77Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Author's notes: How's everyone doing? I'm surprised how much people loved my other story, A Dagon's Beloved One. Anyway~ chapter five has finally arrived and I must apologize for it being short. I still hope you'll love it.
I know everyone wants to see Natsu make an appearance but I've told you at the beginning that even if he came, he won't be the lovable Natsu you all know in the manga. I'll write him to be different. Expect it. He'll be different, completely ooc, really different, nothing like at the beginning of the story. BUT - I'll stop now, saying more will spoil the story too much. I'd love to tell you but that'll ruin the surprise. Just read and you'll find out.
For my reviewers, thank you for supporting my story. Your words really mean a lot to me and have this magic touch of getting me out of my slump when I'm stuck. You guys are very motivating. Thank you so much! Of course, the same could be said for those who read my story. Don't be shy about what you think of telling me what you think about my story.
And so! I present to you, chapter five of Twist in time.
Enjoy!
.
.
.
.
.
Lucy fell with a light thud at the bar counter, sighing as she gazed at nothing emitting a strong aura of depression.
"My, my." Mira smiled softly at the depressed figure of the blonde mage who looked like she'd been run over by a train over and over again.
"Oh… hi Mira." She gave a small wave, turning to smile with her still head resting on the bar counter.
"My, what happened? What's troubling you?" the take-over mage asked with her usual motherly gusto as she was cleaning up some glass wines.
"Nah. Lushy's just depressed 'coz the rumor about Salamander being in Hargeon was fake." A small blue feline answered.
"Salamander? You mean the rumored flame mage that was said to destroy everything in its path, leaving nothing behind.
"Yup that Salamander." Happy finished with a bite. "But Lucy's more depressed about the complaint she got from the magic council."
"My, I heard all about it. Lucy sent a ship flying, destroying half the port in the process, right? I got the report earlier."
"Please don't talk about it! I don't really want to hear about it! My pay already got cut off and then there was that Salamander who was just some stupid pervert and a faker and… and… ahhh those Miliary jerks!" ruffling her hair with both hands, just wanting to forget the whole thing.
"Sounds like you went through quite the ordeal. How about some food then? I have a new recipe prepared. I'll go prepare it now if you want." Mira asked.
"Oh really Mira? You're such a saint!" immediately, she was revived, knowing if there's anything she knew, Mira's food always did the trick to get her out of her slump.
"Then I'll go prepare it! I'm sure you'll love it." The girl then turned t the kitchen to whip out the food.
"Lucy, you're just going to get fatter. You should try dieting." The feline said so innocently.
"Shut up you stupid cat! And I'm not fat! And why are you here again!" she hit the cat with a loud thump on his head.
"Lushy's being a mean bully again! I came here to play with you too!" Happy cried.
"It's LUCY! We've known each other for years and yet why can't you call me by my name properly…" she all but grumbled silently. Happy was a strange talking cat, well a race called exceed that often came for the reasons of bugging Lucy, eating Mira's food since he claimed Fairy Tail had tasty fish though it wasn't a restaurant, and the fact that he keeps on trying to charm Charle, a pretty white exceed who belonged to the guild.
"Well… I for starters don't think your mission went badly. In fact, it sounds amazing. Killing two birds with one stone, as expected of Lucy." A male voice spoke, dressed in his boxers as he sat at one of the tables close to the bar counter.
"Just how exactly is it amazing?" Lucy glared.
"Well… how is it not? Not only did you confirm the fake rumor…" he paused, gulping a bit at Lucy's glare. "But you beat up Bora the Prominence and did it bang, destroying the port at the same time. You should give yourself a job well done."
"Bora the Prominence? Who's that? Just how did you know all of that anyway?" she asked, not really understanding how the news could have gotten ahead all the way to Magnolia that fast. That just happened a day ago.
"Oh you didn't know? Lucy, you're a top celebrity in today's news. Amazing, right everyone?" another woman spoke, with a barrel between her legs.
"Something tells me I don't really want to know more." She said with a dead panned voice to which her guild mates just gave a large cheer.
"In fact, we should have a celebration!"
