Fire is catching
Chapter 8
Authors Note: Yay! More than 50 reviews! :D Are you ready for some Nalu in this chapter?! I hope you are, enjoy reading it!
In my room I summon all the spirits that helped me achieve my score and thank them, Loki being the last one still being in my room.
"Lucy?" he asks me.
"Huh?"
"You're terrified of the games right?"
I nod and look at my feet.
He walks toward me, hugs me tightly and I am thankful for his kindness. I press my face into the soft material of his suit and try to hold back the tears. His ginger hair brushes my skin as he wraps his strong arms around me. Loki has always been more than a spirit to me. He is my friend, the one who always stands by my side. He gives me a last squeeze and then gently lets go.
"I will protect you Lucy, no matter what it takes", he whispers in my ear.
"I know that Loki, it's just that I can't always use magic in the arena, you can't protect me."
"Then I'll just come to your world with my own magic power, even if it kills me"
I laugh but his loyalty makes me blush "That's against the rules"
He shrugs "Who cares about rules?"
"President Snow does. But thank you Loki, I really can't thank you enough
"I'll protect you" he says and then returns to the spirit world.
Still his visit was very comforting and I fall asleep rather quickly, exhausted from the long day.
The next day is all about mentoring and training me manners, to be "excellent".
Miranda teaches me how to walk in high heels which is way harder than it looks. Then she refreshes my knowledge about manners but is very pleased about what a good student I am, so we finish the training after two hours instead of the planned four.
Angel and I go through some questions that could be asked in the interview and try to come up with a special strategy but I somehow don't fit in the character stereotypes.
I'm not cold, strong and focused like Erza is but I'm also not cute, fragile and innocent like Wendy. I'm not super quiet like Sebastian but also don't talk all the time like Levy. I'm not starved and burned out like Alzack and Miliana but I'm also not well fed and strong like Saphir.
I'm always in between.
Finally Angel tells me to be natural, just the way I am and answer with whatever comes up to my mind.
"And you should definitely bring Plue. The capitol citizens are kind of primitive; just give them what they want. And they love cute things. Bring Plue and dance with her or something like that."
Okay then, it may sound stupid but if there's one thing I'm good at, it's acting ridiculous and cute. That'll be easy.
I'm done with all my training and mentoring which actually gives me an hour of spare time before Gerard and my prep team will make me look beautiful again. I'm really looking forward to the outfit Gerard designed for me. I know it's kind of stupid to be excited about a dress when you'll be dead very soon but just let me have that last pleasure. Who knows when I'll have fun again, probably never in my entire, unfortunately very short, life.
I use my free time to go up on the roof where I find a beautiful flower garden. Plants of all kinds of colors bloom in the bed, filling the air with a nice, sweet smell.
I freeze and look around for a while, my gaze wandering over the different kinds of flowers. I've never seen so many different plants at once. It's truly beautiful.
After taking my time to examine the different flowers, I walk until the edge of the roof and enjoy the breathtaking view. I sit down and just look around, take in everything.
The skyline of the capitol is right in front of me. Gigantic skyscrapers with glass facades that reflect the clear, blue sky, fountains that spout glittering water and neon signs glowing in bright colors, advertising makeup, jewelry and other capitol luxury items.
The people on the streets look tiny from up here, like colorful ants. Maybe they're worried about which dress to wear to the next upcoming party or what new trends will await them in the summer collection. Maybe they're thinking about how excited they are for the interviews, wondering how the tributes will act. They're all caught up in their everyday life while I'm sitting here, waiting for my life to end. And they all know about it. They know about the games and they don't even care. They don't see the horror, the fear, the death; they think it's just another entertaining game.
I grid my teeth and exhale slowly, calming myself down.
What would happen if I just jumped of that roof? If I just let myself fall, fall down until a hard impact would end my life in seconds? If it would all be over before it even began?
I take a small stone and let it drop down, but it flies back to me after some time. A magic force field? I should've figured that out.
The capitol would never give the tributes such an easy way to escape. No, once you're a tribute you remain a tribute, the only chances you have are to die in the arena or become a victor.
I sigh; I wouldn't have thought that I would end like this one day.
A tribute in the hunger games? Of course I thought about it every year when the reaping took place, how it would be if my name was drawn, but it's something different to really experience it than to only think about it.
But I'm not a fan of self-pity, so I try to pull myself together.
I just sit there on the edge of the roof, my legs in the air and look at the capitol until somebody suddenly sits down next to me.
I turn around surprised to find out that it's Natsu.
Suddenly a warm feeling fills my body and I quickly look away hoping my face isn't as red as it feels like.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Same as you I suppose"
There it is again, the same feeling I had when I first saw Natsu on TV, it feels like I know him, which is simply ridiculous, but now I'm sure that intuition I had earlier wasn't just a coincidence.
