The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts

Chapter 16: Finding Courage

As she walked farther into the hallways, Lucy could tell that the explanation would not be easy to tell to her friends. Finally she heard familiar voices around the corner and stopped.

"Boy, I've never seen Sarge this mad, even for her!" said an unfamiliar voice.

"Do you think the little girl is in trouble?" another voice said.

"Of course! Sarge isn't one to let things go."

Now Lucy was having second thoughts about her approach, knowing now that Calhoun was definitely mad. I can't just walk up to them and expect them to listen now. I wish I could…

"Where is the little girl anyway?"

"Asleep I'm thinking, though it won't be long before she wakes up."

Lucy stayed hidden until she heard the voices trail away. From the way they were speaking she assumed they were soldiers who were in Calhoun's squad.

"Chirp…" Tobi's voice ringed weakly in Lucy's ears.

"It's okay, they're gone now." Lucy said stroking the baby cybug in reassurance.

"I need to know myself…I need to know if what these men say are true."

With a deep breath Lucy continued on. She ushered Sophie and Tobi to stay hidden for the time being. Her two companions both hid inside Lucy's hair in the back of her head. For a while she walked through the maze-like hallways until suddenly she heard familiar voices.

"Why are you all defending her? Aren't you the least bit mad or disappointed?!"

"That sounds like Calhoun's voice…" Lucy gulped creeping closer to the voices.

It was around the corner at the end of the hallway where she could hear the voices the loudest. She stopped and slightly peaked from behind the corner to see what was happening. She recognized Calhoun and Felix right away, but the other faces were hidden from view. From what she could tell, her friends seemed to be all arguing at the same time.

"She's just a young girl! She doesn't know her way around!"

"You can't blame her for not knowing what would happen!"

"That's Eris and Arren's voices, what are they doing here?" Lucy wondered surprised that they were defending her.

"Just because she does not know much, doesn't mean that she's not in trouble for this." Calhoun responded not losing her tone.

"I'm sure she has a reason for going into your game when the arcade was still open." Felix chimed in trying to ease the tension.

"It had better be a good one then." Calhoun replied with a huff.

Lucy was afraid to move or even make a sound. She did not know what to do, if she should come around the corner and face them.

"Why am I such a big coward…why can't I be brave?!" she thought feeling very guilty for coming here in the first place.

Tobi's questioning chirp snapped Lucy back, realizing that it was loud and could be heard.

"SHUSH!" Lucy whispered intensely backing away from the corner.

The voices of her friends all went silent as she heard footsteps coming towards her. She soon became frightened about what would happen, and in that fear she ran as fast as she could away from them.

For some reason she was very good at running, and loved to run for that matter. But under the circumstances she was running away from her friends, like a tiny meek mouse would.

"I'm a big coward…just a scared little girl who runs away…."

I'll never be brave like them.

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Ralph heaved a heavy sigh, walking through the corridors and hallways. He was glad to be away from the fierce arguments and tensions that were rising all because of Lucy's actions. He knew that she had a reason to come here, and surprisingly was not very mad at her. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard their voices and footsteps coming from not too far away.

"Now what's going on?" he wondered. He took a few steps but then stopped when he heard something unusual coming from the other direction. The sound seemed familiar to him, as if it was something he encountered before. Against his better judgement he went to go look for where the sound was coming from.

When he turned a corner Ralph was surprised to come across another sound. A very sad sound, like someone was crying. Ralph quickened his pace, knowing exactly who it was now. After turning a few more corners he stopped and listened for the sobbing again. Once more he heard it, and knew he was close. He peaked behind the next corner to see a messy-haired Lucy, who had her knees pulled up and her face hidden as she sobbed.

"This looks…oddly familiar." Ralph thought realizing that something about the way she was positioned reminded him of something long ago. He shook his head, "No time for wondering and trying to remember something from long ago."

