21: switch it up.
Lucy frowned. "Cana, I'm not playing. What did you really see?"
"I'm serious!" Cana cried, struggling to keep her cool.
"Tell me exactly what you saw," Lucy ordered.
Cana took a deep breath before explaining what she saw. "Like I said, there was Natsu and there was you, right? You guys were on some building...but I can't figure out which building. Oh, and it was hello cold. I could tell cuz there was snow on the building. You were crying and screaming, 'Natsu! Don't do this!' and some other things I couldn't pick up on but he didn't stop. He was just watching you. He didn't look sad or anything. The look in his eyes were...basically evil. Maybe they looked evil cuz he's a fire and pain eating demon. Whatever. But those flames were created by him. I saw him set you on fire."
Cana hugged herself. "And you were screaming so loud...it looked so painful...nobody was there to help..."
In the past, I was also burned alive, but that was because the king was trying to kill Natsu but accidentally killed me instead. In this life, Natsu's the one who actually kills me. But why would he do that? Lucy wondered.
She watched as Cana trembled. "I've never had a vision like this before..." she said quietly. Her eyes were wide as tears quietly fell and she was looking down at the floor.
Lucy reached across to rub Cana's arm in reassurance. "It's okay." Is it really?
Cana looked up in shock. "Lucy, your boyfriend kills you! What do you mean it's okay!?"
"Was he wearing a white scarf?" Lucy asked.
"A white scarf?" Cana asked.
Lucy nodded. "Yes. It's important for me to know if he's wearing one or not."
Cana shook her head. "There was no scarf on him."
"Good to know," Lucy said as she stood up. She started to pace back and forth both to process information and to stay calm.
"Why's the scarf so important?" Cana asked, wiping her tears away.
"Mira gave me this scarf that will suffocate him if he does anything to betray me. Since he didn't have the scarf on in the vision, there was nothing to stop him from doing what he did. But if I make him wear the scarf now, I'll be able to prevent the vision from coming true," Lucy explained.
"Okay...but why would he set you on fire?" Cana asked.
Lucy frowned and tapped her pointer finger on her arms that were crossed. "He currently doesn't have a reason to do it. Let's not give him a reason."
"But what if he's been planning it from the beginning?" Cana asked.
"It wouldn't make sense. From the beginning, he's established that he cares a lot about me," Lucy answered.
Cana narrowed her eyes. "That's how betrayal works. They do things that make you trust them and think that they're not harmless. Then, when you least expect it, they stab you in the back."
"Cana," Lucy started.
"Once you think about it, were you guys actually lovers in the past?" Cana asked as she stood up.
"Of course we were," Lucy answered.
"Then why won't he let you get your memories back?" Cana asked.
"You're freaking out," Lucy concluded.
"Of course I am!" Cana cried before digging her fingers into her hair and sighing. "Look. Even with him wearing the scarf, I still think you should keep your distance from him."
She rolled down the sleeve of one of her arms, revealing a tattoo of an ancient design that hasn't been seen in recent decades. Cana showed Lucy her tattoo. "This is Fairy Glitter. It's passed down my family. My family were once servants of Mavis and we were given fortune telling abilities thanks to Fairy Glitter. Whatever vision we see, it will happen no matter what. So be careful."
Lucy nodded. "Aren't I always?"
She quickly hid her hands behind her back so Cana wouldn't see them shake. She won't allow herself to freak out.
When Cana left, Lucy's legs turned to jelly and she fell onto the floor. Her whole body was shaking and she had a strong urge to scream. However, she pushed the feeling down with the best of her abilities. She put her hand to her heart and felt that it was beating millions of miles per hour.
Why would Natsu do that? That's so not like him! Or was Cana right about him only trying to use me? No, that makes no sense. We've dealt with the Spriggan 12 and he's clearly made them see him as an enemy. Maybe something went wrong that caused him to do what he did, or will do, cuz it makes absolutely no sense!
To get her mind off things, she turned on the TV and logged into her Netflix account. She has a bunch of shows to catch up on. She might as well start now..
Hours passed and it soon became night. The doorbell rang, surprising Lucy. She wasn't expecting anyone.
"Who is it!?" She called out without looking away from the TV.
The person on the other side responded. "Natsu."
Lucy paused the TV. How should I act around him? The same obviously. Okay, but how do I usually act around him? And I gotta find a way to get him to wear that scarf at all times, she thought as she stood up and walked over to the door. After hesitating, she opened the door.
Natsu smiled. "Hey."
"Did you lose your key?" Lucy asked without looking at him.
"Yep," Natsu answered, walking into the kitchen.
Lucy awkwardly followed him. "How was work? Anything new?"
