Another chapter down, loads more to go XD
~Chapter Six~
Natsu's arms began to shake, his muscles fatiguing from how hard he was clenching his fists. He couldn't decide what emotion was stronger than the others but it was a fight between anger, sorrow and regret. He couldn't believe he had been so gullible all this time; his mind so easy to be fooled and used by someone who he had called family once. Though his mind was free, he was stuck with the sickening regret and guilt that remained. After years of preaching and practising of loyalty and family, it was a tough blow to swallow to find out he was the one to break it, and to his best friend no less. He felt a sense of emptiness with Lucy gone and he could feel the whole in his heart grow larger the more he thought about it.
"I know you're hurting more than all of us Natsu, but you can't blame yourself. Lisanna had you under a potion, you had no control." Erza tried to comfort him, but knew that no words could mend his damaged mind, only time would have any hope for him. They had walked in a circle all through Magnolia in silence until they stopped at the riverside that Lucy had a habit of walking over. It was then that Natsu relaxed his arms and Erza began her attempts of soothing his heart. "I could've stopped it. I'm weak, not her." His head hung low as he moved to sit down on the ledge, Erza placing herself down next to him. "None of us saw it coming, we were all fooled, we were all wrong." She stared into the still water, both of their reflections seemingly exposing their sins. Natsu glared at what he saw, disgusted at himself. "I did it though. I pushed her to the breaking point. Nothing can change that. Nothing." His sadness flowed down his cheeks in the form of tears. "We might never see her again and it's all my fault." He grabbed a small pebble that was laying on the ledge and threw it into the river in anger.
Erza's frown deepened, her own tears blurring her eyes. "We have to have hope." She choked out, trying to be strong, but the fear of Natsu being right upset her too much. Natsu shook his head, his hand sloppily wiping away his tears. "What if she never comes back?" He could feel his heart clench at the thought of never being able to see Lucy again, the girl that gave his life a special kind of light that nobody else gave him. Erza closed her eyes, trying to hold back the fresh tears at his words. Neither of them said anything, just sitting and crying silently in each other's presence.
"Natsu, I know that this will be a very hard time, for all of us, but we'll need to continue on with our lives without Lucy." He disagreed. Standing up off the ledge, he began to pace back and forth. Erza looked at him in concern. "Natsu-" He had already had enough of pacing and turned to face her. "I need to be alone." His voice was cold and unfamiliar to Erza. His eyes were blank, lost of all passion and joy. She simply nodded and could only watch him as he walked away from her. She could not guess how much time he would need to come to terms with Lucy's leave but she knew that the person she was looking at was not Natsu.
Lucy had finished her minimum amount of food, her appetite faded from the tense atmosphere caused from Igneel storming out of the room. Demeter noticed that Lucy was staring off into space and gently touched her hand. "Come along, I have much to explain to you yet." She spoke softly with a smile, leaving the table. Lucy followed closely behind her. Demeter walked much slower this time, allowing Lucy to finally appreciate the inside structure of the castle. The walls were simply marble, as were the stairs and floors, though they had a red carpet placed through all of the corridors. Hanging from the ceilings were incredibly large chandeliers with skillfully intricate carvings, matching the golden hand railings for the stairs. There were painted portraits of dragon royalty or history throughout the whole castle, dating back to the world's earliest years. There were beautiful portraits of royalty at their coronations in their human forms, their eyes seeming to follow Lucy down the corridor. There were other paintings of battles and dragons training and it was in those that Lucy had her first glimpse of the true strength and power of dragons.
"It really is quite something, our history I mean." Demeter spoke as Lucy halted her steps before one painting in particular. It was a dragon that looked almost identical to Demeter, dressed in green and gold armour. It seemed to be in charge of the ferocious battle around it, for most of the focus was pulled towards that singular dragon. It was charging towards a dragon of black and neon blue, behind that a much smaller black shadow. "Who is that?" Lucy pointed to the dragon in the centre of the painting. Demeter smiled up at the painting. "That would be my father, Enki, king of the dragons." Though there was a smile upon her lips, it seemed full of sadness. "He always fought with such passion and courage. To me, he was fearless, unstoppable."
Lucy turned to Demeter to see her staring up at the painting. "He was a kind ruler, loved by all of his subjects. He protected us for many years, charging first into battle." Demeter met Lucy's gaze. "He used to promise me that one day I would fight alongside him and his army." She shook her head with a soft smile. "He seemed like a good man." Lucy gave her smile and Demeter nodded her head. "He was. He used to believe that all creatures, good and bad could unite and bring peace. He thought that the power of love was the strongest of them all." She turned back to the painting with a frown. "I believed him once." Demeter tore her eyes from the painting of her father and began walking further down a corridor.
