Hi everyone! Thank you for your lovely reviews. I have been SO busy the last few months finishing off my semester and working full time as well made me so busy. I'm also planning a trip to Japan in a few months which has been taking a lot of my time. Anyway, without further ado, the new chapter!
The pink haired man stood in the doorway of the room, the door knocked off its hinges, glaring at Salamander. His clothes looked roughed up compared to when Lucy saw him earlier that night, his hair dishevelled, his jacked ripped and his pants looked as though they'd been cut. His left eye saw darkening and forming a black eye. From what she could see from the distance, his knuckles were bloodied. He'd fought his way in, Lucy realised. She had felt such a wave of relief when she saw him but now.
"Hey! How did you get in here!" one of the men demanded, taking out a knife and holding it threateningly in Natsuís direction.
The yacht suddenly jerked and Natsu dropped to his knees holding on to the doorway, a hand grasped to his mouth desperately.
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna yack."
Lucy's mouth hung open. Was this guy for real?
"Men! Grab this brat!" Salamander yelled.
His men jumped to action, breaking out of their shock of what had just happened. Natsu dodged the first man with the knife and pushed his face into the doorway, knocking him out. Another came at him quickly. Shifting his body to block, he then grabbed the back of the other man's shirt and pulled hard. The shirt came up over the attackers eyes and blinded him momentarily, before Natsu kicked him hard in the rear, causing him to fall into the open hallway. He still looked quite green, clearly still nauseous for unknown reasons, but he was still taking them out one by one. Lucy struggled against the man restraining her, his grip tightening when she pulled.
The more then came, the more Natsu seemed to slow down. But, just he didn't give up. The last man fell and Natsu let out a large breath, wiping some blood from his mouth. He got hit with a lucky punch to the jaw from the last of Salamander's men.
"Huh, that all you got?" he laughed, challenging Salamander, an arrogant smile gracing his injured face.
Salamander swore to himself, throwing his glass of wine to the floor. He pointed at the last man who was holding Lucy.
"You! Don't just stand there! Stop him!"
Letting out a shout, he pushed Lucy away and barreled towards the younger man, his arms outstretched; desperate to avenge his fallen comrades. As soon as he was close enough, Natsu maneuvered out of path, took hold of the other man's arm and flipped him over his shoulder in a martial arts move that Lucy didn't recognise. The man landed heavily on his back, knocking him out. Salamander let out a growl, his eyes flashing in recognition.
"You little shit! You're the one from earlier tonight, aren't you?"
Natsu ignored Salamander, turning his eyes to Lucy.
"Hey," he grinned, like he didn't have a care in the world, "got your message."
Lucy couldn't help but smile.
"You're a little bit later than I'd hoped," she joked.
Natsu let out a short laugh and winced, holding the right side of his chest. Lucy's eyes widened. His ribs? He was hurt.
The cock of a gun broke her attention away from Natsu. Salamander pointed a small handgun at the young man, fury in his eyes.
"Why you little-OW! WHAT THE FUCK!"
Lucy looked down Salamander and saw-
"Happy?"
The small cat was wrapped around Salamanders leg, his teeth sunk into the flesh of the man's ankle. Salamander dropped his weapon and pulled at Happy in desperation. Lucy saw her opening. Running over quickly, she kicked the gun as far away from Salamander as she could before running towards Natsu. She reached him and immediately put her arms around him, supporting his weight. He grunted, from his probable broken ribs.
The boat dipped suddenly and he grabbed at his mouth.
He had motion sickness from the boat, she summised. Looking around, she tried to think of a plan. They needed to get off this boat, now!
"Come on, we gotta get out of here," she hissed.
"Not without Happy," he grunted, attempting to pry himself out of her grip and get his cat from the madman in front of them, who was still trying to pry the cat off his leg.
"Get off! Get off you little-"
Finally pulling Happy off, he threw him a distance away, the cat landing on its feet and hissing back at Salamander. He ran over to Natsu and jumped onto the manís shoulders, purring and rubbing his face against Natsu's in affection.
"Good boy Happy," Natsu said happily, petting him.
Salamanders attention whipped back to the pair, fury in his eyes.
"You two have been more trouble than you're worth." He reached down for his gun but realised it wasn't there anymore.
He swore to himself and glared at Lucy.
"You. You're not worth the money you'd sell for, you bitch! You and your little boyfriend are gonna get it."
Ignoring the boyfriend jab- hell, she'd just met the guy!- she glared back at the blue haired man.
"Hey looney," Natsu said, getting Lucy's attention. Wait, did he just call her looney again? This guy...
"Take Happy and get off this boat. I'll handle things here."
"What? No! I can't do that," she hissed back, tightening her grip on his arm which was slung around her shoulders supporting him.
He turned his head towards hers.
