Chapter 2
Friends?
A/N: Notice that I added a little introduction story to prologue so care to read if you want.
"Neh Natsu, how long has it been since we've been running around?" I tried to catch my breath as I supported myself on a brick wall, after having run so much.
"It's been three hours." I looked over and saw his chest rapidly going up and down as he breathed in air also. The upper part of his shirt was dark from his sweat and he was filled with bruises after blocking the attacks, though the bruises didn't count as stabs so no magic left him.
He has been holding my hand all this while and finally released it after we finally got to rest and got the eyes of everyone away from us. We are safe for now, after finding a small shop that seemed abandoned. Actually it was a bakery in the real world but this one was only empty.
"Three more hours to go until we can get out of here..." I finally came down and slid on to the wooden floor, feeling my legs numb from the fatigue. Closing my eyes but still huffing, I felt a warm touch on my shoulder that sent vibes throughout my body.
Slowly looking to my side as I opened my eyes, I saw Natsu taking a rest beside me, his shoulder brushing mine. He seemed to calm down also but this was somehow a bit awkward for me.
"Um, you're too close Natsu. It's a little bit hot in here." I came up with an excuse for him to move over a bit.
"If I take a nap a few inches away from you, something might happen I may regret. Someone may come in and attack and it may be a little too late if I'm just a bit far away from you so to be safe I'll stay by your side." He mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.
Hearing him say those words, I mouthed my thanks not making any sound. Seeing him sleep soundly, I tilted his head on to my shoulder at least to show my gratitude for being able to protect me this long. His spiked pink hair was smooth and it didn't feel sticky to the touch like some guy's hair would. I smiled a little as I kept staring at his face that peacefully rested after trying his best.
I would doze off sometimes and would be driven off to sleep but I couldn't afford if something would happen once I close my eyes for a while. Maybe the next time I would open them, Natsu would be gone and I won't know where her went. I'm afraid of being alone in this game.
Surprisingly another hour passed and no one found us in the shop. I would sometimes hear people running by and screaming and an explosion but no one even attempted to look through the glass. They were all chasing or would be the one being chased. I looked over through the window from our cosy spot, seeing the night still as black as always. I attempted to find stars but not a single one I found.
Just as I looked back at Natsu who was still sleeping on my shoulder, a voice ranged out in the shop which sent chills down my spine.
"So you were here." A familiar deep voice came from the entry way of the shop. He was tall, muscular, and shirtless?
I felt Natsu lift his head up and rubbed his eyes with his fists. He yawned and looked over to the man standing in the doorway.
"Oh it's snowman." He groggily stood up from his spot and walked over stretching his muscles.
"Wait Natsu, don't tell me you'll plan to fight?" I clenched my fist at my chest, worried that something might happen.
"Well it would be a great exercise." He smiled.
"You could still afford to take a nap in this game huh? Do you really have a brain?" The man made a smirk and then removed his hands from his pockets.
"You're shirtless you know."
"Shut up!"
The two engaged in a fight outside of the shop, leaving me to chase after them. Flames and ice were exchanged one after the other but no stabs were given to either of them. Soon they finally stopped as they exchanged manly smiles towards each other, catching their breaths.
"You're not someone who can be taken down easily at least." The raven haired boy bumped his fist with Natsu.
"So do you." He bumped back.
They both exchanged laughs and it hit me who he was, not noticing him because of being shirtless.
"You're Gray from our class right?" I popped out between them, breaking away their laughter.
"Yeah I am... You didn't know me Lucy?" He stared at me with disbelief in his eyes.
"No... I'm not used to seeing you shirtless." My face became a shade of pink from the embarrassment.
"Haha... one day you'll be mistaken for a pervert." Natsu teased only to be punched on the head by Gray.
The three of us headed back to shop waiting for the remaining time to end in this game. As expected, they showered each other with insults as they did back at school and would be punished right after a teacher catches them. Their fight was endless even though it was nothing physical.
With a lot in my mind, I decided to clarify some things about this game. So I stopped their bickering and got answers from their mouths instead.
"So what's with this tattoo of our insignia of the school?"
Still giving a deathly glare at each other, Natsu beat Gray into answering. "Well it's somehow a mark in our game, like to what school we belong. I saw other different tattoos while fending other people off. Most of them were schools far from Magnolia but we're lucky that the game stage is designed from our city. We have an advantage. But the tattoo disappears once we get back to the real world."
