Ok guys, These last couple of months have been really hard for me to suffer through. T_T I'm surprised I'm still alive honestly. My husband was fired, found a job and fired again... we had to move back in with family... it's just been crazy. I'm still planning on doing the story though, I just don't have anywhere near as much free-time as before. SO the updates will probably come monthly.
Again, please forgive me.
ALSO PLEASE REVIEW!
Chapter 17
Lucy must have been over half days away before she heard the echoes of fury that erupted over the pirates' cove. She and her companions had been hiking through winding mountain paths, when she turned to see flames erupting over the pirates' cove. The leader of the men who was with her was Laxus. The other two he called Sting and Rouge from the Saber-tooth guild. Lucy had a sinking feeling that they seemed to be tagging along under threat of death from Laxus… Based on their behavior, they weren't there by their own volition. They were shifty, agitated and overall on edge. However, they were at least kind to her… even if it did feel forced. Laxus turned to face the direction of the blast.
"Sounds like that hot- head found out that you're gone."
Laxus sneered.
"We best get moving… I can't guarantee that he'll be the kind of guy who follows orders and stays put with the guild."
Laxus grunted, then turned back around and continued down the path that he'd been leading us on. Lucy turned her attention back onto the trail, following closely behind Laxus.
Sorry Natsu…
She thought to herself as she gritted back her feelings. The night she had with Natsu wasn't that long ago, but now it felt so far away that it was almost… intangible. No, it was more like Natsu was intangible.
She hated the fact that she had fallen for him. That she had to betray him; that they could never be, that she was forced into an engagement to another man…
She felt sick with guilt as she looked at her new guild mark on her hand. Natsu had so delicately placed it on there, and with it he'd given her his feelings. Lucy clutched at her chest as she felt her heart ache.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sting and Rouge share confused looks at each other; but let it slide out of concern for Lucy. They then turned their attention toward her as if looking to her for some sort of explanation.
Lucy sighed and closed her eyes.
"It's complicated."
She then continued to follow Laxus with Sting and Rouge following close behind her.
It was cold in the mountains but the sun and movement that they were making kept Lucy warm. The scenery was really rather beautiful. Mountain streams and foliage were spectacular to look at. Pine trees stretched like the Castile pillars high above her. Laxus had told her to keep close because there were a lot of magical creatures that lived in these woods and it wasn't uncommon to become lost. Lucy hadn't seen any though… the most wild life that she'd seen was a couple of deer and some foxes. Fall was almost in full swing so it wasn't strange to only see a few animals. Most were probably getting ready for the winter.
"Hey Lucy?"
The voice came from behind her; she turned to see Sting addressing her. Sting and Rouge were obviously good friends, but they couldn't look more different. Sting had short blonde hair and a scar over his right eye. His eyes were dark blue and had an earring in his left ear. Rouge had black short hair and pale skin. His eyes were red and he was the less talkative of the two. Lucy liked both of them; they reminded her of Natsu and Gray a lot.
"Yeah?"
She answered.
"I know we have to get you to the Royal City as soon as possible… but we weren't really filled in on the reason for taking you there. I think now is as good a time as any… do you think you can give us the reason we're here?"
Laxus let out a grunt and continued to walk forward, leading the way.
Sting glared at the man in front of her.
"I wasn't asking you, guy! Keep walking!"
Sting shouted furiously, shaking his fist.
Lucy laughed lightly at the antics of Sting.
He's pretty funny.
Rouge sighed and rolled his eyes at his friend.
"Sorry about his rude behavior… but I can't help but share the same sentiments."
He smiled gently at her.
"Would you mind?"
Laxus gave out another grunt and turned slightly to look at the two men behind him.
"It's not necessary information for you to know, and it's obviously very personal to her. Stop harassing to poor girl."
Laxus shrugged and huffed forward in his usual manner.
Lucy smiled sadly at Laxus' awkward attempt to protect her feelings.
Sting and Rouge slumped their posture and looked away from Lucy, obviously ashamed of their behavior.
"Don't worry about it Laxus, its okay."
Lucy smiled half heartedly and continued to walk.
