The Family of Eight
The Love Story Part 3
WARNING: This chapter was not beta read; I merely proofread this.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.
"Good morning aniki!"
Jude looked at Layla, nodding in greeting. His eyes looked tired and his hair was disheveled from his sleep. He yawned and proceeded to get a glass of water for himself. Layla leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "Father fell asleep in the living room."
"I know," he muttered back, drinking his water. When he was done, he placed it in the sink and raked his fingers through his hair. "I never thought they had such a complicated life before. I thought they just got together right away."
Layla stretched her arms and released a yawn. "I was thinking the same way," she said, shrugging. "But I guess there's always the bad before the good."
Jude chuckled and ruffled her hair. "They have us now, so I guess none of that matters anymore. Are the others still sleeping?"
"Gerard was just getting out of bed when I passed by his room," Layla said, gesturing towards the hallway leading to the said boy's room. "Maybe he's still freshening up."
"And the twins?"
"Snoring like pigs."
Jude and Layla laughed silently, their shoulders shaking. It was hard for them to keep in their laughs. He stifled another round of laughter and asked, "What about Kaiya?"
Layla smiled widely. "She was stirring in her sleep when I peeked into her room so maybe she's awake now."
"Good," Jude said, moving to the stove. "We should start on preparing breakfast since father's still sleeping. And I don't want him to cook for us when he's still probably emotionally drained. What do you say, Layla?"
"I say let's cook," she said and grinned, tying her hair up into a high ponytail. And so the two eldest siblings began cooking for the family.
Moments later, Kaiya entered the room, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Gerard followed in suit and yawned a greeting at them, waving his hand slightly. Then the twins came, both already fighting over something stupid once again. And apparently they woke up their father who came strolling in the room, looking as tired as ever. But he wore a smile on his face while he greeted them a bright good morning.
And then minutes later, the seats around the table were already taken. Layla and Jude were at their rightful seats, already digging in the food. There was one empty chair, but that belonged to Lucy and she was gone for now, away on a relaxing vacation.
"You kids are up early," Jellal said, smiling amusedly.
Layla rolled her eyes. "I don't know about them, but I just couldn't wait to hear the rest of the story. You've stalled it long enough as it is."
"I second that!" Kaiya eagerly said, suddenly waving a spoon in the air.
"Come on, it's sad but hey, I know you've got a happy ending!" Meiko shouted, grinning widely. Reina laughed, agreeing with him—which was rare—and tried to say something but with her mouth full, she shut up.
Jellal looked at them with another smile, his tired eyes slowly brightening up. "Well… we did have a happy ending. But as they say, there must first be a storm before the rainbow."
"Is it going to be a big storm?" Kaiya asked, her lips pulling into a frown.
Their father was quiet, his eyes drifting outside the window. He ever so slowly nodded his head, finally seeing their distraught faces. He forced on another smile. "But what comes after is a very big rainbow. Come on, let's continue eating. Wouldn't want to delay the story any longer… right?"
The siblings looked at each other and then grinned, pumping their fists in the air. "AYE!"
They were in the living room again, with the curtains drawn over the windows to make it seem like it was nighttime. The weather was cool, and so some of them had a pillow or two and a blanket or whatever with them while they sat on the floor. They gathered around Jellal who was in his usual seat, his hands gripping a mug of hot coffee.
He took a sip from his drink and placed it on the small coffee table next to him. He cleared his throat. "So… where was I?"
No one answered. He blinked and sighed, realizing why. "Oh yeah. That part. Well… after that I confronted Erza about it…"
"What do you mean she wants to kill herself?!"
People turned to stare at him in curiosity but he paid them no heed. He was breathing heavily, his eyes wide and frantic. Erza looked at him sadly, her own eyes nearly shedding tears. She sucked in a sharp breath and tore her gaze away from him, tilting her head back and gazing up at the orange sky.
"These past two years have been… harsh," she whispered at last, earning herself a short gasp. She resisted the urge to look back at him. "I know she's suffering on her own and I feel sorry for her. I just didn't think she'd turn into this… tragedy."
