Chapter 35
Lucy's body hurts. Her legs might as well be jelly. She is dripping sweat, and wants a shower. Her jog had turned into a run at a point, but now she is sitting down on a park bench, elbows on her knees as she leans forward.
She takes out her phone and checks it. No important text messages or missed calls. Not even a word from Natsu. Not that she cares.
However, no one has messaged her about their break up. Perhaps Natsu has not said a word about their current relationship status. Although, it is not even a break up. Maybe just a break. Well, it is more like Lucy pushing Natsu away so he cannot get hurt.
The bandages flash through her mind.
No. He already did get hurt because of his ties with her.
Lucy's goes into her texting app and selects Natsu's name. She reads the last message he sent her.
Natsu: I'm literally sitting in my car before I go into work and I know I just saw you, but I wanna say that I love you! So have a good day, babe! :D
Her heart squeezes, and she looks away from the screen to distract herself. She focuses on a nearby, lovey-dovey married couple on a bench. The beautiful woman has long, light blue hair that reaches past her waist and dark ocean blue eyes. Her dress is cute and reminds Lucy of fish scales. The man with darker skin than his wife has short-kept hair, the right half of it being red while the rest of is white, and dark eyes.
They are happy as can be, just sitting on the bench with each other.
She wants to have that with Natsu. Wait, what is Lucy doing? She had been doing that with Natsu not too long ago. Well, minus the being married to each other part. She cannot just toss aside what she has with Natsu. She needs to set things right with him.
She turns on her phone, finding she is still under Natsu's contact, and hits the phone button to call him. Her phone automatically dials it, and she holds the device up to her ear. She stares at her shoes while she waits, holding her breath and hoping he does pick up.
He answers after the second ring. "Luce?"
She smiles a little just because of the sound of his voice. "Hey, Natsu."
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I mean, I've been better," she admits honestly. "A lot going on right now. A lot of stress."
"I can only imagine."
She swallows hard, gathering some courage before speaking. "Hey, about earlier…"
"Look, about that–"
"I was stupid," Lucy interrupts, not meaning to be rude.
He is quiet on the other end of the line.
"I shouldn't have said what I said. I just want you safe. I don't want you to be affected because of what's happening to me now."
"We'll get through whatever this is together."
Yes. Together. Because they are stronger and better together. After all, it is always more fun when the other is around.
"Didn't I tell you that I'd getcha back after all this is over?" Natsu reminds her.
She can hear the smile in his voice. "I remember that."
"You should know by now that you're stuck with me."
"I don't think there's anyone else that I'd want to be stuck with."
He chuckles. "Good. That's good to hear."
"So are we… good?"
"We're great."
"That's great to hear." She sits up, leaning her back against the bench and lifts her head to look up. Dread washes over her. A group of people with cameras heading right for her like a swarm. "Natsu, I think I have to go…"
"Go? Why? What's wrong?" He does not mean to sound worried, but he is. He cannot see what is happening around her.
"Paparazzi."
"They found you?"
"I don't know how."
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the park I like jogging at." She stands up, getting a feel for how her legs are after how hard she pushed herself earlier. "But I think it's time that I leave."
"Do you need me to get you?"
Lucy starts walking away, hoping the paparazzi are after someone else and not her. Although, she highly doubts it. Her face has been all over the news all because she is Ashley and Lucy Heartfilia. "You should go to my apartment. Meet me there."
"I'll race you," Natsu challenges, trying to make the mood better.
"You're on," she accepts.
"I love you," he says, really meaning it.
"I love you, too. See you soon."
"Bye!" Then he hangs up.
Lucy keeps a hold of her phone and starts running.
Of course, the paparazzi go after her, picking up their pace the best they can with their equipment. Some people pull ahead while others fall a little behind.
Her mind starts racing. What does she do? Will it be best for her to try and lose them before going home? She does not want them to know where she lives. That will not be good. Maybe calling Capricorn and asking for his help will be best.
Seeing how close they are to closing in on her, Lucy steals a glance over her shoulder. The married couple from the bench is attempting to hold off the paparazzi! She has no clue as to why they are doing that. It is not like they know her.
Lucy receives an expected option to get out of the situation when she spots an unfamiliar woman standing by a running vehicle parked along the nearby sidewalk. More on the tall side, the woman has dark hair falling a few inches past her shoulders and brown eyes with round glasses in front of them. A white, knee length lab coat is over her green halter top and pink skirt. The look is completed with white sandals and a hat.
"Lucy, I'm here to get you!" the woman shouts, waving her arms above of her to get Lucy's attention. "Capricorn's orders!"
Leave it to Capricorn to make sure that she is all right! She supposes that she will have to thank him when she sees him. So Lucy changes her course slightly and races for the car.
The woman moves to be on the other side, readying to get in and drive. "Hop in and I'll drive!"
