Chapter 20: Don't I Know it

"Is she gonna be alright mom?"

"What about Gajeel?"

"Or assflame?"

"Don't forget about the kid!"

When Lucy was semi-conscious, she could hear the worried voices that sounded familiar. But as soon as she almost recognized them, the darkness swallowed her mind again. Once enclosed in it, she struggled to get out only to be pulled back under in an endless cycle.

...Or so she thought.

Lucy had fought her way to her semi-conscious state and heard a voice that seemed to be crying.

"Come on! You can do it! Just please PLEASE wake up."

Lucy sort of furrowed her eyebrows. The voice was so familiar and her heart tugged at each word. Why did she want to talk to the voice so much? Who was it? Was she important?

Lucy's brain froze. She..

Wendy

Lucy's eyes shot open and she bolted up.

"Wendy!" She shouted. Two arms were suddenly fastened around her neck, suffocating her.

"Lucy! Oh my gosh I have to get my mom. Lay down for a while. MOM!"

Wendy bolted out of the room, hollering for her mother as Lucy clutched her head. Damn, why was it pounding so loudly? Lucy lowered herself back into her makeshift gurney and looked to her left only to see a curtain. Not thinking straight, her brain decided that it was necessary to see what was behind the curtain, even if it defied Wendy's orders.

Lucy sat up again and blinked a few times to clear her head before moving to lift her sheets. The moment she put her weight on her left leg, she grunted as the pain hit her like a wave. Yet, she persevere. Somehow, she knew that whatever was behind the curtain was important and that was what drove her to bear the pain and continue her pathetic and slow limping.

She was grateful when she reached the curtain and used it to not only regain her balance, but also swallow the nausea that had pooled in her stomach.

She ever so slowly pulled the curtain back to reveal a badly bruised figure lying in bed, sleeping.

"Natsu," She murmured and half-limped, half-dragged her body to his bed before collapsing in his bed from the extreme effort it took her to get there. She was relieved to see that he didn't seem to have any major injuries like whatever happened to her left leg. Just a bandage that seemed to be over his right cheek.

Dizziness washed over her head as she pulled the covers over her body. Her vision blurred and she gave in by laying her head on his pillow. Sure it was a tight fit, but in her current state of mind, she saw nothing wrong.

Her eyelids dropped and although she didn't want to, she immersed into the darkness once again. This time, she didn't spend so much time fighting as she easily woke up again to strong arms carrying her to her bed. Energy still depleted, she could only snuggle deeper into the arms as they supported her weight.

"Stay in your own bed, got it Luce? There's no point in making your leg worse."

Lucy assumed the voice belonged to the person carrying her, but her eyelids were still too heavy to open. Something about it, though, sounded very comforting and it made her heart flutter. She felt her back gently touch the bed and then the covers were pulled over her. Her heart sank when she felt the warmth start to go away and without even realizing it, her hand shot out and grabbed what she supposed was the person's hand.

"Stay," She murmured and managed to open her eyes, but her vision was still a little blurry. She could make out pink hair coming closer into her bed. Natsu?

As the warmth returned, she wrapped her arms around it in an attempt to make sure it would never go away again.

"Thank you," She mumbled, not thinking Natsu heard her, but as all plots flow, he did hear her and was shocked at the sudden heat that appeared on his cheeks. The blush stayed there until he fell asleep to Lucy's steady heartbeat.

[Time Skip]

Now while this whole bed switcharoo might have seemed innocent and fluffy, Wendy, Grandeeney, and Gray would have to say otherwise.

Wendy had come back with Grandeeney in tow only to find Lucy's bed empty.

"Lucy?" Wendy called, but received no answer. She swore only to receive a whack to the head from her mother.

"Natsu is a bad influence. Don't acquire his horrible vocabulary." She scolded.

"But…"

"I know, I know. But she has to be here somewhere right? Where could she have possibly gone?"

Wendy nodded, but then froze. "What if Mest took her?"

Grandeeney clucked her tongue. "I doubt it. He's safely locked up downstairs."

Wendy nodded, but wasn't put at ease. Nonetheless, they searched endlessly. First, they visited their shared room, but Lucy was not there. Next, they went to the library when Wendy saw a few books in Lucy's bed. There, they met Levy who informed them that Lucy had not set foot in the library.

Wendy searched her head for any other clues and ended up leading her mom to the weapon's room. But when Erza, who was sharpening one of her katanas, confirmed their worst fears, Wendy had one last place that Lucy could possibly be: the cafeteria. Mirajane had been allowed off of bed rest a couple days prior and had gone straight back to cooking, much to the base's joy. But alas, Mirajane had not seen Lucy, though she did inquire as to her wellbeing.

"Well I'm wondering too," Grandeeney grumbled. "The audacity of the girl! Running off without telling us."

Though it seemed Grandeeney was grumpy, she wa seriously worried sick about the girl. She didn't want to worry Wendy with the extent of her injuries, but she knew that if Lucy was on her feet for too long… she could just collapse. But a miracle took place and Gray hollered Wendy's name.

