Trust

Journey | 旅行

"Ah, Lucy! You finally decided to join us... with a few other people I see." Sinbad said while lounging about on the most extravagant looking couch Lucy has ever seen before and plopping grapes into his mouth. "There was a bit of a situation on the way here," I got lost after wandering too far away from Kouen, "but it's all good now."

"I see," he responded, an unnerving twinkle in his eye making Lucy suspicious.

"We're here too!" Aladdin, Lucy remembers the Spirit King calling him, said, waving his arms as excitedly as he did when first saw Lucy. "Ha ha, of course. We didn't forget you guys—there should be rooms prepared for you below deck. You best make yourself comfortable, it's expected to take at least a week to get there and that's only if there aren't any... complications along the way."

Lucy isn't sure what he's talking about and she has a feeling she doesn't want to know, so to save herself some trouble, she decides to completely ignore it. "It's my first time being on a ship this large," she said after a moment of silence. It's technically not a lie either, as she's actually never been on this big of a ship. Sure, she was on the fake Salamander's ship right before she joined Fairy Tail and one of their ships when she first got here, but compared to the ship she's currently on, those seem tiny in comparison. "So I'm not actually sure where to go." She trailed off, hoping he would understand what she was saying.

"No problem Flower Lady! We can show you where to go." Aladdin puffed his chest out before Sinbad had a chance to respond. "Really? That would be great, thank you." She smiled at them. Aladdin seemed to grow even more excited and once again dragged her along with him, this time to where she can assume their rooms are.

He was such a cute kid, someone she would be more than happy to watch over. He was so energetic and polite, and even though she hasn't actually gotten to know him that well, he's already become one of her favourite people in this world. The fact that the Spirit King himself also cares about the child is a bonus too, seeing as she's now almost confident that she can trust him without spending days agonizing on whether she should like she's done for everyone else.

Lucy hunched over to make sure Aladdin wouldn't need to strain himself to bring her with him and she carefully followed behind him, keeping with his pace even as they walked down a flight of narrow steps.

"These," he used his free hand to gesture to the hall littered with doors, "are our rooms." Pulling her towards each door, he pointed to each individual one and said: "Alibbaba, Mor and I are staying in this one, Masrur is staying there with Sinbad in the room next to him and Ja'far staying in the room beside that one! Um," he furrowed his brows in thought. "Oh, right! And Kouen is staying in this room... but I'm not actually sure where you're going to be staying." He deflated a bit, "I'm so sorry Flower Lady."

Aladdin was expecting Lucy to be even just a bit disappointed with him not knowing where she's supposed to be staying, seeing as he said he would guide her but instead, all she did was laugh. It was light, full of warmth and instantly made him want to hear more of it.

"It's no problem, Aladdin." She bent down and patted his head. Confused, he looked up at her questioningly. "But... don't you want to know where you're going to be staying? That's the whole reason I brought you down here but I couldn't even help you with that!"

Again, all she did was smile warmly at him. "Say, Aladdin, can you keep a secret?" Still confused, he nodded slowly. He was able to keep him being a Magi a secret in Magnostadt and able to keep everything he knows about Solomon from everyone, so he thinks that by now, he's pretty good at keeping secrets.

"Good. You have to keep what I'm about to do a secret then—if anyone asks where I am, say I'm sharing a room with Kouen and I'll explain everything to him later, okay?"

"Um... okay."

Lucy winked at him, grinned, then stepped back a bit before fading into a golden glow of nothingness.

"Wha? Huh? Flower Lady?! Flower Lady?!" Surprised, Aladdin quickly sped around the entire below deck area of the boat to look for her. "Where did you go?!" Desperately, he started searching places he knew she wouldn't be able to fit in, like inside a box or under a piece of paper after seeing no sign of her anywhere.

Apparently, he was making quite a bit of noise by doing this as Morgiana soon came looking for him.

"Aladdin? What are you doing here? I thought you were showing Lucy around." Walking down the narrow stairs, Morgiana looked questioningly at Aladdins odd behaviour. "Mor! Flower Lady disappeared and I don't know where she is! I can't find her anywhere, you have to help me." He gripped onto her dress and looked up at her pleadingly.

"Ah... did she tell you anything before she disappeared?"

He wasn't sure why that would be the first thing she would ask but nonetheless told her everything. "She said to keep it a secret and tell everyone she's sharing a room with Kouen,  then she went poof!"

"Oh, that makes much more sense. Don't worry Aladdin, she'll be back soon."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"She's perfectly safe, she just has an... extremely unique way she uses her magic but trust me, she'll most likely be back by morning."

Aladdin, having never seen something like this before, expected her to say this was all a big joke but she looked completely serious. I still have no clue what's going on, but... "Alright Mor, I'll trust you." Mor is my friend and she'd never lie to me. If she says Lucy is going to be back soon, I'm going to believe her.

- - - - -

"Welcome back princess! How long are you staying for this time? A few hours, a few years—oh, forever?" Loke excitedly greeted her as soon as she appeared in the Spirit World. "I think... for a few minutes? Just until morning in the world I'm staying at." She mentally tried to figure out how long she should stay here until she needs to go back.

"Aw," he said, not looking the least bit disappointed.

Suddenly, after noticing Lucy's cheerful expression, he said, softer than anything she's ever heard, "you look much happier than before. It's like looking at the you from when you first saved me," he smiled a genuine smile at her, "and I hope you're able to stay this happy forever." Gently, he lifted her hand up and kissed it, smiling flirtatiously at her in a way they both knew was a joke.

"Me too Loke. It's been a while since I last felt like this and I've missed it."

- - - - -

As promised, at dawn Lucy appeared in Kouen's room, startling him awake.

"Lucy...?" He said, voice rough from sleep.

"The one and only." She cheekily replied, settling down on an armchair.

Looking up at her through half closed eyes, he flopped back onto his pillow and quietly muttered, "I can't wait for the day when you finally tell me where you go when you disappear like that," before easily falling back asleep, not questioning her about her whereabouts like he used to.

Unlike Kouen, Lucy stayed awake and gazed at the floor in front of her with her legs curled up to her chest.

It might have been an offhand statement to him but Lucy knows how good everyone has been to her and she knows they deserve to know the truth but she was still hesitant to tell them for some reason and she hated it. She didn't want to keep it a secret anymore but she's scared of how they'll react knowing that she's been lying to them all this time. As much as she knows they deserve to know everything, she doesn't want to lose people close to her again, even if that means lying to them forever.

"I can't wait for that day either..."

———————
A/N: I actually have no plan for how this is going to go anymore and haven't for the past five chapters lmao. I COMPLETELY derailed from the original plan I had for this so I have about as much of a clue as to where this is going as you guys do.  I also realized after finishing this that it's a bit fast paced—which is completely accidental but I guess I really wanted to finish this lol.

Hope you enjoyed!