(n.) the nervous feeling before undertaking a journey; the restless race of a traveler's heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation tangle together
Chapter II: Resfeber
"Here you go Miss Spetto…" Lucy shoved the club application at her. Miss Spetto grabbed it quickly, eyeing her warily.
You're a threat.
"You seem a bit tired today, Miss Heartfilia." She remarked the heavy bags under her eyes and the way her posture slumped forward.
A hindrance.
Lucy shuddered, stifling a yawn in the process. The little girl's voice wouldn't leave her head, always repeating the same two sentences…
You're a threat, Lucy: a hindrance.
Her brown eyes darted around the room tiredly. "Had a hard time sleeping last night…" Lucy mumbled back, turning around to sit back down on her seat. Miss Spetto didn't reply back, but Lucy felt her eyes trailing her as she stalked her way to her seat.
Lucy successfully blocked the little voice before her first block, and it flew by fairly quickly to Lucy's luck. Although the whole time she learned absolutely nothing in class- her eyes threatened to fail her if she didn't concentrate on staring at something the whole time during class. Her mind would always fall back to yesterday, but she was too tired to even try to remember it. The bell disrupted her thoughts. All the students gathered their things to go out to break. Lucy also melted in with the crowd, copying their movements as she was pushed out of the door with the rest of the students.
Lucy was whisked away from the crowd, her eyes widened and she clutched her books closely to her chest. "Hey." Lucy heard the familiar voice swim into her ears as she turned around to see who was grabbing her wrist.
"Hey to you too, stranger." Lucy murmured, snatching her wrist away from his grip. Her eyes trailed his right arm unconsciously.
He was completely unscathed!
"Natsu, your upperclassman actually." Natsu sneered a little, causing Lucy to roll her eyes.
"Lucy Heartfilia. Apparently I'm your underclassman." She peered up at the pink haired boy curiously. "Do you need something?" He looked at her, blinking, then looking at her quizzically.
"Don't you remember what happened last night?"
"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, raising her eyebrow. The words slurred out of her mouth before she could stop herself, why was she lying?
"You seriously don't remember." Natsu frowned, disappointed.
"I seriously don't remember." She echoed back. Honestly, she did want to forget about it. If she behaved and believed enough then it won't happen again, was what she wanted to believe. She sucked her lips in; she itched to say thank you to him, but then he'd know she knew, and that wouldn't be so good.
"How can you not remember?" Natsu commented back, eyeing her suspiciously. "Are you lying to me?"
Lucy frowned, putting her free hand on her hip. "I am absolutely not lying. Now if you'll excuse me-"
"Join our club." Natsu urged. She could practically feel the hope radiating off of him.
"No!" Lucy said too quickly and she pursed her lips again. "I'm already in a club." She added.
"Well you can join two clubs ya' know." Natsu pestered on.
"Well I think it may be too much of a hassle."
"What club are you in anyways?"
"The Archery Club."
"The Mage Exorcism Club is waaa-aay better!" Natsu threw his hands in the air for effect, causing Lucy to roll her eyes once more.
"Oh, please do enlighten me on how it is oh so much better." Lucy sarcastically replied.
"Well-"
"No, I don't want to join!" Lucy exclaimed tiredly, clamping her hand over her face. She was seriously exhausted; she just wanted to fall asleep right here and now. "I'm tired, just go away." She bitterly snapped, spinning on her heels to walk away from him.
"Wait- out club leader wants to talk to you!" Natsu grabbed her wrist again, whipping her back to face him. His stare made her feel uncomfortable, as if he was analyzing her, in some way. "I'm positive you won't be tired anymore after you meet her." He added. "At lunch?"
Lucy was too tired to argue with the persistent boy. "Okay, okay. I promise." Lucy sighed out tiredly, rubbing her temples. Geez, people.
"Okay, don't break it! I'll meet ya' at your classroom!" He exclaimed loudly, poking her forehead before he dashed off to who knows where. Lucy rubbed the spot where he poked her, mumbling tiredly to herself as she made her way to the cafeteria. Why didn't he just let it off the hook? Of course no one would want to recall an event like that, who would?
Every step she took drained the energy out of her, ounce by ounce. By the time lunch came around, she was sure she was going to collapse from exhaustion. She leaned against the wall outside her class, waiting for the pink headed freak. Why was she so tired?
"Wait, does he even know what class I'm in?" Lucy murmured to herself, eyebrows furrowed. Her classroom was different from first block, so maybe he hadn't thought that far ahead to actually ask her where it was.
