Chapter 9
Decided to post a little early, because I'm going to be watching a movie with my dad and lil' bro. Hope you enjoy!
So, a two-chapters-long Earth-visit, there'll probably be more of those in the future. Possibly.
And if you remember, she'll talk to Kozo Shirogane this chapter! Wonder if we'll get some of our questions answered?
I apologize for any grammar errors that I have made! Read & Review!
Disclaimer: Should I start using their actual names? Is 'Abra' and 'Slowpoke' not funny or just plain childishly geeky? 'Cause if so, tell me, no matter what names those two masterminds have, I still won't own either of their stories T^T
Earth~
It had taken only a little time to put everything up to where they were supposed to be, according to Lucy's memory anyway. So in the end she was left standing in the middle in the lone gym, just looking around at her work and not sure what to do with herself.
With the memory of what she had done the other day when she woke up alone in the gym playing in her mind, she went to the balls she'd pulled out and grabbed one, starting to play it around in her hands again.
Just like last, it was easy to feel how much air was within the rubber ball, it still flew through the air as easily as before. She tried doing the 'dribble' thing Nijimura had taught her last and in no time she dribbled as if she'd never stopped. Even the crossover wasn't too difficult to get under control.
Since she had the ball under control, she figured she might as well take it one level up. Slowly, while dribbling the ball in her right hand, she began moving forward as she kept dribbling. She didn't know exactly how much she could do, or how she would go about teaching herself if she ended up with extra time like this, but she remembered she'd seen the guys running around with it when warming up, and aimed for at least that level of control.
While feeling ridiculous, walking around on the court, dribbling the ball all alone, she quickly got the ball under enough control, she was confident she could progress to the other hand. And so, she did. Changing to her left, she started out with encountering some difficulty, but with just a little more time, she got that ball under good control too. And even as she changed to the crossover, it didn't take too long to figure out either.
She smiled a little. It wasn't so hard after all! She had thought it had been one of those kind of things other people would make look easy, while it actually was very difficult. But, as it had turned out, it really wasn't.
But she wasn't in the safe zone yet, she still hadn't even tried to score in the net yet. That, if nothing else, she knew was harder than it looked, if the 3rd string's misses were anything to go by. They didn't score all the time, like the 1st string did. That only went to show the giant gap between the two teams, as well as the fact that the 1st string made everything about basketball look easy.
She picked the ball up and was about to go for the net, when a certain loud voice cut through the silent gym. "Oi, Lucy! What'cha doin'?" It asked.
For a second, she was stunned at how similar it sounded to the Fire Dragon Slayer's, but smiled when she saw it was just Aomine. "Oh, hi Aomine." She greeted, seeing he was the only one who had arrived. "I was just trying my luck with basketball." She told him with a smile.
The younger boy's face lit up into a bright smile, not unlike the one Natsu flashed her often, as she finished that sentence. "Really?" He asked for confirmation, to which she replied with a single nod. Somehow, defying all reason, he smiled even wider. "How's your aim?" He asked her excitedly.
Lucy tilted her head in confusion at the blue-haired player's question. "My aim? With what?" She asked, not having caught what he meant.
He just continued smiling. "Can you throw the ball in the net?" He asked, elaborating on his previous question.
Now Lucy's face lit up, but with realization. "Oh, that's what you meant." She said, mostly to herself. Then she shook her head lightly with a smile. "I doubt it, I haven't even tried yet." She then told him.
Aomine shook his head. "Don't say you can't if you haven't tried." He told her, for a moment sounding much more mature than he actually was. "I think you can do it. Give it a try!" He encouraged her.
Lucy giggled at him, feeling glad with his trust in her nonexistent abilities. "Okay, I'll try, but don't laugh if I miss miserably!" She told him.
He shook his head quickly. "I won't! I promise!" He promised her seriously. He was taking it much more serious than she had intended for it to be. But it was cute, so she didn't want to say anything.
On the other hand, she doubted she could not laugh herself if she failed as miserably as she thought she would, so even if Aomine did laugh, she doubted she'd really mind it.