Carefully and cautiously he came around the corner, and gently sat down next to her. They both were silent except for the echoing sniffles Lucy made through her knees.

"I was wondering where you went off to." Ralph finally said softly trying not to startle her.

Lucy sat unmoving, but her sobs and sniffles finally stopped.

"We were all very worried about you."

Ralph was not prepared for the cold but sad look Lucy gave him.

"Or you all are just mad at me for doing something wrong!" she said coldly.

Ralph frowned, trying his best not to lose his temper, "I was worried about you! We all were scared because you went into this game before the arcade was closed. You could have been seen by the gamers!"

"Yeah, I knew the arcade was still open! I knew that I would be in danger if I went in!"

"Then why did you?!" Ralph asked in a raised voice.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Lucy yelled, now turning her face towards him. He was taken aback when he saw that her face was filled with tears, her eyes red from crying.

"Okay, okay. Calm down, I'm sorry I yelled." Ralph said with a sigh.

Lucy wiped the tears that were still in her eyes, then turned away from him and stared at the wall opposite of her.

"It's just…Sophie led me here, and I found…."

"Who's Sophie?" Ralph asked curious.

"M-My friend." Lucy stammered nervously.

He looked at her knowing she was hiding something, to which Lucy sighed in defeat.

"Please don't be mad or freak out." Lucy begged.

"Alright I won't, promise." Ralph replied with a smile as he patted her head with one of his ham hands.

Suddenly he heard the unusual sound again, sounding like a chirp. He pulled his hand back and flinched a little. Behind Lucy's hair peaked two little creatures. One looked like a white bird, which looked at him curiously. But the other creature was why Ralph flinched, because it was a baby Cybug.

Ralph did not know what to do next, he just sat there dumbfounded looking at the two creatures on Lucy's shoulders. She stared at him expectedly, waiting for his response to what he had seen.

"How…were you able to tame it?" he asked slowly, still dumbfounded.

Lucy blinked back in surprise at him like she was expecting him to say something else. "I-I'm not sure. I found him in an egg outside this place, it hatched, and there he was. He took a liking to me after that."

"He? The Cybug has a name?"

"Yeah, I named him Tobi."

The baby cybug chirped happily when he heard its name, making Lucy giggle and smile. Ralph sighed in relief, "She's smiling again, that's good."

"Do you want to meet him up close?" Lucy asked hesitantly.

Ralph looked at her unsurely, "I don't know. The last time I saw one up close it tried to eat my face."

Lucy laughed loudly, making Ralph's cheeks turn red, "It's true!" he retorted.

"Don't worry, Tobi won't hurt you, or try to eat your face. Trust me." Lucy smiled holding her hand out.

Ralph took her tiny hand in his big one, feeling very nervous. The baby cybug Tobi curiously peeked out and crawled down on Lucy's arm to their hands, where he hesitated a little before cautiously crawling onto Ralph's big hand. Ralph looked up at Lucy who was smiling at him, then back down to Tobi who blinked its big green eyes at him.

"You were right, he seems to be harmless." Ralph said smiling down at Tobi.

"Told you so!" Lucy said brightening up.

The little Cybug then climbed up onto Ralph's shoulder and brightly chirped. Ralph chuckled softly, petting Tobi a few times. He looked back at Lucy and found her shaking a bit.

"It must be cold in here. It always seems to be in this game." Ralph figured.

Taking a deep breath, his cheeks turning red again, he carefully wrapped one of his hands around Lucy and pulled her closer to him. Lucy's face turned bright red at this as she sat completely still.

Well at least she's not cold anymore.

They sat there in silence for a while, with Ralph's arm gently wrapped around Lucy.

"I'm such a big coward, I can't even face up to my friends." Lucy sighed sadly.

"What do you mean?" Ralph asked.

"Well…I heard the others talking about me. Before I was sure I could handle it, but…."

"Now you're not so sure huh?"

Lucy turned to look at him, "Yeah."

