You are correct, I haven't updated in a while. I'll cover that below, but for now a warning, it gets heavy.
Lucy woke to a comfortable warmth.
Natsu again.
She peeked through her eyes, seeing the sunrise in the cavern's opening. She just closed her eyes again, feeling so comfortable and warm that she didn't want to move.
She shifted her head, trying to burrow her face further into her pillow.
Natsu snorted in his sleep and mumbled. "nuuh...Luce that ticklesss."
Lucy's eyes opened slowly.
Oh. She thought, her face going red.
Her head was laying half on his shoulder, half on his chest. She was faced towards him, just tilting her head up would have her staring at his face. She had her hand resting on the center of his chest.
Lucy slowly worked on shifting herself so she could climb out of the hammock without waking Natsu.
It felt like forever until she was able to lift herself out of the swinging sleeping contraption.
"Have a good sleep Luce?"
She turned to see he had one bleary eye open, watching her.
Lucy put on a fake scowl. -You want to get me in your bed so badly?-
His lips widened in a sleepy, but no less Natsu smile. "I just prefer the Hammock. We can go into your bed Next time if you want."
-Why sir, it is improper for a gentleman to be in a Lady's bed in such a manner-
He blew a puff of smoke in her face before chuckling. "Hah. Gentleman."
She blinked and coughed from the smoke, then gave him a light punch in the gut.
"Omph." He wheezed before grinning. "Look on your face, worth it."
She just gave him an unimpressed look through half lidded eyes. He simply turned over and settled in to snooze.
Alright! Lucy thought as she turned around, a smile on her face. Breakfast and then we set sail.
"Luce, you sure I can't just walk?"
-No- She wrote, before she scrawled in huge and bold -ALL ABOARD!-
This time instead of sorrow and tears, the girls boarded with cheer and enthusiasm. They were all eager to get back home. Somehow a giant beach ball was being thrown around while all this was happening.
"Lucy, why do we have to go to hargeon on a boat?"
-serves you right for wanting to sleep with me so much.-
"So I'm getting punished because I don't want you to get nightmares?"
-It's the quickest way there. It'll be over before you know it.-
"Fine." Natsu sighed as he walked slowly onto the gangplank.
As soon as his foot touched the boat he collapsed to the deck, clutching his stomach and his mouth.
The girls who were boarding behind him mostly just laughed at him, a few ignored him, and only one of them knelt down to help him.
Lucy just chuckled quietly to herself.
She squeezed the chest under her arm, just to make sure it was there.
-Where's Cana?- She wrote to no one in particular.
Serena appeared beside her and sighed. "We put her in the captain's cabin, and you teammates are stringing up a hammock there too. It may help your friend with his motion sickness."
-He'll still be whining- Lucy wrote with a smile. -But instead of 'I hate carriages' it'll be 'I hate boats'.-
She shrugged in response.
"Lucy." Jet appeared in front of her. "I've done a once over on the place, everything is packed, and everyone's on board."
-Let's get this show on the road-
The wind whipped by her as she stood on the front of the boat on the second story deck.
The boat itself was stupid and ugly, an open wooden deck on the bottom story, with what looked like marble columns stretching up to support the second story .
Lucy had the ship navigation controller in her hands, expertly adjusting the settings. It looked like a thick tablet made of some kind of plastic, an array of buttons and slides sprinkled over the surface.
Hearing footsteps, Lucy half turned to see Levy approaching.
"Well, Natsu isn't throwing up at least. Elfman is keeping him company downstairs."
She hummed an 'uh-huh' in response as she tinkered with the tool in her hands.
"Well, I'd say you did pretty well considering this is your first job." Levy leaned against the railing with a sigh. "Nothing major destroyed, criminals captured, girls saved."
Lucy didn't agree.
-Elfman could have died, and that fight could have gone differently if Laxus hadn't shown up. It would have been me against 20 pirates and 2 mages. I could have done better.-
"Come on Lu, you did fine."
