Chapter 5, Part 1: The Announcement

Hehehehehe! I'm a little stinker. Sorry about last time. But not really. ENJOY!

Five years later, the Great Square of Alpha was filled as never before. It seemed the whole kingdom had turned out, awaiting the introduction of Prince Sting's long awaited bride-to-be, Princess Lucy of Keysmith. The crowd had begun to form some forty hours earlier, but up until about twenty-four hours before, there were still fewer than a thousand. But in the five hours prior to the announcement, the numbers soared. No one had ever seen this Princess, but rumors of her beauty flowed continually nonetheless, and each was more impossible than the last.

Lucy sat up in her room, a whole flock of maids fluttering madly around her. They had awoken her some twelve hours before, promptly scrubbing her skin to within an inch of her life, washing her hair, and rubbing her down with all manner of oils and creams.

Now they were chirping noisily, arguing about how to best do the young woman's blonde locks. Exasperated, Lucy turned to the one maid who sat off to her left, doing nothing. One with light blue hair.

Levy patted her friend's arm. "It'll be alright Lu," she said, "They're just trying to help."

Ah, Levy. The blonde sighed. At least she was here. The bluenette had been with her from the beginning. They were there for each other in the tragedy of The Dread Pirate Igneel's attack, then again, Levy was there two years later when both Lucy's parents passed away. The blonde couldn't imagine going through with any of this without the blue haired girl by her side.

At last, the attendants filed out, informing Lucy that she was to be escorted to her place for the introduction by a guard who would arrive shortly. Soon, only Levy remained.

"Is there any way out of this?" The blonde wondered aloud.

"I'm afraid not…" Came Levy's reply. "You gave your word."

"But I don't love him!" Lucy moaned. "I don't even like him. I don't even know him!"

The bluenette only nodded in sympathy.

"I wish every day that our beloveds had not set sail, but now more than ever…" She trailed off.

"I know." Replied Levy.

The guard's knock came at the door, and Lucy fastened her chorded belt, fixing the loop of her antique Keysmith keys thereon.

As the sun reached the height of noon, Prince Sting emerged to the balcony of his father's castle overlooking the Square. He raised his arms high above his head and the crowd slowly quieted.

"My people," he began, "Today is to be a glorious day of greeting. As some of you may have heard, my honorable father's health is not as it was in his youth. He is, after all, eighty-five, and really, we could not ask more of him than the faithful years he has already bestowed upon us."

At this mention of the King's failing health, the crowds stirred uneasily.

"However, do not despair! For I shall be king in his place whenever it is that he is called to his fathers. And, of course, for every new king, there must be a new queen!" saying this, Sting made a wide sweeping gesture, and the doors of the balcony opened grandly and Lucy took her place beside him.

"My people! The Princess… Lucy!"

This Princess was far superior to the Mourner who had emerged from her bedroom so long ago. Her figure faults had faded. Her hair, which she had once tended to herself, now had five full~time hairdressers to wait upon its proverbial hand and foot. (This was well after hairdressers. In truth, ever since there have been women, there have been hairdressers. Adam being the first, though the King James scholars did their best to muddy the point.)

Prince Sting took her hand in his and held it high as the people cheered. "Alright," said Sting, where only Lucy might hear, "that'll do. We mustn't risk overexposure." And he turned to walk back within the confines of the castle.

"But they've waited, some of them, so long," relied Lucy, "I should like to walk among them."

"We do not walk among the commoners unless it is altogether unavoidable." Said the Prince.

"I have known more than a few commoners in my time." Lucy told him. "They will not, I think, do me any harm."

With that, she left the balcony, reappeared a few moments later on the great steps of the castle, and, quite alone, walked open armed into the crowd.

Wherever she went, the people parted. She wandered among them, and always, ahead of her, the crowd swept to either side. Lucy continued slowly, alone and smiling, like some kind of messiah come to rescue her people.

