Loki was staring down with his warm hazel eyes into wide chocolate ones, looking strangely calm while on the other hand, Lucy began to panic. She hated the feeling of being trapped with no way out.
"So ... Lucy-!" The boy couldn't continue his sentence because the blonde kneed him in the gut. He bowed down holding his stomach and Lucy passed by him to run towards her whip which she had foolishly left in the living room. In the attempt Loki caught her by the ankle making her fall face first on the ground with a loud thud. She immediately cried out in pain and held her pulsing face with her hands.
"L-Lucy, wait -!" Loki tried to speak, but the girl steeled herself on her hands and as she turned around, with the other free leg she kicked him in the face, thus freeing herself from his grasp before making a few backwards jumps and stop in a defense position.
"B-bring it on, I'm not afraid of you!"
"Okay Lucy...I didn't want it to end this way, but if this is what you want, then I won't go easy on you." The other young teen said, wiping his blood away from his mouth and lighting his fists with a yellow light. In a matter of seconds Loki lunged at Lucy throwing a punch with the left hand. The girl easily dodged it, but took the second attack full on. Loki punched her in the face making the girl roll out of the kitchen before falling on the floor in the main hallway, on her back.
He lunged again but the blonde girl lifted her legs in time. Thrusting her feet into his stomach she managed to push him in time and as he clutched his stomach, she took that moment to her advantage to roll to her left and rise to her feet. Loki tried to nudge her with his elbow but she jumped back and as she was landing down on one foot Loki tried to make her trip by kick that foot. She managed to land on his foot and with her other leg she kicked his face, sending him a couple of steps back.
But it was nothing. This time, it was Lucy to hurl first. She jumped up in the air ready to kick him with her right foot to his temple but Loki saw through her attack and ducked in time. He took Lucy's other leg, spinning her over his head and throw her against a cabinet that was there in the hallway. She once again screamed in pain as glassed got stuck into her back, hands and feet as she swayed towards him holding her right arm.
"B-bastard ..." Lucy growled before going towards him to pummel him. They continued to punch and kick themselves with extraordinary speed. (like super sayans third level: D) Lucy sometimes jumped on Loki's back, once she even started to pull his hair or strangle him with her arms, while the boy would sometimes smashed Lucy against the furniture destroying a few things here and here, but never using all his strength.
They were fighting in the hallway, Lucy attacked on Loki's torso with her legs around his waist, tugging strongly on his cheeks and Loki was holding her uniform shirt with his right hand while his left hand was over her right hand which was pulling his mouth, both throwing curses left and right before they heard someone ring the doorbell and stopped abruptly.
"Good evening, sorry to bother, we are the neighbors. We wanted to know if you had any sugar to lend us ..." Said a female voice, but the two teens stood motionlessly, as if they were made out of stone. They stared at the door with huge eyes, and occasionally looked at each other confused.
"Umm … Is anyone there? Hello?"
"Come on, darling I guess there's no one."
"B-but I heard noises before! Jack there's something wrong here" The woman whispered in a worried voice.
"What if that crazy assassin got into this house?! I-I'm calling the cops!"
"Oh, come on, don't be silly! Maybe it was their cat who knows, don't worry let's just go."
"O-ok ..." And so the two voices left. Lucy and Loki didn't dare even to breathe until they were sure as hell that there wasn't a single soul on the other side of the door. The only thing that you could hear now was the tv in the kitchen.
"Aree yoa gonning to listan to meh? (are you going to listen to me)?" The boy said, his mouth still being pulled by Lucy. The girl glanced at him and nodded shyly.
"Y-yes ... M-maybe it's better if we calm down and talk ..." Lucy dropped down from Loki and straightened her clothes wiping them from the dust and glass shards, while Loki rubbed his sore cheek which was pulled by Lucy a few seconds ago.
Both went into the living room and saw that the couch was strangely upside down, an armchair was missing while the other one was on top of the library. They decided to sit on the floor on the carpet, both legs crossed. Lucy watched Loki from bottom to top.
