Decay of Agony

Chapter 16

A/N: *boop*

I've taken the liberty of adding a side ship ;) hehe. It gets.. hawt.

Ever since she had escaped the confounds of her prison, and embraced the freedom the moment she stepped into the fresh air, Lucy knew she would never get to visit her mother again. She felt impossibly alone as she lived through the days, trying to forget the past. She tried so hard to accept the reality, to accept the fact that she won't be able to visit her mother. She really did tried.

But now, after all of these years, she was finally able to visit her mother without fear. 

When she held the piece of paper in her hands that revealed the location, she had hope. And the only thing she wanted to do was just visit her mother again. As her so called father walked away, Lucy quickly carried herself to the location of the grave. It wasn't long till she arrived at which the statue stood proudly and still.

The statue was in its pristine condition, making Lucy relieved.

She fell to the ground and just sat there, already feeling the cold warmth of her mother's spirit. But she still felt lonely. Her mother was still gone. But...the silence was comforting to say the least. It was just her and the statue in front of her. A silent reconciliation between the ghost of the statue and a young girl.

She missed her. Her silent smiles, and her gentle touches. Lucy was almost tempted to talk to the statue about the things she had been through. Like a closure, though it would be one-sided. Even then, there wasn't anything worth mentioning. Other than Fairy Tail. And...

She really felt confused at this point. What's more to life than just eating and sleeping? What's more to than just surviving, only to just suffer another day of deadly reminders from her past? Lucy already had figured out her answer. In fact, it had been right under her nose for the longest time. So painfully clear and so dangerously close.

It was as if this statue had finally opened her eyes, prying them open to the unseen forces that had always been there. How could Lucy been so blind? And stupid? A selfish childish girl she was.

Emotions of all levels started crashing. And tears broke through, falling down the blonde's cheeks. She missed her mother. She hated her father with a passion. She felt so awkward with her friends. And she had been so mean to them. Especially Erza. Tears came down harder, and Lucy couldn't contain her sniffles. What had she done?

She then heard faint noises of armor clanking against each other behind her. It wasn't hard to figure that it was Erza. The noises stopped however, and she knew that she was just standing there. Contemplating perhaps?

... Lucy's mind then went to Erza. Thinking about the sacrifices the older girl has done for her. And she silently wondered why she would sacrifice so much of her time making sure she was safe. Even when Lucy was so hostile toward the redhead, she didn't leave. She kept trying to find a reason for a few moments, until she had a faint idea. Her conservation with Mira has given her some clues.

At her moment of silent clarity, Lucy understood. She was alive. Her tears were real. Her faint aching pain in her arms was real. She was real. Erza and the others were real. This statue in front of her were real. Even her wretched father were real.

"Erza?" Lucy suddenly called out, her voice a little croaked from crying. She needed to apologize.

Erza visibly tensed at her name suddenly being called, but responded nonetheless. "Yes Lucy?"

"Can you sit with me?"

Erza couldn't help but tense even more, an awkward smile forming on her lips. She anxiously forced her legs to move and sat next to the young blonde. She couldn't say no when she had asked that.