Found & Forgotten

Chapter 28

"What is it you've come to us about?" The Princess was sat on a red velvet sofa, her father sat next to her.

"Well you might not believe us, but-" Erza began, but was promptly cut off.

"Don't worry, nothing about Fairy Tail could surprise me now." Hisui smiled slightly.

Lucy, feeling a little intimidated by the huge rooms of the palace, found herself easily relating to Hisui, and smiled in agreement at her words.

"To summarise," Erza continued, "a dark guild, called Shin Uchu, is trying to activate a celestial magic known as the SunSphere. They hadn't realised this required golden keys, and had been collecting silver keys. Assuming the worst, they have kidnapped both Yukino and Angel, and they have attempted to kidnap Lucy and Levy from our guild. As they are after celestial mages, we came to ensure you were safe, and warn you of the threat."

Hisui absorbed the information in silence. The King, however, cut in immediately as Erza finished.

"How much danger is my daughter in?" He demanded, leaning forward.

"As it is not publicly know she is a celestial mage, and because Shin Uchu have now gathered all they need to activate the SunSphere, I would think the threat is no more than normal." Erza replied.

The King, satisfied that his daughter was safe, sat back in his seat, and motioned to Hisui to continue the meeting.

"You say they have gathered all they need to activate this SunSphere," Hisui spoke. "Then shouldn't we be sending someone after them?"

"The guild is researching their current whereabouts as we speak," Erza assured her. "And the activation instructions are written in an old language which they will have to translate to be of any use."

"What language is this?" Hisui inquired.

Erza looked a bit lost at this question, so Lucy decided to step in.

"It's Kaido-go." She said quietly.

Hisui turned to her. "Sorry? I didn't quite catch that."

"It's Kaido-go." Lucy said it a little louder this time.

"Ah." Hisui smiled. "That would take even an expert a while to translate. I expect they'll only have amateurs in their dark guild."

Lucy nodded.

"What else do you know about this SunSphere?" Hisui asked.

"They are planning to activate some sort of ceremonial ritual, entitled kasai jozai." Lucy answered as concisely as she could. Speaking to Hisui was making her rather nervous, but at the same time felt kind of familiar.

"Fire purification..." mused Hisui. "That doesn't sound good."

"No," Lucy agreed.

Hisui turned to her, and Lucy was subjected to the uncomfortable feeling of being scrutinised by the princess.

"Has something happened, Lucy?" she asked, gently. "You don't seem yourself."

"Well, I-" Lucy broke off, taken aback by the princess' familiarity and kindness.

At the point Erza broke in again, explaining the events that had occurred with swift professionalism, Hisui nodding and shooting sympathetic glances at Lucy as she listened. Lucy sat listening with a kind of detached rapture. She felt as though the events Erza was describing had happened to someone else. She couldn't connect with them in her mind.

Turning her head sharply, Lucy stared at the high ceiling and focused on breathing, trying to drown out Erza's words. After a few minutes, it worked. Almost too well. The words changed to a buzzing in her ears, and her vision started to swim. Lucy was vaguely of a burning sensation in her chest despite gulping for air in a manner that reminded her strangely of a fish.

It took a lot of effort to turn her head, squinting blurry eyes and searching desperately for a head of pink hair. An arm round her waist, a hand on her forehead, a mouth desperately, silently, screaming her name.

"Nat...su..." all that came out was a broken whisper.

She felt darkness surrounding her, warm and comforting. It could take away the pain, she knew. She was so tempted to just give up and float along, effortless, weightless.

But he was there, pink hair, warm hands, pleading silent voice. As long as he was there, the blackness wasn't an option. She could see him talking to her - at her - she couldn't respond. Couldn't move, couldn't talk, couldn't breathe. Not breathing was a bad thing, she knew. She opened her mouth, blinking, and sucked in air.

Or tried to. She was no longer in charge of her own body, disconnected, falling down, down. She flailed wildly, trying to propel herself upwards, knowing she should feel the burning in her chest, but unable to contact her own body.

She felt cold now, the dark had offered warmth, promised comfort, and betrayed. She curled inwards, still bodiless, cold, unmoving. Mind spinning around, alone, around, alone, around...

Then a tether. She was attached again. Heat spreading from her mouth, sliding down her body like she'd swallowed her own personal sun. Flooding her arms, legs, easing her away from the blackness, guiding her back towards her body, regaining senses one by one.

Touch, taste, smell, sound, sight - all flooded her mind at once, almost sending her tumbling back into the dark world from which she'd come. Except this time, there was an arm around her waist, a hand twisted into her hair, pressing her flush up against a body.

Blinking and clearing her vision fully, she realised that her lips were connected to someone else's, and that the someone else had their eyes tightly shut, as if they couldn't bear to see as Lucy lost herself. But now she was back, and she still needed to breathe, so she leant her head back, and was freed from the kiss.

Desperately taking in air, Lucy found herself nose to nose with the person who still hadn't let her go, and somehow she just reacted, as she reached both her hands up to tangle in pink hair, closed her eyes and leant forward to connect their lips again.

"Natsu..."

Ohaiyo minna-san! 

Gomenasai! I'm so sorry this has taken me so long to update! I've been working on this chapter on and off for what feels like forever... Christmas was busy, and now mocks are coming up, and I just don't seem to have time to write anymore :(

Anyway, here is the next chapter, and I do hope you all enjoy it! It was rather...odd...to write, and events have occurred that I wasn't planning to write until later, but, well, the characters like to have their say, as well, so this is what you get.

There is a little bit of a cliffhanger, but not too much of one...I hope you enjoy!

~AA

P.S. Also, thank you so much to everyone who commented and voted and stuck with this even after the long wait. I'll try to upload more frequently! <3