note: I was listening to the song 'One night in Bangkok' from the musical 'Chess' recently. So I decided to name the chapter in a similar way.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any character I borrowed from Dragon Ball, Negima, The World God only knows, Yugioh!, One Piece, Bleach, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Soul Eater.
Summary:
The scouting team was able to save Yamchu, Elfman and Tenshinhan. With the help of Francois Bouvier – father of Sophie and Jean and commander of a Rune Knights division – they were able to return to the town Liliana.
Late at night Lisanna, Natsu, Lucy, Nat and Happy arrived there as well. While Natsu, Nat and Happy were supposed to stay at the Bouviers' estate, Lisanna decided to spend the night at another apartment together with Lucy.
-…-
While entering the town, Lucy noticed a huge mansion on a hill. […] "Who is living there?" she wanted to know. "I can't remember this building standing there, when I was here the last time."
"The whole areal belongs to a noblewoman, who moved to Liliana one or two months ago." Nat explained. "If I remember correctly, her name is Lady Sasturs […]"
Chapter 36: One night in Liliana
After landing on the market place in the town, Lisanna, Natsu, Lucy, Nat and Happy had come off the ship. Natsu, followed by Happy, was running around enjoying not be on a moving vehicle anymore.
"Well, we should hurry and go to the Bouvier's mansion." Nat stated using his de-quipping-magic to make the airship disappear. "It's already pretty late." Everyone agreed on the comment.
Before going off, Lisanna went over to Lucy. "Lucy-chan, could you please do me a big favor?" she asked clasping the blond girl's hands.
"Eh…?" Lucy was overtaken by the sudden action. "Well … sure …"
Lisanna carefully looked around making sure that nobody else was listening. "After all the travelling I'm in the need of taking a bath." the white-haired girl revealed. "Introducing the guys to Francois-sama will certainly take some time. Would you be so nice to go to the apartment ahead and prepare everything?"
Lucy hesitated for a moment. "That's no problem." she agreed to the request. "I guess I could need a bath as well."
"I've written the address on this piece of paper and here's the key." Lisanna handed the objects to Lucy. "Thank you very much. I owe you one!" she waved her hand while returning to the others.
"What is Lucy doing?" Natsu wondered about her staying back.
"I asked her to do me a favor." Lisanna replied without getting into details. "Tomorrow you can see her again. Now, let's hurry."
So, without Lucy, the team went to the home of Sophie's and Jean's family.
-…-
[The Bouviers' estate]
The other group had already arrived at the mansion a few hours ago. In a spare bedroom Sophie and Cathy were treating the injured Elfman and Tenshinhan.
"I hope you have everything, you need." a glasses-wearing, tall, middle-aged man with short, dark-brown hair was entering the room. He was wearing long, black trousers and a black jacket over a white shirt.
"Too-san …" Sophie identified the visitor as her father Francois Bouvier. 'Dressed in a suit … he is trying to look good as always.' she thought.
"How about you two take a rest?" he suggested. "My assistants can look after the patients for some time." he introduced a young man and a young woman entering the room.
"To be true, I'm pretty much tired." Cathy agreed to the idea. "By the way, where's Yamchu-kun?" she wondered since their companion hadn't been there for a while.
"He's taking a bath right now. I've prepared it with special curing herbs for his injuries to heal faster." Francois explained.
At that moment a maid entered as well. "Sir, the other guests have arrived." she informed him.
"Other guests?" Sophie wondered.
"Oh, you don't know yet?" her father was surprised. "Well, you'll meet them soon anyway." the three went towards the entrance hall. Down there, Sophie and Cathy were astounded to see the arrival of Lisanna, Natsu, Nat and Happy.
-…-
At the same time Lucy arrived at the house, where Lisanna's apartment was located. But something else was in her mind. 'Lisanna … did she want me to stay away?' she worried depressed. 'What am I thinking? Lisanna isn't that kind of a person.'
