~\Chapter 2/~
~**Maybe I Moved On**~
\**/
"WAKE UP BUDDY! CHIKEN PUDDING! THAT'S DISGUSTING BUT I GOTTA HAVE SOMETHING!"
The alarming sound of his cat's yells brought him to reality. With black circles outlining his eyes he shoots up, pink hair swaying.
Wasn't used to that…still isn't.
His vision blurry he tried to bring a hand up to his face and wipe it away, only it didn't work which made him swear under his breath. A spot of blue entered the other smudges he's seeing of which seemed to be his house. No, wait…memories of last night flooded through him.
Oh, right, this wasn't his house…
"Ah, f*ck…" he swore again when something got caught in his eye. It didn't take long for soft paws to hand over a wet handkerchief to his right hand. He rubbed the new item furiously against his eyes. His morning vision didn't completely disappear, but at least now he's seeing more decently.
A sigh reached his ears and he looked up to see the exceed smiling at him brightly. His shoulders relaxed a bit. "Good Morning! How's today's morning catchphrase? Cool huh? I made it up!"
"Sure you did…" He sighed, recalling a drunken Cana using the exact same wake up call for an unconscious Elfman slung over the bar last night. Shaking his head, he shrugged and grinned, "Cool one buddy."
"Aye!" He chuckled at the feline as it made a victory pose of it's not-so-great and not-so-original catchphrase.
But then, the cat's face turned to concern and looked around then at the dragon slayer, raising a paw to his shoulder. "Hey…are you ok now? Can we go home?"
The pink-haired now twenty two year old boy stared back at it's sad smile and sighed, standing up from the floor where the comfy couch he used to crash in once stood, a little pink duvet left behind in it's place. Pulling his usual vest on and scarf he smiled back at the cat, not sadly, but happily, as if to say…he was alright.
He was.
Moving on was hard, but it's still an accomplishment nonetheless.
An accomplishment he finally accomplished.
Now he didn't have to feel depressed whenever her scent faded little by little, or desperately look for her everywhere and fail because it's just no use, she had gone, and now he didn't feel like moping around saying it's his fault, because it wasn't.
It really wasn't.
Even now that he is thinking this, it isn't hurting anymore, because if he had been thinking this before a month ago, he would have still said it was his fault, that it was because of him, that it was because of him that his whole world crumbled under his own feet when he stepped into her apartment, yelled out her name, and received nothing that day.
But now, everything just feels numb. The hurt's gone, only replaced by relief that finally…he moved on.
He moved on from the unbearable pain that he lost her, he was starting to think that maybe he never would have, because loosing her, missing her, longing for her was like going through hell and back, that no matter how much pain the fires of hell gave him, his whole body remained alive while he just wanted to end it over with and die.
Now, if anything, he was willing to go through all that if it meant living to the day he'd see her again.
He'd hope anyway.
But moving on meant second chances, and a second chance with her was what made him stand up from his depressed mess of a life.
Slamming her door open, he stepped back out into the morning sun and breathed in a huge wave of nostalgia, excitement filling his veins.
He finally moved on from his sadness.
He was tired of coming after her because of it.
Now, he was gonna be patient, and wait for her.
Wait for that second chance to happen.
"Come on…you're not serious…" The leo's face scrunched up in nervousness and panic, his hand held hostage by the blonde as she squeezed it for support.
"I—am—YAAAAGHH!" Lucy screeched out, panting raggedly as she replied. Her forehead was sweating buckets, and one look at her would be enough to tell you how much she'd rate her pain from a scale of 1 to a million.
"Wah—! Na—! Lucy! STAY CALM—AH F**K! KYAAAAAAA!"
"I'M THE ONE GIVING BIRTH RIGHT NOW YOU IDIOT!" She yelled through ragged pants and hoarse breaths, trying her best to scowl at him, "SHUT UP!"
"But your grip's too ti—AAAAAAAYYYYYYYT! KYA—OW!"
Lucy made a mental note to thank Aquarius later, if she survived.
