For a girl who found herself in near-death situations almost on a daily basis, Lucy Heartfilia had thought little about her death. After losing her mother, the very term made her stomach feel like it was curdled as bile fought its way out of her mouth. She had never had any good memories of death, though she guessed no one ever did. Sure, she knew one day it had to happen. It was a constant in life, the same way that the stars dotting the night sky were always there, regardless of if clouds blocked the view. Though, if she were pushed to think about it, she would have thought she would be a gnarled old lady with greying hair, surrounded by adult children, a husband, and possibly if pushed to think, a grandchild or two. In any musings Lucy caught herself having about the inevitable, there was never a scenario where she was laying writhing in agonising pain, dying from a poisonous snakebite. Yet that was her reality. Though if pressed, Lucy had to say that dying in the place of a beloved friend really wasn't that bad of a way to go.
"Lucy!" Erza shrieked, holding her as if she were made of glass and a wrong move could shatter her.
Tears dripped down the Requip Mage's cheek, marring her stoic appearance. Lucy looked up at her with glassy eyes, seemingly dazed. A wave of pain ricocheted through the blonde's body, making her let out a strangled moan. Gray and Natsu fought with Erza to try to get to their friend's side, only to be held back by the rest of the alliance. Erza tried to hide her tears, seeing the purple veins spreading through the girl's arm. In any other circumstances, they would be almost pretty, seeming almost alive as they snaked through her alabaster skin. Though in these circumstances, they were the ugliest things Erza had ever seen, and if she could, she would absorb them into herself, if only to see her friend's blinding smile again.
"E-Erza?" Lucy stuttered, still trying to focus on one-stop and to stop seeing double.
"I'm here, Lucy, why-" her voice broke, and she took a deep breath, steeling herself into her warrior mindset. "Why did you take the snakebite? I would have managed." her voice broke at the word bite, and she applied more pressure on the tourniquet she had made while the blonde was dozing in and out of consciousness.
Giving her friend a watery smile, the Celestial Mage moved her unbitten arm upwards. Wincing at the pain, Erza moved to hold the blonde's hand, knowing that it was the least she could do. "We are family, you are the sister I have always wanted, and family looks out for each other." The blonde wheezed, smiling softly at the other woman.
"How did you even get there? I saw you on the floor, and then suddenly." Erza stopped talking, a strangled sob replacing her ability to speak.
"They counted m-me out. I took a-advantage. Managed to-to get in the way of the snake, separating you from it." she wheezed, pain making her breathing come out in pants.
"You did not need to do that, I could have handled it," Erza said, more brashly than she intended.
Lucy smiled sadly, weakly squeezing her friend's hand. "You are- are more i-important and u-useful than I." she managed to get out, shooting her friend as stern a look as possible.
Despite not agreeing with her statement, in fact, she vehemently disagreed with it, Erza stopped fighting. Lucy needed her strength to fight off the poison, she didn't need to be worrying about her. Leaning down, Erza kissed the girl's forehead in an uncharacteristic gentle display of affection, before moving back. Biting back her tears, Erza gave a terse nod, her eyes gleaming with resolve. Turning back to the others, she stood up, glaring at everyone. "Alright, we need to get Wendy back. Break up into teams and at least one of you stays with Lucy."
Everyone looked at each other, trying to decide on the teams. "I'll stay with Luce!" Natsu declared, his face molded into an expression of seriousness.
"Flame Brain, as much as I wish I could stay with her two, we need your senses to track her," Gray said, exhaling as he fought to keep a grip on his emotions.
"I'll stay with her, I can keep track of everyone using my Archive magic," Hibiki said, getting nods from his friends.
"Like hell we are leaving her in your care, playboy!" Gray growled, balling his fists at his side as chilled energy surrounded him.
"What ice Princess said, you aren't getting anywhere near Lucy, you perverted freak!" Natsu yelled, stepping up next to Gray so they could block Lucy from Hibiki's line of sight.
"Never thought you were interested in the blonde Mage Gray, though I guess you had to grow up sometimes," said cockily, smirking at his rival.
Gray turned his scroll into his rival, his eyes frosted with frustration at the situation. "Not the time, Lyon." He said simply, his voice coming out in a hiss.
"Gray, Natsu," Erza said, her voice demanding and cutting through the angry fog clouding the boys' minds. "Hibiki is an ally, and he is willing to look after our comrade. Instead of berating him with your nonsense, you should be thanking him or better yet be planning your next move," she said simply, an edge to her voice masking the pain she felt at seeing Lucy whimpering in pain.
