Lucy's POV
Shit. Shitshitshit.
Delirious with exhaustion, I laughed to myself as I noted that I really should work on my cardio.
I was definitely not in a laughing situation. I had dreaded this moment in my life, yet I also found myself feeling an odd sense of relief; it was what I had been waiting for for years. Now I could start a new life, away from that house which practically emitted loneliness.
That is, if the royal guard didn't catch up with me.
Why was I running away from the royal freaking guard, you ask? Because my dad couldn't handle the fact that I saved our house from complete destruction. One of his used cigarettes must have been put out incorrectly and half the dining room was engulfed in flames by the time I reached the scene. I managed to put out the flames pretty easily, preventing further damage, so technically I'm the hero, right?
Okay, I left out the fact that my dad walked in on me being a hero… meaning that he had seen my celestial spirit, which he had not been ready for.
The look on his face when he saw an inhuman hybrid of a woman and a fish drenching everything in sight was almost worth the dire situation I was now in.
Almost.
I had panicked and closed her spirit gate; the flash of gold only serving as further confirmation for my father that he had raised an 'abomination'.
Well, I use the term 'raised' lightly.
I carried on running, knowing my only escape was the train station. As I approached it, I could see there was only one train on the tracks, just about to leave. I registered that this was my one and only chance, hearing the faint sound of multiple royal guard horses behind me. Dang, twitter had nothing on how fast news spread in the small town.
Ignoring the screen showing information as to where the train was going, I jumped over the ticket barrier and sprinted towards the closing train doors.
The sound of me crashing into the already shut doors must have echoed throughout the entire station. I was too stunned to register everyone's turning heads.
This was supposed to be it. I was supposed to escape. My breathing hitched as the train started to move away slowly. I felt my eyes starting to water for the first time since mama died. The reality of the situation hit me like a tonne of bricks. The royal guard would catch me. I would be locked away. My spirit keys… my dear spirits would be taken. I would never see them again…
"OI YOU! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? QUICK, GET UP, GRAB MY HAND!" a loud, obnoxious voice interrupted my admittedly dark thoughts.
I looked up to see an outstretched hand from one of the windows of the still slowly moving train. I had no time to think rationally about whether or not this was a good idea. I grabbed the hand as it came past me, and the stranger started pulling me into the train
Remember how I said I hadn't thought rationally about this?
"shit! I'm stuck!" I cried as I felt the edges of the window pressing into my hips.
I let go of the hand and attempted to push myself further in, only succeeding in bruising myself. I felt my cheeks blushing wildly as I thought of all the people outside who would just see a pair of legs sticking out of the train… oh god, I am such an idiot…
My frantic struggles were interrupted by a loud cackling laughter coming from the person who had got me into this mess.
"PAHAHAH you should see your face! Oh I need to capture this on camera." laughed a boy who looked about my age, rifling through his bag. I could only see his side profile, and the first things I registered were a white muffler around his neck and pink hair styled in an 'I woke up like this' way. Wait… pink hair?
"Imagine the hits I'd get on youtube with the title, 'weirdo gets stuck in train window'!" he sang with glee.
Despite my panicked and flustered state, and the blatantly dangerous situation I was in, I found myself fuming over one little word he had said.
"I'm not a weirdo, pinky!" I retorted. Not my best insult, but the blood that should have gone to my brain was being hoarded in my cheeks.
He looked at me, his dark slanted eyes locking with mine with amusement. He stopped his search for his camera, much to my relief, and faced me.
"You were near tears just for missing the train. There was another one in an hour, weirdo!" he started laughing again, acting completely casual as if half of me wasn't sticking out of a freaking moving train.
I felt the wind hard against my legs as the train started picking up speed. Now was no time to get angry at the boy for something he didn't understand. After all, he had helped me in the first place and whether he realised it or not, he just damn near saved my life.
"Whatever, just help pull me in already!" I shouted, glaring at him.
He must have sensed my urgency because he grabbed hold of my hands again and started pulling, hard. I focused on the odd warmth of his hands to distract me from the pain in my already bruised hips.
Suddenly, I fell into the carriage with a crash as my legs had finally made it through the window. Pinkie had fallen back due to the momentum, but he got up unscathed a moment later, rubbing the back of his head.
"My hair's salmon, by the way. Not pink." He said, watching me lie in the floor of the train compartment, still exhausted from my adrenaline-fueled run to the station.
I took the time to catch my breath, nearly crying in relief at the fact that I had escaped. Sure, it was not the best escape, and I would write little detail about it in the letters to my late mother, but it was successful nonetheless. And I had one person to thank for it.
"Thank you." I whispered to the boy who was now sitting in one of the seats.
I got up from my position on the floor and walked towards him. His facial expression was a huge smile, with his eyes closed.
"No prob- HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he shouted as I flicked him on the forehead.
"THAT'S FOR LOOKING FOR YOUR STUPID CAMERA WHEN HALF OF MY BODY WAS SUCK OUTSIDE OF A MOVING TRAIN. WHAT IF WE HAD GONE THOUGH A TUNNEL, HUH? WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO MY LEGS? DID YOU EVEN STOP TO THI- HEY! STOP LAUGHING!" I was fuming, and he had the nerve to double over laughing in my face?
I gave him my deadliest look. "listen here, pinky-"
"The name's Natsu" he said with another smile that took over half his face. I felt my anger fading away. Something about his smile was so genuine and carefree, it almost made me forget about how terrifying my day had been. Sure, I covered it up with humour, but really I felt like a terrified 7 year old left to fend for myself.
I felt myself smiling back at him. It would be okay to tell him my first name; it was common enough so as to not get traced back to who I really was.
"I'm Lucy", I replied.
A/N: hope you liked the first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and no I don't plan on ignoring Natsu's motion sickness. I do plan on downplaying it a bit though, and I'm not ashamed to say the reason for that is simply plot convenience
I get the feeling that the start of this story is going to be kind of slow because I'm not too sure about pacing at the moment, but I'll try to speed it up to the good parts. reviews are really appreciated!
the story is going to have a few references to the British education system so I get the feeling I may need to clarify some things about that in future chapters...
Alerssa - yeah this is my first fanfiction, and thank you so much!
-usnoozulose
