Lexia Upson

That night, we settled in with Lucy. Her apartment was surprisingly small, for a home in Magnolia. It had a full sized bathroom, complete with a deep tub and shower, a cozy fireplace that seemed to give off more heat than expected, and her bed was huge and quite soft. There was a messy desk with papers everywhere in a corner and sealed letters waiting in a pile to be mailed. Lucy also had a bookshelf full of books with interesting titles such as, "Black to Blue: Relics of Tea." How she was able to fit all this stuff in one room was unknown.

Zailia took a bath while I helped Lucy with some laundry. We folded in silence for awhile placing her clean pieces of clothing on her bed until Lucy asked "So, how did you meet Zailia?"

"Wh -why do you ask?" I said flustered, dropping a clean shirt.

"Well you seem to be awfully close." Lucy replied with a slight smile "Besides, all she ever wants to do is be there when you need her." She looked down at the ground "I envy that..."

I stared at Lucy in shock as she continued folding 'What does she mean by all Zailia wants to do is protect me? I mean, I know that to Zailia I'm the only family she has and vice versa. But still… Lucy has so many nakama. And the Master called them his family. What did she mean... ' I'd known Zailia since I was 15, she was 17 at the time, but Zailia's the only person I've had when it came to family. My parents went AWOL when I was born and the Orphanage lady always told me I was a mistake and that I was nothing more than an error. There was always disgust in her eyes when she looked at me. The Orphanage that I was dropped off in was originally founded for children of war whose parents had died during the war. But only later did I discover what the idea behind the entire operation was. When I turned 14 they let me find a job in the city so I could work my way towards freedom from that place. And one night, when I came home from my job, I opened the door trying to be as quiet as I could not to wake anyone. But no one was around, I continued up the stairs and opened my door into my room that I'd shared with Calista, a 18 year old girl who'd lost her parents to an explosion.

"Calista?" I called as I opened the door into our room.

The lights were out.

"Calista?" I looked around the room to find the place was in utter despair. My drawers had been gone through and my clothing was carelessly thrown around the room. Not to mention, the windows had been shattered "Calista!? What the heck is going on?! Calista?!"

I stopped in horror as my foot hit something warm and damp. I looked down at what I'd touched… I screamed as my eyes adjusted to the dark "CALISTA!" Getting down to see if she was still alive. "Calista! Come on!" I choked on my own tears "C- can you hear me!?" gasp "W-w-what h-happend?! Ca-Calista?!"

I felt a faint breath and looked down at her limp body she coughed "Lex-" cough "Lexia." she replied with a smile that was full of sadness.

"Calista! What happened?!" I asked again.

She closed her eyes, still faintly breathing "I saved your locket." she opened her closed hand revealing my necklace that my parents gave to me. Tears were still streaming down my face as Calista dangled the moon-shaped crescent in her quivering hand. "Lexia." She said opening her eyes and looking back at me with those airy eyes she always had.

I looked down at her.

"R-run. Get a-aw-ay from this place." She coughed up blood.

"I can't leave you! You're my only family! I have to save you!" I screamed.

Calista smiled "My time is coming towards an end." She stopped to cough up more blood "L-Lexia. Y-ou deserve to know what h-happened to your parents." Her breathing was slowing down.

Tears continued to fall down my face.

"J-just know that you were never an error." Calista smiled up at me as she took her last breath.

We continued to fold as Zailia emerged from the bath in a towel then walked into the kitchen she shouted "Hey Lucy? Do you have any milk?"

"Yeah!" Lucy replied "second shelf!"

She came out drinking a tall glass of milk with a satisfied look on her face and put on a borrowed t -shirt and shorts from Lucy. I was still lost in thought wondering if I'd ever find out what Lucy meant by that...

A couple hours later I found myself sitting on Lucy's bed still pondering Lucy's actions, emotions, and just her in general. Zailia and Lucy were talking up a storm like they'd known each other forever. "So Lucy..." Zailia started "is there someone special floating around in your head?"

We laughed. Lucy blushed and put her left hand to her cheek and used the other to swat the question away "N-no! why would there be?"

"W -" My train of thought was interrupted by the window flying open followed by a fiery figure and a blue blur.

"Natsu! What the hell you perv!" Zailia yelled as she kicked him square in the face.

"God. We wanted to know if you were okay" Natsu replied while he rubbed his face.

"Aye!" Happy added "Besides Lucy can be kinda scary. We'd thought she'd bake you into a cake!"

"And why would I do that!?" Lucy asked with annoyance.

Something in the bed moved. I screamed as Gray revealed his sleepy face from under the cover "G -gray! How long have you been there?!"

"A while now... Why?" He replied calmly as if this was normal.

"Besides..." A voice said from across the room "we heard Lucy was having a slumber party." Erza said taking a bite of her cake.

Lucy sighed "Get used to it. They never change..."

"Lucy?" Happy flew in front of her "Can I have some fish?"

Lucy put her hand to her head "Go ahead."

Happy flew towards the kitchen.

Zailia and Natsu were face to face as Zailia gave him her death stare. I laughed "Zailia.

You're just like Erza."

"I -I'm nothing like her!" She blushed.

It was quiet for a second. But out of nowhere came a laugh followed by another until we were all in unison. I think I caught Zailia laughing too. That was the first time in I saw her laugh, she seemed to be carefree and for once, happy.

The next morning I found myself sleeping on the ground next to Zailia and Gray 'That's right. Erza, Natsu, and Gray had crashed our sleepover. And after that, they must've crashed too.' I chuckled to myself and sat up. I looked at Zailia, she slept as if she was finally at peace. She was always so protective of me and sometimes that made me feel weak. But in reality, I think what it really was that I just wanted to return the favor. She always overworked herself and took it upon her when I wasn't happy. Zailia really was my older sister. 'I'll learn to control my power.' I said to myself again and again. 'Or, at least, one day I will...'

I scanned the room for Erza. The water in the bathroom was on. It was probably her.

But Lucy and Natsu were nowhere to be found. But I smelt something wafting from the kitchen.

I walked over to the little kitchen and peaked my head in to find Lucy and Natsu cooking something. He looked frustrated, the way he was holding the knife was probably throwing him off, Lucy noticed.

"Natsu" she said with a laugh "you'll never cut anything like that!" She took his hands and showed him how. There was an awkward silence between the two.

But Natsu must have noticed me because he turned around "Good morning Lexia!" He smiled.

"G-good morning." I replied with a wave as I walked in.

"Are you hungry?" Lucy asked as she washed the knife.

"Uh, yeah a-" I was interrupted by a loud thump followed by a shriek that belonged to Gray. I sighed and looked over my shoulder "Good morning Zailia..."