Previously on Falling Of Rooftops:
After Lucy found out about Natsu and Lisanna's secret relationship, she gets her Fairy Tail mark removed after speaking with Master Makarov, confronts her friends and loved ones, and tells them about her experience at the restaurant the night prior. But when silence only answers her questions and stories, she spills her inner thoughts and regrets to Natsu in front of the entire guild.
Natsu watches Lucy leave, unable to call after her. Gray then comments on how similar Lucy's words sounded to a good bye. Although he is afraid he'll lose the only mate he'll find, he chooses to wait a bit to let her cool down. This was the last time he saw Lucy.
Lucy leaves town with little to no regret, as even the young woman working the ticket booth knew of Natsu's cheating. Ridden with a mysterious pain, Lucy orders a ticket for the next train out. The ticket woman comments on her illness and falsely concludes that Lucy must be pregnant.
Although Lucy is happy to get away from the town that will surely be ridden with rumors, her future scares her. She has a sickening feeling that her sudden illness will not go away with time, and without knowing where she was going and what was going to happen next, Lucy looks to the future with hesitance.
This was originally going to be posted as one humongous chapter as a 'sorry for being really mean and not updating', but it's at a whooping 12,200 words and I'm only a little over half way done with final edits, and that is just way too big for one chapter. I'll still post a big chunk though! I really wanted to post it tonight, so I will. The first 5,000 words or so. I will be updating everySaturday, Tuesday, and maybe Thursday if I'm really feeling the love ;) So review, it might be worth your while! The combined total of 20 or more reviews for the Saturday and Tuesday updates will get the THURSDAY UPDATE.
This chapter is going to be written in a very different style, as all of the events happening in this section will be told in the fashion of a road trip. Only the important parts will be shared. I repeat, the style of writing for this chapter will be different from my norm!
Intermission:
Year One: Month 1-3
The streets and people were blurring in and out of focus as she stumbled down the crowded sidewalk. People walked around her, none attempting to help, but every one of them starring. She leaned heavily on the wall of a building, hands clutching at her stomach. If Lucy didn't know any better she would have said she'd been shot. The pain that she had grown to call a 'heat wave' due to the hot, searing ache was that bad. Most of the time, the heat wave would dwindle into an uncomfortably hot ache, but this one was different. Her feet dragged, pain splashing throughout her system with every single step she took. Edges of worried comments pushed themselves through the pounding in her ears.
I've never seen that girl around. She's not looking so good.
She looks about ready to pass out.
I wonder if she gets sea sick or something.
So wasn't really sure how she got here because the majority of her memories seemed to merge into one gooey glob that was shaded with fevers, intense heat waves, and ridiculous nightmares. The earliest she could remember was after she got off at the last stop before the train returned to Magnolia. The city was called Farlock. She remembered that for whatever reason, it wasn't like she stayed in that town for any length of time. The heat waves were less agonizing when she was walking so she was consistently on the move. She kept off the beaten path, avoiding human contact until she got far enough away. She had to be sure a Fairy Tail wizard wouldn't be able to find her. It must have been a subconscious decision, but she also avoided towns, and people, and any type of vehicles to make her that much harder to locate.
It was a grueling and taxing life style, making her already long days that much more difficult. It wasn't the fact that she had a hard time holding herself up at times. She knew the decision to avoid towns (food, water, rest) would have that effect. Not to mention the stronger heat waves. She refused to let her fatigue get the best of her. After missions with her old team, her old friends used to return to the guild like that often. If they could do it she could. If Natsu could, she could.
It wasn't the mystery of the heat waves that made day time so daunting. When they hit, she wasn't wondering about them. She was trying to get them to go away. She tried her best not to think about them when they weren't around because whenever she did, it would trigger one.
No, it wasn't the hardships that made life tough for her. It was her own thoughts, her regrets.
More so than not, during the day she found herself mapping out scenarios in which things were different. Like what would have happened if she caught on to Natsu and Lisanna's little relationship sooner. Or if she had lingered around Magnolia for just one more day. Would he have found her and apologized? Would he break down and cry like all those many times she did?
She didn't know, which made everything that much harder for her.
What if she was putting her self through this for nothing? At the time, leaving seemed like a great idea. But now, miles away from where she used to call home, she couldn't help but feel homesick.
Nights were just as hard, but for different reasons. When she sat down to relax a heat wave would burn through her body and keep her awake for the majority of the night. The pain was unbearable, so bad, that by the first lights of dawn she would wonder how she managed to survive it. It was like Natsu breathed the most potent of his fire into her body, and whenever she was in need of down time, or she wasn't thinking about him, the fire would make sure he was on her mind by burning her insides to a crisp.
