The adrenaline spreads like flood inside me when I hear the yelling from the police officer. My feet are running and I can't even feel them. All I can see is the tiny door in the distance waiting for me to reach it.
I didn't even realize when Natsu made it ahead of me, but now I feel his fingers circle my wrist and help me run faster. I glimpse at the police officer and all the other surprised people around us. My heart is beating like crazy. Everything is happening way too fast.
"Stop them, in the name of the law!"
A 'brave' young man thrusts his arms to stop us from escaping. I can see with the corner of my eye how Natsu's expression changes and with a simple punch in the right place, we don't even have to slow down.
"MOVE IT!" Natsu yells on top of his lungs at everyone around us.
This can't be happening so soon. We can't be discovered this soon.
"STOP THEM!" the police officer insists catching up surprisingly fast. People break free from the confusion and start blocking us for real. I know that we seem like the bad guys, but in these kinds of situations it just makes me think people are stupid!
I send an elbow in a man's jaw, but his hand grips me for a second until I break free. I trip and continue running, now slowed down. Natsu's hand helps me keep up the pace.
The door is getting closer and Natsu just has to insert the password and then we're good to go. People are starting to lose courage to help the police, but even so the man caught up and now he's a few meters behind me. I feel like my whole life depends on this escape. I just need to be on the other side of the metal door and I'll be entirely safe. But we're obviously not going to make it since we need a couple of seconds to insert the password.
He's alone (more or less considering people are backing off) and it's the two of us. I immediately understand that if not both, at least one of us could make to the other side of the door. Maybe I can lend Natsu the couple of seconds he needs to escape if I stop the officer.
But I don't want to die.
If I get caught, the possibilities are high that I'll get killed.
I'm thinking very fast. I don't want Natsu to die either. In addition, if he escapes we both have a chance of survival. I make a last-second decision without thinking much further and suddenly throw myself on the officer. We're right next to the door. Natsu reached it. He's entering the password with surprisingly still hands.
The man jerks me, but I jab my feet upon the ground keeping him as still as my girl body can handle. I pull out the little knife I have and without thinking twice, I stab before he can run off.
I can feel the blade pierce through the textures of his flesh in slow motion. The feeling is pure horror. I've never hurt a living thing like this. But the surviving instinct in controlling me completely. I'm soaked with fear and sweat. I'm trembling very hard and I can't tell what exactly I'm doing. I just know I'm doing it for survival.
It all happened in a moment and the officer yells grabbing his shoulder that I stabbed. He still pushes me off and intends not to let Natsu escape. I can't believe I'm doing this, but I stab again. My eyes close without me allowing it. I get the same arm, but this time he punches me and I fall to the floor, covered in his blood.
The password is unlocked and Natsu opens the door. I scream while lifting up and running after the officer. Natsu only seems to notice what I'm doing now. The bleeding brute starts fighting with me and tries to get my knife.
"RUN!" I yell at Natsu.
"DON'T BE STUPID! YOU RUN!" he yells freaked out. I can only dodge skillfully and weakly hit the man while trying to keep him from advancing. He's so desperate and angry that he can barely hit me that starts yelling.
I think about giving it a shot anyway, so I start running towards him. He's already on the other side, thrusting his arm at me, ready to close the door.
My chest is booming. My eyes are widened. My lungs are throbbing. I can see my hand reach for his through the air. But at the same time, I can feel the officer pull my other arm, so in the end, my hand and the President's never meet. I can't do it. Realization hits me and I make a last act towards our plan. The door needs to be shut. So I kick it closed in Natsu's face. It all happened in less than a moment.
I could see his eyes into mine, looking at the danger and knowing just as well as me that we can't leave together. An extremely short moment of silence between the echoes of the door being shut.
"NOOO! LUCY! NOOOO!" I can hear his hoarse yell from the other side. His fists are banging the metal like his life depended on it.
The officer suddenly pulls my hair, I scream, fall to the ground and then the last thing I see is his foot falling down with speed towards my head.
I didn't faint, but I wish I had. My forehead is hit and the back of my head rebounds against the ground, sending me off into complete darkness. The pain is just so big that I can't breathe. I just crawl on the ground helplessly, in front of my eyes all kinds of colors showing off. I'm pressing my hands against my head, drawing my knees to my chest and then just grovel further away from the source of pain: the officer. Everything is black for a good couple of minutes. But he's not just going to wait for me to feel good again. He sends another kick, this time in my side and since I can't open my eyes, I don't dodge it. I whimper feeling the blood pressure gather in my head and my veins popping out one by one. I can't let him hit me until I die, so I might as well try to escape, no matter how slim the chances are.
I can hear somewhere in the background the last tries of the President's to open the door and save me. But that door can only be opened in one direction. When I can eventually open my eyes, whimpering under the pain, I look around. People are looking at me without a clue of what to do.
"Please…. Help me…." I call out to a woman that has her mouth covered with shock and disgust.
"You hit a man of the law and you expect the others' pity?" the officer huffs extremely angered at me.
