Natsu's POV
They escorted me down to the second floor flanked by two muscle heads in white uniform, their faces remained unreadably and sunken, like they had been awake all night. Dark bags hung under their eyes and a strong smell of coffee was wafting from them.
My body still ached in some places and the back of my head still throbbed like an oncoming migraine but was really just an after effect of being in the third floor. Those rooms did things to you.
The one thing I most detested about this place if not the third floor was the smell of this place; it stunk of cleaning detergents and wipes which always made me feel dizzy and sick. It made you feel like you were in a hospital. A normal hospital. Damn my sensitive nose.
I stepped into the elevator facing the door taking one last look of the third floor hallway which looked like it had been washed out with bleach; I wonder how long it would be until I was back here? I was one of the most visited patients up there, like I had a designated room with my name on it and everything.
The elevator began to lower down, even though it was going down one floor. Motion sickness took over me and I had to lean my head against the metal side of the death box.
"Are you going to be sick in here?" One of the guards asked; though it sounded more like a warning then a sympathetic question. Not that I was looking for it anyway, I was Natsu Dragneel and I didn't need sympathy. I stood on my own two feet.
Yet I got my ass saved from a girl.
I didn't answer a reply in case a pile of puke came out, I didn't want to get beat up in my weakened state. But motion sickness always made me feel disorientated and having a fight in a metal death box didn't sound so appealing.
Big blue eyes came into my mind and I felt a little more stability and I suddenly didn't feel as dizzy and my vision seemed a little less fuzzy.
Deaths metal doors open up with a ding and having one foot on the solid and unmoving ground made me want to dance with joy, the motion sickness went away and I didn't feel a need to vomit in the nearest fake plant vase. The blue eyes left my mind and two pairs of big meaty hands latched onto my forearm and moved me down the hall. I had been here long enough to know not to fight it just let them drag me along, why fight it when I can make it hard for them?
I let my feet give way under me leaving them to drag my full body weight down the hall. Though I wasn't sick anymore I was still going to allow myself the simple pleasures of a mental institution. They grunted at the sudden drop of weight but continued to pull me along as I let my feet fall behind me dragging; having my head facing down to hide my smirk I let them continue to suffer.
"Can't believe people can be this motion sick" One of the guards replied to the other giving me an extra tug pulling me along.
"I thought he was going to puke in there"
"He's taking the stairs next time" the other one nodded in agreement.
A new arrival of footsteps came towards us, they were small and fast. I smiled despite myself to look up to see Dr Makarov smiling down at me.
Jumping to my feet I grinned down at the small man. "Makarov" I greeted cheerfully and the guards made a strange noise behind me. I looked back to see them glaring at me.
"Mr Dragneel"
"Natsu" I corrected.
"Natsu, how long as it been since I last saw you here?"
"Two weeks" The guard behind me piped up as if to earn some reconciliation.
"Good lad, how you feeling?" Makarov ignored him and peered at me curiously.
"Been better, you know. Was getting first class treatment up there" I joked. His eyes drifted down a little with sympathy.
"That's a good lad, anyway nice to see you again I was just going to see my grandson up there" He signalled the end of the conversation. I had always thought it was strange that his own son was in a mental institution but, weird coincidences happen. I didn't have a problem with it; Laxus was treated like the rest of us and wasn't given any special treatment because of his status.
"Well…uhh, see you later" I said awkwardly. The guards pushed me along roughly.
"Oh and Natsu!" I turned back to see the small man grinning at me. "Keep an eye on that young Lucy, I think she needs a friend right now" And he walked away with a bounce in his step. I frowned after him as he walked away and I had a small suspicion there was something else hidden in what he said.
The guards grabbed my forearms a second time and pulled me quickly down the labyrinth of halls as if daring me to drop my weight again. Pushing open the doors I was officially back on the second floor. I grinned.
I was home!
Levy's POV
It was unfair, it was all unfair. And over all I felt humiliated!
