Fire is catching
Chapter 42
Author's Note: Here it is, the long promised next chapter! With 16 pages in word, this definitely is the longest one so far which I thought is an appropriate compensation for the long wait. I hope you enjoy it!
As I slide down against the stone wall, hugging my knees and hiding my head in my hands, the loud sound of a canon going off cuts through the air.
While sitting there, leaned against the cold stone, the usual thoughts that tormented my brain after every loss I've experienced cross my mind once again.
It's my fault, I shouldn't have abandoned him, he doesn't deserve this, it should have been me, this world is so unfair…all those are things that I've said to myself before, that I've repeated over and over again and every time I swore not to make the same mistake and yet it happened again. One might think that you get used to the pain, that your emotions are dulled with every life that's taken until your heart turns to stone and nothing can rattle you anymore, but for me that isn't the case.
When Lisanna's canon was fired because her lifeless body, struck by a knife in the back, lay on top of me, something inside of me cracked. Every following canon I've heard going off ever since just added depth and width to this internal wound. And now the finishing blow has hit me. A cut so deep that everything, my pain, my fears, my sorrow spill out and leave me drained. It's like I'm bleeding out but instead of blood it's my spirit that's inevitably leaving my body until nothing but an empty shell remains.
Once I've reached that point it's like my emotions have been erased, not a single thought racing through my head. Instead, I'm filled with an emptiness that makes me feel incredibly light, like a hot air balloon that has let go off its weights and is now floating towards the clouds. Maybe I should be concerned about this sudden transformation, but it is way too pleasant to question it. My body's gone on auto pilot, automatically gets up and starts to determinately walk towards a destination that I don't have any conscious knowledge of, but it seems as if my legs have developed a life of their own and know exactly where they need to go. I just follow along, still enjoying the floating sensation I'm experiencing now that my mind has snapped and I've officially gone bonkers.
Before I even realize it, I have squeezed myself through the well-known crack in the massive rock wall to reenter the hidden valley. A I see the familiar scenery laid out in front of me a million memories come up, but they have somewhat faded, as if they had happened an eternity ago or belong to an entirely different person. The images have lost their vividness, the colors less bright, the sounds merely an echo of what they used to be. They still manage to cause a clutching sensation deep in my guts, but this passes shortly after as my state of mind is once returned to a blank sheet.
My eyes see, but my heart doesn't and this emotional blindness might be considered a curse by anyone, but to me, right here, right now, it's a welcome blessing.
I let myself sink onto the ground, run my hands through the thick blades of grass and focus on nothing but my breathing until this normally automatic progress turns into a task that takes all of my concentration.
Each consciously taken breath makes me feel as if I'm sinking deeper into the earth, being swallowed up by it until I disappear and fall into a world of deep, dreamless sleep.
As my eyelids flutter open at first I seem to be surrounded by total darkness. It takes some time for my eyes to adjust, like a camera lens that has to find the right settings after being opened in order to get a clear picture of the outside world. After a while though, I can make out the shapes of the trees and rocks around me using the silver light of the half moon and the twinkling stars as my primary light source.
It is only then that I realize that some kind of music is playing, but I can't locate where it's coming from. After a few moments of confused head turning I finally get it. The tune that's being broadcasted in the arena is the anthem of the capitol and this is the time the casualties of the day flash up once more in the night sky before disappearing forever from the face of earth and joining all the other names of forgotten tributes.
My mouth tightens into a straight line as I remember whose face is just about to show up. Even though I'm still a lot calmer than I should be thanks to the blissful vacuum inside of me I can feel my emotions stirring, feel the rumbling of upcoming thunder in my chest and know that it's only a matter of time until the dark thoughts return.
Sighing I try to avert my eyes from the projection in the sky but I'm still not in full control of my body which means that I'll be forced to watch, whether I want to or not.
With the anthem still playing in the background the familiar face of a male tribute flashes up.
My breath gets caught in my throat and I cough violently as a million icy needles pierce through my skin and it feels like a snake is sliding down my spine, sending shudders through all of my bones.
The picture in the sky is the portrait of a young man with a strong jawline, knitted eyebrows and a wicked gleam in his eyes. It is not the one I expected to see, it is not Natsu. Instead the well-known and much hated face of Gajeel, the cruel career responsible for a lot of my misery is looking down at me.
My body responded to this before I even understood what it means. But as the message conveyed by this image slowly starts to sink in all the barriers inside of me collapse. Rushes of relief and joy flood my veins and tears are starting to dwell up, blurring my vision until the world around me turns into darkness sprinkled with the occasional twinkling light. My breath is going way too fast, making my head spin as I am shaken by violent sobs that make me lean onto the ground for support. If my mind was a blank paper before those news it now is a page filled with a thousand unorganized scribbles, an uncontrollable explosion of a million colors.
Amidst this bundle of unorganized thoughts, there's one phrase that keeps getting repeated, the voice rising up until it cancels out everything else: Natsu is alive.
Natsu's face didn't show up in today's broadcasting which means that he didn't die. Instead, it is Gajeel that made the canon go off, it is his life that was ended today. Somehow, Natsu must've managed to defeat the bunch of vicious lizard mutations even though I can't image how he should've done that for the life of me.
Instead, it is Gajeel's light that went out today. I can't exactly say that I feel sorry for him, after all he did, he deserved to die. Still, I wonder what happened to him, was he killed by the mutations? Or did Erza make use of his momentary weakness to get rid of him? Or did he challenge her himself and thereby made a terrible mistake? Could it even be Natsu that took him out?
I shake my head, as if wanting to shake off those kind of thoughts like a dog shaking off the water droplets after going for a swim in the lake. All of those questions don't matter. The only thing that's important is that Gajee's dead and Natsu's alive. Natsu's alive. He's still out there, breathing, somewhere in the arena. After fighting all of those mutations he's probably weak or even severely injured and there's no one with him to help. The only one left in this arena besides me and him now is Erza Scarlet, the career that wouldn't be very likely to offer a helping hand when finding a wounded Natsu but most probably make use of that advantageous situation to get rid of yet another rival and murdering herself one step, one body closer to the victor's crown.