She held on to the ball a little tighter, before loosening her grip a little again. While she didn't know anything about the game, she could imagine she wasn't supposed to hold the ball in a vice-grip. She stood in the little circle in front of the net, the free-throw line, if she remembered correctly. With little hesitation, she threw the ball at the net, hoping for it to actually go through it too.
Unfortunately, she hit the backboard, a little ways above the actual net, and it flew right back. It sailed past her as fast as a bullet and towards the boy standing behind her. She barely had time to even turn around, before she for the second day in a row heard the sound of the ball hitting human skin.
"Aomine!" She yelled, already worried about the boy and whether she had just knocked him down. Maybe she should just drop playing basketball around people. Or at all, really.
"Damn you throw hard, Lucy." Aomine breathed out. Just then, Lucy turned around to see the boy standing with the ball in his hands, right in front of his face. He grinned weakly at her. "I'm surprised there isn't any smoke." He joked, pulling the ball down a little.
The blonde breathed out in relief. "Thank god you have better reflexes than I do." She said in a half-jokingly manner. Although she really did mean it. She doubted she'd have caught that ball. "I'm so sorry, Aomine, I should be banned from ever touching a ball again." She admitted with a smile.
The boy shook his head. "Nah, it's all right, I caught it, didn't I?" He asked her, grinning widely. Right at that moment, he'd been happy he had started playing basketball in the streets, people there loved to intimidate others like that, so this wasn't the first time he had to catch a ball like that. Although it was a first from a girl. Especially with that kind of power. He looked at the net, holding the familiar ball in his hands. "It's easier if you aim for the little square right around the net, if you hit that, you're almost sure to score." He explained. He grinned at her. "You'll need to cut down on the power though." He said.
Lucy giggled. "Yeah, I figured that out." She said. She'd done that the last time she was there, trying to play basketball too. It was probably going to become a habit of hers, she had no doubt about it.
Aomine threw her the ball, throwing it in a soft curve, so he was sure she'd catch it. "What'a'ya say we try again?" He suggested, curious to see what she'd do this time. He doubted she'd actually score with what she'd been doing before.
She smiled and nodded. "All right, but stay on the ready to catch stray balls!" She said with a wink. The boy nodded with a grin as she turned to the net. Okay, now to hit within the little scare on the backboard. She grabbed the ball and lifted it a little up, before releasing the ball in a sort of push. The orange rubber ball flew through the air, before hitting the backboard and scoring cleanly. Lucy's eyes widened and she squealed in joy as she turned to the boy, who was looking at the net, then the ball and at last at her, when she jumped into the air and caught him in a tight squeeze. "I did it!" She squealed in a high pitch, it was almost as if she'd achieved something impossible.
And in some ways, she kind of had. While she squeezed the life out of him, he was caught in surprise at her score. He'd thought the captain had been lying when he said she seemed to have a natural talent for the game, even though she could do absolutely nothing without a little guidance. And that had only been promoted when he saw her miss the net with so much power, which was usually a sure-shot that someone just didn't possess the abilities necessary to play the game, at least not without extended training. But that girl sure as hell proved him wrong. How was that even possible? Maybe it was just a lucky shot.
He shook his head and grinned, pushing the topic away. Lucy was a weird one anyway, it wasn't so weird she could do things like that after all. "Yeah, it's amazing!" He managed to breathe out as she tightened her hold around him pure joy.
Lucy, hearing the boy's wheezing after air, quickly released him, remembering how it was like for her to experience that treatment from her red-haired best friend did it to her. Although, something good had come out of that, but this wasn't exactly the same kind of circumstances.
The boy shrunk down a little, holding a hand over his stomach as he breathed in. Lucy leant down and began stroking his back, hoping it'd somehow help. "I'm so sorry, Aomine. I don't think I should be around people today." She said with a laugh at the end.
Aomine laughed. "Don't worry, I've had worse than this." He told her. Training at Teiko could be tough, but the training he'd suffered when playing street basket was much worse. He looked up at the blonde. "Although you pack quite a punch, Lucy." He said with a grin.
