My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I am 17 years old. I have golden blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. I have a voluptuous figure and flawless creamy skin. I am the only heiress to the Heartfilia family, who govern all railways in the south. My family is rich, and I have been blessed with my mother's beauty. I have a small group of friends (6 girls named Mirajane Strauss, Erza Scarlet, Lisanna Strauss, Wendy Marvel, Juvia Lockser & Levy McGarden & 7 boys named Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Gajeel Redfox, Romeo Conbolt, Laxus Dreyar, Freed Justine & Jellal Fernandes), attend a prestigious academy called Fairy Tail, and I am the smartest girl in my class.
I'm the girl who has everything, right?
Wrong.
Personality wise, I am one of the most loudest and wildest girls you'll ever meet. I, by no means, go around having sex with everyone – that's not what I mean by wild – no at all. I mean that I will constantly want to joke around and party and laugh until my lungs get sore. I may work my butt off with studies, but I love to kick back and relax when I don't need to work or cram for an exam.
Because I am, currently, being rejected from my 5th marriage interview, in a row. I don't know what is wrong with me… I try, and I try, but it always ends up being a complete failure… This time, it was because I accidentally spilt tea on the mother and broke her family heirloom vase all in one go. Apparently, it was the lady's great great-great-great-great-great grandmothers' or something, and now that I've broken it, she isn't exactly… Happy, with me, right now?
"Get out! I will never allow my son to marry you! In fact, I don't know who ever would want to marry you! Now, go! I never want to see your face again! Never come back here!" The mother, whose name escapes me, of my meant-to-be-fiancé screamed at me. She shoved me out the front door and slammed the door behind me. I sighed and exited the grounds, getting in the car I arrived in earlier, and was driven home. I could understand being angry with a stranger breaking something precious to me, but wasn't that a bit harsh? It was an accident, after all… I was nervous and was a slight klutz…
I felt nothing but shame. I'd even gotten all dressed up in my Lady attire, too. Make up and everything.
My mother, Layla Heartfilia, was waiting for me at the front gate of the estate once I returned home. I couldn't look at her in the eyes.
"So, how'd it go, sweetie? Oh, and by the way, your friends… are… Sweet-pea?" She asked. I looked at the ground and didn't say anything as I walked past her with slumped shoulders and a sad face. I dragged my feet along the ground as I headed for the garden. I felt tears sting my eyes, but didn't they didn't fall.
"Look at me,
I will never pass for a perfect bride…" I sang to myself, taking off my earrings and necklace. I turned my head to see my mother approach my father through a window that peered into the kitchen, where they both currently were. He appeared to be waiting for the kettle to boil, but looked at her expectantly once she'd walked into the room, but my mother just shook her head and leaned against him. My father's face became sad and he embraced her. I looked away, feeling guilt rise up. I walked further into the garden.
"... Or a perfect daughter.
Could it be?
That I'm not meant to play this part?" I sang as I took off my heels and kept walking.
"Now I see,
That if I were truly to be myself,
I would break my family's heart…" I sang. I thought I heard rushed footsteps, but shrugged it off as my imagination. I approached the lake, the noise stopped just as I arrived, and stared into the reflection with sad confusion.
"Who is that girl I see,
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don't know?" I sang, looking at the sky with depressed eyes. I sank to my knees on the bank.
"Somehow I cannot hide,
Who I am,
Though I've tried…" I smiled at my reflection bitterly, before sitting back onto my legs.
"When will my reflection show who I am inside?" I asked as I sang, wiping off half of my face to erase that side of my make-up. I looked at my reflection again and it showed my face with make-up on my right side whilst my left side was bare.
"When will my reflection show who I am inside?" I sang again, softly this time, and now I wiped off the remaining make-up and released my hair from its bun and removed the accessories in my hair. Now my hair fell in golden waves down to my mid-back. I grabbed a silky lock of it and tugged on it as I stared sadly at my reflection again. I felt tears fall down my face, and I didn't bother stopping them. I just closed my eyes and sniffled, hanging my head in shame.
"Lucy…" I heard someone call my name, and I turned my head with a start, my eyes wide open, and saw that all of my friends were staring at me a few feet away with shocked and sad faces.
"We heard… Five times in a row, huh?" Laxus said. I looked away, my hand coming up to cup my mouth as I muffled a sob that ripped out of me unwillingly.
"Laxus!" I heard Mira scold him.
"Lucy, it's not your fault, you know? The mothers are picky, that's all, and they just don't know how perfect you really are." Levy said. I turned to look at her with disbelieving eyes.
