Celestial Heart (A Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 22: Subterfuge

Pain. So much pain. 

She was hurting, in a way I couldn't even begin to imagine. And there was nothing I could do about it.

"Hey, Mira," Cana called, drawing both our attentions, "I know you and Elfman were both terribly hurt..." There it was again. A secret, a memory I didn't know, couldn't ask about. "But Elfman is trying hard to keep moving onward."

And it was like a spell was broken. 

Mira's quaking fists clenched tighter, straining the already tense muscles that lined her pale arms. Her stance became looser, like she was planning to run, fast. She bit her lip, her heavy-hearted eyes roaming the floor, never landing, always moving. 

Then she ran, bolted out the door, heedless to our distressed calls, a blur of maroon skirts and blonde hair. She was gone in seconds.

After getting over my initial hesitation, I took off after her, with Cana close behind, just in time to see Mira declare herself to be Lucy.

And that's when Cana shoved me into a wall.

"Owwww...." The moan left my lips in a haggard breath as I peeled my face from the coarse brickwork. Cana... that was a little bit much... Dizzy (and slightly nauseous, though that could've been the nerves) I shot a cross-eyed glare at the usually-drunken taro-card mage, who scowled at me in turn. 

"Get back to Lucy, now," she ordered, already grabbing me by the shoulders and pushing me off, immersed in the shadows of the crumbling buildings, back to the safe house. "She needs someone to protect her, because they're not buying Mira's act! So go. Be a good sister!"

I couldn't argue with her (no matter how much I wanted to), which left me no choice but to do as bid and hurry back to my sister.

Do your best, Mira!

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Candor's POV

I was beginning to wish I'd gone instead with the hulking one named Elfman. 

He's fighting Sol.... that French bastard...! I grimaced, memories of that spell he forced on me bubbling up in my half-lucid mind. Even I was more merciful than that sadist.... conjuring up broken nightmares like that... All those moments, all those pinpricks of agony I'd locked away, brought to the surface by a spineless psychopath. If one didn't turn to stone first, he could easily send them spiralling into insanity; either way, the victory was his.

But, from the fluctuations of magical energy I was feeling, that Elfman... was winning. I could only hope he made the bastard suffer.

"Candor, sit this one out." Gray (so named by Loke - I wasn't actually certain this was his name, though he seemed familiar from Winter's delusional ramblings she'd spewed while half-conscious) crouches down, allowing me to slide from his back. I nearly slipped, trying to get my balance on one fatigued leg, but managed to keep my balance and avoid any unnecessary embarrassment in front of the enemy.

Through the pounding rain, I could make out the form of a woman opposing us, her blue hair done up in loaded curls, her eyes passive, mouth stoic, unfeeling. No smile, no frown, no scowl. Unemotional. She stood there, unmoving, as Gray rose from his lowered position, took a step forwards to confront her. 

"You're Juvia, aren't you?" I asked, startling the poor, ignorant Ice-Make mage in front of me, who whipped around at my accusation, then quickly returned to his stare-off with the woman, awaiting her answer. 

"Yes, Juvia, the Woman of the Rain, a member of the Element Four," she answered, tacking on an infuriating, "Drip, drip, drop" that only served to irritate me further. I'd heard enough of her incoherant nonsense before; I didn't need it now.