The Firefly Effect | jerza

6:00

A week later, Lucy signs the contract. And she steals a list of Criminal Justice students who agreed to take on the case. She's way ahead of the game, and boy am I glad to have her as an "ally."

"Mirajane and Elfman, obviously," I say, reading off the list from over her shoulder.

"You, me, Natsu, Gray...oh looks like Jellal and Ultear decided to sign it too," remarks Lucy.

"A lot of Criminal Justice 102 students signed too," I comment, pointing out a few names on the list. "Alzack, Bisca, Laxus..."

"I bet you two hundred Jewels Laxus was forced by his dad," Lucy jokes.

I don't tell her, but I'm sure Laxus signed the contract on his own. He and Mirajane are closer than most people realize.

"I don't recognize most of these names," Lucy admits, folding up the list and sticking it in her backpack. "It's good that a lot of people signed. Lisanna was a sweet girl- her death needs to avenged."

I also don't tell Lucy that most people probably did it for the money.

I do say, "We should check out the crime scene. Do you have any classes today?"

"Nope."

"Great. Grab your ID and we'll head down there."

~ ~ ~

A pack of students is already there, waving their ID's at one of the junior officers. He looks glum. I would too if my chief positioned me right outside of a crime scene with a bunch of caffeinated college students.

"Maybe we should come back tonight," Lucy begins but I grab her hand and push my way through the crowd.

One person curses. Another gestures at me rudely. I stick out my tongue.

"Totally mature, Erza," Lucy says, shaking her head. Smiling, I continue to force my way to the front. Survival of the fittest. It's not my problem everyone else here is a pinhead.

 "There's a line!" someone protests.   

"Oh, really?" I shoot back, hardly sparing her a glance. "Looks more like a mob to me."

The blue-haired girl freezes for a moment, but then shrugs and pushes her way through the crowd too. 

"Erza, you're being a bit too-" 

"-IDs?" the officer asks in a monotone. 

I hold out my card. Lucy follows suit, as do a bunch of other students behind me. It's amazing how long peoples' arms can be.

"Only three more can enter the crime scene." He points at me, Lucy, and the blue-haired girl. "You have thirty minutes to investigate. Put on the gloves over there-" he motions toward a box on the ground. "-and touch nothing." He pauses, then snorts, "Investigate. Don't even know what the FBI is thinking."

I ignore his snide remark and pull on a pair of blue, rubber gloves. Ducking under the yellow crime scene tape, I brace myself for what is to come.

~ ~ ~

The crime scene tape isolates a large portion of the grassy area beside the parking lot. It takes at least two minutes to walk to the exact spot in which the murder took place. The body is moved, thankfully, but the blood remains. Lucy squeezes my hand, and I gulp nervously. I have never considered myself squeamish but seeing Lisanna's blood makes my head spin. She's really dead.

She was only eighteen and now she's gone.

The blue-haired girl gives a hiccuping sob. Right away, an officer (or maybe detective?) notices her and places a hand on her shoulder. "Darling, if this is too much for you-"

"Juvia signed a contract, ma'am," the girl says briskly. "She's not backing down."

Ah. So this is the weird, third-person girl Natsu mentioned yesterday. 

"What do they expect us to do?" Lucy hisses in my ear. 

"Find the murderer."

"Yeah, but how?"

"Google it."

"You can't Google everything, Erza."

"The specks of blood here indicate the blood droplets were flying at a high velocity," the voice of Ultear says.

Up ahead, Ultear, Jellal, and Natsu are crouched on the ground, closely guarded by a man who proudly wears a hat that reads "Fiore Detective Agency."

"A gun, maybe," Lucy says as we approach the trio. 

"No bullet wounds," Natsu replies with a frown. "It was poison."

"They did an autopsy?" 

Natsu nods and jams his hands into the pockets of his basketball shorts. "Ultear got the report from Makarov. It was belladonna."

"Deadly nightshade," I muse, reaching for the slip of paper the dark-haired girl hands me. The reports looks like a form with different symbols and check marks littered across the page. It makes no sense whatsoever. I pretend to study it before handing the paper to Lucy.

"Makarov had a whole binder," Jellal informs me. "This was just the first page of the report."

"Any fingerprints?" I ask, desperate. "Lisanna wouldn't take belladonna on her own...Unless she..."

"It's unlikely. I mean, belladonna? Where do you even get that from? Overdosing on over-the-counter drugs makes much more sense. Anyway, I doubt that," Ultear murmurs in response. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"But what about the blood?"

We stay quiet for a moment, pondering about every scenario that could have possibly occurred the night of the murder. Natsu eventually returns to our group, phone in hand. "I took pictures. I'll send it to you guys later."

"Don't be an idiot and send it to the wrong person," Lucy says, elbowing his ribs. "I don't want you to get thrown into prison."

"I do," Jellal says with a smile. Natsu scowls.

"Be nice," Ultear scolds. Jellal flashes her a cheeky grin that clearly reads 'you can't make me.'

~ ~ ~

I inhale deeply the minute we're a good distance away from the crime spot. 

"I felt like I was suffocating back there," Lucy admits.

"You know," Natsu says after a moment, glancing down at his phone. "technically we're competing so I shouldn't send-"

"Natsu," I groan with exasperation. "Don't let the money go to you're head. This is for Lisanna. We're all in this together...right?"

Jellal and Ultear stare at me with blank faces. Natsu hesitates before replying, "Yeah. I guess you're right." He laughs nervously. "For Lisanna."

~ ~ ~

"This is literally a game," Gajeel informs me, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. His shift at Fairy Tail has ended and we sit together, tucked away, toward the back of the cafe. 

"It's not a game," I insist, growing distraught. "Why is everyone acting like it's a game?"

"Everyone as in...?"

"Natsu. Jellal. You. Ultear."

"That's not everyone, Erza."

"For me, it is."