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The days had fallen into a simple routine.
Wake up with Elfman and Mirajane
Laugh and play along with their guildmates
Ignore the knowing eyes subtly tracing her along the guild hall
Remember that magic is different here than Earthland
Leave with Mira and Elfman
Hug and kiss Mira and Elfman goodnight and pretend not to question the two holding on longer than what would be considered normal
The last part depended on the mood she was.
Some days she was able to fall asleep no problem
Others she would spend hours staring up at the ceiling wondering how everyone in the Earthland was doing and how they compared to the her guildmates here
She tried to avoid thoughts of her real siblings, it hurt too much. Instead she thinks of the others
Did sassy Cana really grow to become so soft-spoken?
Was always-complaining-about-the-heat Gray really bundled up under so many layers at the moment?
Was Natsu, her wild and untamable best friend, really like the man she had gotten to know here?
Was Earthland Lucy at Fairy Tail too or-
She never allows herself to finish that thought either.
Instead she sits in a field under the star-filled Edolas sky and waits for the person she knew to be coming. It never takes long for the girl to take a seat a few feet beside her.
She never sits any closer or looks at her when they’re like this. Lisanna suspects it’s for the same reason she has trouble looking Elfman and Mira in the eyes sometimes. It hurts too much.
“Did I tell you she used to come here too?” A soft voice breaks through the night. The tone was much different from her daytime one. Ever since Lisanna first came to this new world, she knew she gets to see a side of the fierce woman that no one else did.
“All the time.” Lisanna whispered back.
“You know…every time I climb this hill and see you from behind my heart starts racing. Every time I get here and think maybe this is it…you’ve come back to me and I’ve just been in a fucked up nightmare these past years thinking you were dead-”, her voice breaks but she continues on pushing back the sorrow now clear in her voice, “and then…then I remember you’re not her.”
Lisanna digs her nails into her hand suppressing every need to go comfort the hurt woman beside her. She knows from past attempts that she will be rejected. That soft words and gentle touches would just hurt the other woman even more.
Comfort is not the reason she comes to meet Lisanna on these nights. It took over a year for Lisanna to really understand it, but the other woman does this as a way to heal.
Closure.
And Lisanna is willing to give this beautiful woman whatever she needs in order to fix the damage that was not caused by her, but she still feels responsible for nevertheless.
So Lisanna keeps her hands to herself. She rests her head on her knees and says, “you still haven’t told me about her.”
“I told you I’m not going too.”
“At least tell me how you met?” A bit of desperation comes through in her voice. It was the one question she really wanted answered.
“It doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t be the same in your world and you know it.”
Lisanna couldn’t hold in her frustrated groan. Yes, she knew that statement was probably true, but she still had some many questions about just how different things were in Edolas than Earthland.
After all, there was no Lucy in Fairy Tail when Lisanna was there.
“Besides it’s my turn to ask the questions today…were we friends? In your world I mean?”
“I didn’t know you,” Lisanna answered truthfully, “not yet.”
“I figured. Are you in love with someone else then? Have you ever kissed anyone before?”
“No and no. Why?”
Instead of an answer, two warm hands reached out and pulled Lisanna face out of her knees. Before she could question further, a set of lips were pressed against hers.
The kiss ended almost as soon as it started.
Lisanna drew back to see the look of heartbreak wash over Lucy Ashley’s face. Unable to stop herself, she wrapped her arms around the shaking girl and pulls her into a warm embrace. Let’s her let out her tears and wails over Lisanna not being the girl she knew. The one she gave her heart too.
“I’m sorry.” She whispers into her ear.
“Don’t be.” Comes the broken but firm response. “This isn’t your fault. But-” Lucy lifts her tear-stricken face to look Lisanna in the eyes. She takes a hold of Lisanna’s shoulder and grips it tight. She looks so desperate and wild and beautiful that Lisanna might have missed her words if she didn’t dig those sharp nails into her skin. “But don’t you dare leave her the way she left me. When you find her, you hold onto to her with everything you have. Don’t make her mourn you too.”
Lisanna isn’t given a chance to respond before that head is once again buried into her chest. As if Lucy was taking this time to truly say goodbye. A privileged that was robbed from her the day this world stole her love.
So, when Lisanna’s body gets called back to Earthland and she learns the shocking revelation that her siblings knew the entire time that she was not their Lisanna, it’s Lucy Ashley she sees. The smile she wears is one Lisanna never got the privilege of seeing before. It was soft, so soft and warm, and before the sight of it disappears for good, she manages to make out the last words mouthed to her:
‘Go get her’