Warning: This story may possess vivid descriptions of violence and gore. It'll have sexual themes too in some future chapters. And a very excessive use of different variety of curses and profanities.
DeAmonQuEen: I really am happy you guys are reading this. This story is kinda a tribute to my older siblings and my niece who never got a chance to enjoy this world, whose lives ended at a very early age. I thought of doing this since it's almost All Souls Day here in my country. I hope you will still enjoy it and that I also got Sting and Lector characters right. Well without further ado enjoy!
Special Thanks to:
IRON HEART 69 for putting this fic on their alert lists
Reviewer's Replies:
TiPoLover 22 - I cried writing it too.
Guest - Thank you! :-)
nightowlsdream - Thanks!
OnlyDarknessAwaits1369 - Gee thanks!
(/O.o)/
It was almost ten in the morning, Thursday, and I was driving on my way to my shop while talking to Gajeel on the phone. We were having a discussion on who was gonna be cooking dinner in the evening. I was very adamant to get the job since I wanted to check my progress since a couple of days ago I had joined a cooking class with Lucy. Gajeel was being a stubborn oaf again, he kept saying that I still needed practice before I could actually start making something besides heating food in the kitchen.
"Mou, Gajeel it was just that one time, it's not like I want to be an arsonist or somthing!" I told him pouting at the same time.
"Well that one time was enough proof that you should never step in the kitchen unless necessary," he teased snickering in the other end of the call.
"It wasn't that bad," I said.
"Shrimp, you nearly burned down the kitchen," he said chuckling.
"Nearly is the key word. Gajeel, I promise I won't burn anything. I just really want to try cooking that Adobo thing!"
"Adobo? Wazzat?"
"Oh it's a really delicious eastern country native cuisine that our instructor taught us. It was so good and I loved it. And I am certain you'll love it too since it's a meat dish. So please let me cook it tonight," I pleaded as I slowed down the car when I heard the warning bells for the upcoming train .
I heard him sigh and smiled triumphantly. I knew that sound, it meant I was winning this conversation.
"A'right shrimp, ya win. But if ya burn anything, you'll never gonna try any more experiment cooking in my kitchen."
I pumped my first and made a silent 'yes' when I heard this, then replied, "Cross my heart Gajeel! But really? Your kitchen? Thought it was our house?"
"It is. But the kitchen's mine like that little library is yours," I could hear the smirk in his voice.
I was about to give him another sassy remark when I saw something I didn't like outside near the train tracks.
"Oh no!" I uttered.
"What? What's wrong?" Gajeel asked hearing panic in his voice.
"I'll call you later," I told him then shut my phone and stepped out of my car. "Hey, what are you doing there Happy?!" I called the blue hair boy who was putting coins on the tracks. I saw the approaching train from afar. "Happy, come here this instant!" The boy did as he was told and came near me. "What are you doing here? And how did you get here?" I questioned him.
"I got bored waiting for Natsu. He doesn't play with me since he got that job at the fire department. Then I met Lector and he invited me to play with him, we walked all the way here," he replied innocently.
We heard the train come near the spot where they had been playing at and saw that the red haired boy called Lector hadn't left that spot.
"Lector!" he cried as an attempt to warn him. When the child merely looked at us with a smug expression, Happy tried to go back to him.
But I held him back and we both saw the train collided with the red haired boy. When the train passed, Happy looked very sad because of the lost of his friend but then...
"Yo!" the boy called Lector said appearing beside us.
"Cool! How'd you do that?!" the blue haired kid asked, I swear I could see stars of admiration in his eyes.
But I wouldn't have such actions be tolerated, especially knowing Happy who wouldn't mind doing such reckless and dangerous stunts.
"Happy, I think we should get you back to Nastu," I told him, "Go wait in the car."
"Eh? But Levy-"
"Wait in the car Happy," I ordered him with more conviction, to which the boy begrudgingly followed. When Happy was out of earshot I looked back at the red haired kid. "That wasn't very nice," I told him, "He could've seriously gotten hurt."
