Hello again~ So, the mystery person will be revealed in this chapter!

The Sun Always Sets, Even in Paradise

Chapter 9: Can We Keep Her?


Lucy's POV

It hurt. My body. My heart. My soul. Only to be temporarily healed with the loyalty and kindness of my friends then wounded once more by someone I care about. It's always been like that.

Slowly, my sense of feeling started to come back. Rather than feeling sore, as expected, I felt my head pounding. Either my head grew too small or my brain grew too big. Anyway, it felt like a hangover, a really bad one a that. Not to mention, I have the feeling like my soul was just stabbed several times in a very slow manner rather than the sharp quick pains I used to have. I took a deep breath, hoping that it would clear away the pain I was feeling in my soul. I groggily open an eye. Of course everything was blurry but everything soon started to focus. I could see Levy, Ji, and a mysterious person all surrounding me. Her skin and her slightly messy hair were white as snow and she had the bluest eyes I have ever seen. And… are those round cat ears?! Not only that, but she was wearing black clothes which almost looks like uniform with a small black hat to complete it. I slowly sat up in confusion.

"Who are you?" I tried to ask normally, but it ended up slurred.

The mystery person gave me blank expression, which gave me no way to tell her emotion but she answered calmly. "My name is Starlight."

Then Ji butted in. "Yeah! She totally saved me from being stabbed." She added but then she puffed her cheeks. "But I could totally have handled it by myself."

"Chijitsuna, you know that isn't true and you shouldn't be jumping into people's conversation." Starlight says keeping the calmness in her voice but still being assertive.

"Can we keep her Lucy-sensei?" Ji pleaded shaking my arm. "Pretty pleeeeaasssee?" Now she's just starting to sound like a little kid.

I gave her a 'seriously' look. "You can't keep people Ji. Even you should know that."

"But she can transform into a tiny walking kitty~"

"I'm a tiger. A white Siberian tiger." The albino corrected.

I turned to Levy who hasn't spoken yet.

"She can transform." I asked but instead I said it more like a statement

"Yup." She confirmed

"From a tiny tiger to a human."

"Uh-huh. She reminds you of Happy, Carla, and Lily doesn't she?"

"However, I'm not an exceed. At least, not completely, I believe I'm half exceed seeing that I have most of the characteristics, I don't have wings." Starlight informs. "However, many people mistake me as one though."

I nodded slowly, recalling all the good times I had. But then, Ji just had to ruin it.

"Soooo~ Can we keep her?" She asked sticking her face into my field of vision.

I huffed, annoyed that Ji keeps asking me this question. "She can come with us if she'd like but we can't force her to."

Then she turned to Starlight, probably giving her a puppy face. Starlight sighs, her facial expression still hasn't changed, and placed a hand on Ji's head. "I guess I don't mind coming with all of you. The way you all stick together as friends no matter what deeply impresses me."

Ji cheers and then proceeds to hug Starlight and turn her head towards me. "She's never had a friend before! Can you believe it?"

Starlight sighs once more and places Ji down. "I told you already Chujitsuna, it's because I lived up north. It's cold, constantly snowing, and is usually dark and quiet. It is extremely difficult to find a friend, much less make one. In that environment it's basically every man for himself."

I was going to another question until I realized that one, Levy was gone and two, we're not in that strange valley anymore.

"Where are we and where did Levy go?"

"She left to get you some food and we're in another village near the valley. We didn't backtrack if that's what you're thinking." Ji said, finally lowering her voice to an acceptable level. "When you passed out, we carried you and traveled all night to this village."

"Oh. Thank you, I really appreciate that." I felt touched. Even though they are my friends and it would have been expected that they would've taken me no matter what condition I'm in, I couldn't help but feel warm for once in a long time. Speaking of time, what is today?

"Hey how long was I out?" I blurted out.

"About a 2 weeks. You used up nearly all your magic energy." Ji said casually says resting her head on her hand.

"So, if it took us 8 days to get to the valley and I was out for weeks… We've been gone for nearly a month!" I put my hands on my head. It wasn't really much of an accomplishment but I couldn't help but feel surprised. Time went by so fast.

Levy kicked open the door. She was holding about four or five plastic bags full of food. "Good news guys." She said cheerfully but I can tell it was far from that. "We're halfway there to the mountain. The other half, we have to travel by boat. That's a good thing because that will probably slow Fairy Tail down, considering they have two dragon slayers with motion sickness. As she set the food down she directed her attention to Starlight who transformed into her smaller form. She really did look like a tiger with white fur, not that I doubted her, but she had a symbol of a star on her forehead. "No wonder she's called Starlight." I thought to myself.

"Starlight do you want some food." Levy asks after she placed all the food down. Then she sweat dropped. "I still feel bad for accepting that you weren't hungry last night."

The albino shook her head. "I'm still not hungry."

"Ack! Do you at least want to eat some of the sweets?"

Starlight paused for a moment eyeing the small box Levy was holding and nodded. "I guess…"

This certainly got Ji's attention. "Wha! How come I have to eat before getting dessert?"

"I can share some if you'd like but you have to finish eating." Starlight says as she receives the box from Levy.

And with that, we all started to eat. Well, all of us except Starlight. I guess she was trying to hold up to her promise she made with Ji but the box of sweets are really tempting her. I can tell by the way she keeps staring at the box like a hungry cat stares at a bowl of milk. Eventually, while we were in the middle of eating, Starlight opened the box and took one of the treats and took a bite of it.

"Hey you promised!" Ji whined and proceeded to eat even faster than before.

The albino didn't say anything. She just stared at the treat she bit into. "What is this?" Starlight asks, still staring at it.

"Umm… It's a sugar cookie." Levy said warily, not knowing what may happen next.

"This. Is. Amazing!" She held up the cookie. I swore I saw a bright light shine on it but that was probably just me.

"Aha!" Ji suddenly stands up and points at Starlight. "I finished my food so you have to share." She declares reaching for a cookie but Starlight moves the box out of range.

"Not until you've walked three laps around the village." She said.

I noticed Ji get pale after that as if she saw something horrifying. "What do you mean?! You said after I finish my food."

"Yes. But now I say you have to walk three laps then you can have the cookies." Starlight says, taking another bite of the cookie.

Ji pouted but seeing that it wasn't going to get her anywhere, she sprinted out the door to complete her three laps.

"So." Starlight says, as she pulls out another cookie from the box. "When do we plan on leaving?"

We were all silent for a moment but then Levy answered. "Once Lu-chan has enough strength, then we can go."


Author's Note:

Well, I introduced our newest character. I don't think I really explained her personality that much as I hoped. Basically, the best way to describe Starlight is that she is a dandere. She also doesn't show her emotion that much so people she knows usually see her with a blank expression (that maybe explained in another fanfiction if I decide to use her in more often in my stories). Also, Starlight is very polite when it comes to people she doesn't know but when she eventually gets to know them, she will talk more casually but usually, she tends to be very distant. That's probably going to be my last new character I'm adding. Now they're almost to their destination, just halfway. Can Fairy Tail get there in time?

Review, favorite, follow

Sparrow-senpai out~