His Heart's Key | nalu

o7. My bestie Loves Me More

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[ A/N: that little unfilled star is getting lonely ;) ]

I sighed as I tied the apron around my waist, wanting deeply to return to home and thoroughly cleanse my body. Natsu's prank of the day had resulted in me being covered head to toe in green junk, which Lisanna had helped get rid of after profusely apologizing. There was no need, I knew I could say I started it, considering the car prank was a little over, but he was the one who threatened me first. I may have finished the biggest mistake of my life by starting the prank war, but I had a justifiable cause.

I was late, per usual, (luckily, this time not stopped by Erza, that was a memory I never wanted to relive.) And as I attempted to quietly slip into Literature taught by Professor Capricorn, (aka. Poetry freak of the apparent school)  I was greeted by the oh-so-famous bucket prank. Looks like everyone was there early for a reason. All in all, I was hella tired.

However, my thoughts quickly evaporated as I beheld my boss walking around in small underwear that had an uncanny similarity to the the girls I sent to her. Well crap.

"What are you looking at?" She sniffed, her nose held high as she looked down on me.

My eyes quite literally bled. "N-nothing." I scampered away, clutching the broom as I rushed out of her line of vision.

There was a bunch of things I had never intended to see in my lifetime, and one of them was that.

I let out a breath of relief as my boss went back into the kitchen, shaking her butt as she mixed a pot. I didn't even want to know what she was concocting considering we were a café.

"Oh my gosh, is that you, Lucy?!" A frantic voice called out to me.

I slowly turned, I didn't know if I was supposed to dread the voice or rejoice at the sound, because I certainly knew who it belonged to.

A flurry of light blue hair covered my eyesight and I was thrown back as the weight of someone elses jumped on mine. I felt hot, burning tears fall onto my shoulder, and light sobs.

"It's been so long..." The girls eyes sparkled as she looked up at me, face begging for answers.

I sighed. "Yes it has, Yukino."

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"So all this time, you've been living here? This is a sweet place!" She jumped, as she eagerly ran into my room.

I smiled at her excitement, she was still like a little kid, ready to try on the wonders of the world.

"Anyways," her eyes immediately turned onto me. "Sit. Explain." Yukino gestured to the sofa in front of her with no hesitation.

I let out a breath. "So what do you want to know?"

"What do I want to know, Lucy?! Are you seriously asking me that? You disappear in the middle of the night, no note, just all of your things gone — poof. I was worried, we were worried. How could you just do that to us, me, your best friend!? You've got a lot of explaining to do." Yukino scoffed, crossing her arms and glaring at me expectantly.

I sighed. "I was running away from my dad."

"Wait, what? Why?"

Her shock wasn't that surprising, considering I had never given them too much detail.

"It's suffocating Yuki. All this pressure, he was looking into marriage inside the business, for me! I'm only seventeen, I'm not ready for that! There's no way I can go back, absolutely no way."

A flash of guilt passed her face, then settled into pity.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy." She came forward and hugged me again, and the familiar warmth of my best friend was felt again. One that I had missed out on. I loved some of the people at FTA, but it just wasn't the same. It had always been her and Yuki since she could remember her first school days, and it always would be.

"Wait.. How did you even find me?"

"Oh that..." A sheepish look crossed her face. "Well you may or may not have left the crumpled piece of paper that showed this weird fairy story school, and a receipt to your train ticket here in your garbage can. That I may or may not have picked up to thoroughly investigate before flying here myself. We might have."

I laughed, a genuine one that seemed foreign, considering the last time I did this was cruelly. "Wait, we?"

"Oh yeah," she smirked. "You didn't think I wouldn't bring the whole squad so a certain lover-girl could meet a special someone? You doubt me too much, Lucy."

I paled, I didn't want to meet him, I wouldn't have been here if I did. I stayed away, trying to leave all that behind me so I wouldn't have to face him again. It was too much, and the funny thing was, he probably didn't even notice anything.

"Right now?" I asked weakly as she began dragging me.

"Of course!" Yuki giggled.

We left the comfort (sadly) of my home, and headed towards my impending doom. My heart was racing, beating and thumping faster and harder with every step we took. We were going to see him, the man I had been hopelessly in love with for my past childhood. The man who spent all his time on another girl, someone else who held all his attention but she never knew it.

We stopped, and Yukino quickly opened the door of this other small, fast-food restaurant.

Seated there were two boys, one blonde and the other black-haired.

I gulped, as his immediately and always went to Yukino, his face brightening before his eyes met mine.

"Oh hey, Lucy! It's been a while,"

"Yeah," I smiled weakly. "It has, Sting."

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[ A/N: So this chapter was meant to clear a couple of things up, Lucy's past, why she ran and just in general to give you some more intel. B) ]