PART II – Freedom
Chapter I – Brotherhood
"Not only had my brother disappeared, but-and bear with me here-a part of my very being had gone with him. Stories about us could, from them on, be told from only one perspective. Memories could be told but not shared."
― John Corey Whaley, Where Things Come Back
Six months after Jude's escape
Lucy ran as fast as she could to get to the last wall standing, but the bomb exploded before she could reach it. It fortunately wasn't too close, so she only got propelled a few feet away by the blast. Many others weren't that lucky. The young woman gritted her teeth in an effort to hold back the whimper of pain that threatened to escape her lips, holding her arm against her chest. Around her, most buildings had collapsed in the ten minutes that followed the start of the bombing and the air was saturated with burning dust and the smell of blood. She couldn't hear the screams as clearly anymore, the sound of the detonations resonating in her head again and again.
Another bomb went off somewhere near her, and this time she was hit by debris. She groaned, rolled to the side and struggled to stand back up. Her arm injury was still healing, she needed to be more careful. Wailing in pain, she forced the burning muscles in her legs to work some more as she stood back up. She was covered in blood, but most of it didn't belong to her. She could hear screams and cries from everywhere around her, but had no way to know if they belonged to friends or enemies. She needed to find Natsu.
With that objective in mind, she raised her head and checked the area. Surprisingly, the old church was still standing and its steeple looked steady enough. Ignoring her wounds and her exhaustion, she ran to the doors. Four enemy soldiers were already there, but they wouldn't be a threat to her on anyone else anymore. A huge beam had fallen from the roof and their bodies had been crushed under its weight. She jumped over the beam and ran to the stairs, climbing them up as fast as humanly possible. She was already far beyond her limits, but she still couldn't allow herself to rest even for a moment.
When she finally found the highest window, she fell to her knees and shrugged off the rifle slung over her shoulder. Using the scope to evaluate the situation on the battlefield, she finally found Natsu. The commander was in a tough spot, trying to help their allies retreat. Saying that the commander was in a tough spot didn't even start describing how screwed up they actually were. Their forces had been dispersed and the enemy troops had surrounded them entirely. There was only one path left for them to run away, but the enemy had set a makeshift barrier to block it. That thing wasn't made of wood, but it looked similar. Straw bales! Where had they even found that? The farm near the church! Lucy frowned when she noticed that they were enemies on the other side of the barrier as well. They wanted Natsu and the others to climb over the bales so they could kill them easily!
A sudden movement caught her attention and she found an enemy discreetly approaching the commander, staying hidden behind burning cars. She adjusted her aim and shot, hitting the bullseye with almost no effort. She cleared the battlefield some more from her spot, all the while trying to think of a plan to help her friends retreat. It took her about five more minutes to remember that there was something on one of the bales on the other side of the barrier, out of her friends' reach. Something seemingly harmless, but that something could potentially allow Lucy to open a path for her comrades. A pretty big electric generator was providing electric power to several machines Lucy couldn't identify.
She took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out, calming her heart and adjusting her aim. She'd get one chance only and the target was almost impossible to hit. A straw bale had been placed behind the generator, but Lucy still could see a small part of the power cable. If she could damage that cable, it would produce a spark that'd immediately set fire to the bales. But the target looked microscopic from where she stood and she really wasn't sure if she could hit it.
Another bomb went off and Lucy gulped when she heard and recognized the bridge that collapsed. Erza and Ultear were supposed to be there, guarding the medical tent. Erza wasn't allowed to take part in the fights, but she insisted that they would need her as a doctor in case someone were to be badly wounded and one couldn't simply order her to do or not to do anything... All her friends would die if she missed the cable, but they might be able to escape if she could hit it. She prayed to God and to her mom, begging them to help her save them.
"Who the hell needs God," her inner voice snorted, "just kick some asses with your own abilities, bitch! We've got this, blow it all up!"
She would have smirked had she been less focused on her target. That tiny spot even the best snipers of the world would fear to miss. Well, not all of them would. She had spent the last six months training under a sniper that would be thrilled to be in her place. There was no way she could go back to the base and tell Bisca that her lessons had been of no use.
Holding her breath, focusing entirely on the cable, she aimed. Somewhere in the back of her mind, an alarm went off as she heard footsteps on the stairs leading to her spot, but she ignored it. She wasn't a physical person anymore, she had no feeling, no sensation, nothing but this obsession. She was a sniper and had a target to hit, nothing else existed in the world. Nothing but the distance between her and the target, the strength and direction of the wind, the inclination of the axis of fire, the position of her hands on the rifle, of her arms and shoulders.
