BlackLynx17: Last update.
Title: Love At First Sight
Secret Title: Pirate Love
Summary: Wendy is a princess forced to be married at the age of 18. It wouldn't be a problem for her if she had fallen in love with her fiance, but alas fate is not too kind. Determined to runaway to chose her own love, she runs into a nice man who rescues her from her guards. Thinking this man is her one true love, she decides to escape with him. She had no idea that her true love was a no good pirate.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Forget me not
Everything is blurry. Every time he blinks his vision gets a little bit better. Mest tries moving his body, his fingers twitching ever so slightly. He thinks he imagines it when he feels a pressure back, a soft squeeze. There's noises in the background that he can't make out. This sucks. Mest doesn't know what's happening right now and would do anything to have a nice cold cup of beer in his hand right now to ease the pain.
"Natsu, quickly!"
"I'm on it."
Now that's a name and a voice he remembers. Is this Natsu's fault? Figures. He's the most troublesome member in his crew. Of course it had to be him. The other voice that spoke on the other hand... that was someone new. Mest blinks his eyes a couple of more times and has his vision returned to him. He recognizes this room... kind of. It reminds him of the infirmary in the Vermillion... but it has some added changes. There are plants hanging above him, as well as papers hung up on the wall. Mest eyes wander and he turns his head to the side.
He feels a shock when he spies someone sitting next to him, feeling his heart nearly leap out of his chest. That... was not cool. Who is this girl? She's staring at him like she's about to burst into tears. Mest feels that squeeze on his hand again and looks down; yup, it wasn't his imagination. She's holding his hand right now... which is weird.
"Mest?" She calls out softly.
She has the voice of an angel that matches her beautiful angelic face. Mest doesn't recognize her, but she certainly knows him. The girl smiles brightly at him and Mest feels his heart race inside of his chest without his permission. She reaches over and strokes his face, brushing his hair away from his eyes.
"How are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Are you okay?"
He tries speaking, but his throat is so dry his voice comes out hoarse. Mest clears his throat a couple of times and nods his head.
"Bad headache. Good otherwise."
The girl giggles, "you gave everyone quite the scare. Please promise you won't do that again."
It's weird to watch her laughing despite tears being in her eyes. He doesn't like this feeling, this view. She pulls his hands away and walks around the room, coming back a few seconds later with a wet rag and a bucket.
"You might feel the urge to hurl, so please feel free to do so in this bucket. You've been knocked out for nearly a full day. Is there anything that feels off? Anything that hurts?"
"My body feels a bit light... and my heachache... and I feel starving... and that's about it," Mest says slowly.
He lays completely still as she dabs the towel over his face, wiping off his sweat and dirt. He forgot to mention how utterly confused he feels right now... but it isn't the main thing he's feeling so maybe he'll mention it later. The door opens up and his eyes move towards it, a familiar face coming into the room.
"Hey, I tried to get back as quickly as I could without spilling anything. I got a pitcher of water like you asked and Mirajane had some warm soup ready." He says balancing a tray as he closes the door behind him.
"Natsu." Mest calls out.
Natsu looks up and grins, "welcome back Captain, you totally look like shit. I guess Wendy here isn't a miracle worker, hahaha."
Wendy. Her name is Wendy. Something about it sounds familiar. Like it's on the tip of his tongue... but he can't remember. Wendy gets up from her seat and walks over to the table where Natsu places the tray down. She reaches for a cup and pours it barely halfway full before she walks back over to Mest's side and hands it to him.
"Take slow gulps and wait a minute or so to make sure you keep it down."
Mest nods his head as he takes the glass from her hands. Natsu walks over and sits on the side of the bed, sighing out loudly.
"Captain... sorry about everything. Glad to see you're finally awake, ha ha ha... I'm ready to accept my punishment," he groans, lowering his head.
Mest takes a sip of water, "can you remind me what happened Natsu?"
