Old Friends (Erlu)

Chapter 8: Remorse

Back in Magnolia, Lucy walked along the river in front of her apartment contemplating the events of what happened in Onibus.

She looked up at the sky, closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to clear her head. She had spent the last day or so still feeling angry with Erza and Aquarius. But after thinking about what Master Makarov had told her about judging their actions, Lucy was overcome with regret.

"Did I overreact to this whole situation?" She thought to herself as she watched a small boat float by. "This sucks." She said out loud to herself as she kicked a small rock into the river and watched it fall into the water with a satisfying plop.

"Tell me about it." A voice responded to her.

Turning to identify the voice, her eyes were met by Levy, looking at her with worry on her face.

"Hey, Levy." Lucy said trying to sound cheerful, pretending as if she was in a good mood.

Levy saw through this façade and brought the blonde into a tight hug. Lucy tensed at first, but soon relaxed as she brought her friend into her arms. They stood like this for a few moments until Levy broke the hug to put her hands on Lucy's shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"So, I heard what happened..." Levy said trying to initiate conversation.

"You did? From who?" Lucy questioned.

"The whole guild knows, it's not everyday you hear that someone made Erza cry... let alone that someone was you." Levy said carefully, trying not to sound like she was scolding the blonde. "Is that true?"

Lucy lowered her head and looked down at the ground. "Yes..." She said ashamed.

"Want to talk about it?" Levy asked with concern.

"I mean, not really, but you don't seem like you're going anywhere." Lucy half joked.

Levy gave her a small smile and took her hands off of Lucy shoulders. "You'll feel better if you talk about it." She suggested.

Not wanting to argue with Levy, Lucy gave in. "Where do I even begin with all of this?" She gave out a heavy sigh.

"Begin wherever you want, I'm all ears." Levy said comfortingly.

Lucy sighed to herself while trying to find the words to say about how she felt. "First of all, this is all my fault." She began.

"How so?" Levy asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well this whole thing would've never happened if I wasn't such a coward when to comes to talking to Erza about my feelings for her. Although, we haven't exactly talked about it yet, I feel that if I would've just fessed up already, she wouldn't have felt the need to fight with Aquarius in the first place."

Levy nodded in response, not saying much to add to the conversation besides a simple, "Mhmm" when appropriate, beckoning Lucy to continue her thought.

"Regarding Aquarius, however, I can't exactly be angry with her either." Lucy said while shaking her head. "She has protected me for as long as I can remember and she was just doing what she thought was best for me. Even though I don't exactly agree with how she went about it, I know that her heart was in the right place. I just wish that she had told me first; there was no need to fight about it." Lucy looked over to Levy, waiting for her to say something that can help her fix all of this.

"I see. Hmmm..." Levy said pondering. "So what are you going to do?" She asked.

"That's the problem, I don't know." Lucy said with a shrug as she turned to stare at the river, watching the small ripples in the water trace the gentle breeze. "I guess I should apologize. They didn't deserve the way I yelled and screamed at them, especially Erza." She looked down in disgrace. "Levy, if you would've seen the way she looked at me..." Lucy trailed off, as her voice grew shaky from trying to hold back tears from the guilt she felt, but her efforts were in vain, as she felt a few stream from the corners of her eyes.