PART I – Resolution

Chapter XV – Damaged alter ego

"I'm done losing. Do you fucking hear me? I am done losing. Spare me your precious self-pity, because this isn't a stage and I didn't pay two coppers to cry my eyes out over anyone's death speech. You don't fucking get one, understand? I don't care if you cough up buckets of blood. Buckets I can carry."

- Scott Lynch, The Republic of Thieves

Gildarts attacked a few minutes after Lucy had this talk with her commander. First, they threw several dozens of smoke grenades to blind Natsu's men. Then, the soldiers of the first line entered the camp and started shooting. Whatever some people may say, psychology is important at war. Seeing Gildarts's men running inside the base, all of them wearing gas masks, confused and even scared some of Natsu's recruits. The commander hadn't lied when he had said that the last confrontation wouldn't look like a game anymore.

The deafening noise of dozens of rifles firing simultaneously hurt Lucy's ears and made her heart beat awfully fast. In all honesty, she had absolutely no control over the situation. The commander wasn't with her anymore, her friends were nowhere to be seen. All around her, people were running, crawling, firing at others. A dart was shot at her, but missed its target and grazed her nose. She jumped back and crouched behind a tree. A small drop of blood ran down her cheek from her injured nose, but she ignored it. She was too focused on the chaos around her.

Suddenly, she was a five year old girl again, hiding from soldiers rampaging through her home and killing her friends. Her hands clutched the sides of her neck and head as she rocked back and forth, trying to block out the sounds.

"Stop it," she sobbed to herself, "stop it, stop it, stop it. I beg you, stop it..."

"They won't stop."

Lucy opened her eyes and realized that she was crying.

"They didn't stop at that time," the voice went on, "they won't stop this time either. They're soldiers, they haven't changed."

Lucy sobbed even more. She knew it was the truth: they wouldn't stop until they had completely obliterated their targets.

"But you know who else haven't changed? You. You're still a pathetic, weak little girl who can't move an inch even as her friends are being beaten right under her nose. You should just dig a hole somewhere and die in it."

Another smoke bomb exploded somewhere near her and she flinched.

"Why are you suddenly scared of explosions? You've heard lots of them at training! You're being over dramatic, get yourself together!"

Lucy sniffed and wiped her nose and eyes with her sleeves.

"Why should I? You just told me to go die..."

"It was only to wake you up! Did you come this far to cry and hide just because a game got a bit too realistic for you? Is your determination this weak!? What would your father say if he saw you like that! Do you want to learn at the end of the day that while you were hiding, Natsu lost the flag and Loke's condition worsened!? Do you want to look at yourself in the mirror and see a coward!?"

Right, she wasn't five years old anymore, she wasn't barehanded anymore. She wiped the last tears running down her cheeks and stood back up, readying her rifle. It wasn't the first time that she found herself in a dire situation, it wasn't like her to break down in tears like that!

"That's right, girl! This is actually the perfect chance for you to see what you're capable of! Your friends are in there, go and help them!"

Lucy nodded to herself. Even if it hadn't only been a game, she would have had no reason to hide and cry like a coward! She had been training all this time in preparation for that!

"Look to your left."

She did and saw a recruit wearing Gildarts' team's uniform pointing his rifle at the back of another recruit. He hadn't seen her. She shot him and it was as if some door had been unlocked in her mind. In the very next second, she was walking back inside the base, engulfed in the smoke. She covered her mouth and nose with her scarf and kept walking forward, rifle at the ready. Since she couldn't rely on her eyesight too much, Lucy focused on her hearing to locate and identify the people around her. The sound of their voice told her who they were, the intensity where they were.

Lucy recognized Gajeel and went to help him get rid of several enemies. After what he ran to the west of the base to help the recruits fight a large group of enemies. Lucy made for the commanding tent. There, she found Gray, fighting like a true warrior god. He was using both his rifle and hands to fight about eight or nine opponents on his own. Hitting their heads with the stock, kicking their knees, elbowing their jaws or kneeing them in the groins, all the while shooting darts. They had never been taught such a way of fighting.

Gray ended up seeing her and pointed at the tent.

"Natsu's inside!" he said. "Go help him!"

