.:: Standard Disclaimers Applied ::.
RAB Note: Okay so since my laptop undergoes suicidal few months ago, I decided to stop updating BTO because all of my updates and files about BTO is on my laptop which is all deleted by my very reliable computer (note the sarcasm please) This is my second attempt of making a story and I hoped you guys enjoy this. Please read my note on my BIO first before reading :-)
.:: Chapter One ::.
Her eyes widened in shock and mixed with that emotion was the expression of undeniable fear. Tears welled out from her cat-like crimson pupils whilst she lifted her quivering hands over her trembling lips. She choked down the sob that wanted to seize her entire body as she made an eye contact with a young man, whose body was swimming with his own blood. He winced and cupped his bleeding stomach.
A young man with disheveled red hair, despite the agony coming from the pain shooting his whole body especially on the large wound on his stomach, tried his best to give her an assuring smile. "Run," he painstakingly said and then he coughed along with blood spitting out from his mouth as he slid his weakening body against the surface of the wooden wall.
She was finally aware of the hard pounding of her heart as she slowly dragged her eyes towards the other young man with jet black hair and pairs of sharp crimson orbs. She gasped and before she could stop her body, she just found herself running outside the destroyed cottage towards the nearby forest.
Her platinum blonde hair fluttered behind her back as she run inside the uneven surface of the forest. She didn't even think of any reason as to why he did not even followed her; she kept on running and running while his dying voice echoed inside her mind.
Run.
She sobbed and pressed the back of her right palm against her trembling lips. 'Even if I run forever he will find me and kill me.' She doesn't fear death but she feared seeing his glowing sharp red eyes aimed at her. At that thought, her petite body trembled because of fear.
She jolted a stop before she raised her one hand and materialized one of her keys onto her soft palm. "Open the gate of the Compass, Circinus!"
A celestial spirit with silver shoulder length hair pulled in a low pony tail appeared next to her. He bowed his head lightly at her and pushed his round glasses up to his nose. "You called— what happened?!" the said bespectacled spirit gasped and was quick to appear next to his platinum blonde master seeing that she looked terribly tired, weak and shaking in fear.
The young woman grasped her celestial spirit's white robe, "Please take me away from this place—no, take me away from this world!" she exclaimed.
Her spirit frowned in confusion, "I don't understand—,"
"Just take me away from—," her words cut off when she suddenly snapped her head to her left side.
Her eyes widened as her red pupils constricted in fear. Her spirit dragged his eyes away from her then towards the direction she was looking at and gasped when his eyes met raging in hate red blood eyes. He was standing in the shadow of the trees surrounding them, making him looked sinister than ever.
"No," she cried as her hands clenched her spirit's clothes tighter. "No,"
He was seriously gazing at her like a hawk watching intently its prey; as he took a step towards her she tried taking one backwards but with her spirit had his arms protectively around her trembling body she failed widening their distance.
"Hime," Circinus whispered as golden light shining from his body, "I wish to see you again someday. Please, have a good life from another world." He said and beamed kindly at her.
"Thank you, Circinus." She said her body too glowed in golden light. 'I love you so much, Serge.' She whispered within herself as she imagined his handsome face wearing his perpetual sweet smile for her. There are so many 'what if's floating inside her brain but it's terribly too late now. He's dead and he was cruelly killed by him!
Cursing the cruel fate that separated her from him and cursing the magical being with crimson eyes like her, he was standing meters away from her and her spirit, who mercilessly killed the person that made her feel special and loved.
'Serge... I love you!'
Sucking in deep breath, Lucy jerked her body off the dirty ground. She inhaled air greedily as if she just resurfaced from a very deep ocean before she coughed out. Cold sweats started to form on her forehead while she tried calming her thudding heart by taking in and out couple of deep breathes.
As she breathes, her brown round eyes travelled around the unfamiliar place. Fear started to seized her whole body after realizing that her classmates, who she was with awhile ago, is now nowhere to be found.
'Where am I?'
And then she heard voices near her, just behind the shrubbery near her. Debating whether it is wise to peek, in the end her curiosity win over her logic side. She slowly crawled towards the shrubbery and slowly—careful of not making any sounds— she peered from the plants. Her brown eyes saw five figures wearing gray cloaks; the garment was hiding their faces and their body but with their wide shoulders Lucy guessed that those mysterious figure wearing cloaks are all men.