Lucy scratched the back of her head and laughed. "Well…" She said. She might have an idea where she'd gotten this 'strength' from, and it was definitely Fairy Tail and all the crazy missions she'd gone on, but she couldn't explain that to Aomine, he would definitely not believe her. And he'd think she was crazy.
Their conversation was cut off when the rest of the basketball team, more or less, appeared in the door and stopped up when they saw the gym was all ready for them to begin playing. "Wha…?" Momoi asked, looking around at what she had expected she was supposed to do while the boys went changing. She noticed the two people in the middle of the court, looking at the team, and beamed as she began running towards one of them with her arms out. "Lucy-chan!" She squealed and - once again - tackled the blonde in a hug.
Said blonde giggled, although hurting her butt a little, and leaned back with the pinkette's arms around her neck. "Well, hi again, Momoi-chan." She replied, not even thinking when she added the suffix. She looked up at the rest of them and waved at them. "And you guys too."
The rest of the first years - except Haizaki - and the captain approached the two on the floor and Aomine. "Will this become a thing for you two?" Said captain asked.
He was ignored in favor of Aomine's question. "Now I remember, Lucy, what were you doing back at the cafeteria?" He asked, while the others nodded, firstly for finally remembering again but also because they were quite curios to know the answer.
Lucy nodded and smiled. "Oh, right, I promised to tell you guys, didn't I?" She asked rhetorically. The others nodded and she raised a finger in the air. "It's simple, really." She said, pausing to build up the suspense. "I fell asleep on one of the tables." She said.
Those who stood fell back with their feet pointing up in the air, while Momoi sweat dropped. "What?" She asked the weird blonde, hoping for some kind of explanation.
Lucy giggled, figuring that was the reaction she'd get. "Yeah, so the cafeteria lady, Mary, woke me up, and because of my bad conscience, I decided to help them out. Might be doing that in the future too…" She said thoughtfully.
Akashi raised an eyebrow at the girl. "And… That's it?" He asked her, having thought there was some deeper meaning with it all. Maybe he was wrong.
Lucy nodded. "Yep, that's it!" She said with a bright smile. "That means I'll be able to see you guys even in school!" She said happily, while Momoi got off her lap and helped her up.
While the guys had no way to respond to that, the pinkette smiled brightly. "Awesome! That'll make school bearable!" She said excitedly.
Aomine looked thoughtful, standing next to both of them. "True… It would." He said, grinning at the end. "Maybe my absence won't be so high this year." He commented.
Momoi whipped in her childhood friend's direction and slapped his arm quite hard, the way only a girl could do. "It better be!" She demanded.
The redhead's eyes landed on the blonde's exposed arms and legs and noticed something noteworthy. "You seem to have healed from your injuries, Lucy." He said, making Midorima, who was standing next to him, push his glasses up as he noticed what Akashi had.
Lucy looked at her arms and back at Akashi and Midorima with a smile. "Seems I have." She agreed. That was unreal healing, even for her world, surely these guys were suspecting her. Or…. What? "I guess I'm just a fast healer." She said, trying to play the topic off. If ever possible.
The green-haired boy nodded, but didn't say anything. He knew for a fact that Akashi was thinking the same as he was. He didn't know what to make of it or what it meant, but if Lucy had actually healed and not just covered her injuries with makeup, it was far from natural. Even if she had quicker healing than normal people, healing from burns like the ones she'd had in just a few days was too much. But he was sure Lucy just chose to hide them with makeup, as so many other girls chose to do.
No one could say anything else as the coach entered the building. "What are you dopes doing slacking off like this? Go change and run laps for warmup!" He ordered them, making them all scuffle to the changing rooms, leaving the two girl behind giggling at their misfortune. "And does anyone know about Haizaki's whereabouts?!" The coach asked, having not seen the white mop of hair. The whole team shook their heads before disappearing.
The coach turned to the two girls, his eyes settling on the older one of them. He wasn't stupid, he'd already noticed the encouragement and the way her presence simply spurred the boys on to do better and train harder, especially those who had been standing there at the middle of the court. Whether it was simply because she was a girl or because she meant something to all of them already, he didn't know, but he was grateful.
He began walking towards the two girls, effectively drawing their attention from their conversation. "I take it you two were the ones to put all this up?" He asked them, already knowing the answer to his own question.
