Lucy looked up at the giant red-and-white bricked wall. There were only one or two guards on top, so she suspected that everyone else was on break, just like Makarov said. She waited until both guards had their backs to her, then she crept to the bushes on the other side. The bandit followed the bushes until she reached a low part of the wall with ivy growing all over it. She grunted as she climbed up, grabbing leafy vines as she ascended. Finally, she reached over the top. Lucy rolled over, not wanting to be seen by the guards inside. Luckily, there was a ridge that shielded her from sight. Two blue-wearing guards were marching next to each other, a fat one and a ginger-haired ponytail guy, so she took the chance and ran quietly to the door.
The bandit slipped through, descending the stairs until she was at ground level. There was a regular-sized wooden door with a small window in it; so Lucy peered through. There appeared to be no guards.
The guards must have been on double-duty since Lucy had raided the place repetitively, Lucy calculated. Most of the soldiers must be closer to where Natsu was sleeping. (She really did hope he was just sleeping.)
Lucy slipped through and ran to the castle, using decorative trees and hedges as her cover. She ran through the door, then immediately pressed herself against the wall because she head boot-steps. She didn't dare breathe as a guard marched past her, nothing stopping him from seeing her except his back.
He marched farther and farther, until he turned the corner and his footsteps decreased in volume. Lucy sighed, moving down the hallways where she thought the infirmary was. Finally, she was able to find it; two guards were standing at the door protectively, holding two mighty electric-ey looking spears.
Lucy remembered that the old man Makarov told her there was an open window somewhere. She crept around, and there was a door that led outside. She opened it, and there was a loud thud, but she ignored that, because beside her was the window. She looked down at the thud noise and instantly swallowed a giggle.
Whoops. The door had hit a soldier and knocked him unconscious... Lucy covered her mouth with her hand and dragged him somewhere in the bushes where he wouldn't be seen.
The bandit checked outside once again before turning around and pressing her face to the window. There appeared to be no one there. Lucy grunted as she climbed through the small space, hands outstretched and legs kicking around wildly in a handstand so she didn't fall face-first into the floor. Finally she squirmed through, turning the handstand into a roll to soften the landing against the floor, rolling onto her feet.
She patted herself on the back for the smooth move but instantly checked her surroundings. She'd ended up in the infirmary, she was sure.
The room was spotless and silent, except for the sound of light breathing coming from a petite aqua-haired girl Lucy had landed beside. The air smelled heavily of antiseptic, most of the room's furniture being white. The bandit glanced at the sleeping girl lying in a white-sheeted bed, checking her condition. She was out cold. The girl was separated from the next bed by a thin, washed-out curtain. Lucy walked past that and smiled.
Natsu was there, arms put on his sides, bandaged severely around the stomach but his chest was rising and falling smoothly and the fact that he wasn't deathly pale almost made her jump for joy. Natsu was alive. She beamed warmly, taking the seat next to the man. The little alcove with walls made out of sheets had nothing but a little side-table, a chair, and the bed Natsu was resting on.
She stared at Natsu for a few moments, then Lucy was seized by sadness. It was her fault that he was unconscious in this room and he had a gaping hole in his stomach. The blonde bandit swallowed; the words she was planning to say stuck in her throat. She didn't know what to say. Sorry wasn't enough and definitely seemed ridiculous. Her head hung low.
He only wanted to become her friend, but she'd pushed him away.
She inhaled deeply, then let another breath draw out slowly, starting off slow, beginning to pick up speed and getting used to talking to him. "I... was only seven when my mother died and my father ignored me. I ran away from home and had... to steal to survive. At first, I tried asking people if I could live with them, but nobody would take me in. It was scary sometimes. Some people would politely decline and I would leave, but others... they would throw things at me, a little girl dressed in rags, so I would go away. So I lived on my own, learning the hard way how cruel humanity could be. I created an ice-cold shell around myself to protect me."
"Then I found Michelle wandering around in the forest; once I revealed myself she smiled and had collapsed into the ground. I took care of her once she woke up and she told me what had happened to her parents. They were murdered. This only encouraged my hatred towards other people. I thought everyone was the same, cold and heartless. I took Michelle in because I remembered how it was like to be rejected with nowhere else to go. She was the only person who could get to me." Lucy swallowed, the words threatening to crack. She clenched her teeth and continued moving.