"Did you… Did you do something to her? Did you fight with her?" Jellal rasped out, his eyes narrowing into slits.
That was when she finally reacted, her head twisting to catch his stare. He didn't wince nor flinch from the hurt expression on her face. She pressed her lips together and sighed, releasing all the pent-up anger inside her with just that little action. She shook her head. "I would never hurt her. At least not physically."
"Erza… what did you do?"
She smiled bitterly. "Take a wild guess."
Jellal looked at her and growled. "You know I'm bad at that."
"Well… I thought you improved over time…"
"This is not the time for joking around, Erza!" he barked all of a sudden, his voice so loud it shook her strong demeanor. She stared at him with wide eyes, her body frozen. He was panting now, tired from screaming and from all the secrets.
He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."
She nodded and gave him a silent look of understanding. "It's okay. You just want answers." She crouched down and sat down on a bench close to him. He moved and sat next to her, listening to her quiet breathing before telling him everything he wanted to know. "Lucy is… a very kind person. Sometimes I think she trusts people too easily, and I think that's a bad thing. It should be, but for her it's so essential that she can't bring herself to deny people of what they want. Of what we want."
He immediately knew where this was doing and felt very scared. But he didn't say anything and continued to listen. "She'll do anything as long as you ask her something that she can accomplish, and we are all grateful for that," Erza mumbled, head lowered and her hands fisted on her lap. "I just wish she could act cruel every now and then."
"What happened?" was what he instantly asked. He knew rushing her was bad, but he was on edge. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to think. What made Lucy feel suicidal?
Erza sucked in a sharp breath as if she was preparing for something horrible. He felt cold. "In the past two years, she isolated herself from everyone. At first no one knew why and they tried to talk to her. But her house was always locked and she was always away. We weren't sure if she was even there during the time she suddenly went away. We were certain that it had something to do with Natsu, but then we realized she was over it. She moved on. So why him?
And then three months later, she was at the guild. She looked so dead. So… un-Lucy. I didn't recognize her at first, and I should have. But I was used to the Lucy that always smiled and greeted me first. I was used to the Lucy who didn't divert her gaze every time you tried to talk to her. That day, I told myself, "That is not Lucy." I was convinced for a while that it really wasn't her. She barely talked. She was never with Levy for more than two minutes. She'd stand up and excuse herself, telling us that she was going to leave for a job.
Gray caught her that day by the river, just looking at the water. He told me he was about to approach her but couldn't. He told me he suddenly felt powerless and frightened by the look in her eyes, like she was some black hole that could suck anyone in. However, she turned and faced him. By then the look of death was already very apparent. Her skin was paler than ever, her eyes ringed black, her lips cracked dry… he told me he couldn't look at her for more than a minute.
But you know, she smiled."
Jellal looked at the redhead and blinked. "She smiled?"
She nodded, her lips pressed tight. "That smile was like a farewell to Gray. And apparently, if he hadn't found her then, he wouldn't have been even able to see it. Because right after she smiled, she jumped in the freezing water."
"She what?!"
Jellal looked at his children and chuckled. It seemed amusing to him now, but back then it felt like he was dying. "Yes, she jumped in the river around January."
Gerald shuddered visibly, imagining the scene. "That must've been so cold…"
"Yeah," Layla said, frowning. "But what happened next?"
He couldn't really feel his limbs anymore, with how bland she was about the whole incident. He wanted to scream at her, to shout and ask why she was so calm about the whole ordeal. Was it because it was all in the past now? Or was it because he didn't care? These thoughts of him ripped him to pieces. He didn't react violently though. But he was shaking.
"Gray was immobilized with shock and I actually yelled at him, asking why he didn't move a limb. But he told me he moved after a few seconds and went after her, diving in the waters as well. He said that even he could tell how cold it was. And you know what's even scarier? When he found her, she had her eyes open. "It was like staring at death itself," were his exact words. She went unconscious when he reached her and brought her back to the surface.