"Hands that glow yellow when he uses magic, a great freestyle fighter, hazel eyes and especially cat ears sticking out from his hair. Loki, or better..." Lucy seriously, stared at the boy in front of her.
"Leo the lion. How can a spirit wander around in the human world so freely? Who is your master?" The girl ended up crossing her arms over her big chest.
"How do you know that I am a spirit?"
"I have my ways. Now speak, unless you want me to reopen those wounds of yours." Loki swallowed and looked down.
"…..Lucy, do you know why I'm that famous killer they talk on TV?"
"..."
"I killed her. I've killed my master and many other people." The orange-haired boy confessed, looking seriously at the blonde girl who swallowed silently, feeling the hair behind her neck stand up.
"But I didn't kill any kind of people. I've killed only celestial mages. In search of a friend."
"A-and who is this friend?" She asked with a trembling voice. Her eyes never leaving Loki's.
"Aries the ram. Karen, our old master, beat her all the time. She always abused her, as if she were an object and once I said that it was enough... I tried to put an end to this absurd story.
Killing her." Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped, and Lucy could swear that her heart stopped for a second.
"... A-Aries the ram ...?"
"Yes."The blonde teen lowered her astonished gaze, on her fluffy white carpet.
S-shit ... And now what? If he kills me then how am I going to do that-
"Do you know...where she is?" Loki asked, pulling out Lucy from her thoughts.
"Umm ... W-why do you want to know?"
So he doesn't know I'm... A stellar mage too... She thought swallowing.
"I want to kill her master and free her. Together we can finally be free. Free from any other kind of slavery to which we are damned by destiny."
"... Free from any other kind of slavery ...?"
"Yes."
"In other words ... What you want to do is, kill the owner take Aries and run away in the human realm without a destination?"
"Yes." Loki replied again, obtaining a bitter laugh from Lucy whose eyes, now, were hidden by her bangs.
"What's so funny?"
"If I told you that...Aries is safe but at the same time in great danger, what would you do?"
"What!? Aries is in danger!? Where!?Tell me where she is, I have to save her!" Loki yelled, standing up. He approached Lucy and took her by the arms before shaking her again and again.
"L-Loki ... Stop ... Y-you're-"
"Where's Aries, tell me!"
"Loki..." Another voice made itself hear from behind the boy, who stopped abruptly as if he got shot right in the heart.
"A-Aries?" He asked, slowly turning to look behind him. His eyes, surprised by now, widened even more.
"I'm sorry ..." She said her typical sentence, looking away from Loki, blushing. Tears forming at the base of her eyes.
"Aries!" The boy threw himself at the spirit and hugged her tightly as they fell to their knees on the ground. He burst into tears and kept on repeating her name and how much he searched for her.
"Aries... Aries ... Aries ..."
"I'm here Leo, I'm sorry ..." She reassured him with her calm and quiet voice as she patted him on the head.
"W-what are you doing here Aries? Where did you come from? Do you know Lucy?" He asked, raising his head to look at her beautiful face. She bit her lip before showing a pained and sad expression.
"A-Aries ...?" Slowly the pink haired girl looked in front of her, towards Lucy who for the whole time was looking away towards her left while rubbing her sore arms.
"Lucy... Lucy is my master."
"E-eh? Aries what are you saying? It can't be true... Lucy isn't a celestial mage-"
"Loki." Lucy said in a cold and low voice, making the boy turn towards her.
"Aries is telling the truth. I'm a celestial mage." And at that time the girl in question began to glow a golden light while wind from nowhere, began to blow from below, making her gold hair fly upwards. Loki could have sworn that he saw all his old friends and also others behind Lucy nodding before the light disappeared.
"And I'm the owner of the 11 keys of the zodiac. You're the only missing, Loki. I have to speak to you of very important matters, which determine our lives."
"... Our lives?"
