Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
rEAd oN if YoU sO dArE!
Ultear drops a couple of newspapers on the coffee table beside Juvia where she was still working. All the teenagers lounging around the room turn to look at her and then the stack of old newspapers she had brought.
"What is this?" Gray asks while reaching out and taking the newspaper at the top of the stack to investigate what his sister had brought.
The others inch closer to curiously investigate the newspapers Ultear had brought along with her. They each picked out a newspaper and investigated the headlines which all seemed to be similar to one another. The headlines were filled with information and pictures about a girl who had disappeared in the Phantom Lord manor.
"Wait, this is all about a girl who went missing here in Magnolia," Cana exclaims after she reads through her own newspaper, "Does this mean that Gray's story is real?!"
"More than you know," Laxus says while he watches the others shuffle through the newspapers and reading the familiar headlines detailing the disappearance of a young girl on Halloween night.
"But I thought it was just a story to scare kids from going into the manor. I mean, hardly anyone ever talks about this girl and her disappearance," Gray argues while staring at the black and white picture of the missing girl.
"I'm surprised you all don't remember," Ultear says while sitting on the armrest beside Laxus and crossing her arms, "It was literally all over the news. I'm more than sure the entire country knew about this girl's disappearance, especially since her family is well known throughout Fiore."
"I don't remember hearing anything about her," Lisanna admits while returning her newspaper back to the coffee table to grab another, "What about you sis?" Lisanna then asks Mirajane who was inspecting her own newspaper.
Shaking her head, Mirajane finally looks up and admits that she couldn't remember hearing anything about any disappearances.
Magnolia was a rather safe city with the only major occurrences being crashes, fires, robberies, and the occasional mugging. There weren't any cases of missing people within Magnolia as of late, and if there were Gray and his siblings would be the first to know. This being that both their parents were police officers.
"Wait, if there really was a girl who disappeared in the Phantom Lord manor, why is it that our parents never told us about it?" Lyon asks his sister who only gives him an annoyed look.
"They did tell us, but you all just don't remember," she says while tapping her foot irritably. She couldn't comprehend how it was that she and Laxus were the only ones who remembered this, "I'm actually surprised you don't seem to remember Gray." Jellal looks up at the mention of his name and gives the female a curious look, "Don't you remember going with me and Laxus up to the manor to check out the search party?"
Gray scrunches his nose in concentration and recalls a crisp morning with the sound of shouting and machinery whirring. He remembers the news reports he ignored because they were not interesting to him as he continued to live his life in that blissful bubble children lived in. He remembers his parents warning him and his siblings not to go out at night or walk around alone in case of a potential kidnapping, but he remembered nothing more.
He didn't remember the face of the girl that now stared back at him wearing a Magnolia Tech uniform who looked around their age. He didn't remember the name that filled every newspaper that was now scattered around them, nor the cautious fear his parents had tried to instill in him. He didn't remember and he didn't know why even though he knew he had really good memory.
"I'm not surprised they don't remember," Laxus finally says while sitting up and sighing, "After all, this happened-"
"A year ago..." Lucy answers with a confused look on her face, "Why?"
She didn't understand the question that Natsu had given her or why he gave her such a panicked look. It caused a lump to form in her throat and a heavy feeling grows in the pit of her stomach at the serious look Natsu gave her.
"How old are you?" Natsu then asks while keeping his eyes trained on the television where the date and time the news had broadcast this message shone on the screen.
Confused, Lucy tilts her head to the side and answers, "I'm sixteen, but I guess since it's been a year, I should be seventeen by now."
"What year did you disappear?" Natsu then asks, confusing Lucy even more.
"Seven hundred and eighty-six," Lucy answers while scrunching up her eyebrows, not knowing what it was that Natsu was getting at, "Natsu... what's going on? You're freaking me out."
Before Natsu can answer, the television changes channels again, only this time they don't need to fix the antennae for them to see the image shown on screen.
