Hiya :) Very Nalu chapter, and it's kind of long... hope you enjoy :) Imma eat chocolate now :P Roji
WHEN WE WERE KIDS
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When I opened my eyes, I couldn't see at first. I tried to get up, but my hands were hurting like hell, so I propped myself up on my shoulders. "Obba-chan..." I coughed. I had a mask around my mouth and nose, it was annoying me, I gently pulled it off with the tips of my fingers which weren't so bad.
"Woah, woah, woah. You stay there a second." I heard someone next to me say. They put the mask back on. My vision gradually came back.
"Natsu..." I said, seeing the person who put my mask back on.
"The one and only." He replied with a grin.
"What happened?"
"Do you remember the fire?"
"Yeah, I went in to get Silver, where is she!" I said, trying to get up again, only for him to push me back down onto the blanket on the ground.
"Luce, calm down, it's okay. She's at the hospital, she's got some pretty serious burns and smoke inhalation." He said. I groaned.
"Lucy was it? How are you feeling?" A someone asked, they looked official, so I answered them.
"Fine. Can I go and see Silver now?" I asked impatienltly.
"I suggest that you stay here for the time being, I need to ask you some routine questions."
"Fine."
"Okay. What happened?"
"I was out, and when we turned the corner, my house was on fire. I was worried about Silver, so I ran inside to get her. I tried to pull her out, but I passed out."
"Oh yes, we know the rest. Natsu came inside to rescue you and her. If it wasn't for him, you might be reduced to ashes." He said, patting my friends shoulder.
"Natsu...thank you." I said, he had just saved my life.
"Luce, next time, try not to smoke, it's bad for your health." He said, I laughed.
"But unfortanetly, you did suffer some second degree burns on your hands. Did you touch something to hot?"
"I pushed a burning table."
"That will explain it. Please, keep the mask for the moment, it's just to help your system get rid of the smoke."
"What about the house? Is it okay? How bad is it?" I asked, trying to sit up to see again, only to be pushed down by Natsu.
"Don't worry, a wizard is lending a hand rebuiling it. She says she knows you, Miss Ultear?"
"That's our bioligie teacher! She's a wizard?"
"Not just a wizard, she uses lost magic, Arc of Time."
"I know about that, please thank her for me."
"Will do." And he walked off. I suddenly felt pain, not physical, but mental. The tears started running down my cheeks, and I cried. Natsu wrapped his arms around me, craddling me.
"Lucy...it's okay, she'll be fine, don't you worry." He said.
"I wish this was all a nightmare..." I blubbed.
"Now why would you wish that? I wouldn't of had a chance to play hero." He said. I gave a week laugh.
"Whats the time?"
"Late enough for us to miss school tomorrow."
"But you love school!"
"Yeah, but you'll need some company." He said. Was he worried about me?
"Natsu, you're being to kind, thank you."
"That's okay. Come on, lie back down and try to take deep breaths."
"Okay doctor." I said, and lay back down in the grass. But not for long I heard someone shouting my name.
"Lucy! Oh god I hope she's okay!"
"Lucy, where are you! I can't see anything over the crowd, come on, let's just barge in."
Two voices, and ones I knew well. I heard pounding feet running towards us.
"Natsu, there you are, we thought you were sleeping through it. Why are you shirtless? Is she okay?"
"Yes Cana, just some really nasty burns and she might need to quit smoking."
"Few...How about obba-chan?"
"Lucy went in to get her, that's why she has the burns and smoking problem, but obba is just burnt real bad and is a heavier smoker than Lucy."
"Quit using your rubbish jokes!"
"You wanna go, Snow Cone?"
"Guys! Stop it, she's sleeping!"
"No, it's okay." I said, lifting the mask up so they could understand my words. Gray and Natsu were pushing against each others forehead, whilst Cana was sitting down in the grass. Cana and Gray smiled down at me.
"Gray? What are you doing here? Cana lives on this street, but you live on the other side of town?"
"I just came to get some homework I'd forgotten." He said...blushing?
"It's eleven thirty pm." Natsu said.
"Whatever. None of your business." He said, turning to face the other way. Suspicious...
"Miss Heartfilia?" A voice asked. I turned back round to see another man.
"Yes?" I said, before someone noticed the 'Heartfilia'.
"I just wanted to let you know that, because we have to investagate what started the fire, you may need to stay at someones place for a while. Do you have anybody that lives nearby and could let you stay at there house?" He said, putting a pencil to his clipboard.
"Yeah, Luce can stay with me, we're neighbors." Natsu said. I smiled at him.
