The Princess's Protector

Chapter 13: Archives

GOD IM SUCH A HORRIBLE AITHOR I KNOW IM SO SORRY ILYSM I SWEAR but I'm so busy (and I know that's not an excuse) and I hope you'll forgive me. I have no idea how long I'll keep writing this story (until it's finished, I guess) but I don't know when that is. Shoutout to all my faithful readers who are so amazingly sweet and understanding :3
(Not edited)

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Natsu, Lucy and Erza had been searching the archives of the guild for nearly two and a half hours; their backs were sore, their stomachs, hungry, and their patience, on its last straw.

But the silence was defeating.

"I haven't found a single thing!" Yelled Erza, slamming the thick book she held shut, a puff of smoke causing her to cough.

"Me too", sighed Natsu.

Natsu rubbed his head with his left hand. Everything was so confusing, the pieces of the puzzle never fitting when he tried comparing them.
He didn't know how he felt about the Fiore Erza....
She was definitely Erza Scarlet, one and the same, but he was still wary.

"What if we take you to see the real Erza!" Lucy suggested.

"Are you suggesting I'm not Erza Scarlet, Lucy?"

Lucy recoiled a bit in her chair.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I-I just meant that maybe if you two met or something that we could figure this out better...together?"

Erza smiled sweetly.
"I was only kidding, Lucy. But that makes a lot of sense, actually. We should go right now."

"Natsu?"

But he was already behind Lucy, pulling her chair out from under the table for her.

"Yeah, that sounds fine. I'm starving, anyway." He replied with a grin.

Lucy gulped and nodded, trying to hide pink in her face she had no reason to have there. Together, they maneuvered over the piles of books separating the entrances and the hallways until they came upon the exit heading upward.

The sun and crisp air was so refreshing that a gentle sigh came from Lucy.

Natsu chuckled beside her, looking down with a smile too beautiful for a person who had gone so through much, and has so much more torture to ensure.

She smiled back, sadly, just as the thought kissed her mind.

~~~

Natsu pounded on the door of his house, loudly.
"Erza! It's Natsu! Open up!"

Footsteps, then the sound of the deadbolt unlocking met their ears just a second before the face of Captain Erza Scarlet did.

"We have someone we'd like you to meet..." Natsu stepped aside and motioned to Fiore Erza, who bowed politely.

"Hello...me?" Said Fiore Erza.

Erza just blinked back at a herself before attacking.

The pair of redheads were tangled together on the ground, arms and hair flying faster and faster each second Lucy and Natsu stood staring.
By the time Natsu and Lucy caught up to what was happening, Erza had already takes three nasty looking scars down Fiore Erza's cheek, leaving a fresh trail of blood. Natsu quickly turned the situation around by grabbing Erza by the waist and securing her to his chest, pulling her off of Fiore Erza.

"Erza, what the—Why...Why did you attack her!?" Lucy yelled, bending down to help up Fiore Erza.

"I'm fine." She mumbled.