Introduction
She was trapped in this room. Trapped until her end.
Lucy Heartfilia was seventeen-years old. A year ago, she was a lively, healthy, and normal teenager, who befriended anyone in the midst of her range. Her mom had died of illness, and her dad was busy with work. But Ms. Spetto and the other maids had replaced the empty lodge in her heart. They loved her, and she loved them. She could've been the happiest girl alive.
Until eight months ago. Suddenly, she had the fever. She never had one since she was four. Then the chills. Ms. Spetto worried, but Lucy brushed her off, saying she'll be better in a week.
It worsened.
A month later, she lost twenty pounds. Her fever persisted. Infections grew everywhere. Her nose bled frequently, for almost an hour each day. It was time to see the doctor.
That day, Ms. Spetto held onto Lucy's hand, petting it and calming her. She smiled weakly in return, still holding a tissue to her nose. The door swung open, and the doctor returned with a graven look on his face.
She had leukemia.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 1
Natsu's POV
Quickly, he ran over. The bell had just rung, and he didn't hesitate a moment to explode out of class and to race towards the bus stop.
Dad.
Natsu skidded to a stop, panting. He then squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. The bus slowly came into his vision, trudging behind traffic. Groaning, he sat on the bench and waited for the delay.
Nothing to do.
While whipping out his phone, Natsu whistled a tune that popped up in his head. He automatically tapped his foot while he leaned over to look at his phone, scrolling through the main website.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star?"
A woman with silky, blonde hair sat to his right as he turned. She curiously tilted her head, causing stray hairs to fall upon her cheek.
"Uhm… No, it's a song that my mom sang to me…" He replied, a bit sheepish. The woman's eyes sparkled.
"Sing it for me."
"Wait what? I'm really bad at singing," he quickly said, waving his hands. This is embarrassing. Why is she asking me?
"You whistled it really well. Sing it. I want to hear the words," she insisted.
"I'm serious. I really suck," he laughed.
"I don't care. I'm interested in the lyrics," she urged.
"Uhm, I'm not sure I remember…" She looked disappointed. Sighing, Natsu gave up, "Ok, maybe I remember some lines…." She suddenly brightened.
I can't believe I'm doing this for a stranger…
"Yay! I can't wait!" The mysterious woman clapped her hands in joy.
Rolling his eyes, he still couldn't help but smile at the woman's cheerfulness. The bus was still quite a distance away. "Ok…it went something like…" He cleared his throat as she waited in anticipation.
"…Dango, dango, on the platee…" Please don't laugh at me. "…How I wish you were in me…Green and red and fair they looked….Right into my mouth, I ate…Dango, dango, on the plate….How I wish you were in me….." He ended awkwardly, looking at the woman.
She was muffling a laugh with her scarf to his embarrassment. His face flushed red.
"See?!" Natsu exclaimed, "Told you it was bad!" He folded his arms with a pout on his face. The woman's laughs eventually declined to chuckles.
"It wasn't bad. It was really cute."
"You're lying."
"No, I'm serious!" She wiped a tear away from her eye, "I loved it! Thank you."
He remained in the same position, but his eyes softened as he looked away. "Whatever…"
"If only my daughter right now met someone like you…" She sighed.
His ears perked up. "You have a daughter? How old is she?"
Again, the woman laughed, "Don't get excited. She's…hm…." She pointed a finger at her chin as her eyes looked up at the sky. "She's ten years old, I think."
"You think?" He looked at her weirdly.
"Yea, I had a memory lapse. Odd." She got up robotically. "The bus is here. I'll see you around then."
The bus finally arrived, growling to a stop as the engines puttered in relief. The doors squeaked open, revealing a slightly chubby bus driver. He looked at Natsu.
"What are you waiting for?" He squawked.
"Oh, sorry. By the way, my name's Natsu—" The pink-haired teenager turned, only to see the regular surroundings. "Wow she walks fast…." he muttered.
"Hurry up, pinky!"
"Sorry." He got up and asked, "Magnolia Hospital?"
The driver snorted, but he nodded in reply.
"Good."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A clear curtain billowed gently in the wind. The empty vase sat next to the bed, waiting for someone to fill its gap. An IV dripped softly as the heart machine hummed, reaching its high point every five seconds.
His dad peacefully slept on the bed, having a blank expression on his face. Natsu walked in with red dragon flowers and placed them in the lonely vase, arranging the variations.
"..Hi…." He awkwardly stated. Igneel still remained asleep.
"…I got you flowers. Red. Dragons….Yea…" Only the heart machine responded with a continuous beep.
"So…how were the two weeks in the dark…? Did you meet Mom yet?" He paused. "Actually, it's better if you don't…."
He spotted a chair and grabbed it, placing it next to Igneel's bed. Shifting it in position, he sat down and twiddled his fingers.
