The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts

Chapter 18: The Warmth of a Hand

It was a normal Thursday at the arcade, in which many players came to Litwak's Arcade for fun and entertainment before the storm came that same day. Even though the players knew about this rain beforehand, the characters in each arcade game were in the dark about this until the last minute. Though instead of thinking about the storm coming after the arcade closed, Wreck It Ralph was thinking on something else entirely.

The day before he had found out from Lucy that she had never visited his game before. This was surprising to him since his game had been around for a long time, but she never did visit their game. He had asked her why she hadn't, but Lucy only gave him a weak smile and did not say anything else about it. And right then Ralph wanted to do something about it.

"Felix! Help me redesign my house." Ralph had said to the handyman when he had come back that same day.

Felix looked at him with a suspicious frown. "Sure but, why now?" he asked.

"Well…I guess you could say that I wanted to have a nicer place to stay." Ralph replied with an unconvincing smile.

And Felix knew it too. "I think it's more than that, brother."

Ralph sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Alright, I want to show Lucy our game. She's never been in it, and I want to help her out."

Felix smiled at him, "Well…look who's caring for a swell girl like Miss Lucy," he said and patted his arm.

Ralph could feel his cheeks turn hot but barely contained it. "But I do want some of what I built to still be there. It'll just be an expansion to it."

"Alright then, it's a deal. Anything for my brother trying to make a lady happy." Felix smiled.

Now Ralph stood in front of his new house. It was definitely different than before, looking more like the East Niceland buildings where Q*Bert and his friends lived. But instead of everything being brand new, it still had the Ralph flare to it, which was a lot of bricks built jagged and uneven. But it was still a home even if it was mostly new.

"Well, time to go get her." Ralph said and took a deep breath, trying to not feel so nervous.

But the sound of thunder from outside the arcade made him stop. From out the screen which faced the door rain was pouring down hard, and the wind was coming through strong.

"That looks really bad," he said watching the rain pour outside.

Is it a good idea to find her? What if she's doesn't know about storms?

Ralph stood there trying to figure out what to do. He knew that if the storm should hit the arcade the power would be in danger of cutting off. But the station would be fine to come to if need be.

I'm sure she'll be safe.

But something in the back of Ralph's mind told him to turn around and find her.

Because she was in danger.

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

"So you have returned?"

"Yes."

The man with the mask over his eyes bent down in submission to a rather tall looking figure draped in shadows. He gave the man a cool smile and walked towards him.

"I see that Darc was defeated by our little girl Lucy."

"He has been. But…being that I was only a lookout, I could not interfere," the man explained and got up slowly to his feet.

"I suppose now other measures must be taken. Tell me…Shane. Who are her two friends that helped her defeat my strongest warrior?"

It was faint, but the man Shane trembled slightly.

"Well…I'm waiting."

"The first is a man called Archer, the main protagonist of Flying Arrows. He tossed her the bow she used to take down Darc."

"And…the giant?"

Shane paused for a moment before answering, "The villain of the game called Fix It Felix Jr., who is named Wreck It Ralph."

"A villain you say?" the shadow asked in a voice that sounded as if the subject was interesting.

"Yes."

"How peculiar…. a young girl who is friends with a villain, very unusual."

"If it please you, Shadowman, I shall make sure to take the girl back to you." Shane offered kneeling again.

"That won't be necessary. I have…another way to make sure she doesn't interfere again." Shadowman said with an unpleasant smile.

An eerie dark magic was forming around his hand, moving up the shadow's arm to his shoulder.

"The…curse you mean?" Shane asked with a worried frown.

"Ah yes…I remember the scar I put on her face. The beginnings of a curse that can never truly be broken. Even by a light magic user like Lucy." Shadowman said smiling.

The eerie magic surrounding his arm slowly floated away to form a seeing portal in front of him. There laying on a bench sound asleep, was the magical girl Lucy.

"I think this will definitely be a nightmare Miss Lucy will never forget."

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

"RUN LUCY!" Daisy screamed at her as she ran in front of her.

"SIS!" Lucy called running as fast as she could to her.

She could only see magic around her, and shadows. She heard the sound of rain and thunder coming down from the outside. All of a sudden Daisy was gone.