I know I was being petty when I was talking to Lucy and I got mad at her and she has no idea why, the prospect of her leaving so soon after being here for such a short amount of time left me feeling like I had been slapped all over the face.
If I had only tried harder to get out of here! To put in a real effort and it could be me walking out those door and not Lucy, I know that sounded even more selfish but, I had been here a year and she had been here not even a month and….
It just made me feel like the time I had been here was a waste of my life, and it was! NO one should have to be in a mental institution and have year of their life gone down the drain. And have your life in a routine and orderly fashion controlled by people who didn't really care for you! To have almost every part of your day controlled down to the minute. And then have some rich girl come in and leave at the end of `the month?
Just none of it seemed fair.
And then there was Gajeel, I knew what he was going to do and I hadn't even raised a finger to stop it when I knew I could. And not to sound conceited or anything but when it came to Gajeel I was the only one he was really listening to. I knew he had a thing for me….I did sometimes use that to my advantage when I needed, not when I wanted to…
And then all the patients were got all in it and were plotting against her while she was in the bathroom and had even distracted the nurses on duty so Gajeel could sneak off without being noticed so he could have a few words with her.
Lucy hadn't started off the best here, she was in a world she didn't understand and I had the distinct feeling she had never really had the chance to socialize with people her own age, and then she broke Gajeel's nose to defend NATSU DRAGNEEL!
Our bloody pyromaniac!
And the only reason why she wasn't sent to the third floor was because she was new and didn't understand the way things worked here. Narrow escape. And then I was giving her the cold shoulder and I got just a tiny winy little bit nasty and started saying stuff behind her back, and then everyone was excluding her talking about her….and the Gajeel went to go talk about her…
We had been beyond cruel to her and I was devastatingly guilty over it.
I didn't deserve to be her friend.
I really would have gone to stop Gajeel if I had known more would have happened in the bathroom, all he said was that he was going to scare her and put a bit of fear in her…and I was still having a pity party for myself so I just let that happen.
But then we heard some yelling and I knew something else was happening, and then she came out bloody and bruised and I died like 30 000 thousand times in a row within a second when I realised I could have prevented this from happening, if I had only told Gajeel not to…
But if she hadn't already made me feel guiltier she said she fell in the shower and covered Gajeel's and everyone ass from Karmin. From KARIM! Even though she had the POWER to put us through hell and make us pay and it would have been the perfect vengeance and she would have been within full right to and wouldn't have been able to put up an argument against that. And then to make everyone feel even worse when she knew she was in power and she still covered us.
Maybe she was just too soft on us or something, or maybe she just handled us with the grace and justice of a queen.
But then I was a bitch and said some nasty words to her face after she covered for us and I'm pretty sure everyone is hating on me right now for it. But my pride had gotten the best of me and I hated myself for that.
And if that girl couldn't make me feel worse she did!
She fucking did!
See I'm not a fan of thunder and lightning or anything of the sort and then next minutes she's there after I had an episode, and is trying to make me feel better.
I felt at this rate I could burn down her home and she would still be kind. I wouldn't matter how mean I was to her, she would keeping showing kindness again and again till it broke down your walls till your wrapped in your sleeping bag like a burrito of guilt and sadness.
She is so willing to defend someone she doesn't even know (Natsu) and she would take up violence to defend them. I'm pretty sure she would take a bullet for a random on the street and not because it would be 'courageous' or 'brave' or 'the noble thing to do' she would do it because it felt right. Life is not something to be taken lightly.
She just looked like one of those people.
But if it was someone who was being mean to her, she wouldn't raise a finger. And the reason behind that I have no effing clue!
I seriously underestimated this girl.
Lucy's POV
I sat at the small cramped desk with a pen in hand staring down at a blank piece of paper. I had been feeling alone and scared beyond my wits the last few days and with everything that had happened yesterday…I just wanted someone familiar. I'm not allowed any visitors beside family but they never said I couldn't write to someone outside of family.
I had a strange sense they would read this when I would hand it to them, so I wanted to make it coded like I was a ninja or a secret agent! But I had to have so my friends at home would understand it.