"Master Brain said that she's supposed to be around this place." A figure—Lucy can't tell who seeing that their faces were hidden behind the hood of their cloaks— said to his companions.
"But where exactly?" another one said.
"We'll split up into three groups and looked around. Remember what Angel-sama predicted; she's supposed to be a teen girl with blonde hair and brown eyes."
Horrified, Lucy quickly grasped her golden hair. 'Golden hair and brown eyes? Are they talking about me?! Who the hell are they?!'
Lucy tried crawling away from them, she begun praying to all the gods and goddess she knew hoping that those cloak guys won't notice her, not until she's distanced herself away from them as much as she can.
Still praying that they hadn't noticed her presence, Lucy tried taking a step backwards not knowing that a simple sound of cracking of a twig could pierced the silence and all of the colors drained from her heart-shaped face as realization sunk in unto her brain.
All of the cloak men gathered in front of her. Lucy squeaked in fear before she tried spinning around wanting to run away when she realized that few other cloak men appeared behind her. In process of widening the distance of her from these rogue-looking men, Lucy tripped over and with a soft 'ooff' she landed on the ground on her buttock.
"Well isn't this easy?"
"We found her."
"Capture her."
Lucy shivered in fear. 'Capture?! What the hell do you want from me?!'
One of them, lifted his hand and to Lucy's horror, his hand was grasping a very large axe with stained red color probably blood from his previous victim and now her blood will stain that axe as well! On that thought, her paled face turned paler.
She gulped trying to crawl away from the advancing cloak man armed with large axe when she realized that she was cornered and nowhere to run away to.
'Someone please help me!'
The man was about to grabbed her when her petite body glowed in golden light. The all gasped—including Lucy—in surprise. The men took steps away from her automatically as the light seemingly protected Lucy from them.
'What the heck is happening?!'
Lucy felt something stirring inside her. As if another side of her suddenly woke up before a soft voice, a female voice in particular, sounded inside her.
"Run." The voice said to Lucy.
The blonde teen girl blinked her eyes and stared at nothingness, 'Eh?'
"I will stop them but only for five minutes. Use that time wisely to run the hell away from here." The voice said once again.
'Who are—,"
"NOW!"
Lucy jumped when the voice within her echoed. The light around her glowed even more and the cloak men surrounding her froze suddenly.
"What are you doing?! Run, Lucy!"
And so, that was what she did after hearing the command. She turned her back and fled away from the frozen cloak men.
She ran in panic, not bothering herself where she was going or not even caring where her feet were leading her; her mind was screaming the word run and she only have five minutes to shook off her captors.
Just five minutes. Is that really enough time for her? She couldn't run forever, the fact that she hasn't eaten anything since yesterday (damn her for wanting to look thin in front of her crush so she skipped dinner last night) and not to mention that her body was trembling in fear her legs would give up sooner or later.
Hopelessness engulfed her chest. Lucy bit her lower lip because she wasn't able to stop herself from sobbing out the feelings of fear, weakness and helplessness. Maybe she should give up and surrender herself to those men?
"No, you're not doing such thing!" the familiar voice sudden exclaimed, reprimanding Lucy at her thought.
'But I—,'
"Just run! I'll do everything I could to shake them off. Don't you dare give up on me?"
With that she felt the surge of energy rushing through her veins. Her feet pumped up and began running faster than ever. When Lucy looked up ahead of her, she found light. Maybe that light will lead her to safety! She will make it! She will definitely survive this shit!
Lucy felt like screaming 'yes!' when she exited the forest and found herself standing in the middle of an empty road. Road can lead her to a town or city. City means there are definitely police or anyone that she could seek for help. Help means she's going to be out of trouble and being out of trouble mean those freaking cloak men will soon be out of her hair! Double yes!
But just when she thought that she survived this ordeal, reality smacked her when her eyes landed on a carriage few meters away from her and running onto her direction, particularly on her!
'Oh shit—!' her body froze in fear even though her mind was screaming the word run again. Did she survive being held captive by those cloak men just so a freaking carriage will run through her and eventually kill her?! 'Why me god?!'
