AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Next chapter will be the EPILOGUE
Normal POV
"Beautiful aren't they?..just like you Luce..." Natsu looked at the roses. He then handed it to his love. Lucy fell asleep after the afternoon's event. Natsu moved a little closer to her and leaned his head. "Nashe really wants to see you. She'll see you soon. I think it' time for her to know the truth..."he whispered right into her ear.
4:00 PM Acalypa...
Nashi dashed out of the car as she arrived at Acalypa. She asked the towns people of the said address she saw. Nashi was desperate to know. This was a major sign. This maybe where her mom is living at the moment.
"excuse me, but do you happen to know this address called LOVE AND LUCY?"
"No..I don't think so.." says woman. Then she asked the next.
"I haven't heard of that address before.." Nashi bowed then left to ask another person. She has been going around town asking for the address but to no avail. Nashi has no idea that the sun is setting soon. The time is 5:00 PM and she has a long drive to home.
Nashi sat on a bench in the park. She sighed knowing that her discovery may be another false hope. "does anyone not know where Love and Lucky is?" she asked herself. Nashi stared at the sky. It's starting to turn orange. "I don't even think that this is an address at all." She sighed. What a waste of time. Life makes you expect big things but only dropped when it never happens. A single dear slid down Nashi's eye.
"excuse me , but why are you crying?" asked a very beautiful young lady. She looked like a porcelain doll.
"huh?..oh..it's nothing."
"it doesn't sound like nothing if a girl cries. What's wrong?" Nashi don't know this woman but she feel as though she could help her.
"d..do you happen to know where this Love and Lucy address is..ma'am?"
"Love and Lucy?...do you mean the 'Love and Lucky' Bank in Acalypa?" Nashi wondered if she read it wrong?
"m..maybe that's it. Maybe that's where I'm actually going." She must have been stupid to pronounce LUCKY to LUCY. "where is it Miss?"
"it's just three blocks away from behind the Cathedral" she looked a little startled.
"oh..thank you so much ma'am! I have to go!" Nashi ran.
"wait!...there's something else I need to tell you!" the lady didn't get to tell her. Nashi had already ran a good distance out of hearing.
Nashi kept repeating in her mind 'THIS IS IT. THIS IS IT' over and over again. After running for about 30 minutes or so, she finally arrived outside of the Love and Lucky Bank. She didn't hesitate to go inside out of breath. The bank teller asked,
"uh..may I help you ma'am?" asked the kind bank teller.
"please...do..do you happen to have a female employee with the surname, HEARTFILIA?" Nashi asked out of breath.
"we do." It's like Nashi's world lit up from those two words. "but it's a man." And then that world crashed in just seconds.
"a..a..man?" the lady nodded.
"his name is Jude Heartfilia. But Sir Jude died years ago. He no longer works here. The bank always remembers him as he is always awarded as the 'best employee ever'." answered the lady.
"that's my grandfather."
"condolence.."
"thank you...but, Are you sure you don't have anyone else? Maybe his daughter?" Nashi tried to put some clues.
"his daughter? You mean Miss Lucy Heartfilia?"
"yes! Yes! Her!...do you know where my mom is?" Nashi kept on pushing. She was this close. The bank teller looked like she didn't want to say.
"you're Lucy's daughter?"
"yes!..Please I need to know..." the lady swallowed a lump in her throat.
"I..I know it's not my place to tell you...but...Lucy Heartfilia died 16 years ago."
And with that...Nashi froze on the spot. "I..I'm sorry for your loss..."
Nashi's POV
I walked away. I thanked the lady before walking out without a word. How? Didn't day wrote in the letters that mom was there?..during my childhood years...watching over me..for so long. So close..yet so far. I look like a zombie walking down the street. I couldn't find it in me to cry right now. I don't feel sad. More like, I'm furious. How could they lie to me? Everyone that has been there for me for 16 years, they all knew yet none of them told me. Uncle Zeref, I believe he knew about tit too. Has everyone been lying to me? What else are they lying about? Am I gonna find out soon that I'm adoptive? Huh?
My train of thoughts were interrupted when I bumped into someone. "I..I'm so sorry.."
"It's you again..." I looked up to see the lady from before.
"oh..hello..Miss...uhh..." I know my frown was visible. My made the lady frown too.
