ONE - LOST CHILD

when I look into your eyes, tears are about to fall

My eyes flutter open at the distant sound of sobbing. My vision is blurry and when it becomes clearer, I find myself staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling. My eyes trail to the source of the sobbing I have been hearing for a while and I find a small girl crying by my side. Who is she?

Who am I?

I try to sit up, yet the stinging pain on my neck stops me. My face feels swollen and my feet hurt. I realise I am in no position to sit up normally, so I remain lying on the bed. I see a bunch of people looking at me with wide eyes and they are frantically calling for a...doctor? Am I in a hospital? What's going on?

"Ashley!" The sobbing girl cries out and hugs me. Why is she crying? Who's Ashley? Am I Ashley?

The girl has blue hair with an orange headband. Her face is full of tears and she sniffs as I look at her weakly. Just moving my eyes already tires me out. What exactly happened?

The doctor comes and checks on me and I comply without a word. "She's fine now," I hear him say, causing the people around me to sigh in relief. I feel their stares on me and somehow I feel awkward. Who are these bunch of teenagers?

"I...get..up.." I manage to say. The blue haired girl hears me and clicks on some button so my bed moves up into a sitting position. My head suddenly feels gidding at the sudden movement. I blink, observing the people around me.

"Where am I?" I ask and a boy steps forward to me. He has pink hair..pink hair for a guy? His eyes are filled with worry and his brows are creased. "You're in the hospital. Thank God." He sighs and reaches to hold my hand. At that contact I jerk my hand away from his, feeling a little startled.

He looks at me with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. "S-Sorry.." I say softly. "But who are you?"

I hear the others gasp and another person leans forward. She has scarlet hair and scary eyes. "You don't remember?" She asks and I nod immediately.

"It must be memory loss," the doctor says from behind them. "It's common for such cases like hers."

I lost my memories? I see, that's why I don't even know myself.

"Then...who am I?" I ask, a little scared at the fact that I don't know anything. The blue haired girl beside me perks up and smiles at me. "You're Ashley! Ashley Heartfilia!" She chirps. "I'm your best friend Levy McGarden!"

All I can do now is to nod and smile at her. I look at the pink haired guy beside her who still seems worried about me. We make eye contact and he tries to smile. "Natsu Dragneel. Your childhood friend."

There are three other people present too. The scarlet haired is Erza Scarlet, my class president. There is another guy there too, also known as Gray Fullbuster. Apparently he's my good friend too. Lastly there's a younger girl Wendy Marvell and it seems that she's Natsu's sister.

I can only nod and smile at them in acknowledgement, though I'm really confused. I don't remember what happened that led me to land in the hospital, or even anything from my past at all. All I have now is these bunch of 'friends' I just met.

Taking a deep breath, I ask, "What happened...?"

Erza gives a worrying sigh. "It seems like you were found on the shores of Magnolia Beach. You almost drowned to death."

I did? I don't remember going to the beach. Or more like I don't remember anything.

"I-I see..." I look down at my hands which are bandaged. Was I hurt that badly? I probably look terrible to them.

"I guess we'll leave now. Natsu, take care of her." Erza commands and smiles at me heartwarmingly. "Take care, Ashley." Wow, she's actually nice.

The four of them leaves my ward and I look to Natsu, the pink haired guy. He still has a worried face and he sits by my side. "Are you okay?" He asks in a soft tone. I nod at him. He must be nice, I thought. I guess he must be very close to me.

He sighs and frowns at me. Before I can process his sudden change in mood, he flicks my forehead. "Owww!" I yell and clutch my forehead which hurts even more than it should. "I'm injured!" I whine.

"I can't believe you!" He yells back, startling me. "You were missing for three days! Where have you been?" I stare at him in wonder at his sudden outburst and I hear him mumbling something about how I won't remember anything anyway.

A sense of joy wells up in my heart, prompting me to smile at him. "Sorry," I apologise earnestly, though I really don't know anything. "Thanks for worrying."

He peeks a look at me and when our eyes lock, he looks away immediately. "It's good that you're alright now, I guess." He mumbles, rubbing his neck.

"You're weird," I blurt out and quickly cover my lips. He looks up at me, raising a brow. "You're the weird one!" He bursts out. "The Ashley I know never smiles!"

"Huh?" Was I that unfriendly? Seeing my surprised expression, he smirks. "You were really rough and unfriendly. You don't even act like a girl!" He smiles at the thought of the past me.

It was just for a few minutes and somehow I feel comfortable around him. Maybe we were very close after all. I feel as though I can open up to him about everything. "Then you better enjoy the feminine me right now," I laugh and ruffle his pink hair without a thought. Natsu looks at me, wide-eyed.

I let go quickly and before I can mumble a quick apology, he snickers and ruffles my blond hair. For the first time I let out a hearty laugh.