Wendy bumps her knee against the table shaking everything on top of it. She hisses, but fights through the pain as she limps back over to his side.
"Damn, did you hit your head so badly you forgot?" Natsu asks, tilting his head to the side.
"I did have to stitch up your head Mest! Is it hurting? What else can't you remember?"
Mest blinks and takes a sip of water; he wonders if he should say it or not. She was crying when he woke up, what if she cries again when she finds out?... How long can he get away with lying to her though? He can't even remember her name- Wens? Winny? Something along those lines.
"Mest?" Wendy asks again.
"Do you need the bucket? That looks like a throw up face," Natsu says quickly lifting it up.
"You."
Wendy blinks and Natsu hums.
"What?"
"I don't remember... you."
Natsu blinks and points a finger at himself, "me Mest? You don't remember me?"
"No Natsu, I'd never forget an idiot like you, I'm talking about the girl you're acting so familiar with. I don't remember her. Ah- sorry, Winny was it? I don't... really..." Mest lets the sentence die out.
He forgets how to speak as he watches the light in the girl's eyes fade into nothing but darkness.
Mest scratches the top of his head as he amuses his friends again.
"Bickslow. Olivia. Kana. Laxus."
One by one his crew walks up and one by one Mest is able to recall them by their faces and names. Everyone is perplexed when they finally make it through the entire crew and the only one that Mest isn't about to name... is the most important person in his life.
"Unbelievable. I've read about this in novels, but I never thought- I mean of course it's true, but I never expected for it to happen to Mest... and for him to forget Wendy..." Erza's face tightens sharply.
"Then it must just be his recent memories that have been forgotten. Captain, what was the last score that we did?" Jellal asks, leaning towards him.
"I have a feeling that saying Baal kingdom is the wrong answer."
A lot of breaths suck in and he can hear a scatter of whispers among his crew.
"We haven't been in those seas in... six? Seven? Eight months?"
"More like a year!"
"I can't even remember when the last time we went to Baal kingdom."
"Wasn't that before we hit the Mirror kingdom?"
"That was before he came back with Wendy."
Mest frowns gently to himself; he knew it was wrong. So apparently something has happened where he's lost his memories of the past... six months to a year... which is definitely not a very good thing. He doesn't feel six months to a year older... he hasn't looked at himself in the mirror to figure out if he looks it yet. Still... it's weird. Just the other night he fell asleep in his own bed, about to plan a heist to steal the crown jewels of the Marvell's kingdom, and then he wakes up to this... a part of him wants to ask and see if they got away with it; who is he kidding, of course they did. They're here, aren't they?
"Captain Mest, you don't remember anything else after that? Anything at all?"
He simply shrugs.
"I don't... I'm perplexed. I don't know what to do; we can try looking for remedies, go to nearby towns and ask if they've ever dealt with any amnesia cases before." Mirajane shakes her head side to side.
Wendy finally stands up from her little hiding spot. She needed a moment to herself to hide from everyone's prying pity eyes and collect herself, which she has done. She walks over and breaks apart the crowds, standing in front of Mest. She tries to seem calm and confident... but knows she doesn't look anything as such. Tear stained cheeks, blood shed eyes, wearing her clothes she hasn't changed since they brought her husband in, hair a complete mess.
"Everyone, can we please give Mest a moment of rest? This is all new to him and you overcrowding him is bad for his recovery. We're all focusing on the bad thing here instead of focusing on all the good. Mest is alive. Mest woke up. Mest is going to recover and live. I'm relieved to know these things. Just because he can't remember me... doesn't mean he never will. Let's have him recover first before we try to jog his memories and help him. His mind can't heal if his body is broken."
More murmurs break through his crew and Mest scrunches his eyebrows together. Okay, he can't understand this. He doesn't know who this girl is or what role she plays. Why is everyone listening to her? Why is everyone watching and actually obeying her? His crew doesn't even listen to him! He thought she was simply a new edition, a doctor they picked up somewhere in his lost memories, but she seemed... too different to be a pirate. She didn't seem like she lived the pirate life...
