Lucy [Flashback]

Captatio [Pursuit] – IV [Pars I]

"The question was, would I keep my promise to Natsu about leaving as well?"

I wanted to sleep in today, but Thursdays were cleaning days, so everyone had to be doing something. I would've slept a little longer if it wasn't for all the commotion outside. Why was everyone making so much noise this early in the morning? I wanted to go back to sleep, but for me , once I wake up, going back to sleep is a challenge. I drowsily got out of bed and left my room. Servants were running around like crazy. Some even bumped into me quickly apologizing as they sped past, and one even stepped on my foot (ouch). What was going on? It was like a circus in here. I stopped one of the passing by servants to ask. "What's going on?"

He looked confused. "Haven't you heard? The young master is nowhere to be found. Lord Shinken ordered a thorough search of the premises." He quickly went away. Natsu couldn't possibly be missing. Deep within myself, however, I knew that this was denial. I felt like crying. Why did he have to go so soon? I missed him already. What should I do? More like, what could I do? I was hoping this was a nightmare because, it seemed more dream-like than real. Was Igneel that important to him? Or was I that much into denial? If I hadn't seen my dad in years, I'd be eager to find him too. Not in my case of course, my dad's a whole another story. The question was, would I keep my promise to Natsu about leaving as well?

For some reason, this reminded me of the time when Natsu and I were much younger. He would always come into my room at night and sleep on my bed while I was asleep. And then I would wake up early in the morning, just to find him right next to me. It was an everyday thing. I was always wondering why he couldn't sleep in his own room, which was much bigger and cozier than mine. Every morning after that, there would be a huge commotion like there is now, and everyone would be searching for him. After a while, he stopped doing it. Guess he outgrew it. This time they would search for him in vain. He was gone, and I knew it. But today was one of those days, I wouldn't have minded waking up and finding him right next to me.

Since I was doing absolutely nothing, I decided to partake in the "search" for Natsu. I had to get these jitters out of me. I just felt so emotional. I was sprinting around like everybody else, until I was about to turn a corner and I bumped into someone and fell on the floor. What is with me and bumping into people? When I looked, I was shocked. It was Lady Shinken herself, here, at the servants' quarter. "G-g-good morning, my lady." She stretched out her hand.

"I can't have such a lovely young lady lying on the floor like that. Please allow me to help you up." All of the other servants in the hallway were stunned. Why was she even here? Whatever Natsu heard, must've been really important for her to be here.

"Thank you very much." I said. I don't stutter very often, but it's like, behind her beautiful face, I felt intimidated for some reason. Everyone was just staring at us.

"Well? Don't you have something you should be doing?" Lady Shinken said to the rest of the servants in the hallway.

"YES MY LADY!", they said in unison, and then they restarted their chase.

We were alone now. Natsu warned me earlier about his parents, so right now I was on my guard. What did she want with me anyway? She came closer to me and started fiddling with my hair. "What lovely hair you have, it's so soft and golden. I just need to have it. I would kill for hair like this." My blood began to curl. The emphasis she put on the word kill, sounded as if she was serious. "But don't worry dear child, it was all but a joke!" I swear, this lady can read minds or something. She averted her eyes to the key around my neck. Then her face became dead serious. "You wouldn't happen to know something about where my son went, would you?"

"No my lady, I would not." I said. Her face was just so enticing, almost kind of like the full moon, I saw last night. I almost felt guilty lying to her. "Actually I-"

"Lucy!" I recognized that as my dad's voice. "What are you doing idling around? You should be looking for the young mast-" He then realized who was in front of me, and quickly changed to kiss-up mode. "Good morning my lady. Hope you are doing well this morning."

"I am. Thank you." She didn't look the part.

"Please excuse our rudeness, we will be leaving now. I think I may have found where the young master is. We will head there now." Our rudeness? OUR RUDENESS? What the hell?

"What do you mean, I'm not-" he picked me up, bowed to Lady Shinken, and proceeded to walk away from her. Then we turned a corner. The Lady remained quiet as we left.

"What did you think you were doing? Put me down. I was-" then I stopped. I realized he'd actually helped me out back there. If it wasn't for him, I would've probably opened my mouth, and exposed everything. He put me down.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You should be looking for the young master" he said. "I don't know what you planned on doing talking to the Lady so upfront like that, but don't ever do it again. You are a servant like everyone else here. Know your place." The words "know your place" began to ring over and over in my head. I expected no less from my dad. Of course, the one moment when I think he's trying to be helpful, it's actually the other way around. Now my feelings about leaving have changed as well. Even if I left to meet him, I felt as if he would always have superiority over me. As a servant, it's only normal to be knowledgeable of my lower status. Leaving would be much harder than I thought.

Hello nakama! Tao here, hehe. Wow, I'm at 4 chapters already? This is an amazing feat for me haha. There will be a chapter 4.5 and also a part 2 for this chapter, so please stay tuned for any more updates. So like always, don't be hesitant to put a review in for me. It would help a lot ^^. Well that's it guise, Tao is over and out!

-Tao :D