I never thought I'd see the day where I actually felt… sorry for E. N. D.. That demon was the reason I was trapped here; the reason everyone was struggling to live, and yet here I was realising how much of a cinnamon roll he really was.
I mean, destroying Earthland is a shitty way to mourn, but I had a feeling that was the demon's actions. Not… Natsu's.
To top it all off, I still hadn't received any answers as to why Aquarius claimed not to be a part of this when she clearly was.
"Alice?" I looked up to see Levy's face close to mine and jumped. Despite the story she'd just told, an irritating look of amusement showed on her face at my reaction.
"I see shock tends to make your attention span worse." She commented. "But to repeat my request – I was wondering if you could bring Lyra out? You said you brought your keys today."
"Why Lyra? Is your radio broken?" I asked coolly, secretly relieved she hadn't asked about my newly acquired spirit contract.
The teacher pursed her lips before speaking again.
"I was hoping you would have made the connection when you read about the celestial mage, Lucy. You should have used your spirits as a source."
Yeah, I did, and look where that got me, I complained in my head.
Then the idea came to me. Levy was asking for Lyra specifically. If this meant what I thought it did…
Levy's reaction when I'd first called out Lyra for her suddenly made a lot more sense.
She'd asked about my keys other than Pablo, the Canis Minor, and I'd lied, saying I only had one other silver key. I wasn't going to tell anyone about Aquarius until I managed to summon her.
At her request, I summoned my other silver key, jokingly warning the old bat that this spirit was particularly good at making people cry.
I wasn't expecting the extra moisture to fill the older woman's eyes when they landed on Lyra. She just stared at the spirit, looking both nostalgic and in pain, as if an old wound was being opened.
Lyra simply smiled at her, not thrown by Levy's emotional reaction at all.
"You know, you're only supposed to start crying after she shows you her power." I commented, shaking my head. Honestly, the woman must've accidentally taken my warning seriously.
I watched as my spirit nodded a greeting towards the woman who'd taken me in, then put her hands to her harp. She played a song she'd never played for me before, which surprised me, especially since this one was strikingly beautiful.
I didn't understand it at the time, but Levy was so moved by the end that she embraced Lyra like an old friend.
The thing that really confused me, though? I could have sworn I saw a tear escaping the spirit's eye as I called her back.
But now… now I understood.
"Lyra… her key used to belong to Lucy, didn't it?" I asked incredulously.
I didn't wait for her to answer as I eagerly reached into my bag to retrieve the key.
"Open, gate of Lyra." I breathed out upon securing the silver key in my hand.
A bright flash of gold later, the spirit appeared in front of me.
"Hey, Alice and friends. I'm assuming you want something a little upbeat to sooth the tension in here?" she asked cheerily.
"Actually, Lyra," Levy called the spirit's attention to her, "I was hoping – if it was okay with you – that you could tell us about your former key-holder."
The sound of a sharp intake of breath left the musician's mouth. Her eyes darted back to mine and I gave her an encouraging smile.
"You don't have to talk about Lucy if you don't want to, but the old coot here wants multiple sources on what happened back… then." I stopped myself from mentioning her death.
To my confusion, however, Lyra started fidgeting anxiously, glancing at the floor. I mean, grief or anger at losing an old friend of hers would have been what I expected, but not this.
"Information on Lucy Heartfilia is classified on orders of the celestial spirit king and I can't answer your question and I'm sorry, please accept a song of your choice instead." She rushed all in one breath, almost as if she'd rehearsed it.
I was stunned. Before yesterday, I'd never been met with that sort of response from one of my spirits. Why did everything to do with their old master suddenly reduce them to forced silence?
"Well so much for Ginger's contribution then." Dylan teased beside me, oblivious to the bizarreness of the spirit's behaviour.
"Oh, play something by Metallica! I've always wanted to hear Heavy metal music on a harp!" Quentin requested Lyra enthusiastically, sitting up.
Brushing off her initial awkwardness, Lyra shot an unreadable look at Levy before turning to me.
"I wouldn't look too far into this, Alice." She recommended almost sternly before clearing her throat.
"So… is 'Enter Sandman' okay, Quentin?" she smiled, attempting to shrug off what had just transpired.
Quentin was about to reply when a shrill sound echoed through what I suspected was the whole of Magnolia.
Covering my ears, it took a few seconds for a sudden dreadful realisation to hit all of us like a slap to the face.
This couldn't be happening. Not here. Not after all these years of apparent safety.
With shaking hands, the first movement I made was one to call Lyra back into the spirit world. As Levy gently placed a hand on my back to push me towards the evacuation point, unable to make herself heard over the warning siren, I noted that things hadn't felt this surreal since my parents died.
To my right, I saw that Dylan's complexion had gone paler, to the point of turning white; he looked like a shocked ghost.
To my left, Quentin was walking unsteadily due to the fact that his head was looking over his shoulder. I'd make sure to ask him if he saw anything; I didn't have the guts to witness what may be going on behind us.
Levy's hand was still comfortingly pushing me forwards as we joined a stampede of people rushing towards the evacuation point.
