Chapter Two: Questions
As I woke from my sleep, I yawned and got up to stretch, before I hit my head on the ceiling, "Ow, ow, ow… What the heck? I thought my bed was lower than this…?"
Then I realised I was in the carriage of the Dark Guild, Demon Crosses. Of course, they would have to give me the crappiest room which I couldn't even stand up in. So instead I just stretched out on the floor and rubbed my eyes. I noticed the carriage wasn't moving anymore. They must have stopped for the night since I was asleep for the rest of the day and into the morning of the next.
Just then, as if on cue, the door opened and Araluen stepped in, in his usual cloak and black leather boots. I never noticed his appearance before so I looked up. He had straight grey hair, covering up one eye on the left side and going down to just past his shoulders. His features were sharp and nearly always in a frowning state which was actually weird since he tongue was always lolling out as he spoke.
"Lucy Heartfilia, we have stopped temporarily so you can go and wash up in the river or do whatever you please. Retina will keep an eye on you."
I walked out as he held the door open, glaring at me all the while. Retina was waiting for me outside the carriage, her face a perfect poker face. I stepped off and glared back at the spot where Araluen was, what the hell is his problem?
"Don't ask, he's always like that," said Retina coldly.
I turned around, surprised, "How did you—?"
"How did I what?" she said, cutting me off, "I don't think you should be the one asking questions around here, Heartfilia."
"Uh, you can just call me Lucy…" I said.
She glared, "I'll call you whatever I please. Now, hurry up, we're leaving soon."
Strangely enough, I wasn't really scared of them. They were a Dark Guild and they could kill me at any second but they seemed… normal. They had their faults which made them less scary. Aston was a total moron, Araluen was always acting like an idiot despite the glares and stern voice and Retina just seemed like someone who was bitter but had a soft side. She mentioned 'whenever you save one thing, you lose something else'. I wondered about that.
Did she save herself from something but lost something or someone else precious to her? I wondered. With her cold personality, it seemed impossible but I wondered as I washed myself in the river. She was on the other side of the river, washing underneath the waterfall.
"Why are you staring, huh?" Retina asked darkly, turning around slightly.
"Nothing," I said, turning around, slightly embarrassed I'd been caught. The rest of the time we were washing was in dead silence except for the sound of the running water. When I finished, I got out and put on my clothes and shook my hair dry, tying it back up again.
Retina came out and dressed quickly, before I even realised and said, "Let's go."
"Huh? Oh, hai!" I said, following after her, somewhat lost in my thoughts.
"You're late," said Araluen as we went back into the carriage.
"I know," shrugged Retina as she sat down in one of the seats and said to me, "Get to the back."
I nodded and went to the back of the carriage as the horses began to trot. I was only in there for a few minutes when Aston came in, holding a bowl of hot soup with small vegetables and pieces of meat bobbing around on the surface, "Here."
I stared for a few minutes, wondering if they'd poisoned it or something. Hey, it could happen, right? Then I slowly took the bowl. It was warm and smelt pretty good.
"It's just leftovers from last night's dinner so don't get too happy about it," said Aston.
I smiled at him nevertheless, "Thanks."
The corners of his mouth twitched but he managed to stay stern-faced and walked out, "Well, as long as you heard me."
Once he left, I began sipping at my soup. I wanted to save it for later if they decided to temporarily starve me. It was delicious though. Before I even knew it, I had gulped down the whole lot.
So much for saving it, baka, I scolded myself, putting the bowl aside. I didn't know if I was supposed to bring it back but they had made it clear I wasn't to leave my room so I didn't move. I resumed my almost-always position of being curled up into a ball with my knees hugged to my chest and tried to sleep again but too many thoughts were crowded in my head, demanding my attention.
One of the thoughts was that these members of the guild were not bad. Well, they were but not exactly. Sort of like Gajeel. He's bad but he has soft sides and can be friendly. They were good people, I could feel it.
The second of my thoughts was wondering about Natsu and the others. Surely, they would have discovered me gone by now, maybe they were already trying to track me. I hoped the perfume worked.
Speaking of that… I thought, sniffing at my wrist where I'd sprayed a bit. I immediately reeled back. That perfume was strong stuff in many ways. It sticked with you even if I rubbed it clean in the river. I suddenly understood why it was so expensive. I convinced myself the scent had faded somewhat though.
I slowly sifted through each thought, trying to think positively for each one now that the most important thoughts were done. Before I knew it, it was night. I reached into my bag for a blanket since I wanted to sleep but I felt something wet.
"Eh?" I said, lifting out my blankets. They were all completely soaked somehow. I sifted through the contents of my bag and found that a water bottle I'd brought along had somehow slipped free of its lid and the water had wet everything.
"You've got to be kidding me," I said aloud. It was a freezing night and I had thin clothes, no blankets and no help. There's really got to be a limit to how much a person can take.
