"Wake up! Natsu Wake Up!"

Natsu opens his eyes to find the world swimming before his eyes. He tries to sit up and curses his backpack for not being a better cushion to his fall. When he finally sits up, his stomach roils causing him to empty his stomach, but the action causes an intense pain to bloom across his chest that feels like he's being stabbed. He recognizes the pain as the tell-tale sign of broken ribs. It is a familiar feeling from all the fights he had been in before and needed to go to the hospital to get them fixed, but the pain had never been as intense as it was now. Then again, he's never been kicked by a foot the size and feel of a cinderblock.

Natsu wheezes when he tries to pull in air while shifting around through the rubble of what is left of the door. He clutches his chest where the pain intensifies with every movement and breath he makes, and it causes his head to swim. It's hard to keep from passing out, but he forces himself to stay awake as he crawls out of the closet and back into the room to find all the dolls huddled around him. Their various eyes look at him as if worried, and their shaking forms tell him that they are scared after what had happened.

The truth is in the dolls...

"Damn... it," Natsu groans while sitting down and leaning heavily against the nearby wall beside the closet. He pants, but the motion causes more pain to shoot throughout his body and this set back only infuriates him. "Why did... didn't you save h-her?" Natsu then asks while looking over at the dolls still watching him, "Wh-why didn't you st-stop him?"

"We can't get anywhere near him," the porcelain doll explains from beside him, "We can only listen to him and do what he asks... we're his toys after all."

His toys... the statement causes Natsu's stomach to roil with rage, the heat burning his chest causing him to lean his head back and ground his teeth to keep from screaming. He wants to scream and rage and burn this entire place to the ground.

Maybe that's exactly what he would do...

Burn it all down.


Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Trigger Warning for thoughts of death.

rEAd oN if YoU sO dArE!


Bracing himself with a few quick breaths, Natsu pushes himself to his feet. He stumbles and falls back against the wall that he leans against, panting from the exertion, and shakes his head to keep the black spots in his vision from blinding him completely. He then searches the room, getting his bearings, and when he finds the door the man had taken Lucy through, the only door in the room, he uses the wall to help him make his way towards it.

"What are you doing?" a few of the dolls, the kids, ask in worried tones while swarming around him.

"I'm going after them," Natsu says through clenched teeth, his eyes never leaving the door he is slowly making his way towards, "I need to go save Lucy. I can't... I can't let her get hurt."

"But you're hurt!" The small marionet cries while clinging onto Natsu's leg, ineffectively trying to hold him back, "You need to rest and get better!"

Natsu shakes his head. He knows that if he stops now, pauses at any given second, he'll pass out from the pain. Who knows when he would wake up afterward? The last time he had broken his ribs and gotten a concussion he had been unconscious for two days. That was time he did not have the luxury of having at the moment to rest. He needed to get to Lucy now, or he might never see her again.

He had to keep his promise about introducing him to his friends, of getting her out of here. He would not fail her. He would not abandon or forget her even if it killed him.

They would get out of here together.

Ignoring the panicked voices of the dolls and swatting away at the ones that fly around his head, Natsu continues to push through the growing crowd until he finally reaches the door. It felt like an eternity to get to it, but by the time he reaches it he can breathe a bit better, though his chest still pains him.

Pushing the door open and being met with the dark hallway, Natsu looks right from the direction he had come from before entering the room. He doesn't know if he needs to go back that way or towards the left where the darkness swallows up any light that tries to go through. That is probably the direction he needs to go in. That is where the air feels the thickest, the path he should undoubtedly take.

"Where's the oil lantern?" Natsu then asks, remembering the light source he had used to get to the room. He tries to look around for it before spotting it on a nearby dresser. He doesn't remember putting it there, but he assumes that maybe one of the dolls put it there when he was too busy racing across the room to get to Lucy.

Natsu picks it up and is glad to see a small flame still burning inside the dirty lamp. It would help him see his way through the darkness and hopefully get him to Lucy faster. Now all he had to do was just hurry, and that meant pushing through the pain from his broken ribs.

"Where did he take her?" Natsu asks after turning to the dolls who are watching him silently.