Momoi smiled and shook her head. "No, no, I didn't have anything do with all this, Lucy did it by herself!" She quickly told the coach, pointing at the blonde, who was feeling a little embarrassed with the attention she knew she'd get from the pinkette's words.
And as she had expected and he had not, the coach looked at the blonde in surprise. "Oh, so you did all this?" He asked her, to which she nodded embarrassedly. The coach gave her a little smile. "Thank you, Lucy, was it?" He asked.
Lucy nodded again. "Lucy Heartfilia, yeah." She confirmed for him.
The man extended his hand towards the girl. "I don't believe we have been formally introduced yet." He commented. He'd only gotten any information about her through what the team had said in the changing rooms, other than that, he knew absolutely nothing about the girl. "I am the coach of the 1st string basketball team, Naoto Sanada. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He told her.
The blonde smiled brightly at him as she took his hand and shook it. "You too!" She said. "I hope you don't mind me watching the training, Sanada-san?" She asked, having quickly figured out they didn't start out with first names, as they did in Fiore, as long as you weren't an aristocrat anyway.
The brown-haired coach shook his head. "No, not at all." Quite on the contrary, he preferred it if she showed up every single time, since she seemed to raise the guys' spirits and through that, they'd become stronger. It was already a very strong team, the one they had this year, and especially the first years showed a lot of promise, and if the presence of a single girl could help them unlock that potential, he didn't care even if she was old and wrinkly.
Lucy smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Sanada-san!" She thanked him, bowing lightly. "I really appreciate it." She thanked him. She hadn't even thought of asking for permission before right then, but now she knew she was allowed to.
Sanada smiled a little smile back. "It's nothing, Lucy." He said honestly. Rather, it was a win-win situation for both sides.
Their conversation was halted when the whole team emerged from the changing rooms, all dressed in their training clothes and ready to begin. While the blonde and the pinkette quickly made their way to the benches, just for the sake of variation, as the boys began running laps first without, then with the ball.
Momoi turned to her blonde senpai sitting next to her. "Wanna help me taking notes on their training today?" She asked her.
Lucy nodded and smiled. "Sure, I'd love to!" She said. That way, she would probably learn basketball even more thoroughly and so that she would remember it.
An hour later~
Sanada blew in the whistle, letting its uncomfortably high-pitched sound, stopping any and all motion on the court. "Clean the court and take a bath! Training's over for the day!" He announced, setting them all into motion again. Still with no mop of white hair anywhere in sight.
While they weren't as fast as the 3rd string, they weren't slow either. Almost as if going on autopilot, all the players systematically set something on their places in the tool-room and putting the balls where they belonged in a metal cage with wheels, so Nijimura rolled it into the tool-room at the end.
Momoi turned to Lucy with a smile. "Thank you for your help today, Lucy-chan!" She thanked the girl. Although the girl hadn't been helping much, Momoi had been having fun talking with her. Besides, Momoi could already feel how Lucy had gotten better in just the short duration of the training. There was no telling when the older girl would surpass her. It seemed the blonde was just good at everything.
Lucy smiled and shook her head. "I didn't do anything, you did all the work." She laughed. "But it was nice talking with you though, Momoi-chan." She told her.
The pinkette smiled right back at the blonde, a slight blush evident on her cheeks. "Actually, Lucy-chan, won't you use my first name?" She asked of the older girl. She'd been using Lucy's first name for some time now, she felt rude having Lucy run around using her last name. Besides, now was as good a time as any.
The blonde looked at the younger girl with a surprised expression. "What? Really? Can I?" She asked her, feeling honored she was allowed to call her by her first name, it seemed like a big deal in Japan. The girl nodded quickly and eagerly with a bright smile and Lucy threw her arms around her immediately. "Of course, Sat-chan!" She told her. She looked down at the pinkette. "It's all right I call you that, right?" She asked her.
Momoi nodded. "Yeah, I love it!" She said, already loving her new nickname. She got up from her seat, seeing the gym had been left completely empty. "Oh! It seems the guys are already in the changing rooms." She commented. She began walking towards the entrance as she turned around and waved at Lucy with a smile, while keeping her backtracking. "I'll see you afterwards, right?" She asked Lucy.
