Okay, I'm super-duper sorry for all the downers recently. I know it kind of seems like I'm victimizing Lucy, and in a way, I sort of am. Don't get me wrong, please! I think Lucy is strong and a very valuable member of the team. In a way, that's why I use her, I think she's strong enough to handle anything that's thrown at her; at least, with the help of her beloved nakama.
P.S. I'm sorry this took so long, I was having trouble deciding where it should go, I hope you like it! Thankfully, I procrastinated by writing mindless nalu fluff, so that'll be coming up!
So, now that that's cleared up, The Headache pt 2.
My eyes flutter open to a silent, still apartment. I shiver, thinking it was too cold. It's been too cold for the past month, despite the warm June weather.
I get up to get myself some breakfast, sitting cross-legged on my bed, munching quietly. I can just see the tip of the massive guild building a few streets down. I absently begin to rub the back of my right hand.
I wish I had magic. Joining Fairy Tail would have been so amazing! I could go on adventures and meet lots of interesting people. . . see the world. . .
A sharp rapping on my door pulls me from my thoughts and the beginning of a headache. Please, please don't be the weirdo! I think, creeping slowly to the door. As much as I deny it, however, The Weirdo, aka Aki, makes me laugh. I met him at work. One day he just sauntered in with that stupid grin fixed on his face and he hasn't left me alone since. He's been insisting that we hang out together for the past month, showing up at my door unannounced at all times of the day just to talk or go for a walk. He asks me about my past, my fears, my goals, and my hopes for the future.
I don't tell him about my fantasies surrounding Fairy Tail, it would just be embarrassing.
I swing the door open to find none other than my personal stalker and friend, Aki. I suppose he's my only friend here in Magnolia. For some reason I haven't made any friends since I got here. . . .now, when did I come to Magnolia? My breath speeds just a little, my temples beginning to throb.
I smile weakly and see his eyes narrow, if only a little. Aki is tall and quite muscular with midnight eyes and strange blue hair. It almost doesn't seem real, the way it spikes up all around his head. He wears a strange long-sleeved shirt that covers the majority of what I assume to be well-toned arms and Capri pants.
"Ohayo Luce! How are you?" He said, barging past me towards the kitchen.
"Did I stay you could stay for breakfast?!" I snap.
A small frown turns down his lips. "What's wrong, Lucy? Your head hurting again?"
I avert my gaze from his concerned features, how could I tell him that I get a headache every time I see him? "Yeah. . ." I mumble.
An emotion I can't place flashes across his features before turning almost forcefully up into a cocky smile. He abandons the thought of breakfast, which unsettled me in a way I can't quite describe. "Let's go for a walk. Those always seem to help a bit."
I admit that they do. On the way out the door I pick up my house keys, turning to see him smiling at me from the door.
I jolt as if a rod of lightening struck me and for a moment I see an image of a boy with pink hair in the exact same spot, smiling at me just like that. They could be twins, only the boy in the vision has pink hair and a cat hovering by his head.
Who is this boy? It's not the first time I've seen him. His image comes to me at unexpected moments; I never know when or where I'm going to see him. Sometimes I'm taking a bath when I see him barge in. Sometimes I'm writing when I see him fly through the open window as if I've left it that way for him.
Do I know him well enough to let him in my house whenever he wants? Is he a figment of my imagination? Am I sick?
My head throbs painfully and my knees buckle. Aki's smile melts off quicker than a Popsicle in July as he rushes to my side, kneeling on the floor. "Lucy, what's wrong?!"
"It's him!" I practically shriek, unable to hear over the pounding in my skull.
"Who, Lucy?! I'll take care of whoever it is! Just tell me and I'll fix it!"
"You can't, he's. . . he's not real. . ."
I feel hot tears course down my cheeks at my confession. I realize I want more than anything for this boy to be real.
Aki looks at me with alarm in his eyes. "Who do you see?"