Seemed like it was typical of him to do that though.
"Yo, Luce!" Lucy glanced up, raising her eyebrow at her new nickname.
"Luce? Weird." She whispered under her breath. She stood up straighter, leaving the wall from her support. It was even more odd that he knew where her classroom was.
"C'mon, let's go!" He grabbed her wrist, again, for the last 200th time, as he rushed his way to the club room.
Lucy wanted to moan in delight as the strawberry cake entered her watering mouth; when has strawberry cake ever taste so good?
"How is it, Lucy?" The red haired 3rd year inquired.
"Dewishous!" Lucy exclaimed through her full mouth, trying to smile at her. Although Lucy couldn't help but notice that with every bite she took, Erza cringed.
"That's… great." Erza forced a smile as she stared teary eyed at her last strawberry cake. She reminded herself that it was for the benefit of the town, and that she could buy more later- a whole cake to herself. "Feeling better?"
Surprisingly, she did. Her body didn't threaten to shut down on her, and the strawberry cake tasted better than other ones she had tried before.
"So it seems she has holder magic. What an odd Mage." Erza mumbled quietly, nodding in approval. They hadn't had one before when Erza was in the club. "Fantastic. We would like you to join us, Lucy." Erza demanded as she turned around to face the blonde, whose cheeks were still stuffed with the creamy strawberry cake.
Lucy made a questioning sound, struggling to gulp down the remaining food. "As I've told Natsu-"
"So you've spoken to the co-leader about this?"
"Yes…" Co-leader? He hardly seemed like a co-anything.
"And why don't you want to join us?"
Lucy fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. Should she lie or tell the truth? "I'm already in a club, and I feel as if it might be too overwhelming if I join another club…" Yep, going with the lie again. Truthfully, she could definitely tackle on another club if she wanted to.
"What will it take to make you join?" Erza brushed her statement away as if she had never said it.
"Why do you want to recruit me so much?" Lucy hadn't meant to sound challenging, but Erza took it otherwise.
"Look," Erza slammed her foot at the edge of the table, leaning in. "I know you remember what happened, you're practically transparent. Aren't you curious at all?"
Lucy flinched at the loud noise, feeling smaller than ever as she shrunk back twenty feet. Well, she couldn't deny that she was a tad bit curious, but she didn't want to experience it again! She couldn't lie to her anymore; it would be her death wish if she did. Lucy cleared her throat and sat straighter. No one else was in the club room, so it would probably be okay to tell her. "Well yeah-"
"Alright! You're in!" Erza shouted, giving her a rough squeeze on the shoulder; she would definitely get a bruise there. "We'll tell Makarov and get you down to the basics tomorrow!"
"H-hold on a second I never sai-"
"Oh, you'll fit into this club very nicely." Erza smiled at Lucy slyly with an evil smirk. Lucy face palmed herself, slamming her head against the table. Where did she go wrong in her life?! She was too scared to get out of the club; Erza was too intimidating to face head on! Now she had to hide it from her father, who practically called her up every night and looked at her school records.
Now they were spouting something about a 'Mage'? Weren't those only in games and such? "Okay, first of all, you can't put it on my school record." Lucy exclaimed worriedly, "and I'm not some 'Mage' or whatever, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Alright, no problem then." Erza eyed her with confusion. "We'll explain that later afterschool or sometime in this week, when we have another club meeting. For now, you'll be assigned your first mission with Natsu and Lisanna the day after tomorrow. It is part of the initiation process that you go with two regular members. If you follow and listen to them, you might make it out alive." Erza smiled briefly before continuing. "Natsu can teach you the basics on the way to your destination. They will meet you at the front of the gate afterschool tomorrow."
Before Lucy could react or ask anything else, the bell rang, and she was suddenly outside the door of the club room by the time her mind could stir up any more questions.
She might make it out alive?!
Lucy let out her breath, dangling her arms in defeat. She sulked back to class, moving around like air as people walked pass her. Not only did they force her to go on some kind of 'mission', but something was off; she couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Who the heck had initiation for a club anyway?
"Seriously!" Lucy hissed, kicking an empty trashcan on her way to class. She quickly placed it back to where it was; scolding herself for her rash behavior. She didn't want to get in trouble; she hasn't even been at school for a month yet.
