AN: I found the cover photo on pintrest. If anyone knows who to credit for it let me so I can give them the credit. I tweaked it but the original is not mine. Just so everyone is aware. :)
He dropped her hand, looking anywhere but at the blonde who was looking at him in confusion. His heart clenched as he stared at the beauty that stood before him and for a moment he almost lost his nerve. She was beautiful, smart, sassy, and a lot of fun, but he knew he couldn't keep on pretending when it was hurting both of them.
"Lucy," He whispered softly, brushing back a strand of blonde hair that had fallen in front of her chocolate eyes.
She looked up at him, dread filling her. Here it was. The moment that she had seen coming for weeks now - ever since they lost the baby. She grabbed his hand in her own, knowing it wasn't enough to make him stay, but hoping that it would stave off the heartbreak for just a few more moments.
" Bicsklow." She whispered, kissing him softly.
He pushed her away, kindly. If he was going to do this he had to keep his wits about him and kissing her would definitely make him forget what it was that he needed to do. Whether he really wanted to do it or not was a completely different matter.
"Lucy, you know I care for you," He started, looking at his feet.
She nodded eagerly, trying to hold onto the hope that this wasn't what she thought it was.
"I care for you, too," She whispered, stepping toward him.
He stepped back, looking away.
"I wish you wouldn't. It would make things so much easier if you didn't," He whispered, staring out over the river.
He had brought her here because he wanted to be alone when he did it. He didn't want everyone else to overhear him or anyone to butt in. Looking at the place he had chosen he wondered if it had really been that great of an idea though. He'd brought his girlfriend to one of the most beautiful spots in Magnolia just so that he could break up with her. He sighed before looking back at the girl who was looking at him with worried eyes.
"Bix, What's going on?" She asked.
"This is it, Luce. I can't keep pretending things are okay between us when they're not," He answered. "I'll always love you, you'll always be dear to me, but I can't."
"You can't what?"
"Be with you anymore. Pretend like I'm okay when I'm not. That baby - I'm sorry," He forced the words out before turning on his heel and fleeing, feeling like a criminal for leaving her alone back there.
Lucy watched him go, tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. She had loved Bickslow, completely and utterly and even after they lost the baby she thought he would stay with her, that they would try to work through it together. She was wrong. She stood in gathering darkness for a long time, tears slowly running down her face before she turned and started back toward her apartment, where she collapsed onto her bed, sobbing into her pillow.
It was no surprise to her when, sometime later, Loke forced his way through his gate to comfort his wizard. He kept quiet, stroking her hair while she cried herself out. Loke swore that if he ever saw that Seith mage again the two of them were going to have a conversation on breaking Lucy's heart.
Lucy looked up into a pair of hazel eyes and wondered how long Loke had been there, holding her while she cried her eyes out over a boy that the spirit didn't even like. She sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes with her hands.
"I'm sorry for that," She whispered, looking down at her bed.
The spirit shook his head, staring at her, "It's alright, Lucy. That jerk never deserved you in the first place."
Lucy smiled at the man before her as he bent down and gently placed a kiss on her lips, deepening it when the celestial mage didn't pull away.
Bickslow watched as the girl who's heart he'd broken sat across the hall from him, talking to Cana and Mira about something that he couldn't quite make out. His heart ached at the sight of her smile and he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake breaking it off with her. He had thought he'd be happier without her, but now he was wondering if maybe she was his happiness.
He still remembered the day he'd asked her out. Everyone had thought she liked Natsu and had told him that he didn't have a chance with the beautiful blonde, but, never one to back down from a challenge, he had asked her out anyway. What really surprised him was that she had agreed. Surprisingly, the two had made a good pair. Their magics were similar enough that they understood what the other was talking about when they discussed magic. She kept him grounded while he had taught her how to free her thinking from the restrictions that her father had placed on her. It soon became a common sight to see the two together.