I can't let that happen. Fighting all of those mutations must have been tremendously exhausting and I can't let all of that work, his work, I can't let it go to waste. Right now, I am the only one who can help Natsu.
I need to find him.
As I jump up from the soft grass making my way over to the crack in the rocks at a quick pace the emptiness inside of me is replaced by a single thought, an endless rope which I cling to as it guides the way. "Find Natsu" is what I tell myself over and over again, is the only thing I am allowing myself to think.
This mantra is the only thing pushing me forward, my determination the sole driving force behind my actions. As soon as I get past the narrow passageway, back to the main part of the arena the impatient twitching in my legs is making me break into a run.
I feel as if I'm suddenly hypersensitive to my surroundings. I can see everything clearly even as I run past it, the colors more vibrant, the smells more distinct, the sounds oddly pure. My eyes dart across the ground, on the lookout for anything that could give away Natsu's whereabouts. I follow the traces of the huge claws that have been wiped over most probably by the enormous tails of the lizard like creatures without even questioning whether it would really be the best idea to follow those monsters. Right now, the only thing that could possibly lead me to my ally are those mutations, so I guess I'll just have to deal with the possibility that I could run straight into their sharp claws and end up as a convenient snack instead of being the rescuing knight in shining armor.
I grid my teeth as my lungs start burning, my stamina still used up pretty quickly. A few days in the arena couldn't make up for the years I've spend inside, crouched into a comfortable corner of the library, my nose stuck in a book. But it's too late to regret that now, the only thing left to do is to ignore the aching pain in my sides and carry on. Because I have to find him.
I've lost count of the times somebody has come to my help ever since the games started, but I know that it has been way more often than I actually deserve and that Natsu has contributed a great part to the fact that I am still alive, that my lungs are still taking in the cool night air and that my heart is still pumping hot red blood through my veins.
I can't aim to pay him back, as I owe him just way too much to even aspire to ever equal our bill, but the only thing I can do is to save him as he has done for me oh so many times. He was willing to die for me. In a game with the aim to kill all the other contestants in order to survive he just ignored the intended purpose and was willing to lay down his life for me, to sacrifice everything just for me to go on living in this twisted world we call our reality.
The thought of this still doesn't fail to send shivers down my spine. Really, what was it with him? What makes you sacrifice yourself for a person you barely even know? Sure, it is said that extreme situations bring out both the best and the worst in people, but nevertheless that doesn't make it less odd for someone to throw away his life for a complete stranger without even the slightest moment of hesitation. "Only that we aren't mere strangers to one another" I think to myself before I can help it and as soon as this thought has been internally expressed, I realize their truth.
Ever since I've met Natsu there has been an undeniable connection, an unconditional trust that would normally take years to build up between the two of us. Not to even mention the fact that amidst all this terror and despair he never failed to bring a smile on my face with one of his stupid jokes. Yeah, you couldn't really say that we were strangers even though we had only met a couple of days ago under most unfortunate circumstances that weren't really a fertile soil to build a friendship upon and yet, a sort of friendship that was rare to find had developed and I wasn't willing to let it end just like that, to give up on yet another person dear to my heart.
I have to find him, I repeated once again as I fought through a thick net of intertwined twigs, getting steadily closer to the location where I last encountered him.
As I reach the destination my legs were automatically carrying me to, I start circling the surrounding area, further widening the radius of the territory as I still wasn't able to find him. "Where could he have gone off to?" I think to myself as my eyes dart across a bundle of characteristically colored rocks. Wait a minute…my eyes flicker back onto the formation of middle-sized rocks only to realize that they didn't just happen to have a particularly interesting pattern upon them but are actually covered in thick red blood splattered all the way across them.
Even though I couldn't be sure, a dreading instinct tells me that this is Natsu's blood and I follow the red traces that look as if a heavily wounded somebody has either been dragged or dragged themselves through the dense undergrowth of the darkening forest. The marks are impossible to overlook once you have noticed them and so I run even faster, a notch of fear now forming inside my guts making me feel as if I'd throw up any moment even though I haven't eaten anything all day long.
All this time the thing keeping me going was the wish to find him, to find Natsu, but as I finally do see him, hidden away under the big leaves of an exotic looking bush, I wish that my eyes had never fallen upon this sight. Of course, I had expected him to be injured, badly even, after a fight like this which surely couldn't have been easy, but this…I didn't expect this.
He is laying on his back, head rolled sideways, eyes fixed shut in silent suffering. He is bathed in a puddle of his own blood so large I wonder whether there's actually any left inside of him. The major wound seems to be a long slash right across his stomach so deep that it makes me fear the possibility of his guts spilling out. Both of his hands are pressed on that wound, trying to stop the blood flowing out of it with little success. As I approach him and sink to the ground by his side I realize that his right leg is positioned in a rather unnatural looking angle which makes me come to the conclusion that his bones must be sprained or even broken. His arm is swollen and bright red, especially around the area where the magic coins are to be inserted and several bruises and cuts cover his entire upper body. His clothes torn apart or the remaining bits soaked with blood and his salmon, normally so spiky hair plastered flat to his skin he's almost unrecognizable and looks nothing like the image of the Natsu I know.
As I try rest his head on my lap I try to evaluate the situation. His legs are injured, so he most certainly won't be able to walk back to the valley. And even if his legs were completely functioning, the deep slash across his stomach is the thing making me worry the most. This is something that might have caught quite a bit of internal damage. Not even to mention the high risk of infection because of the lack of supplies to properly clean and take care of an injury of this caliber.