"Yes. If all goes according to my plan, you, spirits will be spared a cruel fate, but if something happens and he will hinder us, your lives, no longer immortal, will disappear completely from the face of the planet and I shall be trapped forever in another dimension. With no way out or in. " Lucy said seriously while Aries, who broke free from Loki's grasp, went to sit next to Lucy to embrace her left arm.
"I don't understand what you mean, lives no longer immortal, he will hinder us, locked in another dimension forever, w-what do you mean?" The boy repeated, running a hand over his face while shaking his head.
"Before talking about this thing, I want you to make a contract with me."
"What? Are you crazy? Not even in a million-"
"Loki." Lucy stopped him while glaring at him.
"I've already said it! Aries is safe for now, but at the same time is also in great danger. If you'll do a contract with me and everything goes according to my plan, I swore on my life that I'll free you of our contract, together with Aries. " There was a competition of serious glares between them and neither of them thought of backing down.
"You said there's a chance that someone could hinder us. If that happens then I would have foolishly let my life and that of Aries in the wrong hands. I can't afford to risk such a precious thing. Free Aries at once."
"...Yes, I understand your point. The loss would be a thing to say the least...too much to bear. But as you can see I need your help. Aries needs, all the celestial spirits need. You are the last missing link, Loki. I won't force you to make a contract with me, but know that many lives depend on your decision. I just want you to pass that hellish responsibility on me. " Loki stood still, thinking for a few minutes while looking at the ground with a lost look.
"I want to hear the story first."
"No, I disagree. I said I wanted the contract before."
"..." Loki shifted his gaze towards Aries who looked at him sadly.
"If ... If I accept to make a contract with you ... will I be together with Aries?"
"For as long as you want. I'm capable of opening up to 3 keys at the same time, so you can stay together even outside."
"3 K-KEYS!?" Loki yelled, standing up.
"T-then, y-you're the one-"
"Yes, it's me. And please keep your voice low and sit down. I don't want my neighbors at my door again or worse, the police."
"S-sorry ..." The orange-haired boy said timidly, sitting down again. And once again, an awkward silence filled up the room.
"Sigh...Like I said, I'm not forcing you to make a contract with me. When you'll feel to do it, come to me. For the night you can stay here if you want. But please Loki, consider my offer." Lucy pleaded, standing up and reaching the living room's doorway, she turned her head slightly over her shoulder, towards them and said:
"Aries if you want, you can stay. I'm not like other stellar mages. ... I don't ...I don't want to hurt you ..." Lucy whispered the last words, before disappearing from Loki's view.
"...She...S-she wears a very heavy burden on her shoulders ..." Aries said with a trembling voice and eyes full of sadness and pity.
"...What?"
"Y-you see ... I'm sorry ... I-I can't talk about it ..."
"Why?" Loki asked, standing up and going to caress Aries's cheek, lifting her face towards him by the chin.
"When you'll become her spirit you'll understand ... It's something that words can't express, no matter how many there are, no one will ever be able to invent one that represents it perfectly ..."
-The 'dream'-
A petite Lucy was running through the halls of her immense mansion.
Her small legs with various wounds here and there, couldn't pull her forward anymore, her little lungs were working more than they should have and her vision was becoming more and more blurred even though they were wide open from sheer terror. Rivers of tears came out of her big brown eyes, and they didn't seem to stop. With the fear of blinking and finding that hideous monster in front of her, the little hopeless girl kept running inside her house, aimlessly, but with a goal.
Run away.
"Lucy ... where are you going~?" The little girl jerked at the sound of that false yet sweet voice behind her, deep in the corridor. The girl ran while looking back horrified and because of that she tripped over the red carpet.
"O-ouch ..." She cried out.
"Lucy~?"
"Ah!" Lucy suddenly stood up, ignoring the blood coming from her left knee and tried to run again. Once she reached the end of the corridor, she collided against some guards.
"Here she is! We found her!"
"N-no! L-let me go!" The girl screamed while kicking her feet trying to free herself somehow.
"H-hey! Stay still-Argh!" The child was able to run away from the guard's grip by biting his hand. Once free, Lucy ran towards another corridor and suddenly she decided to enter a room on the left, thinking that it would have lead her out of the house or that it would have hid her well. But to greet her was total darkness.
