Hey guys, guess what! My laptop is still broken! Whoo... yeah, I'm going through hell. Our family computer is painfully slow booting up and constantly stops responding. But it's fine, I can write the stories on my laptop and post them on the family one. It's worth the pain to get this out to you guys and to read any reviews I receive. It really does feel amazing to have people out there who like to read what I write! Okay one last sappy thing, I love you guys so much and I'm glad to be able to write for you lovely people, okay moment over. I have a little bit of an update at the bottom (regarding other stories) so if your interested in finding out more then do, but I'll leave you now to read. Oh and if you spot any typos or whatever, tell me and I'll fix 'em.
"Okay so… how do we get there?" I looked at the two experts who looked at each other. Natsu seemed to be just as curious as I was as to how to get to the underworld.
"Did you bring one? Dad made sure to not let me have one, in case I got sick of it up here and wanted to go back to a life of luxury." He shrugged and watched as Rogue began to search through one of his pockets. Eventually, after a lot of searching he pulled out something similar to an amulet I owned back in the days of my childhood. Despite the being ignored I got showered with riches and dresses and jewellery. Had I been any other girl I would have been the happiest girl in the world. At least I would have thought I was… it seemed that blood-lust ran in my genetics.
"Here, I borrowed it from the head of my department. It wasn't easy, he's such an arrogant bastard, and I practically had to beg him for it. Well, when I say beg I mean kiss his ass; you know, like working overtime for nothing." He was spinning it around his finger aimlessly as he went on to Natsu who seemed to be listening intently. "I've had it for years now, he hasn't asked for it back so I didn't give it back… anyway, let's go." I watched in fascination as he pulled it through the air. As it moved it seemed to rip the atmosphere in half completely, revealing a huge gash full of something that was either purple or red. I couldn't tell because the colour kept changing, it was almost magical and reminded me a bit of when Mira would get mad.
"Come on then." Natsu seemed to be waiting for me to go through the tear. I nodded then cautiously walked towards it, making sure not to do anything wrong. I put my hand through it just to be sure that I be fine when suddenly I felt a huge force on my back and before I knew it I was completely through the… whatever it actually is. The other side was strange; it was very dark but dimly lit. I could just make out Rogue fiddling with something on his belt. Soon enough though, I was being crushed by Natsu who had jumped straight through without taking any precautions.
"Ow, you idiot think about things before you go through with it. That hurts." I shoved him off roughly and stood up. Brushing myself off, I looked to Rogue and asked, "What next?"
"We prepare you." He then returned to pulling objects out of his bag then putting them back in only to look through something else and return to double check a few minutes later.
"We need the stuff right?" Natsu had stood up himself. Rogue just nodded. "Which one of us is gonna do it though?" Rogue just looked up at him, the longer they looked at each other the more Natsu seemed to get whatever Rogue was trying to tell him. "Sure. You find it and I'll get ready." For some reason Natsu began to make faces and strange noises. I just shook my head and looked around again. There really wasn't much to look at; it looked a bit like an underground tunnel with some sort of ominous light of which had no apparent source.
"I found it." Rogue held up a small vile with chopped up herbs and what looked like berries. It looked a little bit like drugs but it didn't seem to actually be what it is. Natsu turned around with his cheeks puffed and smiled, not opening his mouth once. He accepted the container and opened it, turned around and began making disgusting noises again. After what felt like an hour the noises stopped and he turned back around, smiling like a goofball. He wiped his mouth with his hand and held the vile out to me, of which I took slightly unsure. When I inspected it I saw that it had been filled with a clear, gloopy liquid and the other herbs and berries that were originally inside the container were floating around and beginning to dissolve. However there were two distinct facts about the vile that I noticed. The liquid had a small layer of foam inside for one, and that the vile was warm?
"Did you… did you really…?" I shuddered at the thought. Blech! And he expected me to DRINK this? Oh god that's foul. "You sick bastard. I can't believe you wanted me to drink this!" I shoved the vile back in Natsu's hand and felt nausea slowly overwhelm me. However he seemed to be confused that I hadn't chugged it as soon as it was in my hands.
"What's wrong? You need this to survive back home…" his brow was furrowed as he went into deep thought. "Oh… is that a bad thing on the surface?" he looked from me to the vile and back again.
"YES! It's disgusting you idiot! You don't just casually drink someone else's saliva!" I shuddered and shook my head to clear my mind. "I will not drink that." Natsu looked at Rogue who nodded, all Natsu did in response was shrug.
