The Dragneel Affair | NaLu

Chapter 22 - We'll Meet Again

• United States of America •
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
March, 1856

Milwaukee was quieter than New York City. Lucy didn't mind. Now an old woman, the loud noise and young girls in tight corsets bothered her endlessly. Milwaukee was still a city, or large town, but she loved it. She sat up in her desk chair and stared out at Lake Michigan. Men rode past on their high wheel bicycles and woman walked past talking about Queen Victoria. Everyone seemed happy, it was a warm day outside. You could go outside. Wisconsin winters were worse than Austrian ones. Lucy wanted to go outside, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.

It's been fifty years. Fifty years since she fought for the last time as a soldier and fifty years since she last saw him. The first ten years were the hardest, she recalled. She would see a tattered uniform or hear a loud laugh and look for him. But she knew he wasn't around when she could never spot pink hair. It got easier over time, but the book wouldn't let her forget.

She published, The Dragneel Affair, when she was eighteen years old. Under the name, Hans Leitner, she was one of the bestselling author's in America who was an immigrant. No one knew it was her until the fiftieth anniversary edition of the book was released and everyone discovered Hans Leitner was Lucy Heartfilia. An unmarried aristocrat who had experienced all the events on her own. She heard rumors that people had been burning the book, more than they had in the past, because it encouraged woman to be independent. But now, woman were wearing sashes and fighting for their rights more than they used to. The Dragneel Affair has been banned in around ten states.

Now she was waiting for the delivery boy, Markus, from the market across the street. He liked to stay with her after bringing up her groceries and listen to stories about life in Europe and what it was like being a soldier. She heard him knock just as her clock struck one, just as he always did. She opened her door and found him holding a wooden box and a letter on top. He was red faced and staring down at the floor. 

She looked down at him and smiled. "Is something wrong, Markus?" She was better at English than she was when she first arrived, but she could never hide her Austrian accent. She had a high voice, even for an old woman.

"Mr. Haugen got mad at me. He said I didn't put a spice on the right shelf," he told her. Lucy patted him on the head and took the box.

"I'm sorry about that. Would a piece of chocolate make you feel better?" Markus nodded and stepped into her apartment. He was always welcome, it took about a year until he figured it out. Lucy set the box on her table and dug through her cupboards for her chocolate.

"I can't stay long, Miss Lucy."

"Why not?"

"There's someone outside who wants to see you. He gave me that letter to give to you, there's something inside it," he said as Lucy handed him the chocolate. He thanked her while she reached for the envelope. It was lumpy and was horribly glued shut. She tore the envelope open and pulled out an old glove. She smiled, it was one of her old gloves that she wore during the winter.

"I haven't seen this in years!"

"What is it?"

"A glove. It looks like one I. . ." Gave to Natsu. She remembered handing him the gloves the first time he kissed her on the balcony. She was sure she'd never see it again. It was hardly the same as it once was. There were stains of blood and dirt on it and it was hardly the same shade of white it once was. Many of the small beads on it had disappeared as well. "Who gave this to you?" She asked.