Lucy was pretty sure her muscles had never burned this badly in her entire life. The ache she felt during her horseback riding lessons paled in comparison to the burning she felt now as she forced her body to continue placing one foot in front of the other. Even the arches of her feet hurt. She'd stopped feeling her toes hours ago. Were they even still there? If Erik would just slow down a little, maybe it would be a little easier to walk.
"Stop your bitchin', Fugitive. We aren't slowing down."
She gave him her best glare, though it didn't faze him a bit. She hated the nickname he'd give her. He even refused to call her by her name. His annoying habit of responding to her thoughts was getting on her already worn nerves, too.
"If you hate it so much, you can stop right here and sit your round ass down while you wait for some Rune Knights or your father's men to pick you up."
"Not going to happen." She bit out as she stomped along next to him. "You said you wanted to go with me, which means you're stuck with me and all my complaining."
"We'll see about that. Irritate me enough and I'll tie you to a tree and leave you there for the next group of bandits to pick up."
"Asshole" she grumbled under her breath, but didn't keep arguing. She wasn't sure how serious he was about that. Based on how heartless he'd been since they crossed the stone wall and he started speaking to her, she wasn't going to take the chance.
They'd been walking at a fast pace for hours, trying to put as many miles as possible between them and the Heartfilia Estate before sunrise. Judging by the way the sky was beginning to lighten, they only had about an hour until he'd let her take a break. Lucy hadn't missed the way Erik directed their path to take a wide route around the town nearest the estate, but he didn't answer when she questioned it. He just ignored her, like he always did when he didn't feel like answering her questions. It didn't matter, though. She was fairly certain it had something to do with the guild he was abandoning. His actions made sense if his guildmates were staying in that town waiting for him to complete his 'test'.
It didn't come as a surprise to Lucy that their travel had been peaceful, with the exception of Erik's antagonistic commentary on her thoughts. No one back at the estate would be expecting to see her until her tutor arrived late in the morning. When the maids delivered breakfast, they would simply leave it in the study without checking in on her. They'd stopped expecting to see her when Lucy started sleeping later in the morning after staying out many hours of the night. With her father assuming the newest attendant would see to Lucy's needs, no one would think to enter her room.
Most of their nighttime journey was made through open countryside with the occasional tree grove breaking up the mostly flat scenery. Being under the open sky, Lucy noticed as soon as the last star faded from view and took with it the extra energy she'd felt throughout the night. The loss left her feeling more drained than she thought she could handle. It was much to her relief when Erik finally said, "We can stop here for awhile. I don't need you dying without a shovel nearby to bury the body."
Too exhausted to respond, she just ignored his comment and flopped onto her back in the soft grass at the top of the last hill he'd forced her to climb. When she'd noticed Erik taking a path straight for the tall hill, Lucy wasn't sure she'd make it to the top. She had to admit, it was worth the struggle to be able to lie beneath the covering of a tree on top of a hill high enough to give them a decent view in all directions. If she wasn't so worried about someone tracking her down in the next few hours, she might have taken the time to really enjoy it.
Erik's deep voice drew her attention, "We'll be in a small, shady town in a few hours. I know a guy there who'll take this jewelry off our hands for a decent price. It won't be as much as you could get at a jeweler, but it won't be a rip off, either."
"Why not just sell bits of it as we go? That's what I'd planned to do before you came along." She said as she sat up and looked in his direction. He'd sat down in front of the tree with his back against the thick trunk and his head leaning backwards.
He leveled her with a disbelieving stare before closing his eyes and letting his head fall to the tree again. "That was your plan? You're fucking lucky I came along. You'd have been found and hauled off by day after tomorrow."
"Well," she huffed in irritation with her arms crossed, "why don't you share some of your wordly wisdom with my clearly inept self?"
Without opening his eyes, he said, "Any credible jeweler would recognize the Heartfilia insignia stamped on most of it and call up daddy dearest to turn you over for a reward worth much more than the jewelry in your pocket."
"Oh." She said, realizing how right he probably was. "And your guy won't do that?"
A snort escaped as Erik said, "No. He definitely won't be calling up the authorities."
Lucy lay down on her back again without saying anything else. It dawned on her how fortunate she was to have Erik with her. There was a chance she could have done this on her own, but it would have required more luck than she probably had at her disposal. Changing the subject, she asked, "You happen to have any water on you? I've got a serious case of cotton mouth going on over here."