"I find that hard to believe." I said with a rough voice. "I'd rather sit at home in pyjamas and watch movies and eat junk food rather than go to social parties and eat healthy and talk about how wealthy my family is. When you look at it that way, I'm like the poor excuse of a daughter to my family name." I said.
"Lucy, you're perfect just the way you are, trust us." Gray tried, but I just sighed and turned away.
"I'm not. All I do is break my family's heart over and over again each time I come home with yet another failed marriage interview. I'm not cut out to be part of the Heartfilia family…" I said. I looked at my reflection and splashed it, making the water ripple so much I couldn't see myself in it anymore.
"That's not true! So what if those other families, that you've only met once each, didn't like you? We love you just as much as we did yesterday, and we've known you for 3 years!" Lisanna said.
"That's not the point! How am I supposed to get married when no one will marry me? I will never find love or have a family of my own someday if I keep this up… Sometimes I question why I have to be the way I am… Why can't I be more proper? Why can't I impress anyone enough to get their attention?" I asked myself. I stared at the sky, as if hoping that the clouds would give me answers. They gave me nothing, though.
"Guys, we'll catch up with you later, okay? I need to talk to Luce." I heard Natsu say. I turned back to look at him with questioning eyes, but he was too busy looking at the others. They all, although hesitantly, nodded and walked away. Natsu then turned around and walked over to where I was. He sat down beside me and I looked ahead, not looking at him anymore. I guessed I was just going to get another scolding on why I should 'never doubt myself' or 'not put myself down again'.
"If you're going to lecture me, Natsu, you're wasting your time." I said. Natsu scoffed.
"That wasn't what I was going to do anyway. What I was going to say is that I've asked for your parents' blessing earlier." He said, and I whipped my head around and looked at him with a shocked face.
"Wh-what?" I asked. My heart began racing. Okay, it may be true that I'm down about the marriage interview thing, who wouldn't after having that mother say that to you whilst shoving you out of the front door, but I've also known that I have been in love with Natsu since the first month I'd been friends with him. I never said anything, though, and I tried to push my feelings away once the interviews started happening, but him saying that is making me get my hopes up. Did he feel the same way about me? Did he want to marry me? Or was he just throwing me off guard because he really is going to scold me?
That last one made my hopes deflate, thinking that Natsu would actually do that.
"I said, I've asked for your parents' blessing." He repeated, looking me in the eyes with a smile.
"Blessing for what? You're just trying to catch me off guard so you can scold me, aren't you? Liar." I sulked, and looked ahead again.
"I'm not going to scold you! Geez, and I got their blessing for asking your hand in marriage." He said. My eyes widened and my jaw went slack as I turned to look at him again. "Luce, I want to marry you. Will you be my wife?" He asked, pulling out a tiny box. He opened it and I saw an oval-cut ruby, with a small round diamond on each side of the gem, on a rose gold band. It also had engraving on the inside of the band; I love you, always. I looked at Natsu with tears in my eyes as I saw his loving smile directed at me.
"Are you serious?" I asked. He nodded.
"This is the most serious thing I've ever done in my life, proposing to you, so are you going to be mine? Or not?" He asked, nervousness creeping into his features. I choked on a sob, and nodded frantically.
"Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!" I cheered, and threw myself at him, despite the fact that I was sitting down before. The force from my lunge had knocked him onto his back and I was on his chest. I had cupped his face with my hands and gave him a flimsy smile.
"You'll marry me?" He asked again, as if not believing what I just said.
"Yes!" I repeated, and this time I leaned forward and kissed him with all the love I had in me for him. Through the kiss, I let him know just how long I'd been wishing for him to love me back. I pulled away and saw, with glee, his dazed face. "You have no idea how long I've waited for you!" I said. Natsu blinked back to reality.
"How long?" He asked.
"I fell for you in the same month you and I first became friends… Natsu, I've been head over heels for you for three years." I told him, and he blushed.
"Well, that's funny." He said. I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
"Why's that funny? I'm serious!" I said. He smiled and cupped my cheek with his free hand.
"It's funny because that's when I fell for you, too. I just never said anything because I thought you didn't feel the same way. When your interviews began, though, I knew I couldn't not act on my feelings any longer. I needed you to at least know, and get your parents' permission so that I could have you when the time came. Looks like today was the right day." He said. I blushed.
"Really?" I asked. He nodded.
"Really really." He confirmed. He sat us both up then, and got the ring and slid it onto my finger. I stared at it in awe as it was a perfect fit. I stared up at him with love. "I love you, Luce. Forever and always." He said, and I smiled lovingly at him.
"I love you, too, Natsu…" I whispered, and kissed him once again.
God, how I loved him…