Lucy nodded. "Of course! I'll stay here." She told the pinkette and waved at her as she disappeared after the boys and left her in the now empty gym.
Looking out over the court she'd been left all alone at, she remembered what she had been so happy about. The fact that she was going to talk with Kozo Shirogane, someone from her own world, who could probably answer some of her many questions about her situation.
She was whipped out of her starting stream of thoughts, when Nijimura emerged from the tool room and muttered curses while jogging towards the changing rooms. "Nijimura!" She yelled while getting off the bench.
Nijimura immediately stopped up, seeing the blonde beauty coming running towards him. He blushed at the sight, and averted his gaze a little. "Y-yeah, what is it?" He asked her, wondering what she could be wanting.
Lucy stopped up in front of him and smiled. "Would you mind leading me to Kozo Shirogane's office?" She asked the captain of the basketball team.
Said captain's eyes widened and he looked at her in confusion. "The head coach? Do you know him?" He asked her.
Lucy figured there was only one Kozo Shirogane, and so nodded. "Well, I met him yesterday while you guys were changing, and we got to talk a little. Apparently he knew my family, so… Yeah." She said with a smile and a bit of a high voice. She'd become better at lying already. Although she did trail off at the end and her voice was too high, but all in all, she'd say it was progress.
Nijimura nodded, surprised with the sudden revelation. "Sure, I'll take you there." He agreed. "Follow me." He told her and gestured for her to follow him as he began walking towards where he knew the head coach's office to be.
She smiled and fell into pace next to him. "Thank you very much, Nijimura!" She thanked the captain. Who smiled back and nodded, then quickly averting his eyes again. Lucy noticed his strange behavior and redder cheeks, which didn't seem to be from having just worked out. "Are you feeling sick?" She asked him, reaching up and putting a hand on the boy's forehead to take his temperature, holding the other over her own for comparison. "You're quite hot, Nijimura." She told him.
Nijimura froze at the sudden closeness of the blonde girl and flinched back. "I-I'm fine, I've just been training." He said, feeling his cheeks heat up again. Why did she make him react like this?
Lucy fell back and looked worriedly at him. "If you're sure…" She trailed off, still wondering if he was really okay, since his head seemed so red. She shook her head and decided she would trust him to tell her, if there was ever anything wrong.
Nijimura stopped up in front of a door. "This is it." He said and nodded to the door. "Can you find your way back or do you want me to come get you?" He asked her, kind of hoping for the latter of the two.
Lucy smiled and shook her head. "There's no need, I think I can find my way back now." She told him, not seeing the disappointed expression the boy suddenly wore. "Besides, I get the feeling this conversation might take some time." She confessed.
The black-haired captain nodded in accept of her decision, although he felt a pang of disappointment at it. "All right, I'll see you later then." He said and gave her a wave before beginning his trek back towards the changing rooms.
Lucy suddenly remembered something quite important. "Nijimura!" She called, making the boy turn around and look at her questioningly. "Would you tell Sat-chan where I am if she asks?" She asked the boy.
Nijimura nodded, while wondering when the two got on first-name basis. "Sure, I'll tell her." He said with a little smile as he continued walking.
Lucy smiled and turned to the door. She felt bad for potentially leaving Satsuki behind when she had promised to wait for her, but she could hardly wait to talk to Kozo Shirogane. Maybe he knew something that she really needed to know.
She lifted a hand and knocked on the wooden plank. "Come on in." She heard a muffled voice say from behind it. She grabbed the knob and pushed it down, letting herself into the cozy room, not unlike the one Master Makarov had. She saw him sitting in the chair behind his desk, looking up from his paperwork to see who had come in. His face lit up in a smile when he saw who it was. "Lucy!" He said in a sort of greeting manner and jumped up from his chair.
"Hello, Shirogane-san." She greeted him, letting him guide her to one of the two chairs standing in front of the desk, which he had been sitting behind just a moment ago.