She didn't need to be told twice. As she ran to the tent, rain started to pour down on the base and the earth got slippery. Lucy still reached the tent in less time than it takes to say it and barged inside, throwing all safety rules to the trash. What she saw inside froze her on the spot. Natsu was just in front of her, showing her his back, the enemy flag in his left hand. In his right hand, a gun was pointed at the enemies. Gildarts was standing right in front of them. Beside him were Bacchus, Ren and Orga, all three of them known to be some of the strongest second years of the academy. The commander glanced at her over his shoulder, for a second only, and let go of the flag.

"Take it and run," he ordered.

Lucy stared at his back, he wasn't going to turn around to face her.

"You take it and run," she countered, "I'll hold them back."

Natsu scoffed, but still didn't turn.

"Oh yeah? You will face a lieutenant-colonel and three second years on your own? Stop saying nonsense and obey my orders, for a change!"

"The taciturn commandant has a point," her inner voice noted.

Lucy thought about the best thing to do, remembered that she didn't have much time to do so, decided that it was best to act without thinking. She shouldered her rifle and shot Gildarts in the leg. The lieutenant-colonel roared in pain and gripped his painful leg. The commander abruptly turned around to stare at her, eyes filled with disbelief.

"Why the hell did you do that!?"

She shrugged.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "but I'm pretty sure it would be a very bad idea for me to run away now that I've shot him."

"Yeah, well done, idiot," the commander groaned, "you won't get out of this unscathed."

"Yeah, well done, honey," her inner voice cheered. "What you just did was stupid, but very amusing!"

Natsu kicked the nearest table down and dragged Lucy behind it with him. The darts shot by Gildarts's men planted themselves in the wood and Lucy heard the lieutenant-colonel order them to take cover. They weren't fast enough, though. Lucy and the commander managed to hit all three of them with darts. Orga was the least affected by the fluid contained within the darts, he only winced and hissed when he was hit.

"Now!" Natsu pushed her toward the exit and this time she ran without trying to talk back.

The commander grabbed the flag and followed her out, running just as fast. Outside, it was almost impossible to see where they were going with the rain falling so hard. They were running on deep mud, trying to avoid enemies as they progressed toward the escape route they had prepared earlier. As they were nearing their starting point very quickly, Lucy felt the sting of a dart as it planted itself in her shoulder. She yelped in pain and tripped, her body falling into a large puddle of mud.

Strong arms helped her back to her feet and pulled the dart out. Lucy was surprised to see that the commander had stopped to help her. This wasn't part of the escape plan at all: the one who had the flag ran for the escape route and never turned around, never stopped.

"Are you ok?" he yelled to be heard over the rain, screams and gunfire.

She nodded and he gave her the flag to inspect her body, quickly searching for any wound, before she forced herself to start running again. They were so many enemies coming after them... The commander ran too, but he clearly slowed his pace to match hers and regularly turned around to shoot enemies. All of a sudden, a powerful explosion was felt very near and Lucy stared dumbfounded at the huge tree that was falling in her direction. Natsu pulled her out of the way when it landed and separated them from their pursuers.

"What the hell was that!?" the commander shouted to Gajeel, who was laughing like a mad man not far from them.

"Loke just lit sticks of dynamite and nailed them to the trunk," he explained, still laughing, "he almost crushed all those idiots running after you, but it was one hell of a sight!"

Loke? He had blown the whole thing up to buy them time? That boy was just as crazy as she was. The commander pulled on her shoulder and pointed to the escape route, Lucy resumed running and jumped in the bushes that were hiding the escape route, the commander on her heels. She was tired, in pain, cold and dirty. But she still had the flag, she had just shot the infamous lieutenant-colonel Gildarts Clive, and was running toward God knew where, the pouring rain wiping her face. And she wanted to laugh in anticipated victory. She sped up despite the risk of falling on the very slippery mud and the commander called for her, worried that she was forcing herself. She didn't slow down, enjoying the cold wind on her cold limbs, the violence of the rain falling on her like a million of needles, the ache in her legs and arms. It felt good to be alive. And free.

A moment later, though, she heard something heavy crash to the ground and she hit the brakes to turn around. Orga had caught up to them and had jumped on the commander's back, they were fighting in the mud. At some point, Natsu kicked Orga over his head and the tall second year realized right away that he was now closer to her. And to the flag. He smirked and jumped back up, running toward her. Lucy's smile vanished.

"Now would be a good time to resume running," her inner voice noted.

And so she did. She didn't have the luxury to wait for the commander to stand back up and come to help her, so she ran. Her legs burnt with the effort, her lungs were on the verge of exploding, but she kept running. She could hear the heavy, quick breathing of her pursuer as he was catching up to her, but she still kept running with all her strength, not even stopping to breathe or to look behind her.