"I don't know. He has pink hair and a blue cat. That's all I see. I see him all over, all the time and I don't know why!" I push my forehead painfully toward my knees, trying to fix it with pressure.
"I feel so lonely, Aki." I whisper. "Why am I so lonely? It's like there's something missing. Something big and no matter what I do, it sits there, eating away at me."
He shoots to his feet so fast he almost falls back down on his butt. I flinch at his sudden movement, still rubbing my face; scrubbing away the tears and the memory.
I'm too preoccupied to notice his hands shaking violently at his sides. I'm too wrapped up in myself to see his blue hair twitch to the side by a millimeter as he makes his hasty retreat. "Ne, Lucy? Put some ice on that, I forgot that I have to be somewhere. Rain check on that walk, okay? I'll see ya later!"
I'm trying desperately to hold on to the image of the boy in my mind even as he fades. I sit up, headache abruptly gone, "huh?"
I gather my things, getting ready to go to my job as a shop assistant in a small book store. I have no idea of the argument that's boiling in the guild at that moment.
"SHE REMEMBERS ME!" Natsu screams, kicking in the doors.
Every single person, no matter what they were doing, swings to look at him. Some were fighting, others drinking, but they all stare, open-mouthed. Even Laxus looks down on the Pink-haired mage from the second floor.
"NANI?" They all scream in unison, with the exception of a few.
"It was me she was talking about!" He exclaims excitedly, almost to himself. A strange blue wig twitching in his agitated grip. Suddenly his face falls, all excitement gone. "She misses me."
Gray stalks aggressively up to him, clad in nothing save a pair of dark boxers. "What did you say, Flaimbrain?"
"I went to see her as Aki, just keeping up. We all know the headaches haven't been getting any better and I was worried, so I asked her to go on a walk with me. I turned to her as I was heading out the door to make sure she was following. The next thing I knew, she was on the floor, clutching her head. When I asked her what was wrong, she said 'It's him!'
"Then she described me! She's so sad and she doesn't know why. She's getting it back, but it's killing her!" The realization hits them all at once. Natsu's knees give out, realizing what he had said.
"That's it, isn't it?" He says barely above a whisper, placing his face in his hands. "She'll remember and she'll die."
"Have a good day!" I tell a customer, bowing them out of the shop. I look back at the empty place and sigh. When did my life get so boring? I wanted adventure. . .
A sharp ringing shakes me from my thoughts. I plaster a smile on and turn to the customer. A small girl with azure hair pulled into neat pig tails steps hesitantly in and I pause. Do I know this girl?
"Ohayo!" I greet her, walking over. "Is there anything I could help you find?"
There's a sadness in this girls eyes that disturbs me, though I try not to let it show. She nods, asking for a specific book.
"Ooh! That's one of my favorites!" I tell her, turning to lead her down a row to the left, searching for the book.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a glowing light, white as the puffy clouds in the sky. Stopping abruptly, I turn sharply to see the girl with her hands behind her back. "Did you see that?" I ask her.
A series of emotions play across her delicate features; fear, sadness. . . Guilt? "No, miss. I didn't see anything."
"It must have been my imagination, then. It's really been active these past few weeks! Now, where did that book go . . .?"
As soon as she's gone and the shop is empty once again, I lean against the counter. Boredom weighs on my eyelids as I stare out the front window, automatically fixing on the bits I can see of the guild several streets over.
"Maybe I'll go over and say hi. Just because I don't have magic doesn't mean I can't be curious about the town's guild, right? Though, I should go with a pretense. . . I know! I'll go to post a request! I'll say I need help. . . moving my furniture! I'll say the movers won't do it and I need quick assistance. Perfect!" I squeal, snapping my fingers.
The second my shift is over I throw my apron at my replacement and walk hastily toward the building I had only ever dreamed of entering.
Stopping abruptly at the massive doors, I feel a twisting in my gut and an aching in my head, nerves making me feel jittery as I reach for the door. What if they don't want someone without magic tainting their wonderful building? What if- NO! I will see the inside of this building if it kills me! A member of Fairy Tail once saved my life. I need to know what it's like in there, where so many heroes dwell.
