Breeze.
A slight breeze had past through my face. I moaned and shuffled to my right, trying to keep myself sleeping. A melodic giggle passed its way to my ears, which made the corners of my mouth turn slightly upwards. I peeked an eye open, and saw a radiant lady, with golden hair tied in a loose bun. Her smile was soft and her eyes were so mesmerizing. She stroked her thumb across my cheek, a relaxed sigh escaping from her lips. I rolled on the grass to try get up from its welcoming state, the tips of green slightly tapping my whole body as a wind would pass by.
"Mmmorning." I managed to say as I sat up and hugged the lady. She hummed and stroked my short blonde hair. Shortly after, I let go and stood up with her.
"Well, mom, what do you have to show me today?" I asked her. Mom tucked a stand of hair behind her ear,
"Nothing much. I've pretty much shown you everything this past year."
I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. My eyes widened as a sweat slowly dripped from my forehead.
"Has it really been that long...?" I whispered. She chuckled and smiled, nodding her head,
"A year and three months, to be exact. Maybe I kept you here for a little longer than I should have, but I really wanted to show you everything. I mean, look at this place!" Her arms shot up to the vast fields of green, and beautiful colors of the skies. The fields had patched of yellow that looked like they where soon to become a healthy color like the rest, in a few days. The flowers on the ground were a mix of daisies and dandelion. I looked up at the sky and saw beautiful shapes of clouds through out the whole scenery. The sky was a faded dark blue at the very top, and then it blended into variations of pinks, purples and oranges. The sun was peeking slowly from the horizon, bring in its warmth on yellow.
My eyes softened and I crossed my arms, hugging myself. It was reasonable.... The place was wonderful. When I had gotten frozen in the tube that Aquarius had put me in that day, I woke up in a field of yellow grass, under a tree. Crying, I had stood up and called for help. I didn't know why I was crying- was it of pain and sorrow from past experiences? No, at the time I hadn't really thought of anything, it was almost like I was born into life again. I saw my mother stand in the distance as I called for help... She ran over to hug me, crying of joy. She was so happy to see me, she said she was waiting for me. Why? Why was she waiting for me...?
Sometimes I'd think this whole thing was an illusion and that none of this was really happening; that in reality, I'm stuck in that tube frozen in time while shutting myself away from the world.
I bit my bottom lip and buried my face in between my legs. I felt like throwing up for some reason. Even though it felt like I've been in the fields forever and that I'm used to it, I really wanted to get out of there. Mom patted my back, trying to calm my racing heart,
"You feel like throwing up right?" She asked. I nodded. "That's the feeling when it's time to go back to the world. It's when you've finally gathered up all the sadness of the ocean in your heart so that you can keep protecting it. Because of that, you can no longer contain more of the sadness. You've done your job, Lucy. You concealed the war between Man and the mer-people. Now all are living peacefully, and now so can you."
"Then what about you...?" I asked. As much as I wanted to go, I wanted mom to be part of it. It was selfish, but I couldn't help but want. Mom gave off a sad smile,
"I'll have to stay. But I know that one day, when your old or you have reached your time, you'll see me again," she caressed my cheek as a tear dripped onto her hand. Big droplets of tears were spilling down my face. No, it can't be...
"R-right now, right here... W-we... Are in...." My voice was trembling, "We... Are in...." Are we really in an after life...?
"We are in our paradise Lucy. And you'll get to see it again when you really have to leave the world." Mom kissed my cheeks and pulled me up. My legs were weak. Mom was...
She was....
"Y-you're dead...? You're really dead? I thought, I thought that... Maybe..." I put a hand to my mouth. I thought that maybe she was like me, frozen in a tube or put to a curse... I thought maybe she was helping me protect the ocean as well, that maybe it wasn't the fact I was seeing 'heaven'. I thought that she could come back, that she really could see my friends, that she can give my bouquet of flowers on my wedding day, and cheer for me as I kiss my man...
That Natsu could see her...
"N-no! Please don't leave me, please come! Y-you can come, your can, right? You can...?" I pleaded as I wept onto the collar of her dress. Mom shook her head and patted my head,
"I'm afraid not, sweetie..." There was a moment of silence before she spoke again, "I had failed."
"Huh?"
"I failed the curse, that time. When I had asked to become human. I was put with the same spell as you did. Even though my thinking was the same as yours, my reasons were much more shameful than anyone's could have been. I wanted to run away. Even though you were born... I wanted to run away. I hated... I hated your father. W-why though? He was a kind man; so why did I hate him? We could've been happy, all of us... The three of us... We could've enjoyed life with your sisters as well, we could have just given them freedom. Yet I wasn't happy with the way things were, so I begged the Magical mermaids to give me a human life.
"I guess it was because I saw a man up there at the shore one day... He had dark red hair, a bright sharp smile and slanted eyes that looked like it would cut through to your heart... I may have loved him, thinking I could have a life with him. I don't know if that love was real or not, it may have just been the fact that I really wanted a new life. That's right, I didn't want to become human for him, but rather for myself. I wanted to have a life, Lucy. I don't regret getting to see the human life, but I do regret not bringing you or even your father now..."
I gulped, staring into my mother's eyes. She looked up and sighed,
"That human I loved was a prince... And he had already fallen in love with another woman. She had silky blue hair, with loving eyes and a light blue flower pin in her hair. She walked as if she were dancing, and her heart was strong and ready to fight anytime. She was perfect for him and he was perfect for her. I was sad that I never got a chance to experience true love, so much so that I got depressed. That man let me stay on the ship he was about to aboard on, but only if I were to attend his wedding. He was excited and saw me as a great friend. I was happy that he at least noticed me, but I was still so upset with myself. For a while I wondered if I had even made the right choice, but soon I was able to stand up strong again. I told myself that whatever was to happen, I'll keep a smile on my face.