At a loss for ideas what to do I tried it with one of the most typical approaches of mine when I'm trying to handle a stressful situation: unnecessary talking. "Oh my God Natsu, you look terrible! I don't even want to imagine how you got all of those wounds, I just saw that your picture wasn't in the sky and I immediately started looking for you after that. I was convinced you were dead! I mean, not that I didn't believe in you or anything, because I do and I know that you're a great fighter and everything, but I thought there were just too many of them,of the mutations I mean. And when I heard the canon going off, well, I thought it was all over to be honest. But then I found out later at night that the canon didn't go off because of you but because of Gajeel, I wonder what happened to him? Never mind, when I found out I just had to head back for you, I know that's what you would've done if it was me. Although, you probably wouldn't have gone off in the first place, I never should've agreed to just abandoning you back then. Maybe if I had refused to go, all of this wouldn't have happened! But I guess it's too late to regret decisions already made, especially in here as you often don't get any chance to dwell in the past because otherwise you'll end up having no future. I'll just have to deal with the present and get you out of here. The question is how…how indeed, the problem is that I can't really carry you back, can I? Not because you're too heavy or something, muscles weigh more than fat, did you know that? No, it's just because I am too weak, too weak to do anything on my own. I fear that it's always been this way…Oh gosh, I think I'm rambling again, I always do that when I don't know what to do. I'll just go on and on and on, muttering about some kind of unimportant bullshit, see? I'm doing it again!"
I sigh heavily as I carefully try to push Natsu into a more upright position but freeze as I touch his skin, it is cold as ice. Normally, Natsu functioned as a kind of biological heater. Due to his fire dragon powers his normal body temperature was one that would be considered as a dangerous fever for anyone else. This didn't get affected by neither suffocating heat nor quivering cold so that the body warmth he gave off proved to be quite useful during the cold nights in the arena. Now however, his skin feels awfully cold, almost dead. I then realize that his chest is only rising and falling at a bare minimum. His breaths are short and shallow and a long pause remains between each and every one of them as if it is an immense burden to get the fresh oxygen into his lungs.
I have to do something, quickly, before it is too late.
My hand slides into the pocket of my skirt as my fingers curl around the almost empty roll of magic coins. I lost most of them to Gajeel and only had about three left, three chances to unleash my true powers. I'm rather reluctant to ever use them, wanting to keep them for emergency situations but this definitely qualifies as one. I curse myself and my physical inability as carrying back a wounded person wouldn't be a necessarily challenging task to anyone that actually had some strength, by far not something that required magic. But because of my weakness I am once again forced to depend on help and use up the already very rare resources.
With trembling hands I get the coin out of the crumpled foil enveloping it and insert it into my arm. As it clicks in I try to calm my breathing, I need to keep a cool head if I want to manage this situation.
I can immediately fill the rush of warmth spreading through my veins as my magical power is unlocked. It gives me confidence to know that my celestial spirits are there to back me up, to help me through this mess even though I am well aware of the fact that I need to hurry up as the amount of time at my disposal is limited.
I run through my options as I contemplate which of my spirits I should summon to bring Natsu back to the valley. My mind first jumps to Taurus because of his obvious physical strength, but he can be a little bold from time to time, not exactly the best pick to carefully transport an injured person. Loke, my trusted companion, would probably be more than qualified for this job but I then think of another spirit and grab the golden key, wield it through the air and open the gate of Aries. The pink haired girl appears before me within seconds surrounded by puffy clouds. Her innocent cuteness seems so out of place in here, where violence and suffering are omnipresent.
Aries seems to be surprised to have been summoned but soon regains her composure and shyly asks how she could be of my assistance.
"I need help carrying my friend to our hiding space. He's severely injured and unconscious, so we have to be very careful not to hurt him. We also have to be quick though, as we are very exposed and weakened right now and would therefore make an easy target. Can you help me with that?" I ask, my voice clearer than I expected it to be.
"M..meee? Of…of course! I'll do my best!" Aries answers with a slight bow. She starts creating small pink clouds out of thin air until they add up to a single bigger one, floating slightly above the ground. She then proceeds to gently heaving Natsu onto it, so that he lies in the flying cloud as if it was his bed.
"Is this alright?" Aries asks insecurely. "Yes, this is exactly what I had in mind, thank you so much Aries!"
I step closer to examine Natsu's condition before we start moving. His wounds are still excessively bleeding, tainting the fluffy clouds red and his body temperature seems to have dropped even further. As I place my hand on his forehead his eyelids flutter open so that I can catch a glimpse of his deep onyx eyes.
"Lucy?" he asks, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper.
I soothingly run my hand through his hair as I respond in a calm, muted tone: "It's okay, everything's going to be okay. We'll bring you back to the valley and then everything's going to be okay. I won't let you down."
Even though I know that those words sound like an awfully cheesy lie, I feel like it was right to speak them out loud. Not necessarily for his sake, but for mine.
"You were supposed to run, leave me behind" he croaks with a clearly distinguishable scolding undertone.
"I did, I really did. But how could I have left you behind, knowing that you are still alive?"
He doesn't answer to that and seems to have slipped back into unconsciousness.
"Okay Aries, let's go. I'll lead the way and you just follow me and pay attention that Natsu doesn't get caught in any branches." She gives me a reassuring nod and together we set into motion. A tribute, a celestial spirit and an unconscious boy caught between life and death floating on a magical cloud.
Not something the capitol people will get to see every day, at least we're putting on a good show.
Maneuvering the injured Natsu through the thick undergrowth of the arena's forest turns out to be a rather challenging task and even though Aries and I try our best to hold the twigs and thorns and leaves out of the clouds way, it still gets caught in them way too often as we desperately try to unfiddle the cloud and get it back to moving once again. As time passes I am increasingly worried about both the widening blood puddle that's being sucked up by the cotton-like substance the magical cloud is made of and also by the fact that our time is slowly but surely running out. It won't be long before Aries disappears into thin air, goes back to the spirit world and I am left all alone with a dying Natsu.