"Be careful, if Sting finds out later he'll have your head on his wall." It was very quiet, but I heard it loud and clear. Rogue's advice was dark and made no sense. I don't see why he would get mad if I drank Natsu's spit. But I soon found out what he meant. Natsu nodded in response then proceeded to open the vile and empty the contents into his own mouth. It was disgusting but as long as it wasn't in my mouth. I was instantly happy at the prospect of the concoction being gone. He brought the bottle from his mouth, and much to my surprise, he was on me in a matter of seconds. Our mouths connected and my eyes went wide. WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING! WHY WON'T HE GET OFF ME? WHAT IS HE DOING! I then felt the thick liquid pass through my mouth and instantly started panicking, trying my hardest to push him off of me. He didn't budge though, seeming to allow his full strength to force the stuff down my throat. As soon as it was in my system he pulled away and wiped his mouth clean, slightly panting from the lack of oxygen.
"There we go, now we can get the full way!" He seemed pleased with himself as he turned to Rogue again, who pulled the amulet thingy back out. I was still stood motionless, in complete and utter shock. After the panic had subsided I went into a state of paralysis. "Urgh, come ON!" Natsu grabbed my arm and pulled me through a new opening in the air.
~~Natsu POV~~
Lucy wouldn't move so I had to pull her through the tear Rogue had created. As soon as we passed through, this time we didn't fall, into a familiar place. The area was a breath of fresh air and a happy wave of welcoming washed over me as I looked at the revolting sight of a park.
"Wow, it's great to be home!" I missed this place a lot, despite the surface being a much more attractive place. Growing up in hell helps you become a friend of disgusting landscapes and revolting sights. It's one of the reasons we find it so easy to rip humans limb from limb, like I did for three years, haha. In fact, after doing it for long enough it becomes pretty fun, which is a disturbing thought since the humanity of people seeped into my soul. Well… if I have one.
I looked back down to Lucy who was still a bit dazed. In all honesty I didn't want to do that. Well I did, just not like that. She seemed to dislike it, especially once my saliva passed into hers. I honestly had no idea that drinking another's spit was considered a sick act. It's just a bodily fluid. Then again, on the surface the rivers didn't run blood and entrails didn't flow through them, eventually ending up mutated into animals.
"Eww, this place is gross!" Lucy had seemed to snap out of it and was looking around in disgust.
"What did you expect, daisies littering the surroundings while unicorns rode rainbows?" I asked, smirking. Turning to Rogue I asked, "Is Sting still at his place or does he live elsewhere?" He looked at me for a while then began walking towards the exit. I grabbed Lucy's hand again and began to drag her through the park. It was very different to the main park in Magnolia, but in my mind it was just as pretty. My mind that is… my mind…
"What is the grass made out of?" I looked down in response and answered.
"It's grass, it's fragile and crunchy, basically dead. But it grows that way, a lot more convenient as they don't need watering. Adding blood to it just makes it mutate into squirrels and shit." I started to muse, occasionally looking back to Lucy looking for her reaction.
"Did you say blood? Do the rivers run… blood?" She seemed amazed as she looked around frantically for a view of the river.
"Yep, water is rare down here. You can mine water ore and it comes out as a crystal, often used in medicine but medical care is only available to the wealthiest families. Like mine and our soldiers." Lucy seemed infatuated with the idea of 'Blood Rivers' and when I mentioned water being found as ore her eyes widened.
"Wow, your world is so complicated…"
"Well so is yours." This couldn't be truer. "Things are actually a lot simpler here then up there. Equal rights don't exist so you only need to learn about the higher hierarchy. When we study your world we get confused and have to spend years being trained to survive naturally. I got sent up so early because I understood it enough to survive. Although it seemed that I didn't know it well enough to know that killing people can get you in serious trouble, so I spent the majority of my time up there as a serial killer, but you know that much." We exited the park gates and made our way towards home. The giant structure in the distance served as both a happy memory and a terrifying one. If dad didn't like my excuse I could be exiled form here and never be allowed to return… shit. Oh well, I better come up with a good excuse, or I could just not show myself to dad.
"What's that?" Lucy pointed toward the same structure I was thinking about.
"Home!" I smiled widely as her face turned into one of disbelief.
"You live in that!? It's larger than my father's old mansion!" her mouth hung open making me chuckle.
"Well, where did you think the son of Satan would live? Down here I'm practically a prince. But the kingdom doesn't see the heir… for eighty years. In reality I should still be living here in the lap of luxury. Dad kicked me out early. Haaa, this explanation should wait until we get home. Let's just let you say goodbye to Sting for now. Oh yeah, if he asks, you drank my spit voluntarily okay?" I gave her a curt nod and we carried on our way up the hill, her asking questions about the sights and shops and me answering them.
