unedited

BLIZZARD

Letters and adventures arc

The Letter Said What?

Andromeda Shaw had just received a letter from her parents and reacted in a not so favourable way. Looking at it from the outside there was nothing unusual about it, it was the monthly check-in letter like all the others. But the contents, the words, were far different from the usual 'how are you', 'where are you?'.

She had been away from home for five years. A long amount of time but still not nearly enough for her dreams to come true. Four years spent with her teacher, Mead and one with Lucy. Not a second of it had been dull or boring – perhaps a little dangerous – and that was exactly what she had wanted, it was an Adventure.

Her parents would surely rip all their hair out upon knowing of her adventures and the dangers she had faced. So, in her monthly check in letters, she would very slightly alter the reality of what had actually happened. They didn't need to worry about any of that, not in her eyes at least. They had more important matters to attend too.

The thought of her parents had made a few feelings arise. Her eyebrows furrowed, mouth turned downwards, and she glared down at the once white now brown satchel at her side. Inside it held the small cream envelope, previously opened and roughly torn.

A one-page letter with the ever so snobbish words:

"Our dearest Andromeda,

We do wish you would write more, you worry your mother and grandmother terribly.
But that is not why I am writing this.
It has come to our attention that you have not been so honest too us in your letters."

"Upon this revelation we have all decided that your… adventure has gone on for long enough.
Your mother, Grandmother and I ask that you return home within the month of receiving this.

There will be no arguments on the mater, you will return.

Sincerely,

Your father (Alexander Shaw)."

The first reaction had been shock, how had they found out?

Then it had been anger, how had they found out?

Then it had been rage, How the hell had they found out?!

Those bastards had sent someone to tail her she'd realised. They hadn't trusted her. That had hit home, they hadn't trusted her.

She could almost hear his gravely, monotone, 'I give no shits' voice in her head as she read it, it sent a cold shiver down her spine.

Perhaps she hadn't been truthful, perhaps they were right in not believing her tales of sunshine and rainbows, but the fact they had done it had still hurt her.

She'd barely started her adventure, she'd barely set foot in the world of wizardry and magic and they were telling her to come back within the next few weeks. That… that just wasn't fair.

Lucy had watched as she'd opened the letter, seen the reluctance turn to rage in seconds. Lucy like the good friend she was had taken it upon herself to calm down the seething with rage Andromeda.

It wasn't just the words and outright orders in the letter that annoyed her, what had also pissed her off was the suspension points. Why did he write the suspension points, what was the point of those? She wasn't reading one of Lucy's stories, there was no need for them. It was like he wanted her to know what he thought, but what did he think?

She'd not once in her life known what that man was thinking, never.

Her father was a complicated man, she'd known this her entire life. He was professional, too professional. He mixed his work with his family and so Andromeda hardly saw him as a father, but a business man. She'd never hated him for it, maybe she'd been hurt or sad. But she understood, he was the one in charge of the to take charge of her dead grandfathers' company, the one to convince her mother to do what she loved and not worry about money. He was the one to take in her mum's elderly mother, when no one else in their family would.

He was a complicated man, but that meant nothing compared to his caring soul.

But besides all of that, it still wasn't going to make her any less pissed than she was right in that moment. No kind sentiments or memories were going to save her father from her full fury.

Like literal hell she was going! I'd like to see them try, she thought defiantly. Hohoho… just you wait and see, I'll be dead and buried before I step foot on that island if it isn't my choice.

"Glaring at it's not going to make it go away." Lucy says, in all her wisdom.

Andromeda huffed, clenching her teeth. "Where are we going?" She asked tightly, leaning further into the green seats of the rocking train, quick to change the subject.

She'd made the mistake of following the younger girl blindly, without question. That always led to problematic events, she winced at the flash of memories.

"Hargeon," Lucy said, snapping her little green book shut, a recently purchased good. She had taken the seat opposite of Andromeda, she liked to look people in the eyes when talking to them, to sit (or stand) directly in front of them and give them her undivided attention. One of the many things Andromeda found admirable about her. "I heard there's a store there that's just started selling celestial keys and I wanted to check and see if they had any I don't have."

And see if they were cheap enough for you, Andromeda thought. Cheapskate.

