Hello everyone, I am back. A lot of things happened, and it just kept me from writing, and now with being in quarantine, I find myself having a lot of time on my hands, so I thought why not?... anyway I hope you are keeping yourself safe. Enjoy!
The grand magic games soon came and the master this time as well picked out two teams. He chose Lucy as one of the participants but she denied, she was still emotionally rattled to be battling, so they settled on making her a substitute for team B, which consisted of Gajeel, Mira, Laxus, Freed and Evergreen. Team A consisted of Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Erza, and Jellal with Bickslow as their substitute.
Through the time that passed since the last confrontation Lucy had, she rekindled her relationship with Gray, Wendy and Natsu, who she apologized to about her outburst, but she still kept them at arms length.
As for her brothers, they visited her every day, kept in touch with her and took her out many times on jobs and restaurants, they were trying to make it up to her while she always corrected them that what happened wasn't their fault, but they never have it.
The Raijinshuu were always by her side, Evergreen took her out shopping while Freed discussed his interests in books with her, as for Bickslow, he was training her on a few acrobatic moves.
And lastly, she hadn't said a word nor looked in the direction of the lightning dragon slayer, it was not because she felt that he was at fault, it was because she felt that she owed him a proper explanation about what happened, an explanation she could not give him at the moment, so she opted on avoiding him whenever he made a move her way. And this was killing him…
Ever since he found out that she was his mate, he couldn't keep himself away from her, the dragon in him wanted to mark her more than anything. Sometimes he would find himself walking towards her home at night so he could catch a glimpse of her, or take a whiff of her scent to calm the beast inside him. It reached the point where he had to beg his gramps to put her on his team, when he figured that she was going to participate in the GMG, but then she had to decline and accept to only be a substitute.
Arriving at Crocus, Lucy was walking on the streets with Wendy and Levy, who both kept glancing her way and this irked her to no end.
"Okay what the hell is going on? Why do you keep glancing my way?" asked Lucy feeling the irritation bubbling beneath her skin.
Both girls heaved a sigh, "Lu-chan we have noticed… some tension between you and Laxus."
Lucy looked taken aback by her answer, but she quickly composed herself and gave the girls a smile "Don't worry, everything is fine."
Levy seemed convinced by her answer while Wendy was still skeptical about the situation, for one because the smile Lucy gave seemed forced, and for two, because Laxus asked Wendy before they left to keep an eye on Lucy. Those reasons raised the alarm sirens in Wendy's head, but she put it at the back of her mind for now, she wanted to enjoy some time with Lucy.
"Hey Lu-chan?" Levy turned towards Lucy.
Lucy nodded her way to continue "Why did you refuse to participate in the GMG?"
Lucy almost tripped when she heard the question, Levy has become quite dangerous. She cleared her throat "I just thought with everything that happened, it's best if I don't participate."
Both girls seemed unsatisfied with the answer but they pushed her no further. They continued their walk through the streets and by night fall they returned to the inn after spending the whole day shopping, talking and having fun.
The master booked two rooms, one for team A and one for team B, which meant that she will be sharing a room with the person she's trying to avoid. She went in and it seemed like the whole guild was at the bar partying, she heaved a sigh of relief and went up to her room.
Upon opening the door, her eyes widened and her jaw almost hit the floor. Rose petals scattered on the floor leading to her bed, candles lit across the room and on her bed, the rose petals came together to form a heart with a letter that has her name on it and bouquet of roses were found in every corner. Lucy took measured steps towards her bed, she lifted the letter and opened it.
The letter was written with a beautiful handwriting with swirls going on every corner of the paper, and it read:
To the most beautiful girl that has ever walked the earth, I am truly sorry for what happened between us, and I would really love to pick up where we left of.
~D
Lucy giggled while reading this letter, and she almost shed some tears, Laxus was trying his hardest to talk to her and she really enjoyed the attention he was basking her in.
So she made up her mind to go and talk to him, thank him for what he has done and ask for forgiveness for what she did to him. She didn't know when along the way she developed feelings for this man, and now that she is admitting that she does indeed harbor feelings for him, she felt relieved.
