Nothing seemed to have changed out in the hallway since the night before. The long corridor was still dark and slightly hard to see, but thanks to Natsu's flashlight the pair of teens were able to light their way through the darkness. One thing that was different about the hallway was the lack of terrifying dolls as well as the overwhelming bloodlust in the air. Now the air felt clear and chilly making it far easier to breathe.
Stepping out of the room completely and letting the door close behind them, Natsu and Lucy stand in the middle of the hallway in silence. The blonde looks from side to side, calculating which direction they should head in order to find the kitchen. Natsu let's her make the decision for them seeming as she had more experience in this place than he had. He didn't know why, but he trusted this girl to make the right decision.
Finally deciding on a route, Lucy begins to head right while tugging on Natsu's hand so that he follows her. They walk in silence through the hallway, but the silence is a comfortable one, unlike the unbearable silence of the night before. The silence that came before the attack.
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
rEAd oN if YoU sO dArE!
As they continue to walk around corners and downstairs, Natsu begins to grow curious about his companion.
"Hey Luce, can I ask you a question?" Natsu asks. Looking up at him, Lucy nods wondering what it was the boy wanted to ask, "How… how long have you been here?"
Thinking the question over, Lucy tries to do the math of how many nights she's spent in this hellhole. The only way she could calculate how long she's been stuck here was from how many encounters she's had with the monsters who only came out at night.
"I'm not too sure, but I'm guessing a year," she muses while still trying to do the math in her head, "It hasn't been too long, but I'm certain it's been a year from the way you're dressed."
Natsu can't help but notice the sad tone her voice takes on when she realizes how long it's been since she's been stuck in here; however, there was hope now that Natsu was here. Together they would probably be able to find a way out, not to mention that Natsu was more than certain his friends would also help from the outside.
They were going to get out of this place. He was sure of it.
"What high school do you go to?" Natsu then asks while trying to get the topic away from how Lucy's been stuck here, "I don't think I've ever seen you around Fairy Tail."
"Oh, that's because I go to Magnolia tech!" Lucy says while perking up, "But I'd rather much go to Fairy Tail if I'm completely honest."
"How come?" Natsu asks and Lucy can't help but think of Sorano who had gotten her into this mess.
No… it was her own fault for allowing herself to get peer-pressured into doing such a stupid dare.
"Just… reasons," Lucy smiles, but it is a tight one with no real emotion behind it, "I'm new in town and don't really have many friends there. Plus, the group that I hang out with… let's just say that there's only one person who I really consider my friend."
Natsu tries to wonder what it would be like to be in a completely different town with no friends. He can't imagine it. Ever since he was little, he always saw himself residing in Magnolia surrounded by the friends he has had since he was a kid. He couldn't imagine the type of loneliness that Lucy felt without any close friends to talk to.
"Make it two people you can consider your friend," Natsu then says while interlocking their fingers causing them both to blush. "When we get out of here, I'll introduce you to my friends. They're an odd bunch, but you'll love them, and I know they'll love you," Natsu then says while earning an earnest smile from the girl.
"I'd like that very much," Lucy says while feeling even more excited about getting out of this place.
Maybe when she got to meet Natsu's friends she could take Macbeth along if he'd be willing to go with her. Even after everything that had happened, she still considered him as a friend and worried about him when she wasn't worrying about herself.
"Hey Natsu, do you think your parents will be worried that you've disappeared and gotten stuck here?" Lucy then asks after turning left at a corner down a hallway that looked slightly familiar to her.
Shaking his head, Natsu gives her a toothy smile that confuses her, "Nah, dad probably won't notice for a while that I'm gone," he says, not revealing that the reason was that his dad was in a coma.
Just like me, Lucy thinks, letting her mind stray to her estranged father who had undoubtedly spent the first few days of her disappearance working until one of the servants informed him of her disappearance. She wondered if he was even still looking for her now.
"What about your mom?" Lucy then asks, "I bet she'd be worried."
"It's just me and the old man," Natsu answers, still with that upbeat attitude, "My mom passed away when I was really little. How about you?"
"It's also just me and my dad," Lucy says poignantly, "He spends all of his time working and ignoring me that I really just consider myself an orphan. I hardly ever seen him and when I do, he tends to act as if I'm not there."
Natsu is appalled by the news but remembers there was a time that Igneel had ignored him as well, just after his mother's passing. He remembered how distant the older Dragneel male had been and how he had to spend a lot of his time at his grandparent's house or even at Metallicana's house. It wasn't until Igneel had snapped out of it that he had taken Natsu back home and never left his side since then until recently.
"He'll come around," Natsu murmurs while smiling at Lucy who returns a weak smile, "Give him a little more time. You'll see he'll come around."
"Do you know this from experience?" Lucy asks with a light tone of jest in her voice.