No one says anything to him. They simply stare at him, possibly still hoping to find a way to get him to stay with them and not follow after the man that had killed them. Most of them probably don't understand what is going on, or most of them are simply defeated like the porcelain doll. They were probably also scared of getting in trouble. The man, from what little Natsu got to see, was enormous, and the force of his kick definitely told him that he had little to no chance in winning a fight.

"You can't beat him," the porcelain doll whispers from where she is now perched on a nearby bed, and Natsu hates the sound of defeat in her voice, "You should stay with us. You'll be safe for a while, we'll keep you safe, and Lucy will join us again later…"

Gasping, Natsu winces from the action as his heart sinks in his chest and his entire body grows cold at the doll's statement. He hadn't even thought about that, how Lucy would eventually return to him in a couple of hours… like a doll.

Fury hotter than anything he has ever felt burns throughout his entire body to the point he feels like he might combust into flames. All he sees is red and the endless possibilities of what kind of doll Lucy would be stuck in, left to wander the halls of this accursed place for the rest of eternity. He'd be too late if he let that happen, and he knew deep down he'd never have the strength to find a way out after that. He can't leave Lucy behind, no matter what.

Using his anger and adrenaline to push himself off the wall, Natsu stands to his fullest height. He clutches the lantern with his left hand and grabs onto his left side with his right hand. He winces from the pain, but doesn't stagger as he sets his focus away from the pain to make a plan of attack. It feels silly because his usual plan of attack has always just been that… attack.

"Where are they?" Natsu asks, his voice low and menacing.

"You can't win against him," the marionette insists, pulling on his leg.

Giving the doll a low chuckle, he shakes his leg to get the marionette to let go of him and says, "He's nothing. I've fought bigger men than him," with a sneer.

It's probably a lie. He can't fully remember who the biggest idiot he has ever fought against before. Laxus and Gajeel are up on the list, but something tells him this man is just a bit bigger than his two friends. He was probably on par with Gildarts and Metallicana, two men Natsu has always wanted to fight just to see if he could take them, but had never had the opportunity before. Either way, he would fight and find a way to win, for Lucy's sake, for the sake of the kids and his own. He'd get them all out if it was the last thing he did.

Up until this moment all the children had ever felt since becoming trapped in their cursed bodies has always been a terrifying acceptance. An acceptance that this was their life and that listening to the terrifying man was all they could do to survive and stay out of trouble. Watching the passion and determination burn brightly in Natsu's eyes, something blooms inside of the hollow bodies of the children all watching him. It is a familiar feeling that they all haven't felt in a very long time…

Hope.

"It's the last door at the end of the hall," the porcelain doll says just as Natsu is about to take his first step outside of the bright room.

She is pointing left, signaling the direction that Natsu should head towards.

With a final nod of his head, Natsu takes a deep bracing breath before storming down the hallway towards the end of the hall where Lucy was waiting for him.

Mavis let him get to her in time.


The room is dark and smells musty with mold and mildew. There is a single dirty lightbulb that hangs in the middle of the room throwing dirty yellow light that barely lets Lucy see anything in the room. She stares at the lightbulb, attempting to ignore the sound of the man rummaging throughout the room while she remains strapped to a metal table. The cold metal bites at the exposed parts of her skin due to her costume leaving her to shiver helplessly. The leather straps also burn whenever she tries to pull against them futilely and she wishes that she at least was still wearing Natsu's cloak.

His cloak was warm and smelled a lot like him, like cinnamon and a warm campfire. It constantly made her feel safe and acted like a security blanket when they had been separated. It reminded her of Natsu's promise of them both getting out of this place together, but when she had been brought into this terrible room it had been ripped off her and thrown into a dark corner. Now she was cold, strapped up and gagged to a freezing metal table, and all she could do is try and ignore the man rummaging through the room and the thick metallic smell that permeated the air. She tried to focus on the mildew, but the stench of death was far too thick to ignore for too long.

A single tear runs down Lucy's cheek as she fights against the sob that wants to escape her chest. She'd scream her lungs out if she could, but the large man with short white hair and piercing red eyes had gagged her with a dirty cloth to keep her quiet. She had tried fighting him and screaming with every fiber of her being, but he still overpowered her. She was quickly strapped to the table she now lay shivering on and all she could do was watch the man move about the dirty room.

