Journey
She was crying because she left. He was crying because someone left.
To put it in a simple way, it was awkward. She was crying. He was sure of it. At first he was not. She had her face covered with her hands when he looked into her cabin and had assumed she was sleeping and walked in. he grew more uncomfortable when he realized her back was shaking and little sobs broke out. He really wanted to help but as the train left the station he grew more uncomfortable as his stomach lurched.
After 30 minutes when his stomach somewhat settled, he looked up to see the girl looking out of the window with dry eyes and seemingly ignorant of the motion sick passenger sitting in front of her.
She took in a shaky breath and bit her shaking lip. She blinked back tears and coughed. Finally she noticed him.
He was trying his best to stare at her and try to keep his lunch down when the agonizing feeling in his stomach subsided, when his black eyes met her brown eyes.
They were like a pit of chocolate which he craved to dive in and enjoy. His eyes were black and like a black hole, drawing her in.
She awkwardly looked away and sniffed, while he looked down at his eyes.
"Um my name is-" he started to introduce himself when she interrupted him. "Have you ever felt angry?" she asked the now taken aback man.
"Um my friends do call me a hot head for a reason" he answered awkwardly scratching his head. She giggled and his heart raced against his breath. "Have you ever done something in anger, or- or have said something rash in the heat of the moment which you don't actually mean but… but actually feel…?" she asked with curious eyes, ready to mug up whatever he answers. He cocked his head to the side and thought about it. He gulped at the memory and looked down ashamed.
"Oh… I am sorry… I just rambled on and on. Um my name is-"
"When my father was going abroad for a case he didn't tell me about… I… I screamed at him for leaving me and told him to… to never come back" he let out interrupting the girl. He took deep breaths and looked up braving to see the look on her face. Would it be disgust, or would it be sympathy or worse nothing.
The girl was smiling sadly and nodded understandingly." Did he… I mean um… did he die on the job?" she asked hesitatingly trying not to sound snoopy or mean. But he understood. He didn't scream t her or felt angry at all, which was weird because he would freak out whenever someone mentioned his father's… disappearance. The girl was just a stranger to him. He knew nothing about her and vice versa. But he felt comfortable talking to her, relaxed looking into her deep intoxicating brown eyes.
"He disappeared. There is no account to where he went looking for the lead for his case just the location to where he was seen last, magnolia."
She smiled. She understood if he didn't want to go on. She looked out the train window while he did the same. The green scenery raced with the trains speed and the wind gleefully swept her hair up and the sun's rays forced her to shade her eyes.
After a few moments after looking out the window she looked back inside and blinked to rid the black spots in her eyes.
She looked at the boy sitting across from her and was surprised to see him sniffing and wiping tears and snot away with his scarf.
He looked up and saw the girl looking at him curiously and a little worried.
He chuckled a little to assure her that he was ok. "It's just I have never actually talked to someone else about my father and I guess it just made me reminiscent." He shrugged not actually expecting her to understand. "My… my father adopted me as his own when I lost my parents in a fire. He took me in never made me feel like I had ever lost my parents. He was my mother and my father." Now he was just talking to himself rather than telling the girl, but she didn't seem to mind.
He realized how awkward she must be feeling with him rambling on and on about his sob story while she sat there. "I am so sorry to just pile up on you like this I really am I just-"
She cut him short by moving from her seat across from him and coming beside him to sit criss-crossed on the seat beside him facing him.
She smiled encouragingly and nodded. It took a moment for him to realize it was a sign for him to continue.
"Um I was just five years old when he took the case and had to leave. He… he tried to explain to me that it was a very important case and can help him in his career, but… but I couldn't. I just couldn't. to me it felt like he grew tired of me, and now he got the best excuse to leave me…" now he was crying openly as she said nothing but reached out to hold the strangers hand."I still remember how heartbroken he looked when I confronted him about how I thought he was leaving me. He… he tried so hard to explain that that was not the case, but I… didn't listen to him. When he came to say goodbye to me when he left me with grandmamma, he… said that he loved me and promised to come back. But instead… I screamed at him and told him to never come back. He never did…"
As he broke down into tears the girl wrapped him in her arms. He sobbed on her shoulder and she let him.
Her embrace was warm and the most safe he ever felt in all his years, after losing his father. He never told anyone about him. Just minor details. He was surprised himself that he told someone about him let alone a stranger. But she… she was different. Her eyes they were more understanding like she too has felt like this sometimes. Her smile was more assuring than his friends who, agreed were very understanding, but can never help but judge him. Her voice was soothing even when she was rambling. Her embrace was welcoming and safe, a feeling he only feels at the orphanage he stayed at, fairy tail.
When his tears ran dry and his sniffling subsided, he let go none of them feeling awkward.
She smiled at him and took his hands in hers and traced reassuring patterns on the back of his hand with her thumb. His eyes followed her finger seemingly in a spell. His spell was broken when she spoke.
