The Phoenix Initiative

Chapter Two:

Intuition

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Lucy couldn't remember how many days had passed since she was captured. It felt like weeks to her, being trapped in that dungeon for so long. She couldn't tell night from day, time just seemed to pass endlessly and she struggled to have a simple sense of it.

The cells were cold and damp where they kept her, they traveled deep underneath the Kardia Cathedral, ingrained into the rock that made up the streets of Magnolia. They were originally built as tombs for the passing priests over the years, but in the more modern days they were abandoned. These dungeons and cells were built as an alternate holding place for certain criminals found in Magnolia now, particularly those accused of sorcery.

Needless to say, they haven't been used in decades. Lucy could have figured that much out, she was practically breathing in cobwebs and the tangy must of rotting animals that had gotten lost on their scavenge throw the tunnels. Thankfully, her cell was clean from those casualties, but she hardly felt grateful. She didn't know how she felt; if she was overwhelmed by her emotions or completely deprived of them.

She had time to think on it. Even if she wished she didn't, she was stuck there, forced to ponder on everything that ran through her mind. She saw nothing but a black void of darkness, the air felt heavy and bitter, and she wondered yet again if she was dreaming, if she was even alive. Nothing felt real to her, she couldn't see, she couldn't hear anything or feel anything but the hard stone that surrounded her, and the thoughts in her head were too loud. She succumbed to the ruthless pounding of replays in her mind, the visions of Natsu she saw were too real. She hated it, with every fiber of her being.

Lucy felt blinded suddenly. A bright, red light shone in front of her, along with the creak of the door swinging open. Her vision blurred heavily at the light, being deprived of it for so long, and she saw a figure step before her.

"The Lady wishes to see you." a man's voice spoke, grasping under her arm to bring her to her feet.

Lucy's limbs felt numb beneath her. She staggered around, trying to keep her footing, and felt herself be dragged out of the cell and into the light. Another guard holding a candlelit lantern grabbed her other arm, balancing her on her feet, and Lucy felt herself be taken back upstairs to the main hall.

She soaked in all she could along the way, greedily taking in the fresh air and sunlight that came through the windows she passed by. She soon regained the feeling in her legs, enough to walk on her own, but the guards kept their iron grip on her, as if she had any intention of running away from them. The place was still crawling with trained guards and swordsmen, and despite how much Lucy wanted out, she knew better than to go sign her death wish by attempting a foolish trick.

She approached the grand doors that opened up into the main hall, entering soundly as Lady Brandish still sat atop her throne, an anticipating gleam in her eye.

Brandish washed her gaze over Lucy, admittedly intrigued at the pitiful sight since her last visit. Her hair was tangled in unwashed strings of blonde, her skin sleek in a layer of grime, and the bags under her eyes only grew deeper in shades. She seemed fragile. Tired.

Vulnerable.

"I trust you've had enough time to think over my proposal." Brandish spoke, a confident lift in her eyebrow.

Lucy breathed out of her nose, fluster bubbling in the pit of her stomach as a tray of fruit was offered to Brandish. She took a grape, eating it slowly as Lucy kept her eyes on it. She smirked behind her hand; it was obvious she was teasing her, and Lucy wanted nothing but to smack it out from her lips. Her stomach twisted just at the sight of that much food.

She hadn't eaten in days, after all.

Lucy kept herself composed though, forcing her eyes away from the tray and up to Brandish's, a sharp look of defiance piercing through her taunt.

"You can lock me in a cell, tease me, starve me out all you want," Lucy finally spoke, her tone sly, "But the day that I pledge my allegiance to you, is also the day that I am laid to rest in my grave."

Brandish merely seemed amused at this answer; her retorts were always more witty than her husbands. More interesting. Every time she spoke she realized again how much the widow intrigued her.

"Keep dragging me up here time and time again, it does not matter. We both know that this little play of yours will not work." Lucy said, giving a dramatic roll of her eyes.

Brandish narrowed her gaze at the woman. It was true, this wasn't the first time she's had Lucy dragged back up there since her capture. Brandish had promised her (limited) freedom if she pledged her loyalty to Alvarez and herself; she had said it was only a sentence, a simple declaration really, but Lucy refused to. In fact, she almost found it laughable that the dictator who stole her husband away would even think of asking for her pledge.