"I suppose you'll find out sooner or later, and it will probably benefit you to know. But I'm surprised that Laxus didn't tell you beforehand."
Laxus chuckled slightly.
"It's more fun to watch them squirm."
"That's it you ass! Just because we owed you doesn't mean you get to mess with us like this!"
Sting shouted again at Laxus.
Laxus seemed to just ignore him and continued to chuckle as he moved further down the path.
Lucy frowned.
"You guys are here because you owed him?"
Rouge pinched his nose.
"It's a long story… the short version is that we were in way over our heads and Laxus saved our skins. Instead of letting us repay him… he just said we owed him a favor and that one day he'd come to collect. As you can see, he's done just that."
Lucy pursed her lips.
"…I'm sorry you were dragged into this."
Rouge waved her off.
"Don't worry about it; this is no different than any other mission. Besides… it'll be nice getting out of that guys debt."
He said nodding in Laxus' direction.
Lucy couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yeah, I'll bet."
Behind them Sting clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Enough pleasantries; get to the part where you tell us why we're here."
Rouge shook his head and mouthed 'sorry' to Lucy.
She shrugged it off and started to explain.
"It's kind of hard to explain. The long and short of it I guess is that I'm the Princess from the Fiore kingdom that the Alvarez Empire is looking for. The Emperors betrothed so to speak, so I'm going back to Cocoros to be claimed by the Emperor…. hopefully that will sedate his temper and the war…"
Lucy allowed some time for the information to sink in, and was about to continue her explanation when Sting interrupted her.
"That's bull."
Lucy stopped walking and turned to face him.
"Excuse me?"
Sting put his hands behind his head and frowned deeply.
"I'm not saying I believe you about the princess thing, but even if you are I don't see how surrendering yourself to the Emperor will help the situation."
Lucy frowned at him.
"What do you mean? This whole war started because of my disappearance."
Sting looked away from her and into the forest.
"Mmmm. I wonder."
He said rolling his eyes.
Lucy looked over at Rouge who seemed to be processing what she was telling him.
"Sting, it's not our place to interfere. We're here on a job to repay a debt… just try to think of it like that. Who are we to question the princesses' decisions?"
Lucy raised an eyebrow at Rouge.
"You mean you believe me? That I'm the princess?"
Rouge smiled remorsefully.
"I don't see any other reason why you'd go this far to get to the Royal City during political strife like this. Considering the position guild members are in during times like these. Even so, I had my suspicions before we left. Still, I was shocked to find out that we had a princess in our midst in the first place."
Lucy gave him a regretful smile.
"Unfortunately, this is part of the penance that I must do for the horrible things my father has done to his people."
Sting clicked his tongue,
"Whatever…go ahead and play the part of the martyr if you must."
He said dismissively, waving her off.
Lucy shook her head and turned away from the two.
They don't understand… It's best if I just drop this conversation.
Lucy looked at the back of Laxus and decided she would focus on him, rather than listen to the annoyed words of Sting.
Natsu was fumbling furiously with the chains on his wrist that they'd been strapped in. His wrists and ankles were cuffed and chained to the cold, wet cave wall behind him that he was using to lean on.
He couldn't believe he'd been thrown in prison by his own guild.
APPARENTLY setting fire to the camp while frantically looking for Lucy wasn't what the guild masters called 'An appropriate way of searching for lost companions.'
It was Erza who finally managed to knock Natsu out.
Natsu lifted his hand, causing the chains to rattle, and rubbed the back of his head where she had hit him.
That woman is still the most terrifying threat to sail this side of Earthland…
He looked around at his surroundings. The prison on the pirates cove wasn't terrible, but it was cold, good thing he had fire magic to keep himself warm. Members from the guild were in regularly to check on him and he was told he'd be let out in the morning as long as he behaved…
Yeah, okay…
He thought with distain.
If they think I'm not going to run off as soon as I get out of here, they're in for a rude awakening.
He winced a little at the pain he felt from the lump on his head, when he heard a small voice coming from the other side of the cave. Natsu adjusted slightly and faced the opening of the cave.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you!"