What man of the law? He's just the underdog of a brainless sack of fat and money. He pulls out his identity card just for the eyes of the crowd to see that he's on the good side and I'm on the bad side.
"You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent."
He cuffs my hands and I don't resist, knowing it's useless. Maybe he won't kill me just yet. Maybe having so many witnesses is a good fact after all. He jerks me up on my feet and I try to keep my balance with pain in my ribs and head.
He starts walking me through the crowd with a gallant figure, but I can read the pain on his face. His entire arm is ruined, he can't even move it. I feel a little proud of my work, even though it still terrifies me that I was able to stab somebody so heartlessly. I never thought I had it in me. The bare idea that I could die, that Natsu could die… drove me mad, making me feel like I could do anything.
I don't know why I feel so embarrassed being looked at by so many people. They have fear, pity, confusion in their eyes. I end up staring at the floor searching for a desperate way of escaping trying to ignore them all. The officer jerks me so much that I can't walk straight. He pushes me forth even if I'm walking as fast as I can. We start climbing the stairs up to the town and he starts talking through his station making huge efforts to use his damaged hand since he's holding me with the other one.
"This is JK49, I just got one of the two hummingbirds. The male escaped through an unknown route in the subway, I repeat, the male escaped. Contact Mrs. Rainhill immediately and send back up to Grapestown Earthstreet 5, I repeat, Grapestown, Earthstreet 5."
A buzz is heard and his mate replies.
"Mrs. Rainhill on the other line."
The officer hurries to take his vibrating cell phone and answers. As soon as he presses the button there's a woman's voice screaming.
"YOU LET HIM ESCAPE?!"
"I got the girl, though." He says hesitatingly and embarrassed that he suddenly has no authority.
"The girl's not important!" she yells and I feel a stab of anger. She's underestimating me just like Eros. Must be a thing in the family.
"Hurry up and catch him!"
"His location is unclear at the moment."
"You mean you lost him when he was right under your nose!"
"Ma'am…"
"You useless weak **, I shouldn't have hired any of you! My son would've done a better job!"
"Too bad your son is on their side." The officer suddenly lets go of respect and mocks. I shoot him a surprised glance.
"He's not on their side! He's on his mother's side!"
"Ma'am, I told you countless times that he was seen having conversations with them. Do you want me to ask the girl herself?!"
"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE FIRED!" the goat yells violently. I see the officer lose his temper a long moment, when his whole face turns red and he squeezes the phone, probably wondering why he risked his life for such a worthless, idiotic monkey. "Send the girl to me and then I want to see your a** gone!"
During the phone conversation, I studied very attentively our surroundings, but I can't seem to find any single hint of what could save me right now. What am I going to do? They can kill me any minute now and all I seem to be able to do is rely on Natsu to bring backup and save me. But how will he know that I'm being taken to the Rainhill mansion? Any way I look at it now I'm done for.
I try to get advantage of the fact that the officer's paying attention to the goat more than to me. I move fast and escape his grip. The chain bonding the handcuffs slips form his blood-slippery palm and I start running surprised of how easy it was. But I barely have time to think about it. Right now thousands of ideas of escape plans play before my eyes, but the moment he catches me again they all vanish. I try to shake his grip off, but this time he's got me for good. He sends his knee in my abdomen and I lose my strength and sight for a short moment. I fall numbly in his arms and he grips my hair forgetting all about the cell phone or radio station. He takes a good look at my face and this is the first time we actually see at each other. He's a young, handsome man that doesn't look trained enough for me. And the instance he sees my face, his angry features suddenly relax and shock replaces them. His blue eyes widen and I see his lips moving as he asks:
"Lucy Heartfillia?"
I freeze, still staring into his eyes. In the first half of second I wonder why he knows my name and in the other half I remember I used to be an actress. Then the next moment I start pushing and kicking so hard that it even surprises me. Not wanting my identity to be known is like siding with the organization. Now why would I do that?
He tries to immobilize me, but I'm far too trained to let myself be kicked again. So I skillfully escape one more second, only to be caught again. He probably spots some fellow policemen because he calls for help and I see some men running towards us.
Three moments later I'm laying on the ground held by seven strong hands.
"This must be a mistake!"
"What's wrong?"
"Look at her face! She looks just like Lucy Heartfilia!"
I close my eyes tightly. Leave the organization aside. This is a problem that implies my own image if I'm found out to be who I am. Why? I come out stabbing a police officer twice after not showing up for almost three months to the world, along with a stranger that's searched for by the authorities.
"This isn't the time to think about your favorite singer!"
A muscular policeman yells at the stabbed one pulling out his gun and pointing it at me.
"Now listen to me, girlie." he continues "If you don't behave, we're both going to have problems and we don't want that."
At the sight of the gun so close to me, no matter how much I want to escape and think that they're not actually going to shoot me, the blood freezes inside me. I stare at the pipe sweating through my every pore.
"Listen" I say shakily after thinking a little bit. "You big men are ganging up on some little girl. What will the crowd think if I screamed?"
