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Chapter 10

"2 hours miss," a maid said from outside the door and Lucy was about to get a heart attack. She began to pace back and forth in the room, pulling the train around with her. The room was big and white, and roses of all colours were surrounding her.

"Why are you nervous?" she whispered to herself while walking. "It's not like this'll mean anything. Not anything. Nothing." Suddenly a picture of her and Mako kissing showed before her eyes, and she hurried to shake it away. She couldn't forget what her father had said yesterday.

-X-x-X-

"Let him in," Lucy said and the door immediately opened. Her father stood in the door and got an unusually soft look in his eyes when he saw her. She had never seen him look at her like that before.

"Father?" Lucy said and gave him a little smile. He waited until the door closed behind him before he walked toward her and lifted a hand toward her face, but stopped a few inched from it and dropped it again.

"You look acceptable," he said and his serious mask was put back on.

"Thank you," Lucy said and for once she was almost thankful that he didn't begin to get emotional. She wouldn't be able to bear it.

"I see you fit the dress – that's good," he said and for the first time in Lucy's life she saw a little awkwardness in his eyes. It almost made her smile.

"Father, you don't have to say anything," Lucy said and tried to smile. "You can just lea-."

"You look like your mother," he interrupted and Lucy had to give a little gasp. He hurried to continue, "It's her dress. That's why I sent that particular dress to you."

"Is it?" Lucy said and suddenly the dress got even heavier.

"Yes, I still remember how beautiful she looked in it," he said and Lucy sighed deeply. She really had to be tortured. "You look just like her."

"Thank you, father…that," she hesitated and closed her eyes for a second, "that means a lot."

"Lucy!" he said and Lucy opened her eyes. "All this time I have wanted this wedding out of financial reasons, but I just want to tell you that," he held a short pause and looked her in the eyes, "that I'm also glad that this'll make you happy."

-X-x-X-

Lucy had to shake the memory away. Why did her father pick now to treat her well? She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. The talk with Supetto had hurt just as much.

"This was so easy," Natsu said, grinning widely. "They should really get some better security guards. They didn't even see us crawl over the wall!"

"Maybe, but they will find us if you don't shut up," Gray said.

Natsu curled his hand into a fist, but two thick plants suddenly wrapped around their mouths and tightened. The three mages sat outside in a bush after crawling over the high wall around the Heartphilia mansion. Gray had shown them the best way around the guards.

"Be quiet, someone's coming," Alica whispered, while the boys began to panic, and tried to save themselves from suffocation. It was two maids. They walked and gossiped quietly.

"Miss Lucy is acting rather odd. She doesn't seem happy at all," one of the maids said. "What do you think, Amelia?"

"Mu-shi," Gray mumbled through the plant, but Alica lifted a finger to make him quiet. The maids didn't seem to have heard anything.

"Yeah you're right," Amelia said. "Master Makoto is acting even worse, locking himself up like that."

"Maybe he could have second thoughts, but Lucy?" the first maid said. "I mean, Mako is hot!" Gray and Natsu suppressed cries of pain when Alica tightened the plants in anger at the maids.

"You're so right," Amelia giggled, but before they could talk any more, they rounded a corner and disappeared from view and hearing range. Natsu gave a muffled exclamation as his hand managed to get a hold around the plant. He concentrated his energy and the plant began to burn and let go of him and Gray.

They fell to their knees, gasping for breath, while Alica ignored them and tried to suppress her anger.

"Those cheap little…" she said between clenched teeth. "I should just…"

Gray got to his feet, still panting a little, and looked around. It seemed like they were alone for now, which was a good thing for them to invade the gigantic house. "We should go," he said and Alica nodded, her arms still shaking with anger and her eyes smouldering.

"Were do you think she is?" Alica said when they started to tiptoe toward a door for the staff.

"I have only been inside her room. I don't know the rest of the mansion," Gray said and pressed his ear to the door.

"How did you know it was her room?" Alica said, wondering aloud.

"Roses up the wall, pink curtains – definitely Lucy's room," Gray said with a smirk. He pressed his ear closer to the door.

"Let me do that, I have better ears then you," Natsu said and pushed Gray away. Gray was about to tell him off, but Alica poked him on the shoulder and got his attention back.