Lucy shrieked realizing that the carriage was just feet away from her, she quickly shut her eyes tightly and waited for that two-wheeled vehicle to hit her body. She heard someone cursed loudly followed by couple of 'aahh!' and 'kyaa!' scream before a loud sound of THUD followed; thankfully Lucy felt nothing hitting her body. Did she turned invisible and the carriage just passed through her?
Puzzled, Lucy tried peeking using her one eye and saw the carriage hit the nearby tree, thankfully, the speed of the carriage is slower than Lucy thought and the impact of the vehicle hitting that free was not that hard. Whoever riding that carriage will surely 100 percent survive that impact?
Relief washed over Lucy and small energy inside her drained out causing for her to lose her consciousness and dropped her body onto the ground. Her mind slightly registered a pair of warm arms rescuing her from hitting the ground as she fainted.
Few minutes ago, on board inside the carriage— it was being pulled by a large bull— were seven Mages. Sitting on the driver's seat was a handsome young man with dark orange hair that resembled a lion's mane navigating the said carriage. He was talking —flirting mainly— with a beautiful young lady with light colored hair sitting on the passenger's seat next to him.
"So Yukino-chan?" said ginger haired young man said giving the young lady he called 'Yukino' a flirtatious gaze. "How about going on a date with me?"
Yukino heaved a sigh, almost in exasperated way, before glancing at her ginger haired companion, "No Loke-kun," she said softly, "I told you many times already that I won't go out with you." she said before turning her eyes back to the book on her grip.
Loke let out a laugh despite being turned down by the young lady, "You're so cold as usual, Yukino-chan, you won't be getting a boyfriend with that attitude you know." he teased, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly.
Yukino merely rolled her onyx eyes, "And I do not intend of finding one, Loke-kun." she said with serious tone and expression while she flipped the page of the book.
"Hmm." Loke hummed as he tilted his head to his side, "Then does that mean you're giving up on Natsu already?"
On that, Yukino gasped and dropped the book on her hand, curiously her cheeks were painted in deep red hue, "W-w-what are y-y-you talking a-a-about?!" she stuttered as her eyes roamed around avoiding any eye contact with her ginger haired companion.
Loke laughed again, earning a soft glare followed by a pout from Yukino. "You're really into Natsu huh?"
"I said it's not like that!" Yukino exclaimed and harrumphed before crossing her arms together and whisked her eyes off from the beaming Loke.
On board inside the carriage a red haired female Mage named Erza Scarlet was comfortably seated on the right side of the vehicle with an unconscious Fire Mage called Natsu Dragneel – his face was turning to blue then to green then to pale – groaning on her lap.
The said red haired armor Mage punched Natsu onto his stomach the moment the flame Mage was acting sick, one of the unusual features about Natsu was his excessive motion sickness, excessive to the point that even just imagining any kind of transportation makes want to throw up — he even get sick when people carries him, categorizing people as one of mode of transportation.
Sitting next Erza was the raven haired Ice Mage named Gray Fullbuster; who was obviously enjoying the predicament that was currently bestowing upon his rival slash friend. On his lap was Natsu's blue furred Exceed cat Happy, cheering for his human partner.
"Damn are we there yet?!" A blonde Mage around Natsu and Gray's age shouted but then he cupped his mouth when he felt his stomach twisted in weird way.
"I highly suggest of you Sting to shut up and just sit. We'll be there in Hargeon Town in forty five minutes." Erza hissed throwing death glare at the whining Sting.
A small dark-brown furred mildly anthropomorphous cat floated above Sting, "She's right, Sting-kun." His Exceed cat named Lector said and patted his golden hair with his tiny paw. "Get yourself together, Sting-kun."
Sting gave his cat weary smile before trapping the nauseated feeling by cupping his mouth once again. "Damn transportation!" he cursed and then gave his partner Rogue Cheney who was sitting quietly beside him. "How come you look so damn calm while we're dying here?" he asked, slightly envious at his partner's calm composure.
Rogue's cat, an Exceed wearing a pink frog costume, was cheekily sitting on his human partner's lap while munching the fish that Happy shared with him "Rogue-kun is sleeping that's why he's quiet." Frosch said.
