Chapter 5
Walking back in quietly, he smiled as he watched Lucy make little snoring noises as she was asleep. He took a step forward when she slightly opened her eyes. "Did I wake you?. I'm sorry" "No" she said sleeply as she patted the seat next to her. "Please" she said so softly, it made his heart leap as he gladly accepted and sat himself on the bed where she immediately turned over and laid on his chest. Catching him off guard for just a second, he welcomed her touch as he gently put his arms around her and closed his eyes. "Natsu" she said quietly as he put a finger to her lips. "Shhh, get some sleep baby. You've been up all night" "Will you be here when I wake up? She asked scared. Opening his eyes, he looked down at her with his fingers under her chin and said "yes, I promise I will be right here." He looked at her loving and caringly as he kissed her and put her head back down on his chest where they both closed their eyes. She rubbed her eyes as she woke up. Everything slowly came into focus as she turned expecting Natsu when she felt a hand clamp over her mouth. She looked up terrified as Zeref smiled at her. "Ready to continue where we left off?" he asked with an eerie smile as she shrieked through his hands as she shook her head rapidly. Waking up, she screamed her head off alerting Natsu. "Lucy!, Lucy it's okay! "Natsu, he was here, he was here! HE WAS HERE!" "Shhh shh shhhhbabysshhh" he said putting his arms around her as she was shaking her whole body.
"Natsuuuu" she cried. "I'm right here" he assured her. "Please don't leave.p. " "I'm not going anywhere baby . I swear" he said firmly as she nodded and clung to him as much as she could. He gently went back and fourth rocking them. "Hhhhe..ttttold me." "What Luce?, what did he tell you?" "Tttthat after hhe wass ddone with me, you would never think I was beautiful agggain" He chuckled as he said "then he was an idiot, Lucy you could never be ugly to me ever" "Really?" "Really, I love every bit of you. There's not an ugly thing about you" she put a hand to her face feeling shame as he gently took it and said "even with these bruises, you are not ugly. Don't feel ashamed baby" "I love you so much Natsu" "I love you too Lucy" They woke a couple hours later. She lazily rubbed her eyes and looked up at Natsu as he grabbed her chin and kissed her. "I gotta go for now baby. But I'll be back later okay?. I'll try to bring Layla over later too." She nodded as he kissed her forehead and got up as she laid back on the pillow. He slipped his black trench coat on over his red shirt as he pulled out his phone. "Hey, get everyone up now and get someone over here" he said flatly. Once he saw someone come in a few minutes later, he looked at Lucy who had gone back to sleep.
"Get some good rest Lucy" he thought as he closed the door behind him. The guy who had come was average height, was built well and wearing a t-shirt and jeans. " name is Smith, I was told to come here" "Yes. You are to guard her understand?" he said in a serious manner. "Yes sir" Natsu nodded and walked out of the hospital. Putting on his sunglasses, he drove to the mafia base where the others were waiting. "What's up Dragneel?. Why did you get us all here?" said Gajeel. Getting up in front of them, he said "we're going on a man hunt. I want this town turned upside down. Fucking find him!" "We don't even have a starting point" "Just start, it doesn't matter..I want Zeref found..and if any of you find him..kill him" he said coldly. "You don't want to question him?" Gray questioned. "No" he answered grimly. "Well how do you want us to do this?, split into teams or what?" asked Jellal. "Erza, you and Jellal go, Gajeel, you and Lily go..Gray your with me" That surprised everyone but no one said a word as they all took their assigned teams and left leaving Gray with Natsu.
"I'm surprised you went with me" said Gray. " I'm still pissed you didn't tell me about Zeref..but your my best friend and If I'm going to find this bastard, there's no one I'd rather have with me then you" "Aww now don't getting mushy on me" teased Gray. "Shut up ice head, alright let's go hunting" he said with a grin as they left. Having slept a dreamless sleep, Lucy felt better as she smiled a small smile opening her eyes. The shades were drawn so it was darker in there for her. "Hello Lucy" she heard sending chills down her body as she very slowly turned her head. Her body trembled as Zeref was standing in a corner smiling at her. "Hhhhow ddddid you fffind mmme?" she uttered terrified. "Ha, wasn't all that hard. I'm slightly disappointed you didn't die , I wanted to see Natsu's face but I won't complain. I get to torment some more" he said with glee as he began walking toward her. Scared to death, she screamed "HELLLP!, " zeref clamped his hand over her mouth silencing her as she looked at him with terror. "Can't have you doing that…hmm I see your still healing" he said softly as he touched her leg making her flinch and move her leg. "He, still fresh huh." He teased as he stuck a finger inside making her cry out in his hand. She closed her eyes hard as she felt pain. "I just realized I forgot to do something last time" he said happily as he quickly lifted his hand but before she could say anything, his mouth was on hers kissing her. His hand was squeezing her cheeks so she couldn't get away. He lifted his mouth from hers as he pulled a satin ribbon out of his mouth and held it out. "No, " she cried as he tied it around her mouth. Her eyes looked at the doorway.