"Hmph, but he didn't," he said pouting and crossing his cute little arms.
"But he still could've," I said.
Then he looked apologetic. "I'm sorry," he said.
I smile, glad that he was repentant, then studied his features. He was probably around six or seven, his hair was gelled in a cool and spiky way, and he wore a maroon jacket that made him look smaller and dark blue shorts. I knew when he looked sorry after I told him that he could've hurt Happy that he was a good kid. It made me sad knowing that this would probably be his last time here in this earth.
"Lector, right?" He nodded. "What are you doing here? There's a better place that you can go where you can be happy, you know."
"I can't go anywhere," he said with a frown. "Mommy and Sting said that if ever I get lost I need to stay where I am or else they will never find me." He disappeared after that.
I looked around to find where he went but he didn't reappeared after that. Then from the corner near the fences I saw an altar for little Lector complete with his picture, a teddy bear, candles and some flowers.
(O.O)
"Aha! Found it!" I announced happily to my husband who was busy devouring my successfully cooked pork adobo.
"Found what?" he asked.
"What happened to that Lector kid. Listen to this article from a month ago. Tragedy strikes Magnolia Saturday evening, as a train hits an SUV, driver Mrs. Helena Eucliffe and her three month old daughter were able to escape but her six year old son, Lector wasn't so fortunate," I read to my husband.
"Poor kid," was all my husband had to say.
"Well, guess I should help them meet up so she can help Lector move on."
My husband stopped eating after hearing this. "Aaa, shrimp? Could ya like wait for a couple of days before doing this thing of yours?" he asked surprising me. He never asks me to postpone helping a spirit, it made me curious what he wanted.
"Why?"
"Well, ma called this morning and she said that she'd visit the weekend," he said acting nonchalant about it.
"WHAT?!"
"I said ma's visiting this weekend, I'm picking her up at the train station tomorrow."
"Why didn't she told us sooner? Like a couple of days earlier? I'm not ready to see her. Gajeel you know that woman hates me! And she'll hate me more!"
"Levy, she doesn't hate you. She just likes to torment people making them feel inferior. But now your married to me I doubt she'd do stuff like that to ya."
"Being married to you doesn't stop her. I mean she spilled her wine at me during our wedding rehearsal and destroyed my wedding dress."
"You know those were accidents shrimp. And she said she was sorry. Besides didn't that Virgo chick fixed everything?" he said making me narrow my eyes to tell him my disapproval of what he said. I heard him sigh, then he stood up and approached my side of the table and kneeled beside me, he then took my hand and looked me in the eyes with a serious expression. "Levy, she's not as bad as you think once ya get to know her. I mean she made my stay in her family bearable. Look, I know you and ma aren't best of terms but you gotta understand she's still my mother and your the woman I love, I really want you two to get along with each other. So ya gotta at least try."
"Okay," I conceded, "But I am still gonna help Lector, and let her think me weird because there is no way I will abandon this kid."
"Fine, you do what you have to," Gajeel said then he kissed me in the forehead, "But have lunch with her and let her get to know the real you first. You know, the funny, smart, kind, and adorable bookworm you are, then, after, you can let her think you're weird."
I laughed at that and nodded.
(O.o)
Early morning the next day, I went back to the railroad crossing where I found Lector. I saw the red haired boy sitting at the fences where his altar was with a sad expression. I approached him and greeted.
"Hey," I told him.
"Hi," he replied weakly, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to visit you. In case you feel lonely," I told him.
"I don't feel lonely. Sting said when you're lonely you become sad, when you become sad, you cry and crying's for babies. A real man doesn't cry because it makes them weak," he said pretending to sound arrogant and failing.
"Well, Sting is right, babies do cry a lot. But babies aren't the only ones who cry. Adults, I mean men, real men often shed tears when they really need to when something really worth their tears arrive, but that doesn't make them weak. It only proves their strength, strength in a sense that they are willing to admit that something is really hurting them and they are better than others because they are able to let go of their pride and show everyone how they really feel, even if that emotion is sadness."
