Gong….
…..Gong, gong, gong
I always hear the ringing. Every night that the Nightmares want out, I hold them in and so on those nights I re-experience the loneliness of my childhood, the pain, the death, and the tears. But I can't let them out, I have to keep them in because if I let them out the others will experience their past "nightmares" *tragedies*. If I let them out all sorts of people will find me. My current allies will turn into my enemies who want me locked away or killed. My enemies, both past and present, will become my new allies who will use me like a pawn for their twisted games. Or-they will become my friends in some way or another. All but one thing is certain, if I let out the Nightmare out, my world will be growing and crumbling.
Gong, gong, gong, gong, gong, gong, gong, gong, gong, gong.
Sunlight hits my face just right. I look over to the clock and see that it is 8 o'clock in the morning. Feeling warmth on my back but cold on my feet, I look at the calendar and see that it is February. I look behind me and see Pink hair and the tip of a blue tail sticking out from the covers.
Nearly 2 minutes later, I finally get myself out of my bed without awakening the two terrors named Natsu and Happy. I quietly pad over to the kitchen and get myself a cup of water. I pull out the communication lacryma crystal and contact Lisanna.
"Hmm? Oh, morning Lucy!" Mira answers with a warm smile. I signal her to quiet down as I swallow the last of my water.
"Can I speak to Lisanna?" I asked quietly.
Mira nods in reply and nearly 5 seconds later, Lisanna comes into view.
"Hey Lisanna, can you come over and get your boyfriend and his cat out of my apartment?" I ask. "My place isn't a bed and breakfast you know."
Lisanna chuckles before replying, "Sorry about that Lucy, I'll come over right now. See you in 10?"
"See you in 10!" I said as the connection ends.
Taking a sigh, I snatch the mail and newspaper from the door, sit down on my couch, and start to read today's news. Near to exactly 10 minutes later, Lisanna politely knocks on my door.
I open it and say while pointing an accusing finger towards my bedroom, "Fire Hazard and Blue Paws are in my cave. Should I bring 'that' out?" I asked.
"Only when Natsu's at the door and falling back to sleep." Lisanna said as she tries her best to restrain her giggles.
"I'll get the earplugs!" I said with much enthusiasm.
"I'll get the boys." Lisanna said.
Nearly 2 minutes later;
Lisanna is carrying a purring Happy in her arms followed by a stumbling Natsu who's tripping over near to everything in his path.
Natsu mumbles as he leans against my door frame nearly falling back into his draconic slumber. Looking over to Lisanna she mouths 'fine' as she digs out 2 pairs of ear plugs and puts them in her's and Happy's ears. Getting a go ahead signal, I take my air horn, otherwise known as 'that' and pull the trigger right next to Natsu's ear. After a screech, tumble, claws buried in thick coat and cussing, I look down to see a now wide awake Natsu on his head and shoulder, glaring up the stairs at me with a snarl and cuss words to follow. I turn to Happy and see him clinging to life on Lisanna with small specks of tears in his eyes. With a small chuckle I walk over to Happy.
"Sorry about that Happy. Would you like fish as repayment?" I ask while I pet his ears to sooth him down.
"Two fishes for me and Carla AND—"Happy snaps out of his stupor and stands up straight "You have to agree and come along to any job that Natsu and I pick out for today!"
"Deal." I said as I pinky swore with Happy's retracting clawed paws.
"Hee, Natsu!" Happy yells as he flies down with his Aera magic to hover above Natsu's body. "Lucy pinky promised to go on that job we saw last night!"
"What?" Natsu asked as he stands up. "Well there's no time to waste Happy! I'm all fired up!"
And just like that the two sped off towards Fairy Tail to get whatever job they have their minds set on.
"What am I gonna do with those two?" Lisanna asked as she puts her fingers to her chin.
"Don't ask me, one of them is your boyfriend." I deadpan.
"Want me to help you with Happy and Carla's fish?"
"Nah, I got it." I said as I walk over to the kitchen. "Want some breakfast?" I asked.