"Who are you?" Mest asks.
Wendy turns around and presses her lips together in a fine line, "I don't know if I should tell you. The shock might not be good for you. Maybe when you've recovered more-"
"Maybe the shock is just what he needs to remember Wendy!" Natsu yells out.
"Oye doofus, listen to her! She would know better about this! Especially better than you!" Laxus shouts.
"All I'm saying is that Mest shouldn't be left in the dark! Think about this!"
"We're thinking about this better than you!"
Arguments break out and Wendy sighs to herself. She takes a step forward to break everyone up, but she's stopped as Mest reaches out and grabs her hand. She turns and stares at him wide eyed, Mest staring her down hard and he squeezes her hand even harder.
"This is your captain's orders, tell me who you are."
Wendy's eyes widen a little before she snorts, soft giggles escaping her lips. Mest frowns as she laughs at him. She sniffs and rubs her eyes, shaking her head.
"Sorry, I'm sorry, this is just the first time you've ever used your captain voice on me. Hehehe, it was rather cute."
"I see I haven't been a cold blooded captain as I thought myself to be," Mest growls out.
Wendy smiles and shakes her head, "no, only to me. Mest... my name used to be Wendy Marvell. I was the princess of Marvell before you stole me away."
Mest's hand goes to limp to his side, his eyes growing wide as his jaw drops. Wendy giggles again and winks at him.
"Just kidding. You didn't steal me away, I went with you willingly."
"You're kidding about that part? You really are a princess?"
It would explain why she doesn't look like she fits the part... even if she dresses it. A princess, no he doesn't see that, but he definitely doesn't think she's a pirate on his crew.
"Was a princess, I left to be a pirate... with you."
"And why on Earth would you do that? I couldn't have been all that convincing, I can't imagine wanting a princess on my ship. Was it because of a ransom? Did we make a fortune off of you?"
"No, no... I left because I fell in love with you... and you took me because you fell in love with me back. Love at first sight. My name is now Wendy Gryder, I'm your wife." Wendy finishes staring down at her wedding ring.
Mest feels the color leave his face and the world gets a little bit colder. He sees Wendy's lips move again, but he can't really understand what she's saying. He feels dizzy and before he knows it, yup that ground is getting pretty closer to him.
Mest flinches and opens his eyes. There's a soft humming coming from somewhere behind him and he leans up, turning his head around to take in his surroundings. He's inside his room... but also... not inside his own room. He doesn't remember it looking like this, so many books cluttered everywhere, did he get new furniture? Why? He liked his old one! Mest eyes freeze when he spies Wendy, her name is Wendy he hasn't forgotten that, sitting by his bedside. So that's what the humming noise was coming from. She stops when she notices him awake and smiles gently.
"Hi Mest, how are you feeling?"
"You're my wife?!" He spits out.
Wendy flinches back and brings a hand to her chest, fear appearing in her eyes.
"Ah-ah-"
"My wife?! My wife?! I'm not married! Why would I ever get married?! I love being single! I love not being tied down- that's the whole reason I became a pirate! Just because you're incredibly beautiful and have a great smile isn't enough to trick me into settling down! And another thing, I would never marry a princess! That's for sure, another pirate, yeah, a freaking goat herder, maybe, but a princess?! A princess?!"
"I knew I shouldn't have told you," Wendy huffs, blowing her hair away from her face.
"A fucking princess?" Mest is still hung over on that part, "how is that even possible?!"
"I don't think we should go into details about this anymore, at least not until you're 100% again. Don't worry about me anymore Mest, just focus on recovering. We'll try this again and I'll answer all of your questions once you're in tip top shape."
"Why aren't you freaking out and crying about this? I don't know who you are Wendy. You've lost your husband. Why aren't you freaking out like me?!"