She hated the dark. She was dead afraid of it. Her heart was beating in her throat, pain was pulsing through out her small body and especially her left knee, she wouldn't stop crying and it was so hard not to make any noises come out of her mouth. She felt like fainting at any moment, tired of running and never taking a break since, who knows how long.
Walking in the dark with her little trembling hands in front of her, she finally touched something and the second after, the door behind her swung wide open, showing the silhouette of a tall, muscular man. (Is it only me that, you know, sees him muscular? Anyone? Well, who cares ...)
Lucy, my dear, where are you running? You know you're only making me angry?" A little Lucy turned around shaking, with pure terror in her eyes as she saw a huge man's silhouette with white light coming from behind him. She could see that he was banging a whip against his left open palm.
"N-no ..." Lucy whispered, but she was too scared to run away or to actually shout for help. Those scared big eyes, like a deer's, observed as a wicked smile, pure of evil intent, made its way on the man's face.
"Come, my love~. You're gonna be fine, daddy is here~. Ehehe."
-End of the 'dream'-
"No ..." Lucy said moving her head left and right in her bed, while furrowing her eyebrows together.
"Lucy."
"No ... Go away ..."
"Lucy!"
"Let me go! Go away! Help!"
"LUCY!" Lucy opened her eyes abruptly and it took her a second to consider her surroundings.
"Lucy, are you okay?"
"H-huh?" The blonde turned her head towards the right and saw Loki with a worried look.
"W-who ... w-what are you doing here?" She said, sitting up. Her breath was unstable and during the night it appears that she sweated a lot. There was something wet on her cheeks and her eyes were strangely blurred and watery. She raised a hand to cup her cheek and noticed the tears.
"God, Lucy, you gave me a heart attack!"
"Eh?"
"You did nothing but kick, scream and cry! What did you dream about?!"
"..."
"Lucy?"
"..." Lucy didn't answer, she just only turned her head away from Loki.
"Sigh ... okay. If you don't want to tell me, it's ok. But you have to get up and go to school." He said, putting his hands on his hips before walking away towards the door, while Lucy looked at her clock on her bedside cabinet.
5:38. Sighing heavily she crawled out of bed and went into the bathroom to take a bath. This time she stepped into the shower and turned the tap on cold water. She let that every physical pain got washed away by that cold shower.
"Lucy, breakfast is ready." Loki said from the other side of the door, knocking on it.
"O-okay ..." Lucy said surprised, covering her chest spontaneously.
B-breakfast?! She thought surprised and confused at the same time.
"Sigh ... you don't need to cover yourself. The door is locked and I'm not so rude to come in there now. Just finish bathing and come down." Loki said before Lucy heard some footsteps walk away and then a door close. After a few more minutes the hot blonde came out of the shower and dried her hair.
Entering her bedroom with only a towel tied tight around her body, she stared at her school uniform ready on her bed. Sighing heavily she got dressed and went downstairs, turning immediately left to go into the kitchen and see an orange-haired boy, her age, with a pink heart apron cooking in her kitchen. (if you don't understand it's PINK and has HEARTS and it's GIRLISH and HE's wearing it ._.)
"What... are you doing?"
"Oh, Lucy. When did you come down?"
"Now?" Lucy answered, but it seemed more like a question than a statement. While going to sit on the swivel stool, she never looked away from Loki. Once she sat down the male teen placed under her nose a couple of pancakes soaked in cherry syrup. Lucy raised an eyebrow looking at them then raised her head to see Loki smiling at her.
"What? You don't like pancakes?"
"N-n-no... C-can I have a silver cup from the cupboard?"
"Why?"
"I just want to know if the syrup is poisoned, nothing else."
"How rude! And to say that I used my own secret recipe just for you!"
"Your own secret recipe?" Lucy repeated, now raising her other eyebrow while Loki nodded with a proud grin on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest, vainly.
"You ... you know how to cook?"
