Ch 15 - It was like they were never there
Secluded in a private room, Lupa crumpled into a ball. Rini put an arm around her comfortingly, albeit her face holding pure terror.
Lucy sat, clutching the crumpled note in her sweaty hands. Her eyes were blank.
"W-What should we do, Samantha? Do you think you could use your intelligence magic to come up with a strategy?" Lucy murmured, not really wanting to think.
Samantha went pale. "Uhm," she said, brushing a lock of red hair from her face. Her eyes went gold as she analyzed the situation. "Well, I believe she is expected to arrive in about a day or two. In other words, we don't have much time. I think the best we can do now is run, Licia." She shuffled her feet, her tall figure looking like it was going to topple at any given moment.
Lucy sighed. "We can't." The problem with Samantha's intelligence power is that it lacked emotion. She could only think about things in a mathematical sense, and if something went wrong in the emotional sense, well, it really went wrong. Samantha was really book-smart, not street smart.
"Why?"
"I can't just leave Fairy Tail. Sandra knows we're here. She might try and come after Fairy Tail as well."
Cydia punched the wall. Her strength magic went slightly out of control when she was angry. It was a bit strange to see a very petite 10 year old punching holes in the walls.
"Cydia! Calm down," Alice commanded, pulling her bright pink hair up into a ponytail. "We can't go bonkers now. We need to figure things out; formulate a plan to help both guilds."
Lucy frowned. Why was she angry? "Cydia, we're going to get through this," she said firmly. Lucy saw a small tear shed from her big indigo eyes.
"I… I don't get it."
Lucy's eyes softened. "What don't you get, sweetie?"
Cydia turned and stared at Lucy, a dark fire igniting in her eyes. "Why do you care so much about this random guild?"
The words hung in the air and the guild was silenced. Her simple words could mean so much. Lucy was speechless. "Huh?"
Tears spilled out of Cydia's dark eyes. "Why? What even is your real name? Licia? Or what these people call you, 'Lucy'? Do they even know that you're the leader of a Dark Guild? That's why you were hiding your insigna this whole time, right? You would pull your shirt down all the way to cover your lower back where it was… Why can't we be enough for you? " A knife sliced through her next words, making them broken and almost incomprehensible. "What if… What if you leave us too?"
Rini gasped. "Cydia! How could you say someth-"
"Shut up!" Cydia rammed her fist through another wall. "You must feel the same way too, right? You must have thought about it one moment or another while we were staying here!" She screamed, her voice cracking. Rini looked down shamefully.
Lucy grasped Cydia's shoulders, and knelt down. "Cydia, honey, I'll never leave you. You guys are like my extended family or something." She took a deep breath. "You know what," she decided, "I'm going to tell you guys everything."
Cydia looked up. "Everything?"
Lucy nodded firmly. "You guys let me stay as your guild master even though you know nothing of my past, so why not now?"
Samantha shook her head. "We don't have time, Licia. We need to formulate a plan."
Lucy shook her head. "No. I should have told you guys years ago. It's now or never. And by the way, they do know about this guild being a dark guild," she smirked. Lucy exhaled slowly and began her story. "I joined this guild about four years ago, when I was eighteen. I… I felt weak so I… I left to become stronger."
"You? You felt weak?" Rini gawked.
Lucy chuckled. "Yeah. I… I was really weak back then," she confessed.
"No," Lupa said, cutting in suddenly. "You were never weak," she murmured.
Lucy just smiled softly and continued.
Twenty minutes later, Lucy finished her story, right up till now. "So uh, yeah," she finished lamely. Of course, she left out some certain parts, like the part where she and Natsu… did that thing in Minno.
Cydia sat cross legged on the floor, her head down. "I'm… sorry, Licia. I didn't… I didn't know it was like that…"
Lucy smiled and rested her hand on Cydia's shoulder. "It's not a problem at all, Cydia."
A small sob broke out and Cydia hugged Lucy, almost squeezing the air out of her.
"Sooo, uh, sorry to break up this bonding moment, but we really need to make a plan right now," Samantha interrupted slowly.
Lucy paused. "Right. Okay. Uh," Lucy muttered.
"Licia, what if we just stay here?" Lupa suggested, calming down a bit.
