Yeah, I am not giving up on this story. I don't know if I should end it here. I mean the main point was Erza not remembering her and I got more people wanting this point to work. It makes sense, saying that the scene that caused Erza to block out her past would force her in a way to remember. I had some time to work because I'm off of classes for Thanksgiving Break. I hope I can get Unethical another chapter and possibly even another for Fairy Tale before getting back. That is a pipe's dream on my part.
Lucy's POV
The cold air hit my skin as I sauntered to Erza's room. Akane's casino had piqued the interest of the boys. Pushing the door open reveals Erza standing in front of the mirror in her Heart Kreuz armor. She was bathed in the warm light of the sunset. Her eyes traveled from her reflection to me. Her eyes went from…longing to curious, as if I had snapped her out of a mindset where she was reflecting on the past.
"The guys want us to head down to the casino. Do you want to go with us, Erza?" I ask, putting on a kind smile.
"It sounds like fun." She steps back and requips into a purple dress with roses on it. She looked better than me by a longshot. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She looks back at me after a moment. "Let's go, Lucy." She walks out, brushing past me.
Time passes; Erza spends her time at the poker table. She kept her cool and won a few hands. She kept a poker face the whole time…until the dealers changed. The man looked about our age and he dealt out the cards that spelled out the word 'death.' He addressed Erza as 'sister.'
People screamed, everything went dark, and a shot rang out through the casino.
The world blurred in pain and confusion as they took her away. Again she slipped from my grips and I was left bound in this odd soft rope that kept me from opening my keys. Helplessly I watch again as Erza is taken from my life. I have to get her back.
"Erza!" I shout and writhe, feeling drained. "We'll get you back! I swear if I have to be still bound, I'll find you!"
Lucy's POV
Never in my life had I seen Erza cry. Not as a warrior or a child. She was always a solid figure. She had purpose she always followed. From a little girl, she knew how to protect the weak. Here she stood, pouring out her heart to her friends and a stranger. One eye cried, and the other had been damaged. My urge to pull her close and kiss that broken eye made me twitch. "Erza…"all I utter.
Then Sho comes back. He cries and shouts about how Erza had been lying to us. That Jellal saved everyone and Erza had gone crazy with her new power and destroyed the ships.
"Does that sound like her?" I spit without thought.
"You don't know Erza at all! All you know is this fake liar!" he shouts.
You know nothing about my Erza is you call her such things, I inwardly growl. The man I heard Erza address as Simon come in. He defends Erza and lays over Jellal's true intentions. He makes what's left of us separate to fight.
Vidaldus lays passed out. Juvia lay next to me, both of our bodies exhausted. "We did it…"I laugh.
"Juvia wonders…why did rival seem so defensive of Erza-san back when Sho-san accused her?" Juvia looks at me.
"I…you see I have interests in her like you have in Gray, but it's been a long time." I force myself upright, my muscles screaming. "I have to help her…"My limbs tremble as I stand. Fighting had drained me already. "Protect my knight."
"Lucy…"Juvia stared at me in shock.
"Get out of here with them. I'm not leaving without Erza."
"Juvia sees a bad outlook for Lucy if she doesn't leave," Juvia whispers.
"I would rather die protecting her then leaving her here again." I clench my fists. "Get out of here. Get Gray, Natsu, and Happy out of here." I run off, heading to find Jellal. I know that's where I'll find my Erza.
Erza's POV
Jellal smirked as the etherion swallowed me into it. His web of lies has been so deep. He's won against me. After all these years, my hope to know the person who kept me sane as they drained me of memories is the one who will damn me. His face the last I see and his touch the last I know…I should've slit that long throat and stained that sky blue hair crimson. My fingers itch to know a blade, but I am frozen. To die in such a cold place…
Suddenly a light rips me from my final resting place and the world is at my feet again. I feel soft and scratched arms grip to me, trembling to hold dead weight. I look at the soft face and wide eyes. "Lucy…"I breathe. She lowers me down. "Get out of here." I grip to her.
"I'm not leaving without you." She pulls her key, summoning Loke and Aquarius. Her two strongest spirits, after obviously having gone through a battle recently; it would be too much for a newer mage like her.
"Lucy, don't push your limits!" I cry. Her whip goes from her belt. Jellal keeps dodging Loke's hits and flies from water fired to him. I was so used to hearing those two having something to say, but they just worked, as if they just sensed now was not the time.
