You're Warm
Chapter 2: The Arising Conflict
Standing behind the gym, Lucy panted and ripped herself away from her black jacket that she threw down to the floor. Hugging her shivering body to keep herself warm from the biting cold, she rested against the wall where she gave out a loud sigh of relief for her successful escape.
How could he do that to her? Is this how he'd treat his long disconnected friend from childhood?
Sighing again, she ran her fingers through her wet, tangled golden locks and looked down to her hand. "He didn't even give me a hug or anything like in the past - It's like, I'm unwanted here. Like I'm some type of alien while that girl was standing where I was supposed to be standing - Was I a replacement for her while she was away or something?" she told herself before she flinched, hearing approaching footsteps come to her little hide out.
"Who's there?!" she yelled, pushing herself off of the wall where she reached down to her silver bracelet resting on her wrist slowly with uncertainty written on her face.
It was now or never... She had to use her magic again someday. Her friends in the Celestial Realm were questioning her about her absence on calling for their services, but she would always avoid their questions - Maybe until today...
The blonde looking at the small gap of the alley that she'd just recently walked through to get her where she's standing now, Levy popped out from the side with a uncertain smile on her face. "I'm no threat Lu-chan," she whispered before another head popped out over her.
"And I'm not going to devour you or humiliate you like that bastard," the crimson smiled as she walked over Lucy who took a step back where she slammed herself into the wall.
"Woah there! I'm not someone who'd do that to any new student," Sakura stated before remembering something. Turning, she handed Levy her bag before turning back to examine Lucy's appearance.
Smiling, she leaned her weight back. "So this is the prestigious Lucy Heartfilia of the Heartfilia household," she muttered before frowning at Lucy's still-soaked body. "I thought that you're able to use Celestial Summoning magic? Creating heat from the stars should be enough to dry off your clothes..." she questioned where Lucy shook her head.
"You don't have to look after me. I'm fine like this," she replied bluntly where Levy frowned to her friend's rejection for help. "But Lu-chan."
"Levy-chan... You know my situation well enough to know."
Sakura sighing, she took a step back to create some space between them. "I guess I'm being a nuisance here?" she said where Levy snapped her head over to her.
"No, you're not Sakura-san!"
The blonde widening her eyes, she looked back to forth between the two who were exchanging a conversation through their eyes. Watching the crimson girl that might as well audition for a modelling agency, she watched her turn her full attention onto her.
"I won't do anything to make you feel insecure. We're just worried for your wellbeing Lucy. After what he's done, you're going to be in danger by the other girls and boys who follow him," Sakura stated.
"I just want to tell you that you're under threat of being bullied. I really want to help you Lucy, but I need to know your relationship with him," she then added before the warning bell alerted everyone that it's time to head to class.
Sighing, Sakura looked up to the sky before giving one last glance to the blonde. "Please... If you ever need our help, please tell us. Erza and Gray are worried about you; perhaps you should talk to them again."
"They don't care about me..."
"Lu-chan..."
"No. It's fine Levy-chan. I can tell her... There's something about her that makes me want to open up to her," Lucy replied, dropping her head to look down to the ground.
The crimson tipping her head to the side, she looked behind her to feel a presence watching them. Thinking that it was nothing, Sakura forced herself to ignore it and turned back to the silent blonde standing in front of her. "I don't want to force you into anything Lucy," she stated, her smile sad but earnest to her emotions.
Her smile so pure, Lucy wanted to pour her heart out to this stranger, but for some reason, she was struggling to reach out to someone so bright.
"Just... Just forget about my question. We should head to class now..." Sakura waved off where Levy nodded. "Yeah. We should," she replied, understanding Sakura's intentions of not wanting to pressure the blonde to seek for any providence from a stranger.
A red magical circle opening, highlighted in colours of orange and yellow, Lucy could feel her body growing warmer. Looking down to see her clothes quickly getting dried, she quickly lifted up her head and jogged after the crimson that disappeared. Standing outside, she saw Sakura's back.
"Don't think too much about it Lucy. I believe that everyone's stronger within the heart," she heard before Sakura's body vanish once again as she made a turn.
Standing by themselves behind the school's gym, Levy pulled Lucy into a warm embrace. "Don't worry about it Lu-chan. Sakura's known to be overprotective for the people of our school. Even though you just met her, she'll do everything to protect you," she reassured where Lucy widened her eyes in realisation.
"What does she mean "Under threat"?"
Tensing, Levy tightened her hug. The girl gritting her teeth, she pulled back to look at her best friend directly in the eyes. "Since Natsu is one of the most influential students within the student body, his actions to you will cause some future problems. Once he starts the bullying, everyone else will follow in pursuit," she explained.
