Silence. Wendy woke up to a silent, empty room. A bed with too much space. There was nothing there. No, that wasn't entirely true. Carla was there. She loved Carla, and was glad that she was still with her. But there was a Cynthia shaped hole in her heart. "..." Honestly, she didn't even remember falling asleep. Her eyes were a bit sore. Did she cry herself to sleep? That feels likely. She was so exhausted physically and emotionally...
"...Wendy?" Carla's soft voice broke the silence. She was awake, and she felt Wendy stir. Wendy's back was facing her. She knew how Wendy was feeling. She was also hurt by the loss of Cynthia, but she had to be strong for Wendy's sake. "Good morning..."
"...Good morning..." Wendy said weakly. She was afraid to turn around, because she knew what that would be admitting. She was scared. "...Please tell me it was all an awful dream. Please tell me that she got up early for something, and that's why she's not here. She didn't want to wake me up..."
Carla was stunned into silence. She opened her mouth, desperately attempting to find the right words, but...she couldn't. Her mouth went dry. This wasn't the first time Wendy asked her to do this, but it got harder and harder with each passing day. She really wished it was a dream as well, but that empty space next to Wendy told a painful story. The fact the time was later than usual told the story. The three of them were awake by now, doing their morning routine. "W-Wendy, I...she's..."
"..." Wendy didn't say anything. She already knew the truth. Their hearts weren't beating in sync like they had been. It was only hers now. She just broke out into quiet sobs once again. Carla moved to embrace her, feeling the tears sting her eyes as well.
It was a somber few minutes. Eventually, there was a gentle knock at her door. Wendy wasn't really in the mood to answer or see anyone just yet. So Carla did it. "Hello?" She opened the door, only to be surprised by who she saw. "Alex?"
"Huh?" Wendy lifted her head at that name.
Alex stepped forward into Wendy's room. Her eyes were a little glossy and red, but she managed to give Wendy a gentle smile. "Hey, Wendy..." She heard what happened and it broke her heart. As much as she loved Cynthia, there was no one who loved her more than Wendy.
"A-Alex, I..." Wendy wanted to speak, but she was shushed gently.
"You don't have to say anything, Wendy. She wouldn't want us to be sulking for too long..." Alex wanted to be strong for Wendy's sake. "Do you mind if I stay here with you for a little bit? I'm not Cynthia and I don't intend to replace her...but I don't want to leave the person she cares about most in the world all alone."
"O...Okay..." Wendy nodded slowly. She did appreciate Alex's concern. "I...I'm sure...she'd like that..."
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Several days went by since the Fight for Fiore incident. Things returned to normal in Fiore…well, as normal as things could be. Fairy Tail was still off kilter due to the loss of Cynthia, but they were doing their best to move on. Wendy was the one taking it the hardest, so efforts went to ensure she wouldn't feel so down. A few of the Fairy Tail ladies decided to relax in the hot tub to ease their worries. "Isn't this relaxing…?" Mira let out a small sigh while dipping into the water.
"Mhm..!" Wendy gave a nod of agreement, attempting to let all of her tension go in the relaxing water. "It's really nice…ahhhh…"
"The water's great!" Alex joined them, her red hair tied into a bun. "Maybe the idea of being in another guild's bathhouse makes it so relaxing." She was sinking into the water with a content smile.
Lucy kept a towel wrapped around her, but she dipped her legs into the water and released a content sigh. She then turned to Erza, giving a soft smile. "She seems to be doing a little better…"
To that, Erza nodded, scrubbing down her arm while watching Wendy interact with Carla, Mira, Cana, and Lisanna. "Yes…I think she's gotten over the initial shock of losing Cynthia. Alex being here helps a little, too. She seems to be adjusting to the change."
"Back at the Isle, she also lost her foster dragon, too…" Lucy said while recalling the incident at the Isle. "She had Cynthia to help her through it. But now it's our turn to be here for her."
"Well said." Erza said with a nod of approval before looking Lucy over, realizing she actually had yet to step into the water. "You'd usually be in the water by now?"