"Wait_what the hell? Please don't!" Lucy blushed embarrassed at what was happening.
"Oh I'll prepare the drinks then!"
"Bless you Kinana."
"This is seriously getting out of hand." Lucy piped silently.
"Nah, you should celebrate too. Take a look at this Lu-chan!" a petite blue haired mage hugged the girl in the chaos, holding the weekly Sorcerer's Magazine. "Look at the page! It has you on it!" the blue haired mage flipped to a page which made the blonde shriek. It was a two-page news which featured her recent endeavor, a clear picture of a half destroyed port, people unconscious and her picture… ugh… wearing a white bikini of all things.
"Oh, it looks amazing, Lucy." Another one said.
"Damn, bunny girl's starting to usurp us. Bunny girl, fight me!" Gajeel, a dark haired man with nasty piercings shouted with a challenging pose, ready to fight.
"Why do I have to fight you!" Lucy all but cried.
"This is interesting. I guess I'll join in. This looks fun." Gray said, his hands ready to cast magic.
"Love rival! Today, I'll defeat you!" Juvia, a water mage glared at her.
"Why me!" Lucy wailed.
"Did you say fight? 'Coz if a fight is what you want then, I should be here, for a fight between men is manly." another man said with a towering tall figure, Elfman, his white hair upped in long wavy spikes, and dressed in a hooligan way.
"I'm a woman you know." Lucy grumbled with clear annoyance in her face wondering why he always kept on challenging her, implicating that she was a man when she's actually a woman.
"Looks like something big is starting again. I'll join too, though I don't know what's really happening." Another one said.
Before she knew it fists started flying, magic was being casted here and there, people occasional flew over, the guild was once again in its usual chaos. She saw Cana getting people to bet before joining the fray herself.
"It's all Lucy's fault." Happy said, one of his paws rose up as she and Lucy were on one of the barricading tables so as not to get caught in the fight.
"Did you think I want this?"
"But Fairy tail isn't fairy tail without this, right?" he piped honestly still eating a fish happily.
"I guess…" she trailed off forgetting whatever inhabitance she had, her mouth softening to a smile at the warm sight of its usual craziness.
"Lucy, you have such a creepy smile."
"Just leave me alone." Lucy cried, couldn't she have at least a moment there?
.
.
.
.
.
When afternoon came, the guild had already toned down though it was in a state of haphazardness. People were either unconscious or sleeping. Lucy herself did the latter and just woke up now. There could have been guest for all they know and no one's awake. Visiting had always been a big no for the guild was known for being rambunctious, rowdy, and crazy. It is the reason why people, clients who came personally would come, need to inform the guild of coming notice was there.
Stretching her arms out, it was only then that she saw the familiar figure of Erza sitting on the barstool, eating a slice of a cake or rather what you would call a quarter of a cake in which no one ever bothers to tell her otherwise. Tell her that she's eating a cake that's too big for her would end render a person unconscious, a fact that Elfman dared to try, that prompted people to never dare to talk to her about cakes. Dusting the dirt off, she moved to approach her when she saw some humongous horn-like figure by the door-wait, was it decorated with jewelries?
As if Erza sensed it, the armored mage spoke. "That's the horn I got from my last mission."
"I do get that but why bring the horn?" Lucy couldn't help but ask.
"Souvenir. The villagers were so happy about the job I did that they decorated and gave it to me." The woman answered as she ate half-way through her cake.
"Oh… I see". To Lucy, it made little sense. She then concluded Erza must have really liked the horn. Letting out a sigh, she made her way where Erza was, avoiding stepping over the unconscious bodies of her guild mates before sitting next to the woman. She rested her head on her arms o the table observing Erza finish her cake only to order another one from Mira who was actually awake, something that failed to surprise her.
While waiting for her next slice of cake, Erza fished something out of her pockets and laid it on the bar counter next to where Lucy was resting her head on.
"This is?" Lucy asked, giving the red-head a confused look.
"A job. The three of us; you, me and Gray. We will be doing one."
"A job?" Lucy questioned to which Erza gave a subtle nod.
