Hello my lovely readers!
It's so nice to be back home and writing again! School starts tomorrow (ugh) but the holidays were amazing. Europe is absolutely stunning. It's got such amazing architecture and history and you can see it in the streets and the buildings and the people too. The languages are awesome (I used to think German sounded kinda like rough and tough but now that I've actually been to Germany, I've discovered it's a very nice language). The French in Paris are very proud and elegant; not just their people but everything about the city, from its gardens and cafes to its palaces. Germany, to me, was very kind and homey, especially with its cute Christmas markets. Austria was stunning with the snow-capped mountains so close (especially on a horse-drawn carriage! So beautiful ^_^) but Switzerland absolutely blew my breath away. I've always wanted to live in Switzerland, up in the mountains (probably influenced by watching Heidi cartoons when I was a kid) and this only made me love it more. I saw snow for the first time on Christmas Day, up on Mount Rigi near Lake Lucerne, and it was the most amazing day of the entire trip. Best 'white Christmas' ever! England was also beautiful. There were a lot more country roads around the place, in between cities, but each place had its own sort of charm. London was bustling and busy and made me feel like I had been transported into the page of a history book. And the HARRY POTTER STUDIO and watching WICKED was AMAZING. So many dreams come true.
Well, enough of my rambling about the awesomeness of Europe; here's chapter 14. Enjoy!
Summary
Due to the events of the Grand Magic Games, Lucy has lost her memories as a result of an enchantment named Rememoria, cast by Minerva Orlando. Fairy Tail gather their courage and their friends to save their favourite celestial mage but when injuries occur, their hopes are dashed again and again in the game of hide and seek that Minerva has set up. The memories? Tick. The dragon slayers? Tick. The explosion that will kill the dragon slayers as soon as they attempt to place Lucy's memories back into her mind? Tick. What they haven't accounted for are some tigers and an elemental mage.
Last Chapter
"Don't worry, Mira-nee! There is definitely a point in defeating Minerva; no one gets away with hurting Fairy Tail!"
A large cheer was heard from many miles away, emanating from the Fairy Tail guild. Beer flowed freely and thoughts and ideas were exchanged, for the sake of their friends and their family. Because to them, nakama meant more than anything.
Meanwhile, a green-haired woman observed from afar. The smallest of smiles adorned her lips.
"You know, there's got to be a backup plan," Levy mused, pen tapping against her notepad. Lucy looked up from her new novel. Ever since the guild had realised they were stuck, they had tried to find a solution with a demonic determination that was unrivalled by anything. Of all the psycho guilds, why'd I choose this one? Lucy thought with amusement.
"What do you mean, a backup plan?" Lucy enquired, placing a bookmark neatly into her novel to mark the page. "This isn't another one of those desperate theories right? You know Natsu suggested we just try and make me swallow my memories the other day?"
"Who do you think I am, Lu-chan?" Levy laughed. "Don't worry, I won't make you swallow your memories. But don't you think that, well, every villain needs a backup plan? Minerva set this all up, right? But the memories are basically like a bomb. It has to have an off switch, right?"
"Well...that could be true...but how do we know what the backup plan is?" Lucy did not like the look in her friend's eye.
"Let's ask the others, shall we?"
And that's how Lucy found herself surrounded by her friends, who were all arguing, unsurprisingly.
"Come on, we need that backup plan!"
"How do you propose we find it, huh?"
"Ask her?"
"Shut up, flamebrain! You're not making this better!"
"You wanna go, dumbass?"
"I'm ready for you, idiot!"
"Stop it! Are we actually going to ask her?"
"What else can we do?"
"Are you even certain there's gonna be a backup plan?"
"What else can we think?"
"Alright, ENOUGH!"
The room silenced at the unusual authority in Levy's voice. A tense silence followed until Mira decided to break it.
"Kinana, could you grab us some drinks please?
The usually rowdy guild remained terse and rested in a strained silence until the mugs were placed with a loud clunk on the table, jerking everyone out of their silence.
"So? What's happening now?"
There was a slight pause as three women glanced at each other. Bright scarlet, pure white and vibrant blue heads nodded once and turned back to the rest of their friends.
"We hunt her down."
The door banged open.
In the doorway, there stood a familiar figure, but not one that evoked positive emotions. Instead, the guild members stood in defensive stances.
"You again! What do you want?" Natsu snarled, fists flaming as he stood protectively in front of Lucy. I can protect myself! Lucy screamed silently, but another part of her yelled in response, HE'S A KEEPER.
Lucy told them both to shut up for the time being.
