Growing Pains
Chapter 4
Lucy felt more and more sure of her decision as she approached Natsu's cottage. She had the whole trek to mull over her reasoning and had decided that Natsu not finishing a meal was a definite red flag. For what though, she wasn't sure.
Come to think of it, I've never seen Natsu sick before, if that's what his issue is. Injured, sure, but that's totally different. Can Natsu even get sick?
Lucy blanched and shook her head as she remembered every boat, train, or carriage ride she'd ever taken with the fire mage. Well I guess he can get sick, but that doesn't really count either...
Her mind continued to ramble with each proceeding step. But what if Natsu really isn't sick and I'm dropping by for nothing? He's going to think I'm so weird for worrying and God knows Happy won't let me off the hook easy for it, that's for sure. This could get really awkward really fast. She stopped in her tracks, a blush rising to her cheeks.
"Tch-why am I getting nervous to see Natsu of all people!?" Lucy said aloud to the sky as she realized what had her stomach so knotted up with butterflies. "What is wrong with me?!"
She stubbornly forced her feet to start moving again and tamped down the annoying fluttering in her gut until she finally reached the little wooden sign marking her friends' property. The cottage was bright on the inside, glowing soft yellow in the night.
That's odd, Lucy thought as she caught site of the wide-open front door. She picked up her stride with new curiosity. Why would Natsu just leave his door open like that? She skipped onto the doormat and knocked her fist against the frame a few times.
"Hello?" Lucy called. "Natsu? Hap-" Lucy's words died on her lips as she peered inside. The kitchen was a disaster. The cabinets had been smashed in and several shelves had been knocked from their mounts. Shattered dishes and glasses littered the floor from the spill and there was blood everywhere.
Everywhere! The walls, the ceiling, the floor -all speckled red.
The ruble crunched under her shoe as she stepped inside, mouth hanging open in shock.
"N-Natsu?! Happy!?" She yelled fervently. When no response came, she rushed forward, frantically checking every room for her friends, but the cottage was empty.
What the HELL happened here?! Lucy stumbled back outside and looked around wildly. Was he attacked? Her eyes landed on a sizable dark patch on the lawn.
More blood. It was still shimmering and wet, a black puddle in the darkness. There were even more splashes of it leading off towards the forest.
She swallowed hard, a cold sweat coming over her. She knew she shouldn't jump to conclusions, but her reeling mind could only imagine it belonged to the dragon slayer.
Trying to keep a level head, Lucy pulled a celestial key from her pocket. Her hand's wouldn't stop shaking.
"Open, gait of the lion: Leo!"
Loke appeared through his gait not a moment later, stepping out into the night and coming to land in front of her. His glasses reflected the moonlight as he pushed them up his nose with his index finger. "Lucy?" He asked, brow furrowing as he looked her up and down, "What's the matter? You're pale as a ghost,"
"I-It's Natsu and Happy. I think they're in trouble," She said. Even her voice was shaking.
"In trouble?" Loke looked about quickly, as if expecting an enemy to burst from the shadows, but the clearing was as quiet and empty as Natsu and Happy's cottage. "What do you mean in trouble?"
"This way," She grasped Loke's hand and pulled him towards the house, letting him look in at the same sight she'd been met. "I was just coming by to check in on Natsu and Happy but I found this," She waved vaguely at the building's anterior. Blood, chipped pain, shattered glass.
"What the hell!? It looks like a bomb went off,"
Lucy nodded as she took it in once over, mentally pawing through the destruction. A jolt of adrenalin struck through her as she spotted a flash of white fabric half buried beneath a plate. She strode to it briskly and squatted down to unbury the material.
"Natsu..." She gathered the dragon scale scarf from the floor gingerly, like it were some kind of relic. "He would never go anywhere without this,"
Loke looked equally startled to see the scarf without it's dragon slayer attached. He stared down at the warmer, his face becoming a hard mask. "I think you're right Lucy. Whatever happened here, it wasn't good,"
She wouldn't lie to herself and say she wasn't afraid. With the fabric clutched tightly to her chest, she stood and turned to face Loke fully. "We need to find them,"
He nodded in earnest. "I agree. We should go back to the guild and get a search party together-"
"There's no time for that!"
Loke looked startled by the vigor in her voice.
"Natsu and Happy are in trouble now! If we waste time getting the others we might be too late!" Her voice was stoney. It brooked no room for argument but Loke tried none the less.
"Listen to me Lucy. If Natsu was attacked and overpowered, whoever, or whatever, took him had to be strong. And dangerous. You know Natsu. He wouldn't go down easy,"
"It doesn't matter," Lucy said, exasperated. Instead of waiting to hear Loke's next reason for getting back up, she took his wrist and dragged him out the door, past the stained grass, and towards the woods. She was unwilling to waste anymore time.
"Hang on a second! Take a minute to think things through!" Loke tried to wriggle free but she shot a threatening glare over her shoulder.
"Are you going to help me or should I close your gate and call someone else?"
Looking torn, Loke muttered something about how she was 'being dumb' and 'rushing into battle without a sword,' but made no further attempts to counter her. When she was sure he would stay by her side she released his arm so she could study what little evidence they did have.