"Now that you mention, where is he?" Erza stood up to scan the guild, looking at the unconscious bodies for the usual raven haired alchemist which wasn't hard since he always managed to lose half of his clothes before reaching the guild.
Lucy thought of warning Erza to be at least careful in waking up the guy but the next thing she saw was a familiar body flying towards her. She shut her eyes in reflex for the incoming pain, only to hear noise of Gray making a grunt of pain. Sensing no pain, she slowly opened her eyes, looked below to see Grey waking up.
"Hey there, sleepy head." Lucy greeted.
Gray let another groan of pain as he stood up, rubbing parts of his body where the impact of the stool that he crashed his body into. "How strange… my body feels as if someone threw me over." Gray mumbled as he stood up.
"Lucy?" he looked at the girl next to him who was resting her head on the counter bar. Lucy gave a smile, and then pointed to another direction.
"That's good, you're finally awake." Erza said as she walked where her two friends were.
"Erza?" he mumbled. "You're back?"
"Yeah, I was here earlier though everyone was sleeping." She crossed her arms. "Lucy?" she called who sat up. "The request?"
"Oh, here." Her friend handed her armored friend the piece of paper.
Gray just shifted his eyes between the two girls. "What's this about?"
"A mission. It's been a while since we teamed up. Let's do one together."
"A mission? Didn't you just return from doing an S-class mission?" Gray asked.
"Well… she's Erza you know." Lucy said as if that was all the reason needed to be said.
Gray in turn just rubbed the back of his head with a feeble sigh like he said something stupid. Rubbing his face with his hands, his face gave a smug grin "Sure I guess, why not?" he shrugged his shoulders. "What's the job anyway?"
"This." Erza handed the request to Gray.
"Wait a second! Isn't this-"
"An S-class mission." Erza said with a smirk knowing that would get the two's attention for different reasons. "It's an S-class job that requires taking down a dark guild, the Death Reapers." Erza watched the two take in the information.
"That's a strange request. And one creepy name for a guild." Lucy cocked her head at one side pausing a bit with a thoughtful look. "The request didn't say anything about dark guilds." Lucy said in confusion.
"That's because this request doesn't say anything about taking out a dark guild." Gray said as he read the request.
"If it doesn't say anything about a dark guild then how can you say-" Luc stopped in mid-sentence as if she just realized something before tearing the request from Gray's hand, scanning it critically for a second time.
"The request speaks nothing but tells to find a bunch of missing people, actually- requests to find the town's inhabitants." Erza started.
"This job wasn't an S-class before. I remember seeing it before. Why the change?" Gray asked.
"At first, people only disappeared one by one so most people thought it was just a minor case but recent activities showed a great number of people disappearing. Then there had been some disturbing rumors I heard. I did a little investigating on my own and…"
"It all points to that dark guild, right?" Lucy said, looking at Erza seriously.
"Yes, I believe your help will be necessary. I think it's important that this should be dealt with." Erza said to the two.
"But… isn't this the kind of thing the magic council usually deals with." Gray asked.
"Yeah, I would have informed them and let them deal with it but there's something interesting that we may find there… something very interesting." Erza said vaguely. Gray couldn't help but give the stellar mage a glance who was looking Erza with the same honest and curious smile.
"Fine with me. The rewards really big and it'll save me months worth of rent. Maybe I can find some clues as well." Lucy said in agreement before handing Erza the request.
"You two should prepare. I already had Mira reserve the mission. We're leaving first thing in the morning. Let's meet at the train station at seven. Don't be late you two."
"Right! I guess I should go prepare! Maybe I'll go shopping too." Lucy said giving a big whoop as she headed to the library no doubt, to invite her friend on a shopping spree.
"Right huh?" Gray said, smiling but with a tone that sounded hesitant. Erza just sat back to her seat, thanking Mira for the cake before starting to eat it. The ice mage waited until their blonde friend was up and about with Levy, waving them a goodbye, talking about books as they left the guild happily. When he was sure she wasn't returning, he turned to Erza, speaking his worry.
"Don't you think this is risky?" Gray leaned his elbows at the bar counter to stand up, his face looking at the guild's ceiling.