I rest my arm on the edge of the car window, enjoying the wind blowing on my face. I inhale deeply and the fresh air greets my nose. I finally got discharged after a week. Natsu comes to help me and the others are busy so they can't make it. He brings me a change of clothes and some food which he claims it's my favorite. I didn't know I liked spicy noodles, since it wasn't that tasty in my mouth.

"Where are we going?" I ask him without turning around.

"Back home. To Fairy Tail Academy!" I can hear his grin and I smile too. His cheerful vibe is infectious.

I sit back properly and stare up at him. "I live in my school?" I ask in wonder. I have never heard of such a thing. However he laughs and glances at me then back at the road. "We live in dorms, dimwit."

I puff up my cheeks at his little insult. "You're dumber than me," I retort, folding my arms.

I feel the heat rising around him and I brace myself for his outburst. "Oh yeah! I'm way smarter than you think!"

I eye at him. "What's 8 times 5 then?" I ask him. Something just tells me that he's too dumb to answer this question. C'mon, it's elementary school math!

"29!" He shouts with brimming confidence and I face palm myself.

"It's 40, you dimwit." I grin at him, expecting him to argue back. Instead he glances at me and smiles warmly at me.

We finally reach the academy and he leads me to the dorm building. It is a small and white building and the smell of bacon emits from it. Ah, I shouldn't have ate breakfast in the hospital.

We enter and Natsu guides me up to my room. My heart pounds in anticipation as I imagine what kind of room I had. It's probably a normal girl's room, with pink furniture anywhere. I might be a feminine girl on the inside while acting tough on the outside! I clench my fist as he opens the door and I step in excitedly.

The room, or rather, my room, is the least I expected. The walls are black and..literally everything is black! Who was I? I observe my room and I find posters of rock bands everywhere. My closet door is open, so I can see my clothes in it. And I only owned T-shirts, jeans and even leather clothing with spiky things too! Was I a rebel or something?

Natsu tells me to take a bath and meet the rest at the dining room later. He leaves and I plop down on my bed - it feels comfortable. I rest for a few minutes before reluctantly opening my eyes and proceed to take a towel and bathe. I walk out of my room and search for the sign for the toilet, only to find nothing.

There isn't anyone in sight, so I decided to go to a room next door and ask for directions. I go to the room next door and find that it says "LEVY". Levy? My best friend?

I knock on the door softly, hoping that I won't disturb her. Though she's my best friend, I still feel awkward around her. I knock again, this time louder. The door finally opens and Levy greets me. "Ashley?" She asks as she pushes up her glasses.

"Uh, hey," I begin nervously. I should be more carefree, since she's my best friend. "Where's the toilet huh?" I smile widely at her and she returns me the smile. "Right, you have memory loss. Walk straight and turn right."

"Thanks," I feel unusually happy while talking to her. "What are you doing?"

"Reading," She replies and takes a step back. "You're not going to scold me, are you?" She raises a brow at me. A fuzzy feeling encircles my mind, though I don't know why.

"W-Why would I?" I raise my voice a little and it takes her aback. "I love to read!"

Realising what I've just said, both Levy and I stare at one another. "Y-You remember?" She asks in surprise. My eyes widen at her and I shake my head. "No! I just blurted it out abruptly!" I wave my hands at her. "I still don't remember anything."

Levy frowns at me. "Ashley, you're acting weird." She says in a low voice. "You hated books or anything to do with studying."

My heart starts pounding and I take a step back. "O-Oh really..." I trail off, looking at the floor. "I guess I'll be going." I say quickly and rush off, leaving Levy in astonishment.

I run straight and turn right and the washroom sign greets me. I stand in front of the door, clutching onto my towel. Somehow there's a foggy feeling in my mind, as though it's covering something. My head hurts and I crouch on the floor. What is this...feeling? The pain becomes unbearable every second and I clutch my head, leaning against the wall. Didn't I recover from my injuries.

I close my eyes tightly and a fog appears, making me feel hazy. Something flashes in my mind and I open them abruptly. The 'something' appears in my mind again and I struggle hard to remember it.

Books are burning. A man throws another pile of books into the fire while a girl screams. The girl...is that me? Why am I crying? Why is he burning books? Who is he? What's happening?

I freeze and stare into space. My pulse is beating rapidly and I'm already sweating profusely. My palms are cold and clammy and I'm too weak to stand up. Are those my memories?

I struggle to remember again but it doesn't come back to me. I remember the man was saying something and I try hard to picture it again. What was he saying? Something like...Lucy?

"Ashley?"

I turn around and find Natsu standing behind me, his face full of worry. Before I can reach out to him, black spots appear in front of me.

"N-Nats.." I try to say and the next thing I know, I black out.