When they had met Lucy had very obviously upper class, she wore designer clothes and smelt of designer perfumes, she'd stuck out like a sore thumb. After conversing with her for only thirty or so minutes Andromeda had found that Lucy had, had a somewhat similar life to her own, besides the few differences. And before she knew it there were quite a few unplanned meetings and then suddenly, they were traveling together.

Andromeda sighed. "I doubt they'll have any of the Zodiac's," She says. "Those don't just show up in small towns like Hargeon."

Lucy pouts. "I know that, but that's not going to stop me from hoping." She slumped forward, dropping her chin into her open hands. "It's just I've been looking all over for them! And I haven't seen any!"

Andromeda shrugged, twisting the rings on her fingers absentmindedly. "It just takes time, you'll find them."

If we need money I could pawn these off.

Lucy looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks, Anny."

The indifference quickly dropped from Andromeda's face and annoyance took its place. "Don't call me that." She'd all but snarled in distaste.

Lucy giggled, obviously used to her snappy attitudes. She says nothing, but her defiance is as clear as the cloudless sky above them and their train.

Andromeda turns to watch as the green blur that was the outside world zoom past her small window. She had already given up on the battle of the nicknames, there was no winning against a determined Lucy Heartfilia, it was something she'd learnt very early on in their friendship.

A voice comes over the lacrima speaker. "Welcome to Hargeon!"

The green of the trees comes to a stop to reveal the crystal-clear waters that the port town Hargeon sat at the edge of. The population was small for a town this size, but it had a large number of visitors every day.

It was pretty, but she had seen prettier. Her home island, the cliffs, was as remote and exotic as it came in Fiore. Golden beaches, crystal-clear water, warm every day of the year, it was a constant vacation for the people who lived there.

Lucy leapt to her feet as the train pulled to a screeching halt, she snatched her suitcase from the compartment above their heads and ran before Andromeda could even speak. "First to the hotel's a rotten egg!" she shouted, leaving a trail of dust as she ran from the train cart and onto the cobblestone roads.

Andromeda groaned, slower to follow in her friend footsteps. "Stop leaving me behind!" She slung her satchel over her shoulder and stepped out into the small hallway, only to trip on a slumped body on the floor and fall face first on the carpeted ground. "Ack! Shit!"

She cradled her red nose; her eyes began tearing up and the heat caused by her pain had her nose running. "What the hell?" she growled, spinning around and fixing the culprit with a seething glare. "What are you doing!?"

"S-sorry." The boy croaks. He's in same position she had been in, face first on the floor, twitching as if he'd been tazed. His face is hidden from her angered view, but she could see the green ting of colour on the visible parts of his cheeks.

Motion sickness?

She scoffed, straightening her clothes and marching away with a huffed; "Whatever."

Generally, snapping at strangers for small things like that was below her. She bottled that anger up and left it for times when she came across the few people that deserved her outburst. However, with her already bitter mood she couldn't care less who she took a bite out of.

Faintly, as she followed the trail of Lucy's footsteps, she heard someone say. "She's mean."

"Aye!"

She didn't care, she doesn't concern herself with the opinions of people she doesn't know and doesn't care for. She'd learnt a long time ago that she couldn't please everyone, so she focused on the people she really cared about and that was the end of it.

Andromeda Shaw isn't as confident in her appearance as some would think. She acknowledged that she was attractive to some people, the braces she'd worn as a child had helped greatly in boosting her confidence whilst growing up into the young woman she is today. But like every other person on this planet she has her insecurities, her physical and internal flaws, the ones she hides well in expensive clothes and pretty smiles. The fact of the matter was; Andromeda Shaw is not perfect, even though she liked to act as like she was.

Her main insecurities – a few of the many – lay in the form of three jagged pink lines on her right leg, etched in the pale flesh of her calf muscle. But that was a story she'd much rather not relive, one with monsters and a knight in a ripped coat, with a terrible sense of humour. Another hidden story from her parents, one she would most definitely not tell, in fear of being locked up like a princess in a tower. She would be giving away her freedom, although she seems to have already lost it by the looks of the cream coloured parchment in her bag.

Those bastards, she gritted her teeth, angrily biting into her slice of lemon meringue pie. Thinking they can still boss me around. I'm nineteen!

Despite the somewhat light atmosphere surrounding the two close girls as they sat in their hotel room eating sugary foods, Andromeda still couldn't get over the letter she'd received earlier on.

