Chapter 23: Arc of Time And The Unenviable Past
Lucy's P.O.V:
"That was the best battle so far-kabo!" Mato commented, flitting around in the ruined arena. "But now, give it up for Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis and Sabertooth's Orga Nanagear-kabo!"
"Hey, where's Maria-san?" Rina asked.
"She left to go visit Kagura," Jade replied. She looks bored- I mean seriously bored- as she played with her hair.
Erza and Kagura left the battle field a while ago to rest at the infirmary, but knowing Erza, she won't just stay still on a little bed with no one from her team to interact with. I bet she's already on her way to Fairy Tail's balcony right now.
I closed my eyes, hoping to escape reality for just a second.
Natsu is suspicious about who I really am and I'm not sure if I could hide my secret any longer. I sighed, and to think that it had only been two days since I encountered Fairy Tail.
Sometimes I wished it would all reverse back to the way it all started like when Natsu brought me to the guild and when we created a team together.
If I had known that they thought I was weak, I would've trained all the time and not always be a damsel in distress. If I had did that, I wouldn't have left and none of these would have happened.
Though there are also good things that come from leaving the guild.
For example: I'm able to meet Emily, Rina, Maria, Jade, Chisaki, Celestia, Sierra and the other Angel's Gate's members and improve my abilities.
Another thing is that I wouldn't need to worry about my guild mates climbing through my window just to get into my room.
That reminds me, the last time Natsu sneaked into my bed before he started ignoring me was a day after the Infinity Clock and Reborn Oracion Seis madness.
*Flashback*
"It's a good thing you don't have any major injuries," Wendy said as she looked at me one last time.
"So what's wrong with me then?" I asked.
"Nothing, you just need a bit more rest, Lucy-san. In order for you to fully recover, you need to take a 9-hour long nap tonight," Wendy continued, smiling up at me.
"Thanks Wendy, you're the best," I complimented.
"A-Arigato, Lucy-san. But there are many more mages out there that are better than me," the blue-haired girl mumbled.
"Nevertheless, you make a good doctor Wendy."
We were currently sitting at the bar in Fairy Tail, I was enjoying the vanilla and strawberry swirl milkshake while Wendy was busy checking my body for any injuries.
Charles flew above a vacant table a few feet away with an overly excited Happy and a smiling Lily. I'm guessing they're discussing about the events of the guild defeating the Reborn Oracion Seis.
"Natsu is the best at fighting, he managed to defeat Midnight!" Happy exclaimed.
"Gajeel-kun is also pretty impressive," Lily added.
The corners of my mouth pull down into a frown as I tapped Wendy's shoulder.
"Yes, Lucy-san?"
"Do you know where Natsu is?" I stated.
"Sorry I don't," Wendy shook her head. "I'm so sorry, I have no idea where Natsu-san is."
"You don't have to apologize, it's not your fault," I reassured.
My left hand instantly grabbed my drink and I began chugging the remains down my throat.
After I was done, I called Mira and was about to leave the building when another fight had broken out.
"Stop bumping into me, ice prick!" Gajeel shouted, throwing a punch at Gray's face.
"It was all accidental, metal face!"
I looked around the place, expecting to see an enraged Erza marching over to stop the fight but I couldn't spot her anywhere.
Oh wait a minute- She had to go on a mission Master asked her to do this morning.
I mentally slap my forehead. How could I forget? Levy-chan told me when I came to the guild. I must have been distracted or something. For the past few weeks, I hadn't really payed attention to anything that I thought aren't that important.
"Lucy-san! Don't strain yourself too much!" Wendy called out and I shot her a warm smile.
"Don't worry I won't."
Opening the doors, I hurried outside, having the urge to meet Natsu today.
We haven't interacted since last night when he brought me home. I blushed a little, thinking about how he carried me bridal-style to my bed and kissed my forehead before he left me sleeping under mama's pink blanket, which she gave to me on my 6th birthday.
"Ah, Lucy-chan! Haven't seen you around lately, how have you been?" The owner of the grocery shop asked.
He was a man in his early thirties with tan skin- much like Natsu's- black hair and hazel eyes. His wife worked part-time at the magic store and they're expecting a child anytime soon.
"I'm fine, how about you Ikudo-san?"
"Great! Don't forget to visit the store next time!" Ikudo-san said. "We've got some new vegetables and fruits from the North."
That's when my stomach growled in response.
The only thing I've had all day was a slice of leftover pizza and Mira's milkshake.
"Do you mind if I buy some apples right now?" I replied sheepishly.
Ikudo-san laughed and took one of his eco-friendly paper bag.
"How much?"
"3 would be fine," I answered but suddenly remembered Natsu and Happy. They like to raid my fridge so it wouldn't hurt to buy a lot of food right?
"I mean nine. Nine apples please."
