. Paranormal .
"Natsu," Lucy whined as a book was flung from her bookshelf, her dark eyes lifting from the novel in her lap. "Do you mind? I'm trying to read."
He pouted, glancing over at her from where he was comfortably sprawled out on the floor at her feet, warming them with the heat that came off of him in waves. "Shush," he muttered with a sigh, "I'm bored."
"Don't shush me in my apartment," she retorted, shooting him a look. "Go bother someone else if you want to be a nuisance."
"Ugh," he moaned, wrinkling his nose and closing his eyes. "But you're fun to mess with. And you don't use your little word magic to knock me out for hours on end. Usually."
"If you didn't screw with Levy's books, you'd be fine in her place," Lucy chided gently with a roll of her eyes. She suddenly looked up when there was a knock on her door. Glancing at Natsu and seeing his scowl and relaxed posture, she took it as a safe person and went to answer, hurrying to grab her cane and walk over to open the door.
"Hello," a gently smiling Jellal greeted as Erza eyed the space around her, sensing the heat that Natsu was radiating from where he was watching with care. It had turned out that while Erza couldn't see the spirits, she was particularly sensitive to the emotions and energies they gave off, not something that Natsu was fond of. "We're sorry for dropping in unannounced, Lucy."
"No problem," Lucy laughed, waving them inside and kicking the door shut behind them. Erza followed her, dark eyes searching the room, and Lucy didn't hesitate to point at Natsu and say, "He's right there. He's got his feet on the couch, so watch your step."
"Thank you," Erza said honestly.
Jellal simply shook his head in disbelief. He didn't believe that there was truly a spirit hanging around Lucy's apartment. Even with the heat radiating around a certain spot, and since Natsu didn't care much for him, he wasn't bothered to try and prove himself to him. Still, for their sake, he avoided the spot, calling over his shoulder, "Is it alright if I get us all something to drink?"
"Go ahead!" Lucy said cheerfully. She moved her book aside and dropped onto the couch, swatting at Natsu's feet until he reluctantly moved, grumbling. He seemed to disappear for a moment before she suddenly felt hot breath on the back of her neck, the poltergeist grumpily draping himself over the back of the couch behind her with a strange growl in his throat. His arms hung over each of her shoulders, surrounding her with heat.
Not wanting to irritate him further, Lucy let him.
Erza looked nervous, she noticed as she fumbled with her hand and settled onto the couch beside the young blonde. Her scarlet hair had been tied out of her face in a long pony tail, her body clothed in a simple dress with tights and boots, and an engagement ring on her finger. Her glossed lips curved into a hesitant smile. "I apologize for surprising you like this, Lucy…"
"It's fine," Lucy cut her off. "I wasn't doing anything other than keeping an eye on someone anyways."
Erza chuckled, waving with one hand at the heat that radiated from behind them. "Has he been behaving himself? He was a mess in life. I'm sure he causes problems now. I can set him straight if you want."
Lucy could have sworn Natsu shuddered in fear as he hissed, "She's after me even now?"
Lucy chuckled, giggling into her fingers when Erza gave her a curious look. "Yes," she managed to get out at last. "Natsu's fine. He's been pretty good for the past few days, excluding when Juvia stopped by with Gray to drop something off in the entry downstairs for me. He secretly threw some things at Gray, just to mess with him."
Erza clenched her jaw and Lucy grinned when she saw the tick in her cheek. "Did he?"
"Lucy," Natsu muttered in her ear, turning her cheeks a pretty red. She couldn't feel the pressure of a hand he'd placed on her arm, only a large heated spot, but she could feel the air rush over her neck and ear, as if he was breathing there. "Stop. Please."
"Okay, okay," she sighed. Erza cast her a curious glance and Lucy grinned as she explained, "He doesn't like that I'm telling you that."
"Lucy!" Natsu whined, and Lucy only smirked wider when a book or two flew off of the shelf in his desperation. Erza gawked before snapping her head around when Jellal appeared, three cups of hot tea balanced in his hands. Both women were quick to take theirs, and Natsu fell silent.
"Anyways, what do you guys need?" Lucy requested.
Jellal gave a soft chuckle. "Erza has a question for you, Lucy." Rather than sitting beside the woman he intended to marry, the friendly man stood beside her, gently nudging her with his elbow. "Go on. We have to catch Juvia, too."
"Right!" Erza took a deep breath, and then asked, "Would you be willing to be one of the bridesmaids in my wedding, Lucy? It would make me very happy to have you be a part of it. I'm going to ask Juvia to be one as well, so you won't be alone."
Lucy's lips parted in surprise and Natsu blinked a few times before uttering, "Huh, didn't see that coming."
Erza looked nervous until the blonde's lips curved into a huge smile. "I'd be honored," she told her gently. She reached out to grasp the scarlet-haired woman's free hand - the one not holding a hot cup of tea - tightly. "And I'm sure Juvia will agree, too. Do you have-"
Erza shook her head. "We don't know many people here," she said quietly, interrupting her. She'd known what the blonde was going to say and Lucy frowned when Natsu growled his annoyance for his Lucy being interrupted. He hated it; she was more important than Erza, even if Erza was the one getting married.