Steeling myself, I draw my shoulders back and lift my chin. I tell myself I can handle anything.
The door flies open at my tugging and I stare at the chaos before me. Everyone is screaming, most fighting. At the center of it all is a tall, muscular boy with striking pink hair.
I stumble as spike of pain drive through my head. My vision blurs, but I refuse to fall. My excuse for entering the place falls away as I'm overcome by the desire to be next to this boy that has occupied my thoughts for the past month.
Trying to focus on not being thrown to the ground by flying projectiles or my own instability, I drag myself single-mindedly forwards. I hear gasps swirl around me as I'm noticed, but I don't care. All I care about is the boy that has jumped from my imagination. He's not noticed the quiet that swiftly quelled the fighting; he continues to scream insults at another familiar looking boy with dark hair and little clothing.
I can hear crying as my knees hit the ground and I continue crawling like an infant.
That's when he notices me.
I watch in awe as his faded figure jolts towards me, almost instinctively. Dully I notice my headache is fading, but so is my eyesight; the warmth of dozens of bodies press in a tight circle as I'm arrested from my final fall by two strong arms.
Curling into his embrace, I relax muscles that have been tensed for weeks. I don't know how, but this is where I belong. I know somehow that this is my home, though I'm unable to ask why.
"Luce, why?! Why did you come here?" My pink boy cries, cradling me close to his chest like a child.
Though I can feel myself fading, I find it within me to answer him. I must always answer my pink boy. "Needed to see . . . guild. Home." I sigh contentedly, letting go.
"Didn't my Land Lady take this?" I ask no one in particular, noticing my outfit. It was the one I met Natsu in all those years ago.
Looking quickly for a distraction from the growing lump in my throat, I survey my surroundings in hopes of a recognizable landmark, but there is nothing to see; nothing but white stretches in all directions, giving me a sense of vertigo.
"Hello?" I ask tentatively, unsure of what else to do.
"Am I dead?"
"Hello Lucy and no."
I start at the proximity of the voice, though it is clearly disembodied, as I am the only one inhabiting this strange place.
"Who are you and how am I not dead?" I want to know so many things, but how is this voice to be trusted?
"I am you and you are not dead because I couldn't let you die over something so. . . mundane. So treatable. You've been fighting me, Lucy. You shouldn't do that."
"Gomen, I didn't mean to fight anyone. Recently." I added, thinking bitterly of my lost month. So much time has been taken from me.
"No, I know. One good knock to the head and suddenly I was a stranger. But you and I are meant to be one, my Lucy, and we cannot fight. I am the magic that dwells within you; your power and your strength. I work to keep you safe.
"Do you ever wonder why your spirits know when you are scared or hurt or in need of their assistance and show up in the nick of time? Have you ever thought of that? It is me that alerts them."
"You. . . my magic?"
"Mmm."
"Why did I fight you? Why did that cause memory loss?"
"Oh Lucy, the human body is so fragile. It live a century if it is lucky and then it must let go and I am forced to inhabit someone new. The body may be fragile, and the mind too, at times, but it does everything in its unconscious power to preserve itself. When you were dropped from that atrocious height your body reset, as it were and could not, in a fluke chemical mix-up, remember how to cope with my presence. So it shut me out, thinking it was protecting you when it was doing quite the opposite.
In order to keep you from hurting yourself, I locked away your memories of me, lulling your body into a false sense of security until the time where I could be awakened. The headaches were the result of the inner conflict. You didn't have memories of these people, most notably Natsu, but you felt in your heart that you were supposed to."
"But why now?!" I cried. "Why wait a month before I could remember? I don't want to waste anymore time without my friends!"
"It wasn't me we were waiting for, dear Lucy. It was you. You needed to accept me."
"How? How did I accept you?"
