Chapter 4 - Escape Plans
"We're leaving tonight."
I tore my eyes away from the new cut on his busted lip to stare into Natsu's eyes, my hands freezing momentarily before starting up again on the bandages on his left arm.
"I know." I whispered quietly.
Natsu looked off to the side, unwilling to meet my gaze. But even so I could see the determination set in his face.
The last rays of the day filtered through the only window we had in that attic, casting a golden glow about the space. The light was quickly dying and I had to work quickly to finish patching up Natsu's latest injuries before I could no longer see. Today Natsu's hunger had gotten the best of him when he attempted to steal from the pantry. Brazen as he was, thinking things through to the end was not one of his strong suits. One of Matron's goonies had caught him before he could flee, and had proceeded to give out "due punishment" - i.e. beat the living shit out of him. I found him a few hours later when I was released from my own punishment - a full day out in the searing heat, locked up in the empty chicken coop house for smart talking back to Matron.
"I mean it this time." Natsu said, something told me that he was saying it more to himself than me. "We're getting out of here. I can't stand being here for another goddamn day. I don't care how many jumps I have to make. We're leaving." His lower lip stiffened, threatening to crack under the wave of intense emotions flooding through him.
"Alright." I nodded, "I'm with you."
I finished Natsu's bandages with a short tug on the knot to keep them from falling off, and leaned backwards, propping myself up with my arms.
"Thanks." Natsu mumbled, using the same arm that I had just finished on to wipe away the wetness from his eyes while he stood.
I didn't say anything, opting to just watch him as he went around the room venting his frustrations. He repeatedly punched one of the wooden support pillars, causing a shower of dust to descend upon him but he took no notice.
My nose wrinkled in frustration as he split open the knuckles that I had wrapped up the other day, blood seeping through the bandages, but I stayed quiet. When he was in this state, there was no point stopping him. He needed to let out his anger, and for me to just be there for him.
Natsu's fist suddenly froze as it made contact with the beam, his whole body going stiff while a thought circulated in his head.
He spun around, a finger pointed in my direction. "Take everything you can tonight. Clean them out of all their cash." There was a dark look behind his eyes when he said this - a look that I did not entirely recognize, but quickly discarded.
I got to my feet, wiping the grime that had gathered on my palms and butt before giving him an Americanized salute.
"You can count on me!" I even tried to make my face look as serious as his.
"That's what I like to hear." A grin cracked in his façade. "Take your time. I want to live like a king for a while anyways."
"You're gonna stuff your face the first chance you get is what you mean." I stuck my tongue out at him.
"And why not?" He spread his arms out wide, doing a half turn before falling back onto the futon with a huff. "We deserve it. Gah! I can't wait!"
An unmanly squeal escaped from his mouth.
"Chicken! I want buckets of fried chicken. Mashed potatoes! Ramen! A whole pizza to myself and a chocolate cake to top it all off." A little bit of drool ran down the side of his mouth as he reached up to the imaginary floating food above his head, as if he could grasp them now and just dig in.
"Stop it," I curled my arms over my stomach as it growled, "you're making me hungry."
If he had heard me he gave no indication.
"This time tomorrow we'll be free, and finally be able to live how we want." There was a dreamy tinge to his voice now, and his body visibly relaxed as he breathed out.
"Where are we going to go?"
Without skipping a beat he replied, "The city. There we'll find a Pro-Hero and tell them about this place. After they see what's been done to us, they'll have to listen and shut Matron down permanently."
On rare occasions when we were allowed to watch television, we had learned a bit of the outside world and the Pro-Heroes that lived in it. We were enthralled with tales of their heroics, but none more so than Natsu. He was convinced that he too was going to be a hero, if only he could leave this place and show what he could do. As for me, I was satisfied to just be on the sidelines, to be invisible and left alone.
"And after?" I fell down to Natsu, gazing up to the darkening ceiling above our heads.
"After?"
"Yah, once we turn Matron and her lackies into the Pro-Heroes, what then?"
"We eat some more."
He said it so matter-of-factly, as if it was the most obvious answer in the entire world. I gave out a snort.
He scrunched up his face and turned to look at me as I struggled to contain the laughter within.
"What?"
"You! That's what!" I turned my face towards him, grinning. "You're always thinking about food and nothing else."
"That's why I have you here to do all the thinking for me." He pulled the pillow out from under my head and walloped me with it in the face.
I pushed him off me, spitting out a random feather that had found its way in my mouth.
"Oh, you so are going to pay for that." I growled, rolling off the futon and lunging at him. But all I was met with was empty air and black smoke in my face.
I sneezed when a bit of the smoke went up my nose.
"You have to be quicker than that." A smug voice spoke behind me.
Taking hold of the ratty pillow, I flung it behind me, aiming in his direction. He disappeared again before the pillow could even hit him.
"Dammit." I cursed under my breath, breathing heavily from the sudden exertion.
"Look who finally cursed." Natsu spoke, this time above me. I craned my neck to find him high up in the rafters, sitting rather sure of himself on his perch. "I'm finally rubbing off on you." He chuckled.
"Get down here." I stomped my foot, pointing to the floor.