If you already tried running at full speed and continued running even after you've exhausted all your energy, despite the pain in your legs and the lack of air in your lungs, then you know how Lucy felt. You know the feeling of being disconnected from the earth somehow, the feeling of floating on a sea of clouds. When you reach that point, you can keep running without feeling any pain or fatigue. Not forever, obviously, but you've exceeded your limits and it makes you feel so, so good.

That was when Orga finally caught up to her and jumped forward to catch her by her waist. They fell to the ground and added more mud to their already very mud-covered bodies. Lucy almost threw up when the adrenaline suddenly escaped her body. Suddenly, she had absolutely no strength left, she could barely breathe.

"Damn, you're fast," Orga panted, "did you eat an electric battery or what?"

Lucy cursed, breathless, her whole body aching. She couldn't run anymore, but she could protect the flag until Natsu caught up to them. She separated the pole and the flag and stuffed the fabric inside her shirt, under the military jacket. Orga eyed her skeptically, arching a brow and tilting his head to the side.

"You think that will stop me?"

She coughed, still trying to get her breath back, and shook her head.

"No," she answered. "I'll have to fight back."

Orga stared at her for a minute and shrugged.

"Yeah, well, good luck with that."

Natsu caught up in less than two minutes, but Lucy was already suffering from blood loss and several superficial, but painful injuries after blunt trauma. The commander knocked Orga out with one kick straight in the head. The kneeled right by Lucy's side and helped her sit up.

"Where are you hurt?" he asked.

She was clinging to her stomach and he opened her jacket and lifted her shirt, only to find that she had been hiding the flag underneath her clothes. He froze, took the fabric and his fists tightened around it.

"Don't tell me you got yourself beaten up like that just to protect that thing," he growled.

Lucy nodded weakly, her split lips too painful for her to speak.

"Why? It was just a game, idiot, it wasn't worth being hurt!"

Lucy licked her lips, which caused her a lot of pain and made her taste her own blood.

"I was... trying to make up for what I did yesterday," she explained, her voice a faint whisper.

"What?"

If Lucy had been her usual, not beaten up self, she might have thought that sitting in the middle of their escape route, with enemies not far behind them, was a bad idea. But she was tired and felt more vulnerable than usual and Natsu was here, his presence shielding her from the cold rain and the howling wind that she didn't enjoy anymore.

"I put you all in danger when I chased after the fake flag," she explained. "I felt so stupid and guilty. I wanted to make it up to you."

Tears burned her eyes and this time, no inner voice came to tell her she looked pathetic. She still didn't want him to see her cry, so she wiped her eyes and nose furiously, ignoring the pain it caused her to move her arms like that. It took her a few more seconds to realize that the commander hadn't said a thing yet. She lifted her eyes and saw his intense eyes staring at her. His face was serious, but not tense or angry. And suddenly, before Lucy's brain could even register that he had moved, his comforting, strong arms were around her and she was pulled against him.

"What..."

Her head automatically went to rest on his shoulder as she couldn't resist the need to lean into his warm, gentle and unexpected embrace.

"I don't care about the flag," he told her, "I don't care about winning the game or defeating Gildarts or anybody. You don't need to make anything up to me either. Never do something like that again."

Lucy nodded in his arms, feeling his warmth travel through their clothes and gently engulf her. She heard him sigh deeply and shifted a bit in his arms. Suddenly, she had her ear pressed to his heart and noticed that it was beating really fast. After a short moment, they heard voices from somewhere behind them. The escape route had been found. They left Orga where he was and slowly walked toward their hiding spot.

Lucy was still in too much pain to run, but their pursuers were catching up quickly. Natsu turned around and cursed when he saw that they indeed were in deep shit. He caught Lucy's arm and gently tugged on it to stop her. His eyes were bright with vitality, raindrops ran down his face from the flattened strands of his pink hair.

"We won't make it like that," he explained, "I'll have to carry you."

"Or you could just take the flag and run," she suggested.

Natsu arched a brow at her and smirked.

"And have you collapse as soon as I'm away? No. And what kind of commander would I be if I abandoned a recruit that showed such devotion to me? Hold on tight."

Her arms around his neck, she let him carry her: a hand on her back, the other under her knees.

"Are you ok?" Natsu asked. "Is it too painful?"

