Serenity: Crossing Realms

FT - Coming Clean

Mystic's face went pale. No. There's no way he can know right? This is bad. Sy told me to keep it a secret unless absolutely necessary. Does this count? I'm too emotional right now to keep my composure. Shit, this is bad. Maybe if I come clean we can keep it between just us? Maybe I can ask him if he knows anything about the guardians.

"Mystic, are you ok?" Lucy asked, turning to Loke she slapped him on the arm "Why would you ask her something like that, we were having an emotional girls' night and I think you just broke her."

Mystic had been quiet for what felt like an eternity before she finally whispered a soft, yes.

Loke's ears twitched and Lucy snapped her head back to look at Mystic who had averted her eyes to the ground.

"W-What?" Lucy asked.

Feeling guilty for keeping it from her new friend Mystic spoke again, looking back up to Lucy's eyes. "Yes. I'm....from a different world. I...only used the excuse that I was from a different country to make it easier. I never intended to lie.. It's just...more like on a need-to-know basis."

"Hmm. That explains the strange feeling I had when I held your hand. Guess it wasn't the spark of love." Loke jokingly frowned, getting a punch to the arm from Lucy in response.

Lucy walked up to Mystic and grabbed both of her hands. "Hey, it's ok. Everyone has their secrets. We could tell you had no ill-will to the guild." she closes the gap to embrace Mystic in a hug "This just means you came an extra long way to find a place you can call home and friends who you can call family."

Mystic half hugged Lucy back, muffling out an apology. "I'm sorry Lucy. That's...thats not all.." she glanced towards Loke who seemed to understand what her eyes were trying to say. "Loke, can...can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he said with a soft smile.

"What...do you know of the guardians?"

His eyes went wide. He knew she was going to ask a big question but that was not what he was expecting. Sure he had some suspicions from the feeling he had that told him immediately she was not from this world, but neither was he. What surprised him the most, however, was that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"That depends. What do you know of the guardians?" He said back with a smirk.

Mystic sighed, deciding that it was best to get most of it off her chest. The Celestial spirit likely knows more than he's letting on and he could probably be very helpful but Mystic was going to need to be honest about a few more things to deserve their full trust. "Let's sit down. There's a lot."

The trio moved to sit down at the small table in the middle of Lucy's apartment. There was a moment of silence before Mystic began her tale.

"I know of the guardians and what happened to them. I know this because I am bonded with one of them. Versa, Guardian of Realms. We have begun a quest to track down the remaining guardians before they are found by someone who wants to steal their powers. If he succeeds, life as we know it will cease to exist. In every world, every realm, and every universe." she paused slightly to look up at Lucy's exasperated face and Loke's of understanding. So he does know something.

She continued, "I traveled to this world looking for a celestial wizard because we believe they are in danger. Odysseus will likely try to capture them to use them to get to the celestial world. We think, and likely he does as well, that one of the guardians is taking refuge in the celestial world."

Loke nodded in understanding. He looked towards Lucy. "Lucy, are you alright?"

She was frozen. They were looking for a celestial mage. She was a celestial mage, one who held 10 of the gold keys. They were after her. She wasn't sure what to feel.

Mystic looked towards Lucy, with a guilt-ridden face, she continued "I'm sorry Lucy. I didn't want to keep it from you but as the situation is... The mission needs to be kept as secret as possible. I came here to protect you and that's what I intend to do. I spoke to Master Makarov about this when I arrived and that's why he placed me on your team. So please... don't think that I–"

"It's OK." Lucy interrupted with a smile. "I understand. You meant no harm by anything. I am glad you told me. I'm not happy about being a target but I'm glad that you came so far just to protect me, even if I'm just a piece of the puzzle."

"It still doesn't feel right. I didn't want to keep it a secret, especially from you, but S-my partner said we need to keep as much information a secret as we can. We can't let anything get back around to Odysseus. Even the smallest detail could have devastating consequences. Makorav decided we should keep my purpose for joining the guild a secret as well." Mystic said looking down into her lap.

"Makorav knows?!" Lucy yelped.

"Yes, I explained everything to him when I first arrived. He was deemed a necessary component of the plan and so it was decided he could have all the information upfront." Mystic said finally looking up, moving her glance towards Loke.

Loke met her gaze and decided it was his turn to speak up. "Quite the interesting tale there Miss Mystic."

Lucy and Mystic looked at Loke with confusion. "Are you saying you don't believe me?" Mystic asked, crunching her brows in annoyance.

"On the contrary, I do believe you. In fact, you are correct in your assumption that one of the guardians is in the celestial world. That would be one of the higher-ups I mentioned earlier." He said shifting to sit back in the chair in a more reclined position.

The girls relaxed a little at hearing he believed Mystic's story. He continued to explain things from his side and what he had learned from the Guardian.

"The guardian in question is the one who resides over us celestials and zodiacs. He's even above the Celestial King." he said towards Lucy who looked appalled there was someone higher than the King "Alkawn, Guardian of Cosmos."

"He's really there!?" Mystic yelped in relief.

"Yes, he's really there. He told us a bit of the situation from what he understood, but it's good news that there is a group looking for him. Well, he assumed Odysseus was looking for him but hearing that there is another group looking for him should ease his mind. He's been rather... on edge about every little thing."

"That's such a relief." Mystic sighed as she sat back and finally relaxed. "I'll need to contact my partner and let her know the good news." her face dropped slightly "But that doesn't mean we are out of the clear just yet. He's still likely to send one of his minions to try and get to you, Lucy. I'll be staying until we know it's safe."

"Thank you Mystic. It's reassuring to know that you are here. For now, though, I think we should get some sleep. It's rather late and we've had an emotional day."

"Can I join you ladies~?" Loke asked with a flirty smile.

"NO! Now get lost!" Lucy said as she threw a book, hitting Loke smack in the middle of his forehead, earning a small giggle from Mystic. Lucy turned towards Mystic "That's better. It's nice to see you less tense." Mystic responded with a soft smile as Loke said his goodbyes and the girls crawled into bed.

Just as they were about to drift off to sleep, Lucy rolled over to Mystic. "Hey..Mystic?" she whispered just in case she was already asleep. "Yes?" she whispered back.

"I want to take you somewhere tomorrow. Just the two of us, is that ok?"

"Of course." she smiled, and Lucy returned the smile "Goodnight, Mystic." "Night, Lucy"

As they finally drifted off to sleep, Mystic couldn't help but feel a weight off her shoulders. She felt that she had finally made a true friend, her first girlfriend. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.