"No, but you could always go back to a store and buy some. Maybe they won't recognize you."
A frustrated groan left Lucy's throat before she said, "Do you ever stop with the shitty attitude? Good god, it's nonstop with you."
Erik chuckled lightly as he said, "Nope. Still glad you invited me along, Fugitive?"
"Would you stop calling me that?!" She nearly shouted before reining in her emotions to keep herself quiet. "Ugh, you're infuriating. And for your information, I have a plan to be able to get in and out of stores without being recognized, whether you're with me or not."
"Let's see it then, Fugi."
Lucy grumbled under her breath about how shortening the nickname didn't make it any better while she sat up to more easily reach down into her shirt to dig out her most prized possessions. The collared shirt was a bit too fitted to slide her hand down, so she was forced to open the first few buttons.
"As much as I'm sure many men would love to watch you undress, I'm not the stable boy and I'd rather not see your tits." Erik said in a tone that would have been more convincing if his eyes weren't glued to her bust as she opened the second button.
"Shut up, perv." All her movement stopped as her brain processed what he'd just said. "Hold on. What do you know about the stable boy?" The comment had her a little freaked out. Just how far into her thoughts could he go?
"I can dip as far as I need to," He paused for a second to listen in satisfaction as her thoughts become frantic. It wasn't completely true. Lucy was actually harder to read than a lot of people but he could make out her thoughts when her soul was really stressed, which was nearly constant in the time they'd spent together. When he was satisfied with her state of panic, he added, "Though, I didn't have to when the memory was practically projected to me when we passed by that dark little corner of the gardens back there."
A string of unintelligible noises fell from Lucy's lips. That was not something anyone was supposed to find out about. The stable boy was the only person at the estate near her age and they were both curious, slightly horny teens who were all alone when her father was away on business and she was between attendants. Lucy knew she had to be a virgin when she was given away in marriage, but that didn't mean she couldn't experience other things. She glared at Erik as she said, "Don't ever bring it up again."
Without giving him a chance to respond, Lucy stood to her feet with her summoning keys in hand and said, "Open Gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!"
All thoughts of Lucy and her stable boy left Erik's mind when Lucy's words brought forth a burst of golden light that produced a tall guy with crab legs coming from his back. Much to Erik's discomfort, the crab guy's first thoughts were all about how much he'd like to comb Erik's tangled looking hair. "Don't even think about coming close to me with those scissors."
Cancer turned to look at Lucy with his scissors snipping away at the air as he said, "What can I do for you, ebi?"
With her hands together in a pleading gesture, she asked, "You remember when I asked if you could change my appearance? Think you could do that now?"
"Of course, ebi." Without further prompting, Cancer let his scissors fly as he used his magic to turn Lucy's straight, mid-back length, blonde hair into shoulder-length curls in a dark shade of brown. Whipping out a mirror from the bag at his hip, Cancer asked, "How's that for ya, ebi?"
With a squeal, Lucy grabbed the mirror and stared at her new look. After turning her head side to side and touching on the new locks, she exclaimed, "Wow! I look totally different! Can you do Erik, too?"
Before Cancer could answer, Erik stood and took a few steps away as he said, "Not a chance."
"Don't be like that," Lucy whined and pouted her lips, "At least let him change the color and cut off the wild bits."
"I like my wild bits just as they are, thank you very much."
Lucy sighed and shook her head, absently loving the way the curls bounced. It was clear this was a losing battle, so she thanked Cancer for his help and sent him back home. "You think we're far from a stream or something? If not, I could get some water for us but I'm not sure it'd be worth the trouble."
Her mind supplied Erik with memories of a very violent mermaid he wasn't all that excited to meet, so he inhaled deeply to scent the air. "Half a mile or so that way," he said while pointing vaguely ahead of them.
"Did you seriously just sniff it out?" Her voice reflecting the shock and disbelief she felt.
"Like it was less strange for me to see you use a tit sweat covered key to summon a crab guy to fix your hair." He bit out as he turned to start walking in the direction of the stream he smelled nearby.
The blonde turned brunette didn't bother replying to Erik's remark because after only a few steps of walking, the soles of her feet were aching again. She did her best to ignore the pain and keep up with her companion's long strides. He might be the biggest asshole she'd ever met, but at least he was a useful asshole that could sniff out water and had good ideas on traveling without getting caught. She was definitely feeling grateful for his presence when they reached the stream about ten minutes later and she was able to drink her fill.