"Why are you so calm about this?" she whispered. "I, myself, am so nervous and torn up that I can barely concentrate, but you! You act like you're on a normal mission or something!" Gray looked at her with a serious stare, his eyes were completely calm and a crooked smile formed on his lips.

"I guess, I'm too confident in myself," Gray said. "I'm pretty sure Lucy will pick me."

"But she's getting married, and soon. Didn't you think about that?" Alica pressed and almost got frustrated by his lack of concern. Before Gray got to answer, Natsu interrupted them.

"I'm pretty sure there's no one in there," he said and opened the door.

"Good," Gray said and left Alica with no answer. She sighed and followed the two boys inside. They walked right into a small kitchen – probably used to cook for the staff. It was empty, and left completely cleaned.

"OH! Look a cake!" Natsu exclaimed and ran toward a big chocolate cake.

"You pig!" Gray said, disgusted, when Natsu yanked a piece of the cake off and stuffed it in his mouth. Alica shook her head silently and began to look for another door.

"Guys," Alica said and pointed at a door across the room. Natsu turned his attention away from the cake and hurried to join the others when they opened the next door.

They stepped right into the main hall. It was four times the size of Lucy's apartment and at the other end of the room was a stair, where a red haired woman sat with a big grin on her face.

"You're late," she said amused and got to her feet. The three mages stopped and heard the door slam behind them and the lock clicked.

"What is this?" Alica said and didn't leave the woman with her eyes.

"You really thought we would just let you come here and ruin everything?" the redhead said, laughing. "Kids!"

Gray pushed Alica and Natsu aside and walked determinedly toward the woman, his hands smoking with cold air.

"You're in my way!" he said angrily and sent a rain of ice crystals toward her. She laughed again and dodged them easily. Gray clenched his teeth in anger and got ready to fight, but suddenly an arm stretched out in front of him and stopped him.

"Wait!" Natsu said, his eyes serious. "You two go! I'll stay and distract her."

"No way!" Gray said angrily and tried to get around him, but Natsu just grabbed his arm and held him back (the shirt was gone, once again).

"Listen to me! Both you and Alica have someone waiting for you. Don't waste your time here!" Natsu said and held Gray's gaze. Gray opened his mouth to say something, but closed it quickly and gave him a little nod.

"Fine, but…" Gray eyed the woman, "she seems strong."

"Yeah, but I'm stronger!" Natsu said with a smirk. "Now go and get your girl!"

"Right!"

"Miss Lucy, it's time to head for the church," a maid said and opened the door. Lucy sat in a chair with her eyes focused on the floor, but she raised them by the sound of the maid's voice.

"Thank you. I'm ready," Lucy said, getting to her feet. The maid gave her a calming smile and squeezed her hand.

"It's okay, I'm married too. I know how it is, how nerve-wracking it is before you go, but you'll feel so happy when you're walking down the aisle toward the love of your life," she said and handed a bouquet of beautiful white roses to Lucy. "Don't worry." Lucy was surprised to hear that she was married, she was so young – only a couple of years older than Lucy.

Lucy gave her a little smile and closed her hands around the flowers. This felt so wrong, all these friendly people and family members. She didn't deserve their kindness and gifts.

"Lucy," she heard the maid say, "by the way, I noticed that you aren't wearing anything blue."

"Blue?" Lucy said and felt tears build in her eyes when she saw the maid hand her something.

"Yes, a bride should wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue." She showed her a little hairpin, with a blue flower on it.

"You're wearing your mother's old dress and the new pearls in your hair, but you need something borrowed and blue," the maid explained. "This can be both."

She took a lock of Lucy's hair, which had fallen out of the styled hair, and pressed the hairpin gently into it.

"Maybe I should take it out. It doesn't fit with the pearls," the maid apologized. She reached for the hairpin, but Lucy caught her hand.

"It's perfect," she whispered. The maid first looked surprised, but then she softened up and nodded slowly.

"But let's not waste any more time. We have to be at the church. You don't want to be late for your own wedding," she said, and tried to cover over her obvious happiness that Lucy would wear the hairpin.

Lucy didn't respond to her words. She had noticed a weird noise from the main hall. It sounded like things were breaking. "Um…do you know what's going on in the main hall?" Lucy asked hesitating and was about to go and check it out, but the maid grabbed her shoulder and pulled her gently back.