"Gradually this icy shell grew thicker and thicker and I stopped caring. I tried to protect Michelle from people because I didn't want her to become like me." She started to cry, the little droplets of water rolling down her cheeks, landing on the leathery material of her suit and creating dark spots.
"That's why I acted like that to you. I thought you were exactly like those other people. You tried to melt that ice but I fought back in fear of rejection. I tried to scare you away but you're stubborn. Stupid stubborn Natsu." The bandit laughed shakily, wiping away tears. She looked down at the pink-haired boy sleeping. He was calm with his eyelids shut and his mouth was open slightly. His rose-colored spiky hair flopped over his eye a bit. Lucy chuckled and moved it away.
"You melted through that icy barrier that I thought was protection. You proved to me that you weren't biased or uncaring. You're brave, courageous, stupid at times, but trusting and compassionate. I ran away last night because I couldn't put my trust in someone but now I realize I'm wrong."
.
"Mommy, what's Love?" A little Lucy asked, looking up at her mother with wide chocolate eyes. She held up a brown-covered book. The gold etching said 'Fairy Tales for all Ages."
Layla smiled, placing little Lucy on her lap along with the book. The smaller blonde opened it to a page, showing the prince and princess riding off into the sunset. Lucy pointed to a four-letter word next to the picture.
"L-O-V-E." Lucy spelled out, looking down at the page. Layla chuckled, thinking for a moment.
"Love can mean different things for different people. I think Love is putting your absolute trust and faith in someone."
"Like how the princess trusted the prince to slay the dragon to save her?" Lucy asked cutely. The mother nodded.
"Just like how I love your father." Suddenly, Layla coughed loudly, scaring the little girl slightly and the Fairy Tale book dropped to the ground with a loud bang.
"Mommy?"
Layla coughed roughly again. "I'm—" cough, "—fine." She regained her composure and picked the abandoned book off the floor. "Now where were we?"
.
Lucy teared up at the memory. Lisanna was right. Her mother would have been proud that she finally trusted someone enough to...
Love them.
The words, even mentally, were hard enough to say, but there was no doubt about it. She loved Prince Natsu, the boy who took the bullet for her.
After coming to this startling conclusion, Lucy leaned back, feeling drained. She looked down at the unconscious prince and thought about how that damned kiss felt. It wasn't right that her last words and actions to him were "I can't," and running away. Her head dropped, remembering the sadness in his eyes.
Lucy leaned forwards, bending down and kissing Natsu on the lips. Even unconscious, he felt warm and safe and like... home. He smelled like charcoal on a burning fire and had a sense of comfort to him. Someone rock-solid and would help you in a time of need. She pulled back, her lips tingling and a burning blush across her cheeks.
The bandit sighed, looking out the window, it was dark, and a clock on the wall which said it was 10:12. She'd only been here for twelve minutes and she was exhausted. Hey eyelids grew heavy.
Lucy wanted to stay awake longer, but the incoming blackness won. Her head flopped and slowly, her eyes closed.
"We have to check on Natsu." Lucy woke up at the sound of voices. She door swung open and for a moment she stared at the faces of Igneel, Grandine, and Wendy, before realizing, crap, she fell asleep, and that she wasn't supposed to be here.
Lucy yelped and leapt to her feet, diving for the window a second before the space behind her burned. She managed to get half of her body out before the wall exploded, making her fly and hit the ground painfully. Something snapped and she winced, biting her tongue to stop herself from screaming. Her arm fell limp at her side.
Lucy's featured twisted into a grimace but heard the loud whack and a startled yelp as she ran away from the destruction, holding her hurt arm.
"I'm sorry." Igneel looked down at his feet.
Grandine scowled, waving her hand to create a small breeze, making the remaining embers flying around blow out. "Just because our son is fireproof, doesn't mean the other girl is!" she snapped, checking on the still-sleeping Levy, turning back to him, hands on her hips. Igneel grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry." He looked out the destroyed wall; it as steaming hot and pieces of broken rock and glass was everywhere. Spirit was gone. Somehow, even with the whole of the Dragneel family [minus one, Natsu was unconscious,] she still managed to slip away.
But why? The girl, Michelle, she had been targeting was free now. Igneel sniffed, noticing something odd. While the scents in the air were still quite fried, he could tell that Spirit had been here for hours. Sitting on a white— now half-melted, chair next to where Natsu lay. Yet no harm had come to him; Igneel saw he was still alive and breathing.