As we came to the gates of the palace I call home we stopped, facing a dilemma.
"How do we get in?" I turned to Rogue who just looked back at me. I thought he was being unusually chatty earlier. Guess he's all spoken out…
"Why can't we just walk in through the front door? I thought you said this was your home?" Lucy looked at me perplexed. Her reasoning was understandable.
"When I went up to earth, I vowed not to come back unless I had good reason. It's tradition. I can't really be bothered to think up a good excuse so we need to sneak in." I shrugged then looked back to Rogue.
"The back." He turned around and began to head towards the barracks. Sting was a member of the weird, messed up military we have down here, so I guess he's back there. Rogue seemed to be headed for the kitchen area out back. I used to sneak out there to grab snacks during the night, I was usually caught by Sting who had duty down there before he was promoted though.
"Good thinking, but won't someone be on watch? No one down here is trustworthy and gossip will spread like wildfire." I asked Rogue pointedly. All he did was shake his head.
As we came to the door, I took a huge gulp and stepped through in tow. No one but us was present. "Where's the thing on duty?" I looked around trying to see if it was sleeping or just in a cupboard somewhere nearby.
"I'm right here." I was slightly surprised when Rogue said this. I knew that.
"Yeah, dude I know."
"No, I'm on duty. Caeus is going to be mad that I didn't show up." He shook his head again and looked around the room. He walked towards the cleaning cupboard on the far left of the room and stepped in, leaving me and Lucy alone. Oh right, Lucy's still here.
"Haha, I actually forgot you were here." I suddenly pointed out. Her cheeks puffed out slightly and turned pink.
"That's lovely." She then punched me in the face. I hissed out of pain and looked to her, hurt. "Haha, I nearly forgot how retarded your face is, funny right?" Despite her words no look of joy was present.
"Sorry, I just got wrapped up in the excitement of being home. What do you think of it so far?" I looked around myself, becoming reacquainted with the memories this room alone held.
"It's… dark, and red." She didn't sound too enthusiastic. "The 'Blood Rivers' are cool though. Probably dirty and undrinkable though."
"The blood in those rivers is what runs through our taps, look." I walked over to one of the sinks by the back door and turned the only tap. A slightly sludgy, red liquid came falling out. "It gets filtered obviously; all the organs and shit are removed. Those then get rinsed and sent to the butchers. We recycle here too, even though we don't have to. We don't have any environmental issues here, seeing as the air is already carbon dioxide. I guess if we had living plants down here or if the carbon started being absorbed by the blood we might have an oxygen issue but its fine." I shrugged but Lucy seemed intrigued.
"So the atmosphere is comprised mainly of carbon dioxide… wait so how am I breathing?" She started to panic but I just laughed.
"The spit you drank, that allows you to breathe it, reverses your circulation cycle. It also gives you a temporary ability to run off of carbon in place of oxygen. Pretty clever if you ask me." Lucy seemed to be enjoying the trivia. It was then though that Rogue came back in with what looked a bit like costumes.
"Here, disguises." I took both and handed one to Lucy. When I got a better look at what I had been given I realized that it was a staff uniform. It included one of the masks they have to wear in order to keep the soldiers from getting distracted. Seeing as most of the 'Military' people were halflings or human looking demons, seeing something as foul as the face of a demon was extremely unsettling.
"Nice thinking." I quickly slipped into mine, completing the look by adjusting the mask over my face. As I finished Lucy was just about to put her mask on. "Don't take it off until I tell you to, okay." She nodded as she brought her mask down over her face. We were unrecognizable. The only things that you could see which distinguished us were our eyes. That's gonna be a problem. "I'm gonna have to avoid eye contact of all kinds and stay as far away from others as I can. Aren't I?" I looked to Rogue, who nodded.
"They are very unique, that will be a problem." He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"It's fine, I'll just be careful." I smiled and gave him a 'thumbs up', even if he couldn't see the smile, he could tell my expression by looking at my eyes. They do tell the secrets of the soul after all. Or whatever I have inside of me.
"I don't think I can trust you," His voice was bland and unamused. "but we'll have to make do. Let's go." He started towards the door and opened it for us. We followed with precaution, myself looking for anyone surrounding. The halls were still very tall, very bland and very cold.
"It's freezing." Lucy's voice came through my ears very quietly. I just nodded and carried on ahead. Some familiar faces popped up and some new as well. I had been gone three years after all.
