Welcome to chapter 39. The last full chapter of this fan fiction. There is the Epilogue to go!
Dear Mother.
Why does death sting the heart so much? I have been wondering that for a while now. My body hurts in remembering those who sacrificed something to save me. Hinata with her arm and Zachary with his life.
My heart hurts so much, I am almost unable to bare it. My lungs want to scream, but my mouth won't allow it. I hate it. I hate that he's dead. He had so much to live for, and yet he gave it all up to save me.
It has been three days since they saved me, in that time, I haven't done much but sleep and eat the stale crackers I keep in my cupboard. I feel useless. I can't think of anything to do, as I am in a state where I have no one to talk to.
Loke is still away, I miss him so much. His smell, his hair, his face. I miss that sly smile he gives you before he does something mind-blowing. He would usually give that smile before he kisses me. I love him so much, yet so much is getting in the way of letting me be with him. All I want us to be together, mother, is that so much too ask?
I wish he could come to the funeral today, but Virgo told me that the Spirit King has denied him passage until he has a full consultation with him. I can understand what the King means, but all the same, I want him here. I wish I could go to the Spirit World, even for a moment, and kiss him. Hug him. Anything at all.
Other wise, mother, everything is fine. I am going to make sure I move on with my life, and make it worth the while. Fate decided to keep me here, so I am going honour that chance and do whatever I can to make myself happy again.
I have too stop writing now, Natsu is here.
I hope you're well. I love you.
Lucy x
After putting the letter into an envelope and stamping it, Lucy placed the letter in her box. Seeing that some of the older ones were yellowing in colour. She sighed deeply, putting the box back on its shelf. Natsu was wearing all black, respectful, almost. But Lucy knew that Zachary hated black at funerals. He found it boring. He always wanted colour. So she opted for something different.
The yellow dress on the day of the Fairy Tail picnic. And a black jacket to wear over it, as it was cold outside nowadays. She wore small heeled ankle boots, and her hair had been tied in a tight bun. She wore no makeup, he wouldn't want makeup. He would want a clear faced, Lucy. Though she admitted to herself, that was quite reasonable as she knew tears would soon come.
Natsu pulled her into a hug, which she accepted with gratitude. He squeezed her once before letting go, holding onto her shoulder in support. His smile was light and peaceful, it made her smile back. Smiling felt alien, like it was something she hadn't done in months. Which of course, was far from the truth.
Lucy and Natsu walked the mile it took to get to the funeral destination. It was in a field. When Kiarely had finally awakened from her short coma, she mentioned that Zachary loved that field in particular, that it would be perfect for a Pixie funeral. Wendy and Levy made sure that everything was to the standard of a traditional Pixie funeral. Seeing the many tall candles spread across the field made Lucy's heart flutter. Seeing the girls dressed in some colour, made her heart break into a thousand pieces.
She smiled to them all, whether it looked genuine she did not know. She was too sad to care. Kiarely met her, holding onto her crutches as she greeted Lucy with a kiss on her cheek. Kiarely had sported a purple dress, matching her perfectly. Elanie was wearing a red dress, looking somewhat adorable under the circumstances.
The only thing that shocked Lucy was looking beside Kiarely and seeing no other than the other Mandragora siblings standing there respectively. Drago, Dimitri, Lucinda and Nigi all stood in coloured outfits, smiles absent from their faces. All of them looking just like their mother with their white hair and pale complexions. Lucy couldn't remember the last time she had seen the Mandragora siblings, years, surely.
In front of everyone was the bonfire that scaled high up in the air. Made up of straw and twigs found in the forest around them, and comfortably sitting on top was Zachary. Wrapped peacefully in golden cloth, with the traditional roses where his eyes were, his body completely covered in flowers. Heartfilia flowers. It was a morbidly beautiful sight to be seen, everyone was thinking it, Lucy knew. No one had ever seen anything like this, nor would they ever again.
Makarov walked in front of the bonfire stack, which remained unlit whilst he spoke. The master's words were strained, tearful, unhappy. But Makarov spoke with sincerity, Mirajane standing beside him holding a bunch of roses, tearful. Laxus looked uneasily in her direction as he stood beside the rest of the Strauss siblings. Lucy felt tears slowly slide down her cheek, emotions flooded around the group. All the guild was there to see the funeral. It made her happy knowing that Zachary was friendly with all of them. That he was considered a true Fairy Tail member.
