Chapter 4: Memories
" Sooo...who exactly are are waiting for?" Lucy looked at Tenebre, dusting off the grass from her feet as she stood up to look around.
Tenebre simply replied,
"My parents."
A minute of silence passed, and Lucy cocked her head to the side in slight confusion,
" And why?"
Tenebre sighed, sitting down next to her,
" You said you wanted to know everything, so in order to understand everything, we have to start from the very beginning, starting from how i got created and how it triggered the events to come, which you would see later on."
" Oh..." Lucy nodded slowly in realisation,
" Ah," Tenebre said, pointing in the distance, " Here she is, just on time, there she is, my mother."
Lucy looked at the direction Tenebre was pointing at, and saw a woman in a white flowing chiton-like dress and flats, with platinum coloured hair. Lucy squinted her eyes to get a closer look, and saw that she had silver flecked black eyes. The woman then sat down on the grass ahead of them, and started making wreaths with the daisies.
"Wow, she really pretty. I can see the resemblance between the both of you." Lucy pointed out. " Like your hair and such."
Tenebre chuckled, pointing in another direction.
"Wait till you see my father."
Lucy tilted her head to look at the other direction, at that moment, a guy in an all black ensemble with black hair and golden eyes emerged from the forest, walking confidently out from the woodlands, only to land flat on his face in that same instant.
Lucy sweat dropped, pointing at the man, "Urm, Tenebre...?"
"He tripped on nothing, just to let you know." Tenebre said flatly.
" Ah, i see..." Lucy looked at the man, wincing as she imagined how much it would have hurt. " But i see you've the facial features of you father."
"Good thing that's the only thing i inherited from him, otherwise i would be tripping over nothing every few minutes." Tenebre said, shaking her head as she imagined it.
"Ah, are you alright?" They turned their head in the direction of the feminine voice, to see the lady rush over to the man, who was sitting up, rubbing his rapidly reddening nose.
"Ouch... Dammit, why do i always trip over nothing!" He cussed, dusting his coat as he stood up.
When he looked up, his golden eyes met the lady's silver flecked black ones, and both their eyes widened, both jumping back from each other and shouting in sync, stabbing an accusing finger at each other,
"You're an angel/ demon!"
It was soon followed by an awkward silence, as they stared holes into each other, though it was not long before the lady, who was trying really hard to stifle her laughter, broke down in giggles, which proceeded into a full blow laughing spree, still attempting to hold back her laughter, but failing miserably at it.
" Oh my, your face! Pfft-mmhm- GAHAHAHA! Oh my worlds! BUAHAHAHA!"
Except for the lady herself, who was too busy rolling on the grass laughing, and Tenebre, both Lucy and the man stared on with an bewildered expression.
" HAHAHAHA! A demon with a red nose! Pfft! A demon Ruldolf with a crooked nose! BUAHAHAHA!
" Hey!" The man cried out indignantly, hiding his bruised, bloody, crooked nose from her, " No insulting the nose, it has feelings too!"
Then, as a second thought, he added, " And my name is *bzzt*! Not Ruldolf!"
Lucy frowned, cupping her ears, " What's with that static? I didn't quite catch your father's name, Tenebre. Tenebre?"
She waved her hands in front of the dual-coloured haired woman beside her, who seemed quite dazed, looking almost longingly at her parents with a slightly broken expression.
" Tenebre?" Lucy said again, raising her voice a little to grab Tenebre's attention, shaking her shoulders gently. " Are you alright?"
Shaken out of her daze, she smiled weakly to reassure the blond, " I'm fine, it's just..."
" Just...?" Lucy prompted.
" I don't know their names, and i don't think i ever will." Tenebre finally said, scowling slightly, grabbing at her hair, " Every memory of my parents or anything even the slightest bit related to them were 'edited' by them, probably because they don't want me to know about them, much less to go look for them.
"I am their precious pawn afterall." She said bitterly.
" Them?" Lucy inquired a tad hesitantly, trying not to cringe back from the dark, almost murderous, look on Tenebre's face. " Who's them?"
" You'd see in a moment." Tenebre breathed deeply, putting on a completely emotionless mask that Lucy had the feeling she had plenty of practice at, turning her attention back to her parents, "For now, let's continue watching."
Lucy felt her frown deepen, as several questions passed through her mind in a flash, the most prominent one was how was it that the woman in front of her knew so much about her parents, even possessing several memories of them from even before she was born? She came upon several conclusions, all of them in which she didn't like, but the more absurd sounding they were, the more plausible Lucy though they were.
She shook her head, deciding not to delve any further and to continue observing instead, turning her head and attention back in front of her, just in time to see Tenebre's mother kneel in front of her father.