He performed CPR, brought her to the guild and Wendy healed her. She stayed in the infirmary for days, sleeping. According to Wendy, she was emotionally drained and she was lacking sleep, which was causing a huge toll on her. She said it was something that even she, the Sky Dragon Slayer, couldn't fix. And that it was only up to Lucy if she wanted to fix herself or not.
What frightens me is that I think she's decided to stay broken forever," Erza whispered, her eyes finding his. They were full of worry and terror of what the future could bring. "She looks even worse now than before, and I'm scared for her, but at the same time, I feel great."
Jellal stiffened and she released a heavy sigh. "Wait, okay? I know it's cruel, but to be honest before all of this started, I already knew why she was emotionally drained."
"Why?" he choked out painfully, trying not to scream although he wanted to. Very much.
"Because she fell for you."
"OH MY GOD, DID I HEAR RIGHT?" Layla shouted, fanning her face with her hands. "After ages, he finally knows!? Thank Mavis!"
Meiko whistled, grinning widely. "Finally, the truth is out."
"But how did Aunt Erza know?" Reina asked, scooting forwards with anticipation. "Did mother tell her? Did you accidentally tell her?"
Jellal rolled his eyes and smiled. "I was getting to that."
"Oh, okay."
He held his breath. "What?"
"Hold up, hold up, hold up! Are you telling me that after what she just said, that was all you could say? Shame on you!" Layla said, clicking her tongue in tune with Kaiya.
"Can you please stop interrupting and just listen?" Jellal asked with irritation.
"Fine."
She looked at him and smiled resentfully. "Yes, well, it was obvious wasn't it? But you couldn't see that, because you were always gone whenever she had this dazed look on her face at the mention of your name, or just seeing anything relatable to you. I believe she even begun to like the color blue after a while, but at that time I was too terrified to accept this so I forced myself to believe that that was all a trick of the mind.
I didn't want to ask her about it or talk to anyone about it, because I didn't know how to explain it. Was it wrong of me to have brought her with me when we went out at that time? I regretted it greatly, and still tried to convince myself that Lucy was still moving on from Natsu. I knew, however, that she had already let go. I was blinding myself with lies, with my own comfort and nearly surrendered as well. But then one day, I woke up and just accepted it. Just like that, I knew there was no going back.
And when I saw her at the guild three months later after her sudden isolation, I couldn't look at her without feeling a strong punch to my gut. I know I suck at faking smiles, but I tried one anyway, for her. And when she just looked at me and then turned away, reality hit me. She knew. She knew what I knew and we both knew that it was going to break us. It hit me so hard that I couldn't breathe properly afterwards.
And I confronted her. I told her to stop. I told her to let go. I asked her to leave you alone. I asked her to leave us alone. I told her to never show her face to me ever again. And because she's Lucy, because she never denies people of what they want, because she's too kind to turn down anyone—she said yes.
But I realized I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't be so harsh to her and just rip her from the one she loved most. But by the time I knew that, I was too late. That was when she continued her seclusion. That was when she started to withdraw into herself even more. Maybe her world is full of you, or of me, or of suicide. Maybe it's a bubble I would never dare enter in fear of feeling the same, but it is what she feels now because of you. No, because of me." She looked at him straight in the eye and he realized how broken she was as well. He didn't comment on this though.
"If I hadn't brought her with me… if she hadn't met you… this wouldn't have happened," she said through choked sobs. Jellal made no movement to hug her or comfort her, because he didn't know if he wanted to. He listened to her choking on her tears, listened to her sniffing and to her trying to regain her breath.
He didn't like her words. He didn't like her regret or her bitter feelings. "I'm glad I met her," he said carefully, knowing that one word could pull the trigger. "I don't regret anything."
"You don't, but I regret it a lot. I can see I'm losing you, J-Jellal," she told him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Whenever we were together after that, I could see the questioning look in your eyes. I didn't want to bring her up, and that made it seem like I was bitchy all the time. But I was so afraid of losing you, because I knew things were changing. Even now, I look into your eyes and it's no longer love I see."
Jellal held her gaze, reciting the next words with her.
"It's disappointment."