"Every job has risks." Erza said.
"You know what I mean." Gray sent Erza a hard look who was happily eating her cake.
"Lucy's been working hard and she's no damsel that needs saving. She can handle this job just fine." Erza said dismissively.
"I'm talking about where we're going. This mission reeks of those two meeting." Gray said with emphasis.
"She would have found out one of these days."
"I still say it's too early."
"Lucy has a right to know the truth and she would have to face it one of these days. It's not right of us to withhold this from her." Erza said. Gray gritted his teeth before letting out a sigh.
"I guess she does. I'm still holding to a hope they wouldn't meet because if they do… I don't want it to turn into something like when Lisanna…" Gray trailed off not really wanting to talk about it.
"Everyone has to face the truth someday. Lucy is no exception."
.
.
.
.
.
"There's nothing like a hot bath after a day in the guild!" Lucy happily chirped as she leaned, groaning at the leisure the hot bath could give her.
It's been years since she first came to Fairy Tail and joined. She remembered being all shy and nervous, hiding behind Gildarts when he brought her to what he called a magical place which in reality mayhem that made absolutely no sense. But as she joined and spent time, doing jobs, meeting people, she understood what he meant by Fairy tail being a magical place.
Fairy Tail was a pleasure that made her heart soar as it was the place that made her so happy. It got her out of her little shell that hid inside of, helped her get used in the real world, and be strong. At least, she'd like to think she had become stronger over the years, keeping her promise to her friend.
That made her sigh. After several years, she has yet to find anything about his whereabouts, whether he was alive, or if he was dead. If he was, which she didn't believe to be the case, she was sure she would have known. Some believed her friend to be dead, that she had no chance of finding him seeing as it had been years. His body would have decayed by now. She went and travelled everywhere, following any small lead that may lead her to Natsu though sadly, it was like he disappeared like magic. Some thought he was some make-believe friend which was proven false when the guild came across Gajeel and eventually Wendy; dragon slayers who were just like him. Those two gave her hope, that Natsu was alive somewhere. She also had thought that with the existence of dragon slayers, she would get some clues about his whereabouts. That wasn't the case. Apparently, Gajeel claimed to know nothing about a fire dragon slayer which irked her. He was lying. She tried several tactics that probably cost her nine years of her life but still failed. He was so tight-lipped about it. Eventually, she stopped when he threatened her. That doesn't necessarily mean she had given up. Her hope in Gajeel was Levy. If by chance she got together with Gajeel, something the bookworm denied again and again, she's use it to her advantage. Then again, maybe not. She didn't really have what it took to do such a thing to her Levy.
She turned to ask Wendy but it went futile because the moment she looked at those eyes, as if the little dragon slayer knew whenever she was going to ask that question, the little girl would get teary, start crying, apologizing again and again barely getting a word out. Then Charle would get mad at her and had her promise not to ask Wendy about it anymore. Two answers were so close but so unattainable. That only served to tell her one thing, they knew something vital about Natsu. He could be dead. He could be alive. She didn't know and that made it all the more harder.
As much as she loathed it, they were also part of Fairy Tail and she had to respect for whatever reasons they had for not wanting to talk about it. Everyone had their own skeletons in their closets. Everyone in Fairy Tail had those, she had hers and it was fine not knowing what they were. Even if the knowledge came to light, there was no doubt that everyone would warmly accept the truth no matter how devastating it would be.
For now, she settled for searching Igneel, Natsu's dragon. She believed that finding him was the only option left to find Natsu. She vaguely remembered Natsu talking about finding Igneel, his foster father he spoke of, years ago. Lucy believed that in the process of finding him, she would either bump into him or find him when she finds the dragon. Though her guild mates found this crazy, they supported her nonetheless. Wendy was very cheerful about it while Gajeel though she was being stupid.
Tomorrow would be another day. It was too early to give up. Who knows, she might get some luck with the job! It's the first time that she would officially handle an S-class job. There was the incident in Galuna Island that she did on an impulse and kidnapping Grey to do the job, no less since the blonde knew she couldn't do it on his own. At the same time, she was a bit scared at the prospect of handling the job but this holds a chance that she could get stronger.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"This is… really weird." Lucy said.
