Memories

Chapter 12

Three days. Floating on this pool of endless water, it feels like it's been an eternity. Escaping the house felt too easy at the time. She knew it was too easy. Beating up some mental recreations of the men who tortured her? Of course, she'd beat them no problem. It's what her subconscious wanted. Wasn't it? She wants to remember the blonde and scarlet haired wizards. Erza and Lucy. Who were they again? Why is everything fuzzy? This water sure is clear.

Stop it. Get back on track. How does she remember... who? Erza! Right. And... Lucy? Where did she go? Erza stayed for the train ride, but the other one left. Why? What happened? Something's on her hand, but what? So many questions she can't answer. The only thing she knows is she's unconscious, and there's nothing around to give her hints as to how to wake up. Maybe remembering them? But how?

This pool. It looks deep, but she's on the surface. Reaching down, she can push her hand through the surface, just like an actual pool. But she doesn't fall in. This makes no sense. Scooping up a small handful, she tosses some on her face. Maybe the cooler water can help? No luck. What to do. No ideas. Thinking about it, her subconscious did recreate those men. Maybe she can... recreate... the two wizards. Thinking hard about what she knew, she tried to create a visual of the scarlet-haired one. Erza. You've gotta remember the names. That's the important part. She told herself that over and over again as she mentally pictured the scarlet-haired knight standing in front of her.

Slowly, a fuzzy outline of the girl appeared before her. Slowly filling in the details, she imagined the heart Kreuz armor she'd last seen her in. The short blue skirt, the knee-high black boots. Thinking harder, all the aspects she remembered of Erza was standing before her. Wait. Somethings off. But what? The hair is right. The outfit looks right. Her guild mark is the right color. Is it in the wrong place? No. Left upper arm in blue. What could it be? Looking into the recreations grey-blue eyes she thought about all the things she could have gotten wrong. That's it! The eyes! They aren't blue. They're a beautiful caramel brown. How could she get that wrong? There's something off with one of them though. Some sort of accident. There's no life behind it. No feelings can be seen through it. Why not? Why are all her emotions visible from one but not the other? There was an old friend involved somehow... something with her past? The other girl... Lucy knows. She'll figure that out later. Now knowing she can, she tried again, but this time with Lucy. What about her do I need to remember to visualize her. Let's see... blonde hair... blue eyes? No. They're like Erza's. More of a chocolate, or a toffee brown though. What was she wearing when I saw her last? A blue tank top... white jacket. A black skirt like mine... and knee-high black boots. Probably. There was a small ponytail on the right side of her head with a... blue? Ribbon? Let's go with that.

Slowly, the mental image of Lucy came into view beside Erza. Inspecting them, she felt they looked right. Now. Talk to them. See what you can figure out. Maybe the memories will come back this way. But what to start with. Hey, what's wrong with your eye? No... too direct and insensitive. Nice hair? Too generic. This is difficult. Hmm. Think. What could possibly be said that's not too generic or insensitive? Got it! A typical introduction. That how all conversations start right? Yeah. Let's start that way. Introducing herself, the Erza recreation voiced a small reply. Something isn't right. Her voice is softer than that. Lucy's reply sounded just as she remembered it. Or so she thinks. She's not quite sure yet. Moving on. Hmm. How's guild life? Is that a good transition? Not sure but we'll use it. Earning an excited yes from Erza and a somewhat halfhearted yeah from Lucy puzzled her. Not dwelling on it, she figured it would be safer to ask about who they were to her. A friend. An inspiration. A role-model. Someone they didn't want to lose.

