Chapter 29

I have kinda figured out some of the things I might want to add, before I jump into the next 'arc', if you can call it that. Unfortunately, it will probably mean a few short chapters…

I apologize for any grammar errors that I have made! Read and Review!
Disclaimer: Nope. Just nope. You'd be crazy to think I owned either KnB or FT. Crazy. Mad. Insane. Nuts. Lunatic. Mental. Clearly didn't have to look up synonyms here, nope~

Earth~

Somehow Lucy had managed to find a balance between training with Gajeel, going on missions with her team, playing and/or teaching basketball to her guild - although most had pretty much figured the game out by now, partly because she'd hung up a list of the rules near the court - and finally also brawling with the guys.

It had been a little weird, and kind of awkward, in the beginning, as she was a new player on the field, a very unexpected one. None of them knew 'how' to tackle her. Fortunately they soon softened up to the idea and figured out how they were going to go about tackling her. Quite literally.

In addition, it also meant she had become 'one of the guys' and that it was easier communicating with them, a bit more natural in a way. It seemed it wasn't a lie when someone said that exchanging fists brings one closer to the other.

Since returning from the little training-trip she and Gajeel had had, running around had been much easier, as now she was running on flat, steady ground rather than cliffs and sand. And although it was only a few days ago, she could already feel her own mastery of general hand-to-hand combat having risen with the extra experience she was getting. Loke was also more than happy to help her. And Erza was too. And Mira…

According to the redheaded knight and the white haired barmaid, it was not appropriate for a girl to be taught such brutal actions by the idiots of the guild. She should rather learn brutal actions of equal or higher volume by the two of them. Which was why they had continuously been interrupting her training with Gajeel, opting to take over for him. Which annoyed him to no end, much to Lucy's amusement.

As for her team of younger boys, who had been growing in ability for a while, a problem had occurred. One Aomine had unexpectedly eavesdropped on.

"They want to throw Tetsu off the team!" The young boy had exclaimed angrily, when he met Kuroko and herself earlier, to do the extra training they were doing.

See, the problem was that Kuroko seemingly couldn't adjust to the 1st string with his passes. They always came off a little crooked. As Lucy had expected, Sanada, Nijimura and Kozo, for the sake of the team, had decided he should not be there.

This belief was enhanced by the fact that the warmup exercises seemed to have the same effect on him as a whole hour of training had on the rest. He just wasn't as physically fit as the others.

Aomine had then jumped forward and declared that if Kuroko couldn't be on the team, then neither would he. And seeing as he could potentially become the strongest player they had on the team by the end of the year, if everything went as it did right now, they had no choice but to listen to his request, as they didn't want to lose him just like that. They gave Kuroko another, last chance.

He had till the next match to show them that he truly deserved to be on the 1st string. If he didn't figure anything out before then, there was nothing to be done, he'd have to go down to the 2nd string. Or lower, perhaps.

Kuroko remained silent, watching, as Aomine told them all the things he thought were wrong with the idea. Although the short, blue haired boy said nothing, and seemed to have an expressionless expression, it was clear to Lucy that the idea of leaving the team hurt him. He just didn't show it.

"They can't just do that! Just because he doesn't hit the mark every time!" He exclaimed angrily, almost in a fit of rage, actually.

Lucy finally decided to say something, seeing as this was doing Kuroko no good. "I think I may know what can help you, Kuro-kun." She told him, gaining the attention of both of them. "I think you still haven't upped your level from the 3rd string." She said, already feeling how what she was saying was right.

Although the other two were looking at her confusedly. "What do you mean, Heartfilia?" Aomine asked her quizzically.

Lucy turned to Kuroko. "I mean that you still play as if you're with the 3rd string, rather than the 1st." She explained. "You need to put more power into your passes, more speed." She suggested. She paused for a moment. "Hmm… Of course your accuracy leaves nothing to be desired, but still they miss." She muttered to herself.

"Well.." Aomine said, drawing their attention to himself. "What if he just aims a little in front of us?" He suggested. "Maybe it'll help?" He said hesitantly.

Lucy smiled and nodded. "Yes, that should work!" She said. Especially when they were running. "It's at least worth a try." She offered.

Kuroko looked at the two of them alternately before relenting with a nod. "Okay, I will give it a try." He agreed.

Lucy smiled widely. "Let us help you then!" She said enthusiastically.

Later~

The two of them waved Aomine off and then began walking in the other direction, all of them on their way home. As it turned out, Kozo and Kuroko didn't live too far from each other.

There was what, for Lucy, felt like a comfortable silence between them. Until Kuroko decided to break it, that is. "What if it doesn't help?" He asked her suddenly, making her realize the silence might not have been as comfortable for him as it had been for her.

Lucy shook her head. "Of course it'll work. We've been practicing it all day after all!" She reasoned with him.

