Beep Beep Beep Beep
Lucy moaned with morning grogginess and rolled over to blindly grope for her phone. Reaching it, she cracked open her eyes just enough to hit the snooze button before her senses crashed back to sleep.
It was the second time this week she'd had the dream. She never remembered anything about it except someone grabbing her from behind and then flying, and the rosy-haired boy smiling down at her.
No use dwelling on that, she thought. It was just a dream.
She rolled out of bed and stumbled towards the shower, trying desperately to shake the sleep from her body. After soaking in the hot water for a good twenty minutes, Lucy Heartfilia got out, dried herself off, and methodically got ready for her day.
"Luce," her mom called as she walked out the door, "What time are you coming home?"
"Probably not till later," she called back. "Practice is running late today but I'll be back by seven at the latest." She walked out the door, stepped into her car, and prepared herself for the first step in the never-ending cycle of days that composed her life.
Lucy Heartfilia was like everyone you'd meet at first glance. She came from a middle-class family and spent the greater part of her days in school, just like everyone else. She played soccer and was pretty good at it too. On the outside, there was nothing different at all, but if you took the time to look just a little deeper, just barely scratch the surface, then you would know there was something much more extortionary lying within.
All her friends would tell you that she had the most incredible inner strength and defended them all as if they were her own family. They could also tell you she loved elaborately decorated key chains and had the nervous habit of rubbing the top of her right hand, but that's beside the point. There was just something special about Lucy Heartfilia.
She rounded the last corner before entering the school parking lot, and almost yelped in surprise.
A blue cat streaked across the road right in front of her car. She slammed on her breaks just in time and sat there for a moment, gawking. The blue cat, but wait could a cat even be blue, was long out of sight but the sock was still swirling in her chest.
Maybe I imagined that she thought. Cats can't be blue…
Reaching the school, she swerved haphazardly into a parking spot and headed inside to find her best friend, Sophie, waiting for her.
"Hey girl!" She stepped off the wall she was leaning on and closed the distance between them. "How are you?"
"Not too bad," Lucy replied. "Almost hit a cat though I think."
"What!? You didn't though, right?" Sophie was a well-known cat lover and probably would have murdered Lucy on the spot if she had.
"No! Don't worry its fine," she hastily said. "But it was a weird cat. I could have sworn it was- "
DING DING DING
"Sorry Luce," Sophie called as she raced down the hall. "I'll talk to you later."
Yeah, she thought. That'll be great.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully and slowly. It was a relief when the final bell sounded, and she could head down to the locker rooms and the soccer field.
She felt alive on the field, not necessarily from the sport, but just using her body, being able to push it to her fullest extent. It made her feel free. Whenever she sat still, she couldn't stand it. It made her feel like there was something missing from her life and she didn't know how to fill it. When she was moving around it distracted her from that.
After a few sweaty, grueling hours, the team left the field and slowly walked back towards the locker rooms and then out to the parking lot.
Lucy hung back, organizing her locker, dousing her face in cold water, savoring the moments of being alone with her thoughts. She wasn't sure why, but every time she was alone, she would think about the dream. For the past four months, she had the same dream at least once a week. All she could ever remember was flying, and a boy with pink hair smiling down at her. She knew it was strange, but thinking of him made her feel happy and bubbly inside.
I guess I've stalled long enough. I should get home before Mom gets worried. She sighed, walked across the parking lot and towards her car, and for the second time, today almost screeched from shock, dropping her bag in the process.
There, sitting on her car looking her straight in the eye, was a freaking blue cat! Without blinking an eye, the cat hoped off her car and trotted towards the bushes. Sitting underneath a lilac plant, was a boy in a black vest and white scarf, with a full head of rosy pink hair. He looked up at the cat as if he was listening to it, then looked at her with tear-filled eyes.
"Lucy," he chocked, moving to get up. "I knew it was your scent."