"Don't mind the crowd." One of them laughs. "You can scream if you want to."
Yes, obviously, nobody would doubt the police. It wouldn't work.
The stabbed officer's cell phone rings again and he picks up hesitatingly, probably knowing it's the goat.
"Where are you?!" she yells.
"Ma'am, we just talked like five minutes ago, you don't actually expect me to arrive this soon!" he protests not able to believe the woman.
"Well hurry up, I thought of a really good way to use her!"
He rolls his eyes and puts her on speaker.
"What's that?"
"You idiot, I'm not going to tell you now! Return first! And you're hired again. I need you."
He makes huge efforts not to destroy the phone in his hands.
"Ma'am, I need medical assistance. Do you think you can provide me with that once I return?"
"What? Why? Did the singer hurt you?"
"Well not exactly…." he looks at me with hate and hesitation.
"Anyway, catch him immediately! No wait! I've a better idea. Just make sure you contact him, but don't say anything."
All the policemen roll their eyes because she's talking like it's that easy of a deal to contact him. It's close to impossible, but you can't actually tell that to a rich woman whose dictionary doesn't contain the word 'impossible'. So they just reply shortly, end the conversation and take the amazingly frustrated me to a police car.
They forcefully tie my handcuffs to a chair so that I wouldn't be able to exit the car or do anything dangerous. They slam the back door and the injured one along with the muscular one go to the front seats. This is the first time I'm in a police car. But I don't have time to admire it. I look fast around me to notice and understand my situation. They start driving slowly through the town, away from the crowded places, but the fact that turns out to be in my advantage is actually the speed, meaning I could jump out of the car without dying. But first I have to get free.
I do the first thing that comes to my mind. I pretend to have conniption. I start breathing as if I'm panicking and I look scared at my hands and at them and at everything, trembling and starting to cry. I try to breathe but choke instead.
"Hey hey hey, what's wrong with you?" the massive officer frowns at me.
"She's faking it." The stabbed one declares a little unsurely.
I let out a scream and a whimper when I imagine a heavy weight falling over my heart as if I'm going through a heart failure. I fall in a painful position and grit my teeth due to the imaginary pain. My tears are falling like rivers and I can't breathe. My left arm is especially extremely high strung because from what I know about heart attacks, that's the place where the impulses are sent with most power.
I end it with a slow relaxation and my eyes to the back of my head as if I fainted. I stay still listening to the officers debating whether it was fake or not.
"She lost consciousness."
"For real?!"
They shake me violently.
I feel how the car slows down and eventually parks randomly.
They turn around in their seats and shake me again. Through the tiny gap between my eyelashes, I can see the massive one's head close to mine, checking if I'm really passed out. I don't lose another second and smash my head against his out of the blue. It takes both of them aback and dizzies him. I use my stability through the handcuffs bond to the seat so that I take the best position fast and straighten my legs right in the massive one's face. In other words, I kick him good.
The younger one wakens up from the surprise and pulls out the gun. I hit him before he can point it at me and then also send my hiking shoes into his jaw. Now the half of my body is on the back seats and the other half in the front. I start kicking thoughtlessly into the wounded arm and I receive desperate yells and tries to stomp my feet. My glory, however, only last a few seconds. The massive one doesn't let the pain get to him and he skillfully grips my feet with his gorilla arms. I'm immobilized instantly, but I don't let that win me over. I slip through the seats and now all that's on the back are my hands caught to one of these two. And while I do so, I push my straightened legs through his grip. It's amazingly hard, but I manage to slip through and my feet shatter the window on his side. Just as I'm trying to make use of this, I feel a punch in my back setting free a scream of pain.
I entered their territory and now they got me. I fall numbly gritting my teeth.
"Sh*t! She's a beast!"
Well who said I'm going without a fight?
Some glass fell inside the car and the officer hurt himself with it.
"And just how did you think you'd win, you rascal?! You're handcuffed!" the stabbed one calls out punching me good in the ribs. I scream because it's the same place as before.
"And now what do we do with her?" the other one asks still holding my legs worried that I'd try something again.
The young one starts the car with one arm. Now he really can't use the other one.
"We're sending her with Tim and the others. They'll take care of her until we reach the mansion."
They keep holding me like that the entire road until they send me to another car where a creep is watching me constantly and even if I try plenty other stuff, nothing works. The following hour I have to sit still feeling how the bruises are forming on my forehead, back of the head, side, back and legs. Because there's nothing else I can do.
And then, we reach the Rainhill mansion.
This is where all of it is coming from. All of the terrible bad will, all of the money that feeds these men like dogs, all of the hate that's forming inside my heart. This is the place where I had to come, where I've been preparing myself to come ever since I was drawn into all this mess of a mission. This is where the woman that not only Natsu now, but I, have to kill lives. Because of this woman I've been beaten up, chased, shot, freaked out… Because of the woman that I'm shortly going to meet.
I gather all my courage even if in these kinds of situations I would be normally peeing my pants. I'm trembling from head to toe, but I'm also convinced that I'm able to do something good. Something big. This is what I've been training for. This is what I've been waiting for. I can't let myself down.
