Chapter 18: An Unpleasant Reunion
"So Loke was part of your, ummm, security guard?" Wendy asked.
Lucy nodded, wiping a tear. "I saw him die."
"Actually, you didn't." Natsu interrupted.
"What do you mean?" Lucy said, astonished. She'd seen him get bitten and then -
"Did you actually see the bite mark?" Natsu asked. Lucy shook her head. The zombie had bit him though. She'd seen its teeth clamp on his leg.
"Did you see him get shot?"
Lucy shook her head.
"Then you didn't see him die." Natsu said. "Which means, we need to find out why he fooled you."
"Fool me?"
Natsu nodded. He knew what he was talking about. He was pretty good at doing this if you wanted to put it lightly.
"But how?"
"We go see Gray!" Natsu exclaimed, grinning. "And don't worry about Loke kidnapping you. We'll protect you. Besides, didn't you leave that letter back in Akane?"
Lucy nodded slowly. Though, she'd left it without the intent of anyone receiving it.
"Then let's go!" He said as he switched seats with Lucy.
It didn't take long for Natsu to drive all the way to where Gray had last radioed them. After parking the car a few streets away, they made the horrifyingly slow walk to where Loke had last been seen.
Following the plan, Lucy stepped out of hiding and walked into the middle of the open area.
"You said you wanted to meet me?" She shouted. "Well here I am."
Two cloaked figures stepped out of hiding, each dragging someone. Those 'someones' were no one other than Gray and Gajeel.
As soon as Gray saw who had caught their captors' attention, he swore in his mind since his mouth was gagged. He shook his head and screamed into it.
Lucy saw Gray's eyes widen as she tried to tell her to leave. She mouthed an apology before glaring at the cloaked hostiles.
"Who are you?" Lucy stuck to the script. Her only response was a snicker.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I'm gonna whoop your ass anyway, so I suggest you let me friends go." She said, trying to be confident. In reality, she felt like jelly. Zombies were predictable, humans… not so much.
"I'd like to see you try." The figure said.
Lucy smirked as she got into a fighting stance, daring them to fight her. Only one stepped forward after handing the other his captive.
"Only one of you? But that's not a fair fight. I'm being nice in letting you fight together." Lucy sneered.
"I think one of us is just fine." The voice said gruffly, obviously trying to sound different than normal.
Oh Loke… You were always horrible at that type of stuff.
Before the guy in front of her even finished speaking, Lucy was already charging. With one blow, she brought him down, causing the other guy to drop both guys and charge at her.
Without the element of surprise, it was a little harder to win, but she managed to knock the assailant out when she elbowed him in the neck.
Step one: done! Now for step 2…
Natsu and Wendy creeped out and began to untie Gray and Gajeel.
"Where's Juvia?" Wendy asked.
"They still have her." Gray said, coughing. Natsu swore, but helped Lucy in tying up the cloaked figures. Next they decided to unveil these hostiles.
As Lucy suspected, Loke was the first one to fight her, but the second one surprised her.
"He's just a boy!" She cried.
"And Wendy's the same age. Focus." Natsu said. Lucy nodded. She couldn't let the fact that he was young distract her from her goal.
They waited until Loke started to stir to put phase 3 into action. Their plan was to look intimidating, so they propped Loke against the wall with his limbs bound. Next, Lucy was to squat in front of him with a knife in her hand and "look cool" according to Natsu. Apparently, he'd seen this in some sort of movie and he swore it would work. Wendy sweatdropped at the absurdity of it.
The moment Loke opened his eyes, Lucy pounced.
"Wakey wakey Prince Charming," She sneered. Loke looked confused, panicked, and then constipated.
"Isn't it the other the way around?" Loke said.
"Huh?"
"I mean, Prince Chamring was supposed to kiss the Princess Sleeping Beauty, which is probably you in this scenario, to wake her up. We could reanact that if you'd like..." Loke continued, still looking constipated.
"No thanks. This world is already upside down, so why not fairy tales too? But, thats besides the point. Why are you here? Or better yet, why are you not dead?"
Loke's constipated look increased tenfold. "That's a good question that even I do not know the answer to. But.. I'm pretty happy I'm not dead."
Lucy raised an eyebrow as she started playing with her knife, tossing up and then cathing it. "Oh really? Then lets start with something you would know… like where the hell is Juvia?"
"Juvia?"
"Blue hair, blue eyes, seemed to be all over one of the guys you kidnapped."
"Oh! The feisty girl. Now she was a beauty if I ever saw one. After I knocked the guys out, she kept on fighting and screaming about a … 'gray-sama'?"
