Mira's Guilt

Chapter 8

--Erza's POV--
"Mira!" Lucy and I shouted in unison.

*End of Flashback*
"And then you finally woke up.." I finished.
I looked at Mira to see her staring at me wide eyed.
"What were the complications during my surgery?" She asked me worried.
I looked to Lucy. She squeezed Mira's hand harder, tears forming in her chocolate brown eyes.

--Mira's POV--
"What were the complications during my surgery?" I asked Erza. She looked to Lucy who squeezed my hand harder. "what happened?" I asked again. Their silence started to worry me. "Your heart stopped.." Lucy finally spoke. "Twice.." Erza added.
'S-stopped? Twice?' I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came.
Finally "h-how much longer do I have to be here?" I asked still wrapping my brain around the fact that I basically died.. twice.
"You haven't had any other complications, so Dr. Alexandra said you can leave in 2 days. They want to make sure your okay." Lucy said.
"Has the guild been informed of any of this?" I asked.
"Master called us. He was worried we've been gone for 6 days when it only would have taken 1-2." Erza said. "We didn't give them details. Master wasn't alone. Otherwise we would have told him everything." Lucy added sounding disgusted.

*A few days ago with the guild*
--Makarov POV--
Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane left for a mission 3 days ago. Well.. more like Lucy left and the others chased after her. I spent all of yesterday yelling at Natsu. Let's just say he feels terrible.
I sat on the bar drinking and talking to Cana. "They've been gone a while..." Cana said sipping on her beer. "The job they took wasn't that hard was it?" Macao said walking over. "No. It wasn't. That's what worries me. Usually Mira checks in during missions." I said.
"Face it Gramps. They let Lucy tag along. They are probably taking longer cause they have to protect her sorry butt." Natsu smirked."Shut it pyro." Cana said pulling out her cards. "I'll call Mira." I said getting a communication lacrima from behind the bar. After a few minutes Erza appeared.
"Hello Master." She said looking sad.
"Hello my child. How is your mission progressing?" I asked, seeing Lucy in the background.
"We've completed it. Lucy did a wonderful job taking out almost half the monsters by herself." Erza said.
"You don't have to lie to us Scarlet. She held you back didn't she?" Natsu sneered from beside me.
"Shut it!" I yelled enlarging my fist and slamming him into the floor.
"I apologize for his rude interruption. Where is Mira?" I asked not seeing her anywhere.
"shopping." Lucy said after a few moments of silence.
"Oh. Good. When will you be back?"
"We've got some pretty bad injuries. It will be a few days." Erza said looking sadly at something behind the lacrima that we couldn't see.
"Sorry master. But we must take our leave. Mira's back." Erza said as I heard a door open behind them.
"Goodbye and be safe my children." I said powering down the lacrima.

Hmm. I hope they are okay.

*Time skip 2 days*
It's been almost a week since they left. I haven't called/been called since our short chat 2 days ago. I hope they are doing alright. Gray keeps asking where Erza and Lucy are. I think he wanted to talk to them about something. 'I'll call them tomorrow' I decided.

*Present day*
--Mira's POV--
"Can we call the master?" I asked.
"Sure." Lucy said getting out a communication lacrima.
After a minute or two, the master appeared.
"Hello my children" he said happily.
"Hello Master" we said together.
"Are you alone?" Erza asked. "there's something we must discuss" I added.
"I am. What's up?" He asked confused.
"Though we did complete the job, there were more than a few injuries. I was hospitalized during the job.." Lucy said looking at the floor.
"What happened?" The Master asked worried.
"We had not arrived yet, but Lucy fought approximately half of the monsters on her own. She had been injured." Erza started while Lucy continued to look at the floor.
"I had Virgo patch me up and I was running low on magic energy. After I sent her back to the celestial spirit world, I was surprise attacked but a large group of monsters. I was near a river so I summoned Aquarius. She attacked the whole group, but during her attack, one of the monsters managed to reach me and deal an almost fatal blow. That is when Erza and Mira found me with Aquarius." Lucy finished.
"While we had Aquarius take Lucy to the hospital, Erza and I finished up the rest of the monsters. However, the 1,000th monster was the largest. It took us a long time to defeat, and we both sustained many injuries as a result. But we finished and came to see Lucy in the hospital." I told Master.
"If Lucy was hospitalized... Why are you in a bed and not her?" He asked me.
"Because I did not care about myself. I neglected my injuries and almost died because of it. Lucy and I sustained similar, near fatal blows. However, I did not seek medical assistance once the job was completed. I also hid my condition from Erza. I was rushed to surgery the day Lucy was released, and my heart stopped twice during the operation. Additionally, I have been asleep for three days. I can only assume Lucy and Erza barely got any sleep. With that, I am able to leave in 2 days." I explained everything to the Master.
We sat in silence once I finished.
"How could you be so reckless Mira?" Master asked breaking the silence.
I looked at him seeing a tear rolling down his cheek. "I'm sorry Master. I was too worried about Lucy."
"Promise you won't do anything like that again" Erza said looking at the floor.
"I won't" I said squeezing her hand that was still in mine.
"Promise!" Lucy yelled.
"I promise." I said seeing the 3 people in front of me crying.
Suddenly Dr. Alexandra came in.
"Miss Strauss. There has been an emergency and we need to clear as many rooms as possible. Although I would like to hold you for observation, you are healthy enough to be released." She said handing Erza discharge papers. "all you need to do is sign these. Then you can go home." She said with a smile.
"Thank you doctor." Erza said handing me the papers. I signed then and gave them back to Dr. Alexandra.
"Goodbye Master. We must pack up to head home." Erza said as Dr. Alexandra left. "see you soon my children." He said as we shut down the lacrima.
"Let's go!" I said cheerfully. I slowly swing my legs over the side of the bed and lowered myself to the floor. My legs were still in a bit of pain, so Erza supported me as we made our way out of the hospital.