"Okay," Ikudo-san said and put the fruits in the bag.
I rummaged through the pocket of my pleated blue miniskirt and pulled out 9, 000 jewels.
"You don't need to pay. I heard you had a rough time yesterday," Ikudo-san stated.
"But-"
"No buts. Think of it as a belated birthday gift," he smiled and put the paper bag of apples onto my hands.
"Thank you so much."
"No problem."
I waved at him and went to my apartment.
You could probably guess what I had found when I unlocked the door to my bedroom. Yup, Natsu was sleeping on my bed, snoring loudly as usual.
"Natsu," I tried shaking him awake but he remained unfazed. "Natsu..."
No answer.
"Natsu!"
He stirred in his sleep and nearly hit me with his arm. But still, no answer.
"For the Mavis' sake, wake up Natsu!"
"Yeah, I love you too," Natsu muttered under his breath and I stared at him in disbelief. I had to blink three times before I had managed to fully process what he had said.
"What?!" I shrieked silently. I swear I was blushing furiously right now.
"I love you. I will always love you, fire chicken," Natsu continued before snorting and DROOLING on my pillow.
"Natsu!" I yelled. "Lucy Kick!"
My leg hit his head, making him wake up but not before he fell through the open window of my bedroom.
"What the-"
I huffed and closed the window tightly.
Walking towards the kitchen, I cursed and dropped the bag of apples onto the kitchen counter. By the time I picked one of the fruits and biting onto it'a juicy flesh, I was fuming in both annoyance and anger.
That was certainly the worst break-in I had ever experienced.
*End of Flashback*
Emily walked over to stand next to me as I finished the flashback of that one last break-in.
"The last battle of the day is starting," Emily stated.
"It's got to be our guild and Lumiere Dawns next," I added.
Honestly, I haven't heard of Lumiere Dawns in my whole life. They couldn't just suddenly create a guild and gain at least 20 members in a week could they? Unless they had it all planned out before they reported their creation to the magic council.
"Now let's welcome the newcomers: Angel's Gate's Chisaki Kurokawa and Lumiere Dawn's Kyle Sorell!"
"Good luck, Chisa-chan!" Rina cheered.
"I'll do my best," Chisaki smiled and headed towards the arena.
Chisaki's P.O.V:
When I arrived at the 'battle field' as most people called it, I immediately spotted my opponent walking towards the center.
I lifted up my feet and went to meet him in the middle.
My eyes inspected him like a curious little cat and I can't help but think that he looks familiar.
He has black hair (styled like Eve's hairstyle in X791) with a single bang, which shadowed his right eye, and around the lower half of his face was a simple plain grey cloth.
The rest of his body were covered by a long-sleeve black button-up shirt covered by the same grey coat as his teammate, Nicholas. What attracts me the most about him was the shiny chain necklace he wore around his neck.
"Lito-kun, this is my present to you! It's a necklace I made from my ice magic, I hope you could treasure it forever, like I did with my birthday gift from you!"
I took a single step back, shocked and considering how close I was from Kyle. My distrust for men is really affecting me right now.
But could it really be my ice wizard cousin?
Right, that doesn't matter. I need to win for Angel's Gate, I'm not going to let my nakama down.
"Start-kabo!" Mato exclaimed.
"Chisa-chan, you can do this!" Rina called out.
I took a deep breath and dug my hands into my skirt pocket. The metal of the retractable sword from Jade felt cool against my skin and I grabbed the handle.
Kyle made the first move and threw his hands in the air. A flurry of ice and snowflakes swirled around the arena and I nearly flew back because of the force of the attack.
Though, Maria's crystal magic is much stronger than this and we used to fight with each other in training so I had no trouble surviving the hurricane.
"Ice Dragon!" I countered and a snake-like dragon made from blue and green glistening ice erupted from the earth. It charged at Kyle, who dodged it's swift attack, and they quickly fought each other.
"Ooh, looks like we've got an ice vs ice battle here-kabo!"
"She's not even an official ice Mage," I could almost hear Jade snickered from the balcony.
Not wasting another minute, I took out the sword and I flicked the handle.
The blade popped out and I raced towards the male Mage. I swung it around and it almost hit him but he sidestepped and flip me through the air.
Luckily, I landed on my feet and ducked when Kyle sent an ice punch to my head.
"Ice-Make: Seven Slice Dance!"
A few people from Fairy Tail gasped but I ignored them.
"That's Gray's spell!" Natsu, Lucy's old comrade, stated.
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Gajeel mumbled.
I delivered the final two slashes and Kyle stumbled backwards. A clean slice was visible underneath his stomach but it's not deep enough to draw blood.
My nose crinkled at the thought, I hate blood and I will always hate it.
Kyle did a circular hand motion, sending 100 arrows my way.