"No people at all. I should call this a ghost town but the town seems so fine." Gray said; his clothes for once were intact.
"I wanted you two to see the town's state and a night's preparation wouldn't hurt." Erza said as the three were eating in an empty restaurant that had meals prepared. The town they were in… well felt like a ghost town being that there was no sign of people. At the same time, there was also the oddity of the town looking so alive and vibrant, it was disturbing. The town seemed so well-maintained with it being clean, shops were open, and there was even music playing around. It was like people hadn't disappeared and were just hiding and waiting for the right opportunity to come out.
"You mean you know where the Death reapers are holding the townspeople." Lucy confirmed as she took another bite of her meal.
"Just what on earth is a dark guild planning to do with so much people?" Gray asked, feeling a dread on the pit of his stomach of what he might find out on this mission.
"If I had to speculate, it has something to do with Zeref's resurrection. It's something about a banned magic 400 years ago that Death Reapers, who are actually a sect of Zeref worshippers, are trying to do." Erza explained. It was okay to talk about the mission openly being the fact that there was no one around.
"By doing what exactly… Is it like the tower of Heaven?" Gray asked, remembering the incident, aware that Erza would be fine with brining up the issue. She wouldn't have invited them otherwise if she did.
"No, something different. I'm talking about human lives." A tense silence surrounded the three at those words.
"By doing what, sacrificing them or feeding them to some monster?" Gray said incredulously, breaking the silence. Lucy stared into the distance with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Just speculation from what the rumors. We can only confirm when we go there."
"Go where?"
"Ghemrio Island. According to my sources, there were sights of unusual activities there."
"Ghemrio Island?" Lucy asked in wonder. "Didn't that island sink or something? They said it disappeared right after some incident about after an operation of the military because of some terrorist or something." Lucy said as she tapped her chin.
"No, it still exists. You could say, it did disappear… but at the same time it's there."
"That doesn't really make any sense." Gray said.
"Well… officially speaking, such an island doesn't exist anymore and even if we went out of our way to go there, we might not even make it there or find it." Erza started.
"Does it even exist or not? Because I really don't get what you're saying."
"What I'm saying is; the island had been erased since the incident years ago. To be frank, the military made it seem like the island sunk, telling the world that no island as Ghemrio exists but what happened was the council put some kind of special spell that wouldn't allow anyone to be able to go there. Rather, to go there, we're going to find another way to enter the island." Erza finished as she watched the contemplative look in Lucy's face no doubt, who was already racking her brain of how the island manage to hide itself and what they would need to do to go to an island.
"In short, we need to find some other way to enter the island other than using a ship?" Gray asked to confirm.
Erza gave a nod.
"How do we even plan on finding a pathway? And don't tell me we need to go around wandering in this ghost town to search a way to get there."
"If that's what it takes to find a way there then that's what we're going to do. Do you have any problems?" Erza raised a brow as she inquired to which Gray just sighed.
"You do know this is a big place. It might practically take forever."
"I know but…" Erza looked at Lucy who hasn't been speaking or inserting any of her thoughts. Gray followed her eyes and when he did, his eyes in realization. That was right. They had Lucy. With Lucy around, finding a way might just take small time. At most, a couple of days and if he knew Lucy, the girl would do it less than a day.
Feeling eyes upon her, Lucy snapped out of her stupor as she blushed, "Uh, what? Is there something wrong?"
"We're just wondering what you think of the situation? I mean, do you know how to solve this problem of getting there?" Gray spoke for the two.
"I do have some ideas. There's just something I need to check with this town." Lucy said.
"What? Don't tell me you already know how we're going to get to the island?"
Lucy didn't say anything but gave a small smile that told everything.
"You already figured it out?" Gray questioned with surprise seeing as the way Erza talked about it, the Island wasn't something they could penetrate easily.
Lucy flicked her hair, giving her friends a confident grin.
"As expected of Lucy." Erza said, a slight nod with her voice laced with pride.
