Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima
Chapter 10: Lucy and Erza
As soon as the guild doors closed behind her, Erza let go of Lucy's arm. She looked at Lucy like she wanted something from her but then she ran off. Lucy wanted to go back inside the guild. She had seen the hurt look on Gray and Natsu's faces when Erza had screamed at them. She knew that her face had probably not looked much better, but she had been shocked. She would of course be happy for them if this was what they truly wanted. They were her friends after all, even if it destroyed some of her own dreams, she would let Natsu go. She only hoped Juvia would do the same.
Lucy stood indecisively for a moment. She had seen Erza's face when she had seen them kiss. She made her decision. The boys were happy at the moment but Erza needed someone now. She went after Erza.
For once Lucy was thankful for Erza's inhuman training regimen as she was able to catch up to her friend without too much effort. She had not noticed that her friend was running towards the train station. Both arrived at the station, slightly winded but Erza did not stop to catch her breath. She went straight to the ticket window and purchased a ticket to Malba City.
Lucy moved to buy herself a ticket as well but Erza stopped her.
"You don't have to come with me. You should return to the guild.", Erza said resolutely.
"Of course I do.", Lucy looked at her friend as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She purchased her ticket.
"Erza...", Lucy began but was immediately cut off.
"Don't. Not right now.", Erza spat out angrily and sat down on a bench to await the arrival of their train. Lucy sighed sadly and sat next to her. This was going to be difficult, but then again perhaps it should be.
Erza had so many emotions coursing through her at the moment that she did not know which one to tackle first.
"I really have no desire to change the nature of our friendship."
Over and over she heard Gray say this in her head. She tried not to think of him kissing Natsu but her traitorous brain would not let her. Tried not to think of how unnatural it had looked. Lips that traded insults so casually had no business pressing against each other like that. The sharpness of her guilt felt like a slap to her face. For many years now she had been able to defeat just about any enemy that came her way but now that she herself was the enemy she had no idea where to even begin. This was not supposed to be happening. How could she not have noticed what was happening between her two brothers? Was she really that selfish? The second she had not heard their angry voices she had just stopped listening. Had she ever really listened in the first place? She had hurt her nakama, and she had done so willfully. She felt the need to hurt herself as she remembered thinking about how they would all have a great laugh about it. She had never felt less like laughing.
Erza ceased her thoughts long enough to get on the train. Lucy followed her quietly. She had never seen her friend look so upset.
They spent the train ride in silence. Lucy waiting for any signal from Erza that it was okay to talk about what had happened. Instead, Erza looked as sick as Natsu ever did on transportation. Perhaps it was a way for her body to exact punishment on her for Natsu's sake. She tried to think of something she could say that would be helpful but came up empty. 'A great help I am', she muttered to herself.
Halfway through the ride Loke opened up his gate and looked down at his master.
"Loke, what are you doing here? I didn't call you.", Lucy asked surprisedly.
"I know, I sensed that something was troubling you and I thought you might be in danger. You aren't, are you?", Loke asked in a concerned voice.
"No, we are not. You can go back. Everything is fine.", Lucy said.
Loke looked over at Erza and looked at Lucy again. He sat down next to her instead.
"What's the matter with Erza and where are Gray and the hot head? Are you guys going on a mission?", Loke asked. It didn't take much to realize something was off.
Erza flinched at the mention of the boys names and managed to look even sicker. Loke was getting more concerned by the minute. He had meant to talk to Lucy about Gray but had forgotten.
"Is something wrong with Natsu and Gray? Did Gray's magic give out again?", Loke wanted answers.
"Actually, Natsu and Gray are just fine although I don't particularly want to think about where they might be at the moment.", Lucy laughed mirthlessly. Loke was even more confused than before.
Erza suddenly responded. "Loke, what do you mean did Gray's magic give out again? When did Gray's magic give out?"
Loke let out a curse. Of course, he thought to himself. Why would Gray tell them anything? He had obviously been trying to hide whatever was wrong with him.
"That mission with the bandits. Lucy summoned me and we were fighting some of the bandits with Natsu. When we were done we all headed over to help Erza. Natsu and I bumped into Gray.", Loke told the two mages, "The bandits had discharged their weapons at him but when he tried to mold a shield nothing happened so I tackled him to the ground to keep him from being hit. He somehow knew that Natsu was there and he yelled at him and Natsu apologized and ran off to you. I confronted him about it but he just thanked me and said he had just been too slow to react."
The girls slowly digested this. Lucy looked like there was something bothering her but he decided to continue with his story and ask questions later.
"I didn't believe him of course. It just didn't make sense. He kept insisting nothing was wrong and then he looked around for something and molded a hammer to show me nothing was wrong.", Loke continued, "Then we headed over to you and that's when I noticed Natsu look at Gray before he entered the cave. I meant to talk to you about it but I forgot."
"I am so stupid! He wasn't looking for something he was looking for someone. Natsu.", Lucy chided herself as she put the pieces together in her mind.
Loke and Erza looked at her blankly.
"Think about it Erza.", Lucy gently urged her friend, "That whole mission they did not want to be on the same attack team. They were up early planning strategy and team placement. When have they ever done that? It wasn't even a particularly difficult mission. They weren't trying to get along like we thought, they were trying to keep distance from each other."
"And the train station.", she continued thinking out loud, "They didn't complain about the team training until you brought up sparring. I saw their faces, they looked panicked. That's when Gray suggested we train together instead. Come to think of it, they have not had a brawl since that dinner either. They would never be able to go that long, no matter what they promised you. I think somehow they can't fight with or around each other anymore."
She suddenly looked horrified as she realized the implications of what she had just said. Natsu and Gray not being able to fight each other? What kind of torture would that be for them? Her heart broke for them. She suddenly began to understand how they might have ended up where they were now. They would have needed to find something to tie them together, but really a relationship? She would never in a million years have thought Natsu harbored any feelings for his rival.
"I did this, I broke them. I broke us.", Erza said miserably, "This is all my fault."
Once again she heard Gray say "I really have no desire to change the nature of our friendship."
She started sobbing disconsolately. Loke looked at Lucy in confusion.
"What is she talking about, how on Earthland is this her fault?", Loke was getting really angry now. There was something they weren't telling him. Something that affected his friends and he intended to get to the bottom of it.
"Erza, what did you do?", Loke yelled at her.
"Loke, you may return. You may not speak of this to anyone and you may not go to Fairy Tail in my absence.", Lucy said firmly. The last thing she needed was to have him find out what was going on back at the guild. She needed to deal with Erza and Loke was not helping matters.
Loke looked shocked at Lucy's command but tried to ignore her. "No, I need to know what is going on.", Loke answered just as firmly.
"Are you disobeying a direct command from your master?", Lucy glared at him. She understood his need for answers but she needed to get him away from Erza. She hoped he would forgive her later.
Lucy put her arms around Erza and tried to comfort her as best she could. She knew that Erza would not be able to talk for awhile yet. She would let her cry for now. They needed to go back to that store and find that mage Fuyu. She did not think there was enough strawberry cake in the world to ease this pain for her friend. She just hoped they were not too late to set things right.
Loke closed his gate and returned to the celestial world. He wished he could have at least gotten the satisfaction of slamming it shut. The Celestial Lion was furious. Why the hell did Lucy not want him to go to Fairy Tail? He seriously considered going just out of spite but thought better of it. Time passed quickly in the Celestial World. He would find out soon enough. He went off in search of Ares. He needed to calm down.