The officers jerk me towards the front door, placed at the end of a natural park with fountains and statues. I'm paying too little attention to notice anything else. All I can see is the door. My heart is beating like crazy. I'm about to do something crazy.
Because I know. I just know that I'm not going to let them kill me. I might be still, obedient and silent, but my heart is against it all. If they want to see how far I'm able to go, they might be the ones regretting it. Maybe I'm the one who's been underestimating myself all along. Because right now I look at my heart and I know I'm strong.
Once I pass through the door, I don't notice the hugeness of the room or the extravagance of the objects. All I can see are the people, moving slowly and cautiously. Nine out of ten people are bodyguards or even policemen. Goat's well guarded, but it's not like I'm going to let it get down on me.
We start climbing some stairs while I'm having three guns pointed at me, which means I've been acknowledged. A butler runs off before us to announce the officers' arrival. It's all too unimportant for me. The blood is boiling inside me and I can't wait to 'kick some ass', like Natsu's saying. Even if I'm a little scared, I'm excited too.
The final door opens and in front of me, the awaited ugliness reveals itself. She spins on her chair and looks at me through her abnormally long eyelashes. She huffs as she can barely stand up on her own. But when she's up on her own feet, I realize how short she is and that only makes me see her more disgusting. She clicks her tongue at the officers.
"You made me wait for an entire hour!" she calls out with her annoyingly high-pitched voice.
"Ma'am…" a policeman begins making me believe somebody's finally going to tell her that she's stupid "… our apologies. We didn't intend make you wait." But then I remember that she's paying them.
She starts studying me.
"Did you catch the singer?"
"We still don't know his location; even if the forces managed to break through the door in the subway, we haven't been contacted ever since. We don't know if he's been caught or not. But I do believe the chances are more than high. We're already prepared for any kind of situation. It's all under control."
I'm shocked at how calmly and kindly the man could speak. It makes you think that everything's indeed alright. And his reassuring smile does the magic for the goat since she smiles back and praises him while I know the situation exactly the other way around she thinks it is. Natsu has escaped! There's no way they can get him after he's met with the suppliers. The President holding a gun is their worst fear.
"And her? She's the little scratchy kitty?" she asks with a grossed out expression towards me.
"Yes, ma'am. She's all yours."
"She's ugly."
I twitch. Looked into the mirror recently?
"Lock her up. I'll take care of her a little later. Does the singer know she's here?"
"I'd rather say it's obvious."
"Good. Then he will come for her indeed."
I burst out laughing.
"Yeah sure." I moan for the show's sake.
"What did you say?" the goat narrows her eyes at me.
"Nobody will come for me. They couldn't wait to get rid of me. You can go ahead and kill me and not a soul will care."
The goat approaches me fast and slaps me out of the blue. I don't move a finger wondering whether that was a real slap or not. Since she has such an angry expression, I decide to believe so.
"You **! How dare you ruin my plans like that!"
Her attitude shocks me and I can hardly control myself.
My raging eyes look down at her and I keep silent and calm.
"What's wrong? You're stupid enough not to come up with a plan b?"
She turns red with fury and I can see her whole body starting to tremble.
"KILL HER!" she yells spiting all over the place. "We don't need this who*e!"
An officer hands her a gun like telling her 'do it yourself'. I remain still.
She takes the gun, charges it with effort and impatience and then points it at me. Her plastic face grimaces at me as she prepares to shoot. I look exactly in her eyes. Even though my heart is beating like crazy, I know she won't pull the trigger. She needs me and she knows that.
"I'm going to ask you once again, beggar." She calls out frustrated that I'm so calm while she's losing her temper. "How important are you to your boyfriend singer?"
I smile.
"Right now, if he were here, he'd be eating popcorn."
"And you, woman that gave birth to me, are eating sh*t." a different voice sounds and we all look at the person entering the room.
At first, I don't recognize the tall, well arranged gentleman approaching us calmly. His hair is perfect to the smallest detail and the fierce look in his sky-blue eyes is thrilling. The elegant suit he's wearing, tight on his fit, tall body, gives off the impression of a hot, gallant lady-killer.
"What are you saying, boy?" the goat asks a little calmed down. I stare confused.
"I'm saying she's obviously lying to you and you can't even realize it. The first thing Natsu Dragneel will do is come after this girl. She's beyond important to him."
My eyes slowly widen as a smile forms on his sexy lips as he gazes at me coldly.
"Hello Lucy."
"… Eros…" I whisper totally shocked.
What in the world happed to the shaggy hair? What happened to the baggy clothes, to the nerdy look? What happened to that dumb attitude, to the effort to speak? He can't possibly be the same person as this intelligent-looking man. This can't possibly be the same idiot!
"Eros sweetie, what do you suggest?" the goat asks.
"Lock her up and wait for him. The rest will be simple."
"Do as he said!" she yells at the police officers.
I can't awake from the shock, which ruins my entire plans. I intended to fight the goat and the officers, but Eros just kicked it all. The men approach me, but Eros calmly speaks to his mother.
