Hey guys, procrastination here! OKAY. Is it just me or does Natsu with long hair in chapter 419 kinda look like that God Slayer in the Grimior Heart Arc? Just me? Okay. But here we are, the second to last chapter! Blood sweat and tears guys, blood sweat and tears all for you. I think that deserves some more reviews… *nudge nudge wink wink*. OKAY. THATS IT. THANK YOU FOR THE FOLLOWS FAVORITES AND REVIEWS AND I WILL SEE YOU NEXT TIME FOR THE LAST CHAPTER!
Deadly silence hung in the air as the group walked to the station. The only sound that could be heard was the squealing coming from Erza's cart which held her pounds of luggage. But even the annoying squeak couldn't be heard as everyone tried to focus on not being swallowed by the intense atmosphere. Despite the intense, even scary, aura that floated through the air, everyone but Natsu and Lucy tried to break the ice. Tried to say something. But that just resulted in everyone falling deeper into the hole of intensity, until they were so deep they stopped talking altogether.
Lucy secretly prayed to Mavis that Natsu's motion sickness cause some of the atmosphere to vanish: to cause everyone to lighten up. But Mavis wasn't in the mood to answer her prayers. Wendy had decided to try Trovia on Natsu one last time, and it worked. Leaving Natsu to be his quiet, conscious, self.
After about three hours out of the six of non-stop silence, the train came to a halt at another town so that other passengers could leave. Gray got up to leave, making an excuse about a need of fresh air, before exiting from the silence. Juvia instantly followed him, despite his protests, and the pair left the train. Erza, eyes darting from the two mages sitting on opposite sides of the booth before getting up to get 'fresh air' as well. Before following the two other mages out of the train, she shot Lucy a look of encouragement, a hopeful gleam in her eye. This left Natsu and Lucy.
Natsu's head rested on his hand as he stared out the tiny window before him, eyes following the poofy clouds. Lucy sat with her back straight as if she were eating dinner with her father all those years ago; hands in lap, chin held high. And she stared at him, watching the smallest movements of his eyes.
She swallowed, trying to force the choked words out of her dry throat.
It's now or never, Lucy!
"Natsu? Erm-um- where's Happy at?" She breathed, feeling more encouraged now that she had gotten something out.
"Doing something with Carla," Natsu replied immediately, words flat and emotionless, "Now what do you really want?" His eyes shifted, onyx meeting brown. Lucy's eyes widened. Half because he was actually talking to her, and half because of how the words were said: hurt, angry. Natsu's emotionless eyes wandered back to the window, following the clouds once more. So he can't even look at me. She thought to herself, hurt pounding in her chest. But she swallowed, words lacing together to form sentences, ready to burst behind her mouth.
"I understand that you were hurt, and I never meant to do that to you! I was confused, scared, upset… I didn't know what to do. My situation was… Difficult. But please, Natsu! I..I…" C'mon, Lucy! Get it out! "Really...Um...Miss you as a friend!" Damn it! Lucy swore to herself. That wasn't what she wanted to say at all! Natsu looked at her again, and for a second, his anger faltered. Looking at her, pain all over her face, made him want to tackle her in a warm embrace, and hold her tight, running his hand down her silky hair. He wanted to feel her arms encircle around his waist, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He wanted to feel her gentle, soothing touch against his back, the touch that would make him want to give the world to her. But only for a second. Then, his softened features hardened and he forced himself to get rid of those thoughts look away. He was angry with her. He loved Lisanna.
"I'm not sure if I can forgive you."
It took Lucy a moment to process what he had said. But when she finally heard the words, they shot her like a lightening bolt. Natsu declining her love confession would've been fine, but rejecting her as a friend? Tears burned in Lucy's throat, and Natsu could smell it. He clenched his teeth to stop himself from doing what he had day dreamed of a few seconds ago.
"N… Natsu…" Lucy croaked, tears pooling in her big doe eyes. Natsu swallowed, trying not to think about the tears. Her tears.
Lucy sucked in her bottom lip and sank her teeth into the soft skin in order to keep in the tears that threatened to fall. She couldn't allow this. There was no way. After all he had done for her, after all the things they had gone through, there was no way they were going to leave this train strangers. She had to get this settled, now.
"I know what I did was wrong, but I refuse to let our friendship disappear because of one stupid thing I did! We've been through so much together, you're my best friend and… And I don't want to go through my life knowing that you won't be my friend any longer!" Lucy snapped, tears cascading down her face. Many of the passengers turned to look at the two, quietly whispering to themselves. But Lucy ignored them and continued to bore her wet eyes into the back of Natsu's head.
