27: the conjuring hour.


Lucy stared at the bloody word on the floor and tilted her head. "Anna...? Who's Anna?"

Larcade obviously couldn't answer her question. He was busy being dead. Lucy helped herself up, ignoring the throbbing pain coming from her left leg. "I have to find another way to leave. If people see me leaving this place through the main door, they'd think I killed Larcade...but I didn't."

Moments before he died, Larcade was begging his father for forgiveness. Lucy remembered him saying that he was technically the son of Zeref. As a result, she concluded that Zeref was the one who had killed Larcade.

"Zeref?" Lucy called out, looking around the room. "You're listening to me, right?"

No answered.

Lucy took a deep breath before continuing. "What's going on? I'm tired of playing this game of life or death. I just want to get straight to the point. You've just killed your own son just for hurting Natsu and saying too much. You were the one who put Natsu inside of the Book of END. You're the fucking god of death! If you want me in the Underworld so bad, why can't you just do it yourself?"

No response.

Lucy leaned against the table and rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. "So should I just go down there myself and figure out what you really want? Because I'm getting the feeling that there's a lot more to this whole thing. Exhibit A: you killing your own son because he hurt Natsu and 'messed with the plan.' If this whole thing was about sending me to the Underworld, then it shouldn't matter whether Natsu is hurt or not. The method Larcade used to get us wouldn't have mattered either. Then he said something about a plan. That means there's something else."

Lucy then glanced at the word "Anna" still written on the floor. "Exhibit B: Who the fuck is Anna? If Larcade used his own blood to write her name during his last moments, then that means this "Anna" person must be important and that I should know about her."

Unsurprisingly, there was no response from Zeref.

Lucy remembered something. "Okay, so you won't tell me about Anna. So what about my mom? I was told there's more to her death. How come nobody's supposed to know the truth?"

Suddenly, the doors flew open, revealing two security guards. They first noticed Lucy who was still leaning against the table for support. Then they saw the dead Larcade on the floor.

"Sir!" One of the bodyguards cried, running towards Larcade.

The second one glared at Lucy who put her hands up. "He just suddenly started coughing up blood. I tried to help him but I got injured in the process." To make her story seem more believable, she showed off her leg that as poking through the slit of her dress. The leg that was being shown had the cut she had received from the "paradise" and blood was still running down.

"We saw someone running out with someone else who looked injured. The injured person wasn't here earlier," the guard said.

Fuck! I need an excuse! Think, Lucy, think! Lucy thought.

"Are you sure?" A familiar voice asked.

They looked at the door and saw Yukino smiling at them. She waved at Lucy before facing the security guard. "The security cameras were down all night."

"What? No they weren't!" The guard cried.

"You should check again. And as for the boy who was dragged out, don't worry about it. I'll handle everything," Yukino said.

The guard glared at Yukino. "Who are you?"

"I'm Yukino Agria, secretary of Sting Eucliffe who is the CEO of Sabretooth," Yukino answered, taking advantage of the fact that Sabretooth has connections.

The guard cleared his throat before joining the other guard to help him pick up Larcade's body.

Yukino walked over to Lucy and helped her limp out of the room. "I heard that Sting and Rogue are out. Thank you."

"How did you know I was here?" Lucy asked.

"When I said I would send out a team to look for the dragon gods, I actually had them follow you and report everything to me. I had to make sure that you were doing what you said you would do," Yukino answered.

Hearing that she was being followed didn't sit well with Lucy.

Outside of the museum was a white car that seemingly belonged to Yukino. She helped Lucy into the passenger's seat before sitting in the driver's seat.

"Hospital?" Yukino asked, glancing at Lucy's leg. Lucy nodded.

"Thanks again," Yukino said as she drove off.

"Um...about your sister..." Lucy started.

Yukino tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "What about her?"

"I'm...sorry for what happened to her. You wanted to free her from that link spell...but she's dead now," Lucy said.

Yukino sighed. "It's unfortunate, and what makes it worse was the fact that the both of us just had a fight over what to do to get your keys. In the end, you ended up getting both of our keys."

Lucy felt even more guilty. "...sorry."