She shot and she knew shad had succeeded even before the fire started. She felt it in her very bones, it had been a perfect shot. That feeling was so delightful Lucy almost forgot about the battlefield and the bombing. A nervous hand fell on her shoulder and she fell back down to earth as she was turned around and found herself standing face to face with Levy. Her small friend was covered in wounds and looked terrified, but she was alive. The blunette looked out the window and her eyes widened considerably when she saw the fire.
"You did this?" she asked, her voice trembling with pain, exhaustion and fear.
Lucy nodded and her friend burst into tears before throwing her arms around her shoulders.
"Thank you," she cried, "thank you, Lucy... Thank you so much..."
Lucy hugged her back, wondering who the hell had allowed her delicate friend to accompany them for this raid. Right after the Octagon officially accused Makarov of high treason and they heard of Jude's escape, most of the recruits of the Academy sided with them, but a lot of them changed their minds when they realized how hard it was to be a criminal. As they watched the weaker recruits leave their side, Lucy and Levy were soon among the last females to fight for the resistance, which naturally brought them closer and closer as the weeks passed.
"Alright, let's get out of here," Lucy declared. "We have to help them retreat."
Lucy's diversion was even more effective than she had expected. Enemy soldiers were running around in search of any source of water that could be used to put out the fire, almost forgetting about the criminals they were supposed to subdue.
Taking advantage of the confusion, the officers of their group guided them toward a path Lucy had cleared on the side of the field. Levy ran as fast as she could to join them and get out of here, but Lucy's body finally reached its breaking point. She fell to her knees when her legs stopped functioning and an enemy soldier that was near her furiously kicked her back. She fell face first in a large puddle of mud and panicked when she realized that something was pressing on her back to prevent her from standing back up. She was in a world of pain, she was exhausted and she couldn't breath anymore.
Still, she fought like hell to get rid of the bastard that was trying to drown her in mud. All of a sudden, there was nothing holding her down anymore and she practically jumped on all fours. She spat mud and wiped her eyes, all the while trying to force her damn legs to carry her weight for a few more minutes. Before her mind could register what was happening, someone lifted her and carried her in their arms. It took her a moment to realize that someone had come back for her. The person carrying her finally reached the woods and Lucy knew they would reach the cars soon.
She thought they had when the person stopped, but they were still in the woods. Her eyes were finally starting to see again, but it was her savior's voice that gave him away.
"Move out of the way, Elfman," Laxus ordered.
Elfman was here? Lucy turned her head to have a look at him. Her vision was blurry, but the large man with white hair blocking their way undoubtedly was her friend.
"I can't do that, lieutenant," Elfman retorted, his voice stern.
Lucy gritted her teeth and used Laxus' shoulder as a lever to turn in his arms and face the traitor she still couldn't help but see as a friend.
"Why are you doing this, Elfman!?" she yelled at him. "Why are you betraying your friends and family!? Do you have any idea how devastated Mira is now that she lost the two of you!?"
Lucy didn't need a perfect vision to see that Elfman's whole body was so tense it looked like a marble statue. His fists were clenched around the rifle he was holding.
"This wouldn't have happened if they hadn't betrayed the country," the man breathed out, obviously grieving for his little sister as well.
"Stop bullshitting me," Lucy roared. "Your sister was in the medical team! They killed her with no reason, she wasn't a threat to anyone!"
All of a sudden, as if something had finally snapped inside of him, Elfman screamed and cried.
"I KNOW THAT, ALRIGHT!? HOW DO YOU THINK IT FEELS LIKE WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE REAL TRAITOR IS ANYMORE!?"
He fell to his knees after that outburst and hid his face in his hands, swaying back and forth.
"They spent months explaining me that you guys were traitors and it was my duty as a friend to make you understand this..." he mumbled, "they said they would forgive everyone... they said that it would be alright, that I could save everyone..."
Lucy couldn't hold her tears back any longer when she saw this. This was what the Octagon had done to the mighty Strauss siblings: two of them were heartbroken and desperate, the younger one had been killed.
Laxus put Lucy down and kept an arm around her waist to help her stand. When he was right beside Elfman, he put his large hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.
"You know who the real traitors are," he simply declared.
When they got back to the cars, everyone was ready to go. Erza and Cana ran to her when they saw that she was hurt and Laxus was kind of shoved aside so they could take his place and support her properly. Lucy sighed in relief when she saw that both Erza and the baby seemed to be fine.
"Lucy! We were so worried! What happened to you?"
"You're covered in blood! Where are you hurt?"
"Who do I have to kill?"
Lucy sighed and laughed weakly as she tried to explain them that she was just tired, but her stubborn friends weren't buying this. They helped her reach one of the cars and Lucy followed Laxus from the corner of her eye. He stopped in front of the commander and Lucy saw that he was already looking at her. As usual, he looked anxious, as if expecting something from her. And as usual, despite his obvious desire to run to her, he turned away. Laxus punched his gut, but it wasn't enough to ease the ache in Lucy's heart.