"Not really," Natsu said as he leaned his back against the kitchen island. He scanned the kitchen as he adjusted the buttons at the bottom of his suit jacket's sleeve. "Work was the same."
Lucy carefully watched the action. Since when did Natsu care about being neat?
"Are you hungry?" Natsu asked, glancing at Lucy.
"Yeah. You can make whatever you want," Lucy answered. Maybe I'm being paranoid.
"Sure," Natsu said as he went to the block where the knifes her lodged into. He grabbed a knife and spun it around a few times. "What to make...what to make...?"
He moved closer to Lucy. "What are you in the mood for?"
"Hmmm..." Lucy started to think about it. However, in the corner of her eye, she saw Natsu thrust the knife towards her in order to stab her. She swiftly moved out of the way.
Natsu quickly faced her and tightened his grip on the knife. He smiled. "What's the matter?"
Lucy pointed at the knife. "Did you just try to stab me just now!?"
Natsu frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Orga."
Suddenly, the doors were kicked open and Orga Nanagear entered the penthouse. He had a cup of boba tea in his hands and was sipping his drink as he strolled inside. Once he finished the last of his drink, he snapped his fingers.
The lights in the penthouse went out as if there was a mini explosion inside of the lightbulbs. Everything that was electronic went off. The penthouse was coated in darkness with only the stars and the city lights shining through the curtain-less windows as sources of light.
Lucy looked around. I gotta get out of here!
"Are we going to play the chasing game or not? Either way, you will lose and we will win. We have orders from Sting Eucliffe to kill you," Natsu said.
Lucy recognized that name. "Sting? Why did he send you two to kill me?"
Under the city lights, Natsu gestured to himself. "Because of the relationship you have with this guy who I'm imitating."
As Natsu made his way over to Lucy, his appearance started to change from Natsu to Rufus Lore. "I can be anyone from anyone's memory. I can even be your dear old dead mother. Call it Memory Make. Anyway, it's useless when someone knows I'm not who I'm trying to be."
"Girl. Just let us kill you. Things will be easy," Orga said as he wandered over to the fridge.
"What does my relationship with Natsu have to do with anything?" Lucy asked as she attempted to turn on her phone. Then she remembered that electricity doesn't work thanks to Orga.
"He's END and people will die as long as he's around. Our boss is a dragon god so it's his job to serve the people. It's my job to carry out any order he gives. When he says to kill you, so be it," Rufus explained. "Can we stop with the questions and get this over with?"
Let's dip, Lucy decided.
The proceeded to run to the front door but she was swiftly pinned down onto the dinning table by Rufus. Rufus had wrapped his fingers around Lucy's neck, choking her. Lucy scratched his arm in order to get him to let go. At the same time, she was getting suffocated and her legs were kicking the air.
Rufus raised the knife. "Time for you to go back to where you belong."
Before Rufus could successfully stab her, however, he found himself getting shrunk to the size of a chipmunk.
Lucy rolled off of the table and rubbed her neck. She entered a coughing fit as she looked down at Rufus.
"How am I tiny!? This makes no sense!" Rufus yelled.
"It doesn't, yet here we are," a familiarly unamused voice said.
The owner of the voice, Brandish, casually entered the room with a shrunken Orga hanging by his collar. "I caught you two so easily. Such a bore."
She pinched Rufus' collar with her free hand and held him up. "If the both of you want to return to 6 foot whatever, get Sting to change his mind about killing Lucy and get that Yukino girl and her sister to give Lucy all of the keys they have and to teach her Celestial magic."
"But we can't do that!" Orga cried.
"Then I guess you two can be chipmunks for the rest of your miserable lives," Brandish said, walking out of the dinning room.
"Wait! Where are you taking us!?" Rufus cried.
Brandish pushed the glass door that lead to the balcony open and held Rufus and Orga over the balcony. The two of them started to scream at the top of their lungs.
"Spare us! Spare us! Fine! We'll do it!" Orga cried.
"Are you dumb!?" Rufus cried.
"I don't wanna die though! We're at the top floor and we're tiny! Imagine what would happen if we get dropped!" Orga cried.
Rufus didn't want to admit it, but Orga had a good point. He crossed his arms. "Fine."
"Perfect. Return the power in this penthouse and you two will be on your way," Brandish said, setting them on the floor.
"Yes, O great and powerful...uh...whoever you are!" Orga cried, dramatically bowing. He clapped his hands and the power came back on.
"Okay..." Brandish narrowed her eyes. "Get out of my sight."
Rufus and Orga didn't have to be told twice. The both of them scurried out of the room like mice as if they were about to be eaten by a cat.