Wendy blinks and stares down at her hands, "because... because... I was so scared. I was so worried that I couldn't fix you- that this might be it- I prayed for a miracle while doing my best to heal you Mest. You're alive, that's all that matters. You could have lost all your memories, you could have lost your way to speak, to see, and I wouldn't have cared; that wouldn't have changed how much I love you. I just wanted you back and you did come back. I'm happy... I'm not overly happy or perfect, but just having you talking to me like this... I was so scared, you wouldn't wake up- I'm just so- I can't believe this."
She begins to sniff and hiccup, tears falling out of her eyes. She recalls when they brought him back, beaten up and bloody. Working tirelessly even when her tears blinded her eyesight, trying to fix him, make him better. Without realizing it Mest reaches out and strokes her hair ever so gently, brushing it behind her ear and twisting it around his finger before bringing it back to his side. He doesn't know why he just did that and judging from the look Wendy's giving him right now he's sure this isn't the first time he's done that to her. It just seemed... like the right thing to do, natural...
"You don't have to remember me Mest. You don't have to become the person I want you to be. You don't ever have to be my husband if you don't want to be anymore. It's enough that you're still in my life, so don't worry or stress about any of that, okay? I just want you to be healthy. Well, I'll take my leave now. I only wanted to make sure you were alright after that fall you took, but it seems like you're fine. Rest up, okay? Tomorrow I'll change your bandages and we'll see if you can eat more solid, heavy foods."
Wendy stands up and brushes her pants off. She smiles at Mest, even through her tears she hasn't wiped away yet, and tries her best to make him relieved. She's stronger than she looks, that's for sure. Wendy heads for the door and opens it up.
"Wait! This is... your room too, right? I shouldn't-"
"I told you not to worry Mest. I have a room, I won't be sleeping in the brig or anything like that," Wendy giggles before closing the door behind her.
No matter how much she told him not to worry... Mest still feels like shit right now. He stares down at his hand and squeezes it tightly into a fist. He doesn't know why but he feels like punching himself in the face.
"Morning Wendy!"
Mest flinches in his seat and scoots over to the corner. It's not because he's scared of her, because he's not! He's just... trying to avoid her... which hasn't really been going well these past few days since she seems to be their ship's doctor and has been the one checking on him every single day. After that big reveal of who she really was... Mest has been trying to figure things out on his own. No one has been trying to jog his memories of being a married pirate, but he can tell from their eyes. Thier pity, they hatred for hurting her; it's not his fucking fault!
Mest wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't discovered his own journals. It was clear as day, written in his own handwriting. The girl Wendy consumed every single page he wrote about and after a while he became sick and had to throw the journals aside. He can't imagine this being real, can't comprehend how such a free loving pirate like himself would end up being tied down. Just look at him! And look at her! She was... cute, okay be honest here, she was cute, and beautiful, and sweet, too sweet-... okay the perfect amount of sweet, and adorable, and everyone adored her, and Mest felt himself appreciate every second she graced him with her presence whenever they had their sessions, but those weren't his feelings. That was what his body was automatically feeling all by itself because it was used to feeling these things around her; his mind on the other hand was something completely different and they were at war with each other.
Maybe Mest needed to fool around with some random wrench to get his mind out of the gutter. No way anyone on this ship would allow him to do that, so he would have to lose them all whenever they landed again. Be sneaky, come up with a good excuse and alibi, completely screw all his feelings away, cheat on his wife-
NOT HIS WIFE! He wasn't Wendy's wife! He took that wedding band off his finger the very next morning he woke up feeling better and went back to wearing his normal jewelry and tossed that locket of the picture of the two of them into the deepest drawer he could find never to be seen again...
Mest blocked out the image of Wendy when she grabbed his hand and saw his ring missing.
Why can't life be fun again? Why can't it be filled with adventure? They need to go on a treasure hunt! Or rob some place! Or something! All this being on the boat is making him sea sick! Why couldn't he have just lost an arm or a leg or something and forgot about that?! That would have been so much easier than forgetting about a wife-
"MEST!"