"I want to say that you should feel sorry, but it is what it is." Yukino scoffed to herself. "All of that effort was for nothing."

Lucy felt that she should lighten up the mood. "All of the effort wasn't for nothing, though. All 12 of these keys will be used for a good cause."

"It will be a good cause for you. Me? Not so much. I'd actually like to use the keys myself to talk to Sorano and apologize to her...but I won't," Yukino said.

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"It's not worth it," Yukino answered.

"Of course it is. You get to talk to your sister one last time," Lucy said.

"You don't know?" Yukino asked.

"Don't know what?" Lucy asked.

"Who taught you Celestial magic? This is basic knowledge," Yukino asked.

"I'm self taught," Lucy answered, feeling embarrassed over her lack of knowledge.

Yukino nodded her head in understanding. "Okay. The very first lessen you are taught is how to open the gate to the spirit realm. Then, you are told never to do it."

"Really?" Lucy asked before remembering something. "Brandish has mentioned something about that too."

"To open the gate, you need all 12 keys, gasoline, and your lifeforce," Yukino said.

Lucy blinked. "Lifeforce? I don't remember seeing that in the books."

"I've already told you what happens to the spirits the first time we met. Their keys will disappear from the human realms for a century or two if they're alive by then. If they die, they die. As for your lifeforce, it's supposed to help sustain the life of the spirit you summoned, if it make sense," Yukino answered.

"Do you mind explaining?" Lucy asked.

Yukino nodded. "The Zodiac spirits hold the gate open. Your lifeforce keeps the spirit you summoned in your presence. However, it's like an hourglass. The longer the gate is open, the faster your lifeforce drained, and it's drained fast. In the end, you'll die and be trapped in the spirit realm."

"Ohhhh," Lucy responded.

"That's why I'm saying it's not worth it to open the gate just to see Sorano. I know she wouldn't be happy to find out I did that and she would definitely not be happy if I ended up stuck in the spirit realm," Yukino said.

"I see...so that's why it's never done," Lucy said more to herself than to Yukino. "But you were willing to do it to free your sister from the link."

"Of course I am. Even if I end up losing my life, as long as she's not linked to that killer, I'm fine with that. Besides, it was going to be the two of us opening the gate so we thought we could sort of beat that," Yukino answered before shrugging. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Lucy frowned. "Sorry."

They had arrived at the hospital by then and Yukino parked in front of the building. Once she had parked, she faced Lucy. "Is seeing your mother one last time worth trading in your lifeforce?"

"Yes," Lucy answered.

"But she's already dead. The dead stay dead," Yukino said.

"I'm supposed to be dead yet here I am," Lucy argued.

"And because you're here, so many problems have been rising up left to right," Yukino argued back.

Lucy was about to say something back but she stopped herself. What am I supposed to say to that?

Yukino ran her fingers through her hair. "Do you want to know why things that have to do with the dead are so complicated and costly? Because we're not supposed to mess around with the dead."

Lucy simply nodded.

"I'm trying really hard not to blame you for Sorano's death since it's not directly your fault but it's so hard. I was finally going to have my sister back after all of these years, but she's gone forever. Maybe...Sting was right..." Yukino admitted.

"So...you want me dead too?" Lucy slowly asked.

"It's not that I wish for you to be dead. I just don't want to have anything to do with you. Just like Natsu, you leave a path of destruction," Yukino answered.

"I see," Lucy answered, awkwardly fiddling with her fingers in her lap.

"So do you promise that you will leave me and Sabretooth alone once I've taught you how to summon spirits?" Yukino asked, practically begged.

Lucy nodded, too guilty to even say anything.

Yukino gestured to the hospital building with her head. "I saw someone running out with an injured Natsu. This is the closest hospital to the museum so they must be in there. Check up on Natsu, get your leg dealt with, then come back here. I'll teach you how to summon spirits. Then, Rufus and Orga will return back to normal size, as per the agreement. After that, we have nothing to do with each other."

Lucy nodded before opening the car door and sliding out.

"I won't be helping you inside," Yukino answered.

Lucy bowed then closed the door. She faced the building and began to limp inside.