I bit my lip, planning to deflect the ice with my sword, but there's a good chance I won't be able to do that. The speed and the way the arrows slice through the air would be impossible for someone to dodge or deflect them with regular weapons.
Hesitantly, I retracted the blade and slip it back into my pocket. Guess I have to use my copying abilities again.
"Flight Armor: Sonic Claw!" I yelled and slash the arrows with the sword that comes with the armor.
After another round of destroying the ice, I sped over to Kyle and sent a blur of attacks.
With each one of them, he stumbled and tried to regain his balance, but ended up landing on the floor.
"Ice Clone."
My eyes widened, though not in surprise, but in recognition. That voice...
I turned around, yelping when I was thrown to the walls of the arena. I gritted my teeth, I need to concentrate.
"Hey, isn't that Erza's armor?" Natsu asked loudly.
"Yes it is," A red headed woman, possibly Erza, nodded. "She couldn't have known all of our magic."
"Does that mean she has copy magic?" A guy with blonde hair and a lightning-shaped scar said.
"Most likely."
"I need to end this," I mumbled to myself and stood up.
Kyle was running towards me and was prepared to launch another attack.
A set of the same ice arrows shot out from his palms and the armor I copied disappeared.
"Time Arc: Infinite Sphere!"
The arrows retreated and headed towards Kyle instead. One of them hit his stomach and the rest followed, the arrows multiplied and strike him in every direction. Right now there was probably 500 arrows rather than a hundred.
It kept going on until Kyle manages to dodge a few, but he was still injured.
Finally, he collapsed on the ground, all battered up and I had to bite my tongue to stop from screaming when a little bit of blood oozed out from his wounds.
Still, I was happy that I got to use my favorite magic that I've ever copied. It's been more than a year since I've used it.
"Winner: Chisaki Kurokawa!" Chapati Lola announced and I looked up when I heard the others cheering for me in glee.
I waved and smiled at them. If they were happy, I'm the most happiest person in the world right now.
Lucy's P.O.V:
"Chisa-chan, you did it!" Rina exclaimed while I was having a mini celebration in my mind.
So far, Angel's Gate has won a lot of points and things seems to be going well.
Suddenly, I felt someone tap me- or rather poke me- on the shoulder and my head flitted to the side to glance at the person.
Emily gazed at me, her face was ash pale and her eyes was a dull green color. That's a bad sign, whenever Emily has something weighing her down, she would lost all of her cheerful, supportive personality and she would be... Well, let's just say she lost her sparkle.
"Could I take to you for a minute?"
"Sure," I replied.
We sneaked away from the group, but not without receiving curious and confused expressions from Rina, Sierra and Celestia.
Jade didn't care one bit about where we're going and just stared off into the distance.
"We're going to talk to a few people, we'll be back soon," Emily stated and dragged me off to the hallways.
Once we were hidden from sight, Emily dropped her death grip on me and leaned in to whisper to my ear.
I could feel my eyes widened in disbelief and alarm as she explained the whole situation.
Oh God.
Author's Corner
CrystalDT: Hello readers, I hope you didn't have to wait too long for this chapter. I'm still sorry that I've been updating a little late so I'll try to make room for updates before the second part of my exams. Anyways, let's start the minigame!
Mirajane: Elfman, it's your turn! *takes the 'truth or dare' box*
Elfman: H-Hai. *takes out a fan with a picture of a fairy and hearts along the spine*
Evergreen: Hey, that's my fan! I've been looking for it for like 2 weeks!
Elfman: Not my fault! So... Truth or dare?
Evergreen: Hmmm... Truth.
Happy: Did you choose that because your boyfriend picked that too? *rolls his tongue as he emphasizes the word 'boyfriend'*
Evergreen: Never mind I choose dare! Yeah, I choSe to pick dare instead!
Mirajane: Too late.
Evergreen: *grumbles* Fine.
Elfman: What's your favorite animal?
Guild Members: *silence*... *began laughing* Seriously?!
Elfman: *blushes* W-What?! So I've got a storage full of animal plushies! I was planning to give them out to the girls in the guild! Giving girls gift are manly!
Evergreen: Shut your mouth! ... And I like pandas...
Elfman: *gives Evergreen a panda plushie without looking at her* Here.
Evergreen: T-Thanks. *blushes* I-I mean, you have no right to give me anything without my permission! *stomps her foot on Elfman's accidently*
Elfman: Eek! *shrieks and held his foot high up in the air and fall backwards*
Natsu: Woah! *gets hit by Elfman and stumbled on a shirtless Gray*
Gray: *bumps into Gajeel*
Gajeel: *accidently knocks Cana's barrel out of her hands*
The barrel flew in the air until it landed on Erza's cheesecake.
