DW: Here's the next chapter. Also, this story will only have seven chapters left. That means from now on, I'll be updating this story every 1 to 3 days! Isn't that great? Anyways, here's the next chapter.
Chapter 21: Let Go Of Things
"Stop dragging your feet and come on," Lucy said to Erza as they and Natsu walked through the cave that would eventually take them to the base.
"I'm not dragging my feet, I'm staying behind you so that I can keep an eye on what you're doing," Erza said icily.
"Okay, this is getting silly. Why won't you just give her a tiny bit of trust," Natsu said to Erza.
"Because she's a vicious manipulative sociopath," Erza growled.
"Yeah probably, but I'm still helping you. If I wanted to kill you I would have done so by now. Trust me, there were plenty of opportunities," Lucy said dismissively.
"You're insane," Erza growled, "You're completely insane. You're constantly changing your attitude and the way you act. You've acted sorry for your victims sometimes and apathetic other times. You'd probably kill me on a whim, regardless of what your plans are. You are insane and mentally unbalanced!"
"Erza! Stop!" Natsu yelled angrily at Erza. He then turns to Lucy who remained silent, not responding to the accusations against her.
"What, you're not going to answer me? Trying to act cool or something? You crazy bitch, you know I'm right don't you!" Erza said. Lucy stopped and turned around.
"Of course you're right. I am insane, and mentally unbalanced, just as you said, but the fact remains that I am indeed helping you. Were you in my position and put through the things I've been through, you would not escape with your sanity intact either," Lucy said, a trace of sadness in her voice.
"Don't try to paint yourself as some sort of victim here," Erza said angrily, "Your insanity is likely the result of your own evil actions catching up to you."
"Yeah, but the fact that I was pumped full of chemicals and radioactive material after I'm captured was a factor too," Lucy said, "And then there was the fact that in the program I was in, any child who did not perform their tasks perfectly would be killed on the spot. That led to some paranoia and a few other problems. Of course the things you've mentioned had a hand in it too."
"So you admit you're a deranged lunatic. That settles it for me. You're up to something here," Erza said.
"Alright, stop this guys. This is taking us nowhere," Natsu said, not liking where this conversation is going.
"What could I possibly be up to?" Lucy asked, "I've led you here and have helped you greatly. Why would I be doing that if I didn't genuinely want to help you?"
"Maybe you want some more top secret information from us." Erza said.
"Don't overestimate your importance," Lucy said derisively, "If you recall I already extracted all useful information from you."
"Yes, I do recall," Erza said, grinding her teeth. She had been tortured for weeks into giving up information.
"Now there's no need to be bitter. I can't help it if you can't let go of things," Lucy said. At this point, Erza snapped. She grabbed Lucy and shoved her against the wall, shaking in fury.
"ERZA!" Natsu yelled in shock.
"Let go of things? You think I should just forget about everything you've done? Your entire life has been about nothing but inflicting pain and death upon others! I don't know how you ever convinced Natsu to give you even an ounce of trust, but I won't!" Erza screamed, "To you all of your victims may be a faceless mass, but to me they were my friends and fellow comrades!" Tears were coming from her eyes.
"Erza, please. Let go of Lucy." Natsu said as he places a hand on Erza's shoulder.
"I already told you, I was under orders, the choice was not mine," Lucy said, grabbing a hold of Erza's arms and painfully forcing them away.
"Orders are no excuse for what you've done! You murdered my friends and my fellow comrades and even my…my little sister!" Erza sobbed.
"Sister?" Lucy said questioningly. Erza broke down into tears, lowering her head and sobbing.
"Erza…" Natsu said softly.
"You…you murdered my little sister," Erza sobbed, "She wasn't even a full soldier, and you still murdered her! She was the sweetest girl on earth and never harmed anyone, but you ruthlessly killed her!"
Natsu turns to Lucy, who stares at Erza blankly. "I…" Lucy attempted to speak, but found herself unable to. Erza's hatred for her was beginning to make sense.
