"Loki!?"
I looked at Lisanna, who looked at me, and we both turned to look at Lucy.
"You know him?"
"Course she does," Loki grinned, sliding into the White Room and rubbing his hand through his bright orange hair. Lucy perked up; with a smile that reached her ears and a twinkle in her eyes that I'd only before seen when she was talking about her dead boyfriend. What. The hell. Why couldn't she get that twinkle while looking at me? I'm way better than that orange haired glasses freak!
She vaulted—literally. Lucy actually flew off—off the bed and practically pounced on the boy.
"You… you haven't visited me in so long," Lucy whispered into the front of his shirt. Somebody in the room growled when Loki wrapped his arms around the blonde (it was totally Natsu XD).
"I had no idea where you went after… after the funeral," Loki sighed. His grip tightened. "I tried talking to your father, tried to get him to tell me where you went but… he said that me and Taki-"
"Taki and I," Lucy quietly interrupted, but she didn't break the hug. Loki twisted around to give her a glare, so I didn't laugh at the correction. Glares weren't funny.
"Taki and I were a terrible influence on his 'perfect little heiress' and that if he ever saw me around you again…" the threat that he never said hung in the air, sounding even scarier than it should have. At least, to Lucy.
I didn't even know the dad, so it didn't really mean anything to hear the echo of his words… but heiress was something I thought I knew, but wasn't sure.
"Don't hate to break up your… 'reunion' of sorts," I chuckled, stepping forward and separating Lucy and Loki, "but care to tell me what's going on?"
An arm pulled me back and I glanced around to see Lisanna holding on with an irritated look.
"One month," she quietly reminded me. Dammit. I had to meet Lucy everyday for a month if I wanted to know her past, which I did. What is this, the third day?
Everybody was interrupted from their trains of thought (Natsu at least was) when a loud shriek sounded from across the hall. I followed Lisanna as she immediately sprinted out of the White Room, and came face to face with one of the absolute strangest things I'd ever seen;
Juvia, with her arms wrapped around the naked torso of Gray;
Gray, missing all of his clothing except for his boxers, partially trying to shake off Juvia;
Jellal, with his arms spread across the red-head's –Erza?—face and scowling at the half naked teen;
Erza, holding her arm as if it were a sword (XD COULDN'T HELP IT! AGH).
Unsurprisingly, Jellal was yelling at Gray for stripping in front of his Erza. Juvia was screaming that her Gray-sama could do no wrong. Gray was shouting that he didn't even know these people.
And Erza raised her sword arm. She held it over Jellal's neck and for some reason, there was silence in seconds. The bluenette twisted his head around very slowly, staring at the hand posed to strike with a hint of fear.
Hah. What a wuss. What could a hand do? (oh Natsu. So,so much. But nothing lemony!)
Then, Erza suddenly swung around, pointing her hand at us. I gulped and threw my hands up because she was glaring. Even worse than Jellal's you-ate-my-chocolate glare.
"Some people," she hissed, glaring at me and at Lisanna and apparently at Lucy and Loki as well, "some people are sleeping. If you wake them up, I will castrate you."
Eeh? What was wrong with this person? What did that even mean?
"A-aye," I stuttered. What a way to make a guy feel less like one; threaten to castrate them. But seriously, what did that even mean!?
"DON'T TAKE AWAY MY GRAY-SAMA'S –BLEEP—OR JUVIA WILL HAVE TO HURT YOU, ERZA-SAN!" Juvia wailed, tightening her hold on my frienemy.
"OH MAVIS IS THAT WHAT 'CASTRATE' MEANS!? YOU'RE GOING TO EAT OUR –BLEEP-!?" I screamed after realizing what castrate meant. Instantly, I curled into a ball to protect my lower regions, because the scary mean lady had taken a threatening step forward.
Gray was shivering and still trying to pry off Juvia, who was sobbing about Gray losing his man parts. Ugh. That was just terrifying.
Lucy made a small noise behind me and once again there was silence, but a horrified look passed across the faces of Erza, Lisanna, and Jellal. Spinning around, I found the blonde with a blank look on her face. Her eyes looked dead again, the same they had when I had first seen her. Her face was pale, and it was frightening. And she was shivering, hands clenching and unclenching. I got to my feet, reaching out for her.
Loki met my confused gaze, and then we were both pushed away as Lisanna grasped Lucy's arms and shook the girl. Erza snatched us by our shirts, pulling us away from Lucy, and for the first time I saw that Mira was in the hall too. Lisanna passed Lucy to her, and then pushed us down the hall, to Juvia's room.
