"Why are you here?" I spat, backing against the wall. My head was pounding too much for me to sleep, there was a long cut across my forearm that stung like there was lemon juice being poured on it from Mavis knows where, my shoulder was still burning, and now I have to deal with this. Just as I was getting up to change out of my stained shirt and into my pajamas, Cleo showed up in me room.
"Now, that isn't a very nice way of talking to someone who's about to give you presents!" he said, pretending to be offended. He laid a hand over his heart and took a step closer to me. "Aren't you happy to see me?"
"I don't want anything to do with you. Go away!" I yelled, ignoring his last question. I pushed harder against the wall, as if I could move it if I tried hard enough.
"But don't you want to know how to reverse your wish?" he offered. I hesitated.
"…No… I don't want to know it," I stuttered. Cleo relaxed and sat down on the edge of my bed, playing with my key ring that I'd left there. I gritted my teeth and balled my fists, trying not to snatch them out of his disgusting fingers.
"Ah, I see. You think it would be better for everyone if you just keep taking their pain. Very noble of you, don't you think? Or maybe it just makes you a fool. Tell me, do you plan on telling anyone, or are you going to keep it a secret so no one will try to help you? Do you take this as some kind of punishment for something you've done in the past?"
"You don't know anything about me. Now get out." I was literally shaking in anger and fear.
"Oh, but I was just getting started! Plus, I have another present for you!" In a flash, he stood up and cupped his hands, blowing into them. Shimmery silver powder rushed out of his previously empty palms and landed on me, making me cough. My eyes started watering.
"What did you do to me?" I asked, stumbling away from the cloud hanging in the air.
"Three wishes have been bestowed upon you. Use them well, for every wish comes with a consequence or price to pay," Cleo droned, sounding like he was reading straight from a book. His tone got lighter. "Or something like that. I never really paid attention to the rules!"
Seeing my opportunity when he was distracted, I dove for my keys, but Cleo beat me there. He pushed my window open further and threw the pouch out in one swift movement. There was a quiet thud when it hit the sidewalk outside.
"Tsk tsk tsk." I told you I wasn't done, yet you still want to get rid of me?" He was silent a minute, and then started talking again, a little quicker than before. "It seems your friends have already figured out what's happened, so I guess I need to hurry this up.
"Gift #2, whether you want it or not: the only way to reverse your wish is to do what you think is impossible. You have to get that star dragon's key, and then you have to kill it." He laughed at my expression. "I didn't say it was going to be easy! In fact, it should be rather impossible. You should be happy! You wanted to keep the pain, and now you can!
"Lastly, when you are ready to use one of those wishes, all you have you have to do is drop a little of your blood onto the ground, say your wish out loud, and it will come true."
I shivered. "Aren't you going to try to steal my scale again?" I asked without thinking.
"No, I'll get that after the dragon kills you. Goodbye, Princess. Happy wishing!" Cleo called over his shoulder, jumping out the window and taking off down the street. I slid my back along the wall and collapsed onto the floor.
This can't be happening. My life was so fine a few days ago. I guess I really am stuck with this wish now.I thought that's what you wanted, Mrs. I'll Save the Guild but get Myself Killed Instead.
"Lucy!" Natsu yelled, sitting in my window with Happy. He appeared when I hadn't been paying attention, shocking me onto my feet. Gray's head popped out from under my chimney, and Erza walked in through the front door. I wiped the tears I didn't know had formed on the back of my hand and hid the scratched arm behind me. Maybe if I could play it off as an accident, they wouldn't figure out the truth…
My shirt! The blood stain was too much to hide easily… I grabbed the jacket lying on the floor beside me and slipped it on, fake-shivering when the others gave me strange looks.
"Lucy, back when we were fighting Cleo and you were hit with that attack, why did you say he granted your wish? What did you wish for?" Erza asked. I walked across the room and busied myself with cleaning up the papers on my desk. Luckily, the sleeve of my jacket also covered the new scratch.
"Oh, that? That was nothing. I think I was just a little confused. Natsu didn't make a very good pillow when I fell," I tried to joke, although it sounded forced even to me.
