How Long Had It Been?

Chapter 2

*This is a rewrite*

Erza stirred and sat up, rubbing the drowsiness in her eyes. Then she remembered that she had invited Lucy to her place to spend the night.

"Lucy?" Erza looked around, not seeing the blonde in the room. She stood up and tried to find the blonde. Seconds later, Erza found Lucy in the kitchen.

Lucy was wide awake, staring at a wall. Erza stood at the doorframe, glaring at the blonde, wondering what she was doing, and wondered if she would recede from boring a hole in the wall with her staring.

Couple minutes later, Lucy had not moved an inch, and continued to stare at the wall. Erza was growing concern for the girl.

With caution, Erza stepped into the room, knowing how jumpy Lucy was yesterday. "Lucy?" Erza called out again, trying to get in the line of sight of Lucy's staring.

Thankfully for Erza, Lucy finally noticed her and hastily stood up. "Erza! I'm sorry that I sat in your kitchen without your permission. But I had nowhere to sit or to lay down." Lucy bowed apologetically.

Erza blinked at the bowing girl with confusion. "Eh? You could've slept in the bed with me...the bed was big enough for the both of us...and you don't have to apologize. Please raise your head." Erza don't know why Lucy was being too formal with her.

Lucy straightened herself, "I-I see..."

Erza looked at her face and noticed how pale she looked. "Did you sleep?"

Lucy looked at her, "Yes." She lied.

Erza begged to differ. She had bags under eyes. "Nightmares?"

"No." Lucy lied again.

"If you had trouble sleeping, you could've woken me up...I feel bad now..." Erza really did felt bad. Being the only one with a good night sleep.

"It's fine..." Lucy mumbled.

Erza resigned. "Very well. Are you hungry? You barely had anything yesterday."

"I'm fine." Lucy lied again.

"Lucy...even I can tell that you are not alright."

"I'm fine." Lucy repeated.

"Lucy sit down. I'll make you something." Erza ordered as she made her way to the refrigerator.

Lucy reluctantly sat and watched as Erza was rummaging through the refrigerator for food. Lucy sat in her chair, staring at the table in front of her. Unconsciously, tears started to form in her eyes, and she started to tremble.

Lucy almost failed to register a soft tap on her shoulders and she yanked it away by leaning in the opposite direction. Then there was a strong, yet gentle grasp on her shoulder, and Lucy tried yanking it away, a scream threatening to spill out of her throat.

Then Lucy could feel a strong pair of arms wrapping around Lucy to keep her still, followed by a gentle voice that called her name.

"Lucy. Please calm down." Erza whispered, soothing the girl in her arms. Erza silently wonders why Lucy was so afraid, why Lucy was so...similar. Her past seemed to almost identical as hers. Maybe.

Lucy silently trembled, slowly realizing that it was Erza that was holding her. She slowly melt into the unfamiliar warmth that Lucy had long forgotten, as Erza held her in her arms, rubbing her back to soothe her and to calm her down.

"Lucy. You are our friend now. I want you to understand that...I...Fairy Tail would never hurt you in any way. You can trust us."

Lucy stopped trembling and leaned into the warmth.