Chapter 16: It's like a Soap Opera
Natsu couldn't sleep.
And it wasn't, this time, because of Happy - no, his nudges were welcome. Anything to distract Natsu from the lingering fear gathering in his gut. His phone lay near him, a few inches away. He didn't want to not be here when Lucy called for him.
The pink-haired man outstretched his arm to grab his phone, the screen blinking to life. 12:33. He knew he had work in the morning, at 7 am. So, he shut his eyes. But, yet, his eyes flashed with images of the hurt woman crumpled on the ground. He awoke with a jolt, his pulse echoing in his head.
Happy nudged his head, his feline face giving his best questioning glare. "Hey, Happy, I'm ok. I promise," Natsu whispered into the soft, blue fur of his comrade. Happy sat back, making a noise that sounded like a cat's version of a sigh. "Yeah, I know it's past 12. But I'm scared for her," He said, arms crossed. 'I don't even know her name, I don't know her fucking name,' He screamed inwardly. Wordlessly, grabbing his phone and knocking Happy off in the process, got off the bed and moved about his apartment.
Like a wandering lost soul, he aimlessly walked about. Empty thoughts sounded in his head, as he found a surface to sit on - the surface being the stove. He brought out his phone and opened it, finding his simple text message to Luce:
You (9:00 am): Luce?! Hey, Luce, where are you? Did something happen?
But there was something new underneath,
Read: 6:00 pm
Natsu breathed a sigh of relief before his head switched gears, opting to think about the fact that it was read at 6 pm. Lucy and Mystery Girl (he inwardly cringed) must've made it out ok, but at what cost? Hospital? It might've been read by one of the nurses.
The phone was abruptly taken off of the stove as Natsu shot up quickly and headed to his private room. The place was pretty naked decor-wise, barely anything other than his weird mix of clothing, sport, and giant sewing machine. In his stupor, he managed to find comfort in his cosplay room. Finding nothing else to do, he sat in the middle of the terrifying mess of fabric.
And that's when he heard a ding.
Quickly, he opened his phone and saw it was from Lucy:
Lucy Heart 3
Lucy (12:45 am): Hey, can we talk? Like now?
Hey, can we talk? He ignored his red flags and texted back immediately.
You (12:45 am): Sure, what's up Luce?
Lucy (12:46 am): Can we do it over the phone, Natsu?
Confused, Natsu typed back his response:
You (12:46 am): We are doing it over the phone?
Lucy (12:48 am): No, that's not what I mean and you know it.
A moment later, his phone lit up with the image of Lucy from back in 7th grade, dubbed the most embarrassing photo of Lucy. He smirked and answered.
'Hey, Natsu, good to see you're up' Lucy said, her voice lacking any friendliness. 'You too', Natsu said. There was a crackle on the phone - most likely, Lucy getting up before she spoke again. 'You know, what you did was wrong' Lucy said. Natsu only huffed. 'I know, but-'
'No, there are no buts, there's no what if's. Erza was severely hurt going through the forest and that was your fault.'
'Her name is Erza... Sounds like a beautiful knight's name.'
'Natsu, are you still there?'
'Yes, I am. I'm just saying, though-'
He cut off. He didn't have anything to say though. Natsu was in the dark, fully the culprit.
'-and once again, you're the one to bring trouble. Remember 12 grade, when you got us both in trouble? Or back when I was auditioning for the role in Chicago and you just had to mess it up for me, by bringing a huge banner and yelling "Go, Luce!" Natsu, you need to take control of your actions, otherwise, you'll end up like... Jellal.'
Static. The silence enveloped them both, in all of its awkward glory. More rustling on the other end.
'Lucy, who's... Jellal?'
More weird silence; he's getting restless.
'Erza had promised me to keep it a secret, but... we're never going to see each other again so...'
'But we will-'
'No, Natsu, we may not. I'm sorry to say this but... Erza may- no will be mad at you. After all, the pain you caused her is real and scary. Juvia says she was shaking all night. So, yeah.'
Natsu looked into the deep, dark space of his room, finding comfort in the mess.
'Tell me about Jellal.'
Lucy was now audibly chewing on her nails.
'I- I well, she- Fine. One day, after you gave her the Sci-Fi book, she came over. I thought it was going to be about this stupid little game but she wanted to tell someone about something that was bothering her- and she came to me. I don't know why to me, but that's for another time. She went over her whole fucking life story, Natsu, and it was some sad shit. She had... one horrible life, Natsu. And it was all because of Jellal. Everything was because of him but now he's in the hospital after overdosing on drugs. He's dying, Natsu, dying. And, gosh-'
Natsu could hear crying from the other side of the phone, and part of his brain registered it and wanted to help - the other half remained in chaos. He had ideas but none of them were good enough to help Erza. Everything was to help her. Then, the crying became louder and he switched back to the phone.
'Luce, are youok?'
After what sounded like wiping her eyes, she brought the phone back to her ear.
'I'm good now. Kami, I was supposed to be reprimanding you but really, this just turned out to be one of those soap operas Juvia likes to turn on... I hope you did learn your lesson, though. If you continue dating, don't ever do this to your future partners, you hear me?'
Natsu chuckled.
'Loud and clear, Luce. You sound tired, Lucy, get some sleep. I'll text you in the morning?'
'Sounds good. Love ya, Natsu, see you in the morning.'
'Goodnight, Luce, love ya.'
Natsu clicked off the phone and passed out, right in the middle of a mess.
I'M ALIVE! Hey! What's up? Been a while, hasn't it? First off, incredibly sorry for leaving y'all hanging. I wanted to focus on another book of mine, Ghosts Among Us-if you haven't read it, check it out, I love it so much- and yeah. I've also been incredibly busy well andyeah.
Also, hopefully, this book will get updated way more recently. If you're also wondering, yes the thing that happened to Erza could happen IRL. Don't believe it, look it up.
Anyway, have a nice day/night and I'll see you later! Bye~!