It was almost magic. When the sun rose, the heat wave dulled, and she would be moving again to make sure it stayed like that.
What might have been a couple of nights like those passed, and she finally clasped onto the ground from exhaustion. Lucky for her, she just crossed a road, her aimless wandering bringing her to a touch of civilization in her travels. She couldn't say she didn't see the collapse coming. She ran out of supplies a day ago. Hadn't slept in god knows how long. And was walking in midday heat on a tarred road. It was only a matter of time before her body overpowered her mind.
It was during this bout of unconsciousness that she decided that the heat waves paled in comparison to the twisted recesses of her mind. Her dreams spit back all her fears and dreads. She saw images of young, white haired fire breathers. A smiling Natsu with an arm around Lisanna. Cold stares of her nakama. Tabloid headlines.
She woke up with a scream in her throat. But she swallowed it with it squeak of surprise. She was in the back of a bumpy carriage. A woman of about twenty five sat next to Lucy, a wet cloth in one hand, and a jug of water by her leg. Her name was Karen. Lucy liked her a lot, and although she doesn't remember much about the girl besides a large blue hat and huge scar on her face, the girl made a everlasting impression on her.
They reached a town that smelled of salt and water in a couple days. It was small. Lucy thanked Karen and her husband (She doesn't remember his name) for the ride and food before she went her own way.
A little bit after that she found herself in a cheap motel talking to one of the employees at the front desk. She learned she was in a town called Cresten. It was one of the only towns in all of Fiore that offered transportation to the colonies that belonged to the magic council. She also found out she was approximately two weeks-by train-away from Fairy Tail.
This made her realize that she had no idea how long she'd been away. No idea of a date. Not to mention her spirits. She hadn't summoned a single one since she left. Truth be told, they hadn't even crossed her mind, and it surprised her that Loke hadn't forced his way out yet. She scoffed under her breath, maybe her angry, bitter thoughts of Natsu and Lisanna scared him away. Or maybe it was her sadness over her friends.
She never did get a proper good bye from her resident book worm.
She paid the man with hesitance. She hoped she had enough money to buy a boat ride to the colonies after that. Deciding not to worry about it now, she retreated to her room. Pulling her keys out, she summon Loke. The lion spirit was frantic with worry as he took her in his arms, Lucy resigned herself to a night of terrors and heat flashes as she crawled into the lumpy bed of the motel. But at least she wasn't alone.
The next morning, she told Loke she wouldn't be summoning him very often because the heat waves made her body weak. Using magic was now a chore. He frowned, but accepted it.
If it keeps you safe, I'll agree to anything Lucy. But if you need anything, I'll be there. Your reliable prince in shining armor!
Giving her one last hug, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. His words put a smile on her face. She looked at her pack. No food. No water. Just a couple pairs of clothes, some money, and some personal items. Dumping it onto the bed, she took her jacket stuffed her extra underwear and her set of zodiac keys into one zipper pocket and the remainder of the money into the other. She picked up a picture that was halfway tucked under her extra bra.
Her and the entire guild were standing in front of the Fairy Tail building. She stood in front of the group next to Natsu, smile so innocent and happy it made her feel sick to her stomach. To the Behind Natsu stood Erza looking stern as ever. Behind Lucy stood Gray, shirtless like always. He had a hand on her shoulder. It was before Juvia came into the picture, so at the time she wasn't worrying about being murdered later on in the day by the water mage.
Lucy started to tremble, the picture shaking in her hands. Tears trailed down her cheeks, dripping onto the photo and leaving stains.
Exhaling, she walked over to the desk and grabbed the pen off it. Flipping the photo over, she scrawled down a message for the cleaning lady. She didn't really want to leave the photo, but if she broke down to tears every time she saw it what good was having it with her?
The note she scrawled was informing the maid that the clothes on the bed were for her because she couldn't carry them with her no longer. The girl looked about the same size, so she figured they would fit her.
She left the room, and the photo, behind.
Today she'll hunt down the cheapest ride to the colonies.
If someone was looking for her, they would have a hard time finding her there. She was sure of it.
She spent the remaining bit of her money on the ticket. Once on the boat Lucy realized that the constant movement of the vessel eased the heat waves, and chased the night terrors away. The boat itself was tiny. It could fit maybe three people minus the captain (who she vaguely remembered to be really creepy). She and a really large man were the only passengers this trip. She never said anything to him. The day it took to get to the first colony was spent in complete silence. She only moved off her spot on the floor a couple times to relieve herself.