She shook her head, still feeling groggy from Orga's blows.

"I'll be fine," she assured.

"You better be," Natsu mumbled before setting off.

Lucy bit back her whimpers and tears and did her best to bear with the pain. Natsu ran as fast as he could until he found the tree they had marked earlier. From that point on, he had to leave the path and run through the tall grasses. He took sharp turns, jumped above large roots, slipped on the mud and cursed when the rain blinded him, but all the while making sure that he was never hurting Lucy. To be honest, he didn't exactly manadge to do that, but at least he tried. After a few more minutes of running, they found the cave. Jet had found it the day before and decided to explore it. Turned out that the cave was very well hidden from the path and deep enough to hide two or three adult men if they crouched down. Natsu gently lay her down inside the cave and entered it after her to shield her from the wind and the cold. He glanced at his watch and sighed.

"Less than two hours left," he said. "You think you'll be ok?"

Lucy nodded, but truth to be said, she was getting more tired with each passing second.

"Your lips are blue," the commander noted. "Just how cold are you?"

She shook her head.

"I'm fine," she assured. "I'm not cold or anything."

"Right," he scoffed, "and I don't have pink hair."

He unzipped his jacket and took it off. The thing was soaking wet too, Lucy appreciated the gesture, but it wouldn't keep her warm at all. That was when he also shrugged his sweatshirt off, offering her a nice view of the nothing he was wearing underneath it.

"It will be too large for you," he admitted, "but it's dry, so it should keep you warm."

Lucy shook her head, already knowing that he would ignore her protests.

"No, you should keep it on," she argued, "you'll catch a cold if you only wear your drenched jacket..."

"Be quiet and put it on. And rest assured, I won't put my jacket on either. Not before it dried a little."

How was this supposed to reassure her? She was now worried about both his health and her sanity. Either way, she couldn't help but want to have a quick look. She put his sweatshirt on and was surprised at how appeasing his smell was. He had just been running and fighting, shouldn't the thing stink of sweat? Well, whatever, it really was warm and comfortable, despite being too large.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

He stared at her with confused eyes, coughed and massaged the back of his neck.

"Yeah, no problem. You should try to get some sleep while we're here. I'll guard the entrance."

He didn't even wait for an answer before turning around to face the forest. Lucy didn't try to resist sleep either, she took a deep breath in and drifted off to sleep. She didn't remember dreaming of anything, but she did remember the moment when the sweatshirt stopped being enough to block the cold. She also remembered the new source of warmth that cocooned her afterwards, though she was far too tired to worry about its origin.

She woke up two hours later to the sight of the commander's soft smiling face, the moonlight giving his skin a silvery complexion and making his hair look almost white. His face was completely relaxed now and his eyes told her he was tired, but soothed.

"It's over," he told her, "we won."

oOo

Natsu had to put his wet jacket back on to attend the teams gathering, but he didn't mind it much. Lucy would forever remember the faces of the members of the team when they saw the commander and her come back with the flag in her hands. She would forever remember the cries of sheer joy of her comrades, some of them actually cried tears of happiness. They were hugged, kissed, congratulated, thanked and their wounds were treated quickly.

"You all did very well," the commander smiled, "I'm proud of you."

The general was here too. He congratulated the winning teams and asked the officers to come back to his office with him.

"I'm sure you're all exhausted," he said, "we'll hold a proper ceremony for the winners the day after tomorrow, since we'll have an inspection from the Octagon tomorrow. But tonight, please, eat, drink, party and sleep to your heart's content!"

Lucy stayed with her friends for a moment. She wanted to enjoy their cheerful presence for a bit longer. She listened to Gray as he told them how he had taken on a dozen of second years by himself, she laughed when Loke described the faces of the enemies who saw him light the sticks of dynamite, she teased Gajeel, who told them that he had been disappointed by the lack of strong opponents. She answered many questions about her race against Gildarts and his lieutenants, about Orga, about her wounds, about what it felt like to be the one that brought the flag back. And the truth was that she was overwhelmed by it. The feelings possessing her at the moment were amazing and she could have been weak enough to decide to stay, had she allowed herself to truly sink into them.

"Where are you going?" Loke whined when he saw her walk away. "Makarov just told us to party!"

She smiled brightly at him. He looked better now that the Game had ended, she hadn't seen him cough at all.

"I'm just going to go see Erza," she explained, "I think one of my bandages need to be redone. I'll come back right away."

