Fire is catching
Chapter 22
Authors Note: Who is that mysterious person? Find out all about it in this chapter! (some of you were able to read my mind again)
The person comes towards me, entering the cave and my eyes widen as I recognize her.
It's Wendy. Small, cute Wendy with long blue hair and a constant smile on her lips. What is she doing here?
She walks over to me and looks relieved. "You're finally awake. You should rest a little longer Lucy-san"
Wendy gently presses me down on the cold floor and puts a blanket over my shoulders. Then she gets some red berries out of a small bag that's hung over her shoulder. "Your burns look a lot better now, but I should use some of my healing magic on them, so that they can vanish completely"
"Wendy what's going on? Why are you here? I'm dead, right?"
Her expression hardens and her gaze suddenly looks very sad: "You almost were. I found you after the rain stopped. You weren't breathing enough and your skin….I brought you here to heal you"
The little girl gives me a kind smile and my mouth drops open. She found me after the rain stopped? Wasn't I dead at that point already? But now I'm here, in a cave, together with Wendy. Does this mean I'm not dead after all?
A million thoughts and emotions race through me. Maybe it sounds stupid but I was almost happy about dying. It was such a relief, knowing that this nightmare was finally over. And now you're telling me that I still have to go on? That there is more suffering and pain to come?
Wendy sees my disappointment and backs up hastily. "I'm sorry I just took you with me, I thought….I just thought I could take care of your injuries…., you can leave of course…., anytime, b-but please don't hurt me."
She saved my life. That little girl could've left me there, waiting for death to pick me up, but instead she brought me into that cave and took care of me. She brought me back from the dead and all I do is being disappointed?
"Of course I won't hurt you" How could I? I owe her my life. "Thank you so much Wendy. I can't believe what you've done for me" My gaze softens as I see her shoulders relax. Wendy gets out a roll of magic coins and inserts one into her arm. She closes her eyes and chants something under her breath as her hands begin to glow, dipping the cave into a bright, bluish light.
"What are you doing?"
"Healing your wounds of course" she murmurs coming closer.
"NO! I can't let you do that Wendy, I'm fine. You've already done enough for me. You shouldn't waste your coins like that. You might need them for healing yourself."
Her eyes open and she looks at me with determination "I can't heal myself anyway. Now keep quiet and let my help you"
Her small hands touch my burned skin and I immediately feel the pain vanishing. The bright light fills me, flows through my body and reaches every last part of me which isn't feeling well and takes it all away. I feel healthy and strong. The red patches on my skin already started fading and almost nothing is left of them now.
After she's done Wendy just turns away and starts feeding me some berries. "Wow Wendy, your skills are amazing!"
She blushes and gives me a shy grin "I still have to improve a lot. One spell should actually heal you completely, but I had to do it over and over in the last days just to make you wake up."
The color drained out of the young girl's face and she looks really tired. Healing people must be really exhausting for her. "How long was I….asleep?"
Wendy shrugs. "A couple of days. I fed you and gave you some water, but I'm running out of food" she quickly looks away as I hear the grumbling of her stomach. She gave me her food although she didn't even have enough for herself? What on earth is wrong with this girl?
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you Lucy. I brought your backpack with me in case you still needed it, but I swear I haven't stolen anything!"
A smile curls around my lips: "It's okay Wendy, I believe you, although you would have had every right to take something out of my backpack, really. I can't believe what you've done for me and I'll never be able to pay it back. You saved my life. The least I can do is share with you."
Her face turns red "It's nothing, really…"
Grabbing my backpack I look through it and find the two rabbit legs I had packed. They still look edible to me and I hand Wendy one. Her eyes widen when she sees the meat and she quickly shakes her head "You can't possibly…"
I press the leg in her hand "Eat up"
After some moments of gluttonous silence I clear my throat "So, what have I missed?"
"The two tributes from district 4 and…"
"What? Both of the careers?!"
She nods slightly. "The rain got them both. Apparently the careers were walking around, looking for tributes to kill when the rain got them by surprise. The boy, I think his name was Gray, was a little injured from some fight before and the rain affected him most, so he couldn't run fast enough. After he fell behind too much, the careers abandoned him. The water girl, Juvia, didn't want to leave him though, so she stayed with him to die. They simply lay there in the rain, hugging, while the rain burned down their skin, it was awful."
Both of the star-crossed lovers dead. The water woman and the ice mage died in the rain. How ironic.