"Let me do it, mum." The officers immediately glare at him. I've come to realize they don't trust him, so they wouldn't agree to this. "I have a word with her, anyway."
He glares at me and then smiles at the woman. She agrees right away and commands the officers to let him take me away.
"Ma'am, with all due respect. This is a really bad idea." They try sweetly, but she just yells them off.
"Do as you're told!"
Eros grabs my shoulder a little too tightly and then I see him pull out a gun. For a second, I think he's going to shoot me. But he just points it at my temple and starts walking. I walk after with my heart running.
"Honey, did you have supper yet?" the goat asks with her high-pitched voice.
Eros stops and I hear him breathe heavily in order to calm down. He smells like mint.
"Yes, mother. Thank you very much." He replies coldly.
We start walking again and none of us says a word. We exit the room and start walking down a hall. His gun touches me like ice, making me constantly nervous. I realize I'm trembling. I still don't know if Eros is on my side or not. Judging things I'd say he's not, since last time I saw him was when I knocked him to the ground and yelled something at him. I don't remember what it was. I don't know why he stopped his mother from killing me. It might be because he wants to do it himself. I want to ask him, but I don't dare to.
So it's completely silent until we reach a door and I notice he's checking both ways.
"So…" he begins with a warm smile. He pushes down the latch and opens the door for me completely releasing me. "Welcome to my room, mademoiselle."
I stare at him unable to move. Is he joking right now? He's joking, right? He's making fun of me one last time before he kills me.
He bursts out laughing.
"Come on in, I'm not going to eat you."
I step slowly, cautiously, unaware of what I'm doing myself.
He closes the door and locks it. I freeze and if you could look into my head, all you'd be able to see is death. I'm so dead. He's so going to kill me.
"This is a little embarrassing, you're the first girl I'm bringing to my room." he flushes awkwardly and I keep staring shocked. Is he for real? He rubs the back of his head and suddenly looks into my eyes with the same intensity as when he told me Natsu wanted to kill me.
"It's been a long time."
I open my mouth a few times until I'm able to speak.
"It… has…"
"I guess we didn't part the right way, now did we?"
I don't know why his eyes make me suddenly forget all the times I'd thought of him as a traitor, an idiot. I start feeling guilty and I don't understand why. I forget my plan not to trust him ever again. All I'm able to think now, as his eyes pierce through me like sweet knives, is that I've done a terribly wrong thing last time with to reason at all.
"I'm… sorry for that…" I whisper.
"It's alright. We all make mistakes." He smiles.
I smile back shortly.
"But I never understood why you punched me." he frowns innocently.
"I… was very bothered by what you told me and that made me angry. I'm sorry."
Why am I apologizing? I was so sure back then that I was doing the right thing!
He starts walking slowly towards me. His steps echo in the enormous room. The light is weak; the windows are covered with think red curtains. But I can't part my eyes with his. He seems so tall, so sure, so frightening as he closes the distance, that it makes me wonder what he's going to do.
"I-Interesting room." I smile unable to concentrate on my own words. "Very… red."
A low laugh escapes his throat in a very hot way.
"You like it?" he smirks at me.
I nod nonchalantly. I still don't know what his intentions are. This thought brings caution before curiosity and I step back.
"I also like red."
"I can see that."
"They say it… stimulates you."
I'm afraid to ask what he means. I take another step back and he takes one forth.
"Have you ever seen blood, Lucy?"
I ballast wholly and my heart is beating three times as fast.
I nod cautiously.
"I haven't. Yet." He smiles. "But something tells me I'm going to see some soon."
He's now very close to me. He slowly lifts his pistol through the air and I'm swearing so hard inside my head. This is it. This is my end. I'm sorry I wasn't able to finish my business. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help Natsu at all. I'm sorry I couldn't reach the expectations I had from myself. I'm going to die from the hands I've underestimated since the first glimpse.
"It's going to be my mother's."
At first, I'm so scared that I don't even hear him. But then, I realize what he just said and it confuses me. He suddenly pulls the trigger and shoots down towards me. The bullet pierces the chain of the handcuffs with amazing precision. My hands can finally part. But I stare at him confused and shocked, unable to understand why he didn't kill me. Wasn't he going to shoot me? What's going on?
"I decided that you guys are right and my mother is better off dead. I still want to help you."
I keep staring at him and only when I start to relax I realize how highly strung I've been.
"You…. you don't want to kill me?"
His eyes swallow me again. I suddenly feel my knees weakening.
"You know, Lucy… My mother is extremely dumb. She couldn't realize all this time that her son is slipping away from her grasp every single day to meet with the ones that mean to kill her. At first I didn't think it'd be so easy to trick her, but she never suspected a thing." He pauses and my back suddenly hits the wall. I can't step back anymore. "She trusts me so much that all I need to do is suggest something and she'll do it. You saw how easily she allowed me to take care of you."
He smiles and I can't find a reason for it.
"In fact, she trusts me so much, that everything she's ever done was coordinated from the backstage… by me."