"I was stationed in Rwanda when they retrieved her body from Madagascar. I was called to identify her, since I knew many of the soldiers in that region. I didn't know that it would be her, but when I got to the location where her body was held, I found myself face to face with my sister's corpse."
"You don't share the same last name," Lucy noted calmly. Natsu turns to Erza, who looked up, shaking in anger.
"Of course we don't! We had our last names assigned to us when we were little to erase our connections to our old lives, just like all the others in the military. And don't speak so casually about her! You've disrespected her enough!"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," Lucy said.
"I mean the fact that you were completely brutal to her! You beat her viciously before strangling her to death! And after that, you did horrible things to her body! I can't even think of what you did to her anymore! After I saw what you did to her, I couldn't sleep for a month!" Erza said. Lucy felt some sympathy, but Erza's yelling was causing her to become angry. She knew that she deserved to be yelled at, but she could not help but feel that old sadistic urge that once defined her.
"Well if it puts you through that much pain to think about, maybe I should remind you of it as punishment for being so distrustful," Lucy said, the sadistic look that Erza had long ago learned to fear coming to her face.
"LUCY!" Natsu yelled, turning to Lucy. "Don't do this!"
"D-DON'T YOU DARE!" Erza said.
"Yes, after killing Wendy Marvell I mutilated her body. I was frustrated with my inability to prevent myself from killing the children under her care-" Lucy got interrupted.
"You murdered the children? You monster! You not only killed my sister, but the children she cared for! You heartless monster! If we ever get out of here, I'll see to it that you're put to death!" Erza screamed.
"I didn't want to kill them. I even tried not to kill them," Lucy sighed, "But I was bound to the Marauder's will, and it was his orders. I truly didn't want to, and afterwards I took my frustration out on the body of the girl."
"You liar," Erza snarled, "You didn't care about killing them any more than you did about killing my sister."
"Okay, please. Stop this you two." Natsu said, turning his head to both girls, not liking where this is going.
"I didn't want to kill her either, but it was my orders. In frustration, I began to cut up her body. I started by breaking her fingers off, Then I began to skin her arms and legs…" Lucy explained.
"Stop it!" Erza screamed.
"Stop this, Lucy! NOW!" Natsu said to Lucy. Lucy continued, satisfied that she was causing the older woman so much pain. In her unstable mind, this was punishment for her earlier attitude towards her.
"After I had removed the skin from her arms and legs, I slit her belly open and began gutting her. I took out her stomach and liver first. Then I removed the kidneys, pancreas, bladder, and other organs. I chopped them up into little bits. Finally, I removed her intestines and used them to hang her from the ceiling."
"You bitch!" Erza screamed. She was shaking and sobbing from hearing Lucy describe mutilating her sister. She rushed forward and punched Lucy as hard as she could. Lucy was thrown back from the impact.
"Erza!" Natsu yelled as he quickly wraps his arms around her, restraining her.
"Let go of me!" Erza screamed as she managed to punch Natsu's face with her elbow. Natsu falls to the ground and she turns back to Lucy. Erza goes over to Lucy and pins her to the ground. She hits and punches her as she lay stunned on the ground.
"I'll kill you!" Erza screamed, "I'll end your terror and make it so you never get the chance to hurt anyone again!"
"In your dreams!" Lucy yelled, regaining her senses. She kicked her feet out, hitting Erza squarely in the chest and throwing her back quite a distance. Lucy advanced as Erza shakily stood up. They were both bleeding, but they were still more than willing to fight each other. Erza screamed and charged at her. Lucy grabbed her wrist as she passed, yanking it so as to pull her off her feet. As she fell however, she grabbed Lucy by her shirt and slammed her to the ground.
"My sister was a beautiful, kind person, and you murdered her!" Erza screamed, wrestling Lucy on the ground. Out of sheer shock from this turn of events, Lucy barely fought back. She punched and kicked Erza in retaliation, but without any of the killing intent from the past. She was deep in thought. Perhaps she had gone too far in describing the murder of Erza's sister. In her unstable state of mind, it had seemed like the appropriate action, but she now regretted it. Lucy was going through complex emotional shifts regularly as the part of her that wanted the madness to end and the part that was still sadistic fought each other for dominance.