I guess that whole loving-each-other thing wasn't completely made up then, at least not for Juvia. For her to give up her own life instead of abandoning Gray, it's somehow incredibly stupid and incredibly brave and touching at the same time. She'd rather die than live in a world without him.
I'd like to think that I would have done the same, but deep down I know I probably wouldn't have had the guts to do it. I'm glad that I don't love anyone that much (at least not in this arena I guess), it only makes you vulnerable and weak. And at the same time, mustn't it be awfully beautiful to fall in love like that?
I shake my head furiously. They're both dead now, that's the result of their love. And besides, I'll never fall in love anyway. Maybe I would've, later, married someone in my district, found "the one", but this will never happen. I'll never know what it's like to have butterflies in my stomach, or to get married, or to grow old together with someone you love. I won't know what it's like because my future has been stolen from me, so I shouldn't waste my time thinking about it.
"How do you know all those details?"
Wendy blushes "Let's say I always keep an eye on the careers."
What exactly is this girl? She looks so fragile but I think she's a sly one.
Two careers gone. That leaves four of them.
Wendy and I share some water fruit and I find out that the small girl is actually totally dehydrated so I let her drink another one.
"So we're allies then?" I ask and she gives me a big, happy smile that warms my heart.
"I guess so"
"Were there any other deaths?" I ask and hesitantly add "What about the boy from 12?"
Wendy thinks and looks like she's trying to remember who he was. "You know, Natsu Dragneel, pink hair, the fire boy?"
At that a flicker of recognition flashes up in her eyes and she shakes her head. "He wasn't in the sky so I guess he's still alive. Why are you asking?"
I feel heat rush up my cheeks and quickly turn away. "It's nothing" I really don't know why I even asked that stupid question. What do I care whether he's still alive or not?
The other girl shrugs and takes another sip of fresh water.
For the next hours Wendy and I just sit in the cozy cave and talk. We talk and even laugh together and for those few hours I can forget the arena around me, the careers hunting us down, the purple rain, the spoiled capitol citizen watching us with delight, I can just forget them. Right now I'm just an average girl that hangs out with her friend. Wendy turns out to be a really cheerful girl and it's hard not to catch her happiness. She tells me about her life in district 6, her family and friends, school, all those little everyday things that I didn't really notice when I had them but now seem incredibly important to me. We completely avoid talking about the games or the other tributes, both of us are trying to deny our current situation, even if it's just for a couple of hours.
The warm evening sun casts dancing shadows on the stone wall and illuminates the cave with golden, orange and red light.
Suddenly I remember something I wanted to ask Wendy and although I don't want to interrupt her happy chattering about her cat, I need to know. "Wendy, did the trees move in the last nights as well?"
She blinks in surprise, as if she's just waking up from a dream and I feel sorry about dragging her back into the arena.
"Do you mean the wandering trees? Yap, they start to move every night, a few hours after the dead tributes are shown"
I nod. We should be safe from the trees in our cave though. "What about the Cornucopia? And the maze? They're a completely different part of it, but they still should belong to the arena right?"
Wendy looks a little confused but when her face lights up I know we're thinking the same thing. "You couldn't mean…"
"Oh yes I do" I look at her a grin crossing over my face. "Do you have any idea in which direction the tunnel lies from that cave?"
The little girl wrinkles her forehead. "I'm not a 100% sure, but I have a general idea."
Authors Note: What are those girls up to now? You'll see next time! And yaaaay Lucy made her first alliance! I really looked forward to writing that part…finally getting other people involved.
School starts for me again tomorrow….nooooooooo!
Natsu: Girls! What are you planning?
Lucy and Wendy: *evil grin*
Natsu: Oh come on! Tell me!
Lucy and Wendy: *shaking their heads*
Natsu: That's not fair! I wanna join the fun too!
Lucy and Wendy: *shaking their heads*
Natsu: And now you're not even talking to me?! You're so mean!
Gray: It's because nobody likes you flame brain.
Natsu: WHAT THE HELL I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD?!
Gray: Those were some great special effects, right? Oh come on, you didn't really think that I'd die that easily. The head game maker happens to be my uncle, so we plotted to fake my death and get me out of there when I noticed that I stand no chance against Erza anyway. But unfortunately that crazy rain woman wouldn't let go of me, so we had to take her with us.
Juvia: Juvia thought that this scene was very romantic and touching.
Lucy: You've got a weird taste when it comes to romance.
Juvia: SHUT UP LOVE RIVAL!