She had no idea what the reason of this change of behavior was. It had started after their first raid on a military base used by the Octagon. Loke got shot and had to undergo surgery so they could take the bullet out of his shoulder. After that, the commander had stopped showing affection to her. He wouldn't even talk to her if he could help it and Lucy didn't dare confront him about it.
"Lulu! Are you okay!?" she would have recognized Dan's voice even if the latter hadn't suddenly jumped in her moving car through the back window. "I heard you got hurt and to be carried back here! How awful! I should have been the one to carry you in my arms!"
"Dan, you're too loud," Erza scolded him.
The blood stains on his clothes and skin were proof that he had fought, but he didn't look like he had been hurt and wasn't even tired. Was this guy even human? She sighed and reassured him, petting his head as if he were a dog. The funny thing was that he actually enjoyed being petted.
"So," he went on with a neutral voice, "when are we going to get married?"
"We're not," she laughed.
"You wanna get killed by the commander?" Cana smirked.
Dan being the oblivious fool he was arched a brow and cocked his head to the side before asking with genuine interest.
"Why would he? He doesn't look like he's interested in her anymore."
Two of the three women in the car turned to glare at him with an impressive amount of hostility, but Lucy just laughed nervously.
"Yeah..."
"Don't listen to this idiot, Lucy," Erza retorted. "Natsu's just stressed out because of all the responsibilities and duties he has since we officially became criminals."
Since when is it normal to avoid people we're supposed to love when we're stressed out? She kept this question to herself, though.
"Right..."
Maybe he had changed his mind and wished he hadn't kissed her in the first place?
"There's an easy way to make sure of that, though," Cana smirked.
"What are you talking about?" Erza sounded so wary, it was almost funny.
"Nah, don't mind me," Cana grinned. "I'm just a drunkard, it's normal for me to say things that don't make sense."
She was so up to something.
"Right," Erza suddenly glanced at Lucy. "You didn't take your medecine yet, did you?"
Lucy shook her head and Cana handed her some pills and a water bottle. Four months ago, she had been hurt during a raid and Porlyusica had to examine her. She realized that something was amiss and used sonography to make a better diagnosis. One of Lucy's kidneys had been lightly damaged, but the other simply wasn't there. It had been removed more than ten years ago, but Lucy had absolutely no memory concerning such a thing. The old doctor supposed that she had been hurt as a child and had to undergo surgery to remove the damaged kidney.
"Don't worry, though," the old doctor had said. "I'll give you an effective treatment that will heal your kidney and you'll be able to live normally even with only one of them."
The Academy had been built in order to be used as a fortress to protect people in case some enemy country were to attack and Makarov being the genius he was made it impossible for the Octagon's troops to put it under siege. The campus was now used as the Resistance's stronghold and headquarters.
Several months earlier, they had to fight their first fight to get the first door back after Elfman's treason. Since then, no enemy troop had been allowed to come near the occupied lands and it was relatively safe to come in and out of the Academy's ground. The guards opened the three main gates one after the other to let the cars enter the campus and they all went to park near the gymnasium.
Lucy sighed in relief when she got out of the car and stretched her back, but she was still a bit weak and didn't expect Cana to push her. Luckily, Dan was right beside her and gladly caught her in his arms. He teased her a bit more about being her prince charming and other childish things that made her laugh until they heard a loud crash from one of the vehicles. The commander had slammed a door so hard that the window glass shattered.
"Hey," Gildarts roared, "this glass is expensive, you bastard!"
The commander was already walking toward the main building and didn't stop to answer the older man.
"As I thought," Cana smirked, "he's pissed off."
It should have pleased Lucy to know that the commander still cared about her, but it didn't.
"Why would he be?" she snorted. "He's the one who's avoiding me."
She turned around to head to the dormitory, intending to walk quickly to show everyone that she was angry. As soon as she did, though, she saw Levy burying her nose in Gajeel's shoulder as the man held her tightly to comfort her. Damn, they were too cute, she didn't feel like being angry anymore. Erza saw them too and Lucy saw in her eyes that she was using all her willpower not to show just how affected she was. Jellal and the others had stopped sending reports three months ago and no one knew where they were or even if they were safe.
Lucy sighed. Everyone had issues, it was childish to pout because the commander wasn't being as affectionate as she wanted him to be. She dragged her exhausted self to the room she now shared with Erza, Levy and Cana – they had invited Juvia as well, but she ended up sharing a room with Gray – to have a quick shower and put clean clothes on. She doubted that Loke would be happy to see her covered in blood. She gulped and used the time she had until she reached the medical wing to practice and make sure that her fake smile would look as reassuring and natural as possible.