Without realizing it, she had already arrived at the apartment door. 'That's the number Lisanna noted on the paper.' Lucy opened the door with the key. Inside she noticed that the lights had already been turned on. 'Did she forget to switch them off?' Lucy wondered exploring the rooms one by one.
-…-
[The Bouviers' estate]
Sophie and Cathy had meanwhile welcomed their friends and had told them about their recent encounters with the Lycanoos.
"What? Elf-niichan is here as well?" Lisanna was worried after hearing that her brother had been severely injured. "I need to see him!"
One of the assistants came down from the room, where Elfman and Tenshinhan were resting. "The white-haired has just regained his consciousness." So Francois offered Lisanna to have a short visit. "Why don't the rest of you go to the kitchen." he suggested to the others. "You must be hungry. My assistants have already prepared something to eat."
Hearing these words, Nat's, Natsu's and Happy's stomachs were growling synchronously.
"This kind of answer doesn't leave anything open." Sophie commented smiling. "We should go with them." she stated to Cathy. "We'll see you later, Lisanna."
-…-
[The apartment]
Lucy was approaching the last door. 'This has to be the bath. There is steam coming … Wait! Steam?!' she carefully got closer to the door. "Hello? Is there anybody?" she asked listening for a response from inside. "Hello?" she asked again after a while but there wasn't any reply.
-…-
[The Bouviers' estate]
Lisanna followed Francois upstairs to the bedroom. Seeing her injured brother, she immediately went over to his bed. "Elf-niichan!" she broke out in tears. "How could that happen? You need to watch your health more. What should Mira-nee and I do without you?"
"I'm sorry for worrying you, Lisanna." Elfman apologized with a low voice. "It'll take some time but I'll be back up soon." he promised. "By the way, I have to thank you."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Lisanna was confused.
"Our training one week ago … it really saved our asses during the fight." Elfman told his sister. "Ugh!" He gave a little wince of pain.
"You shouldn't overdo it, Elfman-kun. You have to sleep in order to recover properly." Francois advised him. "We should leave them alone for now." he told Lisanna, who agreed nodding.
-…-
[The apartment]
After having waited for quite a while without receiving any answer, Lucy finally decided to enter the bathroom in order to find out if everything was alright. She carefully opened the door and watched inside. 'There's nobody here?!' she thought wondering. 'It's so hot and humid'.
At the end of the room there was a tub. The steam around it was so thick, that it was hardly recognizable. After hesitating, Lucy decided to get closer. The tub was filled with foam. 'There's really nobody here …' Lucy realized.
Suddenly she noticed something moving under the foam. Then a face appeared on the surface of the water. "U-u-u" Lucy was about to freak out with her face turning pale as a sheet. Then the eyes of the person opened instantly.
"KYYAAAAAAHHHHHH!" her scream could be heard miles away.
"UAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" it was soon followed by another scream that was just as loud.
-…-
[The Bouviers' estate]
Everyone was busy having meal in the kitchen. Especially Natsu and Nat were especially noisy while doing so. "What's wrong, Natsu?" Happy wanted know after noticing that the pink-haired boy had stopped eating abruptly.
"Eh … nothing." Natsu replied. "I thought I had just heard someone screaming but it must have been my imagination."
"Screaming? Well, I didn't hear anything." Happy added. So Natsu shrugged it off and continued eating.
Meanwhile Cathy was chatting with Sophie. "To think that they are really twin-brothers …" Cathy mentioned referring to Natsu and Nat. "They are usually behaving so differently … but basically their personalities seem to be pretty similar."
"I had no idea myself." Sophie replied. "There's no doubt that Katsu Dragion was Nat's biological father. Unfortunately he had never told anything about a second son before his death."
"I've heard that Natsu-san had been raised by a real dragon who taught him the magic as well." Cathy remarked. "Until now I've only heard rumors about the Dragon Slayer Magic." she noted. "I'm curious to see it during the competition."
"You wanna fight against me?" Natsu replied being incited by overhearing parts of the conversation.