Closer, closer closer…
Closer, closer, closer…
Lucy opened her heavy eyes, blinking slowly. Her head was spinning for a brief moment before it ceased. A tall glass wall was in front of her, so tall that it disappeared into the sky. The wall stretched horizontally for miles that it disappeared beyond her eye sight. There were murky movements on the other side, but she couldn't make out the shapes through the blue tinted glass. It was uneven, leaving the shapes disoriented on the other side.
Lucy stood up, brushing off her white skir-
What was she wearing? It definitely wasn't her school uniform.
Lucy was adorned in a white, frilly halter dress; it stopped at her mid-thigh. A long dark blue ribbon was tied at her waist, draping from her back as it almost touched the ground below her. Her hair was loose in the light breeze, but it wasn't cold oddly enough. Lucy frowned upon seeing she wasn't wearing any shoes. It felt weird, but it wasn't going to hurt her to not wear any. For as far as she could see, the white surface was as smooth velvet, and stretched for miles. Now that she thought about it, it was really empty. The only thing with her was the vast glass wall, whatever was on the other side, and light droplets of blue floating in the air.
They reminded her of fireflies, dimming and brightening every so often, but they swayed in the air like leaves. They reminded her a lot of the yellow lights that the spirit, or whatever it was, from last night…
Lucy shuddered at the memory; she still wasn't mentally prepared to remember it yet.
Closer, closer closer…
The voice was a soft whisper, inaudible if she had been concentrating on something else. It echoed throughout the area, bouncing off the glass walls and resonated from the soft, glowing dots. It sounded sad, yearning even. Lucy couldn't help but feel her heart grow heavy at the sound of the voice.
It was thick with sorrow and regret that it built up in her own chest. Lucy neared the glass wall, and the shapes were becoming more frequent. They were human shaped, well, that's what it looked like at certain angles anyway. Lucy placed her hand on top of it and shivered. It was terribly cold for a warm place, almost unnatural.
Lucy glanced up, surprised to see one of the shapes coming towards her, walking slowly. As it neared, it remained as a silhouette in her eyes, but it took shape of a human form now. Lucy leaned in, wondering if she could somehow see who, or what it even was. Curiosity was itching at her, taunting as it was just a few inches away from the other side of the glass.
It stopped for a few moments, and she just stared at the shape for what felt like years until it finally started moving again. She saw the movement, a hand, reaching out to touch the wall also, where hers lay.
The glass shattered before the shape could touch the glass- anticipating to see the other side of the glass wall, Lucy saw nothing but darkness swallow up her vision, accompanied by a horrendous banging noise.
Lucy squeezed her fist, aware of the goose feathered blanket underneath her.
Bang, bang, bang
Lucy groaned a little, turning over on her stomach. She peeked at her clock; 8:27 P.M.
Bang, bang, bang
Lucy lifted her head drowsily, glaring at her pink curtain window.
BANG, BANG, BANG
The curtain trembled along with the sound, making the hairs of her skin stand up.
Who the heck was banging at her window at this time?! Was it a burglar? Fairy Tail Academy was usually pretty safe… according to Headmaster Makarov anyway. The banging continued, and Lucy stealthily got up from her bed. She quietly tiptoed to her closet, swinging out the metal bat she kept for safe measures. Hell, if the burglar wanted to break in she wasn't going to let him go without a few broken bones here and there.
Without hesitating, she drew the curtains open, holding the bat close to her body as she anticipated the apparel of a lowly man.
A goofy grinned appeared in her vision, and it was on the other side of the building. He motioned her to open her window, and she did so.
"What the heck?!" Lucy shouted at him angrily, leaning out of her window. Natsu waved at her, tossing a rock casually up and down as he leaned outside the window himself.
"Heard ya' joined the club!"
"Out of my control. Forced to really, if you think about it. And it's your entire fault!" Lucy exclaimed, laying the bat against the wall beside her. "Seriously, don't throw rocks at my window! I nearly got a heart attack!"
"Calling your name didn't work what else could I have done?" Natsu shrugged, tossing the rock behind him back into his room.
"So, you're the obnoxious boy across from me, huh." Lucy exclaimed with a sigh, slouching now. She was still so tired and drowsy from her nap, everything seemed hazy in her mind. "And you're the cause of what happened last night! If you had been quiet I wouldn't have gone to the park!"
"So you remember?!" Natsu perked up, smiling like a little boy.
Lucy rolled her eyes, biting her tongue back from groaning. "I never forgot about it dimwit. Who could forget something like that?! I just didn't want you on my back the whole time."