Coming downstairs, she spotted him at the bar counter drinking some beer, she put on the biggest smile on her face and walked towards him. She poked him on his shoulder and he turned to her, surprised that she in fact came to talk to him, he thought she was just going to pass by him.
"Um Laxus…" her cheeks tinted with the color red, and her smile grew even brighter, he looked at her and he seems as if he was transfixed in a trance "Thank you for the surprise."
He blinked. He did again, and again, then furrowed his eyebrows together, he was confused. He saw the way her smile dimed when he asked about what she was talking about.
"The roses in the room, the letter, the petals on the floor… it was not you?" Lucy looked at him hopeful that it was indeed him, when no recognition flashed on his face, her heart sank.
"I'm sorry Lucy but it was not me-" he was startled by the fear he saw in her eyes.
"Bu-but you signed it!" she took out the letter and showed him. He looked at the letter, it somewhat looked familiar but he couldn't pinpoint it. When he looked up to confirm that it was not him, the tears that started leaking from her eyes caught him off guard, and when he was about to ask her what is wrong, she took off running towards the stairs.
The people who noticed the crying blonde hurrying towards the stairs made way for her, they then turned to see the lightning dragon slayer hurrying behind her, then the trio and the rest of team B.
Just as they were about to ask about what was going on, they were pushed over by team Natsu who rushed up the stairs.
Once Lucy reached the room, everything was still the same. Laxus reached behind her and saw how the room was, and was utterly shocked. He doesn't know much about romance, but he knows that girls like this kind of gesture, so why was Lucy crying uncontrollably?
Once the others reached the room, they had the same reaction as Laxus, but once they saw Lucy, they were quickly on high alert. She seemed so far away with the distant look on her face, she then slowly turned towards Laxus and looked at him "Do you smell anything?"
He looked confused at her request, but when he tried to catch a scent and wasn't able to, he grew more confused.
"Lulu, what is going on?" Jellal approached Lucy carefully, but two words had him stop dead in his tracks. In fact, it made the trio tense up and Cobra to growl.
"He's back."
XXX
Somewhere far away, in a rundown building, a man was seen sitting on a chair that looked somewhat like a throne. Next to him, a servant was standing with his head hung low.
"Master, the roses were delivered as you requested with the letter."
The man snickered "Very well, I hope to see you soon Lucy Heartfilia."
The servant turned around and left. Once the door was closed, he went to the dungeons and walked in a cell.
"What the hell do you want now dipshit?" snarled the man chained to the wall, he was beaten down, barely breathing.
"Nothing at all." The servant replied while he was emptying a bottle into a needle. The man chained on the wall widened his eyes "No, I did what you asked of me, why are you doing this?"
The servant got close to him, and injected the needle in the man's arm while the man groaned.
"Because it was master's orders, Ivan Dreyar." The servant smirked as he watched Ivan wither in pain, the injection won't kill him, but it will inflict a great deal of pain.
He turned and walked out of the cell, up to the kitchen to start making lunch. He started imagining the time when the maiden of the stars comes here and claims the throne next to his master, he heard the rumors that claimed that she was fair, just and kind. He couldn't wait to meet her, to see the pain inflicted on her would cause him a great deal of pleasure.
XXX
Jellal was pacing the room while Cobra and Macbeth were hovering over their sister trying to calm her down for she appeared she was about to faint.
Jellal turned to his sister and looked at her red eyes and puffy lips "Are you sure it was him?"
She looked at him and then at the letter, she then took a sweep at the room. "I don't know, he normally didn't go to such length, he never really got me flowers, just some creepy notes left here and there, that's why I didn't think much of it when I saw the flowers."
Jellal sighed "so that means that it might not be him."
The blonde perked up, and started to look around. The others were still too bewildered to ask anything. The blonde flipped her bed over, she then went to her cabinet and opened her drawers. She let out a sigh of frustration and her fear was replaced by anger. She turned to the others and asked them to bring the master up to her room.
Evergreen went to call the master while the rest stayed in the room looking at Lucy searching for something but not knowing what it is.
The master soon came and once he stumbled upon the sight of the room, he held his breath in, as much as the rose petals were beautiful, the alert and fearful look on the blonde's face made him sure that this was not a beautiful moment.
"What is it my child?" he asked her gently as he came closer.