Lucy hmmed. She didn't want to argue it, but she still didn't think Levy was right. She could have done better.
-So what did you want to talk about before?- She wrote, keeping half an eye on the controls while watching Levy sidelong.
"I saw your scars when Natsu...you know..."
-Tore my clothes off?-
"Yeah."
The blue haired girl paused awkwardly. She seemed hesitant to ask.
Lucy sighed and bit the bullet. -That is part of my past.-
She placed the Navigation tablet back into it's holder on the railing and reached down to the chest at her feet.
It popped open from her touch.
The memory Lacrama glowed on the top of the collection.
"How much did that lacrama cost? That is the largest I have seen in that quality." Levy looked amazed. "It could hold months worth of memories."
-I stole it.- Lucy's eyes latched onto Levy. -Does that surprise you? I did practically grew up with pirates.-
The blue haired girl did look a little uncertain.
Lucy sighed.
-I stole it from a corrupted, evil, and cruel Rune Knight General.-
"There's no such thing as Pure Evil." Levy objected.
-I thought that once. That notion dies very quickly after you survive your first Torture.-
Horror filled her friend's face.
"Torture?" She whispered.
Lucy nodded numbly. -Not just once. Five times. The scar on my neck that I showed you before, that was done by my stepmother. My first torture.-
Levy just stared at her, speechless.
Lucy reached into the chest, searching the very bottom.
She pulled out several more memory lacrimas, the size of large marbles.
Five of them.
-My Adoptive father/Mentor got me to record my Tortures on these Memory Lacrama- Lucy shook her head. -When he first found me, I was surviving torture number three. He Barged straight into a Dark guild's camp staggering drunk and asking for the bathroom.-
She smiled as she remembered. -As soon as he saw me, he just staggered over to me. He whispered 'I'll get you out of here.', pulls out a blindfold and puts it on me, then all I hear are the sweet screams and cries for Mercy from the people who broke me.-
Lucy shivered in maniacal delight. -When he was done, he took me to his home. Helped me, put me back together. He fixed my flinches, taught me how to cook and fight, but most of all he practically adopted me. He loved me.-
Levy just looked at her. Conflicted, bewildered, Awed, Scared. Everything was on her face.
"I'm not even sure where to begin." Her voice trailed weakly.
-Take your time, we have a few hours of travel left.-
Natsu stared at the cabin ceiling. He couldn't even leave the hammock or he would collapse in a puddle of puke.
He was booooooored. Agaaaaain.
Elfman was in the cabin with him, doing exercises and showing his remarkable resilience and recovery speed.
He was currently on sit-ups, each grunt of effort came out as "Man...ly..Man...ly...Man...two hundred...man...ly…"
Natsu now perfectly understood Lucy's extremely annoyed expression as they traveled to Thunder Cove. It was a wonder she hadn't hit them. Natsu was fighting the urge to put his Manly fist in Elfman's Manly face.
And thinking of Lucy…
He was sure something had happened between her and Elfman. She would always tense up when he was around her, and Elfman was was almost ignoring her with unhappiness written on his face.
"Elfman." Natsu needed to know.
"Yeah?" He grunted back.
"What happened?"
"With what?"
"Lucy."
Elfman, stopped the exercise and lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.
"Come on. Out with it already."
Elfman hesitated. Natsu's sense of smell wasn't as good as when he was a dragon, but he could still smell a whiff of uncertainty.
Natsu waited patiently, something he wasn't good at.
"She told me I should have abandoned Tina, when she was trapped. With a bomb at her feet. Scared out of her mind."
Natsu blinked. That didn't sound like her. Elfman had no reason to lie though.
So why would she say that?
There must be more to it than that.
"Why?"
"She told me I was being reckless. I told her I had to do something." Elfman bowed his head. "I lost my temper and…"
Elfman just stayed silent after that.
Natsu didn't push it any further. He'd talk to Lucy later.
Elfman had left the cabin soon after Natsu had questioned him.
