He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (GrayLu)

Chapter 9:

Author's Note:

I know that Ultear is supposed to be dead and all, but I didn't want to exclude her. I feel like I would be mean to Meredy if I did that, considering she sees Ultear as a mother-like figure in the same way she sees Jellal as a brother-like figure. In this story she doesn't die from the spell, but is instead put in a coma for a few months. Long story short, Ultear stays. No exceptions, thanks.

Lucy's POV:

Once everyone arrived, we all walked to the train station where we saw 3 hooded figures. I could tell one of them was Jellal because when Erza looked at him, her eyes lit up. Juvia looked at the person beside Jellal and she showed the same reaction. The only people I knew who were close to Jellal, and who were also close to Juvia, were Meredy and Ultear. My detective skills proved me right when they lifted their heads just enough that we could see their faces.

Jellal explained that he put a spell around the train station and its trains so that they would seem less obvious and suspicious to the other people there. Apparently, he wants us in 3 separate groups, one with two protectors each, with each group going on a separate train. The protector pairs will be Jellal and Erza of course for group one, Meredy and Juvia for group two, and Ultear and Mira for group three. Wendy will stick with Erza to be support, and because she sees Erza and me as older sisters. Erza basically demanded I be in her group. Lisanna got the same demand because they thought it better if we stick together because we were both possible targets for Natsu.

So Erza already had me, Lisanna, Wendy, and Jellal in her group. Yukino and Kagura were assigned to Meredy's and Juvia's group. Levy and Kinana were assigned to Ultear's and Mira's group. Carla had to stay behind so that Happy wouldn't try and betray us to find her and lead Natsu straight to us. Wendy also gave her the job of distracting Happy so he wouldn't be of any help to Natsu. Smart girl, I must admit.

My group was the first to leave. I picked up Wendy and my bag, and followed the others onto the train. Before we got on, Wendy made sure to give everyone of us that same powder stuff that she spread around my infirmary room. She said that it would help mask our scent from the other dragonslayers. It even concealed our scent from her, just in case she actually got affected. She also warned everyone that if anyone got lost, she wouldn't be able to use her dragon senses to find us and make sure we are safe. We would have to find our way back to the groups ourselves.

I guess it made me feel a little better that not even the person who made the powder can be immune to it. That means that the other dragonslayers will definitely be thrown off our trail.

We all sat down on the train in mini groups. Jellal and Erza sitting next to each other and me, Wendy, and Lis in another booth. Wendy was asleep the whole ride anyways, so Lis and I just talked. We became Mira for a little while, talking about and taking pictures of Jellal and Erza, and how cute they were together.

If the heavy weight from the burden of hiding out for basically three weeks of our lives wasn't on our shoulders, this might have actually felt like a vacation with some of the guildmates. At that moment I looked out the window at the world speeding by, wondering if the train ride for the others was going as smoothly as ours was. I hope that there were no problems, I thought.

"Lucy?"

I didn't break my gaze from the window as I answered Lisanna. "Hm?"

"What if Natsu comes for both of us, and we end up getting hurt or worse." She asked, her voice lowered to a whisper. "What if Natsu marks you, when you are not his mate. What if I'M not his mate. I'm worried that this mating season will bring out the truth, that Natsu doesn't really love me."

I knew that even with her whispering, Jellal and Erza could still here us. Wendy stirred in her sleep, telling me that she was close to waking up as well. She was leaning against my arm, her head on my shoulder. I sighed, knowing what I had to say.

"Lis...I don't know how to answer that. Honestly, I'm scared too. I don't love Natsu anymore, I love Gray. I'm scared of the fact that I'm Natsu's mate and not Gray's. Everyone is scared for the outcome of the next few weeks, we just have to get through it together and everything will be fine. We will protect each other from the slayers." She seemed content with that answer for now. I stole a glance at Erza, who caught it and gave me a smile signaling that she was proud of me for speaking the truth and not lying to her that everything will be fine. I'm glad she approved of my answer, because it makes me feel a whole lot better. This is her area of expertise after all, not mine.

We stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. Wendy seemed to have fallen back to a deep sleep. I had found an old stuffed cat in my closet that surprisingly looked a lot like Carla, so I figured I would give it to her. But she fell asleep before I could mention it, so I guess I would just have to wait until she woke up.

The train stopped in an area unfamiliar to me. I didn't want to wake up Wendy so I carefully got up and picked her up with my bag over my shoulders. I followed Erza out, with Lisanna behind me and Jellal picking up the rear of the line.

We filed out, met the others, and decided to pick up some food on the way too our new home for the next few weeks. We wouldn't be getting takeout for a while so we wanted to get it while we could. We ordered what we thought Wendy would like since she was still asleep. Mira gave us an idea of what she likes. She would know because Wendy eats at the guild almost everyday. We were led to our temporary home to settle down.