Here it is, Chapter 1 of the new and improved Desert Wars is done!
I'm really nervous so I hope you can answer a few questions for me in the review. Is Lucy's character consistent? Is the writing too rushed and does it seem like I'm hurrying to get out too much information at once? Does the scenario seem realistic? If there's anything you feel like I should improve besides Lucy's OOC character and several other plot details, feel free to tell me about them. I love to get some feedback.
I won't keep you from reading much longer so please, enjoy and please review after you're finished!
Chapter 1
Lucy opened her eyes to aching stiffness in her muscles and a bad taste in her mouth that accompanies dehydration and the feeling of sleeping too long. With a soft groan, she rolled over and out of her tiny cramped bed and sat up. She stretched, feeling her bones crack and put her feet into her boots before standing and going over to a small table to clean her teeth. She rinsed her mouth with a carefully measured amount of water and spat in the corner before turning and going over to a chair to change into a loose white shirt, camouflage cargo pants that she tucked into her boots, a pair of fingerless black leather gloves, and a thick black belt that held her knife, pistol, whips, and first aid pouch. She strapped another pistol to her right thigh and slipped two throwing knives into her boots before slinging her water canteen over her shoulder and strolling out the door to her tent.
"Loke," she called, seeing the orange-haired man standing and talking to a member of Celestial Zodiacs. Loke looked up and immediately jogged over to her.
"Good morning, Lucy," he said, snapping into a salute. There was a tiny gleam of amusement in his eyes and she smiled slightly in response, playing along with his game.
"At ease, soldier." Loke relaxed and Lucy began to walk towards the mess hall. As they passed by the other tents and guild members, the people stopped and froze, looking at her with respect and a slight amount of apprehension. "Updates."
"Aquarius, Gemi, Mini, and Libra took patrol last night with a team of ten each last night with Aquarius taking the first quarter. They reported back this morning and are resting. Mother Pisces, her son, Sagittarius, and Scorpio are scheduled for patrol today. Virgo and a team of fifteen are guarding the water well and Taurus and a group of fifty are making water rounds for the village camps. That still leaves about a hundred people still remaining in this camp, though I was going to ask you to send thirty to the Market today for supplies." Loke handed Lucy a clipboard, which she scanned over with a searching gaze. "This is the amount of stuff we need. I calculated and it's 14,876 Jewels in total, if the sellers haven't raised their prices."
Lucy stopped in her tracks. Her expression had darkened and she looked murderous. "Bastards have been draining Fiore of its money even though they know we need it if we were ever to rebuild our country. Goddamn, I swear I'll kill them one day." She started walking again, still grumbling under her breath.
Loke let her mutter furiously to herself, partly because he knew it was just hot air and partly because he knew she wouldn't hesitate to shoot him even if he was her right-hand man and closest male confidant. When Lucy finally quieted, he asked, "Will we send out a group to the Market?"
She nodded. "Send Cancer with them. I want them back before sundown and not a Jewel spent more than the sum you told me. And make sure they don't get into trouble with the other guilds." She dismissed Loke with a flick of her fingers, but he didn't move. She frowned at him and opened her mouth to chastise him, but he shut her down with a single sentence.
"The water levels of the well has gone down five inches over the last month."
Lucy froze. It was a few seconds before she could speak again. "How much more do we have left?"
"Less than 50 feet. I told Virgo to look for any rips and tears in the tarp, but I think it's because of our consumption. People need water to bathe, eat, drink, and use for too many things. Also, the people are getting sicker. Malaria, cholera… It's getting more and more common than 20 years ago. Also, dehydration, but you know there's no real help for that." He lowered his voice even more. "Aries has been running around treating the villagers, but they need water and medicine and we can't give them more than the gallon per day and you know that single gallon is used for everything from drinking to washing and cooking. Also, we've been running out of the medicine. Aries tells me she only has enough for maybe a thousand people left and that's if we use it sparingly."
"We have a population of maybe 7,000 on Heartfilia Territory, what the fuck do you want me to do? It's too many people for 50 feet of water," Lucy hissed. "If they die, then that means more water for the rest of us, Loke."
