Standard Disclaimers Apply.


Chapter 7: ERZA SCARLET


ERZA'S POV

I followed Gray's gaze and found Lucy gawking at us, almost dumbfounded, her stares bouncing back and forth to Natsu, Gray and her scorched wedding dress held by Mira. I can tell she's upset with what she witnessed. For a second, she stood there, frozen. Then she took a small step backward and then ran away, fast. The whole guild seemed to notice her presence. I went after her without wasting any time.

'Shit! Lucy." I dashed my way to follow her, determined to reach her. I'm a fast runner, and I'm sure I'll be able to catch up to Lucy with her speed but I feel hesitant, something was bothering me.. I'm worried I can't ease her pain away. 'What will I tell her? What words will comfort her? How will I make her feel better?' I was almost certain that Lucy was already tired from running away, she stopped. She was breathing heavily, I instantly halted and slowly walked towards her. She sat down and buried her face to her knees, she was crying.

Lucy, Gray and Natsu had really grown up. I had always figured out Lucy will end up with either of the two. I bet my magic on it. The first time I met Lucy, I immediately knew she'll bring some relevant change to Natsu and Gray. It was an obvious fact, manifestations of my theory had been visibly evident especially with Natsu. With Gray, it was different. There was something more than meets the eye. Gray had always been the smart one, but he tends to be dumb when it comes to Lucy. He would always consider himself lost to Natsu if it's about her, this made me concerned most of the time. I had always been against Natsu and Gray's insignificant clashes and rivalries but I had never seen any of them back down. It seems to me that Gray had found his weakness, without realizing that weaknesses are one's strengths.

When he told me he's marrying Lucy, I felt relieved and happy for the both of them. I had always seen myself in Gray. Thinking about Jellal, I wish we ended up together like those two, but I couldn't think of any other ways to be with him again… for now.

I felt bad that Lucy had to always listen to my cries about me and Jellal's hopeless state, I don't know if it was just coincidence but she was almost always available to lend her ears every time I felt like breaking down… aside from the point that she's the only one I trust enough about this matter. Maybe it's because of this that Lucy never dares to tell me anything about her love life. It was Gray who told me about their soon marriage, I never heard it from Lucy. For crying out loud, I never realized that I wasn't the only person in Earthland with her heart breaking… until now.

I deeply regret not being useful during times like this. I don't even know the right words to say.

I can tell how Natsu's words had brought Lucy into a madly confused state. I felt small raindrops pelt on my skin and then the rain poured heavily. Just then, I realized where we were. Both of us were under the rainbow sakura tree. I sat down beside her. I patted her shoulder stiffly. Even though I can't really see it, but I can tell Lucy's fighting the urge to shed more tears.

Then she spoke, "E-erza." She muffled. "I-I love Gray," she now sniffed, still trying her best to hold in the urge, but lost it. I could feel her tears were pouring down in chorus with the rain dripping to her pale cheeks. I stared at her, not knowing what to say, we were starting to get soak. We have to go somewhere dry. "B-but I loved Natsu. I was so in love with Natsu." She burst out crying. There's something that bothers me though. I can feel a presence of another person around. I refocused my attention to Lucy. Now's not the best time. Her sobs filled the air. "I-I let him go b-because I had to. B-because he had h-hurt me so much. I n-needed to be a-able to look at him and still see t-the same guy who h-had saved me every time I was to g-give up, the g-great guy that w-was too idiotic to even r-realize I was in love with h-him. I needed t-to be able to look a-at him and see my best friend and not just some person who let my heart down." Long pause followed.

I was taken aback. "Lucy." I moaned, disturbed. I wanted to comfort her right now, but no words came out of my mouth. I can feel her agony. I didn't want to look at her like this.

"I moved on, yes. But that doesn't mean I have forgotten." She wept, "And that doesn't mean that I won't be here anymore if he ever wants to come back…" she broke off.

'What does she mean?' I was about to open my mouth when she continued on.