Enjoying feeling of cool water splashing on her face, Lucy didn't realize she was about to be left behind. Staying true to character, as soon as Erik was done drinking, he stood and started walking away. When she noticed how quiet it'd become, Lucy looked up and noticed Erik's silhouette in the distance. "Hey!" She shouted as she stood quickly and jogged a few steps to catch up, but she didn't comment further on his rude behavior. She was too caught up in the beauty of the day before her. The sun was shining brightly over the slowly changing landscape. Their journey had started out over mostly flat fields with a small rise here and there, but now the hills were getting larger as they walked on. Eventually, a mountain range became visible in the distance and Lucy couldn't contain her excitement anymore. "Are we already getting close to Crocus?"
His response was only a grunt that she assumed meant yes. Knowing how close they were to the capital brought her enough joy to outweigh the slight irritation she felt at his terrible communication skills. She was finally free and on her way to starting a life on her own. No more worries about being traded in marriage for a business deal or being trapped in her well decorated prison. There would be friends to be made, guilds to join and a full life to live. Well, as long as she made it through her travels with the grouch next to her. She wondered how long they'd stay together but didn't bother asking him, knowing he'd either ignore her question or give an unhelpfully snarky remark. It didn't matter, anyway. She was happy as it was.
A thought occurred to Lucy that she just couldn't keep to herself, much to Erik's annoyance. He sighed before she'd even started speaking but she still asked. "Why weren't you surprised by my magic? It's rare and, from what I've been told, there aren't many mages of my kind left."
"One of the mages in my old guild is a Celestial Summoner." His answer was as informative as he was willing to be, which Lucy knew. She simply nodded in understanding but her thoughts were running quickly in a direction that worried Erik. Before she could get herself worked up, he said, "She's not someone you'll want to meet as much as you're thinking. You should avoid the Oracion Seis as much as possible, even after we part ways."
"Why?" She asked in genuine confusion. "I'd love to talk to someone else that understands my magic."
"She's -" Erik hesitated before going on, trying to decide the best way to describe Sorano. "She's just not like you."
"Oh," Lucy said softly, wondering what could be so bad about the other mage. Celestial mages were supposed to be pure of heart; it was just part of how they their magic worked and what made them powerful. Lucy trusted Erik's judgment – though, she still didn't understand why she trusted the jerk – so she believed the woman was bad news. A dark-hearted Celestial Summoner couldn't be very strong, though.
"It isn't her power that makes her dangerous." Erik added, hoping his explanation would be enough to keep Lucy from seeking out his ex-guildmate. "It's her ruthlessness. She isn't someone you want to cross. She'd stop at nothing to steal your keys."
"That's horrible! I definitely won't go looking for her. Oh, her poor spirits!" Lucy gasped with her hands flying to her cheeks. "They must be miserable."
Erik silently agreed. Sorano's spirits were miserable but there was nothing he could do to free them. They were essentially Sorano's slaves forced to do her bidding.
They continued on in silence until buildings started to come into sight. It was past noon and Lucy was starving. She hadn't eaten since dinner the night before and all this walking was wearing her out. It'd be so nice to finally be able to stop and get something to eat somewhere, maybe even sleep in a bed for the night. Her fantasies of food and relaxation were interrupted by Erik's voice. "When we get to town, don't speak to anyone. This place isn't like Crocus or anywhere else you've been."
"What? Is it like a criminal's hideout or something?" She scoffed sarcastically.
"Actually, yes, that's a great way to describe it."
Lucy's eyes widened and her fear tinged thoughts made Erik smirk. The sheltered princess would be getting a taste of the real world. In a shaky voice, she asked, "How long will we be there?"
He shrugged as he said, "Probably until morning. It's a good place to rest up. The Rune Knights don't patrol there and no one would expect a runaway heiress to be staying in a place like that. We can keep moving tomorrow."
"We'll be there all night…" Her timid whisper trailed off as she envisioned all sorts of criminals doing terrible things, much of which Erik knew was highly unlikely to see happening during the daytime hours.
"Welcome to the real world, Fugitive." Erik said with a dark chuckle.
With the afternoon sun high overhead, they entered the small town on the main dirt road with Lucy subconsciously inched her way closer to Erik with each step. Her confidence dwindled further with each rundown building they passed with suspicious looking people lurking in the doorways and under the awnings. She felt like one of them might pick her off at any moment. The gravelly sound of Erik's voice calmed her a bit, "You can stop walking on top of me. You're panicking and it's drawing more attention than if you were to act like you belonged here."