"Well, not to brag, but I can do loads of stuff with a frying pan and an egg." Loki said winking at her. Lucy shivered looking away from him in disgust, before taking up the remote and turning the TV on.
Ignoring Loki who sat next to her, she quickly started to eat her pancakes when suddenly, she hit the dish with her fork releasing an annoying noise. Lucy continued to needle the dish aimlessly in search of another little piece of pancake when, not finding anything, she decided to look away from the TV and look down at her plate angrily.
"What the !?"
"Ahahahahah!" Loki burst into a laugh that he had been holding in until now, while falling down from his seat.
"What are you laughing at, talking lamp?" Lucy said in a low voice, embarrassed by the boy's sudden explosion.
"Ahahahah, if you could see your face!"
"Hah? Do you want me to dig out your eyes?" Lucy threatened, standing up and cracking her knuckles.
"Ah! N-no, Lucy! I was only kidding, just kidding!" "Frightened" the boy crouched down on himself and putting his hands over his head to protect himself. A second later he looked up at the girl to see if she fell for his joke.
"Hmpfh!" Lucy said with her eyes closed, her arms crossed over her chest and her head turned away from Loki. The boy smiled as he saw the girl's cheeks tainted a light pink.
"Hey, where is Aries?" Lucy asked, remembering that she let Aries free to stay outside her gate.
"Eh? Aries? She returned to the stellar spirit's world."
"Oh..." Lucy left the room, ignoring Loki who smiled at her small figure trying to fumble with some shoes.
This girl, after all, is not so cold and insensitive as she tries to show. He thought, cleaning up from where Lucy had eaten.
"Are you ready Loki?"
"Yes, I'm ready but …" He said, stopping Lucy in the doorway.
"Yes?"
"About the contract ..." The boy started to say, scratching his head shyly and after a couple of seconds, looking up and facing the blonde.
"Since you helped me with my wounds and other things, I decided to sign the contract." It took a few seconds, so that Lucy could register the information and when she finally did her eyes widened.
"You ..."
"And by the way, you need a knight by your side! Well, luckily for you, your attempts to look for him is over."
"Knight? But weren't you an expert assassin last night?"
"That's in the past, now we live in the present to move into the future!" Loki said, putting his arm around Lucy's shoulders, who in a fraction of seconds nudge him in the side.
"I am sorry, but I don't need knights. Thank you for agreeing to sign the contract, but now ... I want you ..." She said, lowering her voice, slowly but steadily approaching the boy, making him bump into a cabinet.
"Keep a secret from anyone that you're a spirit and that I am a celestial mage. Do you understand?"
"W-why?"
"Loki. By accepting to sign the contract, you've started the operation that we'll soon carry out. Till the end, you must never get in touch with anyone suspicious, talk about our mission and therefore hinder us! Oh! And especially, if someone wants to bring you somewhere and knows that you are a spirit, run. Run away. Don't you dare to fight back. Was I clear enough? "
"But-"
"Loki! This thing is very delicate, can't you see it!?" Loki observed as Lucy took him by his shirt with trembling hands, but with a serious and determined face.
"I can't afford to lose you...I don't want you to end in that man's hands .."
"Who are you talking about, Lucy?"
"... I'll tell you later, or if you go into the celestial world, the others will tell you. Together with the mission that we'll perform." She said, releasing her grip and turning around to open the door.
"But now we have another priority. We have to go to school. Ah, and we-" Lucy said, turning suddenly towards Loki pointing a finger at his chest.
"We're not friends. We have never been together. You never came to my house. If someone asks you who took care of you, say that a passerby saw you lying on the ground and that he brought you to the hospital, ok? "
"Why-"
"Because! It's better this way. Believe me. If you go down this road then turn right and then left at the end of the road you'll find yourself on a main road, from there you'll know the way to our school."
"Eh? And you- ... uuuu?" Loki asked, looking away from where Lucy pointed with her finger and finding no one around him.
"Lucy?"
"N-Natsu ..."
