The Raven

Chapter Nine: Thank You

{Here I stand with my heart in my hands.}

A timid knock on the door to Igneel's office brought him out of thoughts of murder and a gunshot in the middle of the night nearly a week earlier. It was nearly three in the morning, he was at the police station trying to figure out what the hell was happening in the town that he lived in, and now someone was here banging on his door? With a drawn out sigh Igneel made his way to the door, slamming it open and growling at the person on the other side. "Look, I don't know what you want from me at three in the morning, but—" He cut himself off as he caught a look at the person he was yelling at.

It was Lucy.

The small blonde didn't bat an eyelash at the tone of Igneel's voice; she was there for one reason and one reason only. "I need to talk to you."

The man quirked an eyebrow at her. "Well, I sort of assumed that," he whispered, lowering his voice. "What is it you need, Lucy?" He was genuinely curious as to why she was seeking him out so late at night. There was also the added fact that she had walked there in the middle of the night while a man was out murdering girls that matched her description. She must have had a good reason for being where she was.

Lucy shuffled nervously on her feet, staring at the ground and not saying anything for awhile. Igneel was about to repeat his question when her head snapped up. "Can I just come in for a minute? I think you'll really want to hear what I have to say."

Igneel's eyes widened. He was so stunned that he didn't know what to say to her, instead she grew tired of waiting and merely ducked under his arm and moved to stand in front of his desk. She turned back to him expectantly, gesturing with her head for him to sit at his desk.

He pressed two fingers against his temple, murmuring a curse under his breath as he complied with her subtle demands. "Alright, Lucy, I'll humor you for now." He fell backwards onto his chair and grinned at her, propping up his head in one of his hands, ready for whatever it was she would tell him. "What is it you want to talk about?" When she didn't respond after a minute he took a guess. "Is this about your dad?"

She shook her head, eyes narrowing into slits. "I haven't seen my father in over a week." Before he could comment on that fact she spoke up again. "This is about the phone call the night Gray was shot."

Igneel's eyebrows knitted together. "You already told me about the phone call," he grumbled, questioning her sanity at that point. Didn't she remember the long talk they had had the day after Gray had been shot at? He sure as hell did.

"Yeah," she agreed with him. "But I didn't tell you what happened at the end. I didn't tell you what I told Natsu."

He was dumbfounded, "You didn't tell me everything?" She nodded once. "Lucy, what the hell didn't you tell me?"

She flinched slightly at his raised voice but answered nonetheless. "After a few seconds of Gray not answering, the guy who shot him picked up the phone." Her voice was steady and far too calm for what she had just said, meaning she must have been thinking about the situation for the past few days or so.

One of his hands curled into a fist. "He talked to you?" She didn't move. "He talked to you and you didn't think to say anything about that!?"

"I know," she practically screamed the words at him. "I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I was scared, Igneel," her volume dropped down to a whisper, "I was scared." She looked away from him.

Igneel was about to snap something back at her when a sudden thought struck him like a blow to the face. This girl—this girl had gone through so much and had never come to anyone before. For her to even be there right now was amazing in itself. He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in, his eyes softening as he looked at her. "What did he say to you, Lucy?" he whispered. "What did you tell Natsu?"

"The first thing the guy said was that Gray had to die." She looked back up at him. "He said Gray had to die, because I belong to him." Igneel noticed that she was shaking horribly. "Whoever tried to kill Gray, thinks I belong to them," she choked out.

Igneel gaped at her for a moment, not knowing what to say. All he knew was that he was angry that someone was being so possessive over Lucy, as if she wasn't even her own person. "And you told this to Natsu before saying anything to me?"

"Yes," she barked at him. "But I didn't tell him the ending. I didn't have time to, and I had no idea what he meant at first." She took a deep breath. "The guy said I gave him a name," she spat.

"A name?" Igneel whispered. She nodded tersely. "He said you gave him a name?" Another nod. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It does." Her voice wavered with an unreleased sob. "It makes more sense than you know."

