The Celestial Princess and Her Suitors

Chapter Thirteen: Juvia Lockser

A sleeping Lucy gave a fearful scream as she bolted into a sitting position in her bed. She breathed heavily as beads of sweat ran down the sides of her face. She placed a hand on her chest, over her rapidly beating heart, as she struggled to control her heavy breathing. She quickly looked around and snatched her keys off of the small table next to her bed. She gripped Cancer's key in her right hand and stared into the darkness around her, waiting for an attack to be launched upon her.

As the minutes ticked by with no attack and her heart and breathing calmed, the celestial wizard relaxed enough to get out of bed, walk over to the light switch, and flip it on. She sighed in relief at the light filling her bedroom. Lucy then walked back over to her bed and sat down, setting her keys back on the bedside table. She pulled the grey curtains to the side, seeing that it was daybreak.

She didn't have to go to the bakery and cafe that day due to Minnie being away on a delivery. She didn't want to stay cooped up in her home all day, so she decided to go for a quick walk through the park. She also knew that she had to go grocery shopping, so she figured that she could do that after the park. She would look for people and stick to them and wouldn't venture close to the forest that surrounded the park.

She stood back up and walked over to her closet. She opened the white, wooden door and reached in, pulling out the first pieces of clothing that she saw. She walked back over to her bed and laid the black, cropped tube top and the black mini skirt down on the covers. She quickly stripped and pulled on the clothing, adding a pair of flats to the outfit. She walked over to the desk in her bedroom, picked up her brown belt, and put it on. She then hooked her keys and whip onto the belt and left her apartment, heading to the park.

Once at the park, she found it was well-populated. Lucy was glad to see this because it meant that the possibility of her being attacked by Kit or her spirits when there were many people around was very low. As she strolled through the park, hearing the laughter of the people around her and seeing children and pets running around, she sighed and felt more relaxed than she had since moving to Crocus.

The blonde mage stared ahead of her, silently wondering what she should do since recovering more about Kit. She knew that she should probably leave, but would Kit follow her if she did that? Lucy knew that she wasn't stronger than Kit and knew that the dark mage would likely continue her pursuit of her. After all, Lucy's father was paying Kit to capture her and bring her back to the Heartfilia Estate. Leaving Crocus would only prolong the inevitable. She could join Sabertooth or Fairy Tail, but would she really be safe? She wasn't sure if going to one of those guilds would put any of the other mages in danger.

Lucy knew that she couldn't just ignore her dark mage problem. It wouldn't go away. If she didn't do something about Kit, then she would eventually be forced back to the place she had run away from. She had to do something about Kit, but what should she do? She silently cursed herself for refusing Freed's offer. She had no idea what to do now. Freed had offered an escape from the dark mage that was after her, but she had turned him down. What the hell was she thinking? She thought about confiding in Minnie, but would that only serve to bring her employer into the problem and harm the older woman, or would Minnie be able to help her? Lucy wasn't sure.

As the blonde mage continued to walk through the large park, stuck in her troubled thoughts, she felt something drop on her nose. She stopped, pulled out of her thoughts, and looked up. It felt like a raindrop. To her surprise, there were some grey clouds in the sky. She thought that it was supposed to be sunny all week. As she continued to stare up at the sky, she felt a few more water drops fall onto her face. Lucy wiped the water away. She decided to continue walking. She didn't care if it started raining. She quite liked the rain and it would be to her advantage if she was ambushed.