON!"

"Screw you..." Liddan finally managed to say.

Nashi, however, was fully in her wedding dress, somewhat justified in being pissed off. Gideon, feeling mixed emotions, turned to her and just shouted, "Hot damn–you look good–"

"I know," Nashi sighed, rushing toward Liddan alongside Marigold. "What's going on?"

"Liddan is dying," Cinder blurted out, only for everyone to seem to shush her.

"Don't say that–" Hanna said, "look, again, I am not a doctor. I'm a nurse–I don't cure–I just treat the symptoms!"

"Well you're the best thing we've got, okay?" Gideon said, "Come on–you used tons of freaky unholy magic and technology in Howl Caedo. Think of something that could stop this from killing him!"

"I can't cure him–I hardly know what the disease is yet!" Hanna repeated herself, the frustration pouring out of her voice.

However, it was Cinder who made a simple suggestion. "Then don't cure him," she suggested, "if you can't get rid of him, find a way to stop it from killing him."

Hanna paused, taking a breath to try and think, something she rarely got to do in the rush of things.

Suddenly, an idea spawned on her.

She turned to Nashi, pointing to her, "Those bracelets–Zailo gave you some–they block magic use."

"Ugh, yeah, I use them so I can ride my bike."

"Your intense senses come from your dragon seed, so if they can block that kind of magic, then they might be able to suppress the demon seed–block it off. This is a magical disease afterall–a godly one–sure–but magic still." Hanna stood up, as did Nashi. "It won't eliminate the disease from him but it'll stop it from killing him."

Nashi nodded her head, "Alright–I think I packed them when I moved back in–I'll go find them!" Nashi sprinted down the hallway to find her luggage, all the while the others stayed by Liddan.

Marigold, finally able to catch her breath, grabbed Liddan's arm to ask, "Liddan, where is Lilly? Wasn't she with you?"

"I lost sight of her," he muttered, "she was still outside."

"I need to find her," Marigold stood up, turning to Gideon before she departed, "call out if things get worse, okay?"

As Marigold ran out the front door, Liddan was left with Hanna, Cinder, and Gideon.

Cinder, never being a socially conscious person, decided to speak up. "Liddan, can I say something?"

"What?"

"I just wanted to say that when I joined the family I was worried I'd feel like a total outcast, but thanks to you, I feel like I'm one of the well adjusted ones."

"Oh my gosh..." Liddan shut his eyes, "You fit in with this family so well..."

Nashi rushed back into the room, "I got them," she came in, one hand holding the cuffs and the other gripping onto her giant dress. "Will they work?"

"Let's hope so," Hanna grabbed the wristbands and grabbed Liddan's left arm, wrapping them around his wrist tightly. With only one arm to work with, she took the second cuff and put it higher up on his arm. It was a tight fit but as soon as they were on, Liddan seemed to calm down.

His eyes opened, as if suddenly something had been lifted off of him. He blinked a few times as he sat up, the color returning to his face.

"He's looking better," Hanna said with a sigh, "I think we're out of the woods."

Liddan sat up, but as he looked down, he realized his prosthetic was completely limp. "I can't move my arm."

"If you used magic to control it, then I'm afraid that won't be possible with the cuffs."

He looked down, taking a breath. "I can't smell her anymore."

"Who are you talking about?"

Marigold rushed back into the house, Lilly now in her arms. She was out of breath as she looked down to see what was happening. "Is he alright?"

Hanna nodded, certain that the problem was solved, at least for the moment.

However, Gideon shook his head. It looked as though the life had left Liddan's eyes. "I don't think so."

━ ◦ ❖ ◦━

Laurie was late to the party, he was surprised he was even invited, but when he came with Dover Jo strapped to his chest, he was surprised to see almost everyone fleeing the grounds before the party even began.

He was with his dad, ready to meet his mom and Sylvie as they got to the wedding, but as Levy and many other guild members came running down the hills toward the guildhall, the situation quickly became clear.

"Is Liddan okay?" Laurie asked.

"We don't know yet," Levy said, "the Dragneel's are headed to the Fullbuster's house since the house is contaminated."

"And where's Sylvie?"

"Oh gosh," Levy touched her face, "Oh no, I saw her...she was with Liddan when he collapsed I think, because when Gideon started dragging him toward the house she was there behind him. But I think she left–before any of us left–I don't know!"

Laurie didn't know where Sylvie was. He wished he had some husbandly instinct that told him what she was thinking, but he didn't. He never had, but it was time he tried.

