I do not own Fairy Tail

A new Lucy

Chapter Fourteen – Blindness

When the next morning came I woke up mostly on top of Laxus and was wrapped in his arms in a hold I couldn´t get out of without waking him up.

"Hey Laxus wake up." I told him and tried to wiggle my way out of his death grip since I really had to use the bathroom.

"Don´t wanna… Comfy…" He mumbled and gripped me tighter.

"But Laxus… I have to use the bathroom and the others are probably up by now anyway. We should get some breakfast and go and see the mayor, he´s probably wondering what happened last night and I want my silver key." I whined and when I mentioned needing to use the bathroom his grip on me immediately loosened until I could free myself.

I used the bathroom and got dressed, I could hear Gray, Erza and Happy moving around in the room next to ours and if I could hear them, so could Laxus. I expected to still be buried underneath the sheets in the bed when I exited the bathroom but to my surprise he was awake and already dressed, just waiting for the bathroom to be available.

"What? You said you wanted to go and get your key and you implied that you were hungry." He told me as he passed me on the way to the bathroom since I couldn´t seem to stop staring at him. I watched the door close behind him and then I broke out in a huge smile, to think that he gave up on sleeping in just because of me… The action both stunned and impressed me, it showed me just how much I meant to him both as his girlfriend and his mate.

When he was ready we met up with the others and ate breakfast in the inns small restaurant before heading over to the mayor's office to give him the news that his town was safe once again.

"Oh hello young ones, please tell me that you were successful in getting rid of those pesky dark mages?" The mayor asked us the moment we entered his office.

"Yes the mages will trouble you no more, turns out that the leader of the mages had asked for permission to open up a guildhall in your town which you had denied him. So he gathered some of his friends to terrorize you until you gave in and realized the need for a mages guild." Erza explained to him.

"Ah yes I remember him… I denied him because his guild was a dark one, I´m glad they will trouble us no more. And as promised, here is your reward, five million jewels and a celestial silver key." He handed over the money and the key to Erza whom immediately gave the key to me so I could see which new friend I was about to make.

It was the key to the chameleon, Cameo, a female spirit whose strongest ability was in fact her ability to hide from everyone she desired to be hidden from.

I couldn´t contain the squeal that formed inside me so I let it out and hugged the key to my chest much to the amusement of the others. We then bid the mayor goodbye and went back to the hotel to pack our bags and check out so that we could go back home. We split the five million jewel reward money evenly between us but I gave Gray, Erza, Happy and Laxus ten thousand jewels each for letting me have the key despite all of them except for Happy arguing that I didn´t have to do it. But it wouldn´t feel okay unless I gave them the money so I forced them to accept it. Only Happy was happily accepting the money I gave him because I knew that since Natsu changed he had had trouble getting enough money to buy food with. Not many knew this but Natsu always gave Happy a third of his reward money so the little neko could buy himself some fish and other things he needed but since Natsu didn´t seem to care for him anymore he didn´t get any money for food or other necessary items. Had it not been for the others noticing his struggles he would have starved a long time ago.

We walked to the train station and bought us tickets on the next train back to Magnolia and since we had a little waiting time ahead of us I decided to make a contract with my new spirit while we waited.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the chameleon, Cameo!" I called out and in a familiar golden shower of light a thin, almost sickly looking young woman appeared. She was a little shorter than I, thin as a stick and had pale skin that seemed almost a little see-through. Her hair is straight and shoulder-length, a plain brown color the same as her eyes. She wore a pair of plain pants and a loose fitting t-shirt, both of the items a non-descript gray, worn brown sandals covering her feet.

"Hello mistress how may I be of service?" She said in a quiet voice and I leaned forward to grasp her hands as I told her.

"There´s no need to call me mistress, I would prefer it if you called me Lucy. Would you like to form a contract with me?"

"Your name is Lucy? As in the famous Lucy Heartfilia?" I only nodded my head, a little confused by her behavior.

"Then I would like nothing more than to form a contract with you my lady." Cameo answered me with a smile and a slight blush on her pale cheeks as she bowed her head slightly.

"Great! What days are you available and what kind of magic can you use?"

"I´m available at anytime except for the first Friday each month. I can keep you hidden from enemies while still being visible to your friends and I can camouflage anything you ask me to."

"That sounds really useful Cameo, you can go back now and get to know my other spirits, I´ll call you out if I have need of your services." I said goodbye to her and watched her disappear back into the spirit world just in time to hear the announcement on the speakers that we were allowed to board the train going to Magnolia now.

