[1/4]

standard disclaimer applied

The Soloist

o1. advent

There was a dull pain growing in her chest.

It wasn't like the usual pain she would experience when the day was colder than the usual—it was the annoying one and it refused to go away. She was a medic, a field medic that had just returned from the front lines and she should be aware if she was sick. She should be able to identify what sickness she suffered. She knew she was suffering the infamous infection; that would be obvious as her left iris turned white, leaving only the small black dot of the pupil. However, she was aware that this one had nothing to do with the infection. She must be suffering another illness.

But she wasn't. The dull pain wasn't exactly an illness or the aftereffect of working on the land where life could slip away easily. She knew that wasn't the problem. Lucy was a strong-spirited woman and she knew she could handle everything by herself.

'Perhaps you need a… uh, holiday. Yeah. Holiday.'

No Levy, I don't need any holiday was what she was trying to argue back then. But back then, the pain became unbearable and her job failing, only slightly because moron, you have to save many lives, because of that. It wouldn't do if she mistook the stitch count, they were talking about people's lives there. One small slip could disable any soldier and that would be a pity.

So she took several weeks off. She traveled back to her hometown with an aircraft—sitting amidst the crates and barrels of weapon was not a big problem for her—only to find it gone. There was nothing left at Magnolia when she arrived there. No wonder the peddler gave her a strange look when she asked for a ride there.

Magnolia, once a flourishing small town, full of lush green fields and flowery streets, was now a barren land, dry and empty and terrifying.

Lucy did not bother to look up the reason—she was too tired to even think about her family's whereabouts—and just stopped the next peddler she happened to found and headed to whatever town he was heading to.

That brought her here, a small town called Acalypha. The peddler offered her a good inn he knew, but she was pretty tight in the pocket. Her money wouldn't be able to support her three weeks holiday if she landed on a good inn. She needed to preserve the small amount of money she had. And that condition brought her to this small bar, a cafe perhaps if the rusty sign didn't play tricks with her half-blind eye.

Just like any other traveling people, she wore a dusty cloak that came out to be convenient for any weather. When she first entered the bar, she expected to be scolded by the owner for her dirty cloak. Turned out the owner wasn't even there and only appeared when she settled herself on the corner of the room.

"That would be eighteen jewels. Please wait a moment." He said when Lucy turned the money in exchange of coffee and a couple of sandwiches.

Perhaps because of the dim light Lucy failed to notice the sleeping dog and almost tripped over it. The brown dog only shifted a little in its sleep before deliberately ignoring her and sighed. Lucy wondered if she could be as careless as the dog. That would be helpful if not relieving.

She carefully moved the duffel bag to the seat across her, saving the table for her coffee and sandwiches.

That was when she heard the sound of rough, screeching melody. At first she thought it was only the wind that entered the wrong pipes, but in summer, wind became rare and one of the most enjoyable things around summer. The screechy melody, however, wasn't the most enjoyable thing to hear.

Lucy wondered if the old man turned on a radio and then it would be understandable—the radio didn't work well these days with war raging on and it would create less than pleasing sound.

"Sorry for the wait, miss." Lucy was pulled from her musing when a plate of hot sandwiches placed on the table along with the steaming hot black coffee. "And that is my grandson playing his violin. I'm sorry if he bothers you."

She blinked and turned to the old man stiffly, offering him a small but polite smile. "It's fine. Thank you."

The old man's eyes crinkle as he smiled. Lucy tried not to flinch at the sight of yellow and uneven teeth. "Enjoy your meal," he said before returning to the room behind the counter.

Lucy eyed the sandwiches. It was nothing fancy, just your ordinary canned-tuna sandwich cooked with half attention—the edge of the bread was burnt. But the taste was better than it looked, far better than what she usually eat back when she was working. A ration with bland taste it felt like eating dirt was her usual food consumption. It wasn't very nutritious nor delicious, but as long as it could turn into energy, anything would do.

The MRE or 'Meal Ready-to-Eat' was what made her feel homesick sooner than she thought. Even Levy was able to gobble them in until at the fifth week when she finally fell into homesickness.

'You look pale, Lucy. Are you okay? I heard you are granted the permission to go back home–'

'I'm fine, Erza. And yes, I'll be away for a few weeks.'

'Well, enjoy them while you can. You should visit your family.'

'I know…'

Well, her family was gone now and she wouldn't be too surprised if someday she found out they were dead already. She was already too familiar with death that her body created her own immune against any surprising news.

Though, now she wasn't sure where she would head to. Her house was literally gone and she had no relative. Her only option was to find some cheap inn and made her temporary nest there until they sent her a ticket to go back to the war zone.

It was her first time to think that being in that dull green tent, stitching skin and her hands covered in blood was better than being home.

The old man turned out to have one spare room upstairs.