" Hai hai, great *bzzt* and his nose, in fact, let me help you with that."The ady rolled her eyes, a small smile on her lips, and placed her hand in front of his face. Almost immediately, her hand glowed a soft green light, and as quickly as it appeared, it faded away as soon as she moved her hand away.
" There." She stood back up with a satisfied smirk, her hands akimbo, " All better."
Instead of the scenario she imagined would happen, which showed him thanking her on his knees and crying tears of joy, the man scrambled away from her at breakneck speed, and immediately started to pat himself all over, mumbling to himself what sounded like a check list.
" What are you doing?" The woman looked at him in bewilderment, eyeing his whirling hand movements.
" Ya know, just checking for dismembered limbs or rotting hand and legs." He said almost dismissively, if not for the peeved look on his face as he glared at the woman, his words heavily laced with sarcasm." Afterall, you did not just used your angelic magic on me, a demon. Sure, no problemo. No problem at all."
The lady crossed her arms, lifting a slender platinum brow, mirroring his tone, " Wow, i feel so appreciated right now."
The man rubbed the back of his head, looking away a tad guiltily, " Urm, thanks, i guess?"
She then shrugged, " Oh well, i guess that's the best i can get out from a demon."
" Oh, and my name is *bzzt*, by the way, not so nice to see you." She extended a hand out to him.
And he took it, shaking her hand while looking warily at her, as if expecting her to jump at him any time. " Yeah, nice to meet you too."
And the scene before them shifted in a blur of black, white, blue and green,while waiting for the next scene to unfold, Lucy turned to Tenebre and asked,
" I know for a fact that angels and demons are polar opposites, but was something supposed to happen to him when he was healed with angelic magic?
Tenebre looked up, tapping her chin in thought, " Well, he should have died when she used her magic on him, its just how it has always been like, they call it an 'Annihilation'. "
She put both her hands out, conjuring two black and white figures holding hands, " To put it simply, since they are such polar opposites, when they come in contact with each other, it would cause a chain reaction."
" Demons turn into stone and then crumble in a pile of dust, " The black figure in her hand fizzed away as if to demonstrate her point, " and angels... well, angels just explode in a pillar of light."
Lucy blinked rapidly from the blinding light that erupted from Tenebre's hand, " So why didn't they go- urm...poof?" she asked, and coughed from the dust Tenebre clapped from her hands.
Tenebre shrugged, " Who knows, I've yet to find that out till this day."
Their surroundings started to slow down to form a new image as Tenebre made waving motion with her hands as if flipping through the pages of a book, " But enough of that, moving on, down the timeline we go."
As the images in front of her continued to shift and change, Lucy's thoughts wandered off in the direction of her guild and her team mates, thinking aloud,
" What are Natsu and the others doing now i wonder?"
Skidding backwards in the snow, Natsu spat at the ground beside him, wiping his mouth with the side of his sleeve,
" What is with this dude?!" He spat out incredulously, staring at Serpe with wide disbelieving eyes, " He so slippery! Like- Like a friggin snake!"
" Why thank you, i'm deeply flattered." Serpe bowed to him, ticking them off even more than he already did.
" Ice Make : Arrows!"
Multiple arrows flew at the green haired man, hurtling towards him at a frightening speed. Serpe twisted and turned, slipping and sliding away from the icy projectiles, leaping off the ceiling and walls as the arrows pierced through the snow and through the hard icy surfaces.
Landing behind Serpe, Serpe punched Gray in the stomach the moment the ice mage turned around to apprehend him. Gray coughed as the air got pushed out form him, but he recovered fast, using the momentum and ducked down, chin butting him from below, and in that same action, he brought his fists together,
" Ice Make : Knuckle!"
And created half a dozen fists made from ice, blasting Serpe back and crashing into the wall far from the hole he was protecting.
Before the dust cleared, Erza stepped forward, several swords appearing around her,
" Fly, my blades!"
The blades shot forward, impaling Serpe's clothes and pinning him to the wall he was struck into.
" Now he won't be able to slip away any more!" Wendy exclaimed happily, looking at the restrained man.
But Erza lifted her hand, looking at Serpe with narrowed eyes, " Wait, Wendy, something doesn't feel right."
In that same instant, Wendy and Natsu sniffed something wrong with the air, and Wendy shouted,
" Erza-san! Behind you!"
The scarlet haired mage dodged and rolled to the side just as a clawed hand swiped past her, she cased a quick glance at the where Serpe was supposedly pinned against the icy wall of the cave, only to see what looked like a translucent skin of him hanging from her swords, before it shattered into a pile of green scales.
" A snake can slither out of anything, my lady." A snarky voice said from behind Erza.
But Erza simply stood there, even as she felt the tip of his claws at her neck, a, she twisted her neck to look back at him, a triumphant smile gracing her lips.
" Aye, but so can a cat."
Serpe frowned in confusion when Natsu, Gray and even Wendy grinned, when he realised there were two missing from their group, he released Erza and sighed, slapping himself in his face.
