. Fractured Armor .
Dark eyes watched her quiet nakama as she sat alone at a table, a plate of untouched strawberry cake in front of her. She'd abandoned her armor long ago and sat there, dressed in nothing but her white top and skirt, her scarlet colored hair falling into her eyes as she lightly kicked her feet, listening impatiently for the sound of excited scrambling, cheers, and cries of relief as their nakama woke up.
It didn't come.
Erza pressed her lips together, forcing herself to pick up her fork and take a bite of cake, barely tasting it as she chewed mechanically. She had to act normal, the requip mage told herself. There was nothing she could do at the moment. Jellal had told her as much when he'd dropped by not too long ago, explaining what he could. There was nothing she or anyone else could do. Only Lucy could be the one to fix it.
So, she ate her cake, drank her drink, and sat there in quiet misery.
She knew that an equally upset Wendy and a horribly guilty Gray sat nearby, but she couldn't bring herself to comfort either of them when she couldn't even comfort herself. Natsu was upstairs, the worst out of all of them, Happy quietly sitting beside him on Lucy's bed as the blonde dreamt away, clueless to what was really happening.
Erza was terrified. Absolutely and completely terrified.
But who wouldn't be?
Lucy was practically a sister to her. And Erza rarely let anyone get that close to her. Sure, she truly did love each and every member of Fairy Tail - particularly Makarov and her teammates, but she wasn't nearly as close to anyone else as she was to Lucy. Lucy was the one who smiled when the rest of them couldn't, the one who kept them on their feet when the situation required it. Lucy was the one who'd managed to break through to her guarded heart, the one who'd slipped in and hugged it tight, never letting go.
And Lucy had managed to break through again, but this time, not in a good way. She'd fractured the armor Erza had set up, threatening to tear her entire being down. Erza couldn't even begin to explain the pain and grief that filled her every time she thought of the unconscious celestial mage, and she found herself unable to do anything but wait. She knew it would be necessary to go out eventually, make money so that they could pay Lucy's rent along with their own, but…
For now, all Erza could do was grieve and hope with all of her might that Lucy broke through this murderous curse and return to them.
Because she really didn't think she could handle losing anyone again.
Sorry for the wait, my lovelies! I didn't mean to be a day late, I forgot my brother had some black belt testing to do for Tae Kwon Do. He was upped a rank, so congrats to him. Anyhow! Now that this is finally out...It's Erza's! :D I hope you enjoyed and thanks to reviewers (SafireRansomePoseidonsDaughter and KaUiA) as well as those who favorited and followed! See you on Monday!
