~\Chapter 1/~
~**Maybe I'm happy**~
\*/
"…twenty one, twenty two…"
Slowly peeking out of her covered eyes, she saw a few strands of black poking out of a blueberry bush, and she watched it shook, as if it was giggling as she kept counting. Smirking mischievously, she closed her fingers back and counted.
"…twenty three, twenty four…one hundred. Ready or not here I come!" The blonde lady, about the age of twenty two yelled out into the small park-like part of the forest. With the black spot in her peripheral vision, she began to fake wonder as her lion spirit snickered at her, watching from the side.
"Oh no, where is my little girl hiding? I just can't find her! Oh, she's such a good hider that I can't even see a single strand of her messy hair anywhere!" The man was bursting out in laughter now, and the bush she was keeping an eye on shook even more.
Behind the bush, a little girl kneeled down with a hand cupping her mouth, trying to stop herself from going hysterical. Without noticing it she was quietly giving out giggles each time her mother passes by her hiding place. Curious to find out what's going on after realizing her name wasn't being called anymore, she slowly looks over the bush.
"Boo."
"KYAAAAA!" the little girl shrieked, causing her to jump out of her hiding place and stumble into hard ground. "Mommy!" the girl yelled, the blonde only falling down to her knees to clutch her stomach from laughing too much. The ginger behind her, was on the brink of falling himself. The girl pouted. "Uncle Loke, you're no better!"
"Aw come on Sho, don't be a sore loser." Loke said through breaths as he finished his last fit of chuckles, wiping a tear off his eye and helping her up. She scoffed and looked away. The leo shook his head, stubborn as always, he thought.
His thoughts wandered, however, to the woman still laughing her ass off on the grass.
"Mommyyy!" The girl whined at her hysterical Mom.
Loke chuckled. "Lucy, we get it."
Lucy only grinned, stopping her laughter. Standing up she walked over to her daughter and kneeled in front of her, patting her head, "Shoyuu honey, that's not how losing works."
"Oh yeah? How would you know?" Shoyuu inquires, clearly agitated.
"Sore losers should be crying to their mommies." Lucy stuck her tongue out, which only made the little brat madder. "Oh wait, I am your mommy…aww, too bad for you huh sweetie?"
"Mommy!"
"Alright, alright, I'll stop." Lucy smiled and stood up, Shoyuu making an unsatisfied 'hmph!', but hugged her mother's legs afterwards anyway. What do you expect, she's only five. Lucy sighed. "You goofpuff."
"Goofpuff?" Loke questioned.
Before Lucy could explain, Shoyuu got ahead of her, "Goofball for boys, goofdoll for girls, and goofpuff for Shoyuu!"
"She likes to be unique," Lucy rolled her eyes, kneeling down to pick up her daughter. Despite her pride, Shoyuu let her. Speaking of her, she made another sound of her infamous 'hmphs!'.
Loke chuckled at the two girls and gestured his head in a certain direction. "Shall we go? We can't keep your client waiting."
"Dang it Loke, moooining the fun already?" Taurus groaned out from behind a tree. Apparently he had been trying to get in on the girls' game of hide and seek, which of course has been rejected repeatedly by Shoyuu, for the game was strictly between mother and daughter.
"What? If the client decides to bail out on us then you can't put it on me can you?"
Lucy nods as she already started walking back to the small merchant town, Shoyuu in her arms, "Loke's right. See ya later Taurus!" The cow made one last moo before Lucy closed his gate on him. Snorting at the perverted animal spirit, Loke caught up with Lucy so he could walk next to her.
"So, are you gonna meet up with him later?"
"Meh, too tired." Lucy yawned. "Besides, I think I'm much better at hand-to-hand combat now, thank you very much,"
"Yeah…" Loke had a strained tone to his voice as he stretched his back, wincing when he heard his nearly broken bones crack, "…yeah…you're welcome."
Lucy only smiled at him.
"Mommy's getting stronger!" Shoyuu suddenly shouted, surprising the two adults, "Someday, Mommy will be the strongest!"
"Hush sweetie," the blonde Mom shook her head, "that's not possible,"
"Oh really?!"
"Really,"
"Actually I second you Sho," Lucy looked at Loke in disbelief, "what? You ARE strong you know! It's not impossible!"
"Yeah Mommy, what he says!"