"But what if that is still not enough?" He asked, looking down at the orange ball he was keeping between his hands.

The blonde looked at her young friend curiously. He'd never really been very expressive with his thoughts and feelings before. She wondered if there was something else. "Is something bothering you, Kuro-kun?" She asked him concernedly.

He took a deep breath and sighed it out. "I'm too weak, aren't I?" He asked. "To be on the 1st string." He elaborated for clarification. Despite the topic, his expression never changed. He looked up at her with his big, blue eyes. "I can't even score a single goal." He reminded her.

Lucy sighed as well, turning her gaze forward. "A friend once told me it isn't always the fighters, who has the most important roles." She said, twisting Loke's words a little. "Sure, a basketball team won't survive without someone to score goals, but he is not everything." She reassured him. "If there were no one to guide him and support him so he would do his best, he wouldn't score any goals. If there were no one to take the opponent's shots, then he wouldn't win either." She said and looked down at him with a smile on her mouth. "And if there were no one to pass him the ball, he'd never get it in the first place." She told him.

Kuroko slowly nodded in what Lucy took as understanding. Or maybe it just meant he was listening.

"Playing basket is a team-effort. No one wins anything if their teamwork doesn't work properly." She said. "So everyone's important, one way or another." She reassured him.

Kuroko nodded again, but seemed to remain silent as he considered what she had said. This gave Lucy the very same opportunity. Those words could also be directed at herself, although it wasn't exactly about basketball.

… Or could they really?

The peaceful ball-game, where physical contact with the opponent hardly was allowed at all, was such a far cry from the quite dangerous world she lived in. With every mission, she and everyone else more or less put their lives on the line. Every single time.

It had been awfully clear in the collab-mission against Oración Seis, the incident with the Tower of Heaven and last, but definitely not least - more like the opposite - everything with Phantom Lord. In all of these, their lives had been threatened at least once, often more.

But that wasn't even the point. The point was that, yes, in her world teamwork was also essential for the sake of clearing the missions. No doubt about that. However that was more in the planning-stage than when said plan was being carried out. Not to brag or anything of the like, but she knew she was good with planning things and especially with the strong guidance of her Spirits and friends, who were much older and much more experienced than she was.

That was her strong point, thinking. Battling and fighting against enemies wasn't her strong suit. Sure, she was getting a lot of training and preparation with Gajeel, but if she was to fight against a strong individual, one with magic especially, hand-to-hand combat probably wouldn't be enough.

It wasn't to be misunderstood, she was more than grateful for what Gajeel was doing for her, and she enjoyed the time with him, she couldn't even put her appreciation into words properly. But it still didn't change the fact that she was just not strong enough to take care of herself against difficult opponents. Not with her weakened magic and under-developed combat-skills.

Perhaps the best choice of action for her would be to pull back, train, and simply do the planning for missions rather than participating in the actual fighting until she was strong enough to could handle herself once again. Of course, her team would object, saying that it couldn't even come up for discussion. She already knew. According to them, she was to participate, and then they would support and help her if necessary. If necessary.

If she knew them right, they would most likely also bring in the fact that she had beaten someone as strong as Angel all on her own, without help from anyone. Except Hibiki, who blasted her once, when she had closed in on Lucy and later transferring an all-powerful, one hit knock out, spell, which she had used whilst unconscious.

Definitely all by herself.

She was proud she was able to do it, but she would probably not be able to use that very much consuming spell again unless she was pressured into a similar situation again. Which was probably likely, seeing as she had been pushed into situations such as that more than once already. There was bound to be more coming.

"Thank you." She heard a little mutter beside her, startling her out of her thoughts. She looked down at the boy, who had uttered the low words. "I will remember those words as I continue to train." He promised her.

Lucy smiled warmly at him, even though he wasn't even looking at her. "I'm glad my words could help you." She told him honestly. Now if only she could help herself like that too. Somehow. She glanced down at his clear, non-moving expression. "But you know…" She trailed off, making the sea-blue eyes turn to her. "Even if it doesn't work out, which there is no doubt it will, I'm sure everyone would still want to hang out and play with you." She reassured him.

To be cruelly honest, that was more to cheer him up that it was the truth. She was quite worried that if he left, he would basically lose all contact with everyone except herself, Aomine and perhaps Momoi. There wasn't too much contact between the strings after all.

A little smile-ish something twitched at the corners of his mouth, making that probably the first half-expression-or-not she had ever gotten from him. "I will remember that too." He told her, the smile instead in his voice rather than on his face.

They walked a little further in what was definitely a comfortable silence for the both of them, until they reached the part, where their paths differed. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Lucy half asked, half stated. She simply got a nod in reply. Kuroko gave her a little wave before continuing on home. Lucy smiled lightly and shook her head just as lightly at his behavior. Classic Kuroko. "Remember!" She called out to him, making him turn around to face her again. "You're probably the most hardworking out of everyone on the team!" She told him. Mainly because he didn't have the talent like the others did.