"call me Gonzales..."
"oh...Gonzales...hello. I'm Nashi..." Gonzales just smiled as if she already knew.
"come with me child..." she said.
"huh?..why?" the lady didn't tell me at all. She led the way. I know its wrong to follow a stranger but there was something about this that screamed 'GO'. So I followed her. My gut feeling better be right.
Later on...
We arrived at what seems to be a creepy looking gate. It's fence was black and stood around 6 feet tall. "where are we?" I asked the lady. She didn't respond. The both of us kept on walking until we arrived at the gateway of this large creepy fence. Gonzales stopped and turned to me.
"You'll find your mother here." She said. I was shocked. She knew about my mom?
"huh?..wait..I didn't tell you why I went to Love and Lucky." How did she know that my mom is the person I'm looking for.
"you don't have to tell me. I already knew why. And I already know who you are..." I was a loss for words. what do I say?
"you ran before I got to tell you the rest of my directions..." I kinda feel a bit embarassed. So this is what they say about listen to the instructions carefully. "when you told me about Love and LUCY, I assumed that the first option was that you were talking about the bank. You dashed off before I got to tell you about where the second option really leads to." Gonzales pushed opened the creepy gate. "Love and Lucy is the name of the private cemetery here."
"go in...you'll find her..." my heart was beating. I stepped one foot in and then the other. My body was fully inside the cemetery. Although , I couldn't quite say that it was a cemetery. I was expecting dry and wilted grass and flowers. What I'm seeing right now is flower heaven. This cemetery looks majestic.
"Gonzales..where is-.." I looked back to find Gonzales out of sight. She just vanished without a word. Okay, the moment turned creepy again. Never mind, I've gone this far. I ventured deeper into the garden. I have no idea where I am going. This garden looks like a maze. How far does this property go? While walking, I spotted what looked like a banner. It was hanging on the side of the bushes. I took a closer look of it and realized something.
"wait..this is...the Fairytail logo..." I know this logo all too well. It's the logo of dad's school and the guild crest of mom's manga. Looking around, I realized just now that this isn't just a garden, this was a garden filled with mom's personality. The landscape looks similar to the one in mom's manga. Where I am standing now is a strawberry lane. The Fairytail, Lucy Heartfilia, lives on Strawberry Street. That means, I'm heading on the right direction. I ran.
There goes the library. The concrete floor was tiled with books. Seriously? Books? I get that mom loves being a writer.
Now passing a water fountain that looks more like Cardia Cathedral. I'm close by!
Now passing a lane that now is covered with train tracks. "this must be the magnolia train station!" I headed for where the tracks ended.
I was faced with a little hill. The concrete stairway is going up. "Fairytail guild..is just up this hill..." i said out of breath. Damn all that running. I noticed that the sun is starting to set. Gotta keep moving forward.
Normal POV
Nashi got to the top. She was breathing heavily from all the running. "I thought I'd find you here." Nashi was startled. She turned to the side to see her Dad, Natsu, casually leaning against the tree.
"d..dad?..how did you-"
"I should be the one asking that after how my drawer was completely broken, Nashe.." Nashi didn't say anything else. She looked at the figure right in front of her. A beautiful angel sculpture was made as it hovered above a grave stone.
"M..mom..." Nashi walked like her legs had turned gelatin. Her feet were shaking from exhaustion. She looked like she was about to pass out which she did. Nashi fell forward. Her face was about to hit the floor but Natsu came in time and held her. He carried her daughter bridal style in front of Lucy's grave stone. Nashi touched the grave stone. Her emotions leaks out of her eyes as she cried for the painful truth.
"...w..why?..."
"I have a lot to explain. I hope that you can forgive me...later..." Natsu said as he touched her shoulder.
Natsu hopes that his plan doesn't backfire soon.
Normal POV
After Nashi calmed down a bit, Natsu sat next to her . "It was 16 years ago, After you were born Nashe." Natsu paused there. She gave Natsu a gesture to continue. "Luce just graduated flight school. To be honest, I forbid her to enter it in the first place. Especially when she had you inside her. What if she gets hurt? We would loose you. So Luce had to stop for a year until you are born.
The journey continued after her labor. Luce was able to graduate and pursue her dream. You and I wished her good luck on the ground while she flew high above the clouds. Your mom was the best female pilot out there. Every time she gets on the front seat, adventure kinda throws itself at her."