"What do you mean?" Igneel whispered, leaning forward slightly. He had to hold himself back from walking around the desk and hugging her. Lucy was like a daughter to him and she looked terrified.

She sighed. "The night of the first murder I took Plue for a walk."

"Yeah," he said the word slowly, not understanding what that had to do with anything. "You told me that."

"Yeah," she agreed, "but I didn't tell you that a bird attacked me." She put a hand in the air to silence him when he made a move to speak. "Plue killed it and I thought that that was the end of it." She narrowed her eyes, lips pulling back in a snarl. "That bird was a raven."

Igneel's eyes widened at what she said. "How did you give him a name though?"

Her sharp eyes locked onto his. "Where do you think he got the feathers?" she asked him. "I heard about them on the news a few days ago, that's when everything clicked."

The realization hit him like a freight train. This guy's calling card was practically given to him by Lucy, unknowingly of course. "And all of the girls he has killed have looked like you," he mumbled.

"What?" He looked into her eyes, seeing raw fear and sadness flooding through them. "Oh god, this whole thing is my fault."

He shook his head and moved around his desk just as she crumpled to the floor. "This is not your fault, Lucy. This isn't anyone's fault." He placed a light arm around the girl as she sobbed.

She laughed bitterly. "Six girls died because they looked like me and Gray nearly had a bullet placed in his skull because he was talking to me on the phone." She glanced at him. "I'm pretty sure this is my fault."

He shook his head, pulling her closer to him. "Gray is fine and you didn't kill those girls," he told her gently, smiling at her softly. "You didn't kill those girls," he repeated.

"I might as well have." Igneel could only stare at her sadly, no matter what he would say she would only blame herself. Igneel flinched slightly, fear striking him in the heart. One of his girls was in trouble, being stalked or whatever the guy was doing by a man that had killed six girls and had tried to kill someone close to her. One of his girls was in trouble, and he had to find a way to protect her.

An idea popped into his head. "You know what?" She looked up at him with a raised brow, tears still streaking across her face. "I'm going to go call Natsu to come pick you up."

"It's three in the morning," she whispered. "Do you really think he's going to want to come pick me up?" she asked incredulously. Natsu was not an early riser, Lucy seriously doubted that the boy would want to come and get her—girlfriend or not.

Igneel gave her a soft smile as he stood up and started to walk back to the other side of his desk. "If the only other option is you walking home alone, he'll be here in no time."

She gave him a halfhearted shrug at that. "Why is he picking me up?"

"You are going to be spending the rest of the day at our house, since its summer and all, and when I get back home we are going to have a family night." He continued before she could say anything. "It's only a matter of time before you legally become family Lucy, so don't even argue."

Her face colored in the slightest way at the serious tone he used. "What are you going to do?"

He sent her a grin. "I'm going to figure out how to stop this guy."

~The Raven~

Lucy sighed as she stared at the grey walls of the precinct before trailing her gaze down to the white tile floor where she proceeded to count how many there were. Truthfully, she could have been outside instead of inside, waiting for Natsu outside of Igneel's office. All she would have to do is walk right, take the first left turn, and then turn on the next right and she would be outside. Then again, waiting inside sounded a hell of a lot safer than waiting outside in the middle of the night.

Lucy was still sitting outside of Igneel's office when Natsu came crashing down the hallway, having knocked over a garbage can when he rounded a corner too quickly.

She had been a little nervous at first, sitting alone in a dark hallway in the middle of the night, but she knew that nothing would happen to her so long as Igneel was close by. When she had heard the sound of feet pounding against the ground she was ready to bolt out of her seat and down the hallway in the opposite direction, but it was only Natsu.

"Lucy," he shouted her name as he came to a halt directly in front of her, his legs knocking against her own. He had a wild look in his eyes that only just masked the sleep that still clung to him. "What are you doing down here at three in the morning?" he asked, bewildered.