"The trail goes this way but then stops here," Lucy traced her path to the end of the bloody marks, Loke tailing her. "Can I get a little light?"
Loke huffed and was hesitant to uncross his arms but did eventually ignited his hand with an orb of blue power. He held it aloft to illuminate the clearing. It glanced off the trees and shrubs and cast eerie shadows that stretched and ebbed each time the trees were tossed by the wind.
"Lucy look," Loke held the orb higher until its light tumbled into the forest, illuminating a distinctive patch of undergrowth that had been flattened.
She clutched Natsu's scarf closer to her chest and approached the very edge of the forest.
"They're foot prints,"
Giant foot prints. Lucy could see more crushed areas of shrubbery laid out in the distance. "Come on, we can follow them. This has to be what took Natsu,"
"Lucy, wait. Are you sure about doing this? It's dangerous," Loke had her jacket sleeve caught between his fingers, keeping her from plunging into the brush. She looked down at the print she was about to step into. It was twice her size. And that was just the foot.
Be fearless, Lucy. Like Natsu.
"I'm sure. Now come on," She twisted her arm out of his grasp and plunged into the wood.
It wasn't easy to navigate the forest, even with Loke's magical light source. Thorns and pointy branches snagged her clothes and ripped at her boot laces as she stumbled through the darkness. The pair used the flattened clearings for reprieve from the thick undergrowth like lily pads in a pond.
"What do you think could have made these tracks," Lucy finally asked Loke after some time, unable to keep to herself any longer. They'd been awkwardly silent since entering the wood.
"I honestly have no clue," Loke said after a moment. "But I'm going to guess it wasn't something docile. Have you noticed the way the trees are downed all around us? What ever made these tracks was crashing through here,"
Lucy hummed in agreement but the warning in his words didn't stop her. She pushed through some more branches and kicked her way through a shrub as gracefully as she could until reaching the next flattened patch. "We've got to be getting close now. We've been following this trail for hours,"
"Maybe, but you've got to remember that a few steps for this thing is a quarter mile for us and besides that, there's no way of knowing how far they've gone,"
Lucy frowned. Everything out of Loke's mouth was pessimistic, but she couldn't fault his rationality. Her gut formed into a firm knot at the truth to his words but she wouldn't let that stop her. She just pressed forward harder than before, suppressing a shiver and wrapping Natsu's scarf tighter around her neck. She'd put it there to keep it safe but it smelled like him and each time she took a breath her heart ached with worry.
"Wait, I know where we are," Lucy said, coming to a stop so suddenly Loke nearly barreled into her from behind.
"Look, we've found one of the trails in the Magnolia network, and there!" She stumbled out of the thick brush and onto the path, Loke in her wake. "There's a trail marker," They followed the prints at a jog until the trail opened to a grove of pines, a modest cabin nestled amongst their trunks.
"It's Porlyusica's house," Lucy had only been there a few times, but there was no mistaking the cottage.
"Fairy Tail's healer? What the hell does that mean?"
"I have no idea," Lucy said, reaching up to tug Natsu's scarf down from her chin. Loke made a move to advance in front of her, but she held out an arm to halt his progress. "Loke I'm going ahead by myself,"
"You're not serious?! No -it's too dangerous,"
"I'll be fine, Loke. I'm going to find out what's going on, and that apparently involves seeing Porlyusica, which means the less people the better,"
"That's ridiculous Lucy. What if you're attacked!?"
"I'll summon you back, I promise,"
"No way, I'm not going anywhere,"
Lucy held up his gate key. Loke made to grab for it but she dodged.
"Close: gate of the lion!"
Loke's angry protest was cut short as her magic temporarily sealed him away from Earth Land and banished him to the celestial realm.
Sorry Loke She thought, stowing his key away. If he really wanted to, he could poof back to her side at his own will. She just hoped he would trust her enough to let her investigate on her own.
She carefully approached the healer's front door, keeping a healthy awareness of her environment. The forest remained peaceful but she spotted more blood streaking the ground in front of Porlyusica's cabin. She swallowed hard, ears burning and heart pounding as she stepped onto the doormat.
Finding the courage to actually knock was harder than Lucy cared to admit. Her fist quivered in the ready, hovering in trepidation above the aged wood.
Fearless Lucy. Fearless, She chanted to herself, finally striking the door in a series of loud knocks. Lucy perked as she listened to the occupants shuffle and react to the noise. To her relief (and growing anxiety) she could indeed hear Porlyusica's voice coming from within. Lucy tilted her ear towards the sound and could make out the muffled words which grew more discernible as the healer approached the door.
'-who could that be at this God forsaken hour? Where did I put my broom,'
Porlyusica pulled her door opened so swiftly, Lucy jumped back in surprise. Porlyusica's intimidating frame filled the entire entrance. She had found the broom.
"Another visitor in the middle of the night? Don't you know it's three in the morning!?" The healer barked.
Lucy straightened and tried to rod her back upright with confidence but the healer glowered down at her with a weight like bricks. "Miss Porlyusica" Lucy paused, not sure where to begin, but the healer interrupted her anyway.