He gave her a thumbs-up in reply, before he turned around and once again resumed the walk home. Lucy giggled at him and also began moving in the direction of Kozo's. This wasn't the first time she had walked this path because she hadn't gone back to Earthland as expected. She had also tried once staying overnight. It was a very uneventful and boring night.

She soon reached Kozo's and went through the door. She knew Hinata would be home at this point of time. Kozo most likely was too, otherwise he would be soon.

As soon as she opened the door, stepping inside she heard a new voice, which she hadn't heard before. "Are you sure, sis?" A masculine voice asked. A relative of the Shiroganes'?

"Of course I am! There is no doubt in the world that she is her daughter!" The voice Lucy easily recognized as Hinata's replied to the person, who was apparently her brother.

"It's just too hard to believe that this could possibly be her child. The chances of this happening are too small." He reasoned with her. Meanwhile Lucy found herself completely frozen by the entrance. Just what kind of conversation was this? Who was the person, this 'her', they were talking about?

"You will believe me once and if you see her." Hinata told him. "She looks exactly like La-" It was at this point Lucy decided to announce her presence by closing the door she had entered through with a bit more force than necessary, effectively halting their conversation.

"Hi Hinata!" She called out to the woman of the house as she took off her shoes. "I hope you don't mind if I stay here for a bit?" She asked.

The blonde heard a faint. "Oh, it's Lucy." Before she got her reply. "Of course I don't mind, dear. Stay for as long as you want!" She reassured the blonde. "Please come into the living room, there is someone I want you to meet." She said after a short pause.

Lucy did as she was told and went into the living room where Hinata and her brother were sitting. Her eyes quickly drifted to the unknown person in the room. He seemed to be in the beginning of his 40's, clothed in a black suit with a white dress shirt underneath and a purple tie. He had black hair, just like his sister, but with a thick, gray line of hair on each side of his face. His facial features were sharp, although they revealed age. He was the third guy she had seen on the pictures the first day.

"You must be the Lucy I heard so much about." He stated and got up from the chair he was sitting in and offered her a hand. "I'm Eiji Shirogane." He introduced himself, while looking at her a little weirdly, although she tried to ignore that.

"My brother." Hinata added from the couch with a smile.

Lucy smile at him and nodded as she accepted his hand and shook it. "Yep, that's me. Lucy Heartfilia." She introduced herself, noticing the way his face twitched. "A pleasure to meet you." She said.

"You as well…" He trailed off. He abruptly turned around to his sister once the atmosphere had become satisfyingly awkward. "Well, I will be off then." He said and uttered his goodbyes before leaving the two women in the silent room.

A moment later Kozo entered the house and announced his arrival. Right as he entered the room, Lucy turned to Hinata. "Does Eiji know of Earthland?" She asked mainly Hinata.

The woman nodded. "Ah, yes. He does." She told her. "So you can relax around him." She reassured the blonde. Lucy would have to disagree.. She probably wouldn't be able to relax around Eiji much.

"Oh so he was the one who drove off from here." Kozo muttered to himself, glancing back to the entrance before going to the chair Eiji had been sitting in just a moment ago.

The room remained painfully silent, starting a conversation was literally impossible. Lucy was just about to say that she'd be going to 'her' room - the room she borrowed if she stayed longer than expected - when Hinata cut her to it. "I'm sure you heard some of our conversation." She stated.

Kozo looked confused, but Lucy knew what she was talking about. "Yeah…. I heard the very last of it." She admitted a little reluctantly. She had been caught eavesdropping. She felt like she did when she had been caught playing with her magic when she was very young by her father.

The elder woman patted the seat next to her and moved to make space for the blonde on the sofa. "Perhaps it is also about time you were told." She said as Lucy sat down next to her. The Shiroganes exchanged gazes before turning to the blonde with quite serious expressions.

Kozo was the first to break the ice. "I'm sure you noticed that some of the pictures out there have been cut." He started out, gesturing to the entrance hall, where the pictures were hanging. Lucy nodded, but decided not to say anything.

Now Hinata took the word. "Of course you did." She said. "Those pictures once held out daughter too." She told her.

The Celestial mage looked at the woman, shocked with the revelation. "Your daughter?" She asked incredulously, hoping it didn't come out too rude right after it had been said.

The woman nodded. "Yes, our daughter." She confirmed. Lucy wondered why she hadn't met the woman and why she was cut out of the pictures. Surely she wasn't… In Heaven yet? Hinata sighed deeply. "But we lost her." She said. Lucy's eyes widened. Was she really right? Was their daughter really dead? "She's not dead, but she may as well have been." She said. Lucy almost breathed out in relief, but kept it in.

Kozo shook his head. "She found someone she loved dearly, honey. That's only a positive thing." He tried to reason with her, making Lucy's curiosity spike.