"You two are ridiculous," Sighing, Lucy ran a hand through Shoyuu's hair. From afar, her hair color looked more of a plain black-like shade, but up close you could see the streaks of bright red hair almost hidden among her dark strands. Shoyuu looked a lot like her too. If she were a blonde like her, people would've mistaken her for being a clone. "Shoyuu, what did I tell you about nonsensical things?"
"This is completely irrelevant to the situation Mommy because the possibility of you being the strongest is not nonsensical at all!"
"Wow. You learned a new word?"
"From yours truly," Loke piped in, looking proud of himself.
Lucy just laughed, "Ah well, heaven knows I'm glad that you're smart at least, unlike you're idiot fa—"
Shoyuu tilted her head, wondering why her mother suddenly became quiet. "Fa?"
Lucy only shook her head. "Never mind. I forgot what I was saying," from her peripheral vision, she saw Loke giving her a somewhat concerned look. She frowned, remembering how he gave her that exact same look on his face that day…
When that certain someone said…when that simple "I…" was enough to explain everything for her.
Lucy had to resist the urge to crumple her hand to a fist.
"Was it true?"
"I…"
"Mommy," Shoyuu poked at her head, "we're here. You can put me down now."
"Huh? Oh," Lucy put her daughter down after seeing that they were already in front of her apartment. She turned around and saw Loke talking to—
"Carol-nii!" Lucy called out in surprise.
"..eah, I know—huh? Ah! Lushin!" his eyes widened along with his grin as he faced her, "Yo!"
"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked as she walked over to them, Shoyuu following closely behind her. "And quit calling me that!"
Carol chuckled at her, weaving a hand through his green hair, "I know, I know. Sorry, Lushin!" Lucy groaned and swung a kick to his jaw, the mischievous fellow dodging her attack. "I see you've been studying my lessons. Good girl Lushin!"
"Shut it bush head!" the guy feigned hurt by reaching an arm up to his chest, like he was invisibly shot by an arrow, Lucy scoffed it off, "You didn't answer my question,"
"Can't an old friend not come and visit after such a long time of separation?" Carol whispered acting passionate, hand still on his chest as he looked up at the sky. Lucy stifled a laugh.
"We saw each other yesterday? You taught me how to punch someone without arms or legs. Remember?"
"What the hell are you talking about? I wasn't talking about you!" The guy with long grass-like hair huffed at the blonde, walking towards her only to kneel beside her where her little girl was standing with crossed arms. "I was talking about my dear friend Shoyuu! You assuming woman! Isn't that right little Sho?"
Lucy rolled her eyes and chuckled as she watched her daughter look away and yelled, "Hmph!" at his face. "Touché old friend, touché."
He smiled at her and she did back, remembering how the exact same thing happened 4 years back.
Carol was Lucy's only childhood friend, but about three years older. He was the son of a rich business man that formed a temporary partnership with her father, they met through that. Carol was Lucy's one friend, and she cried when he had to move away. She was 8 at the time. It was saddening actually, since he was the one who Lucy could relate to the most and was her best friend…he lost his mother too, only he never met his mother, but to the two of them it was close enough. After separating, they never saw each other since.
But then, old friend met the other.
Lucy bumped into Carol one day at a small merchant town(one she forgot the name of since she was in a hurry to find appropriate food for her 5 month old baby at the time), and they quickly recognized each other, only they didn't get the chance to talk because Carol's train had left just as their eyes met(yes, they saw each other through the train windows). Lucy didn't know why or even how, but she somehow found herself standing in front of his door the next day. Carol let her in and it was awkward at first, but a conversation was made through it and it turned into an endless stream of talking until midnight. Then throughout the chatting, Lucy found out that he was now very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and has been practicing martial arts for the past 2 years. He was a mage too. Lucy, for the first time in a year, had been happy, especially to finally see her old best friend again.
Well, that thought led to another, and before she even knew it, she was crying again. Carol's eyes widened and tried his best to help, even offering his pudding which was half-eaten, but Lucy only laughed it off, it came out bitter though. Carol stayed silent as the blonde mage silently fought with herself that evening, and by the end of it, he was surprised at the sudden request she had.
"Carol, please…train me."
And now here they were.
Shaking off the memory, Lucy watched as Carol stood up again after being dejected by the five year old, turning a serious face, "Now seriously, what's with the sudden visit?"
"Well, first off, I froze my ass off back home at 4 in the morning only to not see you after an hour, and finally, I was hoping you, and Shoyuu," Carol added after seeing the little girl's glare, "would come with me somewhere."
