Lucy shifted into a more comfortable position on the couch she was on. She looked around the room, it had the feel of a quaint cabin in the woods. A stone fireplace sat against one wall while the open floor plan drew her attention to the small island that Bickslow had just vacated.
The two individuals were not ignorant of the fact that Bickslow's mood flipped like a switch. Lucy wondered if she had somehow done something to upset him. Lucy began to feel like a broken record in her thoughts, the constant loop of doubts left her questioning the standing she had with those around her. Did they also think she was the sniveling, insecure, broken shell of a blonde bombshell that she once was?
Cobra showed no sign of hearing either Bickslow's or Lucy's souls. He silently watched the fire in the stone hearth mulling over why it frustrated him to no end that Bickslow's soul was out of tune and how that adversely affected Lucy. He also knew that Lucy had to work some of her own issues out and it would do no one any good if he consoled her every time she had a negative thought.
Just as he was going to break the comfortable silence in the room, Wendy had come in quietly with a handful of what smelled like herbs.
Wendy smiled at Lucy and Cobra sitting comfortably on the couch. She hated to intrude on the quiet moment, but it was time to fix the remaining wounds that Lucy sustained. She approached the two and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Seeing Wendy approach, Cobra knew what was coming, he stood up and went to get Midnight, he was pretty sure the reflector mage could put his magic to good use to ease the strain of the situation. Wendy was going to have to use some intense concentration and having that many people around to help her, it may be easier to reflect a more calming situation like that of an infirmary instead of the rustic living room. Cobra was ready to provide Wendy with whatever she needed to take care of Lucy effectively and comfortably.
Lucy knew that there was going to be more healing to be done, she also knew it wouldn't be pleasant. She watched Wendy carefully and listened closely to what Wendy had to say.
"Alright Lucy, now that we are in a more stable area and supply runs have been made, it is time to get you better," the bluenette smiled warmly. "The mage that had performed healing magic on you was a hack. He allowed your broken arm to heal crooked and that is why you are in so much pain, and your leg was improperly healed. In order to fix these two areas we will need to re-break the bones so I can set them properly," the blunette paused for any questions, seeing as there were none she continued.
"Normally I would heal them fully but since there is so much scar tissue in those surrounding areas, I will be focusing my energy on removing the scar tissue, setting the bones and initiating the regrowth." she watched the blonde's face for any emotion and saw none. "Lucy, are you OK with what I have planned?"
The blond just nodded her head in agreement, "If that is what you feel is best then I am OK with whatever you need to do, I trust you, Wendy." The smile she gave the small healer did not reach her eyes but it was warm and happy. Lucy was just relieved that she believed the words she told the small slayer.
Wendy nodded in understanding, "You will be cast for 6 weeks, this will be a great time to work on re-exercising your magical containers, which I will do a once over again to make sure they are ready for you to use again.
The sky slayer knew the question before the blonde even opened her mouth to ask. "You will be ready to contact them after I am finished, and you've had some rest. I would wait until tomorrow at the earliest."
This time the blonde's smile was beaming, she wanted so badly to talk to Leo. She wanted to apologize for failing him and the rest of her friends. More importantly, she wanted to feel that piece of herself that has been missing for so long.
Lucy watched Midnight and Cobra enter the room and was sad that Bickslow was not back yet. "So how are we going to do this?" She was wondering how they planned to go about this and how badly it would hurt.
Cobra spoke up then, "Little blue is going to focus on the healing, Midnight is here to make sure none of us freak the fuck out." Wendy rolled her eyes at the lack of bedside manners.
Cobra sneered a little but continued, "I was hoping the Marionettist would be here to help you out if you were down for that."
Lucy was puzzled about how Bickslow would be able to help her, "How is that going to work out?"
"Well, I was hoping he could help you space out while I help bluebird fix you up." Cobra saw Lucy's face scrunch up in confusion as to what Cobra could do to help Wendy. Answering her unasked questions he replied without missing a beat, "Look, I will have to re-break your arm and leg and take care of the local anesthetic so Wendy can focus all her energy on everything else. That means I can't be putting you under with a little bit toxic TLC. I would have to monitor that shit so I make sure you stay under but not six feet under." He paused and gave the blonde a wicked gleaming smile, "I am fan-fucking-tastic at poisoning people but shit at doing it to help someone."