"Oh – Uh, yeah. Sorry." She stuttered out as she forced herself to put distance between them again. Much to her dismay, Erik pulled her to a stop outside the most questionable looking establishment she'd seen so far.
"I'm going in here for a minute. Give me everything in your pockets." Erik waited for her to empty all the jewelry she had into his hands. When she was done, he used his full hands to push her by the shoulders to stand at the corner of the building. "You stand right here and don't move."
For the next half hour, which felt like an eternity to Lucy, she imagined dying a horrible death by the hands of the man eyeing her from across the street. She could see the way he'd use her body and then strangle her until she died, or maybe he'd beat her to death. He looked like he might even by the type to stab her and let her bleed out on the floor of an abandoned building. The sound of a door slamming drew a yelp from her as Erik stepped outside the building. His laughter made Lucy blush all the way to her toes, but her embarrassment didn't stop her from latching onto his arm and harshly whispering, "Don't you dare leave me alone here again. I'm pretty sure that guy over there was thinking up ways to eat me."
"Yeah, he was," He chuckled at the way Lucy tensed at his words, "but not in the way you're imagining."
Disgusted at the implication, Lucy dropped Erik's arm and slapped it as she said, "Perv." When they had walked what she felt was a safe distance away from the creepy guy, she asked, "Where are we going now?"
"To an inn. You can stay there while I get some food."
"Absolutely not," She firmly objected, "I meant it when I said you wouldn't be leaving me alone again while we're here."
He shrugged and said, "Alright."
The bar Erik led her to made Lucy instantly regret her decision to stay with him. Maybe she would have been better off at the inn. The stupid look of amusement on Erik's face told her he agreed. Lucy did her best not to look around the room at anyone and keep her eyes firmly planted on the wall behind the bar while they waited for their food. There were too many questionable looking people scattered around the tables and booths for her to feel eye contact would be safe with anyone. Even the bartender that took their orders looked pretty sketchy. She couldn't help but jump and look in the direction of the arm attached to the hand that was suddenly touching her lower back. Stale breathe and sweat reached her nose as a deep, male voice said, "Hey, babe. You lookin' for a good time?"
Too mortified to speak, Lucy froze in her spot and just stared with wide eyes at the man's sweat soaked, dirty face. Before he could lean in to whisper in her ear like he planned, Erik shoved him off and placed a protective arm around Lucy's waist. His voice a low growl, he said, "Keep your fuckin' hands to yourself or I'll melt them off."
The drunken man put his hands up in submission and said, "I don't want any problems, man."
Erik didn't respond but kept his eyes on the other man until he was seated back in his booth. Feeling the danger had passed, he released Lucy and went back to leaning casually against the counter as if the altercation hadn't just happened. With her heart still pounding in her chest, she locked eyes with Erik and hoped her could hear how thankful she was for his intervention.
Looking uncaring, he just shrugged and pulled a stool over to sit down closer to Lucy than he'd been before. He didn't maintain eye contact with her for fear of her seeing how confused he was. Why did he care if that guy touched her? It didn't make any sense. His head had been all fucked up since agreeing to leave with her. He had his own reasons for striking out on his own that had nothing to do with her, and those reasons meant they'd part ways soon enough. He couldn't let her get to his head with her easy acceptance and innocent nature. She hadn't even asked how much the guy had paid for the jewelry or for him to give the money to her. No one had ever trusted him so fully or relied on him this much.
With their to-go bags in hand, Erik led her to the only inn in town. When the innkeeper asked if they'd need one room or two, Lucy cut in saying they'd only need one before Erik could ask for two. As they walked away from the desk, he looked at her with the question written all over his face. She huffed in annoyance before saying, "I told you. You aren't leaving me alone again. I don't care if that means weird sleeping arrangements."
As soon as they were in the room, Lucy kicked off her boots and sat heavily on the lone bed. She tore into her food, foregoing all the manners drilled into her since childhood. "You can slow down. No one's going to steal your food." Erik said mockingly, repeating the same thing she'd told him the day before.
Eyes still fixed on her plate and mouth full of food she muttered sarcastically, "Your comedic talent is a gift to the world."
