Alone and Unwanted

4. Second Chance

Juvia's POV

The next day Lucy made sure to wake us up bright and early. We actually wanted to sleep in for once. Yesterday took its toll on us. At least she bought all of us breakfast.

Once all of us were filled and cleaned up, we went out to search for Flare. The hunt for her went about as well as the hunt for (Y/N). There was a lot of asking, and a lot of finger pointing, but we were able to find her after we stopped for lunch. She was at the Sun Village in the town of Fiore. Eventually, we made it to one of the house. Once we arrived, Lucy knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Lucy opened the door to reveal a slightly older and mature-looking Flare than we remembered. It made sense though. It has been years since you last saw her from the Grand Magic Games. Once she saw our group, her eyes widened.

"Lucy!? What are you doing here?" That didn't sound like the Flare you knew. No boasting about her accomplishments. No putting down Lucy. Heck, she was not even acting psychotic.

"H-Hello Flare. It's been a while." Flare calmed down at Lucy's non-threatening voice. In fact Flare walked right up to Lucy...and gave her a hug? All of our friends faces mirrored mine's of disbelief. After Flare lets go, I could see Lucy also in a state of shock. "W-what was that for?"

"That was an apology for what I did to you during the games." Lucy's shock turned into confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Flare moved out of the way to let us all enter the house. When we walked in, we looked around. It was just like any other normal home. No special posters or merchandise. Just a normal house.

"This place looks nice," Mirajane stated.

"Thank you. It isn't much more than a regular home." Lucy was still greatly confused.

"It does look nice, but what was that about apologizing?" I was curious about this myself.

"I guess I have some explaining to do right?" All of us nodded our heads.

"Well after I harmed you during the games.. I felt terrible. I never thought the guild I joined were malevolent. I quit the guild and ran away. As I ran away, I then started to beg for food and places to stay. Then one day, I found a sack of jewels laying right in front of me with a note. It said that, "Everyone deserves a second chance."

It was exactly what I needed at the time. I took a job at a diner, cleaning up tables and such. The jewels helped me pay my rent and for some food. I eventually started to do some magic tricks down in the hospital for little sick kids. It didn't take too long for someone to recognize me and they offered me to perform here tonight. Speaking of which, did you want some tickets?" All of us were amazed at the tale. Well, all except Lucy.

"What did the note say EXACTLY?" Flare walked over and pulled it from the mirror.

"I have kept it as a reminder. It keeps me humble and not going back to what I was." She handed it over to Lucy. Lucy took the note in her hands and inspected it. Then, her eyes lit up.

"I know this handwriting! It's (Y/N)'s." Flare cocked her head to the side.

"Who's (Y/N)?" We all looked at her with sideways heads.

"You know (Y/N), silly. He was there when you came." Flare thought deeply for a moment before she shook her head.

"Nope, can't say I do."

"Come on you know! The lonely guy." Flare just shook her head.

"Not ringing any bells." I rubbed your head in frustration, as the other girls did too. Lucy was the first to recover.

"Nevermind, we were wondering if you were doing anything after your show."

"Nothing comes to my mind."

"Well, would you-"

"Except going to see my boyfriend." Lucy lost all steam in her engine.

"Y-your boyfriend?" Flare smiled twice as big as before.

"Oh yes, he is a wonderful man. His name is Kōri and he works at the observatory." All of us gave the best fake smiles we could.

"Oh that's nice." Lucy tried to keep her composure while Flare looked off into space.

"He sure is. I always believe that there is someone out there for everyone."

I felt a spike of pain go through my heart when she said that. This was what me and my friends were trying to fix. The room soon fell into silence. A few awkward moments pass before Levy speaks up.

"Well, would you look at the time. We better get moving." Natsu joined in as well.

"Yeah, we still have some things to do, right Luce?" Lucy was confused for a second before she caught on.

"Oh yes, I completely forgot. I am so sorry, but we are going to have to cut our visit a little short." We stood up to leave.

"Well, here are some tickets in case you want to drop on bye." Lucy took the tickets from Flare.

"Thank you, and good luck with the show."

"You are very much welcome." We then walked out of the door and it closed behind us.

"Now what?" Lucy put a hand on my back.

"I don't know Juvia. Unless you know someone else who is lonely, I think it would be best if we left (Y/N) alone." All but Erza agreed.

"I'm not going to just leave him here to die Lucy! I never leave anyone hanging!"

"Erza..."

"No Lucy. I spent weeks trying to find him. Weeks! I am not letting him go again."

"Erza."

"I never leave my family or friends behind!!"

"ERZA!" Erza stopped her ranting at Jellal's shout.

"Don't you think this is hard for all of us. We just found our friend after years of nothing and he doesn't want anything to do with us. We all know how you feel." Erza lowered her head. Jellal hugged her to comfort her. She hugged back.

"But going home doesn't mean we are giving up. I have someone to send a letter to." Lucy went down the hall and we followed. We should have known she had a plan. She had a plan for everything. We followed her down the hall, not seeing Flare open the door from all the shouting.

"They really care about you, don't they (Y/N)?" She muttered.