Loke then smiled back, nodded and told her he'd be waiting for her.

"Ooh, what a naughty liar," her inner voice chuckled, "you're not even going to say goodbye?"

How could she? Leaving the Academy was one of the hardest decisions she ever had to take. She was heartbroken. She wiped a stray tear and took a deep breath in. It was not like she had a choice, might as well do it quickly. She walked a bit faster until she was standing in front of the main building. She didn't hesitate and entered. She ran up the stairs and along the corridor to the door of her bedroom. She pulled her large back from under her bed and started packing her things. She had to wipe her eyes and nose a few times in the process, but she was done quicker than she expected. She turned around to exit the room and froze when she saw that someone was leaning on the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.

"You going somewhere?" the commander asked. "It's not the weekend yet, you need an authorization to leave the academy."

Lucy gulped, slowly stood back up and shouldered her bag. It could have been anyone: Loke coming to get something from the room, another recruit passing in front of the open door, Erza or Mira, coming to see how she was. But it was Natsu. The commander looked tense, his eyes were cold and his jaw contracted.

"I don't need an authorization to leave if it's permanently," she timidly retorted.

The commander's hard look stayed on her for a moment before he sighed, checked if the corridor was empty and invited himself inside, closing the door behind him.

"Sit," he ordered.

"I don't want to talk about..."

"I told you to sit," he repeated, almost growling. "I won't let you leave before you explain yourself."

Now, this angered her. Who did he think he was? A commander? So what? Not everything could be solved with authority, not everyone would obey him just because he ordered them to. Couldn't he see that she was doing this for him!?

"I couldn't care less about what you want me to do," she groaned. "I'm leaving the Academy, you're not my superior anymore and I don't have anything to tell you."

She walked toward the door with angry steps and lifted her arm to turn the handle. Natsu grabbed her arm and pushed her against the wall, looking pissed off.

"Until you tell the general that you're officially resigning," he growled, "I'm still your superior and even if I weren't, I'd still deserve an explanation."

Lucy gritted her teeth, fighting the inner growing anger that was threatening to break out.

"In the name of what!?" she yelled. "Lots of recruits gave up and left! Nobody tried to stop them, so why are you here!?"

"Those recruits weren't among the victors of the Academy's Game!" he snapped back. "They weren't as talented as you, nor as determined! You gave everything you had to protect the flag today, you fought with everything you had during those two days! Your behavior doesn't make any sense!"

"Yeah, well," she tried to push him off, but he didn't bulge, "that's the way it is. Accept it and let me out."

"No."

Lucy glared at the angry commander and tried to push him off once more, using more strength this time.

"What do you mean, no? I'm not asking for your permission here!"

"You promised to tell me the truth about the letter," he answered. "I'm now absolutely sure that you're trying to run away because of it. I want an explanation."

Lucy stopped pushing him. Her eyes were wide and she was suddenly overwhelmed by anxiety. They heard laughs and voices out in the corridor and waited for them to fade away. The commander grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

"We can't have this conversation here," he grumbled, "Loke could come back at any time."

He opened the door and dragged her out of the room.

"We're going to my room," he told her, "you can keep your bag if you want, but you'll have to give me a proper explanation before I let you leave."

Lucy hesitated. She could still scream and make a ruckus to force the commander to let go of her. But it would attract too much attention and she probably wouldn't be able to leave without telling anyone, as she had planned. And she wasn't entirely sure that the author of the letter would leave him alone even if she left. Maybe she should warn him about her before leaving. After all, he would gladly let her leave after he heard about her. No one wanted to have a crazy chemist torturer threatening them. So, she followed him in silence as they climbed down some stairs and turned left at the end of a corridor that was never used by simple recruits. The door of his bedroom was as white as the walls and the rest of the building and he opened it without hesitation.

"Come in," he told her.

She obeyed and he followed her inside before closing the door behind him.

"No one will bother us here," he said. "You can drop your bag in a corner."

She dropped it near his bed, which wasn't larger than her own, and stood where she was. She was trying to think of a way to tell Natsu about her without telling him about her real identity, which proved to be very difficult. His room was a bit smaller than her own, but there was only one bed in it, he didn't have to share it with anybody.

"You can sit on the bed," he told her, "the chair is broken."

She did, feeling nauseous.

"Do you want some water?"

She shook her head, still not meeting his eyes. In the end, she had to hope that he'd allow her to keep some secrets.

"Then," he started, "about that letter..."