--Lucy's POV--
Although Mira was released early and we were on our way home, I was sad. I was still planning on leaving the guild, but I couldn't help but feel guilty. I was the reason Mira almost died. Add what Natsu said about me being weaker than Lisanna, and what he said a few days ago on the lacrima, I have to leave. It's the only way I can prove him wrong. But I don't want to leave Mira and Erza.
I hadn't realized we made it to the hotel room until Mira called me.
"Lucy?" She called from the door.
"Huh? Oh. Here we are!" I faked a smile.
"You doing okay?" She asked.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You did just spend 3 days sleeping after almost dying. Because of me. " I said mumbling the last part.
"Thought that is correct, you did spend the last 3 days depriving yourself of food and sleep. And besides. It's not your fault I got hurt. I was reckless and neglectful." She said with her signature smile.
"Hey you two. There is a hot spring here. Wanna check it out before heading home? We haven't had a chance to relax in almost a week?" Erza asked showing us a map of the hotel.
"Sure. Sounds like fun" Mira said grabbing my hand and pulling us behind Erza.

*Time skip*
We were in the changing room when I saw my reflection in a wall mirror. The scar across my torso is a constant reminder. 'I'll always be weak.'
Not to mention Mira's. Our scars were clearly visible due to us being in bikinis. I slowly walked to where the Scarlet and White haired mages were sitting in the spring. "there you are. I was getting worried."Erza said opening one eye to look at me.
I looked over to see Mira playing with the jets. She turned on the medium jets and shifted to sit in front of one. When she finished shifting the water steadied and I could see her scar more clearly. It looked worse than mine. 'Probably cause she waited so long to have it taken care of..' I thought as I sat there starting at it.
"-cy. -ucy.. Lucy?" I snapped out of my daze.

--Mira's POV--
While Erza and I waited for Lucy I asked Erza, "what do we do if she still wants to leave?"
"We support her. Though we may not like it, it's what she wants to do. She doesn't seem to have many supporters back at the guild, so we need to be there for her." She said closing her eyes.
After a few minutes, Lucy came out and joined us. I fiddled with the jet controls and found a medium massage setting. I turned it on and shifted so that it would hit my back. When I turned around, Lucy was staring at me. No. Not at me. My scar.
"Lucy?" I said snapping her out of her daze.
"Huh? What? Oh sorry. What's up?" She asked.
"Nothing. Just making sure your ok. Do you still plan on leaving once we get home?"
"Yea.. it's probably the best thing for me to do. I won't hold you guys back and I can train to be stronger. I won't stay away forever though. Just a few years." She said looking at the water.
"Just please make sure you stay safe" Erza said sitting up in the water.
"Of course. And depending on how well I train, I may take you on Erza!" She said with a giggle.
"Good luck with that one Lucy! I hope you can beat her." I laughed.

*Time skip*
We left the spring about 3 hours ago and are headed home on the last train to Magnolia. It should arrive in an hour. Lucy fell asleep leaning her head on the window. Erza somehow got her hands on some cake. I turned back to my book, hoping the next hour would go by fast. I can't wait to get home. A certain fire wizard needs a lesson.
______________________________________
End of Chapter 8.

Hope you enjoyed!