Sweet Starry Shadows

The Truth

Sweet Starry Shadows

Chapter 21: The Truth

After hearing Lucy's answer, Sakura smirked as she crossed her arms to look at the blonde. With a glint of mischief, she couldn't help but adore her as she got up. "Are you sure about it? I won't allow you to change your element when we settle into training," she said as she stretched a little bit to get rid of the annoyance on her lower back.

Listening to Lucy hum, she chuckled and nodded her head. "Alright, when you settle down here, I'll train you into becoming the best Dragon Slayer there is," she replied before heading out to find Sting to talk about their issue with Zeref and Jiemma.

Her hair swaying as she walked out, once she closed the door, Lucy sighed in relief. "Worried?" she heard Rogue ask.

Resting her back against the soft mattress, she adjusted herself so she could face the boy. Laying her shoulder, she smiled before nodding her head in response. "What will happen if I can't learn it or learn it in time?" she asked, worried that she didn’t have the capabilities on learning what she had wanted when she was the one that insisted on learning Dragon Slaying magic.

It was selfish of her. She wouldn’t be able to bear it to see herself failing their high expectations of her managing to learn their magic.

Her eyes watching him smile at her, she raised a brow in question. "What is it?" she questioned where he chuckled. His laugh somewhat making her smile at his carefree expression, she watched him settle down. With a smile still implanted on his face, he shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to learn it in ease. If Sakura trusts you and all then it’s a clear indicator that you have the ability to learn it, so just believe in yourself, won't you?" he said before the door again, revealing a small little Exceed standing at it.

"Fro was so worried about Rogue-kun!"  a petite voice cried out before a tiny Frosch began running over to the Shadow Dragon Slayer who was gently smiling down at them. "Sorry, I'll promise you that I won't go into danger," he said where Frosch then crossed their arms cutely, making the blonde slowly smile down to him as he tried to act angry. "Fro don't think so," he said where Rogue chuckled before regretting it.

The boy wincing at the pain, he slowly lifted his gaze where he forced himself to smile at them. The two of them smiling, Frosch confusingly looked up to go back and forth between the two of them. "Rogue-kun... Who's this?"

He looked down and smiled down at his little partner. "Frosch... This is Lucy. She's our newest member of Sabertooth," Rogue introduced where Lucy sheepishly smiled to the Exceed wearing a frog suit.

Looking at the Exceed, Lucy could feel her heart melting from the adorable little thing looking up to her in admiration. Her eyes planted on them as they walked over to her, her heart tugged as she watched the Exceed wave to her.

"Hello! My name is Frosch!" they introduced where the blonde chuckled. "Nice to meet you Frosch," she replied before Sting came into the room again and saw Frosch. "Shouldn't you be with Lector?" he asked.

Frosch looking up to Sting, the Exceed nodded before running out of the infirmary to only bump into Sakura who chuckled. "Careful little one, we don't want you to get hurt," she said before picking them up to place them onto their little feet. "Now carry on."

"Thank you onee-chan!" Frosch chimed before running off to find Lector who's possible searching high and low for them in panic like usual. Smiling, the crimson shook her head as she entered the infirmary. "Feeling better you two?" she asked. Watching the blonde nod her head to her question, she sighed in relief before sitting in between the beds.

"I'll heal you both for the last time. After this, you should be able to move around but just don't strain yourselves too much. Sit, rest, and don't walk around too much," she informed to which they both nodded to Sakura's advice.

Adjusting themselves to be comfortable in their beds, Sakura closed her eyes and began mumbling where water orbs engulfed their bodies. Their eyes closed as they savoured the cooling sensation on their skin, they sighed in contempt as Sting watched from the sidelines. "I'll be introducing you both to the guild once you're done with the healing," he stated where Lucy snapped her eyes open to meet them with Sakura's.

The girl giving her a reassuring nod, she sighed before closing her eyes again. Her eyes getting heavy as she began to relax her body from the pain, she found herself falling asleep where Rogue slowly opened his eyes to meet Sakura's dragon-like ones.

Surprised, he widened his eyes where Sakura sadly smiled to him. "Now, now Rogue, we don't want to wake up Lucy, do we?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Nodding his head, he closed his mouth to only look over to Sting in confusion. Just who was Sakura, and why was she here in the first place?

He knew that she was a dragon, but why was Zeref after her? She said that she came here to stop dragons from being tamed by humans. What does this have to do with her in the first place when all she could do was run away and leave the rest to others to deal with?

"You're probably thinking about a lot of questions like how Sting was when I told him just then. Let me answer all of your questions," she said before the water orbs vanished with a swipe of a hand.

The crimson placing her hands on her lap, she sat up straight and tall. She was prepared to answer all his questions to clear away his confusion about her identity. "Shoot," she said as she watched him part his lips slowly with his brows furrowed in frustration.

