Hey guys! Sorry I'm late, but things have been hectic lately and I've got very little free time to write. Bear with me lol.
I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, time for some well-deserved justice!
All the love,
BlackRose999
"Just" Friends?
Chapter Eleven: The Price of Cruelty
The sounds of her machines made him want to cry, it had been almost a week - normal timeframes for someone with a head injury they've told him - and she was still unconscious. They'd put her under to correct her bones and her fractured neck a few days ago, and since then she'd remained asleep.
There was a tube in her throat to help her breathe with her neck being placed in a cast, her shoulder had been dislocated on impact and had to be reset on scene; a sound he never wanted to hear again, and her right arm was in a full cast since her wrist and forearm were broken.
He was nodding off when he felt her hand twitch.
"Luce?" He asked softly, hopefully. She twitched again, and he watched her eyes flutter. "Hey, nurse! Nurse!"
Three sets of feet pounded toward him, two nurses and a doctor. The doctor who'd saved them that night was the Head Trauma Surgeon they'd sent out to help the EMTs, the younger brother of their good friend Mirajane in fact. Upon realizing who was in his ER, Elfman had personally taken over their care and forbade other trauma surgeons from, quite literally, touching them.
"Hey! No honey, no, don't fight the tube." Elfman said as Lucy weakly smacked the tube in her throat. "Give me a second and I'll get it out OK?" She looked at him with terrified eyes, she didn't understand what was going on yet. Slowly they unhooked the tube and removed it, letting her breathe on her own.
She gasped as new air flooded into her lungs and tried to move her head, making her whimper. "I… I can't move my neck." "It's in a brace, you broke your neck in the accident. Your right arm is broken too. Your shoulder might sting a bit too but we'll give you a higher dose of morphine to dull the pain to a more manageable level…" Elfman chuckled and brushed a bit of hair from her face.
"You gave Natsu and me quite the scare young lady." She smiled apologetically, then turned her attention to Natsu. She took in his bruised and battered state, he didn't look nearly as bad as she did. "Hey… How bad is it?" She asked him in a half-joking voice, mustering up the courage to ask for details.
Natsu's look darkened. "The cops said they'd look into it when they inspect the car… They also said it sounded like someone might have tampered with the brakes before we left the Gala." Lucy looked surprised, then thoughtful.
"The only one I can think of who'd take it that far is-"
"Lisanna." Natsu turned to see Bickslow in the doorway, his face grim. "Lisanna tampered with your brakes. She told me herself. Was really proud of it too…" Natsu gritted his teeth, then asked quietly "Why are you outing your girlfriend?"
"Cause she's not my fucking girlfriend. I hate that witch. God knows how different my life would have been without her…" Pain filled his face, but he quickly masked it under anger. "I'll testify to what I said. You, Lucy, and Elfman all heard me clearly. Put her where she belongs, Natsu, before she hurts someone else."
Natsu nodded and turned to Elfman. "Is that deputy still outside?" Elfman started from his dumbstruck trance. "Y-yeah. I'll go get him." He hurried out, his heavy steps booming. Natsu moved closer to Lucy, instinctively following the desire to keep a wide berth between others and the woman carrying his child. As the thought crossed his mind, he heard her timidly ask "The baby…?" He missed Bickslow stiffening, the look of horror on his face. "It's ok, it survived." He watched her breathe a shaky sigh of relief, her unbandaged hand gently rubbing her stomach.
"S… She's pregnant?" Bickslow asked with a broken voice. "Yes, she is." Natsu was again startled to hear a familiar voice, and as he turned he saw Laxus in the doorway. He and Elfman were a very intimidating sight, the two burly men eclipsed the entryway as they stepped inside the room. "Laxus? You're a cop?" Lucy asked. "Yeah, I'm a bouncer in my free time as a favor to Gajeel. Shadow Gear is Levy's club, he asked me to keep an eye on the place." He turned his attention to Bickslow and leveled him with his most threatening glare. "You. You're going to tell me everything she told you. And then when you're ready, you'll need to testify."
Bickslow nodded. "Anything to put that psycho away where she belongs."
Flashing lights surrounded her as she strutted the catwalk, modeling the newest Balenciaga creation. Lisanna was glowing, with any luck, the blonde bitch was dead and so was that fucking asshole of an ex. She was fully expecting to hear about their 'tragic' deaths in the news very soon.
She was not expecting three officers to stop the entire fashion show.
A blonde man with a lightning-shaped scar under his eye approached her as the music abruptly cut out and the shocked murmuring of the guests. "Lisanna Strauss, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel." "WHAT?!"
Attempted? They were ALIVE?
Lisanna shouted "How dare you touch me!" indignantly as the blonde brute grabbed her by the arm and ripped it behind her back, cuffing her. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can, and will, be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney-" "THIS IS INSANE! I didn't DO anything! Let go of me!" She stared in horror as the photographers greedily took pictures of the scene, no doubt intending to write articles about this and destroy her career.
She was kicking and screaming as they forcefully shoved her in the back of the car, trying to hide her face from the onlookers. They couldn't prove anything! … Could they?