He relaxed, but only slightly. Could Spirit have come here to say something to Natsu? The idea seemed ridiculous to the Dragon Slayer. Why would she come back for the man that caught her in the first place? Maybe she came to thank him, Igneel guessed. Still, it seemed iffy.
A bandit like her wouldn't care for their captors, would they? Igneel shook his head and returned to the bed. They'd get the wall fixed later.
Wendy was doing a quick scan for any dangerous or harmful chemicals around the area while Grandine used her Magic to speed up Natsu's healing process. "Spirit didn't hurt Natsu." Wendy announced, pulling her hands away from the rubble.
"There are no signs of damage done in the last twelve hours, actually he's quite happy." Grandine noted, eyebrow raised. Even in his unconscious state he was pleased as a man could be.
Grandine had her other thoughts too, like Igneel. What was the purpose of her visiting him? now she, being a female and much more likely to notice these things, pieced things together.
"Spirit's gone!" Natsu shouted from the halls. Grandine raised her eyes from the interesting herbal medicine book she was reading and, taking a split second to comprehend the words, leapt up from her chair and ran towards the sound of the voice.
"What do you mean she's gone?" Grandine didn't bother waiting impatiently for the rest of the family, instead charging downstairs with Natsu in the back. The Sky Dragon Slayer passed the bend and... there Spirit was. Natsu seemed genially confused as Spirit glared at him.
"What do you want?" The bandit snapped. Grandine turned back to Natsu, glaring at him irritably.
"Is this supposed to be some sort of funny joke?"
Oh, and Igneel had told her about the walking-in-on-Natsu-and-the-girl-named-Lyra,-catch ing-them-in-an-awkward-positition thing too.
Grandine sat at the table, looking over the girls waiting patiently [or impatiently] for their food. Some still had to come in, and Grandine caught a funny scent as one of them walked into the room.
It smelled familiar. Grandine lifted her head in the slightest, almost discreetly, trying to locate the smell. She didn't make the connection of Lyra Heart walking in.
The scents were the same. Spirit entered the competition as Lyra, probably using Transformation Magic to sneak in. Grandine smiled coyly, admiring her bravery and intelligence for a second. And unless she'd learned beforehand, there was a certain family of Transformation Mages living in a cabin somewhere out in the woods...
Natsu had gone to visit them at one point, just after that other busty bandit came to steal a previously unknown assumed treasure and ended up getting injured. Grandine knew that the kind Strauss family wouldn't turn a blind eye if someone was injured.
The Sky Dragon Slayer understood the whole complexity of the plot within seconds, even if some small details were misunderstood. She decided not to tell her husband quite yet; it still was unsure and it was up to her son to make these decisions, but she smiled softly nothingless, thinking that maybe, just maybe, her son wasn't a complete dunderhead after all.
CUTE ENDING FOR YOU ALL AND THE CHAPPY IS ON TIME! amazing! I woke up at FOUR in the morning so I decided to make the most out of it and finish this chappy. *yawns* and go read the next FT chappy... cause it came out tonight... and I have to- *falls asleep on keyboard* goodnight. Oh, before I fall unconscious again, thank you to GoldenRoseTanya, LiLyRose, Ftastarossa, and Talia!
PrettyKitty: "DON'T KILL ME!" HELP, ERZA AND PRETTYKITTY'S TRYING TO KILL ME! *Runs*
Elodie: Yeah, I put it the request as two separate questions and you were the only one who replied. Yes, you got Natsu shot. I kinda grinned sadistically when I read that. (i'm not crazy for wanting to shoot Natsu, I just like making readers mad at me! cuz that's what authors do!) We can all hope... but the there's Pika coming in... *swallows*
1Fairytaillover and Fairy-Tail's-Dragon: Two words; school sucks.
Sofia3: yeah, sorry for the long wait. Jerza is... a background pairing. I'm only mentioning it later, sorry! It's mostly a NaLu GaLe story, I was going to add that in as a 'What happened to Erza thing.'
Loibeagle and LunarMistress: Yeah, I'm thirteen. *giggles* I'm hoping to write a book in the future and don't worry, if I do I'll show it off to e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e! (me being a show-off, cause that's just who I am, Lol!)
Hikari: O.O ... kay... Yeeesssss, we all know that they LOVE each other VER VERY MUCH! *hint hint nudge nudge *cough* Natsu Lucy *cough* *
REVIEWWWWWWW?