" I can't believe i just got outsmarted at my own game."
Now it was their turn to frown.
" What game?" Wendy asked, cocking her head to one side.
Serpe slapped a hand to his mouth, mentally berating himself for the slip of the tongue," Shit."
" Natsuuuuuu!"
Happy flew out from the hole and straight to Natsu, " We found Lucy!"
Natsu grinned, "That's great!", looking around the blue feline.
" But where is she?"
" Urm..." Serpe started, " About that..."
" She looks like she's in the middle of something." Carla reported, floating beside Wendy. " It's either that or she just happens to be unconscious, glowing and floating in mid air beside a huge crystal with a lady frozen in it."
All eyes turned to look at Serpe, who had a finger in the air as if he were about to explain something,
" Ah, haha..." He sweatdropped, suddenly feeling a hell lot more intimidated than when they were in battle earlier on as they all stalked towards him, their eyes burning into him, demanding answers.
" Why do they look so darn scary now...?" He thought to himself, walking backwards and getting backed into the wall he was protecting till just now, right beside the hole.
" Urm..." He said, putting his hands forward as if to fend them off, speaking slowly," Can i explain on the way down...?"
" I can't!"
Lucy flinched at the high pitch-ness of the woman's cry, mumbling to herself, " Well that escalated quickly."
When the images in front of her finally stopped shifting, Lucy and Tenebre found themselves in the exact same field of daisies, instantly greeted by the scene of Tenebre's mother waling loudly and in tears, clutching onto her father's shirt as if her life depends on it.
" Sorry," Tenebre apologised, looking at Lucy rubbing the ringing from her ears," But I did skip most of the drama before that, well, a few centuries worth of drama, so at least you avoided most of the wailing and tears."
" They- They got me engaged!" She sniffed every few words, tears streaming from her eyes, " To some old geezer a few centuries older than me!"
" Whoa, i'm feeling a strong sense of deja vu here..." Lucy hugged herself, cringing at the unpleasant memory.
" And they want me to stop meeting you! Actually, not exactly that, they want to stop me from going out of Arcadia entirely, which essentially means the same thing!"
" But- But i can't! I mean, even though you're a demon, you're my very first friend! The first person to not treat me like some precious, fragile glass vase! And... and.." The woman cried out, stumbling over her words.
" Bastards..." The words seethed past clenched teeth, glaring at the grass behind her as he tightened his arms around her.
Drawing soothing circles on her back, he tried calming the woman, " Shh, it'll be alright, i think, just try to calm down for one-"
" It's not alright!" She pushed him away screaming, grabbing at her hair whilst fat salty droplets dripped from her tear stained cheeks and splattered onto the grass, " Meeting you was the second best thing that happened to me, the first being... being..."
" Being...?" The man urged.
" Being the day i realised my feelings for you!" She blurted out, instantly her hand flew up to her mouth and her eyed widened, and she whipped her face to the side, hiding behind her long platinum hair as she stepped further back form him.
Lucy watched as several different emotions flashed through the man's face, his mouth wide open like a gaping fish. With a sigh, he covered his face with his hand, but it was a sigh of relief, as almost instantly a grin appeared on his face. The man grabbed the retreating woman by her shoulder, and spun her to face him.
She struggled, but he refused to let go of her, and instead, wrapped his arms around her once more, whooping in joy as he lifted her up the the air and spun her around.
Setting her down, the woman grabbed the man's hand for support as the world spun beneath her, muttering blurringly, " W-Wha?"
" And i was wondering when you'd finally say it!"
The woman avoided his gaze, " Say what?"
The man's grin widened, " That you like me!"
The woman's face went up in flames, turning an almost impossible shade of red, mumbling to herself, " But i don't like you..."
" Excuse me?" The man stepped back, looking at her disbelievingly as the grin melted off his face
Lucy swore she heard his heart crack, wincing, " Ouch."
" Just wait for it." Tenebre assured her.
" I don't like you." She said in a soft voice, wiping the tears from her eyes and looking at the man with determined eyes, " I love you."
" What?" Both the man and Lucy exclaimed.
" Ever since that incident several years ago, i've felt something... different towards you. It was not long till i realised what i felt was... well, love."
The man continued to stare at her disbelievingly, and started shaking his head, " You scared me for a moment there *beep*! And I can't believe it took you that long to realise your feelings for me."
" Geez, will you ever stop teasing me!" The woman hid her face in her hands.
" Never." The man grabbed her by her waist, coming face to face with her, whispering onto her ear, his hot breadth on her ear making her flush a deeper shade of red," For forever."
" F-Forever?" She squeaked at his proximity, peeking through her fingers, but quickly closed it after she saw how close his face was to hers and that sexy smirk of his.