"You think so?" Brandish implied, giving a little toss of her head. She looked at Lucy in a certain way then, a way that had her on her toes, whether she liked to admit it or not. Her demeanor always seemed so menacing to Lucy, like her entire being was just some act; like she wasn't real. She always had something hidden away, like she had some awful rouse behind every thing she did.

And what an awful rouse did she have planned. Lucy saw this, clearly evident on her face as Brandish challenged her. She seemed confident about this, annoyingly so, yet she knew that she would be the one to dominate this session. She had no doubt.

"Well, what if I told you I could bring Natsu back?" she questioned, in the most, sly, skeevious, squalid of ways.

She craned her neck at Lucy, watching with an amused eye at the shiver that visibly seemed to go through her. Her muscles tensed with a rigid stance, her breath shortening along with that, and the declining crease in her eyes spoke volumes to the Lady before her. Her eyes swarmed with something tragic at the mention of that name, and despite Lucy's constant achievements of keeping her emotions in check while in front of Brandish, she couldn't help but feel everything just crumble inside her.

"Ah, that seems to have caught your attention eh?" Brandish giggled, cutely. "I would be surprised if it did not. Who would not want their dear husband back after–"

"Shut up!" Lucy barked.

Lady Brandish felt her words die out, and a deafening silence pulsed in the room where no one dared to speak. Her gaze fell back down to the widow, and as expected of this as it was, she was still by all means surprised at the daring outburst. She expected tears from the woman, a weak voice, or even a slight eagerness to hear her out, but in Lucy she found none. Instead, she found quite the opposite.

Nothing but rage consumed the woman.

"I cannot believe any human would stoop so low." Lucy seethed, a burning fire in her eyes, "You dare mock me of this? You dare ridicule my pain? After what you did to him, after you–"

"I suggest you hold your tongue before I cut it out instead."

Brandish halted Lucy's haste movements towards her, cutting her off as she had done before. She gave a furious glare to the woman, yet at the same time she simply seemed irritated, as if she just broke a nail. She huffed out then, composing herself, and Lucy wondered with a wild confusion how she was able to overcome her emotions so quickly. She gave the appearance that she was indifferent now, and maybe even a little bored.

"This is not a joke," Brandish finally said, "Believe me, if I wished to make a mockery of you I would have done so in a much more intense fashion."

Lucy felt the rage simmer inside her, and an uneasiness begin to take its place. She calmed herself, staring up to the dictator with a wary eye. She could feel a foreboding feeling that she would not be very pleased as to where this went.

"There is a possible way to bring him back," She continued, and Lucy felt almost sickened by the way she felt inclined to trust her. Like she wasn't just lying to get a rise out of her, in fact, it was obvious she didn't want Lucy to get mad. She seemed serious, which, was a very rare expression that Brandish made a habit of muffling away behind a childish smirk or bored gaze. She lifted her head at this, strengthening her tone in a form of emphasis.

"It is called the Phoenix Initiative." she declared, unable to resist the curl in her lips as she spoke those words, "It is an ancient legend, dating back to over a thousand years ago to when humans were nothing but savages. It grants the user a chance to raise a life, or lives, from the ashes of their death."

Lucy stared at Brandish in the most speechless of ways, thoughts rushing too quickly through her head to make any sense of it. She calmed herself though, narrowing her eyes at the Lady with an certain look of disobedience.

"Life cannot be brought back, what is dead is dead. That is the end of it." she said, her voice faltering to a murmur. She felt a wash of nausea at the thought of Natsu, and no matter how much she wanted to believe he might be able to come back to her, she knew better than to believe there was something on this earth that could perform the actions of God. "This is not a law that can be broken, it is the law of the universe."

Lady Brandish seemed to be waiting for an answer similar to this, and she gave another tilt of her head. She cupped her cheek in her palm and challenged Lucy with a look in her eye.

"Tell me Lucy, do you believe that people are able hold power on par to God?" she asked the widow, fully intending an answer.

Lucy studied the woman, her mind suddenly taking in another onslaught of thoughts. She pondered on that question, honestly curious at to what Brandish meant by that. Powers like a god? To do what? Revive a life? Create life?

Lucy suddenly felt a crude, impish smile crawl up on her lips. She nearly laughed even, a crack in her voice, "What? Like…magic?"