I frown confused. Something tells me what he just said has an effect on everything I've ever known about his family.
"What do you mean?" I whisper scared.
"I mean," he begins still smiling. "…that the fact that Natsu is inside the mansion right now, sneaking along with your friends in order to kill my mother, is exactly what I want to happen."
I freeze. My knees are trembling very hard. My palms are sweating a lot. Every second I fear my heart is going to fail.
"What?" the word drops form lips shakily.
He chuckles and his fingers run softly over my cheek. He's way too close, but all I can think about is what he said about Natsu being here.
"He's good. He's so good that nobody saw him. If it weren't for the RFID integrated circuit I planted in his wound, not a soul would be able to smell him right now."
"RFID?" I ask with my brain clouded.
"Radio-Frequency Identification Device. In other words, that wound in his abdomen that you treated so carefully…." I slowly widen my eyes "… was made by me. Indirectly. Natsu himself doesn't know it's my work. I had him literally shot him with the chip, so now I know where he is 24/7."
He grins too closely to me.
"He's coming to save you from the witch, Lucy. Aren't you happy?"
"But… that's what you want?" I whisper hoarsely. I remember he said that, which worries me even more.
"Indeed. All I need is for him to kill my mother and then it'll all be going according to my plan."
"What plan?"
"Well I already told you that the stupid old hag isn't able to do anything on her own. Everything that she has now was gained through my effort, not hers. But it's all on her name. So the one that's wanted out of their way is her, obviously. Not me. It's easy." He smiles innocently.
He's using the goat? In the background, he's the one that did everything? Then the only reason she's guilty for is being stupid!
"She's your mother." I whisper shocked.
He shrugs.
"So what?"
"How can you do that? How can you want her dead? Did you say at first that you didn't want her to die? What made you change your mind?"
He bursts out laughing.
"Can't you take a joke?!" he grips my shoulder and chills spread at his touch. "I was obviously lying, baby." he whispers close to my face. "It's all going according to my plan. The only thing that I didn't predict was you punching me." he laughs again. "I knew you would get mad at me for making you doubt Natsu. I knew all along that you'd never believe me. Actually it would've been a disaster if you had lost your trust. Then it would've proved that I can't trust Natsu would come after you today."
I stare at him shocked. I can barely hear him anymore. But everything he says spins in my head, it makes me realize I've been tricked all this time. It makes me remember how superficial I've been when I decided Eros is guiltless. It makes me remember how Natsu told me not to trust him, that I'd regret it later. He was right all along.
"How did you know I'd be taken here? It was my choice sacrifice to let Natsu escape."
"One out of two. Either you or Natsu would've been taken here. It's the same for me anyway. That's why I suggested to the 'goat' that only one police officer should be sent to the subway, so that only one of your would be captured."
Is this really happening? Is this honestly the same Eros?
"Why did you want to help us?"
"I wanted to know you guys so that I'd be able to get rid of you later. You know how they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
"Get rid of us? Don't you need us?"
"After you do the dirty job, you'll have killed an innocent person and you'd be murdered for that."
"Murdered?"
He suddenly widens the gap between us and takes a piece of paper from a table.
"I don't know if you've already noticed, but I like to do things quietly and discreetly."
I take the paper and start reading:
To Dragneel Natsu,
Distinguished sir, we send this request to take care of Eros Rainhill from the Rainhill mansion in XXXX, YYYY, until the date of ZZZZ. All the other information can be found below.
"What is this? I asked confused. "I thought the mission was towards Hillary, your mother."
He lifts my chin making me look in his cold, terrifying eyes.
"I told you, I like to do things quietly and discreetly. All I had to do is send another request for my mother, price higher, condition to let the son live. BLS took the bait, showing how much they want money. It instantly nullified the first request."
After a long pause, I speak.
"I don't believe you. How could you have known about BLS or about the mission being sent in the first place?"
He's so close to me right now, cornering me to the wall, that I turn into a little insect with fear. My chest is raising up and down, I'm freaked out. His powerful eyes infect me constantly with fear, a fear that intrigues me. The smile on his face widens slowly as I feel his cold hand lift my long t-shirt, the one that Natsu bought, and he touches my back. I'm unable to move, frozen with fear.
"Lucy." he says as his fingers run down my spine and slowly under my trousers. "I know everything."
My breath completely stops when his hand goes lower. He takes the little pocket knife that I hid in the side of my underwear, away from anybody to find, and shows it to me as proof to what he just said.
I feel as if I'm slowly coming back to life when I start breathing again, my heart booming.
I want to ask him what he's planning to do now that he told me everything. He can't possibly keep me alive.
"You're crazy." I whisper so quietly, with so much fear, that it amuses him.
"Maybe I am."
"What do you want?"
"Right now?" he smirks and approaches my face even more, freaking me out. "I want you."
His words drop like stone on my lungs and I'm unable to breathe, think, feel or understand anything around me. He can probably read the confusion in my eyes because he laughs and suddenly throws my knife in a corner. I don't know how this happens, but I suddenly know that he's going to do something. I start to panic, but just then, a loud boom can be heard in the distance. It takes a short moment for me to understand that something's happened inside the house.