"No, thanks …" Cathy responded refusing. "I doubt that I'm a match against you. But I know some people who might be able to rival with you …"
In that moment Lisanna entered the kitchen.
"Lisanna, come in. There's still plenty to eat left." Sophie greeted her.
"Yeah, it's a feast!" Natsu commented. "It's really a pity that Lucy isn't here with us."
"Oh, Lucy!" Lisanna suddenly recollected taken aback. "I've totally forgotten the time … she's probably already waiting in the apartment. If I had known about the prepared meal …"
"Lucy is in the town as well?" Sophie asked remembering the blond girl she had met at Fairy Tail. The both of them had been able to make friends on the first day. "Why don't you invite her over?" Sophie suggested.
"You're right! I'll bring her along, it won't take long." Lisanna stated leaving the kitchen again.
"Lisanna, wait! I'll accompany you. I could need an after-dinner walk." Natsu immediately went after her.
"I'm going too." Happy left the room as well.
Only Nat, Sophie and Cathy were still sitting dumbfounded at the table. "Well, to be true, I didn't see that coming …" Nat commented.
"That doesn't matter." Cathy said enjoying the sudden silence. "Why don't you report us about your adventure?" she suggested.
-…-
[In another room]
Using a video lacrima, Francois was calling FT's director Makarov. "According to Jean's information I had sent out three squads. They were able to capture one Lycanoo but there was someone helping him to escape." he reported the current state of affairs. "At least we were able to discover that they used an airship owned by Lady Sasturs. I've already found out that it has been reported stolen."
"I see, that means my worries have come true." Makarov concluded. "There is really someone else behind the Lycanoos' incident. And the mage using Control is probably one of them. Too bad, that we weren't able to gather more information …" he paused for a moment and then changed the topic. "By the way, how is everyone doing?"
"Yamchu-kun, Elfman-kun and Tenshinhan-kun are still recovering from their injuries." Francois explained. "In the case of Elfman-kun it might take some time longer. But you don't need to worry, Makarov-sama. I have qualified assistants caring for them."
"That's good to hear." the master was relieved. "I've heard that you had requested Lisanna to come to Liliana as well. Is there a specific reason?"
"Well, I have to check something …" Francois replied hesitatingly. "I'll report you as soon as I have confirmed my suspicion."
-…-
[Sasturs' mansion]
The Lady was standing at the window in one of the rooms of the upper floor. There was no light switched on and only the shadowy figure of the long haired woman could be assumed in the darkness. From there she watched the town below the hill.
"The seal is close. I can feel it!" she talked to herself. "Finally!"
-…-
At the same time Lisanna, Natsu and Happy were on their way to Lucy. "We are soon there." Lisanna told the others pointing to the front. "It's just a few blocks away." she then noticed Natsu being watching into different direction. "Hey, where are you looking? I told you it's this direction." Lisanna complained.
"Yeah, but I'm sure that I can smell Lucy's scent in the other direction." Natsu explained.
"Are you sure?" Happy wanted to know. "I can't imagine that she would walk around in the town alone."
"Happy is right." Lisanna added. "Let's go now."
After some time they finally stood in front of the door to the apartment. Trying to open the door Lisanna searched for the key. "Ah, right! I totally forgot that Lucy-chan has the key … we have to use the bell."
The three of them started to worry after having waited for two minutes. "Why isn't she answering?" Happy wondered.
"That's strange." Lisanna noted.
"Don't you have a second key?" Natsu wanted to know.
"No, the other one …" Lisanna was about to say but didn't finish the sentence.
-…-
The next moment Lisanna, Natsu and Happy were running for the place where Natsu had recognized Lucy's scent earlier. "Hey, Natsu! Wait for us!" Lisanna called after the dragon slayer unable to keep up the speed.
Natsu stopped in front of a house at the corner of the street. "It's here! I'm sure about this!" He could hear strange noises coming from the inside. Without hesitating he broke violently through the door. "Hey, Lucy! Are you alright?!"
next chapter: Rick
notes: