Sorry for the delay, my few readers. I just suck at endings, and with finals being a thing at the moment, I rarely get anytime to write. But hey: 1 Review! I don't mean to be that guy, but please, review and tell me what I've done right or wrong in your opinion, as that only helps me get better. Anyway, right now Calem is waking up, and its just another day. This story, FYI, will change perspectives to however I feel the need to, but mostly Calem, Lucy, and Natsu. Enjoy
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, except for Calem
Calem
"Ow, for the love of..." Calem laid on his back, sore in many places. His eyes blinked the world into view, namely the busted branch that used to be his mattress.
'That's what I get for sleeping in trees,' he thought, not all that surprised he fell, just annoyed. His entire goal was to go unnoticed for as long as possible, deal with his life and goals without notice. Falling out of trees didn't help his cause, it just made him look like an idiot.
Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Calem went through his morning routine, flicking through his mental checklist:
'Surroundings: Lush with plenty of cover from eye and sun along with an abundance of shadows.'
'Physcial Health: Tired, but overall same as yesterday, but now with a new, unwanted, bump.' Calem rubbed the sore spot on the back of his skull, feeling it starting to swell, before going back to his checklist.
'Magic Power,' Calem glanced at his palm, feeling his available power, which was enough, despite his tired body. 'Ready for anything.' He decided, continuing on.
'Mental Health: ...' He stared off into the thick trees, painfully aware it was just him and his thoughts. 'I don't wanna go there. Not yet.' And like that he moved on. He felt it better not to dwell on much. Only his search truely mattered was what Calem kept telling himself.
"Well, I'm awake now, so best I get a move on." Calem announced his status to nobody in particular, but it was comforting to him, lessened the crippling loneliness that followed him around.
'Man, I need a travelling partner. Someone I can talk to so I don't go crazy and...give in.' The thin teen paused to think about this fact, as well as the more upbeat tone of voice that went with it, for a moment, it's pros and cons.
'Company would be nice...'
'Then why don't I go to the nearest town, like I was gonna do anyway, and...'
'But I would have to tell him where we were going, why we were going there, and they would be around me more than they should.'
Calem gave an exasperated sigh, wishing there was a way he could have friends, but he soon dropped the idea of companionship, putting his wants at the bottom of the food chain.
'Nobody deserves to be brought into my mess.' The thought that kept him going, but alone, no matter his true opinions.
Calem stretched all 5'8" of his height before rummaging in the pockets of the torn, wrinkled cloak he wore, searching for his map. Locating it deep in the 3rd pocket, he began alternating looks over the brown paper and the surrounding land, trying to identify where he was in the land of Fiore. After accepting the fact he was lost, Calem picked a direction, pulled on the hood of his cloak, and started walking to where he hoped was civilization and supplies.
Lucy
Lucy strode along her usual path, lost in thought. Plue wandered beside her, oblivious to the entire world, per usual. The overcast of the day threatened rain, but Lucy had on her usual attire despite the weather, simply not noticing nor caring of the world around her, save the feeling she was being followed.
'Somethings up, something spooky.' She glanced about, pushing her blonde hair behind her ear and checking the surroundings, 'Everything seems normal, but I better get to the guild. Maybe they can shed some light on my hunch.'
"Careful, miss!" Called the usual boatman, knocking Lucy out of her trance and forcing her off balance on the ledge. She would've fallen, if not for her pink-haired, firebreathing, psuedo-stalker and his annoyingly adorable flying companion grabbing her hand just in time.
"Woah, Luce, maybe you should pay attention when you walk." He said, pulling Lucy back to solid ground. The boy was all too familiar to her, and doubly frustrating. His constant eating, reckless attitude, and boyish immaturity usually had Lucy seething with rage. But that was Natsu, and she could stand him, as Lucy found his jokes and attitude charming more often than not, even if he was a total idiot sometimes.
"Yeah Lucy, I knew you were an airhead, but not that much of one!" His high-flying companion bothered her more, if just purely for his ego, which had gone through the roof long before she had met him.
Lucy sighed, missing the serenity of her thoughts already.
"Natsu, Happy, thanks for the save, but I could do without the wise-cracks." Lucy said while firing a warning glare at them. She tried to be mad, she tried pretty hard, but they had kept her dry, and it was a cold morning. As much as they bothered her, they were her best friends, and life would be dull without them.
"Please, Lucy," Happy started, his tone drier than any desert, "Natsu's here, so wisdom had nothing to do with it." Natsu's previously carefree smile flipped instantly, showing off his fiery tempermant, and pearly-white fangs, at Happy's expense, but Lucy kept walking, ignoring her suddenly fueding friends. She had places to be, questions to ask, and rent to pay.