"QUIT SAYING KYA FOR THE LOVE OF—AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"But you're doing it too! KYAA—YAW!" She squeezed his hand harder before he could prolong his scream.
"I…just told you…to see it…AAAAAAW!" Lucy moaned in agony, Loke's panic boiling up in his throat once again. As soon as her hand squeezed the life out of him again he only panicked more, and screamed more, like a woman that was caught in the shower.
"B-But—OOOOOOOOOWOWOWOWOWOW!"
Aquarius gave him a death glare. "Just. Do. It."
"O-Ok fine…" Reluctantly he let go of Lucy's hand, or more like struggled to before his bones could be fractured permanently, and walked over to stand beside Virgo, who was managing the blonde's giving of birth.
It had been two months earlier than they expected, and Lucy had screamed so loudly just 6 hours before that Loke's gate opened on it's own. He thought he was prepared for this, that he'd be ready for when this would come. When this would happen
But apparently…
"AHHHHH! WHAT IS THAT THING?! HOLY SH*T LUCY IT'S COMING OUT OF YOU! WHAT THE—Don't f**king tell me that's the baby. THAT'S NOT THE BABY! THAT'S NOT THE BABY! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone could only watch dumbfounded as Loke's body that was stripped of colour fell to the ground.
"He fainted…ah…" Panting harshly Lucy started with small breaths when suddenly, the pain started to become unbearable, and she let out a high-pitched scream.
It's almost out.
"One more push princess." Despite her monotonic voice, Virgo's reassurance somehow got to Lucy through her misery. Looking around, she tried to keep her eyes open while her mouth involuntarily let out pained noises.
"Lucy, just one more!"
"I can see the head…"
"Lucy, wake up! It's almost there!"
"You can do it Lucy-san! One moore push!"
"E…e…you guys…GAH!" Lucy cried out.
"Come on, Luce!"
Her eyes widened.
"Hey don't give up just yet! You can do it! If you do then I'm not apologizing when you get home and open your fridge...ehehe forget I said anything."
Loke regained consciousness the moment he felt Lucy's hand slip away from his and he looked at her face. Her eyes were shut tight, and her hands were white just gripping the blankets beside her. He expected to see her head flailing around, with her eyebrows scrunched up, like she was having a nightmare. But it wasn't.
It was actually just lying there, peaceful, almost like she wasn't giving birth at all if it weren't for the sweat on her forehead and her hair messed up.
If it weren't for the small, surprisingly even breaths she was taking…it almost looked as if she was smiling.
"I'm right beside you…"
"Lucy…"
And then suddenly, she screamed.
"…I love you."
"EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"…"
"…"
No one dared to move a muscle as the blonde slowly fell into unconsciousness.
It was dead silent.
Until…
"Uwaaaah! U-uwah! Uwaaaaaaaaaaah! Hic—waah!"
It cried..., Lucy thought.
"I can't believe it…"
"She did it…"
Cheers erupted from around her as the room suddenly got filled up with almost every happy vibe there was; cheerful, joyful, merry, happy—their voiced cheers were so loud but, not even they could cover the loud crying of the new baby.
Her baby.
A tear fell from her eye.
She could've spread her cheeks as wide as she could just to keep her grin satisfied if it weren't for the falling bricks on her called exhaustion.
She watched with now half-lidded eyes as the fading image of her guild surrounded her, jumping everywhere in glee. She mustered up the strength to bring a hand up to her eye and wipe the nearly fallen tears away.
Everything…everyone…they all just felt like a dream.
This all felt like a dream.
And her baby…it felt like a dream come true.
Virgo smiled as she held it up, cutting off the umbilical cord gently with the help of Cancer, and carefully wrapped the new addition to the family in a soft blanket. It's cries softened when the maid spirit rocked it in her arms a few times, but it didn't compare to when she carefully placed it in Lucy's frail and tired arms.
Everyone gathered around the new mother and her baby.
And for the first time that night, Lucy had actually willed herself to cry.