Natsu shouted towards the voice.
"I said, 'are you still alive in here?'"
Natsu squinted and could finally make out the silhouette of Levy and what looked like Gajeel walking towards him.
Levy gave out a hearty laugh.
"Hey there Cap'in, looking real fine all tied up like that. If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to seduce me."
She said with a cocky smile, hand on her hips and standing over him.
Natsu grinned mischievously,
"If you can get me out of here, I might see what I can do for you."
Levy threw her head back and laughed some more at the man in front of her.
"No offence captain, but you're not exactly my type…"
Natsu shrugged as he watched Gajeel give her the biggest eye roll he'd thought humanly possible.
"You two cut the crap; I'm the one doing all the work here."
Gajeel grumbled as he ripped the chains apart like they were made of paper.
Levy huffed,
"Anyway, were here to bust you out obviously, but the other reason we're doing this is because we want in on looking for Lucy. She's our friend too and we want to find her just as badly as you do…. well that last part might not be entirely accurate."
Gajeel had finished breaking the cuffs around Natsus' ankles and wrists, and Natsu turned to face her with a deep frown.
"The guild needs you here, we're about to go to war soon… I can't take you two off the battlefield to help me with my selfish ambitions…"
Gajeel grunted in disgust,
"This war is a damn joke, and you know it."
Natsu rubbed his wrists where his chains had held him just seconds ago and stood up.
"I'd argue with you if I thought there was nay sense in doing so… whatever, if we're going to escape sooner would be better than later."
Natsu winced as he stretched his muscles.
Gajeel folded his arms,
"What do you think this is Cap'n? My first day? I got everything ready to go; we even have our starting point for tracking the young miss. So… are you coming or not?"
Natsu grabbed Gajeel by the shoulder, and flashed his wide crooked smile.
"What would I do without you two?"
Gajeel gave him a hard slap on the back.
"I don't think we'd care to find out. But the obvious answer would be that you'd be dead a hundred times over. So let's get going, our young miss is already a day or more ahead of us."
Gajeel smirked as he nodded to the mountain pass that lead out of the pirates' cove.
Natsu frowned,
"I think your number is a little exaggerated there… Besides that, how'd she find that passage? It's only supposed to be known by those we show it to… and I never did."
Gajeel looked over at Levy for help.
Levy sighed,
"It looks like she had some help getting out of here; we found four sets of footprints leading into the mountains.
Natsu glared at her, his mind mulling over the possible offenders.
"Do we know who they are?"
Levy shrugged and dropped her arms to her side.
"There are people missing… but we don't have any definitive proof."
Natsu cracked his knuckles and neck.
"I guess we'll have to go find them… by the way, who is in on this little escape plan of ours?"
Levy smiled and wrapped her arm around Gajeels waist.
"Just us! We figured a small group would be better off than a bunch of us all traveling together."
Gajeel gave a throaty chuckle,
"Yeah we're not the most delicate or quiet guild out there."
Natsu smiled with pride.
"That's my guild for you, anyway let's move."
"Aye sir!" They chorused as they helped their captain out of the cave.
Lucy and her party were less than a half days away from the Royal City, apparently the pirates'
Cove wasn't all that far away from it to begin with. They had been able to follow the river north most of the way there. It made for fairly easy traveling. At the very least, it was a lot easier than running from the palace to Magnolia…
During the time of their travel together, Lucy found herself becoming very fond of both Sting and Rouge. Sting finally loosened up, and while he still disagreed with her decision… he still protected her. They had become like the older brothers she always wanted. They slowed down to match her pace. They worried about her, and they always made sure that the area was safe whenever they had to make camp. It would be hard to leave them as well when the time came… which was soon.
They had already taken her as far as Laxus was willing to go, the rest would be up to Lucy… They had agreed to wait with Lucy until night fall, and then she would have to find her way into the city and figure out her own plan from there.
Lucy made herself comfortable leaning against a tree, watching as the sun gently touched the top of the mountains. Lucy closed her eyes; If she stepped forward tonight… there would be no going back.
Is this really okay?
Am I doing the right thing?
Will this actually help anything?