Lector was silent for a moment, then he asks, "Do you know men who cry when they are sad?"
"Many actually. Mostly are my husband's colleagues at the fire station. And sometimes, when it's really special, my husband cries too."
"You mean people at the fire station cry?"
"Yup," I answered.
"Sting likes people at the fire station. He said he'd be a firefighter when he's older," he said looking down. His body started to visibly shake and I saw little droplets of tears falling on his legs. "I miss Sting (sob) and mommy (sob) and Dianne, my little sister too. (sob, sob, sob) I really want to see them again. I want them to find me soon," he said as he looked up at my direction, enabling me to see the tears fall from the boy's face.
I felt my heart wrenched at the sight. But I had to keep my composure in front of this kid so I could help him. And so I resorted to my next possible reaction.
"I think you actually should be the one who should look for your mother and siblings Lector," I suggested with a smile.
"What? But mommy and Sting said that if I get lost I need to stay where I am so they could find me," he said.
"Well, maybe they don't know where to look? That's why I think we should be the ones who should look for them," I told him.
"You'll help me?" he asked innocently.
"That's right!" I beamed.
Lector nodded and allowed me to take him to my car so I could get him to where his mother was working. When I got into the car he pointed at a small cat toy I had placed on my rear view mirror.
"I had one of those before!" he exclaimed.
"Really? Well my husband bought it for me when we went to the carnival once."
"Mom brought mine at the carnival too. But she was angry at me afterwards," he said sadly.
Not liking the atmosphere I tried to change the topic.
"So you like cats?" I asked.
"Yeah! Me and Sting do! We both think they are the coolest kind of pets!" he said excitedly, but then he looked even more sad afterwards, "But mom's allergic to them so we can't have one, which is why my dad bought us a fish."
"What's wrong?" I asked seriously concerned about why the sudden change of emotion.
"My fish and dad are dead. Dad died first because he was sick and the fish was suppose to be our only memory of him but it followed him afterwards. I really loved them and miss them too."
I didn't ask anymore questions after that, and simply drove us to where Mrs. Eucliffe worked.
(O.o)
We arrived at the town square and stopped across an very small antique shop where I knew was where Mrs. Eucliffe worked. I was contemplating how I was gonna tell her about her son's spirit still Earthbound without letting her think I was crazy or conning her. My best solution to this was talking to her first and get to actually know her before anything.
"Listen Lector, I think you should stay in the car first and let me talk to her before you show yourself, okay?" I told the spirit beside me.
I didn't wait for a reply and left the car, but when I got out, I saw Lector across the street in front of the shop, waving excitedly at me and pointing at the shop.
"I know this place! I know this place!" he said.
I immediately crossed the streets and took Lector to the side of the shop and chastened him, "Lector, I told you to wait in the car. You should be listening to me."
"But I know this place! Mom works here! I can finally see her, and I'm sure Sting's gonna be happy to see me too!"
This is where it dawn to me that Lector had no idea what happened to him.
"You don't know do you?"
"Know what?" he asked tilting his head.
I crouched down to his level. "Lector, what do you remember about that night?" I started to asked, "Do you remember what happened? About the train?"
"I remember only a little. I remember mommy being so angry, Dianne crying." He paused. "I was being bad, I didn't listen..." He looked at me with a very pained look then disappeared.
I looked around for Lector but he didn't come back. So I decided to continue my quest of meeting his mother.
I entered the shop and was really surprised with what I saw. It was an antique shop alright but it was better than any antique shop I had ever been to. It had a really homey and welcoming atmosphere, most likely because the shop was so well lit and didn't look damp and old despite the items they sold. The items to weren't as bad as they seem despite how old they were. They were old but beautiful at most, some were just interesting.
"Can I help you?" a young lady with a really short cut white hair asked me.
"Um, I'm actually looking for someone. Does a woman named Helena Eucliffe work here?"
"Why, yes she does!" she asnswer.
"Well, can I talk to her?"