"Sure, what are you cooking?" Lisanna asked in return.
"Hash browns and ham with a glass of apple juice." I reply with a skip past the stove.
"It has been a while since I've had apple juice."
"Same here, yesterday when I went to the store, I just had the urge to get the juice." I said as I motioned Lisanna to come in and make herself comfortable.
Nearly an hour and 24 minutes later
"Come on Lucy, the job isn't gonna wait all day!" Natsu yells like an excited child wanting to go to a park resort now.
"I don't think I've ever seen Natsu so pumped to get on the train before." My comment earns a giggle from Lisanna and a loud laugh from Gray.
"Hey are you guy's coming?" Natsu yells from the top of the train.
How the hell did he get up there? Everyone thought at the same time.
"Come on Carla, we can all sit in one of the big fancy cars until we reach our job stops." Happy suggested as he holds Carla's hand.
Carla is about to grumble something due to her embarrassment when Wendy cuts in. "That's a good idea Happy! What do you think everyone?"
"Sounds fine with me." I said with a shrug as I follow the Strauss siblings to the more regal train car.
5 minutes later;
"Sorry for taking so long everyone," Erza said as she sits down next to Gray, "I finally was able to pack my luggage in the compartment."
At her words people could literally see the sweat drops from the other Fairy Tail members.
"Your good Erza, the train's just leaving now." I said as the train lurches forward.
And right on cue, Natsu is in his sickened state with green skin and an upset stomach. Lisanna had Natsu lay his head on her lap in an attempt to sooth him. With an inevitable yawn escaping my lips, I settle into the plush seat.
"I'm gonna take a nap if you guy's don't mind." I said.
"Slept bad, huh?" Gray comments.
"Yeah, nightmares have been bugging me lately." I answered.
"Do you want to tell us what these nightmares are Lucy?" Mira asked.
"Yea, it's still considered manly to tell nakama your nightmares." Elfman adds in.
"Thanks but these nightmares are sort of private." I said as I settle back into the seat.
"Okay then." Mira said, worry dripping in her voice.
"Sleep well Lucy." Erza said as I fall to sleep.
Flashback of my first kiss;
As of current Fairy Tail mages are fighting a few dark guild members who've Midnight and Cobra with them. How this fight started you ask, well Fairy Tail has been requested to escort Erik (aka Cobra) back to the Ruin Knight's headquarters to do some deal or other. It was all going well on the airship until the dark guild mages attacked us from below, somehow disintegrating the ship without harming the people on board causing everyone to fall nearly 100 feet onto soft sand. It was starting to become a difficult fight, Erza's fighting with 3 battle equip mages, Grey's fighting against 2 other mages, while Natsu and I are fighting against Midnight, a newly released Cobra, and an extra mage.
Natsu is fighting against Midnight and Cobra while I have out La Croissance de Soliel (sun's growth) and am trying to keep the extra mage off of Natsu's back. My celestial powers are really low, just minutes before they tapped out, forcing me to bring out one of my other hard earned celestial given whips. It doesn't help that the extra mage is a shadow mage, sending a shadow creature out to me every time I get him away from Natsu. I whip away a shadow creature that resembles a rabid grizzly bear out of existence before swinging my whip all the way back and snapping it with all the sun based power in it towards the shadow mage. The hit sends him rolling nearly 20 meters away from the 3, anime like sweat drops could be seen on Cobra, Midnight's, and Natsu's face before they resume their intense fighting.
"You bit-" (AN: Bet you know what that word is) Was all the mage could manage to say as I slam my whip hard on the ground causing immense vine's to suddenly grow from the ground and towards the shadow mage, sending him screaming high in the air as thorn like vines that I have not seen on this continent wrap and tangle him in a strange cage.
Cobra steps back from the fight and says, "Wow." He looks up and admires my master piece.
"Seem's like that little Infinity Clock girl has gotten better with her magic." Midnight muses as he and Natsu duke it out.
"Nah, I just got better with my whips, but thanks for the compliment oh Goth King of the Night." I taunted giving Midnight a fake salute that he sees out the corner of his eye.