"Magnolia Territory has more than 10,000 and Fairy Tail's doing a fine job of keeping their people alive," Loke whispered back furiously. It was dangerous to argue against the leader, but as he was one of the only three people with the right to, he occasionally used himself as the voice of the people of Heartfilia Territory to counter Lucy, though he never used it to undermine her position.
"Magnolia Territory has the largest well in the country, if you haven't forgotten!" She shook her head. "Look, just get some people to the Market today, alright? I'll check on the well myself later. Get Cancer and give him my instructions." She tore open the tent to the mess hall and disappeared without another word.
Loke stared at the tent flap as it fluttered shut behind her and sighed. He understood her stress and quiet despair; in a dystopian world such as theirs, no weakness was allowed. Survival of the fittest, if you will. He knew Lucy hated that there was nothing that she could do, but with limited resources and a Territory to defend and run, she had to do what she had to do to the best of her abilities.
Inside the mess hall, Lucy walked between several tables until she reached the makeshift kitchen in the back where a small group of people were working under the guidance of Aries, who was also the Head of the Healers in Celestial Zodiacs. "Good morning, Lucy," Aries said kindly, handing her a bowl of what looked to be an imitation of stew. "Rough morning?"
Lucy shook her head, sitting down at a nearby table. "It's always rough. No trouble from the other guilds, as far as I can tell, but…" She let out a heavy sigh. "You probably know half of it."
Aries goes to sit close by and smiles sympathetically at her leader. "You've led us successfully for 5 years. I'm sure you'll be able to find answers to your problems."
Lucy laughed humorlessly. "If I can suddenly make it rain, that'll solve all my problems." She picked up a spoon from the tin in the center of the table and dug in, wolfing it down and washing it down with a sip of water. "Thanks for the food." She stood and marched out of the tent.
Aries watched her go and sighed sadly. "It isn't right that an 18 year old girl has to hold so many burdens," she murmurs to herself before standing and taking Lucy's bowl with her.
As Lucy walked out of the mess hall, she heard the rumble of vehicles and stopped as she noticed about 15 trucks driving slowly out of the camp. Knowing it was Cancer on his way to the Market, she nodded to herself and headed in the other direction.
She reached the edge of the camp and went a little ways out into the desert to where most of the vehicles were parked. A single motorcycle under a small blue tarp sits a few feet away from a cluster of trucks. It was Lucy's motorcycle. If anyone else touches it, they were going to get shot and Lucy wasn't picky about where.
Lucy mounted the motorcycle and turned it on. It roared to life underneath her and she smiled with satisfaction before revving the engine and blasting off into the wasteland at about 120 miles per hour.
Almost a half-century of waste and decay led to the trees and grass withering and drying before they disappeared as the land baked and cracked and the dirt turned to stand and pebbles. The towns and cities scattered around became little more than skeletons and shells of their former selves, inhabited by lizards and scorpions and snakes. They were ripped and torn apart for metal and wood and salvageable supplies from the time of the Before.
The Before.
When Lucy was a child just learning how to handle her first knife, her mother Layla would tell her stories of the Before from what she heard from her mother, Lucy's grandmother. She told of the color green— a color rarely seen in this age— and of bright flowers and proud birds and soft-furred cats and loyal dogs. Lucy, just a little 5-year-old at the time, giggled and told her mother happily, "One day I want a cat and a dog and a bird and a flower and I want my flower to be green!"
Layla smiled at her daughter. "Is that your dream? To have a cat and a dog and a bird and a green flower? That's a pretty big dream, you know."
Little Lucy thought. "I just want green," she decided. "That's my dream."
That dream died when she was 13.
Now, 18-year-old Lucy was speeding over a desert wasteland, the dry wind in her hair and eyes as she rides towards a growing spot in the distance that she could see was no more than a cluster of numerous vehicles and moving figures. It was a relatively short ride to the well, since Celestial Zodiacs needed to defend it at a moment's notice, but it was still a good 15 minute ride.
