Like the harsh downward wind scraping the sides of a low valley, I'll get you for sure and I'll tear you apart with much ease.
Lucy ran down the steps toward Crawford's office leaving Evergreen upstairs to take care of Ivan.
While Mira-Jane tried to calm the shocked patients and hospital personnel. Lucy had to be down there during all that commotion to try and grab Crawford's bag from his room. 'If it's still there.'
Lucy walked through Crawford's dark and eerie office dodging hidden objects all the way to his 'Mind chamber' as he once called it, the same room she had been in when he had tried to kill her.
Lucy felt like she was not supposed to be in there and that Crawford or someone else was going to jump out of the shadows and attack her.
She was afraid but she searched the room still keeping it dark because maybe Lucy thought that if she turned on the lights someone would really actually attack her.
Lucy couldn't locate the bag at first but she knew that the corrupt police did not recover the bag or they would have a couple of questions to answer. Crawford could have hidden it she thought, so she didn't give up searching along the walls until she felt an odd bulge in the soft and white wall padding.
There was a rip in the wall probably made by a knife, she felt inside with her still weak wrist and pushed the cotton and other fibers aside to reveal the bag. When she pulled it out and began to search it, it was filled with glass bottles and her phone as well as other pieces of crucial evidence that she was going to use against her assailants.
''I swore I'd get you,'' Lucy whispered sure threats. Going through the bag she gently moved aside the medicines that should've been used only for good until she found her phone. She tapped the phone screen and it lit up with 50% battery life.
Lucy was then grateful for her oldest habits because she always had her phone on power saving mode and now it paid off. Lucy wanted to kiss the screen out of sheer joy but Crawford had held it in his hands and placed it in his bag previously so she stopped herself.
Lucy searched her phone for a sound file she prayed she still had, the file she had recorded in hopes of innocently reviewing after her 'hypnosis.'
She did find the file and hit play but as soon as she heard Crawford's 'friendly' voice she felt a chill like he was there with her in that tiny room. Lucy quickly turned her phone off placed it back in Crawford's bag before standing up and wildly sprinting out of the office and back up the stairs. The bag swinging by her side, she slowed her roll because she didn't want to break anything but now she knew she was safe.
Evergreen and her captive were gone by then but Lucy knew that the press had to be on their way to the hospital following Evergreen's backup and she didn't want anything to do with them. She felt euphoric about the truth to come out and scared at the same time.
Tattered paper hearts fly through the ghastly wind forgotten feelings surge once more through burning veins.
Lucy ran as fast as she could into a bathroom stall escaping the reporters she knew would be arriving with the police soon.
She didn't want to be caught by the careless media who would surely twist her family's well-known name into whatever they liked. She made up bold headlines in her mind that boasted fabricated findings. ''Should we really have these people as our doctors?'' and ''The truth about the Heartfilia family.'' All made up 'truths' of course but she wouldn't stand for it when the public had a certain power but believed every lie the media told.
'Look at you in here falling apart.' Lucy's mind scoffed at the scene of her sitting atop a closed toilet seat, her face in her hands and the bag close by her side. 'It's really a shame.'
"The future bears down upon each one of us with all the hazards of the unknown. The only way out is through." -Plutarch suddenly these words rang through Lucy's mind as loud as thunder, the words Natsu had carved into a young oak tree just months ago.
I sat with my legs curled into my arms in a bathroom stall, right now I could have a little humor and say at least the restrooms were well kept but it wouldn't bring even a giggle to my lips.
I could hear the thumping footsteps of reporters searching everywhere for 'the girl with the blonde hair.' A dark haze was surrounding me and even though I knew it was a figment of my imagination, the smoke still frightened me a bit.
I hold tightly onto the evidence I had retrieved from Crawford's cold basement room, 'I'll take it back when the reporters leave.'Who was I gonna take it to? to Aquarius and Evergreen.' the police can't be trusted with this evidence so I can't ever let them see it.
The rain started to pour outside and it was for the first time in my life so deafeningly loud. I wanted to get up and go over to a window somewhere to look for my mother's favorite stars but something was telling me inside to stay where I was 'safe'.
Safe...where do I feel safe now?
Then out of the blue, like a comet a repeated thought hit me again...'Natsu I can call on him can't I? Wherever he is, it shouldn't be that late that I can't call right?'
I quickly whipped out my dying phone and dialed his number, but I didn't press call. 'Why am I afraid?' I thought. 'He can't see how broken you are.' I was logically right he couldn't see me when I was only talking to him, so I pressed call. My heart jumped to the stars to look at the heavens when I heard his beautiful voice say to me. ''H-hello?''