"GUARDS!" somebody yells close to this room. "GUAR-" the shout is deadened by a gunshot and the following voice belongs to Levy. I could recognize it anywhere: "GRAY! FIND LUCY!" I see my salvation in her words and without the split of a second hesitation, I run towards the door.
Eros grips my hand on the way and pulls me back. I trip, he grips my side, kicks my knee, I fall and the next second he's on top of me on the floor, covering my mouth with his own, trapping the sound in my throat with his tongue when I want to scream. His knees press on my thighs and he keeps my ribs under pain with his elbow. I can't move under his weight, especially when he takes my wrists in only one hand of his after a fight. I feel that I can't breathe and he hurts me. All of my training, all of strength was gained for nothing. I'm powerless under him.
He pulls away and I gasp for air, trying to fight his weight. But he floods my mouth again, with a painful passion that disgusts me to the last cell. My salvation is on the other side of the door, so close to me, so frustratingly close, but I can't do anything else than whimper. I despond when he frees one hand and runs in on up on my waist. Sh*t. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This is not happening. I shake my every muscle and sweat from every pore, but he's overwhelming me. My head's getting so dizzy and I'm so scared that I lose my mind. I panic so much that I start crying. I can only see the worst ahead of me. I'm trembling worse than his breath that smells like mint when he pulls away to breathe. He's so disgusting that it makes me sick. I feel like his touch is burning me with coldness. I get goosebumps realizing he's touching me. I free one hand, but I'm so weak that a child could do more damage. I'm begging in my head for my friends to check this one room. I'm begging the heavens to be saved.
My hand falls on something cold and I instantly freeze.
I recognize the metal.
I've held it in my hands so many times at practice.
But right now, I don't think I have the strength to use it.
I lift the gun that Eros probably dropped when he caught me and pray that he doesn't see me.
Eros pulls away and I fill my lungs with air, desperate to get free from him. His nails sink into my flesh and I whimper when his wet lips run over my neck. If I'm going to do this, this is the perfect moment.
My mind is completely blank.
I don't know what I'm doing, I can't control anything anymore.
I just see it all as if I'm watching a movie. And for the first time in my life, I'm not an actor in this one.
I see my hand lift with the gun. I see his head lift in slow motion and his sky-blue eyes look into mine with shock. He knows what I'm about to do. I see my fingers press and just when I'm sure I can't do it, just when I'm sure the one who's going to die in the end is me, I feel strength fill me and I pull the trigger.
I shut my eyes.
The bang echoes in the room.
His head drops on my chest numbly.
The gun falls to the ground.
I can't hear anymore.
I can't think anymore.
I can only feel the hot liquid spread on my skin.
I can only feel his relaxed body on top of me.
I can only feel my skin burning where he had touched me and now he can no longer do so.
I gather all my courage and open my eyes. I'm dizzy, I'm scared, I'm confused, I'm crying, I'm feeling the air blocked inside my body. I can only see the ceiling, but then I simply can't control myself and look.
Through hole in his head blood is spreading all over the place, all over me.
I killed Eros.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!" the scream exits my lungs.
My nails rip my skin. I crush my bones in my own grip. I pull my hair. And I scream.
I murdered a human. I ended a life. I'm a criminal.
I kick his body away, but nothing, nothing could make me not feel him weight, his touch, his hot blood, the blood I'm guilty for.
The door is kicked open, but I can't think. I'm desperately trying to wash away the blood, I'm trying to forget the sound of the bullet entering numbly into his head. And I scream. And I can't stop screaming.
I killed Eros.
I killed Eros.
I killed Eros.
My own blood is coming to the surface when I can't stop cutting my skin with my nails, trying to wake up from this nightmare. This is not happening. This is just a dream. I'll wake up from it all. No. No. No. Please. This can't be.
"Lucy!" Gray shouts, but I can't hear him, I can't see him, I can't feel him when he tries to calm me down and pull my hands away from my head. That other pair of little hands are probably Levy's, but I can't remember why she's here. I can't think. The only thing I'm aware of right now is that I killed Eros because I was scared.
Then another pair of hands appears out of nowhere and they grip me, shake me, slap me. I look at him, at his worried onyx eyes, at his dear salmon hair and I see Eros, looking at me with those blue eyes that were so alive. I start screaming again and he pulls me to his chest, a deaf sound coming out of me when I start crying. I grip Natsu's back so hard that it must hurt like heck. But right now I'm only able to think about my own pain. If I knew how this felt like, I would've never pulled that trigger.
"Shh… calm down, Lu… It's alright… You're safe now…" he whispers in my ear repeatedly until I actually start to understand what he's saying.
Natsu tells something to Levy and Gray and after a while I found out they were sent to continue the mission. After five whole minutes when I stop feeling the need to scream, I cry desperately at his chest, jumping up from time to time when I remember the image of how I pulled the trigger and he looked at me with those beautiful, wide eyes.