Ralph thought a moment, "Well, you were able to tell me right? Just tell them the same thing you told me."

Lucy looked down with an unsure look on her face.

"Look, there are going to be times when you don't know what will happen. But you should just be yourself and be confident in what you are doing." He said patting her on the head again.

"You think so?" she asked.

Ralph nodded and smiled, "Of course! And besides…you must be a brave girl to be going into a dangerous game on your own."

"O-Okay." Lucy said nodding, "I'll try then."

Ralph smiled, but flinched when he heard Tobi chirp happily on his shoulder. He almost forgot that the little cybug was there. Lucy giggled at him, then took Tobi off of his shoulder where it hid again behind Lucy's hair.

"Well let's go find the others." Ralph said getting up and offering a hand for Lucy. She took it without hesitation as the two now walked together with more confidence.

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As soon as Lucy saw her friends she began to feel a little nervous, but still kept walking forward. Suddenly she felt someone slam into her and gave her a hug.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Eris's shaky voice said as she held Lucy tight.

Lucy's cheeks turned pink, but returned Eris's hug with a smile. She heard some lighthearted chuckles around her, but she did not mind.

"You are such a drama queen, Eris." Arren's voice said playfully.

"I am NOT!" Eris retorted turning to face him.

"Are you sure?" Arren replied curiously.

"Um…guys?" Lucy pitched in.

They both turned to look at Lucy expectantly. She took a deep breath, "I'm really sorry for worrying all of you, I know it was not right of me to go into a very dangerous game during arcade hours."

Eris and Arren smiled knowingly, seeing that they had forgiven her already. Lucy noticed however that Calhoun was still not convinced.

"Why did you go into our game in the first place?" she asked Lucy with a stern voice.

At this Lucy took another deep breath knowing that she would not like what she was about to do next. She carefully picked up Tobi from behind her, cradling him protectively in her arms. Of course Calhoun's reaction was shock and instinctive as she almost pulled out her gun.

"I found him inside the game, I named him Tobi. He's harmless and won't hurt anyone. I promise I'll take good care of him and not get him in trouble. Just…please don't take him away from me." Lucy said as it all came out very quickly.

For a moment everyone was stunned silent as she held Tobi in her arms. Finally Calhoun walked up to her. Lucy did not know what to expect from her and became a bit nervous. But she only patted Lucy's shoulder a few times with a look of approval and a bit of amazement.

"You may keep him. Just don't let me catch you two getting into big trouble." She said with sternness, but with a softness to her tone.

"Yes ma'am." Lucy nodded smiling relieved that it turned out better than she thought.

Afterwards she felt at ease as she and her friends left the game, heading back to Game Central Station. All the while Lucy still held Tobi in her arms, who was happily chirping.

"Maybe…now I can finally find courage." Lucy thought happily, "I hope someday I'll be strong and brave as my friends."

And that she knew eventually it would come true.

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"Well now…it seems that the little girl has grown up." A dark voice said smugly.

"She has, don't you think brother?" a female shadow's voice asked next to another similar shadow.

"Yes sister, it's very interesting to see a strong young lady come from a shy little girl." A man shadow's voice replied with a curious tone.

"Quiet! I think this will be quite an entertaining game to play…are you ready my friend?" the voice asked turning to another shadow behind him who was much bigger than the two next to him.

"It will be my pleasure, my lord Shadow Man." The big shadow replied with a bow before dissipating from sight.

"Aww why does he get to go first?!" the female shadow whined.

Shadow Man smiled, "Patience twins, you will get your chance. Soon…when I bring the magical girl in my control, and return her to where she belongs." He said with a very dark chuckle that made both the twins shiver in fear.

For they knew he was the one thing that could destroy the only light now remaining in his way: a magical girl named Lucy.

A/N: Thank you so much for your patience to those that are following this story. Let me know what you think so far. Next chapter I will elaborate on this last part, but for now I will leave you with this. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.