Jellal zoomed passed the attack of Loke and Aquarius…just to fly into a hard hit with Lucy's whip. The leather bit into his tattooed cheek, splitting a line I didn't think Lucy as strong enough to make. Jellal roared in pain and anger. With a hit, he sent her flying into a pillar of crystal. It shattered from the force.
"Lucy!" I get up and grabbed my abandoned sword. A quick charge at Jellal fails a hit, my sword hitting crystal and the structure groaning. More anger driven swings lead to more damage and a shaky structure.
"Stop destroying my work!" Jellal knocks me back. I skid back and grip to my side where his blow landed, feeling hot pain grip the nerves.
"She isn't strong enough," Loke whispers to Aquarius. They started to disappear.
"New plan!" Lucy shouted and she held her hand out to them, forcing them there. "Destroy the structure." She tightened her grip on the whip in her hands, despite them trembling. The spirits were out of sight before I could speak.
"Lucy you need to go," I hiss. I straightened and ignored the blood running from my side. I was surprised how I was worse for wear than Lucy. She had bruises and a side she couldn't rest her full weight on, but I could hardly stand.
"No."
"Can't you listen to me for once!?" I cry.
"How about you listen to me like you used to, you damn knight!" She glared at me. She moved towards me, being a weak barrier between myself and Jellal. Used to? She had never a wish of me. Nothing I could follow or violate in the near year I have known her. The only woman who had orders to me were childish. Hold her. Cuddle her. Keep her warm. Find her. Dance with her. All it got me was a necklace and a kiss on the cheek.
Jellal looked frustrated as all hell. He knew those spirits were his enemy more than we were if they went to destroy. The structure groaned already in instability. "I'll kill you both!" He summoned an orb of dark light. "Altairis!" It launched at us. My fingers wrapped around Lucy's wrist to yank her down. It was hopeless.
But the hit never came to us. A stronger shield came up. A wall of a man—Simon. "Simon!" I cried in the panicked realization. Strong as he was, he still crumbled as if he were frail. I pulled myself to him and took his hand. His face was contorted with pain, but he still flashed a weak smile.
"I knew you would come back, you know," he coughed. Blood dripped down his chin and along his jaw. "I always loved you. But I knew you wouldn't feel the same."
"Simon…"I tear up and hold his hand in both of mine. "You should've run."
"She couldn't help you. Not at this point in her life." I heard a small huff behind me. His eyes start to close.
"No! Stay. Simon stay with me," I beg. "I can't lose anyone else to this tower!"
"I wish I could've seen her again." His hand went slack. The beat I remembered having my cheek pressed to years ago on nights of nightmares is suddenly gone. A deafening throbbing in my ears replaced it. He was not peaceful, but scarily content with his death. All to save me. He died to save me.
And she was too. But I can't lose another to him. I looked over to Lucy. She just stared. She looked exhausted and Jellal was laughing.
"Your spirits finally fled! You can't fight now can you, stellar mage!" He roared. Blood dripped from his cheek from where she hit him still. It took one more move for him to knock her out, a quick kick. I heard no crack of her jaw or nose, but she till fell like a ragdoll.
I growled and requipped a double edged sword. "This ends now," I hiss. The structure shifted and pieces fell into the ocean. Jellal looked almost desperate when he snapped back from his sadistic joy. But it was too late to see the hit. I got the hit on him, even if my bones were just was done with fighting on as the R system was. He tried to fly off and I lunged in a rage. I yanked him back when I grabbed his ankle. I threw him into a pillar he shattered on impact. "This won't happen Jellal!" I hit him in the temple with the hilt and the force that carried traveled past his body sent a growing crack. The power went from seeping to pouring out.
I curse. It will explode if not controlled. I drop my sword and make my way to the orb I almost met my end before. I touch the smooth surface and then push. My arm is absorbed as if dipped into melted glass, but it was cold as the ocean water that I swore I was swimming in happy not even a day ago. I cry out as I get pulled in more, my legs coming into to it. All that was out was part of my torso and my left arm.
"Za…za…"
I freeze and look at Lucy. That nickname. It sounds familiar. Warm…
She was just waking up. She started to stand and her eyes went wide. "Erza!" She ran over.
"It'll go. I have to stop this."
"No! Don't go. Don't leave me again," she cried. I placed my hand on her cheek.
"I want to save you. You deserve to live, Lucy."
"No! I don't want to live if it's without you. It was hard without you before." She sobbed and took my hand. I felt her tug, but I kept emerged. Before? Again.