Brandish waved a hand, "Magic, sorcery, necromancy, witchcraft, whatever you wish to call it," Brandish sighed out a smile, "Yes."

Lucy really did laugh now, finding the fact that she actually took this woman seriously completely idiotic of her. She should have known better than to be fooled by her, to actually be curious about what she said. All she did was show her that her one bargaining chip was actually usable against her.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Lucy sighed out, still effectively laughing at the woman. She calmed herself then, a hand propped up on her hip with a ridiculous grin. Brandish merely seemed to find her amusement amusing, though.

"Ah, I suppose I should have assumed this reaction," Brandish sighed, a bored slump in her shoulder, "You Ishguardians were always clueless with sorcery and know-how."

Lucy was surprised at the confidence she wore about the subject, and she decided to entertain the Lady with a listening gaze to what she had to say, though she kept her doubted demeanor.

"Over 500 years ago, the dark lord of wizardry discovered something that changed history forever." Brandish spoke, a dull lull in her tone. "And while less than half the world did not realize this discovery, it was fought to be kept that way. The people of Alvarez did not want this news to be spread to any more colonies than it had already affected, which, as you can probably tell, decided the borders of Alvarez itself. Those who knew, and those who did not."

Lucy nodded along to this, blandly, and gave an impatient cross of her arms, "What does this have to do Natsu?"

Brandish cracked a smile then, understandably, and sighed out. "I suppose you are not here for a history lesson huh?"

Lucy offered a blatant shake of her head. Brandish nodded as well, shrugging, and smiled cutely.

"The discovery was magic." she spoke, bluntly. She was quick to get to the point now.

Lucy shuffled at this, a crease in her eyebrow and a gleam in her eye.

"It is inside everyone. Every human being." she continued to speak, a poised sparkle in her child-like eyes. "And people do not notice in the slightest, though what has kept it so quiet is the fact that magic cannot simply be used, it has to be activated."

"Activated?" Lucy echoed, failing to keep the utter curiosity from appearing on her face.

Brandish didn't miss the interest she had captured Lucy with, and gave a big, satisfying sigh. "Whether by object or spell or even strong enough emotions sometimes, anyone is able to use it. Though that last one is rarely the case, but that is why the entire matter was muffled way back when. Imagine the entire worlds population realizing the amount of power and destruction they could obtain."

Lucy didn't seem to know how she felt about this. She couldn't tell if she believed it or not–whether this, what she was saying, could actually be a possibility. Everyone in the world being able to obtain magic? From inside them? It didn't make any sense, but…it also did. Brandish had said it confined behind Alvarez's borders–that would explain why there wasn't even a spark of notice about sorcery in Ishgar, other than the false paranoia that only seemed to cause unnecessary drama.

But could the Alveren army truly withhold keeping this secret? A secret that millions of people know? How was that even possible–to have that much control, and for so long? It was astonishing, yet Lucy wondered again if she was actually believing this stuff. She was afraid to say she might be.

"Quite baffling, no?" Brandish mused. She had to admit it was refreshing to watch the wash of conflicting expressions cross the widows face.

"If you say that magic is all destruction, then what is this..legend?" Lucy found herself asking, the words blurting out before she could even register her thoughts.

She looked up to Lady Brandish despite, eager for an answer. Lucy knew she was known to frequently fall captive to those who always offered her new knowledge, she couldn't help herself with her curiosity. It often made her naïve, and the slight chance that this could help bring Natsu back was almost too much for her to comprehend. She knew better than to jump to conclusions, though. She knew better than to trust Brandish like that.

"With destruction, comes resurrection." Brandish explained, "You cannot have one without the other, it's order and chaos, life and death–yin and yang. And resurrection is the epitome of the Phoenix Initiative. It is a very powerful spell that revives life, and I'm sure if you complete this task for me, I will be kind enough to spare a pinch for your dear husband."

Lucy felt a shudder course through her at that. The thought alone of actually…getting Natsu back..it was surreal to her. She had missed him like nothing else in her life, the relentless longing for him was almost unbearable, and most definitely insatiable. She craved him, craved his touch, his laugh, his presence. Everything about him, she felt like she couldn't live without.

