The first day had been bad, the days following afterwards had been much worse. The humans in black who worked on and tore me apart seemed to be after something, studying me purposefully with intent. Whatever it was they were looking for they found it on day two, and simply conducted experiments for the next three days. I practically lived on the lab table now, spending a usual of eighteen hours a day being tested on by different people conducting different experiments. Using previous knowledge about mutant anatomy, the scientists tested to whether or not they still held true to me.
Gray had visited on the second day, I could hear him but they would not let him in. I could tell he was irritated, but he listened, still believing that they were helping me. If he tried to visit again I wouldn't have known, as I was moved to a lower level to a more upgraded laboratory. I don't think they even let him past the front door after his first visit.
I could only pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying through my muffled screams, but one word seemed to appear more than the rest: mutagene. Whatever the scientist seemed to be taking an interest in it seemed to have to do with my mutagenesis. My mutant gene had somehow mutated, and by what I could pick up, my exposure to Lucy's power was the root cause, although they were unsure how that directly took place. So on the fifth day they decided to attempt a reenactment of the original process.
They brought Lucy in, heavily chained down to a gurney, and moved her onto the table right next to me. I tried gravely to turn my head against my brace to I could see her and what they were doing to her, but I was too exhausted to put in any real effort, my energy drained from all the trials I had been under. However, from my peripheral view I could see a large machine being dragged down and being settled in between us. They began to connect three aluminum tubes to each of her wrists and around the crown of her head; then connecting three silver wires to my left arm, poking them at three points into my largest vein, and switched on the machine. Lucy began to whimper immediately and twitch as the machine did what it was supposed to do. Ten seconds later I felt energy in the purest form enter my body like a burning wildfire tearing at the inside of my body. I gasped and panted, groaned and moaned, trying desperately not to scream from the pain. I could already feel the terror in this room, Lucy's terror that she was hurting me, I had to stay strong and not alarm her. But my plan was all for naught when those in black decided to turn up the power level, increasing. Perilously did I try not to cry as I felt the energy overtake me, but as they power reached six I began to shudder furiously as I cried out in agony.
"Stop it!" I hear Lucy scream out desperately in a mournful voice. The scientists paid no heed to her plead and my howls of misery, the continued to turn up the levels even higher. By eight I was shaking as if I was having a seizure, at nine I was thrashing so violently and began to choke on the stomach acid that began to rise from my bowels. It was then when one scientist finally advised the danger of continuing and lowered the power level back to one before switching off the machine. However my state had become critical and my thrashing failed to cease. The men tried with a panic to stabilize me, strapping me down with mutabraces but found no effect. My heartbeat wasn't slowing down and it was too fast for my body to last long.
I barely noticed as they all scrambled around me to put a stop to it, it felt as if my spirit was out of my body and what they were trying to save was an empty vessel. All my senses had been overridden by agony, mentally I felt dull as my physical body tried desperately to get rid of the excess amount of mutagenes in my body. Naturally I felt my own body correcting itself, my brain knew what had to be done. The genes infecting the body had to be destroyed.
"Look sir!" An assistant pointed out on the screen as to what was happening in my own body being viewed from the high definition cameras of the machine pouring through my skin and muscles to show what was happening in the cells themselves. "His mutagenes seem to be self destructing themselves!"
"You mean he's turning human? That's impossible!" The chief researcher scoffed.
"Well it's happening, a chain reaction has happened in an effort to save the rest of the body." Another scientist noted beside them.
"Stop it!" Lucy cried out again when she heard what they were saying. "This isn't right! You have no right to do this to him!"
I could hear the tears in her eyes, I knew she was crying for me, but I was too dulled by the pain to truly understand. The fact that I was turning human had yet to sink in and I failed to understand why she was sad, only that I wanted to comfort her. I tried calling her name, but nothing except air escaped my lips.
"Wait, another anomaly appeared." The head scientist stated as he watched the screen. He zoomed in on the odd spot and pointed right to it. "The nerves are beginning to be shut down in his left arm."
"This is similar to what happened in the subjects right arm." The assistant added. Lucy gasped quietly as she listened in on them.
"So by conducting the process on a mutant we can turn them human for only a limited time before they undergo complete paralysis from the head down." The other scientist (I'm gonna called scientist two) revealed.
"We need to conduct another trial on a new subject." The head scientist said.
"But sir we can't, we'd be operating outside of legal bounds, and our time is limited. We only have two days-"
"We're already in this too deep. If we manage to cure a mutant of this plague then we could save thousands more of becoming monsters." The head interrupted scientists two and began to make his way for the door. "Put subject one back in it's cell, and schedule the other for execution. He's of no use to us anymore."
The other two nodded and in came the same guards who brought both him and her into the laboratory. They went over to Lucy and began to unchain her from the table to put her back on the gurney they had brought her in on. However, this time, she fought back against them, struggling and worming around in their grasps. Her energy began to pulsate around her, her power building up, I could feel it hitting me in waves.
"No, let go of me! I won't let you kill him!" She scream as she resisted them, ripping herself from their grasp. More security ran in and tried to help hold Lucy down, a guard holding down each of her limbs as the scientists worked to restrain her. But Lucy simply turned their cuffs into powder and continued to fight.