The man chuckled at her reaction, " Yep, forever. So, do you want to run away with me?"
" Say what?" The lady jerked away from him in shock, and the man clicked his tongue at her, bringing her back into his arms, frowning at her.
" Would you stop trying to get away from me?" He tsked at her, " I said, do you want to run away with me?"
" Away from all of Arcadia's and Gehenna'a politics, away from our own family's politics, away from everything. Let's start anew, somewhere they'd never find us!" He said optimistically, grabbing her face with both his hands, " I mean, imagine the possibilities! We'll get married, start a family, have kids. It'll be hard, i'm sure, but together, i'm sure we'll manage somehow!"
Then his face turned serious, and he looked her in the eye, " But i swear to you, I will not let any of those bastards take you from me. Not now, not ever. I'll protect you from them, heck, i'd even fight them to the death if i have to!"
The woman simply stared at him in shock, and a tear trailed down her cheek, followed by another, which then became a steady stream, and she whispered, looking at him with hopeful glassy eyes, " You'd really do all that for me?"
" Yes, i will." He said earnestly, using his thumbs to brush away her tears, " And please, stop crying already! You know how much i hate it when you cry! Stop crying right now, in fact, never cry again. I promise you, i'd never let to cry ever again, if anyone dare to make you cry, he or she will never see the light of ay ever again, And if i make you cry, i'd.. i'd... i'd beat myself up!"
The lady giggled, using her sleeves to wipe her own tears away and finally cracking a smile at him,
"Really?"
He nodded furiously, and said, "Yep,really."
" Then hit yourself now then, cause you just made me cry again." She sniffed, a few tears of happiness escaping her eyes as she nodded furiously, " And yes i will run away with you, to the ends of the dimensions if i have to! I love you *bzzt!"
She tackled him in a hug, and when their faces met, so did their lips.
And when hands and clothes starting going places, the scene faded away.
Tenebre cleared her throat and looked away a tad embarrassedly, " I guess even you can predict what happened next."
Lucy nodded, a pink flush on her cheeks as she mentally reprimanded herself for letting her writer's mind run wild, a little to wild when she turned a deeper shade of red.
" But... in the field?" She asked.
" Aye, and anything within a certain distance from them where scared away by their... activities." Tenebre mumbled, smothering a laugh when she saw Lucy's face start to steam.
Lucy waved her face to cool herself off, changing the subject in an attempt to stop herself from delving further into steamier depths, " But i've noticed something, who is this 'them' they are talking about? Even you mentioned something about a 'them', with the same disdainful tone, altering your memories and such, who exactly is this 'them'?"
Tenebre's body tensed up and her face turned dark, almost murderous, and she hissed venomously, " They were the ones that edited my memories, they were the ones that separated my parents, they are my parent's parents, my accursed grandparents."
Lucy's head snapped to look at her in shock, " Why would their own parent's do that?"
"Both of my parents came from quite influential families in both Arcadia and Gehenna, or which in common language would be heaven and hell," Tenebre explained, " And these two families are especially infamous in both worlds for being particularly ruthless when it comes to retaining things like their reputation and power."
" To have their own kind, their own kin, mixing with the other kind, it was simply unforgivable. So they simply used their influence to convince The Neo Council to... dispose of the two traitors." She placed special emphasis on certain words, almost spitting them out from her mouth.
And the scene changed when she mention the council, and Lucy found herself standing beside Tenebre in what looked like a huge, elaborate courtroom.
The blond covered her mouth and quickly looked away from it, feeling the contents of her stomach attempting to resurface, " What is with this place?!"
Surrounding her were statues and walls crafted in various disturbing yet alluring designs.
Statues of demons slaying angels, or angels slaying demons, were scattered around the room, sculpted in such detail, Lucy swore she could almost hear the stomach of the 'angel' beside her being ripped open, screaming in utter agony as its swinging entrails slathered the stone pedestal it stood on with blood, and the loud, grating laughter of the 'demon' with its hand buried deep in the 'angel's' stomach.
But when she looked at it once more, it was nothing but an unmoving marble statue depicting the very scene she imagined.
" Welcome to The Neo Council, an assembly consisting of the seven elders from both of the angelic and demonic realms." Tenebre spread her arms wide, gesturing to the entire room, she then pointed to the main centrepiece of the room, a huge gilded, golden cage hanging from the ceiling by invisible chains, and inside that cage, were Tenebre's parents.
"NOOOOOOO! NOT MY BABY! ANYTHING BUT MY BABY!"
Lucy's heart almost leapt from her chest when the lady in the cage suddenly screamed, clutching onto the little bundle in her arms desperately as tears poured forth from her eyes like an endless torrent.
" Is that... you?" Lucy inquired, eyeing the bundle.
Tenebre nodded, " Yes, the memory you are watching now happened seven months after the one you watched earlier on."