She pushed herself to her feet and wrapped her arms around him in a heartbeat, his own arms coiling around her almost instinctively. "I had to talk to your dad," she murmured, her words being muffled by his chest.

"It couldn't wait until morning?" he asked into her hair. She shook her head, leaning against him.

"No. No it couldn't." She pulled back and looked up at him. "I need to tell you something," she whispered. A tall man turned the corner at the opposite end of the hallway than they were at. She couldn't make out any features, just a flash of red in the dark.

He dropped his head down closer to hers. "What is it?"

She shook her head quickly, tossing a nervous glance down the hallway. "Not here." The man was just standing there waiting—watching them.

Natsu's eyes narrowed at her behavior before he turned his head to look behind him. Once he caught sight of the man he hooked his right arm around Lucy's shoulders, pulling her against his side. As soon as she was pressed up against him he ducked his head down to whisper in her ear. "We'll talk about it in the car. You're staying with me tonight."

She nodded and cast another look at the man behind them who seemed to be moving closer. Natsu's grip around her tightened and her gaze snapped back up to meet his. "Don't be afraid," he whispered, starting to walk forward, pulling her along with him. "Nothing can happen to you as long as I'm with you." Lucy opened her mouth to respond, but realized she didn't know what to say to that. Instead she nodded once and they continued to walk.

As they did, Lucy could hear a pair of footsteps echoing theirs. She snaked her left arm around Natsu's back. "I think he's following us," she murmured, slightly panicking. After what Igneel told her, Lucy wasn't taking any chances with strangers.

Natsu nodded tersely. "I know. I can hear him."

She bit her lower lip in thought. "You come here a lot, right?" He nodded once again. "Do you know who it is?"

This time Natsu shook his head, his jaw clenching tightly. "It's too dark to tell, and I'm not taking any chances with you here." Neither of them said anything else. They just kept walking. The person behind them was closer than he had been earlier and he seemed to be speeding up. It took everything Lucy had in her to not take off running right then and there. No. Instead she fisted her hand into the sweatshirt Natsu was wearing—the one with the dragon coiling up the side of it—and focused on keeping her breathing even. Breathe in, breathe out, and repeat. It was easier to stay calm when you didn't have an extra set of footsteps tapping the ground after yours.

Sucking in a deep breath, Lucy tightened her arm around Natsu, giving him a brief squeeze as she did so. They only had one more hallway to walk down. They had maybe twenty yards to go until they were out of the building, and away from whoever was following them.

Lucy bit her lip as she chanced another look at the man. She wasn't expecting anything unusual, maybe him being closer or something of that sort. What she did not expect to see was another glint of red, and the shine that came with light reflecting off of steel. She whipped back around, unsure of what exactly he had in his hands, but knowing that it wasn't something good. Before she could think about it she had already pulled out of Natsu's grasp and caught his hand in hers before she darted forward. "Move!" Lucy all but dragged the dumbfounded boy out of the precinct.

Lucy never thought she would be so happy to see the shadows that masked Magnolia at night.

Natsu tugged at her hand sharply, lacing his fingers with hers. "What was that all about?" he hissed.

"He had something metal in his hand," Lucy explained to the confused boy, taking a step closer to his side as they walked over to the car he had driven to come pick her up.

Natsu's entire body went rigid. "Could you tell what it was?"

She shook her head. "I was a little busy trying to get both of us out of there." Natsu nodded at her response and walked with her over to the passenger's side of the car. Lucy was just about to open the door when she saw something move in the side mirror. She whipped around and let out a shriek when a man's heavy hand fell onto her shoulder. Natsu had twisted around as well, fist brought back and poised to throw a punch.

"Wait," The man shouted, dropping Lucy's shoulder and throwing both of his hands up in front of him. "I didn't mean to scare you!" Natsu hesitated for a moment and then proceeded to drop his guard, his body relaxing as he realized who the person was.

"Gildarts."

