Forgotten (Fairy Tail Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven

Hello friends, I am back from a three year hiatus and I have a lot to say! First and foremost, thank you so much to everyone that continued to read my work and provide me with feedback. I can't possibly express how happy it makes me to see all your wonderful and hilarious comments!

I am so sorry for leaving you all on such a suspenseful cliffhanger, schoolwork and planning for my future kept me very busy. After contemplating for the past couple days, I finally brought myself to write another chapter! I haven't written fiction in a long time, thanks to an abundance of AP prompts, so I hope that I've still got it.

By the way, my love for Fairy Tail hasn't changed in the least. I am up-to-date with the latest chapter in the manga series and still yell out for #NALU at any given opportunity! 

Last chapter's contest winners: _A_Random_Gal and EDENROSE22

I chose the two of you because your ideas were so similar and made me laugh out loud! I would totally participate in your ingenious plan to make NALU official.

This chapter's question: Which Fairy Tail member would you want to swap bodies with and live his/her life for a day?

Enjoy! ♡

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[LUCY'S P.O.V.]

Porlyusica held the door open for us as we entered her warm and dimly lit abode. She lived alone in the woods, where she spent her days studying herbs and formulating organic medicine. I had never been inside her home before, so I made sure to take advantage of the rare opportunity to look around. The inside of her cottage wasn't very big to begin with. There were no walls besides those that made up the outside of the cottage and her interior was lined with a uniform beige wallpaper. There seemed to be three distinct rooms: the living room, bedroom, and kitchen/dining room. Porylusica closed the main door behind her once we were all inside and locked it with a quietly chanted spell.

"Please, do take a seat. I'll go and prepare some hot drinks" she notified us before gliding over to her small kitchen.

I took a seat on the green, worn-out sofa that served as a divider between Porlyusica's living room and kitchen. It seemed there was enough room for one more person to sit so I motioned at a wandering Natsu. I recognized the bulge in his vest to be Happy, asleep. He noticed my beckoning and walked over before squeezing himself onto the sofa. Hm, maybe I over-calculated how much space was actually left to share. Jaxon dragged his feet over to us and peeked at me through his bangs. 

"Lucy" he said my name softly, "I want to sit with you."

"Get lost, you little runt" Natsu growled back before I could reply.

"Natsu, stop it. Here, Jaxon, sit on my lap" I pat my thighs. His eyes lit up immediately and he climbed onto my legs.

It was definitely more crowded now; the poor couch was bearing more than it was used to. Even though it was slightly uncomfortable, I didn't mind too much. Natsu gave up protesting and moved his right arm to accommodate for the extra person. My eyes drifted to see where his arm had been relocated and was surprised to see it lounging behind my shoulders. I know he had only done it so that we would have more room to breathe, but ironically, I found myself having a slightly harder time breathing.

Gray sat himself on one of the nearby wooden dining chairs. He took off his shirt and draped it behind him. Once adjusted to the warm temperature of the cottage, he glanced over at the three of us and grinned.

"Would you look at that. You three look like a little family" he teased lightly. I felt Natsu's body grow warmer as his face reddened.

"No way this troublemaker would be my kid" Natsu snapped back, referring to Jaxon. Jaxon shrunk with guilt and looked down at his feet.

"Look, Natsu. The biggest troublemaker in this room is you" I said in Jaxon's defense. Natsu turned his head to argue and we locked eyes. The last time our faces had been this close was when he lent me his scarf. I took in his wide dark eyes and unruly pink hair, his face was familiar and comforting. I was afraid to breathe, as my exhale would go up his nostrils. We were that close. Thanks couch.

"At least I don't go around stealing magical books" Natsu ended up saying softly. We hadn't broken eye contact.

"Hey, you two! Get a room" Erza suddenly shouted from her seat across from Gray. Gray guffawed as Natsu and I frantically looked different directions. It was totally out-of-character for Erza to comment like that and I didn't even notice her sit down. I guess joking was an indication that she was feeling better.

Porylusica returned just then with several different cups filled with a steaming translucent drink. In each cup, there was a dark purple herb floating in the clear liquid.

"I'm sorry that these cups are all mismatched. I usually don't get this many guests at once so I just grabbed whatever I could" she explained with a smile. We all nodded understandingly and reached for our own cups. I chose the cup that had many flowers on it; they looked like they had been painted on by hand.

"You know" I found myself saying, "This reminds me of the red lily tea that Kruden tried to serve us a while ago." Porylusica froze and spun her head toward Natsu and I. Her eyes were steely.

"Kruden tried to serve you gloriosas" she asked in disbelief. At that moment, Happy came out from under Natsu's vest and yawned. He looked around to check out his surroundings.

"Oh yeah, I remember we didn't drink it because we didn't trust him" Happy said as he stretched. Porylusica sighed in relief.

"Good thing you kids have such strong consciouses. Gloriosas are toxic when ingested" she explained. Natsu leaped up suddenly.

"Are you saying that he tried to kill us" he was ready to breathe flames. Porlyusica merely nodded and turned her back to us. She seemed to be deep in thought.

"That bastard" Natsu went on, "And he had the nerve to say he was a 'retired' evil mage." I touched his arm gently to calm him down. He took a breath and sat on the couch again.

"I know Kruden-sama" Jaxon piped up, "He's my uncle." Everyone turned to look at him.

"Jaxon, please tell us more about him. He tried to hurt our friends" Erza urged. Jaxon looked conflicted, like he wasn't sure if he should say any more, but ultimately nodded.

"When I was little, my mommy and daddy disappeared. Uncle Kruden said they went far away and let me live with him" he continued, "He told me to stay away from people who used magic. He said they would hurt me. I was confused because he used magic too. One day, a man came to our house and talked to Uncle Kruden for a long time. After he left, Uncle Kruden said I would need to go and live with the man soon because he needed my help. The man turned out to be Master Octavian and I became a Drackwick member. Everything after my first week at the guild is very blurry, I'm sorry."

Everyone was silent as we took in the new information. So Kruden Wake was, in fact, connected with all the chaos occurring in guild towns. One thing was perplexing though. If he was a mage himself, why would he want to erase the knowledge of magic in civilians? Why would he want to hurt his fellow mages?