To put it perfectly frankly, Lucy freaked out. She grabbed her bag, jumped in her car, locked the doors, and speed out of the parking lot, leaving the boy and the cat behind her.
It was just a prank, she tried to convince herself. Yeah someone heard me telling Sophie about the dream, and they pranked me. She tried telling herself that someone added the cat in for fun.
Meanwhile, Natsu Dragneel stood alone in a High School parking lot, staring off in the direction she left.
"'We found her, Happy. We did it." A single tear rolled down his cheek.
Lucy tossed in her bed that night, too scared to sleep, thinking about what happened in the parking lot. There wasn't any way that could be real.
Who would even think of a prank like that? Maybe Sophie as revenge for almost hitting a cat? But I never told her the cat was blue.
She lay awake, thinking, until her eyes pulled themselves shut, forcing her to except sleep.
"Come on Luce! We've gotta job to do!" The pink haired boy grabbed her hand, which had a strange mark on it, the same color as the boy's hair.
"Aye, sir!" The blue cat sprouted wings and raced to join them.
"Don't tell me your backing out now," the boy chided.
"In your dreams," Lucy cried, running to keep up.
"Then let's go!" The trio ran out into the streets of a strange little market town and disappeared out of sight.
Lucy woke with a start, shaking slightly. His voice, I heard his voice. The boy in the parking lot, they sounded the same. She swung her legs over the bed. I probably just imagined it after hearing him. But… the cat had wings…and spoke. She crossed her room and walked out into the hallway. I need coffee.
Forty-five minutes later she walked out of her house and got back in her car. She didn't tell her parents about the night before, mostly because she was still trying to convince herself it hadn't happened. Her life was normal. Weird things just didn't happen to her, no adventures, nothing extreme. Somehow thinking of that always made her feel sad.
I need to wake up. I was probably just really sleep deprived yesterday, or maybe it was a dream? Yeah, that could be it, I've been thinking about my dreams so much that I dreamt up that whole thing.
"Hey Luce," Sophie met her at her car. "Are you alright? You look kind of pale." She frowned, running her hand through her hair. "You didn't text me back last night, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, but," Lucy faltered and then continue. "Hey, can I tell you something?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"You might think I'm crazy."
"I already do."
"I guess that's a fair point." Lucy sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Luce quit worrying and tell me. No, wait, if you don't want to then you don't have to."
"No, I'm going to tell you it's just weird."
"Weird is fine, just tell me."
"Okay, last night- "
DING DING DING
"Agh sorry, Lucy I can't be late. Tell me later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure." Why does this always happen to me? "How about lunch?"
"I'm really sorry but I can't," Sophie said, flushing. "I promised I'd help Luke with study for his math test." She shifted nervously from foot to foot.
"Oh, Luuuuke. Yes, I see." Lucy winked. "I certainly wouldn't want to interrupt that."
"HEY IT'S NOT LIKE THAT OKAY HE ONLY SEE'S ME AS A FRIEND ALRIGHT STOP IT!" Sophie huffed as she forced out the last couple of words.
"You went to prom together."
"That doesn't mean anything!"
"Hurry up, you are going to be late, remember?"
"Crap! If I am it's your fault!"
Sophie raced across the parking lot muttering about "friendship" and "it's really not like that" the entire way.
The rest of the day passed much like the one prior, faces passing her in the hall with bland, lazy eyes. After school and soccer practice, she had almost succeeded in removing the event from her mind, but she remembered it all too well walking out to her car afterward.
She was last out again and warily treaded between cars, jumping at every shadow. She was halfway to her car when the back of her scalp started to prickle. Whipping her head around she saw nothing but a full garbage can and empty sidewalk.
When she reached her vehicle, she jumped in and locked the door. Scanning the parking lot from safety, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, and more importantly, no pink hair or blue cats.
Maybe I did dream it, there's nothing here.
Once again Lucy left the parking lot alone in her car, and once again Natsu watched her disappear in the evening light.