Chapter 31- The Guild is Disbanded

Erza was staring out across the Magnolia river, head resting on her knee and her mind deep in thought. It had only been two weeks, barely a blink in time, and yet so much had changed. Master had disbanded the guild and no amount of protests could change his mind. There would be no rebuilding this time. It was time to move on, he told them. Some had moved on more quickly than others. Gray had already been planning to visit his parents grave, so he left the next day. Laxus, Bickslow, Evergreen, and Freed had started their journey around the same time, stoic and unreadable as always. Natsu & Happy left without much of a parting. Erza felt a smile tug the corner of her mouth. Who knew what trouble they'd get into without Lucy to talk some sense into them.

Erza's smile fell into a pensive frown. Lucy had put on a brave face, but when Erza had asked what her plan was, she had looked suddenly very small and fearful. Others seemed to react a similar way when the news of Fairy Tail's end spread. Wendy burst into tears on the spot with Carla comforting her. Cana had wasted no time heading to a pub in town, claiming she needed a drink and if the guild wouldn't provide it then she didn't need the guild. Watch Cana march off had made Erza wish Riku was with them on the pile of guild rubble. He always knew how to get Cana to talk about her feelings over some booze. No one else came close.

What would they do without the guild- their family? What would she do, Erza considered, without Riku at a time like this?

...

Lucy was rushing around attempting to clean up the mess around her apartment as her guest watched, a look of concern on his face that Lucy wasn't quite ready to address yet. If she could just remember where she put Natsu's note then she could just hand it over. She wouldn't have to explain or answer any questions. She could, perhaps, keep it together for just an hour. It would be a new record for the day.

"I know it's around here somewhere," Lucy called from the kitchen. "Erza must be happy you're finally out of the hospital. What did she say when she saw you?"

"I haven't gone to Erza yet. She said I should talk to you as soon as I got out."

Lucy poked her head around the doorway, a confused look on her face. Riku seemed more comfortable now, leaning back gingerly with one arm on the back of the couch. His dark brown hair was falling across his blue eyes, making it a bit unreadable. He wore his usual red cloak over blue jeans and black boots, but his chest was bare (wrapped in bandages that crisscrossed up and down his torso. She could barely see the wing of his gray guild mark peaking through the bandages across his heart. The sight of the mark made fresh tears leap into her eyes. Damn it, she couldn't even make it an hour?!

"Do you need anything while I look for it," Lucy asked concerned. "Are you in pain? I can get you an ice pack or something?"

"I'm alright," Riku muttered, running his hand through his hair and wincing at the motion. "Better than expected considering the circumstances. I thought I was dead."

"We all did," Lucy admitted. She grabbed some frozen vegetable from her freezer and sat next to him, holding them out. Riku took them with an appreciative nod as Lucy continued, "when Cana & Gajeel found you she told everyone not to say a word to Erza, until they figured out what happened."

"Yeah, I heard from Gajeel," Riku said with a chuckle. "I guess I fell pretty close to a face structure and when Acnologia tried to hit me with his roar, he hit the structure instead. Who would have thought face would actually help me out."

"What did Erza say when she found out you tried to fight Acnologia alone," Lucy asked.

"Look there was a whole other dragon there as well! Still, she wasn't happy," Riku said with a wince, this time not from his bruises. The memory of Erza's scolding was still blazed into his mind. She'd come in almost as soon as he'd woken up. She had marched in dragging three nurses behind her, all shouting that he couldn't see guests yet. The look on her face could have killed him right there and it got even more deadly when she asked what he thought he had been doing attacking Acnologia alone without any support. She hadn't let him answer before going off on him, volume rising and threats becoming more and more dangerous until she had all but collapsed onto him (her armored elbow going right into his stomach painfully). He was about to make a joke about her being scarier than any dragon, but it had caught in his throat when she looked up at him, eyes filled with relieved tears. He would have gladly taken on Acnologia right then and there again if it would get that expression off of her face.

"I can imagine it," Lucy said with a gentle smile, eyes moving slowly around the room. She spotted something across the room on her desk and leaped up with a triumphant cry, "Here it is!"She returned with a slip of paper and handed it to him.

"That's all he said, huh," Riku observed, holding it back to her as he finished. "What an idiot."

"Oh...well... I'm sure he had his reasons," Lucy said timidly. "He needs to get stronger and he probably figured I would just hold him back and after what happened to Igneel..." She could feel her eyes tearing up again as they darted to Aquarius' key on her desk involuntarily. Riku noticed and followed her eye-line, taking note of the broken golden key.