Lucy shook her head. "No can do Lu - Wait a minute." Lucy paused, and reassessed the situation. "Wait… Why the hell are we freaking out?"
"Huh?" Rini blurted stupidly.
A smile lit up on Lucy's face. "Why are we making a mountain out of a molehill? It's not a big deal, right?"
Samantha stared at Lucy like she was insane. "Are you okay, Licia?"
"No, listen, it's so stupid," Lucy exclaimed. "We obviously failed to realize that it's literally just two people coming right? And one of those two doesn't even use magic!"
Realization dawned on all of the girls.
"But, hey, what will we do now? If Fairy Tail sees her…" Junna said skeptically. Lucy turned to Junna.
"Exactly," Lucy said. "I've got an idea."
—
None of the guild members really liked her idea, but it was literally the only safe option.
Well, for the guilds, that is.
Lucy was to meet Sandra herself, at the train station. She would first get Makarov to clear the stations and cancel all other trains, because crap would probably hit the fan. Then she would try to persuade Sandra, but if she couldn't…. Well, she would have Emerald and her spirits.
Just in case, she was putting Night Pythoness into her old apartment. She convinced the landlady to let them stay for the day. So, if Sandra somehow did get past her, she wouldn't know where to find them, and maybe they could escape.
Of course, that was the last resort.
"Luce!" Lucy turned away from her Night Pythoness, feeling her cheeks heat up a little bit at the voice. Pam snickered.
"What?"
"C'mere."
Lucy felt her face go red. Really red. She decided to pay him back for earlier. "No," she replied indignantly, crossing her arms.
Natsu pouted. "Why?" He asked childishly.
Lucy shuffled her feet. "Why should I be the one to move?" Too late, she realized her mistake.
Natsu grinned. "Well, I'm just gonna have to come to you then!" He growled, advancing with a step.
Lucy stepped back. "Uh, I take that back!"
"Too late!" He yelled, leaping from his spot to hers.
"Kya!" She squeaked. For some reason, her feet didn't let her dodge.
He landed right on top of her. He pinned her to the floor. Lucy knew she could throw him off if she wanted too, but she wanted to see what he had to say about this behaviour.
Strangely enough, she didn't see a grin or a smile, or anything of the sort for that matter. Instead, his face was… troubled.
"Luce… I just don't think your idea is the best one," he muttered.
Lucy sighed. "Yeah, I don't either."
Confusion was etched across Natsu's face. "Then why're you going?" He asked rolling off and sitting crosslegged in front of her.
"Because," she smiled, "It's the only and best choice for the safety of both guilds."
Natsu shook his head, "No, it's not. Let that wench come here! Fairy Tail is the strongest guild! We can easily take on one woman."
Lucy chuckled. "I can't drag Fairy Tail into my problems."
Natsu pouted, but he knew she wasn't going to budge. Gray appeared.
"Lucy, I don't think you're idea is the best," he confessed.
"Oi! Ice princess! Don't go stealing my sentence!"
"Huh? I didn't steal nothing! Don't go accusing me of random things! Wanna go? Huh?"
"Yeah, come at me!"
"Juvia will help Gray fight!"
"Mira-nee? Let's get Natsu to kiss Lucy before she leaves."
"Like a man!"
Lucy smiled as she watched the guild. Her family. This was just like old times. Just like old times…
— The next day —
Lucy stood in the guild doorway. "If… If don't come back by the end of the day or you see an explosion of sorts… Come down to the station, okay?" She instructed.
Lupa had tears in her eyes. "Are you sure you don't want us to come?"
Lucy hugged Lupa. "You know the answer to that," she answered. "Hey, don't worry guys! I'll be fine. I'll kick her ass for you, alright?"
Pam smiled, touching the doorway, also slightly deforming it.
"Uh, Pam, don't use your magic on the doorway please," Lucy chuckled. Sometimes when Pan got nervous or sad when she touched things she would absentmindedly use her manipulation magic on it.
"Oh! Sorry Licia."
One by one, Lucy said a casual goodbye to her guild.
Lupa, Rini, Junna, Pam, Luna, Cydia, Olivia, Samantha, Itia, Claudia, Madilyn, Amelia, Gunner, Sophie, Telli, Alice, and Blaze. These 17 women met her one day and decided on a whim that she was going to lead them. And Lucy was glad. She didn't regret any of it.