"That would be her. The question still stands."
"She's at our base, perfectly safe. We weren't really going to hurt you ya know."
"I think Laxus would say otherwise."
"Okay, he was an exception, but he was being a jackass."
"Why are you here?"
"To bring you back, obviously."
"Back where?"
"Your haven't forgotten it, have you?"
"Of course not. I've been managing just fine with Fairy Tail. How'd you even find me?"
"You left that note at Akane Resort."
"Which I'm certainly starting to regret now."
"Come with me Lucy. Leave behind Pinky over there and we can do this together."
Natsu growled. "Lucy…"
"Relax," Lucy said before really getting in Loke's face. "Loke. YOU left me. You should be dead right now. I saw that zombie bite you and I heard the shot. There is no way in hell I'd come with you without knowing how you cheated death. Besides, Fairy Tail is my home now. The only thing that could make me leave would be death. So give me one reason why I shouldn't finish that zombie's job?" She was snarling at the last sentence.
Loke stared at her before giving a weak grin. "So you've finally found love."
"The hell?"
"Nothing. Well, I guess I can't force you to come with me. But, sooner or later you will have to put an end to this." Loke said.
"I know. But I still have time. So tell me where Juvia is and we'll leave you here."
"Sorry, but no can do." Loke said, smirking.
"Oh I'm not asking." Lucy grinned sadistically as she gripped her knife. "I'm not the same girl you knew."
Loke's eyes widened and his smirk fell away. She wasn't serious, was she?
"So I suggest you tell me where Juvia is."
Loke relented. "Two houses down. Second floor. Bathroom."
Lucy smiled. "Laxus, you heard him. Go with Wendy and Gray and get her while Natsu, Gajeel and I deal with Loke and the kid."
Loke swore. "Please don't hurt him." He pleaded.
Lucy glared at Loke. "You didn't think I'd actually kill or even hurt any of you, did you?"
He winced. It wasn't his fault exactly…
Lucy walked over to Natsu to discuss all possible options.
"Well, we could pull a Natsu," Lucy suggested.
"A what?"
"Kidnap and take them to base and then force them to join."
"Sounds like a good idea. Let's do it." Natsu said and he proceeded to shove Lucy towards Loke, who was watching her with a little amusement. THe amusement faded when Lucy grinned evilly.
"Looks like I lied. We will hurt you. Sorry." Lucy then slammed the head of her gun against his head, effectively knocking him out cold. She gave a look of pity to the boy and decided to simply blindfold him.
"Gajeel, take Loke."
Said guy grunted as he lifted the dead weight over his shoulder.
"He's annoying."
Lucy then crouched down next to the boy.
"What's your name?" She said kindly.
"Romeo," He whispered as his body was trembling.
"Well, then Romeo. Listen carefully. I'm not going to hurt you, okay?"
"L-loke."
"He's a special case. I've known him since before, so I had to hit him. Now I'm just going to blindfold you an-"
"Hey Luce! Hurry it up already!" Natsu shouted, starting the engine.
"I'LL HURRY UP WHEN I WANT TO! SHUT UP AND MAYBE TRY HELPING ME HERE!"
Romeo gave a weak chuckle as Lucy flipped Natsu off.
"Sorry about that idiot. Now please cooperate." Lucy pleaded.
He nodded and allowed Lucy to tie the handkerchief around his head.
"Okay. NATSU GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND HELP ME CARRY THE KID SO HE DOESN'T FALL!"
Natsu made a very dramatic show of opening the car and dragging his feet as he made his way towards them.
"Are you guys a couple?" Romeo asked out of the blue as Natsu arrived.
They spoke simultaneously. (
"Please… I have standards."
"Nah, she's too much a pervert."
"HEY! Take that back!" They shouted at each other. They were too engrossed in their bickering to notice Gajeel winking at the kid.
"YO! BUNNY GIRL! We don't have all day to flirt, so hurry it up."
"That's it. He's so dead." Lucy growled as she stomped to the car, leaving Natsu to carry Romeo.
"There she goes again." Natsu sighed and hoisted a snickering Romeo into a piggyback ride.
"Kid, stop laughing. It ain't that funny once you get to know that she-devil."
Natsu then had to narrowly dodge an attack coming from the car. A knife.
"Seriously? That would have hurt!" Natsu called.
Romeo was amazed at how deftly Natsu had dodged that attack, especially since it was so precise and fast. It was then that Romeo immediately knew that he would worship Natsu if they let him maybe join the base. He really hoped so.
Sorry for the late update but I didn't account for the lack of Wifi for where I vacationed. crap. Enjoy!
No review responses today... sorry!