"This is the big day Lu-Lu~ Oh man, I'm so excited!" Levy squealed as she clutched strands of golden hair in her hands, curling them. The owner of these strands smiled and replied. "I know. I can't believe today's the day!"
"You two have come far." The scarlet haired fairy complimented as she placed her hand on the bride-to-be's shoulder. "I'm proud of the two of you."
"Thank you Erza." Lucy replied, grinning widely. A sensation that she was feeling continued to grow. She was excited and happy, and having some of her best friends and guild mates only intensified the feeling, especially when they praised her.
"And here I thought I'd be his wife one day," The silver-haired woman known as Lisanna jested as she nudged at the bride's side. "But you deserve it more than I do."
"Lucy! Lucy!" Mirajane cried as entered the room, capturing the attention of all four maidens.
"What is it Mira?" Erza questioned.
"Is something wrong?" Levy continued.
"Nope~ I just wanted to say it's almost time~."
Lucy let loose an internal sigh of relief. Despite being so excited and happy, she was also worried that something would go wrong on her big day. Over the years she's learned that with the Fairy Tail Guild, if something can go wrong, it will. Especially concerning the… "behaviours" of her soon-to-be husband. Her biggest fear was that he'd pick a fight with someone and accidentally destroy the Church. Thankfully though, this wasn't the case.
"Thanks Mira!" The bride answered back. "We're just about ready. All I need is just the-"
A horrified shock surged throughout her body as she looked down. The bouquet of flowers that she had put off to the side was gone! Not that it was that big of a deal, but it did worry Lucy as to where it might have gone. She couldn't picture herself walking down the aisle without one.
The others caught on and started to pick up on Lucy's hidden worry. "I wonder where it could have gone." Lisanna commented.
"Someone's most likely stolen it!" Erza stated angrily as she used her magic to equip a weapon, eager to spring into action. Lucy held her hands awkwardly and she chuckled. "I'm sure no one stole them Erza. I might have left them in my room."
"Yo!" a voice called out that was preceded by a few knocks. A man wearing a gray suit entered the room, alongside a small black cat that walked on two legs. The man was rubbing the back of his long black hair awkwardly.
"What's wrong Gajeel?" Levy questioned.
"Well, we got a bit of a situation. I was supposed to be on Salamander duty, and well, he gave me the slip."
"YOU WHAT!?" Erza yelled as she raised her sword against his throat. Her eyes were flaring with rage. "How could you let something like this happen on this day of all days!?"
"Whoa, calm down." he replied, as he used his finger to lower the sword. "It ain't my fault. I asked Lily to look after him for a few minutes as I practiced the song for your guys' first dance."
The Exceed sighed. "I keep telling you Gajeel, they had Mira look after all the music."
"HEY! I WROTE THOSE TWO A SPECIAL SONG AND I'M PLAYING IT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, YOU GOT THAT CAT!"
Erza's eyes began to burn even more. "You don't seem to realize how serious the situation is Gajeel. A runaway groom on the bride's wedding day is nothing short of a dire matter."
"You don't think I don't realize that! The other guys are on the hunt for him."
"Then I suggest you join them before you try my patience."
"Geez, alright. C'mon cat. I think I smelled something crispy in this direction. Later babe. " He saluted the blue-haired fairy then left.
"My most sincerest apologies ladies." Pantherlily said before he left the room to join up with his partner.
The ladies all turned to the bride, whose face was beat red and her cheeks puffed. It was obvious that she was furious. She hiked up her white dress and began walking away. Levy called out to her "Where are you going Lucy?"
"To my room." She huffed. "I'm checking for that bouquet."
It was obvious that looking for the bouquet was just an excuse for her to be alone. The other girls decided to stay back and give her her space.
The blonde bride quickly walked down the halls to get to her room, careful not trip from her white heels. Tears were streaming from her cheeks as she was so upset, but also confused. She didn't know at whom she was upset more with; her husband for ditching her on their wedding day or herself for thinking that she could have one day without any problems. Both of these thoughts stirred in her mind which only intensified the waterworks.
