Chapter 11
Erza slept hard that night because she was exhausted by both the extreme events that took place and the sudden news about her friend. Come morning she was determined to reach the castle of Princess Lucy immediately and find out what this was really about.
"I recommend you don't return." Natsu told her. "If she finds out you willingly chose not to kill me she'll be very angry with you. And you will most likely punish you severely."
"I'm not frightened." She said boldly. "I must know the truth. I must know if our friendship was genuine."
"I believe it was." He said. "Lucy has done some deplorable things but I know that deep down in heart all she wants is to be loved and accepted."
"Strange. She wants to kill you yet you hold so much compassion for her. Why is that?"
"Let's just say it's because I know her very well. Well enough to know that her reasons for her actions are understandable."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't say but know this. Whatever you may find out about her when you get to the castle try not to judge her. At least not so harshly because she wasn't always the way she is now and it was my fault that she ended up like this."
Erza did not understand what Natsu told her. She tried to get him to be more specific but he couldn't tell her anymore than that. She thanked him again for saving her twice and giving her a place the stay then left for Lucy's castle. When she finally arrived she was greeted by the princess herself who had a very pleased expression on her face.
"Is it done?" She asked. "Did he drink it?"
"No. No he did not." Erza answered with a cold expression. One that was of pure betrayal.
"I see..." Lucy said looking disappointed. "I guess he figured out who you were and what you were really up to so he evaded you?"
"He figured me out but he didn't evade me."
"He didn't?"
"No. In fact he saved my life twice even though he knew what I was trying to do to him." She said. "And it turns out we both had a very different idea on what you wanted me to do to him."
She pulled out the bottle.
"You told me this was a potion that would take away someone's power if they drank it. But that's not what it really is, is it?"
Lucy looked anxious. Like she had been caught red handed which in way she had been.
"This is poison isn't it?" Erza asked trying not to show the princess how angry she was. "You were going to trick me into killing him! You lied to me!"
"I had to! It was to spare you the guilt of knowing you killed someone! Someone who I might add is an evil killer."
""You're still lying to me! He's no killer! At least not in the way you told me! He saved me twice even though he knew that you sent me to kill him! What kind of evil killer would do that?!"
"It's a trick! One to get you to betray me! Don't be fooled. He has no kindness or goodness, he only wants to destroy everything I hold dear so I'll give into him."
"Enough with the lies! I know the truth! All of it! The beast told me everything!"
"Beast?" Her expression suddenly darkened. "What beast?"
"The shadow beast! He told me how you only befriended me so you could use me to do your dirty work! Is that true?!"
Lucy did not answer. Instead her face became even darker and it was filled with a great anger. Without a word she waltzed over to a nearby crystal ball that was placed on top of a table and grabbed it. At first Erza thought that the enraged blonde was going to break it or something but instead she did something very unorthodox. She started talking to it.
"You vindictive little bastard!" She screamed at the orb. "Why must you always torment me for your own sick amusement?!"
For a moment Erza thought that Lucy had lost her sanity. Why was she shouting at an animate object?
"Who are you talking to?" Erza asked.
"I'm talking to your new friend!" Lucy snarled. "Gray! The shadow beast! Who I'm willing to bet at this very moment is at his castle, watching us through his mirror with that smug grin on his face!"
She turned her attention to the crystal ball.
"Enjoy it while you can you monster! I'll get you for this! You think this will stop me?! You think that you can just wreck my plans! Well think again! Because I will not stop! Ever! Not until he's dead!"
"So it is true." Erza said. "You were using me to kill Natsu. Does that mean the kindness you gave, our friendship, was it all a lie?"
Lucy's face softened when she heard this and she began to feel very guilty.
"No." She said. "I mean yes at first I was only using you but over time I became fond of you. And I did think of you as my friend."
"Then why did you still try to turn into murderess? Why did you lie to me? Why trick me? Why did you want to kill an innocent man?"
"He is not innocent!" She snapped. "You don't really know him! You don't know what he's done!"
"But he hasn't been killing your subjects has he?"
Lucy hesitated before answering.
"No he hasn't."
"I knew it! He doesn't deserve to die!"
"That's not your decision to make!"
"It's not yours either!"
"There's so much about this you don't understand Erza! If only you knew what he did to me! What did was unforgivable and it was the most evil act anyone could ever commit."
"What? What did he do to you? What could he have possibly done to warrant your hatred toward him?"