Mest flinches and nearly knocks over his drink, eyes wide as he looks up at Erza, "WHAT?!"
"Thanks for finally zoning back in. I've been calling your name over and over."
"Well you have my attention now, so what do you want?"
Erza glares at him as she joins his table, "just wanted to check up on you asshole."
"Oh well I'm great, just great as you can imagine." He snips back.
She takes a calming breath before starting again, "seriously captain, are you all okay now? Still banged up?"
"No, our doctor pretty much gave me the A okay. She said I'm almost as good as new, just a couple of bruises left over. No more bandages," Mest gives a cocky smile as he taps his bandaged free forehead.
The stitches still hurt like a bitch whenever he touched them, but other than that a little bit of bruising is nothing he can't handle.
"Wendy's pretty amazing. I'm glad she was able to fix you up."
He's been trying to avoid her name just as much as he's been trying to avoid her. Usually calling her doc or doctor, little princess only once... he doesn't know why she looked nearly on the verge of tears when he called her that. He can only assume it had something to do with his past self.
"And how are things with Wendy? Anything... seeming familiar?"
"No," Mest lies.
"I have to admit this is a weird sight seeing you not fawning all over her."
Mest's eyebrow twitches, "are you being serious?"
"Deadly. I swear that girl couldn't sneeze without you being there to hand her a tissue."
"Pardon my french, but that captain you're remembering sounded like a real pussy."
Erza blinks before snorting, breaking out in laughter. Mest goes back to shoving gruel in his face as he waits for her to finish laughing.
"Yeah, he may have been and became a real push over... but he was a better captain. He was a better man. You can still become that man if you give it a chance."
"Erza, let's be real. This is ridiculous, you know me. I don't marry random princesses, I don't do the relationship thing. I'm married to the sea!"
"Wow, I haven't heard you say that in a very, very long time."
"And isn't that crazy?! Just what makes that girl so special, huh? She doesn't seem like much! I don't know how I could have fallen in love with her let alone marry her."
"Well have you actually given a chance to get to know her?"
Mest opens his mouth... but no words come out.
"I won't tell you how you first did Mest, because honestly I don't even know the full story myself. That girl is the best thing that's ever happened to us though, not just you, but to all of us, the entire crew of Fairy Tail, and if you just tried to be her friend instead of hating your past self for falling in love and no longer being married to the sea you would find yourself falling in love with her again, except this time it would be easier because that girls already completely in love with you."
Mest stares down at his food and turns his head away, "no one asked you."
Erza growls out to herself, "if you don't end up remembering I don't know what's going to happen to the Fairy Tail Pirates because if you break that girl's heart... whoo, I don't even want to imagine what the repercussions would be."
"There, that's the last of the stitches. You're officially all done! Might want to wash your hair first, there's still clumps of blood in it. Be careful with the soap and only use cold water; don't want to irritate the skin. And of course, above all, no scratching still."
Her hands feel nice running through his hair. It didn't feel nice when she was cutting and yanking the stitches out of his head, but now that she was picking at the dry clumps of blood... it felt kind of nice. Wendy pulls away and gathers up her small medical supplies, throwing them all in a bucket she plans on disinfecting later. Mest gulps and taps his hands on his knees, watching her every movement as she moves completely at ease in her environment.
"Thank you Wendy."
"It was my pleasure Mest." She smiles warmly at him.
He gulps, feeling his heart race. The only way he can see them getting together was because of her looks. God she's so beautiful he feels like a little adolescent boy when he's around her, and when she smiles? Ugh, he just feels himself become undone. How is there someone in this world that exists? Well, he already read in stories how beautiful princesses were. Never did he think that fairy tale bullshit would be real.
"How are things?"
"Good."
Mest presses his lips together.
"How are you handling... things?"
"Well."