"We need some heavy duty mutacuffs stat!" Scientist two shouted to the assistant, who ran away to get them. Taking everyone by surprise, Lucy turned the gurney she was on into cotton and fell to the ground into its soft cushioning, making the guards above her topple over. All of her previous fear of her powers had vanished, replaced with sheer determination to save my life. Next she took off the brace on her right arm that had been restricting her power for as long as he's known her, and raised her hand in the air. A thick cloud fog began to fill the room as she turned the air into suspended water droplets and provided Lucy the cover she needed to go undetected. Slipping under their radar, she made her way away from them, appearing at my side. I looked at her as she reached down to my restraints, turning them into cotton as well.
I couldn't move, and I think she knew that as well, so doing the best she could she placed me on her back and hauled me over her shoulder. Taking me from the table she began to head for the door, but was stopped when we were spotted.
"Over there! After them!" One of the guards shouted, but didn't get far. I was surprised when I saw Lucy's shoes turn into sand, but understood when the floor under the guards did as well, Lucy needed to touch the surface of what she was reconstructing. The sandpit was deep enough to stop them, but shallow enough for them to breath.
Going as fast as she could, Lucy ran from the underground system and made her way back to the academy above before the alarm could be triggered. They made it up to the first floor, the floor just below the ground floor of the school, before they met more trouble.
"Open fire, do not let the subject escape!" Another guard commanded as he and three others began to shoot rapid fire at us. Lucy turned around and covered me, taking the fire head on, removing another brace from her left arm. From where Iay limp on the ground before her, I could see the bullets turning to liquid the moment they touched her skin. But she couldn't keep it up forever, and more help was bound to appear at anytime.
"Say here." She told me as she formed a metal wall around me out of the floor. I watched her stand up and charge the down, taking on the bullets and reconstructing them in an instant. When she reached them she grabbed their guns and turned them into gravel, throwing the little rocks in the men's faces to disorient them. She trapped one of them in a sand pit, and another she pinned to the ground with locks made of the marble floor. The third manage to avoid her tricks and was beginning to push her back, pulling out a baton from his belt and attempting to strike her. Lucy finally managed to get the jump on him when she turned the air above his head into water, soaking him then turning the water on him into ice, freezing him in place.
If I could talk I would tell her what a badass she was.
Lucy ran back to me and continued on back up to the academy, the halls were full of students, most likely due to passing time. All eyes turned to them in shock and surprise, seeing the girl who was always so secluded carrying the motionless body of one of their most rowdy students.
"Where is Gray Fullbuster?" Lucy demanded the crowd, not receiving an answer. "Where is he?"
"Natsu!" Gray's voice sounded as he came running. "Oh my Mavis, what happened to him?!" He questioned as she handed me off to him.
"No time to explain, keep him safe, I have to go find the director." She said and turned to head for the director's office.
"Wait, Lucy! What's going on?" He yelled after her.
"Evacuate the school, it's not safe here!" She said back, not answering him. "I'll join you later."
Gray cursed and moved me onto his back. I watched as Lucy faded in the distance as she rounded a corner and ran away. Gray turned to everyone else in the hall.
"What are you all deaf? Evacuate the school!" He yelled at them and turned to leave as well.
Ten minutes later an official evacuation was called and all the students were sent out of the grounds beyond the wall. They were too far away from the nearest city, being up in the mountains, so the teachers set up emergency camps a few miles outside the school in a wide open field. Supplies had been taken from the storage and kitchens, but it would not last everyone a week, but once they were there they could not go back, it was too dangerous.
The students were confused as to what was going on, all of them, even the teachers, being blind to the truth. Many were having panic attacks, others were agitated, some taking it well; but all were concerned about why an emergency such as this was called.
The pain begun to dull as we made our way to the site and I could feel my body again, though it all still hurt, it would be another two hours before I could walk on my own again. It was actually humiliating having to be carried by Gray and Erza, the two of them switching off and Gajeel straight up refusing to. Until Elfman offered to carry him the rest of the way there as he transformed into a large bear.
"So Natsu, what exactly happened to you with Dr. Marson?" Gray asked nervously, getting the sense that he had made a mistake by sending me there.
"I'd rather not talk about it." I responded flatly.
"Was it bad?" Erza asked as well.
"I don't want to say." I said again, hoping they'd drop the subject, and they did.
When we arrived to our designated campsite according to our homeroom, I was set down on the grass while everyone else got to work setting up the tents. This truly was humiliating.
Four hours had passed since everyone arrived at the new site, tents were all set up but there was not enough for everyone, at least a third of the mutants there would have to sleep outside. Nourishment was being passed around as dinner time approached. It was then that Director Makarov made his appearance in the center of everyone.
"May I have everyone's attention?" He called over megaphone. The entire school turned to him, desperate for an answer to what was going on. "It had been made known to me that us mutants are facing an immediate danger that threatens our entire race. I'll let the one who's revealed all this to me explain." Makarov stepped down from his makeshift platform and handed the megaphone to Lucy. Lucy took it from him, saying something that I could not hear, then addressed the crowd.
"Fellow mutants I am one of you, born and raised and proud, however it is my power that has caused all this, but it will also be the one to stop all this." Lucy looked over a me and met my gaze, sorrow and apology in her eyes. "And it is also because of my power that I will be dead in thirty-eight hours."
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Cliffhanger, haha! School on tuesday and whatnot. Reviews you leave, my thanks I give.
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