She stopped in front of her door and clutched her body to it, finally letting out all her sadness. She just couldn't believe that the man that she loved, the one whom she gave her heart to would just up and leave without a word.
After many moments of sobbing, she finally collected herself and opened the door to her room. Upon entering, she noticed there was a figure lying on the windowsill at the opposite end of the door. The figure had on a black suit with a pink tie that matched his spiky hair. He was tossing an oddly familiar bouquet of flowers up and down as if it were a ball.
"Yo, Lucy. Was wondering how long you'd be before you got here."
He began to laugh, but it was cut short as the bride appeared before him almost instantaneously and slapped him across the face, calling him an idiot. He rubbed his face where she slapped him, confused. "Hey, what was that-" Before he could continue he saw the stains of tears on her cheeks and the solemn look on her face. "Hey, Lucy, what's wrong?"
She mumbled a bit, embarrassed now for how she acted, then replied "I thought you ran out on me."
"Run out on you? Nah, never! I just wanted to come see you!"
He began laughing again as his bride began to develop a smile. She thought that it was sweet of her groom to come see… her…
"IDIOT!" she cried as she slapped him again, and running to the back of the room and behind a curtain so that she couldn't be seen.
The pink-haired groom was now just as confused as before, if not more. He thought that things were alright between the two of them but now, to him, she was acting really weird and couldn't comprehend why. "What's up now Lucy?"
"You can't see me like this!"
"What do you mean? I've seen you cry before. No big deal!"
"No, I mean, you can't see me before I come down the aisle. It's tradition that a husband doesn't see his wife before their wedding."
There was silence for a moment which surprised Lucy. She peeked out for a split moment to see where her husband was. To her shock, he was standing right in front of the curtain, grinning widely at her. Before she knew it, he grabbed her through the curtain and raised her up, and pulled her from the curtains, taking them down with her. He spun her around so that he was now behind her and rested his head on her shoulders. "Yeah… I never really understood that idea. It's kinda dumb if you ask me. The guys were telling me the same thing."
"Well, it is a well-known tradition for weddings."
"Apparently. And a well enforced one too. I was starting to get antsy and I wanted to see you but the guys were holding me back because of this dumb rule. I tried to fight my way to you but Gray kept freezing me to the ground. So I snuck out when it was Gajeel's turn to look after me. That cat of his was too easy to get past! Ha ha! No one can keep me away from my wife for far too long!"
His bride began to smile even more, feeling a warm loving feeling in her heart.
"I came to see you, but you were with the girls. There was no way I could get to you with them there, especially Erza. She goes crazier than normal when it comes to weddings. She'd have me hogtied before I could even set eyes on ya, so I had Happy swipe the bouquet while you were preparing, hoping that you'd come here. Good thing ya did, I don't think I coulda waited any longer!"
"You really went through all that, just to see me?"
"Of course! I can't stand to be apart from ya for even a moment!"
The blonde maiden turned her head and gave her partner a kiss on the cheek, which caused him to grin happily. She parted from his grasp and walked over to the doors.
"C'mon Natsu, we should get going. They're waiting for us."
"Yeah… about that Lucy…" he said as he walked a bit away from her and looked out the window.
Those words stirred fear in Lucy once more, but she tried to calm herself before reacting.
"So, I heard that it's another tradition that the guy stands at the front while the girl walks down the aisle right?"
She smiled. "You got it."
"Eh.. I'm not a big fan of that one either. Marriage is supposed to be an equal partnership right? That's what I read at least."
"Uhh, yes, it is."
"So how about we walk down the aisle together? I feel like that's something partners should do."
She looked at her husband lovingly, proud that he was suggesting such a sweet idea. She nodded. "I think no one will mind if we break a few traditions."
"Except for Erza."
The two of them laughed at the joke. Lucy raised her arm up as an invitation for Natsu to take it. He raced over and happily accepted it, locking his arm with hers. The two of them pushed open the doors and began walking to the hall where the audience was waiting for them, leaving the bouquet behind.
