Natsu's head swims as he tries to keep up with the girl tugging him down the long hallway doing everything in his power to keep his feet moving. He knows they're moving slow and if they didn't hurry up to find somewhere to hide soon they were both doomed. Natsu had half a mind to tell the girl to just leave him and save herself, but she never gives him the chance to say anything. She just continues to murmur orders and tug him along and clutching his hand.

Behind them, Natsu can hear the screeching dolls and attempts to turn back to see how far away they are, but the hand holding his tugs him harder preventing him from looking back. Instead, Natsu looks ahead of him where he's greeted with a blurry image of long braided blonde hair. He doesn't get a lot of time to focus on the person in front of him before he's dragged around another corner, but the surprise turn doesn't stop him from feeling a sense of familiarity from the girl.

It isn't long before a dream he had not too long ago pops up in his head. One that had happened exactly like how his recent events transpired with him being chased down a long hallway and then tripping over a fallen object only to be rescued by a blonde girl. He's more than sure that this is somewhat what had happened in his dream and it only makes him wonder why this girl had been in his dreams at all and if she knew who he was.

Did she also dream of him? Did she know he was going to come and was at the ready to rescue him?

Was she his way out of this mess?


Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

rEAd oN if YoU sO dArE!


~gEt bACk hErE!~

Jumping at how close the distorted voice sounded, Natsu turns his head to look back only to have his view blocked when the girl takes another random turn. She then stops in the middle of the hallway making Natsu panic while she seems to search for something in the darkness. It is only at that moment that Natsu realizes the girl has his flashlight tightly clutched in her free hand.

About to ask why she's stopped, Natsu is immediately silenced when the girl squeals in triumph and drags Natsu further down the hall towards a dark wooden door. He's confused because this door doesn't look all that special, but the girl's excitement must mean something he doesn't understand. Yet again he doesn't get a chance to ask any questions when the girl wrenches the door open and shoves Natsu through the doorway.

Without missing a beat, she jumps into the room after him and quickly slams the door shut behind her just as the large mass of disfigured dolls turns the corner to chase them down. Their screeching is silenced once the door is completely closed and locked leaving both teenagers heaving for breath, both waiting in silence. Listening to see if anything can be heard from the other side of the door, for the inevitable pounding that should mean the dolls have caught up, but there's nothing except silence and their collective heavy breathing.

Groaning in pain from where Natsu lies on the ground, he then sits up to check his ankle that was sprained when he fell earlier. He had run through the hallways with the girl fighting through the pain that shot up his leg with every step he took. He also noticed the rug burn on his hands from the fall he took earlier as well as this one after being shoved into this strange room. He couldn't see quite well in the darkness, but he felt the sting on the palms of his hands and just hoped he wasn't bleeding or that the injury wasn't as bad as his sprained ankle.

"That was close," he hears the girl sigh before she turns to press her back on the door and slinks down to the ground.

Natsu watches the fluorescent light from his flashlight illuminate her face as she hugs the light source close to her like a lifeline. The shadows cast on her closed eyes remind Natsu of the nightmare he had of the eyeless girl that stood in his living room what felt like years ago. He can still see the bloody dark pits crying crimson rivers down pale cheeks.

For a second Natsu is scared that when she opens her eyes she'll have nothing, but bloody black pits like in his nightmare, but then remembers seeing dark irises glaring at him earlier. She was not another glass-eyed monster like the ones hunting them down nor the eyeless being from his dreams. She was human and she had saved his life.

After recovering a bit of his breath, Natsu breathes out a wavered, "Thanks," that sounds pained and out of breath.

Natsu jumps when the girl gives a shriek and points his flashlight directly at his face. He cries in pain from the bright light suddenly shined in his eyes and covers his face with his hand to try and block out some of the light. It isn't long before he hears shuffling in front of him and a bright yellow light illuminates the room, chasing away the darkness.

"You… You… You're human," he hears the girl stutter while he tries to get his eyes to focus in the bright room.