If anything in this world should burst with vibrant color it is the love inside of the hearts, no one could know who was truly a real lover.
Natsu ran around through trees finding his way back to camp he held no one in his arms this time around, he had just got lost in the beautiful wilderness.
'Laxus is gonna holler right into my ear.' he knew that for a fact but he still slowed his steps to sniff at the fresh air and enjoy the sound of the rushing spring waters. His heartbeat danced with the rhythm of the fresh springs and the waving grasses. ''Ahh.'' he exhaled feeling lonely inside but smiling outwardly.
'Ring!' His phone went off in his backpack scaring the wits out of him and making his heart pound faster as he swung his backpack around and opened it. Natsu hadn't been called by anyone since he departed Magnolia back in December and now at the end of April, his phone rang bringing many worries and excitement.
Natsu knelt under the setting sun and gentle breeze, he could only see the first number 0 on the caller ID through his long and thick pink hair but that didn't matter to him, he was just curious about who could be calling.
''H-hello?'' he asked hearing the familiar breath of the caller hitch but she didn't say anything, it was enough to make his heart flutter again. ''Luce is this you?'' he asked and his eyes began to sting. ''Y-yeah, it's me.'' she stuttered trying to hold her tears inside and steady her voice.
Natsu exhaled for the same reasons as her placing a hand over his racing heart. ''Are you busy right now, If you want I can-'' ''No, it's okay I'm not busy at all!'' Natsu quickly declared before Lucy could drop the call. ''Luce, I am so happy to hear from you!'' he basically yelled moving the phone away from his mouth for the safety of her ears.
Natsu put the phone to his ear again to hear her beautiful voice but he couldn't hear her echoing voice.
All he could hear was the slight patter of rain and the chirping of late bunting birds a combination from both of their sides. ''Luce?'' he asked but the reply he got was her fast-paced breath.
''Luce are you crying? don't do any of that.'' ''I'm just so happy to hear you, I miss you so much.'' she began quietly sniffing. ''Oh Luce! I'll be back before you know it.'' Natsu said those words, but to Lucy, it felt like he had been gone a decade already.
''I miss you so much!'' she almost yelled. ''You should expect me to cry.'' Lucy adjusted herself on her seating and held the phone closer to her ear so she could attempt to hear even a mouse's squeak.
''Luce did you receive the gifts?'' Natsu said remembering presents he sent almost a month ago. ''I didn't know what you would like from each country, so I just got an assortment.''
''Huh? Oh-uh I've been to busy to open them.'' Lucy fibbed she had not been back to her old address since she was evicted for fear that she might get attacked in the woods. She just hoped no one picked them up and if they did it was the Conbolt family. ''Make sure to make some time for me doctor.''
Natsu whined somewhat bitterly. ''I will when you come back to me.'' she smiled brightly for the first time in a long time. ''I can't wait for you to try all the recipes I learned.'' Lucy could feel the warmth of Natsu's vibrant and excited smile through her phone, and boy was it was contagious! ''I learned a few things myself,'' she said suddenly in competition with him.
''I miss the things you used to cook for me~'' she could imagine his scrunched eyebrows but for some reason she couldn't see his face except for a smiling blur. ''Natsu what do you look like?'' Lucy blurted out curious about his new looks. ''You mean how have I changed?'' he chuckled sitting back against an apple tree. ''Y-yeah?'' she said in an unsure manner.
He excitedly told her.''Well for one I am a lot skinnier than before...Oh, and I have long hair now!'' Natsu heard Lucy begin to bawl audibly through the phone. ''Hey! your the one who asked me.''
Buried in a freezing sadness until you grab my hand with your warmer one, pull me back onto the somehow burning walkway of life.
''Natsu I need some advice.'' Lucy stood up and stretched her aching bones before sitting again. ''Go,'' he said sitting on a comfortable rock and taking a bite of an energy bar. ''There is a girl I know.'' she started, but he cut her off.
''Is 'she' you?'' he asked cheekily but he was right. ''No!...anyway.'' Natsu chuckled at Lucy's randomness. ''Okay then continue..'' one of his worries flew away with the setting sun when she said it was not true. ''She feels like her life lately has turned into winter or that she is being buried alive.'' ''Are the people around her burying her alive?''
''No, she has many trustworthy friends and family.'' Lucy quickly added. ''Then where do you think the problem is stemming from?'' Natsu was very curious now because there could still be a possibility that 'this girl' was still his most beloved.
''I know how to help her already,'' Lucy said quietly. ''It's just that you want to cheer her up?'' ''Sorta.'' ''Well, stay close to her and tell her that winter eventually passes far away.'' ''Help her dig herself out of the mess.'' ''You've got to warm her up until she burns on her own understand!?'' ''Yeah I do.'' 'I really do.'
