Trust

Djinn | ジン

Lucy isn't sure what to think anymore. She had come to terms with her feelings with Fairy Tail and had begun to move on from them, but now she's learning about all this new information that... changes things.

Whether for better or for worse, she hasn't decided yet and neither has she come to terms with none of Team Natsu (save for Wendy) remembering her and treating her like they did when she first met them and not as someone who's been with them through so much.

And, on top of all of that, she still has to find a way out of here.

Since it was created by a mage or someone from this world or something, there might not even be a Djinn here and they could very well just wander around until they die. With no food, no water, and no way out, Lucy bets this is what the Not-Lisanna was hoping for: an easy way to get rid of the biggest hindrances to her plan without ever even needing to fight them herself.

Thinking this, Lucy watched not fondly but not neutrally either at Gray and Natsu's bickering. It's been so long since she's been a part of the team that she realized how much she missed it. But even more than that, she realized how little she actually belonged in the months after Not-Lisanna came to the Guild and how different it all is now.

Lucy felt a pang in her chest.

Choosing to ignore it, she instead decided to focus her efforts on finding a way out. All of them—Kouen, Sinbad, Aladdin, Morgiana—they're all still out there, waiting by a dungeon they can't even see for her to come out of and she found that was a greater motivation than anything else she was using before to motivate herself.

"Natsu? Gray? Instead of fighting we should look for a way out of here. I don't know how long we've been in here for, but sooner or later we're gonna get hungry and the only thing in this entire dungeon is crystal."

The two didn't even pause, not hearing a word she said and continued their fight. Erza, having seen this, knocked their heads together and glared at them while tilting her head in Lucy's direction.

Now much more obedient, the two finally paid attention.

"Yeah, Luce?"

Lucy's heart squeezed and she felt another pang at her nickname. She doesn't know why she keeps feeling this way. She should be ecstatic, she should be happy that everything they did wasn't of their own volition—and she was! Don't get her wrong, she's borderline ecstatic right now but compared to how she would feel about this a few months ago, she just feels... empty now that she knows the truth.

She isn't sure what she should do now or how she should act around them because they don't hate her anymore, but they also don't remember her, leaving her with so many good and bad memories to live with on her own.

Sure, Wendy still remembers and is actively trying to help, but she hasn't been a part of the Guild for as long as she has nor was she on the receiving end of the spell. So, as much as Lucy loves Wendy, she knows she also won't be able to fully understand the internal turmoil she's facing.

Instead of confronting her feelings and processing why exactly she's feeling this way, Lucy instead decided to push those feelings down and continue with what she was saying.

"As I was saying, I've explored basically all of this dungeon and haven't come across anything that's really different from the rest. It all seems kind of like a big cavern instead of a dungeon and we should start brainstorming ideas to escape."

Erza was the first to agree with her and then added, albeit a bit puzzled, "Lucy, why do you keep calling this place a dungeon? This is nothing like a dungeon." Which then made her realize they were in the exact same position she was a few days ago.