After a while of trying to just adjust my body to the temperature and failing, I finally worked up the courage to get up and walk to the door. I put on hand on the doorknob and pulled down slightly. It was one of those ones which you pull down and push open. It was unlocked. I opened the door a crack and looked around. They were all sitting down and looking out the window, talking aimlessly to each other.
Just as I began listening, Retina said, still facing the window, "You can come in, you know."
I suddenly felt guilty for eavesdropping on them. If they still had a dark side to them, they would probably hurt me now. But since I couldn't back down now and say I wasn't there, I went in. They turned around in their seats but didn't make any movement to attack me.
After a few awkward minutes, I sat down in the seat closest to the door to my room. If they suddenly changed their minds, I wanted to run straight to the door. Only I didn't think a door would stand in their way, it was something at least.
"Um, I just needed some…" I began awkwardly.
"Here you go," said Retina and a few thick blankets landed on my head.
"Honestly, how do you do that?" I said once I got the blankets off.
"You have so many questions," said Aston.
"Of course I do!" I said, "You people take my father, take me from a moving train and now I'm in your carriage and you can attack me at any second!"
"She makes a good point," said Araluen, "We know everything about her, yet she doesn't know anything about us."
"OK," shrugged Retina, "Ask us anything then, Lucy. Although we won't answer all your questions."
"But that's not fair," I said, "You can lie."
"Or we can tell the truth," said Aston, "Sometimes in life, you take risks. You can go back to your room now or you can ask us questions you might get the answer for."
I scowled. There wasn't any reason they would tell the truth but they could, maybe. I decided to chance it, "Fine. What do you want to do with Fairy Tail?"
Araluen raised his eyebrows, "How did you—?"
"Aston," they both said, glaring at their teammate.
"I may have let it slip," said Aston, and then, turning back to me, "Simple. We want to take over it. Next."
I let out a little gasp, "Take over Fairy Tail? They can't… they won't…"
"OK, don't freak out on us," said Retina.
"W-Why would you want to take over it?" I said.
"Well, we want to because it's one of the most powerful guilds. If Fairy Tail was taken over, Demon Crosses would achieve legendary mages. We'd force them to join us. The three Dragon Slayers, Titania, Makarov, all of them."
"You…" I said, my hand going to my belt, "I will never let you take Fairy Tail!"
My belt was empty, "Eh?" I said, looking. All my keys were gone.
I heard a clinking sound and looked up to Retina, swinging all my keys on her finger, "Looking for these?"
"When did you—" I said, gawking at my keys.
"I'm quick," she said, smiling, "Now sit down and I'll give them back."
"You can't expect me to be calm after you say you want to take over my guild!"
"But you can sit down," she said, not hesitating for a second.
I slowly sat down and she threw the keys back to me. I caught each one and put them carefully back on my belt.
"Although I am surprised," said Retina, "That many Gold Keys, huh?"
I didn't say anything as I put the last key on my belt. I let in swing down and looked up at them again, "What's your guild master's name?"
"Why?" asked Aston.
"Because I have a few things I want to say to him or her," I said, "Starting with, don't go near my guild; get stronger without stealing others to protect yourself."
Retina somehow flinched at this. She frowned slightly and had doubt in her eyes.
"Did I say something…?" I said to her.
"No," she said, turning away, the doubt gone and replaced by her coldness again. The other two stared at her funny, "What is wrong with you?"
"I said it's nothing," she very nearly hissed at them.
"Um, I'll just…" I said, lifting the blankets and running back into my room. After I shut the door, I lied down and pulled the blankets over me, well, that was weird…
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Gray sat on the bed in Lucy's room. He stared at nothing in particular. Lucky the person who owned Lucy's apartment didn't mind her friends appearing in there now and then.
He sighed and thought of a thousand situations Lucy might be in. She could be kidnapped, she could be really sick somewhere, she could have run away, she could have fallen into the river in town and drowned for all he knew.
…But you should have some faith in Lucy. She won't go into any reckless behaviour and she's a strong, stubborn girl. She can take care of herself. The Master's words echoed in Gray's head.
I know she's strong, thought Gray, yet why do all these situations I'm thinking of have Lucy being the damsel in distress?
He walked up to get out through the window when something caught his eye. A glinting on top of the cabinet where her box of letters was. Gray stepped towards it and saw it was a silver, plain photo frame holding a picture of his team.
In it, he and Natsu had punched each other in the face. Lucy was looking at them with an alarmed look on her face, Erza was looking furious with a sword raised at him and Natsu and Happy was in the corner of the picture, with only the top of his head and eyes showing.
Gray chuckled, looking at him and Natsu; I can't believe she kept this…
He reached out and touched Lucy's face with his index finger, looking at her wistfully, Lucy… Where are you?