Natsu's Point of View

I woke up to hear the door opening. I opened my eyes to see Erza standing there.

"Come." She whispered. I could tell she was being serious so I carefully got out of the bed and left the room. Everyone was waiting in the living room.

"We don't think it'll be a good idea to bring Lucy on this mission," Erza said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't know if you notice but when she saw this village, fear had covered her face but she hid it. Also, the lady at the cafe told her to leave as soon as possible so something happened here."

"She also seemed very distant from us," Gray said.

"Isn't she already distant from us."

"No like she became more. As if she's hiding something from us." Gray said.

"4th council member said something happened and she even asked us to watch Lucy."

"Yesterday, I saw a scar on her."

"Really, I haven't seen anything," Wendy said.

"It goes from the corner of her left eye and down. From what I could tell it continued past her shirt. I touched it and she was trying to calm herself down. I could tell that she was in pain."

"Maybe Dark Night gave that to her."

"Well, we won't know what happened unless she tells us," Erza said.

"Like that is gonna happen. She closed herself off more. Ever since she came back at the guild she's pushed us away." Gray said.

"What else do you expect, Gray? She has been through a lot and we don't even know any of it. Remember how Juvia was before she met you. She looked so dead, no emotion in her face." Our conservation stopped when we heard a stop from the bedroom. We quickly walked into the bedroom and saw that no danger was there.  Lucy was still asleep on the bed, panting heavily, face red at the cheeks. Wendy walked over to her and used her magic to see what was wrong with her.

"She has a slight fever but it's not too bad."

"Can you heal her?" Erza asked.

"I dunno."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, with healing magic the body has to accept it so it can heal them. It seems that Lucy's body is rejecting it." She said and stopped.

"Why?"

"It's either she's gonna go so long without healing magic that it's used to healing on its own or her body has gotten used to another healing magic."

"Well, how long would it take?"

"It isn't that high so it should maybe take the day."

"We won't be leaving till tomorrow then. *sigh* Well Wendy and Carla if I made a list of food can you go get it?"

"Sure." Erza walked over to the desk and looked through the drawers. She found an old notebook with paper sticking out. She pulled out an empty piece of paper and started writing things down. Once she finishes she hands the paper and a bag of jewels to Wendy.

"If Dark Night comes, hurry up and come here. If they are following you then try to mess them up so they don't come here. Try to send us a message so we can leave."

"Ok." She said and left. Erza looked back at the journal and opened it. She started reading what page it was on.

"Erza, I don't think you should-."

"Listen, 'They did it again. Another one is taken from me. They took someone so close to me. They made me leave my family, killed anyone I might have come in contact with. They don't care who it is, they kill whoever they want. I'm mad. That side of me wants blood. It doesn't care whose blood, as long as it theirs they'll be satisfied. The chains holding that side of me are breaking, a little more and they'll break. Nothing would hold me back. That side of me will hurt anyone and everyone. I just hope my friends can handle it till I gain control back.'"

"The way she spoke of that side. So she has another side of herself that we don't know." I said.

"She basically said that it's dangerous,"  Gray said.

"This was written yesterday," Erza said.

"Which means if she sees those guys then she'll break. She looked on the verge of breaking back at the forest."

"Now, I don't want to bring Lucy along anymore."

"Yea but she might be able to help us. The job is to investigate this group which the descriptions given to match the descriptions Lucy told us of the group. She might know the weaknesses of these guys." Gray said.

"But if she found out what this job was she'll tell us to go back," I said.

"We can either tell her and she'll try to force us back or don't tell till we actually do the job and deal with the consequence later." Shuffling was heard from the bed. She panting and whispering stop.

"It looks like she's having a nightmare."

"Should we wake her up?"

"No, leave. She needs to sleep." We heard the door open and closed. We stayed silent till we saw Wendy and Carla walk in. 

"No more, please," Lucy said. She was still asleep but her face was twisted in pain. Her arm soon started moving around like she was trying to protect herself.

"We need to hold her down, she's gonna hurt herself." Gray and Wendy grabbed her legs while I and Erza had her arm. She was trying to pull her arms out of our grasp but we won't let go. Erza had her right arm.

"Don't kill her, please." Lucy basically shouted. Her arm got out of Erza grasp and a sword appeared in her hand. She put the sword to Erza's neck. That's when Lucy woke up. She saw the sword at Erza's neck and immediately made it disappear. We got off of her and she had a mix of emotions on her face. Erza put her hand to her neck and pulled them away. A little blood started to drip from her.

"Shit Wendy," Gray said. Wendy looked at Erza and rushed over. She quickly healed her even though Erza said that she was fine.

"I'm sorry," Lucy said quietly, her eyes held no emotion.

"No, it our fault. We didn't have to hold you down, we could have just woke you up."

"Yes, but I could've hurt you that way too." We were silent, unable to say anything.

"I suggest next time when I have a nightmare or whatever, please don't be in the room. I don't think I can forgive myself if I hurt any of you." Before we could say anything she continued.

"Two years ago, I left because to me it felt like it was the only option. After taking a train ride for About 6 hours I came to a little village. I decided at the time to stay there for a bit since I didn't know where I would go or do from then. I walked around town and I saw this lady. She was a retired celestial maga. She somehow knew that I was a celestial maga too. She was willing to teach me more about celestial magic. I agreed and we started on it the next day. She became like a second mother to me. After a week they came. They didn't do anything to the village, they just attacked us. She was fighting to let me get away but I didn't want to leave her. In the end, they….. They had killed her. I snapped and my magic went berk. I whether not say what happened. I ran and continued running. It felt like I was going through the same thing, the same feelings as when my mother had died. This is why I know, they don't care who you are or what you are, they will kill anyone." She said. While she was speaking she pulled her knees to her chest.

"Lucy, we didn't-." Erza started to say.

"You didn't know, they all say the same and they end up dead or they leave."

"Lucy, *sigh* We know that you haven't told us everything and this is the first step. As time goes on, you might be able to tell us more about what happened to you and we might be able to defeat them."

"*sigh* who knows, but it's nice to know that you guys are still my family, friends." She said and smiled at us.

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Words: 1428
3/24/20