I remembered the information that had been ingrained into my head when I was younger; if a situation like this was to occur, our only option would be to travel through the danger area towards the nearest safe town; Haregon. Stay in groups. Ration food appropriately. Don't stop to rest if you can help it. Don't panic.
People were evidently ignoring that last point. I couldn't blame them. I mean, after decades of being a safe area, it seemed that Magnolia was no longer deserving of that title.
That siren was the warning signal only to be used if E.N.D. was spotted nearby.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
When I said I wanted to get out of Magnolia, I didn't mean this.
The trek across no-man's land only brought the complete and utter destruction of Earthland to attention; this once-beautiful area was now a desolate wasteland.
I could tell that Quentin was the most disturbed by his surroundings; he was a fish out of water in a place where all the nature had been destroyed. Meanwhile, Dylan was distracting himself by replicating the colours of the weary people we passed as we walked towards the next safe area.
My usual itch to explore was non-existent; I knew there would be nothing interesting in this wide-open space. It gave me the feeling that even if I were to overturn every rock, all I would see was the same cracked earth that dominated the scenery here.
Everyone was struggling to take this all in, especially the people who lived before E. N. D.
And then, to top it all off, there was the universal feeling of impending doom as we collectively prepared ourselves for the possibility of the demon catching up with us any second, burning us to a crisp.
However, people were starting to take comfort in the fact that nothing had happened so far. We'd been travelling on foot for about a day without anything happening, so the feeling of hope was slowly but surely returning.
So much so, that Levy had ventured backwards, hoping to get some information out of the soldiers who had delayed their departure to make sure everyone evacuated.
Needless to say, my tension increased tenfold when she left.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
It was early morning, just before the sun rose, and people were finally stopping to rest after walking endlessly throughout the night. My head was swimming with exhaustion. I was so tired that I almost didn't care that I was sleeping on the hard, dry, ground.
Almost.
I missed my bed. My clothes. If I hadn't taken my keys with me today, they would've still been in my room, abandoned.
I shuddered at the thought.
"I finally caught up with you guys!" Levy announced as she approached us, looking drained from walking back and forth but otherwise strangely positive.
"You really shouldn't tire yourself out at your age-"
"I'm perfectly fine, Dylan, thanks." The woman huffed, settling down next to us. "Anyway, it seems the soldiers who spotted Natsu were incredibly baffled. I, on the other hand? Not so much." She mused, smiling slightly to herself.
Now, this got my attention, as well as the boys'. People saw E.N.D…. and survived? That was nearly unheard of. Whoever they were, they should count themselves lucky.
"What did they see?" Quentin asked.
"They told me he was just… walking." She replied thoughtfully. "He wasn't flying or making noise or destroying anything. Just walking."
I contemplated this. If I'd heard that a few days ago, I wouldn't have believed her. But now that I knew there was a person who'd lost someone inside of that demon, it seemed plausible.
"And it makes sense to you?" Quentin pushed, as unable to process this as I was.
Levy sighed and looked up to the stars, as if searching for a specific constellation.
"It was the 50th anniversary of her death. Lucy's death. According to the soldiers, he was heading towards the heart of Magnolia, where our old guild used to be."
Where you'd found me, I added in my head.
The words she'd said before suddenly came to mind.
I believe that's because Natsu is still in there, mourning
I found myself believing that more and more ever since I'd heard it.
"Hey, Ginger?" Dylan called my attention, interrupting the thought-filled silence that had occurred. "Call Lyra out, would you? I think everyone here would appreciate it."
I looked around to see restless, tense expressions mirrored on every face the moonlight hit. I doubted anyone would get a proper sleep before we arrived at our destination.
Quentin instantly raised his head excitedly, opening his mouth.
"No Metallica, you damn hippy." Dylan interjected swiftly, smirking when Quentin pouted in disappointment.
With a slight giggle, I called her out, ignoring how many of the on-edge people around us flinched at the sudden light.
"You got a song to cure the horrific feeling of inescapable terror, Lyra?" I asked sweetly.
Glancing at her surroundings, she sighed before pulling her harp closer towards her.
"I'll see what I can do." She grinned determinedly.
Despite the rather large audience she'd gathered, she was met by a timid round of applause when her song ended. Nevertheless, the atmosphere had become less suffocating with every pluck of a string.
Suddenly, I found myself at least 50% more willing to sleep. Which was a start, at least.
"That'll do, Lyra. Thank you." I yawned, before calling her away.
A/N: after long last, I finally updated! I've decided what direction to take this fanfic in now. I was worried that the events may turn out to be one of those 'too good to be true' clichés, but this story was too tragic to be true to start off with so I reckon it'll even it out.
Love'sAlwaysRight : So far, I'm picturing E.N.D. as an almost mindless monster but with Natsu influences if that makes sense. But that may change, depending on how I feel when I'm writing scenes with E.N.D. interactions in it, so thanks for the tip!
Compucles: Honestly, I haven't yet decided how many characters survived. I want to bring all the characters back as much as you do, believe me, but the art of writing angst is calling to me
Thank you so much for the reviews, as well as the follows and favourites!
One last thing – bring romance between OCs into the story or can it do without it?
-usnoozulose