Lucy's mother used to read her poetry before bedtime. It was a tradition they made, when Lucy got the stomach flu and couldn't leave her room for a week. She thought about those times a lot, lately.
Oh my darling I've been missing you for quite some time
So I'm gonna lift the oceans, just to see your eyes
I could be a warrior, yes I am a warrior
There's no need to worry love
Look around it's glorious
Close your eyes and taste the sun
Cobra's eye widened, slightly. You've got to be shitting me. He thought. Looking at the blonde, he mastered his expression into that of a cocky ass bastard.
"Well, it doesn't matter what I did." Lucy said, gathering her stuff up and dumping water onto the small fore she had going. "All that matters is that I don't plan on going back to Fairy Tail soon. They might as well forget about me."
Jellal felt his teeth clench. "Why? Why would you want them to forget about you?" He asked, his tone of voice showing how much those words affected him.
Lucy looked down at him. Her honey brown eyes were narrowed with intelligence. "Because it's easier for them to forget, than it is for me." She moved closer to him, an aura of magic around her, causing her hair to float slightly with the invisible breeze. "Let me let you in on a secret Fernandez…"
Jellal's eyes widened with the use of his surname.
Lucy sneered at him as she continued. "Every one of Fairy Tail's members, bar a few, are missing key details on just how we won that war. Now, I don't really mean to be such a bitter ol' bitch when I say, Fairy Tail can go fuck themselves right now." She turned away from them, continuing to pack up her camp to move to the next checkpoint.
The group's eyes widened with shock at both the blonde's vulgarity and her disregard for her favorite guild.
Jellal stood up in anger, his eyes flashing with rage. "Look how short of time it took for you to turn your back on your family." He said, with a nasty sneer of his own. Lucy froze….
... and then the air became still.
Cobra barely even heard it before it happened. It sounded like a bunch of hell raising banshees rising up from the soils of the Underworld. He winced and covered his ears, but nothing helped and soon enough, his head was ringing with noise. His eye, which had shut to avoid the pain, had opened briefly to see such a dark expression on the so-called 'Light of the Fairies'.
Lucy's hands were clenched so hard, her nails cut into her palms. "My family…" she whispered, so low, so deadly, that it sent shivers down everyone's spine- including Loki's- "is dead."
"B-but Lucy-san, what about your spirits? I thought they w-were your family too?" Meredy asked, trembling slightly as she was pinned down by Lucy's glare of disdain.
A pity filled smile appeared of the Celestial Mages face. "They are, but they're not who I was talking about. My father, mother, little cousin and now her, are all gone. All dead, because of Fairy Tail. La Mort Moissonneur*, took them all away from me because of that fucking guild."
You know where to find me
(You know where to find!)
Oh my darling I am getting closer, hold on tight
And I, know it hasn't been so easy
I'm fighting for my life
Meredy felt tears come to her eyes and she curled into Sorano. "The Death Reaper took your family? Like it takes everyone else as well?" Sorano asked, softly, feeling a mixture of guilt and pity. "You're not special for losing your family, Lucy. You can't spew hatred for people dying."
Lucy shook her head, vigorously, and groaned in frustration. "You don't understand." She placed her hands on her hips and stood tall. "My mother died, not because of a mysterious illness like everyone thought, but because she was a distant cousin to the First, Mavis, and some dark mage decided that she was good enough to take revenge on Fairy Tail for their destruction of his home. Not only did he infect her with a necropolising virus, but he also thought that he'd have his way with her as well." Cobra felt sick as he watched through Little Lucy's eyes as a man raped her mother in front of her. Jellal pressed a hand to his mouth, feeling bile rising. Meredy didn't make it, she broke from Sorano and ran to the nearest tree, retching.
Lucy chuckled, humorously. "Oh, yes. I was there. Hopeless and helpless as he took her. From that point on, she broke down, mentally and physically. She died the same day as the dragons disappeared, did you know that?" Shaking her head, she let it drop to her chest, taking a deep breath. "My father, he died when we were stuck on Tenrou island. I may have dislike the man, but I still loved him. He was my father. He may have made my childhood miserable, but I don't think I will ever not love him, just not like him." She chuckled bitterly. "My cousin, you all remember, except you Jellal, you never knew Michelle did you? Never saw as I discovered she was just an animated toy for these folks right here to play with, to animate and make me remember that maybe my life hasn't been utter shit. She died too."
"Why are you telling us this?" Jellal whispered, his heart tearing up at the story Lucy was weaving.
"Because you need to realize that it's going to take a bit more than three or four years of memories to fill the void left in me by Fairy Tail. I know Sorano figured it out, and by her, Cobra too, but would you like to know how we are all alive right now? How Mard Geer, that fucker, is now a rotting corpse in the Celestial Plain?"
Jellal frowned. "Everyone knows that Natsu and Gray sent him back into the book of E.N.D…." he trailed off as Lucy started laughing hysterically.
"Oh golly, and here I was thinking you were unaffected by the spell." She shook her head, closing her eyes as she lifted her face to the sky. "No, no. Gray and Natsu did take part in defeating a powerful demon, but they didn't defeat Mard Geer. That was just a false memory planted into everyone's head after the fight, to keep the truth hidden."
"Then who did?" Cobra asked, speaking up for the first time. Lucy smirked at him.
"Me."
I could be a warrior, yes I am a warrior
There's no need to worry love
Look around it's glorious
Close your eyes and taste the sun
You know where to find me
(I know where to find!)
And I know where to find you
The forest was silent; no birds sang, no crickets sounded, no breathing was heard.
"B-but, how?" Jellal croaked out, his throat closing with emotion. Ezra would be in tears if she could see her once bright friend.
"By doing what I do best," she said, brushing her hand over her set of keys and manipulating her magic to hold them out in front of them. A single golden key stood out from the rest. "And what I do best… is sacrificing everything for the sake of everyone." The reason it stood out, was because it was broken in half with blood permanently staining the end.
"Y-you broke your key?" Meredy gasped, going back into Sorano's embrace.
Lucy nodded. "Not that it was my choice, but yes. I broke my key, to save everyone, I sacrificed my family and my first friend."
"And you summoned the Celestial King for us." Sorano added, softly. She knew the price of breaking a Zodiac key. She had tried to do it back in the day, when she had no moral standard- aka no self righteous leader hellbent on being good- to impress Brain. But she wasn't strong enough, mentally or magically.
The group's eyes widened at that, save Cobra who knew already. They looked at Lucy with awe and surprise.
"That is the price of breaking a Zodiac key." Loke responded, albeit a tad emotionless. He hid behind his dark glasses. Expressionless. Much like how Lucy had bern before the anger and heartache consumed her being. And the guilt. The tremendous amounts of guilt that plagued her.
Yes, Lucy often reflected on the poetry her mother read to her at night. If only to distract her from her problems.
*La Mort Moissonneur is just what I like to call the entity of Death. That and Godfather Death.