"as my best friend." She lifted her head up and looked at the gloomy, dark sky. "When I heard Natsu say he has to marry me, I felt nothing at all. I thought I should feel something, but looking at my wedding dress made me feel worse. Feeling bad at random things, I know? It was burned, I instantly knew it was Natsu who did it, I wanted to make him taste my new and improved Lucy kick. How troublesome can he be? But he's Natsu, what else do we expect?" She shook her head and let out a deep sigh. "To tell you the truth Erza, I have always been scared of myself ever since I agreed to marry Gray. Questions like what if Natsu comes back and realized he's in love with me, what do I do if he declares he loves me and I had already agreed to marry Gray, how will Gray deal with this.. It's not that I'm getting full of myself, you see. I tend to overthink things. Before Natsu left for the secret mission, I had confessed my feeling to him, but it wasn't taken seriously. You must know how dense our fire dragon slayer is, right? But when I finally heard it from him, I discovered that it's nothing to be scared of. I've been scared all throughout for nothing in particular, becauseit has always been Gray from the very beginning, and so..." she glanced at me, now beaming, "It has to be him I marry. Not because he's been with me every time Natsu broke my heart in the past, but because I love him. And even if I get to wear the scorched and torn to pieces wedding gown, as long as he's my groom, you as my maid of honor and Natsu as my best man, I'll surely live my life with no regrets."

Hearing this, I was overjoyed. Maid of honor, huh? I wonder how Levy, Cana, Mira or Lisanna will react about this. A small smirk escaped out of me, "Ah. Love."

Lucy froze. "Uh. E-erza, I-I'm sorry I-I was – " She stuttered.

"Lucy, for a moment there, you scared the shit out of me." I interrupted, with a refined smile on my face. I can still feel the rain water dripping on my hair.

"Heh! I was surprised you were the one to run after me…" She uttered, wiping the tears on her cheeks, but doesn't really do much because we're under the rain. "I was also worried of what you will tell me, too." She said, now staring back at me with the sweetest smile she can draw out of her.

"I… I'm sorry" I mumbled. She looked surprised, "I wanted to help you out too, but I'm useless when it comes to things like this. I don't know much about love." I'm blushing, I know. I can feel the heat on my cheeks. I stood up and pointed my finger to Lucy. "I know I'm not in the position to ask for this, but I order you that from now on you can talk to me about love or such!" I said in a commanding tone, giving her the famous titanian death glare, but I know Lucy didn't miss the hint of embarrassment on my voice.

She giggled and glared at me amusedly. "Hai! Erza-san."

"And Lucy," I looked down, trying to hide my flushed face. "You don't have to worry about the wedding dress. I'll go get it fixed fast." That was stiff.

Lucy was still giggling. She really enjoys seeing me in this extremely embarrassing state, huh? If she's not Lucy, I'll make sure I won't spare another second of her life on Earthland. "You don't have to worry about it Erza, don't threaten other people just to fix my wedding dress… I could just use my mom's gown, the last gift father sent me before he died. I just need to alter some parts a little and voila, very useful." She uttered cheerfully.

I certainly love this personality of Lucy, so unpredictable. Who would have thought a girl raised like a princess could just re-use somebody else's gown on the most memorable day in her lifetime? I nodded in agreement. "I'm afraid I can't help you with the alterations, but I'll help you in other ways I can."

And now, I won't let the rude eavesdropper to escape. I ordered my sword to cut the branch of tree where the intruder was. Did that intruder really think he will make it out alive after what he just heard? Mercy is not in my nature. How dare he?

A few branches fell off the tree along with a blue-haired mage. The intruder is not a 'he' but a 'she'? It was the water mage of Fairy Tail. "Eeeek." She yelped.

"Juvia?" I blinked at the sight of her. Why was she spying on us?

Lucy looked at the where I was gazing, she also seemed flabbergasted to see Juvia there.

Juvia immediately stood up, trying to be nonchalant. "E-erza?" She smiled nervously, then redirected her gape to Lucy and sent her a death glare. "Love rival? Juvia's not happy to see you."

Lucy shrugged and cackled timidly, "What are you doing there, Juvia?" she asked.

"Juvia don't need to explain herself to a love rival." The water mage retorted.

Lucy sighed. "I think I better get going, Erza." She said, standing up, she squeezed her shirt and her hair a little and started walking away. "I'll see you at the guild, I must go home to change. I'll get sick if I stay. You too, Juvia!" She waved her hand without looking back. She didn't wait for my response and just walked away. I find our situation awkward. Lucy's been avoiding Juvia, I know it was hard for her to avoid the latter, but she's still doing it. She is well aware that she had hurt Juvia, so she decided to interact with her all the less.

"Now, Juvia." I looked back to the blue haired girl, who was in the position to run away too. "Not so fast, lady." I quickly pulled myself in front of her. She's still wearing a fixed smile on her face.

"E-erza-san?" She managed to cry out. "The rain's not Juvia's doing…"

おわり