Snij: I know it's not much but here's the seventh chapter, that I forgot to update. I'm very sorry for forgetting such an important part of the plot!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters.
Chapter 7
Lucy woke up the next morning with the smell of freshly made breakfast. She quickly switched out of her pyjamas and to her normals clothes and got out of her tent. She was still a little tired for she didn't sleep very well the night before. She had been to preoccupied about her keys and had woken several times during the night with nightmares. Most of them were about her never seeing her beloved spirits again or them being killed.
Sitting by the fire was Hibiki. He was finishing making breakfast, from what she could tell he had made some scrambled eggs. It wasn't her favourite but it was eatable, besides, she wasn't very picky and as long as he didn't make broccoli she would eat.
The brown haired male turned to her, he was taken aback by how beautiful she was in the morning. Her blonde hair framed her face and made it look angelic. Her big brown eyes looked at him sleepily and her big black eyelashes made her look even more pretty. He was falling for her, hard.
"Good morning, Lucy. Would you like some breakfast?"
"Yes, please. You don't happen to have any coffee do you?"
"No, sorry. But after eating we could go to the closest town and have some."
"Okay." She agreed in a small tone. She had wanted to ask how the hell was he so awake at this godly hour but had decided not to. It would seem rude and she refused to be rude with anyone.
Accepting the plate of scrambled eggs, that Hibiki prepared for her, Lucy started eating. In her opinion he was a good cook, it was really tasty and Lucy even surprised herself by asking for seconds.
After the duo finished their breakfast, they packed their stuff and started walking towards the nearest town. It was only a few minutes away and they reached it faster than they thought they would.
It was a typical regional town. With houses made of wood, which were painted in a beautiful way. Each one had their own design and in the midst of all of them, Lucy spotted one that she loved right away. It was really cute, made of dark wood with drawings of the zodiac all over it in light pink. It made it look really pretty and Lucy started walking towards it to be able to see it up closer.
Half way to the house the blonde woman tripped and fell face first into the stone pavement.
"Itai..."
Lucy sat herself on the floor and covered her bruised nose with her hand. She felt a liquid stream through her fingers. Lucy looked at her hand only to confirm what she already knew. She was bleeding from the nose.
She then felt a presence in front of her and when she directed her eyes up, she found a cute blue handkerchief in front of her face. The blonde looked at the source of the hand that was holding the small cloth and was surprised to find a little girl with white hair. She was reminded of the Strauss sisters. The only difference in the colouring were the eyes. While Mira and Lisanna had dark blue eyes this cute little girl had the most milky white eyes she had ever seen.
Lucy was brought back to a time when she was little and her father had introduced her to an old man. She had been too little so she couldn't remember him well. All she remembered was his white unfocused eyes, that she later had found couldn't see anything. On contrary to those soulless unseeing white eyes, the girl's eyes weren't unfocused, he weren't soulless and she could with confidence bet that they weren't unseeing. They were beautiful and Lucy felt as if they could she right through her, she felt like they knew everything.
Taking the handkerchief from the girl's hand, Lucy could only stammer a "Thanks" in response to the white haired girl's compassion.
While cleaning the blood out of her nose Lucy saw Hibiki running in her direction with a concerned expression on his face. Who could blame him?, the blonde girl after having glimpsed at the artistic house had ran as fast as she could without warning him. He had been caught by surprise and as Lucy was faster he had lost track of her. When finally he had found her she was on the ground with a bloodied nose. She was hurt and he felt bad for not being there to protect her. How could he become her knight in a shinning armour if he couldn't even protect her from such a simple thing as this?
Hibiki crouched himself next to the two females and took Lucy's hand in his own. He handled her with such care and warmth that the blonde felt her cheeks heat up.
"Lucy are you okay?" The young man asked the bloodied blonde while he pulled her to her feet.
"Yeah, thanks" Lucy dusted her skirt with her hands and looked at the young girl once more. She was still crouched on the floor and was looking intensely at Hibiki. Lucy tried to see by her face what he was thinking about and the blonde could see that the white haired girl, was somewhat angry at the young man. The blonde had absolutely no idea why.
"You bring fog with you. Disaster will fall upon the person you love most if you let her trust the one you don't trust yourself."
The girl's voice ran cold through them. The way she spoke made Lucy take a step back. The white haired girl went from a cute considerate little girl that wanted to help the blonde, to someone that was most likely to be a psychopath, and it made both of them very nervous.
"Wha-what?" Hibiki stammered, a little freaked out. If anyone else had said that to him he would have laughed in their faces, however, this girl said it with such conviction, such hate and anger, that Hibiki was beginning to get very scared. Not for his life but for another's. He had already realise who was is most loved one. Even if he hasn't known her since long, the brown haired boy was convinced it was her, and the fact that he didn't have any family made it even clearer. He just hoped that the little girl was wrong and that Lucy would never get really hurt. Both emotionally and physically.