He first thought the guildhall, but that was probably a stupid choice. Then he considered the Fullbuster's house as she had been staying there those past few weeks. However, he thought she just wanted to be alone, especially if the Dragneel's were all headed there.

Then he finally realized, he should just follow the clouds.

He went to the apartment. As soon as he opened the door he could hear the water running.

Scattered on the floor were her clothes. Her dress torn off and crumbled up on the floor. The bathroom door was shut and locked.

Laurie put Dover Jo in the crib. He was slow to move toward the door, mostly because he had no idea what he could possibly say to make things seem better. He had no idea what Sylvie wanted or needed to hear.

But he had to try, so he just knocked.

"Sylvie," he called to her, but she wasn't responding.

He took a breath and tried again. "Sylvie, are you okay?"

She still didn't answer, so he tried again.

"Sylvie, I'm coming in."

The door was locked, and Laurie glanced at his young son as he planned his next move. He'd never kicked a door down before, and it definitely didn't work the first try, but by the third the door was down, and he could finally see Sylvie.

She was in the shower, that's for sure. Wrapped up in a ball as she sobbed. It was the kind of cry that had been waiting to come out for a long time.

He decided not to say anything, he thought maybe that was best. So he just turned off the shower, got her a towel, and helped her to the bed.

It was quiet for a while, even Dover Jo was uncharacteristically quiet.

Sylvie was dressed and somewhat dry, Laurie seated in a chair across from the bed as he tried to plan his next move.

Laurie straightened his back, took a breath, and moved, "Sylvie...we need to talk about you and Dover Jo."

"I know, I know I know I know–" Sylvie put her hands on her head, suddenly erupting with energy.

"I know, I know I know," she shook his head, a manic look in her eyes as she stared back at Laurie. "You're mad at me–fine–I get it–but I don't care–after what you did to me you have no right to be mad at me!"

"I'm not mad."

"Of course you're mad at me!" Sylvie swung her arms out, "You can tell–everyone can tell that I'm a horrible mother! I can see it in their eyes–even Marigold thinks I'm a terrible mother–"

"Sylvie–please–"

"And she's right–they're all right! I'm a horrible–despicable mother! I'm a failure–I'm only a month in and I failed–just like I failed with you–because I rush into things–because I'm impulsive and I just drag everyone into things–I dragged you into this marriage and now I've brought someone into the world carelessly–I know I was an idiot–"

"SYLVIE!"

"I know I'm an idiot–I know–" Sylvie crouched down as her fingers dug into her scalp. "I'm disgusting–I'm just disgusting!"

Laurie grabbed Sylvie, pulling her head up to look at him. "Stop it." He was so calm when he spoke. He didn't raise his voice, and he didn't take his eyes off Sylvie either. "You need to stop tearing into yourself."

Sylvie felt the tightness in her chest come undone.

"I didn't realize it before," Laurie said, "I didn't realize a lot of things–but I'm not gonna look the other way anymore when you're suffering through this." As he spoke, his arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly. "You aren't a failure, Sylvie, you're just...wired differently."

Her eyes widened, she felt caught. Frozen, she felt Laurie pull away, looking at her intently. "Sylvie, you have episodes, sometimes you're hyper and energetic, then sometimes you drop down so low you can't get out of bed. Sylvie...you knew didn't you? That you were bipolar?"

There in their apartment, Sylvie could hear the sound of Dover Jo crying, she glanced at the bassinet, watching as Laurie hesitantly moved toward him, one hand still on Sylvie.

"I understand why you didn't tell me," he began, reaching toward Dover Jo to try and soothe the infant. He rocked the bassinet, his voice dropping as they neared their son. "I mean, it's not like I was ever really paying attention when we first got married. I enjoyed the highs and damned the lows, and all the while you thought I resented this huge piece of you."

Sylvie watched as Laurie reached his hand onto Dover Jo's stomach, so effortless with his touch. He looked so gentle and familiar, and she could tell Dover Jo felt that comfort in his presence.

"I keep thinking of how lonely you must have felt, lying in bed next to a man who had no idea the hell going on in your head..."

He looked back to her and earnestly said, "But I promise I'll pay attention from now on."

Slowly, he stretched his hand out to Sylvie's, waiting for her to make the next move. Though with much hesitation she took his hand and watched as he placed it onto Dover Jo's stomach.

The baby had stopped crying, but he cooed at the touch of Sylvie's cold fingers. His tiny arms stretched up toward her, his fingers unfurling to try and grab on to something. She put her finger to his hand, watching as he clamped down and held on for dear life.