Now Natsu was alone with his thoughts.
Lucy strode in, the chest under her arm.
He sat up in his hammock, and she slowly set herself down next to him.
"Elfman told me about your talk."
She stiffened.
"He said you told him off from saving Tina."
-I didn't, I just didn't want him to be so reckless. He could have gotten killed.-
"Elfman wouldn't lose his temper at that."
Lucy hesitated.
-He told, no yelled at me, he didn't want anyone else to lose a sister like he did.-
Lisanna
-It's just, I like Mira, and Elfman. I just don't want to lose anyone else, or to suffer what I did.-
Lucy looked up, meeting Natsu's eyes.
-does that make me cold? wanting to protect my friends?-
"No"
He waited, watching her.
She just stayed still.
"What would you have done in Elfman's place?" Natsu asked her gently.
She just closed her eyes as she wrote -the same.-
"Exactly the same?"
-To the bitter end If I needed to.-
A tear crawled down her cheek.
-I know what it's like to lose a sister too. It's horrible.-
"Lisanna was like a sister to me too."
Natsu hesitated. "Do..you want me to tell you about her?"
Lucy nodded, watching him bleary eyed.
"Lisanna was like….a ray of sunshine. She was always sweet and nice like Mira is now. She's even the one that helped me hatch and raise Happy."
"Aye!" The blue furball yawned sleepily from Natsu's other side.
Lucy leaned over to poke him.
-You hatched from an egg?- She smiled dryly. -And you call me weird.-
"Thanks" He yawned back happily.
Natsu chuckled at his friend's reaction before lapsing back into silence.
"I…."
He swallowed.
The lump stuck in his throat.
It was still hard to talk about, even to Lucy
"I...I hurt her."
Her dark brown eyes gazed at him gently, no judgement in her eyes.
"When I transformed one time...there were vulcans...they were going to hurt her."
He took a ragged breath in.
"I took them down, easily. But then…I was angry..."
He traced his hand down his forearm.
"It was this big. Exactly this big. It started here, covering her arm to her wrist."
He pointed to the area on the upper side of his forearm.
"I felt like shit. That I was trash, garbage. I hurt my friend. I caused them pain and scared them."
-It wasn't your fault.-
"I was told that so many times. When gildarts changed me back and got me out of my cave, Mira beat the shit out of me and screamed all the while. Is it stupid that I felt better when she was beating me up than when someone said that?"
-You felt like you deserved it.-
His eyes met hers again.
Yeah, she's right.
-I know the feeling.-
"Did you ever…?" He paused, not completing his sentence.
-Yes. My best friend. I considered her my sister. We knew each other for years.-
"What happened?" Natsu couldn't keep his voice from cracking.
She hesitated.
-I can't….tell you. I can't stop crying whenever…-
Lucy's hand reached into the chest at her side, retrieving a memory lacrima.
Natsu reached out a hand, waited for her nod as a 'go ahead' and touched the crystal.
Everything hurt.
Angry red burns littered her arms and stomach.
It Burned
Blood oozed from cuts caused by sharp objects that had been dragged across her skin.
Raging….
Bruises covered her.
...Thundering…
Her leg was broken.
….PAIN
The single room wooden house that served as a prison was unimportant.
She was on her knees, next to Nia.
Her pretty face, once filled with every emotion sweet, positive and outgoing, was filled with pain.
Nia wasn't much better off than she was. Worse in some respects.
One of her eyes was shut and bleeding.
The only thing Lucy could focus on was what had come from her sister's lips.
"I can't take this. Please...help me end my life."
Lucy could only stare at her in disbelief and shock.
"Please Lucy, I can't do it on my own."
Tears stung her eyes as she violently shook her head.
No...she couldn't.
"I'm not strong enough. I won't last much longer. I would rather you do it, than they do."
Lucy met Nia's eyes.
She was serious.
"Please. For me?"
I can see why she would want to, but why me? Please? Why me?