"Gildarts?" Lucy murmured. "You're Cana's father." She stared up at the tall man. He looked friendly enough, but that didn't mean anything.

"Yup." the brunette man nodded at her. "Medical Examiner Gildarts Clive, at your service." He stuck a hand out for her to shake and, after a small bout of hesitation, she did. "It's nice to meet you, Lucy." A look of horror must have flashed over her face because he started to laugh. "Igneel talks about you sometimes. That's how I know who you are."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Clive." She smiled at him and he sent her a grin in response.

"Just call me Gildarts."

"Well, introductions are great and all," Natsu cut in, "but why did you decided to give my girlfriend a heart attack?"

"You two are finally going out?" Natsu shouted at him to "stop avoiding the subject" while Lucy nodded with a grin. "About time Natsu stepped up his game."

"Hey," Natsu cried out in protest as Lucy giggled. Knowing that Natsu was going to start an argument she wrapped her arms around his torso and gave him a light squeeze. He responded by tossing his arm around her shoulders.

"In answer to your question, Natsu, I just came over here to say 'hi'." Both teens nodded at the logical reason. "That and I wanted to meet your girlfriend before you two got married." The older man took off running as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, cackling all the way over to his car as Natsu spouted off curses.

"Natsu," Lucy giggled out his name and the boy in question tilted his head down to look at her. She leaned up to kiss him. "Let's go home." He hummed in agreement as he kissed her gently. She blocked his attempt to kiss her a second time. "Come on, let's go." She barely managed to get the words out through her laughter.

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Alright, we'll go." Before she could stop him he crushed her against his body in a bear hug, dropping her just as quickly, he jogged to the other side of the car and both of them got in. Just before Natsu was about to start driving away someone knocked on his window. The rose haired boy rolled down his window. "Back already, Gildarts?"

The brunette man laughed. "I just came to tell you something kid."

"Shoot."

Gildarts gestured to Lucy with his head. "Take care of her." He smiled lightly. "Girls like her don't come around very often, and when they do they tend to slip through your fingers." He wiggled said appendages for emphasis.

Natsu turned to look at her and, although he was speaking to Gildarts, he looked her straight in the eyes. "I don't plan on ever letting her go." After a few seconds Gildarts clapped Natsu on the shoulder, told the two of them to be safe, and left. Natsu turned to Lucy. "So, what's this thing you need to tell me?"

The blonde chewed her lower lip for a moment, debating on weather or not she should tell the boy what she had told Igneel. This was her best friend and probably the single most important person in her life, didn't he have a right to know? She turned to face him, a completely serious look crossing over her face. "You know the guy that's going around killing those girls?" A dumb question, of course he knew who that was, there weren't exactly a ton of men going around murdering women in Magnolia.

"Yeah." Natsu's eyebrows knitted together as he shifted his gaze to her. "What about him?" Without taking his eyes off of the road in front of them he reached over to her with one hand, placing it on her knee. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She swallowed. This was not going to be a smooth conversation. "He's the one who shot Gray." She kept going, not letting Natsu speak. "During the phone call he said I was the one who gave him a name," she whispered. "You remember the day after the first murder right?"

He nodded, his grip on her knee tightening. "You told me you had gone for a walk late at night with Plue. A bird attacked you."

She cleared her throat. "Do you remember what type of bird I said it was?" She looked over at him, waiting to see if he could fit the pieces together. Natsu, contrary to popular belief, was not an idiot. He could be one of the most intelligent people when it came to actual life problems. School was another matter altogether.

"You told me it was a—" he stopped. His grip on her knee was starting to feel almost painful, but she knew he wasn't trying to hurt her. "No," he murmured. "You can't be trying to tell me that—" He couldn't finish the thought.

She nodded. "He's using the bird's feathers as his 'calling card', of sorts." Her skin crawled at the thought. She may not have been the one killing those girls, but for some reason everything was connected to her in a way that she couldn't comprehend. If she had of stayed home that night maybe things would have been better. Gray wouldn't have been hurt and those girls might have still been alive, but if she had of stayed home could things have been worse? "And, according to your father, all of the girls that have been killed have looked like me."