Lucy stood there still for a moment. Her body reacting by itself, she twisted Levy around, making them switch places as she pulled her closely to her body.
The echoes of water splattering down to the ground, Lucy shivered in horror before the sounds of a chime breaking was heard. "Wind Arrow!" a voice of a girl cried out before sharp arrows made of wind went shooting towards Lucy.
"Lu-chan!" Levy screamed where she looked down to her ring that was shining. Her brows furrowed, she knew that her magic was incomplete. She needed time, and that time needed would be far too late for anything!
Listening to Lucy's grunts of pain as she continued to hold her tightly, protecting her using her body as a shield. She closed her eyes to reach down to her ring where suddenly, she felt Lucy's body move.
"I didn't want to use it but...If I have to force myself..."
The blonde shuffling to reach down to her bag, she pulled out her whip where she gripped onto its handle tightly.
"No one likes you here newbie!" the girl cried out before the sounds of growling was heard.
Arrows suddenly stopping where the echoes of shrieks were heard, Lucy turned her head around to find Sakura and Erza holding both girls by their collars. "Principal Makarov made it clear before did he not?" Sakura whispered.
Erza nodding, she adjusted her glasses with her free hand. "Bullying a nakama isn't acceptable within our academy," she stated before letting go of the girls' collar where Sakura did the same with a frown.
The girls scampering off to possibly gossip about what had just happened, Sakura glanced over to the scarlet worriedly before realising what she was doing.
Turning to look at Lucy, Erza sadly smiled. "I'm sorry for not being there for you. How are your parents Lucy?" she questioned.
Lucy and Levy tensing at the mention of the word "parents," they both turned their heads away sadly as they silently refused to provide an answer for her. Lucy looking back to her, she gave back an empty smile where the corner of her lips weren't reaching her eyes like when she was younger and smaller.
"They're fine... Just fine."
Widening her eyes, Erza gasped. "Lucy... Did something happen to your family?" she questioned again where Sakura stood awkwardly behind them since she didn't know what to do. She could sense their uneasiness as Lucy's body was shrouded in pain while Erza continued to ask questions which seemed to be affecting her.
The crimson giving out a fake cough, she snapped her fingers again where Lucy's body began to dry off. Looking away, her hair swaying along with her head, she excused herself politely. "I'm... going back to the classroom. I'll tell Cana-sensei that you're currently showing Lucy around," she quickly whispered before running away, her footsteps fading... And fading... where it simply just vanished from their ears.
It was the three of them now and Erza finally understood Sakura's intentions of running out of here. The air around the two girls were as thick as fog, meaning something had happened.
She was being pushed away from something. Something deep and very conflicting for Lucy to act this way...
Perhaps it was from the shock of her first encounter of being bullied without them being there for her - Or perhaps, it was from something else.
For all that she could see in front of her. A secret was being kept from her. Knowing Lucy, if she ever had a problem, she would be the one who'd she go running to.
Now... That small Lucy from the past was no longer there. In front of Erza stood a pale teenager that had concealed eye-bags under her eyes. Hair no longer bright like before.
What seemed to be Lucy was someone else...
"Are you hiding something from us?" she whispered.
Lucy shook her head. Her eyes dead and deceiving... "There's nothing I'd ever hide from you right?" she replied in a hushed tone where the wind around them began to pick up.
"I promised you didn't I Erza? If I ever go through something I don't like, I'd come to you first?"
The birds nearby seemed to be laughing down at the scarlet. As if they were laughing, saying that she deserved it after leaving the blonde all by herself without any of her childhood friends supporting her as she grew up.
Her body still, she could hear her blood madly pumping through her veins within her body. Her mind buzzing, she stared at the blonde in guilt. "I'm sorry," she whispered before hastily turning away to run.
What were the chances? The school's almighty Titania breaking down...
"Erza!" Levy cried out.
It was too late for apologies. Lucy made it clear once she looked at her with those emotionless eyes. There was no space for an apology to be made.
Sighing, Lucy looked down to her hands. Her whip was old and worn out, her other was hidden within her very room. Gritting her teeth, she threw down the old whip and took off her bracelet where the sound of glass breaking was heard.
"Lu-chan?"
The blonde looking at her friend, she forced herself to smile. "I'm going to that training room that you always go on about. You can head off without me," she replied as her belt popped around her waist with gold and silver keys chattering once it appeared hanging from it.
Turning, she began to storm off.
Why was she angry? She didn't know that herself...
xxxxx
I'm alive! I survived all of my exams and now it's the holidays, meaning more frequent updates~
- CelestialSakuraa