"I ran away" he looked up at her and expected her to continue, but instead she looked behind his shoulder towards the setting sun drinking in its last rays while he too did the same but instead drank the light reflected in her enchanting eyes.
"I ran away from my home. I ran away from my father. I ran away from the home where I lost my mother" her voice broke when she spoke. "When… when I was 9 my mother passed away. My father he tried… he really actually tried to fill the space of my mother in my heart, but he found drowning in his work and replacing his sorrow with alcohol, easier. We tried to fix our relationship many times, with him spending more time with me and trying to get to know me but he found it exhausting and finally gave up. We… we both gave up. While he worked and earned money, my mother was the one who actually took care of me and be more understanding. But with her gone… my father and I just couldn't grow together… we couldn't mourn together." This time she was sobbing on his shoulder while he listened attentively while running a hand over her head occasionally.
"But one day he… he just snapped. He returned home drunk and angry. He started accusing me… of-of the reason for my mother's death. He slapped me and hurt me with his harsh words till he passed out with me sobbing on the floor…
"The next day he apologized to me. Begged me to forgive me… but whenever I looked at him I just remembered him hitting me and telling me those cruel words. When he left for work the next day I packed my bags and left. Left, to go anywhere but far far away from my father. I bought the next train ticket for any city across the country." She looked up in his obsidian eyes. They were understanding and sad.
She let go of him and stood up to sit back at her seat as the train passed a tunnel. The man looked confused and a little hurt as to why she did so.
"Um I'm a little tired and well, frankly emotionally exhausted. I just want to sleep and besides magnolia is still a few hours away." She explained and he understood.
He suffered the pain of losing his father many years ago, granted the pain was still there; she had just lost her only family a few days ago.
He nodded and made his duffle bag as a makeshift pillow and laid down on it. He looked across the cabin at the girl who was lying down facing him. She looked beautiful even with her eyes closed. Her hair framing her face almost perfectly. Her pink lips a little apart as she let out a shaky breath and wiped a few tears away which escaped her eyes.
He wanted nothing more than to go to her and wipe her tears away and comfort her but he knew that she wanted her own space, besides he was just a stranger she confided in.
So he turned around with his back facing her as she gave in to sleep silently smiling and thanking the man for listening and understanding.
When she woke up, sunlight was greeting from the window and the train station they had stopped in the way to magnolia announced that, they were in hargeon which was only 30 minutes away from the aforementioned destination.
She sat up and yawned, stretching her arms. She was grateful that no other passenger had chosen to come to this particular cabin.
She looked across the cabin towards her co passenger and now she assumed good friend.
She still could not comprehend the fact that she told him everything. Everything about her mother, her father, and her relationship with them. But she definitely didn't regret it. He seemed special. He seemed different. And she believed that he would not tell anyone else what she had confided him with.
With a groan he woke up. His stomach was in knots as he tried not to barf all over his scarf or the train seat. The girl must have noticed his agony as she came and placed her hand on his arm and said
"Hey are you ok?"
It confounded him how his stomach calmed down when she touched him and how the world stopped spinning and came to focus.
He sat up carefully and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head "I am not particularly fond of trains." He said shyly and she giggled and assured him "I understand. Hey look out there"
He looked out of the window to see the scenery go by and change into the bustling city, which they guessed was magnolia.
The town folk went about their day, running here and there. Some children waved at the passing train or raced alongside it.
She giggled and waved back at the kids while he high fived a child who jumped up high.
Laughing they fell on their respective seats and tried to catch their breath. But there was something strange in the air. It was a question.
What now?
The train had reached magnolia. Its tires screeched as it halted to a stop. Families thronged the train trying to see their loved one and the passengers rushed to greet them. As she stared out the window, knowing fully no one would be there for her, panic seized her throat. She was alone. Alone in the big city with nothing but a suitcase with clothes and memories and only a few jewels to her name.
As she leaned down to get her bag from below the seat, she was greeted by an empty seat where he sat.
She was shocked. She tried to call out for him when she realized.
She never got his name.
Panic and the threat of tears clawed at her throat. A lump forced into her throat and her eyes clouded with tears. But she pulled herself together and straightened her shirt.
She got sown from the train and looked around for him in the crowd but he was nowhere. He had vanished into thin air like a ghost or a spirit.
She gave up on looking for him and started on her journey in the strange town of magnolia
'No. no. you didn't even know him till yesterday. Just forget about him and move on. You have a whole life ahead of you. Come on. Please'
She pleaded with herself as tears hanged from the brim of her eyes.
As she pulled herself together and started towards… towards wherever.
A hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her. It turned her around and before she could look at who it was pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Natsu. Natsu dragneel." She recognized his voice and his pink hair and scarf. She smiled as tears broke free from his eyes.
"Lucy heartfillia. Nice to meet you" she managed to say as she hugged him back.
And there they stood. In each other's embrace. Safe and happy.
One who was ready to find someone. And one who was ready to find something.
But they knew they could do it. Together.
I do not own fairy tail