"I'll have someone look at it right away miss," she said calmly, "but right now, you have a wedding to get to." Lucy was about to argue, but then sighed and let the maid pull her along.

Alica and Gray saw an opening and took it. The woman tried to block their way out with her magic, but Natsu hurried to distract her, allowing Gray and Alica to escape.

"Are you going be okay?" Alica yelled in door.

"Just go, I got this! I'm all fired up!" Natsu yelled with a smirk.

Gray grabbed Alica's shoulder and yanked her with him through the door, closing just before the circles of red light the woman had sent against them made contact with their skin.

"Come on!" Gray roared and Alica finally began to run. Gray ran up some stairs nearby, and hoped they would lead the right way.

"Where are we going?" Alica yelled a couple of steps behind Gray.

"Her room is at the top! It's my best guess as to where she is," Gray yelled back.

"No wait!" Alica shrieked. She had stopped by a huge window and her hands and face were pressed against the glass. Gray stopped and hurried back to see what she was looking at. A fancy car was parked outside the mansion's grand front entrance, and a tall man in a suit was holding the door open, leading a young woman inside. A white gown flowed from her shoulders and a tiny blue hairpin shone in her blonde hair.

"Lucy!" Gray screamed, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "Damn it!"

"We won't get down there in time," Alica said and pointed at the car with panicking movements. Gray's lips turned into a smirk and he grabbed Alica around her waist.

"OH NO! No no no no!" Alica said and tried to get out of his grip, but he didn't even notice her struggle.

"Hold on tight!" he yelled, before he pulled Alica's head into his shoulder, to cover her eyes, and jumped.

"You're crazzzyyyyyyyyyy!" Alica cried out, as the glass shattered around them and gravity pulled them toward the ground. Alica clung to Gray, screaming and clenching her eyes shut. 'I can't die here!' she thought panicking, but suddenly she felt something under her feet and looked down. They were standing on a plate of ice at the bottom of an ice slide, which stopped the fall toward the ground.

"Um, Alica," Gray said and Alica looked up at him. His eyes were twisted in pain and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"Wha-what is it?" Alica said panicking. "Did you hurt yourself? Was it the glass?"

"No, but…" He paused before continuing. "Could you please take your nails out of my back?" he mumbled, pained.

"OH!" Alica said and hurried to let go; she hadn't realized she had drilled her nails into his back while they fell. Gray sighed in relief when her nails let go, and tried to rub his sore spot.

"Ouch …" he mumbled.

"It's your fault for not warning me!" Alica said stubbornly. Gray was about to argue, but suddenly they heard a car engine start nearby.

"Oh shit! Don't tell me I jumped out of a window for nothing!" he said panicking and began to run toward the road. Alica followed with an annoyed expression.

"You better not have," she whispered and tried to catch up with his long, fast strides.

They saw the long black limousine pull away from the mansion and start to drive down the road. Gray and Alica both began to wave at it.

"STOP! Lucy, stop!" Gray yelled as loud as he could, but the car just continued its drive like nothing happened.

"We're too late," Alica whispered.

"No we aren't!" Gray said between clenched teeth and sent a stream of ice toward the car wheels. Both he and Alica smiled in triumph when the ice began to cover the wheels, but their grins soon faded when the ice quickly melted again.

"What's happening? I didn't think your ice was that weak," Alica said and looked angrily at Gray.

"I don't know why it didn't work! Maybe it was some magic barrier," Gray suggested. Alica groaned and tried to make some plants wrap around the wheels instead, but the flora just rotted and fell off.

"Damn! That girl really wants to get married!"

"Did you hear something?" Lucy asked and looked out the window, but all she saw was black. The windows weren't only tinted from the outside, but from the inside as well, which Lucy didn't really understand, but her maids had reassured her that it was nothing.

"I heard nothing," the two maids that sat around her said identically.

"It'll take fifteen minutes to get to the church," one of the maids said with a grin.

"That long? But I thought it was only a couple of streets from the mansion!" Lucy exclaimed, confused. "Are we driving that slowly?"

"We wanted to drive around town first, just for fun," the other maid said with a fake smile. The two maids was called Amelia and Lia - they were the once that ran with the must gossip.

"But I can't even see out of the windows," Lucy said and raised an eyebrow. They were hiding something from her.

"Don't worry about it, Miss – it's not like were running from something," Lia said and tilted her head.

"Shut up!" Amelia said and kicked her roughly.