Once again, my existence is the cause of someone's pain. I have no right to be demanding things from people, she thought.

The sliding doors slid open, revealing the front lobby of the hospital. Lucy saw Gray filling out some papers at the front desk so she limped over to him.

"Hey," she said once she was next to him.

"You'll have to visit Natsu tomorrow. Visiting hours have passed," Gray said without looking up from the papers he was signing.

"How about you? How are you doing?" Lucy asked.

"You want the honest answer?" Gray asked.

"Would be greatly appreciated," Lucy answered.

Gray took the papers and showed it to the lady working at the front desk. "Can I take these with me?" The lady nodded.

Gray lead Lucy to a hallway where there was barely anyone. He looked around a few times before he got to business. "I don't like coincidences, I don't like surprises, and I especially don't like lies. What's really going on?"

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

Gray simply crossed his arms and gave her a look that let her know that he wasn't amused. "Start from the very beginning.

Lucy sighed. There was no point in hiding it from Gray anymore.

So, she ended up telling him everything. She didn't leave anything out. She even told Gray that Natsu is END. Once she was done explaining everything, Gray was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. His eyes were glued to the floor and he hadn't blinked for a while. His suit jacket was off and laying on top of the papers he had. Lucy was sitting across from Gray and had her hand over her cut on her leg. There was a long silence between them.

"...so..." Lucy started, hoping to break the silence.

"I'm supposed to kill Natsu," Gray said.

"Can you just not? I mean, there are other demons out there to kill," Lucy said.

"My family exists for the sole purpose of killing END. I can't just not kill him," Gray said.

"I get it..." Lucy said.

"No, you don't. Clearly," Gray said. "Not killing Natsu is a huge 'fuck you' to my whole entire family."

Lucy bit her lip and rubbed her leg.

"He killed Erza." Gray paused as he let it sink in. "He fucking killed Erza and you're just letting him go!?"

"I don't know the details but I was going to ask him about it!" Lucy insisted.

"Just so he can lie to your face to make you feel good about yourself!?" Gray cried.

"Gray," Lucy begged.

"Then he's going to burn you alive! But aren't you his lover that he killed millions for?" Gray asked.

"It doesn't make sense and to be honest, I don't want to find out why," Lucy answered.

"Good. I'll kill him before he even gets the chance," Gray said.

"No, Gray, don't!" Lucy cried.

Gray stared at Lucy with disbelief written on his face. "You're kidding."

Lucy sighed and undid her ponytail. "I'm feeling all sorts of ways about all of this right now I don't know how I should be feeling right now, I don-"

"What do you mean you don't know how you should be feeling right now!?" Gray demanded.

Lucy tightened her grip on her scrunchy. "Am I supposed to hate him? Am I supposed to love him? He's done so many bad things but in the end, he means well! His ways of doing things just aren't the best!"

"Lucy! He needs to die!" Gray yelled.

Lucy shook her head as she felt her eyes water. "Please don't kill him!"

Gray scoffed and ran his finger through his hair. "Larcade was onto something when he told me to kill Natsu in exchange for letting you out of that painting. I should have killed Natsu the minute he was out!"

Lucy dropped her scrunchy. "Please don't kill him! I understand why you want to, but please don't kill him!"

"So Erza means nothing to you!?" Gray cried.

"Erza means the world to me! There's just a misunderstanding! There's just got to be!" Lucy cried.

"What about when he burns you alive!? Will there be a misunderstanding then!?" Gray cried.

"Gray!" Lucy begged.

Gray stood up and started to pace back and forth in order to calm himself down. "Lucy. Our fates are sealed. Natsu will die by my hand and you're going to move on with your life as if this were some bad dream."

Lucy couldn't hold back to tears anymore. "Gray!"

"Tomorrow, you can visit him for as long as you'd like. But once it's nighttime, just before visiting hours close, I will come and take his life," Gray told her before grabbing his papers and walking away.

Lucy quickly wiped her tears away as she struggled to stand up. Holding onto the wall as if her life depended on it, she attempted to catch up to Gray. "Change your mind! Don't do this!"

