Keeping Secrets

Innocence Was Long Forgotten

And we're back! Hope everyone enjoys the chapter.

Chapter title taken from the song of the same name by Swallow The Sun.

If anyone knows who made this art, please let me know so I can properly credit them!

KEEPING SECRETS CHAPTER 35: INNOCENCE WAS LONG FORGOTTEN

Lucy awoke with a jolt, her body tensing as if bracing for an attack. Her breath came fast, her heart pounding fiercely in her chest. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light of the lacrima overhead.

For a brief, hopeful second, she clung to the idea that the events of the day had been a nightmare- that Natsu being Zeref's brother, the prince of Alvarez, and the guild's enemy, had all been some horrible trick of the mind.

But the steady hum of the airship beneath her shattered that illusion.

She was still aboard the Alvarez command ship. Still a hostage, more or less. And Natsu... had helped Zeref invade their home, fought against Fairy Tail, and taken the First Master's body right out from under them.

The weight of those revelations crushed her all over again, pressing against her chest like an unbearable force. She curled into herself, wrapping her arms around her knees. She thought she had cried herself dry, but fresh tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks once more.

Everything about this was wrong.

The Natsu she knew- who'd laughed with her, teased her, protected her- would never have sided with Zeref or Alvarez over Fairy Tail. Would never have abandoned them. Abandoned her.

Yet here they were, lines drawn in the sand, with her and Natsu standing on opposing sides.

However, despite her continued turmoil, a creeping doubt was beginning to take root in her thoughts.

What if it was my family?

What if it was my mother?

Layla Heartfilia. The loving mother that she had never stopped missing. The woman who had shaped her into who she was today. And who, as it turned out, had once been an associate of Zeref.

Our families have known each other a long time.

Smartass. She bitterly thought as Zeref's words echoed in her mind.

But the greater implications sent a shiver down her spine.

If her mother had somehow been brought back...if Lucy had the chance to stand by her side again, to fight for her, protect her... Wouldn't she do it? Wouldn't she face Hell itself, and anyone else who would try and get in her way, for that chance? Despite it being over a decade since her mother had passed away, Lucy's love for her burned just as fiercely.

So with that feeling in mind, could she really blame Natsu for feeling that way about Zeref, despite his past?

Because from what little she had learned, before the curse, before the tragedy that destroyed their home, the two had been a happy family with their parents.

Lucy sighed. It made sense. Natsu wasn't looking at Zeref as the infamous black wizard of legend, or emperor of Alvarez- he was looking at him as his older brother. The one he had idolized, played with, fought with, cried with...

So could she say, with absolute certainty, that she wouldn't have made a similar choice, if she had been in his position?

The uncertainty made her chest ache. Guilt twisted in her stomach.