"That's why all you guys need to do is prepare for tomorrow. I'll need a the rest of the day to check something, rather, it's more like to make sure everything goes well, if my theory is right. And there's something I need to explain later on." Lucy leaned forward, her elbows on the table as her chin rested on the back of her knuckles.
"I see. Do you need help? I might as well help." Gray offered though knowing how capable the Celestial Spirit mage is.
"Nah, no need to bother, you guys should do as you please. I'm fine by myself." Lucy waved off their worry.
"Actually Gray, I'll need you to help me go around town. There still might be some people around." Erza said.
"But didn't you say there's no one around?" He found himself asking.
"I thought the same thing as well when we stepped into the town but I felt there's something about this town that's been bothering me… so I need you to come with me."
"Something strange… what do you mean? The fact that is well kept?" Gray asked.
"That may be related to it." Erza said.
"Okay then. I'll go." Gray agreed, leaning on the back of his chair, tilting his head towards the ceiling.
.
.
.
.
.
"Being in an empty town like this reminds me of those days…" Lucy trailed off, walking with Plue in the abandoned town.
Her mind flashed back to those quiet and lost days where she lived in an abandoned village waiting for someone to come only to discover he wasn't coming at all. Remembering always brought her feelings of regret; feelings of what ifs looming in her head. In only I had, I wish I had, I should have… those thoughts never left her. Maybe she could have done something different and she and Natsu could have been safe and alive; together even. Though she had no regrets meeting Gildarts, and finding herself in Fairy Tail, the choice if time was turned over would have her do things differently.
She felt Plue trying to get her attention to which she responded easily. Kneeling to the ground, she plucked her little friend, hugging him to her chest. "I'm worrying you, aren't I? Sorry about that." Lucy said in comfort. Letting out a sigh, maybe she should have asked Gray to come along. It wasn't like she really needed to confirm anything. Just by Erza's explanation, she already got the gist of how kidnapping the townspeople were done so easily. Walking with Plue in her arms, she closed her eyes, listening to the quiet sound of the air blowing. It was just so similar, it felt so ironic.
She shook her head at that thought. It wasn't the time to think about such things. She needed to focus at the task at hand and that was the tall clock tower in front of her. It was here, she was sure of it. Closing her eyes, she placed on of her hands flat at its large door. After a few seconds, she slowly opened them. Silently, she stepped back a few seconds to peer at the clock's hand.
It was just as she had suspected. Smiling at herself for finding out the truth, she congratulated herself inwardly.
"Plue, I'm amazing, aren't I?"
"Puuuu." Its paws were raised in agreement with her.
Lucy smiled at her friend's expression. "Yeah you're right, we should head back."
Lucy started to walk her way towards the hotel they invited themselves to use when she felt her body froze in disturbance.
Her eyes widened open. What was that? She slowly let Plue down as she looked at her surroundings. Erza said this town had no people. For a second, she thought she had a glimpse of something moving?
There was no way she'd believe that there were ghost in the town which meant, there might actually be people left in the place.
"There's no way anyone is around, right Plue?" She asked her small friend.
"Puuu." He was looking at her with his innocent eyes like he was agreeing with her.
"Right! Just my imagination." As soon as she said that, her eyes briefly saw a rustle of movement causing the girl to scream with Plue following the way she moved.
As she looked where it came from, she noticed no one was there, no animal. Her heart started beating wild. What was that movement? Giving herself a silent cheer that it wasn't anything important, she tried to look from where the noise had come from. It was nothing serious, nothing to worry about. That was what Lucy thought as she walked down the street, hearing nothing but her own and Plue's footsteps. It was definitely no ghost. Shaking her head at her silliness, Lucy let out a light laughter. "That's right it was just my imagination, right Plue?"
"Puupupuuuu." It answered, one of its paws up agreeing with her.
Then she felt an unknown hand on her shoulder.
Surprised at the contact, added with the fact that her imagination had at least three to four wild assumptions, she let out a scream, her eyes closed as she pulled the person, instinct moving her as she threw the person over her shoulder as a sound of someone hitting the barrels at the side of the street with a combination of someone groaning in pain.
Her eyes were closed tightly as seconds passed with the person trying to stand.