"Hey, well you can't lie anymore! That's against club rules." There was a moment of awkward silence as Natsu stared at her intently, as if he was trying to figure something else like he had when he dragged her after first block.
"W-what?" Lucy stuttered, conscious of herself now. If he was going to stare at someone like that he should act a bit more subtle!
"You're a weirdo. That's what." He concluded, stretching from his position. "So you're coming with Lisanna and me tomorrow?"
Lucy brushed off his rude comment with an angry huff. "Seems so. If I don't Erza might slit my throat if I don't." Lucy shivered at the thought. It really didn't seem surprising that the girl had a sword hidden somewhere with her.
Natsu nodded in agreement, which made Lucy even more terrified of the red haired beauty. "As long as you go you'll never feel her wrath!" Natsu waved it off. "Don't worry you'll be pretty safe with me and Lisanna, since this one will be pretty easy."
"What is it, exactly?" Lucy asked, curious as to what the club even did.
"Well kinda like what happened yesterday." To Lucy's dismay, that was the most terrifying experience she had ever had. If that was a moderate everyday thing for their afterschool club activities… she really just wanted to stick with the Archery Club.
"That was absolutely horrific!" Lucy squealed, dread ran through her veins at the thought of it.
Natsu rolled his eyes, fingering his white scarf. "Luce, it's not that bad. Especially since you're a Mage you gotta get used to it."
"I'm not this… a 'Mage'! What is that anyway? I don't shoot or summon or whatever Mages do!" Lucy countered back loudly. She didn't know why she hated that term so much, but it irked her.
"Only Mages can hurt a spirit like that." Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "It's pretty cool; you can like manipulate objects like that!"
"What?" She was totally confused now, and she had been confused with everything ever since she moved here. Everything has been so out of loop she didn't know what was and wasn't real.
"Ya' know for example, that bat," Natsu lifted his head up at it, "if you were to hit that with a spirit, it would hurt it. Basically any weapon you take and use it to attack a spirit, it will hurt it." Natsu frowned and squirmed in his position a little. "Not fair, you can use it whenever then. I always have to be careful…" He grumbled to himself. "Although I think it has to be a weapon. A branch probably wouldn't work…"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh. She was still skeptical about him behind her upperclassman, especially if he was so much like a little child. "Anyway," he cleared his throat, putting his hands on his hips, "M.E. is wa-ay better than Archery Club. We'll be your top priority anyway."
"And how are you going to convince me it will be?" Lucy challenged, raising her eyebrows.
"Makarov pays everything for you when you join, and on top of that you can go extra money if you bring him those pretty marble gem thingys that the spirits drop after you cleanse them." Natsu puffed his chest out, smiling smugly, as he knew he won the argument by the look on Lucy's face. Lucy's father was already paying for her tuition, but if Makarov was going to pay for all of it, it'll save her and her father money.
Lucy felt like she was freeloading, but who wouldn't take up the offer?
"I see." She crossed her arms across her chest, puffing them out. "And what are those 'gems' exactly?"
"They are Rechargers. There are two kinds: blue and red. You pop them into your mouth then you have a ton more energy!"
Lucy remembered the bright blue orbs floating around in her dream; were those the ones he was talking about?
"Wait- you eat them?!" For heaven's sake they came out of the spirits! Why would someone eat something that a freaking spirit leaves behind?! Lucy wanted to scream at him, but she didn't want to disrupt the others.
He rolled his eyes, as if it was something everyone should know. "Geez, you ask a lot of questions. Your abilities- well actually our abilities feed off of light sources like those. If we don't, then it would take a few days for our abilities to recharge, and sometimes we can't wait that long, duh."
That was probably why she felt so refreshed after eating that strawberry cake- Erza must've somehow put it into it maybe. No, not yet. She wasn't going to admit it until she stayed conscious throughout the whole event, unlike last night. "W-wait, I thought you cleansed spirits not eat them!" Lucy exclaimed in a hushed voice. Everything was getting a lot more complicated for her to follow.
Natsu rolled his eyes once more, looking at Lucy with a disappointed look. "We do. Who the hell would eat cleansed spirits? That's just weird." He shot Lucy the same look he gave her from before, and it made her feel stupid. As if she was supposed to know something so out of the ordinary…
Natsu pondered for a bit before speaking up again. "Well… it's kind of like a 'thank you' gift from them cause ya' know how they're actually not bad spirit but were just consumed by their own grief." Lucy formed an 'o' with her mouth as she understood what he was trying to say.
"Well that makes more sense, where do they get it from though?"