Now it was obvious, they were hiding something, but she knew they wouldn't answer if she asked. Instead he started to wave her hand wildly in front of her face.

"It's really hot inhere," Lucy said and pretended to be exhausted, "could you please open the window?"

"Sure!" Lia said and opened the window.

"IDIOT!" Amelia yelled, but Lucy had already leaned over the maid to look out of the window. She gasped when she saw two people run a good distance from the car.

"GRAY!" she yelled surprised. Alica rolled her eyes.

"Luc –" Gray tried, but he was too exhausted to talk.

"What are you doing? You fool, stop running!" Lucy yelled, and suddenly the maids grabbed her shoulders and tried to pull her back in, but she just grabbed around the window and ignored them.

"Forget it!" Gray said between a pant, "I … don't … care what I … said!"

"Please stop!" Lucy yelled and waved him away, "I told you, I'll see you after the wedding – I'll explain everything then."

"NO!" Gray yelled, but it cost him much energy to yell and he had to take a deep inhalation, before he continued, "that's not good enough! Can't you understand that … I … I … lov –" he suddenly lost balance and fell to the ground with a loud thud. He didn't get his hands out in time, and landed hard on the asphalt, dragging his arm along the stone and tearing his forearm open in a large wound.

"GRAY!" Lucy yelled panicking and if the maids hadn't held her back she had probably fallen out of the window in surprise. Alica hurried to stop and ran back to him.

"STOP THE CAR!" Lucy yelled, but the maid just pulled her inside the limousine.

"Miss, I don't mean to be rude, but you're getting married soon, and you have to be there," the second maid said and her eyes were hard and serious.

"But Gray…!" Lucy said and tried to look out of the window, but it was already closed again, and made the outside world look black and dead.

"You're husband, family and real friends is waiting," Amelia said and her eyes were cold. Lucy's mouth was a thin line. She wanted to go back to Gray so bad, but it was better to get this over with and give him a proper explanation afterwards. So she remained silent and fought the anger inside.

"You're a mess," Alica said with horror painted in her eyes. Gray's skin had been pealed off on his forearm and the blood flowed down his fingers and made a little puddle of blood on the road.

"It's nothing," Gray said, but his expression showed something else. Alica got him dragged away from the road and started to measure his condition.

"You need a doctor – what? Your legs too!" Alica said and realized that both his knees were bleeding too. She shook her head, "why didn't she make them stop the car – I mean she's a rich-girl, right? That stupid …"

"Alica, shut up!" Gray panted and got to his legs, but swayed dangerously, "I'm going after them – I'm fine!"

"You're not fine, Gray!" Alica said annoyed and hurried to put his arm around her shoulder, before he fell, "I'm getting you to a hospital – OH! You got to be kidding me, now your mouth starts bleeding too!"

Gray raised a hand and wiped the little stripe of blood off his mouth, with a tomb.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he mumbled.

"Yeah, right!" Alica said and began to drag him with her.

"Alica!" Gray said and used all his weight to make her stop, "please!"

"Gray, you idiot!" Alica said, "I'm not letting you kill yourself!"

"What about Mako?" Gray said and that made Alica silent. She stood for a second and looked at the ground. Then Gray saw a tear run down her cheek, but she wiped it away with an angry movement. Gray hurried to continue.

"If you was in my place, would you let a wound stop you?" Gray asked quietly and tried not to sound as impatient as he was.

"N – no, but … if I let you bleed anymore …"

"Its no problem," Gray said and put a hand on the wound. The ice started to spread over the wound and stopped the bleeding, but it cost Gray powers and he stumbled a little, "It'll stop the bleeding a while, but it won't last forever – so let's go!"

"W –well …" Alica began and her eyes flicked while she thought about it, "then okay, but if you faint on the way, I'm taking you to a hospital!" Alica said and began to follow the road the car had disappeared down.

"Thanks Alica, you know …" she looked at him, "it's hard to believe that you have been in a Dark Guild."

A little smile spread on her lips.

"Let's not get too sentimental – we have a wedding to crash!" she mumbled, and now they could see the church by the end of the road.

Yeah, the wedding is going to be crashed. ^^

Hoped you liked and please check out the story called ´Fearing goodbye´, it's written by YachiByakuChappy. She's really cool, so go check her out. :)

Please review. :D