Gray stopped walking. "Do you want to know what Natsu did to my ancestor, King Glaucus?"

Lucy's eyes grew wide. "Your ancestor was the king?"

"Natsu tortured my ancestor and he was having fun with it. He killed every last person in my ancestor's kingdom and made sure that my ancestor was watching. He proceeded to kill my ancestor but right before that happened, my ancestor was awarded a power that will protect him so he survived, but barely," Gray explained.

"The power was awarded by the god of the sun, correct?" Lucy asked, thinking back to the play that was in Larcade's painting.

"Yeah, and that power's been passed down my family ever since." Gray faced Lucy and lowered his sleeve. Suddenly, a black mark appeared on his arm and the side of his face. "This very power will be used to kill Natsu and to avenge my ancestor and the millions who have died and will die by his hand."

Lucy faltered back. "I didn't know you had something like that."

"It was passed down my family for the sole purpose of killing Natsu," Gray answered.

"And you're serious about killing Natsu," Lucy said.

Gray nodded. "Yeah."

A long silence soon followed.

Shaking his head, Gray left. Lucy looked to the side and saw that Gay's suit jacket was still on the floor. She picked up and limped after him. However, she lost him when she was in the lobby. Sighing, she draped the jacket over her shoulders and exited the hospital. Yukino's car was waiting for her at the entrance.

What should I do? Gray's going to kill Natsu, but am I supposed to let him? I don't want Natsu to die, but he's done so many bad things and Gray has to kill him. But Natsu did all those things for a good cause. Or is it a selfish cause?

Deep in her thoughts, Lucy started to make her way to Yukino's car.

I mean, I've never asked him to take things this far. Yeah, I wanted help with the keys, but I never told him to...kill Erza. I never told him to go on a rampage and kill people either. I never told him to do any of that stuff, yet he's causing people to suffer because of me. Is that supposed to be romantic? I mean, I don't think it is. Why couldn't he talk to me about this stuff anyway? No, why can't he be completely honest with me?

She made it to Yukino's car and entered the passenger's seat. "Hey...to open the spirit realm gate, do I need to summon the Zodiac spirits?"

"No, but it's recommended if you do. The stronger your bond, the longer the gate will be opened and the easier it would be to sustain the spirit that you want," Yukino answered.

"But it's still possible without strong bonds, right?" Lucy asked.

Yukino nodded.

"Okay. Let's go to a forest area and open the spirit realm gate," Lucy decided.

"But I though that I'm going to teach you how to summon spirits?" Yukino asked.

"No. Not anymore. All of this started because I wanted to open the spirit realm gate. I want things to end now," Lucy answered. The faster things finish, the better off people will be.

Yukino glanced at Lucy before driving off. "Okay."

An hour later, Yukino and Lucy arrived at an empty road with forests on the side of the road. They had stopped by earlier to buy the items that they needed for the ritual. Carrying the items, Yukino and Lucy exited the car and walked nto the forest. They walked around until they found a perfect spot.

"I'm going to make the magic circle out of gasoline. At each end, put the keys in the order of the Zodiacs," Yukino instructed, opening a vial of gasoline. Lucy nodded.

The magic circle was large and to be honest, complicated. Yukino definitely knew what she was doing. Not one part looked messed up. Lucy stabbed each key onto the ground on the ends of the circle. She started from Aries and ended at Pisces. Once the girls were done, Yukino list a match and threw it at the circle. Immediately, the circle was caught on fire along the lines of the gasoline.

"This next part is what makes doing this risky," Yukino said, pulling out a pocket knife from her pockets. She handed it to Lucy. "You're going to bleed for a while."

Lucy took it. "I've already lost a lot of blood. This is nothing."

Yukino glanced at the cut on Lucy's leg and resisted the urge to offer to help.

Lucy walked close to the circle. "What do I do?"

"Say the first and last name of the person you want to summon and make a cut on any body part. You're life force will start to get sucked into the circle the minute your blood touches it but you have to stay strong. Most importantly, don't let go, unless you want to join the spirits in the spirit world," Yukino explained.