I don't have any memories of him, it's not like I know him in that way.
But you know those strange moments when you feel like you know something, but you don't know where it comes from? When it feels like maybe that thing happened to you in an earlier life?
Okay, you probably don't know that feeling and think that I'm weird, but if you do know it, that's what I felt when I first saw the pink haired mage. And that's what I feel when I see him now.
I'm well aware of the fact that it's impossible for me to know him. He's from district 12 and I'm from 8, there's no chance we could have met.
Besides, he doesn't seem to recognize me at all, so I must be imagining it after all. Why do I even care? We're enemies, right?
The thought of him and me being enemies simply doesn't feel right, it feels terribly wrong. My subconscious screams at me that I know him, that we're not supposed to be enemies but I ignore it, have to ignore it.
We're strangers. Period. End of story.
We sit there in silence till I finally say something.
"Natsu… can I ask you something?" I say shyly but I'm just too curious.
"Sure"
"Why did you smile?"
He looks at me, not getting my point.
Gosh, that was a stupid question! But there's no turning back anymore.
"You know, the day of the reaping, when your name was drawn you walked to the stage and smiled. Why? I mean how can you smile in a situation like that?"
"Hmm, I guess I was happy because my name was drawn, and not the one of my friends. Everybody is so terrified of the reaping and the games, I was just happy for the others. Because now, it's in my hands whether I win or lose, if my friends had gone I could have done nothing to help them" He scans the horizon, seeming far, far away.
"Aren't you afraid of the games?"
"Nooo, 'cause that's exactly what the capitol wants us to be. They want to intimidate us, want to scare us, but I won't give them that pleasure. The whole games are meant to scare us, to keep us quiet and to make it easier to control the districts. But they can't control me. I am who I am and nobody, not even President Snow can take that away from me, I won't let him. That's why I'll never stop smiling and I'll never stop protecting my friends"
I look at him impressed by those words and then he bursts out laughing.
"You know that just sounded so wise, I think it's literally the smartest thing I've ever said. I'm usually not a big talker" he says and laughs, really laughs and for some reason I also start chuckling.
He looks at me with his onyx eyes and I find myself falling into those eyes, falling, falling, falling into the endless darkness…
"It shouldn't have been me" I blurt out suddenly feeling the need to tell him.
"You shouldn't have been what?" he looks at me questionably.
"A tribute. Actually it wasn't my name that was drawn at the reaping. They accidently put in the name of a girl that had died a few months ago and her name was drawn…." I don't exactly know why, but I tell him the whole dramatic story about Emilia Johnson and me.
After I finished, he just looks at me with his beautiful black eyes (did I just say beautiful? No I didn't, I definitely didn't) and says in a very serious voice. "I didn't know. They didn't show it on the reaping recap. I really feel sorry for you. But you know what? You weren't supposed to be a tribute, so you're not going to be one."
What?!
Maybe he is a little crazy after all.
"You'll just go and win these games and then you can go home and pay them back for that stupid mistake they did."
I look at him totally astonished.
Did he just tell me I should win these games?
I mean, yeah, that's what I intend to do, but Natsu's a tribute as well.
Me winning means dying for him.
He can't be serious about that, can he?
He's just saying that in order to comfort me, but why shouldn't he? It's not like I ever did something for him, he doesn't owe me anything, so why is being so nice?
"You truly are an idiot" I say and my mouth twists into a tiny little smile.
Natsu grins his characteristic grin and we talk for a little longer.
When it's time to go back down to get prepared for the interviews he wishes me good luck.
Gerard already awaits me and presents me the gorgeous outfit he designed for my interview. It's a little similar to my parade outfit, but even more breathtaking.
The long dress is made out of a light purple, flowing fabric shining in different colors and reflecting the light just like the other one. But by flowing I really mean FLOWING. It looks like the material is running down my body over and over again, out of a never ending spring. The dress runs down my body reaching down to the ground but somehow that must all be an illusion because no material is gathering on the floor. It's fascinating and I struggle to take my eyes off it.
"How is this working? Is it magic?" I ask.
"As if I'd tell you." he chuckles "I'll keep this as my little secret".
I spin in front of the mirror the pearly fabric flying around me and I feel beautiful.
Authors Note: Sooo, what do you think about that chapter? The interviews will await you in the next one! :p
Author: Wow Natsu, that was quite a speech you gave on that roof…
Happy: He lllllllliiiiiiiiikes her
Author: IIIIIIIIIIII knooooooooooow *evil grin*
Lucy: Shut up you two! *blush* Author, you should write about important stuff instead of shipping me with another tribute who is my enemy.
Author: B..b…but shipping is fun…. :`(
Natsu: What the hell is going on? What is this shipping business about? And I still don't know what Nalu is although I asked several chapters ago! *gets into rage mode*
Lucy: Everybody, run!