Most of the people there would never forget that day. Obviously, none of them had ever stood so close to perfection, and the great majority instantly adored her. There were those, of course, who, while ready to admit that she was pleasing enough, were withholding judgement as to her capability as a Queen. To be sure, there were some who were outright jealous. Very few hated her.

And only three were plotting to kill her.

Lucy, naturally, knew none of these things. She was smiling, and when people wanted to touch her gown, she let them, and when they wanted to reach out and lightly touch her skin, well, let them do that too. And on the occasion that a small child reached out longingly for her, she would stoop, gently kiss their head, and turn them back toward their mothers. She had studied very hard to do things royally, and wanted very much to succeed, so she kept her posture in check, and her smile gentle, and that her death was so close at hand was a ridiculous idea, and would have only made her laugh, had someone told her.

But-

-in the farthest corner of the Square-

- in a high room –

-deep in the deepest shadows –

- the Man in Black was waiting….

Lucy was more than a little weary after her triumph. The half hour she'd spent among the people of Saber in the Square had exhausted her, so she went into her chambers and rested for a bit, and then, toward mid-afternoon, she changed into her riding attire and went with Levy to the stables to fetch Plue.

This was the one aspect of their lives that remained unchanged. Lucy still loved to ride, and every afternoon, weather permitting or not, she and Levy would ride alone together in the wild lands beyond the castle.

It was then that the blonde did her best thinking.

As they rode through the fields and streams and forests, her mind was off on other things. She and Levy rarely spoke to one another during their rides. They simply enjoyed knowing that the other was there.

The walk though the crowds had affected Lucy profoundly, in a way that was most odd. For even though she had spent the last five years doing nothing but training to be a princess and a queen, today was the first time she truly understood that it was all too soon to become a reality.

To Lucy's way of thinking, there were two main issues with this whole affair: (1). Was it wrong to marry someone you didn't even like, and (2), if it was, was it too late to do anything about it?

The answers that came to her, as she and Levy rode along, were: (1) no, and (2), yes.

It wasn't wrong to marry someone you didn't like; it just wasn't right either. If the whole world did it, that wouldn't be good, what with everybody just sort of grunting at one another all the time. But, of course, not everybody did it; so forget that.

The answer to (2) had been even easier. She had given her word, and that, unfortunately, was that. True, he had quite honestly told her that if she refused, he'd have to dispose of her in order to keep respect to the Crown at the proper level; still, she could have, had she so chosen, said "no."

Everyone had told her, ever since she became a princess in training, that she was very likely the most beautiful woman in the history of the world. And now she would soon be the richest and most powerful as well.

But without love.

Don't expect life to be perfect, she told herself. You will only end up disappointed.

Dusk was closing in when the two young women crested the hill. They were, perhaps, an hour from the castle, their ride three quarters done. Suddenly, Lucy reigned in Plue, for standing in the dimness beyond was the strangest trio she had ever seen.

The man in front had a darkish tan, with white hair and a series of stripe tattoos on his face. He approached her and Levy alone. The other two remained rooted behind him. The second, a man about a foot or so taller than the former, was dark haired and as slender and erect as the steel sword that hung at his side. Lucy tried to ignore the fact that he was not wearing a shirt.

The third character was taller still, a burly man with a single scar on his face, and white hair despite the fact that he couldn't have been more than two or three years Lucy's senior.

"A word, dear ladies?" Said the first man.

"Speak." Said Lucy with a nod.

"We are but poor lost circus performers. Is there a village nearby?"

"There is nothing nearby," replied Levy, "not for many miles."

"Then there will be no one to hear you scream." As the first man said this, the largest of the three strangers came up, pressing his thick fingers expertly against both of their necks. Lucy screamed, to be sure. And then unconsciousness fell like a blanket over her.

DUN DUN DDDUUUUNNNN! At least it was longer than last time, right? I told ya'll I was a stinker! I hope you enjoyed it. Part 2 of this chapter is coming soon! After that, though, my updates will probably slow down because I start college on Monday. But I give you my word that I will do my best to keep up with this and Fleet.

~Lala Salaam,

Mwali ;)