He sighs out and shrugs; well, at least he tried. He can go tell Erza now that he attempted to talk to her and-
"AH!" Mest yells out in shock.
"What?! What happened?!"
"Something just attacked my leg!"
"Huh? Attacked? Oh!"
Just as she says that a furry little cat comes wandering out from underneath the bed, meowing out loud and wiggling his tail back and forth. Wendy giggles and Mest feels like a fool as she picks up the beast and holds it in her arms.
"This lovable kitty is Happy and he was only playing with you."
"We have a cat?" Mest asks in a deadpan voice.
"Don't worry, you still don't like cats. I begged and cried so hard you finally gave in and let me keep Happy and Charlie."
"You were able to get two cats out of me?"
Wendy looks over at him and smirks, "yup-p."
Mest grins back at her, a little amazed with her. She kisses Happy's nose and heads for the door, letting him out to wander around.
"What else did you get out of me? I'm curious."
"Hmm, well? Practically everything in this room? All the sweets I could ever want, I got to help decorate your room, hehehe, what else? Umm... always your last jerky biscuit-"
"WHAT?! I love those!" Mest's jaw drops from shock.
Wendy blinks and simply shrugs, "I guess you loved me more."
"Come on, there had to be more to it. What look did you have when you asked me?"
She scoffs, "look?"
"Yeah, look. What expression? What puppy dog eyes do you give me when you want something from me?"
"I do no such thing!"
"Yeah, right, all women have this trick up their sleeves."
"Well not me!" Wendy pouts and stomps her foot, her princess side coming out, "I never had to resort to such devious schemes! I'll have you know that you would willingly give them to me without even having to ask!"
She looks absolutely adorable right now trying to look all mad and angry. Maybe she was telling the truth, maybe she just completely reduced him to putty without even realizing it... God he was so whipped. Mest reaches out and pokes her puffy cheek.
"I apologize Wendy."
She blinks and calms down, looking away with a light blush on her cheeks, "I forgive you Mest. You're free to go now, if you like."
He made her blush... just by touching her cheek... whenever she examines him she always seems so professional... but did he affect her like she did him? Mest decides to test that theory and brush her hair behind her ear. It gets the reaction he wants; her cheeks seem to fluster even redder as she avoids eye contact.
"How long were we married for?" Mest asks.
"One year and three months," Wendy mumbles.
Mest blinks and ponders before convincing himself to ask the question, "do we have sex?"
Her whole demeanor changes, going on high alert. Her eyes widen, her jaw drops, her shoulders stiffen up, her face completely flusters, and she seems to flounder around like a fish out of water before she stares down at the floor and squeaks out a small, "... yes."
His eyebrows go all the way up to his forehead, "really? A lot?"
"Mest!" She cries out.
Now this, this he has a vaguely familiar feeling about, teasing her and it being very, vey, very fun and entertaining.
"What? It's just me, your husband, you can tell me- or remind me."
Wendy pouts at him, "you're teasing me."
"A little," he chuckles, "but now I'm generally curious. Is it?"
"I've... calmed down," she whispers.
He furrows his eyebrows together, "you've calmed down? What does that mean?"
"Just... after our first... I kind of wrung you out dry."
Mest blinks, his face freezing. Wendy continues to stare on the floor, but after a while with no more words coming out of his mouth she looks up at him. He looks completely still and for a second Wendy wonders if she's broken him again.
"Mest?"
"I find that very hard to believe," Mest tells her, his ego being bruised.
Wendy blinks and shrugs, "it's the truth."
"Well I don't believe it. Now I don't mean to brag, but I'm amazing in bed. There's no way that I wouldn't be able to handle you-"
"Four times a day."
"You- you... wha-"
"Sometimes five, and it wouldn't be quickies, but actual love making and-um- I've never really talked about this before with you. I mean I did, I do- it's just... ugh I don't know why it's embarrassing right now."
Mest blinks and stares at her, "how old are you?"
"19."
"Ah- I see."
