Second chance

chapter 16: backslash

Juvia P.O.V

I stretch and sigh. I glance at the clock to see it pointing to 10 and I grin. Today is starting off as a good day. I step from my room to see Erza, Gray, and Natsu sitting at the table talking.

"Where's Lucy," I ask and the table perks up and looks at me.

" Lucy is still sleeping," Erza said and I stiffen. Lucy never stays in bed past 9. Even when most people are still asleep she is usually awake.

" I'll go wake her," I say with a smile and walk towards the room. When I open the door I have to hold back a gasp. Yesterday she didn't look too well. This takes it to a new level. She's a bit pale, her eyes have light bags under them, and her hair was a mess. She was sitting cross-legged and meditating.

" Lu" I call out and she looks up at me and I flinch. Her eyes showed every emotion in the book. The book of please fuck off.

" Hey Juvia" she calls out with a smile and I raise my eyebrow. Does this girl thing I am stupid. I am not her boyfriend.

" What's wrong," I ask, my voice hard showing her I won't take her usual I'm fine as an answer.

" I guess seeing my dead guildmates living is taking it's toll" She snarks and I take a step back. I wasn't really close to most people in the guild except for Cana and Team Natsu. Lucy, on the other hand, was the little sister of everyone. She was the one who took most of the deaths hardest. Truth be told I am surprised she didn't go insane after Levy's death.

I see regret flash in her eyes as she mumbles an apology.

" We are going to that water park today so I am just going to tell them that we are sleeping in," I say standing up.

" Juvia" Lucy calls and I stop.

" You go I kinda want to stay alone" Lucy finishes and my first thought is hell no. After a while I give up and look at Lucy ready to leave.

Lucy nods standing as well. She hugs me and I can't help but grin.

" See ya Lu," I say poking her in the nose and she blushes.

" Juvia I'm not 5" She states rolling her eyes and I giggle.

" Are you sure about that?" I say running out of the room before she can kill me.

I told the team that Lucy was staying home and Natsu wanted to stay too but I dragged him by his scarf. Him being here would probably wake Lucy up.

Erza and I change into our swimsuits and I run towards the water. I sit on the edge on drop-down letting to water cave around me. I head above the water just in time.

I see Sting Jumping into the water cannonball style and I can help but laugh. Some things will never change. Sting emerges from the water in front of me and my eyes narrow. His eyes and posture were kinda like Lucy's right now.

"Where's Lu" he asks and before I can answer Rogue sits down at the rim of the pool. He takes on look at my eyes and sighs.

" I am guessing that Lucy is letting the future catch up to her. " Rogue states and I see Sting stiffen from the edge of my eye.

" Yea time travel should come with a mental health warning," I say and Rogue smiles.

" Yes it should Sting broke down yesterday" Rogue states and I look at Sting and his eyes serious.

" Are you feeling ok?" I ask thinking of how Lucy looked this morning. Sting looks away for a second before taking a breath.

"Truth be told no, but I am feeling better than yesterday" He replies and I nod. Sting and Lucy were the emotional two of our little time traveling group. It makes sense that they were the first that break down.

Sting stands up completely and begins to lave the pool.

"Where are you going?"I ask and Sting looks at me and I take a breath. His eyes are blank and that does not fit Sting.

" The only reason that I am sane right now is because of Rogue and Yukino " He states and I flinch. I knew I shouldn't have left her alone.

" It's my job as her brother to make sure she is fine, annoying, but fine" Sting continues and leaves.

" Wait does Yukino know" I whisper shout at Rogue who has the decency to look away.

" We had to tell her after she caught us arguing about it yesterday," Rogue said and I sigh.

Let's just hope this goes well. I leave this to Sting if I leave now the whole team will notice and ask about whats going on.

( Stings P.O.V)

I am in front of Lucy's door. Thank god for Dragonslayer's smell. I enter the room and grimace. Lucy breathing a lot faster than normal she was in a corner of her room and it looked like she had just stopped crying. I rushed towards her and I sat in front of her.

" Hey, Lulu" I call out and she looks at me and I fight back a flinch. Lucy helped me after Yukino's death. She was always the person that everyone went to after they had lost someone. Somehow she just made things better. Now seeing her on the floor I realized that she never went to anyone. She was the pillar that kept all of us even Natsu sane, but who kept her sane.

Lucy looked dazed and her breathing hitched.

" You are fine, We are fine, They are fine" I same making her look me in the eyes. I watch as the rise of her chest slowed but was still a bit to fast for my liking. Her eyes fought back tears and she shook her head.

" They're dead, I keep seeing them dead" She whispers and I flinch. The first time I saw Yukino I couldn't look her in the face for the whole training month.

" But they aren't you are making sure of that. You are the one keeping them safe." I call out stressing the you. Finally, Lucy is breathing normally and she looks at me.

" It's not just me Sting you are too" She whispers and my breath stops. The teats I didn't want to shed in front of Rogue come out and I am biting my lip to stop them.

" Stop it" she whispers firmly and I cry. It started with two tears that turned into more. Lucy hugged me and I fought back a flinch. She doesn't talk she just hugs me and I can finally breathe.

Lucy, the light of Fairy tail, The pillar of war, My baby sister.

" You are the only reason I am mentally stable" I croke out and Lucy laughs.

" You were never mentally stable." She states confidently and I gape.

" Was I going to help you or the opposite?" I say and Lucy shakes her head standing up.

" We help each other" she states, lending me her hand. I take it and hug her one more time.

She enters the bathroom and comes out in a bikini and I growl. My baby sister already gets enough stares normally. Usually, Natsu and I can take care of them. But in this timeline, everyone is a pervert.

" You are not going out like that," I say and Lucy gives me a look.

" You are my brother not my dad" she states and I cross my arms across my chest.

" Our Natsu would kill me" I finish and Lucy smirks.

" Don't worry about it" she calls out and she teleports us to the park. Lucy instantly hugs Juvia and then jumps onto Natsu's shoulders. I smile watching her annoy her future boyfriend. She looks at him and I smirk.

" You are never getting married like that Lucy " I call out and grin as Lucy curses me out.

" Hey Natsu you'll marry me right," She asks and I laugh as Natsu turns bright red and begins to stutter.

Juvia smiles at me and gives a silent thank you. I give her a grin as I wrap my arms around Yukino, who was standing next to Rogue. Thank you Rogue for explaining everything. I got my girlfriend back.

" Is everything OK?" she asks and I nod.

" Everything is perfect" I state nuzzling into her hair and taking in her scent. I saw her blush red and I sent a wink to the rest of Sabertooth who were looking at us in shock.

She's here and nothing will stop that.