''Next time let's not talk in the bathroom.'' Lucy's face went hot and a blush crept up her neck. ''I'm not using the toilet!'' she yelled quickly. ''Ow! I know that I can hear very well.'' Lucy was now freaking out Natsu always had something odd to say to her didn't he?
''What if I was? You should've reminded me you could hear that well!'' she scolded. ''Why would you call someone while on the toilet? and how could you forget...'' he sounded so genuinely hurt that she apologized.
''It's okay whatever you do cause I love you.'' Natsu always had a way with words that got Lucy's heart to fluttering and tonight was no different. ''Hey I was a poet and I didn't even know it.'' He said quoting an old corny joke she used to make so that now she could smile.
Before she could answer though he added.''By the way, Luce shouldn't you confront the people looking for the blonde girl?'' Lucy sighed into the phone and bit her lip, he was right she had to confront her fears. ''I understand.'' ''Mhm?'' ''Then I'll try to talk to you later, I adore you.'' she said shyly kissing the receiver. ''I love you too!'' Natsu replied quickly making a kiss sound before the call was finally let go.
All the frail words I want to shout out I whisper and all things I want to whisper end up being shouted out by other people when my words are fierce.
Lucy ran into the hospital hallway with Crawford's bag so hard she nearly skidded and slipped, when she composed herself and looked up about twenty reporters were running her way.
''Are you 'the' Lucy Heartfilia?'' Lucy's family already had a popular name because of their long-reigning presence in the medical industry but so far until this moment, they had been completely clear from the public's stinging eyes.
Because they were not seen they were not mentioned and went about as they pleased but now the heiress was before their cameras and they couldn't have been more excited.
Lucy lifted a pale hand over her face to shield her chocolate eyes as expensive cameras went off in her face. ''Yes I am.'' Lucy lifted her prepared name tag which held an image of her that was much more kept than herself at the moment.
''She's beautiful...'' one reporter remarked shyly. ''The crazies always are, I mean just look at her hair?'' a female reporter jealously scoffed from beside him before lifting her camera to snap another picture. When she goes to review her photos though she will see Lucy's angry orbs staring directly into her camera lenses.
''I have one thing to ask you all, do you all know Natsu Dragneel and Ivan Dreyar?'' Lucy asked quirking an eyebrow and scanning the vicious crowd before her.
''Sure, the horrible young doctor and Magnolia Hospital's director.'' a man replied raising his camera and snapping numerous pictures of Lucy's angry face. ''What would you say if I told that Natsu Dragneel was innocent?'' She tested them with a question. ''And how would you know that? Miss, please explain yourself!'' Lucy straightened her back and put 'her' bag over her shoulder. ''Ivan Dreyar is the man who was just arrested tonight.'' the reporters gasped in unison before pulling out their recorders.
''I'll only talk to one person!'' Lucy yelled over the deafening reporters who were more excited then photographers at 'Paris fashion week.' ''Me!'' ''Ms. Heartfilia a comment?'' they shouted at her but she couldn't hear them.
Lucy zoned into the bustling crowd and picked a small pink haired reporter who was being jostled around by the crowd and her cameraman who was fighting to protect the shy soul.
''I want her.'' she said pointing directly at the curly haired girl who lifted her face to see who had the honor of being chosen by the famous Doctor. ''Come with me.'' Lucy grabbed her by her forearm and pulled her from the crowd before facing the slightly angry crowd.
''I have the right to chose, and if it's not her I won't talk.'' promptly the reporters took pictures of the three of them including the reporter's cameraman. ''Let's walk.'' Lucy ordered leading her guests to a place she hadn't been in a while her little office.
I'll be there for sure to meet you halfway, I pray never to be cold and heartless towards anyone but especially you, I love you too much for that.
The previously gentle wind begins to pick up speed grabbing trash and leaves and whisking it high with the intention to punish the sinners.
As if nature was screaming. ''I've been patient for too long!'' the sky poured down gallons of water in the form of bitter teardrops. The stars were blotted out with black ink clouds representing looming punishment as a silent bolt of lightning flashed illuminating a new scene.
A cab pulled up in front of Jude's hospital and a tall burly man stepped out getting his trench coat dirtied and wet. ''Father always told me to hide my crimes.'' Crawford sighed into the cold air, he had failed in life since his first victim and tonight was no different.
It seemed as if the leaves from the trees surrounding the hospital wanted to hit him over the head to punish him for his sins.
Crawford sloshed in the rainwater that desperately wanted to bind his ankles and stop him from walking any further. The wind whipped his hair and face while screaming insults into his mind for being so foolish.