Erik couldn't keep the grin from his face as he sat down next to Lucy and started on his own food. When she was done, Lucy set her empty container on the bedside table and crawled over to the empty side of the bed. It didn't take long for her to situate herself under the thick blanket and relax enough to nearly fall asleep. Before she could reach that peaceful place, Erik said, "I hope you don't mind sharing because I'm sure as hell not sleeping on this floor."
"Just be quiet and go to sleep." Lucy muttered without opening her eyes. She'd been awake for too many hours to count and was too tired to care about sleeping next to a near stranger. It wasn't like Erik would do anything to her – that much she was sure of.
Shaking his head in disbelief of the girl next to him, Erik got as comfortable as possible, not falling asleep as easily as his formerly blonde companion. With nearly the entire town awake, he was bombarded with the thoughts of everyone within his range. At least he could focus on Lucy's soul. Its melody was a peaceful one, especially with her sleeping. Her thoughts were occasionally annoying while she was awake, but the gentle nature of her soul was worth the irritation. She had a pure soul, even if she was bitchy from time to time. It was a relief to travel with her instead of the broken souls of his former guildmates constantly grating on him.
With those thoughts slowly working their way through his mind and his magic focused on the calming tune coming from the soul less than two feet away, Erik was able to drift into a light sleep.
Lucy woke suddenly and sat up quickly. Disoriented and confused, she looked around trying to figure out where she was. It was dark, too dark to see anything around her. The mattress beneath her didn't feel right and the blankets weren't soft enough to be her own. Even the smell of the room was off. A gruff, familiar voice said, "Oi, lay back down or get out of the bed with all that bouncing around."
Erik. It was just Erik. She was sharing a bed with him in a danky room in a town full of criminals several miles away from the Heartfilia Estate. She was free and no longer an heiress. No Rune Knights or Heartfilia guards had found them. Life was good. When Erik snorted at her last thought, she flicked his forehead and hopped out of the bed before he could get her back. Just before she closed the bathroom door, she heard him grumble, "Payback's a bitch."
It was dark outside beyond the frosted glass of the window, meaning she'd slept through the evening and well into the night. The rest had done her some good and left her feeling refreshed enough to spend another long day walking. She nearly groaned out loud at the thought of walking all day again. Her feet would be calloused by the time she picked a city to stay in for awhile.
Lucy did let out an audible groan when she realized she didn't have a toothbrush or change of clothes. A life taking care of herself was definitely going to take some getting used to. Hopefully Erik would know of a place to buy the things they needed before leaving this terrifying town. She'd been lucky enough to have the sweetheart of a seamstress at the estate make her an outfit of Lucy's own design, or she would have been stuck traveling in a gown. The kind woman understood how trapped Lucy felt and wanted to give her a way to express herself. Since Lucy had never worn these clothes before, the outfit paired with the new hair was a great disguise. No one would expect the heiress of a prestigious family to dress in miniskirts and small tops.
Resigned to her fate of wearing dirty clothes and having stinky breath, she turned on the shower and undressed as she waited for the water to get warm. She did her best not to be nervous about a functional window in the bathroom where she was about to be naked, but she couldn't get it completely out of her mind. Thoughts of the dirty man in the bar climbing through the window to snatch her up while she showered made her move through the process much faster than she normally would have. Plus, the lack of any soap products made the shower less productive than it could have been. When she turned off the water and stepped out with a towel wrapped around her body, a loud thump against the door made her scream in terror. Erik's deep laughter filtered through the door, making her shout, "Why'd you scare me like that?!"
"I told you. Payback's a bitch."
"Stupid jerk," She muttered under her breath, knowing he'd only done it because he could hear how terrified she'd made herself with her vivid imagination. Without a clean set of clothes to wear, she pulled her dirty outfit back on. At least her skin was clean now, or as clean as it could be when she'd only been able to rinse off. When she opened the door and pushed past Erik, she made him laugh again when she mumbled, "I hope you drown in the shower."
A/N: I'm trying to keep Erik as in character as possible. What do you think? Looking for some feedback on that. With the exception of Cubellios (who Lucy hasn't found out about yet), he's never taken care of anyone and is developing a relationship with Lucy unlike any he's ever had before. He's supposed to be completely friendless, according to the anime, so I'm just winging it on how I think he'd act during his budding friendship with another human versus a snake. Obviously, this is pre-Nirvana. Things will get a little crazy when the Oracion Seis catches up with them and Natsu comes into the picture. I plan to keep some of the cannon events in this story, which I'll start building up to in a few chapters.
Please review!