Lavender Rose

章 : forty five

unedited : 45
(Play audio when told x)

One hundred and fifty two days... that's how long it took to find her.

During that time, I felt as if I was living in an empty shell - like an important part of me was missing.

Those five months made me realise just how useless I was, how I wasn't the Dragon that protected her nor the best friend that would do anything to be with her.

My shallow convictions is the reason why she wasn't here by my side, the reason why I was so empty and the reason why I could no longer see her smile.
Counting every hour, every minute and every second of each empty day without her...

One day, I finally decided to leave my room and was presented with chaos.
Everyone was running around, reporting everything they could on the incident.
I creeped into my father's study to see him, Uncle Jude and Uncle Silver surrounding a table with the most deadliest expressions.
Uncle silver still had the bandages around his face from the incident but you could still see the killing intent coming from inside the room.

"Loke." Uncle Jude called. "We're leaving in five minutes, gather the others and meet me outside." Walking out followed by my father and Uncle silver.

"Natsu? What're you doing standing there?" My mother asked, walking over to me. She looked emotionally drained, her royal blue hair was turning white at the roots and she had heavy bags under her eyes.

"They found her... Right?" I ask, my mother's face softening as she bent down in front of me.

"She's finally coming home, Nat." She says softly, pulling me into a hug as tears streamed down my face.

-

She looked terrible.
Both her legs were broken, she had seven broken ribs and her arm was fractured in two places. She was covered in bruises and wounds but her deepest was on her hip, she had head trauma and there was a high possibility that she'd have amnesia.

"Why did this happen?!" Layla screamed, collapsing to the ground as my mother tried to comfort her.

Watching Hime through the glass, I realised just how useless I was.
How because of me, she was stuck here, in a coma while all I could do was hope for her to wake up.

"Listen to me, Natsu."
My brother tells me through the phone. "Do you understand the situation now? After experiencing that? You will be the next heir because neither I or Zeref can."

"I know..." I reply emotionlessly, I haven't smiled since that day seven months ago - no one has.

"How is she?" He then asks.

"She's been in a coma for two months so far, her minor injuries are healing slowly but theres no sign of her waking up any time soon."

"I see... Natsu, I know this is a lot for you to take in when you're only ten years old but don't you dare give up. Just because she's asleep right now doesn't mean she'll never wake up, you have a promise to fufill, Don't tell me you've forgotten."