It's another news broadcast and Jude were once again on screen, but this time it was only a picture of him. In the image he looked older and more tired than he had in his live broadcast where he was asking for any news about his daughter. He looked like an old man with greying hair and worn out eyes surrounded by crow's feet and bags. The news reporter says something about Jude that Natsu does not catch before the channel is forcibly changed.
"No!" Lucy growls as she changes the channel. Rage fills her eyes while her body shakes in a way that Natsu did not recognize as fear, "Stop it!" she then demands when the news report follows her to the channel she tried to change it to, "It's a lie! It's all a lie!" she nearly screeches as she continues to change the channel, "You won't convince me that he's dead! You're just trying to get me to fall into the nightmare again, but I won't let you win!
"For the past few times some of the rooms have tried to convince me that my father has died, only because they know that my biggest nightmare is being left alone," Lucy explains to Natsu while continuing to change the channel after attempting to turn it off doesn't work, "My mother and sister are dead, I have no other family except my dad, and if he dies then I'll be completely alone in this world and they try to scare me with that fact!"
Lucy continues to switch the channels, nearly in tears, until she snaps off the television's dial with the force she uses causing for the news report to play out, detailing the sudden death of Jude Heartfilia.
"Early this morning, multi-billionaire Jude Heartfilia of Heartfilia Konzern and Love&Lucky trading company was pronounced dead after a cardiac arrest took his life. Officials say that the stress of losing his daughter and overworking himself with managing both companies and the continued search of Lucy Heartfilia are what affected Jude's health. More news to come…"
"I'm so sorry Lucy," Natsu murmurs while finally turning to look at Lucy who looks over at him confused, "I'm… I'm so sorry."
"Wh… why are you sorry? There's nothing for you to be sorry about Natsu. This place is just trying to get to my head again, but I won't let it win, I never do. When we get out we're going to talk to my dad and try to make things better. You'll see," Lucy says with newfound determination, but her heart falls when Natsu's pitying look grows even more mournful.
Natsu hadn't remembered the news reports about Lucy's disappearance, but he did remember this one. It had been announced to nearly the entire world that the multi-billionaire Jude Heartfilia had died of a heart attack caused by years of neglecting his health. He hadn't realized that it had been because of the stress he put himself under by trying to manage two globally renowned companies on top of searching for his daughter.
He remembered the morning he had heard the news report and the way Igneel had been so shocked and saddened at the news. It was as if Igneel had known the man personally and mourned his passing like a friend would mourn a friend, but Natsu had no recollection of his father knowing Jude Heartfilia. The news report had given the history of Jude Heartfilia and his family name that was known all around. They had also mentioned the passing of his wife and two daughters, but nothing of Lucy's disappearance. It was probably because the police had officially pronounced her dead.
"Lucy…" Natsu murmurs while taking the blonde's hands in his while trying to find the courage to tell Lucy what he had just discovered, "Lucy, Jude Heartfilia died over a year ago on May eighteenth, seven hundred and ninety-one. We are currently on the year seven hundred and ninety-two… which means…"
"That I've been stuck in here for six years…" Lucy gasps after a short moment of silence before ripping her hands out of Natsu's and shaking her head vigorously when the news finally dawns on her, "No… no, you're wrong!" she cries, tears finally streaking down her cheeks as she falls back on her back and pushes herself away from him, "You're wrong! It's only been a year! It… six years can't have passed, it's impossible!"
"No wonder I didn't remember," Natsu muses while counting backwards in his head, "I was only nine when it happened… when the news had reported your disappearance."
"No…"
"Dad hardly ever let me watch the news back then, which means I didn't hear much about your disappearance."
"Shut up."
"In fact, I don't think many of my friends even really knew about your disappearance because we were all kids in elementary…"
"Shut Up!"
"So this means that Gray's ghost story about you is true-"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Natsu turns to look at Lucy who was heaving for breath, looking both tortured and enraged as sobs wracked her body. Natsu then realizes how insensitive he was by continuing to torment Lucy by saying his thoughts aloud and regretted saying anything. Watching her break down hurt him and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but Lucy wouldn't let him get anywhere near her.