"What?" Said the so called boy with a voice to say the least happy and calm. He was hovering in his chair with his legs on his new desk, his hands behind his head and an angry stare on the professor.
"U-ummmm ...C-could you, you know, stop trying to set the blackboard on fire with your eyes?"
"Why? I'm only following the lesson." And with that phrase everyone gasped and departed away from him. Slowly the chaos arose.
"Bring the priest! No, the exorcist, whatever you want! Flaming-head has been possessed!" Gray shouted running through the class with his hands above his head and starting to yell out of the window.
"Where's the chicken-brain we knew, sob, what happened to him?" Gajeel cried out, pretending to blow his nose with a handkerchief and crying, while a small blue-haired girl looked at him angrily with her hands on her hips.
"What?" He said, glaring at her and she just shook her head with one hand on her forehead. Natsu in the confusion, glanced at Lucy who looked at him surprised like everyone else in that room right now.
"Tch... Stop yelling, ya fuckin' idiots." The boy scoffed, getting up from his seat and walking toward the exit with his hands in his pockets. Passing by Loki's desk, he stopped to look at him and his eyes widened for a half a second before taking him by the collar and growl in his face. Ready to tore off his face in that instant.
"Natsu! Let go of Loki and return to your seat, if you don't want me to suspend you! This is a class for heaven's sake!" The professor said, obviously upset, but flinched back when the crazy teen looked at him suddenly with his furious gaze, before dropping Loki on the ground and kicking the nearest desk.
"W-where are you going ... Natsu, Gray? G-Gajeel?"
"If you don't want me in following ya stupid lesson, then I'll go out where the fuck I want." And so everyone jolted when Natsu slammed the door, almost breaking it.
"Argh!" Natsu growled as he kicked a desk that was on the roof.
"Woah, flaming pants what the heck happened to you?"
"Shut the fuck up, Gray if you don't want me to tear off ya tongue out of your mouth!"
"Geez, okay okay, you moody freak ..." Gray said, raising his hands in front of him and stepping back. The lunatic boy turned around and resumed breaking the poor piece of wood, while cursing and growling.
"Hey, stripper, isn't that Blondie?" Gajeel said, pointing to a spot in the garden, while he was with his chin on his arms on the bars.
"Hmm? Oh, you're right! ... Hey, isn't that Loki? What are they doin' together?"
"How am I supposed know ice-brain? God, you're so fuckin' stupid ..."
"Haaaah? What did ya say lightning ….r-rod? ...!" Gray who was already fanning himself with his hand, slowly turned towards his right, that is, where the inhuman heat was coming from and jumped when he saw Natsu surrounded by a huge flame and his hands melting the bars.
"Grrrrr!" Natsu growled like a possessed beast, while biting his lip and thus making it bleed.
What's going on, below.
"Hey, Lucy!" Loki said, waving his hand above his head like a small child while approaching the blonde girl.
"What are you doing here?" She said coldly, glaring at him.
"Ouch, that hurt! Come on, Lucy, let's eat together!"
"No." But against Lucy's strong rejection, Loki sat down next to her and started to eat his melon bread.
"Sigh ... You didn't listen to me when I said those things before, did you?"
"What things?" The blonde girl raised an eyebrow, looking at him sideways.
Now he even pretends that we never met before? She thought, crossing her arms over her chest, waiting for an answer. But he just ate his bread while smiling happily and after he finished he glanced at Lucy who remained still for the whole time, watching him angry.
"What? You're not gonna eat that?"
"Urgh!" Lucy said, clutching her fists, before getting up and walking quickly away. Loki stood up too and after a couple of hops he was beside her with an arm around her shoulders.
"So, where are we going?"
"Wait, wait, wait! Where are we going?" Lucy said, stressing the word 'we'. As she moved away from his grasp with her hands in front of herself and a confused look.
"Yes?"
"Slow down! You and I, don't know each other. Have you forgotten?"
"Well, there's always a beginning to everything." He said, winking at her.
