Sweet Starry Shadows

No

Sweet Starry Shadows

Chapter 15: No

She mumbled as she shifted in her sleep. Feeling the bright light shine against her eyelids, she forced herself to block out the light where she furrowed her brows. Wait... What light?

Snapping her eyes open, Lucy pushed herself to sit up where she found Sakura, Sting and Rogue sleeping on the other side of the room. "What? But how?" she whispered till she noticed Sakura resting against the windowsill with her arms crossed.

The other boys resting against the wall on either side of the crimson, she wondered why she was here until she remembered what had happened last night. "You got hypnotised," a voice said where she snapped out of her thoughts.

Looking back to Sakura, she gave her a questioning look where slowly, the two Dragon Slayers woke up to look at the blonde with tired eyes.

 "Oh, she woke up," Rogue whispered as he got up to stretch. The boy sighing in relief, he turned to look at her with a concerned expression on his face in which she wasn't used to. "Are you alright? We found you knocked out," he asked where she forced herself to smile.

Scratching the back of her head awkwardly as she noticed that Sting and Rogue saw her in such a defenceless state, she tried to act fine."Yeah... I'm fine. Thank you for worrying Rogue," she answered.

Rogue nodding his head, he replied to her. "It's nothing. It's good to see that you're safe from harm," he said before Sakura walked over to her with a worried aura shrouding her presence.

"You scared me, Lucy. Why did you go there alone? It's not safe to be out late with Zeref and any possible threats still around," Sakura asked as she went on her knees to look at the blonde. "How about joining a guild? That way, you will be safe knowing that others are out there watching over you and will come for your help," she continued before Rogue widened his eyes.

The Shadow Dragon Slayer catching onto how Sakura was quite keen on having the blonde join a guild, he then narrowed his eyes as he questioned the true story behind everything that he was witnessing unfold right in front of him. "But I thought that she's on holidays," he said where Sakura turned her head to sadly look at him.

Feeling slightly hurt that Lucy was lying to him, he bit the inside on his cheek. "You can say that Rogue... But it's best to -" Sakura was interrupted by the female blonde in front of her. "I'm not joining a guild..." Lucy deadpanned where Sakura snapped her head to her. Gripping onto the blankets, she gritted her teeth.

"I don't want to join a guild - I want to be free," she continued.

Sakura sighing, she stood up. "Lucy, I'm worried about you being alone. You know that your little paradise won't stay away from everyone's eyes forever," she said where Lucy looked up to see Sakura's eyes of dead seriousness. "I know that you're capable of living alone, but you can't be alone forever -"

"I don't want to go through all of that just yet!" the blonde boomed while she slammed her fists onto the blanket over her lap. “I’m not ready for things like that,” she tried reasoning to which Sakura replied with so much hurt in her voice. "Humans don't just live freely, Lucy. They are things that need others of the same kind around them to survive," Sakura stated where the hotel room shook to her eruption.

The blonde widening her eyes, she gaped when she realised that the crimson was hurting inside emotionally. "We just can't live in total isolation..." Sakura whispered as she shook her head. "Maybe one day... You'll understand what I mean. Dragon... Wolf... Or human; We just need someone there, or nearby," she said before turning on her heel to walk out and grab her bag.

Without another word, Sakura left the room with a thick air within the room. Sting and Rogue glancing at each other, they stood there still as Lucy tried to process what had just happened in her mind. She, who was a courageous mage, had opened herself to others... And what made it worse was she was just worried for her sake.

Lucy balling her fists, she gritted her teeth as she made herself hold back the tears. "Then there'll be no meaning for my training then," she whispered where both Dragon Slayers looked at her in confusion.

"Uhh, how about joining Sabertooth?" Rogue questioned where Sting and Lucy snapped their heads to look at him in bewilderment. "I don't want to. Thanks, Rogue, but I need to leave," she replied as she shuffled to the side of the bed where she placed her feet on the carpeted floor.

"Tell us what happened at Fairy Tail..." Sting butted in where they both noticed her tense up. "Nothing happened. I'm on holidays," she lied as Rogue pulled her hand. "On holidays? You don't have their insignia on you anymore," he stated where Sting widened his eyes.

The blonde stiffened and yanked her hand away where she stood up with heavy breaths. Glaring at the Shadow Dragon Slayer, she bit the inside of her cheek. "I just wanted to move around while not being asking if I was really a Fairy Tail mage alright?" she stated before looking around to look for her boots.

"Besides. You should be worrying about your own guild," she deadpanned.

"You just snapped at an S-Class mage. Of course, we're curious. By the way, did you run away because Natsu-san's dating that white-haired chick?" Sting questioned where Rogue threw him a pointed look.

Raising both of his hands up into the air in surrender, he gave his partner a confused look. "What?! I was curious!" he exclaimed.

Lucy taking in deep breaths, she forced herself to laugh. "They've been dating for a while, haven't they? I didn't know that they were dating until I went on holidays," she lied.

Looking around, she found her shoes and quickly jogged over to them to slip them on. "Well, as nice as it was to meet you two, I'm going to go now," she said before running out of the hotel room where both boys looked at each other.

Not knowing what had just happened, Rogue ran his hand over his face tiredly. "You worried about her?" Sting asked.

The black-haired boy nodding, he let out a sigh. "Women are confusing," he complained where Sting laughed out loud. "Shut it, Sting, I know what you think of Yukino," he interrupted where the boy immediately closed his mouth to only glare.

Both of them glaring at each other, Sakura watched the clouds slowly move by as Lucy ran as far as she could away from the hotel. With all of them somewhat conflicted, they had no other choice but to force themselves to believe that nothing had happened.

"Are you sure to let her leave like that?" Ace asked as he narrowed his eyes to watch Lucy's fading figure disappear within the crowd. "You should've just told her that Zeref and Jiemma are now stirring up some trouble," Yuuto said as he looked over to his master who was zoning out.

"You know, snapping at her like that will only create more conflicts," he added on where Sakura sighed and slowly stood up on the rooftop.

"We need to find the book as soon as possible... I must get all of my answers now before it’s too late to even do anything to prevent things like this from happening ever again in the future," she whispered as the wind blew. "We should stop interfering with her life now. I think it’s best for her to now think about her actions and what may happen later on in time," she said where the wolves looked up with widened eyes.

"Celestial Summoning magic is rare... They can -"

"No Yuuto, I shall not play with fate and destiny," Sakura interrupted before jumping away, turning her back to Lucy who was weaving through the crowd with a tear rolling down her cheeks.

The blonde walking, she stopped at the train station and turned her body to look back to the busy road. Expecting the crimson to send her off, she found that no one was sending her off. With a frown, she simply turned and headed to the ticket booth to buy her ticket.

 It wasn't like she hated the guild life... It was just - She just wasn't ready to return to something that took a lot of bonding and trust to form between her and others.

Shaking her head, she sat by the bench and sighed. "I need to get stronger. Getting hypnotised like that - Just what was I thinking?" she scolded herself before listening to other guild members chatter about the latest gossip and magic news.

"Now that I think about it. Rogue suggested on joining Sabertooth..." she reminded before sitting up straight. "If I join... No. I don't want to just yet..."