We boarded the train and found ourselves a private compartment to sit in so Laxus could sleep the ride away to get away from his motion sickness problem. An hour into the ride back Happy was also snoozing, curled up in a small ball in Laxus lap, apparently my mates fur coat was extremely soft to lay down on. Erza was reading the new edition of sorceress weekly and Gray and I was talking about the situation with him and Juvia.

"I just don´t understand why you won´t give her a chance? Sure she can be a little over the top but have you actually told her to stop?" I asked him and he sighed and rubbed his forehead as if to stave off a headache.

"I just can´t see myself with her with the way she acts, if she stopped being so obsessed with me then maybe… But she has to give up the idea that you and I have romantic feelings for each other, you´re so much like a sister to me that it feels creepy when she does that."

"But tell her that then! Just sit her down and tell her that you will never see her as anything other than a guild mate while she acts so over the top and suggest that the two of you get to know each other better to see if you have any chemistry between you. Explain to her that you only see me as a sister otherwise she´ll never know and won´t stop seeing me as her love rival." I told him with a little heat in my voice to make him understand that the situation won´t ever change if he doesn´t do anything about it.

A sharp burning sensation suddenly erupted from my wolf eye followed by a sharp stab of pain that left numbness and darkness behind that seriously worried me. My wolf eye had gone blind again and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that warned me that this time, it might not go back to normal like it usually did. When my eye started to burn I had covered it with my hand despite it being already hidden by my bandanna and I must have made some kind of noise because Laxus had woken up, his hand now resting on my shoulder as he shook it lightly, trying to get my attention.

"Lucy? Lucy are you okay? What happened? Come on talk to me…" He asked me, his voice getting more frantic the longer it took for me to answer him.

"I´m fine but my eye went blind again and I have a bad feeling about my vision returning this time." I told him seriously and noticed that Gray, Erza and Happy were also watching me worriedly as Laxus pulled me into his lap and lifted my bandanna out of the way so he could look at my eye. He didn´t seem to be at all bothered by motion sickness now, his need to take care of me, his mate, overriding his weakness.

"It looks normal, maybe glowing a little more than usual but nothing else. How long until we´re home?" He asked the others sitting across from us.

"It´s another two hours before we´re back in Magnolia I´m afraid. Are you in pain Lucy?" Erza answered him before directing the question at me. I shook my head.

"No I´m not in any kind of pain or even discomfort if you´re not counting suddenly being blind on one eye. I´m just worried what caused this to happen and if it can be fixed." I answered her truthfully, allowing some of the worry and fear I felt to shine through in my words.

"We´ll figure it out Lucy; try not to worry about it." Laxus told me and nuzzled my neck, inhaling my scent to calm him. I gave them all a weak smile but knew that my worry wouldn´t subside until I got my vision back. I just hoped that Wendy was at the guild when we got back and not out on a mission so she could take a look at my eye.

The rest of the ride was extremely slow and the two hours felt like they lasted forever. But eventually we did get back to Magnolia and with a short goodbye to Gray and Erza we left them as they went to their own homes to freshen up after the trip while Laxus insisted on carrying me back to the guild to see Wendy, Happy flying slightly behind us.

The guild hall was practically empty which I was very grateful for but thankfully Wendy and Carla was sitting at the bar, chatting with Mira and enjoying some ice cream.

"Oh my… What´s wrong with Lucy-nee?" Wendy asked while jumping off the bar stool, leading the way to the second floor infirmary.

"My wolf eye has gone blind, it happened two times before but then I got my vision back within a few minutes. Now my vision has been gone for over two hours and there´s a numbness that kind of freaks me out." I admitted as Laxus sat me down on one of the beds, seating himself in a chair next to my bed while Wendy pushed my bandanna out of the way to get a look at my eye herself.

"Does it usually glow this much?" She asked and Laxus took another look before answering her.

"No it doesn´t. It glowed slightly more when I looked last time but it´s glowing even more now." He answered her and she frowned before putting her small hands on my temples and telling me.

"I´m going to take a look with my magic, you might feel a slightly chilly sensation but there should be no pain. If you feel anything let me know." And then her white magic traveled from her hands into my head and into my eye. There was a chill to it like she had warned me about but nothing else. She examined me for a few minutes before exclaiming triumphantly.

"Aha! I think I found the problem. There´s a magical block in your optical nerve that´s causing the blindness." She had no more than finished that sentence before the door to the infirmary was slammed open and a whole bunch of people came rushing inside. All of them asking what had happened and if I would be alright.