Silence descended the family again, finding themselves at a loss of words. Although this was all history, they were shaken. Even though this had happened years ago and was no longer a problem, they were deeply affected by it. It ran through their core, hitting them deep like continuous punches to the gut.
Jude swallowed and dared to look at his father's face. He wished he hadn't. "T-Then what?"
Jellal frowned at the question. "I began to hate her. I hated her for what she became."
He looked away from her, no longer able to bear the sight of her anymore. "I hate you," he spat out bitterly, the words acting as a drive. He could feel his anger growing and he allowed it to blind him. "You… You're the reason she's like this and you wish I hadn't met her? Are you out of your mind?!"
"I'm sorry! I—"
"Your poor excuse of a sorry won't ever make up for all the pain you've caused her!" he cried out, turning back towards her with a steely gaze. "She told me to tell you she was sorry, but you don't deserve any of that! You don't deserve her kindness. You were selfish! You weren't you!"
"Shut up!" she screamed, covering her ears. He didn't realize he was standing now, shadowing over her trembling form like a monster. She was crying even louder and people were starting to whisper, looking at him with disbelief and fury. But he didn't really care anymore.
"You did this to her! You broke her!" he told her over and over, repeating this until his words scarred her while his insides twisted with rage. "You made her this way! You tore her apart! You broke her!"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she continued to shriek, trying to block out his words, trying to hide from her shame.
Jellal was crying now, out of anger and out of sorrow. He fell to his knees and he clutched his head, screaming out his wrath. He heard Lucy's laugh, which was so unfamiliar to him now, and it fed his anger even more.
"You broke her," he whispered hoarsely, exhausted. "This is all your fault…"
Jellal smiled grimly and shrugged. "I was pretty harsh back then, but hey, I was mad, I was furious. I just needed to release it all."
"I kind of… feel the same towards aunt now," Gerald muttered, looking away. "Sorry."
"No, it's okay," the father said, chuckling. "But you best let it go now. That was ages ago and I've already forgiven her. It's normal to feel angry for what happened in the past, but what's done is done. Now all that's left to do is finish the story."
"It's about to end?" Kaiya asked quietly, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.
Jellal nodded, smiling apologetically. He ushered her to walk over to him and she did, crawling on top of his lap. She gave him a hug and he hugged her back, sighing in her hair. "Don't worry, the next part is lighter now. Still a bit hard to swallow, but definitely not like what happened with Erza."
Kaiya leaned back and looked up at him, blinking widely.
"Then let's hear it!"
They eyed Layla who grinned, leaning against Jude. "I mean, it's about to end and I can't wait to hear what happens next so the show must go on!"
Kaiya turned to him again and nodded slightly. "Please?"
He smiled. "Of course."
After releasing all of his frustration, he left to search for Lucy. He searched for days which stretched out to weeks. He didn't find her. He was already losing himself from all of this madness and he didn't know what to do. He needed her as much as she needed him because he felt the same way.
The only thing left was to let her know.
He didn't find her until four months later. He visited Magnolia like usual, hoping that Lucy would show up. And he stayed until the next day, wondering if staying longer would be worth it. And to his surprise, it was.
"…Jellal?"
There she was, standing by the river. The circles around her eyes were slowly staring to go away now, and her skin was starting to redeem its color. Her lips were no longer cracked and dry, but soft like before. She looked at him with wonder, her feet deep into the water.
He staggered towards her and fell to his knees, holding her face in his hands. He brought her closer, staring deep into her eyes. "Is it really you?" he whispered, fearing that if he raised his voice he'd wake up and realize it was just a dream.
She had a hard time moving her head with how tight he was holding her, so she managed to mumble a small yes. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding and encased her in his arms, dissolving into a mess of sobs and words. He held her against him, worried that if he let go, she'd disappear forever. But she too had her arms around him and was snuggling her face in the crook of neck. He could feel her breath against his skin and it sent shudders down his spine.
"I missed you so much," he told her, his tears slurring his words slightly. "I didn't know where to find you. I looked e-everywhere for you but I never found you."