Shirogane laughed and placed himself back in the chair. "Please just call me Kozo, I'm from Earthland, not Earth." He told her, dismissing her polite way with words. "Now then, would you mind showing me your keys once again?" He asked her. The other day he'd simply just seen she had many keys, both gold and silver, but he had not seen which they were and ever since he'd found himself quite curious to know.
Lucy smiled and nodded, pulling her keys out of her pouch. "Yes, of course." She said and put her keys out on the desk. "I have Nikora, Crux, Lyra and Horologium of the silver keys, as well as Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, Virgo and Leo of the Zodiac keys." She said and smiled at the older man.
The man leaned a little forward as he studied all of her keys, taking extra note of the five golden keys. "This is quite impressive, Lucy. So many gold keys all collected at one place." He commented. He, just like any other Celestial mage, had always wanted and wished for the Zodiac keys. They were the strongest after all.
Lucy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm fortunate to have so many friends with me." She said and looked tenderly at the nine keys lying in front of her.
Kozo, eyeing the blonde's gaze, smiled softly. "I see." He said, drawing her attention. "It is only right a kindhearted soul such as you would own so many precious keys." He told her. She didn't refer to them as Spirits, they were friends to her. She was the ideal summoner, how everyone should be.
Lucy blushed a bit in embarrassment at the praise. She wasn't used to receiving such praise after all. "Y-yeah, I guess." She said with an a bit higher tone than what she usually used.
Kozo chuckled at her embarrassment. "Now then, child, what is it you wish to ask me?" He asked her, knowing she would have many questions to ask him, he would have had too, had he been in her position.
Lucy nodded, adopting a more serious expression. "Yeah, I have a lot of questions I need answered, Kozo-san." She said and with Kozo's saying gaze, she corrected herself. "Kozo." He nodded and gestured for her to begin asking. "First off you're a Celestial mage, right?" She asked him.
The elder man nodded. "Yes, that's correct. I'm a Celestial mage and own the Angel and the Demon." He confirmed her. Those were the only two keys he had owned his entire life and he intended to do so until he died as well.
The blonde nodded, having figured that out long ago. "And you're from my world?" She asked for clarification. The man on the other side of the desk nodded in agreement, although looking a little confused as to why she would ask something he had already told her. "Then why are you here? Why are the Angel and the Demon here?" She asked quickly one after another.
Kozo sighed, but with a little smile. "Let me start from the beginning, that will make it easier to understand I think." He said and held a little pause. "Well, it started back when I was at my guild, Phoenix Grave, developing my magic." He told her, clasping his hands together in front of him as his memories flashed through his mind once again. "As so many other Celestial mages, I did not get much appreciation of my magic, as it is not the strongest of magic out there, but because of that I trained harder than anyone else with my two Spirits and - to use your words - friends." He said.
The blonde Celestial mage leaned forward in her seat, listening intently to what her fellow Celestial mage had to say and recognizing the situation he had been in. That was as close as it got to the situation she was about to go into. Because her magic wasn't as fight-based as Caster magic was and she knew she wasn't so useful in battles, she wanted to get stronger. Miraculously, she'd gotten Gajeel to agree with training her, she still were a little surprised it worked.
Kozo, unaware of the thoughts, continued his explanation undeterred. "One day, I passed out during a mission, only a split second, really." He said, once again gaining Lucy's undivided attention. "The words I were given were Shirogane and acceptance." He told her. "After pondering about it all day, I fell asleep at home in the evening, but woke up somewhere completely unrelated." He tipped his head up, looking at Lucy again. "I believe it's quite important to know my real last name is not 'Shirogane'." He said.
The girl looked at him with a deadpan expression, before she exploded. "WHAT?!" She asked loudly. It you ever changed your last name, from her understanding, it was usually the woman changing her last name to that of her husband's, not the other way around.
The white-haired man smiled. "I know, usually it's the other way around, but because my name is nothing like the ones you find around here, I took my wife's name." He said with a little laugh. "Of course, that doesn't mean I got rid of it either, I just don't use it. Kozo Alteria Shirogane is my full name." He told her.
Lucy tilted her head and smiled at him. "That's a beautiful name, Kozo. Alteria." She told him, tasting the name in her own mouth. It just sounded graceful somehow.