"So you can try to hit me again? No, thanks. I'll stay up here where it's safe."
"I did not patch you up just so you could fall and break your neck." I hissed upwards at him, angrily tapping my foot. "Plus, you need to save your energy. Aren't we supposed to be escaping tonight?"
"Yah, yah." He waved his hand nonplussed in front of his face. He swung his leg over his perch and jumped down.
I gave an audible gasp, my eyes widening as he dropped and vanished in mid-air. He materialized in front of my face, frowning slightly when he noticed my expression.
"Don't do that!" I said through clenched teeth, my face now mere inches from his.
"Yes, Mom." He said, rolling his eyes.
I sighed, rubbing my temples slightly at the headache that I knew was coming on.
"But seriously," I drew a deep breath, "you need to save your strength. You've never made a jump before with me. You don't know if everything is going to go alright."
It was his turn to lean into my face. Natsu was already several inches taller than me, and his sudden invasion into my personal space forced me to take a few steps back.
"You're such a worry-wart." He spoke, straightening back up. "It'll be alright. I've been practicing, remember?"
"With a sack of dirt." I mumbled under my breath, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Hey, that shit is heavy." He exclaimed. He gave me a sideways glance before adding, "Just like you."
A moment passed before I let out a silent hiss.
"That's it. You're dead."
I let my body drop unceremoniously to the floor as my soul slipped out. Yet, before my head could slam against the floor, Natsu had lunged, catching my body in his lap and cradling my limp form in his arms. He whipped his head around wildly, willing but failing to see where I had gone.
"Now that's not playing fair, Eve." He groaned into the empty darkness, repositioning my body against his chest as he lifted his body and mine up from the floor. He dragged my listless body over to the futon, setting it down, and quickly positioning himself behind it, his back against the attic walls, effectively using my body as a shield.
"That won't save you." I spoke from up near the ceiling, my voice echoing eerily. It was a nice perk to have in this form when I really wanted to scare the daylights out of Natsu.
"Let's just forget I said that." Natsu said nervously, his head on a permanent swivel for wherever I might pop out from. "You're not fat. Just heavy -"
He didn't have time to finish his sentence as his body jerked sideways away from the protection of my body and was dragged across the floor by his ankle by an invisible hand. Natsu clawed at the floor, trying to find something to stop him from being dragged away. Small wisps of black smoke formed along his edges but he didn't teleport - he couldn't teleport.
"What did I say about using your quirk unnecessarily?" I chided him, popping my head up straight through the solid floor, right in front of his face, so close that our foreheads were touching.
"Don't use it." He grunted in reply, his arms straining against the force that was threatening to pull him away. "Dammit, Eve! Release me!" He banged a fist against the floor.
"Language." I tisked, flicking him square between the eyes. With a twitch of my fingers Natsu was dragged upwards into the air, suspended away from anything he could use to pry his way out of my grasp. And there I let him float, bobbing slightly up and down, one ankle suspended by invisible strings while the rest of him hung limply.
"You got me." Natsu crossed his arms over his chest as he slowly spun around. "Happy now?"
His face was growing redder by the second as all the blood was rushing to his head. He looked more and more like a red tomato - a tomato with spiky black hair.
I rose up from the floor, chuckling at the image and twisting in the air before coming to a stop before my latest win. I tapped a finger to my cheek, surveying Natsu's increasingly aggravated form. It did him good to be knocked down a peg or two every now and again.
"Very." I shot him a ghoulish grin.
Natsu gave a grunt, wriggling against his invisible bonds. "Great. Now let me down, and give me back my quirk."
"Fine." I sighed, still bearing the grin on my lips.
My fingers twitched and the force that had held him aloft was released. As soon as the bond was cut he disappeared before my eyes, but in this form I could at least track him. In the moment he vanished his soul shot out from a single point, shooting past me like a bullet and back to the futon. I turned around and found him rematerialized, standing on top of the futon, testing out his ankle gingerly. He sat down with a huff, eying me warily.
"Your quirk is so unfair." He moaned. "What I would give to have your quirk."
"And what would you do with it?"
"Become a hero of course!"
"But you already have an amazing quirk." I glided over to him, crossing my legs beneath me and floated just above the floor. "You can go anywhere and anytime."
"Yah, but it's so draining. Takes too much out of me to travel long distances." He let out a huff.
"Well, look at what you accomplished these past two years." I reminded him. "I'm sure with some more training you'll become a hero just like you want."
His eyes lit up at that.
"Yah, you're right." He fist pumped the air with a renewed vigor. "When we're old enough we'll join U.A. High, and there we'll train to be heroes."
"We?" I cocked an eyebrow at the proclamation.
"But of course." He flashed me a grin. "We're partners through and through. You'll be my handy sidekick. Always there to assist me when I take out the bad guys."
I snorted. "In your dreams. No way will I be a sidekick to someone so reckless."
"Just you wait and see." He held up a fist to me expectantly.
I met his fist with my own, bumping it against his.
"Yah. But first things first." I glanced at the locked door to the attic. "We gotta wait for everyone to fall asleep so we can finally leave this place."
Natsu nodded in agreement. "Shouldn't be long now."