BROKEN SOULS

"Earthland to Lucy! Lucy!" Levy is shaking her shoulders now.

Levy ran at her table when their friend did not respond to their call. They have caught her staring into nothingness again. Lucy was seated there all alone and did not move an inch when they ask her to join them on their game.

"Truth or dare?" Cana asks from another table. Almost all of the Fairy Tail mages are gathered there.

"Huh?" She looks dazed and confused at her question.

"Choose. Truth or dare."

"But I am not part of the game."

"Don't be a spoilsport. Just choose. The bottle is pointing at you." She looks at the bottle. It was really pointing at her direction.

"Truth?"

"Tell us one thing that you regret of doing and wish that you have not done at all."

'The one thing that I regret of doing?' She casts her head downwards at their question, her bangs covering her face. Then she speaks in a serious tone.

"Beg for love."

Right after the words came out from her lips; she stands up and walks out of the guild without saying goodbye to anyone.

She ended up in the park. It was past 4 in the afternoon and it looks like it is going to rain. She is sitting by the swing while gently rocking it, feeling the cold breeze hits her face and body.

"You look pathetic." The man takes the swing just beside her and he too started to rock back and forth.

"Thank you." As if his words will bring more damage to her already broken heart. She did not bother to look at the man as she knows that baritone voice very well.

She looks up at the sky as it started to grow dark warning them of the incoming rain. The earlier gentle breeze suddenly turned into harsh winds.

"Do you need someone to talk to?"

"Not really."

So they just sat there in silence. She does not understand why the man did not leave her alone after she impliedly rejected his companionship. Maybe he just wanted to use the swing for himself as well. Not that she really care.

Then the skies completely darken and drizzles start pouring.

"Don't you have any plan to go home?" The man uttered beside her.

"I will after a while." She replied flatly.

Then the drizzles turn into a full scale rain.

"Don't you have any plan to go home?" She repeats the same question to him.

"I will after you do."

She looks at Laxus, confused as to why he bothers to stay. "What are you doing?"

"The question is, 'what are you doing?'" He asks in return.

Her eyes started to water. She was thankful for the pouring rain as her tears are mixing with it.

"Why him?" His voice is heavy with emotions that he is holding within.

She recoiled at his question. It brought back memories to her as she looks at him pitifully.

He, too, looks emotionally drained.

'Why is love not kind to the both of them?'

Flashback

Natsu has already told her three nights ago his plan to propose to Lisanna. He said it to her in a cheerful way as if he was not aware of her real feelings for him. His every word is like a knife piercing through her heart.

"Why can't you love me Natsu? I am the one who is always there for you." She hugs him tightly from behind whilst her tears started to fall. "You know that I have always loved you." Her voice cracked and caught in her throat.

"Lucy. Don't do this please. I thought we already talk about this before." His voice was soft, not wanting to hurt her any further. It's not that he was being insensitive to her feelings. He just wanted to inform her first out of respect but he did not realize that it will come to this.

"I've tried everything to make you love me. Why her? Please tell me."

She confessed her feelings to him right after he told her a year ago that he and Lisanna were already an item. She scolded herself for her lack of courage. If only she had told him earlier. Maybe he will love her in return and not Lisanna.

But after some talks and Natsu made her understand his feelings, she still hoped that maybe he will realize that he was making a big mistake.

After that incident, they have returned back to normal. He acted like it did not happen. She acted like everything was okay.

Every time they returned from their missions, it was always Lisanna that he wanted to see first. He would look at her with those loving eyes. And that hurts her every time.

She was the one who was always beside him, closer to him, yet he was out of her reach.

She was in denial. She had lived on her own version of reality.

She tried all ways on how she can win his heart. She tried to be kind and sweet. She showed him how great a woman she can be. She seduced him. She tried to break them apart. He was quick to realize her actions but he still acted the same. Treated her the same as what he normally did.

If only he hated her for her actions. And because he tolerated her and out of her selfish desires, she almost resorted to things that will bring them harm. How much a girl can do for love?

All along, she knows that she was fighting a losing battle. But it did not make her stop to love him and fight for her love.

"Why can't you love me? Please love me." Her tears were drenching the back of his shirt as she clung closely to him. This was her last resort for him to realize how much she loved him. As pitiful as it was, she begged for him to love her back.

He removed her arms from him. "Don't be pitiful Lucy. Don't waste our friendships because of this." He walked away without looking back.

End of flashback

"I don't know. You know I love him so much. Why are you even here?"

"I know. You have told me so many times. You have rejected me so many times." His eyes are full of sorrow. "And you know too well I will not stop caring for you."

"My heart is broken Laxus. You know that he just proposes to her."

"Are you still expecting that he will love you back? You have done everything Lucy. It's time to stop."

"I am stopping. But it does not change the fact that I still love him."

He recoiled as if she punches him in his gut. He thought, after all the rejections, he already builds immunity from it. But he was wrong; her rejection still hurts more than ever. He thought she will start to look at him after she realized that Natsu will never return her feelings. "I love you. I am just here - ."

It is like a replay of that scene but this time she is not the one begging for love. So she cuts him off because she does not want him to beg for her to love him back just like what she did. "Do you want to be a rebound?"

When he did not answer, she stands from the swing and starts to walk away from him.

She casts a final look at the back of the man who stops rocking on the swing while he faces the sky above.

Another broken soul is in front of her. And this time she is the cause of that pain.

'I don't want you to be a rebound. I am sorry my heart is so broken right now that I cannot look at your way Laxus. Maybe someday, when my heart is whole again, if someday, you still love me the same.' Of course she cannot say that out loud. She does not want to give him false hope. The man also needs to move on with his life.

"Nobody deserves that. You don't deserve to be a rebound." Her final parting words as she walks under the rain. Thunders and lightnings are now dancing angrily at the sky as if they are sympathizing with Laxus. 'I am sorry. I don't want to be selfish anymore. If I want, I can keep you, I know you will be willing to. But we will not be completely happy that way.'

The man was always there to show her love regardless how many times she has broken his heart. He saves her when she was about to succumb to the darkness that will bring harm to her nakamas, all because of her love.

While his love is pure, her love is frightening.

Fat tears are flowing from her eyes. This time, she is not only crying for her broken heart but also crying for the man she left behind.

She knows too well the pain of that rejection. Love is not really kind to them.

He smiles sarcastically as he looks at the sky, he did not realize that his tears are mixing with the rain. 'Rebound,' as pitiful as it sounded, he actually does not care if that is all it takes to have her look at his way. How ironic life can be? The mighty Laxus Dreyar begs to be loved.