She stopped in front of the door of the room and raised a hand to observe it and make sure she wasn't shaking. When she felt ready, she knocked and entered. Loke was lying on his bed and was barely awake. He grinned when he saw her and pushed on his arms to sit up.
"My, what a great surprise," he sang. "Your timing's perfect, I'm done with chemotherapy for today. Just give an hour or so and I'll join you to eat."
After Loke had undergone surgery for the bullet in his shoulder, he told her that he was relapsing. Lucy had done her best to stay strong and comfort him. She had smiled, told him she'd be here for him no matter what, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that he'd be alright. She had cried herself to sleep that night, Erza holding her in her arms all night long.
She smiled at him and joined him in the bed, lying beside him under the blankets and cuddling with him.
"I'm too tired to eat," she lied. "But you can go if you want."
She knew perfectly well that Loke wouldn't be strong enough to go to the refectory and eat before the next morning, and he knew it as well.
"No way," he laughed. "You'll get lonely without me."
She nodded without any hesitation.
"That's right," she agreed.
Silence followed their short conversation and they both drifted off to sleep. Lucy couldn't remember the dream she had, but she knew it was a nightmare. A terrifying one. She woke up with tears running down her cheeks and saw that Loke was already awake and looking at the door. Someone was slowly opening it. The commander's head finally appeared.
"Hey Loke," he called softly, "how are you..." he froze when he saw her and left right away. "Sorry, I'll come back later."
Loke frowned and sent a questioning gaze to the hurt woman lying beside him.
"What the heck was that?"
Lucy shrugged, trying not to look too affected by the commander's behavior.
"I don't know," she said. "For some reason, he's been avoiding me a lot lately."
"What?" Loke frowned even more. "Did something happen?"
She snorted and bit her cheek to keep control of her emotions.
"You mean after he kissed me? Nothing happened, no. It's getting late, I better leave before Porlyusica kicks me out."
Porlyusica was the Rose's Tear doctor, she had moved to the Academy after the war with the Octagon started and was doing an amazing job healing and terrifying everyone.
"Sure," Loke smiled brightly. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night!"
Lucy gave him a kiss on the cheek before exiting the room. Outside it was pretty warm, but everyone knew it would start raining soon. Fall was here and it seemed like it would be a stormy season this year. She crossed the field without any problem despite the sky being pretty dark already. On the side of the medical wing, she saw a small figure kneeling in front of the altar they had made in memory of Lisanna Strauss. Lucy gulped as she approached Mira's bent body. She put a gentle hand on her shoulder, but the colonel didn't react.
"Mira," she called softly, kneeling beside her. "It's dark outside, you should come back inside."
"Hmm," the woman answered.
Her eyes were blank and Lucy was pretty sure that she had been kneeling for so long that she couldn't feel her legs anymore. The altar was covered with flowers, plushes and condolence messages.
"I don't know if you heard," Lucy hesitated, "but Erza had a confirmation that the baby will be a boy."
"Hmm."
Lucy gulped hoping she could swallow her pain and anxiety. This woman was the only female officer that had been allowed to teach the Academy's recruits because everyone had been forced to acknowledge her strength. It broke Lucy's heart to see how deeply hurt she was, how hollow she looked. Lucy didn't know if it was a good idea to talk about it, but just wanted Mira to react. She wanted to make sure that her friend was still in there.
"Mira, I saw Elfman today," she told her.
The colonel didn't react in any way this time, not even with a hum. Lucy started to wonder if she was making things worse, but it was too late to back down now.
"I talked to him," she went on. "He knows about Lisanna. He was grief-stricken as well, he didn't know the Octagon was planning to do that. He still loves you, Mira."
This time, Mira's reaction changed. She kept her eyes stuck to the altar, but she allowed her tears to flow out freely. It was the first time in weeks that Lucy saw her show any kind of emotion. She decided it was time to stop treating her like a frail little thing and forcefully grabbed her shoulders to turn her around and pull her into a tight hug. Mira didn't fight back, she grabbed Lucy's shirt and cried her heart's out.
Laxus appeared shortly after that and took Mira back to their room after thanking Lucy. As she walked back to the dormitory, Lucy suddenly found herself facing a recruit holding a gun and pointing it at her. She stopped. They were alone and it was too dark out there for anyone inside the building to see them. She didn't know this recruit. He looked pretty young and was crying, his hand shaking.
"I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I just want this to stop."
Lucy held his gaze and answered calmly.
"You won't get the reward if you kill me," she reminded him.