"How about this," Lucy offered, "Mira might like to help? She seems like the type that would be fantastic at helping you out, so she could be a choice."
"That's a great idea, Lucy," Jellal complimented with a grin. "What do you think, Erza?"
"I'll ask her tomorrow," Erza said with a relieved sigh, "I need some help with planning...we didn't get a wedding planner, I thought it'd be easier to do it alone…"
"Easier done alone, but nowhere near as fun," Lucy laughed. "If you ever need my help, come in at any time to Gajeel's place. I don't do much around there anyways."
"Or here," Natsu commented, "You just sit and read books."
"Shush, you," she muttered under her breath, knowing fully well that she looked insane to any normal person.
Luckily, Erza was not a normal person.
"Natsu," she snapped at the empty air behind Lucy, and she guessed that the other woman could sense him being there. "Leave Lucy alone this instant! She does not need you whispering things into her ear, and knowing you, they are very, very rude things!"
Lucy flinched when the heat went wild around her, surrounding her as Natsu glared viciously at Erza for a moment. And then he released a heavy sigh and tugged lightly at a lock of Lucy's short hair. "Whatever. Tell her I say that it's the popsicle's fault."
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. "Gray's not even close to being around, you can't blame him."
"Sure I can."
"No, you can't."
"Watch me."
"Natsu-"
Jellal cleared his throat to recapture the blonde's attention and Lucy flushed as she realized that they were watching her argue with an empty space. Crossing her arms, she explained sheepishly, "Sorry. Natsu's trying to blame Gray for everything that goes wrong."
Erza's eyes flashed irritably as she muttered, "Oh, really."
"Tattler," Natsu accused with a heavy sigh, earning another glare from Lucy. "Okay, okay, calm your precious little mind, weirdo, I'm going. I'll go bug Levy for a while, bet she'll like it when I tear her book from their shelves again…"
"Don't you dare," Lucy groaned, but it was too late. Natsu had faded from view and was likely moving himself into Levy's apartment to cause destruction and a bad night for her poor friend. Shaking her head, Lucy muttered an apology to Erza, who only smiled gently and forgave her, urging Jellal to finish up his tea so that they could hurry to find Erza.
"Thank you," Lucy told her as they were leaving minutes later. Pride swelled in her chest as Erza pulled her in for a tight hug before saying farewell.
"Thank you, Lucy," Erza replied and then turned away. Jellal waved and moved with ease behind her, and Lucy turned back into her - for now - empty apartment, kicking the door shut behind her with a huge smile on her face.
A lonely girl surrounded by strangers in a party had become a bridesmaid for one friend of many in her newfound family, and Lucy couldn't be happier, to be honest.
All that was left was to figure out how to help Natsu and life would be perfect.
But she found herself questioning just how ghosts who were pure evil were dealt with - not that she wanted to run into one.
Her answer came in the form of an accidental run in with someone she'd never thought she'd come across.
Well, that wasn't exactly correct.
That answer really came in the form of an accidental run in with an enraged ghost that seemed to like to prey on blonde women, not something that was all that pleasant to deal with.
There weren't many blonde women in Magnolia, to be perfectly honest. Lucy was one of few, and while her growing hair was still short, it was long enough for its lighter golden color to have returned rather than remaining darker, as it had been for the past few months. But it had been light enough to capture the attention of a particularly nasty spirit.
Fortunately, the ghost didn't seem to realize she had a protector.
Lucy had been sitting at the dining room table with a pen in one hand and papers in front of her, filling out some sort of expansion paperwork for Gajeel so that he could go on a really nice date with Levy. She'd been sort of moping over the fact that she herself didn't have a boyfriend - none had come by since her hair had been cut off - while working, and Natsu had fallen silent, which was usually a bad thing.
And then the lights had begun to flicker violently. Lucy could hear shouts from other apartments, could hear the static of her TV as it flipped through nonexistent channels and the thudding of her books as they hit the ground. Cabinets flew open and then slammed shut with enough force to rattle the walls and Lucy frowned as she looked around, calling, "Natsu?"
No response.
Worried, Lucy stood, seeking out her pink-haired poltergeist friend. It was unusual for him to throw a tantrum of this magnitude since the incidences with the couple upstairs (Natsu had explained that the man had been cheating on his wife, something the spirit didn't appreciate), and that had been close to a year and a half before.
Shrugging and determined to ignore whatever was going on, Lucy decided that now would be a good time to take a bath and relax; such things were usually a plea for attention and if she ignored them long enough, Natsu would stop. And not even he risked going into her bathroom when she was in it.
He'd tried once.
Lucy had made sure it wouldn't happen ever again.
She entered the bathroom with her head in the clouds, full of thoughts on where she might be able to find Natsu's scarf. She wanted desperately to return it to him in hopes that maybe that would get him to a better place than here, but Gray hadn't had a clue as to where it might have been, because as Natsu had said, he had worn it at the time of his death.
