A/N: I am very sorry for the long overdue chapter to this story! I feel so guilty for keeping you guys waiting for this chapter, and I deeply apologize. The block I had lasted for a very long time due to my procrastination and irl situations. But I did get the determination to move my behind in gear and finish this chapter.

I promise that I will continue to write more of the chapters as soon as I can. I hope you please enjoy reading this long awaited chapter and will see you in the next installment.

The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts

Chapter 17: Descending Shadows

It was another quiet Sunday, when the arcade was closed for the day and night. For Archer, his Sunday started with a very interesting look at Lucy's artistic skills.

"Is it…supposed to look like that?" he asked looking at the painting before him.

Lucy smiled shyly, "Did I get it wrong?"

"I don't think so, it looks great!" Garren commented looking over Archer's shoulder at the painting.

Lucy sighed in relief. The picture that she showed Archer and Garren was a picture of what she could remember of the landscape of Hero's Duty.

"Well…at least it's interesting." Archer smiled as he handed Lucy the painting back to her.

"I'm really glad you think so." Lucy smiled brightly.

"Come on Archer, we got to go practice remember?" Garren said pulling on his hand.

Archer hesitated, "I'll be right with you Gen. I…need to talk to Lucy about something."

Gen looked at him with a confused look, but nodded in understanding. "Just don't be too long then." He replied letting go of his hand as he headed to their game.

Archer turned back to Lucy, who was busying herself with the painting he gave back to her. He sighed not knowing how to start. He was lucky to have this time alone with her, even for a minute. Ever since the time in Sugar Rush he felt as though her friends, especially Ralph, was a little skeptical about him being friends with Lucy. As if he was a bad influence.

Archer slowly took a deep breath, then walked over to Lucy with a little confidence and a lot of nervousness.

As if one cue Lucy looked up from her painting and was staring at him curiously.

"You haven't left?" she asked.

Archer shook his head and sat down next to her. He was struck with shyness suddenly wondering how he would start.

"Something tells me you're having some trouble."

Archer looked at her to see that she was smiling warmly.

"How…did you know?" he asked. More importantly, when did she gain so much courage?

"I can obviously see it on your face." Lucy admitted adding a little giggle. "What's going on?"

Archer sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, in your opinion do you…still think I'm a bad person?"

She looked at him now with a more concerning look than the curious innocent one she gave earlier.

"Why in the world would you ask that? I think of you as a good person of course!" she said giving him a smile.

Archer still did not feel very convinced by her answer, even though it made him feel a little better.

"Everyone else doesn't think so. Your friends still treat me as if I'm a threat to them, and to you." He nervously fumbled with his hands trying to get a sense of what point he was trying to make.

"They've never told me about that." Lucy admitted as she blinked her big eyes a few times.

"Everyone always has a secret to keep."

"Well…you're not a threat to me." Lucy replied with a smile.

Archer simply looked away with a sad look on his face.

She looked at him in a pleading way in the corner of his eye, like she was looking for some way to give him help.

"May I tell you a story then?"

Archer was taken aback by this sudden question and stared dumbfounded at his friend. After a slight pause in his actions Archer nodded his head slowly, which made her smile grow bigger.

"Have I ever told you that I was a kid once?"

"No." Archer said shaking his head.

"Well I was a kid once before being the person I am now. It was at that time when I didn't know what to do and who to trust. At first I thought people passed me by because they did not know I was there. But I started to think later on that I might be a bad person, and that they were avoiding me.

"I would cry for days on end, feeling alone and isolated from the world. And just when I thought all hope was lost in making a friend…something happened I did not expect."

Archer had leaned in closer, interested in her story. "What happened?" he asked.

Lucy smiled making her eyes seem to sparkle. "Someone showed me kindness, and gave me one of those cherries that I've seen from Pac-Man. It was really huge!" Lucy made a gesture with her hands to tell him how big it was.

"Who gave it to you?"

"I don't know." she admitted with a shrug. "I never saw their face, whoever it was."

Archer looked around the station, thinking on who could have shown so much kindness to her. He had never given her a cherry before, but he did not remember anyone who would have cherries of any kind. He looked back at her and saw that she seemed a little down.

"Hey, I have an idea. Come with me to my game," he said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Really?" Lucy asked a little nervously.

"Yeah, I could show you around the place, maybe even teach you how to use a bow and arrow," Archer said and smiled at her sincerely.

"Okay," she replied smiling back at him.

Archer suddenly felt happy for the first time in a very long while.

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Lucy's eyes kept getting wider and wider. She had never been into Archer's game before, making this more exciting. Her smile was just as wide as her eyes as she stared out at the scenery of the game Flying Arrows. When she first entered it seemed just like what an ordinary shooting gallery would look like. But when they actually got to where the other archers were practicing, there was a wide field stretched out across a blue sky.