"I do," Natsu admits somberly, "Igneel kind of flaked out on me after my mom died. It took a while for him to get off his ass, but he did. You just need to give your old man a little push and you'll see he'll get his stick out of his ass too."
"Eww," Lucy exclaims, but still laughs making Natsu smile at the bright sound. Natsu realized he rather liked Lucy's laugh.
After a few more minutes of walking, Natsu suddenly smells something in the air. He freezes, causing Lucy to stop with him, while he sniffs the air like a dog much to Lucy's confusion. Natsu then looks right and without another word starts walking while pulling Lucy behind him without a word.
He knew this was the right way to go, but he didn't know how to explain it to Lucy; however, she didn't complain and seemed to be fine with letting him lead even though she was the one with the experience in this place. Something in Lucy's gut told her to trust in Natsu's instinct and that's exactly what she was doing.
Much to her delight, following the young male turned out to be fruitful as they found the kitchen without too much of the usual hassle Lucy went through when hunting down the room.
"How'd you know it was this way?" Lucy asks while the two teens walked into the kitchen and immediately hitting the pantry that was surprisingly well stocked.
"My dad says I have the nose of a blood hound," Natsu says sheepishly while scratching the back of his head with embarrassment.
This news made Lucy feel suddenly self-conscious as she wondered if she smelled bad since she hadn't showered in a while. Natsu didn't make any mention of it, but that didn't make Lucy feel any better.
Finally letting go of one another's hands, the teenager then rummaged through the kitchen to find any interesting food that they could take with them. Lucy was over the moon when she realized how much food they could stuff inside Natsu's backpack when before she used to have to use a stolen blanket to carry her spoils in.
Lucy began to wonder if there was a coincidence that Natsu was here. She wondered if some innate force caused them both to get trapped in this place together. It left her feeling hope that they would someday get out of this place, and Lucy's gut told her that it would probably be soon.
The thought thrilled Lucy. She couldn't wait to see the sky again. To see trees, birds, houses, cars, her own home, and even her dad. Lucy thought over of what Natsu had said about giving Jude a push to get him to acknowledge her, and where before she would have never dared to dream of doing such a thing she now had the conviction to take the first step.
She had waited less than a decade for Jude to finally acknowledge her presence, and she would wait no more.
"Are you ready to go?" Lucy asks once they had raided the entire kitchen and stuffed as much food as they could into Natsu's backpack.
"Yup," Natsu says while stuffing a slice of bread into his mouth and chewing loudly while zipping up his backpack.
He shrugs on the backpack and follows Lucy out into the hallway that was completely different from the one they had used to enter the kitchen. This hallway also had different colored walls that were a light grey instead of the dark mahogany. These walls were also lined with various sized picture frames instead of the strange portraits that lined the other hallways.
"Who is that?" Natsu points to a portrait of a group of children and two adults standing on either side of the group.
"That is Jose Porla," Juvia says while pointing at her laptop monitor to the black and white image of a creepy looking man standing beside a group of kids, "He was the last owner of the Phantom Lord estate who donated a lot of his money to charity as well as building an orphanage close to his home," Juvia explains while scrolling down the website that she had gotten this information from.
"That's interesting and all, but what does this have anything to do with finding Natsu?" Gray asks while passing out drinks to his friends who were all huddled in his basement.
"This all seems like a waste of time to me," Lyon, Gray's older brother, sighs while snatching up a soda from Gray's hand and jumping out of the way before Gray could land a hit on him.
"Shut up Lyon," is Gray's only answer before he goes back to attending his guests, "How's Metallicana doing by the way?" he then asks Gajeel whose scowl was deeper than ever.
"He hasn't slept all night. Even closed the shop and bar until further notice," Gajeel grunts, "He's currently out with the police searching the place."
"My dad is also out there searching," Cana says while taking a swig of her soda, forgoing alcohol for the day.
"My mom and dad are out there also," Gray says while putting down the remaining drinks on a nearby coffee table, "So how is old Porla relevant again?" he then asks while directing his attention back to Juvia who was typing furiously away at her laptop.
"Because in order to find a way to get Natsu back, we need to find out as much as possible on the house, starting with the owner," Laxus says from his seat on the couch behind Juvia where he was watching her search intently, "We need to learn its secrets to get Natsu out, or else he'll be lost in there forever."
Everyone turns to look at Laxus curiously while he ignored them and read an article over Juvia's shoulder that she had opened up.
"How do you know this?" Gajeel then asks him, but Laxus doesn't answer. He simply takes a sip of his drink and continuing to look at Juvia's computer.
No one presses for him to explain why he believed they needed to learn so much information about the manor. They all knew Laxus, and if he set his mind to not say anything to them he would not budge. Mirajane assured everyone that Laxus would eventually tell them all what he knew when he was ready to tell them. In the meantime they would all have to wait even when this annoyed everyone who wanted to help get Natsu back as soon as possible.