Several months earlier, the Octagon had sent a new proposal to the officers fighting for the Resistance stating that they would renounce arresting Jude Heartfilia and forgive everyone who wasn't an officer if they handed Lucy to them. They also promised a reward to anyone that would bring Lucy to them, as long as she's alive. There was one time when a recruit tried to break her legs with a hammer in her sleep. Unfortunately for him, Lucy still shared a room with the commander back then.
"I don't care about the reward," he cried. "My little sister died yesterday because they bombed the wrong place thinking you were there!"
Lucy's stomach churned at this. Every time someone died, she knew they did because the Octagon was trying to catch her. They knew it for sure now, since the Octagon was willing to let Jude go, it meant that she was the the sole cause of the war. Six months earlier, people started dying for her and she had no idea why. She gulped and forced herself to hold his gaze.
"I'm so sorry," she genuinely assured.
The recruit shed more tears and bit his lip.
"I know," he sobbed. "I know this isn't your fault, but I just can't stand it anymore... I'm so sorry..."
Lucy heard the gunshot, but never felt the pain. Instead, the recruit fell to the ground and started crying and screaming in pain while holding his arm. The commander and Gray walked out of the shadows and the former kneeled beside the recruit to make sure the wound wasn't that serious.
"Sorry, dude," he said, "I can't let you do that."
He stood back up and turned to look at her. When his eyes finally found hers, she froze and her heart hammered in her chest. It was begging her to do something, to use this opportunity to prevent him from distancing himself from her anymore.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
It wasn't enough. She didn't need his polite concern, she could get plenty of that with the doctors and the other officers. He finally noticed how agitated she was and tensed in response.
"You should go to sleep," he mumbled. "I'll go get Porlyusica for him. Gray will stay here to keep an eye on him."
As he turned away, every fiber of her being fought furiously to get her to move or at least say something. She had to call him back and ask for explanations, she needed him by her side now more than ever. But she didn't do anything and only watched him as he headed to the medical wing. Gritting her teeth and swallowing back the tears of frustration that threatened to come out, she turned away, not missing the sad look Gray sent her.
oOo
Despite her state of exhaustion, it took Lucy two hours to fall asleep. Levy came back to the room a bit before that and Lucy could guess looking at the marks on her neck and thighs that she had been playing cards with Gajeel. Erza fell asleep while caressing her baby bump, as usual.
At approximately three in the morning, Lucy almost died of a heart attack as someone kicked their door open and entered the room screaming like a mad man.
"Erza!" the commander yelled and received a heavy punch in the face.
"Don't yell like that," the redhead growled, "you scared the baby! And what the hell are you doing here at this hour?"
The commander massaged the bridge of his nose and stood back up with a bright smile on his face.
"Sorry about that," he laughed. "I just had to come!"
"Why?" Levy asked, still trying to calm down. Cana was still sleeping. "What happened?"
It was Lucy's first time seeing such a bright smile on the commander's face. He looked so happy one could have thought he was ten years younger than he really was.
"A messenger arrived from the border," he explained. "Jellal's fine! He's on his way back as we speak!"
Lucy and Levy cheered loudly upon hearing this and hugged Erza, who was trying to fight back her tears of relief and happiness. Natsu watched them with a bright smile until Erza's hand reached out and he joined them.
They recognized Jellal's handwriting on the piece of paper the messenger had brought. It said that Warrod had died, but Kagura and himself were safe. Unfortunately, they had failed to kill Hades. They had a lot more of important information to give Makarov, but they couldn't risk writing them, so they'd have to wait for their return. The only thing they knew was that Hades had lost an arm and had been severely burned in the attack.
They played around for a bit more and Lucy couldn't exactly remember how it went, but when she woke up the next morning, the commander was sleeping beside her with his arm on her waist. She slowly turned in his arms, careful not to wake him up, and stared at his face. He looked peaceful and she felt reassured. She decided to be bold since she rarely had the opportunity to be this close to him and embraced him, her hands gripping the fabric of his shirt. Still sleeping, he tightened his hold on her and buried his nose in her hair. Relishing the feeling of peace and bliss that automatically spread inside her whenever she was in his arms, she fell back asleep.
When she woke up for good, the commander had left.
oOo
As promised, Loke was up and sitting at their table the next morning. Seeing him smile this brightly and generally being the loud moron everybody loved so much, one couldn't simply imagine him lying in bed, being on a drip to help him eat, breath and receive treatment. He turned his head to the side when he saw her come in and waved like a child. When she sat next to him, Lucy noticed that he had barely eaten anything. She glanced at him and he sighed, distractedly scratching his head under the military cap he now wore almost all the time.
"Don't look at me like that," he said, "I'm not that hungry yet, but I'll eat more later."
"I didn't say anything," she chuckled.
Loke smiled sadly. All his friends tried very hard to behave the way they always did with him, but you could see in his eyes that he wasn't buying it.