"I don't believe I've properly introduced myself to your guild," Mikino said, with a poise and grace that could only be found in the noblest of families. Lucy's brain tingled.
"Mikino Takara. Free-lance elemental mage. I offer you my services."
There was a stunned silence. Then Erza spoke.
"You offer us your services, yet you fatally wound one of our members. We know that you work for Minerva. What are you trying to achieve?"
Mikino's face seemed to soften a touch. "I am trying to offer you my services. As a double agent."
"What's in it for you?" Gray growled, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. The woman laughed without humour.
"Let's just say that I'm sick of Minerva. And," she paused, hesitance making its way into her voice for the first time. "I owe Lucy Heartfilia."
"Me?" Lucy took a cautious step forward. Lucy thought of everything she'd known about Mikino Takara, from her forest green hair to her silver eyes and the way she felt like she knew the woman's gracefulness and noble air. And then she thought of Mikino Takara, a last name she hadn't heard in the circle of nobility and the seemingly shy and private personality that Mikino possessed.
"Do I know you?"
Mikino stopped and stared at Lucy. The minute their eyes connected, Lucy knew that she had met Mikino Takara before. But when?
"Once. Long ago." Another pause. "Perhaps you would know me better as...Mikino Sakurako."
Sakurako. Lucy felt the name pound into her brain. Of course, she thought, her body paralysed with shock. Uncle Satoshi. Mikino. Hoshime.
"You– Uncle Satoshi – your dad, he–"
"Died."
"I-I'm sorry. That you had to go through it alone." But...Lucy's memory of this woman was blurry, and all she remembered was a young girl with green pig tails carrying her little sister.
"I didn't." Mikino's answers were stiff, practised. Frozen. "Your father saved me. He let us stay in your home for a month before we left. I didn't see you much though...it was when you were-"
"Twelve." Lucy remembered that year without much trouble. It was two years after her mother had died and her father was becoming more and more unbearable, to the point that she often hid away in her mother's old library and wept for hours. Lucy steeled herself and looked back at Mikino, who was watching her curiously.
"Yes. I'm sure you know the reason I left."
"But we don't so spit it out," Natsu said, still glaring intently at Mikino. She bowed her head.
"As you wish. My father was a businessman, a friend of Jude Heartfilia's. They were close business partners, so, naturally, I knew Lucy from a young age. Technically, I am two years younger than her. But my father's business, instead of flourishing, worsened, until we were bankrupt. We were indebted to some people who were...impatient. My father told my sister and I to flee one night. That was the last we ever saw of them."
The guild was silent and thick with wariness and anticipation. Mikino seemed oblivious.
"We sought refuge at Uncle Jude's home. We had not seen him much since Auntie Layla had passed but we knew that he was our last chance. We stayed with him for a month. We left, so as not to bring danger to him and Lucy. I know that Uncle Jude died recently but I have never forgotten his kindness. My sister and I are forever in his debt."
"What's this got to do with Lucy?" Natsu scowled.
Mikino stared directly into Lucy's eyes. "The only way to repay him is through you, Lucy Heartfilia."
Mikino had discovered that she was starting to hate Minerva Orlando.
Of course, Minerva couldn't and didn't know a thing about her newfound hatred but sometimes, Mikino felt like she did. Like now, for instance.
"Mikino, my dear, come here," Minerva crooned, a smile playing on her lips. Mikino made sure to wipe her face clean of any and all expressions. No sarcasm or snarky comments, Mikino, she thought to herself. Just in case.
"I have another little quest for you."
"Yes, ma'am?" Whoops.
Minerva's smile didn't waver but Mikino noticed the way her eyes darkened a touch. "I'd like you to send a message to the Fairies."
"What will the message say, ma'am?"
Minerva admired her nails. "Hm. I know they want to meet me. Give them the date, time and place. Like we agreed."
"As you wish."
Mikino was going to bring that bitch down.
Lucy was looking at the stars.
Natsu never really noticed the stars much, to be honest. They were there, in the sky, twinkling, but he never saw their importance. They were just sort of...there. Natsu could understand why Lucy liked stars; she was a celestial spirit mage after all. But she liked stars, and he liked her, so he kinda liked stars by association.
Boom. You fell for that trap, buddy, his brain laughed, with a voice that sounded miraculously like Lisanna.
Damn. And he'd done such a good job denying it too.
Well, he thought vaguely, I lasted longer than I thought. And who could blame him? He must've been around Lisanna too long; he was describing Lucy weirdly in his head. Like the way her blonde her shone like gold in the starlight, or the way the constellations were reflected in her eyes.
