Chapter Five: Retina
I grumbled to myself the whole day, unable to sleep. The cold stone and strong feeling of homesickness didn't help me either. I started missing everyone terribly; Natsu and Gray's fist fights, Erza eating about fifty shortcakes, Levy always asking about my novel, Juvia's friendship which had improved considerably with no more death glares since all issues had been cleared up, even Gajeel's never-ending scowls.
Just as I was going through everyone in the guild and their unique quirks, I heard some footsteps outside my cell. I immediately jumped out and tried to look out of my barred window. I swear, if they tried to hurt my father…
But no; they were coming towards me. I saw the guild Master, the Demon Crosses trio and some man I hadn't seen before. He seemed to be elderly, dressed in dark clothing and having a walking stick. Or was it a sceptre? It had an ordinary appearance except for the jewel-embedded top and carved vines along the side. I might have mistaken him for a kindly old man if it weren't for the evil glint in his eyes.
When they reached my cell, the Master held up a hand without a word, a green magic circle appearing, thrusting the door open, whacking me in the head since I was right behind it.
"Ow!" I cried, falling backwards, rubbing my head. Seriously; why couldn't he open the door like a normal person? I resisted the urge to yell that at him since I'd probably just get hurt again.
I could see the old man was suppressing the urge to laugh at me and said, "Lucy Heartfilia, we would like for you to come with us."
I glared at him, "What for?"
He didn't say anything, instead raising his sceptre/walking stick and drawing a circle with the jewelled end, tapping it once in the middle. A silver magic circle appeared and a ray of piercing light shot out, missing me by a hair's width, smashing into the ground, splitting it. I looked behind me at the deep crack in the ground, my eyes widening, "EH?"
"I won't repeat myself again," said the old man, solemn now. I quickly scrambled up, well; it shouldn't be that bad… I'll get out of here and then I can attack them because there shouldn't be a magic prevention spell outside!
The Master and old man walked in front, the trio guarding my back to make sure I wouldn't escape. Like a person running away would actually escape with this many skilled mages in the room. Once I began walking, I gave a yelp of surprise and clutched at my ankle. It's still sprained, I suddenly remembered. I just hadn't been paying close attention to it since I barely moved in the last couple of days.
"What's the matter with her?" asked the Master, turning around slightly.
Aston knelt down, looking at my ankle, gently tugging my hand away and feeling my sprain without removing my boot, "It's a sprain," he concluded, pressing it gently, "It's already badly swollen. We have to get medical help immediately."
"She can take it, she has for the past couple of days," said the Master darkly, walking ahead, "Come on."
"Sir—" said Aston.
He glared at him with a look to match the demon's, "Are you questioning me?"
Aston flinched, and then said hesitantly, "No, sir…" He slowly stood up and offered a hand to me. I saw the Master glaring daggers at him though until he reluctantly withdrew his hand. I pushed off the ground myself thinking dark thoughts about this 'Master' who was probably the worst person I'd ever met so far in my life.
I struggled along, stumbling every now and then. The trio's faces were emotionless but they seemed to be patient with me, not frowning and grumbling like the Master every time I fell down. We eventually reached a large stone corridor, lit by torches. It had probably once been a dungeon, judging by the cells on either side but it seemed to have not been used in years.
Finally we reached a rather large wooden door, framed with iron. It was heavily guarded by about twenty mages standing in rows but bowed and parted their formation when we arrived. The Master walked towards the door, muttering something that sounded like gibberish to me and made his magic circle appear. The door clicked open and he pushed it open, looking at us to go inside.
We walked in and the sight before me surprised me. It was a dimly lit room although I was expecting that with only a couple small windows along the stone wall. The whole room was mostly bare which surprised me. I was thinking there was going to be some top-secret weapon or something in there for it to be so heavily guarded. But there were only a single large shelf with many glass bottles stored on it. In each bottle was a jewel, identical to the one the old man had in his sceptre.
The only other thing in the room was a large wall thing with clamps installed in it to restrain the person in it.
Me. I knew that at once when the Master nodded at his trio team, "Get her in it. The sooner the better. And get Kyrie up here."
