Fire is catching
Chapter 32
Author's Note: Yeah…I'm not going to try to justify my long absence with some lame excuses, but I'm really sorry to have let you guys down like this. Writing this story and reading all your lovely comments makes me very happy, so don't worry, I won't quit until this story is really finished. And I'll do my best to update on a regular basis from now on. So without further ado, let's jump right into chapter 32 (wow, 32 already, how did that happen?) and continue to follow Lucy on her adventure that is the hunger games! *insert dramatic music here*
Hope that you enjoy it!
Then I start seeing them, one after another they appear in front of me, brightening up the darkness. My mother and father standing side by side, both smiling, they're hands joined together. Loki, Virgo, Aquarius, all my spirits are here with me, smiling and waving at me. Wendy and Levy are there too, both looking so carefree and happy. Some of my friends from district 8 including Mary are chatting happily with my celestial spirits, everybody's so cheerful. I had actually never seen all my loved ones together like this, all alive and well.
They start looking into my direction, as if I'd just entered a room. "Lucy, are you coming with us?" purr their lulling voice that sound so safe, so inviting and yet, I hesitate. I'm caught between two sides, Gajeel's vicious face, grinning as he hurts me like nobody ever did before or all the people that are important to me, holding out their hands, waiting for me to join them. Just as I'm about to turn away from the pain of being alive, I notice that Gajeel's facial expression has changed. Instead of being sickly entertained he looks kind of alert now, sniffing the air watchfully.
This is enough to catch my attention and I turn around, hoping to be able to cling to my consciousness for just a few more minutes. My vision is still limited to a blurry tunnel that is about to fade away and turn to complete darkness at any moment now.
The career doesn't stop hurting me and now that I forced myself back to half consciousness the sensation of pain is only getting stronger and stronger, and for what? My life is over already, I should just accept it and go, leave with my head up high instead of gasping for life like a fish is craving water on land. I sigh as my eyes start to flutter shut and I accept the darkness rolling over me, carrying me with it like a grain of sand in the deep wide sea. Just as the last glimmer is about to die down, I hear a strangely familiar voice, calling out something. It sounds far far away and muffled, but I can still make out the strong determination in it.
"Leave her alone"
Who is this? What is he, the voice is definitely male, saying? What is happening? Am I dreaming?
"Didn't you hear me? I said leave her alone, right now!" exclaims the unknown voice, now sounding angry and aggressive.
Suddenly, the strong grasp on my arm, the weight on my chest, the knees that were pinning me down, are finally released and I'm able to breathe a little better, what is happening?
Two deep voices are now shouting at each other, but I only get bits and pieces of it, it's like they're muted and incredibly far away.
"What the hell are you doing here you idiot?" screams the rusty and rumbling voice of my torturer.
"Just let her be, that's all I'm asking for. You already hurt her enough", says the other voice through gritted teeth.
"What do you care whether she lives or dies?! This is none of your business! Look, I'm feeling quite generous today, so just leave, let me have my fun with her and I'll let you walk away unharmed. Sounds like a deal, right?"
"No way. What about you leave her and maybe I'll let you walk away unharmed, you sick sadist."
"What did you just call me? Do I have to beat you to a pulp before you give up?"
"You can try."
"You know that you can't save the girl anyway, right? Her injuries will kill her eventually, it's too late for you to play the hero…so just let it be…and save yourself if you're smart enough"
"Are you scared to fight me, career?"
"You wish"
"I won't let you hurt her anymore"
This was the last thing I heard before flashes of black and one stripe of pink light up in front of me and I black out, finally slipping into the pleasant comfort of unconsciousness.
Waking up I find myself in a completely unknown surrounding. The sky above me is bright blue and warm sunlight caresses my face. Unfortunately, I'm not new to waking up without having a single clue where I am. Last time this happened, I thought that I might be dead, but this time, I know I'm not. Because if I really was dead, I wouldn't be able to feel such massive amounts of pain, I'm certain of that. My whole body is aching and looking at myself I realize that I'm a complete mess. Dried blood covers my skin and there are deep cuts on my arms and stomach. It looks as if they're already a little older but weren't treated properly, they're most probably infected. Yellowish puss comes out of the still slightly open wounds and they burn like fire. On top of that I'm bruised all over and there's an uncountable amount of scratches covering my skin. As I try to sit up I scream out in pain and fall back on the hard ground, what happened to my hand? It seems as if several fingers are broken, I'm unable to move them in the slightest and they look oddly angled. My head thumbing I try to remember what happened to me, but it only makes my head spin even more. Where memories of the last hours should've been, there's only a thick, black darkness, I can't recall a single thing.
My name is Lucy Heartfilia, I am 17 years old, my home is district 8, I'm a tribute in this years hunger games, I saw several people, including a very dear friend, die right in front of me, I was tortured and barely survived. But who did this, what happened, was it so bad that I lost my memories in order to protect myself or did my brain get seriously damaged?
A tribute that is badly injured and in no condition to flee, lying on the floor in the middle of a wide, open space? I could just put up a flashing sign that says "easy prey", I need to get out of here. So again, I try sitting up, this time without making use of my broken hand and yet, I'm not more successful. Just as I manage to get into a sitting position. I double over and start coughing heavily until a liquid that tastes like metal is filling my mouth. Disgusted, I spit it out and realize that it's blood, I'm coughing blood, that is not good, not good at all, am I internally bleeding, am I going to die? Not knowing makes me crazy, what in the world happened to me? As I try to crawl away into hiding, several coughing attacks overcome me and more blood comes out of my mouth. I must look like a pathetic little worm, helplessly rolling on the ground like this, unable to move. Anybody could just come by and crunch me with their foot without making any kind of effort.