When we finally reach the familiar crack in the wall leading to the hidden valley we are once again faced with the problematic of how to transport the still unconscious Natsu.
"Leave it to me!" Aries declares determinedly and starts molding the cloud, removing and adding parts until it envelops Natsu like a cocoon. If it wasn't for all of the blood soaking through the fluffy white substance, it would actually look rather cute, as if he had fallen asleep in a particularly comfortable sleeping bag.
"He'll fit through while reassuring that he won't get scratched by the walls of the rock" Aries states after she's finished with her work.
"Aries, you're a genius! I don't know what I would've done without you…"
The girl's cheeks turn pink as she mutter: "Oh no, I'm just fulfilling my duty, don't say something like that…"
I let her and Natsu pass through the crack at first before following them still wondering about how Natsu managed to single handedly carry my knocked out self through this narrow passage.
Upon arriving on the flower filled meadow I can feel a heavy weight being lifted off my chest, making breathing a lot easier. I still have no clue how I am supposed to take care of Natsu's wounds but at least we got him here, got him to safety, for now.
"I would provide you with bandages to treat his wounds, but they would disappear as soon as I do which is pretty soon as far as I can tell."
I give her the warmest smile I can currently muster up: "You have done very well Aries. Really, you have been of great assistance, I don't know what I would've done without you. Thank you so much."
At this a few tears start dwelling up in Aries' eyes: "It's always a great pleasure to be of your assistance, Master Lucy. Even in troublesome times like this. I wish you the best of luck Lucy, may the stars lend you strength. I know you can do it."
As her body starts disappearing I realize that I may as well never see her again but instead of voicing those thoughts I whisper: "May we meet under a different sky."
The warmth my magic provided me with has vanished as well as the cloud and my celestial spirit leaving me and a barely breathing Natsu alone in the cold night air, suddenly feeling very small in a big, incomprehensible word.
"What should I do?" I ask the moon, my hands clenched into fists as I hear Natsu's slow and irregular breathing and see the blood, so unnaturally red even though it's dark outside continue spilling out of his body.
Somewhere out there, a bloodthirsty Erza is probably trying to hunt us down, while I am hiding here, my friend gravely injured with no medical supplies whatsoever to take care of him. Our food and water supplies are running low as well and as the games are slowly coming to an end it can't be long until the gloriously gory finale.
And here I am, under the same sky as all those people watching my misery on a digital screen, my suffering exploited for entertainment.
"I could really do with some help now" I sob as the hot tears of despair can no longer be held back.
Looking up to the sky's infinite amount of stars twinkling down on me I notice their significant difference in size and brilliance. Especially one of them seems to stand out amongst the others, brighter and larger than all of them. As I squint my eyes I realize that it seems to be expanding further, growing wider and wider. It takes a few seconds for me to notice that the thing glowing in the sky isn't actually a growing star, but some kind of unknown object that's flying towards me.
After approaching a little more I can make out that the unknown flying object is actually a little silver parachute with a small round pot attached to its end. It gently lands on the grass beside me and the small parachute deflates and collapses onto itself.
I carefully remove Natsu's head from my lap onto the ground and skid towards the little parachute that must contain a gift from my or Natsu's sponsors. Detaching the small metallic pot from the parachute I see that a small note is stuck to it. I unroll the paper and bring it close to my eyes as the darkness is making it hard to decipher.
"I scraped together all the resources you and your 'friend's' sponsors could provide to afford this. You won't get another chance. Make it count honey."
-Angel
While reading this message I could hear Angel's voice inside of my head and perfectly picture her gracefully hurrying around between the capitol's elite, drinking champagne, complimenting their outfits and laughing shrilly about their jokes while discretely but consistently urging them to invest into her tribute, into me.
My slightly shaking hands twist open the cap of the container, leaving my sticky fingerprints on its shiny surface. Even though the dark makes it hard to see, the small pot appears to be filled with a clear gel that gives off a mild, fresh odor.
I scoop up a tiny amount of the liquid and rub it between my fingers. It leaves a clean soothing feeling on my skin and is absorbed by it in next to no time. I'm not an expert on medication, so I have no idea what kind of product this is but as it was given to me from both mine and Natsu's sponsors I assume that it's supposed to treat his severe injuries. How effective this cream really is and whether it will be enough to bring the nearly dead Natsu back to health is completely unclear to me but the mere fact that we received help, that I'm not completely alone helps to loosen up the tight knot inside of my stomach.
I get back to Natsu, my fingers curled around the cream as if my life depended on it. He's still completely unconscious and his body temperature still way too cold, so that I would prefer to put the gel on him right away to try to ease his pain, but I know better. Even though the cream came as a totally unexpected gift that I highly appreciate, the size of the pot isn't really that big considering the large amount and severity of Natsu's wounds. I will have to use it wisely because just as the note said, this is our last chance, we have to seize it. So instead of going ahead and giving in to my impulse, I tell myself that I will patiently wait until the morning light illuminates the glittering rocks. Then I will have to abandon Natsu, only for a little while, in order to get some water fruit to wash out his wounds. At the same time I should probably fetch us something to eat if that's possible, as our food supplies are also starting to run low. And if I happen to stumble upon them, finding some of those healing herbs that Wendy used to treat me with would be very neat as well. Not that I clearly remember their shape and color or where to even look for them but hey, with my unbelievable luck everything will surely go very smoothly. I roll my eyes at my own misplaced sarcasm but as I'm the only one to keep me company right now, I guess I can say or rather think whatever I want, even if it means being awfully pessimistic.