"Come on, you two. I feel like a job today." Lucy started to move towards the hall at the center of the town of Magnolia, but was stopped, unintentionally, by Natsu, who was still gripping her hand and glaring at Happy. Despite the lack of intention, Lucy still blushed when she noticed what held her back.
"Oooooh. When's the Honeymoon?" Happy teased, snickerring behind his paws, never missing a chance to poke fun, no matter the subject. Natsu immeadiatly let go, light color appearing in his cheeks as he turned towards their destination, suddenly very interested in getting to the guild hall.
"Now is not the time, Cat!" Lucy, on the other hand, freaked out at the defenseless exceed, who ducked behind his dragon-slayer companion in response to the outburst, using his friend as a shield.
"A job sounds refreshing right now, but breakfast comes first, Lucy. Espescially since you didn't have much at your place." Happy nodded from behind him as Natsu folded his toned arms behind his head, one of which was wrapped within a sleeve of his closed jacket. Lucy meanwhile, rolled her eyes slowly so the thick-headed dragon-slayer would see her annoyance.
'Priorities, Natsu, for the love of...' Lucy grit her teeth to keep from drop-kicking the poor guy into the river, suddenly remembering why she left earlier than him.
"Who's fault is that?" Lucy kept her temper in check, trying to reason with him. "I had plenty of food last night, but its always the now with you. And always at the expense of my kitchen and wallet." She sighed again, rubbing her temples, knowing that her logic wouldn't get far with them.
'I don't have the energy to deal with him yet' she thought, Natsu and Happy's antics making her completely forgetting the paranoia and suspicions Lucy once was pondering.
"Well let's just get to Fairy Tail, I'm starving." And with that the conversation muted to a comfortable silence as they began the trek to the center of the city.
"Aye!"
Calem
'Fairy Tail? A local guild? Man I spend way too much time out in the woods, I'm out of the loop.' Calem slid silently in the shadows near the two friends, following and eavesdropping on them while running through guild names in his head.
'Maybe there's a lead on his wearabouts, it is a wizard guild after all,' Calem kept his hope at a dull roar, 'I should talk to them now while their numbers are small, just in case.' He kept his pace a few steps behind them, working out his words so he didn't seem like a total creep, which, in theory, he was, but that's besides the point.
"Damn!" Calem heard the female say, her pink-haired and flying cat companions stopping beside her, eyebrows raised with a mix of curiousity and concern. "Forgot something back at my place. Meet you guys there, ok?" Calem watched as the other two waved and kept walking, not at all bothered, as Ms. Blonde ran back the way she came.
'Some friends.' Nobody could see it, but he scowled and followed the blonde instead of her friend, reasoning through his observartions that the female was the more understanding of the two.
'I just hope I don't scare her off...'
'You're the one that is unreasonably judging her friends right now.' Calem groaned almost audibly at the response. The voice it went with seemed like his own, but with that different, more upbeat, tone as before.
'And now you're back, wonderful.'
'Hey, get some consistant company, and I wouldn't need to be here, would I?' Calem waved in the air close to his head, like swatting a fly. An invisble, intrusive, upbeat, bothersome fly.
'Harder than it looks, figment me. Now, shush, I'm planning my words.' He could hear his sassier self laugh.
'There's your problem right there: you think too much. Conversations are natural, calm, and relative. Planning your exact words makes it forced, rough around the edges. You won't get anywhere with people.'
'Says my imagination.' Calem kept his eyes on the girl, who had fallen into a brisk pace toward her destination, splitting his concentration between his thoughts and his plan.
'Hey, I'm you, so this is your own logic. Don't be so down.'
'Just go away.'
'You got it, pal. But heed my advice, or your own advice, if you choose to think about it like that, we being one in the same and all.' Calem moaned again into his cloak, nerves pricked. He desperately didn't want a headache, and theorizing mental voices wouldn't help.
'Byeeee!'
'Leaving!' His figmented "friend" left him alone again, watching the young, pretty, blonde stroll into a building, leaving Calem no choice, so he bunked down at the building side-alley and pulled his hood farther up.
'I guess I wait.'
Lucy
Lucy closed the door to her apartment behind her, running through the possible locations of her latest novel idea. She promised Levy she could read it when the first chapter was done, and it was. But there was something else there too, that eerie, I'm-being-followed-again-but-don't-tell-the-guild feeling. At the same time though, she didn't feel in danger, just curious.
"Book." One word, and the attention span Lucy had on all topics formed into one, finding those goddamn pages. There were a lot of places possible: mixed in with her letters; amongst another project; under her bed, and several of which involved Natsu.