"It has been a long time since I have had a guest down here with me," the man muses in his deep gruff voice, "It's nice to have company after all these years, though I will admit that you are much older than my usual clients," he chuckles while finally turning to face Lucy fully, "But you are still young, so I am sure the ritual will work either way."

Walking towards the table, dressed in a green military uniform, the man smiles down at Lucy. She knows he's trying for aloof, probably friendly, but the smile looks sinister on his hard face. It makes Lucy's skin crawl, and she insistently prays that this man not touch her or do anything, even though she knows exactly what his plans for her are. The thought of a bathtub full of blood makes her freeze and shake violently on the table.

"Now, now my dear, don't be afraid. I promise that this will go by quickly if you let it, and here," he reaches behind him and brings forth a doll that he presents to her, nearly smashing it against her face, "A doll to keep your terrors at bay."

It can't be…

Lucy freezes when the man places the doll on her chest where it stares down at her with baby blue shiny button eyes. She tries to reach out for the doll, but the restraints keep her wrists locked down to the edge of the table at her sides. Instead Lucy is left to stare back at the bright familiar doll with tears beginning to spill silently down her face.

How did he know?

How was she here?

How was this possible?!

Michelle's baby blue eyes stare down at Lucy, glistening sadly under the dim glow of the dirty room. She looks exactly the way she had the last time Lucy had seen her all those years ago. Beautiful strawberry blonde hair, frilly blue dress with white lace, and the sweetest smile that always helped her feel safe when she was younger. This was her doll, beautiful and intact if but a bit dirty, but it was her, it was Michelle, her future sister's namesake when Layla had been pregnant. The only toy her father had bought her that had stood the test of time, and the only connection she had to her three family members that were no longer alive.

And she was here now, in a dark dirty room, staring down at her sadly as if she were apologizing for what was going to happen next.

The truth is in the dolls…

She was going to become a doll… better yet, she was going to be stuck inside of her old childhood doll for the rest of eternity. It isn't the worst realization in the world because at least she wouldn't be stuck in a random dirty doll that she knew nothing about, but it doesn't make her feel better. She'd be gone today, trapped in this place forever, and Natsu would be next for whenever this man would need to trap him too. Natsu would become a doll too…

But she wouldn't let that happen.

If she had to die today, if her death would mean that she would finally be able to get Natsu free, she would gladly give up her life. Natsu had done nothing but keep her safe and alive since he entered the manor and got stuck here with her. He had made promises, yes, but Lucy wasn't mad that he wouldn't be able to keep them. After all, if he left he'd be greeted by his family and friends who all loved him whereas she… well, she had no one. There was no one out there waiting for her return.

Her mother was dead, her baby sister as well, and her father had also left her behind after years of trying to search for her. She had no one else in the world who cared about her, so why not just die right now? Why not become a doll that would be able to get Natsu out of here and reunite him with those who loved him? Besides, after getting him out she might even be able to find a way to reunite with her own family on this side. Natsu's mother had shown up, after all, and her own father had somehow made it into this hellscape, so maybe there was a way for her to follow them out. To join them in the great beyond, but first she had to save Natsu.

Closing her eyes, Lucy tries to ignore Michelle's staring blue eyes and the man's rummaging of the room. She focuses on her goal, on Natsu, and she remembers when she first found him running for his life through the maze of hallways in the manor.

She had heard him screaming, his voice reverberating throughout the halls, and she was surprised to find the dolls losing interest in her, following the new voice like a moth drawn to a flame. She had followed the creatures who continued to ignore her until she found a strange boy with pink hair lying on the ground and staring up at the ball of dolls looming over him.

There had been no hesitation on her part before she rushed headfirst to go and save him. She had immediately gotten the first thing she could get her hands on and threw the item at the tangled ball of toys. She only realized it had been a chair she had thrown after knocking the dolls out of the way before she threw a small table at them for good measure. After that she had yanked Natsu to his feet and ran away for dear life before luckily finding a safe room to recuperate in.

After that they were stuck in a room together and her heart skips a heartbreaking beat when she remembers how he had said that he could never forget as someone as beautiful as she. It makes her think of all his sweet words and how protective he had become of her in such a short time. Of all his hugs and comforting words and the way he had held her hand as well as held her in his sleep. It was never inappropriate and although such a short time had passed since they met, Lucy knew deep down that she had fallen for him… and she'd never get to tell him.