Lucy, who had witnessed the whole thing, was beaming. "Brandish, thank you so much! You're always saving me when Natsu isn't around. I should pay you back. What do you want?"
"Nothing," Brandish said with a sigh, sitting down on the couch.
Lucy decided to make a cup of tea for Brandish anyway.
"I'm only using you for my own curiosity. Don't forget that," Brandish said.
"True, but either way, you've helped me out so many time," Lucy said. When she was done fixing the tea, she walked into the living room and handed Brandish a cup before she sat down in the armchair near the couch Brandish was sitting in and took the other cup for herself.
"I just heard...that Natsu's going to...uh...kill me," Lucy said before taking a sip of her tea.
"It doesn't make any sense. The last time I talked to him, he was all about 'I gotta save Lucy!' and shit," Brandish answered. Then something clicked in her mind. "Ahh, once you think about it, it does make sense."
Lucy jumped. "I-It does!?"
"Yeah, but I'm not allowed to talk about it. I could prevent it from happening...but then it will interfere with things..." Brandish trailed off as she thought about it.
"What are you not allowed to talk about?" Lucy asked.
Brandish gave Lucy an unamused look. "I'm not allowed to talk about it. Of course I can't tell you."
Lucy looked down at her cup in disappointment. "I see."
Brandish glanced at Lucy before she took a sip of her tea. Then, she place the teacup down on the coffee table. "You and Jacob talked, correct?"
"Jacob Lessio?" Lucy asked.
Brandish nodded. "Did he mention anything about Layla Heartfilia's death?"
"He said that there's more to my mom's death but Mavis doesn't want anyone to know," Lucy answered.
"When you open the gate to the spirit realm, you can ask your mom for the truth. But make sure Natsu isn't there," Brandish said.
"Why?" Lucy asked.
"Cuz that will lead to him killing you," Brandish answered.
Lucy tapped her nails against her teacup. "How?"
Brandish sighed. "You ask too many questions." She stood up. "Oh yeah. Jacob is going to kill your friend with scarlet hair tonight. Just putting it out there."
Lucy sprung up. "You serious!?"
She pulled out her phone and ran upstairs so she could grab her jacket. At the same time, she was dialing Erza's number. "Erza...! Pick up...!"
No answer.
Lucy found her jacket and slid it on. As she ran downstairs, she attempted to call Erza again. There was no answer. At the door, there were high heels. As a result, she ran back upstairs and put on a pair of white sneakers. She came back downstairs and ran out of the penthouse.
When she got on the elevator, she realized people would recognize her. It's only been 24 hours since news about her father's death had been announced but she knows how persistent journalists can be. She's a journalist herself, after all. As a result, she put the hood of her jacket over her head.
The minute the elevator door slid open, she dashed out into the lobby of the hotel Gray's penthouse was located at. Natsu had just entered the hotel and was making his way to the elevator when Lucy bumped into him.
"Whoa! What's going on!?" He cried, holding her in her arms.
"Natsu, let go!" Lucy cried, thrashing around so she could get out of Natsu's grasp.
"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Natsu cried.
Lucy glared at him but slowly, her glare softened. "Erza's going to be killed by Jacob."
Natsu tilted his head in confusion. "Who's Erza?"
"The girl with the scarlet hair!" Lucy cried.
"Ohhh!" Natsu cried.
"I need to go and save her! Can you let go of me now!?" Lucy asked.
"Do you even know where she is?" Natsu asked.
Lucy was still struggling in hi grip but then she calmed down. "No."
"So how can you save her?" Natsu asked.
"I was thinking about going to the places she'll most likely be in at this time," Lucy answered.
"So what will you do if she's not at any of those places?" Natsu asked.
Lucy didn't answered.
"There's nothing you can do. All you can do is just let it happen," Natsu said.
Lucy looked down and clenched her fists.
"Besides, maybe it's a good thing that it happens," Natsu then said.
"What!?" Lucy cried, looking up at Natsu with a look of disbelief.
"You won't have to trade in your life for her life," Natsu answered before shrugging. "I don't see the problem."
"There is a problem. She's my friend," Lucy protest.
"And I could honestly care less about them. They're not you. You're you and you're the only you. Saving them will only get you killed," Natsu said.
Lucy pushed Natsu away, breaking the hug. "I can't believe you!"
"See? This is what Jacob wants!" Natsu cried.
"Can't you just kill him or something!?" Lucy cried.
"I could, but I don't even know where the fuck that guy is!" Natsu cried.
"Then you can kill him once we find Erza!" Lucy cried.
"Erza is better off dead!" Natsu cried.
Lucy slapped Natsu across the face.
The both of them didn't say anything and simply stared at each other for a while.
