*.*.*.*.*.*
I'm currently in a jail cell with Yukino, another celestial wizard. She used to be a member of the Sabertooth guild but their master kicked her out because she lost her match and basically sold her life to Kagura from Mermaid Heel. After that, she surprised me by joining the army as a temporary sergeant for the Cherry Blossom Holy Knight Squadron.
We first ran into each other underground when myself, Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Gray and the exceeds discovered the dragon graveyard and learned about how Acnologia came to be from the spirit of the dragon Zirconis. She was listening in on his story with Arcadios, the chief of the squadron. They tell us they have this great plan to stop Acnologia that makes the need to defeat Zeref even greater. Their plan involves the need for a celestial wizard which is why Yukino is now a member of the army.
Yukino and Arcadios take us inside Mercurius, the palace where the King lives. This is also the place where Arcadios mentions that he was the one who sent the troops after Wendy and Carla that Natsu beat the other day. He apologized and said he was under the orders of someone that told him I was their last hope as a celestial wizard. I think that was going a little too far and they agreed, especially when they had Yukino on their side.
They take us to this giant door in the castle which Arcadios calls Eclipse. As we're standing there listening to what Arcadios and Yukino have to say, royal soldiers quickly surround us. They say Arcadios commited a crime by letting 'outsiders' know secrets of the government. He tried to defend himself but was getting nowhere. Instead, they arrested him and us celestial wizards as 'accessories of his crime' and told the rest of the army to dispose of Natsu and the others.
Natsu tried to fight back, but his magic was completely drained by Eclipse the moment he tried to use it to fight back. I hope he's okay...
"I never wanted you to get involved in this...I'm so sorry," Yukino says to me as we sit in this giant jail cell together.
She says she always has bad luck wherever she goes. I try to keep a positive attitude and say that she doesn't really have anything to feel sorry for since it's not her fault. I try to get her to focus on figuring ourselves a way outta here and getting our keys back.
Yukino keeps apologizing to me and blaming herself for our situation but I tell her that it's not her fault at all.
"It seems like we got ourselves caught up in the middle of a power struggle in the government," I say as I'm looking for a way out of this cell. All they're really fighting over is whether or not the 'Eclipse Project' should be happening or not.
Yukino says they should go forward with it, but I don't really know enough about it to make an opinion for myself on the subject. She then explains to me that she used to have an older sister named Sorano but she was taken away from her family by people who followed Zeref when they were kids. She says she wants to be reunited with Sorano by making it so Zeref never gains his immortality those 400 years ago and never gains all of these followers.
I don't even know if this is possible: changing the past. How can it be guaranteed that the future turns out the way you want it to if you do change the past?
Some time has passed and I'm having no luck in finding a way out of this cell. There are no guards nearby to ambush and nobody coming for us. I suggest to Yukino that we get some rest, but she is still upset and is blaming herself for what happened to us.
"You can get some sleep if you want," she says half-heartedly. I sigh sadly, but do as she says.
A little while later, I start to hear a familiar, husky voice whisper, "Lucy!"
I drowsily open my eyes but think I'm hearing things. I close my eyes again and I hear that same voice whisper, "Lucy, wake up!"
I open my eyes once more and gasp as I lift my head to see Natsu, Wendy and Mira on the other side of the bars. I rush over in excitement, kneel down and say "Natsu! Wendy! Mira! You're here! Boy, am I glad to see you guys! Ca-," I'm about to ask them if they can let us out but I'm cut off by a hand.
"Shhhhh!," Natsu shushes me as he covers my mouth with his large hand.
"Sorry..." I apologize into his palm. He releases me and I walk back to the bed and see Happy on top and the rest of the other exceeds around it on the floor. Carla is surprised I'm in such high spirits for our current circumstances but I told her that I never gave up hope.
"How were you guys able to get past the guards?," Yukino asks Natsu curiously as he's testing the bars.
"Don't worry about it and just stand back," he says as he grabs a hold of the two bars in the center, successfully melting them with his magic enough so he can rip them apart with ease.