We turned a corner and entered through a door which opened on a small, abandoned staircase.
"I never asked, what's wrong with your eyes?" Lucy seized the opportunity to ask me more questions.
"I have the eyes of a royal; the onyx colour has only ever been found in the royal bloodline. One of the reasons my ancestor was permitted to take over." We carried on our ascent, which seemed to last forever, until Rogue stopped in front of one of the doors lining the staircase.
"Here, this is where he was moved to after returning." Rogue quietly informed us. So he'd been de-ranked after leaving. Guess he must be unfamiliar with any new formalities people of his status needed to know.
We followed Rogue in to find none other than Sting himself pacing around the room. He seemed to be flustered, muttering to himself constantly. He had a strange way of dealing with things like worry and panic. Usually with violence or order, the way someone or something of his rank would.
"Hey Rogue what's up?" He looked in our direction briefly then back to floor. "Oh, you two can um… get to work. Do whatever you do." He waved his hand in our direction as he kept on pacing. When we didn't move he looked back, slightly annoyed. "Did you not hear me? Get to work!" He was not in a good mood. He looked at us, finally landing on me, looking me in the eye. He was angry at first but soon his face turned to one of shock.
"The knife lit up." Rogue explained quickly. Sting suddenly started to laugh; he then walked up to me and pulled the mask off of my head. My pink hair came falling out messily and my face started to lose some of the pink caused by the heat. Boy those masks are stuffy.
"Hey dude, how ya' been?" I flashed him a cheesy grin and ran my hand through my hair, doing my best to tame it; if only a little. I nudged Lucy beside me, signalling that it's okay to remove the mask. She did so and took a huge sigh, her face also losing the colour the heat put in her face.
"Lucy…" Sting took a deep breath and began to wring his hands nervously. "It's been a while huh?"
"Yeah… it has." She chuckled nervously. The atmosphere became increasingly awkward and it seemed that the two weren't entirely comfortable in each other's presence.
"This is weird." Sting let out, sighing. He went over to sit on his bed and held his head in his hands. Lucy went over to sit next to him allowing me to have a look at the room. I'd never been in this area before so it was interesting to see more. It was a small accommodation, reminded me strongly of Lucy's apartment, except smaller, and without the kitchen. There was a bed by the window at the back of the room and a huge armoire off to the right. On the left wall was a door that appeared to lead to the bathroom. The whole place would have been extremely bland were it not for the huge mess that littered the room.
"It was nice seeing you again though." Lucy's saddened voice brought me back to the situation as she said what sounded like a goodbye.
"Yeah, I might come back up for a visit in a few years. I'm gonna want to say a quick 'Hi' to everyone else. I did just disappear after all." He gave a slight chuckle as he squeezed Lucy's hand. It always amazed me at how mature these two handled their relationship. Lucy stood up and started to put her mask back on.
"Shall we go then?" She looked at me and Rogue cheerfully. We nodded in unison and watched as she exited the room.
"See ya 'round dude." I waved to him cheerfully.
"Natsu…" Sting stopped me in my tracks, I turned around to look at him, "Take care of Lucy for me, I know you will… well. See ya." It saddened me to see one of the most boisterous people I've ever know like this. He seemed depressed and stressed and all over the place.
"Yeah, don't tear your hair out, k?" He smiled and nodded at my advice as I turned around and left the room myself. Unfortunately though, I had planned to put my mask back on when I was out of the room. It was bad because outside, was someone else besides Rogue or Lucy.
"Whoa! Natsu! Long-time no see man!" Coming down the stairs was a young soldier I recalled as being in training with until I was about twelve, which was when I moved onto hard-core human research. Shit.
"Um… hey?" I felt my palms become sweaty as I clenched my hands into fists. I was basically flooding the room. Before I knew what was happening I was being dragged down the stairs by this guy who had his arm around my shoulder. I looked back to a panicking Lucy and Rogue and mouthed "HELP!"
Okay, so i realize that that probably isn't one of the best chapters I've ever written and it had a ton of room for description to be added but I wanted to get this out before mum sent my laptop off to the repairman. I'll get the next one out soon. Hopefully. Anyway, concerning future stories, I planned on making two new stories. The contents will be one shots of which I will update to if I have something kicking around or if I'm bored and have some inspiration. trust me, recently I've gained plenty of inspiration and have plenty to write about. So I'll be back with some new as soon as possible!
DONT FORGET TO REVIEW! (^w^)This was Alpha, thanks for reading and thanks for all the fish!