She ate little more than bread, as it upset her stomach.
Her time awake was spent watching the sky and waves. Her mind wandering from its normal thoughts about Natsu and the others to odder topics (What would it be like to be a fish?) as the sun brought weariness upon her. It was in this state of mind that the waves relaxed her into a thoughtless, hazy (almost sleepy) state. She liked that because it felt like she could actually breathe. Almost like nothing was holding her down.
Of course, the little detail about her travel partners not knowing a thing about her (her past, her name, her sadness) could have had something to do with that too. She was just a girl to them. Lucy liked that. For once in her life, she was anonymous.
At night fall, she slept peacefully, which put her in a pretty good mood the day the rickety boat docked at the colony. She gave the creepy captain a good tip as she got off the boat, even if he didn't exactly deserve it.
She made it about halfway through Willington, the first town in the Northern most colony before her first heat wave of the day hit her. This one was crimpling. She was happy, and gleeful for the first time since she left Fairy Tail, so when the sudden surge of heat began wrecking havoc on her stomach it caught her so off guard she cried out.
This brought her to her current situation. The only thing that registered in her mind was that she needed to find a safe place to sit down and wait this particular heat wave out. Otherwise, she feared she'd faint again.
Right about now, she was regretting her less than hearty meals on the boat. Her energy was dwindling fast, and the road curb was so close. Just a couple more steps and—
The sidewalk slipped from underneath her foot, and her body was tumbling. Her vision blackened out before she hit the ground.
Year One: Month 3-5
The steady sound of beeping machinery faded in and out of her conscious thoughts. She felt like she was floating. Her fingers felt fat, her head huge. Shapes formed in front of her, and she thought that if they were real, they should be much smaller than what they are now. A warm darkness surrounded her, and she wondered.
About what, she was not sure of.
But either way, she wondered.
A dull poking sensation penetrated her arm. In an unknown amount of time the beeping machinery transitioned into nothing.
She was still wondering. But this time, about things.
Like whom she was, and how she knew she was a she. Did she have a name? Was she even living?
How long has it been?
Where was she?
And for the love of whatever holly, what was that eternal beeping noise?
It took a bit, but the poking feeling in her arm went from being uncomfortable to being a relief. Sometimes, while she was wondering, something would happen. She would feel like she was falling deeper into the nothing. Hopelessness would grip her, along with a dull ache in her abdomen. It was the odd pain that would have her on the verge of remembering something. She got the feeling that who ever she was didn't want her to recall anything.
Then the poke would come and everything would go away.
It was times like these that she preferred the nothing to the wondering.
Year One: Month 5
The nothing trembled, and she began wondering more feverously than she has in….forever. Her head hurt. Her fingers felt normal. The dull ache from before felt real. Her nothing was shattering.
The beeping was loud.
The room was white. Walls, sheets, table, floor, clothes, all white. Too white, too clean, too pure. She felt out of place in the pristine setting.
She didn't dare look to her own body, for fear it wouldn't be there. She knew it was irrational, but she just couldn't look down.
So she closed her eyes and waited.
"You're name is Lucy Heartifilia, miss." She made the nurse repeat it for the utmost time.
"You are in the town of Willington. A civilian found you passed out on the sidewalk on the middle of town. He brought you here, and we put you in a medicine induced coma until we could figure out what had you in such terrible pain."
"How did you know I was in pain?" She asked for the third time that day.
"You told the doctor."
"Did you find anything?" She asked for the first time that day.
"Other than the massive amount of unnatural heat pooling in your stomach, no. We have not yet found out what has caused the build up. So we woke you."
"I figured as much. I think it is about time I was discharged then." Lucy said for the first time.
She was surprised that the nurse agreed.
Year Two
The remainder of her first year consisted of traveling. Her heat waves were atrocious and hard to deal with. Sometimes, they were so strong she would drop at the beginning of one. She almost lived in hospitals. She would hold out just to get to another town, and then pass out the day of her arrival. During her time out, she would cherish the sleep, even as Natsu tainted as it was. She woke up in hospital beds. Ate their food, Drank their water. Let them clean her soiled clothing. By then, no doctors kept her for over a month as word spread over the colony about her strange illness. They would send her on her way with a medical bill to pay, and sadness in her chest every time. At least her stomach had been filled though.
Before she left town, she would do something small. Like clean a house for a couple days to make just enough many to pay the bill. After, she'd be onto the next one.
