Sayonara, Saiai No Shishi

Farewell

She knew it would happen one day.

It was only a matter of time.

For years now, it had bothered Lucy in the far back corner of her mind, a nagging worry, a fear she did not want to face. Eventually, it mutated into a silent understanding. Like it or not, it would happen one day.

They say time heals all wounds, but in this case, time had prepared her heart for this particular wound.

He was a Spirit. She was Human. She aged. He stayed eternally the same. Eventually, be it now or in a few decades, Loke would grow bored. Her appeal would tarnish. His eyes would wander.

She walked up a hill on a dirt road still drying out from a recent spring rain. Dandelions lined in close to the road, smiling their sunny faces, their golden manes cheering on the morning, blooming happily even if the whole world called this flower a weed. Her mind wandered back through the dark hallways of the past. She did not consider these years a waste. If she could live life over again, she would do the same, love him just as much, hold onto him just as tightly, and hopefully be able to let go this easily.

"Lucy, I...I am so, so sorry."

Those words came to her on a dark night when she had woken up at hearing him trying to enter silently. She knew immediately. His words had stung only a little when he said them. The betrayal that whispered to her on the scent of a foreign perfume and the proof in a pink lipstick mark on his shirt collar had made a single tear roll down her cheek, but she told herself that she knew it would happen one day. She was prepared.

After all, she was not the young teenager she had been back then.

Maybe a small part of her had hoped he would stay with her until she was old and gray. He had promised as much in the heat of passion as his body collided into hers like a fiery meteor into a virgin moon. Their love had been bright, glorious, a streak of celestial splendor for all to marvel upon. Yet like a shooting star, she knew it would burn out and fade.

It actually took longer than she anticipated. That or she was really bad at catching the hints.

As Lucy reached the crest of the dandelion-covered hill, she looked down at the Gold Key now clutched in her hand, separated from the rest of her ring of keys. This part was maybe the hardest. She had not told Loke about her plans. She wanted to avoid any awkward farewells. Just this once, Lucy was going to breach a contract with one of her Spirits.

It had taken her a long time to find the perfect Spirit Mage. It could not be a woman; that she determined the instant she made this decision. There were not many male Spirit Mages in Fiore, but she finally found one. He was young, barely sixteen, a new member of the guild Laxus had broken off and started, which meant he must be powerful. Up until now, the boy had no Gold Keys at all, which was not surprising. Lucy owned most of them. Still, she was getting up in age. It was time to stop taking the harder missions. She wondered if she was too old now to consider settling down, getting married. She wasn't quite too old to have children, right?

As she handed the Gold Key into the eager, youthful hands, she realized she could have been this boy's mother.

"Thanks, oba-chan!"

Yep, that clenched it. She was old.

His eyes shined in astonishment at receiving, not just a coveted Gold Key, but the strongest Zodiac Spirit. Laxus was nearby to oversee the exchange. He had gone partially bald and grew a mustache, yet he still wore those stupid headphones. Lucy smiled at him in familiarity and wondered if he realized he looked like a taller version of his long-since-deceased grandfather.