Someone they didn't want to lose. That one stuck out. She hated losing people. But she hadn't. Wait. Yes, she had. Her sister. She didn't die but she was... lost... for two years. All that time, and who was there. Erza was. Lucy was, though not for as long, she was there. They understood her. But how? They must have lost someone, right? A sister maybe? Neither of them had siblings. Their mother? Erza didn't know hers, and Lucy's died when she was little. Is that how? Losing her mother brought her closer to her situation? Maybe. But what about Erza? She didn't know her family... but if not, then where did she grow up? She had friends. Lucy and team Natsu met them. There was one though. He wasn't liked. Think, think, who was it. Something blue... or red...? Maybe on his eye. Yeah. Red. A red tattoo over his eye. With... blue hair. Name. Name. What was his name? Siegrain? No that was the magic counsel guy? Did it start with a G? No. It's close to that though. E? No. K? Not quite. J? Yeah, that's it. It started with a J! Now. The rest of the letters. Hmm. There's an e in there somewhere. Possibly. Maybe an a... or an r? Nope. Lucy might know. What's the guy's name? There's an 'l' in there. One or two possibly. Hmm. It's an uncommon name, but what uncommon name is it? Think harder.

Jello?

No, that's a food.

Jelly?

No that's a food too.

Why are food names popping up? Who knows. Names. Think of J names with l's and e's. Je- Je what? There's an l in there. After the e? Probably. Let's try it. Jel- another one maybe? Jell-... jell-? This is so annoying. Jella? That doesn't sound right. Jella- jella- jella- come on we can do this. What is it???

Jellal! That's it. Wait. He's why Erza's eye is messed up too. She was in a tower... it had some weird name. But that doesn't matter right now. Back to the point. They were there. They shared similar experiences. Erza lost her friends because of Jellal. But how did Lucy relate to her feelings? Losing her mother as a child? No. She's moved on... sort of... in her own way. Her father? She hates him. A lot. Hmm. Did he do something to her? Probably. But what? There was a guild war recently. But why? There was a target... was that Lucy? Right. It was her father. He wanted her back. But she... what did she do? Umm. Think. She wanted to go somewhere. No... she didn't want to go anywhere. Right! She wanted to stay. The guild tried to help her. Phantom something was broken up. Magic counsel didn't like them. Lucy went home anyway... but she came back. What is left. Hmm.

Let's see. Erza was... is a friend who's been around for... how long? There were fights with someone during childhood. Was it her? More than likely. But why? Who knows. Just like no one knows why Gray and Natsu fight. Natsu. Lucy liked Natsu. But he did something to her. What was it? It was something that led to all this confusion. He... what? Something that involved Lisanna. He hurt her somehow, and someone tried to fix it. But something happened, and things fell apart... what happened? Just give up already.

NO. Don't think like that. We're close.

But this is taking forever.

There's a lot to remember. Two whole people in fact. And they tie into the interactions with other people and we need to figure this out. We can't stand not knowing.

Fine. Summing things up. Erza was someone we fought as a child, who is now a valued friend. She supported us while Lisanna was gone. She grew up in a weird tower where she lost one of her eyes. She cared for that jerk Jellal too didn't she? Probably not anymore. He wanted to sacrifice her. Didn't we recently go on a mission with her? At least tried to. And Lucy? Oh yeah. She's a newer friend that also helped... cope?... with Lisanna being gone. She's so much like her. But she's much more... fragile? She values each and every one of her friends. She was targeted by phantom something. They were hired by her rotten dad. We helped her though. She stayed with Fairytail. There was gonna be a mission with us, Erza, and her. But something happened. What was it?

Something with Natsu. That's the most likely answer. Everyone knows she liked him. She was so thankful for him bringing her here. Wait. Where's here? Right, Fairytail. With Erza. Right! We planned a mission, but Natsu hurt her and she ran away. Then we tried to help her! But things happened, and we ended up going solo. Then we were kidnapped and tortured.

That sucked.

Yeah.

But they saved us. Lucy stayed behind to train, and Erza brought us to the guilds medicine lady.

And now we're here... how do we get out?

Good question. Maybe we wake up naturally in a few hours?

Possibly. Guess waiting's our only option for now.

Well. Let's see what happens.