"So," Gray sat in front of Erza and smiled, "I heard that Jellal's coming back. Of course, no one doubted that he would, eventually."
"Of course," the redhead agreed. "He's not the kind of man that will be brought down that easily."
That was probably the cutest thing Erza could say about a man.
"Juvia agrees," Juvia agreed. "Jellal's strong. Not as strong as Gray, though."
No one was sure how things would have turned out if these two had started fighting over who was the strongest boyfriend, but they fortunately would never find out.
"Jellal isn't the only one coming back, though," Sting said. "I heard three of Ultear's most trusted men would join us tonight."
"Really?" Erza frowned, not understanding why that brat knew something that she didn't. "Who?"
The young man shrugged and resumed eating, clearly showing what was important in his eyes.
"No idea," he mumbled, "it's a secret, apparently."
"Exactly," the commander sighed and slapped the back of his head. "Which means you're not supposed to go telling everybody about it. Though, we were already planning to tell you all about it. Where did you even hear that?"
"I'm a surprising man," the moron smirked, earning another slap.
"And who are those trump cards the boss was hiding?" Gajeel asked.
The commander sighed and shook his head.
"I'd tell you if I could," he assured, "but Gramps wants it to be a surprise... Alright, hurry up. We've got a new rescue mission. Gray, Gajeel, Erza, Cana, Sting and Lucy, go get ready and meet me in an hour in the parking lot."
"Can I come too?" Rogue asked shyly.
"Sorry, dude," the commander shook his head. "We already have four teams of six. Maybe next time."
Rogue looked disappointed and Lucy understood why. Rescue missions almost always ended well and thus greatly helped lift their spirits. They were still at war, but they were saving people instead of shooting them. Lucy loved these missions as well, but she felt guilty looking at Rogue's sad face.
"He can take my place if he really wants to go, though," she said.
The commander silently stared at her with unexpressive eyes to the point that it became embarrassing until he finally answered.
"Unfortunately, you don't get to decide such things," he retorted. "And we need you there."
His voice was cold, his tone distant and his eyes blank. Lucy gulped and decided to remain silent as he turned around and walked away.
"Da hell?" Gajeel growled.
Loke suddenly stood up and ran after the commander. Lucy and her friends watched him with confused eyes as he grabbed the commander's shoulder and dragged him out of the refectory. A mere minute after that, someone sat in the chair in front of Lucy and the young woman found herself facing a grinning Dan.
"Hello, there," he sang. "You look as beautiful as always!"
Lucy smiled back and at that moment the boys starting seeing Dan as a potential threat while the girls started seeing him as an option.
oOo
The rescue team was divided in four groups of six people each. They were supposed to go to the abandoned iron factory, near the new hospital. The fastest way would be to cross the large suspension bridge over the Klaus river, so they decided to head there. Before leaving, Natsu and the other team leaders told them that they were going to fetch a small group of deserters that betrayed the army and refused to fight for the Octagon anymore.
"They're hiding in the factory as we speak. It's gonna be simple," he concluded, "we get them and we come back here. Any question?"
As expected seeing how easy this mission was, no one had any question. Well, Lucy had one, but it had nothing to do with the mission. Why in the world was Mira coming with them? True, she looked a bit better than the day before, but she was still obviously not ready to join them. Laxus was right by her side and Lucy wasn't sure if she was imagining things, but she thought that he was discreetly holding her hand. Laxus being this affectionate towards another human being while being in public was quite the rare sight, so Lucy didn't dare say anything. She'd just make sure to protect her friend while they were out of the Academy.
In the car, Sting kept complaining about a guy called Mest that wouldn't leave his brother alone.
"Rogue's gotten weird since he hangs out with that bastard!" he roared. "Yesterday, he asked me how he looked with his new shirt! Rogue never cared one bit about such things, dammit!"
"Isn't it cute?" Erza asked. "Your brother has a crush on someone, be happy about it."
"That's not cute at all," Sting protested, "it's awful! My brother's starting to trust a stranger as much as he trusts me! Soon, he'll spend more time with him, too! I have to stop them!"
"Don't you dare do that," both girls growled, glaring at him.
"Ok..."
The cars suddenly came to a stop and Lucy frowned when she noticed that they hadn't even crossed the bridge yet.
"What's happening?"
The commander got out of the car and saw that the other team leaders had to stop because of five large concrete barrier blocks.
"We can't move them, so we'll have to go on foot," Laxus said. "It's pretty close by, anyway."
"Alright," the commander agreed. "Pick two guys in each team, they'll stay here and watch the cars."
They used rock paper scissors to decide on who'd have to stay. In Natsu's team, Sting and Lucy lost the game and had to watch the car while the others would head to the factory. Before they left, though, Cana smirked at Lucy and came close enough to tell her something she'd be the only one to hear.