It was a small room with squeaky wooden floor. No windows or hanging ornament, but there was a small, worn-out bed which springs came out the surface, a wooden chair, and a small cupboard. The lamp was dim and often flickering by itself. Lucy wasn't afraid of that or ghost. She was more afraid of dying patients rather than those.

Her duffel bag was placed carelessly yesterday as she could barely open her eyes—fatigue hit her like a storm—and before she could even take off the cloak, she fell asleep.

Which made her wonder why was her cloak now hanging on the door, leaving her with a drenched gray shirt and jeans. Her black boots were tossed carelessly last night, she remembered, but they were now placed neatly beside her bed.

Her eyes narrowed. Someone must have entered her room.

The soft knock against the old door jerked her out of her suspicion. She muttered a soft 'come in' as she opened her bag to inspect if her belongings were missing. The old man came in then, holding a cup of steaming hot liquid. Not coffee, she told herself, and not tea either.

"Good morning, miss," he greeted, setting the cup on the cupboard with the same polite smile. Lucy gave him a quick nod and continued searching for any missing thing. The old man blinked. "Is something the matter?"

"No, it's just– I slept with my cloak on and when I woke up, it's already hanging there." She explained, inwardly thanking that none of her belonging was missing. "I mean, I think someone entered my– this room."

"Oh, that must be my grandson. He's a curious child, you see. Last night I wasn't able to introduce you to him and I think he decided to see you by himself."

"Um, okay then." His explanation wasn't pretty much reassuring.

"Well, I got delicious fresh milk for you. It tastes good; my grandson likes it very much. Come down when you're ready. I have breakfast prepared for you."

With a nod of head, the old man exited the room and Lucy could no longer suppress an exasperated sigh.

His grandson was the one who entered the room in her sleep. So it wasn't a thief or some random pervert–at least she could defend herself if it was a pervert. Well, whoever this grandson of his was, she knew she should introduce herself to him.

As if on cue, she heard another screeching sound that slowly turned into a set of unimpressive song. She cringed when the volume got louder and the tempo quicken. Lucy got the urge to inspect the instrument.

She pushed herself to stand. Not bothering to wear her boots, she then walked out of her room.

What greeted her outside was a solid wall. She bumped herself over it and almost fell if her reflex on grabbing the door wasn't good enough. Her nose was burning in pain, but at least it didn't bleed. Still, she was furious to whatever stood in her way.

Or rather, whoever, because when she looked up, she found a man taller than her standing right outside her room while blinking slowly. Was he another customer?

"Uh, hello?" She greeted, though it turned into a question.

"Yo!" He replied, offering her a wide toothy grin and pulled her to her feet that if she wasn't careful enough, she would crash into his chest and it would leave a bad impression on him. "Who are you?" He then asked.

Lucy wasn't sure when he extended his hand. "I'm Lucy, a customer."

"Really? I thought Jiichan doesn't want to take a staying customer." He said, confusion written all over his face. "Well the name's Natsu! Nice meetin' ya!"

Lucy nodded and secretly wondering if her eye playing tricks on her. But she dared to bet on her blind eye that his hair was pink.

She decided to ask him. Asking for the truth was always been better than making assumptions.

"Natsu, is your hair natural?"

The man blinked once before he laughed. "Of course!" He exclaimed, then walking away, climbing down the stairs because all Lucy heard was the same creaking, squeaky sound when she stepped on them last night. He was pretty weird, she thought. It took her another second to decide that she was a little bit bothered by the fact that he was standing right in front of her (temporary) room.

All thought left her head when she felt her stomach rumbling. A small sound was following right after and she thanked that the man away already.

Downstairs, at the bar area, Lucy could see the old man owner and Natsu, already sitting on the high barstool while observing his old man cooking, flipping what seemed as a pancake with a smooth flick of wrist. The smell was nice, sweet and delicious.

She pulled another stool beside Natsu, waiting for the pancake to be ready. An old tv was placed not too far from the counter. Its screen was slightly hazy and the sound came out of it sounds like a broken tape. But it was better to watch them than thinking any other thing. Perhaps by luck, she could, somehow, comprehend what the newscaster was talking about.

"The war against– re-sulted– soldiers kille-d and… –suicide bo-mb…"

Lucy stood abruptly, knocking over the stool. Natsu and the old man gave her a confused look which she ignored as she gasped, "Suicide bomb? W- Where's the remote control?!"

Natsu hastily gave her the item and Lucy pressed the plus button until the room was filled with buzzing noise from the tv.

"Uh, Lucy, my ears are pretty sensitive and–"

"Shut up!" She barked. Her hands gripping the remote control tightly and she bit her inner cheek. Between the buzzing sound, she could hear the reporter's voice.