Looking at my hand with the pink wing having a tail, I wondered something else as I looked over again at Natsu and Gray.
"So are you guys doing any progress in finding the forbidden room?"
A shock went through them and somehow they lost all their energy. They mumbled something their backs but I demanded them to answer me.
"Um..." Gray went first. "You see it's not as easy as it sounds. First of all we don't know what the forbidden room looks like and second, all we know is that three dragons await us. Also many people are hunting each other so progress won't be that much of a success."
"Popsicle's right. Taking on three dragons by yourself is impossible since you have to battle off a lot of pests along the way and this forbidden room is hard to find with no clues. But I'm not saying I couldn't take down dragons by myself. After all I'm a dragon slayer." Natsu gave a boastful look at Gray who in turn started bickering with him again.
Letting out a sigh, I heard a loud bang from the entrance and two men found us with all their noise. They snickered and came towards us with each stomping step.
"Looks like we'll be getting a lot of magic tonight..." A slender yet scary looking guy glared at us with his creepy eyes.
"Yes we will." His partner who was bigger and more muscular carried a big bat behind his back.
Both of them had a killing intent in their eyes and as much I wanted to scream, Natsu and Gray stood up in front of them.
"Oh looks like we've got some brave mice here." The men laughed but Gray and Natsu only made an amused sound.
"They don't know who they are dealing with." Natsu mumbled to Gray in a low voice.
"Well it was partly our fault why magic is limited in our school since we destroyed almost half of the city back then."
"Yeah, care to do it again?"
"Gladly."
Both of them sent punches down to the two men as I watched in awe the first time they fought this intense. Kicks and blows were aimed at the oppressors and Gray and Natsu seemed to fight well together.
"Ice Make Lance!"
"Breath of the Fire Dragon!"
The two attacks were the finishing blow before a wave of yellowish white smoke came floating in to the two of them. Soon after smiling at one another, the sound of the clock rang throughout the whole city, deafening me with its bells.
Light engulfed us and the next thing I knew, I was back in my room. The sun had already come up and looking at my clock, it was 6:01 a.m. lying back to my bed; the sharp pain coming from the wound in my arm seemed to come back after returning to the real world. The ripped piece of Natsu's shirt was drenched in blood around my arm and I should properly replace it with a bandage soon but for some reason, I didn't want to remove it.
Staring at my ceiling as the sun continued to raise, my door swung open and I quickly sat up, startled from the sound and movement.
"Lucy!" A familiar voice called out into my room and I blinked my eyes to clear up my vision if I was seeing things or not.
"Natsu what are you doing here?" I shouted as he just barged in to a girl's room.
"Well I wanted to make sure you returned and I'll bandage your wound for you." He calmed down after he shut the door. "Nice place you got here." Looking around, he made himself comfortable on my sofa.
"Wait how did you know where I lived?"
"Well I followed your scent of course."
"My sc-scent?" My face began to blush up as he just bluntly said that sniffing out a girl's smell and following it is normal.
"Anyway, give me your arm." Slightly lifting my wounded arm up, I winced as the pain travelled throughout my body. "Do you have any clean towel and first aid box here?"
Directing him where to get it, it took a few minutes before he came back with everything he needed. Lifting up my arm and gently removing the bloody cloth, he tapped the cold wet towel on my arm lightly. Wincing a bit from the cold and pain, Natsu was gentle enough to the touch.
Applying medicine and bandaging it, in a few minutes he was done. Actually he cleaned my arm by rubbing the small towel on my arm back and forth numerous of times which made my heart raced a bit.
"There it's done!" He smiled widely and then cleaned up the rest of the stuff then put them away.
"Thanks Natsu." I mumbled.
"Heh, it's what friends do right?"
"Friends?" I was startled with the term. All this time, I thought of him only as a classmate since I wasn't the one to jump into conclusion we were friends if we only barely talked.
"Yup, we're friends!" After that huge smile, he yawned pretty big and snuggled in to my bed.
"Wait Natsu, what are you doing?" I was flustered from his actions, just lying on my bed all of a sudden.
"I'm sleepy so I'll sleep."
"What?" I tried to get him off but it was too late, he was already fast asleep. Feeling my eyes become heavy, I collapsed on to his side and slept myself.
We slept through the whole day side by side each other on my bed. I was hoping that the game was only a dream but if it was a dream then this wouldn't be happening now.
-To be Continued-
A/N: Ummm so how was it? Thanks for the follows/faves/reviews!