Lucy throws open the door and gets inside, shutting it behind her. Then she is caught off-guard when she sees what is in front of her. It is a panel of glass sealed with rubber that is separating the car in half. She feels on edge now. And the car has a weird, sweet-smelling scent to it.
With the woman sitting in the driver's seat, she shuts her own door and puts a foot to the gas pedal.
"What's with your car?" Lucy asks, trying to keep her voice from wavering.
"Oh, I've tweaked this car with some inventions of mine!" she says excitedly, her voice sounding off due to the glass between them.
"Is that so?" Trying to be inconspicuous, Lucy attempts to take out her cell phone to call Capricorn.
"Yes, yes, yes!" the woman responds. "I'm an inventor you know! For example, one of them"-she makes eye contact using the review mirror-"jams cell phones."
Lucy stiffens up. All right. She needs a new plan. No time to be stealthy about things. She slips her cell phone away so she still has it on her, and tries opening the car door. However, she has no luck.
"Child locks do wonders, don't you think?" the woman asks.
Since Lucy never put on her seat belt, she is able to slide across the seat with ease to try the handle. Unfortunately, it is locked, too. Panic is rising quickly in her and her breathing quickens. The smell is getting to her now. In fact, she feels as though her extremities are starting to go numb. She shakes her head, thinking she is just over reacting to the situation. "You're crazy!"
The woman merely chuckles. "I'll take that as a compliment!" Then she gasps at a realization. "Oh, I don't think I mentioned this before! My name is Daphne!"
She is not familiar with that name. She can only hope that she is not supposed to know that name.
"Oh, maybe he didn't mention me to you before." Daphne simply shrugs and keeps her eyes on the road. "Oh, well! You'll learn about me soon enough!"
Letting her emotions get the better of her, Lucy tries pounding fists against the glass.
"That won't do a thing," Daphne says.
There is no way Lucy is hitting hard enough to really lose feeling in her hands. Not to mention her legs. What is happening to her? "What are you doing to me?" she demands.
"That must be the chloroform you smell!" Daphne says matter-of-factly, her voice sounding funnier than usual. "You should be numb by now. Your vision and hearing will start to fail you next. And before you know it, you'll be unconscious!"
Lucy's blood runs cold. Or maybe it runs warm. It is getting hard to tell exactly how she is feeling. It all seems confusing. She shakes her head to try and clear her mind. Escape. She needs to escape.
She looks around for anything that she can use to break a window. She knows headrests are removable so the metal rods can be used to shatter windows. However, the headrests in the back are gone, and she cannot use the ones up front because the glass is separating them from Lucy. Things are not looking good for her.
Lucy ends up slumping over, lying across the backseat. Her gaze is up on the ceiling, but everything is shifting around. She feels as though she is going to be sick.
"Just go… flow of things," Daphne instructs, her voice fading in and out because of Lucy's hearing. "It'll be… way."
Lucy has no idea when the shadows claim her.
A/N Part 1: First of all, as if Capricorn would let Lucy be on her own :P He sent Aquarius and Scorpio to follow her and keep tabs on her. And for those who figured out who Daphne was before her name was mentioned, good on ya! For those who aren't familiar with her, she's an anime-only character who appears in the Daphne Arc! I was thinking about using a dark guild or Jose, but I realllly wanted to do something different! So I thought about past villains from the manga/anime and Daphne came to mind!
A/N Part 2: GUYS, WE MADE IT TO CHAPTER 35 :D WOO~ AGAIN, THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE-SHOT X'D But I'm happy with how it's turning out so far :) Thank you all again sooo much for giving CAF the attention it has received so far!
A/N Part 3: This will be the last time I post this here since voting ends August 9th (tomorrow)! If y'all could PM pucksabrinadaphne on FFnet to place your vote for Cute as Fuck as The Favorite Fairy Tail Fanfiction 2016 story, that would be wonderful :D And a huge THANK YOU to those of you who already have :D CAF is in Primary Round, but I'm curious to see how far it can go!
BloodRedRubies: :D
Guest: Yay, that's great to hear :D Thanks for reading, and here's the next chapter for ya!
Nana: At least they're back together now, right… ? :P
TigerArrowgirl: Whelp, they aren't broken up any more at least XD
Pissed anon: Whelp, that's your fault for reading at 6 am :P But those are good emotions to have XD Dude, I think we all need Lucy's nanny squad, matching shirts and allll! I'm glad you're enjoying this work so far, and I hope you liked this chapter! #teamprotectlucy2k16
AshnMarley: Whelp, I hope your heart did will in the first part of this chapter… But now you know about the person :D
Ripdog888: Woo, that's a good thing! But now you know what happened with NaLu at least :P
Jessyka Lyn: *hands tissue* But at least your OTP is back together :D
Anonymous Guest: :D
Guest: As for Ink & Icing, I've finally put my foot down. I'm been jumping and back and forth between other works, deciding which to do as my second ongoing NaLu work. Ink & Icing will be the next one out! I want to have a few more chapters down before I start posting. I started working on Chapter 4!
