Yawning as she made her way downstairs, Fate was wondering who was up making breakfast this early. After last night, she didn't think anyone in the house would be able to get up any sooner than she did.
Walking into the kitchen, she blinked at what she saw. The table was set and food was being put on it by the last two people she expected to see that morning. "Erio. Caro. When did you two come back?"
The redhead turned away from cooking over the stove and smiled at Fate. "Well, there's some new people to help watch over the preserve, so we were given a few days off. And we thought we'd surprise all of you by showing up."
"I am surprised." Fate smiled at him. "What time did you two get in?"
Erio blushed at the question. "Um, about three hours ago..." Seeing Fate's look of disbelief, he just rubbed his head and looked back to what he was cooking.
Caro rolled her eyes. "We forgot about the time difference and ended up here a bit too early." She pouted as she realized that she wasn't tall enough, even standing on a chair, to get to the glasses on the highest shelf. "Waaagh! This isn't fair! You people are giants." She turned and gave Fate an accusatory look.
"If Lu was here, she'd just say you're short." Erio pointed out, before yelping as something hard slammed into his rear. "Darn it, Fried, I was just teasing, you didn't need to headbutt me again!" He growled at the Dragon, who was currently in its tiny form.
The Dragon just stuck his tongue out at Erio in response.
"What's going on out here?" A male voice spoke up and Caro's eyes lit up as she saw who was walking into the kitchen at that moment.
"Yuuno-papa!"
"Ack!" Yuuno had to take a step back as a pink little typhoon grabbed him. "Caro! How are you?"
"I'm fine, Yuuno-papa. Erio-kun, Fried and I wanted to surprise everyone."
Yuuno laughed as he hugged her back. "Well, I'm really surprised. Wow, have you gotten taller?" Caro started blushing as Yuuno looked her over. "You're getting really beautiful. I bet you need to beat all the boys away from you."
"Nah uh!" Caro turned away, her cheeks as pink as her hair. "Don't be silly, papa."
"Oh, I bet you have all the boys wanting to give you stuff, you're so cute that they just want to hug you and never let you go, right?" Yuuno winked as Caro's face turned bright red and she shook her head. "No? Well, then they're stupid. You're a very lovely young woman."
"Papa..." Caro whined softly. Sure, it was nice but... "Come on, papa, you know that..." She blinked as Yuuno hugged her. "Papa?"
"I'm just glad you're home."
Caro smiled and hugged him back, sighing softly as she enjoyed her papa hugging her.
Watching the two of them, Fate just smiled and looked at Erio, who was blushing as he cooked the food. Walking over to him, she hugged him from behind and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad you're back too, Erio." Seeing his blush get brighter, she giggled and let him go. "I'll go wake the others up."
Yuuno nodded and moved to help Caro set the table for breakfast.
(---)
Chrono took a deep breath as he stepped foot onto the planet that held a lot of meaning to him. Sure, he wasn't born on Earth, but he did spend a lot of time on this planet while growing up. "It's been a long time."
"Yeah," he looked behind him where Filia was helping Hayate out. His wife was smiling at him. "Though, this part of the world is more open than that annoying city at least."
Chrono chuckled softly and looked at Hayate. "Are you sure that you're okay for this?"
"I want to see him," she narrowed her eyes at the Admiral, "and don't think that because I'm about a month away from giving birth that I can't blast you into orbit from where you stand."
Chrono sweat-dropped and nodded as he looked at Filia, who was nodding at Hayate. "...You're supposed to be on my side!"
"She's also a pregnant woman, and, as someone who's had a daughter, I can safely say that I understand what she's going through." Filia patted Hayate's back gently. "Come on, dear, let's go inside before my mean old husband tries to make light of your situation."
Chrono just stared, mouth agape as he watched them walk towards the farm house in the distance. "...Since when is this my fault? I didn't get Hayate pregnant!"
Filia smiled as she walked with Hayate. Teasing her husband was rather fun, she just hoped that things at home were alright.
(---)
Sette blinked as Val tackled her to the ground. "...Yes?"
"Big sister! Amy-mama won't let me go outside and play this morning!" Val whined and Sette sighed softly.
"Do you not have school today?" She nodded when he complained how boring school was and he just wanted to play with her. "If you go to school today and not cause problems, I shall play with you afterwords."
Val's eyes sparkled. "Really? All over the park?" When Sette nodded, he squealed and hugged her tightly. "You're the best, big sis!"
Sette smiled as she hugged her brother back. "Come on, we should get to the table before Wendi decides to eat our share of food." Val's eyes widened as he jumped off of her and ran towards the kitchen.
Before Sette could get up, Mr. Snuggles jumped on her head and looked down into her eyes. "Told you that they were annoying. Can I please scratch them now?"
"I would rather you not try to harm my brothers and sisters, Mr. Snuggles. But thank you for the offer." Standing up, Sette wondered just how Mr. Snuggles was able to keep looking her in the face without falling off or even shifting his weight at all.
"Hey! Wendi's not even out here! Big sis, you liar!" Val's voiced tore through the house, getting a chuckle from Mr. Snuggles and a small smirk from Sette.
"Hmm, she's not?" Sette asked as she walked out into the kitchen. "I guess not."
Val whined as he sat at the table, putting his face into his hands.
Watching that, Amy just smiled at them. "Sette, would you be a dear and make sure that Wendi, Otto and Deed are up?"