Lucy turned to her old guild. She didn't even get a word out before they all began talking at the same time.
"Come back, alright!"
"Fight like a man!"
"I'll take you out for cake later when you get back," Erza smiled.
Natsu grinned. "Kick her ass for me, will yah?"
"Will do," Lucy grinned.
Sakimo came stumbling out, pushing her way through the crowd. Lucy hugged the slender woman.
"Sakimo… Get the hell back in bed," Lucy commanded. "Also... I can't thank you enough. I promise when I get back I'll personally take you back to the village!"
Sakimo grinned weakly.
"Gray! Take her back to the sick room before the collapses," Lucy ordered.
Gray nodded, picking the sick girl up in his arms. She fell asleep immediately.
"L-l-love Rival!" Juvia stuttered, following them into the room.
"Do it now, Natsu!" Mira called.
"Now?"
"Yup!"
"Do what now?" Lucy frowned. She didn't like the gleam in Mira's eyes.
"Okay, if you say so!" Natsu replied. Lucy didn't have time to react before he quickly leaned in and gave her a peck on her cheek. She felt her face heat up. She heard snickers and catcalls behind her.
"Not there Natsu, I said on her lips!"
"Yeah, but, I don't think Lucy would like that," he replied sheepishly.
"You're damn right I wouldn't want that!" Lucy screamed, punching him into oblivion.
—
Lucy finally managed to tear herself away from from the guild and was now making her way down to the station. She arrived fairly quickly.
Emerald sat outside. "I… I'll be back Emer. I promise…" Lucy whispered. Emerald purred. Lucy ventured into the train station.
It was completely empty, with one or two stray newspapers lying here and there. There was a slight breeze that whispered against Lucy's bare neck, sending shivers up Lucy's spine.
She waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Before she knew it, it was dark.
Lucy frowned and exited the station. Emerald lay outside, his huge ears perking up when he saw her. He looked confused. "Yeah… I'm confused too…" She murmured, stroking his nose. "Why didn't she show? There's no way she chickened out… Sam said she was due to arrive today, and Sam is never wrong."
She paused. "Oh, my god," she muttered numbly. "Emerald, run like hell to the apartment. Now!" She felt a lump in her stomach. "Oh, god, please, no, please, don't let it be true..."
Emerald blasted through the town, and they finally arrived at the building. Lucy bolted up the stairs, and threw open the doors to her old apartment.
A cold draft blew through the open window.
"Hey, Licia! Did you beat Sandra?"
"Hey, you're back, Licia. Is she gone?"
"Licia! I'm so glad you're back! We were so worried about you!"
Lucy wished she could see her sisters, scattered about the room. Lucy wished she could feel Lupa's arms around her waist. Lucy wished she could see Cydia's deep indigo eyes and Alice's pink hair. A small sob escaped from Lucy's throat.
But the room was cold, dark and empty. Lucy's knees collapsed and she fell to the floor.
A heart wrenching cry was heard slicing through the town that night.
A/N Important PLEASE READ! :D:D
HI GUYS I'M SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND SEND ME ALL THE FLAMES THAT YOU WANT BECAUSE GOD KNOWS I FREAKING DESERVE THEM!
ALSO:
I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
I'm going on hiatus. I'm so very actually very so much very sorry. SEND ME ALL THE MURDER THREATS THAT YOU WANT BC I DESERVE THEM. :D :D :D
Also, if you want to know why, PM me! PLEASE I REALLY WANT TO TELL YOU but I just don't want to post it here. (I really want to tell you guys why but PM for the answer because it's personal stuff lmao. SO PM ME! I don't wanna post my reasons here because it's really public and I only want people who actually want to know to know.) I don't know how long I'll be on hiatus, but I may be releasing scattered chapters every now and then. So, I guess it would be a semi-hiatus.
Anyway, thank you all so much! I'm so sorry also but hey! Look forward to new chapters!
And thank you all so much. You all waited so patiently for a new chapter and instead you get this crap. I feel so bad for giving you this and getting your hopes up for a new chapter and everything.
Jo (The fuckface lmao)