It takes a second for her words to register and wonders why she would question whether he was a human or not. Hadn't she just saved his life on the basis that he was human and not one of those creepy dolls out in the hallway? Had she thought he was a figment of her imagination just like he thought she had been for a moment?

When Natsu's eyes finally adjust, he finds the girl standing by the doorway with his flashlight still clutched in her left hand and pointed at him while her right hand remained on a light switch by the doorway. She's dressed exactly like the girl from his dream with a green bra-like top and matching long skirt that was worn and a bit dirty. She had sandals on with gold cuffs hugging her biceps with bangles hanging from her wrists. He was surprised he hadn't heard their clinking while they were running, but realized it must have been because of all of the yelling the dolls were doing.

Taking in all of the girl's appearance from her attire to her long braided golden hair and large doe brown eyes, Natsu could feel his brain fry at the sight of the girl. He can feel his face and ears heat up while a tingling in his chest begins to bloom in a curious manner.

"You," he whispers, causing the girl to jump and clutch the still lit flashlight in both hands to use as a weapon if need be, "I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

"Me?!" She asks, clearly surprised while pointing at herself, "You… you know me?" she then asks clearly surprised that this strange boy whom she'd never met in her life could know who she was.

She doesn't remember seeing him around school, but perhaps he had spotted her around Magnolia? The town was big and there were at least three high schools around the town, so maybe he knew her because of the latter. Or maybe her dad had once done business with her family, or… or…

"Maybe not," Natsu then mumbles to himself while scratching his head and making a face of deep concentration, "I doubt I'd ever forget someone as beautiful as you…"

Natsu instantly slams his hand over his mouth after the last sentence spills out without him realizing it. The girl instantly feels her cheeks burn at the boy's comment while his own face burned a deep scarlet as embarrassment took him over. She swore she could almost see steam coming out of his ears from how red he'd become at the innocent words he let slip out.

Other than Macbeth, no one had ever said that she was beautiful with the innocent sincerity the boy before her had. Usually she was cat-called and told inappropriate things because of her curvy body with men thinking that they could get her attention that way and then got mad when she tried to ignore them. The way that the boy seemed to be internally fighting with himself allowed her to calm down and lower her guard just a bit.

"Th-thank you," she murmurs while lowering the flashlight and giving Natsu a timid smile. It was a complete contrast to the girl who had taken command outside and saved his life, but still a welcoming sight.

"No please, thank you for saving my li…" Natsu winces when he tries to stand up and put weight on his injured ankle. He immediately crumples to the floor with a cry of pain and in seconds the girl is by his side with a panicked worry covering her beautiful face.

There was that word again… a word he hardly ever used for a girl. He doesn't even remember calling any of his friends back home beautiful, and most of them were females he's known all his life.

"What's wrong?" the girl asks with worry as she searches his body and immediately zeroes in on his ankle when Natsu tries to reach for it, "You must have sprained your ankle when you tripped," she says more to herself while removing Natsu's sandal to assess his injury better, wincing at the swelling and bruising around the boy's ankle.

She prods the injury with delicate fingers and Natsu shivers when he realizes how cold her hands feel against his skin. It actually feels quite nice and her delicate probing don't hurt him all that much.

"Can you stand?" she asks after turning back to look at Natsu who watches her silent assessment and nods when his brain registers her question, "Here, I'll help you."

Together they work to help get Natsu onto a nearby bed Natsu hadn't noticed up until now. In fact, once he's seated on the edge of the bed he takes the time to look around the room to find another four-poster bed like his own beside his with a nightstand dividing the two beds. At the foot of the beds were two trunks and a few feet away from the beds there was a settee situated in front of an unlit fireplace.

Around him the room looked expensive with everything colored in shades of brown, gold, mahogany, and hints of green on every piece of furniture. Dust and cobwebs still decorated the room, showing that it was unused, but the grandeur of the room still shined through all the grime and dirt. The walls were also covered with elaborately designed wallpaper that was bare of any decorative item like mirrors or picture frames. The only decorative piece aside from the settee, a wardrobe, and a few lamps was a large crystal chandelier hanging over the settee.