Anyways, after stocking up our supplies I will apply the cream to Natsu's wounds and hope that it will miraculously cure him. That sounds like a plan where about a million things could very easily go wrong, one of the main problems being that it depended solely on me not screwing up at any point. If there is one thing that I learned in these games is that whether alone or with company, I am incredibly incapable of doing anything right. If I am involved, something's bound to go wrong. That being said, it's probably understandable that the glimpse of hope that had awoken inside of me because of the parachute's arrival had dimmed down to a weak and unstable flickering.
Trying, but failing miserably, to encourage myself I stay by Natsu's side watching his blood covered chest rise and fall at a bare minimum and decide that even though right now, I'm not really able to help him, the least I can do is to stay awake by his side and make sure that his situation remains stable.
Time seems to have ceased to exist, as if the entire valley has been frozen in time, this moment, me sitting next to this unconscious body, watching it struggle to stay alive is just repeating itself over and over again. I don't know how long my eyes rest on this unchanging image before they finally just shut down, my body putting itself to sleep without my consent and I drift off into the bliss of the dark nothingness.
My eyes open with a dart as I sit up, my lungs suddenly craving fresh air as if I had held my breath for too long. It takes a while for my usual morning oblivion to fade before I remember the events of the last day. I immediately check on Natsu whom I've been sleeping right next to, I must've dozed off while watching over him.
I can't really tell whether his condition has changed for the better or worse or even not at all but the mere fact that I can now inspect him in broad day light makes me gulp. The different shades of red, blue and purple covering his bruised body that were concealed by the night's darkness are now clearly distinguishable from one another and look sickly vivid.
It takes all of my self-control for me to not throw up on the spot, even though I can't even recall when I've had my last decent meal.
I proceed to checking his temperature which is still unusually cold and I wonder whether fire dragon slayers maybe get something like a reverse fever where the body cools itself down instead of heating up when in critical condition. However it may be, I need to do something about this, I need to stop putting this plan of mine I made last night into action.
Hesitantly, I get up and turn away from the body lying on the floor. It feels weird to just leave him like this, unconscious, defenseless, weak and it even though it makes me tremendously uncomfortable, there doesn't seem to be anything else I can do.
Upon entering the main part of the arena I suddenly get aware of the fact that right now Erza Scarlet and me are the only two tributes moving around. Knowing her, she's probably searching for us everywhere, trying to put those games to an end and the victor's crown on her hand as fast as possible.
A full-fledged showdown between Natsu and Erza would make for a spectacular finale for this year's games, but somehow I managed to get mixed up into this mix. I am one of the three last people standing. As this sinks in, the ridiculous hope of actually going home crawls up out of the neglected corner of my mind. Ever since my name was drawn at the reaping I had been convinced of the fact that I would never see my home in district 8 and the people I left behind ever again, that my fate had been sealed. It is true that I have been on the verge of death numerous times within the last weeks but somehow I always managed to push through. Like a cockroach I crawled out of the dirt once again to continue breathing in this manipulated world.
And now that it's come down to the last three, I find myself being one of them, something that I wouldn't have considered possible only a few days ago. If impossibilities suddenly start being real, could the dream of going home become a reality as well?
I shake my head violently to get rid of those kinds of thoughts. If there's one thing that I shouldn't do right now it's overthinking as that can have imminent and dangerous consequences not only for me, but also for Natsu. He is what I have to concentrate on right now. Getting Natsu back to health is my sole and most important objective and I'll do anything I can to achieve this which includes me staying alive and not getting killed by Erza. So for now, I'll just focus on what's lying right in front of me and deal with everything else at a later stage to which it might not even come after all.
Once I've reached a bush filled with the fruit that might carry water I start peeling off the layers of reality until I can see through the glamour laid upon the fruit and reveal their true form only to find out that they're all containing poison instead of the desired liquid. It actually takes quite some time of roaming around before I'm able to finally stumble across some water fruit, they're starting to become a rare resource as the games are slowly approaching their final climax. The only advantage derived from this prolonged quest for water is that I was able to collect some healing herbs, or at least that's what I hope they are.
By some kind of miracle I manage to get back to the hidden valley without being stabbed by Erza even though I could've sworn I heard the heavy clunk of her armor not too far away. It's only a question of time before she finds us.
To my relief, Natsu's still in the exact same spot I left him at even though the fact that he's still unconscious is seriously starting to worry me.
I collect the valuable water in empty bottles we kept in the valley and carefully rip off strips of textile of my clothes. It's not like I have too much to wear in the first place but it's the only material to make bandages out of. After soaking a small piece of cloth in water and using it to rinse out the various deep cuts covering his skin I place some medicinal herbs on the clean wounds.
The fabric is soon stained with so much blood that I have to change it several times before I finally feel like his wounds are sufficiently clean. Before wrapping them up with my improvised bandages though I get the small silver pot and start applying its contents to his worst injuries, wanting to test out its results and efficiency before using it on his entire body.
After what feels like hours I finally wrap the last rather deep lash on his thighs in a piece of textile which originally belonged to my blouse. I wipe away the sweat trickling down my forehead with my blood covered hands and step back to examine my work.
Even though Natsu now looks a lot better, his eyes remain shut and his breaths are still awfully shallow but I guess that I shouldn't have expected anything else. My basic medical treatment won't suddenly make him healthy again, that's for sure. But at least now I feel like I did something. That for once I didn't hide and let the others do the work but accomplished something on my own, even if it's just preparing some bandages.
Not knowing what else to do I drop down next to Natsu and start rambling about all kinds of things. My former life, the kind of plans I had made when I still had a future and about the weird dreams I have been having which are somehow connected to this strong feeling of familiarity I feel towards the other tributes, especially him.
I know that he probably can't hear me but I once read that even though people might be completely unconscious, the sound of voices still resonates within their ears, stirs something inside of them and has some kind of effect, if only minimal. So as long as I can believe that I will continue talking to the salmon-haired boy next to me even though right now, he's not able to make terrible puns or sarcastic comments which makes talking to him a little one-sided.
