AU: Sorry guys, I never intended to abandon this story, so don't worry about that, but I've had writers block for the longest time. So I warn you now, what's produced in this chapter may not be the most quality work I've put out yet. So… let the awesomeness begin!

Chapter 14

I woke to a loud and piercing scream, that wasn't my own. I quickly opened my eyes to look at the girl that lay on the bed, the one that I had rested my head on throughout the night to insure her safety.

She was wriggling around, moving the sheets that once covered her like whipping wind amidst a storm. I was mesmerized, only momentarily though, that is until I heard her unleash another earth shattering scream. This time I had to cover my ears, lest they bleed. I stood up and backed away, hoping that would be enough to dim her scream.

Once her scream had simmered down to a mere whimper I swiftly came back to her side, moving down onto one knee. I slowly moved my hand to her hair to stroke it softly, her eyes opened to find my own staring back at her. She smiled at me as if nothing in our twisted world is real, until that 3is she remembered we indeed lived in a very twisted world.

She tried to sit up quickly, only to make a very audible intake of breath realizing that she was still in recovery. Instead of laying back down though she turned to face me; she put a hand on my cheek, and looked straight into my eyes as if searching for something. After a moment she released a sigh of relief.

Then she turned back on me with anger in her eyes and head-butted me as hard as she possibly could.

I yelped in pain, leaning back on the floor, "What was that fo-" I never got to finish my sentence.

"Don't you ever, ever be that stupid again!" She yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. She slowly lowered herself back down onto the mattress, making herself shrink up against the wall. Her back quivering as it faced me.

I got backs onto my knees in front of her mattress, I gingerly rested my hand on her shoulder. I felt her stiffen slightly underneath my touch, but then I felt her relax and melt into my hand that now caressed her back.

"Lucy, look at me…" She shook her head, leaning more towards the wall. I moved my hand towards her shoulder and pulled her closer to me, turning her to face me in the process. She had angry tracks of tears flowing down her face, but her expression was composed while looking at me. As if she felt the need to put up a strong front around me, I chuckled lightly, making her eyebrow twitch in frustration.

"What's so funny?" She almost growled out. Still mad at me I can see, I thought with a sigh. Instead of responding I just pulled her into a tight embrace, though not tight enough to risk reopening her wounds putting us in a… very awkward position. Despite that I continued to hold her, even through her angry and frantic movements. "You… What are you doing now? Let go!" I laughed a little harder at her attempts to escape.

My arms were tangled around her neck, but to avoid injuring her further I had to lean over her so I wasn't twisting her abdomen towards me. Her arms on the other hand were trapped between our chests, tightly locked so she couldn't get any funny ideas about using them to gain another more harmful way of escape. It wasn't so bad… that is until my knee slipped on the slimy cobblestone floors beneath us.

I fell forward, or should I say stumbled into her bed further. I avoided harming the girl in my arms, but only barely. To do so I had to straddle her though, which made the situation a whole lot worse. When I pushed myself off Lucy to face her she was fuming, her cheeks were so red I could almost compare them to roses.

My cheeks started to catch fire as well, I mumbled an apology but didn't move an inch from where I was. My cheeks started to dim down, only a little bit though, when I was hit with a notion that completely puzzled me.

"Lucy… How are you blushing?" She was caught off guard by the question and looked at me quizzically, I stumbled on. "I mean like how are you blushing? Your emotions are sealed by those katana… I mean I've noticed you doing a lot of things recently involving emotions that I haven't really thought about until now but… How?" She seemed kind of shocked by the notion as well that is until a snickering sauntered through the now unlocked door.

"It's a shame, but expected, I mean not all the cuties can have brains." She sighed as if troubled by having to explain the obvious. "The weapons that seal our emotions, seal our current emotions. Sometimes splitting them apart, like your pretty little toothpicks that you call swords, or mixing them together, making something like my axe." She smiled sinisterly, then continued with a disdainful expression when she saw the looks of confusion on both of our faces. "Basically, just because you sealed your emotions from that time, doesn't mean that you can't make new ones or renew old ones."

I was shocked, and from what I saw on Lucy's face she was too. Wait… then why was she blushing so hard? My thoughts were cut short when the Axe-man bowed deeply, a sinister smile curling back her lips. Making my stomach flip at the words she uttered softly next.

"The Joker will see you now…"