"..You should wake up now…It's selfish—leaving your son here by himself…I want to meet Mom too...so…don't go without me…...promise?" No response.
"….I need to go. I have homework to do….Bye." Natsu scooted the chair back gently and got up. He headed towards the door, briefly glancing at the breathing figure. He continued walking, only to glance back again, expecting a wide grin to appear on his father's face.
It was still blank.
Stupid. He turned around. He won't wake up now. He'll wake up later. Sighing, he shut the door and walked down the hallway.
When will he wake up? It's lonely…
He passed the elevator.
The doctor said he'll be fine. It'll be fine. He kept walking straight.
Everything will be fine….I hope..
Natsu abruptly stopped to look at his surroundings. It wasn't familiar. Instead of regular doors, there were giant clear windows, allowing him to see the patients inside. The doors appeared on the other side of the rooms. Some of them were covered in blinds, allowing privacy for a procedure.
Out of curiosity, he continued to walk down the hallway, taking a quick glimpse of each patient.
One was an old man, weakly coughing into his thin arms and stuttering something.
Another was an elderly lady, who suddenly threw up into something besides her bed. Natsu winced.
next one held a bandage to his eye while crying. He didn't look long enough to see the color.
.
And then, there was a girl. She sat calmly in her bed, composed, and was reading. Natsu raised his eyebrow and leaned in for a good look at the title.
Fairy Tail, it read.
Without realizing, he placed his hand on the glass window and continued to stare at her. She was beautiful with her long, untangled hair that reflected the color of a marigold. Her chocolate eyes were lowered, concentrated and absorbed inside the book. He now was curious. What was inside the book? He then gulped and knocked on the glass-panel.
She dropped her book in surprise, looking up to see his face. They stared at each other.
..Oh god, what do I do? He tried to move his fingers in an attempt to wave hello. But he was entranced. He couldn't move.
Nooo! I look like a creep! ..Wait she looks around the same age as me…Not the point! I don't know what to do! Turn away from me or something!
As if she read his mind, she looked away. He breathed a sigh of relief.
But suddenly, he was determined again. One more time. I won't freeze. He knocked again. The blonde didn't move, but Natsu saw her orbs turn towards him. He waved.
She didn't move as he waved a little harder.
Come on. Natsu kept waving. Her orbs kept shifting between him and the opposite wall, but she left out a small hmph and continued reading. He let out a small sigh of defeat, but he grabbed a chair nearby to place it in front of the window.
What am I doing? He continued to stare at her. It was then he noticed how thin she was when she flipped a page over, her eyes trailing every word he couldn't see. Her hair was pretty, but it was thin.
Finally, she grew uncomfortable and glared at Natsu. To his surprise, she slowly eased herself out of bed and grabbed a notepad and a pen on her table while struggling with the IV stand. She shuffled over while dragging it and quickly scribbled something on the notepad, and flipped it over for him to see.
'Why are you staring at me?' It read.
"Because you're pretty."
The blonde looked at him in confusion. She cupped her ear and shook her head. Natsu realized the window was sound-proof.
He looked around. There was no paper or pen in his range. He saw a nurse heading over and quickly stopped her.
"Do you have some paper and pen?" Natsu asked.
The nurse looked confused. "Why?"
Then she saw the girl and smiled at him. "Hold on, I'll be right back." They both watched her run to the end of the hallway and veer a sharp left.
Natsu turned back to her. Maybe sign language? He placed his fingers to the left of his cheek and moved it around his face while pointing at her.
She didn't understand and quickly wrote, 'My face?'
He shook his head and did the action again, this time giving a thumbs-up. She looked helplessly at him as he bit his lips.
"Here, I got them for you." The nurse's voice peeped up from behind him and handed him the pad and the pen.
Natsu took them and thanked her gratefully.
"You're welcome. If you need me, I'll be walking around this section of the hospital." She gave him a smile as he nodded in appreciation. The nurse then wisped into a corner again.
Natsu looked back at her to see if she was still there. And there she was, looking at him in slight anticipation. He grinned and sloppily wrote angrily down, then flipped it over for the blonde to see. Her face suddenly flushed in embarrassment as she angrily pouted. To his shock, she pulled down the blinds, setting the barrier between them. A little frightened, he still gently knocked on the window. No response.
It took him half an hour to realize she was set on him leaving. Sighing in disappointment, he returned the chair to the previous location and walked to the elevator, the notepad and the pen still in his hands. He was still confused on why she was angry as he looked down at the paper.
It read, 'You're beautiful, that's why.'
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi. C: Sorry for the depressing environment. I just felt like I needed to explore more genres in writing. I'm pretty new at this. Sorry if it's bad :D. Please give constructive criticism. I would greatly appreciate it / Thank you for reading this all the way to the end (if you did). hehe C:
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Only the plot of this fanfiction. Ily guys. C: Happy reading!~