The sound of words being spoken is what drags me out of the light sleep I fell into. As an immediate response, adrenaline rushes through my veins, my fingers reaching out for the small knife attached to my belt, ready to slash at the supposed intruder. But as my eyes adjust to the dusky twilight, I realize that except for Natsu and me, nobody else is around.
That's when the voice speaks again and I can now make out what I couldn't in my state of dazed sleep, the voice belongs to none other than my ally. His skin is glistening with cold sweat as his eyes roll behind his shut lids. His hands are clasped to tight fists and occasionally twitch as his face is contorted with various expressions of suffering. Even though he clearly gives off the image of someone that is in deep pain, I can't stop the joyful warmth spreading through my entire body. It looks like he's slowly but surely regaining consciousness. In addition to that his body, once so lifeless and cold, already feels a lot warmer, despite still being several degrees lower than his normal body temperature.
Leaning in I can finally understand what he's muttering in his sleep, even though this doesn't help much as all I can make out is nothing else than gibberish interrupted by some grunts and pitiful squeaks.
But then he mumbles something that makes the blood freeze in my veins. At first I think I must've misunderstood him, but then he says it over and over again until there's no room left for any kind of doubt.
Natsu is talking about Fairy Tail.
The mysterious place I've visited in my dreams, a place where there's another me, another Natsu, a doppelgänger of all the other tributes including Levy and Mirajane, a place where we all live together peacefully and enjoy our lives.
But how is it possible for two people to share the same dream?
A million thoughts race through my mind as Natsu keeps whispering scraps of conversation about Happy, the blue talking cat that was also a part of my dreams, eating all of his food.
Just when I thought this world couldn't get any more messed up, I'm confronted with a new absurdity. Maybe it's because I'm stressed out and my nerves are on edge, but the fact that Natsu is apparently having the same dream I had without me ever telling him about it really gets to me. Add that to this weird feeling of familiarity I had with certain tributes and my intuition that something seriously bizarre is going on reaches a new high score.
What kind of world have I gotten myself into?
I try to distract myself by checking on Natsu's wounds otherwise those confusing thoughts will start consuming me. Maybe it's just the fact that I haven't really spoken to anyone for so long that's making me feel detached from reality.
Peeling off the layers of fabric I brace myself for the sight that awaits me.
It certainly isn't pretty, but it could have been a lot worse as well. His cuts are still ridiculously deep and surrounded by thick crusts of dried blood but on top of that there's yellowish puss coming out of those wounds now as well which I figure isn't a bad thing all together.
What I do notice though is that the areas I covered with the sponsored cream look a lot more pinkish, as if a thin layer of new skin tissue was covering them. This cream seems to mimic and therefore accelerate the body's natural healing process. I can't begin to imagine what this advanced capitol medical treatment must have cost in a game where even a loaf of bread is worth a small fortune.
I tilt my eyes towards the sky, looking up at its clear blue as if to silently send out a huge thanks to Angel. Without this cream, I'm not sure Natsu would've made it through the night.
I spend the next hours silently watching over Natsu who's still rambling, screaming and even occasionally laughing in his sleep. I intently listen to every word that crosses his lips but try not to think too much about this ominous place called Fairy Tail and its possible connection to the real world.
After the anthem of the capitol is once again played and no picture of a dead tribute flashes up for the second day in a row now beads of nervous sweat form on my forehead. If this boring development continues much longer, the game makers will surely interfere, they can't afford not fulfilling their audience ratings. But at this point in time, with Natsu being unconscious and immobile we don't stand a single chance against Erza.
If Natsu doesn't get better soon, I'll have to leave the valley and head out to face Erza on my own. Even though any hope of actually defeating her is utterly ridiculous, I can at least aspire to take her down with me which would leave Natsu as the sole survivor. Even if he was at a critical medical condition he would be taken out of the arena immediately and nursed back to health by several qualified capitol doctors and all the technological means available because the need for a victor was irrefutable. He would have a fair chance of surviving.
But in order for this to happen, I would have to head out on a suicide mission. I decide that this would still be better than both of us being murdered by the remaining career but still I didn't want to yet abandon the hope of Natsu regaining his health.
With those kinds of thoughts tormenting my brain I once again doze off, but this time into a much deeper sleep.
I find myself seated at a wooden table next to Levy who is crammed over a stack of paper that looks like a sort of manuscript. She turns to look at me, a childish glee flickering in her eyes.
"This metaphor you used is just so beautiful! I mean, it just fits the description perfectly, I can literally see the image in front of me that's how vivid it is! Lucy, you really are one hell of a talented writer!" She then clasps her hands over her mouth looking around guiltily. "Sorry I didn't mean for that to be so loud, I know you don't want anyone to know about your aspirations as a novel writer. But don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Levy gives me a small wink as a huge grin spreads across her face: "That is if you provide me with the next chapter of course. I can't wait to find out what happens next, I wanna be the first one that gets to read it. Pleeeeaaase?" She asks pleadingly, giving me the puppy eyes.
I give her an absent minded nod as my eyes dart across the room, registering all the different people standing in the large guild hall.
Just as I assumed I am once again in this place called Fairy Tail and I seem to have been joined by spitting images of most of the other tributes. To my astonishment I can even see Erza seated at a table, engaged in conversation with the shirtless Gray while eating a piece of delicious looking strawberry cake. The whole scene is so bizarre that it takes all of my self-control not to burst out laughing like a maniac.
That's when my flickering gaze locks on a boy with pink hair and a white muffler with black squares wrapped around his neck who is sitting at the bar counter with a look of utter astonishment on his face that must look a lot like the expression I'm currently sporting.
Before I can even properly think about it, my legs have already started moving towards him. When his eyes meet mine first recognition and then confusion shoot across his eyes. Man, you really can read him like an open book.