Laxus stood up and directed everyone to sit down somewhere before he explained my problem and what Wendy had just told us. I looked around at all the people in the room with my mouth slightly open in shock, how did they all found out something had happened? Mira was still down at the bar, unable to leave it since she was the only one working there at the moment. My eyes went from Levy, Gajeel and Pantherlily to Freed, Bickslow and Ever to finally land on Happy whom was hovering next to Laxus with Carla at his side. He looked a little guilty when I met his eyes and I realized then who had notified all these people of my little problem.

"Okay so there´s a magical blockage in my optical nerve can you fix it?" I asked Wendy to get her back on track. She nodded, to my great relief.

"Yes I can dissolve the blockage which should make your vision come back but it won´t help in the long run unless you can figure out why there´s so much magic circulating through your eye that it´s causing a blockage in the first place. I think that there are some magical properties to your wolf eye that´s causing the blockage because you don´t know how to use them but that´s only a guess, I can be completely wrong about it."

"No I do not think you are wrong about it dear Wendy. Your theory is a plausible one. The only remaining question is, where do we find someone who would know about her eye and the magic in it?" Freed was the one who had spoken and he was answered by someone I had not counted on showing up.

"There is a key, Lupus the wolf. He knows the magic in my princess eye, he has been awake from his slumber ever since the failed ritual that gave you that eye and has been waiting for you to find him, believing that you knew that you needed his guidance to handle your wolfish changes. He has made his key visible to all and is only waiting for someone to go and get him and bring him to you. He´s residing in the black forest west of here." Loke told all of the people in the room before disappearing once again back into the celestial world.

"Shrimp, Lily and I will go and get the key for you then Bunny-girl; you should take it easy and stay here just in case you lose your vision again before we return." Gajeel said loudly and Levy agreed with him more quietly.

"Yeah take some time off Lu-chan, we´ll be back soon." And then they left the room, apparently meaning to get going this afternoon already. Wendy shoed everyone from the room except for Laxus and then went to work on dissolving the blockage in my eye. She worked for almost an hour before announcing that the blockage had been removed but that my vision wouldn´t return until sometime tomorrow when the swelling went down. She then proceeded to wrap some soft gauze around my head, covering both of my eyes while she explained.

"I´m going to cover both of your eyes since only having vision on one eye will give you a bad headache. You need to keep it on until tomorrow night, your vision should be back by then and everything should be back to normal. But I suggest that you take it easy and don´t strain your eyes until you talk to Lupus."

"Sure Wendy, thank you." I told her before hearing her light footsteps leaving the room as well, leaving me alone with Laxus. I turned to where I could hear his calm breathing and asked him tiredly.

"Will you take me home Laxus?"

"Always Lucy, always." He responded softly before scooping me up in his arms and walking towards our home with a steady gait that quickly lulled me to sleep.

Laxus POV

I looked down at the sleeping blonde in my arms with a content smile on my lips, not caring that the residents of Magnolia got to see me as someone who could be soft and loving and not only hard and unforgiving.

For the blonde laying so trustingly in my arms I would take down the moon, walk across oceans and stop time itself. I walked quickly to my house which I now shared with my Lucy but carefully enough so I didn´t wake her, she needed the nap badly after the long healing session and everything else that had happened today.

When I reached the house I kicked the door open as softly as I could only to realize that there were several people already inside the house. My protective instincts went through the roof and I held my Lucy closer to my chest before I recognized their scents. Freed, Mira, Evergreen, Bickslow, Erza, Gray and Happy were all seated in my living room, apparently just waiting for us to come home.

I sighed deeply but could not fault them for caring about our little celestial mage, I was the one destined to be with her for the rest of our lives after all. I ignored all the people in my living room as I ascended the stairs and entered my bedroom. I put my Lucy down on the bed and watched her curl up around one of the pillows. I grabbed a blanket from the closet and draped it over my Lucy´s sleeping form to keep her warm. After one last long look at her from the doorway I closed the door and went back down the stairs to deal with all the people who occupied my house.

"How´s Lucy?" Evergreen asked me the minute I entered the living room. I sunk down in the only empty chair and rubbed my eyes for a minute before answering her.

"She´s sleeping now and she will be back to normal tomorrow night. Wendy told us that her vision won´t come back until then due to the swelling. But until then she has to have both of her eyes covered to make sure she doesn´t get a crippling headache." I explained to them all and couldn´t help but to wish for some calming jasmine tea…

"So you are telling us that she will be completely blind until the gauze and bandages can come off tomorrow night?" Gray clarified and I noticed that Mira and Freed left the living room hand in hand. I was hoping that they wasn´t sneaking away for some alone time in my house with my Lucy sleeping upstairs. But I forced myself to turn my senses away from them and back to all the other people who were demanding my attention. I just had to trust that Freed would not do anything inappropriate in my house.