She stayed close to Archer, hoping that the other characters that made up this game were as nice as he was to her when not teasing her. In the corner of her eye she saw the three fangirls that would fawn all over Archer for being the big shot of the game.

"Welcome back Archer!" the youngest girl of them said and waved.

The other two who seemed to be older weren't as happy as the young girl was. In fact, they seemed to be staring with accusing eyes right at Lucy. She gulped and waved back nervously.

"Who is this girl?" the girl that looked the oldest asked.

"Isn't she the freak that has these weird powers?" the middle girl asked along with another glare at Lucy.

Archer glared right back at them, sending a surprised look and chills down the two girls' spines.

"This is Lucy. She my friend. And I expect you to treat her with kindness the next time you meet her." Archer growled at them.

The girls were silent after that, but the youngest still smiled and waved at Lucy. Lucy managed to smile back as she and Archer left.

"You didn't have to stand up for me," she said defensively.

"They were going to pick on you like I did. I had to do something," he replied and patted her on the head with one hand.

Lucy said nothing but kept walking with him, keeping very close. As soon as the two arrived at the shooting gallery, and the beautiful blue sky that came with it, she immediately grew very curious and was taken aback in wonder.

"This would make a great painting," she whispered with glee in her voice.

She then turned her attention to some of the characters shooting arrows at the targets that were placed a few feet into the field. She suddenly felt a strange chill, like something was wrong.

"Lucy. Come here, I want to show you this."

She turned her attention to Archer who now had a bow in his hand and was holding it out to her.

"For me?" she asked.

He nodded as she took the bow and held it in one hand, examining it with curious eyes.

"How do you use it?" she asked him.

"Well, I'll show you over here." Archer said leading her to an empty spot in the target range.

Lucy was very excited to be here despite that some did not share the joy she had. But the chilling feeling did not disappear very easily. It was like someone was watching her from afar, away from her golden eyes.

"Here, Lucy!" Archer called her, grabbing her hand.

Across from them was a target, sitting on three wooden legs and tilted a little upwards. A few arrows were stuck in the target meaning that someone had practiced before they got here.

"Now…take the arrow within your thumb, forefinger and middle finger," he instructed.

Lucy did so, and followed the instructions of how to put the arrow on the string, and to pull back the string to her cheekbone.

"Ah! This…is…so difficult!" she groaned pulling the string back with all her might.

"Come on, you can do it." Archer cheered her on, "Now aim at the target…and let go!"

With that Lucy released the arrow. It went whizzing past the target itself high into the air before landing just behind it.

"Aww!" Lucy cried, "I missed."

"I'll get it for you." Archer offered.

"N-No, it's okay I'll get it."

Lucy smiled as she handed back Archer's bow to him and hopped over the barricade onto the range, running for the arrow. She skipped a little on the way and retrieved the arrow after looking behind the target. But once she got up….

There stood a strange figure she had never seen before. A chill went through her as she looked at this figure. Was this the one that was giving me a bad feeling?

The figure only stared back at her, but with the eyes unseen through a thick mask over them only showing the mouth from its features. But most unsettling of all was the bigger figure that appeared next to the other one. This person was tall and muscular, but was a little big in size as well. But the grin this figure had was the most chilling one she had ever seen.

"So…this is the little girl with the strong powers?!" the big figure said and laughed loudly.

The other one said nothing, watching as Lucy felt herself shaking from the other one's voice.

"Who are they?!" she wondered with fright.

The big figure stepped back once and from behind his back pulled out a dark axe that was twice his size. Lucy then realized what they were, shadows. With a huge grin he swung the axe right at her. She was frozen at first as it came down but dodged out of the way somehow.

She tumbled away, the grass helping her not getting too injured.

"Nngh, ow." she whispered as she gasped for breath.

I can't die like this, not now!

"You're a lot quicker than I thought," the big figure said coming towards her, "But I can see that you're still weak. Name's Darc, one of the stronger minions of who you might know to be called Shadowman."

Lucy said nothing but her shaking increased. She knew exactly who that was.

"Ah…so you do know who the Shadowman is, hmm?" he said with another grin.

"The girl…do not harm her!" the other figure called out in a somewhat quiet voice, "We need her alive."

Lucy lay still, wishing that she could fight back, or do something to stop them. For some reason though she could not move. Why am I so scared? Why can't I be brave, stand up for myself?

"It wouldn't be fun for me if I just let her live without a few scratches though." Darc replied raising his shadowy axe once more.

