Chapter Three: Crescent Lunar
I awoke with a start. I looked around, wondering where I was. The perfectly green grass and beautiful garden seemed really familiar to me.
"Where am I?" I said aloud, surprised at my light voice. I paused, shocked and looked at my hand. It was so tiny, like a child's. I looked around again and realised where this place was.
My home, I thought. I got up off the ground and realised by my height, I was a child. I walked around without really paying attention to where I was going, lost in my thoughts. Then I realised I was standing in front of my mother's grave.
"Mother," I said, looking at the grave. Judging by the appearance, it was recently done which meant recently, my mother had died…
Just then, small ripples began to appear, like when you toss a pebble into a pool. Then I saw a woman step out, almost looking identical to me.
"Mother," I said, shocked.
She smiled, "Lucy."
I began crying, "You're alive! Mother!"
"Don't cry," she said, crouching down and wiping away my tears, "I'm very proud of you, Lucy. You have become very strong and took care of my Celestial keys. But there is a great danger approaching you. You will have to make a decision, but I know you will do the right thing. Gray was right. When you're part of a guild, you help others, no matter how large the danger. Your team is going to need your help this time and you're the only one that can do it. I believe in you, Lucy. Make me proud, ne?" she said, smiling gently, before fading away.
"Mother!" I cried, trying to grab her back, "Don't go! Matte! What do you mean?"
"Ahhh!" I yelped, jerking up.
"Lucy?" said Erza, startled, "What's wrong?"
I looked behind me. Gray was still sleeping like a rock. I sighed in relief, glad I hadn't woken him up, "Nothing," I said, lying back against Gray's neck, "I just had a dream."
I wouldn't necessarily classify it as a good dream, nor a bad dream, just a dream.
"Oh," said Erza. I was glad she didn't dwell on it too much, "OK. We're reaching the island, Crescent Lunar now. Oi, Natsu, wake up!" she said, reaching across and hitting him a few times on the face lightly.
I wriggled free one of my arms and poked Gray's face a few times, "Gray, wake up!"
He mumbled something and held onto me more tightly until I could barely breathe, "Erza… help…"
She sighed and lifted one of the oars so it was over Gray's face and let a few drops of water drizzle on his face.
He twitched and started to wake up, rubbing his eyes, allowing me to breathe. Happy also twitched and woke up, rubbing his own eyes, "Are we nearly there?"
"As a matter of fact, I'm floating onto the coast right now," answered Erza, the boat drifting onto the sandbar and stopping. Natsu was the first to hop out and started taking huge, deep breaths, probably glad he was on the ground again.
I got up and stretched a bit before getting out. Gray and Happy followed suit while Erza dragged the luggage onto the shore.
"OK, let's go," said Erza, walking ahead, "I haven't gotten any sleep so I want to get to that castle quick."
As we walked through the small town of Crescent Lunar, I could see the people here lived in peace, although some houses looked as if they were being repaired and as if they were broken into.
The kidnappers, I thought, looking at the poor folk who had to fix their broken windows and vandalised houses. We continued walking until we reached the castle in the middle of the town. There were large, barred gates outside the enormous garden guarded by two armed guards.
As we approached, one of them stepped forward, "What business do you have here? Your group doesn't seem like town folk."
"We're Fairy Tail wizards," said Natsu, bold as ever. He held out the request paper which we had brought along, "We're here for this request."
"Any proof?" asked the second guard, "While you might have come with this request made by our King, you must prove you are Fairy Tail wizards. Since the Princess' kidnapping, we have been on high alert, you see."
"Fair enough," I said, holding out my hand with the Fairy Tail mark, "Here's some proof."
The others showed their marks. One guard stepped forward and looked at the marks. He looked at his partner and nodded, "These seem genuine enough."
"All right," said Guard Number Two, "You may go in, although you will have some guards escort you to the King's chambers."
"Fine," agreed Erza before speaking to us, "Let's go."
As we walked in, some guards emerged from the castle and walked over to us. We exchanged brief greetings before they led us into the castle.
The insides of the castle were beautiful, much like my old home. There were polished floors, large portraits of members of the family hung up and a grand, curving staircase. I looked at one portrait of a young woman who must have been the princess or a very young Queen.
She had light brown wavy hair reaching past her shoulders, out loose. I couldn't tell how long her hair really was because of the length of the portrait which was just from just below her shoulders and up. Her face was a perfect oval and had huge deep brown eyes. Her nose and mouth were both perfect, her mouth turned up at the corners into a smile, showing off her pearly white teeth. I couldn't really tell the outfit but it seemed to be a black, long sleeved dress with a square neckline and silver outline. She also wore a silver chain with a black raindrop pendant.
"She's beautiful," I whispered to Gray. The perfect depiction of a princess.
"I suppose," shrugged Gray, "I never really noticed."
