Open, Gate of the Star Child, Lucy (A NaLu Fanfiction)

Chapter 14 - This Other Side of Her

Her face darkened, bangs falling in front of her face.

My eyes widened and I took a step back, ‘N-no way … Ava … Ava, what have you done?!’

‘This is your doing, Lucy!’ Ava screamed at me, her face flushed red with rage. ‘This is all your fault! If you had listened to me - if you’d gone back to the spirit world - we wouldn’t be here!’

I shook my head, ‘You know I can’t do that. Fairy Tail is everything to me.’

‘Did you ever think that maybe Natsu was everything to me?’

I shut my eyes, tears of sympathy and sadness welling up behind them. My lip trembled, but Ava didn’t seem to appreciate my pity.

‘It’s too late to feel sorry,’ she said, her voice cracking. ‘Its too late.’

I opened my eyes, ‘Ava, what is that? What have you done?’

The dirty blonde haired girl turned into her left shoulder, staring at the ground beside her as the atmosphere intensified in colour.

‘A bomb,’ she replied quietly.

My mouth dropped open as I forgot how to speak. The air in my lungs froze, turning my insides bitterly cold. My knees suddenly felt weak.

Ava tightened her jaw, ‘A magical bomb. The field around it is enchanted with a barrier that prevents humans from entering. Its set to go off in 30 minutes. It will destroy everything in a five kilometre radius.’

‘Ava!’ I screamed. ‘You’ll kill everyone in Magnolia! They’re innocents!’

She leveled her gaze with me and I truly saw how far she was gone into the hurt.

‘There is a way to stop it,’ Ava declared. ‘I’ve programmed it so that if one were to pour their entire magical energy into the bomb, it will overload and implode. The explosion will be confined to the edges of the barrier. But the amount of power required will completely drain them. They’ll die.’

My face went slack. Ava kept hers as solid as stone. My fingers felt numb as my body was whipped by the stale wind, my feet burning from staying in one spot too long.

‘This,’ my voice was dry. I ran my tongue over the cracked skin and tried again. ‘This was your plan all along.’

Ava raised her head, looking down at me along her nose. Sharply, she nodded. I shook my head as tears gathered.

‘Why, Ava?’ I sobbed. ‘We could’ve talked this out.’

‘Like I said, Lucy,’ she spoke slowly to keep her voice steady. ‘Its far too late.’

‘Lucy!’

My breath hitched in my throat. Never had I been so angry, yet so glad to hear that voice.

‘Natsu!’ I shouted, my tone bordering a fine line between alarm and gratefulness.

A small group of black dots were slowly making their way up the mountain. The wind pushed them back, preventing them from getting too close. The mist and golden glow hid their features, making them indistinguishable. But the mess of pink in the lead could never be mistaken for anything else.

I whirled around to Ava, frowning as her expression remained placid and unconcerned.

‘You don’t seem worried,’ I commented. ‘This storm; its you causing it, isn’t it?’

Ava shook her head, ‘Three years with me, Lucy, and you still think I’m capable of this kind of magic? The storm is my, influence. I’m not personally controlling it.’