"It's quite a sight isn't it?" the girl asks Natsu when she returns from a door off to the side Natsu hadn't seen her disappear into and return from.

"Yeah," he murmurs, watching her pour some water from a pitcher into a golden basin and then soak a towel she must have found in what must be the bathroom.

She works quietly, straining the towel and then proceeding to place the cold towel around Natsu's ankle making him hiss at the sudden temperature change and pain that shoots up from his injury.

"Sorry," the girl apologizes while helping Natsu settle his foot on the bed here he sat with pillows propped behind him.

After wrapping up his foot, the girl then proceeds to go towards the fireplace where she throws in a few logs that were stacked off to the side and lights a match to let the fire burn and quickly chase the cold away. While she works, Natsu watches her move around the room looking as if she didn't know what to do with herself and he doesn't blame her.

He doesn't know what to say or do other than to let his ankle continue to rest on the bed and watch the girl continue her work. She checks on his ankle again after what feels like a few minutes pass and while she assesses his injury he looks back up at the door they came in through, curious as to why they could no longer hear the dolls crying out for them. It's as if they were in a sound-proof room and could hear nothing that happened outside which only made him worry.

If they couldn't hear the creatures how would they know when to stay on guard if they ever broke through the door? Were they safe here? And if so, for how long would they be safe before they were found?

"You don't have to worry," the girl assures Natsu as if reading his mind while she wraps another cool towel around his ankle, her fingers now warm where they touch his skin, "They won't break in and hurt us so long as we're in here."

Natsu gives her a funny look and asks, "How does that work?"

The girl thinks for a moment, looking at a loss for words, before she's overcome with a giant yawn she tries to cover with the back of her hand. Her yawn seems to last forever and eventually gets Natsu to release his own yawn reminding him how exhausted he was. They both blink away tears when their yawns finally break and Natsu notices the bruise-like bags underneath the girl's eyes that looked similar to his own.

Did she also not get enough sleep?

That's a dumb question Natsu. Being trapped here how could anyone get a decent amount of sleep? Natsu berates himself while the girl recovers from a second yawn.

"I'll explain everything tomorrow," she promises instead while shaking her head and blinking sleepily at him, "For now I think we should get some rest. We're going to need it after everything that just happened," she sniffs absentmindedly while standing up and wiping her hands on her long skirt.

"Yeah… ok," Natsu agrees before he's attacked by another yawn that makes his eyes begin to feel heavy.

Removing his cloak, Natsu hangs it over the headboard behind him while making sure to keep from moving around too much so as not to disturb his ankle. He then removes his backpack and places it on the floor beside his bed before then removing his vest and hanging it with his cloak so it wouldn't bother him in his sleep but still leaves his scarf wrapped around his neck.

All while he does this, Natsu can't help but feel a bit unnerved at how casual he was now treating the situation. As if this were another sleepover he was having at a friend's house and not trapped in a room, hurt, and with a girl he barely met. He doesn't realize how numb he feels until he notices how calm he's acting instead of freaking out over being stuck in this situation. Not to mention that he was stuck with a beautiful girl who has been popping out in his dreams recently and that she was acting as calm as him.

Natsu wants nothing more than for this to be a bad dream, to go to fall asleep and wake up back in his bed with Happy curled up beside his head. To have his friends burst in through his door to drag him on another crazy adventure that didn't involve haunted houses or ghosts. He wanted to tell Lisanna that he was sorry for being an ass and that he'd never ignore her warnings or advice ever again or take Gray's annoying presence for granted. He wanted his dad to finally wake up from his coma so he could apologize for being such a shit of a son.

He wanted life to be normal again

But none of that was going to happen because Happy was home alone wondering where his owners had gone. His friends were probably talking to the police right now about what had happened to him, and Metallicana would probably be alerted along with his aunt Grandeen who lived too far to ever get here on time, not that there was anything either of them could do. Worst of all, Igneel was still in a coma blissfully unaware of his only son's disappearance. These thoughts only made him feel even worse than he already felt as he slowly crawled into bed only to stare up at the canopy and watch the nearby fire cast shadows around the room when the girl finally turned off the lights which left a sinking feeling settle in Natsu's stomach.