It's fine, she thinks, Love was never meant for me.

"We're just about ready my dear," the man says, catching Lucy's attention, as he moves up to the table and removes the gag from Lucy's mouth.

She wants to scream in his face, but that had done nothing then and it wouldn't help her now. Besides, the faster he finished with this the faster she would be able to get back to Natsu and help him find a way out of here; however, she still needed to know one thing before this all ended.

"You're Zero Nirvana, aren't you?" she asks, and the man's smile widens when she opens her eyes to lock with his bright red ones.

"I see my reputation precedes me," he says with an air of pride, "It is nice to know that my name has not been overshadowed by that idiot Jose and his obnoxious family."

"I read about you in a book," Lucy admits solemnly, "You worked for Jose Porla before he died mysteriously… You killed him, didn't you?"

Zero laughs as if it was a hilarious memory while turning back to place the gag on a nearby table. "That old fool didn't even see it coming," he chuckles while looking up at the ceiling as if remembering a fond memory, "Everyone thought he had a heart attack when he was sleeping, but only I know what really happened that night. In the end he died, and I inherited all of his fortune and his lands which became useful in my experiments over the years."

"But why? Why kill him and then kill all of those children? Why keep killing now?!" Lucy asks desperately, trying to wrap her head around all of this death and destruction this man had caused throughout the years

The man's deep red eyes look down at her and she realizes that his entire eyes are red. There was no white around his corneas, just blood red with the only thing distinguishing his eyes were his black pupils. Lucy wondered if it was a change caused by him bathing in children's blood for so many years, or if his eyes were naturally just all red.

"Immortality," the man replies as if the answer was so obvious, "I have been experimenting for years to find the answer to the one question many others have sought but failed to find. How does one become immortal?"

His answer is ridiculous and angers Lucy, because immortality was the one thing the human race could not, and should not, achieve. It went against every law of nature and was wrong no matter how much some people wanted it.

"No one has ever found the answer to immortality before, and… bathing in the blood of innocent people doesn't work. Elizabeth Bathory tried that, and she died anyway," Lucy argues, wanting to bash his head in to try to get him to understand that this entire endeavor has been nothing but a pointless massacre.

"Ah, but was her theory actually proven wrong?" Zero asks, lifting his finger and standing like a professor about to give out an entire lesson to an imprudent student.

"She died," Lucy answers with annoyance, "She died, making her theories of immortality inconclusive."

"But how did she die?" Zero asks, the sparks of victory already beginning to shine in his bright red eyes.

Dumbfounded by the question, Lucy wracks her brain for the answer. How did Elizabeth Bathory die? What more could she remember beside the terrifying things the woman had done while she was alive? What had caused the woman's demise?

"She was burned," Zero chimes before Lucy can answer, his face lowering down so close to Lucy's face that she flinches from the sudden proximity, "Not really a natural death I would say," he continues, straightening up and placing his hands behind his back to begin pacing around the metal surgical table, "Immortality is thought to be indestructible, that no outside forces can kill you, but that is not always the case. It can simply mean to not age, die, or decay for a very long time, it never proved you could not be killed, and fire destroys anything it consumes, so of course she died. She was burned, eaten away by flames that left nothing but ash.

"Besides, Elizabeth Bathory bathed in the blood of beautiful virgin women, a flaw that I discovered during my initial trials. She had the right idea, I will admit, but she chose the wrong age group. It was children she should have invested in. Younger and far more innocent than a virgin woman already at the cusp of creating their own children," he further explains without ceasing his pacing around the table making Lucy feel dizzy, "Children are far purer, and easily attainable with the right resources, not to mention that my studies go further than just bathing in the blood of children. There are alchemic procedures that must be followed for the experiment to work, a procedure I have now nearly perfected."

"How can it have worked if you are dead. You died, just like Elizabeth Bathory, so why keep killing if your experiment failed?"

Again he laughs as he stops just above Lucy's head. He leans forward, towering over Lucy as he places his hands on either side of Lucy's head. His dark sinister smile grows with a knowing and triumphant look in his eyes that seem to almost glow in the dim lighting of the room.

