As Loke made his way back to Lucy's apartment, he considered the worrisome news he'd received from Laxus. Apparently after he sent Jet away, three Rune Knights were found dead in various back alleys of Magnolia. As of yet, there was no real proof linking Jet to the murders; but it was undeniable that he was nowhere to be found when the bodies were discovered.
Loke needed to get back to Lucy to make sure she was okay. There was no telling what that man was willing to do to her. That thought ignited a deep worry within him and he picked up the pace, sprinting with everything he had to get back to her in time. Thinking of Lucy crying in the storage room earlier that day had him especially paranoid.
He wasn't sure if Jet had it in him to murder another person, but there was definitely something off about him. The way he tried to defend himself after being caught assaulting Lucy was bizarre to him. It seemed as though Jet didn't find anything wrong with what he'd done to her.
In fact, the way Lucy had defended him afterwards didn't sit well with him. She didn't seem shocked at all by the way he treated her. He only read fear from her. Almost like what happened back there had happened before. Or at the very least, she was used to him doing things to her that she didn't like.
Now that thought really had him freaked out, and he continued his desperate sprint to her home.
After making it to her street, he saw something shine off of the light from the setting sun. As he slowed down to a leisurely walk, he realized they were keys; Lucy's keys. Something definitely wasn't right. And he prayed Jet had nothing to do with it, because he feared Lucy would just sit back and take it.
Analyzing the situation, he came to two conclusions as to why her keys would be out on the street. Either she was having another meltdown, or someone didn't want her to be able to protect herself. Regardless of the scenario, he needed to find her.
The streets were completely empty, so he hadn't a single suspect at the moment. He forced himself to calm down and think rationally about the situation. For all he knew, Lucy could be perfectly safe and her keys were on the ground for a far less urgent reason.
Picking up her keys, he placed them within the pocket on the inside of his suit jacket. He'd need to keep an eye open, but not freak out. Panicking wouldn't solve anything.
As he approached Lucy's door, he got a very bad feeling. Turning the key in the lock, he opened it only to be greeted with an immediate searing pain in his chest. Looking down, he witnessed a fatal stab wound. Well that wasn't good. As he started to fade back to the spirit world, he caught a glimpse of his attacker. It was exactly who he hoped he wouldn't find on the other side of the door. Jet tore the blade from Loke's chest before tossing it behind him to the floor. Then Loke disappeared from Earthland completely.
Jet quickly shut the door and locked it before letting out a loud sigh of irritation. He felt completely enraged by the fact that her lion spirit had dared to jump into his business with Lucy. Things had been going smoothly up until the minute that Leo had decided to get involved.
First he gets kicked out of the guild, then he gets arrested. Well he didn't need a guild full of people who didn't understand his plight. None of them cared about how he felt when Levy had rejected him time after time. Most even found it funny, and it became an ongoing joke that he and Droy be humiliated time after time by that woman.
When Natsu dated Lucy over Lisanna, everyone had been terribly sympathetic, offering her their comfort and shoulders to cry on. But when it came to Levy turning him down, it was just another thing to laugh about. Well he didn't find it very fucking funny. He could only take so much.
As he sat around preparing for what he was about to do to Lucy, his thoughts wandered further, he started to think about his festering resentment towards her. She just had everything her way. Everyone knew she was adorable, even him. Most guys were willing to date her and she was so nice to everyone. He couldn't help the boiling jealousy in his veins. He felt like he'd always been nice. He was loyal to the guild. Yet she seemed to get everything her way. No one could say no to Lucy.
Then when Natsu died, he realized it was time. If he couldn't have what she had, he'd take away what she had. Suddenly, Jet noticed he was getting too wrapped up in his thoughts. He shook himself back into reality and headed to Lucy's resting body.
It was time to wake up the princess.
As she lay on top of him, her body tightly wrapped around his, she could think of very little to do to fight back. Her most viable option would be to try to strangle him, but she hated the thought of doing to him what he tried to do to her. Her neck was raw from his hands, and her conscience pushed back against her, urging her to think of another way to save herself.
Her hands twitched, showing her indecision of whether or not to fight back. At this point it was clear that he had no intention of letting her survive. He wildly bucked underneath her and beat against her back, angry at her for not backing down.
"I didn't want to have to do this. But you leave me no choice. Lucy, I'm gonna fucking kill you, and no one is gonna miss you. I will make sure that once you're gone, everyone hates you as much as I do. You ugly, worthless, little slut!" he screamed at her.