"Sis? Daisy?!" Lucy cried looking around. She gasped as the shadows drew in around her, making her tremble in fright. And soon after they were clutching her arms and legs and pinned her in the spot she stood in.

"Stop, let me go!" Lucy screamed but could not get free.

"There's no escape for you, Lucy!" an evil voice said as a shadowed man charged right at her.

Lucy shut her eyes, scared and with tears in her eyes, and then….

"NO!" Lucy screamed waking up with a start.

She looked around as if dazed, shaking from the dream that she had. A terrible nightmare. Lucy clutched her right arm tightly and cringed. She gasped realizing that her arm was hurting her again.

"Oh no…" she said worriedly and looked down at her arm.

Not only did she see big black spots spreading on her right arm, but also her left. She gasped and threw the blanket that was covering her to find that her legs were sprinkled in black spots.

Not again, not again!

Her shaking increased as she clutched both of her arms. Then a rumbling deep sound pierced through the silence of the station.

"AH!" Lucy screamed falling down from the bench she was sitting on.

She tried to drown out the sound, placing her hands on her ears, but in her head she could still hear the sound of thunder. She knew this sound all too well.

"Stop it…STOP IT!" she screamed out, but the noise of thunder only continued on. She looked all around, seeing if anyone was around who could hear her, or help her in anyway.

But there was not a single person in the station.

"Please…. please." Lucy sniffled as she was just a moment away from crying.

But she found it stranger when she heard something unusual from the loud thunder.

"No one will save you."

Lucy gasped looking around again, but saw nothing. Her shaking increased as she stood to her feet and backed up slowly.

"Who will come to look for you? No one cares about you. You're only just a lost little girl who can't find her way home."

"Stop it…leave me alone."

She bumped into a wall, almost making her lose her balance. She turned to see that she was in front of an outlet, one that she wasn't familiar with before.

"You have no friends."

Lucy said nothing as she stared into the dark entrance to the outlet. Another sound of thunder made her flinch a little. She suddenly remembered something important.

"I…have one friend."

Lucy smiled weakly as she reached for the chain necklace she kept in her dress pocket. There was a small ring on the chain that had a small green stone inside. She held it between her fingers, knowing that it was her sister Daisy that gave her this ring for safekeeping. Lucy took a deep breath and slowly walked into the outlet.

She knew one certain wrecker that could help her out.

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

Feeling himself waking up to the noise of the storm outside, Ralph opened his tired eyes slightly. He slowly sat up in his huge bed, looking at his familiar surroundings. It was still the same as he had built it, with the living room also being the same as well. Though the rooms had now been separated instead of in one place, yet Ralph was glad to have some of his original rooms still intact.

"This storm is gonna keep me up all night at this rate." Ralph said rubbing his eyes and yawning.

Knowing that he won't fall asleep again now that he was awake, Ralph slowly slumbered out of bed and walked into the living room. He looked around once again at his surroundings, seeing the new kitchen and hallway to the front door that Felix had built. Unlike his original design the add-ons were more clean and like the apartment building's homes. He shrugged it off as he sat down on his big chair made for him.

"What am I going to do now?" he wondered to himself as he placed a hand over his eyes.

Just as he thought of this another strange noise made him suddenly stand from his chair, ready to defend himself. Unlike the deep sound that the thunder made, this one was actually muffled and more high pitched. He slowly walked towards the edge of his living room, trying to make out what the sound was.

"Hello?" Ralph called out quietly.

There was no answer, but the sound now was getting a bit louder. Ralph walked around the house to find where the noise was coming from. Finally, he found himself standing at the front door. The sound he had heard now wasn't as much muffled, and clearly sounded like someone that was in pain.

"Is…someone out there?" he called again quietly.

There was still no answer, but the sound outside stopped for a moment. Taking a deep breath Ralph's hand clutched the door handle.

Don't be scared now Ralph. Open the door, everything will be…

But as he opened the door, letting the warm light flow out onto the front steps, he could see that nothing was fine.

A small figure covered in black on her arms and legs sat there against the rail, shivering and hugging their knees to the head. He knew who it was right away.

"Lucy?"

She stopped shaking, slowly looking up at him with golden eyes, the same ones that belonged to Lucy. For a few moments the two of them were watching each other to see who was going to act first. But Ralph could see that she was the one that needed something from him by the sad look in her eyes.