As she approached the well, there was a sudden flurry of motion and she noticed that the people lining up in the direction she was coming from were holding rifles and shotguns that they pointed straight at her. Hiding a proud grin, she drove straight up to within a few feet of the guards and looked straight into the blank blue eyes of Virgo, one of the 14 first tier members of Celestial Zodiacs. "Stand down," she ordered.
Immediately, the guards dropped their guns and moved back as Lucy cruised to an open pavilion of heavy canvas situated a couple yards away from the edge of the tarp and parked in its shadow. Virgo followed and bowed slightly to Lucy. "Good morning, Lucy," she greeted.
"Virgo. You did good defending the well," Lucy said, dismounting and walking towards the giant square of tarp on the ground.
"Thank you." Virgo bowed again and watched as her leader examined the well.
Over 30 feet wide and 40 feet long, the well was roughly shaped like an oval and was covered at all times by a 50x50 foot black tarp that was nailed down with thick wooden stakes at all times except for an hour before dawn when three teams make water rounds, which was delivering water to the residents of Heartfilia Territory. It was a crude shelter for the most precious treasure in the territory, but technology has been set back too far in the last fifty years for them to do anything else and what equipment they had was ancient and half-broken.
"I heard the water level has dropped significantly last month," Lucy said, pacing along the edge of the tarp. "Loke told me about 50 feet is left. How much do we really have?"
"48 feet and 10.6 inches," Virgo replied instantly.
Lucy cursed under her breath and knelt to remove one of the stakes. The men whispered to each other with amazement as she unearthed the half-buried stake with one hand— a feat that not even the strongest man in the territory could do— and set it aside before lifting the tarp.
Warm musty air hit her as she peeled back the tarp until the lip of the well was revealed. She lifted the tarp and examined the murky water. The surface hardly rippled at all and she sighed. "Stagnant water. It's always stagnant water."
"Your predecessors had an idea of a water wheel, but since that required too much manpower to keep it moving and because they didn't want the water to be exposed to the sun, the idea was abandoned," Virgo said, joining Lucy by the edge of the well.
"I know that," Lucy sighed. She put down the folded tarp and sat down in the dirt, thinking as she stared out over the dry yellow wasteland. "I don't know what to do. We don't have allies we can turn to for help either except for the Magnolia Alliance but I don't want to go to them unless we absolutely have to. Fairy Tail is a Light guild, but I still don't trust them to not give out information without taking something in return."
"But Lucy, the people are dying. Our guild members are getting sick. Aries can't cure everyone and she's running out of medicine."
"I sent Cancer to the Market for supplies. Medicine is among them."
"But for 7,000 people?" Virgo's voice was soft, but her gaze had hardened. "Shelve your pride, Lucy, and go to Makarov for help."
"Heartfilia Territory has survived for 50 years already," Lucy snarled. "It can survive a little bit longer."
"And when that 'little bit longer' runs out?"
"You don't even know what it's like in Magnolia Territory anyway. How can you be certain they can help? And even if they can, I refuse to allow them to force me into making a bargain I can't keep. I won't form an alliance with them."
Virgo sighed sharply. "Survival is everything in these times. Phantom Lord has been threatening our borders last month. Perhaps an alliance is—"
"It's my territory so it's my decisions!" Lucy half-shouted. She paused as she saw people's heads turn towards them and lowered her voice with difficulty. "I'll think on what you said. In the meantime, continue with boiling water and adding those purification pills. We can't do much else." She stood and pulled the heavy tarp back to its corner, slamming the stake into the ground again and garnering a round of flinches as she did so. "Get back to work!" she barked at the half-terrified men, who immediately straightened.
Virgo watched with a small amount of sadness as Lucy mounted her motorcycle and roared away without a backwards glance. The young girl had had a lot to deal with ever since she became the leader of Celestial Zodiacs and Heartfilia Territory and with such a responsibility came with the burdens of 7,000 people on her shoulders as well as a thousand other things besides, including the raw fear of betrayal. With a sigh, she turned away from the fading dust cloud. "You heard her," she said to the few men who were staring after Lucy. "Get back to work."