"It's not true, it can't be," Lucy sobs while wrapping her arms around herself, "This isn't happening."
Reaching out to try to comfort the distraught girl, Natsu suddenly freezes at a figure he sees sitting on the couch behind Lucy.
~lU-ucC-cyY~
Sitting up, Lucy looks directly at Natsu who continues to stare at something behind her with fear in his eyes. She then feels a hand rest on her shoulder and turns to look up and see who it was that was suddenly holding on to her. The last time they checked it had only been her and Natsu in the room.
~LuU-C-cyY~
Jude Heartfilia, with empty eye sockets and decomposing skin stared down at Lucy and moaned out her name. Bugs crawl all over Jude's face and a centipede even crawls out through Jude's right eye making it an even more gruesome sight. Jude looked as if he had crawled out of the ground he was buried in from how dirty and decomposed he looked.
As he attempted to talk, his voice sounded sad and broken as he continued to repeat Lucy's name who was stuck frozen staring at the zombified version of her dead father. Silent tears continued to stream down her face while she lightly shook her head as if she couldn't process what was currently going on.
~I'm sO-oRrY lUcCYy~
~iT wAsN'T yoUr FaULt~
Before Natsu can blink, Lucy slaps the zombie image of Jude Heartfilia and jumps to her feet with a cry that fills the entire room. She then turns and races to the door which she rips open and jumps out through while closing it tightly behind her abandoning Natsu and her dead father.
"Lucy!" Natsu cries out in a panic while racing to his feet so he could chase after the blonde.
~sAvE hEr~
The moaning voice of Jude Heartfilia cries out when Natsu finally reaches the door and turns to find Jude reaching out towards Natsu longingly.
~pLE-eAsE NaTsU, S…sAvE hEr~
Without a word, Natsu nods and rips the door open to find a long flight of stairs leading downward. He closes the door behind him, cutting off the still reporting news and Jude's desperate moans and starts climbing down the stairs. He prayed that he could get to Lucy in time before the dolls got to her so that they could finally figure out how to get out of here as soon as possible.
The last thing he wanted was for them to spend another day in this godforsaken place.
So this was a rollercoaster ride. I had fun writing it and am excited to see how you all like it.
Next chapter we'll be going into Natsu's nightmare room, but I promise I'll be a bit more gentle with you all. We'll also find out a bit more about Lucy and why it is that so many people are interconnected with one another.
Shout Outs
Great amazing thanks to my Fantastic Favorites...
- Silent Midnight Shadow
- DecemberRome
To my Fabulous Followers...
- luxaline
- Silent Midnight Shadow
- DecemberRome
And to my Fantabulous Reviewers...
- shootingstarssel = Well I know for sure this chapter answered one of your questions. Next chapter will hopefully clear up more questions that revolve around Lucy and the connection she has with Natsu and those he knows.
- Xfangirl123X = I'm glad you liked the chapter and hopefully this one was also to your taste. I also think I captured Lucy's reaction quite well with finding out she's been stuck in limbo for six years. I know I would definitely freak out.
- stranger1999 = I hope this chapter answered your last question. Jude Heartfilia's death had been all over the news when Natsu was thirteen thus giving him all the information he knows about the Heartfilias. Igneel knows Jude because he had helped out with the search party when Lucy first went missing years prior.
- Amanny = No one ages in Limbo/Purgatory where time is simply and illusion~
- Meow Orbit = I felt that on a spiritual level! With the pandemic I got lazy I didn't want to write, but with a current routine that I'm finally getting used to again I feel like I'm more motivated to write more.
- DecemberRome = I legit thought you had already followed and favorited also and when you did it recently I was like "Wait a minute, she hadn't been following my story?!" but it's all good hon. Hope you're enjoying the angst!
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!