Sighing, Gray conceded, looking at Hibiki to apologise. "No need to apologise, I would be the same if it was my friend," Hibiki said, wisely refraining from making a comment on the girls' looks.
After prodding from Gray, Natsu stood down too, but not before giving the Archive mage a suspicious glare. Fine, but you better not let any more harm come to her with us gone, The Light of Fairy Tail is in your hands," after leveling him with a glare to show his seriousness, Natsu looked away. "Come on Gray, let's go. The sooner we find Wendy, the sooner Luce will be okay." And without another word, Natsu was off, with Gray not too far behind him.
Erza sighed before turning back to the remaining members. "Jura, you and I will form a team, Lyon and Sherry can form a team and the rest of the Trimens can form a team. Any objections?" When no one complained, Erza looked at Jura and the two ran off, heading straight into the forest.
Without another word, Sherry and Lyon ran off, but not before Sherry glanced one last time at Lucy. She may not like the girl, but she didn't want her to die. That isn't what love is about. With one last sigh, she followed Lyon, all the while wishing Angelica was with her.
"You look after her, Hib," Ren said, nodding at his friend.
"Of course, it is the only way to treat a beautiful lady after all," he replied, winking at his friend.
With a shake of their head, the boys ran off, with their overweight master taking up the rear. They paused for a second to let him catch up, before breaking into another run and disappearing into the thicket.
Finally alone, Hibiki looked back at Lucy. He frowned, seeing the poor girl in pain. Sweat lined her forehead, darkening her blonde hair into a darker gold. She moaned as she fought the poison, making her forehead crinkle. Sighing, Hibiki walked over to the girl, trying to think of what to say to her. What could he say to a girl on her deathbed?
"Lucy, hold on. They will get Wendy and come back, you just need to hold on," he said, sitting down next to her and taking her clammy hand in his own. "I need to set up the communication between the teams, but just make a sound and I'll come see you, okay?" he said.
When he didn't get any more than a pained moan from the girl, he sighed and walked a few meters away from her. He may not be able to take her pain away himself, but at least he could help her. Resigning himself to his work and trying to block out the pained cries of the girl next to him, Hibiki got to work, hoping that against all odds, the blonde would make it out alive.
He wrinkled his nose in distaste as the noise of the bar reached a crescendo. He could hear the dirks sloshing in the cups, hear the scampering heart beats and smell the stench of sweat and arousal in the air. It was something that he missed about Fairy Tail. Sure, they were all brutes, but at least they could control themselves, mostly. Okay, that was a stretch, but they didn't make the Guild reek of teenage hormones, so that was a start.
"If anyone had told me a few weeks ago that I'd be missing them, I would have thought I hit them too hard with my magic," he grumbled to himself, a quick quirk of his lips showing his amusement.
A few people looked his way but turned their gaze when leveled with his acidic glare. Taking another chug of his beer, the blonde slayer slammed the mug down. He adjusted his sound pods, so they obscured his ears, making the noise decrease so it was a little more bearable. The bartender pointed at his empty mug with a questioning glance, before getting to work getting a fresh one when the man nodded. Sure, it wasn't exactly wise to be getting hammered on his own, but he didn't care. It wasn't like he had a home to go back to.
"'Ere you go, sir." the bartender said, placing the mug in front of him and making some foam slosh over the sides. "Say, you aren't from around er'." the man said, making the man quirk his eyebrow at the man condescendingly.
"Where are you off ta?" the man asked, his voice having a slight twang.
"No set destination," he replied, picking up the glass to take a hearty gulp.
"Well, avoid going into the forests. There has been talk of a dark guild there, one of the Balam Alliance. Nasty pieces of work. Last I heard the Council had arranged a guild alliance or somethin', so don'tcha go getting into trouble, ya 'er?" the man said, waving a knobby hand at the man.
He nodded, drained his glass, and thanked the man with a small upturning of his mouth. He stood up and pushed his rickety stood in, paying no mind to the other patrons who looked up at his abrupt departure. Striding out the quaint pub, the man couldn't help but smile.
He finally had a destination, and Mavis only knows how much he needed that. After all, Laxus Dreyer was many things, but scared of a dark guild was not one of them.
Who knows, maybe they might even pose a challenge, though if history repeated itself, that was just wishful thinking.
Hey everyone! I was planning on starting this story once I finished with the others, but I thought that writing my version or the Oracion Seis events first would be helpful. I will work on this first then completing Their Light second, as it is a sort of unintended sequel to this. I wasn't planning on writing this, but I hope you enjoy it and enjoy finding out how my events lead to Lucy finding her mates!