Why is this happening to me? I don't want to do this, but I love her too much to let her suffer when she asked me not to.
WHY AM I EVEN CONSIDERING THIS?
But she's in so much pain, even I haven't felt this bad since…
Last time. We already proved it last time. We can make it.
But Nia has never been strong.
She's my sister….
She can't take it.
I love her.
That's why it's so hard.
Lucy choked back tears.
"Hey, you don't need to cry now. You've always been the strong one. You can do it. I know you can."
She felt her hand being taken up.
Nia cradled her hand against her chest.
No, don't do that...I can feel your heartbeat...
"I'm ready."
The determination in those eyes made Lucy crumble.
Her tears didn't stop.
Lucy leaned down and kissed her sister on the cheek.
"I Love you too Lucylu. Just make me a promise?"
She nodded firmly.
I'm about to end your life for you, I'll do anything you ask.
"Don't remember me like this. Remember I'll always love you. And most of all- live on. For me?"
Lucy nodded.
"Thank you, now come one. Be strong and brave. You can do it."
Her hands trembled as she raised them to Nia's face.
One hand gently clamping her nose, the other covering her mouth.
It was horrible.
Nia jerked as her body fought against her will.
The calmness and the love in her eyes as they slowly closed broke her heart.
A sob threatened to escape her, but she didn't want it to show. She could be strong for her.
The pieces of her broken heart fell into a void as she felt the life leave her loved one.
She stopped moving.
Nia was gone.
Emptiness.
Sorrow.
She completely broke down. Her sobs became uncontrollable.
Her broken heart was poured into every cry of sorrow.
Time had no meaning.
Hours?
Lucy didn't care.
She stopped crying at some point.
The sound of a door creaking open caught her attention.
"Wakey wakey little toys." A man sneered.
There was something in the void of emotions. It was a little flicker of flame that burned in her gut.
"Up you get!" He grabbed Nia, attempting to get her to wake up.
Oh, that's what the emotion was. Hate. Anger. Rage.
"What the hell? Dead? It was fine yesterday." The body landed on the floor again.
Fire burned in her guts, every single fiber of her being dedicated to that focus.
His eyes met hers.
The man took a step back. "You did it?" He whispered.
He seemed unnerved.
"Well, maybe the master will get a kick out of that. Come on, get up and…"
The memory cut off.
-There's important nothing after that. Just pain.-
Natsu just sat, dumbfounded.
Another person she had lost.
By her own hand this time.
Suddenly, Natsu felt so relieved that Lisanna had held his hand after Mira had finished with him.
"It's ok Natsu, I'm fine. I forgive you."
Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy.
"You did the right thing." He whispered in her ear.
A damp shoulder and silent sobs were his only answer as he held his broken friend tightly.
If only to shield her from the world.
Sorry, I did warn you. Heavy. It'll get better next chapter. Lots of hugging Levy.
I am aware how long it has been since I updated. What can I say, I had a block. and work. And fucked up sleeping patterns. And lots of reading. Fuck.
Oh well, Hargeon then Everlou next! Also considering making the Lulaby arc...considerably shorter.
All the cool Ideas I have are taking too long getting around to.
Also-I may be workin on another fic Fairy Wolf, Zelda/FT crossover. Me likie.
For A needed dream I need more inspiration before I write Ruby&Grey's lil chat.
Also I have a fluff dump, not too much there, but there may be-If i have any oneshots, experiments, pilots for new fics or lemo...actualy that leads me to a good point.
Question: Where is the line between Lemon and porn?
Also A Question: Is there one?
I did put a little smut into my fluff dump, but I cleaned it of all it's lemonyness. I was wondering if I could...citrus it back up. I did change the ending because of the lack of lemonyness too.
Anywho, peace out. Need sleep.
PS, anyhoes that have a good Fairy Tail reincarnation OC fic feel free to pm me it.
Anywho, thanks to all you pepes who read mah stuff, reviews(basicly feedback) always apreciated.
And most of all, have a nice day.