Lucy had never run this fast before.
She has never run this long before.
She ran like her life depended on it - which it did.
The ship was huge and Lucy was sure she would get lost. She just hope she wouldn't run into a dead end.
She could hear the footsteps behind her. Like before, the demons weren't even running. It annoyed Lucy.
"Ha! Got ya!" A new guy appeared in front of Lucy.
Lucy ducked, going in between his legs and onto the other side. Lucy could sense the guy's confusion.
Before she knew it, she was on the main deck.
And there was a lot of demons on the main deck.
"I knew I shouldn't have let Pin look after that nymph!" The man who slapped Lucy exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.
"What are you all looking at?!" He roared at the others.
"GET HER!"
The men all rushed towards Lucy.
'Okay...' Lucy thought. 'Don't panic, Lucy. You can do this.'
And she could.
She dodged all attempts to grab her and ran.
Then the man who slapped her, lunged for her.
Lucy had no choice.
She jumped overboard.
Into the dark sea below.
"Should we follow her?" A demon - named Pin - asked rubbing the back of his head with his left hand.
"No, of course not, just let her get away... OF COURSE GET HER YOU DIMWIT!" A blond-haired demon roared.
"No don't," The white-haired man - the one who lunged and missed for Lucy - said. It was clear he led the group.
"What?!" The blond-haired demon snarled.
"I said," The white-haired man turned to look at him.
"Let her go, she wasn't pure anyway."
"What d'ya mean 'wasn't pure'?" Pin asked.
The black-haired man sighed, before straightening his shoulders and shouting instructions to his crew to depart.
"Why does she remind me so much of you... Jude?" The white-haired man - known as Capricorn - whispered, before turning and walking back indoors.
Lucy gasped as the cold, dark water hit her.
It took a moment for her lungs to get used to the lack of the oxygen levels in the water. Soon, Lucy was breathing as she would've in land.
Yes, every creature in this world can breathe underwater.
Not many can breathe in Hell though, more about that later.
Lucy was still sinking, slowly, down to the bottom of the ocean. Her chains were dragging her down - she was sure, she could at least doggy paddle without these chains!
Her simple,white frock was rising up against the small current underwater. Lucy wanted to push her frock - what if someone sees? - but her body was too tired to even think.
She slowly landed, her soft feet landing on the wet sand scattered with seashells and small creatures. Lucy look around her surroundings.
She was in a small reef. There was coral of every color. Small fish swimming through them, but running away as soon as they saw Lucy. Small shelled creatures scuttling through the sand, avoiding her feet.
Lucy was definitely not sad that the animals were avoiding.
Definitely.
Lucy shook her head, she needed to get out of here.
And that's when it hit her.
She was in the middle of the sea, without proper clothes, hungry and thirsty and not knowing the direction to where her home was.
Lucy bit her lip, trying not to cry.
She decided to focus on the marine life instead.
And that's when she saw the most beautiful blue hair - ever!
Well, to be fair, she's never seen anyone with blue hair before.
Upon closer inspection, it was a mermaid. A mermaid! Lucy was ecstatic! She has never seen a mermaid before!
Hang on a second.
Was the mermaid hiding from her?
Lucy was frustrated. Why were all the animals and a mermaid scared of her? She would never hurt them - though, they didn't know that.
The mermaid slowly swam towards Lucy.
Lucy drew in a breath.
The mermaid swam around Lucy three times, inspecting her. Her father always told her to not talk to strangers.
But, this girl was adorable! And she couldn't bring herself to abandon the poor soul.
"Hello." she said slowly to Lucy. Lucy couldn't help but be awestruck at the beauty of her voice.
Lucy smiled, a big smile, and replied.
"Hi!"
Lucy forgot about her dilemma for a bit.
"Uhhh..." Lucy bit her lip, pondering whether to ask the mermaid to untie her chains or not.
Lucy took a deep breath.
"Can you remove my chains?"
The mermaid looked at Lucy. Her blue eyes into Lucy's brown.
"No." She replied, flatly.
Lucy's face fell.
"Unless..." The mermaid grasped Lucy's hands.
"Will you become Juvia's friend?"
Juvia? So that was her name?
Wait...
'She wants to be my friend?!'
"Of course!" Lucy beamed at Juvia.
Juvia smiled.
And the chains were gone.
Lucy turned around. They were cut in half.
"How..."
"That's Juvia's magic. Juvia can control water, well Juvia uses water magic."
"Oh. That's really cool. Mine's nothing compared to yours."
"What is your magic?" Juvia asked, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"Uhhh..." Lucy trailed off. At that particular moment, her wounds began healing.
"Wow! Healing powers huh? Mer-people are never born with healing powers."
"Uhhh... Yeah..." Lucy tried to brush the topic away.
"Juvia's name is Juvia. What's yours?"
"Lucy."
"Ooooh, pretty name!"
"Thanks. Yours is cool too."
Juvia giggled.
"Uhh... Juvia?"
Juvia looked at Lucy.
"Can I... touch your hair? It's really pretty..." Lucy said, shyly.
"Of course!" Juvia beamed.
As Lucy's hand began to move to touch Juvia's hair, there was a voice.
"JUVIA!"