"There's actually a way to cheat at rock paper scissors," she said. "I'll teach you when we get back."
Lucy glared at her as she ran to join the others. Fifteen minutes passed as she had to listen to Sting complaining about each and every little thing happening in his life. He complained some more about Mest, complained about the humid weather, complained about the lack of sleep.
"Did you know Natsu sleep talks?" he asked. "That's such a pain in the ass. He keeps mumbling incomprehensible things about being sorry and how he's got to bear with it, or something like that..."
Lucy frowned and arched a brow at him.
"What did you say?"
"I said I'm tired," he whined, "you don't even listen to me!"
"No, about the commander sleep talking," she corrected.
"That's not important," the moron wailed, "I'm suffering, ya hear!?"
Before Lucy could threaten to cause him even more suffering, the sound of a violent detonation made them jump. They turned around and saw a huge cloud of black smoke rising from the other side of the bridge. Soon after, they heard gunshots and screams. An ambush.
Lucy grabbed her precision rifle and ran towards the bridge as quickly as she could, ignoring Sting's protests and questions. She just told him to stay there and watch the cars. As she approached the source of the uproar, she saw that the path had been blocked ahead with military trucks. Not wasting any time, she looked around her and found several metal cables she could use to climb up the suspension tower. She smirked as she thought of the day she had climbed trees to steal a flag during a game in the Academy. She hoped she'd do better now than she did back then.
After a few minutes of climbing, she reached the horizontal suspension cable and used it to move sideways and approach the battlefield. As expected, she found lots of enemy soldiers below, but they didn't seem to be dominating the fight. In fact, Lucy's friends were very close to surrounding them. Just in case she could provide some help, Lucy sat down on the cable and wrapped her legs around a pole to steady herself.
This was undoubtedly the most dangerous, stupid thing she'd ever done this far. Using the scope to survey the battlefield, she checked on everyone's situation. Gray and Gajeel were fighting with the commander and other members of the Resistance while Cana was protecting Erza. Her favourite drunkard even managed to make three soldiers run straight to the edge and fall off the bridge. Lucy smirked and switched targets to see how Mira was doing. She found Laxus giving orders and directions to lead the attack, but no Mira by his side.
Starting to worry, she searched the bridge for a few more minutes until she found her. She was lying on the ground, holding her bleeding leg. An enemy soldier was standing above her, pointing his gun at her head. It took Lucy less than two seconds to understand that this man had shot her leg and was about to kill her. She aimed, but someone suddenly appeared in her field of view and hid the target.
"Fuck," she cursed.
From her position, it was impossible to change positions and look for another firing line. She got even more confused when she recognized the newcomer. Elfman was visibly talking animatedly with the soldier holding the gun. Lucy tried adjusting her aim, but the chance of hitting Elfman was still very high. She hesitated. Elfman had betrayed them, would it really be such a big deal if she were to hurt him in order to save Mira?
When Elfman finally joined the enemy soldier and went to stand by his side, though, any kind of hesitation vanished at once. Mira's brother was ready to sacrifice his own sister, the only one he had left. Lucy aimed at the soldier holding the gun, not caring anymore if Elfman was going to move in her way. Down there, all her friends were desperately trying to shove their enemies aside and get to Mira. Laxus was literally going crazy.
A sudden very strong gust of wind almost threw Lucy off balance and she had to use one of her hands to grip the pole. Shit, this really wouldn't be easy. Not wasting any time, she aimed again. To her great surprise, she saw Elfman jump at the soldier and push the rifle up. It wasn't the time to be surprised, this was the perfect opportunity she had been waiting for. She shot the soldier and hit his shoulder. Damn, she had been aiming for his head. Her sudden intervention confused the enemies and Laxus jumped on the occasion to run and fetch the injured Mira.
Right after Lucy's shot, several things happened all at once and each of them had a very significant impact on the course of events. After Laxus got away from the enemies with Mira in his arms, the now injured solider that had been threatening her got angry and aimed at Elfman. Another strong gust of wind hit Lucy just as she aimed at him once more, preventing her from shooting when she had the occasion to do so. The commander, Gray and Gajeel all ran in Elfman's direction when they saw that the latter was trying to join them. Erza ran too and Cana ran after Erza. None of them made it on time. Just as Lucy managed to adjust her aim once more, she got a nice view of the enemy soldier aiming at Elfman.
She shot right away, it all happened in less than a second. She hit the bullseye, but he did too. Elfman was hit just as he jumped over the railing, intending to use it as a shield as he ran towards his friends. The bullet hit him in midair and he fell off the bridge. A heavy, deep silence ensued. Even the wind stopped, as if the world itself was warning them: it shouldn't have happened.