"I trusted him once and because of that he destroyed something very precious to me. In fact it was the most precious thing in my life and that betrayal has scarred me to a point of which I will never recover! Not as long as he lives! He is a killer! He killed an innocent but due to his knight in shinning armor facade no one believes me I tell them about what he did! So I had to lie! So you wouldn't fall for his facade!"
"I don't believe you."
"What do you mean you don't believe me?"
"You've lied to me so much I don't weather to believe you about that."
"But you're my friend. Friends are supposed to trust each other."
"Friends are also supposed to be honest with each other. They're not supposed to trick and deceive each other! And since you can't be honest with me and I can no longer trust you than I guess we can't be friends anymore!"
Lucy was deeply hurt by Erza's words. Deeply hurt indeed and Erza almost felt bad for saying such things but she was also deeply hurt. Lucy had been deceiving Erza since the very beginning. Back then Erza was lost, hungry, and tired while receiving no kindness or help from anyone and then she met Lucy and she thought she had found someone who cared. That she had actually found a real friend but it all turned out to be a lie. A lie that almost led to her killing a good man. A real friend wouldn't abuse someone's trust like that. How could Lucy do something like this to her and expect her to still be her friend?
Erza was about to say something again but Lucy beat her to it as her demeanor changed from one of hurt to one of anger and darkness.
"You're just like everyone else!" She cried. "No one really wants to help me! No one really cares about my suffering! They all prefer the conquering hero! Ignoring the sins he committed and the innocents he victimized! Well you're right Erza! We can't be friends anymore! Not if you're going to choose him over me!"
The way she spoke and the way she glared made Erza very afraid of her. Like suddenly Lucy had been replaced by some evil entity that was completely filled with anger and hate. But what made it even more scary was the realization was that there was no replacement and that this was who Lucy really was.
"Five seconds." She said.
"What?" Erza said.
"That's how long I'm giving you! You have five seconds to get out of my castle and out of my sight before my guards throw you into the dudgeon where you'll rot for the rest of your life!"
She held up a finger.
"One."
"You can't be serious." Erza said.
"Two." She held up another finger.
"Lucy this crazy! You can't do this!"
"Three."
When she held her third finger the royal guards started coming into the room. Realizing that this was no joke, Erza bolted out of the room as fast as she could. All too soon Lucy reached four and five and the guards were chasing after her like a pack of wolves hunting a rabbit. Arrows were flying and gauntlet hands moved to grab her. She tripped a few times but she would not allow herself to fall over. If she did then she would no doubt be captured.
She reached a stairway that she recognized would lead her to the front of the castle but the whole bottom half of the stairway was filling up with more and more guards. Erza was trapped. There was no way she would be able to leave this castle. At least not in one piece. No wait there was another way. Across from her was a window that was ten feet from the moat that surrounded the castle. Like with the cliff she had been dangling from it was a 50 foot drop but there weren't any rocks and stones below, there was just a large body of water so there was chance she could survive the fall.
The guards were closing in on all sides. She had no other choice. Besides she'd rather die than spend the rest of her life in a dudgeon. So she ran toward the window and leapt out through it. She fell down and down until...SPLASH! She landed right in the moat. The guards looked out the window to see if she had survived the fall. When no body rose up to the water's surface they assumed that she had drowned and left her to a watery grave. But actually Erza had indeed survived the fall but she expected them to check and see if she was still alive so instead of rising back up instantly she swam under the draw bridge and hid there until she was sure that they left her for dead.
After that she swam toward some secluded edge of the moat and pulled herself out of the water. At first she took a moment to fully comprehend what had just happened. Not only had she discovered that her best friend had been lying to her and using her but now said friend was going to have her in prisoned or worse, executed. It was almost too much to realize. Just last week the two of them were having tea together and talking about how silly certain nobles and royals looked with their fancy clothes, wigs, and make up. Now it was like their friendship had never even existed.
Erza had never had a real friend before meeting Lucy so you can imagine how heartbroken she was by all this. Especially when she came to the conclusion that she never had a real friend to begin with. She remembered when she first left home and ran away into the forest, her mother had told her that no one else would be there for her. That she would never find any real friends. That eventually she would either return to her mother or die alone in the forest. Naturally she didn't believe her words then but now...
"No!" Erza told herself. No she wouldn't believe it now. No she wouldn't return to that woman. Not when she had come so far. Yes she had been hurt and betrayed but she wouldn't let that be the reason she would go back to her mother nor would she let it stop her from living her life. She could always find another friend but you only get one life and you must live it the best way you can. You can't just let hurt keep you from living.