"What-the heck? Lucy!" there was a familiar voice of a man, wait that voice was Gray's. Opening her eyes, she saw her friend a bit ruffled and dirty, no doubt because of her, looking at her with a slight glare.
Lucy put her hands behind her, giving a small dry laugh. "Sorry?"
"Honestly, you and Erza are always a pain to team up with. " Gray said with slight irritation. He was always one way or another, getting hurt because of the two. Erza often manhandled him. Lucy being the girl she was tends to hurt him by some accident or surprise.
"Well- isn't it your fault for surprising me?" she said with slight indignation, puffing her cheeks, offended by his words.
"I'm the one who was hurt you know." He pointed out.
"That's your fault for surprising me." She crossed her arms.
Gray found himself sighing. Seeing as Lucy was being stubborn, he might was well change the topic. "What were you doing anyway?"
"Oh. Just finished checking something. That reminds me! Where's Erza?" she asked frantically.
"At the hotel, she wanted to have you back. She wants to discuss something but won't say what."
"There's something else I need to tell you too." Lucy said as she knelt to pick her spirit friend. BY the way Gray talked about Erza, she felt it wouldn't be hard explaining things. They may have arrived at the same conclusions,
"All the more we should go back."
"Then let's get going."
"Right."
The two starts to walk back with Plue on her arms when Lucy suddenly halted and looked behind her, a look on confusion on her face.
Noticing his companion stop, he looked at the stellar mage. "What's wrong?"
She appeared to have not noticed her friend's words. Her eyes were sharply peering around, searching for something. After a few seconds of her eyes moved around the scenery critically, over the roofs or the street corners, the lamp posts, bushes and streets, the girl gave a dejected sigh which was noticeable to Gray's suspicious gaze. She shook her head with a small smile. "Nothing, I was just thinking about something." Lucy said before walking again.
"Okay." Gray said though his voice told her he wasn't convinced.
Was her eyes fooling her or did she just saw a flash of something pink?
.
.
.
.
.
For a second, Lucy can't help but think of that strange afternoon walk. Time and time again, she always felt like there was someone else other than her. It proved to be false seeing as Gray didn't notice a thing. It just couldn't be possible, right? The only people right now was she, Erza and Gray and even if she tried to get a cop of feel of other people's presence, there wasn't any to feel.
She shook her head; she was thinking too much. This wasn't the time to be thinking of such things.
"Lucy?" she snapped out of her thoughts and saw Gray and Erza looking at her with concern.
"Oh, it's nothing. Sorry for zoning out." Lucy said apologetically. Her friends looked at her skeptically for a few seconds then Erza gave a subtle nod, accepting the blond mage's reasoning.
"About tomorrow… Lucy, will you be fine?"
"Yeah. No need to worry, I can do it." She gave them a confident nod to which the two smiled at.
"I'm sure you can. Well, we should get some rest; tomorrow will be a big day for all of us. We need that sleep." Erza stood up, making her way towards her bed.
"Right!" Lucy said cheerfully who was combing her hair, sitting at her bed.
Gray silently made his way to his bed, looking at Lucy with slight worry. He couldn't help but think something dreadful happening tomorrow. For their sake as well for Lucy's, he could only pray that everything would go well.
Hopefully…
.
.
.
.
.
AN: End of Chapter Five: Dumdadaramdaram! What do you think happened? Who do you think Gray was talking about? Where did the townspeople go? I have absolutely no idea! I'm really happy to get this chapter started! Because…
Drum rolls!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'm not telling you!
.
.
.
You just have to wait for the next chapter!
.
.
.
As of now, I've got bad news. I won't be able to update as I used to seeing as classes are coming this coming week. But I will have you know I've already started the next chapter and will continue writing this. It'll just take me a while to update. And to make you happy, I'll give you a small fun fact: Natsu may possibly make his debut on the next chapter, if not; it's the chapter after that. Plus I need to properly map out the incoming chapters. Thank you for your patience.
So how was the chapter? Too short for your liking? Good or bad? Love it or hate it? Critiques, comments and suggestions are all welcome.
Going out
Kauia