"Natsu… Please…"
The salty smell of tears filled up Natsu's nose, distracting him from his anger again. He wanted to forgive her. Then he would be able to break into her apartment, feel her kick that was like a welcome to him now, and then end up cuddling with Lucy anyway in her soft bed. Natsu turned to her, an intense look being shared between the two of them. He opened his mouth slowly, and then closed it. And then opened it again, forcing words out of his dry throat.
"Luce...I-"
"We're Back!" Gray exclaimed, Juvia staring at him with pink hearts taking up her blue eyes. Erza strutted in not long after the final call before the train was to be started again. Her eye's met Lucy's, a small conversation playing between the females' gaze. And then Lucy shook her head, her dried tears giving her face a stiff feel. She bit her lip again, trying to stop the heavy tears that had formed behind her eyes again as the thought crossed her mind. She had failed.
.~*~.~*~.
The train stopped at a small town about 5 miles away from their destination. Due to all of the murders and robberies, everyone that was left had to be evacuated and all roads and tracks to the town were closed off. So Team Natsu was forced to walk to the town, shoes filing with the sandy gravel that crunched as they walked.
Again, all that met them was silence, but there was no happy chatter of people around them to fill the blanks, and the squealing from Erza's cart stopped. It felt unnerving and frightening, and eerie purple and green tint to the darkening sky did nothing to make any of the mages feel more comfortable.
The team was finally able to make out a small town in the horizon, causing them to quicken their step. They finally reached it as the shadows were growing so big they looked like nothing. Erza lead them through the town, the silence of it so deafening it felt strange that there were no tumble weeds floating about. As they were walking, a sudden loud crash came from an alleyway to their right. Everyone jumped at the sudden noise before running towards it.
The alley was pretty big, three people were able to stand side by side, with some space in between them. Erza, who was walking ahead of everyone, held up her hand in signal to stop. So they did, eyes wandering around the brick walls.
"WATCH OUT!" The suddenly tense red-head screamed as she pulled out her Heart Kruz sword. Everyone but Erza ducked and covered their head as Erza deflected a strange purple substance that shot towards them like a bullet. Erza clenched her teeth, continuing to hold her sword up to the place where she had deflected the 'dagger'. A cackle came from what seemed like everywhere, causing Erza to bite down harder on her teeth.
"COME OUT YOU FIEND!" Erza yelled farther into the alley. Slow, patient steps answered, along with more laughing. A man-like shape formed in the shadows. Nobody could see his face.
"Not too bad… This should be… Exciting." The shadowed man stated, a sinister smile smile suddenly visible. He took one more step towards them, the almost completely set sun shining on him. The man was tall and thin, with a pale complexion that battled with his black hair. But the thing that stood out the most was his purple eyes, which seemed to be swirling and dancing with dark amusement. He wore a dark cloak that fell a little past his knees, and the kind of trousers a man of the power that Lucy's passed father would've worn before his money loss. Lucy assumed that this man was very likely the powerful mage they were after, and if it wasn't for the creepy smile and the fact that he was trying to kill them, she would find him attractive.
Natsu, suddenly being his reckless self again, started to dash towards him, fists encircled in flames.
"FIGHT ME YOU-" Natsu suddenly froze, one foot still in the air and flamed hands raised, ready for a punch. His eyes widened as he tried to escape his predicament, but he was frozen. Then his flame went out with a swoosh. After everyone processed what happened, being Fairy Tail, they started to dash towards the figure as well. But they met the same fate as Natsu: frozen and terrified.
The man watched the group with a sickening amusement, eyes scanning all of their frozen faces. He paced back and forth in the alley, looking at them. He suddenly stopped, a mock apologetic look plastered on his face.
"Please forgive me for forgetting to introduce myself, but my name is Hakai, the Fear mage." He bowed at them, and upon returning, he held that smile again.
And then he continued. "I use the lost magic, Fear. I am able to manipulate one by filling them with it. It's quite simple, really." Hakai continued to pace around, eyes drinking in Team Natsu one by one. "I am able to take the emotion and turn it into a weapon." He smiled at them. "This shall be a fun game to play, Fairy Tail." He walked slowly towards Juvia, purple eyes locked on her blue ones. Hakai reached out one of his slender fingers and he ran it gently down Juvia's cheek. "A very fun game."
"Keep your hands off of her!" Gray yelled, anger evident in his cold eyes. Hakai turned towards him, cocking his head at the raven haired mage.
"Feisty, aren't we, Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail?" Gray's eyes widened, terrified that this man knew his name. Everyone was terrified. Hakai grinned at their expressions before glancing down at a watch on his left wrist.
