Chapter Two

The Girl untangled the vine that snared Lucy's leg.

"Stop." The Girl hands stilled as she looked at the disheveled blond girl who placed her own hands above hers. "I know what you want."

The Girl blinked. "What?"

"You know, the reward, the reward for turning me in back to my father."

The Girl blinked her jade eyes. "…no." She continued to unravel the wet vine. Soon the vine was untangled and Lucy scrambled to her feet, raising one golden key.

Slowly she said, "What do you mean…'no'?"

The Girl released the arrow from it's notched position and placed it into a quiver at her hip and placed the bow around her shoulders. "I mean…no, I'm not going to turn you in, I think there's a more noble way to earn the money me and my sister needs." She raised a hand. "My name's Aurora, come with me, you'll be safe with me and my sister…I promise."

Slowly, and carefully, Lucy raised her hand, to slide it into Aurora's grip and shook their hands up. And down. Twice.


They exited the forest carrying two wolves each. Aurora said that they would be put to good use with their fur…and possibly their meat. Lucy was dubious about holding a dead carcass but Aurora said that she needed to put aside her high-manners and start living the free life. So Lucy did just that—though slowly at first—and picked up one dead wolf before Aurora piled one on top of the one Lucy already held. Now, they were in the middle of what seemed to be the country side of Fiore. They were walking down a dirt path in the middle of a green field that seemed to have gone forever into the horizon.

Aurora had brown wavy hair, and in the light, you could see auburn streaks. Her jade eyes seemed to be the center of attention of her light tan face. On a belt, Lucy failed to notice before, an unlit lantern with matches sticking out of a pouch next to the lantern.

Aurora was bubbling all along the way, and Lucy was happy to answer her questions and comments, ranging from "What kind of dresses did you wear?" and "I really like your magic." Lucy's arms were starting to go numb from the weight of the wolves, when suddenly Aurora called out, "LIFE!"

"Wha?" Aurora shifted the wolves in her arms to the nook of her left arm and pointed in front of her, where in the distance, there was a small cottage at the edge of a tree line, with a girl bending over a long sword, which shined brightly black. "LIFE!" The girl looked up, and with a confused look, she gave a very pretty smile.

Aurora sped to the girl and dropped the wolves at her feet. She waved frantically at Lucy to hurry up and when Lucy finally came up to the two girls Aurora introduced them. "Life, this is Lucy, Lucy, this is my older sis, Life!" Lucy gently placed the wolves at Life's feet and gave a smile towards Life.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you, your name is very interesting." The girl looked at her cautiously, before extending her hand, which Lucy took.

"Life Abailard, aren't you…"

"Lucy Celestine Heartfilia," Aurora answered.

Life's eyes widened, "What are you doing here? Aurora, I thought you were going to hand her in." Aurora's eyes also widened.

"What? Why would I do that?" Aurora hugged Lucy around the waist, affectionately, surprising both Lucy and Life. "She's my friend!"

Life snapped, "What have I told you about making friends?"

"You're always saying that," cried Aurora. "Can't I just have one friend in my lifetime huh? What're you going to say to that Lily?"

"Aurora, you are going to go back and hand her over to the officials and collect the money. Otherwise, I'm going to take your lantern."

"No, you can't do that!" Aurora unlatched herself from Lucy's waist and grabbed Life's hands and was on her knees. "Please don't make me do this!"

"Aurora, now." Aurora dropped her head before suddenly standing up and dashing off, past the tree line. Life didn't even flinch, she just turned to Lucy and said, "You should go back to your father, you aren't welcome here." With that, Life turned her back on Lucy and went inside her cottage, shutting the door behind her.

Lucy was taken aback by Life's behavior. Lucy sighed and turned in the direction of where Aurora had run off. She left a trail among the soggy dirt and broken twigs in her wake. Lucy carefully made her way past the tree line and into the forest. After a few minutes, Life peeked out through a curtained window. We can't afford to be connected to any more people Aurora…not after her.

Dappled sunlight lit Lucy's skin as she made her way through a forest, following the dirt footsteps Aurora left. She finally was met with a large oak tree, its width equaling 30 average willows, and its height towering over the canopy line. Lucy looked up, and through the leaves she saw a small cloaked body lounging on a branch. Raindrops…no…tears fell from 50 feet up. "Aurora!" The girl looked down; brown locks of hair framed her face. Her small hands held the lantern tightly.

"Hey Lucy, I thought you left."

Lucy shook her head, "Nah, your sister doesn't scare me."

Aurora giggled, "Really? One time, I tamed a wolf and brought it back home, but Life scared it so much that I never saw him again." Aurora started climbing down the tree, hooking her lantern all the while to her hip again. She grabbed her hand and started dragging Lucy deeper in the forest, "I want to show you a place that only Life and I know."

By the time that they arrived at the unknown place Aurora was leading Lucy to, it was nighttime. Aurora had her lantern lit and in her hand. Finally, there was a large cluster of trees, planted so close together, it was hard to squeeze through, but when they did, they found themselves in a raining section of the forest.

"Whoa…" No sunlight was able to penetrate the soggy grass underneath their feet. The thick leaves dripped with rain drops. "What is this place Aurora?"

Aurora placed a hand over the lantern to keep it from going out. "Life doesn't come into the forest at all. One day, I was following a fox out here, when I saw the thick trees close together. I squeezed through and found it raining inside. During the few times Life and I went into civilization, I went to the library to research this area. Apparently, they're called Weeping Willows. Mages from all around the world experience sadness, and when their grief comes to extreme measures, they can form Weeping Willows, right where they're standing.

Aurora suddenly smiled and placed the lantern on a very small dry patch of grass, and pulled Lucy out. "C'mon, let's dance!" Lucy smiled. As she twirled around getting her golden locks wet, instead of Aurora she saw someone else.

"What're you doing Mama?"

"Singing Lucy, c'mon it's fun!" Two golden haired Heartfilia's were twirling in a large puddle, one hand over the other, clutching the other person and leaning back giggling, with dark blond hair flapping about their face in thick locks of hair.

They looked like two angels that got caught in the storm.

One day, one of those angels passed away along with the storm.

"Why…why do you come here Aurora?"

"I come here often to relive memories of when I was younger. I used to play in the rain…dancing…laughing…laughing with my sister…Life never approved of me in the rain, even though she went out…though she did nothing in the rain, just standing there."

Her name was Rosaline Abailard, and she was the life of the Abailard family. She had reddish-brown hair bouncing about her tan face. "C'mon Li-nee, Rora-nee! It's fun!"

"Wait, Aurora…if you didn't play with Life, just who did you play with?"

Aurora glanced down at her lantern. "Rosaline…my dead younger sister." Aurora fingered markings at the base of the lantern. Sloppily, there was a rose scratched on the wood. Through the rain Lucy saw that she was near tears. "She…died a few years ago. That was when Life became…" Aurora's eyes grew wide.

"Became what Aurora?"

It was not Lucy who answered that…it was Life herself, standing between the trunks of the trees with cloak tied around her shoulders and an angry expression on her face.


I apologize if there are any grammar mistakes or false errors. Review to alarm me if there are such mistakes and for constructive criticism.

Happy Readings!
~Moonlight Listener