Fairy Tail : Next Generation

34. An Understanding

"I've never seen you cry before." 

Alexis' body stiffened uncomfortably as a particular raven haired girl entered her line of vision. It was Ultear. Ultear sat down in front of Alexis; her face stern yet almost sorrow filled. The sight made Alexis sick to her stomach. She didn't like to be pitied. 

Ultear looked down to her lap fiddling with her fingers. "Well, actually that's a lie. I made you cry not long ago." A weak chuckle escaped her lips.

Drying the tears from her eyes, Alexis practically scoffed. "Like I'd ever let that happen, Puddle." She hissed.

"You'd be surprised of what the future holds in store for you." Ultear responded dryly. She looked back up at Alexis who had now tensed up by the sound of her future being mentioned. The blonde haired girl hugged her legs tighter to her chest now. 

Silence fell between the two. Ultear wasn't really sure what to say. After all it was the first time, she had seen the vulnerable side of Alexis. Growing up, she was only exposed to the cruel side so - in result - she never really pondered on there actually being another more softer side to her blonde haired tormentor. 

"Raiden nearly charged into her battle trying to save you..." Ultear started hesitantly. 

Alexis' eyes widened. "He did?" She said so softly that an image of the Nice-Alexis popped into Ultear's mind. 

Ultear nodded. "He loves you a lot, you know, so does your parents and a lot of the people in the guild. Even though you don't deserve it at all." She said, the anger growing inside her. Letting that anger get the best of her, she leapt forward grabbing Alexis by the collar. "They love you! They're your family! So I don't understand why you'd hurt them like you have!" 

"I tried. Mavis knows, I tried as hard as I could to prevent it all... but Lucifer's too strong." Alexis cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. Ultear's grip on Alexis loosened and the girl fell back to the ground trying desperately to wipe away the tears. "He's always there watching me and if I don't do what he says... the voices come." Ultear watched as Alexis clamped her hands over her ears. "And all they ever do is scream. The screaming never ends and I just want it to stop. I just want it all to stop!" Alexis yelled, the tears now furiously streaming down her cheeks. 

Ultear didn't know what to say so she stayed there frozen and silent just watching as Alexis unravelled in front of her. 

"He wanted to destroy Magnolia but I- I couldn't let that happen so then I changed the spell to make sure you and Hunter could stop me." Alexis continued, her voice shaky and unstable. "I thought I'd made you hate me enough so that you would've killed me and I'd finally be free... but then... but then you didn't." Alexis panted heavily tried to catch her breath and calm her instability. "Jace hates me... Raiden's most likely traumatised by this whole thing... my mom blames herself for something she had no control over... And to top it all off, for the first time in my life, I saw my dad cry..." She whimpered holding her face in her hands. "And it's all my fault."

Ultear hesitantly reached for the blonde hair girl. "Alexis..."

"I'm tired, Ultear." Alexis croaked as if she was pleading for it to all end. "I'm tired of fighting..." 

Ultear's hand dropped to her side and she looked to the ground trying to deliberate what her next move should be. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath. 

"What if you started over? Like you were a completely blank slate." Ultear blurted out. 

Alexis raised her head looking curiously at the water mage. "What do you mean?"

"What if you completely forgot about everything and everyone?" 

___________