Misery is a feeling Lucy Heartphilia experiences almost in a daily basis. After all the jobs and requests she and her whimsical team have gone through, the sensation of fear and horror has already become something akin to a familiar and annoying friend that trespasses her house and sleeps in her bed when no one is home. Sort of like Natsu and Happy, only more insidious.
Currently, these familiar and annoying friends are tormenting her in the manner of letting her dangle off the face of a cliff, through which her only security and hope of survival is clinging to a protruding root of a large tree some feet away. She did not want to look down, for she knew the jarring height will make her lose her grip because of panic.
Panic has also been omnipresent in her life these past few days.
"Natsu, Happy," she said, quivering. "Please. For the love of the celestial spirits. Help. Me."
The two persons mentioned lay on their stomachs at the very edge of the cliff, elbows against the dirt and heads rested on their palms, looking uninterested and bored. Happy chewed on a large fish in his mouth. "We've been telling you before, if you wanna live, let go," said Natsu. "If you really don't want to, then we'll leave you here. Alone."
He spoke 'alone' too dramatically, like a cheeky child trying to scare his friends by lowering his voice to a laughable tenor during the climax of a scary story. Nonetheless, it succeeded in frightening Lucy out of her wits.
"Aye," remarked Happy as he swallowed his short meal. "If you trust us, you'll let go."
"You– you two are devils!" Lucy felt tears form in the corners of her eyes.
"Maybe. But you love us for it."
"Aye!"
Truth be told, her friends' insanity is what made her love Fairy Tail more since she entered the guild. Their destructive and crazy antics contrasted to her past luxurious and boring life.
Although, things would be much, much better if most of them didn't involve her.
None of the three spoke as Lucy spent solitary time with her abstract and omnipresent friend Misery and her new acquaintance Panic. They've formed an interestingly strange bond in that short stint. Almost ethereal. She felt a kind of perverse liberation that made her feel, well, liberated.
Aside, of course, from the fact that, if the two delinquents above her don't help her up soon, she will die a horrible, agonizing, bloody death.
On the bright side, at least she will be mourned.
Natsu broke the silence after a few pensive moments. "So, ya' ready to let got yet?"
"No!"
"Lucy," said Happy. "If you let go, you will learn a very valuable lesson."
"The only lesson I've learned is not to come with you two without Erza or Gray ever again!"
The pink-haired mage shrugged. "Suit yourself, then. Come one, Happy."
It was a bluff, though. They weren't really going anywhere. Neither of them is cruel enough to run off somewhere while Lucy was hilariously suffering, but before they even made a motion to stand up, Lucy started to shout. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't leave me here! I'll…" -she inhaled deeply- "Fine. I'll let go. But only if you promise that I won't die!"
Natsu and Happy snickered. They couldn't believe that worked.
"I pinky-promise. You won't even get a scratch."
Lucy's outstretched hands were already losing their strength from holding on for dear life, and at that point, if they really didn't want to help her, she really had no other choice. Her breath was erratic, and her joints weak. She straightened herself for her inevitable and untimely death, may her soul rest in eternal peace, and found the resolve to just get it all over with.
Okay, you can do this Lucy. In one, two, three….
She let go.
A moment of silence ensued.
And then nothing happens.
"…Eh?"
She could still feel her fingers touching her wooden security to which she had been so tightly clinging to, but she had tangible land under her feet. Sweet, solid ground. Oh, how she longed to kiss it.
Above her head she heard Natsu and Happy's laughing helplessly at her expense. They apparently knew all along about the large, flat piece of rock jutting out just barely a centimeter beneath her toes, but their vicious sense of humor prevented them from saying so.
"All right," she said in a tone of indignation. "Very funny guys."
Between pants and laughter Natsu cheerfully replied. "You- you should've seen the look on your face! It was so- so…" Cackling hysterically, he was unable to finish the sentence.
"Yeah, yeah. Will you help me up now?"
However, her two friends were too busy enjoying her suffering; they merely kept on laughing. Lucy stomped her foot on the ground to show that she was being completely serious, an action which she immediately regretted when the rock shook violently.
As it turned out, the jutting piece of land was not very firmly attached to the rest of the cliff, and just a little bit more stress would've been enough to send it tumbling down. It was already over-strained from taking on Lucy's weight, and the moment she stomped on it made the entire thing surrender and crumble. Lucy would've summoned a spirit that might have saved her, but the swiftness of the events rendered her incapable of thinking very quickly.
Closing her eyes tightly, she prepared herself from the impact.
Natsu, help me.
The cold wind stung her skin as she fell. It felt scary. She felt scared.
Is this it? She asked herself. Am I going to die here? But I can't…
It was useless, anyway, if she were. And so, Lucy yielded, erasing all thoughts from her mind. She didn't want to die thinking or regretting anything. She relaxed herself, giving in to death, and waited. Even when she realized that she had stopped falling, she didn't open her eyes yet, for fear that if she opens them she'll see the magnificent clouds of heaven.
But death didn't come.
The next thing Lucy knew was that she was in Natsu's arms, bridal style, on the bottom of the chasm.
He was warm. She liked it there.
"See? I told you, not even a scratch."
Lucy punched him in the chest.
"Don't ever do that to me again," she said, in an annoyed tone, and then angrily pressed their lips together. They, too, were warm.
"And… thanks for saving me."
Natsu grinned. "Don't even mention it."
Suddenly, Happy came flying from the top of the cliff. Seeing the scene below, he concluded that it was the perfect time to ruin the mood.
He flew just above the couple, circling them in a taunting manner. When both of them have their attention on him, he inhaled deeply, and shouted very loudly to be heard a few miles away.
"He llllllllllllllllikes you!"