"Yeah that´s what I´m telling you, now I realize that all of are here because you want to help her but I won´t tolerate this many people hovering around her. One of her worst fears is to be thought of as weak and that´s exactly what´s going to happen if all of you are hanging around here, trying to coddle her." I answered Gray but directed it to all of them.

"I understand, come on Gray, let´s go and take another mission, you can ask Juvia to join us this time. Please tell Lucy to get well and that we´ll see her when we get back Laxus." Erza told me and she and Gray stood up and left. I then turned my eyes onto my own teammates and asked them.

"Bickslow, Evergreen, would you? Please?" They only smiled and nodded before leaving as well, leaving me with only Freed, Mira and Happy still in my house.

"Do you want me to leave as well?" Happy asked me, shoulders slumped and a sad expression on his little face.

"Of course not Happy, you´re living with us at the moment, remember? You can come and go as you´d like but you´re always welcome to stay here, even in the future when we have gotten Natsu back to normal. Just don´t bring him with you will ya?" I told him, reassuring the little guy that he was always welcome in my house.

"Then I think I´m going upstairs to sit with Lushy, just in case she wakes up." He told me before sprouting his wings and disappearing up the stairs. I watched him go, feeling a hint of jealousy that I was now the only dragon slayer without an exceed of my own. But I shrugged it off as Freed and Mira came back into the room and eyed them closely for any signs of hickeys or rumpled clothes satisfied when there was none. Instead Mira handed me a cup of tea, smiling gently at me.

"Where did everybody go?" Freed asked as he sat back down on the couch, Mira taking the seat next to him.

"Happy is up with Lucy and I sent the rest away, I don´t want to have a crowded house when Lucy is so vulnerable." I explained and saw how both of their faces softened before Mira stood back up and said.

"Well then we´ll get going as well, leave you alone to some peace and quiet."

"No sit down Mira, I actually wanted to ask if you and Freed could hang around for a bit? I have some errands that really needs to be done for gramps and then I need to go grocery shopping." I told her and she sat down again and smiled largely at me.

"Of we´ll stay Laxus, take as long as you need. We´ll let Lucy know where you are when she wakes up." Freed told me and I finally relaxed a little, leaning back in the armchair and taking a sip of my tea, jasmine, just like I wanted. When my teacup was empty I bid the other two goodbyes and reminded them to check in on Lucy from time to time before I left the house to do the errands gramps needed me to do. Sometimes I wish that he had picked someone else to take over as guild master but most of the time I enjoyed the work. And while I didn´t want to leave my Lucy alone right now I realized that she would be upset with me if I ignored my responsibilities just to be with her when she wasn´t even actually injured. But I wowed to myself that I would do my best to hurry up so I could go home to my mate.

Lucy POV

Waking up without my vision was a strange experience, luckily for me it was just temporary and to protect me from a terrible headache. If I removed the gauze and bandages I would still be able to see.

I realized that I was lying on a bed and that a blanket was tucked in around me. I could also tell that I was not alone in the room and judging by the scent that lingered close by, it was Happy that was watching over me at the moment and that I was in Laxus bedroom in his house.

"Happy? Are you there?" I called out and only moments later I felt him put one soft, furry paw on top of one of my hands and speak.

"Yes Lushy I´m here, do you want me to go and get Mira or Freed? Laxus had to run some errands for gramps but he´ll be back later tonight."

"Could you tell me what time it is? And if you could get Mira up here that would be really great, I would love a bath right about now." I told him and he let me know that it was about five in the afternoon and that he would be right back with Mira. I heard the door open and close and I managed to move myself around so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed when Mira arrived.

"Hey Lucy are you feeling okay? Happy said that you wanted to take a bath?"

"Hey Mira, yeah I´m fine, just slightly disabled at the moment. I could die for a nice, hot, bubble bath right now so if you could help me then that would be great. It´s a really large tub so you could even take a bath with me if you wanted? It would feel more like when we all hang out in Fairy Hills than you taking care of me like I´m a toddler that way."

"Sure that sounds great." She agreed and led me into the bathroom to start drawing a bath for us, pouring in a generous amount of vanilla almond bubble bath. While the tub filled up with water I stripped out of my clothes as Mira fetched us some towels from the linen closet out in the hall before stripping herself and turning the water off when it was the right amount.

She helped me step into the tub and I sighed in contentment as the hot water enveloped me and soothed my slightly aching muscles. As we bathed, Mira and I talked about what was happening in the guild, neither of us bringing up Natsu or Lisanna though. When the water started to cool Mira got out first and wrapped a towel around herself before helping me stand and step out of the tub as well. She handed me a towel for my body first and a second one for my hair after that.