It makes a bit more sense now. Mest looks her up and down and hums to himself. He was able to keep a princess with looks like this? And actually please her into wanting more? Maybe his past self wasn't that much as a fool as he thought of him as.
"Is there any other questions you have for me? Maybe a little less... yeah," she asks.
Mest blinks, "would you always initiate the sex? Or was that me-"
"MEST!"
"Hahahaha."
"Ah- sorry, I thought you were still on deck." Wendy apologizes as she enters their room without knocking first.
Mest looks up from his journal and shakes his head, "don't be, this technically is your room too that I've kicked you out off... where have you been sleeping all this time? With the girls?"
"No, in the infirmary. It's where I go whenever I'm mad at you and sleep with the cats."
Mest blinks, "we get mad at each other?"
"Of course, we're a couple. We aren't perfect. I disobey you when I think your rules are unfair, and you get irritated whenever I don't agree with you. We fight like everyone else, but we always make up. It's usually you who caves first, but I'm always crying and blaming myself right after."
He chuckles a bit under his breath, "we sound like a mess."
"Yeah, a nice mess though."
She smiles warmly and he smiles back at her. He gets lost in her eyes for a second before he remembers himself, clearing his voice and looking away.
"Did you need help with something?"
"No, I just came to get some more clothes. I'll only be a minute."
"Okay, yeah, go for it."
Wendy turns away and goes through the drawers, picking up a few shirts and pants. Mest closes his journal and blows out the candles on his desk, planning on knocking out when she leaves... and returns to the infirmary... that small bed he can barely fit on... which might fit her since she's smaller, but still. Mest may be a pirate, but he's still a gentleman.
"How about you sleep in here tonight Wendy? And I'll sleep somewhere else? I mean it's only fair since we do share this room."
"Thanks Mest, but you're injured. I can't do that-"
"You said it yourself that I'm all okay now. I-"
"Don't worry Mest, I like sleeping in the infirmary. Happy and Charlie keep me company."
"I can keep you company!"
Wendy blinks and turns around, staring at him with curiosity. Mest wonders about that curiosity as well because he has no idea what he just said or why he just said it. He already put it out there though and if he doesn't say anything soon he's going to sound like an idiot.
"We can share the bed, like always...er- yeah, like always... if you want."
She opens her mouth, closes it, and then opens it again, "is that what you want?"
"I wouldn't have-... yes."
"Then okay," she says, putting her clothes back up.
"Huh- what?"
"Okay Mest, I've missed our bed. I'll stay the night."
"Wow... I didn't think that would be that easy."
"Why? We are husband and wife," she giggles at him.
Mest hears Erza reminding him how easy it would be this time around because she's already in love with him. She really is in love with him. Wendy walks over to the bed and crawls underneath the blankets, peeking her head out of the top and resting her head on the pillow, instantly at home. Mest smiles lightly and blows out the rest of the candles before joining her in bed. He feels stiff, and it's weird hearing her breathing in the room, especially close to his ear.
"Wendy?"
"Yeah?"
"How do we normally sleep?"
"Snuggling, but no need to force yourself Mest."
"Oh... are you the snuggler?"
"Hehehehe, no, I'm the kicker and fall off the bed sleeper. You're the one who has to hold me down or else I'll roll right off."
"Hahaha, I can see that."
"You have seen that."
"Right..."
Mest rolls around in the bed; there is hardly any light in the room, so he can barely make out her face. Her eyes are wide open though, staring right back at him in the darkness.
"How did we meet?"
Wendy blinks at him softly, "hmm?"
"How did we first meet and fall in love? Erza said she didn't know the full story, so I'm wondering why we keep it a secret."
"It's... it is a secret."
"I promise not to tell."
Wendy moves around in their bed before sighing out loudly.
"I was being forced to marry someone I didn't love, so I tried running away from home with no money or knowledge on how the outside world worked."
Mest whistles slowly, "that's a terrible idea."
