Magic Of The Stars

Chapter XXVI

I am no stranger to death.

The parents I barely remember were cut down in front of me when I was a child. People were killed for showing defiance in the Tower of Heaven. I was forced to kill one of my closest friends while I was being controlled. I saw Future Lucy's dead body with dried blood on her lips.

So I am no stranger to death.

And yet...

I can't seem to realize what just happened.

She's bleeding.

She...she has blood falling from her lips and coating her chest.

She fell to the floor and she wasn't getting up.

Please...

Please don't leave me.

Stay with me.

Just stay with me.

I can't lose you, too.

~wWw~

I am no stranger to death.

My mother died when I was a child. My father passed away while I was trapped on Tenrou Island. My future self died taking a blow meant for me.

So I am no stranger to death.

But there's this foreign feeling of coldness underneath all the pain that's seeping through my body.

I can't seem to move my limbs.

My mouth refused to say the words I want to speak.

There's this...numb feeling spreading throughout my body.

But I have no problem seeing and hearing and smelling.

I can hear him shouting and calling my name.

I can see him leaning over me.

I can smell the salt of his tears and the distinctive metallic and iron smell of blood; I don't know if it's his or mine.

I don't want to die.

I don't want to leave my friends and my family.

I don't want to leave him.

But...I don't think the decision is in my hands.

Mom...dad...I'm not ready to see you guys yet.

Please, let me stay.

~wWw~

Pain.

All-consuming, blackout-inducing, agonizing pain.

Lucy had never felt pain like this before in her life.

Not when Gajeel had beat her up when he was the enemy.

Not when she destroyed the Thunder Palace over Magnolia and got electrocuted in return.

Not when Zero from Oracion Seis attacked her and the others.

Not when Hades beat her and the others down.

Not even from the beating that she took from Minerva.

All of the injuries she took those times, all the hurt that was inflicted on her...

Paled in comparison to what she was feeling then.

It was like everything within her was on fire, with her chest being the source of the inferno.