''He always said that God is the only one who should know of your deeds.'' Crawford walked into the building quoting his cynical father who was just as crooked. ''If you get caught turn yourself in but you shouldn't be so foolish.'' ''Alas! Old-man I slipped up and now I have to pay.''
Stormy weather isn't always something to dread because new grasses will grow and rainbows will sprout eventually for us, Can you hear me?
Lucy opened Crawford's bag with a new pair of gloves and picked out different medicines demonstrating before the reporter girl who introduced herself as Aries and her cameraman who called himself Loke.
''These medicines by themselves are beneficial of course but mixed together and in large doses.'' ''In the large doses that Crawford Seam combined them they are all 100% deadly, if medical attention isn't received it will shut down the organs.'' ''How come if you know all this Crawford isn't in jail?'' Loke asked. ''Because I have just recovered this bit of evidence and the police are on his side as well.'' Loke gasped this was deeper than he thought as he zoomed in on the medicines she held in her hands.
Aries wrote down notes including the fact that Natsu Dragneel was an innocent doctor and that he was sent overseas mostly against his will by Ivan Dreyar. ''My father is at the Magnolia police station being held until he's framed.'' Lucy took a sip of water to calm her nerves. ''I know they're going to frame him in a few days if I can't clear his name so I need desperate help.''
''Don't cry or you'll start me up too,'' Loke said petting Aries's soft pink hair, she rubbed her wet eyes and looked up at Lucy's soft face. ''I'll make sure not to omit anything you said.'' Aries handed Lucy her recorder for a closer vocal effect.
In that moment Lucy felt overwhelmingly pleased at Aries's kind words and the truthful determination that she held in her face moved her.
''Just a second can you pause this for me?'' she handed the recorder back and stepped outside of her office. ''Stay here, I need just a minute to compose myself,'' she said calmly but truth be told she was on the verge of tears again and she didn't want to start sobbing in front of people she just met.
Lucy lifted her head and looked up at the hospital ceiling studying the miniature designs that Jude poured his creative thought into, he had tried his hardest to make every little bit of the building pleasant from the name to the flowers that surrounded the outside premises.
He had worked hard for the people he was serving and sighed at the end of the day cause he had completed Layla's last dream.
Lucy listened to the distinct sound of patients being escorted to different destinations, the sound of wheels rolling over the wide floors was thrilling for some reason. She hummed ''it's alright.'' subconsciously talking to a huffing and puffing voice which through her deduction belonged to a pregnant woman going into labor.
Lucy was not on duty but she could always help guide someone so she took her sight from the ceiling and searched for the woman who was in the wrong part of the hospital.
Her eyes darted around angrily ''Who sent her up here? she could've had a serious accident.'' Lucy caught sight of Levy sitting in her wheelchair holding her stomach and breathing hard. ''Lu! where can I find-'' her desperate and teary eyes caught Lucy's worried ones. ''2nd floor, I'll take you!''
Gajeel wheeled Levy toward the elevator with Lucy in tow just in case of an emergency. ''How did you get up here on the 3rd floor?'' Lucy asked urgently when her office door opened up and caught her attention through the closing elevator doors.
''Aries I'll be back!'' Aries watched the doors close before remarking. ''What a beautiful soul.'' ''What happened?'' Loke asked the small lady. ''She is taking a lost pregnant woman to the right floor it seems.'' ''But you know'' Loke added. ''Your not so bad yourself, I've worked with some low people before.'' Aries smiled acknowledging his compliment walking off toward the stairs.
Even now I hear the whistle of my heart lulling my mind to a greater patience, elevating my deeds beyond myself.
Crawford entered the hospital and walked around until he found a crowd of patients, reporters and the police. ''Hey I'm here to turn myself in.'' he said nonchalantly. Reporters started to snap pictures and people started to scream as Elfman raised his gun and told Crawford not to move a muscle.
''My father told me I should turn myself in if I am ever caught, the police say I should hide because it's profitable for them.'' He sighed raising his arms and laying on the ground completely surrendering himself. ''But I wanted to be a flawless murderer, one could call me crazy but here is where I end my adventure and confess my sins.''
Elfman cuffed Crawford's large hands as Loke took the only HD pictures of his arrest as everyone was to afraid to get near, he even began recording a video and everything.
While Lucille Heartfilia was occupied with a joyous occasion she received another blessing in the form of a crazy man's defeat.
-Chapter End-
I SINCERELY HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER.
I'm sorry for being away for so long. I finally graduated high school (November 23rd) and then I procrastinated like I had eternity left.
I'm feeling much better mentally and physically and I decided I want to learn ASL and that I want to drive though I am already 17.
I could ramble on forever so I will stop there.
-Peace