Bubblegum Fox{Fairy Tail}

Pale Gold Lights

Writing's POV

As the upset members trembled to the guild hall doors the next day, they could feel the happiness radiating from the building and its members. Erza was the first to walk in, she lightly pushed the door open and walked in, some members looked around and waved, Erza nodded in return. The rest of her team walked in behind her. Lucy had summoned Plue to hug and keep her company. All members looked around for Master, some even asked where he was. When told or shown, they all walked in the same direction, to his office. 

With a polite knock and granted permission, the team shat down in his office. Lucy was the first to speak. 

"I'm so sorry Master" he looked at her questioningly, then Erza took over. 

"The mission we took, something unexpected happened," her voice started to shake "We successfully completed the mission, but something else showed up. A monster I had never seen before. We started attacking it, but Lucy got caught, it was going to kill her. Then lucky someone else showed up, that person being Tsukiko. She got Lucy free and pushed us all back, claiming to know the monster, claiming we were not strong enough for it," her voice raised ever so slightly, her hands shook and her eyes widened. Next, to her, Lucy was crying again, Natsu had looked away, shadows covering his face. Grey sat there, his chest rising and falling too quickly, his hands clenched, his eyes saddened. "When she had persuaded everyone to go back, she got up a barrier, except, she was in the barrier, with the beast. She shouted at us all to run if something happened to her, telling us that this beast would just kill us too. She started fighting the thing before her. At the time it was an even fight. That's when things started to go bad. Tsukiko, was hit. She was hit with such force that she flew back, seemingly breaking her back on the trees behind her. Then she fell from the air, with the searing pain in her back, she couldn't do anything to save herself. Tsukiko hit the floor, cutting her head open. She died there." Master's eyes widened. He stared at the teens before him. No words were spoken from him.

"We tried everything to save her! We tried to break her barrier! We tried to get her to come home with us before she even started fighting! We tried to help her, but because she was so set on keeping us alive, she was killed!" Grey broke, his voice was raised, his hands were shaking, his eyes leaked, his breathing was ragged. He stood up and just collapsed, he had no power left, he felt drained. 

Master walked around to where Grey was breaking, he looked at the boy in front of him, knowing what he felt about Tsukiko, knowing that he loved her. he had lost two people now, his Master, Ur, and now the girl he loved, Tsukiko. He placed his hands on the boy's shoulders, looked him in the eyes and whispered. 

"Grey, I know how you felt about her, I know how this hurts you. I know that you thought of her as special, I know that you wouldn't just leave her there unless she demanded you to. She risked her life so you could live, to me that seems that she cared for you, a lot more than you thought she might have. She was willing to die for what she felt for you, and everyone involved. She was always so happy with you, so I think she would want you to be happy with her. I don't want you to think that this is your fault. That's what she would say, she made that decision, she chose to give her life for someone she loved." Grey looked at him then, the tears still dripping from his eyes, but in place of the sadness on his face, grew a smile. A sad smile, one that showed that he was still sad, but that Grey knew what his Master was talking about. He knew that Tsukiko would want him to be happy, she couldn't bear to see him sad, it would always make her angry in the cute little way that she annoyed at him. That just made him happy though, so it also made her happy.

Lucy looked at Grey then, but she just saw the shell of a broken man. Grey was strong but losing a loved one hurt, she knew that, she knew that too well. She then looked at Natsu next, he was still turned away, not looking at anything but the wall beside him. He had said nothing since they got in here, he made no noise, he made no movement. It was difficult seeing him like that, he was also so loud, so 'I'm right here', now he wouldn't even look at anyone. She could understand why though, she just wanted to be along, she had so much to think about, yet her mind was blank. Lucy looked at Grey again before she looked at the floor. Her hair fell around her face, covering her from prying eyes. She wept and cried quietly. Her tears dripped down onto her legs, making a little puddle. 

When Lucy looked up again, she could swear that she saw something. It was quick and fleeting, there one second, yet gone the next. Lucy waited and watched to see if it would come back, it did, back again, only for a split second. This time Lucy managed to see it though, it was a small light, pale and golden, yet it seemed to be flickering out. At first, she didn't know what it was, where it was coming from. Then she remembered the flowers, the magic, the lights. It was Tsukiko, she was still in her head, sending a single. Then a second realisation dawned on Lucy, it was flickering, meaning she wasn't dead yet, but that Tsukiko was dying.