He hum's while I think absent mindedly to myself, I know that I have my other 'power' but I don't want to reveal it here just yet. I don't know what my nakama would think of it if they ever see it.
"What 'other power' are you thinking about Celestial Mage?" Cobra asked. I pick up my enchanted arm band from the ground that has ruin's written by Freed and Levy that doesn't allow certain Dragon Slayers with heightened senses to listen to my thoughts and put it on my arm. "Fine, don't tell me. Hey, where ya going?" Cobra asks as I Requipt my Motifs Respectent (ground's abide) whip and walk towards Erza's and Grey's fight.
An immense amount of shadow energy rips out and through my odd vine cage. "Don't think of me lightly just yet you BITCH!" The shadow mage yells as he starts towards my turned back.
I look over my shoulder like the cold heiress that I was taught to be and through grit teeth mutter, "Devenir Un (Becoming One)." And with that the massive power of gravity and earth that is within my whip becomes one with myself and all the spells that have ever been created and all the spells that will possibly be created become mine to control. My whip disappears only leaving my handle to be shown to the word, this process happens near to every time when I'm using this bonding.
I send both the shadow mage and I in the air with low gravity and started to lift hundreds of tons of rocks above us with even lower gravity. Then before the shadow mage could even comprehend what was going on and why there were rocks floating above him, I release some of the rocks and let them plummet down onto the confused mage. He yelps in surprise and starts to summon some of his shadow magic to take out the bigger boulders but he still gets grazed by the smaller rocks. As soon as they are halfway to the ground from their original levitated height, I send them up again with gravity, repeating the process over and over around me and onto the unsuspecting mage. Each round, I increase the weight of the descents more and more making it difficult for the mage to do anything besides defend himself.
I hear a loud excruciating gasp erupt from somewhere below, looking down I see that it is Erza who has been nicked by one of the enemy's blades but nicked all the same. I send a few gravity infused rocks down towards one of the enemy swordsmen and knock the unsuspecting person unconscious. After a second of thought, I figured that Erza was only nicked because she saw me with my magic.
Another yelp erupts somewhere on this battle field, this time from the Shadow mage, I halt my rocks and glower at him, seeing his bloody, battered, and unconscious body, I could faintly tell somehow that he was still alive and breathing. I make all of the rocks around the two of us go still but I keep my magic at the ready knowing well enough that at times the enemy could be faking.
After around 30 seconds, I look down towards the battlefield nearly 45 feet below my feet. I observe Natsu fighting Midnight and Cobra, who has suddenly decided to rejoin the battle, Erza now has the superior upper hand against the two fighters and Grey is starting to whoop the asses of the 2 mages that he is fighting. Midnight, Cobra, and Natsu all of a sudden get the dumb idea that it's okay to come jumping and fighting on my gravity field filled with rocks, pebbles, and boulders. Midnight is sporting some injuries, but his magic looks as if it hasn't even gone down 0.05%, Cobra looks as if he is simply taking his time, and is easily avoiding any hits from Natsu, he still has his magic restrictor which leaves his power at 30% but he has yet to use the 30%. Natsu is holding the most injuries out of the three, his clothes are starting to become tattered, he is covered with injuries, and somehow his face is distorted from effecting punches of the two opponents. Natsu's magic feels to be still going strong but he's starting to run low on his fire which could be bad if this battle lasts for another half an hour.
"DIE YOU BITCH!" The shadow mage who has been faking his KO'd state launches a very powerful shadow attack on me.
"Separe. (Separate)" I mouth and the two powers, gravity and earth, separate in massive auras, leaving the man and his powers to be suddenly shot straight in the air like a rag doll while Natsu, Midnight, and Cobra are send plummeting down to the below only to be stopped right before the shadow mage touches the first thick cloud and the three are 2 feet from the ground. "Serrer. (Constrict)" With that word mumbled, the shadow mage is suddenly crushed by massive waves of gravity breaking his legs and arms many times but from my thought and impulse, the shadow mage will not die by the hands of my magic today, no this man and all his friends will go to the Ruin Knights once Team Natsu wins this fight.