Lucy followed her in silence, seeing that Demeter's mood had shifted from their small talk. It was only a few more hallways to walk down before Demeter opened a black and white door, the colours merged together in a taijitu symbol in the middle of the door. She held it open for Lucy and walked in after her, closing the door behind her. The room looked like a larger office at first glance but as Lucy looked closer, she could see books of prophecies and magic stocking the bookshelves, maps and battleplans layered over the large desk in the middle of the room and a small armory in the far left corner of the room. "Why have you brought me here?" Lucy asked, spinning around to face Demeter.
She sighed, walking towards the bookshelves and pulled out a seemingly ordinary book. She opened it down the middle and placed her hand cross the spine. The action made the book glow and bright white before purple smoke blew out of the pages. "This book can predict the future. It is accurate for the near future but beyond that it can show a path that you would take. That doesn't necessarily mean that what it reveals is what will be, only what could be." Lucy stared at the purple smoke in curiosity. "Look deep into the smoke and it will reveal your future." Lucy nodded slowly, already traced towards the book's magical properties.
Lucy felt her eyes be clouded from the smoke but it opened up her mind with new knowledge. She saw herself surrounded by dragons of all colours. She looked different, almost unrecognisable from her appearance now. She had a serious expression on her face before she saw herself produce a bright light from her heart. The scene changed before it had shown Lucy what it meant. She was now stood in a field, dressed in what looked like royal robes. Her hair was incredibly long, grazing the green grass with the ends. Her robes of that of gold and white, her hands and neck embellished with jewellery worthy of a queen. She wore a large crown upon her head, ruby, sapphires, emeralds and gems of all colours were engraved inside the diamond structure. She no longer wore an eye patch, embracing her mismatched eyes, her scars still visible but seemingly painless. Behind her was a sight that warmed her heart; behind her were all of her spirits laughing and smiling, even with spirits that she didn't recognise.
The scene changed again and Lucy could see a dragon of white and gold, it's eyes a chocolate brown, along with it's chest. It had a few scars across it's stomach but they were minor injuries. It had it's wings spread wide, head held high as it roared to the sky. She couldn't see around the dragon, the book making her focus on the dragon itself. However, what really caught Lucy's attention was a pendant hanging around it's neck. It had the appearance of a galaxy with one larger and brighter star in the center of the necklace. Before Lucy could investigate further, the vision faded away and returned her to the office room.
"The first two visions you saw are what will be but the third is what could be, you need not pay much attention to the last vision." Demeter spoke sternly as she placed the book back. "You must have seen yourself surrounded by dragons in the first vision." Lucy nodded and Demeter finally offered her a smile. "That is because you are going to be trained by the strongest dragons here in my castle, including myself." Lucy's eyes widened from shock, this was one of the greatest opportunities she could ever ask for and it took a few moments for it to sink in. "I... don't know... what to say." She spoke in a breathy voice. Demeter smirked at her before moving to leave the room. "How about a thank you?" She joked, before nudging her head towards the corridor. Lucy grinned back at her and followed her, excited to see where she was taking her next.
"Obviously, you will have questions about your training but all of those will be explained by your mentors in due time. I also know you are wondering where we are going now and I can tell you that we are headed to the training grounds so you can meet your future mentors." Lucy nodded in silence, her mind trying to process just how rare this situation is. Demeter eventually lead them to an exit door which opened up to what looked like a training ground, though heavily secured from the dangerously powerful dragons it kept inside. Lucy saw a few dragons already training with their attacks, each using a completely different element; water, fire, poison, thunder etc. Some were in their human forms and just observed those that were training, either learning or criticising she didn't know. Demeter gave a smile at Lucy, placed her hand on her back and gently lead her towards the dragons gathered in the grounds. "Come along and meet the people that will soon feel like your family. You've already been introduced to a few of them but the others are very excited to meet you, they haven't had an excuse to use these grounds in a long time." Lucy could feel herself blushing, she wouldn't be able to get used to sounding so important.
"Hey Luce, come on over!" She could feel her heart skip a beat from those words; they sounded so much like the ones of her former best friend. She knew that she would have to learn to heal her scars but it would be a challenge with the obvious ties to her previous family.
Oh my goodness I am so sorry this is shorter than normal and a couple days late but I've been pretty overwhelmed with college and personal stuff :/ but, to make it up to you al, next chapter is when the training starts! So excited!