"Hey!" both teenagers say at the same time and blink at one another when they realize that they've spoken up to one another. "Sorry," they then apologize as Natsu scratches the back of his head in embarrassment from where he's sitting up and staring down at the musty blankets that cover him.

He looks back up at the girl whose entire face is a bright red, nearly the same color as Erza's hair, and he wonders what it is that has her feeling so embarrassed. Was she nervous to sleep in the same room as a guy? He didn't have a problem sleeping in the same room as a girl. He spent most of his life being dragged to Erza's, Mirajane's, and Cana's sleepovers when he was younger where he and the others almost always shared the same room and/or bed. The women in his life knew nothing of boundaries thus making him, as well as the other guys, desensitized to a lot of awkward situations.

"You can go first," Natsu offers after a long pause of silence passes between them.

"Um…" the girl starts while twiddling her fingers in front of her and looking at the ground in embarrassment, "I… I wanted," she huffs in frustration when she stammers and Natsu can only wonder what it was that the girl was thinking.

In truth, he thought she looked rather adorable while she struggled to say what was on her mind, not that he'd ever say that out loud. Especially when he's learned not to make fun of women when they were embarrassed or struggling to say something. One could say he was even a bit traumatized because of the women in his life.

"I hate sleeping alone," the girl is finally able to murmur, and if it weren't for Natsu's great hearing he might not have heard her.

Natsu doesn't know why he sighs in relief. Maybe it was because of the scared little boy deep inside of him that was afraid of sleeping alone, especially in a situation like this. He was also afraid that the girl would be gone when he woke up. Whatever the reason, he didn't think twice before pulling back the blanket to allow her to climb into the bed just like he used to let his little cousin Wendy jump into his bed with him and Jellal when they were younger, and his cousins were down visiting for the holidays.

Erza always did tell Natsu to think about his actions before doing anything, and Natsu doesn't realize his mistake until both he and the girl are lying face to face in the same bed. He realizes this isn't Erza or Lisanna, Cana, or even Levy who were all basically his sisters. This was a girl he had just met, and thought was even more beautiful up close with the dim light of the fire making her almost glow in the darkness.

His heart ached, though Natsu didn't understand why, as he watched her eyes droop shut while her timid hand clutched the tail of his scarf. The gesture reminds Natsu of Wendy who used to do the same thing when she was little. It made Natsu wonder just how long this girl has been stuck here for, but the thought gets lost when Natsu finally eases up his tense muscles and falls asleep almost immediately.


Lucy opens her eyes again as soon as she hears the boy's soft snoring and finds the boy laying on his back with his right hand just barely brushing her hands that were still clutching his scarf. She watches him with curious eyes from where she's lying beside him on the lumpy bed and listens intently to his soft breathing and gentle snores, not at all bothered by the sound. Instead, she welcomes the soft snoring and keeps her eyes glued to the face of the boy she's only just met and wonders how it was that he got here.

She makes a mental note to ask him when they wake up, but for now she would just wonder if it was the same way she got trapped here. She also begins to worry that he might be a figment of her imagination that is signifying she has finally lost her mind in this hell-hole; however, everything about him felt real and that was enough to help her feel reassured that he wasn't a hallucination.

Groaning, Lucy turns to lie on her back and stare at the canopied roof of the fourposter bed she was sharing with the stranger, mentally hitting herself for even suggesting that they share a bed. She's even more embarrassed of the fact that he agreed without question in letting her into his bed, but she was thankful that he didn't think lowly of her. She just couldn't pass up the opportunity after spending who knows how many nights alone in this place with no one else to find comfort in. There was also the fact that she felt slightly drawn to the boy, though she couldn't explain how.

Either way, she was somewhat glad that she wasn't alone here anymore, but her joy makes her feel sick to her stomach. Simply because this boy now had to suffer everything she was suffering.

Well, at least they didn't have to suffer alone, not that either of them deserved this suffering.