"Just do it. I have a score to settle with this imposter." Something wild flashed in his eyes and for a second, Lucy wondered if Natsu himself was dangerous.
Lucy nodded and gently let go. Natsu grunted and adjusted his weight to support it himself again.
Happy jumped off of Natsu's shoulder and headed out the open door, which made Lucy wonder if the cat actually understood his owners words. She followed the cat and stopped in the hallway.
Salamander had his eyes on Natsu, his fists raised defensively. He wasn't armed, which was good, but Natsu was injured and tired, but the better fighter it would seem. It was anyones win in Lucy's eyes. She shook her head and turned around, her eyes catching a small familiar cylinder near the doorway. Her pepper spray! This would come in handy.
Grabbing the Aquarius branded pepper spray, she ran out the door.
She saw Happy further down the hallway. He meowed ran further down, stopping when he reached the end. Lucy cocked an eyebrow. Did the cat want her to follow him?
He meowed again and ran further along, forcing Lucy to follow in a jog.
"Hey, wait up!"
The blonde followed the cat for a few minutes, only running into one man who was no match for an eye full of pepper spray.
Finally, they reached a room. The door was closed. Lucy stood by the door, hands on her knees and caught her breath.
"What's in here?" she asked, not expecting an answer. The cat just meowed at her. Should she trust this cat? For all she knew there was some fish in there or something? Nothing that could actually help her escape.
But she had no other leads. and for some reason, she felt she could trust the strange cat and his stranger owner. Sucking in a breath, she pushed the door open.
The bridge. It was empty, thankfully. Lucy did not feel like dealing with anymore thugs right now. Two large white chairs were placed in front of a control board. She didn't recognise anything- nothing, but what appeared to be a steering wheel. That could work!
Running over to the controls, she noticed everything was still on. She looked around, trying to get a glimpse of where they needed to go. She noticed the shore, flickering lights giving away its location, gradually getting further and further away. Not if she could help it. Grabbing hold of the wheel she turned it hard towards the direction of the shore.
The yacht lurched slightly but was still moving too slow for her liking. Her brown eyes darted around the controls, searching for something, anything to help. A meow caught her attention. Happy was gently pawing at her leg and was staring at something to her right. She looked for whatever the cat was looking at and her eyes caught a small lever. She cocked an eyebrow. Could this cat be...? Swallowing her apprehension, she grabbed hold of the handle firmly, pushing it up. The effect took a few moments before, yes, the yacht began to pick up speed.
"Yes!" Lucy let out a shout of joy. Perhaps too loudly.
"Hey! What are you doing in here!" A males voice broke her concentration.
Turning swiftly, she spotted another one of Salamanders goons by the door, a knife in his hand. He lunged towards dodged, but her arm wasn't quite clear of the knifes path. The gash it left stung and she clutched at it. The man swung around, the knife held up towards her. Lucy gulped, her eyes darting over to the controls where she left her handy dandy pepper spray. She gulped and held her throbbing arm tighter. Okay, Lucy, think. Think!
"You're gonna pay for this, girly. You and your little boyfriend. I wouldn't be surprised if Salamander is done with him alrea- FUCK! Where did this cat come from!?"
Happy hissed and jumped at the man, his teeth sinking into the man's arm that was holding the knife. His little legs wrapped around the arm like a boa constrictor.
"Good boy Happy!" The blonde cried happily, before spraying the man in the face with the pepper spray. He screamed out and clutched at his eyes.
"Fucking bitch!"
He grabbed at Happy but the cat dodged this time and jumped off, clear of the man's reached. He glared in Lucy's direction, gripping the knife harder and swung towards her blindly. She squealed and dodged, heading over to the wheel.
He followed, his movements growing wilder and wilder from the pain. Lucy continued to dodge his advances, rounding the bridge a few times, each time, his rage growing. The man let out a cry and lunged at her again, not unlike when he entered the bridge. But this time, she dodged, his arm passing her and the knife embedding itself into the control.
The powerboard started to spark and smoke, a small explosion emerging from around the knife. The man released the knife just in time but both were pushed back in the explosions force.
So that's chapter 4! Cliffhanger!
I've been feeling a bit flat since seeing the final chapter yesterday. I mean, no kiss? Really? But I didn't hate it. Everyone seemed really in character, and I loved the Nalu interaction but at the same time I feel a lot of questions were left unanswered. Anyone else?
If anyones wondering why Natsu was so beat up, well, it's because he's human in this story. No magic, no dragon slayer vulnerabilities (except for motion sickness of course). Just regular stubborn Natsu. And the amount he fights wouldn't change I don't think. So therefore, injuries. But as we all know, he's the type to fight through the pain.
I don't want to promise a new chapter soon, as my life is pretty hectic, but I do feel a lot more inspired so hopefully soon. I hope.