With a snap of my fingers, the bickering and fighting between Natsu, Midnight, and Cobra are momentarily halted as they are sent flying back up towards the spot that they were once before the Separe. At the same time the crushing magic that was torturing the shadow mage stops and he is sent hurtling down to his same spot that he faked his knock out. Everyone who was seeing my fight could see the dark shadows licking out of my opposing mage's body, and they could tell that he didn't need gestures or words to control his powers, he just needs his will. Licking my dry lips and taking a breath, I say, "Forced Conflict." And the two Earth and Gravity magic's come crashing against the man causing him to scream in agony loudly. A huge shadow of his starts barreling towards me and I bring both my hands up and mouth, "Cooperation." Half the rocks that are in the air come towards the shadowy creation and try as it might, the creation couldn't slip past the rocks as they begin to compact together against the magician and the creation with the help of gravity, I claw my hands as I wrap the two assaulters up. My hands start to glow the same color as the Earth (right) and Gravity (left) magical auras as I make it so that the shadow mage's cage will allow him to breathe but not use his magic.
As soon as my work is done, I start to feel the toll of the bonding, and slowly have myself and the boulders levitation down to the ground. I stand on top of the creation's boulder, panting as the effects of the bonding take toll on me. "R-release!" I said as dizziness starts to take over.
"WA-WA-WOAH!" I look up at the sound of Natsu's voice to see Natsu, Midnight, and Cobra falling down towards me. Darkness clouds my mind just before impact.
Soft lips. I am kissing soft, black liquorish tasting lips. I feel warmth creeping up to my checks as I try to force myself awake from the usage of the bonding to see whose black liquorish lips I am kissing. I open my eyes as my kisser open's his. Brown eyes meet red eyes.
Both of our eyes widen and we instantly push away from each other, only for me to hit my head on my boulder. "OUCH!" I yelp as I lean myself to the right and scramble away from Midnight and our kissing encounter. I come tumbling out my end as Midnight comes skipping backwards out of his- only to be once again in the midst of battle.
m-My first kiss and it's with Midnight! And I LIKED IT! I yell in my mind.
A laugh comes from a few small yards beside me, I look to see Cobra. "Glad you liked that passionate kiss with Midnight, Heartfilia."
I look down after a quizzical expression scrunches up my face and see that my armband is gone. "Sum of a Bitch!" I screech, realizing that Midnight has snatched my armband away as we were scrambling away from each other.
"I am never that low." Midnight said defensively as he teleports to Cobra's side, spinning my armband that has thankfully not been broken, around his index finger as casually as anyone could do. All the while a smirk plastered on his face.
"Really? Then how low do you go?" I retort back as I take up the best defensive stance that I could while in my dizzy state.
"I am no lower than a King." Midnight said as he looks down at me coolly with his gorgeous red eyes. Cobra chuckles at my thought, causing me to blush harder.
"Really? Then how about you being the King of the jackass-ary!" I spit back earning an "Ooo" from Cobra, who is really enjoying this squabble.
"I can deal with that." Midnight said with a sly smile and a shrug.
"Ok before we close this squabble, Midnight, how'd you like the kiss?" Cobra asks. Midnight simply tosses up the armband in the air before catching it again. Cobra cackles at Midnight's silent answer, leaving me to subconsciously wonder if he liked the kiss as well earning an even harder and, if possible, louder laugh from Cobra. Midnight raises an eyebrow towards his fellow ex-guild member.
"By the way Lucy Heartfilia. You do realize that your hands are glowing no?" Midnight asks as I decide to ignore the laughing Erik/Cobra on the ground.
"Hey!" Cobra manages to say as he stands up correctly calming down from his roundhouse laughter.
"It's a side effect of the bonding, get used to it!" I said defensively as I ball my fists up in front of me. Seeing out of the bottom of my eyes, I can see that the glowing is starting to slowly gather down towards an area where my wrist meets my forearm.