"Lucy?" Natsu croaks, his voice apparently failing him, "You're here too?"
"Yeah…" I mutter, suddenly at a loss for things to say and deeply regretting having walked over to him without a plan.
"Can you tell me what's going on? Where are we? Who are all of those people here? Why aren't we in the arena anymore? And why the hell is Erza eating strawberry cake?"
The word arena only confirms the suspicion that formed inside of my brain as soon as I lay eyes on Natsu in this odd dream world. This isn't the Natsu I met in my last dream, the one that seemed to be exactly knowing what was happening, the one that was perfectly integrated into this world. The boy sitting across from me now is just as confused as I am and also has no clue what this place is and how and why we got here.
"I don't know" I reply, feeling stupid, "As far as I can tell this seems to be some kind of dream."
"A dream? But whose dream is it then? Mine or yours?"
"I don't know that either, but it feels like we're both stuck in the same dream, doesn't it?"
"But that's impossible! We can't be having the same dream, we can't share a dream world!"
"How do you know this isn't the real world though?" I ask, the question crossing my lips before I can hold it back. Even though I know that it can't possibly be true, I don't feel like this is a world made up merely by my imagination. It feels way too real for this. The colors are just as vibrant as they normally are, the images unusually clear and not lacking in depth. The people look alive, like breathing beings that give off heat and laughter. Everything's way too detailed and the course of action to linear to be nothing but a dream.
"Don't be ridiculous Lucy, this can't possibly be real!"
"Maybe, but how can you tell?" I repeat, this time with a more determined undertone.
"Well, uhm, in the real world, if you pick yourself with a needle, red blood comes out. It's as easy as that."
"If you pick yourself with a needle, red blood comes out." I recite looking around for sharp objects. I reach out for a cup of toothpicks standing on the counter and hand it to Natsu.
"Let's see if it works" he first seems reluctant but then follows my actions as I take toothpick and start pushing it into my flesh until it pierces through the layers of my skin. The stinging sensation is followed by a red, hot blood rising out of the freshly inflicted wound. The thick liquid trickles down my wrist as I look at Natsu, a similar trace of blood running down his forearm.
Suddenly everything around us starts spinning as the guild hall collapses onto itself. My hands wrap around Natsu's as I try to remain standing on my feet.
"You have to come back with me to the arena" I shout, my lungs being filled with dust, "You can't just leave me there."
I wake up with a start, gasping for air and a thin layer of sweat covering my skin. Immediately, I turn around to check on Natsu only to notice that he's breathing heavily as well, tossing and turning around.
Gently grabbing his shoulder I try to shake him out of his dreamy state and to my great astonishment his deep onyx eyes actually do flicker open shortly before fluttering closed again.
"Hey, Natsu, wake up! Can you hear me? It's me, Lucy!" I mutter under my breath.
"Luuhcy?" He mumbles, his voice not more than a soft whisper.
"Yeah that's right!" His eyes open and shut more frequently now, apparently unable to focus on anything.
"Where are we?" he croaks as his eyes are about to fall shut once again.
"Hey,heeey, I need you stay with me okay? I need you to open your eyes, can you do this for me?" I say, trying to keep my voice encouraging yet calm and not too overly desperate which would actually be an accurate representation of what is going on inside of me right now.
"We're in the arena, the arena of the annual hunger games. We're both tributes who are meant to fight to the death but we're allies, so we're cool for now. You've been badly injured and knocked out for days which made me really, reeeaaally worried, so it would be great if you could actually stay awake and not leave me alone in this nightmare of a world again." So much for being reassuring and not hysterical.
"B..but what happened to the big hall? And where's Happy?" Those words send icy cold shivers down my spine but I try to ignore them, at least for now. The top priority was getting Natsu to regain his consciousness, I will have plenty of time to discuss our weirdly linked dream after that.
"It's okay, don't worry about it. It'll all be fine." I chant, those pretentious words hardly crossing my lips as I crack open one of the last remaining water fruits. "Come on, drink up" I command, stabilizing Natsu's head against my lap in order to make it easier for him to drink.
He obediently gulps down the water without complaining but sinks back to the floor after that immediately, this ever so slight movement having him cost a lot of his already low amount of energy.
At least he's able to keep his eyes open for a while now, even though his gaze is still kind of dazed and lacking its usual sharpness. Nevertheless, tears of joy start dwelling up as sweet relief floods me. He's awake! Still in horrible condition and clearly suffering an intense amount of pain, but he's awake.
I mechanically run my fingers through his salmon hair, his head leaning against my legs as I quietly talk to him. The only response I get is the occasional whimper of pain but I can tell that he's capable of following most of the things I'm saying.
"You really shouldn't have come back for me" he mutters, which immediately makes me shut up only to snap "Oh come on don't waste your little energy on saying something as stupid as this" back at him and realizing this might have been a bit too harsh I quickly add: "I mean, I already told you, I couldn't have left you there."
"But it was dangerous, you could've been killed and on top of that it was a complete waste of time"
"What?" I exclaim incredulously. "A waste of time? Are you seriously saying trying to save you is a waste of time?" I force myself to keep my voice as stable as possible. Sure, he's just woken up and still suffering from his injuries but this is making me angry. I went through several nerve-wrecking days trying to get him to wake up and now he's calling those efforts a waste of time?"
"You can't save me Luce, it's too late." The hopelessness is making the blood freeze in my veins.
"What do you mean?" I ask, dreading the answer.
"The claws. The mutation's claws. I think they're spiked with poison. They managed to slash me a couple of times. I think that's the reason why my cuts won't heal as quickly as usual. But even if the outer wounds disappear, the poison is already inside of me. It's going to kill me."
"We don't know that!" I shout, unwilling to accept this, "How can you know that?"