"Before that," Lucy interrupted him, finally lifting her eyes, "I need to know what was written in your letter."

The commander leaned on the door and grimaced.

"Believe me, you don't want to know."

"It doesn't matter if I want to know or not," she retorted, "I have to know."

The commander stared at her for a long moment, inwardly debating about the best thing to do. He ended up slowly pushing himself off the door and walked toward the small nightstand by his bed. He opened the wobbly drawer and pulled a white envelope out of it. Lucy didn't move an inch, but didn't miss a single thing he did either. She saw the contraction of his jaw, of the muscles of his neck and shoulders, she saw his hands tightened around the letter. He looked at her and handed her the offensive little thing. Lucy opened it with shaky fingers. The content wasn't very poetic, but Lucy hadn't expected anything else from that person.

''To the bastard commander,

I will tell you this only once: this is the only warning you'll get. Stay away from my sweet little bird, you filthy, horny dog. Son of a bitch and a pork, your dirty hands better not leave a stain on my little treasure. If you ignore this warning, I'll personally come for you and tear your limbs off your foul body. Then I'll burn your eyes and give them to the dogs, break your bones, and make you go through such suffering you'll beg me to kill you.

I don't know what name my little bird uses in your wicked academy, but you know very well who I'm talking about: you pounced on her like a fucking beast in heat during the test of fear, you nasty rascal! Do that again, and I won't even allow you to die.

Don't interfere.

K.''

Lucy gulped and slowly put the letter down on the bed.

"Charming, as you can see," Natsu laughed humorlessly.

"I'm so sorry..."

"You have no reason to be," he retorted.

Lucy read the letter a second time, the only hint about her true identity was a pronoun: ''her'', near the end of the letter. But it was possible that Natsu had overlooked it, seeing how the rest of the letter was so creepy. The commander didn't rush her, he gave her all the time she needed to formulate coherent sentences and she was grateful to him.

"The author is a woman," she started, "she's a torturer that specialises in chemistry and usually works on secret projects under the orders of important people from powerful organizations such as governmental and intergovernmental organizations, some NGOs as well."

Natsu didn't interrupt her, but she could see in his eyes that he was perfectly aware of just how dangerous the author of that letter was. Lucy shifted awkwardly on the bed, still feeling a bit nauseous, and took a deep breath in.

"Her name is Kyoka, though it's probably an alias. She... one of her current jobs is to interrogate special prisoners. I'm considered as an accomplice to one of those prisoners and since he refuses to talk, she has to find me and bring me back to her employer. She's a very dangerous person, don't doubt her word when she says she will kill you."

Lucy stopped her explanations there, hoping that the commander would be satisfied with that much. The commander kept silent for a long moment, eyes glued to the floor, arms crossed over his chest. Lucy sighed, she wasn't surprised that he was this scared, it was a normal reaction. She stood up from the bed and took her bag.

"Don't worry," she smiled weakly as she walked toward the door, "she won't have any reason to come for you if I'm gone." She grabbed the handle and opened the door. "You'll be safe..."

She was interrupted when the commander's powerful arm shot up and slammed the door shut. Lucy froze and her eyes finally found Natsu's. He was really close to her now that she was standing in front of the door. He didn't look angry at all, but she could see in his eyes that he wasn't letting her go just yet.

"It's rude to leave before the other person got a chance to say anything," he pointed out.

She sighed and looked at him with sad eyes.

"What more is there to say? You don't have to do anything, commander, no one would try in your position."

Surprisingly, and despite the terrifying revelations, he smirked and leaned back against the door, efficiently blocking her only way out.

"Well, I still have something to say," he declared. "First, I'm now absolutely sure that I wasn't wrong when I noticed something funny, a while ago. But it's not really important right now. Secondly, a lot of people tried to kill me before, do I look dead to you?"

She shook her head and his smirk morphed into the gentle smile she was starting to see more and more on his face.

"One day," he said, "I'll tell you about my life before I was hired here. You'll understand why I'm absolutely not scared of this Kyoka person even one bit. For now, there's not much I can do about this, but I can make a promise: as long as you stay near me, no one will be able to harm you. And I'm starting to know you really well now, so I'm sure that you're still thinking of running away, so let me make things easier for you. If you run away, I'll track you down and drag you back by the skin of your neck, got it?"