"When I look at him," Sylvie said, her voice cracking as she felt tears form in her eyes, "I just feel like he's so small...and I might break him if I'm not careful."

"Oh it's okay, he's stronger than he looks," Laurie assured her, "I hit his head against the refrigerator earlier and he seemed fine–"

"You did what?"

"I'm joking," he laughed, "maybe."

Sylvie squatted down by the bassinet so she could put her face close to Dover Jo's. "What if he ends up like me?"

"Well, if that's the case," Laurie said, "then who better to be his mother than someone who knows exactly what he's going through."

The two sat in silence as they watched their child wiggle around in his bed. The fear that Sylvie felt wasn't gone just yet, but the shame was gone. She felt seen.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Though night had fallen, the day was not over for most. Marigold found herself still running around looking for answers on what to do next. She arrived at the Fullbuster's house to check in on the Dragneels, but when Lucy answered the door, she was reluctant to let her inside.

She opened the door just a crack then stepped outside into the cold to greet Marigold. She immediately asked, "Is he alright?"

"For now he's stable," Marigold said, "we've moved him to the guildhall infirmary so Hanna can figure out where to go from here but...well..." Marigold shook her head, "How is everyone else? We should have the house cleaned up so you can go home tomorrow."

"They're fine, just worried," Lucy sighed, and as she looked at Marigold, she couldn't help but say, "Marigold, how did this happen."

"I don't know, he wasn't quarantining, I should have insisted he live with you guys but he didn't want us to separate–"

"Do you think that's why he got sick?"

"Huh?"

"Because he was around you."

Marigold paused, "You think he...was exposed from being near me?"

Lucy sighed, "I'm not saying this to be cruel, but you are the source of this whole illness. Maybe, without knowing, you were getting him sick."

Marigold was silent as she watched Lucy slink back inside. "Marigold, I need you to find a way to stop this. I don't know how to protect my kids."

The door shut and Marigold paused in the moment to think.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Nashi and Gideon were at the guildhall, still dressed for their wedding. Nashi almost refused to take the dress off simply because she loved the feeling of it, but there was a somber feeling as the two sat at the bar sipping hot tea as they waited to hear something from Hanna.

"I'm sorry," they both said, each squinting as they realized they were both apologizing for something out of their control.

They paused, then smiled, Nashi linking arms with Gideon, "How did you imagine our wedding would go?"

"Uh, I don't know," Gideon said with a shrug, "I thought it'd be like...all snowy and cold but then boom, you walk down the aisle and your hotness melts everything away."

"Hot in which way?"

"Both ways," Gideon smiled as Nashi snickered. He continued, "And then we'd do the whole speech thing–with the vows–"

"What did your vows say?"

Gideon's face soured, "Uh..."

"Come on, let me hear them."

With some reluctance, Gideon reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded up paper he'd written of their vows.

"Nashi," he started, clearing his throat about three times before continuing, "I've known you my entire life. When we were kids, you would always chase after me and I'd run away. When we go older, I felt myself chasing after you. You always seemed ahead of me, winning the race before I'd even started. Then...I realized...as you won the race you were still looking over your shoulder to cheer me on, and you'd wait at the finish line as I slowly made my way to you. I hope one day to catch up with you, but in the mean time, I couldn't be happier cheering you on from behind. Because guess what, your butt looks great–okay I thought that was funny when I wrote it but maybe that's inappropriate to say on the day of our wedding." As Gideon folded up the paper, he turned to realize Nashi was fully sobbing. "Whoa–"

"Oh my gosh–" she wept, putting her fingers under her eyes to try and prevent her mascara from running. "Oh my gosh that was beautiful..."

Gideon squinted, "Even the part with the butt–"

"ESPECIALLY the part with the butt!" She said between tears.

Using the napkins at the bar, Nashi cleaned herself up, as Gideon asked, "What were your vows?"

"Oh gosh, those stupid things?" Nashi shook her head, she reached into her bra (of all places) and pulled out a wadd of paper. "You really wanna–"

"Yes!"

Nashi cleared her throat, wiped one last tear before beginning. "Gideon, words can not express how much I love you. But maybe sex can. So let's try that instead."

Gideon's eyes widened, "Oh my...you were going to say that? In front of our families? Your two year old siblings?"

"And if that doesn't work, we should learn sign language to communicate, also so we can better communicate with hard of hearing individuals."

"Is that really in your vows..."