"You walked back into that guild you love so much. You decided whatever happened was worth the risk, and you strode boldly in. I'm proud of you, Lucy. It has been some centuries since I have been a part of a being, a cause so great. Thank you."
"I-I'm not so great. . . I'm the weakest member on my team. I don't have the strength to use you properly. . ." I sink to my knees in realization. If I had been stronger, I wouldn't have forgotten my magic, I wouldn't have had to go a month without my friends.
"Come now, what would your Natsu say? You are no less important than the moon that controls the tide, dear one. You are a complex and unique being and you seem to be the only one that doesn't see it. There is no one that sees it better than the boy who seems duller than he, in fact, is. The sun rises and sets on you, Lucy. For someone, you are the world itself. I shouldn't have to tell you this.
You are the owner and user of ten of the twelve zodiac gate keys! You are the beloved master and friend of so many spirits. Spirits who would do anything for you, not because you're ridiculously powerful, but because you care for them.
You are a fresh, idealistic wizard with so much to look forward to. There will be dark times ahead, but don't let them mean more than the good."
I struggle to breathe under the crushing weight of her words. "Why. . . Why are you telling me all of this?"
"Because you need to hear it." She seemed to pause before adding, "I've never spoken directly to the human I am bonded with. I am glad you finally hear the words I've so longed to tell you. We are one again, Lucy, and now you must return to your friends. They are worried for you."
"Wait! So the headaches won't come back? I'm better?"
"As long as you remember who and what you are. As long as you remember me you will be more than fine." I feel the warmth of a smile in her sweet voice.
It washes over me in waves, heating my chilled limbs. I can feel a solid embrace envelop me as the brightness of the space dims, and finally fades away, leaving me with spots behind my eyes and a light heart.
"Urg," I groan, not yet fully awake. Freezing, I realize there's a confining presence around me. It's warm and familiar, but in my addled state all I can think is I'm being held down. I fight weakly at the unyielding barrier.
"Woa, Luce! Calm down! Please, open your eyes, it's me!"
I know that voice. I think, forcing my sticky eyes open to find my pink-haired idiot lying next to me.
"Natsu!" I smile tiredly, remembering everything for a change.
Shock colors his face, unmoving for a good half a minute before it breaks into a wide grin. "You remember! GUYS! SHE REMEMBERS!" He calls through the open doors of the guild infirmary. Before I know it, I'm surrounded by closest friends and allies.
"Minna!" I cry, attempting to embrace them all at once, and failing spectacularly. Everyone pushing this way, and that, we end up in a giant pile on the floor, laughing.
"Lucy!" Wendy shouts, getting my attention. "What happened? You were dying and then. . . you just weren't anymore. Do you recall anything?"
"I do." I tell the much-quieted room. I can feel their anticipation hushing even the sound of the wind blowing outside the window. I don't quite know what to tell them. How do I explain that I had a life changing talk with my magic?! Maybe I'll tell my team everything later, but for now I decide to keep it simple. "When I got hit, my mind went to war with itself, but that war is over now." I pause. "What happened to that dark wizard?"
"He was found dead in an alley of Crocus by some locals." Erza calls from somewhere in the pile. "Apparently he made many more enemies than just Fairy Tail. We folloed up to make sure. He's gone."
My eyes fogged over, relif flooding my system.
"What changed?" Natsu asks quietly, placing a warm hand in my shoulder. "How come you're back after a full month?"
I look back at him, looking into the steady obsidian eyes that never gave up on me. "You did. Remembering you made me realize how empty my life was without my nakama. Thank you, Natsu."
I swear the guild has never been so silent. I can practically feel Mira clasp her hands together with little hears hovering over her head.
His face settles into a look I rarely see outside of battle; serious and determined. "Always, Luce."
Ho my goodness, this story really wanted to be in past tense, but I persevered!
Alright, it's finished! I can go back to writing fluff! XD Did I do okay? Let me know and thank you for reading!
over and out