A/N: In this chapter there will be blood. Consider yourself warned :)
Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, followed and put this story on favourite. You're amazing and awesome! I want to show my my gratitude towards all of you so yeah *with tears streaming down my face, I order Happy to fly to each one of you with a huge basket full of yummy and lovely fish*
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Chapter 6: Aching Wounds
It hurts... it fucking hurts... why would you do this? Why?
Lucy was right in front of him laughing hysterically as she pointed a sharp knife towards him that was covered in blood. His blood...
She was staring at him like she was some sort of primal animal that wanted nothing more than to rip his skin off and tear the flesh from his body. As he thought this a faint yellow colour seemed to appear in Lucy's eyes.
"Natsu..." his eyes narrowed at the appealing tone in her voice "... this isn't me... this... I'm so sorry"
Startled he watched as the girl started trembling with tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks.
"I... how..." she looked confused for a second, turning her head in every direction while panting heavily. Lucy stopped her actions for a second and started screaming as if she was in pain.
Confused Natsu kept staring, as the girl feel to her knees with hands frantically clawing into her skull.
"Please stop this... please..." she bowed in front of him for a few seconds gasping for air but quickly snapped her head back up to stare at him "... Natsu... forever alone..."
Natsu could feel the air getting caught in his throat as he watched the girl's watery tears, all of a sudden was replaced with blood that seemed to rapidly increase in speed and volume, as it streamed down her cheeks, covering her skin with a crimson layer.
"You'll... never... forever... ugh!" Lucy was snarling revealing teeth that slowly transformed into very sharp canines "... never, ever save anyone" she roared as her hands also seemed to change into sharp claws that made horrible wounds in her skull.
"... stop please..." Natsu begged in a pained voice as the girl's screams seemed to intensify. As it did scales started materialising on her skin which was soon covered with blood making them shine viscously.
".. please..." he tried again but it didn't have any affect as he watched the girl's entire body starting to transform into a different shape. As it did a gust of wind started blowing violently around Lucy making the scene in front of him blurry. Unfortunately for him he could still see how the the girl slowly turned into something else. Dread and horror filled him as he watched what appeared to be a dragon standing in front of him glaring back at him with big yellow eyes.
"Naaatsu..." a deep voice boomed "you disappoint me..."
"No..." Natsu whispered as he stared at the creature.
"Yes you do! You incompetent brat!" the voice snarled as it took a step forward revealing it's huge body.
"You can't be..."
"Stupid kid. Still so ignorant and pathetic. I should have left you to die when I found you..."
"Stop it! You're not Igneel!"
"Does it matter?" the dragon roared "This is what you feel inside your own heart! I'm just saying what you want me to say!"
"I'm not! I..."
"Silence! I started this failure so I must finish it"
Clenching his teeth Natsu glared in defiance as the dragon opened it's mouth blasting a huge amount of fire in his direction. The fire engulfed the dragon slayer quickly but for some reason it didn't hurt. No, it was almost... pleasant? Soothing even. That didn't make sense...
"You will vanish from this earth Natsu. And with it you will leave nothing behind. No one will miss you nor will they cry for your fate. Forever alone... that is your destiny"
The sentence felt like a stab in his heart. Even if this wasn't Igneel and even if he didn't truly believe him, his feelings was so shattered and conflicted he couldn't help but being affected by them.
Why... he thought as the flames kept licking against his body, consuming everything until it suddenly started overwhelming his mind colouring everything, even his thoughts in red and orange colours.
An agonizing pain suddenly appeared in his stomach and as it did everything around him seemed to vanish, leaving him with a pulsating pain that seemed to spread through his entire body.
"Shit" he cursed as everything started twisting and turning uncomfortably. The saliva in his mouth started spawning more rapidly implying he had to puke really soon.
All of a sudden something hard hit his face and as it did the world seemed to stabilize.
"Wakey, wakey..." a voice hissed close to his ear making him growl in anger before opening his eyes.
"You..." Natsu snarled through gritted teeth.
"Oh yes"
Confused, he narrowed his eyes while staring furiously at the blonde in front of him. A dream... it must have been a dream... Igneel couldn't be there...
He still felt nauseas which unfortunately seemed to take a further hold on him making him heave for air for a few seconds.