"Thanks."
"Alright, if you could just come with me a moment, you can take the mask of now." He said. I carefully took it of, hurting my hands in the process, stood up, and followed the man. He led me to a quickly set up table, were a medic bandaged my hands up. I had seen the house, it was back to normal, Miss Ultear must of been a very powerful wizard. I sat at the table, looking at it, while police were talking to the neighbors and people of Hyacinth road.
When they finally let me pack some of my stuff up, it was around midnight, and Natsu had waited patiently for me all that time. Cana and Gray had gone back, after Bickslow came to check out the scene. When I came back out of the house, police making sure I didn't taint the 'scene of the crime' Natsu came over, and took my bag for me.
"Come on, let's get going, I haven't eaten since lunch..."
"Sorry, you didn't have to wait for me..."
"What are you sayin' sorry for, it's not your fault. How are your hands?" He asked. I held up my bandages. It was kind of funny, you couldn't really see they were hands, just stubs of bandage on the end of each arm. Natsu stiffled a laugh, and I scouled at him.
"I hope obba-chan is okay."I sighed.
"We'll go and see her tomorrow, I'm sure Gramps will let us skip school. I haven't seen him yet, I wonder where he is?" He said. We walked to his house, the door was locked, so he used his own key. "Gramps! I'm back!" He shouted. He walked down the corridor, and into the kitchen. "Gramps?" He asked. I stood at the doorway, not sure where to go.
"Oh, he left a note." Came Natsu's voice from the kitchen. "Come in and see."
I walked down the corridor, to the kitchen. He was holding a small scrap of paper.
"Dear Natsu," he read. "I've gone of of for four days on a small trip with Silver, Polyuchka, Yajima and Rob. There's food in the fridge, and some jewels if you need anything else, take care."
"He meant to go with obba-chan." I said.
"Guess it's just us two then, I'll show you to the spare room." He said, putting the note back down and walked out of the room. I followed him.
"Living room, bathroom, store room, what Gramps calls his office but he always sneeks food and stuff in and pretends to work, and here's the spare room." He said, pointing at each door along the way. He opened the door to the spare room, everything was tidy, a change, and it smelt of fresh washing.
"Wow, it's nice." I said.
"Yep, when Gramps has guests, he tries to impress them, but I always put frogs underneath the duvet, it's really funny when you hear there screams at night..." He said, with an evil smile.
"I'll be checking every night now..." I said, sitting on the bed. It was really comfy, like clouds. Natsu put my bag down by the door.
"Call me if you need anything, I'll make some dinner."
"You can cook?"
"Cook? No, not really...I can put pizza in an oven though." He said, grinning. I laughed, and smiled as he walked out of the room. The door burst open again.
"By the way, when's your birthday?" He asked.
"My birthday?"
"Yeah." He said. I frowned. Birthdays weren't really my fondest memories, but I had some nice memories. They were usally publicity events. What's the harm in telling him, it's not like he'll remember...
"Exactly four weeks from now."
"Okay."
"When's your's?" I asked. He didn't react for a moment, but he looked down at the floor.
"I can't exaclty remember. Not knowing your parents does have it's disadvanteges."
"What, you haven't even invented a day?!"
"No, I just enjoy celebrating other peoples birthday, it's much more fun." He said, grinning again, I felt a strong feeling of pity for him.
"I see..." I said, a plan forming in my mind.
When we finished eating pizza, me having a lot of difficulty getting the slice to my mouth, we laughed about the teachers at school.
"No, Drrrrrrrragneel, that is not the meaning of 'light yearrrr'" Natsu said, rolling his 'r's as he imitated our physics teacher, I was laughing my head off.
"Hearrrrrrrtfilia, trrrrrrrry not to barrrrrrrf up yourrrrr pizza whilst laughing." He said, waving his finger at me.
"Shut up!" I said, still laughing, he laughed to.
"Heartfilia...I recognise that name from somewhere..." he said, scratching his head.
"No you don't." I said, nervously.
"I do. Can you remember it for me?"
"It doesn't work like that..." I sighed.
"Oh hold on! It's that name of that railway run by that really rich family!" He said, snapping his fingers. "Why do you have the same name as them?"
"Coincidence." I said, becoming more nervous by the minute. He looked at me suspiciously.
"Apparently the daughter ran away." He said.
"Oh really? That's sad." I said, trying to act casualy, but I probably failed.
"Yes...Now I come to think of it, where do you come from, Lucy?" He asked, more suspicous.
"I-I...um..."