Lucy nodded before slicing her palm with the knife. "I ask for Layla Heartfilia," she said as she watched droplets of blood fall onto the circle like it was in slow motion.

Yukino was right. The minute her blood dropped, she felt her lifeforce get sucked out of her. Her nose started bleeding and she coughed out buckets of blood. Feeling weak, she fell onto the ground.

"Don't let go!" Yukino yelled as wind filled the area.

The 12 Zodiac keys shot up pillars of light into the clouds and the magic circle was glowing a golden light. Mist was forming around the area.

Lucy could literally feel her soul getting ripped out of her body. She was blacking out and couldn't breath. Fuck! Am I about to die!? With the little energy she had left, she clutched tightly onto the grass.

Yukino, on the other hand, couldn't watch anymore. She quickly cut her arm and let her blood fall onto the circle. She gasped, as she too felt her lifeforce getting drained out of her body but held on. "I'm doing this! In return, you must keep our promise from earlier! Leave me and Sabretooth alone!"

Lucy tried to say "thank you" but that only resulted in her vomiting blood.

Yukino fell onto her knees on the floor and clutched her chest where her heart was. She was wheezing as she struggled to look at Lucy. "I-I-I'm serious! Keep i-"

Her body lifelessly fell onto the grass.

Suddenly, all was still. The wind was no longer blowing and Lucy didn't feel any pain. The pillars of light were gone and the magic circle stopped glowing.

"Yukino?" Lucy quietly asked.

There was no sound from Yukino.

Lucy crawled towards her with her little energy remaining. "Yukino! Wake up! Now's not the time for sleeping!"

She vigorously shook Yukino to wake her up as she balled her eyes out. "Yukino!"

Feeling Yukino's cheeks, she noticed that they were cold. She wanted to say it was from the cold weather. Then, she put her fingers to Yukino's neck to check her pulse. Then, she slowly retracted her hand.

"She's still in there," a familiar voice said.

Lucy looked over at the magic circle and saw the silhouette of a woman. "Her soul is being sucked into the spirit realm but she's hanging on by a thread. You don't have a strong bond with the Zodiac spirits so her life was needed in order for me to appear."

The mist cleared up, and the woman was revealed to be Layla Heartfilia, Lucy's mom.

Lucy stared at her mom. "M-M-Mommy...?"

Layla gave Lucy a sad smile. "Long time no see."

Lucy bit her lip in order to stop herself from crying. Unfortunately, that did nothing. Her voice broke and for the one thousandth time that night, her tears streamed down her face. "So much has happened since you've been gone! I found out that I was dead but I was brought back to life by END, the same demon from the legends! But so many people are dead because of me! Erza's dead, Angel's dead, Yukino might die, who's next!?"

She dug her fingers into her hair. "I can't do this anymore! So many bad things have happened and they're all my fault, both directly and indirectly!"

"I can point you to the source of all of these problems," Layla said.

Lucy looked up at her mother. "The source? It's me, isn't it?"

Layla shook her head. "No. It's the person who killed me all those years ago."

"...father?" Lucy whispered.

"No, not your father. He was just a chess piece," Layla said with a sighed.

Lucy was completely confused. "So if father didn't kill you, who did?"

Layla pointed at Lucy. "Anna, and unfortunately, her soul is currently inside of you."


Random Fact: I'm absolutely satisfied with the ending of Love Alarm. Reading the reviews on IMDB, I've come to the realization that a lot of people love toxic guys. Look at After, The Kissing Booth, Twilight, and a bunch of other romance shows/movies. *sighs*

Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!

This would have been out earlier but last week was hella busy. I had to get this done on Sunday afternoon

Reviews:

Copperreign12- Two out of three of your questions have been answered-ish

Yo, quick thing. I've been inspired to do a Gajeel X Levy story. I actually had the idea when I was doing the Valentine's Day Special but it came back to me when I was binge-watching this Indian show called Little Things (y'all should watch it). What I was thinking is that the characters are in college and Levy and Gajeel are forced to live together. I'm thinking about making it a fluff story since I'm always writing drama. I've never done fluff before...

Alright! I need sleep! Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! Later, yo!