"Ohh poor baby. Aren't you feeling well?"
"Fuck... you!" he roared as his stomach seemed to twist uncomfortably making him lean his head forward so he wouldn't puke on himself. As he did he noticed that his movements were limited because he was restrained somehow against the cold cave wall.
Furious he opened his mouth as his stomach's contents landed on the ground with a disgusting splash.
"Eeeeew!" the girl squealed while dancing awkwardly.
"Shut the hell up!" Natsu snarled as he turned his head to look at the things restraining him "And get me out of these fucking chains!"
"No!"
Snorting, the dragon slayer started twisting in his chains but they were too tight to get out of. Instead his movements caused a sharp pain to run through his cuts and wounds. It particularly hurt his wrists because the chains surrounding his wounds was so tight it was digging into his flesh, making them reopen and bleed down his arms. To make matters worse he could feel his magic being restrained and he didn't have to look twice to know that the thing on his hands were preventing him from using his powers.
As he glared with murderous intentions towards the girl he also noticed that they were in the same place he had been when he lost his consciousness, by the small pond with torches surrounding it.
"Hmm, you know you look like an x with those chains? What is it they say? X marks the spot?" she chanted teasingly.
"Shut up"
"You're soooo cruel! Why are you such a meanie? Hmpf! You know I don't think it's smart for you to act all high and mighty in your position, hm?" she smirked before reaching out a finger, lazily poking the knife wound in Natsu's stomach, which caused him to flinch involuntary in pain "See? Hmm... I wonder how it tastes? Mmm... salty..."
"Tsch! You're fucking insane you know that, right?"
"Yup! But you know you should really pay attention to the current situation and stop being such a hot tempered idiot. I might be insane but I'm not the one bleeding heavily from multiple wounds. You are"
"And so what? Ugh, you know I'm done talking to you..."
"Is that so? I thought you wanted to know where Lucy is?"
"As if I would fall for such an obvious trick. Don't! Underestimate me!" he snarled.
"Mmm, perhaps not... well it doesn't matter. I think I'm more than enough to be your Lucy don't you?"
"What the fuck are you implying?"
"Don't you think I look exactly like her?"
"So what?"
"Ohh... Oohhh! You haven't considered that have you, mm? Don't you think it's weird I look so much like her that it hurts if I do this..." she chuckled before stabbing Natsu in his left arm "... can you honestly say this doesn't hurt?"
Groaning Natsu turned his head to glare menacingly at the girl "There's no way it would hurt when I know you're just some fucking imposter"
"Ohh..." the knife was slowly being dragged through his muscles tearing a larger wound in his arm "... I just wanted you to notice me... and perhaps I want you to feel some of the pain I feel when I'm aaaall alone in my apartment. I mean ever since daddy died I've been so lonely..."
"What...?" he growled while narrowing his eyes.
"... do you know how many nights I just lay there crying because I'm all alone..."
Natsu knew he shouldn't pay attention to the creature's deceptions but for some reason it still hurt hearing those words. Perhaps it was because he always dreaded if she might have these emotions somewhere deep inside of her. Heck, it would be surprising if she didn't, because he knew first hand how painful and alone a person could feel when they lose someone they care about. But for some reason Lucy never seemed to let it get to her. She was always cheerful and warm whenever he was around her. Sometimes he tried talking about it, or well hinting, but she would just shrug and say that everything was fine. But now that he thought about it, it was more likely a façade she kept because she didn't want to burden anyone. Damn it! Wasn't he the exact same way when it came to his own emotions?
He groaned in pain as the knife continued cutting through the muscles in his left arm.
"... I hate being alone..." the girl in front of him whispered in a pained voice, that made his heart clench uncomfortably
"... I hate it..." she continued and the pain inside his chest seemed to intensify. He tried taking a deep breath to calm his emotions but it didn't help. Why did it hurt watching this imposter looking like a fragile version of Lucy? Why...
"Please..." he said while looking at her through narrowed eyes "please, just stop..."
The girl turned to him and glared at him accusingly "... are you denying your guilt? Are you that selfish that you don't care about my feelings?"
"..."