"I don't know how to tell you how much I love you, but I'll try and show it every day for the rest of our lives." Gideon smiled as Nashi continued to read, "Mix three eggs with sugar–oh sorry I think I may have put a recipe on this when I couldn't find any paper–"

"You wrote a recipe on your vows?"

"No, I wrote my vows on a recipe, duh," Nashi shook her head, putting the paper away. "Well, what would happen next?"

"I guess," Gideon shrugged, "we'd kiss and be married."

"I can do that," Nashi and Gideon turned to see behind the bar was Cana. She almost crawled into view, seeming to have been on the floor behind the counter. "I've been here the whole time."

"Wait–you've been drinking this entire time?" Gideon said, "You were supposed to officiate our wedding–you were gonna do it drunk?"

"Yes, and I'll do it drunk now!" Cana pushed herself up, wiping the beer from her lips as she announced, "So what do you say? You wanna get married now?"

Nashi and Gideon shared a look, but it didn't take long for them to decide. They smiled, taking one another's hands as they made their choice. Today would be their wedding after all.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Liddan hadn't really slept that whole night, but he wasn't restless either. He felt a kind of numbness wash over him where he couldn't quite feel anything.

He kept waiting for Marigold, and he couldn't tell how long it had been when she finally arrived. However, at the sight of her all he could say was, "What took you so long?"

"Your family is okay, and so is Lilly, I took her home." Marigold approached slowly. She looked down at Liddan in the bed. He had taken his prosthetic off to reveal what was left of his arm. He didn't look as sick as before, but there was something still clearly off about him.

"When can we go home?" he asked.

Marigold sat down first, not answering his question. She instead asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

Liddan almost shrugged, "I don't know."

"You could have died."

"I didn't."

"You could have gotten your family sick–you might have gotten your family sick. We don't know–we don't know anything about this disease and you acted like it didn't even exist–"

"I didn't want to cause problems."

"This is a problem Liddan! It's a very big problem!" She sighed, putting her hands over her face, she was exhausted, perhaps more than Liddan.

"I didn't want you to leave again."

Marigold looked up, she squinted as she shook her head, "What?"

"Last time I caused problems you left."

"I didn't leave because of you–I left because..." Marigold took a moment to answer, "I wanted to figure out what I was. Now...maybe it would have been better if I stayed."

"So you're not leaving?"

She didn't answer.

Liddan sat up, he repeated himself. "Marigold."

"I don't know what else to do–"

"No," suddenly the life returned to Liddan's voice. He found himself filled with anger. "No–you can't go again."

"I have to find out how to stop this!"

"I have nothing Marigold!" He threw his legs out over the side of the bed, leaning forward toward her as she sat across from him. He put his hand on his arm, something about the entire situation felt like losing a limb. "I can't use my magic, I can't even use my arm–I have nothing!"

"If I don't go it'll stay like that, I need to learn how to use my powers so I can stop this!" She stood up, turning toward the door, "I'll be taking Lilly with me, because I don't know how long it'll be...we'll head to Pride–I'll be sure to call and write to you–"

"NO!"

"Liddan–please!"

He pushed himself up, staggering as he stood, "If you leave I will never forgive you."

Marigold stood by the door, and she took his words into thought. She shut her eyes, shaking her head, "And if I stay I'll never forgive myself."

She pushed open the door, rushing out before anything else could be said. Liddan lingered a moment longer before collapsing onto the bed. It felt just like losing a limb.

───※ ·❆· ※───

In the morning, Lilly would pack her things best she could. Marigold said she could only bring so many books with them, insisting they'd be back. Looking at her freshly organized shelf, she felt bitter about leaving.

At the trainstation, only a few people waited to say goodbye. Levy and Gajeel were there, even Sylvie had shown up, but no one else.

Lilly, clinging to Marigold's hand, looked around the station. "Where's Liddan?"

Marigold took a breath. "I don't know."

"Is he coming with us?"

"No, honey, I told you that."

"But he isn't saying goodbye either?"

Marigold sighed, "I guess not."

As the whistle began to blow, Marigold and Lilly dragged their things onto the train. Just as they arrived at their seats, Lilly could see the snow beginning to fall.

In a few weeks it would be Christmas, "We'll spend it with your grandma and grandpa, doesn't that sound fun?"

"But what about Liddan?" Lilly asked yet again. "Who will he spend Christmas with?"

Marigold frowned, pulling Lilly closer to her as they sat in the booth. "I don't know, Lilly."

Slowly, the train jolted forward, slugging along the track as they left Magnolia. Lilly looked out the window. So this is what it felt like to leave home.