Knowing her parents and grandmother, they may take some … extensive action to get her back if she didn't come on her own.

One annoying thing about coming from a filthy rich family is that you can't run from them. They've got enough money to waste on highly recommended wizards and guilds and anything and everything else you could possibly think of. That and her family could really be overkills sometimes.

"Have you tried this? It's delicious, Anny!" Lucy wasn't helping her internal struggle or making it any worse as she shoved her spoon of cheesecake in her face. They were sitting across from one another on their respective beds for the next day or two.

The white-haired girl barely acknowledged the sweet food or the girl holding it, too caught up in her own thoughts to really notice Lucy had said or done anything. "Andromeda?" Lucy asks, slowly lowering her spoon. "Are you okay?" There was concern in her wide brown eyes and a frown on her mouth.

"Huh?" Andromeda looks up, confused. "Sorry? What? Oh, yes! I'm fine." She smiled falsely. Lucy very obviously didn't believe her and pushed her plate of cake to the side, standing up and walking to her bed before sitting back down next to Andromeda.

"Is it the letter?" she asks gently, cautious as if she were talking to a foal or maybe a hungry lion, Andromeda couldn't tell.

Her green eyes narrowed at the mention of the parchment. "I just can't believe they're ordering me to come home now. I've been gone for years, they've hardly ever mentioned me coming back, not even for Christmas or birthdays." She had yet another angry mouthful of lemon meringue. "It's just… Stupid!" she threw her hands up.

She'd never felt this many emotion all at once before, or at least not for a long time. Andromeda felt like pulling her hair out, the entire situation would soon turn her hair grey from all of the stress – although it was already white, so technically it was way past it at that point.

Lucy nods along like an understanding mother, acting more like the mature nearly-adult compared to Andromeda, only spurring on her negative feelings on further. "I'm sure you'll figure it out, Roma."

The new nickname had her teeth grinding, jaw locked and her eyebrows twitching violently like the salmon haired boy had on the train earlier on. She chose to ignore it, better to keep her anger focused on one thing, she didn't need to get anymore exhausted than she already was from the train ride here.

What kind of nickname is Roma? She thought with an almost mental pout of annoyance.

Her head was swimming with so many individual thoughts and feelings, she pinched the bridge of her nose which didn't help at all and so she tried massaging her temples, still no luck. A migraine was quickly coming forth from the depths of hell that all migraine originates from.

You'd think after all those stupid stories say all these characters do it to relieve stress and then it turns out to be total bullshit. She thought bitterly. Figures.

"You know they love you right?" Lucy says suddenly, gaining the shocked attention of Andromeda once again as she went still, freezing mid mental breakdown. "That's why they're telling you to come home, they're just worried." She then muttered without any intention of Andromeda hearing. "Wish I had that."

Andromeda didn't comment and instead opted to pretend she hadn't heard a single word of what she'd said, it made her uncomfortable, all of it made her uncomfortable. She very stiffly turned away from her, her knees bouncing up and down. "Why don't we go exploring?" she propositioned with her bottom lip between her teeth. "Ya know, look for your keys? It's still daytime." She gave a half-assed reason, desperate to talk about anything else that wasn't her parents, her emotions or her parents' emotions.

Emotions was a taboo subject for the upfront Andromeda. You just don't talk about them in her presence, at least not about hers. She didn't mind talking to Lucy about her feelings, she liked helping her, like a doting older sister – well most of the time anyway.

Lucy looked intrigued, the subject change going completely over her head. "Yeah!" she cheered, jumping to her feet with little consideration for the plates of food surrounding them. The cheerful expression quickly fell from her usually gentle face and she wondered aloud, "Where's the shop again?"

Andromeda gave a nonchalant, uninterested shrug, her mind quickly reverting to the endless panic and confusion and negativity it had before. "Dunno, you're the one that brought us here."

Lucy's face turned sour and she threw her head back in a loud groan. "That stupid article said nothing about the location!"

"What part of exploring do you not understand?" Andromeda questioned. "We could just go looking for it, Hargeon isn't that big."

"Oh…"

Andromeda sighed. For now, she would purge any thoughts of the stupid letter sitting on her pillow and try to make the most of this unplanned trip and maybe even push Lucy into the water for fun.