"Plus, it's not good behavior for a knight to leave her maiden alone." Lucy was looking at him confused, before shaking her head and facepalming.
"….Look Loki, I don't want to have any relation with this place's people. I wish. No. I demand to be left alone. Is it that hard to understand? "
"But-"
"Loki. No. Leave me alone. Your presence alone damages my nervous system. "Lucy said, waving her hand slightly in front of her before going away, leaving behind a petrified Loki.
"Woah, what did that chick say to leave the famous womanizer petrified? "
"Ahahahahah!"
"W-what's wrong with you, tabasco breath? Hmm- Woah, Gajeel too?! "Gray turned around to see Natsu and Gajeel rolling on the ground while laughing like crazy.
"Oi, do I have to call a doctor? Or a mental hospital?"
"Ahahaha, she told him off! Fuck, hahahaha, it's too funny "
"Then, can I know what the hell did she say? Since I don't have your damn super hearing." The dark blue-haired boy breathed, crossing his arms over his bare chest and tapping his foot angrily on the ground.
"Ahaha, the Blondie, pretty much told him that he's a pain in the ass!"
"No! Seriously?!"
"Yes! "And so Gray slowly began to laugh, joining the 2 crazy boys and making shiver in fear anyone passing through the back garden and hearing their maniacs laughter.
"Luce!" Only that person called her that way and soon after she heard it she felt something collide against her back and an arm around her shoulders pulling her back against a hard chest.
"W-what the-?!" Lucy turned her head towards her left to find that freak, smiling down at her with his trademark toothy grin.
"Hey, whatcha doin'?"
"I should be asking you that. " Natsu raised an eyebrow, pouting confused.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm talking to you? God, I thought you were smarter- Ouch! "Natsu clung to his side where Lucy nudged him, before running after her.
"Hey! What was that for?! "
"Shut up and go away. I don't want to be influenced by a stupid walking flamingo. "
"Hey!"
"Lucy." Lucy and Natsu who were having a match of dead stares, were stopped by the principal.
"In my office. Now."
"I know. No need to remind me." Lucy said, passing by the old man and heading for the principal's office.
"Natsu?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
"Hmmm?" Natsu stopped in his track. Unconsciously he started to follow her again. Now he was staring while softly smiling at the blonde's silhouette before looking down, annoyed, at Makarov. Sighing the young boy raised his arms to fold them behind his head.
"What do ya mean Gramps?"
"Sigh ... Natsu. Stop getting into trouble. This is a warning."
"Yeah, yeah, 'course Gramps, see ya around." The teenager said nonchalantly before putting his hands in his pockets, turning on his heel and walking away humming happily.
- In Makarov's office-
"Lucy." Makarov said while walking to his chair at his big desk. Meanwhile Lucy was sitting on an armchair with her eyes closed, without saying a word.
"If it's about what happened yesterda-"
"I have some bad news to give you." To this statement, the girl suddenly opened her eyes and frowned, she seriously glared at the petite man.
"You're not actually going to-"
"No. I'm not going to expel you from school. It's not about that. It's about ...that man." Lucy stood still in her chair, clutching her hands on the hem of her skirt trying not to tremble.
"I heard some rumors about him ...they say he'll move... soon." Lucy's trembling eyes dropped down to stare at the floor, while drops of sweat began to run down her forehead.
"... B-but I'm not r-ready, yet-"
"Lucy." The man called her attention and Lucy looked up slightly.
"I know you can do it. Don't give up. At least not before even trying." The girl swallowed audibly before looking away again.
"You have a reason why you're trying to get into this war alone. Don't stop believing in it. It will give you strength." Lucy lowered her head, biting her lower lip before whispering a few words barely audible.
"...T-this... I-Is this all?..."
"Yes. You can leave." She slowly stood up and before leaving the room, she heard Makarov's last words.
"Find some friends. With them, it will be easier to win. Don't throw yourself in the utter void relying on luck alone. As well as you can win and save everything, you can lose and thus lose everything dear to you."
Lucy went back to her class and sat down at her desk, all the time-