"Alright, alright. But shouldn't you get back to your group already?" Midnight asks as he gives me his famous, heart throbbing smirk. Cobra lets out another laugh but quickly contains it, and snickers lightly instead.
"As if I need to be asked twice!" I snap back, blush rising to maximum on my face as I sprint between the boulders again to get to Team Natsu quicker. Instincts have me duck as Natsu fire kicks the shadow creature boulder breaking it and destroying the creature inside. I do a handstand lift and Lucy Kick Natsu right in the jaw, sending him flying over to Erza's feet as she and Gray finish off the last of the dark guild mages. I dust myself off and muse at how far Natsu went from such a light kick of mine (AN: That's right bitches, Lucy Kick has gotten stronger!) Erza transforms into another armor of her's as Gray snickers at Natsu. I notice that the defeated dark guild team has been piled up in a single pile, all of them still breathing.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR LUCE?!" Natsu roars as he gets up from the dirt and starts burning his fire.
"Hey, you kicked first!" I said. Midnight and Cobra come walking through the dust cloud and stop. I shuffle backwards to be backup for the others and not be much of a damsel if I get caught. I Requipt my Motifs Respectent to Creations Citadelle (Creations Citadel) to have safety for me and the rest of the group.
"Can we finish this up Midnight? 'Cause I'd really, really, REALLY like to get this restrictor off my neck!" Cobra complains.
Midnight nods before sending out a huge spell that sends near to all of us flying.
'Sanction.' The word echoes in my head as I am blown away from a mysterious huge force, I tumble about as my nakama come clattering and tumbling down around me, clearly knocked out by the force but saved from any major injury thanks to the whip that is still in my hands and still in contact with my skin. I could see a faint pinkish tint of aura as I dizzily and distortedly look up towards Midnight and Cobra who are starting to walk towards us.
"It's surprising that that whip thing is her secret power that she doesn't want to reveal to her nakama." Cobra said as he continues a conversation with Midnight as the two walk past us.
That isn't even the power that I was thinking about, Cobra. I think clearly enough, earning a glance of confusion and alarm from Cobra that goes unnoted by me before falling into a slumber that has my heart beat thudding in the background of a comforting black view.
I lick my lips. Lips. Midnight. ...OH MY GOD MIDNIGHT AND I KISSED AND I LIKED IT. NO SCRATCH THAT LOVED IT! I think to myself as my mind starts to wake up. Sadly the rest of my body and nerves are still in the process of it. OH I MUST BE GOING CRAZY OR BIPOLAR OR SOMETHING! BUT GOD IS HE HOT! I WOULDN'T MIND BEING THE GIRLFRIEND OF HIM. Girlfriend, boyfriend. Somehow that is leading up to the guild. ...THE GUILD! OH MY GAWD IF THE GUILD FINDS OUT THAT I KISSED MIDNIGHT AND LOVED IT THEY'D FREAK! OMG IF THEY FOUND OUT ABOUT THAT I AM THINKING ABOUT MIDNIGHT AND ME BEING TOGETHER! THEIR BRAINS WOULD EXPLODE! I have to admit, this is a bit OOC for me who usually doesn't think like this that often but come on give me a break, I'm 30 something years old and I just had my first kiss with a gothic hunk who is an enemy. Plus I'm in love after what happened with Lisanna and Natsu.
It happened a few years back, when I was 19 years old. I still had my school girl crush on Natsu but now that I think about it, I never was going to make a move. So when I found out about Natsu and Lisanna in front of the rest of the guild, it took me a few hours of thinking and strawberry lemonade with scones to realize that I only love Natsu as a 'brother.' A weird brother, but a brother all the same, it's how I think of everyone else in the guild, as brothers and sisters, uncles, and aunts, grandparents and the occasional mother and father who are too laid back to discipline their children (AN: I made a funny!). So during that evening, while I'm on the highest dimmest Fairy Tail balconies watching the stars, Lisanna came up and apologized. I had her sit down with me and I told her that I only love Natsu as a brother who near to always causes destruction, just as I am slowly starting to love her as a sister who is kind hearted, beautiful, and smart. I then congratulated her on her getting together with Natsu and we became official friends that night. I told her a bit about how I was having a 'fake love' towards Natsu because of all the suitors that I've had to meet in my past life as a heiress and of how they'd either see me for my body, my family's money, and social status. After we went inside and the night ended, the two of us went from friends to best friends. Almost like me and Levy except that it's different because it is Lisanna.
