The young lady looked at herself in the reflection of the water. She was at the shore of the lake, soaking in the last ray of sunlight as the day was coming to an end.
"I wonder, what am I doing here?" she whispered to herself.
The young lady had escaped her home. A home with a family that had entrusted her with great responsibility from a young age.
"My duty lies with my people, but... I—"
She couldn't bring herself to it. To admit the future that was set in stone for her was not the one she wanted. Even if her feelings were pretty clear to her, she just couldn't do it. The stone that was written for her was blocking her path to her true self.
The young lady had a pained look on her face. Her eyes were watering enough to be on the verge of tears, "I abandoned them..."
She grabbed a pebble and threw it into the lake in frustration, making it skip across the water. She threw it at such strength that the pebble never sunk. In fact, it reached across the other side of the lake.
Such anger and desperation were dwelling inside of her. That was why she ran far away from her fate. She went straight through the forest, fighting every beast that came her way. She had to, because in the end she knew she'd find him. The person who to her, appeared to be salvation.
The young lady closed her eyes, put one of her hands on her chest and took a deep breath, "Could he be the one to guide me to the right path?"
"—Why would you let your life be handled by someone else's hand?"
The young lady gasped. She turned around to find a familiar figure was standing behind her.
The figure came forward from the shadows, brushing the long black hair before pushing it to the back of her shoulders. Her long gothic dress was swayed by the wind. Her big eyes, one red and the other yellow, looked at the young lady irritated. However, it was hard to take it seriously from her because of her childlike appearance.
"Sylvia!? How did you—?"
The young-looking gothic lady crossed her arms, "You never were one to clear your tracks. You left a trail of corpses on your way here."
With the snap of her fingers, one of the forest monsters had materialized in thin air and landed on the ground. It was bigger than the regular monsters, probably around eight to nine feet tall. It's form resembled a lion with light blue fur around its neck that looked like flames. It's dark blue body lay flat on the grass, beside the ladies, divided in half. Its intestines were spilled on the ground, staining the grass red in blood, the ribs pierced out from the body, the big claws from one of its paws were ripped out and it had both eyes slashed.
The young lady was in disbelief, "Why would you be carrying around such a thing?"
"What better evidence than this?"
Lucy looked at the beast with a cold sweat running down her face, "Why would you assume—?"
"—Please, this has you written all over. There is no one that would leave a beast like this in such a state."
The young lady looked at the floor covering her face under her bangs with embarrassment. She gripped her fists tight in anger at how hopeless she was. She knew there was no denying it anymore. Her cover had been blown.
—I'm so pathetic, she thought.
"Tell me, why is it that you passed on the burden to someone else?"
The young lady looked at the gothic lady surprised, "Huh? I—!"
"You've been given the permission for this pretend freedom you so desperately desired in exchange for your cooperation. You were permitted to attend such things as work and interact with the outside people—"
"—It isn't what it looks like! You're wrong!" The young lady tried to stop her from speaking any further, but the gothic lady didn't permit it,
"Then, what is it? Because to me, it looks like you're being greedy, especially with him, and that's cruel even for you."
The young lady didn't want to hear it anymore. She didn't want to be reminded that her actions made her incompetent to her family and to her people. The gothic lady didn't stop. She kept spouting the same words as that person did. The person that Lucy couldn't escape. The one that wrote her fate on the stone.
The young lady was ready to take a stand for herself. If Sylvia came to bring her back no matter the cause, then she would have to take her by force. She got into position preparing the mana around her to take the offense. Sparkles of light formed floating around her body.
Lucy glared at the gothic lady, "Tell me Sylvia, are you here to take me back?"
The gothic lady had one eye opened while looking at the young lady, "Hm? I'm not the one you should be eager to fight. I'm just the messenger after all."
The young lady stopped from going forward with her attack, "If that's the case then, what is the message?"
The gothic lady sighed, "They want you back at the household by tomorrow. They sent me to deliver the message and pick you up if you please."
The young lady raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She knew that it couldn't be the only thing they had sent her to say. It was her family, after all, they always needed a motive for her to come back.
"What if I don't return home?"
The gothic lady looked at her straight in the eyes, "Then my lady herself will come pick you up."
The young lady took a step back in disbelief, "Her?! After all the other attempts, why—?"
"—It is your choice and your choice alone, no one else's young Lucy. I'd be pleased if you remembered that."
"Sylvia... What are—?"
The gothic lady turned her back to the young lady, "—I guess, I'm done here. Like I said, I'll be back by tomorrow morning and not a second after that. I hope that by that time you've made the right decision."
The gothic lady walked back into the woods but stopped her tracks midway, "Don't ever try to pick a fight you can't win. Even if you were chosen by the gods. I'm the one who taught you the moves." After that, she disappeared in the shadows, leaving the young lady alone in her thoughts.