Kozo smiled at her. "Why, thank you, child." He thanked her. "Either way, to get back on topic, of course, I woke up on Earth, just as you have." He said, getting back to where he had left off with his story. "Unlike what yours probably will be, my experiences here didn't have much to do basketball before I got a little older." He told her. "Instead, I found a girl, who instantly discovered my secret, her name was Haruhi Shirogane, and as I'm sure you figured out, she's also the girl I married." He said with a fond smile.
Lucy smiled, her inner writer loving the happy ending, which had happened in real life. "What's she like?" She asked curiously.
Kozo laughed. "Oh, you'll just make me sound cheesy, dear." He said. The determined look she gave him made him give up on not telling her. "She's simply the most wonderful woman I have ever met. She's beautiful, clever and has the kindest soul I have ever encountered in my now quite long life. She's nothing short of perfect." He told the younger blonde with a dreamy expression in his eyes. "She had always been a believer of the unnatural and as such, she easily accepted me and Earthland." He said.
Lucy smiled at the old man, happy he'd met someone like her, who he'd shared so much of his life with. And someone who accepted him and believed that he was from another world.
"Of course, she thought my magic was, to use you youngsters' term, 'cool' even though it took me several years before I could even get one key to glow. She was the first who truly accepted me and didn't think I was weak, as so many others did. Quite on the contrary, actually." He said and smiled a little, sad smile. "It didn't take long before I loved her, of course, and then that was when it happened…" He said and stopped talking completely.
After a second of silence, Lucy tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows, looking worriedly at the elder man. "That was when what happened?" She asked hesitantly, wondering what had made the man wear such a sad expression. Somehow, she knew it was important, that it was probably what he had wanted to tell her from the beginning.
Kozo put his hands up in front of his face, clasped together and stuck in a thoughtful expression, as if he was wondering if he should even tell her. Finally, he spoke up. "I wished I could stay here forever." He muttered, barely audible through his hands.
Lucy's furrowed eyebrows deepened further as her confusion grew. "How is that bad? Isn't it wonderful you found someone you love so much that you wanted to stay there forever? What's wrong with that?" She asked him. She had never heard of anything so wonderful, why did he wear such a sad expression.
He shook his head. "It's not that there's anything wrong with wanting to be with the one you love, nothing at all." He told her, the sadness never leaving his voice. "It was because I wished it, I said out loud that I wished it, and somehow, that triggered something." He explained and held a break, drawing in a breath to calm himself. Lucy waited patiently for the man to be ready to tell her whatever was so hard for him to tell her. "I got stuck here." He then finally said.
Her confusion skyrocketed and she just looked at him with wide eyes. "Y-you mean..? What?" She asked, not even able to make up the sentences in her own mind.
He nodded. "Yes, ever since I wished that, I've stayed here always. No matter how many times I fall asleep, I still wake up seeing the same ceiling as the one I saw when I closed my eyes." He said. He looked up at the girl in front of him. "That's what I want to tell you, most of all, be wary of what you say, one simple sentence will change your life forever." He said.
Lucy looked down at her hands. Of course, something as amazing as this would have a catch. Of course it wasn't as perfect as it seemed, that was unrealistic. One single sentence, one simple mistake would take her away from her family, her friends, the people most precious to her. She would lose it all. She would hardly be able to see her Spirits. Wait… Not only that.
As it seemed Kozo had owned the Angel and the Demon, brought them to Earth when he wished to stay, and then they had disappeared. If she disappeared… Did it mean her keys' constellations would disappear too? Did it mean no one could ever own them back at Earthland after her? That would mean… They'd become myths, stories no one believed, after just a few years. It would be like they had never existed anyway. Plue, Horologium, Lyra, Crux, Loke, Virgo, Taurus, Aquarius, Cancer… They would never see Earthland again, they would never fight or use their powers again. And most of all, they would hardly ever be called out.
It took Kozo several years before he could simply make one of his silver keys glow. Who was to say it wouldn't be the same for her? Even if she trained and practiced all she could, it would still take so, so long before she would be able to just call out Plue. What if she would never be able to call out the Zodiac? Would they just have to stay there forever?