The blonde chuckled lightly at the attempted humor. She wasn't sure she wanted Bickslow fooling around with her soul, or that he would even want to. Maybe he would be disgusted with who she had become.
Cobra barked from where he stood, "Cut that shit, trust me when I tell you he would be more than happy to fool around with you and it would be in his best interest to take good care not to mess with you. If he does, I'll slice his fuckin' throat."
Lucy objected to the threat immediately, "You will do no such thing!"
Cobra growled, "If anyone fucks with you, they are dead to me and will be convulsing on the floor before they can say shit about it." he folded his arms, "So tough cookies twinkie, deal with it."
Lucy just shook her head at the image of the petulant slayer in front of her. It was useless in arguing with him, especially since she knew it was a non-issue because he was right. Knowing what little she did of the slayer, she knew that he would not let anyone near her that meant her harm so everyone at that cabin was safe.
It was perfect timing that Bickslow walked through the door. His babies circled him quietly as he walked straight to the kitchen to grab some water. The mood that Bickslow had been in was absent now as he chugged a glass of water at the sink. Cobra checked him over as he got up and approached the kitchen, everything seemed right as rain, which puzzled Cobra.
"Have a good walk there puppet master?" Cobra asked as he leaned on the island taking in the tall lithe man in front of him as he took long slow gulps of water. Cobra watched as his adam's apple bobbed and the strain of his elevated head stretched his tendons in a way that left the dragon slayer distracted.
So distracted in fact, that he did not notice Papa circling above his head. When the small angry faced totem started a classic wolf whistle that reflected the slayer's thoughts he quickly tried to swat the Papa away like an unwanted fly.
Bickslow chuckled at the antics of watching Cobra act so uncharacteristically agitated. Then again this was nothing new with how Papa was with him.
Hearing the chuckling from the Seith mage, Cobra turned to glare menacingly toward Bickslow, "Make that little shit shut-up."
Bickslow leaned over the counter toward the scowling man, "Aww, what's got your boxers in a bunch?"
Cobra huffed, "Fuck you" he turned quickly on his heels to walk away. He froze and cursed himself as he heard Bickslow's internal response that explicitly dealt with just how he would if he could. Not wanting to fully acknowledge what he just heard from the soul seer, he just looked over his shoulder with a devious grin in his direction.
"Come on freak on a leash, we got a little blonde to fix up."
It was in this space, a sort of in-between, that Lucy felt like she was most herself. She knew she was in a state somewhere between semi-consciousness and blissful sleep. Her eyes sort of open to see the hypnotic eyes of one of her closest friends. They were the familiar green hue of his magic, it was warm and inviting. She was reminded of a mossy grove teeming with life.
She turned her head over to where she could feel a strange pressure on her arm. She could see the steeled determination of the man she had become inexplicably comfortable around. His mouth set in a firm line his brows furrowed in a way that indicated he would rather be doing anything else than whatever it was he was doing to her arm.
She watched how his jaw clenched in a grimace when he turned his single eye to her. She got lost for what felt like an eternity in the velvety plum hued eye. It made her think of a luxuriously soft blanket that she could imagine herself wrapped up in. She imagined herself curled comfortably in the mossy floor in the grove wrapped in the plum blanket while enjoying the flowers that bloomed all around her in the mottled sunlight.
She heard in a voice so low and rumbled that it vibrated in her chest, "It's time, say nighty-night fairy princess."
Her focus was drawn back to Bickslow, looking into his eyes and seeing the creases in his eyes that told her she was smiling. She heard his voice soft and she couldn't tell if she was hearing him with her ears or he was speaking in her mind, "Hey sweetheart, it's time to take a little nap. I'll be back in a little bit with a milkshake for ya."
She felt that warm plum blanket get heavier on her body till she curled in on herself in her mind's mossy grove. Shutting her eyes she focused on the sound of the Seith mage in the distance. She thought about him, focusing on small details about him, like his smell and the way his hands felt on her, how firm but gentle his grip on her always was.
Once they became friends it was almost instant how close she felt to him. She had wondered what took them so long to even talk to each other. He would always tell her it probably just wasn't time. He was a feeling of security, comfort, and acceptance.
