It's Monday!
A few cameos from other minor FT characters. Can you spot them?
guest: Contracts and 'legalese' are a total pain. Good thing Levy's smarter than I am! :) Thanks for reviewing.
darling spider: XD Hopefully I do them justice, especially with bringing them in so close to the end. Thanks again!
- K. Chandler
Head bowed, Lucy took her place next to her groom. The man who she'd spend the rest of her life with.
Lucy's heart thundered in her chest. This was wrong. This wasn't how things were supposed to be.
Before them, stood the wedding officiator, a bald man with a long black beard. He towered before them, reading the wedding vows from the book in his hand.
"Do you, Gray Fullbuster, take Lucy Heartfilia to be you lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or worse, through richer and poorer, for as long as you both shall live?" he thundered.
Gray's eyes darted towards the crowd, as if he were looking for something. His stare lingered on one of the guests, an attractive woman with fiery scarlet hair. The woman scowled in disapproval, shaking her head, while the man beside her smirked. Lucy wondered if she was an old flame of his.
Gray sighed, looking displeased. "…I do," he finally said, choking on the words.
"Do you, Lucy Heartfilia, take Gray Fullbuster to be you lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or worse, through richer and poorer, for as long as you both shall live?"
She didn't answer right away. Lucy looked out, locking eyes with Natsu. He gave her a tense smile, flashing a hint of teeth. His words from the previous night echoed in her head.
If it doesn't feel right, you shouldn't be doing it.
This wasn't right.
"Miss Heartfilia?" prompted the officiator gently.
She wasn't going to do this.
"No."
A wave of uncertainty spread through the guests.
"What?" the hulking official asked. "I beg your pardon?"
"No," repeated Lucy, shaking her head. She tore the veil from her hair, letting it fall from her fingers. "I can't," she said, her eyes meeting Natsu's. "I have to do what's right."
Natsu flashed her a thumbs-up, his grin encouraging.
Taking a deep breath, Lucy turned to face Gray. The captain looked startled, but not displeased.
"I'm so sorry," she said, shaking her head. "But this isn't what I want. And I know this isn't what you really want either."
Gray grinned as the shocked look vanished from his expression. "I was just about to—" Gray started to say.
"Lucy!" barked her father. "You foolish girl!" He started towards her, but Natsu darted in front of him, cutting him off.
"Back off, pops," growled Natsu. "If she doesn't wanna, then she doesn't wanna."
Lucy's father rounded on him, his face a livid purple. He raised a fist, his expression in an ugly snarl.
"Natsu, look out!" Lucy shrieked, rushing forward.
Natsu sidestepped the blow easily, catching the older man's fist in his palm. "Really, man?" asked Natsu, punctuating his sentence with a disdainful snort.
Her father snarled. "You could have had the world!" he shouted, not caring that he was making a scene.
"If this is the world, then I don't want it," snapped Lucy. "Money to buy pretty things? Power? None of that matters to me!"
"Hey, Lucy. You need to get away from this clown as soon as possible. I mean, I know he's your dad and stuff, but he's got issues," said Natsu.
"That can be arranged," a cold voice interrupted. A Navy officer with a prominent tattoo framing his right eye stepped forward. He latched onto her father's free wrist and elbow, swiftly forcing his arm behind his back.
He was joined by a tall woman, the red-head that Gray had been staring at earlier. She stepped forward, facing Lucy's father squarely. Her commanding presence reminded Lucy of a captain or an admiral. Was she another Navy officer?
"Jude Heartfilia," she said. "You, Sir, are under arrest for conspiracy, treason and the attempted murder of the Prince of Fiore, His Highness Lyon Vastia."
"Father?" whispered Lucy, a chill seeping her arms and legs.
As frightening as the pronouncement was, what scared her more was that she did believe it. Her father had been so fixated on having her marry royalty and his temper had been so erratic that Lucy didn't doubt the lengths he'd go to in order to achieve his goals.
Natsu wrapped a warm arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, Luce," he said. "It'll be fine."
Lucy had a feeling that nothing was fine, but his words made her feel a little better.
"No, no!" Her father shook his head.
"Don't deny it," the woman snarled. "We have confessions from the man you bought the poison from, the guard you paid to ensure his silence, the head of housekeeping you bribed to plant your man amongst the servants, and the decoy you hired to carry the fake poison at the party," she said, counting the co-conspirators on her fingers.
"Don't forget the assassin himself," added the tattooed officer who restrained her father.
"But. How?" her father asked.
"Jellal has his ways," she purred.
"You flatter me, Erza," the tattooed man, apparently Jellal, said.
"It wasn't my fault. He made me!"
"So you do confess?" asked Jellal loftily, his voice tinged with sarcasm. He still had Mr. Heartfilia's arms pinned behind his back.
"I was manipulated!" her father insisted, his eyes wide and fearful. "You must believe me! Please!"
The two officers exchanged glances. Then the woman, Erza, bent to look Lucy's father in the eye.
"You understand I'm arresting you for treason," said Erza slowly. "You do know what that means, yes? Whether you acted alone or at another's command, you will be joining your associates, who are in my custody."
"Have your men take him below," said Gray. "We'll keep him in the brig and deal with him when we get back to shore."
Erza scowled at him, but she nodded. "You heard Captain Fullbuster, men," she said.
Lucy watched as a one-eyed sailor stepped forward with his beak-nosed crewmate. They took her father from Jellal and marched him down the hatch to one of the lower decks.
Lucy took an unsteady step forward, her insides feeling hollow. Though the shock of her father's crimes was great, another reality was starting to sink in.
What would she do? Where would she go? What would become of her? She fisted her hand in Natsu's shirt, clinging to him like a lifeline.
Natsu pulled her into a hug, his arms wrapping tight around her. "We'll figure it out. I promise."
Unable to speak, Lucy nodded into his chest.
Next time, in Silence, everyone starts to make up: "I don't think either of us really had our heart set on this," interrupted Gray. "Truce?"
Stop back next Monday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.