When he heard that the crimson was willing to answer his questions, more questions arose where he had to think and gather his thought of process first before asking. There's no way someone would just accept things the way they are right now.

"Why aren't we discussing thing when Lucy's awake?"

She raised her brow and smiled. "My reason would bring Lucy into a complete panic. I don't want her to think of the bad possibilities of her dying by their hands. We will slowly tell her everything when the time is right," she answered where he nodded. "Alright... Then tell me who you truly are."

The crimson closed her eyes and placed her hand over her heart where she slowly opened them to reveal nothing but confidence and pride. "My name is Sakura. I do have a last name, but that's unnecessary when you're a dragon. Like what I had just said earlier, I'm a dragon - An elemental one. I am the dragon that controls pure elements, the main ones that keep us alive today. As an elemental dragon, we are gifted with knowledge and wisdom where we are the ones that guide and help our kind."

Rogue shifted in his place before pushing himself to rest against the headboard. Sitting up, he gave her an unsure look. "A-Are our parents alive?"

He watched her smile. "They are well and are currently living peacefully where no one can harm them… That is if Zeref doesn’t find out where they’re hiding," she answered where he sighed in relief before remembering the most important question.

"You said that Lucy's in danger and that you want to protect her from them. What do you mean by that?" he asked. That's when he noticed her stiffen to his question. Watching her carefully, he noticed her eyes glowing red. A dangerous colour to warn him that her emotions were getting unsteady.

The girl sitting there for a moment, she composed herself, but the redness in her eyes didn’t go away. "Zeref and Jiemma... They're after her to control me. Like we all know, only Celestial mages and wizards are able to control our dragons and tame us into becoming their pets and tools. Zeref has successfully tamed Acnologia, and now he wants me to complete the set..." she began.

The girl taking a sigh as she looked over to Lucy, she gripped onto her kimono sleeves tightly which made the two boys look at her curiously. Sakura biting the bottom of her lips, she felt her heart twinge in pain before ripping her eyesight away on the blonde to look at the black-haired boy.

She had to tell them everything or else, her quest would never be complete.

"Acnologia is the dragon of Black magic, while I am the dragon of White magic, or in this case, Pure magic. We are opposites, and to merge them together, we will be the cause of the world's destruction... Zeref needs Lucy's heart to control me. He's not forgiving, so he'll kill her to get what he seeks within her," she finished off.

Opening her mouth again, she knew what Rogue was going to ask her. To make his life easier, she answered his silent question. "I came here in order to seek my answers from your books and forbidden resources. I came to ask those that know things I have yet to learn about the past. For my case, I went to Master Makarov and Mavis in search of these answers. To my demise, they knew only bits and pieces where they sent me out on this special mission to learn as much as I can to prevent the apocalypse from happening and to find a way to create an end for Dragon Tamers," she explained.

There was complete silence. A silence which made Sakura's mind run through the possibilities of them now not wanting to help her. 

Dropping her head where she stared down to her balled fists, she sighed and told them one last important bit of information about her. A detail that would explain her hesitations.

"I am still a young dragon. Having four elements within me isn't an easy task. I can easily go into blood lust before you know it... I'm a dragon that was born to be unstable until I become an adult," she said before she stiffened to Rogue's sigh.

"Why didn't you just hide from all of this?"

She widened her eyes before her eyes began to water from the memory of her mother being tamed. Covering her mouth as she watched the tears fall onto her lap, she gasped. "I can't run away… I can't stand it when I'm here watching dragons walk around in their human forms with blank and emotionless expressions on their faces!" she whispered, not knowing that her voice woke up Lucy from her sleep.

The crimson hugging herself, she snapped her head up to look at Rogue with a helpless, scared expression on her tear-stained face. "Imagine... Imagine yourself seeing your mother walking around with dull eyes with a chain around her neck, preventing her from soaring through the skies and the heavens above… Imagine her staring at you before she was put down for her so-called uselessness in front of you…" she whispered painfully. "I can't let the same thing happen to the newer generation of dragons... I just can't let history repeat itself," she ended before widening her eyes as she felt warm arms pull her into a soft chest.

"There, there... History won't repeat itself when we're going to stop it," Lucy cooed which made Sakura take in a deep inhale before hiding her face into her chest.

Sadly smiling, the blonde patted Sakura's back as she cried away her pains. As a dragon, you live longer to become more powerful and wiser. Sakura, being a young one, she was left alone to defend herself.

The girl didn't know what to do. All she could do was push herself forward to hope for a better future, and with enemies trying to control her, she couldn't do anything other than to fight.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you?" she whispered. Closing her eyes, she embraced the crimson, she turned her head to Sting and nodded her head. "I'm ready to get introduced to the guild," she said where Sakura nodded in unison to Sting.

It was time for a change. A change that was going to save the entire world from destruction.