Chapter 7

Just like that things got decided. Lucy sold her big house and put all the money on the account we shared together and moved into our house. She crashed into Ultear's room, since it was the biggest room in the house, and we moved all her stuff in. She fit in perfectly almost immediately. Ultear came for Ur's funeral, but was more than happy to share her room with Lucy. She took an immediate liking to her and took her like a little sister she always wanted.

"Boy, I'm sure glad to have you around," I overheard Ultear, as she spoke to Lucy on the sofa in the living room. "Having only boys around was a real pain."

I was happy to be honest. Both Lyon and Ultear got used to Lucy quickly and Lyon being grateful to her for saving our house was even nicer to her than he'd ever been to either of us. I found a part time job in a local mechanic shop and was able to earn enough for us to get by. Lucy took a liking to the work around the house. Cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, she did it all and after some time, she got really good at it. Funeral was a different story though. I held onto Lucy, trying to stop her tears, but I couldn't even stop mine. The four of us were in front row looking at two coffins in front of us with people, which held our worlds together. Now, we were all linked by holding hands, trying to support what was left of those crumbling worlds on our own. After the funeral, Lucy often sneaked into my room at night crying and I couldn't do anything but to hold her till her tears dried up and she fell asleep in my arms. To be honest, even I was turning a bit crazy. The images or Ur in the house just got more intense after the funeral. I often saw her watching TV in the living room, cooking dinner in the kitchen, or just resting in her room, as I peeked through the crack we left open. No one dared to actually go into the room. Ur's things got left just as they always were and for some reason the knowledge that they did gave me a bit of peace of mind. It was like she was still with us, watching over us.

The first day after the funeral, we stood at the entrance gate to our school looking at it as if we never saw the old building before. So much has changed for us, so much happened we didn't recognize even ourselves. We just stood there gazing at the scenery that was its usual self, even though the world has changed so much for us. It looked almost alien. Suddenly I felt Lucy's hand in mine, clenching it with all her might. I took a look at her pretty face, her eyes still a bit puffy from all the tears they spilled. I squeezes her hand in mine giving her all the comfort I could. She looked my way and gave me a smile. It wasn't her genuine bright smile but a tired one, the one that made it obvious how much she suffers under that smile. My heart broke at that sight. She took a deep breath and straightened her back.

"We're gonna be late if we keep standing here."

I just nodded my head, knowing she's right. But we were both scared to take that first step. My heart jumped when I felt her lean onto me, her hand still tightly squeezing mine.

"Thank you, Gray. For everything."

A shiver ran through me and my heart started to race just from her words. Before I realized what was happening, I was pulling her into my embrace and holding onto her, my cheek pressed against hers. I felt her tense for a second, but she relaxed immediately and I felt her hands on my back. The scent of her shampoo hitting my nose calming me. My words came just as a whisper as I held her there, in front of the school gate, not caring who might see.

"It was just cause of you I survived."

I felt her cheek heat up against mine and the image of her blushing face filled my mind when I pulled away just a bit and pressed my lips against hers, tasting her sweet lips for the first time. My mind was filling with images of her pulling away and never speaking to me when suddenly her hands wrapped around my neck and I felt her lips press back against mine, meeting my kiss with the same feelings at heart that I had. The school bell brought us back to reality as we pulled from the kiss looking into each other's eyes. She then gave me the brightest smile I've ever seen and pulled me by the hand.

"We're gonna be late!"

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The gossip spread through the school as a virus. Well, we didn't really hide it. We walked through the halls hand in hand, I changed all my subjects to match hers and we always sat next to each other. At lunch, we were accompanied by Levy, Erza, Loke, Laxus and often even Alzac and Romeo, but they had girlfriends of their own and Bisca and Wendy preferred to have some alone time at lunch. I heard from guys that they lost the basketball match against Sabertooth, and that the cheerleaders kicked Lisanna out, even though I don't really know why. Lucy never joined the cheerleaders again. I got used to the new job and even got to work at it full time. And when I got home, there was always Lucy waiting for me with dinner, she kissed me and welcomed me home. And as we ate, I often saw Ur sitting there with us and smiling, as we talked about how our day was, her image fainter and fainter every day .