So when I was finally able to open my eyes, the first think I saw in a blur is a sunny white ceiling with a bright, annoying light and something or one with white hair and blue eyes. I close my eyes and open them again to see Lisanna staring down at me with worried eyes that instantly change into joy filled eyes. I blink two quick times before being glomped by Lisanna.
"Your awake, you're awake!" Lisanna squeals ache my ears but considering that I am back home in one piece I'm not complaining.
"Yea I'm awake, exactly how long have I been asleep?" I ask as I try to look for a calendar and remember what goddamn day it was when the attack happened.
"It's good to see you awake Lucy." Wendy said as she walked into my view. I give her a smile which she returns before continuing. "We found you and all the Ruin Knights at the site of the crash in your whips protective aura, it was protecting you guys from the rain and from the attack that Midnight pulled out on you guys." At the sound of Midnight's name, I feel a pink tinge of blush creep to my cheeks.
"What day is it? And how long have I been asleep?" I ask, knowing that the two questions are one and the same but it's useful to know both answers in case, I've temporarily forgotten what date it was of the transfer.
"It is XX day of the XX month of the XXXX year, in case you were wondering, which means that you, out of the five of team Natsu, were asleep for 5 days." Mira said as she walks out from the mysterious corner in the room that I didn't know existed until she talked.
"Five days, dang. Well, that's what to expect when I use the Devenir Un spell. I was surprised that I could force myself awake after I released it." I pause as a thought occurs in my mind. "Hey any sign of Cobra and Midnight?" I ask.
"No. There is no sight of them anywhere. The dark guild group who was defeated by you guys were still there and knocked out, and the Ruin Knight Guards were all well just passed out and being healed by your 'Citadel' magic. By the way, Natsu was talking about something he overheard while he, Erza, and Gray were finishing off the Dark Guild Mages; he said something about Cobra mentioning kissing? Any idea what he's talking about?" Wendy asked.
"Nope, not at all." I said all too quickly. "Hey Mira? Can you get me some food and a glass of water? I'm starved!"
Mira reluctantly nods before heading out the door with Wendy. It was silent in the room until Lisanna asked;
"So who kissed you?"
"Oh my gawd you as bad as your sister!" I said as I let out an exasperated sigh.
"Lisanna!" Natsu's voice could be heard from the hallway.
"Go on, I'll tell you who it is later." I unknowingly promised the youngest Strauss sibling.
Flashback End
I wake up peacefully to the gong of the Nightmare within my head, and find myself in a quiet compartment with Carla, Wendy, Lisanna, Erza and Mirajane talking about clothes that are good for battle, casual days, and fancy occasions. Gray is looking out the window enjoying the desert scenery while Elfman is scarfing down food like a 'man' and Happy is looking at some fish and fishing books. Natsu is still passed out and sleeping on Lisanna's lap as she fingers his hair with a small blush adorned her face. I chuckle inaudibly to myself and roll the kinks out of my neck.
As I roll my head back, I catch a glimpse of something odd outside the train, I look down at it and gasp with wide eyes as the Concealment Spell on the Dark Magic Attack was lifted. Everyone in the compartment could either stare wide eyed or stop breathing as they start to recognize the magic but before they could fully calculate of what it is so they can defend themselves from it, the attack hit our train carrier compartment sending us flying nearly 20 meters away from the speeding yet crashing and burning train and its railroad. With my Creations Citadel whip already in my hand I skidded on the ground to find myself and sensing that most of my other comrades are protected from the unusual white smoke that lies clouded and bunched at the place where we were hit by the attack.