"Oh, that guard, he's taking a small nap. And the nurses are on their lunch break..we're all alone" Lucy attempted to get up but she was still weak from her injuries as Zeref got on top of her and held her down with his hand as he undid his pants. She shrieked through the ribbon as he laughed manically. She shook her head ferociously as she shook her body with all her might, but it did nothing as he inserted himself into her. Hot tears came down her eyes from the pain as he thrusted up and down. She became quiet as he relished in torturing her. As he finished after an hour, he took her chin in his hand and looked at her face. "ahh, now that's the face I've been wanting to see" he said happily. "Here you go" he whispered as he took a knife cutting her arm bandages and made small cuts opening them back up. "You're a worthless slut and this is what you deserve..no man will touch you now" he whispered as he untied the ribbon and left her laying there broken. She looked at her arms and put her hand to one of them. "What I deserve" she thought as she started scratching her arms frantically. " no one will ever touch me again. I'm useless, ugly…" she cried out as the blood streamed down her arms and under her fingers. "I'm ssssorry Natssu" "Nothing yet, son of bitch is clever wherever he is because I haven't gotten anything from others yet" said Gray as they were driving. "Fucker" thought Natsu. "Let's stop by the hospital, I want to check on Lucy. It's been a few hours" said Natsu. "you're the boss" said Gray with amusement as Natsu chuckled. "I'll be in in a few, gotta call Juvia quick" Gray told him once they got there. " No problem" he answered as he went into the hospital where Smith was sitting. "How is she?" he asked as he walked up. "Haven't heard a peep" he replied. "That's go, wait what is that smell?" he asked nervously as he quickly opened the door and rushed in. His eyes went wide in terror as he saw Lucy with blood dripping down her.
"LUCY!" he screamed running over to her. Grabbing her face, he shook it as he looked down and saw her arms were bleeding out. "GAHHH, LUCY! HELLLP, SOOMEBODY! PLEEEEASE" Gray came rushing as Smith stood there panicked. "What's the hell is going on?!" "Get him the fuck out of here!" Natsu ordered as he pointed to Smith. "Get him the fuck out of here before I kill him!" he said lowly as Gray grabbed Smith and took him outside. "GOD DAMN IT, SOMEBODY FUCKING HELP MEEE!" he cried as he tried ripping the blanket to cover her arms. "Lucy, you gotta stay with me baby!, Pleeease, don't you leave me. God what the fuck happened!" he panicked as he caught sight of blood lower down. The overwhelming rage he felt as nurses came quickly in. "What happened!" one of them asked. "I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA! HELP HER!" he shouted as the nurses worked as fast as they could. He stood in a corner putting his fist to his mouth as Gray came back in. Seeing he was close to loosing it, Gray grabbed Natsu's jacket and pulled him. "NOOOO" he cried out as Gray said "You need to get out of here Natsu, your going to explode" he argued hard as he pulled Natsu right out and outside where Natsu screamed to the sky. Falling to his knees, he howled as tears flowed down his face. Gray stood at his side letting him cry. He pounded his fists into the ground. "Why! why, why!..SHE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS!" "Do you know who did this? Gray asked seriously.
Lifting his head , in a dispassionate voice "yes and when I find him. He's going to be nothing but ashes" He slammed his fist back down emphasizing his point. "Natsu, come on. You need to check on Lucy" he told him. Natsu didn't need to be told twice as he got up and ran back in to her room. He saw the nurses leave with a lot of blooded clothes in their hands. His face dropped as he looked at Lucy who was pale as a ghost. The nurse turned around and had an apologetic face, "She's not…pppplease tell me she's not" his voice cracked as he fell to his knees. "No..but she lost a lot of blood. She did a lot of damage to herself" "Sssshe ddid this?" he questioned as the nurse lifted Lucy's hand showing the blood under her nails. "Lucy…." His mouth hung open with no words coming out. "Where was everyone when this happened? Someone was supposed to be fucking watching her" Gray said bitterly as Natsu sat on the floor speechless. "Our boss told us to take a lunch break so we did" "AND LUCY!, YOU DIDN'T HAVE SOMEONE FUCKING KEEPING AN EYE ON HER" he screamed angrily as he saw the woman that was a sister for him incapacitated. "There was a guard here" she informed here. "THAT'S BULLSHIT!, THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MEDICAL ON STANDBY.. THEN THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!"
"I am truly sorry this happened to her" the nurse said sincerely as Gray waved her grumpily out as he slammed the door shut. Taking a deep breath, he got down to the floor and put an arm on Natsu's back. Gently he said "hey, she's going to be fine Natsu. You know Lucy doesn't give up that easy" He made no indication that he heard him. "Natsu.. come on man your freaking me out" he sat there trying to get through to him as his phone went off. Iritated, Gray answered it "What!, oh Erza..no we didn't find him but you guys need to get your asses back here….Lucy was attacked, no he isn't doing well at all. Okay just get your tails back here" he finished as he hung up and put it back in his pocket. "Natsu! , snap the fuck out of it!" he yelled in his face but he continued to sit there. "Well I owe you for the one you gave me so I hope you forgive me for this later" he thought as he punched Natsu in the face landing him on his back. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!" Natsu screamed. Relieved he got a reaction out of him , Gray said "You were frozen on the floor Natsu, you wouldn't respond to anything. That was all I could to get your attention" He got to his feet and was about to say something when he looked past him and saw Lucy. Forgetting what he was going to say, he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed as he grabbed her hand and held it lightly. Kissing the top of it, he softly whispered "what made you do it baby?"