"I can feel it", he croaks, "I can feel the poison eating away at me, killing me from the inside"
"But we don't know how long it'll take" I insist, "And you're actually getting better, at least from the outside. Listen, it's only Erza and us left. If I fight Erza and take her down with me, you might be brought to the capitol in time to give you an antidote."
He suddenly grasps my had a lot more firmly than I would've thought possible considering his current state and looks me in the eye, all signs of dazedness completely vanished.
"I'd never let that happen. I may be weak and…" he takes a deep breath, the words apparently hard to get out "and dying right now, but I'd kill you before letting you sacrifice yourself for me"
Despite the gravity of the situation, I can't help but smile broadly at what he just said: "You know that doesn't make any sense at all, right?"
"Lucy, I'm serious. I won't let you do it. But you're right about one thing. We really don't know how long it'll take for the poison to do me in and I really am, slowly but surely regaining my strength. This'll be a game against time but I suggest we stay here until I've recovered a little more and then we head out to confront Erza. I always wanted to avoid direct combat but it seems that it can no longer be avoided. Erza is awfully strong, but I know that I can stand up to her and with you by my side, we'll be able to defeat her. Then it's only a question of time before the poison kills me. Or the game makers will speed up the process and get me killed in some other way, leaving you as the victor. And then you'll be able to go home, Luce. You'll go home."
The hot stream of tears running down my cheek accompanied by the violent sobs are making it hard to answer him: "You can't possibly think I'll…, that I'll agree to that?"
"I'm afraid we don't have any other choice" he says, giving me a weak smile.
"That's bullshit. Last time, when we were cornered by the mutations, you went on about this self-sacrifice thing as well and look where that has gotten us! No Natsu, we're in this together, so that's what we'll do, fight together until the very end, you hear me?"
"Lucy, you can't stop me. Whether you want me to or not, I'm gonna do it anyway. I'll either just confront Erza on my own, take her down and then probably die from the injuries from that battle because damn, fighting her is sure as hell not going to be easy or we go and fight her together and have it as I just explained to you. The latter version is my personal favorite but I'm fine with both of them. I'm going to do this, I'm going to get you out of here."
"But don't you understand that I don't want to get out of here if it means that you die for me? Gee, what makes you think that's okay? How can you possibly do something like that to me?"
At this Natsu looks at me with bewilderment, as if he expected the answer to be perfectly clear.
"Well, it's because I love you Lucy."
"You…what?" I spatter, totally taken aback by this. At a loss for words I stammer around for a bit, trying to hide the violent blush rushing up my cheeks before exclaiming: "Well that has nothing to do with love, or friendship, or anything really. It's just stupid. Plain stupidity"
At that he just shrugs, as if being completely at ease with the idea that his actions are mainly based on stupidity.
"Anyways, I'm not just going to let you get away with it" I mutter into the uncomfortable silence.
"We'll see"
Just as I'm about to get worked up about the topic all over again he adds: "Lucy, can we just drop this topic please? I'm really exhausted and would much rather just lay here for a while with you."
"S..sure" I ask, the blush creeping up my face again, "Let me just change your bandages first"
Turns out changing the bandages with Natsu being awake is a lot more difficult than with his unconscious version. Not only does the undoing of the bandages require a lot of uncomfortable movement but in addition the washing out of the wounds and application of the sponsored healing cream proves to be an extremely painful process, making Natsu flinch and wince in pain and me dart back every single time, scared to hurt him.
After the unpleasant procedure is completed he sinks back into the grass and immediately dozes off while I lay awake next to him, the sound of his now regular breathing the only one around.
Laying there, I can't help but ponder at this boy whom I still fail to understand. A boy who is acting on simple principles, yet is so complicated to grasp. A boy to whom everything in his own little world makes perfect sense and is unquestionable.
I can't help but recall his earlier declaration of love that he had made so nonchalantly, as if it was utterly self-explanatory and a wide known fact everyone was informed about.
Surely, I have to admit that I kind of love him too, in a friendly way of course, which is also what he meant because anything else would simply be ridiculous, right? But still, to be able to tell someone you loved them just like that, someone that was a complete stranger just a couple of weeks ago and someone whom you're actually supposed to have killed a long time ago, it's just so bizarre and unfathomable to me. But to Natsu, apparently, it was the most obvious and easy thing in the world.
Scooting a little closer, thankful for the body heat he gives off into the cooling evening air, I can't help but feel as if I'm lying next to a time bomb, only waiting to blow up.
Author's Note: How will the two allies deal with this difficult and hopeless situation? Will they stand a chance against the trained career Erza Scarlet? And when will the poison inside of Natsu spread wide enough to end his life? Find out about it in the next chapters which, as always, will be uploaded as soon as possible.
Natsu: Oh man, I certainly don't like this Author. Poison is such a lame way to die. It's a woman's weapon…
Lucy: Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Poison is a very clever and clean way to kill someone. Just because female murderers usually don't like to get all messy and gross, doesn't mean that it's 'lame'
Natsu: You just don't understand. The whole point of a murder is to be messy and gory, otherwise it's no fun! Nobody likes movies or books where the victim's poisoned.
Lucy: That's not true! As a matter of fact, I enjoy those stories quite a lot. They're so mysterious and fun to figure out. If I were to kill someone, I'd definitely use poison.
Natsu: How boooooring. You would make for a terrible murderer!
Lucy: No I wouldn't! You would be an awful one! You'd be way too indiscrete about it and get caught right away!
Natsu: No, I wouldn't! I'd be the best killer ever!
Levy: Guys! Are you seriously arguing about who would be a better murderer?! Do you even know what that sounds like? You're so weird… *whispers* Personally, suffocation with a plastic bag held secure by a rubber tie would be my pick. Leaves no bruises, no marks and the victim can't scream…
Lucy and Natsu: *disturbed* I take everything back, Levy would be the best murderer out of all of us. She's scary…