Dear friends,
I hope this gets to you soon. This place is different than home and I don't have any great friends like you all! I don't really have any friends here at all.
I've been writing letters to mum still, I have been asking her to keep company and give me strength. They say I'm here because mum had an illness, is
this true? Was mum sick or something? Why didn't anyone tell me? They say I might have it as well. Everyone is as nice as dad at home, it makes me
feel so welcome here.
I wouldn't mind this place as much if I had all of you by my side. But I feel you would be as happy here as I was at home and I don't wish that upon
You!
I miss the way we would talk and gossip and laugh and make jokes.
But enough of me how are you? As anything new happened?
Reply back soon,
Love,
Lucy Heartfilia x
I sealed the letter and dropped it in my top draw and promised myself I would I ask if I could post it. I looked around my room, everything was so plain here. The room was so bare and uninteresting. All I had was my books that I had polluted the shelves and more from the library here, I promised myself I would read them. So now space had been taken up inside my closet on top of my wardrobe and on my desk and piles at the end of my desk. I had my silver box that contained my mother's letters, and the small white pills that were hidden in the inside of my chair leg. The small plastic seal of the bottom of the chair could be pulled off so I put them in there wrapped in tissues. And after putting the seal back on I felt like this room was a little different, because there was secret in here. But to the eye the room looked bare and dull.
I poked my face again and let out another hiss of pain; I had been avoiding at looking at any reflections and had even left the room early so no one would see my face. But now that everyone had woken up and I didn't really want to venture back to the girls bathroom. But on the other hand I really wanted to put on some make up. I would feel physiologically better if I did.
I grabbed my make-up bag and trotted to my bedroom window and used the reflection there which made me looked even paler, I winced at the sight of me. I mentally praised myself for leaving early before anyone woke up. I didn't want to give them nightmares. My right cheek was black with purple in the middle and closer to under my eyes it looked yellow. It was gross yet oddly satisfying.
I never had bruises like this before, I had always been…perfect. Skin wise, never having a lot of blemishes or getting cuts or bruises. I pulled the concealer and set to work, I didn't want it to look cakey or flaky like when you put too much on. Once I had achieved it to look natural to the best of my skills to cover a bruise as strong and prominent as this. I let my hair out to cover the side of my face better at the sides. I picked out a plain floral dress with black flats and a black belt to tie in the middle, it made me look thin when it hugged my body this way showing how thin my waist was and then my hips seem wider which gave me the illusion of a curvier body. And my breast certainly helped so I looked perfectly gifted. My maids would be proud. I had always been told to dress in a way that gave my body justice and to do it while I still had the body.
I smiled to myself.
Natsu's POV
At first everyone was doing what they normally did but with a sullen mood that was hanging heavy in the air, and then they noticed me and all hell broke loose. And I loved it. They started at me for a good 10 seconds before they confirmed I was real. Elfman, Freed and Bickslow were the first to reach me and punch me on the shoulder. Cana was next and she pressed the side of her body against mine her boob's presser firmly against my body, but I wasn't tempted by them. I may be a male but I wasn't but I wasn't a sex crazed one or some animal. I had my standards and in my opinion girls were just as bad, they were just better at hiding it. Evergreen welcomed me and then I saw Erza walk up with a bemused expression on her face.
I barely contained the urge to run, what if she punched me! She was the one women I feared, and for good reasons to. Eventually everyone had welcomed me and I was sitting in the lounge area.
"Did you see Mira and Laxus up there?" Freed asked. Of course he would be missing his beloved friend. (I suspected they were gay if Laxus wasn't interested in Mira).
"I saw them up there; they look pretty weak up there. I think Mira will be back soon, I don't know if Laxus will be back though. They were keeping him confined longer than they did Mira" The sullen atmosphere returned.
"Will he be kept up there?"
"I don't know…"
"But if you had to guess?"