She didn't know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't being flipped onto her back, or the sharp achy sensation in her stomach that came after," You always thought you were so perfect, running around like every man on this planet needed to bow down to you. Well not this time. Look at you now," he grinned viciously.
Her arms instinctively wrapped around his hand that had struck her, but he wasn't moving for anything. Then he pulled back and struck her again.
He was so excited. He'd wanted her like this for weeks, but time and time again he'd decided that she hadn't suffered enough. Seeing her cry was so addicting; he couldn't be sated. She would finally be dominated in every sense of the word. This was his win.
Her adrenaline was flowing so rapidly that it was almost as though her body was on autopilot. Her hands wrapped around his throat and she squeezed as hard as she could. The snap of his neck seemed to vibrate from his skin to her hands, and all the way through her body.
It happened so fast that even he didn't realize he was being killed. The tiny but nimble fingers around his neck gave him an instantaneous warning of what was to come. Then there was nothing, and he was permanently still.
Once her body sensed that she was out of danger, her mind began to process what she'd done. There was a dead man lying on top of her. A man who had just tried to kill her. She felt guilty, but more than anything, her lower abdomen really hurt. The pain was far more intense than any of the previous times he'd hit her.
She crawled out from under his body and settled into a kneeling position. Gently, she pressed her hands to her stomach but felt warm, thick fluid between her fingers. When she brought them up to her line of sight they came up red. Blood. She was bleeding. He didn't punch her; he stabbed her. Twice. In the lower abdomen. The wounds weren't fatal in and of themselves, but she'd surely bleed to death if they went untreated.
When the reality of the situation hit her, she let out a panicked whimper, pressing her palms against her abdomen to try to stave off some of the bleeding. What was she supposed to do? There was absolutely no way to heal these wounds without getting others involved. There was a dead body on her floor. But she didn't want to die. She didn't even want to kill him, but he tried to kill her first.
And her wounds really, really hurt. As her adrenaline receded, the pain became more prominent, and she collapsed on the floor, curling into a ball in some form of self preservation. Her agonized cries were soon to follow. Her long hair clung to the sweat on her face, neck, and shoulders, her tears only adding to the mix. She was so scared.
Desperate to survive, she slowly inched her way to her bathroom. There was no way for her to completely shut her wounds, but she could at least clean and dress them. She tried not to think about Jet's corpse on her floor, knife still in hand.
As she pulled herself across the floor, she heard the ever familiar sound of a spirit bridging through to the human world. She had no clue where her keys were, but at this point she was happy to have someone, anyone, save her. Though she was pretty sure she knew who this was.
Loke waited the absolute minimum amount of time it would take before he could safely open his gate to Earthland. His chest still ached a little, but his top priority was making sure Lucy was okay. He couldn't stand the thought of her being injured in his absence. If he had just been faster.. But that wasn't important now. His only worry needed to be Lucy's current condition.
He materialized to his absolute worst nightmare. There was so much blood, and he knew it was hers. He saw Jet's lifeless body, the only cut being on his hand where it gripped the blade of a knife. Blood was sticky, it wasn't uncommon for attackers to lose their grip and accidentally cut themselves after the initial stab wound was created on the victim.
Next he saw the trail of blood that originated from a small pool in front of her coffee table. His eyes followed it to where she lay, her knuckles white as she tried to pull herself up, but her abdominal muscles screamed at her to lay motionless. Her pained cries were clearly audible in the otherwise quiet room, and she was drenched in sweat.
She looked so tiny as she struggled to save herself. Having gathered everything he needed to know, he reacted immediately," Lucy!" he cried out, running to her side.
As he got closer, he saw her blood seeping from under her t-shirt. Without a second thought, he raised her shirt to inspect the wound. He had to tamp down the urge to vomit; the bastard had stabbed her multiple times, and she was bleeding out.
"Oh god, Lucy. What do I do?" he asked frantically," Let me go get Virgo-"
"NO!" she screamed, grabbing his wrists with everything she had, refusing him the ability to stand up. He stared down at her in alarm, and she just shook even harder," Don't leave me! Don't leave my sight for even one second. I don't want to be alone," she cried, sobbing uncontrollably.
Remembering that he in fact had her keys, he gently removed her hands from his wrists, reaching into his suit jacket pocket and retrieved them. She raised her hands palm up and as he handed them to her, her face lit up considerably.
The only issue now was that she felt really tired, almost instantaneously. Her arms fell to her sides and she dropped the gate keys on the floor. Every few seconds her head would lull to the side before she'd straighten up slightly.
