A/U: I really want to thank my best friend with beta reading this for any grammar mistakes and whatnot (even though she'll never get to read this), but still want to express my thanks.
Anyway, please enjoy?
The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was that it was bright. She was outside, the sun shone brightly down on her. No clouds in sight. And everywhere she looked was grass and daisies. A never-ending field of daisies.
"Where am I?" Lucy scanned in every direction, only to conclude that everywhere she looked, it was all the same. She looked down at the beautiful daisies and knelt to touch them. Beautiful and soft to the touch. They even smell amazing.
Then she heard footsteps behind her. Lucy quickly stood up and turned around to who it was. Instead, she froze on the spot when she recognized who it was. Senses of familiarity and sadness washed over her. "Mother?"
Layla smiled and looked at her, or more specifically, behind her. Lucy followed her gaze and turned around and held her breath when she saw her father and her younger self. She wanted to feel repulsed by how close her younger self was with her father.
But seeing how warm his smile was and how gentle he was with her made her falter. She doesn't remember this. She must've been at least 5 years old. Maybe even younger. Then Layla walked past her and towards the two.
Lucy stood still and watched with clenched fists and anger for her father. But… the way her mother looked at her father, and vice versa… she could tell they loved each other dearly.
"Hey, mommy, daddy, can we take a picture?" Little Lucy asked with a large grin.
"Of course, little one." Jude smiled as he took out his camera, like he knew his daughter was going to ask that question.
"Yay! I wanna take it!" Lucy jumped for the camera with eagerness.
Layla chuckled at her eagerness and patted her head. "Be careful or you'll break the camera. Or even worse, you'll sprain yourself."
"I'm invincible!" Little Lucy declared with a fist to her chest, to impose that she's not weak.
Jude grinned and knelt to the ground and showed little Lucy how to handle the camera and how to take a picture. Little Lucy only stomped her foot. "I know how to do it!"
Jude smiled and pinched her little chubby cheeks. "I know you do, just want to make sure you can take a great picture. After you take this one, we'll take one with all three of us."
Little Lucy beamed at that. "Yeah! Sounds great!"
Jude handed the camera to little Lucy with a smile and stood back up and wrapped his arm around his wife. "She's the most precious thing in this world."
Layla smiled and leaned into him with a content smile.
"Okay! Smile!" Little Lucy cheered as she aimed the camera at her parents, who professionally posed at their little sweet daughter.
From the distance, the older Lucy watched with an unreadable expression. She remembers this. She remembered begging to take a picture of them. She remembered her father's kind smile and her mother's warm smile. Just that… this memory was buried so deep because of her hatred for her father, she had forgotten about this until now.
But watching the interaction of her past self with her parents, she realized something. "Is this what Daphne was trying to tell me?"
As a little child, her father's abrupt change after her mother's passing confused her. But that confusion eventually turned to hatred for how he treated her. Even now, she refused to understand the reason because she was afraid that her feelings would change.
But now, watching this in front of her, she understood it now. He fell into depression. He didn't know how to deal with it, and didn't know how to find help. So, he became abusive.
Lucy lost her strength in her knees and fell onto her knees. She clenched her fists angrily, as memories of her father abusing her, hitting her, burning her. However, as she looked at her memories, all she could see was sadness in his eyes. In defeat, she unclenched her fists and stared at her younger self.
"Jude, my father, you've been suffering as well. And you need help…" She muttered to herself as her gaze switched to the happy man.
Then the memory that happened not too long ago, when Jude showed up, quite homeless. That was when he handed her the location to her mother's grave.
Lucy didn't realize this sooner, because she was still hurting, still scarred by what happened. But when she had looked at her father in the eyes, she realized it was regret. But she refused to acknowledge that back then. Was that what Daphne was trying to tell her?
She could then feel tears falling down her cheeks. Was her father truly back? She stared at her father, the only family she has left, and suddenly she realizes what she must do.
In that moment, her surroundings changed and she was in a familiar room. Lucy stood up and wiped away her tears. She found Erza and herself in the kitchen, making cake together.
She stood at the doorway and watched as Erza and her past self, making a cake. Who doesn't like dessert for breakfast, right? But, looking at it from another perspective, she could see how hard she had tried to deny the friendship that Erza was offering.
Then there was that icing battle between the two of them. Watching it from the sideline, Lucy realized that that was the first time that Lucy laughed since everything… since she had enough of life.
Lucy walked closer to the scene, when the battle was finally over and stared at herself, who seemed a little happier than before. Then she shifted to Erza, who had nothing but affection.