"Why were your keys outside?" Happy asked, holding the little brown pack. I froze, but forced myself to slowly walk to him and take them back. My trembling fingers just barely touched his blue fur. I saw confusion in his big eyes.
"I must have accidently dropped them. Thanks for bringing them up," I said through clenched teeth, setting them in my newly de-cluttered desk.
"It's hot in here. Why did you put your jacket on as soon as we came in?" Gray asked, wiggling fully out of my fireplace and standing with his arms crossed.
"What's with the questions?" I tried to say cheerfully. "It just hurts a little, that's all!"
Natsu jumped over my bed from his perch on the window sill and backed me against the same wall Cleo had earlier. When I could move no further, he grabbed my wrist and brought it forward for everyone to see, gently pulling up the sleeve. His touch felt fiery. I held my breath.
The skin around the scratch was an angry red.
"I just scraped it on…my, uh… my door! Yeah, uh, I was closing it behind me, and I guess my arm kinda just got in the way…" I trailed off. The others were looking at me like I'd grown two heads. Natsu reached over to Gray and punched him in the face, and then looked back at me expectantly. It took a few seconds, but the sharp pain rattled my teeth. On instinct, my hands went up to cradle it.
"Oh, Lucy," Erza said, stepping towards me. I backed away from them. Natsu's expression was getting darker by the second. I couldn't take it if he started hating me for what I did.
"I'm fine guys! Really, I promise!" I said, sliding to the side and feeling for the knob to the bathroom. I slammed the bathroom door shut in front of me when I found it. I leaned against it and breathed heavily, trying to regain my composure. There was a loud squeak outside, and then silence. A few minutes later, someone knocked on my door.
"Lucy, it'll be ok," Erza said soothingly. I hesitantly opened the door. Erza, Gray, and Happy had formed a semicircle around the bathroom. Seeing them all standing there with understanding looks on their faced set me off. I rushed into Gray's outstretched arms and buried my face in his shoulder, muffling my cries. Happy clung to my arm and cried with me as Gray's hand came up and stroked the back of my head. Erza joined us, hugging both me and Gray. I usually hated the bone-crushing hugs from Erza, but she took off her armor a second before wrapping her arms around everyone.
"It's ok. Everything'll be fine," Gray promised. I shook my head in frustration and pulled away from him and Erza. Happy looked up at me.
"No, it won't be! I want to keep this pain so I can make up for all the times people have gotten hurt because of me. This is all just karma, and I deserve it! Natsu's never going to talk to me again, meaning I just lost my closest friend and the guy I like, my mom apparently left some impossible job for me to finish, my shoulder is killing me again, and I just want to go back in time to before I even left for Candor!"
"Nobody minded getting hurt for you," Erza said. "We're nakama. We would do anything for you, and anyone else that needed our help."
"Forget the stupid hothead. He's being an idiot, like usual," Gray added.
"If I hadn't run away from home in the first place and joined Fairy Tail, none of it would have even happened."
"If we thought anything was your fault, we never would have saved you. Me, Gray, Levy, Master; everyone loves you. We're a family. The past is in the past, and there's nothing we can do to change it now." That's not true. If I were nakama, whether they thought it was my fault or not, they still would have come for me. I bit my tongue before I could say that out loud.
"It's true! We all love you!" Happy piped up.
"Nothing matters except for reversing your wish. You can explain everything to Master tomorrow, and give us the full story. No matter what you want to do, you can't live like this forever. Pain is a part of life. It makes us stronger. You'll be doing more harm to everyone if you stay how you are now," Gray said, guiding me towards my bed.
"Sleep now and we'll get Wendy to heal you in the morning when we get to the guild," Erza said.
I was tucked under my covers by my three best friends. Erza climbed in beside me, Gray crashed over on the couch, and Happy curled up on my pillow. I went to sleep with new hopes. Maybe we can fix this somehow. Maybe I can find a loophole in the wish, and I can get rid of it without attempting to kill a dragon. Maybe Natsu will forgive me.
Yeah, and maybe you'll get yourself killed before that can happen.