"Princess, I know you're in a lot of pain, but you have to call out Virgo. She can help you," he urged her softly, resting his hands on her shoulders. She shook her head no, leaning forward to rest her head on his chest. Her blinks became more drawn out, and he knew she was probably about to pass out.
"Lucy, wake up right now!" he panicked, holding her face in his hands, trying to startle her awake," Come on, summon Virgo and then you can rest!"
She groaned in both pain and exhaustion before sorting out Virgo's key and mumbling some form of her usual summoning chant. A bright light flashed briefly before Virgo appeared with bandages and sterilizing supplies.
"Princess, let me dress your wounds," Virgo said monotonously, doing her best to stay calm in the face of such a terrifying situation," Big Brother, you may relax. I will take care of her wounds."
He nodded, releasing Lucy. However, he still held her hand tightly; anything to assure himself that she was still alive.
The next day, Lucy awoke in her bed in new clean clothing. Her lower abdomen ached considerably, but she couldn't bring herself to feel surprised by it. She had been stabbed by her boyfriend. Virgo had decided to place her in a plain white t-shirt and black and white plaid pajama bottoms. Usually, she'd give her clothing which was quite revealing, but today was different.
She couldn't really remember what happened after Virgo had arrived. Loke told her she could rest, so she did. She did vaguely remember the voices of her spirits as they tried to save her, but it sounded like she was underwater and they were ashore, so their panic was the only thing that registered in her mind.
Lucy sort of wondered what happened to Jet: if he survived or where he was, but at the same time knew that he didn't deserve her sympathy. He tried to kill her because she wasn't perfect enough.
She turned her head to see Loke sitting in a chair right next to her bed. Her hand was gripped tightly between his, and he had eyes for her alone.
"Good morning, Princess," he greeted flatly.
Honestly, all he wanted to do was cry. Her near death scared him in a way he'd never felt before. He felt so guilty for not seeing the signs of her abusive relationship soon enough. In hindsight, it all made too much sense. The way she had defended him as though her life depended on it; her life did depend on it.
She gave his hand a light squeeze but didn't offer him any response otherwise.
"You realize we'll eventually have to talk about it," he said, refusing to look at her. Her seeming indifference to the situation really hurt him. He cared about her so much, but she didn't seem to be terribly concerned about her safety. And rather than reply, she gave him a quizzical glance.
"He hurt you, Lucy. Long before last night. He regularly hit you, didn't he?" he questioned her. His voice was already shaking. The thought of the much bigger man physically dominating her chilled him to the bone.
"I was lonely," was her short reply. After that, she remained flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling of her little apartment. She didn't know what to feel; she was just tired. Tired of everything.
He tried to imagine what happened behind closed doors. He tried to picture the way Jet probably talked to her; like she was an animal that needed to be punished. No one knew what she had gone through or the pain she was suffering. While everyone felt uncomfortable being around her, she felt uncomfortable being her.
Lucy deserved to be understood. She deserved his empathy, and in that moment he promised himself he wouldn't leave her alone ever again. His friend wasn't the same as she was before, but he had every intention of mending her soul one instant at a time.
"I'm so sorry, Princess. Please forgive me. If I had known... I thought you didn't want me around anymore. But I promise I won't let you be lonely ever again," he said quietly.
She still hadn't let go of his hand, and she let his words sink in. Loke would be by her side. No matter what this time. He abruptly rose to his feet and reached over her body to take both her hands in his.
"I'll do everything I can to make you happy again," he began, pleading her to look at him, but she remained unmoving. He sighed, but continued his proposal; he owed her everything he had, and that was exactly what he'd offer," So please, will you allow me to be your knight in shining armor once more?"
Turning her head away, she felt her face flush in embarrassment. He was so sweet; one of the only people willing to look at her. She needed a friend now more than ever, and she trusted him with her life. She didn't know how much she valued her life now that Jet was gone; she didn't know who she was anymore, but she'd humor Loke. Just this once.
"I...guess so."
He was filled with joy the instant she gave in. A stupid grin covered his entire face as he gazed down at her," You won't regret it, I swear it!"
A miniscule blush covered her cheeks as she even still refused to look at him," I know. I trust you," she whispered.
He had one final thing to say to her before he let her get some more sleep. She seemed to be in a decent enough mood, but he didn't want to push the envelope. But then again, it was something she deserved to hear every day for the rest of her life.
"Lucy?" he started. His sudden utterance of her name caused her to reflexively turn and look him dead in the eye.
"Loke?" she questioned softly. Whatever he needed, it seemed to be important. She caught the determination in his face from the tense jaw to his narrowed eyes.
"You're beautiful. Always. Never forget it."
R & R please