"We are here to say goodbye," Makarov started. "To a true member of our guild. A true wizard who showed great skill, strength and sincerity to his work. To his family and to his lifestyle. Zachary Mandragora might've not been here for long, but he impacted us all in one way or another. He loved his guild, and his family above all else. He was a true man, a true individual. He would protect all of us if he had the strength too." He smiled, "He died with dignity, which is what he wanted. He left us knowing that we all loved him… some more than others." He sniffed, "Zachary Mandragora shall always be remembered. No matter what the years bring, he will be remembered."
Mira nodded sadly beside him, saying nothing. Makarov nodded towards Natsu, who held up a stick and lit it from the palm of his hand. The stick lit easily, he looked to Lisanna who nodded in support as he walked to the bonfire pile and slowly lit it. The master sighed, "Let's have a moment of remembrance, whilst he is finally put to rest."
Lucy watched the flames rise up like tulips in the spring. They swirled and swarmed over the body that was placed on the top. Elanie started to sob, clutching onto her mother in support. Kiarely smiled down to her, "It's okay, baby."
Elanie looked to her and then out of the blue screamed, "I miss uncle Zachary!" Which made everyone look at her shocked, being the first words that Lucy knew of that Elanie had ever physically spoken before.
Kiarely didn't seem so shocked, she slowly knelt beside her son and daughter kissing them both on the cheeks. "Death is something not to be feared or mourned with tears, but with smiles. Death is a form of remembrance. A way to find the memories of someone you love and smile at them. Be happy when you think of them. Not to cry when you think of them. Uncle Zachary will be missed, sure enough. I know that more than anyone. But what I know as well, is that he would want us to smile when we remember him, not to cry."
Elanie rubbed her eyes, nodding, snuggling her face into the crook of Kiarely's neck.
Lucy all but watched the flames start to turn the twigs and straw to ash. Slowly she saw Zachary's body be burned away along with the twigs and straw underneath. She clutched her chest, tears flowing from her eyes freely. She sniffed and nodded, "I'll smile and be happy, I promise… I promise."
Me and Loke promised… We'll be forever happy.
Three weeks later…
"Open, gate of the golden bull! Taurus!" Lucy called out as a group of masked men came hurtling towards her, she smirked as out of the golden Taurus bounced through mooing louder than ever. "Get em' Taurus!"
"Yes, Miiiissss Luuuccyyy!" Taurus mooed, grabbing his axe before throwing down the men before him. Lucy clapped at him, happy for his efforts before he went back to the Celestial Spirit World.
Lucy ran through the ruins, her breath laboured. She found herself regretting wearing her heeled leather boots in these conditions. The sun here was hot all year around, her leather skirt stuck to her like tarmac. She heard Erza's battle cries from her left, and the cool air that came from Wendy and Gray's joint attacks. Smirking to herself, Lucy ran for the temple of Shang Wu, hoping that she wouldn't run into any more enemies on the way.
Of course, the hope was short lived. Moments after her wish, Natsu was thrown right into her. They both rolled across the cracked and rough floor before stopping, scuffs and cuts across their bodies. Like they had major carpet burns from play fighting. Lucy looked from under her hair, and sure enough roughly ten new enemies came before them. She cussed to herself as she witnessed Natsu struggle to stand up, still in a daze.
Lucy stood up quickly, thinking fast before grabbing her nearest key. "Open, gate of the giant scorpion! Scorpio!" Scorpio jumped out, saying something witty before he used his sand storm attacks on the enemies in front of them. It managed to blow away some of them, though the others seemingly were unaffected by the sudden weather change, causing Lucy to panic. "Work with me, Scorpio!" She held onto the handle of her whip, flicking her arm across her body in one swift movement. Her whip extended, Fleuve d'étoiles being in full power.
Battling the enemies was seemingly easy at first glance. They showed hardly any difficulty, meaning Lucy and Scorpio had finished defeated them all in moments, if not seconds. Out of breath slightly, Lucy let Scorpio back into the Celestial Spirit World, thanking him sweetly.
"Natsu! Lucy!" Gray and the other's ran over to them. Natsu finally got over his daze, standing up and sighing.
"Way too rusty," he mumbled, smirking. "Let's go, the emerald has to be in there right?"
Lucy nodded, "Yep." She had read the maps of the ruins on the way here, she made sure that she understood where everything was.
They ran the rest of the distance towards the temple. Once in front of the giant building, that over thousands of years had somehow maintained its perfect structure and shape, the group gazed in awe, not sure what to do next as the door remained locked. Erza put a finger to her lips, "Possibly knocking would be a good start?"
Natsu scoffed, "How will knocking do anything? If anyone is in there they're gonna' be dead."