At Lucy's confused gaze, she explained, " I guess i was born pretty early, being an angel-demon hybrid baby kind sped up the whole creation process."
Then, booming unearthly voice spoke, " This is the price you have to pay, the price you have to pay for your sins, thus we shall take your child from you."
" This is the decision made by the council, in addition to taking your child from the both of you, the punishment for both of you is this."
" You'll be together forever for as long as you live, as per both your wishes, but in a special cage where the both of you can only see each other, you can not touch nor hear each other, and it shall be this way for the end of time."
"But what about our child?! What will you do to her you bastards?!" Tenebre's father yelled furiously, punching at the bars of the cage in rage.
" She will be of use for us, she is afterall, the offspring of the most powerful demon and angel in history so far, she would make a very useful pawn, with enough brainwashing, she'd be of much use for us."
"You fuckers, take me instead, leave my child and my wife alone!"
With that, he roared and tried to break the barrier of the cage, but no matter how hard or how much magic he used, the barrier didn't even crack, but that didn't stop him, but even till his knuckles were bleeding, the barrier didn't even budge.
"That's enough! Surrender your child to us now."
A giant shadowy hand shot out from a black hole that formed beside Tenebre's mother, and snatched away the bundle, the hole instantly snapping shut the moment the hand retracted, with infant Tenebre in its grasp. The little white bundle appearing in the arms of one the the cloaked servant at the side the next instant.
The devastated woman wailed in despair, slamming her entire body against the bars, her arms stretched desperately towards the infant as she cried, " NO, MY CHILD!"
The air around them instantly changed, and a loud snap sound rang through the hall as the distraught couple unfurled their hidden wings, scattering black and white feathers across the cage as all they saw was red, unleashing their fury against their confines.
" GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!"
Flashes of white, gold, black and red flashed around the room as they tried desperately to break out of their cage to retrieve their child, even though only a crack appeared on the barrier, the mere magnitude of their spells was enough to shake the room, but the elders remained unfazed, and with each rumbling shake, the further away little crying Tenebre went in the arms of the cloaked servant.
"GIVE . HER . BACK . TO . US !"
"Stop this foolishness right now!"
And with that, a blinding white and black light filled the room, and faded away as Tenebre swiped her hand in front of her, flipping to a new memory as tears flowed down her cheeks, but her face remained impassive.
Lucy stared with her hand on her mouth in shock, unaware of the tears escaping from her eyes, she then turned to Tenebre who started to speak,
"I've tried looking for them, you know, but after centuries of looking, the only clue i have is what kind of cage they are in."
She flicked her finger and an image of a capsule like container appeared between them, with two figures trapped inside. Both of them looked as if their hands were touching, but they were in fact touching the glass wall that separates them both, the man's mouth open and closed in a silent shout as he continuously banged his shackled fist against the glass, his face contorted in a grimace of pain as he watched his wife weep, her hands weakly slapping onto the glass as she looked back at him with watery woeful eyes.
She sliced her hand through the image, as if she couldn't bear to look at it anymore, her hair shadowing her face as tears continued to drip from her chin.
Lucy reached her hand out to comfort her, but hesitated, feeling conflicted inside. Part of her wanted to hug the woman before her and to comfort her, but the other half of her still had her doubts. This was the woman who caused her mother's death after all, and with that thought, she let her hand fall back to her side, resolving herself to continue watching on.
As if sensing her strengthened resolve, Tenebre composed herself, and continued,
" After i was taken from my parents, both Arcadia and Gehenna took turns to 'take care' of me, during spring and summer, i would spend my time in Arcadia as they trained me to be their perfect pawn, as well as to brainwash me to believe that everything they told me to do was for the best, and that it was for the benefit of the worlds, it was the same in Gehenna, during autumn and winter, it would be their turn to train me."
" By the time i was a toddler, i was molded into the flawless emotionless puppet they wanted, they didn't give ame a name, i was only known to them as the 'hybrid' or the 'monster'. I was sent out to do suicidal missions that even some higher ups could not do, but due to their training and my unnatural heritage, i always came back, even with injuries that might have already killed some, i didn't even flinch when i was stabbed in my stomach once, i continued walking through the blade, barely even feeling the thing. It was the same almost everyday for a couple centuries, being sent out on missions, coming back wounded or half dead, getting healed then setting out again. But that all changed after one of my missions."
When she blinked, Lucy found herself floating above the clouds, and she heard a loud slapping sound the her left.
SLAP!
" You stupid thing! I told you to bring him alive to me, not half-dead!"
It was a slightly younger looking Tenebre, her cheek slowly reddening and her head slightly tilted to the side from the force of the slap by the brunette angel in front of her who seem to have a permanent scowl etched onto her otherwise flawless immortal face, but Tenebre's face remained emotionless. That's when Lucy noticed her outfit, dressed in a dark silver Valkyrie-like suit of armor with a black and gold feather cape flowing from the side her waist, only her head was uncovered and her dual colored hair partially tied up behind her.