"Oh. I'm sorry but she isn't here right now. She's probably still at the court house, not really sure if she'll come by today."
"Courthouse?" I dumbly asked but the moment she looked at me suspiciously I knew I had to fix my mistake. "Uh-ooh yeah that place, I forgot about that. Well then I guess I better go then. Thank you for helping me."
I left the shop after that and went to my car. As I was starting the engine...
"Where's my mommy?" Lector asked suddenly appearing on the passenger seat making me jump.
"Lector, you surprised me," I told him. When I composed myself I answered, "She wasn't there but I might know where she is."
We then took a short trip right towards the courthouse and once again parked across it. We waited until we saw people exiting the building, among them were Mrs. Eucliffe, a beautiful blond middle aged woman, and the young blond teen with her which most likely was Sting Eucliffe.
"That's them!" Lector exclaimed excitedly as he saw the pair which confirmed my assumption. But then we both saw Mrs. Eucliffe was crying on the shoulder of her son making us worried, Lector most especially. "What wrong with mommy? Is she still angry with me?"
"I'm not sure you had anything to do with it, Lector," I told him, "I think we shouldn't see her today, at least until I find out more about what's wrong with her."
And so after that I drove us straight towards my shop, where I saw Lucy had already opened it.
"Morning, Lu-chan!" I told her.
"You mean good noon, Levy-chan." she replied with a tone shelving some books. I simply laughed knowing she was trying to scold my tardiness.
I then looked at Lector. "Can you wait over there and let me talk to my friend for a minute?" I asked him. When he nodded and left my side I went straight to where Lucy stood who saw my little interaction with my invisible companion.
"Is that a-you know?" I nodded immediately, knowing she was uncomfortable saying the G-word.
"Ne, Lu-chan can you do me a favor?" I asked.
"Sure thing!" she replied, her enthusiasm returning.
"Can you watch Lector for a moment?" I told her.
"Uh, Lector?"
"You know," I tilted my head towards the direction of some children books on a table that were flipping on their own.
She took a panic look and took me at the back of the shop.
"Are you crazy?" she asked, "No, don't answer that. I already know you have a little bit of crazy in you, you did go to Fairy tail High. But seriously Levy-chan?! Me watch over a ghost?! I can't even see her or him or whatever he is."
"He's a six year old boy who doesn't know he's dead and I need to talk to his family so they'll be the one to tell him about it. Please Lu-chan have pity on the kid."
I knew even if I didn't use the poor-kid skit, Lucy would still agree to it, but I felt better letting her in on what I needed to do.
"Oh, alright. But you owe me big time!" she said.
"Of course!" I smiled, she really was my best friend.
We came back to where Lector was and I introduced the two of them to each other.
"Lector this is my friend Lucy, she'll be watching over you until I get back, okay?" I told him.
Lucy approached us and greeted Lector, well at least try to greet him since she was facing the wrong way.
"Hi, Lector-chan! I'm Lucy and I hope well have fun together!" she said.
"Uh, Lu-chan," I called her attention eying my right where Lector really was.
She realized her mistake and turned to where I indicated.
"So Lector-chan, do you like to read? Cause we have a lot of cool books here. We have color books too that I won't mind you using," she said.
But of course Lector grew bored of her and left her talking to air and went straight for our comic book section of the shop. I approached Lector and gave him an apologetic look.
"Why is she talking to air?" the boy asked.
"Um, well she's kinda blind," I told him.
"You're leaving me with a dumb blond blind lady? That doesn't sound responsible," he said looking rather smug again.
I simply smiled, knowing this was just the boy's defense mechanism when he faced uncomfortable situations.
"Well, despite everything you think of Lu-chan, she really is dependable. So please don't give her a hard time?" I said with a kind smile.
Lector seem okay with the idea after that, which meant I could leave the shop now. As I was about to exit the store, someone I had not expected arrived.
"Hey, shrimp," Gajeel greeted, behind him was his overbearing and annoying mother.
"Shrimp? Quite an uncommon endearment, son," she commented making me glare at my stupid husband, "Though I can't say it isn't fitting."