The white haired girl was gone. She had just disappeared, like smoke, she dissipated. Both young adults were taken aback. Lucy even had, just for a moment, the silly idea that the white haired little girl was a ghost. However, one look at the small handkerchief in her hand proved the speculation wrong. If the kid really was a ghost then the small baby blue cloth wouldn't be real, and she definitely wouldn't be looking at a blood stain that was half dried.
"Well, that was interesting..." Hibiki drawled out. He was still a little anxious. He had the feeling that in any moment someone was going to jump him. He was very tense and alert, because this feelings he usually gets, normally come true at the worst time.
"Yeah. Lets get that coffee."
Lucy was surprised by the fact that Hibiki drank his coffee black. She had tasted it that way once, out of curiosity, when she was younger and she had hated it. It was really bitter and it made her want to puke. The blonde had a sweet tooth, she wasn't as fanatic for sweet things as Erza but she liked them biter that sour or bitter things. That is why, Lucy drank her coffee with lots of cream and sugar.
She had laughed at the young male's face when she had put the cream in it. It seemed he had a strong disgust for cream and thought it to have a strange taste and constituency. Lucy was kind of happy to have learned something new about him. It made her feel closer to him and for some reason she had wanted to smile and hug him.
Her affection for her travelling companion had been growing steadily and she couldn't believe that she had began to have that kind of feelings for that playboy. Sure he was handsome and kind, but he flirted with any girl!
If she were to date, she wanted someone who had eyes only for her, someone who made her feel like a princess, someone who loved her not only for her looks but for herself.
"Lucy, Lucy!"
"Hu? Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I was lost in my thoughts. What were you saying?"
"I asked you if you wanted to start searching for your keys?"
her keys, well, that was another problem. When she remembered how easily those thugs had taken them from her, Lucy started thinking, that perhaps she didn't deserve to have such good friends. They were so important to her, yet she couldn't even protect their keys from people who couldn't even do magic. She felt like shit.
One of the decisions she had made about her spirits was that she would give them up if they wished it so. After what had happened she wasn't sure if they still wanted to fight besides her. She was too immature and irresponsible to uphold their reputation of befriending only the best of the best spirit mages.
But, hell, if she wouldn't try to find them. She would go to the end of the world looking for them, as they would for her.
With that final thought Lucy looked into Hibiki's eyes with the fiercest and most determined look he had ever seen from her and said with as much strength as she could:
"Of course!"
They had been searching for a hole day now and the sun was beginning to set. Lucy was becoming desperate. No matter how many bars and establishments they searched, they couldn't find nor the thugs that took her keys nor the keys themselves. The only clue they had was one they had found out in the local magic shop. The store owner had informed them that a group of men had tried to sell him some spirits keys. However the man, clearly noticing that they were stolen and not wanting to get into trouble, declined the offer.
That meant that the group of men wanted to sell her friends. It made their search a little bit easier, they just had to search places most probable of being sold magical items, unfortunatly after that they couldn't find a trace of them.
"Lucy, how about we stop for today and look for them again tomorrow?"
"NO! We have to find them! What if those fuckers go to another town?"
Hibiki taken aback by the sudden outburst and the fact that Lucy swore, took a moment to recompose himself.
"Lucy, it's almost night and we won't be able to look for them without light."
"Bu-but..."
Suddenly, a blinding golden light that momentarily blinded them came from a nearby alley. Recognizing the light the duo ran towards it.
It was too good to be true. Lucy started crying in relief while running. She couldn't thank the spirit gods enough, for if this was their work they deserved a parade. Not that Lucy would organize one. Even if she wanted, she didn't have the money or the resources to do it.
Lucy's shoes made a tapping sound on the street's pavement. She was so close to the alley that she could practically smell the magic in the air. The blonde skidded to a halt in front of the now dark alley, Hibiki right behind her.
There, on the dirty floor, were her best friends, her precious keys, surrounded by the unconscious thugs that had took them.
The young blonde's eyes never stopped leaking tears as she neared the shinning objects. Crouching down next to her beautifully crafted keys, Lucy noticed a note laying forgotten next to them. As she read it, The gorgeous blonde started laughing lightly.
It was a strange sight, a blonde beauty crouched down in a dirty alley, surrounded by knocked out suspicious looking men, holding some keys to her bust, reading a small piece of paper while at the same time laughing and crying. It made Hibiki grin.
As long as Lucy was happy, so was Hibiki.
Dear princess,
I'm sorry for not being there when needed. I hope you'll forgive me.
Don't worry about letting us be taken. None of your spirits are angry with you, well, maybe except Aquarius that was complaining about you not being responsible, but you know that she doesn't really mean it. She's just grumpy.
Remember, we all love you and willingly accept you as our summoner. Don't ever doubt that.
Love, Loki.
Snij: Hope you liked it and if you're in the mood, review!