"Then my sisters came... They begged me to come back, and they gave me a knife to kill the one I loved. I was debating whether or not to do it, he did never love me anyways. It wasn't like I was to stay long anyways. I slowly walked over to his room and stood by his side, the knife tightly gripped in my hand. I started to think about my sisters, and the fact that the three girls I adopted would become your sisters too. 'It would be fun if I came back right? We would then all love that happy life'.Thinking about that, I bent down and cut the man's arm. He flinched a little, which made me hesitate. I continued to dream about that happy life, so I went to cut more. 'If he were to bleed to death, I'd feel less guilty, right?' Was what I was thinking. When I was about to dig the knife deeper in his arm, I heard shuffling and sighs from the other side of the bed. I took away the knife in fright and looked carefully at who was there. It was his fiancée moving to hug him better. She looked so content and happy with her life. In the moonlight I could see bags under her eyes. She must've had the first sleep in a while. I stared at them. They were happy, and I couldn't go ruin their lives just so that I could have their same happiness. So I ripped a cloth from my dress and carefully wrapped it around that man's arm. I ran out of the room to the front of the ship the two would marry in. I climbed up on the front of the ship and unconsciously let a drop of the man's blood fall into the ocean. Then I cut my arm too, saying 'this is for the life I would never have,' and fell off the ship to drown myself in the ocean I could've lived my life in."
When my mom finished the story, I was already drowning myself in my own tears. My mom was living a tough life. For once I felt that maybe she was happier being... Dead. Both lives were too much to handle for her anyways . Maybe that's why she's now smiling all the time.
Mom let me cry for a bit longer before wiping the tears away from my face. We both were standing in grass, our images as human. We both can't go back to being mer-maids. I giggled as she rubbed her nose against mine, which made me snap back to reality. Something clicked in my head and I opened my mouth in complete shock. Mom gave me a questioning
Look,
"What is it?" She asked.
"The man you loved for a while... His name doesn't happen to be Igneel, right?" It made sense. Dark red haired Prince who loves a blue haired girl who happens to be stern... Like Grandine...
"Igneel... Was that his name... " My mother thought as she rubbed her chin. Her eyes warmed up a bit, " it was, wasn't it..."
I blushed a thousand times over. Well crap it's a good thing she never married Igneel, or else Natsu and I would've been step siblings and that would've been really weird...
"Don't worry, I never really liked him that much anyways," my mom cleared out. I sighed in relief, so glad that now I know it wouldn't have been a chance anyways.
"Why?" She asked. I blushed a little, and looked away,
"N... Nothing."
"Hmmm? Does Igneel have a son now?"
"Psh, what? N-no...." I lied as I felt my face heat up more.
"He does, doesn't he! Aw, that's wonderful! What's his name? Does he have a daughter too?"
"N-Natsu... Natsu... Dragneel... And yeah he has a daughter too, her name is Wendy, she's pretty cute. She's like a younger sister to me too," I said, trying to convert the conversation more about Wendy.
"Well, she would become your younger sister if you married that Natsu boy, right?" Mom smirked. I blushed a thousand times redder than before, so much so that I'm probably as red as Erza's hair.
Covering my face, I lightly punched her on the shoulder, "Mom~!"
"I'm joking, hahah!" She laughed as she squeezed me. I squirmed and tried to get away from her grip with a fuss. She suddenly stopped laughing and hugged me much softer, so lightly as if I were to be a fragile glass. "Lucy... I'll miss you so much when you go, so please keep a promise for me. When you go back, will you take care of your sisters? Will you... Speak to Jude for me? Tell him I... Tell him I miss him ok? Tell him I think of him daily."
I smiled and hugged her back, "Of course, mom."
"Also, don't forget I think of you and your sisters daily as well, ok? I'll miss you all..." She kissed my fore head and let go, disappearing into the distance as she walked away. I ran to try catch up with her, but she was too far from my reach.
"No! Don't leave just yet! Mom!" I cried out. I wanted to tell her, I wanted to tell her that I...
"Mom, I Love you!"
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I woke up in the tube, gasping for air. I banged against the glass, trying to get out. The frost of ice slowly melted from the inside and made big droplets of water. Soon, the tube I was in was filling of water, and I was tip-toeing to try breath the air that was hardly there. I looked out at the room I was in. Apparently I'm in the tube that I was in from the start, and that's placed in the silver stage that's part of Aquarius' cave. Aquarius came into the cave, looking as devastated as ever. She sulked as she flopped onto the sand and started moaning,
"Oh, if only I didn't allow the curse in the first place, none of this would be happening...." She cried out.
"A-Aquarius!" I shouted, but from outside I was pretty sure all you could here was some muffling. The water started to rise higher, and I was panicking like never before. "AQUARIUS!"
Aquarius slowly looked over a the silver stage, her eyes droopy from crying so much.
"What's that sound..." She stated as she swam over to the tube. I banged harder on the glass, the water at the top of my neck. Finally noticing I what was happening, Aquarius finally let loose of the tube and I floated unto her chest. She shot me into a beam of rushing water and sent me out of the ocean. By the time I opened my eyes again, I was in mid air; my only view was the sky.
"A...AAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed as I was soon falling at a rapid speed back into land. I landed with an 'oof!' on dry sand, hardly sinking into the ground.
Sand didn't help at all.