" But he is still alive,so my mission is done." Young Tenebre simply said as she stood up, taking three steps backwards and then turning back, heading out the hall.
" Wait, i'm not done with you!" The brunnete stomped her feet petulantly like a child, " The Elders have summoned you - the puny, insignificant, worthless being, to them. Feel honored, you tainted monster, its not everyday the great Elders - Hey! Come back here!"
The moment she mentioned the Elders, Tenebre unfurled her wings and ran outside, leaping off the edge of the building and soaring above the clouds, ignoring the incessant shrieks of the overly conceited angel to return.
She continued to fly up, speeding through the different residential areas and breaking through the final layer of clouds, she slowed down and landed onto the cold marble floor of the temple-like structure, folding her wings and then hiding it behind a veil of magic, the metal segments of her armor clinking softly against each other as she walked down the dimly lit corridor, coming upon a huge stone double door. With a deep breadth, she pushed open the massive stone doors, its aged metal hinges groaning in protest, and stepped into the room, lowering down to one knee when she reached the lighted center of round amphitheater that was cloaked in darkness.
" At your service, milords." She said with her head bowed down.
" We have a new job for you, in fact, this would be your final job as our pawn, unfortunately so. We've just heard from the annual Worlds Council that the former Gatekeeper have been in a tragic accident regarding the dragons, and they've elected you to be the new Gatekeeper."
" Your role starts as soon as you enter the Void. So get out of here now, you cursed child, the longer you stay, the more tainted the air in Arcadia feels, we depart as soon as you retrieve all your filthy belongings, we'll open the gate to Void for you."
Tenebre lowered her head, " At once, milords."
And the scene shifted once again.
Lucy turned to Tenebre, " What's a Gatekeeper?"
"As you already know, there is the Celestial Spirit world, and there is also Edolas." Tenebre explained, and Lucy's eyes sparkled as she gained new knowledge of the world, thinking about how much Levy would squeal when she meets Tenebre,
" But there many other worlds out there, like the Dragon World, the Faerie Kingdom, Arcadia, Gehenna, even Earthland. But with so many worlds, there must be someone to keep them all in check, and to make sure that they stay separated, otherwise the balance of the universe would collapse. So a Gatekeeper is needed, he or she solves conflicts of the worlds and acts as the bridge between the worlds while keeping the worlds apart."
" Ah... i see." Lucy continued taking down mental notes.
" But before i went into crystal stasis, dragons, faeries and every other otherworldly creature were allowed to roam free in Earthland, the only world capable of housing all these creatures without causing a dimensional disturbance."
" The Celestial Realm is an exception, they've always been, they prefer to be in the presence of humans and they have their own rules and regulations about it, that's why they have their contracts. Others like the dragons remained solitary, but some chose to raise a human child as their own, resulting in the creation of Dragon Slayers, Faerie Hunters, Phoenix Assassins, Exorcists and such."
She then paused, looking away guiltily, " But i sent all of them back to their respective worlds before going into crystal sleep."
Lucy was frozen in her spot, not believing her ears, how was it that just one person can cause so much damage and change to so many people?
Tenebre continued, even as Lucy stared incredulously at her,
" This is the part you have been waiting for, how i met your mother and how i caused her death, this would also explain why i entered a crystal stasis. It all started 267 years after i started my job as Gatekeeper, when the Celestial Spirit King asked me for a favour."
The scene shifted, and Lucy's eyes widened, feeling herself tear up.
"Mom..."
Lucy covered her mouth, holding back a sob as she felt all her welled up emotions threaten to break through at the sight of her deceased mother, Tenebre noticed her conflicted emotions almost immediately,
" Remember, it's not really her, its just an image of her." Tenebre patted her trembling back, Lucy nodded, sniffing.
" I know..." The blond croaked, her voice thick with emotion, " But, i still can't help it, cause... It's Mom."
She almost choked out the last word, staring longingly at the image of her mother in front of her, a few tears escaping from her eyes despite her efforts to hold them back.
Lucy wiped them off with the edge of her blue sleeve, waving at Tenebre to continue, " It's okay, i'm fine, i want to see this whole thing through."
Tenebre nodded at her, and flicked her wrist, allowing the memory to finally play out in front of them.
"So what is it about this lady that you want me to observe?" Tenebre stood beside an open chair, her face passive, " Not to be rude or anything, Celestial King, but i'm quite busy today."
The bushy moustache man chuckled, picking at the stray hairs of his great stache, " The dragons again?"
By the slight irritable twitch of her brow, he assumed it was,with one more rumbling laugh, he leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands, getting down to business.
" I'm sure you've heard about the current situation here in the Celestial World?"