Staring at her, butterflies grew in her stomach and Lucy stared at her longer than she intended. Memories of her caring for her, helping her, and just being by her side.
Then that memory of that fear inducing potion, where she saw herself and Erza kiss. Deep inside, she understood it better now. She raised her hand to reach out to touch the redhead. But her head disappeared into mist when it touched Erza. She recoiled when she saw her hand disappear and stepped back. She looked at her hand again and sighed in relief when it was still there. But disappointment grew and stared at her friend. Friend?
Lucy found herself not wanting to be her friend anymore. But something much more special. She wanted that dream to be real.
What is it like to kiss the great S-Wizard, Erza Scarlet?
…
"E-Erza… please let g-go…" Natsu managed to mention those words while Erza had dragged the dragonslayer by the scarf when they finally arrived at where Lucy's scent was at last.
Gray stayed away from the redhead, on the other side of Wendy, an extra distance from the mage to ensure his safety when the girl was already enraged. Though he does pity the boy, there's nothing he could do now.
Erza glanced at the mages behind her. Gray and Wendy, who looked ready to find and rescue their blonde companion. Carla stood by Wendy's side, ready to fight if needed. Happy stood by her, mostly because he feared the way Erza was choking his friend.
Erza nodded in approval and dropped Natsu to the ground, granting him to breathe again. "Alright, let's go in."
But before anyone could make a move, she grabbed Natsu by the shirt and leaned in close. "Stay behind us, and don't make any rash decision."
Natsu paled and nodded. "I'll even stay with Gray!"
Erza narrowed her eyes before he threw the boy in Gray's direction and the dragonslayer crashed into the ice mage, causing the both to collapse to the ground. "Let's go. Wendy, follow the scent."
Wendy complied and sniffed the air once before she stepped into the hut. It was empty and quiet. But she could tell that Lucy had been here. She followed the scent into the other room, but soon stopped at a bookshelf. "The trail ends here." She said with a frown. She started to look around to see if there was any other evidence.
Erza narrowed her eyes at the bookshelf and touched it. "Wendy, can you smell if there's something behind this bookshelf?"
Wendy tilted her head with confusion before she approached the bookshelf. Indeed, this was the spot where the trail ends. She went to the side of the bookshelf and tried to move it, but it wouldn't budge. At all. "I think this is the entrance to a hidden passage." She concluded and stepped back.
"Makes one wonder who uses this place." Carla commented.
Erza nodded in affirmation and equipped a sword and tried to hack it into pieces. But surprisingly, it left no mark. She scowled and turned to her side. "Natsu! Get your ass here!"
Rapid and frantic footsteps was heard as Natsu ran into the room, Gray not far behind. Happy not too far behind.
"Destroy this bookshelf." Erza wanted to keep the damage to a minimum. She tried, but there was no other way around it.
Natsu grinned and used his dragonslayer move and soon enough, that managed to burn the entire bookshelf to ashes. He grinned to himself when it was done. "This is nothing and a no match for me."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure, who cares." Erza muttered mindlessly as she made no haste and began to follow the passage, unintentionally leaving the others behind. She just wanted to find Lucy. Her Lucy.
A minute later, Erza found herself in a large nice-looking room. And quickly found Lucy but was on the floor unconscious. "Lucy!" She ran towards her, but when she did, she seemed to have run into an invisible wall and fell onto her butt. "What?" She muttered with surprise. She stood back up and raised her hand to touch the invisible wall. It's definitely there. But who would create a barrier here?
"Hello, it's good to meet you in person." A person called out from behind.
Erza turned around and frowned. But one thing that she knows for sure is that this woman must be responsible for this. "Who are you?"
"You mean you don't recognize me?" The woman looked hurt for a split second before she smiled. "Well, no matter. You called me some time ago, asking for help on how to help your friend over there."
It took the redhead a few seconds to realize who this woman was. "Daphne Hilltop? Why the hell are you doing this?" She muttered angrily. She had confided in her for help, she didn't expect this to happen.
Wendy, Gray, and Natsu, as well as the cats, finally arrived and it took them a minute to understand the situation. Well, except for Natsu. Clueless as he is, he still asked, "What's going on? Who is this woman? And why is Lucy sleeping?"
"I put a spell on her. It's only up to her if she wakes up again or not." Daphne answered. "Now, I ask you to just wait."
"Wait? You kidnapped Lucy!" Gray said angrily as he got into his stance and icy mist surrounded his hand.
"I did not, Lucy came to me all on her own."
Erza frowned at that and summoned more swords. "I advise you to not lie." She threatened as she aimed her swords at Daphne.
"I don't lie, Titania." The woman responded.