"I know, but that doesn't make it any more fair." The adult woman complained almost childishly. It was clear in her voice how much this - whatever it was - affected her.

Kozo smiled softly at his wife, his eyes flooding with the same emotions her voice revealed. "There's nothing we can do or say. We - or I - did the same thing." He said. Hinata agreed with a nod, a stray tear falling from her eye. When Lucy reached over to stroke her gently and comfortingly, it was like he finally remembered that she was there. "See, when our daughter reached her 17th year, she suddenly disappeared while she was sleeping. Of course, we didn't see this happen, but when it was time to wake her, she was nowhere to be found. We searched around frantically in the house and asked the neighbors, but no one had seen her leave." He told her. Lucy almost already knew where this was going. "We went back to her room, searching for clues as to her whereabouts-"

"But right as we entered the room, she appeared with a golden glow, lying on her bed." Hinata broke in. "Just like how Kozo-chan did back in his young days." She explained,, her voice a little shaky with emotion.

He nodded. "Yes." He agreed. "We stayed with her and waited till she woke up. She soon did and we asked her whether she could remember the dream she had just had." He told her.

"She could, of course." Hinata said. "Very clearly too." She added. "She had been at a weird place, which both seemed in front of and behind our day and time here at Earth. She said the air felt weirdly heavy somehow, but in an empowering kind of way." She explained.

"She then told us she was attacked by men with strange, magic-like powers." Kozo said, easily, naturally even, taking over for his wife like she had him. "But then a group of four other men came to her aid, fighting the others off. Especially one of them caught her eye and was also the one who helped her up and asked if she was all right." He said.

"He was later to become the one who would steal our daughter away from us." Hinata commented with a pouty voice.

"Hina-dear, you can't keep hating him forever. I'm sure it wasn't his intention to make you feel like that." He reasoned with his quite stubborn wife. "It was her choice in the end. She knew the risks and made a decision." He reminded her.

While the woman beside her pouted, Lucy decided to finally speak again. "So your daughter did the opposite of us? Went from here to Earthland?" She asked for clarification.

Kozo nodded. "Yes, that's what happened." He agreed. "I expect it may be because she has Celestial magic running through her veins from my side and that that was what allowed her to go from one place to another." He said..

Lucy nodded in understanding. "I see, that makes sense." She agreed. "So she found love there and decided to stay?" She asked. "Despite knowing the risks and loses included?" She added.

Hinata nodded. "Despite everything we tried, she still stayed there in the end." She muttered, barely loud enough for Lucy to could hear.

Kozo shuffled a little around in his seat, contemplating whether to say whatever was on his mind or not it seemed. "Speaking of risks…" He slowly said, having arrived at a conclusion. "There is another very important risk, which I have neglected to tell you." He told her.

Lucy tilted her head in confusion. There were even more risks involved with all of this? Weren't losing your important people from either side a big enough loss?

"I'm afraid that if you choose to stay at Earth over Earthland, there will be no doubt that your life-span will become shorter." He suddenly just sprang on her.

The suddenness of it and the heavy news it brought made her mind go into a deadlock. Even though it was easy to understand, she didn't comprehend a single word of it. She simply stared blankly at him. "… What?" She only asked him.

He sighed, not in irritation, but in a sad sort of way. "Living on Earth as a person from Earthland shortens your life. You will die at a younger age." He elaborated. "The lack of magic here slowly eats away at your magic and as you know, we with magic cannot survive without it." He said, ending the explanation.

Lucy, whose brain had been unlocked again during his explanation, was finally up-to-date with what he was telling her. "Do you know how long you've got left?" She asked him hesitantly, wondering if that was too personal.

Hinata shook her head. "That kind of thing is hard to calculate and predict." She said. "But we expect he will run out within the next few years." She told her, her voice cracking at the end and the air filled and thick with emotion.

"Then what about…" She trailed off, hoping they'd understand it either way.

"Our daughter?" Kozo asked, to which Lucy nodded. "We don't know. She is a person with magic, although slight, but unlike me, she was sent to a world full of magic, what keeps a mage alive. But on the other hand, it may be too much for her body's reserves. The fact that she comes from another world entirely probably also has an effect." He said. "So we don't know." He concluded.

Lucy nodded slowly, having understood what he said completely and was simply processing it. "Thank you for telling me all this." She told the both of them. "I'm afraid that Earthland is calling now…" She said as the familiar dizziness fell over her and swallowed her. It seemed this was what she was supposed to learn here today.

So, that's it for today folks! Hope you liked it~

And yes, revelations have been… Revealed? Yes, revealed! What did you think? Did you expect it or not? :3 I'm curious

Also... WE REACHED 200 REVIEWS! Guest wins the prize this time again!

Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, reviewed and last but definitely not least read!

~Line464d