He'd broken that, though, we he had left her standing on that grassy hill last night. His heart broke a little at the thought of her tears.
"Lost in thought?" Lisanna asked, plopping down next to him.
"Something like that," He replied, not really paying much attention to the Take-Over Mage.
"You broke up with her, didn't you?" She demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
He looked at her, startled, "I thought it was what everyone wanted."
"No, what everyone wanted was for you to be happy. Were you happy with her?"
He shrugged, "Sometimes."
The mage sighed, walking away and leaving him to his thoughts.
Lucy.
Lucy smiled at her friends, trying to ignore the stare coming from the direction of her ex-boyfriend. She put on this face as if to show him she wasn't hurting, when deep down she still wanted to scream and cry. On top of that, now she was feeling shame from the kiss Loke and her had shared last night.
Kiss? She thought to herself. You mean make out session, Lucy. You idiot, you can't date a spirit. You don't even love him.
Despite her silent scolding, Lucy wondered if the spirit would show up tonight again. She hadn't realized that she'd zoned out until Mira waved a hand in front of her face.
"Lucy," She called. "Earth to Lucy."
Lucy looked up, grinning, "Yea Mira?"
"Did something happen between you and Bickslow? He keeps looking over here but he doesn't seem to want to actually join us," She asked.
The other girls around the table froze, looking at Lucy expectantly. They all knew that things had been rocky between the couple for the last few weeks, though only Erza had known why, being the one who had found Lucy the night of the miscarriage. Lucy looked down wiping away the tears that were gathering in her eyes again.
"He broke up with me - last night," She whispered, refusing to meet their eyes.
Erza gripped her sword, standing, "I'll kill him."
Lucy placed a hand on her friend's arm.
"It's okay, Erza. Really," She whispered. "I should have known it was coming."
"But Lucy, you two need each other. Especially after the -" Erza cut herself off, remembering the other girls around them. If Lucy wanted them to know, she'd tell them. Until then Erza would remain silent on the subject.
"After the what?" Cana and Levy asked in unison.
Lucy looked down at her hands, the same hands that had meticulously counted the days and hours until she could tell her friends about her pregnancy. The hands that had started building a crib with her boyfriend whom she was sure was going to ask her to marry him. She had wanted to wait until they were sure, then of course, by the time they were she'd lost the baby, hemorrhaging so bad that Erza had carried her to the hospital, completely bypassing Porlyusica's place, and called Bickslow to come down. Those same fingers she stared down at had once gripped her stomach in fear, then held tightly to her boyfriend's hand as the doctor had explained to them the baby was lost. Tears spilled down her cheeks unnoticed and unchecked.
"Lucy?" Levy asked softly, touching her shoulder.
Erza scooted closer, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulder, making soft noises of comfort as she shot a glare across the room at Bickslow, who was looking back guiltily. Even from where he sat he could see the tears streaming down Lucy's face and he longed to go over there and hold her.
Before he could move, Loke had appeared, wrapping his arms around his mistress's shoulders. The other girls looked in surprised at the spirit's appearance. Was Lucy really so upset that it had distressed her spirits enough for one of them to force his gate open to be there?
"I'll kill him," He whispered softly, holding her to him.
She shook her head against his chest, tears still leaking.
"It's not his fault," She whispered.
"This is. Maybe the -" He stopped, causing the girls to look confused once more.
Mira stood, grabbing Lucy's hand.
"That's it. You're coming with us," She said in a tone that broke no argument.
"Where are we going?" Lucy asked, wiping her tears with her free hand as Loke disappeared once more.
"We're going back to your place and you're going to tell us exactly what is going on," The take-over mage said, pulling her out the door, the other girls following behind.
Lucy shot Erza a panicked look. She wasn't sure she was ready to tell them everything, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to. Erza looked back at her, calmly following behind the other girls and Lucy felt a surge of gratitude that at least someone else who knew would be there for her. She knew that if it got to be too much Erza would take care of it.