THE BET | NALU

Chapter 15

So..I may have forgotten a flashback thing in the last chapter...so you guys get two today! Yayy!

"Huh? Where am I?" the girl asked as she opened her eyes. She sat upright in the strange bed she was in, her head spinning in directions. She didn't recognize the place she was in. The floor was made of oak wood and the bed had wool blankets on it. The room she was in was small though, only big enough to hold a bed, a bedside table, and a a medium sized drawer for clothes. Her bathroom was bigger than this. But she couldn't deny that it was homey. And the smell of cookies that lingered in the air made the place feel cozy.

"Are you awake yet?" a familiar voice asked, opening the wooden door to the room that she was in. The girl smiled, looking up at her familiar friend who was walking in with a plate full of cookies. Well, a plate with a few cookies and a lot of crumbs, and for some odd reason his mouth seemed to be full. Strange.

"Where are we?" she asked getting out of the bed, her bare feet hitting the wooden floor. Despite it being wooden, it was soft. And smooth. The girl has never actually felt a wooden floor before. Only marble or tile, never wood.

"Some old guy came and went all ninja on those punks! He completely demolished them! However, someone pushed you over and you smashed your head on the ground." He said leaning in close to her and placing his thumb on the side of her forehead. The girl winced a little in pain and the boy noticed it, removing his thumb, but he didn't move away from her. "You've got a nasty bruise but that's it, thankfully." He said and gave her a small smile which she returned.

"But where are we?" she repeated her question, a small blush forming on her cheeks from the closeness of the two. The boy smiled again and sat on the side of the bed, motioning for her to sit beside him, which she did.

"Old man took us to his house when you passed out, he's also got a grandson that makes awesome cookies! Except he's kind of cold and doesn't talk a lot...here try a cookie!" He exclaimed happily and then shoved a chocolate chip cookie into the girl's mouth. She laughed slightly before chewing up the chocolaty goodness. He was right, it was good.

"We should get going though, or fath- someone will probably notice I'm gone." She said, changing her wording a bit. Her father? Notice that SHE was gone? No way would that happen. One of the servants maybe, but never her father. Not unless he was going to marry her off.

"Ah that's another thing..." The boy mumbled "Old man..he offered to take care of us. Both of us. Since I told him how unhappy you are. So..do you..do you wanna?"

"I can't." She spoke out suddenly. Not only did she not know this strange man, but she would miss the servants, and she couldn't just leave either. That man is still her dad, she still has to live with him. Not unless he's done something extremely bad, which he hasn't. He's just ignored her. And she might just end up putting the old man in danger.

"I understand, but I'm going to accept his offer. He even said that he can bring me to school! I've never gone to school!" He said enthusiastically, eating the last cookie. The girl smiled and gave him a hug. "I wish you the best of luck."

"I'll still be visiting you." He replied, returning the hug. She rested her head into his chest, he didn't argue and kept his hands rested on her back. "I know.." she whispered quietly, more then to herself then to him though. He wasn't going to leave her, and she knew that. She would always know that.

She let her hands fall from his back to her side, expecting the hug to be over, but the boy didn't let go of her. Instead he pulled her in closer.

"I'm going to save you one day, you're going to be free." he whispered into her ear then rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I know.."

Little did she know that she would regret that. Regret it all.

000

"I love you."

"What?"

"I love you."

"You love this outfit."

"Well that too." Levy laughed looking at Lucy's costume. Lucy was wearing a costume from Levy's favorite anime, Sword Art Online, Asuna? Was that her name? Lucy didn't know. She never watched the show, but Levy made her try it on anyways.

"You know, I was actually hoping to do a scary costume instead.." Lucy mumbled looking over at some other costumes. She would rather be like a Frankenstein's bride, or perhaps a vampire queen, one of the classics. Not...this...

"But you look so good!" Levy exclaimed.

"Noo she needs to wear something like this." Cana stated pulling out a prisoner's costume. However, it wasn't a normal one. It was orange, like it should be, but it was barely a bikini with handcuffs.

"No way!" Lucy said, making an X with her arms "And Levy, why don't you just wear this?" She asked, motioning to the costume she was wearing. She could've swore that if she didn't know Levy, that the way her eyes lit up, she would've thought that it was Christmas for her.

"That's a brilliant idea, Lu-chan!" she yelled then grabbed the same costume in her own size before running into a changing room. Lucy chuckled and started looking for her own costume. She finally settled on a zombie bride costume and went into a change room to try it on.

Lucy stared at herself in the costume, it looked good on her, that was certain, but that wasn't why it intrigued her. It was a sleeveless wedding dress, laced at the top, and had small white flowers sown into the dress. It was ripped at the bottom, exposing her knees. The top was ripped a bit too falling over, but she could feel the strap around her chest to keep it up. A wedding dress, it was probably supposed to be torn from the zombies that attacked the bride, but Lucy couldn't help but think that the bride did it herself. The wedding would've ended when the zombies arrived, but maybe she was thankful. Thankful that she didn't have to marry anyone, someone that she didn't love. And so she destroyed the wedding dress before she was killed.

No that's ridiculous, Lucy was just putting a story on a silly costume. There's no reason for that.

"Huh where is everyone?" Lucy wondered as she walked out of the changing room. No one was there anymore. No one but a certain black figure.

"Erza and Cana went to go get sweets and Levy is buying her costume." The figure replied, leaning casually on a nearby wall. Lucy looked at him, dread in her heart.

So he knows their names? Then that mean Sting knows too..

"Why are you here, Rogue?" She asked, sounding angrier than she meant to. It wasn't Rogue's fault for any of this, he was just following orders. If anything he's nice to Lucy, he's sympathetic towards her. But she knew that he can't do anything about it. It's his job. She respected him for that.

"I've got a message from Sting." He answered, not looking at her eyes. Not looking at her at all, actually. His eyes seemed to rest on a frog costume about his size, strange.

"Why didn't he come to tell me himself?" She questioned, snapping Rogue's attention back to her.

"He's at his father's, doing work for him." He continued "Anyways he's invited you to a Halloween party, and he wants you to wear this." Rogue tossed her a gold dress that shined brightly in the light. Lucy caught it hesitantly, eyeing it. It looked tight. Really tight.

"I..I understand." Lucy nodded disappointingly. She was really looking forward to the Halloween party with her friends too...speaking of her friends, how's she going to tell them? How's she going to tell Natsu?

"I'm sorry." He said sympathetically. Lucy looked up at him, attempting to smile at him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Rogue sent her one last glance before fading into the shadows. Lucy got out of the wedding dress and into her normal clothes again, then left the store with the dress, not even giving her friends a goodbye.

Damn it..