Calm Before the Storm

Lucy

Virgo was strong. Lucy had always known that. But never had she felt that more than now, lying on the hard, marble ground, every inch of her body sore.

She heard a mad crackling from above her. "Scream, Lucy Heartfilia, scream!"

Lucy grit her teeth and fought back tears. She had never thought of her celestial spirits as slaves, nor tools, or anything that was not under the category of friends; family, even. And yet, they chose a compromised freedom over her. Though she knew the Eclipse had altered them greatly, frustration still threatened to break her soul down. But she stood back up, her whip emitting gold, silver, and blue droplets of magic and the night sky. She was certainly a damsel, but she would not be in distress.

Virgo scowled. "I said scream!" She brought her whip down, and it took all of Lucy's strength to keep it from curling around her neck. The two whips tangled, and did not loosen, as though the whips were reminded that they were the other half of each other; twin whips. For a while they went back and forth, each whip hitting the ground or the wall, until finally, Virgo's whip curled around Lucy's ankles.

"We are stronger, we are mightier," she crackled, "and we will be free!"

Virgo flung Lucy across the room. She was too devastated to even scream, and so, she flew across the room silently. Everything seemed surreal, as thought it was all just a nightmare and she was now just lying in her pink sheets in her apartment after a hard day of work with Natsu and Happy. Though she hoped it was, she knew otherwise. Her twelve friends had to be stopped, but here she was, losing, Virgo's enraged and maniac eyes glared at her. Lucy couldn't help but think of a few weeks back, when those cobalt blue eyes were smiling...

Lucy felt her back collide with... glass? She sucked in her breath. No, she went right through it; something that froze her to the core of her body, but made her feel like she was wrapped up in a blanket by the fire place on a sunny day at the same time.

Lucy's vision blurred, the last thing she saw a sky of moving greens, and the sound of leaves rustling as the soft post-summer breeze blew.

But the last thing she felt was a presence... that made her warm and excited on the inside.

His.

She reached out, but too late. Her fingers grasped air, and then nothing.