Chapter Two
I'm Starting To Forget
Sting's POV
November 2nd X1,400
After all the time he'd spent waiting on her, all the nights he had gazed up at the stars, wondering if he would meet her in this life as he had in his last. He never would have imagined meeting her like this, as she knocked on deaths door in the middle of a freak storm.
After he had gone and talked to the king and queen -who had graciously accepted the blonde to their home- he'd gone straight to the baths to wait for his long lost lover. As he leaned against the white marble walls he thanked whatever fate had led her to him again. He just wished it was under better circumstances. He wondered what deity his old love had made angry. Her last life was anything but sunshine and rainbows.
After what seemed like hours the blonde teen heard the tapping of feet coming down the corridor from the bath house. At first glance he caught Scarlet, struggling with a small blonde who looked absolutely terrified to be near her. It seemed as though the blonde had a temper, that was another thing that made Sting sure of the fact that she was indeed his old love.
"Let me go, please let me go!" She snarled at Scarlet, tears threatening to fall from her emerald green eyes, something that reminded him that she wasn't exactly the same as before, their were differences about her that he found undeniable.
"Scarlet." He called, as soon as the words left his lips the knight in training halted in her efforts and the small blonde stopped struggling to get out of the teens grip, eyes going wide with what Sting assumed to be fright.
It couldn't possibly be that...
No, there was no way. He shook the thought aside as her eyes became normal once more, holding an emotion that the blonde haired boy wasn't able to recognize at that point in time.
"Prince Eucliffe. The girl has obviously woken up from her slumber. We tended to her wounds, nothing critical, just some scrapes. She refuses to stay in the castle though, she's been trying to escape since she awoke." Scarlet said, her voice taking one of authority. Sting really would never get used to seeing Erza in this new woman. Although he knew without a doubt she was one in the same. She just couldn't remember her previous life.
"And why is that, little one?" Sting said as he bent down to eye level with the small blonde. The girl scrambled backwards, finding Scarlet's legs to be the best place to hide her, the prince frowned at this, he hated that someone who looked so much like Lucy could be so scared of him.
The small ten year old frowned at his question, and bit her lip, looking from Sting to Scarlet and then back once more.
"I-I'm not...I-I shouldn't be here." The girl trembled as she spoke, once again there were tears falling from her face, and Sting wondered just how many tears she was going to shed. He hated this.
"Can you tell me your name, little one?" He goaded, his voice was as soft as he could make it, a small smile on his face, and he hoped his eyes were holding anything but their usual harshness.
"L-Lucy. B-But t-that's all I k-know." His breath hitched in his throat and he fought the urge to fall backwards onto the marbled floor. He knew it. He knew he would find her eventually, there was no doubt in his mind anymore that this small, fragile, beautiful girl in front of him was his old lover.
"It's nice to meet you, Lucy. My name is St-"
"I know who you are." Lucy cut him off. His eyes widened. But then he realized she was probably referring to seeing newspapers about him, or television lacrima broadcasts, he was the prince after all.
"I've met you before...Not here though, I just can't figure it out." She stated, her voice as small as she could make it, Sting barely heard her, but he did. His smile grew, and his heart leapt, so there was a chance that she could still remember her previous life! She might be able to remember him and all the memories they had together, -although he hoped she wouldn't remember that- this had to have been one of the happiest days in his so far short existence in this life.
"It's fuzzy, like it's trying to disappear." She relented. Lucy was still hiding behind Scarlet's legs, and by now the knight was wanting to go back to her duties, Sting dismissed her with a wave of his hand, the scarlet haired teen didn't need to know about this conversation, she would probably think her prince had gone mad.
As soon as she was out of sight Lucy allowed Sting to pick her up and carry her to his chambers, where a fire lacrima was lit and hot cocoa was waiting for them both.
His room wasn't all that grand, he had wanted something small, something that reminded him of his home with Lucy from before. Unfortunately, as he was the prince and he lived in a gigantic castle there wasn't room for small. But, he had gotten the smallest they could find as soon as he could speak his own mind and make his own decisions. It was mostly white, just as his previous home had been, although this time he'd added some gold trimmings and painted a few stars and dragons to top it off.
All in all he was perfectly content with this room.
He set Lucy on the soft white couch and grabbed the hot chocolate before sitting down beside her.
"Can you tell me why you aren't suppose to be here?" He asked, she shook her head as she looked around the room.
"No, he told me I wasn't allowed to tell, he told me I should never come here. But I had to, I just had to know who you were to me." She sniffled rubbed her small nose on her sleeve, Sting made a face but decided not to comment, she was only ten years old this time around, he would tell her later that it was gross.
"I suppose you can't tell me who you are talking about?" Another shake. Okay, so thus far he was only getting more questions than he was answers, it seemed as if this little Lucy was keen on keeping secrets. Something he wasn't fond of doing this time around.
"Can you tell me anything? Like why you were out in this storm?" He questioned, he sincerely hoped she had a good reason for being out there, she was ten years old for goodness sake! Someone like Lucy should be safe and warm, always. He was curious about this man she was talking about as well, although it seemed he wouldn't be getting answers anytime soon, but whoever it was, the fact remained that they already didn't sit well with Sting Eucliffe.
a small nod, "I was looking for answers. I saw you on a newspaper and you seemed familiar somehow, I've known you before, haven't I? Just not in this life, right?" She questioned. Sting gaped at her. This tiny Lucy was smart for a child the mere age of ten. He wondered why she seemed to remember herself having a past life, no one he had ever encountered had ever mentioned feeling the same. It was insane.
"Yes, You knew me before this life. We were...Well...I'll tell you when your older what we were." He smirked playfully at her, making the small girl blush slightly.
"I already have an idea as to what we were. How else would you feel so familiar to me? You were very, very close to my heart, were you not?" She smiled shyly before hiding her face in the large mug of hot cocoa her small hands gripped tightly. Sting relaxed and fell into the soft couch nodding his head. "Yeah, I was." he smiled softly and glanced at the small girl from the corner of his eye.
Now that he looked at her, without the mud caking her small frame, it was difficult not to notice the similarities and differences between his old Lucy and this new one. They had the same colored blonde hair, except this Lucy's was a tiny bit curlier, her eyes still sparkled the same way when they looked at him, but now they were a different color, and of course, the biggest difference was her age, and the biggest similarity were the keys still hanging lovingly by her side.
"You summon spirits?" He asked casually, and just like that her eyes lit up in happiness as she asked if he would like to see one of them.
He'd not mention the scars for now.