Lucy suddenly caught something wiz by and hit the axe, making a metal ringing sound. Soon after she felt more of the same thing go by until the axe was knocked right out of his hands. It landed next to Lucy with a thump, safely away from the girl.

She looked behind where they all came from, seeing Archer, Gen and the rest of the archery men all with their bows and arrows ready to fire once again. She smiled and gasped in relief.

"Well, well! Seems you got some friends on your side. I like a little challenge!" Darc exclaimed as he produced a few small axes from behind him and threw the axes at them.

Some of the men had to dodge out of the way as they came flying towards them.

"Now's your chance Lucy! GET UP!"

Without a second thought to that she did, running toward the safety of the inside range. She huffed as she ran as fast as her legs could take her. She then felt something grasp onto her legs.

"Ah!" Lucy exclaimed falling down, realizing that two hands had grabbed her feet.

"You're not getting away that easily little girl!" Darc said with a grin holding onto her tightly.

However, another arrow whizzed by, hitting the big figure right by the cheek. He collapsed as the arrow flew by, letting go of Lucy's feet.

Lucy saw her chance and ran towards Archer, who was the one that shot off the arrow that hit the shadow's cheek.

"Archer!" she exclaimed as she ran up to his side.

"Are you okay?" he asked firing off another arrow into the fray.

She nodded and was relieved to see him, but she still was shaking really badly. She looked around to see that Gen was also firing as many arrows as he could, with the other archers supporting him from behind. The three girls from before were backed against a wall and were shaking just as much as Lucy was. She slowly walked towards them with a sudden determined look in her eyes.

"We're all going die here!" the oldest girl cried.

"No we're not!" Lucy exclaimed making the girls flinch and turn.

"What makes you so sure?! You were pretty scared yourself!" the middle girl said defensively.

Lucy hesitated to answer back, wondering what she could say to them. Then she realized…they were right. She was scared. She wanted to just run away from the shadows that were trying to capture her.

"That's true. But…I'm not giving up anymore," Lucy said after taking a deep breath.

The three girls stared at her strangely at first, but the look in Lucy's eyes was enough to convince them she was telling the truth.

"Well, if you say that you want to fight, then I will too!" the youngest said standing up and offering her hand.

Lucy smiled and took it gently as the other girls stood up as well.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" a booming voice screamed.

"Come on, this way," the oldest girl said running the other direction.

Lucy followed behind still holding the youngest of the girl's hand. She was shaking still from fear, knowing that this Darc was coming to get her for sure. She could not help but look back now, but when she turned her head there was only black. Archer, Gen, and the rest of the archers were all gone. And then Lucy felt herself falling down flat on her face as the other girls fell the same way.

"Oh little girls. Come out!" Drac said in a melodious voice.

Lucy looked behind her again to see that he was almost charging towards them with the same unsettling grin on his face. She wanted to stand up and face him, but her body would not move or dodge out of the way. To make matters worse, there were three girls who were also paralyzed by the blow. They could not do anything. She couldn't do anything.

"Come on, get up and fight!" Lucy whispered to herself and shut her eyes. Her breath was shaking as well as her hands as she placed them on her head.

"AAARRGH!"

Lucy's eyes opened quickly hearing a sudden shout and something slamming onto the ground hard. But she did not turn around to see what was going on.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

This made her gasp for breath. She knew that voice all too well. Oh no, no this is…

Another sound interrupted her thoughts, knowing that it was another arrow flying this way. She then heard more sound of someone slamming on the ground and the breaking of arrows. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a familiar bow slide towards her. It was the bow Archer gave her, with no arrows.

"Well, well! What a good challenge that was! A persistent archer, and a giant with big wrecking hands. This is all the army that you have little girl?"

Lucy suddenly felt the weight of her unmoving body slip away, and a familiar feeling she felt before when she had fell from the top of Diet Cola Mountain that day. It was the feeling to protect everyone. At first she was surprised and confused about this sudden emotion, but when she felt this emotion now laying on the floor, it was definitely real.

Eyes closed now, she took the bow in her hand and slowly stood up.

"What's this? You want a fight little girl?" Darc's voice said through the darkness she saw.

But Lucy kept her ground, and her shaking had stopped altogether now. In one hand she gripped the bow tightly and with the other hand searched for the bowstring. Finding it she began to pull it back to her cheek, with no trace of an arrow in her fingers. She heard the laugh from the shadow as the string was pulled back.

"How naïve! You don't even have an arrow! How are you going to shoot at me without one?" he asked.

Lucy smiled and simply opened her eyes and looked Darc right in the face.

"I'll make one," she simply said, "With magic."