We walked up to some grand double doors that must have been where the King was. One guard stepped forward and knocked on the door, "Excuse us, sir. The Fairy Tail wizards are here for your request."
"Come in," said a deep voice on the other side.
They pushed open the doors and gestured for us to go inside. We did and saw the King sitting at a large desk, much like my father's when he used to be in his study all day. The room was well lit with bright lights.
The King was a middle-age man with deep, short brown hair that didn't look as if it had been brushed in a while. He had on a silk, navy blue robe, tied at the front. He had the same eyes as his daughter only narrower.
"You may leave for us to discuss the details of the kidnapping," he said to the guards.
"Yes, sir," they said and left, closing the doors behind them.
"Please, sit," said the King, pushing his paperwork to the side and placing his pen next to them. He waved his hand at some chairs and a couch around a table in the room.
We walked there and sat down, Happy sitting on the armrest on Natsu's chair.
The King then got out of his chair and went to sit down on one of the chairs, "So, Fairy Tail wizards, I believe you are here to help with my request?" he tapped a piece of paper on the table which was a copy of the request we had.
"Yes," answered Erza, "However, in order to do that, we must gather as much information as possible; which includes asking you some basic questions about the kidnapping."
"I understand," said the King, "But before that, I have to learn your names…?"
"Erza Scarlet," said Erza and gestured to each person as she said their name, "Natsu Dragneel, the cat is Happy, Gray Fullbuster and Lucy Heartfilia."
"Heartfilia?" said the King, surprised, "The wealthy Heartfilia family?"
"Yes," I answered, "However, it is no longer so." My father had decided to start over at his old guild place when he lost his fortune.
"I suppose you're right," said the King, "It was quite a shock."
"I guess we'll just refer to you as 'sir'," said Erza, changing the subject.
"As you wish," said the King.
"Well, sir, first of all, what is the name of your daughter?"
"Chantelle," answered the King immediately, "Chantelle Lesdales."
"Right," said Erza, "The date of the kidnapping?"
"The 21st of November."
"I see. Do you know where the base is?"
"No idea."
"Well, where have you been asked to pay the ransom?" asked Erza, "If you pay the money, someone will pick it up and our team will follow them to their base."
"Right," said the King, "But if I pay the ransom, won't they let Chantelle go? I have to pay the ransom at the pier. It's near the edge of town."
"Believe me, I know criminals like this," said Erza, "They're sadists and they would probably kill your daughter just for the pleasure of it."
The King looked potentially sick. I nudged Erza and mouthed, don't.
She mouthed back, he has to know.
I suppose he had to but I still felt sorry for him. There was something else in his expression, "Wait," I said. I'm sure the others had noticed this too but had not yet said anything, "Do you even have enough money to pay this ransom? How much exactly did they ask for?"
The King didn't look us in the eye, "200 million jewel."
"200—" said Gray, "That's insane!"
"Perhaps," said the King, "You see, my wife recently passed away and I spent too much on the funeral preparations. I went in a depressed state and wasted lots of money stupidly."
"Well," said Natsu, turning to Erza, "What are we going to do?"
"This is what we'll do," said Erza, "The King will get a suitcase, perhaps filling it with something like bricks. When the kidnappers or their accomplices or whoever picks it up, we'll follow them to the base, maybe ambushing them or something like that. Though, the thing I'm worried about it is…"
"Come on, there's nothing to worry about!" said Natsu enthusiastically, "We're going to beat the crap out of them!"
"We're worried about you, Natsu," said Gray bluntly, "And your temper. If you blow up at them, they might pull the trigger on Chantelle."
"Just promise us you won't go crazy Natsu," I said, putting a hand on his arm, "Please."
He was hesitant but slowly registered the facts, "Fine."
"Thank you," said Erza, "There's a lot at stake here, Natsu. We just had to make sure we won't have to worry about your temper. But for now, we should get some rest. You too, sir," she said to the King.
"Yes," agreed the King, "There are some guest rooms in the castle. The guards shall show you."
"We'd be better off moving quickly," said Gray, "Should we do this tomorrow?"
"Yeah," said Erza, "Sir?"
"Yes, the sooner the better," he agreed.
"Well, let's get some rest," said Erza.
We all got up and walked out the doors. Guards were already there, guiding us to our rooms.
The room was even more beautiful. Pure white furniture and plush carpet. I could imagine Natsu flopping onto the bed, Gray probably stark naked since it was so hot for him and Erza the only person who would treat this room like a normal person.
I went to the white cupboard and looked at the various clothes in there for guests. I picked out a pale blue silk nightie and slipped into it. Surprisingly, it fit as if it had been tailored for me. I went to the long mirror beside the bedside table. It looked great even though I didn't really care about that. I did the normal routine before bed and slipped under the covers when I'd finished. I switched off the light.
Tomorrow will be hard, I thought, But I will make my mother proud.