Mira's heart wrenching wail even shocked the enemies. Lucy felt like a hand made of ice had gripped her heart and sent thousands of sharp needles within her body. They pierced her bones and attested the reality of what they had just seen. Elfman was coming back home and they shot him. For a long while, no one moved and they finally understood that the man Lucy had shot was the leader. Without him, they had no idea how to face the new situation. Still sitting on her cable, unable to do anything more to save or avenge Elfman, Lucy shed tears of grief and frustration. Erza took Mirajane in her arms as the latter burst into tears. The young sniper saw Gray wipe his eyes, and even Gajeel had his head hidden between his arms.
After that, everyone kind of felt like the fight had ended already. Elfman's death had been a blow much too heavy for the allied forces. As for the enemy soldiers, they surrendered. Laxus ordered everyone to go back to the cars and head to the Academy, they would take no prisoner. It was also decided that they'd send a team to search for and recover Elfman's body.
"It's our duty to hold a proper funeral for one of our friends," Laxus declared. "Especially when he died a hero."
As they were nearing the edge of the bridge, Lucy felt a large hand on her wrist. The commander gently pulled her to him and she didn't resist it at all. How long had it been since he had last held her of his own free will? He waited until he was sure they were out of hearing range and glared at her.
"If you ever do something this dangerous again," he growled, "I'll kill you myself."
Lucy didn't even try to hide her disappointment. Just when she thought he was finally coming back to her, it turned out that he was only scolding her. Sure, it meant that he still cared and worried about her, but it wasn't what she wanted from him.
"Okay..."
She turned away from him, but he held her wrist tighter. She sent him a glance over her shoulder and arched a brow when she saw how serious he looked. It was obvious that he had too many things to say and didn't know where to start, so Lucy helped him.
"Do you regret having kissed me?"
The question stunned him so much that he struggled to find his words.
"Damn..." he sighed and shook his head. "So, this is what you imagined..."
"One could hardly blame me," she mumbled.
The sad look in his eyes instantly made her feel a bit guilty, but he had been a jerk for the last few months, so...
"I don't regret it at all," he retorted. "You can't imagine how many times I... Whatever, it's just not what you think at all."
"If you say so..."
When she turned away once more, the commander finally lost patience and pulled her back a bit harder. His large hands cradling her face, enveloping her cheeks and neck, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers with an unflinching determination that stupefied her. Her first reflex was to push his stomach, but he ignored it and gave her a moment to grasp the situation. Her hands soon grasped the fabric of his shirt as she responded to the kiss with a reassured sigh that came out as an embarrassing moan. He smirked with satisfaction when he pulled away and saw that she was glaring at him.
"I thought I was being considerate, but I was wrong," he explained. "I can't really give you the details because I'll look like an idiot, but I finally understood that I was messing everything up. When I did, though, you always looked sad whenever I was around, so..."
Lucy gulped and did her best not to show that she felt like the weight of the whole world had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't know who he was trying to be considerate of, but she was glad that it was over.
"I have to admit that I feel kinda great knowing how much you missed me," he smirked again. "I guess I'll have to make it up to you."
At first, she intended to deny what he said, but she really liked the idea of having him trying his best to make it up to her, so she kept quiet.
Sting cried like a baby when he heard about Elfman and Natsu had to knock him out to prevent Mira from seeing him. The girls of the team switched cars to sit with Mira and comfort her, but the colonel wouldn't respond to any of them. One would have thought that the loss of her brother would have been the last straw and that her mind would have broken down. Most of the people accompanying them for this mission thought so as well. When Lucy and her close friends looked into the colonel's eyes, though, what they saw wasn't despair. They saw ice cold wrath.
End of chapter 26
Here's the first chapter of the second part! As promised, things will progress much faster from now on and you will soon meet new characters that will bring new elements to the story and help our main characters reach the whole truth!
To everyone who got this far with me, reading the story and sending all kinds of messages to support and help me: thank you so very much from the very bottom of my heart! I read absolutely every review and even though I can't always answer them, you guys made this whole writing thing awesome and it's a real pleasure to write for you! The end of the story's already written and I'm confident that you'll love it!
As always, don't hesitate to tell me what you've thought of the new chapter!
Note: I changed my mind about one of the main characters I was planning to kill, this one will survive (yay!)
2nd note: Erza's baby's name's already decided!
3rd note: About Loke... I'm sorry about the sad news, but I'm not done with him just yet! Don't worry, Loke will keep being an important part of the story and will even become a freaking hero very soon!
4th note: I don't like that new Touka girl (100 years quest), but maybe I'll change my mind about her as the story goes on...
More important note: I'm seriously considering writing an actual, original book based on this story.