"Natsu, I killed him! I killed him!" I cry amazingly scared, not knowing how to grip Natsu in order not to fall into desperation anymore. I want him to save me form this feeling. I want him to stop this fear from growing. I want him to lie to me that it's all going to be alright.
I suddenly feel the need to explain myself, feeling like if he's not on my side, then it's all going down for me. And who would want to be on the side of a murderer? But then I remember his eyes, I remember that look so intense. He could've been the worst man in the world. I can't undo what I've done. I can't bring him back to life no matter how much I wanted.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm so so so sorry… "
He caresses my hair gently.
"Natsu… I don't know what to do… I'm so sorry… I'm so scared…" I cry unable to stop.
"Shh… Come on, stop your crying. It's not that big of a deal…"
"But I killed him!"
Just knowing that his body is laying a few meters from me brings out the worst chills and fears inside me. Natsu tells me "Let's go" and takes my hand.
He drags me softly, but with a last effort for my intelligence to stay online, I remember about the paper Eros showed me and I ask Natsu to go take it for me. Just thinking about returning inside the room with the man I killed freaks me out. At the same time, the five seconds Natsu takes to retrieve the paper are my worst nightmare. Being alone for those moments with only my dark thoughts kills me. When he returns, I cling to him and promise myself to never let go.
I'm so amazingly unconscious about what happened next, that I'll tell you readers from what I've heard from Levy later. The whole story.
It seems that after I closed the door on the subway, Natsu tried not to lose time and he rushed to the meeting place with the suppliers. It was pretty hard since he had to fight some of the goat's dogs on the way, but he made it and met with Gray, Levy, Erza, Jellal (who safely came back from the 'replacing' mission), Gajeel and another girl that I don't know. They made the fastest plan possible and almost right away they ambushed the mansion from the underground. The boom I had heard was a bazooka that hit the main wing of the mansion, the control room. That was where they had the most important files, also the most important evidence for us. But Natsu decided to give it all up for my sake. My rescue was the team's first objective.
They entered the mansion through the hole and Erza with Jellal made the first round of damage throwing gas bombs and killing everybody on their way, clearing the way for Gray and Levy that started searching for me in all the rooms. Then followed Gajeel and the other girl who got the back of the team. And Natsu was the one who left on his own, killing any sight of life that came to his way. His initial aim was to murder the goat with the traditional ambush, not the normal assassin way. But he didn't have time to do so because they found me. And so, the innocent woman for whom I had gathered so much rage, was left alive. Or so I hope, because after they found and took me, they set fire to the whole place. Oh, I forgot to say that they were wearing black masks so they wouldn't be caught on tape and recognized. Natsu was the only one who was so angry that he didn't cover himself, saying that he'd kill them all before they get to see a glimpse of him.
We left through the underground paths and nobody followed us. I found out later that the goat didn't burn in the fire. Without her son or her wealth, which was all lost, she became nothing more than a sad old lady. I didn't hear anything about her later, which makes me believe she eventually backed up quietly and lived a normal life.
There were so many more questions about Eros that I wanted answers for. There are so many things that I still don't understand about him or about what happened back then. But I'm bound to never find out. I regret everything that happened regarding him, but then I remember that if I hadn't killed him, either Hillary Rainhill would've been killed while she was innocent all along, either Natsu would've done it instead of me. However, no matter how scared I was, no matter that I was being aggressed by him and he probably would've tried to kill me later, I could never be proud of what I did.
Afterwards, we returned to the organization and while entering through the gates, I felt that I belonged here as from now.
I'm now a full-fledged assassin.
Alright, before you hit me with anything, I want you to know that I have a reason for whatever you don't like. All I've ever asked for is patience. This story does go on! I personally can't wait for what's to come!
Thank you for reading the first part of 'The Love Training': The Cage.
Join me in the second part: The Hunt.
And to show you how to be excited for what's to follow, here's a little spoiler:
Rita pants and for a short moment lets go of my hand. I scream and call her a rascal.
"Listen, girl, I'm going to sleep outside for the rest of my life if we don't pass the trust-test. I don't like the fact that it's gotta be with you, either, but I swear, if you piss me off again, I'm going to kick your ass when we reach the platform!"
She shows me her middle finger and then smiles. We burst out laughing in unison.
Natsu kisses my forehead and starts laughing. I frown at him and whine:
"Whaat? It's a good idea! Come on, Natsu, you're the President! You can do anything!"
"The whole world is going to know that you came up with this new rule and not me!"
"What?!" Levy screams and I cover her mouth alarmed. "You're together?! Like, girlfriend and boyfriend?!"
I wave it off completely red, but then I start nodding happily.
"Lucy Heartfillia. Here is your mission."
I take the piece of paper with trembling hands and squeezing heart. I don't want to know what name's written there. But I look anyway.
I freeze.
Dear Lucy Heartfillia,
Distinguished miss, we send this request to take care of Natsu Dragneel, the President of the organization of BLS also 'Bird's Last Song'.