Caged Fairy

Chapter 16

Lucy POV:

When I open my eyes, everything hurts. My body feels like it's not even my own, flinching I lift my hand and notice how pale and skinny I am. Taking a deep breath I pull my self up so I'm sitting and look around, there is sunlight coming through the window of the room I'm in. But it's so bright it makes me squint, taking another deep breath I reach up and pull the helmet off my head letting my hair tumble down my back in thin silky ribbons. I continue to look out the window until I hear the door opening, turning my head slowly I see Natsu standing at the door. I feel the tears sting my eyes as he rushes forward and pulls me into a deep hug, the warmth of his body calming me and the warm scent of smoke filling my nose. Everything that belongs to Natsu.

"I'm here Luce." He whispers soothingly. "I'm right here with you."

"Natsu..." I whisper, my voice having been unused in almost three years. "I can't hear very well right now, or see very well. But I know it's you..."

Natsu then slowly pulls me out of the hug and plants his lips on mine, the warmth of his lips IRL are so different to the feeling of when we were in game. Looking at him, my eyes begin to focus and I notice there are tears in his own eyes. Reaching my hand up slowly I wipe the tears away, he then takes the hand that was wiping his tears and kisses it.

"Promise me you won't ever leave me again Luce." He says his voice shaking.

"I promise Natsu, I won't ever leave you again." I say softly to him.

There is a knock at the door so Natsu walks over to it, pulling it open a ball of blue fur comes crashing into my chest. Happy begins to sob as I hold him, giving his ears a scratch.

"Lushee!!!" He cries.

Laughing slightly I look over and see a young girl, she has black hair and light blue eyes. But I know this girl all too well, putting Happy down I hold my arms open.

"Hello beautiful." I say as tears fall down her cheeks.

"Mommy!" She cries and runs over to me, engulfing me in a tight hug.

Tears fall down my cheeks as I hold Kiko tightly, she climbs onto the bed and snuggles into me as I hold her. Stroking her hair and whispering softly to her, the door opens again and Kirito walks in with a cut on his cheek. He's followed by Asuna and a doctor who rushes over to me and begins to check me over.

"What happened?" I ask him as he smiles at me.

"I defeated the final boss." He replies and rests his hand on my head. "Welcome back Lucy."

"Thank you, and Natsu?" I ask turning to him.

"How soon can I see the guild?" I ask with a smile.

Three weeks later I was released from the hospital, I was still using a wheelchair but I was beginning to get the hang of walking again. Now with Kiko sitting on my lap and Natsu pushing my wheelchair I was finally ready to go to the guildhall, and I have to admit. I was nervous.

"Hey Natsu, how come no one came to see me when I woke up?" I asked as he pushed me along.

"I wouldn't let them." Natsu said simply.

"What? How come?" I questioned.

"I wanted you to feel your best before you see them, I know when you woke up you were super self conscious. So I told everyone to give you some time, and it just happened to be now." He said with a smile.

Blushing I continued to look around Magnolia, so much has changed in all this time. And I've changed even more, my hair is now much longer reaching my hips. And it's more of a silvery blonde now, but hopefully it will return back to normal after getting some sunlight. And my skin is a lot paler, but again the doctors have said that with being outside more I'll begin to look more normal.