She had thought she had those things from others, but in the time she spent with Bickslow before her disappearance, she realized the varying degrees in which friendship with someone develops. It wasn't until they became close friends that she realized that she didn't have what she thought she had with some of the people she considered close. Others sought security, comfort, and acceptance from her and she gave it freely, but they did not always give it back to her the way she gave it to them.
It was these details that she had forgotten in the time she was missing, and she was glad to have them back. She also started appreciating the details she willingly ignored before. If it is one thing that Lucy had come to realize, it is that nothing is life is a guarantee. A new frame of thinking was emerging in the blonde, one that did not willingly ignore the attraction she had to Bickslow.
She always admired him from afar, but the people she was surrounded by held her to a standard of purity that she tried to live up to in fear of disappointing them and losing their faith in her. He never would have met their standards, but now she realized no one would.
It was a mistake, to try and live up to those standards that everyone thought she should abide by. She went against her own instincts and created unreasonable goals to attain. She found herself in too similar a situation that she had run away from and it took her a year's worth of hell to realize this.
She knew in her heart that Bickslow was a great match for her but ignored it. Only now does she realize how much that hurt her and possibly him. Seeing his own backslide as a result of her absence only solidified her conclusion.
Just as she was formulating the idea that she should tell the Seith mage of her revelation, she thought of the Poison slayer. Here was a man who she never had much of an opportunity to spend time with. He risked his life and suffered the ire from her guild to save her. A man she knew very little about believed in her more than her friends.
Again, Lucy was faced with that part of her she willingly ignored before, the part of her that found these unconventional men wholly appealing. The few scant times she had seen the slayer she was pulled to him inexplicably.
An instinct she again ignored in favor of the practical ideal that there was no time for dating or attraction, only time for her team and friends. Besides, from what she could see with how he interacted with everyone she feared approaching him. Even if she thought he was sexy as hell.
She found herself in a quandary and could feel the energy being pulled from her body. She finally gave way to the dark nothing that was waiting for her.
Lucy woke to the feeling of the presence of someone in the room. She felt the soft cotton pillow below her head and was surprised to feel remarkably better since she had her little nap.
Without thinking she went to try a full-bodied stretch only to realize that she had restrictions and some discomfort. As she cracked her eyes open she noticed she was in an inexplicably large bed. It reminded her of happier times when she was young, sneaking into her parent's bedroom when she woke in the night.
She had to make the assumption that this was Laxus' bed, which only made sense since it was Freed's safe house for the Thunder Legion. She chuckled at the quick image that conjured in her head of Laxus sleeping in a twin-sized bed.
Bickslow's babies came to life at that moment with Popo giggling and chanting "Big man in a little bed".
Lucy smiled at their antics, Lucy looked at Bickslow, who was sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking chair, slumped over and leaning on his forearms. When he looked up at her she was taken aback by how awful he looked.
His face was drawn and pale with a classic five o'clock shadow present. He looked drained, and yet somehow relieved now that he was registering that she was awake.
He got up and slowly approached her, "How are you feeling?" he tried to crack a smile but Lucy saw right through it.
"Never mind me, are YOU ok?" the concern etched on her face. She realized that when she spoke her voice was dry and weak. Her eyes shifted to the nightstand where there was a glass of water with a straw.
Bickslow brought the straw up to her lips as he sat on the side of the bed, "Sip slowly". Once she had her sip of water she cleared her throat and spoke more normally, "Bickslow, what is wrong?" her brain started firing off all kinds of worst-case scenarios. She immediately counted the babies, to see if there were any missing or any more added for that matter.
Without saying a word, he carefully maneuvered himself to hug her. She could feel the emotion in it she could only think of consoling him with whatever was bothering him. He pulled away a few long moments later and his alarming features were starting to dissipate.
His eyes seem to spark back to life again and he smiled warmly and affectionately, "We'll talk a little later, right now you have some friends waiting to see you" he said lightly as he jingled her keys.
He stood as Lucy took them from his hand, "I'll leave you to it Love, and remember, take a break if you get tired. It's been a while since you've used your magic." He winked at her and walked out of the room.
Lucy smiled broadly as she clutched the keys to her chest and wondered who she would call first.