ᴇᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ •• ғᴀɪʀʏ ᴛᴀɪʟ²

13

"You're finally awake!" It cried.

Rae swallowed hard, finding herself struggling to say words. She was clueless on what should she say. Should she say, she missed them? But it was her own choice to leave them. Everyone was looking at her right now with hopes and happiness. "Bella-how are you?" Lifting both corners of her lips, Rae tilted her head aside and casually asked. Her bandaged right hand patted her on the head as the bat was sobbing on her chest. Her hands-they still hurt so bad, not that she wasn't expecting it, after all, her nails just got ripped off. However, Rae remained cool and reminded herself to act like the Rae King.

Bella whimpered, messily wiped her tears with her tiny hands. "You should be asking yourself that, you idiot."

"Mama-"

"Nee-san."

Rae looked at both girls and softly called out their names while spreading her arms for a hug. Although she was not comfortable with physical interaction fully yet, but she had to do it. Or else they would be suspicious of her actions. Lucy and Haruka immediately pounced on her to hold her tightly, but they were being cautious of her wounds. Every single one of them in the room was feeling delightful and happy to see the small family finally reunited again. Lucy cried and cried in her neck, spouting words through her muffles, saying she didn't want to let her sister go anymore.

Lucy remembered everything.

All the screams she let out when she's gone. All the pain. All the nightmares she had. "Why did you go, nee-san?! Why are you so cruel? God, I'm begging you! GIVE HER BACK! Give nee-san back to me. Why did you take her from me? Why did you take everyone from me?! Nee-san, why did you leave me? You promised-you promised to love me, cherish me-then why are you hurting me?! You promised we would be together until the end. We promised to protect and save each other. Why did you go alone and leave me here?!"

"Lu-chan-"

"Haruka, my dear sister-she's gone, isn't she?"

To Lucy, Rae was everything. She was her mother. She was her father. She was her sister. She was her brother. She was her friend. She was her soulmate. She was her life. Without Rae, Lucy felt as if her life had no meaning anymore. Rae was her protector and Lucy was hers. Their bond was more than sisterhood. Much more than that. Rae was her strength. It was only natural that Lucy lost her will after her death. "It hurt, nee-san. I don't want to be away from you anymore. I can't take it!" But everything was alright now, her sister was home.

Hearing that from her, Rae felt bad a hundred times than before. Just as she predicted, they loved her so much, so much that it would hurt her to tell them the truths. Even though, she was their family, but right now, she only saw them as strangers. Even though, the Sabertooth girls had told her everything they knew about Fairy Tail, these people in this room were still strangers. "I'm here, ain't I?" It was choking her alive to say those words, knowing so damn well that if she was given a choice, she would run away from there. No one could blame her, it was only natural to have that feeling when you knew you had no memories of them and they claimed to be your family.

"I'm so sorry, Rae-san. It was my fault for not noticing your condition sooner! I should have healed you first when I woke up. It's my fault for being careless-"

"Wendy, it's alright. It didn't even hurt. It's nothing."

The Dragon Slayer had her hands over her mouth. "Rae-san, what are you talking about? You-you had seven broken bones, your nails were ripped off, you were stabbed-What have you been through before? How could you say it's nothing?"