She turned his way and swallowed the lump forming in her throat "Master do you remember about what I told you happened to me in the one year that the guild disbanded?"
Those who knew that she tried committing suicide perked up at the mention of that, but one look from the trio convinced them it was something else.
The master looked around him, and then back at Lucy "This was him?" he asked her.
"I don't know… but he usually leaves a number around."
"A number?" inquired the master.
"Yes." Replied the blonde.
All that were in the room not knowing what they are talking about flipped.
"What the hell are you talking about? And why the hell are there so many flowers?" it was obvious Natsu was about to lose his cool, he finally got his best friend back and it will be hell on earth if he lost her again.
"Child, would you like to explain?"
The blonde heaved a sigh and sat down on her thrown mattress, "In the year that the guild disbanded, I worked with the press, and I also did a lot of modeling jobs with Jason, at that time I would always get cornered by some creep, but it never actually got further than that. Until, someone started breaking in my apartment and leaving behind creepy notes, like "I will get you", "You are mine" and so on. I talked with the security about the situation and asked my spirits to keep guard of the room. It stopped for a while but then the notes came back, more confusing than ever."
The listeners looked deep in thought, while five of them were on the verge of shredding whoever stalked Lucy, and those were the trio, Natsu and Laxus.
"How confusing?" asked Freed, he was trying to decipher if there was a pattern behind what he heard, anything that would be useful to note down.
"It became numbers."
They looked surprised, Freed stepped up and asked about which number.
"Well back then it was 450. But as the days went by, the numbers kept being subtracted by one."
"So the number is related to days." Noted Evergreen.
"It seems so." The master looked at the blonde girl beside him "But you haven't found a number now did you?"
Lucy looked up at the master "No I didn-" her eyes widened as she looked at the ceiling above the door, written in red ink and small front "34".
She pointed her finger to the number and the others followed her line of vision, they all gasped when they saw the number written in red.
Erza turned around and looked at Lucy, she looked at the girl she used to think of as her little sister and she knew she messed up a lot with what she did, wanting to forget what happened before she turned to the master and talked to him.
"We need to keep someone to guard her."
The master nodded, the blonde looked over at the scarlet and smiled, which the scarlet returned. Finally their friendship is mending back to how it was.
Freed still looked puzzled and he thought out loud "But what does the number mean? We figured it was the number of days, but till what?"
His question alerted the ones in the room, because they all wanted to know but they didn't dare to think about an answer.
"My child, did he leave you a letter?" the master asked as he looked at Lucy.
"He actually did Master, but it is so confusing." Replied the blonde.
"How so?"
"Well the letter is sweet, not creepy like the ones he used to leave behind. It also has beautiful handwriting, but a signature usually was never left behind. This time a signature was left behind, and it is very similar to yours Master." Explained the celestial maiden.
The master looked deep in thought and then he asked her to give him the letter. After reading it, rage bubbled within the master and it was evident on his face.
"Jiji, what is wrong?" Natsu stepped up but Laxus stopped him. Seeing the fury in both the Dreyar' eyes, he remained in his place.
"Jiji!" whispered Laxus.
"Hai." The master whispered back.
Laxus punched the wall near him, the Raijinshuu were quickly to come stand next to him to calm him down.
"Master if you could please explain what is happening." Freed tried to reason with the master, but Makarov was still too enraged to answer.
Finally he heaved a sigh and closed his eyes "Every Dreyar member has a unique signature, mine is a majuscule D with a swirl under it, Laxus' is a majuscule D with a swirl on top of it, and… Ivan' is a majuscule D in italic, just like the one on the letter."
The occupants of the room widened their eyes at the information they just received, and when Gray was about to speak, the master cut him to it.
"But… a few weeks ago, a report came in. Ivan Dreyar was kidnapped from prison."
Freed looked thoughtful at the master "Then that means…"
"That whoever is stalking Lulu…" Continued Jellal.
"Also has Ivan-san." Finished Wendy.
The master heaved another sigh and looked at the blonde girl, who stared at him with big brown eyes, Makarov then looked out the window.
"This has just turned a lot more complicated." He muttered.
So I know this isn't a big chapter, but I thought it'd be more exciting to stop it here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, stay safe and stay home. I purple you.