"Natsu, are you sure you don't want to get off? You're looking a little green..." Natsu didn't want to tell Lucy that the pills he is using wears off if he is exposed to intense motion. Knowing Luce, she will go all out when driving the plane. She insisted on letting Natsu fly with her. Natsu didn't want to let her down so he had to. At the end of the ride, let's say the place smelled like rotten eggs.
"those were some good times until...it happened..." Natsu recalled a horrible memory. Nashe listened intently to her dad. "Luce thought that it would be a good idea to visit her dad after Jude, your grampa, kicked her out of the Heartfilia estate. She wanted to know how its been and catch up with her best friends at home.
I gave your mom her own personal jet plane as a graduation gift. Let me tell you, it costs a lot but since your Uncle Zeref is an engineer, money was not a problem. Luce left that day. Everything was all smooth until an unexpected weather report blasted on the TV. A heavy storm was coming. It already passed the Heartfilia estate. Lucy was in a hurry so she didn't know what was coming."
The sound of lightning and thunder mixed together was ear piercing. Lucy feared as she couldn't get out of the storm. No one from the other line was answering her calls for help. "ahhhh!" the lighting had just hit her wing. The system was crashing. Sparks exploded everywhere as the circuit cut itself form the controls. Lucy couldn't handle it anymore. Her heart pounded in fear as the plane went down.
Nashi could only imagine the worst scenario in her life. The thought of her mother crushed by a tone of burning steal and her body burnt alive from the crash sight. Tears spilled down her eye. Natsu leaned over to Nashi and pulled her close to him.
"The news about Lucy's death struck me. I didn't hesitate to go to the crash isght. I didn't care if guards were pushing me away for my safety. I didn't care at all. I needed to see Lucy. But she was gone Nashe. Your mom was gone..forever." Natsu paused at his explanation.
"Dad, why did you forbid me to enter flight school?"
"I was scared Nashe. When you mentioned that career, my fear was mixed with anger. I was scared that if you knew about her, you would follow her footsteps and maybe possibly end up like her. I'll loose my wife..and my child. I couldn't have that." Nashe felt enraged.
"why?...why can't I find the truth online? Google knows everything yet it wouldn't let me find mom's accident!" Nashe started thrashing around.
"that's because I paid them. I paid them to take down any news or article relating to Luce's death. I paid them to hide the truth. In addition to that, Luce and I never got married. We were engaged but not yet married. We even had you before the actual wedding. It was an advantage. Not too many people know if my relationship with Luce. So I had to write her name off as HEARTFILIA than DRAGNEEL. "
"for what reason?!...did you go that far so I can never find out the truth?...what did you think?...that I couldn't handle the pain?...No! you were only thinking about yourself. I can handle whatever truth you throw at me. Why can't you be a normal parent and tell your kid 'hey your mom is dead. She dided in a plane crash. But that's okay Nashe, Mommy always loves you even when she's at heaven'....it would have been easier that way. But Noooooooooooooo you just had to complicate things huh dad?"
"I was stupid okay?.I was being an idiot...I was being selfish... I admit that what I did was wrong. But It had to be done. I didn't want you to feel heartbroken just like me."
"I'm already heartbroken from you, burning mom's stuff. Give me on good solid reason for doing what you did?!" the two were now fighting in front of the grave stone. Natsu bit his bottom lip. He has so many things to say to counter her words but couldn't spill it. He couldn't say anything else. Nothing, he was speechless.
"if you haven't done what you just did. We would have resolved this problem in other ways. But it's too late now dad. You've hurt me too much to trust you again." Nashe just kept on crying.
"Nashe..." Natsu took a step close but nashe stepped back.
"Please...give me time...I..I'm too tired for this...it's too much..." Nashe looked so vulnerable. The stress was eating her. She was tired from everything. All Natsu could do now was nod. He walked away from her. As he descended down the stairs, he took one more glance at Nashe. She was now kneeling in front of the tombstone and hugging it like her life depended on it.
Out of everything Natsu had said and done, one thought came to his mind. HIS PLAN DIDN'T GO AS PLANNED. He knew Nashi would react this way but didn't consider the danger. Now he was left facing a big problem.
Winning Nashi's trust back.