Tenebre folded her arms, and nod, " The spirits are still being treated as tools and human shields?"
" That's right, however, i sense change coming."
Tenebre's brow lifted slightly, and the Celestial Spirit King waved his hand, the air in front of them rippled and shifted, showing the figure of a voluptuous blond woman.
" This is Layla Heartfilia, a celestial spirit mage in a merchant guild called ' Love and Lucky', and the only celestial mage in this century that's contracted with not only one, but three golden keys of the Celestial Zodiac."
With each finger he lifted, he listed out, "Aquarius The Water Bearer, Cancer The Giant Crab and Capricorn The Goat."
Tenebre hummed, " Impressive. Finding one gold key is hard enough, but this woman somehow managed to get her hands on three and enter in a contract with them? Now that is no small feat."
The Celestial King nodded, and continued,
"And from what i've heard from them, she has not once used them as a tool or a shield, instead, she prefers to fight alongside with them, her friends as she calls it." Hr tapped his chin in tought, " This has made many of my spirits ready to just throw their keys at her feet, but just to make sure that my fellow spirits are not lying to me, i want you to evaluate her yourself, as the Gatekeeper of the worlds, as a neutral party. Can do do me that favour, old friend?"
Tenebre stood there silent for a moment, thinking silently as a small herd of Nikora prodded past her, she looked up at the mighty moustached king, and nodded,
"Very well, i shall do it only because you asked me to, old friend." She said, the Celestial Spirit King grinning widely at her use of his favourite namesake," And also because I'm curious about what kind of woman is she, as a fellow friend of the spirits, i shall judge her harshly indeed. I'll get going then."
The King's grin widened further, " Thank you, old friend, i shall remember this. I do hope you'd return back here soon, some of the spirits would like to express their gratitude to you for helping them."
" You'd just owe me a favour, that much would be enough, " She said, bowing slightly to him, " I have no idea when is the next time i will be back, but just send my best regards to all your spirits."
She then opened a gate in front of her, and just before walking through it, she hesitated and said,
" And tell those spirits that there's no need to thank me, i'm just doing my job." Looking away, she whispered to herself, allowing a little of her sadness through, just enough for the huge spirit to hear her and frown, " There's no need to thank something like me."
She then stepped through the gate and disappeared in a bright flash, the gate fading away after.
As the display before them showed several different scenes of Tenebre observing Layla's daily life from a distance, she commentated as it went,
"I started observing her daily life and how she built her company together with her husband, she was indeed different from most of the Celestial Spirit mages i've seen, she treats them as her friends and family, and instead of using them tools or shields like most do, she fights along side with them instead of hiding behind them, putting herself in the same danger as her spirits."
" After several months, i started... well, growing quite fond of the blond lady, and unusually protective of her, especially the looks of affection in her eyes when ever she looks down at her swollen belly, it made me feel something in my usually empty chest that i've never felt before."
At that moment, the scene stopped shifting, and Lucy recognised the familiar outskirts of her previous home, feeling her heart lurch at the sight of her mother as she unknowingly smiled ruefully to herself, thinking about the good old days when the Heartfilia Mansion was bathed in such warmth and happiness when she was still around.
" But throughout the entire time, i made sure to mask my presence and to stay in the shadows, however, an certain incident made me reveal myself to her."
Lucy watched as her mother strolled leisurely down the cobbled path of the back gardens, a hand resting on her very swollen belly as she strayed from the even path and onto the soft grass, walking down to the small creek Lucy knew was not far from the Heartfilia gardens and just past a small line of oak trees, and settling down near it beneath one of the trees, closing her eyes and basking in the soft sunlight.
Not far from Layla's position, a shadowy figure appeared on one on of the tree branches nearby, landing lightly on it so as to not make any sound that would alert the blond woman resting nearby.
Everything but young Tenebre's black and gold flecked silver eyes were hidden beneath the dense shadows of the oak tree leaves, balancing precariously on one of the branches as she leaned onto the strong trunk as she kept her eyes on Layla.
" It's was just any other day, Layla would inform her staff of her whereabouts and go on one of her walks, something about ' the little one enjoys the fresh air' she said, " Tenebre gave Lucy a once over, " I guess that worked wonderfully, you grew up healthy, happy and very well endowed, very well endowed indeed."
Lucy flushed pink, and Tenebre's lips twitched up in a slight smile, but it was wiped away as quickly as it appeared when she continued, " But at that point of time, The Heartfilia being as famous as it was, had a lot of enemies, many of which wanted to eliminate the young Heartifila heir when they heard news of Layla's pregnancy."
At that moment, a group of rugged looking man emerged from the line of trees beyond the creak and they crossed it as swiftly as they emerged, and soon enough, just when she managed to stand up with much difficulty, they reached her position, and with a ferocious snarl, the man in the lead brought his knife downwards towards Layls's swollen stomach, with several enchanted homing arrows whistling behind him at her as well.