Lucy sighed and started to run her fingers through his blue locks. "Of course you didn't find me. I was nowhere on this earthly plane," she said, her voice lightly laced with mirth.
"Where were you then?"
"With my spirits," she mumbled, acting as if it wasn't a big deal. "I stayed there for a few days I think, and I guess a day there really is a month here. Sorry, I didn't know I was causing everyone so much pain. If I knew that, I wouldn't have—"
"Fallen for me?"
She fell silent, her hands stopping. For a moment she was quiet, then she released another sigh and nodded. "Yes, that. I could have stopped myself but I didn't and I'm sorry."
Jellal pulled back and held her at arm's length, locking his eyes with hers. He shook his head. "You can't just tell yourself to stop loving someone. It's not done like that. You can't just tell yourself to stop loving someone. It's impossible."
"I know that," she muttered under her breath. "But I should have done something."
He exhaled and slumped forward, his forehead falling on her shoulder. "You don't get it, do you?" he whispered tiredly. He felt like all of his energy drained away.
"Don't get what?"
"Me," he rasped out, trying not to scream again in frustration. "Lucy, I fell for you too."
There was silence, and then a sniff. "And I'm still falling. You're a black hole, Lucy. You sucked me in and now I can't see the end. But at the same time, I can't escape you. I can't get out. I can't leave. I'm stuck inside you."
Even with his head on her shoulder, she felt warm. And he realized she was blushing. His lips twitched. "So don't you ever disappear from my life ever again or else I will break, just like how you broke."
He felt her tense up and at that moment, he knew she was retreating into herself once again. He leaned back and held her chin, lifting her head so that he could stare into her eyes. He attempted to smile. "I know you're broken, but that's okay. I can fix you. I will fix you. I won't abandon you. I won't ever leave you. I will fix you, so please don't leave me."
"I… I don't know."
"Please," he begged her, pulling her closer until their foreheads were touching. "I need you. I'll die if you leave me. I don't know what happened or how I started to feel this way, but things changed. And if you leave me now, I won't be able to live with myself. I will die inside, Lucy. So please… please stay with me."
She looked up at him, her eyes full of fear and innocence. "You promise you'll never leave me like Natsu?"
"Promise."
She bit her lip. "You'll… fix me?"
"Of course," he breathed out, trying his hardest not to kiss her. He closed his eyes. "We'll fix everything, and then we'll move on. Okay?"
She nodded in confirmation and then she closed the space between them. It was a chaste kiss. It was quick and simple. But to him, it was the best kiss he's ever had.
A/N: Finally, the hard part is done! I'm sorry if I was harsh on Erza, she's a tough character, but I think with a little pressure she really would have done all of that. And Jellal really would have screamed at her, so sorry if you hate me now. But they're all good friends again in the present timeline so don't you worry about that! There will be one more chapter, about their reaction to the ending and probably when Jude was first born or something. And then Lucy will come home so yeah.
Wow, this chapter was pretty long. Such a shame I wasn't able to get it beta read. I hope the mistakes you found didn't bother you much, I feel bad. If you're confused about Erza and Lucy, I'll explain. So Lucy isolated herself in hope to forget about Jellal, and then three months later she returns. But then she knows that Erza knows what she feels and she realizes that they were going to have to fight, not physically. And then Erza tells her to leave them alone and she does. Erza regrets it, but then by that time it's too late. Two years later, Lucy's come back and here's a secret, she was actually supposed to commit suicide, but the sight of Jellal so worried and there stopped her, so yay for that.
Erza means no harm, but she loves Jellal and you know love... it makes you do the unthinkable. So there you have it! I hope you liked the chapter and if you did, if you have any violent reactions, if you want me to write the next chapter and post it, then review!
Oh and like my page. The link is on my profile.
"Depression is living in a body that fights to survive with a mind that tries to die."
Byee! -Anne :D
- Please support/read my other stories: Celebrity Issues, The Devil and the Assassin, Fragile, Life's Challenges, Forgotten Memories, Queen of Stars, A Love That Lasts Forever and Going Against The Current.