The celestial mage rose a brow at the sudden request, Carol didn't seem to acknowledge her surprise as he just smiled at her rather sheepishly.
"Come with you? Somewhere? Is it a job?" Lucy snapped a finger, understanding. "Cause that would be good! I'd finally get some warm up and a bit of money too, we're getting broke…" Lucy lowered her head in defeat.
Loke sweat dropped as Shoyuu agreed lowering her head as well.
Carol noticed their distress and laughed nervously, trying to pat them on the shoulders for a bit of comfort. "I'm sorry girls, I know you have rent to pay Lushin, and little Shoyuu here would like a little more food in the fridge, but this isn't a job." Both heads only stooped down lower, the poor martial artist frantically looked at the celestial spirit for help but he only shrugged. "I-I'm really sorry, maybe I shouldn't have asked—"
"It's alright." Lucy said, "We've got some savings left anyway, time to put it to use I guess…"
"Ah!" Carol smiled brightly, finally finding a solution to the problem. The two girls looked at him with questioning faces, "There's this guild at the town I'm going, you might find a job there maybe? It'll only be temporary, well, until I'm done with the favour anyway. So what do you say?" He held his hand out to Lucy, "You guys wanna come with me? I'll pay for the train ride I promise!"
"YES! Er, I mean, yes." Lucy nodded, failing at attempting to hide her excitement. Shoyuu as well, but the little brat had other thoughts. "When are we leaving?"
"Tonight."
"Wow, so soon," Lucy mused, trying to hide her smile. She was finally gonna get a chance at keeping her place! But then, she asked, "Wait, what favour were you gonna do anyway? And who for?"
"It's just for an old relative of mine, nothing important but he's got something he needs, I'm just more of a messenger than anything," Carol shrugged, an agitated face appearing on his face, but disappeared as soon as it came. "Anyway don't worry about it. I've got my own job to do, I just hoped you guys would come along,"
Loke made a hand gesture at Lucy and she nodded. The leo then turned around to find the client that was still waiting for Lucy's services. She worked for him now and then, but he paid small money and was arrogant enough for her to punch a wall on a daily basis. Luckily, she could skip out on him, thanks to Carol.
Just how much does she want to break his bones in a hug right now?
"Well, you've asked just the right people bush head!" Lucy made a thumbs up, Carol starting to rethink his decision as soon as the nickname hit his ears. Lucy smiled. Finally a job! She hasn't been on one for, like what, months? Years? She doesn't remember but it still was a long time, and she wasn't kidding about being broke. It didn't help that her daughter was an animal when it came to food—that was something that affected almost half of her financial problems. This is a great opportunity! Lucy beamed at the various rewards she could imagine getting, especially with her new abilities, it's gonna be a blast! She beamed, 'Yosh, I'm all fired up!' She thought.
…fired up…she shook her head.
She's over it now. She nodded, she was. Lucy was.
Her life's finally happy without him and that most certainly means that she doesn't need to worry about him, think about him, miss him, or even need him in the first place. Recovery had taken its place a long time ago and she's not about to release it. Never again.
She's already tired of being broken.
A sudden thought came through Lucy's head and she faced Carol, who was lifting her five year old daughter in the air with both of them laughing warmly, she smiled and took the scene in briefly before finally asking, "Hey Carol?"
The man paused their play session to face the blonde with an inquiring "Hm?"
"What town are we going to anyway?"
Carol just shrugged and gave her a half smile, before saying that one word that froze Lucy to her wits.
"Magnolia."
In an instant, all the excitement and giddiness Lucy felt have been drained from her body. The paleness of her face gave that away.
With a simple movement of the muscles, Lucy replied.
"Oh…"
"Was it true?"
"I…"
"Oh…"
"Oh…alright," Lucy smiled, "That's…"
"…that's great."
RR(Review Replies):
OgaxHilda:Ahaha, we'll see :) I can't think of anything else that won't spoil this story too much so :P Oh and thank you for being the first to review! I cry every time TT_TT
ObscurityDays: Well this story doesn't plan on stopping, I'm being monitored to write this without food or even water -_- Thanks for reviewing, I'm really hoping you'd look forward to it ^_^
FreshMilkySoul: Ah naw don't cryy D: Here, have a chapter and a cookie *hands it to you* :3 Thanks for reviewing! *Calls after you as you leave*
Longest note ever. Yes, ever. I've never said this much and—holy ship I'm still typing.
Oh well, hope you enjoyed the chap minna :)
-K-