Lucy pinned Erza to the ground and grabbed both wrists. She held them tightly, causing Erza to shriek in pain. Erza jerked her arms back, and Lucy lost her grip on one arm, which Erza used to grab Lucy's other arm and pull Lucy back, dropping her to the ground. Erza swung a foot around, which connected with Lucy's jaw. Quickly recovering, Lucy punched Erza in the face.
"I'll kill you!" Erza screamed. A grin was spreading across Lucy's face.
"Not if I kill you first!" Lucy said with a harsh laugh. Lucy didn't mean this at all, but it came from her automatically. Lucy's body, when subjected to struggle and exertion, released powerful adrenaline type chemicals that made her stronger and more aggressive. She would have to stop soon or she might end up going overboard and kill Erza.
"Stop this! Both of you!" Natsu yelled as he stood between them.
"STEP ASIDE NATSU! This girl needs to pay!" Erza yelled.
"But Erza…" Natsu turns to Erza.
"That is an order!" Erza yelled.
"Let her come, Natsu." Lucy breathed. Natsu turns to her. "LET HER COME!"
Lucy jumped away breathing rather fast. She was not winded, but the complex emotions she felt were causing her to breathe more quickly than usual. She had to end this now.
Erza and Lucy then charged at each other. Natsu shuts his eyes tightly, preparing for the worse. Just as the two girls were about to reach each other though, the ground shifted beneath them. Looking down, Erza, Lucy and Natsu saw that they were on a thin metal grate, apparently for drainage. They began to move off of it, but suddenly it collapsed beneath their feet. They fell down, only managing to grab onto the side at the last minute.
Lucy glanced down and saw that the hole went down nearly a hundred feet. If they fell, they would surely be killed. Lucy gripped the edge tightly and began swinging her body back and forth. She managed to gain enough momentum to swing herself up over the edge, at which point she managed to scramble out of the hole. She looked at Erza and Natsu who was still clinging to the sides, just barely holding on.
Suddenly an idea crossed Lucy's head; a cruel idea, but one that appealed greatly to her in her current state of mind. She watched as Erza pulled herself up. She had just pulled her shoulders and chest over the edge of the hole when Lucy kicked her in the face, knocking her back. She lost her grip and fell back, only barely managing to grab the sides with her hands before she could fall down.
"LUCY! What are you doing?" Natsu yelled in shock.
"What the hell are you doing?" Erza gasped, fright in her voice. Lucy didn't answer, instead stomping on Erza's left hand, causing her to lose her grip. Now her right hand was all that held her up. Lucy raised her foot above that hand but stopped just as she was about to bring it down.
"Lucy! Stop this! What are you doing? I trusted you! And now you're going to turn your back on us?" Natsu yelled.
Lucy widens her eyes.
'He's right. What am I doing?' Lucy thought. She began feeling rather conflicted about this. She was angry at Erza and didn't like her, but could she really kill her? Of course she could, having killed many others. The real question was whether she wanted to kill her. She had told herself that she wanted to be done with this life and right the wrongs she had done. Could she really do that if she killed Erza? If she kills Erza now in front of Natsu, Natsu would never love or trust her again.
Erza panicked as she lost her grip. Only her fingers were holding her up, preventing her from falling to her death. She knew this would happen; she knew Lucy would betray them. She could not hold on much longer, her fingers were slipping. Just as she lost her grip and fell however, Lucy caught her by the wrist and pulled her up.
"Lucy!" Natsu said, a smile forms on his face.
Erza stared at Lucy in shock, unable to believe she had been saved by her. Lucy then turns to Natsu and pulls him up as well. She then silently turned and began to walk down the cave.
"We're almost there, come on." Lucy said. Erza and Natsu walked alongside her quietly. Erza stopped walking, causing Lucy to turn around questioningly.
"Erza?" Natsu asked.
"I don't forgive you for everything you've done, and I still don't trust you," Erza said to Lucy, "I hate you for killing my sister, and I don't know why I'm saying this since it was your fault anyways but…thank you for saving me."
END OF CHAPTER