"That's sort of right," he said running his hand through his hair. "I think this is why Erza wanted me to come here first," he mumbled more to himself than Lucy. But Lucy heard and sat down, eyes boring into Riku with an intensity he had never seen before. It was really unnerving, like she was staring through his soul. "Look, don't look at me like that," Riku said, "I'm not going to reveal any insightful truths about Natsu. I'm just going to..." He sighed, cursing Erza in his mind. She could have just told him this is what she wanted him to do, damn it! He would have prepared!

"Look, when I left after Tower of Heaven I was sure it was the right thing to do," Riku said, shifting the frozen vegetables to his other rib. He let his eyes trace the line where Lucy's apartment wall met the ceiling. "and I'll admit I got stronger even though I didn't find Acnologia. But that didn't make the way I left okay. I figured I couldn't bring Erza with me because it would be selfish to drag her away from the guild and her friends just to go around the continent looking for a murderous dragon. I didn't even really have a plan. It wasn't long before I realized I should have said goodbye to her properly, but by then I was in Alvarez and it felt silly to come back just to say goodbye. I was thinking about it for seven years."

"What are you saying," Lucy asked confused.

"This is why I would have practiced," Riku sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "I'm saying that Natsu is an idiot and trying to do what he thinks is best, but it doesn't make it right and it's obvious he doesn't think you are weak and would have held him back. He just thinks he's suppose to do this sort of thing alone and maybe..."

Lucy was blinking bewildered at Riku. Mavis, he could not believe he was going to say this. He was going to kill Erza. "Maybe he's irrationally worried that you seeing him like this, all broken and hopeless, will make you think differently of him. He's not ready for you to see him so lost."

"Oh," Lucy said quietly. She leaned back and laid her head to look up at the ceiling, tears rolling down her cheeks steadily now. "That does make me feel a little better."

"I don't think the idiot realizes any of this consciously," Riku added, a smirk on his face. "But I think he'll figure it out before I did."

Lucy turned to him, a reluctant smile breaking across her own face as well. "So before seven years is up?"

"I think he'll do it in three to five."

...

It happened out of nowhere. Erza was staring at the river, the sun turning the sky a dusty orange as it began to dip behind Magnolia. She had been thinking of how warm the sun felt against her back. Suddenly an overwhelming fear gripped her,a fear that she might never feel this warmth again. She might never see the river before her. That, at this exact moment, she was destined to see Kyoka again in that room and to feel that excruciating pain again. Her heart was beating against her chest and she was breathing so quickly that she felt she might pass out. She hadn't had a panic attack like this since she was little and in the Tower to Heaven with the screams of people echoing through the cells and the snapping of whips. Erza squeezed her eyes shut, trying to steady her breath and stop the trembling that was shaking her body.

"Erza, focus on my voice. It's over. We're all okay."

She opened her eyes with a gasp as a body sat next to hers. Riku was watching her with a steady gaze. "Is it okay if I touch you," he asked carefully.

She nodded, finding her words caught in her throat which was still having a hard time breathing enough to form words. Riku's arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his chest. Her ear was right against his bandaged chest and she could hear his heart beating steadily.

"You're going to be okay," Riku said, running a hand through Erza's hair. "We're by the river in Magnolia. We're just listening to the sound of the water and feeling the nice breeze. Do you feel it?"

"Yes," Erza said, her heart beat slowing to normal and air returning to her lungs.

"Do you need anything?"

"No," Erza said. "Just give me a second."

After a few moments Erza moved carefully away, sitting up on her own and pulling her legs up to her chest. She laid her chin on her knees before letting her eyes move to Riku. She asked, "How did it go?"

"It would have gone a lot smoother if I had known what I was going there to do," Riku said shooting Erza a half-hearted scowl. "But I hope I helped a little. I asked if she wanted to join us, but she said no. You still want to join, right?"

"Yes," Erza agreed. "I think it would be good to get away from Magnolia for a bit."

Riku made a sound of agreement. They turned at the crunch of approaching footsteps to see a hooded figure passing by. Riku peaked under the figures hood to confirm his senses were right.

"Just making your way through," Riku asked the figure conversationally. "Or do you have something to say, Jellal?"

"You plan to go back to finish training," Jellal asked Riku, slowing his walk, but not stopping.

"We have to go back at least to tell them I'm alive. Might as well train," Riku confirmed, his eyes making their way down Jellal's intended path to see a group of figures standing there. He couldn't see who.

"We may need your assistance in the near future," Jellal said. "There is still a darkness on the rise. Zeref is still out there."

"Just send word when you need us," Riku replied. He gave Erza's shoulder a light nudge, a small smile breaking across her pinker than usual face. "Fairy Tail will always be there when friends need us."

Okay, I know I said 3 books, but look... we have one more arc and I can't leave Riku hanging without getting to fight Acnologia again & maybe help defeat him. So live or die, Riku is going to have a Book 4. More to come.