"Ah…" Lucy proceeded to sweat. The only reason she hadn't even taken off her towel yet was because of the black mark that was crawling up her neck from her back. She wasn't quite sure how the others would react to it. "No particular reason…"
"You should join in, Lucy…" Cana said with a devious smile, hands moving in the air in a groping like manner. "It'll be fine~"
Lucy knew those hand movements far too well. A blush spread across her face and she frantically shook her head. "N-No thanks! It'll be fine!"
"But…" The voice that chimed in was familiar; it belong to Flare, who was just standing in the middle of the sauna while poking her fingers together sheepishly.
"F-FLARE!?" Lucy's eyes widened at the sight of the hair mage. "W-What are you doing here now…?"
"This is only open to Fairy Tail members…" Levy said while waving a finger with one hand resting on her hip. "But then again…I suppose she's a friend, so it's not so bad…"
"I wanted to repay you all in some way…" Suddenly, Flare's hair began to extend, grabbing the soap and began grabbing the bodies of the women in the water. "So let me scrub every inch of your bodies…"
"W...Who is this...?" Alex looked around with a sweat drop. Flare was a stranger to her, but they were about to get very acquainted and very soon at that.
"You can call me Flare." Flare looked to Alex with a smile. Before Alex could respond, Flare's hair wrapped around her wrists.
"...Uh-oh." Alex's expression paled. Whatever was about to happen, was about to be a lto.
"T-Time to go…!" Lucy squeaked, however, before she could run off Flare's hair grabbed her too.
"You too, Blondie." Flare had an innocent smile while dragging Lucy into the water with her hair. What occurred next was…a little bit of chaos. There wasn't much anyone could do as Flare's hair reached out and grabbed all of the women there, proceeding to use the soap on them all. What felt like an eternity was only a few minutes and Flare was finally finished scrubbing everyone down; the ladies were sprawled along the inside of the water in a comical fashion. "There, all clean~"
"J-Juvia…only wanted Gray-sama to scrub her down…" Juvia whined with comical swirls in her eyes. She felt violated...!
"H-Heh…" Wendy shook off her dizziness while closing her eyes. There was a small giggle coming from her for the first time in days. "T-That was pretty fun, wasn't it, Cynthia?" Ah…she did it again. She was so used to Cynthia being right beside her she still had yet to adjust to her not being around. Because of that, the smile that was on her lips quickly formed into a frown. "Oh…right…"
The atmosphere shifted from being light-hearted to somewhat somber yet again. "Poor Wendy…" Lucy said with a heavy sigh.
"Wendy..." Alex frowned as well. Cynthia was the first thing that came to her mind, but it tugged her heart more to see the disappointment on Wendy's face.
"Uhm…Lu-chan…" Levy was standing behind Lucy, staring worriedly at the black mark that started on her back and began crawling up her neck. It was visible to everyone now, so there was no use in the blonde trying to hide it from anyone. "W-What is that…!?"
Lucy's eyes widened as she realized what she was trying to hide was now exposed to everyone. "I…I don't know…"
"What do you mean you don't know?" Erza quirked a brow, arms crossing over her bosom. "How long as that been there? Are you getting sick?"
"I…I don't think so?" So many questions, so many answers Lucy didn't have a remote answer to. "Maybe it's something I caught while in Joya…but really, it doesn't seem all that bad. It doesn't even hurt or anything!"
"I tried to scrub that, but it wouldn't go away…" Flare remarked. Wendy she said that, Lucy rubbed her back. That explained why Flare was so intent on that spot!
"Lucy-san, maybe I can do something…" Wendy wadded through the water before reaching Lucy's back, extending her arms out and her palms faced forward. A soft sea green light emanated from the sky dragon's palm, releasing a soft pulse of healing magic along Lucy's back.
"…" For some reason, Lucy ended up releasing the quietest hiss of pain as the black mark slowly began to recede. Wendy was unable to remove it completely, but it was reduced to a noticeable black mark on the small of Lucy's back. "Is it gone…?"
"Ah…not entirely…" Wendy said with a small frown. "I got most of it to go away…."
"Thank you anyway, Wendy…" Lucy gave an appreciative nod to the sky dragon. "Anyway…I think we've spent enough time in here…" To that, Lucy got several nods of agreement.
"U-Um…." Wendy piped up; looking as though she had something she was dying to say.
"What is it, Wendy?" Mirajane asked with a tilt of her head.