Lucy ran her fingers through her hair, she wished that she had a hair band, the weather was stifling. "Maybe it's as simple as saying some typical magic word?" She looked at the blank faces of her friends, sighing in despair and rolling her eyes. "Oh please… You didn't even read bedtime stories growing up?" She dismissed it with a hand wave. "Let me try." She sighed, exhausted from the day's events. "Abracadabra!" She yelled up to the building, nothing budged, which is what she had expected. Erza looked at her puzzled, the blonde mage could tell that she had a lot of burning questions about these old stories, and as to whether or not they were accurate. Lucy tapped her foot, frustrated. She wanted to get today over and done with. To get her money and go home, have a hot bath and read a good book.
"Oh my god, will you just open up already?" She said with a raised tone, causing the ground to suddenly rumble beneath their feet. She widened her eyes, blinking in amazement. "Wait, what? That actually worked?"
The door to the temple opened, Lucy grinned. Erza smiled alongside her, walking steadily inside. She sniffed the air and narrowed her brown eyes, "There're traps, careful where you step."
Natsu rolled his eyes, walking behind Erza muttering something like 'careful where you step, ha!'
Lucy knew muttering those things would bring bad luck, as if the old spirits within this temple heard him, a large axe swung from the left wall of the temple. Almost decapitating Natsu in one sweep. Erza, luckily, had summoned a sword and sliced the axe into several thousand pieces. "Like I said," She mumbled, "watch your step."
It took several hours to reach the temple's main room, the walls were tall and completely made of gold. Lucy's mouth watered, thinking of what she could possibly do with the money should could get with several chips of the stuff. Wendy smirked up at her, reminding her of the reward money and how that was enough to pay her rent.
"Oh yeah, right." She nodded, smiling back. Secretly still wanting the gold that she stood on.
"THERE THEY ARE!" A voice boomed. A hundred or more soldiers stood on the level above to Team Natsu, their eyes hungry for the blood they were about to hopefully spill. Lucy gulped as Natsu pushed her out of the way from an arrow that would've gone straight through her skull.
Lucy watched as her friends started to fight the enemies at hand, she knew she was running out of magic power. Deeming to be useless now in battle. Ever since the incident with Obadiah, she had lost a lot of magical power, seemingly after breaking down from the aftermath of the ordeal. She was still training to get it back, but she apparently still had a lot of work to do.
"I still gotta help," she told herself. Standing and running towards the middle of the room where a green glow seemed to generate from. Her legs begged her to stop running after the long days heist, but she kept them going. Arrows were aimed at her, and she somehow managed to dodge each and every single one.
She finally got to the source of the green glow, stopping suddenly at the amazing green emerald that sat comfortably on top a purple pillow on a large pillar in the middle of the room. Lucy could easily grab the emerald, but she knew that there had to be something that would jump out at her. It was too easy.
"Grab the blonde one!" Someone yelled, she looked over her shoulder and widened her eyes.
Someone hit her over the head with someone, causing spots to flash in front of her face. She fell over, hitting her coccyx as she did. Pain shot through her butt and back, causing her to groan loudly, "Dammit!"
She heard a loud chuckle, she looked upwards. Her eyes turning into nothing but pure fear. A man had an axe raised over his head. Eyes full of intent. Intent to kill her with no remorse. "Die you blonde bitch!"
Lucy closed her eyes, squinting, waiting for death. When the blow did not come, she suspiciously looked back up to the man in front of her and gasped. A tall dark figure was in front of her. His suit was shining in the bright golden lights of the temple. His hair blowing from the wind produced from Wendy's attacks. He had used his rings to block the axe attack, glaring in pure hatred at the man who had attempted to place a final blow at his beloved.
"Looks like my knight in shining armour skills aren't that rusty after all, hmm?" He joked, though his voice was nothing but venom. "It's almost ironic really, the last time I did this was at Kiba Lain…"
"Loke…" Lucy whispered, tears creeping to her eyes. Her heart squeezing at the sight of him, it had been three weeks. She hadn't seen him since his departure from the 'save Lucy' mission. She sniffed, "You're back."
He smirked over his shoulder at her, his hazel eyes glimmering from behind his glasses. "Hey, beautiful. How're you doing?"
"Could be better, I guess." She smirked, "Would be dead if it weren't for you."
He looked back at the man with the axe, his eyes darkening. "Oh yeah… about that." His hand flipped around, grabbing the base of the axe, yanking it from the enemy's hand. "You tried to kill my love…"
"I-I… I was just following orders!" He said surprised. Lucy was surprised he hadn't peed himself.
Loke glared, his growl was lion-like. It almost scared Lucy as well as the already shocked and speechless guard in front of the two of them. "Orders…" he spat. "I promised I wouldn't let a hand reach my love's face, and I won't let the person who let that happen live to see another day." His hands started to glow the familiar golden colour. Glowing as brilliantly as the walls around him.