By the time I had dried myself off completely, Mira had already dressed herself again and fetched me some clean clothes to wear. I pulled on clean underwear, a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt that was way too large to have been one of my own and judging by the lingering scent that clung to the fabric, it was one of Laxus.

I allowed Mira to braid my hair before leading me downstairs and let me tell you, going down some stairs while not being able to see was not fun at all. She led me to the kitchen where she pushed me down to sit on one of the bar stools by the kitchen island. I could feel Freed sitting on the bar stool next to me, his body heat was just about able to reach me and I could hear him turn the pages in whatever book he as reading now. I guessed that Happy was sitting on the other end of the kitchen island and that Mira was getting started on making dinner for all of us.

I was basking in the feeling of happiness and warmth that radiated through the kitchen when Laxus returned home.

"I´m back guys!" He called out as he entered and Freed answered him.

"We´re in the kitchen!" When Laxus entered the kitchen he went straight for me and pressed a kiss to the top of my head as a greeting before he went to the fridge and freezer and put away the groceries he had gotten while he was out.

"What´s for dinner?" He asked after he finished putting away the groceries and returned to me, lifting me up before sitting down on the stool I had previously occupied with me in his lap.

"Chicken casserole and it´s finished right about… now." She said just as the timer dinged to let her know the food was ready. We were all handed plates with steaming hot food which we then ate in silence. I know that I spilled some of my food but no one said anything about it for which I was very grateful. As soon as dinner was over Freed and Mira let us know that they would take care of the dishes as well and that we should head back to bed since I had been yawning almost constantly for the last thirty minutes. Laxus thanked them and after saying goodnight to Happy whom had already tucked himself into his little nest, Laxus carried me back up the stairs. After using the bathroom and brushing my teeth I crawled into bed and waited for Laxus to join me which he did soon enough.

It didn´t take long for me to fall asleep once I was held tightly in Laxus embrace, his bigger body curled around my smaller one protectively.

The next morning came quietly and peacefully with me sleeping in late until noon when Laxus woke me up with breakfast in bed. After devouring the delicious pancakes and fresh orange juice I asked Laxus to help me take a shower.

"I would have to remove your bandages then but you´re not allowed to until tonight, can´t it wait until then?" He asked me but I didn´t get the feeling that he was trying to avoid helping me, he was just looking out for me.

"Please Laxus I bet my hair is a mess by now, I promise to keep both of my eyes closed the entire time." I was almost begging him but I didn´t care, the bath I had last night was nice but now I wanted a shower.

"Fine, but you have to keep your eyes closed at all times." He almost growled at me before picking me up and carrying me into the bathroom. He set me down on top of the sink and proceeded to strip me of my clothes. I heard the shower turning on and then the sounds of his clothes hitting the tiled floor.

"Where is Happy? Are Mira and Freed still here?" I asked him, curious if they had all spent the night here or not.

"Happy said that he was going to spend some time with Wendy and Carla and no, Mira and Freed left last night after we had gone to sleep." He answered me before letting me know that the water was hot before picking me up and walking us into the shower.

I kept my eyes closed as I had promised and I relished in the feeling of his hands running through my hair, rinsing out the shampoo he had previously rubbed in. I let out a pleased moan as his hands strayed lower and his thumbs rubbed small circles down the back of my neck. His hands then continued to rub and stroke my muscles in my shoulders and in my back before going back up to my head to massage some conditioner into my hair. After the conditioner was properly rinsed out Laxus spun me around so that I was facing his chest instead of having my back to him. He bent down and kissed me, swallowing the moan that escaped my lips. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment and I could tell that he was fighting with himself whether to give in to lust or not. I was hoping that he would but apparently I was out of luck since he turned the water off and wrapped a towel around me.

"Come on Lucy, let´s get dressed and make some lunch, the raijinshuu are coming over later." He told me and proceeded to dry and dress himself before helping me do the same. I could handle myself just fine if he´d just pick out some clothes for me to wear but I kind of liked having him help me with such basic needs…

Eventually I was dressed in a clean pair of yoga pants and a crop top made from some soft and flowy material. I was carried downstairs since I refused to even try to walk down them after I had almost tripped the last time and was once again put down on a bar stool in the kitchen. Laxus made both of us some sandwiches and soon the rest of the team showed up.

Freed came bearing news I hadn´t expected but that brightened my day considerably.

"I think we have a lead where to find the soul collector key." He told me, his voice dripping with pride and accomplishment. I turned in the direction of his voice and felt a huge smile stretch my lips.

"Really!? Where?"

"If we´re lucky, the key is hidden somewhere on Tenrou island."