So, she'd realized that in order to return the scarf to him, she had to find his body.
And that was not something she was in a hurry to do.
Lucy turned the taps of the bathtub on to prepare a bath and then moved away to get the hot water running, her eyes rolling when the cabinets under the sink suddenly snapped open and slammed shut. "Natsu," she growled, "Cut it-"
Her eyes locked on the form in the mirror behind her a split second after a half-rotted hand had landed on her shoulder, breath reeking of decay and death hissing in her ear, "Found...you."
Lucy screamed, struggling to smack the hand away, but it was like the spirit who was definitely not Natsu had latched on and followed her as she stumbled out of the bathroom. There was a crash as a small stand with a lamp on it hit the ground, and she hit the ground harshly, jarring her spine. Pain flared through old injuries, but it did the trick to rip the creature off of her.
She shrieked again when it screamed its fury, the lights flickering. Shoving herself to her feet, Lucy bolted through the kitchen and into her living room, screaming bloody murder - which would probably happen if she didn't figure out what to do within minutes - the entire time. The creature - the spirit - came to a halt in a doorway, dead eyes following her with malicious intent.
Lucy took the breather to quickly check out just what was after her.
It was like a corpse, half-rotting, with skin grayed and sagging in disgusting ways. Its eyes were bulging out of its head, brown and misted over with death. Its jaw sagged down, and teeth had been replaced with dangerous looking rows of endless sharp teeth. Perfect for ripping apart pure souls, she thought faintly and nervously. It was wearing tatters of clothes that did wonders for the covering of its body, but the fear really started racing through the blonde when it suddenly dropped on all fours, knees and elbows bent, head doing a complete one hundred and eighty degrees so that its chin was towards the ceiling. It gave a shriek and a grinding sound, and Lucy's eyes widened as it began to scamper forward.
She did the only thing she could think of.
She grabbed a lamp and hurled it at it with a scream of fear. It only cackled, reaching for her-
"There you are!"
Natsu came sprinting out of nowhere, literally flying through a wall as he pounced. His face was a mask of rage and some look that Lucy couldn't name as it was snatched out of midair by his enraged grasp. It faded away before reappearing and Natsu was close behind, snarling viciously as he went into a fight against it. "Lucy. Go."
Lucy kept her back pressed against a door.
The front door, she realized after a moment, before taking a hold of the doorknob and throwing it open, sprinting full speed out of the room, all while praying Natsu could handle himself.
Wham!
Lucy screeched as something grabbed her ankle sending her slamming into the ground. More pain flared, and she thought she heard a familiar cry of her name, but it was drowned out by the icy cold feeling that began to travel throughout her body.
"Cry...give up…" a voice purred in her ear, and Lucy shuddered, unable to fight back. Its voice was so convincing...it would be easier…
And then it was plucked off of her. Things became a blur as Lucy tried to snap back into herself. She heard screams and screeches and shouts, and a roar that shook the entire building. She heard people fleeing when cracks went up the wall, when a portion of floor gave out, and somewhere in the back of her mind that Gajeel would throw a fit when he had to pay for repairs and apologize to residents.
The entire building began to give out.
Pulling herself together, Lucy stumbled to her feet, vision blurry. She grabbed at the wall, stumbling along until suddenly, she heard a piercing scream followed by silence. Moments later, worried onyx eyes were searching hers, seeking her expression for a sign that she was alright.
"Natsu," she rasped, voice hitching, threatening to turn into a sob.
"Got it," he murmured, scowling over his shoulder. "It's gone for now. Still out there somewhere, but I've kicked it out of here."
"It's...not gone permanently?"
Natsu slowly shook his head his pink hair following the motion and swinging into his eyes. He was unharmed, she noticed with relief, and he grinned gently as he rested a hand on her cheek. She felt the slightest of pressures, warmth. "No. Those of us who can't find peace...we're here unless an exorcism is done. That one has no direct attachment."
Her face paled. "Will it come back?"
He remained silent for a moment. "Maybe. Probably not. It'll keep attacking others until an exorcist comes in, but you should be safe. It knows I'm here. It followed you, but it won't follow you again."
Her hands trembled and she swallowed back a gasp of terror when a hand descended upon her shoulder only to belong to a terrified Levy. "Lucy!" she cried, drawing the girl into a hug. "Natsu?"
The playful poltergeist stayed silent and gently tugged on a lock of Levy's blue hair, earning a groan of relief from the bookworm as Lucy buried her face in Levy's shoulder, crying quietly.
For the first time since learning the truth of the world that was a part of her own, Lucy wanted no part of it.
With the changing of ratings, I realized I can amp up the freaky parts. I was thinking of really creepy things while writing this one, and it ended up darker than I intended, but I like it! Thanks to reviewers (NaLuFTfanatic, CuteKitty264, AFallenAngel1221, PrincessSyv, Dragondancer81, Justloverly, maalikdb, LePengwen, NaLu x Buckets, and Alicia Trinidad!)