"You know more about me than I do about you. I don't know how you ended up staying with Silver in Magnolia, or who your parents are, and I'm not even sure about your age..."
"I'm fourteen, and the rest is a long story." I said. "Anyway, I think Gray said you stank today."
"What!" He yelled, I had sucesfully lost his interest.
"I'll do the washing up." I said.
"You can't, your hands." He said, still fuming.
"Oh yeah..." I said, and sat back down, putting my head in between my arms. He got up, and took both of our plates, filled the sink up with bubbly soapy water, and started scrubbing. I watched him, for some reason, examining his every move. He had rolled up his sleeves, and was whistling along to an unknown tune. I could see the reflection of his face in the clean tiles of the wall, he was slightly frowning, as he tried to get a piece of burned cheese of the tray. His muscles flexed, he was very muscly for his age, and he looked older. I looked back at his face, the reflection, but was caught of guard when he looked at me, in the reflection. I blushed, realising I was bighting my lip, in my arms. Only my eyes were visible.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" He asked. Damn, there goes that feeling again.
"Huh? No reason." I said, averting my eyes.
"I understand you don't want to tell me about your past, but I'm your best friend, you can talk to me."
"I know, I have nothing to hide, I just had a long journey, that's all." I said. He put the last thing in the drying rack, and let the water run out.
"I'm going to bed, feel free to use the shower, or anything. Night, don't worry too much about obba-chan, I'm sure she's fine."
"I know. Natsu?"
"Yeah?" He said, turning around.
"Thank you." I said, smiling and lifting my head up. He smiled, and went back down the corridor.
I got ino bed without brushing my teeth, or washing my face. I just climbed in, fully clothed, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
"Lucy. Come back, or else." A voice said.
"Huh?" I looked around. I was in a field. The field, where we played in the rain.
"Or else." The voice said. I turned around, to see my father, holding Natsu by his hair, a knife to his throat, like in my previous nightmare. He gently pressed the knife to his throat, and a small trickle of blood ran down his neck, as he struggled to breath. "No!" I yelled. The field folded in on itself, and I stood on Hyacinth road. I turned around, to see our house on fire. A woman came out, her whole body set on fire. "Obba-chan!" I yelled. A hand pushed her to the side, and I saw him, my father again.
"Come home, or else." He said, he walked towards, and started shaking my shoulders back and forth, screaming at me. Telling me how I shouldn't of gone. "Lucy! How dare you! Lucy! Lucy!"
I woke up, screaming. On top of me, I saw Natsu, shaking my shoulders and shouting my name. I panted, and felt that I was sweaty. I started crying.
"Lucy! What was happening, you were screaming, so I came and you were thrashing around in your sleep, so I tried to wake you up, are you okay?" He said. He still had a firm grip on my shoulders. I wrapped my arms around him, still crying.
"Lucy? What's the matter, your crying." He said, taken aback by my sudden move. He put his arms around me. "Shh, it's okay, your awake, it was a nightmare." He said. I calmed myself, remembering that he was alive, and on top of me?!
"Sorry." I said, and took my arms of him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, getting of, and sitting on the side.
"Yeah, just...a nightmare." I said, wipping the tears of my face.
"You wanna talk about it?" He asked. I wanted too, but would he be the same towards me if I told him?
"It's-it's about where I come from." I said, before recalling all my memories, and mostly, about the time when I first made a friend, and my father took him away from me.
Six hours prior
Mokarov stood in the clearing, in the forest, as he ran his hand along the familiar carving on the tree.
"Mabo!" A friendly voice came. He turned his head to see Yajima walking towards him.
"Yajima, my friend, how are you?" He asked.
"Good, good. I guess I'm the first here?"
"Yes."
"Shame about the weather. So what is it you wanted to tell me?"
"I wanted to talk about the situation we are in at the moment. Natsu wants to know more about his father. He's been angry at me for not letting him know."
"Aah, well he would. But why here?"
"Beacuse that's not all. A new girl has just arrived in Magnolia, Lucy."
"What about her?"
"She's his best friend, he said it feels like he's known her an eternity."
"No...you don't think they are..."
"I do, but we need to check for the Lorce first."
"The Lorce?"
"Have I not told you? Let me explain..." and Mokarov ran his fingers along the marking of the tree one more time.
A/N: Mystery 3:) I hope you enjoyed it, believe me, we have still got a long journey till the end of the fic, but I have the whole story planned out :)
I might do an interview chapter, so if you want to ask the characters anything, please do :)
THank you for wishing me happy birthday :) I love you all :* Roji