Chapter Three

Last Life

Sting's POV

November 2nd X1,400

The moment the small blonde summoned the lion spirit Sting knew something was going to happen. And happen it did. The familiar orange haired man stared between Lucy and Sting for mere seconds before nodding his head and holding a hand out to the young teenager. Sting really couldn't believe his eyes, this was someone he knew with absolute certainty from a time so long ago.

"I knew you'd find her again." The man said, Sting stared wide eyed at the familiar man. He didn't know whether to feel happy or not at seeing a familiar face around, one that undoubtedly remembered everything from the time past Lucy was alive. It was somewhat of a relief though, for some reason or another.

"Do you remember me?" The orange haired spirit asked after a while, Sting nodded his head in silence, unable to form words, in a way he felt like crying. This man before him knew! He knew of the past that Sting shared with his key holder. The blonde haired dragon slayer didn't understand why this simple greeting was taking such an emotional toll on him, but damn it all to hell, it was!

"I remember everything. And she is who I think she is, correct?" Sting asked in a rushed tone, his emotional wall was breaking as Loke, or Leo whichever he went by now nodded his head, but he had a sad, faraway look in his eyes as he cast a glance at the small present Lucy, who was staring between the two men in silent shock, obviously wondering how the two knew each other.

"Princess here was granted all the keys when she was born, the last celestial mage in existence. After the twins ended up not remarrying, the age of celestial mages died. Only to come back when Lucy, or should I say Evangeline Night was born." The small Lucy shook her head in anger. "That's not my name and you know it Loke!" She bellowed, the lion spirit only smiled and patted her head soothingly.

"Anyways, I shouldn't say that it only just came back. Lucy here gets reborn faster than any other person. The time she spends between death and her next life is only five years. And we always end up getting bestowed to her by our king. She's been searching for you in every lifetime, Sting. Problem is, she's forgetting." Loke said, his face solemn. Sting stumbled backwards and ended up sitting back on the couch, the information he just took in was almost to much to bear, and it seemed as though the spirit wasn't done talking.

Sting had to wonder what all of those years did to the girl in front of him, had she felt alone? What had all her lives been like? Here he was feeling sorry for himself because he was the only one that remembered his previous life, keyword being life, while his Lucy had suffered through so many. Alone. And she had remembered them all, only now just starting to forget them. It seemed that fate was playing a cruel trick.

She'd been searching for him all this time too, she remembered him through all of her lives, she remembered all of the friends she lost, and kept loosing as they all grew old and passed away, just for her to be reborn and remember everything? It just didn't seem fair to him, what had Lucy done to deserve that?

"There's one more thing I need to tell you." Loke said, bringing the attention back to himself, Sting looked up to see that he had sent Lucy to the bathroom with a pair of clothes, undoubtedly from the spirit world.

By the look on the spirits face, Sting knew this was going to be serious and he knew he wasn't going to like anything that came out of the other mans mouth.

"A man has been following her through her lives. At first I thought it was you, but the energy he's been giving off the last century or so is dark, I think you can gather just from that who I'm talking about, as nothing was ever done about him in your lifetime. He follows her everywhere, gives her horrible dreams, the rest of her spirits and I can't find anyway to find him, he's hidden himself well.

But he tells her things and she listens, he's gotten her to trust him like he was her own father. Now that she's found you, it will give us time to figure out what exactly is going on, but for now, please keep her safe and we'll do what we can from the spirit world. I know your wondering about the scars, she gets herself into dangerous situations a lot more often than the Lucy from previous times ever did, she'll probably tell you all about her adventures.

Her family, by the way, won't be coming to collect her. She wasn't born into the warmest household this time around and well, they were eventually killed, Lucy's the only one that escaped the mess." the man paused to take a breath and to look over at the blonde who was coming out of the bathroom with pink pajamas on.

"She's exactly like her, isn't she? She's retained all of her old habits, she just has different parents each time around, and of course she's a lot more reckless. It's sad though, watching this girl live through so many hardships, so many lives where she hasn't had the one thing she's been searching for. Enjoy this life you have with her Sting, it truly is the last life she has. Her souls journey is finally coming to an end. After this, there will be no more Lucy Heartfilia."

And just like that the lion spirit was gone, leaving in a bright poof of smoke.


After Loke had left, the room seemed somber now, the mood drifting into one of silence and sadness. Sting looked down to Lucy as she sat on the floor, leaning against the couch watching the fire in silence, her knees tucked up to her chest and her small blonde head resting on them. He couldn't believe that after all this time, this was the last life he'd get to share with Lucy, he'd waited so long to be able to be with her again, fourteen years of waiting if he didn't count the centuries that were in between.

But Lucy, it turned out she had been the one waiting on him. All this time she'd been so lonely, forgetting bits and pieces of their history together as the centuries flew by, she was reborn, she lived, she died, she was reborn, so many times, and he wasn't there for any of those lifetimes! Here he had been thinking if he remembered this life he was sure to remember the ones that came next, but to know that Lucy wouldn't be joining this world ever again after her time here was over was devastating.

"I know this is...the last time I'll be alive in this world. I don't know why everyone has to keep it from me." Lucy suddenly whispered, her hair falling over her eyes, making it so the blonde man couldn't see her expression.

"I've been searching for you for so long, but now I'm starting to forget why I even was, who I even was before this life. I know I'm young now, but I know things. I know I've forgotten things that used to be easy for me to remember. I know I should be scared. But I'm not. I'm tired." The small blonde girl was shaking, and Sting knew she was crying, as silent as she was trying to be her sniffles and sobs were growing louder. Those along with the words she spoke made his heart ache in sadness.

"But I'm so very glad that I get to spend this last life of mine with you, the person I've been searching centuries for. Even if I can't remember everything about you anymore, or the times we shared together." She paused to let a sob shake through her tiny body, wiping her teary eyes on the cloth covering her knees, making it seem as though she were shaking back and forth.

"I want to be with you! That's where I've always wanted to be."