"What happened to you?" he asked and moved closer to her and sitting down at her side.

She stayed silent and almost looked away from him as if she was hiding something.

"Please, tell me what happened. I want to help." Ralph said and attempted to place a hand on her shoulder.

Lucy shivered once more and slightly moved away from him. Ralph sighed but did not move any closer to her. He wasn't even sure how she got here in the first place, but that wasn't important right now. He was more worried that she wasn't talking to him.

"Lucy…I won't laugh or get mad at you. I promise, just…" Ralph paused as a loud thunder sound came through. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girl flinching and shaking even more. He smiled at placed his hand on top of her head.

"Are you scared of the storm?" he asked in a warm tone and smiled at her.

She turned to him again, but this time there were overflowing tears in her eyes. He was surprised and almost moved back.

I've never seen her crying before.

Another loud thunder sounded and this time Lucy screamed and threw herself right at him.

Ralph was now speechless, watching the whole scene unfold. His heart felt like it stopped, after it having it almost flying up to his mouth. It felt to him like his heart skipped…a few seconds? No a whole minute before it started to beat faster than he felt it before.

Looking down at this girl he could see the pain and sadness within her eyes, her tears, and the way she held onto him. Her fragile hands clung onto the shirt he was wearing as she started to sob and cry loudly. Ralph knew he had to do something to comfort her.

"Lucy, it's alright," he said pulling her into a gentle hug. His huge hands enveloped her as she pressed even harder into him and continued to cry.

Lucy shook a little less, as Ralph could feel in the hug, and her sobbing seemed to have decreased as well. She finally pulled back to look at him after a couple moments passed.

"I'm…sorry," she said not looking at him fully.

"For what?" Ralph asked.

"I didn't want…you to worry about me. A-And I never cried in front of anyone either." Lucy explained holding her arms in her hands, looking ashamed and embarrassed.

"N-No, it's alright. Really it is!" Ralph said smiling at her.

But her look said she was feeling something other than happy.

"It's alright to be scared, to cry. We all have our fears; I even have some of my own." Ralph stopped and looked down at her sad face. "Just know that…I'll be here if you ever need help, or need someone to talk to," he said as he felt his cheeks turned red.

Lucy stared back at him before finally giving him a weak smile. Though the expression that went with the smile was also one that meant she was really tired, and deprived of sleep.

Ralph sighed, "Well, let's get you inside then."

"W-What?" Lucy stammered holding her arms a bit tighter.

In one swoop Ralph scooped her up in his arms before she could say another word. As he walked back inside, Lucy leaned onto him as if it was exactly what she needed. He could not help but turn red as he realized that he was holding a girl in his arms. And that she wasn't saying anything about it or getting scared.

"Lucy…?" Ralph paused realizing that her eyes were closed and she was fast asleep. He could see her chest going up and down gently and slowly, though she remained still and close to his chest. At first he just stared down at her, but then could not help but smile.

He then looked down at the dark spots that were all over her. They did not seem to grow any bigger than what they were now, but the spots would not disappear. He sighed as he continued to carry the girl in his arms across the living room. Thinking that she might need a good amount of sleep he decided that Lucy should sleep in a warm bed, even though the only one bed in the house now was his own.

Ralph slowly entered his bedroom again, being careful not to hit Lucy on anything on the way in. With a relieved sigh he placed her down on the bed, pulling up the thick blanket to her chin so she could keep warm. He smiled down at her again, seeing her sleeping form like this.

"I've never seen her sleep after all this time I've been with her," he said quietly as his smile grew a little wider. "Now I need to find somewhere to sleep…"

Ralph was about to walk quietly away to let her sleep, but something caught his arm as he turned away. He looked back in confusion to see a small hand peeking out of the covers, clasping his arm gently but with a firm grip.

"Please…. don't leave. I don't want to be alone. I-I get scared in storms like this." Lucy's fragile voice broke through the warm silence. Her eyes were barely opened and tired, but a look of fear was present in them.

Ralph knew that he had to stay, and smiled down at her. "Alright, I'll stay with you," he said and sat down by the bedside. He was growing tired from the whole ordeal already as his eyes were almost shut tight.