If it does… will it be worth it? Or is this all for naught?
Lucy's mind continued to race as she began to second guess everything she was doing. Lucy's eyes fell to the guild mark on her left hand.
Natsu… What am I doing?
… I wish you were here.
But I've chosen a life where we can never meet again.
I just hope you're not stupid enough to try to follow me, if you do… the Emperor will surely kill you.
Lucy sighed and looked up at the sky, the red of the sunset scorching the sky.
She smiled.
"What should I do Natsu?"
"Mmm? You say something?"
Lucy turned to see sting walking up to her.
"Ah… sorry, it's nothing."
"….alright… if you say so. You ready?"
Lucy stood up from leaning on the tree and patted the seat of her pants.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Sting ruffled her blond hair with his large hand, as he gave her a sorrowful glance.
"You can still back out."
Lucy looked down at her feet and choked back her tears.
"No, I can't."
Lucy felt sting embrace her and kiss her gently on her head.
"I know I'm not Natsu… But at least let me hold you in his place… princess."
Lucy continued to sob silently into Stings chest while he held her tightly, comforting her.
The minutes seemed to pass by and soon it was almost dark.
Sting pulled away slightly and lifted Lucys' face.
"Lucy… If you're going to do this, I need to tell you some things you need to hear."
Lucy's face looked puzzled for a moment.
"What do you mean?"
Sting sighed as he took a step back so he could comfortably talk to her.
"Please don't take anything I'm about to say as criticism or that I think poorly of you, in fact it's the opposite."
Lucy frowned, but nodded slightly in acknowledgement.
Sting looked at her squarely in the eyes,
"Don't do this half-assed."
Lucy stepped back in shock.
"Again… what do you mean?"
"I mean, if you're going to do this. Do it, don't be some were stuck between Fairy Tail and Alvarez. I know it's harsh but you're going to have to forget Fairy Tail and submit yourself to a life at the Emperors Queen… if you're lucky. More realistically you'll be his concubine."
Lucy stared at Sting, unsure of what to say.
"I'm not saying you have to love the Emperor by any stretch of the imagination, but I am saying you have to let go of Natsu, and Fairy Tail. It will only cause you and the guild to pass through more sorrow than you can handle. It will destroy you."
Lucy opened her mouth to reply but now words would come out.
Sting waited for Lucy to process before continuing.
"Lucy, if you don't want to do this I'll back your play… I'll take you back to the pirates' cove and fight Alvarez tooth and nail right beside you and the rest of the guilds and Fiore. However, you need to decide; all in or all out. No more tears, it's time to be strong."
Lucy downcast her eyes, no longer able to maintain eye-contact with Sting.
I don't understand… Why is he saying this now?
"Lucy?"
Lucy turned away.
"So… you're saying to stop loving Natsu?"
She managed to whisper.
Sting dropped to his knees so that she could not refuse his strong gaze.
"Never, I would never say that. In fact, love him until your last day if you wish. But you must let go of the idea of him. If you do this, and marry the Emperor; he will never be your lover, nor will he be your husband. I just don't want you to have lingering pointless desires that make you miserable the rest of your life. Well… more miserable."
Lucy stared into his gaze and nodded.
He's right; I can't be luke-warm about this, time for me to grow up and take responsibility.
"You're right Sting… sometimes in order to do what's right; one has to give up the things they want the most."
Sting smiled sadly and nodded. He stood and held her once more.
"That's my girl."
Lucy pulled away from Sting and looked back at the silhouette of the Castle in the far distance.
"No turning back, right?"
Sting placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You ready?"
Lucy shook her head.
"That doesn't matter, I'm going."
Sting gave her a slight push foreword down her path laid in front of her.
"Don't worry about us, and don't look back."
"What no goodbye?" She asked still walking forward.
Sting grunted and folded his arms.
"Never been much good at those."
Lucy smiled to herself.
"Me neither."
If Sting replied, Lucy couldn't hear him. She just continued walking down the darkened path back to the Castle she had run away from only months ago, as she walked she felt her heart slowly let go of her dreams. They were dropped and left behind her with her tears.