Stupid Lisanna.
"Natsu?"
Natsu jerked a little before focusing his gaze on Lucy eyes, and the confusion they held. Crap, hide, pretend to be as dense as she thinks you are, he yelled at himself. Plastering a grin that probably lacked its usual cheer, he greeted her with a forced, "Hey, Luce! What are you up to?"
She smiled at him, and it got a little harder to keep grinning and not kiss her. Shut up, brain!
"Just looking at the stars. My mother always used to teach me about the constellations…" she drifted off, a rather wistful nostalgia replacing her smile.
Natsu was quiet for a moment. "Can you…teach me?"
There was a split second when Natsu thought she would say no, just from the sadness in her eyes, but the next minute it was replaced by a dazzling smile that blew away all his doubts.
"Of course! Now, see, that one's Virgo and that one is Leo, or Loke…"
Natsu, of course, listened with rapt attention but every once in a while, he couldn't help but notice the flush in her cheeks, or the small smile on her face as she spoke about each of her friends.
"Lu-chan! Hurry!"
Levy dragged her poor, struggling best friend through the streets of Magnolia, ignoring her yells of protest. Lucy could swear that Levy had gained that stubborn attitude from Gajeel. And she was this close to getting the two of them together. Gajeel just had to stop cowering in the corner and actually kiss Levy.
But more about that later.
"Lu-chan, come on! Everyone's waiting!"
"I'm trying to hurry, Levy-chan!"
The two girls rushed into the guild as Mira and Erza stood in front of the group of friends that had retrieved Lucy's memories. The group stood silent and serious, their faces grave and curious.
"Mira? What's going on?" Gray asked, the question that was in everyone's minds.
"We've got another message from Minerva," she started, but Natsu interrupted her before she could continue.
"Another message!? I'm gonna kick her BU–"
"Sit down," Erza thundered.
"Aye!"
"As I was saying," Mira continued, "Minerva left us another message. She wants to meet with us."
"Meet us? But…how did she know we wanted to meet with her?" Wendy wondered, sharing a worried look with Carla.
The group turned to look at a woman who had remained silent and impassive. Feeling the weight of their stares, Mikino looked up.
"What? You're not gonna blame this on me, are you? I've already told you, I'm a double agent. I don't work for her anymore."
"That's right," Lucy said determinedly, her eyes fierce. "Mikino is on our side. She wouldn't tell Minerva our plans."
"If Lucy trusts Mikino, then I do too," Erza declared, and Lucy sent a grateful look in her direction. "The letter was in fact given to us by Mikino but–"
"See! She's still working for Minerva! She's–"
"SHUT UP!"
"Aye!"
"He never learns," Lucy sighed, sending a sympathetic glance towards her friend as he faced Erza's wrathful glare.
"Mikino gave us the letter. She explained to us that Minerva is planning to attack us at some point during the meeting, with Mikino's 'help'," Levy finished, the letter clutched in her hand.
"What does the letter actually say?" Lisanna asked curiously.
"It says…'Midnight, Mount Gijimas at the next full moon. Perhaps an answer for your main course?'"
"The next full moon? That's tomorrow night!" Juvia exclaimed.
"We're going," Erza stated, her voice allowing no room for argument. "Our meeting with Minerva is long overdue."
Mikino was standing on the balcony of Fairy Tail, being pissed at Minerva, when a voice interrupted her internal rant session.
"Yo."
She'd be lying if she said she'd expected Natsu Dragneel to be there.
Arranging her face into a cool façade, she turned to face him. "Dragneel. What brings you here?"
"I'm curious…" Natsu frowned. "What happened that day? When you fell in the water?"
She tensed. "What's it to you?"
"I just wanted to know, in case it happened to you in battle or something. We need you on our team to defeat Minerva." Natsu's face was unreadable. Mikino didn't know what to think of him.
"Illusion magic."
"Illusion magic?"
"Yes."
"You use it?"
"Yes."
She saw him concentrate. "What's that got to do with you fainting?"
"If not learnt properly, illusion magic has some consequences. Illusions, dreams, memories…they're not so different, are they?"
And with that, she left him confused and alone on the balcony.
Minerva looked up from the lacrima in her hand, where a green-haired woman was walking away from a dragon slayer. Her lip curled.
"Hm…someone's in trouble…"
I hope you all liked it! It's been a while since I've written so it took me a while to get back into it. Tell me what you think!
Until next chapter :)
Sorry I might not be able to update on time because I have a weekend camp but I will upload as soon as possible :)