Hey! Just a first-time fanfic writer here! Don't know if this is any good, so please tell me what you think of my writing ability if you don't mind. All righty then! Let the story commence!
~RosenPanther
RosenPanther is in no way in possession of Fairy Tail, nor will she ever be. Thank goodness.
Moonlight floated across the dark, misty forest. Silence hung in the air, light and hovering, riding upon the back of moon dust as it slowly fell to the earth like glittering silver snow. No sound dared to be born, feeling an appropriate measure of awe for the glowing, ethereally lit trees and roots. Mist swirled and softly captured the gentle moon beams in a tender embrace as it twisted and twined its way around the strong, solemnly calm sentries with their reaching arms and ivy-clothed bodies. This was a place of magic and wonderful mysteries, a place where the fairies lived.
Lucy couldn't help but compare that memory with what she saw now. Anger and sorrow filled her as she surveyed the destruction before her. Moonlight flitted across the desolate, wasted landscape, completely devastated and destroyed, coupled with a harshness only made worse by the night. Dusty smoke mixed with crawling mist, occasionally half-heartedly reaching for the ashy stumps of the blackened and charred trees.
She couldn't believe it. He had overdone it again. She suddenly frowned as something tickled her mind before fluttering away. Who was "he"? She couldn't remember. This mysterious "he" would pop into her thoughts and for one brief, fleeting moment, she could almost remember who "he" was. But then the memory would flee before she could firmly grasp it close to her heart. As it was, she was searching for clues to her past. She remembered very, very little. Her name was one of the only things she remembered, although she knew her first name only.
Lucy found it ironic that although she knew her own name, it didn't tell her who she was. She knew nothing about herself. Was she funny? Did she like to laugh? Did she have many friends? Heck, did she have any friends at all? Was she short tempered? Did she enjoy reading? Was she a solitary person or a social one? She just had no idea. These thoughts were continually running through her mind, seeking answers. She knew the answers were there in her head...she just didn't know how to find them.
Another thing she remembered had been this forest. Emphasis on the past tense. She knew she was in the right spot. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. Seeing as how it was one of the very few things she could still recall, she thought that perhaps it could give her something - anything, actually - about her past. Something, or possibly someone, else had happened here however, ruining any chance she might have had at finding a clue.
Sighing, Lucy wandered closer to a burned, blackened, and withered tree, once greatly majestic but now pitiful and dead. As she crouched beside the charred stump, the whip coiled at her hip brushed against her leg. She reached out and gently touched the scorched tree, feeling a faint warmth beneath her finger tips. Scratching and picking, she pulled away the few outer layers of the dead tree until she could see that the center of the stump was still one giant glowing ember.
So the fire had only burnt out a few hours ago. Hmm. She wondered how long it took for the fire to start, spread this far, and then reach the point it was at now. It could have been a flash fire, she mused. A flash fire was a magical fire that started with a single spark and burned so hot and fast that it did the work of a regular fire in a quarter of the time before fizzling out just as quickly as it had begun. Or it could have been a normal fire, started by accident.
Laughter barked from her throat harshly. No. This was no ordinary fire. While the magic enchantment of the mystical forest was gone, a new magic had invaded the air, heavy and thick. Lucy could sense it all around her, could feel the way it moved across her skin like a slow moving heat wave, angry and oppressing. She shivered involuntarily. She wanted to get away from all this death-filled and angry magic. Well, it's not like there could be anything left of a clue now, she thought as she stood up, rubbing her hands together to remove the charcoal dust from her fingers. There was nothing else to do but leave. The only question was, where to?
She thought she might recall a town somewhere in this area, perhaps closer to the mountain range, which was a small squiggle on the horizon during the day. As it was, the darkness concealed any evidence of a town. No lights, no far-off smoke, nor was she able to see a road that could possibly lead to civilization. Yet, somehow, she still seemed to remember a town someplace near where she was. The more she thought about it, the more confident she became that there was a town nearby and the more the idea began to pull at her, urging her to choose the very attractive option that it presented.
She shook her head at herself. This idea was becoming more and more tempting, despite the glaringly obvious fact that it made no sense. It was the middle of the night, she didn't know the lay of the land, and most importantly, she didn't know for a fact if there really was a town somewhere around here; if there was, she had no directions as to where it might be located. How could she go traipse off, looking for a town she wasn't even sure existed, in the pitch black of night with only the moon and stars for light? It was madness. It would be best if she searched for someplace untouched by the fire, someplace she could seek shelter for the remainder of the night.
But her instincts were not being logical - they were being quite the opposite, in fact. Sighing, she gave in, thinking that perhaps listening to her instincts (or locked away memories, perhaps?) would be beneficial to her current situation. Letting her "instincts" guide her, Lucy turned toward the far-off mountain range and began to walk, passing between black trees and smokey mist. The harsh scent made her wrinkle her nose. She never liked the smell of things burning that shouldn't be.
She froze before a smile broke out across her face, the brightest shining star in the dark. She remembered something! She remembered something about herself! Excitement bubbled up inside her, making her dizzy with giddy happiness. Lucy could not have stopped the gleeful laughter from spilling from her throat and lips even if she wanted to. Hearing the bright, warm bells that seemed to have come from her vocal chords, she laughed more. This was the first time she had laughed since she woke up with no memory of who she was or where she was at. Nothing made sense to her when she awoke and she was almost constantly confused. She had had no reason to laugh before this. Yet, here she was laughing in joy because she actually remembered something about herself.
Grinning uncontrollably, Lucy began to walk again, feeling infinitely happier about everything in general. She no longer cared so much that her gut (subconscious?) was telling her illogical things She just walked, her feet seeming to find their own secret path. She walked and walked. Then continued to walk some more. Still no town was in sight. However, she continued to walk, determined to follow her plan all the way through.
She walked all night, not stopping even once. When the sun began to rise, something in the distance seemed to be resolving from its smudgy form into a more clearly defined shape. Lucy squinted her tired eyes, bringing up a hand to block the light that was emerging from the horizon so that she could perhaps see what was slowly clearing up in the distance. After another hour of walking, she could see that it was a town. It was a town! She had been right! There was a town here! Maybe it took longer to reach the town than she might have guessed (if she had actually believed that there was a town close to the mountains) but at least she made it! It would be a good place to find some new clothes and, if she were lucky, some food as well. She couldn't wait!
Wooh! That was fun! At least, it was for me anyways. I hope you guys enjoyed it because I most certainly enjoyed writing it. Leave me a review if you can spare the time for a sad, wanna-be writer like me, and hopefully I can get the next chapter out soon.
Danke schön!
~RosenPanther