"Do I have permission to kill this son of a bitch, my love?"
Lucy bit her lip, nodding once. Loke's hand glowed a more vibrant, more poisonous looking gold. He used the side of his hand, almost like a karate chop, to take the guard down in one sweep of his hand. Loke waited a few seconds, seeing the guard fall to the ground, dead. He looked over his shoulder again and smiled, "You alright?"
She nodded, tears falling from her eyes. "I miss you," she whispered.
He walked too her, kneeling in front of her, stroking her cheek lovingly. "I miss you too, my love." Lucy touched his cheek as well, returning the love that radiated between them like fire. It rekindled the missing piece from Lucy's heart. For the last few weeks, she had been missing it. Craving it. And now, after all the waiting, it was there, finally.
Their heads moved closer together, her scent mixing with his, their breathing increasing in speed. They both felt their hearts pound, their faces warming and their bodies reacting to just being near each other. "Loke…" She whispered.
His nose nuzzled hers, slowly itching closer for a kiss. Their lips brushing as the sudden yelling from a certain dragon slayer broke them apart, cheeks flushed and eyes dilated.
"Is this really the time, guys?" Natsu complained.
Erza smirked, checking if there were any more enemies to fight. Seeing none she looked to Loke and nodded, "About time you turned up. I was tired of seeing Lucy so depressed, it is too unlike her."
Loke smiled, saying nothing as he helped Lucy to her feet. He brushed off the dust from his suit, Lucy did the same. Feeling wobbly where she stood, she leaned into Loke. "Maybe we should get the emerald and go?" She suggested, her voice exhausted.
"You okay, Luce?" Gray asked, everyone looked worried. Loke's eyes watched her with caution. He picked her up in his arms, like a cradle.
"You still haven't recovered," he said simply. She shook her head in response, too tired to speak. He touched her forehead, "You're burning up."
Wendy touched her head and bit her lip, "Maybe we should take her back to the inn where she can rest. I can heal her there."
That was the last thing Lucy remembered before she woke up in an inn that smelt like sandalwood and candy. Wendy was pressing a cloth to her head, its cold being scorched by the heat coming from her head. "L-Loke…"
"He had to go back to the Spirit World." Erza, who was sitting beside her said sadly. "He wanted to stay, but he said that the Spirit King was keeping tabs on him."
Lucy sniffed, she felt a tear go down her cheek. "I haven't seen him in so long…" She sobbed lightly, "I miss him."
Wendy looked to the floor sadly, "I'm sure he feels the same way. It must be difficult for him though, think about it, he's the leader of the Zodiacs. He probably has a lot of duties that he has to take care of." She blushed, "I am sure you're his priority, Lucy, but he is a Spirit."
She sobbed and turned in her bed, "I need to rest, please leave me alone." Her voice was cracked and raw. Erza glanced at Wendy and nodded, sighing lightly as they walked to the door.
Erza looked back at her friend, who sobbed into the pillow. She knew how her friend was feeling, she had been keeping it a secret, but Jellal had been on her mind frequently lately. Lucy can't just summon Loke if the King was on his back, and Erza can't see Jellal due to his life-time sentencing. It saddened her daily, sure enough. So knowing how Lucy was feeling, made her increase into sadness. But she felt the pain, too.
"Lucy?" Erza said softly, Lucy sobbed in response. She couldn't handle words right now. "Just remember something for me? You are loved, and in these predicaments, we know it, but have to wait for it. I believe though, the wait will be worth it. So just keep positive, keep strong, because you are not weak to subdue yourself in the sadness." Smiling to her friend who peeked under the covers at her, she opened the door and left. The door clicking closed behind her.
Lucy sniffed and held herself in a ball. She found her keys on the bed side table, picking out Loke's. Holding it tightly against her breast. Sniffing hard, and rolling over. "I miss you. Promise me… Promise me that you'll come back to me safe and sound, Loke." She was tired, so tired. Just before she found herself falling back into slumber, she found herself whispering, "Come back to me, Leo…"
I hope you enjoyed the last full chapter of this fan fiction. Don't worry, it isn't over yet as there is an Epilogue to come! I apologise that I haven't updated in forever! But I have been incredibly busy, ill with a kidney and bladder infection, and I have another project going on. (WHICH! you can go read now, if you're into Psycho-Pass and into more nitty gritty fan fictions. 'The Sphinx and the Angel' is its title!) But I promise, the Epilogue is on its way! Until then, bye! (Don't forget to review!)