Mira hands me a fresh set of clothing and Wendy offers Yukino some food they brought while I change behind my single bedsheet with Mira and Yukino's help.
As I'm putting on my last boot and complaining about the stupid people who captured us and took our keys, the floor drops out from underneath all of us as we fall down to who the hell knows where.
Luckily, Natsu was the first to land so he broke our fall. When we all picked ourselves up off of him, we heard a voice say "welcome to the Abyss Palace, your permanent holding cell."
"Who's that?," I ask the mysterious feminine voice.
I don't get an answer. Instead, the voice says, "you fell right into our trap... did you enjoy the ride?"
We immediately protest and tell the voice no. Well, Happy does anyway.
"Look around you. This is the capital of death, the Abyss Palace: your last taste of freedom before death. There is only one way in and no way out. No inmate has escaped and lived to tell the tale."
Then, a hologram of a young woman with long, green hair and what appears to be a crown atop her head says, "I doubt you'll do any better, you rebels. You can rot down there for all I care."
"Who the hell're you?!" Natsu asks, shaking his fist in the air visibly annoyed. He's not the only one...
"I am Hisui E. Fiore, Princess of the kingdom of Fiore."
"If you're the princess, then you're the one who trapped us down here?!," Mira asks.
"Why?!" I add in.
Of course, the fireball of the bunch wants to fight her as soon as possible and demands we be shown an exit before the Princess's hologram disappears.
"Didn't you hear what she said, hot-head, there's no exit in this place!" Lily yells at Natsu. It's funny, he sounded just like Gray for a second there. They must be rubbing off on him too much.
"What do we do? We can't be stuck down here!" Wendy wails.
Some time later...
I feel like we've been walking forever. "Natsu! It feels like we're going around in a giant circle. My feet are killing me!"
"Can you smell anything?," Mira asks him.
"Ehh, not really. Nobody's been down here in such a long time, so it's hard to pick up on any scents," he says after sniffing the air around us.
While we're walking through, Lily makes a comment that he gets the impression that this place isn't a last taste of freedom. Instead it's more like a last taste of despair for the people that died down here and now litter the place with their skeletons, but Natsu is convinced otherwise and thinks Princess Hisui is a liar.
"She said there was no way out of here but I'm not buyin' it," he says with a confident smirk. "We're gonna prove she's been lying to us, 'cause we're gettin' outta here!"
Natsu's positive attitude inspires me, Wendy, the exceeds, and Mira but Yukino still isn't convinced. She's surprised we're all acting so optimistic despite the current situation but Mira smiles and assures her, "we've all been in worse situations than this. We just have to stay positive and things will all work out in the end."
I think she is absolutely right. "Yeah! When we work together, there's nothing our team can't accomplish. We just have to stay positive!"
*.*.*.*.*.*
I yawn, "Stay positive?" I chuckle, "yeah, right. Sorry dream self, that's not gonna work this time."
I get out of bed to go to the restroom. Then, I come back and check the clock, noticing that it's 9:10 AM. I guess it's better than the other day where I was out of bed at like 6:30 AM.
I grab my laptop, plop back onto my unmade bed and swiftly jot down what I remember from the dream. Of course, the one person I'm not talking to right now is in it... AGAIN. Why can't I get him out of my head for once?! He's everywhere! He's in my dreams, at work when I'm there. Hell, he's probably there when I'm not working.
Ugh, that reminds me. I have to go to work later today. I am SO not looking forward to this. What if he's there? No, correction; what if he's there my entire shift?!
I don't think I can torture myself much longer. Especially now that I really don't have anyone to talk to about this weird stuff anymore.
I sigh as I look through my wardrobe and find a green, striped blouse and a pair of beige khaki shorts. I go back to the bathroom, run myself a bath, undress, and then step in, letting my worries just melt away as I melt into the warmth of the water.
I lather myself with soap and massage shampoo into my hair. Then, I rinse my head under the water and come up to lean my head against the edge of the tub behind me. I close my eyes and let my mind wander.