"Are…are you sure you want to sleep on the floor like that?" Lucy's small voice asked in a concerned manner.

"Nah, I'm…alright," he replied trying to stay awake, "Besides I've…slept in…worse places than this."

Through his closed eyes Ralph could hear her shift in the bed a little, then felt her hand grab his arm again. He mumbled something incoherent and opened his eyes a little. She stared back at him now with worry and sadness in her eyes.

"Hey…I'll be alright. Get…some sleep," he yawned as he could barely stay awake to talk to her at all.

But Lucy did not look away or waver for one second, making Ralph sigh in defeat. "Okay, okay. You win…I give," he said slowly getting up as Lucy shifted over to make room. He caught a glimpse of her weakly smiling though.

He suddenly heard another thunder sound, as Lucy flinched again and hid deeper in the covers. Ralph chuckled but still moved to lay down next to her, though not too close. He took her small quivering hand as she peeked from under the covers in a scared, confused, and tired manner.

"It's alright. It's just the thunder. Nothing's going to hurt you."

Ralph could feel her hand lightly squeeze his as he tried to comfort his friend. After a few minutes she began to relax as if she was asleep again. And soon enough Ralph found himself falling asleep as well. His hand still held hers as they both dozed off.

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

Lucy stirred and tried her best to open her eyes. It was strange that she was able to sleep through all the storm, despite hearing it throughout her sleep. But she was surprised to see that Ralph was right next to her. To her relief he was still fast asleep, not noticing that she was awake already.

W-What happened? Did I…actually fall asleep here?

She stared at the wrecker for a good minute before realizing that she was smiling at him. Her eyes tilted up at a window that was across the room, seeing that there was just a faint bit of light from the dawn pouring through. Lucy suddenly felt relieved that the storm had finally passed. Her eyes drifted back to Ralph, and she felt herself smiling again. She had never seen him asleep before, and it was honestly…cute?

Lucy was afraid to say anything to him or this moment would be broken. She then realized that the two were both holding each other's hands. She looked down at his huge hands that engulfed hers, but the curious things she wondered about was the warmth she felt. It was almost like he had a bit of a magical aura surrounding it. His hand wasn't gripping hers tightly in anyway, but rather gently.

Lucy quietly gasped as she felt a strange feeling in her chest that rose to her face, as if she was heating up. She suddenly got scared, having never felt this at all before.

"What…is this?" she whispered afraid.

"Hmm…."

Lucy almost yelped as she heard Ralph mumble and shift. Her eyes focused their attention back on his face as he seemed to slowly wake up.

"Is it…morning?" Ralph mumbled as he tried to open his eyes.

Lucy nodded silently, the strange heated feeling not going away at all. In fact, it continued to grow. Trying to hide the fact she looked away down to her arms. Wait, there's…no black spots!

Lucy gaped and slowly sat up as she found that her black spots that showed her curse had just disappeared, only replaced with a small spot on her right finger.

"I knew you needed to sleep it off."

Lucy turned her head again to see Ralph's brown eyes look at her tiredly, but he was smiling a toothy grin. This time the strange feeling was almost at its peak as she could barely contain it herself, but she smiled at him for a quick second. Though she was at a loss for words for a while, just staring at him with a dumbfound and lost expression.

"You…look a little confused." Ralph said with a frown.

"A-Ah! Do I?! S-Sorry." Lucy fumbled the words out feeling the heat come back to her face. She looked back down and smiled at their two joined hands. She realized that the whole time through the night they kept their hands together.

"I…dreamed of something odd. Something about the rain." Lucy said as if half to herself and to her friend.

"What do you mean?" he asked making her look again at him.

"It…wasn't a nightmare but, I don't think it was a dream either." Lucy sighed, "I…never told anyone this but, I don't remember much of who I was before finding I was a magical girl."

"You mean, your origin story?"

Lucy nodded silently.

"And…this dream you had, you think it connects?" Ralph asked in concern but also in curiosity.

"I…I don't know." Lucy admitted, "All I remember of it was standing out in the rain. And…a cottage somewhere. I heard a voice too but…I don't know who's it belonged to."

"That's all you remember?" Ralph asked after a long pause.

"Yeah."