Just as she finished her sentence the mark on her shoulder started to glow brightly as well as the bow itself. She saw that Darc's face turned from a confident grin to a fearful frown. An arrow formed where Lucy had pulled back the bowstring, but it was no ordinary arrow. It was glowing the same color of gold as her magical mark on her shoulder. The color of her eyes seemed to look a bit brighter than before.

"That magic…" he started but backed away one step. "No, I won't let you!" he shouted then charging forward towards her.

But Lucy kept her ground as he eyes narrowed a bit at him. She did not tremble in fear or was thinking anything about running away.

She was standing up to fight, with courage.

Lucy did not remember when she had let go of that arrow, but what she remembered was when it hit Darc right in the shoulder. The arrow let off a powerful glow of magic around him, making him stagger and fall halfway to the ground. For a moment she stood there, staring at him.

Wait…what did I do? Do I need to act here and now?

On one side she saw Archer in shock, and on the other side was Ralph, who was also in shock. She looked behind her to see some of the girls were just staring at her, but the youngest was smiling. Lucy smiled back but flinched hearing something getting up.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Darc screamed charging at her.

Lucy narrowed her eyes again, and this time ran towards him. She could hear other familiar voices calling her name, but she was focused solely on the shadow. A swirl of magic formed in her hand as she screamed and charged into him, her hand full of magic pushed right into Darc's chest.

Then everything went still.

It seemed like everyone was holding their breath when the two collided. Another split second later a bright light was beginning to consume Darc. Lucy squinted her eyes shut through all this, keeping her hand where all the light was coming from. But she could not help but peek once, and all she saw was just a person unshrouded in the shadows. And then he was gone.

Lucy just stared at that spot for a moment, empty. Then she fell back and sat down with a big sigh of relief. The next thing she knew though, was that everyone was swarming her and hugging her from all around.

"That was awesome!" the youngest girl exclaimed hugging her the tightest.

"How did you learn to do that?" the oldest girl asked her.

"I…" Lucy paused trying to catch the breath escaping from the hug, "I'm not really sure."

"Man, that was amazing! I saw the whole thing; it was like you were a strong archer from an action game or something." Gen said as he was hugging Lucy as well.

"U-Um…" Lucy stammered before being showered with praise from the other archers. She looked through the crowd trying to find Archer and Ralph, but it was too thick. She still felt the bow clutched in her hands. That's right. This is Archer's bow isn't it?

Soon she was given the chance to get away from the crowd, crawling through until she fell outside the circle. She sighed and slowly got to her feet, walking in the direction where she last saw the two. However just before she got to them, Lucy heard they were talking strange and stopped to listen.

"Why are you here anyway?" Archer asked in annoyance.

"First, I saw you two going to this game. I got…okay suspicious and followed you. And second off, Lucy is my friend and…I can't let her get into danger like that." Ralph explained as his arms were crossed.

"It's not my fault you don't trust me, even though I've done nothing wrong to hurt her after that day!"

"And that's why you went and threw your bow at her back there?"

Lucy barely stopped herself from gasping, just to keep quiet and see where it went. But she wanted desperately to intervene and stop them from fighting, though for some reason she could not do it.

"Yes! I was helping her. She's my friend too I hope you know." Archer said in a surprisingly quiet tone than his words gave.

Ralph just stared at him for a moment, but out of realization about this boy.

"Look, I don't know if you still hate me. And I can live with that. But…please just let me still have at least a friendship with her. It's…all I ask."

Ralph sighed looking rather defeated but smiled nonetheless. Lucy watched as he pat Archer softly on the shoulder.

"I don't really hate you Archer. I was just seeing that you were someone that cared about your image."

Archer laughed a little nervously, not looking at him.

"However…you did help Lucy. And you were kind to her too." Ralph said smiling, "It's something I can live with."

"So that means I'm forgiven." Archer said with a knowing smile.

"Alright, alright! Yes, you are forgiven." Ralph chuckled, patting his shoulder a little harder making Archer cringe a little bit.

Lucy couldn't help but smile and giggle at them. She felt happy that the two were starting to get along.

"Ah, Lucy!" Archer noticed and waved her over.

She hesitated as the two saw her, then quickly ran over to them with the bow now in two hands. She stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before holding up the bow to Archer.

"Here. You can have your bow back," she said with a nervous smile.

She saw Archer smile at her and push the bow back to her.

"Keep it. I have my own here," he said pointing to the one he had on his back.

"R-Really?!" Lucy exclaimed and jumped to hug him, "Thank you so much!"

Archer chuckled as he hugged her back as they were both pulled off their feet by Ralph's. The three of them kept laughing, feeling happy.

None of them noticed however the masked person that was watching them slowly disappear into a shadowed entryway.

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A/N: I shall just say this for the ending of this chapter: This is only the beginning.