"It's your fault! You never pay attention to anything other than yourself and your own happiness! That's why you didn't notice my tears. Heck, you probably didn't know how many nights I've been having nightmares about my father"
"Stop it..."
"If you're such a good friend why didn't you notice this? Why didn't you save me from myself?"
"STOP IT!"
"Ohhh" she said while crooking an eyebrow teasingly "Interesting... so you didn't know about her pain did you? Or her nightmares"
"You're lying..." it wasn't a very convincing statement but he didn't know what else to say. He knew it was highly plausible that Lucy was having nightmares because he suffered from terrible nightmares too after Igneel left him.
"Riiight..." she removed the knife from his arm and took a step backwards "... and someone should give you an award for acting so poorly that you couldn't even convince a 5 year old kid that was blind, deaf and stupid. You know what?"
"What?"
"You keep telling me I'm lying, that this Lucy girl isn't dead, blah blah blah... being mad and sulky about me being cruel. Well maybe I am cruel... but that's not the point! Haven't you even once considered that there must be some truth in what I'm saying?"
"No..."
"Tsch!" she spat in a very annoyed tone "Do I really have to explain everything to you? If I'm lying about everything why do I look like an exact copy of Lucy, hm? Do you really think I could copy her if I didn't know every inch of her body?"
"She's down here somewhere, right? You could have found her and copied her appearance based on that..."
"I could... yes... but do you really think she's in such a perfect condition down her as I am" smirking she grabbed her hips "there's not even a scratch on me!"
"So what?"
"Jeez you're thick!"
Natsu growled in anger as the girl took a step forwards while humming "I... don't think she's in minty condition in here... but she might have been... in that apartment of hers..."
Dread started to fill Natsu's body as he watched the girl raising her hand containing a knife "You're implying you've seen her and her apartment before she came to this cave" he said as a chill went down his spine.
"Exactly! One point or should I say mark for the pink haired kid" she laughed hysterically before slashing his left arm again.
"Ugh!" groaning he stared at her in defiance "Where is she?"
"Mmm... I don't know? Ohh yeah the bitch is dead"
"Stop fucking with me" he roared while struggling against the chains "I'm... ugh... getting out of here... and when I do... I'll... fucking... kill... you!"
Natsu kept fighting for a few minutes but it was a futile effort. Instead all it caused him was more pain from his wounds which started bleeding more violently.
He felt sick not only because of the pain but because of the things the creature implied. If it had been stalking Lucy for how long had it done so? And had it perhaps done something towards her he didn't know about? It was unpleasant not knowing for sure and he knew that it wouldn't give him any straight answers even if he asked it directly. Even so he felt violated on Lucy's behalf.
"You... Hurting me is one thing but if you've done anything thing to Lucy I swear..." he took a deep breath before roaring "I'll fucking rip you to pieces!"
The girl seemed baffled for a second but the expression was soon replaced with a mocking tone "Ohh sure you will... mm, I think you might want to kill me even more once you know what I've done to her... but let's leave that for later shall we? I want to have fun!"
A childish laugh escaped the blondes mouth as she jumped and in a matter of seconds was close enough to grab his cheek, forcing him to face her devious smirk "and it begins now!"
Natsu didn't see her raising her hand but he definitely felt the knife as it pierced through his flesh. It wasn't that painful for some reason, but it was uncomfortable feeling blood gathering in his stomach, making him heave for air before coughing violently, trying to remove the substance that was suddenly gathering there.
Once his breathing seemed to somewhat calm down, it started hurting like hell.
"Damn it" he cursed and felt how the blood that had gathered in his mound from coughing slipped past his lips, leaving crimson streaks on his chin.
"Red suits you" the blonde girl purred teasingly making him growl in anger and pain.
"Aww, and the itty bitty tiny dragon slayer growls in compliance. Now lets get this party started!"
Natsu knew that her definition of a party was totally different than his and unfortunately for him, he couldn't refuse the invitation that seemed to last for hours, making him scream in agony multiple times.
A/N: Bwahaha! So cruel I know. They call me the mistress of evil... or Natsu does and I guess he's right XD
You might think that Natsu is spilling too much blood, but keep in mind this story is based on anime/manga. In that universe the characters always seem to have an unlimited supply of blood (for some bizarre reason, but I love it).