A low, almost animalistic growl spilled out from the back of Natsu's throat, startling her. The hand that was on her knee moved until it found her own hand, lacing them together. "Nothing," he spat. "Nothing is going to happen to you." His eyes met hers and she could see the raw determination in them. "Not while I'm around."

~The Raven~

Thank yyou, Lucyy.

"Thank you", two small words that could be tossed around as easily as "I'm sorry" and "I love you". Although this was a different case altogether. Lucy didn't have a clue why Gray was saying it to her now.

After her talk with Natsu earlier that morning the two teenagers had gone to his house, as planned. Natsu had, somehow, managed to coax her into sleeping in the same bed as him, which didn't come as a shock to her. She had finally agreed, because, well, this was Natsu. He wasn't going to try anything on her because if he did she would probably kill him and he had more respect for her than that. By the time she had woken up it was nearly noon, she and Natsu were tangled up like a pretzel, and Wendy was standing in the doorway giggling at the two of them. When the blonde had tried to get up Natsu had growled and refused to let her go until she kissed him. Now it was nine at night and they were getting ready to watch a movie.

Lucy just sighed heavily and typed a reply to her dark haired friend. Thank me for what, Gray? He never responded and she didn't know if that was good or bad.

Just then, Natsu walked into the room. "So, how are my favorite girls?" A smile instantly flitted across her face as her boyfriend walked into the room, hugging a giggling Wendy once before moving over to her and wrapping his arms around her and plopped down on the couch.

Igneel shot his son a wicked look as he and Grandine walked in after him, falling down on the other couch in the room next to Wendy. It was movie time. "Your girlfriend should be your favorite," he teased the two. Lucy burst out into a fit of giggles as Natsu's face turned the same color as his hair. He then grumbled an insult that was buried in Lucy's shoulder.

Grandine rolled her eyes and smacked the back of her husband's head. "Leave them alone, Igneel." She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Need I remind you what your father said the first time you brought me home?" The red haired man blanched and mumbled out a timid "no" under his breath while everyone else laughed.

Lucy looked up at Natsu. "I love your family." Natsu smiled at her and mumbled something she couldn't quite catch, "What?" She looked up at him, waiting for him to repeat himself. Natsu's face colored slightly and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Lucy I—"

"So what are we watching?" Grandine questioned the group, dark eyes flitting from one person to the next. Wendy smiled brightly at her mother and held up the movie that they were going to be watching that night. Aladdin.

Lucy laughed at Wendy's enthusiasm. The younger girl was so adorable. Just like her brother was when he wanted to be. Almost as if hearing her thoughts, Natsu grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up against him, shifting so that her legs were thrown over his lap. She twisted so that she could meet his eyes and was shocked when his lips met hers in a sweet kiss. The two pulled away at the sound of Igneel's voice.

"You two," he barked as the two teens split apart. "Keep it like the movie," he smirked. "P.G.," he said slowly and both Lucy and Natsu turned the color of the older man's hair.

~The Raven~

Lucy woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing on the floor next to the couch she had fallen asleep on. She didn't realize what the annoying noise was for several seconds, it was only after the buzzing stopped that she remembered what the sound was and where exactly she was. Lucy cursed under her breath, she really didn't want to have to move to grab the offending noise maker, she was far too comfortable. The couch was warm and she felt incredibly secure and its rhythmic breathing was lulling her back into sleep.

Her brows furrowed and bleary eyes opened. Couches don't breathe. They also don't growl when you try to move away from them. All traces of sleep left her as she realized that the object she was curled up against was less of an object and more of a creature. Natsu? A quick glance around her and the sight of rose colored hair confirmed her suspicion. Yes, Natsu was the breathing, growling creature that she had somehow fallen asleep against.