"Who said I was dead?" he asks inquisitively, "My dear, I am as alive as you are, and this place is just a locker where I keep my pretty little ingredients waiting until I need them." Zero tilts his head before looking up and around the room, "I discovered this spectral pocket of space after the fiftieth sacrifice was made. This purgatory housed the souls of my little toys who began possessing the dolls that they held dearly to them. They soon became my little lap dogs keeping my visitors busy until I needed them, playing a game to see how long it would take until I found them. This place is a paradise of my own making."

Paradise?

Lucy remembers the state of the twisted manor she has been running through for years. The furniture covered in dust, dirt, and grime. The decaying walls and room filled with nightmares that Lucy could still picture behind closed eyes. It was a place filled with death, and this man thought of it as a paradise? How could he be so sick and twisted… so cruel?

Picking up his scalpel, Zero inspects the sharp weapon before looking down at Lucy, ready to begin his procedure. Lucy grits her teeth knowing that no amount of talking was going to save her. She had asked all of the questions she could ask, made up enough time for her to learn everything she needed to pass on to Natsu. Now all she had to do was find a way to pass on her spirit into her doll Michelle so she could get back to Natsu as quickly as possible.

For a second she wonders what will happen to her real body, but an image of her corpse rotting in a corner makes her want to gag. Instead, she thinks back to Natsu, lets his face swim across her vision while steering clear of any sad images of his face that make her heart break further. She thinks of his smile, of his sweet words, and the warmth of her hand in his. She thinks about the endless possible ways that she can discover how to get him out of here, especially now that she knows Zero does not spend all of his time stuck in this nightmarish purgatory.

She steels herself when she feels Zero's large hand hold the back of her head to keep her steady. Lucy wonders if he will cut the arteries in her neck to make the blood flow faster out of her body, but that thought also makes her head swoon. Instead she opens her eyes and stares at the light blue button eyes of Michelle wondering how it will feel to possess her childhood doll.

Lucy lets the tears collecting in her eyes fall and prays for Natsu to be safe until she can get to him.


So happy I got to finally post this chapter! Life as usual is chaotic but thankfully it didn't take me more than a month to get this out to you all and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also put up a trigger warning at the beginning since I know the thought of someone finding death as an easy escape can be triggering for some readers. Remember that you are loved and your feelings are valid and if you ever need someone to listen to you I, along with the rest of our beautiful community, are here to listen. There are also hotlines that you can call and message in case you need professional help. I love you my ghoulies, remember that always!

On another note, we'll be wrapping up this beautiful story in a few more chapters. I don't think it will be more than three chapters left, but we'll see what the writing muses have in store for us. If you guys have wishes for certain scenes in the final chapters don't be afraid to suggest your great ideas, I might just add them as a gift for torturing you all for so long.

Shout outs

Great amazing thanks to my Fantastic Favorites...

- galactiaconstella

- Casey95

To my Fabulous Followers...

- jessifer89

- galactiaconstella

And to my Fantabulous Reviewers...

- DecemberRome = Hehehe, yeah I do feel bad I left you all on a terrible cliffhanger for so long, but I tried to not end this one on a cliffhanger for your sakes. I don't think I succeeded, but I still hope you enjoyed this longer chapter.

- shootingstarssel = I'm glad you're liking the story so far and I had to include the children. There is nothing more terrifying than ghost children which is why The Orphanage, a Spanish gothic supernatural horror film, inspired the use of the children being the ones haunting the manor. The dolls actually inspired by my fear of possessed dolls as well as the Island of the dead dolls in Mexico City, not to mention the legend of Elizabeth Bathory who was a real person.

- Ushindi = Hopefully things get better for our two heroes, but you'll have to find out next time on Paranormal!

- galactiaconstella = I'm so happy you discovered my story and have been enjoying it. I can't wait to see what your reaction is of this chapter and the upcoming final chapters.

- Nalu4ever = I'm glad to be back! and I knew you all would like the ghoulies comment since it fits the theme of my story. Also because it matches my previous endearment of you all as my lovelies 3. Anywho, I can't help these cruel endings of chapters. I am addicted to cliffhangers, but if it keeps you all coming back I don't think I'll ever stop muahahahaha.

- marn-marn = I'm so happy to hear that! and I hope you have been enjoying my little horror AU!

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!