A Strong Regret

An Encounter with Him

Lucy turned the wooden board that dangled in the window, from open to closed. She made sure to lock the doors and then she headed to the GMG.

Down the street, she could hear the announcer introducing all the different guilds. Just as she was about to cross the street, she stumbled upon something.

A green little exceed looked up at her with shiny scared eyes. Frosche is Rogues exceed and Lucy knew that.

Lucy looked down at the exceed and she pulled her hood over her face more.

"Fro? What are you doing here?" Lucy asked and kneeled down in front of Fro.

"Fro lost!" The small exceed exclaimed.

Lucy tilted her head and then looked up, searching for Sting or Rogue. But nobody familiar caught her eye.
She looked back down to Fro and picked the exceed up.

"Fro do you want to help me out real quick, then we can return to the GMG and you'll get back to Rogue-kun? What do you say, you think?" Lucy asked kindly.

"Fro think so!" Fro cheered and lifted her arms in the air.

"Yay! I want to stop by the library and grab a cooking book," Lucy said and carried Fro across the street.

They made their way around the corners of the town and into the library. The library is the biggest building downtown. Only a true book reader would allow it to catch their eye.

Lucy still held Fro as she hummed and strung her finger across the spines of the books. A pink book caught her eye about how to bake cheesecakes and angel food cakes.
She pulled the book from the book case and put Fro down.

Fro waddled over to the kids section and examined the books. Her eyes lit up as she noticed this wonderful book, but it was sitting on a higher shelf.

When Fro reached up to grab the spine of the book, another book pulled down to and it was close to falling on Fro. Luckily Lucy grabbed it before it hurt the exceed.

"Fro thanks you!" The tiny exceed cheerfully exclaimed. Then the exceed opened the book up and stared at the pictures.

Lucy sighed with relief. Thank goodness the exceed is ok. Rogue would be furious if the little exceed was injured. He's not really a talking mage but he's caring when it comes to Fro, that much is obvious.

"Ok I think I saw a really good chef book for this guild I'm working at, it'd help with sandwiches," Lucy explained to the exceed. She stepped up onto the ladder and pulled herself along the sides of the shelves.

In order to get the book, she had to reach her hand up because she isn't naturally very tall, even on a ladder.
The tip of her index finger caressed the books spine, but then the ladder slipped from below her!

Lucy didn't even realise she slipped until she looked down, but closed her eyes when she could tell she was falling.

In that second, she didn't touch the ground. Her hood flew off and surprised Fro. It even surprised the person holding her bridal style.

"Lucy," the velvety tone spoke out to her.

Lucy looked instantly into the red eyes of Rogue Cheney. He stared at her in boredom, but still, he caught her.

She jumped out of his arms and bowed in apologizes, " I'm very sorry Rogue-kun! Thanks for catching me!"

Rogue nodded and then turned to his exceed.

"Rogue!" The exceed squealed with joy.

Lucy looked at Frosche and smiled.

Then another, arrogant tone scratched the air, "Rogue where ya go to bud? We're going to be late!"

Instantly Rogue grabbed Lucy's hood and pulled it over her head, Sting walked around the corner and caught Rogue holding her hood.

"Oooh am I interrupting?" Sting said and looked from the hooded girl to Rogue.

"No," Rogue said and then grabbed Frosche before walking away. Sting glanced at Lucy, not knowing its Lucy, and winked.

Lucy stared in surprise and placed her hand on her heart, the pounding of her heart went to her chest then to her ears. What does this mean for her?

Then she snatched the book she dropped earlier and carried it to the desk, for her to borrow it. She looked out the window and saw Sting and Rogue with their exceeds but Rogue didn't pay attention to her.

"Thank you," Lucy said as she was handed her books again. Her eyes wondered to the time and then she hurried to the GMG.