The bluenette wasn't quite sure how she wanted to phrase this and it just came to her head. All eyes were on her and her gazed shifted to the water again. "I…I know everyone is trying their hardest…and I know everyone does their best to protect me, and Cynthia when she was here…b-but…I don't want to leave all that work to you anymore. Please…let me be the one to protect you all…i-it's the least I can do…please…"
All fell silent. It was easy to see how much Wendy was really hurting, and her words made it painfully clear that she wanted to make up for not being able to protect Cynthia in some way. Carla could tell the most that Wendy wanted to follow through on these words more than anything. "Wendy…"
Mirajane gave a soft smile, placing her hand on Wendy's shoulder while giving a slow nod. "You know we'll be counting on you then, Wendy."
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Lucy awoke slowly, in a field of flowers in broad daylight. She sat up slowly, looking around at the scenery. Everything felt warm and pleasant. She blinked a few times, her surroundings that of an open field. "What is this place...?" She then noticed a few animals nearby, and they approached her. Rabbits, dogs, deer... "Oh, wow. It makes me feel like some of story princess." She giggled, reaching a hand down to pet one of the dogs.
She couldn't describe this warm feeling in her chest. But it was pleasant and she enjoyed it. "Hehe..."There was a smile on her face. Eventually, she found that she was beginning to walk. There was no destination, but it was just nice. What she didn't notice, were the dark clouds slowly rolling overhead behind her...nor the people in white coats standing behind her.
But before anything happened, she woke up, in her bed at home. She woke up early and with a smile. "What a pleasant dream that was! I haven't had something that warm in a while." She yawned and stretched her arms over her head. "Oh, right...we're going to see the guild doctor today." All because of that black mark on her back. It was easy to hide with her current outfit for now, but what if it got worse? It was better that this was taken care of now. As Lucy got out of bed, she didn't realize that her right eye did briefly flash a red shade...
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A trip to Porlyuisca was taken by Team Natsu, accompanied by Alex. Of course the old woman still didn't take so kindly to being bothered, but she was the guild's doctor in a sense so she was going to assist with whatever they needed anyway. The pink haired woman was examining the black spot on Lucy's back, eyes narrowing as she just poked it to see if Lucy would have any reaction, and she did not. "Hmmm….."
"Is it dangerous…?" Gray asked with his arms crossed.
"I can't say." Porlyuisca replied with a shake of her head. "She doesn't seem to be showing any signs of sickness either, at least physically." She did make sure to check Lucy's heartbeat. Compared to the last time she did so, her heartbeat was regular. No, that wasn't quite right...compared to a normal heartbeat, it was slightly off. But it was in such a way she couldn't describe it. "How does your heart feel?"
"My heart?" Lucy placed a hand on her chest. "I don't feel anything strange."
"..." So Lucy didn't feel it? Was it nothing, or was it a sensation she'd grown accustomed to? This was something Porlyusica couldn't discern right away.
"Probably something from that restaurant back in Joya…" Natsu said with a nonchalant shrug. "Shouldn't have eaten there, I knew it."
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DRAGGED ME IN THERE!" Lucy comically shouted at Natsu before Porlyuisca glared daggers at her to turn back around so the examination could finish. "Idiot…"
"Those places were fine!" Alex exclaimed.
The medic could still see nothing wrong with the black spot on Lucy's back. It was like a puzzle she couldn't figure out. "Have you felt anything strange as of late? Physically, your body is fine. This spot seems to be benign in that aspect…"
"Well…" If now was a good time for Lucy to mention the occasional headaches, now would be the time. "I don't know if this is much of anything, but lately I have been getting some headaches here and there…they pass after a few seconds, though…"
"I see…" Porlyuisca gave a slight nod before gesturing for Lucy to put her shirt back down. Walking over to a counter, she grabbed a few medicinal herbs and handed them to the celestial wizard. "Take these whenever you get a headache. It should suppress them for a while."
"Oh, thank you…" Lucy said with a soft smile.
The old woman looked around for a bit. Something was indeed off...she glanced towards Wendy, who's expression, despite her best efforts, was still one of sadness. She then exchanged glances with Erza, who gave her a somber nod. She understood in that moment... "Now…" The old woman went to grab her broom, immediately swinging it around wildly to force out the Fairy Tail mages. "GET OUT!"
