It was either this or picking up trash outside where it was blazing hot, which literally could melt you into a puddle.
Natsu Dragneel didn't want to volunteer at the mental place, it was his stupid friend's fault for getting him in trouble with the police. They had both planned to get revenge on their old lady neighbor, Miss Poryuscia, but things stabbed them in the back when Poryuscia found then trying to put the rotten eggs in her car trunk.
His friend, Ray Lahee, ran away before the police could chase after them both. Natsu was caught, while Ray hid behind the bushes, watching it all happen. Natsu was forced to do community service, working at some hospital for "special people". Natsu didn't really feel like melting to death outside, so he chose the hospital.
There he stood at the big doors of the hospital, with a little piece of paper in his hands, with directions messily scribbled on it. Natsu sighed and pressed the intercom button that was on the side of the door. The intercom came out all fuzzy and confusing.
"Csh- Hello? Who is this?" A voice rang out. It sounded like a woman's voice. Natsu pressed the button and tried to speak as clearly as he could.
"Uh, I'm visiting this place for community service? Natsu Dragneel?" Natsu wanted to hit himself on the head. He sounded so stupid right now. It took a few seconds for the intercom to answer back, but now it was a bit more clear.
"Natsu Dragneel? Ah-yes, you are volunteering here, I see your name on the list right here. Come on in." The voice spoke. As the last words were spoken, the doors made a little boom sound, and started to open slowly. It fully opened, revealing a gorgeous white-haired woman at a desk. Natsu scratched his pink hair, stepping towards the desk.
The woman smiled at him, an actual friendly one. The woman was absolutely beautiful, and Natsu tried to figure out her name. He spotted a name tag on her chest, and Natsu had to squint and tried to read it. Mira.
Mira smiled at him and typed at the computer. "So Natsu Dragneel, right? Wow, we hadn't had a volunteer for ages." She said, while pressing enter on the keyboard.
"Er, yeah," Natsu said, not really knowing what to say. Mira only smiled at him again, and stood up from the desk. Walking around, she opened a little door and stepped out to where Natsu was. She started walking to the halls, with Natsu just standing back at the desk. Mira turned around and waved her hand.
"Come on, I will show you around," Mira said, gesturing Natsu to follow her.
"Oh, right," Natsu said awkwardly, walking a bit fast to keep up with Mira's pace. Mira walked surprisingly fast, making Natsu almost struggling to keep up with the white-haired beauty.
"All of the patients are doing their activities in their rooms right now, you can meet them when it's lunch, which is at 12:30," Mira slightly rambled, gesturing her hands who-knows-where. Natsu looked around, strangely, almost everything was white. There would be splashes of color here and there, but it was just white.
Natsu never felt more awkward in his life.
Finally, at the end of the tour, Natsu could barely remember anything. He had been spacing out the whole entire time, probably plotting Ray's murder for getting him caught and making him volunteer at this hospital full of crazy people.
"Finally, here is your room," Mira said, gesturing torwards a room, with a label on it called: Room 106. This caught Natsu's attention.
"Oh thanks-Wait, room?" Natsu was caught off guard. He did not read anything about living at the mental hospital. "I didn't bring any luggage though."
"Those are arriving at the hospital soon- Oh, their they are!" Mira pointed. As if on que, a man carried three luggage bags, walking towards them while hauling the heavy luggage with him. Mira only smiled and thanked the man, giving him a four dollar tip. Natsu could only stare at the luggage and room in shock.
"Is there something wrong?" Mira peered at Natsu, looking at him with curious eyes.
"I-I didn't know I was going to live here.." Natsu said, still in shock from hearing the news. Mira gasped.
"Oh no! You didn't know you were living here? I'm so sorry! I messed up. It's my fault for not putting that in the contract. Now you're here, probably wanting to go home, and it's all my fault! I'm so sorry!" Mira cried, covering her face with her hands, making little sobs.
Natsu was flabbergasted. He wasn't exactly good with girls who cried. Last time, it ended with a sharp stick doll, a poke in the eye, then a trip to the emergency room. Natsu didn't know what to do, so he did what came to mind. Freak out.
"Uh-No! Don't cry, please. Just don't cry, um-I don't mind living here! Yeah-It'll be fun, and I will Er-meet lots of new friends! Please don't cry my father will kill me if I send another girl to the emergency room!" Natsu stuttered, trying to calm the sobbing white-haired woman down, who was still crying in her hands.
"S-so, you don't mind living here?" Mira sniffed, her head still in her hands.
"I-I don't mind at all!" Natsu burst out, hoping to have stopped the woman's cries. Mira perked up, and rose her head up. Her face was made into a smile again, and started walking back.
"Thank you! Enjoy your life at Fiore Mental Asylum!" Mira smiled and waved, and walked away.
Once again, Natsu was flabbergasted.