Lucy stared at him with wide eyes, not finding the words. They were different, Natsu and her, and argued on a daily basis. He was rough, rude, cold, distant, a brute who always teased her. And yet, thinking about it, she had to admit that they were very similar too. They had similar tempers, similar principles and beliefs, similar wounds, both visible and invisible. She knew he still had a million of questions to ask her, she could see it in the way his hands twitched nervously, in the way he was looking at her: with so much expectation. But he stopped asking questions, he'd do with what he had managed to get for now. And he'd protect her, it was a promise. She couldn't help the relieved smile that illuminated her face, nor the impulse that made her reach out to hug him.

"Thank you..."

He hugged her back and she felt him move slightly so his chin could rest on her head. His heart was beating fast, but she felt calm, warm and safe.

"You're welcome."

Their embrace didn't last long and Lucy decided that she should go back to her room in case Loke was already there, freaking out.

"Good idea," the commander nodded. "Don't forget to get up earlier tomorrow. The inspection will start pretty early."

When she went back to her room, she found it empty and put all her things back in the wardrobe before Loke came back. She fell asleep quickly, her heart feeling lighter than it had in years. When she woke up, the following morning, she laughed at the sight of her roommate: laying half naked on top of his sheets, his hair sticking out in improbable angles. She threw her pillow at him.

"Wake up, princess," she called, "we have to get ready."

Loke threw her pillow back at her and buried his head underneath his own

"Don't wanna," he grumbled. "Five more minutes..."

"Right," Lucy scoffed, "I'm going ahead then."

She got up and got ready in less time than it takes to say it. Loke was still lying in bed when she exited the bathroom and she threw him another pillow before leaving the bedroom. She walked slowly, hands in her pockets, feeling calmer than ever. Some other recruits were already walking toward the refectory.

"The inspection's today, right?" one of them asked. "I wonder what they're looking for."

"Yes," another one answered, "it's weird that they'd come all of a sudden."

Lucy barely listened to them and turned right when they turned left. She wasn't going to the refectory. She climbed down the stairs and walked toward the doors. Outside, it was colder than usual, you could feel that winter would be here soon. She smiled as she walked toward the medical wing. Once inside, she immediately went left and climbed the stairs up before walking down a long corridor. She stopped in front of he door of a medical office she knew too well. She knocked and was invited in.

"Hello, Lucy," Erza greeted her. "I heard from Mira that you were amazing during the Game."

Lucy smiled and went to sit in front of her friend's desk, shrugging.

"I did my best," she humbly answered.

"You really did," Erza hummed. "The members of the Octagon that are coming today would probably be delighted to meet you."

Lucy's smile never faltered, she knew where this was coming.

"Maybe they would," she agreed.

Erza sighed in mock disappointment.

"That's too bad, though," she went on, "you won't be able to be present for the investigation."

Lucy's smile widened.

"I won't?"

Erza slowly stood up and stretched, obviously feeling very satisfied with herself.

"Nope," she confirmed. "I've been called by people from the south district. Apparently, there was an accident, but since the district isn't renowned for being the safest place on Earth, they asked for a military doctor to go. I obviously can't go there on my own, though, so I'm requisitioning you to protect me while I'm there."

"Well," Lucy shrugged, still smiling, "if it's an order, it can't be helped."

"It is," the doctor confirmed. "Get ready, we're leaving in an hour."

End of chapter 15

Guess who's back really early? Don't get used to it, though, it probably won't happen anymore before a long time!

As promised, things are getting more interesting, and the upcoming chapters will be just as intense!

Once again, don't hesitate to tell me what you've thought of this chapter, I happily read all the reviews!

I'll be back as soon as possible!

Preview

She turned around and saw a small shadow on the wall. She waited for a minute, the cold biting at her fingers and nose. Then, the small silhouette of the counsellor of the Octagon appeared. Lucy frowned at him, seeing as his smirk as he walked toward her.

"May I help you, sir?" she asked.

She heard his sinister laugh as he got closer to her.

"Oh, I'm sure you can," he assured.

Lucy got a bad feeling and, even if the midget wouldn't be able to physically harm her, took a subtle step back.

"Actually," he went on, "you're going to make me rich and powerful."

Lucy's frown deepened. Was he trying to bribe her or something? Was it normal for people from the HQ to try and corrupt recruits? She took another step back and his smirk widened.

"After all," he growled in euphoria, "it is normal to reward the man who, after years of tracking her down, finally found the daughter of Jude Heartfilia! Isn't that right, Lucy!?"