She suspected that this hospital wouldn't offer her any different of an outcome.
The nurses began to mold into one, stereotypical person. But this one she remembered. She was tall, and strict looking. Her name tag read Qara. She frowned down on the packet in her hands. "It says here that nothing was found wrong with you, and that you are to be released." Her voice was deep for a woman, and something told Lucy that she did not agree with what the papers told her.
Lucy didn't answer. Looking down she focused on the heat becoming more promenade again. She estimated another couple days before a heat wave hit her full force again. Now, after dealing with the waves for a little over a year, she could time them. Because of this, she no longer went to hospitals for treatment in hopes of being cured. She threw that hope to the wind after the seventh doctor turned her loose. Now she went for the shower, the bed, the food. That and the drugs were pretty good too.
Sitting up, she looked to the nurse. "Where are my shoes?"
The rest of her second year was spent like that. Instead of settling down and getting a job like she expected to, she spent her time traveling, calming a different hospital home every month. When one released her, she would start all over again. Finding food where she could. Finding sleep wherever she dropped.
Her life was pretty monotonous.
Year Three:
The New Year began with a different approach to her heat waves. A doctor had given her enough money to purchase a ticket to the colony specializing in medicine. Lucy stumbled her way into the second northern colony, and into the port town of Avery. This town was renowned for healing according to the elderly lady on the ferry that carried Lucy here. The late winter weather was bitter, especially on the ship and the older woman had taken pity on Lucy and given her a blanket.
Then she proceeded to talk her head off for the duration of the couple hour ride.
Apparently, the old woman was traveling to Avery because of medicine. Her back was killing her.
Lucy hurried off the ship once it stopped eager to escape the kind, but way too talkative lady in hopes of some peace and quiet.
The first thing she did was go to a magic healer. Although the girl who served her had dark purple hair and bright eyes, she was small. Lucy was reminded of Wendy. After the unsuccessful healing session Lucy hurried from the office, fighting back tears.
She missed her family. She missed her best friend. She missed her sisterly figures, and her close-enough-to-brothers.
Above all, she missed him. She would give anything to see his face again. To bathe in the shine of his smile, and be blessed with his laughter.
Crouching in an icy alley, she buried her face into her arms. To anyone else it looked like a girl hiding from the cold winter wind. No one bothered to see if she was alright. She didn't expect them too.
Because she was a stranger.
Warm laughter echoed through the alley, bouncing off the walls. Lucy's head snapped up at the familiar sound, her eyes wide. There was no one there.
Natsu….
That laugh, it sounded so real. So wanted it so bad.
She wanted to go back home.
From then on, sometimes, she would think she heard his voice. His cheery chuckle. His greetings. His nicknames for her. And she would get so happy and turn around with his name on her lips only to see no one there.
She vowed to never go to another magic healer again.
She heard his voice again. Lately the realistic sounds were turning up everywhere. Just like the other times, she turned around just for the sake of doing it. She knew he wasn't there. He never was.
But this time, she saw spiky pink hair, and a tan scarf. Her heart jumped into her throat, and she just stared. His back was turned, so she couldn't tell.
But it looked exactly like him from behind.
Before she knew it she was running, his name bubbling in her throat. She was ducking and weaving, and there was tears running down her face because he found her.
She clasped his shoulder. Her dirty fingers clawing into the red jacket he wore. She shouted his name, a smile so wide on her face it hurt.
Natsu!
He turned around, and a guy that certainly wasn't Natsu snarled at her, telling her to go back to the box she crawled out of. Granted, she must have looked like a beggar. Ratted, greasy hair. Dirty face, worn, ripped clothing. She looked hideous. Like this man who wasn't Natsu said, she fit the profile of someone who had crawled out of a box.
She ran from him. Sad tears replaced the happy, wails of heartbreak forcing their way out of her mouth. She ducked out of the way of pedestrians and into a seclude part of the city. Along with the emotional rage a strong heat wave passed over her as she cowered in a corner, knocking her out. Even in her lucidness, she felt the string of the fire, and it was then that she began to wonder if Natsu was suffering like this too, and if he thought about her as often as she thought about him.
She woke up in a bright room. Sunlight filtered in through the open widow, bright blue curtains pushed to frame the clean glass. White bed sheets tucked her in, and there was this oh so familiar beeping noise of the hospital monitor. Yet again, she landed herself into a hospital.