Everyone sweat dropped when they all heard soft snoring sound coming from the Sabertooth raven haired Mage.
"Told 'ya-ribbit!" Frosch said lifting his one paw at his companion.
"What a care-free attitude." Gray commented, slightly amused before a soft chuckle escaped his lips.
Outside the carriage, Loke smiled and patted Yukino by her head. "You're too easy to read, Yukino-chan." He said.
Loke dragged his eyes back to the road to navigate the wild boar when suddenly a young woman with blonde wearing a dirty torn out clothes crossed the road. The blonde haired girl froze mid way on the road, her brown eyes widened with shock when she saw a carriage was about to hit her. The young girl snapped her eyes closed tightly with fear.
Yukino gasped and grabbed Loke by the sleeve. "Loke looked out!" the light haired Stellar Mage exclaimed mixture of fear and shock visible on her petite face while pointing a finger to the blonde young lady frozen in the middle of the road.
"What the—shit!" Loke was quick enough to pull the string to the right in an instant before they hit the blonde teen.
But because of the sudden turn Loke temporarily lost control over the boar and was not able to stop the wild animal from hitting the tree ahead of them. Loke immediately wrapped his protective arms around Yukino and readied himself from the strong impact against the body of the tree.
Erza and others inside the carriage were surprised to hear Yukino exclaiming at something. The red head S Class Mage was about approached their light haired Stellar Mage when suddenly their driver turned the carriage to the right causing for the people inside carriage stumbled to the left.
Erza with her fast reflexes angled her body to avoid colliding against the wooden wall of their carriage. Gray, caught off guard by the sudden turn, gasped when his body fly towards Sting who was sitting across him and collided his head against the head of the Sabertooth's Dragon Slayer Mage.
"The fuck—!" Gray cursed and then he groaned while Sting was too sick to noticed the sudden turn their carriage made and he did not seemed to noticed the pain shoot his head when he collided his head against the raven haired Ice Mage of Fairy Tail.
Natsu, too sick as well to reacted, tumbled across to the other part of the carriage and then bashed the wall with his head; he groaned and slid down the floor.
"Ouch!" Rogue groaned as the back of his head hit the surface of the wall behind him. He cupped his head and looked down on his Exceed cat, worried if he's hurt, "Are you okay, Frosch?"
With swirly eyes, Frosch lifted his paw, "R-ribbit…" he groaned.
Happy and Lector flew out towards the other side of the wall of their mode of transportation and was not able to stop their furred tiny body to slammed – face first – against the wall. The blue Exceed groaned because of pain while slowly sliding down the wooden floor while Lector floated in the air as he cried out the pain coming from his nose.
Sounds of groans and sigh of relief followed and then an enthusiastic exclaim erupted inside the carriage.
"I'M REVIVE!" Natsu and Sting suddenly yelled in unison startling their comrades while throwing their pumped fists upward and flashing a wide grin totally unaware from the large swelling on their heads. Gray cursed unable to decide if he's going to cup his aching head or start cursing while Sting and Natsu torment their eardrums with their scream of delights.
"What the hell was that about?!" the dark haired Ice Mage yelled directly at door that leads to the driver's seat looking pissed off.
"That hurts." Happy whined, tears pouring down from his eyes, while the blue cat's nursing his swelling nose.
Natsu excitedly poked his head out of the carriage's entrance only for him to blink his eyes with confusion. "Hey this isn't Hargeon Town! Where are we?" the Flame Mage asked to his groaning comrades.
"The girl!" they heard their Stellar Mage exclaimed again and then sounds of footsteps followed.
Erza and the others jumped out of their carriage while the three Exceed cats flew out of the vehicle following their comrades. They saw Yukino kneeling down in the middle of the road, inside her arms was an unconscious blonde young lady, probably in same age as them.
Sitting beside Yukino was her lion Spirit and also the member of Fairy Tail, Loke.
"Yukino what happened?" Erza called out immediately running beside their light haired friend.
Yukino lifted her concerned onyx eyes at her red head nakama. "This girl, she suddenly appeared in the middle of the road and then—,"
"Loke!" Erza suddenly exclaimed startling the others. Erza gave a sharp glare at Yukino's Spirit. "You didn't just hit the helpless girl?" The Equip Mage cracking her knuckles while staring dangerously at Loke.