"Hm, I've met you before. You're one of Makarov's guild members. What do you want?" She lowered the bristle end of the broom away from Lucy's face.
"I-I'm searching for my friend. I'm afraid something bad's happened to him and I've been following a trail that ended, well...here," Lucy blurted, fidgeting as the healers eyes bore into her, at first with scrutiny, and then with what looked like pity.
"-Is that Lucy?" A second voice said from inside. Lucy's heart jumped into her throat as she recognized the familiar camber. She tried to peer past Porlyusica. "Happy!?" Sure enough, the little blue cat appeared by Porlyusica's feet. Lucy would have scooped him into a hug had it not been for his disheveled appearance. His eyes were swollen and wet and his fur was all disheveled.
"Happy! What happened, I went to check on you and Natsu and- and there was blood on the ground, and broken glass-" Lucy stopped herself as she noticed the cat's eyes beginning to well.
His reaction filled Lucy with dread."Happy, where's Natsu?"
Before the blue cat could respond, Porlyusica let out a heavy sigh and backed into her home, clearing the doorway and gesturing for Lucy to enter. "Come inside, child. There's no sense standing out in the cold,"
Porlyusica's gentle actions only made Lucy more nervous. "Is Natsu here? Is he okay?!" Lucy made to barge deeper into the home, all social graces far from her brain, but Makarov stepped into her path.
"Lucy, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" He said, his voice rough and haggard.
"Master?" It was his foot prints she'd been following. The realization dawned on her, though it didn't come close to answering even half of her questions. "I'm looking for Natsu! Could someone please tell me what the hell is going on!?"
"We'll try to explain, just calm down first," Makarov said.
"I can't calm down when I found my best friend's house ripped apart and covered in blood! Natsu's here isn't he!?"
"Yes, Lucy. He's here. But I've got to warn you. His condition is...shocking,"
"He's hurt then?" She said, he heart falling. She knew the blood on the ground had been his. Lucy turned to Happy for answers but the little cat wouldn't look her in the eye.
"Just follow us, child," Porlyusica finally said, nodding to Makarov and leading her into the main room.
It became clear why they'd tried to warn her. Even so, she was completely unprepared for the sight that met her.
Natsu was splayed out on a blood stained mattress on the floor, pale and unmoving. His arms were threaded with plastic tubes and his torso was banded thick with gauze but the most shocking detail were the wings.
Wings.
Dragon wings.
Lucy's mouth went dry as she studied the scaled appendages protruding from Natsu's back. They dwarfed his form, all sharp and scaled. They looked like nothing human she'd ever seen. It was like a lizard had curled up to sleep behind him.
"Lucy," Happy prodded her leg to grab her attention. "The scientist we captured yesterday injected Natsu with poison that made him grow wings. Now he won't wake up,"
"Won't wake up?" She repeated quietly. At that, Lucy willed her legs forward and carefully eased down to the floor beside Natsu. He was curled on his side, face slack and ghostly. Up close, she could tell his breathing was all wrong and when Lucy took his hand into her own, she found it cold as ice. With some hesitation, she ran her other hand over one of the scaled wings that lay lifelessly beside the dragon slayer. It was even colder, and snake like. Far too reptilian for her to believe it was actually part of Natsu.
Happy came up beside her and tucked himself under her arm.
"Why won't he wake up?" Lucy asked. She didn't realize the room had been so silent until her words resonated against the walls and cracked the emptiness.
Porlyusica shook her head gravely. "His body is failing,"
"Why?" Lucy asked, feeling like a child. The old healer pursed her lips and looked over Natsu, brow knitting.
"Those wings on his back didn't get there gently. He nearly bled out from the trauma but that's not even the whole of his troubles. No, If it were, he'd be improving now that I've mended the damage but that hasn't been the case. I believe he's failing because of this transformation. His body is unable to answer the demand of those new extremities. There's too much stress on his heart to maintain circulation to both himself and those wings. He's got too little blood and not enough power. I'd cut them off, but I'm positive that would end him as well,"
Happy trembled with quiet sobs against Lucy's thigh as Porlyusica spoke.
"As of now, Natsu has fallen into a coma but I don't think it's likely he'll last much longer,"
A coma? Won't last much longer? Lucy couldn't wrap her head around the concept. "Wh..what are you saying?"
It was Makaraov who answered. He approached her side and placed a calloused hand on her shoulder.
"Porlyusica thinks he's..dying," The old man didn't stutter, but he couldn't say the phrase without accounting for the gravity it held. His voice was husky with emotion.
Lucy looked at the guild master like he'd grown three heads. Natsu, dying?
No, that's impossible.
Impossible.
Lucy glanced back to the old healer, ready to dismiss Makarov's words, but Porlyusica only confirmed what he had said with a grim nod and the same look of pity she'd given Lucy earlier. "He's declined progressively despite all the interventions I've tried. If he continues in the same trend, it's unlikely he'll last to sunrise. I'm sorry,"
Thanks for reading! I'd love for you to let me know what you think with a review! :D
**My usual disclaimer applies: I regret any errors in grammar/spelling I may have missed!
Sincerely, A human trying their best