Erza was very sad to have been betrayed and used like that but she wouldn't let it get the best of her. She would move on eventually and who knows maybe she would find a real friend who would help her in this difficult part of her life but right now she needed to rely on herself and find her own way. So she brushed herself off, picked herself back up, and left the castle now more determined than ever to keep on living.
...
Greige stared at the illustration of the soaking wet peasant woman who left the castle. Once again he couldn't help but compare her appearance to Elkis's. He flipped through the pages and studied each one that an illustration while finding that nearly every character on the page looked exactly like someone he had seen in Edolas. The maiden who cleaned and loved roses looked like his teacher Juvina, the knight who climbed giant beanstalks looked like Nakku the mechanic, the beast who lurked in the shadows looked like that weird detective Gren, and the Princess with the dark heart looked like the mayor Lusha. It was so strange. Why did so many of the characters in his book resemble the people of Edolas? It couldn't be just a coincidence right? It had to mean something but what? What did it all mean?
When he reached the last page on the book he realized that it had a part of the story he had never read before. How odd, he had this book for ten years and he never noticed the last story. It showed an illustration of the character who resembled Elkis clutching a young man in a room filled with darkness. Also in the room was the character who looked like Nakku lying unconscious on the floor while the character who looked like Lusha stood over him with a face full of twisted glee.
"She had finally done it." Greige read. "Princess Lucy had cast her curse which would rip everyone away from the people they loved most and send them to another world. One where time would stand still, where all the people of Fiore would be trapped, where they would forget who they were and have false memories replace their real ones. In this new land Lucy believed that she would be the only one happy here while everyone she deemed her enemy would be miserable but actually she would be just as miserable as everyone else so all the hurt and damage she caused would be for nothing."
When he finished reading that part he turned to the next page and started reading it.
"But all hope was not lost. For you see all curses can be broken and this one was no different. It was said that one day two children who grew up in this new land and possessed a magic of their own would discover this town and through love they would break the curse and destroy the ultimate evil that started the darkness to begin with."
He looked at the illustration on the next page. It was of a modern day town and not just any modern day town, one that was exactly like Edolas. It even had the sign at the front that read: Now Entering Edolas.
"Okay this isn't just weird anymore." Griege said. "Now it's spooky."
"Five minutes til dinner kids!" Elkis called. "Take this time to wash up!"
"Okay!" Nasha called back. She walked by Griege's room and stopped at his doorway. "Come wash your hands for dinner."
He didn't respond. He just continued to re-read the last few pages of the final story in the book.
"Hey did you hear me? It's almost time to eat so get ready."
"Nasha." Griege said nervously. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"It's kind of a weird thing to ask but I really need to know your answer on this."
"Alright shoot."
"Do you believe in magic?"
"What?"
"Do you believe in magic? Fantasy? Myths? Fairy tales?"
"Uh...No." She said as if it was obvious. "Of course not. Who the heck under age five believes in any of that?"
Griege didn't answer.
"Hold up don't tell that you actually believe in that."
"Well I don't know for sure if I do but-"
"Griege your ten years old. I think it's time you put away the fairy tales and stories of magic and start believing in reality."
"Nasha I said I don't if I believe in it. I didn't at all before now but..."
"But what? What's changed?"
"I'm worried that if I tell you'll think I'm crazy and make fun of me."
"First of all I don't bully people. I got bullied myself in my last few foster homes so I would never allow myself to sink so low. As for thinking your crazy well that depends on what it is you're going to tell me."
"Maybe I should just show you instead."
"Show me what?"
He opened the book wider so she could see better and flipped back some pages.
"Now keep in mind that I don't know for sure if I believe this or not but I'm convinced that it means something."
"What means what?"
"Just read these last few pages."
"You want me to read a story book? I think I'm too mature for that."
"I'm not asking you to read the whole thing just the last few pages."
"Why?"
"Because it'll give you a better understanding of what I'm about to tell you."
"Fine."
And she began to read those final pages.
So now you all know why Lucy hates Erza and Greige is starting to put the pieces together. But why does Lucy hate Natsu so much? What made her so evil? And will Greige and Nasha be able to figure out what's really going on in the small town of Edolas? The plot thickens.
Next chapters will provide Gray's backstory and how he became the beast that he is while Elkis finds herself in some trouble and looking to a very unlikely source for help. Stay tuned.
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