Chapter 26: A forced smile

Sting's POV:

I watch as Lucy's body falls slowly to the ground, her eyes were soulless when they were closing, tears still running down her face and her smile didn't disappear.

"LUCY!"

I was about to kneel down and pick her up but stars started to surround and wrap her. It was Loki… "Not yet.." Loki whispered as he cradled Lucy in his arms. I was frozen from shock, I couldn't move and my body shock from fear. "She's still alive! Just barely… We need to get her to the infirmary!" Loki shouted, from the look of his eyes, I could tell he was on the verge of tears. I kneeled down to Loki's level and he handed Lucy to me, she was ice cold…

Why now?

We rushed Lucy to the infirmary, the atmosphere was tense and everyone was either looking towards the ceiling or towards the floor. All the people in the infirmary hid their eyes, Lisanna had tears streaming down her face. Asami and Kaimu didn't come inside, I have a feeling she's crying or hiding her tears. I have just noticed, Levy and was it Wendy? Aren't here...

"Lucy doesn't have long…Maybe one month" Loki spoke out. "She has an incurable disease, maybe forbidden magic can help her but the chances are low…" Loki refused to look at anyone in the eye. I walked over to Lucy's bed and held one of her hand in both of mine and started to cry on her hand. Her hand was regaining warmth but it's not the same. Everyone suddenly broke down including Loki, sobs and sniffles could only be heard.

"Everyone?" A soft voice rang throughout the infirmary and each person in the room stopped crying and looked at Lucy. She slowly opened her eyes. I looked at her and she smiled lightly at me, she sat up straight. "Why's everyone crying?" She gripped on to my hand delicately and in response and squeezed her hand harder in mine but not too strong that it would hurt. "Lucy… How long did you know about your disease?" Erza said, her voice cracked a bit. She put her finger up to her chin "After you guys ignored me, soon after I went to the doctor because I just felt pain all the time. They told me about my disease..." She stuttered on her last sentence, I could here here voice trembling slightly. Still, Lucy still had a smile on her face, it was a strained smile, she's also scared of death.

"You might be wondering why I didn't tell you, any of you, apart my spirits" I nodded and so did everyone else. She closed her chocolate brown eyes "I was actually scared to tell you, I thought you guys wouldn't care and Sting wouldn't let me do anything with him like the visit to the Amusement park. So I kept it to myself and created great memories with all of you" Her arm started to shake slightly and her head was lowered. "Please don't cry, the last emotion I want to see is happiness! So please smile!" Lucy forced a smile and everyone wiped their tears away and forced their biggest smile at Lucy.

I leaned forward quickly and kissed Lucy on the lips and hugged her tightly. We pulled away from the kiss and I just laid down onto her lap, she jumped slightly from confusion. "Let me lie down like this for a while" I said while my face was being muffled by the sheets above her lap. I heard her giggle a bit and she ran her hand through my hair, I wanted to cry badly but I know I couldn't. I'll make just Lucy unhappy, I don't want that.

"Lucy, we are going to get some things in town for you!" Gray shouted as Juvia tried to cling onto him but he dodged out of the way. Juvia did something unexpected and created a water rose for Lucy and smiled at her "Lucy, I'll be back to bring you some tea!" Almost everyone in the infirmary said to Lucy that they were going to get something for her and exited, twenty percent that was an excuse to get out of the room and cry because I could sense it.

Natsu and Happy was still in this room, Natsu hasn't said a word since we entered the infirmary. Lucy looked at Natsu in the eye and her expression softened, "Natsu, can you come here for a second?" Natsu hesitated for a second and walked next to Lucy's bed and sat down on a stool. Happy flew down onto Natsu's lap. "Hey Natsu, can you make something with your fire magic?" I felt a pang of jealousy hit me but I tried to resist, I mean, Lucy hasn't properly talked to her so called 'best friend' for a long time so I should ignore it for a while. Natsu silently creates the Fairy Tail insignia with his magic and Lucy carefully takes it in her hand. She poked it with her right index finger and it explodes into small flames but they don't sting her.

I get up and walk towards the door "You three have some catching up to do, there's something I want to research about" I walk out of the room and Lucy waves at me with her right hand "Have a safe trip!"

Lucy's POV:

I watched Sting as he walked out of the room. I sighed slightly as I leaned back on the bed. I'm still slightly scared of Natsu but I know I'm alright. "Hey Lucy, are you okay?" Happy flew onto my head "Yeah, my disease only hurts me occasionally but right now, I'm alright, I guess" I scratched my cheek. I started to pet Happy's head "I'm really glad the fight in Fairy Tail has been resolved, I was starting to get worried I wouldn't solve anything and my time would be up" Natsu then swiftly gets up and wraps his scarf around me. "I'm sorry"

"I know I'm too late but Lucy" Natsu's dark eyes look into mine "I like you, but I was too slow, Sting took you away from me" I inhale the scent of the scarf and grip on to the scarf. I closed my eyes and smiled faintly "Thank you…"

Sting's POV:

I was discussing with Kaimu about Forbidden magic, he said that it's really difficult to use and the prices that need to be paid are heavy. Just then, I see Natsu walk out of the infirmary without his scarf and he had his arms covering his eyes. He walks past me and whispers to me "You're a lucky guy, treasure her" I bet he is crying, it looks like he is.

"You've been quiet this whole time now, do you want to help us study about this forbidden magic business" Asami doesn't say anything, she had her head laid down on the table with her face facing downwards. With the wave of her hand, music notes surround her hand and that tune we played on the field of daises starts to play. 'Ode to Joy' music box version. Music notes start to bounce around the room and explode into smaller notes which then explode into smaller notes, Asami starts to shiver, her head still rests on the table.

Kaimu then lays his hand on her shoulder and she jumps. "I'm not crying!" She says while trying to cover up her tears and waving her hand she then clenches her hand into a fist. Kaimu instantly pulled her head towards his shoulder and she started to sob, her knuckles were red.

After 10 minutes of Asami pouring her emotions out she walks towards me. "Forbidden magic is really rare, and coincidentally I have was born with it. However I was unauthorized to use it. To tell you the truth, I don't know what the outcome would be because I have never used it before" Asami gives me a serious stare and pierced her brown eyes into mine. Kaimu looked at her as if it was his first time hearing this. "This magic uses ones life, the user to save another under any circumstances" I gulped, don't tell me it's that scary magic. "It has a nickname, the saviors death also known as

"Obscuro vita"

End of chapter 26

Wahhhhh I finally finished chapter 26! That was fun to write! More love = More chapters! Thank you for reading up until this point! Some of you might not know this but 'Obscuro vita'is latin

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