Natsu lifted his shoulders, dropping them quickly. "Who knows? It's convenient though- oh, you can only eat those blue ones though. Since you have a different ability from everyone else." Natsu pointed out as he straightened up, stretching. "Well you'll understand more along the way, you ask too many questions that it makes me tired!" Natsu yawned, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "I'm gonna hit the haystack. See ya tomorrow, Luce!" He waved at her, flashing a toothy grin at her before he slammed the window shut, drawing the curtains closed as he left Lucy hanging with more questions than answers.
"And he woke me up early just to confirm I joined…" Lucy murmured, shutting her window, but she left her curtains wide open. She felt more comfortable, since she knew there was someone near her that she could somewhat rely on; well hopefully anyway. Too much information was shoved into her head in the span of one day. Who was sane enough to store this information in their long term memory in that short amount of time? Lucy shook her head in dismay, smiling a little.
As sad as it was to admit, this was the first time she had interacted with someone for that long at the school. It was also the first time someone wanted her in their club that badly. Sure, in middle school people wanted her, but when she said no they usually laid off of her immediately. She found it a bit heart-warming how they wanted her in so much- it made her feel… needed.
"Oh? You've joined Mage Exorcism?" Kagura raised her eyebrow in amusement as she lowered her bow. Lucy shuffled on her feet with a nervous smile.
"Y-yep!" Although I didn't really have a choice! Lucy exclaimed in her head as she sighed internally.
"Well, it's true that they do a lot of extracurricular activities… it can't be helped can it? Just don't slack off in your training and you'll be able to go to the Archery competition in late February." Kagura smiled brightly, clasping her hand onto Lucy's shoulder.
"How odd! It didn't strike me that you were into those kinds of hobbies, Lucy." Milliana piped up, her eyes disappeared when she smiled, and Lucy had a sudden urge to pinch her adorable cheeks.
"Well, it is quite interesting actually. Fascinating?" Lucy couldn't lie about that. It felt like she was living a double life if she thought about it. "But anyway, thanks for letting me stay even though I'll hardly be able to attend afterschool…"
"No worries, I wish the best of luck to you, Heartfilia." Kagura smiled, a glint in her eyes as she said so. Lucy shrugged it off. There was something terribly secretive at the Academy, and it made her feel so uncomfortable.
Lucy rushed to the front of the school, five minutes late. Natsu and Lisanna were already there, leaning against the gates as they waited for her. "Sorry! I had to tell the Archery Club something." Lucy explained, gripping the handles of her backpack tightly. "So, what's going on?" Lucy was hoping that they were just going to do some club shopping, but that was definitely just wishful thinking.
"No worries, Lucy." The short, white haired girl smiled at her warmly. "Oh! I'm Lisanna by the way, Lisanna Strauss." She stuck out her hand, and Lucy took it gratefully. At least Lisanna wasn't too hyper- she seemed as normal as herself.
As normal as anyone could get from being a part of the club anyway.
"Well since its Friday, we got allllll night to do this." Natsu grinned, cracking his fingers in anticipation of it. "It won't be too hard." Natsu included as he saw the frightened expression created by Lucy.
"And what does it exactly involve?" Lucy was more prepared than earlier, but it was still hard to grip onto the reality of it.
"Books." Lisanna piped in cheerfully, rocking back and forth on her feet. Lucy relaxed- she liked books, maybe they were just doing research?
"Yeah, some spirit possessed it. What makes it worse is that the characters from the book are coming out as unsettling spirits." Natsu included as he tried to think some more about it. "I think it's a horror book? No idea how this spirit is doing it though. Not that I don't mind; things will get more interesting this way" Natsu cackled, a fiery spark in his eyes as he anticipated the horrific adventure lay before Lucy.
Lucy almost laughed at her wishful thinking. As if there would be a job that involved sitting around and researching when there was Natsu in the group. Of all the books the dang spirit could possess, it had to choose a horror book. "Why a horror book of all the genres in the world?!" Lucy moaned, throwing her head into her hands.
A/N: Sorry, no action in this chapter! I promise the next chapter will though. (^; This chapter was heavy loaded with information too, so I'm sure it's kind of confusing on how everything works. ;-; Everything will clear up as the story goes on!
Orenda will be split into 6 arcs (as of now, might add more if necessary) so it will be a fairly long fanfic. There will be some filler chapters so we can dwell more into everyone's character. (^:
Thanks for reading \o/
Don't forget to review!