Chapter 7

...

Er... Sorry about the delay between uploads. I believe it's been nearly... A year... oops.
Enjoy! The next chapter shouldn't take quite as long...

...

The sunlight crept in through the window, but Lucy did not stir. It had been very late when she had finally fallen asleep, and she was to tired to wake.
The door burst open suddenly, rudely snapping Lucy from her doze. She jumped and whipped her head towards the door.

"What the -"

"Geez, blondie, still asleep at this time? Get up, already!"

Lucy blinked in astonishment. Cobra had strode into the room and was glaring at her disapprovingly.

"Wha.. Cobra? Get out!"

"So you can laze around for another three hours? It's nearly midday, dammit!"

"Oh... well, still! You don't barge into someone's room! Is knocking so hard?"

"It's slow, and we've wasted enough time already."

Lucy sighed. "What do you want?"

"To fill you in. If this Hikaru's so sure this doll of his is in this village, he's probably right. We should find it first."

"How do think we could find it when Hikaru couldn't?" Lucy asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Cobra smirked. "I'm sure we'll come up with something, blondie."

"Are you still calling me that? I have a name!"

"Blondie's easier to remember."

Lucy gritted her teeth. This guy was really starting to get to her. Biting back a retort, she instead muttered grudgingly, "Fine. Whatever. I'm up now; get out so I can get changed."

Cobra shrugged. "Don't expect me to wait for you. When you're done preening, I'll be out actually doing the damn job." He said. He turned and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Lucy stared after him, then shook her head.

I am never working with this guy again. That's for sure.

...

As she dressed, Lucy thought about the pale man with the black sword.
Hikaru.. Hikaru... where have I heard that name before? And why did he look so familiar? She thought about his charm bracelets. They seemed to be quite useful, and if he thought enough of them to line his wrists with them, maybe they were more powerful than elder Makoto implied. They were good enough to hamper Cobra's sharp hearing, not an easy feat when you remembered he was once a member of an elite dark guild. Lucy resolved to learn more about them, maybe see about obtaining a few herself.
She smiled in relief when she considered that she may be able to get her hands on something that could stop Cobra from listening to her every thought.

...

When she left the house, she glanced around the streets. Like the day before, they were mostly bare, and the few people who ambled around kept their heads bowed and eyes downcast. Lucy shivered. The misery of this place was overwhelming. Keeping her own head high, Lucy forced her face into a cheerful smile as she headed down the road.
After a while, still unsure of Cobra's whereabouts, Lucy passed a small, old building with a wooden sign hanging over the door. It was made of mostly wood with gold engravings that read, 'Magic Shop'.
Intrigued, Lucy opened the door and headed in side. The loud creaking the door made when it moved caused Lucy to wince. As she stepped inside, the soft tingle of a bell sounded above her, and she let the door slowly drift shut again.
At the far side of the room there was a simple counter in front of a cream coloured curtain that led to a separate room. Around her, the shelves were lined with small yet flashy trinkets that Lucy recognised as typical rip-offs of real magic. Many of these items would be found in your average tourist shop, designed to stir the curiosity (and coin purses) of non magicians. Unlike most other magic shops, however, here there were also stacks and stacks of the little charm bracelets. Each one hung a pendant off a little gold or silver chain, with a different coloured lacrima in the middle. Some were blue, magenta, red, white… in fact a whole rainbow of colours lay out in front of Lucy.

As she examined them, she heard a shuffling behind her. Turning, she saw a man emerge from behind the curtain and gaze suspiciously at her. Fairly good looking and muscular, Lucy judged he was about thirty. Lucy began to smile in greeting, but froze when she realised that the man held a crossbow in his hands, and it was pointed at her.

"Wha- Hey!" She dropped the bracelets she had been examining and backed away in alarm as they clatter onto the floor. "What the hell is that for?"

The man regarded her silently for a moment, then lowered the crossbow and set it down on the table. "You don't seem like one of them. I'm sorry, but we don't get many customers and we've had our fair share of break ins over the last few months. You can't be too careful."

Lucy glared at him. "Try not scaring your customers half to death, you might find it helps your sales." She muttered angrily as she leant down and retrieved the fallen bracelets.

His mouth twitched up into a half smile. Folding his arms, he leaned against the desk. "What can I help you with?"

Lucy held up one of the bracelets. "I'm new in town. Can you tell me more about these?"

The shop owner nodded. "Of course. Each one has a lacrima and an inscription, giving it a certain magical property. What it is depends on the inscription, and the strength depends on the lacrima. Usually they're very weak, as we don't have many impressive lacrima around here."

"Who makes them?" Lucy asked.

At this question, the man's face darkened. "Until recently, my younger sister."

Lucy glanced up sharply. "Oh. I'm sorry. Um, is she...?"

The man shook his head. "Not dead. Left to join that Hikaru bastard. She makes the charm bracelets for him now." He said sadly.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did she leave?"

"Well, she's the only one in our village beside Ery who can use magic. Hikaru promised to teach her, give her a place in his new dark guild. It was an offer she couldn't resist."

"Wait - Ery can use magic?"

"Oh, yes. Not terribly well, but she has an affinity for it that's unusual in our little village, and she comes in here quite often. She's the only one who does, really." He shrugged. "Anyway, is there anything else?"

Lucy shook her head slowly, sifting through the information she had just been told. Ery was a wizard? That was interesting. And unexpected. She was so shy, and seemed to fold in on herself whenever you looked at her. It was as if she was frightened of taking up too much space, an incredibly unusual trait in a mage. If Ery had seen fit to hide her magic talent from them, what else was there Ery did not want them to know?

Lucy gave the shopkeeper a short bow. "Thank you very much. I should go now."

He frowned slightly. "Are you sure? Don't want to buy anything?"

"Well…" Lucy's eyes scanned the rows of flashing bracelets. She had some money with her that she could spare. "Yeah, okay. Makoto mentioned one of these things could stop, er, mind reading?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, before moving over to the shelves and glancing between the separate stacks of glittering bracelets. "Mind reading, eh? That's a very… specific request. Had trouble with that stuff in the past, have you?"

"You could say that." Lucy replied, hoping Cobra wasn't nearby. "You know, you really could make a fortune with these things. Over in the cities, they could be a hit." She suggested, handing over a few coins.

The man smiled, but shook his head. "Thank you for saying so, but no. I don't mind selling to those who pass through, but these charms have long been a tradition of Auryon village alone. It… wouldn't feel right to mass produce them and send them out all over."

Lucy smiled in return, not fully understanding but knowing better than to press the issue. She took the offered bracelet, A seemingly flimsy gold chain that held a royal blue pendant. As Lucy watched, she noticed a spiral of glowing lights that pulsated and weaved through each other. A lacrima.

"Thank you very much." Lucy offered, slipping the bracelet onto her wrist. She wondered briefly how Cobra might react. Would he not care? Be glad for it, even? Or might he be angry?

Lucy shrugged to herself. It didn't matter what he thought of it. As long as they could work together long enough to finish the job, that's all that mattered.