Decay of Agony

Chapter 18

A/N: Hmm... well, good news is that I finally have an idea of how to end this book. Bad news is... covid and depression??? 

Anyway, enjoy this story (:

[There's a trigger warning near the end of this chapter, but it's not as intense as the previous ones]

"I gave you a chance."

That was the last thing Lucy heard before everything disappeared and the light faded from her eyes. 

Lucy stepped backwards blindly, not knowing what's going to happen next. She can't even hear anything. Hell, she can't feel anything. She felt numb. As she took another couple more steps backwards, she stepped on something metallic as it made a clanking sound. But the clanking sound was so loud that Lucy felt like it blew out her eardrum.

Hesitantly, she turned around and tried to see the ground where the metallic object was. But it was dark, and she could not see anything. Lucy looked around in fear, thinking that there was nothing else better to do than check what she stepped on.

Carefully, she knelt down and patted on the ground to find the object. Finally, her shaky fingers made contact with cold metal. Lucy grasped the metal and held it to ascertain what it was. It felt familiar as she held it in her hands. Thin and light....

It was her keys. 

Suddenly, she felt an outburst of energy and emotions emitting from the keys.

Just as she felt the energy, her eyes was suddenly staring at a familiar ceiling that she saw not too long ago. 

"Lucy!" Erza yelled for the nth time.

"Mmm.... I'm up."

"So glad you're okay." Wendy smiled in relief. 

"How the hell did you get here?" Gray muttered as he stayed far... far behind the redhead. 

"Yeah, it took me a while to find you. It almost seems like your scent was being covered up by this powerful smell that's in this house." Natsu frowned, pinching his nose. "It's a nasty smell."

"You're nasty." Gray muttered.

"You're smellier!" 

"Fart-brain!"

"Fa-"

"Shut up!" Erza yelled, and the boys immediately stopped. But the boys continued to glare at each other.

"So, how did you get here?" Erza repeated Gray's question."

Lucy sat up and felt her head throbbing, and contemplated on what to say. The man that was there was no longer there. Probably useless to mention it... "I don't know. I fell and that's the last thing I remembered."

"Well someone tended to your wounds." Erza said, looking at the obvious bandages around Lucy's head. "But you're alive and well. We shouldn't dwell on it. We should collect our reward and go home to let you rest.

Lucy was too tired to say anything. The only thing that concerned her was the visions she saw. Her friends, Erza, her father and her keys. She needs to figure out what they mean.

... 

It been several days, and Lucy had made herself comfortable in the library of the guild, reading up on anything about her visions or dreams. Hoping to find some correlations to their meanings.

The more she read about the concept of friendship, the more she felt stressed and burdened. Like the weight of the world was crushing her into a tiny ball the size of a grain. It's hard to explain it, but it's too much for her to handle. All of the expectations and support.