She almost couldn't remember a time where she was just as happy as she was now.
…
…almost.
Lucy smiled softly.
"It's a girl."
The cold windy air finally got to her when she saw him.
In that usual vest of his, only now, both sleeves were missing and where the one sleeve used to be looked like it had been ripped off of it's place.
His hair grew a bit longer.
His body had built itself more maturely.
His eyes…just…grew more intense.
And he was coming out of her old apartment.
Why, she wanted to ask, but she stayed quiet. Stayed silent. Stayed hiding and…watching, staring, looking and listening.
Remembering.
Seething.
But also…missing.
Hoping…that he'd look this way…and watch her, stare at her, and miss her…just as much.
But that's just wishful thinking.
Just bullsh*t.
She had moved on.
She promised herself that.
But just looking at him now…it just makes her hate him even more.
For nearly breaking the resolve she's built up for the years she's been away from him.
Hate him even more…for almost…
"Mommy?"
Lucy's blank look didn't falter until she faced the little girl carrying a backpack on her back beside her with a small smile. "Hm?"
"Are you alright?"
"Uh…" Lucy slowly looked back to the front of her old apartment.
He was gone.
Nervously laughing she looked back down at her confused and concerned daughter, "Ah, yeah, I'm alright…don't worry about me."
It took a while of staring, but Shoyuu finally let it go and shrugged. "Well, as long as you're fine Mommy." She started to resume walking the path they were currently taking until her mother suddenly stopped. Shoyuu yawned, walking, "I'm hungry. Let's go get some food~!"
"Alright alright, come on don't walk ahead of me," Lucy said, catching up to her. It didn't take long for her to take a small glance back at the old place she used to live in. 'Does the landlady still live there?' she wondered.
Then, it didn't take long for him to come back to her thoughts.
She thought back to when she saw him walk out of her apartment.
…I…
I…I needed him then, I wanted him to be beside me that night, to hold my hand instead of Loke, and to tell me everything…was gonna be alright. That it'll all go smoothly.
But he wasn't there. Just as some bullsh*t voice inside my head.
I wanted him there even when I knew he wouldn't be.
And now…
He was right there, when I never wanted to have anything to do with him again.
And what's more…he…this ache in my chest…
She sighed and ran a hand through her blonde locks as a slightly irritated expression crossed her face.
For the life of me…
…why am I feeling this way?
Having this new baby…my new bundle of joy…my daughter…is like a dream come true to me.
But…
It didn't come true the way I wanted it to.
RR:
MarSofTheGalaxies: Don't worry about it ^_^ I'm not assuring you anything, but there's still so many things in store for this story that you have yet to read, and it'll either go the way you wish or not but…trust me ;3 Thanks for reviewing!
OgaxHilda: You'll just have to wait and see ^_^ And yes, this is angst, but you'll never know how I'm gonna put it until I write it ;) Thanks for reviewing again!
KnowledgeSeer: Aw man I didn't mean to make anyone cry though D: But thank you I guess! I hope you'll keep looking forward to this story and it's incoming feels…ehehe…anyway thanks for reviewing :)
FutureMageOtaku99: More to come in certain chapters ^_^ I hope you'll keep reading as well! Thank you for reviewing :D
khffbleach9: I guess I'll explain it here too. If you guys noticed the last chapter got repeated, well that's because of my mouse—it keeps spazzing at random times and I was trying to fix a few typos in the prologue, so when I finally updated it and went back to the chapters it started clicking at random directions and yeah…one f those directions being the delete button. So yeah. And also thanks for your PM, I appreciate that you like my story, thank you again ^w^
Lady Anime Cat: Well here it is! I hope you'll read the next ones as well. Thanks for reviewing :3
Guest: Updated! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you keep reading :)
I take back what I said, this is my longest note ever…and oh my mavis 7 new reviews for the last chapter. Don't know why, but I just wanna hug all of you…I'm weird, forget what you just read.
Hope you guys enjoyed :) Review if you're in the mood to :P
-K-