"Lucy?"
"Stay. My knight, you have to stay. Stay with your princess. You said you would! You said you wouldn't let that girl go if you found her again. Don't let me go…"
"Lucy…" I'm yanked back and float away. All I hear is water swishing and Lucy's screams of my name.
I see flashes of the past. I see the girl in my dreams. But her face is clearer. I see the freckles I remember naming in her bed and the blush on her cheeks when I first kissed her in the ballroom of her manor.
Lucy was that girl. Her giggle filled my fond memories and her soft lips took my first kiss. She was the only girl I said I loved. I was her knight. She was my princess. The girl I swore I would never let go if I found her…had become my first friend. The girl I had hated to admit was taking over the parts of me I had reserved for that girl. I just started to fall for the same girl again.
I see her again. The real age she is. She doesn't have that smile and those rosy cheeks are tear stained. She howled like an injured animal in Gray's arms in front of a grave. Mine.
Rain fell so hard it bounced off the cobblestone. She whimpered of not saving me. I saw a dead crown of dandelions clutched in her hands that looked like they were pressed in a book for years.
I wanted to hold her. I wanted to kiss away her tears and hold her. The hours passed and she just stayed. Each member left after placing red lilies near my grave. She sat in front of the grave and touched her fingers to the marble. She placed a red rose. "You preferred roses over all else. I remember the pin prick from when I tried to pick you one. The first time you tried to stop my tears." She wiped her cheeks. "Guess that won't happen again, Zaza." She pulled a necklace from her neck, breaking the chain in the process. "No reuniting like you talked so fondly of. No last kiss even. No kiss at all. Because we were both terrified." She tipped her head back as the rain fell. "I guess this is accurate to how I feel. It rained the day you went missing as well. I didn't know for months after. I didn't know what actually happened. I can't believe I hated you…"Her body shudders in sobs. "I miss you so much. It hurts."
"Lucy…"I reach for her but I could never reach her. I cover my eyes and hang my head.
A warm hand suddenly touches my shoulder. I turn and feel yanked out, a burning pain consuming me.
Lucy's POV
Waking up in the hotel wasn't unexpected. I knew the story of what happened, even if my weakness made it fuzzy. Jellal took Erza's place and the tower all but disappeared. We were found by the shore by Natsu, Gray, and the others.
Erza lay next to me. She was more banged up than I was somehow. She was awake, though. She was propped up on her arm that wasn't as wrapped and was looking down at me. Her other hand weakly ran its fingers through my hair.
"Erza…"I whisper.
"Shh," she soothed. Her deep voice almost sounded motherly. "Lulu, you have to rest."
"Lulu?" I whisper.
"Yeah. That's what I called you." She smiles.
"Wait." I sit up quicker than I should've. My head spins for multiple reasons as I look at her. "Do you…"
"Remember our betrothal? Do I remember dancing in your house and cuddling because I was cold? Do I remember kissing you and that being my only kiss?" She arches an eyebrow. "Yes. I do." I notice suddenly that she was closer.
I blush. "Erza…"
"My princess, I found you." She places her hand on my cheek. "Goddess I can't believe I couldn't put it together. That smile and your eyes…they're hard to forget. I couldn't." She leans in.
"Do you love me?" I whisper. She stops, obviously going in to kiss me.
"You know I do. As the girl of my first love and the woman, I've come to need in my life. I love the woman and the girl. Do you still want me? I'm not that girl. I'm a bit worse for wear it seems." She looks down at herself. Her body was bandaged and scarred. But perfect.
"You still have what I love about you. Your care of others and that shyness you possess. Though, I hope to get that joy reserved for me back."
She smiles softly. "Yeah, you certainly bring joy." She pulls me close and kisses me. My body melts into it and all pain is my last thought. Her lips were warm but chapped.
She pulled away a moment later and lies back. "Zaza, I'm cold." I pout.
"No, you're not." She pulls me close anyway. I snuggle into her, careful of her injured ribs. "Needy princess."
"Loyal knight." I kiss her cheek and giggle when she blushes. She finally remembered.
Erza's POV
I stare at the beauty before me. She had fallen asleep again. I stroke her hair again and rub over her freckled cheeks. I can't believe that I was living with the girl of my dreams and past. I know there will be more twists, but right now my problems felt lesser.
I kiss her brow. "I love you, Lulu." I cuddle her and close my eyes, wanting to sleep before I know the boys will bust in.