Loke met Lucy as soon as she parked her motorcycle. "Is everything alright?" he asked, seeing her rather stormy expression.
"Virgo wants me to go to Makarov for advice," she said, slinging the tarp back over her motorcycle. "And as much as I appreciate that they're not threatening my territory's borders, I don't trust them enough to go into Fairy Tail's territory."
"It's not just Fairy Tail, you know. There's also Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Crime Sorcière," he reminded her.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "I know, Loke. That's why it's called the Magnolia Alliance but who the fuck cares? I don't trust them."
Her second-in-command hesitates before saying guiltily, "I told Virgo to suggest to you about going to Makarov." He flinched and closed his eyes, preparing to face Lucy's wrath.
There was a weighty pause, then a fist slams into Loke's stomach, driving the air from his lungs. He flew back several feet and fell to the ground in a heap, wheezing for breath. Lucy approached and knelt in front of him. "I might just take away your privileges, Loke, if you weren't so damn useful to me," she said in a deadly whisper. "But the next time you step out of line like this will be your last.
"You know how important it is that Heartfilia Territory remains free of bargains and contracts. If we were to survive, it's better that we handle things ourselves. One wrong move and we could fall. You know this, Loke. You know this better than anyone. You were there when we were betrayed by Phantom Lord five years ago."
"I'm sorry, Lucy," Loke choked out, wiping away the tears that had forced their way out of his eyes.
Lucy nodded and helped him up. "Come on, let's get you to Aries. I told Virgo I'll think on her— well, your— suggestion."
Loke nodded and accepted her proffered hand, leaning heavily on her as she wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him back into the camp. They didn't get far when Aries suddenly appeared in front of them, brown eyes wide with shock.
"What happened?" she said in a high-pitched voice.
"Me," Lucy said without a shred of guilt in her voice. "I had to put him back in his place."
Several of the guild members winced with sympathy. They've all witnessed what Lucy meant by that when she was a young girl and people constantly undermined her authority. Some still sport the scars on their bodies.
Aries sighed sharply and took Loke's other side. "Now what've you done," she chided.
"Sorry," he said, a small amount of humor in his weak voice.
Lucy snapped her fingers at a man standing nearby. "You, help him to the medical tent." The man bobbed his head and rushed to take Lucy's place. She watched them walk off before turning and going in the other direction.
She wove through the maze of tents and people, finally arriving at a large gray tent with a large gold key hanging outside on a nail hammered into a support pole. Lucy knocked underneath the key, calling, "Capricorn, are you there?"
There was a pause, then a large man with pure white hair stepped out of the tent. He wore black sunglasses and sported a white curly goatee on his chin. Seeing Lucy, he bowed slightly. "How may I help you, Lucy?"
She lifted her chin. "I need advice, Capricorn. The same one you must have given to my mother many years ago."
"I see." He peered at her through his shades. "Well then, please come in. We have much to talk about."
"I believe Loke had the right thought in going to Makarov for advice," Capricorn said after Lucy finished her narrative. "I knew Makarov back then, as you know. He was a fair leader then and people say he's still a good one now."
"So I've heard. Still, I won't take any chances." Lucy stood and paced in the somewhat cramped space. "I know my mother must've had this dilemma before. What did you tell her?"
Capricorn let out a long sigh. "I told her to consult with another guild leader. It was her who decided to trust Jose Porla."
Lucy stilled as she heard that name. It was a while before she spoke again. "And this… is why I refuse to go to others for help."
"You've heard the story many times, why go in circles?" Capricorn leaned back in his chair. "You know what happened before Layla's death."
"Because I'm trying to look for loopholes. Going to Makarov is the absolute last decision I would make. I need to look for every other option possible." Lucy sat down again and took a sip of water from her canteen. "Which is why I'm here, seeking your advice."
The man grimaced. "After the last time, I'm reluctant to give advice that could once again jeopardize our guild." He looked at her with sad eyes. "After the last time, I should've been Banished."