"I will be more than happy to supply your resources. I have to divulge that this probably will be a difficult task, though try not to take my word for it." a giggle passed through her lips, accompanied with a careless shrug.

Lucy didn't hear most of this, her head was too much in a jumble to actually comprehend what was being said. She didn't understand how any of this could be, her mind was always open to the impossible, but something such as this, on this grand a scale? It was…just…absurd!

So why did she feel compelled to believe it?

And what was holding her back from completely submerging herself into this knowledge? She wanted to believe it, that this Phoenix thing was actually true, that it could actually bring him back, but something held her back. Maybe because she knew better. She knew better than to believe there was an entire continent of magic-users hidden away behind mere borders. She knew better than to believe that Brandish actually wanted to help her.

Something was off about all of this, Brandish, and Lucy felt a relentless nudge about it. She just didn't understand what Brandish truly wanted, none of her decisions made any sense. This was the same task she wanted to entrust Natsu, the legendary Salamander warrior, and now she just wanted to toss it into the hands of his jobless housewife?

Why her?

After what she had done, after murdering Natsu for no good reason, the man she came here to see…it was so confusing, it was so wrong. Even so, she mentioned herself that this town was full with some of Ishgar's strongest warriors, and not to mention the hundreds of mindless foot soldiers who would probably jump at a chance to do her a favor.

She was planning something, Lucy knew it, she just knew it. She couldn't trust this woman. She left too many parts of the equation out.

"…why me?" Lucy found herself questioning, a challenged gleam on her features. It was obvious she didn't seem convinced of Brandish, she seemed suspicious even, and yet Brandish wasn't worried in the least. Or, at least, she didn't show it.

"There are plenty of strong men here, warriors even, who would love to do this for you with no cost. Especially one of sharing your magic life spell. Why call on me?" Lucy continued, a wary step in her movements. She offered an impish smirk then, towards the Lady, "What? Is it just my lucky day or something? Or are your men just too incompetent to get anything done?"

She huffed out that remark with a side glance to the guards that hovered beside her, yet they remained the same, mindless beings they always were.

"You are doubting my reasonings, hm?" Brandish mused, a perky lift in her lips, "It is okay, you are a smart girl, I could only assume you would at some point. But to be truthful, you are overthinking this quite a bit."

Lucy nearly laughed at that, a scoff of one coming out instead. Quite the contrary, she almost said, but she decided to see what the Lady wanted to say.

"This is your home Lucy, you know the land, the people, the paths and customs, I do not. This is foreign territory to me." she tried to explain, a childish pout in her lips.

She was hiding something.

"Something tells me that you are not here to learn our customs, Brandish. Any strong soldier can achieve this task, what aren't you telling me? I can see the look in your eye, what are you afraid of?" Lucy insisted, raising her voice.

Brandish nearly blew up at that, jumping up to her feet, "I FEAR NOTHING!"

Lucy shuddered at the crack in her voice, rage practically airing off of her like fire. She stepped back hesitantly, but before she could even utter another word Brandish was back in her throne, huffing out her nerves.

"I have had it with this conversation. This is your last chance to take the job or not, or else I will find some other competent man like you say." Brandish sneered, a finger to her temple.

Lucy hesitated at answering that, a crease in her expression. One of uncertainty.

"Which do you want Lucy. Get Natsu back, or return back down to your dungeon." Brandish pierced her eyes into the widow, a vicious gleam swimming through her bright irises.

Lucy felt her chest grow heavy. She twiddled her fingers in the ruffles of her torn dress, wondering with heavy thought if she was truly up for this. This was a task made for Natsu, a warrior. She wasn't a warrior, she was just…Lucy. What if she couldn't complete it? What if this entire magic theory was all fake, there was no spell that she spoke of, it was all just a sham? Brandish knew nothing of the spell, all she knew was that it was some legend she probably read out of a children's book.

There were too many holes, too many ways Lucy could easily fall and crumble. But…was it really that much worse than rotting in that cell? Alone and cold, starving? Until she begged Brandish to let her out?

She didn't know what to do. She was risking her life in more ways, in more times than she has ever before in her life.

And she didn't know if she had the guts to do it.

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to be continued...

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Yay, we're getting places! I loved explaining all this little info on the spell and things, I hope you liked it! :)

Review please?