The knight's secret sister

Chapter 3: Do they know?

Lucy's PoV

As I'm finishing up my work behind the bar, team Natsu return from their mission. "Hey guys! Did your mission go well?" I wash a glass as they run over. "Look at my little sister! Making her own way in life! I'm so proud!" Erza pulls me roughly into her chest and hugs me tightly, meanwhile, I've been pulled over the counter. "Th-Thanks, Ne-Nee-San. But this isn't the job of a lifetime." I stutter, running out of air. "Are you okay, Lucy-San? You're turning blue!" Wendy freaks out and Erza lets me go. "So, how was yo-your mi-mission," I ask dizzily, holding my head to make sure I don't fall over. "It went great!' Natsu cheers. "Until Flame Brian over here destroyed the entire town," Gray smirked. "Shut it, Ice Balls!" Natsu screams, clashing his head with Gray's. "Shut it you two." Erza sighs while face palming. "I guess you do that regularly, huh?" I giggle, running back behind the bar.

"Oh yeah! Lucy, do you have a place to live?" Happy asks out of know where. "Of course! Why do you ask Happy?" I continue cleaning my glass. "A man came up to us on the mission and asked if we knew you and where you lived. We wondered if you were homeless." He laughs. My skin turns pale and I freeze. "Yeah! We had no idea what to say! Huh, Happy?" Natsu flings his arm over Happy. "What did the man look like, Happy?" I ask, my bangs covering my face a little. "He was bald and was quite muscular. Oo! Oo! And he had some sort of stitches on his arm and chest!" Happy cheered, as if he was hoping to get a prize for his answer. "Didn't he have a strange tattoo on his opposite arm?" Wendy asked herself. At that comment, my mind went blank with worry and I dropped everything in my hands. I walk back around the bar. "Lucy! Oh my Mavis! Are you okay?!" Mira runs over, getting everyone's attention. Turns out, I had sliced my leg on a shard of broken glass. "I'm fine." I mutter mindlessly. "Erza. Did you see the man?" I ask, ignoring the pain and everybody's  worried gaze. "I got a glance at him, but didn't exactly talk with him. Why? Are you okay? You should get your leg checked out. And are those bruises on you face? What happened to you when I was gone?" Erza panicked. When she said the thing about having bruises, I look down at myself, seeing the spell wear off. Crap! Crap! Crap! Gotta hide! I panic and run to the infirmary, locking the door behind me. "Lucy? Lucy? Open the door this instant!" I hear Erza's voice command. "I-I'm fine. I just need to check something. I can do it myself! No need to worry!" I call back through the closed door.

As Erza and everybody else call through the door, demanding to come in, I put a locking spell on the door and start to remove items of clothing. When they were all gone, except for my undergarments, I stared into the full length mirror in the infirmary. "Just as I expected. When ever my skin splits, the spell breaks. I'll have to be more careful from now on." I mutter to myself, looking at my damaged and broken body.

Just as I'm about to put my clothes back on, the door is broken in. As I look into the eyes of the person who broke in, I try to cover as much of my body as possible. The person in front of me looks at me with terror filled eyes. "N-Natsu. Pl-Please get out." I blush, tears filling my eyes, thinking of his thoughts of me now. "GET OUT!" I cry, throwing random items at him. He quickly scurries out of the room and shuts the door behind him. Then, I sink to the floor in my misery a cry into my clothing.

Natsu's PoV

When I finally broke the door to the infirmary down, I looked up to a girl with bruised and battered skin, trying to hide herself. I stand there in disbelief as she fiddles around. How can that be Lucy?! Her skin is always so smooth! What happened to her?! I think as she starts to throw items at me, shouting at me to get out, but I can still see the tears in her eyes. I quickly run out, in fear Erza will punish me for one reason or another, and lock the door behind me. "What the hell Natsu?! Let us in!" Gray commands. "No. Sh-She's getting dressed." I blush, standing ready for a beating from Erza. "WHAT!? Get ready for a beating Dragneel! Because no man will ever have the right to look at my baby sister like that!" Erza turns into her heaven's wheel armour and starts throwing her swords at me. As I flee for my life, I wonder how I'm going to confront Lucy about what I saw, and how I'm going to tell the guild.