But this one was different. The walls, instead of the white she became so used to seeing, were a pale calming yellow color as an alternative. Three nurses were conversing in the center of the room, in between the two hospital beds. The one across from Lucy was occupied by an older sleeping fellow.
One of the nurses, the only female of the bunch, was playing with a flame in between her fingers. It was blue like the sky, and Lucy smiled fondly at her.
Since her travels began, magic lessen as a priority in her life. Every once in a while, she would make contact with Loke to reassure him that she was doing alright, but other than those rare times, she avoided magic, and put effort into keeping Loke's forced summoning at a minimum. Especially when a guild was nearby because in her travels she came to realize that celestial wizards were not as common as in Fiore, and many guild members were out scouting for them in the colonies.
She returned her attention to the nurses and soon after they noticed her. All three of them hurried to introduce themselves. The girl came up to Lucy first, her fire put out, but her smile wide. She had short, stringy, light blonde hair that was cute in a cute boyish bob with one chunk of hair falling down the middle of her forehead in place of bangs. She was petite, much smaller than Lucy herself. Her friendly grayish eyes greeted her, as if welcoming her to the hospital. Her name was Rea, and she was her main nurse for the stay.
The other two nurses were tall and broad. One-Edge- had sleek light brown hair, and a pretty smile. The other- Mitch-had hay colored hair. He had a pair of thick glasses over his dark eyes. He seemed sterner than the other man.
The two male nurses were called to another room to attend to their actual patients and not hers as Rea had sarcastically put it. The nurse explained the agenda for Lucy's stay. The doctor from the other colony that referred her to here had contacted many of the hospitals in the immediate area telling them about Lucy's condition. Rea, a bit sadly, admitted that like the other hospitals, this one had yet to find the source of the issue. But unlike the others, the staff here was very determined to help Lucy. Rea assured her that she was allowed to stay as long as she needed, and with minimum cost.
Lucy tried a friendly smile, but it was more of a grimace. Standing up, Rea rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, saying that she came in here to refill the I.V. with pain medicine for her but her two friends distracted her.
After she gave Lucy more medicine Rea excused herself. Promising another visit around lunch time, the short girl bounced out of the room.
Despite Lucy's stoic silence throughout the entire conversation, the small blonde seemed eager for noon time, and Lucy couldn't help but feel the same way.
Something in Lucy changed that day.
Lucy found out that Edge and Mitch had a thing for Rea pretty early on in her stay. They were always complimenting her, and fighting over who should help her. But Rea seemed pretty obvious to it all.
No matter how many times Mitch would take on Rea's night time shifts with Lucy so the girl could get some sleep, Rea would just smile and hug him before leaving. She was completely oblivious of the stares Mitch would give her behind her back. Longing reflected in his dark eyes, and as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, he would sigh, sadness evident in the slump of his usually square shoulder. To Lucy, it looked like Mitch was beginning to accept his feelings for Rea, and that they wouldn't be returned anytime soon.
But Edge was a different story. He once commented to Lucy while alone with her that he though he had a better chance with Rea over Mitch because he was a mage too. He could spar with her when she was bored or angry, and Mitch couldn't do that as he didn't have a drop of magic in his body. Edge would talk in length about his air magic, and after a small demonstration, Lucy agreed that it was impressive. Instead of controlling the air currents around him, like must air mages, he focused on making waves out of it. He was an air mage with the mentality of a water wage.
Then, after that visit from Edge, Lucy went into a depression that took Rea fifteen minutes to drag her out of because she began wondering about Juvia. Did she ever get together with Gray?
One thing that Lucy really liked about Rea was her respect. No matter how many times she found Lucy crying, or screaming in her sleep (because medicine didn't help her night terrors at all), Rea never asked about it. She would sit down beside her, hold her hand with one hand, and show Lucy a new trick with her fire to calm her down.
Little did she know that the only reason the blue fire helped Lucy because it made her think of happier times involving Macao, Natsu, Happy and a young Romeo. That and a perverted monkey.
Sighing, Lucy blinked herself back to reality, looking around her room. It was empty save for the sleeping old man in the bed next to her (she hoped he was actually sleeping). There was a vision lacrama strapped to the ceiling, and it was projecting images of the local guild. They weren't anything like Fairy Tail. Where her old guild was rowdy, those people were proper. Fairy Tail was aggressive and proactive, they were timid and hesitant.
Her hospital bed was by the window, and she decided that watching the snow fall outside would be better than thinking about her old home. Morning light illuminated the raging storm, highlighting strong winds and heavy snow lights. It was roughly nine in the morning, and Lucy was expecting Rea to come take her to her morning tests at any moment. The shorter blonde walked in through the door a couple minutes after, and she looked distraught. Lucy sat up, alarmed. Rea was a cheerful person, always smiling and giggling, and talking.