Rolling back to look at the boy, Lucy can only stare at him, too afraid to close her eyes. She fears that if she falls asleep, when she wakes up he'll be gone, and she'll be all alone again. Lucy doesn't think that she'll survive that type of trickery. It might just be the thing that drives her over the edge.

Making a weird face and letting out a soft whine, the boy kicks off his blanket with his uninjured foot and stretches and turns towards her, unknowingly caging her under his arm that he drapes over her and proceeds to pull her towards him. Lucy squeaks at the sudden action as her nose hits his collarbone while he settles himself around her with a sigh. He then resumes his soft breathing with his breath lightly fanning over her forehead while she remains frozen in place. It takes a few minutes before Lucy braves to look up at the boy's sleeping face to realize that he looked about the same age as her.

Lucy hadn't taken much time to take in the boy's appearance earlier when they had entered the room and turned on the lights that were still on around them. She had been preoccupied with helping to soothe his swollen ankle, but now she had the time to take in every detail she could see before her.

The boy's face looked young, about her age, with boyish features that made him look younger while he slept. He had a head full of spiky PINK hair that made her wonder if it was natural or dyed. Sure, she had met her fair share of people who had the natural pink color like the boy's, but all those people had been women. She had never seen a male sporting the feminine color, but Lucy came to realize that the cotton-candy color suited the boy. Still, Lucy couldn't help like she's seen this particular hair before, the thought itched at the back of her mind but she just couldn't remember from where.

Without thinking, Lucy carefully reaches up and gently runs her fingers through the boy's spiky hair, completely amazed to find it soft and smelling like cinnamon. Lucy had thought it to be rough and maybe a bit course due to gel keeping the spikes up but is surprised with how easily her fingers glide through the rosy strands. Lucy is even amused that when she retracts her hand the boy makes a face and mutters a half-hearted "Fight me" before his expression slackens once again from its short-lived scowl.

Smiling, Lucy brings back her hand to clutch his scarf and focuses on the soft tingle on her palm and fingers from running them through his hair. It's the first human contact she's had in a really long time and doesn't realize how touch starved she was until she realizes that she's sharing a bed with a stranger and allowing him to hug her in his sleep. A feat she would have never in her life done before.

Brushing away those thoughts, Lucy allows herself to finally close her eyes and fall into the deepest sleep she's had in a good while.


So this chapter was supposed to be up yesterday but I completely forgot to upload it because I got distracted learning how to make pizza from scratch. It didn't come out the way I wanted but it was still delicious and I now know what to do to make it even better for next time. What kind of hobbies have you all picked up during this quarantine? I'm thinking of getting back into personal reading and even ordered a few new books to start. Let's see if I can fall back in love with reading.

Anywho, this chapter had originally been very serious and I decided to rewrite it to appear more laid back and a bit fluffy so I hope you all liked it. The bed scene was inspired by a similar occurrence I had a few nights ago where my little cousin asked if she could sleep with me after watching a scary movie with me. It made me wonder what Lucy's interaction would be if one of them suggested for them to share a bed for comfort and then this came up and I really like how it turned out.

Shout Outs

Great amazing thanks to my Fantabulous Reviewers...

- stranger1999 = I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! I had a lot of girls growing up as well but never any porcelain dolls because they terrified me. I absolutely LOVE Noragami. I had been reading the manga for a while but had to stop because they had gone on hiatus and then school took all of my time away. I hope there will be a season three in the near future. And oooh what an interesting theory, though their interaction in this chapter really does back up that claim.

- Amanny = Dolls in and of themselves are scary and I'm happy you liked the chapter!

- shootingstarssel = I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter and I will start working on the integration of the others into the story because you are right, Juvia and Laxus know more than they let on.

Well that's all the shout outs for today!

If you're enjoying my spine-chilling story give me the honor by Following, Favoriting, and Reviewing - remember, reviews are the reminders I need in order to update faster - and if you have any questions or haunting ideas you can also PM me and I'll gladly add it into the story.

Until next time my ghoulies!