"–surprise atta-ck in the mi-ddle of the night… more than a hundr-ed soldiers ar-e killed in the ambush– Willy Wilson reporting fr-om Area Zero XV–"

The news cut there and the toothpaste advertisement started to sing its jingle. Lucy pressed the minus button to lower the volume. She pulled the stool and sat on it, the remote control was still in her hands. She didn't realize her knuckle was turning white.

"Ow my ears…" Natsu rubbed his ears, but the gesture was hardly noticed by Lucy. "Area Zero XV… isn't that the place where the infection first discovered?" Natsu wondered out loud, not intending to anyone but Lucy flinched visibly at the mention of it.

She stared at her lap, suddenly finding her ripped jeans more interesting than the news she watched just now.

Suicide bomb and an ambush. From what the reporter said, it seemed that no one made it out alive. Erza and Levy… were they killed too? What about Lieutenant Gildarts? That old man was too strong-headed to be killed from a mere bomb and ambush.

Right?

"Miss, the pancake is ready. Do you want sugar on it or the classic maple syrup?"

Lucy looked up from her lap and found a plate of pancake in front of her. Behind the counter, the old man held a cup of sugar and a bottle of maple syrup in each hand.

"M-Maple syrup, please," she answered and hating the fact that she was stuttering.

"Alright." He poured the brown syrup over the pancake. Lucy watched as the thick liquid fell in a gentle flow before it faded away and she was left alone with her mind.

'Code red! Code red! We have patients!'

'How bad are the injuries?!'

'They're slipping away! Oi! Jellal, hang on!'

'Lucy! Please, save him!'

'Lucy I need help! The blood–'

'We need blood transfusion! He's losing too much blood!'

'Erza, don't die on me!'

'Lucy! Lucy!'

"Lucy?"

"Huh?!"

Her seeing eye focused on the pancake and the maple syrup. She blinked slowly before finally registering the light touch on her shoulder. Lifting her head once again, she found the two males staring at her with wide eyes.

The hand on her shoulder felt hot and she flinched as if it burned her. The owner of the hand muttered a small 'sorry' which Lucy quickly reply in a quick nod.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Natsu asked. His eyes peered on her face and she immediately felt it. Curiosity, confusion, pity.

"I'm fine," she said, swatting the hand that once again resting on her shoulder. "I'm fine," she repeated, just like a mantra.

I'm fine. I'm fine. It's okay.

"You should eat, miss." The old man patted her head. Lucy didn't know how to react. Part of her wanted to inch away and another wanted to stay. But how could she? They were stranger, they didn't know her, she couldn't let any weakness shown to strangers.

"I- I'll eat in my room." She stood abruptly and climbed upstairs, forgetting the pancake and ignoring the stares the two males gave her.

The door shut behind her softly and she let herself sunk into her knees. The image of blood started to make her sick. She remembered vividly the human organ when she performed surgery, the yellowish white bone when she tended a wound from bomb. The tangy scent of blood filled her nose and bile rose in her throat.

She reached something, anything that near her as she emptied her stomach into it. A small plastic bucket was now dirty of her gastric and unprocessed yesterday's food.

Lucy shivered. Imagining the contact Natsu and the old man made with her made her scared. In her eyes, those arms turned into bloody limbs and rotten flesh.

'Perhaps you need a… uh, holiday. Yeah. Holiday.'

A holiday. Yes. She was on a holiday. The ambush was nothing of her business. The dying soldiers weren't of her concern.

'You look like out of it these days. Um… less golden? Less shiny?'

'My hair has nothing to do with whatever you are talking about, Levy.'

'But I'm serious! You need to rest! And eat! I know you haven't eaten properly since three days ago!'

They were the ones that pushed her. They made her out of the war zone. She was out of the Area Zero and the responsibility for her duty as medic was left behind.

But—

If she was there, she could save them. She could save Levy and Erza. Perhaps Jellal too because the blue haired man was going to propose the red hair female soldier. Jellal and Erza could live happily, they could retire soon from their duty and have babies. They could live somewhere peaceful on the countryside, just like what Erza often daydreaming about.

Levy could retire as well and actually working on her unfinished novel. She would be a famous novelist with best-selling novels. The petite girl was never suited to become a field medic.

But Lucy wasn't there and they were killed.

The dull pain became worse and Lucy should have known, should have believed her hunch. She shouldn't have leave.

continued in [2/4]

For those who read my other two stories, I'm very sorry for the delay. I have graduated from high school and now I'm very busy with college entrance exam. Prep school is what I attend now and it's pretty far from my house. I can hardly touch my laptop and I can only write on my phone. As for this story, I'm currently writing the third part, though I'm not sure if it will end in the fourth part or just the third part.

College entrance announcement part one is announced on Monday. I wish I got accepted there so I will have more time to write the continuation of the other story. If not, then expect me to hold the other story until the end of this month and I don't want that :'3

Part [2/4] will be published on... Sunday? Perhaps! Later, folks!