Natsu watched the clock in his room tick to 12:00.
He had stuffed the clothes that were in his luggage in the little mahogany dresser, which was across his own plain, white bed. Till then, he was just sitting there, staring at the clock that was above his door.
Natsu still didn't believe he had to live here. It was probably his father, Igneel, who had set it up. Igneel tried to teach Natsu a "lesson" for trying to sabotage Miss Poryuscia's car trunk with rotten eggs. Natsu didn't really know what the lesson was, but he sure was miserable.
Getting up from the bed, Natsu opened the door and stepped outside into the blank, white hallway. There seemed to be no one in sight, so he walked down the hallway with ease. He slightly remembered how to get the cafeteria, seemingly it had only to do with food. Natsu slide open the doors to the cafeteria, to see Mira helping the cooks prepare for lunch and dinner. Mira looked at Natsu, and smiled at him.
"Hello Natsu! Want to help with cooking?" Mira called, gesturing Natsu to come over. Natsu walked over, and saw that the chefs were making Mac n' Cheese, and noodle soup. It seemed like a slightly strange meal to Natsu, but everything looked fine to him.
"Um, I don't really know how to cook so," Natsu said, not really knowing to say, mostly because he was lazy and actually didn't really want to help. Mira nodded, understanding.
"Alright, the patients will be arriving in about 5 minutes, so how about you take a seat then get in line?" Mira asked, pointing to a seat in front of her. Natsu nodded, then took a seat. He was anxious and nervous to meet the patients.
After 5 minutes, the patients started arriving.
They pretty much looked like normal people.
Mira started to point out the people, saying their names, or how they got in the hospital.
"There's Erza Scarlet," Mira said, pointing to a scarlet-haired girl. She held a look of determination, and pride. "She has a tendency to be a bit violent, and bossy, she's here because she went a bit.. Insecure from a incident that happened in the past." Natsu nodded looking at Erza as she gathered her meal and sat down at a table.
A raven-haired man walked in, half of the buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. Natsu felt some sort of weirdness from him. Mira noticed Natsu looking at the man, and whispered to Natsu in his ear.
"Thats Gray Fullbuster. He tends to get hot, whether it's hot or cold, so he usually leaves is shirt open or off. He literally loves ice. The reason why he is in the hospital, when his mother died, people claimed he did it. Gray thought otherwise. He says a demon killed his mom, and vowed to get revenge. People thought he was going crazy, and he ended up here." Mira said, both of them watching as Gray grabbed a tray and started to walk to Erza's table.
Natsu strangely wanted to become friends with them. He slowly watched as the cafeteria filled up, no one taking a step to sit at Gray and Erza's table. When lunch was halfway other, Natsu thought everyone had arrived. He was wrong.
The doors of the cafeteria opened, no one looking at the doors and resumed eating. No one even payed attention except for Gray and Erza. A blonde-haired girl walked to the serving table, and took the last tray. A little of her hair was tied up into a little blue bow, and was wearing a regular white dress like all the other girls in this hospital were.
She started walking to Gray and Erza's table, with them staring at her. She did something that Natsu thought no one would do in that situation. She laughed.
"Come on guys, your taking up all the room. At least let Loki sit down," she said, slightly pushing Erza to the side. Erza scooted over, letting a large space rest between her and Lucy. Gray and Erza resumed eating as normal.
She talked to them, occasionally mentioning someone named Loki, then joking and laughing with both of them. Natsu stared at the three of them, a confused look on his face.
Loki? Natsu thought, scrunching his eyebrows together. There's no one there.
Mira noticed Natsu staring at the trio, and quickly explained. "That's Lucy Heartfilia. She's means she sees things that aren't actually there. Like people, for example." Mira gestured to Lucy smiling at the empty space between Erza and her. "Ever since both of her parents died, she's been traumatized. So, to fill in the empty space, she made imaginary friends. Now, she actually thinks they're real."
"Then why is Gray and Erza going along-" Natsu started.
"They don't want to hurt her feelings. She's probably the sweetest girl you'll ever meet. She's practically their only best friend besides eachother," Mira finished, going back to her clipboard.
"Anyway, grab some lunch and eat, I have to go check on a patient," Mira pointed to a new, fresh tray in front of Natsu. She waved away and walked out a door.
Natsu grabbed the tray and sat at an empty table, watching the trio interact with eachother. Great, now he felt like a stalker. When lunch was over, he watched every patient disappear out the cafeteria door. Lucy Heartfilia was the last to exit. Before going, she noticed Natsu. She waved at him, and smiled before exiting.
Natsu realized he had a tiny smile on his face as he walked back to his room. He sat on his bed for hours, until it was lights out. Natsu changed into his pajamias, and threw the white covers over him. All he could think of was one thing.
Something about Lucy Heartfilia intrigued him.