Lights flash repeatedly, painting the night in bursts of red and blue. The sound of people talking over one another fills the previously silent air while bodies search the perimeter with flashlights and walkie-talkies in their hands.

Groups of people have split off to search the nearby woods while a few search around to look for a way into the large mansion that stands ominously before them. Casting eerie shadows over the people while watching them intently with its large dirty windows that almost feel like eyes. Eyes that wrapped around the building leaving no blind spot.


Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

rEAd oN if YoU sO dArE!


"So tell me again what happened?" a police officer asks sounding tired and just a bit irritated.

"I already told you what happened," Juvia mutters while keeping her eyes glued to the mansion, just like she used to when she was little.

She remembers sneaking out of the orphanage at night to watch the house during nights she could not sleep. She liked watching the shadows move through the windows, shadows that tried coaxing her to get nearer, but she never did. She never went past the tree line and simply watched the house for hours, much like she was doing now.

"Can you tell us again?" the cop asks with exasperation.

"She already told you what happened! We all have," Gajeel growls angrily while wrapping an arm defensively around his sister who still would not tear her eyes away from the building, "Natsu was dared to step into the house and he hasn't come out since."

"And that's it?" the cop asks, still not convinced.

"We already told you, that's it," Gray chimes in while glowering at the officers, "He went in and never came out."

"How'd he get in if the door was sealed shut?" the other officer asks while looking at the mentioned door where a group of people were trying to force the door open.

No one says anything. The group remains quiet because they didn't know how to explain what had happened. Juvia had told them what to say when the officers began to ask questions. She told them to be vague because the adults would never believe them. There was no logical explanation as to what had happened.

When the teens refuse to say anything else, the officers leave the group sitting by a broken water fountain to group up with the search party. The teenagers, bathed under the red and blue blinking lights, watch the adults work while trying to make sense of everything they had seen.

"What have we done?" Gray asks while covering his face with his hands and gritting his teeth, "This is all my fault," he then growls, feeling himself burn with guilt for challenging Natsu the way he had.

"It is no one's fault," Juvia says while rubbing a hand on his back without tearing her eyes from the building, "We didn't know this was going to happen."

"But…"

"Juvia's right. We gain nothing from blaming ourselves," Gajeel grunts while squeezing both his sister and Levy close to gain strength from them.

"W… what was that?" Lisanna whispers, near hysterics while she shivers in her sister's arms. She'd been crying since the moment the door shut behind Natsu and hadn't been able to say a single word without stuttering or breaking down. "What was that?" she repeats.

Everyone looks at her, but no one knows what she was talking about. She had been the one closest to Natsu and had tried with all her might to pull him out of the house. This meant that she probably had seen what had grabbed Natsu, but until now she hadn't been able to explain what it was that she had seen.

"What did you see?" Cana asks from where she was standing a few feet away, pacing with a cigarette in her hand.

Cana was a drinker and only smoked when she was extremely stressed out like now. She was shaking and had a crazed look in her eye much like the others who huddled with one another save a few who joined in on her pacing.

Lisanna shakes her head, looking at the ground in confusion while the memory of Natsu being dragged into the manor repeated over and over in her head. She could still feel Natsu's hand in hers and hear Natsu telling her to run.

If only she had been stronger Natsu might still be here with them and smiling that goofy smile she loved.

"There was a hand," Juvia says in a somber voice, "There was a hand wrapped around his ankles… but it wasn't connected to a body." Everyone grows silent and the air gets even colder around them at this news. "There was also the sound of children's laughter…"

Lisanna breaks down and her sobs could be heard over the people talking and walking around them. Acting as if they weren't there. Like they were the broken statues that littered the garden and watched the commotion with little interest.

"What am I going to tell my mother?" Jellal asks from where he sits between Mirajane and Erza, "What are we going to tell Metallicana?" he then asks while looking up at his cousins who make uncomfortable faces.

"That's the least of our worries," Gajeel grunts, "What matters right now is what are we going to do about Natsu? What's going to happen to him?"