"Hey, why can't I go to Lucy?" Natsu asked as he patted at the invisible barrier.
Daphne frowned at the boy. "The girl must not be interrupted."
"What are you doing to her?" Erza scowled as rationality slowly left the building and rage soon took place.
"I'm helping her. Do I really need to explain this again?" Daphne muttered with annoyance.
Erza launched herself towards the woman and created a large arc, but Daphne was quick and avoided the sharp blade. "You wake up Lucy this instant!"
"I'm afraid it's too late. All we can do is wait." Daphne said as she created some distance between her and the angry mages.
Erza scowled and turned to her comrades. "Natsu, Gray, work on destroying the barrier. Wendy, provide support for them. I'll take on this woman." She then glared at the woman distastefully.
"What about me and Carla?" Happy chimed in, with his little paw in the air.
Erza frowned and looked over her shoulders. "Stand in that little corner and don't move." She turned back to the woman and launched herself at her.
Happy, however, looked crestfallen at how useless he is, no matter how much he wants to help Lucy. A useless cat.
Natsu and Gray tried their hardest to break the barrier, but it was not working. Even with the boost that Wendy gave them. What kind of barrier is this?
Erza had launched various swords at Daphne, the woman that she had trusted with initially, and tried to cut her down. If the barrier was powered by this woman, then if Erza managed to take her down, then the barrier will go down with her. This woman just needs to stop moving!
Daphne, on the other hand, was growing angry at how these mages was not listening to her. She needs to find a way to get their attention. With a quick glance in a general direction, an idea popped up in her mind and disappeared into thin air.
Erza stopped and stared in disbelief at where the woman was just standing. "What?" She looked around to find the woman but couldn't find her.
"Now, I implore you to stop attacking me and just listen to me!" Daphne's voice boomed from all directions.
Erza turned around and gasped. Just by Lucy's side was Daphne. But this time, the woman held a long sword which was pointed at the blonde's chest. She dropped her swords and ran to the invisible barrier and pounded on the wall. "Let her go! Don't you dare hurt her. I swear if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and make you regret that you ever lived!" Erza yelled as she continued to pound on the invisible wall.
"I won't hurt her. I just need you to listen. Please." Daphne pleaded. What will it take for these mages to stop and listen?
Gray took a brave pill and placed a hand on Erza's shoulder. "Perhaps we should just… listen?"
Natsu looked displeased by the fact that he couldn't get to the other side of the barrier. But he also snickered at how scared Gray got when he hid behind Wendy.
Erza turned her head and glared at the ice mage, who in turn stepped back in fear and hid behind Wendy. She turned back to Daphne and sighed. "Fine. Then explain. Fast."
Daphne sighed in relief when she finally got them to calm down. "This is a very safe spell. It's just to help Lucy understand."
"Understand what?" Erza asked.
"I'm afraid that's something that only Lucy knows. But I do know that it involves her father and…" Daphne paused while contemplating on her next words, "one of her friends." She finished.
"What does that mean?" Gray asked.
"If she wakes up, then she realizes that she needs to forgive her father. And as for her friend… well, I'll let her reveal that part."
Erza frowned at that. Can Lucy ever forgive that bastard? She couldn't see that coming. "This is a trap. You tricked her!" She yelled and pounded on the wall angrily. "Wake her up now!"
Daphne sighed but kept her sword pointed at Lucy's chest. "I'm sorry, but if I try to wake her up now, the consequences will be dire."
Wendy, on the other hand, tuned everyone out and focused on Lucy. From her sense of smell, which have not been blocked by the barrier (thankfully), she can tell that she has not yet been harmed. If Daphne really wanted to hurt her, she would've done it already. She stepped closer to the barrier and looked at the woman with a question in mind, "Why are you trying to 'help' Lucy-san?"
"I want to help those who struggle with suicide tendencies. Whether they're strangers or not." Daphne answered truthfully. "I just can't stand by and do nothing while they struggle." She tightened her hold on the sword with conviction.
Erza took a step back with a small frown and glanced at her friends.
"I just want to help her."
A/N: Sad news. This story is almost done.
BUT! At least I kept my promise and finished a story, right? Right?... Right, so previously I mentioned that this story will have two alternative endings, since I could not decide with one to go for. Then inspiration struck when I found an author that does alternative endings.
So, the next time I post, I will be posting two chapters at the same time. Then... the story will finally be completed! I'm so happy *sniff*
Also, I'll be making a poll on which story you want me to work on to finish. I just can't decide... So, I'll go with popular votes. Might make a poll on my profile to let you choose. So, keep an eye out once I've posted the last two chapters... If you're still interested.