The girl solemnly made her way to Lucy and began fixing her I.V, mouth glued shut. Lucy detected the faint glitter of tears in her eyes, and sighed. In her time knowing Rea- about a month-they hadn't talked about anything serious. Really, there conversations were silly. Just Rea trying to get a smile out of Lucy.
But good things never last forever. Lucy knew that from experience.
So she asked about it as Rea began getting a wheel chair ready. The other blonde had frozen mid stride, freezing up like ice. Clasping onto the railing at the end of her body, her other hand wiped her eyes to keep the tears at bay. After a little insistence, Rea cracked and spilled all her inner turmoil into the open. Lucy found out that instead of being oblivious, like she thought Rea was, the light haired nurse was actually quite aware of her friend's feelings and was tiring to ignore them. She sniffled as she said that Mitch was beginning to lay off the flirting, but Edge had gotten worse. So bad, that he started taunting Mitch about it.
Apparently Rea had an older brother than volunteered here sometimes to play with the children in the intensive care unit. He was on his way towards the play area for the less contagious and more active children, lingering behind the door that entered the hallway behind the check-in counter when things turned sour between him and her two love struck friends.
Rea took some time to describe her brother, and from what Lucy picked up from it, the guy was very protective of her. To the point of forcing her to move in with him when she was twelve (Rea said she was 22 now) because their dad started to drink a lot after the death of their older sister and mother.
She said a rogue mage killed them, and ever since her father loathed anything about magic. Her brother- eighteen at the time- had already moved into the city for work, and didn't have to worry about his magic skills setting off their magic-less father. But she was young and stuck with him. He was an abusive drunk.
Rea had scars on her hands to prove it. On a particularly bad night, he tried to 'drain' the magic out of her through her hands. He took broken beer bottle shards to do it. He had gotten angry when all he saw was blood, and proceeded to smack her for being a disgrace to his family name.
Her brother visited her in the hospital, and vowed to get her out of that house. It was because of that stay at the hospital that she decided she liked the idea of helping injured people. By the age of eighteen, she had become an apprentice of the head nurse in this hospital, and she hadn't looked back.
Lucy had looked down at her own scared hands. Their story was not nearly as sad and twisted as Rea's, but she could still remember the glass shards and blood from that faithful night like it happened yesterday instead of three years ago.
Once again, Rea looked, but didn't ask. She just continued on with her story, apologizing for getting off track.
She said that Edge and Mitch were arguing in the hallway closest to the check-in counter, the same one her brother most have been near. Rea wasn't sure about what, but her brother (Lucy never did get a name) over heard something he didn't like. Rea came around the corner to greet her brother, and so him beating the crap out of her friends. With the combination of his martial arts skills and his fairly competent fire magic (Rea boasted that she was a better mage than him, and always had been) her friends didn't stand a chance.
She shared that she hated seeing her friends hurt, and her brother angry. The waterworks came again as she told Lucy that she thought Mitch and Edge had gone too far.
Lucy offered to say something to them when they came around to check up on her later on today (because despite them not being her nurses, they seemed to worry about her as much as Rea).
Rea paused, but after a bit of convincing agreed because she didn't think she could say something to them. In fact, she tried once, but they took it the completely wrong way.
And just like that, Rea was laughing again, and things were better.
By the end of their conversation (which left Rea feeling much better), they'd missed the time slot for Lucy's morning testing.
They laughed about the doctor's outraged reaction for weeks after that.
A couple weeks after that incident, Lucy found herself laughing more. After Rea opened up to her, she felt like she could trust the girl, and that she wasn't just another pretty face trying to make Lucy forget about her problems. No, she was a girl with her own problems, and genuinely cared about others. And with the help of the effects of the medicine settling into her system, and a couple good friends at her side she was beginning to forget about her heat waves. Even the demons that came with them. For the first time in three years, Lucy was happy. She felt like she had a home.
Who would have thought she would find that in a hospital of all places.
But deep down they were bittersweet friendships because she knew from the very beginning that they would only last so long. Not because she would eventually leave, which she would.
But because Rea loved to read, but hated writing. She loved the smell of ink, but hated pens. She was bubbly and small, but liked stern, bulky men. Not to mention her group of two drooling friends.
Rea was like another Levy, Mitch and Edge like another Jet and Droy.
6,491 without word breaks.
TBC