Chapter 5

Lucy woke abruptly from a confused, panicked dream. She kept her eyes closed at first, breathing slowly to calm herself.

You will always hold him back. How does that make you feel?

Her eyes flew open. "Natsu." She whispered. She looked over, feeling a weight next to her side that turned out to be Happy. She saw Natsu and Gray dozing in chairs next to her and Erza. At the sound of his name, Natsu opened his eyes and looked down at her.

"Hey." His voice was relieved, but his eyes were sad.

"I'm so sorry," Lucy said, breaking eye contact. She couldn't stop her voice from trembling. "I let her take your scarf—"

"Stop it, Luce. You know I don't care about that."

"But you do. I always hold you back, and I'm so…useless." The last word was whispered.

Natsu was silent for a moment, and Lucy understood. He couldn't agree with her, because they were best friends, but they both knew that what she said was true. Suddenly, she felt a hand on hers. She looked up, and Natsu was looking back.

"You help me be better. Don't you get it? Your power is in your heart." Lucy blushed a little through the tears that had welled up at his words. He hadn't been thinking about that at all. "We all wish we had half the power you do. We can get knocked around and fight as much as we want, but your heart is what makes you you. Understand?" She smiled weakly, and he pulled her into a hug.

"How are your legs?" Lucy hadn't noticed they'd woken up Gray. Natsu let her go and turned around, greeting Gray with a nod. The ice mage's face was drawn and paler than usual.

"Fine, thanks to Wendy. Are you okay?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah. Peachy." Answered Grey shortly.

"Erza hasn't woken up, then."

"Wendy said it should be sometime today."

"We need to talk to her. We have to figure out what happened and how we can kick fire lady's ass!" said Natsu animatedly.

"I'm awake." Came a quiet response from the other bed.

"Erza!" shouted three voices at once. She winced. There were murmured apologies. "How long have you been awake?" asked Lucy.

"Only a little while." Lucy got up and walked over, where Natsu and Gray had already gathered. She tried not to show any emotion, but her eyes glimmered with more tears. Erza's bandages were gone now, she was sitting up, and she was engaging with all of them, but her face was alarmingly similar to Gray's, pale and drawn, as if they had both aged a few years.

"Lucy, are you okay? You look as pale as Gray." It seemed as though Erza had mirrored her thoughts.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Nothing, I mean, yes, I'm fine." There was a tense silence. Team Natsu looked at each other and, without words, understood each other with something deeper and instinctive. They all jumped as the door creaked open, revealing Master Makarov and Wendy.

"Ah, Erza, you're awake. Glad to see you." Greeted the old man.

"Master." Acknowledged Erza. Wendy stepped up to the bed.

"You shouldn't get up just yet. I wouldn't get up 'till tomorrow morning. Your head was badly injured. Lucy's legs were one thing, but you almost died."

"I'm sorry, Wendy, but we don't have time for bedrest. There might be a serious threat posed to the guild and I must help to protect it." Erza swung her legs over the side and stood up slowly, clutching her head. Though she tried to hide it, everyone saw her pause for one second and run her hand through her hair before turning to face them. She wobbled, and Natsu grabbed her arm.

"I said I'm fine," she stood up straight and looked at her comrades. "I assume that, since we're in the infirmary and almost everyone has been injured, we lost the…fire mage, correct?"

"Correct," said Makarov. "Perhaps now would be a good time, now you all have had some space between now and the attack, for each one of you to tell us exactly what happened, in your own words." Everyone stiffened ever so slightly. Erza took a deep breath, braced herself, leaned against the bed post, and spoke first.

"I agree." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "Natsu had sniffed her out to a clearing near the edge of a cliff. I split up the group, hoping that by surrounding her and attacking with one person first that we could best ensure her capture. I went in first, to try and persuade her to come quietly. She spoke, or…tried to speak—"

"What did she say? Can you remember her exact words?" interrupted Makarov.

"She said that she knew where the fire mage was, but then she spoke of herself in third person, and her voice changed…She attacked when she started speaking clearly, and—I lost." Erza's voice had changed to a dull monotone, devoid of all emotion. "Once I was down, she looked at me—" Her teammates exchanged glances. "She read me like a book, and then…she spoke again, still clearly…she said she knew about Jellal, something that only Jellal and I know, a moment from our childhood, and she…cut my hair."

Erza cleared her throat and shook her head slightly. Lucy reached out to comfort her, but thought better of it and let her hand fall lamely by her side.

"And Gray emerged next…" continued Makarov. Gray coughed and nodded.

"I saw Erza talking to the woman, and I turned my back for thirty seconds…just thirty seconds, I swear, and Erza was down. I ran out, and saw Erza bleeding. I asked her what she knew, but she told me to take Erza and go. She said something about taking "him" away before her voice changed and she…called me by name. I attacked, but she kept stopping me without even using magic. She looked at me, too. It wasn't right." His voice held a disbelief which quickly changed to disgust. "She pinned me, and said she "had the girl", and that I…failed…" he paused, and no one prompted him to go on. His took a breath, and said in such a low voice that only Natsu could hear clearly: "the last thing she said was that Ul and Ultear died for nothing." Natsu opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"I heard Gray screaming, so I followed him out." Said Lucy quietly. "I saw him and Erza hurt, and I was so angry…I lost focus." Her bottom lip trembled. "She didn't say much to me, but when she did her voice changed, too, and she said—." Tears had started falling down her face. "She said my parents were waiting for me to die. That's when she took my keys. She knew everything, she knew about my spirits, she knew about Loke, and she knew about Natsu." She stopped, too upset to go on. Natsu reached out and grabbed her hand, and when he spoke, it was quiet, far deadlier than when he screamed. Makarov's eyes widened slightly. Wendy looked scared.

"She broke Lucy's legs. She didn't let me fight. She took my scarf. She didn't talk, she didn't fight me. Coward."

"Natsu, Loke said she left an opening right before she dove off the cliff, yet you hesitated. Why?" prompted Makarov. Natsu frowned.

"She looked at us, and she was crying. I didn't understand, but it doesn't matter. The bitch will pay."

"She fell off of a cliff. I doubt she survived." Said Erza sharply.

"But she swallowed Natsu's fire. Someone that powerful might walk away from a fall like that." Murmured the master. "I doubt we've seen the last of her. Something doesn't sit right here, and I intend to find it out. Until we have more information, I forbid any of you from going after her. She did a number on you without magic, Mavis forbid you make her fight with it. Understood?" Natsu growled, but said nothing. "Good. Rest up so you can get your asses moving again." Makarovs eyes softened, and his eyes crinkled sadly. Everyone nodded, and the master left the room, closing the door behind him.