Erza: Who- in the name of Mavis- dare to crush my dessert?! *requips into her Purgatory Armor*
Guild Members: Run for your lives! *runs around the guild as Erza destroyed the hall*
CrystalDT: Stop being such kids and let's continue with the game! Evergreen, you're up next!
Evergreen: *quickly grabs a magazine out of the box with Mirajane on the cover*
Mirajane: *grins cheekily* Well would you look at that?
Evergreen: Truth or dare?
Mirajane: Truth!
Natsu: Would someone make this more interesting?!
Erza: I would be more than happy to make it more interesting. *points her mace at Natsu*
Natsu: N-No thanks! I changed my mind!
Evergreen: How was your relationship with Laxus?
Mirajane: Relationship? I wouldn't call that- *interrupted by Elfman shaking Laxus' body in mid-air*
Elfman: What's your business with onee-san?!
Laxus: Nothing! Now, put me down before I shock you!
Elfman: Don't lie or you won't be a MAN!
Laxus: *sweat dropped* But I am a MAN.
Elfman: You need to be a manly man!
Laxus: So I need to be more manly than the man I am now?
Elfman: Exactly! If you want to be a man, you need to be more than a man who's manly! You need to be a manly man of all men in the race of mankind!
Lucy: *blinks* What?
Rina: I think he meant you need to be a manly man of all men in the race of mankind.
Maria: *sweat dropped* You're just repeating what he's saying.
Evergreen: Could we have a normal conversation here?! *a vein pops in her head as she turned back to Mira* Continue.
Mirajane: So, as I was saying, I wouldn't call it a relationship.
Natsu: *eyes widened* So you're in a marriage?
Mirajane: No. Me and Laxus are just friends. *smiles and tilts her head to the side* My turn to pick-
Lucy: Wait a minute, Mira-san! When you mean friends, do you mean soul mates?
Mirajane and Laxus: *blushes* No!
Mirajane: *eye twitches* I-It's nothing like that! Now my turn-
Erza: When did you two get married?!
Laxus: Oi, we didn't-
Wendy: Huh? Mira-san and Laxus-nii are married?!
Mirajane: No, Wendy-
Guild Members: *started chattering all at once*
Laxus: *gets annoyed and struck the roof with lightning to get everyone's attention* We aren't married, we're not soul mates and we'll never be any of those!
Colette: Never say never, Laxus-san.
Gale: And don't fight with destiny.
Laxus: How would you know if we're soul mates?!
Gale: I feel it in my bones.
Maria: Enough to make my system blow.
Rina: Welcome to the new age!
Asuka: Radioactive!
CrystalDT: Why are we talking about song lyrics?
Emily: I have no absolute idea of what's going on.
CrystalDT: Then let's just continue.
Mirajane: *sigh* Finally. *takes hold of a man's boot*
?: Are you sure your shoe is in here? Maybe your nose's messed up.
?: Never doubt me, Rogue! I've got the ears of a dragon and eyes even sharper than a hawk- Oof!
The guild doors shook and it opened a second later to reveal a red-nosed Sting and Rogue who was trying to hold in his laughter.
Natsu: Sting- *was about to go and attack the current Sabertooth guild master but Erza took hold of his scarf*
Erza: What are you doing here?
Rogue: Sting's shoes got stolen and he followed the scent to the building.
Everyone looked at Mirajane, who puts all of the guild members possessions into the box for the mini game.
Mirajane: Whoops! I just happened to see Sting walking by before the game so I figured why don't we include him and Rogue in the game too?
Rogue: Wait, did you also said my name-
Mirajane: Truth or dare?
Sting: Um... Dare?
Natsu: *breaks free of Erza's grip* Finally, some action!
Mirajane: *grins and whispers to Sting*
Sting: *blushed and was trying to hold in a mischievous grin* B-But...
Mirajane: No buts. *glares at Sting*
Sting: *gulped* Alright. *walks over to Lucy, who was busy talking to Levy* Hey, Luce.
Natsu: Only I' able to call Lucy 'Luce', Stingy Bee! *his voice got muffled the moment Erza stuffed his scarf into his mouth*
Lucy: Yeah? *turns to Sting*
Sting: *pulls in Lucy so they were really close and they were about to kiss when Natsu ran away from Erza and pushed them apart*
Natsu: What do you think you're doing?! *growls*
Sting: Jealous?
Natsu: N-No! *gets into a wrestling match with Sting*
CrystalDT: Okay... So that's the end of the truth or dare mini game today. Let's end this before Erza goes berserk. *interrupted by the sound of what seems like a deafening eruption of a volcano*
Sierra, Chisaki and Celestia: Too late.
Jade: *eyes sparkles as she watch Natsu and Sting gotten beat up by Erza*
CrystalDT: So please read-
Happy: Rate-
Charles: And review.
Pantherlily: See you next time!