'Sooo...none pleasant,' she concluded upon sifting through the list. How hard was it to find a few of pages? Certainly not as hard as writing them?
"Book!" Lucy repeated, more forcefully this time, keeping her mind on track. It helped, but didn't entirely work. Her mind kept slipping into daydreams of Natsu reading it with Gray, Erza, or worse: Happy. And there was still that weird feeling she was getting...
"Princess? Are you looking for something?" Lucy jumped at the familair spirit's voice, something she heard many times over and a voice she hoped to keep hearing for years to come. It was the Celestial Spirit of the Maiden.
"Virgo," Lucy started catching her breath while leaning on her desk, the pink-haired, maid-outfit clad spirit staring intently at her, head cocked to the left slightly, "don't startle me like that." Virgo, upon the complaint, got a sudden faraway look in her eyes. Lucy knew what was next.
"You are upset. Should I be punished?" Virgo, despite the morbid request, seemed thrilled at the idea of her own torture. Lucy, however, did not.
"No, Virgo. Just...no." She began to rub her temples, which she learned helped her sanity stay put. "What compelled you to pass through your gate? To help me look?"
'I wouldn't object,' she added mentally. Unfortunatly for her, Virgo shook her head.
"Sorry, but no, Princess. I crossed over to tell you that someone is following you, that's all. Be careful, and good luck with you expedition!" Virgo faded away in a flash of gold, leaving the bewildered Lucy alone with her thoughts and rising paranoia.
'Following me? What? How? Why? I didn't sense anything? Or did I? Maybe that's what I was feeling, and Virgo wouldn't steer me wrong, would she? Maybe Loki put her up to this, though. But he isn't that mean, right? Ahhh!' Lucy sat down in her worn, wooden chair, thinking over this new knowledge with a fine-tooth comb, which let her building nervousness get the better of her.
'Its probably a he, and he is super creepy, for sure. What if he is this A-Class pervert? He couldn't be watching me, could he? Magic is a fickle thing. Ohhhh...what-am-I-gonna-do?!' She started pacing the floor of her apartment, stressing at this follower's mere existance. Stressing, until another friend crossed over to help.
"Jeez, Lucy...pull it together." Lucy looked up from biting her nails to see another shimmering gold figure. This welcome company looked sharp, a usual for him, with deep orange hair like a lion's mane and blue tinted shades, which he pushed up when Lucy met his gaze.
"Hey, Loki. Guess you heard." Loki, or Leo the Lion as he could be known. Stood with his excellent posture in front of her. Lucy, while she knew she would never admit it to Loki and his oversized ego, was instantly calmed by his presence.
"Yeah, Virgo can't keep secrets to well. Not her fault. She's just eager, sometimes."
"Don't I know it."
"Yeah. So, this intruder...what are you going to do about him?" Lucy looked out the window next to her bed, which was habitually open due to Natsu's apparent allergy to her front door. But she perked up after a moment staring, thinking about how her Fairy Tail comerades would handle an invader.
"Guess I've just gotta face my follower. Tell the creep to bug off. I can handle that." Lucy stated the reassurance outloud, convincing herself of her capabilities, Loki's presence and the idea of her guildmates clobbering this clown making her braver than she felt.
"That's the way. Go get 'em, tiger, and feel free to call me anytime, for anything." Lucy saw Loki off with a symultaneous smile and glare. With newfound confidence, Lucy wanted to strut off and give this stalker a piece of her mind (and the ol' 1-2), but she felt like she was forgetting something.
"Book!"
Chapter 1 is UP! Yes! I'm sorry, but this being my first story and all, its pretty cool. I'm stoked, yes, stoked. Anyway to business: Review Responses. I figured I'd do 'em since i keep making a big deal about reviews and how you should...do them. So time to put my money where my mouth is.
From lovelylittlebow:
I know this is only the prologue, and I wanted to wait until more of the story came out, but it was just so excited to see you writing something so interesting and mysterious! And to be honest, OC's usually turn me off when reading a story, but I love how real you wrote Calem already. You gave him so many conflicting emotions to deal with (angry, depressed, afraid). And the plot seems to different from everything else I've read. I'm very excited to read more. :)
(Don't I know you? ;)) Thanks! Im glad I could hold your interest even with an OC. To be honest, OC are hit and miss with me as well, as you need to craft them right and put themnin the right senario to fit within the other character arcs. I tried to do that, and only time will tell if it pans out. And for me, emotions and capability are the keys to character. If they dont FEEL, how do you get invested in him/her, and if they are totally unable to do anything right, then why should I like him/her? Thank you though for the kind words. I really do try to make this interesting, from character, plot, and action standpoints.