"WENDY! Wait up a sec!"

Wendy turned around sharply to see Gray jogging towards her and her mother.

"You guys are looking for Lucy, right?" He said, slightly panting.

"Yeah. Do you know where she is?"

A smirk coated his lips. "Where she always is: by Natsu's side."

"Huh?" Grandeeney blurted.

"I don't know," Gray said. "I was visiting the asshole and low and behold I see Lucy snuggled right next to him. Did you guys not check the rest of the infirmary?"

Wendy chuckled nervously and scratched her head sheepishly.

"Well…"

Grandeeney didn't realize she had shoved her daughter aside as she rushed back to the infirmary.

"Wait mom! We're coming too!" Wendy called and tried to catch up.

"Then hurry up! I need to rebandage Lucy's leg before she gets an infection."

The three of them ended up running frantically to where Natsu and Lucy were supposedly snuggling. Of course, they entered through the second door, which was closer to Natsu's bed only to find the bed empty.

Grandeeney swore. "Not again. Wendy, check Lucy's bed."

Gray ended up following Wendy and chuckled when he saw his best friend being crushed to death by Lucy.

"They're here!" Wendy called and turned to see her mother struggling to bring over seemingly heavy supplies. Bandages, pills, creams, you name it, she had it.

"Gray, I need to you detach Lucy from Natsu and pull down the sheets. Wendy, blend these together to make a paste."

Both got right to work, though Gray ended up having the harder task. Lucy's grip was rather tight and he could tell that she really did not want to let go. So, he changed his plan of attack. First, he took her hands and began to pull them away from Natsu's body. Honestly, the whole thing was quite awkward and he really hoped they didn't wake up.

"Gray, hurry up. I need to change the bandage really soon." Grandeeney warned.

As soon as Natsu was free, he quickly snatched him and half-carried, half-dragged him out of bed and into his own bed where he should've been sleeping.

He then rushed back and pulled Lucy's legs on top of the thin blankets that came with the bed.

"She's ready," He said and Grandeeney wasted no time in disassembling the intricate bandage on Lucy's leg. Gray watched with curiosity. He knew that Lucy had saved Natsu, who had neglected to put his seatbelt on. In doing so, her leg had gotten crushed when the car landed on its hood.

He hadn't expected the injury to be so… mild. In all honesty, it looked like Lucy had maybe cuts herself on something. As he was about to ask Grandeeney about all the fuss, she cut him off.

"The paste Wendy is making is something I created thanks to one of the gases that the zombies emit. When it interacts with the CO2 the plants take in, dandelions develop a new property: healing. As long as I pace the treatments perfectly, her leg will heal without even a scar."

Gray looked at her in shock. When had she found this out? Did Makarov even know about this? Who was he kidding… of course he knew.

Grandeeney applied more paste and grabbed a new bandage which she wrapped around her leg.

"Of course, the process is very painful. If she applies too much weight on the leg, she can pass out. On top of that, the energy it takes to do this… it's a lot, so I don't usually sue this method. But I think she'll pull through."

"I know she can," Wendy said, determination and confidence burned deep in her eyes.

Grandeeney started putting everything back, but stopped.

"Wendy, go check on the boy. Tell me how he's doing. And Gray, check on Gajeel. I need a thorough report."

The two left to the room next door, which was the old nurse's office and where Romeo and Gajeel were recovering.

Once they had left, Grandeeney sighed. "You guys can wake up now."

Natsu's head poked out from behind the curtain and he made eye contact with Lucy, who had sat up, stretching.

"Well?" Grandeeney asked.

"Where's Loke?" Lucy asked, a faint trace of panic in her voice.

Grandeeney frowned. "I believe he escaped in the car crash. Makarov wanted to send people after him, but I advised against it."

Lucy swore. This was bad. Not only did he have a faint idea of where the base was, he also had some backup as they had learned.

"Why not?" Natsu exclaimed.

"I thought that Lucy might want to lead that once she completely heals."

Both had to admit that Grandeeney had a point. Lucy doubted they would be successful because in truth, Loke was trained for this kind of thing and out of all of them, she knew them best.

"And Mest?" Natsu asked.

"He's locked up downstairs. When you crashed, well… the rest got really angry and more or less stormed him."

Lucy cocked her head. "Did he say anything on why?"

Grandeeney nodded. "He claimed that he was blackmailed into it by Phantom Lord. Apparently, they had access to Cana and threatened her. Of course, Gildarts didn't take to that too kindly, but it's obviously not true. After we attacked them for hijacking our food supplies, they split up."

Lucy felt the nausea return. Did she say… Phantom Lord? She knew that they were fully capable, which she said.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked, confused. "It's literally impossible."

Lucy looked stricken as she let the next bomb explode.

"Well, they are the ones who started the whole zombie virus! Didn't you guys know?"

Hehehe. Halfway through the story, so I guess it's a milestone? Enjoy the cliffhanger!

Ushindeshi: Glad to know! I think I really surprised myself with that chapter and i don't know why, but it really jumpstarts the real plot of the story.