Lucy looked down at the blankets feeling a little awkward that she was telling him these things.

"I don't know why, but I feel safe whenever I come to talk to you. O-Or when I'm spending time with you," she said without even thinking about it.

She looked up to see that Ralph's face was red once again. She tilted her head curiously still wondering why his face was always red, as if…heated up.

"A-Anyway, I'll get something made for breakfast then!" he said a little loudly quickly getting up and letting go of her hand.

Lucy let out a quiet gasp and tried to reach out for him again, but he was already gone through the door to the right. For a moment she just stared at the door, sitting up on the bed and now clutching her arms. Then without thinking she quickly jumped off of the bed and rushed to the door. She hesitated opening the door for a moment before turning the knob and walking into an unfamiliar room.

"Ralph?" she called walking into what looked like a room where you would sit and relax. What was it called again? She looked around but could not find a trace of the wrecker anywhere.

She then looked to her left to see another room there and walked towards it. When she entered it looked a lot cleaner than the room she was in previous. The floor and the countertops were a lot shinier and brighter. Though much of everything she saw was a little bigger than her actual size, so it looked like she entered a giant's house.

"Is…is this Ralph's house?" Lucy gasped in realization.

"Yup."

Lucy flinched and yelped seeing that Ralph had walked up behind her. He placed a hand on her head and ruffled her already messy hair. She slightly giggled and tried to smooth her hair, with no luck.

"I didn't know it was so…nice." Lucy admitted looking around the bright room again.

"Thanks. And in case you were curious, this is a kitchen you're standing in." Ralph said and smiled before heading to the other side.

"A kitchen…" Lucy said in awe, "It's so shiny. That other room was really nice."

"You mean the living room?" Ralph asked behind her.

"Yeah. It had a warm feeling, like a home." Lucy suddenly paused realizing what she had just said.

A home. She knew that she didn't have one at all. This made her vision blurry, making her realize that she was crying and tried to wipe the tears away. But it was too late when she started to make sobbing noises. I'm so careless, crying again!

She suddenly heard loud footsteps as Lucy was swept up from the ground into what seemed like a big bear hug from Ralph. Lucy gasped in between her sobs and hesitated to do anything, feeling scared. Yet she felt herself quivering and wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to sob.

"It's alright to be scared, to cry."

Lucy smiled suddenly remember her friend saying these words. Those words that comforted her, made her feel safe again.

After a long time staying in the hug, she was slowly put back down on the floor.

"Feeling better?" Ralph asked.

"I am. Um…thank you." Lucy said shyly.

He smiled back at her as he turned away again to the other side of the kitchen. For a few awkward minutes Lucy just stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. She looked at her hands, placing one of them on top of the other to try and mimic her and Ralph holding hands. She frowned as she was disappointed to not getting the same scenario.

"Ralph?" she called running towards the other side of the room where he was.

She stopped seeing that he was working on something that she could not see, but one of his hands was down to his side. She moved closer, but stopped when she got the strange feeling from before again. This time it was almost unbearable. But with a small gulp she reached out her hand and grabbed his.

Lucy noticed that the motions that Ralph was doing had stopped once she grabbed his hand. She then got scared, thinking that she did something horrible.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I just wanted t-to, um…h-hold your hand again." She sighed in defeat, closing her eyes and waiting for him to answer.

But she could hear nothing from him, and as she opened her eyes she found him looking at her directly in the eyes. Her emotions felt like they were out of whack as she looked back at him.

"I-Is it okay?" she asked very timidly.

He nodded slowly at her. "Yeah, it's…it's alright with me."

Lucy blinked at him, then beamed and gave him the most joyful toothy grin as her cheeks heated up a bright red.

0 - 0 - 0 - 0

"How curious. VERY curious."

"What is it? Is she suffering so much?" the female twin asked her master.

"I think something different happened that has upset him sister," the male twin replied.

"Unexpected and upsetting is right twins," the Shadowman replied coolly, "But something I must see and test for myself. We shall all see how strong Lucy is against the power of the true king of Shining Magic!"

A/N: I promise in the next few chapters that the plot will move forward, this is just the start of what's to come.

As for the magic aura and the dreams Lucy has: let's just say it's very important to the story.

See you in the next chapter. :)