LaxLu Challenge Week Day 7: Savior. As a former mage of Fairy Tail chooses an inopportune moment to bring up a shadow of the past, Lucy defends the honor of the guild mate who stands accused.
Disclaimer: This story's antagonist is the only character I own. Otherwise, I do not own Fairy Tail or any characters or locations within.
The Light that Banishes the Shadow
It happened on the second day of the Grand Magic Games, in the evening just before Fairy Tail's many mages prepared to retire for the evening.
The doors to the Honeybone Lodge lobby crashed open and in stormed Natsu, clutching Happy to his chest and seething with anger. "How dare a guild master toss one of his mages out like yesterday's trash for losing a single fight?" he demanded of nobody in particular. "I swear, put me in that arena with any one of those Sabertooth bastards and I'll beat them so hard the whole guild will feel it!"
"Oh, no…is that what…did that happen to Yukino?" Lucy murmured.
"Yeah, she told me when I went to apologize for being suspicious of her," Natsu answered, "and Sabertooth's self-involved jackass of a guild master didn't just expel her from the guild, he had the nerve to humiliate her on her way out, too!"
Lucy looked away for a moment, clearly crestfallen. "That's why she looked so shaken when she came to offer me her keys," she surmised aloud, "especially compared to how she was when she first stepped into the arena."
"And why, I wonder, does the sad tale of Yukino Aguria sound unpleasantly familiar?" came a harsh-sounding female voice from the other side of the lobby. Every Fairy Tail mage present looked up to see a square-faced, dark green-haired woman in a long maroon tube dress, who bore a dark blue Mermaid Heel guild mark on her right arm, approaching the sofa where Natsu had just sat down next to Lucy, holding a copy of Sorcerer Weekly in one hand and an ocarina in the other. "Could it be because it brings to mind a certain shadow of the past, one that came entirely too close to permanently settling over Fairy Tail?"
"Hey, I remember you," interrupted Cana from where she sat playing poker with Macao and Wakaba, the former teaching his son, Romeo, how to play. "You're Prunella Harper; you joined us a week after Master sent Natsu and his team to fight the Oración Seis, and must've left after the ogres threatened Fairy Tail enough times to scare you into trading your fairy wings for a mermaid's flipper." Cana seemed disappointed in her old acquaintance upon having learned of her actions.
Lucy knew at once to which incident this Prunella was referring, and for reasons she couldn't explain, she found herself rising from her seat, steeling herself for a confrontation. "If you're here to give us grief over something that happened seven years ago, you can forget it," she declared, "because we're not here to listen."
The green-haired woman visibly bristled with anger at Lucy's statement. "You're the last person who should be making that statement, Lucy Heartfilia," she hissed. "No mage in Fairy Tail has a leg to stand on in terms of trying to avenge that Yukino girl, not if they welcomed back a certain troublemaker who once tried to turn Fairy Tail into a power-mad hellhole the likes of Sabertooth."
"On the contrary, I'm the first person who should be telling a heckler like you to leave us alone," Lucy argued, reaching back with one hand to stop Natsu from acting on impulse. "You weren't even in Fairy Tail at the time of the Fantasia incident. I was. I was also there, along with our Guild Master and about two dozen of my guild mates, when the troublemaker in question more than made up for his misdeeds by rising to Fairy Tail's aid in its time of crisis, assisting us in the battle on Tenrou Island against Master Hades of Grimoire Heart—thus we were all able to see first-hand that he had repented his sin. For those in our guild who weren't sealed away on Tenrou, enough time has passed so that even if they didn't forget the incident, they've at least forgotten their ill feelings as a result of it." As she spoke, Lucy's body language eventually softened from her defensive posture to a more serene bearing, as did her voice. "Therefore I truly believe that I speak for all my comrades when I tell you that although none of us have forgotten, we all have forgiven. We mages of Fairy Tail have put the past behind us; you should put it behind you as well."
Prunella opened her mouth to argue, but with one look behind Lucy, she seemed to deflate. "Fine, if that is your conviction," she spat before turning to walk away, "but don't blame me if it only comes back to hurt you."
Once Prunella had walked away, Lucy turned back in Natsu's general direction, and was surprised to see every mage in Fairy Tail gathered near the table where Cana, Macao and Romeo, and Wakaba were sitting, even those who hadn't been present when Natsu had come storming in. The expressions on their faces were various: some seemed a little sad, some were relieved, but most of them were highly thoughtful. Instinctively Lucy stepped forward, prepared to defend her speech to the green-haired woman who had antagonized them in the event that any of them had thought her presumptuous.
Finally a tall, muscular blond man with a lightning-shaped scar emerged from the crowd: the lightning dragon slayer Laxus Dreyar, the accused guild mate whose honor Lucy had just defended, stopping within a pace of the girl.
"Thank you, Lucy," came his fervent murmur, voice thick with emotion, as he reached for the petite Celestial Spirit mage and pulled her into a tight embrace, tenderly stroking her back with one hand and burying his other hand in her hair, pressing her head to his broad chest. As her arms came up to wrap around his waist, he breathed a heavy sigh. "It's no Fairy Tail without you."
The penitent one had found his savior.
Behind the embracing pair, all of Fairy Tail smiled with joy and relief.