No. She wouldn't force them into that kind of fate. She would never pick one over the other, it was wrong, and it would have consequences far worse than what it meant for her. It meant she would make her friends hurt at the loss of her and she would force her Spirits into possibly never seeing anything other than Spirit World again, they would probably ever be able to use their magic again. She couldn't do that, I wasn't something she could do to them.
But it wouldn't ever happen. Even if she loved the team here, on Earth, Fairy Tail was her family, the people she loved the most, they saved her from her father and loneliness, she wouldn't leave them like that.
Lucy looked up at the man in front of her. "Thank you for telling me, Kozo. I will be very careful with what I say." She promised him.
Kozo nodded. "You're welcome, it is important you know as soon as possible after all." He said with a tiny smile. "So you don't make the mistake I did." He told her. Lucy returned the smile, but for a moment, the silence was pregnant between them. "So, child, who taught you your magic?" He asked her, the tense silence was hardly bearable.
Lucy smiled a radiating, bright smile. "That would be my mom, Layla Heartfilia." She told him, not noticing the change in the man across her. "People say I look a lot like her, but I don't see it." She smiled and tilted her head.
Kozo's eyes widened at that information. So it was right, then… He looked up at the blonde. "I'm sorry Lucy, it would seem I need some time to myself, if you wouldn't mind." He told her, feeling memories from his past starting to build up inside him.
She looked at the man sitting in front of him, seeing the conflicted expression he wore, she stood up and bowed a little. "Thank you for telling me all this, and letting me know I'm not the only one from Earthland, I really appreciate it." She said and began walking towards the door, giving the man a wave over her shoulder. "See you later, Kozo." She said with a smile. She knew she had probably wretched open closed scars, letting his memories go all loose through their conversation, she figured he needed some alone-time to grieve the loss of his old nakama.
He looked up at her just before she closed the door. "Lucy." He called out to her, making her turn at the door. "If you need to talk to someone about all this, don't hesitate to come to me." He said with a little smile.
Lucy's face lit up in a bright smile. "Thank you again, Kozo! I will!" She said and finally went out, leaving the gray-haired man behind in his chair. Right as she closed the door, a wave of groggy dizziness fell over her and she fell down on the floor, falling asleep on the floor.
Kozo heard the thump from the other side of the door, and saw the flash of gold under it, then fell down in said chair and dropped his head to his hand. He immediately felt two familiar presences beside him, one putting a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at Angelis, his Angel Spirit, who was smiling a sad smile at him. "Angelis…" He muttered to her, feeling comfort in her light touch.
She kept on smiling. "Isn't it wonderful? You know someone like you, you know she's all right." She asked, her light voice ringing soothingly in the empty room. "You just need to help her through this." She encouraged him.
The other Spirit grunted and readjusted his wings. "Tch, prevent her from making any stupid moves like you, old man." He told his summoner. "Besides, don't you think you should tell her that too?" He asked him.
Kozo looked up at his other Spirit, the Demon, Daemon. "I can't, not yet. She isn't ready to learn of that yet, she wouldn't understand." He told his Spirit. Telling her that was too much for her. It was a big bomb after all. But still, he was a ticking bomb himself, and he had no idea how long he had left. All he knew was that it couldn't be more than a few years, probably not even five. He had to tell her before then, before there was no time left.
The Demon shrugged. "Whatever you say, old man." He said.
And we're leaving it off there, ain't it perfect? I think I did quite well, explaining some things while keeping others a mystery. Although, what's up with Kozo's reaction? And what didn't he tell Lucy? Who knows~
So, if you haven't guessed already, the Demon and the Angel, Daemon and Angelis, are from my other story Acnologia, my Childhood Friend. They honestly didn't get much screen-time there, so I'm adding them here ^_^
Amazing thing I just want to point out, THE NUMBER OF REVIEWS AND FOLLOWERS IS THE SAME, 62! Woooo! Coincidence? I think not. ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!
Anyway, as always, hope you liked it, and thank you to all of you who reads, favorites, follows and reviews! I love y'all!
~Line464d