"WE'RE GOING, WE'RE GOING!" Gray shouted as he and the others were forced away from her home and back into the woods. "Geez, that old woman still has attitude huh?"
"At least she helped out…" Wendy let out a small chuckle while rubbing the back of her head.
"Yeah…" Lucy gave a nod before resting against a tree. She grimaced from the return of a slight headache, and in the next instant a pink dagger flew into the tree just beside her head, causing her to shriek before looking around. The dagger vanished and everyone was on guard. "What was that?!"
"I've finally found you..!" Sophie said while sprinting from behind a tree. Along her arms were strange gauntlets adorned with red gems on the knuckles. Her speed was impeccable and by the time anyone truly noticed what was going on, the violet haired girl was in front of Lucy, but her arm was pulled back and she had no intentions of throwing it forward. "…Oh." And when Sophie looked around, the others were prepared to attack her. "It seems I've made an error in judgement…"
"What kind of judgement were you making!?" Lucy was in a defense stance. Nearly being attacked like that made her eyes flash red for a brief second.
Even Alex noticed this, which made her narrow her eyes a bit. It happened so quickly, so briefly, she wasn't sure if she was seeing things or not. "...?"
"Who are you?" Erza demanded to know. Her stern gaze was known to instill fear into anyone that looked at her; however Sophie just curiously tilted her head to the side, unaffected by it.
"Sophie…!" Yaya, Shinji, and Yuji appeared, both of them panting heavily. "You can't just run off like that…we're in the middle of a mission…!"
"Geez…" Yuji rubbed the back of his head. "She hardly does or says anything and she's such a freakin' handful…"
"My apologies." As if the Fairy Tail mages weren't even there, Sophie turned and bowed apologetically to her guild mates. "I sensed potential danger and felt the overwhelming need to deal with it."
"Don't just pretend like you didn't attack!" Lucy flailed her arms. "Where are you three even from!?"
"Oh…" Yaya stepped forward with a bright smile. "We're White Eclipse's newest kid recruits! I'm Yayuya, Yaya for short, here we have Shinji, that's Yuji, and I see you've already met Sophie…sorry about that…"
"White Eclipse, huh…?" Natsu's lips curled into a grin. "I bet Wendy could take on all of ya!" He then gave Wendy that wide grin like he didn't do anything wrong in even suggesting that.
"N-Natsu-san…!" Wendy was objecting; she did not want to deal with Natsu's crazy ideas right now. "I don't want to fight anyone right now…!"
"Does she look like she needs to fight?!" Alex placed her hands on her hips, huffing at Natsu's crazy idea.
"Don't be so inconsiderate, dumbass…" Gray said with a scoff.
"What'd you say, ice princess?!" Natsu and Gray were locked in yet another head to head, sparks comically flying from their opposing glares. "You wanna get your ass kicked right now?!"
"It wouldn't be by you, ash breath!" Gray shouted back.
"Both of them are idiots…" Shinji mumbled underneath his breath.
"I think this is a bad time…" Sophie stated plainly before turning to Lucy. She extended her hand in apology. "I'm sorry for attacking you. You just remind of something dangerous I have to take care of."
"…That doesn't really sound like an apology nor a compliment…" Lucy mumbled with a slight sweat drop. But for the sake of being cordial and polite, she took Sophie's hand to shake it. However, the instant they touched each other, they both pulled back after an unexpected jolt ran through their bodies. "...!?" Her chest...it started to burn after. She was trying to hide it to not worry everyone, especially since they JUST walked out of the doctor's home...
"...!" Sophie drew her hand back with slightly widened eyes.
"She doesn't exactly know…subtly…" Yuji sighed before shoving his hands in his pant pockets, beginning to lead the way off. "C'mon guys…"
While Natsu and Gray started fighting, the mini Eclipse mages started to walk off. Sophie glanced at Lucy once more and the two exchanged gazes. "Something dangerous…" Lucy thought to herself. In a strange way, Lucy could feel exactly what Sophie was talking about before. Now, Lucy didn't mind kids and liked them, and she was one to give everyone a chance. But despite her initial thoughts…
Deep, deep down inside her…Lucy did not like Sophie.
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Next Time: Weeks on End