Just as this thought crosses my mind, I hear approaching footsteps from the undergrowth, somebody's coming towards me. Panic stricken, I try to crawl faster, but I can't, I'm too weak, too slow. Before I have the chance to get away, a person steps out of the forest, the person I least expected.
Oh, I am so screwed.
The boy that got a score of ten, the one that was always friendly to me and had a smile on his face at all times, despite the fact that he was going through the same torture as all the other tributes, the boy that I know is incredibly strong, is now standing in front of me. He himself looks pretty beaten up, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth, bruises covering his partly scarred body and a black eye giving a grim and hard look to his face. Natsu Dragneel isn't smiling anymore.
Fear shoots through me like a bolt of lightning, I'm dead, I'm done for. Even though he had always been pretty nice to me during the days of training, I can clearly see that the games changed him as they did everybody else. There's no room for jokes, chit chat or even kindness in the arena and he, as a strong and skilled tribute can't just see me, a weakling that is unable to flee and walk away as if nothing happened. I know what he'll do and strangely, I'm not even angry with him, I understand. Anyone with a strong will to survive would make use of this situation. One more down, one tribute less to waste the precious and limited resources, one life less separating him from freedom.
He's walking towards me, his mouth set in a straight line, his eyes locked on mine. Within seconds, he's towering above me, suddenly looking way taller than I remember him.
All I do is put my hands above my face protectively. I know that I'm in no state to fight back, I don't stand the slightest chance against him, so at least I try to make my voice sound strong and brave but only manage a weak whimper: "Please make it quick."
I know that this might sound extremely strange but I'm sort of glad that it's him ending this whole thing. I mean, of course dying is horrible and I'm incredibly scared, but at least I'll get killed by somebody that is neither a career nor an insane person. I really hope that it'll be quick and painless. I guess I'll never know who gave me those wounds and I won't ever know what happens to my keys,what it's like to fall in love, what being old feels like, but maybe, maybe, it's better that way, who knows?
Preparing myself I squint my eyes closed and wait for it, for the strike that'll end it all.
But nothing happens.
Confused I look up and shield my eyes from the bright sunlight. All I see is Natsu, standing in front of me with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He squats in front of me, so that we're approximately on the same eye level and says: "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about" with genuine honesty, his big round dark eyes looking at me expectantly.
This leaves me completely confused and startled, what does he mean he doesn't know what I'm talking about? Why the hell is he smirking? Is this some sort of game? Does he want to mock me before finishing me off?
"Well… I…uh…weren't you going to uhm…you know…because I'm so injured and uh…"
Looking at me suspiciously he puts a hand on my forehead and says, something that sounds like concern filling his voice: "Lucy, are you delirious? You're not making any sense and you've still got a slight fever…you should probably go back to sleep" And with those words, he gently presses me down on the ground and I'm way too confused to fight back.
"Oh my, what happened to your arm? God dammit, this looks like an infection, so I did put the wrong herbs on your wounds after all. Gaaah, why can't I remember what they look like, I should've paid attention during training! I suck at treating injuries, I know, I'm sorry, I'll look what I can do tomorrow, okay? You should probably fall asleep, or should I carry you to camp first, it's not really safe here after all. Oh shit, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, I'm really sorry but I swear, I'm trying really hard." He walks up and down in front of me, making wild gestures with his hands, talking to himself and I have no clue what is going on. After some time of thinking hard I decide that I really am delirious and this is all one big bizarre fever dream. Yap, that's pretty much the only explanation.
Suddenly, I'm lifted off the ground which sends a jolt of pain down my back. I can't help but to scream out in pain through gritted teeth which makes Natsu, or should I say my feverish illusion, almost drop me. "I'm so sorry", he says, tightening his grip on me "I swear, I'm being as gentle as possible, but I've got to get you out of here because other tributes arrive" And just like that he starts running through the forest, me thrown over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. Every step sends sharp pain through my body and silently wince into the hand that's covering my mouth.
This is definitely the weirdest dream I ever.
Author's Note: YEEES! Natsu finally made his entrance. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I've been waiting for this for so long, and I'm really happy that I was able to write those scenes. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, why don't you let me know in the comments?
Maybe we can bring some order into this weird mess and clear some things up in the next chapter, until then, stay awesome!
Natsu: *looking grim*
Author: *sighs* What's wrong Natsu?
Natsu: Hmpf…
Author: What is it…?
Natsu: My entrance…
Author: So what about it?
Natsu: Hmpf…
Author: Well what? You were complaining ALL the time about how you didn't have anything to do and you wanted to be a part of the story too and blah blah blah, you just wouldn't shut up about it! And now that you did participate in the story, you're just moping around!
Natsu: Well…I thought it would be a little more…I don't know…spectacular?
Author: What do you mean?
Natsu: *mumbles something*
Author: Pardon me? I didn't quite catch that.
Natsu: *crying* I just thought that…I imagined that I could…I just really wanted to burst in in a superman costume okay? Is that too much to ask for? *sobs*
Author: I have nothing to say to that.