Loke shook his head in comical panic. 'An angry Erza was far worst that anything!' Loke inwardly screamed. "Of course not! I pulled the carriage to the right before we hit the girl. Maybe she was so surprised that's why she lost consciousness." the lion spirit explained.
"We have to bring her to the hospital immediately!" Yukino said with concern voice.
"She's begun to wake." Erza said, and in an instant her other six companions gather around the hospital bed thirty minutes after the accident.
They all hovered and looked down at the sleeping figure on the bed. The three cats casually took a seat beside the sleeping blonde. Yukino was sitting on the round stool next to the bed, wiping the wet clothe onto the pale arms of the unconscious blonde young lady.
Loke settled himself across Yukino; he had his elbows plopped on the soft bed while his chin was being supported by his palms, a wide grin adorning his face while staring happily at the unconscious face of the blonde young lady. Yukino, noticing the unusual bright smile coming from her spirit, arched an eyebrow and then glanced around her male companions.
They mirrored the same expression with each other; even though their trying their best not to look obvious but with a soft red tinge coloring their cheeks, Yukino noticed the attraction they have towards the mysterious blond young lady. Yukino sighed and shook her head, not knowing if she should feel jealous or be amused, the light haired Stellar Mage chose the latter and smiled.
"Don't you think she's kind of cute?" Loke cheekily commented still smiling down at the blonde girl.
Natsu bent down and stared intently at the blond lady, "Sure she is." He said.
Everyone twitched and was obviously shock when Natsu agreed with Loke; usually he will, not intentionally, ignore every beautiful woman crossing his path. He does not even pay attention to Erza even if she was wearing her almost-revealing swimsuit!
"Who are you what have you done to Natsu?!" Everyone exclaimed in unison.
A soft moan cut Natsu off when he was about to retort back about their surprised reaction. They all tilted their eyes down to the blonde young lady, who had her brown round eyes opened and blinking rapidly at them particularly at Natsu who was still invading her personal space.
Her face paled, "KYAAAA!" she screamed causing for the Mages and the cats surrounding her to jumped in shock. She folded her left hand and jabbed her fist towards Natsu; the latter that was caught off guard was unable to avoid her tiny fist and was hit through his cheek.
The others blinked their eyes in shock again while ignoring the moaning Natsu on the floor. "Please!" the blonde girl exclaimed curling underneath the comforter, obviously scared of them. "Just take away my money and my cell phone but please don't hurt me!" she begged while her body trembled in fear.
"Hey," Yukino softly said and was cautious on patting the blonde girl's shoulder. The girl squeaked when she felt a hand over her shoulder, Yukino was quick to withdraw her hand away from her. "Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you." She said softly.
It took one whole minute for the girl finally peeked from the comforter and cautiously looked around her. Yukino, Erza and Loke beamed welcoming at her that caused for her to ease a little. The ginger haired celestial spirit handed a cup of water to the blonde lady.
"Here, have some water to sooth your throat." Loke said and held it out to her but the latter didn't take cup; natural feelings of shyness and caution took her over. But instead of feeling dejected, Loke only smiled again. "Don't worry, we're not here hurt you." He softly said.
She took the cup of water slowly from Loke's grip; after finishing the cup of water, she exhaled a deep breath of relief. She handed the cup back to the smiling Loke and bowed her head.
"Thank you," she squeaked.
"My name is Loke and these are my friends." He said motioning his thumb towards the other who was quietly standing and watching their interaction in silence. "And you are…?"
"L-Lucy,"
Silence took over them before Lucy started talking again, "Do you mind telling me where am I?"
Everyone blinked their eyes and shared baffled expression with each other, "We're in Hargeon Town." Erza answered.
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, "Hargeon?" she repeated, "Is Hargeon still part of Kyoto?"
This time the others creased their forehead in return, "Kyoto?" Erza repeated mirroring Lucy's puzzled expression. "I don't think there's no city called 'Kyoto' in our Kingdom."
"Kingdom?"
Erza nodded, "Yes, Fiore Kingdom in particular."
Silence again before Lucy gawked in disbelief and muttered a shock, "Where?!"
.:: Tsuzuku ::.
.:: Run-Away-Bride ::.