Then, as quick as lightning, young Tenebre appeared in front of her, not even flinching the slightest when she took the hits for Layla. The startled mercenary jumped back in shock at her sudden appearance, taking a few staggered steps backward when she slowly turned around to look at the stunned group with a terrifyingly calm expression, with the knife and roughly half a dozen arrows still embedded deep in her right shoulder.
The men looked beyond terrified, some even ran back where they came, when she simply reached for the bloody mess at her back, and yanked them out one by one with a loud wet squelch, with trembling hand and legs, the frontmost man pointed at her shakily whilst stuttering furiously,
"M-m-monster!"
Lucy saw a flash of sadness in Tenebre's usually emotionless eyes, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared, then she said in a flat voice,
"I believe this belongs to all of you."
Then, the same knife suddenly sprouted from his right thigh just as some of the same bloody arrows flew back to their owners with a sharp whistling sound, and they screamed, the man clutching at his bleeding wound as he fell to the ground, dragging himself away from woman, whose position remained unchanged, the only difference being her rapidly bleeding back and her equally red hands, back to his comrades, some of which were just as wounded as he was.
She tilted her head to then look at the handful of snivelling, shaking men that still remained, and uttered softly but still rather threateningly,
" Boo."
And off they went, tripping over their own legs as they scrambled frantically away from the horrifying looking woman covered in her own blood, disappearing from their sight in a matter of seconds, only the trail of blood showed that they were there earlier on.
Once they were gone, Tenebre turned and walked to Layla's side, and asked,
" Are you alright?"
Layla immediately scrambled away from her, hobbling as quickly as she could with her swollen abdomen back towards her mansion without so much as a word of thanks to Tenebre.
Leaving bleeding Tenebre there, and she sighed, mumbling sadly to herself,
" I guess she's no different from the others..."
But she soon was proven wrong when Layla came back, carrying a huge boz in tow, she approached the shocked Tenebre as quickly as she could, and started waving her hands around wildly,
"Omigoshommigoshyou'rebleedingsomuchdoihaveenoughb andageswaitineedhotwaterbu tidon'thaveitomigoshwhatdoidowhatd oidowhatdoido?!"
( Translation : Omigosh, omigosh, you're bleeding so much, do i have enough bandages, wait, i need hot water, but i don't have it, omigosh, what do i do, what do i do, what do i do?!"
For the first time while watching Tenebre's memories, Lucy saw an emotion on young Tenebre's usual emotionless face, with her eyes and mouth widened in shock, she whispered,
"Why didn't you leave? "
Stopping her mindless mumbling in mid-sentence, she asked, tilting her head in slight confusion,
"Why would i?"
"Normally people would have ran away screaming 'Monster!' or 'Demon!' or something like that, but why didn't you, why did you come back, and with a medical kit?"
Layla answered without a second thought,
"Well, you're clearly not fully human, as far as i've observed, but you do still have feelings don't you? Although you don't seem like the person to let your emotion show through." Layla look slightly troubled as she said that, " But i believe that everyone should be treated equally, not as tools, monsters, or any other thing, now stop moving, i need to patch you up."
Lucy flinched at the same time her mother did then she touched Tenebre's shoulder, but just as she was about to turn around to get a few bandages, something wet splattered onto the grass, quickly followed by more as tears dribbled down Tenebre's somewhat unreadable face, clearly trying to stop her tears,
"I'm so sorry," She quickly said, desperately trying to stop her tears, " It just flowed out like that, it's not on purpose, please don't hurt me..."
She froze when she felt something warm wrap themselves around her instead of the flames and hits she was expecting, seeing a mop of bright blond hair from the side of her eyes and a soothing voice crooning by her ear,
"There there, don't hold them back, go ahead and cry your heart out, let go of all the things you've bottle up in ou. I will not hurt you, why would i? Shhh, there there..."
Layla was stroked her hair, the way she've always wanted someone to, and that broke the dam within her, and soon she was crying mess, brawling her eyes out on Layls's shoulder, and on that day, she left behind the emotionless puppet she was brought up to be and finally allowed the fragile little girl who've always needed a shoulder to cry on inside of her to resurface.
When she finally started to cool down, she pushed herself away and looked up at Layla with swollen, bloodshot but surprisingly clear eyes, Layla then smiled at her and said,
"I'm afraid i have not introduced myself. My name's Layla, Layla Heartfilia,what's yours?"
AN : Omigosh, i am so sorry for the late chapter! In order to make up for that, i decided to write a extra long chapter with the time i still have, and whew, my first 8K word chapter! Hope you've all enjoyed this chapter and that you'd continue reading!
Do review?
Pwease?
Ja Ne!
~KanaeHitomi~