He didn't seem fazed though, and simply smiled at the woman and ignored my glare.
"Well, I guess we should get going now," he told me.
"Huh?" was all I could say, totally not understanding what he meant.
"Lunch? Me, you and ma? Together? This ring any bell shrimp?"
"Oh! Ahh-yes I remember. But Gajeel I'm really sorry, I have to go and pick up a couple new orders for the shop and they can't wait any longer! You can take Mrs. Wallace-I mean mom to lunch alone, can you do that honey?" I said.
Gajeel winced at being called 'honey' but relented knowing exactly why I had to skip our lunch date. One because he knew about Lector, and two because he knew I was avoiding his mother.
"Alright, but you're cooking dinner t'night. Got that?" he said.
I knew exactly what that meant. It didn't actually mean what it meant, because I knew Gajeel would rather get hit by a train then willing let me cook in his kitchen. What he just said was a code we had that said I had to be home before dinner tonight.
I smiled and nodded, kissed him on the cheeks, said my goodbye to Lu-chan and Lector and to Mrs. Wallace who simply sneered at me, then left.
(O.o)
I arrived at the Eucliffe's residence around two in the afternoon. It was a small two storey house with a porch that had a swing in front and a small outdoor terrace at the side of the porch where a tea table and chairs were found. Quite a cute house, too bad it looked kinda gloomy. I don't know why exactly. Probably because of the unattended lawn or that the house seem to sport dark brown and grey colors or because the inhabitants of the house let out a very gloomy aura. I really couldn't tell, but one thing's for sure this isn't gonna be a happy visit.
I knocked at the door and waited for someone to answer. A few moments later I heard the door locks open and a blond woman opened it.
"Yes?" she asked trying to force a smile despite the fact that she looked like she had been crying.
"Hi, um I'm Levy McGarden, I own a bookshop at town. And I-I know this isn't a good time but I know your son, Lector and I'd like to have a few words with you about him," I told her.
She looked surprise at first then she looked like she was about to cry, but once again she forced a smile and nodded at me. Moments later, the two of us found each other sitting at their terrace tea table sipping hot tea that was prepared by her son.
"Thank you for giving me a few moments of your time," I told her.
She just nodded and took a sip of her tea. "So you knew my Lector?" she asked immediately getting to the point.
"I do," I answered. Biting my lips, I paused thinking how I should say the next words. "Listen, Mrs. Eucliffe, I know this may be hard to believe but I have a gift. I see and hear ghosts, and I saw your son at the railroad crossing yesterday. He's still Earthbound, he's still with us here," I told her.
At first I thought she was gonna get angry but instead she looked even more in pain.
"Wa-why are you doing this? Is this some kind of scam? Because it's-sob-not funny," she choked the words.
"No, I'm not joking. Your son said he and his brother liked cats but you don't have one because you were allergic, so their father brought them a fish. And he also said you bought him a little toy cat at the carnival, I actually have something similar in my car which he was so fond of playing with," I hurriedly related to her.
"Oh my God. My Lector, it really is him." I could see the tears falling on her face now.
"It is him. And he's stuck here. Mrs. Eucliffe, I'm here to ask if you could come with me and talk to your son. Tell him-"
"No." She shook her head. "I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't. Please don't come back here anymore." She stood up and went back inside her house not waiting for me to say anything else.
I stood in front of their door for quite a few minutes registering what had happened. I knew the heaviness of losing someone important but I guessed there's a deeper pain if that someone happened to be your child. I couldn't bring myself to ask Mrs. Eucliffe to reconsider, so I simply left my calling card at her door in hopes that she'd change her mind.
(/O.O)/
A/N: Okay this is the first part of this story, and I really hope I got the characters right. Thank you guys once again for reading and I really hope you'd review. Next chapter is the conclusion expect an angry Sting, a sad and helpless Lector, Levy and Gajeel's mother finally looking pass their differences, and Lector finally crossing over. Until next time! Thanks for reading!