"Hehehe, yeah, it was. I was being chased by my guards when you swooped in and rescued me."
"Ugh, really? I sound like a white knight."
"Trust me, you weren't. You scared the daylights out of me and then tried to convince me to follow after you when I told you how I was trying to leave the kingdom."
"Really? Right off the bat?"
"You fell in love with me at first sight, or at least that's what you told me later. You convinced me by saying how you saw me and felt the need to protect me and provide for me... and I went with you."
"You fell for that?"
"I had problems as well. My parents raised me on love at first sight and well, when I heard you saying those words I believed you were the one. You turned out to be."
"So you came with me and bam, we got married."
"Not... exactly. We didn't really have a wedding and you never kissed me. You seemed convinced that I didn't love you. We kind of had this long dance back and forth, convincing everyone I was married to you so no one would mess with me, but never really doing your husbandly duties."
Mest takes a minute to let all of this sink in. So he did steal her away and took her from her home and her life. He probably thought she would leave him one day and go back; was probably drawn to her beauty and wanted her and actually swiped her in that moment of weakness.
"What changed?"
"I got really sick, almost to the point of dying, and then I was... kidnapped. Taken away from you... for a week or so, and when you got me back we both realized that we couldn't survive without the other. You asked me to marry you, for real this time, and you gave me this huge birthday party, and this grand wedding, and just-... everything was wonderful. Perfect. I loved every minute being with you."
She sniffs and Mest reaches out his hand blindly. He touches her neck and reaches up, cupping her cheek and wiping away her tears.
"I'm sorry Wendy."
"Don't be. This is not your fault. You didn't ask to forget me; this isn't fair to you. I'm not being fair to you. I've tried so hard to not cry in front of you, to not worry you. I can't help it though, I can't-" more tears fall out as sobs escape her lips.
Mest scoots over and wraps his arms around her, hugging her close. How long has it been? A week? Two? She's been sleeping by herself, crying all on her own, missing her husband, seeing him every day only for him to ignore her? Mest feels like real shit right now. He brushes her hair down and kisses the top of her head.
"I'm sorry."
"Mest! Mest I miss you so much! I miss you Mest! Please come back! Please come back home!" She cries into his chest.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
Mest opens his eyes slowly. Things are a lot brighter in his room than he remembers... stupid, what he remembers was last night. Of course it would be brighter. Soft snoozes echo in his ear and he turns his head, staring at the beautiful princess in his arms. There are tears cried to her cheeks and his heart lurches, remembering he was the reason. He could kick his own ass right now. How could he ever forget a wonderful girl like her? Mest leans down and presses their lips together, kissing her awake. She's unresponsive at first, but soon she lazily starts to kiss him back and flutters her eyes.
"Mest?"
"Morning love," Mest greets kissing her again.
"Love? Mest-" kiss, "we shouldn't-" another kiss, "Mest-"
He rolls on top of her and claims their lips together, kissing her hard. Wendy moans out as she wraps her arms around his neck, fingers scraping against his head.
"I'm sorry for forgetting you love."
Wendy blinks, eyes widening ever so slightly, "Mest?"
"I had nightmares all night of every single moment. Losing you, arguing with you, comforting you, you crying, being kidnapped, away from my arms, they terrorized me all night. How could I ever forget you? I'm so mad- I could kill myself right now."
Wendy isn't paying attention to anything he's saying though; she's still stuck on the remembering her part. She pulls back slightly and stares up at him with wide eyes.
"You remember?"
Mest stares down at her and smiles sadly, "I'm sorry it took me so long, I'm home now though."
Tears spill out her eyes, but she smiles as best as she can, "welcome home Mest."
"I'm sorry for everything I put you through Wendy-"
"No-no, it's alright, because you came back like I knew you would Mest. It's alright. Everything is alright now."
Mest cuffs her face and kisses her again. There will need to be a lot of making up for everything he's put her through, but right now- for right now, he didn't plan on letting her go.