Chapter FIVE

Lucy was already asleep when Darque's key returned to her key pouch. The tingling feeling had woken her. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. She glanced at her clock and groaned. It was still four in the morning and she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again.

Instead, she debated over whether she should ask Darque her story now, or if she should just wait until morning. She moved absentmindedly moved towards her desk and twirled her pen.

There was a poof of black smoke and Darque stood there, rubbing her eyes. She yawned and flopped down onto the bed. Lucy turned around in her chair.

"Did I wake you?" Darque asked.

Lucy shrug. "Its fine. I'm not sleepy anyways.

"Sorry." Darque said. "I mean about the thing against Lite and endangering you and your guild mates and-"

"You're my friend too." Lucy declared. "You're my friend so I'll help you."

Darque smiled a teary smile and stood up. She walked over to Lucy and hugged her.

After a while, Darque finally calmed down . "Do you have any question?"

Lucy nodded. "A few." She said. "If Lite is a spirit, how do you kill him?"

"Me and Lite are both keys of Afterlife, so we can kill each other." She explained.

"Oh." Lucy paused. "Then, you said you guys are both dropped into the human world once every five hundred years. Do you guys die and...er...come back to life again and again? How does the...cycle end?" Lucy asked.

Darque looked down sheepishly. "The cycle end the moment one of us dies. I've managed to escape meeting Lite all this time. There's a ritual I can hold on a full moon than will allow me to forcibly restart the cycle. But in order to do so, something needs to be sacrificed. The sacrifice is different each time. At first, it was small things, like a rare plant or a antique cup or something like than. But recently..." Darque smiled. "Yeah, recently, the sacrifice is getting more bigger and bigger. If I remember correctly, four cycles ago, I had to steal a treasured photo album from an wealthy album. Three cycles ago, the sacrifice was a stray cat. Two cycles ago, I had to raid an graveyard and sacrifice a corpse." Darque stiffened. "Last time, I...I had to k-kill a young ch-child."

Lucy froze in shock.

"The child had been adopted into a family, but he wasn't properly cared for. His parents had died in an accident or something and he was dying of an illness as well. Even if I hadn't killed him, he would have died in three days at most. Still, I..."

Darque shook her head. "If Lite and I meet in battle and if I loose, that would allow him and his owners to grant one wish each. That would cause chaos, because Lite only contracts with those who are power hungry."

Lucy paused. "Wait. Grant on wish?" She asked. Darque nodded. "I thought it was unlimited power and magic."

Darque looked surprised. "Isn't that what all people wish for? Or maybe its money or eternal life." Now she looked confused.

Lucy smiled. "Not everybody wishes for things like that. If I could grant one wish, I would wish that all the people I care about lead a happy life."

Darque stared at her, her look of surprise slowly giving way to a smile. "That's similar to what my other owner said."

"Other owner?" Lucy asked.

Darque grinned and placed a finger over her lips. "It's a surprise. Your partner should arrive today."

Lucy nodded. "Can I tell master about this?"

Darque hesitated, but slowly nodded.

"If I do, he'll understand my sudden decision to leave the guild."

Darque looked guilty again. "You...you wont be lonely or anything." She said. "I asked my other owner to gather some people that I think will help us. You guys should create a tempoary guild together or something."

Lucy thought about this and inwardly smiled.

Lucy glanced her clock. "Its already six." She hadn't realized how long they had been talking.

Darque stood up and bowed. "I'll take my leave for now." She said. Lucy nodded and Darque disappeared in a burst of black smoke.

Lucy spend the next hour at her desk, writing a long letter to her mother. She smiled and got up, deciding to head to the guild.

Lucy stepped through the guild doors and smiled when she noticed that the usual free-for-all brawl had already started. She carefully made her way around the huge mess and took a seat at the bar. When Mira came around, they exchanged greetings before Lucy ordered a strawberry milkshake.

She felt a sudden weight on her shoulder and looked up to see Laxus standing there with his hand on her shoulder.

Lucy inwardly shuddered. She had never talked to Laxus in person before, and she had no idea what he wanted with her. She quickly looked around and noted that the Raijinshu were standing behind Laxus.

She gulped and looked at Laxus. "What can I do for you?"

Laxus smirked. "Hey Blondie." He said. "Interested in accepting my duel request?"

Natsu heard this, and he came storming over. "What?" He asked, and turned to Lucy. "Hey Luce." He said, before turning back to Laxus. "You don't accept my challenge but you ask Luce-"

"You lost to Blondie." Laxus interrupted. "I have no interest in weaklings..."

Lucy took a deep breath.

'Interesting bunch, huh?'

"What am I supposed to do?" Lucy groaned. She didn't notice that Laxus and Natsu had stopped arguing to listen to her.

'Accept! Accept it!'

"What? Why?" Lucy asked. "Laxus is like, really strong and-"

'Didn't you say the same thing about Natsu?'

Lucy groaned. "Argg! No, I'm not going to fight. I'm tired and if you really want to fight, go pick fights yourself."

"Luce?" Natsu asked. Lucy looked up. "Are you okay?"

Lucy blinked, then slapped her hand over her mouth. Darque's laugh echoed through her head. "Oh my god!" Lucy groaned. "Stupid spirit."

'Hey!'

Lucy ignored her spirits enraged cry and slammed her head onto the table.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open. A cloaked figure stepped through. Blue hair was visible from underneath the hood.

'Your partner has arrived.'

The figure lowered its hood, and Lucy saw a red tattoo around the figures brown right eye. Erza, who had been seated at a table with team Natsu, leaped to her feet.

Standing at the guild's entrance was Jellal Fernandez.

The votes for pairings are still ongoing. Vote at the poll on my profile, PM me, or just post as a review.

Pairings so far:

Jellal x Lucy: 17

Cobra x Lucy: 10

Midnight x Lucy: 11

Laxus x Lucy: 7

Natsu x Lucy:5

Sting x Lucy: 5

Rogue x Lucy: 5

Gajeel x Lucy: 1

Ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Don't forget to review!