Natsu doesn't show up to the train as expected, but it still left a wave of uncertainty through me. He didn't even have the time to text due to the fact that he was managing whole brigades of people alongside Levy and Gajeel in the last few days. I thought the best way to get rid of whatever feeling I had twisted through my stomach would be to just proceed with more paperwork—the most important out of the batches we had in the entire month—but I fail due to the fact that there are about more than fifteen empty bags of strawberry liquorice lying around my apartment, all mocking and leading me to think about the pink-haired boy.

And as if to mock me, my head began to knot in different angles throughout the next few days; I had concluded I had caught up to a slight fever and downed a few simple Panadol tablets, but they only temporary relieve the pain and once again, I was left with some kind of throbbing headache.

I had barely gotten to the train looking sane on the certain Friday morning; I had staggered, carried a heavy bag of papers and wanted to fall face-flat on the floor—at least the pain would be somewhat avoided that way.

Autumn was also being relatively cruel; offering days of breezing wind that was the cause of Wednesday's 'swearing at air' accident that a few people had to witness at the city centre.

And now I laid almost flat at the chair I was sitting in, staring blankly at the current meeting with members of both the Art Club and Classical Music Club. They didn't quite look like humans in my vision, more so like zombies. Or maybe I was the zombie. I didn't know.

I tried to make my voice sound like I wasn't screaming inside and sat up straighter as I faced the dozens of eyes that stared right back;

"With the stall building already nearly finished and the parade plans already set to motions," I began, my voice still a little firm, "I would like to ask for the final arrangements for both your club events."

The familiar girl, Amelia Binde, stood with a clipboard to her hand, "Classical Music Club's main event, The Band Stanza, which has been the traditional yearly event for the Spring Festival, has been successfully in motion and we have concluded that we will be taking the last time slot during the third day of the festival."

My eyes widened at the last part of her report. God, my head hurt and this was truly not the right time for speaking to other species. Binde's report received approving nods or grunts and encouragement the rest of the Classical Music Club.

I sighed momentarily before hearing the first protest.

A member of the Art Club spoke out, "That cannot be right; the Art Club has been scheduled to take the last time slot for our event on the third day since last year."

The Art Club seemed to have acknowledged this and the protests grew.

"Get your asses down. Your president has only been here for a year!"

"We've been waiting for the last time slot for years!"

"We've prepared this event for months and you people are just going to take our time slot?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

The screams and battles and verbal bloodshed went on and it takes me a moment to realise that I'm personally obliged to care about their chaos.

"PEOPLE! JUST CALM DOWN." I yelled out, but this kind of anger was like the flames meeting gasoline and I did not have even the right amount of seas to calm the fire down.

Students stood gallantly, with their fingers pointed in different directions with various accusations and insults. I stood, not quite lost but rather tense from the mind files blowing up to pieces. It all hurt.

There's more shouts and cries and waves of insults but I can't focus on them—essentially, I don't really want to—because there's some kind of buzzing in my head and everything is spinning. Rapidly. So fast, like lightning that ceased to stop itself in the cloudless night.

There's nothing to think about despite every bit of chaos and misguided momentum circling around me like tiny little specks of dust that merely looked like it was easy to get rid of, but was a pain to actually do.

My head burned now. What were the Panadols doing just standing there nonchalantly, not doing their jobs as the commercials always say they apparently did? I hastily planned to sue the company when the time called for it. The room was beginning to even blur and it seems all like a movie but the reality of it all struck me too harshly. It felt like a slap to the face even.

It all dawns upon me; when was the last time I had properly slept? When was the last time I had taken a slightest break off endless paperwork? When was the last time I had even gone to bed with the right clothes on? Also, when the hell was that boy getting back to my side? Where was he? I chuckled mindlessly; he's stuck in the Himalayas.

Louder buzzing noises and I'm not quite sure, but students are probably near riot-level now. It was all a daze; a simple, mindless daze that I couldn't walk out on. The spinning continued and I'm not sure if I'm standing or sitting on a chair anymore. I may even just be standing blankly on the table like Juvia. My legs feel weak, alongside my brain, my arms, my chest and I realised my whole body is practically deflated. Is this it? Has my generous body actually been trying to maintain all it can take in this whole time and only now it's realised that it's fucked from the lack of any sleep or anything?

How sweet, body. But now we're so high.

My hands fly up to my head, trying to massage my temples. It is not helping. Nothing is. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. It was all pointless and frustrating and I want to scream at the CEO of Panadol.

There's a sick feeling to my chest and I gasp, instantly wanting to claw out my own skin to rip that feeling out. This is it? This is what the cost of weeks of constant paperwork plus no amount of sleep given was? My stomach also continued to churn; twisting and knotted into angles it clearly should not be in. It all hurt.

And what the hell was this about with the goddamned last time slot? Who even really cared? Why was there students taking riots and punches and extreme verbal brawls over it? What the hell was going on and why? The thoughts made me sick to the stomach and I conclude that it was not a great idea thinking about it all.

Everything is blurring and spinning and making a complete mess. The only real thing I process is that I'm standing up. A large thud reached my ears and I'm left a little confused. But the sudden movement hits me; my vision is darker than before and the feeling leeches even larger in my chest.

I feel the carpet against my skin and my head ceased to function—it was now commanding an instant shutdown. There's finally an unexpected amount of silence and I faintly hear sudden outcries between all the buzzing.

"Ms. Lucy!"

"Someone call the school nurse!"

I can't help but feel bewildered; why the hell would we need to get school nurse all of a sudden?

I didn't know; everything was fully becoming a blur into the darkness. The sound of buzzing and ringing and whatever noise continued but my head decided it did not care. The feeling of the carpet against my skin somehow felt like something that should add answers to questions but I ignored it. The feeling still creeping to my chest only grew and my eyes—I could slightly tell—were already beginning to shut close.

I hear the vague sound of a door being slammed open and a familiar voice.

"Oh my God, get her up!" the voice boomed.

"What happened, what's going on?" another voice called out and they say a few more words but I can no longer clearly recall them.

"Lucy!" the voice draws nearer, "Lucy, fuck, Gray, carry her!"

The other voice begins to get louder; "Lucy!"—my body suddenly felt like it was being shook gently—"Fuck, do we need to call the ambulance?"

"…I….know…ambulance….call…."

The voices all began to be cut off in pieces, my head no longer processing any words or even syllables. I feel absolutely motionless. The universe was also screaming.

"….she's….."

"…Natsu."

Everything sinks into the darkness after that.

But I still remember the name I last heard clearly.


Well, that took a turn. I wrote this and instantly wanted to upload but I realised that I already updated the day's chapters. It was kind of a fan fiction weeb moment for me honestly. I want to empathise something in the next few chapters, I think. I don't know; all I know is that I'm pretty motivated to write more chapters up as always.

Thank you for reading! Reviewers make my heart melt and I'm not exaggerating bro.

Till then,

Ice

Blur; (noun, verb) a thing that cannot be seen or heard clearly, make or become unclear or less distinct.