"What's going on? What's wrong with Lucy?" I asked her worriedly. She flashed me a look that was a mix of several emotions; fear; worry; anger; shame; and for some reason, sadness.
"Nothing. It's best that you take your friends and go now. You probably should stay away for a few days."
A few days? But if I stayed away, then I wouldn't get to learn Lucy's past, and I wouldn't get any information for my essay. I couldn't do that! I opened my mouth to protest when Mira's voice rang through the building, tight with alarm.
"Lisanna, call the number!" the white haired teen looked shocked and she release me.
"The n-number?" she repeated in disbelief. "B-but that's—"
"Do it!" Mira snapped. A terrible shriek suddenly cut through the air, making me cringe. It sounded like Lucy wailing for Takizawa again.
Lisanna freaked out and grabbed a phone from the wall that I hadn't noticed, dialing a few numbers quickly and then racing out the door.
"What is going on?" Gray demanded, glaring at Jellal and Erza, and then cowering when the latter fixed him with an even more dangerous look.
"Lucy occasionally gets flashbacks from the time Takizawa was killed, and they are usually triggered by loud noises. Us all screaming at one another caused this flashback," she finally replied with a sorrowful look. "She will think she's back at that lake and she will revision his death over and over again…." The red haired girl choked off and began to cry, and Jellal tucked her into a hug, smiling sadly at us.
"Lucy will typically scream out these flashbacks, but when they're really bad, we have to call Taki's old number so she can hear his voice. It's the only thing that makes her feel better."
Loki growled through his teeth, glaring at the hallway where muffled screams could still be heard.
"Lucy… she's been through so much pain and I never… I never knew…"
"If you don't mind Juvia's asking, what is your relationship with Love Rival?" the bluenette asked the question that most of us were probably thinking about. I certainly was wondering what their relationship was. I wanted Lucy to fall in love with me, and I couldn't do that if she was… I didn't even want to think it.
"Lucy's my best friend. She helped me out when I was convinced that the death of my ex, Karen, was all my fault. She and Taki. The three of us, we were really close. I was going to ask her out, but Takizawa did first. I was kinda bitter at first, but I knew they really suited eachother. And so I'm like the awkward best friend in love with his friend who will never feel the same. That is our relationship," Loki whispered. His voice sounded so disappointed, that it almost made me pity him. But no. This guy didn't deserve my pity.
Nobody did. Why was I here anyway? This was a crazy house. I wasn't crazy. I didn't belong here. Those screams, the sound I was hearing now, that was insanity. I wasn't insane. I needed to leave.
Gray grabbed hold of me, and I snapped.
"I'm not crazy! I don't need to be here! I shouldn't be here! Let me leave!" I shouted, fighting his grip off. Erza and Jellal gasped. "These people are insane; I'm not, so just let me leave! Let me go stripper!" I fought, having no idea why I was suddenly cursing the existence of this place.
Cursing the existence of everybody. Of Lucy, of Gray, and of Lisanna and all the others. Wrenching myself free, I twisted to the door and saw Lisanna supporting a very limp Lucy in her arms, giving me a disappointed sigh.
"I'll tell Lucy that you said goodbye before you left," she muttered darkly, turning away. Lucy's eyes were open though, and they were glassy, I noticed with a pang. All that I had said in the last few minutes returned and I slumped against the frame of the door until I felt the cold arms of Gray drag me out of the crazy house, whispering apologies and goodbyes to the people we'd left behind.
Lucy. Did she… did she hear what I had said? Was she mad at me?
"That was quite the show you put on," Gray said to me when we were outside. I glanced at him, wondering if this was the time he'd yell at me for shouting such rude words to innocent people, but he only looked grim.
"Don't remind me," I sighed. Why had I said those things? What came over me?
"Why did you freak like that? What happened?"
"I don't know."
I just didn't know.
Argh. Not proud of the ending but it's just basically like the panic and worry for Lucy's flashback got to Natsu and he flipped, he couldn't handle the thought of someone he loved being through that much pain. And if you remember, he did admit he loved her. Heehehehe. And thank you to my reviews from:
LightLessDay, GoldenRoseTanya, Celestial Fire Lion, Dog's Paw Burning In Hot Ash, 1fairytaillover, LunaWolfxoxo, dragonsdeed, AdilaRain, Dark-Otaku-One-Of-Many, Irelya, otakulover1234, NatsuLucy4ever, Lunar Mistress, MarbelySan, and UnicornGirl25!
Thank you for the reviews and hope you enjoyed this chapter!