I lowered my head a little "I think so"
Silence was heavy, I looked face to face. They brows furrowed and the dark cast was on each of them. When they 'keep' them they don't come back, there's a chance that they could but we hadn't seen it happen. Wanting to change the mood.
"So has anything happened here?" they looked at each other with a nervous expression as if daring another to say something, or not say something. "Anything?"
"There has been some things…" Lisanna spoke, her eyes downcast and her body language screamed nervous.
"Like what?"
"W-where to begin?" She scratched the back of her next awkwardly, as if to signal she didn't want to speak anymore. I looked at Gray who looked just as awkward. I scanned the faces and realised we were missing Lucy. The girl I had to thank for saving my ass.
"From when I left?" They all cast fretful glances and I became more suspicious.
"Well, the new girl saved your ass. Broke Gajeel's nose as well. With a chair leg" Spoke Cana who sounded appraising. A low growl was heard from the back of the group that suggested otherwise but was elbowed into silence by Levy.
"What else?"
"There were other things…." She dived into an explanation about how they had been treating Lucy and teased her and she spends most of the time in her room to avoid socializing with them and that was mainly because of Levy. "And then yesterday Gajeel went to talk to her and…things happened" Things happened? This sounded serious, and not to mention I was silently seething. But before I would ask what 'things happened' I lost control.
"You mean to tell me, the new girl that had had saved my ass after a prick took things a step to far is being bullied by a bunch of fuck wits!" My voice was low as to not catch the ears of unwanted people but my voice was seething. And they winced in shame. Guilt flowed from them. "And you treat her like shit, all because she might leave early? Are you that jealous that you would treat her like that?" All their eyes were focused on the floor and the fidgeting from them was endless.
"It gets worse" Lisanna spoke.
"Worse? It gets worse?" The people sitting closes to me flinched including Erza who was sitting in the back row, her eyes averted. This time it was Levy who spoke and explained what had happened. What happened in the bathroom, how it turned out at the end when she came out. Then lying for them, so save their ass from Karmin. They deserved to be dealt with by Karmin.
I fixed them with a glare that even Erza was still squirming under my gaze and I had never been so disappointed in my friends, these were friends that I had sent myself to third floor for so they could leave early, lied to save them and had been the good friend to the best of my ability to help them. And they couldn't return that to one person that had stopped a fight. Who saved me.
"I remember every time I had stood up for you, fought for all of you. And the one time I could have used from my 'friends' they cheer me on getting beaten up. None of you had even raised a finger to help me, I heard you all laughing and cheering. And Lucy stops it, the girl that doesn't know you like I do and was the only one CAPABLE of putting an end to it. And this is how you treat her. Just because one person got jealous at the prospect of her leaving. I haven't gotten a chance to know her and has shown better loyalty as a friend then ANY of you"
Shame was flowed around them, they looked shaken and hurt and disappointed in themselves. And they looked so guilty, these were friends that I had never wanted to see get hurt by others. And now I wanted to see them in pain, by my hands.
"W-were all sorry Natsu" I looked to see Erza who had her fist clenched in her lap.
"I have never been so embarrassed and disappointed to have any of you as friends" This time they all flinched. My own fist were clenched at my sides and I stood standing in front of all of them not even Erza's and Mira's fury combined could have matched it. I had never wanted to hurt them so much before in my life.
And they were my friends!
Before I could do anything I could regret I walked away and headed to the direction of the girls dormitories.
Authors note:
This chapter is dedicated to 'HuntressXHunter' who gave me the idea for Natsu to unleash his fury and disappointment on them, to have them feel guilt as F**k!
And I wanted to include Levy's POV so you could understand her process of thoughts and what do you think about her?
AND DID I MAKE THEM FEEL GUILTY ENOUGH? DID I MAKE NATSU PISSED OFF? DID I DO IT WELL? *Stressed on that note*
I have a Instagram account dedicated to my fanfiction one it's called 'fairyglitter101' go follow. (I follow back all, check for yourself) And I hope you like this chapter and I thank you all for your patience for this chapter, it was greatly appreciated!