Nodding, Sette left the kitchen to do that. "Mr. Snuggles, would you stop looking at me in the face like that?"
"I was going to see if you were going to force me to get off or not." Mr. Snuggles moved from her head to her right shoulder. "I was wondering if you've noticed anything about Otto or Wendi's tails lately."
Sette blinked at the question. "I have not been paying attention, I admit. Why do you ask?"
"Wendi's tail seems darker than I remember, and Otto's tail is brighter in color as well." Mr. Snuggles tilted his head in confusion. "By the way, Sette, I never bothered to ask before, but why is it that Wendi's tail is different from her hair?"
"What do you mean?" Sette asked as she went towards Otto's room.
"I am not sure. Her hair seems to be darker than your hair, even though it's the same. But Otto's hair is..."
Sette blinked and her eyes widened. "Wait, you can see colors?"
Mr. Snuggles raised his head up and blinked in amazement. "That's what they're called? I was wondering why the world seemed so bright compared to what it was before the doctor worked on my body."
Sette nodded slowly as she thought about it. "Hmm, well, I guess mom should know about this. You might want to be able to name what color you're looking at then."
"Thank you."
As Sette walked towards Otto's room, she stiffened as she felt something wrap around her waist before two hands grabbed her breasts. "Wendi, what are you doing?"
"Hmm, they've gotten heavier lately. What have you been eating?" Wendi asked as she gave Sette's breasts another squeeze.
"If you are done seeing if my breasts are watermelons or not..." Sette trailed off as a boomerang formed in her left hand out of nowhere. Seeing that, Wendi grinned and slipped away from Sette. "As for your question, just yesterday evening, I had two steaks, four kilos of mashed potatoes, four liters of milk and two liters of water, as well as two apple pies."
"What?" Wendi stared at Sette. "I know I can eat a lot, but that's more than I normally eat."
"She was still hungry and went looking for food an hour later." Mr. Snuggles grinned as he watched Wendi face-fault to the floor. "You do eat a lot, Sette.
"Does it all go to your breasts or something?" Wendi asked as she stood up, before looking at Sette's backside and tilting her head. "Well, your butt hasn't gotten any bigger, so... Where does it go?"
Sette just shrugged at her. "If you, Otto and Deed would practice using your Dragon magic more, perhaps you would start eating more as well."
Wendi sweat-dropped at that. "Uh, no offense, but I don't think I want to end up like you and have to eat all the time."
Sette shrugged at her. "Very well, but I was just making an observation." She wondered why Wendi looked uncomfortable at the idea of eating even more, but then shrugged it off.
It wasn't important. She was actually enjoying using her magic and learning new stuff.
(---)
"Chrono, Hayate," Gil smiled as he saw his former pupil and the girl that he... He shook his head to banish those thoughts, it was a long time ago and it looked like... His eyes widened as he took in Hayate's form. "Well, well, Hayate, you really have blossomed into a beautiful woman, haven't you?" He looked at Filia and blinked, trying to recall where he saw her from. "I know you, but..."
"My name is Filia Ul Copt-Harlaown." The blonde smiled at the elderly man. "I married Chrono and Amy both several years ago."
Gil snapped his fingers and nodded. "Ah yes. Now I remember. How is the family, dear?"
"Quite well, actually," Filia smiled at him as the four of them sat around in Gil's living room. Looking around briefly, Filia nodded in approval at the living conditions Gil had. "It's a very cozy house."
"Yes," Gil covered his mouth and started coughing hard, "it is a nice house." Sighing, he leaned back into the couch. "It is a shame that I never had any family to share this with."
"Don't be ridiculous." Hayate spoke up, causing Gil to look at her and blink as she smiled at him. "After all, grandfather, it has been a long time since I saw you last."
Taking off his glasses, Gil sighed as he closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Even after what I tried to do to you, you still call me that."
"I never blamed you for what you tried to do." Hayate stood up slowly and made her way over to him and eased herself onto the couch, wincing slightly. Getting up and down from a sitting position was hard when the baby was almost fully developed after all, since it put pressure on her hips that she didn't like too much. Lindy, Quint and Lina had given her plenty of information about the final few months of pregnancy and the annoyances that came with it. "You were in a bad situation, grandfather," she patted him on his arm and smiled, "but, it was a long time ago, please, stop blaming yourself for it." When Gil looked down, depressed, Hayate gently took his hand and placed it on her belly. "Can you feel that, grandfather?" He looked at her belly, a look of wonder on his face as he felt the life that was growing inside of her move around, "that's you're great-grandchild."
He smiled, his eyes watering up as he moved to hug her lightly. "Thank you, Hayate, but..." He let go of the hug, sighing heavily. "I do not think that I shall last much longer."
"That's why I came here, actually," Chrono spoke up, causing Gil to look at him in resignation, "Lotte and Aria both know that they're taking a toll on you. They've been in their cat forms for the past few months, and they want to release you from the strain of having them."
Gil closed his eyes and shook his head. "Those two... I can't just let them go. They're the closest I have to daughters."
"I admit, I'm not too... Up to date on all the particulars with a familiar," Chrono took a deep breath, hoping that he was right on this, "but, if you didn't have to sustain those two, your health wouldn't be deteriorating as fast as it is?" Gil nodded to him. "So, tell me, Gil Graham, is there a ritual to transfer a familiar from you to another master?"