"For the last time, Capricorn," Lucy snapped. "It was one of my mother's last wishes for me to not Banish you. She herself said she accepts total responsibility for Phantom Lord's betrayal."
He bowed his head. "I know. It's just that—"
"Save it. I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to talk about what to do now. Your advice, Capricorn. I need to make a decision within the next few days at the most. I may not have a deadline, but more people are falling ill as we speak." With that, Capricorn fell into thoughtful silence.
It took a while, but when he spoke, it was to ask her a question. "You're only going to him for advice, aren't you? Not for medicine or anything like that."
"Yes, but we'll have to see what Cancer can bring back before we can determine that. You know how the medicine is getting more expensive each year."
"If it's just advice, I'm sure Makarov would gladly give it to you free of charge."
"You can't be sure of that. They can see this as a sign of weakness and try to take over the territory." Realizing how paranoid she sounded, Lucy growled. "I'm trying to think of ways to keep us alive, dammit! Paranoia kept us safe for 5 years already."
"I know," Capricorn said mildly. "And I understand. I don't think Makarov is the type to take advantage of situations like these, but if we ask for medicine, the tables could turn. I may have liked Makarov when I met him that one time with your grandmother, but I don't trust him enough
"What about Sabertooth?" Lucy asked, jumping up and pacing again.
"I don't trust Sabertooth. I've met with their leader before and yes, though they've kept quiet, I think if we go to them, we'll face the same as when we decided to trust Phantom Lord."
"Grimoire Heart is gone for years now. That leaves Oración Seis… and Phantom Lord." Her voice boiled with hatred. "And between the Magnolia Alliance, Oración Seis, and Phantom Lord, I'd rather trust the Magnolia Alliance."
"Then go to Makarov," Capricorn said blandly.
"It's not that simple!" Lucy yelled. "Is there anything else you think I could do without resorting to others for help?"
He eyed her. "I understand why you're so reluctant to trust others. What happened 5 years ago would make anyone distrustful, but Lucy, sometimes it's good to—"
"Shelve my pride and let others help, I know. Virgo said that already," she said impatiently. She paced a little bit more, deep in thought. "I don't know," she said eventually. "And it's dangerous, not knowing."
"I can only give you what advice I can. What you decide, the rest of us will have to accept." He hesitated. "What does your heart tell you?"
Lucy snorted. "Really? My heart?"
Capricorn shrugged self-consciously but didn't reply.
Lucy shook her head. "I should get going. Thank you, Capricorn. I'll let you know what my decision is soon."
"Good luck," he called as she left the tent.
Back out in the bright sunlight, Lucy sighed and ran a hand over her face, lost in thought for a few minutes. She hated having to make a decision that would go against everything she'd upheld for so long, but it was a necessary one, if the territory was to survive. She raised her head glared at the boiling sun to soundlessly fume at the injustice of it all and marched off to the medical tent to look for Loke. She found him… kissing Aries. "Good to see you've recovered," she said, raising an eyebrow.
They burst apart, both red in the face. "Lucy!" Aries squeaked. "We weren't— I mean—"
The girl waved her hand dismissively. "Enough. I don't care what the two of you are up to in your free time." She smiled gently to soften her words. "Besides, it's good to finally see the two of you together. You've been dancing around each other for the last two years."
"We, uh, we've actually been dating for a month now," Loke said, a tad sheepish.
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, congratulations. Anyway, Loke. I spoke to Capricorn about… what you suggested."
"And?" He straightened, looking her in the eye.
She bit her lip. "I don't like it. And I won't ever like it." There was a pause, then Lucy let out a long sigh. "But I think just this once, I should attempt to trust others more."
A broad grin stretched over Loke's face, but he hastened to conceal it after seeing how disgruntled his leader looked. "I understand," he said.
Lucy scoffed. "I don't believe you understand how difficult it was for me to cave in to your stupid suggestion, but fine, I will go to Makarov."
"When?" Aries asked.
The girl chewed on her lip for a quick moment. "I'll have to see after Cancer comes back, but if he manages to get everything without any hassle— including the medicine you need, Aries— then I believe we would go at the end of the week."