Everyone stays quiet while they exchange looks, questioning one another quietly. Wondering if any of them had a plan and what they were going to do to help their missing friend. They also collectively wondered how they'd bypass the search team that refused to let them help in their current hunt.

"We'll find him," Laxus says with determination while exhaling the smoke from his own cigarette, "We're not going to let the cops give up again," he then grumbles while taking another drag from his cigarette.

"What do you mean by that?" Erza asks while looking at the blond, but he doesn't say anything else as parent's begin to show up to pick up their kids.

No one answers any questions when their parents show up. They simply wait until the cops have spoken to the adults before all the teenagers were corralled away from the crime scene and down the twisting path that led them away from this nightmare. The only one's left were Laxus, Jellal, Gajeel, and Juvia who remained close to one another while they waited for Metallicana. Laxus remained for a few minutes before stomping out his cigarette and leaving his friends after patting Jellal's back and telling him he'd call tomorrow.

"We'll find him," Laxus repeats while giving Juvia a strange look before finally turning and disappearing down the driveway like the others.

"We'll find him," Juvia murmurs while turning to look back at the manor, searching the dirty windows that seem as if they were watching her back.

Gajeel wants to ask how she knows that but stops himself. He knew she wouldn't answer him. It's just something that she knew and would eventually reveal to him when she was ready. He trusted her and if she had a plan he'd wait to hear and help her with it. In the meantime, he waited while his father ran up the driveway with a worried look in his eye.

For a second Gajeel was worried Metallicana would start chewing him out, but instead was surprised to find his father pulling him, his sister and cousin all in for a hug. The surprise grows more when Metallicana finally let's go of the trio and clasps Gajeel's face into both his hands and searches the boy's face with an anxious look in his eye before turning to his sister and then to Jellal.

"You all are alright," Metallicana sighs in relief before looking around them, "Where's Natsu?"

Jellal and Gajeel look away in shame while Juvia looks towards the manor as Metallicana turns to look with her. This catches the attention of the police officers who had interviewed them and Metallicana meets them halfway already asking a million questions, reminding the cousins of Grandeen who was known to be the overexaggerated one.

No one is surprised to see Metallicana barrel through the officers once he hears that his nephew is missing, rushing towards the door that were finally pried open. He screamed out Natsu's name and all the cousins could do was watch in silence while praying that their idiot cousin was safe…

X

Natsu wakes up with a start and wonders for how long he had been sleeping while he keeps his eyes tightly shut to block out the glare of the morning light. It had been the deepest and calmest sleep he had ever had in his life, much calmer and relaxing than the one he had when sleeping at the hospital with Igneel. He still can't tell if he feels rested, but he assumes that the tired feeling that followed him everywhere would never go away. He'd be tired for the rest of his life just like his father always was.

He didn't really mind and enjoyed the fact that he hadn't had a single nightmare all night which was a bonus for him. He was happy that no nightmares plagued him and forced him to wake up at odd hours of the night or morning; however, he did feel this nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he was forgetting something… something important.

Something wrapped in Natsu's arms moves, alerting Natsu that he wasn't alone and holding onto something. He simply tightens his hold on the squirming object wanting nothing more than to stay in bed and hopefully fall asleep again. He liked not dreaming and he was rather comfortable.

"Happy~" Natsu whines when the bundle in his arms doesn't stop moving, "Stop movin so much and let me sleep," he grumbles while burying his face further into his scarf.

Happy finally stops moving, but it was too late. Natsu knew that sleep was no longer going to happen as his consciousness was starting to finally grow alert. It helped him realize that the bundle in his arms was too big to be Happy and his heightened sense of smell could tell it wasn't his cat. His cat didn't smell like strawberries.

"Who… who is Happy?" a tentative voice asks right under Natsu's chin, causing his eyes to fly open and look down.