Well, actually that part didn't surprise her as much as it should have. What did surprise her was the fact that she was wearing his sweatshirt. Well, it could have been worse. Sleeping next to a teenage boy and waking up with more clothing on then she had slept with was definitely something that didn't happen to most people. Normally it was the opposite.

Another fact that surprised he was that she was on top of his lap. How it the world did she end up there? How was it possible that every time the two of them fell asleep on that couch they always ended up in the exact same position? It didn't make sense. She blamed the ghosts.

She shifted in her spot and moved to stand when an arm shot out and snaked around her waist, dragging her back against the boy that had been asleep not three seconds earlier. "What time is it?" he slurred, having just woken up.

She half shrugged, curling into his warmth. She closed her eyes tightly. "Early," she mumbled against his chest. It was still dark and the entire house was quiet, so it was either really early, or they had slept for twenty-four hours. With a sigh Lucy propped her head up against Natsu's shoulder, letting a hand snake up to play with his hair.

She ran her hand through his hair gently, smiling when Natsu let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a purr. He coiled both of his arms around her torso, pulling her flush up against his body and let his head rest against her own. He was asleep moments later.

With a smile spread across her face, Lucy moved her head out from under his, carefully letting it fall back against the couch. She kissed the corner of his mouth once before twisting around to grab her discarded phone for the second time.

Only to be stopped for the second time. There was no warning. Only a slight shift and the feeling of fingers brushing against her side and then suddenly she was being pinned to the couch with Natsu hovering over her.

He smirked down at her. "You were just going to tease me with that?" He leaned down closer to her. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you did that?" She blushed and looked away from, very aware of what it was he was referring too. His lips just barely brushed against hers. "Sorry, Lu."

And then they were kissing and she let all of her worry melt away, focusing on the force of his mouth slamming down on hers. They probably shouldn't have been kissing like they were, while there was a good chance that his parents or god forbid his sister could walk in, but that thought went out the window as soon as he had to swallow the muffled noise that he coaxed from the back of her mouth, his tongue darting in to play with her own—running along the back of her teeth, and sliding over the roof of her mouth, and twisting around her tongue—before he pulled away what felt like hours later.

She didn't even have time to catch her breath when he moved his mouth down to the side of her neck. She let out a surprised squeak as he bit down on her neck roughly. Her first thought was that he might have drawn blood, but she knew he wouldn't do that. Her second thought was that she now knew just how sensitive her neck was to all of his touches. He seemed to come to the same conclusion when he swiped his tongue over the place he had just bitten, drawing a shiver from her. He kissed her neck gently once and then nuzzled the soft skin. "Hey, Lucy?" he whispered against her throat.

"Yeah?" she murmured back, running her fingers through his hair as he continued to nip and suck on her neck roughly. She swallowed a keening noise that nearly tore out of her throat, and he placed a particularly hot kiss against her rapidly beating pulse.

"I—"

"Natsu? Lucy?" With a gasp, Lucy shoved Natsu off of her at the sound of Wendy's voice. Dear god, what had that girl heard?

"Yeah?" Natsu's voice sounded strangled and higher than it normally was. He coughed once, his voice lowering to a normal pitch. "Yeah, Wendy?" The younger girl yawned and Lucy could see her shift on the other couch in the room. The other couch.

"Nothing." The little girl rolled over and curled up on her side. "I just wanted to know if anyone else was still down here." Lucy heaved a sigh of relief. So Wendy hadn't heard anything that was a good thing.

She glanced at Natsu, who was still on the ground, and caught the smirk on his face. "What?" she asked slowly, unsure why he was looking at her like that.

His smile widened, "That," he said slowly, "is definitely going to leave a mark." She slapped a hand over the bite mark on her neck before reaching down and grabbing her phone. She ignored the boy's laughter as she checked to see who had texted her. It was Gray.

Seven words had her dropping the phone just as soon as she saw them.

Thank yyou for giving me a name.

~The Raven~

AN: Edited.