Who is Kyrie? I thought but Retina already had a hold of me and urged me forward. She locked me in place on the wall quickly, my wrists and ankles restrained. As the Master talked to his team about getting that Kyrie someone, I looked at the shelf in my peripheral vision. The glass bottles seemed to have tags on them which I could barely see. I read three bottles' tags, Bickslow, Freed, Evergreen.
Nani? I thought, those three people… That can't be a coincidence…
"Do you like them?" asked the old man, suddenly in front of me, "Soon, your name's going to be on one of those too." A magic circle appeared above my head.
"Nani?" I said before I suddenly blacked out.
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Retina, Aston and Araluen went back through the corridor, back with the rest of the guild. Everyone turned around and nodded or smiled respectively in their direction as they walked through the guild.
Retina broke off from the other two, "I'll get Kyrie." Then, without waiting for their response, she went up to a teenage girl sitting in the centre of the guild. She had blonde, wavy hair, held loose which covered up her right eye wearing a large black crown hair comb on the top of her head. She had narrow-ish emerald green eyes, a mole under the left one. She wore a flowing black dress, the silk material nearly touching the ground and had matching black heels.
"Kyrie, the Master is waiting for you," said Retina.
"Hai," she said in her light, childlike voice. She got out of her chair gracefully without even lifting up her dress and walking to the corridor.
Retina watched her go, wondering if she just did something she'd regret. This Lucy… She was one of a kind. She reminded her so much of her!
I have to accomplish my goal, thought Retina, but… I can't let Lucy die. It'll just be like watching her die all over again… Then again, if I help Lucy, the guild will be exposed to who I really am and then I'll be killed and therefore can't accomplish my goal. Argh!
She stomped off to her room which she shared with Aston and Araluen and sat down against the wall. All her life, she had worked towards her goal and was doing very well so far to the point she just couldn't give it up. But then, Lucy seemed just as important as her. She just couldn't let her die which she knew would happen if things kept going at this rate.
The last three were lucky to escape… thought Retina. Then her head went back to her original problem and the first tears she had seen in a long time started to fall. Which was more important to her?
Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside her door. Two people, most probably Aston and Araluen, decided Retina. She forced her tears away, something she hadn't had to do in a long time, since that happened. She couldn't let actual Demon Crosses members to see her crying because they would ask and her cover will be blown.
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"OK, that should do it," said Erza, putting a few sticks together for a makeshift campfire.
"Why can't we keep walking?" whined Natsu, "I can make torches for us! We can keep going!"
"We can't, Natsu," said Mira gently but firmly, "We all need some sleep because if you're half dead charging into a Dark Guild, we'll be sure to be defeated in record time. We only have to hike one more day until we reach Estonia."
"The perfume scent is fading," said Happy, "Hopefully it'll last during tomorrow."
"It better," said Erza, sounding as if she was actually threatening the perfume, "Where the heck is Gray anyway?"
Gray sat on one of the pile of rocks underneath the waterfall. The rocks were tall enough and far enough away from the waterfall so that he didn't get wet. He gazed up at the moon shining in the sky and somehow pictured Lucy's face next to it with the stars, Gray!
He flinched for a second and then pressed his fingers to his head, muttering aloud, "I really need some sleep… Now I'm beginning to have hallucinations." A headache from lack of sleep throbbed in the back of his head which he tried to will it to go away.
Though, Lucy… thought Gray, does she hate me for suddenly springing the 'I love you' part on her? Did she want to spend more time with me first or just simply saw me as a friend? Was I supposed to wait longer?
Gray knew Lucy. She panicked about these kinds of things. Panicking to say the right thing and to not hurt someone's feelings. That was just Lucy and one of the things he loved about her.
What if she went off to think and then somehow got kidnapped by a Dark Guild? thought Gray suddenly, so then… would this whole situation be my fault?
The sudden situation seemed possible if Gray knew Lucy which he did.
What have I done?
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And… I'll just let you guys wonder about Retina's mysterious past! I pretty much have the rest of the storyline plotted out so I'll update soon and please review!