Large brown eyes blink up at Natsu curiously and in an instant Natsu remembers everything that had happened the night before. He remembers his friends, the manor, the dare, and the incident. The chase and fear those demonic toys instilled before this girl saved his life and ended up in this compromising situation. A situation that filled the teen with embarrassment and lit his face up in flames.

The girl blinks up at him curiously and Natsu can't help but notice the light pink shading her cheeks or the fact that he was still holding onto her tightly. Natsu quickly releases his hold on the girl and sits up to make room between them while apologizing profusely.

"It's alright," the girl murmurs while she sits up and drapes her braid over her shoulder to fidget with it, "I… I didn't mind."

Natsu's face burns even hotter and his heart skips a beat. Their eyes meet for a second before they both look away with red faces. Natsu can hear his heart pounding in his ears while his eyes wander all around the room, wondering what he should say. He has never been so embarrassed in his life until now.

"How… how are you feeling?" the girl finally asks after what felt like a lifetime of silence and when Natsu turns to look at her he notices she's looking at his ankle.

Suddenly remembering he had hurt himself after being chased, Natsu shifts his ankle subconsciously and is surprised to feel no pain. When he removes the blanket he is surprised to find a light bruise around his ankle that only felt tender, but otherwise didn't really hurt. It wasn't as swollen as it had been yesterday, and it made the boy wonder how he could have healed so fast.

"It's… mostly healed," Natsu murmurs while continuing to stare at the injured foot.

Peering over the blanket, the girl doesn't look so surprised to see that his ankle has healed itself quite considerably. She only blinks at the injury before looking up and giving Natsu a soft smile that somewhat eases his nerves. Natsu also noticed that a lot of the injuries the girl had the night before seemed to have disappeared as well. She looked untouched other than her clothes which were still in a sorry state much worse than his.

"This isn't a dream?" Natsu asks while rolling his ankle around to test it out, but all he feels is sore from running as much as he had the night before.

"No, it isn't," the girl says gravely while watching Natsu intently, "Things also don't get any better from here," she then sighs as she stands from the bed to stretch out any kinks in her joints.

Natsu watches her then move around the room and add more logs to the dying fire when he realizes he doesn't know her name.

"What's your name?" he asks while standing up from the bed to stretch and realizes he isn't wearing a shirt and quickly grow subconscious at his state of dress.

Blinking curiously at him, the girl smiles and tilts her head to the side answering, "It's Lucy," while sitting down on the nearby settee. Natsu repeats her name in his head, thinking it suits her while she asks, "What's your name? I forgot to ask through all the chaos we went through."

"Natsu… Natsu Dragneel," Natsu answers sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

His large goofy smile warms Lucy and makes her feel secure. It's a different feeling than that of loneliness which seemed to consume and follow her since she was young. It was still a familiar feeling, but she couldn't remember where she had felt this feeling before.

"It's really nice to meet you Natsu," Lucy says happily, "It's a shame to meet in such circumstances," she murmurs solemnly.

"It's nice to finally meet you too," Natsu says while making the blonde give him a confused look, "Oh…" Natsu start while smacking his hand against his forehead, "I completely forgot. I've actually seen you before… in a few dreams actually," Natsu explains.

He recounts the dreams he's had of her and this manor, from when she had saved him to when she had been standing ominously in his living room with no eyes. Lucy listens intently and is disgusted with his recounting of his last dream of her.

"Wow," She gasps almost breathlessly, "That must have been a sight to see," she grimaces while prodding under her right eye while she imagined what she'd look like if her eyes were just bloody sockets.

She doesn't like the image her mind conjures up and shakes her head while trying to get rid of the image. Lucy then wondered how Natsu could stand seeing her after dreaming such a horrible nightmare of her.

The thought quickly leaves when she hears a loud groan that causes her to jump and look around the room for a monster. She's relieved to find Natsu chuckling in embarrassment and holding his stomach while apologizing.

"Sorry, that's just my stomach," he laughs, and Lucy can't help but chuckle.

"It's ok, I'm hungry too. I'm sorry I don't have any food to give you at the moment," she then apologizes. Her expression grows grim as she turns to look at the door they had ran in through the night before.