"It would seem it is time for me to take my leave now, Fairy Tail. I have a feeling we will be meeting again very soon." And with that, Hakai disappeared, like he became a shadow himself.
The second he left, everyone unfroze, and Erza was ready. She stood in front of the group before her, sword pointing to the ground.
"This may be a game to him, but it isn't to us. Now that we know his magic, we also know his weakness: you must not fear. You will make it out of here alive, and he will not hurt you, so there is nothing to fear. Since there seems to be only one man, we will split off into groups: It seems unnecessary for everyone to go together. Natsu and Gray, head east. Juvia and Lucy, head North. I will handle the South and West. There is no time to waste: GO!"
Everyone dashed off in their direction as the sun finally dipped into it's starry pool. As Juvia and Lucy ran, Lucy noted how unnaturally dark it had become. She was unable to see anything, so the only comfort she had was the sound of Juvia's feet running against the cobblestone alongside Lucy. Suddenly, a weird, dark presence surrounded them. Both girls slid to a stop, fear rising in both of their chests.
Remembering what Erza had said, she groped for Juvia in the darkness for reassurance, and so she wouldn't feel this fear any longer. Lucy finally felt skin against her hand, allowing her to let out a sigh of relief.
"Are you okay Juvia?" silence. "Juvia?"
A lightning bolt flashed in the distance, the light revealing a pale Juvia on the ground, whose arm was taking on a purple tint. Lucy eyes turned, heart thumping in her chest, to see who the owner of the shoulder she was touching was. Her eyes met a purple-eyed man with that sinister smile taking up half his face.
"Hello there, Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail."
Lucy tried to scream, but no sound came from her dry throat. A cold sweat formed on the back of her neck as Hakai's smile grew wider.
"I'm sorry your...Friend, Juvia, couldn't join us." He said, a smirk replacing his smile. Lucy could feel tears forming behind her eyes. Juvia was most likely dead, and she was staring her death bed right in the face. As those thoughts crossed her mind, she couldn't stop the terror run through her veins like blood. She was frozen. But despite the cold, prickling feeling that was stealing her voice, she was able to scream out one word.
"NATSUUUU!"
Hakai grinned. But not in the happy, adorable way Natsu did: But with sharp points and evil eyes.
"You honestly think he'll come for you? After all you did to him?" Lucy froze, eyes widening significantly.
"H-How did you know about…" She whispered, unable to finish her sentence. Hakai's evil smile grew wider making his pointy teeth look extremely menacing. He reached out his pale hand, brushing it softly against Lucy's cheek, which was trembling like the rest of her.
"I make sure to do my research," He said softly. Lucy swallowed, tears filling up her eyes. She was going to die. She wasn't going to make it.
"He'll come for me!" She shot at him, trying to sound confident. But, to her dismay, Lucy's words came out with a waver. A scared, scared waver. "He always does." She whispered, eyes turning down towards the cold ground.
Hakai stared at her for a second, before bursting into hysterical cackles.
"Then lets make sure-" He sputtered in between his laughter, "That he has nothing to come for." Hakai's purple eyes began to glow bright against the dark night, a crazed hysteria dancing about them. He continued to laugh, but he stayed still, causing the sound to sound more and more sinister. His hand began to glow as well, while a red-purple substance that matched his eyes began to form in a dagger shape.
Death. Was all Lucy could think of as she stared in horror at the insane man in front of her. Then he shot the purple dagger at Lucy, palm facing towards her. It sliced through her stomach, causing Lucy to cough up her blood across the cobblestone floor. She sunk to her knees on the cold ground, continuing to hack her blood, which now held a purple tint. Hakai sat in front of her, absorbing her blood in his pants, cocking his head so it was completely sideways.
"Night, Night, Lucy Heartifilia. Sweet Dreams." He muttered, the horrid laugh begging to escape his thin lips again. Lucy fell onto her side, unable to stay up any longer. And that's when she saw him. Anger flowing into the flames the licked his body, eyes full of hatred locked on one target.
"Natsu…" Lucy hoarsely coughed out, eyes blurring as she smiled softly at the man who was running desperately towards her.
"LUCY!" He screamed back.
"JUVIA!" Gray screamed not long after Natsu.
"Natsu...I…I...L-Love…" Lucy tried to get out, but she couldn't, her voice didn't come. "GOD DAMN IT, LUCYYYY!" Natsu shouted at her. Those were the last words she heard before the blur turned to black as she fell into a dark unconsciousness.
Do you hate me? YES YOU DO! *shakes booty everywhere.* I should probably go do homework now… OKAY! DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW FAVORITE AND REVIEW AND I WILL SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
xx