Laxus had always been a rather quiet person and was friends with Gray's older sister Ultear. He only started hanging out with them shortly after he and Mirajane started dating, not that Laxus ever complained.
He would never admit it, but he rather enjoyed the company of his girlfriend's crazy friends, which was why he was going to do everything to help them find Natsu. He didn't want history to repeat itself.
"So why is this information important again?" Cana asks while lying on the floor and munching on Doritos she had stolen from the pantry.
"Because of the stories," Juvia says without tearing her eyes away from her laptop's screen, still typing away furiously at her keyboard.
Juvia's entire screen was filled with opened links to searches that all related to the Phantom Lord manor. Many were news reports that dated back to when the manor was first erected all the way to the myths and legends surrounding the old place.
No one understood what it was that Juvia was looking for, only that it had to be whatever connected the manor with their friend's disappearance; however, when Juvia mentioned "stories" everyone's collective thought went over to Gray's story that he had told them only a few days ago. They all began to wonder if his story was real rather than a tall tale
"You're going to use ghost stories to find our cousin?" Jellal then asks with slight disbelief, "No offence Juv, but I don't think this is the way to go. What are fictional stories going to do to help us find Natsu?"
""There is always some truth to the stories that are told and passed around, no matter how bizarre they might seem,"" Juvia mutters, quoting her uncle Igneel who adored to tell the kids all sorts of crazy stories.
He was the reason all of them had a deep fascination with ghost stories, mythology, and lore. Igneel had said Christabel had been the one to introduce him to story-telling and so he had made it a point to share his love for the occult to his nieces and nephews along with their friends.
"So you mean that the story about the missing girl is true?" Gray asks incredulously and causing everyone in the room to jump, "The one I told you all only a few days ago?"
Everyone sits up straight in their seats and look at one another with worry in their eyes. They all wonder what Juvia's answer is going to be while she finally looks away from her computer to stare at everyone around her. Her eyes then lock with Laxus' whose jaw clenches at the mention of the story and everyone notices the reaction to be a strange one since Laxus hadn't been there when Gray told the story.
"Are you guys telling ghost stories in here?" someone asks at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the first floor and everyone turns to find Ultear standing at the doorway looking amused at all the teenagers congregated in her parent's basement, "Seriously guys, Halloween already passed. We should be getting into the holiday cheer!" she chuckles while leaning her shoulder on the doorframe.
"Now's really not the time for your sarcastic jibing," Lyon says while giving his older sister an unamused look.
"Come now Lyon, don't be so glum," Ultear giggles while looking over at her youngest brother who was also giving her an unamused look that matched Lyon's, "And what story were you talking about?"
"It was that dumb ghost story I heard a few upperclassmen talking about in the hallways the other day. It was just a story about a girl who disappeared in the Phantom Lord manor, but that's all it was, a story," Gray says while crossing his arms.
Ultear gives him a confused look and turns to look at the others who are confused at her reaction. She then locks eyes with Laxus and Jellal who stare back at her passively while Ultear continues to look confused.
"Wait... are... are you telling me you guys don't remember?" Ultear asks, and when no one gives her an answer and only stare dumbly at her she turns and rushes up the stairs without another word.
So September has felt like the longest month of my life lol. I'm so happy it's October now! Spooky season is my favorite season and it's also my birthday month!
Anywho, how have you been my lovelies? I myself have been rather busy with school, work, and life. For the past month I've been working on a project that I can finally announce today! I've opened up an Etsy store along with a friend of mine! I'll be selling handmade jewelry if any of you are interested in supporting me. My store is called Geek It Charms in case you want to check us out. We're currently selling a few things I made for Soul Eater and Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun. You can follow our social media on Facebook and Instagram for updates and promotions. If we do good this month, we'll hopefully be doing a giveaway in November, but more info on the way.
Other than that, I'll hopefully be updating regularly and if things don't get out of hand we'll be finishing up Paranormal before the year ends.
Shout outs
Great amazing thanks to my Fantabulous Reviewers...
- Amanny = *evil giggle* Oh yes.
- stranger1999 = I'm happy to hear you were thinking about my story! I'm hoping you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for being so patient with me T^T
- shootingstarssel = More people apparently know things O.o I'm also happy you enjoyed my little Nalu moment. Nalu moments are my favorite to write, but angst is my mistress who doesn't like to be ignored lol.
- Meow Orbit = I'm sorry I took too long again to update, but I had reasons and I'm back now!
- Xfangirl123X = I'm so happy to hear you're enjoying my story! That question will actually be answered in either the next chapter or the following chapter, so not too long from now.
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!