Natsu notices Lucy's wary look she gives the door. She doesn't want to go outside so soon after finding this room, especially after everything she went through in her last outing to find it. She almost hadn't made it out of the room she had been forced to enter before finding Natsu, and the last thing she wanted was to subject him to go through what she went through; however, Lucy knew that they needed to find food. They wouldn't survive long otherwise.

"We don't have to go back out there," Natsu says while picking up his backpack and opening it, "I've got candy, some granola bars, and a few bottles of water we can make do with."

Lucy watches Natsu dump his meager treasure onto the bed and accepts a granola bar he offers her before tearing into his own. She inspects the snack and looks back at the bed to see there were only two left along with a few fistfuls of candy and three water bottles. The meager spoils wouldn't even last them three days. This meant that they would need to go out and scavenge for food even when she didn't want to leave.

"It's not enough to keep us by," Lucy says grimly, "I would know." Lucy finally opens her granola bar and begins to munch on it slowly while trying to come up with a plan, "We need to leave soon so we can find the kitchen before nighttime falls again. The monsters only come out at night which gives us a few hours to search for the kitchen and then another safe room to hunker down in. I know it's not an ideal plan, but we don't have another choice."

Natsu nods in understanding while turning to look at the door they had come in through the night before and grimaces at the thought of needing to go back out there.

Staring at the door, he suddenly wonders how it is that they were safe and how no monster had come crashing into the room during their sleep. Was there some kind of magic placed on the doors that kept them safe and why was room the only one that Lucy had allowed them to go into when there were so many other doors within the building.

"Hey Luce?" Natsu asks, not realizing he had called the girl by a nickname that sounded very familiar to her, "How is it that the monsters haven't entered this room?"

Lucy mulls the question over, wondering how to explain what she had learned in the short time she's been stuck in this hell.

"I'm sure you've noticed that there are a lot of doors around the manor that line the hallways," Lucy asks and Natsu nods eagerly, "Every one of those doors have bronze doorknobs. Whatever you do, don't go into those room unless it's necessary," Lucy warns earnestly which makes Natsu gulp from the dark look that overtakes her eyes.

"How... how come?" he can't help but ask.

"Those rooms hold nightmares worse than any nightmare you've ever had before," Lucy continues with that dark look in her eye telling Natsu that he really didn't want to go into any of those rooms, "They're still safer than facing the dolls, but if you can help it, stay out of those rooms and only go into the rooms that have golden doorknobs like this one."

After taking a moment to let Lucy's words sink in, Natsu finally gets to work in putting away all his snacks back into his backpack. He then slips his vest and cloak back on at Lucy's insistence. After she puts out the fire, Lucy meets Natsu at the doorway which they stare at for a long minute dreading the need to go out and scavenge for food.

"Whatever you do, don't get too far away from me," Lucy tells the boy while reaching out and grabbing his hand to which he accepts without complaint, "This place is like a maze and one wrong move could get us separated in a heartbeat."

"Don't let go. Got it."

Tightening their hold on one another, they both look into each other's eyes before nodding in mutual understanding. Without another word, Lucy opens the door and leads them out into the silent hallway.


So It's been a hot minute since I've posted and all I can say is that I was unmotivated and felt a bit displaced. I had so many ideas I was ready to use for my chapters, but I got into a bit of a runt that kept me from doing much. I've spent my time watching anime and catching up with my reading collection and after re-watching an anime that helped inspire this story all those years ago I have finally gotten the will to get back to work. Also, I've gotten a sense of a routine now that I'm back at work and school so I feel 100 times more motivated to write!

I might go a little MIA this month, but only because I'll be writing chapters for October, but I'll try my best to get some chapters out this month. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to hear from you all.

Also, I hope everyone has been doing well! I've missed you all so much!

Shout outs

Thank you to all my wonderful Favorites, Followers, and Reviewers! I wouldn't be able to continue writing without your love and support.

Well that's all 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!