Finally, Lucy said something to break the silence. "I'm leaving."
Natsu grabbed her arm as she proceeded to leave. "If you leave, I'll kill the rest of your friends."
"You wouldn't," Lucy said.
"You're forgetting that I'm END," Natsu said in a low voice.
"But you have to remember that he's still END, king of the demons," Mirajane's voice rang in her head.
Natsu took off his suit's jacket and draped it over her shoulders. "You should go back to the penthouse. Someone might recognize you," he whispered into her ear.
Millions of thoughts rushed through Lucy's mind but they all had something in common: she should stay away from Natsu.
She looked up at Natsu who smiled down at her.
"I'll go out and buy some fired chicken. I heard it's good," Natsu said.
Without looking away from Natsu, Lucy dug into her pockets and pulled out her wallet. She silently placed the wallet into his hands.
Run, Lucy, run! Her inner voice yelled at her.
"I'll be right back, okay?" Natsu told her.
"If...if you run into Erza, you'll save her, right? For me?" Lucy asked.
Natsu didn't say anything.
"Natsu, please!" Lucy begged.
Natsu sighed. "Fine. I'll look for her while I'm out getting chicken."
Minutes later, she was sitting at the dining table in Gray's penthouse. The lights were low and there was a thunderstorm raging outside. She had a glass of wine to calm herself down.
I'm freaking out over nothing. He just told me that he'll find Erza. He won't betray me. Everything's fine. Plus, Brandish told me a way to get him not to kill me and that is to not let him be present when I open the gate to the spirit realm.
There were 3 wrecked cars on the side of an empty road. Not far from the cars was a classy looking black car. The driver, Jacob Lessio, exited the car and opened up his umbrella to shield him from the rain.
2 of the wrecked cars had all of the Oracion Seis members in it. They all had black cloaks on.
Jacob walked over to Angel and searched her until he found her Zodiac keys. Then, he looked at her corpse.
Large shards of glass were impaled into her chest and blood was spilling from her mouth. The one who was driving, named Cobra, had shards of glass lodged into one of his eyes and his neck was twisted the wrong way. Midnight was in the backseat. His skull was completely cracked and blood was rushing down his face.
Jacob moved to the car behind their car. Hoteye was in the backseat. His neck was slit by glass and there were still large shards lodged into his neck. In the driver's seat, Racer's head was through the window. Sitting in the passenger seat was Brain and Brain simply looked too unrecognizable. He had so many cuts all over his face and he was bleeding nonstop.
Jacob slowly made his way to the last car. "Such a shame. After pulling off all of those all-nighters, you've figured out where the Oracion Seis hold their cult meetings. You were chasing after them in order to arrest them. Who knew that would be the very last thing you'll do, Erza Scarlet?"
In the last car that was flipped upside down, there was Erza in the driver's seat. Her arms was dislocated and shards of glass were lodged into her face and her chest. She was rapidly bleeding out. However, unlike the Oracion Seis, she was still alive. She was struggling to breathe as she worked to crawl out of the car.
As thunder roared in the background, Jacob heard a set of footsteps approaching him. "I have the keys."
The unknown figure stopped when he was next to Jacob and grabbed the keys. He put them into his pocket before pulling out a gun. "You left this at the Heartfilia Estate."
Erza recognized that voice. Slowly, she lifted her head in order to confirm her suspicion. "N-N-N-Natsu...!?"
"She's still alive?" Jacob asked.
Natsu ruthlessly shot Erza a total of 10 times. Erza was already weak by then so she could only let out strangle gasps as each bullet was shot at her. She was dead by the 7th bullet.
Random Fact: Happy (early) Lunar New Year!
Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!
My plan was to put a Valentine's Day special out first but I changed my mind cuz A.) I can't wait until Valentine's Day to post it. Whenever I finish a chapter, I usually post it immediately cuz if I just let it sit there, I'll keep on making changes to it. B.) I did type out a Valentine's Day special but it ended up being all about Mavis and Zeref and I put some plot things in it. I'm currently debating on whether I should release that chapter as a bonus chapter or not. C.) I just put in a cliffhanger. They're harder than they look to write first of all and I'm hella impatient so I wanted to release the next chapter ASAP. D.) A happier and possibly fluffier Valentine's Day special is currently in progress and will be out on Valentine's Day!
Reviews:
Amanny- Lol you'll find out soon!
Copperreign12- Awww thank you so much!
You In Me by KARD honestly helped me write this chapter. If I wasn't listening to that song as I was typing it up, this chapter would have ended up differently. SWITCH IT UP by Denzel Curry inspired this chapter so I decided to name this chapter after the song
Okay! Ima go and live my life so ima end thing. Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! Later, yo!
